"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
2-16: Heat Wave
Rated:
R
Somewhere
in deep space, in Dark Kingdom territory, 8 May 2738
The
SLS Bahumat
"I'm still amazed that you repaired this ship so handily with so
little, in both resources and people," Hoshiko said, eyes wandering around
the corridor as she strolled next to Derrelli.
He grimaced. Enforced
relaxation time did not sit well with him.
"Yeah, well, you gotta do what you gotta do," he muttered. Hoshi gave him a shrewd, sideways look.
"You really hate not doing work when it needs doing, don't
you?" she chuckled.
Derrelli rolled his eyes. "You
got that right."
"Even if it's with a pretty girl like me?" she asked slyly.
Derrelli paused, and gave her a careful look.
"That reminds me... What
was with that kiss?"
Hoshi paused, glancing out the transparent crystal window at the asteroid field outside.
She spoke softly. "Do you know what I had to go through to get command of
the Orion? To come searching
for you- the Bahumat?"
Derrelli's eyes narrowed as she continued, catching her slip.
"Do you have any idea how much it tore me up inside when they
declared Bahumat MIA- presumed KIA? I
mean..." Hoshi paused, and faced Derrelli squarely.
Her face was deadly serious. "Derrelli,
I have never cried like that. I have never had my heart wrenched like that."
Derrelli said nothing, patiently listening.
"I... I...
I don't know how to deal with this; I never thought this could happen to
me," Hoshi whispered.
"You love me," he said quietly, matter-of-factly.
Hoshi nodded, eyes glimmering. "That
was Sailor Venus' conclusion, too."
Derrelli grinned slightly. "Well,
she's pretty much the expert, so if she says it, it must be true."
Hoshi blinked. "Well,
so now you know. I love you,
Derrelli. I love you so much it
hurts."
"Well, Hoshi, I can't say I've had all that much time to think
lately," he said awkwardly, running his hands through his hair.
"Fortunately for you, I am unattached... and I find you pretty,
intelligent, and fascinating."
"Fascinating?" she smiled.
"I think you've been around Sailor Vulcan too much."
"And you haven't?" he retorted.
"She is your first officer."
He paused. "Well, how
about a date? I know this great
place back on Earth... and I did fix the holosuites, so..."
Hoshi beamed, and placed her arm in his.
"After you."
They walked down the corridor, turning to the lift.
"I think-" Hoshi began, to be cut off by the lights flashing
red, accompanied by a siren and Neo's voice.
"Red Alert, Red Alert! All
hands to battlestations!"
Derrelli simply groaned.
The Bahumat pulled out of the asteroid field, coming around to
face the incoming ships. The mighty
battlewagon's defensive shields were already up, and its weapons were charging
as it settled on its new heading.
On the bridge, Commander Thompson frowned.
"How are they doing with our jamming?"
"They have not broken through yet," reported Sailor Vulcan.
"Good," Shelia said. "Duke,
slide through 'em; let's use every ounce of firepower we've got. Comm systems are the highest priority. Tactical, prepare for the Crescent Crossover Crippler, one
grouping per target." The
maneuver had been created by Neo-Queen Serenity I during the Second Lunar-Nega
War, and had since been perfected.
"You got it," Wizard Duke nodded, hands dancing over the
controls, as tactical nodded. The
doors to the back of the bridge hissed open, and a now-transformed Sailor Cygni
and Sorcerer Derrelli stepped out of the lift.
"What's up?" Derrelli asked.
"A quartet of DK cruisers," muttered Shelia.
"Nothing we can't handle; the trick is keeping them from
communicating."
"You do realize the DK will send patrols to look for the missing,
destroyed cruisers," Sailor Cygni said quietly.
"Yes, but by then we'll hopefully be cloaked, and traveling away
from here at sublight in a direction they'll hopefully not guess," Shelia
replied. "Duke, all ahead
full, now!"
The GM battleship charged forward, as the first green beams intersected
with yellow.
"Torps, shake, rattle, and roll!" ordered Shelia, using the
slang term for the maneuver.
The Bahumat flipped ninety degrees, arcing between the enemy
ships; four crosses of torpedoes, each consisting of a single Ghost torpedo in
the middle and four equidistant Phoenix torpedoes, blazed from the launchers.
The effect was exactly as Shelia had intended; the Ghost torpedo phased
out shielding long enough for the Phoenix torpedoes to ravage the enemy shield
generators. The Bahumat
followed this up with precision fire from its blaster arrays, and further
precision torpedo strikes from the tubes that hadn't fired, as it passed
completely beyond the four enemy ships.
