[FFML] [Fic][SM][Continuation]newStory5Ch1v0.5

[d rat]

Sorry, don't have a title yet.  i'll have one by next revision.

Sailor Moon and all of it's affiliates were created by Takeuchi Naoko,
and are used without permission.

C&C please.

i apologize in advance about any formatting errors, i cannot acquire a
formatter from out here (Access Denied).

--dunerat

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

"Are you sure?  It's not a mistake in the telescope data or something?"

"Yes ma'am, we're sure.  We exited hyperspace at the correct point, but
Sol is not where it should be.  We have, however, identifies a nearby
system that should be Sol, given it's relative position, similar number
of gravitational objects, and other data."

"I see.  Well captain, move us into position above the system as though
it were our actual destination.  We will make discrete observations and
try to confirm our location before we do anything else.  Will this
require another Jump, or can we make it under normal power?"

"It will require a Jump, but a short one.  It should only take a few days."

"I'll be in my quarters then.  Let me know when we reach our position."

As promised, the trip took only three days, while her skeleton crew
conducted functional checks of the ship's systems.  She wandered through
the labyrinthine passageways of the ship, musing on how it reflected the
mind of her designer.   She was also grading areas in terms of maintenance,
or even outright damage control.  Most of the ship was in good working
order, but there were some disturbing lapses, including a whole compartment
that had inexplicably suffered a hull breach.  Most importantly though, she
was interacting with the crew, trying to boost morale a little now that
they were supposedly home.  She resisted the urge to teleport to the bridge
when her first officer announced that they had reached their destination,
the nadir point of the ecliptic sphere.

"Captain on the bridge," announced the helmsman, a young man from Jupiter.
He'd been hit hard by the death of his Sailor, she remembered.  Well,
they all had, actually, all the more so since it had been Jupiter, Uranus,
and their entire teams.  But especially the Jovians and Urani, since
Sayuri and Oleander had been theirs.  He'd bounced back fairly well,
she thought.

"Carry on.  Commander Crusher, what do you have for me?"

"We've arrived, and this is almost definitely Sol, but..." he trailed off.

"But what, captain?"

"Well ma'am, there's some things missing, for one.  Also, we've had no
 response to our hails as yet."

"What do you mean missing?  Bring it up on the main screen."  He
complied, and she gasped.  The system was... dark.  The star in the
centre was bright enough, of course, but there were no lights on any
of the planets.  Several of them were discoloured, though they were not
yet close enough to tell why.  The most glaring problem, however, was that
one of the planets was missing entirely.  "Locate Luna.  Bring it up on
maximum magnification!"

The view shifted.  "Passive scans also do not detect any holowave
transmissions at all, not even a beacon," Crusher said.  The moon
came into view, split half and half by it's own shadow.  He cycled
through several modes of reception, including heat and exotic radiation.
In all views, however, the surface stayed cold and dark, save the natural
heat of the light side from the sun.  Even at maximum magnification, from
this distance the moon still only occupied the middle third of the screen,
not enough to make out surface details.  But what they could see was
disturbing.  When they had left, Luna had been a green world, mostly plains
and famous for both its beef cattle and its cheese.  Now it was white and
gray, with craters large enough to be seen even from here.

"This...  this can't be right.  Fifty years is not enough time for this much
change!"  She was starting to come loose, she knew.  The general wrongness
of the situation had been piling up, starting with the nagging feeling that
something was missing she'd had since being Awakened.  This was pushing her
limits.  Even the debacle at Gamma Orionus hadn't been this bad, there at
least she knew that she'd done everything possible.  Not quite fully Awakened
themselves, her bridge crew was too shocked to make much sense of it.  Rumours
would be starting soon, she knew, and then her hard earned morale and
confidence would plummet; her grasp on the multi-planet crew would vanish.
"Send probes to the other planets.  Get a definite hold on where we are and
what happened here if this is home.  The Awakening is on indefinite hold until
further notice.  Awaken only minimal required staff and the other Sailors;
have them meet me in my ready room as soon as they are able.  Maintain skeletal
crew requirements until minimal crews are one hundred percent.  Let me know
when the first probes start reporting.  Commander Crusher, you have the conn.
I'll be in my ready room."  She turned and headed into the small room adjacent
the bridge as her first officer acknowledged the conn and began
passing orders.

Once inside, she allowed the stress of the mission and the recent setbacks pile
up and wash over her.  She sat down, laid her head on the desk, and shivered
uncontrollably for a few minutes.  She was famous for being calm under pressure
and collected under fire, but only she and her closest friend knew how
much she'd
paid for that reputation.  Saskia Holtzclau, the 876th Sailor Venus and Captain
of HMS R.Batty, was secretly an emotional wreck who constantly second and third
guessed herself, and suffered through each and every loss every time she laid
down at night.

