Disclaimer: The characters from Sailor Moon, Ranma, Tenchi Muyo, Utena
and Magic Knight Rayearth are the creations of their respective
creators. No money is being made from this and no such intent should be
inferred.
Author's Note: Whew! Finally Finished this chapter. Enjoy.
***********
According to the freighter's navigation computer, New Atlantis was plain
and ordinary. So plain and ordinary, in fact, that at first, Saotome was
confused at first as to why they had come all the way to the opposite
side of the Cluster from where Chas was, and it had taken them nearly a
month in hyperdrive to get there. There was nothing remarkable about,
not like Chas with its strange planet.
It was then he remembered something his father had told him on one of
their training trips that the quest had began to make sense. An old and
little known legend stated that here had once been a trinity of Higher
Beings who were so powerful that the very universe bent to their
slightest will.
One was a builder, a maker of things. One was an explorer, who could
travel like the brakhawk on wings of pure light. And one was a Queen. A
ruler of unparalleled wisdom and power.
But then, for whatever reason, the explorer and the builder had left,
leaving only the queen. It was from her that the strange and reclusive
Tokimi had supposedly taken their name.
Now, while Saotome freely admitted that he was no genius, it wasn't too
hard to figure out what was going on. The map was in three pieces, and
each of those pieces had been placed somewhere that matched the Trinity.
It was fiendishly simple, actually, once you realized that the legend
was the key. That key unlocked the riddles which in turn guided you to
the map fragment.
"They look like fish," Shidou said as she gathered Ryo-Oki into her
arms. The comment brought Saotome back to the present and he watched,
not without some trepidation, as the elderly cabbit made an odd noise
and huddled into the redhead's arms for a moment before slowly climbing
her arm to sit on her shoulder. No matter how much he told himself
otherwise, Ryo-Oki still looked far too much like a ca-ca-cat for him
not to feel shivers of fear around her.
"They're evolved from aquatic mammals, actually," Utena noted.
"Mammals, fish, whatever," Shidou said, making a dismissive gesture.
"They came out of the ocean, and that makes them fish in my book."
"Your worldview worries me sometimes, Shidou," Ryoko said as they set
out towards the nearby harbor.
"I keep things simple," Shidou said with a shrug. "I eat and drink, I
fight, and when I wish, I fornicate. You spend too much time thinking,
Ryoko. It's allowed you to lose sight of the important things."
"Actually, I used to go through life like that," Ryoko replied. "Then I
was tortured, then rewarded, and then abandoned. Its not a life that
appeals to me anymore." She paused and pointed at a brightly colored
sign. "There."
"What's that?" Shidou asked.
"A sign," Utena replied with a perfectly straight face.
Shidou stared at her for a moment and turned away, muttering darkly to
herself as they followed Ryoko down to the harbor.
The sign belonged to a nondescript Terjurai who rented out miniature
subs for tourists to explore the ocean depths. Gesturing for them to
wait, Ryoko approached him and they launched into an argument within
seconds. They were far away for them to hear the words, but it sounded
like he didn't believe her. Ryoko showed him something on the inside of
her wrist and he immeditly passed something over with what looked like
profuse apologies.
"I hate monks," Ryoko muttered as she rejoined them. "Hand," she snapped
at Saotome, who obediently held out his hand, the first map segment
still attached to the skin. Ryoko laid the segment next to the first one
and both began to glow. A moment later, a holo map formed over his hand.
It looked like an in system navigational chart and a series of
mathematical symbols. The system was a binary star with only one planet
orbiting each star. Both planets had moons. "And I hate haiku even more."
"Haiku?"
"A type of poem," Ryoko said, pointing at the symbols. "Lesee. 'Escape
foiled freedom won. Enslaved again love reborn. Home that you never
left.' Six sylablles on the last one...but eh, she always was a lousy
poet. C'mon."
It occurred to Saotome that Ryoko had just said something very
important, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.
'If its that important, you'll remember,' a woman's voice whispered. 'In
the meantime, stop thinking about it.'
"Miyah!" Ryo-Oki cried.
The voice, Saotome decided, was quite right and he hurried to catch up
to the others, the thought already forgotten.
