Standard disclaimer for Sailor Moon.  TM! too, probably.

There isn't a [TM] tag on this story because the characters used barely
get any screen time at all in the opening arc.  After that, there are a
couple TM heavy stories and then it may go full crossover or revert back
to SM, I don't know yet.


Part 1

	Lady Mercury watched intently as the data scrolled across her
terminal.  It wasn't very often that one got to witness something as
spectacular as the formation of a black hole, but that was exactly what
was going on.
	Few other events would warrant a personal viewing, but here she was,
drifting through space halfway across the galaxy in her tiny observation
vessel, the Hermes.
	The event was well underway by the time they had come out of warp, and
the apex was fast approaching.
	"Ma'am, my terminal is showing that we just lost contact with Earth
Central," her co-pilot nervously interrupted. 
	"It's probably due to the rapid flux of the gravitational field," she
replied, distracted by the incoming data from the collapsing star.  A
faint sense of foreboding tickled the back of her mind, "But it would be
best if you attempt to reestablish contact."  
	The sound of rapidly typing seemed to fill the small craft's control
room, and Mercury's sense of wrongness grew.
	"Ma'am, no luck, I can't get a link to anything within the Solar
system.  And not only that, but I've also lost contact with the base on
Apollo III."
	Mercury sighed.  This was all probably nothing, but her first duty was
to the safety of her Queen.  "Deploy the reconnaissance drone and set a
course for Earth."
	He rapidly obeyed and within a matter of minutes, the ship was coming
about to begin the long trip home.
	"Ma'am, contact lost with everything on the other side of the Gambian
Belt."
	Mercury nodded slightly.  �Always trust your instincts, girl,' she
admonished herself.  �You're getting slow in your old age.'  Her lips
settled into a grim line.  Things had been silent for dozens of
centuries, and now everything was going to hell all at once.
	She turned to her pilot.  "Full speed toward Earth, and put the contact
map on screen."
	Soon she was staring at a simplified map of the Milky Way with all
human and alien worlds and bases highlighted in green.  Well, the ones
that were still sending "alive" messages were highlighted in green, a
vast expanse on the left side of the map was in red.  Red was for worlds
that should be sending "alive" messages, but weren't.  
	Earth was in the middle of the dead worlds.
	Even as she watched, the tide of red dots expanded outward slightly. 
She began to calculate rapidly.  "Change course for Centauri IV.  All
possible speed."
	According to her math, which was rarely wrong, they should arrive at
Centauri IV shortly before the encroaching wave.  She prayed that it
wasn't a mistake.

***

	Lady Mercury awoke slowly to the dull red lights of emergency power. 
Her last memory was of a watching a glowing wave of energy consume the
planet below them and then feeling the shock as it hit her tiny vessel.  
	Groggily, she began to take stock of the damage to her body.  Dozens of
bruises, some quite large, and a twisted ankle.  Not too bad,
considering whatever hit her appeared to have taken out most of the life
in the galaxy.  
	Slowly, she began to take stock of her surroundings.  Two things caught
her attention immediately.  One, the contact map, which was still on the
terminal screen, was showing quite a bit of green, though not as much as
it should, and may of the dots were in the wrong places.  Two, her pilot
was gone.
	He wasn't dead, he was just gone.  No body, no scorch marks, nothing. 
In fact, the ship seemed to have taken no substantial damage other than
the missing passenger.
	Well, it's not like she needed him to get home, but he had been kind of
cute... She frowned and cut the thought off before it got started. 
Worry about the Queen first, and then about everything else.
	Without much trouble, she got the ship back to full power and back into
motion.  
	As she powered through the solar system, heading for deep space where
warping was safe, her instruments registered a distress call from just
outside the orbit of the eight planet.
	Frowning slightly at yet another interruption, she changed course to
intercept.
	Soon she was upon the source, what looked like an escape capsule
floating in the midst of a vast debris field.  Maneuvering carefully,
she brought it into the tiny hold of the ship and pulled away.  Setting
the autopilot for Earth, yet again, she went to find out exactly who or
what had needed her help.  

