Sailors Enslaved
                       Sailor Moon Hentai fan-fiction
                     by Dr. Allosaurus (allosaur@mcs.net)

                             ** WARNING!! **
This serial contains scenes of intense violence and sexual situations of the
sort found in some of the nastier Japanese fan comics. If such fantasies offend
you, please skip this story.

Usual disclaimers apply: noncommercial fan use only, don't read if the law
says you shouldn't, don't ask for e-mail reposts, because I'll say no, etc.
Comments and criticisms are always welcome though.

This is, at last, the concluding chapter. I very much appreciate everyone
who has posted or sent me their comments on the story. Writing it has been
an... interesting experience. Went I first started I hadn't quite realized
how personal it was all going to be, particularly the Raye and Gel sections....

I want to give special thanks to Artemis and Luna for their comments,
advice, and support, and to Agent J for his constructive criticism
and help in proofreading.
                                  --  Samuel "Dr.Allosaurus" Crider 10/21/97


                           ** CHAPTER THIRTEEN **

   Sailor Mars, dressed in her Shreen uniform, stepped out of the communication
chamber, the door sliding shut behind her. Gel waited in the main room of her
quarters, idly sorting through the items on her desk.
   "Are you finished, Raye?" she asked without turning around, as Mars
walked over.
   "Yes, like she said, it was simple."
   Gel held out her hand to Mars, who clasped it tightly.
   "I find it a strange notion," Gel said. "I have lived all my life
in space. I have walked on the surface of many worlds, but I have never had a
home *on* a planet...."
   Raye pressed herself against Gel's side. "It'll be a change, from
all these tunnels and domes... No sky, no wind. But you'll get used to it."
   "If this plan your comrade Mercury and I have devised works, yes, I
suppose I shall have to."
   Gel leaned down to kiss Raye's mouth -- only to have the smaller woman
pull away.
   "You say 'if it works'?" Mars said sternly.
   "It... it will, Raye..." She moved close again, smiling as Raye turned
her face to hers. As soon as their lips touched though, Raye clutched Gel's
braid of hair and pulled it sharply, hard enough to bring the Shreen down
to one knee.
   "It had *better* work," hissed Raye.
   "I... I know... Arlen..." Gel whispered. "I know how he thinks... what
he fears."
   Mars looked down at her for a long moment. She then took Gel's face
in her hands and kissed her hard and fierce, until Gel had to pull away,
gasping.
   "Time to go," Mars said, turning to the door.
   She and Gel were just about to exit when she paused. "If Arlen
doesn't... meet your expectations, you know what we'll have to do."
   "Of course Raye, I'm with you for that as well. It is unlikely though.
Arlen is a capable warrior, but in other circumstances he is ... quite
predictable."
  "You're good at that," Sailor Mars said, in a quiet voice. "Manipulating
people. Is that a talent you were born with... or did they teach it to you?"
   Gel frowned, puzzled at the question. "I am not sure I understand you,
Raye. Any warrior learns to seek an enemies's weakness, to attack the most
vulnerable point. That's exactly what we will do to Arlen."
   "I think I understand," Raye said, nodding.

