"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
1-14: Battle Cries
Rated:
R
In
the Atlantis Nebula, Atlantis system, 14 October 2736
The
SLS Nephlyte
"Damn," muttered Warlock Zyi.
He leaned back against the wall, rubbing his eyes.
Archmage Felralt frowned. He
and Archmage Simarra were stooped over a small section of bulkhead near the
force-fielded entryway, where they had managed to loosen a small section of
paneling with a few "special" components from their spellcomps, the
one thing the doppelganger Ereunak hadn't taken on the premise they couldn't be
used in their cells anyway.
He had forgotten the two Spec-Ops trained Sorcerers.
"This is a pain in the ass," Simarra grumbled.
"Ah, well, the fact we're getting anywhere is amazing, considering
the vast amount of technology put into these cells to prevent what we're
doing," said Felralt.
The deck suddenly lurched.
"What the?" blinked the captain as Simarra cursed, waving her
now burned hand about.
"Don't know," said Zyi, as Felralt took over the job of
hotwiring the force field controls, and Simarra concentrated on a healing spell.
"And I'm not sure we want to know."
"You have done well, Agent Gamma.
What of the ship's computer and crew?"
Ereunak grinned. He was
lounging in the very comfortable captain's chair, twirling a blaster pistol.
The Nephlyte was now in a tractor beam, being drawn to a docking
port, so he had nothing else to do. "The
computer is locked down in its backup core, and the crew is trapped in the brig.
They are quite secure here, and truth be told, I recommend leaving them
there since they would probably find a way to beat our holding systems."
"Your recommendation is noted, Gamma.
Stand by for docking."
"Of course," chuckled Ereunak.
"This ship is all yours."
He reached for a panel on the armrest of the chair.
"Attention, this is your captain speaking," Ereunak smirked.
"Stand by for docking... and your doom."
"...and your doom."
"Oh, shit," whispered Zyi.
He turned to the two Spec-Operatives.
"Step on it!"
"Almost there," said Felralt, sweat dripping off his brow.
Ereunak walked up the docking ramp, barely noting the nebula outside the
portals. He stopped at the top of
the ramp, and the door hissed open to allow him through.
He nodded to the leader of the squad that rushed by to secure the Nephlyte,
and hurried his way to meet the station commander to deliver his report.
The troops rushed down the ramp.
"Got it!" called Felralt.
There was a shower of sparks, and then the force fields shimmered out of
existence. Simarra stepped out, and
was the first to see the DK troopers round the corner.
"Shit!" she shouted, diving around the center control table, to
the pile of weapons and accoutrements there.
"DK troops! We've
docked and been boarded!"
She came up with a pistol, as the first green beams whistled by. She sighted, and pulled the trigger. The white beam lanced out, drilling the lead trooper in the
shoulder, and spinning him around. She
fired at the ceiling above them, knowing a conduit of liquid hydrogen used as
force field generator coolant was routed there.
A muted flash, and small explosion billowed out, accompanied by clouds of
freezing gas, and several DK troops were frozen instantly.
The gas masked the entryway as the other four Sorcerers arrived by
Simarra to grab weapons.
Zyi activated his pistol, and waved the other four on.
"This is the only entrance to the brig," he shouted as the rest
of the crew fell back. "Captain,
figure out what's going on; we'll cover you."
The captain nodded, reaching the table console in the middle. His first officer and lead technician quickly joined him.
The remainder of the crew remained silent.
Weapons began going off at the door; the five Sorcerers had arranged
themselves on both sides, three kneeling, two standing.
All five were firing now, and green beams streaked by, causing small
explosions and scarring the walls.
"First, reroute emergency controls to this panel," the captain
ordered. "Then, let's free up Nephlyte to
his normal computer cores, and reroute exclusive computer
access to this panel."
The three worked rapidly. There
was a shout, and they glanced up to see Archmage Yumir, briefly surrounded by a
green aura from the impact, crash to the deck.
