After The Fall, part 6

          A Tale of Crystal Tokyo by Ron Inn

The Sailor Senshi and related characters were created by Naoko
Takeuchi. Calcite, Pyrite, Azurite were created by Mark Latus.
Ferrite was created by Frank Barr.

What has gone on before:

Threatened with being put on an long vacation, Rei grudgingly
took up Serenity's request that she oversee the rehabilitation
of a Nemesian prisoner, Ruby. Eager to return to her post as soon
as possible, Rei posed as Ruby's cellmate. Outside the prison,
the mercenary called "The Jester" has declared his intention
to come after Ruby.

Meanwhile an unknown enemy had started tapping into Crystal
Tokyo's networks, but their plans were threatened by the capture
of one of their agents, Nate. Unwilling to wait for Nate to come
out of a coma, Makoto and Artemis start their own investigation
and Makoto nearly gets caught in a death trap.

Nate then started coming out of a coma forcing Crystal Tokyo's
shadowy enemy put his plans into motion.

Earlier parts of this fanfic can be found at SME's home page:

http://www.tuxedomask.com/SailorMoonExpanded/

%%%%

It was a touching scene: a girl and her cat having tea. Not
uncommon, it has been played out throughout the ages anywhere
where there existed little girls, cats and teacups.

So this scene was quite unremarkable ... if one could overlook
the fact that the girl in question was a 1,000 year-old defender
of love and justice and that the cat was a sapient jovian mooncat
and much, much older. The mooncat in question would have also
reacted violently at the suggestion that she could be anyone's
cat.

Makoto felt relaxed as she went through the motions of serving
tea. It always relaxed her, which is why she choose this setting
to reconcile with Arachne.

That particular white persian watched closely as Makoto gently
set down a saucer of tea. After gingerly rotating the saucer
slightly with her paws, Arachne took a dainty sip. She savored
the aroma and taste for a moment.

"It's good tea," remarked the mooncat.

"Thank you. I thought you might like it," responded Makoto.

Time passed and Arachne regarded the tea saucer. "It's a nice
saucer."

"You are too kind. I had it made especially for you."

More time passed.

"Can I go now?" asked Arachne drily with a flick of her tail.

Thunderclouds briefly crossed Makoto's brow, but were quickly
erased.  "Please don't spoil the moment."

"What moment?" Arachne asked waspishly. "If you have something to
say, say it."

"You're not making this any easier."

Arachne twitched her ear in response and patiently waited.

"I'm ... sorry for the things I said to you the other day. They
were unkind and totally uncalled for."

"And?" prompted Arachne.

"And what?" frowned Makoto.

"And," continued Arachne in a plausible imitation of Makoto's
voice, "I was a total fool in running off to the Freezone and
almost getting blown up in the process."

"Hey!"

"Well it's true, isn't it?"

"..." The air crackled with unseen electricity. "Look, if any
ordinary operatives had investigated that shack, they likely
wouldn't have made it out alive."

"I see, and what did this all accomplish?"

"We now have proof that something big is up. With Somerville
coming out of his coma, we can finally get some answers _and_ the
resources from IS to pursue them!"

Silence descended on the room again. Waiting expectantly, Makoto
fixed a hard glare at Arachne, who did her best to ignore it but
was betrayed by her twitching tail.

"I suppose this is the part where I apologize for being arrogant
and patronizing you as if you were still a child," began
Arachne while she idly batted at an errant fiber protruding from
the tatami-matted floor. "But to do so would be to deny the proud
tradition of Jovian mooncats. How could I face my peers if I were
anything less than arrogant. Arrogance is the birthright of every
Jovian mooncat!"

Makoto rolled her eyes as Arachne rambled on. The long line of
Jovian mooncats began and ended with its sole member sitting
before her.

"... and what of my treatment of little J-chan? Just yesterday it
seems she was playing pranks around the palace, but now she's all
grown-up. Too grown-up to need advice from an obsolete, old cat,
perhaps? Maybe her world has outgrown the need for an old friend
like .. AWK!"

Interrupting her cat's self-pitying monologue, Makoto swept
Arachne into her arms and cuddled her. "Apology accepted,
A-chan!"

Squirming a bit to get more comfortable, Arachne got out, "This is
most unseemly ... I didn't really apologize ... put me down ...
well, all right, if you must, scratch a little bit more to the
riiggghhttt ..."

Arachne got down to purring when Makoto whispered into her ear.
"Speaking of childhood pranks, I happen to remember one of them."

Arachne's eyes popped wide open and regarded Makoto with concern.
Makoto held up a little spark of ball lightning that hovered
above her index finger. "You wouldn't dare to ... YOOWWLLCH!"

Arachne flew out of Makoto's arms to land three feet away. With
her long fur puffed out with static electricity, she resembled
giant white and green dandelion ball. Makoto collapsed giggling.

"Ha. ha. ha. Very funny." Further commentary was interrupted by a
knock on the door. Or rather the noise of another mooncat pawing
to get in.

Pushing open the door, Artemis entered the room. "Ladies, sorry
to interrupt your... My goodness! Arachne, what happened to you?
Anyway, I thought that you might like to know what we've learned
from Mr. Somerville." Ignoring the callous interloper, Arachne
tried in vain to bring her fur under control.

"How did you get him to talk?" Makoto asked as she wiped the
moisture from her eyes.

