"Susan, what's that?" the six-year-old asked quietly as she pressed her fingertip against the glass casing. Sailor Pluto looked up from the book she was reading and cast a glance in the indicated direction. "A collection of books that belonged to your great-grandmother," she said. "They're rather old and fragile, which is why they've been put into protective storage." The child shook her head, sending her jet-black bangs flying back and forth. "Not the books, that," she said, emphasizing her meaning with a jab of her finger against the glass. Pluto blinked for a moment as her mind tried to recall what else might have been sealed in the casings. Her demonic memory drew a blank and she mentally shrugged, seting her book aside as she stood up. "Let me see," she said as she walked over to the case. "You mean that little box on the second shelf, near the very end?" "Yes," the child replied instantly. "Oh, that," Pluto chuckled as she finally remembered what it was. "That is the deck of tarot cards that your great-grandmother sometimes used in her spiritual readings." "What's tarrow?" she asked, fumbling over the unfamilar syllables. "Tarot," Pluto corrected gently out of sheer reflex. "It's...." she said slowly as she sought the best phrasing that would make sense to the child. "One method of fortune-telling," came the soft voice of Sailor Mars as she entered the library and moved next to Sailor Pluto. "The cards are randomly drawn, and it is said that the Hand of Fate guides the teller into picking the cards that symbolize whatever it is that is being asked or sought." "Hi, Aria!" the little girl said as she darted forward to hug the new arrival. Mars chuckled quietly to herself and returned the enthusiastic embrace. "Hello, Hotaru. I see you're feeling better today." "The resilience of youth," Pluto observed with a faint smile. "Do you use tarrow cards in your medada.... met...." Hotaru fumbled. "Meditations," Pluto said slowly. Mars shook her head. "No, astrology is the domain of your House, not mine. I deal with the spiritual that comes from within." Hotaru blinked and turned her attention back to the ancient deck in the case. "But why....?" Mars coughed quickly. "I think that answer would take quite some time for even Sailor Pluto to explain," she interjected to stem off the question. She was fully aware of Hotaru's extremely high intelligence, but also knew that her ability to fully comprehend was still somewhat overshadowed by her sense of curiosity. More than a few crying fits had erupted when she got curious about something but couldn't quite grasp a solid understanding. "Most likely," Pluto agreed with only a slight pause. Hotaru frowned slightly at the interruption. She reached out to touch the glass casing again and paused. "The Hand of Fate guides you when you read the cards?" she asked slowly. Both Sailor Scouts blinked at the unexpected question. "So I've been told," Mars said slowly, "But I've never used tarot cards before. I think Sailor Pluto has before, though." "Several times, yes, but only as a hobby," Pluto replied. "Were you guided by Fate?" the six-year-old asked. "Well.... I'm not sure," Pluto replied truthfully. "I mean, the readings were somewhat accurate, but they are usually very difficult to interpret except in a very generalized sense." Hotaru paused to digest this as she continued to stare at the deck. Pluto took the opportunity to lean towards Mars and very quietly whisper, "So how's the Queen?" Mars sighed. "Lady Mercury was frustrated to the point of tears an hour ago, if that's any indication," she whispered back, equally as softly. "She doesn't think the Queen's in any mortal danger, but she's very worried about that faint rasp in her voice for some reason." "Dryness?" Mars supressed a snort. "With as much herbal tea my mother keeps feeding her? I think not." "Can I hold the cards?" Hotaru said suddenly, startling them both. "That's probably not a good idea, Hotaru," Mars said gently. "They are very old and...." "But aren't they part of my House?" Hotaru asked tentatively. "Well, yes...." Mars said slowly. "Which means I'll have to use them soon, right?" Mars paused as she realized where this was heading. "Actually...." "So I should start practicing now so I'll be ready when I become a Sailor Scout like you and Susan, right?" "Um, maybe not right now, but...." "And didn't the Lady Mars suggest that I start learning soon?" Sailor Pluto chuckled dryly. "I think you've been out-maneuvered, Aria." Mars shot Pluto a dark glare. "She's your student," she muttered. "As you were once mine," Pluto replied gently. "You didn't raise me," Sailor Mars grumbled, almost too softly for Pluto's demonic hearing to pick up. Hotaru's jet-black eyes darted back and forth between the two of them as she tried to make sense of the fragments of speech she was hearing. She had long ago figured out that people whispered around her when they were discussing things they didn't want her to hear, such as her frail life-force and the Queen's current ill health. "Admit it, you don't like the idea of being cornered by a girl one-third your age," Sailor Pluto observed lightly with a faint smile. "Alright, alright," Mars fumed, her temper starting to fray at the edges. "I still don't think it's a good idea, but I'm not going to file a complaint with our beloved Minister Dejanna or anything," she grumbled, referring to the current Minister of Science. "And I'm not taking responsibility." "No one asked you to," Pluto said consolingly as she turned to Hotaru. "I will let you hold them, Hotaru, but you must be very careful. They are very old and could be easily damaged." Hotaru nodded solemnly. "I promise to be careful." "Spoken like a true six-year-old," Sailor Mars muttered. "Aria, go find something to do before I tell her the story about the jar of coconut oil," Sailor Pluto said lightly as she turned her attention to the storage casing and began to unlock the front panel. Sailor Mars shot her a dark look and mumbled something incoherent beneath her breath. "I'll catch you to later," she said and left the library. Hotaru blinked and cast a questioning glance at Pluto. "What jar of coconut oil?" she inquired. "It's a long story," Pluto demurred as she finished entering the cipher codes into the lock. The lock clicked open and there was a faint hiss of escaping gas as the nitrogen seal was broken. She only opened the panel as long as necessary to reach in and remove the deck of cards before she firmly shut it and triggered the resealing process. "Ick," Hotaru coughed as she pinched her nose shut. "The gas is designed to prevent oxygen from speeding up the process of decay," Pluto explained as she idly waved her free hand under her nose for a moment. "It smells terrible, but that's actually a good thing as it doesn't encourage someone to try to break into the storage cases. Here," she said as she handed the ancient tarot cards to the young girl she was essentially raising as her own daughter. Hotaru's black eyes went wide as she felt the deck's weight in her hands. "Why is it so warm?" Pluto blinked hard and reached out to touch the deck. "I don't feel any temperature difference," she said slowly. "You don't? That's funny.... maybe because you have wings?" Pluto felt her insides twinge faintly. Everyone in the kingdom knew of her half-human/half-demon heritage, but she had made a conscious effort to avoid explaining some aspects to Hotaru until she was sure she could fully understand them. "I don't think that has anything to do with it, but you never know," she said neutrally. Hotaru barely heard her. She was absolutely captivated by the deck of cards for some strange reason. With deliberate slowness, she opened the box and removed the stack of well-used cards, handing the box back to Pluto. "The cards feel strange," she said quietly. A very cold wind blew through Pluto's bones. "How so?" she asked as she fought a sudden urge to snatch the cards away from her. "I don't know," the child admitted. "They just.... feel strange." "Do you know what to do with the cards?" Pluto asked gently. "Umm.... I just draw a few, right?" Hotaru said with uncertainity. Pluto nodded and sat down on the ground. "Well, drawing is half of it. The other half is trying to determine the meaning of the cards." Hotaru paused to assimilate the information before she sat down and set the deck on the ground, slowly and carefully spreading the cards in an arc in front of her. "Usually you're supposed to shuffle the deck before you draw," Pluto said in a gentle tone. "That's to help remove any remaining influences from other readings." Hotaru blinked and looked up. "I thought the Hand of Fate was supposed to guide me when I drew the cards," she said, almost as if in protest. "Well, that's true," Pluto admitted. Hotaru studied the array of cards before her before she slowly extended a fingertip towards the first card in the stack. She paused just short of touching it and very slowly moved her hand over the rest of the cards. She paused with her finger over one card and frowned. "This one feels different than the rest," she said quietly. Pluto's breath immediately snagged in her throat. She has the gift, she thought silently to herself, a gift that her bloodline hasn't seen in three hundred years. "Well, if that's the one you want, then draw it and flip it over so we can see," she said as evenly as she could manage. Hotaru nodded and carefully withdrew the card from the stack before she laid it down face-up above the deck. The picture of a red-robed being holding the banner of a white rose looked up at them, and Pluto could feel her jaw sagging open of its own volition. "Death?" Hotaru breathed as she read the single word scrolled along the bottom of the card. "Susan, what's this mean?" It took a moment of great effort before Pluto could close her mouth. "It represents the force of Death, Hotaru, but not necessarily literally. It often can mean a major or catastrophic change instead. It is a very powerful card, but without some sort of influence to tell us if it's a good or a bad thing, the card itself is meaningless." The future Sailor Scout paused to think for a very long time. "So this means it would help to draw another card to try to explain the meaning?" she ventured after what had to be a full minute of silence and contemplation. Pluto blinked hard and thought carefully. If she does have the gift, then this really does have a meaning.... and it will happen regardless of whether or not she becomes aware of it. "Yes," she finally said slowly, "You're right, we would need another card to explain this." Hotaru nodded and studied the array of cards in front of her before she slowly reached out and withdrew another card. She flipped it face-up next to the first card and studied the picture: A man in a black cloak standing over a pool of blood spilling from five gold goblets that had been dropped at his feet. "What's this one?" she asked. It took a moment for Pluto to find her voice. "The Five of Cups," she finally managed to say with a faint tremble in her voice despite her best efforts. "The suit of Cups are generally linked to matters of the heart and material comfort. However, the Five of Cups usually represents a sense of loss or despair." Hotaru blinked. "This is a bad influence on Death, right?" she asked very slowly as her pale complexion lost most of what little color she had to begin with. Sailor Pluto couldn't lie to her. "I'm afraid so, Hotaru," she said, almost in a whisper. "Listen to me very carefully.... I dearly hope I'm wrong about this, but it seems you have a natural gift for astrology. It used to be very common in your bloodline, but the last Lady Saturn to possess it was over three hundred years ago. There has always been a strong tie between your House and astrology, just as there has been a tie between the House of Mars and the spiritual." Her bottomless black eyes went wide as she absorbed the information. "So what does this mean?" she said as she gestured to the deck. "Is that why it feels funny to me?" "Maybe," Pluto said carefully, "But I can't say for sure unless we observe your readings for some time to determine their accuracy and hence the strength of your gift." There was another protracted silence as Hotaru sought to process the new information and apply it to her present situation. "Susan, my ancist.... cest...." "Ancestor." "How accurate was she?" Pluto swallowed hard. "In retrospect? Never wrong," she said quietly. "Then.... someone is going to die, right?" Hotaru said, her skin now a sickly shade of white. "There is a good possibility of that," Sailor Pluto replied. "However, bear in mind this is just an interpretation. It might not mean a literal death." Hotaru studied the two face-up cards for a moment. "Would drawing a third card tell us more? Like who it is going to aff.... affect?" she said, adding the last word with hesitation. "You pronounced it correctly," Pluto replied as she chewed on the edge of her lips, trying to decide if she should permit the reading to continue. She was intimately familar with death, but Hotaru was only a child. A child whose mother died giving birth to her and as a result would probably never have the strength to survive birthing her own daughter, she darkly reminded herself. She sighed quietly and made a decison. "Yes, a third card might make it clearer.... but you have to understand this now, Hotaru, that no matter what good or ill comes from the reading, you are not at fault." Hotaru blinked hard before she slowly nodded and ran her fingertips over the array of cards for a third time. She twitched slightly as she snatched her finger away from a card. "Hey, that started to tingle...." Pluto felt her throat constrict again. "Just that one card?" Hotaru quickly checked the other cards and nodded. "Yes, just this one. Is that supposed to be the Hand of Fate?" she asked as she gestured to the card that had bothered her. She chose her words carefully. "Well, if you feel as if one particular card is standing out from the rest, then perhaps it is a suggestion." Hotaru nodded and reached for the card, gently tugging it free before flipping it face-up next to the Five of Cups. The picture showed a dog and a wolf, sitting by a small pond and howling up at a massive moon. "The Moon," she said as she read the words scrolled at the bottom. Sailor Pluto was on her feet in an instant as the shock tore through her like a lightning bolt. Two bulges formed on her back and exploded outward into demonic wings, easily tearing through the specially designed strips of thin fabric on the back of her Sailor Suit. Her hand came up to her throat and began twisting the tiny star that adorned the ribbon around her neck. She turned it to the right until it clicked twice, then pressed inward and down until she felt it catch on a hook and stay in place. "Susan, what's wrong?" Hotaru said, startled by her sudden reaction. "Pluto to Mercury," she said as a small rod unfolded from the rear edge of her tiara and settled into place directly over her ear canal. She heard a click from the tiny speaker inside before she heard the throaty sound of the collar-based microphone being used at the other end. came the voice of Sailor Mercury. "Find your mother and meet me at the Queen's bedside," she snapped as she made a snatching motion in the air. Her staff seemed to materialize out of thin air as it slapped into her palm. the voice in her ear started to say. "NOW, Amelia, I'll explain later. Out," she said sharply as she flicked the star with her thumb, closing the link. "What's wrong? What did I do?" Hotaru started to cry in anguish. Pluto paused to kneel down and gently grip her shoulder. "You didn't do anything, Hotaru. In fact, you might have even warned us." "It's the Queen, isn't it?" she sniffed. "You think she's going to die." "Maybe not, but she is sick and I'm not going to take a chance with this one," she explained. "I'm coming with you," she said suddenly and scooped up the tarot cards. Pluto was about to protest when she remembered another duty of the House of Saturn, one that mirrored her own duties with disturbing closeness. "Very well, then," she said as she wrapped her arm around Hotaru's waist and lifted her up in an embrace that probably wasn't as gentle as she would have liked. Then making sure she had a firm grip on her staff, she sent them both into a temporal vortex destined to emerge only a moment later in a different spot.... And with a sharp gasp, Susan bolted upright in her bed as the dream of a memory dissolved around her like sand through an open hand. There was a squeak of protest as the kitten that had been sleeping on her bare chest was sent tumbling to the edge of the bed and almost onto the floor. "Damn," she muttered softly to herself as she fully woke up. She glanced at the window and saw that sunrise was still a couple hours away. "Myst, are you alright?" The silky gray kitten uncurled herself and gave Susan a dazed look. "You had a nightmare?" Susan shook her head. "No, I was just reliving a memory in the form of a dream, that's all," she said as she laid back down with a soft sigh. "A bad memory?" Myst asked as she carefully made her way back over to the succubus and settled herself down next to her shoulder. "Not so much bad as.... unpleasant," Susan replied quietly. "A very young Sailor Saturn warning me of the Queen's death just before it happens." The Shinma said nothing as Susan began stroking her soft fur absently. "I just find it odd that I would remember that particular memory in a dream instead of something else, or a dream itself," Susan continued. "And I'm not sure why it woke me up like it did. Did you happen to dream?" "No, I was fortunate this time," Myst replied quietly. Susan made a soft noise to herself, knowing that sometimes a dreamless sleep is preferable to being at the mercy of one's subconscious mind. But still, she continued to wonder, of all the things to remember.... why this? The question seemed to echo in her mind for very long time until the first rays of the dawning sun began to refocus her mind to other matters. * * * * Alex grunted softly to herself as something woke her up. Her subconscious mind twitched her elbow very gently and quickly assured her that, if nothing else, Michelle was still sleeping next to her. The realization didn't fully register in her brain, but it was enough to prevent a mental alarm from going off and shocking her into full consciousness. She was giving serious consideration to simply going back to sleep when the room was very briefly lit by a muted flash of light. A subvocal grunt of protest emerged from her throat as she lifted her head off of the pillow and opened her eyes, trying to see through the blur caused by still being only half-awake. Susan carefully unhooked the cargo container from the load-bearing webbing she had strapped to her back and eased it onto the floor as quietly as she could. Beside her was a second cargo container that seemed identical to the first, both of which were marked with a pair of sigils that denoted their owners. "Good morning," she said very quietly as she noticed Alex's bleary gaze in her direction. "... th' hell?" the blonde mumbled as she carefully edged her arm out from under Michelle and sat up, ignoring the sheets as they tumbled away to expose her small breasts. Michelle stirred slightly but remained fast asleep, totally oblivious to the world around her. "A few things from the Moon Kingdom, mostly clothes," Susan replied in a quiet voice. "I returned to a point in time shortly after the attack took place but before the Shield collapsed, which didn't give me much time to gather everything together." "Underwear?" Alex said as she fully woke up. She tossed the covers aside to expose the rest of her nude body and carefully eased herself out of bed, trying not to disturb Michelle. She quickly made her way over to the cargo containers and opened the first one. "Oh, crap, what is that smell?" she muttered as she sorted through the stack of clothes inside. "You don't want to know," Susan replied in a tone that made Alex shiver. "Okay. Ah, here we go," Alex said with satisfaction as she dug a pair of panties out of the container and put them on. "Oh, yeah, this is what I'm talking about.... clean, dry underwear," she cooed. "I know what you mean. I'm going to see if I have enough time to get a few more things," Susan said as she readjusted the webbing. "However, don't count on anything. I got the impression on the last trip that I was getting very close to a temporal overlap, and that's something I have to avoid at all costs." "Yeah, whatever that means," the blonde replied, only half-listening as she sorted through the rest of the container's contents. "Great, you got my good pair of sweatpants. You're a sweetheart." The succubus just shook her head. "Michelle's clothes and a few personal effects are in the other container. I suggest you both take the time to sort through them after breakfast so you have a good idea of what else you might need me to acquire. Did you sleep well?" "Like a rock," Alex said as she dug a sports bra out of the container and slipped it on. "I think we both pretty much conked out as soon as we hit the pillows." "Good," Susan replied as she made a snatching motion at the air. Her staff seemed to materialize out of nowhere as it quietly slapped into her palm. "I sense that we'll need as much of our strength as possible. This morning shouldn't be too taxing, but this afternoon is going to be quite the opposite." Alex winced slightly as Susan disappeared in a brief flash of temporal energy. "I hate it when she gets all mysterious like that," she muttered to herself as she started to open the second cargo container. She froze as she heard a sound behind her and felt a gentle touch on her arm. "Love, you need to quit sneaking up on me like that," she said quietly as she let out her breath. "Sorry," Michelle breathed softly as she slid her arms around the blonde's waist and pressed herself close. "What did she bring us?" "Mostly clothes," Alex murmurred as she brought her hands up to cover Michelle's. She could feel the softness of Michelle's bare breasts pressed against her back, the hardened nipples sending an almost electric thrill down her spine as they slowly moved back and forth. "Mmmmm...." Michelle purred softly in her ear as her fingertips slowly traced a path up from Alex's stomach to the bottom edge of her bra. "Do we need them right now, or do we still have awhile before breakfast?" "I see you slept well," Alex replied almost breathlessly as she felt the sports bra slide up to expose the swells of her breasts. "Of course, I have you to sleep next to me," Michelle replied quietly as she lightly brushed her lips across lover's neck, drawing a soft sigh from the blonde. Her hands came up to gently cup Alex's small breasts, very slowly rolling the hardening nipples against her palms. Humans, Myst thought to herself from her vantage point beneath the bed as she watched the two lovers with only slight interest in their activities. I'll never understand their fascination with each other's bodies. Shaking her head to herself, she merged herself with the deep shadows under the bed and entered the demiplane of existence that she had discovered only a few hours ago. The room seemed to warp and bend slightly as the fundamental properties of light were altered. Solid objects became partially translucent and almost all the color was drained away, shifted into gauzy stains of pale reds, light blues, and sickly greens. Shadows that seemed small and faint before blossomed into massive pools of inky darkness, making the room seem smaller than before. She paused for a moment to study the spectral images that the humans had become. They were transparent enough to almost be invisible, ghostly figures with very blurry, undefined details. Faint auras surrounded them both, bright yellow for Alex and aquamarine sharply edged in black for Michelle. The colors seemed to bleed from one aura to the other as they touched and caressed in what was seen as very slow motion, moving from the corner of the room over to the fuzzy image of the bed. Shaking her head to herself again, she started moving through the strange demiplane, passing through the bedroom wall as if it were only an illusion. It had taken her several minutes before to determine that objects didn't fully exist in the demiplane. However, light waves were partially able to bleed through from the normal three-dimensional plane, thus giving the appearance of an object's existence. She paused for a moment to study the shimmering conduits that ran along the inside of the walls, appearing to her to be a glittering network of rapid pulses of light. Curious, she started to trace the conduits to their source, following the twisting trail of energy downward until she arrived in a room dominated by a massive pulsing core surrounded by a haze of radiation. This doesn't look good, Myst thought as she started to edge away from the reactor core. She briefly considered shifting back to the material plane to get a better look, then reconsidered her decision after studying the haze of radiation. It seemed to be fully contained in what appeared to be a very solid housing, but she wasn't sure she wanted to chance anything. She turned around to head back up when she saw a ghostly figure walking down the hallway towards the reactor core. The figure stopped at the doorway and started touching a small box on the outside, triggering a brief flurry of activity in the conduits lining the walls. The walls seemed to slide apart after a moment, allowing the figure to enter the small room. Interesting, she thought as she watched the walls return to their usual position. She carefully studied the new arrival, noting that he was surrounded by a fairly strong gray aura that seemed to be speckled with tiny pinpoints of yellow. The figure moved over to a set of controls mounted on a console and seemed to be looking at them carefully. Curious about what was going on, she shifted herself from the demiplane back into the material plane. The process only took a moment and then she was suddenly wincing as her senses were bombarded with both color and sound. How strange that I didn't notice sound doesn't exist there, she thought dourly as she batted at her whiskers. Tolaris glanced up as he caught motion out of the corner of his eye and almost leapt out of his skin. "And where did you come from?" he inquired as he slowly let his breath out and glanced back at the reactor control panel. "I didn't see you following me down the hallway." "I shifted dimensions," Myst explained quietly as she sat back and started to preen her whiskers. She was still getting used to her feline form and had learned that her whiskers provided a great deal of sensory information.... as long as they were kept clean. "Mmm. I know Whisper can do some sort of dimensional shifting as well, but she said it really wasn't a good idea to spend much time in that form," Tolaris replied absently. His attention was focused on a blinking green light on one of the status panels, a light that normally would have remained a steady green color. "Great, just p'tahk'enn great. Don't do it, don't do it...." The light turned a solid yellow color and a warning chime began to echo in the room. Tolaris sighed quietly as he turned the alarm off and let loose with a very long, complex string of profanity. "P'tai," he muttered to himself when he finished and began running a series of diagnostics on the reactor. Myst blinked at the sudden activity. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "Not really, just a plasma filter that's partially clogged," the Dragoon explained. "However, if we don't do something about it relatively soon, like clean it or replace it, it could start to cause problems with the rest of the reactor. And that's when we start to worry. Tolaris to Ra'vel," he said as he dug out his communicator and opened the frequency assigned to the Dragoon sigil. There was a slight pause before he saw Ra'vel's image appear on the tiny monitor and heard a slightly scratchy chirp in response. "I'm in the reactor control room and I need your help," Tolaris explained. "Level 5 advisory, got a plasma filter that is starting to clog. I want to see if you can use your telekinetic powers to pull it out so we don't have to drag out the radiation suits." Ra'vel fluffed her feathers and chittered at him for a few moments before shrugging in apology. "No problem, just thought I'd ask," Tolaris replied. "Thanks anyway." The image of Ra'vel nodded before the channel closed and fell silent. "She doesn't feel comfortable with using her telekinetic powers on the reactor from a distance," the Dragoon told Myst as he reset the communicator and opened a different frequency, this one denoted by the Star sigil. "Not that I blame her in the least. Tolaris to Maze." "Morning, boss," Maze replied as his image appeared on the screen. "Idle curiosity.... when was the last time you changed a plasma filter on a class 3A reactor unit?" Tolaris asked. Maze blinked and sighed. "Idle curiosity, my ptanka. I take it we need to have one changed now?" "Changed or cleaned, depending on what it looks like," Tolaris replied. "The computer picked up on it last night and flagged it as a possible problem. I came down here to check on it and just now got a Level 5 advisory." "Just a Level 5?" Maze said as his image heaved a sigh of relief. "Had me worried for a moment that we might have had a serious problem on our hands." Tolaris chuckled. "Yes, well it's going to get that way if we don't do something about it. Which brings me back to my first question." "Never worked on a 3A before," Maze admitted. "Helped tear apart and refurbish a class 2A-2 reactor located in the Headquarters Complex, though. It's part of the backup system so it's not being used constantly like this one here is, but at least it didn't blow up when we tested it." Tolaris grunted. "Fair enough. I'll do the hardsuit part and you can handle the console." "Deal. Umm, do I have time for a shower?" Maze inquired. Tolaris glanced at the display console for a moment. "Probably, but try to keep it short. I think we're going to have to do a replacement instead of just a cleaning, and I'd rather get that over and done with as soon as we can." "No problem, just give me ten minutes and I'll be down there," Maze replied and closed the connection. Tolaris just grunted softly as he put his communicator back in his pocket. "Probably going to take me that long just to get into the hardsuit," he said, more to the room in general than to Myst. He made his way over to a small access hatch at the far corner of the room, stripping off various articles of clothing as he went. "I will never understand you people and clothes," Myst said sourly as she watched Tolaris finish stripping down to his underwear. The Dragoon chuckled dryly. "Try it like this," he explained as he keyed open the access hatch. "We pretty much wear clothes constantly, and only take them off when they get in the way, like when you go to use the bathroom or take a shower. Or in this case, have to put on a skin-tight bodysuit and thick radiation armor. Excuse me," he added as he climbed into the access chamber and sealed the hatch behind him. "That helps," Myst muttered to herself as she walked over to the control console and carefully leapt up onto it, making quite sure she didn't touch or bump anything. She threaded her way along the rows of controls until she found a space large enough for her to sit down comfortably without being in the way of anything, yet still permitted her a good view of the reactor housing. From what she was able to see, the reactor was housed in a small metal sphere supported by two massive conduits on either side. A series of small tubes tapped into the sphere in a complex three-dimensional pattern, presumably circulating coolant inside the reactor chamber. A small airlock stood at the far end of the chamber, and through the windows Myst could make out a slightly blurry humanoid figure moving around inside. Every few seconds she could almost feel a very faint thrum of energy from the reactor core. Curious, she scanned the various display panels until she found one that showed a sine wave that peaked every time she felt a thrum. The wave rose and fell in perfect rhythm, and she took that to be a display of the actual power reaction inside the chamber. The computer panel next to the door chittered for a brief moment and the doors slid open with a pneumatic hiss. Myst raised an eyebrow as a slightly damp Dragoon Lieutenant Maze entered, wearing only a pair of sweatpants and slippers. He was still in the process of toweling his short, spiky purple hair dry and didn't notice Myst until he was almost standing right next to her. "Hey, what are you doing down here?" he said as he blinked in surprise, wrapping the towel around his shoulders. "Just observing," Myst replied quietly as she started to preen the silky gray fur on her tail. Maze grunted softly. "Just as long as you're not sitting on something of importance," he said as he studied the various displays. "Mmm, just as long as a clogged plasma filter is the only thing wrong with this thing. Low-level maintenance I can deal with. I don't know what Tolaris knows about reactors, but I'm willing to bet we'd be k'vesen if we needed something major done. Of course, if something critical happened like we lost magnetic containment, it really wouldn't matter if we were engineers or not because we'd all have our ptankas blown out the other side in an instant." Myst paused in mid-motion, her tongue still hanging out. "What do you need magnets for in a reactor?" she said slowly. "Not magnets, but magnetic containment fields," Maze explained as he began typing commands on the reactor control console. "We use them to store the reactor fuel and keep it isolated from everything else. It's very volatile stuff. Maze to Tolaris," he said as he keyed open the intercom. "Almost ready," came the muffled response from the speaker. "This is made a lot simpler because we're stocked with the same class of hardsuits we use at the Complex. I think I've put on a little extra weight, however, because this thing is a lot tighter than I remember." Maze shook his head. "For shame, Commander. You know we have exercise equipment readily available in the training room." There was a soft grunt from the speaker. "Stuff it, Lieutenant, and give me a radiation reading on the core," Tolaris grumped. Maze smirked and decided not to comment about who was trying to stuff what at the moment. "Seventeen in the core," he replied as he glanced up at the radiation sensor display. "And the reading in the airlock is four." "Amusing," Tolaris replied. There was a sharp click followed by the soft hiss of gas over the intercom. "Okay, I've sealed the suit, so you can link me into the sensor array," he said, his voice now echoing slightly from within the confines of his helmet. "Serial number 3A2LE7933." Maze keyed in the information into the panel and paused for a moment as the suit's serial number sank into his mind. "Wait a minute.... that suit is supposed to be stored at the Lex'eri storage facility, right? 