"Gin," said Kage Shizuki, slapping down her array of face cards. Seijitsu Minako groaned and displayed her assortment of twos, sixes, eights, and tens. Shizuki smiled and scooped up all the cards.

"I swear, Shizu-chan, you cheat at this," replied Minako, her light tone taking any sting out of the comment.

"And how could I possibly succeed Mama if I stoop to cheating at gin rummy?" Shizuki joked, shuffling the deck. "So what’s it like, dating Miki Ichirou?"

"Don’t waste your time with him. All he thinks about is American football and you can probably guess what. He may be captain of the team, and all the other popular girls may want to go out with him, but he isn’t worth it." Minako glared at the cards she’d just been dealt. One each of ace through ten, and no two cards of the same suit had consecutive numbers.

"I’ll keep that in mind if he ever asks me." Shizuki, as the Crown Princess, was in the relatively rare—and to Minako, unenviable—position of having boys queueing up to ask her out. Most girls at Shin Mugen Gakuen asked the boys on dates, not vice versa. Then again, most girls at Shin Mugen Gakuen were neither the Princess nor the principal’s daughter.

Even without their illustrious parentage, Shizuki and Minako would have been popular. Minako’s wavy pale gold hair, often topped with a bright bow, and sparkling sapphire eyes made her one of the school’s beauties, and she was one of the school’s smartest as well. Shizuki often wore her red-gold hair in heart-shaped odango, though she preferred it loose, and she had brilliant blue eyes that darkened to violet when she was angry or sad. While much of the popular crowd stuck with her only because she was the Princess, a large percentage of them liked her because of her friendliness and kindness.

Minako looked over her hand again, and drew a card. It happened to be the four of hearts. She slipped it into her hand between her three and five of hearts, then pulled out the four of clubs, reconsidered, and discarded the ten of diamonds instead. Shizuki picked it up and discarded the two of hearts. Minako seized it eagerly and discarded her nine of spades. Shizuki drew a card and pondered her hand for a few moments. As she discarded the three of clubs, she asked, "Are you planning to come to the ball in two weeks?"

" ‘Course I am. How could I let everyone else from Shin Mugen Gakuen say they’d come if I hadn’t?" Minako picked up the three, to match her two and four of clubs, and discarded her seven of diamonds.

"Easy. Show up, and we could sneak out after ten minutes and play Monopoly all night." Shizuki took the seven and discarded another seven, of spades.

"Nah. Maybe there’ll be a cute guy there who won’t get boring after an hour or so." Minako traded the seven of spades for her ace of diamonds.

"Maybe there’ll be a cute guy there who won’t get boring after five minutes!" Shizuki swapped the ace for the queen of clubs.

"For you or me?" Minako drew the jack of hearts and dropped it onto the discard pile.

"Whoever gets there first." Shizuki drew a card, discarded the six of spades, and displayed her ace through ten of diamonds. "Gin."

"I swear, girl, you cheat."

Shizuki was saved from answering by the entrance of one of the palace servants. "Will this do, Hime-sama, Lady Minako?" asked the brown-haired girl, who was trying to curtsy while holding a tray of snacks and drinks.

"Yes, that’s fine, Hanae," replied Shizuki with a smile as she took the tray.

"Thanks," added Minako, reaching for a glass of lemonade.

The next instant, both the cards and the spilled lemonade lay forgotten on the floor. The maid began frantically mopping up the spill with the paper napkins as Shizuki and Minako raced downstairs to the garden, hoping they would be in time to help whoever had screamed.

* * * * *

The spirit of Shino Seishi stood, invisible, in the gardens of the Crystal Palace. Not far away, Queen Serenity III, aka Tsukino Kage Usa, and Seijitsu (once Hatenai) Aiko were sitting in a rose-covered gazebo and chatting. The gaggle of medical attendants that normally accompanied the wheelchair-bound Queen had been sent away by a royal command. Seishi was certain that that would turn out to have been a fatal mistake.

