Enter Star Navigators
by 
Claire de Lune


Chapter 11
An Error In Judgement

     Saturday had finally come in a week that had seemed to stretch on long past what it should,
and Triese was up early doing Tai-Chi to wake up when the phone rang.

     "Who could that be at six in the morning?" she asked herself as she went to pick it up. 
"Triese here, sho's calling?"

     "Good morning Triese," said Artan, "it's just me.  I remembered you were an early riser,
and I wondered if you'd like to join me for a morning walk through the park?"

     "Um, sure!" Triese said, blushing.   This is ridiculous. Why am I blushing?  He's not even
here!' She reminded herself.

     "Fine then, I'll meet you at the drive-in in half an hour." he said.

     "Sounds good," she said.   "See you then."  They both hung up.

     "Calling Triese?" Comgan asked as he walked into the living room of their apartment
yawning.

     "I thought you were asleep."  Artan muttered under his breath.

     "I was but if you want me to stay asleep, you really should make some kind of attempt to
shut down our mind like when you're agitated.

     "Oh, sorry about that."

     "You should be.  It's far too early in the morning.  So, are you finally going to tell her how
you feel?"

     "Maybe," said Artan non-commitally

     "You know, sometimes I think Mother and Father arranged the wrong person's marriage."

     "Oh, and you're one to talk?" Artan asked sarcastically.

     "You're probably right," Comgan admitted, "but at least I managed to take a little
initiative."

     "Whatever.  Look, I've got to get going.. I'll see you later." said Artan as he walked out the
door.

     "Think about it." his brother sent after him.
     
     "I know, but I'll do it on my own time." he answered and headed for his car.
     Unlike the rest of the Navigators, Comgan and Artan could actually both afford to have cars. 
Their parents had been well, and had provided well for their only sons before the house fire which
claimed both of them.  As a result the twins lived well off of their investments, and had a little
more leeway in choosing jobs and universities.

     Artan got to the drive-in a little early so he parked a small distance away and walked back. 
When he got to their meeting place, Triese was there.

     "Good morning." she said.

     "So which direction do you want to walk?" Artan asked.

     "Why don't we walk toward Dallas Road?"

     "Sure."   They started walking.

     After about a block or so, Triese broke the silence.  "I forgot to ask, how did you know I was
an early riser?"

     "You always have been.  Do you remember back in The Moon Kingdom you were the one
who came up with the morning training sessions?"

     "Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that.  As I remember, you were the only one was enthusiastic
about it."

     "You know, sometimes I thought it almost would have been better if it had just been the two
of us.  Everyone else just complained."   Why did I add that last bit?' he reprimanded himself.

     "Artan..." Triese started.

     "Yes?" he turned to look at her.

     "I wanted to apologize for snapping at you on Wednesday.  If I'd had half a brain in my
head I should have known you were exhausted."   That wasn't what I wanted to say, why won't my
mouth say what my brain wants it to?' she berated herself,  It's ridiculous.  I speak my mind at the
worst times, and now that I want to, I can't!'

     The walk continued on with generally the same type of conversation.  When they got back to
the drive-in, they both agreed that they would meet again the next morning and headed their
separate ways.

     *                        *                        *

     "Drokvert!" Lord Anord called.

     "Yes, my Lord?" Drokvert quickly warped into the Throne Room.

     "I wish to congratulate you on your recent successes, but that incident in Hawaii was very
close.  For better results, you should deploy two drones at once.  It would confuse their tracking
methods, whatever they are, and divide their resources as they try to eliminate both.

     "I will, my Lord."  Drokvert bowed and left.

     Back in the storage hall, he sat down to think about the best possible sites.  They had to be
far apart and well populated.   Then it came to him.   Ottawa and Moscow would be perfect.  Nice
busy national capitals.  Now, what to send?  A blackfly would be good for Ottawa and I guess a
flea would do for Moscow.'  He got up and went to find a place for his latest drones.  As he was
about to do this, he realized he'd have to wait a few hours, since it was the middle of the night in
Moscow and the drone wouldn't have anything to feed on.  He sat back down to nap and wait.

     In his laboratory, Colg was not pleased.  None of his prisoners had dreamed anything at all
since the latest one had been added.  "Maybe it has something to do with even and odd numbers.  I
bet if I get another one, it'll start them off again."  He leaned back in his chair and activated his
dream crystal.  Within five minutes, it started to hum and opened a warphole to Japan.  On the
other side of it was Peggy Jones.  Of course, Colg didn't know who she was, so he didn't know that
he was about to make a potentially fatal error.  Blissfully unaware of the mistake he was making,
he grabbed her as she stopped dreaming and treated her just the same as all his other prisoners,
implanting her with a small black crystal and dropping her in the cage with all the others.  She
woke up right away.  "What's happening?  Where am I?" she asked looking around.

     "What's happening is that you are my prisoner." Colg told her coldly.  "Now tell me what
you were dreaming."

     "Why?"