***

	Inside the warm jelly that filled the interior of the pod, a humanoid
woman floated.
	In fact, if Mercury didn't know better, she would have sworn that the
girl was her sister or daughter, but she knew she had neither.  On
closer inspection, she found that the woman didn't look all that much
like her, after all.  Mostly it was the blue hair and the headband that
did it.
	�Might as well ask her who she is,' Mercury decided and pressed the
buttons on the capsule's control board that would open it and revive the
occupant.
	In a matter of minutes, the pod had dissolved to a pool of goo and the
woman was beginning to come around.
	"Mihoshi..." she murmured distractedly.  "Going... kill you..." 
	Mercury waited patiently as her guest regained consciousness.  She knew
very well how much fun waking from stasis was.
	"Oh... my head," the blue haired woman (not Mercury, the other one)
muttered as her eyes finally opened.  "Where am I?"
	"On board my ship, mind telling me exactly what you were doing floating
around in a pile of wreckage that doesn't seem to have been a space
vessel?"
	"Weren't a space ship, was a house.  Who are you?"  She was slurring
her words a bit, almost drunkenly.
	"A house?  How strange," Mercury smiled slightly, mostly out of
gladness that she wasn't the one suffering from a stasis hangover.  "As
for introductions, how about we get you cleaned up and talk in the
control room?  Would you like some tea?"
	"Sounds good," the woman muttered and tried in vain to get to her
feet.  
	"Here, let me help you," Mercury said as she offered the woman her
hand, which was gladly accepted.
	
***

	"So, Kiyone,  you're in the, what did you call it again?" Mercury took
another sip of her tea as she carefully watched her guest.
	"Galaxy Police.  Don't tell me you don't know who we are."  Kiyone took
a sip of her tea as she studied her rescuer carefully.
	"Actually, I've never heard of them before today.  Of course, the way
things have been these last few decades, I could have missed something
like that."  Mercury sighed lightly as she tried to remember the last
time she had time for something so simple as watching the news and
couldn't.
	"We've been around for seventeen hundred and fifty three years," she
decided it was time for a change in topic.  "What about you?  I thought
I was familiar with most of the major nobility, but I don't recognize
your name."
	Mercury smiled faintly.  "I'm not noble, by any means.  Well, in so
much as my birth parents were nobles."
	"Ah, but you introduced yourself as "Lady"?"
	"Force of habit.  You can call me Ami," she grinned broadly.  "No one
ever does, but I have to try."
	"Okay, Ami," Kiyone grinned slightly as well.
	"It's one of those things that gets thrust upon you once you've
defeated a certain number of "Evil Menace Set to Destroy the Universe"s,
I think it's five, but I'm not sure."
	Kiyone grinned.  "Guess I have two more to go."  She took another sip
of tea then looked up, startled.  "I can't believe I've forgotten to
report in!"
	"Oh, you can use my comm system if you like."
	"Thank you."  Kiyone bowed slightly and moved forward to the control
panel.  After a few moments of fumbling with the unfamiliar equipment,
she found the right frequency.
	The lieutenant's face appeared on the screen.  "Kiyone?  Is that you? 
Thank God!  You're alive!"  He looked near weeping.  "Listen, Mihoshi's
gone out of control, she's in the Solar System.  You've got to go and
keep an eye on her, you're the only one she'll listen to!  If anything
happens to her, I'll lose my job!"
	Kiyone scowled.  �I spend who knows how long floating in space because
of that bubble head, and now they're trying to give me another
assignment with her?  I can't believe this!'  "Sir, I have to decline. 
I don't have a ship, and if you think that I'm going to spend even
another SECOND on the same assignment as that-"
	Mercury broke in, "If you need a lift, I'm heading to the Solar System
right now... In fact, we'll arrive in just a few days."  �Besides, I
need to find out exactly who the "Galaxy Police" are and what they are
doing on Earth.  Possibly they have something to do with this latest
phenomenon.'
	Kiyone gaped in dismay.  "See, Kiyone," the lieutenant said.  "You'll
be able to rejoin your partner in no time at all!"
	Kiyone sighed in frustration.  It was always like this.  No matter what
she did, she couldn't escape HER.  Never, ever, ever.  She wanted to
cry.
	
END

As before, this is going to be a short one, a bit over five pages in
Word Perfect.  Also, I'd like to note that my exposure to the first
couple seasons of Sailor Moon was all the DIC dubs, though I have seen
SuperS and about a third of Stars as fansubs, so I'm using the original
names for most things, though I can't for the life of me remember how to
spell the original name for the Silver Crystal (and I know that's not
the full name, but it's how I remember it).  In case the character
portrays are too much like DIC, that's why... and it is an alternate
reality so let it slide.  Also, it's family name first because I'm
fascinated with "Tsuki no Usagi" (it translates to "Rabbit of the Moon",
in case you didn't know) and it just doesn't work the other way around. 
Also, I'll be using the honorifics sporadically, and only when I know
which one to use.

