Author Notes & Disclaimer:
LeVar Bouyer has a philosophy I really agree with in principle -- you should write your story completely before you start posting segments of it. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t work for me. Some writers may find the actual writing to be the greatest challenge; for me, it’s developing the plot and characters. Once I’ve got all that figured out, I’m quite happy to NOT write the actual story just for my own amusement. So to get motivated, I need to talk about the story and hear what people think of it. Subsequently, writing a fanfic that could end up the length of a standard novel without any feedback just doesn’t work for me.

Therefore I’ve decided to start releasing Mythic Sailor Moon even though it’s only about half-way written. I hope I have enough episodes finished to keep the flow steady, perhaps a part every two weeks to a month.

Mythic Sailor Moon is the sequel to Minako: Warrior Princess Sidekick, and therefore builds on its continuity. It could be labelled as a fusion with Xena , however that is not the main focus of the sequel and this story. The show Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi, while Xena Warrior Princess was created by Bob Tapert and the folks at Renaissance Pictures. Characters and elements from both shows used without permission, but for non-profit fan-related creative material only. I.e., call this the "Standard fanfic disclaimer." There may also be some cameo appearances from other anime or shows, which I will credit later to avoid spoilers.

Mythic Sailor Moon

The sequel to Minako: Warrior, Princess, Sidekick

Episode One
Prologue in Five Parts! Our Story Begins Anew!

Prologue the First

The Royal Citadel, Planet Nemesis,
Crystal Era

Hino Rei was sound asleep, finally. The past two days had been a nightmare and she hadn't slept since arriving on Nemesis with Aino Minako, only 50 or so hours earlier.

The unexpected arrival via teleport of Neo-Queen Serenity & the rest of her court had made things extremely complicated. True, it had been a rescue mission to save Minako from Chaos but it still brought all Earth's real power right to the doorstep of their defeated enemies. Some of the Nemesians had thought they were being counter-attacked and it had very nearly gotten out of control. Thank the kamis their native guide had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to be a proponent of the more peaceful faction. Most of the court had piled into the shuttle she and Minako had come in and high-tailed it back for Earth. That left Sailors Mars and Mercury to hammer out peace accords and bring the situation under control.

Rei's sleep wasn't a gentle healing rest. She'd crashed, hard. So when there were some muffled sounds outside her room's door, she didn't hear them. When a deep smoke came rolling under her door and reformed into a shape easily described as a ninja, she didn't stir. The figure glided silently across the floor, as if its feet were actually still fog. The room would have been pitch black, except for one tiny crack of light coming in from the slightly parted curtains. It wasn't enough to raise the ambient light of the room, but it was enough to glint off the knife the assassin was carrying.

The figure glided to Rei's bed. Her head was turned aside on the pillow, her hair tumbling in rivulets of darkness across the white pillowcase. The figure moved the knife to her throat to make one clean, fatal cut.

The door slammed open and electric brilliance filled the air. Rei's eyes flipped open, and she felt the knife at her throat. Fire exploded from her, igniting the bedclothes and scorching her would-be assassin. Even as she surged upright in bed, the transformation completed and she was Sailor Mars. Her eyes adjusted to the light even as she swung off the smoldering ruins of her bed.

The assassin had recoiled and was holding up her injured hand. Rei gasped when she saw that the assassin's blade had melted under the flare of her power and dripped onto her hand. The woman's eyes locked onto her and they flared an unhealthy orange light. Her human façade faded in the blink of an eye and revealed a humanoid figure with rounded stumps where hands should have been. An orange gem was set into her forehead. She grinned wickedly and blades extruded from those stumps, twice as long as the dagger had been.

"Quietus!" the droid hissed gleefully. An energy blast smacked it in the forehead, knocked it's head back a bit and seemed to stun it.

"Now! Sailor Mars!" came a familiar voice from behind her. Rei inclined her head, struggling to concentrate.