As the battlewagon spun back around, the four enemy cruisers began turns
with thrusters, the only means of moving they had left. Plasma and ichor streamed from gaping wounds in their
engines, weapons systems, and communications grids.
"Finish them," Shelia ordered in satisfaction.
The Bahumat's twin cannons glowed with energy, and two
ultra-powerful beams of energy shot in concert with a pair of torpedo salvoes.
Seconds later, even as something streaked out from the lead cruiser, four
clouds of expanding gas and debris littered the area.
"Boom," whispered Derrelli with a smile.
"What was launched?" exclaimed Sailor Cygni, standing near
Shelia.
She looked grim. "Well?"
"An emergency beacon, Commander Thompson," reported Sailor
Vulcan. "We would be advised
to eliminate it with some haste, and conclude the mining operation, before the
DK comes to investigate. It is
entirely likely they will pick up at least a segment of the transmission from
the beacon and recognize it."
"We'll get it," Sailor Cygni promised, motioning to Sailor
Vulcan. "You get back to
mining and building a cloaking device!"
She shot a significant look at Derrelli, who nodded.
"Go, Derrelli," Shelia sighed.
"Bridge to docking bay; prepare to launch the SLS Orion."
She sank into her chair, a frown on her face.
"Lovely," she groaned as the lift doors hissed shut on
Derrelli's form.
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 8 May 2738
"And our progress?" asked Neo-Queen Serenity I.
She was standing near one of the paintings in the briefing room,
seemingly not paying any attention to the others in the room.
"Not bad, considering," Sailor Neptune commented.
"The advanced training is going well; our fleet is nearly assembled.
We have four cloaked scout ships now keeping an eye on that area; the
ship count they have present is increasing.
Our most pessimistic estimate still puts the gate's completion at over a
month away. By that time, our fleet
will be in place to deal with whatever they have."
Serenity slowly nodded. "Go
on."
"Well, we still have no word from any angle on the fate of the Orion,"
Sailor Uranus piped in. "Our
LISA intelligence nets have picked up nothing."
"Which leaves us with two options," mused King Endymion.
"Either it's been destroyed, or it's maintaining radio silence.
Anything other than that is pure speculation."
"We are using every means at our disposal to locate that ship.
Short of actually flying into DK space near where their last comm beacon
was, that is," Sailor Neptune added.
"Very well. What
else?" Serenity still hadn't turned from the painting.
Sailor Neptune was of two minds about it.
On one hand, it was her painting, and she knew Serenity liked it.
On the other, Serenity was clearly worked up about something, and was not
talking about what it was.
"Well, the shake-up and restructuring of LISA is nearly
complete," Sailor Uranus reported. "The
new... er... interview methods provided by Amy and yourself are working
beautifully; I don't see us having the sort of problems we had before."
The last person in the room, Sailor Mercury, nodded, but remained silent.
"Fighter integration is nearly complete; in another few weeks, that
will be finished," Sailor Neptune said, pointing her laser pen at her
microcomp, and checking off items on a list there.
"The Dread has still not resurfaced?" Endymion asked.
"No... and yes, we are concerned," Sailor Uranus replied.
"What about the Zerm Alliance?
Or the Holy Droylian Empire? Any
problems?" Serenity wanted to know.
"The HDE is up to its usual low-key antics," Sailor Neptune
sighed. "Nothing we can't
handle through the usual channels. As
far as the Zerm... we still know very little about them, and they've been far
too quiet in the past three months."
"We're working on HUMINT and SIGINT for the Zerm," Sailor
Uranus added. "We are having
some success; but time will tell. We've
learned nothing major yet."
"Anything new at the Skunk Works, Amy?" Serenity asked next.
"Actually, yes," Sailor Mercury said.
"After thoroughly exhausting every possible test on those Slashers
over the past months, we think we may have discovered a way to reconfigure our
weapons and various energy fields to be effective against them.
My only concern is the rumors we've heard about the leadership cast of
the Slashers. The Alkons, I believe
they were called? We do not know
how effective our new mods would be against them."
"There's been nothing more than a single probable encounter,"
Sailor Neptune mused.
"Not much to go on," Sailor Mercury agreed.
"And the hunt for Torym?" Serenity said, finally turning.
All the Senshi fell silent, and scowled.
Sailor Uranus finally spoke. "You
know, all of us have had an encounter with the bastard's minions. Even Omega Force can't find that son of a bitch.
I still wonder where he's getting all the corpses.
Sorcerer Merlin's of the opinion the Necromicon had all sorts of raw
materials recorded to work with, but nobody knows for sure.
It is so fucking frustrating that he's successfully eluded all of our
best efforts to track him down."
"But we'll get him, sooner or later," vowed Sailor Neptune.