****
"Earth?" Shidou asked as the freighter leapt back into hyperspace. "What
kind of idiots name a planet dirt?"
"The natives didn't know better," Ryoko said, a trace of bitterness in
her voice. "They were primitive and violent sorts for the most part
until one of them accidentally freed a murderous, genocidal space pirate
from her very long sleep."
"Let me guess," Shidou said sarcastically. "She then fell madly in love
with him, they got married, had kids, and they lived happily ever after."
"No. She was already in love with him. Her body was imprisoned, but her
mind was free and she had watched him grow up." Saotome thought he heard
an odd tone in Ryoko's voice for a moment, but he was at a loss to
identify it. "Unfortunutly, she didn't fully understand the way his
species thought and by the time she did, it was too late. He had given
his heart to another. So she instead stayed by his side as his guardian
until the end when at last they were forced to part ways."
"The Book of Tenchi," Utena said to Saotome's questioning look. "Emperor
Tenchi," she clarified. "Though there's a bit of controversy over how
true it is. One faction argues that this mythical guardian never
actually existed as a Higher Being like Emperor Tenchi would not need a
Guardian, nor would he consort with such a base being. Therefore the
Book is inaccurate and should be stripped from the Articles of Faith.
The other side argues that the Emperor's legendary humility and
modesty could only come from earning his power and abilities.
Furthermore, the redemption of this space pirate proves that redemption
is possible for anyone, no matter how far they've fallen into the
Darkness."
"Why doesn't anyone just ask the emperor?" Saotome asked and then
blinked as Shidou and Utena gave him horrified looks. "What?"
"The emperor and empress have not appeared in public for nearly fifty
thousand years," Ryoko said, turning in her seat. "They don't need to.
The government more or less runs itself. The empire doesn't have any
significant enemies, and the economy works. What would be the point?"
"But what does this Earth have to do with it?" he asked.
"If the Book of Tenchi is to be believed," Utena said. "Earth is where
Tenchi was born. Serenity, too, supposedly. You don't want to hear the
arguments over that one, believe me."
"Bollocks on the whole thing," Shidou grumbled.
****
She had been nervous about stopping, but she had insisted. She had to
admit that the camoflauge was inventive, even for her, but that hadn't
allayed her worries about being found. Unfortunutly, her hands were
tied. She checked the cargo and saw to maitenence.
At least there was always something to do around here.
****
"So this is the Earth system?" Saotome asked as the freighter dropped
into normal space
"Nope," Ryoko said as she brought the main engines online. "Sol system.
The humans gave each planet in the system a different name as well as
naming the sun. Their race had three different names as well. Humans,
Earthlings, Terrains." ("How the hell did they keep it all straight?"
Shidou demanded.) Ryoko pointed at the smaller blue-white star on the
navigation display. "That used to be a gas giant that didn't quite
ignite when the system was formed. Then some genius got the idea that a
ninety million pound hydrogen bomb might give it that kick. Fortunutly,
that planet," she pointed at the one orbiting the yellow star, "was well
on its way around the star and that saved it from being fried." With the
exception of that other one, which was just too damn far away, all the
others were destroyed when the new star ignited."
"So that's Earth?" Utena asked, pointing at the yellow star's planet.
"Yep."
Utena fell to her knees, eyes closed, and began praying quietly.
****
Ryoko cut the engines as the freighter settled on its landing legs in
the middle of what had once been a garden. In the distance, they could
see the white crystal of what had once been a palace, now in ruins
caused by time and neglect.
"So where do we go from here?" Shidou asked. She shimmered slightly
behind the energy suit that protected them in the airless vacuum.
"Not sure," Ryoko said, scratching her head. "The piece should be up
here because the planet itself makes this airless rock look--" She broke
off as Utena lunged forward.
"This is a holy place!" she hissed as Shidou struggled to hold her back.
"Speak respectfully!"
"Trust me, Utena, nobody respects Serenity more then me," Ryoko said and
turned towards Saotome. "Hand." Saotome obediently held out his hand,
but the map only showed the navigation chart. "Shit."
"So now what?" Saotome asked.
