by

Eric Metcalf

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Artemis settled down in a corner of Makoto's apartment, soothed by the rhythmic sounds of quiet breathing and the occasional snore. His hunger soothed by the field mice he and Luna had caught not even his misgivings about what Ean had told him earlier in the night could keep him awake. As he drifted into sleep, he saw the moon, big and bright. What he could not see was the moon sigil on his forehead glowing softly against his white fur as he fell asleep.

Artemis saw the moon again, larger than could be seen from Earth. As he realized he was dreaming, he saw someone walking towards him from the moon. He recognized the silver hair in its peculiar odango-and-ponytail hairstyle, the regal bearing, the loving beauty.

"Queen Serenity, it has been far too long," he said, doing the best feline equivalent of a bow.

The Queen laughed, and reached down to stroke his fur. "Oh, Artemis, my wise strategist, it has. It is easier for me to appear like this to Luna, but, this time, it concerns someone you are closer to than she is."

"Minako, I mean, Sailor Venus?"

The queen shook her head. "No, it is this Ean. His fate and those of the senshi shall soon become intertwined. He will, I feel, be closer to them than you realize, and far more important."

Artemis looked confused. "He is very intelligent, but he is simply a human."

"He may be at the moment, but there is more to him than meets the eye. Before two days have dawned, he will be one of my subjects. When that time comes, give him the item I am about to give you. It will enable him to reach his full potential. The item was with me when I used the Ginzushou. It has never been used before, because it has never been needed. Now, I fear you will need it desperately, to protect my dream of my daughter and son-in-law living a happy life in Crystal Tokyo. Go now, Artemis, and do what you must." As Artemis awoke, sun was streaming in through the windows. Looking around, he saw what the queen had left sitting beside him on the floor. It was a sword hilt, seemingly made from pure silver, with a hand guard also made from silver and a large knob on the base of the hilt. As Artemis pulled it into his dimensional space pocket, he noticed that it was far lighter than pure silver would be. Steel from the moon, he realized, and very high grade at that. He started thinking about what it was. He knew he had never seen it used, but the queen had said as much. So who was it supposed to be used by, he thought. He couldn't remember, and decided to ask Luna when he could, to see if she remembered. Before he could pursue the line of thought further, he heard quiet footsteps walking into the adjoining kitchen. Looking through the doorway, he saw Makoto walking around, starting to cook breakfast. He decided to wander in and see if he could get a little something to eat.

For a moment, Ean thought it was the sunlight on his eyes that woke him, then he started smelling the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen. His stomach rumbled, protesting its treatment yesterday. Charging into battle on an empty stomach, and then having to more or less forgo lunch hadn't endeared him to his digestion. Stretching and popping his sore joints, he stretched out, then stood up. Mamoru was starting to stir from his spot on the floor, but Ean couldn't see Artemis. Stomach growling at the smell of food, he walked into the kitchen. Makoto was there, her brown hair falling loose, out of its usual ponytail. Artemis was sitting up on the counter, looking for something to eat no doubt.

"Morning. Smells great," Ean said.

"Good morning yourself. My, don't you look a sight."

Ean chuckled as he ran his fingers along his stubble chin. "Yeah, I must. How long until breakfast's ready?"

"About ten minutes. You'd better get into the bathroom before the girls wake up."

"That's my plan."

"You'd better get here before Usagi does, or you'll miss Makoto's great cooking," Artemis said, hungrily eyeing some eggs in a frying pan.

"After yesterday, I'd settle for barracks cooking, but it does smell great. I'll hurry." As he walked out, Artemis turned his attention to watch him.

Makoto noticed, and spoke quietly. "What's up, Artemis? It's got to be serious to turn your attention from food? What, jealous?"

Artemis was about to ignore her, but he knew that she might start spreading rumors if he didn't answer her straight. "I had a visit from Queen Serenity last night."

Makoto looked surprised. "I thought she only appeared to Luna."

Artemis made his best impression of a shrug. "I thought so too, but evidently it has something important to do with me. It concerns Ean. She says there's more to him than meets the eye. I'm going to talk with Ami about it; maybe she's scanned something about him. But I don't want him to know. I think it has something to do with a choice he has to make, and you know how Queen Serenity is about making your own choices."

Makoto laughed. "Ok, I won't say anything to him, or Minako or Usagi. You know how bad those two are at keeping secrets."

Artemis snickered. "Well, Minako's usually not that bad, but I think Ean sees right through her sometimes."

"Uuum, that was delicious, Makoto." Ean sat back. Most of the others had finished by now, except Usagi. She was still going strong, even after eating nearly as much as the rest of them put together.

"Thanks, Ean. I'm kind of sorry there wasn't more."

He laughed. "Well, I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference." He nodded at Usagi, who blushed a little as everybody else laughed. "I did get plenty, though."

Haruka looked up, eyes angry under her short, dark blonde hair. "What was all that noise late last night? I'm trying to sleep, and there comes this racket from the main room. I'd call it some kind of music, but I couldn't understand the words and I kept hearing all of these instruments I'm not familiar with."

"That was me." Ean said. "The instruments you mentioned could be my acoustic guitar, depending on what you listen to normally. The other stuff was probably the fiddles and steel guitars, both of which are pretty unique to country music, which is what that was."

