"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
2-08: Death Comes Knockin'
Rated:
R
Somewhere
in the Alpha Zone, 2 January 2738
The
SLS Centaur
"I'm not sure we want to know," commented one of the security
squad quietly, in response to Sorcerer Derrelli's question.
"Yet, we have to find out," said another.
Derrelli moved forward, stepping over the body, gingerly moving past the
scene of the slaughter. He
shone his light down the corridor; the rest of the corridor seemed clear, and he
told Shelia as much.
Shelia nodded, swallowed slowly, and scanned the body.
She blinked. "What...?
This body was destroyed by one of our blasters!
Set to explosive effects, I imagine.
There is blaster energy resonance traces all over it."
"That would certainly explain the mess," Derrelli nodded. "Get nailed by that beam setting, and you'd explode.
The next question is... why?"
Shelia frowned. "I
don't know; don't have an answer for that one."
Derrelli swept his wristlight around a bit more, and stopped on something
on the bulkhead. "Ummm..."
"What the hell did that?" asked one of the security team.
He was referring to a set of three parallel slashes on the wall; they
were about five millimeters wide, and about three deep, and they were half a
meter long.
"Don't know," frowned Derrelli.
"Commander, I think we should get to main engineering; something is
very weird here, and getting the ship's status is now essential to figuring it
out."
"Agreed. Do you know
the way?" Shelia asked.
In response, Derrelli produced his microcomp, and brought up a map.
He memorized the immediate path, and then stowed it at his waist, and leveled his
Pythons ahead of him. "I do
now."
"Lead on," she said. "Everybody
stay close."
Thoroughly spooked, the rest of the team closely followed. As they led off down the hall, a shadowy shape paused at the
corridor leading to the shuttle; after a brief moment, it trailed after them.
Derrelli paused, looking around closely.
He did another sweep of the area with his Magnums and wristlight, and
then crouched near the maintenance shaft access panel.
The rest of the team moved around him, in a perimeter; Shelia was
scanning nervously.
They had seen several bodies, as well as more of those slashes, all over
the place. The difference was most
of the other bodies had been killed by powerful slashes or bites.
A few had been decapitated. By
now, even Derrelli was getting nervous.
Especially as, for some reason, they could no longer communicate with the
Bahumat.
"Hurry up," hissed Shelia.
"I'm getting anomalous readings, but they're at the very fringe of
scanning range. Whatever is
generating them is moving with us; and it seems to know the exact range these
things scan."
Derrelli paused, leaning the panel against the wall, wristlight pointed
down the maintenance shaft; it was reassuringly empty.
He glanced at Shelia. "So,
you're saying we're being followed by something that is intelligent enough to
know the exact range our microcomps can scan?"
"If it's the same thing that killed the crew, why doesn't it
attack?" asked one of the security team.
Derrelli frowned. "Apparently,
it's smart enough to want to choose the time and place." He looked thoughtful, then broke into a nasty grin.
"Let's set a trap."
"How so?" asked Shelia.
"Microcomps aren't gonna work so well in the maintenance shafts;
most have plasma conduits running through them, and at close range the material
used in building plasma conduits disrupts handheld scanners.
If it's really that intelligent, it already knows this, it'll close after
we enter. So, let's set up a
crossfire; and nail it when it tries to follow."
Shelia grinned, the promise of action chasing away some of the
uncertainty. "Let's do
it."
"Okay; six of you go in first.
You'll make sure this thing is alone, by keeping an eye out ahead of us.
The rest will aim their weapons at the hatch; when it pokes its head in,
we nail it."
They hustled to get in position.
The shadowy shape, satisfied that they had moved into the shafts, neared
the access. It was somewhat
surprised to see the hatch leaning over the opening, but not in place; something
was odd about that. It tentatively
reached for the hatch, abruptly yanking it away.
The hatch slammed to the deck with a loud thud.
Nothing.
