Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.


Chapter 37

Jed hated to resort to base measures, but he would do what he had to do in order to accomplish 
his mission. He had a ski mask in his back pocket and in a holster over his right shoulder, 
underneath his jacket, his handgun was fitted with a silencer. He had already put on a pair of 
contacts to change his eye color to brown. He had his thin black leather gloves on and was wearing 
the most non-descript jeans he owned. Everything he had on could be easily discarded, should he 
be pursued by the police.

It was a tactic he had used a few times before and it worked most of the time.

Upon entering the condominium complex, he saw that there was a decent amount of security. A few 
security monitors, a couple of unarmed security guards - he could also see that a few of them were 
roving, as well - in the security room, and cameras in the hallways and elevators.

However, there was one security flaw that he instantly noticed: there were no cameras in the 
stairwells. Perfect.

To keep from arousing suspicion, he went straight to the elevators and pressed the up button. 
He didn't want the guards, who were probably bored out of their minds, to have some reason to 
need to keep an eye on him.

While he waited, he mentally kept track of how often the monitors switched from floor to floor. 
The monitors displayed the floor number at the top right corner of the screen, and switched 
floors every ten seconds. Since there were 40 floors and four monitors displaying four floors 
at a time, the cycle was 90 seconds before the cameras cycled back to the original four floors.

So, he had to time it so that he snuck into the stairwells when the cameras weren't watching his 
floor. Easy.

The ding of the elevator brough his attention back to focus. The cameras had just changed to show 
the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th floors. Since he was going to the second floor, he now had 40 
seconds before the cameras would be watching him. That was not enough time. However, since the 
cameras would only be on him for ten seconds, he could easily pretend to be leisurely walking to 
his apartment, then head for the stairwell when the cameras were off of him again.

He walked into the open elevator and pressed the button for the second floor. The elevator doors 
closed behind him and the elevator car began to ascend. A few seconds later, the elevator car 
slowed to a crawl, then stopped at the second floor. The doors opened and he had 23 seconds to 
go.

The entrance to the elevators were at the far end of the hallway where it turned into a 
T-intersection leading to more apartments on either side. It wasn't too far; he could reach it 
in less than 23 seconds, but by the time the cameras turned to him, the door would be closing, 
indicating that someone had just entered the stairwell. Since the guards were so bored, they 
might miss that sign, but in order for him to reach the stairs before his time expired, he had 
to run. Even if they didn't see it, the cameras were recording and that would certainly arouse 
suspicion.

So, he slowly strolled down toward the end of the hallway. The 23 seconds came and went, starting 
the ten second countdown. After that, he'd be free for another 90 seconds. Just as he was passing 
the stairwell, the ten second countdown ended and the cameras switched floors. He kept walking for 
ten more seconds just to make sure, then turned around, walked back to the stairwell and entered.

Climbing 38 flights of stairs wasn't exactly on Jed's list of favorite things to do, so once he 
reached the top floor, he was in a pretty irritable mood. Couldn't that damn woman live on the 
third floor, or something? He waited until the cameras displayed his floor and moved on before 
slipping on his mask and opening the door.

He knew from the quick scan of the tenant directory beside the front desk which apartment number 
was Michiru's. Without wasting any time, he strode quickly to her front door and brought out his 
electronic lockpicking device from one of his coat pockets and stuck it in the keyhole. Once the 
light turned green, he turned the device, unlocking the door and opening it.

A quick glance of the apartment revealed to him that the violinist was no where to be seen. He 
stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind him while listening. He knew she was somewhere 
in this apartment. Unless she was asleep, she would eventually make a sound that would betray 
her location and possibly her activity.

The only sounds he could hear was the music coming from the stereo system in the living room. 
Well, with the music playing, he had some leeway into how much stealth he needed to practice. 
Not much, though.

