CIRCLES OF TIME: The Great War
-by: the Yarnspinner-
the_yarnspinner@yahoo.com
http://strands-of-moonlight.my3gb.com
-or- http://strands-of-moonlight.6te.net
Rated: PG-13> Chapter 9 - The Crucial Battle <
The main cavern of the Order's Austrian storage center buzzed with activity. Huge cylindrical storage vessels glowed with stolen energy, being added to every minute by the ongoing carnage. Workers hurried about the chamber, checking each cylinder. Wizards stood guard at each door, while more moved along the overhead walkways. Above each door and over the center of the room were the sensors, monitoring ceaselessly for any signs of a magical entry into the chamber, and ready to respond with a flood of lethal energy. Setsuna, Eric, and Samuel moved carefully along the side of the chamber, completely cloaked from detection.
"They've increased the guard," Setsuna observed.
Eric nodded. "This is not looking encouraging. They're definitely expecting trouble, and are clearly prepared for it."
"A few well-placed bombs sent in ahead of our team should be able to take out the guards and the sensors," Samuel said.
"Yes," Eric agreed. "But I'm also concerned about how many additional guards may be waiting nearby. Last time, our diversion only just barely gained us enough time to set the disruptors. We'll need more time for this job, and this time they won't be fooled by any diversion."
Samuel thought for a moment. "What about something like a gas attack? If we could incapacitate most of the garrison, even for just a few minutes..."
"We'll have to look at the options for that," Eric said. "I'd want to see more information on just how we could pull that off."
"I think we need to inspect some of the other chambers," Setsuna said quietly.
The two men gathered closer to her and she teleported them out of the room. They found themselves in an adjoining guard room.
"No one here," Samuel commented. "Maybe we were wrong about the waiting reinforcements."
"I don't think so," Eric said, looking around. "Each one of these lockers is full. The additional guards are here, someplace."
"You think staying out of the way until the alarm is sounded?" Samuel asked.
"Yes. That's what I'd do if the situation was reversed," Eric replied.
"Let's keep looking," Setsuna said. "I have an idea of where the extra guards may be waiting."
Another teleport and they stood on the lowest level of the center, in a narrow hallway. Off either side were large dormitory rooms, with rows of double bunks. At the end of the hall was a common room, where more than a dozen men were found, relaxed but with their equipment close at hand.
"There is another set of dormitories on the other side of the main cavern," Setsuna said.
"This is more of what I was expecting," Eric said. "They'll stay down here, out of the way, until our initial attack has passed, then teleport in to mount their counter-strike."
"Now, we must determine if there's a way to quickly incapacitate the entire garrison here," Setsuna said.
They gathered around her once more, and teleported away.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter and Jason stood in front of the mock-up of the Austrian storage center, which had been updated with the latest information.
"This is definitely going to be a tough nut to crack," Jason commented. "I don't envy you, but how are you coming?"
"Well, we've developed a fairly complicated plan," Samuel said. "A bit more complex than I would like, but I'm afraid it's necessary."
"We'll start off by filling the center with a powerful anesthetic gas," Eric said.
"Gas? Why gas?" Peter asked. "We have plenty of magic means to accomplish the same thing."
"True, but we want to avoid setting off their alarms for as long as possible," Eric replied. "We've come up with a way to inject the gas without triggering the alarms. After that, we'll insert bombs into the storage chamber to take out their sensors and energy weapons."
"In all likelihood, the alarms will go off as soon as we destroy their sensors," Samuel added.
"What will it matter?" Jason asked. "You expect to have the entire garrison unconscious by that point."
"We're assuming the alarms will send signals to other, nearby Order bases, and that they will send additional reinforcements," Eric explained.
"That is why we will still rely on Setsuna to get our team in and out," Samuel said. "We want to leave their teleportation shields in place, as it should slow down the arrival of reinforcements. They will probably be forced to come in by way of their teleportation chamber, which as a security measure is located at the very top of the complex and accessed by a single, narrow hallway."