It sniffed; but since they had stood here awhile, the scent of their fear
was too strong to determine anything.
It lowered itself and peeked around the edge.
"FIRE!" shouted Shelia; five beams of white-hot energy slammed
into the thing's head; it vaguely resembled a bizarre cross of insect and
reptiloid. It blinked as the beams
hit; the beam energy crackled over it, and dissipated.
"Oh, shit! No
effect!" gasped Shelia.
Derrelli leveled both Pythons as the thing snarled; the sound echoed
deafeningly in the shaft.
"Fuck you, too," Derrelli smirked as the creature made to enter
the shaft; it looked up and saw two unfamiliar weapons leveled at it. It snarled again, and turned to flee; the roar of the Pythons
going off deafened and stunned the team. Derrelli,
however, was used to it; and the squeal of the creature, and the splattering of
bright blue ichor, was enough to show that he nailed the thing.
He moved forward, Pythons first; he neared the entry.
The wristlight beam reflected off the alien's faceted eyes; he leveled
the Pythons at it, and they boomed again; the alien ducked under the bullets and
fled, trailing blue ichor from its leg.
Derrelli grinned, grabbing the hatch; he hoisted it back in place, and
was rewarded with a thunk as he twisted the handles.
He turned, and crawled back down to the team.
"Good shooting," Shelia said.
"Mother of Serenity, I'm glad you're along."
Derrelli nodded. "Now
we know why this thing was able to kill everybody so far; it's blasterproof.
I think that I have an explanation for the first body we saw, too; I
think that someone missed the creature and nailed a shipmate."
"Probably," Shelia nodded.
"I take it the alien got away?"
"Not unharmed," grinned Derrelli.
"If we see bright blue goo; let me know. That means it's nearby."
"You're assuming it's alone," pointed out one of the security
team.
"True," Derrelli said. He
cocked his head. "What I want
to know is, what happened to Sailor Cancri?
Wasn't she in command of this ship?
Does that mean that thing's immune to Senshi or Sorcerer powers?"
It was a question none of them wanted to consider, as they moved
cautiously down the shaft. They
finally came to a six-way junction; they spread out in pairs, checking each of
the four directions thoroughly. Derrelli
looked down the ladder, as Shelia surveyed up.
"Okay. I'll go
first," Derrelli said.
"No," Shelia shook her head.
She pointed at two of the security team.
"You two go first; Derrelli will tell you where to go.
Derrelli," she explained, "You're the only one of us who can
hurt that thing; you're not going first so that it can kill you and take away
that advantage, especially if there's more like it."
"Instead, we get to die, ma'am?" asked one of the two she had
pointed at.
"You knew the job had its dangers," Shelia said quietly. "Go. That's
an order."
The two shared a look, and nodded. They
slung their rifles over their shoulders, and began climbing. Derrelli looked at Shelia for a moment, noting the somber
look in her eyes.
She knows she just ordered them to their probable deaths, he
realized. And she hates herself
for it. I can see why she's
admirably suited to leading these teams.
He climbed down.
Isle
of Avalon, Planet Earth, Sol system, 2 January 2738
"Merlin...." whispered Hoshiko, stunned.
Then his words sank in. "A
battleground? Why?
And why do you need our help?"
"A long time ago," Merlin began, walking around the Round
Table, "one Morgan LeFay acquired an item of awful power.
This item allowed her to almost overthrow the court of King Arthur.
Its evil was so pervasive, so overwhelming, that only the power of
Excalibur in King Arthur's hands was able to defeat it.
Arthur achieved victory, at great cost."
Merlin paused, and turned to face the archaeological team.
"Determined that its evil shall never again see the light of day,
Arthur erased all records of the events, and forbade anyone from talking about
it. After repeated failures to
destroy the artifact, he created a special, trap-filled tomb, and had me place
enchantments on it to seal it and its evil.
History never recorded the event, and even the facts of Arthur's reign
have fallen into myth and legend. So
the evil was contained... and lost to time, here in Camelot."
