[Ranma/SM][FanFic] FURIES 7-9

[allyn yonge]

Furies
by Allyn Yonge (all...@netscape.net)


The characters of the Ranma « universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko
Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her
licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz
Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is
intended. The characters of Sailormoon are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Takeuchi
Naoko. They belong to Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai, Toei
Animation, DIC, and all others associated with rights.
No copyright infringement is intended.

I would like to thank my pre-readers. Without their
tireless efforts and endless patience this fanfiction would not
exist.
Angel de la Hoya: first to volunteer as pre-reader. It
is solely due to HER early and frequent encouragement that
this story is in it's final form. (In chap 1-6 I said "his" early and
frequent . . . Well, now it's HER . . early and frequent . . .etc .
. . Hmmmm Gender confusion in a Ranma pre-reader.
Coincidence ??)
Thiemo Guenther: should be co-creator due to his
detailed and exhaustive analysis.
Ken Wolfe:WOW. To have one of my favorite
authors offer C&C. (Secrets . . .simply incredible) He now
has a NEW fanfic in the works . . .El Hazard.
FANTASTIC!!!
Dave Eddy: Another WOW.And another of my favorites.
(go read Nekophobia, right now.) A true gentleman who spent hours
reformatting and correcting the first half of Furies . . .despite his best
efforts the cyber-gremlins managed to reinfect my document.
H-Packrat, who offered some telling criticism and
corrected a blunder on the part of the author.(and convinced
me that Akane's hands belonged in the "cookie jar". ^_^ )
Terence Young, who has just come on board . . .he has given some
invaluable technical advice. As a reward for his help I am going to
let him bomb Tokyo from the air instead of via submarine. ^_^
Pre-readers are worth their weight in any precious metal
you choose. Pre-reading is a voluntary action . . .but
absolutely necessary to producing a readable work of fiction.
And good C&C is harder than writing. Without their efforts
this would be a much poorer story. I can not thank the
above persons enough . . .so I wrote them into the story. ^_^
As always any errors and omissions are MINE.

If you have read my "Love is a Battlefield" and "Bloodfist"
you know what I mean by [dark/WAFFy].
The following story contains some scenes of violence. There
are also some erotically suggestive portions. HOWEVER
there is nothing in this story that is not integral to plot
development. Plus I'm a sucker for a happy ending.
BEGIN Furies Chapter 7-9 of 13
113Kb

Chapter 7

"I'm very sorry Sailoruranus. We took every
precaution. You can check our log books. Everything was
done. . . "
Sailoruranus tuned out the panicky voice and
stared down at the wreckage of ten years work. Twenty
five million crowns and eighteen lives to get to this
point. All that time, money and effort gone in an
instant's carelessness. Her unconscious frown silenced
the tough security colonel as effectively as an
executioners axe. The sudden silence alerted her and she
glanced up to see the man cringing against the wall. She
turned away in disgust, her eyes sweeping the
featureless padded room finally resting on the rooms
sole occupant; young, fit, female about 16 years of age,
nude and quite dead. Sailoruranus contemplated the head
lying parallel to the shoulders on a neck that wasn't
so much broken as shattered. 'What a waste,' she
thought. 'What a terrible, terrible waste.' The iron
will and discipline that made her so perfect for the
project used for this, for nothing. Who would have
thought anyone could deliberately drive their own head
into the floor with that much force.
**************************************************
". . . and that's how they found her. This puts us
back at square one."
"It's much worse than that," Sailor Neptune
corrected. "She was our last viable candidate. There
isn't anyone else."
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."
"It's worse. Out of a system population of forty
two billion only thirty percent can tolerate the basic
implants. From that thirty percent we have a basic
recruitment from everyone between five and twenty years
of age, give or take a year. Of those only about sixteen
percent fit the mental and physical parameters. And out
of that number we found a grand total of one hundred
sixty eight persons who could tolerate the final
implants." Sailorneptune paused to check her notes.
"Of that number, One hundred twelve died during
their first power up. Of the survivors, twenty nine
refused to face transition back to normal space and died
when their power and environmental ran out and nine died
from the stress of reversion to normal space. Only three
of the eighteen remaining survived beyond four complete
transitions. And the last of those three successfully
suicided yesterday, despite all of our precautions. So
it is that bad."

"I've seen some new research by . . ."Sailoruranus consulted her
notes. "Senshi H'pakra't. It seems she thinks there might be a way
to by-pass the pain centers. A . . .uh . . .a 'cut-off switch' I think she
calls it."
"I've seen her results." Sailorneptune agreed. "It's a brilliant
theoretical concept. And in another half century or so she may be
able to get it to work. I don't think Beryl is going to wait that
long."
"What if we just lowered the standards a
little. . ."
"What if we just shot them in the back of the head!
It would be faster, cleaner and a hell of a lot
cheaper," Sailorneptune snapped, then slumped in her
chair. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean. . . " Sailoruranus
waved a dismissal and turned to their companion.
"Now what do we do?"
"I don't know," Sailor Pluto admitted tiredly.
"Continue searching for another viable candidate. Run
simulations with modified parameters using the data
we've already collected. See if you can salvage
anything. I have to get back to the capitol." Sailor
Pluto laughed bitterly. "Good Queen Beryl has sent
another trade delegation. Serenity still thinks she can
make friends. I need to be there before the. . . before
the Queen gives the Imperium away and saves Beryl the
trouble of stealing it."

**************************************************

"Ah, Lady Pluto, how nice to see you again."
"What is he doing here?" Sailor Pluto ignored the
ambassador and glared at her Queen.
"We have just concluded a most advantageous treaty
with our well loved neighbor Queen Beryl." Pluto could
feel a vice tighten around her head.
"How nice for Queen Beryl. And what precisely
would the terms of this treaty be."
"We have ceded the Brazter monopole mining
facility in exchange for rights entire to the Nhee
sector cometary systems." Queen Serenity gifted the room
with a blinding if somewhat bewildered smile, as if
watching a play she didn't quite understand but was too
well bred to bother other people with questions.
"I see."
The two short syllables were enough to turn Beryl's
ambassador white as all the blood drained to his feet.
His self congratulatory smirk faded like virginity in a
whorehouse as he suddenly realized he was a table width
away from the second most powerful person in the Silver
Millennium and had just placed himself number one on her
people-to-squash-like-a-bug-before-dinner list. Just as
the ambassador was wondering if they would send his body
home for burial or just pour his remains down the drain
he was granted a new life.
"We are tired Lady Pluto. These arduous
negotiations have fatigued us greatly. We would like you
to escort us to our chambers for a nap before dinner."
"Certainly Majesty." Sailor Pluto grit her teeth
and glared at the retreating ambassador with such venom
that he vowed himself, his wife, children and the next
six generations of his family to religious orders in
return for deliverance from Sailor Pluto's wrath. Or
failing that a painless death and a nice funeral. As
the door closed on the last ambassador, minister,
secretary, recorder and necessary flunky Sailorpluto
grabbed her sovereign's hand in a manner very unlike a
loyal deferential subject. Serenity, Queen Empress,
Defender of the Reaches, Marshal of the Inner System,
High Justice of the Silver Imperium gave out a squawk as
Sailorpluto half dragged, half carried her down the
private hall that led to the Royal apartments. The door
to Serenity's bedroom crashed against the wall with
enough force to knock several pictures off the wall.
Serenity bounced twice on the bed where Pluto flung her.
She did not complete a third before Pluto sent the door
crashing back into its frame, finishing off the last of
the wall hangings.
"Dammit Serenity were you born stupid or is it
something you've acquired over the years! What the HELL
were you thinking!"
"I was thinking I was Queen," Serenity replied
quietly from where she lay in a silken tangle, "or has
there been a coup and no one told me?" She peeped
adorably up at her angry senshi through a silver halo of
hair. "I keep telling the staff that they need to keep
me informed about these little things."
Pluto growled and threw her circlet of office
across the room with enough force to dent the wall.
Serenity winced but other wise remained still while
Pluto ranted.
"Why do I bother? Why don't I just gift wrap the
Imperium for Beryl. Oh I forgot, that's your job. What
next Majesty?" The title oozed sneeringly. "Shall I
prostitute myself or perhaps your daughter could do your
whoring by proxy?" Pluto froze, white faced as she
suddenly realized what she'd said.
"Senenity, I didn't mean it. . my tongue runs
away. . . " She turned miserable eyes to Serenity.
"Come here, Sailorpluto." She patted the bed
beside her. "Now sit down." As Pluto did so, Serenity
pulled her jacket off and began kneading Pluto's shoulders.
"Serenity, we need to. . . "
"Shusssh." Serenity put a finger to Pluto's lips.
"You've had your tantrum, now it's my turn to talk."
Pluto grunted in protest, but remained silent.
Serenity dug into a particularly tight muscle group and
smiled to herself when Pluto groaned in relief and
snuggled closer to her. She shifted slightly so that the
Guardian of Time lay cradled against her side, then
brought up a map of the solar system with a quiet
mental command.
"Now this is the inner system controlled by the
Imperium." A section of the map obediently turned
silver. "While Beryl claims this section." Another
section was colored an angry red. Skilled fingers sought
out steel tense muscles and softly stole away the anger
and fear. Pluto melted slowly and unconsciously into her
Queens embrace.
"Now this," Serenity whispered, dropping a soft
kiss on Pluto's throat, "is the Bratzer mining facility.
We abandoned it years ago due to the radiation hazzard."
Pluto's groaned helplessly as Serenity planted kisses
along the vulnerable line of her throat.
"Now Beryl can exploit the facility using
Artifaxes. But it will take time and production
facilities to manufacture that may synthetic workers;
Time and facilities that they can't use against the
Imperium. Plus they will have to divert men and
materials; Engineers, technicians, managers. And every
item and person earmarked for Bratzer is a person, or
ship or factory that is not directed against us.
"You will also notice," Serenity whispered, "that
the facility is presently in opposition, and you know
what that means." She gently bit the delicate lobe.
Pluto shivered in her arms.
"That means a minimum of three months, one way,
just for ships to travel there. After all, Beryl doesn't
have the ability to gate that far out system.
"Now this is the really exciting part." Serenity
slipped a small hand inside Pluto's blouse, cupping a
breast, delighting at the nipple helplessly hardened
under her palm, like a soldier standing at attention.
"The really exciting part is our acquisition of the
Nhee system." Pluto fought open passion drugged eyes.
"Why? Wha's there?"
"Not a thing. Isn't that great?" Pluto whimpered as
Serenity gently tickled the band of skin where blouse
met skirt and valiantly tried to find two neurons that
weren't drowning in endorphins.
"W..why's that great." She tried to keep her voice
steady even as her tummy shivered under Serenity's
gentle assault.
"We are going to put the biggest mining and
exploration facility in the system in Nhee. At least
Beryl is going to THINK that's what we're doing. At the
very least she'll have to put an observation post in
place. At best, she'll try to occupy the adjoining
systems, duplicate our efforts. Even if I told her that
there was nothing there, she'd have to picket the system
as a routine precaution. I think we can at least tie
down a division just for observation, maybe six times
that many if she decides on a full scale operation."
Adrenalin blasted Pluto's mind clear and she
twisted to look Serenity square in the face.
"Serenity, that's brilliant! You're a genius!"
"I know it."
"Oh I wish I could be there when Beryl figures out
what you've done. She may die of a stroke and put
herself out of our misery. That is the most wicked,
evil, sneaky thing I've ever heard of."
"No, that isn't. But this is." Before Pluto's
groggy mind could decipher these cryptic words, Serenity
tumbled her to the ground in a tangle of bedclothes.
"Neyah, can't catch me!" Serenity picked up her
skirts and sprinted out the door into the gardens.
"Why you little. . . " Words failed as Pluto
struggled off the floor and raced after her Queen. At
the doorway she paused, trying to pick up Serenity's
trail. To the left she saw a delicate slipper, beyond
that another. Pluto took off , following a trail of
stockings, petticoats and skirts. At the end of the
trail she found Serenity, clothed only in starlight ,
curled up in a nest of flowers.
"A palace coup. Betrayed by my closest advisor.
Stripped of all power. Helpless before her as she
ravages me again, and again and again." Pluto stalked
forward, dropping her blouse on the ground.
"Again and again. . . and again?"
"Well, isn't that what wicked advisors do when they
have the innocent Queen helpless in their power?"
"I don't think you've ever been innocent or
helpless, but who am I to argue with royalty."