A woman with short white hair, streaked with blue, approached the gazebo. She wore the uniform of a palace servant and carried a tray with two wine glasses, a bottle of white wine, and assorted hors d’oeuvres. Seishi watched her pass, frowning. Her face was vaguely familiar, but what interested Seishi was her eyes. Only people possessed by Tau Ceti had flashing eyes that precise hue of red.

The woman poured wine for Usa and Aiko. Usa sipped hers immediately with a nod of thanks, then reached for an hors d’oeuvre. Aiko thanked the woman aloud, then raised her glass in a silent toast. She had just taken a sip when Usa slumped over in her wheelchair, her wine glass breaking on the concrete. Aiko screamed with all her strength before she, too, fell unconscious. Her glass joined Usa’s in pieces on the ground.

An arm made of some otherworldly material reached from the white-haired woman’s chest to Aiko’s, tearing out a heart crystal. A black chain, holding what looked like a heart crystal sketched with glowing aqua lines, materialized around the woman’s neck. She lifted the crystal she held to the chain, then drew it back. Another crystal now hung from the chain, this one golden yellow rather than aqua. The woman crushed the ordinary heart crystal in her hand, then let the shards fall to mingle with the wine and the two smashed wine glasses. She extracted Usa’s heart crystal, touching it to the chain as she had with Aiko’s. It left behind a shining silver echo of itself. When the woman raised it to her lips, Seishi decided it was time to step forward.

"I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Baron 9," she said, her tone casual. Anyone watching would have seen her seem to appear out of thin air as the woman turned to face her.

"Shino Seishi." The woman’s voice was cold. "The last of the house of Dosei."

"Yes, I can imagine you would regret missing the opportunity to have a daughter of Dosei serve as your Angel of Silence," replied Seishi, still casual. "I don’t think you want your current host to be your Angel, as she isn’t the one living person who can survive the transition." I hope this plan works, thought Seishi. It wasn’t worth the effort to hope that the only remaining descendant of the royal line of Dosei would never come to Tau Ceti’s attention. Now that a Tau Ceti entity was on Earth, the only chance of saving Seishi’s daughter lay in the plan Seishi had devised. This was the first step in setting the trap.

Seishi caught a fleeting glimpse of a puzzled expression on the possessed woman’s face before comprehension dawned in her—no, Baron 9’s—eyes. "I suppose I’ll let the Queen live, then," Baron 9 replied. "I’ll need her heart crystal to awaken the Silent Angel."

"You’ll never have a Silent Angel." Seishi’s voice was cold but confident. "You will never touch the daughter of Dosei." Seishi heard two pairs of pounding feet behind her. Without looking, she knew one would be Usa’s daughter and the other Aiko’s. Both were destined to inherit their mother’s Senshi powers, and now seemed as good a time as any. Seishi shot a thought to them—Girls, get the crystals!—returned Baron 9’s glare, said "Sayonara!" with an odd combination of iciness and cheerfulness, and vanished.

The next instant, a red-gold blur shot through where Seishi had just been. The girl tackled the white-haired woman, snatching the golden crystal off the black chain with one hand and the plain heart crystal out of the woman’s hand with the other. The second girl darted around the two and seized the woman around the neck, one hand grabbing the silvery crystal, as soon as the strawberry-blonde-haired girl had gotten up.

Shizuki stared at the golden crystal in her hand. Her fingers tingled where they touched the crystal. A golden aura sprang up around the crystal, of a shimmering shade a little lighter than the crystal itself. The golden aura grew larger and brighter, fighting something invisible and intangible around Shizuki, but after the first half second it encountered no resistance. Within seconds, the golden aura emanated from Shizuki, as well as from the crystal.

Suddenly, the golden crystal was gone. Instead, a golden yellow wand topped by a clear crystal sphere, with a silver heart engraved on one side and the symbol of Venus on the other, lay in her hand. A sparkling topaz rested atop the sphere. With equal rapidity, Shizuki knew what she had to do. She raised the wand to the sky, noting briefly the appearance of sparkly gold nail polish on her formerly pink-polished nails.

