"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
2-13: Action, Reaction
Rated:
R
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 13 January 2738
Subspace
Communications Central Control
"Anything?" a quiet feminine voice asked, startling Sailor
Cygni. She turned her head abruptly, eyeing the individual who had
just entered.
She sighed.
"No," she said in a soft tone, laced with misery and
hopelessness.
"It's okay, Sailor Cygni," murmured Sailor Venus comfortingly.
"Believe in him, hope beyond hope.
No one knows if they are dead or alive at this point, but..."
"I know," Sailor Cygni replied listlessly.
They were in the main subspace communications node of the Crystal Palace;
the room, besides the supervisor's position where the two of them currently
were, was a bustle of activity; numerous screens depicted numerous comms with
other ships, planets, and bases.
"Now, though, we have a hard task ahead of us," Sailor Cygni
said softly. "You know,
probably better than me, that after seventy-two hours after such an event, a
starship becomes MIA-presumed KIA, as are all of its crew."
"Yeah," Sailor Venus nodded.
"That's exactly why I'm here; just waiting on Sailor Betelgeuse to
join me for that purpose."
Sailor Cygni closed her eyes. "I
don't want to be around for this; I don't know if my spirits can take any more
of a beating." With that, she
slowly stood, nodded respectfully to Sailor Venus, and departed.
As the doors hissed shut behind her, Sailor Venus sighed.
"I wonder what's next?" the blonde-haired Planetary of Love
asked nobody in particular.
Neo-Queen
Serenity I's Primary Briefing Room
"Report, Michelle," Neo-Queen Serenity I ordered softly.
Sailor Neptune sighed, and glanced down at the microcomp in front of her,
on the highly polished redwood table. "Destiny
will be completed as scheduled; final tests begin in exactly eight days.
We've accelerated the training of new crews for the new ships; they will
be ready in two weeks. Plans for the incorporation of Battlewings are ready; the
whole fleet is eager to acquire them. The
first Battlewings will be delivered to the fleet within a week; full supply will
take an estimated three months."
"Do we have that much time?" asked King Endymion.
The plush surroundings were quiet; everyone was still in a somber mood
from the recent events.
Sailor Mercury nodded as she spoke up.
"A pessimistic estimate of the target completion date of that gate
is five months from now. I do not
believe the DK will be able to finish it that quickly, however; and the gate has
no defenses besides its own, and whatever ships may be guarding it.
No nebulas, planets, asteroids, or any sort of obstacle are anywhere near
it. It'll be a deep-space battle;
and if we approach it the right way, we'll be able to dictate the terms of the
battle."
"A small comfort," put in Artemis.
"Very good," murmured Serenity.
She looked about the room slowly. "Now,
what are we doing about this Trojan Horse threat that Omega Force
discovered?"
Sailor Mercury again spoke. "We've
added in automatic deep-scan and threat detection to every scanning grid we
have; it is a computerized process, and instantaneous.
Any signs of dual brainwaves or personalities, or anything remotely
dealing with such a possible threat, will trigger it. We've also alerted all Senshi and Sorcerers to be on their
toes. Frankly, Serenity, I don't
think we really need to worry about it; Omega Force nipped that problem in the
bud, and it is a very remote probability that the DK will continue on something
that could very well be turned against them."
"How remote?" Princess Serena wanted to know.
"Roughly one in one three eight six... followed by over a thousand
zeroes," Sailor Mercury replied with a faint smile.
"Also, the records have been corrected as far as Sailor Europa is
concerned; and Sailor Betelgeuse's and Sailor Britannica's segment this morning
about her noble sacrifice will ensure that she will be remembered and
honored."
"Ships are already enroute to rebuild LP7," added Sailor
Neptune. "And the damaged Draco
II is in drydock right now; Omega Force is recuperating."
Serenity nodded, appearing satisfied.
"Now, what about the situation the landing party from the SLS Piranha
found themselves in?"
