"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
2-15: Happy Endings?
Rated:
R
Somewhere
in deep space, approaching the Holy Droylian Empire Border, 10 February 2738
The
SLS Pleiades II
"Anything?" Princess Serena asked, walking slowly around the
quiet bridge. The seemingly
infinite search was grating on her patience.
"Still nothing," replied the duty ops officer, monitoring the
scans.
"This is really creepy," muttered the Guardian of Truth softly.
Sailor Astraea was slightly nervous; then again, their first encounter
with the individual they now sought hadn't been pretty.
"Shouldn't we be picking up some sort of signature by now?"
queried Sailor Eos.
Sorcerer Merlin stirred from his vigil at the science station.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. I
do not expect this to be easy. It
is entirely likely he realized how exposed he was here, and already left
covertly; the better to waste our time."
The ambassador looked on, not saying a word.
"Approaching the moon now, Admiral," reported the lieutenant at
helm.
"No sign of any craft," ops put in.
"Intensifying surface scans."
"Status?" Serena
questioned, just to make herself feel better.
Tactical answered. "Standing
to at Yellow Alert; Shields layer one up; remaining three layers at hot standby,
weapons at hot standby, engines at hot standby, and one pair of IF fighters
deployed and orbiting, with the other pair at hot-launch status."
"Very good," Reeni said. "Helm,
compute for, and bring us into, a standard orbit; ops, reroute additional power
for scans of the moon. See if we
can at least determine his original landing point."
After a pair of acknowledgements, Reeni turned, and crossed to her chair,
sinking into it.
"I hate this part," she muttered.
From the looks on the others' faces, she wasn't alone.
Somewhere
in deep space, just inside Dark Kingdom space, near the Alpha Zone, 10 February
2738
The
SLS Orion
Sailor Cygni's fingers restlessly tapped the right armrest of the
captain's chair on the bridge of the Orion.
Her left hand was holding her head up, and an expression that combined
hope and boredom was plastered on her face.
She noticed Sailor Vulcan's steady gaze, and followed it to her tapping
fingers. Sailor Cygni blinked, and
grinned sheepishly as she stopped. "Sorry,"
she muttered. "Forgot about
your sensitive hearing."
"It would not have bothered me so much, had you kept a steady
rhythm," Sailor Vulcan replied calmly.
Sailor Cygni chuckled. "Are
you trying to say I have no sense of rhythm?"
"One of many shortcomings Humans have; but I endeavor not to hold it
against you," Sailor Vulcan answered without missing a beat.
"And they say Vulcans don't have a sense of humor," snorted
Sailor Cygni, grabbing her armrests and pulling herself to her feet.
"How we doing?"
"Still following programmed search parameters," ops reported. "Cloak is holding; a good thing, considering I believe
we are in DK territory."
"Right," sighed Sailor Cygni, slowly strolling around the
bridge. "Searching, being
patient, and waiting." She
stopped, and surveyed the readouts at the science station.
"I hate this part," grumbled Sailor Cygni.
She noted Sailor Vulcan's knowing, tolerant gaze, and rolled her eyes.
The
Sabaat Starbase, Sabaat system, 10 February 2738
The lift door rolled open, and Brad London stalked out into the control
center of the starbase. He was in a
particularly foul mood; being rescued by a GM ship hadn't helped his anger much.
"Ah, the infamous Brad London," came a female voice; he turned
to snap at whomever had spoken, but bit off his angry retort as he noticed her
outfit. It took him a second to
place her, and the additional female that had just entered the control center
from the station commander's office.
"Sailor Orion, Sailor America," he said gruffly.
"I believe you know our tactical officer?" Sailor Orion said
blankly, noting his attitude.
Brad's eyes widened slightly as the officer in question approached, a
faint smile on his face.
"Hey, Brad," Jack London said.
"I've been asked to sit in on his little meeting.
I think you should calm down, as we're all very interested in what the Dread
pulled, and how they pulled it off."
Brad scowled. "Lovely.
Just fucking lovely. Lead
the way, cousin."
This is going to be fun, Brad thought glumly.
I just love getting my face rubbed in my failures!
A
small moon just inside the border of the Holy Droylian Empire, 10 February 2738
The small shuttle flared, sending up a small snow cloud as it slowed; it
leveled out, and gently set itself down with a soft thump.
The faint hum of the shuttle's main drive died down.
Inside the shuttle, Reeni frowned out of the windshield at the landscape.
"Looks nice and barren," she commented, eyeing the driving
winds and blowing snow. She shifted slightly; of the six people in the shuttle, only
the pilot was not wearing an environmental suit.
