Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor X ❯ SX7: Fireline ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sailor X #7 Fireline

By: John Brengman

Edited by: Thomas Schell

* * * PROLOGUE * * *

Shuttle 4 - On Approach to

the Crystal Palace

"Luna Control," Brandy said. "This is Shuttle Four, en-route from
Tokyo."

"Welcome home, Sailors," came the reply.

Looking out the pilot's window, Brandy could tell that the shuttle was
approaching the mountain range that lay a few miles south of the
castle...within about a minute, the shuttle would clear the top of
those mountains, and the castle would be visible.

Brandy continued. "We are bringing in a couple of...lifeforms...that
we encountered on Earth. We'll need a security team to take custody of
them when we land."

"Acknowledged," the voice said. "Is there anyth..." The question was
drowned out by a roar, then static.

A minute pause quickly passed as Brandy tried to raise the castle on
the comm system. Sandra arose and went to stand by Brandy. Looking out
the window, she saw that the mountains still obscured the view of the
castle.

"Castle Control..." Brandy stared at the comm panel as if it had
betrayed her. "The transmitter is not working?"

Cass suddenly looked up from her seat, her eyes filled with dread.
"No," she said disconnectedly, "That roar...it was an explosion!"

That grim pronouncement was confirmed a few seconds later when the
mountains fell away, and the vista across Crystal Lake was revealed.

A torrent of fire bloomed on the east end of the castle. Mount
Serenity seemed to be clothed in a hellish halo and the flames had
spread to the castle's extension southeast of the mountain. The yellow
and orange conflagration pulsed around the end of the castle it
dominated, but the explosion had caused structural damage that
radiated outward like a spider's web... The communications tower which
had been located north of the castle's central dome, fell southward
and toppled over in a heap, shaking the already-tortured foundations
of the royal structure....

The shuttle, having been given no further orders continued on its
course over the lake. The girls could now make out various rooms of
the castle...all in flames...the theatre, the kitchens, the servants'
quarters, the throne room...suddenly that realization hit the girls...

"My god..." Brandy said as tears filled her eyes....

"Mother..." Sandra murmured numbly...

==> * SM * <==

United Nations HQ - New York

A rather stern-faced man strode from the elevator on the seventeenth
floor. The metal doors closed silently behind him as he approached a
nearby oak desk and the secretary seated behind it.

"I am here," the man announced.

"Yes, sir," the secretary replied. "I'll tell the general that you're
here." With that, she pressed a button on

her desk, informing her boss of his visitor.

"You may go in," the secretary said. The visitor nodded and headed to
a large door.

"General," the man said as he closed the door behind him and walked
toward a large desk near the other side of the room. A man stood in
front of a nearby window and gazed out at the view of the New York
skyline. The visitor shot a glance at a bank of screens along the wall
to his left. They showed scenes of chaos...the rioting in Tokyo and
other cities against the UN. The sound was muted, but the visitor
could almost hear the shouts of the rioters. On one screen, a gas bomb
flew through the air and crashed near a car, which soon exploded into
flame. The crash of the glass and the blossoming crackle of the fire
were almost audible.

The man at the window turned and saw the visitor's gaze.

"Since the food riots after the Tokyo Disaster," the general said, "I
have not seen such lawlessness."

The visitor sighed. "Yes," he said, "and it's directed at us."

"And that is why I asked you here, commander," the general replied.
"As the air marshall for all of the United Nations' air wings, you
know which air captain is most able to handle this."

By this time, the general had arrived at his visitor's side. Together,
they watched the screens as the violence continued.

"Marshall Irwin," the general stated. "The rule of law depends on the
successful completion of this mission."

"And what is that mission, General?"

The general paused, as if what he was about to say would be a
pronouncemnt of doom.

"The terrorist acts seem concentrated in the cities of Tokyo, Chicago,
Buenos Aires, Berlin, and

St. Petersburg. Pick one of those cities, and use as much force
against it as is necessary to eradicate the terrorists. We will
broadcast a warning to the others."

"Is such a thing wise, sir?"

