Pianodrums@aol.com Hi everyone! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I have written a chapter to "Mutual Dilemma!" All that school work just took up my time, and I had to practically reacquaint myself with it! I would like to thank my readers for giving me a swift kick in the rear to get going again! Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, (pardon my spelling!) and brought to us in our tongue by DIC. Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry, and produced by Paramount Pictures. "And now," as Dostoevsky said, "let's get down to business." Star Trek: Sailor Moon Chapter 19 Radio transmission received at all of Earth's orbital satellites, (text displayed here edited to include only the most important information): --To all bodies and governments on this planet Earth.....this is Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Federation Starship "Enterprise," representing the United Federation of Planets..... as you have probably concluded, observing the destruction and takeover of the city Tokyo, this planet is facing great danger from a powerful adversary..... this adversary is known to the Federation as the Borg..... Their mission is to intrude into Human society, and assimilate all humanity into their fore-mentioned collective consciousness..... It is clear that they must be stopped..... the fate of human civilization depends on their defeat..... My capabilities, including three vessels and almost two thousand officers, are insufficient to combat and defeat this enemy..... Therefore, regrettably, I am sending this transmission to all of your Earth's governments asking for military assistance. Our needs are as follows..... Please respond to this hail in any method preferred..... Please help us to save Earth, humanity, and all life as we know it.....-- End Transmission Captain Picard slumped into his command chair on the Bridge. Looking down at the blue and white planet spinning on the viewscreen, he thought: I'm asking those people down there to die. I'm asking them to go into battle against a foe so powerful, that they can't understand. We can't even understand it. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place," he said aloud. "I'm violating the Prime Directive to ask a whole civilization to go into a war where they very well may die, in an effort to prevent the death of their humanity at the hands of Borg assimilation." Deanna Troi, sitting to his left seemed disturbed by the captain's brooding. Jean Luc was never one to second-guess a decision, even in crises as dire as this. Perhaps it was the Borg element -Picard now facing his greatest (and a very personal) enemy- that was pushing the captain ever closer to panic. One thing was certain however, Captain Picard was the only man who could ever have a chance of emerging victorious from a war with the Borg. Losing his strength, drive, and even his decisiveness could cost the Earth it's humanity. To Troi, Picard's faltering was more frightening than the crisis itself. She felt obligated to say something, but even with her years of training in psychology, she wasn't sure what. "Jean Luc, you made the right decision. We can't fight the Borg alone, and not asking these people to fight would put them in even greater danger then a battle." "We should have stopped them before it came to this... while they were weak. I should have been more careful, been sure they were destroyed while I had the chance." "Captain, you did everything in your power to defeat them. It is not your fault that those people are in danger. It's their fault... the Borg. They are the enemy, not you. And right now, with our limited resources, we can only afford to fight one enemy." Picard sighed, and there was a long silence. Then a trace of a smile appeared on his tired face. "Well, Deanna, with only one enemy to concentrate on... I feel better already." *** "Serena, WAKE UP!!" The tired girl stirred, and then yelped at the sight of sharp claws digging into her blanket. "Luna! Lighten up! I just want five more min...." she started to drift towards her pillow, but the small black cat grabbed it with her mouth and dragged it off the bed. "Serena, we don't have the time! We have to train!" "Train? Train where? This ship may be big, but it's not THAT big!" Serena huffed, and sat up. She twisted around and planted her bare feet on the carpet, remembering suddenly that she was in an unfamiliar room. "Where's everyone?" "They're already in training, Serena...and you're late! So get up and get dressed unless you want to go in the outfit you're wearing!" She looked down at her pink nightshirt with little white bunny prints dotting it. Serena loved that shirt, but she decided that it would not be good for her self esteem to wear it around the ship. The