Reeni made sure her pink pigtails were tucked in, before attaching her
helmet. The other four followed her
actions.
There was a soft hiss as the suit equalized pressure and environment;
Reeni then heard a click, followed by Merlin's voice.
"So, just how inhospitable is this moon?" Merlin asked via the
helmet comm.
Sailor Eos answered. "The
conditions include a dense, cold atmosphere with thick cloud cover, and
massively powerful winds. We're
looking at perpetual darkness, with a lot of snow and temperatures nearing a
mere 15 degrees on the Kelvin scale."
Sailor Astraea rolled her eyes. "Good
thing the shuttle and suits are all self-heating.
Unfortunately, this is the closest spot we could land; it's still quite a
hike to the location we believe he landed at."
"Right," Reeni said, as Ambassador Hehgrah finished installing
his helmet on his modified suit. "To the airlock;
let's get this over with."
The quintet stepped to the rear hatch, and Reeni tapped the control pad.
A forcefield activated behind them; and the hatch opened slowly.
Even with the necessary pressure equalization and protection systems at
full power, the force of the environment outside still practically sucked them
out of the shuttle.
"Whoa!" Merlin gasped; the five were almost immediately plunged
into several feet of perpetually moving snow.
"Are we having fun yet?" Sailor Eos said grimly as they began
forcing their way through the snow.
"I'd suggest a blaster to clear a path if the path would stay
cleared for five seconds," sighed Reeni.
"But it won't."
The five struggled on, all but obscured from each other. All five activated their helmet's secondary vision modes;
they staggered after the hot shape in front of them, with Merlin in the lead,
trying not to lead them into a crevasse or other such fun obstacle.
At times, the blast of the winds almost lifted them off their feet; there
was one occasion when an almost sheer wall of ice and snow smashed into them,
completely obscuring their vision from each other.
"Wow," muttered Sailor Astraea.
She managed to right herself, and a quick glance showed everyone else
digging themselves out from the snow on infrared.
She brought up the map display on her armpad; she heaved a sigh. "This weather is too nasty!
We've spent nearly an hour, and traveled less than 500 meters!"
"Damn, we've barely left the shuttle," Ambassador Hehgrah
snarled. "How are we supposed
to get anywhere like this!?"
Reeni groaned. "I guess
we have only one option, then." Her
forehead suddenly burst into golden light; a silvery dome surrounded the party,
and inside the dome, all was calm.
"Move out," muttered Reeni, concentrating hard.
They staggered on.
It was another three hours before they noticed a cave on their scans; it
coincided with the engine residue from a GM shuttle.
After making their way through a cleft in the ice and snow covered rocks,
they entered a relatively peaceful vale. It
was small, with high walls; the snow depth in it was even deeper then outside,
since there was less wind.
"How the hell did he get a shuttle in here?" asked Sailor
Astraea in bewilderment. "That
would take a massive amount of skill, and I didn't think Torym was that good of
a pilot."
"His abilities would be boosted massively by the Necronomicon,"
Merlin replied.
Sailor Eos shone her wristlight along the walls of the vale.
"Scorch marks," she said, pointing them out.
"Shuttle exhaust, close proximity."
"I agree," nodded Hehgrah.
"Well, let's see what there is to see," Reeni ordered, nodding
towards the cave.
Five wristlights cut the gloom as the party entered the cave mouth; their
lights reflected off surreally glittering walls, roof, and floor.
The cave was huge; and everything within was coated in snow and ice.
As they moved in, they began to notice tracks; a lot of them.
The wind didn't reach in as far as they were; it seemed as if no one had
been here in a while.
The lights were moving all around, now, scanning everywhere; the group
had separated slightly during their searching, with Sailor Eos and Sailor
Astraea sticking close to their charges.
"I don't think there's anything here," Merlin sighed. "If he was here, he's gone."
His reply came from Sailor Eos' mouth.
"Oh shit!" she gasped, as the ice wall near her exploded, and
zombies staggered out, moaning and extending their arms. Sailor Eos and Reeni dropped back; the zombies poured out of
a hole in the wall.
Even as Merlin, Sailor Astraea, and Hehgrah drew their suit blaster
pistols, other loud crashings rent the air; three more wall breaches poured out
zombies. The five backed away from
the flows, never realizing they were being herded until they bumped into each
other.
"We're surrounded," gasped Sailor Astraea; she raised her
blaster in concert with the others, and five beams of white-hot energy ripped
into the oncoming swarm of the walking dead.
"He's not controlling them!" Merlin called out.
"They're acting of their own accord!"
"We've got to-" Reeni paused to blast another zombie, watching
it disintegrate before she continued. "-get
to the entrance."