Haruka snorted. "Well, I didn't much care for it."

Usagi took time out from eating to gasp. "Haruka, now that wasn't very nice. We talked him into it, and I thought it was quite pretty."

Makoto snickered. "I'm surprised you understood half of it, Usagi. I didn't think you knew English that well, and strange-sounding English at that."

Usagi looked sheepish. "Well, the music was pretty, and it sounded sweet."

Ean just laughed. "Yeah, the dialects on some of those songs get pretty thick, and I'd be really surprised if you understood all of the slang terms. But there's no sense getting into an argument over musical tastes. A lot of people like country music and a lot don't. It's just one of those things."

Haruka scowled. "Well, I wish you'd keep it to yourself then."

Michiru shook her head. "Don't mind Haruka. She's just testy because that broken arm will keep her from driving her race cars for a few weeks."

Haruka looked over at Michiru angrily, then her expression softened. "Michiru, you didn't need to tell him that."

Ean decided to try an olive branch. "Well, being ambushed and having my arm broken would probably put me in a bad mood too." Usagi smiled at him.

Haruka looked at him questioningly. "What's your part in all of this? I mean, the Senshi are sworn to protect Sailor Moon, and to fight evil, but why are you involved in all of this?"

Ean sat back, and thought a moment. "In terms of destiny or whatever, I really couldn't say. I don't put too much stock in stuff like that, I believe in free will too much. As for why I'm involved, I like protecting people, I think that's how I make the best use of my talents. Sailor Venus needed protecting, at least a little, the other night, and that's why I got involved initially. Later, I saw that my skills could be useful in dealing with these things, as well as getting some payback for my friends who were killed yesterday."

"But what about after we've destroyed these things? What then?" Usagi looked concerned, and Minako's eyes were practically pleading.

Ean took a deep breath. "I don't think I'll be done, even after that. There's more here than just a bunch of Dark Kingdom officers. That's what Artemis, Setsuna and I were hashing out last night. I think one of the others better tell you the rest." Haruka and Michiru looked to Setsuna; the others looked at Artemis.

Setsuna motioned to Artemis, who looked very solemn. "It's going to be an invasion. We believe that this group is gathering information about Tokyo in preparation for this invasion." Only Ean and Setsuna didn't looked shock; they looked grim.

Haruka was the first to react. "How could they possibly invade without Metalia? She was destroyed, as was Beryl. How can the Dark Kingdom mount another invasion without them?"

Artemis answered her. "Rather easily, actually. I mean, they have an entire world at their command, almost any inhabitant of which can kill several times their number of humans. They needed the power of Metalia to deal with Queen Serenity and the Sailor Senshi. If you'll remember, the last time we went head to head with them, we were all killed. Even without Metalia, this new commander of theirs could maybe pull that off again. If Ean is correct, we could be dealing with several different groups of youma, and the army isn't exactly the Royal Guard. We could be in real trouble here, Haruka."

Haruka still wasn't convinced. "What evidence do you have that it's an invasion?"

This time Ean answered. "It's the only explanation that makes since for why these agents have visited every place of real importance in and around Tokyo, but the only one where they've done any damage is Camp MacArthur."

"How do you know that?" Ami asked. "We've only run into them in a couple of place."

Setsuna explained. "Ean and his compatriots have evidently created some form of detection system that can read the energies that the Dark Kingdom dimensional rifts give off, and it was these rifts that they have been tracking. I saw the information last night, what he says is true."

Usagi looked stunned. "We had no idea. They, they could have killed so many, and we didn't know." She looked like she was about to cry.

Rei stood up. "Well, I'd better get back to the temple. I've got some chores to take care of before I can do that fire reading. It sounds like its becoming more important all the time. Do you have any idea of when that invasion is coming, Ean?"

"No, but we don't have forever. The kind of information that he's after gets outdated relatively quickly. I'd say we're looking at, say, six months, tops. It could come in very soon, but I hope that if we can knock out this team, we can make him push his timetable back, convince him we're not as weak as he thinks."

Rei nodded. "When I know something, I'll call."

Ean reached for a pen and some paper. "In case we're out, here's the number on my portable phone."

Rei took it down, then looked confused. "Why do you carry both a portable phone and a pager? I mean, isn't that a touch much?"

Ean looked confused then shook his head. "Oh, I thought Ami would have figured out what that was. No, it's not a pager, it just looks like one."

Rei looked confused, as did Usagi. "Well, then, what is it?"

"Where is it, and I'll show you."

Mamoru produced it out of his bag. "I thought I'd given it back to you. It buzzed from time to time, but I thought those were calls."

Ean took it, then looked over to Rei. "Rei, if you need to leave, go ahead. Either I can explain it to you later or one of the others can tell you."

"No, I want to see this. I am the one who made you tell us about it."

"Okay, if you insist, we'll use you as a guinea pig." Rei looked a little less sure about wanting to stay.

Ean showed Ami the readout. "See how it's not showing anything? Okay, Rei, transform into Sailor Mars." Ean kept a tight grip on the device.

Rei shrugged and transformed. "Mars star power, make up!" In a flash of fire, Rei was transformed into Sailor Mars.

The device immediately began buzzing, and Ean handed it to Ami, who nearly dropped it. "Yikes, it's shaking!"

