Sailor Moon
"Betrayal of the Fifth Planet"
By Koy Kragh (koyn@utdallas.edu)
Chapter 3 - "The Race to Earth"
--- Disclaimer
Sailor Moon is a great anime series, but it's not my idea. That credit
goes to Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. The North American dub (and all rights
to the series thereabouts) belong to DiC. I'm overjoyed that DiC is bringing
the series back to NA, and I'm not attempting to infringe on their or
anybody else's rights.
This is a fictional story, any similarities between the characters in
this story and any person/people living or dead are not my fault.
--- Author's notes
This will be one BIG story by the time I'm done. If you don't want to be
reading TONS of chapters, then don't start this fanfic.
You probably would have figured it out pretty quickly on your own, but
I'm basing this story 1,000 years ago, in the Moon Kingdom. I haven't found
much background/research material for this time-period in SM, so I made up..
er.. embellished a few things to add atmosphere. If you want to see a quick
breakdown of what I envision the Sailor Moon past was like, then look in
the MOONHIST.KOY file that should be available with this fanfic.
One last thing . . . OK, say you read this, you like it/hate it/want to
kill me, etc. Praise, comments, flames, snaps and the like can be sent to
koyn@utdallas.edu. Death threats, curses, virii, etc. should be mailed to
harf@moron.org. Marriage proposals can be sent to me, please include picture
of Grand Cherokee.
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Chapter 3 - "The Race to Earth"
Serenity awakes to the sound of soft music playing nearby. Blinking sleep
from her eyes, she examines her surroundings. Rei and Makoto, the same team
of protectors she entered Prosperity with, sleep beside her in the tent.
"Even here in the middle of a secured camp they are concerned for our safety,"
thinks the Moon Princess. Hoping their precautions will prove unnecessary,
she sits up and quietly emerges from the small tent she and the others sleep
in.
Darkness obscures the features of the clearing as Serenity glances around
the small camp. Her eyes adjust to the half-light and she stares over the
trees at the distantly visible Earth, the only source of light since the torches
have been extinguished. Her thoughts turn to the distant planet's prince,
Endymion. The distant music seems to match her melancholy mood, and she allows
it to drag her into waking dreams of the man she loves.
A hand on her shoulder shocks her back to reality. "Your Highness," asks
Kieran as the Princess spins to face him, "are you felling okay?"
Serenity catches her breath after Kieran's sudden interruption. "Yes," she
replies, "I'm fine. The music woke me and I couldn't get back to sleep." As
she says this she notices that the music has stopped. "Well, there was music
playing. . ."
Kieran smiles at her and nods. "That was probably Charles playing
for Ysayne."
Confused, she asks, "Charles and Ysayne? They didn't seem to get along too
well before. Why would he play music for her now?"
"Not get along?" asks Kieran, a bit confused himself. Then he seems to
understand and laughs softly for a moment. "Oh! You mean when they argue."
Smiling, Kieran sits down on the ground and leans against a tree. Serenity
looks around for somewhere besides the ground to sit. Then, she realizes that
after wearing the same clothes for three days a little more dirt won't hurt.
She sits where she can see Kieran and not be uncomfortable.
"Well," he begins, "I suppose it would help to know a little about us if
you're going to spend a while in our company. We all come from Rona, but only
Charles, Ysayne and myself were once a part of the Ronan royal family. There
were more ex-nobles here, but only the three of us were able to escape the RSF
attack a week ago."
Kieran's features grow dark for a moment and he pauses his story; but he
shakes his head as if to clear it and continues, smiling again. "On Rona,
Lord Charles and Lady Ysayne were betrothed to be married. Their families had
entered a co-operative treaty and planned their marriage to seal the contract.
It's a common practice, but not usually an especially effective one."
"Lord Charles and Lady Ysayne knew nothing about each other. They had only
met once, many years before their betrothal, at a society function. Then
suddenly, their future was decided for them. They reacted like most people
would and rebelled. When they finally did meet, they had each decided not to
like the other, so that's exactly what happened."
