Chapter 3
Diana stares as the ships glide into orbit and take positions above every continent. The ships could almost be considered beautiful as the sun glistens off their crystal surfaces and the light splits into the rainbow of colours.
"Diana," Wally says bringing her back to the present. "Time to go."
Diana turns her head and nods sadly. She and Wally head for the transporter. With one last look around at the place she was once proud to live and work in when it was being used to truly bring justice to the world Diana activates the transporter and she and Wally disappear. As soon as they do a virus Bruce implanted into the computers activates which is designed to wipe all records. Monitors overload and the lights go out as the Watchtower, like the hope it once represented, fades into darkness.
On the bridge of his ship Kal-El stands with his hands behind his back and looks out through the transparent window at the blue and white world below. While not the the ice and crystal magnificence of Krypton he has to admit it is beautiful in its own way.
"All ships are in position commander," the tactical officer informs him.
Kal-El glances at the officer. "Very well. Begin the invasion. Order the first wave in."
Aethyr moves to stand next to Kal-El as dozens of small ships descend down carrying the strike forces that composes the first wave of the invasion. Their job is to disable all military facilities. It shouldn't take long with such a primitive world. Aethyr estimates no more than a few hours.
"Commander," a junior officer speaks seeking Kal-El's attention.
Kal-El turns to face the officer who is manning the scanners. "What is it?"
"Sir scanners detected a matter-energy transport shortly after our arrival."
Kal-El's brow furrows and he strides over to the scanner console. He looks down at the readout. "Impossible."
"Kal-El?" Aethyr queries.
Kal-El turns his head to look at her. "These people are too primitive to have such technology." He turns his attention back to the junior officer. "Where did it originate?"
The officer quickly deduces the origin. "An artificial satellite in orbit. I'm bringing it up."
The image appears on the holographic display in front of them. Kal-El studies it. There is no way these humans should have been able to build something on this scale. That means there is something more going on than he knows and he doesn't like that. He can only minimise loss of life if he knows as much as possible. He straightens up and turns to face Aethyr.
Aethyr straightens up immediately. By Kal-El's body language she knows he is about to assign her a task.
"Aethyr take a squad and secure this satellite," he commands.
"Yes commander," Aethyr chimes in obedience.
"I need to stay here and oversee the invasion. I will join you as soon as I can."
"I understand."
Kal-El nods. Aethyr is an excellent soldier. A fine product of the empire. "Go." He lowers his voice. "And take care."
Aethyr smiles. While Kal-El's concern for her well-being is misplaced she appreciates it as a sign he cares for her. She does have that ambition of being bonded to him. She then turns and leaves. She must assemble a squad and take this satellite. She doubts it will be a difficult task but she will still perform it to the best of her ability. Kal-El would expect nothing less.
5 hours later Kal-El enters the satellite. The invasion had taken longer than he planned due to the stubbornness of one particular nation of this planet. The one that called itself the United States of America. In fact its leader was still refusing to officially surrender. Kal-El can just tell this one is going to give him a headache but he will deal with him later. Its military had been defeated and all its offensive weapons disabled at a much higher cost of human life than Kal-El was happy about and he let the captains who had lead the attacks know of his unhappiness. It was totally unnecessary considering these humans are incapable of hurting them.
Aethyr can see Kal-El's unhappiness as he enters the satellite. It hadn't been difficult to secure as it was deserted. She straightens up and salutes with a closed fist placed on her chest over her heart.
Kal-El returns the gesture. "I'm glad to see you at least do as I ask."
Aethyr knows that look. Some hapless captain is going to get a severe dressing down later. She really hopes Kal-El lets her watch. It is always most amusing to see the way he can bring those under his command to sheer terror by a simple gaze. Kal-El can appear most intimidating when he wants to and not just appear. She had trained with him enough to know he could easily back up it up if he wanted to. Kal-El was most skilled in combat.
Kal-El looks around the satellite. The technology is so different to what he is used to. It has more warmth than Kryptonian technology which is merely designed to be practical. "Artificial gravity," he mutters.
"Yes," Aethyr confirms for him. "It was not functioning when we first boarded but we have managed to restore it."
"Known technology?" he queries.
"No none that I have seen but all technology shares basic principles so we were able to manually set it. Unfortunately the central control system had been disabled surprisingly efficiently for such a primitive piece of technology."
"Get the technicians on it. I want this place taken apart to discover the origin of the technology and any data that can be recovered from the on-board systems."
"Of course Kal-El."
Kal-El gazes at her. "Not you personally. Assign someone else. I need you for something else."
"For what may I inquire?"
"One of this world's leaders is proving most bothersome. I have commanded the others to attend a meeting where I will accept their formal surrender and inform them of what will be required of them now they are subjects of the Empire."
"And the bothersome one?"