Also, the Slayers/Ranma crossover title something like "Half a
Sorceress" has a good bit of an influence on this thing, which I didn't
realize till I'd already decided to write it this way.  Well, imitation
is the sincerest form of flattery and all.

Part 2 of God only knows how many

	Queen Serenity awoke slowly.  Even after 1500 years, she couldn't find
her way to being a morning person, not that it really mattered.  Most of
her personal responsibilities could be taken care of in the afternoon,
and the few that couldn't, her daughter was more than capable of
handling.  
	That meant that most mornings she was able to gently rise from her
slumber and greet the day gracefully and happily.  It was amazing how
much easier life was if one actually got adequate sleep.
	This morning was different, however.  Someone was shaking her quite
violently and yelling.  After a couple seconds of foggy confusion, her
mind reached out for the Silver Crystal, readying herself to draw upon
it's awesome power if this was an emergency, which it almost certainly
was. In shock she realized that she could not find it and her eyes
snapped open, a deep sense of foreboding filled her, but she was ready
for anything.
	Well, anything but the face that gazed down on her.  It was a ghost. 
Dead for hundreds of years, but now somehow arisen and attempting to
rattle her arm off.
	A few of the apparition's words made their way into her mind before she
fainted.  Words that she had thought to never hear again.
	"Usagi," her mother's voice demanded.  "Wake up this instant, you're
already LATE!"

***

	Tsukino Usagi awake slowly.  Even after 15 years, she couldn't find her
way to being a morning person, not that it really mattered.  Her mother
always got her up and out the door in time for a nice brisk, headlong
suicide dash to school.  
	Her eyes drifted open just as her mother was preparing to resort to the
cold water treatment.
	Over the years, Usagi had become fairly well versed in the methods her
mother employed in waking her up.  Cold water was the very last weapon
in her arsenal, which meant that she was seriously late for school.
	Her eyes snapped wide open, and a the familiar mantra formed on her
lips: "OhmygodI'msolate!"
	Her mother breathed a sigh of relief at not having to spend the morning
drying out the mattress and hurried out of the way of the pajama-clad
tornado that was her daughter.  She made her way downstairs and gathered
up the more portable items of Usagi's breakfast and her lunch.    
	Usagi spared two point three seconds to give her mother a hug as she
snagged the proffered food, darted out the door, and made her way at
amazing speeds toward school, a piece of toast gripped firmly between
her teeth.

***

	Serenity groggily came around and found herself to be running
somewhere.  Well, she wasn't really doing the running, but her body was.
	//Where am I going?// she thought.
	//Iamsolate! Gottogettoschool!// another thought answered.  It sounded
exactly like her own mental voice, but it certainly wasn't hers.
	//Err... Hello?// Serenity projected. //Can I have my body back?//
	"Ican'ttalkrightnowIamsolate!" her body said, drawing strange looks
from several pedestrians that had been trying to mind their own
business.
	//I'll just wait till you get to school them... well, I guess it's we
since you seem to be in control of my body,// she said with a mental
sigh.
	Whoever was controlling her body just ignored her and moved faster.
	As they dashed along the streets, places and people began to tickle
Serenity's memory.  She got the distinct impression that she had been
here before, but couldn't place it exactly.
	Her body rounded a last corner and heaved a sigh of relief.  After a
couple seconds, Serenity identified the building ahead as a school.  A
junior high school.  Juban Junior High, to be exact.
	Suddenly, things began to fall into place and Serenity realized who was
in her body with her.  It was her.  And this was apparently the past. 
It was a big shock, but also a big relief.  Time travel wasn't anything
new to her.
	Though the fact that she was apparently without her body was a new
twist on things.  And the Silver Crystal was nowhere to be found, which
meant that there was no direct way to contact Sailor Pluto.  This could
be bad.  Very bad.
	Might as well have a talk with myself, she decided.