"Independently, they had also each decided to join the rebellion against
King Tor, so they believed they wouldn't have to worry about the marriage their
parents' had planned. They were right about the wedding, they both left before
it was scheduled, but they were quite surprised to see each other when they
arrived on Earth to meet their contact."
"Unfortunately, they had brought along their hatred for each other and
caused all sorts of headaches during their training. However, while they were
on Earth, they were forced to actually spend time with each other. Since they
arrived at the same time, they were assigned to the same unit. Eventually,
they discovered that neither one of them was as horrible a person as they had
built up in their minds." Kieran's smile grows a bit larger. "After a while,
they became friends. Soon after that, they realized they were in love.
Everyone could see it before they did. No matter how much they thought they
hated each other, others could see how perfect they were for each other."
"Now, I'm not sure if they keep arguing because they always have and they
just got into the habit, or if the reason they argue has changed from hatred
to love."
Kieran stops and looks over at her. She thinks about what he said for a
moment, but something about his last sentence bugs her. "I'm not sure I know
what you mean by them arguing because of love," she says.
The leader of the Ronan rebellion looks thoughtful for a moment, then he
tries to explain. "Well, from what I hear, you and the princess from Mars seem
to do your fair share of arguing as well." Serenity nods, but isn't sure
exactly where he is going with this. He continues, "So, do you hate Rei?"
"No," replies the Princess. "We seem to fight about almost everything, but
she defends me all the time. When I really need to talk to someone, she will
listen. She is a wonderful friend, I think that is one of the reasons it
hurts so much when we fight."
"Have you ever thought that maybe she fights with you *because* she is
your friend?" he asks. Serenity looks at him strangely. "Hmm. . . perhaps
that's not the best way to put it."
Before Kieran can continue, Charles and Ysayne enter the clearing from a
nearby trail. In a quiet voice, Kieran calls to them, "Charles, Ysayne. . .
we were just talking about you."
The two Ronan expatriates look in his direction, then walk over. Charles
looks at the Princess, "Don't listen to him," he says. "I didn't do it. I
was never even *on* the western continent of Earth, and nobody saw me with
his boots."
"Western continent?" asks Serenity, seeming more confused by the second,
and growing very sleepy.
Kieran notices her holding back a yawn and breaks in, "Yes, that's just an
old injustice that Charles has yet to pay for."
"Yeah, right," replies Charles, "like you'll ever be able to top *that*
one."
Kieran smiles a 'just you wait and see' smile and turns to the Princess.
"Your Highness, perhaps you should return to your tent. There are still
several hours until we must leave, and you should get as much rest as
possible."
The Princess nods sleepily and begins to stand. "Then we are leaving for
Earth in the morning?" she asks.
Standing quickly, Kieran answers, "Probably. We won't know which escape
route we will be able to take until tomorrow. Our primary and secondary plans
will take us directly to Earth, and our tertiary plan will only take a few
days longer. But, we will discuss this in depth in the morning. You should
go back to sleep."
The Princess nods again as she returns to her tent. Inside, Rei and Makoto
continue their slumber. She smiles at them, and curls up beneath her blanket.
Soon, her mind fills with images of Earth . . . and its prince.
---
Several miles from Prosperity, the small outpost begins its day. Shifts
change, guards are relieved, and personnel rush about completing daily
assignments and inspections. A casual observer wouldn't have noticed much
change in this routine after the Ronans took control a few days ago. Of
course, recently, a casual observer would likely be shot by a Ronan arrow or
energy bolt.
Kieran hoped they could avoid that. He turned from his vantage point
overlooking the base to look at his companions. Nathan and Jason had remained
here to help protect the Queen and the princesses while the others had gone
out to scout the base. "But they should have been back here half an hour
ago," thinks Kieran. He forces himself to think positively until they hear
back from the rest of them.
