Lunar Boot Camp

[Corwin]

Serenity looks surprised, before a vaguely interested expression comes over her face. She stops the other two girls with a wave of her hand, and then seems to ignore Ami, looking at the large clock hanging on the opposite wall.

Just as Ami thinks she's being ridiculed, Serenity nods her head. "Five minutes. More than enough time for her to get here and stop this." She walks towards a silvery console in the center of the room, and feeds a sequence of keystrokes into it. The door to the Lunar situation room slams shut, and all three princesses feel more than hear a small 'pop'.

"The room's now secure," the Queen tells Ami, leaning back on the aforementioned console. "So, let's hear it."

[Halbarad]

Ami takes a deep breath to steady herself, then begins her tale.

"Approximately two weeks ago, I was awakened in my chambers on Mercury by someone in the room, apparently moaning in pain. When I got up to investigate, I found a woman-who bore an uncanny resemblance to myself-in a very strange-looking uniform, severely injured and lying in the middle of my sitting room. She was barely able to speak, but she gave her name as Sailor Mercury, a senshi from the future. She..." Ami tries to hold back her tears, but has little success. "She told me of a vast evil which the senshi of that future were battling, named Metallia. She also named Metallia's main servant, a woman named Beryl, and that both Metallia and Beryl came from the time of the Silver Millenium. Shortly thereafter, she... died, right in front of me, and her body vanished shortly after. I have told no one else of these events until now, although my servant Filia has noticed that I have been subject to terrible nightmares since that time. As for my parents, I simply told them that it was urgent that I travel to Luna as quickly as could be arranged, and so I made my way here to speak to you."

Ami now weeps openly. "Forgive me, your Majesty. Watching that senshi die was... it almost felt like a part of myself was dying as well. The only thing I could think to do was to get this information into your hands; if anyone should know how to act upon it, it would be you."

[Ebiris]

Rei covers her mouth with a gasp. If that is true... then it seems like victory against Metallia is as unlikely as she feared...

[Brian]

Makoto frowns. "If ... you saw the Sailor Mercury of the future.... Doesn't that mean we can change that future, though? It may seem grim and ... well ... unhappy, but if we know now, we can prevent it from happening, can't we?" Makoto asks, slipping slightly away from Rei, and putting a comforting arm about Ami's shoulders, kneeling to be the same level as the girl. "We can't really fight yet, which is all I'm good at ... and I'm not really good at that either. But we have a little bit of time, and we have information. They always told me on Calisto that since it wasn't proper for a princess like me to train in martial arts that I should learn to use the one weapon no one could take from me -- my mind." Makoto decides not to mention the often added comment that 'a blunt instrument was better than nothing'. "I mean, I'm stumped, but I bet if we think about it together, we'll figure out something together. Right?"

[Ebiris]

"Hah!" Rei laughs sharply at Makoto's words, "I've been practicing to fight since I was a little girl, and I couldn't even protect myself from a perverted librarian! What chance can we possibly have against something that Queen Serenity herself can't handle?"

[Halbarad]

Ami looks up at Makoto. "I really don't know, Makoto. Temporal physics is a slippery subject at the best of times. Think of it this way: If we manage to destroy this Beryl and Metallia now, then who in the future would be bothered by them? If that Sailor Mercury wasn't fighting Beryl and Metallia because they were already dead in OUR time, how could she return to this time to warn me about them? On the other hand, why bother to warn me if there was absolutely nothing to be done about the matter?"

She sighs and looks to the Queen. "This is why I brought the matter directly to you, your Majesty. I've been reviewing my studies of temporal mechanics, and unfortunately the theories I've seen so far seem rather muddled when it comes to the matter of potential paradox. I... I really have no idea what could happen if we act on this information." Ami looks down in shame.

[Brian]

Makoto looks at Rei in confusion. "You were attacked by the librarians?" she asked. "Is that why they set the library on fire?" Realizing that the Queen is still there, she shakes her head and turns back to the woman, wondering what she will make of Ami's story.

[Corwin]

Serenity twitches. "Which library was set on fire?" she asks, very slowly.

[Ebiris]

"The St. Claire library. Since we had so little information to go on, Luna suggested we go there to find out about Metallia," Rei indicates the book she holds. "However, I did not expect to be sexually assaulted by your librarians." she finishes grinding out, reliving the humiliating attack in her head.

[Corwin]

"The St. Claire Library?" Serenity repeats. "My beautiful, priceless library where I keep my personal reading material was set on fire? The Royal Library, home to countless tomes irreplaceable in every Lunar Priestess's training? The only place who might have information on how to deal with temporal paradoxes and evils from beyond?" She fixes Rei and Makoto with a look. "That library?"

[Ebiris]

Rei blinks, utterly appalled at receiving this kind of reaction. "You don't care at all, do you?" she whispers in a stunned tone.

[Halbarad]

Ami watches the scene unfold in front of her, glad that someone else is the target of the Queen's wrath for the moment-even if the other two princesses have been fairly kind.

[Corwin]

"Oh, come on," the Queen replies, snorting most unladylike. "Don't tell me you went there without an anti-pervert taser."

[Ebiris]

Rei begins to feel the stirrings of genuine hatred towards the Queen. "Princess Makoto had some sort of taser, but I was not so armed," she seethes. "It seems the vaunted powers of Sailor Mars proved no match for the kind of people you employ to run your library."

[Corwin]

Serenity grimaces. "I don't exactly... employ them. Since the two degenerates can't be harmed by magic, unless it was strong enough to level this city, we just tricked them into the library and put electronic measures around the perimeter to ensure they don't escape." She shrugs. "The system is not elegant, but it works. Every priestess, whether domestic or visiting, gets a taser, which keeps the two at bay. On a more practical note, infiltration attempts have dwindled down to nothing in the first year since Happy and Lucky were dumped there."

Serenity frowns, looking at Rei. "Who did you say sent you there without proper protection?"