((Author's note: With the Season 2 hiatus still going strong, and a few story ideas chewing at the back of my head, I decided to try and contribute something to surviving the pause between new episodes. This is another AU story, and will probably be a bit on the long side as far as my projects go; around eight large-ish chapters or so. I own nothing as usual, and hope that you will enjoy reading.))

Chapter 1: Transit

His ears buzzed as the energy from the zeta tube dissipated. Beyond that, he could hear a faint, metallic voice dutifully reciting his name and designation number. It was fast work to move into the center of the command room and skim his hands over a screen that flickered on. "Keep a channel open and ready, and send out an alert the second there's contact." He ordered as he also punched in the commands. His only answer was static as the audio network flickered on, waiting for a transmission from somewhere outside of Earth's sky space.

Nightwing shook his head as he watched the blank video monitor. That took care of one task…And he wasn't looking forward to the next one, but couldn't see another way of doing it.

It only took a few minutes of searching the cave, before he found his target inside the base's den room. Half leaning against the counter, tail wrapped around the base of a bar stool, and completely intent on finishing a slice of pizza.

"Garfield…" Dick knew that Gar knew that whenever he used the kid's full name, it meant that something had gone disastrous. (Without a hint of aster to be found anywhere, the still seventeen part of his brain supplied.) And as such, the youngest team member jolted up from his spot on the chair, dropping his food back on the plate as he turned around. Dick could see his eyes darting around the room, looking for a familiar face…And not finding her anywhere.

"Wh-what is it? What's wrong? Why isn't my sister here?" This really wasn't going to be easy. Especially at the rate those questions were tumbling out of his mouth. "And where's Conner? Isn't M'gann's friend around too-?"

He held up a hand, at least managing to cut off that tide of questions.

"Look. I'm afraid things got…Complicated on this mission. Artemis…She's in the hospital now. And La'gaan had to go back to Atlantis to recover from the fight." He couldn't bring himself to say because of who; Kaldur's status…Both statuses, actually, were still on the down low. And he didn't really want to say anything about that to a kid who still had a poster of Aqualad pinned to his bedroom wall.

"And M'gann…" Gar's face was already looking distressed, his eyes going wide as he tried, in vain, not to look scared. "…There was a bomb on board the shuttle. She went to disarm it, and by now she's probably halfway to Mars. And Supes-" He mentally cursed at falling into that name out of habit. "…Superboy went after her. Gar, I'm sorry about this-"

"Are you kidding! This is perfect!" Dick stared as Garfield pushed himself out of the chair, and grabbed both of his hands with a huge grin. "This is just like that episode of Lost Hearts M'gann and I were watching! They're going to get some alone time on a distant planet, and after staring all googly-eyed at each other, they'll finally get back together!"

It took every ounce of training and lessons in composure from Batman himself to keep from burying his forehead in his palm. He started to say "Gar, I don't think it's that simple-"

But the boy had already gone running down the hall with an excited whoop.

-o-o-o-

Getting her lungs to breathe again took effort. Enough that the first breaths she took were more ragged and stuttering then could ever be considered comfortable, and her sides told M'gann that it would take several hours before they'd be ready to forgive her for-

…For whatever it was she just put them through. Which was probably nothing pleasant, with how her ribs ached.

"Hey. Take it slow," Came from above her. In a voice that was firm and strong, a little harsh…Qualities that she'd been associating a lot with just one person, lately.

"Conner?" She groaned the name out as she opened her eyes. M'gann found herself focusing on the roof of the bio-ship, and as she rolled her eyes around, saw her ex-boyfriend and teammate getting up out of the pilot's seat and kneeling next to her.

"Yeah; I'm here. And the ship's running on auto pilot," she tried moving her arms and shifting over to her side, but the only reaction she could manage was a low groan. "'So you can stop trying to get up."

The floor was cold and hard against her neck, now that she didn't have long hair to help cushion her head. In response, the ship seemed to soften the spots where her body was resting, giving her a chance to relax enough to work out a few more words.

"Okay, but…Do I want to know why I was unconscious on the floor of my ship, and why you were the one at the helm?"

