"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
The Lost Episodes
By Jeffery Branch
Volume
Thirty-nine: Episode 3-4.86 "Reliance"
Rated:
R
The Shroud, Dreyious
Prime, 8 June 2740
In
the facility’s hangar bay, as support personnel were busing cleaning up the
mess leftover from the short but violent battle that had taken place, Sailor
Quetzalcoatl was furious as she stared at Sorcerer Zulu and LISA section chief
Walter Brock. Softly hissing
through clenched teeth, the Mexican Senshi didn’t know whom she was angrier
with: Zulu for botching the
surveillance, or Brock, for going behind her back.
“Madre
de dios! What a colossal fuck
up this was! Zulu!
The idea of surveillance is to observe a target, observe, not get
into a fucking firefight with said target!” she snarled at him.
“You’ve been in the service for over a hundred years!
You do know the difference, don’t you?”
“As
I’ve already explained, ma’am, the enemy instigated the battle, not me!”
Zulu retorted. His mood stormy, the
last thing he needed was to be dressed down by a Senshi he had begun to view as
a volatile, ill-tempered martinet. “I was concerned that Bonds was attempting to flee the
station.”
“And
how was he going to do that, you fucking moron?
He had no ship of his own! No
permit to obtain a ship! Not even
any travel documents to commute off this rock!” Sailor Quetzalcoatl roared in
the Sorcerer’s face. “He
wasn’t going ANYWHERE, you dickhead! Bottom
line: you jumped to a fucking bad
conclusion and panicked, blowing our surveillance all to hell!”
Zulu
seethed. Even though Sailor
Quetzalcoatl was right about everything she said, it took all his willpower,
plus decades of discipline, to keep from yelling back at the Senshi, as he hated
being publicly insulted. “Perhaps you are right… ma’am.
I’m sorry.”
The
Mexican woman contemptuously turned her back on Zulu and glared at Brock.
The burly Texan, arms folded, smirked at the Senshi as she read Zulu the
riot act. Brock had no love, and
very little respect, for Neo-Queen Serenity’s warriors, so seeing Sailor
Quetzalcoatl foaming at the mouth like a mad dog humored him considerably.
Sailor
Quetzalcoatl saw Brock’s smirk, and her anger intensified.
“You find this fucking funny, mister?”
“As
a matter of fact, I do. When I was a kid, my father used to tell me how the Senshi
were such elegant and highly refined women of class and dignity,” said Brock,
a note of amusement in his Texas drawl. “However,
I never believed him. Watching you
act like a foul mouthed nutcase who’s off her meds only confirms my
long-standing belief that Senshi wallow in the gutter just as efficiently as the
rest of us lowly humans.”
The
Mexican Senshi longed to strangle Brock, but she wouldn’t give the caustic spy
the satisfaction. Even worse was that Brock was right; she had lost control.
Sailor Quetzalcoatl took several deep breaths to restore her calm.
“For whatever it’s worth, Brock, I never claimed to be a paragon of
virtue. I won’t even pretend that
I am. ANY Senshi, from Princess
Serena on down, who says she’s perfect would be a fucking liar. But, on to a more pertinent topic, how did you find out about
Bonds?”
“That’s
for me to know and you to find out. I
do work in intelligence gathering, after all,” Brock replied.
“Your boy Zulu screwed the pooch big time.
If whoever the late Mr. Bonds had been in bed with tries to contact him
and can’t, welcome to planet FUBAR. The
bad guys will panic and all hell will break loose.
And we still don’t know where they are.”
“Actually,
that might work in our benefit,” Sailor Quetzalcoatl countered.
“People make mistakes when they panic.
That might cause the bad guys to give themselves away.
We’re scanning everything around us for ten light years.
If something pops up, we’ll have them dead to rights.”
“And
then what? In case you haven’t
noticed, lady, we’re a sitting duck! Minimal
weapons of our own, no defensive countermeasures against a serious attack, no
access to the fleet! If those goons
decide to send a planet cracker our way, cancel Christmas!
The only people who’ll wind up dead are us!”
The
Mexican Senshi glared at Brock. “Do
you have a better idea?”
Brock
scowled. He didn’t.
Dreyious Prime,
Capricorn City, Archangel Spaceport, 8 June 2740
The
interior of Renegade was spartan and barren, save for all the equipment
needed to keep a starship fully functional.
