"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
2-09: Wrath Of The Righteous
Rated:
R
Somewhere
in the Alpha Zone, 2 January 2738
The
SLS Centaur
Sorcerer Derrelli carefully surveyed Engineering as the discussion
continued behind him. He did admit
the situation was grim... but perhaps he could do something about that.
He moved towards the one, lit console, ignoring the others.
He set his Pythons aside, and examined the display.
From the readouts, only life support was functioning.
Why? he wondered. The
console was not immediately forthcoming with an answer; the AI core was quite
naturally offline, leaving only the life-support access computer online.
Fine. We do it the hard
way, he thought to himself. Gotta
keep my eyes open for what may have shut everything down, but I get the feeling
the crew did it to prevent the ship from being taken over.
He said nothing as the others crowded close, eyes out, watching for any
more of the new Negatroopers. His
hands moved slowly at first, carefully selecting certain commands; as things
began clicking, he moved faster and faster.
Forty minutes later, the group was still standing in a cluster around
him; they had repeatedly asked him what was happening, to be utterly ignored as
his hands flew over the console. He
suddenly stopped, and turned to them, finger poised over a blinking panel.
"Derrelli?" Shelia began.
"What's up?"
He chuckled. "Let there
be light." With that, he
pushed the panel; a low hum filled the area; light pulses began flashing through
the reactant conduits as the reaction was restarted in the main reactor.
All around, panels flashed to life; some immediately shorted out in a
shower of sparks from the slashes in them.
Lights blinked on overhead, and a beep over the audio system announced
the AI's boot-up sequence.
"All right!" called one of the security team.
"Status?" asked Shelia with a smile.
"Standby," Derrelli replied.
"All systems coming up on reboot cycles; it'll be a few minutes
before I can truly tell you. You'll
be happy to know I've sealed Main Engineering; all maintenance shafts are
physically cut off, and the main doors are locked.
Force-field back-ups are coming online as we speak.
I'm inputting a computer lockout; apparently when these fucks attacked,
they got the captain and first officer first; so the crew simply pulled the plug
on everything."
"So, how can you lock it out?" asked one of the security guys.
"Gee... I'm the idiot
who successfully hacked into the CP AI, and you have to ask that?" Derrelli
retorted with a chuckle. He paused
and looked around Engineering. The
only bodies were the one security troop they had lost, and the thing that
Derrelli had gotten. Shelia saw his
appraisal, and glanced around herself. While
several consoles were either slashed or fried by blaster fire, there were no
bloodstains.
"Probably they didn't want to damage things in here, so they
deactivated everything and left," Shelia said.
Derrelli nodded. "I'd
say so; but not before they were jumped by the... Slashers."
"Good a name as any," agreed one of the other troops.
Derrelli glanced back at his panel.
"Okay. Force fields in
place; we're safe, for the moment. It'll
take awhile to bring everything fully online; the core itself needs four hours
to fully power up. Relax, people;
let me do some work here." After
saying that, Derrelli flipped the safety on his Pythons, and placed them in
their holsters. He then dived right
back in; it was a huge job, bringing all of the myriad starship systems online
by himself. He knew he could do it,
though; all he needed was time.
Time, and no appearances at their doors by the enemy.
The
SLS Bahumat
"Captain!" called Wizard Duke.
Sailor Geminga turned from her pacing.
"What is it?"
Duke pointed at the screen. The
Centaur's drift had stopped; thrusters were firing, stabilizing the ship
and stopping it. A soft white glow
was beginning to accumulate around the RIFT elements, and a red field was
beginning to emit from the fusion impellers.
Lights flickered on all over the ship.
"About time," grumped Sailor Geminga.
"Can we raise them?"
"Still nothing but static from the nebula's interference on the
comms," reported her comm officer.
"What the hell?" Sailor Geminga snarled under her breath.
Isle
of Avalon, Planet Earth, Sol system, 2 January 2738
The roar seemed to last an eternity; the heat, smoke, and fire enveloped
them. They were, indeed, shielded
from the worst of it; but the shield only blocked the initial brunt of the
attack; all could feel the blistering heat.
Sailor Cygni was gasping for air from the effort of sustaining her
shield, and only superheated air was available for her abused lungs.
Finally, the effect passed; Sailor Cygni collapsed, panting. All of them had contact burns, and the Senshi had to wait a few minutes
for their enhanced healing to deal with the worst of their injuries; Sailor Eos
wearily entered the shuttle and came back out with a medkit for herself and
Sailor Astraea.
