Four: Pacific

StarMaker looked through the hole in the deck out at space. The energy fields seemed to be holding for now, but on emergency power, it was only a matter of time before they would fail. Since she could survive the airless conditions, she was alone on the bridge, rerouting the major systems to another deck. She had managed to contact Yaten�s ship and tell them of the attack, but that had been hours ago. If they didn�t reach the rest of their convoy soon, there would be little chance of saving the remaining 746 refugees. The ship started shaking, a sign they were nearing the other side of the portal.

<It�s too soon,> StarMaker thought to herself. She glanced at a readout and shook her head sadly. She hit the warning klaxon again and sighed. <Another few hours and we would have reached Yaten.>

She turned back to the hole in the deck as she used her power to steady the ship. Closing her eyes to concentrate on keeping the ship from flying apart as it returned to normal space, she failed to see tale-tale signs of other ships passage through the portal. She opened her eyes as the ship seemed became steady once again, and was amazed by what she saw. There in front of her was Earth! By all calculations it should have taken many many months to get here. She started going over the calculations in her mind when suddenly, the ship tilted to one side. They were falling and StarMaker could do nothing to stop them.

In front of her, the exposed edges of the ship were starting to break off as they tilted even more. Sailor StarMaker tried one last time to pull the ship out of the planet�s orbit as the energy field finally gave way. Now she could feel the heat against her skin as the ship�s rate of descent increased drastically. Every thought she had was on her two little girls as she watched the Pacific Ocean grow larger by the second.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Senior Airman, Thomas G. Maxwell, III, was on duty in the Control Room of the USS O�Connor when the radar started malfunctioning. "Sir, we might have a problem. I�ve got a glitch on the screen," he replied.

Admiral O. Ryan Sewell glanced toward the radar station over his shoulder. "What do you mean �glitch�?"

"I�m reading a bogie, sir, but it�s too big," the Airman replied. He double checked his systems and glanced at the other radar operator. The same information was on her screen as well. "This thing has a signature as large as a surface ship."

Admiral Sewell went over to the screens and checked the readouts. "Tell all planes to scramble. I want to know what that thing is and where it came from!" He leaned closer and spoke to the radar operators quietly. "Any chance that thing could be a nuke?"

"I suppose, but why put a nuke on something that big?" the Airman replied. He checked his instruments again and looked at the Admiral. "No possible solution for an earth launch point. Had to have been in orbit."

The Admiral stiffened for a moment. "Communications, get me someone in Washington. I think their Space Station is about to fall on our heads," he replied. He walked out to the deck to watch the fighter planes take off.

A few minutes later, he cleared the Control Room of all non-essential personnel as the call to the Joint Chiefs went through. "Madame (or Mister ??) Secretary, we have a problem. About ten minutes ago, our radar identified a bogie falling into the Pacific Ocean. Fighters have already been launched to investigate. Have you received reports of any problems with the Space Station?"

The voice on the other end of the soon seemed doubtful, even as the Secretary of Defense motioned for an aide to contact NASA. "No, Admiral. We haven�t received any reports. Why? What�s going on, Admiral?"

"I�m not sure, Mr. Secretary. But unless there�s some kind of black project I�m not cleared for, the only thing in space that big is the Space Station. At least, the only thing we put into space."

Another voice this time, this one more curious. "What are you saying, Admiral? Do you think we could be looking at an invasion?"

There was a flurry of activity in the Combat Information Center, interrupting the teleconference. Admiral Sewell did not speak directly to the Pentagon until he had comprehended the new developments. "We�ve just had a report from one of the first planes out. The object isn�t a meteor, or ball lightning, or the planet Venus, or a weather balloon," the Admiral said. He looked at the few remaining crew as he carefully chose his next words. "I think we could be looking at a possible First Contact situation, Mr. Secretary. What do you advise?"

The Secretary of Defense spent several moments thinking. When the Admiral asked the second time, she looked up into the faces of her colleagues. "I advise you to be careful, Admiral. Tell no one else of what is happening out there. No matter what, secure the area," she replied.

The other voice came back on the line. "As soon as we know what we�re dealing with, we�ll send more ships to the area," Thysson replied. He cut off the call and looked at the Secretary of Defense, the only other person in the room. "No one hears of this. Not until we have it under our control."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Admiral! You�re never going to believe this, but the bogie is a ship! Twice the size of any sub I�ve ever seen!" The F-190 (ok, I know that isn�t real, sue me) turned and came around for another pass. "Blue Leader to Blue Squadron, do you see what I see down there?"