His blaster fell loose, and he gave one final twitch before he died.
"Hurry!" hissed the captain.
"Got it!" said the tech. "All
yours, Captain."
"Welcome back, Nephlyte," said the captain.
"What's our current status?"
"We are currently hard docked to a large DK structure, with a large
amount of troops throughout the ship. It
appears they are trying to access me, to get schematics; a large portion is now
heading towards the brig," Nephlyte reported rapidly.
"Mother of Serenity," said the captain as the screen lit up
with a view of the structure they were docked to.
"It's some sort of gateway."
A scream cut them off; Warlock Otaklu pitched forwards, blood gushing out
as his head hit the deck. Simarra
gasped, flipping back against the wall; she was covered in Otaklu's blood, and
was clutching her left shoulder, which was smoldering.
"Shit," whispered the captain.
He glanced at his first officer, who nodded.
They turned, looking over the crew.
"We know what you gotta do, Captain," said his tactical
officer. "Let's do it."
The tactical officer ran forward, scooping up Yumir's blaster, even as
Felralt was nailed in the chest, falling backwards.
He waved several of his security troops forward, and they grabbed the
blasters from the fallen Sorcerers.
"Nephlyte," began the captain softly, "Is there any chance
of preventing capture of this ship?"
"I'm afraid not," the AI replied just as softly.
The captain straightened up, ignoring the fighting by the door. "Very well. Nephlyte,
activate self-destruct sequence, code one one one zero three beta."
"Voice recognized, place your right hand on the lit panel in front
of you for DNA verification," said Nephlyte.
There was a brief pause, and then Nephlyte spoke again.
"Identity confirmed. Does
the First Officer concur?"
"I do," she said. She
glanced up to see Simarra flex her arm, and turn to fight some more.
Her recovery was brief, as she was drilled and slammed against the
doorframe. Zyi was the lone
Sorcerer now, consumed by fury; he was pumping blaster energy into the oncoming
troops as fast as he could pull the trigger.
He stepped into the hallway, where he suddenly crumpled under a barrage
of gravity beam fire. His smoking body slammed to the deck.
"Code?" asked Nephlyte as a panel lit up near the first
officer. She blinked, and laid her
hand on it.
"Code two two four alpha one alpha," she said resolutely.
"Identity confirmed," reported Nephlyte.
"Awaiting final command."
"Set for five minutes, silent countdown, code six six six,"
said the captain of the Nephlyte. "Nice
knowin' ya."
"Self destruct engaged, five minutes remaining.
This will be the last audible count.
Au revoir." The
chamber was eerily silent; only the sounds of fighting remained.
All monitors now displayed a timer, counting backwards.
"Lord! The crew has
broken free! They are fighting
hard; also, we can't access the computer!" gasped the messenger, leaning
against the doorframe, gasping for breath.
"I tried to get through by comm, but yours was blocked!"
"Of course, fool. I
wanted privacy to hear Agent Gamma's debrief," snapped the station
commander. Ereunak wandered to the large, transparent wall that
overlooked where the Nephlyte was docked. The
swirling gasses of the nebula behind highlighted the crystalline ship, locked in
physical clamps and restraining force bands.
"Apparently, I underestimated them.
You might want to have your troops evacuate, and jettison that ship. Use your weapons to destroy it," said Ereunak.
"Why?" blinked the station commander, turning to face Ereunak.
"For security reasons, the panel in the brig area is highly
restricted. However, access would
be granted to the captain and other high officers, all of whom were present in
the brig. Once they see that they
have no hope of recapturing the ship, they will destroy it," explained
Ereunak.
"If so, this is on your head!" shouted the station commander.
"I think not," grinned Ereunak.
"I've completed my mission; once docked, it was all your
responsibility. You shall pay the
price for failure. Besides, I can
still be useful." He turned
and brushed past the messenger, who glared angrily at him.
"What? You got a
problem?"
"Yeah, arrogant scum," it snarled.
"To use a popular human phrase: Go to hell."
