Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Seeing Stars ❯ Chapter 40 ( Chapter 40 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: jasonulloa 
A night out with Serena and Darien; Jed arrives in Sydney; and Project: Total Eclipse is unveiled at last.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.22.2005 | Pages: 7 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 367 | Status: Completed
A night out with Serena and Darien; Jed arrives in Sydney; and Project: Total Eclipse is unveiled at last.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.22.2005 | Pages: 7 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 367 | Status: Completed
Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.
Chapter 40
"So, where are we headed?" Darien asked as he sat in the passenger seat of Serena's car. He
couldn't help but admire the interior of her sports coupe. It was so much better than his
own car, not to mention that the car had more power under the hood than his own. Hell, even
her cup holder was nicer than his.
Maybe one day he could sweet talk her into letting him take her little bad boy out for a
spin.
"Feel like going to a nightclub, Darien?" she asked.
Darien caught a hint of playfulness in her voice and glanced over at her. "You have
someplace in particular in mind?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," she said with the beginning of a sly grin showing on her face.
"It's a place I used to frequent a while back before I met you. I've been thinking of going
there again. One of the servers there is a really good friend of mine."
"Oh?"
"I introduced him to his wife," she said smugly. "Last I heard, his wife's expecting a
child."
Darien nodded absently as he continued to look over the interior of the car. Judging from
all the accessories and add-ons and such, this car was something he could never afford on
his old salary. Perhaps when the movie started taking off - he certainly hoped it would -
he could afford something like this. Maybe he could ask her where she got it.
"You listening, Darien?"
"Yeah, wife's expecting. Got it."
"You drooling over my car, Darien?"
"Yeah, drooling over-" He caught himself a little too late. "Um, it's a very nice car.
Really."
Serena sighed and shook her head. "Right. Anyway, I think you'll like the place. Real
sophisticated and classy." She paused and glanced over what Darien was wearing. "Maybe I
should've had you change into something a little more appropriate."
He looked himself over. "Something wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Not really," Serena admitted reluctantly. "Although the shirt and slacks aren't all that
dressy, I think they'll let you in as long as you're with me. After all, I look good enough
for the both of us," she added haughtily.
Darien gave a small snort of amusement. "With an ego to match."
She pretended to scowl at him while lightly punching him in the arm. "You'd better watch
it, pretty boy, or I might just let you walk home."
"I cower in your wrath and submit myself to you, Your Majesty," he replied while making a
show of favoring his arm where she punched him.
"Hmm... that almost sounds kinky," she said lasciviously.
"Should I be scared?"
"Now, you should," she added, her smirk widening noticably.
"Oh."
Now whether this was a good or bad thing was anybody's guess.
**********************************************
"Here we are," Serena gestured grandly as they entered the club. "The Silver Moon."
"Hm. Almost like this place was named in your honor, right, Serena?" he asked knowingly.
"It was. They just don't know that yet," she said as she stepped forward and waved at a
server near the back of the room. "Hey, Vince!"
Vince nodded and waved back, indicating that he'd be there as soon as he could. "That him?"
Darien asked.
"Yeah. Vincent Guaraldi, though he prefers to be called 'Vince'."
"Wait. Vince Guaraldi? The same name as that guy who wrote that song for those 'Peanuts'
movies and such?" Darien asked.
"The same," Serena nodded. "Funny you mention that. He's a big fan of the Peanuts comic
strip and Vince Guaraldi's music. There was one time that the band let Vince come up on
stage and play a couple of Vince Guaraldi songs like 'Linus and Lucy' and 'Red Baron'. He's
pretty damn good on the piano, but why he stays on as a server in a nightclub instead of
trying to break into the music business is beyond me."
"Maybe he just likes it here?" Darien supposed. "Either that, or he just hasn't had his
break, yet."
"I suppose that could be it," she replied as she shrugged. "Still, a lot of us think that
Vince could make it if he really wanted."
"You think so, Miss Moon?" Vince asked as he came up to them with a friendly smile. "Ah,
but the music industry can be just as fickle and uncaring of new musicians as the movie
industry is of new actors. Don't you think?"
"Well, when you put it like that...," she admitted.
"Ah, but we're not here to talk about me, right?" he interjected. "I take it you're here
with a guest this time?"
"Vince, this is Darien Shields. Darien, Vince."
"Well, any friend of Miss Moon's is a friend of mine," Vince said amicably. "I certainly
hope you enjoy your time here at the Silver Moon."
"By the way, in case you haven't already noticed, Vince's a real big suck-up."
