Levar,
The story looks good....the 3- series looks very good.
I look forward to reading more of this...
--------
From: LeVar Bouyer
To: ffml@fanfic.com
Cc: vnaqvi@hotmail.com; smfanfic@dscribe.com
Sent: 5/7/98 7:34 AM
Subject:[FFML] [FF][SM] Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 302
As I have a calculus exam to take in twenty-five minutes, this will be
my
final post from the third floor of Funkhauser Hall (future posts coming
from home or the first floor of Funkhauser Hall. Summer break is
coming, and while I doubt it will be as prolific writing-wise as last
summer was, it'll still be a doozy.
Since I'll most likely be next checking my mail after having totally
bombed said exam, I'm going to break personal tradition and ask that you
be nice. If you're going to nail me about errors, could you at least be
humorous about it? It's asking for a lot, but those who have taken
college calculus know what it's like. :)
Calc....ah...the days that once were. ^^; I liked calc...fond memories
of high school calc too ^^
========================================
302 and I'm already running out of cute introductions. Yeah, this'll be
fun.
========================================
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion
A fairly original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer
Episode #302: The Wild Wild West
========================================
San Diego, California District, American Confederation
4 January 3035 CE
Kelly Grain was twelve. She had been born and raised in what
had
once been, and now was again San Diego, raised just a bit away from the
Pacific. Her life had been wholly unremarkable since her birth in 3023:
she'd gone to preschool and elementary at the proper times, watched the
usual programs, and like most young girls (and in the latter case, not a
few boys), she absolutely adored Neo-Queen Serenity and Sailor America.
She watched the anime exported from Crystal Tokyo, a children's
show that purported to show the day-to-day life and misadventures of the
Neo-Queen herself, along with the darling of the Western Hemisphere,
Sailor America. It was wildly popular among American children (and in
all the other nations it was shown in, except for Japan itself: it
wasn't shown there), and the related merchandise sold like hotcakes.
It would be safe to say that their popularity exceeded that of the
current president, David Ronowski.
Don't tell me....the anime was 'dubbed' by Dic.
All this explained why she was sitting under a blanket at the
intersection of 18th Street and 5th Avenue, trying to gather heat from
the small heater she was sharing with the rest of her family, all under
the few stars that still shone at three in the morning.
Kelly Grain was sitting alongside the route that would be taken
by
Serenity in her first appearance on the North American continent, and
that made it a rather valuable piece of real estate.
***
A few kilometers away and a couple of hours later, Neo-Queen
Serenity was watching news coverage of her visit. All the nets were
still
replaying the tapes of her arrival the previous evening, even as she
awoke early to prepare for the day's activities.
Yawning, she watched herself step down from the plane, flanked
by
Mars and Mercury. She had waved to the crowds that had gathered,
smiling as a contingent of Sailor Scouts handed her a bouquet of
flowers. The Sailor Scouts were the 31st century equivalent to the Girl
Scouts, named because some enterprising youth worker realized the
fascination the senshi held for American children and decided to cash in
on them.
Serenity's smile had been especially big as she looked upon
their
uniforms: more modest versions of the sailor fuku worn by her
protectors, with skirts that reached down to the knees, and without the
tiara. Jupiter had insisted that it was a mockery of the Sailor Senshi,
but Serenity didn't mind too much. In her opinion, it was better than
burning them in effigy, which had been known to happen before.
Why Jupiter ? She's got beautiful legs... ^^
On the screen, the image of Serenity walked down the steps,
still
waving happily and dressed in her formal white dress. She had reached
the
bottom of the steps, where she had met the President. The light-haired
man
had smiled and bowed in the Japanese style, which managed to win a smile
from Mercury. Serenity had bowed slightly as well, and then surprised
the
President as well by taking his right hand and shaking it firmly.
Oooh oohh! Looks like the AC prez is 'bowing' to Serenity ne ?
The media people just ate it up.
"Enjoying the show?" asked Endymion, just stepping out from the
shower and putting on a robe. He wouldn't be going with his wife on the
parade; he was scheduled to do a couple interviews instead.
"Hai," she replied. "Aren't those scouts so kawaii?"