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

Sabine Mendel, 763rd Sailor of Mercury and the ship's Chief Engineer, slowly
Awakened.  She didn't immediately recognize her surroundings until one of the
ships nurses came into her view.  The events of her life rushed in then, all
trying to reconnect to her consciousness at once.  She mused quietly on how
much she hated the process, despite being quite proud of inventing it with
her friends Sayuri and Katrina.  She swallowed hard at Sayuri's memory and
tried to sit up, only to be shushed back down by the nurse.

"Not quite yet, ma'am.  You'll have to let the restoratives work a little
longer yet.  And I'm afraid you'll still need that cane for a while."

"Something's happened."

The nurse looked nervous for a moment before continuing: "I don't know what
exactly, just that the Captain is quite perturbed."  He wasn't lying, exactly.
But he also remembered Sabine's sharp tongue when her work had been questioned,
so he hesitated to comment on what seemed to be a malfunction of the systems
she had designed.

That information was enough for Sabine, however.  She knew of Saskia's
reputation
as an unflappable, levelheaded leader even in the direst of circumstances.
She'd help build that persona, after all.  Saskia had to be close to cracking
for the crew to know anything of her secret self.  "Where is she?  Is someone
hurt?  An accident?  Why wasn't I Awakened immediately!"  Her voice was dry and
scratchy; she immediately started coughing.

The nurse handed her a sippy cup of water as he tried to explain.
"I'm not sure,
ma'am.  I know that the Awakening was halted by the captain and
changed to essential
personnel only.  She's waiting for all of you in the ready room; you
should be able
to leave in about ten minutes."  Before he could continue, a blue
light began to
flash from the recovery room's alert panel accompanied by a muted
alarm from the
main sickbay.  The nurse barely gave the door time to open, leaving
Sabine alone
to ponder.	

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

In her ready room, Saskia received a similar alert, paging her to medical.  Her
mind whirled in fear as she raced through the ship.  'Please, mother,
not another
one!'  Arriving, she was quickly shown into the Chief Medical
Officer's office.
Her friend Katrina wasn't there yet, herself still being Awakened, but she knew
enough to manipulate the view screen to see what she needed.  She was
struggling
to recompose herself when one of the doctors joined her.

"I'm sorry ma'am, we did everything we could for her."

"What happened?"

"Her Pre-Awakening went normally, but when we moved her into Awakening
State and
her own systems should have taken over her functions, she immediately went into
a massive seizure coupled with total cardiac failure and respiratory distress.
We were unable to calm her brain or restart her heart.  The cause will
be subject
to an immediate investigation, though the staff here has conducted thousands of
Awakenings, so I can't believe it was an error.  However, given that she had no
history of seizures or heart trouble, coupled with the fact that such a
catastrophic systemic failure as a result of Awakening is practically
impossible,
I can't give you a time estimate."

Saskia hid her face behind her hands, utterly failing to hide her
tears.  'Mother,
why?  I was almost home, why are you still punishing me?'  "What of
the others?
Are they alright?"

The doctor's face grew pained.  "All but one ma'am.  I'm afraid that the
containment failed on Princess Uhuru's hibernation capsule while everyone
was in stasis.  She is dead.  I am sure it was quite painless, however."

Unfortunately she could see right through that lie, and they both knew it.
"See to it that the remaining Sailors are fully recovered and then join me in
my ready room as soon as possible afterwards.   Not less than thirty minutes
from now.  Dismissed."

"Yes ma'am."  As he turned and left the room, she laid her head on the desk and
wept for her dead.

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

She tried to maintain her determined facade as she watched her friends enter
her ready room.  Sabine was first, as always, grumbling about the injury that
still required her to use a cane months after.  She was followed my Madelena
de Santos y Rios and Jeanne L'Seine together, of Mars and Saturn respectively.
Close to each other even in childhood, they were also her Tactical and
Operations Officers.  Her CMO was next, Katrina Yesbek of Neptune.  Lastly
came the Ship's Counselor, Jillian Busch of Luna.  She was in a daze, trying
to find her centre amid the wash of feelings from the crew.

"Everyone get something to eat, and then have a seat.  We have a lot to cover,
though there isn't much information.  But we need to all be on the same page
for the sake of the crew."  They all nodded and quietly made their turn at the
replicator, thinking of what they needed to ask, and wondering why they were
still short two faces.

Jillian was the first to speak, her concern echoing everyone's
apprehensiveness.
"Saskia, where are Trill and Uhuru?  Are they not yet awa-"  She broke off,
Saskia's stricken face telling her all she needed to know.  "No..."
she whispered,
her face falling.  "Not them too...."