A white nimbus briefly surrounded another zombie before it, too,
disintegrated; Merlin nodded, calling upon his powers, raising his hand; swarm
of rocks abruptly burst forth, pummeling and battering a score of the undead
into oblivion.
"Let's go!" called Reeni; Merlin led the way, with Hehgrah and
Reeni following. The two Guardians
stayed behind a moment longer, backpedaling and firing; once their charges were
at the cave mouth, they turned and ran.
Four of them suddenly heard a gasp of pain; Sailor Eos spun as she
realized Sailor Astraea was no longer beside her.
She was now lying prone, a dead hand clenched around her left ankle, with
other zombies crawling all over her.
Sailor Astraea rolled slightly, twisting her body and aiming down. A white beam nailed the zombie holding her right between the
eyes; as it disintegrated, she rolled to avoid the effect, and the mass of
creatures coming after her.
She was now isolated, and surrounded; she could hear Sailor Eos' shout,
and the others' blaster fire. A
swarm of them were now focusing on her.
"Damn," she whispered, before eyeing the roof of the cave; she
hurriedly raised her blaster and took aim; a sheet of fire ripped through the
zombie ranks, and a blast of energy resembling a Moon Gorgeous Meditation
completely obliterated a large mass of the walking dead.
It wasn't enough; she crouched and tensed as clawed hands reached for
her. She pulled the trigger.
A beam of white-hot energy abruptly nailed the cavern roof; Sailor Eos's
eyes widened, and she turned and leapt, missing the gray-blue blur that suddenly
hurtled over the zombies as a loud roar filled the air.
Small chunks of ice and rock tumbled down, to be followed by the roof
caving in. Sailor Eos threw out her
arms, catching Hehgrah and Reeni, dragging them down to safety.
The trio fell into the thick snow, and Sailor Eos abruptly reached up and
yanked Merlin off his feet before ducking herself.
A massive plume of rock dust and ice shards blasted out over the area;
Sailor Eos winced as she felt the impacts on her suit.
It passed, and all was silent. Sailor
Eos slowly raised herself up, surveying the scene.
Nothing moved. Everyone near
her seemed to be unhurt.
"Clear," she said, hastily climbing to her feet.
"Sailor Astraea?"
There was a long pause, and then Sailor Eos breathed in relief as Sailor
Astraea's voice replied.
"Y.... yeah?" she responded, shakily, weak.
"Just seeing if you're still with us," Sailor Eos said.
"F- for a little bit longer, at least," Sailor Astraea's shaky
voice said. Pain was evident in her
tone.
"What are you talking about?" Sailor Eos urgently demanded; all
four were now on their feet, approaching the rubble.
"W-well, I m- mostly dodged the rubble, but n- not enough," she
whispered. Her teeth began to
chatter. "And I- I'm afraid
some of the zombies got through my suit; o- one of them even bit m- me."
The four shared a look. "Hang
in there, kid! Fight it!
We're coming!" They
raised their scanners, and began looking amidst the rubble; but it was
ultimately red blood on snow that got their attention.
Sailor Astraea was in very evident pain, her suit shredded in several
places, her left leg bent at the wrong place and wrong angle.
"Damn, we've got to hurry," Reeni said, her eyes locked on her
microcomp. "She's in a bad
way." She let the comp drop to
her side, and concentrated; a silvery dome once again surrounded them, as the
other three finished digging Sailor Astraea out; Merlin took her in a fireman's
carry, and they started back to the shuttle.
They were almost back when scratchy sounds came over their comms; the
closer they moved, the clearer it got, until they could finally understand it.
"Shuttlecraft one to Admiral Tsukino!"
The shuttle's pilot sounded nearly panicked.
"Go ahead," Reeni replied.
"I've been trying to raise you for ten minutes!
The Pleiades is under attack!"
The four shared one look, and doubled their pace.
The
SLS Pleiades II
The small, nimble ship ducked into a tight spiral, beams of blue energy
racing past, her deployed fighters twisting with her.
Four Droylian destroyers were now attempting to flank them.
"I said we're here on a diplomatic mission!
Our party is on the moon's surface!" snapped the ops officer,
temporarily captain of the vessel.
"So, you are aiding the evil that landed here; all the more reason
to destroy you!" came an angry reply from the lead destroyer; the Pleiades
bucked, and sparks burst from several consoles as a few of the beams scored.
"Shields level two holding at ninety percent!" hollered
tactical.
The blonde ops officer scowled, her features giving the distinct
impression she was unhappy.
"One of the party is your own ambassador!" she tried, wondering
what response she'd get.