                                *   *   *

   At first, it had seemed just another fight. The Sailor Scouts against
some nasty enemies. Never before though, not even when going up against
Beryl, had there been... so much awful fighting. So many enemies -- guns and
and clubs and knives and blood and dying....
   Sailor Moon had felt her courage, which she had tried so hard to learn over
her adventures, drain away. As soon as she faltered though, she had seen
Sailor Venus begin ordering the other Scouts to surround and defend her.
They obeyed her so quickly, so naturally....
   But she would not let her friends die for her again. Sailor Moon had
rallied, finding herself calling on Moon Tiara Magic again for the first
time in many months.
   They had fought and... killed. Forcing the Shreen troops back into their
space warp. So intent had they been, that none of the Scouts seemed to pay
much heed to the final collapse of the Gate, which left them... elsewhere.
   Sailor Moon's attention had been caught by the sight of a nar-Shreen
drawing its gun and blasting Sailor Mercury down before she had a chance to
call a warning. Sailor Moon's tiara took the head off another alien who was
charging at Sailor Venus, but another was instantly in its place, sweeping
Mina's feet out from under her with its staff, then kicking her savagely,
even as a Crescent Beam cut through its armored chest.
   Serena never saw the blow that took her out. She felt a crushing pain in
her side, a struggle to draw breath, and then blackness.
   Since then it had been a confusion of unconsciousness, separated by
sessions of people shouted at her and hurting her.
   Pain... Sailor Moon had grown more used to pain in her battles with the
Negaverse that she'd have ever thought possible. What was worse, now, was never
having the chance to find out what was going on. Obviously she had been captured
by the Shreen, but where were the other Scouts? Were they even still alive?
   Then there had been that awful officer and his goons, doing weird things
to her with their machines. Again, it wasn't so much the pain they caused her
as... how cold... and lonely they left her.
   The shame and terror of... the auction. Call it what it was, Serena
said to herself, as she lay on the hard cot in her cell. They were selling
her like a piece of meat.
   The room they had locked her in was so dark that she could barely make
out the ceiling even after her eyes adjusted.
   Cold, alone -- more that she had ever though possible. She was never
going to see her friends... or Darien again. They were no doubt going to
hurt her more, rape her, do things that her imagination couldn't conceive.
The only thing she had to wipe her tears with was the bow of her Sailor
uniform, and it was by now quite soaked.
   She continued to lay there, staring, and sighed, and noticed that there
were no more tears. After all, one could cry only so much.
   "Even me," she said aloud. "Even water-works Serena...."
   So this is what being Sailor Moon lead her to, in the end.
   At least they had defeated Queen Beryl. The Sailor Scouts had avenged
Sailor Moon's mother, Queen Serenity. That was why they had been
reborn, wasn't it?  And then they had saved Earth from the new menace of the
Shreen.
   Still, as Serena thought about her adventures, she realized that what
victories still stirred her, what she felt best about... was helping those
she had met as "enemies.' Ann and Alan... The Four Sisters... Freeing them
from the darkness in their lives showed that... maybe there was hope and
the potential for good in everyone.
   If that were true... If that were true, then there would always be people
to fight for love and justice. Tuxedo Mask... Her tired heart still beat
stronger at the thought of him... And maybe others... They would appear to
protect the Earth.
   Serena could believe that. What pain she was going to endure would last
for a short while  -- but that belief would continue, long after Sailor Moon
was no more.
                                *   *   *

