Mamoru watched the panels closely for any hint of alarm, his fingers at the keys just in case, waiting on edge to make sure the commands he input had been accepted into the system without sending out a distress call to any other center of the ship. Each extraction was getting more and more difficult as he had to scramble codes to create excuses to enter battery chambers, and further codes to cover what they were doing within. With Pluto’s team about to splinter off he hoped that their luck would continue. Their number was much greater now, and much harder to hide; while he still didn’t particularly like the idea of splitting up on an alien craft, it was the only possible way they could continue, their only hope of finding Usagi.
 
Behind him he heard Setsuna explaining their situation to Hotaru; introducing her to their new allies – senshi from extrasolar planets – passing on Michiru and Haruka’s well wishes, explaining where the two of them had gone, and revealing Hotaru’s new role as a Ranker’s daughter. When he heard Minako playfully commenting on Hotaru’s outfit he turned, trusting that the system would hold and that they were indeed invisible to the system, to look at their group.
 
They were down Togarishii, Gochi, Michiru and Haruka, the latter three of whom were off holding up his side of his bargain with Gochi, carefully searching the upper levels of the ship in an attempt to find Gochi’s brother, Tobias. He had utter confidence in the pair, knowing that they would succeed in their mission and return; Uranus and Neptune always did. He sincerely hoped that the senshi of Vegeta would be reunited with her brother and escape with them, but wouldn’t worry about her if she decided to split altogether. She could handle herself.
 
They had gained a good portion of their team - Makoto, Ami, Setsuna, Minako, and now Hotaru – and several more besides; there were four other senshi, all from different systems, all hoping to be reunited with a partner but too quiet to insist on finding them. He wanted to help them, too, but knew that he had to find Usako before the Tarans tried anything with her or her powers.
 
 
At this point they all knew the drill; he had been repeating it at every turn, but now as a group of ten, this was it. “Ami, Setsuna,” he instructed, looking at the ‘doctor’ and the ‘mechanic’; he wanted to keep Setsuna with Hotaru, but knew that she and Ami were the best choices for keeping track of the new senshi, and helping them find and free any others they came across. He also knew that the two of them, while outwardly calm and polite, would not hesitate to make the tough decisions should things go wrong. “You two will be leading the second group. Your mission is to save as many other senshi as you can.” He looked at both of them, “Keep in touch with their computer system, leave me messages where Togarishii had instructed so they don’t find them. If you need to split up again… just keep me informed, okay?” The two of them nodded, looking determined. He turned to the four new senshi, regretting that he did not remember their names, “You four go with them; with any luck, you can recover your lost friends, too. We’ll leave together, if we can.” He looked at the two of them, Ami and Setsuna, steadfast friends through time; somehow this was more difficult than when Michiru and Haruka left; but then, those two were always leaving on private missions. This was dangerous, and, while they all agreed that it was the right thing to do, splintering to find other senshi was a completely selfless act that could cost them their lives if they were not careful. There would be no talking them out of it, though, so he offered them a “Good luck,” and after a few hugs and some quiet instructions from Setsuna to the new senshi, they were on their way.
 
Once the last of the second party had left, Mamoru turned to the small party that remained: Makoto, Minako, and Hotaru; they would continue forward, into the command part of the ship, and search directly for Usagi. Were they to find another battery chamber they would stop to free the senshi within, but only if it were on the direct route to Usako. The ship’s navigation revealed that they were passing through the space between Uranus’s and Neptune’s orbital areas; they wouldn’t be in the Solar System for much longer.
 
He smiled halfheartedly, looking to Hotaru, who was dressed as a chic and proper young lady. “Hotaru, stick with Minako,” the plainly-clothed blonde, carrying what had been Gochi’s backpack, put her hand on the younger girl’s shoulder comfortingly, “she’ll help you when she can, but you have to remember that you’re in charge, okay?”
 
“Makoto, you’re with me again,” he nodded to the tall girl, noting how the shoe polish in her hair was beginning to work itself in, looking less glossy and more realistic now that it had had time to settle. They had found a mop and bucket along the way, and now, along with the backpack, Makoto really looked the part of a maintenance worker. “We’ll leave last so I can shut the place down again; keep walking down the main hallway and stop for a bit to let us pass; then you can follow again to the next stop, alright?”
 
The two left, as did he and Makoto shortly after. Once the doors were closed behind them he began working at the controls, making the computer think that Sailor Saturn were still in stasis within the compartment, and then shut down the system for long-distance travel. Then he and Makoto left, too.
 
As they walked down the well-light, increasingly wider hallway together, he didn’t quite know what to say by means of conversation; Makoto and he had been at this for hours now, slowly working their way down the ship, freeing senshi, avoiding suspicion, silently fighting to make their way off the ship before it was too late. And still they had so many unanswered questions – what were they planning to use Usako’s energy for? What defenses did they have in place to protect her, and could they make it through on the virtue of their disguises alone? Could they even hope to stop the Tarans, a culture so technologically advanced that they could barely comprehend the science at work on this starship? Could they even make it off this ship alive? And what of the people of Earth, locked back in the containment bays? Could they possibly hope to save them? They, who had risked so much just to get him out, who rested all their hopes on his shoulders, on all their shoulders… they couldn’t abandon them to their fate.
 
With so much adversity mounting against them, despite his best efforts to the contrary, Mamoru was starting to doubt whether they would succeed in this mission on any level, and perhaps it was the crease of his brow or the heaviness of his step, but weight of his thoughts was starting to show.
 
 
 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ranker Quarters
Togarishii’s “crash course” in Ranker Etiquette had been exactly that – a bare bones set of instructions that she barely got out before having to turn around and run back down the main hall in the direction they had traveled from, an alarm going off at her wrist. Ranker quarters were only dangerous if you let them be; if Michiru acted like a top dog then she would get into a lot of places without asking a lot of questions. Haruka’s main job, acting as Michiru’s Kersa, was to look pretty and do all the heavy lifting. No talking unless spoken to, all politeness all the time. Gochi just had to keep her mouth shut. Their best bet was to engage whatever Kersa they met, describe the missing brother, and see what the rumors were.
 
If nothing else worked, they’d have to try door to door, creating a ruse that would let them continue on should the apartment not hold the person they sought.
 

Lucky for them, they got to try the preferred option first, for as they rounded the first corner, a young and handsome blond Kersa was walking towards one of the doors ahead of them, groceries in his well-toned arms. What did he know about Tobias?