Sailor Moon V * The Dark Adventures of the Sailor Scouts Episode One * "For the Love of Mercury" (Historian's Note: This story followed along the original Sailor Moon plot line up until this point. It branches off into a parallel story line I like to call Sailor Moon V, or "The Dark Adventures of the Sailor Scouts." This episode takes place after the discovery of Ami Mizuno as Sailor Mercury, but before any of the other Sailor Scouts are found.) Queen Beryl was not happy. While she was delighted at how much her energy reserves had been growing as of late, she was still far short of the critical amount she needed to awaken the NegaForce from its sleep and open the massive number of wormholes needed to invade Earth. When she promoted Jedyt to the rank of general and assigned him to gather energy from the humans, she thought it would be a rather easy task. And it was.... Until Sailor Moon showed up and ruined his plans. Time and again, the young girl with the unique hairstyle managed to appear just when things were really working out. Beryl came up with a devious plan to destroy Sailor Moon and was on the verge of implementing it when another Sailor Scout suddenly appeared without warning, adding another variable to the whole equation. The dark queen couldn't deal with two thorns in her side at the same time without a fresh perspective, and so she reluctantly withdrew to reassess the current situation. The mere thought of the two Sailor Scouts was enough to irritate her, and when she was in a foul mood she let everyone else around her know it. Jedyt tried a new plan, this one involving the alteration of the flow of Time, but it was just as easily ruined as the others. Fed up with the recent spate of failures, Queen Beryl decided it was high time to call her general in and have a few words with him. Not surprisingly, Jedyt chose to blame his failures on the unpredictable actions of the Sailor Scouts rather than his own short-comings. Beryl was not sympathetic and launched into a very vicious tirade about poorly designed plans and inept minions. After he was appropriately chastised, Jedyt withdrew to his quarters to 'contemplate the situation until summoned' by Queen Beryl. Feeling slightly better, Beryl also withdrew to her private chambers to ponder the matter at hand. As the dark queen sat next to her small fountain, she began to accept the possibility that the fault wasn't entirely his. Granted he was far from the swiftest, but even she had to admit that a couple of his plans had seemed to be flawless. And they worked, too, right up until the point when Sailor Moon showed up. Even his switch of tactics to depend on Sailor Moon showing up categorically failed when she did so. Queen Beryl pondered some more as she idly stirred the azure liquid in the fountain basin. Something clicked in her mind, causing her to take a second look at the fluid. "You're distracted, Moirah," she chided the colored water. "Your colors are starting to show through." The fountain seemed to gurgle for a second before the liquid faded to a crystal clear color. Beryl knew that her bodyguard could assume a liquid form and quite often spent her time in the fountain where few, if any, would suspect her presence. That she was preoccupied enough to accidentally reveal herself made Beryl slightly wary, and she made a mental note to have a talk with her bodyguard later about the matter. A sudden icy chill crawled down her back as something suddenly felt.... out of place. It took her a second to realize that there was a breeze in the room. She knew that her chambers were isolated from any drafts, so it could only mean someone was entering her room. Only a select few of her soldiers could enter unbidden, and fewer still would dare do so without warning her, but only one person could bring a wind into her room like that. "Commander Tolaris," she said without turning around. "What brings the head of my Intelligence division to these chambers at this hour?" "A matter of personal importance, my Queen," replied the deep voice of the Dragoon leader. As always, the timbre of his voice made Beryl relax, if only a little bit. She felt the liquid in the fountain quiver slightly beneath her fingertips before becoming still again, causing her to raise an eyebrow at the unexpected reaction. "I see," she said slowly. She knew, of course, that it would have to be rather important for him to even consider intruding without a direct summons. "And why didn't you bring this matter to me in open chambers?" she inquired, trying to get a feel for his mood. The Dragoon was silent for several seconds, as if he were choosing his words very carefully. "I do not believe it to be wise to.... question your decisions in open chambers, my Queen. It shows disrespect, and only serves to give the illusion of dissension within the ranks." Beryl gave him a sharp look, her ruby-red eyes narrowing. He has a good reason to be saying this, she thought, else he'd never dare say it. It would go against his entire being to think of it otherwise. "Very well, Commander. You may speak freely. For now," she added. Tolaris nodded his head once. "Thank you, my Queen. It is my belief that your condemnation of Jedyt as an inept fool may be unwarranted. It's true that he has failed you several times over, but the fault might not be entirely his." This drew another sharp look from Beryl. "What do you mean?" "We know very little about the humans of this time period, even despite all our long-term agents," he explained calmly. "Things have changed since the fall of the Moon Kingdom. Perhaps there is something new about Earth that we haven't discovered yet, something the humans could be doing or have done since our last encounter. Something that could be affecting our judgement." Beryl digested this in silence. If what Tolaris was saying was true, then perhaps Jedyt wasn't a total failure after all. Regardless of the truth, she knew it was high-time for her intelligence on the planet Earth to be updated. "If this is the case, Commander, then what do you propose to do about it?" she asked in a neutral tone. The Dragoon gave her a rare smile and went on to lay out a complex plan. He would travel to Earth, blend in with the humans, and spend time observing how they went about with their lives. He would send back regular reports on what he found in the way of cultural history and research. The next step would be to place several small traps for the two Sailor Scouts, traps which they could easily defeat. "The simplicity of the traps serves two purposes," the Dragoon continued to explain. "First, to try to lull them into a state of over-confidence. The second is so that I may spend time making observations as to how Sailor Moon and this new Sailor Scout handle themselves in battle. I understand that her tactics are distinctly different than what we've come to expect from Sailor Moon, so any trap will have to account for the both of them." He would follow their movements after the battles in an attempt to discern their true identities. Finally, after all of the available information was pooled together and weaknesses were discovered, he would set an ultimate trap, one tailor-made to put an end to their constant intervention. The dark queen spent several minutes gazing into the crystal waters of her fountain, carefully pondering his plan. After considering the nuisances of his plan, she began asking several questions about a few of the finer details. The Dragoon promptly answered in turn, explaining how each point would work and, more importantly, why. After several minutes of such questioning, Beryl was satisfied that she understood his plan well enough. "I am impressed with the completeness of your plan, Commander Tolaris," she said in approval. "I don't think I've ever seen something this thought-out from Jedyt. Very well, you may travel to Earth as soon as you are ready to start the framework of your plan. I expect to receive a report from you every thirty-six Earth hours." The Dragoon saluted Beryl. "Thank you, my Queen," he said simply and left to start his preparations. The dark queen sighed quietly and turned her attention back to the fountain basin and her watery minion inside. But when she stirred the clear liquid, she discovered the density had changed, indicting that bodyguard had left the fountain and gone elsewhere. Beryl thought about who Moirah would most likely be reporting to and what exactly she would be reporting. She finally arrived at a probable answer and relaxed. Had the information been a really important secret, Moirah could be trusted not to breathe a word to Jedyt's rival, Nephlyte. But something as simple as an assignment for the Dragoon commander was no big deal. She made another mental note to have a nice, quiet discussion with her bodyguard about politics and loyalty. She smiled to herself and wondered just how the conversation would go. Still smiling, she idly let her hand wander through the cool waters of the fountain once again. * * * * It was, in all regards, a typical lazy Sunday afternoon: the sun was warm, the breeze was light and cool, the birds were out singing, and Ami Mizuno was holed up in her room studying a math textbook. "We have seen that multiplying (or dividing) the sides of an equation by a non-zero number give us a new, correct equation. Moreover, adding a multiple of one equation in a system gives us another correct equation. Finally, if we interchange two equations in a system of equations, we obtain an equivalent system," she muttered softly to herself as she read at a rapid pace. There was no warning, no chance for Ami to see it coming. With a loud whoosh, she was blasted out of her chair and onto the floor by the opening shot of an impending pillow fight. And she could only think of one person who would dare do such a thing while she was studying. "Good morning, Serena," she said, her normally crystalline voice muffled by the fluffy mass of pillow on her face. She batted the pillow off and glared at her momentary adversary and recently her best friend. "Hi, Ami," came Serena's cheerfully innocent voice. "I knew you could use a break from studying, but why are you taking it on the floor?" she grinned, her mouth impossibly wide as she looked down at Ami. Ami looked up, smirked, and tossed a pillow halfway across the room. "Oh, I think you'll find out soon enough," she replied in a measured tone. She gave Serena a calculating look and made a quick adjustment, kicking the pillow a few inches to the left. Serena shook her head in confusion, sending her bizarre ponytails swaying. "Huh? And what makes you think I'm going to wind up on the floor?" she asked in a slightly wary tone. And just like her friend, she never saw it coming. The black cat that had been carefully sneaking up behind her let out a blood-curdling howl. Serena squealed in fear as she turned around to look for the disturbance, tripped over her own feet, and promptly landed face-first on the pillow. "Serves you right for sneaking up on poor Ami like that," the cat chided. She paused to stretch before sitting down and grooming her fur. "You really ought to be learning from her studying habits, Serena, instead of trying to disrupt them." "Thanks, Luna," said Ami as she smoothed out her rumpled blue hair. She heard Serena mutter something acidic and laughed quietly. "Well, you did ask for it this time, Serena," she said as she stood up and straightened her dress. Serena got up very slowly. "Just trying to get you to lighten up, that's all," she protested. "It's a wonderful day outside, and you're in here with your nose buried in a book again. You should get out more often." "I was studying while I was waiting for you two to get up so we could go out and do something," came the tart reply. "It's not my fault I like to get up sometime before lunch." Luna yawned. "Well, don't look at me, I was up at nine. I was just out enjoying the view from the tree in the garden," she said archly before she pointed her tail toward Serena. "She was the one who was still snoring until close to eleven." "Hey!" Serena protested. "It's not my fault if I snore while I sleep, I can't help that!" The blonde's eyes became slightly wider as she got upset, a faint glimmer of moisture starting to form around her tear-ducts. Ami's own blue eyes twinkled as she smiled. "It must be that big mouth of yours," she teased. She blinked hard and barely had enough time to dodge the red-lace pillow that was suddenly picked up and violently thrown in her general direction. She sighed dropped back into a modified defense posture, ready for the next attack. "Oh yeah?!" the blonde challenged as she grabbed the pair of fluffy green pillows off of Ami's bed. She tossed one across the room to her friend, then charged forward to attack. Ami caught the first pillow in mid-air and immediately parried. She was able to block the blow before swinging her pillow upwards in a broad arc. She sighed as Serena dodged and the battle commenced. Luna carefully made her way around the melee and over to Ami's soft bed. She leapt up, being cautious not to scratch anything in the process. Sighing heavily, she settled down to watch the duel, hoping they wouldn't accidentally use her as target practice. "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be one of those days?" she asked the teddy bear next to her. Fortunately for her sanity, the stuffed animal didn't respond. There was a high-pitched squeal from the midst of the fight and Luna suddenly found herself buried beneath a mass of fluff. "This is probably why," she said to nobody in particular. * * * * Tolaris looked up from his work as the silver-haired Dragoon entered his private chambers. Occasionally he wondered what it would be like if he wasn't immune to her telepathic-based sex appeal, but it was nothing he ever really bothered to think about unless it caused a problem. There was a time and place for everything, and being a Dragoon meant one never had much time for play. "You wanted to see me?" said Lieutenant-Commander Shar-Tei. He nodded. "I have an assignment to do, one that requires me to spend my time elsewhere," he said by way of explanation. "During my absence you will, of course, be in full command of the Legion." "That's to be expected, Commander. I am puzzled why you would volunteer to do mundane research about the humans on Earth when you could send someone else," she observed neutrally. Tolaris gave his second-in-command an amused look. "Let me guess. The aquamorph told Nephlyte like she was paid to do, Zoicite's spies overheard the report and told her, she told her bedmate Malachite about the plan, and your surveillance of Malachite's activities let you in on the information," he said in a measured tone. Shar-Tei's featureless red eyes seemed to twinkle. "Word travels fast in the intelligence division," she said demurely. "No intelligence leaks here," Tolaris muttered to himself. He looked up at her and sighed. "Let's just say that I could use a change of pace every now and then. Let's see you spend this much time as the Dragoon commander and see if you don't start clawing the walls for some time off." She shook her head slowly in mild amusement. "We were wondering when you would finally get around to taking a vacation." "It's not a vacation, it's a field assignment," he muttered. "An easy field assignment," she shot back. Tolaris finally smiled. "So what if it is? Too late anyway. You've got command of the Dragoons now, not me. See you later, Commander." He waved and walked out, leaving the startled woman behind. He