Someone Innocent

It wasn’t the absence of light that made the room so depressingly gloomy; it was the overabundance of dark. That was how the room’s occupant liked it best. Darkness was her ally and the very thing that gave her life. It was wrapped around her like malicious hen’s wings, sheltering her from the light that sought to reform her and bring her from the edge she’d already stepped over.

There was nothing that anyone could do to save a creature created of darkness who reviled in its deepest and darkest evil. Ariel was not the type of woman who anyone would wish to redeem anyway. She wore that darkness like a great cloak as she moved out of her room and down the hallway of the hideaway. Her goal was a dank cell buried deep beneath the layers of people that made up the Sailor Sith’s latest hiding place. The Queen was there.

Taking her meaning to be Mistique would have been a mistake. In her mind, Mistique was an imposter and a pretender to the throne who only achieved it through trickery. Trickery and personal failure on Ariel’s part to keep her Queen in power. Loyalty was the quality that Ariel prized most in herself and expected the least in others. She would never love a man because all of her considerable energy was focused on the Dark Side of the Force, the giver of her power and her life, in a way. Kendra could focus her attention wherever she pleased, for all Ariel cared. Nothing at all seemed to make the true Evil Queen stray in her task to destroy the Sailor Senshi; the good that threatened the evil empire of darkness.

Kendra was the true Queen and the only one who Ariel would even acknowledge as such. Any other being was inferior and not worthy of her respect or her loyalty. Kendra was Kougo Ada — the Evil Queen.

Ariel paused in front of the door to the dank little cell. Gathering the dark Force that filled the area around herself, she reached out. There was a trigger near the ysalamiri Mistique had placed to keep her Queen — the true Queen — captive. If Ariel could activate the trigger, it would cause some type of temporary Force shield to block the ysalamiri’s power and she could go to her Queen without fear of being stripped of her powers or her connection with the Dark Side energies that she fed off and in return fed off of her.

Kendra wouldn’t use the brief unblocked time to escape her unrightful prison, however. It was physically and mentally too dangerous for her. The Queen had been cut off from the Dark Side so long that it had made her physically weak. Her mind, however, was still in top condition and actively plotting.

For her favorite minion to totally defeat the Sailor Senshi, Ariel needed one of two things, Kendra’s plan went. Both would have been nice, but one would work. Either the power or Force-sense of at least one senshi... or as much of the power of the Queen of the Dark Side as her Alpha Sith’s body could handle. It was dangerous to take in more of the Dark Side energies than a body could handle because it would wear them down and decay their flesh bit by bit. Kendra needed Ariel for the time being. It wouldn’t be very prudent to let her Sith die so soon. Perhaps later. She could call it an experiment of her own.

But that was more Ariel’s style than Kendra’s. Kendra would be perfectly happy if her plan worked as it stood.

Since most of the senshi had objections to lending their powers to the Dark Side forever — some moral compunction against evil — Kendra had devised a way to transfer some of her power to Ariel, making the Alpha Sith at least twice as deadly as before she visited.

The wonderful thing about the plan Kendra had concocted was that Ariel had expounded upon it. Not only was she permeated with Kendra’s dark Force-power, she had also managed to capture most of a Sailor Jedi’s Force-power. And, to top it off, it was the Force-sense of one of the Sailors best suited to their crusade of Darkness, the Dark Sailor herself — Sailor Asteroid. Asteroid was also a Dark Sider. That thought turned Kendra’s mind back to the group of Sailors with the dark attacks.

“Have you defeated the Dark Siders?” Kendra asked, bringing their discussion, now that the transfer was complete, back to its original topic - the latest rash of Dark Sider attacks. “Or at least beaten them back? You told me that there were now more of them than before. Are they defeated?”

“No, my queen.” Ariel didn’t say the words in such a way that would make Kendra think she had failed in her appointed task. Despite that, Kendra was displeased with her Sailor Sith.

Kendra shook her head. “Fool. They will destroy you if you let them live any longer."

The black fire in Ariel’s eyes burned darker at the reprimand. She didn’t voice any of the anger she must have felt, but quietly murmured, “Not before they destroy my Queen’s greatest enemy — Mistique. I can arrange it, my Queen... I have a plan in place for their complete destruction and at the same time downfall of the Impostor Queen — Mistique.”

A dark smile ran across Kendra’s beautiful face. “Ah. I understand. Turn them against us, fail to defeat them, and then let Mistique take the blame for the failure. A well-conceived plan. If it works.” Kendra held up a hand. “If you let them get out of your control, then there will be no telling what could happen. Anything is possible. Even failure. And your failure-” she emphasized the word “-would mean that I would stay here, unable to reclaim my throne. If this doesn’t work...”

