---Omake Twenty-Four: The Space Pirates--- She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and allowed the memories to flood back. -- "My Queen," she had said, her dark eyes looking intently into the blonde's baby-blue ones. "Mars," Neo Queen Serenity said as she smiled at her friend, "We've known each other far too long to be so formal. What's wrong?" "I... Promise me first that, no matter what I say, that we'll remain friends." "You know me better than that." The Queen answered, "Now what is it?" "Serenity, I... I love you. I mean, I'm in love with you, and..." she was cut off as Serenity placed her fingers up to her lips. "No." she said sadly, "Don't say it, don't even think it. I... I love you too. But I'm married to Endymion. Fate has bound me to him, and ours is a love that can never be." -- Neo Queen Serenity opened her eyes again. She'd been daydreaming again of that fateful day not so long ago. As she turned to her left she sadly regarded her husband sitting upon his throne. Damn fate; why couldn't she be with the one she longed for? She turned away from him to look out at the Senshi gathered in the royal chambers. Everyone was present except for Mars and Pluto. Suddenly, a red warning light began to flash. As the Senshi gathered looked around in confusion, the Queen stood up from her throne to face the person currently running down the corridor to the room. "Neo Queen Serenity!" Pluto shouted as she ran into the royal court, "My queen, we're in trouble!" "Trouble?" the Queen asked, "Exactly what sort or trouble?" Neptune and Uranus were both silently staring at Pluto. They'd been with her long enough throughout the centuries and countless lifetimes between them to know how rare it was to see their best friend frightened. The others likewise felt unease at seeing the Time Senshi panicked. "My Queen, it's pirates. Space pirates have been spotted by our early warning systems entering the solar system." "Space pirates?" Venus asked. Jupiter looked grimly from Pluto to the Queen. "Well," Jupiter began, "It's been awhile since our Sailor Senshi days, but I'm up for a fight!" "Right." Uranus nodded in agreement, "Let them come, we'll..." "Just one moment." Neo Queen Serenity interrupted, "Before anyone does anything, do we have a visual of the pirate ships?" "Indeed my Queen." Pluto said as she turned on a large screen in the royal chamber. There were two large ships, one looking almost cigar shaped while the other was designed to look more like a seventeenth-century galley. Serenity turned from the screen to the resident genius of the royal court, "Mercury, use your super computer and see if you can identify those ships." "Of course." Mercury said as she pulled her mini computer out and began searching through the databases. As the tension in the room began to rise, King Endymion rose from his throne and left the room just as the royal High Priestess of the court temple Mars entered the room. "My Queen," she said, "I was sitting before the sacred flames when I suddenly felt something was wrong, what..." "I've got a positive identification on the ships." Mercury interrupted, "They're the Queen Emeraldas, flagship of the female pirate Emeraldas, and the Arcadia, flagship of Captain Harlock." Neo Queen Serenity surprised everyone by breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." the blonde said. Her daughter Chibi Usa looked at her in surprise. "Mom?" the child asked, "What's going on? They're pirates, aren't they?" "Yes," the Queen explained, "But they were forced into becoming pirates to defend the earth from enemies in outer space. They're on our side." As the implications of what Serenity just revealed slowly set in, the large screen with the images of the two ships began to go fuzzy. "What's happening?" Saturn asked. "I'm not sure," Mercury said, "But I believe we're being hailed." Suddenly, a man in a long flowing cape appeared on screen, standing with a glass of wine in his hand. His long brown bangs hung over the eye patch on his right eye, and a nasty looking scar was visible under his left eye. The pirate's infamous laser-rapier, a weapon shaped like an old-fashioned sword, hung from his hip. He stared intensely out of his good eye at the Queen and her court. "Neo-Queen Serenity," he said with a slight smile, "It's been awhile." "Indeed it has." the Queen answered, "And how goes the war with the Illumidas?" A second image appeared on the large screen. This time of a beautiful yet grave-looking female pirate, her face likewise scarred in battle. "That is why we're here." the female pirate Emeraldas answered, "Our supplies have been drained in a confrontation with the Illumidas, and we require food and fuel." "Of course." The Queen answered graciously, "We'd be more than happy to..." she was cut off as King Endymion raced back into the royal chamber. "Endymion?" the Queen asked, "What..." "Don't worry." King Endymion said with a smile, "I've just saved the kingdom." As Captain Harlock and Emeraldas observed from the large screen, the Senshi looked at the King, then at each other, then at the King again. "You what?" Neptune asked. "Endymion," Neo Queen Serenity said, "There were no evil space pirates, it was Captain Harlock and Emeraldas that we detected." she said pointing to the screen, "Now exactly what did you mean when you said you saved the kingdom?" "Well," Endymion said, "I just got off the phone with the World Welfare Works Association, or WWWA. I explained our situation, and they said they'd send over a pair of troubleshooters to help out." "Oh no..." Venus gasped. "The 3WA?" Neptune asked as she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "You didn't..." Mercury said, her voice shaking with fear. "Um... Endymion dear," Neo Queen Serenity asked as her right eye began to twitch, "You didn't happen to get the name of the two agents the 3WA was sending