7900 series?" There was a short pause from the intercom. "Looks that way." "So that's where they went," Maze said as he shook his head. "About a month after Shar-Tei was put in charge, Little Q tried to requisition a few replacement suits from Lex'eri and created quite a stir when he found a bunch of them had gone missing. And if memory serves, they were all listed under the 7900 series." Tolaris chuckled dryly at the image of the Dragoon Complex Quartermaster throwing a fit over "his" cache of supplies at Lex'eri. An avian like Ra'vel, the usually dour V'Lan was known unofficially as "Little Q" despite his rather large frame, and was reknown for his seriousness over the tiniest detail when it came to supply orders and storage. "Okay, you're tapped in," Maze said as the display for Tolaris's hardsuit appeared on his monitor. "External radiation is four, internal is zero, and all your vital signs are green." "That's a relief," Tolaris replied dryly. "Reactor status?" "Still idling down," Maze replied as he watched the sine wave display that had attracted Myst's attention earlier. "Give it another thirty seconds before I can shunt the plasma into a buffer. Unless, of course, you want to play in the deuterium stream, in which case you can crack the hatch whenever you want." "I'll pass, thanks. Speaking of deuterium, what's our fuel status?" "At the current rate of consumption? Serena's grand-daughter might have to worry about it one day, but we're good for at least another fifty years at this rate. I might have to recalculate if we ramp up the reactor to start providing power for something else, but I can't imagine anything we have that would draw that much power." "Mina's laser array?" Tolaris offered. "Bah, the only reason that put a dent in the power supply was because the reactor was set not to increase power on demand," Maze replied. "Nephlyte had it set to simulate common household power levels for some reason. Okay, I'm starting the plasma diversion." There was a heavy sigh from the intercom. "Why do these things always have to itch in places where you can't scratch?" "You want me to answer that?" Maze asked with a grin at Myst as he kept a close eye on the plasma conduits. "Not that question, but I have a different one for you," Tolaris said. "If all Nephlyte wanted to do was simulate common household voltage, then why did he use a class 3A reactor? Safety alone would dictate that you don't use any of the type A's unless you need to power a platform that requires a very substantial energy source." Maze paused to consider the question. "I haven't given it much thought, to be honest with you," he said after a lengthy pause. "I mean, I suppose that Nephlyte did intend this to be the eventual base of operations for an invasion of Earth. That would mean a massive power requirement once things got set into motion, so it would make some sense to get the design right the first time instead of trying to upgrade the reactor in mid-stream." "True," Tolaris admitted, "But if you went along with that logic, then you would have designed this place as a fortress instead of a cathedral." "Hold that thought, boss," Maze replied as a series of amber lights lit up on his console. "The reactor's now idle and the plasma stream has been shunted into the buffer. We've got twenty minutes to do this before the buffer gets overloaded." "Twenty minutes?" Tolaris said in bemusement. "Usually the specs call for a fifteen minute window. I'm opening the airlock now." Maze nodded to himself as he watched a green light go red on his panel. "Usually, but keep in mind that this reactor is rated 300 and we've only been drawing maybe 45 off of it, so we don't need a large plasma flow." Myst blinked as she saw a heavily armored figure step out of the airlock and slowly make his way towards the reactor core. "Still, I'm going to try to aim for fifteen minutes," Tolaris replied. "Radiation count?" "External rising to seventeen, internal is still zero," Maze said, then paused for a moment. "Let me ask you a question that's been bugging me for some time now. Rune knows we're here in the cathedral, right?" There was a noise from the speaker that could have been either a grunt or a random burst of radiation-induced static. "She knew enough about where I was at in order to plan a very intricate trap for me, so I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she did know where we were," Tolaris replied. "East end or west end?" Maze consulted the display and frowned. "East end, and the radiation count is starting to rise slowly. At twenty-four now, and sensor web on the conduit is starting to look a bit unsteady. I think the filter is starting to disintegrate." "Wonderful. So much for a simple cleaning." "You know you wanted to do a replacement anyway," Maze replied as he began typing on the control console. "Hey, back up a few feet. You want the blue container on your left, the one with two red stripes and a yellow starburst. That should have the replacement filters." "Convenient," Tolaris said as he retrieved the small container. "Odd, this is also marked as supposedly in storage at Lex'eri. Makes you wonder if there's a manifest of issued supplies around here somewhere." Maze shook his head. "One headache at a time, Commander. Let's get this filter replaced first, then we can worry about where the towels came from." "Probably the same place the military gets all that stuff from," Tolaris observed as he carefully carried the metallic container towards the conduit. "This should have all the proper tools in it, right?" The purple-haired Dragoon shrugged. "It should...." he said slowly. The speaker replied with a word that drew a dry chuckle from Maze. "Hey, it's not like any of us has bothered to check, you know?" "Guess what we're doing tonight then, assuming we're still around to talk about it," Tolaris replied with a grunt. He carefully set the container on a nearby ledge and examined the hatch over the plasma filter housing. "Give me a reading before I open this thing." Maze glanced down at the display panels. "Radiation is at twenty-nine on the outside, and still zero on the inside. However, you're going to have to be careful with cracking it open. The sensor web has gotten very twitchy all of a sudden, and I'm guessing it'll trigger a level 4 alarm in short order." Tolaris paused for a moment. "Worst-case scenario, what happens if I totally ruin the plasma filter already in there before I take out?" "You have pieces everywhere that need to be cleaned out, and the system triggers a level 3 alarm about foreign objects inside the conduit," Maze said. "And unless you get all of the fragments out, they'll be swept up in the plasma flow once it starts up again and probably wind up in the core chamber." Tolaris got a chill just thinking about it and very carefully began to unlock the access hatch. "Let's just hope that doesn't happen. We do have a vacuum device in here, right?" Maze blinked and glanced around the console. "Uh, probably not. I think the only vacuum system we have is the emergency venting system, and that's for a coolant leak. I'll add it to tonight's list," he said quickly before Tolaris could reply. There was a heavy sigh from the speaker, followed by a series of heavy clicking noises. "Finished unlocking the panel, opening it now...." Three different alarms on the console suddenly flashed red as the conduit was opened and exposed to air. The radiation count promptly doubled and the display from the sensor web became highly unstable. "Rad warning!" Maze yelled into the microphone as he tried to assess what was happening. The sensor web display caught his eye and his heart skipped a beat. "Get down!" Tolaris didn't hesitate and threw himself on the floor, shielding his helmet with his arms. There was a sharp crack as the plasma filter, partly ionized by constant exposure to high-energy plasma, reacted with the normally stable molecules in the air and combusted, producing a miniature explosion. The air around Tolaris was immediately filled with a dense fog, a result of the automatic fire-suppression system kicking in. The vent fans kicked in a moment later, slowly drawing the fog out of the reactor room and sending it through a series of air-scrubbers before venting it out a small duct outside the cathedral. Maze scrambled to keep up with what was happening as a level 3 alarm blared around him, the loud klaxon giving him an instant headache. Beside him, Myst's gray fur was standing on end as she looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. "Nak'seth!" Maze yelled at the control panel, hoping that Tolaris had gotten around to setting up an audio link to the main computer. "Kurush a'vel, s'vaer il'yed ie cha'nak, men'taka Maze Aerce juun juun s'ech!" Much to his relief, the klaxon immediately fell silent and he could feel the vibrations of the reinforced blast doors locking into place outside the room. "A'vel kurush'en," the synthesized voice of the computer echoed around the room in a flat monotone. "Il'yed s'vaer'en. Il'yan: kesha senn cha'nak il'yan na'e dai'san." "What did it say?" Myst asked as she gave very serious consideration to shifting back to the demiplane and finding a place to hide. "It did what I asked it to do," Maze said curtly as he started typing away on the console as fast as his fingers would move. "Maze?" came the voice from the speaker. "Hold still a moment," Maze said as he scanned and rescanned everything he possibly could. "Okay, here's what I can figure out.... the plasma filter was clogged with something really ionized that reacted with the air when you opened the hatch." "Radiation?" Tolaris asked as he slowly stood up. "Seventy-three outside, six inside your suit, but that outside reading is starting to drop. I think it was just an ion burst." "Atmosphere?" he asked next as he noticed the fog in the air and suddenly very grateful for his suit's internal air supply. "Uh.... half-second burst of AC-73," Maze replied, referring to the fire suppression compound that inhibited combustion. The only downside was that the air was unbreathable until it was totally vented from the area. "The system is processing it now, and the scrubbers are taking most of the radiation with it. Maybe four points making it outside." Tolaris grunted and carefully peeked into the conduit. "You're going to find this amusing. The filter seems to still be in one piece." "Whisper to Maze," the speaker said with a faint crackle. "You're right, that is amusing. Just a moment, ma'am, we're working on it. Minor problem with the plasma filter, ion spark," Maze said without taking his eyes off the readings. There was a slight pause from the second connection. "The computer starts screaming a Level 3 reactor warning, and you say it's a minor problem?" Whisper replied after a moment. A hideous crunching noise followed her words as Tolaris yanked the remains of the plasma filter from the housing. "Tolaris to Whisper, I'm in the reactor room at the moment, and it appears that, ion spark aside, everything is well within control." Maze could hear someone asking about what the hell an ion spark was in the background before Whisper sighed heavily. "I really hope you do, Commander, because I have a few upset guests here and I'm not sure what to tell them." "Tell them we're working on it," Tolaris suggested. "Maze, how much time is left?" Maze glanced at a display. "Call it ten minutes by the manual, fifteen if we trust the buffer." "What happens after fifteen minutes?" Alex could be heard asking in the background. "Well, if I'm not done by then, we shut down the reactor and lose power until I can get it fixed and restarted," Tolaris explained as he opened the storage container holding the replacement plasma filters. Maze just bit his tongue, knowing full well that shutting down the reactor was a last-resort option. Then he heard his communicator start beeping at a rapid rate, a signal that someone was trying to use the Emergency frequency to contact him. He turned his attention away from the reactor console only long enough to dig his communicator out of his back pocket and glance at the tiny sigil display. Oh boy, this is going to be a fun one to explain, he thought as he saw the Mercury sigil lit up and blinking rapidly. Sighing heavily, he thumbed the connection open and turned his attention back to the console. "Maze, what's going on? Why isn't Tolaris answering me?" Ami's worried image demanded. "And what's with the reactor?" "Well...." Maze said as he composed his thoughts, "It's like this...." * * * * Ael'ien kept a wary eye over her shoulder as she knocked on the closed door to K'tal's office, watching a very upset Felinoid with beautifully soft black fur pace back and forth in front of a control console. Everyone else was giving the area a wide berth, making sure not to come too close to what was obviously a walking health-hazard. The door to the office was yanked open and Dragoon Commander K'tal stuck his head out with a very harried look on his face. "Asrial, please tell me that.... oh, morning, Captain," he said, blinking in surprise. "Trouble?" Ael'ien inquired as she gestured over her shoulder. "The uplink to a very crucial satellite is k'vesen," he replied bluntly. "It's us, not the satellite, so I've got Asrial and Ji'an working on it. What can I do for you?" Ael'ien sighed and held up a message form marked 'Eyes Only - Division'. "Rune sends her regards. You're going to love this one." The Dragoon groaned quietly and sagged against the wall for support. "I have three different tasking orders for preparations for Nop'tera's arrival, all of which are going to screw up every single field exercise I have running, plus I have a mission-critical communication problem that supercedes all of that. You're supposed to be bringing me good news, Ael," he said as he waved her into his office and closed the door behind them. The telepath gave him a wry look. "You should see what I've got to deal with," she said as she handed him the message. "I can imagine," he replied as he scanned the message. "From Commanding General, to all division-level and theater commanders, due to recent events and the planned arrival.... okay.... okay.... wait.... she wants what?" Ael'ien sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "It gets better." K'tal blinked hard as he continued to read the message. "A maximum-level defensive systems readiness test to be conducted before the arrival of General Nop'tera's fleet?" he said slowly. "That doesn't sound too bad." "Until you stop and think what you have in your basement here," Ael'ien reminded him. She blinked hard as she could almost hear a mental click in his mind, immediately followed by the color draining out of his face. "Ay'cha navidshi, the cannon!" Ael'ien nodded silently. It was widely known that deep inside each of the divisional headquarters complexes was an energy weapon capable of ripping a sizable hole in a mountain. Each weapon was uniquely designed with roughly the same firepower, but required an incredible amount of power to use and was not something that could be used casually or with any modicum of secrecy. The Dragoon Headquarters Complex housed a particle-wave cannon that was one step below a full-blown reflex cannon. The fundamental difference was that a very precise and powerful orbital mirror could be used to deflect the blast from a particle-wave cannon into another trajectory, thus allowing a shot to be placed over the visible horizon. K'tal sighed heavily. "Let me guess, this dispatch will very shortly be in the hands of Internal Review, who will probably come dangerously close to wetting themselves in excitement at the prospect of being able to throw an immediate and unannounced command-level practice exercise." "Something like that," Ael'ien said with a faint smile. "You do know where our orbital mirror is, right?" K'tal added darkly. "On the satellite with the bad uplink?" she ventured with a frown. "And they say you need to touch a person to read minds." The telepath winced. "So what's the procedure for this?" K'tal sighed and sat down at his desk. "IR is usually very good about giving me a five-minute advanced notice message so I can make emergency fixes to my schedule and take care of some critical business before it kicks off." As if on cue, the printer on his desk began beeping in alarm as it began to print out something as fast as it could. The Dragoon Commander gave a very dour look to the Psi-Corp Captain as he motioned her over to a row of chairs that sat against one wall. "Have a seat, Ael, just not near the door," he said as he grabbed the finished printout and wearily cleared off the center of his desk. "As expected, a no-notice full-scale cannon exercise, with a courtesy five-minute warning to the commander to tie up loose ends. This is going to get very interesting and very ugly in a few seconds. Plug your ears for a moment," he added as he sat down. Ael'ien gave him an odd look as she did so, then blinked hard as she could feel the force of his voice as he bellowed "ASRIAL!!!" through the door of his office. The door slammed open a few seconds later and the upset Felinoid she saw earlier stormed into the office. The Felinoid extended her claws as she leaned over and promptly buried them in the surface of the desk, her ears flat against her head and her tail lashing back and forth like a whip. "What do you want NOW?" Dragoon Lieutenant Asrial demanded furiously. Virtually everyone Ael'ien knew, herself included, would have immediately thrown the Felinoid into the nearest holding cell for gross insubordination and blatant disrespect to a superior officer. K'tal, much to her surprise, merely leaned forward and started rubbing his hand over her paw. "Asrial, ne'ana," he cooed quietly, using a term of endearment usually reserved for an intimate friend, "We have a bit of a crisis on our hands. See this?" he said as he held the dispatch up so she could read it. Asrial growled dangerously as she started to read the message. She got as far as the first sentence before she blinked hard, freezing her tail in mid-motion. After a few more moments of reading her tail abruptly coiled into a tight helix, looking very much like a corkscrew. "Yes, now you see my problem," K'tal said soothingly to her. "I don't suppose you can do anything about this?" The Felinoid growled quietly to herself as she pulled her claws free from K'tal's desk and grabbed the message from his hand, her tail still frozen in the corkscrew shape as she re-read the message. As soon as she finished the message for the second time, she turned around and let loose with a very loud and protracted screaming roar that made Ael'ien's hair stand on end. She was answered with a much quieter, almost subdued growl of protest and a few seconds later another Felinoid walked into the room. Unlike Asrial's black fur, the new arrival's fur was a deep shade of forest-green and banded with black stripes, much like a bengal tiger. "Mwwerh?" he growled softly to Asrial as he tried to towel off the pink goo that coated his arms up to his elbows. Asrial thrust the message at him, holding it a few inches away from the tip of his nose. Ji'an continued to try to clean himself as he read, halting in mid-motion after he got past the second line. Ael'ien had to literally bite the tip of her tongue to keep herself from laughing as his tail abruptly coiled into the same tight helix as Asrial's tail had done earlier. "We have three minutes before I have to call a general alert," K'tal said calmly. "It will take several minutes for each of the phase-transformations, which is about as much time as I can give you. So if we don't have the uplink restored by then, well.... I think we'll all have to find a new line of work." Ji'an turned around and left without saying a word, moving quickly back to the control console. Asrial shot K'tal a dark look and growled something profane under her breath before tossing the message on his desk. She quickly followed the other Felinoid out of the office, closing the door with her tail behind her with a sharp bang. Ael'ien cleared her throat delicately. "Commander...." she said slowly. K'tal waved his hand. "Yelling at an already agitated Felinoid is a very bad idea, especially when they're as young and as hot-headed as she is. The key to dealing with her is not to react to her temper. She's one of my best computer operators, and admittedly has been under quite a lot of pressure this past week, so I allow her temper a little leeway. Besides, she knows where the line is at," he added. "And the desk?" she inquired as she leaned over to examine the puncture marks in the center. She blinked hard as she realized that there were several sets of claw marks on the desk and that the surface wasn't made out of wood as she expected, but a very spongy material. "Corkboard," he explained as he tapped a knuckle on it. "Tolaris came up with the idea about forty years ago after she kept perforating his in fits of rage. Very easy to replace, very inexpensive, and surprisingly sturdy." Ael'ien blinked yet again and looked back up at the Dragoon. "You mean Commander Tolaris put up with her acting like that?" she said incrediously, knowing that Tolaris had a reputation for being a bit on the strict side of enforcing rules and regulations. It was common, if quiet, knowledge that the Dragoon Legion was composed of some of the most eccentric personnel in the military. The sole reason that it was overlooked by the highest ranks was due to the simple fact that their efficiency and effectiveness was unarguably the best of all the divisions. K'tal shrugged. "It was messy when she first joined the Legion, but after a few confrontations Tolaris was able to reach an understanding with her. She kept her temper to a low-volume minimum and tried not to destroy anything, and he wouldn't slam the rule-book on her tail. Like I said, she knows where the line is at," he repeated. She just shook her head and made a mental note to have a quiet discussion with General Al'vexi about personnel management styles the next time she was able to meet with the retired telepath. "Whatever works, I suppose," she said neutrally. "Precisely," K'tal said as he looked at his desk. "Captain, you have about sixty seconds to get clear of this place before I have to put everything in serious lockdown." Ael'ien thought quickly. "You mind having a neutral observer?" The Dragoon snorted quietly. "Sure, there's nothing like having a fellow division-level officer around to watch you screw things up during a command exercise to make things worthwhile." "I'll stay out of the way," the telepath said with a chuckle. "You're so kind," K'tal said dryly as he made for the door. "Things are going to get chaotic in about twenty seconds, so make sure to stay as close to me as possible." The door swung open and they stepped out into the main operations center of the Dragoon Headquarters Complex. "Status?" K'tal called out as he strode into the center of the room. He received an almost flatulent growl in reply and sighed quietly. "Just keep at it, Lieutenant. Okay, people, time for a proverbial fire drill," he said as he clapped his hands to make sure he had everyone's attention. "Any second now we're going to get...." "Sir," the communications officer interrupted, "We're receiving Priority One flash traffic from Central Command." "...authority for a test-firing of our particle-wave cannon," K'tal said smoothly as he moved next to the communication console, picked up a handset, and keyed the "all-hands" function. A three-note electronic whistle sounded throughout the entire complex and he began to speak into the handset. "This is Dragoon Commander K'tal. All hands to battle stations for a Phase Two evolution and firing of the primary cannon. This is an exercise. Chief D'Nina report to operations immediately, all other sections chiefs to your Phase Two stations. K'tal out." Controlled chaos broke out two seconds later as a flood of reports began coming across the data lines. A loud klaxon started going off as the lights dimmed and took on a pulsing orange hue. "Prepare the complex for the transformation sequence," K'tal ordered as he moved over to an isolated console and powered it up. "Prepare complex for sequence, aye sir. Security, recall all perimeter personnel and activate containment fields. Engineering...." "Containment fields initializing...." "D'Nina to Operations, I'm on my way. Just don't close the Junction Seven bulkheads on me and I'll be there in four minutes." "...reactor status and prepare to release the interlocks on the primary systems. Communications, sever datalinks...." "Reactor Two is spooling up, estimating active status in five minutes, reactors One and Three are being restarted..." "...perimeter secured, all personnel accounted for...." "...all orbital uplinks, resynchronize as necessary." "Engineering to Station Seven, confirm status...." "Sir, the uplinks to Pri'va and T'Cer are active, still attempting to resync with Rasche, still no signal from Essence...." "Rrrrrrwwwwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhllllll!" "Mwwerh?" "GGGGHHHAAAAANNNNNNOOOWWWWWLLLL!!!" "Not so loud, Asrial," K'tal admonished as he confirmed to the central computer that he was who he claimed to be, that he did have the authority to change the Dragoon complex's defensive status, and that, yes, he did desire to do so at this very moment. "Station Seven, sector is clear...." "...Reactor Two output is ramping up, power level now at 45." "...External containment fields online. Bulkheads at Junctions One, Two, Five, and Eight have closed." "...Synchronization with Rasche completed, system is responding." "Engineering to Commander K'tal." "Prrrran." "WHAT? Grrrrrrrrah! Bypass it!" "Commander K'tal here." "Sir, do you want a dry-firing for this exercise, or do we have a nice spot in the sand picked out for a round?" "Prrrrkeeeeeet?" "I don't CARE how, just bypass the v'tek'ka thing!" "Sulaaaaaaacht." "Now there's a thought," K'tal mused quietly as he glanced over his left shoulder as the door hissed open to admit the stooped figure of Chief D'Nina into Operations. "Stand by for a moment." "Venta." "Somebody spike the ma'cha with le'un berries again?" D'Nina observed as she stepped next to K'tal and keyed active her own command ciphers. Although not an officer, her rank was based on her technial expertise and proficiency, thus making her a suitable counterpart for the two-person authority needed to initiate the complex's transformation sequence. The fact that she was also a very critical component of the final sequence made the selection of her as the secondary authority all the easier. "...All remaining bulkhead junctions have closed, the Complex is sealed." "...Reactor Two still ramping up, now reading 145." "Chief, have you met Psi-Corp Captain Ael'ien before?" "No, but I figure it can wait," D'Nina replied. "Due respect, ma'am," she added to the telepath with a quick nod of her head. Ael'ien almost smiled. "Perfectly understandable, Chief," she replied as she wondered just how old the chief was. She looked to be pushing seventeen hundred, but it was rather difficult to tell any given denizen's age. "Live fire, D'Nina, or we just fake it?" K'tal asked without preamble. "With Nop'tera's carrier out there somewhere? Fire that thing for real and we might have a real close look at that new tactical warhead." K'tal cringed slightly. "Good enough for me. K'tal to Engineering." "Engineering." "Dry-fire. Pull the primary back and lock the housing open." "Dry firing, understood. Engineering out." "...Reactor Two output now above 200, power systems are ready for Phase One sequence." "Asrial?" K'tal ventured. "BRRRRRAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!" K'tal sighed quietly. "What's the problem, ne'ana?" "Fused data conduit in the crypto-linker," the Felinoid growled. "It's jammed in the open position. Trying to bypass it now." "Umm, sir...?" K'tal just sighed quietly to himself as he glanced over his shoulder at the communications officer. "It always has to be something," he muttered under his breath to Ael'ien. "What is it, Lieutenant?" The lieutenant held up the priority message from Central Command. "It says in the orders that we're to use a live round for the cannon, and they've given us the targeting information." "That's convenient," K'tal said absently as he turned around to share an even look with D'Nina. "Opinion?" he asked quietly. Ael'ien blinked at the question. She rarely asked for the opinions of other senior officers about clear-cut orders from Central Command, and the idea of asking an enlisted chief, even a senior one, was almost shocking. "Bothersome, but nothing I'll lose any sleep over," D'Nina shrugged. "System status?" K'tal called out. "Communications are Phase One ready." "Engineering is Phase One ready." "Security is Phase One ready." "All stations manned, all personnel accounted for." "Tactical computer node is online and ready." "Fair enough," K'tal replied and turned to the isolated computer console he and D'Nina were keyed into. "Recognize Dragoon K'tal, commander, primary authority for phase transformation." "Voiceprint recognized," the computer responded in a flat monotone. "Initiate Phase One transformation sequence," he said loudly, so that both the computer and the rest of Operations could hear him. "Require concurrence," the computer replied. D'Nina cleared her throat. "Recognize Dragoon D'Nina, master chief, secondary authority for phase transformation." "Voiceprint recognized." "Initiate Phase One transformation sequence," she said forcefully. "Compliance," the computer responded and began to generate a series of digital signals that flowed through a special series of data conduits. * * * * Molly glanced around the crowded school hallway, trying to spot either Serena or someone who knew where she was. With a unique hairstyle like hers, she thought as she continued to search the hallways, you'd think that she would stick out like a sore thumb. And speaking of sore thumbs.... "Oh, hi, Molly!" a voice called out from in front of her. "Melvin, have you seen Serena?" Molly asked without preamble. Melvin blinked behind his oversized glasses. "No, I haven't. Why, is she in trouble again?" The redhead sighed. "No, I just need to tell her that Luna followed her to school for some reason. If the school officials find out, they'll have a fit," she explained. "Huh, Luna followed her to school?" Melvin repeated as he blinked again. I see he forgot to have his brain follow him to school, Molly thought to herself with a patient sigh. "Yes, Melvin, she's prowling around outside, so do you know where Serena is?" "No, but we can ask Ami, she might know," the school gossip replied as he pointed over Molly's shoulder. "She looks like she's heading this way, and boy does she look mad about something." Molly glanced over her shoulder and suddenly wished she hadn't. She had known Ami for quite some time now, but had rarely seen her looking as angry as she did now. If that look were on Leda's face, she thought, the hallway would have been cleared out by now. As it was, people were noticing the dark look on Ami's face and were doing their best to make a path for her. "Melvin, we need to talk," she said flatly when she reached the spot next to Molly. "Uh, sure, Ami," he stuttered as he broke out in a cold sweat. Molly suddenly wasn't feeling too good herself as she suddenly remembered the newest piece of gossip making its way around Melvin's grapevine network of rumors. This might get ugly if it's about her boyfriend.... "I don't know why you persist in spreading rumors about people and their social lives," Ami growled, "But you need to leave me and my friends out of it. It's both unbecoming and highly inaccurate...." Her tirade was interrupted as a stocky girl with dirty blonde hair walked up next to her and leaned against the lockers with a heavy thump. "Oh, look, bookworms," she cooed with a sneer. "And they're fighting, how cute...." Ami glanced at the new arrival before returning her focus to Melvin. "As I was saying," she continued, "Engaging in baseless slander is something only weak-minded individuals indulge in. I honestly expected better of someone with a modicum of intelligence like you." "Oh, my, she's pissed about something," the girl observed loudly. "Wonder what got her panties in a bunch? A boyfriend, maybe?" Both Molly and Melvin blinked hard as Ami turned back to her and the surrounding air temperature seemed to drop by about forty degrees. "Is there something I can help you with?" Ami asked in an edged tone. "Yeah, you can tell us what it's like to date someone who's old enough to be your father," the girl replied with a cruel smile. "Kinda gives new meaning to the phrase 'Who's yer daddy?'" Molly felt her breath jam in her throat as she noticed the raw tension in Ami's shoulders. Oh, lord, please don't let her go off, she thought, her mind flashing back to the scene on the bus the other day where Ami revealed she had martial arts training. She saw motion out of the corner of her eye and turned briefly to look, her eyes going wide at what she saw. Oh, no, not now.... Ami considered her options briefly before smirking. "At least I know who my father was," she shot back. "Has your mother sorted out all the trash in the trailer park yet?" The girl's eyes blazed at the insult while Melvin's jaw sagged open and Molly almost keeled over on the spot from shock. "Let me tell you something, little bookworm," the blonde hissed as she grabbed Ami's arm. The grip lasted for half a second before someone grabbed her by the shoulder and tossed her back against the lockers. "Hey, this ain't no petting zoo," a voice growled, "Hands off the bookworms." "You're in for it now, sister," the girl snarled as she lunged forward and found herself nose-to-nose with her new adversary. The shock of recognition caused her to go pale and produced a silence that stretched on for what seemed to be a minor eternity. "Well, well, well, what have we here?" her opponent said languidly as she slowly broke into a smug smile. "L-L-L-Leda!" the girl stammered as she broke out into a cold sweat. "Amanda Parkins, so good to see you again," Leda drawled with what some might have called a predatory grin as she took a firm grip on the blonde's wrist. "Let me give you a nice welcome to my school, seeing how you're still a trouble-making little tart...." "It's not what you think," Amanda replied hastily as she looked for a way out of the impending scuffle that she knew she would most likely lose. "Oh, really?" Leda said casually as she looked around at the assembled group. "Funny, it looks like you were harassing my best friend." Amanda's face turned even paler. "Your best friend?" she said weakly. "Hey, Ami, did I ever introduce you to my favorite peon punching bag from my old school?" Leda said as she continued to relish the thought of being able to intimidate her former classmate and rival. "We've just met," Ami said in a voice as dry as most desert regions. "Best friend, like Jenni?" Amanda said without thinking. Her mistake was made quite obvious by the sudden flash of pure rage in Leda's green eyes that caused everyone else to flinch in the fear of a nuclear outburst of temper. Leda grabbed the front of her rival's blouse with both hands and yanked her up almost entirely off the ground. "You have something to say about the dearly departed?" she said in a very soft tone, her whole body taut with barely contained rage as the blonde tried to keep her balance on her tip-toes. Molly felt the color draining from her face as she witnessed the events unfolding around her. She generally tried to avoid being anywhere near one of Leda's tempermental outbursts, but she knew enough to realize that the most dangerous fits was when her voice turned quiet. She glanced to her side and saw that Melvin was as white as a sheet. Hopefully he'll learn something from this, she thought to herself. "Leda," Ami said quietly as she watched Amanda struggle for air. The brunette ignored her and kept her focus on the blonde. "Well?" "Back off, cupcake," Amanda wheezed, "Just because I never snuggled up to her like you did doesn't mean I wasn't her friend as well. Remember?" Leda glared at her for a few seconds before releasing her grip. Amanda rocked back on her heels as she fought to keep her balance and breathe at the same time. "I remember," Leda replied acidly. The blonde coughed lightly and rubbed her neck. "Damn, you been lifting weights or something?" "So I take it you two know each other?" Melvin ventured carefully. Leda smirked and put her arm around Amanda's shoulder. "Oh, sure, we've known each other for years, haven't we?" she said darkly as she squeezed hard and pulled her close until their shoulders ground against one another. "Something like that," Amanda muttered through gritted teeth. "Leda," Ami said quietly again with a patient sigh. "What?" Ami sighed again. "Are you finished?" Leda raised a slender eyebrow. "Not overly glad to see me, are you?" "I can take care of myself, you know," Ami replied. "I might not have your skill at martial arts, but there are other ways to defend oneself." "Like tossing a childish insult back?" Leda observed lightly. "Just what I was thinking," Amanda muttered as she tried to pry herself free from Leda's iron grip. She grunted as Leda's foot came down hard on her toes in a quick stomp. "I don't think you realize your situation, pop-tart," Leda replied with an edge to her voice, "So let me explain this one to you. First and foremost, Ami is my best friend and you were harassing her. That alone is good enough for me to kick you into next week. Second of all, you really picked the wrong person to harass. Ami looks harmless, and I'll admit that the bookworm image of her's doesn't help much, but she can be worse than I am when she gets mad." The blonde cast a sidelong glance at the brunette. "Worse, eh?" "Yeah. Watch out for her, she bites," Leda replied evenly. "Hard." "That explain that little nibble mark on your neck?" Amanda inquired. Molly just closed her eyes as Leda became a sudden blur of motion. There was the expected impact noise, but it sounded differently enough that she very carefully opened her eyes to see what had happened. Leda's punch had been intercepted by Ami's hand about an inch in front of Amanda's face. The blonde's eyes were the size of dinner plates as her mind caught up to the events around her. Melvin's eyes were likewise wide with shock and almost visible around the edges of his glasses. But what bothered Molly the most was the look in Ami's steel-blue eyes, a sort of dark glare that she couldn't remember ever seeing in anyone's eyes before. "She's not worth it," Ami said flatly. "You my mother or something?" Leda growled as she pulled her fist back. "No, just your best friend." The brunette paused for a long moment before sighing heavily through her nose. "Fine, you deal with the little hellion," she grumbled as she leaned against the lockers with a heavy thump. Ami turned to face the suddenly leery blonde. "Yes, I am Leda's best friend, no, we're not intimately involved, yes, I have a boyfriend who is older than I am. Is that sufficient?" she asked evenly. Everyone blinked hard at the sudden confession. "Why?" Amanda asked as she tried to calm herself down from her brush with physical injury. "Pay attention, because I'm not repeating myself," Ami told Melvin in a glacial tone before turning her attention back to Amanda. "I need someone who can keep up with me. Someone who is capable of discussing things on a mature and intellectual level. Someone who knows about and keeps up with the news, both local and global. Someone who can hold a conversation about celestial mechanics or biological science or physics or some other topic that often seems complicated to those who haven't educated themselves about the higher sciences yet. Look around, do you think any mere school-boy can offer that?" Ami said in an even tone. "You don't ask for much, do you?" Leda muttered, drawing a dark look. "Would you prefer I have your standards?" Ami shot back. "Ouch," Leda sighed as she leaned back against the lockers. Amanda blinked and looked around her. "Well, seeing how you put it like that, I guess we can't blame you...." she said slowly, trying to gauge the reaction to her words. "Yet you still find it amusing?" Ami replied evenly. "I don't flaunt my social life or lack thereof, as others have put it. I'm guessing your past is as checkered as Leda's?" "Hey," Leda protested. The blonde sighed quietly. "Probably," she muttered. "Worry about tending to the flaws in yourself before you start prying into the business of others, please," Ami said calmly. "You might discover that in doing so you will find things of value that will make others seek you out for friendship instead of you having to try to find them." Amanda blinked and looked at Ami for a moment before nodding. "I'll try to keep that in mind. Just one more question." Ami raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" The blonde jerked her thumb over her slightly bruised shoulder. "How is it that a piece of work like you got to be best friends with a rabid wombat?" she asked as she gestured at Leda. That prompted a growl from the brunette that was silenced by a dark look from Ami. "It's simple," she replied after thinking carefully. "I looked past the aggressive posturing and saw what she was like inside. All she needed was to be smacked upside the head to realize that some people do care about her for who she is now instead of what she once was." Amanda blinked hard and glanced back at Leda for a moment. Leda glared at her for a moment before looking around the hallway, noticing the sizable crowd that had gathered to watch. "Somebody have something to say?" she said loudly in an edged tone. The hallway emptied in twenty seconds, leaving only Leda, Amanda, Ami, Melvin, and Molly gathered together in a small bunch. Amanda blew her breath out quietly. "I see you're still the queen of clearing a room out," she observed. "What good is a reputation if you don't make use of it?" Leda replied. "I see some things haven't changed," the blonde said with a smirk. Leda shrugged. "Why should they? Hold still, I don't think she's done with you yet," she said as she reached out to snag the back of Melvin's shirt as he tried to sneak away. "I was just heading back to class...." Melvin said in a shaky voice. "Sit. Stay. Good bookworm," Leda said with a glare before turning back to Amanda. "You, on the other hand, need to take a hike." "Yeah, whatever," Amanda replied as she turned to leave. She paused for a moment and turned back to Leda. "About that mark on your neck...." "Grease burn," Leda replied flatly as she tugged her collar down to expose the dark splotch on her throat. "Ouch," the blonde said as she studied the mark for a moment. "You should be more careful." "Look who's talking, mouth," Leda replied as she released her collar and glared at her long-time adversary. "Do us both a favor and leave my friends alone, okay? Otherwise I'd have to reintroduce my foot to your fat...." "I get the picture," Amanda interrupted with an edged tone. "So nice to see you too. Anyway, it's been a blast, but I need to go now. Have