“If not, My Queen,” Ariel said with conviction, “then there is some other way for you to regain your rightful throne. And I will find it, or die trying. I will never acknowledge Mistique as the true Evil Queen.”

Oddly enough, Kendra thought that Ariel was not just repeating words that she thought would increase her influence with the Queen. Ariel believed what she said. It was... disturbing to the Evil Queen that someone would be so devoted to her. It was also very useful.

She hated being in the cell. It was too small, too dark, too damp, and too suffocating. Kendra wasn’t a woman who enjoyed being outdoors anymore than inside, but she hated being shut up like an animal. Mistique knew that she hated it. Akki knew that she hated it. Both of them had trapped her in the dungeon because they knew it would be the place she would hate the most.

Of course, hate was an element of the Dark Side. Kendra could turn the hate outward to her enemies and focus it on them. Her mind was filled with various ways to make Mistique sorry for everything the shapeshifter had done to the true Evil Queen — herself.

And the Sailor Senshi. They were the main reason she had fallen out of favor with Darth Sidious. Destroying them or at least hurting them badly would secure her place beside him forever.

Kendra pulled her long hair from behind her shoulders and leaned back against the wall. None of her Sailor Sith had visited her except for Ariel. Ariel seemed to be the exception to every rule.

However... with her Alpha Sith still loyal to her, Kendra had means for accomplishing that feat. She would use the other Sailor Sith to her best advantage and then destroy the Sailors. All of them.

Ariel could do it. Of all the Sailor Sith, she was the most capable in the Dark Side arts. She was the most powerful as well. Ariel could — and would — destroy the Sailor Senshi.

It didn’t much matter to the Evil Queen that the power inside of Ariel had the potential to destroy the loyal Sith. The power might possibly destroy the Alpha Sith, but it would defiantly destroy the Sailors. And at this point, that was all that Kendra really wanted.

The Dark sider Sailors were a thorn in Ariel’s side. Almost everyone knew that. And very few beings would dare mention them to her.

The Sailors with dark attacks were somehow a mixture of evil and good, only the good was much stronger. Ariel didn’t understand how they would want the good to overpower the pure evil.

It made her angry that she couldn’t corrupt them and bring them to the Dark Side fully. Was it really that hard to turn someone from the path of good? It should only take a nudge to push them over the edge... instead of forcing them to use their powers to work for her, she changed tracks and decided to capture their dark power and use it for herself. If they didn’t want it, she did.

When she’d conceived of her plan to entrap Sailors with the help of Kendra’s dark energy, it had been just before the last battle with the latest batch of Dark Siders. The dark angels were multiplying, and Ariel knew she needed to get rid of them before they caused more than just a little trouble. If they ever combined their dark attacks, there was a possibility that they could defeat the Sailor Sith all together. Ariel would do all that she could to stop them before then. They seemed to be recalcitrant about using them... that could be used to her advantage.

Now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Now was the time to work on her latest plan. The dark sider Sailors would be valuable to her in her quest for dark power.

Sailor Asteroid was only the first step. Her power was the first that appeared, so it followed that she would be the first to be captured.

The other five of the darkest of the angels would be next. Just after the Alpha Sith had started getting power from Kendra, the Dark Siders had attacked the Sith. Ariel’s plan to lose had gone wonderfully. Or as wonderful as defeat could be. She hadn’t used her newfound powers to defeat them yet because she was working against a bigger enemy. An enemy less worthy than the Senshi, but more important to her plans in the long run.

Mistique would be gone. And soon.

Lying in her darkened room, Ariel was asleep. The dreams that caressed her mind were nightmares by the standards of any other being, but for Ariel they were the sweetest memories.

When the Sith woke up, she had a bad taste in her mouth. Glancing around, she made sure she hadn’t been transported back in time and given a chance to re-do the experiment. While the first part was pleasant to her mind, the longer the experiment went on, the worse things got. The experiment had gone splendidly up until that point. After the first time she’d gathered from Asteroid, things went downhill.

When Ariel next walked into the room, instead of behaving like she’d done the first time, Asteroid had been silent. Ariel couldn’t seem to access Asteroid’s Force-sense like she had before, despite trying for hours on end. It was almost like she wasn’t there anymore. Anger coursed through the Sith’s mind. She jerked the clothespin off and threw it across the room. Then Ariel pulled off her gloves and grabbed the sides of Asteroid’s head. “What’s going on in there?” Ariel asked, tapping into the outer layer of Asteroid’s mind.