Neptune smiled. "Well,
we've got some good news on that score; they only lost one crewman, and captured
four living specimens of the Slashers, due to Sailor Persephone's Soul Slumber
ability. The creatures are in
stasis, and the Piranha is enroute to rendezvous with the battleship SLS Isis,
to transfer the creatures; the Isis will bring them the rest of the way
here."
Serenity blinked as she absorbed that.
"Well, that is good news. Excellent.
Now... what about the Bahumat?
Have we learned anything... anything at all?"
Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune glanced at each other.
"Nothing from the Bahumat itself, Serenity.
Mina and Sailor Betelgeuse are preparing the MIA-presumed KIA press
release as we speak," Sailor Neptune said slowly.
"As far as what we've received prior to losing the signal..."
Sailor Mercury trailed off, pausing for a moment, before resuming as she cleared
her throat. "Firstly, the
sensor data was what led us to know that the gate is not yet ready; it lacks the
equipment the previous one had to actually create and hold a stable conduit,
much less route it where it needs to go. The
existing ship data was nothing new. The
new ship... lends credibility to a severe threat.
The subspace generators that ship had could be used in many ways; they
could interfere with the formation of RIFT fields, and equipped on larger ships
could be used to render them immune to Ghost torpedoes. There is one other thing, which leads me to believe this is
the result of the data Archmage Ereunak's doppelganger got out.
A detailed analysis, followed by heavy computer simulation, reveals that
the subspace generator also creates an energy backlash through, and a breaking
down of the elements in, the new engine mods Sorcerer Derrelli designed.
The effect would be a lot less on the rest of our ships."
"You're saying that ship was specifically designed to do just
that?" Luna gasped.
"Yes," Sailor Mercury replied, calling up the stats on the main
screen in the chamber. "It's
easy enough to counter, and we're already looking at ways to do so. This still leaves the threat of the shockwaves of these
suicide ships, and the other aforementioned problems.
The thing is, I'm not sure even the DK will want to put those generators
on their larger vessels... since then they could no longer use tunneling beams
or negatorpedoes. Perhaps as a
last-resort weapon? I don't have
enough information to guess one way or the other; we also have no way to know
just what the cost, time spent, or resource expenditure of modifying ships for
that purpose may be."
Serenity stood, and gazed at the screen.
"Do what you can, Amy," she finally said.
"Thank you, everyone. You
may go."
The only sound in the room came from the sound of the plush chairs being
pushed back.
Planet
Earth, Sol system, City of Milwaukee, 13 January 2738
"And now, we jump net for a breaking press conference at the Crystal
Palace, on Luna," came the voice of the reporter.
It was another evening at the van Houtens; both Tamara and Tabatha were
watching the daily news on the 3v with their parents, home for a brief while
from their freshman year of college courses.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome," Sailor Betelgeuse said as she
entered the press room on the screen, crossing through all of the bright lights
and stopping at the podium. "The
purpose of this press conference is to update you on the recent situation in the
Alpha Zone. I will come right out
and say it. The SLS Bahumat,
an Oberon-class battleship with a few special refinements, has possibly
been lost after a battle with the Dark Kingdom."
Mary and Ron abruptly leaned forward, eyes widening, staring with intent
attention to the 3v screen.
"Lost?" asked Tabatha, noting their reaction.
"What...?"
"Sorcerer Derrelli was on that ship," Tamara said, poking her
twin in the ribs.
"Oh, no," whispered Mary.
"During the continuation of an already very active and busy patrol,
the Bahumat stumbled across an unfinished Gate, similar in nature to the
one destroyed over a year ago in the Atlantis system.
A small DK task force was protecting it.
The Bahumat had all but finished that force off, and was preparing
to attack the Gate itself, when a small, unknown vessel closed on it from
behind. This ship, a new type of DK
threat, deliberately overloaded a subspace reactor and exploded, releasing a
huge shockwave that slammed into the Bahumat. At this point, communications were cut off."
