Disclaimer: I dont own DC
The new story arc begins, with the introduction of new characters, new villains and a new obstacle that'll test Alex's worth as a hero and a Sentry.
Planet of the Bravest 4
Galaxy of the Bravest
Chapter 1: Brainiac's collection
Krypton-40 years ago
The Kryptonian's rise to peace had not come without its obstacles. Jor of the El family stood on the field of battle, assisting his fellow Kryptonians in the defence of Krypton's greatest city. Armoured troops fired their blasters into the dust as other members of the soldier classes began leading the scientists away. Ships were blown out of the sky by an enemy the Kryptonian's had yet to fully understand. Jor pushed through the crowds of soldiers, making his way to the general defending the city. What he saw wasn't a professional soldier or capable leader, but a desperate man.
"I want the transport ships out of the city now, Argos maintains a heavy defence but Kandor is helpless unless more troops are sent to them," the dark haired man explained.
"But General Zod, the high council has not authorised a full battalion, we must wait for the phantom generators to be finished," an older, calmer soldier stated.
"By the time that happens Kandor will be lost to us, any sacrifice of innocent lives while the scientists tinker is unforgivable," the General, Zod, had always been willing to fight and die for Krypton's security but he always clashed with the high council.
Jor respected the man and understood his desperation. He wanted his pregnant wife out of the city even more than he wanted Kandor to remain safe.
"Send out another wave of transport ships, we can not afford to wait any longer," Zod said.
Jor coughed as he stepped forward.
"Sir, there are no more ships left to send, I had already authorised the support of Argos City. My brother is there sir; he is part of the team that is designing the phantom zone generator, it and the yellow sun projector are crucial to the defence of the entire planet," Jor explained.
"I WILL NOT SACRIFICE KANDOR!" Zod yelled.
"The Phantom zone generator will draw forth energy from the Phantom zone itself, energy we can use to drive away the invader, once the invader is driven away then it will be possible for us to create weapons to protect the rest of Krypton from future attacks!"
Jor tried to explain how the sacrifice of one city would save the rest of Krypton. But he couldn't believe his excuses and knew that no matter what became of Krypton, nothing could justify Zod losing his wife and unborn child. Jor yearned for a family and he was happy Argos was safe, while his niece would be forever traumatised by the images of the invaders Jor had no doubt that she would live a fine peaceful life. The young man looked to Kandor and widened his eyes at what he saw. A horrified expression crossed Zod's face, mirroring the shock of his soldiers. During the attack the invaders had destroyed the bridges and network of tunnels, cutting Kandor off from the rest of Krypton. But now it had truly been cut off from Krypton.
"This is impossible," Jor-El whispered.
He had heard of the theories, but never had he believed that it could actually be possible. A glass dome had surrounded Kandor and the buildings themselves began to glow. Zod took a pair of binoculars from one of his soldiers and zoomed in on the dome. He saw people banging against the side of the dome, while others merely prayed in desperation. Kandor disappeared as a beam of energy shot out of Argos city. The weapon Zor-El had created was successful in its attack, yet Kandor had still been lost. Not a trace of the once great city was left, as if it had been erased.
"General Zod," Jor-El said, looking to the dark haired man.
Zod's body shook as he stared at where Kandor once stood. His hands balled in anger, Zod let out a scream that Jor-El knew would torment him forever.
Present Day-Earth
The Metro tower was a full house. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman stood with their Justice League comrades, though J'onn and Hal were noticeably absent. Ever since returning from the disaster of a mission, Hal had retreated into his job at Ferris Airfields. Clark could sense that the man still blamed himself for what happened to Alex. He looked at his fellow League members, gauging their responses to the situation. Kara was comforting Cyclone and Stargirl, both of whom were grieving and unaware of the fact that they both had a crush on the same boy. Carter was with Sheira, who despite not being a member was vital to calming Carter's anger. Ray was in the room but had shrunk to the size of his namesake.
"I hate to sound cold but what are we going to do now?" Oli asked.
Hawkman shoot Green Arrow a glare, only for Sheira to push against his chest. The action calmed Carter for only a moment.
"We still have a bundle of scientists waiting to work on a mission that isn't here, what are we supposed to tell them?" Flash asked.
"I could make a mirage of Alex, he'd distract them for a bit until we can find out where Rikai hid the weapon," Zatanna suggested.