"We are going to pay him a visit. I have no time or patience for someone who is likely to stir up trouble. We are on a tight schedule."
Aethyr of course knows that. Zod was already gathering the forces needed to defeat Almerac and this world needed to be converted into a base and staging area for the attack. The size of forces required drew troops away from other sectors of the Empire leaving some of them vulnerable to their enemies so speed was of the essence.
Kal-El looks around one more time. If he had more available time he would take it to help look this facility over. Then a thought strikes him. "You know we might be able to convert this into something useful for our purposes."
Aethyr wasn't entirely sure of that.
"Whoever you assign to examining it instruct them to look into that," he suggests to Aethyr.
"As you command Kal-El."
"Well we must get back to the flagship. I think it is always best to put on a show when you meet a leader."
Yes a show of power Aethyr thinks to herself. Whoever this leader was that was being bothersome was obviously a fool for not realising just how outmatched he is. It would be a fatal mistake on his part.
"5 hours," Green Arrow comments. He is attending a secret meeting of the Justice League. They had all gone underground on Batman's advice.
"We are all aware of that Oliver," Bruce replies.
"But the whole world, every army, every base, every one of the planet's nuclear arsenal disabled in 5 hours," Oliver says still not quite able to believe it.
Bruce is reviewing the footage that had managed to be caught of these Kryptonians. It was amazing. Their speed, their strength, their seeming inability to be harmed in any way. "Wally. Watch this and tell me what you see."
Wally stands next to Bruce who is sitting at a monitor. He has to say he likes their little underground facility. It looked like an old bunker and Bats had said he had been preparing it for the inevitable day Luthor would turn against them. Wally always did give Batman credit for his ability to think ahead. Anyway he looks at footage of one of the attacks on an American base. To a normal person it simply look like black streaks flying around but to him it was so much more.
"Well?" Bruce queries.
"They're fast. I'll give them that but I'm probably faster."
Bruce notes that as something that may be useful one day once they figure out how this resistance they are planning to set up will work.
Hal Jordan meanwhile is shaking his head. He had seen this all before but seeing it happen to his own world was much more traumatic.
Diana too is watching all the footage. These Kryptonians were almost god-like in their power. It would be a very long struggle ahead if they are to every liberate Earth. It would require great patience. Bruce had been right. They will have to bide their time until they can find a weakness. The other League members were all settling in to this, what is now their home. Her thoughts are interrupted by an alert on the computer Bruce is at. "What is it?"
Bruce brings up what looks like a radar screen. "I tapped into NORAD and have been monitoring the ships since they entered orbit."
"You tapped into NORAD?" Diana asks somewhat disbelieving,
"It was a lot easier than you probably think."
J'onn who had been silently all this time chooses to speak. "So what is happening?"
"The largest vessel is descending down."
"Where?" Hal asks.
"Washington," Bruce answers.
"Why Washington?" Wally asks.
"Because Lex refused to go along with the global surrender."
Diana turns to look at Hal. "Hal. What will they do?"
Hal shakes his head. "Not sure. Depends on who is in charge. Some Kryptonians are nicer than others. If it is one of the meaner ones I wouldn't be surprised if they destroy the entire city as an example."
Diana is horrified. "But all those people," she splutters out.
"Wouldn't matter to some Kryptonians. Some are pretty nasty. Tend to look down on other lifeforms as lesser beings," Hal informs them.
"And the rest?" Bruce asks curiously.
"If this leader is like the one I met then even Luthor may survive if he is smart. Some Kryptonians are fairly nice. Even have a moral code and a sense of honour."
Bruce swings round in his chair to face Hal. They have a few minutes before the ship reaches Washington and they find out what is going to happen "Tell me all you can about them."
"They are a fairly dispassionate race. They tend to be ruled by cold logic rather than emotion but that doesn't mean that their emotions aren't there. They are. Bubbling beneath the surface. They were once a fairly peaceful race from the stories I heard but about 30 years ago there was a coup by some elements of the military and ever since then they have been set on this expansionist policy."
Bruce listens with interest before glancing back round at the screen. The ship is over Washington. Guess they'll see what is going to happen.
As Kal-El makes his way through this white building that houses the leader of the United States he is met by what he assumes are bodyguards foolishly trying to stop him. He looks over at Aethyr as she hoists one up by the jacket he is wearing looking as annoyed as Kal-El is feeling.
Aethyr tosses another one aside frankly insulted that he thought his primitive projectile weapons could stop her. She follows Kal-El as he smashes the door down and they enter an oval shaped room. She casts her gaze on the bald man sitting behind a desk.
"Come in. The door is open," he jokes.
Kal-El's gaze darkens. "You are the leader of this nation?"
"That I am," Lex confirms. He stands up and offers his hand. "Lex Luthor."
Kal-El ignores the gesture of the hand being offered and simply folds his arms across his chest.