The shuttle had, indeed, survived the assault; most of the explosion in that vector
had been spent on Sailor Cygni's shield. It
was heavily scorched, but repairable.
The best news was that the entire army of the undead was wiped out.
"Jeez, Sailor Vulcan," Sailor Cygni finally wheezed. "When you let go, you really let go."
She began to laugh, trailing off after she started coughing.
"Just what is going on here?" asked King Endymion, eyeing the
old man with them.
"Your Highness, Sailor Eos, Sailor Astraea, may I introduce the
wizard Merlin?" Sailor Vulcan said formally.
"Yeah," Cygni said, slowly getting to her feet.
"And welcome to Camelot."
"Oh, my," whispered Sailor Astraea, blue eyes wide. They turned as a bolt of black lightning branched down into
Camelot's courtyard.
"He is beginning again," Merlin said calmly.
"We must hurry; time is short."
"Umm... what exactly is going on here!?" demanded Sailor Eos.
"Uh, let's move, and we'll fill you in as we go," Sailor Cygni
replied.
As they hastily jogged, Sailor Cygni and Sailor Vulcan took turns
explaining. They skirted around the
sprawling remains of Camelot, and neared a thick grove of trees that surrounded
a silvery lake.
Merlin halted them at the edge of the woods.
"You must all wait here, except for King Endymion."
The ladies exchanged looks. "You
got it," Sailor Eos nodded. "We'll
keep our eyes peeled for bad guys."
They watched as Merlin and Endymion disappeared into the woods.
"You sure he can be trusted?" asked Sailor Astraea.
"Yes," Sailor Cygni nodded.
She touched her eyebrows, feeling the pain begin to fade; they no longer
crumbled upon contact. She sighed
and leaned against a tree. Sailor
Eos sat down near another one, while Sailor Vulcan and Sailor Astraea remained
standing. All glanced at the ruins,
anxiety evident in their features.
"What's taking so long?" asked Sailor Astraea.
Sailor Vulcan raised an eyebrow. "It
has only been ten minutes and thirty-seven seconds," she said calmly.
Sailor Astraea blinked. "It
sure seems like..." She
trailed off, and stared at the ruined Camelot.
"Umm... we're in trouble..."
"What?" exclaimed Sailor Eos, jumping to her feet, and
narrowing her eyes.
A massive horde was exiting the main gates, and heading their way. Several spectral forms moved over the top of the army; they
swooped, looping and diving; and then dove right for the foursome as the slower
moving army jogged inevitably towards them.
Sailor Cygni sighed, as she flicked her wrist; Orbiting Heart, her flail,
appeared in her hand. "Here we
go again."
The black, swooping, incorporeal shapes were upon them before anyone
could say another word. Sailor
Cygni leapt forward, swinging her flail; it passed right through one of them.
"Shit!" she snarled, dropping out of its path, and tumbling to
her feet in a crouch.
The shapes all dived on Sailor Vulcan; she ducked under the first, and
threw herself sideways. As she
rolled, Sailor Astraea and Sailor Eos jumped in front of her, ready to fight;
the two Guardians were grabbed and lifted into the air.
"Hey!" snarled Sailor Cygni.
She leapt up, as the one carrying Sailor Astraea swooped back around. The one carrying Sailor Eos flew almost straight up, above
Sailor Vulcan. Sailor Cygni
dropped, preparing to jump; it proved unnecessary, as the shape launched Sailor
Astraea at her like a missile. Sailor
Cygni moved to catch Sailor Astraea; but the impact knocked both of them into
the treeline, accompanied by a loud crack as they struck a tree.
Sailor Vulcan winced at the noise and then looked up to see what the
enemy was doing. Her vision was
filled with the plummeting shape of Sailor Eos; and she barely had time to brace
herself before Sailor Eos hit her. Both
fell painfully to the ground. The
shapes whirled by overhead, like sharks circling a victim.
As one, they stopped and formed up; there were a dozen or more of them.
The two Senshi struggled to their feet.
"Sailor Astraea? Sailor
Cygni?" asked Sailor Eos, clutching her side in pain.
Sailor Vulcan's face was drawn slightly; she, too, was in pain, but
trying not to show it. Glistening
green blood was streaming from her lower lip.
"I do not know their status," Sailor Vulcan replied slowly.
The shapes rose slightly, preparing to dive upon them again.
"Oh, man, this isn't good," grunted Sailor Eos, narrowing her
eyes.
Abruptly, a brilliant white flash, a wide beam of energy, burst from the
trees. It struck the spectral
forms, which suddenly screamed. It
was a high-pitched, haunting scream; and they disintegrated.