walked down the shadowy corridors of the Dragoon headquarters complex, heading in the direction of the underground tunnel that lead to Queen Beryl's castle. As he stepped into the tunnel entrance, he became aware of a dark figure leaning against a wall. As he approached, the figure stood up and spoke to him in a casual tone. "Fair evening, Commander Tolaris," he said in a casual voice. Tolaris bowed slightly as he recognized the voice. "Fair evening, General Nephlyte. Something can I do for you, sir?" "A simple matter, really," Nephlyte said languidly, which only increased Tolaris' sense of wariness. "During your visit to Earth, I would like you to search around for a suitable site for a small base. I am giving thought to seeing how my Astroglobe would work beneath another set of stars, and Earth looks like an ideal testing ground." A strange look passed over the Dragoon's face. "I see. And you couldn't consult your.... Astroglobe to tell you where such a site might be?" Nephlyte smiled. "The stars know everything, but they don't always tell what they see," he said in that maddeningly cryptic tone that had driven more than one officer to drink in a local tavern after his shift was over. "So that's why you bribe the aquamorph for information," Tolaris said in a flat tone. Nephlyte laughed, something which he rarely did these days. "Ah, yes, I forgot how much you hate politics. Let me explain this one, my dear Commander. Moirah and I trade information. She tells me about things of interest that aren't classified, and I tell her what I know about recent rumors and such regarding assassination plots against Queen Beryl. It is my understanding that with my help, she has put an end to at least forty-six such attempts," he added lightly. "So she is seen as a truly effective bodyguard while you gain the upper hand in your schemes against the other generals," Tolaris summed up dryly, already feeling a headache start to take hold. The dark-haired general chuckled. "And people wonder why she put you in charge of gathering intelligence," he mused. "And I take it your new site for your Astroglobe is another scheme to use against Jedyt and the others?" Tolaris said with a weary expression. Nephlyte's face grew somber. "No, Commander, I assure you that this one is for other reasons. If I can continue my work on Earth, I can get out of Beryl's immediate wrath-radius but still keep in touch if needed. Surely you can appreciate that." Tolaris nodded in agreement, his gray eyes twinkling with amusement. "I can. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I'm going on this assignment, but I can't exactly put it in those terms. Very well, General, I will see if I can find a suitable location for your celestial hobby." "Thank you, Commander," Nephlyte said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small purple pendant on a fine gold chain. "If you wish, you can borrow this for the duration of your field assignment. It will open a portal between Earth and the Negaverse so you may travel between the two with ease, but I'm sure you already know how it works." The Dragoon's eyes widened slightly. He knew that only a handful of the Silkworm crystals existed, and to be given personal use of one was not to be taken lightly. He wordlessly accepted the jewel, then watched as Nephlyte turned around and disappeared into the tunnel. Tolaris walked along the corridor until he came to a relatively isolated section. Don't want to disturb anyone when this thing goes off, he thought. Assuming that the humans haven't changed too much in a thousand years, the information I need to know would most likely be in a public library. And since it's public, it'd be someplace where everyone can easily get to it. He focused his thoughts on what he knew of the current map of downtown Tokyo. Randomly picking a point, he channeled his thoughts into the crystal. Immediately, a whirling vortex opened up in the wall of the corridor. On the other side he could see a dark alley in some part of town. "Next stop, the local library," he said to himself as he stepped through the wormhole and into the world called Earth. * * * * Serena and Ami were walking along one of the main streets in town. Serena was dressed in her favorite pink sweater and blue jeans while Ami was wearing one of her better aquamarine dresses. Luna was happily being carried by Ami as they aimlessly wandered the streets. "Ok, so now that we're all up and dressed, where should we go?" Ami asked her friends. "The park should look nice this time of year," Luna suggested. "But it's way too chilly," Serena complained. "We should go someplace exciting where it's nice and warm." "Let me guess. The arcade?" Ami sighed. Serena's eyes lit up. "Of course! All those games generate lots of heat to keep us warm, we get to stay out of the wind which is starting to ruin my hair, aaaand...." "And you get to see Andrew," Luna muttered darkly. "Of course, that's the coolest part." Serena said in a sing-song tone. Ami sighed again and wondered where exactly she went wrong in having a semi-ditz as her best friend. She started thinking about it and didn't see the dark figure step out of the alley in front of her. The figure didn't see her either and they collided with a soft thump. Luna managed to leap free and, having the natural grace and agility of a cat, landed on her feet. Ami, however, was not so lucky and landed hard on her behind with a squeal. There was a sour grunt as the other person also lost his balance and ended up on his rear end as well. "Ami! Are you all right?" Serena blurted out as she knelt down beside her friend, her blue eyes wide with concern. "I'm fine," Ami replied with a soft grunt. "I'm really sorry about that," she said to her new acquaintance as he picked himself up off of the concrete. "No harm done," he said as he helped her up. "Wasn't quite watching where I was going either. You okay?" he asked with some concern. He quickly looked her over for cuts or bruises. Hell of a way to meet someone, he thought with a rueful sigh. "I'm fine," she said absently and she looked around briefly. "Luna, are you okay?" She heard a soft meow behind her and sighed with relief. "Didn't mean to dump you like that. Where are.... oh, there you are," she said as she saw the black cat hiding behind Serena's legs. "Excuse me, but would you mind telling me where the local library is? I'm new to the city, and I think I've gotten lost," the stranger asked in a gentle voice. Ami blinked in surprise and looked up at him. He looked to be somewhere in his early thirties, with dark hair reaching his strange uniform collar. His gray-green eyes seemed to study everything as he looked around. For a brief instant Ami caught the feeling of evil close by, but it faded so quickly that she wasn't sure she didn't imagine it. "Not really," she found herself saying. "It's only six blocks from here. I'm headed there myself and I'd be happy to show you the way." She paused and blinked in surprise as that last sentence came out. She had said it purely on impulse, which was something she very rarely ever did. "Hey, I thought we were headed to the arcade," Serena protested. "No, you were, remember?" Ami said as she thought quickly. "I still have some research to do for my biology assignment that's due next month. Don't worry, I'll catch up with you and Luna later in the afternoon." Serena was about to reply when she felt Luna tugging on her socks. She had learned quickly that this meant Luna had something important to say but couldn't do so with others around. "Uh, sure, Ami," she said slowly. She squinted her eyes as she tried to read the clock hanging outside a local bank. "Umm.... how about four o'clock at the pizza place?" she suggested, pointedly ignoring the insistent tugging on her socks. "Sounds good to me," Ami replied quickly. "I'll see you then, Serena." She flashed the blonde a quick smile before turning to her strange companion. "It's down this way," she said as he led him down the street in the direction of the library. Serena sighed and picked up her feline mentor. "All right, Luna, what is it? You were starting to put holes in my socks," she complained. "I could have sworn I felt some bad vibes when Ami first ran into him," the black cat said very quietly, mindful that there was still traffic around them. "He might be from the Negaverse." Serena blinked. "Are you sure about that, Luna? I didn't feel anything, and he seems nice enough. Not all that cute in my book, but it looks like Ami seem to think so," she added with a smile. "Serena, get serious!" Luna growled. "Ami could be in trouble. Besides, something about her behavior puzzles me. I remember her telling me about her biology project, but she said she would be going to the library next week and she really isn't one to change her plans on an impulse." "Relax, Luna. Ami's smart enough to know what she's doing," Serena said as she cradled the cat in her arms and started walking. "Besides, you know how she needs to get out more. I think finding a boyfriend would definitely help her social life, such as it were, and I think she's on her way to getting one. Come on, the arcade is down this way." Luna just sighed as Serena happily made her way down the street in the direction of the arcade. Why do I even bother? the cat wondered. I just hope that Ami indeed knows what she's doing.... * * * * What am I doing? Ami thought for the thousandth time. I wasn't supposed to go to the library until next week, and here I am on my way there now with a complete stranger. She took a deep breath. One way to fix that, she thought. "I don't believe we've properly met. Ami Mizuno," she said. Her companion chuckled. "Commander Tolaris Sterling," he said. "And no, running into each other on a street corner isn't quite the proper method of meeting someone." Well that went smoothly, he thought. He knew that humans had two names, and since he only had one he borrowed the name of his great- grandfather as his last name. "Commander?" she said as she came to a halt, blinking hard. "You're in the military? But I've never seen that kind of uniform before," she said with a gesture at his dark blue uniform. "Dragoon Legion, military intelligence," he explained. "We're not what you would call a popular division, so it's common for people not to recognize our uniforms or insignia." As he talked, he kept glancing over at her. Blue- colored hair was a distinct rarity back in the Negaverse, and he found it quite attractive. Goes well with her blue eyes, he thought. Ami looked up to find Tolaris staring at her. "What?" she asked with some concern. Tolaris smiled. "I haven't seen very many people with hair like yours," he said in a gentle tone. He paused before adding, "It is natural, right?" Ami giggled quietly. "Yes, it's quite natural." "Natural beauty is rare these days," he said quietly. Ami blushed and almost stopped walking. She looked up at Tolaris to find him busy looking at the street signs. "This way, right?" he said as he pointed to the left. "Uh, right," she said. Tolaris smiled at her again. What is it about her? he thought. She was rather pretty but still very young. So why am I starting to flirt with her? He thought about it for a few more seconds before shoving the whole mess onto a back burner in his mind with a note to examine it further. "So what brings you to this part of Tokyo?" she inquired with curiosity. "I thought most of the military bases were farther up north...." Tolaris thought quickly. "Research. I understand that your library has a few books that I can't find on the base library." "If you don't mind my asking, what kind of research?" she prodded. Inquisitive little tart, he thought. "Well.... let's just say it involves astrophysics...." he said in what he hoped would be a cautioning but still non-threatening tone. "I see," Ami said knowingly. "Classified research, then." Tolaris gently took Ami by the elbow. "Now that you know, I'll have to kill you," he said in a stern tone. He had to laugh as her blue eyes became impossibly wide. "I'm only teasing. It's not often I get a chance to say that to people." "Hmpf," she grunted as a dark blush of embarassment colored her cheeks. "It's not all that funny, Commander Sterling." "Sorry," he said as he released her elbow. "And I'd be happy if you would call me Tolaris. I get enough of the 'Commander' stuff back home." "Sure," Ami smiled. She paused as something occurred to her. "Uh, why would a small library like ours have something important that a big library like yours wouldn't have?" Tolaris stopped cold in his tracks and looked at Ami. "We don't know," he said slowly. "That's one of the minor reasons why I'm down here." Either I'm getting rusty or she's unbelievably intelligent, he thought. Probably both. "Here we are," she announced, pointing to a brick building behind him. "Tokyo's Wataru Branch Library." Tolaris smiled. "Thank you for your help, Ami. I hope I can return the favor one day," he said with genuine honesty. Ami smiled back. "No problem. If you need any help, I'll be studying in the Biology section against the far wall." "Again, my thanks," the Dragoon said as they entered the building and went in opposite directions. Ami headed to the back of the library while Tolaris went in the general direction of the encyclopedias. He selected several different volumes, first concentrating on general, social, and cultural histories. As an afterthought, he picked up a volume that involved the space program and another regarding weather patterns. Who knows, they just might come in handy, he thought idly as he sat at an empty table and started leafing through the books. Occasionally he would pull an amber crystal out of a pocket and hold it over a page. The crystal hummed briefly as it photocopied the text into its memory, then before anyone could notice what he was doing he hid the gem back in his pocket. Don't need anyone asking questions, he thought as he continued to analyze and process the information. He lost all track of time as he read through page after page of history and other information. He had just finished with the book on weather and was about to start in on a section about contemporary economics when someone set a large book down in front of him. Startled, he looked up. "I thought this might help," Ami said as she gestured to the book's title. Tolaris glanced down, his eyebrows arching up as he read the title. "Neo-classical Astrophysics?" he sai slowly before flipping the cover open to glance through the index. "You know, this just might be one of the things I'm looking for. Let's see...." he said as he quickly leafed through the book. He stopped when he came to a complex diagram that looked familiar. Reading the passage, it was all he could do to keep an outwardly calm expression. The diagram and accompanying equations showed how a person could predict irregular orbital patterns. There was a high degree of inaccuracy involved if there were more than one celestial object in the orbit, but it was still quite useful. General Nephlyte had spent centuries trying to figure out the orbital patterns, if any, of the Negaverse's three moons and once said that he would pay dearly for any information that would help him solve the puzzle. "Ami, you're wonderful. This is exactly what I've been looking for," he said in a grateful tone. Well, not really, he thought to himself as he pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, but this is still something extremely useful. He knew that the weather was influenced by the tidal forces of celestial moons