"Yes, that's part of it that's from a real pager. Look at the display." Ami looked down, and saw that it was showing two numbers, one with a small circle after it.

"The number before the circle is the bearing, and the other one is a relative measure of intensity. This is a pocket-sized version of a big detector we rigged up at the base. We were doing electronic warfare tests when we picked up some strange readings in a part of the electromagnetic spectrum we hadn't monitored before. We rigged up a detector to monitor that portion of the spectrum, and found that the signals only appeared sporadically. The reason I was in town last night was that I was using this to try and track down those signals."

"So we create these signals when we transform into the Senshi?" Usagi asked.

Ean looked surprised at how quickly she'd picked it up. "Yes, Usagi, that's right. These are the same kind of signals, although they're different in some ways, which the Dark Kingdom agents make. I was hoping to get it back, to verify whatever Rei finds."

"Why can't you just use the big detectors to find them? Why even have Rei do a fire reading?" Ami asked.

"Unfortunately, the newer detector, which was the only one that could track the emissions they make just by being here, was damaged in the fight today. The guy who built it was killed, and so it could be a while before they get it fixed. The other one is only sensitive enough to pick up the really big energy signals from attacks, or their teleportation."

Usagi looked up, still with tears in her eyes. "So, how do we stop them?"

Ean looked down, he couldn't look her in the eye. "I don't know, Usagi, I just don't know."

Rei powered down then turned to leave. "I'll call when I've done that fire reading." The others nodded, solemnly, and Rei left.

Kela groaned as Takisite finished wrapping the bandages around her injured torso. He was thankful that most of the small pieces of steel that she had been injured with had passed through her, since extracting the few that remained had proven difficult and painful. He stroked her bright red hair as he laid her down on the mattress. She looked up at him, her normally beautiful features twisted with pain. "How long until they send a gate?"

He looked down at the floor for a moment, then looked back up at her. "Another day on this world. If we remain undiscovered for another day and night, we will be safe."

She nodded. "I think I can survive that long. I hope Kazor sends through some reinforcements, I would hate for Dargon and Treckisite's deaths to be in vain." Her eyes fluttered closed as she fell into sleep. Takisite sat down in a corner where he could look out a curtained window and keep an eye on Kela. Despite his discipline, he couldn't stay awake for long.

"Oh Great Fire, show me where the evil-doers are," Rei intoned, for what must have been the fiftieth time. The fire seemed to be reticent today, not giving up its secrets easily. Rei gritted her teeth as she sat in front of the fireplace. She was about to give up. They relied on her fire-readings too much sometimes, she thought. Why couldn't they just use Ean's detector to find them? No, she thought, I told them I would do this. As her determination renewed, and she was about to begin the chant again, when the fire began to change. Rei could see a building form in the fire, shadings in the flames changing, so that she could see a house in the fire, then a bit of a larger view, as if she was backing away from the area. Looking around the picture, Rei began to recognize bits and pieces of the area. Rei gasped as the picture dissolved. She walked hurriedly to the telephone. She tried Makoto's place first. Makoto answered.

"Mako, it's Rei. Listen, I got an image from the fire, and I think I know where they are."

"Rei-chan, what is it? You sound frightened."

Rei took a deep breath. "Mako, it's right around the corner from the arcade. You remember that park where Minako met Ean? It's on the back side of that park."

"You mean we've been walking past them all this time and haven't known about it? That area's houses, people are on those streets all the time. If we start a fight there, a lot of innocent people could be hurt." Makoto's voice was rising in pitch.

Rei heard a deep voice through the phone. "What is Ean doing?"

"He and Ami are playing with his laptop computer, after Ean locked some of the secure files. Ami got annoyed at that, but she's so fascinated with how powerful it is that she's not really angry. Minako keeps watching them, but Ean doesn't have many games, so she's getting bored. Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna left a little while ago. You should have seen the fight that we had, but Haruka finally agreed that the outer senshi were too badly hurt to be of real help in this fight. Usagi's asleep with the cats, as usual."

Rei snickered at the thought. "Okay. Gather them up, and meet me at the arcade. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"See you there." Makoto hung up, and Rei put the telephone down. She took another deep breath, then went to get ready to leave.

* * *

Ean looked the small, two-story house over. The buzzing of the detector in his belt confirmed what Rei had said. The building was a townhouse, two-story, evidently of stone construction. There were no lights on inside, and the lower windows had actually been boarded up. Ean took out his cellular phone, and dialed.

After one ring, a female voice picked up. "Midra."

"Hoffman here. Target acquired. What's Striker's ETA?"

"Striker is on site. Striker CO and a team will be leaving immediately in a civilian vehicle for an initial target recon."

Ean looked around. He was starting to get some slightly interested looks from the passers-by. "What's their ETA here? I'm starting to get conspicuous."

Midra didn't laugh, but Ean could hear her voice lighten. "Approximately twenty minutes."

"Roger that. If I am not on site, tell them to wait, I'll be here."

"Roger that. Midra out." Ean thought he heard two clicks before the line went down. So, this Striker's commander was listening in, was he? Ean shrugged as he started walking down to the arcade.