"I had Calcite along," responded Artemis, unaware that Arachne
had temporary given up grooming herself and was stalking up
behind him. "Unfortunately, it seems that he really doesn't know
very much. He's part of a mercenary team and was supposed to lay
low until contacted. He doesn't know where his other team members
are nor the identity of his contact nor of his employer." Arachne
lifted her paw to touch the end of Artemis' tail and was rewarded
with a bright arc of static electricity.

"YIKES!" Artemis jumped in the air and came down decidedly
fluffier. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!?!"

Arachne was pleased that her fur had now settled to more
manageable levels. "That was for being a Senshi-stealing creep!"

"Look, the only reason Makoto took me to Freezone instead of you
is that you refused to go."

Arachne's only response was to pointedly sit with her back to
Artemis. After muttering under his breath about the females of
his species, Artemis pulled his scattered thoughts together.
Makoto did her best to keep a straight face.

"The one interesting thing that we learned is that Somerville is
part of team that specializes in illicit data retrieval and
extraction."

"You mean he's a hacker," supplied Makoto.

"I believe I said that. Since we believe that his ultimate
employer is likely from Nemesis, we've compiled a list of likely
corporations and government sites that would be targeted.
Calcite's people are contacting the private sector and we've sent
out e-mail memos to alert all government agencies.

"I was hoping the you could go to the university and persuade
them to beef up security there as well. They can be notoriously
stubborn when it comes security issues. Normally I'd have Ami
talk to them but ..."

"... but she's really busy. Sure, I'll go down and lean on them a
little bit."

"And why should we help this mangy furball?" pouted Arachne.

"Because it's our duty." Makoto stood up and picked up the
reluctant persian. "Come on A-chan. Time for a field-trip." As
Makoto left the room, Arachne peered over her shoulder and gave
Artemis an evil glare.

Artemis watched the pair leave and shook his head. In addition to
dealing with Arachne's animosity, he had to be careful about
steering clear of Luna for the next couple of weeks. Luna was
furious when she heard about their Freezone escapade. He sighed
and shook his head before loping off to do errands.

None of them had noticed that Makoto's communicator had dropped
on the floor.

%%%%

As dusk fell upon Crystal Tokyo's women's correctional facility,
a large truck with Public Safety markings pulled up to the
service entrance. A flustered guard checked the vehicle's
transponder codes against the entry list on his datapad.

"I could have sworn you weren't on this list a minute ago,"
remarked the guard who scratched his head. "Last minute additions
are highly irregular."

The driver smiled. "We were only called in an hour ago. There's
some sort of problem with the central monitoring system's
computer."

"All right then," sighed the guard. "Officer ... Yoshioka, please
face the scanner for identification." The driver faced a small
optical scanner on the side of the booth. After comparing the
driver's retina with the one on file and finding a match, the
scanner gave a satisfied *ping*.

"Have a good day," remarked the guard as the gate swung open. The
truck drove through and backed up an empty loading dock. Four men
jumped out and started unloading two dollies carrying diagnostic
equipment. Another man approached the facility service entrance.

"I'm Lieutenant Moriwaki and my team has been called in to do
some emergency equipment maintenance." He stood before a large
metal door and spoke to a grizzled prison guard seated behind
magically-reinforced glass. The guard checked his computer screen
and nodded. The metal door drew open with clank and a groan and
Lieutenant Moriwaki, the equipment and his team entered a small
holding area. Their ID was checked against computer records and
then each was scanned for contraband. Everything checked out
clean, however, their equipment presented more of a problem.

"Sir, our scanners have detected some anomalous readings from
your equipment. We'll have to open them up for inspection," a
young-faced corrections officer requested.

"What kind of readings?" inquired Moriwaki.

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen the like before."

"It must be the new bio-circuit technology that we're using.
Listen if you open up our instruments, we'll just have to leave
to get them recalibrated again."

"Recalibrated?"

"They are extremely delicate. Any disturbance would throw them
off completely."

"But the regs say that ..."

"What's your name?"

"Uh ... Kunishige."

"Well, Officer Kunishige, after all hell breaks loose and there's
an investigation why we were delayed a day, I'll just let them
know that YOU were the one who messed up our equipment and...

"Wait, let me check with upstairs." Kunishige stepped aside and
consulted on a vid-phone. Moriwaki patiently waited and with his
sleeve, wiped off sweat that had collected on his brow. The
officer hung up the phone and addressed Moriwake again. "We'll
allow it this time, but your department needs to update it's
equipment profiles. I'm to escort you to the main control room
and keep your equipment under observation."

Moriwaki smiled thinly. "Great. Let's get a move on."

A second thick, metal door ground open, giving the group access
into the facility. It took a full ten minutes of traversing
different corridors, checkpoints, courtyards and buildings for
them to reach the main control room of the prison, the nerve
center of operations.

After another security check and through a last set of double
doors, they were greeted by a room full of holodisplays and
consoles where fourteen men and women kept the prison in tip-top
shape.

"What is this? We don't have any scheduled maintenance today." A
middle- aged women detached herself from her work area and
approached the group. "Kunishige, explain."

"Yoshioka-san, don't you a computer emergen ..." Kunishige
stopped in mid-sentence with a puzzled expression on his face
before collapsing to the floor with a small quarrel in his back.

Yoshioka looked over her fallen comrade to see that the computer
technicians had popped off the panels of their equipment and
pulled out what looked like small, pistol-sized crossbows. She
opened her mouth to shout a warning but a small quarrel sprouted
from her shoulder and she felt numb. With barely a gasp, she
collapsed on the floor.