On the screen, Sailor Betelgeuse paused, glancing down at her microcomp;
when she looked back up, there was a glimmer of tears in her eyes.
"The Bahumat was struck at point-blank range with at least a
Force Seven, possibly as high as a Force Nine, subspace shockwave, with no
warning. It has now been over 72
hours since any sort of contact with the Bahumat; it is now officially
Missing In Action, presumed Killed In Action.
The captain was Sailor Geminga; recently promoted Sorcerer Derrelli was
also aboard, as was the Wizard Duke, and one thousand, eight hundred thirty-six
officers and crew. This is a
grievous loss in more ways than one; and as we learn more, so shall you, good
citizens of the Golden Millennium. That
is all at this time."
With that statement, Sailor Betelgeuse spun on her heel and departed the
chamber before she lost control, even as the room exploded into noise; the
screen reverted to the previous reporter, whose mouth worked for a moment before
he could even speak again.
With haunted eyes, the van Houtens gazed at each other for a moment
before losing it themselves.
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 13 January 2738
Sailor Cygni gazed blankly out over the rose gardens.
There weren't any tears left; and she wasn't in the mood to shed them
anymore, anyway.
She thought about her recent actions.
So she was besotted with someone... should she really act as she had
been? It wasn't truly professional.
Still, a long time ago, Neo-Queen Serenity I herself had declared that
love was one of the few things truly worth risking everything for.
But was it a true love?
Sailor Cygni didn't have a clue. She
liked to think so, but had no prior reference to base such a thought on.
She was slightly comforted by the fact that Sailor Venus seemed to
understand what she was feeling... and seemed to think it was a strong love.
Sailor Cygni sighed, knowing the misery was slowly turning into something
else. It took her a moment to
identify it.
Rage.
Sailor Cygni frowned, the frown becoming a scowl as she allowed that
emotion to build within her, to give her courage.
She arrived at a decision. She
needed to speak with Sailor Neptune or Serenity...
As she turned, a youngish man in the heavily modified garb of a Sorcerer
surprised her, leaning on an old oaken staff, which tip was carved to resemble a
claw, and held a clear glittering diamond.
His outfit was a take on the uniform of the RSN; he wore a dark blue
color amidst the black and gray; he lacked a cape.
"Whoa!" she blinked, backing against the railing.
He looked familiar; it took her a second to place his face, changed as
though it were. "Merlin?"
"Indeed," Sorcerer Merlin grinned slightly.
His voice was unchanged.
"What happened to you?" Sailor Cygni asked.
Merlin said nothing, merely extending his right palm toward her. A glittering gold crescent caught and reflected the light,
and the full import of that crescent burst through Sailor Cygni's brain.
"You joined the Sorcerers?" she asked softly, astonished.
"I did," the newly inducted Sorcerer Merlin responded.
"And passed Neo-Queen Serenity I's Test.
Imagine my surprise to discover that youth had been returned to me.
I am truly grateful for the opportunity Her Highness has given me; I have
now found a place I truly belong, with others of like power and life
expectancy."
Sailor Cygni gazed thoughtfully at him.
"I suppose it would have been lonely during your exile in Avalon;
but surely you enjoyed your time amongst King Arthur's court?"
"Not as much as you would think," Merlin replied.
"I was an advisor; a mystic, as it were, since no one there could
understand; perhaps King Arthur came close, but the majority of my life has been
one of self-imposed exile and loneliness. No
longer."
Sailor Cygni nodded. "Hmmm.
I think perhaps only Sailor Pluto of all of the Senshi would truly
understand that, though the rest of the Planetaries and a few of us have the
beginnings of a grasp of that concept. Well,
let me be the one of the many to say 'Welcome!'"
She extended her hand. “Congratulations."
Merlin took it, and shook it firmly.
"Thank you."
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be off," Sailor Cygni said.
"Where, and why?" Merlin asked, curious.
