Author's note –DC owns all character rights.
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Chapter One
Cadet
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Recruit Dru-Zod stood proudly in the ranks of the graduating class. The top-ranking in the tests and exercises, his passionate devotion to Krypton had been noted by those assigned to look for such things, and his status as Class Leader merely reinforced his devotion to his homeworld.
The ranks seemed to freeze as the newly-appointed leader of the Council of Twelve, Ro-Zar, stepped up onto the podium, his eyes passing across the hundred cadets.
"You are here because you have all chosen to place yourselves between Krypton and those who may harm it." He said, his voice projected perfectly across the ceremonial hall. "We are here to show our gratitude to you for your decisions, for your honour and for your sacrifice.
"You are the best of the best. You are the strongest, the fastest, the bravest. You have passed through the furnace of training and have been tempered on the anvil of tradition by the hammer of discipline. You are now the swords of Krypton and the shields of Krypton."
Zod felt a prideful smile try to spread across his face, but he forced his expression to stay blank with an iron discipline that he had instilled into himself from the day he had signed his name on the dataforms.
"As you are the best, so will you be provided with the best." Ro-Zar continued with a benevolent smile. "Despite the threats posed by the expanding Kree and Skrull Empires, and the constant warfare between them, it is those like you that let us all stand above them, separate and apart from them, superior to them.
"As I look upon you, I see the future of Krypton made possible by your protection, your courage and your honour.
"And so, I salute you.
"You who are… Our heroes!"
Ro-Zar placed his fists in front of his chest and the watching audience erupted into cheers. A slight movement caught Zod's eye and he gave a tiny nod to his old school friend Jor-El, who had followed the traditions of the House of El and entered the Path of Science. Jor-El nodded back, then his fingers twitched in the code that the two of them had developed at the Halls of Learning.
Congratulations. Will buy you lunch later.
A quick twitch of his little finger conveyed his acceptance and then Zod turned his attention back to the podium.
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"Senior Cadet Dru-Zod." Jor-El said in the stuffiest tone of voice he could manage.
"Science Operative Level One Jor-El." Zod replied in exactly the same tone, then the two of them laughed and clapped each other on the shoulders.
"First in your class." Jor-El said with a wide grin. "By Rao, I'm impressed."
"You know that I never let myself give anything other than my best." Zod smirked back. "Was there ever any doubt?"
Jor-El frowned in obvious thought, tapping his chin.
"Very funny." Zod growled and Jor-El grinned at him.
"I thought so. So, here we are. I thought I'd treat you since you'll be living off water and ration pills for a long time."
Zod shook his head. Although he appreciated a joke on occasion, Jor-El often took it to an extreme, sacrificing dignity for cheap laughs.
Why were they friends again?
Oh yeah. The incident with the Razor-Stalker.
It's hard to face down certain death and not become friends.
"What field are you currently studying?" Zod asked and Jor-El's face seemed to light up.
"Gravitonic interactions. You know the new graviton power plant that is now powering half the continent? I'm currently examining the underlying physics of it. It's already pumping out almost as much power as five of the Hyper Taps, but without the potential of a resonance-induced deactivation cascade."
Zod frowned in thought as they walked towards their destination, ignoring the fare-cabs and public transport-tubes. "So, the new power plant… does not use the differential between reality planes?"
"Nope." Jor-El said, warming up to his explanation. "Rather than tapping into T-space's trans-dimensional quantum-state, it instead utilises the gravitational field of Krypton itself to generate power!"
"Sounds rather risky." Zod mused. "What effect will it have on Krypton?"
Jor-El froze for a moment. "That is… an interesting question. I'll have to ask the senior researchers and find out what the answer is."
Zod nodded, then redirected the conversation. "I have been too busy in training to keep up to date with the intersteller news. At the graduation, the Kree and Skrull were mentioned, but not the Shi'ar. Have you been keeping track?"
"Yeah, the Kree-Skrull war is still ongoing, it's getting even more vicious, in fact. Both sides are moving towards total military deployment and it doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon. There was some hope at Zenn-La when the two sides united briefly against Gah Lak Tus, but it was too strong for them and wiped out the ships attacking it. We still don't know exactly what happened to Zenn-La, the few traders who still come through reported that instead of being drained, it… vanished."
Zod stared at his friend in shock. "You mean that it's been confirmed that Gah Lak Tus actually exists?"
"And apparently it has a new Herald, a silver humanoid who travels through space on a silver board, something like the wavesurfers."
"By Rao…" Zod whispered. "How do we stop something like that?"
Jor-El shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway, the Shi'ar. They're growing quite fast, subsuming other species into their Imperium. Fortunately, they seem to be expanding away from us. Dspite that, the Council has sent out orders to the Colonies to abandon their efforts to Kryptoform the planets in the sector in question and to return to Krypton and Argos."
"That seems… unwise." Zod said and Jor-El nodded.
"I'm not trained in military thinking like you are, but even to me, it seems… questionable. If we are attacked, the defensive depth the Colonies would provide could prove useful."
"Quite so." Zod agreed. "Although…"
"Although?"
For a dozen paces, Zod remained silent, then he spoke. "There were rumours at the Academy about a special project, a defensive shield that would surround the Inner System when complete. Literally millions of projectors, power relays and control nodes, all mantained and controlled by BRAINIAC."