The outermost layers of a being’s mind were easy for Ariel to get into. She’d done it often enough. A simple “surface scan” to discover identities and motives wasn’t even beyond the morals of the Sailors. She’d never, however, tried to force her way into the deeper recesses of the mind. That was where the real power was. If she could get that deep, she could know everything about anything and anyone. But that wasn’t her goal now. Her goal now was to find out what had happened.

That was when Ariel knew that something had gone horribly and irreparably wrong. Apparently, when she had shot herself, Sailor Asteroid had tucked her personal Force-sense as close to her as she could. Ariel couldn’t understand why anyone would want to do that. It certainly wasn’t to prevent pain to the Sailor herself. What it did do was prevent Ariel from capturing all of Asteroid’s Force-sense like she’d planned originally. Ariel could drain off the outer, less tightly controlled Force-sense, but not the rest of it. The anger that she felt doubled as she realized her plan had been — in part — foiled again.

The long nails that graced Ariel’s hands and made them look almost elegant worked wonderfully as claws, the Sailor Sith found out. Unfortunately, getting Asteroid’s skin out from under her nails after she’d raked them across the other girl’s face was a little bit harder. Ah well, the tortures of torture. She’d have to remember the claw thing.

Blood poured from the four parallel wounds that striped across the once-perfect face on her forehead, the bridge of and just under her nose, and across her chin. A rivulet of blood fell down the girl’s cheek almost like a dark red tear. Ariel had had no sympathy.

Walking across the main room of the Sith’s hideout, Ariel tried to avoid Mistique. The room was large with lots of furniture, candles, tables, and a few computers. It should have been large enough to avoid anyone in, but Mistique had no desire to be avoided by her so-called Alpha Sith. “Ariel,” the blue-skinned woman called.

“Yes, Mistique?” the fire-eyed woman said aloofly as if she had no care for the being she was speaking to. “What is it?”

Mistique raised an eyebrow at the impetuous Sith. “You are to call me Queen,” she frowned.

With an elaborate bow that swept her dark cloak around, Ariel apologized. The sarcasm in her voice was just close enough to the surface to be heard, but not close enough to earn the woman a reprimand. “Forgive me, Queen Mistique,” Ariel said, slowly bring her head up to stare into Mistique’s eyes. The Sith had a sense of the dramatic to fit any situation.

Fire-like red met snake-like yellow and held the gaze. Ariel had nowhere to be and could have stayed there, holding the gaze — it wasn’t a stare, because Ariel didn’t even have to work at it — forever. Or at least until Mistique blinked.

When the impostor Queen did blink, Ariel was gone, disappearing in literally the blink of an eye.

Ariel frowned at her little pet. Asteroid was not being a very good girl. The senshi hadn’t woken up or even really stirred for three whole days. There was very little chance that Asteroid would actually die — again — because Ariel was using Dark Side Force to keep her alive.

However... the Sailor wasn’t responding. Ariel would talk to her and tell her everything that could be going wrong with her so-called friends. The ones that hadn’t ever tried to rescue her from the evil place. And that boyfriend of hers? Hah. What a joke. She’d never see *him* again, that was for sure. He might have said he loved her once, but that time was obviously long over.

There was no noticeable effect. Ariel was getting angry again.

With a smooth motion that belied its significance, Ariel lifted Sailor Asteroid’s scabbed-over chin in her hands. It was time to find out exactly what was going on inside the Dark Sailor’s mind. The Sith put her hands on either side of Asteroid’s head and closed her fiery eyes.

To get into the senshi’s mind Ariel had to pry, although she’d done it once before. Since the time she’d gone in before, Asteroid had erected a paltry barrier. It wasn’t much of a challenge to break it down once she’d gotten in. It was an almost physical action, forcing her way in. The blonde had a few natural barriers against intrusions like the one Ariel was attempting, but even her strongest was no match for Ariel’s empowered self. Nothing could stand against the Sith!

The first time had only been a surface scan. They happened everyday, albeit not with the intensity of Ariel’s, but they were common. What she was attempting now was rarely done — even by the strongest of the light side Force-users. Hah. Morals. They got in the way of so much.

Ariel’s job was easier than any being trying to get into another’s mind for good reasons. Caring nothing for the hurt she was causing to the girl’s subconscious made the Sith do anything to get in. She imagined having long fingernails that were sharpened like daggers. Then she imagined driving those organic daggers into Asteroid’s mind and splitting it open like a ripe melon.

Had Sailor Asteroid been even half-conscious, she would have screamed. Because she unconscious, there was no reaction.

