Sailor Moon V * The Dark Adventures of the Sailor Scouts Episode Twelve * "On Wings of Chaos" The moon shown on the display unit was a small one by cosmic standards, being about a third the size of Earth's moon. Called Nathanya by those who viewed it in the sky on an almost nightly basis, it was a pale yellow moon that was for the most part largely nondescript, having only a few distinguishing features to set it apart from any other moon of similar size and color. The video feed seemed to be almost boring as it remained focused on the miniature moon, doing nothing but watching in complete silence. The monotony only lasted for a few moments before the entire moon seemed to shiver for an instant, a brief and very subtle wobbling motion that would have been easily overlooked if the focus hadn't been so intense. A dark crack suddenly appeared on the lunar surface, marring the casual smoothness of the yellow terrain with a jagged line that seemed to ooze thick red magma from deep within the core. The moon shivered again, this time for a little longer than before and added another pair of visible red gashes to the moon's previously featureless face. "We simply don't know what is causing the gravity fluctuations," a very uneasy voice said in the denizen language. The words had both a slight slur and a distinct accent to them, denoting the speaker as one of the conquered Renn inhabitants. "Most blame the quantum accident that destroyed our dark moon Jalandor, but none of the scientists believe this is possible. Regardless of the cause, there is growing unease among the population that this phenomenon is neither transient nor containable. The surviving World Rangers point to the death of their High Priestess and the shattering of the WorldStone as proof that our world will likewise be destroyed and soon." A third tremor rocked the tiny moon, adding yet more magma-oozing cracks to the surface and giving the impression that it was getting ready to shatter into fragments at any minute now. "We expect Nathanya to break up within the hour," the voice said in a subdued tone. "If we assume that the cause is in fact the quantum experiment that destroyed Jalandor and that it is spreading, it will take three weeks to reach the moon of Hallas and will not reach the planet until thirteen weeks after that. "However," the speaker warned ominously, "By that time the moon of Paleste will have passed near the remains of Nathanya. Paleste's gravity well is all but guaranteed to disturb the debris, and several scientists believe that this will send a significant number of asteroids and the like towards the homeworld itself. Given the odds that we will be struck by multiple fragments that will be too big to burn up in the atmosphere, I have no illusions as to our chances of survival in the wake of the utter devastation that will be visited upon us. "Therefore, I intend to request an immediate audience with World Governor Pra'dek and the Red Wing forces, at which point I will urge them to begin a planetary evacuation of the homeworld's population to a safe haven through the dimensional rift, inside their world. I realize that many of you have branded me a traitor and have sought my death as punishment for my recent actions, but you must realize that I am doing this to ensure that we as a species will still survive this catastrophe." The room was deathly silent as Ar'kanis switched off the recording with a simple gesture of his hand. The armored general sighed quietly to himself before he lifted his head up to look at the bed, making note of the look on both Nop'tera and Sor'en's faces. "Ar'kanis...." Nop'tera said, her voice barely more than a whisper as she leaned her head back to rest on the pillow. Her complexion was unusually pale, making the skin seem to be a shade of powder-blue. Her face was clearly etched with lines of weariness as she continued to recover from the allergic reaction to the tranquilizer. "The drone came through the Hinterland rift twenty minutes ago," Ar'kanis rumbled quietly, acutely aware of both the early hour of the morning and of how little sleep both he and Nop'tera had managed to get since they last spoke. "I felt this was important enough to disturb the both of you." "The entire planet," Sor'en murmured to herself, slowly shaking her head as she continued to hold her mother's hand in a gentle grip. "No, the entire star system," Nop'tera whispered as she closed her eyes. "Even if it stops now and only Nathanya is destroyed, the debris will end up bombarding the planet and the other moons sooner or later. Paleste's gravity will see to that," she pointed out in a weak tone. "Can they evacuate the entire planet?" Sor'en inquired in a dubious tone, giving Ar'kanis a skeptical look. "I thought they only had a handful of heavy cruisers left, certainly not enough to shuttle a few billion slugs around." "Enough to form a sustainable and viable colony," Ar'kanis sighed with a slow flexing of his draconic wings. A muted growl of frustration rose up from Nop'tera's chest as she opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. "Damn it, this couldn't come at a worse time," she sighed. "Ar'kanis, the logistics...." "Can be handled by the military," Ar'kanis interrupted gently. "That is, after all, part of their core function. However, they will need to start the process now if we are to have a decent chance of success. If what was said is correct, then the asteroids will begin to approach the planet in four months. I would like to have everything ready on our side of the rift in three, just to be certain. It will require a lot of work, but I have every confidence that it can be done in that timeframe." "If the rest of the military will cooperate," Sor'en pointed out in a dark tone. "Right now, I bet they wouldn't give us the time of day if we asked." "Leave that to me," Ar'kanis said calmly, causing Nop'tera to blink and make an attempt at sitting up again. Her body was still well beyond exhausted from the after-effects of the allergic reaction, however, and so her upper body only made it a few inches off the sheets before abruptly falling back down with a soft whumph. The gesture didn't go unnoticed by anyone. Sor'en immediately looked down at her mother and frowned, unconsciously gripping her hand tighter. "Are you sure you're alright, Mother?" she asked for the seventh time. "Sor'en, if you ask me that one more time...." Nop'tera started to say. "Nop'tera," Ar'kanis said softly, causing the dark general to fall silent. "There is a time when it is best for a leader to hide her pain from her troops so as not to affect their morale, and there is a time in which being honest to them is for the greater good. How bad is it at the moment?" Nop'tera looked at him in silence for several moments before casting a brief glance towards her daughter. "I can barely move right now," she admitted in an almost inaudible whisper, looking away from them. "It took two days the last time before I could walk again, and a full week after that before I had my full strength back." "What?" Sor'en gasped, blinking hard. "Wait, what happened?" "The Dark Kiss of Bliss, Sor'en," Ar'kanis explained quietly. "For some reason, the Chief Medical Officer administered it last night. What he failed to realize is that your mother is allergic to it, which results in extreme weakness of her muscles for several days." "You're allergic to that?" Sor'en said, blinking in surprise again as she regarded her mother with a deeply worried look. "Nobody's immune to everything," Nop'tera admitted with what might have been a note of humor and a faint blush of embarrassment on her pale cheeks. "In your mother's case, the drug works all too well," Ar'kanis added with a faint gesture. "She is tranquilized, alright, but just a little harder than was intended." "That's enough, Ar'kanis," Nop'tera muttered, casting a sidelong glance at him and wondering what he was up to. She was privately grateful for the fact that he hadn't made the slightest mention of the rather psychotic episode she had undergone as her body tried to fight off the drug. Sor'en glanced at the armored general before returning her ash-gray eyes to the pale countenance of her mother. "So what does this mean?" she asked in an unusually soft tone. "That will be discussed very shortly, Brigadier, I assure you," Ar'kanis said in a neutral tone. "I will inform you and the rest of the Red Wings once General Nop'tera and I have come to a suitable understanding. For the moment, I think it would be best if you were to oversee the bridge and listen most carefully for any signs of activity from anyone, be it another drone from the rift, our sister ships, or the rest of the Negaverse military. The drone was broadcasting in the open, so I'm sure everyone who was paying attention is now aware of the situation in the Hinterlands and will want to ask questions. If someone does ask someone else, I want to know who and what." Sor'en blinked and carefully eased off of the bed, not sure what to make of the formal shift in his tone. "Understood, sir," she said as she stood up straight, still wearing her night-clothes instead of a proper uniform. "Sor'en," Ar'kanis said gently, "You need not be overly worried for your mother's health or well-being. Think of it as merely a debilitating headcold, something that all of us have had at various points in our lives. Life for the sufferer will not be pleasant, but it will pass in time. Your mother will be back to normal within seven days, I assure you. Now go change and report to the bridge, I will be along shortly." "Sir," Sor'en replied with a crisp salute. She paused to cast a final look of daughterly worry towards her mother before she turned and left to go back to her own quarters. Only a keen observer would have been able to discern Nop'tera's shifting the focus of her featureless yellow eyes, seeming to narrow just slightly. She turned her attention from her departing daughter to Ar'kanis as he strode over to the control panel on the wall. A simple tap of an armored fingertip closed the bedroom door with a soft hiss, and a second tap promptly engaged the lock. The air became disturbingly still as he then turned to look at her for a number of moments in perfect silence. She hadn't bothered to get dressed from earlier and was still completely naked, but the bedsheets and covers provided enough concealment to ensure that she was in no danger of exposing anything. "General Ar'kanis," she finally said after what seemed to be a full minute of uneasy silence. "Surely you of all people know how much I dislike being set up for something. What precisely do you intend to do?" "End this," the armored figure said quietly, causing Nop'tera to tense up at the dark chill that suddenly crept down her spine. "I'm listening," she prodded in a very leery tone, absently tucking the sheets a little tighter around her. A soft sigh echoed out from the confines of his helmet as he looked away from the bed. "I want you to give me command of the Red Wings," he said very quietly. "Three days should be enough to accomplish this. Please, hear me," he added as he raised a hand to forestall the expected outburst of questions. She stared hard at him for several seconds before she closed her eyes and tried to relax. "Again, I'm listening," she said with a discernible edge, the corners of her dark blue lips pulled down into a mild scowl. "It is a simple statement of fact that you are not fit for duty," he said in a calm and level voice. "Rather than have you relieved on medical grounds, I ask that you voluntarily yield command. This will then be explained to the rest of the V'ral as such, that their general knows she has to rest and is not afraid to trust her soldiers to protect her during a momentary weakness. As I said to Sor'en, it will be no worse than the time you caught the same headcold that two-thirds of the V'ral fought off during the insurgency of Vul Rein." Nop'tera grunted quietly out of sheer reflex, not needing to be reminded about how she had suffered over the course of six very long days. Her immune system was robust enough to fight off most viral infections, but every now and then she encountered a bug that was able to linger around long enough to make her life fairly miserable. The bug in question had been both quite prolific and highly mutable, which was why it had lasted as long as it had among the rest of the crew despite the strict hygienic routines practiced aboard the ship. "That much I understand," she said carefully. "But the rest of what you said, about how you plan on ending this...." "By 'this' I mean the problem between you and General Rune," he replied. "And I believe it can be done without further violence or bloodshed. I spoke with Fleet Admiral Si'ren after your encounter with Rune and her crystal sword. The substance of the conversation is not important enough to relate, as she had her orders from Rune and I had mine from you. What is important, however, is that I got the impression that she is nobody's fool and can be reasoned with. "What I intend to do is leave Sor'en in command of the V'ral while I use one of our remaining aircraft to fly over to the Imperial Castle to meet with Admiral Si'ren in person for a very frank face-to-face discussion. The intent will be to avert a war between us, or more precisely, between you and Rune. If she and I can come to an agreement, then I will return here with the intention of persuading you to accept the terms as negotiated while she does the same with General Rune." Nop'tera's eyes promptly snapped open to stare at the ceiling. She then tilted her head slightly to regard him very carefully in silence. "The terms as negotiated, Ar'kanis?" she finally echoed in a soft tone that revealed very little of what she might be thinking. "If I didn't know better, I might think that you intend on selling me out." "Diplomacy, my general, means you don't always get everything that you want from the other party," he said in a distinctly cold tone. "Or do you have so little faith left in me that you think I would negotiate our surrender to General Rune?" "Of course not," she murmured with a sigh as she closed her eyes again. She almost opened them again as she heard the soft rasping and clanking of his heavy armor as he crossed the room. The metallic noises continued