"It is the later that worries me," admitted Serenity. "Dealing with him on top of the Dark Kingdom..."
she trailed off. After a brief,
thoughtful pause, she shook her head, her twin ponytails whipping about.
"I suppose we must deal with one thing at a time.
I want to see detailed plans for dealing with the Dark Kingdom fleet and
that Gate. I want worst-case
scenarios plotted out. Most of all,
I want a plan for how we can permanently disable and destroy their Gate system,
once and for all. In addition, I
want plans to finally locate the Dark Kingdom home system.
We have been at the mercy of them for far too long."
Serenity turned, and walked towards the exit; the four stood, Endymion moving to her.
"It is time to change the game for good," she said slowly. "It is time to end the threat they pose.
Get on it."
"Yes, Serenity," all three said as the royal pair departed.
The door hissed shut behind them, and the three Planetaries shared a look
and a sigh.
A
small asteroid field near the Alpha Zone, 9 May 2738
The
Interrogator
A small, angular ship slowly moved through the errant chunks of rock,
scanning intently. While the
asteroids were not in DK space, they also weren't in GM territory, so if the DK
wanted to harvest any resources, they could.
There wasn't a whole lot of luck on that score thus far, reflected the
captain of the DK scout ship. He
sat in his molded chair, eyeing the main viewscreen.
The bio-doors to the bridge slicked open, allowing his foremost scientist
to enter.
"Well?" asked the captain.
"Inconclusive so far," was the scientist's reply.
She was arrogant, knowing what she could get away with, due to her value
to her captain.
"Well, conclude something already," growled the captain.
"Working on it-" she began.
"Lord! Sporadic energy
readings behind one of the asteroids!"
A
few light years from the asteroid field, near the Alpha Zone, 9 May 2738
The
SLS Hydra
"Ma'am?" called tactical.
"Sensors reporting an explosion three point two light years from our
current position."
The green-haired female sporting Captain's rank on her uniform stood. She was human, originally from Pluto, and was one of the few
non-Senshi captains of a warship in the Royal Star Navy.
"What sort of explosion?" she inquired.
Nothing to be worried about, she figured.
There were no GM starships besides hers in the area, so...
"The sort that is the result of a spread of Phoenix torpedoes
destroying a DK engine core, by these early readings," replied tactical.
The captain narrowed her eyes. "Say
what?!"
"I cannot confirm, but that is what they resemble," added the
duty science officer.
"Red Alert! Helm, plot
a course to intercept. Intensify
forward scanning," the captain ordered briskly.
She frowned.
"We're the only GM ship in the area," she muttered.
"Who the hell is firing Phoenix torpedoes?"
A
small asteroid field near the Alpha Zone, 9 May 2738
The
SLS Hydra
A white flash and counterspiral abruptly resolved itself into the shape
of the GM cruiser. It sat outside
of the asteroid field for a moment.
"Well," the captain began on the bridge, eyeing the primary
viewscreen. Smallish debris chunks
could be seen amidst the asteroids; the screen was at its highest magnification.
"No biomatter?"
"I would hazard a guess the attack was far too quick and brutal for
that," her science officer stated. "If
that was the case, all biomatter would be vaporized."
"What are we looking at, here?" muttered the green haired
woman. Her eyes searched the
screen, and abruptly noticed something, even as tactical shouted a warning.
It was a threatening steel gray in color.
The shape was that of some warped bat, with serrated, sharp edges and
threatening spike-like, swept protrusions.
As it closed, its engines leaving a dark, blue-green trail, dark violet
lighting highlighted its name.
Nightmare.
The Hydra's shields abruptly flared from the first salvo of
weapons fire, with crewmembers being thrown about.
The
Nightmare
Her seductive red dress was only made all the more appealing by the
wicked expression her face currently held, Heran thought, eyeing Neris.
He was allowing her the pleasure of the first attack on their new ship's
shakedown cruise.
If that's what you'd call it, he mused.
"Ready one Ghost torpedo," Neris ordered.
"Lock fusion beams. Down
their shields, knock out their death ray, and pound the hell out of them."
"Ready!" called Aaryx.
Neris grinned ferally. "Fire!"
The Nightmare swooped in like a huge, deadly bird of prey; a
single white torpedo streaked forth, coupled with more Phoenix torpedoes.
The
SLS Hydra
"A Ghost Torp?!" gasped tactical.
"Evasive action!" snapped the captain.
"In depth scans! Find
out everything you can!" She
sat down hard in her chair as the cruiser slid sideways. "Return fire! Target
their engines and weapons!"
The bridge shook violently as the Hydra was not completely
successful dodging the weapons launched at it. Sparks
flew from several consoles; one of the science officers was suddenly
electrocuted, and collapsed, smoke issuing from his uniform.