"Neat trick," they heard Sailor Cygni say.
The two Senshi turned.
Sailor Cygni had blood streaming from a gash on her forehead, and was
limping; one of Sailor Astraea's arms was bleeding at her side.
Behind them stood Merlin, his staff gleaming with power.
Behind him stood Endymion. The
differences were immediately noted: his
scabbard had been replaced with a far more ornate one; and the sword in his
hands gleamed with power. It was
exquisite, and lethal, at the same time.
It was Excalibur.
Endymion grinned slightly. The
approaching army was moving faster than the previous one; this time, no
skeletons could be seen, and all of the running corpses had long claws on their
fingertips.
"Let's rumble," Endymion said calmly; the six formed a line,
and readied themselves. All shared
a look; as one, they charged.
Within moments, battle was joined. Sailor
Cygni, whirling Orbiting Heart, jumped forward, swinging in wide arcs, crunching
and smashing, and wincing as she landed on her sore leg. The corpses disintegrated under the blows; but more kept
coming. She ducked under a swipe
from a corpse; it was suddenly blasted back by a blast of fire.
Merlin stood near her, staff leveled.
As she watched, the red aura faded to a bluish one.
"Sweet," she grinned.
Sailor Vulcan dropped back. Both
of the Senshi were ignoring their injuries; their healing abilities were at
work, and they had more important things to deal with, anyway.
"Vulcan Shockwave... STRIKE!"
The sonic blast shredded and blew the enemies aside in a large swath.
The two Guardians leapt forward, engaging the stunned and injured ones in
hand-to-hand combat; Sailor Astraea launched a spin kick, smashing her target's
torso in; the enemy disintegrated. Sailor
Eos threw a vicious series of punches at another, before it, too, disintegrated.
Endymion casually raced forward; Excalibur gleamed white, and he swung it
in wide arcs, destroying the army by the dozens.
And still they kept coming.
"I have an idea!" Sailor Eos shouted, ducking, and launching an
uppercut. Her target went flying
through the air, disintegrating as it did.
"Sailor Astraea! Drop
behind King Endymion and prepare your Astral Prism!"
Sailor Astraea nodded, hesitating only a second before she complied. Dodging blows, weaving under random swipes aimed in her
direction, she finally reached the relative safety of Endymion and Excalibur's
protection.
"Everyone else, get behind her, and prepare to use your
attacks!" called Sailor Eos. "Focus them on her!
She can combine them, and unleash the total potential!"
From afar, Torym, cradling a large, glossy, black, bone-trimmed tome,
smiled as his foes bunched up. They,
after all, had been tricking him the whole time; they had come here to destroy
the artifact, which could save them all. They
were misguided; it was unfortunate, but they must be destroyed.
He narrowed his eyes as Endymion abruptly dropped behind a blue-glowing
Sailor Astraea. Suddenly, five
lethal attacks- shit, he had Excalibur!- slammed viciously into Sailor
Astraea, whose knees buckled, dropping her to them, from the force of the power
conflux.
Then, impossibly, she began to glow even brighter.
Her cry came to his ears.
"ASTRAL PRISM!"
The energy exploded from her, a massive beam, as wide again as the army
of undead, a combination of sonic energy, gravity, elemental force, the rays of
the dawn, and the pure noble power of Excalibur, with a light blue overtone.
The energy raged over the battlefield, utterly consuming and destroying
the entire army.
As the last vestiges of energy faded, Sailor Astraea gasped; she
collapsed on her face.
"Impressive," Sailor Vulcan said quietly.
"That's an understatement," grinned Sailor Cygni.
She glanced down at Sailor Astraea.
Sailor Astraea's thick black eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened
them.
"You done good, kid," smiled Sailor Cygni, affecting a western
accent. "You done real
good."
Suddenly, a roar came to their ears; the shuttle was lifting off,
surrounded by a black sphere. The
dark clouds overhead broke, and sunlight fell upon them, as the evil fled.
"Shit!" cursed Sailor Cygni as Sailor Vulcan broke out her
communicator. "He must be
magically holding the damn shuttle together!"
"Sailor Vulcan to Starbase One!
Intercept and destroy the shuttle now leaving Earth's atmosphere!"
"Acknowledged," came the reply.
Endymion had his own version of a communicator open.
"Sailor Mercury! There
is a shuttle now leaving Earth's atmosphere; Starbase One is going to try and
intercept. Should they fail, have
your Battlewings standing by to get him! He
cannot be allowed to escape!"
"You got it!" came Sailor Mercury's voice.
"Stand by!"
