Chapter 74: Forbidden Planet (Lost in Space – Part 1)

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.

Location: Unknown

Kara looked at the broken mess in her hand that had once been a miracle of alien technology. The casing was broken, the energy source that had once been inside was dead, and much of the circuitry was fused into so much slag. When she had taken the Mother Box from Steppenwolf, it had been damaged slightly by a blast of her own heat vision. She had successfully fixed it then, but that had mostly been superficial damage and the Mother Box itself had supplied her with the information necessary to make the repairs.

Not this time. The telepathic link was dead, there was no more tic-tic-tic, nothing.

"Okay, we're not getting back home the way we came," she announced.

Clark and Kona nodded, having guessed as much. One did not need to be a genius scientist to see that the Mother Box was broken beyond repair.

"I am very sorry, should I be somehow to blame for this," Sandy said, standing a bit apart from the other three, looking contrite. Kara was pretty sure that she was to blame, somehow, for the Mother Box had started going crazy the moment it had begun to scan Sandy. She doubted that it had been intentional, though. Sandy was just that strange, it seemed.

"We can figure out how it happened later," Kara said. "First order of business is to figure out where we are."

The Boom Tube had dropped them in the middle of some kind of steppe. The sparse vegetation had a red-purple tint to it and the sky above them was a burnt orange shade. The most important thing, though, was the sun. It was a deep crimson red.

"I am not familiar with this world," she told the others. She had briefly hoped that the Boom Tube might have gone to one of the previous locations she had used it for, such as Colu or Rann, Dhor or Alstair, but no such luck. "Once night falls we can take a look at the star constellations, but our best bet would be to look for signs of civilization."

"How long until our powers begin to fade under a red sun?" Clark asked, looking worriedly at the red orb above.

"Depends on how much we use them," Kara told him. "Our cells will still absorb the red sunlight, but it's not potent enough to recharge our powers."

"So we use them as little as possible then," Kona concluded, causing Kara to nod.

"Even if we don't use them, the energy will still deplete, especially once lack of food and water become an issue, but unless we start using them on a large scale, it will take a good long while. At least the atmosphere seems compatible."

She thought for a moment. "I'm going to fly straight up and take a look around, hopefully I can spot some settlement or other that will tell us where we are. You stay here!"

Her kids and Sandy all nodded. All of them seemed to be fully aware of the severity of their situation, thankfully.

Kara shot upwards, the land falling away beneath her. She was worried, though she did her best to hide it from her family. She had no clue as to the maximum range of the Boom Tubes, so they could quite literally be anywhere. Moreover, while Kryptonians could fly through space, she had never attempted to breach the light barrier under her own power so far. In theory, she should be able to do it, but there were too many unknowns. Time dilation, navigation, energy expenditure, all things she had never tested. Well, no sense in worrying about that until she had a clue where they were.

She leveled out at a height of roughly ten kilometers and let her enhanced gaze travel far and wide. Most of the surrounding area was yet more steppe, the landscape unchanging. In one direction, though, she could see the glitter of water, as well as some shapes that seemed too angular and straight to be natural. Gaining a bit more height, she finally identified it as some kind of base or small settlement, as well as something she believed to be an airfield. She could not see any lifeforms, but she was too far away to look inside the buildings.

Dropping back down to where her kids and Sandy were waiting, she told them what she had seen.

"We'll head in that direction," she decided. "Once we can get a closer look, I hope I can tell what species we are dealing with. If they are space faring and we are still in the Milky Way galaxy, there is a good chance that they will speak Interlac. If not... well, we'll deal with that when we get there."

In order to conserve their energy, they walked, though at a brisker pace than would have been possible for any human. This also had the advantage that Sandy was able to keep up with them under her own power. She occasionally slowed down a bit as her cell structure fluctuated, but always picked up the pace again a moment later. Kara's scientific mind was already going over possible methods of stabilizing Sandy's physical form, but she pushed that to the far edge of her mind. They had more important things to deal with now and though she felt her attitude towards the strange girl softening, she was still not quite convinced of her intentions.

