Serenity, Queen of Crystal Tokyo and Crystal Japan, sighed tiredly. The Advisory Council had been in closed session for over four hours without a recess, and this was becoming increasingly apparent.
Endymion,
usually impeccably calm, was now arguing heatedly with Jupiter and Malachite on
matters of Royal and Palace Security.
Mars, Aries, and Venus were fiercely debating their respective responsibilities, Jadeite and Nephrite were being restrained
by Mercury and Molly respectively. The two men, normally the best of friends,
were shouting at one another loudly over something Jadeite had done on one of
his world tours. Eros, Luna, Artemis,
and Zoicite were attempting to discuss some of the newest developments in the
Information Bureau, all the while, trying to ignore the raised voices and sweat
drops that were all around them.
She
closed her eyes. Thank goodness none of the citizens had ever seen their monarchs
and their Council act in such a childish manner. She was also grateful that Andrew wasn’t here. His
nerves were already frayed enough with Cassandra over
in
She
opened her eyes, a determined glint entering into them. Serenity knew she could not always depend on
Cassandra to make everyone remain calm.
She had to do these things herself, no matter how difficult it was for
her.
Taking her fingers, she stuck them into her mouth and let
out an ear-blasting whistle. The effect
was immediate. Everyone froze and turned
towards her, some of them blinking in shock.
Serenity stared at them confidently and sternly. “Thank you,” she said. “Now that I have your attention, I suggest
that you all sit down. We have wasted
enough time arguing chaotically.”
Slowly, everyone did as ordered, seating himself or herself around the wide round table. But not without
throwing glares or growls at one another as parting shots. Even Endymion gave Jupiter one last scowl
before taking his seat next to Serenity.
Before Jupiter could leap for his unprotected throat, the Neo-Queen gave
him a warning glance and placed a calming hand on his arm. “Enough,” she said harshly. The Neo-King pursed his lips, but
nodded. Satisfied for the moment,
Serenity returned her attention back to the Council before her.
“Now,” she continued softly. “I doubt that it would be considered too much
to ask if I requested that we discuss everything efficiently and
rationally. Shouting at one another solves
nothing.” She turned to Malachite. “Guardian, what were you saying before events
got a little out of hand?”
Malachite stood and bowed slightly to the monarchs. “I was saying, Your
Majesty, that I recommend that security around the Royal Family and the Palace
be tightened.”
“Hear, hear,” Jupiter muttered.
Serenity nodded.
“And what are your reasons for this?”
“Eros and Jadeite have both informed me of suspicious
movements throughout the world. Certain
groups have been moving their bases of operations; suspicious weapon’s deals are being made on the black-market. While alone, they seem nothing, but when
considered as one, they have begun to worry analysts. There has even been
movements in
The Neo-Queen turned towards her husband. Endymion nodded reluctantly. “I still do not think that it is necessary,
but if you wish it, then it shall be done, Malachite.”
The white-haired Guardian bowed formally. “Thank you, Your Majesties.”
Serenity turned to Artemis, who now lounged comfortably
in Venus’ lap. “How is Cassandra’s
enterprise faring over in
“Proceeding. Congress is known
for its red tape when passing something important. This is no different. Not to mention half of them are in an uproar
because no one in the diplomatic circles has heard from her in the past five
months. But I believe that the speech
she is scheduled to give them in a few days will shut them up quite…
effectively.”
A faint smirk passed over Serenity’s lips and she
nodded. “All right then. When you talk to Cassandra, do remind her not
to allow Tom to get too carried away when dealing with
anyone who happens to get too close to her.
Though the man did happen to be an assassin, it took forever to get the
mess cleaned up last time.”
Everyone in the room either shook their heads or
chuckled. Before the queen could move to
the next part of business, the doors to the chamber burst open. A young man, no more than twenty-five, bowed
hurriedly to them as a group before rushing to the King and Queen, a paper in
his hand.
“Majesties,” he said breathlessly. “We’ve received signals from several Crystal
Satellites stationed around Pluto and Neptune.
A fleet of ships are proceeding at high speeds in-system.”
Everyone leapt to his or her feet, shouting
incredulously. Endymion, who had
remained calm, raised his hand for silence.
He stared at the man, who was eyeing them all nervously.
“Continue, Ensign Fezwick. Have they been identified or contacted?”
Ensign Fezwick nodded, trying to ignore the shocked look
that the Lady Molly was giving him. He
was aware that she had known his great-great-great grandfather, Melvin
Fezwick. He was aware that they’d remained good friends until his death and how she had
drifted away from the family as the members she knew began to die of old age.