"And I think we'll need a shuttle ourselves," Endymion concluded, then broke the connection.
"Battlewings?" inquired Sailor Cygni.
The shuttle streaked upwards; as it left the last vestiges of atmosphere
behind, it neared a rather impressive station in space.
Yellow beams, and a swarm of red and white torpedoes reached for it; the
shuttle nimbly dodged, turning away, out of their range, racing for the fringes
of the Sol system.
I must regroup, Torym knew. It
would take much power and time, but he must flee for the moment.
He would return, and show them all the error of their ways!
He was suddenly surprised as two battleaxe-shaped craft raced toward him
from the left; beams of blaster fire sliced into his dark shield, and he winced.
The two craft broke formation, and raced by on either side of the
shuttle, before abruptly wheeling about. More
blaster fire, this time at point-blank range, smashed into his protection.
Torym grew angry. He was
only trying to escape!
Black energy surged from the shuttle, tendrils reaching for the fighters.
They split again, dodging the blast.
They swung around, preparing to fire their torpedoes.
As they did so, energy surged, consuming the shuttle.
It abruptly vanished.
"What!" snapped Archmage Xaslen.
"Oh, Her Highness is not gonna like this!" muttered Lieutenant
Harrison.
The two fighters formed up, and arced back to the observation post.
"He got away," sighed Endymion slowly.
The sky was a crisp, clear blue. No
sign remained of any battle; save for the injuries the Senshi had suffered.
The wind blew over them as Endymion sheathed Excalibur.
"Wind?" asked Sailor Cygni.
"It wasn't windy here before."
"This is a sanctuary no longer," Merlin stated sadly. "Avalon is now revealed to the world for all to see.
No longer will Avalon be preserved; the magic is gone.
The book has taken it all within itself."
"Damn," muttered Sailor Cygni.
Her shoulders sagged. "It's
my fault. It was my suggestion that
he come along."
Merlin and Sailor Vulcan moved to her at the same time.
"That is incorrect. I
was the expedition leader; the responsibility is mine," Sailor Vulcan said
calmly.
"Both of you are incorrect," Merlin said forcefully.
"You could not have known. The
only thing to do now is to find and eliminate that book and its host."
A shuttle appeared in the clear, blue sky.
"What about you?" asked Endymion.
"And Excalibur?"
"Excalibur now has a worthy wielder; you suit each other.
It is yours. As I've said,
the magic has left the island; this includes the Lady. As for myself... I
must still track down and destroy that book," Merlin replied.
"Join us," Endymion offered.
"We have great resources; it is a burden you have carried for far
too long by yourself. Besides, by
combining forces, we become much more effective; and we now share some measure
of responsibility."
Merlin stared hard at him for a moment.
"You are sincere."
"Of course," nodded Endymion.
The shuttle was now hovering nearby, landing; steam wafted away.
There was a pregnant pause, as Merlin appeared to consider Endymion's
words.
"I accept," Merlin said finally, as the shuttle's hatch opened.
Somewhere
in the Alpha Zone, 2 January 2738
The
SLS Centaur
Things were coming along nicely, thought Derrelli.
Systems were obediently coming on line, and automatic diagnostics were
concluding.
"Okay!" he called. "Comms
are up! I'm compensating for the
nebular interference."
Shelia moved to a nearby panel, and pushed a button.
"Centaur to the Bahumat."
There was a crackle, and suddenly Sailor Geminga's voice broke in, loud
and clear.
"Report, Commander Thompson!"
"We are currently restoring the Centaur's systems. It appears a new type of Negatrooper managed to get aboard;
we're currently trapped in Main Engineering.
No sign of Sailor Cancri; we do not have an idea of the condition of the
rest of the crew. We've seen two of
the intruders." She briefly
described what they were like.
"Blasterproof!?" Sailor Geminga came back.
"Oh, that's just fucking dandy."
"We've had one casualty: Ensign Blackman.
There are slash marks and blaster marks all over the place; the Centaur's
crew didn't go down without a fight," Shelia continued.
"And-"
"Shit!" Derrelli cursed, staring at his panel.
A hollow boom echoed across Main Engineering.
Shelia whirled. "Report!"
"They're at our door!" Derrelli snapped, drawing his Pythons.
He whipped them about in his hand so the handles were pointing out, and
handed them to two nearby troops. "It'll
take 'em a bit to get through, and I've gotta finish restoring the systems!
When they do, blast the fuckers!"
Both flipped off the safeties, and shared a nasty grin.
"Of course!" They
moved off, taking positions behind consoles near the main door.