**************************************************

"Feel better now?" Serenity asked, dropping kisses
on passion-slicked skin.
"I don't think I can feel anything below the
waist," Pluto groaned.
"Beast." Serenity grinned, punching her lover
lightly in the stomach. "You can't save me, you know."
Pluto tensed.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm going to die, eventually. You're killing
yourself for nothing."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, you're going to talk." Serenity indicated
the garden with a sweep of her hand. "All of this will
die, to make way for new growth."
"You're not a dammed flower!"
"Don't deliberately misunderstand. Even you are
merely immortal, not eternal. Plants, animals, people,
even kingdoms die. It's part of the natural cycle."
"If you would only let me. . . "
"NO! No. You know better than anyone how dangerous
it is to tamper with time. There used to be ten planets
and three sentient races in this system. Now there are
nine planets. One race is dead, one fled and we're left
here alone."
"So you're just going to roll over and play dead!"
Pluto said bitterly. "Isn't this worth fighting for?"
"Of course it is. And I'm going to fight as long
and as hard as I can. For my people, my daughter, and
for you. But I'm going to fight my way. With honor. . . "
Pluto gave a snort of disgust.
"Yes, I know how you feel. . . 'any means
necessary'," Serenity said in a credible mimicry of her
lover. "But I know that the universe has a spirit, a set
of ethical equations that have to be balanced. And if
you try to cheat, or take a short cut the universe will
turn around and bite you on the. . . "
Pluto squealed as Serenity graphically demonstrated
the wrath of the universe on her fundamental assets.
There followed a brief philosophical discussion on the
merits of relativism versus absolutism.
Later Pluto lay beside her sleeping Queen, lover
and friend, listening to her soft breathing, feeling her
heartbeat. And with every slow, strong beat Pluto vowed
that she would save Serenity, by any means necessary.

Chapter 8

". . . have lost our last intelligence asset on the
ground."
"And our remote sensing capability?" The
intelligence captain scrolled through his notes before
answering Sailor Pluto.
"Beryl can not block us, but she now has the
capability to detect even pin-hole probes. We
essentially have no covert intelligence ability."
"And your solution?" Sailoruranus's tone suggested
the captain provide either a solution or his
resignation. However the captain was un-disturbed by
the blond senshi's tone.
"Since we could not avoid detection, we encouraged
it." Sailor Pluto raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry.
"A malfunction at the planetary communication
center caused. . ." The captain consulted his notes again.
"Thirty two billion six hundred forty million eight
hundred thousand and twelve pin-hole gates to open
simultaneously throughout Queen Beryl's realm." This
surprised a bark of laughter from Sailoruranus.
"I hope that the proper apologies were sent to Her
Majesty, Queen Beryl." murmured Sailorneptune.
"They were indeed, Sailorneptune," the captain
replied. "Along with a stern message to the
communications center from Queen Serenity with orders to
be more careful." The captain looked embarrassed. "Uh,
and a message to my office as well, asking for copies of
everything we obtained," he paused, "and a sealed
message for you, Sailor Pluto." The captain handed
Sailor Pluto a small wafer. Sailor Pluto broke the seal
and scanned the brief missive. The captain watched in
fascination as the tips of Sailor Pluto's ears turned a
delicate pink.
"Very well captain. But I will review all materials
BEFORE they are sent to the Queen."
"But the Queen. . . "
"Does not need to see things like this!" Sailor
Pluto activated a viewer with a savage motion. The air
above the table swirled with formless colors that
coalesced into an image of. . .
The captain closed his eyes and swallowed hard.
Beside him he could hear Sailorneptune make choking
noises as she buried her head in Sailoruranus's chest.
The captain noted with some satisfaction that Sailoruranus also
looked pale and sick. Only Sailorpluto
remained unaffected. She dissolved the image with
another gesture.
"I do not believe that it will serve any purpose to
disturb the Queen with this sort of thing, do you
captain?"
"That was a nasty trick to pull," Uranus said
savagely as soon as the captain had departed. She held
Neptune in her arms, rocking her gently as she stroked
her hair.
"That idiot was going to send raw imagery to the
Queen," Pluto snapped back. " I just wanted to remind
him of the kind of things that were liable to show up in
Beryl's realm."
"He's not an idiot." Neptune's voice came out
muffled from her position buried in Sailoruranus
embrace. "He's a very hard working young officer and
we're lucky to have him."
"You're right. I'm sorry. If you think it necessary
I'll apologize to him."
Neptune wasn't fooled by Pluto's tone. She new very
well that Pluto's first and it sometimes seemed ONLY
priority was the Queen. She and Sailoruranus had worked
with Pluto their entire adult lives. Indeed, Pluto was
the only family they had. And she also knew that Pluto
would cook both of them over a slow fire and serve them
up with a garnish if she thought it would bring a smile
to Serenity's face.
"You might offer him a promotion to senshi,"
Neptune offered. "I've been watching him. He has
potential, and it's not as if we have a surplus."
Pluto looked surprised, then thoughtful.
"The idea has merit. But do you think he would be
willing to undergo the translation to sensh? He strikes
me as. . . ah. . . perhaps too attached to his present
life."
"Young idiot," Sailoruranus snorted.
"Oh?" Neptune questioned archly. " I seem to
remember someone who cried, and cried and cried during
their translation."
"I was a stupid, stubborn, snotnosed little bastard
who didn't know what was good for. . . "
"You were an adorable little boy who was scared by
what was happening to you," Neptune giggled suddenly,
"and you had the most adorable dimple on your. . . "
Sailoruranus clamped a hand over her lover's
mouth.
"You WATCHED me!"
"Uh huh," Neptune nodded, grinning unrepentantly.
"The whole thing from beginning to end. I was always
sorry you lost the dimple along with. . . "
Pluto cleared her throat .
"Perhaps we should move on to the next issue in
private, before we all drown in this hormone storm." A
transfer portal opened at Pluto's command.
Sailoruranus blushed and tried to jerk away from
her lover. Neptune clamped her arms tighter around her
waist and looked at Pluto through lowered lashes.
"And perhaps you'd like to read us that note from
the Queen?"
Silvery laughter echoed in the room as the portal
closed behind the three senshi.



******************************************************
*

Normally the eerie whispers and darting shadows of
the time gate made Sailoruranus. . . uncomfortable. Not
this time.
"Are you insane!" Sailoruranus whispered. "Do you
know the penalty for tampering with the time line?
Assuming you don't turn us all into a steaming pile of
goo, they'll build an entirely new hell just for us."
Pluto gazed calmly at Sailoruranus for a moment,
then turned to Sailorneptune.
"You're our intelligence analyst. What's the
latest on Beryl's 'Shadow's"."
"Before we lost our real-time assets we knew that
one was operational with another in the early stages of
completion. It appears to be a slow job, maybe two
standard years to complete a single 'Shadow'. There were
also indications of at least three more, and possibly a
fourth, in the planning stages."
"And if they use them in an attack, what will be
their effect?"
"It will be a slaughter. Best estimates show sixty
to eighty percent losses on our side before we can stop
them if they employ two 'Shadows'."
"And if they have three, four, five, six. . . or more
Shadows? Then what?"
"We can't stop them," Sailoruranus said
reluctantly. "We couldn't do more than delay them." She
looked up at Pluto. "But Beryl's put everything she has
into the 'Shadows'. Her conventional forces don't amount
to more than a token guard force. And the 'Shadows' are
just a cruder form of our own 'phase generator'
technology. Our system is much stronger and more
versatile. . . "
"And it doesn't work, now does it?" Pluto returned
coldly. " That's the problem. The biggest gun in the
world, broken, is worth less than a big rock. And Beryl has got a
very big rock."
"All right, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"Our only hope of stopping the Shadow's is to find
someone who can use the phase generator and survive.
Neptune has provided me with the results of the latest
simulations." Pluto held up a small data-crystal. "Any
individuals that meet these characteristics should have
a 97% chance or better of using the 'phase generator'
and surviving. No one in the entire Imperium meets these
criteria. . . now. But at some time there must be at least
one person who does. And that's all we need. One
successful candidate. One will be enough to stymie
Beryl. And from that one person we can produce more ."
Sailorneptune grimaced.
"That sounds a lot like Beryl's Aritfaxs. Why not
just build an artificial person to your specifications
and use it. It would be faster and they can only execute
you once."
"Don't you think I haven't tried?"
Uranus was startled. She'd been kidding, but it
looked like when Pluto decided to break the law she
didn't want to miss any.
"So far we haven't been able to duplicate Beryl's
processes. We can not create a complete artificial
person. Every attempt has died or become. . . unstable
shortly after maturity. But, if we have a living example
of what we need, THEN we can duplicate it, improve upon
it. But we need that original template first." Pluto
drew in a deep breath and faced her sister senshi.
"I know this is highly illegal and very dangerous.
If it goes wrong the best we can all hope for is a swift
death at the hands of the Royal executioner. At worst. . .
well you might wish you were in the hands of Beryl. But
I think we can succeed. I think we can find the person
we need, activate the weapon and save the Imperium."
"Gee boss, what do we do AFTER lunch?"

**************************************************

"Higher papa, higher." The little girl squealed
with delight as her father tossed her in the air and
caught her.
"Higher," she demanded. "Higher. I want to fly!"
"That's enough flying right now. We have to get on
the road if we're going to make the Fair by nightfall."
The little girl and her father exchanged conspiratorial
glances as they answered.
"Yes mama."
"Yes dear."
She gave them both a look of fond resignation.
"Honestly, I can't tell which one is the child and
which the parent. I think I've got two children
sometimes."
"YES MAMA," Father and daughter chorused, then
broke down laughing. Mother, father and daughter headed
down the mountain their packs loaded with goods for the
trade fair.
"Do you think people will really like this papa?"
The little girl anxiously thrust her small fist toward
her father. He looked down at the object gleaming in her
hand.
"Yes dear, I really think they will."
"Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?"
He reached down and plucked the item gently from
her hand. He'd been an iron smith for forty years. He'd
married late and his little daughter was the spoiled
darling of his life. If she'd given him mud-pies with
bug toppings, he'd have declared them ambrosia and eaten
every one. But this. . . he examined the small figurine
with awe. He was a good iron smith and he knew it.
Hinges, plowshares, wheel rims even knives and twice
swords he'd crafted. He was a good workman. Careful,
with a good eye and steady hand. And his wife. . . he
glanced at the beautiful young woman on his other side
and marveled again at his good fortune. His wife had all
the female accomplishments. Her woven work, her
embroidery sold well at the fair. His eyes dropped again
to the fragile thing cradled in his hands. He couldn't
explain this. A spider web, spun from glass. It
stretched between two branches of a tree. In the lower
corner sat the spider, every detail, every fine hair
lovingly detailed in glass. There was glass dew beaded
on the web, and in the upper corner a small moth was
just touching the web, not yet aware of its fate. And
every color, every shading and marking of spider, moth
and tree were reproduced in the glass. And his daughter
had a score of other glass jewels in her pack; mice,
birds, clouds, even a leaf floating down a stream. All
carefully packed in straw.
"Yes, baby, I'm sure the people will like it. Now
let me put it back so it doesn't get broken."
He had, again, a sudden impulse to smash it, to
smash everything in her small pack and head back up the
mountain. His daughter had no idea that this one item
was worth more than their home, his forge, tools and
everything he had made or could ever hope to make in
iron. But he wanted what was best for her. And some
noble would see her work and become her patron. She
would want for nothing for the rest of her life, might
even find a place at court. She would never spend
another cold winter on the mountain, or a hungry summer.
The price was high, for his wife and him. She would go
off with her patron and they would stay. They might not
see her again for years, or ever. Life was hard on the
mountain. But if that was the price for her security,
her happiness they would pay it and gladly.

