Coup D'etat Chapter 3
Chapter 3 is up.
Lorelei was glad when they finally arrived on Earth. Teleporting from one planet to another was not the same as simply teleporting to the different islands on her home planet. But she had to admit, even though she felt shaky and her stomach felt like it was much closer to her throat than it ought to be, planetary teleporting was faster than a transport. She had just done in minutes what should normally take days.
“Ah, perhaps you should sit down Princess. You look a little green.”
She should have thanked the Professor for his concern, but Lorelei was certain that if she opened her mouth she would be sick. So she just sat on her suitcase instead.
“I’m sorry Princess. It takes some getting used to, but eventually planetary teleports won’t faze you a bit.”
Lorelei wasn’t so sure that she wanted to make enough trips to get use to this sensation. She was about to tell the Professor just that when her attention was caught by a soft light. Its path was erratic and she almost lost it a few times. Before she knew it a small winged creature was buzzing in front of her face. The light she saw was pure magic radiating from its small body.
“My stars. A fairy. Lorelei-“
The Professor’s voice faded from Lorelei’s attention. She knew her stories well enough; she nodded to the little creature and held her hand out palm down. The fairy looked at her then down at her hand. It must have seen what it was looking for because it sat gently on the back of her hand. The voice she heard next, however, had never been in any of her father’s stories. It was a tiny crystal like laugh. The fairy covered its mouth with its hands but the grin was still there.
Welcome Lady.
And just as quickly as it had appeared, the small fairy flew off.
“Professor, I don’t think we should mention this.”
“I completely agree Princess.” The sound of wonder was still in his voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Aw man. This sucks.” Jadeite kicked a rock that was in his path and shifted the box he was carrying.
When they had reached the teleporter Master Bokuin had made a brief introduction then urged the old man and the little girl to make their way back to the castle as soon as possible. Apparently the King and Queen themselves were waiting for them. That had peaked Nephrite’s attention. It was not often that the King and Queen stayed up to see the visitors from different planets. Usually they waited till morning. This was a first.
Of course, getting there quickly meant that Jadeite and Nephrite were carrying most of the bags. Nephrite assumed that was what Jadeite was complaining about.
“I mean, I thought we would be getting a new student. Master even said he was my age. How can a girl like that be the new student? She’ll cry all the time and she won’t be any fun. It’s bad enough we have to put up with Zoicite.”
“You should be nicer to Zoicite. He’s younger than us. He can’t help that he’s not as good with his magic yet.”
The adults had stopped and were discussing something, so Nephrite and Jadeite dropped their boxes on the drier ground.
“Pft. I doubt that cry baby even has any magic. But still, he’s better than a girl.”
“Hey! Be careful with those, you’ll get them wet!”
Lorelei had noticed where Jadeite dropped one of cases and ran over to move it.
“See what I mean Nephrite. She’s worried her dresses will get wet.”
“For your information, that’s not even my case. I’ve been carrying my stuff. That’s the Professor’s and he has very important documents and instruments in there. If they get wet they’ll be ruined.”
Nephrite could tell that Jadeite was getting angry. He wanted to tell Lorelei to just go away and leave them alone, but she just continued arguing with Jadeite. Nephrite watched as Jadeite’s face grew red with his anger. He really should stop them but it wasn’t often that someone could get Jadeite this angry.
“Whatever. If you care so much then you can just carry it yourself.”
Jadeite turned and started to walk off. Nephrite heard a sharp intake of breath from Lorelei and before he knew it she had caught up with Jadeite and shoved him face first into a mud pile.
“You BRAT!” Jadeite’s yell caught the attention of the two adults.
“Jadeite!” “Princess!”
“Princess?!”
Nephrite didn’t know what was funnier, Jadeite’s face over the revelation that Lorelei was a Princess or the fact that the mud pile that Lorelei pushed him in was the same one that Jadeite had made when he threw water on his sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“As you can see in the third diagram the shortage of grain will not only have an adverse affect on the neighboring planets of Uranus but to every planet in this system. We have tried many solutions already, but we simply don’t have the resources available to pull through this without crashing the economy.”