Vince made a show of being offended. "Why, Miss Moon! How could you say such a thing to
someone who has been faithfully serving you for the past few years? I'm hurt!"
"A suck-up, and a bad actor," she amended.
"Miss Moon!"
"Call me that again, and I'll start calling you Vincent again."
"Right," Vince said, dropping the act. "I forgot. Sorry. Anyway, would you like the usual
table?"
"Sure, Vince. And who's playing today? It's been a while since I've been frequenting the
place."
"Ah, you've noticed that Donny's not here today," he said as he led the pair to their
table. "Well, yesterday was his last performance here. He was picked up by some local
label. Duotone Records, I think. He said that he was hoping to put something out by the end
of the year, but I'm not holding my breath. Albums don't get made that fast. Not unless
you've got some experience in recording. A lot of producers say that when artists first
record, their first album usual takes anywhere from eight months to a year to produce and
release to the public."
He stopped as soon as they reached their table. "Oh, but you don't want to hear me ramble
on. Anyway, until we get a replacement, we're mostly relying on instrumentals and the
occasional guest vocalist, whether local talent or some recording artist wanting to sing
here on a whim." He noticed the disbeliving stares the two were giving him. "Well, it could
happen.
"At any rate, to answer your question, one of the local artists is performing here today.
The guy's name is Leo Nieves. He's pretty good, although Donny was better, in my opinion."
"Well, as long as the guy's good," Serena said. "Get me the regular, Vince."
"Sure thing, Serena," he nodded, then turned to Darien. "And for you, Mr. Shields?"
"Darien's fine," he told him. "Can you get me a Rum and Coke, please? Straight up."
"No problem," he replied as he turned to leave. "If you care for anything else, I've left
the menu on the table, as usual."
"Thanks, Vince," Serena said as the man left. "So, Darien, what do you think of the place
so far?"
"I feel like I've stepped onto the set of Casablanca, or something," he remarked.
"Don't tell me you've actually seen that movie, Darien," Serena laughed.
"What? You think I haven't seen Casablanca?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You hardly seem the type to be watching old black and white movies."
"Well, you never know," he said as he folded his arms. "I could've seen it once or twice."
"I still doubt it. You probably saw a little bit of it while channel surfing, but that's
about it."
"You hurt my feelings," he grumbled as Vince came to the table with their drinks. "Hey,
that was pretty fast."
"If there's anything else you need, just let me know," Vince said, then left.
"Not bad," Darien said after taking a drink. "By the way, what's that you're drinking?"
"My usual," she told him. "Ever heard of a Climax?"
"What's in it?"
"Some triple sec, some amaretto, vodka... I'm not really sure of exactly what goes into it,
but it's pretty damn good." She passed the cocktail glass over to him. "Here. Give it a
try."
"Mmm. Pretty good," he nodded as he passed the glass back to her. "Not bad at all."
"I know," Serena said as she took another drink. "This place sometimes mixes drinks and
puts them in bottles for you to take home. Not all drinks can be bottled and still taste
the same, but this one manages just fine," she added, patting her glass fondly.
"Hey, I've been wondering," Darien said as he turned around and glanced at the empty area
in front of the stage, "that area's for dancing, right?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah," she nodded as she saw what he was referring to. "Feel like taking your girl
out for a spin?"
"Not a bad idea, actually," he said as he stood up. "Wait here for a minute."
"All right," she said with an intrigued smile.
Darien headed over to the stage as the band was closing the current song and signalled to
the band leader. "Hey, do you guys take requests?"
The band leader gave him a neutral look. "I hope you don't think that we play just any old
song, sir. Please mind the kind of establishment you're in."
He blinked in surprise for a moment. "I take it you've had people ask you to play songs
you'd usually find on the radio?"
"If I hear another request for 'Zoot Suit Riot', I will personally slap him or her myself."
"I'll remember that," Darien said drolly. "Would you be against performing 'Blue-Eyed Lady'
by Jake Udall?"
The band leader blinked again. "Not at all. I don't get many requests for Jake Udall. You a
fan or something?"
"Let's just say I know good music when I hear it," he replied.
"Gotcha. Give us a few and we'll be ready to go."
"Thanks." With that, he went back to his table and held out a hand for Serena. "Care to
dance?"
"I'd love to," she replied as she took his hand as she rose from her chair and followed him
out onto the dance floor. "So, what song did you request?"
"A little something that I think you'll like," Darien replied mysteriously.
"Well, I'm surprised that you picked something that Frank likes," she said, intrigued. "He
can get real touchy about certain requests. Judging by the expression I saw on his face, I
think you surprised him, too."
"My intention all along."
"You're full of crap, Darien."