"It wouldn't work, they're all too smart for a trick like that to work in the long run," Black Canary said.
"What about Alex's parents, we cant keep this a secret from them," Kara said.
Clark sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Twenty-four hours was usually the time it took for concerned parents to declare their children missing. Sadly forty-eight hours had gone by and the Winters family had shown no sign of looking for its eldest son.
"They wont look for him," Batman said plainly.
"They don't deserve to call themselves his parents," Diana growled.
Diana squeezed the edge of the table so hard that it broke off. A sharp whistled caught everyone's attention. All eyes turned to the door, with Oli stepped back in shock as a blonde haired woman walked into the room. Clark couldn't bring himself to smile despite how important this woman was to him. She wore no costume and had no powers but she was every bit a hero as any other member of the league, or she at least used to be.
"I guess you guys didn't need to open up the retro tower without my say so, I gotta say I felt a bit insulted when you didn't invite me back to the place I generously donated to the team," she explained as she walked into the room.
"This is a bad time Chloe," Oli sighed.
"What no 'you changed your haircut' or 'how have you been,' why does it look like your having a…funeral," Chloe widened her eyes in realisation.
"We weren't the ones that lost touch with you Sullivan, you lost touch with us," Carter growled.
"Carter please calm…"
"No Sheira, this woman may have supported the original League's rise but after we became accepted she turned her back on us, she even tried to get us to pay for the tower she 'donated'", Carter came close to knocking over his wife and marching over to Sullivan.
But Carter stopped as Batman stepped between him and Chloe. The Dark Knight turned to Chloe Sullivan, looking down at her with an indifferent expression.
"No one has died," he said.
Confusion struck the members of the League as they looked at Batman. Stargirl wiped her eyes and looked at Batman in shock.
"But Mr Jordan said…"
"He also said that the Lanterns didn't find a body or any DNA evidence that suggested his death. In our world and with all our responsibilities we cant just assume someone is dead without having absolute evidence. Think of the amount of times our villains have been reported dead only to turn up with another scheme, with how advanced that suit is it would be irresponsible of us to simple assume an explosion could kill Alex, that Andromeda woman was hit by an energy blast and her armour has been fused with her skin yet she's still alive," Batman explained.
"I wouldn't call her alive," Diana muttered, recalling the woman's blank expression as she was led to a cell at Ryker's.
"Then there's the AI and the armour itself, when its original wearer had died in our atmosphere Rikai had found Alex as a replacement, the Koran's target is clearly Earth so naturally Rikai would return to the planet and select a new candidate to wear the armour. Fifty six hours has gone by and Rikai hasn't returned, either he too has been destroyed or Alex is in fact alive and trying to find a way back to Earth."
The Justice League stood with a mix of doubt and hope at the Dark Knight's theories. For Kara and the other young heroes there was the chance that Alex was alive, while Atom and Oli accounted the possibility that even with Alex dead, Rikai had not yet abandoned the Earth. Chloe walked over to a computer and began typing on the keyboard. While the other members looked on in confusion, Batman walked to her side.
"Where did he disappear?" Chloe asked.
"Deep space, bring up the Wayne foundations website, they have a deep space probe that was recently passing that area," Batman said.
Chloe tapped a series of keys at a rate that would have put the Flash to shame. She then tapped the computer screen and dragged a homographic image of the Wayne foundation website onto a wide screen overlooking the group. Batman slid open a portion of his gauntlet, tapping several buttons. Chloe gasped as the Dark knight took control of the tower's computer systems. He bought up a holographic keyboard and typed in a password. Suddenly a picture of a space constellation appeared. Batman pointed his finger at the screen and highlighted what looked like an orange cloud.
"That's a digital signature, a faint signal I've seen the Sentry's AI give off," Atom said, growing to his full size as he jumped off Carter's shoulder.
"I get it," Chloe zoomed in on the image and restored it. "This AI gave off a signal discretely, maybe cause it's still connected to this guy your looking for. It was there for a full five minutes before it passed," she explained.
"Forcefully shut down maybe?" Kara suggested.
"What do you know about AI's?" Chloe asked.
"We're both living proof that blondes aren't idiots," Kara crossed her arms and smirked at the older woman.