     "Because if you don't, I'll prick a tender spot with this." he said, materialized his black
crystal sword.

     "All right, fine.  I was dreaming about two people I seemed to know.  Each thought the other
didn't care for them as anything more than a friend and colleague, but in fact they were deeply in
love with each other."

     "Do you know their names?"

     Peggy thought about it.  "No, but they were nobles of some kind.  That's all I know, really."

     "Well, that's pretty useless." Colg said contemptuously and left.

     "I rather thought it would make a good painting." Peggy said.

     "So another joins our little slumber party." Dave said. "You wouldn't happen to know
anything about something called the Moon Kingdom would you?"

     "Moon Kingdom... It seems vaguely familiar.  I think I may have done some paintings about
such a place at some point."  

     "Where did you get the term though?"

     "Probably from my dreams, that's where I get most of the ideas for my paintings.  I even did
some about Sailor Moon."

     "Sailor Moon?  Who's that?  I think I've heard the name before, somewhere."  Erina
pondered.

     "She's a girl heroine back in Japan.  She and Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus
fought monsters which appeared suddenly last year."

     "Odd, I've never heard of her." Travis said.

     "That's not surprising considering the quality of international news in the States." Dave told
him.  "I saw a few news stories about her, but they all dismissed her as some kind of hoax."

     "Well, she certainly isn't a hoax." Peggy told him and began to explain to her cellmates
what she knew about the Sailor Scouts.


     *                        *                        *

     In a different part of Japan, Greg sat up suddenly.  "I have to tell Amy..." he said out loud,
then looked at his clock, "but not yet.  I can't get a train for another three hours, so I'll set my clock
and try to get some more sleep."

     *                        *                        *

     A few hours later, Drokvert unleashed his drones.  Almost as soon as they were released,
Raye, who was at Serena's, sat up straight as she became aware of a new threat.

     "What is it?" asked Luna.

     "They've released two more drones." Raye explained.  "One's in Ottawa, and the other's
in Moscow."

     "Well, it's a good thing we anticipated such a move.  You'd better get in touch with
Elwing, Serena you call the others."

     "I don't like us being split up like this." Serena said.  Raye and Luna's jaws dropped.
 Maybe she can be a leader after all' Raye thought.

     Elwing, there are two drones to fight.  We need to split up and get rid off both of them. 
There's one in Ottawa and one in Moscow."

     "Okay, I'll send your team to Ottawa and Serena's to Moscow.  Good luck." said Elwing.

     Serena called Mina, Amy and Lita to advise them to be ready, and explained the situation.. 
Elwing called the other Navigators and did the same.  Everybody transformed before being sent to
their respective destinations.

     In Moscow, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Venus met up with the two Navigator
couples (Sailors Elwing, Polaris, Alphecca and Alcor).  IT wasn't hard for them to find the drone;
Sailor Polaris had used his power to lead them right to it.  The flea was not too big yet, and so it
was leaving its small pile of victims untended to go search for fresh energy.  The Sailors had to
run fast to keep up with it.

     "I wish... this thing would... slow down!" panted Sailor Moon.

     "No kidding!" agreed Sailor Elwing.  "Just a second, stop everyone.  We don't need to run,
I can get us there faster by teleporting us."  Everybody stopped and Sailor Elwing teleported them
right to the flea.  Just then, it noticed that there were more prospective targets coming from the
opposite direction and hopped toward them.

     We can't let it get those people!" Sailor Venus shouted.  "Venus Love Chain Encircle!" she
lassoed the flea, tying up it's legs so that it crashed to the ground.  Sailor Alcor reinforced those
bonds with vines and Sailor Alphecca cooled it off with a small blizzard.

     "Now Sailor Moon!" cried Sailor Polaris.

     "Moon Sceptre Elimination!" shouted Sailor Moon.  The flea screamed and turned to dust.

     *                        *                        *

     Over in Ottawa, things weren't going so well for the other team.  When they first got there,
they had to follow a seemingly sourceless screaming to find the drone.  Then, when Sailor Vega
realized what it was, she fell into helpless laughter which caused everyone to stare at her..

     "What are you doing?" Sailor Rigel asked her, aghast.

     I'm sorry, it's just too ironic.  My uncle came from around here, and he always used to talk
about the size of the black flies in Ontario."  She strove vainly to get in control of her laughter. 
Finally, she managed to swallow her giggles.  By this point, the black fly had noticed them.  In
order to distract it, Sailor Vega filled the air on every side of it with sound.  Unfortunately, she
used the first thing that came to mind, so out of nowhere came a resounding chorus of "Black fly,
the little black fly.  Always the black fly no matter of where I go I'll die with the black fly
a-picking my bones in North Ontari-o-i-o, in North Ontario."  Of course, this was too much for the
others, who started laughing as well.

     All would surely have been lost had it not been for one of the young men among the
victims.  He groaned and sat up.  "What's so funny?" he asked (the music having stopped as Sailor
Vega lost concentration)

     This brought everyone back to their senses, and just in time too; the black fly was almost
close enough to grab them.