"Sounds good," Peter said. "Eric, what do you think about it?"
"Well, it's going to be tough. No doubt about that," he said. "But I think we've done everything we can to improve the odds. In the end, there's nothing more we can do if we want to be able to mount an attack anytime soon."
"I understand," Peter said. "When do you start?"
"Probably in another few days," Eric answered. "I want a few more practice runs with my team."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Setsuna entered Eric's small office, where he and Paul, his deputy leader, were reviewing the last run-through.
"I have bad news," Setsuna said. "The Order has strengthened the guard detail. Nearly double. And they've also readjusted their barrier shields."
"Damn," Paul exclaimed softly. "Another complication we did not need."
"I think this is our moment to attack," Eric said.
"Are you serious?" Paul asked.
"Certainly. With the increased guard compliment and the new barriers, they'll be as close to overconfident as they're ever going to get. And the barriers might actually slow down the reinforcements from outside, since they're not as likely to be up to date on the new settings," Eric said.
"Alright. When do we leave?" Paul asked.
"Within an hour or two, I would imagine," Eric answered. "Alert the team. I will see Samuel and have him start the preparatory work."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Setsuna appeared in the storage chamber, finding the guards and workers unconscious from the effects of the gas, while the sensors had all been successfully destroyed. From the adjoining room, sounds of an alarm siren could be heard. Satisfied, she opened a portal, and Eric's team emerged. They all wore special filters to protect them from the remaining gas.
"The alarm has been set off, but the garrison appears unconscious," Setsuna said.
"Good," Eric said.
The members of the team were already rushing for the storage cylinders.
"Alright, everybody," Paul announced. "We're in, but Order reinforcements are probably on their way, and could arrive at any moment."
Just at that moment, a flash of light filled the room, and a brilliant beam stabbed down from the ceiling, striking Paul, killing him instantly.
"Scatter!" Eric yelled.
The Paladins dove for cover behind the storage cylinders, still working to place their disruptors. Reluctantly, Setsuna cloaked herself. Her task was to provide the Paladins with their transit in and out, not to become involved in a battle.
Order wizards were appearing on the overhead walkways. Already there were at least thirty of them, with still more arriving. The Paladins were outnumbered, and taking heavy casualties.
One of the Paladins jumped out from behind a cylinder to hurl a blast of energy, but was struck simultaneously by three Order wizards. Eric placed a hand on the cylinder he was using for cover, tapping some of its stored energy, then hurling a powerful blast, knocking down a large section of the overhead, and killing several of the Order wizards. Another of the Paladins did the same, but was then struck himself.
Two more powerful explosions shook the room as the doors were blown open and more Order wizards rushed in. Setsuna moved beside Eric and lifted her cloak enough that he would be able to hear her.
"Eric. This is turning into a massacre. Do you want me to pull the team out?"
"No!" he insisted. "If we can get a few more disruptors placed, we can yet pull this off."
Eric drained more energy from the cylinder and fired another large burst, killing several wizards in the doorway nearest him.
Energy bursts came from the other end of the cavern, where two of the surviving Paladins were pinned down. Eric hurled a powerful blast into the overhead, then vanished in a flash. The two Paladins raced across the floor. Eric now appeared on a walkway, firing bursts at the Order wizards until he saw his men had safely reached cover, where he knew they were already positioning their disruptors. He vanished once more, but leaving an image of himself in his place. The Order wizards fired at the image, but immediately were attacked by the only other surviving Paladin.
Eric appeared back on the floor, and rushed for another cylinder, but was hit as he dove behind it. It was only a glancing hit, but it left one arm all but useless.
'This is turning into a disaster,' Setsuna thought, her grip tightening on the time-key as she continued to observe. 'Eric and his team are not going to last long enough to destroy this center. I can't intervene without creating a major problem in the flow of events, but if I don't...'
One of the surviving Paladins rushed out, pouring a massive stream of energy into the Order wizards advancing through the doorway at that end, killing five of them before falling himself. Eric, despite his injury, siphoned more energy from the cylinder he was concealed behind, and fired at the other doorway, killing several Order wizards while driving the others back. Several more moved along one of the surviving overheads, firing bursts down at Eric and forcing him back behind the cylinder.