and other objects with substantial gravity wells, and that if he could predict what forces were going to have what influences where and when, he would be able to increase his powers tenfold. Like all of the Negaverse denizens, Tolaris had the power of Chaos in his blood, a rogue genetic sequence that bestowed an array of semi-unique special powers. Although the majority of the skills wielded by the denizens were weak, there were a few like Tolaris who were exceptionally powerful. And Tolaris' strongest power was his ability to control the weather. A major factor of his powers was the weather currently in the area at the time. He could force it to snow during a blistering heat wave, but it would only be a thin and a weak snowstorm. If there was a cold front and lots of moisture in the area, however, he could trigger a full-scale blizzard to erupt within a matter of seconds. Knowledge is power, and if he knew ahead of time what the prevailing weather would be like, he could use that to his utmost advantage. The problem with this, he thought as he scribbled down the equations, is that Nephlyte has to get this to work first. Otherwise, this is going to be a moot point. Not that I expect that it will, as the moons have yet to hold a steady orbit for longer than seventy-two hours, but one can always hope.... He looked up and smiled at Ami as he finished copying the diagrams and astrophysical equations. "You've been an incredible help to me, Ami," he said in a warm and gentle tone. "If you don't mind, I'd like to thank you by buying you dinner tomorrow night. I'm afraid I'll be quite busy with other business before then, so I'm sorry I can't do it sooner." Ami blushed. "Oh, you don't have to do that. It'd be entirely too much trouble and all...." she protested demurely. "Which is nothing compared to the trouble you've saved me," Tolaris said truthfully. "If it wasn't for your help, I wouldn't have found either this library or that book until much later. Besides, my conscience wouldn't allow me to let you get away without some sort of payback." Which isn't all that far off the truth, he thought. Ami's blush deepened as several things occurred to her. She was about to say no since she would probably have homework to do, but again an impulse took over and she decided she could do it beforehand. Besides, she thought, I've never been on a date before and now seems like a good time to fix that. "Well," she said slowly, "Since you put it that way, I don't see how I can refuse." "Wonderful," he replied. "Since I don't know where you live and I won't know where I will be at any particular time, what say we try meet at the park at five? It would give us plenty of time to enjoy dinner and take a casual walk around that small lake, yet still have enough time to get you home at a decent hour." "I'd like that, Tolaris," Ami said, still blushing. "Thank you." The Dragoon chuckled. "No, thank you. For everything." He stood up and kissed her hand, causing her blush to darken by six shades. "Now I don't mean to be rude here, but you might want to get back to your friend. It seems to be well past four," he pointed out. Ami's eyes went wide as she realized he was right. "Oh! Uh, thank you. See you at the park at five tomorrow!" she blurted out as she waved a hasty goodbye and ran for the door. Tolaris chuckled again as he watched Ami dash across the streets. A soft sigh bubbled up from his chest before his mood grew somber. It's just as well that she left, he thought as his mind shifted gears. He casually made his way to the back section of the library, looking around and trying to make a good estimate of how many people were around. Making sure no one could see him, he pulled an onyx crystal out of a pocket and hid it behind a row of books. This device will serve as my first trap, he thought. The gem was a time- delayed energy collector. It would activate in one hour, draining all of the energy out of anyone who happened to be near it. A simple touch or a focused energy blast would deactivate it so the Sailor Scouts should be able to turn it off quite easily. Only thing is, he thought, if it gets turned off, it'll do a thorough scan of whatever touched it. And if it works right, I just might get a fingerprint or even a DNA scan of one of those Sailor Scouts. Or at least a very detailed scan of their special powers. He walked back to the opposite side of the library, just out of the gem's field-effect radius. And when they get here, all they'll find is a glowing gem and a room full of drained humans, he thought with a silent chuckle. Plus one Dragoon who's pretending to be drained. Smiling to himself, Commander Tolaris sat back down to read the passage on contemporary economics, occasionally taking notes with his strange crystal. Queen Beryl's going to love this, he thought. Who would have thought that the humans could develop something like this? Amazing.... * * * * "This isn't like Ami at all," said Luna as she paced in circles. Her tail lashed back and forth as she grew more concerned by the minute. "Usually, it's Ami who's waiting for you to show up, Serena, not the other way around." Serena made a face. "Thanks, Luna. But still, you know how Ami gets when she's studying. She's probably still sitting there with her nose in a book." Luna paused to consider that. "Well, you could be right." She perked her ears up at a sound. "That sounds like her now." Serena looked up at the sound of footsteps was almost bowled over by a blue-haired tornado. "Sorry I'm late," Ami said, panting heavily. "I kinda lost track of time. Hope I haven't kept you waiting too long." "Only about ten minutes," Luna said with a sigh. "Even though we were supposed to meet half an hour ago," she said, giving Serena a meaningful look. "What happened, your study of biology take an interesting turn?" Serena teased. She blinked as Ami blushed in response for no apparent reason. "You could say that. Tolaris invited me to dinner tomorrow," Ami said. "Who?" chorused Serena and Luna. "Tolaris," Ami repeated. "You know, the guy I bumped into several hours ago? Well, I helped him with a bit of his research and he wanted to thank me by taking me out to dinner tomorrow night." Serena smiled. "Boy, that was fast, Ami. You run over a guy on a street corner and it's not four hours before you two start dating." Ami blinked and sighed. "We're not dating, Serena," she muttered. "Not yet," the blonde teased with a wicked grin. "Ami, how much do you know about this Tolaris?" asked Luna. "I would have thought he would be way too old for you." Ami blinked. "Umm, I never got around to asking how old he was," she admitted with another blush. "He said he was a Commander in the military intelligence division and that he needed a few books that our library had. I think it's classified, but he mentioned it involved a bit of astrophysics." "That sounds like the space program," Luna observed. Serena elbowed her friend in the ribs. "Wow, Ami, not only do you have a thing for older men, you also like a man in uniform. How come you never told me this before?" "Serena!" Ami blurted out, blushing furiously. "I think you are making this out to be something that it isn't, Serena," Luna chided the blonde. "Perhaps, but I smell romance in the air," Serena said in a sing-song tone. She paused and took a small whiff of the air. "That, and I think I can smell a pepperoni pizza with our name on it. Come on," she said as she grabbed Ami's wrist. "Let's go get dinner." "Okay, calm down. You want us to bring you anything, Luna?" Ami asked. Luna was about to say something when she caught motion out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look and her eyes lit up. "Actually, no thanks," she said slowly as she carefully tracked the movement. "I'll just stay out here and.... uh.... keep an eye on things...." Serena knew that look. "Field mouse?" she said, faintly disgusted. "Cricket," the cat corrected. "Excuse me," said said before leaping high into the air and landed running, pursuing the cricket into the bushes. "Ugh. How can she eat those.... bugs?" Serena said with a sour expression on her face. "Protein," Ami said, drawing a strange look from the blonde. She blinked at the expression on her face and shrugged helplessly. "Variety, maybe?" she suggested. "Thanks for sharing that, Ami," Serena sighed. "Well, she is a cat after all," Ami replied with another shrug. "Come on, let's go. I'm getting hungry." Serena just stared at her friend's innocent expression. "You've got to be kidding me...." she muttered as she followed her up the street. "Well, I haven't eaten since we left the house and that was quite awhile ago," Ami pointed out. "Besides, you're the one who's always hungry." Serena sighed as they entered the restaurant. "I think I'll just stick with a salad and bread sticks this time...." * * * * "Salad and bread sticks, hmm?" Ami teased as they left the restaurant. "Well.... umm.... that pizza smell kinda made me change my mind...." the blonde apologized as she stifled a soft belch. "Some change of mind," Ami sighed. "You ate six slices of pizza after you virtually demolished half of the salad bar." "Sorry, Ami, but I was hungry!" Serena protested. A loud purring sound ripped through the air like a saw. Ami and Serena exchanged wary looks before trying to find the source of the sound. They found Luna stretched out on her back several seconds later, being gently scratched by a man in dark clothes. "Darian, get away from my cat!" Serena yelped in anger as she ran to get Luna. She picked her up and started to check the black cat for cuts or other signs of injury. "What, that's your cat, meatball head?" he said with some disgust. "Yes it is, so you can keep your grubby hands off of her!" Serena shot back, giving him a look of pure loathing. "With pleasure," he replied flatly with a glacial look. He glanced over at Ami and his icy expression suddenly seemed to soften. "Tell me, Ami, with all of your genius, why do you hang around with this ditz?" he asked in a surprisingly neutral tone. "Because she's my friend," Ami said defensively. Darian looked like he was going to say something, then seemed to change his mind. "To each their own. Take care, Ami," he said as he turned around and walked away without another word. Luna waited until he was gone before speaking up. "I don't understand the problem, Serena. I rather enjoy having my belly rubbed after a good meal and he was doing a fine job until you stormed over here and started yelling. What is it with you and Darian?" Serena made a foul face. "He's a creep, that's what." Ami was about to make a comment when an icy wind blew through her bones. She blinked and looked at Serena, noticing that her friend looked like someone had just shoved an ice cube down her sweater. "Yiii!" the blonde squealed, shivering lightly. "What was that?" "I felt it too," Ami said in a guarded tone. "What do you think it could have been, Luna?" The cat's ears were flat against her head. "I sense evil. It feels like the Negaverse is around somewhere. Ami, use your computer and see if you can pinpoint anything strange." "Right," Ami replied as she reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked to be a large but typical make-up compact. She flipped the lid open to reveal a miniature keyboard and computer screen. She did some quick typing and a blinking light appeared on the screen. "Got it. There's some sort of energy disturbance a few blocks from here," she said as she turned around to point the sensor suite down the street. She tapped out a sequence on the keyboard and a detailed map of the city streets was overlaid on the screen. "Checking the map now.... Oh, no!" Ami gasped as she felt the color drain from her face. "What?" Serena blurted out, her own face turning pale. "It's in the library!" she said, her voice laced with concern. Tolaris is still in there, she thought. "Then I think you two should deal with this threat right now," Luna said urgently. "There's no one around, so you can transform right here." Serena looked dismayed. "Does this mean we have to fight another one of those Negaverse agents? I'm still healing from the last one." "No time to argue, Serena!" Ami snapped as she pulled a silver cylinder out of her pocket and held it over her head. "Mercury Power!" she called out, triggering the transformation process and wrapping herself in a streamer of aqua light. Within seconds, her clothing had dissolved and reformed into the blouse and skirt of her Sailor Suit. Her shoes melted into a mass of light that crept up her legs and solidified into her boots. Beams of energy wrapped around her arms and formed gloves, while stray tendrils of light merged into bows on her blouse and skirt. A cloud of motes coalesced to form a pair of shiny sapphire earrings and a beautiful jeweled tiara. The aqua light faded as quickly as it had come, ending her transformation into Sailor Mercury. Serena sighed. "All right, all right, keep your skirt on, Mercury." She let her hand pass over the brooch on her sweater collar before raising it up to the sky. "Moon Prism Power!" she yelled. She then underwent the same process of transformation Mercury went through, but the only differences were that her earrings were a pair of gold crescent moons and a pair of ruby barrettes was added to her bizarre knee-length hairstyle. "Hey, wait up!" Sailor Moon yelled as she took off running after Mercury. "I hate running on a full stomach," Luna complained as she darted after the two Sailor Scouts. "I hate.... running.... period...." Sailor Moon puffed. "I don't.... see why.... she's in such.... a hurry...." Mercury was almost to the library when the others caught up to her, still complaining about the run. She bit back an impulse to tell them to put a cork in it and focused on the library doors. A sudden thought occurred to her and she hoped the doors weren't locked. Too late now, she thought and braced. She slammed into the doors at full-tilt and nearly dislocated something as the doors refused to open. Behind her, Sailor Moon tried to stop and only partially succeeded before running into Mercury, resuting in a loud and rather profane curse as they fell onto the grass in a jumble of arms and legs. "Sailor Moon, such language!" Mercury blushed as she tried to stand. "Me?" Sailor Moon countered as she furiously tugged her skirt back down into a more modest position. "I thought that was you! I'm not sure I even know what that word means!" Mercury looked confused as she rubbed a sore spot. "When who...?" Their eyes locked as it sank in. "Luna!" they chorused before scrambling to their feet. Luna groaned in pain as she slowly rolled over. She opened one eye and glared at Sailor Mercury. "Mercury, I do believe you've put on some weight," she said weakly. "We are going to have to talk about this.... after I heal." "Sorry," Mercury apologized as she looked up at the slightly dented door. "Well, it's locked, so that means we'll just have to force it open." "Oh, yeah?" muttered Sailor Moon. "And just how are we supposed to force open a heavy door like that without the aid of the army?" Mercury didn't even bother replying. She stood in front of the door and concentrated all of her energy into a single mote. "Mercury Bubbles...." she intoned. The mote rapidly grew into a bubble, then into a large sphere of energy. She flung her arms out wide as she released the energy. "BLAST!!" The force of the sphere's impact neatly ripped the door off of its hinges and sent it skittering across the library's carpeted floor. Mercury waited for the dust