Darkly disturbing laughter spilled from the Sith’s mouth. She’d accomplished it! She’d forcefully entered the mind of a Sailor Senshi!

Now. Because Asteroid had pulled her Force-sense so close to her before she’d killed herself, Ariel couldn’t get very deep into the Sailor’s mind. What elated her most of all was that she had done it. She’d conquered a Sailor Senshi in a way that no other Sith ever had. Victory! Small, but worth it.

Deep inside of her, Asteroid could feel that something was deeply wrong. It almost felt like someone had violated her innermost being... sithspawn, it must be Ariel... Mentally, Asteroid curled up in a tight ball. What was happening to her? She hated it, whatever it was.

The senshi could feel the sensation of being violated all around her. It was sinking into her soul like the claws of a predatory animal. Asteroid didn’t know if it would ever go away.

She tried to think of something else, something pleasant, anything other than the evil sithspawn Sailor Ayameru. Her mind turned to the loyal friends that she didn’t even deserve to have and her annoying sister that she loved more than any other member of her Sailor family did and then to the person who she knew would most protect her if he could. Kousotsu Renjiro... honest warrior... Tuxedo Jedi... the only man she’d ever truly loved... her knight...

But... all the Sailors and Chibi Sailors coming from the future had mentioned her by name but not him; they hadn’t said anything about Tuxedo Jedi. They’d never mentioned a Chibi Asteroid, either. What if he died? Or — even worse — what if they weren’t really meant to be together? Before, they’d died... what if the only love she’d trusted in and given herself fully to wasn’t meant to be?

It was too much for her. She couldn’t quite deal with it. Ethereal tears streamed out of nonexistent eyes. It was too much...

Everything that she’d feared would happen, all of her uncertainties about her future, the past that she carried around and hoped wouldn’t catch up with her and endanger all of her friends... it all came crashing down on her at once like a waterfall of worry.

The things she was worried about piled around her like a stack of bricks with which she tried to insulate herself from anything else the Sailor Sith wanted to do to her. Tighter and tighter she pulled her Force-sense — her internal light — in around her until there was room for another...

Ariel was getting very tired. The day had been exhaustingly long and seemed that it was only getting longer. Grabbing the Sailor senshi’s blood-encrusted blonde hair, Ariel forced her way into Asteroid’s mind. She was getting quite good at doing that. Especially because she didn’t really care what kind of scars her forced entries left on the girl’s subconscious.

Before, it had been a gray plain with nothing but a darker tinged light source on its mostly barren face. Now it appeared that another — What was it that Sailor brat called them? Internal lights? — internal light had appeared. Instead of being big and on the darker side of bright like the first light had been, this one was the whitest light Ariel had ever seen. Pure like the first cry of a newborn baby, its light shot out with a curious kind of seeking.

Sailor Asteroid was still there in an odd way. It was almost like she had walked through the room and left the Force-shadow — as another of the Sailors described it — of her mind behind. As if the Sailor herself was gone, and behind her she left only her footsteps in the sand. And that little light.

It was small and faint... but somehow the light projected a feeling of innocence that Ariel hadn’t ever felt in Sailor Asteroid. Asteroid, she supposed, was devoid of innocence now. Any kind of innocence that had been left in her body was gone forever. She would never be innocent again.

Ariel tired to touch it to gather its Force-sense, but there seemed to be no Force associated with the light. Almost as if Asteroid’s body could only hold so much Force and Asteroid’s light had all of it leaving this little light with none. How ridiculous. The girl was still no use to the Sith!

A growl escaped Ariel’s throat. Before she could do anything more to Asteroid, however, a new plot formed in her mind. Chaos, torture, death of innocence... there was nothing in the plan that wasn’t unnecessarily cruel and evil. Kendra would be most pleased.

Besides, Ariel was always looking for a new experiment to toy with. Asteroid’s new internal light seemed like the perfect subject.

Kendra opened her dark eyes and stared at Ariel. The Evil Queen was the only one who had ever been able to stare Ariel down, and she wanted to remind the other Sith of that fact. Ariel was sitting quietly with a devilish smile on her lips. “Do I sense the beginnings of a plan, Ariel?” Kendra asked.

The other Sith nodded, scattering the strands of her short red-black ponytail around her face. “Yes, my Queen.”

“Are you going to tell me about it, or am I going to guess?”

Ariel laughed, spreading the darkness in the room. “My Queen, I plan to take the useless senshi-” her voice was bitter as she spoke. Kendra had already heard the story so Ariel didn’t need to repeat it “-and drop her on some unknown planet. I’m assuming that this new, defensive light will be weaker than the original, so she’ll come back to her Force-senses quickly. She might not have use of all her powers, but she’ll still be a senshi.” Ariel’s eyes lit up and an unkind smile graced her lips. “And then I shall hunt her down.”