"Erm...hai, Usako." A thousand years had made him very good at
dodging difficult questions from his wife. He went to a drawer and
began dressing. Today, he thought, I'll go with the black pants, and
perhaps
the Order of the Crescent Moon. It always looks better on camera, I
suppose....
"Perhaps we could form a similar group in Crystal Tokyo, ne?"
Endymion was saved from a potentially embarrassing situation by
a
knock at the door. It opened to admit Sailor Cassiopeia, the future
head of Her Majesty's Department of Public Relations. She had just
flown in that morning from Crystal Tokyo, and she looked it. Only the
natural composure that came with being a senshi kept her from looking
like the frazzled PR secretary she should look like at the moment.
"Your Majesties," she said, bowing. "Serenity-sama, you're
needed
down at the parade route. Half the continent's media force is down
there begging for poses, and I had to give them to a few. It'd be nice
if you were to come down, I think."
Serenity smiled. She smiled a lot, but this particular one was
a
smile of appreciation. It would seem that in her tutelage under Sailor
America a bit of the brunette's familiarity had rubbed off.
"Well, we mustn't keep the public waiting, must we?" She turned
and gave Endymion a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you soon, ne?"
***
About one light-second away, two others were watching the events
on the net. The cameras were presently showing the outside of the hotel
where Serenity was staying, and the crowds that surrounded it.
"Don't you wish you were there?" asked Sailor Orion with a
smile.
"Nope," said America. "Cassiopeia is welcome to that headache."
"Aw," said Orion playfully, "you know you miss being in the
thick
of things."
"Yeah, I miss it like I miss a missile launch." She floated
back
to her red cushioned seat. The shuttle was about half full with
tourists and fleet personnel, most of whom were towards the back of the
craft. Orion and America were alone in their row, and a lone woman in a
rumpled fleet uniform was the only one in the row behind theirs.
"How do you think she'll handle things?"
"Pretty good, I think," said Sailor America. She pulled a
handlink from nowhere and started leafing through news coverage of the
visit. "She reminds me a lot of myself, actually. She'd make a good
American."
Yes, she'd make a damn good American, the brown-haired senshi
thought. That's why she was given no time to prepare, no time to talk
things over with me before leaving, no time to do anything but board the
plane half asleep and go to work on no rest at all. After all,
Americans are used to being in a hurry, right? "It's so damned unfair!"
"Nani?" Orion looked up from her own handlink, from which she
had
been reading a few memorandums.
"Whoops." How much of that did I say aloud? "Oh, nothing.
Just
thinking a few things through."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Nah," America replied, matching Orion's painfully forced
Midwestern accent. "I'm all right."
"Are you sure? I'm sure you could take some medication or
something if you're feeling queasy...."
"Oh! Oh, no, I'm fine, really." Obviously Orion thought her
problem was related to her latent fear of space travel, or more properly
her general feeling of being uncomfortable.
Perhaps I should tell her?
No. She's got enough to worry about as it is. I'll have time
later. She turned back to her handlink, leaving Sailor Orion to her
thoughts.
The redhead had plenty of them.
Okay, so Lieutenant Ijiri will have to be transferred from
engineering to life support because Yuhara is going on maternity leave.
That leaves a total of five positions to be filled in engineering.
Personnel is going to balk if I ask for anyone higher than G-3 status,
so I'm going to be stuck reviewing files and making sure that the
potential choices will work out well. I can't leave that to the chief
engineer; he's not really a people person, he wouldn't know what was
good for his own self.
She sighed deeply. Together with all the other openings, that
made a total of thirty-six headaches to deal with alone. But she would
handle them. She had to. She was Sailor Orion, and dammit, she was
*not* allowed to fail.
But some sleep would be so much nicer....
***
"Mr. President."
"Your Majesty."
The two met in a small anteroom a few meters from Serenity's
waiting procession. A short distance away stood Sailor Venus, Sailor
Mars, and two corresponding bodyguards for the president. Other than
that, the room was empty.
"Your Majesty, I regret that we must part ways so soon after
your
visit, but as you know I have many pressing obligations. Running the
largest confederation on Earth is hardly an easy task."
"Of course," said Serenity, looking and sounding sincere. Mars
could barely contain herself; something *had* to be up. If she was in
Ronowski's place, she wouldn't leave the queen unattended like that for
a
second. "We shall meet again at...."