to settle before entering the building without another word. "I see...." Sailor Moon said quietly as she followed her friend inside. * * * * Tolaris was slumped in his chair, looking like every other human in the library. At the far end of the building, the onyx gem gave off a harsh purple light as it drained the last remaining wisps of energy out of the humans caught within its field-effect radius. Every now and then the gem would pulse as its negative energy field was altered slightly. Forgot about that, Tolaris thought as the gem's radius brushed against his arm. Stupid thing doesn't always maintain a constant radius. He sighed darkly as a bit of his own energy was drained away by the fluctuating field. If those Sailor Scouts don't get here soon, I won't have to pretend to be drained.... His train of thought was interrupted by a large explosion, followed by the sound of something heavy sliding across the floor. That's one way to make an entrance, he thought with a silent chuckle. "Hey, what's that?" a voice said. Tolaris didn't dare open his eyes to see who spoke. Don't need to be giving myself away just quite yet, he thought. A sudden idea occurred to him and he thought vile curses. This would have been great if I could have gotten a voice-analysis. Too bad hindsight only works in reverse. Better luck next time, Commander. "It looks like it might be what's causing the energy disturbance," said a second, deeper voice. "I'll say. You see anything hostile around?" asked the first voice. "No, but let me do a scan first," said a third voice. Tolaris' blood ran cold. Oh, great, he thought darkly. Sounds like I've got three of those Scouts to deal with. Queen Beryl is not going to like this one bit. "This is odd," said the third voice. "What's up, Mercury?" said the first voice. "Well, I'm picking up a strange bio-reading, but I can't make sense of it because of the energy field," the one called Mercury said in a puzzled tone. "Worry about that in a bit. What about that strange light?" asked the second voice. Tolaris heard the sound of typing, then a series of beeps. Sounds like the one named Sailor Mercury has a scanner of sorts, he thought. Good that I know, bad that she's got one. "This is even stranger," said Mercury. "The light is caused by a simple, unfocused energy collector. If my scan reads right, any contact with it will be enough to deactivate it." "Easy enough," said the first voice. "I'll just give it a nice kick." "Sailor Moon, wait! If you enter the collector's energy field, you'll be drained of your energy like everyone else." "Oh," said Sailor Moon. "So.... how do we turn it off from here?" "You could use your Moon Tiara," suggested the second voice, causing a very brief smile to cross Tolaris' face. Oh, by all means, please do so, he thought to himself. "No, I've got a faster solution," said Mercury. There was silence, and then Mercury grunted softly. A second later Tolaris felt an energy wave wash across the room as the crystal was shattered. "Well, that's.... one way to do it...." said the second voice, clearly nonplussed for some reason. "Hey, everyone's starting to wake up!" came the jubilant voice of Sailor Moon. "Looks like we won't have to fight anyone after all." "That's great," said Mercury. "Now if it's all the same with you, I want to get out of here before they start asking questions about the door." "Problem, Mercury?" teased Sailor Moon. "Not yet, and there won't be if we move it now," Mercury replied with a discernable edge to her voice. "Perhaps Mercury is right," said the second voice. "Now would be a very good time to leave." Tolaris waited until the sound of their footsteps faded, then counted to fifty before pretending to wake up. This is not going very well, he thought to himself as he casually made his way over to the shattered gem. He started to laugh uncontrollably when he saw what had destroyed it. "A book," he chuckled. "They threw a dictionary at it. This is simply incredible. No fingerprints, no energy scans, not even a voice print. And all I have to report is the possibility of three Sailor Scouts and that the one named Mercury has a scanner." He continued to laugh quietly as he made his way out of the library. I think I'll look for Nephlyte's new Astroglobe site while it's still light out, he thought. Don't want to turn today into a total failure. Still shaking his head in wonder, the Dragoon randomly picked a direction and started walking. * * * * "Ami, I'm surprised at you," Luna said as she paced back and forth. The three of them were in Serena's room, the blonde playing the hand-held version of the Sailor V game while Ami and Luna were sitting on Serena's bed. "You usually don't go rushing off like that without any sort of plan in mind," the black cat continued. "You didn't even consider the possibility of the library doors being locked before trying to rush in. I take it you didn't damage anything in the attempt?" Ami blushed and studied the carpet, unable to look at the expression on Luna's face. "Just bruised my shoulders, that's all." "I consider that an extremely lucky event, seeing how you managed to dent the door like that," Luna sighed. "What about you, Serena?" Serena was busy concentrating on the game and never heard Luna. "Oh, come on, you stupid game, I dodged that missile!" she grumbled as she continued to send the pixeled image of the stylish Sailor V through yet another level of action-packed adventure. Ami and Luna exchanged looks. Luna just sighed, shook her head, and made a gesture toward Serena. A wicked smile crossed Ami's face as she picked up a pillow and launched it with amazing accuracy. There was a loud crack as Serena's forehead met the hard plastic casing of the game. "Hey!" she yelled as she stood up, rubbing a sore spot. "What did you do that for?" "So we could get your attention away from that game and back to business," Luna responded crisply. "We need to put our heads together about the incident at the library. Something about that wasn't quite right." Serena blinked. "What do you mean?" "She means it was entirely too easy for a Negaverse trap," Ami translated. The blonde laughed and airily waved a hand. "We're just way too good for simple traps anymore. There's nothing to worry about." Luna frowned. "I find that highly unlikely. However, just for the sake of argument let's say that is the case and proceed on to the other topic of concern." Serena blinked again. "Like what?" "Like Ami's unusual behavior earlier today," Luna said with a meaningful look at the still-blushing Ami. "I still find it highly distressing to see you simply rush into a confrontation without thinking about it. It's something I would expect from Serena, but not from you, Ami." "Thanks," muttered Serena. "Well.... I was just.... concerned for the people still in the library." "You mean for your boyfriend?" teased Serena. Luna's expression went demonic. "Serena, sit down and put a sock in it! This is serious business and we don't need scatterbrained comments." The blonde sat hard on the bed, her wide blue eyes starting to grow wet with tears as she became upset. "He's not my boyfriend," said Ami, still studying the carpet, "But, yes, I was rather concerned for him." Luna seemed to calm down. "How's that?" she asked. "I can't explain it, Luna. I just felt that I had to do something and it had to be done immediately," Ami sighed. "That might explain your impatience, but what about the rest? You never tried to get a second scan on that strange bio-reading you reported," Luna persisted gently. "I guess I forgot about that...." "And what about the door?" said Serena. "I didn't think blasting your way through obstacles was your style, Ami." Ami closed her eyes and tried not to get upset. "I don't know, okay?" she said, her voice taking on a brittle edge. Luna blinked and backed off. "Ami, is everything all right at home? Any problems that might be affecting you?" she asked gently. Ami shook her head. "Nothing that I'm aware of." "Perhaps you've been studying just a little too hard, Ami," Serena said in a careful tone. "I think you could use a nice, long break from all of that constant book work you do." Ami looked up, a strange look in her blue eyes. "Maybe you're right." Luna yawned quietly. "Well, that could be one possibility," she allowed. "You are rather exclusive in your focus when it comes to school." Serena stood up and smiled. "And I think that your dinner date with that guy you met should be enough to do the job. You should kick back and take it easy that night. Forget about school and everything. Just talk with him, take a relaxing walk in the park, stir up a little romance and you'll be fine." The black cat looked like she was going to say something, then changed her mind. "Perhaps you just might be right after all, Serena." She turned to look at Ami. "I don't think one night without studying could hurt." "Okay, I get the picture," Ami sighed as she stood up and stretched. "Unless you two have any other concerns, I'm going to go home and take a nice, hot shower." Luna yawned again and shook her head rapidly. "Well, I can't think of anything else except to wish you well on your dinner, uh, appointment tomorrow." Serena nodded in agreement. "Same here. Take care, Ami." Ami smiled and waved. "You too," she said, then turned around and left. Luna's posture seemed to droop ever so slightly as she sighed to herself. "Just between you and me, Serena, I think there is more to it than a mere case of too much studying." "Give it a rest, Luna. Ami can take care of herself and we all have our bad days. Just give her boyfriend a chance to relax her and she'll be fine." She sat back down and picked up her Sailor V game. "Now where was I...?" Luna just sighed and shook her head. What did I do to deserve this? she thought in silence. * * * * Ami walked in silence, her mind turned inward to consider several possible problems. Could it be that I do spend too much time studying? she thought. I know that Serena thinks so, but that's just Serena. She may not be the most brilliant of people but she does have her moments. Could this be one of them? She continued to think in silence as she walked home, her subconscious mind automatically guiding her footsteps along the route from Serena's house to her own. Her autopilot mode somehow failed to notice the dark figure slowly walking up the street, however, and she ended up bumping into him. "Oh, I'm sorry about that...." she started to say, but then recognized the figure. "Commander Sterling!" The Dragoon smiled. "Hello, Ami. Tell me, do you always make it a habit of just walking into people?" Ami blushed shyly. "No, I was just thinking and I guess I wasn't keeping an eye out where I was going. Are you okay?" "Of course," he replied with a chuckle. "If I can get knocked over by you without getting scratched or bruised, then having you step on my heel shouldn't bother me in the least." Ami giggled. "Sorry. What brings you here? This is mostly a residential section and I don't think anything of military interest would be around." "Actually, I'm doing a bit of amateur survey work for a friend," he said off-handedly. "He wants to build a sort of planetarium around here and I was just looking for a good site." Ami thought for a second. "You might want to try up in those hills," she suggested, pointing at a region two miles up the street. "I think there once was an old church up there, but I can't remember for sure." Tolaris' eyebrows arched. "An old church, eh? You know, that just might be what my friend was looking for. If he could renovate it, fix it up a little bit, it'd save him a whole boatload of trouble and money." He started to laugh to himself. "Why is it every time I run into you, you wind up helping me out?" Ami blushed and looked down at the street. "I don't know. Just lucky, I guess. If you want, I can stop...." "What I want is for tomorrow to get here so I can take you out to dinner and properly thank you for all of your help today," he said softly. "Even if there isn't a church up there, at least you've given me a starting point." Ami felt her blush deepen by at least two shades and couldn't think of anything to say. Why can't I find the words to speak? she thought. It's like I've forgotten how to talk all of a sudden.... Tolaris watched with interest as Ami's cheeks continued to change colors. I sure hope they're supposed to color that strongly, he thought. Perhaps it would be wise to study human biology as well. I have to admit that the color contrasts her blue eyes and hair quite well. "You know, if you keep turning colors like that I think you'll wind up hurting something," he said, and was amazed to see the color deepen even more. "I can't quite help it...." she said as her face continued to burn a vivid shade of crimson. Tolaris chuckled softly. "Hope it doesn't spread. As I said before, blue hair is rare and it simply won't do to lose such natural beauty to something like that. I think we have enough redheads as it is." An image of Queen Beryl's vibrant red hair suddenly came to mind, and it was all he could do to avoid shuddering on the spot. Ami swore she could feel the skin being burned off of her face. "Tolaris, I have to go," she managed to say. "I need to study for school tomorrow." The Dragoon smiled at her. "Far be it from me to come between a woman and her schoolwork. I'll see you tomorrow in the park at five, Ami. Until then, take care and try not to study too much. All work and no play makes Ami a very dull girl indeed." He reached out and took her hand. "And I prefer to have a dinner companion who isn't anywhere near dull," he said quietly in a low tone. "I will see you later," he said. He kissed her hand gently before leaving, heading in the direction of the hill Ami had pointed out earlier. It took Ami several seconds to stop her mind from spinning around in a tiny circle. He's flirting with me, she thought over and over before getting a solid grip on reality. She cautiously touched her face and was surprised when she didn't burn her fingers. Why is my face burning up? Why can't I think of anything to say around him? What is it about him? Why exactly is he flirting with me? Does it matter? Her mind still slightly off-balance, Ami resumed her walk down the street and toward her house. After she got home and had showered, she sat down to try to do her studies but found that she simply couldn't focus on her work. She continued to try for half an hour but finally gave up and laid down on her bed, her mind still working furiously on the problem at hand. She spent several hours trying to come up with an answer, any answer, to the multitude of questions plaguing her thoughts. But despite her efforts, the answers continued to elude her. Why can't I get him out of my mind? was her last conscious thought before her mind slid into the world of sleep and dreams. * * * * The wormhole flared into existence and Tolaris promptly stepped through it, not wanting to linger any longer than necessary. As soon as he was across, the portal collapsed in on itself, leaving no trace of it ever existing. It would be easy to get used to this mode of travel, he thought to himself. "Greetings, Commander," said a voice behind him, catching him off-guard. It took him a great deal of effort not to jump, and even so he almost ended up discharging a lightning bolt out of reflex. He slowly turned around to see the familiar figure of General Nephlyte leaning against a wall. "So how goes your assignment?" he inquired casually. "I've had better, but I've had worse," Tolaris