Chapter 1: And, So it Begins
Last edit 5/29/08
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of this story with all rights being owned by the appropriate copyright holders; I make no claim of any ownership. Should you wish to distribute this story only do so freely and with proper attribution.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Lady, are you ready for your trip into the past? questioned the guardian of time: Sailor Pluto.
Hai, I have all I need. It will be fun taunting Onee-san again.
Pluto internally winced at what her queen would have to go through. But, at the very least Small Ladys visits helped her majesty become the understanding and patient queen that she was in the future. Additionally, she knew that her majesty actually treasured these visits by Small Lady. So, she, instead, faintly smiled at small lady, turned around, and using her staff opened a portal to the Gate of Spacetime.
Arriving at the gate, she turned around to face Small Lady, intent on reminding her about what not to do while in the past. Small Lady, however, well remembered her prior instructions and cut Pluto off by saying, Pu I remember your talks on not revealing the future, you dont have to give them all to me again.
Hearing that Pluto smiled. She knew that Small Lady would never do anything to mess up the future, but the instruction were part of the ritual. However, she felt that Small Lady's statement was sufficient and so instead of boring the young girl with another lecture, she removed from her staff one of the crystal time keys and handed it over. Then standing back, she unlocked the Gate of Spacetime and watched as Small Lady bounced her way into the gate while Luna-P followed a short distance behind her.
In a short period, Small Lady would be in the past. Then it would be time for her to return to the linear world as well. But, at a point in time before Small Lady arrived, there were items to take care of and setup before the Death Busters mess began.
Dont worry she will make it there fine. Though, I dont know why you dont send her on a side excursion first, mocked Q as he appeared once again at the Gate.
Q, I thought I told you to stay out of site till I called for you.
You worry too much Pluto. In all the time that we have known each other have you known me to screw up like that.
Pluto had to admit that while Q could be childish at times. His pranks never really caused lasting trouble. And, those who were the recipients of his pranks usually could use some pointing; though rarely did they deserve the type of guidance that Q would provide. But, at least he proved to be a somewhat enjoyable companion. There were other beings in the megaverse that were much more dreadful to be around.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--The Delta Quadrant--
Status Mr. Kim.
Captain, engineering reports the Singularity Drive is on-line and ready to engage. All systems look good and we can enter the slipstream at your command. Replied the Ops officer, Harry Kim.
Mr. Paris, Engage the Singularity Drive
Having been watching the interaction of the Captain and his friend, Tom Paris upon receiving the order turned back to his station and prepared the ship to enter the slipstream. The ship was already cruising at warp 9 and as he entered the commands, the nacelles gave an additional burst of energy and the ship jumped into the slipstream, leaving their universe. No longer was the ship constrained to be fixed to one point on the fifth dimension. Now it moved freely amongst them all and as the drive continued to pulse, the ship began to merge with the very fabric of spacetime itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--In the Time Stream--
Princess Usagi looked around, fascinated by what she saw. The previous three times through the time stream, she had not taken the opportunity to enjoy the journey, which was quite understandable. During her first trip, she had been running away from the Dark Moon Family and her mother had been encased in a crystal. Likewise her second trip had been wrought with fear over returning to a future at war and for her third trip, after the war, she had been too eager to see her loved ones safe and sound again. But, this time she was in no rush and could take a little time to enjoy the trip.
Around her the stream was a fascinating display of lights as it twisted and contorted itself. However, as fascinating as it was, she made sure to stay focused on her destination; she did not want to get lost in the time-stream. Pluto had opened only one path for her and if she lost that path, she would be forever trapped in the time-stream. While that risk may have worried a grown adult, Usagi barely paid it any attention.
About six minutes into her journey, a flash of light off to her right side grabbed her attention. That thing looks different from the rest of the stream, She thought to herself. Looking more closely, she was able to make out that the object in question appeared to have an oval like structure, was grayish and definitely appeared to be out of place in the stream. Size wise it didn't appear to be much bigger than a cat; though in reality it was far larger than that. Continuing to star at the object she was also able to make out two long thin cylinders protruding from its rear half, cylinders which glowed a soft blue. Though in short order that soft blue glow began to pulse and strangely enough her own crystal time key started to pulse in tune with the object.
At first Princess Usagi was curious about why her Time Key was pulsing, but as the pulsing began to speed up and become brighter, her curiosity was replaced by fear and then suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and she knew no more, her final thoughts having been wondering what her mother had been liked when she had first become Sailor Moon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--Voyager: Also in the Time Stream--
Soon after Tom Paris engaged the singularity drive the ship had begun to transverse the fifth dimension and as it did so the the bridge crew gazed out the main viewer, observing the singularity. Strange how the singularity appears to have dimensions. I will need to look at those theories again to understand what I am seeing here. Janeway thought to herself as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Her musings, however, were soon cut off by a the sounding of a warning klaxon going off. Reacting, instantly to assess the situation, she ordered, Mr. Kim report.
Captain, I am detecting another energy signature in the singularity.
Confirmed, there is a second energy signature and it is beginning to pulse, Seven added and following shortly after that comment the shook violently. Frowning slightly, Seven called up further diagnostics before adding, Captain our warp engines have begun to pulse in tune with that other energy source and our pulses are resonating with each other.
Almost as if Seven's pronouncement was the permission it needed, the ship began to continuously shake the end of her statement. At his console, Tom Paris hands rapidly flew over the helm controls trying to stabilize the ship. However, his efforts were to no avail, as he was unable to prevent the shaking from escalating in severity, much less regain a smooth flight.