"Mars. . . Flame SNIPER!" The firey arrow also struck the droid in the forehead, right on the jewel. It let out a strange noise like a jammed electric motor, and vaporized to a crystal residue which fell to the floor. A moment later, the gem in its forehead blackened and fell down into the pile of crystal ash.

Mars stumbled as the room seemed to tilt around her. It took precious willpower to hold onto her transformation.

"Easy! I've got you," said the Nemesian who'd guided her and Minako to Wiseman's castle. He helped her over to a window seat. The air was full of the unpleasant smell of burning synthetics. "Hold on, let me grab a fire extinguisher and put out your bed," he said and dashed out the door. Rei took a deep breath and propped herself against the cool glass of the window. A few moments later he returned with an odd, oval-shaped device. He twisted the top off and it started spraying foam. The bed was out in a second. Rei looked out the doorway and noticed the guards outside her door were laying in the hallway with their throats cut. She shook her head. This place was even more screwed up then she'd suspected at first.

More guards arrived. Orders were issued. She idly noticed one guard messed up and threw a 'yes, milord' at the guide. "Bingo," she thought. "He IS 'old government' but apparently a sympathizer. Figured. He disappeared when the Queen sat down to do some initial talking. And all the paperwork that got handed over just went somewhere." Now she had a pretty good guess where -- or rather, to who.

"We'll move you to better rooms, Sailor Mars," he said re-approaching her. Her unpacked luggage had already been picked up by guards and carried out the door. She smiled and nodded. She felt lightheaded and dizzy from her sudden wakeup and henshin, but she was up to playing this game. He offered an arm, which she declined, and they walked to a different wing of the citadel. Her baggage was waiting outside the double door. He unlocked the room with a thumbprint. "This is my suite," he said. "I've got a parlor area, so I'll sleep on the couch, you take my bed. I guarantee you, there won't be another assassination attempt. Not tonight, at least."

She smiled, and nodded lightly as she walked past him, and nonchalantly said, "Thank you. Milord." He sighed in resignation.

"I thought you might have heard that," he replied as he carried her luggage in.

"What the HELL is your name?" she demanded, rounding on him.

"Topaz."

"Topaz. That's a precious gem." She looked at him sharply. "You're royalty?"

He smiled wryly and nodded. "Of a sort. I'm quite illegitimate. But with the legitimate princes dead at Wiseman's hands, I have had SOME influence of late. I wouldn't count on it lasting too long though. I'm not really of the popular mindset, being a peacemaker and all. Though, you should know, Sapphir and I were of a like mind on a lot of things, including that we couldn't trust Wiseman." He checked the door and made sure it was locked, and then turned back to her.

Rei nodded. "It isn't in the report, but when Sapphir died, he'd completely thrown off Wiseman's influence. His mark had disappeared." Topaz' eyebrow shot up at that.

"Hmm. That was one thing he didn't agree with me on -- he allowed Wiseman to augment his powers. I guess he regretted it later."

"Augmented? Your people had natural abilities to start with?"

"Yes," he said hesitantly. "More or less. Wiseman found those of us with talents and gave us names befitting our powers and our stations. As I was illegitimate, and intended to be a Sub-commander, it caused a stir when I got a gem name. I don't think Wiseman liked me, I don't know if he was trying to curry favor with King Carnelian or if, in some twisted way, he was mystic enough he HAD to give me the 'right' name, but it happened." He gestured for her to sit down on the couch and she did, yawning. "Unlike my half-brothers, I didn't undergo his power augmentation process. Poor Karabas, her powers destabilized and faded, and she ended up with none. But Heliotrope, what happened to her was horrible! My own powers are pretty unstable, I got out of the process based on that. Heck, you're lucky I was able to focus that energy blast. That wasn't an ordinary droid. It was an assassin-roid."

Rei nodded in acknowledgement, and considered his words. "Heliotrope . . . died?" she asked. He nodded.