fun," she said with a wave before vanishing around a corner. "What are we going to do with you?" Ami asked wearily. Leda snorted. "Don't ask me that because you know I'll tell you exactly what you can do with me. And vice versa." Molly blinked hard as she glanced back and forth between the two of them, not entirely sure what to make of that last exchange. She glanced over at Melvin and noticed that he had a "go figure" look on his face as well. Maybe one of these days I'll have this all sorted out, she thought with a mental sigh. "Melvin," Ami said in a neutral tone. "Yes?" he replied as he started to sweat again. "It would be in everybody's best interests if nothing was ever said or repeated about this incident," Ami said very slowly. "That includes any more information about my social life. Your penchant for gossip has caused enough trouble as it is. Do you understand?" "Perfectly," Melvin squeaked in a high-pitched voice. "Good," Ami said with a small sigh of relief. "Now get out of our sight," Leda growled at the school gossip. Melvin took the overt hint and made a very rapid exit, disappearing down the same corridor that Amanda had used moments earlier. "That boy annoys me," Leda grumbled. "Was that really necessary?" Ami inquired as she leaned against the bank of lockers and rubbed her forehead. She could already feel the beginnings of a tension headache taking up residence in her frontal lobes and wondered how long it would be before it went away. "Ami, in case you hadn't noticed, he was more afraid of you than me," Leda observed with a smirk. "He about wet himself every time you glared at him." Ami ignored her and turned her attention to the still-pale Molly. "Is something wrong, Molly? You looked like you had something on your mind even before this nonsense happened." The redhead blinked. "What? Oh, yes, I was wondering if either of you knew where Serena was. Her cat followed her to school and I'm worried about school officials finding her prowling around outside." Ami and Leda exchanged discreet glances. "Luna is outside?" Leda asked carefully as Ami looked for the nearest exit to the schoolyard. "Yes, last I saw she was perched on that large oak tree," Molly explained. Leda and Ami exchanged glances again and both breathed a silent sigh of relief. It had been discussed awhile ago that in case of a situation in which their communicators couldn't be used, either Luna or Aretmis would be sitting out in the open on the playground equipment. However, if they were seen around any of the large trees, it meant that the information wasn't a high priority. "We'll keep an eye out for Serena," Ami promised. Molly nodded. "Okay, thank you. Hey, we better get to class or we'll be late." Leda smirked. "You go on ahead, I've got to have a word with Ami for a moment," she said, drawing a very wary look from the blue-haired student. Molly blinked before she shrugged. "Okay, see you later," she said and quickly made her way down the nearly empty corridor. "Yes?" Ami asked warily. "All I needed was to be smacked upside the head, huh?" Leda mimicked with a lopsided smirk. "Gee, some friend you are." Ami just sighed and rubbed her temples. "Save it for later, okay? I've got a headache now, plus I'm worried about what Luna wants." Leda shrugged. "If she's on the tree, it can wait until lunchtime." "Let's hope it doesn't have anything to do with the reactor," Ami said with another quiet sigh as she gathered her books together and started walking to her next class. "Shouldn't we have felt the explosion if it did?" Leda inquired as she fell into step next to her best friend. Ami shivered. "If the reactor lost containment, we might be lucky enough to see the flash for a microsecond before the entire city gets taken off the map," she replied in a voice that quite clearly conveyed her feelings. Leda blinked hard. "Hold it, back up a second. You're saying that the reactor in the cathedral is powerful enough to wipe out the whole city if it ever blew up?" "Unfortunately, yes." The brunette fell silent as she contemplated the new information as they quickly made their way to class. "How long have you known about this?" she asked just as they were about to enter the classroom. "Long enough to be able to sleep peacefully at night now," Ami replied. "Great, now I'm worried," Leda said with a heavy sigh. Ami gave her a wry smile. "Don't be. Like I said, if the reactor ever lost containment, it would be over in an instant. We probably wouldn't even be able to feel it." "Lovely," Leda sighed as they entered the classroom moments before the tardy bell rang. "Yeah, conversation at lunch should be interesting...." * * * * The Dragoon Headquarters Complex was a fairly large building, composed of a central axis bisected by three parallel lines, much like a pair of capital E's merged together at the spine. Its size was deceptive, seeming to stand only three stories high when viewed from ground level when in fact it extended almost seven stories underground. Some speculated this was merely to reduce the exposure of the complex to above-ground attacks, although there were rumors that the lower levels housed something more than the power systems for the particle-wave cannon. The first visible change to the complex's exterior was a network of armor plates unfolding from hidden housings. The plates began to spread out like the petals of steel flowers, primarily locking into place over the windows, air vents, and external infrastructure junctions with echoing booms. Several circular panels irised open at seemingly random locations along the length of the complex, allowing a series of diamond-shaped generators to protrude into the open air. Tiny motes of energy started to flow through the delicate circuitry along their flat surfaces, giving them the appearance of glowing, glittering spiderwebs. A massive crack appeared on top of the complex, quicking becoming a deep crevice as the two halves of the roof seemed to fold inward on themselves. The opening only lasted a few seconds before a massive weapons platform rose up to take the place of the roof. The weapons themselves began to unfold and extend as power began to flow into the conduits, revealing a wide array of missile batteries, anti-aircraft weapontry, sensors, and plasma cannons. The diamond-shaped generators began to emit bubbles of electromagnetic energy as they became fully charged, slowly growing in size like translucent balloons until they started to press against each other. The energy shields quickly organized themselves into a honeycomb shape that coated the entire complex with a protective layer of crackling energy. Deep inside the complex, dozens of blast-resistant bulkheads slid into place around doorways and corridor junctions, further sealing off non-critical sections and providing an extra layer of containment from both external and internal events. The outside air vents sealed shut and a network of fans began to circulate the air supply through a series of filters, cutting off the complex from any external atmospheric threat. "Phase One transformation completed," the computer reported in the usual dry monotone. "Well, that's good to hear," K'tal replied. "Sir, we're receiving a coded signal from Essence," the Communications lieutenant reported, "You'll need to use your ciphers to authorize the system to process it." "Navidshi," Asrial spat over her shoulder from the damaged console. K'tal shot her a dark look. "That's not the usual procedure, is it?" he inquired as he turned his attention back to his own panel. "Not usually, sir," the lieutenant replied with a shake of her head, "But we're trying to establish a new encryption link instead of re-establishing an old one, and that requires command-level approval." "Nonsense, you don't have the satellite signal," Asrial growled. The Communications officer blinked hard. "No, I have the satellite," she countered. "I've already double-checked the signal algorithms and the data path. It's coming from the precise coordinates as the Essence satellite and with the exact same timing sequence," she explained as she transferred her console display to the main center screen. "See?" The Felinoid growled as she looked over the display. "And I'm telling you that what you have can't be the satellite. You must have your head up your..." "Asrial," K'tal said flatly. "It's not the satellite," she spat. "The data path is invalid." "I just verified the path ten seconds ago for the fourth time," the young Communications lieutenant shot back with an edge to her own voice, shrugging off the warning nudge from a fellow technician. "Enough, people," K'tal sighed as he re-read the display yet again. "It looks like a valid signal to me. Let's see what the computer says," he said as he typed in a command to his terminal. "I'm telling you that it's not the satellite," Asrial growled even louder. "Asrial, if you yell at me again I'll have you tossed in the brig," the Dragoon commander replied flatly with a warning glare at the Felinoid. "Now bite your tongue or it will be bitten for you. Is that clear, Lieutenant?" "Clear, sir," Asrial replied in a neutral tone. "Algorithm accepted," the computer announced in a flat monotone. "Well?" K'tal said to the Communications lieutenant. "Systems are synchronizing with Essence," she reported smugly. "Commander," D'Nina said very quietly. "Hold that thought, Chief," K'tal whispered back to her just as quietly. "Synchronization complete." "K'tal to Engineering." "Engineering, we see it, sir," the speaker replied. "The targeting lasers have acquired the mirror and are calibrating now." K'tal nodded to the microphone. "Change of plans, Chief. We're going to use a live round for this one." "Live round, aye sir. The housing will be available as soon as we make the Phase Two evolution." "Carry on, Chief. K'tal out," the Dragoon said as he flicked off the microphone. "Tactical, have we got those firing coordinates yet?" "Already in the system, sir," the Tactical officer replied. "System status?" "Communications are Phase Two ready." "Engineering is Phase Two ready, optimal firing window in ten minutes." "Tactical is Phase Two ready." "Weapons are in stand-by mode and are Phase Two ready." "Security is Phase Two ready, defensive shields fully energized." "Commander...." Asrial pleaded in an usually quiet tone. K'tal rubbed his forehead. "I haven't forgotten you, Asrial, but as you can see, that really is the satellite." "The satellite, yes, but not the on-board computer," Asrial replied. "It is a physical impossibility for us to be in contact with it." The Dragoon commander paused and exchanged a slightly concerned glance with D'Nina. "Okay, Lieutenant, tell me why," he said warily. Asrial reached into the console she was working on and picked up a loose circuit board. "Not only is the crypto-linker still off-line, but the signal wave guide and processing matrix aren't even connected." "What?" the Communications lieutenant gasped as she turned her attention to her console. "But I've verified the data path! That has to be from the satellite as there is NOTHING else around it!" "I'm not saying it's not coming from the satellite," Asrial argued, "I'm saying it's not from the satellite's computer!" "Then what am I connected to?" the lieutenant demanded. "How should I know?" the Felinoid growled back. "I just know what it's NOT coming from." "D'Nina, do you have as much of a bad feeling about this as I do?" K'tal said quietly to his second-in-command. The elder Dragoon grunted in reply. "I've been having bad feelings about everything since they exiled Tolaris," she said. "We can't stall for time to hash this out, unfortunately." "So make the evolution?" K'tal asked. Captain Ael'ien had to literally bite the tip of her tongue in an effort to keep herself from lashing out at the Dragoon. You're supposed to be the one making the decisions, K'tal, she thought angrily to herself. If this is how the command structure has degenerated, then perhaps I need to have a very long talk with both Al'vexi and General Rune. "Yes, unless you have a substantiated reason for calling off a mandated exercise and printed instructions from Central Command," the master chief said with a mild shrug. K'tal thought quietly for a moment. "Not yet," he admitted. "Computer, initiate Phase Two transformation sequence," he said loudly to his command console. "Voiceprint recognized. Require concurrence," the computer replied. D'Nina hesitated for a moment and cast a glance at K'tal. "You're right, I probably do have a worse-than-usual bad feeling about this. Computer, initiate Phase Two transformation sequence." "Voiceprint recognized. Compliance...." * * * * Her skin tingled with energy as she entered the flow of Time and began to navigate the temporal currents with practiced ease, slipping from one physical location to another in a cosmic instant. She knew of several ways to compare the flow of Time in other, more easily understood concepts when attempting to explain it to the uninitiated, but her personal favorite was that of a vast river with countless eddies and currents. A conduit opened before her and she slipped into it, her physical body reforming in normal four-dimensional space with a brief flash of light. She waited for a moment for the residual temporal energy to drain away before she opened her eyes and looked around the small chamber she relocated into. "I must say, you have excellent timing," a soft voice said from directly behind her. Susan blinked and glanced over her shoulder. "I am the Guardian of Time," she said evenly. "I'm supposed to have good timing. Why are you here?" Megan smiled and stretched her wings. "I was waiting for you." "That much is obvious," Susan observed as she set her staff aside and began to undress. "Is there something I should be made aware of before I go see Lord Hades?" The full-blooded succubus blinked and the pair of tiny bat-like wings on her head fluttered nervously. "My, you're in a testy mood about something." "This is my keep," Susan replied archly as she stepped out of her dress and slipped her panties off. "I know you're an emmisary and all, but I think trespassing is a bit uncalled for." Megan raised a slender eyebrow. "This keep belongs to your father," she corrected Susan as she opened a closet and pulled out a long black ribbon that was almost identical to the one she was wearing. Susan gave the other succubus a mild look. "Your point?" "I have his full permission to use this keep as I see fit, just as you do, Setsuna," Megan replied as she gave Susan's body an apprasing look before she put the black ribbon back in the closet and picked up a dark blue one. She held it against Susan's bare skin for a moment before nodding and began to wrap it around Susan's slender hips. Susan took a step back and scowled at her unexpected guest. "Just who exactly are you, and how do you know my true-name?" she demanded. Megan paused and looked up at Susan. "Your father told me." The half-breed succubus blinked hard. "What? Why?" Megan smiled softly as she reached up and ran her fingers through Susan's dark green hair. She grabbed a lock of her own hair with her free hand and held it close to Susan's hair for comparison. Susan examined both sets of hair and blinked hard as possible explantions filled her mind. She looked up and silently stared deep into Megan's red eyes for what seemed an eternity. "You have to be kidding me," she finally said softly. "Not in the least," Megan replied with a warm smile. "So do I have any other siblings?" Susan inquired as the realization that she had a sister sunk into her brain. Megan paused for a moment. "Funny you should mention that...." "How many?" Susan said with a heavy sigh. "Just one more," Megan replied with a soft chuckle. "I'm not quite sure why Lisa isn't here yet, but then again she is a bit of a wild child." Susan tugged the ribbon of fabric off of her hips and crossed the room to sit down on the edge of the bed. "He could have said something," she said quietly to the room as she studied her toenails. Maybe they could use a bit of color, she thought. Father, what about your promise to Mother? What were you thinking? Megan shrugged and sat down next to her half-sister. "Well, I wasn't conceived until about three hundred years after your supposed death, so it's not like he was keeping any secrets." Susan sighed quietly and rubbed her temples. "Where is he right now?" She heard silence in response and turned her head to study Megan's face. "He's dead, isn't he?" "Two hundred years ago," Megan replied with a soft sigh and a reluctant nod. "It's a very complicated story, but the short version is he sacrificed himself so that his wife and child could escape being burned at the stake." "So he remarried," Susan observed with yet another heavy sigh as she wondered what happened. She knew she would eventually hear about it, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to know anytime soon. She knew of her father's love of women and near-constant dalliances with them, but that was entirely expected of an incubus. She had decided centuries ago that it would most likely be the death of him and had planned for that eventuality, but had never really fully prepared herself for hearing about his eternal lifespan being violently ended. A sudden thought blasted into her mind and she cast a sidelong glance at her sister. "Don't tell me that he fell in love with another human...." "The pagan leaders didn't take well to the idea that she willingly gave herself over to a demon," Megan muttered sourly. "The frenzy of burnings and executions that followed in the aftermath of that incident was called the Salem Witch Hunts." "Lovely," Susan sighed as she flopped back on the bed, a sudden tide of emotions washing over her without warning. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes as she felt the strength draining away from her, leaving her body feeling cold and unresponsive. She closed her eyes as she felt Megan's light touch on her bare thigh, gently tracing the almost invisible network of veins beneath the surface of her skin. "I don't know what to tell you, Susan," Megan said softly. "I was the result of a causal dalliance, so I don't know what it's like to grow up with a real loving father. Yes, we kept in touch, but he always seemed to either be busy having an affair or talking about you." "What?" Susan said as she blinked her tears away and sat up. Megan chuckled very quietly and started running her fingertips under the gentle swell of Susan's bare breast. "I'm told that after you vanished, he really changed. He took up smoking nahrlat weed and spending most of his time on the Beach," she said, referring to a particular region in the Lake of Fire where amorous succubi were known to gather to search for willing partners. "And during the brief periods of time when he was in full possession of all of his senses, he would tell the others how you were the best thing that had ever happened in his life." "I find that a little hard to believe," Susan said. "We were always on good terms, but we weren't that close." Megan shrugged as she shifted positions to get a closer look at Susan's breasts. "Apparently he didn't realize what he had until you were lost," she replied as she studied the ultra-soft skin. Susan raised a slender eyebrow and took a guess as to what Megan was trying to do. "Other side, an inch below the nipple," she suggested. Megan looked at the other breast and saw the tiny star-shaped freckle that she was looking for. "Ah, I was wondering where it was. Lisa's is also on her breast, but hers is above the nipple." "Should I ask about yours?" Susan wondered as she thought about the odd tendency of birthmarks to appear in the most unusual places. It could always be worse, she thought to herself as she briefly thought of Lady Mercury's heart-shaped birthmark and the rather embarassing location. "Back of the neck," Megan replied as she straightened up and brushed her hair aside to reveal an identical star-shaped freckle on the nape of her neck at the hairline. "It took me a month to find it, and believe me when I say I was looking everywhere." "I can imagine. Tell me about Lisa," Susan asked softly. Megan chuckled quietly and the tiny wings in her hair fluttered briefly. "Eliza," she said quietly. "Lisa was the name chosen by her mother." Susan blinked at being told the true-name of another demon, even if it belonged to her half-sister. "While we're briefly on the subject of names...." "Mordakhen," the pure succubus said quietly as she leaned forward and gave Susan a soft kiss. The sensation sent tingles rippling through them both as they briefly shared one of the finer pleasures of being a succubus. "I trust you'll forgive me if it takes me awhile to adjust to going from being an only child to having two sisters," Susan murmurred after their lips separated. Megan chuckled quietly. "You were presumed dead long before I was born, so I didn't have any siblings either until I learned that Father had seduced a human and she ended up bearing his child." "Alu demon?" Susan asked, knowing it was the usual result of a fruitful union between a human female and an incubus. "Actually, she's half-human like you," Megan said, then scrambled back to avoid a cranial collision as Susan bolted upright in shock. "Don't ask me how that happened, but she's not an alu demon." Susan rubbed her temples as she tried to think. "It's my understanding that the only reason I wasn't born an alu was because Mother's DNA was partly protected by the Imperium Silver Crystal's influence and thus couldn't be dominated." Megan chuckled and ran her fingers through Susan's dark green hair again. "Guess your theory was wrong. My mother's hair was platinum blonde, so you know my hair coloring had to have come from Father." "Amazing," Susan replied. "My mother also had dark green hair, so I had figured it was her influence. What color is Lisa's hair?" "Purple, would you believe?" "So much for genetic domination," Susan said with a faint chuckle. Megan sighed and cast an irritated glance over her shoulder. "She should have been here by now. I really hope she didn't let herself get side-tracked again. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sex just as much as the next succubus, but she has me worried." Susan blushed slightly. "It's probably her human heritage. I was rather promiscuous myself when I was in my youth," she admitted. Megan blinked and gave her a curious look. "I was led to believe that you were rather conservative about your sexuality." "I am a bit more discriminatory about who I prey upon these days," Susan replied as she rolled over on her side and leaned on her elbow. "But between the ages of thirty and two hundred, I had a rather... active lifestyle." Megan chuckled and sat back, lightly rubbing the tiny pair of wings on her head. "Just how active are we talking here?" "A slow week was anything less than ten or twelve times in seven days." Her sister blinked hard and straightened up. "Are you serious?" Susan shrugged her shoulder causally. "Human blood burns far hotter than demonic blood when it's ignited by desire. So put human desires and demonic endurance together...." "And you get a really interesting combination," Megan finished for her. "Precisely." Megan just shook her head. "And I thought I tended to over-indulge." Susan smiled. "You forget that I'm able to travel back and forth through Time. I may have had countless encounters, but they're spread over about two thousand years, give or take a century." The pure-blood succubus opened her mouth to ask a question when a burst of light behind her caused her to nearly leap off the bed in shock. She quickly turned around and clenched a fist, creating a ball of seething red energy around her hand. She aimed her fist at the new arrival and waited to see what was going to happen next. "Hi, sis! I just... WHOA!" the newcomer babbled excitedly before blinking hard at the sight of a ball of lethal energy hovering two inches in front of her nose. Megan growled quietly. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that so close to a person?" she said as she let the energy dissipate into the air around her fist. The purple-haired succubus whimpered quietly. "I'm sorry...." she said as she fidgeted with the edges of her red leotard. Susan raised a slender green eyebrow. "A little edgy, aren't we?" she said to Megan as she carefully looked over the new arrival. "And you must be Lisa." Lisa's face almost exploded into a joyful grin as she lunged forward to wrap her arms around her newly-discovered eldest sister. "I am so glad to finally meet you!" she gushed as she hugged Susan hard enough to make her wince in pain. "Lisa!" Megan said sharply. Susan chuckled quietly as Lisa abruptly pulled back, allowing air to once again enter her lungs. "The exuberance of youth," she observed as she studied Lisa's somewhat petite figure, noticing that the only hint that she wasn't a full-blooded succubus was the size and coloring of her wings. They were half the size of normal succubus wings and were a very dark shade of red instead of the usual leathery brown. "You're late," Megan commented darkly to her younger sister. Lisa's face immdiately puckered into a sad frown. "It's not my fault," she pleaded, "I was on my way here when I was intercepted by a messenger from Lord Hades." The other two succubi immediately sat up and blinked. "What was the message?" Susan asked. "The messenger said that Lord Hades would be coming here to meet with us privately instead of having you summoned to his chambers," Lisa replied. Megan immediately scrambled off the bed and started to yank Susan to her feet. "If he's coming here, we have to get you dressed properly," she said as she grabbed the almost-forgotten dark blue ribbon of fabric and started to wrap it around Susan's naked body. "Her boots should be in there somewhere," she said over her shoulder to Lisa. Susan sighed quietly and submitted to the whirlwind attention, holding still as the ribbon was expertly wrapped around her body in such a way as to conceal her groin and criss-cross over her breasts. For added measure, a jet- black loin cloth that hung down to her knees was looped through a gold chain wrapped around her hips like a belt. Knee-high black leather boots were put on as the ribbon was secured in a knot behind her neck and the ends allowed to trail freely down her back like a second pair of wings. "You look good in this," Megan said admiringly as she debated on trying a quick hair adjustment before settling for a quick but gentle brushing-out. Susan smiled at the compliment. "Someone once said that any succubus can look good in anything, everything, and nothing," she replied. Megan chuckled quietly as she worked the brush. "That's the truth." "You think these earrings would go well?" Lisa inquired as she held up a pair of dark sapphires that almost matched the ribbon perfectly. "I like these earrings," Susan protested as she ran her fingertips along the dark red double-chevron earrings she usually wore. "When did the messenger say Lord Hades was coming?" Megan asked. A sudden heavy knock on the chamber door sent a momentary chill through everyone. "Nevermind, just get the door," Megan said hastily as she quickly gave Susan's attire a final once-over before setting the hairbrush down and smoothing out her own clothing, the tiny wings in her hair fluttering madly. The door swung open with a soft creak before Lisa could reach the handle and a young woman poked her head in. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she said softly with a gentle smile. The succubi immediately fell to one knee and bowed their heads before the Queen of the Underworld. "Lady Persephone," Susan said in surprise and awe. Persephone's smile grew wider as she stepped into the room, the hem of her peach-colored skirt bairly brushing the bare stone floor. "My husband sent me a message saying that you had returned, Susan, so of course I had to come see for myself." Susan blinked hard, realizing that it was the wrong time of the year for the goddess to be living in the Underworld with her husband, Hades. According to the legends, the deal was struck between Hades and her mother, the goddess Demeter, so that Persephone would spend six months of every year with Hades in the Underworld and the other six months with Demeter on Mount Olympus. It was also said that when her daughter was absent, Demeter would withhold her life-giving warmth from nature until Persephone returned unharmed, thus giving rise to the turn of the seasons. "My lady, I don't know what to say," Susan said, still in awe. "Surely I am not worth risking your mother's wrath upon the mortal realm for a visit..." The goddess laughed softly as she held up her hand. "My mother knows how much I adore you like you were my own daughter," she said kindly. "She has given permission for a brief visit without any undue effects." Susan bowed her head, moved almost to the point of tears. "My lady..." she started to say before her voice failed her. Persephone drew Susan to her feet and gestured for the other succubi to rise as well. "You have been missed by many in the Underworld," she said quietly. "I have not yet heard all of the details, as my husband's message was brief and my father's was just as devoid of information, but even I felt the Portal's opening and knew it had to herald your return." There was a soft cough from behind Persephone as a dark figure entered the room. "Sorry if I only had a brief moment to send only a short message, my love," Lord Hades said with bemusement. "Oh, stop that," he said in mild irritation as the the succubi fell to their knees again before him. "There is a time and place for such things, and a quiet family gathering isn't it." "My lord," Susan replied demurely as they slowly got to their feet again. "I trust you've already met your sisters?" Hades observed as he studied the three succubi. He had known Susan since her birth and recently gotten to know about Lisa when she became one of Persephone's more favored servants, but knew next to nothing about Megan. "I have, my lord, and have to admit being a bit... overwhelmed," Susan replied. "Surely that will not preclude you from your duties," Hades observed. "Of course not, my lord," his avatar replied with a bow of her head. "I am always ready to serve you." Hades nodded quietly and turned to his wife. "I know your mother only intended for you to see her and not linger, but it is still good to see you," he said softly as he gave her a gentle kiss. Persephone smiled warmly at him. "Another few months, my dark knight." Susan and Megan exchanged a momentary look, not surprised in the least to see that divinities in love could be every bit as sappy as humans. Lisa, for her part, briefly flashed a classic "you have to be kidding me" look at her elder sisters. "Lisa," Persephone said quietly, still smiling at her husband and not noticing Lisa hastily clearing her face of expression. "I must return to Mount Olympus now. I would like you to accompany me to the entrance." "As you wish, my lady," Lisa replied properly with a bow of her head. "It is good to see you've returned to us, Susan," the Queen said with a smile. "And I look forward to hearing your stories again in a few months." "A pleasure as always, my lady," Susan said with a smile of her own. "My lord," Persephone said to her husband as she took his hand and bowed her head slightly. She gave him a final loving smile before she released her hold and left the room. Lisa only paused long enough to give her master one final bow before hastily following her mistress out the door. "At least her manners seem sufficient," Susan observed with a smile as the heavy door closed with a gentle creak. "Believe me when I say that's taken some work," Megan muttered dourly. "Perhaps her training could bear some scrutiny if that is the case," Hades said evenly. He watched as Megan blinked involuntarily before quickly averting her eyes at the suggestion of his displeasure. "I don't envy you having to suffer the attentions of siblings, having a few unpleasant experiences dealing with my own." Susan ventured a smile. "With due respect, my lord, now that I've gotten a chance to come to terms with the prospect, I rather look forward to it." "Your headache," Hades muttered quietly to himself. He sighed quietly and rubbed his hands across his face. "The situation has changed drastically with the loss of the Moon Kingdom," he said evenly. "We no longer have a buffer between us and the other worlds, and there have been numerous attacks on Earth already." Susan nodded her head. "I have attempted to analyze the situation and believe I have a rudimentary understanding of current events." The god raised his eyebrow. "This should be interesting," he replied. Megan cast a sidelong glance at Susan and was grateful that she wasn't involved in things. It wasn't every day that someone essentially told a higher power that they knew as much as he did, and she was curious to find out just how far Susan would push things. "Queen Beryl is dead, and there are no other known members of their royal family," Susan said as her mind sifted through the conclusions she had drawn the day before. "Therefore, while the power of the NegaForce can be loaned to other denizens, the full potential remains sealed and would not be able to decisively counteract the full power of the Imperium Silver Crystal." Hades nodded slowly, quietly impressed by his avatar's prowess at looking at the bigger picture. "However...." he prodded. Susan sighed quietly. "However, the Princess and her court were killed during the battle and were reincarnated a thousand years later, without their memories or full training. Luna and Artemis have done an admirable job in teaching them the basics, but they are a far cry from being the Celestial Guardians they once were. Worse, Serena has almost no clue about how to use the Imperium Silver Crystal except as a means of defense. If there were to be a head-on confrontation between her and an avatar of the NegaForce tomorrow, I would probably put the odds at 5-to-4 in favor of the NegaForce." "Not exactly betting odds," Megan muttered. "Agreed," Hades sighed. "I'm changing your instructions, Setsuna. You will no longer serve the Lunar throne directly, as the Moon Kingdom lies in ruins. Your primary duty instead is to ensure the continuity of the line of succession to the Imperium Silver Crystal, even if it has to jump bloodlines." Susan's red eyes widened. "My lord?" Hades rubbed his face with his hands again. "We are extremely vulnerable right now, to a degree not seen since the first days of Creation," he said wearily. "They have attacked the Princess, repeatedly, and indeed killed the others once already. She used the power of the Imperium Silver Crystal to resurrect them, amazingly enough, but none of us believe she knew how she did it, or if she can do it again. If they succeed in killing her now, then the power will be lost to us forever. We can't risk that, not now, not with the pantheon still weakened. We must make sure that the Crystal will always have a dedicated avatar." Susan was at a total loss for words as she struggled to understand the exact nature of her new orders. She moved over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it, ignoring for the moment her sister and her master still standing by the door. "I don't understand," Megan ventured quietly. The Lord of the Underworld shot her a dark look. "You're not expected to be able to understand, as you're neither an avatar nor one who has personal experience dealing with one of the most powerful relics in Creation," he said flatly. "I'm sure Setsuna, however, is able to appreciate the magnitude of importance placed on her duties as my avatar and can fathom the ramifications of failing to protect the Crystal." Susan blinked as the connection finally clicked in her mind. "So faced with the option of protecting either the royal bloodline or protecting the possible successor...." she said slowly. "You protect the successor," Hades said succinctly. "Understood, my lord," his avatar replied as she stood up, looking as if she had just eaten a mouthful of very sour grapes. Hades sighed quietly again. "Be at ease, my child," he said softly. "I honestly do not expect you will be forced to make such a choice, but it must be understood now what you must do should the time come. This only changes your highest priority, that's all. You are still expected to do what you can to protect the life of the Moon Princess and the other avatars, of course." "Of course," Susan echoed quietly, still rather unsettled. "There is one more change to your instructions," Hades added. "You know that the soul of the Earth prince has been compromised, right?" "What?" Susan said as her jaw fell open. Hades leaned against the wall and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We only know that he was infused with a latent power from the other side during his kidnapping. We have yet to determine what sort of impact this is going to have on matters, but we do believe it will be ultimately significant. We must keep him safe until we know more. Therefore, in the unlikely event you are faced with the choice of protecting either the Princess or the Prince, you are to protect the Prince at all costs, save losing the line of succession for the Crystal." Susan sat back down on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands. "Are things really that bad that I must contemplate sacrificing the life of the Crown Princess for other goals?" she whispered quietly. "Is her death that likely that we must actively plan for someone else to take her place?" Hades frowned as he pushed himself off of the wall and stood up straight. "Consider this, Chancellor," he said, using her official title from the Moon Kingdom. "She was killed once, a thousand years ago. Her mother sacrificed her own life so she could be reborn. If she can be killed once, she can be killed again, only this time there wouldn't be anyone else capable of using the powers of the Imperium Silver Crystal to save this world. Think about it, Setsuna, think very long and hard about it." Megan bowed to her master as he turned around and left the room, closing the chamber door behind him. Susan said nothing as she stared at the stone floor of the keep, her thoughts a chaotic whirl inside the intricate depths of her mind. "How much of a problem is this going to present?" Megan asked as she gave Susan a curious look, trying to fathom what the problem could possibly be. "Depends on how you look at it," Susan responded quietly. "I basically have to throw away a lifetime of work to the royal family and restructure what my priorities are. That won't be easy or pleasant." "So you guard a prince instead of a princess," Megan shrugged. "That doesn't sound too difficult. You could probably even make him your sex slave, that'd keep him under real tight control," she added lightly. Susan just looked at her younger sister, realizing not for the first time that full-blooded demons had different ideas about morals and ethics. The concept of emotional bonds such as love was foreign to most of them, and it was only due to her human heritage that she herself was able to