**************************************************

"This looks promising."
"What have you got?"
"This is the best match we've found so far. I say
we extract."
"What have we got for mass/energy exchange?"
"That's the best part. There's a typhoon just off
the coast."
"Do it."

**************************************************

He couldn't understand what he was seeing at first.
The top of Iron Fang, tallest of the Iron Mountain range seemed to
shiver like a pool of water in a wind gust. Then he
did understand, but couldn't believe. In his thirty
years living on the mountain there'd never been an
avalanche this late in the year. And in living memory
never from the top of Iron Fang.. He dropped his pack,
grabbed his wife and daughter and ran. Behind him three
hundred thousand cubic tons of snow and earth moving at ninety
kilometers per hour followed. He sprinted for the tree
line. It was a faint hope, but the trees and rock might
slow the snow enough. . . disrupt the flow enough. . . He
was strong from years of hard work, his wife was young
and swift. . . They should have had a chance. . . If he
hadn't tripped. . . if the ground hadn't seemed to reach
up and claw at her ankles. They fell, father, mother and
daughter. They fell.
Fifteen hundred kilometers away a
small fishing village was hit by a typhoon at that same
instant. A young mother was caught out fishing when the storm hit.
A drifter was swept off the beach where he
was sleeping and out to sea. And the storm suddenly died
away. Everyone said that it was a miracle they survived.
Two people lived, two people died.
The equation balanced..
The universe was satisfied.

**************************************************

"Papa! Mama!"
The small girl struggled against the soft bindings.
They had gone to a lot of trouble to get her and they
didn't care to have her injure herself.
"Paaaapaaaa! Maaaammaaaa!"
Dirty. . . bruised. . . frightened. But alive. And not
a ripple in the time stream. Pluto's eyes burned with
triumph. They had their weapon. . .
The little girl turned her dirty tear stained face
and Pluto could see her eyes. Huge grey eyes, like a
soft sea mist. With an effort Pluto wrenched herself
away and her gaze fell on the open pack at the child's
feet. From it spilled a treasure in glass, birds,
insects, clouds. In the ten thousand thousand lifetimes
she'd seen and lived at the Time Gate, she had never
seen such delicate, exquisite work and knew she might
not see such again for twice ten thousand thousand. A
mental command brought one of the pieces to her hand, a
tiny butterfly, its brightly colored wings poised to fly
away. 'Serenity would love this,' she thought, 'and she
would love the little girl.' Unbidden her eyes were
again drawn to the frightened, weeping girl. Something
inside of the little girl called to a part of her.
This could be her daughter!
Rendered forever childless by her duties and by the
radiation sleeting through the Time Gate she'd never
thought to have children. Her belly clenched suddenly
with the thought. 'A daughter,' she thought wonderingly.
An end to loneliness. Serenity had filled one hole in
her heart. Suddenly this little girl showed her another,
one she'd never known existed. Pictures raced through
her mind. Sitting in the gardens with Serenity watching
their children play. Teaching her daughter to read,
buying her presents. Glowing with pride as her daughter
created beauty from sand and fire, light and shadow. . .
Shadow.
Her fists clenched and a shudder rocked her body.
The image of her daughter creating beauty was replaced
by Serenity broken, dead, defiled. The Shadows prowled
the ruins of the Imperium like maggots feeding on a
corpse.
"Are you all right? Your hand is bleeding."
Pluto opened her fist and shards of bloody glass
fell to the floor.
"Move her to the test facility. I want the first
stage implants installed and on line before that second
'Shadow' is operational."

Chapter 9

The Imperial Palace was situated in the center of a
three hundred square kilometer section of old growth
forest. Some of the "astri" trees stood almost a
kilometer tall and predated the Imperium. Within sight
of the palace itself towered "Cloud Song", oldest and at
twelve hundred fifty meters, tallest of the giant
"astri". Legend had it that Serenity, the first of that
name, sheltered from her enemies in its branches during
the first days of the revolution. From that spot she
rallied her forces, planned her campaigns and, so the
stories went, set out on the final genocidal assault
that destroyed the Z'rten. From the ruins of an Empire
that for ten thousand years lived on the blood, flesh
and terror of their enemies Serenity had forged the
Silver Imperium. She built her palace within sight of
the tree saying only that "Cloud Song" was the best and
most honest of all her advisors.
Five hundred meters above the ground another figure
had taken refuge this day.
Augmented senses scanned the palace and grounds.
Every millimeter of terrain was searched and mapped.
Every room of the palace that wasn't covered by class1
shielding, every corridor, every hallway, service
passage and cubby hole was meticulously probed with
delicate electronic senses, cataloged, cross indexed and
the information stored with robotic perfection. Even the
shielded apartments yielded valuable information. The
shielded areas had something to protect. . . something. . .
valuable. Only after every roving patrol, every fixed
guard station was pinpointed; every trap, trip-wire and
alarm probed did the did the silent figure move,
dropping from its five hundred meter perch as easily as
a house cat hopping down from the kitchen table.

******************************************************
*
She staggered, clutching at the wall for support.
Her vision blurred and her ears were clogged with a
harsh thrumming sound. Something was wrong.
"Sys. . . sys'ms. . . S ystem. . . .C. .check."
##Accumulators at 76%. Primary Weapon locked.
Energy weapon, no access. Kinetic Weapon, no access.
Infiltration mode engaged. Optical Effect generator
working. Active sensors on standby, Passive Sensors at
0.35. Stealth generators ON. BioEnhancement operating at
maximum.## The whisper paused. ##Warning! Second Stage
Warning. Use of BioEnhancement at War Emergency power
for extended periods will degrade neural pathways.
Cellular integ. . . ##
"Cancel warning." the voice fell silent.
"What's wrong with me?"
##Command not found##
"Mission capability compromised. Isolate fault."
##Biological components exceeding design tolerance.
Protein envelope shows multiple breaches and out-gassing
of parasitic byproducts.##
"I've got running sores and I stink. What
else?"
##Not underst. . . ##
"Continue!!"
##Core temperature 5 degrees above optimum.
Increasing numbers of viral and bacterial agents
detected. Blood filtration system beyond design
capacity. System failure imminent. Tissue necrosis
evident in the following areas.## An internal diagram
appeared in her mind. Her liver and kidneys were
highlighted, with an alpha-numeric display to the lower
right providing detail.
##Oxygen carrying capacity compromised, system
saturated with fatigue poisons. Degradation of. . . ##
She shuddered and would have fallen without her
implants to hold her up. Blackness threatened to
overwhelm her.
"Stims." she ordered the voice.
##Negative.##
"Stims," she ordered again. "Mission priority
override."
##Negative. Core programming forbids self-
termination. Stimulant usage at lethal threshold.##
"No! How long. . . " The voice seemed to understand
this question.
##Mission at T plus 225 hours, 22 minutes, 18
seconds. Weapon has been active for T plus 225 hours, 22
minutes, 19 seconds. This exceeds design specifications
by 153 hours, 22 minutes,20 seconds.##
Her thoughts clawed their way through the heavy
clinging mud of fatigue and sickness. She was so close,
she thought weeping with fatigue and frustration. She
banged her fist against her thigh. So close. Ten
billion kilometers. Over 200 hours. And now, when she
was within METERS of her target, within minutes of
completing her mission. Princess Serenity was going to
live because she couldn't stay awake.

**************************************************

##Warning! Guard Patrol ahead. Autonomous Defense
Mode Initiated.##
She wished the voice would shut up. She was so
tired. Too tired to make sense of that stupid voice.
##Combat Capabilities 0.06. Initiating Escape and
Evasion sub- routines.##
She wanted to weep with frustration. Every time she
was almost asleep that stupid voice would wake her up.
The meaning of the words niggled at the back of her
mind, but the meaning just wouldn't come. The voice
sounded impatient, worried even. Maybe if she answered
it, it would shut up and let her sleep.
"Wh' h'ppn."
##Input not understood##
Stupid voice.
"Whus hap'ning."
##Escape route compromised. Enemy forces closing
in. Detection/capture imminent. Defense sub-routines
require command input##
She struggled to open eyes glued shut by
exhaustion. The blinding light sent a stabbing pain
through her head. Stupid voice. Using all those big
words. She'd show it.
"Shu'up. Tr'n off ligh' n let me sleep. Jus go way
be quiet." There was a momentary pause.
##Command input accepted. Initiating new Escape sub-
routine.##
The shambling stinking scarecrow raised an arm and
placed it against an apparently featureless part of the
wall. There was a brief flare of heat and light. Then
lights went out and alarms went off all over the
palace. Intruder alert sirens whooped along side the
shrill ohee-ohee of fire-alarms. Then the sprinkler
system went off. In the confusion, no one noticed the
lone figure make its way through the dark confused
corridors. By the time the fault in the security system
was isolated and repaired the figure was already deeply
asleep in a bed in the old part of the palace that had
not seen use in over a century.

**************************************************

"Higher, papa. Higher. I want to fly!" Papa threw
her higher and higher. The mountains looked like hills,
her house like a toy. Then papa, mama, the mountains all
vanished.
"Work through the pain! Haven't you learned
anything! If you can't get this much right you're
useless."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I try to be good. But it's
hard. It hurts. I'm sorry."
"Don't talk, focus. Focus!"
Pain flashed through her body. She arched against
her bonds till her joints cracked and she cried blood as
vessels in her eyes burst.
"Now FOCUS. Bring the ball through the hoop. Don't
let the sides touch."
She concentrated, focusing on the swirling colored
motes. She concentrated through the pain, bringing the
gnat sized objects into focus, controlling the delicate
sensory implants with virtuoso skill. Like threading a
needle in a hail storm, standing on one leg in a small
boat, while someone drove burning iron into your joints.
It just took practice. And just like that the
microscopic ball flew through the infinitesimal hoop,
with microns to spare. And the pain. . . stopped. Peace
washed over her body and she slumped sobbing and
sweating in her bonds. Distantly, disinterestedly she
could hear voices.
"How did it go?"
"Magnificently. You were correct. I would never
have imagined she could reach this stage so quickly. She
maintained control at all times. And there is no
evidence of the psychosis or delusional behavior that
was so troublesome with the previous subjects. We have
actually exceeded the threshold imposed by the new
generator technology by 20%. Phasing up or down should
actually be quite pleasant. . . in comparison."
"And the primary weapon?"
"The generator has already been installed. We
should be able to do our first power up by tomorrow
evening."
The voices faded as she was wheeled away, still
strapped to the test frame. She could see brightly
colored cloth swirling next to her head. It was one of
them. Beautiful and bright, she'd thought they were
angels when she'd first come here. Now she knew. She'd
been bad. She didn't know why or what. But she'd been
bad. She'd told them she was sorry. She told them she'd
be good. She almost never did that anymore. It just
wasted time. A tear leaked from an eye that shouldn't
have had any more tears to cry.
"I'll be good." she whispered. " I promise, I'll be
good."