"You weren't really unconscious," he argued the point, frowning down at her. "Just blacked out for a few seconds."

'And gave me a heart attack for those few seconds.' She knew him well enough that it was easy to read that. She could see it from the way his eyebrows were knitted together, and his mouth twisted down as he watched her.

"Okay, okay. Then in that case, why did I black out?" She tried taking another deep breath instead of several shallow ones. In response her lungs burned a little, but then relaxed enough to allow it.

"You…Seriously don't remember? Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm not dead, Conner. And I'll feel better once I remember what-" she stopped as she lifted her head enough to look out the windows of the ship, expecting to see a blue-black sky and a few wisps of cloud. Instead, she found herself staring out at a solid black curtain, dotted with a few bright points of light.

"…That's not Earth's sky in the center of my window." She was also certain that Earth, or the normal spots she docked the bio-ship, didn't had long cylinders of machinery looking like they'd been glued to the underside of her ship poking out from the bottom of the window.

M'gann shut her eyes, let her thoughts get back up to speed and spread outward, picking up some of the sensations from her ship. The hull was slowly adapting to the changes in pressure, while keeping a clamp like grip on the rocket underneath them-

"…A rocket?" It was only when M'gann said that out loud that she started to remember; the mission at Cape Canaveral, speaking with Conner in the ship (and thinking back on that, she had a fresh new bit of hurt trying to chew into her chest, which M'gann quickly tried to blink and shrug away) and how everything had suddenly gone spiraling out of control.

"What happened to the satellite? Is it still-?"

"It's fine. You tore out whatever was onboard the ship, once Nightwing told you about it." Conner stayed crouched next to her, still watching her with a careful, worried look.

M'gann rubbed at her forehead, frowning as she thought back on the memory slowly unfolding in her mind's eye. Even though it felt like her eyes had already been given plenty of rest (even if it had only been for a few seconds) she shut them as well, to better focus.

It was easy to remember the water swirling around her head as she was tossed through it. How she'd started to feel her thoughts flickering out and tryingto keep them in sharp focus. How her vision had blurred out, as the shock from the explosion underwater burrowed through her body…And how Nightwing's voice had snapped through the link, and that it had ultimately been his orders that pulled her out of her daze; 'Bomb on board the shuttle.' They'd been hurriedly relayed into her head, along with him thinking hard on his information, and where he needed her.

The memory of air howling past her ears and face also came easily; she'd thrown herself out of the water, not bothering to pause while her shape snapped back to her preferred form. M'gann had felt her blood pounding loud enough that it started to drown out the roar of the wind...And the low rumble of the ship engines flaring up. Even several stories up, M'gann could feel the heat trying to claw its way into her skin as she altered her density, sliding into the point Nightwing had identified, right as the shuttle started to roar to life and push upwards.

Even then, it took time to find the bomb, and ate into any time she could spend disarming it. In the end, she'd torn it free from the wall it was anchored to, pushed it into an intangible state, and shoved it right through the wall.

"…Glad I learned how to density shift when I did. I don't know if I could have gotten to the bomb, otherwise. Or done anything about it." M'gann commented from her spot on the floor, letting her thoughts drift back to the present.

"It was close enough, anyway." Superboy muttered, half to himself, half to her. M'gann nodded, remembering how the explosion had still rocked the shuttle and thrown her backwards. How her lungs had suddenly needed to work much harder as the air began to thin out, and how she was sure her thoughts were beginning to fray when she heard a familiar hum outside the ship.

"…You came after me, though." She looked back up at Conner, who was still giving her that more-worried-then-normal scowl, just subtly different from the usual frown she saw on his face.

"Having you suffocate in space didn't sound like a good idea. I'm just lucky I was in range, and could get the ship to follow you." M'gann gave another nod, and thought that her neck muscles were cooperating a little better then before.

She could remember how that clunk pierced through the haze clouding her thoughts, as the bio-ship responded to her presence and grafted itself onto the shuttle to hold it steady. And give her a pressurized space to get into, if she could just focus long enough to shift her density one more time, and throw herself through the space between the two.