experience such strong feelings for her friends. "Lord Hades is right," she said as she stood up. "You don't understand, but then again, you aren't expected to. I will perform my duties as he has instructed, but it will take some time to adjust. Until then, I'll just have to do the best I can." Megan raised a slender green eyebrow. "This really is going to be a bit of a problem for you, isn't it?" She snorted in contempt when Susan nodded her head in response. "Imagine, an avatar with issues over whom to protect just because she knows them. I had honestly thought you had a stronger spine than this." Susan blinked hard as Megan teleported out of the room in a flash of dimensional energy, leaving her alone in the empty keep. "Apparently, Lord Hades was right about siblings being a headache," she said to the empty air. "Perhaps this won't be nearly as interesting as I had imagined." She sighed heavily and made a snatching motion in the air, her staff materializing out of the temporal flow to smack solidly into her palm. Her free hand smoothed out a wrinkle in her attire and made a minor adjustment to her loin cloth before she wrapped herself in temporal energy and slipped back into the eternal flow of Time. * * * * "You have a visitor this morning," the wall seemed to say to her as she sat down to her morning breakfast. Al'vexi raised an eyebrow as she poured herself a glass of juice. "Good morning to you too, V'Sari," the retired general told the pocket of shadows in the far corner. "Business or personal?" A shadowy figure emerged from the darkness and assumed what appeared to be a three-dimensional humanoid form. "He said it was personal," she replied, her voice a soft, sibilant whisper that often reminded others of leaves being stirred in a breeze. Al'vexi telepathed to her bodyguard as she bit into a slice of toast. V'Sari hesitated before replying, which was unusual enough to raise the hair on the back of the general's neck. "Call it a woman's intuition," V'Sari finally said. Al'vexi said nothing as she spread some le'un preserves on another slice of toast and took a sip of her juice. She was one of only a handful of people in military history to live long enough to retire as a flag-rank officer, and at present was the only one still living. The threat to her was still quite real, as it was to all senior military officials, which was why she still rated a bodyguard in retirement. "Security scan?" she said aloud before taking another bite of toast. V'Sari consulted the tiny computer pad in her hand. "He's got a sympia spear with him, appears to be a standard Dragoon model. No significant psi activity detected, no unusual energy signatures around him." Al'vexi grunted in quiet amusement. She wasn't worried about the weapon in the slightest, as any would-be assassin would first have to get past her formidable psionic defenses. She mused that if things got unruly, she could always give her opponent a psi-spike with enough energy to physically destroy the brain tissue, but that tended to give herself a migraine that persisted for days at a time. "Show him in," she said as she reached for the scrambled ertu eggs. She made significant progress in devouring most of them before a young man in a dark cloak entered the room and stood next to the chair on the opposite side of the table. "Nice to know you still prefer the simple breakfast," he said lightly as he examined the selection of v'etu toast, talan juice, scrambled ertu eggs, and slices of assorted fruits. "Mind if I sit?" Al'vexi looked up in surprise, and it was only due to many centuries of rigid mental discipline that kept her from spitting out a mouthful of egg and gasping for air. As it was, it took her several seconds before she could pull her mind together to form coherent thought. "I thought you were dead," she said after swallowing hard and taking a deep breath. Jedyt smiled coldly as he moved the chair back and sat down. "Beryl is dead," he corrected her. "I was merely hidden in the rafters." "Well, now, this is a surprise," Al'vexi said as she spooned some more scrambled ertu eggs onto her plate and fought very hard to retain her casual outside composure. "So what brings you here?" "You tell me," he replied as he grabbed a slice of s'car from the pile of fruit and started munching on it. she telepathed at him as she resumed her attack on the eggs. Jedyt chuckled. "Good guess, but you're wrong. Rune released me from my crystal for just that purpose, but to be honest I don't give a wet rakketh corpse about who's running things." The retired general glanced up at him in irritation as she refilled her glass of juice. "Revenge," he said simply. "On whom?" Al'vexi prompted after draining half the glass. "Sailor Moon," the blond general replied as he picked up a wedge of the bittersweet d'ael melon. Al'vexi smiled darkly at her unexpected guest. "You don't ask for much, do you?" "I know who she is on Earth," he replied around a mouthful of melon. "I watched her, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars transform, and know their true identities." That gave the telepath a momentary chill. "Really," she said slowly in mild disbelief. "Really," Jedyt confirmed. "Serena, Ami, and Rei. And I know exactly where Rei's temple is, too," he added with a malicious grin. "I spent some time there once, working as a temporary aide as part of a disguise. She's a feisty one...." he mused. "And the others?" Al'vexi said, curious now. She knew from the reports she had seen that they had figured out that Sailor Mercury's real name was Ami and that she had become a vampire, but virtually everything else they knew about her was very sketchy conjecture. Except, of course, for what they knew about Prince Darian, but that was a different matter entirely.... "What others?" Jedyt said flatly as he gave her a slightly wary look. Al'vexi smirked as she took a sip of juice. "Not nearly as informed as you thought you were, Jedyt? There are two other Sailor Scouts to deal with as well, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. Plus, I'd imagine, we still have the odd problem with that Sailor V girl." "That bitch," Jedyt spat. "We haven't found her yet?" "She's apparently harder to find than Sailor Moon," Al'vexi observed with a casual shrug. "She wiped out most of our long-term agents, but we still have Agent M in place and sending back regular reports. Including sightings of our beloved Sailor V, alive and well." Jedyt grunted quietly to himself. He realized that his knowledge of the long-term operations on Earth was obviously outdated by now, but he still remembered the plans drawn up about Agent M. Jedyt thought it was a he, but didn't have much information about him, save that he was one of the most highly skilled surveillance agents ever trained by the military. His mission on Earth was to blend in as a native and report back on what he learned and observed about humans that could be of use to the Negaverse. "So two more Sailor Scouts to deal with?" he said warily after a long pause to consider developments. "Seems that way," Al'vexi replied as she picked up the last piece of toast and spread more le'un preserves on it. "And they're just as lethal as the other three. Anyone ever tell you about the Psi-Corp Complex?" Jedyt shrugged. "I heard the reactor got blown out, that was it. I take it they managed to crater it?" She scowled at his casual attitude about the total destruction of the Psi-Corp Headquarters Complex and the loss of almost a full ninety percent of the ranks of the Psi-Corp. She herself had been the Captain of the Psi-Corp at one point before her promotion to Brigadier started her along the very treacherous path to full General. "We're still not entirely sure what happened," she said in an edged tone. "I understand that some of the debris in the crater still glows at night, so we can't get close enough to try and find out." Jedyt made a noise in his throat. "Radiation is a bitch, isn't it?" Al'vexi sighed as her patience started to fray at the edges. "Why are you here, Jedyt?" The young general smirked and leaned back in his chair. "I understand that we managed to capture that annoying Tuxedo Mask for awhile, and that you got to spend some time with his mind under your telepathic microscope." "That much is true," Al'vexi admitted neutrally. "I would be most interested in reading your personal notes about that experience," he said. "Not just the official reports, but your psychological analysis as well. The stuff that you left out before filing the reports." Al'vexi took a large bite out of the toast. Jedyt reached into his cloak and pulled out a small folder. Even from across the table, Al'vexi could make out four different types of high-level classification sigils stamped on it, including the "Seven-Aerce" designation from the Dragoon Legion, usually reserved only for the Queen herself. "A little biographical sketch about Sailor Moon," Jedyt said in response to Al'vexi's eyebrows hitting the proverbial roof. "Something General Rune was able to observe for herself that hasn't become public knowledge yet. This secret report in exchange for your secret report." The retired general thought very carefully for a moment. "How do I know that is genuine information?" she said, trying to stall for time to think. Jedyt opened the report and flipped to the very last page. "Here, you can use your famous object-sense skill on the signature," he offered as he laid the report in front of her. Al'vexi leaned forward to examine the page, noticing immediately that the signature was real ink instead of a carbon-copy reproduction. "This is the original?" she said in surprise. She glanced up in time to catch Jedyt rolling his eyes at the ceiling. "Nevermind," she muttered as she wiped her hand on a napkin and lightly pressed her fingertip against the signature. Every object and creature has a unique psionic aura around it, some with stronger or more noticable auras than others. One of Al'vexi's better mental skills was the ability to sense the imprints of psionic auras left on objects by contact with other unique auras. It was rather difficult to read some types of objects, as imprints tend to fade with time or become obscured by multiple imprints, but the auras in the ink were relatively easy to read. This is a medium grade of soyo ink, not very common, used primarly in the North Polar Region, she thought to herself as her psionic powers analyzed every aspect of the ink. However, it is also exported to the other regions for use in fancy pens. The ink in this signature was housed in an aluminum-tungsten cylinder inlaid with several small carbon gemstones, most likely high-grade cubic zirconium. There appears to be several other contaminants around the housing, at least half a dozen unique crystal structures with stunted growth. Very tiny, probably not visible to the naked eye. And both the housing and the crystal seeds have been recently in contact with a single denizen. Female, strong grip, I'd say middle-aged, with dark purple hair and a penchant for manipulating the molecular structure of crystals and minerals.... "It's Rune, alright," Al'vexi admitted as she mentally cleared her mind of the sudden clutter of information. "And you know that if Rune puts her signature on paper...." Jedyt offered. "...That she regards it as being official truth," she finished. "Which, if you stop and think, really doesn't say a lot." Jedyt leaned back in the chair and smirked. "Yes, but this is about a report she didn't release, so why would she bother to make it up?" "Disinformation?" the telepath suggested. Jedyt snorted in distain and took the report back. "Just tell me you're not interested so we can move on with other things," he said darkly. "Why do you want my report on Prince Darian?" Al'vexi inquired as she sat back to contemplate matters. She had no doubt that Rune wrote the report, but was still trying to determine just how curious she really was about what it contained. "There is a saying on Earth.... know thine enemy," Jedyt replied. "That, and I want to see if anyone knows why the NegaForce has such a keen interest in him." Al'vexi said nothing as she sipped at her nearly-empty cup of juice. she telepathed. "How long have we known one another?" Jedyt said quietly. she thought honestly. "I'm touched," he responsed dryly. He tapped the report. "If this report is true, then we are probably.... no, if this becomes public knowledge, then we WILL have a civil war. I may be many things, Al'vexi, most of them repulsive to you, but I am not one prone to doomsday predictions. This report has me worried, deeply worred. I have every reason to believe this report is accurate, and the reason I came to you is that I want another experienced opinion for comparison." The telepath sighed as she sat back in her chair. "Spare me the drama." "Sailor Moon is only half-human." It took several seconds for the icy shiver to quit running up and down her spine. "You're serious," she said very slowly. He nodded and held up the report, the highest levels of classification markings clearly stamped on the front cover. "This report for your report, and believe me when I say I think you're getting the better end of the deal. I just want to know as much about Darian as possible." Al'vexi eyeballed the report long and hard before she sighed heavily and stood up from the table. "Wait here," she said simply and left, leaving a relieved Jedyt sitting alone at the table. He examined the contents of the fruit bowl for a few seconds before he picked out another slice of s'car and idly nibbled on it. She returned a minute later holding a well-used data tablet and a small memory crystal. "I never bothered to print it out," she commented as she sat down at the table and held the items out to Jedyt. "Some things are just too dangerous to leave lying around." He nodded in complete understanding as he passed his report over to her and picked up the data tablet. "No offense, Al'vexi, but this has seen better days," he observed as he studied it. "They quit making this model how many centuries ago?" "It was a gift from a friend when I was accepted into the academy," the telepath replied absently as she opened the cover and started reading the long list of security citations and warnings. "Unlike most other things, it has served me quite well over the years. If you ever live long enough to reach my age, perhaps you'll be able to appreciate such seemingly trivial things," she said as she glanced up at him. Jedyt grunted quietly to himself as he mentally calculated the probable age difference between them. He had participated in the attack on the Moon Kingdom, but had only been a very young Field Captain at the time. Al'vexi, on the other hand, had already been promoted to Brigadier before the attack took place and was well on her way to making Lieutenant General. She had asked to remain behind in the Negaverse to oversee the reserve forces rather than lead a division of her own during the invasion, a move that had caused many of her peers to question her ability to lead. Ultimately, however, it proved to have been a wise course of action as the few senior officers to return alive from the invasion ended up spending anywhere between a month and a decade in suspended animation while their bodies were slowly regenerated. He sighed quietly to himself as he carefully plugged in the memory crystal and instructed the tablet to retrieve the data. No sense in upsetting her over some foolish sentimental issue, he thought as he began to read. Al'vexi also read in silence, trying to absorb the contents of the report without jumping to any conclusions. It was a detailed contact report about the events that transpired in the depths of the Dragoon Legion Headquarters Complex when the Sailor Scouts, aided by the denizens now in exile on Earth, broke into one of the lower level storage facilities. Rune had laid a trap for them, of course, which ultimately had failed. That in itself was of no surprise to her, as they had yet to be successfully caught in any sort of trap laid by the military. What she found the most shocking, however, was the information that was revealed about Sailor Moon during that incident. She read and re-read the paragraph several times to make absolutely sure there was no misunderstanding of the situation. "Jedyt..." she said slowly. "That's something worth losing sleep over, don't you agree?" he replied absently, still rapidly reading the psychological report and trying to absorb as much information as possible. "If she is half-denizen, that changes the equation to a degree you would simply not believe," she sighed as she leaned back and rubbed her eyes. Jedyt paused and glanced up. "Try me," he suggested. "Sailor Moon could become the Queen Regent," Al'vexi replied. It took a minute for his blood to thaw out after a momentary chill. "You want to run that one past me again?" She gestured to her report on the data tablet. "Keep reading and let me know when you get to the part about when Darian was quietly named Crown Prince by both Beryl and the NegaForce." "What?!" Jedyt exclaimed and started to speed-read as fast as he could. the retired general telepathed to her bodyguard. "Unbelievable," Jedyt spat as he read the paragraph. "What was Beryl thinking?" "She was apparently thinking that she had found her lifemate," Al'vexi replied dryly as she closed her mind and focused on a small box buried in the back of a drawer in her dresser. Her limited telekinetic powers were just strong enough to reach out, grab hold of the box, and start to twist four- dimensional space around it. "What are you doing?" he asked as he saw the look of intense concentration on her heavily lined and well-aged face. He blinked hard as a very fuzzy geometric configuration started to appear on the table, a shimmering tangle of lines of power. The fuzzy shape persisted for a few seconds before unraveling at the seams and disappearing, leaving a small wooden box behind. "That was an effort," Al'vexi grunted as she reached out and opened the box. "Teleportation is not my thing. Want one?" Jedyt peered into the box and blinked. "Citran?" he ventured. "Citran laced with mee'pa and vel'sik," Al'vexi corrected as she picked up one of the herbal cigarettes. "Al'vexi, you surprise me," he said as he leaned back to observe her carefully. "You had always seemed so straight-laced to me. I'm sure I don't have to remind a trained telepath about the dangers of mind-altering drugs." "Oh, stuff it," she grumped. "Yes, if you smoked each component alone it will have you on on your ptanka in various ways. Blend them together in the right proportions, however, and the psychotic effects are nullified. The only effect it has then is to dampen higher thought and psionic activity." "So you can get stoned without worrying about having the wrong thoughts triggering random psionic powers," Jedyt summarized dryly. "I'm immune to most analgesics," she sighed. "So when I get a migraine headache like I just got three minutes ago, my only options are suffer for hours or take something that blots out most of my brain's sensory functions," she explained as she held out the end of the cigarette to him. Jedyt gave her a reproving look before he reached out and touched his fingertip to the end of the cigarette, sending a surge of raw energy through it. The end started to smoulder briefly before igniting in a soft whoosh of air and heat. "Thank you," the retired telepath said as she blew out the small flame and took a slow puff from the herbal blend. "We have a lot to think about," she said slowly. "We have two pieces of a deeply disturbing picture on our hands right now. My piece comes from my probing of Prince Darian's mind, but when we add your piece about Princess Serena... this might take quite some time for us to hash out. Oh, thank you, V'Sari," she added as her bodyguard silently appeared at her elbow and set the bottle and glasses on the table. Jedyt grunted quietly and glanced back down at the data tablet. "You seem to have a head-start on this already," he replied. "I still don't see where you get Sailor Moon becoming the Queen Regent." "Classified discussion, V'Sari," Al'vexi said mildly as she stripped the gold foil off of the top of the wine bottle. "Truth be told, I'm probably not cleared for it, so please don't mention this to anyone." "Of course not," V'Sari replied quietly and silently withdrew. "You trust her?" Jedyt asked softly. "If you can't trust your bodyguard, who can you trust?" Al'vexi said with a shrug. "My logic for the Regent is very simple. Darian is the Crown Prince, his daughter will be the next Crown Princess, and the child's mother will be the Queen Regent until the Princess is old enough to assume the throne," she said evenly as she puffed quietly on her cigarette while trying to work the cork free of the bottle. "And the way things look, his most likely choice for a lifemate will be Sailor Moon." Jedyt grunted quietly as he continued to read the report. "Even if that was a given, we're still missing several things. Tell me again how he ended up as the Crown Prince?" The telepath closed her eyes for a moment to think. "When we kidnapped him and brought him to Beryl, she had a team of telepaths suppress his memories of Earth and the Sailor Scouts. She then took him to see the NegaForce. I'm not entirely sure what happened then, but when they emerged he was very much under her spell. So much so, in fact, that Beryl took him as her lover and proclaimed him her Prince." Jedyt found himself suppressing a shudder of revulsion. "That's not the most pleasant of mental images," he said sourly. There was a soft pop as the cork finally came free. "Beryl wasn't what most would call fashion model material, but even you have to admit she had a certain appeal to her that most men would find intriguing to some degree," she said as she poured the wine into a glass and held it out to her guest. "Granted, but not enough to sleep with. What's this?" he inquired as he accepted the glass and sniffed it carefully. "Asleen Purple Twenty-Three," Al'vexi replied as she poured a glass for herself. "I know it's not made anymore, and you usually save rare wines like this for special occasions, but I thought it a good idea to have some now. You can think of it as celebrating what will undoubtedly be a very major turning point in the history of the Negaverse." He smirked. "Yes, nothing like the prospect of a global upheaval to make one want to celebrate. Here's to the grand and glorious revolution," he said and clinked his glass against hers. "Be very careful what you wish for," she said after sipping her wine. * * * * The central axis of the Dragoon Headquarters Complex was not perfectly parallel to the equator, being instead tilted at a six-degree angle towards the north. The logic for this was to take advantage of a natural depression on the western horizon where two ridges had formed countless eons ago. A tiny point of light hovered on the horizon between the peaks of the ridges, just high enough in the sky to be visible above any lingering morning fog. Soaring high above the planet in a perfect geosynchronous position, the orbital mirror known as Essence kept a constant electronic eye on the western face of the Complex and waited for further instructions. The ground beneath the Complex began to rumble as massive motors started up, pushing a pair of giant steel platforms up from the ground and away from the space between the western and central spines of the building. The topsoil normally covering the plates had been kept very shallow for just this reason, spilling away with ease as the plates angled up like the ends of a drawbridge. The result was an almost cavern-like void between the spines, free from dirt or any other obstacles that might get in the way. The entire west wing of the Complex began to split in two, the normally perpendicular north and south spines slowly folding inward to run parallel to the main axis and exposing a massive exhaust port that was easily twenty feet in diameter. Special reflective plates extended out from inside the port, forming a guide path for what was clearly becoming the business end of a very powerful weapon. A small laser array on the roof of the Complex oriented on the orbital mirror and started firing pulses of light at it, checking the alignment of the barrel and instructing the firing computer to elevate the barrel by another full degree. A misty cloud formed at the end as the barrel was purged with inert xenon gas and the magnetic coils started to power up, giving the highly reflective metal a faint glow of energy. "Phase Two transformation completed," the computer reported. "Engineering to Commander K'tal," the speaker crackled. "The firing housing is now available, estimate we will have a full charge in five minutes." K'tal thumbed the microphone switch. "Lock and load the shell, Chief, but keep full safeties on it until I say otherwise." "Safe loading, aye sir. Engineering out." D'Nina gave him a curious glance. "Hedging our bets, Commander?" K'tal grunted quietly. "Call it a hunch, Chief." D'Nina studied him for a moment before turning her attention to the young lieutenant at Communications. "Lieutenant T'Pri, are we still operating under the VBF system?" she asked. The lieutenant blinked hard. "VBF? Actually, that system is not in use unless it's specifically called for," she replied with a small frown. Captain Ael'ien leaned over to K'tal. "What's the VBF system?" she asked in a low tone. "It's nothing sanctioned by current regulations," he replied as he watched his console. "Basically, it means that if anyone in the building gets any sort of premonition about our current situation, they have permission to call it in to Operations. True precognition is rare, as you no doubt know, but the theory behind the VBF system is that psionically active denizens may be able to get a bit of a 'gut feeling' about the immediate future." Ael'ien blinked and thought about the concept for a moment. "If you stop and think about it, it sounds like a plausible theory. Should I ask why the Psi-Corp hasn't been consulted about it?" K'tal snorted quietly. "It has, Captain. Problem is, everyone who was directly involved in the group discussion is either dead or in exile," he said with a sour look. "The VBF system is a low-priority experiment, so it doesn't surprise me in the least that you haven't heard about it yet." "Very well, Lieutenant," D'Nina said to Communications, "I am officially requesting that the VBF system be activated immediately." The lieutenant cleared her throat. "Actually, Chief, that requires...." she started to say, then trailed off as she noticed K'tal giving her a dark look. She blinked hard, swallowed, and reached for her headset. Everyone looked up at the nearest speaker as the three-note electronic whistle echoed throughout the Complex. "Attention all hands, the VBF system is now in effect. I repeat, the VBF system is now in effect. All notices are to be sent to Operations using prefix seven-two and a level-two priority. Operations out." "Thank you, Lieutenant," D'Nina said with a slight nod of her head. "Got a premonition of your own, Chief?" K'tal asked quietly. She shrugged. "Call it a hunch, Commander." "One last question," Ael'ien asked. "What exactly does VBF stand for?" "Very Bad Feeling," K'tal replied with a straight face. The telepath blinked hard. "Seriously?" "Seriously." Psi-Corp Captain Ael'ien promptly made a mental note to make a discreet inquiry about the possibility of reading K'tal's psychological profile. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Asrial growled flatly. K'tal gave her a reproving look. "You're not psionic, Lieutenant, but I will take your recommendation into consideration." "Commander?" the communications lieutenant said as she frowned at her console. "I have a level 3 VBF report from a field sergeant in Security." "Noted," K'tal replied. The VBF system was rated from one to three, with a three being a low-confidence feeling, a two being of medium-confidence, and a one being a premonition that the psionicist believed had a high degree of confidence. He had decided long ago that he wouldn't let himself become very concerned about the VBF results until he either got a VBF-1 report or if he started getting several reports at once. "Engineering to Commander K'tal." "K'tal here." "Sir, the shell is ready," the Chief Engineer reported. "I'm requesting permission to seal the housing and arm the primary." K'tal crossed his arms and briefly closed his eyes. "Why do I have this sinking feeling, D'Nina?" he murmured quietly. The master chief gave him a concerned look. "Don't tell me you're having premonitions of your own," she grumbled. "I thought all the psi tests were normal for you." "I thought so too, but who knows. K'tal to Engineering." "Venta." "Seal the housing and arm the primary. Estimated time until the primary is fully charged and ready to fire?" "Two minutes, sir," the speaker responded as a low rumbling frequency started up in the background. Deep inside the Complex, the cannon's housing sealed itself off from the atmosphere around it and started to purge itself with xenon gas. Directly behind the cannon's breech, the primary firing chamber was rolled forward on tracks and connected to the base of the cannon. Once fully charged, it would be rammed into the bore of the cannon to create a super-dense plasma spark that would immolate the shell and trigger a powerful ionized shock front. The front would sweep through the length of the barrel and become hyper-accelerated by successive layers of magetic fields, emerging from the end of the barrel as a focused beam composed of waves of super-charged particles with enough kinetic energy to crater a mountain. The primary interlock was released as the chamber was fully connected to the bore and the magnetic coils began to energize. The mouth of the barrel began to softly glow blue as small particles of air became ionized and were drawn inward towards the coils, looking like a small gathering of fireflies converging down a large tunnel. "Let's not screw the pooch on this one, Chief," K'tal admonished as he watched the status screen changing on his display. There was a lengthy silence on the other end. "We'll try not to, sir," the engineer replied cautiously before closing the circuit. "Screw the pooch?" Ael'ien asked with a puzzled look on her face. K'tal shrugged. "Earth expression. The translation would be close to making a k'vesi mess of things and ending up taking it in the ptanka." "Thank you for sharing that with us, Commander," D'Nina replied dryly with a faint blush on her elderly features. "My pleasure, Chief," K'tal responded with a grin. "Remind me to invite you to my office for lunch one day and we can go over some of the other, more colorful expressions the humans have come up with." "Commander...." his Communications officer said in a warning tone. "I've just gotten a level 3 VBF report from a junior lieutenant in Supply and a level 2 report from a cadet in Engineering." K'tal felt a slight chill start to creep into his veins. "Noted," he said in response and re-examined his console display. "Asrial, what's the situation with the crypto-linker?" The Felinoid growled flatly and held up the still-disconnected circuit board. "Offline," she spat. She then stuck her head inside the dismembered console and growled a question at the forest-green tail that was the only part of Ji'an anyone could see. There was a muted response from within and she rolled her eyes at the ceiling. K'tal turned around and stared at the console's access panel that had been almost literally ripped off the housing and tossed aside. The silence seemed to stretch on for an eternity as his eyes went slightly vacant, a sign to those who knew him that he was doing some very serious thinking. "Engineering to Commander K'tal," the speaker crackled, "The particle-wave cannon is now fully armed and ready to fire. Firing control is now available on your master console." K'tal looked up at his console as a yellow light began blinking. "K'tal here," he said into the microphone as he stared at the flashing light. "I now have the firing control system. Chief...." he said slowly. "Find that cadet who filed the VBF report and put him on the circuit." He could practically hear half of Operations blinking in surprise behind his back. "One moment, sir," the engineer said. "Commander, what are you doing?" Ael'ien inquired softly. K'tal didn't bother looking over his shoulder. "I'm running my division as I see fit," he replied evenly. "This may be an exercise, but we will fire when and only when I am satisfied everything is as it should be." Ael'ien blinked hard and looked over at D'Nina. She noticed that the master chief seemed surprised as well but didn't appear upset in the least. "Engineering, Cadet Sash," a nervous voice said from the speaker. "This is Dragoon Commander K'tal," the Dragoon said as he leaned closer to the microphone. "Listen very carefully, Cadet. You obviously had a reason for filing that Level 2 VBF report, so I want to hear it. Tell me precisely what went through your mind, no matter how silly or asinine it might sound. If you have a thought, I want to hear it. That's a direct order." The sound of the cadet swallowing hard was heard quite clearly. "Sir, I just felt that something was very.... out of place. Like something was.... well, not missing, but just not where it should be." K'tal grunted quietly. "Anything specific?" "No, sir," the speaker quivered. "It was just a horrific feeling that something wasn't quite right. Didn't last very long, sir, just long enough to get spooked and send that report." The Dragoon commander closed his eyes for a moment. "You said your name is Sash?" "Yes, sir." "So what do you recommend?" K'tal asked the cadet. "Sir??" the cadet replied, his state of near-panic evident in his voice. Around him, both Ael'ien and D'Nina blinked hard at the idea of the commanding officer asking for input from a mere cadet. "I said I wanted to hear what you think, Cadet," K'tal said gently. "Let me worry about what to make of your suggestion, but I still want to hear it." There was a very faint sound of someone in the background that sounded to K'tal like someone offering words of advice to the cadet. "Sir," he finally said in a somewhat shaky tone, "It is my recommendation that we do not fire the particle-wave cannon until we have everything double- and triple-checked." "Thank you, Cadet Sash, sounds like a good idea to me," K'tal responded. "Engineering, you heard him. I want every reading checked again, including the targeting and mirror alignment data." "Engineering copies," the voice of the chief engineer said on the circuit. "We're double-checking everything now." "Well done, Cadet, you may return to your post," K'tal said. "Thank you, sir," the speaker said in an obviously relieved tone before it clicked off. "You planned on having everything checked anyway, right?" D'Nina ventured. K'tal nodded. "Of course, but it never hurts to occasionally give a cadet the impression that he's making a serious contribution. Tactical, can you tell me precisely where those target coordinates are aimed at?" The tactical officer consulted his display. "Target coordinates are for the Number 2 Orbital Bombardment Range in the Northern Mountains." "Makes sense," K'tal mused. "Just how far away is the range from the repair facility in Sector Seven? In general terms," he added. "Close enough to see the light show, far enough away not to have to worry about blast effects or a drifting shot," the officer replied after punching the data request into his terminal. "Fair enough. T'Pri, would you be so kind as to send a brief message to Sector Seven, my respects to Master Chief Octane and her team, and advise her of an incoming round? Just to be polite." D'Nina chuckled. "I remember Chief Octane," she said with a smile and a shake of her head. "Fortunate that our scout cruiser landed so close to her facility and that she had a spare gravity shield available." K'tal grunted in amusement. "Fortunate that she didn't charge us an arm and a leg for the repairs," he replied. "Engineering to Commander K'tal." K'tal sighed quietly and opened the circuit. "K'tal here." "Sir, all systems have been triple-checked and are operating normally. All computer systems are responding without error, the targeting data checks out, and the mirror array is responding within tolerances," the speaker said. The Dragoon commander paused for a moment. "Run that one past me again, Chief," he said slowly. "What exactly do you mean within tolerances?" "The targeting laser is having to adjust the angle by a millimeter every thirty seconds," the engineering chief reported. "That is still well within the margins for using an orbital reflection weapon, taking into account the rotational motion of the planet, the satellite, and the gravity wells of our three moons." K'tal sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing he wasn't the first denizen who dearly wished the Negaverse's three moons would settle down into stable, predictable orbits instead of behaving like three massive insects buzzing around a pile of vep'tera turds. Theories for their erratic movements numbered in the hundreds, but to date not a single one had been proven to the point of allowing a plotted orbit that lasted longer than a week. There was a sharp grunt from within the depths of the disassembled console and Ji'an scrambled out from inside. "Excuse me, Commander," he said in a tone that was surprisingly gentle in constrast to Asrial's usually edged tone. He leaned over to the microphone and spoke into it. "Chief, this is Ji'an." "Go ahead," Engineering replied. "Essence is in a perfect geosynchronous orbit," he said slowly, his tail lashing back and forth in a steady rhythm. "Last I checked, the orbital wobble period for Essence was on the order of one millimeter every eight hours. Even taking into account a sudden change in the local gravity field, I fail to see how the period would increase drastically." There was a sudden silence from the speaker. "You know...." K'tal gently moved Ji'an aside and leaned over the microphone. "Listen, Chief, I'm giving you the same order I gave the cadet. If you have a thought, I want to hear it, no matter how odd. Start talking," he ordered. "Well, sir, could be one of three things. One, the laser receiver is in subtle motion and keeps losing track of the return beam. That's a non-starter as we'd have been able to detect any wobble on the ground station." K'tal nodded. "Keep going." There was a faint scratching sound from the speaker as a chin was rubbed. "Two, the whole satellite could have a sudden wobble to it. That's definitely possible, as intertia isn't easily bled off in space, but I'm inclined to doubt that's the case. If it was hit by something, like a micro-meteorite, we would also know about it, and I'm not seeing any unusual readings from the system." The commander shared an uneasy glance with D'Nina and Ji'an. "And the third option?" "That would be that the mirrored array is realigning itself in reference to the target, which I find slightly bothersome as both the mirror and the target are essentially stationary in relation to one another. Unless...." he said, then trailed off. K'tal frowned and was about to verbally prod the chief engineer when a burst of profanity emerged from the speaker. K'tal blinked and felt his blood temperature drop by twenty degrees. "Talk to me, Chief." "Unless you're tracking a moving target," the speaker replied flatly. K'tal said nothing as he turned his attention back to the blinking yellow light on his control console. A simple touch would open a panel that housed the physical trigger mechanism, a traditional pistol-grip with a pull-back safety to arm the device and a simple trigger to close the firing circuit. "Tactical," he said in an emotionless tone. "Is the Number 2 Orbital Bombardment Range moving?" Everyone exchanged glances at the question. "No, sir, the target range is currently stationary," the tactical officer replied, trying not to feel like a fool for stating the obvious. "Engineering, is the mirror still correcting for target drift?" There was a slight pause. "Yes sir, the mirror is still making a small adjustment every thirty seconds." "Lieutenant Asrial, you are one of my best and most experienced computer operators. What is your professional evaluation of the onboard systems on the Essence satellite?" Asrial blinked at the sudden question and choose her words very carefully. "Sir, we physically do not have a functioning crypto-linker installed, nor do we have a certified wave-matrix guide in place. I cannot verify with complete and total accuracy the state of the computer on the satellite. It is possible that the computer could be compromised." K'tal closed his eyes. "Tactical, are there any large moving objects in the general vicinity of the target coordinates that are moving at a speed that would require a targeting correction every thirty seconds?" "One moment, sir," Tactical replied. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" D'Nina asked. "I hope not, Chief," K'tal replied, "I really really hope not." "Sir, there are no moving targets in the mountain range area. I have, however, identified one such object in a different location." "Let's hear it," the commander said as his stomach turned to lead. "Long-distance radar networks identify it as the V'ral, a Vresh'tan-class airborne carrier," the officer said as he read his display. "It is currently two hundred miles west of the demarcation line between the Eastern Frontier and the Outreaches, bearing two seven six at a height of twenty-four angels." Dragoon Commander K'tal looked up at the ceiling and started to quietly cuss out the carrier, the satellite, Internal Review, his chain of command, the military, the three moons, the universe, and life as a whole. It was a lengthy litany that impressed almost everyone in Operations that he could do such a thing and not repeat himself once during the entire event. "Not literally, I trust?" Master Chief D'Nina asked calmly when K'tal finally fell silent. "My apologies, Master Chief," K'tal said wearily. "If things were a bit complicated before, it's ten times worse now. Ji'an, do you have a moment?" The forest-green Felinoid blinked and stepped over next to him. K'tal quietly muttered instructions in his ear and he nodded in understanding. He flexed his hands for a moment, unintentionally displaying his claws in a move that unsettled Ael'ien before climbing back into the depths of the control console he had been working on all day. "K'tal to Engineering." "Venta," the voice from the speaker replied warily. He had heard every word of K'tal's outburst of profanity and was leery as to what was going to happen next. "Stand down the cannon," K'tal instructed. "Bleed off the coils, pull the primary back, unload and secure the shell, and lock the housing in the open position." "Disarm the cannon, aye sir," the engineer replied wearily. "Okay, kids, you heard the man," the voice was heard saying before the circuit closed. "Maybe I should send him something for a headache," K'tal mused to himself as he secured his terminal. He jumped along with the rest of Operations when there was a violent spark from inside the dismembered console and the Felinoid tail that was hanging out suddenly went as rigid as steel, the black-banded green fur sticking out at right angles to the skin beneath it. Asrial snarled a curse as she grabbed the base of the tail with both hands and jerked Ji'an out from the console's innards. The Felinoid landed hard on his haunches with a wild-eyed glazed look on his face, his whiskers scorched with carbon and a puff of smoke drifting up from the ends. "Ji'an, you idiot, that was NOT what I had in mind," K'tal growled as he stepped aside to let an officer trained in field medicine get a closer look. Ji'an coughed up a lungful of smoke and shook his head rapidly, making a weak growling noise. "Accident," he replied as both Asrial and the on-duty medical officer looked him over. "Whiskers hit an open circuit." "Sir, we just lost our communications link with Essence and T'Cer," the Communications lieutenant reported. K'tal glanced over at the red lights on his display. "Well, it's a closed circuit now. Right idea, wrong method. Thank you regardless, Chief. Now go haul your tail over to Medical and make sure you didn't fry anything else." The forest-green Felinoid rose unsteadily to his feet. "Sir," he said in acknowledgement as he was led out of Operations by the medical officer. "Now what?" D'Nina asked. "I'm terminating this drill," K'tal replied flatly as he keyed in a few commands on his console. "Computer, recognize Dragoon K'tal, commander, primary authority for phase transformation." "Voiceprint recognized," the monotone voice replied at once. "Initiate automated reverse-evolution to Phase Zero status." "Require concurrence." D'Nina raised an eyebrow. "Internal Review is going to want to question you at length about this," she commented. K'tal snorted. "It wouldn't be the first time they've probed me like a woman at the gynecologist's office. Uhh, no offense, Chief, ma'am," he said quickly when he saw the look of severe unamusement on the faces of both D'Nina and Ael'ien. "Computer," D'Nina said in a tone best described as glacial. "Recognize Dragoon D'Nina, master chief, secondary authority for phase transformation." "Voiceprint recognized." "Initiate automated reverse-evolution to Phase Zero status." "Compliance," the computer responded and started to send signals to all the appropriate hardware. "Unless it's from a division-level officer or higher, I'm not available," K'tal said as he motioned for Ael'ien to follow him. "I will be in my office. Master Chief D'Nina has control of Operations, both the VBF and alert systems are cancelled unless she has a reason for keeping them active." "Which I don't," D'Nina said with a shrug. "Great job, everyone," K'tal said to the Operations room in general as he ushered Ael'ien into his office. "I'm not sure what exactly we just did, or didn't do, but I intend to find out. Until then, just keep an extra eye out for anything untoward by anyone else. Carry on," he added as he stepped into his office and closed the door behind him. "What the hell just happened?" Ael'ien asked as K'tal plopped into his chair and leaned back to stare up at the ceiling. "Truthfully? I think we just avoided having our k'vesan caught in the rakketh trap," he said bluntly. "We get an order to fire the cannon, for some odd reason we don't have a verified signal to the satellite computer, we are given the coordinates for a known testing ground, yet the orbital mirror acts like it's tracking something else entirely, and the only moving object in this hemisphere that fits the pattern is a carrier used by a returning general who scares the living navidshi out of everyone, myself included. Now tell me that doesn't literally raise the hair on the back of your neck," he concluded. "It does," the telepath admitted. "Think it's Rune?" K'tal asked. Ael'ien chewed on the edge of her lip. "Who else could it be?" "Rune, Admiral Si'ren, your friend Al'vexi, any one of the regional or divisional commanders, anyone with high-level access to the computer on the satellite...." he said slowly as he ticked off his fingers one by one. "I get the picture," Ael'ien sighed quietly as she rubbed her temples. "What we're going to need is solid proof, however, if this is going to go anywhere. And that includes how you're going to handle Internal Review." "Please, IR can kiss my ptanka," K'tal rolled his eyes. "If nothing else, I can show them that the uplink to Essence was never repaired to begin with and thus made the whole affair unreliable." "By having Ji'an disable the uplink?" Ael'ien asked with a raised eyebrow. "Nope. Every single person in Operations can truthfully swear before any review board that the circuit board containing the crypto-linker was never physically connected at any point in this exercise," he replied. Ael'ien chuckled quietly. "That much is the honest truth," she admitted. K'tal stretched. "See? It's not IR I'm worried about." "So what are you worried about?" K'tal sat up and looked her squarely in the eyes. "What worries me is, now that this trap has failed, what trap is going to be laid next, and for whom?" he said darkly. The ominous silence in response brought a chill to them both. * * * * Ami approached the tree very carefully, not entirely sure what to make of the blonde's somewhat erratic movements. She knew that she was listening to a portable music player and could see part of the wire between the device and the tiny earpiece, but had absolutely no idea what sort of music she could be listening to that would incite her to thrash her head around like that. Mina looked up and smiled as Ami sat down a few feet away. "Hey there, girl, how's it going?" she said cheerfully. "I've had better days," Ami said warily. "What are you listening to?" Mina grinned as she held out the other earpiece. Ami looked at it for a moment as if it were a snake and she was trying to decide if it was poisonous or not. She carefully reached out to pick it up and blinked when she could feel the rhythmic vibration of sound coming from the speaker. This is probably a bad idea, she thought to herself as she leaned over to put the tiny speaker to her ear. "...DIG through the ditches and BURN through the witches, I SLAM in the back of my DRAG-U-LA...." "Spoilsport," Mina chided as the speaker went flying out of Ami's grasp like it was a hot potato. She reduced the volume a few decibels and leaned back against the trunk of the ancient oak tree. "What was that noise?" Ami protested as she rubbed her ear furiously. "Quality music," Mina said with an impish grin. Ami gave her a look that needed no translation. "Rock and roll?" she ventured. "Heavy metal," Mina replied. "Dragula, by Rob Zombie." "Zombies?" a voice said in amusement. "Hello, Rei," Ami said as she rubbed her ear again. The priestess sat down with a chuckle. "I heard from Leda that Luna was in the area and wanted to talk to us, but about zombies?" "Rob Zombie," Mina said as she closed her eyes. "Heavy metal musician." Rei just shook her head. "You and music. Almost as bad as meatball head and food." "I heard that," Serena grumbled as she and Leda joined the group, finding comfortable places to sit down. "I'm not as bad as you think, pyro." "Let's not start this one again," Leda growled, "I'm having a bad enough day as it is." "Yeah, I heard about that," Mina said as she switched off her music and sat up. "Word is you almost wiped the floor with someone." The brunette sighed heavily and looked up at the sky while Serena and Rei exchanged glances. "I'm gonna kill that little gossiping weasel," Leda said dangerously. "Cat," she added as she saw motion in the tree. There was a snapping sound and Mina immediately ducked, holding her arms over her head. Half a second later, an inky shadow dropped from an overhead branch amid a flurry of leaves and landed squarely on the blonde's head. "Hey!" Mina protested as the new arrival hopped to the ground. Luna gave her a bashful look. "I'm sorry, Mina, but I slipped off the branch just as I went to leap," she explained apologetically. She paused for a moment before adding, "Thank you for breaking my fall." "So what's the problem?" Ami interjected quickly before Mina could come up with a suitable reply. Luna sat back and tried to remove a leaf that had gotten snared on her claws. "Well, it seems that we have company...." she started to say before being interrupted by another snapping sound from up above. Mina flinched again, but the suddenly flurry of leaves was from further out on the branch. There was a startled yelp as a small fluffy mass bounced off of Rei's head and tumbled into her lap. "OW! What is this, Relive Newton's Apple Day?" Rei demanded sourly as she rubbed the sore spot on her head. "Ouch," the white cat groaned as he uncurled himself, "That hurt. A lot." Mina sighed as she reached over to pick him up. "Artemis, you dingbat, what'd you do that for?" "Slipped," Artemis said. "I was aiming for Leda's lap, to be honest, but I think that branch isn't what it used to be. Not springy enough." "Gee, thanks," Leda said dryly. "Just be glad Rei has a hard head." "Excuse me!" Serena just looked at the two cats. "If this is any indication of what the rest of the day is like, I wanna go back to class," she muttered. Leda chuckled. "Never thought I'd hear you say that," she commented. "And where have you been?" the black cat demanded of her counterpart. "None of your business," Artemis shot back. "I got your message and I'm here on time, so the details aren't important." Everyone blinked at the flat reply and exchanged glances. "You're not getting into something you shouldn't be, are you?" Mina inquired with an edged tone as she scratched behind his ears. "You're one to talk," both Leda and Artemis muttered at the same time. The blonde blinked and looked at Leda. "What'd I do to you?" "Can we get on with this?" Ami said in an unusual display of impatience. "I have studying to do." Everyone blinked again and Ami sighed very quietly. "Luna, what sort of company are we supposed to expect?" "Please don't say the Negaverse," Leda added. "I think I've had my fill of denizens for quite some time. Not counting the crew we have parked in the cathedral, of course." Ami and Mina looked at one another as the same thought occurred to them both. The blonde smirked and the blue-haired vampire glanced away with a faint blush. The exchange went unnoticed by everyone else. "Does this have to do with what you and Darian did last night?" Serena asked her feline mentor. Luna nodded. "Exactly." "Start at the beginning," Leda said with a sigh. "Well, last night Dyvach was able to convey a precognitive dream of sorts to Darian. It said that he needed to pick me up and take a bunch of towels with us to meet a few people by the lake," Luna explained. "Already I don't like this," Rei muttered quietly. Luna ignored the comment. "We were told to expect the rest of Serena's royal court...." "What?" six voices demanded in unison. "...And got there just as they teleported above the surface of the lake," Luna finished without missing a beat. "We fished them out of the lake and now they're at the cathedral waiting for you five to get out of school." There was a deathly silence for a few moments as everyone blinked hard. "What others?" Serena said slowly. "Sailor Uranus, Sailor Pluto, and Sailor Neptune," Luna replied. "They were with us in the Moon Kingdom when the Negaverse attacked. I was never sure why they weren't reincarnated along with the five of you, but now they're back again." The five girls exchanged glances while Artemis sat up and frowned. "Why am I having such a hard time remembering details about them?" he complained to Luna. "I remember Uranus and Neptune, but there's something about Pluto that I can't quite pin down...." "Wings?" Luna prompted. Everyone blinked hard as Artemis surrendered to a rather protracted full- body shiver. "I had forgotten about that aspect of her," he muttered. "Back up and start over," Leda sighed. "You lost me when you got to the royal court part." "So there are three other Sailor Scouts now?" Ami asked. Luna nodded. "Yes, there are. And as soon as school is out for the day, we're going to go meet them at the cathedral." "So tell us about them," Mina prompted, drawing nods from everyone else. "Well, what I can say is.... meow," she said suddenly as she looked up over Serena's shoulder. The girls blinked in surprise at the sudden change in the cat's demeanor and turned to see what she was looking at. "Great," Leda muttered beneath her breath as the redhead approached the group. "Hi, Molly," Serena said as her best friend drew close. "I was wondering where you were," Molly said, slightly out of breath. She blinked as she saw Luna sitting on the ground and a white cat being cuddled in Mina's lap. "I see you found Luna. And who do you have there, Mina?" Mina smiled. "This is my cat Artemis," she said cheerfully as she gently scratched his ears. "Apparently he followed me to school as well." "Meow," Artemis said flatly. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Molly inquired as she looked for a place to sit down. "Not really," Rei said casually as everyone discreetly exchanged glances. "We were just trying to figure out what it is about cats that make them want to follow you to school like dogs now and then." "Mrrrrow," Luna muttered dourly as Leda chuckled and picked her up. "Bah, she just probably wanted some loving attention," she said gleefully as she gently stroked Luna's dark fur. "Hey, I pay attention to her," Serena protested. "Which is why she followed you to school, meatball head," Rei replied. "She knows you're easy when it comes to pets." "That was wrong, Rei," Leda chuckled. "Accurate, but wrong." Serena pouted. "At least I have a cat who loves me. What do you have, a pair of ravens?" Rei frowned. "They're not pets, they just live there and help keep the pest population under control a lot more effectively than a cat can." "Meow," Luna muttered in protest. Molly just shook her head as Serena and Rei started in on yet another heated argument. She glanced over her shoulder at Ami and wasn't surprised in the slightest to see that she had her nose buried in a science textbook. She looked back at Leda and Mina, both focusing their attention on the pair of cats in their respective laps. "Hey, is that a crescent mark on his forehead?" Molly suddenly asked Mina as she gestured to the white cat. The blonde blinked. "Yeah, the vet said it's just an abberation with his fur coloring," she explained, making a slight face as claws were discreetly extended and lightly scratched across the skin of her leg. "Strange, Luna has the same marking," Molly observed as she studied the black feline still being petted by Leda. "What about Luna?" Serena asked, suddenly distracted from her argument by the mention of her cat. "We think they're related somehow," Mina explained casually. "Hey, hey, hey, watch the claws," she said gently as she picked Artemis up and moved him to a more comfortable position. "The crescent marking," she said to Serena. "Oh, that...." Serena said with a slight edge of nervousness. "Strange cat, strange owner," Rei smirked. "Birdbrain," Serena shot back. "No brain." "You're just jealous because Luna is cute and fun to play with, and you have to spend your afternoons washing raven poop off the sidewalk at your grandfather's temple." Rei's eyes blazed. "Of course a blonde like you wouldn't be able to have an appreciation of the rewards of hard work!" "Hey, watch it," Mina protested as she put her earphones back on and did her best to tune out the argument. Artemis just sighed quietly to himself and curled up in a small ball of fur in her lap. "What's so rewarding about having to spend most of your time working?" Rei smirked. "Satisfaction knowing that you've done something useful." "By becoming a walking pooper-scooper?" "Enough, you two," Leda sighed. "You stay out of this," Rei growled. "Meatball head here still doesn't get it. Not every job is pleasant or easy, but that still doesn't make it any less worthwhile to do and do right." The brunette raised an eyebrow and gave her a mild look. "She'll learn in time, Rei," she said evenly. "You get it, I get it, Ami gets it, I don't know if Mina gets it yet but still.... no need to argue so loudly." "Get what?" Mina blinked as she refocused on the present. "A clue," Rei said tartly. Mina just rolled her eyes and went back to listening to her music, idly running her fingers through Artemis's soft fur. "You're one to talk," Serena grumbled. "I'm doing a lot better than you in class!" "Only because you've been leaning on Ami for study help!" "And you don't?!" "Leave me out of this," Ami sighed quietly as she tried to refocus on her studies. "Did you understand what Mr. Meyers was talking about in physics lab?" Leda quickly asked in an attempt to interrupt the argument. Ami sighed again and looked up at her, a classic 'You have to be kidding me, right?' look on her features. "Of course I understood it," she replied. "Of course," Rei muttered, drawing an amused look from Molly and a dark look from Ami. "Hush," Leda told her, then turned back to Ami. "Can you explain...?" "No," Ami said abruptly as she stood up and gathered her books together, causing everyone to blink hard. "I'm a bit busy trying to study, which is very hard to accomplish with all this noise. I'll be in the library," she said brusquely and quickly left without another word. "I think we upset her," Serena said quietly. "I think she was already upset," Molly suggested. "Can you blame her?" Leda growled. "I warned you two to knock it off." "Mrrrow," Luna said quietly from Leda's lap. Rei snorted. "She'll be alright." "She's been in a bad mood all day," Molly observed carefully. Serena blinked. "Why's that?" "Gossip," Mina said from behind closed eyelids. "It seems everyone has been talking about her all morning long." Molly and Leda exchanged glances while Serena and Rei frowned. "Talking about what?" Rei asked, suddenly wary. "Something about a boyfriend," Mina replied casually. "I find that just a touch hard to believe, to be honest." "She admitted it," Molly replied. Mina's eyes snapped open as she yanked the earphones out. "She what?" she blurted out as two sets of feline ears suddely darted straight up. Rei almost fell over in shock and Serena's blue eyes suddenly doubled in size. Leda sighed. "She basically admitted in front of Melvin, of all people, that she's got a boyfriend. One older than she is," she added with a slight but discernable emphasis. "Oh, crap," Mina said quietly. She knew about Tolaris, of course, but still wanted to give the impression that it was fresh news to her. "When did this happen?" "Earlier today," Molly said with a slightly puzzled look on her face. "I thought you three knew already," she ventured as she studied the shocked looks on their faces. "I mean, aren't the five of you pretty close friends?" "Mrrrrrrr," Artemis purred quietly, his whiskers twitching. "It wasn't something she wanted discussed," Mina replied carefully. "I am going to find that little gossiping inchworm," Leda growled very quietly as she looked around the schoolyard. "And when I do, I am going to make him wish he had never even heard of the word grapevine...." "Take it easy," Rei cautioned. "Meow," Luna seconded as she flicked her tail back and forth. Leda glanced down at the ball of black fur in her lap and sighed. "He's just so maddening at times," she grumped as she resumed stroking Luna. "At least Mina has half a clue as to what NOT to gossip about. Usually," she added with a glare. "I told you that wasn't me," Mina protested. "So what are we going to do?" Serena asked. "Why do we have to do anything?" Rei countered. "She had to have known that people would talk if she spoke out about having a boyfriend." Leda gave her an odd look. "For someone who spends a lot of time sitting next to small fires, you sure do have a cold streak in you. They were talking about it before she said anything, and she only spoke up in an effort to set the record straight." Rei snorted quietly. "Oh, please. This is Ami we're talking about, she always knows what she's doing as well as possible repercussions of doing it." "Hey, Molly?" Mina spoke up suddenly, "When did you hear about this?" The redhead blinked and exchanged glances with Serena before blushing a mild shade of pink. "I heard a rumor the other day and sort of managed to weasel the truth out of Serena...." "It was an accident," Serena protested with a blush of embarassment. "Way to go, meatball head," Rei sighed. "Oh, and I suppose you've never made a mistake, pyro?" "I've never blown anyone's secret about having a boyfriend." "At least some of us can find a boyfriend," Serena countered. Both Mina and Leda blinked hard. "Foul ball, Serena," Mina replied. Rei gave Serena a neutral look, her face slipping into an expressionless mask that concealed her emotions from everyone else. "That has no bearing on your inability to keep a secret," she said evenly. Serena sighed heavily. "Yeah, so I made a mistake," she said quietly. "Ami knew I slipped, I already apologized to her, and she knows that the rumor was started before I told Molly." Rei silently got to her feet. "Just bear in mind that friendships are known to have been broken over less," she said quietly and left the group. Serena blinked hard and looked at everyone else. "What gives?" "I think that comment about a boyfriend stung just a little too deeply," Leda muttered as she scooped up Luna and passed her over to Serena. "We know how you meant it, Serena, but you really need to learn to think just a little bit more before opening your mouth. Here, have a cat." "Brrrow," Luna purred in soft protest as she was dumped in Serena's lap. "Where are you going?" Mina inquired warily as Leda got to her feet. "I'm gonna go see if I can find Melvin and turn him into a pretzel before class starts," the brunette said flatly. "You have five minutes," Mina replied as she glanced at her music player. Leda snorted in distain. "Bah, takes longer than that just to dish out a decent set of bruises," she muttered. "I'll have to have a discusion with him later. See you after class," she said with a distracted wave and walked off. Serena looked down at Luna for a moment before looking up at Molly. "You think we should warn him?" The redhead just sighed and looked up at the sky. "I don't know. I think Ami already scared him straight, but you never know. Which is rather scary in of itself," she added. Mina chuckled as she stuffed her music player in her backpack. "Oh, cheer up. Leda is a wonderful person when she's not stressing out about something. I don't blame her for getting a bit out of sorts with everyone talking about Ami her behind her back. Just give her a few days and a lot of space, she'll go back to being her usual, only mildly aggressive self soon enough." "You sure about that?" Molly ventured. Mina paused for a moment and shrugged. "Not really," she admitted. "But then again, what choice do we have? Okay, kitty, off you go," she said as she picked up Artemis and set him high on the trunk of the oak tree. "I have to go back to class now, so stay in the area and be good." "Meow," Artemis muttered darkly as he preened his paws. "Is he going to be okay out here?" Molly wondered as Mina picked up her backpack. "Oh, sure," Mina replied cheerfully. "This isn't the first time that he followed me to school. He'll just stick around up in the tree until it's time to go home. Which is probably what Luna is going to do as well," she added. "Mrrow," Luna said with a look of patient suffering. "Come on, Blondie," Mina said to Serena, "Time to get back to work." "Don't remind me," Serena replied as she set Luna on the tree next to Artemis and briefly scratched both sets of ears. "You ready, Mol?" Molly nodded and rose to her feet. "As ready as I'll ever be." "Once more, dear Watson, unto the breech," Mina quoted with a wink and a grin at the cats before leading her friends back towards the school. "Well, that was unpleasant," Luna muttered when everyone else was out of earshot. "One more meow and I would have had to claw somebody." "Tell me about it," Artemis grumbled. "Sounds to me like Ami has a lot on her plate to deal with right now." Luna sighed and started to preen her tail. "Well, hopefully we can take her mind off her issues tonight when we introduce them to the other Scouts." "That's been bugging me," the white cat replied. "I know I should have a lot more memories of them in the Moon Kingdom, yet I can't quite seem to get the right pictures in my head." "It must be the effects of the stasis fields," she said with yet another sigh. "I kept shocking myself by how much I had forgotten about them." "You remembered after having your memory jogged, right?" he prompted. "Well, yes...." He shrugged. "Shouldn't be too bad, then." Luna raised an eyebrow. "You forgot that Lady Pluto was half-demon and could manifest wings," she observed. "That's not exactly a minor detail." Artemis shuddered again. "That's not something I wanted to remember," he said dourly. "I know she's a decent person, but that she also has a bit of a dark side to her. The trick this evening, however, is going to get our bunch of Sailor Scouts to remember." The black cat shook her head. "That's not going to happen and you know it," she replied sadly. "Remember what we had to go through just to get them to remember about the Moon Kingdom?" "Maybe we'll get lucky tonight?" he asked hopefully. Luna peered over her shoulder at the school. "I'm not sure today is what you would call a lucky day so far," she replied. "Day isn't over yet," Artemis said with a yawn. "You're right," Luna muttered, "There's still time for it to get worse." * * * * "She's late," she said flatly as she paced back and forth in the small chamber loaded with high-powered machinery and electronics. The stylized red patch on her right breast and the silver emblem on her shoulders denoted her rank as a Brigadier of the Red Wings, the elite airborne combat division. "She should have sent the return signal by now." A massive armored figure grunted from the far corner of the room. "Give her time, Sor'en," he said, his rumbling voice emerging from the depths of his helmet as a hollow but forceful echo. "You know as well as I do that she has a lot of work to do." Sor'en sighed and looked up at him, privately wondering yet again what he looked like behind the concealing armor. "You're not much help," she said to him. General Ar'kanis laughed very softly, a low-pitched haunting noise that raised the hair on Sor'en's arms. "Would you have me pull her back now and risk execution if I interrupted something crucial?" he said in bemusement. She sighed quietly. "Of course not. Freya, any signals yet?" The slender young woman tending to the master control console looked up at her. "No, there hasn't," she said softly. "I've been monitoring all of the communication sidebands as well." Sor'en ran her fingers through her snowy white hair and resumed pacing, much to the amusement of Ar'kanis. "This is crazy," she muttered. "She's been gone all morning long. Who knows what could have happened to her?" "I think she can take care of herself," Ar'kanis rumbled quietly. "She's an army by herself, but she's not invincible," So'ren muttered. "Tell her that," the armored general suggested. So'ren rolled her ash-gray eyes. "I've tried," she said dourly. "She just won't listen to me." "Incoming signal," Freya said softly as she powered up the main platform. "Beam reversal commencing." The brigadier immediately crossed the room to lean on the cold metal rail that surrounded the raised dias. The floor tiles began to glow white with raw energy as the receiver node began to emit a series of blue sparks. Freya manipulated the controls for a few seconds before grabbing the main switch with both hands. "Convergence," she reported as the switch was pulled down into the receive position. A jagged line of whirling blue energy ripped through the air above the platform before spiraling open into a glittering maelstrom of tiny energized particles. The pinpoints of light were drawn together and took on a humanoid shape as the rift closed just as quickly as it had opened. With a final snap of blue light, the energy field faded and left behind the imposing figure of General Nop'tera. The Dark General immediately fell to her knees and reached for the large metal pail sitting on the very edge of the platform. She yanked it over and promptly stuck her head in, her insides heaving as she fought the reflex to unload the contents of her stomach. Everyone waited in silence for the wave of transport-induced nausea to leave her body, each having been through the process themselves at least once before and could readily sympathize. The visible trembling finally subsided and the blue-skinned general was finally able to lift her head up. "I think I'm getting used to it," she said weakly as she stifled another urge to heave. "This is the first time I've been able to keep lunch down after the transport beam reversal." "You had us worried," Sor'en replied. "You took so long to signal, I thought something had gone wrong." "She had you worried," Ar'kanis rumbled from the corner. "The rest of us had a bit more faith in her." "Oh, stop it, you two," Nop'tera grumbled as she set the pail back on the edge of the platform and rose unsteadily to her feet. Freya reached out to provide support and the eternal vampire gratefully accepted the help. "You sound like lovers having a bad week. Thank you, Freya." Sor'en fumed quietly while Ar'kanis chuckled. "Sorry if I care enough about my own mother to worry," she replied with a pout. "We all know you're probably not going to be welcomed with open arms. In private, at least," she amended. Nop'tera smiled at the young girl she called her daughter. "I'm touched, Sor'en, truly. However, I thought you would have learned by now that I am quite capable at getting myself out of whatever trouble that I happen to find myself in." "Not everyone goes looking for it like you do, either," she replied. Nop'tera sighed. "That's enough, Sor'en. I had business to attend to in the Imperial Castle that needed to be settled before my official arrival. What is the status of the fleet?" "The V'ral is continuing on an approach vector to the Castle," Ar'kanis spoke up. "The Visage has landed in the water in the north ocean and will be changing course to an approach vector to the D'Mal seaport in two hours. The Veil is still airborne and is scheduled to land at the airfield near the Southern Division Headquarters in six hours." Nop'tera nodded as she steadied herself under her own power. "And what of the subsurface groups?" "The Green group will be forming up behind the Visage when it goes to make the approach," Ar'kanis replied. "The Blue group commander still hasn't made her decision which port to dock at in the south ocean. She says she will signal with a final answer by the end of the second watch." Nop'tera stretched carefully, trying to work out the slight joint pain that always accompanied the use of the molecular transport beam. Although teleportation was hardly a new concept, virtually all of it was done with the use of psionics and warped dimensional fields. The device she was using was strictly mechanical in nature, a specialized field of energy that ripped apart solid objects down to the atomic level and sent the particle stream through a matrix of quantum energy to self-assemble in another location. The energy signature was unique enough as to not be either noticed by sensors or become affected by the anti-dimensional energy wards layered around most important military structures. She watched with interest as Freya left her side and started to shut down the transport machinery. Nop'tera didn't often use the device for personal use, as it had originally been designed with cargo in mind. However, when she deemed it necessary for her molecules be "squirted" elsewhere, she only let the one person she trusted implicitly to handle the complex device near the main controls. She had seen herself what a mistake or a wrong setting could do to an object. Fortunately it had only been a crate of melons at the time, but the image of the way the jumbled molecules had reassembled would forever be seared into her eternal memory. Sor'en didn't fail to take note of her mother's lingering attention on Freya. She knew that the beautiful young woman with pale blue hair was by all rights Nop'tera's slave, having been taken prisoner in some conflict a thousand years ago, but that Nop'tera tended to treat her more like a trusted friend. Or, if the quietly whispered rumors were true, a secret lover. "How long until we make the final approach to the Imperial Castle?" came the voice of the Dark General, cutting through Sor'en's thoughts. "Twenty-six hours," the commanding officer of the V'ral replied evenly. "We have been instructed by the Eastern Division Commander to maintain our present course, speed, and altitude. He also has advised us that his fleet of drones will continue to orbit us until we cross the demarcation line and enter the Central Division airspace." "How kind of him," Nop'tera said dryly. "We could always induce a magnetic field along the hull," Sor'en suggested lightly. "Make it strong enough and it'll drive those drones crazy." "And serve what purpose?" Ar'kanis rumbled quietly. "Enough," Nop'tera said flatly, her featureless yellow eyes narrowing at her daughter and her second-in-command. "You two can argue later, but right now I've got work to do. Sor'en, have you been able to access the databases I specified?" Sor'en sighed quietly. "The databases, yes, but most of the individual files that were flagged by the search worms were heavily guarded and highly encrypted. Communications is working on solving that issue, but there are still a number of files behind the security barriers that we are having a very difficult time bypassing." The vampire grunted. "Who do you have working on it?" "Anyone who's not scheduled to be asleep," the brigadier replied. "You shouldn't work them so hard, Sor'en," Nop'tera advised. "Yes, I do want the files, and yesterday would have been nice, but this isn't a priority issue. Not yet, at least," she added. "Yes, Mother," Sor'en replied wearily. Nop'tera chuckled quietly in amusement and kissed her forehead. "You're becoming a fine officer," she said. "We're all still learning better and more efficient ways of taking care of our soldiers, including myself." "You have a five-thousand year advantage," the armored general spoke up from the corner in amusement. "Commanding your soldiers in battle is easy. Understanding them is moderately more complicated." "Someone ask you for dating advice again?" Sor'en muttered. There was a low rumble from the depths of his helmet. "No, I was asked if I had any advice on the best way to deflower a virgin," he said with an obvious smile of amusement in his sepulchral voice. Nop'tera laughed softly at the look on Sor'en's face. "And what was your response?" she inquired. "Bring her to me and I'd show him," he replied. Sor'en sighed and glanced over at Freya, noticing that the slave had