“Yes Majesty. They’ve been identified by the Information Bureau as
Nemisian ships. We have attempted to
contact them but their leader says that he will only speak to the Queen.”
The reaction to those few sentences was astounding. The four Guardians gritted their teeth
angrily. The two Knight Protectors
present stiffened noticeably and turned to stare at the Inner Guard and the two
monarchs.
The Inner Guard bowed their heads and sadness seemed to
emanate from their every pore. Serenity
closed her eyes and took a deep breath, while Endymion placed a strong arm
around his wife's shoulder and held her close.
Only those nearest to them heard her whisper a few brief words in the
ancient Lunarian language.
After allowing herself a brief moment of solace, Serenity
pulled away from the safety of her husband’s arms and pushed herself to her
greatest, most regal, height. She began
to issue orders.
“Molly,
contact the Outer Guard and inform them that they and their team are to leave
Mars and return to Earth immediately.
Eros, call Minerva and tell him to get to the Palace as soon as
possible. Endymion,” here her voice
softened slightly, “Get the Silver Crystal and meet the rest of us in the
communications room. I will contact this
leader and demand to know why his people are violating the terms of the Treaty
of Terra.”
The group reacted instantaneously to the Queen’s words. Serenity motioned for Ensign Fezwick to lead the way to the communications room. The Inner Guard and Lord Aries formed a perimeter around Serenity and moved to follow her. Endymion and the Guardians retreated out of another door, which led to the chamber where the Silver and Golden Crystals were held, while Molly and Eros took yet another door to where another room had been equipped with devices to allow private contact with any of the Scouts or Knights.
As Serenity hurried down the halls, past the courtiers
that bowed respectfully, she reached out for Venus and tugged her closer. “Mina,” the Queen stated softly. “Find Rini and take her back to the Royal
Apartments. I will send a few Ladies to
watch her as soon as I can.”
Mina’s eyes were no longer of the happy-go-lucky
pop-idol, but that of a competent-and dangerous-warrior. She bowed slightly. “Immediately, Majesty.” And at the next fork
in the hall, Mina swerved to take the opposite path while the rest continued
on.
Two
guards stood in front of the heavy ornate doors that led to the communications
room. Upon seeing their Queen, three of
her Inner Guard, and Lord Aries hurrying towards them, they pushed the doors
open, clearing the way for them. As
Serenity and the others strode past them, the two bowed, murmuring their
respects.
The moment they entered everyone present stopped what
they were doing and bowed deeply. Waving
a hand, the Queen stated firmly, “As you were.”
She turned to a middle-aged woman probably in her
mid-thirties, her curly black hair held back from her green eyes in an
efficient bun. She would
have been considered exceptionally attractive to almost any man, if it
were not for the fact that her eyes were kept cold, distant, and dispassionate
and her mouth in a flat, unemotional line.
The Neo-Queen nodded to the woman. “Major Sharne. What is the status of this fleet?”
“Your Majesty. The fleet entered the solar system only a few
minutes ago. They
quickly bypassed Pluto and are approaching
Serenity’s
blue eyes evolved into two hard diamonds.
“Did they give any indication of who was leading this fleet? Anything at all?”
Constance Sharne shook her
head. “None
whatsoever. It was
merely sent directly to us from the leading ship of the fleet. I’ve had one of our analysts looking it over,
but he hasn’t found anything that could point us in any particular direction.”
The Neo-Queen nodded thoughtfully, her eyes on a nearby
screen, which displayed the fleet against the backdrop of space. She stared at it for several moments, in
seemingly deep thought. She clenched her
fist, though whether from anger or sadness, only she knew. Only Aries noticed his wife
pale slightly and begin whispering her mantra as she stared at her Queen. He watched her briefly, frowning in
confusion. He sensed nothing.
Before anything else was said,
the doors to the communications room were opened once more. In stepped Endymion, carrying his staff,
which had the Golden Crystal mounted on it, and the Silver Crystal, which was mounted on a silver staff similar to his own. Malachite, Zoicite, Nephlite, and Jadeite were
right behind him, their expressions grim.
Endymion ignored the bows of everyone and hurried towards
his wife. He handed her the silver staff
as she quickly explained what she’d been told. After a moment, she turned back to Sharne,
who had been waiting patiently.
“Major,” Serenity stated, “Open a channel to that lead
ship.”
The major nodded, turned on her heel and began to bark
orders at her people. Within seconds,
she nodded to her queen to begin.
Raising her head slightly, Serenity began to speak. “This is Neo-Queen Serenity of Earth. To whom am I speaking?”