“Why?”

“As an experiment,” the girl explained. As she began to explain, she began to talk more like a researcher and less like an evil minion. “Understand, we know a good bit about how the Sailors act together and apart as Sailors, now we can see how one of them acts alone in the middle of an unknown region and what she acts like when she is powerless.”

The Evil Queen frowned. “Isn’t that too many variables?” she asked Ariel, curiously.

Ariel frowned. She was still in a researcher frame of mind, and therefore took the time to think her answer through before voicing it. “Possibly. However, some of the variables cannot be controlled.” She shrugged, the clipboard in her hands making her look official. “Whatever the outcome...” she laughed. “It will definitely be interesting!”

“Just in case,” Ariel muttered to herself. She’d forced her way back into Asteroid’s mind for a last minute touch-up. An idea had occurred to her while she was walking back from her talk with Kendra. What if she could place “markers” in the other light? That way, if certain words were mentioned, it could cause some kind of reaction that promised to be very interesting to watch. Unfortunately, she’d have to test her improvements when she recaptured Sailor Asteroid. The stupid girl still hadn’t woken up.

Dropping the unconscious senshi on the side of a little-traveled country road was terribly easy. Leaving her there was even easier. Before she walked back to her dark little ship, Ariel leaned down as close as she could come to Asteroid’s ear and whispered to her.

“You see, little dark angel, this is where our paths diverge. Hopefully, I’ll see you again soon. Then you can tell me all about your adventures on this Force-forsaken farmland. Say hello to any of your friends who come to save your pathetic little life.” She paused for a moment to run a long fingernail across the unconscious girl’s face, not-quite-accidentally dislodging a scab and making her bleed again. “Although, for their sakes, I hope they don’t. It’d be a pity to kill them all right now. I have a plan for them later. But if they want to confront me, then can just try.”

The Sailor Sith laughed as she walked off. “Have fun, dark angel! And don’t get into too much trouble.” The laughter followed the Sith like the fading night wind as Asteroid lay on the ground, unmoving.

Asteroid had no strength. Ariel would give her a day, maybe two, before she came for the Sailor Senshi. After that, she’d study the girl to find out if anything had happened to the new light that Asteroid hosted.

Experimentation was delightful. With the girl, Ariel could do anything she pleased and no one would care. Not the other Sailor Sith or the other Sailor Senshi. Neither group was close enough to the Force-forsaken planet to stop her. She could do whatever she pleased.

And she would make sure that “whatever she pleased” was especially painful for the annoying little Sailor.

With that out of the way, Ariel went back to her room to relax in the unsettling darkness. Before she could get there, Emi stopped her.

“Ariel, Mistique has bee asking about you. She wants to know what you’re doing and why you aren’t telling her about it,” the other Sith said. The tone of her voice was accusing. Turning around to face Emi, Ariel kept her entire face impassive except for her eyes. Then she turned her eyes on Emi. The stare that Ariel possessed was her first line of defense and her first weapon. She used it quite constantly to keep Emi in line. And to intimidate Mistique.

Emi had enough with Ariel giving her that Force-forsaken stare. Grabbing the other Sith’s shirt, she glared at her and then growled at her. “Don’t do that to me any more,” she threatened. “Or else I...” Her eyes went wide, and she started coughing. Letting go of Ariel to hold on to her own throat, Emi gasped for air. She couldn’t breathe, and Ariel didn’t seem to mind.

Ariel was brushing nonexistent dirt off as she watched Emi. “What were you saying, punk?”

Emi shook her head and gasped for air a little bit louder. Her face was turning an interesting shade of blue as a result of the other Sith’s harsh Force-choke hold on her neck.

“Oh. I see. You can’t breathe. Let me help,” she growled. She made a shoving motion with her hands, and Emi was slammed through a wall. A little bit of blood fell from a cut above the Sith’s ear. Ariel laughed and walked off.

Standing up from the rubble, Emi started after the Alpha Sith in disbelief. “She’s gone crazy,” was her only comment.

“Mistique?”

The shapeshifting Sith turned round to see who addressed her. “Yes, Emi?”

“I think there’s something wrong with Ariel.”

It wasn’t Emi’s nature to voice concerns about her fellow Sith, so Mistique was intrigued. “How so?”

Emi frowned before she spoke. “She just slammed me into a wall. When I was prepared for it.”

Mistique shrugged. “She’s a physically powerful woman with a nasty temper. That’s not so very unusual.”

