"LUNAR: Tales From Crystal Tokyo"
LUNAR:
Tales From Crystal Tokyo
By
Daryll Pung
Episode
3-01: Out of the Night
Rated:
R
Deep
space, near the Zerm border, 19 May 2740
A sleek, massive, angular ship slipped silently through the spatial
expanse. Its immense bulk made even
the flagship of the Golden Millennium fleet look like a toy.
It was triangular, with six spires angling off the rear, glowing deep
blue. Its length stretched ten
times its width; weapons emplacements were liberally scattered over the brownish
bulk of the vessel.
Its course was straight; there was no doubt about its destination. Along that vector lay a Zerm battle station, guarding a
colony. There were also several
Zerm ships in the area; all were naturally quite concerned about the encroaching
ship, and all were forming to repel the intruder.
Hostile messages ripped through subspace, all aimed at the intruder. No replies were forthcoming.
The Zerm ships raced towards the unknown starship.
Red laser energy blasted from the collection of spheres. The lasers seemed to impact on the incoming vessel with no
effect; no shielding was even in evidence.
The Zerm opened their formation, allowing the battleships present to
assume their wheel-and-spoke formation. Reddish
power blasted from the outer ships of the wheel to the innermost one; a massive
red beam slammed from that ship into the nose of the intruder.
The big ship finally reacted as the energy crackled over its nose, but
did little else. It slowed down
slightly. The Zerm ships were now
at close range; orange spheres burst forth.
Bright yellow-green lightning crackled from the intruder.
After the explosions had passed, the unknown ship continued on its course
for the Zerm battle station, unmolested by any Zerm ships.
Deep
in Droylian space, approaching the neutral world of Sanctuary, 19 May 2740
The intruder bore steadily in.
From a solitary ice planet, ships of all shapes and sizes raced away;
some from the surface; some from the orbital facilities.
Not a one tried to face the incoming ship; it had already destroyed the
sensor platforms and comm arrays set up for mercenary use on Sanctuary without
answering a hail; the remote defenses hadn't made a dent.
It was clearly hostile, and clearly superior to all ships present at
Sanctuary.
Even as the last ship fled, bright yellow torpedoes flashed from the
intruder, striking the orbital facilities.
Bright yellowish-gold spheres erupted from the impact points; everything
in those spheres was disintegrated instantly.
Greenish-yellow lightning further decimated the debris from the orbital
facilities.
The ship assumed a high orbit of Sanctuary; bright yellow torpedoes
streaked for the mercenary base on the surface.
A short time later, the large ship turned towards the Holy Droylian
Empire.
The
Alpha Zone, near the previous location of a Dark Kingdom gate, 19 May 2740
Two massive ships cruised silently, side by side, to the midpoint of the
sector. At this point, they slowed
slightly; they separated, heading opposite directions.
One was headed straight at a Golden Millennium listening post; the other
a Dark Kingdom colony world.
A short time later, greenish-yellow lightning flashed, accompanied by
bright yellow torpedoes, in two separate locations.
A short time after that, the DK was less one colony, and the GM less one
listening post.
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 19 May 2740
Subspace
Communications Central Control
"Mother of Serenity!" gasped Sailor Venus, as the comm traffic
in the central node tripled abruptly; a dozen different scout ships were
checking in at once. Their reports
were all uniformly alarming; from massive paths of destruction, to huge,
mysterious ships causing them. And
now, one of those ships had just entered GM space.
Sailor Venus shook her head. "Nirvana,
get Sailor Neptune down here, code triple-A urgent. Same with the Royals. Lieutenant,
get together all data we have gathered so far on the intruders; I think we're
gonna want Skunk Works analysis, so Nirvana, if you'd alert Sailor Mercury as
well, I'd appreciate it."
Sailor Venus turned. "What
ships have we in the area?"
A nearby ensign glanced at her displays.
She raised her ebon head to meet Sailor Venus' gaze.
"The Bahumat, the Unicorn, and a small complement of
light cruisers and destroyers."
Sailor Venus raised an eyebrow. "The
Bahumat again, huh? They get
all the fun stuff. Dispatch
subspace communiqués to every ship near the invader; let them know what's
coming and to stay tuned for further orders."
A small screen in Sailor Venus' station beeped, and blinked on to reveal
Her Highness, Neo-Queen Serenity the First.
"Mina, how bad is it?"
"Four alarm chili bad," answered Sailor Venus, doing a double
take as she noticed Serenity's expression.
"What?"
"I think that was supposed to be 'four alarm fire'," Serenity
sighed.
"Whatever," said Sailor Venus dismissively.
"I think you need to come down here."
"On our way," Serenity replied.
The screen went dark.
On
patrol station, Horatio Gamma system, 19 May 2740
The
SLS Bahumat
She leaned back coolly in her chair, spinning it around slowly and lazily
in her captain's ready room. Her
eyes swept for the umpteenth time over the paintings and models decorating the
room, before she paused the lazy spin to grab at her drink.