finished shutting down the transport machine and was silently hovering right behind Nop'tera's elbow, her pale violet eyes downcast. Everything about her is so pale, she thought as she studied the tone of Freya's skin. I wonder if Mother's been leeching more than just the blood from her veins.... "Men," Nop'tera said in obvious amusement. "Can't live with them, can't kill them...." Sor'en muttered. "You'll find someone one of these centuries," Nop'tera said with a faint twinkle in her featureless yellow eyes. "Find someone that you haven't interviewed or otherwise grilled before granting them 'permission' to approach me?" her daughter grumbled. "She has a point," Ar'kanis mentioned. "I know a number of young and respectable men who would like to get to know her, but are deathly afraid of your influence or intervention." "Like yourself?" Nop'tera said on pure impulse. Sor'en rolled her eyes while Ar'kanis laughed softly to himself. "I am many things, my General, most importantly your second-in-command and loyal subordinate," he said to her. "I respect your power, but I do not fear it." Nop'tera tilted her head to one side to study the figure enshrouded in dark armor. She knew why he always wore it, keeping himself completely hidden from the eyes of other denizens. She had even seen his face once, but that one instance was more than enough for her. She had in the past inflicted a wide variety of pain and suffering on her enemies, but had never been able to fully match the bitter cruelty that could result from the random evolutions of the denizen Chaos Factor. "You are evading the question, Ar'kanis," she said lightly. "Do you want my daughter or not?" "Mother!" Sor'en said in sharp protest. There was a creaking noise as he pushed off the wall and fully stood up, towering almost seven feet above the floor. He stepped closer to the light, the shadows falling away to reveal massive draconic wings that seemed to brush the ceiling. Attached to his belt was the scabbard of a broadsword that was almost as large as he was, the tip almost scraping the floor as he walked. "It is not an issue of what I want or even what you want," he said very slowly and evenly. "It is what Brigadier Sor'en wants." "I was just curious," Nop'tera replied, noticing the venomous glare she was getting from her daughter. "And I do care about you, Sor'en, which is why I make the effort to ensure you are not taken advantage of." Sor'en muttered something acidic beneath her breath that didn't escape the vampire's sharp ears. She glanced up at her mother and blinked as she suddenly found herself on the receiving end of an icy stare. "If there isn't anything else, Brigadier, you may return to your post," Nop'tera said in a glacial tone. "I want the flight deck checked and cleared before we make the final approach tomorrow." Sor'en immediately straighted up at the sudden shift in her mother's mood. She knew she was allowed some leeway in private with her, but there were still some lines that even she dared not cross. "It will be done before the end of the third watch, ma'am," she said crisply. "Dismissed." Ar'kanis watched impassively as the young officer saluted, turned sharply on her heels, and quickly left the transport chamber. Everyone knew that she was an exceptionally bright young woman, having attained a very senior rank before her four-hundredth birthday based almost entirely on merit. The fact that she was the daughter of the division commander only very rarely came up in discussions about her leadership abilities, and when it did it was quickly brushed off as being mere coincidence. They had all seen Nop'tera treat her just as equally and as fairly as any other officer under her command, including the rare rebuke or punishment when required. "Her parents would have been proud," he rumbled softly. The only people who knew that Sor'en was adopted instead of Nop'tera's biological daughter were Nop'tera, himself, and Freya. "You're unusually vocal today," Nop'tera replied. "I'm almost inclined to think that you are attracted to her." There was a hollow grunt from her second-in-command. "Your daughter is undeniably beautiful," he said slowly, the slight echo-effect from his helmet making his tone seem cold and unfeeling. "As is your personal minion," he added, watching Freya glance away, "But I am not as interested as you would have others believe. I am satisifed with my duty and service to you as your loyal soldier." Nop'tera said nothing as she turned to look at Freya, having heard his speech several times before in various forms. She almost felt pity for him at times, but held back any such gestures out of respect for his wishes. She knew what it felt like to feel alone in the world, unable to emotionally reach out with only transient company for entertainment. At least, only up until Freya became a seemingly permanent part of her life. "Are the troops prepared for tomorrow?" she asked evenly with a silent sigh and gave in to an impulse to run her fingers through Freya's pale blue hair. "They are looking forward to it," Ar'kanis replied without hesitation. "They see it as a chance to prove themselves to the rest of the military, as well as an opportunity to glorify your victory in the Hinterland Campaign." The Dark General shook her head. The campaign had lasted for close to three thousand years, a seemingly endless blur of bloody field combats, naval battles, aerial assaults, and three different battles in the depths of space that Nop'tera would just as soon not have to fight again. I wonder if their fourth moon has finished imploding, she mused idly. That was a rather unique and spectacular research accident on their part.... "A glorious victory," Nop'tera said with a small trace of bitterness as she studied the delicate network of veins visible on Freya's neck and throat. "A victory at what cost, General? How many thousands of denizens dead, and how many millions of Renn inhabitants?" "War is horrendous," he replied quietly. "As well it should be, so that such a monumental event not be repeated lightly." She looked up sharply at the soft hissing noise, the unmistakable sound of a metallic blade being withdrawn from its protective scabbard. "This blade knows the taste of blood," he said quietly as he held up his broadsword to the light. "It is an acquired taste that only weapons have come to savor. Even one such as you who relishes in the flavor of fresh blood hesitates, even if only for a moment, to draw it forth unwillingly or without just cause. Such is the nature of war... to temper the brave, slake the thirst of the wicked, and force the righteous into examining their own souls." Nop'tera contemplated his words in silence as she studied the well-used weapon. When she had given it to him as a gift upon his promotion to full general so long ago, the blade had been the unique silvery-blue color of a rare ore found in an extinct volcano on the Renn homeworld. However, both time and the ravages of war had turned the blade a deep shade of sapphire blue, almost the same color of the mineral-rich blood that flowed in the veins of the race known as the Renn. "You sound like you're questioning our purpose," she finally said to him. His helmet slowly shook back and forth. "My purpose has been clear since I pledged my loyalty to you," he rumbled, the heavy sepulchral echo seeming to fill the room. "It is your purpose that bothers you, and it is my job to see that it does not." She raised a snow-white eyebrow at him. "Explain." "You grow tired of war, yet feel you should not be," he said as he tilted his blood-stained blade to reflect the light. "I know you better than anyone. Being war-weary is natural, Nop'tera, more so that you of all of us have borne the heaviest burden through it all. My solders and I have always looked up to you, as we still do today. Tomorrow we will land at the Imperial Castle, join the rest of the Negaforce's military might, and celebrate the fruits of your leadership skills. We will rest then, as we have rarely rested during the war. And once you are rested, you will get bored, anxious to return to your soldiers and their ceaseless adoration of you. You lead them, and they will follow. That cycle is what sustains you, the give-and-take nature of command. It is what you know best, and what comforts you the most." Again she said nothing as she considered his words of wisdom, pondering their varied meanings as she had done countless times before when he saw it necessary to act as her council. She watched as he returned the broadsword to the scabbard on his belt and flexed his wings slowly. "Consider this," he said quietly. "You have your doubts about war. That is good, my general, for it means that you, unlike so many others, still retain your sense of morality and humanity." Nop'tera remained uncharacteristically silent as Ar'kanis turned around and left the chamber, leaving her alone with Freya. It wasn't the first time that he had given her something to think about, but this time the thoughts were far more profound than usual. "Tell me what's on your mind, Freya," she said to her slave. "He's right," Freya replied softly. "You were born to lead men and women into battle, and that you are sustained by their devotion and adoration." "And what of my... humanity?" The pale woman glanced away. "I don't know what it's like to be human anymore," she said sadly. Nop'tera reached out and brushed her fingertips along her face. "You were born a human," she reminded her gently. Freya finally turned to face her, pale violet eyes looking up and staring deep into featureless yellow eyes. "My humanity was destroyed when I was torn kicking and screaming from my world," she whispered quietly. "I was made a prisoner, abused, tortured, raped, robbed of everything except my life. Had I the chance, I would have gladly surrendered that as well. You came and rescued me, gave me your gift of eternal life. I was reborn, and whatever was left in me that was once human died on that night." "Gift," the denizen vampire laughed quietly. "Believe me when I say it was not anticipated that you would become cursed like me." "It doesn't matter," the human vampire replied quietly as she took her hand. "I am yours, now and always. You are my only reason for existing, and it sustains me to know that my blood and service is what sustains you." "Even as a slave?" Nop'tera asked, not for the first time. Freya glanced away. "I exist for you now," she said, almost too softly to be heard. "Nothing else matters anymore." Nop'tera thought quietly as she gently squeezed her hand, feeling the warm pulse beneath her fingertips and wondering yet again what Freya truly thought of her situation. "If you say so," she said quietly as she pulled her close, resting her slave's head on her shoulder and allowing herself to bask in the quiet comfort of her presence. She knew that if she had one fatal weakness, it was her feelings for her human slave. "I have some of those reports ready that Sor'en was able to retrieve," Freya said quietly after a minor eternity seemed to pass. "You might want to read them soon as we don't have a lot of time left before your arrival." The general sighed quietly. "Time has a habit of catching up to you, doesn't it? Very well," she said as she gently pushed away from her slave. "I will be on the flight bridge if I'm needed," she said, her voice changing to the even tone of command quite familar to everyone else. "Inform the crew that there will be a formal command dinner this evening to discuss the plans for tomorrow's events." Freya bowed her head slightly. "Is there anything in particular you want to see on the menu?" Nop'tera paused for a moment. "See if you can find a decent vintage of wine, preferably an Asleen or a Tei-Nul-Ral," she suggested. "We probably have a poor selection onboard, but I figure the Quartermaster won't care if we end up depleting her supply tonight. She can always restock what she wants after tomorrow." "An hour after the end of the second watch?" Freya inquired. Nop'tera nodded. "Yes, best to give them time to shower and all." "I will see to it," she promised. The Dark General gave her a small smile. "You always do, Freya. I will be back in my quarters to change as soon as the second watch ends." "Everything will be waiting," Freya replied with another slight bow of her head before she quietly left the room. Nop'tera paused a moment to watch her leave, admiring as always the way her pale blue hair swayed as she walked. Even after a thousand years of her, I never cease to tire of her presence, she mused. What is it about humans that make them so fascinating? She shook her head to herself as she straightened her uniform with a tug on her jacket. Her face slipped into what some privately called her "face of command", a seemingly stern mien that rarely failed to make others both wary and respectful of her imposing presence. Then with a quick brush of her hands through her snow-white hair, she left the transport chamber and headed up to the secondary command center on the airborne carrier's flight deck. * * * * Alex and Michelle both stared at the television in awe, confusion, and amazement. "This is something else," Alex said to Whisper without taking her eyes off of the screen. The local news broadcast was just ending and a quick blur of closing credits scrolled up. "How long has this been around?" Whisper chuckled. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, but I'm guessing not for too many years. I take it mass-media wasn't invented in your era?" Alex grunted quietly. "The Moon Kingdom doesn't have anything like this, I know that much. Sue might have a better idea of things, however." "Why do they keep having these interruptions?" Michelle asked as she gave Whisper a questioning look. She was sitting on the far end of the couch, leaning against Alex and absently stroking the ball of gray fur in her lap. "Commercials," the telepath replied as she leaned back in the chair. "My understanding is that the network channels sell blocks of time to companies to advertise their products, and the revenue generated from that is how a lot of their income is made." Alex made a face. "These things are so tacky," she complained as a cheap commercial for used cars was shown. "Do people really have to suffer through all this nonsense every time they want to watch something?" "So it seems," Whisper replied with a faint grimace. "We have mass-media in the Negaverse as well, but it's not even half as commercialized as this." The blonde shot her a dark glare at the mention of the Negaverse before returning her attention back to the television screen. Beside her, Michelle shivered lightly and leaned even more on her lover for comfort. "These are some really stupid ads," Alex grumbled. "Do people actually buy crap like that?" "You'd be surprised," Whisper said dryly. Michelle blinked and straightened up as a commercial for a local mall was shown. "Whisper, what's a mall?" she inquired as she watched the images with rapt attention. The denizen telepath blinked hard. "Umm... what exactly did you have as a shopping venue in the Moon Kingdom?" she said carefully, trying to get a good idea of what they knew so as to have a fair idea of what she needed to explain. "We have a large bazaar, plus a few small ones when merchants from Earth come to visit," Michelle replied. Whisper nodded. "Okay. A mall is like a bazaar, except that everything is indoors and that each store has an assigned partition." "A permanent bazaar?" Alex said with a blink of confusion. "That's odd." Whisper shrugged. "Why? Your society is now heavily industrialized on a global scale, so it's only natural for commerce to expand at close to the same rate. For example, there are millions of people in this one city alone, so of course they need a massive base of commercial support." Michelle and Alex looked at one another for a few moments as they sought to comprehend the magnitude of the situation. "What's the current planetary population?" Michelle asked. "Mine or yours?" the denizen inquired. Michelle shot Alex a look as the blonde muttered something impolite under her breath that involved large rats. "Earth, please," she said calmly as she squeezed Alex's leg. "On the order of six billion, give or take a few," Whisper said casually. "Holy crap, that's a lot of people," Alex said as her jaw sagged open. Michelle made a soft whimper of disbelief while Myst's ears perked up in quiet surprise. "How'd that happen?" Whisper gave her a small grin. "I think you know how it happened." Michelle giggled as Alex just rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Thank you, Chancellor Meiou, for that very insightful explanation," the blonde said dryly. "Be nice," Michelle chided as she lightly smacked her leg. "What is the population count of your world?" Myst said, speaking up for the first time in the better part of an hour. "Probably close to a billion," Whisper said after a moment of thought. "Our planet is not as gifted with abundant natural resources as Earth is, so we're not able to support an overly massive population." Alex grunted as she leaned back against the cushions. "I was wondering why you people invaded," she muttered darkly. Next to her, Michelle sighed quietly and curled up into a ball, resting her head on Alex's shoulder while slowly running her fingertips through Myst's silky gray fur. Whisper said nothing as she leaned forward to reach her cup of ma'cha on the coffee table. she telepathed softly as she sipped on the denizen brew. "Think I give a damn?" Alex snapped. "That battle was last week, as far as I can tell. Hell, I'm surprised I still don't have six different colors of bloodstains beneath my fingernails," she growled as she reflexively looked at her hands. "And that's just from what managed to soak through my gloves." "Alex?" Michelle whimpered plaintively as she clutched her arm. "It might be a freakin' thousand years to you," Alex continued, "But you haven't basically been unconscious since then. No sense of time. No time to stop and mourn those good people we lost that day, friends I'll never see.... Friends and family...." she said, her words coming slower with each moment and her tone starting to drop in pitch. "Alex...." Michelle whimpered again as she wrapped herself around Alex's arm and hugged her tight. "They're all gone now," Alex said in a hollow tone as her gaze started to turn vacant. "My mother, your parents, the Queen, the Ministers, the other Ladies and nobles.... the soldiers who were with us... all gone now...." Whisper couldn't find any words of comfort to say or even telepath as she watched the tears start to well up in Alex's haunted blue eyes. Michelle was already sobbing quietly as she held onto her lover and the source of emotional support in her life, both now slipping into grief and despair over the loss of life from so long ago. She closed her eyes and extended her telepathic senses as far as she was able, trying to find the faint "echo" of Susan's mind so she could tell her of the situation. A small frown tugged on the corners of her lips as she realized that she wasn't anywhere in the cathedral, a less-than-comfortable realization of her having left without warning and leaving the other two humans alone. She looked back up at them and sighed, knowing they needed comfort right now. Michelle was wracked with sobs, her tears already visibly soaking the sleeve of Alex's shirt. Alex's breathing was unsteady but still silent, a look of anger and resentment on her face as she wrapped her arms around Michelle and gently rocked her back and forth. There were tears on her face as well, small droplets of grief and sadness trailing down across her cheeks. she telepathed to them after taking a deep breath. "You're comparing a childhood accident to blatant genocide?" Alex spat, her tone almost literally dripping with bitterness. she telepathed back, trying to suppress a shudder. "Your point?" was the flat mental reply. "You people started it!" Alex yelled, causing Michelle to whimper loudly. "So what if it was finished with extreme prejudice? YOU DESERVED IT!!" "What did I ever do to you?" Whisper said aloud. "To hell with all that has happened long before I was even born, what have *I* done to deserve any of that pain and suffering? Nothing, Alex," she said as the blonde remained silent, her face still glistening with fallen tears. "I do not deny in the slightest that your kingdom and you personally have been greatly wronged by my world, and if you decide to do something about it, I won't blame you one bit. "But for the sake of all that you hold dear, for all the values that you uphold in your culture as sacred, make sure you take it out only on those few who are truly deserving of such retribution, not the common denizen peasant who tills his farm and only wishes to live his life in peace, not the young soldier who only seeks to serve her society as best she can. I know the pain in your soul right now is great, but how can you wish to inflict that same pain upon the genuinely innocent and still continue to call yourself righteous and just?" Alex stared at her for a moment before looking away, the look of anger starting to fade from her eyes. Michelle's sobs were tapering off, becoming quieter with each passing moment as the words sank into her mind. "Whatever," the blonde muttered softly, more to herself than anyone else. "Try that crap again and next time we'll take your whole freaking planet off the known celestial map, your so-called innocents be damned." The denizen telepath thought it wise to say nothing further at that point, letting Alex express the anger and frustrations she was experiencing. Beside her, Michelle had fallen silent save for the odd sniffle, her head still buried in the crook of Alex's shoulder and clutching Myst in a death-grip. A faint chiming sound echoed down from the hallway and Michelle bolted upright, her aquamarine eyes wide with something between fear and terror. Alex immediately reached over and clamped her hand over Michelle's mouth before she could scream. "Love, don't do it," she cautioned as the chiming sound grew closer. "I know you don't like spiders, but I don't want my eardrums to rupture because you're screaming four inches away from me." Michelle made a muffled but very high-pitched whimpering noise as Dyvach skittered into view, holding a small box of tissues. It paused for a moment before very slowly walking over to Alex, holding out the box in front of it and chiming quietly. "Umm.... ahh.... t-thank you," Alex said hesitantly to the weaver as she reached out with her free hand to take the box of tissues. Dyvach's crystal carapace turned a bright pink color as it cooed quietly in response, waving a leg at her before quickly skittering back down the residential hallway. The blonde gave the tissues a dubious look. "That's scary," she said to the room in general as she fished a pair of tissues out of the box and passed it to Michelle. "They look normal to me, hon," she said as Michelle whimpered quietly. "Just take a few and degunk your nose before it ends up on my shirt, if you please." Michelle gave her a slightly insulted look before she grabbed a large wad of tissues and started drying her eyes, still sniffling quietly. "Do you feel better?" Whisper asked gently. "Hell no," Alex replied as she wiped the remains of her tears away. "Yes, we do," Michelle said softly as she leaned back against Alex. "Speak for yourself," the blonde muttered. "You humans have got to be the strangest creatures I've ever met," Myst said sourly as she wriggled out of Michelle's lap and jumped down to the floor. Alex cast an irritated glance at the kitten. "Who asked you?" The Shinma ignored her as she examined the patch of wet fur on her tail. "Why are your eyes leaking?" "Biology is a bitch," Alex grumped. "You're better off asking Susan to explain crap like tears when she gets back." Whisper gave her a curious look. "Do you know where she is right now? I can't sense her anywhere in the cathedral." "Who knows," the blonde said as she rubbed Michelle's back gently. "She rarely tells us anything about her time-travel stunts. She said she'd be back in time for lunch, then blipped out like she usually does." Whisper glanced at the clock on the wall outside the kitchen. "Well, it's almost time for lunch now, so...." Almost as if on cue, there was a flash of temporal energy as Susan went sprawling onto the floor. Everyone gasped in shock as they suddenly realized that something was gravely wrong with the succubus. "Sue, what the hell happened?" Alex yelled as she darted forward, the color draining from her features at the sight of Susan's face and skin. "I'll recover," Susan rasped weakly as she tried to wipe the blood out of her eyes. Her dark red blood was oozing from her nose, eyes, and ears, and a harsh rasp was evident in her breathing. Her skin was severely blotched with vicious purple bruises and her eyes were so bloodshot as to almost appear to be a uniform red. Her wings were hanging limply from her back, the dark surface seemingly blistered with red splotches. "Bullcrap, what happened?" Alex demanded, her eyes wide and wondering if things were truly as bad as they looked. "Vacuum exposure?" Whisper said quickly as she darted up from her chair, suddenly remembering seeing someone else in that condition a long time ago. Susan nodded in her general direction, essentially blinded by the blood in her eyes. "Precisely. I'll be able to recover," she added with a grimace. "Let me see what we have for that," the telepath said as she ran down the hall to the supply closet. "Susan, what happened?" Michelle whimpered, horrified to see the extensive damage to Susan's body. "I... went back in time to the Kingdom," Susan rasped as she sat up. "I returned after the Shield collapsed and... supposedly regenerated itself, but it seems that it was... highly unstable for a period of time and kept... collapsing. I got caught by surprise and... the atmosphere vented before I could relocate. Do... Do you have anything I could use to clean my eyes?" "Gimme that," Alex said to Michelle as she pointed to the forgotten box of tissues sitting on the edge of the couch. The box was promptly picked up and tossed across the room to the blonde, who just as quickly put it in Susan's hands. "Here, a box of tissues. Courtesy of that giant spider," she added. "Thank you," Susan said gratefully as she started to wipe the blood from her eyes and nose. She coughed several times before being able to draw in a deep breath for a sigh. "That was... decidedly unpleasant." Alex just shook her head. "Sue, you look like you've just been beaten to within an inch of your life," she said sadly. Much to her surprise, the succubus chuckled quietly. "It just looks bad, Alex. The purple discoloration is caused by ruptured capillaries in the skin. It's minor cosmetic damage that will heal itself in about an hour." "You're dripping blood on the floor, and you call that minor?" Just then, Whisper came back into the room holding a small bottle. "Here, this should help," she said as she held it out to Susan. Susan blinked several times before sighing. "I can't really see much of anything right now," she admitted. The telepath blinked hard as she knelt next to her. "I hope you don't have retinal damage," she said in a worried tone as she opened the bottle. "Tilt your head back. These eyedrops should help reduce swelling, but they might sting a bit at first," she cautioned. "I probably wouldn't notice if they did," Susan replied as she complied with Whisper's instructions. "And I'm not worried about retinal damage, as I should be finished healing before dinner." "Regeneration must be nice," Whisper said as she carefully put three drops of the solution in each bloodstained eye. "Low-level or high-level?" The succubus grunted as the drops stung worse than she had anticipated. "Technically both, but my rate of high-level regeneration is often described as ponderously slow by other succubi." Alex just sighed and sat back on her heels. "Sue, you're a real piece of work, you know? You look like crap, you have purple marks the size of grapes all over your entire body, your wings look like they've been grilled over an open flame, you have blood dripping from your tear ducts of all places, and here you are having a casual conversation with someone who is busy trying to put drops in your eyes to salvage your vision." Susan smiled despite the pain she was in. "I've been injured worse," she said. "As I said, most of this damage is purely cosmetic." "How are your lungs?" Whisper asked as she capped the bottle. "I know what even a brief exposure to a total vacuum can do to a person." Susan took a deep breath and winced at the tightness in her chest. "I think they're still functional for the most part," she replied. "It took a few seconds for the atmosphere to vent completely, and I think I was able to shift away before then. Since I can still breathe, the damage obviously isn't very severe and will be fully healed in a few hours," she added as she wiped the drops from her eyes with a tissue. Whisper just shook her head as she sat back to study Susan's wings. "I saw the scars last night, but I didn't know they were from wings." The succubus winced as she tried flexing her wings. "I had planned to explain it to everyone tonight after dinner had settled. Hopefully the worst of the bruising will have healed before then." Alex looked at Susan's minimal attire. "I hope you're not going to come to dinner dressed like that," she commented. "Or nearly undressed, as the case might be. You actually comfortable wearing just a ribbon like that?" Susan rolled her eyes and immediately regretted it. "Of course I plan on changing into a more formal dress," she replied. "I haven't had time to change since my meeting with Lord Hades in the Underworld." Myst's ears perked up at the mention of the ruler of the Underworld. "You met with Hades?" she said incrediously. The Shinma was curled up beneath the coffee table in a spot that was well away from edgy humans but still let her observe everything going on around her. "Yes, and a rather interesting meeting it turned out to be," Susan said as she set the box of tissues on the floor and tried to stand up. Her joints throbbed in agonizing protest as she slowly drew herself to her feet. "Hey, whoa, easy," Alex protested, grabbing Susan's arm as her balance visibly wavered. "Alex, that hurts...." Susan gasped as the nerves in her arm seemed to explode in pain. The blonde immediately let go and stepped close to the succubus, letting her lean on her shoulder under her own power. "Sorry," she apologized. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Michelle asked cautiously from the couch, her aquamarine eyes still wide with shock and bloodshot from her crying fit earlier. Susan nodded. "I've had far better days, but I will be fine." She paused as she noticed Michelle's eyes and cast a glance at Alex. "Perhaps I should be asking you two if you are alright. Have you been crying?" Alex snorted. "Me, cry? You have to be kidding." There was a soft sigh. "Alexis Ten'ou, what happened?" "Oh, stuff it, Sue," the blonde growled. "You know I hate it when you call me that." "You're evading the question." "And?" Susan sighed again and turned to Michelle. "What happened?" "Don't get her started again," Alex interrupted as Michelle started to sniffle again. She carefully pulled away from Susan and crossed the room to sit down next to her lover, wrapping her arms around her in a comforting hug. Whisper privately telepathed to Susan. Susan made a noise in her throat that could have either been a grunt of pain or a subvocal acknowldgement. She wasn't sure she had fully come to terms with events herself, but she had already let her own tears fall in the privacy of her keep days ago. She waited until Michelle had calmed back down before she spoke up. "The reason I returned to the Kingdom in the past was so I could retrieve this," she said as she pulled an ornate mirror out of her Lunar Space pocket. Michelle blinked hard and her face immediately lit up. "My mirror!" she exclaimed as she leapt to her feet, almost knocking Alex over in the process. "Hey, watch it, Mich!" Alex complained as she rubbed her elbow. "It needs some work, though," Susan cautioned as she handed over the Soul Mirror. The body was a bright aquamarine color, inlaid with silver filigree, with several precious stones spaced around the circular mirror. The sign of Neptune was inlaid in gold on the back, partially obscured by the thick layer of dust and dried blood coating the upper half of the mirror. "It's broken," Michelle said plaintively as her mood just as quickly went back to a near-depressive state. The normally polished surface of the mirror was thoroughly shattered and several large pieces were missing, giving the mirror a dark and hideous look. "The true power of the mirror lies within, Michelle, not merely in the glass itself," Susan explained gently as Michelle's expression became downcast. "Believe me, I've had to have the glass reforged countless times over the span of seven centuries." "Screw the glass," Alex said with a distasteful look on her face, "You better soak that bad boy in some serious disinfectant. How much blood is on that thing, anyway?" "Eww...." Michelle whimpered as she suddenly realized what the dark red coloring was beneath the dirt. A particularly dark thought occurred to her as she gave Susan an uncertain look. "Is this... my blood?" she asked hesitantly. Susan shrugged. "I have no idea, to be honest, but if I had to take an educated guess, I'd say that's a distinct possibility." "Eww...." she repeated, looking like she was ready to drop the mirror. "I would have taken it directly to one of the attendants of the Hellforge in the Underworld, but I had more pressing matters on my mind at the time," Susan said with a shrug of apology. "Hellforge?" Alex asked warily. "That doesn't sound good." The succubus raised a delicate green eyebrow. "Where do you think your Soul Saber was forged?" "In Hellfire? Aww, don't tell me that...." Alex said with a faint look of unease as Susan nodded her head. "Hey, speaking of which...." Susan sighed quietly as she flexed her wings slowly. "I'm sorry, Alex, but I couldn't find it. It's possible it was destroyed in the explosion." The blonde flopped back against the couch cushions. "Man, that bites the big one," she said sourly. "I really, really liked that saber." "I take it you know how to use a sword?" Whisper inquired cautiously. "With an arm like this?" Alex replied as she rolled her right sleeve up and flexed the muscles in her arm and shoulder. "Trust me, I'm quite good at turning an opponent into a fillet." Michelle glanced over at her and sighed quietly before returning her gaze to the shattered mirror. "You sure this is easy to fix?" she asked quietly. "Decidedly easy," Susan replied. "I will take it to the Hellforge early tomorrow morning to have the glass reforged, and it should be as good as new by lunchtime." "Assuming they can get all the blood off first," Alex commented with a shake of her head. "That looks kinda messy." Michelle whimpered softly to herself at the thought of the mirror having been dropped in a pool of her own blood after the fatal explosion. Susan took note of the expression on her face and just shook her head slowly. I still don't see how they could possibly have ended up together as lovers, she mused to herself. There was a soft creaking noise from across the room as the door to the staircase opened up. Everyone turned to look as Tolaris and Maze entered the living room, neither one wearing much more than pants. Tolaris's body had turned a noticable shade of pink and he was using Maze's towel to wipe a sheen of strange blue fluid off of his skin. "Cheer up," Maze was saying, "That could have gone a lot worse." "Yes, it could have taken off three layers of skin instead of two," the other Dragoon shot back. "Hey, you're the one who took the dose of radiation, so you know the.... AY'CHA NAVIDSHI, what happened?!" Maze exclaimed suddenly as he saw Susan. Susan sighed and gently blew her nose. "I had the unfortunate experience of being suspended in a total vacuum for a brief moment," she said, making a face at the amount of blood that ended up in the tissue. "Are you going to be okay?" Tolaris asked with a concerned expression. "Sue's a tough bitch," Alex said dryly as she him and Maze very appraising looks. "We think she'll be okay once she quits bleeding." "Thank you, Alex," Susan said with a patient sigh. Maze blinked hard. "What's with the wings? I thought humans didn't have those...." he said cautiously. "I'm only half-human," Susan said with another sigh. "The other half is a winged species of demon known as a succubus." "Sounds like fun," Maze commented. "And what are you looking at?" "You look like you've seen better days," Alex replied casually as she started counting the scars she could see from halfway across the room. "What's with the big scar on your shoulder?" The purple-haired Dragoon cast a reflexive look at his shoulder. "Which one? I have several. Pales in comparison to what Tolaris has, however," he added with a jerk of his thumb at Tolaris's exposed abdomen. "Leave me alone," Tolaris muttered. "Holy crap," Alex said as she blinked at the area of skin that had been burned away and regenerated a long time ago. "What happened there?" "A plasma strike at very close range," Tolaris replied as he moved past the couch towards the residential wing. "Very painful, I assure you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish getting this anti-radiation acid off of my skin before it eats through another layer." "Yeech," Alex said with a sour expression. A sudden idea flashed into Whisper's mind with the force of a supernova. "One second, Commander," she said quickly as she grabbed his arm. "Turn around for a moment. Here, see this scar, Alex?" she asked as she ran her fingertip along a particular scar on Tolaris' arm. "That was caused by crystal shards from a fragmentation grenade. That same grenade gave me a rather unsightly scar on my back, left a sizable scar on Maze's leg, and nearly killed Ra'vel." Alex gave the telepath a slightly confused look. "Okay, and...?" "We got those scars while helping to protect Sailor Moon and the others when they were in the Negaverse awhile ago," Whisper said evenly. She had to suppress the urge to smile as Alex blinked hard at the concept of denizens trying to protect the Moon Princess. Just as I figured you would, she thought to herself. Now let's see if that breaks the ice a tiny bit more.... "You were protecting the Princess?" a voice asked. Whisper was mildly surprised to hear Michelle's voice instead of Alex asking the expected question for confirmation. "Not everyone has a grudge against Sailor Moon," Tolaris replied. "Some of us believe in being responsible hosts and trying to take care of our guests, even if they are from another world. I don't mean to be rude, but this acid is really beginning to burn." Whisper shook her head as she released his arm. "Go on, I should have lunch ready by the time you're finished scrubbing." "Acid?" Susan inquired mildly as she watched Tolaris make a rapid exit. "Decontamination