"Chicago, I believe. I think you'll like it; the view of Lake
Michigan is rather nice, especially at low tide. You can see the old
buildings of Evansville peeking up from the surface if you arrive during
spring tides."
"I look forward to it," said Serenity politely.
"As do I. I must be off. Sayonara." He bowed, pivoted, and
walked out. His black-suited bodyguards bowed as well and left.
Hmmmm...can heads of State do that ? It would seem that Serenity, as a
Queen and head of State, the protocol might call for her to nod, and
leave
the room first (leaving the President to stew in his anger for a little
while ^^)
Mars let out a sigh of relief.
"Nervous?" asked Sailor Venus, smirking.
"Not at all," muttered Mars. "Just because we're taking
Serenity
into the public of a country which three hundred years ago put a *death
warrant* on her head is no reason to be upset!"
"Three hundred years is a long time, you know. There aren't a
lot
of people around who were alive then."
"*I* was." Venus blew a sigh. The awkward moment was
interrupted
by Sailor Cassiopeia, who chose that moment to burst into the door.
Mars, in a sudden attack of precognition, got the fleeting impression
that the senshi would be making a habit of this.
"Your Majesty, the procession is about to begin. If you could
come down, please? We have to take care of some preliminaries
first...."
"Hai."
***
Neo-Queen Serenity stepped into the limousine. It was of a
special design: open-topped to allow maximum visibility, yet with a
clear casing to thwart snipers.
Then again, with the painstaking effort put into security, it
was
unlikely anyone within a kilometer had so much as a water gun available.
That went for the President's security detail as well, a detail that had
been argued over for the past year. The senshi had been adamant; it
would only take one psychotic security guard with a bullet and a clear
shot, and then all bets were off.
As long as there isn't a theater or a book depository nearby,
Serenity's
safe.
This meant, of course, that the senshi had to take over guard
duty
and crowd control for the now-impotent AC regulars. The brightly-
colored sailor fuku were everywhere: on the rooftops, along the route,
walking alongside the limousine. The exact number there was classified;
media estimates were anywhere between twenty and a hundred.
They were all necessary. A couple million people had crowded
into
the city for the occasion, and the number alone made Mars and some
others cringe. The number of senshi made many in the NAC military
cringe; they *were* sailor *soldiers*, after all, and one doesn't allow
a large military force into one's country without sweating it out a bit,
no matter what the reason.
But of course, there were extenuating circumstances.
***
On the moon, the shuttle passengers were adjusting to lunar
gravity after landing. There had been occasional proposals to give the
moon a full gee of gravity, but they were always struck down. There
seemed to be a natural charm in having a nearby satellite with a gravity
one sixth that of Earth.
If there was such a charm, Sailor America was blind to it as she
hopped about a bit in the terminal. The ceilings were a bit higher to
accommodate those who might not have been on the moon before, and the
brown haired senshi was using every centimeter of it.
"Don't worry," said Orion, "you'll get used to it."
"If you say so."
They made it to a set of couches, America bouncing all the way.
Orion added it to the list of things she had to ponder: why was her
lover acting as if she'd never been here before? Stress, or was it
simply psychosomatic?
The television screens were showing more video of Serenity.
"Parade's starting," said America, trying to appease her stomach. "This
should be fun."
***
"My, this is fun," said Princess Usagi Small Lady Tsukino from
her
purple-upholstered armchair.
"Nani?" asked Sailor Mercury, who hadn't been paying attention.
Instead, she had been reading an English language AI trade journal.
Admittedly, it would have been childishly simple to get the Japanese
language version, but she liked to stay sharp.
"Sitting here. Watching television. Not seeing the crowds."
"Security," said Sailor Altair from the window. They were in a
hotel room across the city from the parade, and almost equally as far
from Endymion. "If something should happen to your mother and father,
you'd be in charge, you know."
"Hai, hai, but how likely is that?"
"As long as there is the possibility that-"
"If you're so worried about possibilities, why did you let
Mother
even come here?"
"Because she wanted to," said Mercury softly. "We were all
against it. But your mother thinks that her presence can change things
here, and as long as she's got that hope it's rather hard to say no to
her."
"Well then, if you'll allow Mother to go out there, you can
certainly allow me!"
