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Kunzite wasn't far away; she uncrossed her arms, nodded to Astraea, and took the floor without further ado, her white cape sweeping behind her as well -- something apparently common to Captains. She and Aries made no eye contact as they passed. She had pursed her lips a bit primly and looked over the number seated, most of them faces she didn't recognize -- she gave no acknowledgment to those she did, but instead planted her uniformed self in front of the whiteboard and began speaking.

"This ground you are standing on, this Earth you call home," she began, "is what was once -- and will be again -- called the Earth Kingdom. The Golden Kingdom. You may not remember it such because it was destroyed in a great war a very long time ago, as were its rightful rulers. Even so, I will remind you all that every minute that you spend on this planet, that you have ever spent," she fixed them all with her chill and bluish stare, "you've spent under the hospitality of Prince Endymion, the rightful heir to the kingdom of Earth.

"I," she jabbed her thumb at herself, "am the captain of his guard. We're called the Cavaliers. We swear an oath to the Prince, to the sword, and to the people of Earth. My name is Kunzite. I am the only one left alive."

This was no secret -- there had been no word of any other Cavaliers, save for dead ones. Kunzite's expression was marble.

"This is in part because, long ago, I broke my oath and betrayed my Prince, leading five of my soldiers to follow me into following a woman called Beryl who wished to become Queen of Earth. My reasons for doing so are immaterial, save that they were no excuse. My starseed was corrupted. I lived a life little better than a youma's," Kunzite's stare dared them to do something, though it was hard to say what, "Until the Sailor Senshi of the Moon put my wretched existence to a much-needed end -- as well as my men's. Except for Charonite."

She gestured to something away from them all: "Charonite wishes to continue the traitorous mission and put Beryl on the throne of Earth and the Moon Princess to death. It appears he will stop at nothing to do it. I take full responsibility for this state of affairs. That said."

The Cavalier cleared her throat and met each of a number of their eyes in succession, and raised her voice a bit louder. "I am not invincible. Far from it: the price I paid for my wickedness is that I cannot heal like the rest of you can. I can teleport; I have no other powers. I cannot use magic. I have no need for magic. Everything I do," she patted the hilt of her sword, "I do with this."

She raised her voice louder. "I am not a wizard. I am not even a senshi. I am a soldier," she hit the whiteboard with the heel of her hand, "and I fight. The reason why I have accomplished what I have accomplished is that I know my own limitations and I know what I am here to do, and I know their limitations. They are not invincible. Charonite is not invincible. They all bleed like the rest of us, and they all die like the rest of us. It's my hope that they'll be doing a great deal more of that in the future now that we've had this meeting."

Her hands were clasped behind her back, and she paced: "Believe me that I do not intend to compliment any of you when I say each and every one of you has the ability to kill lieutenants of the Negaverse. This is because they have blood in their veins, hearts in their chests, and very small brains in their heads. Use your common sense. Take initiative. Think. I should not be the only one here who does these things.

"I consider Charonite my responsibility. Whether or not you do that, I have determined to put an end to this problem I have created."

She raised an eyebrow at them. "But if one of you would like to pre-empt me, I can't say I'd object."

A hand shot up: "... Proxima?"

The blue-haired girl who sat poised neatly in the front of the bleachers put her hand back down, obviously pleased to have been called on. She wore tall, tangerine yellow boots and had striking blue hair, but more noticeably than either of these, she was the only senshi who had seated herself front and center, had a pencil in her hand and a notepad balanced on her knees. Where some of the other senshi were taking offense, she was fastidiously taking notes -- and had a look that suggested she hadn't noticed the various harsh attitudes around the room.

Then again, what she said first belied that expression: "I'd thank Captain Kunzite kindly to show more respect to the people who've been fighting this battle in her absence," she said sunnily, in a way that just vaguely unclear enough that it might have easily been a reprimand or just a friendly reminder.

But that seemed not to be what she had raised her hand for. "Sailor Proxima, offense fighter, mid-range weaponry. Since we have these nice cellphones now, I'll save you the effort of all scanning me at the same time: Larissa Duncan, Crystal Academy."

This statement seemed to startle Kunzite more than her first one had -- in fact, it seemed to be the only thing so far that had prompted the captain of the Cavaliers not to react with stony impassiveness or drill-sergeant-like furor. Aries, standing beside Luna and Kunzite, looked similarly taken aback, but there was a more obvious look of disdain coloring her expression.

"I have a list," Proxima was saying, "but we can take it a few questions at a time, I think. Alright, question one -- in the event we recover starseeds that can't be returned to the people they were taken from, what would you like us to do with them?" She made a little tick-mark on her notepad next to something she'd written down.

"Question two, if there haven't already been considerations for strategic divisions of labor, will there be time at the end of the meeting to make a listing of our powers and organize balanced team subdivisions?" Another check mark -- this Sailor Proxima was apparently absurdly fastidious.

"Question three -- with a group of upwards of fifty people, it's fairly obvious we need a leverage model -- a management hierarchy. What's our plan for assigning leadership roles?"