Setsuna observed more of the Order wizards moving in through the doorways, while a group appeared in a flash in the center of the room. Conflict raged within her as the wizards closed in on the surviving Paladins.
Just then, three bright globes of energy appeared high above the floor. Energy flared between them, then tapping energy from the cylinders, which arced across the room, striking down each of the Order wizards.
After the energy bursts had faded, Eric emerged from behind his cylinder. "What just happened?" he asked, seeing all the dead bodies scattered around the room.
"I'm not sure," Setsuna said, becoming visible.
The two other surviving Paladins limped toward them.
"How quickly some people forget," a voice said from overhead, as the three energy globes descended to the floor.
Setsuna immediately recognized the voice. "Daniel!" she exclaimed, her heart pounding in her throat.
The globes faded, revealing Daniel, Bernardo, and Thomas, the three Paladins presumed lost in the sinking of 'Lusitania', a year and a half before.
"Daniel!" Eric said. "I can hardly believe my eyes. However did you manage to turn up here?"
"Well, it certainly is quite a story," Daniel replied. He paused to embrace Setsuna, then on impulse, gave her a kiss, finding it reciprocated in full. "And I particularly missed you, my love," he said softly.
"And I missed you," she said, giving him another kiss. "But just now, I think we need to finish up here. It won't take the Order long to figure out something has gone wrong."
"Quite right," Eric agreed. "If you three will help us get the remaining disruptors placed, Daniel, we'll soon be on our way."
"Of course," Daniel agreed.
"One on each cylinder?" Bernardo asked, as he picked up several disruptors.
"On as many as possible," Eric said. "But we need at least a dozen to be confident of destroying the cavern."
Thomas was already hurriedly inspecting the cylinders. "I count seven disruptors set," he said.
"At least five more, then," Bernardo said.
"Let's make it more," Daniel said.
"Right," Thomas agreed.
Joined by the two remaining members of Eric's team, they hurried to place additional disruptors.
"Eric, how's your arm?" Setsuna asked. "That looks like a pretty bad burn."
"I'll survive," he said. "Probably it'll be pretty much useless for a while, but that's a minor price to pay."
Setsuna's attention drifted away, and her gaze drifted up toward the ceiling. "We've run out of time," she said softly. "More Order wizards are arriving in the teleportation chamber right now."
"Let's go!" Eric called to the others. "If we have at least twelve, that'll have to do. We're going to have company in just a few minutes."
The others rushed back toward them.
"I think we have sixteen of them, Eric," Thomas reported.
"Good."
Eric activated his control unit, starting the timers on the disruptors. As he did so, Setsuna opened a portal and they vanished from the room. Thirty seconds later, the disruptors went off and the cylinders exploded, destroying the entire center.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In the Havana center, signal units were already beeping with indications of the explosion. Before anyone could react, Setsuna arrived with the others. Peter, Samuel, and Albert stepped forward, stunned.
"Daniel!" Peter exclaimed. "I can't believe it. How did you get here?"
"Eric. What happened?" Samuel asked. "The rest of your team..."
"Dead," Eric said. "Despite all our preparations, they were completely ready for us. We walked right into a trap. If not for Daniel's serendipitous arrival, we would have failed utterly."
"How did you manage to intervene like that?" Peter asked Daniel. "We'd come to think you were lost aboard 'Lusitania'."
"Well, soon after the ship had left New York, we discovered we'd picked up some Order shadows," Daniel said. "We were reasonably certain they wouldn't try anything aboard ship, but we also didn't want to risk giving them any more information than they might already have."
"When the ship was torpedoed, we stayed aboard until just about the last moment," Bernardo said. "Deciding we couldn't wait any longer, we teleported to shore. Unfortunately, we had to assume that our shadows had also escaped and might still be following us."