He senses a presence behind them, he turns and sees that Nathan feels it
too. Silently, Kieran motions for Jason to check it out while he and Nathan
continue to mask their presence and prepare to protect their charges if
necessary. Slowly, Jason works his way back into the forest until he can see
who is there. Jason gives them the 'all clear' signal and Kieran relaxes. It
must be the others.
Jason returns to the group with Heather, Charles and Ysayne. Besides
himself and Nathan, these were the only three operatives he had on the Moon
with any experience in the Art. Jason, Stephen and Stephanie were all Ronan,
but they were of common birth and had no special magical training. However,
they had all been trained as guerrilla style warriors and Stephen and
Stephanie proved they had an amazing ability for stealth and covert operations.
Since the Ronans could pick up on the others' magical ability if their
shielding slipped, he had sent Stephen and Stephanie to scout separately.
However, they should have returned at the same time as the others. "Where are
Stephen and Stephanie?" asks Kieran.
"We saw them on the other side of the complex," answers Heather. "They
probably had to take a different way out than we did."
"Let's hope they get here soon," adds Charles.
"Why," asks Kieran, "what did you find?"
Heather details the results of their scouting. "The base isn't very
large, but it is well defended. I have a feeling the RSF brought in some
additional personnel and gear since they know we are in the area. There are
three craft at the small landing facility adjacent to the base. However, only
two would be beneficial to our cause. There is a Y-498 transport that could
be used to replace the craft we have now instead of supplement it. However,
while it might be tempting to use it instead of the modified sailing yacht we
have currently, it will not be easy to capture and we may be forced to focus
our efforts on the second craft."
"The other ship is a Caribener Mark IV. If we capture this one instead,
we will still have to use the yacht we have now to have enough room to
transport everyone, but we would have a ship capable of escorting us off
planet. That may end up being more valuable to us than a comfortable ride to
wherever we are going."
"You don't feel we could get both?" asks Jason.
Heather shakes her head, "I believe we *could* get both, but I think we
should concentrate on one. If we go for two we will have to spread our forces
out. We have a better chance of getting everyone out alive if we only take
one. I think it should be the Mark IV because the Y-498 isn't nearly fast
enough to outrun the Imperial defense craft they will, of course, send after
us."
Kieran grimaced, "And a Mark IV doesn't give us enough firepower to keep
them off the yacht until we can get away." He took a deep breath and closed
his eyes. The Ronans have supremacy in both the air and the Great Void
near the Moon. That meant that leaving by way of Voidcraft would be very
difficult and extremely risky. However, they couldn't transport out by
magical means, because that was too easy to trace and counter-act. Plus, the
sheer power required to send them all that far meant they had to find another
way. They had to leave soon or they would be caught, but their only chance of
getting away was almost to risky to attempt.
Kieran opens his eyes as he feels a tap on his shoulder. Nathan stands
next to him and points towards the base. Near the landing area he could see
a small flash of light every few seconds. "That's Stephen and Stephanie," says
Nathan. "They're signaling us."
"But what do they want us to do?" asks Ysayne.
Kieran turns towards the others, "Let's go ask them," he says as he leads
the way into the forest.
---
The path they took led them deeper into the forest before it cut back
towards the eastern side of the base. As they near the edge of the forest,
Kieran stops the group. He turns and says, "We don't know what to expect
except a fight. Senshi, it may be a good idea if you transform and
concentrate on keeping the Queen and Princess safe."
Nathan glances towards the party and then moves ahead a few paces to where
he can keep an eye open for trouble. Behind him, he can sense the four
senshi transforming into their battle-ready forms. For a moment, he is
surprised at how quickly and silently the girls change; then, he remembers
the nature of the magic behind the transformation. Immediately, he checks to
ensure their magical shielding is still in place, cursing himself for not
thinking about it sooner. He exhales a breath he hadn't realized he was
holding, the shields are intact; they haven't given away their position.
Ahead, he can just make out the outline of the base through the trees.