Three gold ribbons, wide and translucent, shot from the sphere on the wand. One of the three was tinted more towards orange than the other two, and another had a more yellowish cast. Shizuki tossed her head imperiously as the ribbons wove a translucent oval shell around her. Her hair braided itself up into several dozen long, thin braids. The translucent gold fell inwards, outlining a sailorfuku, a sword in her hand, and golden butterfly wings. The wings vanished in a flash of golden light. She posed with her left hand on her hip and her right hand holding the sword, the tip of which rested on the ground.

Shizuki glanced over her new outfit quickly. The bodysuit of her fuku was white, as was her choker, though she couldn’t see that. Her skirt was golden yellow, shimmering more orange or to a brighter shade of yellow, and her bows were bright blue. A belt, its top half golden yellow and its bottom half white, hid the connection between skirt and bodysuit. Her knee boots were golden yellow, with a white stripe along the top. Her long gloves were white with a golden yellow stripe, and a gold ring encircled her left ring finger. Her round brooch was golden yellow, with tiny sparkling topazes arranged in the shape of the symbol of Venus. She could just barely see the bottom part of a golden yellow scarf, with two thin white stripes. The sword in her hand had a gold hilt, inset with a star-shaped diamond and twelve small clear sparkling gems, and a long white blade. She couldn’t see it, but she wore a pair of pearl drop earrings, a sparkling topaz rested in the center of her forehead where it would be if she wore a tiara to hold it there, and her eyes had become a golden yellow color.

Celestial Sailorvenus… whispered a voice in her mind.

Something sharp was digging into Celestial Venus’s side. She glanced down and saw that she still held the heart crystal that she had taken from the white-haired woman’s hand. She held it out first toward Aiko, who was closer, then toward Usa. It jumped a little closer to Usa of its own accord, nearly slipping out of Venus’s grasp. She walked over to her mother, then rearranged Usa’s limp form into a more comfortable position. Then, she set the crystal on Usa’s chest and gently pushed it in. Usa twitched a bit, her eyelids fluttering, then sank back into unconsciousness.

"Shizu…ki…" croaked Minako. Venus whirled to face her, and saw that she was losing the impromptu wrestling match between herself and the white-haired woman. Minako had a firm grasp with one hand on the silvery crystal hanging from the black chain, and was desperately pushing the woman away with the other hand. The woman had both hands around Minako’s neck and was squeezing.

"Beauty…" Venus shouted. She blew a kiss, and a revolving golden heart appeared between her lips and hand. As she spun around, the one heart became several, which became a chain with heart-shaped golden links. "Kiss!" She snapped the chain as if it were a whip.

The loose end of the chain wrapped itself around the white-haired woman’s ankle, tugging her backwards. Caught off guard, she released Minako. The silvery crystal came loose from the black chain. Minako started to fall backwards, but caught herself in time and just stumbled back a few steps.

Minako stared, astonished and a little afraid, at the crystal in her hands as the silver-pink aura it emanated spread to encompass her, just as the golden one had done with Shizuki. This crystal, too, vanished, leaving a rose pink wand. A clear crystal sphere topped the wand, this one with a silver crescent moon engraved on one side and a matching one opposite, and a sparkling diamond atop it. Minako lifted it to the sky, wondering for an instant how the silver nail polish she’d been wearing had acquired its sparkle.

The wand dissolved into silver sparkles. The sparkles swirled around her, then spiraled in to a spot in the air in front of her, where they coalesced into a silver brooch, which settled into its proper location on her chest. She began to turn to her right as light blue ribbons burst out of the brooch. The ribbons wove themselves around her body into the shape of a bodysuit, scarf, and front bow, which they became with a flash of white light. Minako tossed her hair with one hand. The red bow in her hair vanished as her hair began to grow longer. More light blue ribbons from the brooch wove themselves around her arms, and more around her feet. The ribbons became her gloves and shoes with a flash of white light. Silver sparkles converged on her from all directions, arranging themselves into silver butterfly wings. Her hair, which now cascaded to her ankles, tied itself up into heart odango with long wavy tails. The wings vanished in a flash of silver light, which also brought all the remaining details of her complete fuku. Finally, she posed by folding her hands, holding them where they would be in her lap if she was sitting, and smiling serenely.