   "Shouldn't they be back by now?" Sailor Jupiter said, anxiously pacing
from one side of their tunnel hiding place to the other.
   "There was quite a lot they had to get ready," Mercury said. She studied
the red robe she had worn at Halent's clinic. Carefully, she began to tear
ragged holes in the fibrous material. Luna lay sprawled on her stomach
next to Amy.
   "Waiting here, with Serena and Mina in danger... it makes me crazy!"
   "Well, you'll just have to keep calm, anxiety attacks won't help
anybody."
   "That's easy for *you* to say," Lita said harshly. "I don't have a heart
made of ice and computer chips and --"
   She stopped herself. "Amy... Why... why are *we* snapping at each other?"
   Mercury sighed, and looked up at her friend. "I think... we're all missing
our heart, Sailor Jupiter."
   "Serena... Sailor Moon..."
   "Without her, none of us are really complete, are we...?"
   Jupiter sat down next to Mercury and exhaled a long sigh. "You're right of
course. And I do need to keep my cool."
   "We'll be depending on you... in case we have to use our back-up plan."
   "Some back-up plan," Luna said sulkily.
   "It's the only way," Mercury said, getting back to work ripping up
the robe. "With Jupiter's help you should be able to get Rini to the escape
capsule. Gel says it will be ready and able to support Rini, you, and
Artemis."
   "Support us for what?"
   "It's possible... you'll somehow find away back to Earth, or at least to a
planet you can live on."
   "...possible..."
   "We owe it to Rini to try."
   "Of course, Mercury," Luna said, sitting up and stretching her back.
"We'll do everything we can."
   Jupiter mumbled something under her breath.
   "Lita?" Amy asked.
   "'Gel says it'll be ready.'" she repeated, her voice rising. "What I hate most
is having to depend on that alien bitch!"
   "Aw!" cried Rini, popping up across the room where she had been
petting the exhausted Artemis. "I heard that. Lita said a bad word again!"
   Jupiter stood and walked over. "Sorry, Rini. I'm being naughty,
aren't I?"
   "You don't like that big lady, do you?" said the child.
   "No... I don't..."
   "Raye does," Rini said with a giggle.
   "Don't say that."
   "She does! I saw them 'k-i-s-s-i-n-g'...!" she said in a singing voice.
   "I said don't say that!" She grabbed at Rini, who laughing, tried to
dodge out of the way.
   Jupiter's strong hands caught her arms though, and she lifted Rini high
in to the air and shook her. "Don't say that!!" she shouted.
   Rini looked down, with wide eyes that began to fill with tears.
   "Sailor Jupiter!" said Artemis.
   Lita's face went pale. She lowered Rini and hugged her, rocking back and
forth. "Oh, I'm so sorry, pumpkin! I'm so sorry!"
   "It's... okay.... " sniffled Rini. "You're just worried about Mina and
Serena."
   "Mm-hm..."
   "If you are so worried about your friends," came Gel's voice, as she
maneuvered herself through the tunnel entrance. "You should keep a better
guard on your base of operations."
   Jupiter gave her a look that literally crackled with electricity.
   "That's enough Gel," said Raye, following her in.
   Mercury walked over to her. "Is everything ready?"
   "Yes," said Raye. She reached into a pocket of her Shreen uniform and
pulled out Mercury's compact computer. She handed it over.
   "Thank you, Raye. Let me... just take care of a few things, and we'll...
be ready on our end as well."
                               *   *   *