In the space of seconds, it was all over. Moriwaki surveyed the
control room with all satisfaction. All the guards were
neutralized and no alarms were sounded. That last feat was rather
a close one; one operator who sported seven quarrels in his back
was mute testimony to that. Moriwaki hooked is double-barreled,
auto-loading, pistol-crossbow unto his belt and started shouting
out orders.

"Yoshioka and Hamm, secure the door. Drazba, I want the network
firewalls down now! Matsuda, I want total control of the prison
and I want it now!" HIs men were already doing their jobs, so
there was no need for the shouting, but it made Moriwaki feel
like he was more in charge and he liked that.

In a few minutes, Drazba spoke up. "No good boss. Can't touch the
firewalls from here."

Moriwaki cursed. Instead of turning over control of the prison to
their co-conspirators lurking on the public network, they could
only control the prison from this room. It was unfortunate, but
not entirely unexpected. "Matsuda, how are you doing?"

"I got this baby eating out of my hand. You tell me where and
I'll lay down the smack!"

"Now, that's what I want to hear! Have you located our secondary
target?"

Matsuda smiled smugly and tossed Moriwaki a datapad. Looking over
the map displayed on the pad, Moriwaki saw that his goal was only
a few cell-blocks away.

"Clear a path for me to the secondary target and start gassing
guard positions. As soon as I reach the secondary target, open up
all the doors, fry the computers and high-tail it back to the
van. Drazba, back him up. Yoshioka and Hamm, you're with me."

Matsuda held up a hand. "Whoa, give me a minute, man."

"I'll give you 30 seconds."

With an annoyed sigh, Matsuda got to work. Two minutes later he
was finished. "Go already, man. Hey, you know that the system
here only dispenses knock-out gas, right?"  Moriwaki grunted
before he and his cronies exited the room. Matsuda leaned back
and cracked his knuckles as he surveyed the array of display
screens before him. "Now, who shall we gas next?"

%%%%%

"Your Majesty, you really must work on your speech for tomorrow."

"Sally, can't it wait?" Queen Serenity was seated and working
industriously at large, ornate mahogany desk. "I've got all these
reports I need to catch up on."

Sally's holographic image blinked out and reappeared behind
Serenity's shoulder. "The only time your Highness reads those
reports is when you are procrastinating. You have to give that
speech. It's traditional for you to open the annual Thaw Day
festivities."

Serenity shrugged. "I've given lots of those speeches before.
I'll wing it.

"Remember the last time your Highness tried to 'wing it'?" Sally
asked with a dead-pan expression.

"Do you always have to remind me of that?" Serenity sighed and
threw up hands in defeat. "OK, you win. I didn't want to read all
these boring memos anyway."

Sally rewarded her liege with a bright smile. "As your majesty
wishes. I'll just call up the text of your speech and ..."
Sally's holographic image flickered and blurred. Sally's
expression turned to one of horror.

"Sally?"

"Your ..." Sally's voice turned to static and her image broke up;
only to re-form again and break up repeatedly.  "InTrud ...
nEtwoRk ... muSt ..... if  ... helP ..."

"Sally, what's wrong?" Serenity called out has Sally's image
faded out with an air of finality. "Sally?  Sally!!!"

%%%%%

Ruby sat down across the table from her case worker; the silver
bracelets around her wrists clinked has she rested her arms on
the table's beaten surface. The drab, wrinkled jumpsuit that Ruby
wore contrasted sharply with her case worker's snappy maroon
skirt and pastel-pink blouse with small embroidered yellow
ducklings. The appearance and apparent youth of her case-worker
had put off Ruby at first, but that initial mistrust was steadily
being replaced with a grudging respect. It seemed to Ruby that
the caseworker really did care, despite being tough and demanding
at times.

On the other side of the table, Rachel, also known as Rei Hino,
was worrying about whether she'd have enough time after this
meeting to check back with Internal Security Headquarters, and
then slip back in as Ruby's cellmate, Sue-Ellen. She had heard
whispers that something _big_ was going on and didn't want to be
left out. Rei decided to that didn't have time for tact.

"So Ruby, have you considered the suggestion I made last week?"

Ruby stared at the table as she considered her answer. Having to
apologize to two teenagers would be quite demeaning. "Yes, I
have," she started. "And I've decided to ..."

At that moment, the door to the room burst open. Startled, both
Rei and Ruby rose from their chairs as three men dressed in
Public Safety uniforms entered, pointing what seemed to be
miniature crossbows at the pair.

"Ladies," drawled the leader of the trio smugly. "Please no
sudden movements. We wouldn't want any unpleasant accidents to
occur."

Rei didn't know who these dolts were, but they were going to get
MUCH more than they bargained for. Before Rei could act, however,
Ruby stepped in front of her protectively.

"What do you want?" asked Ruby defiantly.

"Why you, of course. You're Ruby, the Nemesian, right?" Ruby
nodded. "We get an extra bonus for taking you out."

Rei frowned. With Ruby standing in her way, she wasn't sure she
could take them down without Ruby getting hurt. Perhaps if she
could keep them talking, she'd buy enough time to discretely edge
around her self-appointed protector.

"What do you mean 'extra bonus'? What are you doing here? Who are
you?" demanded Rei. Outside the room a wailing siren started
followed by the sound of many doors sliding open.