"Her body couldn't handle the dark power and her cell structure simply broke down." He frowned; Rei looked queasy.

"I'm sorry, I'm keeping you up much later than I should. I can sense how low your reserves are. But I wanted to go over this report your people gave us." He pulled out a datapad while Rei mulled over his 'sense' comment. She also didn't mind looking at him. Topaz, like Dimando, was a very handsome man, and quite muscular as well. Sort of a cross between Dimando and Tigerseye.

"Do you know how accurate this account is? Because I'm finding a larger number of troops uncaptured than I would have thought," he began.

"It should be fairly accurate, though Mercury could confirm that better than I," she replied. "There's still some skirmishing going on. Though your princes were killed by Wiseman in the past, we haven't been able to prove that to them." He nodded.

"Well, what I'm more concerned at is that the Sub-Commanders aren't listed here," he said.

"Oh! They should be, let me see." He handed over the datapad and she skimmed it. "Here, the official report. Beruche, Petz, Cooan, and Karabas remained in the past where they've been assimilated into the population in 1993." Topaz blinked.

"I said Sub-Commanders. Not the Special Field Agents. I'm talking about Citrine, Peridot, Jacinth & Hyacinth. Rubeous and Esmerodoo's backups."

Sailor Mars looked at him in shock. "We haven't met anyone by those names!"

Topaz stared back at her. "But, really, they're our field commanders . . . Sailor Mars, all four of them have powers!"

"Powers?" she yelped.

"Yes! The Ayakashi sisters never really had THAT much going for them. These four belong in the same category as Rubeous and Esmerodoo. Peridot is actually stronger than her sister but much less mentally stable; the zircon twins are each powerful but together they're stronger than Rubeous. Citrine's about on a par with Esmerodoo but he's really smart and has some good, useful psychic powers too!"

Rei cursed. "No wonder the remaining troops are giving us such a headache . . . oh no, the Queen's not safe!" she said, jumping to her feet and turning for the door.

"I advise against that," Topaz said levelly.

She turned to him, slowly. "Are you saying you'll stop me?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. I'm saying that the part of my powers that I can really count on is my ability to gauge other people's energies and I'm well aware that you're this close to losing your transformation as Sailor Mars." He made a pinching gesture with his fingers. "If you walk outside that door, and collapse, I can't guarantee your safety. If you call your Queen on an open channel, I can't guarantee your OR her safety. If the Sub-commanders were to know their existence is a secret, they'd immediately strike. Their powers pooled, there is no doubt in my mind that they could get in the palace and take your queen out. They might not live, but they could do it. I figure that the energy shield that went up around the palace as our blitzkrieg got underway was the work of you senshi. You fueled the defenses with your own powers for several DAYS. You are almost completely burned out. I do not want to see this turned into a bloody massacre. If you don't mind my pushy suggestions, I think that you & I should get on a shuttle tomorrow, with Mercury, and hightail it to Earth. I can play ambassador and maybe pull some of the field troops in."

"Huh," said Rei as she yawned uncontrollably. "I want you to know that I'd never agree to something this easily if I weren't in pain from lack of sleep. Tomorrow." She trudged to the bed, got in it, dropped out of her transformation and was out cold within seconds.

Topaz rubbed his forehead. The makeup covering his black crescent was starting to itch. He grabbed a blanket from the dresser and lay down on the couch. "Lights," he said and the chamber dimmed.

"MAMA! MAMA!" squealed the pink-haired moppet as she ran into the Queen's throne room. Her mother greeted her with a gentle, indulgent smile as she looked over to her daughter.

"Yes, Small Lady, what is it?" Neo-Queen Serenity asked. Small Lady stopped a bit short of the throne and curtsied. The Queen smiled. Her daughter had grown much in the last few months, both physically and mentally. Her trip to the past had been a true balm for the troubled child.

"Look what Pu gave me!" she said, holding out a simple round brooch with a heart on it. Neo-Queen Serenity blinked once, but her smile was unwavering. The Luna-P bobbed into the room after its excited mistress.