The single hallway of the vessel was eerily quiet except for the
footfalls of Sailors Ebony, Ivory and Cerebra, along with LISA field agent Aggie
Lindstrom, under the soft red glow of ceiling mounted emergency lighting.
“Very
efficient. I like what I’m
seeing,” said Sailor Ebony with a nod. As
an engineer with two centuries of experience under her belt, she appreciated
starships and how they worked. She
then turned to Sailor Cerebra, her lover. “Did
you get a fix on the bridge, Sailor Cerebra?”
The
Chinese Senshi nodded. “I did. It’s
just ahead.”
“So
where’s this Scarlett at?” Sailor Ivory wondered aloud.
“Perhaps
she’s chasing after Rydos?” Aggie suggested.
“On
foot? That doesn’t make sense.”
Aggie
shrugged. “What does in this crazy universe?”
Once
on the bridge, the four women wasted no time examining the ship’s control
systems from stem to stern, quiet and efficiently.
“Cat,
do you think you can fly this tub?” Sailor Ebony asked her sister.
Seated
in the pilot’s chair, the Senshi of Light nodded, her expression one of
confidence, something the blonde hellraiser never lacked all her life.
“No prob, Liz. The
controls are not unlike those of a RSN shuttlecraft.
If I’m reading this right, this boat even has top of the line ECM and
ECCM gear, as well as a sweet minimal detection mode, for eluding sensors;
essentially, a stealth mode, second in effectiveness only to an actual cloaking
device. Cool!”
“This
scanning control panel features a directional finder.
And there’s an active signal,” said Sailor Cerebra, staring at a red
blip on a monitor. “Most
interesting. This signal is for a
single lifeform.”
“Scarlett?”
Aggie wondered.
The
Senshi of the Mind nodded. “That would be my guess.”
“Coordinates,”
Sailor Ebony ordered.
“The
signal is off-world. Two point eight parsecs distant.”
“That’s
two point eight seven two parsecs, darlin’.
Get it right,” came a male sounding voice from a speaker on the panel,
startling the women.
“Hey!
Who the hell is that?” Sailor Ebony demanded.
She suddenly felt lightheaded and didn’t know why.
“Rhett’s
the name, sweetcheeks. Gotta say you babes really make my motor run.
Hubba-hubba!” said Renegade’s AI.
“Fascinating.
Were you responsible for trying to deny me access to the inside of this
vessel?” Sailor Cerebra asked. The
Chinese Senshi shook her head, as she was having trouble concentrating.
“Yup.
I gotta admit I never had that happen before.
Your power to cybernetically interface with and control my systems via
tactile contact is a sweet trick, china doll.
Only Sailor Senshi can do shit like that. My scans detect three of you are seriously juiced.
What are you chicks doing here?”
“Fuck
off! We don’t have time to shoot
the breeze with some wiseass computer!” an annoyed Sailor Ivory snapped.
She felt woozy, and that only served to further irritate her.
“Sailor C! Turn this
goddamn thing off!”
“No
dice, honeybunch. How about I turn
you off instead?” said Rhett with an eerie, electronic chuckle.
“For the last couple of minutes, I’ve been pumping septonodrine gas,
distilled into a colorless, odorless, tasteless variant into the cabin.
While it doesn’t pack the kick like the real McCoy, it’ll still knock
you kids on your pretty asses in no time flat.”
No
sooner has Rhett said that did Aggie collapse unconscious to the deck.
Despite their enhanced constitutions, even the Senshi were affected and,
seconds later, they began to succumb. Rhett
chuckled again.
Dreyious Prime,
Sagittarian District, Argus Caves, Argus City, 8 June 2740
Inside
the underground facility Sailors Magneta and Sirius, along with LISA Special
Agent Franklin Marley, uncovered, the Senshi of the Stars looked over computer
records on a workstation after the German woman restored the power, while she
and Marley examined stored caches of weapons.
“At
the risk of stating the painfully obvious, Sailor M, we’re looking at some
serious shit in here,” said the Jamaican agent as he stared at a Slasher
bio-incubation chamber. A chamber
he was grateful to have found to be empty.
Seven more such devices, all empty, lined the wall.