protocol," Maze explained. "Anytime we're exposed to radiation that registers inside the hardsuits, we're required to undergo a full chemical scrubbing procedure. It usually only takes off the top layer of skin, but it's a small price to pay to avoid any possible problems down the line." "Ouch," Alex said with a sympathetic wince. "Ouch indeed," Whisper said, looking at her hand as it started to tingle from exposure to the acid. "I trust the reactor is working fine now?" Maze chuckled for a brief moment. "You'd know if it wasn't. Susan, are you quite sure you're fine? I don't mean any disrespect, but you really look like you could use a visit from a Healer." Susan stretched her arms out in front of her to examine her blotched skin. "I'm already healing," she replied patiently. "It will just take an hour or two for my regenerative abilities to repair all the capillaries and drain the blood clots. It really is not as bad as it looks," she added. Maze grunted quietly. "If you say so," he muttered as he looked up and down at Susan's minimal attire. "I must say, I like your tailor. I've seen many styles of clothing designed to compliments a woman's figure before, but that seems to be the most inventive one I've encountered in centuries." A soft smile tugged on Susan's lips. "Thank you." "Lieutenant, go get dressed before I consider telling Mina about that," Whisper suggested as she walked into the kitchen and promptly rinsed her hand off in the sink. "We're having soup and salad for lunch, plus a selection of sandwiches if I can find what I did with the package of deli meat." "Yes, ma'am," the Dragoon muttered as he cast one final glance of wonder at Susan's wings before walking down the hallway towards the bedroom he shared with Mina. Alex frowned slightly. "What's Mina have to do with this?" There was a slight pause in the activity in the kitchen. "No one told you that Mina and Maze were dating?" "What?" both Alex and Michelle said in unison as their jaws sagged open. "I hadn't gotten around to telling them that," Susan explained. "I had figured it was a minor detail that could wait until everyone was here." Alex just sighed heavily. "Sue, what else do you know?" Susan started flexing her wings slowly, trying to restore circulation to the damaged capillaries. "Ami and Tolaris are dating as well." "Wait," Alex said slowly. "So what you're telling me is that we have two different Sailor Scouts dating people from the Negaverse?" "Three, actually," Susan replied. "It's my understanding that Leda also has a romantic interest who isn't human, but I don't have that one entirely sorted out yet." "Great, that's just freakin' great...." Michelle moved over to Alex and took her hand gently. "Is that really a bad thing?" she asked Susan quietly as she rested her head on the blonde's shoulder. "I mean, isn't it good that they have someone to care about?" The succubus shrugged, then winced as a joint in her shoulder popped. "I have yet to determine that, but from what I've seen it appears to be a quite serious affair. No pun intended," she added. Alex shivered. "Now there's an image I didn't need. Can you imagine one of them in bed with someone from the Negaverse?" Whisper poked her head out of the kitchen with a small frown. "Excuse me, but can you please stop saying that like it's a bad thing to be from a world other than Earth?" "It's not far from the truth, but I'll still consider it," Alex in a tone laced with acid, ignoring the warning prod in the back from Michelle. Susan gave the blonde a rather smug smile. "Actually, Alex, it doesn't have to be imagined at all," she said lightly. There was a long pause as the meaning of her words sank into Alex's mind. "Sue? I really didn't need to know that," she said sourly as Michelle nodded in agreement. "Don't get me wrong, Ami and Mina are wonderful friends, I love them both, but I don't need to be told about what they do with whom once the sun sets." "Neither do the rest of us," Whisper muttered. She looked up and caught Susan's questioning look. "Tolaris is still working on keeping a lid on his powers when.... distracted," she explained with a faint blush. "He's gotten better at it, but we still tend to get an awful lot of rainfall around here." "Ah, I see," Susan replied as her eyebrows arched up to her hairline. "I don't," Alex grumbled. "What's the rain have to do with Tolaris?" "Commander Tolaris can control the weather," Whisper explained as she turned her telekinetic powers loose on various culinary items and implements. "To make a long story short, we have frequent storms in the area." Alex and Michelle looked at one another for several seconds. "I remember you talking yesterday about denizen powers and chaos," Michelle said. "Is that what you meant?" The telepath nodded. "Yes. Tolaris can control the weather in addition to a few minor things, Maze can project an energy shield and has some type of kinetic energy dart attack, I can assume a quasi-dimensional form as well as having psionics, and Ra'vel has both psionics and a high-energy sonic attack." "So everyone's powers are all different?" Michelle asked. "Usually," Whisper replied. "It's called the Chaos Factor for several reasons, one of them being because it is so unpredictable." "Lovely," Alex muttered. "That explains most of the problems we ran into during the battle. Sue, you remember that one chick with the fire beast?" Susan shook her head. "Perhaps you shouldn't dwell so much on the past," she suggested gently. "I assure you that, while I have not and probably never will forget, I have no particular desire to keep those memories fresh in my mind." The blonde grunted quietly as she felt Michelle's hand wrapping around her waist. "Hey, Mich? Watch where you put that thing," she said with a gesture to the broken Soul Mirror in Michelle's other hand. "Blood stains are a bitch-kitty to get out of fabric, and these were just washed." Michelle gave her a dour look as she moved to set the mirror down on the coffee table. She froze in mid-motion as she heard a clattering noise followed by the echo of chimes coming down the hall. "Oh, not this one again," Alex sighed as she tightly squeezed Michelle's hand. "Just relax, hon. Breathe deep, chill out, he won't bother you." Michelle just whimpered quietly as Dyvach wandered into the living room, chiming softly to itself. Susan rasied a questioning eyebrow at the weaver, having dealt with it several times in the past but still not fully able to make sense of the musical tones of the weaver language. Whisper frowned as she stuck her head out of the kitchen, still using her telekinetic powers to prepare lunch. "Yes, Dyvach, what is it?" She blinked hard as the oversized crystal spider made a very complicated series of chimes, its carapace turning a dark purple color. "You want to eat what?" Dyvach made a sound very much akin to hailstones falling onto a broken xylophone as it pointed to the ruined mirror in Michelle's hand. It continued to chime quietly at the telepath before folding half of its many legs and did the weaver equivalent of sitting cross-legged on the floor. "I don't think I like the sound of this one," Alex said warily. "I think it said it wants to try fixing the mirror," Whisper replied with an uncertain look. "That meant repair and not deconstruct, right?" Susan blinked as Dyvach chimed an affirmative. "You want to repair the mirror?" she asked slowly. "Whoa, wait, time out," Alex said as she felt Michelle's grip tighten. "Someone want to run this one past me again?" Whisper set everything down on the counter before focusing her full span of attention on the situation. "Weavers have the innate ability to eat almost any object, analyze the molecular content and structure, and reconstitute a duplicate item from sufficient raw materials," she explained. "Tolaris tells me that Dyvach is better than most weavers due to its high intelligence." Susan gave the weaver an odd look as it made a dour chiming noise. "I know you are a sentient being, Dyvach, but do you really know what exactly the Soul Mirror is?" "Important artifact," Whisper translated as Dyvach made very slow and distinct chimes. "Glass unimportant, not damage anything, clean up. Eat glass, analyze, reconstitute." Susan mentally shrugged. "It's up to you, Michelle, it's your mirror," she said. "If it doesn't work the way Dyvach had in mind, I can still take it back to the Hellforge to have it reworked." "Let me get this right," Alex said slowly as Michelle whimpered again. "You want Mich here to let a giant spider try to fix the mirror?" The succubus nodded. "I don't see any harm as long as only the glass is worked on. And either way, it still needs cleaning." "Dyvach is harmless, I assure you," Whisper said consolingly as the weaver flushed a medium blue color. Alex blew her breath out and looked at her lover. "This is crazy, hon." Michelle gave Alex an uncertain look before turning her attention back to Dyvach. Her mouth opened and closed silently several times as she tried to find something to say. She finally settled for whimpering quietly as she held the mirror out to the weaver, her hand visibly shaking. Dyvach cooed softly at her as it took the mirror in four legs and gently brought it down to what passed for eye-level. It examined the surface of the mirror for several seconds before it ripped a shard of glass out and promptly ate it. "Hey!" Alex exclaimed in protest at the horrid crunching sound. "Watch it, you're gonna leave shards everywhere!" Whisper shrugged and turned her attention back to making lunch. "It told you it had to analyze the glass first," she chided gently. "And Dyvach is very good about not leaving a mess behind." Michelle and Alex just stared at the weaver as it ripped off another shard of glass and ate it, the crunching noise raising the hair on their arms. It then paused for a few moments before making a decidedly pleasant series of soft chimes as its carapace turned a dusky rose color. "I give up," Alex said quietly. "I know I've only been around for about seventeen years and have seen only a fraction of the strangeness this universe has to offer, but watching a giant spider eat glass has got to be on the top of the list. What do you think, Sue?" Susan tilted her head as the studied the weaver, listening more to the musical chimes than Alex. "I think that color would make a perfect shade of nail polish," she said absently. Alex gave her a startled look before glancing back at Dyvach's crystal carapace. "You think of the damnedest things," she muttered. "And the truly scary part is, you're probably right." Michelle barely heard the exchange, listening with rapt attention to the sequence of chimes. She thought she could hear a sort of pattern to the way the notes were arranged, something only a musician would casually be able to notice. "Is that music.... mathematical?" she asked hesitantly. "What?" Alex asked in confusion. Susan blinked. "I take it you hear something unusual?" she inquired. "You can't hear that?" Michelle replied with a look of confusion on her delicate features. "Hear what?" Alex grumbled. Susan said nothing as she studied the weaver, still curled up and chiming quietly to itself. She herself was quite skilled in music, having learned to play the cello over the course of a century, but knew that whatever skills she had acquired paled in comparison to Michelle's innate skill with the violin. It was no surprise to her that Michelle would also have a superior "musician's ear" for picking up patterns in music. Dyvach fell silent for a moment before chittering something at Michelle, its carapace darkening to a purple hue. "It's the chemical composition of the glass in musical form," Whisper said from the kitchen as she shredded a head of lettuce. "I guess you could call it a form of mathematics." "That was beautiful," Michelle said, giving the weaver a cautious look. "Is that a composition or a direct translation?" "Translation," Whisper said after Dyvach made a single multi-harmonic chime in response. It then launched into a brief explanation that sounded to everyone like a set of wind-chimes caught in a really bad gale. "I didn't understand a word of that," Whisper said with a sigh. Dyvach made a flat chime of frustration that needed little translation. It flipped the mirror over and started to clean the dirt and blood off, doing so in a manner that wasn't immediately obvious to the others in the room. "Oh, for the love of Xavier Pendragon," Alex groaned after a moment of cautious observation. "Susan, please tell me he's not licking it off...." "Ewwwwwwww," Michelle whimpered as she turned around, her skin visibly crawling with revulsion. Whisper wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Must you do that?" Dyvach replied with an unusually happy chime and gave a lenthy reply. "Dyvach, you really need to learn about the concept of too much information," she sighed. Susan tilted her head slightly. "That was about the quality of the blood, wasn't it?" she asked carefully. The denizen blinked hard and gave her a measured look. "Yes, that was it exactly," she said slowly. "Should I ask how you knew that?" "An educated guess," Susan said calmly. "Besides," she added, "I would imagine that the blood molecules contain a high degree of iron which would be useful in certain chemical reactions." "Funny someone should bring up the subject of too much information," Alex grumbled quietly as she wrapped her arms around Michelle's shuddering form. "There's no such thing as too much information," Maze's voice said as he walked down the hallway, now fully dressed. "There might be information you really don't want to hear, but too much information is always preferable to not enough. Dyvach, what are you eating this time?" Whisper shook her head and ducked back into the kitchen. "Trust me, Maze, some questions are better left unanswered." Susan stepped to one side and tried flexing her wings again. "Dyvach is attemping to clean and repair Michelle's hand mirror," she explained. The Dragoon laughed quietly. "Child's play for it," he said with a grin. "You should have been here when we were building a laser array. Now that was a real challenge." "What's a laser?" Alex asked with a frown. "A focused beam of coherent light on a specific wavelength," Susan said with a glance of annoyance. "You've seen the Screen control chamber before, Alex. The glowing beams of light between the crystal elements were lasers." "Ohh, those things," the blonde said as the proverbial lightbulb lit up. Maze paused as he looked up and down at Susan's body. "Is is me or are those bruises fading already?" Susan looked at her arms and nodded. "I keep telling everyone that I would be finished healing in a few hours," she said patiently. She flinched along with everyone else as more crunching noises filled the air, the result of Dyvach eating the remainder of the glass shards. "Hey, hey, hey!" Alex protested. "Eat the glass, not the mirror!" Maze gave the oversized spider a strange look. "I hope you're just doing that to analyze the glass," he said guardedly. Dyvach chittered an affirmative and resumed chiming the oddly beautiful musical pattern of the chemical structure of the glass. Its carapace flushed a dark purple hue for a moment before assuming a dusky rose coloring. The melody continued for several minutes before Dyvach abruptly turned a vivid pink color and fell silent. Michelle made a face, more at having the music interrupted than anything. "Is everything okay?" she asked. She received a flatulent chime in response and cast a startled look at Maze. "What did he say?" Maze raised a purple eyebrow at the weaver. "You want what?" He listened as Dyvach explained at length what exactly it needed and why. "You lost me on that last word, but I think I get the general idea." Dyvach replied with a harsh chime of denial before flushing a dark purple color once again. "Not so loud," Whisper complained as the weaver's crude psionic voice intruded into her mind. "It says that the glass is composed of several very rare elements mixed with a highly refined grade of sand," she explained to the group. "I don't quite get what it wants, but I keep seeing a small hourglass filled with sparkling sand." Susan blinked. "The Sands of Time?" she asked Dyvach. She got a rather happy chime in response and she paused for a moment to think. "That's a rather exotic substance to be used for forging a reflective mirror...." Alex rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Here we go again, somebody needs a very rare thing that you can only gather once a generation under the light of a blue moon during a solstice or some other crap," she grumbled quietly. "And of course, being the eternal packrat that you are, you probably have some of whatever it is we need stashed away either in your keep in the Border Ethereal or in the keep you have in Hell." The succubus gave her an exasperated look. "Time-sand is not as rare as you think, Alex. And yes, I have several small hourglasses filled with it in my Border Ethereal keep, as it becomes volatile when in the Underworld." Michelle managed to almost completely muffle her giggle as Alex smirked. "Your honor, the prosecution rests," the blonde replied. Susan just shook her head to herself. "I will return shortly," she said as she snatched at the air. Her staff seemed to materialize out of nowhere as it smacked solidly into the palm of her hand. "Hey, where did that come from?" Maze said as he blinked in surprise. "A long story," Susan replied as she tilted her head to look under the coffee table. "Myst, would you like to come with me?" The silky gray kitten wasted no time in leaving the relative sanctity of the coffee table to stand next to her. Susan cradled her arm against her hip and Myst promptly leapt up, landing neatly in the space provided. "Thank you," the Shinma said quietly. "Aww, we're not that bad," Alex chuckled as she reached over to scratch Myst's ears. "You'd be surprised," the kitten replied flatly. "Be nice," Susan said gently as Alex made a face. She looked up at the pair of humans and readjusted her grip on her staff. "I should only be gone for a few minutes," she said. "I need to change first, then I shall return with some time-sand for Dyvach." Maze's eyebrows arched up as he glanced over her attire. "Don't change on our account," he muttered, then dodged the kick that Alex aimed at his leg. "Hey, be careful. You would almost think we were friends or something with a gesture like that," he teased. "Whatever," the blonde muttered darkly. Susan smiled. "Thank you, Lieutenant, I think you just made my day," she said before disappearing in a flash of temporal energy. Maze blinked in confusion for a moment before casting a questioning look at Alex and Michelle. "Did that make any sense to either of you?" Michelle sighed quietly as she rested her head on Alex's shoulder. "Not at all," the blonde said with a careful shrug. "Vintage Susan Meiou for you. Always cryptic, never explains the important things until the last second." The Dragoon looked at her for a moment before shrugging as well. "Okay, nothing like a little mystery to keep life interesting. That smells good," he added as he wandered into the kitchen. "Go away," came the other voice from the kitchen. Alex just looked at Michelle, glanced down at the giant crystal spider cooing at her feet, looked into the kitchen to observe two people from another world casually fighting over a loaf of bread, then looked back at her lover. "I'm not sure which bothers me worse," she said quietly as she ran her fingers through Michelle's aquamarine hair. "The fact that the day has been filled with strange things, or the fact that the day is far from over and there is still plenty of room for things to get stranger...." * * * * Alex looked around the table as she and Michelle sat down to eat lunch. "So where is everyone?" she asked Whisper. "And what's with the bread?" "Maze is unlocking the arsenal vault for Dyvach so it can nibble on the battleship armor plate we have stored in there," the telepath explained. "It said something about needing the extra neutrons. Tolaris is probably still dealing with the anti-radiation treatment, and I believe Susan is still busy changing." "It shouldn't take this long," Alex grumbled quietly as she picked up a fork and studied the bowl of salad. "Especially seeing how she was barely dressed to begin with. No croutons, huh?" "What kind of bread is that?" Michelle asked quickly, more to interrupt Alex's impending rant than out of curiosity. Whisper picked up the loaf of denizen wheat bread and began to slice it into chunks. "V'etu," she said. "Gezundheit," Alex replied. Whisper shot her an unamused look. "It's a type of wheat bread from the Southern Flatlands region. Here, try some," she offered as she held out a chunk of the dark brown bread. The blonde gave it a dubious look before accepting it. She sniffed at it cautiously before taking a small bite. She chewed for a few moments before swallowing, trying to decide if she liked the rather bland taste. "You know," she said slowly, "This isn't too bad. Recently made, which is always a bonus. A little seasoning would go for a lot, but I bet it would make a good crouton." Whisper rasied a questioning eyebrow as Michelle quietly rolled her eyes. "You and croutons," she said teasingly as she reached for the soup tureen. "Almost as bad as the Princess and sugar." Alex frowned at her. "What's wrong with croutons?" she said as she began to pile the salad mixture onto her plate. "They taste good and add a little crunchy texture. Speaking of which, what kind of dressing do we have?" Whisper glanced at the bottles briefly. "Italian, Catalina, and White N'Taki Seven." Both Alex and Michelle paused. "What, what, and what?" Alex said slowly. There was a soft grunt as Tolaris walked into the dining room wearing a loose-fitting tank-top and sweatpants. His skin had turned a shade of dark pink that most people associated with a light sunburn. "What was the question again?" he asked as he sat down in slow-motion, the pain evident on his face. Alex raised an eyebrow at him. "I asked what kind of salad dressing we have, but I've never heard of any of them. You alright?" "I've had better days," Tolaris said as he studied the selections laid out for lunch. "White N'Taki is a somewhat popular brand of condiment, and the number just denotes which type. Six and Seven are often used in salads, but Ra'vel is rather forcefully allergic to Six so we didn't bother stocking it. Don't ask me about the stuff that originates from Earth. What kind of soup is that, Michelle?" "Looks like chicken noodle to me," Michelle replied as she ladled some of the soup into her bowl. "You going to want some?" she asked Alex. Alex leaned over to get a better look at the soup. "Smells good. Let's just hope that's chicken, though." Michelle paused in mid-motion and gave Whisper an uncertain look. "This is chicken noodle, right?" Whisper chuckled quietly. "That's what the can said. At least, that was what was on the label before Dyvach ate it," she added. Alex just shook her head. "An oversized spider with delusions of being a chameleon that likes eating glass and metal cans. Now I've seen it all." Tolaris grunted quietly in amusement. "You should watch it eat trees. So what is Dyvach trying to build this time?" he asked as Michelle carefully passed the soup tureen over to him. "Thank you." "He's trying to fix Michelle's mirror," Alex replied as she picked up the bottle of Italian salad dressing and studied the label. "At least they didn't screw up the Roman alphabet in the past thousand years," she said to herself. "It," Tolaris corrected. "Weavers don't develop a gender until a later stage of their lives, so Dyvach is technically a neuter." Alex blinked. "There's a charming thought," she muttered. "Back to the salad dressing...." Tolaris shrugged. "Serena and Mina like the Italian, Ami and Rei prefer Catalina, and Leda usually makes her own red wine vinaigrette that only Rei's sense of taste is overly adverse to." "Huh," Alex commented as she debated between the Italian and Catalina. "So when did Leda learn how to cook, by the way? I mean, she's always been good help in the kitchen when the staff let her in, but I didn't think she was a master chef or anything." "You need to ask her, not me," Tolaris replied with a casual shrug as he ladled some soup into his bowl. "You're a lot of help," the blonde grunted as she finally decided to go for the Catalina and grabbed the bottle. She shook it vigorously for a few moments to make sure it was thoroughly mixed, then set it down to open it. She paused as she realized that the top of the bottle was oddly shaped with a small indentation on the lid. "Okay, stupid question time. How do I open this?" Both Whisper and Tolaris raised an eyebrow. "Push down on the back of the lid to open up the spout in the front," Tolaris explained gently. Alex complied with the instructions and jammed her thumb down on the small depression in the back. The front popped up with a wet noise that sent tiny droplets of salad dressing on a ballistic arc. She flinched as her cheek was flecked with small spots of Catalina and sighed heavily, giving the Dragoon a dour look. "Air bubble, happens to everyone," Tolaris observed with a moderate degree of humor. "Just don't shake it so forcefully next time." Alex glared at him as she grabbed the napkin in Michelle's lap. "I'll try to keep that in mind," she growled, then blinked as a flash of temporal light filled the room. Susan tilted her head to one side as she surveyed the room she had just time-shifted into. She had exchanged her minimalistic ribbon attire for a dark green long-sleeved evening gown that gave everyone else a faint sensation of being under-dressed. "I hope I'm not late for lunch," she said demurely as she leaned her staff against the wall. She paused as she noticed the small spray of salad dressing on Alex's cheek. "Alex, what did you do this time?" Alex heard a muffled giggle next to her and decided to ignore it. "I should have gone with the Italian," she griped as she wiped her face with the napkin. Susan raised a delicate green eyebrow and decided not to pursue the matter any further. She shifted Myst's weight in her arm and moved towards one of the unoccupied chairs at the table. She carefully set the kitten down at the far end of the table, away from everyone else, and then put a small but very ornate hourglass down on the table. "I found what Dyvach wanted," she said simply as she sat down. Everyone paused to stare at the hourglass. The highly-polished ends had been fashioned from an exotic type of wood and the slender glass seemed to be sculpted from transparent ice. The sand at the bottom of the device sparkled like diamond-dust, each individual grain seeming to refract the light into a collection of miniature rainbows. "That's beautiful," Whisper said quietly and heads nodded in agreement. "The Sands of Time," Susan explained with just a hint of pride. "The eternal flow of Time can never be stopped, but with a device like this and the right knowledge, one can briefly alter its course." Tolaris blinked. "So why did you bring that here?" he inquired. "Dyvach wanted to use the sand to reforge the glass in Michelle's mirror," she explained as she studied the bowl of salad. "I am not fully sanguine about the idea of using time-sand to make common glass, to be honest, but I plan on having the mirror redone by a master craftsman if anything goes awry. Did you eat all the croutons already, Alex?" Alex grumbed something inarticulate to herself as she drizzled the orange Catalina over her salad. "No, Chancellor, I didn't eat the croutons," she said as she set the bottle down on the table. "There weren't any to begin with." "V'etu-k'er kun shi'ana," Whisper said in response to the questioning look on Tolaris' face. "Leda never showed me how to make them the way humans like them, so I didn't bother this time." Tolaris shrugged. "I didn't know what they were called. Not that I like them to begin with," he said as he picked up a spoon and started to eat his bowl of chicken noodle soup. "What's a crouton?" Myst asked Susan as the succubus scooped some of the salad mixture into her bowl. "A small square of toasted bread, usually seasoned with spices, commonly used in salads," Susan replied off-handedly. "They are a touch difficult to make as the bread is easily burnt or over-baked if not watched carefully. Can someone tell me what salad dressings we have?" "Here we go," Alex muttered to Michelle. Whisper gave the blonde a partially amused look. "Italian, Catalina, and White N'Taki Seven." Susan blinked for a moment. "I trust that is safe for humans?" The Dragoon nodded. "Ami scanned it with her computer and said that the worst that could happen is a minor case of gas cramps. Which is pretty mild compared to what some of your spices can do to our digestive systems," he said with a grimace. "Ami wasn't impressed with the taste, but she didn't report any discomfort." "Interesting," Susan commented as she reached for the dark plastic bottle with the denizen label on it. "Uhh, Sue is that a good idea?" Alex cautioned. "I know you think that you can withstand an awful lot because of your heritage, and you're probably right, but do we really need to risk you running around with a case of gas?" "Alex!" Michelle admonished her best friend with an embarrased blush. Susan gave the blonde a reproving look. "I assure you that I will be quite fine," she said dryly as she opened the bottle and peered inside. She blinked at what she saw and gave Tolaris a questioning look. Tolaris chuckled quietly. "Yes, it's supposed to be that color, even though the brand name is White N'Taki." Susan sniffed the denizen salad dressing for a moment before she shrugged and poured it in the corner of her bowl. "The smell is definitely unusual," she commented. Alex's eyebrows nearly hit the roof. "Electric-blue salad dressing?" The succubus gave her an unamused look as she speared a piece of lettuce with her fork and dabbed it in the unusually-colored salad dressing. Both Alex and Michelle waited in nervous silence as Susan took a bite and chewed slowly. "Well?" Alex prompted after several seconds. Susan shrugged. "It won't become my favorite type of salad dressing, but it is still quite interesting. You should always try new things, Alex." The blonde rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother," she said dryly as she began to voraciously devour her own salad. Whisper just shook her head. "So what is your favorite, if I may ask?" Alex muttered something very quietly to herself around a mouthful of iceberg lettuce and shredded cheese. The only person who could hear her was Michelle, who promptly choked on her soup and immediately clamped her hands over her mouth, her aquamarine eyes wide with shock. "A raspberry and walnut vinaigrette that I discovered during a visit to seventeenth-century Baghdad," Susan replied as she gave Alex an icy look. "I have the recipe on file in my keep somewhere. Are you alright, Michelle?" Alex smirked and gently rubbed her lover's back. "Wrong pipe, honey?" "I'm fine," Michelle managed to cough out, her cheeks burning crimson. Tolaris picked up his wineglass and swirled the amber contents around. "Where's Maze?" he asked before he took a sip. As if on cue, the stairwell door opened to admit Maze and Ra'vel into the living room. They were having a rather animated discussion about something in a denizen dialect that neither Whisper nor Tolaris could easily identify. The matter was complicated by both Ra'vel's disjointed speech patterns and the fact that she currently sounded almost identical to a very irritated parakeet. "Lieutenant!" Tolaris said sharply as the volume increased a notch. Both Maze and Ra'vel fell silent, giving him a curious look. "Which one?" Maze ventured. "Both of you," the Dragoon commander replied. "I could care less what you're arguing about, but please don't do it so loudly near the dinner table." Maze chuckled quietly as he and Ra'vel approached the unoccupied chairs. "Sorry, boss," he said as Ra'vel chirped an apology. "We were just going over this morning's incident report from K'tal and discussing what we would have done in the same situation." Everyone blinked as Tolaris' mood visibly darkened. "Have a seat and some soup," he suggested quietly as he sipped at his wine. "Afternoon, ladies," Maze said charmingly as he sat down between Susan and Tolaris. Ra'vel took the empty seat between Tolaris and Whisper, not noticing the unsettled look from Michelle directly across her. "That's stretching the term," Alex muttered. Susan sighed quietly. "In one sense, you're absolutely right," she said dryly. "In another sense, however, he is quite accurate." Michelle finished wiping her mouth with a napkin and gave Susan an odd look. "What do you mean?" "V'etu?" Whisper offered as a chunk of the bread was telekinetically lifted into the air and migrated over to Maze's plate. "M'sen," Maze replied. "Both you and Alex are Ladies of your respective houses," Susan said. Tolaris frowned as the color drained out of Alex's face. "That doesn't sound like it's a bad thing," he said slowly. "It's a painful reminder that our mothers are dead," Alex said flatly as Michelle slid her hand into Alex's, gently intertwining their fingers. Susan sighed quietly. "It has to do with the social structure of the Moon Kingdom," she explained to the denizens. "Upon the death of her mother or the birth of her daughter, which ever comes first, a Sailor Scout is granted the title of nobility of her House. For instance, I became Lady Pluto at the age of nineteen when my mother died, and Amelia became Lady Mercury when she gave birth to Ami." Alex sighed heavily. "Yeah, yeah, so technically I'm Lady Uranus now," she growled. "Doesn't mean you have to remind us." Susan shrugged as she reached for her glass of wine. "You're still part of the nobility, even if you don't act like it or care to hear it said." "Stuff it, Sue." "What incident report were you talking about?" Whisper asked in an attempt to break the dark turn of the conversation. Ra'vel made a flat squawk and Maze just shook his head. "Another fun trap of somebody's," he sighed. "We're guessing Rune, but it could also have been your friend Al'vexi or Si'ren." Whisper scowled at the Dragoon. "Al'vexi isn't that type of woman." "I beg to differ," Tolaris said politely. "I've seen her set a few.... shall we say, less-than-pleasant bureaucratic snares for people before." The telepath sighed heavily as she stabbed a cherry tomato with her fork, almost causing it to explode. "Politics," she sighed. "Should I ask what went on this time?" Tolaris shrugged casually as he continued to swirl the wine in his glass. "Test-firing of the particle-wave cannon in the Headquarters Complex, came this close to cratering Nop'tera's carrier. K'tal aborted the firing sequence at the last moment, and Internal Review is still screaming like it was a case of p'tahk'enn k'shen-tal." Maze choked on a mouthful of wine and nearly spewed it everywhere. "Was it really necessary to phrase it like that?" he gasped as he accepted a napkin from Whisper. "Really, Commander," Whisper chided the Dragoon, "You of all people should have better manners than that. At the dinner table, in front of ladies?" Alex cast a sidelong glance at Susan. "So what'd he say?" "Nothing I'm going to repeat," Whisper replied dryly. The blonde crossed her arms. "Well, that's no fun." "Leave it alone, Alex," Susan sighed heavily. "Spoilsport." Maze shook his head. "You remind me of Leda." "Yeah, she's a trip, alright," Alex replied with a smirk. "Trust me, we get along quite well. Umm, you going to be alright with that?" she asked as she noticed Ra'vel filling up her bowl with chicken noodle soup. Ra'vel telepathed back. Alex swallowed hard. "It's not the noodles I was referring to." "Alex," Susan chided her. The blonde spread her hands helplessly. "Hey, I'm just saying that it's somewhat unusual to see a giant bird eating chicken soup, that's all." Susan just sighed up at the ceiling as Michelle's expression took on a pained look. "Alex, is it asking too much for you to be on your best behavior whenever you are at a dinner table, or to at least make some attempt at a modicum of diplomacy?" she said in a weary tone. "You really want me to answer that one, Sue?" "Rhetorical question, I assure you." Maze leaned back in his chair with a faint smirk, the gesture not passing unnoticed by Tolaris. "Lieutenant," he said quietly as he set his wineglass down on the table with a muted thump. "Sir," Maze replied with sudden wariness. "I heard that thought from here," Tolaris said evenly. Whisper raised an eyebrow. "Not bad for a psi-mute," she commented. "You people are strange," Myst spoke up from her corner of the table. Alex chuckled. "Great, now the cat is busting on us," she teased. "So much for decorum," Susan muttered to herself as she picked up her wineglass and idly toyed with it. Maze chuckled. "What's wrong with having a casual atmosphere between friends?" he observed cheerfully. "Speak for yourself," Alex muttered. Susan sighed quietly. "That will be enough, Alex." Whisper shrugged. "You should see how some nights go when everyone is here," she said. "It can get pretty interesting at times. No, not like that," she amended as Susan put her head in her hands. "They are wonderful people to know, and I'm rather glad we met them. They are just.... young and full of the exuberence of youth." Maze looked up at the ceiling. "I wonder if they got the pizza stains off the ceiling yet?" he mused. Both Alex and Michelle reflexively glanced up at the spot he was looking at. "I don't see anything," Alex frowned. "And what's pizza?" "No need to worry, Susan," Tolaris said gently as there was a very heavy sigh from the end of the table. "They are well-behaved for the most part, I assure you." Michelle blinked as there was a muffled grunt from beneath the mass of dark green hair. "Susan, are you alright?" "I'm fine," Susan said quietly. "I'm just putting off my plans to have children for another century or two, that's all." She lifted her head up to level an icy glare at Alex as the blonde's laughter filled the room. Whisper shrugged. "Nothing wrong with waiting until you're ready." "Or keeping in practice until then," Maze added with a wicked grin. "Oh boy, let's not go there," Alex snickered, drawing yet another heavy sigh from Susan. "Indeed, as it is wise not to discuss a complicated topic of significance in which you have no personal knowledge of that could be construed as being of remote usefulness or pertinence," Susan said in an edged tone as she drained her glass of wine. "So back to the incident report," Whisper said quickly as Alex gave the succubus an unamused look that bordered on being openly hostile. Tolaris rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I haven't had the chance to talk to K'tal about it, as he's a bit busy at the moment. He had Ael'ien with him at the time as a neutral observer, and I'm told she was just as disturbed about the whole incident as he was." The telepath frowned. "They must really be hurting for people if Ael has been put in command of the Psi-Corp," she sighed. "Don't get me wrong, she's definitely a good person, but she could use a bit more seasoning as a senior executive officer before moving up to a divisional post." "Problem on the home front?" Alex inquired as she munched on the remains of her Catalina-doused salad. "I'm sure the day-to-day events of your Kingdom were at times just as much of a concern to the common citizens as they were to the throne," Tolaris said neutrally. "The incident report is bothersome, but nothing to lose much sleep over as such situations are not all that uncommon in the military." Alex snorted. "If you want to talk about concerns of the throne, you're in the right company. Sue over there practically ran things." Susan rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Your persistent failure to grasp the mechanics of running a small and geographically isolated kingdom continues to amaze me, Alex, even though I've explained it seven different ways to you. I never ran the Kingdom, only ensured that the daily functions and duties were coordinated and executed while minimizing the level of disruption and potential confusion." "The Queen gives the orders and she cracks the whip," Alex explained. Susan's knuckles went white as she unconsciously tightened her grip on her salad fork. "That is not the case, Alex, nor has it ever been. I am the Queen's Chancellor, it is my duty to take the burden of daily minutiae off of the throne so that the Queen may focus on the truly important decision of the Kingdom, and even then she is made aware of what sort of decisions are being made in her name should she desire to have them changed to suit her needs." The denizens exchanged glances before leaning back in their respective chairs. "Now there's an interesting concept," Maze mused aloud. "A Queen's personal aide, if you will. Of course, you'd have to pick someone you utterly trust, which is asking quite a bit in our world, but still...." Tolaris snorted. "Nothing new about it, Maze. We've had them in the military since the start. They're called executive officers." Maze blinked for a moment. "Huh, never thought of it like that." There was a leery pause from the elder Dragoon. "And how did you think of it as?" he finally asked. Maze smirked as he leaned back, his tan eyes twinkling with amusement. "A gopher comes to mind," he said. "You know.... go for this, go for that, oh by the way, can you draw up that quarterly budget analysis the Queen wants before dinner tonight?" Tolaris sighed. "I only asked you to do that once because both myself and Shar-Tei were literally up to our knees in liquid adhesive after that holding tank in the Lex'eri storage facility ruptured and we couldn't go anywhere because we were quite literally stuck in our tracks." Alex blinked. "That must have been fun," she commented. "What, his situation or mine?" Maze replied. "To be perfectly honest, after doing that report, which was done with about six full minutes to spare, I would have preferred to have spent the day stuck to the floor as well. You never did tell me how they managed to get you two out of that," he added. Tolaris grunted softly. "They waited until the adhesive solidified, then put a liquid polymer lubricant down our pants to help us get out of them." There was a sharp chirp of laughter from Ra'vel and Maze looked to be visibly biting his tongue. "So you ended up leaving your pants behind?" Maze somehow managed to say with a straight face. "It was not a shining moment for personal dignity," Tolaris replied with a sigh. "Shar-Tei's sense of humor throughout the whole incident could have used a little work as well, but at least the rescue crews had the presence of mind to have a few blankets available." "Show some respect, Alex," Susan sighed as the blonde erupted into peals of laughter. Next to her, Michelle was suffering from a mild attack of the giggles as well, but at least she kept the volume down to a tolerable level. "Or should I tell them about the beach incident last year?" she added. "Oh, do tell," Maze said languidly as Alex's laughter died down. "Please," Alex said as she rolled her eyes. "Okay, so I wasn't watching the ocean waves while walking along the beach and a rogue wave ended up taking most of my swimsuit out with the tide. You happy now?" Susan gave her a small smile. "No, and neither was the Queen, but I can assure you that the Prince and his squire were." "Yeah, whatever," Alex grumbled. "Like you have any room to talk about being out of uniform or otherwise undressed at various intervals." Maze chuckled quietly. "Ladies, please. Unless you plan on doing a few re-enactments for us, kindly don't tease us with such stories," he said with a lecherous grin. "Lieutenant Maze, shame on you," Whisper sighed. "Indeed," Tolaris added with a disapproving glare. Alex smirked. "Don't ask Sue, she just might show you." Michelle blushed and poked her in the shoulder. "Alex!" she admonished. "Alexis Ten'ou, that is enough," Susan said with a heavy sigh of her own. "Hey, can I ask a personal question?" Maze asked as he leaned forward to pick up his glass of wine. "Depending," Alex said warily. "Your name is Alexis, but you prefer to go by Alex, right?