Typical Header Stuff:  

     Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters contained within
this work are the copyright of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation,
Kodansya and probably lots of other big people I'm forgetting.
I am using them without permission, but suing me because of it would
be futile as I have nothing.  Also Certain characters mentioned
here are the copyrighted property of John De Chance.  Any characters
that are not copyrighted by other people are my own creation,
and therefore copyrighted by myself...  which means that if for some
REALLY weird reason you decided you wanted to use them, (and why 
would you decide that?!?!?!?) you need to write me for permission.

Comments, Criticisms, and flames welcome...  Starrngr@aol.com
However, due to a large amount of spam I have received in the past,
I have blocked off mail from some domains.  Sorry if your one of 
them.  And don't expect me to reply to mail that's nothing but 
Flames!

See the Character Bio for information on key people to this Fic....


The Wanderer:Wandering Moons: Prologue

     "Look Out!!"  Star Ranger dropped top the floor and the energy
blast passed harmlessly over his head and impacted into a control
panel, demolishing it.  All over the room electronic equipment
went haywire, over it all the climbing note of a turbine building
to maximum output.

     "Jedi!  Get out of here, its going to blow!!"

     "But what about you?"

     "I've got to try and shut that thing down."

     "But ..."

     "NO!  If I fail you'll have to take command of the Ultras.
Now get going, before its to late!!!"

     The slender woman in gray gave her companion a worried look 
before nodding in agreement and running for the door.  Star Ranger
picked himself up off the floor and dove behind the damaged control
console, energy blasts continuing to slam into the machine behind
his place of cover.

     "Damn you to hell you metallic menace!  You've ruined 
everything!!  I'll kill you for this!!", raged the Tinkerer, as he 
blazed away with an energy weapon in Star Ranger's general direction. 

     "Tinkerer!  There is no time for this now, if we don't stop this
thing we will both die!", Star Ranger reasoned with the megalomaniac,
desperately stalling for time.

     "I don't care as long as you die TOO!!", raged Tinkerer.
Star Ranger realized that if Tinkerer didn't care if he died or not,
Star Ranger was out of options.  He steeped from the cover of the 
console and opened fire on the demented inventor.  

     >>SHOCKWAVE LAUNCHER ARMED...  Firing<<

     The telekinetic charge slammed out of the left forearm pod and
struck the Tinkerer squarely, throwing him across the room, where
he slumped unconscious.  Star Ranger to the malfunctioning
machine, trying to find a weak point to disable it with, when 
suddenly everything went white, and he knew it was too Late....

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Sailor Pluto eyed the curry pot with mixed emotions.  She was 
certain that she had followed the recipe Neo-Queen Serenity had given
her exactly, but this didn't LOOK like it had come out right!  She 
lifted the spoon to her lips to give it a taste when she felt the 
time ripple.  Dinner forgotten, the time Key appeared in her grasp,
and she instantly conveyed herself to the time gate.  She gazed 
across the time stream, and saw the ripple spreading along the time
stream, leaving a radically different world behind it.

     A white flash and a chime emanated from behind her.  She knew
who had appeared without even turning to look.  "I was just about
to call you.  I need you to watch the..."

     "No, Setsuna.  The continuum sent me here to fix this.  Just 
watch for a moment."
     
     Pluto turned her attention back to the time stream again for a 
moment.  Q gestured, and the timeline rippled again slightly...
and the picture that formed was even worse than before.  She looked
at Q, and noticed that he looked quite the worst for wear.  His 
thinning hair was all askew, and his clothing was wrinkled, and 
damaged from some sort of heat burns.

     "Yes, Setsuna.  If you try and fix this, you will die.  And if 
you die, this evil will explode out of your time and across many 
dimensions, and ultimately threaten even the Continuum.  Therefore,
they have sent me here to fix it, with specific instructions
on exactly what to do."

     "You, Q?  You know how Q feels about your level of maturity."

     "Well, it seems that Q also feels that I am responsible
for this happening.  As part of the penance enforced upon myself
by the other Q, and at your urging, I might add, I was assigned
to monitor some backwards dimension for a time with even stricter
limits on my powers than usual.  Unfortunately, it appears that 
stopping one event there caused this, so I have been ordered by the
rest of the continuum to fix it."