Chloe let out a laugh before turning back to her work.
"So the AI, Rikai right? The AI generated a makeshift distress signal that was then forcefully shut down after five minutes, this suggests that whoever picked up Alex is very intelligent, super computer intelligent," she and Kara both put hands to their chins as they thought over the situation.
"Did the probe go to the area that Hal's mission took place in?" Kara asked.
"It did, but those images were ones the probe took 2 light years from the area," Batman said.
"Wow, Wayne really knows good tech, so whoever took Alex is obviously capable of faster than light travel but that also suggests technology that's vastly greater than ours. Its obvious they're hostile in someway otherwise Rikai wouldn't have needed to send a distress signal," Kara explained.
"Might I make a suggestion?"
The team turned their heads to see J'onn phasing into the room. He solidified as he walked up to the screen.
"Now that I know where to look I can cast my telepathy to that area and fix in on Alex's mind," J'onn explained as he closed his eyes.
Looks of relief had now crossed everyone's faces.
"So we can save Alex?" Cyclone asked.
"Lets not get ahead of ourselves, besides you two aren't up for a deep space mission," Kara said.
"I can go, my powers will work a lot better," Courtney said.
"But I can…"
"There's no wind or air in outer space," Courtney grinned as Cyclone kicked at the floor.
"Teenagers," Oli shook his head.
"I think it's cute," Black Canary smiled.
"And no doubt Alex will be a handsome man when he grows up," Zatanna grinned.
"I've seen the boys picture, he's already a handsome man," Sheira said, grinning as Carter looked at her in shock.
"Knock it off, we need to focus," Diana said.
Superman watched in dismay as the female members of the league crowded around Diana, talking like Smallville high school girls.
"Face it Diana you were staring at Alex too when he took his helmet off," Zatanna said.
"Unlike your sister you don't age, I'd say you dating him wouldn't be illegal," Black Canary chuckled.
"Back off princess as soon as I rescue Alex I'm asking him out," Courtney grinned.
"But I was going to ask Alex out," Cyclone said.
The two girls glared at one another. Flash blinked in confusion as he saw sparks course around them. Their glares quickly changed to bewildered expressions as Kara tapped their heads together.
"Don't let a stupid boy ruin your friendship, besides I don't think Alex will be interested, he does seem to be a bit dense when it comes to his looks," Kara explained.
"Yeah, and plus Diana asking him out would be wrong, besides she's already got an interest in…someone very close by don't you princess?" Sheira asked, causing Diana to blush.
Superman blinked in confusion as the other men blushed too, wondering whether they had the honour of Wonder Woman's attraction. He knew Diana had once been close to a government agent, but they had lost touch ever since the public had accepted Diana. Ray and Carter both had wives and Barry was seeing someone, which cut them out. J'onn had made his love for his long dead wife perfectly clear, and Diana wasn't the type of woman to get in the way of 'true love'. Hal and Oli were both too arrogant for Diana's tastes, or at least Clark thought so. Clark blushed, for that left only him, cause there was no way Diana could like Batman. He widened his eyes as he saw Wonder Woman look towards the Dark Knight.
Superman gasped, "No way…"
"PLEASE STOP!"
The team looked to J'onn in shock as his face twisted with horror. His eyes were growing red as he stepped back in fear.
"I'LL TELL YOU WHATEVER YOU AAAAAGH!" the Martian Manhunter screamed as he felt the pain of another.
Two minutes earlier
Something compelled him to wake up, a sound he could only describe as being similar to an evacuation horn. The noise did its job as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked through the HUD of his helmet and widened his eyes slightly. His arms and legs had been bound somehow. He was laid flat on a futuristic bed of some kind, gravity units were keep his arms and legs firmly placed on the sides. They acted like cuffs in the sense that he could only turn his wrists or struggle with his arms and never move them up. Alex examined his surroundings, which seemed bland and sci-fi in nature. He heard a series of clicks above him and against his better judgement he looked up.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Alex yelled.
A series of tools and blades were attached to a machine above him. Light ran over his armour and scanned it from the head to the toes. Alex pulled his head up and looked to the door in front of him. It looked steel but his HUD indicated its alien origins, and already began recommending a weapon to pry it open. Alex thought of multiple commands, but none of them activated any of his armours weapons.
"You are stated to be from Earth, but your armour states otherwise!"