"Martha and Jonathan will worry if we don't return from the Fortress," Kona said as they jogged along.

"They will," Kara agreed. "Sadly we have no way to send them a message right now."

"What happens if we don't get home within a few days?" Clark asked. "Kona and I will miss school, you'll be missed at work, too. Never mind Superwoman being absent."

"Mom and dad know what to do," Kara told them. "We put plans in place for this kind of situation years ago."

"You put plans in place for being lost in space?" Kona asked, looking amazed.

"Well, not specifically this situation," Kara admitted. "But there was always the possibility that some kind of mission would come up that would force me or us to put our civilian lives on hold for a while."

Martha and Jonathan were to contact Diana and Bruce if they were overdue more than a day. Diana would check the Fortress, having been given full access by Kara after the Mongul affair, and could make appearances as Superwoman if necessary. Bruce would help Martha and Jonathan establish a cover story where Karen Kent and her children had gone. It was not perfect, but their normal lives would still be waiting for them once they got back home within a reasonable amount of time.

Now all they had to do was actually make it back home.

It would have been much faster to fly, but after a few hours they finally approached the structure Kara had spotted without much depletion of their energy levels. They were still out of sight of normal eyes, but Kara and Clark were now fully capable of taking in every detail. It was definitely some kind of base, a large central building with several smaller ones beside it. There were three small craft sitting on the airfield, as well as a larger one that Kara was reasonably sure was space capable. The buildings, as well as the vehicles, were green in color and seemed to be made from a mixture of metals and plant fiber.

With a soft hiss, the doors of the main building opened up and a group of aliens stepped out. Suddenly Kara knew exactly where they were.

"Great! Dominators!" she grumbled under her breath.

The aliens were tall, rake-thin, and had bright yellow skin. They had no visible nose, but a huge mouth with very sharp-looking teeth. On their foreheads they sported red discs of various sizes, indicators of their place in the Dominion's strict caste system.

"What are Dominators?" Kona asked.

"Natives of the planet Elia," his mom explained. "I recognize them from school."

She motioned for them to move back and they settled down behind some trees, well out of sight of the base. No sense taking any risks.

"Okay, good news first," she told the others. "Those are Dominators, which means we are in the Milky Way, not some galaxy far, far away. The bad news is that we are still pretty far from home, at least several thousand light years. And definitely not in friendly territory."

Clark frowned, clearly trying to remember his own lessons on the various space-faring races in the galaxy. She was sure she had covered the Dominators with him at some point, but not in any detail. Kona had not gotten that far in her lessons so far.

"The Dominators rule over an area of space comprising several hundred worlds," Sandy said, apparently accessing her memories again. "Most other space-faring races despise them."

"That's putting it mildly," Kara agreed, trying not to show her irritation that Sandy seemed to know pretty much everything she did. "The Dominators regard all other sentients as inferior to themselves."

"It does mean they'll have the technology to get us home, though, right?" Kona asked.

"They should. The questions is: will they help us?"

"They are not really known as the galaxy's greatest altruists, but I guess it's worth a try. I would rather not have our first contact with the Dominion be a case of ship theft."

Two of the Dominators went to the smaller vehicles, probably short-range craft of some kind, and took off a moment later. Three more headed towards the larger vessel, where several crates were currently being unloaded by worker robots.

"Looks like some kind of supply run," Kara said, looking at the crates. "I don't think we're on the Dominion home world, Elia. This is probably a research outpost or something. From what I remember, the Dominators use plant-based technology for the most part. Could be they are checking out the local flora for compatibility."

"So... do we just walk up to them and ask for a ride back home?" Kona asked.

Their mom thought for a second, the nodded. "Probably our best bet, yes. If those are scientists or explorers instead of military, they might be more receptive to the idea of helping some strangers. But I will do the walking and talking, you stay here until we know how they react to strange aliens being on their world."