“No, I don’t think you understand,” Emi said quietly. “She picked me up with the Force while choking me and slammed me into a wall. And turned the wall into rubble around me. I had guessed that she was going to try something, so I was Force-braced. It’s not...”

“...like Ariel.” Mistique frowned. “How did she get so powerful all of the sudden?”

Emi shrugged. “I have no idea. But I don’t like it at all. I think something bad is coming. She might try to free Kendra and force you out of your rightful throne. Please be careful.”

A shrug rippled the dark cloak Mistique was wearing, showing a tight bodysuit underneath. “There’s no way that she can dislodge me from my position. Impossible. Sidious is happy with my performance.” The Sailor Sith flipped her hair behind her shoulder.

Emi didn’t mention the defeat that the Dark Siders had dealt them. Or that fact that Ariel had engineered it to defeat Mistique in some roundabout way. But the Beta Sith did begin to wonder if maybe Ariel was feeding off of the evil that those Sailors had... somehow. It would account for Ariel’s wanting to keep them alive, even at the cost of a humiliating defeat.

Emi couldn’t even begin to fathom how such a thing could be possible, but if it could be done, Ariel had done it. And Emi wanted part of it... all of it, if she could have it.

Forever was a long time. It got longer with every second one lived, because there was more of a time span for the notion to draw on. Ariel wasn’t usually given to such introspection, but the new power that coursed throughout her body need to be reined in or it would burst out of her. Meditation and introspection was the easiest way for her to keep it under her control.

Closing her eyes, the woman immersed herself in dark side power. It was like a scalding hot bath that seared off layers of her skin. She let herself sink deeper into the burning sensation until it flowed around her. The first time she touched the Dark Side, her body had recoiled from its hurt. Nothing that she could ever remember had hurt like that. Or had given her such pleasure. The way pain and pleasure had been so intermingled was strange to her; the way that she felt as it coursed through her mind and body was immensely odd.

That first, slight pain was nothing compared to the fire of the Dark Side that engulfed her now. Progressive that was the word. The Dark Side required a progressively deeper commitment echoed in a progressively deeper pain. It was exhilarating!

The doorchime rocked her out of her trance. She glared at the offending door, and hissed “Who is it?”

“It’s Emi. Let me in.”

Ariel reached out with her newly powerful senses to feel whether it was really the Beta Sith or if it was Mistique trying to trick her. The way she approached the mind to enter it was secretive so the other probably didn’t even realize Ariel was doing anything to her.

“I said let me in!”

It was Emi. Ariel growled that she could some in after assuring herself of the fact. “What do you want?” she added, seeing Emi’s determined look.

“I want whatever it is you have,” Emi said, frowning. “Whatever it is that made you so powerful, I want some of it.”

Ariel shrugged. “Didn’t your mommy tell you to eat your vegetables so you’d grow big and strong?” Her careless voice dripped with sarcasm as she turned away from the other Sith.

That didn’t make Emi happy. On the contrary, Emi grew angry. “We’re all Sith! We’re all working to destroy the Sailor Jedi!” Emi knew just the sound of the word “Jedi” would be an irritant to Ariel, but she didn’t know quite how it would play out. Sometimes the Alpha Sith wouldn’t react. Other times... taking gambles like that wasn’t smart, she learned, as Ariel blasted her with black fire.

“We might be working towards the same goal, but our methods differ greatly. You, fool, are trying to use a little sponge to soak up the sea. It won’t work.” Ariel glared at the other girl. “And because you can’t see that, you’re destined to lose in the end.”

Emi tried to match Ariel’s deeply evil glare with little success. “It’s not like you’re doing any better. You lost to the Sailors last time. You lost! You’ve got a sponge in your hands too!”

Ariel laughed softly but cruelly. “Maybe. But realize that I am also cutting off the rivers that feed the sea.” She shot another look that spat fire at Emi. “Now get out of my room.”

The Sith were sitting around in the main part of the hideout. It was the only place with enough couches, tables, chairs, and other pieces of furniture for them to gather in one room without being close to each other. The room was also full of convenient projectiles for anyone’s temper tantrum to launch. Considering the occupants of the room, it was surprising that any furniture lasted very long. Geri was prone to destroying it at a whim.

Ariel’s black-booted feet were propped up on a table, with her chair leaning back on two legs. The cape that Ariel wore was long so part of it was pooled on the floor from where it cascaded off her shoulders. She was painting her nails dark red to match her Sailor Sith suit. One of the newest things that she’d acquired was a pierced fingernail on her left hand, first finger. It was a small loop with a Krayyt dragon pearl fixed on it. Paired with her red nails, it made her elegantly long hands look very dangerous and ready to kill.