"Blue 7 to Blue Leader, that�s affirmative, Captain. We have survivors."

"Blue 3, confirm. I coun-- what was that?"

"What is it, Blue 3?"

"It�s beginning to sink. It�s rolling now, and I can see big holes in the hull. Looks like a whole bunch of people just got dumped in the drink."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sailor StarMaker opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by water. She felt hands pulling her up and gasped for breath when her head broke the surface. "Lord Taiki, are you alright? Where are we?" one of her rescuers asked.

The redhead took a moment to catch her breath before trying to speak. "Earth," she replied. She felt something warm on her face as the console beneath her started turning red. <Blood,> she thought as she raised one hand to her face. "Did anyone else survive the crash?"

Her rescuers nodded. "Almost everyone, thanks to you. Only four dead or missing," one of them replied. The ship tilted again and all three of them went back into the water. "We have to get out of here, the ship is sinking."

StarMaker pulled herself out of the water and scrambled to the doorway. She staggered for a moment and then felt arms around her waist, pulling her out of what was once the bridge.

The two guards, the only other members of the court besides the senshi that were still alive, pulled their leader into an access shaft. The route they had taken to get to the bridge was now underwater and since an entire section of the hull was gone on that side, the rest would soon be underwater as well. They fought to remain standing as the ship continued moving. The older of the two, a man known only as Gai, pulled StarMaker flat against what was once a wall. "Grab onto something. The ship�s going belly-up!"

The red-haired senshi grabbed onto the edge of a door and reached for the other guard. The young blonde reached for her commander as the wall on the other side crumbled. Gai grabbed the smaller woman�s arm before she could fall down the now vertical corridor. The ship stopped moving and the trio held onto the doorframe. "Now what?" asked the terrified blonde. She had only been a guard for two months when orders had come to evacuate. She had never experienced anything like this before.

"The engines will pull the ship down, lass," Gai replied. "If the ship doesn�t fall apart when that happens, she may just float."

"Then we�ll have to deal with the humans," StarMaker replied in Japanese. The other two looked at her curiously, but she didn�t have time to explain.

Space travel for large groups meant large ships, that in turn meant large engines. No matter what you make an engine out of, it will be heavier than water. As the Earth�s gravity pulled on the engines, the trapped air began to bubble out of the holes in the hull and water rushed in to take it�s place. The ship tilted faster and before they could react, the trio of guards found themselves lying flat on the ceiling, water spilling into the corridor from every direction. StarMaker tried to focus enough to teleport out of the ship, but she had used all of her energy to keep the ship in one piece.

Gai glanced into one of the doorways that had opened during the flip. "Part of the ship is gone from here, we can get out," he replied. The outer wall of what appeared to have been crew quarters was missing. If they hurried, they could get out of the ship before it completely sank. He half-carried the commander through the water and motioned the blonde to go first. Once she had made it out, he pushed StarMaker through the hole. As he was stepping out, he heard an energy weapon discharge and looked up as a beam of blue energy came straight toward him as the sound of a jet engine rang in his ears.

* * *

Admiral Sewell came back onto the radio and shook the Captain out of her thoughts. "Blue Leader, what�s your status? Is the ship still afloat?"

"Yes, but not for much longer. Sir, there are several hundred people in the water down there."

"Acknowledged. The radio was silent for a few moments and the Captain knew he was consulting the higher-ups. "Have your people return to the ship once the rescue teams arrive. Report to me immediately for debriefing."

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As soon as the rescuers arrived, they knew this was no ordinary mission. All they had been told was to retrieve the survivors from the water and bring them back to the carrier. They found that there was enough room to land the helicopters one at a time and load the people. However, no one seemed willing to approach them. The rescuers tried every language they could think of, but no one seemed to understand them, until Captain C. S. Knight tried Japanese. A young girl with long blonde hair next to him looked at him curiously for a moment before replying. "How do you know that language?" she asked.

Capt. Knight smiled slightly at the girl. "I know several languages. I�m just glad you know it. Come on, you have to get onto the helicopter," she replied.

The blonde shook her head and grabbed the Captain�s arm. "No one will leave before Lady StarMaker. Don�t even bothering telling them to go, they don�t speak the language," she replied. She led her over to a large group of people who had gathered around one figure. She let go of the Captain and ran over to the figure.

The Captain thought she was seeing things at first. All of the others were dressed in simple clothes, but the figure they were trying to protect was clad in a very immodest black outfit. Someone next to her said something in a language she had never heard before and she looked at the blonde. "What did he say?"

