Well, here it is, without further ado. I'm trying out some different
techniques here, so be forewarned.
All series and characters are copyright their creators. Please don't
sue me.
***********************************************************************
It was like a scene out of one of Dante's works.
The evacuation center for the town of Havensdale, California looked
like a cross between a school gym and an underground cave. The
remaining townspeople who were waiting to be evacuated stood huddled
in groups near the enterance. Outside , Earth Defense Force
troopships were lifting off, carrying the people of the town to
relative safety. Inside the evac center, Lieutenant Erica Carter was
supervising the last group of people to be evacuated.
"Okay, when the ship touches down, start going in a single file line
towards it. Please don't run, just walk quickly, we don't want any
accidents, is everyone clear?" The group nodded and prepared to
leave. Lt. Carter went over and sat next to her fiance Robert. <Oh
God, I gotta stay calm for them. Mom...Dad....my whole family....I
only have Robert now...gotta stay strong....gotta stay....>
Her thoughts were interrupted by a strong pair of arms that locked
around her waist. "Hey, Erica, don't go falling apart now. These
people need you to lead them out safely. Don't let them down now."
Her fiance Robert Adams said.
"I know, Robert, but take a look," she gestured outside to a
landscape that looked like a horror writer's worst nightmare
of Hell. "Two days ago, this was a peaceful town, my hometown. Then
those crazy cultists opened that seal, and THIS happened. I lost my
entire family, and thousands of others lost their lives too. How can
anyone stay strong after that?" She was almost incoherent near the
end, threatening to break down and start crying.
Robert noticed this and hugged her tight against him. "I know you're
scared. Hell, I'm scared. But you're an EDF officer, and people look
up to you. Why, I remember the way you kept that kid back there from
going crazy because he saw his mom injured by a cacodemon. It's that
strength that I admire in you, and that's why I'm marrying you after
we get out of this. Now, we need that strength to get us out of here.
Okay?"
Erica looked up at him. "Okay, I'll try." She leaned in to kiss
him.
A roar of turbos announced the arrival of the last evacuation ship.
"Okay, everyone!" Carter said, shaking off the last of her worries.
"The evac ship is here. Line up here and start going out to the ship.
Hurry, but don't run. I don' t want to stop and pick up anyone who's
fallen. Okay, GO! GO!"
As the group made their way out to the ship, a group of hellhounds
broke through the defense line and charged the group. Carter and the
other EDF soldiers with her opened up with pulse rifles, slowing them
down just enough for the group to make it on the ship. Then she felt
herself being thrown onto the ship.
"Robert, what the....??"
"Erica, just wanted you to know, I love you and I always
wiaaaggGGGGHHHHH!!!!" A hellhound had just gored Robert after
he had thrown Erica out of it's path and onto the ship.
"ROBERT!!! ROBERT!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" As the ship lifted off
and gained altitiude, a flash of light enveloped the town. When it
dissapated, the town was gone.
"ROBERT!! NOOOOOOOOOOO........"
"........OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
Major Erica Carter, commander of the 101st Special Assault Squadron
(Crystal Knights), awoke sweating in her bed at the Juban EDF base.
<Oh, God. Haven't had that dream in a while. Oh Robert.....> As she
thought this, she was fingering a heart shaped pendant, which was a
present from Robert in happier times.
Destiny works in strange ways, as Erica Carter, the rest of the
Knights and the Sailor Senshi were about to find out.........
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm sorry if I'm not gentle'"
"I can say if it's in my dreams."
"My thoughts are about to short circuit,"
"Right now, it's you I want to meet!"
"Moonlight makes me want to cry."
"Midnight is too late to call."
"I'm so naieve, what can I do?"
"My heart is a kaleidscope."
"Led by the moonlight,"
"we meet be chance many times over."
"The number of stars in the constellations"
"foretell love's whereabouts."
"Born on the same earth, a miracle romance."
"Once more, a weekend with you."
"God, grant me a happy end."
"In the past, present, and future,"
"I'll be completely devoted to you."
