Enter Star Navigators

Chapter Thirteen
A Scorpion's Tears

        After telling what they could remember of their dreams and all they
knew about their incarceration, the former captives were ready to be
sent home.  Before they were, however, Travis and Erina, who had been
together the longest, realized they were going to miss each others'
company, and this started all four of them exchanging addresses.  When
this was done, Sailor Elwing personally accompanied each of the three
who weren't from Tokyo home.  Prior to leaving each one, she suggested
they come up with some sort of semi-logical explanation for their
disappearance.  "If you can't think of anything else," she suggested,
"say you were abducted by aliens.  It's fairly close to the truth, and I
don't want people trying to investigate the Negaverse.  They don't know
what they're up against, and couldn't handle the consequences if they
did.  Try to keep your ears and eyes open, though, especially for
friends and relatives who might be having the same dreams.  If you ever
have need of me, just call out to me with your mind, and I'll come."
        After all three of them were home, and Peggy had been provided with
a
change of clothing and sent on her way as well, the Sailors all
detransformed.
        "You did very well." Luna praised them.
        "Indeed," Caiona agreed, "you should be proud of your achievement."
        Elwing and Serena yawned in unison.  "Do you think we could discuss
this all tomorrow?" Elwing asked, "I've had a long day, and I'd like to
get some sleep."
        "Well, barring any Negaverse intervention, I think you can all have
tomorrow off, no meetings or anything, and we'll all meet on Monday."
Artemis suggested.
        Everyone agreed that this was a wonderful idea.

        "Bayatekt!" called Lord Anord, "Drokvert!  Report to me
immediately!" 
In his throne room, Anord was tossing Colg's dream crystal from one hand
to the other.  As soon as Drokvert arrived, he threw it to him.  "Since
Colg failed to use this effectively, I suggest you tune your drones to
it.  People reborn from the Silver Millennium seem to have a higher
energy level than normal humans.  By lowering the number of humans
necessary to fulfill energy requirements, we will lower the chances that
we will be caught."
        "A stroke of genius, my Lord!" Drokvert agreed.
        "As for you, Bayatekt, since Colg is no longer with us, you shall
now
command in his place.  I suggest you study his dream laboratory for any
clues on how to trigger informative dreams."
        "Yes, my Lord." Bayatekt bowed.
        "You are dismissed." 
        Both of the lackeys teleported quickly off to follow orders.

        In the storage hall, Drokvert tossed the dream crystal up into the
air
and caught it.  "So, Colg finally got himself in big enough trouble to
be kicked out of the Negaverse entirely.  Serves him right.  Of course,
I won't be nearly so stupid." he said to himself , "Now, down to work." 
He picked up a spider protodrone and activated the crystal, passing it
over the spider until it glowed and changed colour from the well known
black and red of a Black Widow, to white and dark blue.  "Since Colg
found many of his prisoners in Victoria, I'll send this drone there, and
hopefully it will have a better chance of finding victims there."  He
went and dropped off the altered spider drone by UVIC. 

        It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and Tair was on another of his
rambling walks.  He was different from other Jovians, in that he didn't
like to fight.  Not that he was afraid to get physical, he just wasn't
antagonistic.  At least, he didn't think so.  His temper was certainly
shorter than average, though, that much he was honest enough to admit. 
He had what he considered an amazing amount of control.  All this really
constituted was that he didn't blow up at every available opportunity,
but instead coldly argued logic.  He was thinking about how he might
encourage his cousin to learn some of his restraint.  To his perception,
she was dangerous in a fight, not only to the enemy, which she
undoubtedly was, but also to her own side, and even totally innocent
bystanders.  Deep in thought, he almost tripped over a sunbather. 
Rather an odd sunbather, actually.  Even though there was an open field
with lots of sun very close by, this girl with long greenishly
iridescent black hair was lying in the one spot of sunlight in a grove
of trees.
        "Excuse me," he said, "I didn't see you there."
        She was lying on her stomach reading a book.  At the sound of his
voice, she looked up.  "Fine." she said, "Now you see me, would you
please go away?  You're blocking my sun."
        "Well, if that's a problem, I would have thought the trees were
doing a
much better job of it than me." Tair said, "Wouldn't it make more sense
to be lying out in that field."  
        "I happen to like my privacy, which you are now interrupting, now
SCRAM!" the girl shouted.
        Not one to back down in any situation, Tair elected not to "scram",
but
to leave on his own terms.  "I don't think so." he said insolently, "I
think I'll stay right here."  He sat down beside the girl.  "What's your
name?  I'm Tair."
        "If I tell you my name, then will you go away?" the girl grated.
        "I might."
        "Fine then, my name is Casey.  Casey Conan.  Now go."
        "Actually, I think I'll stay instead."
        Casey shut her eyes and took a deep breath.  "Look...Tair...I
really
don't like to do this, but you leave me no choice."  With one muttered
word she erected a glowing pink bubble around herself and it slowly
began expanding.  As it came in contact with Tair, it sparkled at the
contact point.
        "Ouch!" exclaimed Tair, "You certainly have a prickly disposition! 
Well, of you're going to be that way about it..."Tair stepped away from
the still-expanding shield and calmly levitated her book to himself. 
"Hmm, Belgarath the Sorcerer.  Instructional reading?  Or just for
pleasure?"
        "It just so happens that David Eddings is one of my favourite
authors."
said Casey, who had abolished the shield, and was standing, hands on
hips, staring angrily at Tair, "Now give it back, and go away." she made
a lunge for the book.
        "Alright, I know when I'm not wanted, I'm leaving; you can get the
book
yourself."  With that, Tair levitated the book into the fork of a nearby
tree and walked off.
        'What an aggravating boy.' Casey thought as she carefully levitated
the
book back down out of the tree.