Ereunak whipped his blaster up right between the messenger's eyes, and
pulled the trigger. He spun on his
heel and stalked out even as the doors closed on the furious station commander
and the burning messenger's body.
The captain stooped, grabbing the blaster pistol that skidded across the
deck at him. A good portion of his
crew now lay dead, piled about the door. On
one of the monitors, he could see the sheer amount of DK troopers lying dead in
the hall, as well as the amount rushing at them.
The air reeked of death and burnt ozone, and the deck was slick with
blood. He glanced at another
monitor, even as the troopers broke through his crew near the door.
Very shortly, it would cease to matter.
He raised his pistol as the timer wound down from thirty seconds.
The station commander stared down, as the door hissed shut with two of
his troops dragging the body out of his quarters.
"Gamma's full of it," he muttered.
"There is no way they can resist the might of our forces!"
The DK troops glanced about. The
crew was now dead; several troops were moving about the chamber, kicking bodies,
firing occasionally to kill those still alive.
The leader of the troop glanced at one of the monitors, and did a double
take, realizing there were numbers moving on the screen.
00:03...
00:02...
00:01...
A loud rumble echoed, and the deck heaved violently.
The DK troops were hard pressed to stay on their feet.
Then, the ceiling above burst into white-hot fire, and they were
obliterated....
The station commander leaned forward, gazing intently as a white,
billowing explosion burst from the engines of the captured ship.
The explosion spread, boosted by the detonation of the sublight engines.
The hull buckled outward in several areas, each with a bright flash and
an expanding cloud of gas and debris. The
window trembled, as did the rest of his office.
Suddenly, the Nephlyte was utterly consumed
He didn't make it in time.
From afar, against the backdrop of the nebula, the explosion was eerily
beautiful, against the side of the large, ring-shaped structure.
An expanding bluish-white shockwave marked both a defeat... and a
victory. The probe that Zyi had
prepared survived, scorched and beaten. It
was blasted loose, and sailed through the nebula.
Once it was clear, its onboard computer complied with it’s programming,
sending a burst transmission straight to the Sol system, even as DK ships
swarmed over it, and began firing at it.
New
Sahara, Sabaat system, 14 October 2736
Powell
Mine
He crouched, searching the blackness.
The destroyed shield generator had been a total wreck; with no DK troops
anywhere near it. So far, the mine
the 187th had been ordered to investigate was similarly empty of anything...
including power. It had previously
been one of the most important mines on New Sahara.
The surface level facilities had been eerily quiet, and now they were
down in the first level of the mines.
The scout moved ahead slightly. He
reached the tunnel junction, noting through his goggles the discarded mining
beams, protective suits, and handlamps. The
ceiling hung hopper system was empty. He
slowly peered around the corner, carefully scanning the area.
He had to be extra careful; the minerals being mined here blocked sensors
and screwed up the very type of goggles he was wearing.
He reached down to his communicator, and gave two taps.
"Just remember, it might be a bad idea to use your fire spells in
the mines," whispered Mage Torym.
Archmage Derrelli sniffed. "I'm
a pretty fair shot with a blaster, you know."
Both suddenly shut up, hearing the two clicks on their communicators.
"Okay," said Derrelli. "Let's
move ahead... slowly. Try to
acclimate your eyes; use the red blinkers on your goggles.
Remember, the quetricite and galamite deposits will soon render your
goggles useless. Move out."
It wasn't long before the main force reached the tunnel junction. They were quite surprised to find no sign of the scout, other
than scuffmarks from his boots.
"Okay, enough of this sneaking around crap," said Derrelli.
"Turn on your handlamps. Ready
blasters. Torym, you stay at this junction with the main force. Bring
up the rearguard; I'll take nine men with me and we'll scout this tunnel.
The maps indicate the other two are dead ends; send two parties to
investigate. Everyone, try to be
precise with your weapons; we don't want any collapses.
I need nine volunteers."