shirt only went to her thighs, and her legs began to get goosebumps from no longer being protected by the warm blanket. "Okay! Okay! I coming, you don't have to shout, Luna!" Serena walked across the bedroom to a small closet that held civilian clothes provided by the "Enterprise" crew. "You're right Serena. I don't always have to shout to get you up," Serena smiled. "Sometimes I have to use a sand blaster!" Her smile became a playful wince. Serena found a green tunic and a black skirt, and reluctantly put them on. "You'd think with all this technology, outfits in the future would be cool, but they're really awful!" Serena scowled at her clothes. "It's no matter, you'll be Sailor Moon soon enough." Luna jumped off the bed and pushed Serena's shoes and socks in her direction. Meanwhile, she went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her hair into its famous style. Once she pulled herself together, she left the quarters behind a rushing Luna. "You didn't tell me how we're supposed to train, Luna. This ship doesn't have enough open space, and I don't think Captain whatever would like us blowing up pieces of it." Serena started to pant behind the running cat, until they came to the closed doors of a turbolift. Starfleet crews passing by gave the two odd glances. "There's several chambers on this ship that have a very unique feature that you'll see soon enough. It's called a holodeck." The two stepped on an arriving turbolift. "Deck five." The lift started moving upward. "A holodeck? Sounds like a cool VR video game system!" "You almost hit the nail on the head, Serena. The holodeck is virtual reality, but of a type we never believed possible." The lift stopped and let the two off on a deck that looked almost identical to the one they left moments ago. Dashing twenty paces down the corridor, they arrived in front of large double doors that looked quite thick. Luna moved under a panel on the wall beside the doors. "Computer, is the program: Sailor Scouts One currently in progress?" The panel lit up, and a female's voice spoke. "Affirmative. Program Sailor Scouts One is currently in progress. Enter when ready." The double doors opened slowly, and peering inside, Serena's mouth dropped. She was looking down a dark metallic corridor that seemed to stretch off into the distance. The floor was nothing but a steel mesh, and exposed wires and tubes were everywhere. Heat from the corridor poured out the doors and onto the deck, along with a white fog that basked the whole scene in a gloomy haze. Glowing red and green triangles on the ceiling, and strange sparking oval disks made high pitched, robotic sounds. "Wha...what is this place?" Serena asked, staring wide eyed in fear down the corridor that seemed too big to fit on the "Enterprise." "This is the holodeck, Serena." Luna said. "The corridor you see is an illusion created by holograms and force fields. You're actually looking into a room not much bigger than our quarters." "Tha...that's incredible!" Serena exclaimed. "You mean I can touch things in there, and actually feel them?" "Yes. If they aren't actually replicated matter, the objects in there are a combination of light and force fields that feel to us like matter." "But what if I can't find the wall, and crash into it?" Serena asked. "Not possible, the view shifts as you walk, as does the floor. You can run for what seems like miles without hitting a wall." "Hey meatball head! What are you doing just standing in the doorway?" Sailor Mars suddenly appeared from behind a large bulkhead. Sailors Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus followed, along with Artemis. "Hi Serena!" said Mercury. "Isn't this extraordinary?" "You better close your mouth Serena, before a Borg hologram mistakes it for a trash can!" Sailor Mars walked toward her slightly smaller friend. "Welcome to the holodeck! We'll all need it to learn how to fight the Borg!" "And I know a great deal of their secrets." Serena gasped as Tuxedo Mask stepped out from the haze, holding a Starfleet phaser in one hand, his cane in the other. *** The Borg intercepted the radio transmission sent to the people of the Earth from Locutus (Picard) of the "Enterprise." Although the humans offered no true resistance to their Mission, the Borg decided to change their plans to accommodate the imminent human invasion. They predicted that the Sailor Scouts, along with Roshalon, would be part of the Earth force Locutus called for. In this case, Sailor Moon could not, for risk of the Mission, be allowed to penetrate the Borg defenses, and enter the vessel. The Borg did not want to encounter the resistance of Sailor Moon's Empyrean Crystal before they assimilated it's secrets on the moon. To ensure this, the Borg vessel was to be launched ahead of schedule.