To the list(s): I tried giving warning.  This didn't work; my repost of
101 is still out there in the aether somewhere, presumably archived, but
never distributed.  I can deal with that, and just say that again, this is
actually the 36th (or 37th, sort of) episode in a series that has been
running since March of 1997.  You'll want to read the previous parts
before reading this, at least if you want half of it to make sense.
Previous parts can be found on the raac archive, under Sailor Orion,
Sailor Moon O, and (I think) bsso-2.

Of course, you're all going to ignore this fic anyway, so I'm wasting my
breath.  I'll get on with it.

To Victor: It has begun.



========================================================
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion
A fairly original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer
Episode #301:  And Let There Be No Moaning of the Bar...
========================================================



Giza, Egypt
3 January 3035 CE


	"Are you all right, Madam vice-president?"

	"Fine, just fine," said Emily Martin, vice-president of the newly-
renamed American Confederation.  She stopped for a moment, though, and 
turned to look back on how much ground she had covered.  She, a couple 
bodyguards, and the vice-president of the Southeast Asian Alliance with 
his bodyguards, were now three-quarters of the way up one of the oldest 
man-made structures surviving.

	The Great Pyramid of Giza loomed over the desert.  Six thousand 
years had passed since it had been commissioned, six thousand years that 
had not been kind to it, by any means.  The original limestone casing 
had long ago been taken away, as had many of the stones that had made up 
its courtyard.  Inside, it was a home for bats, rats, tourists, and a 
few Egyptologists still trying to unravel secrets of the pyramid that 
had remained a mystery for seemingly forever.

	They climbed on.  A few minutes later they stood at the apex.  
Before them lay the two other pyramids of the Giza complex.  A little 
bit away was the Great Sphinx, and with a good eye they would have been 
able to see the ruins of Giza, and a bit beyond it the new city of 
Cairo.

	"Amazing, isn't it?" asked Edward Lansing, from the SEAA.  "I 
mean, when you think about the *age* of this thing...it was ancient back 
in the 20th!"

	"Hai," said Hudson.  She waved her hand when a couple of the 
bodyguards gave her strange looks.  "Old habits die hard."  She, like 
everyone else who wanted to get anywhere in the world, spoke fluent 
English and Japanese.  The first was easy; she was from Rhode Island, 
after all.  The second was also fairly easy, given the dealings she 
constantly had with Japanese officials.

	Sometimes she thought how absurd it was that such a tiny country 
held such sway over the Earth.  Others had wondered that as well.  And 
that was why she was in Giza, and not back home enjoying the New England 
winter.

	"You know, that's one of the things we're going to have to get 
used to.  I know some people on my staff who still aren't above 4th 
grade English."

	"Language is the least of my concerns," said Hudson sharply.  She 
sat down on one of the stones and sipped from a canteen.  "I'm worried 
about the pyramid."

	"What?"

	"Buckingham Palace was supposed to last forever.  So were the 
World Trade Center towers.  So was the Vatican.  And now?  Now they've 
all been dust and gone for hundreds of years.  All because we had to go 
and fight wars.

	"Now...I don't know.  They say over and over that we can win, 
but...will the cost be the pyramid?"

	Lansing sighed.  He was probably one of the most frightened people 
in the world.  For years he'd lived with the knowledge that a near-
omnipotent woman was running a monarchy due north of his confederation.  
He, more than perhaps anyone else on the newly-formed World Council, 
knew just how strong Serenity had grown.  Not even China, it seemed, 
recognized her true strength.  And now they were going to go and do it.  
His military people put odds of success around 60%.

	He didn't like staking the future of the Southeast Asian Alliance 
on 60% odds.

	"We'll win.  We have no choice.  And besides, all that rests in 
the hands of the military."  He chanced a smile in the twilight.  
"Unless, of course, you plan to take up a rifle and fight in the AC 
Army."

	"Far from it."

	"Ah."  He looked at his watch.  "It's about time to go."

	"Ha...yes.  Well, I guess I'll see you in Calgary."

	"Yeah.  Ja."

	"Ja."