"Excuse me," interrupted Talia.
"If you are indeed Merlin, then why is your language identical to
our own?"
Merlin's eyes twinkled as he regarded the stoic Senshi of Logic. "I may have been exiled here, but this does not mean I
have not kept current with the events of the world."
"Exiled?" asked Hoshi. "Who
exiled you, and why?"
"King Arthur," Merlin replied quietly.
"As for why... it was my fault Morgan LeFay discovered the
artifact."
"Wait a minute," Hoshi exclaimed, cocking her head. "If you placed the wards, how is someone like Archmage
Torym going to defeat them?"
"Because, over time, the artifact has regained much of its former
power; it has weakened the wards and intimately mapped the traps.
And since it is influencing your companion's mind... it will show him how
to defeat all which stands in his way. You
see, the artifact in question requires a willing user to reach its full power;
it cannot do anything itself. Eventually,
the minds of the artifact and the user become one; at this point, the user is
lost, forever; his spirit melds with the item, increasing its overall power.
Arthur was able to prevent Morgan LeFay's spirit from melding; but the
book is quite ancient, and likely not from this world.
It is older than man," Merlin explained.
"What is this artifact?" whispered Hoshi, dread filling her at
the chilling details.
"The Necronomicon," Merlin replied quietly.
As he said it, all present could have sworn they heard dark cackling in
their minds.
The sound of thunder rumbled in the distance.
"What can we do?" asked Tal.
"Your combined power is close to that of King Arthur's; and if you
have one among you who is noble and good, and can use a sword, then Excalibur
can once again be used to combat this evil.
However, I would suggest that you make your preparations in a hurry; time
grows short," Merlin said.
"One final question... just what is the threat posed by this...
book?" Hoshi wanted to know.
"Is it not enough to know that it enables its user to control and
command the undead, and has been responsible for the destruction of more than
one civilization?" Merlin replied.
"More than enough," Hoshi stated through gritted teeth. "All right, team, get to the camp! Tal, I think we'd best contact Their Highnesses; let them
know of what's going on down here, and request King Endymion's presence, as well
as some backup."
"While we still can," amended Tal, with a nod.
They glanced at Merlin, who simply gazed at them; as they left, he
followed.
The sky outside was darkening; lightning could be seen crackling amongst
the gathering clouds. A fell wind
blew among them, as Tal activated the comm.
"There is considerable interference," Tal reported.
"I am attempting to boost the signal gain to break through."
Hoshi nodded, and frowned, as she noticed something moving nearby. The entire team was now in the camp's perimeter, so it wasn't
one of them; they were busily loading the shuttles. "Ummm," Hoshi trailed off. She grabbed a set of surveyor's goggles, and put them on,
toggling the scan mode. As she
blinked the resolution to its most detailed setting, she paled at the readings,
and what was revealed to her eyes.
At that very moment, a blast of black lightning struck Camelot, right at
the location of the tomb. Evil
laughter rent the air.
"Time is up," Merlin said calmly.
"Make it quick, Tal!" called Hoshi; she threw the goggles
aside. "We're in
trouble!" She flicked her
wrist; the familiar, cool metal cylinder of her transformation pen, black with
gold, appeared in her hand. She
raised it to the sky, defiantly.
"SINGULARITY OF CYGNI, ACTIVATE!"
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 2 January 2738
Sailors Eos and Astraea raced into the briefing room, to see a very
worried Neo-Queen Serenity I, King Endymion, and Princess Serena, with Sailor
Neptune and Sailor Mars.
"I told you, Raye, Michelle, absolutely not!
You must remain here, in case this... unspeakable horror manages to
escape. We must cover all the
bases." Serenity turned to the
new arrivals. "Eos, Sailor
Astraea. I summoned you because I
wish for you to accompany my dear Endymion."
"Where to?" asked Sailor Eos.
"And why the urgency?"