"Only for you, my dear."
As soon as they reached the dance floor, the band started playing the opening to the song
Darien had requested. It was a medium-paced swing that remotely reminded Serena of Van
Morrison's song 'Moondance', but only because of the rhythm of the song and the sound of
the piano chords.
'When I see you standing, baby,
Underneath the Moon's silv'ry light,
I can't wait to have you near me;
I just want to be with you tonight.
Don't you leave me waiting, Darling;
'Cause we're gonna dance until the sunrise.
My heart beats faster, my lady,
Everytime I look in your eyes.
'You leave me breathless
With your smile,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
Mesmerize
With your eyes,
Blue-Eyed Lady.'
"Interesting choice of song, Darien," Serena commented as he spun her around him.
"I knew you'd like it," he replied as he quickly dipped her and pulled her back up while
the second verse began.
'Now the summertime breeze is blowin'
And you know I'll be holdin' you tight.
Can't you see how much I want you,
And you know I'll be treatin' you right.
'Girl, I see Heaven
In your smile,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
Hypnotize
With your eyes,
Blue-Eyed Lady.'
The song went into a piano solo, while Darien continued to lead Serena around the dance
floor. As they danced, a small crowd was starting to form around the edge of the dance
floor, some conversing amongst themselves as they watched the pair dance.
'Now the summertime breeze is blowin'
And you know I'll be holdin' you tight.
Can't you see how much I want you,
And you know I'll be treatin' you right.
'Girl, I see Heaven
In your smile,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
Hypnotize
With your eyes,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
You leave me breathless
With your smile,
My Blue-Eyed Lady.
Mesmerize
With your eyes,
My Blue-Eyed Lady.'
Darien dipped Serena one last time amid applause as the song ended. The pair bowed
sheepishly as the onlookers started to join them on the dance floor.
"Care for another dance, my blue-eyed lady?" Darien asked as he raised one of her hands to
his lips and kissed it.
"Absolutely," she said with a small smile.
**********************************************
Jed sighed as he stepped out of the cab. Stupid Southern Pacific weather. Why the hell did
that storm have to come up right in the middle of his flight's path? Thanks to that storm,
he was forced to spend a couple of days in New Zealand waiting for the storm to abate.
Well, at least he was here now. He was finally in Sydney, Australia, the location of the
seventh and final Nijizuishou crystal.
He was a few days off of his schedule, so there was no time to waste. First, he had to get
settled into his hotel room. Something close to the museum where the crystal was.
Which was why he was here at this moment. After paying the driver and getting his things
out of the cab, he made his way into the hotel.
"Sir, do you need assistance with that?" the concierge at the front desk inquired as Jed
dropped his bags beside him.
"No, thank you. I prefer to handle my own luggage," he replied. "I made a reservation for
a room a few hours ago." He placed a passport on the desk. "Name, Joey Atkinson."
"Thank you, sir," the concierge said as he turned to his computer and looked up the
reservation. "Ah, yes. Mr. Atkinson. Your room will be number 502. I can get you some
assistance for your luggage if you want."
"No, thank you. I'll be fine," Jed said as he picked up his key.
"Very well, sir. Just call 00 if you need anything else," he said as he turned back to his
computer. Jed nodded, picked up his passport and luggage, and left for his room.
He had planning to do. It was time to get cracking.
**********************************************
"Hello?" Christy replied sleepily as she picked up the phone.
"Christy? It's Shingo. We need to talk. Now."
"Shingo?" she said in surprise as she turned on her bedroom lamp and glanced at the alarm
clock on her nightstand. "Why the hell are you calling me at 2:30 in the morning? Couldn't
it wait until tomorrow?"
"No," he curtly replied. "This's about that Project: Total Eclipse we were talking about
the other day. I think I've figured out what this's all about."
"What?!?" Christy sat bolt upright. "Spill it. Now."
"Right. So, I checked out that site you gave me and broke in. Real easy, too. No real
security to speak of. All they had was those custom-made viruses, but I aleady knew about
those, so I was able to get past them easy.
"Anyway, I started rooting around their main access terminal and found nothing, so I moved
on to their file server. After a long search, I found this file detailing plans for a
satellite with a UHF frequency jammer."
"Wait. Don't satellites use UHF?" Christy asked.
"Yeah, mostly for orbital communications. Satellite-to-satellite comms use a lower
frequency since the transmission doesn't have to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. A UHF
jammer would cut off transmissions between satellites and the Earth, but allow
transmissions between the satellites themselves."
"What would the point of that be? If all orbital comms are blocked, then how would they
control their own satellite?"