“Representative, I had heard of the drought taking place on Uranus well before this emergency counsel session was called and - I hope you do not think rude of me- but I have a few ideas that may just solve this problem. If I may?” Danu turned a questioning look toward Selene.
“By all means, Danu, if you have any ideas please share them.”
Danu slide a holochip into the slot by his seat and waited for the image to appear in the center of the round table.
“From what I understand, the main problem is not the lack of rain itself, thought that is a part of the problem, but rather the failing irrigation system. It seems as if the demand has greatly increased but the system itself was not updated to keep up with the ever growing demand. Is that correct so far?” Danu waited till the representative nodded then continued on.
“So the first thing that needs to be worked on is the irrigation system. Unfortunately the system cannot be worked on till after the harvest. So we go on to the next problem, the lack of water. Luckily Neptune is nearby and has plenty of water.”
“Aye, salt water. That’s not the kind of water to put on your crops, lad.”
Danu smiled at the King of Neptune and pressed a button. A new holograph appeared. It’s complicated parts and sub parts made no sense to most of the people sitting around the table.
“That is true. However, I have spoken to a few people who use a similar machine to this one on Mercury. They distill the water to separate impurities from it. In theory we could set these up on Uranus, transport the water in from Neptune and separate the salt from the water.
“It will not be enough to completely save the entire crop as much has already been lost, but it will save more than any other method will. I also propose that Uranus be allowed to sell the salt separated from the water as a way to compensate for the lost crop. If you do not have any objections, that is?”
“But how will so much water be transported? There are no vehicles large enough that are space worthy.”
“I know of a business that has a design in the works that could transport liquids. With a few modifications of course.” The King of Mercury was quickly pulling up files on a handheld device.
“I could get something worked out with them I’m sure. But for the amount of water that will be needed to transfer, well I know for a fact that we don’t have the space to manufacture a space vehicle of those proportions anywhere on Mercury.”
“Mars is not suited to such heavy manufacturing. The ground would give away before you even got the thing together.”
“There is an island near the northern pole on Venus. It is out of the way and has no populace. It is large enough if you wanted to manufacture there.” The Mercurian King nodded and typed something into his device.
“I’ll have to send a scouting crew to gather some data, but it sounds ideal.”
“I’ll give you the contact information for our geology department.”
Danu nodded to the older man. Everything was going according to plan for once. It would take a while, years maybe even decades, but the rebellion’s plans were finally in motion.
“Very well. On to the next topic.” Selene was grateful for Danu’s ideas for once; it was one less thing for her to lose sleep over.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Juno, I’m bored. You said we could go play. This isn’t fun. I’m hungry. Let’s get Luna to get us something to eat. Juno?”
Serenity looked up at the older girl but she was ignoring her. Serenity really had no idea what was so fascinating; it was just a bunch of older people sitting around talking and arguing with each other. Her Mother called it ‘poly tics’ and told her not to worry about it. She really didn’t need to worry about it though; Serenity would never be interested in anything that sounded as icky as ‘poly tics’. Juno, however, seemed to like it. She was standing on a bench and peaking through a window to watch them.
“Shh. We will, later. I promise. Besides they’re almost done.”
“That’s what you said ten minutes ago.” Serenity sulked and sat on the ground.
Serenity didn’t have to pout for long. Juno suddenly perked up and a smile lit up her face. She jumped down off of the bench and straightened the wrinkles out of her dress before fluffing out her curly brown hair. Serenity just watched her as if she had lost her mind.
“What are you doing? You look silly.”
“Quiet.”
Serenity huffed and crossed her arms. Juno gave her hair one last pat before dashing around the corner. Serenity could hear her voice.
“Oh! Hello King Danu. What a pleasant surprising running into you.” Juno’s accompanying laugh sounded fake to Serenity so she decided to peak around the corner and see just what her friend was up to.
“Princess Juno. My you have grown since I last saw you. How are you faring Lady?”
Serenity watched as Danu bowed from his waist and placed a kiss on Juno’s hand. It must have been bad because Juno’s face turned very red. Serenity sighed. She had warned Juno about cooties, but the older girl never listened. It looked like it was up to her to go rescue her friend. After all, she wasn’t sure if there was a cure for cooties or not.