Emi was still fuming. She had a long-sleeved white shirt on over a black halter-top and a set of red necklaces and bracelets. They clacked together as she moved. The short black shorts she wore completed the ensemble. Not doing much other than glaring at the back of Ariel’s head left her time to plot various ways to rig the other Sith’s room so she could find out how Ariel was getting so much more powerful than the other Sailor Sith.

“I’m boooored,” the other Sailor Sith complained. “There’s nothing to doooooo.” Geri’s face was scrunched up in frown that would have been comical. No one was laughing, however. “Why don’t we go make some trouble? I bet the Sailor brats aren’t doing anything. We could destroy them or something.” She was laying on the couch in a pair of long brown pants. The short vest she wore showed her midriff and the brand-new belly button ring she’d acquired. Emi was taking bets on how long it would stay before Geri got it stuck in a shirt or some other, more embarrassing place. Ariel had money on one such embarrassing place that made Emi laugh.

“I’m sorry, Geri, we’ve got other things to do,” Ariel told her calmly as she kept painting her nails. Perfection was the goal. “Like nothing.”

Geri stuck her tongue out at the other two. “Hmph. I hate you. Then I’m gonna find something to do. Maybe I’ll call up Wayland. He’s always nice to me. Nicer than you are!”

“Aw. Go cry to your boyfriend,” Emi said with an evil smirk on her face. “Maybe he’ll care. I don’t.”

That was a set up for a fight between the two Sailor Sith. Ariel didn’t really care. They could fight until Tatooine froze over for all she cared. Just as long as they left her alone.

“Geri! That’s not fair! Put the couch down!” Emi whined unhappily, as she was hiding behind the couch. “Put it down, stupid!”

The insane Sith giggled and dropped the couch back into its place. Right on Emi’s foot. “Gotcha!” the other girl giggled.

Emi screeched. “Idiot! That was a brand new pair of shoes! You ruined them!” Emi shot Force-lightning at Geri. “I’ll make you pay for that!” she kept screeching. “My shoooes!”

Ariel ignored them. Ariel’s nails were drying as she keyed her computer on. She could let them dry while she typed without fear of messing them up. The first thing she needed to know was where the Sailors were. From all her information, they were on Coruscant trying to “heal” Sailor Asteroid. Fools. Even if she revived, Sailor Asteroid would never be up to full strength until she had the bit of Force-sense that Ariel had stolen from her mind. Wonderful. They were short at least one Guardian Sailor. More, if Ariel could convince them she was going after Asteroid again. Then they’d devote some of their strength to protecting her. Although Sailor Asteroid’s sister — Yavin — and her worthless boyfriend might not be too happy with her. Hmmm. She’d have to try and discourage them somehow.

A vase flew past the back of Ariel’s head. She caught it with the Force and sent it careening at Geri. The insane Sith screeched and ducked. She returned fire with a pillow. It missed Ariel but hit Emi square in the face. Emi lunged for Geri, and the two started rolling around on the floor.

Ariel turned back to her computer. Where was she? Oh yes. If they devoted some of their strength to protecting Asteroid in some other location, it would be a little harder. However, accessing all of the power that Kendra had lent her and she’d taken from Asteroid would simplify things. She could destroy them all!

The Sailor Sith had never fully accessed the power that she had been bestowed with, so Ariel wasn’t quite sure what would happen to her and to her enemies. She knew that it would be incredible in several many ways. Incredible pain and incredible power for her; incredible defeat for the Sailor Senshi. Incredible victory for herself and her Queen.

The last part of her plan was in place. The last crucial element was falling through the air to her feet. A ship that was as black as the space it sailed and as silent as the screams of the dead. Actually, that was its name. Scream of the Dead.

Ariel had picked the ship and its name out herself. It was a treat for herself. The latest plans that she’d come up with were running smoothly, and she was very pleased.

The Sith wasn’t usually given to buying things — especially such expensive things — on whim... but this was different.

The Scream was to be her personal transport. She wouldn’t have to rely on whatever Mistique felt like handing her at the moment. Usually, because Ariel didn’t respect the impostor Queen, it was the worst ship that was still space-worthy. Ariel had her doubts about the space worthiness of the last one. But her new ship...

The black ship would get her to Coruscant, get her back and hopefully far beyond that if it was worth half what she paid for it. The Sailor Senshi would never catch her in their lumbering, slow transports. Nothing could match the speed of her little ship! Not the mothership, not that Nubian Transport, not even that annoying little starfighter that sometimes appeared out of the belly of their main ship. It was a fast one, but nothing could match her speed.