"I wondered that as well, at first. The specs sheet had some info for it, but not much on
its configuration. The file was also listed as restricted to only Project: Ginzuishou and
Project: Total Eclipse personnel. That's when I started looking for detailed specs for this
thing.
"After snooping around some more, I found another file server that had limited access to
most users on the network I was on. Since I had root access, I was fine. A few minutes
later, I found what I was looking for.
"Apparently, they've designed a bandpass filter which will allow only a certain frequency
through to a satellite that has a UHF jammer. According to a sidenote on another file I
had gone through earlier, there would be random times when the UHF jammer would be stopped
for a few moments - enough to allow a small number of things, like course corrections, or
the downloading of diagnostics reports, and so on. Once the jamming stops, they get into
the satellite through a specific frequency, do whatever they need to, then get out as the
jamming reactivates."
"Okay, so what does this have to do with Project: Total Eclipse?"
"I'm getting to that," Shingo replied. "According to other Project: Total Eclipse files
I've found, there are already five satellites in orbit with these UHF jammers equipped,
each one with a radius of about 3,000 miles, and another one slated for launch in the near
future.
"There's a seventh one also slated for a near-future lanuch, however, this one is not going
to have a jammer attached to it. Furthermore, this one is going to be in a geostationary
orbit over some point in the Mojave Desert. There's some additional equipment in there as
well, however, I couldn't make out what it could possibly be used for.
"At any rate, it seems that these seven satellites are all connected to the Projects:
Ginzuishou and Total Eclipse. Remember when we first learned about Project: Ginzuishou
where that synthetic crystal could be created using the special properties of each of the
seven Nijizuishou crystals and that the best way to extract those properties was in a
vacuum?
"According to that file I read, five of those seven crystals are already up in space and in
position."
"In position for what?"
"There's a secondary function for those seven satellites that were created specifically for
the creation of the Ginzuishou. Once the Ginzuishou is created, six of the seven
Nijizuishou crystals are going to be used as part of the UHF jammer circuits. Due to the
size of the interference fields each satellite can produce, the six satellites can
effectively jam every satellite comm link all over the world."
"My God. Can you imagine what that could do to the world?" Christy whispered dreadfully.
"Complete satellite communications blackout. Almost like a total eclipse."
"Communications between countries would be affected over phone AND Internet. News and other
television networks wouldn't be able to broadcast. GPS systems would fail. Weather
forecasts would be impossible. Militaries would become crippled. Many countries' defenses
would become weakened. Especially ours.
"There would be chaos. Complete and utter chaos."
"This is sounding more and more like some kinda conspiracy out of a James Bond movie,"
Christy remarked uneasily. "I'm just a cop, dammit. What am I supposed to do with this? Go
up to my boss and say, 'Excuse me, sir, but I got this anonymous tip that some guy's trying
to cause the world to collapse by bringing down the world's satellite communications
network. Shall we go bring this guy in for questioning?'"
"You've got me, Christy. However, we just can't keep quiet about something like this."
"Wait. There's this FBI agent I know that's involved in something that might be related to
this. I could try to get in touch with her."
"The sooner, the better," Shingo agreed. "One more thing. There was a mention of another
project having to do with both Project: Ginzuishou and Project: Total Eclipse, but from
what I was able to find, the project was still in the planning stages. As such, it hadn't
even been named yet. All I know is that it has to do with the possibility of combining the
power amplification of the Ginzuishou with the possibility of creating a sort of "combined
amplification network" with the Nijizuishou still in orbit."
"Anything you can find out about that would be appreciated, Shingo," Christy replied. "I'll
be sure to get in touch with that FBI agent as soon as possible. Thanks again for the heads
up, Shingo."
"Just repaying a favor, Christy. All this conspiracy and espionage-type stuff is so
freaking wild! I haven't been this excited since I almost got caught breaking into that one
military bases' network."
Christy laughed. "Well, at least you won't have to worry about moving out of your parents'
house if you get caught. Good night, Shingo."
"Good night, Christy."
**********************************************
To Chapter 41
**********************************************
Author's Note: I am so, so, so VERY sorry for taking so damn long in writing the next
chapter of this story. I've just been swamped with work and other things - not to mention
my other stories (like 'The Brooch', for example). Anyway, I'm going to try and finish up
this story as soon as possible. After all, I'm almost finished. Just a few more chapters to
go. Wow, 40 chapters already. And this story is almost what? Five years old? I really need
to finish this thing up, and soon. Oh, by the way, that song, "Blue-Eyed Lady" by 'Jake
Udall' was really written by me. I figured that I'd just use a pseudonym rather than put
myself into the story. ^_~ Next chapter: Jed makes plans for the heist; Jack and Diane
learn of Project: Total Eclipse; and Darien gets a surprise visit during lunch.
Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.
Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.
Chapter 40
"So, where are we headed?" Darien asked as he sat in the passenger seat of Serena's car. He
couldn't help but admire the interior of her sports coupe. It was so much better than his
own car, not to mention that the car had more power under the hood than his own. Hell, even
her cup holder was nicer than his.
Maybe one day he could sweet talk her into letting him take her little bad boy out for a
spin.
"Feel like going to a nightclub, Darien?" she asked.
Darien caught a hint of playfulness in her voice and glanced over at her. "You have
someplace in particular in mind?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," she said with the beginning of a sly grin showing on her face.
"It's a place I used to frequent a while back before I met you. I've been thinking of going
there again. One of the servers there is a really good friend of mine."
"Oh?"
"I introduced him to his wife," she said smugly. "Last I heard, his wife's expecting a
child."
Darien nodded absently as he continued to look over the interior of the car. Judging from
all the accessories and add-ons and such, this car was something he could never afford on
his old salary. Perhaps when the movie started taking off - he certainly hoped it would -
he could afford something like this. Maybe he could ask her where she got it.
"You listening, Darien?"
"Yeah, wife's expecting. Got it."
"You drooling over my car, Darien?"
"Yeah, drooling over-" He caught himself a little too late. "Um, it's a very nice car.
Really."
Serena sighed and shook her head. "Right. Anyway, I think you'll like the place. Real
sophisticated and classy." She paused and glanced over what Darien was wearing. "Maybe I
should've had you change into something a little more appropriate."
He looked himself over. "Something wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Not really," Serena admitted reluctantly. "Although the shirt and slacks aren't all that
dressy, I think they'll let you in as long as you're with me. After all, I look good enough
for the both of us," she added haughtily.
Darien gave a small snort of amusement. "With an ego to match."
She pretended to scowl at him while lightly punching him in the arm. "You'd better watch
it, pretty boy, or I might just let you walk home."
"I cower in your wrath and submit myself to you, Your Majesty," he replied while making a
show of favoring his arm where she punched him.
"Hmm... that almost sounds kinky," she said lasciviously.
"Should I be scared?"
"Now, you should," she added, her smirk widening noticably.
"Oh."
Now whether this was a good or bad thing was anybody's guess.
**********************************************
"Here we are," Serena gestured grandly as they entered the club. "The Silver Moon."
"Hm. Almost like this place was named in your honor, right, Serena?" he asked knowingly.
"It was. They just don't know that yet," she said as she stepped forward and waved at a
server near the back of the room. "Hey, Vince!"
Vince nodded and waved back, indicating that he'd be there as soon as he could. "That him?"
Darien asked.
"Yeah. Vincent Guaraldi, though he prefers to be called 'Vince'."
"Wait. Vince Guaraldi? The same name as that guy who wrote that song for those 'Peanuts'
movies and such?" Darien asked.
"The same," Serena nodded. "Funny you mention that. He's a big fan of the Peanuts comic
strip and Vince Guaraldi's music. There was one time that the band let Vince come up on
stage and play a couple of Vince Guaraldi songs like 'Linus and Lucy' and 'Red Baron'. He's
pretty damn good on the piano, but why he stays on as a server in a nightclub instead of
trying to break into the music business is beyond me."
"Maybe he just likes it here?" Darien supposed. "Either that, or he just hasn't had his
break, yet."
"I suppose that could be it," she replied as she shrugged. "Still, a lot of us think that
Vince could make it if he really wanted."
"You think so, Miss Moon?" Vince asked as he came up to them with a friendly smile. "Ah,
but the music industry can be just as fickle and uncaring of new musicians as the movie
industry is of new actors. Don't you think?"
"Well, when you put it like that...," she admitted.
"Ah, but we're not here to talk about me, right?" he interjected. "I take it you're here
with a guest this time?"
"Vince, this is Darien Shields. Darien, Vince."
"Well, any friend of Miss Moon's is a friend of mine," Vince said amicably. "I certainly
hope you enjoy your time here at the Silver Moon."
"By the way, in case you haven't already noticed, Vince's a real big suck-up."
Vince made a show of being offended. "Why, Miss Moon! How could you say such a thing to
someone who has been faithfully serving you for the past few years? I'm hurt!"
"A suck-up, and a bad actor," she amended.
"Miss Moon!"
"Call me that again, and I'll start calling you Vincent again."