   That bastard Arlen was going to be right, wasn't he?
   Mina was unsure whether her aching limbs were stilled tied down, or
whether she was just too exhausted to move them.
   She didn't know if she was hearing the sound of Kaghstee grunting on top
of her, or whether the sound was just echoing in her memory.
   You'd think, she said to herself, that one could be certain if some gross
alien thug was pounding away between your legs.... But Mina was
having a hard time just sorting out where the various parts of her body were
at the moment, let alone her memory.
   Arlen was going to be right... Her mind was going.
   "No... no questions..." Mina heard herself say, or remembered herself
saying.
   "Excuse me?" Arlen said.
   "You haven't... asked me any questions...."
   "I didn't imagine you'd have anything to tell us," Arlen said placidly.
"Was I mistaken?"
   Mina shook her head and smiled as best she could, give the condition of
her face.
   "So this..." she said slowly. "Is just for your own entertainment?"
   "Ah. It's Sailor... Venus, isn't it? Sailor Venus, you are operating under
two misapprehensions. First, that I take personal pleasure in your pain.
I am in fact quite indifferent to your feelings one way or the other...."
   A sequence of events involving long, hard, electrified objects being
swung against her thighs, stomach, and breasts drifted past. Mina was
fairly sure this was a memory of an early event, though the pain and the
odor of her own burned skin still lingered.
   "Secondly," Arlen continued, as casually as ever. "You are incorrect
thinking that this in an interrogation. You will not willingly tell us what
you did with the Lady Lapine, what that camouflage device you were using was,
or answer any such interesting questions. So. You are strong, but you are a
finite organism."
   It was Arlen's face peering down close to her own, but Mina's skin still
crawled under the rough caresses of Kaghstee's fingers. Her own screams seemed
to be off in the distance somewhere -- all her senses seemed to be wandering
off and getting lost by themselves.
   "Eventually, after sufficient torment," Arlen said. "Your mental defenses,
your entire psychic-structure will, must, collapse. We will then make use
of our probes and shift through the rubble until we find what we want.
The process is all rather boring familiar to me...."
   He held his hand in front of her. Something black and fluid crawled up
his finger, solidifying into a claw-like blade. He slashed downward, cutting
her... somewhere. Mina couldn't for the moment recall what there was within
range. It hurt though.
   "Usually," Arlen yawned, his voice moving farther away, "physical
mutilation is necessary before any real progress is made. Kaghstee, you'd
best exhaust your desires while you can, I doubt her body will remain quite
so attractive to you for much longer...."
   What the nar-Shreen and several of its associates had done to her next
was still vivid enough in her mind that Mina was pretty sure it was in the
recent past. Various bodily fluids, theirs and her own, were still drying on
her skin and in pools around her.
   Too much, too quickly, these past few days. The strain was cracking her.
There was only one solution. Amy is going to think me such a hypocrite, Mina
thought. But their situations were different. Artemis... he *must* have
gotten away, to tell the others what they had learned. It was up to the
remaining Sailor Scouts to act now. Sailor Venus had fought her last battle.
Now she could only make sure that Arlen learned nothing from her ravaged
mind.
   At first she thought she'd just transform back into ordinary Mina, and
let the biosiphon drain her life, as Amy had warned about. But that... seemed too
much like giving in to Arlen, and might have unknown consequences. It wasn't
necessary either.
   She was a Sailor Scout. Her life, and her death, were her own. She could
feel it floating there in the void, a shining spark. Of her own volation,
she could close her hands and extinguish it.
   Mina could do it right now, as she floated in that grayish void. The
world, her pain, was gone, It was just her, and the flaming jewel of her of
life. Her and...
   No... There were others... She was not alone in this place. Vaguely,
Venus could see two figures, standing, watching her. Two women... both with
long hair that drifted about in silent winds. Each was tall. One
dark, holding a long staff; the other, in a flowing gown of white,
back-lighted by an aura that seemed part of her.
   "They are going to be too late, aren't they?" said the elegant, regal
figure of light.
   "Yes," said her dark companion. "There is always uncertainty, chaos, I...
tried not to make any promises, your Majesty."
   "But... if we loose her, how..."
   The dark woman shook her head. "The Time Stream will heal. It finds its
own way. In the greater scheme of the universe, the life of one Scout is... a
small thing."
   "...who.. who are you...?" Mina managed to whisper.
   Both the figures seemed started.
   "She *sees* us," said the woman in white.
   "That is... not possible. Majesty! What are you --"
   The gowned woman was stepping toward Mina. "Old friend, " she said
looking back to her companion. "You said the Time Stream finds its own way.
The Time Stream... and the Crystal."
   She held out her arms, and Mina found herself falling into her embrace.
   "The Silver Crystal..." the dark figure muttered. "But, your Majesty,"
she said louder. "It still doesn't matter. We cannot *do* anything for her."
   "You'd be surprised at what can be done," the other said, cradling Mina to
her. She looked down at the shuddering form in her arms. "Child... Venus...
You must hold on."
   "C-can't. Not strong enough...."
   "But you are strong, dear Venus. You need only wait a short while. Your
friends... Your soldiers... will be here soon. You wouldn't want to
disappoint them by being gone when they arrive."
   "It's been too much... I don't have the strength to... believe anymore..."
   "Belief is a powerful thing, but sometimes it is not enough."
   She lightly touched Mina's cheek, wiping away tears. Mina could
make out little of the face above her, save for a glowing crescent moon
on its forehead.
   "Hold on, dear Venus. If you didn't truly want a reason to keep your
life, I don't think the Crystal would have bridged the gap between us. And I
think you know that too."
   Mina found herself smiling in return. She nodded.
   "Then that's all we are needed here for," said the other. "I know how
badly you hurt, Venus... Mina... And that pain and nightmares will be a long
time fading. But you have survived... and more. Knowing that, you'll be even
stronger in battles that are to come -- that is what makes all of you...
warriors."
   "Thank you..." Mina reached and touched the other's face herself. She
peered, trying to look more carefully. "You... I thought you were our
Queen... Queen Serenity. But... you're not. You're not the Princess either.
Who...?"
   The swirling winds were increasing, and Mina herself seemed to be fading.
She tried to focus her eyes on the glowing figure, but could only catch a
last glimpse of a gentle, smiling face, streamers of pink hair dancing
around it...
   Venus fell into a silent, healing sleep.