"These thugs are threatening innocent people, and the local
authorities are overwhelmed. We have no recourse, which is why I am
asking you to pick the person who will command this mission. I need a
person

who can do this with no vengeance, no compassion, and no remorse."

"I know the person," Air Marshall Irwin replied.

==> * SM * <==

Havel Air Force Base

Prague, Czech Republic

Tenoh Haruka entered the stark room that served as her office while
she was with her air wing if it was not assigned to their normal air
stations on the moon. Flipping on the light, she quickly surveyed the
room.

Seeing an unopened envelope laying on her desk, she draped her
overcoat over her shoulder and reached over to retrieve the it.

Once she had opened the envelope, Haruka read the note inside..."From
Air Marshall Irwin..."

When she finished the letter, Haruka tossed it on her desk and left
the office with a muttered, "damn..."

It was while she was readying for General Irwin's mission that Haruka
received word of the explosion at the palace. Her cobalt-blue eyes
narrowed, and she stuffed the message in her pocket and silently
continued to ready her plane for the upcoming mission.

After checking to see that her fuel tanks and ordinance racks were in
order, Haruka climbed into the cockpit, started the engines and taxied
onto the runway.

The speaker in Haruka's flight helmet squawked to life as her plane
lifted off from the runway. "Haruka," it said, "Where is the rest of
your flight wing?"

Haruka pulled the flight stick back and the plane entered a climb.
"With the nature of this mission, I decided that I should do this by
myself. I don't want them involved.."

"But..."

"Sorry sir," Haruka continued. "If there's going to be a consequence
from this, I will take it."

There was a short pause, then, "I can't talk you out of this?"

Haruka smiled wryly. "You know me better than that. However, since I
am doing this by myself, I'm overloaded on fuel and ordinance."
Looking at her control panel, Haruka saw an amber warning light
flashing, informing her of her overloaded mass. "I'm going to need
someone to get me when I ditch this plane."

"Will do," the voice replied. "Havel out."

Haruka nodded to herself and pulled the stick back further. The
airplane climbed steeper. She pushed the throttle wide open and the
plane accelerated. Haruka glanced around her as the cockpit started
shuddering with the stress. "Yep." She thought. "I'm definitely going
to need help getting out of this one..."

==> * SM * <==

Shuttle 4

The four young warriors surveyed the damage as the shuttle silently
approached the palace from the north shore of the lake. The inferno
blazed just northeast of the center of the palace.

Sandra made a quick decision. "Mariah, set the autopilot to land at
the Luna Foundation. The shuttle pads at the palace are gone."

Before Mariah could obey, Cassandra interrupted. "No, I'll do it." The
others looked at her curiously. "I don't think now would be a good
time to fight fire with fire, no matter what the saying says," Cass
replied. "This shuttle has a universal mating collar, so I'll take it
to the Foundation, and I'll have them put a coolant tank on it."

"Sounds like a plan," Mariah said with a wink.

"Agreed," Sandra nodded. "We'll need the services of Sailor Jupiter."

With a quick nod, Mariah produced her transformation pen. The others
did the same. Cassandra watched as her friends transformed into their
Sailor persona. They joined hands as Jupiter shouted "JUPITER
TELEPORTATION MAGIC!" The three Sailors faded from sight, then
vanished.

With a nod of satisfaction, Cass settled into the pilot's chair and
banked the shuttle gently toward the east...

==> * SM * <==

The Crystal Palace Observatory

"Computer," Artemis said pointedly and with a touch of disdain. "Is
the data transfer to the backup computer complete?"

"Affirmative."

"Good," Artemis replied. "Switch over to the backup computer."

"I hate to think what the backup computer is named," Luna said
woefully.

"Guess!" Diana exclaimed gleefully. Her parents groaned.

A few seconds later... "Backup system LUNA online."

Both parents looked at their daughter. "You couldn't have named these
systems anything else?"

"I couldn't think of anything," Diana replied defensively.

Artemis sighed and returned to the business at hand. "Computer,
display sensor logs of Section B." A computerized image of the castle
appeared on the screen...a rather large dark circle was blotted out
because the sensors were no longer operating.