"I won't forget your dear look when we met."
"Out of millions of stars, I can find you."
"Changing even serendipity to opportunity,"
"I love this way of life!"
"A wonderous miracle growing close,"
"we meet by chance many times over."
"The number of stars in the constellations"
"foretell love's whereabouts."
"Born on the same earth, a miracle romance."
"I believe in, the miracle romance."
"Moonlight Legend"
**********************************************************
Knight Productions present...
Sailor Moon/Crystal Knights....Neon Genesis Evangelion
Destiny's Path
....the world will never be the same....
**********************************************************
Prologue 3: The Wedding Part 2: Planning.
**********************************************************
--Juban EDF base--
In the briefing room of the Crystal Knights, several tables had been
covered with about half a forest's worth of paper (environmental note:
recycle!!), the printed hardcopy of several weeks of planning for
Usagi and Mamoru's wedding, just a couple of days away. They could
have used datapads to display the data, but they didn't for three
reasons: 1) The writing "pens" were on the fritz
2) The two officers involved were somewhat old fashioned
3) The datapads were missing.
Major Erica Carter let out a curse.
"Something on your mind, Erica?" Captain Atsuko Natsume asked,
hunched over estimations of troop deployments.
"Just wondering where our datapads have gotten to. Do you by any
chance have the EDF troop deployments somewhere in your memory?"
"Let me check......no. I downloaded that onto one of the datapads
that went missing. And my logic circuits were somewhat fried by
yesterday's events, so...."
"Don't remind me." The discovery of Ami and Minako in in flagrante
delecito (author's note: My Latin is nonexistent, so any help here
would be good) had shocked the group, well....except for Haruka and
Michiru, who had exchanged a glance, and then Haruka handed over some
money to Michiru. Seemed the two of them had a bet going as to who
did "it" first.
Carter's voice dropped to a whisper. "Atsuko, the dreams started
again."
Natsume looked up and blinked. "Awww no. How long ago?"
"It started last night, after we got back from Ami's apartment. I
guess something happened there that started the dreams again."
"Major," Natsume had a concerned expression on her face, "you have to
let it go someday. Robert sacrficed himself to save your life. You
have to let him go, or it'll tear you apart...."
"Thanks, Nuku-Nuku." Carter said with a smile. "I'm trying, I'm
really trying. But it still hurts so much....."
"Excuse me?" A new voice made them turn towards the door. A woman
stood there in an EDF officer's uniform. Her brown hair hung down
slightly past her shoulders, and her eyes were a deep brown as well.
She had a figure that looked natural, and was accentuated by the fit
of the uniform.
The newcomer saluted the two officers. "Is this the Crystal
Knights?"
Carter was staring at the woman. <God, she looks good...> She
mentally shook herself. <WHAT am I thinking????> She straightened
up, not noticing that her hesitiation had been noted and recorded by
Captain Natsume. "Yes, it is, wh at can I help you with?"
The woman stepped into the room. "Major Julia Martins, reporting as
your new liaison officer. Here are my papers." She handed Carter a
envelope.
"Liaison officer?? What the hell....??" Carter tore open the
envelope and read the orders transferring Major Julia Anne Martins, ID
#444-582-482, to the Crystal Knights as the liaison officer between
the Knights and the rest of the EDF. The orders also said that the
Crystal Knights were reclassified as a special operations unit. She
closed the orders and handed them to Natsume. "Looks legit. Welcome
to the Crystal Knights, Major." She shook the new member's hand. At
the instant their hands touched, they unknowingly had the same
thought: <Her hand is so warm!> Both of them malleted themselves
mentally.
Carter continued. "The rest of the Knights will be here later in the
day for a meeting, then we'll be going over to the Hiwaka Shrine to
meet with the Senshi." She thought for a moment. "You *have*
been given the whole story, haven't you?" she asked.
Martins shook her head. "Uhhh...no. Just the basics."