Everyone realized it what it meant at once.  Then the questions all came at
once, overlapping each other.  "What?  Whappened?  Where-"

"Quiet please!"  Saskia commanded.  'Mother, give me strength....'  "Although
I would have rather gotten to this later, as Captain, it is my first duty to
inform you of the deaths of two of our sisters.  Princess Uhuru was found dead
in her hibernation capsule, apparently the containment system failed somehow.
It was a painless death," she perpetuated the lie, knowing it wouldn't last but
needing to hold the shock as long as possible.

Sabine half rose out of her chair, livid.  "That 's inconceivable.  I designed
those stasis capsules.  They have an operating lifespan of nearly two thousand
years!  There is no possibility of containment failure on a mere fifty year
mission!"

"Sabine!" Jillian interjected.  "We all know and trust your skills and those
of your people!  And I know that you are upset by her majesty's death, but let's
have all the facts first, shouldn't we?  She hasn't even told us where
we are, yet."

Deflated, Sabine nodded slowly and sat back down, mumbling an apology.

"Saskia, you said two of our sisters.  Please continue," Jillian asked.

Saskia nodded, understanding of Mercury's outburst.  Her pride in her work was
a flow they had all grown used to and even come to rely on, especially since
it was rarely misplaced.  "Yes, Lieutenant McMillan suffered from a massive
seizure combined with cardiac arrest immediately upon Awakening.  She died
about half an hour ago."

Katrina started, her mind racing to find a possible explanation.  She knew her
staff, she knew their skills, and she knew Trill's history, yet could find no
obvious explanation.  Not even skipping steps in the Awakening process should
cause such a catastrophic failure.

"The rest of my news is almost as bad, I'm afraid.  We're certain that we
exited hyperspace at the proper coordinates, but everything is in the wrong
place, including the sun.  We're already working on it, but he had to move
to obtain the proper nadir point that we should have had at re-entry.

"How far," Sabine asked.

"Huh?"

"How far did we have to move?"  Sabine's mind was really churning now.  One
error was absolutely inconceivable.  Two was impossible.  But if she knew how
far they'd had to move, she could figure out what had really happened.  True,
Sayuri had been far better at this sort of thing, her purely
scientific background
having a huge advantage over Sabine's own applied sciences in these matters,
but since the Jovian Sailor's death it had fallen on Katrina and
herself to fill
in as best they could.

Saskia could immediately see what her friend was thinking, and hoped it would
start to bring some semblance or normality to the ship.  "Ten point
three parsecs."
The number meant little to most of them without context, but between Sabine and
her inherited Navi-Tography staff, she knew an answer wouldn't be long
in coming.
"Which brings me to my next piece of news: no one is answering our hails.  Not
Starbase Catena, not Selene City Starport, nor anyone else.  No ships,
not even a
police cruiser.  We can't even detect any signs of life.  Luna has turned
grayish-white, and we could see craters.  We are still waiting for the
probes to
start reporting from the other capitols."

Cacophony struck.  Saskia waited a few minutes for it to subside
before speaking again,
suddenly extremely pensive.  "I have also reached a decision.  After
losing two of
our sisters and a full fifth of our crew at Gamma Orionus, I know that
confidence in my command has been low despite having an otherwise
successful mission.
The price was too high.  And as you know, I have never really thought
of myself as
a good commander.  Having now lost another one of our sisters, the
princess of Terra,
and quite likely even more of our crew, coupled with the navigational
error that we
now face, I no longer feel able to continue as Captain of this
expedition.  I would
tender to you my resignation and submit myself to your judgment.  I
would like to
nominate Sabine to take my place."

This time, there was absolute silence, shock clear on every face.
They all knew
that the Venusian was much shakier internally than she appeared.  They also all
knew how much Sabine had coveted the position and how outraged she had
been when
the Queen had appointed Saskia instead.

Sabine spoke first: "Captain, we all know that i was both the first
and the most
fervent doubter of the Queen's wisdom in appointing you to a position
I felt was
rightfully mine."  Saskia swallowed hard.  "But having served with you over the
course of this mission, I can also say that the Queen's wisdom is both
far-seeing
and right-acting.  Of all of us, only Princess Uhuru could have
rivaled you as our
commander, and none could surpass you.  I refuse, both your
resignation and your
nomination.  I am flattered, but you really are the best choice."  The
other women
quickly added their assent to Sabine's declaration.  "Besides honey,
we're almost
home now, right?  It's a bit late to be backing out now!"  She laughed
a little,
in spite of herself.

Abashed, Saskia assented.  "Well, since that seems to be everyone's position,
I suppose I have no choice but to accept.  Now I ask you to finish recuperating
and return to your sections as soon as possible.  We have a very capable crew,
but it will help morale a lot when they see us working with them
again.  Jillian,
if you could please head to Medical with Katrina?  The other essential staff,
especially the Terrans and Lilim, will need your support.  Everyone
else, you know
what to do.

"Aye, ma'am!" they spoke as one.

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