***

	Sailor America was sick to her stomach, and the fact that her feet 
were touching nothing at all was only one reason for this.

	"Relax, just look at my eyes, okay?"  Three meters away, Sailor 
Orion floated in the anti-gravity chamber, trying to keep America calm.  
"Remember, you were the one who wanted this."

	"Can we find some way that doesn't involve null gravity?"

	"No."

	It was a standard drill for spacers.  Learning how to put on a 
pressure suit in zero gravity could save one's life in an emergency, and 
no-one who couldn't do it was allowed to serve on a starship.  Sailor 
America knew this, but she hadn't known that she would react to free-
fall like...well, like *this*.

	The room was a cube fifty meters to a side, located on an island a 
few kilometers from the island of Kyushu.  It was relatively 
featureless; there were just a few handholds every few meters, and the 
large hatch through which they had entered.  It was uniformly white, the 
lights and observation windows masked.  It hadn't been Orion's best 
choice as a place to give America her first taste of free fall, but she 
wagers it would be less stressful than taking her lover into orbit.

	Sailor America closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them 
slowly.  She found her stomach rising again, and quickly focused on 
Sailor Orion's blue eyes.  She stared at them for what seemed like 
years, until those two orbs were the only things in the universe.  
Gradually, she felt her nausea begin to diminish.

	"Good, now start pulling on the suit.  Bottom half first, just 
like we practiced."

	They went slowly and painfully through the entire process, Orion 
at times thinking that they would never finish in a day, let alone the 
twenty seconds prescribed in the manuals.  But at long last, they 
finished.

	America was slightly panting inside her suit, and the air 
conditioning unit couldn't keep up with it.  Her faceplate fogged up as 
she looked back at Orion.  "'Not hard at all, is it?'" she quoted 
archly.

	Orion smiled.  "Easy as cake," she said, detransforming into the 
familiar utilitarian fleet jumpsuit.  "You'll get the hang of it soon, 
until you'll be able to do it in a flash, in the dark, with things 
falling apart around you."

	The fog that covered her helmet kept Jen from seeing America's 
glare.  "I'll just bet I can."

	Jen smiled.  "It would be interesting.  I've never been able to do 
it."  She looked at her watch.  "C'mon, it's about time to go home."

	"Ummm...."

	Jen, who had already started over to the door, turned around for a 
moment, still floating away.  "Oh, you probably want to get the suit off 
first.  It's rather bulky in normal gravity."

	America blinked.  "Aren't you going to help me?"

	"Nope," called Jen behind her as she went to the door, "I think 
you can figure it out."

	The soundproofed doors kept Jen from hearing America's shouts as 
well.

***

	Once outside, Eileen took a deep breath and sighed.  She was now 
outside the training facility, and beneath the leaden skies she suddenly 
felt smaller and less significant.  There was just something about the 
way that the gray of the sky and the gray of the northern Pacific Ocean 
blended together at the horizons, enveloping her in a uniform clamshell.

	Jen came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, startling 
the brunette.  "Penny for your thoughts?"

	"Oh, nothing.  Just thinking about a few things."

	"Such as?"

	Eileen turned and managed a smile.  "You even have to ask?  My 
resignation."

	"Oh."  In a few months, H.M.S. Seiza would be departing the Solar 
system for destinations unknown.  She was a brand-new ship, much like 
Pleiades had been.  For her part, Pleiades was in Martian orbit, 
undergoing a refit after returning from another survey trip.

	After much soul searching, Eileen had decided to accompany her 
lover this time.  It scared her to death to leave her nice warm Earth, 
but the alternative was to sit at home and spend another two or three 
years wondering if Jen was alive or dead.  And she knew that she 
couldn't bear to go through that again.

	That meant that her occupation as Her Majesty's Secretary of 
Public Relations would be coming to an end.  In a way she was rather 
sad; her role had given her the opportunity to meet more foreigners than 
would other wise be expected.  She'd met quite a few American 
journalists, all of whom seemed almost to idolize her, something she 
personally had no problems dealing with.  She'd been privy to a lot of 
information even other senshi didn't receive until after the fact, and 
she'd been in close contact with Neo-Queen Serenity for several years.  
All it all, it had been pretty fun.  And she was going to miss it.

