(Steve Stachowicz)
gerrek@hotmail.com
(Matthew Frey)
MAFREY@charter.net
Webpage:http:\\www.geocities.com/tokyo/shores/2307
Swords of Destiny
By
Eric Thorsen and Stacko
LEGAL STUFF:
** The characters and concepts used here are the property of those people and
companies holding the copyrights to the respective storylines, series, and
movies. The only exceptions are those created by the demented minds of
authors of this story. The use of this material should be seen as the sign
of respect that it is. Besides, suing either of us would be a waste of time
since we don't have any money to begin with.
*************************************
The main story begins at the end of the Sailor Moon series after they fought
and defeated the being Chaos. The majority of the Highlander portion takes
place during and after the Highlander TV episode called "Dark Quickening."
It was mentioned that Makoto lost her parents in an accident, we took it
upon ourselves to change that a little. We changed it so that it was her
Adopted parents that were killed. This was necessary in order to fit a plot
line in the Story, and to place Sailor Moon and Highlander Universe together
(No Immortal can remember their biological parents). Also it's been a little
longer since the Silver Millenium ended according to our timeline. These are
the only alterations we've made to any of the characters' backstories. If you
find any other unlisted changes, chalk it up to "liberties taken by the
authors", and get on with your enjoyment of the story.
Scott Schwartzstern/Gerrek Bontrager is an original character Steve created
when he was looking for Sailor Moon/Highlander crossovers on the 'Net. When
he couldn't find any, he decided to create his own story. He asked his
friend, Matt Frey, if he wanted to help with the story when they were on
liberty on Hawaii and he agreed. So he's where Kevin O'Connell came from.
A movie they watched during that trip affected the prologue a great deal so
you can probably figure out when the idea for this story started from the
movie bits.
We hope you enjoy the story.
*************************************
PROLOGUE
*************************************
14 April 1912, 1:25 AM - RMS. Titanic
The Third Class Dining room on F-deck was deserted as the man whose
clothing marked him as one of the lofty members of the First class contingent
came down the stairs into it. Glancing around warily he proceeded to
systematically check each of the rooms leading off of the main room with
exaggerated care. When he had assured himself that there was no one hiding in
any of the port side rooms, he drew a long black sword from under his overcoat,
and shrugged his shoulder length black ponytail over his shoulder.
"Damian Rochefort, you insufferable wretch, where are you hiding?" He
bellowed, "I know your down here so there is no point in trying to make me
think you're not. Come out and face me you coward!"
As he said this he continued to the starboard side to check the other
rooms. When he had almost reached the door to the butcher shop he ducked
instinctively as a chair crashed into the wall scattering splinters
everywhere. Laughing ruefully he turned, catching sight of his adversary
coming out of the pantry. The stocky Irishman glared at him as he carefully
approached.
"So Drakkar, after all this time we finally meet again, and here of all
places" the red-haired man in a purser's uniform bit out sarcastically. "How
many times have we come close? A dozen? two? Really, old boy, you must be
getting tired of all of this running about. But then you never were much for
originality were you?" Rochefort continued to move toward the stairs,
carefully keeping his rapier between himself and Drakkar.
"Oh, and you would know all about that wouldn't you? I still don't see
how you keep getting others to do your dirty work for you," Siegmund Drakkar
said ironically. "I mean how many of your minions have I removed now? eight?
nine?? They must be getting hard to replace if those last two were the best
you could do with all of that time I gave you."
As he said this, his eyes lighted on a chair in his path, which he hurled
at Rochefort's head. As he covered the distance between them, his sword
slashed in at his enemy's neck. Rochefort ducked the chair, blocked the
sword and dodge around him just as a shudder rocked the entire ship. Both
men were knocked to the deck, but Rochefort recovered quickly and ran up the
stairway disappearing onto E-deck. Drakkar swore violently and retrieved his
Ninja-to. Concealing it under his overcoat, he proceeded at a much more sedate
pace than his quarry, noting the disturbances his opponent's rapid flight had
caused. When he reached the grand staircase however he swore hotly. There was
no sign of Rochefort anywhere. Ensuring his sword was well concealed he
continued on down the crew passage toward the aft end of the great liner.