Warning, structural integrity field failure, The ships computer added a few moments later.
Seeing the situation beginning to quickly spiral out of control, Janeway knew that unless action was taken soon that there would be no Voyager left to make it back to earth. Mr. Paris disengage the Singularity Drive and then bring us to a full stop.
Unfortunately, the order to disengage the drive system came a moment to late for just as Tom Paris was shutting down the system the warp nacelles gave a final brilliant pulse of light that punched a hole back into four-dimensional through which Voyage fell through. Thankfully, the crew was relatively unharmed, mostly just banged up. However, the ship was a different story for that final pulse had fried both the warp core and all of the secondary fusion reactors that were utilized by the impulse engines, which meant that Voyager was now nothing more than a nearly dead hunk of metal tumbling through an unknown region of space.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--The Gate of spacetime--
Now remember Q, if anyone should approach the Gate give me a call and I will return right away.
Pluto, I have known you for millennia; you should know by now that I know what to do. Take a vacation have some fun. Heck, after you are done with your little job why dont you take me up on my offer to visit Jean-Luc. I hear that he has a nice new ship to play with, Q offered; though, when Pluto gave him an evil eye, he amended his statement to or you could just pay a social call.
When Pluto failed to reply and, instead, abruptly shivered and spun around to face the gate, Q asked, Pluto is something wrong?
I am not sure but DUCK!! Pluto suddenly cried out before diving for what passed as ground in her realm. Q too startled by her sudden declaration was caught off guard and took the full brunt of the shock wave that then proceeded to erupt from the Gate, blowing its doors open.
Slowly getting up, Pluto found a very dazed and banged up Q on the ground. Owe that hurt a lot, Pronounced Q. What the heck just happened?
There has been a disturbance in the time stream. You were hit by the temporal discharge. Oh no, Small Lady! The guardian cried out as she realized who was probably still in the stream at the time of the blast. Unfortunately, she could not take the time to check on Small Ladys condition, as the damage from the blast would need to be contained first. Left unchecked, the instabilities caused by the blast could destroy all of time.
Walking up to the Gate, Pluto allowed her senses to link with her talisman and with the Gate. Opening her eyes, once she was linked with basic nature of time, she opened her eyes and began to examine the threads of Time's tapestry, looking for what had been damaged and for what damage was still occurring. The damage, to Pluto's dismay was beyond simply being bad, it was critical. Normally there was always some leeway in the future, but now it was completely fluid for that part of the tapestry had become fully unraveled. Even the final awakening of her Queen was no longer assured.
Knowing that she did not have the time to lament on what had been destroyed, Pluto turned her attention to the part of the direction of the past on the tapestry, hoping to be able to find a way to stop the damage. For the longest moments she watched the tapestry continue to unravel, as she racked her brain for a way to stop the disruption hoping that there was another option than using her forbidden powers or awakening Saturn. However, unable to think of any other options, Pluto knew what she had to do and so she began to calculate where it would be best to make her stand, a stand that would sacrifice Small Lady. But then to her relief, the front of fluidity came to a halt.
Releasing a breath that she had unknowingly been holding, Pluto turned her attention to examining the damage and accessing the status of certain people who were very dear to her. The first of those she checked on was her Queen, who was fourteen years old when the front stopped. Then moving on to Small Lady, she was delighted to find that the young princess had somehow managed to ride the front of fluidity to safety in the past. She was a few years off from her original destination, but that meant that she was safe as opposed to be lost to the unraveled tapestry.
Therefore with those two concerns addressed, Pluto began the process of repairing the tapestry of time, to ensure that the front would not continue to rip the tapestry and to see what she could reweave. She would tackle securing the tapestry first, but before she began repairing it she would need to also check to see if she could determine what had come close to destroying the megaverse. It looks like Q might actually be of some use, but he will need to rest and recover his strength first, Pluto mused to herself as she began her tasks.
The efforts that lay before were quite tedious and additionally required her full concentration, which was something right now that Pluto was quite happy with as that meant that they would keep her from thinking about the consequence of the fluidity of the future. Pluto was used to knowing all of time from her place at the Gate of Spacetime, but now she could only see up to the point where Small Lady arrived in the past. Everything else was unknown to her. The Gate itself had become linear once again and that frightened her very dearly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--Tokyo, 20th Centaury--
Over an alley, a pink cloud appeared and just as quickly disappeared, but not before spitting out a pink haired child. Dicharged into the past, Small Lady came flying out upside down and on a trajectory for a dumpster landing.
Picking herself out of the muck she had become partially buried in, Small Lady, said, Yuck. Pu there better be a good reason why you had me deposited in a dumpster. Then taking a moment to clean the garbage off herself as best as possible, the pink haired child realized that she was missing something, Thats odd, where is Luna-P. Luna-P was always hovering around the princess and its absence was a source of worry for Small Lady. Looking around she came across a saddening sight as she found Luna-P down on the ground and shredded into multiple pieces.
Oh no, Luna-P, ChibiUsa cried out as she picked up the remains of the floating cat head. "Just great, first I land in garbage and then I find Luna-P destroyed. Without it, I wont be able to hypnotize or alter anyones memories. I just hope that Mercury was right when she said the hypnotism would still hold on Ikuko-mama and Kenji-papa from last time. Well I probably should go find Usagi and tell her that I am visiting."
-End Chapter 1
