Lunar Boot Camp

[Brian]

Makoto blinks in surprise. "Unsuitable?" she asks before realizing who she is speaking to. She claps her hands over her mouth in horror, mortified.

[Corwin]

"She was an evil brat who set Artemis's tail on fire and then sicked her royal guard after him," the Queen snapped. Rubbing her temples, she mumbled, "It's only natural with five-year-olds. Or so I've been told by the Queen and King of Mercury. Repeatedly." Throwing up her hands in the air in annoyance, she exclaimed, "Honestly, haven't they a clue about the time differences between Luna and Mercury?"

[Ebiris]

Rei blinks, recalling some of the things she had done at the tender age of five, and her propensity for demanding the execution of pretty much anyone who upset her. For the first time, she feels grateful for her mother's attempts to curb some of those excesses...

Wisely, Rei elects to keep her mouth shut.

[Corwin]

Serenity sighs. "In any case, the poor, traumatized Mau then teamed up with Sailor Venus and, well--"

[Ebiris]

"Ah, the Princess of Venus," Rei perks up, "Will she be arriving soon?"

[Corwin]

Serenity's eye develops a nervous tick. "She should have reported to me by now. Both of them should have. But no, they are keeping radio silence." Rolling her hands into fists, she grinds her teeth. "When I said to keep quiet while on their mission, I did not mean for them to include me!"

[Ebiris]

"Ah..." Rei begins nervously, "How do you know they are just keeping silent? Maybe something happened to them..." she offers nervously.

[Corwin]

Serenity's other eye devlops that same twitch. "I would be inclined to believe that, if I weren't getting daily greetings from General Kunzite. Live feeds. Where I see him dining with Princess Minako. Who waves at the videophone cheerfully. Each and every time."

[Brian]

Makoto says nothing, somewhat stunned by all of this. Funny, she never did anything that horrible when she was younger.

Though she did destroy pretty much every computer on Metis when she....

She shook her head. That was then, and really.... "So... does that mean that there will be only two of us?"

[Ebiris]

"Well, if the Princess is with this General Kunzite person, why don't you just tell her, through the general, to start giving you updates?" Rei offers, helpfully. "But I still don't understand why she hasn't arrived yet... Venus is closer to the Moon than either Mars or Jupiter..."

[Corwin]

"I got ahead of myself," Serenity says, ducking her head. "My apologies." Looking at Makoto, she shakes her head. "No, you two won't be alone. There are two more who will help you. A soldier to lead you and another to support you from the shadows."

Then, the Queen turns to Rei, and lets out a slightly histerical laugh. "I somehow doubt that having the person Artemis is supposed to be spying on relay that request would be wise."

[Ebiris]

"Ah, forgive me, I assumed this General Kunzite was a member of your staff..." Rei frowns slightly. Who could this general be, and why was he deemed worthy of spying on by Queen Serenity?

Deciding to leave those questions for later, Rei addresses the other point raised by the Queen, as well as something else that has been puzzling her. "So who are the two who will help us? And why haven't you called for Sailor Senshi from the planets beyond Saturn?"

[Corwin]

"Kunzite is one of Earth's generals," Serenity says, speaking in a calmer voice. "To combat the threat that we all will be facing soon, I have accepted the Earth's peace offer. It would be... inconvenient, if we were to defend ourselves against a being of unimaginable evil, while a state of war officially exists with a planet literally in our backyard."

The Queen pauses, gathering her thoughts. "After he were to recruit the princesses of Venus and Mercury, Artemis was to meet the Earth's delegation with them, to represent our side in the preliminary negotiations." Taking a deep breath, she continues, "For obvious reasons, Princess Ami proved to be unsuitable for this task as well, and now I'm stuck waiting to hear something from Princess Minako or Artemis."

Flinching, she mutters, "I hope they don't give away Venus."

[Ebiris]

"The Princess of Venus is on Earth?" Rei whispers in a scandalised tone. "Those filthy savages will probably eat her!"

[Corwin]

"Oh dear. So those rumors were true?" The Queen fans herself. After taking several long minutes to calm down, she shakes her head. "Now I'm even happier that I didn't agree to have the talks take place on Earth. No, dear, Princess Minako should be safe on the royal cruiser 'My Dear Baby Girl, Serenity'. I named it after my daughter, you know?" she adds with pride.

"Though this could explain why I never saw Artemis at those meals with General Kunzite," she says thoughtfully. "Oh, my! Luna will be so upset...."