The fuku Minako—Celestial Sailormoon—wore was much like Celestial Sailorvenus’s, but rose pink where hers was golden yellow. Her bows were light blue, not white. Diamonds were inset in the silver brooch shaping a crescent moon. Her scarf had four stripes. She wore heels with a strap around each ankle, rather than knee boots. White barrettes with feathers held her bangs away from her silver tiara with its rose pink gem. Her earrings were dangling silver crescent moons, to match the silver crescent on her rose pink choker.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" shouted Sailormoon, removing her tiara and throwing Frisbee-like the silver crescent disc it became. The disc arced between Celestial Venus and the white-haired woman, interrupting the sword fight. The white-haired woman had gotten from somewhere a sword with its blade and hilt both far darker than jet-black. The disc then returned, like a boomerang, to strike the white-haired woman and return to Celestial Moon’s hand. The woman collapsed.

"Do not dare the wrath of the Moon," Sailormoon said, with far more coldness and determination than her voice normally held.

"I do not fear you," replied the woman, struggling to get up. "Baron 9 fears no one."

"Get out of here, Baron 9. If you ever return, I, Celestial Sailorvenus, will personally make sure you die," said Venus, her voice also colder than usual.

"And if she gets to you before I do, consider yourself fortunate," added Sailormoon.

"You can do nothing to me," Baron 9 said through the white-haired woman, who was now on her feet. "You can only harm my host body."

"You’ll be better off in the long run if you follow their advice," said a coldly casual voice. It belonged to a black-haired, violet-eyed young woman in a long black dress.

"Even these pitiful fools can hurt me more than can you, Shino Seishi."

"Do not underestimate the Celestial Senshi, Baron 9. Leave, now, before our patience runs out." Her tone had changed from casual to commanding, growing colder than before.

The white-haired woman glanced from Seishi’s cold violet eyes to Celestial Venus’s determined golden to Celestial Moon’s hard silver. "Very well. But I shall return, and I shall Silence this pitiful planet." Baron 9 himself stepped forward, a black smoky figure with flashing red eyes. Behind him, the white-haired woman, whose eyes had returned to their normal blue, collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"You will never have that opportunity," replied Seishi. "The music of Earth will continue far into the future." Baron 9 snorted and vanished. "You did well, Princess," Seishi added, looking at Sailormoon. Her tone had changed to one of pride, losing its coldness along the way. Before either could reply, she had vanished.

"I didn’t do anything, really," protested Venus.

"Maybe she didn’t see which of us was who," replied Sailormoon.

"Hey, isn’t that Umino Ami?" Venus asked, looking at the white-haired woman.

Celestial Moon dropped to one knee next to the woman. "Yeah, she is." She began feeling for a heartbeat.

"What…happened?" a feeble voice asked.

"She’s alive," Celestial Moon said, not hearing the voice, and went to check her mother. Venus, however, turned to see that Usa had regained consciousness and was struggling to sit upright.

"Tau Ceti attacked, Mama. Are you all right?"

"I’ll…be fine." Usa turned her head a little to look at Aiko. Her eyes snapped back to Venus’s. "Shizu-chan…Sailorvenus?" Venus nodded. "How’d that happen?"

"I haven’t a clue."

"Aiko?"

"She…she didn’t make it, Your Majesty…" Tears were running down Celestial Moon’s face. A spark of silver light fell from her tiara gem to the ground, then became a ring of silver light that traveled from the ground upwards. As the ring passed, her fuku was replaced by ordinary clothing. When the ring had gotten above her head, it collapsed in on itself, and the rose-pink wand fell from it into Minako’s hand.

"Who’s…Ami?" Usa first caught sight of, then recognized, Ami’s still body.

"She’ll be fine when she wakes up, I think." Venus, too, detransformed. The spark of light was a golden yellow for her, becoming a ribbon of golden light that swirled around her, changing her fuku to the pink T-shirt and blue jeans she’d been wearing. The ribbon then rose above her head and collapsed into the golden-yellow wand, which Shizuki caught easily.

"One thing for sure." Minako’s voice wobbled a bit, but that didn’t hide her determination. "If I ever lay eyes on Baron 9 again, he dies then and there."