"Earth. We have a
situation developing down there; one that may end up threatening the entirety of
the Golden Millennium," Serenity explained rapidly.
"Much is at stake; you stand into danger.
Sailor Vulcan and Sailor Cygni already have their hands full, trying to
have the archeological team get into the shuttles and get out of there.
It seems young Archmage Torym has fallen under a dark influence and freed
an ancient, evil menace." Serenity's
expression was somber.
"Oh, no," breathed Sailor Astraea.
"Let's do it," Sailor Eos said with a nod.
"After you, King Endymion."
"Good luck," Sailor Neptune called after them as they raced for
the shuttleport.
Isle
of Avalon, Planet Earth, Sol system, 2 January 2738
Merlin raised his staff, lightning crackling around it; the massive
electricity surged through the ranks of the advancing army.
Unfortunately, it felled only a few dozen rows.
Sailor Cygni sighed. It was
fortunate there were a few souls far too noble and pure to be converted; it
would be a shame to have to destroy Arthur's soul, for example.
She laughed bitterly. Yeah,
right. At the current moment, it
was they who were threatened with destruction.
The advancing ranks of undead felt no pain; the corpses just kept coming.
She wondered just where they were coming from, and blessed the fact that
Torym was as of yet unable to summon something more sophisticated.
"Vulcan Shockwave... STRIKE!"
The powerful sonic blast struck the oncoming army, shredding a whole
column of them before it dissipated.
"Cygni Gravimetric... DISTORTION!" called Sailor Cygni,
whirling Orbiting Heart, and slamming it in the direction of the approaching
doom. The intense gravity
fluctuation within the sphere of the attack utterly disintegrated a mass of the
walking corpses.
And still they kept coming.
Entering
Earth's atmosphere, Sol system, 2 January 2738
A
Passenger Shuttle
"Where is it?" asked Sailor Eos.
"Avalon," Endymion replied tersely.
Sailor Astraea's eyes widened. "A-avalon?"
she managed to get out.
"By the Crystal," Sailor Eos gasped.
The shuttle was on a deep plunge; its shields protected the three
occupants from the heat and effects of atmospheric entry.
This is not what caused Sailor Eos to curse, though.
What had her attention was the massive, black storm over the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean.
"We have to fly through that, don't we?" asked Sailor Astraea
softly.
Endymion nodded. "Yes,
we do," he said calmly. "Right
into the center of it."
Sailor Eos turned and looked at a visibly nervous Sailor Astraea. "Sorry, girl. It
looks like your first real battle is a doozy."
Sailor Astraea turned her wide eyes on Sailor Eos, and pulled up some
courage. "Doesn't matter, does
it? You keep telling me we've got
to do what we've got to do."
"Yeah," Sailor Eos muttered.
"Comforting, huh? Don't
worry, Sailor Astraea; you'll do fine; I daresay you may be the key to victory,
with your Astral Prism."
"I hope you're right," Sailor Astraea gulped.
"Hang on!" called Endymion as they plunged into the storm.
"This is going to get rough!"
Isle
of Avalon, Planet Earth, Sol system, 2 January 2738
Sailor Cygni, Sailor Vulcan, and Merlin were now close together,
overlaying their attacks. Behind
them, the shuttle loaded with the remainder of the archeological team energized
its antigrav drive; steam and plant debris blew away from it as it lifted into
the air. It curved around, and shot
upward, dodging lightning blasts, it’s shielding energized.
As it raced upwards, another shuttle streaked down.
Sailor Cygni suddenly realized the advance of the army of undead had
halted; they stood, motionless and listless, as dark beams of energy blasted
from the tallest remaining tower of Camelot, right for the incoming shuttle.
"The enemy recognizes the new threat!
It knows one aboard that craft is capable of wielding the weapon that
defeated it centuries ago!" Merlin shouted.
"We must assist!"
Sailor Vulcan and Sailor Cygni nodded; they turned and faced the tower.