She was slightly dizzy; she missed, catching the side of the mug and
knocking it off the table. Her hand
outstretched almost of its own accord; the mug and its contents hovered a bare
inch from the floor.
"Nice catch," commented Neo, the ship's AI.
Sailor Cygni shook her head, a silly grin on her face.
She rotated her hand, reversing the tiny localized gravity field to
channel the contents back in the mug. She
then floated it back up to her hand, and took a sip, before setting the mug back
in its proper spot.
There came a beep, and Neo's voice spoke again.
"Incoming transmission from RSN HQ, Captain.
Secure channel."
"Let's have it," Sailor Cygni said, pressing a button in the
desk in front of her, activating the wall screen.
Three minutes later, the doors that connected the captain's ready room
and the bridge hissed open; Sailor Cygni walked briskly through.
"Captain on the bridge," called the Senshi serving as first
officer of the Bahumat, standing from the captain's chair.
Her indigo, black, and white fuku differed slightly from the norm; it
showed her midriff. She also wore
knee-high boots, and bore a platinum tiara with a pearl on it.
Her blue-green eyes showed a mischievous, good mood; further emphasized
by the dimple on her left cheek. She
was tanned, with a smattering of freckles; her dark blonde hair, streaked with a
few lighter blonde highlights, was braided in sort of a circlet on top of her
head, with the rest hanging down her back.
Sailor Ryujin's grin and mood was infectious.
Shame I've got to ruin her good mood, thought Sailor Cygni. "Red Alert. All
hands to battlestations. Commence
long range scans," she ordered sharply.
Sailor Ryujin blinked, her smile fading somewhat.
"What's going on?" asked the surfer girl, alarm beginning to
creep into her mood.
"Trouble," replied Sailor Cygni grimly.
"Big trouble." Sailor
Cygni glanced back towards tactical, at another recent arrival to the crew.
With his orange and black hair, reminiscent of a tiger's, and white eyes,
the Wizard Orien was scanning his displays, ascertaining the readiness of the
ship for combat. A half Human, half Isbanni mix from the moon Sycorax, he was
attired in the standard RSN uniform for his position as head Tactical Officer;
the fact that he was from the same place as Duke had helped him to blend in
fairly easily.
Sailor Cygni's glance swept towards the helm, where the Wizard Duke sat,
as usual. He, too, was scanning his
panel, determining status for a fight. As
usual. Also as usual...
"Engineering to Bridge," came the call over the comm system. Right on time, Sailor Cygni noted with a slight smile.
"Anything we need be especially concerned about?"
"Not just yet, Derrelli," sighed Sailor Cygni.
"Neo, put me on ship-wide broadcast."
There was another blip as Neo complied.
"Attention, Bahumat," Sailor Cygni began.
"This is your captain speaking.
We've just received an emergency communiqué from fleet headquarters; we
have a large, aggressive, unknown intruder entering our space and heading in our
direction. All the ships is this
sector have just been alerted, and are on their way to rendezvous with us at our
current location. All we know so
far is that this ship utterly wiped out a listening post, and did it with no
communications, and very rapidly. This
threat has been assessed as triple-A urgent; the ship is regarded as extremely
deadly. We stand into grave danger.
More will be briefed to you as we learn it.
That is all."
"Oh, fucking lovely," grumbled Sailor Ryujin, shaking her head.
Well, thought Sailor Cygni, with five powered individuals
aboard, the Bahumat will give one hell of a fight.
"Let's focus," she said aloud. "I want to know the second anything shows up on sensors.
After all, the GM is counting on us!"
Down in Engineering, Derrelli sighed as the announcement ended.
"Great. Why do we always get the fun ones?"
He turned away from the central system monitor, and gazed over Main
Engineering. "Right," he
said, raising his voice to project. "You
heard Sailor Cygni. I want
emergency teams standing by near all major systems, so get moving!
Let's prep all emergency procedures.
Work it, people!"
Main Engineering burst into frenzied, yet ordered, activity.
Crystal
Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 19 May 2740
Subspace
Communications Central Control
"This is not good," commented Sailor Mercury.
"We've just basically spent the last two years getting the GM's
defenses and the fleet back together, and now this has to happen.
I think we need the scout ships to very closely tail these ships; we're
going to need every scrap of information we can get to develop a counter."
"You think there is one?" asked Princess Serena, her red eyes
wide at the data on the screens in front of them.
"I hope so," Sailor Mercury replied, brushing her blue bangs
from her eyes. "Those
torpedoes and energy weapons are tremendously powerful; they blew away the Zerm
outpost, practically blew Sanctuary into an asteroid field, and nothing fired at
them so far has even registered."
"And they aren't talking," added Sailor Neptune.