"That's precisely why we *can't* allow you to go out there,"
replied Altair. "We're taking a fantastic risk having her parade down a
major city like this, and we'd rather avoid compounding that!"
"But I'm the princess! If I say I want something, it's got to
be
done, ne?!?"
Usagi very nearly said that. But she didn't. She'd learned
that
lesson quite a long time ago. With power came responsibility, and she
knew that she couldn't do anything she wished. There were expectations.
Obligations. Commitments. Trappings.
She sighed. No wonder her mother had always wished for a normal
life.
The heaviness of the crown upon the head....
"Fine, I'll stay here."
"That was never in question," said Altair. Mercury gave the
black
haired senshi a warning look, and Altair bowed her head in submission.
"Daijoubu," said Mercury. She turned to Usagi. "Remember,
you'll
have plenty of chances to grab the publicity before this is all over."
It was Mercury's turn to receive a glare.
"It's not all publicity, you know. There's the actual idea of
seeing the country? Mingling with the natives? You know, stuff that
tourists are supposed to do?"
"You'll have time for that too. Beginning in...Reno, I think."
"Hai." Usagi's attention returned to the television. The
parade
was now turning a corner and winding its way down towards the bay. The
waters of the bay were bluish-gray, with only a few sparkles as sunlight
struggled to get through the high clouds. The crowds paid it no mind,
though. After all, the real action was happening on the streets.
***
"Look at them. It's about to rain, and they don't give a damn!"
"Um, actually sir, I believe the rain won't begin for another
thirty-six hours according to the meteorological department."
General Jeffrey Black scowled at his adjutant. "Bloody meteos,
never get anything right anyway. You ask me, it's their fault it's
always so cold." He sighed. "That's not the point, however," he said,
toying with his thick mustache. "The point is that that bitch is too
popular."
Lieutenant Aaron Lewin looked a bit apprehensive. "Sir, aren't
standing orders-"
"You know as well as I do how much standing orders are worth.
I'm
the commander in chief, I think I get a bit of leeway. Don't you?" The
threat was clear.
"Um...yes, sir."
"Good." The man with salt-and-pepper hair turned back to
watching
the screen. The two were in his office, a rather cold and utilitarian
room. It had one wall of glass that overlooked the Cave, the rabbit's
warren of chambers, tunnels, and bunkers that lay somewhere beneath the
Rocky Mountains, north of the Columbia River. It bore a slight
resemblance to the United States' old NORAD headquarters in Colorado,
but since the destruction of that base in the Formation Wars American
military planners had bad memories of that area. So when it came time
to build a new headquarters, they had chosen some place further north,
and had then taken the further precaution of building two decoy bases,
making sure the three were widely spaced. And as if that had not been
enough, the locations of none of the three were made public.
It was the most secret room in the world, or at least as secret
as
anything could be in the world of the 31st century. Of course the
planners had known that the location would be found out; it would be
underestimating any potential enemies to assume otherwise. So they had
taken a further precaution and lined the entire thing with layer after
layer of concrete, lead, rock, water, and whatever could be found to
insulate against any imaginable force.
....and there's a sign outside saying: Secret Room #4 ^_^;
The truly frightening thing, General Black thought, was that the
protection was also there to protect the outside world from whatever
might be unleashed inside.
"Too much power, I tell you, and we're inviting her right into
our
midst."
"The plan accommodates that, sir."
"The plan never works. If three thousand years of military
history hasn't taught us that, nothing will. But no matter. Are the
Calgary papers ready?"
"Um...." Lewin went to a terminal and started tapping away.
"Fraunhofer's team is still working on their estimates, but everyone
else is ready, sir."
"Good. I hear Calgary has some nice local restaurants?"
Lewin, a Calgary native, smiled. "Best in the world, sir.
Barbecue that has to be tasted to be believed."
Levar ! I like Calgary! Don't do tooooo much damage.
"Ah." He chanced a smile. "Perhaps we should get there a bit
early, ne?"
Lewin wisely overlooked his commander's slip in using the
Japanese
syllable. "Yes, sir. In fact, I could recommend-"
"Attention, attention. General Black, would you please come to
section W immediately. General Black, would you please come to section
W immediately. That is all."
The PA fell silent, as did the two men. "Project Heartbreaker."