With a swift, practiced movement, he silently drew his gun and crept forward, listening and 
watching. The kitchen and dining area to his left was empty, as was the living room ahead and to 
his right. Looking over the area, he spotted a phone in the kitchen hanging on the wall. He 
walked over to the phone while drawing a knife from the wooden holder sitting next to the sink. 
A knife with a serrated edge was best. Carefully, he cut through the phone line, but not all the 
way. Just enough to sever the connection. The phone now had the appearance of being untouched, 
but there was no longer any connection.

Knife in one hand and gun in the other, he moved further into the apartment, all the while 
listening for any sounds that would reveal Michiru.

There. Water splashing. She was in the bathroom.

He grinned.

From his vantage point, he could see that the entrance to the bathroom was in her bedroom. He 
would also assume that that was also where the Nijizuishou was kept. It certainly didn't look 
like she kept it in the living room or the kitchen, but he had been wrong before. Still, 
sometimes the most obvious answers are the correct ones. Hopefully, that was the case here.

The bedroom was not really like he would've expected from a famous musician. More like a rich 
debutante. Curtains and drapes were a light blue silk matching the color of the bedroom. The 
vanity at one end of the room had a wide variety of exotic and expensive purfumes and makeup 
all sitting on a white, frilly lace cloth. Several paintings, large and small hung around the 
room; some replicas of famous pieces of art, and some by Michiru herself. It seemed that she 
was a talented artist, as well. If he wasn't in the middle of work, he would've loved to admire 
the artwork.

Oh, well. Life's like that sometimes.

One picture in particular caught his eye. Not the artwork itself, but the location of the 
painting. Most of the artwork hung in places that would be all but impossible to hide a wall 
safe - one wall lead to outside, another to the living room, and the third had the bathroom on 
the other end - but only two hung on the wall that could conceivably hold a wall safe. Sure, 
he could always check her closet, but that was just too inane. Who in their right minds would 
hide a gem worth millions in their closet, anyway? That would make things too easy and he 
doubted the woman was stupid enough to pull a dumb stunt like that. If she did, he would have 
to shoot her just on general purpose. After all, something like that was tantamount to an insult 
to a master thief like himself.

Anyway, since one painting sat above her nightstand, that left the large painting as the best 
possible location for a wall safe. The fact that the painting was done by Michiru made all the 
more sense.

Before moving to task, he quickly bent down beside the phone on her nightstand and cut through 
most of the phone cord, just like he did in the kitchen. Now she was cut off from outside 
telephone communication. That would do for now. He didn't have time to hunt down all forms of 
outside communication, anyway.

That task done, he tossed the knife under the bed. He then took down the painting and examined 
the wall behind it.

There was nothing there.

Well, he had been wrong before. He was just about to go to the next painting when something 
caught his eye. Giving the wall a closer scrutiny, he saw it. The crack in the wall that 
formed a rectangular shape. He pushed on the wall in the middle of the rectangular crack and 
found that it could move to one side.

Ah. A false wall panel. Clever.

The safe was the usual combination lock. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a device from 
his other jacket pocket and stuck it onto the safe over the area where the tumblers would be, 
then turned it on. He spun the dial around quickly, then slowed down as he watched the device's 
indicator. Once the dial reached 57, the red light turned on. The first number was cracked. He 
spun the dial again and repeated the process. This time, the red light lit up on the number 23. 
Once again, the process was repeated, but this time the green light lit up.

57-23-86. The safe was open.

He removed the safecracking device, turned it off and stuck it in his jacket pocket, then opened 
the safe door. There it was. The Indigo Nijizuishou crystal. There was only one more to go; the 
Violet Nijizuishou crystal in Sydney.

A loud splashing caused him to freeze for a moment. It sounded like she was done with her bath 
and was getting out of the tub. He had to hurry.

He reached into the safe and grabbed the crystal, then closed the safe and shut the wall panel. 
He pocketed the Indigo Nijizuishou and was about to hang the painting back up when the sound of 
a phone ringing startled him. He thought he had cut the phone lines!