**************************************************

She bolted awake, her sleep fuzzy mind trying to
separate dream from reality.
"I brought you a tray."
She whipped around in the bed at the sound of the
voice. Huge sky-blue eyes blinked solemnly back at her.
"I brought you a tray," the voice repeated, "you
can eat it in the bath."
A tiny hand, pale as star light, reached out to tug
her gently off the bed. Dazed she followed the insistent
tugging till she found herself confronting a tub the
size of a small lake filled with fragrant herbs. Tugging
and pulling the small hands soon had her filthy clothes
piled in a heap at her feet.
"Get in now. I'll help you."
Her small helper dropped her own robe to the floor
and stepped naked into the tub with her.
"They call me 'Stormy'.What's your name?"
"I. . . I. . . "
At her look of miserable confusion her petite
helper patted her softly on the shoulder.
"I know, I don't like my name either. Stormy's just
a nickname. How 'bout I come up with one for you?" she
thought for a moment. "I know. 'Misty', 'cause your eyes
look just like a morning mist. Well, fog, really. . . but
calling you foggy wouldn't be as pretty. Is Misty OK?"
She asked anxiously.
Stormy seemed to take silence as consent and as
simply as that she had a name. She'd had one "before", a
name and a life, but that was so long ago as to be
beyond a dream. But now she had a name again. She was
no longer the "subject", the "project" or "Weapon 4".
She was a person. Stormy, seemingly unaware of this
internal turmoil pushed Misty gently but firmly into
the tub.
"Wait just a minute and you can eat." Stormy
scrubbed away at the grime and oil that blackened
Misty's arms.
"OK, now you can eat while I finish the rest."
With that she swung out a tray loaded with small
sandwiches, cold cuts, cheeses and a pitcher filled with
cool, sweet spring water. Misty grabbed the pitcher and
drained it in one prodigious gulp. She followed this by
cramming fist fulls of food into her mouth as fast as
she could swallow without chewing. Stormy ignored the
spray of food particles and gasping gulping noises as
she contentedly bathed her new friend.
"Lift please." She brought the sponge down in long
gentle strokes.
"I hope you like the cakes, they're my favorite."
Stormy didn't seem to expect an answer. Or perhaps the
way Misty inhaled the delicate honey-cakes, mixed
indiscriminately with cheese, bitter relish and parched
nuts was an answer in itself.
"Are you ticklish?" Stormy scooted down and lifted
one of Misty's feet into her lap. She paused, brush held
expectantly in one had. "Tell me if you are, 'cause I
don't want to get kicked in the head. I mean I've got a
friend. She TELLS everybody she's not ticklish. . .
.BUT. . . We were trying on shoes one day, and I ran a
finger down her sole. . . trying to get the shoe on. She's
got really, really big feet. Well not that big, but
bigger than mine. And I'll tell you, she let out a
shriek and almost took my head off." Stormy's chatter
paused for a moment and she rubbed her cheek
reminiscently. "So anyway tell me if you are. . . ticklish
that is."
"I don't know. I've never been tickled."
"REALLY?" Stormy looked at the small bare foot in
her hands, a mischievous glint in her eye. Then she
shook her head regretfully. "No, you need to rest
first." She proceeded to scrub both grimy feet with the
precision and detachment of a pathologist cleaning a
specimen. "All done. Now, hold your breath."
"Huh?"
"Hold your breath silly. Like this." She
demonstrated, sucking in a large gulp of air, puffing
her cheeks out. Misty did so, uncomprehendingly.
"We need to wash your hair." So saying Stormy
yanked on the feet resting in her lap, pulling Misty
completely under water. She came up sputtering to find
Stormy already behind her, a large dollop of shampoo in
her hands.
"Just relax. I'm really good at this. Probably
'cause I get so much practice."
The combination of a full tummy, warm water and
gentle fingers massaging her scalp was like a drug.
Helplessly her head fell back to rest against a
surprisingly strong bare shoulder.
"Just relax, I'll be through in a minute."
The warm soapy water and the soft voice touched
some forgotten, forbidden fragment of her lost life. A
tear fell from her eye, then another and another.
"You're crying. What's wrong?"
"I don't know. I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm. . . "
"Hush, it's all right. It's all right. I 'll
protect you. It's all right."
It was absurd, foolish. To think this tiny girl
could protect her from. . . them. But she was so tired. So
afraid. She wanted to believe. . .
******************************************************
*
. . . "Did you have a nice sleep."
When she 'woke again it was still daylight.
"You fell asleep in the tub, so I just put you to
bed." Misty peeked under the covers that had been drawn
over her.
"I brought you some clothes." Stormy handed her a
bundle that seemed to consist of the same lacy pink
froth Stormy was wearing. Misty looked in horror at the
"cute" confection and Stormy broke out in a braying
laugh that sounded more like a turbine with a broken
impeller fan than something produced by a human throat.
"If. . . if you could ONLY have seen your face!" The
memory threatened to send Stormy off into paroxysms
again.
"Sorry. . . I couldn't resist. Here, THESE are for
you." She handed Misty a bundle, consisting of short
boots, work pants and shirt of a heavy cloth. Stormy
grinned at the look of relief in Misty's eyes.
"I couldn't resist. We have company coming and I
had to dress up." She twirled, petticoats and over skirt
flaring in a deadly vortex of lace and ruffles.
"I love dressing up, and I adore lace. . . but
this!" She giggled again.
"Anyway, I'll be gone most of the day. I brought
you another tray and some books. You can go out into the
garden if you want." she indicated large doors of
frosted glass. "They're pretty overgrown because no one
comes to this part of the palace much any more. Except
me. This is my own special place." She looked at Misty
seriously. "And now it's yours too." She glanced at a
bracelet strapped around her wrist and let out a shriek
as a row of numbers and letters flashed briefly.
"Ohhhh! I am sooooo laaaattteee! Gottagogoodby!"
And disappeared through the door in a taffeta storm. . .

**************************************************
. . . ."Is this what you wanted?" Stormy poured a
bag of tools out on the floor. Misty had been in this
room for over a week. Every day she woke up to find
Stormy by her bed. Every day Stormy brought food, books,
games. Sometimes they'd talk, well Stormy would talk.
Misty listened fascinated, even when she didn't
understand the alien concepts of. . . friends. . .
freedom. . . laughter but was soothed somehow by the gentle
voice. Or Stormy would try to teach her how to play a
game, or they would walk in the garden, wild and
overgrown after a century of neglect.. Two days ago
Misty had asked for some tools. Stormy didn't ask any
questions. She never asked questions. And Misty had too
little knowledge of human nature to think this strange.
She hadn't seen a human being in ten years.
"Yes, this is just what I needed."
"Ewww! Doesn't that hurt?" Stormy watched in
horrified fascination as Misty opened up her abdomen
with a quick neat slash.
"No," she answered truthfully prying up a rib with
her fingers. "I have a high pain threshold." She
reached behind the ribs and pulled out a small grey
cylinder with a wet sucking sound. She pulled a thin
wire from a small orange box that was among the tools
Stormy had brought her and plugged it into an access
port in the cylinder.
"Run diagnostics."she commanded the whispering
voice. She watched the test unit display change as her
implants ran through diagnostic routines.
"Yes, this is just perfect. . . see!" She held out
the tiny instrument in a bloody hand.
THUNK!
*************************************************
"I'm sorry Stormy." Misty didn't sound sorry. She
honestly didn't understand why her friend was upset.
"That's OK, you couldn't know." Stormy sat with her
face carefully to the wall while Misty worked.
"Uh, how much longer?"
"I don't know. Be silent."
Stormy grinned at the blank wall. Misty had a lot
of social skills to learn. It would be so much fun
teaching her.
##Energy weapon on line. Kinetic weapon on line.
Primary Weapon locked.## She hugged herself in delight.
She'd never expected this much. Her chance of success
had just increased by several orders of magnitude. There
were holes in the security system. She'd proved that
when she escaped. She couldn't kill herself. She
couldn't kill Pluto or any of the senshi. She couldn't
kill the Queen. She couldn't kill the Princess. Ah, but
therein lay another hole in the programming. Mistake,
oversight, act of Goddess. It didn't make any
difference. She couldn't kill the Princess, but they'd
never told her what the Princess looked like. There was
nothing to prevent her from killing a perfectly unknown
person who happened to occupy the Princess's apartments.
She couldn't kill herself. . . but when she killed the
Princess. . .



******************************************************
*

She waited for the Princess to return to her rooms.
She'd accessed the security computer and downloaded the
Princess' schedule. She should be returning from the
dinner party in just a few minutes.