"Alright. Straight to business then. How can I help you?"
Aethyr frankly can't believe the arrogance of this man. He has to be mad.
"You can help by offering your immediate and unconditional surrender," Kal-El tells him.
"Well that is a very generous offer but I must refuse." Lex then presses a button under his desk and waits...and waits...and nothing.
Kal-El shakes his head. "We detected the enhanced humans you had hidden away. Some of them gave off energy that was easily detected. They are being dealt with."
And as Kal-El speaks the sounds of energy weapons going off and screaming is heard.
Kal-El then unfolds his arms and brings his hands down on the desk smashing it into pieces. "I don't like taking lives unnecessarily." The undertone of anger in his voice is all too clear.
"Who does?" Lex says sounding braver than he is feeling. He had brought the metahumans he had captured and re-educated here as a last line of defence but it seems he has seriously misjudged these Kryptonians.
Just then a soldier enters dragging along General Lane. "This is the military leader you asked for Commander."
Kal-El looks at the elderly man. "You are the leader of this nation's military?" he asks wanting confirmation.
General Lane straightens himself up. He won't look weak in front of these invaders. "I am," he confirms.
"Your name?"
"General Samuel Lane."
"I am a generous person General but I have my limits. If there is no resistance than your people may go about their lives as they see fit within the laws I will lay down. If you fight us..." Kal-El trails off and turns his head to Aethyr. He nods signalling her.
Aethyr nods in return and then in a burst of superspeed and the sound of a sickening crack she snaps Lex's neck.
General Lane looks on in shock.
"I hope I have made my point," Kal-El tells him.
General Lane nods slowly.
"Good. Now I have summoned all the leaders of this world to meet at your United Nations where I will address them. I expect you to be there."
"Me?" General Lane asks totally confused as to why he would be there.
"Yes you. By the authority given to me as the new overseer of this world I can appoint regional leaders. Now I could appoint someone under my command but I believe the people of this nation will respond better if it is one of their own kind. I would like it to be you."
"The United States is a democracy."
"I have studied your language General and from what I have seen and read from your global information net your nation does not meet the definition of a democracy."
The sad truth there is that General Lane agrees but Luthor had people everywhere to prevent any move against him but now he is dead it no longer matters. If his daughter, Lois, was here she would be reminding him that his oath holds him to oppose all threats both foreign and domestic and to up hold the Constitution. Fighting these aliens was impossible at the moment. They had completely neutralised all military forces. They needed time to rebuild and he would have to create that time. "Very well then I accept...but only till new elections can be organised."
Kal-El doesn't have time for the petty internal politics of these nation states. "How you run your internal affairs is your own concern but as citizens of the Kryptonian Empire I will place obligations upon you. These I will inform you at the meeting I mentioned."
"I will be there," General Lane tells him.
Kal-El nods. "Then I will leave you General. I'm sure you have work to attend to as do I." Kal-El the turns and leaves at a normal pace with Aethyr following. He hadn't wanted to do that but he had met leaders like this Lex Luthor before and he had let them live due to his dislike of unnecessary killing. It had come back to haunt him, cost him the lives of those under his command, of those who trusted their lives to him. He would not repeat that error in judgement despite how much regret he feels.
Once outside Kal-El takes a moment to bask in the glow of the yellow sun and lets its ray rejuvenate him. He sighs deeply.
"It had to be done," Aethyr says at Kal-El's sigh.
"I am aware of that," he responds. He just wishes that there had been another way or he had the luxury of finding another way or the luxury of time to find another way but he has his father's expectations to live up to as well as a schedule for the invasion of Almerac to adhere to. Mercy is something he rarely has the luxury of granting at the best of times. The communicator on his wrist goes off. Kal-El raises it to his mouth. "Speak."
"Nam-Ek here commander. All the enhanced humans have been neutralised."
Another thing Kal-El regrets deeply. "Very well. Take their corpses to the ship to be studied."
"Yes commander."
Kal-El would prefer to let them undergo whatever funeral rights they have on this world but when his ship's scanners had detected them they became another thing he had not known about beforehand. Their abilities must be studied. There are almost certainly others out there, perhaps some who had abilities that could actually inflict injury upon his soldiers and even though he wishes to save as many lives as possible Kal-El's primary responsibility is to the troops under his command.
With this taken care of he flies upward back to his ship that is hovering above the city. In a couple of days he must address the leaders of this world so he better get started on his speech. Some days, particularly days like this, he really wishes he could have led a different life.
Author's Note: I wrote Lex being killed to show that Kal-El is a soldier who has fought in many battles and therefore has a cold, hard edge to him. Of course I could equally say that is a result of him being raised by General Zod. Equally important though is that I wrote that he shows regret for his actions and in that last line that he wishes that he could have had a different life.