"Right," Vince said, dropping the act. "I forgot. Sorry. Anyway, would you like the usual
table?"
"Sure, Vince. And who's playing today? It's been a while since I've been frequenting the
place."
"Ah, you've noticed that Donny's not here today," he said as he led the pair to their
table. "Well, yesterday was his last performance here. He was picked up by some local
label. Duotone Records, I think. He said that he was hoping to put something out by the end
of the year, but I'm not holding my breath. Albums don't get made that fast. Not unless
you've got some experience in recording. A lot of producers say that when artists first
record, their first album usual takes anywhere from eight months to a year to produce and
release to the public."
He stopped as soon as they reached their table. "Oh, but you don't want to hear me ramble
on. Anyway, until we get a replacement, we're mostly relying on instrumentals and the
occasional guest vocalist, whether local talent or some recording artist wanting to sing
here on a whim." He noticed the disbeliving stares the two were giving him. "Well, it could
happen.
"At any rate, to answer your question, one of the local artists is performing here today.
The guy's name is Leo Nieves. He's pretty good, although Donny was better, in my opinion."
"Well, as long as the guy's good," Serena said. "Get me the regular, Vince."
"Sure thing, Serena," he nodded, then turned to Darien. "And for you, Mr. Shields?"
"Darien's fine," he told him. "Can you get me a Rum and Coke, please? Straight up."
"No problem," he replied as he turned to leave. "If you care for anything else, I've left
the menu on the table, as usual."
"Thanks, Vince," Serena said as the man left. "So, Darien, what do you think of the place
so far?"
"I feel like I've stepped onto the set of Casablanca, or something," he remarked.
"Don't tell me you've actually seen that movie, Darien," Serena laughed.
"What? You think I haven't seen Casablanca?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You hardly seem the type to be watching old black and white movies."
"Well, you never know," he said as he folded his arms. "I could've seen it once or twice."
"I still doubt it. You probably saw a little bit of it while channel surfing, but that's
about it."
"You hurt my feelings," he grumbled as Vince came to the table with their drinks. "Hey,
that was pretty fast."
"If there's anything else you need, just let me know," Vince said, then left.
"Not bad," Darien said after taking a drink. "By the way, what's that you're drinking?"
"My usual," she told him. "Ever heard of a Climax?"
"What's in it?"
"Some triple sec, some amaretto, vodka... I'm not really sure of exactly what goes into it,
but it's pretty damn good." She passed the cocktail glass over to him. "Here. Give it a
try."
"Mmm. Pretty good," he nodded as he passed the glass back to her. "Not bad at all."
"I know," Serena said as she took another drink. "This place sometimes mixes drinks and
puts them in bottles for you to take home. Not all drinks can be bottled and still taste
the same, but this one manages just fine," she added, patting her glass fondly.
"Hey, I've been wondering," Darien said as he turned around and glanced at the empty area
in front of the stage, "that area's for dancing, right?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah," she nodded as she saw what he was referring to. "Feel like taking your girl
out for a spin?"
"Not a bad idea, actually," he said as he stood up. "Wait here for a minute."
"All right," she said with an intrigued smile.
Darien headed over to the stage as the band was closing the current song and signalled to
the band leader. "Hey, do you guys take requests?"
The band leader gave him a neutral look. "I hope you don't think that we play just any old
song, sir. Please mind the kind of establishment you're in."
He blinked in surprise for a moment. "I take it you've had people ask you to play songs
you'd usually find on the radio?"
"If I hear another request for 'Zoot Suit Riot', I will personally slap him or her myself."
"I'll remember that," Darien said drolly. "Would you be against performing 'Blue-Eyed Lady'
by Jake Udall?"
The band leader blinked again. "Not at all. I don't get many requests for Jake Udall. You a
fan or something?"
"Let's just say I know good music when I hear it," he replied.
"Gotcha. Give us a few and we'll be ready to go."
"Thanks." With that, he went back to his table and held out a hand for Serena. "Care to
dance?"
"I'd love to," she replied as she took his hand as she rose from her chair and followed him
out onto the dance floor. "So, what song did you request?"
"A little something that I think you'll like," Darien replied mysteriously.
"Well, I'm surprised that you picked something that Frank likes," she said, intrigued. "He
can get real touchy about certain requests. Judging by the expression I saw on his face, I
think you surprised him, too."
"My intention all along."
"You're full of crap, Darien."
"Only for you, my dear."
As soon as they reached the dance floor, the band started playing the opening to the song
Darien had requested. It was a medium-paced swing that remotely reminded Serena of Van
Morrison's song 'Moondance', but only because of the rhythm of the song and the sound of
the piano chords.