The ominous voice echoed around the room and Alex no longer had the sense that he was being watched. He knew now that his captor was examining him, that this wasn't a bed to bind him, but an operating table for a dissection. His head swung to the side as he heard metal dragging against the ground. A worm like robot slithered around the table, standing upright to reveal its gruesome details. It had two green eyes that looked oddly organic. Numerous spikes and claws stretched out of its belly while its forehead exposed a healthily preserved brain. Overcoming his disgust, Alex looked at the logo attached to the brain.
'Three circles joined together in an upside down triangle, three circles…' he described the image in his mind, hoping that the Martian was looking for him. 'Please J'onn, please find me, please…calm down, calm down, three circles joined together in an upside down triangle,' he looked at the image, listening to the voice blinking out of it.
"Your armour hides you heart rate, but I have seen many in your position, they all yell the same thing…but no amount of begging will stop me, your genetic information will be studied, digitised and preserved as part of this construct," the computer explained.
"WAIT PLEASE STOP!" Alex yelled.
The worm creature bought one of its arms towards Alex's chest. A buzz saw blade rotated around the arm, slowly drifting towards the chest plate.
"I'LL TELL YOU WHATEVER…" agony overcame Alex's need to beg as the saw grinded against his armour.
Sparks flew off of Alex's chest and he pulled his head back. He writhed in agony, tears welling behind the armour.
"Interesting, the armour protects vital organs but you still respond in pain when it is touched…" the computer's theories and intrigued became muffled sounds to Alex.
He focused on the agony and the sense of dread and fear gripping him. His heart ran in terror for the first time in his life.
'I'm gonna die, I'm really gonna die,' he thought. 'Calm down, calm down, calm the fuck down…this is no time to panic, THINK OF SOMETHING DAMN IT!'
His head struck the edge of the table and his limbs went limp. The worm stopped, moving its 'head' to Alex's helmet. It peered at Alex, unaware of his hands squeezing into fists. Suddenly, Alex slammed his head into the worm, throwing it backwards. The worm crashed into the surgical machine above Alex, releasing a torrent of sparks. An explosion on the worm's head splattered Alex with brain matter as the worm flailed around. It crashed into the wall, its blades dragging against the complex computer attached to it. Multiple explosions shook the room and the chain reaction caused the dissection table to shut down. Alex immediately pulled his blaster out of its holster and fired multiple blasts into the robot. The blasts knocked the robot into the door before it exploded in a shower of metal.
'Not quite as inspiring an escape as Superman's or as intelligent as Batman's, but it did the job,' Alex thought as he broke off into a run.
He ran out of the room, entering a series of long metal corridors. Multiple screens on the walls blare to life and showed the same logo that had been on the robot.
"Your attempt to escape has been anticipated," the computer said.
Four doors opened in the corridor ahead. Alex drew his blaster as twelve bulking robots began blocking his way. They ignited curved energy blades on their arms, their joints growling as they moved to attack. Alex slid underneath a robot's legs, blasting it in the soft spot. He then stopped his slide, his legs barely missing an energy blade. Rolling backwards, Alex kicked the damaged robot into the one behind it, causing a domino effect that knocked the other ones down. Jumping and running over the robots, Alex narrowly avoided a downed robots energy blade.
'Discretion is the better part of valour, find Rikai,' Alex told himself as he ran from the robots.
Opening the barrel of his gun, Alex fired a charged shot that destroyed a door in front of him. Without thinking of where it would lead him, Alex rushed through the door and fired another two blasts. The blasts knocked parts of the ceiling down, creating a makeshift replacement for the door Alex destroyed. Hearing a sound next to him, Alex turned and aimed his blaster. He raised his eyebrows in intrigued at the lines of cells he had discovered. They were built with energy walls that still allowed a good view of the prisoners. Alex saw a number of aliens he didn't recognise.
'Then again I don't even know what kind of aliens there are,' he thought.
One of the aliens, a being with multiple tentacles waved its 'arms' around, speaking in an aggressive tone. Alex didn't understand a word he said.
"Great, language barriers, does anyone here speak Earth English?" Alex asked the crowd.
They looked at him in confusion and began shouting out what must have been profanities.
"Great, if only it was like Star Wars where everyone at least understood basic," Alex sighed.