for a brief moment even after his footsteps stopped, followed by a soft creaking noise as a weight was settled onto the corner of the bed. She was about to open her eyes to see what he was doing when she felt a warm hand lightly caressing her cheek, moments before his lips brushed against hers in an unmistakable gesture. It was only through sheer force of will that she managed to keep her eyes closed, realizing that it meant that he had taken his helmet off in order to kiss her. That he was doing so was surprising enough to shock her into near- total paralysis, able to do little more than yield to the unexpected warmth and depth of the intimate gesture. "Nop'tera," he murmured very softly once their lips parted, the timbre of his unhelmeted voice sending a tingle down her spine. "Have you no trust in me anymore? I would do anything for you, anything at all, and only ask for your acknowledgment of my service in return. What I seek is to save you from all this, to save everyone from this." "What do you mean?" she asked quietly. She felt the weight from the bed disappear and heard a soft rasping noise, causing her to hesitate for a moment before opening her eyes to look at him. He was still standing next to the bed but had just finished locking his helmet back into place, sparing her the sight of seeing his face again. Her blood promptly turned to slush as she caught a glimpse of his ungloved hand, quickly averting her gaze as she did her best to keep her expression from changing. "There can be no good coming from a conflict between you and Rune," he pointed out, the acoustics of his helmet once again masking his voice with a chilling sepulchral echo. "Such in-fighting is of no benefit to anyone, least of all the ones directly involved. What we need now is a unified military, one that can work together efficiently to deal with the crisis that appears to be brewing in the Hinterlands. We both know why you picked General Pra'dek to be your overseer while you returned to the Negaverse, and we both know how he will react to this threat. He will do what he can to save as many Renn as possible, and in turn we must be ready to do our part to help him. That cannot be done if we are too busy fighting amongst ourselves." She waited until she was absolutely sure that he had put his armored glove back on before turning to look at him again. "And you really think you can do this, Ar'kanis?" she inquired softly with just a hint of dry sarcasm to her voice. "Settle matters in three days and make us all one big happy family?" "I believe I can reach an accord with Admiral Si'ren," he replied in a calm tone. "Or at least reach a mutual understanding. What comes after that, however, all depends on how much influence she has on General Rune. I have no idea if she can be persuaded or not, but I am fairly confident that I will be able to get you to understand the situation from my perspective once I return to the V'ral and have a chance to discuss it with you." "Really, now," she said in a flat tone, giving him an unamused look that was bordering on being unfriendly. Ar'kanis froze in mid-motion before turning to regard her very carefully. "Are you implying you will not listen to me?" he inquired in a studious tone. "Or that you have no desire to be open to compromise, or even understanding? If that is the case, my general, then you disappoint me greatly." It took Nop'tera a moment to get her temper under control, the edges of her lips unconsciously curling back to expose her vampiric fangs. "Ar'kanis, with as much as I value your counsel and services, I do not appreciate being maligned like that," she warned him in a low tone. "I seek an end to this just as much as you do, but it will be on my terms and not General Rune's." "And do you not think I will seek to arrange that?" the armored general replied quietly. "I will be honest, my general, there are probably a few minor points I will have to yield on or otherwise allow Si'ren to have, but I assure you that it is very likely that you will find the end result to be largely to your satisfaction. Unless, of course, you do not see things as I see them, which is entirely possible as we are both individuals. Regardless, I have a duty both to you and to the Negaverse military that I swore an oath to serve to do my best to see this resolved as swiftly as possible and for the greater good of the Negaverse. Surely you understand this, my general." "I do, Ar'kanis," she sighed as she closed her eyes, trying to ignore the feeling of utter helplessness at the moment. Her body was still too weakened to respond properly, making it difficult to even lift her head up. She knew it would pass in a day or two, but that didn't help her mood in the slightest. "Then if you will excuse me, my general, there is much to be done," he rumbled quietly as he reached for the door lock. He paused as he suddenly remembered something and cast a sidelong glance at her. "You will, I trust, yield command of the Red Wings until your convalescence is complete?" he asked in an uncharacteristically wary tone. A silent growl of frustration rose up from Nop'tera's chest. "I will," she finally said after several seconds of silence. "However, I ask that you do not make me regret it, Ar'kanis. It is bad enough I feel absolutely useless at the moment, I don't need to be adding remorse to the situation." "Honestly, my general, when have I ever not tried to do so?" he pointed out with just a faint hint of humor to the otherwise chilled echo of his tone. "You know what I mean," she grumbled quietly with another soft sigh. She paused as she heard the near-silent tap of his fingertip against the panel and the equally quiet sound of the locks being withdrawn. "Ar'kanis...." she said on pure impulse as the memory of what was said last night resurfaced. "My general?" he inquired. She absently chewed on the edge of her lip before she decided there wasn't too much to lose at this point and drew in a deep breath. "About the storage pool at Hannshok...." She waited to see if he would say anything, feeling a faint chill forming in her abdomen as he remained perfectly silent. "If you really knew all this time.... why didn't you ever say anything?" "Does it truly matter?" he inquired softly. "Or rather, do you want it to matter?" A slightly uncomfortable silence descended around the room as they both remained quiet, briefly lost in their own thoughts and memories of what had happened during the V'ral's maintenance cycle at the Renn seaport of Hannshok. As water was not an overly abundant commodity aboard the airborne carriers, it was a very rare luxury for anyone to soak in a bath instead of using the more water-conserving showers for personal hygiene and relaxation. Someone had come up with the idea of using the storage pools for recreation given the fact that the coolant units had to be taken off-line for several days and their contents had already been relocated elsewhere for the duration. That had led to five days of almost non-stop usage by the crew, much to everyone's delight. There had initially been rules of decorum and conduct in mixed company, but that had lasted for maybe seven hours before quietly being flushed down the drain by unspoken consensus, resulting in more than a few stories that would be told in quiet whispers among friends for weeks afterwards. The storage pools had been officially closed at midnight on the day before they were to be serviced and restored to operation, and as expected the area only became completely vacated an hour later. Only then did Ar'kanis quietly and unobtrusively enter the chamber to make use of the pool in solitude, having reached a quiet arrangement with the Engineering staff. The situation took on an entirely new facet when the lights suddenly shut off, leaving the pool in absolute darkness. The door slid open a few moments later, allowing someone else to enter the room with him. His unknown guest then stepped into the pool after a brief delay to discard her clothes, and it soon became obvious that she wasn't there to soak in the water.... "Ar'kanis...." Nop'tera said softly. "The way I see it," he interrupted gently, "I was not meant to know. That I did know was therefore unintentional, and I saw no need to spoil anything. Sometimes a valid reason is not required for some things. I felt that was one of them, and so I never asked for a reason nor bothered to seek one out." Nop'tera wasn't sure what to say, feeling a chill inside as she thought about what it all meant. She was still struggling to find something meaningful to say when the door hissed open without warning, allowing Freya to enter the bedroom carrying a small insulated container. "Oh!" the pale-haired woman gasped as she almost ran into Arkanis, taking a quick step back and clutching the cylinder tightly. "Easy, Freya," Nop'tera said as she opened her eyes to look at her slave. "I'm sorry," Freya breathed as the worst of the shock wore off, leaving a pale blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. "I saw Sor'en in the corridor just a few moments ago and thought you had left as well." A muted chuckle of amusement rose up from Ar'kanis's chest. "I will be leaving in a few moments as well, unless General Nop'tera has anything further to discuss." "Not at the moment, Ar'kanis," Nop'tera said quietly. "Then if you will excuse me...." he started to say. "One moment," Freya said quickly. "Medical asked me to pass along to you that M's nerve structures have finished reforming, but that she appears to be in a sort of regenerative-sleep mode. They expect her to show some signs of consciousness within a few hours." "M?" Ar'kanis echoed with a slight hint of confusion. "Our stowaway metamorph," Nop'tera spoke up as her mood shifted. "She met with me earlier to discuss a few things about Earth. It will be interesting to hear what she has to say about why she tried to come onboard," she mused. "Ah," Ar'kanis replied with a nod. "I was told of her nature, although I was not told her name. I will keep you informed of any new developments," he promised Nop'tera. "I also found out what happened to your medical records," Freya continued with an absent gesture of the insulated container. "Do you remember the time the computer core was partially damaged a few years ago and they had to reload some of the data by hand?" Nop'tera blinked in surprise and tilted her head to exchange surprised looks with Ar'kanis. "Yes, I do," she said slowly. "I thought the only data we lost had to do with maintenance and Engineering records?" "One of the data nodes that held a portion of the medical records was also corrupted," Freya explained. "Your record was one of them. They were able to reload it using the physical copy stored in the medical vault, but it seems that a page was somehow overlooked. The Chief Medical Officer wishes to assure you that he will order a physical review of all the records for missing data, and has.... asked for your forgiveness," she said as she came over to the bed and set the container down next to Nop'tera. Nop'tera sighed quietly as she was helped into a sitting position, once again cursing the severe muscle weakness that was plaguing her. The sheets would have tumbled into her lap to expose her if it wasn't for a last-second realization of her state of undress, prompting a hasty grab just as the top sheet started to slide away. She cast a look of faint embarrassment at the armored figure by the door before she turned to look at the cylinder Freya was opening for her. "Oh, my," the blue-skinned vampire purred as she was greeted with both the sight and smell of freshly-drawn dark green blood. "I think he's quite serious about this one. Not that I doubt he would be, given his dedication to his work, but still, this is a little.... unexpected. His, no doubt?" "He had me draw it for him," Freya said quietly, casting a glance down at the slightly-steaming contents. "It hasn't even been five minutes yet, and it has been kept at a constant temperature." "Mmm, breakfast in bed...." Nop'tera said demurely with a soft smile. She looked up as Ar'kanis coughed quietly to himself, one delicate white eyebrow arching up as she regarded him carefully. "Something wrong, Ar'kanis?" she inquired casually. "I need to report to the bridge," Ar'kanis said calmly. "As I said, we will need as much time as we can muster and there is much to do now. Or do you seek an audience for your.... breakfast in bed?" he added, echoing her words with just enough dryness in his tone to let her know that it wasn't the blood that was making him slightly uncomfortable. "I expect you to keep me informed of any developments," she said to him as she picked up the container. Her eyes never left his as she swirled it around gently before bringing it to her lips, taking a careful sip of the emerald nectar. It was several degrees warmer than normal body temperature, which only made the flavor all the more pungent. "Breakfast indeed," Ar'kanis observed with open amusement as he watched the vampire promptly down half the contents within the span of a few seconds. "Or have you been neglecting to take care of yourself since our arrival in the Negaverse, as I am starting to suspect is the case?" Nop'tera paused to lick her lips, giving him a look of patient suffering. "We've all been busy these past few days, Ar'kanis," she said in a tone that was somehow both apologetic and reproving at the same time. "Freya, see that she is properly fed," the armored general instructed in a bemused tone. "Her body has been subjected to a great deal of stress as of late and has probably used up her energy reserves trying to regenerate what it can. Let me know if a few more volunteers are needed." "General Ar'kanis," Nop'tera said crisply, "Might I remind you that I've been managing my blood intake quite successfully on my own for well over five thousand years now?" A quiet chuckle emerged from the depths of his helmet. "Then with all due respect, my general, quit drinking like a dehydrated man being given a bottle of water," he observed as he made a gesture to the container of blood. Nop'tera paused and glanced down, blinking hard as she saw that she had somehow managed to empty it without realizing it. "Leave me alone," she sighed softly, casting a glance over at Freya. Her slave remained perfectly