admitted as he took a good look around the corridor. He frowned as he realized that the wormhole hadn't taken him where he wanted to go. "Wait, why was I brought here instead of to the main staging area, and should I ask why you've been waiting for me?" Nephlyte chuckled. "This is one of the older staging areas. Queen Beryl doesn't want anyone to be able to just pop in wherever they pleased, so we had to rearrange a few of the dimensional wards to redirect wormholes to certain areas. I made an educated guess that you would want to return to your quarters to get some sleep before returning to Earth, and this is the place the ward would have sent you if you were indeed headed there." Tolaris sighed mentally. "Thank you for the warning," he said dryly. "I take it you wanted to talk to me before I went to sleep?" Nephlyte smiled. "I just wanted to see how things were going." "Right," Tolaris sighed as he pulled out a small emerald crystal. "Here," he said as he tossed it to the general. "Coordinates of an old church in an isolated area of the city, away from most of the lights and nestled among a stand of trees. I've made detailed scans of the structure and interior in case you want to renovate instead of rebuild." He then pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to the stunned Nephlyte. "And this is just something I happened to run across in an astrophysics text. I'm not betting any money that it will be of use to you, but it's better than nothing. Fair evening, sir." Tolaris didn't bother waiting for the general to say something before he left. That should keep him out of my hair for a day or two, he thought as he walked down the corridor. He hadn't gone very far when he felt a cool breeze waft down the corridor, bringing with it the smell of ky'thra blossoms. I don't need this, Tolaris thought as he resisted the impulse to indulge in a full-body shiver. Ky'thra was a very rare plant that only grew in a certain part of the world and didn't flower very often, and certainly not at this time of year. That meant that the source of the scent had to be from the one denizen he knew of that had the uncontrolled side-effect of summoning a cloud of the delicate pink petals whenever she used any of her other Chaos powers. "General Zoicite," he said in a neutral tone as he turned around to face his newest visitor. "What can I do for you?" The general's delicate laughter floated down the corridor. "Why, Tolaris, what makes you think I would want anything other than to be social for a bit? Surely you can appreciate that." Her ice-blue eyes seemed to sparkle as she gave him a little smile. The Dragoon frowned, a sense of unease creeping down his spine. "Perhaps, but there is a time and place for everything and this isn't either. I'm only here to pick up a few things, then I have to report back to my field assignment on Earth." A feigned look of surprise crossed her face. "But I thought you weren't supposed to return to Earth until you've gotten some sleep first. Or do you want to go see your human girlfriend again?" she added casually. She smiled coldly at him as his face turned as gray as his blood. "What do you mean?" he said. His mind worked furiously to come up with ways she could have known that and came up with several different answers. I think I'm starting to hate this assignment, he thought. I was supposed to get away from all of these politics, not thrown into a web of them.... "What I mean is that I know you've met up with some girl named Ami, that she has helped you with your work, that you find her attractive and have made comments on her hair at least twice, and that you've asked her out for a date tomorrow evening at five. It makes me wonder what your real purpose on Earth is, Commander," Zoicite summarized, giving him a calculated look. "It sounds like you're a bit jealous," Tolaris replied in a flat tone. "Malachite must not be pleasing you if you have to pry into other people's private lives for amusement." He ignored the flash of anger in her eyes and continued, "My mission is to study the humans, and interacting with them in a social capacity is one way of doing so. I can assure you that what I do for recreation will not affect my work." "And who's work might that be, hmm?" she replied, clearly unamused by his reference to the open-secret of her affair with the white-haired general. "I understand you've been doing a bit of work for Nephlyte on the side as well. Perhaps Queen Beryl would like to know what else you've been doing during your little visits to Earth," she suggested archly. Tolaris merely smiled. So the truth comes out, he thought. "Nephlyte had asked me to look for a place on Earth where he could build a haven so he could get away from Queen Beryl's occasional temper. If you wish, I could spend some time looking for a suitable love-nest for you and Malachite. I'm quite sure it wouldn't be any trouble...." Zoicite gave him a look that was pure venom. "I don't think that will be necessary, Commander, but thank you for offering. Just see that your little tryst doesn't affect your work or Queen Beryl will be most displeased," she warned in a glacial tone. She was suddenly enveloped in a whirlwind of tiny pink flower petals and vanished, taking most of the petals with her. The Dragoon sighed and tapped into his powers of the wind, sending a stiff breeze down the corridor and trying to disperse the smell of ky'thra blossoms. I never could quite get used to that smell, he thought darkly. "You look like you enjoyed that," said a voice behind him. Tolaris sighed and closed his eyes, wondering what he had done to deserve today. "You should know by now that sneaking up behind someone is an excellent way of getting hurt or killed, Lieutenant," he said as he turned around to glare at his best friend. "Funny," the Dragoon laughed, his tan eyes gleaming. "I haven't been hurt or killed yet. Well, at least not hurt from sneaking up on people...." "Trust me, Maze, that can be arranged quite easily. Now tell me what you want before I put you on report for eavesdropping," Tolaris growled. The Dragoon lieutenant blinked. "Calm down, boss. Unlike that flowery ice cube, all I want is to know how you've been. Shar-Tei told me you were on vacation and I wanted to see if it was true." He grinned, then added, "And if it is, then I've just won a betting pool." "I swear I'll kill her...." Tolaris muttered. "No, I'm not on vacation, just on a somewhat unstressful field assignment." Maze smirked. "Yeah, I can see how having a girlfriend can be relaxing." Tolaris lashed out, grabbing his friend's uniform tunic and pinning him against the wall. "I don't know where everyone is getting this so-called data, but I want one thing made clear: I don't, repeat, don't have a girlfriend, nor do I plan on obtaining one in the near future," he hissed. "You are acting on unfounded rumor and that is unbecoming of a Dragoon. We are supposed to be the elite intelligence, not a grapevine of gossip. Understand?" Maze nodded, his eyes wide. "Good," Tolaris sighed as he released his grip and took a step back. He dug around in his pocket for a moment before pulling out the amber crystal he had been using earlier. "I want you to take this to Processing," he said, giving the gem to Maze. "Inside is a bunch of basic background information on Earth culture and society, plus a bit of idle research on contemporary astrophysics and weather patterns. I want a hard copy of the weather stuff for my own use and you can make copies of everything for whatever purpose you need. Just make sure Queen Beryl gets a copy." "Sure, boss," Maze nodded. "Anything classified in here?" The Dragoon commander thought for a second. "No, everything can be dumped into the general research system. You might want to ask Queen Beryl first if there is anything she doesn't want made public before doing the data dump." Maze nodded in understanding. "Right. Anything else?" "Nothing else as far as business goes. I need to get a few personal items from my quarters before returning to Earth, but that's it." "Good," the purple-haired Dragoon replied as he pocketed the amber gem. "Just out of idle curiosity, how much free time to you have?" Tolaris thought carefully for a moment. "Technically until morning, but I still want to poke around the city for a while. I want to see what it looks like at night and how the citizens behave during that time." Maze coughed lightly. "I see. With all due respect, Commander, perhaps you might want to consider taking a bit of a break and unwinding tonight. You seem a little tense. You can always study the city tomorrow night after your dinner with your human friend." Tolaris eyed his friend suspiciously. "Uh huh. And what exactly did you have in mind?" he said slowly. Maze grinned. "Well, I happen to know a lovely young Security ensign who wouldn't mind spending some time with you. It seems she also can control the weather, though to a lesser degree than you, and wants to learn a few tips and tricks about the wind. Said something about flight capabilities...." That got Tolaris' attention. "You mean she can fly? How?" Maze blinked. "You mean you can't?" he asked, slightly stunned. "I mean, I've known you for ages and I've never seen you fly, but that doesn't mean you don't have a trick up your sleeve...." Tolaris shook his head. "No, I'm too heavy. Best I could ever do was hover a few inches off the ground for about six seconds. But I know it is possible to be able to fly if you're light enough. In theory," he added. "I see," Maze replied, nodding in rough understanding. "So you want me to arrange a meeting between you two?" Tolaris didn't miss the lecherous gleam in Maze's tan eyes. "Yes, but it will have to wait until I'm finished with this assignment first. However, what you can do is give her temporary level six access to the Dragoon archives, which will let her be able to read my notes regarding weather control." Maze arched an eyebrow. "Level six, huh? Want me to restrict that to a certain section of files or just give her the clean sweep?" "Restrict it to between DCT-WCN/24 and DCT-WCN/45," Tolaris instructed. "If she can't find what she needs in those, leave me a note and I'll search the rest of the archives myself, as it might be under the level seven protocols and I'm not about to grant anyone else access to that. I think she'll be find quite enough to help her, however. Oh, and Maze?" The lieutenant looked up. "Sir?" "Quit with the matchmaking. If I ever need a date or whatever, I'm quite capable of finding one on my own," Tolaris gently admonished his friend. Maze was only slightly disappointed. "Of course. Then might I suggest a visit from Hospitality?" He caught Tolaris' dark glare and smiled. "I know what you think about Hospitality, so don't start. They're not all prostitutes, you know, and they perform a wide variety of services." "Like what?" muttered Tolaris. "Well, I'm no expert but you look like you're in desperate need of a nice massage. It'll get your mind off of whatever's eating you and it just might improve your disposition to boot," he added with a wicked grin. "Thank you, Lieutenant," the Dragoon commander said dryly. Maze smiled. "Anytime. You know, if you're not really sure about their reputation, you could always ask Shar-Tei about it. She worked for Hospitality before joining the Dragoons, in case you forgot." Tolaris blinked. "She did? Doing what?" "She happens to be a very capable musician," Maze reminded him. "She said she used to play meditative music for various patrons when they needed it. Of course, that telepathic power of hers caused a few.... eyebrows to be raised," he added with a pale green blush. "That's why she got asked to leave and went into the Legion instead." Tolaris briefly considered the issue. He usually preferred to avoid the rather disreputable branch of the Negaverse military, but the thought of a nice massage did have its merits. And if Shar-Tei had found the Hospitality branch to be worthy of her skills, then it couldn't be as bad as he imagined. He looked up to find Maze grinning at him. "Now what?" he asked with a slight trace of irritation. "I can hear the gears turning in your brain. Trust me, Commander, you'll enjoy the experience. I even know who to have them send over. All you need is an hour of her attention and you'll be dead asleep. And when you wake up the next morning, you'll swear you were a new person," he promised. Tolaris sighed and gave up. "Oh, very well. But have her stop by later. I still have some work I need to take care of, and that has to be done before I return to Earth." Maze nodded in understanding. "Right. Think two hours will be enough?" "If it isn't, then I've screwed up somewhere along the way. No, two hours should be plenty." He caught the strange look in his friend's eye. "What?" "Oh, nothing really," Maze replied casually. "It's just that we've had a betting pool running for almost a century now on when you would finally let someone from Hospitality come within ten feet of you outside of an official military function." Tolaris sighed, feeling much older than he really was. "So how much will you win from this?" he said in a weary tone. "More than you really want to know. Two hours, Commander. Talk to you later," Maze said and walked away. "Tell me again why I like my job," Tolaris said to the empty corridor. "I keep forgetting...." * * * * Tolaris sat back and watched with mild interest as the weaver ate his research crystals. "I hope you enjoy them," he told it. "It took me three hours to get the data in those crystals. Are you sure you'll be able to replicate the stuff I requested?" The giant crystalline spider made a series of high-pitched sounds in its native language, sounding almost exactly like a set of wind-chimes. It then scuttled off to a corner laid down to thoroughly digest its meal. Tolaris nodded in understanding. "I'm just checking. You can wait until you've got everything. Just don't forget that I'll need them in the morning, okay?" The weaver chimed once in reply before curling up into a smooth and featureless ball. I hope it's right, he thought to himself. It's going to be difficult to take Ami out to dinner if I don't have any Earth money. But the weaver's skill at duplicating objects from mere data has never failed me before, and I don't think it will now. At least, it better not.... He looked up as there was a soft chime from his door. Perfect timing, he thought as he got up and carefully opened the door. "Commander Tolaris?" inquired the sweet voice of the emerald-haired beauty standing on his doorstep. "My name is Solstice. I believe you sent for me?" Tolaris' eyebrows arched up to his hairline. "Only if you're the masseuse from the Hospitality division," he observed. "Please, come in." She stepped into his quarters holding a medium-sized duffel bag. As she made her way into the living room, Tolaris cast a quick glance at the weaver still curled up in the corner. He frowned slightly as the sphere took on a slightly green tint for a second, then returned to transparency. He watched in concerned silence as Solstice started to unpack the contents of her bag, setting several few bottles of various colored fluids on the table. She caught his questioning look and gave him a gentle smile. "People tend to react differently to assorted oils and creams, so I have to bring a rather wide selection with me," she explained. "Before we start, do you have any sort of skin allergies that I should know about?" Tolaris grunted quietly to himself. "Aside from a distinct aversion to the usual