Carter and Natsume grew sweatdrops. "Well," Carter said, "we'll tell
you the whole version at the shrine tonight. I guess it'll be a
little easier now that the other families know....." After Sailor
Moon's little explaination at the temple yesterday, the decision had
been made to let the families of the other Inner Senshi in on the
secret. Their reactions had been....interesting. Carter glanced down
at the datapads Martins was carrying. "I trust those are the datapads
that we' re missing?"
Martins, for her part, looked sheepish. "Uh, yeah. I
sorta...borrowed them last night to see what troops you were asking
for." She held up one of the datapads. "Are you sure you need this
many troops?"
"Martins, when you consider what these two have had to go through to
get to this point in their lives, I think you'll appreciate all the
precautions we're taking to make sure this wedding goes
off okay. And then there's the guests for the wedding. Captain?"
Captain Natsume activiated the holographic projector at the front of
the room to display this:
Bride's Family, Bridesmaids (Inner Senshi)
Inner Senshi families
Classmates
Four Sisters
Outer Senshi (and dates)
Ramna Saotome
Akane Tendo
Gemma Saotome
Nodoka Saotome
Soun Tendo
Kasumi Tendo
Nabiki Tendo
Ukyo Kuonji
Tenchi Masaki
<unknown>
Ayeka
Ryoko
Wasshu
Ryo-oki
Kiyone
Mihoshi
Keichii Morisato
Belldandy
Skuld
Urd
Megumi Morisato
Yoko Mano
Auzsa Shinohati
Grandmother Yoko
Yoko's mother
Ayoko Mano
Auzsa <no last name>
"As you can see from this list," Carter said, "not only will we have
some of the most powerful people on the planet, whether Senshi or
martial artists, we'll have extraterraestral royalty and three
goddesses as well." She looked at the list. "Hey, what's that
Unknown by Tenchi?"
Nuku-Nuku shrugged. "No idea. Wasshu just stated that we should
hold a seat by him in reserve. She didn't give any reason. Poor guy."
"Yeah, Sasami's death hit all of us hard." Carter agreed.
"Am I missing something here?" Martins asked.
"Sasami was a Jurai princess that was living with Tenchi and his
family," Carter explained, "about six weeks ago, the kitchen exploded
while she was cooking. No one knows what happened."
"That's terrible!" Martins said.
"The weirdest part is, no one found any body in the debris." Carter
concluded.
Martins blinked. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope." Carter replied.
Martins was speechless for a second.
"Anyway," Carter continued, "you can see the need for such tight
security. We want these two to have a nice, quiet wedding and nothing
is going to get in the way of that."
"Okay, then...so who isn't coming?" Martins asked.
"Hopefully, none of the enemies of the Senshi or the guests," Natsume
answered, "and also, Usagi's cousin's family can't make it. Something
about an expedition in the Antarctic."
Carter blinked. "An expedition to the frozen bottom of the planet
takes precdence over the wedding of a member of your family? Sheesh,
that makes sense. Not."
The rest of the Knights came in on that, effectively putting an end
to the conservation. Major Carter stood up to introduce Martins to the
rest of the Crystal Knights......
---Liberty Station (EDF Headquarters)---
"You wanted to see me, Star Admiral?"
Star Admiral Christina Romney, supreme commander of the Earth Defense
Forces, looked up from the report on her desk to her office door and
the person standing there. "Ben! Come in, I've been expecting you!"
she said, getti ng up from her desk to greet First Admiral Benjamin
Jaye, the commander of the EDF fleet, and also her closest friend.
Leading him to a seat, she got a drink from a nearby coffeepot. "Do
you want anything to drink?" she asked.
"Nothing for me, I had a couple of cups on the shuttle in from
Serenity Base."
"And how is everything there?" she asked, returning to her seat.
"Everything's fine so far. We've had some strange temporal anomalies
in the past couple of days, but nothing serious yet." He looked at her
expression and almost laughed at the unasked question he saw there.
"Yes, Jona h's fine, he wanted me to say that he sends his love and say
that he's sorry that he couldn't find the time to call recently.
Tracking down those time vortexes is a little consuming."