"Vulcan Shockwave... STRIKE!"
"Cygni Gravimetric... DISTORTION!"
The two attacks combined; Merlin added his own power to it, resulting in
a massive, rapidly rippling black sphere of gravity, with ice shards and sonic energy
playing over it. The combined blast
struck the tower; it exploded and collapsed from the impact.
Through the energy discharge, a black sphere could briefly be seen; a
figure holding a book was inside. It
sank out of view.
However, they weren't quite quick enough.
The shuttle lurched violently as it took a hit.
Endymion had managed to dodge about half the bolts, but the last one had
punched through the shields and struck the port engine.
"Helm control's out!" Endymion shouted over the hissing steam
and blaring alarms. "We're in
a free-fall! We're going to
crash!"
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 2 January 2738
"The archaeological team, minus Sailors Vulcan and Cygni, has
arrived safely at Starbase One," reported Sailor Neptune.
"Status of Endymion's shuttle, and the fight?" asked Luna.
Sailor Neptune glanced at Serenity.
"Unknown," the Senshi of the Oceans said softly.
"We've lost communications with both.
We're completely cut off."
"He is fine," Serenity stated quietly.
"If in a dangerous situation."
"This is not good," Sailor Mars growled.
Isle
of Avalon, Planet Earth, Sol system, 2 January 2738
"Shit!" shouted Sailor Cygni, seeing the streaming, flaming
plasma issuing from the left side of the shuttle.
She took off at a dead run, noting that the shuttle's free fall would
carry it into the ocean just offshore of Avalon.
"Sailor Cygni!" called Sailor Vulcan; Sailor Cygni ignored her,
running flat-out for the shoreline. Sailor
Vulcan and Merlin took off after her. Sailor
Vulcan was only momentarily surprised Merlin was able to keep up with her;
despite his apparent advanced age, he possessed great power.
They stopped short on the edge of the bluff; Sailor Cygni was just below
them, standing on an outcropping, ignoring her own safety.
Her arms were outstretched; her hands open as if she was holding
something up. Her eyes were screwed
shut in concentration.
Indeed, Sailor Vulcan realized, she was holding something.
Sailor Cygni had used her gravity manipulation abilities to 'catch' the
shuttle; she was now moving it to the shore.
Merlin tapped her shoulder.
Sailor Vulcan turned; the army was once again on the march.
The second shuttle from the archeological team had been surrounded; it
was now being carried towards Camelot, the inhuman strength of the dead not
caring one whit how heavy it was. She
suddenly realized what Torym and the Necronomicon had planned.
"They are going to try to leave," she said calmly.
"Yes," agreed Merlin. His
shoulders stiffened. "We
cannot allow this!"
Sailor Vulcan resolutely nodded. "Quite.
It is only logical." She
moved forward, her arms held forward; the sonic energy again began to coalesce
in her hands.
"Vulcan Shockwave... STRIKE!" she screamed yet again; again,
the golden orb of compressed sound streaked forth.
It impacted on the shuttle, knocking it over; the corpses were unfazed,
moving to lift it again.
"Merlin," Sailor Vulcan said.
"Use the earth attack you utilized earlier against the bottom of the
shuttle, dead center. If you
puncture the RIFT engine core, the shuttle will explode."
Merlin nodded grimly, and pointed his staff at the shuttle.
The tip of the staff glowed with golden light; sharp shards of rock
issued from the light and streaked towards the area Sailor Vulcan indicated, as
Sailor Cygni set the injured shuttle down next to them, and leapt to the top of
the bluff.
The shards of rock impacted into the shuttle; the hull crumpled under the
assault. There was a short flash;
and then a massive fireball issued forth.
The rapidly expanding explosion loomed towards them, as three figures
jumped out of the shuttle next to them. Sailor
Vulcan's eyes widened; she had underestimated how the magical nature of Avalon
would influence the core detonation and thermal pulse.