poisons and toxins that most other people have unsavory reactions to as well, I don't have any allergies that I'm aware of." She shot him a strange look and continued to unpack. The Dragoon casually made his way across the room to stand next to the dormant weaver. Making sure Solstice couldn't see the movement, he tapped out a pattern on the weaver's carapace before moving to sit in a nearby chair. Solstice was almost finished unpacking when the weaver suddenly turned a deep shade of purple. Tolaris merely sighed and stood up, idly rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Somehow, ma'am, I don't think you're going to be a very effective spy tonight," he said in an even tone. The emerald-haired masseuse dropped a bottle of oil in surprise and shock. "What?" she said, her dark green eyes going wide. "How...? I mean...." Tolaris just shook his head. "You didn't bring any scanners or recorders in with you when you came in, so that only left two plausible explanations: You're either a telepath with excellent memory skills, or you're really just an ordinary Hospitality worker. My.... security system has just confirmed that you are indeed a telepath, and Hospitality policy is to exclude telepaths from their division. Hence, that leaves us with a psionic spy posed as a massage girl from Hospitality trying to gain access to the information in my head." Solstice looked like she was about to cry. "Please, Commander, believe me when I say I didn't want to do this," she said in a quiet voice. "They came to me yesterday and told me that I had to do this job because I was the only one qualified, and that if I didn't they would...." He gave her a slightly haunted look of understanding, knowing that this was far from the first time a particular denizen had been 'encouraged' to do a specific job that they would otherwise never even consider doing. "Of course, I understand completely. I would guess that there aren't too many beautiful young female telepaths out there with photographic memories as well as massage skills. Correct?" She sighed and nodded glumly. "They warned me that you were good and that I would be killed if my cover was blown, but that you shouldn't be able to tell if a person was telepathic or not. Nothing was said about any sort of security system," she said, starting to sniffle quietly. "Actually, I wouldn't know a telepath if she walked up and tried to fry my brain," he replied. "Come over here and try to read my thoughts." Solstice walked over and slowly sat next to him. She lightly brushed her fingers against his forehead, forging a psionic path to his mind and extending a probe outward. Seconds later, her eyes went wide with surprise as she felt nothing but a complete and total silence. "You're psi-mute!" she exclaimed. Tolaris nodded, gently breaking the mental contact. "Exactly. It seems that the part of my brain that telepaths try to make contact with somehow never developed. I can't hear telepathic broadcasts, but by the same time I am very much immune to all direct mental forms of psionics." "Ah," she said in quiet understanding. "So my skills are useless and now my cover has been blown. I.... guess it won't be long now before I'm disposed of, right?" she said, keeping a surprising degree of control over her emotions under the circumstances. The Dragoon shook his head. "Maybe not. Here's how it'll happen.... I never found out you were a telepath. You tried to do what you were supposed to but couldn't since I'm psi-mute. That can actually be verified through my medical records, but they'll have to find a way to unseal them first. No one knows I know about you and your mission is a failure due to circumstances very much beyond your control, through no fault of your own. If all goes well, they realize the simple truth, shrug, and let you go. Life should go on." She thought about it for a few moments before a small smile brushed the corners of her lips. "When they warned me that you were the master of military intelligence, they weren't kidding, were they?" she said demurely. Tolaris shrugged in dismissal. "I wouldn't put it in those terms, but it is not important. You may as well make yourself comfortable for a while. It would be suspicious if your.... patrons saw you leaving here before you were supposed to have finished with me." The telepath laughed softly, the smile growing slightly wider. "Well, if you put it that way, we may as well go ahead with the massage. Just because I can't do the one job doesn't mean I can't do the other...." Tolaris chuckled quietly and allowed himself to be led over to the bed by the admittedly beautiful young woman. He removed his uniform tunic and laid down as he was asked to do as she sat next to him and grabbed a bottle of oil. She had opened it and was about to pour the pale oil into her hands when she noticed Tolaris making a face. "What is it?" she inquired cautiously. "Please," he grunted with a sour expression. "I'm usually not picky about such things, but still.... anything but ky'thra blossoms. I've developed a deep dislike for them over the years. Don't ask me why." Solstice shrugged and picked through her collection of oils and creams. "Would you mind smelling like kath petals for a while?" she asked as she held up the bottle of pale purple flower oil. "As long as it doesn't remind me of anyone I hate," the Dragoon muttered as he closed his eyes, trying to get the image of the delicate pink ky'thra blossoms surrounding Zoicite out of his mind. Solstice blinked and just shook her head. "Okay...." she said in a wary tone before taking a deep breath and going to work. * * * * Serena was sitting by the lakeside, gazing wistfully up at the stars. I wish he would come here with me, she thought. It would be so romantic.... She blinked in surprise as a red rose was placed in her lap. Startled, she looked up only to find the gently smiling face of Tuxedo Mask looking down at her. "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it," he said softly. She smiled as she was helped up. "Tuxedo Mask, you heard my thoughts?" He laughed quietly. "It's not hard to hear what your heart is saying, my beloved Serena." She blushed. "Then you know how I feel for you...." He took her hand in his and drew her close. "Which is exactly how I feel for you, my love." "So you do love me...." she said in a dreamy tone. "I always have, Serena, and I always will," he said as he bent his head down to kiss her.... And the world exploded into reality as the alarm clock on her nightstand went off. She reached out to throw it across the room but only succeeded in tossing a surprised and sleepy Luna off of the bed. "Serena!" the cat said as she got up off of the floor. "Come on, get up! It's time for school, and if you don't move now you'll be late again!" "Just another few more minutes...." Serena muttered as she rolled over. "But that's what you said twenty minutes ago when your alarm went off the first time," Luna protested. "It's seven-fifty!" That got Serena's attention. "What time is it?" she blurted out. "You've got ten minutes to get to class or it's detention time again!" Luna called out, adding just the right note of urgency to her voice. Serena bolted out of bed, her blue eyes dangerously wide. "Ten minutes?! WAAAAHHHH, I'll be late again!" she cried and dashed into the bathroom. Luna chuckled to herself as she started to preen the rumples out of her dark fur. It may only be seven-thirty, she thought, but just as long as she thinks she'll be late she won't waste any time. I just hope she doesn't catch on to the true time until she gets to school.... She heard the doorbell ring and her whiskers started to droop with the realization. Oh, no, don't let that be Ami.... "Hi, Mrs. Tsukino. Is Serena up yet?" came the familiar voice as it drifted up from downstairs. Just then, Serena dashed out of the bathroom wearing her school uniform. She quickly grabbed her school books and ran out the door, almost running Luna over in her haste. She bolted down the stairs two at a time, somehow avoiding tripping over her knee-length hair in the process. It was a rather amazing display of dexterity for the blonde, who often had problems trying to walk and chew bubblegum at the same time. "Comeonwe'relatewegottago!" she babbled at just under lightspeed as she grabbed Ami's arm and tried to take off running. Her arm was almost yanked out of its socket as Ami refused to budge. "Serena, what are you talking about?" Ami said, blinking in confusion. "We've got almost thirty minutes to get to class. What's your hurry?" Serena blinked, her pulse still racing. "We're not late?" she asked. It sank in a few seconds later and she turned around to fix Luna with a deadly glare. "I'm not late?" she said in a dangerously soft tone, causing the cat to smile weakly and begin to backpedal. Ami just laughed and patted her friend on the back. "Well, at least you won't be if you get going now, Serena," she pointed out. "I'll deal with you later," Serena promised her cat. Ami giggled. "Come on, Serena, let's go." The two walked toward the school in relative silence, Serena being too upset to talk and Ami not in the mood for idle chatter. They hadn't gotten far when they felt another icy wind blow through them. They exchanged looks before Ami pulled out her computer to search for the source of the disturbance. "Up there," Ami said as she pointed to the nearby hills. "I'm picking up a strange life reading, it could be someone from the Negaverse." "Not again," Serena whined. I'm really starting to hate this." Ami looked about to make sure no one was around. "We'll have to discuss this later. Ready?" Serena nodded her head glumly. "Yeah, let's get this one over with," she sight as she held up her hand. "Moon Prism Power!" she yelled. Ami held up her silvery wand. "Mercury Power!" she said loudly, causing their transformations into the Sailor Scouts. Once the energies had finished, they ran up the street toward the site of the disturbance. "I don't.... see how you.... can type.... like that.... when you're.... running...." Sailor Moon puffed as the road's angle grew steeper. "It's easier than.... you would think...." Mercury said, steadying her computer with one hand and poking at it with the other. The computer beeped loudly and she made a sharp right turn onto a dirt road. The move caught the other Sailor Scout by surprise and she overshot the road before she stopped and slowly backtracked. "I don't get it," Sailor Moon said, still out of breath. "Why are we in the middle of nowhere if the Negaverse is looking for energy? You would think that they'd be some place populated...." Without any sort of warning, a dense fog bank sprang up and enveloped the two Sailor Scouts. Mercury immediately crouched down and started typing away furiously at her computer, making a motion for Sailor Moon to do the same. "One of your bubbles get away from you?" Sailor Moon whispered as she knelt down, nervously looking around her for any signs of trouble. Mercury shook her head. "This isn't my doing," she whispered back. "My computer reads this as a natural fogbank, but you saw how sudden it appeared." She touched one of her earrings and a band of blue light formed over her eyes, quickly solidifying into her Virtual Visor. She typed a short command into her computer, causing various tactical readouts to appear on her visor. "I've got one bio-reading but I can't pinpoint it due to this fog," she said as she continued to scan the area. "My best guess is that it's anywhere between fifty feet and eight feet over there," she said as she pointed towards a barely visible grove of trees. "You might want to check again...." Sailor Moon said, her voice starting to waver with a strange emotion. Mercury glanced over at Sailor Moon to see what was wrong. An icy chill washed over her as she watched the blood drain out of Sailor Moon's face, her wide eyes staring at something above Mercury's head. Mercury turned to look, then immediately wished she hadn't. The only thing Mercury could think of was that they were probably in a lot of trouble right now. The beast was the size of a large dog, hovering in place on a pair of gauzy wings. Cold blue eyes seemed to bore straight through them as it hissed quietly, sounding very much like steam escaping a kettle. Large claws were flexed as it lashed a reptilian tail back and forth, creating odd eddies and currents in the fog. A mist dragon, thought Mercury. Her computer automatically relayed its analysis to her visor, overlaying what she saw with words and symbols. Okay, she thought in a panic, so we found what we're looking for.... Now what? * * * * So now what? thought Tolaris as he sat in a tree, watching the two Sailor Scouts deal with the phantasm. It looks real, it sounds real, it should even smell real.... so now what are you going to do about it? The Dragoon suppressed the urge to yawn. I really didn't want to get up this early, he thought with a mental grunt. He knew, however, that this was probably the best time to catch the Sailor Scouts off-guard. And if a trained soldier like I am sleepy, how good can a pair of girls like you be feeling? His train of thought vanished as he watched one of them touch her ear, causing a strange light to form over her eyes. I don't like this, the Dragoon thought with a frown. What is she up to? He held out his own crystal scanner and didn't like what it reported. A tactical computer, eh? So that one must be Sailor Mercury, interesting. So she has a tactical computer as well as an analytical one. I seriously hope it won't pick up the holographic crystal before I can get a full scan of both of them. He paused as he took a closer look and blinked in surprise. Another blue-haired one, eh? So perhaps they're not quite nearly as rare on Earth as they are in the Negaverse. Interesting.... He watched with dismay as Mercury turned her head to her left to look at something. She said something to the other Sailor Scout, then darted off. The hologram turned to follow Mercury and the other one stood up and shouted out a warning, removing her tiara and dropping into a combat stance. Maybe this won't be a wasted trip after all, he thought as he held out his crystal scanner. The tiara started to glow with a strange light as it melted and reformed into a flat disc, causing him to smile with satisfaction as the scanner recorded all the information that raced across its tiny display as it analyzed the glowing disc. Excellent, he thought. Now if you'll just have the decency to throw it and let me get some peformance data.... Or better yet, throw it at the mist phantasm and watch as it passes right through and hits your friend instead. His smile faded as Mercury came to a halt and brought her foot down hard on something. The sound of shattering crystal echoed through the area as the holographic mist dragon vanished. Tolaris sighed and turned his focus inward for a moment, releasing the wave of energy that held the fog bank together and allowed it to evaporate beneath the glare of the morning sun. Great, he thought dourly as the second Sailor Scout reversed her tiara's transformation. Well, at least I've gotten scans of that tiara and of Sailor Mercury's boot, for what that one will be worth. I guess something is still better than nothing.... The crystal beeped a warning and Tolaris didn't need to glance at it to know that someone was trying to scan him. Sorry, my blue-haired friend, you will not find me out that easily, he thought with a glance towards Mercury as he concentrated on the Silkworm crystal. A wormhole flared into