Meanwhile Juno was doing her best to look and sound like a proper princess should. Danu was older than her and now he was a King. As a silence began to settle around them she quickly cast her mind for something a grown up would say and prayed that she would sound older than she really was.
“Your, your sister. H-how is she fairing?”
Juno tried to hide her wince. She didn’t know what had caused her to say ‘fairing’, no one actual used that word and she stuttered too! She could feel her face getting red as her embarrassment grew. Danu, gracious and wonderful as he was, did not mention her blunder.
“Ah, yes. Lorelei is doing much better now. Being at the temple helps her I think. It is something to keep her mind off of her grief.”
And again Juno was scrambling for what to say next. He looked so sad and she had been the one to bring it up. But how to make him smile again?
“Juno! You promised we could go get a snack.”
Juno didn’t even try to hide her embarrassment as she turned to face the tiny princess. Serenity wasn’t having any of it though. She grabbed Juno’s hand and tugged.
“Come on!”
“Princess Serenity, how are you?”
Serenity paused and looked over at Danu. He was smiling at her. Well if he thought he could give her cooties too he had another thing coming. So she glared at him and pulled harder on Juno’s hand.
“Let’s go Juno. I won’t let you get cooties! Come on!” To Serenity’s surprise and Juno’s horror, Danu laughed.
It was a quiet laugh, but when Juno heard it, it brought forth her own slightly nervous laugh. Without knowing it or even intending to, Serenity had done what Juno couldn’t.
“Well, I hope you do not think that I would give you or Lady Juno cooties, Princess. I assure you, it never crossed my mind.” And there it was that impish grin that made Juno’s heart flutter.
“Eh, ok.” Serenity looked at Danu in confusion and Juno patted the top of her head.
“I’ve told her before that there’s no such thing, but you know how kids are.”
Juno tried to give the impression of a greater distance in age between Serenity and herself. She didn’t know if it worked or not but Danu’s grin turned to her and that was all that mattered. She gave Serenity one more pat on the head and ignored her glare.
“There are so such things as cooties! And I won’t be able to see the fairy people if I have cooties, now will I?”
“Fairy people?”
“Yes the fairy people on Earth. I’m going to see them one day.” She gave a firm nod and crossed her arms.
“Serenity, there’s no such thing as fairies either.” Juno didn’t want Danu to think that she believed in such childish stories, even if she did still have her Mother read her fairy tales before bed.
“And who told you that the fairy people live on Earth?”
Danu’s grin was gone and there was something about him that made Serenity fidgety. It was supposed to be a secret but when the King of Venus looked at her that way she couldn’t help but tell. So with one hand twirling in her silver hair, she told him her secret.
“Sailor Pluto told me. Sometimes she comes and tells me stories about the fairy people and Earth. But no one is supposed to know that so don’t tell.”
And just like that Danu was smiling again and the tension that had been in the air was gone. Juno didn’t know what to make of it.
“Sailor Pluto once told me there was a pink bunny that lived on the moon and made chocolate for the children.”
“Oh! She told you that one too! I still haven’t found the bunny, but I will! Just like I’m gonna see the fairy people.”
“Serenity. You can’t see the fairy people. There’s no life on Earth.” Juno tried to get the girl off the topic of fairies. It was embarrassing.
“I can because I have a pure heart. Pluto said so. And you have to have a pure heart to see the fairies. That’s why you can’t come.”
“What?!” Juno couldn’t help the high pitch her voice took when she turned her full attention to the younger girl.
“Yup.”
“Take that back!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danu took advantage of the growing argument to slip away from the two girls. He wondered what Sailor Pluto was up to. She was telling the heir to the Lunar Empire about fairies on Earth and that the girl had a pure heart. None of it made sense. Pluto had told him she was remaining neutral. So why tell Serenity those things.
Danu entered the security code for his rooms and locked the door behind him. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and get some rest. But that would not be happening. He finished his work for the Lunar Court, now he had to get back to his real work.
Thoughts of the Rebellion only brought his mind back to Serenity though. It seemed that for every step forward the Rebellion was presented with two more obstacles to overcome. They had just gotten started with a long term project and now he had to worry about this.