The
Senshi of Magnetism nodded as she examined components of planet-cracking
missiles, which sat in cases next to three crates of heavy duty RSN blaster
rifles and, much to her surprise, two fully assembled but deactivated ghost
torpedoes. “I couldn’t agree
more, Agent Marley. In retrospect,
using an EMP to draw out the DK slugs was a rash and dangerous choice on my
part. If any of this ordinance had
been active, we could’ve blown up most of this mountain.
I shudder to imagine what would’ve happened if those Slasher chambers
were occupied. Sailor Sirius, find
anything?”
“You
bet I did, boss. How about the
location of the base where those black market goons are storing their
weapons?” the pretty black Senshi said, a wide grin splitting her face,
glistening brightly from sweat, thanks to the overwhelmingly dank and humid
environment.
Sailor
Magneta and Marley walked over to the workstation.
“Where?” the white haired Senshi demanded.
“Little
under three parsecs from the Shroud, right in the middle of the asteroid field.
Look at this.” Sailor
Sirius’ slim, long nailed fingers flew over the keyboard as she brought up a
computer generated illustration of the base for the others to see. “It’s a large asteroid that’s been hollowed out to
contain the station. Its defenses
are considerable, including long range scanners, comm jammers and all sorts of
offensive weapons.”
Sailor
Magneta idly stroked her chin and scowled as she looked over what she saw on the
screen. “Hmm.
I can’t say I like that. Not
one damn bit. Seeing the base has
scanning equipment, there’s no way we can approach it without being detected
by the enemy. And with the weaponry
they have, we would be blown to bits before we got close, never mind being able
to safely maneuver to avoid missiles or torpedoes while in the middle of that
asteroid field. Clever.
Very clever.”
“What
about your starship, Sailor Magneta? Is
it equipped with a cloaking device?” Marley asked.
“No.
Ironically enough, we’re due to have a cloak installed upon our return
to Luna after we complete this mission, but that does us absolutely no good
right now. Sailor Sirius, what
about transponder signals we could use to gain access, say like a Trojan Horse
stratagem?”
The
Star Senshi tapped more keys and pulled up more information.
What she saw made her frown and shake her head.
“No go, boss. The bad guys
have a limited number of ships that they use, and they all have permanent
transponder signals recorded for each and every one of them.
In short, we can’t fake anything that could get us near that place.
Whoever’s running that operation thought of everything.”
“I
refuse to accept that. They have to have a weakness.
I mean to find it,” Sailor Magneta growled, wiping her sweat-slicked
brow. “Record all the pertinent
data you can, Sailor Sirius. It’s
time to get the hell out of here. The
humidity down here is making me cranky. We’ll
rendezvous with the others back on the Shroud and formulate a plan of attack.”
“Yes,
ma’am!” With a flick of her
wrist, Sailor Sirius produced her microcomp, connected it to the workstation and
quickly got to work, as she was just as eager to leave.
“What
about all this stuff, Sailor Magneta? We
just can’t leave it behind,” Marley pointed out.
The
Senshi of Magnetism turned to face Marley, and he gasped at seeing her eyes
again blazing like twin red suns and softly crackling from the terrible power
she commanded. “Don’t worry
about that, Marley. Nothing will be
left behind.”
Asteroid Field, near
Dreyious Prime, 8 June 2740
Armon
Rydos was enjoying a nap when a loud, insisting buzzing woke him from a sound
sleep. Annoyed at the interruption,
Rydos sat up and activated his monitor, displaying the worry-creased face of
Maktbahr.
“What
is it?” the Cygnian demanded. He
hated having his rest interrupted.
“A
problem. We’ve been sabotaged,”
the DK scientist replied. “A
engineering substation on level three was trashed ten minutes ago.”
“Sabotaged?
How?”
“It’s
hard to describe, Armon. You’ll have to see it for yourself.”
Rydos
scowled. He also had no patience
for mysteries. “I’ll be right
down. This had better be good.”
It
took Rydos five minutes to reach the substation where Maktbahr awaited him, a
nervous expression on his blue hued face. “What
happened?”
“Look
at this.” Maktbahr waved a hand
at the computer console. Even though it was blackened and scorched from fire, Rydos
raised an eyebrow from surprise at seeing a trio of small holes in several
different areas.
“What
the hell is that?” a puzzled Rydos wanted to know.