Another hollow boom, accompanied by the screech of metal being cut,
echoed.
Derrelli stared hard at the console, willing the diagnostic on the
sensors to conclude itself. The
status bar marched closer and closer to the end.
Boom. Screech.
Boom.
There was a beep as the sensors came fully online.
Derrelli's hands flew over the console.
"Okay!" he called. "Sensors
online! Scanning...
There are four of them at that door, and two more nearing an access port,
trying to come in behind." He
looked up with an evil grin, hands poised above a control.
"Unfortunately for them, they're passing an emergency vent to the
outside. And..." he pushed the
button. "Oops.
Silly me. I accidentally
just opened it. Shucks.
Two more down. Anyway, door
integrity is still around eighty percent; it'll take 'em a bit, and the attack
will be one-pronged, not two." He
paused. "It looks like their
main force is in the primary shuttlebay, numbering fifty-three; I am also
reading a human bio-sign there..."
He looked up. "It's
Sailor Cancri, and she is still alive. She
appears to be trapped in something; it's hard to tell, as an energy field is
obscuring sensors. There are also
scattered human bio-signs; the bridge appears to be intact, as well as other
emergency stations; all are hard-sealed and impenetrable to our friends.
It appears about seventy-four of the crew have survived."
Shelia nodded.
"Our plan?" asked another trooper.
"I think it would be obvious," Shelia said.
"We free Sailor Cancri, and figure out how to destroy the enemy, and
restore this ship to service."
"Good," Derrelli nodded. "Everything
is now up; this console is open." He
pulled as isolytic chip from a slot. "The
unlock encryption is on this chip."
"What are you doing?" Shelia asked quietly.
Derrelli stared into her eyes. "Simple.
Those two have the Pythons; you should be able to handle the four here
with the remaining ammo in them. After
that, you should get the crew together; you're essentially useless against these
assholes. I'm not, I hope."
He pulled his staff from its holding ring, and pressed the control to
extend it. "I'm going to
rescue Sailor Cancri; and take care of the rest of these idiots."
He raced for the alternate exit, microcomp in hand, wired into the ship's
sensor grid.
"Derrelli!" snapped Shelia.
He paused.
"Good luck," she whispered, and then took his position at the
console.
He nodded, as the door hissed open.
He dropped the field, and stepped through; he reactivated the field, and
watched the door hiss shut. He
stowed his microcomp.
His heart was pounding in his chest.
He was now in enemy territory. He
had no idea how these things communicated, by he felt sure they would know he
had left the safety of Main Engineering.
He swallowed, and took off running.
At this point, he had no choice.
"Commander?" asked one of the troops, seeing the expression on
her face.
"They've just left the door; all four of them; they're after him.
Thompson to Derrelli; all four are after you," Shelia growled.
"I figured as much," came the reply.
Derrelli, paused, eyeing a nearby door.
He grinned. He ducked
through as he heard another door hiss open down the corridor.
As it shut, he spun, and raised his hand.
The four Slashers moved slowly down the hall; they stopped near the door
he had entered. One hung back,
glancing behind, as the other three approached the door.
It hissed open upon their approach; a massive explosion threw the fourth
on its face. Heat and flame roared
around it.
It turned, to see flames being smothered by small forcefields, as the air
system drew away the smoke. Its
three companions were charred husks, lying where they had fallen.
"Nice try," sneered Derrelli, staff leveled, eyeing the
corpses. He narrowed his eyes as he
stared at the fourth one.
It leapt.
"What the hell?" gasped Shelia.
She examined the readouts, and grinned.
"Three more down; they just got fireballed."
"All right!" cheered one of the others.
The Slasher missed high, and Derrelli dealt a swift, sudden blow to the
side of its head. It staggered;
Derrelli brought his titanium-alloy staff down atop its skull, cracking it with
the force of the blow. Ichor
sprayed, some coating Derrelli, as the fourth Slasher dropped limply to the deck
and joined its companions.
He paused briefly to examine all four, confirming their deaths; he then
took off down the corridor.
"Another one bites the dust," Shelia reported.
Tension was building; she watched in apprehension, as Derrelli steadily
made his way closer to the main shuttlebay.
Fifty-two and one injured, Derrelli thought.
He was now standing outside of the main shuttlebay doors; he knew they
were in there, waiting. Was he
insane, going against this many?
Probably.
Did he care?
Irrelevant.
"Showtime," he grinned. He
charged the door, raising his hands.
The doors hissed open; he didn't stop, disappearing from view.
Fire surged, and screeches and snarls were heard.
The doors hissed shut.
STAY
TUNED!