"To see Sailor Neptune, and possibly Her Majesty," Sailor Cygni
replied, her voice going cold. "I'm
going to be a part of the force that deals with the Gate; until then, I want
permission to search for the Bahumat... by any means necessary."
"Good luck, then," Merlin replied, watching her head for the
lift. He turned, and took a deep
breath of the fresh Lunar air, enjoying his rejuvenated vitality.
He knew, before long, that he would have to begin the search for the one
that got away.
For the first time, he also knew he was not alone.
A very comforting thought for someone who had been alone as long as he.
Deputy
Commander In Chief of the Royal Star Navy's Office
Sailor Neptune leaned back in her chair as Sailor Cygni finished her
proposal. She thought for a moment
before replying.
"I'll be glad to include you as a starship commander for the fight
against that Gate, Sailor Cygni," Sailor Neptune responded, slowly. "But I am not sure I can chop loose another vessel for
the purpose of looking for a ship that is probably... gone."
"As I've said, Sailor Neptune, I will do it.
No matter what the cost. If
I have to hire a merc to do so, so be it," Sailor Cygni replied.
"For this first time, I may have found someone I actually care about
in that way, and I don't believe he's dead.
I'm not asking much; a destroyer or a scout ship will suffice.
For crying out loud, we can't just write off nearly nineteen hundred
people without making the attempt!"
The Senshi of the Oceans frowned slightly, as her door slid open.
"I believe it is a noble purpose," came a soft voice. Sailor Neptune stood as Serenity entered the room, trailed by
Sailor Venus, Venus Knight, and Sailor Vulcan.
"Your Majesty?" Sailor Cygni blinked, moving aside.
"We can spare a destroyer, can we not, Michelle?" Serenity
asked.
"Yes, but the crew will be green," Sailor Neptune slowly
answered. "And Sailor Cygni
doesn't have all that much experience commanding a starship."
"Logically," Sailor Vulcan began, "any crew would be
considered 'green' and inexperienced until they gain experience; there is but
one way to do that. And logically,
since Sailor Cygni is relatively inexperienced as well, one would have to assign
a first officer who is not. Therefore,
if we follow logic, I must be posted as her first officer on this
endeavor."
Sailor Cygni's large brown eyes widened, joy slowly filling them. Sailor Venus winked at her.
"As Sailor Cygni so adroitly pointed out, we must at least make a
search attempt. Granted, we've
never had a situation where so large a ship has disappeared without a trace and
in such inhospitable space, but we've always sent at least one ship to
investigate. We shall also do so in
this case," Serenity concluded. Her
expression changed to a sly smile. "And
I always appreciate volunteers."
Sailor Neptune slowly lowered herself to her seat.
"Quite," she finally said.
Slowly, she smiled, and pressed a panel in her desk.
"And I have a better idea in mind than a destroyer.
Nirvana, get me Sailor Mercury, please."
Sailor Neptune spun around to the wall screen as it slid down.
There was a beep, and Nirvana, the AI of the CP, spoke.
"One moment, please, Sailor Neptune; she is in conference."
There was a brief pause, and then Sailor Mercury came on the screen. "Hiya, Michelle. What
can I do for you?"
"What is the status of the Orion?" Sailor Neptune asked.
Sailor Mercury blinked. "Ready
for operational test and initial cruise. But
we haven't discussed its usage with Serenity."
"Why would you have to, Amy?" Serenity questioned.
Sailor Mercury did a double take, and glared at Sailor Neptune. "You could have told me," she stated accusingly,
before switching to Serenity. "The
reason we needed to discuss it with you is because the scout ship SLS Orion
is a testbed for a cloaking device. This
device essentially bends light and other particles around the vessel, rendering
it invisible. It's more technical
than that, obviously, but the applications are tremendous."
"I'm not sure I like the idea of sneaking around; we are the GM, and
above such things," Serenity spoke slowly.
"I know," Sailor Mercury said in a placating tone. "That's why we've only looked into developing such a
device for scout vessels, which by definition do not truly represent us to the
rest of the galaxy, and are not by any means powerful combatants.