"That heretic! Why-"
The communication was suddenly interrupted; Reeni's face came on the now
split-screen. "This is Admiral
Tsukino of the Golden Millennium. Unless
you people want a full-fledged war with the GM, you'd damn well better stop
shooting at my ship, and allow our shuttle to reach our ship unscathed. We have wounded aboard.
And I don't see how or why you can misconstrue this; we're here at the
request of your government. I
suggest you back off and talk to them. Pleiades,
status?"
"We're okay so far, ma'am. What
happened down there?" ops asked, wondering what reply she'd get over the
open channel.
"Oh, not much. That
bastard left behind a few legions of his undead friends, and while we destroyed
them all, Sailor Astraea is in desperate need of sickbay.
If she doesn't get it in a few minutes, we're going to lose her."
"I just alerted sickbay to send a team to the shuttlebay for a medical
emergency," ops replied.
The Droylian ships remained silent, backing off slightly, weapons fire
ceasing.
"Good," Reeni replied. The
shuttle was now escaping the fringes of the moon's atmosphere; the fighters left
the Pleiades' side and raced to escort the shuttle.
"By the way, good job dodging and holding your fire; but if they
decide to attack you again, you are cleared to use whatever force necessary to
repel them."
"Yes, ma'am," ops replied.
"Shuttlebay, launch remaining fighters into a defensive
pattern."
"The Droylian ships are standing down," tactical reported.
"They just deactivated weapons; there is massive comm traffic over
there."
"Excellent," ops said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Go to yellow alert; recall all craft when the Admiral's shuttle is
aboard."
Then, on shaky knees, she stumbled to the captain's chair and gratefully
lowered herself into it.
"And those captains will be punished if you so desire," the
Droylian admiral said on screen an hour later.
Reeni shook her head no. "We
took no serious damage, and they were just doing their jobs," she replied
graciously. "We did clear that
moon of any surprises, and he's no longer there.
I don't think that will be a problem for you any more. As far as us, we'll be exiting your space as soon as we
conclude a deep scan of the immediate area; hopefully we'll be able to pick up a
trail. No more than an hour."
"One hour," the Droylian nodded.
He paused. "Thank you,
Admiral."
"No problem," Reeni said.
She waved her hand. The
screen reverted to an outside view; only one destroyer was still there, now in a
companionable orbit slightly ahead of them.
"Princess Serena to sickbay," she said.
"Sickbay here, your Highness," came the reply.
"Sailor Astraea's been stabilized.
She's recovering nicely, and is currently still unconscious and serious,
but stable."
"Keep me informed. Out."
That done, Reeni locked her gaze on Merlin.
Merlin shrugged. "Scans
so far showing nothing. I am not
optimistic about picking up his trail."
"Why? And why did we
not detect the zombies?" Reeni demanded.
"Magic wards, on both counts," Merlin stated quietly.
Reeni scowled. "Great."
She sank lower in her chair.
Somewhere
in deep space, in Dark Kingdom territory, 2 May 2738
The
SLS Bahumat
Sorcerer Derrelli leaned back, wiping the sweat from his forehead,
pausing a moment to think. The
previous day, the dead of the Bahumat had finally been accurately tallied; and
an elaborate funeral ceremony in the main shuttlebay had ended with all but
Sailor Geminga's corpse being committed to space, followed by twenty-one
low-powered blaster pulses in salute. Sailor
Geminga's corpse was now in stasis in the room sickbay had set up as a morgue,
per regulations regarding death of a Senshi.
It had been a necessary act, but now crew morale was even lower than
previously. Like Acting Captain
Shelia Thompson, Derrelli was hoping from some positive news to raise spirits
shipwide.
Well, he thought, eyeing the panel at his feet.
He could help on that score. He
crouched, grabbed the panel, and set it in place.
It sealed with a thunk. He
sat back in the corridor with a sigh, and spoke.
"Derrelli to the bridge."
"Commander Thompson here. Go
ahead, Derrelli," Shelia's voice replied.
"Run one last level five diagnostic on the internal sensors,
please," he said in a tired voice. He
had been running himself ragged, setting a challenging example for his mostly
conscripted troops. All had
developed some measure of competence and expertise in the areas he had assigned
them.
"Diagnostic complete. System
status fully functional," came Shelia's voice.
"Sweet," Derrelli chuckled.
"Captain, as promised, aside from main engines and long range
communications, the Bahumat is now fully repaired, cosmetic work in
unoccupied quarters aside."
"You are as good as your word, Derrelli," Shelia said; a note
of joy was in her voice. "And
I've got some good news regarding the asteroids around us; we're beginning
mining operations, as they've got plenty of what we need to rebuild the RIFT
engines!"