It had been harder then she'd even thought. They might not have been completely in space, and there was just a few inches to pass between…But it had still torn away at her, almost molecule by molecule as she passed between the two ships and drifted in the near-vacuum for that brief second. Before she finally passed into her ship, and twitched back into being solid as her lungs got back to work. Between that, and the explosions on the ocean floor, her body had chosen then to give up. Which explained all the different aches and soreness that stretched along her now.

"I thought…" Conner glanced away from her, back at the pilot's seat. "I was worried. Until you phased through the floor, I didn't know what was going on…Or if I'd been able to pilot the ship well enough."

"You got the bio-ship into range of my mental command," M'gann pointed out. "And that gave me time to tell her what I needed, so I think that counts as a good job."

She looked back out at the window, before glancing at him just out of the corner of her eyes and adding "Thanks."

"…Don't mention it." There was a flicker of motion in her eye, and when M'gann glanced over, she saw that he was holding his hand out for her to take.

-o-o-o-

"So, no permanent damage." Superboy found himself confirming that as he watched her, still keeping his hand stretched out to take if she needed it. In response, she briefly stretched her fingers out to touch his, just a light brush, before she turned her focus away from him and over to her own body.

"Yeah…I'll be fine. I just need a chance to breathe…So you don't have to worry about me." He watched as M'gann's arms and legs both twitched as she pushed herself back, trying to get onto her feet. After a moment she had to settle for propping herself up on her elbows, enough to open her lungs up and focus on getting those deep breaths of air.

"Well, you didn't look so good at first. What happened out there?" He kept one ear open for her answer, and the other listening to make sure she was breathing properly.

"Space isn't the most friendly place, even when you've shifted your density. I don't want to try doing that again any time soon, if I can help it." She glanced over his shoulder, and Conner followed her line of sight to see that she was looking out the ship windows. They'd left the blue Earth sky far behind at that point, leaving them with stars and a pale half circle of the planet beneath them…And that was fast fading.

"But you'll live?" He still asked, eyes on the shrinking view. His voice sounded a little less harsh in his ears, probably because her heartbeat was starting to even out.

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'll live. I might be breathing hard for a few more minutes, but I'll live." A flash of white in the corner of his vision, and Conner realized that she was trying to put on a grin, although it was a shaky one. "And like I said…I do owe you some thanks for that."

"Like I said," he felt a little silly for echoing her, but continued. "It's not a problem." He muttered, wondering if he should go back to offering his hand…But by then she'd gotten her thoughts back in order, and was floating up. M'gann hovered in the air, just long enough to find her seat and fall into it.

"So, what is our situation?" She didn't wait for an answer, either, already tracing her fingers over the control orbs as she spoke and pulling up a screen. "Bio-Ship, contacting Nightwing. Requesting immediate response, please."

Static, and then,

"Looks like you're pretty far from the psychic link range, M'gann. Radio signal sounds a bit strained, too." The voice of their leader echoed into the ship, and with a light whirring sound a screen flickered on to show a black haired, black masked face watching them.

"The last thing I heard was your plan to phase into the ship and throw the bomb free. Looks like Superboy got to you on time, though." M'gann bobbed her head as she smoothed back her hair, so it looked a little less tussled by the vacuum of space. (Conner also found himself thinking that it didn't look quite so bad like that anyway, and quickly wrenched his focus away from her and back to the screen.)

"Yes, he did. But is there anymore news we should hear?"

"Judging from the readings I'm getting from NASA…The shuttle itself has some damage. Enough that it might not reach Mars under its own power." Nightwing's eyes narrowed as they looked down at his own screen. "But all the equipment onboard made it out with minimal damage. It looks like our mission isn't a complete loss-"

"What do you mean 'complete?'" M'gann's voice was sharp, masking over that tell tale waver in her voice he'd learned to detect over the years, and what the meant; worry, apprehension, and trying to hide it and work through it. He found himself thinking that she'd been using that tone more frequently, as well.

"…I'm sorry, M'gann. Artemis and La'gann both took some bad hits during the mission. They're both on injured leave, now." M'gann reacted to that only with silence, glancing down at the floor as her hands balled into fists, and a tenseness started biting at her shoulders. Which left Conner to pick up the slack.