"By the time we reached Dublin, it was clear we were still being followed," Thomas added. "That's when Daniel decided we'd have to stay out of sight for the longer term. It would have been too great a risk to try to make contact."
"Just what were your shadows looking for?" Samuel asked.
"They wanted to find out how much we Paladins knew, and what we were up to," Daniel said.
"So, you spent a year and a half on the run?" Peter asked.
"Not quite," Daniel said. "We actually were able to piece together parts of what the Order was doing. I see from the map that you've spotted the construction project they've started in Brazil."
"That's where they plan to awaken Metallia," Setsuna said.
"Really? We weren't able to learn that much about it," Daniel replied thoughtfully.
"Eventually, we started planning to trap our shadows," Thomas said. "We knew that was the only way we'd be able to rejoin the rest of you."
"We finally pulled it off about three weeks ago," Daniel explained. "The Order agents had gotten careless, and we caught them late at night coming out of a pub, quite drunk. Because of that, it was fairly easy to pump them for information. They told us the Order was planning a trap at their base in Austria."
"Three weeks ago?" Eric asked. "For those agents to know about it, the planning would have had to have been done over a month ago. And other than the increase in the guard compliment, we didn't pick up a word of it."
"That is hardly encouraging," Samuel said.
"Encouraging or not, we very nearly got burned... badly," Eric said. "If Daniel, Bernardo, and Thomas hadn't happened to come back out of the shadows at just the right moment, it could have been a disaster."
"But they did show up, and we did succeed," Albert said.
"Only by accident," Eric countered. "The center in Brazil will be a vastly more difficult target to take than this one was, and the Order will be even more determined to protect it. If we only made it this time by accident, we'll be completely wiped out next time unless we come up with something a whole lot better."
"What do you suggest?" Peter asked.
"I suspect that is a bit premature," Setsuna interrupted. "At this moment, the Order has just lost most, and perhaps all, of the stolen life energy collected over the past two and a half years. Realistically there is no way we can expect the combatants to be able to endure another two and a half years of slaughter like this. They will be collapsing from exhaustion well before then. That means the Order must now radically rethink their plans for gathering energy if they are to have any hope of awakening Metallia. First and foremost, you will need to determine what those new plans are. And in any case, you'll need the storage vessels at the Brazilian center to contain at least some energy to be able to destroy it."
"We do have the energy we've siphoned off still stored in the Pyreness," Samuel reminded them. "But Setsuna is correct. To destroy a facility that large, we will need to be able to detonate the storage vessels."
"And we can't use magic in the altar chamber," Eric added. "That would only be channeled into the altar space and help open the portal to awaken Metallia."
"Very well then," said Peter. "For now, we will focus on determining what the Order is planning to do next. As part of this, we must keep a close eye on the transmission of stolen energy. That will tell us how much they are still collecting, and where they are storing it."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two tall figures, in dark robes and hoods, marched Francesca into the Order's council chamber. The dimly lit room was spartan. The High Priest sat in the chairman's seat, with the eight other council members on either side, behind a rather plain, unassuming table. A single clerk sat at one end. Ominously, Francesca's chair at that table had already been removed. Undeterred, she stepped to the center of the room.
"We are still investigating the situation..." she began.
"This was your plan... and it failed," one of the council members interrupted.
"But we don't know why," Francesca insisted.
"I think we do," Alphonse countered. "Here again is a graphic reminder of why we do not tolerate individual grandstanding."
"I agree," said another of the council members. "Many of us are only just now hearing the details of this planned trap. We should all have been informed of this from the start."
"Sometimes, there is a need for flexibility and individual initiative," Francesca said, her confidence beginning to falter slightly.
"Not when it could cost us the work of more than two years, as has just happened," Alphonse retorted angrily.
The High Priest raised his hand for quiet. "I believe I have a resolution for our current difficulty," he said quietly, his eyes locked on Francesca with an iron gaze. "Since Francesca has put us in this situation, I am confident she can have no objection to her own standard being applied."
Alphonse leaned forward. "Yes. I think that is an excellent idea."
