This is a speculative fic about a period of Sailor Moon history not
well covered: The events leading to the expulsion of those whose 
descendents became the Dark Moon Kingdom.  

***********************************************************************

                  Last Tour Before the Last Battle

                                   by

                           Steven P. Cornett



   Sailor Moon and the Dark Moon Clan are the creation of Naoko
Takeuchi.   All rights reserved to whoever have them.

   Comments and criticism welcome.

*****  ***  *****

JULY 23, 2047, 0036 SHIP'S TIME

   "Captain on deck!"  Shouted the chief petty officer as the 
Defiant's commander walked into the bridge of the Prometheus class
naval vessel.  The officer of the watch stood up as the captain said
"At ease," surprised by the captain's presence at this late hour.

   "Mr. Tristem, what is our status?"  Captain Dumond asked the
lieutenant commander.

   "Condition normal, or as normal as one can expect.  We picked
up two Russian Typhoon-II subs, and a British Stealth Frigate, so our
total is now at twenty ships.  It'll be a rush getting them all up to
speed on this, but I think they'll be ready when we encounter the
enemy, Sir."

   "I see.  When do we arrive at the engagement point?"

   "At present speed, we should be in Tokyo bay at about 1300
hours local time.  We can engage the enemy then."  The captain mused
about the last sentence of the deck officer's report.  

   Twelve and a half hours until we dock.  Not much more than half
a day before what was likely the last battle of what would possibly be
mankind's last war.  

   One that, if the UN attack on the former city of Mega-Tokyo
showed, possibly a futile battle.  The captain knew of the fate the 
soldiers who attacked the self-proclaimed Queen of Earth and her senshi
entourage.  Even now, those whose own guns did not explode in their
faces, or whose missiles did not return to the point of fire, were
begin given the Choice.

   Be purified of 'evil,' or be banished from Earth forever.

   Of course, every member of this fleet faced that choice as well.
Every person on Earth was faced with this when the announcement of the
Neo-Queen's ascension first came out.

   "Any sign of trouble?"  Not that the captain thought there
would be.  Most of the nations of Earth were either too busy fighting
each other or too broke to maintain a working fleet to mount a 
resistance against the fleet.  And since no reports existed of a 
Crystal Tokyo naval presence, the Black Moon Resistance fleet was 
practically alone in the Pacific.

   "No military radar signatures detected, sir.  The strange 
thing is that there are no air signatures in our path.  If the enemy
is aware of us, and are mounting a counterattack, they're keeping it
very quiet."  The deck officer reported.

   "Captain, If I may ask, why are you up at this hour?  I thought
you left the deck to get some sleep about six hours ago?"  Tristem
asked with obvious concern.

   "Following an old tradition.  Taking a tour of the ship before
a battle."  Before a hopeless battle, the captain grimly thought.  He 
suspected the rest of the crew shared that notion, even if no one on
board openly said so.

   "Lord Nelson toured his flagship before his last battle with
the French in the Napoleonic War.  He died in the battle, but least he
won the day!"  The officer of the watch said with the obvious pride of
a former British Navy Lieutenant Commander.  Failing to change the dour
mood of the former American, now Army of Resistance commander, he
added, "Just a thought, captain."

   "Appreciated, Mr. Tristen.  What do think are our chances
against the enemy?"  The captain asked.

   "Not good.  Conventional attacks from air proved ineffective
since the bombs exploded in mid air too far above the crystals to 
damage them.  Solders are prevented from entering, and bullets bounce
back from that shield of theirs.  Unless we can find a way to overload
the power of that crystal Serenity has, this may be a short battle."

   "Sounds like you've had enough combat experience to gauge an
enemy well then?"  They all had.  The last couple of decades had seen
the tired old Earth embroiled in wars on nearly every continent.  The
United States fought in major conflicts in Taiwan, Korea, and Siberia
in rapid succession before being forced to fight a war within its own
borders.

   The second American Civil War was a bloody affair, with the
Constitutionalists and Presidentialists using every weapon of mass
destruction remaining in the arsenal against each other.  With the forces
of the former superpower engaged in a self destructive orgy, it was an
easy task for Captain Gregory Dumond to lead a group of mercenaries and
rebels to recapture and revive the submersible carrier for what would 
surely be its last mission.

   The sorry state of affairs in America repeated itself in 
the inhabitable remnants of Russia and Southern India.  The Northern
half of India, much of Tibet, and almost all of Pakistan had been
rendered a radioactive wasteland over a decade ago.

   Except for the members of the Dark Moon Resistance, there 
wasn't much of a military left in the world.  There wasn't much more
of the world left to defend against Serenity, the captain darkly
mused.