##Sensors detect movement. Three to five
individuals moving toward ambush. Do you wish to refine
data?##
"NO!"
No, the last thing she wanted was a clear picture
of who was coming. If her implants recognized anything
that identified the Princess they would lock her down
tighter than any chains. She calmed her breathing. Soon
it would be over, she would be free. They would never
hurt her again. And best of all, it would hurt HER, hurt
her plans, whatever they were. She savored the thought
as she waited for the one person who could grant her
release. She would kill the Princess. . . then someone
would kill her.
"Weapons off safe. Standby to power up."
She had to wait to power her weapons till the last
minute. She wasn't sure how good the palace's internal
sensors were and she didn't want to be detected at the
last moment. She could be ready to fire in under a
second. Agonizingly slow to her enhanced senses, but
sufficient for her task. She could hear foot steps now,
no need for augmentation they were so close. The door
latch started to slide.
"Power to weapons."
The door quivered and swung inward.
##Weapons hot,## the voice whispered. ##Targeting
data?##
"Targeting set to manual control."
##Manual targeting confirmed.##
She swung both guns up and centered on the opening
door. The blast would kill everyone in the corridor. She
would have fired through the door, but it was armored.
The time it would take to burn through the door might be
enough time for her target to escape. A figure entered
the room and she started to fire at. . . STORMY! She froze
in confusion as she recognized her friend. Then other
figures crowded into the room. SENSHI! Alarms began to
scream in her head as fail-safe routines started. Her
augmentation shut down, leaving her weak and vulnerable
as any normal human. She'd anticipated that this might
happen and planted a few surprises of her own.
"Run Simulation. . . Palace Coup." She felt a
hesitation, then her augmentation spun back up as the
idiot savant computer in her skull accepted input
telling it that this was a war game simulation and not
real senshi. It wouldn't fool the computer long, but she
didn't need long. As power came back to her weapons she
brought them to bear again as a brightly colored figure,
twice her size, smashed her to the ground.
"Mars, Mercury get the princess out of here!" She
froze. . . Princess. . . her augmentation recognized the
regalia, the jewels, Imperial signet. . . another set of
fail-safes went off. This time she didn't just lose
power. THEY had tried to teach her not to disobey. THEY
had tried to teach her not to question them. BUT. . .
They had also taught her to withstand pain. That lesson
made it difficult for them to discipline her. But THEY
were clever and cruel as they were beautiful and bright.
They turned her own mind against her. Even as Jupiter
pinned her to the ground she screamed and bent almost
double in convulsions, throwing the big senshi across
the room. Psychotropic drugs flooded her system,
stripping away reality. A buried program activated,
filling the void with night terrors, phantasms and fears
carefully stolen from a young girl and hoarded against
need.
The horrified senshi backed away from the
convulsing, screaming figure.
"Princess, get back!"
"Misty, it's me. Stormy."
"No,no,no. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't hurt me any
more. I'll be good." Misty tried to crawl to Serenity.
"Make it stop. I'll be good. I promise. I promise.
Please. I'll be good." The Princess dropped to her knees
and hugged her friend to her.
"It's me, it's me! What can I do!" Misty curled
into a small weeping ball at Serenity's feet.
"I'll be good, make it stop, make it stop I'll be
good!."
"Princess! Princess!"
"What, Mercury!"
"Tell her she's being good!"
"What!"
"Hurry, tell her she's being good!"
The frantic Princess grabbed her friend and
whispered fiercely in her ear.
"You are good, you are good." The convulsions
lessened.
"You are very good. You are my friend. My good
friend. You are a good girl, a very good girl. The
best." She held the shuddering girl, repeating this
litany over and over 'till her voice was gone and the
girl fell into an exhausted sleep.
"Well that was exciting." Sailorjupiter limped
back to her friends from the kitchen bearing a tray with
glasses and a pitcher of spiced wine." I take it you
know her?"
"She's the friend I told you about." Sailormars
stared at her princess.
"You didn't tell us she was a homicidal maniac."
"That's not fair!"
"FAIR! This maniac almost fried us and you talk
about FAIR!"
"Actually, there are a couple of interesting things
about the princess's new friend." Sailormercury was
looking at her computer and entering commands.
"OH! Something interesting aside from the fact that
she tried to kill us with a pair of CANNON!"
"Calm down Mars."
"Well, excuse me if almost being assassinated makes
me CRANKY!!"
"Look at this." Mercury pointed to a schematic on
her computer screen. "Now this is her pharmocopia. Most
of the drugs are pretty standard, pain killers,
antibiotics, stimulants. But this little section here,
contains a very powerful psychotropic drug. It's usually
used in treating mental illness. . . "
"I told you she was a nut case." Mars muttered.
Mercury ignored her and continued.
"And this," she pointed to a blinking icon, "is a
miniaturized dream state actuator. This is used in
treating certain deep seated phobias and psychoses." She
tapped a few keys. "I'm going to play back what happened
just after the princess opened the door. Here you can
see she is about to fire. She recognizes the princess
and freezes. Now this was a voluntary reaction. Then we
enter the room behind the princess. Our 'friend's'
implant's--"
"Her name is Misty."
"Sorry, Misty's implant's go wild and try to shut
her down. But someone, probably Misty, is a very clever
programer as well. There was a routine coded that told
the implants that we were all just a simulation. No
senshi here, just a computer simulation of senshi. That
fooled the master computer but THEN something else
happened. I'm not sure exactly what but it was centered
on you." Mercury indicated her princess.
"ME?"
"Something triggered some core fail-safe that
dumped the drugs into her system and started the dream-
state actuator. But instead of being used to CURE a
phobia or psychosis it was use to give them. Some one
arranged to drop her into her worst nightmare and then
magnify it."
"Will she be all right?"
-"I don't know. She should be dead. By normal
standards that was a lethal dosage of drug. On the other
had it looks like someone has completely rebuilt her.
She's even got a complete "MolFac' installed inside her
body. I've never heard of. . ."
"Wait, wait, 'Molfac?"
"Sorry. Think about when you go to the healer and
they inject tailored molecular machines to fix a broken
bone, or repair a torn ligament. Well, she's got a
factory inside her to manufacture molecular machines. As long
as it's got power and raw materials it can keep her up
and going no matter the damage. And it's been used. . . a
lot. My scans indicate that every bone in her body has
been broken, multiple times, over a period of years.
It's harder to tell with soft tissue but her repairs are
so extensive that she looks like a quilt."
"Who would do somethin. . ." Jupiter's voice trailed
off. "Oh shit. Them!"
"Yeah, with friends like them, who needs enema's."
"That's an old joke, Mars. And not very funny."
"Oh yeah, well how 'bout this. What's the
difference between Sailorneptune and Queen Beryl? Queen
Beryl wears a longer skirt."
"I've got one!" Jupiter chimed in. "What's the
difference between Sailoruranus and Queen Beryl? Queen
Beryl has a sense of humor."
"Ok, Ok." Venus riposted. "What's the difference
between Sailor Pluto and Queen Beryl?"
"I don't know."
"Neither does anyone else!"
Usagi sat on the floor with Misty curled in her lap
like an abandoned kitten. She looked up at her jesting
friends.
"What are we going to do?" The senshi looked at
their princess.
"We could hide her. My uncle has a hunting lodge."
"That's no good Mars. Even if we fooled the demon
bitches, Pluto could find her anywhere she hid."
"We've got to think of somewhere Pluto can't find
her. . . or someone Pluto can't intimidate." Mercury put
in.
"Well, the only two I can think of that would go
against Pluto are the Goddess OR Her Majesty. . . "
Jupiter joked.
"Well, we can't depend on miracles," Venus
dead panned. "So I guess it's the Goddess."
"I think. . . I think I have an idea." The princess
looked at her friends. " I need to go get something.
Look after Misty while I'm gone. Don't take any chances
with the Outer's or Sailor Pluto. If you have to. . . go
to my mother. I think I'll be back before anything
happens but. . . "
"Yeah. But why not just go to your mother now?" The
princess looked up at her big friend.
"Because I don't want to put mother in the position
of having to choose between Sailor Pluto and me. She
has enough to worry about with all the trouble Beryl is
causing." The princess walked out of her apartments
followed by the commander of her guard.
"This is a big mistake. We should just give her
back."
"Venus," The Princess looked betrayed, "you've seen
what they did to her, what they'll keep doing."
"They must have a reason. . . "
"Oh yes. They always have a reason.." Her bitter
condemning tone would have shocked most of the palace
residents who knew only the cheerful smiling princess.
"They can justify anything. . . Sacrifices must be made!"
she mimicked. "The problem is, by the time they're
through sacrificing to save the Imperium. . . there won't
be anybody left alive to save. Well not this time. They
don't get her. Not now! Not ever!"
"We can't stop them." Venus held up her hand to
forestall objections. "You are our Princess. You command
and we obey. Besides," Venus gave her liege a wry grin,
"nothing would give me more pleasure than to hand those
two their heads." She saw Misty's surprised look and
explained.
"I was visiting some friends at the super-metal
mining facility about ten years ago. That's in the
asteroid belt so it falls in the Outer's jurisdiction.
Well, there was an outbreak of Nerve Fever. In a closed
system like the belt habitats it's horrible. And since
the incubation period is almost four weeks the whole
system was contaminated before anyone knew it. It was so
bad they had to call on the Inner System to help with
treatment and evacuation. I was on one of the unaffected
habitats that was used as a staging area." Venus
chuckled "Up to that time I knew I wanted to be a
senshi, but I wanted to be an Outer. Guard the Frontier,
first contact with aliens, the whole bit. Well, I got to
see Inner and Outer senshi in action. The Outer senshi
all looked like they'd just stepped off a recruiting
poster. Especially Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune. And
their groups of refugee's. . . No crying babies, everyone
in their queue, no pushing or shoving. It was text-book
perfect. Then you could walk down and see the Inner's
working. Uniforms rumpled, and dirty. They looked like
an unmade bed. Babies crying, children playing in the
halls, people pushing and shoving in line. It was a real
mess. I thought they were a joke. Then, one day, I
watched the Outer's process a new batch of refugees.
They sorted, cataloged and moved them along like they
were so much trash that had to be disposed of. And I
found out why their refugees were so polite. They were
terrified of the Outer senshi. I watched them separate
a little boy from his parents. The parents had tested
positive for the virus, but the child was clean. So the
parents went to quarantine and the child went to
holding. Well this kid had a stuffed animal, a bear or
horse or something. And he was clutching this thing and
crying for his mama and papa. Problem was this stuffed
animal wasn't on the Outer's approved list. Only
NECESSARY items, as decreed by the all knowing Sailoruranus
and Sailorneptune. I watched one of the Outer
senshi SNATCH the doll out of that child's hands and
dump it. I hated them for that. They could have made an
exception. The Inner's did all the time. But not the
Outer's. That would be too untidy, too inefficient.
"Sacrifices have to be made." That was the first time I
ever heard that. I found out later that's the un-
official Outer Senshi motto." Venus took a deep breath
and let it out slowly. "We can't stop them if they come. If you let me
call out the Inner Guard . . ." Venus's voice trailed off as her
Princess shook her head.
"And have senshi fight senshi? Inner Guard against Outer . .
.Civil War. Wouldn't Beryl just love that. No, we do this on our
own. Just my own personal guard."
"Then we can't stop them." Venus repeated. "Maybe in a few
years when we're older, stronger. But they'll be hurting when they
leave."
Princess Serenity slipped a heavy chain over her
head and dropped it over the surprised Sailorvenus's
head.
"This is my personal seal. When you speak it is
with my voice. When you act it is by my will. If any one
attempts to take Misty, you tell them she is under MY
personal protection. Tell them any attempt to remove her
from my care will be treated as an act of treason and I
will so charge them in the High Court."
"You do know what this means, don't you?"
"Well, at the very least I'll find out who means
the most to mother, Sailorpluto or me."

**************************************************

"Good morning sleepy head. Have a nice nap?"
Misty bolted up right to see. . . a very large. . .
breast? It spoke again.
"Not a morning person? You're just like the rest of
these slug-a-beds. I just LOVE mornings," the voice
caroled. She scooted back to gain some perspective and
discovered an even larger girl attached to the mammoth
mammary, which turned out to be one of a matched pair.
"Hey, Venus! Rise and shine. You need to show our
guest around while I fix breakfast." A huge right hand
blurred toward the bed covers.
THWAK!
"Owwwwie." A tousled bond head popped up from under
the covers.
"Save it for Mercury you sadist. SHE likes it."
Venus rolled off the bed rubbing her injured dignity and
glaring at her sister senshi. Jupiter laughed and padded
back into the kitchen.
"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny." Venus looked down at the
bewildered girl on the bed.
"Uh, Misty isn't it."
The small dark head bobbed once.
"OK Misty, lets get you cleaned up, then fed. We
have a long day ahead. . . I hope," she muttered sotto
voice.
"Mercury, time to get up." She prodded the small
senshi who lay drooling cutely into her pillow. She
giggled slightly at Venus's assault, only drawing her
arms in slightly to protect her ribs. Venus poked again,
harder. This caused Mercury to curl up on her side ,
knees just under her breasts, one hand going to her
mouth like a small child.
"Yuch!" Venus grimaced. "Even asleep she's
adorable. HEY Jupiter," she shouted to her culinary
comrade. " How can you stand this! She makes my teeth
ache, she's so sweet."
"She has her moments."
"Ha, I've got it. A low powered 'Crescent Beam'."
Venus started to power up. "Might even leave her
eyebrows."
"Aaaakkk! I'm up, I'm up!" Mercury bolted out of
the bed, hands held protectively over her eyebrows.
"How nice you could join us. Now let's get going."
"Jupiter, it's your turn to get Mars."
"Aww. Do I haffta?"
"I did it the last two times. Now move."
Venus and Mercury shepherded Misty toward the
bathroom while Jupiter grimly stalked toward the bed and
the remaining senshi.
"I bet you wondering why you're naked," Mercury
asked her charge as they headed for the bath.
"'Cause we like looking at naked girls?"
"Shut up Venus!" Mercury snapped. "Your old clothes
were covered in vomit. And there was no sense in putting
clean clothes on you to sleep when you were so dirty
yourself." Venus chuckled evilly.
"Good one Mercury. Now explain why WE are all
naked."
Mercury took a deep breath then let it out slowly.
"WE are naked because my analysis indicated that it
was the sens. . . " She paused as Misty tensed beneath her
hands, "because our uniforms caused you to react badly."
"And because we like to look at naked girls," Venus
chirped.
"I think it's the crystal," Jupiter intoned as the
padded by. . . a comatose Mars slung over one shoulder
like a bag of rice. She disappeared around a corner
headed toward the cold section of the bath.
"Uh oh!"
"Quick, down!" Venus grabbed Misty and hauled her
down behind a cabinet as Mercury hurled herself under a
low bench.
SPLOOSH!
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!COLD!"
"Uh. . .
"MARRRRRRSSSSS!
"It's not my fault."
"FIRRRRREEEEE!"
"Mercury made me do it?"
"SSSSSSNNNNNAAAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEEE!!!"
"I'vegottagocheckonbreakfastbynow!" Jupiter
thundered past as if the hounds of hell were nipping at
her heels, instead of a fiery serpent nibbling just a
little higher.
"Well that went well." Misty gazed at Venus in
bewilderment.
"She didn't set off the sprinklers."
"ONE time, and no one ever lets you forget." The
senshi of fire squished into the room, looking like a
drowned cat and smelling like burnt wool. She looked
around the room. "Hey, why is every body naked?"
"It's the crystal." Jupiter came into the bath
carrying two heavily laden trays.
"Jupiter's got this theory that long exposure to
the crystal has made the Imperial family. . . a little
strange."
"Hey, it explains the short skirts. And remember
Serenity the First had a TREE as her chief advisor."
Misty was settled into the steaming water, two
senshi on either side of her.
"You know, eating in the bath was one of Stormy's
better ideas. It's fast, comfortable and you're all
clean when you're done."
"And you get to look at nake. . . "
"Will you knock it off." Mercury bopped her friend
lightly on the head."
"Ummm. Why do you call her 'Stormy'?"
"Ha! Well Serenity is the Imperial family name, but
of course each Sovereign has her own personal name and
later chooses her Reign name. Well 'Stormy' HATED her
personal name, so every one called her 'little
Serenity'. That wasn't much better as far as she was
concerned. She was always getting into so much trouble
that someone finally said she had as 'little Serenity
as a typhoon.' From then own she was called Stormy." The
five girls washed and ate in companionable silence.
"Well, now what do we do?" Jupiter asked the walls.
"Get dressed, if there's anything in Stormy's
closet that will fit" Venus looked at her giant
companion who grinned back.
"Or won't strangle us in lace," Jupiter added.
Venus looked dismayed at the prospect.
"Why don't we just 'port something from our rooms,
or buy new?" Mars asked?
"Because THEY may be out looking for our friend
Misty. The Royal Apartments are shielded. No one can
tell who, if anyone is in here right now. And even THEY
might hesitate to blindly invade the Princess'
apartments. But if THEY knew we were here then. . . "
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Everyone jumped as the door shuddered under
massive blows.
"Shit!" Venus cursed and leaped to her feet. "Mars,
Mercury take Misty and run for the Queen's apartments.
She may shelter you, at least until she talks with
Stormy."
"We're not going to leave. . . "
"Don't argue. I promised Stormy that we wouldn't
let them take Misty. This is our best chance."
"And if the Queen won't give us shelter?"
"Don't let them take her, not alive." Venus took up
position beside the door.
"Jupiter, open a hole with a thunder bolt when I
open the door. That'll be your signal Mercury. Lay down
a 'Shabon Spray' and try to break out down the
corridor. I'll cover with a 'Crescent Beam' as long as I
can. Mars, you just burn anything still moving. Ready?"
Mars' fire burned with an angry flame while frost
rimmed the ground around the grimly determined Mercury.
The stench of ozone filled the air as fat balls of
electricity dripped like sweat off Jupiter to plop on
the ground with an evil hiss. Venus felt her own body
swell to bursting with golden power as she readied her
"Crescent Beam." She swore to herself that she would
burn Sailorneptune a new asshole before she went down.
She reached out and gently unlatched the door, then
slammed it open.
"SUPREEEEM. . .
"SHAAAABONNN. . .
"THUN. . .
"CRESEN. . . "
"FIRE. . . "
"BEAAAA. . . '
"Hiiiiiiiii! I brought Coooookkkkiiiieeeessss!"
"!!!!!!!!!!"