"Reverse sequence," Luna ordered. The screen gradually lit. Artemis
wailted until the entire castle was once-again covered by the sensor
net..

"Computer," Luna said. "Calculate the origin of the explosion using
the blast pattern." The computer screen lit up with glitter as all of
the sensor recordings of the explosion were calculated and reversed
back to their source. Finally, the scrren was clear again, with only
the castle floorplans displayed. A single red dot blinked out at the
three guardian cats.

"Where is the origin?" Artemis asked. The computer zoomed in on the
red dot...then printed it's location.

SECTION B - LEVEL FIVE, SUBSECTION B - 25

Glancing at the time index of the sensor readings, Artemis continued.
"Activate all ID tags and forward sequence." The scans progressed.
Green lights flitted through the area as people went about their
business. As one light flickered, Artemis shouted, "Pause!"

Lunna turned to Artemis. "What?"

"I saw something."

"At that speed?" Luna asked with a astonished look on her face.

"What can I say?" Artemis replied. Then, "Computer, reverse 15 cycles,
then forward at slow speed." The computer obeyed its commands, and a
green dot floated onto the screen, stopped for a very noticeable
length of time, then continued along its way. Artemis again reversed
the scan and when the dot again paused, he ordered the computer to
identify that specific ID tag.

The response came: "Richard Denny," the computer said without emotion,
but the room seemed to grow colder...here was the person responsible
for the fire which still threatened their lives. This was the person
who had tried to kill them all. There was only one questionleft to
answer.

"Computer," Luna said. "Is this ID tag still active?"

"Affirmative." The computer replied. "Current location, Section B -
Level 17, Subsection B - 41.

"That's near the main fusion reactor," Artemis murmured. The three
cats looked at the screen. The fire could be seen in that general
area, creeping slowly to the west.

"Inform the Sailors," Luna ordered.

"We have another problem," Artemis said.

"What is that?" Luna asked.

"Computer, side view of the castle with current settings." The floor
plan of the castle slowly flipped to its side. Three large circular
shapes seemed to move within the floors and halls of the castle until
they emerged as the side view rotated into position. When the computer
was finished, three appendages seemed to grapple the castle into the
surface of the moon.

"Those are the three fusion reactors that power the castle," Artemis
explained. "If the fire gets too close to one of them, it will
super-heat, and explode."

"The explosion will chain-react, and the others will explode as well,"
Luna said.

"We won't have to worry about the other two reactors," Diana replied.
"The first explosion will obliterate us quite nicely."

==> * SM * <==

East Wing of the Crystal Palace

Section B - Level 2, Subsection B - 5

"Come on people," Sailor Venus shouted as she and Sailor Jupiter
herded some of the palace workers down the hallway which spanned the
wing. "Do you think the monorail is still working?"

"No," Jupiter shouted back over the rush of people, "but there should
be an emergency car that we can use." She stopped to help a person who
had tripped, but the panic-stricken woman seemed to have other ideas.
Holding onto Sailor Jupiter, the woman hoisted herself to her feet and
started off down the hall. The exertion that the woman had put into
getting to her feet had thrown Jupiter off balance, and she fell
against the wall.

"Hey!" Jupiter yelped, drawing her arm away from the wall.
"That's....hot..." She started to back up quickly down the hall.
"Venus!", she shouted over her shoulder, "this area's going to blow!
Get those people out of here!"

With that, the wall exploded. Jupiter tried to flee, but for the
second time in a day, she was enveloped by fire. This time, she was
ready.

"We ought to get hazard pay for this!" Jupiter thought as she centered
her thoughts upon drawing energy from within herself. At the same
time, she continued to back up. The sensation that cascaded over her
skin was not ignored, but instead of generating waves of distracting
pain, the increased activity of her nervous system added to the energy
being channeled by the young woman.

When the energy coursing through her reached its peak, Jupiter opened
her eyes and shouted "JUPITER GRAVITON POWER!" A force wave blasted
from Jupiter. She had aimed it at the outer wall of the hallway, and a
long stretch of the ornate wall crumbled and fell, smothering the
flames. Jupiter continued to back up, her force wave wreaking its own
chaos until she was outside the fire's radius.