'When I see you standing, baby,
Underneath the Moon's silv'ry light,
I can't wait to have you near me;
I just want to be with you tonight.
Don't you leave me waiting, Darling;
'Cause we're gonna dance until the sunrise.
My heart beats faster, my lady,
Everytime I look in your eyes.
'You leave me breathless
With your smile,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
Mesmerize
With your eyes,
Blue-Eyed Lady.'
"Interesting choice of song, Darien," Serena commented as he spun her around him.
"I knew you'd like it," he replied as he quickly dipped her and pulled her back up while
the second verse began.
'Now the summertime breeze is blowin'
And you know I'll be holdin' you tight.
Can't you see how much I want you,
And you know I'll be treatin' you right.
'Girl, I see Heaven
In your smile,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
Hypnotize
With your eyes,
Blue-Eyed Lady.'
The song went into a piano solo, while Darien continued to lead Serena around the dance
floor. As they danced, a small crowd was starting to form around the edge of the dance
floor, some conversing amongst themselves as they watched the pair dance.
'Now the summertime breeze is blowin'
And you know I'll be holdin' you tight.
Can't you see how much I want you,
And you know I'll be treatin' you right.
'Girl, I see Heaven
In your smile,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
Hypnotize
With your eyes,
Blue-Eyed Lady.
You leave me breathless
With your smile,
My Blue-Eyed Lady.
Mesmerize
With your eyes,
My Blue-Eyed Lady.'
Darien dipped Serena one last time amid applause as the song ended. The pair bowed
sheepishly as the onlookers started to join them on the dance floor.
"Care for another dance, my blue-eyed lady?" Darien asked as he raised one of her hands to
his lips and kissed it.
"Absolutely," she said with a small smile.
**********************************************
Jed sighed as he stepped out of the cab. Stupid Southern Pacific weather. Why the hell did
that storm have to come up right in the middle of his flight's path? Thanks to that storm,
he was forced to spend a couple of days in New Zealand waiting for the storm to abate.
Well, at least he was here now. He was finally in Sydney, Australia, the location of the
seventh and final Nijizuishou crystal.
He was a few days off of his schedule, so there was no time to waste. First, he had to get
settled into his hotel room. Something close to the museum where the crystal was.
Which was why he was here at this moment. After paying the driver and getting his things
out of the cab, he made his way into the hotel.
"Sir, do you need assistance with that?" the concierge at the front desk inquired as Jed
dropped his bags beside him.
"No, thank you. I prefer to handle my own luggage," he replied. "I made a reservation for
a room a few hours ago." He placed a passport on the desk. "Name, Joey Atkinson."
"Thank you, sir," the concierge said as he turned to his computer and looked up the
reservation. "Ah, yes. Mr. Atkinson. Your room will be number 502. I can get you some
assistance for your luggage if you want."
"No, thank you. I'll be fine," Jed said as he picked up his key.
"Very well, sir. Just call 00 if you need anything else," he said as he turned back to his
computer. Jed nodded, picked up his passport and luggage, and left for his room.
He had planning to do. It was time to get cracking.
**********************************************
"Hello?" Christy replied sleepily as she picked up the phone.
"Christy? It's Shingo. We need to talk. Now."
"Shingo?" she said in surprise as she turned on her bedroom lamp and glanced at the alarm
clock on her nightstand. "Why the hell are you calling me at 2:30 in the morning? Couldn't
it wait until tomorrow?"
"No," he curtly replied. "This's about that Project: Total Eclipse we were talking about
the other day. I think I've figured out what this's all about."
"What?!?" Christy sat bolt upright. "Spill it. Now."
"Right. So, I checked out that site you gave me and broke in. Real easy, too. No real
security to speak of. All they had was those custom-made viruses, but I aleady knew about
those, so I was able to get past them easy.
"Anyway, I started rooting around their main access terminal and found nothing, so I moved
on to their file server. After a long search, I found this file detailing plans for a
satellite with a UHF frequency jammer."
"Wait. Don't satellites use UHF?" Christy asked.
"Yeah, mostly for orbital communications. Satellite-to-satellite comms use a lower
frequency since the transmission doesn't have to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. A UHF
jammer would cut off transmissions between satellites and the Earth, but allow
transmissions between the satellites themselves."
"What would the point of that be? If all orbital comms are blocked, then how would they
control their own satellite?"
"I wondered that as well, at first. The specs sheet had some info for it, but not much on
its configuration. The file was also listed as restricted to only Project: Ginzuishou and
Project: Total Eclipse personnel. That's when I started looking for detailed specs for this
thing.