"But Ean, I want to be with you." Minako and Ean were walking back now, a few minutes early. They were now virtually unnoticed in the stream, just two young people having an argument. Ean saw, through a break in the stream, two people standing around up ahead. Both were tall, one Caucasian, one African. The African had the sparse frame and glasses of an academic or scientist. The Caucasian was slightly shorter, with an obviously powerful build barely concealed under an oxford-cloth shirt and light jacket. His short, blonde hair triggered something in Ean's memory. Nah, he thought, it can't be him. Minako was still tugging on his arm.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he stopped and turned to her, looking her in the eyes. "Minako, listen to me. You have to leave now. You can go back to the arcade, mess around there until this goes down, do whatever, but you can't go with me. These people will only be expecting me, and they will have absolutely no sense of humor when it comes to a blonde Japanese girlfriend, ok? I see them up ahead. If you could come, I'd love for you to, but I have to do this alone." He raised his eyebrows in a silent gesture for her to shut up and listen to him.

She looked depressed then she reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "That's for good luck." She turned to go.

"I'll remember that. See you later, Minako." He smiled and turned away, wiping at his cheek to make sure there wasn't any lipstick. Sure enough, his fingers came away slightly pink, and he rubbed at the stain for a few minutes until he thought it would be unnoticeable. Then he walked forward. As he got closer to the pair, the blonde Caucasian became more and more familiar. The looks, the stance, the mannerisms, it all fit. Neither had noticed him when he got closer, until he was almost upon them. One good look at the man's face confirmed Ean's speculations.

"Somebody must think a lot of our little problem here to send the best, sir." Ean thought about saluting, but knew it would be out of place here. The man looked as if he expected him to salute, then nodded. It took him a moment, but then his eyes widened with recognition.

"Thanks, Ean, I could probably say the same for the intelligence work. Is that our target?" He pointed to the house, and Ean nodded.

The black man cleared his throat, and Carpenter looked slightly ashamed for a second. "Sorry, Doc. Ean, this is Doctor Lehman. He came in on the project when we found out about some of the stuff you've been getting on these guys, and how weird it was."

Lehman took over now. He had a basso voice, not the whiny, nasal one his appearance suggested. "I do not believe that weird is a really accurate description, Major. I was called in because I have done some work with the government concerning other anomalous energy transmissions, and this was what was indicated initially. However, I do not have much experience with the creatures that you have encountered."

Ean patted Carpenter on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Major. Sorry, Doctor, had to get that out of the way. Major Carpenter and I have worked together before. Now, I trust you two have seen the security camera video?"

They both nodded gravely. Lehman spoke up. "Yes, but I must confess that I, at least, am having difficulty believing what I saw." Ean laughed.

"Doc, I was there, and I'm still not sure I believe all of what I saw."

Carpenter cleared his throat. "Perhaps we had best continue this conversation on the way back to McArthur. Sundown's only a few hours away now, and I want this to happen soonest." Ean nodded, as did Doctor Lehman, and the three walked over to the nondescript Japanese sedan that the base had let them use for this walkaround. Ean didn't notice the two pairs of feline eyes watching him from an alley, and the other two wouldn't have paid a black cat and a white one any attention if they had noticed them.

The black cat looked over to the white one. "How bad is it, Artemis?"

The white one looked thoughtful as he replied. "I don't know, Luna. These two didn't look too overconfident, but I'd like to see the rest of their team before I decide on that. I don't think they know about the senshi, though. Come on, let's find something to eat before they get back. Tonight should be really busy."

* * *

Ean sat back in the dim room, looking out over the two dozen faces of the Striker team. He'd seen no insignia, no way to identify them as being from any unit. He was sitting in a chair up at the front with Major Carpenter. All of the people wore the same uniform: dark gray with white and black slashes and stripes, and black vests studded with pockets and clips.

Carpenter stood up first and walked over to the podium. He started speaking, his deep voice carrying clearly without the aid of the microphone. "Okay, listen up. Here's a quick sit-rep. This base was attacked about thirty hours ago, by a small terrorist unit. The base personnel repelled the attack, but only after suffering heavy losses and severe damage to several base facilities. We received the move orders shortly after word of the hit reached Pearl. Now, the hostiles responsible have been located, and we'll be moving within the hour. First, you're going to get a brief on the hostiles from First Lieutenant Hoffman. I will say that he has not always been an intel officer, and I trust him implicitly. I've also viewed the base security camera footage, and some of what he is about to tell you may seem crazy, but it's true. Lieutenant".

Ean stood up, saluted Carpenter then walked over to the microphone. Some of the men yawned and shifted, expecting a pretty routine briefing. "I can see that some of you are expecting a pretty routine night op. Go in, kick some, and go home. Well, maybe it'll be that simple, but I doubt it. I've put together a little splice job from the base security footage of the attack. After that, I'll answer any questions you've got. That should be enough to either convince you I'm totally nuts or that this is going to be nasty." He pulled out a remote control, and triggered a projector. On a large white screen to one side of the podium, a picture sprang up. It was a shot of the base fencing, and a somewhat cloudy sky. Suddenly, a dark oval, standing on end with no visible supports, sprang into existence. A couple of the soldiers snorted, and a few others shifted, sitting up straighter. In a moment, three figures exited the portal. The man in front was tall and stocky, with silvery hair. The second figure was a woman, red haired and full-figured. The third figure was another man; this time was dark hair and a billowing black cloak. They all wore uniforms of dark gray material, tight but not restrictive. The first man suddenly threw a bolt of light from his arm at a target off camera, and Ean heard a series of snorts and gasps. As the three began to move around, the camera panning to follow them, they began blasting everything and everyone around them. As one soldier rounded a building, he yelled at them, the sound of his voice barely audible over the roar on the tape.