"I see! Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes! She said if I can use the magic brooch then I can be a Sailor Senshi too!" The Queen smiled and nodded. She was not happy with the idea of her daughter getting in a fight, but her kidnapping by Wiseman had taught them that the young princess needed to be able to defend herself. "Moon Prism Power, Make UP!!!" yelled Small Lady. Amazingly, the prism radiated pink light and a moment later the princess had become a miniature, pink version of her mother's incarnation as Sailor Moon. "I did it! Yatta!! Sailor . . . um, um?"

"Sailor Chibi-moon!" the Queen laughed, clapping. "Excellent! The realm has another defender! Your father will be so proud of you!"

The little girl's face fell. "Can I go see Daddy?" she asked gravely.

Neo-Queen serenity nodded. "Yes, but only for a little while, sweetheart." She stood up and took her daughter's hand. They proceeded to the infirmary where King Endymion still lay in a near-coma state. He had frequently manifested his astral self, but at the price of delaying his own recovery.

Later, that evening . . .

The Queen was seated on her throne once again. Beyond its ceremonial functions, it was usually a good place for her to sit and think.

Somehow, Sailor Pluto ALWAYS knew when to find her there. "Hello Setsuna. What brings you here so late?"

Sailor Pluto walked in and knelt at the throne, the Time Key Staff held crosswise. Serenity idly noted that she was very good with it. Of course, considering the little bombshell Minako had dropped, it made sense. She's really had a LOT of practice.

"My Queen, I am here to report on my recent activities."

Neo-Queen Serenity lowered her gaze in surprise. This was not Pluto's typical behavior. "Yes?"

"As you know, I have begun monitoring the past in synch with this time. I recently noticed a turbulence beginning to form in the timeline. I investigated it and was lead to a sensitive young woman. My queen, I must report that another one of the Outer Senshi, Sailor Neptune, has re-awakened."

"MICHIRU?" gasped the Queen. "Oh, you mean in 1994? Of . . . ALREADY? What about Haruka, Uranus I mean?"

Pluto nodded her assent. "Her partner has been located and is just about to awaken as well. Neptune seems to have some level of clairvoyant power and has sensed a crisis approaching the Earth from outside the solar system." Pluto paused and considered. "But apparently the Inner Senshi of that time have not."

"Actually, Rei has begun to have comparable visions," commented Serenity, "but she has been unsure of the source and has not shared them. There will come a time when it seems appropriate to you to pool information, and that is when her knowledge will be revealed by the Garnet Orb."

Pluto nodded. "It is times like these that I regret that I did not awaken to assist you when you and your court were reincarnated. Living between these two eras, reaching back to participate after-the-fact, as it were, and striving to avoid Paradox is sometimes extremely difficult. However, if this new crisis, this turbulence I have seen, is as powerful as I suspect, it could mean another alteration in the timeline. "

The Queen nodded in agreement. "The power being sought in the past is great enough to eradicate Paradox and compel the timeline to change. Ironically, the re-awakening of Uranus and Neptune is the key to both preventing the Silence and to bringing it about."

"What?" exclaimed Pluto. "The invaders are after the Ginz . . . no! the Sacred Chalice of the Moon?" she asked, properly horrified.

"Yes," the Queen replied. Pluto sighed and put her hand to her temple, as if in pain.

"My Queen, I sense a crisis approaching this time as well."

Serenity looked extremely puzzled. "A new crisis is going to menace us here?" Pluto nodded. "That IS unexpected. VERY unexpected."

"Majesty, you know what the menace in the past is. Would the Small Lady be safer in the earlier timestream? With eight Sailor Senshi and the Prince to protect her?"