Sailor Venus was waiting for her near the monorail terminal when she
finished.

"You should think about a job in demolitions," Venus remarked. "All
passengers are aboard and safe."

Sailor Jupiter just nodded, then collapsed into Sailor Venus' arms,
thoroughly drained from the exertion her most formidible power had
taken.

Sailor Vnus had just laid Sailor Jupiter down on one of the seats
aboard the monorail when her wrist-comm beeped at her. She flipped it
open. "Sailor Venus here."

"Sailor Venus," came Artemis' voice. "We've found the person
responsible for the explosion. "

==> * SM * <==

Access Hallway near Fusion Reactor Three

Section B - Level 17, Subsection B - 41

"Code Amber," the computer's voice said over the din of people who
were either attending to their duties or getting out of the area.
"Evacuation Alert, Sections A, C, D, and E. Please proceed to Monorail
Terminal B, at Section B - Level 2, Subsection B - 5...." The computer
continued to direct people to the evacuation points as Richard Denny
walked down the hallway with a clipboard under one arm and an
engineering kit slung over his shoulder. He watched with apparent
disinterest as a couple of technicians rushed past him.

After making sure the hallway was clear of people, Denny opened his
engineering kit and pulled out a small rectangular block. He attached
the block to the wall, slightly behind the pipes which seemed to tile
it. Once he was sure the device was safely attached, he pressed a
small button on its side and walked away.

When another engineer approached, Denny made a show of reading his
clipboard.

"Richard," the engineer said. "We've gotten orders to either evacuate
or join the people on the fireline in subsection B - 36. The fire
can't be allowed to break through."

Denny nodded his agreement and followed the engineer.

Within the seclusion of the pipes, the device beeped softly to itself.
With all of the noise from the nearby reacto, no one would notice it.
With each beep, it counted off another second... 9:56...9:55...9:54...

==> * SM * <==

Medical Center - The Luna Foundation

Section E - Level 2, Subsection B - 5

Amy busied herself with directing the actions of the nurses as they
attended to the wounds of the injured, or readied the bedridden for
the short journey to the Foundation's shuttle pads. From there, the
shuttles would take them to Earth...out of the reach of whatever
calamity should befall the palace.

When she entered the secluded ward reserved for members of the royal
family, she saw Neo-Queen Serenity resting peacefully. She had been
found half buried under a wall in the throne room and had suffered
extensive injuries...but nothing that could not be repaired to some
extent with time. Amy would ensure that the queen escaped the palace
alive, and it was a duty she would see to personally.

Just as she was readying herself to wake the queen, Amy heard a loud
clatter and some swearing coming from within the next curtain-shrouded
chamber. She hurried into that chamber and found Rachel struggkling to
get up from her bed.

"You should not be up," Amy said sternly.

Rachel fixated on her mentor with a glare. "What's going on?" She
asked.

"We're getting the other patients ready to leave," Amy replied.
"Pretty soon we'll be ready to move you..."

"The WHOLE story," Rachel insisted. "What is going on?"

With a sigh of resignation, Amy went over to a wall monitor which was
busy displaying Rachel's vital signs. With a touch of a switch, a
layout of the castle appeared. The areas covered in the fire showed up
in a bright red. Amy explained what had happened over the past few
hours.

When she was finished, Amy thought that perhaps Rachel would settle
back into bed. The young woman had other plans however, and attempted
to stand up.

"You are too weak," Amy insisted. "You have to stay in bed."

"If I don't try to help, whether or not I stay in bed won't really
matter," Rachel shot back. "Now, give me a stimulant."

As Amy administered the stimulant, Rachel asked, "Is there a shuttle
that can take me to the palace?"

Looking over at the display, Amy nodded. "It looks like Sailor Mars is
nearly finished reloading her shuttle with fire retardant. The others
are being used to evacuate the palace."