"What you just heard is every automated door in the prison
sliding open. You can call me Matsuda-san." The greasy man gave a
little bow.

"Now wait just a minute," Ruby interjected. "By saying 'taking
you out' do you mean that you're breaking me out of prison or
you're going to kill me?"

"It'll be such a tragedy; two beautiful ladies such as yourselves
will be found beaten to death in a prison riot," continued
Matsuda as he gave a nod to Hamm who was already taking out a
blowgun and a few darts. "Just stand still and it will all be
over shortly."

"Why don't you just shoot us with those crossbow things and get
it over with?" asked Rei, trying to play for more time. Just a
step or two more and she'd be ready.

Matsuda stroked his crossbow lovingly. "These little babies would
leave trace poisons behind. The toxin from the blue-ringed
octopus is quite effective, but easily detectable." A chill ran
down Rei's spine. "Now stand still, the tranquilizer darts will
help make your death just a little more painless."

"Garnet put you up to this, didn't he!?!" Ruby growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but it doesn't matter."

Finally in place, Rei was eager to teach these thugs a few
lessons in common courtesy. She gave Ruby a glance before making
her move and ... hesitated. Rei couldn't ever remember seeing
Ruby so angry. And her hands were glowing. She shouldn't be able
to do that with the power-limiter bracelets she wore.

Rei wasn't the only one to notice something amiss. "Quick! Shoot
her!" cried Matsuda, but it was too late.

"THAT BASTARD!!!" Ruby threw her hands forward and the bracelets
on her wrists shattered like glass. White-hot magical energy
screamed across the room and Rei instinctively turned away to
protect herself from the backlash.

With an flash of light and impressive clap of cacophonous sound,
all three men were thrown against the far wall and plaster rained
down from the ceiling. The backwash of the explosion forced Rei
to one knee before she could regain her balance and reassess the
situation.

By some dint of luck, Matsuda had managed to duck behind Hamm and
was spared the brunt of the blast. A trickle of blood was leaking
from one of his ears, but that didn't stop him from bolting out
the door like a rabbit.

"Stop! I'm not finished with you!" yelled Ruby as she sprinted
out after him.

Rei ran after them, but threw herself sideways as she heard the
twang of a crossbow being fired. In a blur, she doubled back and
laid-out with a single kick the thug who had dared to take a shot
at her. Looking at her now unconscious assailant, Rei marveled
that he had withstood Ruby's initial blast while berating herself
for being sloppy. Then she noticed that she had a slight cut on
her arm. It had to have been from the crossbow quarrel.

Rei could feel a slight tingling around her mouth and a growing
numbness that pervaded her body. "I don't have time for this,"
she said to no one in particular. She pulled out her henshin
stick. "Mars Cosmic Power, MAKE-UP!"

In an instant, Sailor Mars stood in her place. Rei could feel the
power of Mars coursing through her body. She took a step and
nearly stumbled. Sailor Mars gritted her teeth. *No stupid,
spineless squid is going get the best of me!*

Step after step with growing confidence, Mars made it out to the
hallway and was about to break out in a run after Ruby, but
stopped as she heard a scream coming from the opposite end of the
corridor. *What lousy timing for a jail break -- just when the
prison is filled to the brim with bounty hunters. That can't be a
coincidence.* Rei filed that thought away as more screams sounded
behind her. With a soft curse and final glance in Ruby's
direction, Rei turned around and ran toward the commotion.

%%%%

In her cell, Lily stared the open door before her. She sat frozen
there like a caged bird that is unexpectedly presented an portal
to escape into boundless skies. She had dreamed and yearned for
the day when she would be free of this dreadful place, but she
had never imagined it would come in this particular way.

Her thoughts raced. *Was this a trap? Could it be trick of some
sort?* Sounds of chaos and yelling in the corridors discounted
that theory. The urge to bolt from her cell was nearly
overwhelming, but she found herself uncharacteristically thinking
ahead. *Where would I go? Could I really escape from Crystal
Tokyo after breaking out of prison?*

Giving the door one last longing look, she lay back on the bunk
and stared at the ceiling. *I only have a couple more months here
before I'm sent home,* she rationalized. *Besides I'd only end-up
losing all my privileges and disappoint Adachi-san.* She had
grown to like her caseworker.

So it was, on the day of the Great Prison Break, that only third
of the inmates left their cells. Of that third, only a fifth of
them actually left the prison grounds.

%%%%

The Crystal Palace Crisis Center looked like an ant-hill that had
just been kicked over. At the center of that barely-controlled
chaos sat Sailor Mercury. She faced an array of holovid displays.
Those on her left showed the continually updating status reports.
On the right were the faces of Sailor Venus, Calcite and Azurite.

"We have reports of simultaneous break-outs at both the CT Men's
and Women's Correctional Facilities. Forces unknown have taken
control of the facilities' control centers and seem to be
coordinating the break- out. The full details are being
downloaded into your terminal."

Calcite frowned. "Any indication as to the motives of the
opposition?"

"Not that we can tell at this time. I agree that this stinks of a
set-up, but we can't ignore it. The best course of action we have
is to resolve these situations as quickly as possible.

"Internal Security and Public Safety forces are scrambling to put
a cordon around both facilities. They're hampered by fact that
someone has erected teleport jammers around both facilities.

"Calcite, I want you to take the Men's facility. Before you deal
with the break-out, locate and disable the teleport jammers as
quickly as possible. It'll allow us to bring our rapid reaction
forces into play."