"Indeed, Pluto. And our earlier selves would have the time to train her that our present selves do not." The Queen nodded at the tactical board, which held a map of the world, marked to show areas where there were residual forces from Nemesis, along with local in-fighting. Central Europe was a mess. Consequently, the senshi had been run ragged traveling around the globe and doing what they could to bring order to the chaos. She met Pluto's gaze quite levelly. "Indeed we have taken GREAT PAINS to keep certain information, and certain PEOPLE from her." Pluto's eyes widened as she got the message. She bowed once more - really, it was almost a curtsy - and departed at the nod of the Queen's head.

Endymion's spirit materialized beside her. "How are you darling?" he asked her.

"I should be worried about you, not the other way around," she said. Ghostly lips kissed her check.

"Mamo-chan, it's scary what you can do as a ghost!"

"Embodied Astral Projection."

"Ghost."

"Yes, My Queen," he said grinning. Serenity made a mental note to have Ami-chan turn his shower water ice cold someday for this. She smiled. He noticed.

"I do feel sorry for Setsuna though. I always thought she knew what was supposed to happen . . . but WE are the ones with the detailed knowledge," she commented.

"True," he agreed. "But remember, once she's in the past and the Grail is summoned from . . . wherever . . . "

"I know," she said. "All certainties are gone. It might not happen the same way. She might die in the explosion. Hotaru might not break free of Mistress Nine's control. I might not give up the Chalice, or might do so too early."

"Haruka and Michiru might have a lover's quarrel," Endymion said wryly and grinned.

The Queen made a scoffing noise. "Ha! Fat chance of THAT element of the timestream changing!" She began to giggle at the expression on his face. "Get well soon, Mamo-chan," she whispered to him. "I really need to wipe that expression off your face." He grinned more, still as handsome as ever, and bowed, blowing her a kiss as he did so. Somehow, a handful of rose petals fluttered out of his hand. His astral image faded leaving Neo-Queen Serenity alone. She got up and walked toward the door. She had to go to her study. It was time to send Minako and herself a little note.

She forgot who she was writing to and had to erase the kanji.

Groaning, moaning retro-techno-darkwave sounds filled the crowded club. A throng of bodies writhed in the heat of the dimly lit dance floor, with only an occasional flash of lights from the club display striking any of them. In the midst of this, an etherial yet sensual woman in a poet's shirt, tight pants, and chic boots danced. A couple of soldiers wearing UN forces patches were dancing near her. In the dim lights of the club, it looked like she had an odd shade of red hair.

It was actually light green.

"Do you want to go outside and have a party," she nearly yelled into one of the men's left ear. Over the din of the music, he could barely hear her. Her French accent was low-class Parisian. The soldier, a strapping farm boy from Croatia grinned. He didn't speak French, but he understood "party." She grinned, impishly at his two friends and tossed her hair before sidling off the dance floor.

They emerged from the back door of the club and slipped down the alley a bit. The soldiers were patting each other on the back, congratulating themselves on getting lucky. She reached the end of the alley and looked around. She and her three admirers were alone.

"Boys, I've been such a naughty girl," she said in French. "I forgot to properly introduce myself!" she flashed her best come-hither look at them and raised her flattened palms to her forehead, fingers crossed, and then spread them apart with a quick gesture. There was now a Black Moon symbol on her forehead. "My name is Peridot! And you're mine!" Flourescent green light flared in the back of the alley. The soldiers never got a chance to make a sound.

"Poppa!"

"Hotaru," wheezed Professor Tomoe, "I'll be all right, just let me rest. I'm just feeling my age."

Hotaru scowled as her father sank down on the small boulder, his frail frame shuddering. Once again she cursed the fact that the Silver Crystal had not prolonged his life in proportion to her own. They had both been hosts to alien life forces intent on conquering the Earth, but she had discorporated her own body and reformed in a state of purity, all the scars of her childhood injuries wiped away in the process. Her father had not achieved such a state and apparently resisted the crystal's influence. She knew he thought of it as a just punishment. Therefore a few decades after the events of her childhood had seen her as a ravishing beauty of apparently 22 years of age. Her father, however, had aged about normally. While that aging had been suspended during the Interregnum, he was still physically in his late sixties and in rapidly failing health. Of course, she was convinced, if she was still Sailor Saturn in truth, she could heal him. Perhaps even regenerate his age. He looked up to see her scowling and smiled.