The little ship also had all the latest in stealth technology. A cloaking device — although it only worked when the shields were down — and scanner-proof hull made it nearly undetectable to most instruments. The blackness of its outer skin made it invisible to the naked eye as well, and it fit perfectly with the dark space it flew in. A perfect vehicle to slip in to systems unnoticed and out again. No one would know where she came from. The only things that would be left would be the Scream of the Dead.

She laughed at her play on words. What fun this ship promised. And what wonderful mischief making.

Ariel watched the twisting lights of hyperspace writhe past her viewpoints as she meditated on the Dark Side. It was easy, somehow, to mediate on her way to the center of the Republic. Despite the brightness of hyperspace, it was comforting to watch it dance around her ship. Brightness usually moved the darkness that Ariel so loved out of its way, but she loved to watch it and imagine that the coils were wrapping their way around her body.

The hyperspace outside her window looked like long streams of sun-bright energy rushing at her from out of eternity and continuing their journey to infinity. They’d never stop. Always twisting and turning, they’d forever be caught in the grips of the hyperspace corridors opened by various ships.

The analogy that could be drawn between the traveling coils of hyperspace and her own life was familiar to her. She’d always been at the beck and call of various masters and Queens, rushing to them and then beyond them to do their works. She had always loved being in that position because it opened to her the Dark Side. The real power of the Force. Even if the foolish angels didn’t want to let themselves be swept away in its all consuming torrent, she did. Ariel wanted everything and anything that the Dark Side would offer her.

In return, she served it with her whole life, slaving herself to its whims and the whims of those who controlled it.

Now, she was almost free. Not free of the Dark Side, by any means, but free from others thinking she was inferior to them. She could almost feel the praise that Kendra would shower her with when her mission was a success.

She was almost within reach of the goal that she’d held for so long. Almost in the position of the ultimate victory.

It would be sweet. Revenge always was.

Coruscant. Center of the Galaxy, Seat of the Republic, Guardian of Right and Justice.

There it was. Hanging like a perfectly round and brightly glittering jewel against the backdrop of star-studded space, the planet Coruscant beckoned.

It called to her with promise of a better life than any other where she could live in anyway that pleased her. It spoke to her of the legends that formed the heart of the great Republic of the people, and it told her that she could be standing right next to this wonder. It painted her pictures of the great Temple where the padawans trained and of the legends that they were in the process of creating. It told her that she would be welcomed with open arms into the city-planet’s great heart.

Of course, there was no way that the planet could realize that the girl it offered to welcome into its heart wanted to rip out that very heart and cut it up into little tiny pieces then feed it to the hawkbats that flew in the lowest layers of Coruscant. It was nothing personal.

The hearts of the Sailor Senshi at the very least. Any more of the Force-angels if she could find them and get to them. But right now the ones she most wanted were the Sailor Senshi.

Ariel could imagine every heart in her head, still bleeding its life out on to her hands just before she threw it to the waiting carrion eaters below. The Sailor Sith would take special pleasure in killing Sailor Naboo — the leader of the Sailor Senshi — and the other of the first Sailors. They had been the first to come, so naturally they would be the first to die by her hand.

Soon, all of the annoying do-gooders would be gone, and she could free her Queen. Then Kendra would rule the galaxy next to Sidious, her dream. Ariel didn’t share the dream in its exact specifications; she only wanted to see her Queen taker her true place as ruler. Anything else that wanted to happen could, for all she cared. It didn’t matter to her.

As she moved closer to it, the allures of the city-planet reached out for her, but Ariel ignored them. She knew the side of the planet that no one mentioned. She knew that lower levels were slums that reduced their once-human inhibitors to the level of animals. She knew that the common being was oppressed and forced to live in smaller spaces than farmers housed their livestock in. She knew all of it and reveled in the darkness that stretched out from it.

Now was the time to set her ultimate plan in motion. It would take a while for the targets to realize what she was doing and where she was. They’d act to prevent her from killing any more of the people they called innocent. Foolish angels.

They would be walking their way into a trap. Maybe they’d have Asteroid up on her feet. That would be nice. Then Ariel wouldn’t have to make two trips to kill the annoying Senshi. One mass killing to rid the universe of the Sailor scum and open the door for the reign of power by the Dark Side, like it should be.

After they analyzed her movements, they’d see the pattern she was setting up for them to follow. Then they would have to attack. They’d have to come out from hiding and confront her before she killed any more beings. Then Ariel would show them the true power of Sailor Sith Ayameru and fight them till every Sailor was a heap of unmoving flesh. Dead!