silent, but there was a pale blush on her cheeks that spoke volumes in of itself. "I will deliver a status report to you later, my general," Ar'kanis said with a slight bow of his head. He had turned to leave and was halfway through the bedroom door when he heard Nop'tera call his name quietly, causing him to pause and glance back. "One final question, if I may," Nop'tera said in a very quiet tone, her featureless yellow eyes remaining focused on the faint traces of green left in the empty container. "The storage pool. How did you know?" "There is a saying," Ar'kanis rumbled quietly as he returned his gaze to the main living room. "Even the smallest candle shines like a beacon when in absolute darkness. Fair morning, my general," he said before he left, allowing the door to quietly hiss shut behind him. It took Nop'tera a few seconds to realize what he meant, and it took even longer for her to quit berating herself for overlooking a detail such as that. How long had she mulled it over when the thought came to her, how much effort had she put into setting everything up just right, and how much of a fool had she been for thinking she had successfully kept it secret only to be told long after the fact that she had given herself away almost immediately back then? Worse, everything that he had said and done after that now had to be viewed in a different light simply because he had been aware of it the entire time.... Her focus snapped back to reality as Freya gently pried the empty cylinder from her hands, almost causing her to hit the ceiling. "Are you alright?" she whispered very softly as she noticed that Nop'tera was no longer obviously lost in introspective thought. "I was," the dark general admitted frankly, causing her pale-haired slave to blink hard. "I think Ar'kanis has a point, I honestly can't remember how long it's been since I had that much blood. It seemed to have helped, though, so I might have to ask Medical to thaw a pouch or two for me." "I'm sure we can arrange for a live donation," Freya said softly. "Maybe once I can move properly," Nop'tera sighed as she glanced down at the sheets. She discovered that she could wiggle her toes now, but it required a great amount of focus to do so. "Until then, however.... well, it's not like I have anything else to do now," she grumbled as she tried to lay back down. "Ar'kanis has command for a few days and he's going to see if he can sit down with Admiral Si'ren to work something out. Sor'en will have the bridge, which she'll just love," she added with a weak rolling of her eyes. "But then again, seeing how her fighter wing is parked in some open field, I doubt that she has much else to do either. This is not turning out to be a pleasant homecoming," she sighed wistfully. Freya reflexively winced as Nop'tera suddenly belched, causing a truly dark blush to appear on the denizen vampire's cheeks. "I think you drank that too quickly," Freya pointed out in an embarrassed tone. She then had to blink rapidly to retain her vision as the fumes reached her nose, causing her eyes to start to water. "Ay'cha navidshi," Nop'tera coughed as her own tear-ducts likewise started to react. "This is *not* how I wanted to start my day. I'm going to try to go back to sleep. If the rest of today is going to be like this, don't bother trying to wake me up until at least lunch." "Not if you react to lunch the same way you just did to breakfast," Freya murmured very softly in a rare moment of dry humor. "Thank you, Freya," Nop'tera sighed heavily, wondering just how long the day was going to turn out. If recent events were any indication of things to come, however, it was likely going to be a really long one.... * * * * Serena didn't sit down at her desk so much as plop down, quite obviously not fully awake yet. She was still on-time, however, and even had a full ten minutes to spare before class began, which was unusual enough on a Monday to cause most of the class to exchange assorted glances and quiet whisperings. "Morning, Serena," Molly ventured in a cautious tone as she studied the look on her best friend's face. She couldn't help the smile that crossed her face as she was answered with a very fuzzy grunting-moan of reluctance that said far more than any coherent words could have. "New alarm clock?" "Mom found out how to turn up the volume," Serena muttered quietly as she tried valiantly to stave off a yawn. That caused Molly to pause for a moment. "Huh," she said thoughtfully. "Odd, I thought you could sleep through anything...." "The alarm clock wasn't what woke me up," Serena sighed. "What happened was the volume was loud enough to spook Luna, who of course panicked and began to claw everything around her." "Ouch," the redhead winced in sympathy. "So where did she claw you?" "Don't ask," Serena replied in a voice as flat as paved concrete. Molly chuckled quietly and reached out to pat Serena's shoulder. Her hand hadn't made contact yet when Melvin seemed to pop up between them without any warning whatsoever, already opening his mouth to say something. His arrival caught both girls by complete surprise, resulting in a very shrill scream from Serena and a reflexive swat of panic from Molly that sent him tumbling across the floor. "Hey, girls, guess whaAAAAAHHHH!!!" "Ooh," a freckled girl with a cherubic face winced as Melvin came to a halt at her feet. "You really need to be careful about sneaking up on people like that. You okay?" "Ergh," Melvin groaned as he sat up and readjusted his glasses. "I'm okay, Willow, thanks." "Melvin, don't DO that!" Molly called out once she recovered her wits. "You about scared the bejeebers out of us." "Sorry about that," Melvin said as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Okay," Serena said quietly in a voice pitched a full octave higher than was normal, "I think I'm awake now. Honest." "That's good, Serena," Melvin said as she approached them again. "You're going to love this one. I just got a note from my source in the main office about...." "Melvin?" Molly said in a weary tone, cutting him off with a sharp gesture of her arm that caused half the room to tense up with the expectation that she was going to swat him again. "It's not even seven-thirty in the morning, and it's a Monday morning at that. The gossip can wait." "Not this one," Melvin said, lowering his voice. The somewhat dramatic shift in his mood caused the part of the room that was listening to him to very casually lean closer, not wanting to miss out on whatever juicy piece of gossip he was about to impart. "We're getting a new student today, and she's being assigned to this room." "Oh?" both Molly and Serena said in the same moment, sitting up just a little straighter in their chairs. Melvin nodded sagely, feeling pleased with himself yet again as he took their reactions to mean they wanted him to continue. "We think she's a foreign exchange student, possibly from Europe," he babbled quietly. "Wow, that sounds like.... uh, Serena?" Molly said as she glanced over at the long-haired blonde. She blinked as she noticed the expression on Serena's face as she looked at something behind Melvin, clearly not paying attention to what Molly was trying to say to her. Curious, she turned around to see if she could spot what had grabbed Serena's somewhat flighty attention-span this time. Melvin likewise craned his neck around and almost fell over on the spot. "That *has* to be her," he whispered very softly to the other girls, oblivious to the fact that Molly's jaw was slightly unhinged and that both Serena and Molly's eyes were fairly wide. The young girl standing hesitantly just inside the doorway was about as beautiful as a woman her age could get without resorting to cosmetics. Her skin was a milky white color and appeared to be utterly flawless. Her braided hair was an even paler shade of white, giving her the appearance of being cast out of glass. Her eyes were a very soft shade of cream yellow, seeming to be studying the occupants of the room with reserved curiosity. "Wow...." Serena breathed quietly in awe. "She's pretty." "Definitely a foreign exchange student," Molly agreed somberly. "Maybe she's Canadian," Melvin suggested. "I understand they don't get a lot of sunlight during the winters. Either that or she's really a ghost." Serena and Molly just looked at him in open disbelief that he had actually uttered something that stupid. "No," Molly said very slowly. "That's not it." "Huh?" Melvin said as he turned to look at her with a questioning look. "What makes you say that?" "Women's intuition, Melvin," Molly said calmly, resisting the urge to either roll her eyes or make a good-faith effort at slapping the stupidity out of him. "That, and ghosts don't enroll in schools." "Yeah, I guess you're right," the gossip-king admitted as he turned back to stare at the new student some more. The girl's eyes continued to sweep across the room before her gaze fell on Serena, producing an almost electrical sensation in the blonde's blood as she sat up straight. It seemed that the new arrival was about to say something when she blinked and cast a startled glance behind her, quickly moving aside to let the teacher enter the room. "Ahh, Ms. Azmodan, I presume?" he said cordially as he headed over to his desk and set his briefcase down. "I am," the girl replied in a soft, almost musical voice that immediately reminded Serena of how her own voice sounded when her denizen side was showing. The sudden reminder of the recent emergence of her hybrid blood made her look around the room in acute unease, having very strong doubts yet again about how she was going to keep her angelic nature a secret from everyone else. That she was Sailor Moon was easy to hide, as it took a deliberate effort to transform and thus couldn't just slip out when she was distracted. But if someone like Ami, who certainly had a greater focus of mind than she did, could occasionally let her darker side show without realizing it.... "I don't have assigned seats, so just have a seat wherever you like," the teacher said, snapping Serena out of her brief reverie. "Thank you," the girl said with a faint smile as she quickly scanned the room once again. Her gaze settled on Serena after a brief moment before she started to move towards her, carefully threading her way between the rows of occupied desks. "Is this taken?" she asked softly as she pointed to the empty desk on Serena's left. "Uh, no," Serena replied after a momentary hesitation. "Thank you," the girl said as she slipped between the desks to set her backpack down and sit in the chair. "I'm Lily. What's your name?" "Serena," the long-haired blonde replied, trying to figure out just why she was experiencing a slight anxiety attack all of a sudden. What gives? she thought as she tried to clear her mind. I never had this problem meeting new people before. Especially when they're pretty like she is.... "I like what you've done with your hair," Lily said quietly, snapping the blonde out of her thoughts. "It's definitely unique." "Oh, umm, thank you," Serena stammered in reply. She nearly leapt out of her school uniform when Molly poked her in the shoulder, whipping around in a slight panic to see the redhead giving her a very concerned look. "Serena, you alright?" Molly inquired carefully. "You seem awfully jumpy this morning. I mean, I know it's Monday and all, but still. Hi, I'm Molly," she added as she leaned slightly to the side to look at Lily. "Hello," Lily said with a fairly warm smile. "I'm sorry, it's just.... one of those days already," Serena spoke up with a weak laugh. "Time to switch to sugarless gum," Molly said dryly. "Oh, come on, I'm not that bad," Serena protested sourly. "You know, Serena," Melvin spoke up, "I can probably get you a good deal on sugarless gum. I've got a friend on the Internet who sells such things, and the cost of shipping is really cheap...." "Melvin?" Molly said in a tone of patient suffering. "Go sit down, it's almost time for class to start." Melvin immediately checked the wall clock and blinked. "Oooh, thanks," he squeaked as he bolted for his desk. He managed to sit down with precisely two seconds to spare before the bell sounded, signaling the official start of the morning class. "Good Monday morning, everyone," the teacher said in an overly cheerful tone, prompting a slew of quiet grunts and moans at the reminder. "Yeah, tell me about it," he chuckled. "Anyway, before we begin, I'd like to introduce our newest student to you. Everyone, meet Lilibeth Azmodan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you hail from Glen Haven in Nova Scotia?" "I do," Lily replied with a faint smile. "Great," the teacher said before he paused and cast a quick glance around the room. "Okay, pop quiz," he said, causing most of the class to blanch in pure reflex. "Canada," Melvin piped up. "Correct," the teacher said after only a slight hesitation, giving him a distinctly nonplussed look. "And the county?" "Halifax," Melvin promptly replied. "Geek check," someone muttered quietly, causing a muted outburst of muted giggles and chuckles. Molly sighed quietly and unobtrusively leaned over to Serena. "I hate it when he does that," she muttered under her breath. Serena cast a quick sidelong glance at her best friend before leaning over as well. "Who, the teacher or Melvin?" she whispered. "Both," Molly grumbled. "So much for the geography quiz," the teacher said dryly, causing a few of the students to applaud. "Yes, thank you. Anyway, welcome to Tokyo, Ms. Azmodan, hopefully you'll find it to be as delightful as Glen Haven is. Now, if everyone would be so kind as to pull out your homework from the weekend and pass it up to the front, we can get things started." "Typical," Molly sighed as she opened up her backpack to fish out her homework folder. "Serena, please tell me you did yours this time," she asked in a low tone, casting a slightly worried glance out of the corner of her eye. "Right here," the blonde replied as she held up the completed assignment. "Finally decided to start the week out right, eh?" Molly teased her as she leaned forward to pass her assignment up to Willow. "Thanks." "Hope you did better than I did," Willow sighed as she briefly eyeballed what Molly had written before stacking her own assignment on top and passing them both up the line. Serena