"Hotaru, you shouldn't frown. You're too lovely to spoil it with a sour expression!"

"Poppa..."

"We have to accept what is. I'm just happy to be able to spend this time together with you."

"Don't speak that way Poppa!"

"It's all right child, it won't be too much longer until your mother and I are together again. " Hotaru looked away, a pained expression on her face. When she looked back, she forced her face to be bright and cheerful.

"It's a good day to work Papa, I'm glad we're together!" and then she gently hugged the old man, and blinked to hold back the tears.

"I'm glad my knowledge can be somewhat useful to you," he said as they broke the embrace.

"Of course you're important Poppa! I couldn't do any of this without you! I can sense there's something around here somewhere but I can't focus on it."

"It's probably shielded," he said. "I've been thinking. Perhaps there's an old Earth base of the Silver Millenium here. Can you imagine the technology that might be hidden?" He eagerly began to speak of the many wonders he speculated they might find. Hotaru smiled with happiness at her father's excitement. He forgot the aches of his body and threw himself into his work. He took out the parchment scrap that was left from the Covington expedition. They could see part of a disk edged with familiar colored gems or stones. Once again he explained to Hotaru how he thought the pattern was very similar to a henshin brooch and she nodded dutifully.

Later, she got back to work with the pick and shovel. At 5:30 she unearthed the edge of the disk they were looking for. It was affixed to a stone slab sealing the entrance to the ancient site. She hurriedly uncovered more of the doorway. Her father fumbled beside her, trying to help clear away some of the smaller chunks of clay that she hacked off. An hour later, they had the doorway uncovered, and the disk fully revealed. Strangely, there was a hand print in the middle of it.

"It's a combination lock of some kind!" he gasped. "But what could the order be?"

Hotaru stared at it thoughtfully for a moment and then placed her hand in the depression. "Of course. The Inner Senshi. Blue - Mercury; Yellow - Venus; Red - Mars; Green - Jupiter." She turned the wheel in sequence; there was a click and the slab released itself and swung back, revealing a narrow stairway down. Professor Tomoe's eyes were wide and shining. "Poppa, let's take a break, eat something, let the fresh air in, and then we can go in with flashlights. We've been working at this for weeks, we can wait a few hours." He nodded his assent.

By 8 PM they were descending the stairway, each holding a powerful flashlight, Hotaru with a backpack of supplies and equipement. She'd changed out of her dirty coveralls into khaki slacks, boots, a camp shirt, and a linen jacket. Professor Tomoe was still wearing a white linen suit, a shirt and tie, and had his best cane for support. Holding hands, they descended carefully, wary for traps.

They reached the first chamber in relatively short order. There was a broken statue in the middle of the room. It had been apparently been broken off at the feet as part of the feet and legs were still standing upright. They could tell it was of a woman, who had apparently been carrying a staff tipped with a crescent moon. Some of it was totally rubbled though, as if it had been blasted. Tomoe started excitedly. "See!! A crescent moon! This place must be connected to the Moon Kingdom!!"

Hotaru nodded absently while turning her head this way and that. There was a low resonance in the back of her mind, like the susurration of the wind, but it seemed to echo; she couldn't fix a direction. Was it a trace of the Saturn power? It had been so long since it had been a part of her she couldn't tell. She tried to remember the feel of the Saturn power, but it was something you couldn't remember, like an intense sensation.

"Hotaru!" she blinked at her father's yelling, and slowly turned to face him.

"Yes, Poppa?"

"You've been standing entranced for over five minutes."

"Oh."