No, wait. That was a cellular phone ringing!

"Oh, what is it now?" Michiru's voice grumbled as she opened the bathroom door, clad in her 
white bathroom robe, her long sea-green hair dripping wet. "Ah! What the hell are you doing?!?" 
she exclaimed as she saw Jed holding one of her paintings. More specifically, THAT particular 
painting. Combined with the gun and silencer she saw sitting on her bed next to him.... "You!"

Jed sighed as he dropped the painting and picked up his gun. So much for quick and quiet. 
"Where's the cell phone?" he asked, pointing the gun at her.

"I-in the drawer in my nightstand," she stammered staring nervously at the gun.

"Take it out, turn it off, and give it to me," he said coldly. "Now." He pointed to the drawer 
with his gun, then back at her for added emphasis.

Michiru was careful not to smile in relief. She had a small handgun hidden in their for such 
emergencies as this. After all, a woman living so well off and by herself did need a little 
bit of added protection. The building security was all right, but as this situation proved, 
not perfect.

She slowly trudged toward the nightstand, being careful to show the right amount of fear - that 
wasn't a problem; she was quite terrified right now - and slowly opened the drawer. The phone 
had stopped ringing a while ago and was displaying the ID and phone number of the person who 
had called her.

It was Hu.

"Damn bastard," she grumbled angrily under her breath. "Of all the times he has to call my 
cell...."

Jed couldn't help but give a small snort of laughter. In a small way, it was that 'damn 
bastard's' fault she was in this situation. How apropos. "Hurry up and give me your cell, 
and maybe you'll have a chance to chew him out later."

She blinked as she was brought back to the situation at hand. Her assailant had the right idea, 
though. She would chew that rat bastard out later. Especially for putting her in this mess. 
She nodded as she reached into the drawer and pressed the button to shut off her cell phone. 
The phone gave off its audial signal that it was powering off as she carefully reached for her 
gun. The safety was off and it was already loaded. Not really safe, but in a situation like 
this, she was glad she didn't follow that practice.

She stood up with her hand in the drawer and turned toward her assailant. "Here you go," she 
said as she quickly drew her gun and fired. Just as she fired her gun, she felt something hit 
her in the side, just below her right breast. The impact knocked her off her feet, her hand 
knocking over her nightstand lamp and she tumbled to the floor. The gun fell out of her hand 
and slid a short distance from her hand.

Jed shook his head as he fired again, his shot knocking the gun all the way across the room. 
He then walked over to where he was standing over Michiru as a small puddle of blood began to 
form on the light gray carpet beneath her. "That wasn't very smart," he told her as he took 
the phone from her nightstand and pocketed it. "However, you're getting off lucky," he said 
as he turned to leave. "I don't have time to finish you off. You get to live today. Stay silent 
and you'll live even longer."With that, he quickly left the apartment and closed the door 
behind him.

Michiru struggled to stand up, the pain in her side making it hard for her to push herself to 
her feet, but once she was on her feet she could walk fine. She was losing blood quickly, though.

She picked up her bedroom phone, but there was no dial tone. Wasting no time to wonder why, she 
staggered over to her kitchen phone and picked that one up. No dial tone. With a growl of 
frustration, she slammed her kitchen phone back on its base. She continued to struggle toward her 
apartment door, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She managed to reach her neighbor's apartment 
door and knocked loudly on it. "Xian! Xian Li! It's me, Michiru! Open up!" She was in mid-knock 
when a young, dark-haired woman answered the door.

"Michiru! I heard this loud- Aiyaa! You're bleeding! What happened?" Xian Li exclaimed as she 
helped the bleeding woman into her apartment. "Come in while I call an ambulance."

"And call the police after that," Michiru said weakly. "I've just been robbed."

            **********************************************

One of the roving security guards came across something very curious during his patrol of one of 
the stairwells. On the exit to the 40th floor, someone had left a jacket and a pair of pants next 
to the door. The only things of interest he could find in the jacket or pants were a cell phone, 
a pair of thin black leather gloves, and a ski mask.