"You just told me there was nothing serious about those anomalies
yet." Christina said.
"Yes, and there was nothing serious at first about Candle Cove as
well, and look where that led." Ben responded.
Christina merely nodded, then leaned back in her chair. "I guess
you're wondering why I called you here." she said.
"Yeah, I was wondering why I was suddenly summoned to Liberty right
when the Fleet's about to start wargames." Ben said, getting serious.
Christina started tapping on the keyboard in front of her. "It has
to do with a secret project that we-and I mean all the permanant
personnel-have been working on for the past two years." she stopped
typing and looked up an her oldest friend. "Did you ever wonder why
any ship that visited the station recently was directed to use the
outside docking points?"
"Yeah, it did seem strange at first, but we got used to it." Ben
said. "Why do you ask?"
"This is why." Christina turned the computer screen around so he
could have a look at what was on it.
"Project Phoenix..." he read, and promptly went pale in the face.
"Chrissie, this is...!"
"I know, a little nuts." she agreed. "But this is only a precaution.
If future events warrant it, then I will implement the Project's final
phase, but until then..." she trailed off and looked at Ben. "I'm sorry
I c ouldn't tell you, it was just...."
"Security regulations?" he finished for her. "I know how that
goes...don't worry Chrissie, you'll have my full support in this matter,
even though it is a little nuts." he finished with a smile.
"Thanks, Ben, I knew I could count on you." She rose to give him a
hug. "You better get back to Serenity Base, give Jonah my love."
"I will. See you soon." He left.
Christina was alone in her office until a voice spoke out.
"He's in, right?"
"Not completely, but at least he didn't think the plan was too nuts."
Christina answered. "Are you sure such a great step is needed?"
"I'm not too sure, but I'm a little suspicious about recent events,
and it does not hurt to be prepared."
Christina turned, and caught the briefest glimpse of lavender hair in
the waning sunlight. "That's true, and I'm glad he's on board now. See
you at supper later?"
"Yes, Mother."
---behind Hiwaka Shrine---
Naru Osaka crept up behind the boulder on the small beach behind the
Shrine, trying to sneak to the edge to get in position for a run to
another boulder a little ways away. She was still having a little
trouble believing all that happened to her in the past couple of days.
<Usagi asked me to be her maid of honor, I find out that SHE'S Sailor
Moon and a princess as well, and then, to top it all off, I find out
that I'm a Senshi as well!> she thought. As for her Senshi name, that,
along with her life, had changed. It was an unanimous decision by her
and the rest of the Senshi that "Sailor Sun" sounded a little hokey
(author's note: well...it does!!) and tried to think of a new name that
would keep her sun powers in mind as well. Ami -<who had seemed a
little...distracted with Minako around, she thought>- had suggested
"Solaris". It passed, and Sailor Solaris, the Sailor of the Sun, was
born.
Naru, or rather, Solaris's thoughts were rudely interuppted as a
small sphere hovered around the boulder she was hiding behind and
started shooting at her. Solaris cursed and tried to dodge out of the
way, but several beams hit her nonetheless. She turned and fired at
the sphere. "SOLAR BEAM....BLAST!!" The sphere was vaporized by the
plasma beam, but another took its place almost as quickly.
That second one, however, didn't even get a chance to fire.
"CRESCENT MOON BEAM!!" The second sphere was destroyed. Solaris looked
to where Eternal Sailor Moon hovered above the rock, the Cosmic Moon
Sword pointed out in fro nt of her. "Naru?" Sailor Moon said, "You
okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Usagi." Solaris said. "You would think blasting these
target drones would be easier with time."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Sailor Moon said, floating down to join
her. "I think the Knights upped the diffculty level on these drones
before they sent them down to us."
"Actually, I reset the levels." A new voice said. Sailor Pluto
dropped down to them from atop the boulder. A target drone made a run
at the three of them. Pluto raised her Time Staff. "Dead Scream." she
whispered. The dr one was destroyed. Hopping down to the two other
Senshi, she continued. "Events will be happening in the near future
which will require you to be at your peak. Practice is therefore very
important today."