     "And how do you intend to do that?"

     "I have orders, but they don't make sense at the moment.  Show
me the heart of this ripple, Setsuna."

     Pluto reached out with her time staff and their view of the time
stream zoomed in on a certain point.  As they watched, a white portal
appeared in a Tokyo alleyway, and a man flew from it, badly burned
along his right side, and landed on the busy sidewalk, shocking
the people as the portal collapsed.

     "I see," mused Q.  "I assumed he died in that blast.  Which 
means the other must have survived as well.  I need to see the whole
stream again, please."  Pluto gestured with the time staff again,
and the whole time stream spread out before them.  Q reached forward,
and touched the time stream.  A white spark flew from his finger
and created another ripple, which quickly spread across the time 
stream.  Pluto looked at the new time stream and was satisfied.
It wasn't exactly the same, but what few changes still remained
were for the better.  She looked back over a Q and noted that he was
his normal dapper self.

     "I'm waiting for an explanation, Q.  Don't make me ask Q for it.
You know how he feels about you."

     Q sighed.  "I stopped an explosion in that backwards dimension.
There were two people caught in it, and when I contained the 
explosion, it created a dimensional rift.  One of them came here,
and you saw what would have resulted.  The other has been jumping
from dimension to dimension, trying to get home, so I arranged
to bring him here to stop your contaminant.  He has stopped this one
before, and can do it again."

     "Anything else, Q?"  Pluto asked with an arched eyebrow.  Q just
grinned back at her.

     "Yes, but I can pass those instructions along after dinner.
Serenity's curry, I do believe?"

     "I don't think it came out right."

     "Oh, it did.  It's SUPPOSED to look like that.  I'm told it 
tastes much better than it looks.  Trust me, mon cher."

     "Not if I have any choice in the matter."

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     The Tinkerer slowly became aware of the world around him.  He 
heard voices, speaking a language he did not recognize.  He opened
his eyes and examined his surroundings.  He lay in what appeared
to be a standard hospital room, though it had no window.  Several
softly beeping pieces of medial equipment were attached to various
parts of his aching body.  He felt like he had died, or at least 
should have, but what use would an afterlife have for medical 
equipment?  Ergo, he must be alive, which meant that insufferable
Star Ranger had ruined his plans.  AGAIN.  This was, no doubt, some
sort of prison hospital, meant to get him well enough to stand trial
for his offenses.  Which meant that he would have to be careful
of what he said, as  there probably were microphones hidden all over
the room to record anything he said for use at his trial.  Tinkerer
feigned unconsciousness as a nurse of some kind came in and checked
his pulse.  He peeked out from under half an eyelid, and saw the 
nurse looking at him like he wasn't fooling anyone.  She said 
something to him in a language that wasn't English, and seemed rather
surprised that he didn't understand her.  Not that Tinkerer would
have admitted understanding her if he had, but this defiantly
was NOT a language that he knew.  After a moment, the nurse left,
and Tinkerer relaxed and tried to decide what his next move should
be.

     "Good Morning, sir.  I am glad to see you are awake.  How do you
feel?"  Tinkerer started for a moment, and looked at the person who
had entered the room.  She stood about 5'2", with a slender yet quite
womanly figure that created an ageless attraction.  Her hair was 
tinted a light blue that went well with her steel gray eyes.  From
the white lab coat over a tasteful suit, he decided that she was his
doctor.  Fleetingly , the thought crossed his mind that he wished
she had been his family doctor when he was a child.  Was this 
something else to trick him with?

     "Please sir.  We know you speak English, you have been muttering
in it for the past week.  We need to be able to communicate
if we are to treat you effectively."  Trap or not, Tinkerer knew that
she had him there.

     "Yes, I speak English," He admitted.  "And I feel like I've been
run over by a truck.  Where am I?"

     "You are in the Juuban District General Hospital, and I am your
Doctor, Dr. Mizuno."

     "Juuban District?  Where am I?!?!?"

     "This is most interesting.  Juuban District is part of Tokyo,
Japan.  Do you remember anything before you came here?"