As he gathered up the clothing and turned to leave, he heard a crunching sound as he took his 
first step. Moving his foot, he examined to ground to see what he had stepped on.

It was a pair of contacts.

            **********************************************

Jed smirked as he walked out of the entrance to the condominium. When he had reached the ground 
floor while riding the elevator, a group of security guards were standing in front of his 
elevator. He had briefly thought that he was about to be caught when they pushed past him into 
the elevator. He had stared at the closing elevator for a few moments, surprised beyond belief. 
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, he quickly made his way out of the building. They were 
probably after that blonde guy in a black jacket and blue jeans. Since he was a black-haired 
man - good thing he brought that wig with him - wearing a light brown jacket and black slacks, 
the suspect couldn't be him, right? Not to mention that he wasn't brown-eyed, but green-eyed.

Once he was out of sight of the condominium, and the sounds of an approaching ambulance filled 
the air, he began to laugh out loud. Once again, his quick switch tactic worked perfectly.

He was in his car and on his way to the airport before the police could reach the condominium 
complex.

            **********************************************

"So, how's the struggle?" Christy asked as Shingo answered the front door. "Any progress?"

Shingo smirked. "It was tough, but I think I've almost got it. I'm running the file through 
my special file recompiler program - that I wrote myself, I might add - and it's about 80% 
complete right now. I figure that in about ten minutes or so, it should be all done."

"You're kidding," she said, raising an appreciative eyebrow. "I'm impressed, Shingo."

"As you should be, grasshopper," he replied smugly as they went inside. "Remember, you are 
dealing with a master."

"Yeah, yeah. Bow to your almighty magnificence and all that," she replied as gave him a mock 
bow. "So, I'm right on time, huh?"

"Just about," he said with a grin. "Hey, I just got some stuff from back home, including some 
of your favorite."

"Really?" she said, her expression brightening. "Well, break out a bottle, Shingo! It's been 
too long since I've had some of your good Japanese sake."

"Sounds good to me," he nodded. "Grab a seat and I'll bring it out."

"So, you think this recompiler of yours will restore that file?" Christy called out as she 
sat down on the couch.

"It better," he said as he returned with a bottle and two shot glasses. She nodded to herself 
as she saw that he remembered that she preferred the shot glass over the saucer-thing that 
the Japanese traditionally served sake with. She kept on spilling her sake on herself everytime 
she tried to drink it that way.

"Ah, yes. That's the stuff," she said happily as she watched the clear liquid being poured into 
her glass. "Hey, what's that word you Japanese say for 'Cheers'?" she asked as she took her 
glass.

"Kanpai," he replied as he poured his glass.

"Oh, right. Well, kanpai!" she said as she raised her glass.

"Kanpai," he replied and raised his as well. Both downed their drinks in one swallow.

"Ahh! Yeah!" she exclaimed and set down her glass. "Refill, please!"

"One more, then we go check on that program, all right?"

"Fine, fine."

Shingo poured her another shot, which she gratefully accepted and downed with another shout of 
"Kanpai!" He did the same a moment later.

"All right, then," he said as he stood up, taking the bottle with him. "You know, I can show 
you where you can get your own, so you can stop mooching off of my stash," he said thoughtfully.

"Really?" she blinked as she stood up to follow him. "That would be great."

He nodded as he went into his computer room with Christy right behind him. "Ah, it's done," he 
announced eagerly. "Now, let's open up that bad boy and see what we've got." He ran another 
quick virus scan, removed the viral coding, then opened the file.

"What's this?" Christy asked as she glanced over his shoulder. "Project: Ginzuishou?"

"Silver crystal?" Shingo said, translating the second word. "Sounds interesting. Shall we read 
on?"

She silently nodded her head as she read through the document. "My God...."