He didn't have to pick; he had become fairly popular with his men. "All right. Those
remaining right here set up a perimeter. Light
this place up. The tunnel I'm
taking has an access path to the underground generator; we'll try to get it up
and running. Everyone:
be careful, and good luck!" Derrelli
turned, leveling his blaster rifle. "Let's
go."
And so three parties of ten Sorcerers each headed into the inky
blackness.
The first party traveled exactly one hundred meters down the left tunnel,
shining their lights about them, the glitter of mineral deposits twinkling
eerily. They came to the back wall.
"Anything?" asked one. He
shone his light at the ceiling.
"Not a damn thing," said another.
"Right, then, let's head back."
Derrelli's party moved slowly, their footsteps echoing.
They had gone down the right tunnel, knowing that it had both a service
corridor to the generator complex, and the access tunnel to the levels below.
They paused, about fifty meters in.
"Here it is," said the one in the lead.
"Okay. We know it's
clear up to this access tunnel. The
generator area has only this connection with the mine; we'll check out the
generator real quick," said Derrelli.
"Let's do it, boss," said one of the troops.
"You two, watch our ass," ordered Derrelli.
As the two he pointed at let the rest pass, they filed forward.
He led the way, shining his light ahead.
The tunnel was a mere twenty meters; it went all too quickly.
He could swear he heard something pounding in the darkness.
He realized it was his heart.
They slowly advanced into the fusion generator room.
The access door hung open; a thin layer of dust covered the area.
They slowly entered. Derrelli's
heart nearly stopped when his communicator beeped.
"Torym here. Left
tunnel's clear; dead-end as marked on the map.
No contact with the center tunnel party, but they're in a serious mineral
deposit area. We'll keep an ear
open." Torym's voice was
scratchy due to the interference of the minerals.
"Rog. Send the left
tunnel party to the access of the generator; it'll be nice to have backup.
We're approaching the generator now; hopefully be up soon.
Keep me advised about that central tunnel," Derrelli finished.
He cut the comm.
Two of his men stepped cautiously into the generator area.
They slowly looked about, shining their lights into the rafters as the
rest of their little force entered. Derrelli
moved to the control chamber, as his men established a perimeter.
The control chamber was tiny; he set his rifle aside, and brushed dust
off the controls. He glanced about,
searching for the manual. There was
always an emergency hard copy. He
looked over his shoulder, at a pane of glass.
It was labeled: "In
case of emergency, break glass." It
contained a fire extinguisher, an emergency hand lamp and oxygen mask... and a
book. Derrelli raised the butt of
his rifle and smashed it, withdrawing the book.
He glanced at its title: Emergency
start-up procedures for Mercury Model FGH-3 Fusion Generators.
"Okay, let's get this damn thing up and running," he muttered,
setting it on the console and flipping it open.
The party tasked with the central tunnel neared the end, moving
cautiously. They shone their
lights all about, and they reached the back.
As before, the mineral deposits glittered surreally in the beams of their
handlamps.
"Nothing," said one of their number, relieved.
"Sounds good," said another.
As he swung back to look at the rest, a blurred shape dropped from above,
and the others gasped and raised their rifles as sharp claws beheaded him, red
blood spraying everywhere. The
blaster rifles kicked off almost of their own accord, and the shape was
disintegrated. They shone their
lights up.
"Oh, shit."
"The hell is that?" asked Torym, hearing sounds from the center
tunnel.
"It sounds like blaster fire and screaming," said another.
"Torym to center scout force! Do
you read me?" Torym called.
The tunnel went suddenly, eerily silent.
Derrelli flipped the central charging handle up, ready to flip the
switch, and his communicator beeped again.
"Go ahead," he said.
"Torym here. Left scout
force is now in position by the generator tunnel access; still no reply from
central scout force. However, we
just heard what sounded like screaming and blasters going off from the center
tunnel," Torym reported. His
voice was a little rushed.