What was Pluto playing at?
“Damn.”
Lorelei was glad when they finally arrived on Earth. Teleporting from one planet to another was not the same as simply teleporting to the different islands on her home planet. But she had to admit, even though she felt shaky and her stomach felt like it was much closer to her throat than it ought to be, planetary teleporting was faster than a transport. She had just done in minutes what should normally take days.
“Ah, perhaps you should sit down Princess. You look a little green.”
She should have thanked the Professor for his concern, but Lorelei was certain that if she opened her mouth she would be sick. So she just sat on her suitcase instead.
“I’m sorry Princess. It takes some getting used to, but eventually planetary teleports won’t faze you a bit.”
Lorelei wasn’t so sure that she wanted to make enough trips to get use to this sensation. She was about to tell the Professor just that when her attention was caught by a soft light. Its path was erratic and she almost lost it a few times. Before she knew it a small winged creature was buzzing in front of her face. The light she saw was pure magic radiating from its small body.
“My stars. A fairy. Lorelei-“
The Professor’s voice faded from Lorelei’s attention. She knew her stories well enough; she nodded to the little creature and held her hand out palm down. The fairy looked at her then down at her hand. It must have seen what it was looking for because it sat gently on the back of her hand. The voice she heard next, however, had never been in any of her father’s stories. It was a tiny crystal like laugh. The fairy covered its mouth with its hands but the grin was still there.
Welcome Lady.
And just as quickly as it had appeared, the small fairy flew off.
“Professor, I don’t think we should mention this.”
“I completely agree Princess.” The sound of wonder was still in his voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Aw man. This sucks.” Jadeite kicked a rock that was in his path and shifted the box he was carrying.
When they had reached the teleporter Master Bokuin had made a brief introduction then urged the old man and the little girl to make their way back to the castle as soon as possible. Apparently the King and Queen themselves were waiting for them. That had peaked Nephrite’s attention. It was not often that the King and Queen stayed up to see the visitors from different planets. Usually they waited till morning. This was a first.
Of course, getting there quickly meant that Jadeite and Nephrite were carrying most of the bags. Nephrite assumed that was what Jadeite was complaining about.
“I mean, I thought we would be getting a new student. Master even said he was my age. How can a girl like that be the new student? She’ll cry all the time and she won’t be any fun. It’s bad enough we have to put up with Zoicite.”
“You should be nicer to Zoicite. He’s younger than us. He can’t help that he’s not as good with his magic yet.”
The adults had stopped and were discussing something, so Nephrite and Jadeite dropped their boxes on the drier ground.
“Pft. I doubt that cry baby even has any magic. But still, he’s better than a girl.”
“Hey! Be careful with those, you’ll get them wet!”
Lorelei had noticed where Jadeite dropped one of cases and ran over to move it.
“See what I mean Nephrite. She’s worried her dresses will get wet.”
“For your information, that’s not even my case. I’ve been carrying my stuff. That’s the Professor’s and he has very important documents and instruments in there. If they get wet they’ll be ruined.”
Nephrite could tell that Jadeite was getting angry. He wanted to tell Lorelei to just go away and leave them alone, but she just continued arguing with Jadeite. Nephrite watched as Jadeite’s face grew red with his anger. He really should stop them but it wasn’t often that someone could get Jadeite this angry.
“Whatever. If you care so much then you can just carry it yourself.”
Jadeite turned and started to walk off. Nephrite heard a sharp intake of breath from Lorelei and before he knew it she had caught up with Jadeite and shoved him face first into a mud pile.
“You BRAT!” Jadeite’s yell caught the attention of the two adults.
“Jadeite!” “Princess!”
“Princess?!”
Nephrite didn’t know what was funnier, Jadeite’s face over the revelation that Lorelei was a Princess or the fact that the mud pile that Lorelei pushed him in was the same one that Jadeite had made when he threw water on his sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“As you can see in the third diagram the shortage of grain will not only have an adverse affect on the neighboring planets of Uranus but to every planet in this system. We have tried many solutions already, but we simply don’t have the resources available to pull through this without crashing the economy.”