     'Here it comes,' thought Tinkerer.  'This is where they try and
get me to entrap myself!'  His only option seemed to be to tell the
truth, just not any incriminating parts of it.  "My last clear 
memories are of my being in the United States.  Los Angeles, 
California, to be exact."

     "And you have no memories of how you came to be in Japan?"

     "Not really, No."

     "This presents an interesting problem then.  In an attempt
to find out who you were, we gave a set of your fingerprints
to the American Embassy.  The United States government has no record
of your fingerprints.  According to them, you don't exist.  Maybe
we will have more luck now that your awake and can give us your 
name."

     Tinkerer blushed and mumbled something.  Dr. Mizuno gave him a 
strange look.  "I didn't hear you.  And we can't do much with the 
embassy unless we can give them a name."

      Tinkerer knew he was in trouble, but still he answered 
truthfully, in a small weak voice.  "James Doe."

     "Oh Dear."

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Micheal Thunders, A.K.A. "Star Ranger", took one more walk 
around his new traveling companion.  On the outside, it looked like
a HMMWV, or Hummer, that was the vehicle of choice of the military
of his home.  Inside, all similarities ended, for this vehicle was 
packed to the gills with very special electronic equipment.  
Equipment he hoped would eventually get him home.  'Quit stalling,'
he told himself.  'If you ever want to get home, you have to do 
this.'  Sighing, he turned to the group that had gathered to see him
off.

     "I can't thank you enough for all your help, Lord Incaradine.
Your home here is pleasant enough, but its not where I belong."

     "I know.  It is startling that you are not part of one of the 
144,000 realms that Castle Perilous opens upon. Yet, every time I 
think that nothing else will happen that would surprise me, something
does.  And this was little enough in way of thanks for your help in 
this last crisis.  I only wish I could do more."

     Micheal turned to the others who had gathered to see him off.
"Gene, Linda, Snowclaw.  Without you three I think I would have gone
bonkers when I first arrived here.  I also doubt that I could have
saved the day without your help.  I will miss you all."

     Gene and Snowclaw just shifted uncomfortably.  It was Linda that
answered for them.  "We'll all miss you too.  We all chose to make
Perilous our home.  You didn't.  Good Luck, and God-speed, Micheal."

     Micheal looked around for a moment more, then decided that he 
would ask anyway.  "Where is Jeremy?  I though for sure he would be 
here."

     It was Gene who answered.  "Isis decided that he needed a bit of
fresh air and exercise after all the work you two did on building
your new ride.  So she got Thaxton and Dalton to drag him off to the
golf course with instructions to make sure he played a full round
before coming back to the lab.  Personally, I think she wanted to 
tinker with her programming without him underfoot for a bit."

     Micheal Grinned at the mention of that.  "She IS one opinionated
program, isn't she.  I'm still not sure about using her as the basis
for my operating system.  But we couldn't have done it otherwise."

     Snowclaw finally spoke up.  "Why here?  Why aren't we in the 
lab?"

     "He has to be able to accelerate to a certain speed," Linda 
answered for Micheal.

     "Why?"
     
     "There isn't enough power to hold this sort of portal very long.
If he isn't moving fast enough, it will collapse before he is 
through."

     "Don't get your hopes up to high.  Remember that it may take 
several 'jumps' to find anything even close to the dimension you came
from.  And it may take a while to determine the settings between
jumps.  Your breaking new territory here,"  Lord Incaradine reminded
Micheal.

     Micheal Nodded.  "Then I guess I should stop saying goodbye
and get moving then."  He opened the door and climbed inside.  
"Farewell, my friends."  He turned his attention to his new 'car'.
"Wake up FRED."

     "Good Morning, Muck.  All systems operational.  So, this is it,
huh?"

     "Yes, it is, FRED.  Begin Portal procedures."

     "Roger that, Muck.  Fusion reactor to 100%.  Portal Generator
On-line.  Co-ordinates locked in.  All systems ready for portal 
operation."

     Micheal waved through the window at the friends he was leaving
behind.   'Still, I have to do this if I ever want to get home.'
He pressed down on the accelerator and the vehicle accelerated
down the hill.  As advertised, when he hit 88 MPH the portal formed
and he shot through to another dimension.