We can't cloak fighters; they are too small to carry the requisite
equipment and power supply; only starships can utilize this.
We figured that a scout ship, whose purpose is to gather information,
could be equipped with this as an additional defense; perhaps even only a select
few, for gathering info in hostile territory or conducting secret
missions."
Serenity carefully thought about that.
"Very well. Assuming
this device is proven effective, we will equip special mission ships such as the
SLS Draco II, and approximately one quarter of our scout ship fleet as
well, the ones tasked to gathering intelligence on our enemies.
And, since we need the test under operational and hazardous conditions,
as of this moment, Sailor Cygni is the captain of the Orion, tasked with
scanning the Gate and surrounding space for information, and attempting to
locate the Bahumat, in whatever form it may be.
Sailor Vulcan is her first officer; we will need a crew, preferably
volunteers."
"I daresay we might be able to scratch up a few," Venus Knight
allowed with a grin.
"Thank you for this opportunity, Your Highness," Sailor Cygni
said, standing at attention. "I'll
do my best."
"I know you will," Serenity replied.
"Now, you have a lot of work ahead of you; get with Amy and learn
all you can about this cloaking device, and then see to your new command; leave
as soon as you can."
"You got it!" Sailor Cygni grinned.
"C'mon, Sailor Vulcan."
The two of them departed in a rush, and Sailor Venus turned to Sailor
Neptune.
"I hope she succeeds," Sailor Neptune said.
"I would hate to lose that ship and her crew; and I want to believe
that the Bahumat is also still with us, and just unable to tell us
so."
"She already does," Sailor Venus said softly.
"Love is a wonderful thing."
Sailor Neptune and Serenity nodded agreement.
With that, Serenity, Sailor Venus, and Venus Knight left.
An
asteroid belt near Dreyious Prime, 13 January 2738
The
Dread
"Well?" Heran asked.
Aaryx nodded slowly. "There
was a homing package aboard the shuttle from the Battleaxe; and it seems
you were right. You have great
hearing, Boss."
"Those two humans. Damn
them!" scowled Heran.
"It seems quite logical to guess the first 'package' was the
explosives affixed to the Battleaxe; the second was the homing beacon.
I do not know if there may be more; our most thorough searches have
revealed nothing further," Aaryx concluded.
Heran sat, fingers steepled in thought.
Finally, he spoke.
"You have left the beacon on?"
Aaryx nodded. "Why let
them know we know about it?"
Heran grinned. "Quite.
Well, let me see." Heran
stood, and began slowly pacing. "I
had an... acquaintance... run down who could possibly have done this, and the
keys were using old GM technology, as well as Ghost torpedoes, and being human.
Only one individual came up as qualifying for all three:
a merc named Brad London, ex-GM LISA agent.
His ship is named the Atlanta; he's regarded as ruthless, cocky,
and deadly; he also happens to have a few issues, such as an addiction to
alcohol."
"He probably has Neris," Aaryx pointed out.
"I know," Heran nodded. "I
also know Neris won't talk. She's
tougher than she looks. Now, here's
my plan. We'll add a tracer signal
to the homing beacon, and thus triangulate where the Atlanta is. Then..."
Ulysses
Dockyard, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 16 January 2738
The
SLS Orion
"Status?" asked Sailor Cygni, lowering herself into the
captain's chair. The past three
days had been quite hectic, getting a crew together and taking a crash renewal
course in starship command, and learning all the capabilities of the cloaking
device.
"All systems ready," Sailor Vulcan reported.
"Great," nodded Sailor Cygni. She
glanced at comm. "Hail
departure; let 'em know we're ready."
"We're clear for departure," replied her comm officer seconds
later.
"Excellent. Lieutenant
O'Connor? I believe you know the
way out of here," Sailor Cygni said, settling back in her chair; it would
be several days before they reached the location of the loss of signal from the Bahumat.