sighed as she remembered how both Luna and Susan had teamed up to gently prod and coerce her into finishing the assignment. "Let's just say I had a few people encouraging me," she muttered to Molly. She paused as an icy trickle slid down her back for no discernible reason, casting a glance around the room. It took her a moment to realize that her chest felt slightly odd. A quick and reflexive motion of her hand assured her that the brooch holding the Imperium Silver Crystal was both securely closed and still pinned to the front of her uniform. She let out her breath quietly, then chided her for having held it in the first place. Yeesh, settle down, she told herself as she glanced around the room again. It's not like there's ever been a problem with it before. I mean, it's never popped open by accident or fell off or anything. So why am I so jumpy all of a sudden? Maybe Molly's right about the sugar.... huh? She blinked as the odd sensation in her chest returned, causing her to reach up and touch the brooch again. It felt unusually warm to her before it abruptly cooled back down to room temperature, happening so quickly that it made her wonder if she had simply imagined the feeling. Oh, now what is going on? she thought to herself as a feeling of unease wrapped around her. "Serena," Molly said very quietly. She then flinched as the blonde made a startled squeaking noise that was clearly audible, causing the majority of the class to turn around. "Gezundheit," she said loudly. "Thanks," Serena said, quickly rubbing her nose. Molly let out a silent sigh of relief as the class immediately went back to whatever they had been doing, figuring that it had simply been an aborted sneeze. "Are you sure you're okay?" she murmured once she was sure that the coast was clear. "It's.... been a long weekend," Serena replied hesitantly. "Yeah, I know what you mean," Molly nodded in understanding. No, you don't, Serena found herself thinking as her mind flashed back to what had taken place since school had let out on Friday. First the meeting with Susan, Alex, and Michelle, then the various fights between individuals, Rei's brief resignation as a Sailor Scout, the slow emergence of her denizen side, the fight with Darian, the confrontation with Jedyt, being kidnapped and taken into the Negaverse as she fought for her life against the Chaos Factor, the foggy memories of confronting Rune and watching Darian die, feeling her own life finally slip free from her body only to be called back by Rei, her sudden transformation into a denizen angel, making up with Darian, surrendering her virginity to him the following night, learning that there were more than a few problems with the Imperium Silver Crystal.... "Good job, everyone," the teacher said, abruptly refocusing her on her immediate surroundings. "Of course, we won't know until tomorrow just how good you really did, but at least everyone turned in something which is a bit of an improvement in of itself. Now then, let's pick up where we left off on Friday, shall we?" "So another long week begins," Molly sighed softly. "It's looking to be that way," Serena agreed as she cast a quick glance over her shoulder at Lily. She noticed that the new arrival already had her textbook out but seemed to be uncertain where the class was. "We're on page fifty-five," Serena quietly said to her. "Thank you," Lily replied with a grateful smile. "You're an angel." It took the blonde a considerable effort not to react to the comment, instead managing to force a weak smile on her face at the pretty girl. "I wouldn't say that," she said carefully. "Maybe," the other girl said demurely, her pale yellow eyes giving her a very studious look. "I know a kind-hearted person when I meet one." "Thank you," Serena replied after a slight hesitation. A somewhat booming cough from the front of the classroom got her attention, causing her to look up to find the teacher giving her a reproving look. "What seems to be the problem, Ms. Tsukino?" he inquired warily. "Umm, I...." Serena started to say. "She is helping me find the right page," Lily spoke up, her musical voice turning the head of every single boy in the classroom. "Ah, I see," the teacher replied, nodding his head in understanding. "We're not too far into the chapter, so catching up shouldn't require too much effort. I'm sure Ms. Tsukino can give you a condensed version of what we've covered so far.... after class," he added with noted emphasis. Serena and Lily briefly exchanged looks before nodding to one another. "Thank you," Lily said to the teacher with a faint smile. "We'll do that." "Great," the teacher said as he turned back to his own textbook and began the morning's lesson. Willow cast a furtive glance at Serena before discreetly leaning back. "How does she keep making friends that easily?" she grumbled to Molly. Molly just shook her head in resignation. "It must be a blonde thing," she whispered back sourly. She knew that Willow had a hard time finding good friends because of her chubby appearance and introverted tendencies, but that still didn't have anything to do with the apparent ease at which Serena made friends with people who otherwise showed little social interest. Both Ami and Leda came to mind, the former being a somewhat shy bookworm and the latter an aggressive schoolyard fighter, neither of which she felt she would have gotten to know if it hadn't been for Serena making friends with them first. "Figures," Willow sighed as she sat back up and turned her attention to what was being taught. The material was unusually dry, and it wasn't even ten minutes before the entire class was absently wondering if this was going to be one of those weeks yet again. * * * * "Well?" Rune prompted quietly as Si'ren continued to stare at the display after it was shut off, leaving the room in near-perfect silence. They had been preparing to head up to the turret where Rune's amplification crystals has been growing all night when an aide came in with a recording of the broadcast from the Hinterland drone. "I don't envy them," Si'ren said quietly. "I can only imagine what sort of problems would arise if one of our moons suddenly decided to break up." Field Sergeant Alani glanced around the room before discreetly clearing her throat, acutely aware of just how junior in rank she was among the rest of the occupants. "Ma'am?" she ventured cautiously. "What about what he said about a planetary evacuation?" "Good luck," Lieutenant Tempest spoke up. "You'd need a fleet of heavy cruisers just to clear out a small city, and even then we're talking a few hundred thousand at most. Now being in Security means I'm not able to see the big picture like Logistics or Intel might, but after three thousand years of constant warfare I doubt there'd be that many left. Especially if they're on the losing side," she added. "And if they ask for an evacuation anyway?" Captain Ael'ien suggested in a guarded tone. "There is a human expression," Rune said casually. "Life's a bitch, and then you die." Al'vexi cleared her throat gently. "Perhaps we should not be getting ahead of ourselves," she said in a neutral tone. "No such request has been made as of yet. Should one arrive, it will be filtered through the appropriate channels at which point it will be taken under advisement. Right now, however, we have a more immediate problem on our hands." "The radiation," Ael'ien grunted quietly. Al'vexi nodded slowly. "Correct. I believe we should be ready to see if this plan of ours will work. Pa'an Vol asked if he could have a little time to himself out on the balcony to meditate before we begin, a request that was of course granted. I believe that he should be ready by now as well, so unless there is something else of importance to discuss...." "Excuse me, ma'am?" Tempest interrupted carefully. "I think that before we begin this, we should all have a fair idea of how this is going to be done. I don't mean from a power-networking standpoint, but rather from a procedural one, like where you want me to start bringing the rain down and how you want the storm to circulate." "A fair question," Al'vexi allowed as she glanced at Si'ren. "Like a radar sweep," Si'ren replied. "I want a single line of storms on a north bearing that will slowly sweep around in a circle using the Imperial Castle as a pivot point. The water will be drawn inwards towards the Castle and pooled in the crater. This will allow Vol to focus the majority of his powers close-by instead of having to extend them outwards. He will still have to do that at some point to deal with what doesn't get swept up by the rain or wind, but I'd rather get the worst of it dealt with first so he doesn't have to strain so hard when he goes to do that." "Understood, ma'am," Tempest replied with a curt nod of understanding. "The front will have to creep slowly if you want to have the squall line act as a single entity, but it can be arranged." Rune turned to regard Si'ren carefully. "Sure you can process that much water at once?" she inquired. "Unassisted, of course not," the white-haired admiral replied calmly. "With Sergeant Alani's help and the amplification effects of your crystals, I think it can work. And if not, then we will try other plans until one does." "Hopefully that won't be necessary, ma'am," Ael'ien's aide spoke up as she cast a look of confidence towards Rune. "General Rune was kind enough to let me briefly test the crystal structure she has constructed, and even without any telepathic contact being established I was able to sense a rather strong echo of her mind as she stood next to me. If we can hold the overmind mesh in a synergetic state, there shouldn't be any problems to speak of." Si'ren blinked in slight confusion. "Excuse me, Ensign, but that aspect just went over my head. What is an overmind mesh?" "Allow me to explain," Al'vexi spoke up in a guarded tone, as if she were choosing her words carefully. "The premise of this entire effort is for the eight of us to act as a single entity in terms of both Chaos Factor powers and that which directs it. This will require us to merge our minds together as a cohesive whole, a superconscious if you will. This formation is known as an overmind, and an overmind mesh when it is extended to include non-telepaths in the matrix. When there are enough people merged together as such, as will be the case with eight of us, the overmind will evolve into a gestalt entity that will not be under anyone's direct control but will rather tend to respond in accordance to the will of the majority of its components. As long as we are all in general agreement, working together in synergy, the overmind will not cause any conflicts or otherwise attempt anything unexpected." "I don't think I like the sound of this," Rune said flatly. "All that needs to be done is for everyone to focus on their individual roles," Al'vexi replied calmly. "Ael'ien, A'del, and I will work to keep the matrix stable and ensure everyone is properly joined. Alani will concentrate on her amplification powers, Vol his accelerated radiation-decay ability, you on keeping the crystal lattice structure balanced, Tempest on the weather, and Si'ren on controlling the contaminated water. The only decision-making that is necessary will be on the pace, and that will be set by mutual consensus between Tempest, Si'ren, and Vol. This will not be an in-depth mind link but merely a sort of forum environment, so there are no mental privacy concerns that you need to be worried about, either." "That's a relief," Tempest said dryly. Ael'ien raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Treasonous thoughts we need to know about, Lieutenant?" she said lightly, her expression clearly indicating that it was a joke. The security officer chuckled quietly to herself. "Of course not, ma'am," she replied with a grin. "Just the usual classified things that Security has to deal with every single day. I'd tell you about it, but you're not cleared for it so then I'd have to kill you. Nothing personal, Captain." Al'vexi cast a quick glance at Si'ren, noticing that the admiral was also casting a brief glance back at her. The exchange between Tempest and Ael'ien had been entirely in jest, but it was an unwelcome reminder of the current suspicions about the Dragoon Legion as well as Ael'ien's psionic link to the current Dragoon Commander. Then of course there was the distinct possibility that the former Dragoon Commander was with them as well, which only made the overall situation even more uncertain. "If the two of you are finished?" Rune said in a faintly clipped tone. "A'del, go ahead and take Tempest and Alani up to the terrace," Al'vexi instructed calmly. "The rest of us will be along shortly." "Yes, ma'am," the Psi-Corp ensign said crisply as she started to head for the door. She waited until Tempest and Alani were with her before triggering the sensor that opened the door, allowing them to exit the conference room in measured silence. Ael'ien waited in uneasy silence, getting the distinct impression that there was something the flag officers wanted to talk to her about that wasn't meant to be for the ears of anyone else. That indicated that the topic had nothing to do with their current problem of dealing with the intense radiation surrounding the Imperial Castle, which only made her sense of unease worse. Both Rune and Si'ren seemed to be a little surprised by the request but didn't indicate any objections or unusual impatience, which to Ael'ien meant that it was all Al'vexi's idea. The retired telepath cast a brief glance at Si'ren before drawing in a deep but subtle breath. "Ael, how is your psionic link with Commander K'tal holding up?" she inquired in a somewhat neutral tone. "I haven't been able to feel anything since he transited the aerial route in the Northern Mountains," Ael'ien said slowly. "Whether that is due to the mountains themselves or the distance between us is unknown, but I suspect it's the distance." "But you feel that the link is intact, though, correct?" Al'vexi prodded. Ael'ien paused for a moment before she briefly turned her focus inward, very gently probing the mental link. She felt absolutely nothing coming from the link itself, but she could still discern the fact that there was something anchored in her mind. "I think so," she replied. Al'vexi