"Yes, sir. You don't suppose anything's gone wrong?"
The general stood and walked briskly out the door and down the
hall, with a speed that made him seem younger than his sixty-two years.
"Of course something's gone wrong," said Black to his adjutant, who was
struggling to keep up. "You know those scientists: never happy unless
they're screwing things up!"
You mean that he didn't know of Murphy's corollary ?
If you're on a roll...nothing ever stops for you!
***
"Stop the car."
The driver blinked, as did the senshi around Neo-Queen Serenity.
"Nani?"
"Stop the car, please," Sreenity repeated.
The driver, a civilian whose extensive training and high speed
and
evasive driving had won him the spot as chauffeur for the trip, looked
at Sailor Mars for advice. Mars nodded her head slightly, and the car
stopped, as did the rest of the procession a couple seconds later.
"I'd like to get out, please." She held up a hand; she could
see
that the other senshi in the vehicle (Venus, Mars, Cassiopeia) were
aghast. "I have to attend to a matter of foreign relations." Mars was
the only one ready to complain now, and the expression on her face
showed that she had plenty she wanted to make clear. "If you like, you
can come with me."
Mars sighed; was there no hope? For the sake of the kami, why
did
Serenity insist on seeing how far she could push her umbrella of
security? If she hadn't known the queen for a thousand years she'd
swear Serenity had a death wish.
"Very well. But we'll all come with you."
The doors opened, the shield came down, and Serenity stepped
out,
her senshi flanking her and trying to look calm. Serenity had no need
to try to look calm; she knew what she was after.
She made a beeline for the edge of the route. With a gesture,
she
had a couple guards remove the barricades that blocked the crowd from
the road. For their part, the people were stunned that the most
powerful person in the world was just a few meters away, and drawing
closer. There was no need for the senshi to hold them back; the crowd
was doing a good job of that itself.
But Serenity noticed none of this; she was looking at one person
in particular. She found that person, and without the slightest
hesitation crouched down to look at her in the eyes.
"Hello," said Serenity in accented English. "What is your
name?"
Somehow the girl managed an answer. "K-Kelly Grain, Your
Majesty," she said. She started to curtsey, then stopped in the middle
of it, unsure of whether or not she should have done so.
Serenity smiled that famous smile. "No need for that," she
said,
gently helping Kelly up to full height and brushing back her chestnut
hair. "Just call me Serenity."
"Yes...I mean, hai!"
Serenity smiled even more broadly at that. "You're a very cute
girl, ne?" she asked in Japanese.
"Hai, so desu ka." The Japanese came as a struggle to Kelly,
but
she managed it.
"They teach them so young," she said in an aside to Sailor
Venus,
who smiled in return. She turned back to the girl. "You...you remind
me of my daughter when she was your age," Serenity said in English
again. "You're a good girl for your parents, aren't you?"
"Mm-hm," she replied, nodding. Behind her, her mother and
father
positively beamed with pride.
"That's good. Keep it up, okay? Ganbatte." On impulse she
gave
a hug that couldn't have been done for any better visual effect if it
had
been choreographed, and that would be flashed on every news network on a
dozen planets within a couple of days.
***
"Ha," said Sailor America from her vantage point on the moon.
"Sailor Cassiopeia's job just got a lot easier," she said, smiling.
"You can't *buy* PR like that.
"Orion?" She looked over at the redhead.
She was fast asleep.
====================================
I finished this while listening to Suki to Itte for the nth
time,
which may account for the warm and fuzzy feeling towards the end.
Anyway, we're already 1/8th of the way through. Isn't that exciting?
Of course not. But I thought it was worth mentioning anyway.
The Sailor Scouts were intentional. But you knew that.
=======================
Begun: 16:15 04/17/98
Finished: 18:36 05/06/98
Final draft:
--
LeVar Bouyer -makenai.
Finger l_bouyer@csunix1.lvc.edu for URLs and such | Libertas per
veritatem
Moonie code (0.11.11) SM:5+F:sMe++[+]In>+[++]D:sUr>--[-]Ne>--[-]O:d+o+
P:a19:s6:w-:eBKg:hBk-:y-:r+|+ cs01a on Undernet
#sailormoon
Hmmmmm....the three series already has 301 and 302....will this
be another weekly release Levar ?
Helen :)