"What should I tell the Bahumat's task force?"
King Endymion glanced at Serenity, whose blue eyes were still taking in
all the data. She waited another
few moments before she spoke. "Tell
all scout ships to close and scan; but be cautious; any sign of detection and
they should back off. We need the
information, but not so bad as to lose lives recklessly.
As for the Bahumat and the ships now under its command..."
She paused.
"Tell them to engage the enemy via TPA and persecute with extreme
prejudice. And let's go to
nationwide yellow alert; all border stations to red."
The others present shared significant looks, and all nodded crisply.
Sailor Venus and Sailor Neptune stood and exited Sailor Venus' private
office. As they strolled out into
the main communications node, heads turned.
The two exchanged a glance.
"By the Queen's order, nationwide yellow alert," Sailor Neptune
said. "All borders to red
alert."
"We have a lot of communications to send," Sailor Venus added.
"Let's get busy."
The room was quickly a scene of massive activity.
As Sailor Venus and Sailor Neptune worked, Serenity sighed, and glanced
at Sailor Mercury. "Honestly,
Amy... what is your opinion of the threat here?"
Sailor Mercury sighed. "Probably
the most serious threat we've faced as a nation yet, by the early readings.
I mean, those weapons alone..." she trailed off.
She shook her head. "Well,
I think our ships' point defense can protect from those torpedoes, but the
energy weapon they're using is another concern.
I've got to get working on this data; can I get live battle feed shunted
to Skunk Works?"
"Of course," nodded Serenity.
"By your leave, then," Sailor Mercury said briskly, rising.
"Good luck, Amy," commented Endymion; the blue-haired Planetary
paused.
"To all of us," she replied, before heading out of the door
towards the lifts; she gave a nod to Sailor Guardians Eos and Astraea as she
entered a lift. Both wore looks of
concern.
"Nirvana," Serenity said next.
"Please get me Sailor Betelgeuse."
"One moment, your Highness," the AI replied.
"Just what we needed," murmured Serena quietly.
"We'll be fine," Serenity said confidently.
"We always find a way."
On
patrol station, Horatio Gamma system, 19 May 2740
The
SLS Bahumat
"Incoming communications from HQ, Captain," the comm officer
reported. "Coded your eyes
only." It had been a tense
three hours on the bridge; waiting only made things harder.
"I'll take it in my ready room," Sailor Cygni said, rising from
her chair, jerking her thumb in the general direction of said ready room.
She quickly strolled to it, as the doors hissed open and shut to allow
her through.
She took a seat at her desk, and pushed the button, privately dreading
what this message might entail. The
wall screen lit up, to reveal Sailor Neptune, looking positively harried.
"Sailor Cygni," greeted the current Deputy Commander in Chief
of the fleet.
"Sailor Neptune," Sailor Cygni nodded, before continuing.
"Please tell me you've got good news."
"I wish," sighed Sailor Neptune.
"While we've been preparing to deal with the current threat, more
has appeared on long-range sensors and through our various scout ships."
"How bad?" Sailor Cygni said, closing her eyes.
"Initial reports place four of them in our local area of space.
One is ravaging the borders of the Holy Droylian Empire, one is
assaulting the Zerm, one is smashing the DK, and the one headed towards you
seems intent on destroying us. They've left a trail of destruction behind them.
Sanctuary no longer exists; the HDE has lost two colonies and eight dozen
starships. The Zerm have lost more
ships than that; they've also lost two battlestations and one colony.
The one smashing through the DK has wiped out five of their colonies and
the assigned defenses. The one
heading for you is, fortunately for us, traveling through a sparsely populated
section of the sector; it's only destroyed a listening post and an automated
sensor platform," concluded Sailor Neptune.
"And they're tough. Even
the Zerm's combo battleship attack didn't affect them."
"Mother of Serenity," whispered Sailor Cygni.
"Oh, it gets better," Sailor Neptune said grimly.
"Scouts tracing their trail have just discovered that these are
their version of scout ships; a fleet lies just past the galactic edge.
If you want to count our blessings, all the ships appear to be of the
same class."
"That's a blessing?" Sailor Cygni asked incredulously.
Sailor Neptune rolled her eyes. "Yeah.
Kinda lets ya know how serious it is, huh?
Anyway, your orders are to engage this enemy with full usage of the TPA
system and eliminate them. Do not screw around; do not try to talk, because they aren't.
The entire nation is now on alert. These
orders are straight from Her Majesty."
"Well, damn," muttered Sailor Cygni.
"All right. If that's
how we're supposed to go about it, consider it done. Fight to the death, or are we allowed to retreat if
necessary?"
Sailor Neptune paused. "Do
not waste your lives unnecessarily," she said finally.
"At the same time, that ship must be destroyed, so delay any
retreats until the last possible second."