"Some of them understand you human," a voice said from inside the crowd.
The first thing Alex noted was that the speaker sounded much like the computer, though of course less robotic. The prisoners cleared the way for a green skinned man with short blonde hair. He wore a uniform of some kind and seemed to carry an air of arrogance. His companion, one of many Tameranean's regarded Alex with an intrigued eye. She wore a grey and black suit that exposed little of her flesh. A silver crown rested around her face while purple pearls decorated her ears. The second thing Alex noticed was that this woman had a striking resemblance to Starfire, though she seemed less innocent and playful.
"They're just too insulted by your primitive language to respond," she said.
"Primitive?" Alex raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet.
"Their words not mine," the woman smirked.
Alex raised his head as he heard someone whisper for his attention. He walked over to another cell and saw a blonde haired human standing with what appeared to be fellow humans. The man wore a red uniform that matched the ones his fellow prisoners were wearing.
"Don't speak with Vril Nox or Blackfire, they're both dangerous, Adam Strange, I'd offer you a hand to shake but the barrier is a problem there," the man explained.
"Are you human?" Alex asked.
"I am, but the men with me are from Rann, it's a long story that we don't really have time for, I see you managed to escape the operating table, its fortunate that at least one person could do it," Adam explained.
"How many people were originally imprisoned here?"
"We were at a diplomatic summit at the Throneworld, many species were gathered there to discuss…a very dangerous information, Blackfire over there led the Tamaranean party with Nox as her advisor. I was part of a Rann security team protecting the ambassador, a few hours into the summit and it was suddenly attacked."
Alex looked at the other prisoners, most of whom looked like civilians. Vril seemed indifferent to the situation, whilst Blackfire spoke to calm her people.
"Who attacked?" he asked, aiming his gaze at Vril.
"Though it is not the true Brainiac it is safe to say that this is one of his many collection ships, he collects things of interest, studies them and then destroys them," Vril explained.
"Brainiac," Alex muttered.
"You planet's Superman often faces him," Blackfire said.
"How many more people were taken?" Alex asked.
"So far twenty four out of 34 of us have been taken, most recently Prince Gavyn of the throne world and the most powerful beings of my group were taken," Vril said.
"Who are they?"
"Captain Comet and a Daxamite that tried to stop Brainiac," Blackfire said.
"Most likely they are being ripped apart right now," Vril sighed.
Alex turned to the rubble and converted his blaster to a shoulder mounted cannon.
"Wait, where are you going?" Blackfire demanded.
"To save your friend and this Daxamite, I also need to recover my friend Rikai," Alex said.
"Hurry then, but be careful, and keep an eye out for the collection chamber, Brainiac will probably have stored our weapons there," Adam said.
Alex nodded his head before firing his cannon. The red beam pushed the rubble and the massive sentries waiting outside. Running out of the room, Alex turned his cannon back into its handheld blaster mode. He looked at either side of the crossroads and quickly chose to go left. Tapping the sides of his helmet, Alex bought up a heat radar on his HUD. He discovered a very large heat source ahead. Breaking off into a sprint, Alex took several blasts to his back before ran into another room. What he found filled him with disgust. Another worm like robot was overseeing the torture of two more men. Though they looked human Alex knew not to make that assumption. One was a brown haired man dressed in a red suit with a comet symbol on his chest. He had blue shoulder and leg pads and had been attached to an operating table like the one Alex woke up on. Shooting the table, Alex deactivated its power dampener and freed the prisoner.
"Payback time," the man grinned as energy surrounded him.
He focused his glowing eyes on the worm creature and squashed it with a single thought. Floating off the table, the prisoner looked at the second man with Alex. He was trapped in a round chamber of some kind, a force field being the only thing protecting him. His baggy red clothing slacked on his stick like frame. A blue cape hanging off his shoulders probably made him seem great at one time.
"Quick, it's a lead chamber get him out of there," the brown haired man said.
Alex blasted the control unit as the brown haired man tore the chamber open. He grabbed the black haired man and immediately flew out of the room.
"Wait, why can't he be around lead?" Alex asked, only for silence to hang over the room.
