Prologue
Time: UY100981 (*Universal Year 100981 or 'the end of
Second Chances')
Asteroid Field
"Come here, Verena." Mistress commanded.
The young girl dressed in a long, flowing dress
looked up from the monitor she had been staring at,
the crescent on her forehead glowing fitfully in the
half lit darkness of the control room of the ship.
"Yes, Mistress?" Verena asked.
"I remembered that I have not congratulated you on
your mission." Mistress said, gesturing for Verena
to take a seat at the base of the throne-like chair
she was seated in.
"Then we can use the Moon Sapphire, Mistress?"
Verena asked eagerly.
"Yes," for a brief instance, a glimmer of a smile
brushed across Mistress's usually expressionless
face, "The energy from the Moon Sapphire can be used
- by you, my Princess."
Verena smiled cheerfully, "Then I succeeded in
bringing back a useful energy source for the ship!"
she said, "Now you can enter the Healergen!"
"No."
"But why not - we have enough energy -"
"Silence, Princess." Mistress said, she did not
raise her voice, but Verena paled and lost her smile,
"Have I not told you many times before that as a
Princess you must be silent till I have finished - it
is a virtue you would do well to cultivate before you
become Queen."
"Yes, Mistress." Verena flushed in embarrassment,
"But why will you not enter the Healergen?" tears
sparkled in her blue eyes, "You will die if you do
not!"
"I can wait, Princess." Mistress replied, "But
our cause will not. With the energy from the Moon
Sapphire, we shall be able to begin re-energising the
drained youma armies I - we - gathered after the
Final Battle."
"Which will bring Serena's destruction all the
closer!" Verena snarled happily, for an instance,
the glowing cheer and friendship that reflected from
her eyes, gone.
"Yes, Princess. Bringing the day when *you* sit
on the throne of Earth and the Moon Kingdom, closer
still."
"With you at my right hand to be my closest and
most trusted adviser!" Verena finished the
well-known promise, "I trust you, Mistress. You were
the only one of my 'loyal subjects'," her voice grew
bitter then, "To stay with me when my 'Mother' threw
me to our enemies to die."
"Control your anger, Verena, and channel it as I
have taught you." Mistress said sternly as the
girl-woman trembled with rage, "All emotions are
power sources, one must only know how to use it. Now
you must begin the re-energising process." She said,
at Verena's face, she grew stern once more, "You must
be willing to sacrifice for the Cause, my Princess.
YOU are the only person capable of controlling the
Moon Sapphire into giving the needed energy."
Verena nodded, "Yes Mistress." She stood up and
walked out, her every movement graceful and
controlled.
The woman only known as 'Mistress' watched Verena
leave the control room, and then slowly, her eyes
narrowed. It had taken millennia - centuries of
sleeping within Cryo-chambers and decades of the pain
the prolonged freezing eventually caused her kind -
to come to this point. The stars were aligned, and
soon - *VERY, VERY SOON* - Verena WOULD become the
Queen of Earth and the Moon Kingdom, as the
revitalised youmas tore the hapless Earth apart,
destroying all who would not succumb. When Sailor
Moon and her Guardians saw Verena standing by *HER*
side, they would refuse to fight, which would be
*THEIR* undoing. She could not fail. The stars had
preordained it.
She had done everything towards the moment when
she would hold the power – as was her right. She had
used amounts of energy and power that had caused the
Pain to increase a thousand folds. The waking of the
Generals, the false memories implanted in their minds
of Verena’s existence. . . Revealing Verena’s
existence to Serena – all that had been towards one
that moment. She would *not* fail now!
Once, Mistress had been part of the inner council
of Generals in Queen Metallica's court. Later, she
had become part of the inner council in Queen Beryl's
court, but the loyalty she gave her Queen had wavered
as she had been insulted century after century.
Neither Metallica nor Beryl had listened to her -
they had discarded the second force attack she had
wished to lead, and they had wanted to terminate
Verena when their plans to destroy the Princess
Serenity and substitute Verena in her place, had
failed. But Mistress had not terminated Verena - the
clone of Serena, created from energy samples taken
from the young princess. Instead, she had cultivated
the unknowing clone, moulding her, and planning the
ultimate attack. An attack which could - and would -
vanquish the Guardians of the last remaining
life-bearing planet in the Moon Kingdom. And when
her plans reached fulfilment, Verena would sit upon
the Throne - but SHE would be the true power.
Mistress sat in the throne-like chair, staring at the
stars glinting through the main view screen of the
spaceship. The stars never lied - their powers were
ancient, and they always told the truth. With the
knowledge of the stars, Mistress could not fail.
*For the final step.* Mistress thought, as she
touched several screens before her, *Waken Queen
Arcaina, last ruler of the ancient Amazon Army. Your
time to lead your people to start the New Age has
begun.* a smile flickered on her lips as she stared
at the screen.