let her breath out in a soft sigh before glancing over at Si'ren again. "If I am correct," she said slowly, "It is likely that, between the amplification effects of Rune's crystals and Alani's enhancement ability, you will be able to contact him once again through the bond. If that is the case, it is important that we know what he personally and the Dragoon Legion as a whole intends to do." "In what regard?" Ael'ien managed to say without reacting on the outside. Inside, however, she was struggling to throw off the deep chill that was trying to crawl down her spine. She could read between the lines as well as anyone else and knew that she was being asked to spy on K'tal's thoughts. Such a thing was quite unethical, but it was not unknown for telepaths to be employed in such a manner for reconnaissance.... or to confirm suspicions of treason. "The Moon Princess," Si'ren spoke up quietly. "I... will look into it, ma'am," Ael'ien promised quietly. "One more thing, Captain," Al'vexi added. "If Tolaris is indeed with the Dragoon Legion as we suspect he is, we need to have that confirmed as well." "Understood," the Psi-Corp captain said simply, still struggling to keep an outward appearance of neutrality. Rune snorted quietly as she headed for the door. "If Nop'tera would have listened to me, we wouldn't have to be worried about the Moon Princess anymore, now would we?" she grumbled darkly. "General Rune, don't start," Si'ren said in a weary tone, drawing a dark glare from the other woman. "Worry about keeping the crystals together for the moment and save the recriminations for another point in time. I doubt that we will have to deal with the Moon Princess anytime soon given her present state of health. Al?" she added over her shoulder as she noticed the distracted look on Al'vexi's face. Al'vexi telepathed with a sigh. That caused both Si'ren and Rune to halt in their tracks. "They let her return to duty?" Rune said incredulously. "Why not?" Si'ren countered. "She is still a Master Healer, and as long as Security has no reason to believe she did anything wrong, why should we? So she went with the Sailor Scouts to ensure that her patient was properly tended to while she healed. Tell me what Healer wouldn't do that?" Al'vexi warned. "Out with it, Al," Rune demanded in a flat tone. "What is going on?" "We're trying to stop a civil war before it starts, Rune," Si'ren said in a muted tone, causing both Rune and Ael'ien to blink hard. "I know you were there when it was revealed that Princess Serena is the daughter of the Dragoon Captain, and that you promptly tried to keep that information as quiet as you could. I myself didn't learn this little fact until yesterday, and I can very easily see why you kept it quiet. However, that particular secret is starting to become public knowledge now, and once it does we are almost guaranteed to have a rebellion of some sort by somebody." "You think it has already started, don't you?" Ael'ien suddenly said as it hit her like a lead weight. "You think the Dragoons are going to revolt?" "If they haven't already," Al'vexi suggested calmly. "This is why I've asked you to use your psionic link to K'tal to assess his state of mind and ascertain his intentions. We could ask him directly, of course, and we have every intention of doing so once the channels are completely clear, but we need to be absolutely and positively certain we understand what he and the rest of the Dragoon Legion intends to do." "I.... understand," Ael'ien said slowly as the dark chill inside her only got worse. Al'vexi telepathed quietly as she headed for the door. the Psi-Corp captain telepathed back, causing the retired general to stop in her tracks at the sharpness of the mental tone. Al'vexi replied in an icy tone. "Al?" Rune prompted warily, giving both telepaths suspicious looks. While her own meager psionic skill wasn't powerful enough to let her transmit her thoughts to another mind or listen in on a private mental broadcast, she could still 'hear' a very soft synaptic buzzing sound whenever someone was using telepathy around her. "Just making sure everyone is ready," Al'vexi said calmly as she reached the door and stepped into the hallway. "Let's go." Rune frowned and cast a dark look at Ael'ien before she followed Al'vexi out of the room, leaving Si'ren and Ael'ien alone together. They looked at one another in uneasy silence before the Fleet Admiral sighed quietly. "Let me make one thing clear, Captain," Si'ren said very softly. "I don't know what Rune intends to do, but I am certain it is not even close to what either K'tal or Tolaris would do. I'm not sure I can trust either of them at this point, and I'm starting to get the feeling that I can't trust Rune either. If there is any way at all we can defuse this situation, I need to know about it so I can see if I can do something with it and I need to know now. Holding anything back will not benefit anyone at this point." Ael'ien nodded slowly. "I understand, ma'am," she replied quietly. "Good," Si'ren murmured as she headed towards the hallway. "At least one of us understands her role in this. That's actually a bit of an improvement, if I may say so myself...." * * * * "Not so hard, please," Whisper said calmly from her meditative position hovering four feet above the floor, supported only by her telekinetic powers. A shielded plasma sword was floating several feet away from her, the glowing gray weapon likewise under the direction of her mental abilities. "Sorry, habit," Sailor Uranus replied as she paused to catch her breath. The plasma sword in her hands had turned a bright yellow color moments after being ignited, resulting in a brief discussion before the practice fight had begun in relative earnest. The fact that there was almost no risk to Whisper whatsoever had allowed Uranus the chance to unwind, thrusting and slashing her weapon with almost reckless abandon and with a fury that was not easy to tell if it was controlled or not. That was not to say that it wasn't taking a toll on the telepath. The force of Uranus' weapon against her own was still keenly felt as she had to keep exerting her telekinetic powers to keep her own blade stable. She wasn't nearly as winded as the blonde Sailor Scout was at the moment, doing little else aside from providing a target for Uranus, but keeping both herself and the blade supported by her powers was starting to become slightly more difficult with each passing minute. "Do you always try to beat your partner senseless in training?" Whisper inquired mildly as Uranus suddenly exploded into a series of vicious slashes and powerful spinning blows that she would have been unable to block had she actually been holding the weapon with her hands. "Like Sue keeps saying," Uranus grunted as she spun around for another hard slash that produced a ringing hum of colliding forcefields, "Pain is a very effective teacher. A few cracked knuckles usually wises you up to your opponent's tactics in a hurry. Damn, this thing is light," she fussed as she hit the floating plasma sword hard enough to flip it end-over-end before it could be brought back under control. "Careful," Whisper warned, keeping a very wary eye on where the shielded plasma was going, aware of how even a shielded plasma field could seriously hurt if it made contact with unprotected skin for longer than a fraction of a second. It was hardly unknown, and more often than not expected, for novices to the delicate art of plasma sword fighting to acquire at least one fairly serious burn mark in a largely random location from just such a strike. Uranus stepped back and eyed the pommel in her hands for several seconds before sighing through her nose. "Ah, screw it," she muttered as she thumbed the weapon off. The plasma field promptly collapsed with a soft whooshing sound, allowing the force field that contained it to shrink in size until it vanished as well. "I think that's enough for one morning. Starting to put a serious strain on my wrists, too. I'm not used to tossing something around that weighs less than a good length of steel." Whisper said nothing as she closed her eyes, focusing on her surroundings using only her psionic senses. A simple telekinetic brush of her mind found the toggle for her weapon, gently flicking it into the off-position to close down the plasma field. The now-inert pommel drifted back over to her, lightly settling into her lap as she continued to hover in a half-meditative state. Uranus regarded her carefully as she started to stretch and massage her sword arm. "You do this floating thing often?" she inquired. Whisper replied quietly. "Peachy," the blonde observed, scowling as her shoulder started to kink. "So tell me again what exactly you can do with your mind?" the denizen said with a clearly discernible mental shrug. she added. "Yeah, like I understood half that," Uranus grumbled as she continued to rotate and massage her shoulder. Whisper explained. "So I've heard," Uranus said quietly in a glacial tone as she looked away from the hovering telepath. "Did you really have to do a number on Darian?" Whisper sighed quietly and opened her eyes to look at the blonde, feeling a more than a little depressed herself at both the reminder of her role in Darian's brainwashing as well as where the conversation was going. "If Serena asked you to kill Jedyt, would you refuse?" she asked in a neutral tone. "Of course you wouldn't, you'd jump at the chance to bring harm to the enemy of your princess. So why would it be any different than my Queen asking me to do something to someone who was, at the time, one of our worst enemies?" "I s'pose so," Uranus said in an uncertain tone. "In any case, Sailor Uranus, I long ago apologized to Darian and have since worked to make amends," Whisper continued. "We are fairly good friends these days, despite what happened last year, and I daresay we are even more so now since the discovery of his anointment as Crown Prince. That.... reminds me," she suddenly said in a hesitant tone. "I really should sit down with him again for another scan of his memories. The mind-block came apart cleanly and left no discernible residue, if you will, but I still think a detailed scan would be best to make absolutely sure there are no.... lingering concerns." Uranus shrugged and started to pace the training room. "Don't want to hear about it," she said in a clipped tone as she resumed rubbing her shoulder. She suddenly froze in mid-motion as she felt a force start to massage the area, looking up to give Whisper a suspicious look. the telepath thought as she closed her eyes and focused on her psychokinetic probe of Uranus' shoulder. "Thanks," Uranus replied dryly, casting a look at the blast doors as they started to slowly hiss open. "I was going to wait until I was sure Mich was out of the shower, but apparently that's not an issue anymore...." "Fair morning," Whisper said aloud as she cracked one eye open. "Morning," Michelle replied quietly as she padded barefoot into the room, still wearing the borrowed nightshirt and apparently very little else. Myst was curled up in a contented ball in her arms, seeming to be in a far better mood than she was in after yesterday's events. Uranus paused and raised an eyebrow as her lover approached. "You're up a little late this morning," she observed. She blinked as Michelle promptly leaned in for a soft but fairly deep kiss that lasted far longer than usual. The kiss was eventually broken, at which point Michelle simply gave Uranus a soft smile and wordlessly headed back towards the exit. The blast doors hissed shut after she left, leaving Uranus standing in the middle of the training room with a deeply resigned look on her face. "Is everything alright?" Whisper inquired in a careful tone. "She's still a touch upset with me," Uranus sighed. "Otherwise she's in an unusually good mood. Not that she isn't a morning person, which she is, but she still likes to sleep in as much as the rest of us do. Maybe Myst slept on her tits last night and kept them nice and warm or something. Who knows." Whisper gave the other woman a slightly pained look before shaking her head and gently lowering herself back down to the ground. "I'll let you handle that one, if you don't mind," she said as she made an absent gesture with her hand. The plasma sword pommel promptly jerked out from Uranus' grasp and flew across the room to land in her own hand, producing a somewhat violent startled reaction from the blonde. "Hey! Goddamn, *warn* me before you do that!" she groused as she tried to calm down, holding one hand to her petite chest. "I about pissed myself." "Sorry," Whisper replied as she carried both weapons into the open vault and set them back into their charging units. She paused as she only counted three sword pommels in addition to the plasma lance hilt, trying to remember what happened to the fourth weapon. she broadcast back out to the rest of the training room. "Damned if I know," Uranus called back loudly. "I'll try to keep that in mind," Uranus said in a normal voice as she stepped into the vault, casually eying the collection of weapons that lined three walls and took up several display cases in the middle of the room. "Not that I wouldn't mind keeping one of those in my back pocket for emergencies or when I have to cut through something solid like what Blondie did to those blast doors back in the tunnel, but don't ask me to use it if I still have my saber around." "It's always good to have a backup weapon," a voice said behind her in an amused tone, causing Uranus to whirl around and draw her saber in a single, fluid movement. "Goddamn," Uranus panted as she recognized their unexpected visitor. "Is the rest of today going to be like this? Don't sneak up on me like that!" she growled quietly. "Fair morning," Whisper called out in a slightly wary tone. Megan paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes, I suppose we can call it a fair morning," she said, absently smoothing a few wrinkles out of her rather conservative, if form-fitting, business attire. "I just wanted to let you know that Susan is not likely to return until this evening, as she said she had a fair amount of what she called 'administrative paperwork' to handle. Not that I have the slightest idea what she meant," the succubus admitted as she fluffed