	This wasn't to say, of course, that being with Jen for two years 
wouldn't be enjoyable in its own right.

	Jen looked out to sea.  The building they had just exited stood on 
the highest point on the island (which wasn't really saying much; it was 
a mere eight meters above the coast).  From it, they could look down to 
the small paved area next to the beach where their shuttle waited.  It 
was a small three-person job designed for the short hop from the island 
(named Fuu for some obscure reason) to Crystal Tokyo.

	"You're still uneasy about it, aren't you?"

	"Hai."

	Jen turned and gave Eileen a big hug, ignoring the look of 
surprise on the younger woman's face.  "What was that for?" asked 
Eileen.

	"Dunno," said Jen with a smile.  "Maybe to cheer you up?"

	"And one hug's supposed to make me forget that I'm going into 
space?"

	The smile got even bigger.  "Yep!"

	Eileen managed to smile in return.  "It worked."

***

	A few minutes later, as the two flew back to the island of Honshu, 
a very different procession was leaving it.  The squadron of aircraft 
was under the most ruthless and protective security ever attempted.  Any 
other aircraft within a hundred kilometers who were not part of it would 
have been in danger of being shot down on sight, had they ignored the 
constantly broadcast warnings.  Below, ships plied the waves and pounded 
the ocean with sonar waves, scaring away fish, and hopefully any 
submarines as well.  Above, four planes flew in formation, prepared to 
take the brunt of any laser attack from space.

	In short, every possible measure was being taken to make sure that 
*no* harm befell a single occupant of the center plane.  The security 
even extended beyond *that*; inside, the four inner senshi surrounded 
their charge, seemingly relaxed but in actuality on greater alert than 
usual.

	The person for whom all these measures were being taken looked 
rather unimpressed.  In fact, she was quite content to read a magazine.

	"Sailor Mars?"

	"Hai?" said the senshi of fire for the fortieth time since 
takeoff.

	"Did you know that San Diego was host to the World Games in 2500?  
Ever since then, another name for San Diego is the Century City."

	"Interesting," said Mars, who was bored out of her skull.  It 
wasn't that she wasn't doing anything; she was probably as prepped for 
battle as she'd ever been.  And it wasn't that what she was doing wasn't 
intellectually stimulating, because it *was*; there were a nearly 
infinite number of things that she had to keep track of, an enormous 
number of threats that could manifest themselves.

	It was the fact that there were so many other things she could be 
doing, rather than baby-sitting Serenity across the Pacific on a trip 
that Mars felt shouldn't have been made in the first place.

	"Hai.  Hm...," she punched a button a couple of times, 
electronically flipping the pages.  "Oh, San Diego was also the capital 
of the Fifth Californian Republic from 2132 to 2133, before it was 
sacked on 5 December 2133 by TexMex raiders."

	Mars tried very hard to convince herself that Serenity had only 
met Sailor Orion twice.  Well, three times if you counted time travel.  
Mars didn't.

	Mentally, she ran through the checklist.  Another hour or so to 
San Diego.  Then their tour would take them to most of what had once 
been the United States, had gone thorough countless name changes, and 
was now the American Confederation.  The trip was for various reasons, 
the most important being to apply a bit of subtle pressure.

	There were a number of nasty rumors circulating about concerning 
the continent of South America.  In a lightning move, the NAC had swept 
down from Mexico and taken over virtually all of Central America in a 
single week.  It had taken a minor miracle (it had for a fleeting moment 
been called the Miracle of Bogota) for any real resistance to be raised, 
and the hastily formed South American Alliance was nothing like the NAC.

	Despite their best efforts, Bogota had only held for three days, 
three days that simply weren't enough to pull together enough arms and 
troops for a sustained conflict.  From Columbia-Venezuela the NAC rolled 
south, with only token resistance.  In spite of brief rallies at Rio de 
Janeiro and at the entrance to Patagonia, the book had been written.