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     Cabelite scowled as he paced his office and awaited his summons
to appear before Queen Beryl.  He had no doubt that this delay was 
meant to inspire terror, but it was just making him angry.  'She is 
being unrealistic.  No military campaign is without setbacks.
Our intelligence didn't know the earth mages were so powerful.
I could have over come them if she would have given me another 
chance.'  Still, he HAD been removed from command of the attack 
because of his setbacks.  And he knew as well as any the way Beryl
punished those she felt had failed her.  He just wished she would
stop toying with him and get it over with.

      He turned as he felt the portal open.  'This is not what I 
expected,' he thought to himself.  He could see through this portal,
yet it was like looking into a mirror.  Both were about six foot in 
height a dark olive complexion, black wavy hair and dark brown eyes.
There the similarity ended, for in place of Cabelite's uniform,
this person wore a one piece gray jumpsuit, a strange metallic
framework covering and supporting the right side of his body.  Behind
the stranger was a room that was obviously not part of the Negaverse,
full of some strange sort of machinery.

     "Come with me, if you want to live," the stranger said, reaching
out his metal framed arm to him.

     "Why should I?" asked Cabelite, instantly suspecting some sort
of trick to further humiliate him.

     "Because if you stay here, you will die.  I offer you a chance
to finish what you have started, without your queen's interference.
In fact, I can give you the chance to become what she desires to be,
ruler of this planet.  But only if you come with me."

     Trick or not, Cabelite knew a chance when he heard one.  And he
had not risen to the rank of General by not capitalizing on every
chance he had.  "I'll need my troops, stranger."

     "Call me Tinkerer.  And we will gather them as soon as you step
through the portal.  If I keep it here much longer someone will 
investigate."

     Cabelite stepped through the portal and it disappeared
behind him, just as a dozen Youma appeared to investigate the 
disturbance and stop him in case he was trying to escape.  They 
looked about the empty office in confusion, unable to detect where
Cabelite had gone, and fearing what would happen when they reported
him missing.

          *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

     After five jumps, it had become a tradition.  Even if he was the
only one who knew it.  Micheal walked around FRED, looking for 
anything amiss.  Not that anything ever was.  He looked down the 
canyon he had chosen.  It was one of the few in the immediate
area that had enough straight level area for the run up to portal
speed.  He still had needed to do some work to smooth out the surface
enough that the vibrations wouldn't shake he or FRED apart.  
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room to abort if something
went wrong.  He didn't really like it, but there wasn't really any 
choice.  He turned to the handful of people who had come to see him
off.  Again.

     "Headsman, I thank you for the hospitality of your people.
I wish you would change your mind about..."

     Azidbal, the headman of the Mujadeen silenced him with an 
upraised hand.  "No, Steelheart.  It is as the prophecy foretold.
The Star Shield and Sword are not of this world.  Someone would come
to claim them and take them from this place, ending the constant
warfare to posses them.  That person is you, Steelheart.  It is 
written thus, and I will speak no more about it."

     Micheal sighed to himself.  He had seen this coming, but he knew
he had to have made the effort.  "As Mujal commands, Azidbal.  May 
Mujal guide your steps always, my friends."

     "And may he bring you safely to your journey's end, Steelheart,"
Azidbal concluded the parting rite.  Micheal grimaced inwardly
at that.  'Not very likely.  If he guided my footsteps, I would be 
home now.'

     Micheal climbed into FRED and closed the door behind him.  
"Portal Procedures FRED.  Maybe this one will be the one, Hmm?"

     "Well, its not my fault the reading never seem to match exactly.
All systems operational.  Ready for run-up to portal speed."

     Micheal nodded and FRED hurtled down the canyon, picking up 
speed.  As they accelerated past seventy, a feeling of doom enveloped
him even before the warning light appeared.

     "Co-ordinate Failure!!  Somehow the co-ords to the portal just
changed!!" warned FRED.

     "And no room to stop."  Reminded Micheal, as FRED continued
to accelerate.

     "Damn", they swore as one as they reached portal speed and 
disappeared into a new dimension not of their choosing....