"Let's try this way, I suppose it's as good as any." She nodded her assent and they set off down the passageway. "This looks like work from the Mycenean era," he commented as they carefully proceeded. "Archaeology and Greek history aren't my strongest suits, but all the research I did before we came here seems to be sticking in my feeble old brain." Hotaru made a disdainful noise at the 'feeble old brain' comment. Tomoe Souichi smiled.

After a few minutes he paused. "I need to rest a bit my dear," he said, seating himself on the edge of an alcove.

"Go ahead Poppa," said Hotaru as she scanned the nearby walls with her flashlight and peered at the delicate engraving edging the walls. Her father noticed that the tip of one of the twin torch sconces flanking the alcove was a bit out of alignment and absentmindedly reached out for it. It moved at his touch, and he gave a startled cry as he felt the wall behind him shift with a grinding sound. Hotaru whirled to see the back of the alcove complete the process of spinning around. It now held a rack of scrolls, and half of a wide, flat, metal band was nestled among them. Tomoe had leapt to his feet and had a hand to his chest as he gasped for air.

"Poppa, what's this?" she asked as she took the metal fragment into her hand.

"Hmm. That looks like a chakram, sort of an Indian equivalent of a boomerang if I remember correctly," he said. "That's odd. That doesn't look like bronze at all." Hotaru turned the half-chakram over in her hands. That resonance with the Saturn power was rising again, starting to sing within her. It was like she could see the wind blowing through the chambers, threading a specific pathway in her mind. "Come to me, yes, this way, come to me," it seemed to call wordlessly.

Her father began examining the scrolls as she absently turned away and began to take her first step in the direction she felt the sensation pulling her. The hand holding the chackram fragment seemed to raise of its own accord.

"I'm glad I brushed up on my linear-B script," he commented to the empty room. "This is fascinating! This scroll tells the story of a reformed warlord, a woman named Xena!" he absently brushed his white hair out of his eyes. The sudden breeze had blown it there. He set the scroll back and looked at the array. Surely the scrolls must be in order; there was a reason they were here. The beginning or the end though? He took out the bottom right-most scroll and began scanning it over.

Hotaru found herself entering a chamber with a large stone sarcophagus, decorated with paintings of a war between the gods. There was a large gem mounted into a small obelisk set atop an altar on the back wall. However, she had eyes for none of this; she did not even notice that torches on all four walls had blazed to life when she set foot in the door. The other half of the chakram was on the sarcophagus and she almost flew toward it as she felt the two halves attract like magnets. The two pieces clicked together and the chakram became seemingly whole. Then it began to vibrate silently in her hand and power came spiralling forth.

Hotaru began to scream as bands of violet light and inky blackness exploded from her, rotating around her in a violent storm of power. She had felt this before: the moment that the Holy Grail had been summoned into existence, and like then she was hammered to her knees. But this time, she knew what it was. It was the Saturn Power and it wanted expression through her.

In the distance her father heard her and came running as fast as he could. The Saturn Power hammered at her, demanding her form to use. How could she have forgotten? It was like a breaking tide, an earthquake, a typhoon, a blazing firestorm, a tornado, an atomic explosion. It was so much power, so much destruction. She couldn't tame it, how could she possibly? How had she ever? Had she, or was it her delusion that she had controlled it in the past? Hadn't she hesitated when she'd confronted Nehelenia, unable to be sure that she wouldn't destroy more than the Queen of Nightmares? The power was destruction, ruin, evil incarnate, she was better off without it, yet still it demanded to join with her and fulfill its mission.

She felt herself saying something, mouthing the word "no" over and over but she couldn't hear anything because of the power roaring in her ears. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" she screamed. "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!" and then it was over. Just like that, the Saturn power, rejected, dissipated in a final swirl around her and with a sound like an implosion.

"Hotaru," her father wheezed, as he leaned against the wall for support.