Rochefort breathed a sigh of relief as Drakkar moved down the passage in
the wrong direction, but he still did not feel safe, so he continued down the
ladder in this compartment and into the aft boiler room. From further forward
he could hear a roaring sound, which he at first mistook for the sound of the
boilers in the next compartment. When he entered it though, the first thing
that struck him as odd was that the boilers were shut and damped. The second
was that the boiler crews were nowhere to be seen. As he thought about this
he heard another odd sound. He turned just in time to see water come through
the forward watertight door, just before it closed, as did the one behind him.
Swearing at his own stupidity he ran toward the escape hatch to F-deck. When
he finally found it, he discovered to his dismay that the hatch was blocked
from above for some reason. Running back through the central portion of the
boiler room he took note of the angle the deck had taken, and realized to his
horror that the ship was taking on water quickly.
Judging from the shudder he had felt earlier, it must have struck
something, and the only things out here besides them were other ships and
icebergs. The closest ship had sent a message earlier that they were stopping
for the night, so that only left ice as the possible explanation. While he
was thinking this out, he became aware of a sound he had not expected to hear;
that of water falling from a height. He realized this must mean that the water
in the forward compartments must be spilling over the top of the bulkheads.
If it was doing that though then it was only a matter of time until the ship
sank. With renewed energy he searched through the tool lockers until he
found a large pry bar. Returning to the hatch, he braced the bar in it and
with desperate strength forced the hatch open, wincing slightly at the
horrendous crash he heard coming from above him.
Raising his head out of the opening above, Rochefort saw that he had
knocked over a china cabinet that had been moved onto the hatch in the final
hurried phases of fitting out. Leaving the china room he proceeded down the
passage toward the aft end of the ship. He finally recognized where he had
come out by the crowds standing and waiting. The Main Third Class entrance
was packed solid when he came to it and he resigned him self to a long wait.
**************************************
Siegmund Drakkar was very angry with himself at this point. He had
finally given up trying to find Rochefort and was on his way back up from the
forward portion of E-deck when he felt a tingling sensation in his head and
grabbed his sword. He didn't draw it yet, waiting to see who was coming near
him. Then a very harried looking man in a tuxedo ran up to him.
"Damn it man, what have you been doing for the last hour? You said you
were only going to the library and would be back in fifteen minutes." He said
as he tried to catch his breath
"Oh, calm down Scott, it's not as if I had missed a meeting or something
you know. Besides, while I was on the Promenade I spotted Rochefort, and you
know what happened then. Anyway, I lost him about ten minutes ago and I've
been trying to get back out of the boiler rooms for the last five minutes."
"Rochefort is here? That is beside the point, Ziggy, we need to get our
life jackets on and get to the boat deck now. The stewards are being very
cagey about something and I don't trust them. Something is going wrong,
very horribly wrong, and I have the feeling we'll need every advantage we
can get soon." Scott Schwartzstern bit out.
"Really, Scott old boy you should try to stay calm, I'm sure it's only a
drill or something. The ship is unsinkable right?" Drakkar laughed " I mean
it's not as if we have to be somewhere else in a great hurry or something".
"Listen, my friend, if the ship were made of iron, which she is, then she
most definitely could sink, and if I'm right, is doing just that right now."
Schwartzstern said with exaggerated patience.
Noticing the angle of the deck for the first time, Drakkar swore and
started running aft toward the grand staircase in order to get his life
jacket. Shaking his head Schwartzstern followed at a much more sedate pace.
"It's not as if we had anywhere else to be' he says." Scott laughed to
himself; "One of these days that boy will get a very nasty surprise. I just
hope he survives long enough to learn from it."
**************************************
Rochefort finally got tired of waiting at the bottom of the stairwell
and muscled his way up the stairs. The sight that greeted him when he
finally reached the top was surprising to say the least. Standing behind
the locked gate to the upper decks of the ship was a man in a Stewards
uniform. The steward was laughing as a softly glowing mist came through the
bars to collect into a ball directly in front of him, while every person at
the gate, and for ten feet after that was laying on the deck for all intents
and purposes unconscious.
Swearing violently, Rochefort rushed to gate. "Damn you, you laughing
hyena, what in the name of all the gods do you think your doing. Open this
gate at once or I'll do it myself."
Laughing maniacally, the steward shouts back at him "Go ahead and try
it, you foolish human. Do it and I shall punish you." As the words came out
he thought to himself "I can't believe I just said that." With that he drew
a pistol from his pocket and pointed it toward Rochefort.