"Good!" Rachel exclaimed as she hopped off the bed. "If I hurry, I can
catch Mars before she leaves." Before Amy could say anything else,
Rachel had left.

==> * SM * <==

Shuttle 4

As she angled the shuttle toward the castle in a low gradual turn
around the mountain that dominated the view to the northwest of the
Luna Foundation, Cassandra could not help but be concerned for the
well-being of her friend. Rachel stood near the shuttle's side hatch.
She gazed down at the floor of the shuttle,

and she held her right arm against her body with her left as if it
were injured.

"Are you okay?" Cass asked. "I can turn around if you.."

"No," Rachel replied with a lot more clarity than Cass expected. "I
need to do this. It's our only chance."

Cass watched as her friend transformed from a young woman into her
Sailor persona. The change didn't do much to persuade Cass that she
was fit to be out of bed.

Rachel looked exhausted, but Cass knew better than to argue with her
once she had made up her mind. She looked out the front windows as the
palace crept out from behind the mountain. A huge blackened scorch
mark covered the northeast quarter of what had been palace facilities.
Cass's shuttle flights had made a dent in the fire, but the main
portion of the blaze was still threatening the central core of the
palace...which was where this next batch of fire retardant was going

As the shuttle crossed from the mountain to the flat plain near the
palace, Sailor Mercury opened the hatch. "Go in low," she said. "I'll
jump in a few seconds." Cass eased the flight stick forward slightly
and reduced speed to allow her friend the best chance of a solid
landing. While the moon's garvity was weak, there was no need to take
too many chances.

Sailor Mercury picked out a spot that the fire had finished scorching
and lept from the shuttle. Cass shut the hatch by remote and continued
on her way

==> * SM * <==

Sailor Mercury landed gently on the blasted terrain of what had been a
part of Section B. She glanced toward the dome that was the
centerpiece of the palace. The fire still blazed in that direction,
lighting the palace with a hellish glow. As she watched, a portion of
the dome collapsed.

==> * SM * <==

Shuttle 4

Cass edged her shuttle into position over a large, angry-looking
section of the fire. Switching the engines into hover mode, she
toggled the release switch on the control board which would vent the
fire retardant. Immediately, she was met with a red warning light and,
"Collar Valve Malfunction"

Cass lept from the cockpit and wrenched the hatch open. She then
turned to her left, where the tanks carrying the fire retardant were
connected to the shuttle's universal collar. Opening a storage locker,
she dragged out a large hose and hooked it to the valve. Grinning at
her ingenuity, she reached up and pulled the manual override lever.

The lever moved halfway forward, then stuck. Cass realized that the
tank itself was frozen. Unfortunately, much of the equipment,
including the shuttle's collar did not react well to fire, so using
her Mars abilities was out of the question. Cass returned to the
cockpit, shut the hatch with the remote, and radioed back to the Luna
Foundation.

"Luna Conrol," she said. "The tanker value is frozen. I'm returning
for another one."

"There's no time," came the reply. "The palace is on full evacuation
status. Get out of the area."

Looking down at where Sailor Mercury had jumped from the shuttle, Cass
saw that it was too late to retrieve her friend.

"God help us," she said as she took the shuttle into a climb away from
the palace.

==> * SM * <==

Deep within the recesses of her mind, Sailor Mercury summoned the
energy needed to save her friends. Finding the energy was not a
problem. The excitement from being in such a dangerous situation
nearly provided her with the energy she needed. Channeling the energy
was a different story.

Sailor Mercury attempted to channel the energy flooding her body.
Despite her efforts, the verbal component of her power's activation
sequence seemed to flee from her.

Suddenly, Sailor Mercury felt a bone-chilling cold, and within a
"room" of her mind, a ghostly image of Queen Beryl appeared near a
mental image of herself. The mental reflection of Sailor Mercury
floated slightly off the "ground". Her hands were clasped in front of
her, and her eyes were closed as if in prayer. Queen Beryl approached
the mental eflection which seemed to radiate a pale blue glow as she
neared.

"You thought you could use your power without me," Beryl snarled.