At first, there was no response. The room was silent, minus the sounds of everyone’s breathing.
The oppressive silence was broken by a beeping
tone coming from one of the consoles.
“We’re getting a response,” one of the men on duty said
softly. “Audio and
visual.”
“Put it through,” Endymion commanded.
The man nodded in acknowledgement and adjusted a few
instruments on his console. Almost
immediately, the main view-screen flared to life, showing the face of a young
man wearing a white suit and cape, his hair almost a matching color, and
severely cold violet eyes.
Serenity fought the urge to gasp, fear and melancholy
coursing through her body. Old and faded
memories of that face flared up.
Memories of how he had kidnapped her in front of the horrified eyes of
an incapacitated Inner Guard and Tuxedo Mask.
Visions of him leaning in to kiss her when she had
been unable to fight back.
Recollections of him looking up at her, a sad and broken man who’d lost everything he’d ever known. How he had saved her life by taking a blow
meant for her. How his last words were,
“Sorry I lied.
I did love you.”
Prince Diamond of Nemesis.
Andrew knew he was driving recklessly. He’d barely avoided hitting no less than three other vehicles, which made him surprised that he didn’t have at least a dozen law enforcement people chasing after him.
“Andrew, get to the
Palace. Now.”
He looked into the grim
eyes of his brother-in-law. “What is it,
Chris? What’s going on,” he demanded as
he struggled to keep his fear under control.
Had something happened over in
“We have a fleet of
Nemisian ships heading in-system. The
Queen is gathering as many of the Court together as she can. She even had Molly call the Outer Guard and
order them to leave Mars and return home.”
Andrew’s brown eyes
widened briefly. It was rare that the
Queen ordered anything of the Outer Guard.
They mainly did as they pleased.
Did this have something to do with the secret that the King, Queen, and
the entire Inner Guard seemed to be attempting to keep?
He glanced out the door
of his office and into the lab. His
students were hard at work. They were
used to him running out when called away due to his position in the
government. They’d
be fine without him.
He turned back to Chris
and said merely, “I’m on my way out.
I’ll be there in twenty.” He
flicked the channel off without waiting for a response. Andrew stood and threw off his lab coat and
exchanged it for his tailor-made jacket, which had been given
to him by Cassie just the past winter.
Stepping into the lab,
he intoned quietly to his students, “I have an emergency at the
They barely acknowledged him, but Andrew was not in the mood to wait for a reply. He hurried out the door and didn’t look back.
Andrew could see the gates to the Palace coming up on him, causing him to finally slow down. He could see a detachment of guards standing in key places around and near the gates. One of the guards stepped forward towards his vehicle.
The
guard, a man probably in his late twenties, saluted crisply. “Lord Furuhata, we received a call from Lord
Whitmore to expect you.”
“Good,”
Andrew nodded, then handed the man his security card, which granted him access
to everything, from the Palace Gates to the Palace Kitchens.
The
guard bowed and rushed to the booth that held the security equipment needed to
open the Gates. After running the usual
check, he exited and returned the card to its owner. “We just received another call that Lady
Hawthorne will be outside waiting for you,” he informed Andrew.
The
Lord of Athena nodded again, then turned back to the Palace Gates, which were
opening in the slow-motion fashion that one always saw in the movies before the
Great Ice. He rolled his eyes. No doubt this came from Jadeite, who’d become fascinated with movies after the Third Negaversian
War. Especially the
James Bond movies.
Which could be considered a given, considering his
current profession.
He drove down the long main drive that led to the front of the Palace and as he did so, he could see Molly there waiting, just as the guard had told him. The closer he got to her, the more he could see the worry and growing stress on her face. Andrew knew that she had definitely changed from the happy and innocent teenager he’d known when he had only been known as Andrew the Arcade Guy.
‘Being married to
Nathan Hawthorne will probably do that to you,’ he thought dryly. But Andrew
recognized that the cause for Molly’s stress was more than being married to a…
unusual man like Nathan.
In many cases, Molly was more similar to Serenity than any of them, even the Inner Guard. She, like the Neo-Queen, felt the weight of
everything that went wrong. She felt the
deaths of her children deeply, though she did the best she could to move past
that and take joy in the lives of their descendents. Though, in some
cases, even that was not possible for her.
Andrew forced those thoughts from his mind as he stepped
out of his vehicle, barely taking note of the valet that moved to take the
thing and put it in the parking garage nearby.
Instead, he hurried up to where Molly stood, her green dress fluttering
slightly in the breeze.