"So, what does that mean for us? It looks like we're pulling out of Earth's gravity now, so returning-"

"Is going to have to wait. Look, I'm reading these reports, and the only way that satellite gets to Mars is if it keeps piggybacking on the bio-ship."

"You're kidding me." Conner cut in, moving forward and looking straight at the video screen. "What about the thrusters and every other chunk of equipment on that rocket?"

"It's working, but only at half capacity thanks to the attack. Look, our priorities are still in place." His eyes couldn't fully decide whether they wanted to narrow or roll ceilingward at that. Conner settled for screwing them shut in a scowl as he jerked his head back and forth.

"Your priority is sticking me on a ship with M'gann for a week? I'm not-"

"Going to have to wait for a week." M'gann cut in, sounding a bit hurt, but mostly angry to his ears. "With the bio-ship, I should be able to cut the travel time in half. It's not like I enjoy the idea anymore then you." That got him to open his eyes long enough to watch her, still just barely turning his head towards her. M'gann, from what he could tell, was doing the same. The air felt thicker and tense on his skin, and he was almost grateful when Nightwing cut in.

"Both of you, that's enough. You're two of the most experienced team members, so start acting like it." Nightwing's eyes flickered between them, with what looked a lot like exasperation to Conner. He knew that his own face was a good match for it.

"And the fact is, the mission isn't over yet; just changed. We don't have long before you fly out of range, so listen carefully. I need you to deliver that satellite to Mars, and get back as soon as you can...And please, try to stay civil with each other while you're on the job."

"...Understood." M'gann wasn't looking at either of them directly when she spoke. Conner barely kept her in the corner of his eyes, refusing to turn his head in order to fully look at her.

"Fine, fine. I get it." He forced himself to speak as well. That was the most civil he could manage, though, and a silence started to awkwardly move through the ship's cabin until M'gann cleared her throat; one of those human gestures she'd picked up and kept mimicking over the last few years.

"Robi- Nightwing." M'gann caught herself, and shook her head while Conner tried not to double take. She was more rattled then he thought, if she was slipping up on names like that. "I know we'll be needed back on Earth as soon as possible...But there's going to be a problem with instantly returning."

"What would that be?" Nightwing asked, right as Conner thought 'Knew it couldn't be that easy.' The way the eyes on the mask narrowed, Nightwing could have easily said the same thing out loud.

"My ship isn't really designed for this type of sustained flight-" M'gann held a hand up before either of them could speak. "She can make the trip, don't worry about that. But once we get there, she'll need to rest...Probably for a few days, at least."

"So that's over a week you'll be gone." Their commander let out a slow sigh, shaking his head. "Nothing for it, I guess. Mars is a priority right now. Are you going to manage, though?"

They both nodded in response, and almost in unison, Conner couldn't help but notice. He thought he could catch an almost smile on Nightwing's face at that, but it was gone as the leader continued. "Okay; if we can make anymore transmissions and updates, we'll do what we can. Until then, good luck. Nightwing out."

As his words left his mouth, the screen was already fading out, and cut off with a short buzz a breath later.

"So…What now?" M'gann didn't answer him right away, instead glancing over at the chairs growing up from the ship's floor. One of them was reforming with a low hum, into something low slung and easier to rest on.

"First, I'm getting some rest. It's still a four day trip even with the boost from both ships, and I don't want to spend all of it with aching muscles."

-o-o-o-

Conner wasn't sure just how he felt about M'gann spending most of the first and second day resting. It freed them up from having to talk about anything, or long awkward silences spent trying not to look at each other…But it also left Conner without much to do.

He'd tried resting as well, which worked for a few hours, on and off. But even out in space and without any real daylight to measure by, his internal clock was insistent on keeping to a set schedule. It didn't take long for him to get twitchy from just laying down, or putting his back up against a corner of the ship.

The enclosed space didn't leave him with a lot of room to pace, either. He'd done most of his checks the first day; looking at the inner walls to make sure they hadn't been damaged, quietly checking the command orbs to make sure he hadn't dented or distorted them from how hard he'd been gripping them when he flew the ship after M'gann. (And making certain not to tell her about how white knuckled his grip had been; it was awkward enough for just him, thinking back on it.)