        It was evening, and the augmented Negaverse spider was still
searching
for a victim.  Because of its still relatively small size, it couldn't
exactly search a large area quickly.  It had come across many humans, of
course, but none of them fit with its ingrained 'prey' trigger; they
didn't have any of the memory residue it was attuned to.  Like all good
spiders, though, this one had been laying down webbing through the whole
search.  Sooner or later, its tiny brain reasoned, someone with memories
of the Silver Millennium would be bound to cross that webbing, and then
it would have its prey.  If it didn't come across one itself first, that
was.  Suddenly it felt a tug on its line, then it snapped.  Quickly
gathering the webbing back to itself as it ran, the spider drone soon
reached the point of the break.  Not far away was its prey.  Twitching
its mandibles, the spider made a prodigious leap and landed on the
girl.  Yes, this one would be perfect.  More than enough energy,
really.  It started to feast.

        "Oh no!" Raye groaned, "Today was supposed to be our day off!" she
sighed resignedly, "we've got another drone to deal with," she told
Elwing, "but this one feels different somehow; and it's right in your
backyard, at UVic." 
        "Different how?"
        "I don't know, but it might be stronger than the previous ones, or
smarter, or something."
        "Well, if you don't know, you don't know.  Call me when everyone's
ready."

        Within two minutes, everyone was on the scene at UVic.  Just in
time to
see the gigantic spider, its single victim drained and its energy
requirement filled, wink back to the Negaverse.
        "What happened?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, "They were never that fast
before!"
        Sailor Mercury typed furiously on her minicomputer, trying to get
readings before all traces of the drone faded away completely.  "That
was not the same kind of drone as we've been facing before at all.  It
seems to have been upgraded.  Its energy requirements are much more
particular, and it is more efficient."
        "What do you mean 'more particular'?" asked Sailor Rigel, who was
kneeled by the victim, "Is there any type of energy I need specially to
worry about?"
        "This drone apparently only goes after those with memories of the
Moon
Kingdom."
        "Hmm...Sounds like they're combining two strategies." Sailor Elwing
mused.
        As Sailor Rigel began replacing the victim's lost energy, a glowing
light blue raindrop appeared on her forehead.  Seeing this, Reyltain did
a backflip and brought an aqua powerstick with a light blue raindrop
inside a crescent moon and laid it carefully on the girl's chest.  "Draw
some of the energy from this until she's strong enough to use it." he
told Sailor Rigel.
        As Sailor Rigel continued her work, the girl's eyes began to
flutter. 
"Who are you?" she asked groggily.
        "I'm Sailor Rigel.  How are you feeling?  Can you stand?"
        "I'm a little woozy, but I think so.  My name's Brenna, by the
way."
        Sailor Rigel helped her to her feet.  "I know this must seem a
little
weird,"she said, handing Brenna her transformation wand, "but I want you
to take this."
        With a slightly bemused look on her face, she took it.
        "Now say 'Anteres Navigator Power!'" Caiona chimed in.
        Too startled and in shock to do anything but follow instructions,
Brenna raised her wand.  "Anteres Navigator Power!" she said.  
        A stream of cloud rose from the wand, creating a disc of aqua
coloured
rainclouds above her head. Light blue rain came down a torrent, melting
away her clothing and leaving a light blue skirted sailor suit with aqua
bows.  The wisps of cloud which were left formed into one raindrop,
which fell on her upturned face, turning into a silver tiara with a
sodalite raindrop.
        "Feeling better, Sailor Anteres?" Luna asked.
        "Much.  Thank you Luna." she answered. She looked around, "Hey,
where's
Sailor Thuban?" she asked.
        The others all looked confused.  "Sailor who?" Sailor Polaris
asked.
        "Sailor Thuban!  How can you not remember him?" suddenly she looked
worried, "Nothing has happened to him has it?  He's not hurt is he?"
        "I'm sure he isn't." Artemis assured her, "He probably just hasn't
woken up yet."
        "Oh, that's alright then.  You really had me concerned for a moment
there."
        "Well, sorry people, but as a result of today's events, I'm
stepping
the meeting up to...now, actually, just as soon as Sailor Elwing can get
us to Raye's temple."
        " Okay, I get the hint.  Here we go." Sailor Elwing said.