“Your
guess is as good as mine, Armon. Those
look suspiciously like puncture holes, one centimeter in diameter, spaced three
centimeters apart. As to what the
weapon was, I’m not entirely sure, only that it must’ve been some sort of
razor sharp alloy, probably duranium. Something
that nasty could slice through anything, and I do mean anything.”
“Anybody
see anything?”
“No.
I’ve already interviewed witnesses.
Whoever did it must’ve been pretty fast, sneaking in and out before
being spotted.”
Rydos
frowned, his anger simmering just below the surface.
“I don’t need this, what with our plans to empty this place.
Did the power loss disrupt our defenses?”
“Only
momentarily, but backup systems quickly kicked in.
As long as nothing else goes wrong, we should be good.”
“Good.
As for the sabotage, given the timeframe, our troublemaker had to have
been part of the work shift that recently arrived from Prime.
Muster everyone from the new shift in the hangar bay in ten minutes.
I mean to get to the bottom of this!”
On
the level below where Rydos and Maktbahr were, a level that consisted of
engineering equipment that kept the station functioning, Moira “Scarlett”
Cassidy, peering around a corner saw a blue faced DK thug, tunneling rifle in
hand, standing near a set of double doors.
A sign next to the door read “MAIN ENGINEERING”.
That made the redheaded bounty hunter grin.
Removing
one of the hand blasters from its shoulder holster, Scarlett took careful aim
and fired, putting a beam through the thug’s left eye; he dropped dead to the
deck, but because of modifications Scarlett made to the pistols that nullified
the typically loud energy whine, no one inside heard the guard being killed.
Trotting up to where the dead guard lay, Scarlett pushed the body out of
the way, and then pressed a green button on the wall next to the doors, which
opened them, and she sauntered inside.
The
eight engineers, all DK personnel, were stunned at seeing the redheaded Terran,
especially when she aimed a blaster pistol at them and started shooting.
Three of the engineers were dead before anyone could blink; Scarlett
removed her other pistol and continued killing the men, moving like quicksilver
to kill the others before they could sound the alarm.
In
only fifteen seconds, all the men were dead, with Scarlett having used precise
and accurate fire to avoid striking any equipment.
“Not
bad, lassie. Not bad at all,” an
openly pleased Scarlett muttered. “Now
for more chaos that’ll really stir the pot.”
Grinning
wickedly, Scarlett flicked both pistols to explosive setting and fired white hot
beams at the cores, accompanying equipment, just about everything in sight,
resulting in instant and tremendous destruction as the weapons wreaked havoc as
the equipment exploded, sounding alarms. Not
wasting time admiring her destructive handiwork, Scarlett ran out into the hall
as fires broke out and explosions rocked the space.
That
should send up smoke signals to the Shroud if they’re monitoring, thought
Scarlett. Meanwhile, if this
little catastrophe doesn’t bring Rydos running like his arse is on fire,
nothing will! And then I can make
my move!
Dreyious Prime,
Pacifica Ocean, ninety-seven point five kilometers from shore, 8 June 2740
A
small battalion of military seacraft, a dozen in total, bobbed on the water as
Dreyian Navy personnel fervently searched among the wreckage of the demolished
sea skimmer rented to Sailor Britannica’s party, for signs of survivors.
On
the flying bridge of one of the vessels, Captain Skalorik, the lead officer of
the search party, wore a deep scowl on his face as he looked about him.
In the twenty-four years he served in the coastal branch of the Navy, he
had never lost any dignitaries on his watch.
That a high-ranking member of Terran royalty may have been killed, and
under mysterious circumstances to boot, worried the veteran officer more than a
bit. His scowl deepening, Skalorik
turned to Ensign Thanigar, who stood behind him.
“Thanigar!
Report! Anybody find
anything?” he demanded.
“Nothing,
sir. The teams have come up empty
so far,” Thanigar replied nervously. “No
survivors, no bodies, not even body parts, and this area of the ocean has its
fair share of predators. It’s
like Lady Hawthorne and her party disappeared.
I’m at a loss to understand it all.”
“You’re
not alone. What in blazes happened
out here?
“Captain!
I’m picking up something!” called an enlisted man who was at a
scanner station. A note of concern
was in his voice.
Skalorik
rushed over to the station. “What
is it? A survivor?”
“No
sir! Something’s coming up from
the ocean bottom! It’s metallic, tubular in shape, and it’s huge!