Calcite nodded. "And allow you redeploy us if necessary."

"That's right. Minako, I want you to take the Women's facility.
The same goes for you as well."

"Isn't Rei already at that prison?" Minako asked.

"Yes, we know she's already transformed, but only responses we've
gotten from her are 'I'm busy!' and 'Get your butts down here
pronto!' I have no doubt that she can handle whatever situation
she's in, but I'd feel better if she had some back-up."

Minako saluted and chirped "I'm on the job!" before running off.
Calcite merely nodded and his screen went blank.

"Azurite, I want to hold you back as reserve. Until we can locate
Makoto, you'll need to do double-duty guarding the Queen as
well."

Azurite thought for a moment and asked, "What about Topass?"

"It had occurred to me as well that this might just be a
distraction to get to him. Ti's gotten him down to a secure
portion of the palace and is guarding him."

"Where's Serenity now?"

"She should be in her study ..." At that precise moment, Queen
Serenity blinked into existence next to Ami. " ... or right
here."

"Ami, something's terribly wrong!"

"We're doing our best to bring it on under control," said Ami
soothingly as she gestured toward her displays.

"Not that! Sally's in trouble! She said something about intruders
before disappearing!"

Ami frowned. "Intruders? Undetected in the palace intranet? But
that's ..."

The dull roar in the crisis room was supplanted by a shocked hush
as every computer display dissolved into static.

"... impossible?"

%%%%

Deep into his research, Pyrite only sub-consciously noticed the
general alert alarms until the eleven foot thick blast doors
leading to his lab slammed shut and sealed themselves with a
resounding

>>SSSLLAAMMM!! KA-THUNK<<

With a jerk, he pushed himself away from his workbench and
quickly ticked-off in his mind what was happening:

A. The Palace is under General Alert.

B. To protect the Palace's power generators and central data
core, the all physical access to them is cut-off and teleport
jammers engaged.

C. The aforesaid generators and data core reside in deepest level
of the Palace's basement, sub-level 6. Reinforced and hardened
against attack, Sub-level 6 is sealed during general alerts.

D. To maintain secrecy, my living quarters and lab are also in
Sub-level 6.

E. I ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

Still, Pyrite wasn't overly concerned. It was likely that the
alarm was just a drill or some such, he reasoned. Just to be
safe, he decided he'd better check. "Computer, connect me to the
Crisis Center," requested of his his terminal.

A calm female voice replied, "Unable to comply. Connection to
palace internal network is inoperative."

*Could be a coincidence,* Pyrite rationalized.

"You have one urgent message. Text only. Would you like me to
read it?"

"Make it so."

"Forty-three hackers have penetrated palace intranet STOP They
have overwhelmed cybergarrison STOP They now control all access
to intranet STOP I believe their goal is the central data core
STOP Will attempt to stop them STOP Tell mom I love her STOP Tell
EWS I love her too STOP Love you daddy END."

By the end of the message, a leaden weight had settled into
Pyrite's stomach. He knew it was from Sally and that she was in
real trouble. Since the accident that led to Sally's creation, he
had indeed become like a father to her. And now he felt like any
parent would when their child is threatened. *What does she think
she's doing? She'll get herself killed!*

What really worried Pyrite was the part of the message that said,
"Tell EWS I hove her too." EWS was Sally's nickname for Pyrite's
wife, Azurite, and stood for 'Evil Wicked Step-mother.' Shortly
following Sally's serendipitous creation, Sally and Azurite had
become competitors for Pyrite's time and affection. Furthermore,
Sally's conviction that her 'parents', namely Pyrite and Ami,
should be together had only fueled the animosity between herself
and Azurite.

Yet in time, both had come to accept the other and their
relationship had developed into a friendly rivalry. The names
"Evil Wicked Step-mother" and "Sneaky Snot-nosed Twit" with which
they had originally christened each other had long ago become
terms of endearment between the two. Not that either would ever
admit affection for the other ... at least not until Sally's
message today. The implications of that sent chills down Pyrite's
spine.

*Think! Dammit, Think!* he swore at himself. Pounding on the
vault door and yelling would be a wasted effort. *The only way to
help Sally is to get to the data core myself and jack-in,* he
reasoned. *But it's half-way across the palace. It's on Sub-level
6 as well, but there's no way to get there from here.*

Pyrite's eyes settled upon an air-conditioning vent. "Well, no
easy way at least," he said aloud. "Computer, download a
blueprint of Sub-level 6 into my datapad; authorization Pyrite
Alpha-Omega-Two-Two-Six-Zero. Include all duct-work and service
crawlways."

Pyrite grabbed a bag and stuffed it with cutters, a computer deck
and other tools before shoving the newly prepared datapad in his
pocket. Standing on a chair to reach the vent, he tore it off the
ceiling on his first try.

"Hold on Sally," he whispered as he clambered up into the
ventilation duct. "I'm on my way."

%%%%

"A-chan, this is just ridiculous," complained Makoto. "There's
only one person who can order increased computer security on
campus and he doesn't wear a pager? We've been chasing him all
over the university! If he's not at the next computer center,
I'll scream."

Arachne, who was ensconced in Makoto's arms, didn't bother
replying. Makoto had been acting strange ever since their little
chat. Besides calling her by that horrid nickname, Makoto
insisted on carrying her and was, quite frankly, acting like a
little kid. Which was likely the point, reflected Arachne. But if
her Senshi was determined to make a fool of herself, Arachne
wasn't about to stop her.