The mental reflection of Sailor Mercury offered no response except the
continued blue glow...

"You may have the energy to fuel your power," Beryl said. "But only I
can provide you the means to

channel it! Never forget that!"

Again, no response was forthcoming from the mental reflection. It
merely hung in the air silently as if waiting for something...

Beryl was about to say something about Mercury being a slave to her
power, but decided not to...stupid mental image would probably just
hang there...mocking her...

Instead, Beryl sighed quietly, and closing her eyes, she apprached the
mental reflection of Sailor Mercury, which grew brighter as she
approached. Soon Beryl was stnding directly in front of the
image....then she and the image were one...

The "room darkened to near total darkness, then blasted blinding light
forth. From within the light came Beryl's voice: "Arise, ETERNAL
SAILOR MERCURY!"

In her trance-like state, Mercury suddenly found the melody that had
eluded her and her voice sang out the eerie melody. Already, tendrils
of darkforce energy mingled with primal force were slamming the ground
around her in an eager search for any energy source that could be
found. The melody wavered, then hit the high note, which Mercury held.
As that note continued across the blasted lunar landscape, the energy
ribbons reversed themselves, cascading into Sailor Mercury. When the
last of them collided with the young warrior a blinding blast of pale
light flared out, then the blue translucent dome formed and slowly
started its expansion outward...draining all energy from everything it
touched...

==> * SM * <==

The Crystal Palace Observatory

Section A - Level 2, Subsection E - 2

"Look at that!" Luna shouted as she saw the birth of Mercury's dome.

"Get a reading on that, quick!" Artemis shouted in reply.

"Wha..?" Luna half-said in astonishment.

"Look," Artemis said. "If we survive this, that is going to be
something we're going to want to know about."

"Okay," Luna replied as she activated the observatory's sensor array.

==> * SM * <==

The dome of the Crystal Palace

Section B - Level 2, Subsection A - 2

The guardian cats were not the only ones observing Mercury's dome with
interest.

Richard Denny had deserted his post on the fire lines and had ripped
off his wrist comm when the rantings of his superiors had become too
much of an annoyance. He had come to this room about midway up what
remained of the palace dome to watch the final destruction of the
place that was creating the problems so many people on Earth were
having. Soon the Luna Foundation would be gone. The palace would be
obliterated, and with it, the secret backers of a United Nations who
ruled Earth without a thought given to the needs of the people.

Would there be consequences? Certainly! And in this case, the good
from the actions of today would far outweigh the minor fallout from
the death of the Luna Foundation and the demise of the Sailors.

As Mercury's dome expanded, Denny watched. The dome expanded over some
of the fires nearest to the original blast point, and Denny could see
that once the dome covered the fires, they were smothered.
Momentarily, he thought about shooting at Sailor Mercury with the
pistol he had stolen from a weapons locker.

"No," he though as he dropped the gun. No matter what they did,
nothing would save them once the reactor detonated. The fire they were
fighting was nothing compared to that.

"Richard," came a voice from behind him. Denny turned and saw Sailor
Venus. Her eyes were filled with anger and hurt. "How could you do
it?"

Denny's face twisted in confusion. "How could I do what?

"The bomb," Venus replied. "We know you set the bomb."

Now Denny smiled and he took a step toward Sailor Venus. "I don't know
what you are talking about," he said warmly. "You know me better than
that."

Outside the broken walls, the pale blue dome continued to grow...

Venus continued. "The sensor logs," she said coldly. "They show you
were in the area, and they showed that you stopped in the exact spot
that the blast came from!"

"I wasn't there!"
"All the other tags are accounted for!" Venus shouted. "Do you want to
try another story?"

"I had to check something!" Denny took another step forward and balled
up his fist behind his back...

"I don't believe you!"

Denny then punched Sailor Venus full force in the face. The blow
slammed her head to one side and sent her into the wall near the door
to the stairwell that wound its way up the dome. Denny sauntered
forward and stared down at Sailor Venus who lay motionless against the
wall.

"Stupid girl," he said under his breath.

Then, Sailor Venus kicked Denny between his legs, and he stumbled back
in a daze of pain.