The blonde said something to the man and motioned the Captain over. "It is not your concern," she replied. "You have to help her. She is our Commander and we will not leave her." <Especially since she�s the only one who knows anything about humans,> the blonde thought to herself.

Captain Knight motioned to her crew and knelt beside StarMaker. After her crew had loaded the unconscious senshi onto the helicopter, she looked back to the blonde. "Now will the rest of you leave?"

The blonde nodded and called out to the others. "Just tell me what they need to know and I will tell them," she replied. She kicked something and glanced at her feet. She knelt down to pick up the weapon and saw the Captain draw her own. She handed the weapon to him, butt-first. "It needs a powercell to work," she remarked.

Captain Knight picked up the energy weapon and replaced her own sidearm. "Sorry. Habit," she replied. She tucked the weapon into her belt and motioned the first helicopter to leave. It took several hours to transport the 742 survivors back to the carrier. She asked the blonde once what was keeping the ship from sinking completely.

"The secondary storage area. That�s where we put all of the bodies. It was sealed before we entered your atmosphere," the blonde replied. She noticed the Captain tense at the word, �bodies�, but continued to tell her their situation, leaving out as many details as she could. "When we exited the portal, we were much closer to your planet than anticipated. Since our ship was damaged, we were unable to control our descent."

The Captain seemed doubtful, even as she relayed the details to Admiral Sewell. "Apparently, they�re refugees. The question is, is this some kind of hoax or are they for real?"

"Why do you think it�s a hoax?" asked the Admiral. He was sitting at his desk, Captain Graves and Captain Knight seated across from him. "That ship didn�t look like a hoax to Captain Graves."

"Me either, sir. But that one lady, she spoke perfect Japanese. It was almost like she had been speaking it for years," Captain Knight replied. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "The others seem to recognize it, but they don�t understand it. According to Lin, the blonde, it�s only spoken by members of the Royal Guard."

Admiral Sewell nodded slightly. "Then that would mean the first one you brought in, StarMaker, she would be a member of this Royal Guard?" he asked. "Any word on where they�re from?"

Captain Knight shook her head. "She won�t say. After we got back to the ship, all she did was ask about her friend, StarMaker. She seemed more concerned about her than anything else," she replied. "Whoever this woman is, she must be pretty damn important."

"It would seem wherever they�re from, it�s a matriarchal society," Captain Graves replied. "Most of the higher ranking officials appear to be women. StarMaker is either their leader or the highest-ranking officer in the group. We don�t know what to do with the bodies, though."

"Lin won�t say anything about that. They want to wait until StarMaker wakes up, but we don�t know if or when that will be," Knight replied. "We know she is the most critical, everyone else got off with no more than broken bones."

Admiral Sewell sighed. "For now, we leave the bodies where they had them. Their storage system seems to be keeping the bodies from decomposing and keep us from having to reroute them," he replied. He sighed and handed the two Captains a file marked �Top Secret�. "We have orders to turn them over to the Feds anyway. All of them, including your friend, StarMaker."

"Do they think these aliens pose a threat to the planet, sir?" Captain Graves asked.

"Tell no one what we have discussed," the Admiral replied. As soon as she was gone, he turned to the other woman. "I�ve spoken with the joint chiefs. General Thysson wants to speak with you, Captain Knight about what this �Lin� said to you. He thinks it could be important."

Captain Knight nodded. "Very well, sir. Should she be present when we talk with the General?"

"Not we, Captain. Just you." Admiral Sewell picked up the phone in his office and spoke quietly for a moment before looking back to the Captain. "Find her. She can help us shed some light on this situation."

Captain Knight nodded and left the Admiral�s office. She knew exactly where she would find Lin. In the 24 hours since the last of the refugees were brought on board, they blonde hadn�t left StarMaker�s side. The Captain headed straight for the infirmary and found the blonde asleep in the chair beside the redhead. She waved the guards off and woke the younger woman. "Lin, I need your help," she said in Japanese.

Lin nodded slightly and glanced at the sleeping redhead. "What�s going on?" she asked as the Captain led her out of the room. "Is something wrong?"

Captain Knight shook her head. "No. We just need you to talk with someone. I have to be there to translate for you," she replied. She smiled slightly at the nervous blonde. "Don�t worry. He just wants to ask you a few questions." As she walked back to the Admiral�s office, she noticed the door open and a guard standing outside. "Where�s the Admiral?"

The guard shrugged. "Said he had to take care of something. The General is waiting for you," he replied in English. He saluted the Captain and closed the door behind the two women.