Sailor Cygni sighed. "Why
is this happening? What do they
want? There must be some reason
behind this..."
Sailor Neptune nodded. "Yeah.
Well, we know nothing yet; and until they actually decide to talk, we
won't."
Bleep. "Sailor Cygni!
We've detected something at the fringes of our long range sensors!"
called Sailor Ryujin over the comm system.
Sailor Cygni's eyes narrowed. "I'll
keep you informed; gotta go."
"Good luck," Sailor Neptune said as her image disappeared.
Sailor Cygni was towards the door so fast her chair was left spinning.
"Report!" she snapped as she stepped on the bridge.
"The Unicorn and all of our escorts have taken up positions
around us; we're in a net formation," reported Orien.
"Sensors show a vessel of unknown origin at the very fringe of
detection range. We have nothing
definite yet; all we know at the moment is it is large," science stated.
"Right," Sailor Cygni growled.
"Put me through to all ships."
Sailor Ryujin, watching Sailor Cygni stalk to her chair, hid a smile
behind her hand. Damn shame
Sailor Cygni is straight; I bet she's a blast in bed! she thought.
With those eyes, that hair, and that ass... Sailor Ryujin sat up as Sailor Cygni began to speak, hearing
the seriousness of her tone.
"Our orders, straight from Her Highness, are to blow this ship
away," Sailor Cygni was saying. "By
any means necessary, and opening up with a full TPA barrage.
This is a very serious situation, and everyone's counting on us.
Let's get it done." Sailor
Cygni made a slicing motion at her throat to the comm officer; who nodded, and
cut the channel.
"Sailor Cygni to Derrelli," Sailor Cygni said next.
"Go ahead," came chief engineer's prompt reply.
"Report to the bridge; you may be needed for TPA usage," Sailor
Cygni ordered.
"On my way," Derrelli replied.
A soft beep indicated the channel going silent.
Sailor Cygni glanced over at her first officer.
"Sailor Ryujin?"
"Yeah, Cap?" Sailor Ryujin drawled, raising her eyebrows.
"Would you care for the first crack at the bad guys?
The TPA is all yours," Sailor Cygni declared, waving her hand
towards the special console.
Sailor Ryujin stood with a grin. "I'd
love to," she smirked, moving towards the TPA.
That taken care of, Sailor Cygni glanced at the science officer. "Put our target on screen one, please.
Maximum magnification. And
send a continuous signal to HQ."
The view changed to show the starfield ahead... and a smallish,
triangular blotch that was slowly getting larger.
"Why?" Sailor Cygni muttered quietly.
"Why is this happening...?"
Derrelli frowned as he leaned against the wall of the lift car; his hopes
of a quiet patrol had just been shattered.
The Bahumat, now completely upgraded, repaired, and checked out,
had only headed back into space four months ago.
So far, their swing through the sector had been quiet.
Figures, he thought. I
knew it wouldn't last.
He only hoped that he wouldn't have to work as hard this tour as he had
on the last one. Somehow, though,
he knew that was wishful thinking; for some reason, he just couldn't stay out of
trouble.
Well, Hoshi and he would simply have to cope.
As he thought of Hoshi, a smile crept across his face. He enjoyed their relationship, and he knew she felt the same
way. It was often a struggle to
remain professional on duty, but something they held themselves to, no matter
how bad they sometimes wanted to...
He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts.
The Bahumat stood into danger; and it wasn't alone.
Captain Shelia Thompson and the Unicorn was the Bahumat's
capable back-up; and the complement of smaller escort ships were all staffed
with fully trained and battle-proven crews, even if they were a bit on the young
side.
Yeah, grandpa, Derrelli thought derisively.
As if you have room to talk!
On that thought, the doors to the bridge hissed open, and Derrelli strode
out. He paused only to examine the
screen, noting that Sailor Ryujin was already in the TPA.
"So, are we having fun yet?" Derrelli asked blandly.
Sailor Cygni shot him a stern glare, one that slowly melted into a
half-smile. She shook her head with
a sigh. "Can't you ever be
serious?"
Derrelli nodded. "Oh,
trust me... it's about to get real serious.
And when the fire strikes, these freaks are going to wonder just what
they wandered into."
"For all of five seconds before they are charred beyond
recognition," chuckled Duke.
Derrelli's grin widened. "Nuke'em
if you got'em," he said softly.
Orien, Sailor Ryujin, Duke, and Sailor Cygni all glanced at Derrelli,
noting his eyes narrowing at the screen.
"And we've got'em," Derrelli added grimly.
"Let's go to war," Sailor Cygni said solemnly.
"Fleet command: all
ahead full, sublight. Battle plan
Cygni Gamma Four. Engage."
Red ionic trails lengthened behind the small fleet as it leapt forward,
bound for its unknown foe, ready to give all for their homeland.
Perhaps even their lives.
STAY
TUNED!