“Representative, I had heard of the drought taking place on Uranus well before this emergency counsel session was called and - I hope you do not think rude of me- but I have a few ideas that may just solve this problem. If I may?” Danu turned a questioning look toward Selene.
“By all means, Danu, if you have any ideas please share them.”
Danu slide a holochip into the slot by his seat and waited for the image to appear in the center of the round table.
“From what I understand, the main problem is not the lack of rain itself, thought that is a part of the problem, but rather the failing irrigation system. It seems as if the demand has greatly increased but the system itself was not updated to keep up with the ever growing demand. Is that correct so far?” Danu waited till the representative nodded then continued on.
“So the first thing that needs to be worked on is the irrigation system. Unfortunately the system cannot be worked on till after the harvest. So we go on to the next problem, the lack of water. Luckily Neptune is nearby and has plenty of water.”
“Aye, salt water. That’s not the kind of water to put on your crops, lad.”
Danu smiled at the King of Neptune and pressed a button. A new holograph appeared. It’s complicated parts and sub parts made no sense to most of the people sitting around the table.
“That is true. However, I have spoken to a few people who use a similar machine to this one on Mercury. They distill the water to separate impurities from it. In theory we could set these up on Uranus, transport the water in from Neptune and separate the salt from the water.
“It will not be enough to completely save the entire crop as much has already been lost, but it will save more than any other method will. I also propose that Uranus be allowed to sell the salt separated from the water as a way to compensate for the lost crop. If you do not have any objections, that is?”
“But how will so much water be transported? There are no vehicles large enough that are space worthy.”
“I know of a business that has a design in the works that could transport liquids. With a few modifications of course.” The King of Mercury was quickly pulling up files on a handheld device.
“I could get something worked out with them I’m sure. But for the amount of water that will be needed to transfer, well I know for a fact that we don’t have the space to manufacture a space vehicle of those proportions anywhere on Mercury.”
“Mars is not suited to such heavy manufacturing. The ground would give away before you even got the thing together.”
“There is an island near the northern pole on Venus. It is out of the way and has no populace. It is large enough if you wanted to manufacture there.” The Mercurian King nodded and typed something into his device.
“I’ll have to send a scouting crew to gather some data, but it sounds ideal.”
“I’ll give you the contact information for our geology department.”
Danu nodded to the older man. Everything was going according to plan for once. It would take a while, years maybe even decades, but the rebellion’s plans were finally in motion.
“Very well. On to the next topic.” Selene was grateful for Danu’s ideas for once; it was one less thing for her to lose sleep over.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Juno, I’m bored. You said we could go play. This isn’t fun. I’m hungry. Let’s get Luna to get us something to eat. Juno?”
Serenity looked up at the older girl but she was ignoring her. Serenity really had no idea what was so fascinating; it was just a bunch of older people sitting around talking and arguing with each other. Her Mother called it ‘poly tics’ and told her not to worry about it. She really didn’t need to worry about it though; Serenity would never be interested in anything that sounded as icky as ‘poly tics’. Juno, however, seemed to like it. She was standing on a bench and peaking through a window to watch them.
“Shh. We will, later. I promise. Besides they’re almost done.”
“That’s what you said ten minutes ago.” Serenity sulked and sat on the ground.
Serenity didn’t have to pout for long. Juno suddenly perked up and a smile lit up her face. She jumped down off of the bench and straightened the wrinkles out of her dress before fluffing out her curly brown hair. Serenity just watched her as if she had lost her mind.
“What are you doing? You look silly.”
“Quiet.”
Serenity huffed and crossed her arms. Juno gave her hair one last pat before dashing around the corner. Serenity could hear her voice.
“Oh! Hello King Danu. What a pleasant surprising running into you.” Juno’s accompanying laugh sounded fake to Serenity so she decided to peak around the corner and see just what her friend was up to.
“Princess Juno. My you have grown since I last saw you. How are you faring Lady?”
Serenity watched as Danu bowed from his waist and placed a kiss on Juno’s hand. It must have been bad because Juno’s face turned very red. Serenity sighed. She had warned Juno about cooties, but the older girl never listened. It looked like it was up to her to go rescue her friend. After all, she wasn’t sure if there was a cure for cooties or not.