Ignoring the pistol for the moment, Rochefort drew his rapier and advanced
on the gate. As the steward laughed even louder at this, he smirked, and
drawing his arm back, cut straight through the lock. The shriek of metal on
metal was punctuated by the sudden absence of laughter as the steward stared
in horror at the remains of the lock, and the sword held in Rochefort's hand.
Firing his pistol three times into Rochefort's chest he backed away.
Rochefort stumbled back a few steps then, grinning evilly, started to advance
on his nemesis. In horror the man turned and ran down the passage, then at
the end of the corridor he turned again and shouting the words "Thunder
Strike" Pointed his now cupped hands at Rochefort. From his hands a
painfully bright ball of energy formed and flew toward Rochefort, engulfing
his lower torso in flames, and he was knocked thirty feet down the passage way
and lay still.
Laughing softly to himself the man was suddenly bathed in an unearthly
glow, blocking all sight of him. When he reappeared he was wearing a uniform
unlike any worn anywhere on Earth. Still laughing he began walking down the
passage, away from his opponent's crumpled form. A soft rustle behind him
distracted him from his pleasant thoughts of the favor this would earn his
faction with the queen. As he looked back he noticed that the crumpled form
was missing. Then the gleam of the passage lights flashed off of the sword
as his opponent moved toward him. Turning in abject terror he fled toward
the chief stewards' office and supposed safety. Rochefort hounded him
through the brightly lit crew passages and before the man could stop him,
into the chief steward's office.
"All right then, if you're done trying to kill me, I have a few questions
and the answers had better be good or this room will be the last you see."
Rochefort growled in his most menacing tone. "First, what is your name, and
what is your business here; oh and don't give me any of that shit about being
a White Star Line employee because if there is one thing you aren't it's
human."
"Okay, I'll tell you. Please don't kill me," The man pleaded.
"Better start talking, I'm losing my patience." Rochefort said angrily,
while bringing his rapier up to the man's neck.
"I'm called General Jarosite. I'm from the Negaverse. I'm collecting energy
for my queen, Queen Beryl." said Jarosite nervously while looking at the
blade at his neck.
"Negaverse? Where is this 'Negaverse'?" Rochefort asked.
"It's another dimension." Jarosite replied, noticing for the first time
that water was entering the room.
"Oh really. Now why were you taking energy? Couldn't you get a boiler
or something?" Rochefort noticed the water coming under the door and decided
to make this 'Jarosite' sweat a little.
"We need a different kind of energy than what you mentioned." Jarosite
looked at the man that had him trapped and at his mercy, and it looked to
him that the man didn't care that the boat was sinking and that water was
entering the room. "We need what you would call life energy."
"So is that why those people were unconscious at that gate." Rochefort
said, bringing his sword closer to Jarosite's neck.
"Yes. I was taking fear energy from those people until you came."
Jarosite saw that the water was covering their feet, and that the man had
blase look on his face.
"And what do you do with this energy?"
"We use it for any purpose we need it for, magic mostly."
"Oh really, and what would be one of those purposes be?"
"Um ... to take over the Earth."
"So let me get this straight. You are taking energy from people so your
queen can, and I quote, Rule the world. Come on man you'll have to be able to
come with something better than that, I mean that has got to be the most
cliched excuse for anything I have ever heard."
"You have a point there, but how do you explain your ability to withstand
that energy blast? I mean, I've used that on some of the strongest humans
I've ever met and they were dead before they hit the floor."
Rochefort then got a sly smile on his face, "That's my secret, but back
to the previous topic, I think that I can come up with a better goal for a
group with your potential, that gets all of us what we want too. But, first
I'm going to need to talk to this Queen Beryl of yours to work out the
details."
"O-o-o-o-okay, but how would you suggest we get out of this, I mean in
case you haven't noticed sir, the ship is sinking." pointing out the water
which was now ankle high in the room.
"You said you use the energy for magic didn't you, well I would say this
was as good a time as any to use it to get us out of here." With this said
Rochefort removed his sword from Jarosite's neck. "Oh, and I wouldn't try to
double cross me by leaving me behind if I were you, you know, that would just
make me even angrier than I am now. Believe me when I say you would not want
to see that, ever."