Sailor Venus got to her feet and through disheveled hair glared at her
former lover. "You should know it takes more than one hit to bring me
down!"

Denny had stumbled nearly to the edge of the room. The pale blue of
Mercury's dome now dominated the view and illuminated the room with
its glow.

An enraged Denny recovered from his pain and with a roar of anger
charged toward Sailor Venus.

"VENUS WHIP!"

A whip handle appeared in Sailor Venus' right hand and she slung her
hand out at the charging man. As she did so, an orange energy ribbon
shot out and arced toward Denny. The ribbon found its mark and was
soon wound tightl;y around the man's throat.

"I will see to it that you pay for every death you have caused here
today!" Venus growled as Denny reversed his course and tried to break
free of the whip...getting steadily closer again to the edge as he did
so.

"You'll...burn...in ...Hell...first!" Denny managed to gasp as the
whip constricted around his throat. His eyes fluttered as he neared
unconsciousness, and his hand drooped toward the ground. Seeing this,
Venus deactivated her whip.

Denny collapsed to the floor, which shuddered under the weight. As
Denny tried to get to his feet, the floor gave way, and the saboteur
was dropped down toward the still-expanding dome. Sailor Venus stepped
as close as she dared to the edge and watched as Denny fell screaming
to his doom. The instant he hit the dome, his lifeforce was sucked out
of him and his scream was silenced. His body continued its descent to
the ground, but the dome leeched every miniscule ounce of energy from
it, pulping flesh and bone into a powder which showered the lunar
surface...

Sailor Venus left the room and was met by Sailor Moon in the hallway.
"There you are!" Sailor Moon shouted. "We've got to hurry if we're
going to get out of here! Sailor Jupiter is waiting for us!"

"No," Venus replied. "Mercury's nearly got the fires out, but the only
thing that will stop her power is the Star Chamber."

"But my mother is the only one who can use the Star Chamber," Sailor
Moon said as she turned and started down the stairs. "We'll just have
to get away and get outside the range of that thing."

"And the range of that "thing" is?" Venus inquired. Sailor Moon
stopped to ponder that question.

"Right!" Venus said. "You don't know either. The only sure way to stop
that dome is the Star Chamber."

"We still have one problem," Sailor Moon said as they started down the
stairs again.

"What's that?"

"The crystals in the Star Chamber are precisely positioned so that
they form a perfect circle." Sailor Moon said. "With all the beating
that this palace has taken, I doubt that the crystals are in their
correct positions."

The women reached the ground floor in time to feel the palace shudder
as the dome started to envelop the palace structure. "Either the
Chamber kills us, or that thing does." Venus said. "Eaither way, we're
dead."

"You're right," Sailor Moon replied. "Let's go."

==> * SM * <==

Access Hallway near Fusion Reactor Three

Section B - Level 17, Subsection B - 41

Within the seclusion of the pipes, the device beeped softly to itself.
With each beep, it counted off another second... 0:11...0:10...0:09...

==> * SM * <==

The Throne Room

Both Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus threw open the doors to what
remained of the throne room.

"Come on," Sailor Moon said. "We've got to hurry!"

==> * SM * <==

...0:04...0:03...0:02...0:01...

A new explosion gouted from the depths of the core of the castle's
north wing just as Mercury's dome grew over it. The dome hungrily
drank in this new energy, and extinguished its source. The pipes the
bomb had been above however, were still ruptured...

==> * SM * <==

Fusion Reactor One

Section B - Level 19, Subsection B - 30

The engineering staff having long-since been evacuated, no one was
there when the coolant pressure indicator on the fusion reactor went
dark.

A minute later, Fusion Reactor One ignted with a flash that lit up the
lunar sky.

Fade to black.

==> * SM * <==

The Throne Room

Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus awoke from the momentary state of
unconsciousness that had overcome them when the force of the blast
drove them into the far wall of the throne room.

"What the hell..." Sailor Moon said groggily.

Sailor Venus stood up and paused for a second. A loud and angry roar
filled the background and she noted a pale blue hue flickering near
the throne room door.