Makoto came to a jarring halt as she entered the computer center.
Turning her head to see what was a matter, Arachne was even more
startled when Makoto dropped her.

"Computers are meant for the advancement of learning and are not
to be plundered," exclaimed Makoto as she fell into Classic
Senshi Pose #17.

Managing to land on her feet, Arachne saw that there were four
figures in black outfits that had corralled up a bunch of the
students and professors in a corner of the room. The four were
brandishing deadly-looking mini-crossbows while another was busy
connecting something to the main computer node. Makoto's
unexpected entrance had frozen all five in their tracks.

"For the sake of Love and Justice, you will be stopped!" In the
split-second pause that followed, it was obvious to all what was
going to transpire next. "SPARKLING WIDE ..."

"WAIT," cried a terrified professor. "THE COMPUTERS!"

"PRES ..." Makoto stopped, uncertain how to proceed. Her
electrical attacks would be lethal to computers she was trying to
protect. Unfortunately, the moment was lost and her intended
audience responded with a hail of crossbow quarrels.

After dodging a couple projectiles and catching two more in her
hands, Makoto ungracefully took refuge by diving behind a desk.
Arachne wasn't far behind her and was noticeably upset. "Damn the
computers and blast them!" The staccato rhythm of quarrels
impacting the desk punctuated her point.

Makoto looked at her cat with a gleam in her eye. "What? And miss
all this fun?" Before Arachne could respond, Makoto picked up
Arachne with one hand the grabbed the desk in the other.

"A-chan Aerial Assault!" announced Makoto as she heaved the desk
at the four with the crossbows and threw Arachne at one
unsuspecting hacker.

"RRROOOWWWRRRR!" yowled one angry mooncat. (It should be noted
that being hit in the head with a seven-pound, spitting-mad
mooncat will ruin your day, if not your entire year. The graphic
results are omitted for sake of the faint of heart.)

The four bowmen were shocked to see a desk sailing toward them.
Though three of the four managed to avoid the desk, that was all
the opening that Makoto needed. Three-point-two seconds later,
the four were all knocked out cold. After a moment of shocked
silence, the assembled group of students and professors broke
into applause and cheers.

A few of the students ran off to finds duct tape to restrain
their fallen assailants while the rest congregated to thank
Makoto and check on the well-being of their equipment. One
student broke through the throng to ask, "Excuse me. Is that
supposed to happen?" The student was pointing at the hacker who
was turning an interesting shade of chartreuse. He had scratch
marks over his face and hands and was busy alternating between
retching violently and going into convulsions.

Makoto raised an eyebrow and shot an accusing look at Arachne,
who ignored her. "Don't worry; he'll be all right ...
Eventually."

Arachne was proud to be the only moon cat that Serenity the First
had gifted with, not one, but TWO gifts. The fact that in her
current situation on earth both were quite useless grated on her
sensibilities; not that she'd ever admit it. The first of her
abilities was to predict the weather. It was a priceless talent
on the planet Jupiter where sudden, vicious storms made air
travel perilous in the best of times. In Crystal Tokyo, however,
the weather appeared to follow Queen Serenity's whims. The
occasional storm would come along just when the streets were
getting dirty, when the buildings were a little grungy or when
the air needed cleaning.

The second ability had to do with all the nasty, venomous
critters that inhabited Jupiter's ecosystem. With over a ten
thousand documented species that could secrete, inject, sting or
spit deadly poisons, any explorer wandering the wilds of Jupiter
had a pitifully short expected lifespan. So Queen Serenity the
First thoughtfully gifted Arachne with the ability to dispense a
powerful anti-venom through her claws at will. The magical
anti-venom was proof against virtually all jovian poisons and
many others for good measure ... but there was a slight
side-effect.

It is commonly believed that the origin of the latin name for
spider is tied with a certain greek myth, and while that is
certainly true, if you dig further back through the mists of
history, you may chance upon a small fragment of a forgotten
memory; a rumor about a cat whose slightest scratch would cause a
misery beyond miseries, more terrible than dreadful sickle of
death itself.

Long lost legends tend to exaggerate the truth, but not all do.
Arachne's latest patient would likely attest to this, if he could
find some time to speak between moaning, frothing at mouth and
dry heaves.

Makoto's gaze settled on the gizmos that hacker had been
installing. Stepping over the twitching body, she picked up a
cone-shaped object that looked something like an abstract
sculpture. "Does anyone know what this is?"

After a few minutes of bickering and technical jargon that Makoto
couldn't follow, the consensus among the faculty was that it was
a transmitter of some sort. Makoto decided she'd better call it
in, but as she reached for her communicator, she found it
missing. *Rats. Where did it go?*

"Is there a phone here I can use?"

A video phone was quickly produced. Makoto tried to dial into
Internal Security but the was greeted by a polite "We cannot
connect your call at this time. Gomen-nasei." After a few other
numbers and amid growing concern, she finally connected up to the
Crisis Center and the image of a harried Captain Soga filled the
screen.

"Sailor Jupiter! Thank goodness we found you!"

"What's going on, Captain?"

"We have simultaneous jail breaks at both the men's and women's
correctional facilities. The Palace intranet has been taken over
by an unknown forces. The Command Tactical Net was also brought
down, but we were able to disconnect it from the palace network
and do a quick reboot of the system. Things are still a mess here
and teleporters are off-line. We need you back here as soon as
possible, ma'am."