        "Hmm...Interesting.  And troubling." Sailor Pluto mused, "being
drained
to a point near death seems to have broken down some of the Silver
Crystal's barriers in her mind.  Or could it be that the drone actually
weakened those bonds by drawing its energy from them?  Well, whatever
the reason for this, it will be interesting to see where this leads.  I
just hope I won't have to intervene and reestablish the block, that
always depresses me."
        
        Over at Raye's temple, everyone was gathered.  "Okay, from what we
know, these enemies seem to be just as lacking in information as we
are.  However, today's attack suggests that their tactics have changed.
Central Control warned that they are now only going after those with
memories of the silver millennium for their energy targets.  It seems
that these people have a higher level of energy, and this new type of
drone is so efficient that it only needs one victim to fulfill its
energy requirement." Artemis said.
        "Do you think this means that they've filled their energy quota?"
Brenna asked.
        "I don't know." Amy answered her, without any knowledge of how much
energy they needed in the first place, and how many bugs got back
without us even knowing about it, it's impossible to tell.  The only way
we'll know is when we encounter some new kind of attack."
        "I HATE not knowing what comes next!" Lita exclaimed, and slammed
her
fist down on the table, making all the crockery jump, as well as
everyone sitting nearby.
        "Luna, do you think there might have been any ill effects of having
to
use energy from Brenna's transformation wand to revive her?" Amy asked.
        "You know, I'm not sure...Caiona?  Reyltain?  Artemis?  Any idea as
to
wether or not it might affect her ability to transform or her strength
as Sailor Anteres?" Luna queried the others. 
        They all shook their heads.  "No clue,"Caiona admitted, "but maybe
you
should check with your computer, just to be safe."
        Amy started typing rapidly on her computer, then looked up, a
concerned
expression on her face.  "It seems that her powers were affected by such
an unorthodox use of the energy in her transformation wand."
        "What kind of effect?" Brenna asked, "don't spare details, Coz; as
your
personal protector, I need to know my own limits so that I don't
endanger you by overextending myself."
        "It appears that you will experience momentary periods of weakness
as
Sailor Anteres; these will increase in frequency the longer you stay in
that form, until, after about half an hour, your transformation reverts
automatically." Amy announced, looking at her computer readout.
        "Is there anything I might do to reverse this drain?"
        "You'll have to wait until we find the rest of the Star Navigators.
Only with all of you together can you fix the drain." Amy explained.
        Just then, Greg walked in.  "Amy, I have to go home now, My parents
will worry if I'm gone for more than the weekend."
        Off in a corner, Catrina had snagged an irate looking Brenna, and
was
reassuring her that everything was just fine.  
        Finally, whin she was convinced, Brenna walked over.  "Greg." she
said,
holding out her hand, "It's good to see you again.  Catrina tells me
that you are healed and completely yourself once more, and that she has
thus removed your memory block.  Congratulations.  I only wish I could
have been awake as a witness to that wonderful ceremony."
        Greg just shook her hand silently, a happy but slightly dazed
expression on his face.  "I really do have to get going." he said
regretfully to Amy.
        "I'll see you to the door." she offered.
        "Is she always like that?" Greg asked Amy as soon as they were out
of
earshot, "I've never known anyone who spoke with such...such..." 
        "I think the term your looking for would be 'oratorical
elocution',"
Amy said, in her best imitation of her cousin, "and yes, unless she is
very tired or distracted she does.  She has a tendency to leave people
at a loss for words."
        "I'll say!" Greg agreed.  
        When they got to the door, Amy stopped.  "I'd walk you to the bus
stop,
but I think Artemis and Luna want to go over a few more things."
        Greg took her hands in his, "I ll try to come more often to see
you."
he said, "Especially now, with this strange new enemy to face."
        "Don't put yourself in danger though." Amy admonished him.
        "Of course not. He reassured her, then shyly leaned down and kissed
her, before running off to catch the bus.

FIN