"We don't have time for questions," Venus said grimly as she shoved
Sailor Moon toward the door leading to tbe Star Chamber. "It's time to
save our bacon!"

The two warriors entered the Star Chamber. As Sailor Venus closed the
door behind her, Sailor Moon surveyed the circle of crystals. They
still were arranged in a circle, but large cracks in the floor of the
room told her that the circle had indeed been broken.

"This is going to be dangerous," Sailor Moon said.

"Yeah," Sailor Venus replied. "Just about as dangerous as that thing
outside. Just do it!"

With a slight nod, Sailor Moon closed her eyes. Then: "May the use of
this power preserve the lifes of those who seek to protect the Moon
Kingdom and its citizens!" Sailor Moon paused briefly, then...

"PLANET POWER!"

The room exploded in an angry light as the crystals poured their
energy unfocused upon Sailor Moon, who screamed as the waves of
searing energy tore into her.

"Sailor Moon!" Venus shouted from near the door. "Focus the energy!"

"What?" Sailor Moon cried.

"Focus!" Venus repeated.

"I'll try!" Sailor Moon manged to yell as another wave of energy
cascaded over her. She gathered herself as best she could, then, "MOON
STAFF!"

The back of the room faded into a pale blue glow. Sailor Venus saw
this, and turned her head to Sailor Moon. "It's now or never!"

Ignoring her friend, Sailor Moon raised her right fist in the air. As
the energy from the crystals slammed into the young woman, she swung
her fist in a full circle in the air. Her staff, hovering at her
waist, dropped onto its side, and mimicked her actions...and made a
full revolution around Sailor Moon, shattering the crystal holders as
it did so. The crystals, freed of the holders, floated up and formed a
perfect circle around Sailor Moon.

"MOON REJUVINATION MAGIC!"

Venus remembered in time to shield her eyes as the brilliant beam of
light flashed out from Sailor Moon and the crystals and slammed into
the pale blue dome of life-draining energy. Waves of conflicting
energy flowed over the dome, absorbing it. Then both the beam and the
dome disappeared.

Outside the castle, Sailor Mercury collapsed as the dome disappeared.

==> * SM * <==

Shuttle 4

"Wow," Artemis said softly. "Look at all of the damage."

The guardian cats, along with Sailors Moon, Mars, and Venus were
surveying the blast damage. The majority of the cental palace, and the
north and east wings were heavily damaged at the least. The west wing
and the observatory were undamaged, as was the Luna Foundation
facilities. Despite all of that, it looked a lot worse than it
actually was.

"We'll rebuild," Luna said. "The castle has been in worse shape." She
trailed off as if to wonder exactly when that was...but she knew that
the Negaverse had virtually destroyed the entire palace during the
attack which ended the Silver Kingdom.

"Yeah," Sailor Mars said. "We'll rebuild, and it will be even better!"
This sparked a round of nods and murmured agreement.

"Well," Sailor Moon sad. "After all that, I am hungry! Sailor Mars,
take us home. That's an order!

The shuttle banked away from the battered castle and headed back
toward the Luna Foundation...and home.

==> * SM * <==

St. Petersburg, Russia 1:04 AM

A solitary metal bird flew over the slumbering city. From a high
altitude, which had been achieved at the expense of valuable systems,
the pilot flipped the toggle switch which released the plane's
ordinance in seven-second intervals.

The bombs rained down upon the unsuspecting city. When they hit, a
white-rimmed force wave lit up the area. The force waves radiated
outward from their origins, shattering everything withing several
hundred yards of their impact points.

When the lone bird turned and flew out to sea, there was not much left
of the once-thriving seaport that had been Saint Petersburg.

FINI

Fanfic ©1999 - John Brengman and Artemis Publishing

Sailor X series inspired by Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon,

© 1992 by Toei Animation Co Ltd. and based on Kodansha's

manga production of "Sailor Moon", written by Naoko Takeuchi

This fanfic is freely distributed. Release date: January 11, 1999

Release: 3^rd Edition: January 16, 2001