"Halt!" The dark-haired man turned and raised his hand, palm out, fingers pointed. Ean gritted his teeth to suppress a shiver at the sight of the gesture. The soldier fired first, a short spray of bullets that didn't seem to affect the man in the least. Ean paused the tape.

"I want to make sure you know what just happened, or you might be tempted to ignore it." Rewinding the tape a short way, he then played it again in slow motion. The tape slowed down the flight of the bullets enough that it was clear that they hit the man, but did no damage. The grumbling from the soldiers grew louder, and several sat forward in their seats. Ean returned the tape to normal speed, just in time to see the fireball that launched from the outstretched hand. The blast consumed the soldier, turning him into a staggering pyre for a few moments, before he collapsed to the ground. The tape continued for several minutes like this, showing the trio destroying almost everything they came across, and all that got in their way. The final scenes were of Ean and the military police men, beating them back, including the use of the white phosphorus grenade that killed the black-haired man.

Ean shut off the projector and reactivated the lights. He took a deep breath, then addressed the group. "Okay, now you know what you're up against. The male and the female that escaped from that attack are your targets tonight. The good news is that the female is apparently vulnerable to rifle ammunition. The male, on the other hand, appears to be relatively immune to anything below the level of high explosives. While white phosphorus has been proven to be effective, its use is going to be constrained by other considerations. In sum, these things are as quick and as smart as you are, and considerably tougher and stronger. The female has telepathic capabilities of unknown power. We know that she can inflict pain directly on a mind, but her other powers are unknown. If this turns out to be easy, you guys are very, very good. I'll be going with you, so I'll save the 'good luck and god bless' routine for jump-off. Major Carpenter, I return the briefing to you."

Carpenter stood up and strode to the podium. "Thank you very much, Lieutenant Hoffman. Well, gentlemen, there are the odds. Let's go and deal with it."

The command sergeant stood up. "Atten-shun!" The soldiers stood as one and came to attention.

"Dismissed!" Carpenter called out, and then the soldiers dispersed, talking quietly among themselves.

Doctor Lehman, who had been sitting in the wings, came up to Ean. "If I could speak with you a moment, Lieutenant," he asked.

Ean looked to Carpenter. "You'll both be coming, so just make it quick, Doc." Then he walked off.

Doctor Lehman steered Ean towards the exits, but walked slowly. "I noticed you edited out the young ladies in the bright suits. Can you give me an explanation of that?"

Ean didn't hesitate. "They're a wild card. I don't know whom they are, why they helped us, why they even showed up. There are enough problems in this operation without burdening the men down with one more."

Lehman looked over at him suspiciously, then nodded. "So I take it you have had no success in contacting them?"

"None at all. They're very good at covering their tracks."

Lehman nodded. "Very well. I would appreciate it if you would notify me if you do make contact." He handed Ean a card. "My involvement in various paranormal investigations leads to some interesting needs, as well as a lot of leeway. I would appreciate it if you would assist me on occasion."

Ean thought, then nodded. "I'll do what I can, Doc."

Lehman nodded. "I'd appreciate it, Lieutenant." He smiled slyly, an expression that left Ean wondering what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Ean stood outside the dark blue, panel van that served as the command van for the team. The police had cordoned off the block, leaving the normally-busy sidewalks bare, and the park empty. Ean could see a few reporters pestering the police manning the barricades, but most of the populace accepted the official explanation of a disaster drill, and stayed away.

The back door of the command van opened, and Carpenter got out. Stretching for a moment, he walked over to Ean. "Sure they're still in there?"

Ean nodded. "As sure as I was that they were in there in the first place." Ean patted the detector, which rode in the front of his vest. Carpenter looked inquisitive, so Ean removed it and handed it to him. Doctor Lehman got out of the van, and came over to them.

Carpenter handed the device to Lehman, who started examining the device. "One of your toys, Doc?"

"Certainly not. I've never seen a device quite like this one. A very unusual blend of standard components, but I'm not sure just what they've been made into. Who made this device?"

Ean took a deep breath. "Sergeant Richard Johansen, signals section."

"I really must talk with him. This is brilliant."

"I'm afraid that's going to be kind of hard, Doc, unless you specialize in seances. He was killed during the fight at MacArthur."

Lehman shook his head. "Such a tragedy, to lose such technical genius." Ean struggled to control his temper.

A short transmission came in over the headset radios that both Ean and Carpenter wore. "Bravo, in position." The second team was around behind the house.

Carpenter looked to Ean and Lehman. "Party time." Carpenter and Lehman moved towards the van, but Ean stayed back.

Carpenter looked back at him questioningly. "I can do more good out here," Ean said, blinking owlishly.

Carpenter nodded. "See you when it's over."

Ean nodded. "Pull this off clean, Major, and I'm buying."