	The other confederations remained silent.  Despite the fact that 
the NAC had, in the space of a month, nearly doubled its size, those 
closest to the Americas, the European and Arab Unions, said nothing.  
Very strange, when such actions had in the past been more than ample 
grounds for war.

	Now word was coming out (unsubstantiated word, to be sure, but 
word nevertheless) that unspeakable acts of brutality were being 
performed there, and Serenity wanted some answers.  The visit was 
primarily to get to the bottom of things.

	The dilemma that faced Serenity wasn't whether or not the offenses 
were happening.  Crystal Tokyo intelligence was firm on this: it *was* 
happening.  The difficult lay in just what was to be done about it.  
Should Crystal Tokyo interfere?  It never had before, not through 
hundreds of years of interconfederational wars.  At the same time, there 
had never been such a grievous offense.  No confederation had ever taken 
so much territory without provocation, and even then the conquered were 
treated properly.

	If CT interfered, the precedent would almost seem not to be worth 
the bother.  The Crystal Tokyo military was divided into the Army, the 
Fleet, and the Senshi, who were integrated into both.  The Fleet was in 
no position to do anything; surgical strikes from space were tricky at 
best, and could be defended against easily.  The Army was a joke--no-one 
liked to admit it, but it was true.  It was questioned in the upper 
echelons as to whether the army could defend Japan itself, let alone go 
out into the world and handle someone else's problems.

	It made for very interesting foreign policy.

***

	The small aircraft touched down on the airstrip outside of Crystal 
Tokyo under gray skies.  There had been some very light snow earlier in 
the day, and the thin layer of white powder covered the grass and some 
of the roofs of the support buildings.  Jen and Eileen stepped out of 
the craft, taking a moment to wrap themselves more tightly in their 
coats.  They walked down the steps to the runway and the waiting car.

	Once inside, Eileen unzipped her coat.  "Is it just me, or is it 
actually getting colder out there?"

	"It's getting colder," said Jen as she slid into the driver's 
seat.  "Three degree drop since this morning, I think.  Probably hit 
some record lows, according to the meteorological geniuses."

	Jen expertly drove the car through the complex and onto the open 
road.  In a couple minutes they would arrive at the Palace.

	"So, you think you can manage another exercise tomorrow?"

	Eileen sighed with a mixture of fatigue and relief.  "Sorry, but 
the next couple days are going to be a bit busy.  Have to train my 
replacement, remember?"

	"Oh."  Eileen had mentioned something about that a few days ago, 
but Jen had been so wrapped up in her own preparations to make much note 
of it.  Probably won't have another chance to relax until we're on the 
moon, at the least, she thought to herself.

	She kept only a casual look over the road, trusting in other 
drivers to pay attention.  Mentally she reviewed the checklist she'd 
been filling out for weeks now.  The hardest part, she knew, would be 
leaving the University of Crystal Tokyo, where she'd been learning the 
ropes of being a professor.

	It had been recognized that she was pretty smart.  She had to be, 
to get into the school, and she had to be smarter to finish off her 
doctorate with all the other work that being a senshi entailed.  
However, she was still terribly young.  It simply wouldn't do for a 
twenty-four-year old woman to teach a class, even a freshman level 
introductory history course.  Therefore, she was now an assistant to a 
professor.  In all practical respects she was a teaching assistant, 
doing odd jobs 1998, no-one had been as close to the royal family
(specifically the 
Princess).  She was quite the darling of the department.

	Therefore, it had been rather hard to get away; all the candidates 
wanted to keep her there, and many of the postdocs did as well.  It had 
taken an executive order from the planet senshi to pry her away from 
UCT, and that was only with a promise that she return within five years 
(preferably three) and spend the next few decades on terra firma.

	That, of course, simply begged the question of why she, a history 
specialist, was being sent to command a starship of approximately 150 
people.

	It was a very good question that pestered her as she and Eileen 
went back to the palace.


==============================

	One down, fifteen more to go.  I realize that things went rather 
slowly, but what the heck?  I've got a few months to draw this out over 
anyway.


--
LeVar Bouyer -time to get cracking on 302....
Finger l_bouyer@csunix1.lvc.edu for URLs and such | Libertas per veritatem
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