her hair behind her. "Oh, and Lisa has returned to the Underworld to Queen Persephone's side, so you won't have to worry about her bothering you for a day or so either. Nice suit," she added as she gave Uranus an open look of appraisal. "Thanks," Uranus replied distantly. "Do I want to ask why you're dressed in a suit like that? And where's the bat?" she added as she realized that the pair of head-wings were missing. A dangerously coy smile crossed Megan's face as she ran her hands along the length of her dark skirt. "Balregu is at home sleeping on his perch, as he doesn't exactly qualify as business-casual. As for the suit itself.... let's just say I'm scheduled to have a power-lunch with the vice-president of a mid- sized corporation. Apparently he is not in the best of health and recently picked up a very nasty drug addiction that will, sad to say, be the end of him in a few hours. It's shameful what some people do while on company time. Or whom," she added lightly. "Corporate interns aren't what they used to be." "Uh...." Uranus said very slowly, not entirely sure what to make of the succubus' words. "Don't worry, he won't suffer," Megan purred as she absently licked her lips. "In fact, he'll be having the time of his life and probably won't even notice. That's happened to me before, you know," she added casually, ignoring the way both Whisper's and Uranus' eyes widened in shock at the realization of what she was talking about. "You go to harvest a soul, have a little fun with him beforehand, and the smile is still on his face even at the very end. Oh, don't look at me like that, I've been given personal instructions by Lord Hades himself. Believe it or not, this happens.... I won't say all the time, but it does occur with regular frequency. Just ask Susan how many souls she has been tasked to recall." "I don't think we need to be hearing about this," Whisper pointed out in a fairly flat tone. Megan shrugged her shoulders, impressively flexing her chest beneath the somewhat stiff lines of her business attire. "As you wish. I just thought I'd let you know what to expect, as you may encounter it in tomorrow's newspaper headlines. Probably below the fold, however," she admitted. "It is, after all, not too prominent of a company and the veep is almost sixty years old." "Yeech," Uranus muttered quietly to herself, trying very hard to clear her mind of the visual of the seemingly-youthful succubus being screwed by a sixty- year-old man on some business desk. "Anyway," Megan said demurely. "I've done what my sister asked me to do, namely tell you not to expect her until dinner, so now I must be off. Give my regards to your princess. She is.... a rather curiously unique individual," she admitted with a soft note of admiration. "We'll be sure to pass that along for you," Uranus replied dryly as she traded wary looks with Whisper. Megan shrugged absently in dismissal as she turned away. "Let's just say that the more I hear being said about her, the more intrigued I am. No matter, I'm sure I'll run into her again soon enough. As will you and I, of course," she added before she started to leave the vault. She had almost reached the exit before pausing to study a pair of whip-like weapons hanging from hooks on one of the wall displays. "Oooh, what have we here?" she purred softly. "Don't tell me you're into those," Uranus said in an uneasy tone as she returned her Soul Saber to its dimensional sheath. Megan paused and cast a sidelong look at the blonde. "I happen to favor using a whip when I am in need of a weapon," she explained calmly. "It has a certain.... elegance to it when wielded properly. But then again, I'm sure you have your reasons for your choice of weapon. A steel blade for you, a whip for me, a staff for Susan, nunchaku for Lisa.... do I want to ask what you use?" she inquired as she turned to look at Whisper. Whisper telepathed to her, causing Megan's red eyes to widen. What followed next was a brief burst of eldritch noise from the succubus that might have been construed as being part of a language if either Whisper or Sailor Uranus had been able to properly hear the exotic sounds. "Yeah, what she said," Uranus spoke up after a moment of mild confusion, giving Whisper a plaintive look and getting a helpless shrug in reply. "I know what psionics are," Megan said quietly. "And if you have what it takes to use them.... well, let's just say that you're a lot more dangerous than I had initially thought. Things are definitely getting interesting now," she murmured to herself as she turned away and silently left the vault. Uranus watched her depart before turning around to look at Whisper. "Can I go back to bed now?" she asked in a weary tone. "I think I know what you mean," the telepath grumbled quietly as she began to lightly massage her sinuses. "And no, I don't think it's a good idea if you tried laying back down on the couch. There's a fair amount of cleaning to do this morning, after all, which should end up making some noise. Besides, you really need to take a shower first," she pointed out. Uranus just rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother," she sighed as she started to head towards the archway. "I'll tell you one thing, though, Maggie's probably right about the interesting part." "I think you mean Megan," Whisper corrected gently as she followed the blonde Sailor Scout out of the vault. "Whatever. If Sue's going to be busy all day dealing with paperwork, she might actually come back in a tolerable mood," Uranus mused. "I mean, I don't care what anyone says, I've watched her with my own eyes enough times to know she absolutely loves sorting out little nit-picky bureaucratic details. If it happens to be complicated stuff, she could actually end up in a playful mood that has nothing to do with sex for once. Hell, for all I know, she could be getting her rocks off even now over paperwork being filed in triplicate...." This is going to be a long day, Whisper thought to herself with a sigh. * * * * "Ouch," Leda purred very quietly to Mina as they both watched the new student make her way over to an unassigned desk after being introduced to the class by the teacher. "Down, girl, easy," Mina replied languidly, glancing over at the brunette in time to catch the half-amused look directed at her. "She's pretty, alright, but I doubt she's really your type. She looks fragile to me, and I don't think you'd be able to play with glass for very long without breaking something." "Gee, thanks," Leda grumbled quietly. "Cheer up, we can talk to her after class," Mina pointed out with a very cheerful smile. "If nothing else, I want to know her beauty secrets. I never really cared for pale hair or anything, but it has a really nice shine to it. Wonder what kind of shampoo she uses?" Leda just shook her head absently. "If you can get to her before all the boys do," she pointed out, not missing the way that every single male in the classroom was watching Lilibeth. "Just look at 'em, I can almost feel their hormones lighting up from here." "Sure that's not just your own going off?" Mina inquired with a smirk. "I'm just saying she's cute, girl, back off," Leda countered. "Anyway, like I said, good luck getting to talk to her before she gets mobbed by the goon squad." "O, ye of little faith," the blonde chuckled quietly. "Keep in mind you are in the august presence of a master of misdirection. Trust me, girl, I'll be able to talk to her after class." Leda paused and cast a sidelong glance at her. "Great, now I'm worried what you plan to do," she grumbled. "Trust me," Mina whispered with a truly disarming smile. The brunette just shook her head to herself and eyed the wall clock, not looking forward to the next fifty minutes of history class and wondering just how long it would feel like before the day was over. Or at least until it was time for lunch and she could check up on how Serena was doing. She had only caught a brief snippet of the conversation between Mina and Melvin in the hall earlier, but it seemed that Serena was a little jumpy this morning. That, and the long-haired blonde had already gotten a head-start on getting to know their new student from Nova Scotia. Hell, if I had gone through what she did over our extended weekend, I'd probably be jumpy too, she thought to herself. But she must not be doing too bad if she can still make friends like that. I still don't see how she does it, especially with a foreign exchange student. That reminds me, I need to ask Ami just where hell Nova Scotia is on a map.... * * * * Al'vexi said in a concerned tone. She was sitting down on a chair-like protrusion from the now-massive crystal structure that was taking up fully half of the terrace's floorspace. The seat was contoured slightly and angled back to let her recline a few degrees, but she had the feeling that the unyielding surface was going to make everyone's backside more than a little stiff and sore before this was over. "Not so loud, Al," Rune sighed as she massaged her temples slowly. "Ma'am, what's the problem?" Ensign A'del asked cautiously, keeping one eye on Al'vexi as she interacted with the amplification crystals and the other on the pained look on Rune's face. Rune looked at her carefully for a moment before sighing again, not overly thrilled at having to admit to a weakness. "I'm just a little sensitive to telepathic emanations," she admitted quietly. "I can't hear anything that is thought-broadcasted, but I do feel a sort of buzz in my mind from it. And now that Al'vexi is using the crystal matrix to augment her mental powers, the hum in the background just got a lot louder." Al'vexi thought. "One second, General," Master Healer Maq'i said as she stepped forward and placed her hand on the back of Rune's neck. A soft white glow encompassed her hand a moment later as she directed a small amount of her healing energy into Rune's head and neck, trying to discern if there was a obvious cause for the headache. She felt absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, save for a high level of tension, but that was completely expected. "Forgive me, but I wanted to rule out any sudden physical ailments," she explained as she gently removed her hand and stepped back. "I assure you it's entirely mental," Rune said, giving Maq'i a slightly unfriendly look before she moved to sit down next to Al'vexi. She shifted her weight around until she was as comfortable as she thought she was going to get before leaning her head back and resting it in the shallow impression. She let her hands fall to her sides and slipped them into the deep grooves on either side of her, letting her fingertips come into contact with the hypersensitive nodes of the crystal structure that she had grown for the purpose of directing and controlling their energies. She closed her eyes as she felt a ghost-like touch on her mind, followed by a spectral chill as she was enveloped by Al'vexi's mental presence. The thundering noise in her mind's ear promptly peaked before fading away into a very blissful silence, resulting in a soft sigh of relief. Her senses likewise faded away several moments later, leaving her feeling alone and in a floating trance of sorts. Al'vexi's voice said calmly. Rune thought, a feeling of shock washing through her as she both felt and heard her words being broadcast into the psionic realm. Al'vexi explained patiently. she admitted. Rune said slowly. Al'vexi sighed. she broadcast in a significantly louder telepathic voice. Rune instructed, likewise boosting the mental output of her psionic voice. There was a sudden period of silence before she felt a third presence suddenly join the group. An icy tingle swept through her very being as her senses became briefly disoriented, slowly returning to what felt like normal. At least, she thought it felt like normal.... Ael'ien apologized quietly. the retired general replied calmly. Al'vexi instructed calmly. Rune waited patiently as her senses started to blur around the edges once again before becoming stable. She was now aware of the psionic dampening field around her, a sort of bubble encasing her brain that could be traced back along a shimmering thread to where Al'vexi's voice resided. Curious, she started to look around, surprised to find more shimmering threads forming around her. She very carefully picked one up and tried to see where it went. A'del's voice protested stridently. <....> [ ] [ ] [ ] <....> [ ] <*THAT*> [ . . ] <....