                               *   *   *

   The static on the small screen began to pulse in a steady pattern. A
crackly, low-fidelity voice spoke: "Mm? Little Mouse...? Is that you?"
   "Yes, Dr. Halent."
   "As soon as I felt the dataspace I had entered collapse around me, I
suspected this might be your handiwork. Congratulations."
   "Thank you."
   "So my Little Mouse has her revenge, eh?"
   "Revenge? This was merely the most efficient way of isolating you, Dr.
Halent. We both know revenge would be pointless."
   "Oh?"
   "Could I do anything to you that would negate what you did to me? And
even if I wanted to make you suffer... well, you can be irritated and
thwarted, but you are, after all, just a program. You can't know fear any
more than you can know remorse."
   "True."
   "I... I believe that if you really understood pain, you couldn't have hurt
me like you did."
   "Again true -- perhaps. Pain was such an important part of my initial
programming, yet it has always been only a variable, an abstraction. I
thought with your help I might finally find the answer, somewhere, within
your delicate flesh and beautiful blood.
   "As you say, Little Mouse, my self-evaluating routines note my failure,
but I do not quake in terror at my imminent demise. Thus I miss out on a
significant part of biological life, you think?"
   Sailor Mercury said nothing in reply. She simply typed in the word
"delete", waited until the screen went completely blank, and closed the
computer's cover.