Naru was a little confused. "What kind of events?" she asked. Pluto
only gave her one of her trademark looks.
Usagi laughed. "Naru, that's all you'll probally get out of Pluto
now. To get anything more out of her or to make sense of what she says
sometimes usually requires someone to stand upside down for a couple of
hours and look at a mirror." she said with a smile.
"And Pluto makes sense after that?" Naru asked.
"Well, usually that, or you pass out from blood rushing to the
brain." Usagi said, smirking at Naru.
It took a few seconds for the joke to sink in for Naru, then she
groaned. "Arrgghh....Usagi, we should have never gotten you hooked on
that sci-fi show."
A scream from nearby interrupted any further conservation between the
three. "Come on, someone's in trouble!" Usagi said. The three took off
running in the direction of the scream.
------------------------------------------------
At about the same time that Usagi and Naru were joking about Pluto's
sayings, Major Carter was leading Capt Natsume and Major Martins towards
the shrine. The three of them were a couple of blocks away when they
heard the explosion and the screams. "That sounded close to the
shrine! The others may need us!" Erica said.
The three cycles turned the corner to face a suprising sight: the
street was cratered, and the air was shimmering from the heat released.
All the usual signs of destruction or something not right. What
suprised them was that a that a somewhat large but nevertheless
harmless looking man was standing in the middle of the devastation, a
mad gleam in his eyes. Once the three EDF officers saw this, their
attention was captured by the person tucked in one of the man's
arms....
"Ami..." Erica breathed.
************************************************
End of Part 2
*************************************************
Next time:
An enemy the Senshi can't stop.
Ami's life is in danger.
What will the Senshi and the Crystal Knights do?
What the heck is Project Phoenix?
Who was in the Star Admiral's office?
Can the wedding get any more zany than it already is?
(Do you really want to know the answer to that question? :-) )
It's all in the next story in the Destiny's Path series: The
Wedding, Part 3: One Small Problem. Watch for it!
...the world will never be the same...
***********************************************************************
Author's Notes:
Whew, was this one draining! I'm really sorry for the long delay,
but I got writer's block about halfway through writing this, and
couldn't write for most of vacation. The next part shouldn't take too
long, but with school starting again, you just n ever know.
I tried to set up as much of the background to the story as possible,
and will continue to do so through out the story.
For those who want to know the background of Christina Romney, try
and find the young adult trilogy The Fog, The Snow, and The Fire by
Caroline B. Cooney.
Anyone find the Babylon 5 reference?
And finally, for those who were grumbling....yes, there will be an
Eva scene in the next part, as well as an obscure Eva reference, as
well as a fight scene...heh, heh, heh, and what a fight scene it will
be. :-)
I guess that's it. See you next chapter!
Brian Yaple
Knight Productions
IRC nickname: starheart
BYapes@erie.net
Yaple001@mail1.gannon.edu
BYapes@aol.com
Web Page: coming soon, I promise!
MoonieCode (0.8.1)
SM:5+[m-] F:SInSa O:d S+?o P:a22 S|+:eBrDg:hBrD:y--:r+|+
__________________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------------
Mekton Zeta-Babylon 5-Macross-Grapejam-The Spot-BGCrisis-
Evangelion-E.R.-Buffy-Ranma 1/2-Sailor Moon-Tenchi Muyo!
__________________________________________________________
"No box is big enough to contain our imaginations."
Tara Hartwick (RIP)-The Spot (www.thespot.com)-June 6th, 1995
"In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!": Sailor Moon
Any spam mail sent to this address will be folded, spindled, burned,
thrown into a vat of acid, and finally tossed into the Sarlacc for that
thousand year case of indigestation.
The people who send such mail will be hunted down, subjected to the business
end of a BFG-9000D, locked in a room with the following:
5 bears, 2 Dobermen, a beszerk EVA, the Third Angel, and 1 superboomer.
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No, I don't like spam mail. How did you know? :-)