***************************************************

". . . my hands were full." the princess wailed.
"That's no reason to scare us half to death."
"Hey, these cookies are good!" The other senshi glared at
Mercury.
"Well they are."
"You are such a child about sweets," Jupiter said
fondly. "Here have one of mine."
"F'ank 'U,"Mercury mumbled through a mouthful of
crumbs. Venus rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"If we can get back to the problem at hand. What
are we going to do about Misty and. . . THEM?"
"This!" The princess pulled a box out of her
pocket.
"S-T-O-R-M-E-Z S-T-U-F" Mercury traced the letters
on the box . "K-E-P-P O-U-T. I hope for the sake of your
tutors that this is an OLD box." The princess stuck her
tongue out at the senshi of water.
"This is all my best things. I had to go to the
summer palace to get it." She dumped the box on the
floor. Sea shells, brightly colored pebbles and a bird's
nest spilled out across the carpet. Mars let a handful
of pebbles run through her fingers.
"Well, yes I can see how this would strike terror
in the hearts of. . . "
"Not that silly, THIS!"
She dug through her pile of small treasures and
held up a palm sized brooch. Mars stretched out a hand
toward the object, then snatched it back as if she'd
been burned.
"Where did you GET that!" she hissed
"Grand mama gave it to me."
"Grand mama! You wouldn't happen to be talking
about Serenity Iron Tongue also known as Serenity
Maneater and Serenity BUBBLEHEAD!!"
"Well, she was a little eccentric."
"ECCENTRIC!" The senshi of fire screeched. "She had
all of her lovers flash frozen. . . "
"Only after they were dead." the princess excused
". . . and made them CABINET MINISTERS!!"
"Grand mama said she could get more work done, and
it was so much quieter." Mars glared at her princess ,
puffing like a walrus with adenoid problems.
"THAT GRAND MAMA!! You got that." She pointed to
the offending object "from HER!"
"I think it's beautiful." Misty reached down. . .
"NO! Don't. . . " Mars screamed.
. . . and picked it up. It was old iron, black with
age. A dragon and a phoenix twisted together in a savage
embrace. The dragon had pierced the phoenix's breast
while the phoenix claws were driven deep into the dragon
heart. Blood ran together from both wounds to join in a
single ruby drop, the only splash of color on the
unrelieved black.
". . . touch it." Mars finished weakly.
"What's the problem, Mars?" Jupiter asked.
"The problem is, that the last time someone had one
of those" she pointed at the broach in Misty's hand
"they turned the 'Old Stone Fort'" she lurched up from
the floor and stomped over to the sliding doors that
faced the gardens "or what used to be the Old Stone
Fort" the doors slammed back. Every one winced as
sunlight streamed into the dimly lit room, "into a
crater three kilometers across and six hundred meters
deep." She pointed to an ornamental lake in the
distance.
"I don't suppose GRAND MAMA gave you an instruction
book to go with that. . . damn. . . thing."
"OK, Mars, you've had you're little tantrum. Now
why don't you provide a little detail."
Mars glared at Venus for a second before plumping
back down beside the group.
"Two thousand years ago the senshi didn't exist.
The Imperial family was warded by the Blood Guard. Each
year that a Royal baby was to be born a young woman,
heavy with child, would come down from the Iron
Mountains. She and the Royal mother-to-be would stay
together for that year. Blood Guard were joined with
their charge before life and after death, so the stories
go, drawing their first and last breath together. In
between, they would sleep in the same bed, eat from the
same bowl, drink from the same cup. The thought of one
would come from the lips of the other." She looked at
her companions. "Two thousand years ago the last of the
blood guard and all but one of Serenity's line were
murdered during the 'Revolt of the Barons'. Serenity
Ironback, known as Serenity the Sorrowful lived to birth
her child, then followed her Blood Guard into the next
world. No one ever came down from the Iron Mountains
after that, and expeditions sent into the mountains
found nothing or never returned."
"That's so sad." Mercury hugged her self as a chill
went through her body.
"There were attempts to revive the Blood Guard of
course. The last, four hundred fifty years ago resulted
in an explosion that vaporized the 'Old Stone Fort'. No
one has tried since. Of course, no one has had one of
those." she pointed at the broach. "If it's real, then
it might well solve our problems with Pluto and the
Outer Senshi. Even Sailor Pluto can't arrest a ball of
hot gas and bone fragments."
"They probably tried to force it."
The senshi all turned to Misty at the sound of her
voice.
"It won't work if you force it." This time it was
their Princess.
"What did the brooch have to do with the Blood
Guard?" Jupiter asked.
"No one knows, except that it had something to do
with an exchange of oaths. Oaths which" Mars added
looking pointedly at her Princess "no one knows anymore
because they were never written down anywhere."
"It can't be written on paper." Serenity said
"It's written on the soul." Misty added
"The oath is personal. . . "
"Between the two. . . "
"Who are one. . . " Their hands met and somehow the
brooch was clenched between them.
" forever. . . "
Mars looked startled, then concerned.
"Uh, guys. I don't think this is such a good idea.
Maybe we should think about this."
The two figures were on their knees, facing each
other.
"My blood when you thirst. . . "
"My fire to warm you. . . "
Jupiter grabbed her princess around her waist and
heaved. Muscles bunched in her shoulders and veins
popped out on her brow. She would have has better luck
pulling the palace up by the roots.
"My flesh when you hunger. . . "
"My steel to defend you. . . "
Mercury was rapidly tapping commands into her
computer. She glanced a readout, startled.
"This does NOT look good. I think. . . "
"I am the blood, with wings to carry"
"I am the guard, my life is yours."
A whirlwind of light surrounded the two. Blood
dripped from their clenched hands where the iron brooch
bit into tender flesh. The horrified senshi watched as
blood from the two swirled together, dripped from their
fists. . . and disappeared.
"I am the soul, with heart to shelter."
"Before this life. . . "
The light grew brighter, the wind faster, cutting
their flesh like glass splinters. The senshi were forced
unwillingly back against the wall.
"And into the next. . . "
"Forever."
A freezing blast of flame, beautifully terrible
slammed them into blackness.

**************************************************

"How is she. . . how are they?"
Mars had come awake at the bottom of a tangle of
senshi. She had clawed her way from under to find her
princess and her princess' 'Blood Guard' unconscious,
hands still locked together. Now she looked down at the
two figures on the bed then back at Mercury.
"How are they?"
"Asleep, as far as I can tell."
"Nothing else!" the fire senshi asked anxiously.
"Well.. ." Mercury drawled consideringly
"WHAT!"
"I believe this 'Blood Guard' thing must have
worked." She looked at her computer display.
"Respiration, pulse, even blood pressure and core
temperature. . . match." She quirked a grin at the slack
jawed Mars. "Also, their alpha waves and REM match. I
think they're even dreaming the same dream."
"Well, I'm not leaving her alone with this. . .
this. . . " Mars glared at Misty curled against HER
princess, then looked challengingly at Mercury.
"I think Stormy would appreciate that." Mercury ran
a quick scan. "In fact, why don't you lie down too. You
took a nasty crack on the head."
Mars looked mutinous, then nodded. She toed off her
shoes and slipped in beside her princess.
"I'm not going to sleep," she growled at Mercury.
"Just lie down a second 'till my head stops hurting."
"Of course. I don't expect anything else." Mercury
concentrated on her computer. The click of computer keys
was accompanied by little grunts of frustration or
hrumphs of disbelief. A low buzzing sound interrupted
her concentration. She hit a function key. The buzzing
got louder. Mercury hit the key again with a little "mew"
of frustration. Startled when there was still no
response from her computer she looked up. A smile spread
over her face as she saw the senshi of fire fast asleep,
curled protectively around both her sleeping Princess
and her Princess' "Blood Guard." Mercury gently drew a
coverlet over the sleeping girls and quietly left the
room.
"How's it going?" Venus whispered.
"They're all asleep."
"Even the pyro?"
"I used a little psychology. How's it going here?"
"Great. Let me introduce you to 'Misty Brightwater,
Centurion in the Blood Guard." Venus handed a sheaf of
hardcopy to Mercury.
"What! Centurion! Blood Guard? I thought we were
going to HIDE her not. . . "
"Relax. This Blood Guard is a provincial militia
named in honor of the original 'Blood Guard.'. Militia
are constantly rotating through the Capitol for training
and equipment upgrades. Plus everyone knows the Princess
is always taking in strays. One more lonely homesick
girl won't be noticed. It's perfect. Hiding her in plain
sight." Mercury looked awestruck
"How long do think we can hide her? And what
happens when THEY find her?"
"I don't know. Under the law she and Stormy are
LEGALLY the same person."
"HUH?" Jupiter was reading the papers over
Mercury's shoulder.
"That's how 'Blood Guard' and the one they guarded
were regarded in the 'First Empire' and the law is still
on the books. I guess with the real 'Blood Guard' all
gone it never occurred to anyone to change the law. But
LEGALLY they can't touch her now. But THEY've never been
too concerned with the law."
"But how long do you think it will be before THEY
find her?" Jupiter asked again.