> [. . .] [. .. ] [........] [...?] [....] [...!] * * * * "So, Commander," K'tal said casually as he stared through his glare-proof binoculars, "You going to try to catch up to her?" "Not even in my dreams," Tolaris replied dryly as he likewise kept track of the dust plume in the distance with a pair of filtered binoculars. "Keep in mind that even when I was her age, I couldn't sustain that kind of speed for more than a few seconds. You might want to try to tell her to dial her speed down a bit, I think she's brushing up against the sound barrier." "So what's the downside?" K'tal wondered. "I mean, we're out in a fairly open desert, nothing but mountains all around us. The sonic boom should be contained quite nicely." "You see what it's doing to the sand behind her at sub-sonic speeds?" the elder Dragoon pointed out. "Keep in mind that it's probably still damp from the rain last night. If she goes supersonic, she'll start to trail a shockwave behind her that will turn all that wet sand into very solid projectiles. That won't be a problem for us if she's down there and we're back here, but we do still have native wildlife around here. Ever see a sand-blasted askiri before? It's not a pretty sight. And once she drops below supersonic speed she will promptly be overtaken by that very same shockwave. While I'm guessing she is using a windburner suit and a scramjet breather, that still won't protect her from a wall of sand slamming into her ptanka at the speed of sound." K'tal grunted quietly. "You might have a point, at least about the local wildlife being exposed to this, as we really don't need to wind up with some opportunistic mess sergeant putting desert roadkill on the menu without telling us. However, I should like to remind you that T'Hai did ask for permission for a free-range run, which was duly granted, and last I checked free-range means nobody tries to post a speed limit sign in your path...." Both Dragoons blinked and glanced down at their belts as they heard the distinctive chirp of a comm-link indicating that someone was trying to contact them. "Strange," Tolaris said as he noticed that it was his device that was lit up. He quickly plucked it off his belt and toggled the switch. "Commander Tolaris," he said calmly, still keeping one eye on the dust plume being kicked up in the distance. "Sorry to bother you, sir," came the voice of the current Communications officer on duty, "But the long-range sensors are picking up a possible lume in the vicinity of the Imperial Castle and the boys over in Sciences wanted to ask you for your help since the weather models are all still pretty unreliable for the Central Plains region." Tolaris nodded absently. "Copy, I'll be on my way shortly." "Thank you, Commander. Operations out." "Problem?" K'tal inquired carefully, still keeping a very careful eye on the distant horizon. Even with full magnification and computer-assisted lens adjusting, T'Hai's figure was little more than a two-pixel blur in the remote distance as she ran at a speed very few living denizens were capable of doing even with their Chaos Factor powers. "It looks like someone is creating a lume around the Imperial Castle," Tolaris replied. "Sciences apparently thinks I can explain something to them given my weather-control powers." "But you don't sound convinced," K'tal pointed out as a statement rather than a question. Tolaris shrugged and refocused his binoculars. "If it really is a lume, then it will do whatever the controller wants it to do, laws of physics being largely damned for the most part." "And if it happens to be a natural event?" K'tal prodded. "Then it will still do as it damn well pleases," Tolaris replied with a faint smile. "Just with a little more conformation to physics, that's all." It took K'tal a fair amount of effort not to laugh aloud, settling instead for a very quiet chuckle that was mostly suppressed in his chest. "You're a piece of work, you know that?" he drawled. "It's hardly my fault that weather patterns are complicated entities," the other Dragoon replied with a shrug of dismissal. "I still think that it has a lot to do with the gravity wells of our three moons, or at least the mechanism that keeps them moving around so erratically. If they ever decided to settle down into predictable and stable orbits, weather-forecasting will most likely get a lot simpler and with far more accuracy." "So how easy and accurate is it with just one moon?" K'tal mused quietly. Tolaris tilted his head back slightly to allow him to cast a sidelong look at his fellow Dragoon. "Something on your mind, Commander?" he asked in a perfectly neutral tone. K'tal sighed softly to himself, still keeping his gaze focused on the distant desert horizon. "I didn't sleep too well last night. Not that such a thing is a rare occurrence, as I'm sure you've had your fair share of sleepless nights as the Dragoon Commander, but no matter. In any case, while I was busy playing the count-the-ceiling-tile game, I was thinking about what to do with our Crown Prince and his half-denizen Moon Princess. Oh, did I remember to mention that they contacted us last night?" he added in an uneasy tone. "What?" Tolaris said, whipping his head around to give him a slightly startled look. "Guess not," K'tal sighed as he lowered his binoculars and switched them off. "You were still on the roof playing in the rain with the avians at the time and I must have gotten distracted with that Engineering report. I spoke with.... Ami, is it? Blue-haired girl?" "That's her," Tolaris affirmed with a slow nod. "Not something you see everyday, but no matter," K'tal continued. "The communicator units you and Maze left in my office started beeping, so I got a little curious and pushed the blinking icon-button. Her image appeared in the display window and we had a bit of a conversation for a few minutes. Princess Serena is reported to be very much alive and well, and that they still have her genetic data readily available for us. She mentioned that Maze would know how to set up a suitable data terminal for transmission and access." "He should, seeing how he helped her with the design and construction of the communication interface between her computer and the main computer core in the cathedral," Tolaris agreed. "Go on." "I asked if they would be willing to meet with us," K'tal continued in an uneasy tone. "You know, for a formal introduction during a mass formation. She said they could arrange that, but only on one condition.... that once our meeting is done that we escort them over to Ka'an-Nul." "Ka'an-Nul?" Tolaris echoed, blinking hard. "Did she say why?" "Nope," K'tal replied with a helpless shrug. "She said she needed to go finish her studies and that dinner was liable to be ready soon, so we ended the conversation at that point. I figured that the 'why' wasn't too important to worry about at the time, as I was more concerned with the group meeting. But now that I've had some free time to stop and really think about it, something about their request is giving me a faint chill." "Yes, like why Ka'an-Nul of all places," Tolaris grunted quietly. "I can easily see Mount Arachen or maybe even the ruins of places we talked about like Asleen and Mintaka, but Ka'an-Nul...." "You think they know something we don't?" K'tal suggested. He blinked in surprise as Tolaris chuckled very quietly to himself and held his binoculars back up to his eyes. "When it comes to humans, K'tal, anything is possible," he murmured. "And half-humans?" K'tal prodded carefully. "They're even more unpredictable," Tolaris sighed as he started to scan the terrain for the dust plume T'Hai would be kicking up behind her if she was still running at superspeed. "Umm, you sound like you're saying there's more than one," K'tal said in a very careful tone. "What, more than one person with only a single human parent?" Tolaris replied calmly. "Absolutely, I happen to know three off the top of my head. Serena, of course, is a human-denizen hybrid, but Susan and her sister Lisa are both human-demon hybrids." "Who and what?" K'tal echoed, giving him a distinctly confused look. Tolaris paused for a moment as he realized that it was likely that he had just said a little more than he had intended to. "I'll let them explain it to you if you ever meet them," he finally said after a short silence. "But as far as half-denizen individuals, Serena is the only one I'm aware of." K'tal grunted very quietly to himself. "The general population is most likely going to have a collective gas-cramp when that little secret gets out," he warned softly. "And just between you, me, and the sand here, I don't think we can keep it quiet for much longer. Too many people know." "So what would you have us do, then?" Tolaris prodded the other denizen carefully. "Do a global broadcast containing that information?" "Not without absolutely rock-solid proof first," K'tal countered. "Don't get me wrong, I personally have no problems going on your word whatsoever as I've known you long enough to know you wouldn't try to dump a pile of navidshi into anyone's lap. I know Maze is the kind of guy to play along with a wide range of jokes and the like, but Ra'vel certainly isn't, and having the three of you solemnly swear to the same thing means that you honestly and truly are convinced of its validity. But as I said earlier, sometimes you still need to have the proof examined under a microscope regardless." "Which will happen as soon as we can arrange the meeting," Tolaris replied with a nod of understanding. "That part was never in question. What we really need an answer to, however, is the question of what to do with that information once it is verified." "Wait and see what happens?" K'tal suggested. "Honestly, Tolaris, I'm not sure that we should do anything with it. Consider what will happen once the common denizen in the village street finds out...." "Honestly, K'tal, do you ever stop to listen to yourself?" Tolaris sighed quietly as he lowered his binoculars and turned to face his fellow Dragoon. "You just said that it will get out eventually, as far too many people know for it to be kept quiet for much longer." "That's true," K'tal admitted. "But do we need to be the ones unlocking the gate to let pure chaos surge forth?" "That depends on how the people take it," Tolaris said carefully. "And how it is viewed will depend largely on how they receive that information. If we were to release it ourselves along with the proof of her heritage and then present our views as to how it should be understood and accepted...." K'tal blinked hard and regarded the elder Dragoon carefully. "I thought you hated to put a bias on published information," he said slowly. "When I am asked for facts, I give only facts," Tolaris explained calmly. "When I am asked for my opinion, I give both my opinion and the facts used to formulate it. When asked for an official policy recommendation, I give that and cite the factual basis for my conclusions." "Okay, that's certainly acceptable," K'tal said after a slight hesitation. "So what exactly are we being asked to do for this one?" "Excuse me, Commander, but I don't recall someone asking us for anything of the sort," Tolaris said in a mildly diplomatic tone. "At least, I myself am unaware of it. Do you happen to know of such a request?" It took K'tal a few moments to figure out what precisely he was saying, and more importantly, what he was implying by what he didn't say. "Like I keep saying, Tolaris, you're a piece of work," K'tal chuckled as he shook his head. Tolaris shrugged absently. "No offense, K'tal, but I don't think I was screened for the job of Dragoon Commander based on my looks. That might work for Hospitality and Brigadier Zan'zemet, but not the Intelligence field." "Ouch," K'tal winced. "I'm sure she'll appreciate hearing that comment." "Which she won't if you have any decency," Tolaris smirked. "Besides, just try to prove to me that physical appeal doesn't have its own weight when it comes to a service division like Hospitality." "No, no, I've seen the reports, I believe you," K'tal replied quickly. He paused for a moment before clearing his throat quietly. "You know, speaking loosely of Dragoon Commanders, isn't Commander D'ael supposedly at Ka'an-Nul these days? You know, after his retirement and all?" That caused Tolaris to stop and think for a moment. "Last I bothered to check, I believe so," he replied slowly. "Why?" K'tal shrugged and scratched his cheek absently. "Oh, I don't know, I was just thinking that if we were planning on dropping by the region, we might as well be polite and pay him a visit for old-time's sake. He'd have to be told of our visit in advance, of course, as you really don't want to just drop in on a monk unannounced or anything. They tend to strongly dislike having their little moments of inner-peace disturbed and all that." Tolaris' eyebrows arched up as he thought about it. "You know, that might not be a bad idea at all. I don't know if he'll be overly thrilled to see you or me, given the stress he was under when he decided to resign, but I'm sure he will be suitably discreet about any such visit arrangements made in advance." "Perhaps even a guided tour?" K'tal suggested lightly. "A small group at most, of course, maybe a dozen or so. It is, after all, a bit of a tourist attraction for the view from the peak observatory if nothing else. And I'm reasonably sure that if someone anal like General Rune happens to get wind of our plans for a bit of an impromptu visit, she should be able to understand and maybe even appreciate our decision to take the scenic route home. Especially if we send her a copy of the pictures...." "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Commander," Tolaris warned quietly. "Worry about cleaning up the last traces of radiation first, then work on the hull and engine shrouds. We have to be capable of travel first before we can properly consider any plans to actually do so." "Cut you a deal?" K'tal asked casually as he turned his binoculars on and started to search for T'Hai's dust plume again. "You worry about getting us cleaned up and mobile again, and I'll worry about coordinating things with the monks at Ka'an-Nul and the paper-pushers in the Imperial Castle. They will be asking questions if we fire up the mains and start meandering around without a flight-plan, you know," he warned. "Or if not them, then at least Air Traffic Control North will want to know." "Let you handle external affairs while I deal with internal affairs?" the other Dragoon paraphrased after a moment of careful thought. "It can work," K'tal nodded slowly. "That way we won't be stepping on one another's toes. We will at some point have to work this rank thing out to a more definite degree, but just between the two of us I'm in no real rush. You know how it goes, there would have to be paperwork out the ptanka, we'd have to get General Rune to sign off on it since it'll be a division-level posting...." Tolaris grunted quietly, knowing that K'tal wasn't making an idle joke about the level of paperwork likely to be involved in such a thing. "I think I can live with that," he said calmly. "Okay, let's assume that the Sailor Scouts won't be free until their weekend. Seeing how the week just started, it will be five days at the earliest before this can happen. I'm fairly sure we can have the engine ducts cleaned out and the facility made mobile again by then. Or at least we can attempt a launch," he added in a sober tone. "There might be a problem when we fire up the mains and promptly liquefy all the sand in a thirty-ke'shel radius of the vents...." K'tal shrugged in indifference. "Work something out with Sector Seven?" he suggested. "It's their sand, after all, not to mention their mess to clean up once we depart. Oh, and Chief Octane asked me last night to pass along her thanks for those bottles we found lying around next to the reactor heat sinks. Seems you were right about that hot spot. Oddest thing.... oh, and it gets even better." "Oh?" Tolaris inquired in a neutral tone, suddenly wary of what sandbag was going to be dropped on his toes this time. "We, being the senior Dragoon officers, have been invited