                           *   *   *

   Lord-Captain Arlen sat at his desk and main command console and smiled.
It had been a profitable day. He tapped a key and one of the small monitors
in the cabinet beside the desk displayed the list of precious gems and
rare minerals the Kinglet was exchanging for the paranormal slave.
   Their value alone was almost enough to make the charade worth carrying
out, but the true profit would come later. Even now Maas was subjecting the
slave to a reinforcement of the temporal displacement that limited her
powers. The Fahram'hr lacked any technology to detect the time-space
distortion, even if they would ever think of such a bizarre effect.
   In a few days then, as the Kinglet's ship raced back to its homeworld,
the "Princess" sleeping within the child would awaken. Maas had assured
Arlen that the paranormal's power would easily throw off Fahram'hr microbial
possession. The subsequent conflict would be wondrous to see, but Arlen was
content with imaging the results.
   The loss of the Kinglet's guiding mind would destabilize a large swath of
Fahram'hr territory. The Shreen Emperor-General might at first object to
Arlen carrying out such an outrageous plan, but once he was informed of its
success, and been shown how many Fahram'hr enslaved world were now unprotected
and ripe for Hellstrike assaults... Well, objections would rapidly fade.
   There would be a wait before Arlen's "bomb" went off -- but he had the
perfect distraction to occupy him until then. The other slave, this Sailor
Venus... After seeing what this Princess was capable of, it was no surprise
that her comrade might have unknown potentials as well. If she had discovered
some weakness in the Domerel that Arlen himself could exploit...
   Arlen's secretarial program spoke up with a quiet tone and then a bland,
expressionless voice: "Lord-Captain, Lieutenant Gel wishes to have audience
with you."
  "Really?" Arlen said. Even more than usual Gel had been keeping to herself
and her own duties. "Send her in."
   The outer door of Arlen's office slid open, and Gel entered. A pace behind her
was the dark-haired female slave she had purchased. Gel had indeed fitted her
with a cadet's uniform, absurd as it seemed. Arlen started to comment, but
Gel rudely spoke first, walking up to his console and leaning over it.
   "Lord-Captain... I... Well, you finally had enough I guess," she said
with a sigh.
   "Ah, Lieutenant, what exactly --"
   "I should have known you'd get to it eventually. You hated him from the
beginning."
   "Lieutenant," Arlen said again, a little more firmly. "Just what is this
about?"
   "I was just down in the lower levels, Lord-Captain, to Dr. Halent's
clinic." She nodded in acknowledgment of Arlen's scolding expression. "I
know you... suggested that I avoid contact with him, but -- Well, you've
solved that problem for good now, haven't you?"
   "I must repeat myself, Lieutenant. What are you talking about?"
   Gel frowned. "Lord-Captain... Halent's clinic... You sent an assault team
to destroy it... Didn't you? The place is in ruins, machinery smashed and
destroyed, all data modules wiped. There's nothing left of the place -- or
of Halent."
   Arlen was quiet a moment. "I... cannot say that this news displeases me,
Lieutenant -- but neither can I take credit for it. I gave no such orders."
   Gel straightened and seemed very confused. "You didn't? Then who managed
such a thing?"
   "I have no doubt that that cyber-mind had made plenty of enemies. I will
make a few inquires."
   "Yes, Lord-Captain," Gel said returning to a formal posture and tone. "I
also found something in the rubble that I thought best be returned to your
hands."
   "Oh? I am curious."
   Gel turned to her slave/cadet. "Go bring it."
   As the small alien left, Arlen shook his head. "Lieutenant, do you really
think an alien slave like that can be brought into the Shreen?"
   "There is precedent, Lord-Captain. And her powers make her a valuable
warrior."
   "Mm. By the way, how did you managed to break her?"
   "The unusual methods, Lord-Captain. Isolation, psychological pressure,
sexual abuse. She came to understand that serving me was far preferable to
the tortures we had available. Even if it meant betraying her comrades and
all her beliefs."
   "I see... I may consult with your further on details. We may yet learn
more from these unusual specimens."
   "Precisely what I came to speak with you about, Lord-Captain."
   The doors opened again and the dark slave returned. She dragged something
behind her. She picked it up and tossed it to the floor in front of Arlen's
console.
   It was some pale living creature, dressed in only a few rags, covered in
filth and its own blood. It shivered and mewed a little as it lay there,