***
	
	All morning, Usagi had been feeling a bit strange.  Her head felt...
full.  She was used to having cobwebs and the like when she first woke
up, but this was something different, though not altogether
uncomfortable.  That and she kept having to ignore these strange
thoughts that would surface periodically.
	Now it was lunch time and she was sitting underneath a tree with Naru,
chattering about various subjects, boys being a particular favorite.  
	//Ahem, do you think we could talk?// a strange voice that sounded
suspiciously like her own asked inside her head, much louder than
before.
	"What?!" she exclaimed and jumped slightly.
	"Usagi-chan, are you alright?" Naru leaned forward, concern in her
eyes.
	She shook her head to clear it. //I'm hearing things again.  Just like
this morning,// she thought and frowned slightly.  "Yeah, Naru-chan, I'm
fine.  Just thought I heard someone calling my name is all."
	//Would you like to actually listen to me?  I've been trying to get
your attention all morning.  Don'tspeak!  Think what you want to say,//
the voice tried again.
	Usagi's expression turned puzzled. //Err... Hello?//
	//There!  That wasn't so hard, now was it?//  The voice sounded
decidedly happy.
	//Who are you and what are you doing inside my head?// 
	"Usagi-chan, are you sure you're alright?  You keep staring off into
space like that..."  Naru was leaning forward now, waving her hand in
front of Usagi's eyes which had been slightly glazed through most of the
internal dialogue.
	"Oh... ah... I'm just fine!  I was just thinking about Motoki, that's
all!" Usagi answered hurriedly. //We'll talk later.//
	"Oh, I know, isn't he just..." 
	Serenity sighed mentally, //Whatever.//
	And things went back to normal for a while.

***

	Serenity dozed lightly inside Usagi's head, waiting for a chance to
talk to herself, strange as that may sound.
	She finally got her chance when Usagi was sitting in detention, slowly
working her way through a set of kanji exercises.  Another memory
tickled her mind and she gave a short mental laugh.
	//What's so funny?// Usagi thought back to her, more than just a little
annoyed. //Who are you, and am I going crazy?//
	//Well, I'm you, it's possible we're both insane, and you don't know
kanji,// Serenity smirked slightly.
	//If you're me, then you can't do it, either, so there!// Usagi stuck
her mental tongue out at the voice.
	//Really?// Serenity exerted a good deal of her will and grabbed
control of her writing hand.  It was amazingly easy, her past self
having nowhere near the experience with mind control and possession that
she did.  
	"Hey!" Usagi exclaimed, drawing an odd look from the teacher overseeing
her and the other two students sharing her detention.
	Soon, the page was covered with perfectly drawn characters and she
released her control of the arm. //There.  How's that?//  
	//Errr... perfect... except for one thing...//
	//Oh?// Serenity replied, a bit shocked.  She had spent almost five
years learning how to write the junk and was rather proud of her
ability.
	//No one is going to believe that I wrote this...// Usagi replied,
causing Serenity to heave a sigh of relief. //But it'll still get me out
of here, I hope.//
	She took the paper up to the teacher who was standing watch.  "Sensei,
I have completed the assignment, my I go home now?"
	The teacher shot her a disbelieving look and perused the work.  She
immediately walked past Usagi and began to search the classroom.  
	Usagi, puzzled, followed after her.  "Sensei, what are you doing?"
	"I'm trying to find the person that did this work.  I know your work,
Tsukino-san, and I know that those two," she gestured at the two boys
sitting near the front of the room.  They smiled sheepishly.  "Couldn't
have done it."
	"Oh, I just got a flash of inspiration, that's all." Usagi laughted
nervously and began debating the intelligence of handing in the paper.
	The teacher heaved a sigh.  "I guess you can go, but next time, I want
you to sit closer to the front of the room so I can keep a closer eye on
you."
	Usagi bowed slightly in gratitude and took her leave.
	//Great, that little stunt of yours almost got me in trouble,// Usagi
fumed at herself.
	//Hey, it's been a while since I was in school.  How could I be
expected to remember how bad a student I was?// Serenity shot back.
//Besides, it got us out of there, didn't it?//
	Usagi just grumbled.
	//Say, where are we going, anyway?// Serenity was suddenly serious,
almost sensing what was coming.
	//We are going to talk, that's where.//  
	//Oh, goodie.  How about we talk while you walk?// Serenity suggested
as a sudden idea hit her. //We can go to the arcade or something.  I
haven't played a good game of Sailor V in far too long.//
	//Sailor who?//
	//Mina-chan,// was the only answer she received.