**************************************************
It took nine months, eighteen days.

***************************************************

". . . was NOT!"
"Yes you were. I saw you." Mercury turned to
'Misty' who was in her normal place, just behind and to
the right of the Princess. In fact she was so precise in
her placement that many in the Palace had started
calling her Storm's Shadow or just Shadow. She didn't
seem to care what anybody called her, she only answered
to the Princess.
"You were there, you tell us. Wasn't Stormy
flirting with that prince from Earth?" Misty' turned
expressionless eyes on Mercury.
"Do you really want to know?" she asked tonelessly.
Mercury nodded in the affirmative. The Blood Guard
stopped and turned to face Mercury squarely.
"You are certain?"
Mercury gulped a little at the serious tone. She
could see out of the corner of her eye that her sister
senshi and the Princess had all stopped to listen.
"Uh, yes, I am certain."
"Very well." The Blood Guard advanced a step as
Mercury retreated. "I will tell you." The put her hands
on either side of Mercury's head and leaned close 'till
they were nose to nose.
"But then I have to kill you."
Mercury's magnificent brain whirred with the
precision of an atomic clock; then hiccoughed as it
processed that last statement.
"Eeeeeep." Mercury scooted back so quickly she fell
and slid across the floor on her rump.
Misty's lips quirked in an infinitesimal smile.
"Gotcha."
##Alert! Entering Shielded Area##
Misty absently noted the whisper's message. This
was normal when entering the Royal apartments.
##Alert. Entering Shielded Area. Active Sensors to
standby. Passive Sensors reduced to .24.## The shielding
scrambled active sensors with feedback and reflector
ghosts, and even passive sensors were hashed unless
greatly reduced in sensitivity.
##Area clear within scan range.##
The scrolling map in her head showed an area empty
except for the icons identifying the Princess and her
senshi. She would be glad to have the Princess back in
her rooms and under cover. Dancing struck her as
only slightly less dangerous than clearing a mine field.
It was especially troublesome that there were no dances
for THREE people. Misty had improvised by learning to
steer her own dance 'partner' (Venus joked that Misty
had a dance 'hostage' ) alongside the Princess and her
partner. Mars head snapped up from talking to Venus.
"Wha. . . "
##WARNING!## The whisper was urgent now. ##Energy
spike. Portal opening. Multiple portals detected.## The
walls shimmered like ripples in a pool of water.
##WARNING. Hostile detected. Multiple hostile's.##
Black figures erupted from the floors, wall and ceiling.
Misty swept a hand knocking the Princess to the ground.
The rest of the senshi moved to form a defensive circle
around her.
"Comm systems are jammed. I can't get out."
Mercury's voice was low and urgent.
"We don't want the Princess. We just want her." The
tallest of the black clad figures pointed directly at
Misty. Misty looked at the hallway, crowded with heavily
armed and armored figures, then back at her Princess
peeping out from the center of her senshi's protective
circle. She knew where these black clad figures were
from, knew who the one in front must be; Sailoruranus.
"I'll come with you."
"NO!"
"Good choice. Come over here." Misty walked away
from the senshi and toward the speaker.
"Now put these on." The figure shoved a set of
heavy shock-restraints into her hands.
"No, Misty. Don't. . . "
"It's OK Stormy. Remember what we talked about."
But Stormy wasn't thinking about the law, or plans or
anything else. The shock of being attacked in her own
home, almost in her own rooms had driven such mundane
thought from her head. The black-clad spokesman grew
impatient at the delay and grabbed Misty by the hand.
Misty jerked back reflexively, her body remembering old
pain these hands had given. The situation went to
hell. . .
'Black-clad' clubbed Misty with a nerve-burner
thinking she was trying to escape. . .
Misty cried out in pain and shock. . .
Stormy broke away from her senshi and ran toward
her friend. . .
'Black Clad' lashed out blindly at the half-seen
figure coming up behind. . .
Stormy flew backwards in a spray of blood hitting
the wall and sliding to the ground like a broken doll. . .
"Weapons hot," Misty commanded.
CRESCENT BEAM!" A savage golden beam scorched
through the air, narrowly hitting 'Black Clad" who dove
for the ground. Venus tracked the beam left, blasting
chunks from the ablative armor worn by the swarm of
black clad invaders.
##Selecting Armor Piercing Anti-personnel
Incendiary. Power at 0.02.## The computer automatically
selected a weapons mix and power setting that wouldn't kill
everyone, friends included, when used in the close confines of the
corridor
"SUPREME THUNDER." Jupiter's attack rolled
harmlessly off black armor. The invaders knew who they
would be up against and had come prepared. They came
forward, confident of their immunity. Jupiter snatched
the first armored figure to reach her off it's feet.
Grasping it by the ankles she began to swing it in great
sweeping arcs, attempting to batter her way through the
crowd surrounding her.
##Input targeting criteria##
"Identify Princess and her senshi as friendly. All
others hostile."
##Input accepted##
Mercury had abandoned her futile attempts to summon
help. Finding her SHABON SPRAY as useless against the
black armored figures as Jupiter's thunder, she launched
a gallant and suicidal barehanded attack on an armored
figure striding purposefully toward her downed Princess.
She leapt on the back of the invader, and wrapping her
legs around its torso began smashing its armored head
with the Mercury Computer. The figure reached back with
black gauntleted hands to pluck Mercury from her perch.
"Fire."
The stream of 4mm darts moving at mach 25 turned
the black armored head into a rapidly expanding pinkish
grey mist. Mercury dropped to the ground with a little
"oooph", and rolled clear as the headless figure fell to
the ground with a rattling clang. As she pulled herself
groggily to her feet her computer made a small
electronic sound of distress and Mercury looked at the
display.
"They're opening another portal," she cried. "We
can't hold them." The air shimmered and twisted with the
energies of a large transport portal opening. As the
portal stabilized the dismayed senshi could
see more armored figures and what looked like a stun
cannon.
"MARS WAR FIRE!!"
The blast of super-heated plasma blew through the
black armored figures just emerging from the portal
reducing them, their stun cannon and sixty centimeters
of armored bulkhead to a fine ash. The portal abruptly
popped out of existence like a soap bubble in a furnace.
All fighting stopped as the stunned combatants, on
both sides, looked at the warrior of fire who stood
swaying on her feet..
"HA! You better not mess. . . " her eyes rolled up in
her head and Mars dropped to the floor like an empty
laundry bag.
"Got her! Let's go!" Venus twisted in the grip of
two armored invaders to see Misty fall under the point-
blank fire of six neural disrupters. Her last sight, as
an armored fist hammered her into blackness, was of an
unconscious Misty and the horde of armored figures
winking out of existence.

***************************************************

"Aaaaaa" Sailoruranus hissed as Sailoneptune
sprayed wound-sealant on the burn running from wrist to
shoulder.
"I could do something for the pain it you'd let
me."
"Leave it. Pain is instructive. Maybe I'll learn
something from it." She pounded her good had on the
table.
"Dammit. This was supposed to be a simple pickup.
Grab the girl, in and out. Quick clean, no one hurt."
She looked grimly at her companion.
"How bad is it?"
"We're clean." At Sailoruranus's look of disbelief
she went on.
"It's true. We'd already taken care of the security
net. And Mars's fire actually did us a favor. Any
residual traces we might have left were destroyed by her
blast. There's no evidence of who we were."
"They'll suspect. . . "
"Suspicion is not evidence. Pluto can convince the
Queen that it was Beryl."
"What are our losses?"
"Twenty four dead. Most of those when Mars blew the
portal. Thirty more wounded. Three of those may not make
it." Sailoruranus swore harshly.
"What were those idiots thinking! They were
outnumbered, surrounded. Hell, they didn't even have
light armor. All they had to do was give us the target
and no one would have gotten hurt." It didn't occur to
Sailoruranus to include "the target" in the list of
people who would get hurt. Or even in the list of
people.
"They're just children." Sailorneptune said
tolerantly. "They're too emotional to make good decis. . ."
She broke off as the admittance chime sounded. Sailoruranus
stiffened.
"I'll see who it is." Sailorneptune left the
bedroom, while Sailoruranus fretted. She could hear the
door open, then voices. Indistinct, they quickly became
clearer.
". . . honored to have you visit Majesty. But I'm
afraid that this isn't a very good time. Sailoruranus
isn't feeling well. . . "
Hastily Sailoruranus tugged her tunic over her
burned arm with a grimace of pain.
". . . can not go in there."
Sailorneptune blurred through the air and slammed
against the wall with a force that shook the walls.
Sailoruranus jerked to her feet in shock as Queen
Serenity appeared in the entrance.
"Can not?" the voice was mildly questioning. The
eyes were not.
"In my own palace, you tell me that I 'can not'?"
Sailoruranus knelt before the Queen her mind
racing. Something in their cover story had broken, but
what? How much did the Queen know? She tried to stall
for time."
"Gracious Majesty, if Sailorneptune has given
offence I am sure. . . "
"Where is she?"
"She, Majesty? I don't. . . "
Sailoruranus screamed as she was slammed against
the wall. Her vison blurred as a giant hand smashed
again and again into her middle. Finally she was
released sobbing and vomiting to fall to the floor.
Delicate footsteps clicked over to where she lay. She
opened one eye to stare blurrily at the hem of a silver
gown.
"You may tell me what I want to know," the voice
was delicate, soft and cultured, "or I will take it from
you." The voice was indifferent to Sailoruranus choice.
"I. . . I" she wiped a pink froth from her smashed
lips. She could feel broken ribs grate. "I don't know
what you mean graci. . . "
Queen Serenity blazed with power as she prepared to
rip Sailoruranus's mind apart like a used tissue.
"DON'T!"
Feebly Sailoruranus let her head roll to one side
to see Sailorneptune scrabble across the room on her
belly.
"Please, don't hurt her. I'll tell you. . . "
"Don't! Not for me. We have to. . . "
"She'll take it from you anyway. And you'll die for
nothing. Nothing!"
Sailorneptune sent a frantic mental command that
opened a sealed portal.
"There. She's in there!"
Queen Serenity reappeared carrying a limp form. She
stared coldly at the two fallen senshi.
"The senshi you commanded are under arrest for high
treason. It has been a while since the executioner has
had any work. I imagine after the first dozen it will
come back to him." Sailoruranus struggled to her knees.
"Majesty! Please, the senshi were under my command.
They were only following. . . "
"Orders? This may serve to instruct your successor
as to which orders should be given and which orders
should not." The Queen stopped and turned back to Sailoruranus.
"Did you know that you struck my daughter?" Sailoruranus
sucked in an involuntary breath, then gasped as
her broken ribs protested.
"No, Majesty. I never. . . "
"My daughter says as much. She tells me that she
came from behind, suddenly. That you could not have known
it was she." The Queen paused, lost in thought. "My
daughter does not understand that sometimes sacrifices
must be made for the greater good. She believes instead
that the good should be increased. . . so that all may
share." Queen Serenity looked down at Sailoruranus. "I
have sheltered and protected my daughter all her life. I
did not wish her to learn about the ugly side of the
Imperium; the greed, lies and betrayal that fuel court
life. I wonder if I shall thank you for instructing her
so well?"