   Even the Defiant, the newest vessel of the old U.S. Navy, was
nearly 20 years old.  Yet the submersible aircraft carrier, designed
for quick and stealthy ocean voyages, had patches in the flight deck
from the bombs that fell nearby, and burns on the bow from the tactical
nuclear blast it barely survived in the last days of the Taiwanese War.  

   The ship was still functioning though, and was still battle
ready.  Some of the other ships in the fleet, representing every major
power from the pre-collaspe, pre-Neo-Serenity era world, were quite
frankly barely even seaworthy.

   Whatever the conditions of any individual vessel, these were
all that remained of the anti-Serenity resistance navy.  On the ships
were the last loyal members of the anti-Serenity resistance left free.

   We'll would make a good show of it at least, Captain Dumond
darkly thought.

   "Lieutenant, why did you join our fugitive fleet?"  The
Captain asked.

   "Sir?"

   "Why did you join the resistance?  I've been asking everyone
I've run into on my tour so far."

   Tristen gave a thoughtful stare at the radar console as he
pondered the question.  Please let this be a thoughtful fighter, the
Captain prayed.  

   When he asked his crew why they joined, most gave pat answers
like "What gives that witch the right to tell us how to live our 
lives," or "We have to save our way of life."  Never mind that in a
world where no-one knew if their homes would be standing the next day,
or even if they would get a meal tonight because of the breakdown in
the supply lines, most people believed that anything was better than
they way they now lived.  This feeling was most keenly felt by those 
old enough to know the wealth and comfort of the world in the early 
21st century.

   Others answered that they signed on to fight the last few 
battles of the Twenty Years War.  Those who answered that way were 
mosty mercenaries, fighting for whichever potentate, dictator, or
warlord paid them.  Some wanted to take down Serenity so that they
could continue their trade, but most sadly realized that the age of
war was ending, and wanted to be in one last great adventure before
the final quiet came.

   Dumond thought those were the perhaps the saddest cases of all,
since the world would soon pass them by, and having no need of them, 
would either take away the talents that defined those people, or ask
them to go away.

   Of all the crew he asked, one spoke of the deeper meaning of 
the conflict that drove Dumond to the Black Moon banner.  The one
that spoke of the desire to keep one's essential humanity, both its
positive and negative aspects.  The need to keep the darkness in one's
soul to drive change and invention.  The answer that drove captain
Dumond from his U.S Navy commission to the Black Moon: Society's need
to keep the Ram among the sheep to drive it to achieve.

   The British officer answered.  "Well, if I had to boil it down,
sir, I'd say I don't want to be part of a world where everyone is
'purified' into being good.  Maybe I'm coming at this all wrong, but it
sounds like the world Serenity wants is one of blissful sheep.  Where
would the drive to pursue great deeds come from, the desire to invent
and conquer the next mountain, if not from the same lusts that
can pervert us.  More so, where is the desire to improve ones soul, if
one is always...good."

   "I heard a poem once.  It was a fictional epitaph for a librarian
who had fought to keep the classics in her shelves from being torched
by the good church going townsfolk.  She gave her reason on her
tombstone, on the final line of the poem.  She said that to know what
is good, one had to know of evil."[1]

   "I think I understand."  The captain said with an understanding
smile that beamed his pleasure at finding a kindred spirit.  "Tell me,
Tristen.  Have you ever read 'Paradise Lost'?"

   "Yes Sir.  I always thought Milton was our finest light, Sir.
I sometimes thought he was a finer writer than Shakespeare.  The bard
may make you have sympathy for Brutus, but only a truly great poet 
could make you have sympathy for the devil."  Tristen responded.

   "I agree.  You read that, and you understand where Lucifer is
coming from.  'Tis better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.'  Not
dissimilar to where we are, wouldn't you say?"

   "I think so."  The Lieutenant agreed.  "The way you talk,
you're making it sound like were heading to Armageddon, not
Crystal Tokyo?"

   Captain Dumond gave a bemused grin as he walked out to the
door leading from the bridge to the flight deck.  "Does that mean were
from Gog or Magog?  I thought we came from Midway!"  

   Tristen sadly remembered the scene that greeted the crew of 
the Defiant as they arrived to resupply themselves at Midway.  Where a
strong outpost of the once mighty United States stood, was now the
lonely base with machines and crew abandoned in the Pacific.  The ships
left there were derelict without a stream of parts from the divided 
nation that built them, and the men remained because no-one on either
side of the conflict had the inclination to return them.  Many of the
remaining crew joined the rebellion and helped them strip the base of 
supplies, while the group left a plane with enough fuel to allow the
remainder to return to Hawaii. 

   "We did, sir.  May I join you in your tour of the flight deck?"
the Lieutenant asked his superior officer. 