"Bridge to sickbay! Medical
emergency!" called the captain, before returning her attention to matters
at hand. "Report!"
"Torpedoes and fusion beams, upper dorsal section!" tactical
replied. "Damage reports
coming in! Proton cannon offline,
as well as upper blaster arrays! Dorsal
shields damaged, temporarily out! Minor
hull damage, and shock damage to several systems; thirty-four injured, no
dead."
The captain spun. "Helm,
ventral presentation, now! We're
not going to launch fighters; we're going to retreat as soon as our scans are
complete. Meantime, fire at
will!"
The Hydra nosed up abruptly, energy blazing forth from its blaster
arrays; the pattern struck on the attacker highlighted its shield arcs as a pair
of Ghost torpedoes burst forth; they struck dead center, allowing the ventral
arrays to score pinpoint hits on the exposed hull of their attacker as the Hydra
passed over and behind the enemy ship. Both
ships began a tight turn to starboard; the Hydra quickly reversed its
turn to the left, slewing past an intercept point.
"They also have a proton cannon!
It's almost ready to fire!" ops exclaimed.
The captain jumped to her feet in shock.
The
Nightmare
"Report!" snarled Heran, waving the slight wisps of smoke out
of his face.
"They are swinging past an intercept point!
We're still being heavily scanned, and all upper weapons systems are
currently offline; the damage was extremely localized, but easy to repair!"
Aaryx said. "No injuries or
deaths."
He paused.
"Their RIFT drive is beginning to energize; death ray almost
ready."
Neris nodded. "Nail 'em
as soon as it's ready!"
"Five seconds," Aaryx added.
The
SLS Hydra
"Scan completed!" shouted ops.
"We've got everything we can!"
The captain spun. "Max
RIFT, any direction, go now!"
The helm officer slammed his hand down on the proper panel.
The
Nightmare
"One!" counted down Aaryx.
"Firing now!"
On his display, the charge graph for the proton cannon flashed, even as
the emitters built up the charge and channeled all that energy.
The intense red-orange beam drilled out towards the wounded GM cruiser.
The
SLS Hydra
The ship trembled, as it slammed abruptly sideways; white energy surged
from the engine elements as the opposing ship fired.
The Hydra stretched for a nanosecond to infinity, and then
disappeared in a white flash and a spiral as the death ray passed a mere eight
centimeters aft of the fleeing GM cruiser.
As soon as it was a safe distance from the enemy ship, which chose not to
pursue it, the Hydra blasted everything it learned and the details of the
encounter through subspace, towards the heart of the Golden Millennium.
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 9 May 2738
Subspace
Communications Central Control
"You called, Mina?" Serenity asked quietly as the door hissed
shut behind her, Endymion, and Sailor Neptune.
"We just received a disturbing report from the SLS Hydra,"
Sailor Venus answered.
"What sort of report?" Sailor Neptune asked.
"We can answer the question of the Dread's activities,
Serenity," Luna added.
The trio shared a look. "Go
on," Endymion said.
"The Hydra reports heavy damage from a barrage of Ghost and
Phoenix torpedoes, coupled with energy weapon fire that barely missed, due to
maneuvering, in the form of fusion beam fire.
They did conduct an intense scan; credit to the Hydra's captain
for her and her crew's courage in doing so while under heavy fire," Sailor
Venus elaborated. "The
attacker was a new vessel, bearing the name Nightmare, and scans revealed
it was practically all brand new. Its
systems are a hybrid of many races' technology.
Droylian sensors; hybrid DK/merc engine core and drive systems; merc, GM,
and DK weapons; GM shielding; the thing also has a TPA.
Some of the hull elements were even Zerm in origin."
As she spoke, the data from the Hydra burst on screen, including
visuals of the vessel.
"So, we are looking at a new ship, built from the remains of two
mercenary ships... and it is commanded by the same trio?" Serenity asked
quietly as all of them gazed apprehensively at the listed data.
"By the crystal," muttered Sailor Neptune. "Its firepower is equivalent of one of our
battleships!"
"Yeah, I think we have to upgrade the threat this Heran and his crew
poses to us," Sailor Venus said softly.
"Things just keep getting better," Artemis sighed, not having
spoken until that moment.
The looks he got showed that no one was willing to argue that
pessimistic, and sarcastic, statement.
"Well, one thing at a time," Serenity commented.
"Once the gate is destroyed, we will hunt down the Nightmare,
and end that threat as well."
"If they'll wait that long," muttered Artemis to himself,
hastily shutting up as Sailor Venus glared at him.
"What's next?" Endymion sighed.
STAY
TUNED!