existence in front of him, giving him his means of escape. He leapt through it and into the street beyond, almost falling on his backside as he landed wrong and stumbled. The wormhole flared once more before it collapsed behind him and vanished. He sighed softly and looked around. "At least I didn't manage to get lost this morning," he said as he saw the library across the street. He stepped out of the alley and frowned, sniffing the air cautiously. Smells like a storm, he thought as he scanned the sky for the tell-tale gray clouds. The clouds were farther away than he had expected, but they were certainly storm clouds. Much as I like storms, he thought, I don't want a sudden rain to spoil an evening walk in the park. He concentrated briefly and a subtle high pressure system formed above the city. The system would keep the storm front away from the city until well past nightfall, giving him enough time to enjoy his evening with Ami. His train of thought switched tracks, thinking about Ami instead. Now why do I have a bit of difficulty getting her out of my mind? he wondered as he crossed the street and entered the library. He briefly noted with amusement that a pair of maintenance workers were still working on putting the heavy door back on its newly replaced hinges. He collected several books and sat down in a remote corner of the study lounge. He tried to focus on the material but his mind kept wandering back to Ami. He put the biology text down on the table and just sighed quietly. "I give up," he muttered darkly, drawing an odd look from a passing librarian. Just what is it about her? She is quite beautiful, but she is also entirely too young. Or am I just too old? The Dragoon sat up as a new line of thought occurred to him. Could that be it? Could it be I've spent too much of my life dedicated to my duty, and that I now find myself wanting some company? Wanting someone's attentions? He sat back and laughed quietly. Come on, Commander, you're over seven hundred and she's probably not even sixteen. Physically. He sat up again as a third set of thoughts came to him. It is proven that physical and mental ages can vary by several years, he mused. Of course, I'm physically seven hundred and twenty-four, and on some days it feels like I'm pushing two thousand, but Ami seems to be mentally older than she looks. Could it be that I find myself attracted to her because she's older than she seems? Am I even attracted to her? he thought briefly, but the answer was almost obvious. Probably. I guess the real reason I invited her out to dinner was so that I could spend more time with her. And there's the matter of the storm I delayed. I did it so our walk wouldn't be interrupted. Tolaris sat back as several trains of thought ran through his head. He never could answer all of the questions, but he realized that it boiled down to a set of very simple facts: He liked Ami, he didn't know why, and he really didn't care why. Sounds like I'm going to have a few ideas to bounce off of Maze when I get back, he thought with a quiet sigh. That is, if I can get him to keep his mouth shut about it.... With his mind calmed down, Tolaris reached out and picked up the biology book once again. He had almost finished with the section regarding blushing and related responses when a single thought popped up from his subconscious. The nature of the thought was so startling that he almost dropped the book in shock. Why didn't I think of it before? he thought. What happened to that third Sailor Scout I heard yesterday? Why didn't she come with the others? The Dragoon sighed darkly and sat back to contemplate his new line of questioning, all thoughts of Ami and biology forgotten. * * * * Ms. Haruna glanced up from her desk just in time to catch Serena trying to quietly sneak into class. She sighed darkly as she stood up and grabbed the prepared detention form off of her desk. Why am I not surprised? she thought to herself. "Well, Ms. Tsukino, so nice of you to join us," she said, doing her best to keep the worst of the scorn and sarcasm out of her voice. "You do realize that this is the fifth time this month that you've been late to class, hmm?" Serena silently nodded as she held her hand out to receive the detention form. She was late to class at least once a week, so the routine was quite familiar to her. She signed the form, kept the bottom copy, and took her seat in the middle of the room. Ms. Haruna glared at her before turning back to her class. "Okay, now as I was saying...." She trailed off as she saw Ami meekly walk into the room, wearing the same expression Serena did. "Ms. Mizuno...?" she said slowly. Ami nodded glumly. "Sorry I'm late, Ms. Haruna. I, uh, was rather busy this morning and wasn't watching the time," she explained quietly. A minor shockwave rippled through the class. Ami's punctuality was almost legendary, and for her to be tardy to class without a serious medical reason or legitimate excuse was simply unheard of. The teacher blinked in concern. "Are you feeling okay, Ms. Mizuno?" she asked carefully. "Are you sick or anything?" "No, I'm fine," Ami replied. "I was just.... sidetracked, that's all." "I see. Well, take your seat and please don't let it happen again." Ms. Haruna waited until Ami sat down before turning back to the class. "Now, as I was saying, everyone please get out your homework assignment from Friday." She made her way up and down the rows of desk, marking in her grade book who had their homework completed and who didn't. She came to a dead stop and almost dropped the book when she came to Serena. Serena looked up in confusion. "What? I did my homework. See?" she said as she held out the completed assignment. Ms. Haruna's hand shook as she examined the paper. "You actually sat down and did the homework?" she said, her eyes going wide in shock. This time a major shockwave ran through the room, as Serena's habit of waiting until the last minute to do her homework was nearly as legendary as Ami's punctuality. The teacher walked over to her desk and set her grade book down. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she said calmly and left the room. Almost immediately the room started to buzz with rumors as to why she left. Serena's friend Molly stood up and walked over. "Boy, Serena, I think you really blew her mind this time," she drawled, her American-born Brooklyn accent even worse than usual today. "You really did your homework?" "Actually, yes," Serena replied primly. "I did it late Sunday night, but I still did it. By myself, too," she added with pride. "What a real mind-bender," Molly said, shaking her head in both amusement and amazement. "I'll bet having Ami late for class didn't help Ms. Haruna either. What happened, anyway?" "Umm...." Serena hesitated before looked over at Ami. She was surprised to see that she wasn't spending the free time reading. Instead, she was idly staring at her desk with a haunted look on her face. The blonde stood up and was about to walk over to Ami when Melvin popped up with a grin on his face. "Hey, guess what?" he squeaked, causing both girls to shiver slightly. "Ms. Haruna is outside smoking a cigarette!" "What? You're kidding," Serena said in stunned amazement. "I'm not joking!" Melvin protested with a violent shake of his head. "I can't really tell for sure from up here, but it looks like it's unfiltered. I think you really threw her for a loop this time, Serena," he whispered. Molly got up and moved over to the window. "He's not lying, Serena," she said in wonder. "Ms. Haruna is standing underneath the tree, puffing away like a dragon. Who would have thought it?" she said to herself before glancing down and blinking hard. "Quick, everyone, here she comes!" she called out as she dashed back to her seat. There was a brief scramble as everyone dove for their seats. Ms. Haruna walked in a few seconds later, picked up her grade book, and continued to check the homework papers as if nothing had happened. She quickly finished before returning to the front of the room. "Okay, everyone, take out your math book and turn to chapter twelve, page two-thirteen. We will start today with second and third-degree polynomial equations. If you will note, multiplying or dividing the sides of an equation by a non-zero number gives us a new, correct equation...." * * * * Serena was sitting beneath the tree contentedly munching on the remains of her lunch when an inky black shape silently dropped out of the branches into her lap. Before she could scream in surprise and fear, the cat reached up and laid a paw across her lips. "Serena, it's me," Luna whispered as she spat out a feather. "Calm down. I didn't quite intend to land in your lap like that." "Luna, you almost gave me a heart attack!" the blonde gasped, her pulse still racing. "Umm, why are you here at school? Is something the matter?" Luna sighed. "Shortly after you and Ami left for school, I felt the Negaverse nearby. I think they're up to something again." "We already dealt with it this morning," said Ami as she quietly sat next to Serena. "I don't know what they were doing, but I didn't like it one bit." The black cat waited patiently as Ami recounted the events that took place up in the hills earlier that day. She was mildly surprised when Serena stayed quiet throughout the recollection. "Serena, you're awfully quiet about this," she spoke up once Ami fell silent. "Is something wrong?" "No, it's just that I was late to school because of that stupid trap and now I've got another detention after class," Serena blurted out, her mouth set in a thin line with frustration. "This is starting to annoy me, especially since you got me up early just so I wouldn't be late." Luna just sighed and shook her head, knowing that this wasn't the first time the blonde had complained about her destiny and as quite sure it wouldn't be the last. "I'm sorry, Serena, but it's your destiny to be Sailor Moon, and being late to school is just one of the small prices to we all have to pay in order to stop the Negaverse from conquering Earth." "But I didn't ask to be Sailor Moon!" Serena wailed. Ami smiled and gently laid her hand on Serena's shoulder. "You should try to look at it from my point of view. At least you get to kick the Negaverse's butt when they start something. All I can do is analyze whatever they throw at us and blow foggy bubbles. I can't hurt them like you can, I simply don't have the power or ability." Serena looked up and sighed. "Well, you do have a point. I guess being Sailor Moon isn't that bad after all. But still, I hate being late because of the Negaverse." "Once we find the Moon Princess and defeat Queen Beryl once and for all, then you can go back to being an ordinary school girl," Luna explained gently, reminding her of their core mission. "So maybe if you concentrated on things a little more, we could find her and get this over with as soon as possible. Remember, if Queen Serenity can keep them at bay for a thousand years, then surely the Moon Princess can do the same." Serena nodded in resignation. "Yeah, I know...." Ami giggled. "Besides, if you weren't Sailor Moon then you would never have met Tuxedo Mask. How's that for incentive?" The blonde's eyes went starry as she thought of Tuxedo Mask and Luna just sighed again. "There she goes again," the cat mutered, "Off into her fantasy dream world." She blinked as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Why didn't Tuxedo Mask show up to give you girls a hand this morning? He usually does when Sailor Moon is in danger...." "Probably because we had everything under control," Serena said, still thinking of Tuxedo Mask. "It was a piece of cake to deal with that illusion." Ami made a face. "Knock it off, Serena. I'm the one who stepped on the crystal generating the illusion and you almost threw your tiara at me for my efforts. What I'm more concerned about is that strange bio-reading I got. It vanished before I could get a definite reading on it, but I think it could have matched the one I got in the library." Serena blinked and focused on reality. "Ami, are you sure your computer isn't on the fritz? The fog was part of the illusion, yet your computer tried to tell us it was natural." Her blue-haired friend shook her head. "No, the fog was real. If you remember, it didn't disappear until after the crystal had been destroyed and the dragon illusion vanished. I can't explain what it was, but the fog was definitely real." "I don't like this," Luna said slowly. "First it's a simple trap that's disarmed with a mere touch, now a simple holographic illusion. And plus we have a strange bio-reading at both sites. This simply doesn't feel like the Negaverse's usual tricks and traps," she pointed out. "I told you before, we're just getting too good for those guys," Serena said with a smile. Luna sighed heavily, feeling the weight of her years bearing down on her. Why me? Why her? she thought. "Serena, I seriously doubt that's the case." Ami abruptly stood up. "I hate to interrupt you two, but we'll have to talk about this later. Come on, Serena, class is almost about to start and we don't want to be late again." Serena made a face as she got up. "You got that right," she muttered to no one in particular before looking down at to Luna. "I guess I'll see you after detention, Luna." Luna nodded in sympathy. "Unfortunatley, it looks that way. Take care, you two," she said before leaping up into the tree. "What is she doing in the tree?" Ami inquired as they went back into the school building. "Just because our lunch is over doesn't mean hers is," Serena muttered. "I see...." * * * * "Commander?" said the polite voice at it intruded into his thoughts. Tolaris looked up from his work, blinking as he noticed that the voice belonged to a dark-skinned ensign from the Security division. he frowned in concern, wondering why she was sent to find him. "How can I help you, uh, Ensign...?" he prompted cautiously. She smiled. "Ensign Tempest, sir. It seems that your presence has been, shall we say, requested back at the, uh, base." The Dragoon's frown deepened as several thoughts occurred to him. This is not good, he thought. I'm not due to report to Queen Beryl for another eleven Earth hours, so something must be wrong. "Very well, Ensign, lead on," he said, gesturing for her to take the lead. She casually made her way out of the building with Tolaris in tow, a dark frown still marring his face. "Perhaps you might not want to look like you ate a live rakketh, sir," the willowy ensign suggested. "It might make some people suspicious." Tolaris sighed and nodded. "My apologies. I'm rather concerned that something might be wrong if they sent you to find me. I wasn't due to check in until well past nightfall." A sudden wind sprang up, causing Tempest's mane of snow-white hair to whip about wildly. She nodded her head fractionally and turned down a narrow alley, gesturing for him to follow. He started to do so, but came to a halt when she stopped suddenly and turned around to face him. "I understand Queen Beryl is in a foul mood about something," she said as she handed him a piece of paper. He was about to say something when she laid a finger across her lips. Tolaris nodded in reply and silently read the note. Shar-Tei has reason to believe that you're being monitored somehow. She can't quite figure out how, but her intelligence shows that Zoicite has been feeding Beryl info about your activities on Earth, including about your social plans with the human girl. I suggest that you watch yourself and assume that anything you say or hear