   "I suppose there's nothing in the tradition disallowing some
company for a bit.  Permission granted!"  The captain walked down to 
the deck as the deck officer grabbed his coat and joined him.

   He came down to the launch bay and looked at the planes still
on the flight deck.  Most used the remaining jet fuel, but a few used
the fusion packs that were the power source of choice in the mid 21st
century.  Even with that, they planes on deck could only afford a few
sorties before the supplies ran low, even with the stop at Midway to
capture the remaining supplies of the crumbling airbase.  

   "Captain, if I may ask, when did you join the resistance?"
The Lieutenant Commander asked from behind the fleet leader.

   "Me?  Well, I was one of the first to join the group.  We
started forming only hours after Serenity annouced her presence.  When
the nations of the world started accepting her as leader, my cell was
making plans for our rebellion."

   "You were one the first cells then, sir?"

   "Yes.  Our miliary group started taking out the Californian
warlords to gain control of weapons and airbases in the west.  We
used those to lauch some of the first strikes on the crystal Tokyo."
The captain glanced at the British officer.  "And you.  When did you
join the resistance?"

   "I joined hours after the Prime Minister accepted Serenity
as his queen.  I realize we haven't had a monarch since King Charles'
death seventeen years ago, but to bow to a foriegn queen...Captain,
our country hasn't been ruled by a foreign power since the Normans
invaded in 1066!"

   "If that was all, I might have accepted our Prime Minister's
acceptance.  There's not much left of the world anyway."  Tristen
glanced at the deck before continuing.  "But when she made clear her
intent to purge evil from Britain, starting with our armed forces...
that was too much.  I joined within hours of that announcement."

   "Serenity wants society to be peaceful and content.  But
society achieves great things due to the *discontent* among us!  Take
that away...and you just have a stagnent society of sheep."  Here the
bridge officer gave a wry grin.  "I'm sorry, but if I want to live 
among sheep, I'd move to New Zealand, thank you very much!"

   Captain Dumond smiled brightly.  "So you're a true believer 
too, eh?  Very good.  Return to the bridge.  I'll continue my tour."

   Tristen turned to return to the con tower.  As he did, he 
shouted out, "Good luck to us anyway.  Maybe progress and invention
will prevail over stagnation afterall!"

   "I hope so.  If not, then we'll storm the gates of the underworld
together!."  Dumond's subordinate stopped short of the stairs, turned
around, and snapped a quick salute to the captain.

   "I'll take the point under your lead, sir!"  Tristen responded as
he climbed the stairs and entered the bridge.  When he was gone, 
Dumond turned to face the flight deck, and the full dimension of
his situation.

   The situation being that he lead a ragtag fleet crewed by a 
disparate group of men and woman, united only in their burning need
to topple a Goddess in her crystal city.  Dumond gazed up at the
flag flown by all the ships of the fleet, whether they were the core
group or the ones who joined en route.  It was a beige flag with an
inverted black crescent.  Some even had a slogan: "Death to Serenity,"
 or the more lyrical (and to Dumond's mind, more romantic) "Sic Semper
Tyrannis".[2]

   "I wonder what they'll write of us when it's over.  Will they
see us as heros or villians."  He said to himself as the morning wind
blew on the deck.  

   As he continued his lonely tour of the Defiant, he realized
that he already suspected the answer to his last question.  

*****  ***  *****

July 24, 2047.  2036 TOKYO LOCAL TIME.

   The battle was over.  Now it was Dumond's turn to stand before
the new Queen of Earth, and make the Choice.

   Purification or Banishment.  

   He knew from the moment he and the fleet set out that it would
end like this, as it had for the rest of those loyal to the Black Moon
banner.  The moment the planes launched their missiles into the city,
only to have them explode harmlessly over it, all doubt vanished as to
the outcome of the battle.  The final injury the once proud Defiant 
suffered came with the shout of "Deep Submerge" from a green haired 
woman in a lovely sailor fuku and short skirt with green collar and 
frills.  At which point the bow was crushed by the giant wall of water
that seemed to smash the carrier's deck at her call.

   It would almost be hilarious if it wasn't such a tragic and
pointless end to the proud vessel.

   As he walked down the crystal hallway to the fate, the fact of
his continued existence most galled him.  In the end, one of the very
Senshi who sent his ship to the bottom of Tokyo Bay robbed him of his
right as captain to go down with it!  

   A young woman with dark (almost blue) short hair appeared, chanted a
phrase, and sent a beam to him that transported Dumond to the dock
where the survivors were being held.

   He entered a large hallway, made entirely of crystal.  A few
feet away from the former commander was Neo Queen Serenity.  The woman
who would be queen of the entire world.