"Forgive me, sir," a female council member said. "I don't believe I am familiar with what you are referring to."
"Permit me to explain," said the High Priest. "Following the destruction of the Swiss storage center, Francesca sacrificed the lives of the two agents responsible for overseeing the collection process to begin the task of recouping that loss."
Francesca's face grew pale as a murmur of discussion ran among the council members.
"I believe that is an excellent suggestion, and one that reflects a very clear understanding of our duty to our great dark lord," one of the council members said. "I think if we are all agreed..."
"Yes," the High Priest said. "Might I see a show of hands of those who agree?"
Eight hands were raised.
"No, wait!" Francesca cried. "Please. Let me explain."
"You have provided ample explanation by your conduct," the High Priest said coldly.
"Yes. But now you redeem yourself in sacrifice to our great dark lord," said Alphonse, rising to his feet. "It is truly a far better thing you do."
The other council members and the High Priest stood up as well. "The Darkness shall triumph!" they declared in unison.
Energy coalesced around Francesca, forming a crystaline structure around her, and draining away her life energy. In just moments, the crystal faded away, and her body tumbled to the floor.
"Guards, remove the body," the High Priest instructed.
"How are we to proceed now?" a council member asked. "This setback is most grave. It will be difficult just to recoup our losses, to say nothing of making up the amount that had still been needed."
"I should like to propose that we refer this back to the planning committee," Alphonse said. "I think we now require an entirely new approach if we are to have any serious hope of success. The planning committee is better qualified than we to examine the available options and present recommendations."
"I agree," another said. "And I move that the question be referred."
"I would be pleased to support that," Alphonse said.
The members turned toward the High Priest, who nodded.
"If there is no objection, I believe we may properly dispense with a vote." No objection was raised. "Then the clerk shall record the council's unanimous approval of the motion."
"What of the energy still being collected?" a member asked.
"A means has already been improvised to relay that to our new center in Brazil," Alphonse replied. "The management team is even now considering more permanent methods of transferring the energy, and should have a report for us shortly."
"Very well," said the High Priest. "We all now have a great deal of work to do. This meeting is adjourned."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The moon hung low in the clear night sky, casting its glow over the city of Havana. A soft breeze carried in the sweet scent of the ocean. Setsuna and Daniel stood on a small pier, enjoying some time alone.
"It was hard, staying away," he said softly.
"I know," she replied. "But you had to think of your duty to the Paladins, and to Bernardo and Thomas in particular."
He nodded. "Yes. Duty before all, I'm afraid."
She took hold of his hand. "I wanted to search for you, but to do so through time would interfered with my ability to assist the Paladins."
"I understand," he said. "I fully expected that you wouldn't be able to spare the time to look for us."
"But I did want to," she added. "And I almost did."
"You may not be entirely mortal, at least as I understand the concept, but in the ways that really count, you're still human," he told her, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"Yes, I know," she said ruefully. "And there are times when I find that most inconvenient."
"I don't," he said. "It's what makes you the person you are. Besides, if you were completely detached, uncaring, and aloof, you couldn't do this job. Only someone who cares could have intervened here the way you have."
"That's true," she admitted. "But it is easier staying at the time gate. Then I don't have to experience all this suffering so directly."
"Perhaps. But there is something to be said for knowing what ordinary people go through," he pointed out.
"I know. And I have seen quite a bit of that through the centuries," she said.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Well, right now we have a very lovely night, and I have the pleasure of the company of a very lovely woman. I suggest we try to enjoy ourselves a bit."
She smiled. "There's a new restaurant that has opened up since you've been gone. It's very nice."
"Excellent," he said. "Lead on."
"The timestream can get along just fine for a few hours without me," she said.< To be continued >
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Always remember, good gentles, that a yarnspinner works from and within existing legends and stories. The characters of "Sailor Moon" belong to others. In spinning my yarns, I do not seek to infringe on their rights of ownership, but merely to join with other fans to spread the legend still further. "The moonlight carries a message of love." Enjoy.-04.04.2001