***

	They arrived at the arcade a short chat latter, Usagi now knowing about
as much about the situation as Serenity.  However, she was having
trouble getting any facts about the future out of the voice that claimed
to be her future self. 
	//And why won't you tell me anything USEFUL about the future?// she
asked for the third time.
	//Well, let's put it this way, if I accidentally give you information
that changes your future, I might end up not existing.  I can't tell you
anything important, sorry.//
	Usagi grumbled to herself again, only slightly concerned that she was
beginning to make a habit of it.  The doors slid open at her approach
and she looked around the arcade, hoping that Motoki was working.
	//So, what was it you wanted to do here?//
	//Sailor V!  It should me the fourth machine in the second row, near
the fire extinguisher.//
	//If you're from a long time in the future, how do you manage to
remember things like that?  I have trouble with things that happened
just a few months ago.//
	//Trust me, if you spend anywhere near as much time as I did in here,
you'd know the whole place by heart.// Serenity smiled slightly to
herself at the prospect of enjoying one of the many activities she
hadn't been able to engage in for several hundred years.  
	//Is this it?// Usagi peered at the machine scepticly.  The blazing
title "Barbarian Warrior Goddess" was surrounded by scantily clad,
highly muscular men and women.
	//Err... no.  I don't remember this one at all.// Serenity watched the
demo game kick in. //It doesn't even look like her.//  
	//Well, this is a total bust, Motoki's not even here,// Usagi pouted.
	//He has a girlfriend, you know.//
	//He WHAT!?!  How COULD he?// Usagi almost broke down wailing, but
Serenity seized control of her body.
	//Not on my watch, you don't.  Just because he's not available doesn't
mean that there isn't someone out there that was destined to be with
you.//
	Usagi sniffled mentally, but it just wasn't the same. //Hey, aren't you
sharing facts about the future with me?  Didn't you just spend fifteen
minutes talking about how you couldn't do that?//
	//Err... well, I'm starting to think that this may not really be the
past, after all.  So I don't guess it really matters what I tell you.//
	//Wait a minute, if you're not in the past, why are you in my body? 
And if you're me, how come you can write kanji as well as the teachers? 
And-//
	//I never said I wasn't you.  I'm just not the you that you'll grow up
to be.  Get it?//
	Usagi thought for a few seconds. //No, not really.//
	Serenity sighed. //Okay, let's head over to the shrine and see if
anyone else is having our problem.  You do know where it is, right?//
	//Which shrine?//
	//Never mind, I'll just do the walking.  Mom isn't expecting us home
for a while, is she?//
	//Nah, I usually go hang out with Naru-chan.  But she's helping her mom
set up for some big jewelry show.//
	Serenity, still in control of the body, nodded. 
	After a few more minutes of walking, the Hikawa Shrine came into view.
//Here we are,// Serenity announced.
	//This place?  Isn't this a shrine a bit small?  We could always go to
the big one over on-//
	//It's not the shrine I want to see, but the people.// Serenity marched
up the stairs, a faint grin of nostalgia on her face.
	She spotted Rei's grandfather, who looked up from sweeping the stairs
at her approach.
	"Excuse me, kind sir, but I'm looking for a Ms. Hino Rei.  Would you
happen to know where I can find her?"
	"Of course.  I'm always happy to help out a pretty young lady such as
yourself.  She's around back chopping wood for the furo," he smiled at
her in a benevolent manner that Serenity suspected would change into a
leer the second she turned her back.
	"Thank you very much." She bowed and continued up the stairs.
	//So, exactly who is this Rei person, anyway?//
	//One of my dearest friends.  She's the only I can think of to talk to
about what's going on.//
	Usagi accepted the answer grudgingly. //But will she help us?  I mean,
she doesn't know you yet.//
	//Got any better ideas?//
	Usagi let it go at that.
	By that point, they had reached the top of the stairs, and the faint
sound of wood being chopped could be heard from behind the living
quarters area of the shrine.  
	Moving stealthily, she made her way around the corner and spotted Rei,
dressed in her Shinto robes, wielding a small axe and cutting small log
down to size for use in the shrine's furo heater.  When the maiden
stopped for a second to catch her breath, Serenity cleared her throat
quietly.
	"Excuse me, but are you Ms. Hino Rei?" she managed to put a hint of
doubt into her voice, just in case.
	Rei looked up, startled.  "Serenity-sama?"
	Serenity broke out into a wide smile.  "Now where have I heard that
name before?"
	Rei dropped the axe and threw herself at Serenity in a bone-crushing
hug.
	
END
-- 
Tim Williams
http://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia/ 

"This time, we're leaving nothing to the imagination.  We tried that
last time, and, in our opinion, it didn't work." -- Henry Rollins,
"Driveby Shooting"