Alex shook his head before walking out of the room. He turned and watched Captain Comet crash through Brainiac's sentries. Alex ran in the other direction, intending the reach the end of the corridor. When he reached the edge he walked into a dome-shamed room. The room was a gallery of alien objects and caged creatures. Weapons had also been stored and Alex recognised some jetpacks and helmets that would probably fit Adam Strange and his men. He then came upon a podium with a small red chip displayed.
"Hard to believe something so small could contain something as advanced as Rikai," Alex said as he picked the chip up and put it to his helmet.
A series of wires shot out of the chip, fusing it to the back of Alex's helmet. Alex's eyes flashed as Rikai rejoined with his nervous system. His holographic form appeared beside him, floating a few feet from the air.
"Alex, its fortunate you were able to escape, I trust you have discovered where we are," Rikai said.
"Yeah, a ship of Brainiac's," Alex said.
Rikai shook his head.
"Brainiac, not enough data has been collected on this being to know what it looks like, what is known is that it converts living beings into data that it can absorb, a handful are then kept alive and stored away, take Prince Gavyn and his weapon for example," Rikai explained, motioning to a glass tube.
A blonde haired man had been imprisoned in the tube. He wore a blue suit with gold bracelets, a gold star on his chest, with gold lenses covering his eyes. Across from him was what looked like a simple walking stick, floating on a podium.
"Discounting the prince are there any other intelligent creatures here?" Alex asked.
"In a way they all possess some kind of intelligence," Rikai corrected.
"Are they as developed evolution wise as humans?"
"That is up for debate," Rikai muttered.
Alex blasted a control unit, freeing Prince Gavyn from his prison.
"Oh thank you, I couldn't stand another minute in there," the young man said.
"Actually you could have spent a century in there and your body wouldn't have changed at all," Rikai said.
Gavyn looked at the holographic AI in confusion before Rikai slid back to his chip. Alex walked to another glass tube, which had a grotesque white alien hiding inside it. Despite its monstrous appearance and threatening spike tail, Alex couldn't help but feel sorry for it. The 'creature' was sitting on the floor, its head lowered in despair.
'I would recommend leaving that creature there Alex, that is a white Martian, they are dangerous creatures,' Rikai explained, speaking from within Alex's mind.
The Martian looked at Alex as if it had understood the debate going on in his mind. Alex pressed his hand against the glass and sighed.
"None of these creatures want to be here and I cant let this ship get to whatever place Brainiac calls home, Rikai I need you to start hacking this ship's computer, tell me everything you can gather about Brainiac and where these items came from," Alex paused as he watched Prince Gavyn grab the stick that had been floating on the podium. "Also see if you can figure out a way to tell the Justice League or maybe a Green Lantern where we are, if we cant retake the ship from the inside we'll need someone to help us outside," he explained.
"Very well, though I did put the Justice League on the right path before Brainiac silenced me," Rikai said.
"Is Brainiac here?" Gavyn asked, walking around the collection room.
Alex sighed as Rikai gave a single word as his reply:
"Unknown!"
The White Martian continued to look at Alex as he began looking for the control panel for her cell. Prince Gavyn looked around absent minded, not even bothering to watch the back of the man that freed him. The White Martian widened her eyes as she looked at the doorway. Standing there with its cannon raised was a Brainiac drone, slowly raising its arm.
"BEHIND YOU!"
Alex cringed in pain for a small moment before turning to the doorway. On instinct he fired his blaster, hitting the Brainiac drone in the head. The drone's head exploded and it promptly fell to the ground, exploding to reveal more Brainiac drones, igniting their energy blades. Alex sighed as he materialised a blade of his own, a high tech spear with an energy blade attached to it.
'Thanks for the weapon Rikai, and thanks for the warning,' Alex thought as he directed one last look at the White Martian. "Prince Gavyn, that stick of yours better not be show, cause we've got company!"
The Sentry swung his spear around before rushing towards the drones.
Thirty minutes away
"Thirteen different alien life forms detected, Brainiac construct identified!"
He held the ring away from his mouth, smirking as he flew towards the Brainiac ship. His Green barrier protected him from the vacuum and allowed him to carry out his duty as a Green Lantern. But he was not Hal Jordan.
"You kept me away from your last mission Jordan, its only right that I return the favour!"
Next Chapter 2: Rescue
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next time the League begins making its move to rescue Alex, while the other Green Lantern arrives and all hell breaks loose on Brainiac's ship.