half-dead and terrified.
   "Is that..." Arlen began peering down.
   "Another of the aliens, Lord-Captain," Gel answered. "The one we sold to
Halent. I found her hiding in the rubble and thought she should be returned
to you. Wasteful to leave her to the vermin and scavengers."
   "Ah. Very good, Lieutenant. Do you... think it possible she had something
to do with Halent's destruction?"
   "I do not see how, Lord-Captain. She was being ravaged by a milli-mantis
when I found her, and I rather doubt she would endure that if she had any
defenses left."
   "I see." Arlen turned to one of his control screens. "Maas and the
Reapers will be pleased to have yet another specimen returned to them. I --"
   Arlen froze in place. From the corner of his eye he noticed the
hand-blaster Gel had drawn and aimed at him.
   A violet bolt of lightning struck Arlen in the chest and sent him
tumbling over backwards in his chair.
   "Gel!" shouted Raye. "What are --"
   Gel squeezed the trigger of her gun again and again, each pulse of energy
knocking Arlen's body further back until he smashed into the back wall.
   "Raye grabbed Gel's arm. "What are you doing! We needed him --"
   "He is alive," Gel said coldly. "Probably not even injured. I noticed he
was wearing his cm-armor beneath his coat. I had to damage it enough to
prevent him activating it.
   A slow exhalation of breath came from Arlen's crumpled form. Smoke rose
from the smoldering remains of his uniform. The web-work of fibers underneath
twitched, coiled, and re-coiled chaotically. Arlen looked up, a slight smile
on his face.
   "Lieutenant," he said. "Assuming whatever brilliant scheme you have
hatched to replace me actually works, do you honestly think the Emperor-General
will recognize it? Usurpers are not good for business in the long term."
   "I am not replacing you, Arlen. I am betraying all my comrades and
everything I believed in."
   Keeping the gun on Arlen, Gel glanced to the console. "How does it look,
Sailor Mercury?"
   Arlen stared: The shattered slave was at his controls, busily tapping away
at the keyboards.
   "Everything seems clear enough. Your access codes are working fine,"
Mercury said.
   "You..." Arlen said to Gel very slowly. "You gave this... creature your
access codes?"
   "Arlen," Gel replied. "I have broadcast all my codes and security data to
the Fahram'hr's fleet. I have also told them of your plans to sell them a
self-destructing slave."
   Muscles in Arlen's face grew tenser and tenser... and the relaxed. He
lowered his eyes and said lightly: "That you are in the pay of the Fahram'hr
is of course impossible, since they have no comprehension of such things. So
then it is the one thing that can never fully be provided against: spontaneous
chaotic system collapse -- be it in a building's structural supports, in a
section of computer code... or in the sanity of a junior officer, even one
of the Shreen."
   "Have it that way if you like, Arlen."
   "Just know... Gel... That the Kinglet will have no small battle on his
hands. The outcome is far from certain.
   "That depends -- on how much opportunity we give you to prepare. On just
how crippled we leave you."
   Arlen's red skin darkened and anger entered his voice for the first time.
   "What do you want, Gel?" he said.
   "You will release the two prisoners you have, unharmed, into my custody."
    "And you think you can make me do this, with just you and an all but
discharged blaster? My armor may be damaged but --"
   "MARS FIRE IGNITE!!"
   The jet of flame burst against the wall close enough to Arlen to sear the
side of his face a little and leave some strands of his white burning.
   Arlen calmly patted out the flames. "Oh yes, her. Anything else you'd care
for?"
   "You will give us access to a Hellstrike."
   Arlen laughed. "Oh come now, Gel -- this is becoming ludicrous."
   "Mercury?"
   "Yes, Gel," Amy said, "I've managed to shut down about a 3rd of the
station's defensive grid and put it into maintenance mode. Arlen will be able
to override and restore them -- but it will take some time."
   A bestial growl came from Arlen's lips, but he did not move.
   "Shall I let her continue?" said Gel.
   "You are going to give us what we want," Mars said. "And then we'll be out
of your hair forever. Attempt to cross us and... Well, we can't out fight
your entire army, but we can sure as hell cause a lot of damage before we go
down. And that's not going to leave you in the best condition to deal with
your other friends is it?"
   "Every second you spend worrying about us," Gel continued. "Is one lost from
your preparations for facing the Fahram'hr. So, shall conclude this exchange
with efficiency -- and then all of us go about our own business?"