Makoto opened her mouth to ask for Ami, but then thought better
of it. *Ami has enough problems to deal with at the moment.* "I
stopped a team of infiltrators trying to plant this device to a
bank of computers at the university." Makoto held up the weird
shaped cone to the video pick-up. "You have any idea what this
is?"

"I'm calling up our computer databases now, ma'am. Just a
minute." Captain Soga consulted off-screen for a moment. "It's a
ZeroSum Industries Low-power Transmitter, model T-2560-B."

Makoto tapped her foot and thought hard. *Just what in the world
is going on here? Jail breaks, hackers in the Palace intranet,
and a hacking team at the university ...* Makoto snapped her
fingers.

"Soga, can you scan to see if any other transmitters of this type
are operative in the University area?"

It seemed like an eternity as Soga and several other assistants
worked like madmen on the other side of the screen. Makoto was
surprised when Ami appeared. She had a grim expression.

"Makoto, there are currently five other similar transmitters in
operation around the university. I want you to find and put a
stop to them. Someone's out to steal our data and you can guess
who it is.

"If you've got a datapad handy, Soga will download the
transmitter locations for you. We're trying to break loose some
Public Safety Officers to help you out, but we can't afford for
you to wait for them."

Makoto grinned toothily. "Their loss."

Ami frowned. "Be careful and don't forget to check back in!"

"One more thing: the assailants were using these crossbow
weapons." Makoto held one up in range of the video pick-up. "I
don't suppose your scanners could track these?"

Shaking her head, Ami replied, "Likely too low-tech for us to
differentiate from the clutter. Have someone run one over to the
Palace."

It only took seconds for Makoto to procure a datapad and the
necessary information to be transferred. Meanwhile, throughout
the exchange, Arachne was undergoing her own internal struggle.

She was extremely cross at being used as a projectile and wanted
to take it out on her person, but this was a crisis situation.
Duty demanded Arachne do everything in her power to help her
Senshi, even in the face of a personal affront. It was imperative
that there be no distractions or divisions between each other and
that meant burying the hatchet -- at least for now. And that meant
she would have to ... apologize.

Makoto was about to run-off when Arachne stopped her. "Makoto, I
need to say something important before we continue."

Makoto kneeled down the Arachne's level. "Yes, A-chan?"

Tail twitching violently, Arachne mumbled, "i'm
sorryfortreatingyoulikeachild."

"Come again? I couldn't hear you."

"I'M SORRY THAT I WAS TREATING YOU LIKE A CHILD!"

"Why _Arachne_, I do believe that's the first time you've
apologized to me in a millennia! Apology accepted -- Let's go!"

%%%%

Back at the Crisis Center, Ami was in a quandary. They had pulled
the plug on all the Fire Wall computers that interfaced the
Palace intranet to the outside world, but they still couldn't get
control of the network. The intruders were still inside. *They
must have some other way onto the network, but what is it? If we
could just get back onto network, we could track it down, but the
intruders have locked us out.*

"Captain Soga, what do you suppose the intruders' objective is?"

"Ma'am?" responded Soga, who was surprised at the question.

"They're not here for evening tea -- They're here to steal data.
Can we cut all connections to the Data Core?"

Soga blanched. "I don't know. Let me call up Commander Nakano."
After a flurry of shouted commands, the head of the net security
department was found.

"Well, Commander Nakano. Can we cut off the Data Core from the
network?"

"Lady Mizuno, we have easy physical access to only 15% of the
connections. The rest are can be disconnected remotely ..." The
commander shuffled her feet. "... through commands over the
intranet."

Ami buried her face in her hands for a moment before regaining
her composure. She had to take several deep breaths before
continuing.

"Soga, find someone to assemble a team that will figure out how
to get into the Vault."

"We can't open it without the access to the net after it's been
locked down. The only way would be to break through the blast
doors and that's ludicr ..." Captain Soga was stopped mid-word by
an angry glare. "At once, Lady Mizuno," he saluted and ran off.

"Nakano, I want all the routers connecting Crystal Tokyo to the
outside world shut down."

"Ma'am, that could cause a panic! The financial markets will
crash!"

"Get Public Relations on board, but bring those routers down now.
If we're lucky, it'll solve our intruder problem. If not, it'll
make it harder for them to smuggle out their stolen data.

"I also want us to be monitoring all broadcast frequencies and
ready to jam them if they try to beam their data out. Get
moving!" Commander Nakano scampered away.

Ami flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder, but relaxed when
she saw it was Queen Serenity.

"Ami, we need to help Sally."

After trying speak several times, Ami finally whispered in a
small voice, "I don't know what do."

Serenity held out her hand and suddenly the Silver Imperium
Crystal was _there_. Its warm glow filled the room.

Holding on to the edge of her console to steady herself, Ami
could only gasp, "You can't be serious ..."

%%%%

Sally stifled a sob as she hugged a large Rottweiler tightly.
That there are no tears in cyberspace was an old adage, however,
the translucent liquid the welled out of the corners of Sally's
eyes and spilled down the face of her icon gave lie to it.

"Oh, Max," she whispered, which puzzled the Rottweiler greatly as
his name was Andre. Sensing his mistress' distress, Andre
provided what comfort he could.

*Oh Max, you foolish dog. I told you to stay away from those
hackers.* There was a group of thirty hackers making their way
through the Palace's intranet and Sally had warned all her dogs
to stay clear of them, but Max hadn't listened. He'd crept up too
close and after being spotted ... there was nothing of him left
now.