"I guess we'll just have to go through the palace. Hate to damage it,
but we have to have that piece."
"No!" Utena broke free of Shidou's grip and ran to stand on the path,
sword in hand. "No! I forbid it! This is holy ground!" Her eyes blazed
with fanaticism.
"Um, Utena?" Shidou asked.
"Silence!" Utena shrieked. "You profane the name of the Senshi whenever
you get the chance! I will not stand for it! Not here! Never here! I--"
"Shut up and turn around," Ryoko snapped.
Utena turned and stared at the woman walking along the path towards
them. She was tall, with bronzed skin and dark green hair. She wore a
white blouse with a wide collar and her skirt was black. She wore boots
and long white gloves and in one hand, carried a staff shaped like a key.
"The Gate Guardian," Utena whispered.
"Took you long enough," the woman said with a smile. "I was beginning to
wonder."
"We had to make a few stops along the way," Ryoko replied. "You have the
piece?"
The woman shook her head. "No. The piece was moved centuries ago. I will
show you the way." With that, she walked past them and up the
freighter's ramp.
"Ryoko?" Shidou asked. Ryoko shrugged, obviously confused.
"Coming?" the woman asked.
************
Saotome sighed as he made his way towards the lounge in search of water.
Lately it seemed he was spending most of his time in hyperspace and he
was starting to get sick of looking out his cabin window and seeing only
mottled sky.
True, he was thrilled to be on a mission with the Senshi, but he could
not shake the feeling that they, Ryoko especially, were keeping secrets.
'And why shouldn't they?' asked a woman's voice in his head. 'Its not
like you're one of them. You still have a long way to go before that.'
"It's good to see you again, Setsuna." Ryoko's voice floated out of the
lounge door, freezing Saotome in his tracks. Quiet as he could, he moved
next to the door and listened.
"Likewise, Ryoko," Setsuna replied.
"You didn't think I could do it, could you?"
"Are you sure they're the right ones?"
"A broken pillar, a fallen clinging to her tattered faith and the dual
gender. Yep--" Ryoko's voice broke off and then she started talking
again, angrily. "Don't look at me like that, Setsuna, I'm not the one
who wrote the procephies."
"But it falls to you to interpret them them correctly."
Ryoko let out a loud sigh. "All right, I have doubts, okay? There, I
said it. Happy?"
"I am merely concerned. It could be centuries before conditions are
right again and Kagato's turning over entire systems trying to find
Helios. If he gets his hands on it before she's awakened..."
"I know! I know, I know, I know. The entire galactic cluster is screwed
over royally. God."
"Is the boy aware?"
"Of what he's in for? Hell no. He's too damn arrogant and self centered.
He was going to fight three duels to the death when I found him. With
us, no less. Of course, I didn't know about the other two duels when I
challenged him. I was just going to conk him on the head and keep him
under." There was the sound of something being poured into a glass.
"Quite frankly, we got lucky. If that captain had waited any longer
before deciding to follow that homing beacon I left, he and Shidou
would've been fighting and my hands would have been tied."
"He hardly seems arrogant and self-centered."
"He better not be, I've laced his food with enough Zic to turn Sherlock
Holmes into an incurious slug."
"Zic?"
"A drug. Makes you docile and suppresses curiosity. And I've still had
to add a few mental blocks."
"He will not be pleased if he finds out."
"So long as he stays docile and incurious until she wakes up. After
that, he's her problem."
"He has his eyes."
"I know, they're so much alike it's scary."
"And the other two?"
"I've told them we're looking for a weapon that can take on Churchworld
and I've laced their food with Zic as well. Neither one is asking too
many questions, and I like it that way."
"She will not approve."
"I was told what to do, not how to do it. I have them and we're on our
way to the third piece. Once we have Helios, this whole chicken-shit
parade is more or less over and I'll actually have the time to mourn."
"Is that so?"
"Don't play the fucking Oracle with me, Setsuna. Maybe the wise and
omnipotent act fooled the others, but I know a scam when I see it."
"As you say. In any case, the boy is gifted, I'll grant you that, but
he's hardly up to her standards. Considering his mother--"
"Leave Nodaka out of this, Setsuna."