Captain Knight glanced around the office for a moment before motioning Lin to one of the chairs. "Sit down. I�m not sure--"

"Captain Knight?" a voice asked from the speaker phone.

Lin jumped slightly and then looked at the other woman. "Who was that?" she whispered.

"The General," Knight replied. She smiled at the younger looking woman and motioned for her to sit. She turned toward the phone and spoke in English, "Yes sir. I am Captain Knight."

"Is our friend with you?"

"Yes sir. Lin is here," the Captain replied. She repeated the information in Japanese and waited for the General to continue.

"Ask her where they are from."

"Very far away. She won�t say the name of the planet."

"Why not?"

"They have many enemies. Enemies that would follow them if they knew where they had gone."

There was a brief pause as the General discussed this information with the Joint Chiefs. Lin started getting nervous. She looked at Captain Knight and started speaking softly.

"What did she say, Captain?"

"She said she wanted to check on her friend. I told her that her friend would be fine."

"Knight-san, senshi don�t heal like others. We have to find--"

"Did she just say �senshi�?" asked a new voice over the phone. This voice was a woman�s and one that the Captain had become familiar with since a terrorist attack several months ago.

"Yes, Madame President. She did. Her friend, StarMaker. She is a senshi," the Captain replied. Even though the President couldn�t see her, the officer stood at attention when she spoke. Lin looked at her curiously and she mouthed �habit�.

"Captain Knight, I need you to do me a personal favor. From this moment on, you are in charge of making sure nothing happens to either of your friends," the President replied. She cut off the speaker and looked at the small group gathered in her office. "Thysson, I need you to make a phone call to our friends. Ask them if they have any knowledge of other senshi on the planet. Do not mention the name StarMaker yet. We may be dealing with one of their enemies."

Thysson nodded and left the office. The Secretary of Defense looked at the President. "Ma�am, what do we do now? We have a confirmed First Contact situation. The doctors on that vessel have told us that while some of them are nearly human, there are others that are completely different," she replied. "How do we know we can trust these friends of yours to keep this a secret?"

The President sighed. "They have more to lose by telling the press than we do. And as far as the world knows, it was an airliner that crashed into the Pacific yesterday afternoon. This past year has been hell for our country. I do not intend to start the new one by saying there are aliens falling from our skies," she replied. She motioned for them to be quiet and unmuted the phone. "Captain?"

"Yes, Madame President?"

"I am entrusting their care to you. You have final say on this situation until further notice. Is that understood?"

Captain Knight nodded silently for a moment before replying, "Yes, Ma�am. I will ensure that the aliens are taken care of," she replied. The phone went silent and she explained everything to Lin. <Why in the world would the President put me in charge?>

Lin asked if they could go back and see StarMaker and the Captain nodded. As she left the office, she was stopped by the Admiral. "I asked them to put you in charge, Captain. You are, after all, one of the highest-ranking officers here and the only one that can understand them," he replied. He smiled slightly at Lin. "I don�t believe in life on other planets, Captain. Even when it�s standing in front of me."

Captain Knight nodded slightly. She saluted the Admiral and returned to the infirmary. Lin resumed her spot next to the unconscious woman and asked the Captain to stay. "Why did they put you in charge?"

"I don�t know. The Admiral said he asked them too. This is still so surreal, I guess he feels he�s living in some sci-fi novel," the older woman replied. She pulled another chair to the other side of the redhead and sat down. She looked at the senshi for the first time as more than just another rescued patient. "You really do respect her, don�t you?"

Lin nodded. "Yes. The StarLights are the most respected people on Kinmoku. Besides the Princess, of course," she replied.

"That�s the first time you�ve ever said where you were from," Knight replied. "Who are the StarLights?"

"The Princess� Royal Guards. They defend her and our planet, even if it means their lives," Lin replied. She smiled sadly and looked at the older woman. "I know it sounds strange to you. But on Kinmoku, our lives were different. We had no need for a military, just these three women."

Knight stared at her in shock? "Three?" she asked in English. She shook her head and repeated it in Japanese. "How in the world could three women protect an entire planet?"

Lin became sad for a moment. "Well, it turns out they couldn�t. At least not against--" She stopped for a moment, and did not finish her expression when she resumed. Instead she said, "We came here to seek help, but I don�t think we�ll be able to find it."

"Help? From us? We can�t build anything like your ship. What could we do to help you?"

"Some of you could help us," said Lin. And then she added, with no little bitterness, "Some of us have helped you, Captain. Perhaps Lord Taiki will deign to tell you how much."

"Lord Taiki?"