“Molly,” he said, allowing his professional tone to slip
from his voice. “What the hell is going
on? I get a call from Chris, telling me
that there is a fleet of Nemisian ships flying in-system. How in the hell did they manage to take us by
surprise?”
Molly shook her head as they entered the palace and began
to stride down the wide hallways. “We
don’t know, Andrew. The
“That’s one thing that puzzles me,” Andrew cut in. “Serenity rarely orders them to do
anything. I mean, granted, this is big
news. But why did she order them to come
back, bringing the entire expedition with them?”
The woman beside him shook her auburn head. “I wish I had the answer to that. I really do.
But you know as much as I do when it comes to
Serenity’s dealings with the Scouts.
Like this secret she, Endymion, the Inner Guard, Susan, and Charles seem
bent on not speaking of.”
“Do you think this has something to do with that?”
Molly shrugged. “Perhaps.”
Neither of them spoke as they entered a private
conference room that had been set up in the small communications room that
allowed contact with the Scouts and Knights.
Most of the Court was already present, with the exceptions of Venus, the
Outer Guard, and those who were currently in
Andrew’s gaze immediately settled on the Royal
Couple. Serenity’s skin seemed as white
as her dress, but her blue eyes, normally so benevolent and compassionate, were
hard as diamonds. Endymion’s normally kind face was set with grim lines. The King had his attention divided between
Malachite, who he was currently speaking with, and his wife.
Everyone stopped when they noticed the arrival of Molly
and Andrew. Serenity quietly informed
them, “Mina is on her way. Ladies Ariel
and Cordelia have finally been able to relieve her in watching Rini.”
Yet another indication that something was wrong. It was rare that the Scouts would baby-sit the little Neo-Princess during a crisis such as
this. Only if…
Andrew straightened slightly. Only if Small Lady was in danger. Only then would one of the
Scouts watch her so closely.
Was that what was going on? Had they gotten wind of a possible threat to
Neo-Princess Serenity, the only heir to the throne? But if that was the
case, why wouldn’t they make the Guardians aware of the threat? It was their job to protect the Royal
Family. If Mike and Zoë found out that they’d been kept in the dark about such a thing, they would
be absolutely furious.
And if there was such a plot,
Chris would have heard about it, possibly even before Endymion and
Serenity. From what Andrew had seen, the
Chief of the Information Bureau was just as in the dark about all of this as he
was.
He shook his head slightly. That couldn’t be
it. Both Sere and Endy were extremely
rigid when it came to the security of their only child. They wouldn’t leave
those who were charged with her protection in the dark about a threat to
her.
Still, whatever they were hiding, it had to involve Small
Lady.
Andrew’s speculation came to a halt when Mina burst into
the conference room. Her hair was
slightly mused and her light blue eyes were plainly irritated. She bowed to the monarchs then quickly took a
seat next to her bemused husband. She
ignored his look.
Serenity didn’t notice her
friend’s agitation. She tapped a few
buttons on a nearby console and immediately the screen behind her, which had
previously been black, flared to life.
The faces of Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn filled everyone’s
visage.
“Uranus, Neptune, Saturn,” Serenity said by the way of
greeting.
The trio bowed slightly and chorused, “Majesty.”
“What is your status and that of your group?”
“Be sure to be here then,” Endymion stated,
his eyes harsh. “The Nemisians have
stopped their trek in-system, but we do not know how long that will last. The moment you enter Earth’s atmosphere, a
shield will be erected, planet-wide.”
Saturn’s eyes widened slightly, but she remained
silent. Andrew was suddenly glad that
Serenity and Endymion were faced away, so they would
not see his anger and shock. Why were
they so intent on keeping this secret?
He longed to shout out that question right here, then
from the highest towers of the Palace.
Why did they not trust him, the other Knight Protectors, and the
Guardians? Why did they insist on
keeping them in the dark about what was truly going on?
Andrew could see that much of what ran through his mind was reflected on the faces of many of those present. Though Mike and Zoë were quite adept at
keeping their faces emotionless when needed, he knew them well enough to know
that they were not pleased either.
He shook his head and settled in, listening to the
further conversations that went on amongst them. After a while, the Outer Guard cut the
channel so they could continue to carry out their orders. Andrew watched as Mike, Zoë, and Chris
tried-in vain-to get any further pertinent information out of the King and
Queen. The two merely told them that
they had to prepare for whatever came-and wait.
Needless to say, that was not
enough for them, but when the two of them implied that they would say no more,
then the annoyed trio knew had no choice.
Andrew shook his head again. Whatever was happening, the strain that it
was causing would affect them all for some time.