"She--"
"Her death was an honorable one."
"Ryoko--"
There was the sound of a glass hitting the table and Ryoko's voice took
on an ugly note. "No, you listen Setsuna. You may be older then the
fucking universe or whatever but you don't know a damn thing about
humans."
"Terjurai," Setsuna corrected. "They're called Terjurai now."
"Whatever. The point is, you have to finesse them into stuff. You should
know that better then anyone, or need I remind you what happened you
tried to browbeat Usagi into ressurecting the Moon Kingdom exactly as it
was?"
"Point taken, Ryoko."
"Damn right..." Ryoko sighed. "I wish this whole thing was over,
Setsuna. I..."
"Not all of us have that pleasure, Ryoko. Some of us must remain. To
guide, if nothing else and the choice is not always ours."
"I know," Ryoko said. "I know. But I can dream."
"As can I."
No longer thirsty, Saotome crept back to his cabin where he sat on his
bunk and stared at the wall until he fell asleep.
When he awoke, he remembered only a pleasant night's sleep.
**************
"Its like Ptolemy on crack," Ryoko murmmered as they stared at the
navigation chart. The system was a triple star, each one with nine
planets, most of them gas giants, each with twenty or so moons whirling
through space, the planets sometimes switching stars they orbited in an
insane dance of cosmic ballet. It hung in the air between the desk and
engineering console, a series of gems in space.
"The system is listed as Alexander," Shidou said from her seat. "Nothing
valuable and no native life forms. About the only thing of note is that
somebody obviously went nuts when the system was being formed. There's a
few navigation beacons, a couple of abandoned mining enclaves, but other
then that, there's just us."
"So where do we go from here?" Ryoko said to Setsuna.
"I'm not sure," Setsuna admitted.
The map on Saotome's hand held no clues and Ryoko swore and turned to
the console to her left. "Well there has to be a clue here somewhere. I
refuse to believe that we came this far, only to run out of directions."
"Start with the names of the planets and moons," Setsuna said, moving to
join her.
"Ya think?" Ryoko snapped.
"Might as well see what's been happening in the Cluster," Shidou said.
Then moments later, "Ryooookooooo?" The name was spoken with so much
terror that everyone turned to look. Shidou's face was pale white and
even her hair seemed several shades lighter.
As she was closest, Utena scrambled to look and her face turned white as
well. "Owing to the..." Utena swallowed hard and then started again, a
slight tremor in her voice. "Owing to the recent coup attempt as well as
the foiled assassination plot, the Senshi are ordered to be disbanded
and all officers have been imprisoned pending an investigation into the
corruption. All Senshi are ordered to proceed to the nearest Temple and
surrender their weapons and tunics. All duties of the Senshi will be
assumed by the soldiers of the church until further notice. Refusal to
comply will be considered an act of treason, punishable by death. In
Serenity's name, High Priest Kagato, Interim Prime Minister."
"SHIT!" Ryoko screamed, slamming her fist down on the arm of her chair,
which crumpled under the blow.
"It gets worse," Utena said.
"How is that possible?"
"That was a month ago."
"No. Not even he's..."
"This is dated last week. 'To deal with the rebellion, Emperor Tenchi
and Holy Serenity have given Kagato full emergency powers. In that
regard, The Senshi have been declared a rebel organization and all
members and allies are to be shot on sight.' And then there's just a
note...about...about how the rebellion has been dealt with."
"What does that mean?"
"Essentially, Saotome," Ryoko said, "It means we're all that's left."
Silence reigned on the bridge after that save for the background hum of
the engines, the whirr of the ventilators and the breathing of the five
people. After an hour, Saotome found his attention drawn to the holo of
the system, still spinning merrily in the middle of the cockpit. There
was something...
The middle star.
He stood up and walked directly into the holo, trying to piece together
what his unconious mind was screaming at him.
"Saotome? Hey! Saotome!" He looked up to see the others staring at him.
"You okay?" Shidou continued. "You've been standing there staring at the
holo for the past thirty minutes."
"I'm not sure...probably nothing. Never mind."
"No." Setsuna's voice cracked like a whip. "Don't dismiss it, talk your
way through it."