**************************************************

"Serenity, I have some good news. It seems as if
Beryl's research and development facility has suffered
an accident. There is. . . " Sailor Pluto halted as Queen
Serenity held up a hand.
"A palace coup."
Sailor Pluto grinned.
"I didn't realize you wanted to play. My news can
wait." She started forward.
"Betrayed by my closest advisor."
Sailor Pluto reached for the Queen.
"What is weapon 4?"
Only someone who knew the guardian of time well
would have sensed her slight hesitation.
"What do you mean?"
Her head snapped back. A ring on the Queen's hand
ripping a long deep furrow in her perfect skin. She
reeled back, the shock of the blow more devastating than
a sword to the heart. She stretched out a hand. . .
"DO NOT TOUCH ME!"
"Please, just let me. . . "
"LIE!" The Queen drew in a long shuddering breath.
"Don't bother. I know about weapon 4, and what you have
done."
"Then you must know I did it for the Imperium, for
y. . . "
Sailorpluto stumbled back as the Queen surged
forward in a rage.
"Don't say you did it for ME. Don't you dare say
that you kidnaped, murdered, tortured for ME!! Don't you
tell me that you had my daughter and her companions
ATTACKED for ME!" Pluto fell back, white faced, before
the Queen's rage.
"Ser. . . Majesty, I had to do it. Beryl is. . . "
"Beryl."The Queen's harsh laughter shivered across
the room. "What need have I to fear Beryl when I have
YOU!" Pluto staggered at the accusation , catching
herself on a table before she could fall.
"At least Beryl never pretended to love me! At
least Beryl never betrayed my trust!" Pluto raised a
trembling hand. The Queen cut her off with a savage
motion.
"NO! Not a word! I should kill you with my own
hands. She glared at the guardian of time. " The Weapon
4 project is finished. I want all records of it and all
other projects you are running, on my desk in the
morning." She immediately killed the spark of hope in
Pluto's eyes. "Send one of your lackeys with the
records. I don't want you polluting my air with your
presence." Pluto tried one more time.
"Majesty, by the love we shared, may I speak?"
"Speak." The words grated unwillingly.
"Beryl and her Shadows are dangerous. I had to find
a weapon to fight them. That is why. . . "
"What need to fight Beryl if we BECOME her!" The
Queen's fists clenched 'till the knuckles whitened. "I
loved you," she said suddenly. "I loved you from the
first moment I saw you in my mother's court. I thought
you were the most beautiful, the most perfect creature
in the universe. I thought that you were lonely. That I
could help you.. . And I loved you with all the
helpless, hopeless passion of an infatuated twelve year
old. Everyone told me how cruel you were, how inhuman.
That you were nothing but a creation of the crystal,
with a heart to match. When you came to my rooms that
first time. . . I thought that the Goddess had answered
my prayers. I didn't know it was the devil" She rose
from her seat to tower over the kneeling Pluto. "But I
am sworn to protect the Imperium and its people. I will
not sacrifice their lives to avenge my own betrayal. I
can not afford a division in the Imperium now. You and
the Outer senshi may live. . . on sufferance. You and they
will retire to the outer system." She turned to go.
"Serenity, please. . . "
The Queen stepped through a portal.
"please. . . "

**************************************************

A door that didn't exist opened from a place that
had no name. A tall figure with long dark hair stepped
through and looked at the six girls tumbled together
like a basket full of kittens. Kittens that had been
through a very hard day. She selected one slight figure
that was nestled up against a tiny blond girl with
absurdly long hair. She motioned with her staff and both
she and the girl vanished.

**************************************************

"It's very difficult to carry on a conversation if
you keep trying to kill me."
Misty snarled and lunged again at the guardian of
time. Again she bounced off an invisible shield.
"You should be pleased," Pluto continued. "Queen
Serenity arrested the Outer Senshi and condemned them to
death, after first breaking several important bones. And
I have been banished." Pluto noted Misty's feral snarl.
"Now you and your Princess and her senshi can live
happily together. . . until Beryl comes. The you have
a choice of hoping she dies in the fighting or you can
kill her yourself. I don't think you want her delivered
alive into Beryl's hand's."
"I can protect her."
"As you protected her today? And the Outer Senshi
weren't even after the Princess."
"I can. . . "
"Do nothing. But I can. I can give you power. Power
to defeat Beryl. Power to protect your Princess. If you
come back to finish the project."
"Why are you asking? Why don't you just take.
You're good at that."
"Because you are under the Queen's protection now.
If I take you she will come after me. I can't fight
Beryl and Serenity at the same time. But you can come of
your own free will."
"Why me? Why am I so important?"
Pluto sighed to herself. It would have all been so
much simpler if they had managed to obliterate the
girl's personality completely. But as usual the
technical people had overestimated their capabilities.
It would have been nice though. So much less trouble.
"Because the weapon we have developed to combat the
Shadows, to allow you to exist between dimensions, has
killed everyone who has used it or driven them mad. You
are the only one who can survive the pain of transition
between dimensions. The only one who can withstand the
madness of zero-space. You are the only one who can
fight the Shadows and win."

***************************************************

". . . upgrades worked perfectly. The new power
receptors are even better than we anticipated."
"And how long before we can duplicate Weapon 4?"
The director smiled.
"We have already started. We should be able to
decant the first batch within six months. Initial
programming and implant installation should be
relatively straight forward with what we have learned. I
think we should have no more than a 40% wastage."
"How soon to produce completed weapons?"
"Eighteen months for the first six. After that,
with the facilities we have, I think we can produce two
weapons every four months." Pluto tapped the table in
front of her thoughtfully.
"I think that is acceptable. Beryl is still
rebuilding her R&D facility after that fire last year.
And she seems to be concentrating a great deal of effort
in the mono-pole mining facility." A briefly wistful
look crossed her face as she remembered Queen Serenity's
almost childish glee at her ploy to distract Beryl. She
banished the thought ruthlessly. "I would like to
see. . . "
An alarm rang and a face appeared on the
communications screen. A terrified tech looked out at
her.
"Sailor Pluto, a message from the capitol! They are
under attack!" Pluto froze for a stunned moment, then
lunged for the console. She entered a code. Her heart
thudded in her chest while she waited for the screen to
clear.
"Sailor Pluto, thank the Goddess. We've been trying
to get through to you but. . . "
"The Queen! Where is the Queen."
"I don't know. I think she went to 'Cloud Song' to
rally the Inner Guard but. . . "
"Give me Commander Tarn. If she can hold the curtain
wall I can. . . "
"Tarn is dead. The wall is down. The Shadows are
already in the palace grounds. We must have. . . "
Pluto stared at the blank screen. A portal snapped
open behind her and Sailoruranus supporting a wounded
Sailorneptune stumbled out.
"Pluto. . . the Shadows. They destroyed the Outer Guard
barracks. The power grid is down and the portal system
is failing. We need to warn. . . " Pluto ignored the
senshi and turned to the director.
"How long to get the Combat Support Unit back on
line?"
"The CSU? Why I don't know, several hours, perhaps
a day. As I mentioned we are re-calibrating the power. . ."

"Strip the facility. Empty the infirmary. Unless
they're six weeks dead I want to see everyone on the
transport grid with a weapon in fifteen minutes." She
thought a minute. "Put the CSU on autonomous repair
mode. Tell it to signal as soon as it's ready."
"What do you have in mind Pluto." Sailorneptune
asked, sagging with exhaustion.
"We're going to port directly into the palace. The
Queen's tower is the most heavily armored part of the
palace. If we can hold it long enough for the CSU to come on line
we can counter-attack with. . . "
"The Princess!" Misty burst into the room, panting
heavily. "Something is wrong. I can feel it."
"The palace is under attack. We are leaving as
soon. . . "
"NO! I'm not waiting on you. You don't care about
her."
There was a flare of light as Misty wrenched open a
portal to the Moon Kingdom and vanished.


**************************************************

The palace was burning. She could see people and
stone melted together. The primary weapon activated
without conscious thought. The familiar screaming pain
was swallowed by her terror for the Princess.
"Active sensors at maximum," she ordered the
whisper.
"Locate the Princess."
##Searching.##
A nightmare shape rose suddenly before her black
and twisted; it screamed and writhed as it burned in the
fires of zero-space. A huge hand scattered buildings and
people like toys as it lunged for her.
"Kinetic Weapon. Select super-dense. Maximum
acceleration"
##Super-dense Selected. Acceleration set at 0.3C##
the voice whispered.
"Initiate phase lock."
##Phase lock complete.## came the whisper
"Fire."
Ordinarily an object that was in zero-space, that
peculiar place between dimensions, was invulnerable to
outside forces until that object chose to leave the
safety of zero-space and touch normal-space. Unless
that outside force had the ability to phase into zero-
space as well.
20,000 rounds per minute of super-dense 4 mm
needles blasted out of the "barrel" of the coil-gun at a
little over fifty thousand miles per second. The swarm
of needles blow-torched through the Shadow
destroying its containment field with. . . unfortunate and
fatal results. The Imperium's last blood Guard raced
through the expanding gas cloud that had once been one
of Beryl's elite shock troops.
##Accumulators at 0.38##
She cursed her carelessness. She'd used too much
power killing that first Shadow and without the CSU
there was no chance of. . .
##. . . nitiating power tap. NO RESPONSE. Initiating
power tap. NO RESP. . . ##
"Cancel" she told the idiot-savant computer. "CSU
not available."
##Acknowledged. 18 minutes combat capability
remains at present power drain.##
A pair of Shadows converged on her from the flanks.
Her internal map showed the Princess just beyond them.
The energy weapon burned the legs off one, the kinetic
weapon blasted the second in the torso. She didn't wait
to see the results but raced on toward her duty and her
friend.
##5 minutes combat power.##
Ahead, she could see the huge figure of a woman
looming over a tiny seeming figure in armor and below
that. . .
##Princess!!##
She sent power to her contra-gravity and JUMPED.
##4 minutes power. First warning. Prepare to shut
down phase generator.## The giant figure laughed and
reached for the fragile blond figure.
##Target lock.## she put the targeting pip in the
center of the cruel laughing face.
"Select Kinetic weapon. Fire."
##Null, response. Magazine empty##
"Select Energy Weapon. Fire."
##Null response. Power below minimum level for
Energy Weapon.##
A long metallic staff appeared in her hands. It
shimmered and twisted as it formed into an ugly beaked
war hammer. She sent power to her contra-grav again and
JUMPED!
##2 minutes power. Beginning fail-safe shut down of
phase generator.##
"OVERRIDE!!" she snapped.
##Failure to shut down will result in. . . ##
"OVERRIDE! IMPERIAL PRIORITY!!" she screamed at the
computer.
##Override acknowledged.##
She was almost there. Three more jumps. Power to
contra-grav and JUMP.
##40 seconds to shield collapse.##
And JUMP!'
##15 seconds.##
The giant sneering face dominated everything now.
That and the pitiful figure hanging in the air before
Beryl.
## 8 seconds.##
She brought the hammer over her head. Fiery hooks
ripped at her body. The world shimmered and shook as
dimensional shear slowly ripped her body apart. The
dying containment shield flared and hissed as it
devoured her body and shredded her sanity. And JUMP! She
soared into the air high above Beryl. She could see the
evil face slowly start to turn upwards, comprehension
slowly come to the eyes.
##3 seconds.## She was screaming the hate and rage
and fear of a lifetime directed at this one moment, this
one target. She would fulfil her purpose. She would kill
Beryl. Then she could rest.
##2 seconds.## The hammer came down in a savage
arc, to smash that giant skull like a rotten fruit. As
the hammer neared the end of its arc a bright white
light swept over the doomed capitol. As it moved over
the ground it swept away the dead and dying, sins and
sinners, clean and unclean. . . leaving nothing in its
wake.
##1 sec . . ##

END Chapters 7-9