is being monitored. - Maze "Any idea what it could be this time?" Tolaris asked his escort as he read the message again. Oh, this is just perfect, he goraned indwardly. I hate politics.... I'll bet that Zoicite is ticked about my dinner date and told Beryl about it to light a fire under my ptanka. "No clue, sir," the Ensign replied truthfully. "With all due respect, you may as well find out for yourself," she said quietly as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a very familiar crystal. Tolaris' eyebrows shot up as he recognized the ornate setting the small gem was housed in. "Excuse me, Ensign, but isn't that the Silkworm crystal the Dragoon Legion is supposed to have in its possession for official purposes? And if so, should I ask why someone from Security is using it?" Tempest gave him a faintly embarassed smile. "Yes it is, and I happened to have been talking to your Lieutenant Maze when word came down that you were needed. I volunteered for the job and was given temporary use of the crystal." Tolaris raised an eyebrow before a puzzle piece suddenly clicked into place in his mind. "I get it...." he said slowly. "You're the one who is also able to control the weather like I can, aren't you?" Tempest blushed slightly. "I am," she replied. "I had wanted to meet you for some time now and this seemed like a good opportunity to do so. Oh, and thank you for the computer files and notes on weather control. They've proven to be quite useful already." "My pleasure. Ensign," the Dragoon replied with a small smile. "After all, we weather elementalists have to stick together, seeing how we're such a rare breed. There's only what, four of us?" "Five, actually," she corrected. "But the fifth is a very young girl, not even a century old yet, and is still trying to learn to control her powers without drastically upsetting the regional weather." "Interesting," Tolaris blinked, realizing that this was the first he had heard of the young girl. "When you get back, would you ask Security to get me a copy of any records we have on her? I wouldn't mind trying to teach her if she needs any help." "No problem, Commander," she said as she activated the Silkworm crystal. A swirling wormhole promptly flared into existence in the alley, leading into a rather dark chamber. The ensign made a gesture and Tolaris stepped through, blinking in surprise as he found himself in the main audience chamber of Queen Beryl. He knew that the chamber was usually heavily warded against wormholes, which meant that they had been removed in anticipation of his arrival. It was not an overly comforting revelation. The Dragoon saluted Beryl as Tempest stepped through the wormhole behind him. The vortex promptly collapsed once the ensign was across and the crystal handed over to Lieutenant Maze. Maze flashed her a quick smile as he accepted the Silkworm crystal and whispered a quick thank-you. "Thank you, Ensign Tempest," said Queen Beryl from her throne, her voice echoing slightly in the massive chamber. "You are dismissed." The Security officer saluted her queen before quickly leaving the room. Maze gave Tolaris a meaningful look before he took several steps back, semi-disappearing into the surrounding shadows. Tolaris nodded briefly in understanding before he stepped forward to speak with the Dark Queen. "I understand you wanted to see me, my Queen," Tolaris said calmly. Queen Beryl smiled at him, sending a distict chill through the Dragoon. "It has been brought to my attention that you are starting to show signs of inattention to your mission objectives," she said in a level tone. "I wanted to speak with you to see what exactly is going on with you and your mission." Tolaris frowned as the chill in his blood deepened. "I am not aware of any such inattention," he said in a guarded tone. "Perhaps if you could tell me what you mean, I might be able to explain to your satisfaction." The smile faded from her lips as she leaned back against the throne. "I understand that you have spent a significant amount of time socializing with a young human girl and that you are starting to display signs of what has been interpreted as a romantic involvement." A cold wind blew through Tolaris. I hate being right about some things, he thought, resisting the urge to look around for Zoicite and the soft smile that would most likely be on her lips. "My Queen, part of my studies involves socialization with the humans to learn more about their culture. One young woman in particular has helped me, on several occasions, with my studies about Earth. Part of my cover as a native is to behave like one, and one such act is the repayment of a favor with a social event." Beryl looked mildly amused. "And you are repaying the favor by becoming romantically involved with her?" she inquired lightly. The Dragoon had to laugh. "No, my Queen, I am merely repaying the favor by taking her out to dinner," he explained. "As you will see in my report, this is considered an acceptable form of repayment. Am I to presume that you have yet to see my notes regarding the cultural significance of that?" Queen Beryl shook her head and Tolaris turned around to glare at Maze. The Dragoon lieutenant had the grace to look embarrassed and quickly left to obtain the notes from Processing. Tolaris sighed quietly and turned back around to find Beryl giving him a strange look. "I understand, however, that taking a person out to a meal is often seen as a romantic gesture, sometimes suggesting a desire for romantic involvement," Beryl pointed out in a neutral tone. Tolaris mentally winced. "That much is true, my Queen, but I have no such sentiments with regard to the human girl," he assured her. "I would hope so, Commander," Beryl mused as she laughed softly. "I have a slight difficulty imagining that someone like you who has actively shunned such romance for centuries would suddenly turn to a mere child, and a human at that, for a meaningful relationship." She suddenly sat up straight, a leery look crossing her face. "However," she continued in a dangerous tone, "I have also seen far stranger things in my time. Perhaps you don't have any such intentions, but I warn you that I will not tolerate any interference in your mission. Make sure this.... relationship doesn't affect your mission, Commander, or I assure you the penalties will be quite harsh." "Understood, my Queen," Tolaris said simply. Beryl nodded sat back once again. "Now then, seeing how you're already here, I'd like to hear a brief verbal report on your current progress with the mission." Tolaris sighed softly, realizing that the sandbag was about to fall on his head far sooner than he would have liked. "I'm afraid that I've managed to underestimate the Sailor Scout's resources," he said, choosing his words with great care but remaining honest. "During my first encounter with them, I was able to learn that the one called Sailor Mercury possesses an analytical and tactical computer with a rather surprising range of capabilities. Not only was she able to detect the simple nature of the energy crystal, she also managed to get a partial reading on my life-signs despite cloaking measures. Fortunately she failed to get a second reading once the crystal was destroyed. "Also during that encounter, I heard three voices instead of the expected two and I believe that there is a third Sailor Scout working with them. Due to the nature of my camouflage I was unable to view them as they dealt with the energy crystal, and due to an oversight on my part, I didn't think of trying to get a voice recording them." Beryl gave him a reproving look. "Commander Tolaris, I'm surprised that you would overlook something like that. However, at least you have the courage to admit that the fault was yours. I don't believe I've ever gotten such a confession out of Jedyt. Still, such underestimations are rather disturbing." "I am currently in the process of rectifying those oversights now," he assured her. "During my second encounter with them, I was able to obtain a visual snapshot of two of the Sailor Scouts, as well as some readings of Sailor Moon's tiara-weapon and of Sailor Mercury's boot." Beryl blinked in surprise. "Sailor Mercury's boot?" she echoed as a delicate eyebrow arched up to her hairline. Tolaris allowed himself to smile. "That was unintentional. I had used a holographic projector crystal to simulate a mist dragon. Sailor Mercury used her tactical computer to locate the crystal and then brought her heel down on it. The crystal was programmed to do a thorough scan on whatever deactivated it, which happened to be her left boot." She gave him a look that said she was clearly not amused. "Were I not distressed by your lack of useful information, Commander, I might have found that to be remotely amusing," she said in a dark tone. "So what is your plan for your next encounter with those Sailor Scouts?" Tolaris frowned slightly. "I don't have a plan in mind yet, my Queen. I am still rather occupied with my research regarding human society and culture. It is quite involving and I don't believe I could be ready to lay another trap for the Sailor Scouts for some time." Beryl's red eyes narrowed. "Then perhaps you should not be spending too much of your time with that human girl?" she suggested acidly. "I believe that would be unwise," Tolaris countered in a respectful tone. "Much of the information I have gathered in my research has been with her help, without which I would probably still be researching even now. Plus, dealing with her has given me several new insights into the human society and culture. Granted I won't be spending much time with her, but I view her as an invaluable source of information." The dark queen was silent for several seconds, her neutral expression masking whatever thoughts that were running through her mind. "Even though I am highly displeased with your lack of progress," she said at length, "I will allow you to continue with your mission. Be warned, however, that should you let your social research interfere with your mission, the consequences will be very severe and exacting. You are dismissed, Commander." Tolaris before silently leaving the chamber, trying to get the chill in his blood to thaw out. I'm starting to hate this assignment more and more with each passing hour, he thought. This was supposed to be an easy assignment, not one of the worst ones of my entire career. I think I need a quick nap before my dinner date with Ami. He stopped in the corridor as an idea occurred to him. Perhaps.... I need something better than a nap, he mused as a small smile formed on his face. He turned around and headed in the general direction of the main Hospitality annex on the third level of the Imperial Castle. Maybe I can find out if Solstice is still somewhere around here. I could use another nice massage.... Still smiling to himself, he walked down the hallway and through the very elaborate doorway of the one divsion in the Negaverse military he had avoided with a passion for over five hundred years. * * * * Tolaris sigh wearily as he sat down at his desk, feeling every bit as old as he was. That's it, he thought, when this assignment is over I think I'm going to need a vacation. A real one, one that takes me very far from here. I hear the Outreaches are rather nice this time of year.... "Hospitality have anything to say about this?" he asked Maze as he read through the incident report once again. The purple-haired Dragoon paced back and forth. "Very little," he sighed. "Solstice was never a part of Hospitality, so they don't have any information on her and they really don't care who she was. As far as they're concerned, my request for a masseuse for you got lost in a paper shuffle and no one ever paid you a visit." "Right," snorted Tolaris. He tossed the report back on his desk with yet another dark sigh. "So now all we've got is a dead spy and a lot of unanswered questions. Do we even know what division she worked for?" Maze shook his head. "Not even that. None of the record traces I've done has come up with anything, and I mean nothing. No name, no registration code, not even a fingerprint match. It's as if she never existed until they found her stuffed in a mailbox." Tolaris made a face. "Thank you for reminding me, Lieutenant." He looked up as a nameless cadet entered his office, dropped off a stack of reports, and left in a slight haste. "Now what?" the Dragoon commander muttered as he went through the stack. "I thought Shar-Tei was supposed to deal with this stuff while I was on assignment." "Loving your job yet?" Maze asked with a smirk. Tolaris was busy reading a short note from General Nephlyte and didn't pay attention. He's got a cathedral built on the site already? he thought. That was fast.... Oh, I see how he did it. Amazing what a horde of weavers will do for you if you know what to offer them for lunch. I'll have to stop by and check it out later. He blinked hard as Maze poked him, causing him to jerk reflexively. "Sorry, what was that?" he said belatedly. "Just asking if you're loving your job yet," Maze grinned. "Very much so," Tolaris muttered in reply. "If you want it, it's yours." Maze laughed. "Sorry, but I'm not quite dumb enough to accept any kind of job dealing with administration. Ah, no offense, Commander," he added. Tolaris just sighed. "Lieutenant, who did you want to have Hospitality send over last night?" "A beautiful woman by the name of Xenon," Maze replied with a faint smile on his lips. "She has the most vivid shade of red hair you've ever seen in your life, and she's got lots of it, too. I mean it's almost down to her.... uh, waist. And I mean bright red hair. Puts Beryl's hair to shame." "Mmm hmm," Tolaris said distantly. "And how good are her massage skills?" Maze smiled. "Just between you and me, she's not the best but she's got a razor-sharp mind to go with a killer body. Talking to her is almost as much fun as letting her work on your back. Almost." "I see," Tolaris said absnetly as he stood up and stretched. He glanced at the chronometer on his desk and his mood lightened. "Almost time for me to get back to my research on Earth. I understand being late for a dinner date is considered to be very rude and I certainly don't want to be that. I trust I can leave this case in your hands?" he asked Maze, gesturing with the report of Solstice's death. Maze shrugged. "Guess so, seeing how I don't think it'll go very far." He looked at Tolaris and grinned. "Anyway, good luck with your.... research." He started to walk away, then stopped abruptly. "Oh, and I'll see if Shar-Tei has managed to come up with anything else regarding her own research. I think you know which project I'm talking about." Tolaris nodded meaningfully. "My thanks to both of you." "Just be careful, boss," said Maze as he left the room. Tolaris sat back down to read the new reports when Maze slowly backed into the room, his face a sickly shade of white. "Uh, boss...?" "What?" the Dragoon commander asked with concern. "There's a rather sizable crystal spider just sitting out here...." Tolaris smiled. "Relax, Lieutenant. Dyvach won't hurt you unless you've managed to get it mad, which really isn't all that easy to do. Now step aside and let it in here." Maze gulped and retreated to a far corner of the office. Seconds later, the weaver entered the room chiming softly to itself. It skittered over to the desk and deposited a dark crystal box in front of Tolaris. It chimed loudly for several seconds before scuttling back out of the room. "Thanks!" Tolaris called out to the weaver's back. M