"The middle star..."
"The star or its planets?"
"Planets...yeah, the planets." The other two stars and their planets
vanished and the holo enlarged, showing the middle star and its planets
in greater detail.
"Alexander B," Shidou said. "Yellow main sequence star. AKA Genghis."
"Keep on it, Saotome," Setsuna said. The others had gathered around,
trying to see what he saw. Almost as though called, Saotome paced the
edge of the holo, staring at the image. Something didn't fit. Something
was off.
His father had often talked about patterns. Everything had a pattern.
Even martial artists. A kata was nothing more then a pattern, a rythmn.
The body was full of rhythms. The heart beat in rythmn. You blinked in
rythmn. Breathing.
Rythmns and patterns.
"There." Saotome said, stabbing his finger at the seventh planet in from
the edge."
"Solomon," Shidou reported as the display changed again, now showing the
planet and its two moons whirling erratically about it. "Gas giant, high
sodium content, two moons--well, they're more like planetoids, really.
Damn things are huge. The white one is Charles, the rose-colored one is
named Diana."
Ryoko joined Saotome at the map. "Oh, I see it now. Good eyes, Saotome."
"Excuse me?" Shidou said. "Mind filling the rest of us in on your little
revelation?"
"Its Diana," Ryoko said. "Its erratic orbit's too precise. Or rather, so
erratic it's more like an act. Its the only thing out of place and that
mean's that it's the clue we need." She scratched her head. "So where
does this put us? The only Diana I know of was the moon goddess Diana of
myth. It seems a little blatant to me."
"Its a pretty rose color though," Shidou noted.
"Princess of Wales," Setsuna said. "England's rose."
"A princess of fish?" Shidou asked.
"Oh right," Ryoko said. "The so called people's princess who...could
have been...queen...of..." She looked at Setsuna, then at Saotome then
back at Setsuna.
'Real funny, Setsuna. I'm laughing so hard I can't even fucking breathe.'
Saotome blinked. He could have sworn he heard Ryoko's voice, but her
lips hadn't moved.
'It was efficient,' Setsuna's voice replied. Her lips hadn't moved
either.
As Saotome tried to figure out if he was going mad, Ryoko turned to the
com console, taking a data wand from under her tunic and plugging it
into the input slot before keying for transmission.
"Nav beacon detected," Shidou said a moment later. "Cords on your end,
Ryoko."
"Then let's do this," Ryoko said and the engines howled.
***
The source of the beacon proved to be a small metal door set into the
floor of one of the planetoid's many craters. It was surrounded by a
docking collar that easily mated with that of the frieghter's.
Shidou and Utena immeditly left the bridge as Ryoko switched the
frieghter's systems over to standby and then stood. For a moment, just a
moment, she seemed almost ancient, and then that vanished as she walked
over to Setsuna and Saotome."
"Any regrets, Ryoko?" Setsuna asked.
"Too many to count," Ryoko said and let out a weary sigh. "But I can
live with them." She reached into a bridge locker and took out a red
mask with strange markings on it.
"What's that?" Saotome asked.
"Cryosuit mask," Ryoko said softly. "Keeps your face from freezing off."
Her lips twisted in a smile that was both pained and amused and then she
all but threw the mask back into the locker and took out a small bundle
instead. "Let's go," she said curtly." As the locker closed, Saotome
caught sight of a sheet of paper attached to the inside of the door and
he could have sworn he saw his face staring back at him.
****
As they neared the docking collar, there was an animalistic howl and
then a thud. Breaking into a run, they found Shidou slumped against the
wall, Utena crouched over her. Shidou's left hand was burned black and
tendrils of smoke rose off it. Ryo-Oki sat nearby, watching them with
pale golden eyes.
"Some kind of security system," Utena explained. "She tried to open the
door and it burnt her hand with enough electricity to throw her back
through the collars."
"I'm...fine..." Shidou mumbled, struggling weakly to stand and failing.
"Jus gimme a minute."
"Impatient," Ryoko muttered and grabbed Saotome's wrist, hauling him
down through the collar.
"Um, Ryoko?"