Carpenter laughed. "You're on, El-tee." Carpenter then entered the van. Ean heard a command over the radio, then the other van, parked beside the command van, burst open, and the twelve soldiers of Alpha team charged out, their low-light goggles riding high on their heads in the brightly-lit night. As they dashed up next to the house, they dropped their goggles.

"Alpha, in position." A pause of a heartbeat.

"Alpha, Bravo, go. I repeat, go." The repetition was hardly necessary. On the first command, each team kicked in its respective door, Alpha in front, Bravo in back. They then moved quickly into the building, and began fanning out. Ean watched, trying to see movement to correspond with what he was hearing through the radio.

"No body here, moving on."

"Doesn't look like there's been anybody here for quite a while."

"Can the chatter, just report contact."

The line was silent for a while, then suddenly several voices broke in at once. "Contact!" "Where is he, where is he?" "Geez, what was that?"

Gunfire roared from the building, jolting Ean and the reporters at the police line. "Report, dammit. Who has contact?" Carpenter was trying to get control, but the radio suddenly degenerated.

"Where'd he come, aaah" "Man down, man down, oh aagh," "They're cuttin' through us, Major."

"Bravo, move forward, Alpha is in contact and taking casualties," Carpenter sounded out again. Evidently, he knew enough to judge which team was under fire by the voices. The cacophony continued.

"Bravo, moving in." "Sweet Jesus, they're cutting us to shreds." The sounds of gunfire became more staccato, like one gun firing over and over again. The screams became suddenly more common.

"Mulligan, what the hell's going on?" "Jeez, Mulligan, what's wrong with Mulligan?" Ean got a sick feeling in his stomach. Swinging the MP5 sub-machine gun down from his back into his right hand, he began jogging toward the house.

"Major, Mulligan may be controlled by hostile forces, over." Carpenter didn't respond; probably, he didn't even hear him over the noise from the building. Ean heard an explosion at the back of the house, and picked up his pace. He saw the two aliens, the woman bleeding from what looked like several bad wounds, leaning on the man. Ean brought his weapon up, and fired a short burst. The woman bucked, and collapsed. The man looked at Ean with eyes of pure rage, then reached back and threw a light dagger. Ean dove to his right, barely dodging the explosion of the dagger. When Ean looked up, the woman had dissolved into dust. The man smiled, then prepared to throw another dagger.

Ean tensed, ready to try and dodge aside. "Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!" The man staggered as a bolt of energy hit him in the back. He turned, and Ean looked up. Standing in the park, at the crest of a small ridge between a couple of trees, stood the sailor senshi, Sailor Moon standing farthest forward.

"You have killed enough humans, evil one! I am Super Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!" Ean noticed that her outfit looked different. The bow in the center was a dark pink, not red. The skirt was also different, with rings of gold and blue around the bottom. The centerpiece on the bow was a heart shaped device, like a locket. Overall, the effect was impressive.

The man just laughed, as Ean scrambled to his feet. "Pitiful little senshi, you cannot hurt me! Your pitiful attacks only make me stronger!"

"We'll see about that! Burning Mandala!" Sailor Mars lashed out with her fire attack. The blast washed over the man, but didn't so much as singe him.

Sailor Jupiter stepped forward and outward. "We'll see how you like this. Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Her blast of electricity also struck home, but didn't seem to injure him. He replied by flinging a dagger at Sailors Moon, Mercury and Venus, who were still clustered together. The blast sent them flying, but they didn't appear injured. Ean snapped off a running burst, but the man didn't even appear to notice.

Venus stepped up. "We'll see how you like this. Venus love me chain, encircle!" A chain of hear-shaped illusions sprang forth from her hands, and wrapped around the man like a lasso.

"Burning Mandala!"

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

"Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!" The three attacks lashed against the man, only a split-second separating each impact. He staggered under the blasts of fire, electricity, and light.

"Yeah, that's got him," Sailor Moon yelled. Sailor Mercury looked pensive behind her goggles and Ean kept trying to move around and link up with the scouts. The man suddenly stood up straight, eyes blazing with light, and roared, smashing the chain of hearts like tissue paper.

The Sailor senshi looked aghast. "It only made him stronger," Mercury said, eyes wide through the goggles. The man reached out with his arms and loosed blasts of light, which now only vaguely resembled daggers, one at Mars and one at Jupiter. The blasts exploded in front of each, sending them flying. Mars slammed into a tree with her right shoulder, and cried out in pain. Ean dove beside her, then drug her around behind the tree. Tears were trickling out from under her tightly closed eyelids, and Ean could see the shoulder was hanging at an unnatural angle.

Glancing up, he saw that Mercury was tending to Jupiter. "Mars, you've dislocated your shoulder. There's only one way to fix it."

"Ohh, I can't feel my arm." She was getting shocky, Ean thought. Not good.

He took hold of the injured shoulder. "This is going to hurt very badly, but it's the only way to fix it. Are you ready?" She nodded quickly, gritting her teeth. Ean nodded, gathered himself, and slammed her shoulder back in with one quick, violent motion.

Mars screamed again just as Venus and Mercury came running up. "What did you do to her?" Venus demanded, but Mercury smiled at him.

"What I would have had to do. He reset her shoulder and I for one am glad I didn't have to do that. But what are we going to do about this guy? We've hit him with everything we've got, and all it's done is make him mad."