Over twenty meters long and powered by some sort of hydroelectric
drive!” said the enlisted man. “Sir! It’s
headed this way! And coming fast!
Doing twenty knots- in an underwater ascent!
It’ll reach the surface in sixteen seconds!”
“Sound
battle stations! All ships, go to
defensive posture! Ready deck
cannons!” Skalorik yelled.
As
personnel on the ships manned deck-mounted cannons on the forecastles of their
vessels, the mystery craft, a gray hued submersible with a squarish conning
tower, broke the surface near Skalorik’s ship with a spectacular flourish.
As the Dreyian sailors aimed their weapons at the vessel, the hatch of
the submersible opened and, much to their surprise, two Senshi suddenly
appeared, arms raised. A man then
emerged, looking more than a little nervous.
“Don’t
shoot! We’re on your side!
Don’t shoot!” Sailor Britannica yelled.
Skalorik
was stunned at seeing two of Neo-Queen Serenity’s warriors.
No one told him that Senshi were even on the planet, never mind operating
in his arena. He didn’t know
whether to be surprised or annoyed at this new and startling development.
He settled on the latter.
“Ahoy,
unknown vessel! Ahoy! Where did you
come from? What is going on
here?” he called out to the trio.
“A
long story, sir. We’ll be only
too glad to fill you in after leaving this thing!” the Briton called back.
After
having been brought onboard Skalorik’s ship, the British Senshi explained how
she and her partners, in disguise as civilians had been in the midst of a secret
investigation (the nature of which she wasn’t at liberty to reveal, given the
top secret nature of Omega Force’s mission) when they were attacked by Dark
Kingdom agents and taken to their base on the ocean floor.
The veteran officer cocked an eyebrow as he listened, surprised at the
notion of DK spies in his ocean.
“DK
agents. Most troubling.
What about prisoners?” he asked.
“There
aren’t any, comrade. We killed everyone down there,” Sailor Russia grunted.
Skalorik
frowned. While he didn’t know
much about the Senshi, he was under the impression from stories he had been told
by off-worlders that they weren’t overt killers.
“What about their base? It
should be inspected. Can we access
it?”
“I’m
afraid not. Before leaving, we
opened every hatch and door and let the ocean rush in.
The atmospheric pressures down there will destroy the place in nothing
flat,” Sailor Britannica replied. It
had just occurred to her that by appearing in uniform, she and Sailor Russia had
blown their cover. And while recent
circumstances made keeping their secret impossible, the Briton still hated
having that happen. Perhaps
Omega Force should affect a permanently low profile and stop wearing these
bloody garish costumes on missions, she thought.
I’ll bring that up with Veronika after we’re completed our
assignment. “Frankly
speaking, you didn’t need to see what was there.
But, you can have the submersible. Enough
questions, take us in. Now. My partners and I need to return to the Shroud.”
“Just
like that? Who are you to order me
around?” a now indignant Skalorik demanded.
Rolling
her eyes, Sailor Britannica, her temper already frayed, flicked her wrist and
produced her microcomp. Activating it, she displayed her orders.
“As you can see, I work directly for Planetary Jupiter, so that means
you take orders from me! Now start
up this fucking tub and get going!”
Chastised,
Skalorik did as he was told.
Dreyious Prime,
Capricorn City, Archangel Spaceport, 8 June 2740
As
Sailors Ebony and Ivory crumpled to the deck of Renegade, while Aggie
already lay unconscious from exposure to septonodrine gas, Sailor Cerebra
slumped at the console she sat at, as she had held her breath when the ship’s
cocky AI announced it had flooded the compartment.
Using
breathing techniques taught her by her father, Sorcerer Dragon, Sailor Cerebra
managed to stave off the effects of the gas, but just barely; as it was, her
vision swam and she was having trouble focusing.
The Senshi of the Mind knew she didn’t have much time to salvage the
situation, and with her hands on the console, she took the only action she
could, given the situation. She
interfaced directly with Renegade’s AI.
There
is no reason to take such drastic action, she thought to the AI.
Yes
there is, china doll. You and your pals invaded my mistress’ ship, Rhett
returned crossly.
What
do you plan to do with us?
I’ll
keep pumping in the gas. Inside of
five minutes, you’ll all croak from septonodrine poisoning.
Not even Senshi with your fancy-pants healing powers can handle that.