to accompany our Sector Seven sisters tonight over to the local drinking establishment in Sector One, a pub by the charming name of the Biased Bastard. It seems that one of them is.... shall we say, a hobbyist at the performing arts and is scheduled to take the stage tonight. You know who T'Del is, right?" he added lightly. It took a few seconds for the full meaning of the entire conversation to properly register on Tolaris' mind. "T'Del?" he echoed, giving K'tal a stunned look. "The redhead? Fusion specialist? SHE is here? Performing in a bar?" K'tal couldn't help the smile that crossed his face at seeing the usually calm and reserved Tolaris completely blowing several mental fuses all at once. "It's nice to know life on Earth hasn't completely ruined you," he chuckled. "Yes, yes, yes, and yes, respectively. She and the rest of Sector Seven will be joining us for lunch in the cafeteria, since we're stocked with foodstuffs they haven't had in months and all. The evening performance is being kept as quiet as possible, however, as we don't need a horde of off-duty Dragoons all mobbing the bar without any advanced notice. Civilian clothes for that, by the way, I understand the bar takes a dim view on rank and uniforms. Something about not mixing business and pleasure, which I can understand. You want to pick your jaw up now, Commander? It's unsightly, not to mention you're asking for sand to wind up wedged between your teeth in this desert environ...." "That's odd," Tolaris said quietly, only half-listening to what K'tal was saying. "Why would they let T'Del work all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? And as a simple vehicle mechanic? That makes absolutely no sense at all.... unless...." "Commander?" K'tal prodded carefully as he saw Tolaris start to space out. "Interesting," Tolaris mused to himself. "Perhaps there is far more to this whole situation than I had thought. I wonder if her file has been updated recently? Carry on, Commander," he said absently as he started to head back inside the open cargo bay. K'tal watched him go before sighing softly and shaking his head. "Had I known talking about T'Del could throw you for a loop that easily, I'd have done it decades earlier," he muttered as he refocused on what Cadet T'Hai was doing several dozen miles in the distance. "But that's T'Del for you. Alright, my little supersonic cadet, where are you now? Oh, heading back now, are we? I hope you slow down before you get too close. Bad enough we have sand in the intakes, we don't need sand being blown into the cargo bays as well...." * * * * "You're going to love this one," Leda said quietly to Ami as she paused on her way to her seat in the third aisle. "New student from Nova Scotia...." "Halifax, Canada," Ami replied absently without looking up from her open science textbook. "Cool, I was wondering where that was," Leda smirked, feeling pleased with herself for not having to put her ignorance of geography out on display. "So anyway, she's pretty damn cute by anyone's standards, especially the guys, and she's already made friends with Serena and Mina since this morning." "Oh?" Ami said, finally lifting her head up and blinking to refocus on the brunette. "That was fast. Not that it takes long for either of them to start up a friendly conversation, but still.... oh, that must be her," she added as she leaned to the side to look around Leda's hip. "Hmm?" Leda murmured as she glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, cool, she's in this class as well. Yes, that's her. Lilibeth Azmodan, prefers to go by Lily. Huh, she's about the right color as one, too, just now noticed this." Ami paused for a moment and cast a sidelong glance at her. "You should sit down, class is about to start," she suggested calmly. She then froze as Lily glanced in her direction, feeling a deep chill course through her veins as their eyes made contact. For one horrid moment she thought that her vampiric nature was going to try to wake up, but it merely did the equivalent of rolling over onto its other side and going back to contented sleep. The quiet ringing of the bell snapped Ami out of her momentary paralysis, resulting in a furious dash by Leda to reach her seat before the teacher walked in the door. The brunette's haste was unnecessary, as it was a good minute or two before the science teacher finally made an appearance. There was a very brief introduction of the new student to the class, at which point Lily was asked to take the empty spot three seats behind Ami. Another deep chill flooded Ami's veins as Lily passed by her, pausing for a brief moment to smile at the blue-haired student before continuing. It took Ami an additional second to fully recover her senses, but the faint lingering chill in her blood simply wouldn't be dispelled no matter how hard she tried to throw it off. Something's wrong, she kept thinking during the entire class, finding it extremely difficult to concentrate for some reason. She could tell that the dark part of her was unsettled by something, but not enough to truly cause it to be a problem. Logically she figured that it had something to do with the new arrival, as she hasn't experienced anything like this previously, but she also couldn't discount something else being the cause. Like Leda, she too had heard more than one casual observation that Serena was clearly edgy today about something, so it was possible that she could be experiencing the same sort of unidentifiable unease. I'll have to ask Serena about it during lunch, she finally decided as she tried to return to the current lesson being taught. The back of her mind was still trying to warn her of something, however, and more than once she felt the hair on the back of her neck start to tingle as if something was watching her. * * * * "Ms. Hino?" the voice said in a deceptively casual tone, jolting Rei out of the super-light meditative trance she had slipped into. "X-squared minus eight-X plus sixteen," Rei said quickly, rewinding her short-term memory and letting the rest of her subconscious mind speak freely. "And the value for X?" the teacher prompted, giving Rei a nonplussed look. "X equals negative four," Rei replied, giving the math teacher a look that was completely devoid of any semblance of emotion. "Correct," the teacher said simply with a mental shrug. To her, it seemed that Rei had been daydreaming, but obviously she wasn't if she was still able to follow along with the rest of the class. "Ms. Vale, problem five, please." Rei breathed a silent sigh of relief as Willow began to recite the next equation and solution. She had long ago learned how to bring her subconscious mind into a slightly more active role in things, allowing it to pay attention to her surroundings to a certain degree even while she was somewhat distracted with other thoughts. A response still required her to refocus her conscious mind on the task, but she was getting markedly better at making the transition appear to be perfectly seamless. Now if she could only get her subconscious mind to take the tests for her.... Damn it, she thought quietly as the ghost-like chill drifted past her yet again. The feeling had been plaguing her since school started, a vague feeling of general unease that seemed to come and go at irregular intervals. It was getting to the point of distraction now, and she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to keep herself focused on her schoolwork. I really hope it isn't Serena's fault, she thought darkly. Granted I never felt anything like this from her before, but with that new angel form of hers.... "Correct," the teacher said dryly, snapping her out of her thoughts yet again. "Last problem. Mr. Yoshii, number twelve, please." Damn it, Rei thought again with a heavy sigh. Why do I keep feeling like something is here? None of my wards reacts to anything, so it's not that, she added, absently brushing her fingertips over the spot on her blouse where she kept her spiritual wards hidden away. I might have to ask Ami at lunch if she can do a scan with her computer, maybe there's something around here after all that's just being a pain in the butt.... like Serena. That'd be a laugh.... * * * * Michelle was absently humming to herself as she finished washing the pots and pans in the sink. It wasn't the most pleasant of tasks to be doing at the moment, but like the laundry downstairs it was one of those 'somebody has to do it' jobs. And seeing how Alex and Whisper were already taking care of that, it only made sense for her to tackle the mess in the kitchen. She had just finished drying the skillet and was about to ask Myst an idle question when she caught motion out of the corner of her eye. She turned to get a better look and nearly leapt out of her skin as Susan walked into the kitchen as silently as any ghost. "Yeeep!" she squealed before she could get ahold of herself. "Oh, Susan!" Susan blinked at the unexpected reaction before sighing quietly. "Forgive me, I thought you were already aware of my presence," she said demurely as she held up a clipboard with several forms attached. "Or were you not paying close attention to when Myst greeted me several minutes ago?" she inquired archly. "I...." Michelle stammered as she glanced over at the gray kitten calmly preening her tail. "I must have missed that. I'm sorry," she apologized. "No matter. I need your signature on these documents," Susan explained. "They will serve as your identity records in this era. Unless you have any particular objections, your official place of birth will be the coastal city of Constanta, Romania. That is close to where your father was from, if my memory is accurate," she added. "Oh!" Michelle exclaimed as her eyes went wide. "You took us there once before, didn't you? Back when I was still a little girl?" "I did," Susan replied with a small smile. "I'm surprised you remember, as you were only seven at the time. Alex, of course, remembers next to nothing of the visits to Reykjavik, Iceland, which is where she will be listed as being born in." Michelle paused and peered at the documents closely, blinking when she saw Alex's full signature on half of them. "You got her to sign it as Alexis?" she inquired carefully, giving Susan an amazed look. "That must have been fun." "As I explained to her, these are legal documents," Susan replied with a faint smile. "And her full legal name is required for such things. Here," she added as she handed a pen to Michelle. "This is your contemporary-era birth certificate, which will be discreetly filed in the main hospital in Constanta. These are your immigration papers, saying that you came to Japan with your mother when you were three and thus hold dual-citizenship. It will be several more days before I can arrange for your passport, unfortunately, so you won't be taking any international trips anytime soon. Sign here, please?" Michelle paused and regarded the succubus carefully, absently making note of the rather pleasing lines of her dark green business suit. "You're in an unusually cheerful mood today," she observed with a soft smile as she carefully penned her signature. "There is always satisfaction to be taken from the successful completion of a task, no matter what magnitude," Susan replied. "Since last night, I have been able to take care of several such matters of importance in rather rapid succession. And as soon as I am finished collecting your signatures, I can resume the process of seeding your identities into the bureaucratic system and thus be permitted to set even more events into motion. I anticipate that I will remain preoccupied for most of the week, but by the week's end there will be much accomplished that you and Alex will find to your liking. Financial matters, certainly, and perhaps even residential ones as well, although I must admit that I haven't looked very closely at that one as of yet. May I ask why you are smiling at me like that?" Michelle couldn't help the soft giggle that rose up from her chest. "I'm sorry," she said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "It's just that you don't seem to be in this cheerful of a mood very often. Usually you're all quiet and gloomy. Or at least quiet," she amended hastily as she noticed the change in Susan's expression at her words. "As I said," Susan said dryly, "There has been a great deal that has taken place since last night that has been.... satisfying," she said, her cheeks suddenly taking on an uncharacteristic blush. She quickly rifled through the forms to make sure that Michelle had signed them all, unaware of the knowing look on Michelle's face. "Ahh, I believe that is sufficient, at least for the present. I shall return if I encounter anything.... else...." Michelle blinked at the way Susan trailed off, apparently distracted by something in the hallway. She turned to look and blinked again as a truly massive pile of sheets and towels seemed to be migrating down the hallway in a very slow and unsteady manner. It was only by taking a closer look did she realize that they were being carried by Whisper's telekinetic powers as they floated dangerously close to the ground. "Do you need a hand with that, Captain?" Susan called out curiously. "Whisper?" Michelle called out a few seconds later as she heard nothing but silence in response. She waited until the bulk of the sheets had passed before sticking her head out into the living room, blinking hard as she noticed that the telepath wasn't anywhere around. "Uh, Susan...." Whisper's voice echoed in her mind without warning. "That's interesting," Susan commented, having heard the broadcast herself. "That's spooky," Michelle protested quietly, giving the parade of sheets and towels a slightly uncertain look. "If she hadn't said anything, I'd have started to worry we were becoming haunted by ghosts or something." "Nonsense," the succubus replied with a faintly reproving look. "I have every reason to believe that I would have detected the presence of any such poltergeist or other spectral entity by now if one was in residence. Having said that, I will admit to a minor amount of curiosity as to what precisely occurred in the room with the star mosaic to leave behind that spectral aura I can sometimes sense, but it is a minor curiosity at best." "Wait, what?" Michelle said, giving her a st