Another exploding blast sent Sailor Moon flying back into them, nearly bowling over Mercury. "Mercury, watch that field of his when I shoot him. See if that does anything." Mercury nodded, and moved to see around the tree. Ean jumped out from behind the tree, snapped off a burst, then dove back behind the tree.

Mercury smiled, then frowned. "His field weakened for a minute, then came back up." Ean nodded. A massive explosion rocked the tree, which began to tip backwards.

"Timber!" Ean yelled, rolling away. The senshi looked up at the tree, then jumped clear as it dropped.

Ean looked up at Mercury. "We need some time. I've got an idea but I've got to explain it to everybody."

"One fog screen, coming up. Shabon Spray!" A ball of blue energy appeared between Mercury's hands. She threw the ball, creating a fog bank that separated the man from the senshi.

Ean nodded, then pulled a grenade off of his web gear. "Let me put in my two bits." Pulling the pin, he threw it overhand into the fog bank. The grenade began spewing out dark gray smoke.

Jupiter came running up. "That'll slow him down, but how are we going to stop him?" Mercury and Venus looked at Ean.

They all crowded in close to him. "I've got an idea, but we'll only get one shot at it. Can you girls combine your attacks, I mean so that they arrive at exactly the same time?"

Moon nodded. "Yeah, we could do the sailor planet attack!"

Jupiter frowned, "But we're vulnerable while we load up for that attack."

"How long does it take to load up?" Ean asked.

"Only about five seconds," Mercury answered.

Ean nodded. "Okay, here's my plan. When he comes through the cloud, I move out, try to attract his attention. You start preparing for the attack. I'll cut loose, try to weaken his field in one spot. If you can hit that spot with your planet attack, that should pierce or overload the field."

Mercury smiled. "It should work, and I sure don't have any better ideas."

Venus looked shocked. "But Ean, what if he attacks you before we hit him? You'll be killed."

Ean nodded. "Just one of those things, Venus. Someone's got to buy you time, and I'm the only one whose not needed for the attack itself." Ean looked up to see the man moving through the cloud. "Here he comes. Show time." He leaned forward and gave Venus a quick kiss, then turned and started running.

Venus looked shocked for a moment, then smiled and stood up. "Venus Star Power!" A metallic gold aura began to form around her.

"Mercury Star Power!" A blue aura began forming around Mercury.

"Mars Star Power!" A red aura surrounded Mars. The man had by now broken through the cloud. Seeing the Sailor Senshi, he began raising his hand to blast them.

"Hey ugly!" Ean yelled, then started firing.

"Jupiter Star Power!" A green aura joined the others. The stream of bullets began impacting the man, and he turned towards Ean, swinging his outstretched hand around.

"Moon Star Power!" A pink aura around Super Sailor Moon joined the others, which began changing into a beam of pure power. The orange firefly of a tracer bullet, the last one in the magazine, jumped from Ean's gun.

"Sailor Planet Attack!" the Senshi yelled as one. A beam of pure power lanced out from the senshi. The glowing bullet impacted a fraction before the before the beam. The man stood, transfixed for an instant by the beam of light piercing his midsection, then he detonated in a blast of power.

Ean mouthed one word before the blast wave hit him. "Overkill." A split-second later, he felt himself being picked up and flung against a tree. The last thing he felt was a flare of pain up and down his back, then numbness.

The blast tossed the Senshi around like dolls, but as they picked themselves up, none were seriously injured.

"Hey, he's gone, we did it!" Sailor Moon yelled now changed back to her usual outfit. She tried to stand up, but all she could manage was a kneeling position, panting and haggard.

Venus looked around, and saw the two cats running up, panting. "Where's...Ean!" Venus shouted as she saw him, slumped against a tree, unmoving. She ran over to him, the rest of the Senshi following her, and gently lowered him down to the ground. She saw that his head was hanging at an unnatural angle. She gently moved his head into her lap as she kneeled over him, tears pouring down her cheeks. Artemis moved to sit beside Ean's right hand, watching the body expectantly.

"Ean, Ean," she said softly, over and over.

"Don't cry, Minako," Ean said, then caught himself. If she's crying over me, and I'm looking down on her and me, then that means...

"I'm dead." He said. Hearing some music, he looked up. He saw a light, hanging over him, with beautiful, peaceful music emanating from within. He felt drawn to it, but he didn't feel himself moving.

"I guess I have a choice." Looking down at Minako and the senshi, now all crying over their fallen friend, he felt the pull of duty and love.

"Yes, Ean Hoffman, you do have a choice." Looking up, Ean saw that the speaker was a beautiful woman, tall and regal, with silver hair done up in a strange style. The same style as Usagi, Ean noted.

"And you are, my lady?"

The woman smiled. "I am Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom. As you have noted, yes, I am related to the girl you know as Sailor Moon, or Tsukino Usagi. I am, in fact, her true mother. She and the others of her court are reincarnated from my time, when I was forced to sacrifice my life to imprison the evil that had destroyed them in that time. Now, I fear that evil is attempting to loose itself from the prison I built with my life, but not in the same manner. Now the evil is sly and cunning, and cunning is unfortunately not one of my daughter's strong suits. She and her friends need you, Ean Hoffman. I offer you a choice. Your just rewards in heaven, and an afterlife of peace, or continued fighting, sorrow and death on Earth, but with the rewards of such a life."