Just past the trees somewhere are Stephen and Stephanie. He can't see them
yet, but he takes up the lead position as the group continues forward.
Behind him, the four inner senshi surround Queen Serenity and her daughter.
Charles and Ysayne take up flank positions with Heather and Jason in the
rear. Kieran and Nathan lead the way forward. Nathan smiles at how easily
their group slipped into a secure formation, protecting their royal charges.
Hopefully, everything will go as planned and in an hour or so the eight
Ronans and their six companions will be on a ship headed for Earth.
---
Kieran spotted Stephen and Stephanie a few minutes earlier, but the group
moved towards them slowly to draw as little attention as possible to
themselves. The two Ronans had stopped signaling some time ago knowing
their friends had most likely gotten the message, and hoping to maintain a low
profile so close to the Ronan outpost. Kieran was glad they had the two on
their side. They had little magical ability, but they were in training and
showed promise. However, Kieran knew that their greatest strength was their
stealth, and part of that included not using magic at all since it could
easily be discovered by competent Ronans.
As they approach, Stephen whispers towards them, "Finally! Sorry, Kieran
but we've got to work fast to take advantage of our news."
"What's up?" he asks, at the same time checking to make sure their group
is still together and in positions where they can react quickly to trouble.
"Well," says Stephanie when Kieran turns back to look at them, "in the
last few minutes the number of guards at the landing facility has gone down.
Right now, there are only seven Ronans guarding the section holding the two
craft we want."
"How do you know which two we want?" asks Ysayne.
Stephen smiles, "It doesn't take much to know we're going to want the
Mark IV and the transport. I don't think we'll have much use for a water
freighter."
Kieran considers this new development for a moment. "Is it a trap?" he
asks.
"I don't think so," responds Stephen. "They unloaded something off the
freighter and most of the guards went into the base with it. I think they're
just keeping whatever it is they received under heavy guard."
"Could you see what they took off the freighter?" asks Nathan.
"Nothing special," answers Stephanie, "just three large boxes. Of course,
water freighters usually don't carry cargo in wooden crates, and I don't
think they'd pull most of their guards to watch over a small shipment of
water no matter how valuable a commodity it is."
"So, if we hurry we might be able to get both the Mark IV and the
transport," thinks Kieran out loud.
"That's about the size of it," states Stephen.
"OK then," starts Kieran, "here's the plan. . ."
"LOOK OUT!" interrupts Nathan as he spreads his arms in a magical gesture
to raise some shielding over the group. Kieran quickly looks towards the
base in time to see a ball of magical energy spray along Nathan's hurried
defenses.
"They're just getting our range," says Kieran. They've been discovered.
Nowhere to go but Void, now. "Heather! Go with the senshi and take the
Queen and princess to the transport. Charles, Ysayne and Jason take care of
any resistance we get from the base. Nathan, Stephen and Stephanie come with
me and let's take those ships!"
---
"Crescent Beam!" The sounds of battle surround Kieran. Thankfully, the
base doesn't have many magi on it, and all of them were in the base itself
when they were discovered. Since the resistance fighters are really only
interested in the landing facility, perhaps they can get out of here before
they meet up with many magic-capable Ronans.
A Ronan soldier near the transport falls from Sailor Venus's crescent
beam. However, the energy from Sailor Jupiter's attack fizzles along a
hastily raised shield. "Well, so much for this being easy!" exclaims Kieran.
Behind him, he can hear more Ronans converging on the landing area where his
group stands fighting. "Jason, you and Nathan see about getting that Mark
IV up in the air! Everyone else try and make it to the transport!"
Nathan was by far the group's best pilot, and Jason was an excellent
gunner even if he couldn't use magic without the Ronan talisman within the
craft. The two of them should be able to handle the two-man escort craft.
Ahead of him, Kieran can see several more Ronans running towards the
landing area from the base. Most of the magi remain back at the base, but
their magic easily reaches the landing area. The soldiers themselves rush
beyond the shields to battle the group hand-to-hand and sword-to-sword. This
meant that the senshi were able to attack them once they came in close.