     "Jupiter Thunderclap..."

     "Mars Celestial Fire..."

     "Zap!"

     "Surround!"  Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars said combining their attacks.

     "It's not enough!"  Sailor Altair cried as the black fly shuddered in the air and shook off the
attack.

     "Try it again, I'll augment your attacks this time!"  Sailor Rigel told them.

     "Jupiter Tunderclap Zap!"

     "Mars Celestial Fire Surround!"

     The augmented attacks managed to knock the black fly drone out of the air and Sailor Mizar
created a small earthquake to flip it onto its back.

     "We can't beat this thing on our own, we need Sailor Moon!"  Sailor Vega called to Sailor
Elwing.

          "She's on her way." Sailor Elwing answered.  A couple of seconds later, Sailor Moon
appeared.

     "Quickly, before it recovers!" Sailor Mars yelled to her.

     "Moon Sceptre Elimination!" she cried and the second drone of the day, bit the dust.

     With the drone gone, Sailor Jupiter turned her attention the victims who had woken up. 
"Who are you and how come you're not out of energy?" she demanded.

     "My name's Adrian.  As to how come I'm not drained of energy, I honestly don't know."
he said confused.  "Who are you?"

     "Careful, he might be from the Negaverse." her cousin warned her.

     Sailor Mars, do you sense anything about him?  Is he from the Negaverse?" Sailor Jupiter
asked.

     "I don't think so.  There's something strange about him, but I don't think that's what it is."

     "Good.  I'll introduce us then." Sailor Jupiter went over to help him up and their eyes
locked, something seemed to pass between them.  "That's funny, I'd swear I know you from
somewhere.  Oh, by the way, I'm Sailor Jupiter and this is Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor
Rigel, Sailor Mizar, Sailor Altair, and Sailor Vega."

     "Are you guys okay over there?" Elwing called, "We're already back."

     "We're fine." Sailor Mars replied.  "The reason we're still here is that Sailor Jupiter's
managed to find a cute guy among the victims."

     Time to go Lita." Elwing told her.

     "Um, we have to go now." Sailor Jupiter told Adrian, "You won't mind calling
ambulances for these others, would you?"

     "Ah... sure no problem.  Are you from around here?  I'm sure I've seen you before too.*

     "Nope, not from here.  Gotta go now, bye!" Sailor Jupiter said as she was translocated
back to Tokyo.

     *                        *                        *

     Having caught an early train, Greg was now in Tokyo.  Since he had lived there, if only for
a little while, he knew which buses to catch.  He got to Amy's house, only to find no one home, but
that didn't phase him.  He, of course, knew that Amy often met which the other Sailor Scouts at
Cherry Hill Temple, so he headed there.

     *                        *                        *

     "You started laughing?" Caiona said, aghast, as Ailine recounted the events of their most
recent counter.

     "I couldn't help it.  I don't why it suddenly struck me as so funny though."

     "Perhaps there was some mood-altering substance in the air." suggested Amy.  "Although I
can't find any trace of it on you now if there ever was.  What ever is was, you seem to be back to
normal now."

     "Well, that's a relief.  I hope it doesn't happen again..  I put the mission in horrible
jeopardy and if it hadn't been for Adrian, I'm sure things wouldn't have turned out nearly as well
as they did."

     "Well Ailine, the next time you feel an attack of the giggles coming on, just think of
something really sad." suggested Triese.

     "Hopefully, I won't have to use that piece of advice, but thanks." Ailine said.

     Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Raye went to answer it.

     "Is Amy here?"  Greg asked, "I need to talk to her."

     "I didn't know you were in town, Greg.  I'll go get her.  Come on in." Raye offered.  "Oh,
Amy, you'll never guess who's here!" she said grinning as she walked to into the room.

     "It's not Greg, is it?" asked Lita.

     Raye started to giggle, and Amy started blushing.  "He's waiting in the other room, and he
wants to talk to you." Raye told her.

     Amy quickly got up and left to go talk to him.  "Hi, Greg.  I didn't know you were coming
into town."

     "I had a vision last night." Greg told her.  "Some new Negaverse threat kidnapped Peggy
Jones last night.  Somehow, they were able to tell that she was dreaming about the Silver
Millennium."

     "This is important.  You'd better tell the others about it, and we'll take action.  We have no
way of knowing if they may have taken others as well." said Amy.  "I'll have to introduce you to
the Star Navigators, they don't know about you yet."  They came into the main room, and Amy
announced.  "Greg has some important news, it seems we may have to make a foray into the
Negaverse."

     Catrina jumped up in surprise.  "What is HE doing here?"  She asked outraged.

To Be Continued...

Coming next: Chapter Twelve, A Daring Rescue in which we learn the history behind Greg and
Amy, and a new mysterious figure is introduced.

                                             Claire de Lune


* To find out who Adrian is, read "Friends Will Be Friends" by Sailor Heart.

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