over, did you?" "Of course I did." Endymion said, "They're names are Kei and Yuri, but they're collectively known as 'the Lovely Angels'." The Senshi all stared wide-eyed at the King. Finally, after several seconds, Uranus broke the silence. "The Dirty Pair?" the Senshi of the winds asked, not quite believing what she was hearing, "You had them send the Dirty Pair to fight Captain Harlock and Emeraldas?" ------ From his station on the Arcadia, Captain Harlock's eye narrowed dangerously as he frowned at the screen. He never could figure out what Neo Queen Serenity saw in that idiot she was married to. He wasn't sure who or what this "Dirty Pair" was, but from the reaction of the rest of the royal court who were currently cursing out King Endymion, he guessed that the upcoming conflict would not be good. -- As Emeraldas and her flagship neared Earth's orbit, she saw a small warship on her scanners flying erratically toward her and Captain Harlock. As it maneuvered its way in front of the Arcadia and the Queen Emeraldas, it knocked into a satellite and sent it on a collision course with Earth. "Viewscreen." Emeraldas ordered, at which pint a crew member immediately turned the screen on. After a few seconds of fuzziness, an image appeared on the screen. "Yuri, you idiot!" a young redhead in a skimpy uniform shouted, "Can't you do anything without causing damage?" "It was just a small satellite," an equally young-looking Japanese woman in a similarly skimpy-looking outfit answered, "And look who's talking Kei! I wasn't the one who accidentally blew up that asteroid colony in the Beta quadrant!" "Um, ladies." Emeraldas said, at which point both women turned to face the screen. "Huh?" Yuri asked. Suddenly she smiled. "Oh hi." she said, waving cheerfully at the screen as a large cat-like animal came into the scene in the background, "Don't mind us, we're on the lookout for some dangerous space pirates. Say, I love your hair. Who do you go to? Myself, I..." "You moron!" Kei shouted as she pointed at the screen, "She is a space pirate!" "Oops." Yuri said. As Kei turned to the view screen to face Emeraldas, Yuri started to back away. She unfortunately tripped over the large cat-like pet the women shared and went careening backwards into the control console, at which point her elbow hit a button that launched a missile at a retirement home under construction on the moon. As Yuri quickly tried to put herself in front of the computer monitor so that her redheaded companion wouldn't see her screw-up, Kei addressed Emeraldas. "In the name of the 3WA," the redhead declared, "We're taking you in, and..." Suddenly, Captain Harlock's face appeared on the screen, "Ladies," he said grimly, "Before this goes any further, I believe there's been a mix-up." ------ "Hello?" Neo Queen Serenity said as she held the phone to her ear, "3WA? Whom am I speaking to? Gooley? Ah, good. Gooley-sama, my baka of a husband, King Endymion, accidentally asked you to send us help, and... Yes, they did send the Lovely Angels. What? No, so far no cities have been destroyed as yet, but we did loose a lovely retirement center that was being built near some ancestral ruins of mine on the moon. That's why I'm calling. We don't need your services after all. Oh, thank you so much. Good-bye." she said as she hung up the phone. "Well?" Mars asked for everyone present. "Everything's been taken care of." the Queen said as she smiled in relief, "The Dirty Pair have been recalled. And as for you..." she said sternly as she looked at King Endymion. "Don't worry." Endymion said, "I've learned my lesson, I..." the King's voice died out as he and the others heard a sharp whistling sound coming from outside the palace. The King was just about to ask what it was, when the burnt remains of the satellite Yuri knocked out of orbit crashed through the palace roof and landed on Endymion, killing him instantly. ---Later--- "Thank you again for the supplies." Captain Harlock said as he bowed to Neo Queen Serenity. As he left the royal chamber to return to the Arcadia, two rather sheepish-looking young women stood before the Senshi. "Um, we're really sorry about killing you King and blowing up the moon base and everything." Yuri said. "If it helps any, this is actually the least amount of carnage we've ever caused on a mission." Kei added. "It doesn't help." Mars said angrily, "King Endymion is dead and..." "It's okay," the Queen interrupted from behind, "The 3WA has promised to take care of everything. You two may leave now, and please take care." As the two left the royal chamber, the Queen turned to her fellow Senshi. "You may all leave now, except for Mars." she stated. Mars watched her fellow Senshi leave the room. As she saw Uranus leave, she could've sworn she saw the sandy-blonde wink at her. Now that she was alone at last, she heard Neo Queen Serenity's voice from behind her. "Mars," the Queen asked in a voice trembling with emotion, "When we talked together a while back, do... Do you still love me?" Mars felt her heart flutter at the question. She'd waited for her Queen and friend for so long, that she'd almost given up hope. "Yes, my Queen." Mars answered, "With all my heart." No sooner were the words out than she felt Serenity's arm encircle her from behind, pulling her into the blonde's embrace. Her eyes closed as she felt the woman she'd loved for so long breathing gently on her neck. "And I," the Queen whispered as she traced the raven-haired Senshi's jaw line with her finger, "I still love you." "M... My Queen, I..." Mars was cut off as Neo Queen Serenity turned her around and pulled her into a long, passionate kiss. ---To Be Continued--- End Notes: Kei and Yuri are of course from The Dirty Pair, and Captain Harlock and Emeraldas are in a series of animes based on the works of Leiji Matsumoto.
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