"Benign Robotic Assistant Incorporating Nano-Infused Augmented Crystals." Jor-El laughed. "Wow, you have to wonder, did BRAINIAC's creators come up with the Acronym and then expand the name to fit it, or did they realise the original name didn't form an Acronym and modified it so that it did?"
"I do not know, nor do I care." Zod admitted as they entered the eating establishment that Jor-El had been leading them towards. "However, the shield project was apparently held back somewhat. Even with planetary-sized solar collectors providing power, it still needed a large amount of power at the control nexus on Krypton, enough that it would cause severe power shortages."
"And after the Melting City disaster three centuries ago, using solar mirrors to supply power planetside is not an option." Jor-El agreed, then he blinked. "That would explain the new power plant!"
Zod nodded as he sat down and activated the Holo-menu. "Indeed, it would also explain the precedent in abandoning the Colonies. The Council would want all Kryptonians to be protected behind the Shield. Hmmm, this looks interesting… I think I will go for the Ferrophage Mole stew with a Ari'shahallan cake to follow. The Blue Wine looks like it would work well with that."
"I'd recommend the Turqouise Wine with Ferrophage Mole." Jor-El said and Zod nodded.
"You were always the best at selecting food. Turqouise it is."
Jor-El nodded and held out his hand, allowing the scanner set into the table to read his embedded ident-crystal. "While we're waiting, which branch did you ask to serve in?"
"Patrol." Zod replied. "They are the ones that are the most advanced, technologically speaking."
"And will be on the front line should the Skrull or Kree attempt anything." Jor-El said, giving his friend a knowing look. Zod didn't even try to look innocent.
"Of course. Where else would I be? You know how I prefer straight action to all that political robes-and-dagger stuff."
"Yeah, but you can be damned subtle when you have to." Jor-El fired back, his grin widening.
"And how goes your other mission?" Zod enquired, mentally laughing as Jor-El's mischevious expression turned into a lovestruck one.
"Lara Lor-Van… it's going great! She actually volunteered to help with one of the projects I'm working on!"
Zod tuned out his friend's near-mindless burbling about the perfectness of the target of his affections as the food arrived. Taking a small bite of the Mole stew, he followed it with a sip of Turqoise wine and nodded.
Jor-El did indeed know his foodstuffs.
He may be a near-pacifist, but he knew his stuff.
And even pacifists could be useful.
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"Cadet Dru-Zod reporting for duty." Zod stated as he stood to attention in front of the person who would decide his future with the Patrol.
"Stand at ease, cadet." The officer behind the desk said, her fingers tapping memory-metal controls while her eyes took in the data being projected on the holoscreens. "Senior Cadet Dru-Zod. Son of former Council Member Cor-Zod, may he rest in Rao's embrace. Highest scores ever recorded in tactics and strategy, high scores in hand-to-hand combat, high scores in weapons, both melee and ranged. Superior grasp of technology... It would seem that I should be begging you to join my team."
Zod remained silent and she leaned back to look at him over steepled fingers.
"So, why do you want to join Patrol? Battle Force is more… highly regarded."
"I do not care about seeking to enhance my reputation, ma'am." Zod stated. "My concern is the safety of Krypton and, in my personal opinion, I believe that I can help to protect it better by serving in Patrol."
"Continue." The officer said after a long moment.
"While I fully acknowledge that Battle Force has no equal in terms of combat capabilities, for it to be deployed properly, it needs to be informed where it must be. Patrol seeks out the places that Battle Force is needed and the places where intervention will ensure that Battle Force does not need to deploy, saving it for other uses."
"Agreed." The officer said. "You mentioned your reputation earlier."
"My friend Jor-El introduced me to the motto of the House of El. Reputation is what is known about you by others. Honor is what is known about you by yourself. It is the latter which is truly important."
"Interesting." The officer said, then she nodded sharply.
"Welcome to Patrol, Cadet Zod." She said with a smile. "I am assigning you to the Golden Feather. Report to Spacebase seventeen tomorrow at mid-day. Dismissed."
Zod snapped to attention and saluted before about-facing and marching out of the office.
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"Cadet Dru-Zod requesting permission to come aboard." Zod stated as he stood to attention just inside the entry-hatch of the Rao's Dagger-class patrol ship Golden Feather.
"Permission granted." The Captain of the Golden Feather said with a slight smile and Zod's gaze took in the crest on the man's tunic. "I am Captain Hu-Ul. I believe you have met my daughter?"
"Cadet Faora-Ul?" Zod asked and received a nod in return. "I have, sir. She is very gifted in Horo-Kanu. I did not manage to defeat her in the sparring arena even once."
"I taught her." Hu-Ul said and Zod's eyes widened slightly. "I believe that all my crew should have at least some training in Horo-Kanu. Once we are on patrol, I believe that I shall mentor you personally."
"Thank you sir." Zod said and Hu-Ul chuckled evilly.
"Oh, no, Cadet. You will be cursing my name and wishing for my death by the time I am through with you."
Zod gulped and Hu-Ul's evil grin turned back into a welcoming smile.
"But before then, let's get you settled in and introduced to your duties."
"Yes, sir." Zod said, slightly unnerved by the sudden changes in Hu-Ul's personality.