Scarlett can dump your bodies when she gets back, Rhett replied.
From the moment I first went online two years ago, no one has ever
invaded me before, not ever! I take
lots of pride in that! And I
don’t like it! Not one stinking
bit!
On
behalf of my partners, I apologize for that, but we had a good reason.
Sailor Cerebra paused as her head spun and she struggled to stay
conscious. At best, she figured she
had only fifteen or twenty seconds left before succumbing to the gas. She had to make her remaining time count.
Like your mistress, we’re after the man responsible for the black
market weapons flooding the region. You
know where Scarlett is. If she is
attempting to stop that man alone, she could use help.
Our help.
Doubtful,
sweetcheeks. Scarlett’s a major badass who doesn’t need anyone’s
help!
Are
you sure? No one is all-powerful,
not even Sailor Senshi. The current
mishap you have my partners and I are in is proof of that.
Are you willing to sit idly by and let Scarlett succumb to danger she
might not be able to handle by herself? Wherever
she is right now, she could be killed. And
you would be solely to blame for that. We
can assist her. Please let us.
An
instant later, Sailor Cerebra’s strength finally gave out along with her
breath. Her eyes rolling back in
her head, the Asian woman blacked out and slumped to the deck, and all was
silent on the bridge.
“Dammit!
Scarlett’s gonna scorch my circuits for doing this,” Rhett grumbled.
With a soft beep, exhaust fans whirred to life, sucking the invisible gas
out of the cabin in a matter of seconds. The
four women then stirred back to consciousness as they greedily gulped sweet,
purified air into their lungs that Rhett pumped into the space.
“Ugh!
Not that anyone cares, but I feel like shit,” Sailor Ivory grumbled as
she slowly sat up. Her stomach
roiled from exposure to the gas.
“You’re
right, Sailor Ivory. No one cares,” growled Sailor Ebony, running a hand through
her hair. Her skull pounded, as the
gas gave her a splitting headache. She
then turned to Sailor Cerebra, who looked pale.
That concerned her. “Sailor
Cerebra, are you all right?”
“I
am well, Sailor Ebony. It took a goodly amount of strength, not to mention
persuasion, to keep Renegade’s AI from killing us,” the Asian woman
replied shakily. To give her
soulmate positive reinforcement, she gave Sailor Ebony’s hand a squeeze before
standing and helping Sailor Ebony to her feet.
“Septonodrine
poisoning,” said a grim faced Aggie, shaking her head.
“Pretty wicked stuff.”
“You
can thank me later,” came Rhett’s voice over the speaker.
Sailor
Ivory’s anger overrode her fatigue as she climbed shakily to her feet.
“Fuck you, dipshit! I’m
gonna fry your electronic ass like bacon for pulling that stunt!”
“Sailor
Ivory! STOP!
We don’t have time for your childish tantrums!” a suddenly furious
Sailor Cerebra yelled, getting right in the blonde’s face.
“Use your fucking brain for once!
We’re going to need Rhett’s help if we’re to find Scarlett, and
that base where those weapons are secreted!
That’s our priority! I
strongly suggest you act like an adult, shut the hell up and concentrate on your
job! Are we clear?”
Sailor
Ebony was stunned to have heard the normally soft-spoken, taciturn Asian lash
out loudly and angrily at her unruly sister.
But Sailor Ivory, openly taken aback, was in wide-eyed, slack-jawed shock
at having been chewed out so viciously by her teammate.
“As
crystal, Sailor C! Anything you
say!” the Senshi of Light said meekly. She
had never seen Sailor Cerebra so angry before and that unnerved her.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Make
yourself useful and man the helm. First
things first, we retrieve our teammates. Then,
with Rhett’s help, we find that base and complete our mission.”
Her face rock hard, the Asian Senshi turned to face Aggie and Sailor
Ebony and shot them a steely, no nonsense glare. “Either of you care to question my plan?”
“Not
at all,” said Aggie. “That works for me.”
“Same
here,” a smirking Sailor Ebony added. Well,
well, how do you like that! Li Mei
has quite a temper. What a
surprise. Anyone who can put Cathy in her place- and very few have in
over 500 years- is definitely a force to be reckoned with! Gods above! I
LOVE that woman! “Time’s
short, ladies! Let’s get to
work!”
To be continued...