Sally knew what the hackers were after. Even now, they were at
work breaking into the Palace's Data Core. While the data
contained within the Core was backed-up at several other secure
sites, the Core itself symbolized the security of Crystal Tokyo's
financial markets. A break-in could also compromise all of their
operational plans and intelligence assets. The Core was the heart
Crystal Tokyo's financial and informational livelihood. It was
under siege.

For the first time in a very long time, Sally was scared. She
wanted to retreat into the Tea Room computers, close the network
connections and hide until all danger passed.

Letting go of Andre, Sally stood up. She did not roam the net
like her pets who transferred their executable from system to
system as they went. She experienced cyberspace through an
immersive link much like how humans logged into the net.

When humans had their link disrupted or their icon destroyed,
they experienced a painful backlash as they awoke in their real
bodies. It has been described as one part hang-over and three
parts migraine blended together with twenty parts of jet fuel and
subsequently set ablaze. Repeated exposure would lead to a nasty
syndrome aptly earned the street name "Brain Burn".

If Sally's remote icon was destroyed in battle... well, no one
knew what would happen. In developing Sally's immersive link software,
Pyrite implemented all the safeguards his formidable intellect
could devise. Yet, as the exact nature of Sally's sentience was
a mystery to all, the only way to prove that the safeguards
worked would be to try it.

Pyrite was able to prove that Sally would survive a dropped
link, but in the violence of a bitched battle in cyberspace,
there were no guarantee that Sally's code would not become
corrupted beyond repair.

*Today is as good a day to find out as any,* Sally told herself
*And if I don't make it, at least it'll be for Serenity's and
Crystal Tokyo's sake. Besides, I can't let Max die for nothing.*

She held out her hand and concentrated. Soon a glowing will-
o'whisp hovered above it. "Make-up," she whispered and blew on it
lightly. The shimmering point of light flared and started
orbiting around her. Starting at her feet, it spiraled up around
her, transforming her dress as it traveled.

Seven layers of fabric now adorned her form; each a different
color of the rainbow. The outer layer of her formal kimono was
aquamarine and embroidered with crescent moon set over the foaming
waves of the sea. Each layer of the kimono glistened with its own
inner light and represented a layer of the best software-defense
that Sally could devise for herself.

She knew that it would not be enough.

The hackers were in the process of disabling the Data Core's
defenses before they entered the Core itself. Sally planned to
get into Core before them through a backdoor she'd surreptitiously
created years ago. When they entered the Core, she'd distract
them while a background process re-enabled the Core's Intrusion
Countermeasures. Once the core's defenses were back online, it
would be curtains for the bad guys.

All she had to do was stay alive long enough. Piece of cake.

Sally knelt and gave Andre one last hug and kiss. "Be good. I'll
miss you," she said before she slipped away.

%%%%

"Sonic Spear!"

A blast of sound energy streaked off of Ruby's fist to impact
into Matsuda's lower back and sent him flying, face-down into the
gravel. Ruby paused for just a moment to catch her breath.

Matsuda had led her on a merry chase out the cell block and
through the prison grounds. He was a slippery bastard all right,
but now Ruby was going to get her answers. She walked over to her
quarry and turned him over.

"WHO SENT ... aw, great. Just great." Matsuda was out cold. *His
head must have hit the ground too hard*, Ruby concluded as she
gave him an extra kick to be certain. As the adrenaline rush wore
off, Ruby leaned against a nearby wall to consider her situation.

Her pursuit of Matsuda had lead her to the western gate of the
compound. Not one hundred yards from her, the gates stood wide
open and not a guard was in sight. In fact, small groups of
prisoners were already running through the gate and out onto the
street. A little further on, there was a large van from which a
couple of men seemed to be distributing ... something.

Ruby pushed off the wall and jogged through the gates towards the
van. As she neared it, she could see that they were handing out
anti-grav skateboards, baseball bats, torches and Molotov
cocktails. *Someone is arming the escaped prisoners?*

"GARNET!!!" yelled Ruby and an irrational anger overcame her. Her
shout was filled with such menace that many of the prisoners took
notice and started to back away. "SURROUND ..." The van workers
stopped in shock as red waves of power radiated from Ruby's body.
"... SOUND ..." With a yelp, they scattered. " ...SPIKE!!!"

With a roar, a lance of pure energy leapt from Ruby and ripped
into the van, touching off the Molotov cocktails inside and
flinging it end-over-end down the street.

Ruby sank to her knees as she watched the van smolder and flame.
Now she was exhausted. The anger energizing her had burnt itself
to ashes leaving her empty -- a hollow shell. Her eyes started
watering. *It's just the smoke,* she told herself. As she dully
listened to the roar of the fire, a quiet voice asked her, *Is it
really Garnet that you're angry with ... or yourself?*

The whine of a powerplant warned Ruby of an approaching aircar.
She turned as it pulled up and popped open a door.

"Hop in!" yelled the driver.

"What? Who are ..."

"Troops will be here any moment! Stop yapping and get inside!"

Out of reflex more than anything else, Ruby climbed into the car.
Before she could close the door, they were accelerating away.
After hurriedly fastening her safety restraints, Ruby finally had
a chance to get a good look at the driver.

He wore a funny-looking hat with bells.

%%%%%

<To be continued in After The Fall part 7>