Slowly, the group makes its way towards the ships. Dodging balls of fire
as well as ice, the resistance members work on combating the far off Ronan
magi while simultaneously dueling with Ronan ground troops. Whenever
possible, Kieran glances about to try and keep up with where his companions
are and who is in trouble.
Kieran drops a Ronan soldier with a slice of his sword and quickly looks
around him. Immediately, he notices he can't find Jason. Before Kieran can
look closer, however, another soldier runs at him, screaming. Kieran parries
his blow and defends himself while scanning the battle-scene. He notices a
ball of ice hurtling towards them that the soldier doesn't. Kieran grabs the
Ronan's sword hand, disarms him with a twist of his wrist, then kicks the man
backwards into the ice.
Most of his group has reached the transport now. He looks towards the
escort ship and sees Nathan helping Jason into the craft. "::What's wrong
with Jason?::" he asks across a mental connection. Nathan's reply is filled
with concern, "::He was grazed by a ball of fire and the soldier he was
fighting pierced him. We can still get off-planet, but I don't hold much hope
for him after that.::"
Kieran shifts his focus to Jason as he prepares to board the transport
behind the last of his group. "::Hang on, Jason. We'll get you healed once
we get back to Earth. Just hang on.::" Jason doesn't reply, but Kieran
knows he heard him. He sends a fireball of his own towards the on-rushing
troops as he climbs aboard the ship. "Let's get out of here!" he shouts as
he raises the gangplank and watches the escort ship take off.
---
As the two ships enter the Great Void everyone inside the transport
breathes a little easier. Kieran moves from his position near the rear of
the transport towards the pilot area at the front. As he walks among the
cabin area, he has everyone find a secure place to sit and ride out their
escape. When he reaches the bridge area Heather turns to him. "We've got
company coming."
Kieran nods and walks back to the passenger area. "Stephen, Stephanie,"
he points to the two siblings in turn, "take the top and bottom turrets. I'll
get the aft turret." The two Ronans nod and hurry off to man the small
weapons. Kieran turns to everyone else and checks that they're properly
secured in their seats. "Nathan should be able to keep them off us in the
Mark IV, we'll make it to Earth OK."
As he walks to the rear of the craft, Kieran hopes he's right. He glances
towards the escort ship and prays that Jason is well enough to handle the
weapons system.
---
"Here they come," thinks Heather as she pilots the bulky transport away
from Earth's only moon. Behind her ship, she senses Nathan in their sole
escort craft going to meet their pursuers. The Mark IV engages several of
the Imperial Interceptor style craft. Although the Caribener Mark IV is the
most powerful escort ship that can legally be owned by a citizen, it's barely
a match for one Imperial-grade craft. Nathan is taking on three. "That
still leaves two for us to deal with," realizes Heather.
Hoping that Nathan and Jason can handle themselves, Heather urges as much
speed and maneuverability out of the craft as she can. Multi-colored energy
bolts leap out from the pursuit craft and the transport at almost the same
instant. The transport has better shielding than the Ronan craft, but
its weaponry doesn't match up at all. Hopefully, Kieran and the others can
pour some of their own magical ability into the weaponry to add a little
extra punch to their shots. Of course, besides herself, Charles, and Ysayne,
Kieran is the only one on board who can do that. She is tied up piloting and
has no magic to spare just keeping ahead of their pursuers. Charles and
Ysayne are absolutely horrible shots, so Kieran must have put Stephen and
Stephanie, who couldn't use magic yet, in two of the turrets. That left
Charles and Ysayne to work on keeping their shields up, but they'll be
fighting a losing battle unless they can hit the Ronan ships with enough power
to knock them out. "This is not going to be easy," she says out loud as she
coaxes the ship sideways to avoid a shot.