Visibly shaken, Jarosite merely nodded and drew a crystal from his pocket,
which opened the gate to the Negaverse. Rochefort smirked and motioned
Jarosite to precede him through the gate. As he vanished through the gate
the look on Rochefort's face would have frightened the bravest general Beryl
could boast. He then stepped through the gate his thoughts turning to how he
could use this to get to Drakkar. That man had been a thorn in his side for
too long.
*************************************
Drakkar and Schwartzstern were walking calmly up the grand staircase,
when they heard a gun shot coming from the chief purser's office. Making
their way along the passage they drew their swords, Drakkar giving his
companion a devilish grin as if to say "Won't they be surprised when they
see us." Schwartzstern merely shook his head in disbelief as they walked
onward. When they finally reached the door into the purser's strong room.
As they listened at the door they heard the sound of the strong boxes being
broken open and the contents clattering together as they were emptied into
another container. At a nod from Schwartzstern, Siegmund rushed the door and
broke it down, revealing the junior pursers emptying jewelry into a large
satchel. From the guilty looks the four men shot him as he entered, Drakkar
became suspicious that they were acting on their own initiative.
"Gentlemen, do those things belong to you?" at their startled expressions,
he laughed "I didn't think so."
As Drakkar started forward with his sword ready, the four men moved to
surround him.
"Why should you care what we do with this stuff?" the older of the four
men scoffed, "Besides unless you tell someone, why should anyone suspect that
it didn't all go down with the ship?"
"Who says I haven't told someone already," Siegmund said confidently,
thinking to himself "Hurry up Scott, you tortoise"
As the men laughingly aimed their pistols at Drakkar's head, the one
with his back to the door suddenly crumpled to the floor, revealing a
grinning Scott behind him. As the spokesman of the group whirled to bring
his gun to bear on the new threat, Scott swept his Katana down cutting the
pistol neatly in half. As the man gaped at his now useless weapon, Scott
grinned evilly at him.
"Make another move and you're next", he growled as Drakkar moved around
behind the other two men and collected their weapons.
"Damn it man, what took you so long," Siegmund grumbled while keeping his
sword to one of the pursers' throat. "They almost shot me, and you know how
much it hurts when they do that. Any way, what should we do with these four
aspiring thieves, Hmmm?"
"I suppose we'll just have to let them go, Ziggy" Schwartzstern sighed at
the bloodthirsty look in Drakkar's eye. "Without any of the jewels of course,
" he added as the three men started to smile in eager anticipation again.
"Can't have them profiting from other's misfortunes now can we." He smiled
pleasantly at the now downcast would-be thieves. "Gentlemen, if I were you,
I would just forget all of this and run for your lives now. This may be your
only chance to save yourselves." With that he removed his sword from the
leaders throat, motioning for Drakkar to do the same. As soon as the swords
were removed from their throats, the three men hurriedly gathered their
unconscious companion and fled the room.
"Well, that went better than I thought it would," Scott said wryly. "You
really need to be more careful Ziggy, next time I may not be there to back
you up and someone might end up with a very permanent case of dead."
"Thanks for the advice Scott," Drakkar laughed, "but don't you think we
should be following the advice you just gave those four?"
Noticing the increasing angle of the deck, Scott swore silently. "You're
right, we have to get out of here now." With that he turned and started
running back the way they had come. About halfway down the passage he noted
that Drakkar was not behind him. Looking back at the strong room, he saw
Siegmund staring at a blue gem set in a silver medallion... He yelled back
at Drakkar, to get him moving. Shaking himself as if just waking form a
dream, Drakkar swore loudly and ran to rejoin his companion not noticing that
he had placed the medallion in his pocket.
They came up on deck to find that the boat deck was in chaos and the boats
were leaving half full. People were fighting, jumping into, or even being
knocked into the sea. As they realized that there were no boats left at the
forward end of the ship, they made their way aft, looking for spaces on boats.
It soon became apparent that there were none to be had, and continued to the
aft part of the ship. Drakkar noticed that the deck was taking an even
steeper angle. He stared in shock as the ship tilted to a fifty-degree angle,
then jumped when he heard several sharp cracking sounds and felt the ship
shudder. He felt a sudden weightlessness and then a shock as the stern fell
back into the sea with a horrendous shriek as the ship cracked in half then
crashed back into the ocean. Then the stern rose again and Scott swore,
recommending that they climb the rail and to hold on as it was rising.
The stern then became vertical and started bobbing around on the surface for
a few minutes. The stern then sank quickly. Just as the ship was about to
finish sinking, Scott indicated they should throw their swords away so they
could swim better.