"Copy. Working on the
generator, should be up in five. Stand
by, and watch that tunnel. I'll be
in touch." Derrelli cut it,
and flipped the switch.
A loud buzzer sounded, and whirling orange lights went off as the
charging battery core started. A
nearby screen blinked on, displaying generator reaction status.
A nearby button glowed red.
"Well, here goes," he muttered.
He pressed the button.
A loud whine filled the chamber, deepening into a lower-pitched roar.
The overhead lights began to kick on.
As they did so, a blurred shape fell towards the control chamber.
Derrelli blinked as he saw it, snatching up his rifle.
As it hit the glass, he fired, ignoring the shards flying past.
The beam vaporized the creature.
"Heads up! Five more
Negatroopers above! Probably some
sort of guard force!" called one of his men.
"Watch your fire!" Derrelli called, wiping blood from his
cheek. Several of the shards had
gotten him. "Take 'em
out!" He glanced down at the
status indicator. Blaster fire
sliced through the air. It only
took a few moments for the remaining DK troops to be killed.
"Main power coming online in five seconds," yelled Derrelli. "Let's head back to the main tunnel!"
"Let's go!" called another.
"This area's secure!"
Torym stared down the tunnel. A
good portion of the 187th’s lights was pointed down the center tunnel. Occasionally, a scrabbling sound could be heard; otherwise it
was silent.
That suddenly changed. A low
hum filled the tunnel, and with a screech of metal, the overhead hoppers began
moving. Lights began clicking on
behind them, coming closer to the junction.
They flipped on overhead, and rolled past.
The 187th blinked furiously as their eyes tried to adjust, and
then they realized it was none too soon.
The center tunnel, merely ten meters from them, was crammed full of DK
troops, all doing the same thing they were.
There was a split second, as the two forces stared at each other.
"FIRE!" shouted Torym, leveling his rifle.
With a roar, the enemy charged, even as the first beams from the blaster
rifles of the 187th drilled into their ranks.
Derrelli glanced over his shoulder at the now brightly lit tunnel behind
him. His force of twenty was almost
to the main shaft, and they paused.
"Sounds like fighting," said one of his men.
Derrelli nodded. "We'll
find out shortly. Let's move."
The force reached the entrance, and stopped dead.
"Mother of Serenity," gasped Derrelli.
It was quite obvious that the lift was inoperable; huge beams were welded
to it, and the cables were snapped. The
chamber was soaked in dried blood; human bodies lay everywhere, as well as some
from the other races of the Golden Millennium.
They were piled up in huge piles, in various stages of decay.
The stench was overwhelming.
"Apparently, this is their disposal chamber now," Derrelli
said, struggling to maintain control.
"What do we do?" asked one of his men.
All looked faintly green.
"We leave them, for now. They
all deserve proper burial, but I don't think there's any rush," Derrelli
said. "Let's head back; this
is now a dead end."
They turned and began jogging back to the junction.
"There's too many!" shouted one of them.
Several members of the 187th were lying about, felled by vicious claw
swipes. They had fallen back
slightly, right at the entrance to the tunnel they had come from.
The enemy swarm was still coming strong.
Torym was sweating profusely; they were about to be overrun.
Suddenly, his communicator beeped.
"Go!" he shouted. He
had to put his communicator to his ear to hear the message, and he suddenly
blanched. "Fire in the
hole!"
A sudden explosion filled their vision, and scores of Negatroopers were
vaporized. Blaster fire began to
pour into the enemy from the right tunnel.
Torym was suddenly struck by inspiration; the fire was still burning.
He chanted, summoning an elemental spirit to bind to the flame.
His fire elemental roared to life, and began smashing the enemy troops,
whose claws could not harm it. It
slammed them aside, frying everything it touched, bashing and consuming.
Soon, the DK force had been dealt with, and his elemental waited
patiently for a new command as Derrelli's force reunited with the main force.
"Anything?" asked Torym.
"Area's clear; access lift is busted, and they turned it into a
morgue... for our guys. Sickening.