Sailor Cygni leapt in front of them abruptly.
"Everyone, get close behind me!
Cygni Gravimetric... SHIELD!" With
that phrase, Cygni summoned a two-dimensional field of intense gravity in front
of her; her arms were outstretched, as she kneeled, preparing for the impact.
Sailor Vulcan, Merlin, Sailor Eos, Sailor Astraea, and Endymion all
crowded in close; the blast front swept inexorably towards them, the shockwave
sweeping by with a massive boom.
Somewhere
in the Alpha Zone, 2 January 2738
The
SLS Centaur
Derrelli watched as the two security troops leapt off the bottom of the
ladder; they faced opposite directions, surveying the horizontal shafts; the
bottom was again a junction of four tunnels.
He dropped behind them, adding his wristlight to the search, Pythons
ready. He glanced at the map on his
microcomp, and faced down the tunnel they had to travel, as the remainder of the
team finished climbing off the ladder.
"Nothing," came several reports as all paused long enough to do
a detailed survey of the tunnels.
"This way," Derrelli motioned.
Shelia pointed at four other members of their team; they moved ahead of
Derrelli, as the team entered the access tunnel, creeping forward.
It was only fifteen meters before they reached the access hatch.
"This leads into Main Engineering," Derrelli said, indicating
the hatch.
"Let's go, then," Shelia said.
The lead security trooper twisted the handles; the hatch fell away with a
thud. Darkness lay beyond, with
only a soft glow illuminating, from one of the control panels.
Two of the troopers stepped out, sweeping their lights around the area.
"Looks clear," said one, just before a snarl gave lie to her
statement. A blurred shape leapt
from behind a nearby panel; her partner grunted as he was disemboweled, his
intestines spilling out amidst a spray of blood.
He fell forward, dropping his rifle as he clutched at his guts.
The alien shifted its attention to the remaining trooper as the rest
scrambled out of the maintenance shaft.
The shape spun, swinging; the trooper ducked under the swings and
reversed her rifle, viciously buttstroking the alien in the head.
It staggered back, momentarily dazed; ten blaster beams abruptly struck
it. The only effect was to knock it
back a step; but it was more than enough. Both
Pythons roared, and the alien jerked spasmodically as it collapsed amidst a
spray of blue ichor.
"Mother of Serenity," gasped Shelia quietly; a few retching
sounds showed one of the troopers was sick.
She scanned the prone trooper, and shook her head sadly.
"He's dead; at least it was quick."
Derrelli shone his wristlight over the alien's corpse; its head was half
missing from his shots. Blue ichor
covered one of the engineering panels nearby.
It really was a cross between a reptile and an insect; it had six limbs,
compound eyes, reptilian nostrils and ears, and its skin was a cross between
solid exoskeleton and reptilian armor plating.
Its lowest set of limbs had splayed feet, tipped with suction cups; they
resembled a chameleon's feet. The
middle set was tipped with a half meter long, wicked looking organic blade.
The top set each bore three, claw tipped fingers.
"It's a fucking killing machine," Derrelli said.
"How the hell does something like this evolve?"
"It didn't," Shelia said grimly, eyeing her microcomp, at the
DNA readings. "It was created.
It's from the Dark Kingdom."
Derrelli's eyes abruptly widened, for more than one reason.
Firstly, because of the lethality of this creation.
Second, because other than the damage from the double tap to the head, it
was intact.
"Shit!" he said, tensing, raising his Pythons.
"There IS more than one of these things! This isn't the same one I got before!"
"Great," muttered one of the security troops.
"We're trapped on a damn derelict, with no power, surrounded by a
brand new breed of blasterproof Negatroopers, and the only weapons that can kill
these damn things have limited ammunition. We could well be facing an army of those beasts."
Shelia looked sharply at him, but said nothing as he continued,
acknowledging the desperation of their situation.
"In short, we're fucked."
STAY
TUNED!