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "Damn straight, and don't let me hear you call me Alexis or I'm going to shorten your name with my saber. Clear?" The Dragoon just chuckled. "I was just wondering, that's all. Believe me, it is a very serious point of protocol in our society to call someone by what they want to be called. To do so otherwise is a grievous insult at best, and an invitation to a duel at worst." "May I ask you a question about denizen names?" Susan asked as Alex leaned back in her chair and rubbed Michelle's arm. Maze smirked. "About our naming conventions?" "Exactly." "Tag, Tolaris, you're it," Maze said with a chuckle as he refilled his wineglass. Tolaris shot a bemused look towards his friend. "When a denizen enters military service, it is viewed as the first step in a new life. We are given the choice of assuming a new name and identity, sort of symbolically leaving our past behind. The choice of the name is a personal one, of course, but it often reflects a hidden meaning to the individual. Not everyone chooses to do so, but those who do are accorded every respect as if their chosen name was their birth-name. And before you ask, it is considered an epitome of rudeness to ask anyone about their birth-name or their previous life." Alex blinked. "So I'm guessing you weren't born with the name Maze?" Maze stretched and ran his hands through his spiky purple hair. "Fairly reasonable assumption, but does it really matter?" he said languidly. "That makes some sense now," Michelle quietly spoke up. "Indeed," Susan said with a slow nod of her head. "Thank you for helping clarify that matter for me." "There's a denizen saying," Maze replied, "What's in a name?" "That's an Earth saying," Alex interjected. Whisper sighed. "Not this argument again...." Susan tilted her head to one side. "How was it resolved earlier?" "Simple issue, really," Tolaris said with a shrug. "It's our saying for the simple fact that our culture and society has been around for a far greater time than yours has." Michelle and Alex exchanged glances. "He might have a point," Michelle said softly as she squeezed Alex's hand. "Bah, don't matter to me," Alex said with a wave of her free hand. She paused for a moment and looked around the room. "Hey, anyone hear something?" Everyone held perfectly still for a few moments, straining their ears before they could detect a series of faint scratching sounds. "I think it's coming from over there," Michelle said as she pointed to the stairwell door. Tolaris rose from the table and crossed the room to the door. He listened at the door for a moment before opening it, stepping back in surprise at the sight of Dyvach in the stairwell. "You okay?" The weaver's carapace was literally glowing with a neon green color as it very slowly crawled along the floor, unable to lift its abdomen completely off the floor. It moved in eerie silence, slowly making its way in the general direction of the fireplace. "Dyvach, what's wrong?" Tolaris asked with concern. A pale purple color infused itself into the neon green glow as Dyvach tried to reach out with its rudimentary telepathic mind to contact Whisper. "I think its got gas," Whisper said after a moment. "Something about a very heavy elemental reaction. All I can make out is that it wants a box of matches and a wide clearance around it." Alex chuckled quietly. "If I ate soup cans, I'd probably have gas too." "Eww," Michelle whimpered at the mental image. "Great," Tolaris muttered. "Can you talk?" Whisper frowned as the psionic voice intruded in her mind again. "I think it's doing all it can to hold it in. The image I keep seeing is it igniting a match and venting into the fireplace." Tolaris sighed. "Take it outside, Dyvach." Dyvach tapped a leg against the floor repeatedly as it continued to make its way to the fireplace, still glowing. "I think that might be a bad idea, Commander," Whisper said with a frown. "I keep seeing some sort of molecular structure in my mind, but I don't know what it is." Maze sighed and stood up. "Might as well make sure the flue is open," he muttered as he moved over to the fireplace. "It should still be open, unless Rei closed it last night," Tolaris said as he kept a very wary eye on the weaver's sluggish movements. Susan frowned. "Is this going to pose a hazard to us?" "Probably not," Maze said as he got the package of matches off of the mantle and set it on the ground where Dyvach could reach them. "I would think that Dyvach is smart enough to figure out what kind of chemicals it can burn off safely in a fireplace and which ones to take outside. Still," he added as he opened a hidden panel and extracted a denizen-model fire extinguisher, "It wouldn't hurt to keep this available." "That better be AC-44," Whisper warned from from the table. Maze tossed an insulted glance over his shoulder. "Like I'd use AC-73 in an open environment," he said evenly. He watched as Dyvach finally reached the fireplace and grabbed the pack of matches. "Okay, people, let's hope this is just going to be a form of entertainment." "Fire in the hole," Alex chuckled as the weaver lit a match and aimed it at the center of the fireplace. Her eyes went wide as a truly thunderous belch echoed in the room, immediately followed by an arc of green flame. "Hot damn, and I thought Susan's idea of spicy chili gave you some wicked gas...." "I beg your pardon," Susan said before another arc of fire crossed the distance between Dyvach's mouth and the back wall of the fireplace. There was a very disgrunted chime from the weaver as it took a deep breath, lit another match, and braced its many legs. "Holy crap!" Alex breathed in awe as Dyvach began a sustained venting of the highly volatile gas, essentially turning itself into a crystalline flame- thrower that bathed the back wall of the fireplace in emerald fire. "Yeah, venting something like that outside might have been unwise," Maze said casually as he took a few steps back from the fireplace. "What do you think, boss, hydrogen-deuterium gas?" "I'd have said tritium mixed with something else," Tolaris replied as he watched the green glow. "Something highly reactive when exposed to oxygen." Ra'vel chirped a suggestion and Maze made a face. "Chlorine?" Tolaris shook his head. "We'd be dead right now if that was chlorine gas being vented." The stream of flame pulsed twice before sputtering out, leaving a faint green cloud of smoke rising up from the back wall of the fireplace. Dyvach immediately climbed into the fireplace and stuck as much of its body up the flue as it could fit. Tolaris was about to ask what the problem was when the muffled sound of a very powerful belch being released inside a small pipe echoed throughout the room. "Now THAT was a belch," Alex said in amused satisfaction as Dyvach slowly crawled out of the fireplace, chiming a lengthy apology to everyone. "Let's hear it for the spider.... OW, hey!" she protested as Michelle smacked her in the back of the head. "C'mon, Mich, you have to admit that was impressive." "That was disgusting," Michelle said sourly. Susan sighed heavily. "Not everybody revels in juvenile humor as you do, Alex. Are you alright, Dyvach?" Dyvach made a sour chiming noise as its carapace slowly took on a dark blue hue. It made a slight coughing noise and a wisp of smoke curled up from its mouth before it slowly started flexing each leg. "We don't need to know how that tasted," Tolaris said with a sigh and a barely-repressed shiver. "What was that, by the way?" He blinked as Dyvach immediately turned a deep shade of crimson and began to chitter at an unusually rapid pace. "Like I understood any of that," he grumbled. Maze chuckled. "Oh, come on, Commander, couldn't you tell that was the chemical formula for the six by-products of a chain reaction involving heavy isotopes of hydrogen and certain metallic alloys?" Everyone stopped and stared at him as Dyvach made a complex chime of confusion. "Okay, okay, so I made that up," he said with a grin. "Ptanka," Whisper muttered beneath her breath as she rolled her eyes. Ra'vel made a flat squawking noise as she picked a cherry tomato out of the salad bowl and threw it at him. The tomato flew on a ballistic arc before it encountered a strong electromagnetic field around him and bounced off in a random direction. "Hey, watch it," Alex yelped as she ducked to avoid the stray vegetable. "Shields are useful toys," Maze said with a grin at Ra'vel. "Shield this," Whisper muttered as she focused her psionic powers. "Ow, hey, get out of my skull, ow, ay'cha navidshi, ow, that hurts...." Tolaris and Susan exchanged identical looks of patient suffering as Ra'vel chirped with smug satisfaction while Alex winced in sympathy. "Angels and ministers of grace, defend us," Tolaris quoted with a sigh. "William Shakespeare," Susan replied promptly. "Hamlet, Act One, Scene Four. Ami's influence, I presume?" Tolaris shrugged. "She says she prefers a more classical flavor to the books she chooses to read for entertainment rather than to the... how did she phrase it?... 'Dry, uncultured, and uneducated tripe of so many contemporary authors and so-called poets.'" Susan wrinkled her nose. "That's a bit harsh. Granted you won't find a contemporary Shakespeare in this era, but there are still some very fine poets and authors to be found." They both looked down as Dyvach skittered over to them, chittering softly in its native language. It made a complex multi-harmonic chime as it pointed to the ornate hourglass sitting on the edge of the table next to Myst. "Go away," Myst said as her fur began to spike at the sudden attention. "I think it wants the hourglass," Susan said reassuringly to the kitten. She turned her attention back to Dyvach and studied it carefully. "Are you sure about using time-sand for this?" "Especially after that reaction," Tolaris added. He waited while Dyvach slowly explained what had happened in as simplistic terms as possible. "Well, what did you expect? You said you wanted the extra neutrons." The weaver made a dour chiming noise to itself as it flushed a creamy shade of brown. It reached beneath its carapace and brought out Michelle's mirror, the polished frame looking decidedly cleaner than before. The frame was completely devoid of glass, which gave the appearance of having a gaping hole in the center. Susan shrugged. "Very well, just be very careful with the sand," she cautioned as she picked up the hourglass and started to loosen the nearly invisible fastenings on the end of the device. She paused when Dyvach started to chime at her, waving a pair of legs back and forth. "What is it?" "It says it can just cut a small hole in the glass at the base, drain the sand, and patch the hole," Tolaris translated slowly. "It says that you won't be able to tell that the glass had been breached or patched." "If that's convenient for you," Susan said with another shrug and handed the hourglass to the crystal spider. It manipulated it with its legs for a moment to find the best position, then brought the device to what passed for its lips. "That's scary," Alex observed as she craned her neck to observe the rate at which the glittering time-sand disappeared from the base of the hourglass. "Not too fast, Dyvach," Tolaris cautioned. "Don't need you to choke or get a case of the hiccups." Michelle blinked as Dyvach's carapace suddenly changed colors, taking on the exact same refractive properties as the time-sand. "Ooh, that's pretty," she cooed as the spider seemed to sparkle in the light. "A pretty spider?" Alex teased her. "Never thought I'd hear you saying something like that." Michelle's expression changed slightly as she was reminded of Dyvach's nature, but she didn't take her aquamarine eyes off of the glittering weaver carapace. There was a brief motion from Dyvach's mouth before it held up the empty hourglass to Susan. The succubus carefully took it from the weaver and held it up to the light. "You're right, you can't tell it was punctured," she said with faint admiration to Tolaris. "Thank you, Dyvach." Dyvach chimed back at her before turning a dusky rose color and began to hum to itself, analyzing the molecular structure of the sand. The almost hypnotic humming continued for several minutes before it fell silent and set the mirror down on the ground. It then promptly curled up into a smooth, featureless ball in the middle of the floor. "Well?" Alex prompted as everyone exchanged glances. "How fast can you rework molecular structures?" Tolaris inquired. "I'd give it five minutes to digest and reassemble the various components." "So now what?" Susan shook her head. "So now the rest of us can finish lunch in relative peace and quiet," she said lightly as she sat back down and resumed eating her salad. "That wasn't funny, Captain," Maze grumbled as he rested his head in his hands. "You do realize how much that hurts, right?" Whisper snorted. "One thing you need to learn about life, Maze. Don't try to talk to telepaths about headaches anymore than you'd try to talk to avians about flying. It'll fade in a few minutes." "How common is telepathy?" Michelle asked as Alex munched on one of the remaining chunks of v'etu. "Telepathy or psionics?" Whisper replied. "Psionics are fairly common. I think the ratio is somewhere on the order of one denizen in seven developing some form of mental skills from the Chaos Factor. Telepathy is one of the most wide-spread forms of psionics, but a noticable percentage of psionicists lack viable telepathic skills. For example, telepathy is actually my strongest psi power, but Ra'vel's telepathic senses aren't nearly as developed." Susan tilted her head to one side. "Is there some sort of rating system for that, by any chance?" "Actually, there is," Whisper said with a nod. "Your average non-psionic denizen like Maze is rated a one. I think my psi score was seventeen at my last examination, and I believe Ra'vel was rated a twelve. Tolaris, on the other hand, is a flat zero because he's totally psi-mute." Maze chuckled. "I'm technically a one-point-two, as my motion tracking power counts as an enhanced sensory function in the clairsentience portion of the exam, but on the telepathic section I'm a straight one-point-zero." The telepath gave him a mischievous grin. "Care to put that point-two up against another psi-spike?" she teased. "I'd rather be brain-dead like Tolaris in that case," Maze muttered. "Excuse me, Lieutenant," Tolaris said dryly as Michelle giggled. Ra'vel chirped something in amusement and Whisper smiled. "Well, to be honest, you don't register on a telepathic scan for mental function, so...." The Dragoon just shook his head before draining his wineglass. "Just try to keep in mind that being invulnerable to psionic attack has its uses," he said with a wry grin. "Telepaths can't spike you, for one." "Or try to blow your brains out your ear canal," Maze suggested. "You remember that one incident in the Outreaches, right, Tolaris?" "Thank you, Lieutenant." "Eww...." Michelle said with a sour look. Whisper shot Maze an unamused look. "Depends on how you try that. A strictly telepathic attack won't work, but if you use a focused psychokinetic attack, that's a whole different issue as that works directly on physical matter instead of mental function." Alex frowned, a look of mild confusion on her face. "Meaning...?" "Meaning there's more than one way to give a psi-mute a headache," Tolaris said dryly as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. The telepath paused for a moment to give him a measured look. "Anything you want to share with the rest of us?" she inquired. Tolaris sighed. "I almost had my retinas burnt out once by a warrior with a talent for inducing hypnosis with colored sparks of light. I could hear the suggestion being planted in my mind, but the visual lure was about as bright as a magnesium flare and I think the pain was what kept me focused. The headache lasted for three days, and it's nothing I want to experience again." Whisper paused for a moment before she leaned back in her chair, fixing Tolaris with a piercing gaze and a look of serious contemplation on her face. "I'm missing something," she said, mostly to herself. "There's a thought out there, a very important detail, I know it's there, but I'm missing it...." Both Susan and Michelle promptly looked at Alex, who blinked at the sudden focus of attention. "What?" she said around a mouthful of v'etu. "We had the suspicion that you were about to make an unwelcome comment, that's all," Susan said lightly with a hint of a smile. The blonde just rolled her eyes. "You rip me for speaking my mind, then give me funny looks when I hold my tongue," she griped. "Make up your mind." "Silence is golden," the succubus replied casually. "Except when it's from your left turbine," Maze muttered. "Problem?" Tolaris inquired. "Nah, just a minor technical glitch last time I was onboard an aerial cruiser," the lieutenant replied darkly. "The gravity shield on our turbine went whack-a-ding-hoy on us, to borrow Mina's phrase, and we ended up landing ptanka-first in the middle of nowhere in a valley up north." "Now there's an interesting turn of phrase," Alex commented. "When was this?" Tolaris asked with a frown. "When Shar-Tei was in charge," Maze replied as he closed his eyes to try to remember the details. "If memory serves, it was me, Asrial, Chief D'Nina, and Little Q doing a quick cargo-run to the D'Mal seaport for something obscure that wasn't stocked at Lex'eri. We got there just fine, but the return trip was the kinker." "Little Q?" Alex asked. "Quartermaster V'Lan," Maze explained. "He's about six feet tall, which is considered imposing for an avian. His older sister Thorn is also a Dragoon, and everyone calls her Big Q despite her being shorter than Ra'vel." Ra'vel chirped in mild amusement and Tolaris raised an eyebrow. "I can understand why V'Lan was along, but why D'Nina?" The purple-haired Dragoon snickered. "What, you think anyone in their right mind would let Asrial drive a scout cruiser? D'Nina was the pilot for that trip. Which probably explains why we were able to casually walk away from a decidedly hard landing with only minor bruises on our backsides and a dire need for a new coat of paint on the underside of the cruiser." Susan tilted her head slightly to one side as Tolaris grunted in faint amusement. "Can I ask how that little adventure was resolved?" Maze smirked. "Funny you should mention that," he said with a grin. "We had the amazing luck to land near a repair facility called Sector Seven. They mostly worked on surface vehicles, but they managed to scrounge up a compatible type of gravity shield that we could use. Friendly bunch, too...." Tolaris sighed quietly. "I can tell by your tone that you don't mean they were friendly in the conventional sense," he said guardedly. "Well..." Maze replied as he leaned back in the chair and put his arms behind his head. "Let's just say that this one mechanic named Mint was quite glad to see someone like me. Dark green hair, probably two shades lighter than Susan's hair, with a natural skin-color to match, but she had this amazing ability to change the color of her skin. Like Dyvach, really, but she could also become nearly invisible. Quite amusing...." Both Whisper and Ra'vel rolled their eyes in unison, and Tolaris just shook his head. "Thank you, Lieutenant, we get the picture," he said dourly. "I keep telling people it's the hair color," Alex muttered, drawing an unamused look from Susan and an embarassed blush from Michelle. A very odd liquid sound filled the air, causing everyone to blink in surprise and turn around in unison to look. Dyvach was leaning over the mirror and was pouring some sort of silvery liquid in the gap where the glass used to be. A faint gurgle erupted from its mouth as another stream of liquid was expelled, adding to the strange pool of shiny metallic liquid. "You know, I don't think I needed to see that," Alex said as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. Michelle just whimpered quietly as the weaver continued to make strange horking sounds. "What did you expect?" Susan said as she studied the process with rapt interest. "I'm curious, Dyvach.... will that harden on its own or will you need to use a catalyst to make that solidify?" The response from the weaver was to inhale deeply and light a match. The resulting burst of flammable gas that it vented was sufficiently hot enough to boil the metallic liquid, the heat turing the air around it into a shimmering curtain. The flame persisted for a few more seconds before it vanished and the residual heat allowed to dissipate. "Is that a good enough answer for you, Sue?" Alex said as she cringed from the wave of heat that drifted over to the table. She darted upright as an icy blast of wind blew across the table, raising goosebumps on her arms. "Holy crap, that was cold! What happened?" she said with a shiver. Everyone suddenly turned to look at Tolaris as he lowered his hand. "That was just a bit on the warm side, Dyvach," he chided the weaver. Alex gave the Dragoon a piercing look. "What was that?" she demanded. Whisper cleared her throat quietly. "I told you that he can control the weather," she said gently. "That includes decidedly icy breezes." "Would you prefer I let the heat get close enough to boil the wine?" "Not at all, Commander, I was just stating a simple fact." Alex just shook her head. "I just love this place, always full of new and fun surprises. Oh, hell.... Dyvach, what are you doing now?" Dyvach made a slightly irritated chime at her as it started to coat the tips of its legs with a slightly coarse lubricant. Tolaris nodded and turned to Alex. "Dyvach said that the glass has inherent imperfections from the reforging process and it will have to grind the glass to a reflective polish." "As is the case with all industrially-produced glass," Susan added. "I'm quite surprised the process only took this long to complete. Usually it takes a master craftsman several hours from start to finish." "Huh," Alex said noncommittally as a muted grinding noise filled the air. "So I take it Dyvach is really handy to have around?" All four of the denizens nodded. "You have no idea," Maze replied. "If it wasn't for Dyvach's help, we would probably have been in some very serious trouble during the time the Sailor Scouts were in the Negaverse with Tolaris." Susan raised an eyebrow. "How long is the full story?" she inquired. Alex smirked. "You'll have to forgive her," she said lightly. "Since she doesn't sleep like the rest of us, she has a lot of time on her hands and does odd things to keep herself amused. Like paint a portrait of something at three in the morning or collect stories to tell to other people during after-dinner gatherings." There was a slight pause from everyone else. "And that's a bad thing to do because...?" Maze prompted. "Nevermind," the blonde said with a sigh. "Probably several hours from start to finish," Tolaris told Susan. "It most likely would take an entire evening to relate it all." "Especially if you have everyone adding their individual points of view," Whisper added. Susan smiled gently. "I have the time to listen if you have the desire to talk about it," she offered. Whisper rubbed the bridge of her nose as she gave up on her current train of thought and shoved it onto a back burner. "Speaking loosely of which, I remember your little recording gem from awhile ago, and I know you are a bit of a time-traveller. Are you a historian, by chance?" "Chronologist," Susan corrected. "History is the study of the past, but what I study and observe happens throughout time. Past, present, and future." "Which of course she can't reveal to us for fear of contaminating the events of the future," Alex muttered darkly. Tolaris shrugged. "That makes a bit of sense. I'm not sure how you avoid temporal paradoxes when you time-travel, but that's probably a bit above my capability for understanding." "Not at all, Commander," Susan said with a tilt of her head. "I'm sure I can sit down and explain it to you one night in such a way that a man of your level of intelligence can reasonably comprehend." There was a slightly awkward pause as Tolaris tried to determine if that was a subtle insult or not. "We'll see," he said neutrally. Dyvach finished polishing the mirror and held it up to the light with a triumphant chime. It checked the reflection from several angles before it cooed with satisfaction and skittered over to the table, holding out the newly repaired mirror to Michelle. "Ooo, thank you!" she said, her eyes wide with delight. She seemed to be momentarily oblivious to the fact that a giant spider was six inches away from her as she accepted the Soul Mirror. "Not bad for a spider," Alex said as she peered over Michelle's shoulder to look at the reflective surface. "Alex, be nice," Susan chided her before turning to the weaver. "Thank you for your help, Dyvach," she said, drawing a happy chime in response. Michelle closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, trying to focus the powers of the mirror. The glass surface seemed to ripple slightly in the light, as if it were a pool of still water stirred by a breeze. "It feels normal to me," she said with a joyful grin as she opened her eyes. Susan nodded. "We'll have to test it later, of course, but for the moment it seems that all is as it should be." "So what does it do?" Maze asked as he leaned forward on his elbows. Michelle cast a slightly uncertain look at Susan, taking a deep breath when she got a nod in return. "My Soul Mirror is capable of reflecting almost any sort of focused energy," she said cautiously. "It can also show a person's true nature to someone if you look hard enough." "That could be useful," Maze commented as Ra'vel chirped in agreement. "Hmm...." Alex said as she looked at Myst. "Hey, kitty, c'mere for a moment, I want to see something." Susan blinked. "Actually, Alex, that would probably be a bad idea." "Huh?" the blonde blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?" "This isn't Myst's true form," Susan explained as she brushed her fingers across Myst's silky gray fur. "I know that," Alex said as she blew her breath out through her nostrils. "That's why I want to see what she looks like in the mirror." Susan just shook her head. "And that's the bad part. You remember what you saw when you were drying her off after we pulled her out of the lake?" Eyebrows were raised around the table as Alex chewed on her lower lip. "I really was't sure what I saw," she finally said after a moment of silence. Myst flicked her ears back. "I'm told that my natural form is terrifying to humans," she said as her tail lashed back and forth. Blue eyes met pale red eyes for a moment before Alex finally blinked and glanced away from the Shinma. "Okay, we'll skip this one, then," she muttered. Whisper continued to study the ornate mirror. "You said it could deflect focused energy attacks, right?" she asked Michelle. "It should, if it was repaired right," she replied hesitantly. Whisper thought for another few seconds. "And you said you would have it reforged elsewhere if Dyvach didn't do the repair correctly, right?" "Most assuredly," Susan said in a dry tone. "Do you think it can deflect a psi-spike focused on physical matter?" Michelle blinked. "What do you mean?" Whisper pointed at her wineglass. "I can use a telekinetic shockwave, as it were, to shatter this glass using psi-energy instead of agitating the air or the physical structure of the glass. I was wondering if you would be able to deflect something like that, or if that would crack the mirror's glass." Alex shot her an odd look. "She just had it replaced, and you want to see if you can break it?" she said slowly. The telepath shrugged. "Susan said it needed testing, and I just thought it would be a simple and easy thing to do, that's all." Susan and Michelle exchanged glances for several seconds before Susan gave her a slow nod. "If I understand her correctly, it should indeed be quite able to reflect such an energy burst," Susan said slowly. "And if not, or if the mirror fails, I can still have it taken to the Hellforge in the morning. It's up to you, Michelle." "This should be fun," Alex muttered to herself. Michelle blinked and gave Whisper a very uncertain look. "How strong is this test going to be?" she ventured. "Strong enough to crack a wineglass, but not strong enough to shatter it," Whisper replied. "At least, it shouldn't shatter it," she added. Maze smirked. "Time to see if your mirror is all that it's cracked up to be?" he suggested, drawing groans from everyone else. Whisper gave him a partially amused look. "I should spike you again just for that one," she said languidly. Tolaris shook his head. "I think you've injured my lieutenant enough for one day, Captain. Save it for something truly deserving. And no, you can't spike him either," he added as Ra'vel gave him a wicked chirp. "Can I at least aim for his wineglass?" Whisper muttered. The Dragoon commander chuckled. "Sure, but you get to clean up any mess it makes," he cautioned her. Michelle gave Alex an uncertain look as she gripped her mirror tightly, the surface momentarily rippling again in the light. The blonde leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I say give it a shot, love. Worst that can happen is we need a dustpan for the fragments and Sue fixes it tomorrow." "Okay," Michelle said nervously as she adjusted her grip on the mirror and held it up facing Whisper, angling the mirror so that any reflection would be in Maze's general direction. "Put your shield up, Maze, just in case I have bad aim," Whisper said as she steepled her fingertips and concentrated. An infinitesimal disturbance was created in the air in front of her and darted forward, leaving a very slight visual wake in its path. There was a slight pinging noise as the disturbance bounced off of the surface of the mirror, causing it to ripple like a pool of water after a stone had been thrown in. The spark of psi-energy continued on a new course until it impacted in the center of Maze's wineglass, causing a small crack to form with a soft snap. "Bull's-eye!" Alex cheered as everyone looked at the cracked wineglass. "Thank you," Maze said dryly as the barrier around him faded away. "You could always let Dyvach repair it," Whisper suggested lightly. "Thank you, Captain, I don't know what I would do without you." "Probably be relatively headache-free," Alex muttered as she rubbed her temples at the memory of her own experience with a psi-spike. Whisper chuckled quietly. "I don't spike him that often." "Once is enough," Maze muttered. Ra'vel clicked her beak several times before chittering a question. There was a brief pause from the other denizens before they all glanced at the clock hanging on the wall outside the kitchen. "Yeah, you're right," Maze replied. Alex blinked and glanced over her shoulder. "What's up?" "Almost time for the others to get out of school," Tolaris said. The blonde blinked and exchanged glances with Susan and Alex. "Okay, so things are going to get even more interesting soon. Don't give me that look, Chancellor, you know I'm not going to create a riot or anything." "It's not you I'm worried about," Susan said quietly. "Perhaps you and Michelle should go take a shower and get dressed in something a bit more formal. This is the Crown Princess of the Moon we're meeting, and since she doesn't remember aything about us, this would be an excellent opportunity to make a respectable first impression." "Far too late," Maze muttered with a smirk, drawing a look from Tolaris. Alex chuckled quietly. "You're no prize yourself, you know." The denizen smiled and leaned back in his chair. "So what's the problem? At least we have a very hospitable understanding, right? Nobody's perfect." Alex paused for a moment to consider that. "I suppose you're right," she said slowly. "Still doesn't mean I'd trust you any farther than I can throw you," she said without any rancor. "Alex!" Susan said sharply. "I don't know," Whisper said casually, "Maze is such a lightweight, and I've seen your sword arm. You might actually be able to toss him for a rather respectable distance." "Hey!" Maze protested as Ra'vel erupted into a cackle of laughter. "Anytime, anyplace," Alex said as she flexed her muscles. Both Tolaris and Susan put their heads in their hands at the same moment, each unaware of what the other was doing. "Kids, play nice," the Dragoon said with a heavy sigh. Michelle gently took Alex's arm. "Come on," she said softly. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," the blonde grumbled as she was led away. Both Whisper and Ra'vel stood up from the table. "Guess what, Maze?" Maze just sighed. "Yeah, yeah," he said, unconsciously mimicking Alex. "I get to clean the table, right?" "Good boy, Lieutenant, the Dragoons have trained you well." "Thank you, ma'am, we live to serve," he replied dryly. Tolaris and Susan lifted their heads up to trade looks. "Cue the cat," Susan said almost inaudibly. "You people are strange," Myst said as she preened her whiskers, totally unaware of what Susan just said. Tolaris smiled at the succubus. "I like your style." "Thank you. I think that, all tensions aside, we might actually be able to become decent friends." "Was there really that much doubt?" "You'd be surprised, Commander." "That bad, hmm?" "Picture your own world destroyed by an alien species, then see just how easy it is for you to put the recent past behind you," she suggested. "It's only recent from your perspective." "If I'm to make friends, isn't that what really counts?" "A valid point," he conceded. "At least you seem reasonable, that's a good sign." "Thank you.... I think." Susan chuckled quietly. "Cheer up, Commander, I think things are going to turn out reasonably well tonight." Tolaris shrugged. "Let's hope so, I think we've both had enough headaches for one day, and we're just on the proverbial sidelines." She smiled as she held up her nearly empty wineglass. "Here's to that."
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