Let's get to the source and finish this.
Send your minion ahead... and let's do some fryin'!" said Derrelli,
wiping soot and blood from his face.
"Amen!" shouted the 187th.
"Move out!" ordered Derrelli.
"Let's kick us some major ass!"
Crystal
Palace Briefing Room, Planet Luna, Sol system, 14 October 2736
For the second time in a day, this time late in the evening, all the
available Senshi and Knights met again in the plushly appointed briefing room.
"Okay, what now?" sighed Sailor Neptune.
Neo-Queen Serenity I smiled faintly.
"A slight update, Michelle."
As they sat, Sailor Mars grinned. "By
the way, Ames, the hunt goes well. Already,
the Sol system out to the asteroid belt has been sanitized; a few scout ships
remain in the inner system to insure no new Infiltrators come in.
Jupiter's almost clean, as well as its moons."
"That's great," smiled Sailor Mercury.
"And Sabaat?"
"They'll be arriving soon," said Sailor Venus.
"Excellent," smiled King Endymion.
"Okay, now that everyone is here," began Serenity.
"We just received some news that is not so good.
We now know the fate of the SLS Nephlyte and our special mission
force. Raye?"
"Actually, I just got the news.
Mina was there when it arrived," said Sailor Mars.
She nodded to Sailor Venus, who stood.
"Okay. About five hours
ago, at eighteen hundred hours, we received a burst transmission from a probe in
the Atlantis system. It was from
the SLS Nephlyte. Its
onboard status indicators show it was heavily damaged; it was charred by severe
antiproton radiation, the sort only found when one of our engine cores explode.
We gather from this that the Nephlyte has been destroyed.
However, an image aboard the probe showed the ship was tethered to some
large DK structure; we therefore concluded the crew had been captured, but
somehow managed to activate the self-destruct sequence.
The probe's timer had been activated as scheduled, but it wasn't
launched; instead, it continued to record images and sensor readouts.
From that, we got this," reported Sailor Venus, as the screen behind
her lit up with a picture of a large, ring-shaped structure against the
background of the nebula.
"Sensors were sketchy, due to the nebula, but it appears to be some
kind of transport gate. The exact
details are unknown, but courtesy of Sailor Mercury, we can theorize that it is
some sort of subspace warping conduit. Which,
of course, explains the sheer amount of DK ships present in both systems,"
Sailor Venus continued.
"How many?" asked Sailor Jupiter.
"Last report: four hundred eighty-three, with two hundred
seventy-seven defensive platforms. The
planet is colonized, too," replied Sailor Venus.
"It never rains, it just pours cats and dogs."
A scattered, tolerant chuckle made Sailor Venus shrug.
"Whatever; you know what I mean."
"So, we have a challenge ahead of us; and the Nephlyte, with
her crew and six dedicated Sorcerers, died in a valiant attempt to get us this
information," sighed Serenity softly.
She stood, turning to the painting on the wall.
It was a landscape, done by Sailor Neptune of the old Palace of the
Silver Millennium. She nodded.
"Some may still be alive," said Luna softly.
"Indeed. As soon as
Sabaat is liberated, we will make plans to tackle the Atlantis system.
And we must accelerate the liberation of Sabaat; I do not wish to have
anyone who may still be alive in the clutches of our enemy.
We will make every effort to rescue them."
"As you wish, Serenity," nodded Sailor Mars.
They slowly began to file out. Serenity
gazed at the painting. "Never
again," she murmured. "Never
again will the darkness overtake our light.
This will be the be-all, end-all."
She turned from the painting. Endymion
and Sailor Mars remained. "Ready
one of the scout ships, Raye. Prepare
it for a... special guest."
"Yes, Serenity," Sailor Mars said quietly.
She gazed at her as she walked past, with Endymion.
"I'd love to know what she's thinking," she muttered, shaking
her head.
With that, Sailor Mars exited the chamber, the lights dimming behind her.
STAY
TUNED!