Behind them, Heather senses a large explosion. She checks the area and
senses the Mark IV is still intact, but losing shields. She also notices
there are only two craft bothering Nathan now, and one of them seems near
death itself. "Maybe we *can* do this. . ." she thinks.
Sensing the ships harassing them, she sees that Kieran and the others have
managed to land a few good hits, but not enough for her to feel comfortable.
The trip to Earth will take them just under three days, and the Ronans will
most likely continue sending pursuit craft for the next two until they get
much closer to Earth's protective blanket of fighters. Surely Prince Endymion
will send them aid. He had done as much as possible to help out in the past.
She just hoped that the political situation hadn't gotten to where the young
prince couldn't help them.
She senses another ship's destruction and checks around her. Nathan picked
off another! Then, Heather senses something she doesn't quite understand.
She shakes her head a bit, and checks again. Nathan is pulling away from the
fight. Her concentration is shaken as a ship near the transport's aft
explodes. "That just leaves two now," she thinks to herself, "but where is
Nathan going?"
She extends her thoughts to him, using the communications talisman next to
the pilot's console to aid her at this high speed. "::Nathan? Where are you
going?!::"
Nathan's voice sounds strained even in her mind as he replies, "::I've
lost my gunner. I'm going to try and lead at least one of them away from
you. I'll try and meet you guys on Earth.::"
"::What do you mean 'lost your gunner'? What's happened to Jason?!::" she
asks, worried that she won't like his answer very much.
"::Jason's dead.::" Saying this, Nathan speeds off on a tangent to Earth.
The Ronan craft follows him away, but Heather doesn't hold out much hope for
Nathan against an Imperial craft without a gunner and with depleted shields.
Checking the status of her own ship, she notices *their* shields are
weakening. The Ronan craft that stayed with them seems to have discovered
that the stronger blasts are coming from the rear and avoids that area. She
can hear Kieran trading places with Stephen, but she also senses several more
craft approaching from the direction of the Moon and a few heading in from
above and to the left-front of them. "No, this is *not* going to be easy,"
she says aloud.
The craft from behind them enter firing range and join their badly damaged
brother in depleting their shields. She wonders if they will attempt to take
the ship intact so they can recover the Queen and princess. Of course, if it
looks like they won't be able to safely recover the ex-rulers Heather holds
little doubt in her mind that their orders are to ensure the craft's complete
destruction.
As the second group of craft enter firing range she thinks to herself,
"That may not be too long now." More multi-colored energy sizzles through
Void, sending a wash of color along the transport's hull as they pass by.
"Pass by?" wonders Heather as she scans the area. The bolts of energy strike
the Ronan craft dead on. Excitedly, she checks the configuration of the new
fighter group. They seem to be the same type of craft, but their registry
markings place them as coming from Earth.
She is surprised when one of the Earth ships contacts her via mind-link.
"::This is Captain Demann of the Ronan Resistance Front contacting the pilot
of the Y-498 transport craft. We usually take exception to Ronans firing on
civilian craft as a rule, but would you kindly identify yourself?::"
"Kieran!" shouts Heather. "The new ships are ours!"
"I was wondering why they shot at our little friends out there," replies
Charles.
Heather touches the communications talisman again and responds.
"::Captain, we have Kieran and the 'Royal Package' aboard. We're heading
for Earth, but we wouldn't mind if you took care of our going-away party.::"
She can sense the pilot scanning their craft for confirmation, and swerves
downwards to avoid a shot from their pursuers.
"::Okay, we'll keep these guys busy, but hurry!::"
"::Thank you, captain. One more thing. We had an escort ship, but he
lost his gunner and drew some fire off us by flying away. He's in a Caribener
Mark IV. If you see him, can you make sure he makes it safely home?::"
"::We'll keep an eye open.::"
Closing their connection, Heather pours as much of her energy into speed
as she can. As they speed away from the conflict, she silently thanks the
captain for their help, and prays that they will find Nathan before it's too
late.
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Look for the next chapter: "The Vault" soon!