Lieutenant Sean O'Connor grinned. It
felt good to be at the helm of a Pleiades-class scout ship again; it was
like coming home. His fingers
danced over the controls, and the Orion pulled away from its berth.
It sailed majestically through the bustling shipyard, finally clearing
the impressive expanse. It moved
further away, and the red ionic trail behind the sublight drive lengthened as
the scout ship approached L-point. On
the bridge, Sailor Cygni glanced at Sailor Vulcan.
"Here we go," she murmured, before raising her voice. "Helm, max RIFT speed to the listed coordinates.
Engage."
The SLS Orion disappeared in a spiraling burst of white light.
Somewhere
in deep space, near an asteroid belt, 25 January 2738
The
SLS Bahumat
"Yes?" Commander Shelia Thompson said tiredly, in response to
the door beep. It hissed open to
reveal Sorcerer Derrelli.
She leaned back, and rubbed her eyes.
"I know the feeling, Shelia," sighed Derrelli wearily. "It's been a very busy twelve days... and it's going to
be a very busy Serenity knows how many months."
"You've finally completed the damage report and repair schedule,
then?" Shelia asked.
"Yeah. The fact it took
that long to do so should tell you something about how bad it all is.
Good thing you're sitting." Derrelli
glanced down at his microcomp. "First
things first. They knew exactly how
to hit us."
Shelia sat bolt upright. "WHAT!?"
Derrelli nodded. "The
weapon they used on us was designed specifically to cause intense shock damage
to everything, and to cause the more unstable mix of particles that comprise our
fuel to backlash and destroy the higher-velocity conduits and enhanced field
coils I designed. All of that stuff
is gone. Period.
Nothing remains."
"Mother of Serenity," muttered Shelia.
"There's a spy somewhere in the works."
"Yep. Anyway, to
summarize the bad news, repairing FTL drive is going to be a huge project at
best; that's assuming the sensors, when repaired, find the necessary materials
in the local area of space. Hull
damage is massive; it'll take four months just to fix that.
We have absolutely no way of repairing the long-range communications
system, no matter what; several irreplaceable components have been lost, as well
as all of the spares. I may be able
to rig something later. We ought to
be able to fix everything else, though; and the sublight engines are already
fully repaired, as is life support and environmental controls.
Repairs on all systems but engines and long-range comms should be
concluded about the three-month mark," Derrelli said.
"That long?" asked Shelia.
"Well, we are working with largely unskilled labor, and the crew is
down to a mere six hundred. This
does mean, though, that a lot of the cosmetic stuff can wait, such as in the
unoccupied quarters," Derrelli explained.
Shelia sighed, massaging her temples.
"There's got to be some way we can communicate.
Do we have any probes left?"
"Yes, but there is one small problem with that," Derrelli
pointed out. "We have
absolutely no clue where the fuck we are... and no sort of spatial reference to
rely on... at least until the sensors get fixed.
And even then, how do we know the probe will make it?
Granted, we have to try, but I think that should wait."
"Indeed," sighed Shelia. She
spun her chair around, and gazed out of the clear patches of the slightly glazed
window. "Morale is going to be
a problem, too. Everyone's going to
have to work past their limits, and then some."
"So you schedule mandatory holo time for rec purposes,"
Derrelli said. "That'll be
somewhat simple to repair... once that section of the ship has atmosphere and
hull, that is."
"Thanks, Derrelli. We
all owe you a lot, you know," Shelia replied.
"Like all of our lives."
Derrelli waved it off. "Just
doing my job. And, sooner or later,
this ship is going to take that gate and stuff it right up the DK's collective
ass, you wait and see."
Shelia grinned. "I
sincerely hope so."
Derrelli nodded, and left. As
the doors hissed shut behind him, he paused to lean against the scorched wall.
"You got a big job ahead, Pyro," he muttered to himself. "Better get to it."
He set off down the corridor.
STAY
TUNED!