"According to this, there are seven very rare, colored gems know as the Nijizuishou, or Rainbow 
Crystals. Each crystal has a very similar geological makeup, yet there is a subtle difference in 
a certain area in their composition that not only gives them their unique spectral colors, but 
causes any light that passes through it to amplify on their specific spectral wavelength. In 
other words, if regular light were to pass through, say, the Red Nijizuishou, the light would 
be amplified, but it would exit the crystal as red light, not white. The same with the other 
crystals. It seems that the gain is an average of 3 to 1.

"Experiments on the Yellow Nijizuishou with lasers showed that the same properties applied as 
with white light. A 100W laser was fired into the Yellow Nijizuishou crystal for 30 seconds. 
Data collected shows that the laser emitted from the crystal was yellow in color and had an 
average power of 298.4W. Similiar tests on newly acquired Nijizuishou crystals yielded similar 
results. Reference: Table 4.c.

"Further research into the composition of the Nijizuishou crystals showed that the subtle 
differences in the seven crystals' geological makeup had another relation other than the 
spectral relation. Simulated rearraging of the seven unique aspects of the seven Nijizuishou 
crystals revealed that when rearraged in the following manner (see Figure 4.e), there is a 
theoretical dramatic increase in the power amplification properties of the crystal. The 
theorized gain of the combined seven crystals is approximately 1,250 to 1. Furthermore, due 
to the unique geological makeup of the Nijizuishou crystals, it is possible for the crystal 
to be able to handle the immense power amplification of the theoretical combined seven with 
no adverse effects."

"Do you realize what this means, Shingo?" Christy asked when he paused. "With that much of 
a power boost, a laser with the same amount of power as your average stereo could be easily 
juiced up to hit someone with the power of a lightning bolt! If something like this could be 
mass produced, laser rifles with the power of orbital lasers would be as commonplace as 
handguns! But, these will be worse!"

"I know," he agreed, nodding uneasily. "This is really bad news. I mean, is this even legal? 
The government can't have sanctioned something like this, can they?"

"I don't know, Shingo. I'd like to think that they'd use it for something beneficial, but 
considering that most of the Nijizuishou crystals have been stolen recently, I highly doubt 
it. I wonder if the people doing the research even know if the crystals were stolen. What 
else does it say, Shingo?"

"According to this, the optimal conditions for synthesizing a crystal with the geological 
properties of all seven crystals occur within a vacuum. This includes extracting the core 
geological properties of the crystal as well as the unique properties of each crystal.

"In order to extract this information, seven automated satellites have been manufactured to 
hold a single Nijizuishou and extract the exact geological makeup of each Nijizuishou crystal 
with a negligible amount of interference. Each satellite has already been programmed by an 
independant expert in satellite technology, Prof. Souichi Tomoe. Upon activation, each satellite 
will take in sunlight unfiltered by the ozone layer and shine it through each Nijizuishou 
crystal, then beam the resulting light to their collection center, where they will merge all 
seven into a single, synthetic crystal. The crystal will be known as the Ginzuishou crystal.

"Research is already in progress for possible applications of the Ginzuishou crystal. 
Reference: Project: Total Eclipse."

"Total Eclipse?" Christy repeated quietly. "I know I don't like the sound of that. Is there 
anything else?"

"That's about it," he confirmed. "Everything else is just supplemental info, charts, and 
figures." He saved the restored file onto the Zip disk and ejected it. "Here," he said, 
handing it back to her.

"What's the charge, Shingo?"

"I only want one thing. Where did you get this info? Tell me, and we're even."

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I got this from Jack and a client of his. 
However, I can ask them for you. If they tell me, I'll let you know."

"That'll have to do, I guess," he sighed. "Hey."

Christy stopped as she turned to leave. "Yeah?"

"I don't know what that ex-cop friend of yours or his client has gotten into, but they have my 
sympathies. And if they'd like me to find out any more info from that place they got this from," 
he said, tapping his monitor, "then I'll be more than happy to oblige."