"How is it that I get such a choice?"

"Many, many generations ago, the blood of my people mixed with the blood of yours. While the blood of the Moon Kingdom is usually very thin, where it appears at all, in your case, it has come very close to the surface. The price that I require to resurrect you is that you declare yourself one of my, and thus one of my daughter's, servants."

Ean looked up, then down. Nodding, he turned to Queen Serenity, dropped to one knee, and brought up his right fist so that it lay on the left side of his chest, in the traditional gesture of fealty. "I pledge my life to you, my queen, and to your rightful heirs, that you may dispose of it at you please."

While his head was bowed, he could hear a smile in her voice. "Rise and return to the Senshi, Warlord." As Ean stood up, he felt himself being pulled down, falling, falling then he felt a jolt as pain blossomed up and down his torso.

Venus saw Ean's eyes twitch under their lids, but she didn't dare hope until she heard him groan. Her eyes wide, she looked down, then up at Mercury, staring at him through her goggles.

"I don't believe it," she muttered, as Ean groaned again and opened his eyes.

He looked around at the senshi looking down at him for a moment, then coughed painfully. "You know, a guy could think he'd died and gone to heaven, what with so many, cough, cough, angels leaning over him." He coughed again as the senshi laughed. "But you're supposed to stop hurting in heaven, and man do I hurt."

Mercury stopped laughing long enough to answer him. "You should be glad you can feel anything at all. Your neck and back were broken before, but they're fine now. In fact, at the rate you're healing, I'd be surprised if you even knew anything had happened in a couple of days. What did happen?"

Ean smiled at Sailor Moon. "Queen Serenity. She resurrected me, said you would need me to beat this evil. She said I was one of her subjects now." Sailor Moon looked surprised, and mouthed "Wow."

Jupiter looked down at Artemis, who nodded and stood up. "Then it's time for you to have this." Ean rose up a bit and looked over at Artemis, who did a back flip, and a silver sword hilt suddenly appeared on the ground.

Ean reached out and picked it up. "Whoa, what is this?" As he looked at it, he could feel something change. Suddenly, liquid metal began flowing out of the hilt, solidifying into a slightly curved sword blade. Ean could suddenly see silvery light, like intensified moonlight, surrounding him, forming into a suit of knight's armor, with a visored helmet. Suddenly, the pain in his chest wasn't nearly so bad, and he stood up, twisting and turning the armor, surprised to see that it barely limited his movement at all.

"Nice work, Artemis. I didn't know you could do stuff like this."

Artemis smiled. "I didn't, Queen Serenity did. Or, more precisely, some of the Moon's finest armorers and mages did, during the Silver Millenium." At Jupiter's questioning look, he nodded. "I didn't remember till I saw the armor and saber. The saber is a Moon Saber, the weapon of the Lunar Warlords."

Luna looked confused. "Artemis, I don't ever remember a Lunar Warlord."

"That's because no one was ever given the rank. It was a contingency, in case the armies of the Moon were needed for campaigning away from the moon for long periods of time, but the rulers couldn't leave with them. Queen Serenity opposed the whole idea, so she kept the one Moon Saber with her at all times. That's probably why she was able to give it to me; she had it with her when she used the Ginzushou. Now, Ean is the Lunar Warlord."

The reverie was interrupted by the sound of voices. "Lieutenant Hoffman, where are you?" Ean could see, through the visor, some military policemen moving towards them. The last of the smokescreen still concealed them for a moment. Concentrating, he deactivated the saber and armor, and nearly collapsed as the pain blossomed fresh in his chest.

Venus rushed beside him, but he waved her away. "No, get out of here. They're looking for me, they won't come after you if they find me, but you've got to get out of here. Artemis, take this, I'll get it later."

Artemis shook his head. "Concentrate on hiding it." Ean did so, and it disappeared.

He blinked, then shook his head. "Worry about it later. Get out of here, you two."

"Wait. Why did you kiss me like that back there?"

"I didn't want to die without doing it. Now go." Venus picked up Artemis, then sprinted away, after the other senshi.

Ean waited, kneeling, until they were far enough away, then he called out. "I'm over here," and started coughing again. A sergeant with an MP armband came running up. Ean recognized him from Camp MacArthur.

"What are you doing out here, Kowalski?"

"We were called in when the black-bag boys started taking casualties. Turned into a real bloodbath in there."

Ean nodded. "Yeah. I chased the last one down here. I'd put bullets into his legs, so he couldn't run. Turns out he was strapped with explosives. He blew himself up rather than surrender."

Ferguson looked around. "Quite a bomb, I'd wager. Hey, what was that flash of white and orange I saw just before you sounded off?"

"Probably just a figment of your imagination, Sergeant."

Ferguson shook his head. "Well, how's that for trick or treat?"

"Pardon me, Sarge?"

"What, you didn't know it's Halloween, Cap?" Ean looked down at his watch. While the numbers had stopped, the date still read 10/31. Ean chuckled at the coincidence.

Ferguson put Ean's arm over his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you to the medics." Ean gladly accepted the shoulder, and they limped off to the waiting medics.

Halloween, Ean thought, and I just got my new costume tonight.

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