After returning to the surface, they waited there for any rescue party to
come and save the survivors in the water. Both of them were treading water
and getting small groups together so they could keep somewhat warm in the
freezing water of the Atlantic. After several minutes, both Scott and Drakkar
found that their little group was slowly dying of hypothermia and that the
rescue party had not arrived yet. When the last of their small group died,
they struck out the direction they believed was west and started swimming
for shore.
*************************************
TWO WEEKS LATER:
As Mark White walked down the beach from his cottage outside Burin he
saw two men stumbling towards him. They both wore the remains of fine evening
clothes, which showed signs of a long time in the ocean. As they came closer
he noticed that they both needed a shave badly along with a bath considering
the salt deposits in their beards. One of the two noticed him and started
moving toward him. The other just flopped down in the sand.
"Excuse me sir, but would you happen to know where we are?" the man asked
in a gravely voice.
"Well, you are on the east cost of the island of New Foundland, near the
village of Burin. Are you two all right? Where did you come from?" the
startled man asked.
"The ship we were on sank a little back, two weeks ago I think, and we
came ashore recently. What we need the most is some food, a bath, and a
couple centuries in a warm bed. Where would the nearest hotel be? Oh, I
guess I should introduce myself and my friend over there, shouldn't I.
My name is Scott Schwartzstern Jr., the guy who is pretending to be dead over
there, is my traveling companion, Kevin O'Connell." Scott chuckled.
"Well the only hotel in these parts is the one in Grand Banks, but that's
about twenty-five miles west of here." Mark said, glancing at the prone man
who had groaned at the mention of the distance mentioned. "It would take
about two days by sleigh but only one by ship," O'Connell groaned louder.
"Is your friend okay? We have a doctor in the town if he needs one."
"No, I don't think he needs a doctor, but I think we need that ride to
that hotel in Grand Bank. Do you know anyone who'll be going there soon?"
Schwartzstern asked hopefully.
"The mail will be leaving tomorrow for Grand Bank, but the trader ship
leaves tonight and will be there by morning." White said encouragingly.
"Oh well, I guess we'll have to take the ship then," Schwartzstern
shuddered accompanied by the loud groaning coming from O'Connell.
"Thank you for the information, Sir."
With that he walked toward the town and the harbor. O'Connell slowly got
to his feet, and followed his friend. When he reached White's side he glanced
toward Schwartzstern, then grinned wolfishly at the bewildered man, and
handing him a necklace, held his finger to his lips and proceeded into town.
On the way to the town, Scott decided to talk to Kevin.
"Hey, Ziggy?" asked Scott.
"Yes?" replied Kevin when he caught up to Scott.
"Thank you for what you did."
"What did I do?" asked Kevin slightly confused as to what Scott was
talking about.
"For what you gave that man." replied Scott.
"How did you know, you weren't even looking at us." said Kevin surprised
that Scott knew that he had given the necklace to the man.
"Ziggy, I've known you for about seven hundred years now. I know how you
act and what you do. I know you took some of that jewelry. I may not like
what you do, and I know I can't stop you either, but at least you do it for
good intentions at times. Now let us get on a ... (shudder) ... ship and
get us a hotel room to get ourselves back together again."
"Yeah, you're right. A Hotel room is what we need." replied Kevin as
they made it to the harbor and Kevin did the talking and the persuading that
got them on the boat that would take them to Grand Banks.
Upon getting into their stateroom on the ship, they laid on the beds
provided to rest their tired muscles. After resting for a few minutes,
Kevin started to strike up a conversation.
"Hey, Scott?" asked Kevin.
"Yes, Ziggy?" replied Scott from the other rack.
"After we rested at the hotel for a while, what are you going to do?"
"After I claim the insurance money on my 'father', I plan on moving to
the States for a while. You know, sort of lay low for some time at my cabin
in Wisconsin. After that, I might move back to Japan. I haven't been there
in ages. I miss my friends. What about you?"
"Don't really know right now. I'll probably check to see if Rochefort
survived and go after him. Other than that, I'll probably wander around for
a while."
"Well, you'll know where I'll be. See you in the morning, Ziggy."
"Yeah, night, Scott."
The ship made it safely to Grand Banks and the two men went to the hotel
to revive from their two-week ordeal and go their separate ways until they
met again.