Derrelli whistled. "Let
me know when we have enough to begin, boss.
With proper materials and plenty of workers, it should take merely
another month or two to reassemble the engines!"
"I might just hold you to that, Pyro," Shelia chuckled. "What about comms?
I was thinking about sending out a probe, but I have reservations."
"Like?" Derrelli asked, wandering towards the lift at the end
of the corridor.
"Well, by our best guess, we're deep in DK territory.
I'd hate for them to track the trajectory back to us."
Derrelli nodded. "Can't
argue with that; we should probably wait, at least until the main engines are up
and running."
"Exactly. Would you
come to the bridge? It'd be nice to
have your opinion on these minerals," Shelia replied.
"On my way," Derrelli said as the lift opened.
The doors hissed open to allow Derrelli on the bridge; his eyes
immediately swept to the readings of the asteroids around them.
They were better than he could have hoped.
"Oh, yeah!" he grinned. "Let
me get you a precise total of what we need."
Shelia nodded as Derrelli moved to the engineering station.
On the center screen, small precision blaster pulses flashed, with
tractor beams drawing in selected chunks.
"Captain!" called Wizard Duke.
"Scattered readings on the other side of the belt; I can't be sure,
but I think there's a ship there!"
"Oh, damn," muttered Shelia.
"Can you identify?"
"Not at the moment," Duke frowned.
"Yellow Alert," ordered Shelia, standing up.
"Intensify scanning."
"Pretty good debris field; screwing up everything," Duke said quietly.
"Why me?" groaned Derrelli.
"I just got everything fixed!"
Things were silent for a long minute.
Duke suddenly grinned.
"Crystalline signature, captain."
There was a beep. "SLS Orion
calling SLS Bahumat. Damn,
it's good to finally see you!"
Shelia breathed in relief. "Likewise.
May I ask who I'm talking to?"
"Sailor Cygni. We
would've tried to sneak up on ya a little better, but I'm afraid there's too
much clutter hereabouts. What's
your status?" Sailor Cygni asked joyfully.
"Come on aboard, and we'll talk!" laughed Shelia.
Ten minutes later, Shelia, Duke, and Derrelli stood in the docking bay
access, gazing through the transparent crystal window, as
the doors closed. The Orion
settled in, guided by tractor and anchoring beams, making contact with the
umbilical connections with a series of hisses and thunks.
Another minute passed, and the main hatch hissed open. Sailors Cygni and Vulcan walked down the tunnel, and came to a
stop a few meters away. Sailor
Vulcan was stoic as usual, although a hint of satisfaction could be detected in
her eyes, while tears of joy filled Sailor Cygni's.
She abruptly threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Derrelli,
and planting her lips full on his, in a powerful kiss he couldn't help but
respond to.
When they stopped to catch their breath, Derrelli blinked. "Wow," he gulped, his hands on her waist.
He noted the amused looks on Shelia's and Duke's faces.
"What was that for?"
Sailor Cygni merely smiled.
"That's one hell of an ordeal," Sailor Cygni stated quietly
fifteen minutes later. "And I
quite agree with not communicating; I was going to let fleet command know we
found you, but considering the circumstances..."
She paused. "Any help
we can give you, you've got it. Shame
about Sailor Geminga. Although she
wasn't the easiest to get along with, she was one hell of a Senshi.
And our condolences to your valiant crew."
Shelia nodded. "We
appreciate it."
"You mentioned something about sneaking up on us," Derrelli put
in. "Does that mean the SLS Orion
is fully cleared for cloaked operations?"
Sailor Cygni blinked. "How'd
you know about that!?"
He grinned. "I worked
at Skunk Works, remember? If that
is the case, I would like to build one for us."
Sailor Vulcan raised an eyebrow. "Her
Highness declared only a few scout vessels may carry them."
"Be that as it may, Sailor Vulcan, I still wish to.
Normally, I would not presume on her Majesty's desires, but as soon as we
finish mining, we could move away from the belt and cloak ourselves until we fix
the main engines. We're deep in
hostile territory, and not quite ready for any engagements," Derrelli
explained.
Sailor Vulcan glanced at Sailor Cygni, who thoughtfully gazed at
Derrelli.
"I'll dismantle it the second we're back in GM space," Derrelli
added.
Sailor Cygni shrugged. "Sounds
good to me. I think we have a spare
for your long range communications, as well."
Derrelli leaned back. "Sweet.
And as soon as we're up and running..."
Duke grinned, as GIA activated herself.
"It's on!" GIA exclaimed enthusiastically.
STAY
TUNED!