Mocking laughter in a deep voice rang out. They both looked toward the stone sarcophagus. A dark haired man clad in black leather was hopping out of it with a fluid motion. He turned and stood there grinning, his dark beard and slightly touseled black bangs matching the black leather outfit he wore. Hotaru found him undeniably handsome, and he exuded a raw, animal sexuality. However, she also knew from the expression on his face that he was quite evil and was just posing to taunt her. "You're pathetic," he sneered. "You rejected the Saturn power and now, without a host, it's dissipated out into the cosmos." He grinned with malevelnce. "So much for stopping ME!!" he then bellowed with laughter. Hotaru gasped. He turned and drew a sword out of the sarcophagus and brandished it. He walked over to the altar and with one blow from his muscular form, the gem atop the obelisk was shattered. There was a grinding sound and a back passage began to slide open, revealing a narrow shaft up the hillside.

"Who are you?" wheezed Professor Tomoe. The figure stopped at the doorway and turned around.

"Why, I'm Ares, the God of War of course. A couple thousand years ago I was imprisoned here by Sailor Saturn but the return of war to the Earth awakened me and I called to you," he said, directing his comments at Hotaru as if propositioning her. He made her feel slimey just from that. "As her descendant, and I must say, you got the looks if not the attitude," he leered, "you were able to free me. Now I'm going to gather the left over Nemesite troops and conquer the Earth. Yes, I'm definitely thinking this is my day. " He casusally strode out the door, and as he set foot across the threshold power gathered to him, blindingly bright, as if a huge lightning bolt had struck the Earth. Both Hotaru and Souichi Tomoe had to shield their eyes. "Oh, and I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but it just seems to me I should avoid witnesses for now," he purred. Hotaru stared at him uncomprehendingly from where she crouched on the floor, but her father leapt to her side and grabbed her, trying to drag her to her feet.

With a contemptuous upward thrust of his right arm, Ares released a bolt of power which arced into the ceiling of the tomb and exploded. The ceiling began to collapse as he waved and the door began to seal shut.

"HOTARU!!" screamed Professor Tomoe as the rocks and rubble rained down and the door sealed.

Ares chuckled and with a wave of his hand, disappeared in a blast of steel-gray light.

Topaz sat at the main piloting station, with Hino Rei in the auxiliary/navigation station. "I think we've got a problem," said said.

"What are you getting?" Topaz replied. She nodded her head at the long range sensor display. He swore. "Four contacts--focus the sensors aft and run the primary identification suite on them. I bet they're Crystal Stars. I hope they're not pursuit cruisers."

Rei complied after a moment's hesitation as she looked over the unfamiliar controls. The computer displayed the results a few seconds later. "Three Crystal Star dreadnoughts and one Jocasta-class cruiser." Topaz swore again. "I take it the Jocasta-class is a pursuit ship?" He nodded as his hands flew over the controls and repeated his cuss word of choice another half-dozen times. "Really, say whatever you like, my ears aren't at all sensitive to the talk of sailors," she said blithely.

Topaz ignored her barb and continued working, even reached right past her and flipped a few switches right in front of her. Rei was not looking pleased by the bruskness. "We may have to do a Jump without a 100% course lock," he said. "The sublight drive on the Jocasta is more than twice what we have. And it has enough weapons to take us out, which is probably what the Oligarchy wants."

"I can shoot ship weapons," Rei volunteered. Topaz shook his head. "I don't think there's enough firepower on this cruiser to seriously affect the pursuit ship. We need to evade now. We have a better Jump system then they do, but we're not in a totally clear corridor and we're rather close to a solar gravity well right now ..."

"Can we try a microjump to access the Eridani corridor?" Rei asked. Topaz nodded.

"That's what I'm configuring us for. I take it you're up for the risk?"

"I'm not happy, but it seems our best choice. Do it."

As the pursuit ship approached them rapidly, its gun ports open and its dark crystal torpedoes armed, the Pasha Jumped toward the spatial corridor that would lead them the rest of the way to Earth.

And it didn't reappear on its pursuer's sensors.