Meanwhile Juno was doing her best to look and sound like a proper princess should. Danu was older than her and now he was a King. As a silence began to settle around them she quickly cast her mind for something a grown up would say and prayed that she would sound older than she really was.
“Your, your sister. H-how is she fairing?”
Juno tried to hide her wince. She didn’t know what had caused her to say ‘fairing’, no one actual used that word and she stuttered too! She could feel her face getting red as her embarrassment grew. Danu, gracious and wonderful as he was, did not mention her blunder.
“Ah, yes. Lorelei is doing much better now. Being at the temple helps her I think. It is something to keep her mind off of her grief.”
And again Juno was scrambling for what to say next. He looked so sad and she had been the one to bring it up. But how to make him smile again?
“Juno! You promised we could go get a snack.”
Juno didn’t even try to hide her embarrassment as she turned to face the tiny princess. Serenity wasn’t having any of it though. She grabbed Juno’s hand and tugged.
“Come on!”
“Princess Serenity, how are you?”
Serenity paused and looked over at Danu. He was smiling at her. Well if he thought he could give her cooties too he had another thing coming. So she glared at him and pulled harder on Juno’s hand.
“Let’s go Juno. I won’t let you get cooties! Come on!” To Serenity’s surprise and Juno’s horror, Danu laughed.
It was a quiet laugh, but when Juno heard it, it brought forth her own slightly nervous laugh. Without knowing it or even intending to, Serenity had done what Juno couldn’t.
“Well, I hope you do not think that I would give you or Lady Juno cooties, Princess. I assure you, it never crossed my mind.” And there it was that impish grin that made Juno’s heart flutter.
“Eh, ok.” Serenity looked at Danu in confusion and Juno patted the top of her head.
“I’ve told her before that there’s no such thing, but you know how kids are.”
Juno tried to give the impression of a greater distance in age between Serenity and herself. She didn’t know if it worked or not but Danu’s grin turned to her and that was all that mattered. She gave Serenity one more pat on the head and ignored her glare.
“There are so such things as cooties! And I won’t be able to see the fairy people if I have cooties, now will I?”
“Fairy people?”
“Yes the fairy people on Earth. I’m going to see them one day.” She gave a firm nod and crossed her arms.
“Serenity, there’s no such thing as fairies either.” Juno didn’t want Danu to think that she believed in such childish stories, even if she did still have her Mother read her fairy tales before bed.
“And who told you that the fairy people live on Earth?”
Danu’s grin was gone and there was something about him that made Serenity fidgety. It was supposed to be a secret but when the King of Venus looked at her that way she couldn’t help but tell. So with one hand twirling in her silver hair, she told him her secret.
“Sailor Pluto told me. Sometimes she comes and tells me stories about the fairy people and Earth. But no one is supposed to know that so don’t tell.”
And just like that Danu was smiling again and the tension that had been in the air was gone. Juno didn’t know what to make of it.
“Sailor Pluto once told me there was a pink bunny that lived on the moon and made chocolate for the children.”
“Oh! She told you that one too! I still haven’t found the bunny, but I will! Just like I’m gonna see the fairy people.”
“Serenity. You can’t see the fairy people. There’s no life on Earth.” Juno tried to get the girl off the topic of fairies. It was embarrassing.
“I can because I have a pure heart. Pluto said so. And you have to have a pure heart to see the fairies. That’s why you can’t come.”
“What?!” Juno couldn’t help the high pitch her voice took when she turned her full attention to the younger girl.
“Yup.”
“Take that back!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Danu took advantage of the growing argument to slip away from the two girls. He wondered what Sailor Pluto was up to. She was telling the heir to the Lunar Empire about fairies on Earth and that the girl had a pure heart. None of it made sense. Pluto had told him she was remaining neutral. So why tell Serenity those things.
Danu entered the security code for his rooms and locked the door behind him. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and get some rest. But that would not be happening. He finished his work for the Lunar Court, now he had to get back to his real work.
Thoughts of the Rebellion only brought his mind back to Serenity though. It seemed that for every step forward the Rebellion was presented with two more obstacles to overcome. They had just gotten started with a long term project and now he had to worry about this.
What was Pluto playing at?
“Damn.”