                             *    *    *

   Smothering, drowning, buried alive... Yet... finally it seemed as if the
the nightmares were fading, moving further away, like parts of a stage set
being dismantled and carried off.
   Sailor Moon opened her eyes. She stared up at a high ceiling crisscrossed with
scaffolding.
   And there around her were the faces of the Sailor Scouts.
   "Sailor Mercury! Sailor Jupiter! Sailor Venus! Sailor Mars! What --"
   "Don't try to sit up yet, Sailor Moon," said Mercury. "You are still
weak."
   "Everybody... What's going on?"
   "We're going home," said Venus. She was leaning against Jupiter
unsteadily, vivid bruises and cuts on her arms and legs. She managed a grin
despite her spit lip and swollen face.
   "Mina! What happened to you?" Even with the beaming smiles she was getting
from everyone, Serena's eye welled up with tears. "I don't know what's been
real and what's been a nightmare!"
   "Oh great," said a high-pitched voice. "All this trouble just so we can
hear that crying again."
   Serena's eyes went wide and she sat up to see the pink-haired child
standing behind her, arms folded in exasperation. Luna And Artemis sat beside her,
their tails waving happily.
   "Luna! Artemis...! R... r... Rini?" She said, and promptly fainted.
   When she awoke again Jupiter and Mars were sitting next to her while
Venus was over by Mercury, busy at the controls of a large machine.
A great ring of multi-colored lightning was forming in the devices's
heart.
   Sailor Moon sat up again. "That's... one of those warp-things, isn't it?"
she said looking rapidly back between Jupiter and Mars.
   "Yes, Sailor Moon," said Mars. "We are going home."
   "Raye... Can I believe that?"
   "Yes, Serena, you can."
   Serena began to cry again, but she smiled warmly at her friend. Then she
noticed someone else in the room, lurking apart from the Scouts, the cats,
and Rini.
   "Who is -- " she began, but was interrupted by Mercury calling:
"Everything is ready. We better hurry."
   "The coordinates from the Luna Ball are correct?" Venus asked.
   "Yes. I'm certain. And I have a follow-up program running that will burn
out the entire memory system of the Gate after we are through. There will be
no record of the coordinates left behind."
   "Good work, Mercury," Venus said.
   Jupiter helped Sailor Moon to her feet, and they all gathered together in
front of the alien machine.
   "We *do* have to hurry!" repeated Mercury, urging everybody on.
   From the shadows of cast by the growing storm of light, Gel stepped up to
stand behind Mars. Sailor Moon gaped at the muscular Shreen, and then turned
to the Scouts in confusion.
   Sailor Jupiter also looked up at Gel. "Hey. What are we doing with *her*
anyway?"
   Gel moved closer so that she was pressing up against Mars. She put a hand
on her shoulder. "I am coming with you... with Raye."
   "What!!" exclaimed Jupiter.
   "That was our arrangement."
   "Raye!" said Venus. "You... told her that?"
   "Yes," said Mars, stepping forward and turning to face Gel. "I told her
that. I told her that -- and I FUCKING LIED!!"
   She shoved Gel hard in the stomach, so that the Shreen stumbled
backwards, tottered, and the sat down hard to the floor.
   "R- Raye...?" Gel said, in incomprehension.
   "Do... you.... think... " Mars said sneering, "that I'd bring you back to
my home, when I can barely stomach the sight of you!"
   Gel stared then shook her head. "This can't be. No, Raye. No. No. You
said... You told me..."
   Raye lunged forward and grabbed Gel's collar. She spat into her face:
I told you... exactly what you wanted to hear."
   She pushed Gel away again. Mars stood, body trembling with anger. "I
told you," she continued, "anything that would make you do want I wanted.
Sound familiar!? How does it feel, huh? How do you like the way that
feels!!" she screamed.
   "Raye!" Gel said, voice hoarse, tears beginning to cascade down her pale
cheeks. She looked down at her trembling hands, unable to endure the look
on Mars's face. "Raye, you can't do this... to me... I was of the Shreen.
You don't understand what that means."
   "I understand. You made me understand."
    "No. No. No. My sweet Raye, my beautiful Raye. What I've done for you...
I've given up *everything* for you."
   Gel held a trembling hand out towards her. Mars battered it away with a
slap.
   Venus walked up beside Mars. She started to place a concerned hand on
Raye's shoulder, but thought better of it when Mars turned to glare at her.
   "Sailor Mars. She... Amy told me how Gel helped us, and..."
   "Everybody!" came Amy's call from the warp-gate. "We have to leave *now*!"
   "You heard her. Let's go," Mars said, turning away, and pulling Venus along.
    Gel stared, mouth open, shaking her head. She clutched herself and
trembled as if freezing cold.
    "...no... no... no... RAAAAAYEEE...!"
   Mars said nothing as she joined the Scouts in front of the Gate.
   "Raye," said Serena. "I don't understand all this... But we can't
just..." She gestured towards Gel, who was now sobbing and rocking back and
forth where she sat.
   "What?" Mars snapped. "You think you can wave your magic wand over...
that... and turn her into a good guy or something? Hah! You're welcome to
try."
   Mars walked past her. Sailor Moon continued to stare at the piteous form
of the broken Shreen.
   "I..." Serena said to herself. "I *will* try and - eep!!"
   Jupiter had grabbed her around the waist and picked her up. "I'm sorry
Sailor Moon, but Amy says we have to go now!"
   She struggled, but Jupiter held her off the ground and carried her up
towards the flashing tunnel in space. The last thing they heard before the haze
of light from the Gate enveloped them, was a single, keening wail of loss.

                             THE END