The fifth time his feet took him around the ship in the last hour, Conner found himself pausing at the front. There wasn't much to see when it came to the stars, or their destination; just slightly brighter dot ahead of them that would gradually turn red, the closer they got to it. His hand brushed against one of the keyboards placed at the front of the ship, making him glance back down.

On a whim, he punched in a few buttons, and was rewarded when a screen opened up in front of him. The text blurred for a moment, before coming into sharp resolution…And in perfectly legible English. M'gann had been updating the functions on the ship, from the looks of it. And it gave him something to do other then sit and pace. Conner seated himself, and let his eyes start scanning the text.

It took him a moment to comprehend what he was looking at. Dates scrolling past his eyes, followed by brief sentences: 'attack in the main commerce chamber, fifty dead.' 'Rebel cell found and exterminated at the cost of ten soldiers' 'ceasefire declared, whites surrendering-'

A sharp, grating buzz dug into his ears, pulling him out of the war record he was reading. Text flashed, stating that there was a call incoming, as a new video feed opened up over his reading.

"M'gann-" He started to say, but she was already in the air and gliding over to the screen, punching in a few commands on the console in front of them. The static on the monitor started to clear, enough for him to make out a face.

-o-o-o-

M'gann watched as a familiar black masked face came into focus in front of them, and greeted him with a polite, "Nightwing. I'm guessing you found a way to boost the signal, and get an update for us?"

"Yeah." He nodded, looking briefly pleased with himself. "But there's not much time until you pass out of range, so I'll try to make this quick. The readings say that you're on course, and that you should reach Mars in another forty-eight hours. The rocket and the ship should give you a good leg up when it comes to closing the distance. We've also done our best to send a signal ahead of you; let Mars know that the satellite is still on its way, but that there's been complications. It's a toss up on if it'll reach the planet, though, or how clear the message will be."

"That's why we're flying the satellite there in the first place." Conner replied. "We can probably manage; as long as there isn't an active war or something we're walking into."

"There…Shouldn't be." M'gann answered, keeping her eyes on the screen and frowning at Nightwing, instead of the other person on the ship. "It's been five years, so I don't know how much has changed, but…The worst we should have to expect is some unrest. But that should be all."

She dearly wanted to ask how Conner knew about any past wars, but was interrupted when she saw a fuzzy green head poking up at the bottom of the screen.

"Gar." M'gann felt a smile working onto her face.

"I wanted to say goodbye before you shot out of range. Nightwing said that'd be okay, after he got through the important stuff."

"Well, thanks. You're going to keep up on your studies, right? And your training, and-"

"Don't worry, sis! You can leave everything to me and Nightwing! We'll hold the fort down until you come back. You just have fun on Mars with Conner…Riiiiiiight?" She didn't know what put her closer to bursting out in embarrassed laughter; the way he rolled that word, or waggling his eyebrows between the two of them.

"Kid," Conner started to growl…And was thankfully cut off as static began filling the screen, and the image flickered. Once, twice, and then it cut out entirely.

"So…That's it. Communications are down for the rest of the trip." M'gann still found herself looking at the space where the screen was, wondering if she could somehow will it back to life if she just stared at it long enough.

"You've been reading the files?" She asked the empty air, but got a response from Conner all the same.

"It gives me something to do. If it's fine by you, I can go back to doing that; give you a chance to finish resting up." She somehow wanted to argue that, say 'no, it's fine, we can try talking to each other instead,' before the memory of one of their last conversations caught in her mind. She didn't want a repeat of that, of hearing their voices get raised in anger before dying out into something painfully quiet. So instead she nodded, and replied "S-sure. I can leave you to doing that."

-o-o-o-

Gentle. She keeps her touch gentle as she kisses him on the lips, and runs her fingers across his forehead. Conner's thoughts and words are pleasant, a low thrum against her, and M'gann lets her hair fall down to curtain them both as she curls up against him, brushing their foreheads together.

There is a sullen, red splotch burned into his thoughts, which she wraps her focus on. "I can handle this," she whispers in his ear, making sure that her voice is soft and reassuring. Both for him, and for herself as she works on easing that stain in his mind loose. His hands wrap around her wrists, so that her hands remain cupping his face as she works at the distortion in his thoughts.