   She certainly looked the part, the captain thought.  She was clad 
in a long flowing white gown, with a crystal crown on her head.  Even
the calm look on her completed the regal image, making her look like
an angel who was above the troubles of mere mortals.  

   "Mortals including himself," the captain ruefully reminded
himself.

   The queen greeted the defeated enemy captain with what the
captain thought was unusual warmth.  "Captain Gregory Dumond, former
captain of the U.S. Naval carrier Defiant, I presume?"

   He always thought that when the moment came, he would curse
and spit at this usurper.  Perhaps ask if she ever had a real man, or
something far less...gentile.  Yet when Dumond met this regal
individual, with sparkling blue eyes and general warmth, all he could
say was, "Yes, ma'am."

   "I don't believe I need to tell you why you're here.  You have
to make a choice.  I hope you make the right one."

   The warmth continued to emanate from the queen, as she waited
for a response from Dumond.  If it was an act, he thought, it was a
convincing one.  

   "Given that you are the head of the flagship that attack our
city, I suspect I know your choice already, but I cannot act until I
know from you what that choice is.  Consider though, that the world
is tired of the wars, of the endless destruction and despair that
threatens to bring a dark age upon the world."  The queen continued.

   "I don't know if you are aware of this, but the reason this
city became a crystal city was to fight a great evil.  One that would
have destroyed mankind and left the world a lifeless hulk for the 
entity to silently brood.  An evil, captain, that the wars and 
destruction you participated in attracted to this world."

   "My Queen...."

   *My* queen?  My god, Captain Dumond thought, she's even got me
bowing to her!  I have to take the initiative, or else I'll become one
of her sheep, just like the mercenaries he saw bow and ask to be
purified.  He'd *want* to be one of her sheep!

   "...Ma'am.  I may be many things, but I was not an evil man.  I
fought the wars my country wanted me to fight, and when there was no 
country I fought for whoever could use my talents.  But I did not 
attract some *monster* to this world.  Whatever you had to fight to get
where you are now, do not blame my men or me for it!"

   "If you are not an evil man, Dumond, why did you attack a city
and a person who only wished to bring peace to the world?  Why not
embrace the new age, and accept purification?  I'm sure that with your
abilities, you would quickly find a place in making a paradise of
Earth."  Serenity responded.

   "Just like the leaders of my country did?  Surrender their
control, their traditions and bow to you like they did?  No ma'am.   I
would rather be banished than be brainwashed!  Than to be...purified!"
Dumond hissed, spitting out the last word.

   "You want to *know* why we fought under the banner of the Black
Moon?  Why we attacked your Crystal Tokyo, even though we knew the
attack was futile.  Yes, ma'am, I knew there was no hope of victory!"

   "I fought you because I believe that the world needs a certain
amount of evil to push it to good, to push it to create.  History shows
us that contentment and peace lead to stagnation and collapse.  Man 
needs to forever grapple with the monsters in his soul, or he loses the
best part of himself.  Without the master struggle, our souls will
wither and die.   We will be left as nothing more than content sheep,
happily going about our business without a spur to invent or create the
world of tomorrow."

   "If there is no evil, there is no reason to be saintly instead
of merely good.   If there is no injustice to fight, what spur exists
to change and improve the world."

   "We intend to build paradise, Captain Dumond."  Serenity 
interrupted.  "If the world is perfect, what need is there to change
anything?"

   "But the world will never stay prefect.  Then you need people
like me and the others of the Black Moon Resistance."

   Serenity's expression changed to that of sadness.  A feeling of
loss pervaded the entire chamber, to the point that even the captain
could feel it.

   "You've made your choice then?"  The queen stated with what
seemed even to Dumond to be genuine sadness and loss.

   "Yes.  I will go to exile with the rest of my crew.  I wasn't
able to go down with my ship, but I can at least join those who 
followed me to wherever you've sent them."

   Sadly, Queen Serenity stepped back from the bound Dark Moon
Resistance Captain, and picked up what looked like a crystalline
specter.  As she raised it above her head, she asked one last question
of Captain Gregory Dumond, former U.S. navy.  "Is there anything you
wish to say before I banish you from Earth, never to return?"

   As the specter came down, glowing with the spell's energy,
Dumond spoke his last words on this Earth.

   "Have you ever read Milton?"

   As Dumond disappeared Serenity could only tilt her head in
confusion over the statement.  She'd have to ask Ami who Milton was
later, when this was all over.

*****  ***  *****

[1] The poem is, I believe, from the "Spoon River Anthology".

[2] "Thus always to Tyrants"

Comments, flames, grunts and loud noises to:
Steven P. Cornett
cornetts@gemair.com