"She didn't have the key," Ryoko said and wrapped his left hand around
the lever. "Pull," she snapped with such authority that Saotome found
himself obeying without fully realizing it. The map glowed with
brilliant colors, a sharp tingle ran up his arm and he felt a burning
sensation in his forehead.
With a hiss, the latch released and the door slid upwards, as Ryoko
pushed him forward. That first hatch proved to be one of several, each
one equally thick, all sliding noiselessly open.
"Carry her," Ryoko barked. Utena picked up Shidou as Setsuna grabbed
Ryo-Oki and followed Utena down the tunnel, pausing only to seal the
frieghter's hatch behind her. Then they made their way through the small
hatch, the doors dropping into place behind them as soon as they walked
past.
They emerged into a wide open area. Plants in pots stood on either side
of the door like guardians and a large painting hung on one of the
walls. To the right, a huge window ran the length of the wall, plasteel
shields obstructing any view. Ahead of them, another door and lying on
the floor next to it, a small medikit.
Ryoko picked up the medikit and handed it to Setsuna. "Treat her," she
said sourly.
"So this is the weapon?" Shidou asked as Setsuna began to wrap her hand.
"This is what we've been searching for?" The pain was already
disappearing from Shidou's face and she stood shakily on her feet.
"This is the Helios," Ryoko said. "You should--" She broke off as the
interior door hissed open and something hurtled out of the opening
straight at Ryoko...and passed right through her and tumbled onto the
floor. "You're a hologram, Mihoshi." Ryoko said sourly.
"Oh yeah." Getting to her feet was dark-skinned woman with yellow hair.
She wore the formal Senshi uniform. A High necked Jacket and pants both
in pristine white. Both the jacket and pants were trimmed in orange, and
her knee-high boots were also orange. "Forgot about that."
"What a surprise," said another voice. Standing in the doorway was
woman. Her hair was teal colored and fell over one shoulder. She dressed
identically to Mihoshi except that her uniform trim and boots were both
a fiery red. "You'd forget your own head if it wasn't fastened to the
rest of you. Her arms were crossed and she studied them all with a cool
gaze that left Saotome feeling as though he had been filed, stamped,
indexed, briefed, debriefed, and numbered. "Hello, Ryoko, Setsuna."
"Kiyone," Ryoko replied
"What in the hell?" Shidou asked as Saotome heard the hum of a plasma
pistol being primed." As the sound of a priming plasma pistol was
"Omminous Hummm", he swallowed hard and turned to find Shidou pointing a
plasma pistol at them with her good hand. Next to her, Utena stood,
holding an unignited sword. Both women wore suspicious expressions.
"Okay, Ryoko," Shidou said. "This thing is supposedly as old as the damn
Empire, it has supposedly been hiding here for thousands of years, and
those two greet you like an old friend. Call me crazy, but I think you
owe us all an explanation."
Ryoko glanced at Setsuna who gave her an amused smile. "The decision is
yours, Ryoko," she said.
"Thanks," Ryoko said sarcastically and looked around at them all.
"Kiyone, we'll need a lounge."
Saotome blinked and found himself standing in a small clearing. A brook
ran through a small channel, babbling as it poured over rocks. Next to
it was a circle of chairs and couches around a wooden table. An
arrangement of snacks had been laid out on the table along with drink
pitchers and cups. Birds chirped merrily and the air was sweet and fresh.
"What the?" Shidou gasped, looking around wildly. "How?"
"Mass Transit," Setsuna replied, pouring herself a drink before sitting
in one of the chair and crossing her legs. "You wouldn't have left the
lounge otherwise." She cradled the staff in one arm and sipped her drink
reflectively as Ryo-Oki moved to sit in her lap.
"Sit down, all of you, and then you'll have to bear with me. It's a
little hard to talk of this after keeping quiet for so long."
"Save the dramatics, Ryoko," Shidou said, but she and Utena both sat
down on a couch. "Just tell us what's going on."
"I'm going to, Hikaru. I'm going to tell you what I should have told you
both twenty years ago and again when Saotome joined us back on Japan.
I'm going to tell you everything."
-----------------------------
-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://livejournal.com/users/pandoras_closet
http://livejournal.com/community/aberdawnknights
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