"After snooping around some more, I found another file server that had limited access to
most users on the network I was on. Since I had root access, I was fine. A few minutes
later, I found what I was looking for.
"Apparently, they've designed a bandpass filter which will allow only a certain frequency
through to a satellite that has a UHF jammer. According to a sidenote on another file I
had gone through earlier, there would be random times when the UHF jammer would be stopped
for a few moments - enough to allow a small number of things, like course corrections, or
the downloading of diagnostics reports, and so on. Once the jamming stops, they get into
the satellite through a specific frequency, do whatever they need to, then get out as the
jamming reactivates."
"Okay, so what does this have to do with Project: Total Eclipse?"
"I'm getting to that," Shingo replied. "According to other Project: Total Eclipse files
I've found, there are already five satellites in orbit with these UHF jammers equipped,
each one with a radius of about 3,000 miles, and another one slated for launch in the near
future.
"There's a seventh one also slated for a near-future lanuch, however, this one is not going
to have a jammer attached to it. Furthermore, this one is going to be in a geostationary
orbit over some point in the Mojave Desert. There's some additional equipment in there as
well, however, I couldn't make out what it could possibly be used for.
"At any rate, it seems that these seven satellites are all connected to the Projects:
Ginzuishou and Total Eclipse. Remember when we first learned about Project: Ginzuishou
where that synthetic crystal could be created using the special properties of each of the
seven Nijizuishou crystals and that the best way to extract those properties was in a
vacuum?
"According to that file I read, five of those seven crystals are already up in space and in
position."
"In position for what?"
"There's a secondary function for those seven satellites that were created specifically for
the creation of the Ginzuishou. Once the Ginzuishou is created, six of the seven
Nijizuishou crystals are going to be used as part of the UHF jammer circuits. Due to the
size of the interference fields each satellite can produce, the six satellites can
effectively jam every satellite comm link all over the world."
"My God. Can you imagine what that could do to the world?" Christy whispered dreadfully.
"Complete satellite communications blackout. Almost like a total eclipse."
"Communications between countries would be affected over phone AND Internet. News and other
television networks wouldn't be able to broadcast. GPS systems would fail. Weather
forecasts would be impossible. Militaries would become crippled. Many countries' defenses
would become weakened. Especially ours.
"There would be chaos. Complete and utter chaos."
"This is sounding more and more like some kinda conspiracy out of a James Bond movie,"
Christy remarked uneasily. "I'm just a cop, dammit. What am I supposed to do with this? Go
up to my boss and say, 'Excuse me, sir, but I got this anonymous tip that some guy's trying
to cause the world to collapse by bringing down the world's satellite communications
network. Shall we go bring this guy in for questioning?'"
"You've got me, Christy. However, we just can't keep quiet about something like this."
"Wait. There's this FBI agent I know that's involved in something that might be related to
this. I could try to get in touch with her."
"The sooner, the better," Shingo agreed. "One more thing. There was a mention of another
project having to do with both Project: Ginzuishou and Project: Total Eclipse, but from
what I was able to find, the project was still in the planning stages. As such, it hadn't
even been named yet. All I know is that it has to do with the possibility of combining the
power amplification of the Ginzuishou with the possibility of creating a sort of "combined
amplification network" with the Nijizuishou still in orbit."
"Anything you can find out about that would be appreciated, Shingo," Christy replied. "I'll
be sure to get in touch with that FBI agent as soon as possible. Thanks again for the heads
up, Shingo."
"Just repaying a favor, Christy. All this conspiracy and espionage-type stuff is so
freaking wild! I haven't been this excited since I almost got caught breaking into that one
military bases' network."
Christy laughed. "Well, at least you won't have to worry about moving out of your parents'
house if you get caught. Good night, Shingo."
"Good night, Christy."
**********************************************
To Chapter 41
**********************************************
Author's Note: I am so, so, so VERY sorry for taking so damn long in writing the next
chapter of this story. I've just been swamped with work and other things - not to mention
my other stories (like 'The Brooch', for example). Anyway, I'm going to try and finish up
this story as soon as possible. After all, I'm almost finished. Just a few more chapters to
go. Wow, 40 chapters already. And this story is almost what? Five years old? I really need
to finish this thing up, and soon. Oh, by the way, that song, "Blue-Eyed Lady" by 'Jake
Udall' was really written by me. I figured that I'd just use a pseudonym rather than put
myself into the story. ^_~ Next chapter: Jed makes plans for the heist; Jack and Diane
learn of Project: Total Eclipse; and Darien gets a surprise visit during lunch.
Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.
Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.