M'gann keeps working on it, almost has it worked out completely when she finds another snarl in his mind, underneath that. And it doesn't burn at only his thoughts when he touches it; it sears her as well, and M'gann finds herself trying to untangle that from his mind as well-

Which is when those hands curled around her wrists snap tight and wrench her fingers away from her face.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

M'gann snapped upright as the voice cracked across her mind, harsh enough to make the dream shatter and jolt her awake. Her eyes were stinging, and her hands shook as they reached up for her face, pushing her hair back-

Feeling just little strands, barely enough to worry about tucking behind her ears. It wasn't as long as she thought…Or as her mind tried to trick her into thinking. Over the roar of blood in her ears, she could hear Conner stirring on the front half of the bio-ship. He muttered something in his sleep before turning onto his side…And thankfully not waking up. M'gann tucked that dull feeling of gratitude into the back of her mind, letting it smother any sharp feelings or thoughts before they could develop.

'That's done with.' She reminded herself, looking away from where he was resting. 'Stupid to dwell on, too; not when we've got a mission to accomplish.'

The bio-ship could have been waiting for her to have that thought, as a green light started flashing. Followed by a quick beeping sound, which was enough to get Conner awake and on his feet as well.

"M'gann?" He asked, glancing around, and turning to look ahead when she told the ship to lighten the windows.

"Don't worry, Conner." She nodded towards the windows, and he followed her gaze. "That's the signal we've been waiting for."

As she spoke, a red orange globe, easily the size of Conner's fist and growing bigger, tilted into their point of view as the ship rotated. "Right on schedule; four days in, and we can deliver the satellite with no hitch."

"Mission successful, then?" He watched the planet with an odd, contemplative look on his face. Eyes narrowed, brows knitted together…But not angry or upset.

"Almost; we need to drop off the satellite first. THEN we can get some breathing space." Conner turned back to look at her at that…And lost that contemplative look, giving her a brief smile. "I've been with you for four days with no problems; a few more minutes won't break either of us. Boy of steel, remember?"

M'gann didn't expect a chuckle to come out of her mouth at that, but it did anyway. Likewise, Conner blinked at her in surprise, any more words he had lost.

"That reminds me," she quickly filled the silence. "We'd better get communications going; they were expecting the satellite, but not a bio-ship. We're probably coming into their radar now."

Right on cue, a low static drone echoed through the ship. No video screen…Which was honestly fine by M'gann, since it meant she could stay in her green skin for a little while longer.

"No hailing?" Conner muttered, as the hum continued.

"They're waiting to see if we'll go first, and probably getting someone who speaks English on hand; we might as well oblige them." M'gann kept her voice low as well, before raising it to address the audio channel.

"Hello? This is a delegation from Earth, speaking. We'd like to open communications before formally entering your orbit, please." A pause, and then what sounded like a male voice crackled through.

"That would explain the message we received a few days ago. It was fragmented, but we could decipher 'communications' and 'incoming ship.' Is this related to the communications satellite?"

"Glad to say it is," M'gann found herself smiling as she replied. "We needed to come along as an escort, but we've arrived with the satellite, and can place it in orbit. We'd also like to receive permission to land and recover for our trip home." There was a brief, low drone before the voice came back.

"We can grant this request, as a diplomatic gesture and thanks for delivering the satellite. But…You do not sound like J'onn J'onnz. Who should we identify you as?" M'gann's breath caught in her throat, which she forced out with her next words; she wouldn't allow herself to stumble now.

"My escort is Conner Kent of Earth…And Krypton." She added after a moment of hesitation. If the control was surprised by that, though, she didn't give them much time to register the sensation. "And I am M'gann M'orzz. Of Mars."

"…M'orzz?" The channel crackled again, static filling a long pause before the Martian on the other end spoke. "…Affirmative, Miss M'orzz. There will be a reception waiting for you on landing. Control, out."

"…Understood." M'gann spoke clearly into the transceiver, before the link went dead. "I just hope it isn't an armed reception." She whispered to herself.