"Got it," she nodded and turned to leave. Before she left the room, she stopped and pointed at 
the bottle sitting by his monitor. "One for the road?"

"I thought you cops discouraged drinking and driving?" Shingo asked.

"We discourage driving while over a certain blood-alcohol level," she corrected. "I'm nowhere 
near that level, so one more wouldn't hurt."

"Che!" he snorted irritably. "I swear, next time, you're not getting a drop. None at all!"

"Just tell me where I can get my own and I'll be all right," she replied and grabbed the bottle.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as he chased her out of the room. "I didn't say you could have the whole 
thing!"

            **********************************************

"Cut!" Amy shouted. "All right, everyone! Break for lunch!"

"Hmm.... So far, not bad at all," Mina observed, nodding to herself. "He's certainly improved a 
lot since I first met him. I think I'll need a little more observation, though. Just to make 
sure."

"Of course," she agreed, nodding. "Take as much time as you need."

"Thank you, I will. Now...," she said with a huge grin as she turned toward where her client was 
exiting the studio with Serena. "Darien! Sweetheart! We have just got to do lunch! You've just 
got to tell me how things have been on the set!"

"But... Serena and I...," he began as Mina began to shove him out of the studio and toward the 
studio parking lot.

"Oh, sure! I'd be more than honored if she'd come to! I've rarely had an opportunity to do lunch 
with such a prestigious actor! Come on! Come on! Time's a wastin'! We've only got an hour, you 
know!"

Amy blinked several times before shaking her head in exasperation. How Darien could deal with an 
agent like Mina was beyond her. But she knew what she was doing; she gave her that much. She 
couldn't help but wonder how long Serena would be able to put up with Mina, though. Normally, she 
wouldn't have given the agent ten minutes, but ever since she and Darien became an item, she had 
mellowed down considerably.

Well, if Mina came back alive, then she'd have her answer.

"Ready to go?" Lita asked as she walked up to her.

"Yes. So, what's on the menu today?" she asked.

"We're making Italian today," Lita replied. "Any requests?"

"Whatever you two decide is fine."

"Oh, come on," Lita rolled her eyes.

"Oh, fine," Amy laughed. "How about Chicken Parmesan over Linguini Alfredo? I think you've made 
that once before."

"Sounds good to me," Lita agreed.

            **********************************************

"So, where do you want to go?" Darien asked Serena.

"I don't know," Serena replied, slightly annoyed at having someone tag along when she wanted some 
alone time with her boyfriend.

"Can I suggest some place?" Mina asked.

"Sure," Serena agreed, not really caring at this point.

"How about this new café that just opened up a few weeks ago?" she suggested. "I've been there 
once before. The food's pretty good and it's got a nice, quiet atmosphere to it. I think you'll 
like it."

"Sounds good," Darien agreed. "Serena?"

"Why not?" she shrugged. "Lead the way, then."

"Serena! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Darien blinked as he saw Serena stiffen with a look of rage plastered on his face. "No. Not now. 
Not here...," she growled under her breath as she turned around. "You! What in the HELL are YOU 
doing here, Seiya?!?"

            **********************************************

                              To Chapter 38

            **********************************************

Author's Note: It's Round Two of Serena vs. Seiya! ^_~ Darien gets to met Serena's ex for the 
first time. Can you guess what happens next? Well, you'll have to wait until next chapter to 
find out. Mwahahahahaha! On another note, we finally find out why the seven Nijizuishou crystals 
are being targeted. But, what is Project: Total Eclipse? Figure out one secret only to find 
yet more secrets behind it. Damn, I like writing this story. ^_^ Next chapter: Darien confronts 
Seiya; lunch with Serena, Darien, and Mina; and Christy tells Jack about Project: Ginzuishou.

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective 
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch 
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate 
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it 
anywhere else. Thank you.

Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa. 
All Rights Reserved.