It was clear neither Clark nor Kona particularly liked that idea, but they did not argue. Kara smiled internally, remembering Batman's words that her children were picking up the knack to know when to follow the rules and when to break them. It seemed he was right.

Getting up, she walked out of their cover and approaching the airfield and the three Dominators still checking their crates. She made no attempt to hide her approach, but neither of them noticed her.

"Hello there," she finally called out in Interlac.

The three Dominators jumped, clearly surprised, and turned towards her with weapons raised. Kara raised her hands, doing her best to appear harmless.

"I am sorry for interrupting you," she said. "We have... crashed on this planet and require aid."

For a tense moment the three aliens said nothing, their weapons still raised. Then one of them, the one with the largest disc on his head, took a step forward.

"Who are you, creature?" he (She? It?) asked in heavily accented Interlac. "This planet is property of the Dominion!"

"I am Kara-El," she replied, hands still raised. "I had no intention of trespassing on your territory. My arrival here was an accident. I am only looking for a way to get back home, that is all."

For a few endless seconds the tension seemed thick enough to cut and Kara was uncertain whether she was about to be shot or not. Not that she worried too much about that, the small handguns the three Dominators carried were unlikely to hurt her, but she would much rather solve this peacefully.

"We will contact our superiors," the lead Dominator finally said, lowering his gun. "Then we shall..."

Sadly, he never managed to finish the sentence, for in that moment there was a tremendous boom and a flash of light.

A tunnel opened up in mid-air, just like the ones the Mother Box used to create. For a moment Kara considered the notion that the broken device she still carried with her had started working again after all, but it was every bit as dead and molten as a second ago.

Someone else was coming, it seemed.

The light of the new Boom Tube's opening briefly blinded Kara. When the spots vanished from her vision, she could make out several shapes stepping out of the glare. So far, she had only met two different representatives of the species that used Boom Tubes, Steppenwolf and Metron. The former had tried to conquer Earth and kill her. The latter, well, she was not really sure whether to classify him as friend or foe, to be honest. Regardless, it was neither of them that emerged from the tube.

There were six of them. Four Kara recognized as the demon creatures that Steppenwolf had used as foot soldiers in his failed conquest of Earth. Parademons, the Amazons had called them. Huge, armored, with insect-like wings on their backs and holding massive, dangerous-looking weapons. Kara had fought them before. They were tough, but no threat to her individually. Only their sheer numbers had truly made them dangerous.

The other two were different. Both were tall, really tall, and quite clearly female. Both wore suits of armor that looked like they had seen a lot of action and carried spear-like weapons. Both also carried something that looked like maces on their hips. Both wore helmets as well, making them nearly indistinguishable. One of them, the taller one, stepped forward. Apparently, she was the leader of this troop.

"The cry of a Mother Box was heard on this world," the woman spoke. The words did not sound like Interlac, but somehow Kara understood them anyway. Some kind of universal translator? Her eyes quickly swept all six of the figures, hoping to find one of them carrying another Mother Box, but there was nothing to be found. How had they opened that Boom Tube without one?

"In the name of Darkseid, you will tell us what you know of this!" the woman ordered.

Kara was about to open her mouth and explain, but events overtook her. The Dominators, apparently fed up with unannounced visitors to their base, aimed their guns at the newcomers.

"This world is property of the Dominion," the lead one yelled. "You trespassers are under arrest and will be punished by Dominion law!"

The woman looked at the three Dominators with clear disdain.

"Kill these things!" she ordered.

Kara's hopes for a peaceful resolution were dashed, because the Parademons wasted no time. They raised their huge rifles and opened fire. Kara moved, but was still too slow to prevent one of the Dominators from being torn apart by a laser blast. Then she was in front of them, though, and crushed the weapons of two of them with her bare hands.

She heard her children coming, too, the two super-powered teenagers quickly entering the fray. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sandy moving towards them as well, though slower than the others. Then she had to focus again because now the Dominators were opening fire on the Parademons. Unsurprisingly their small guns did little against the thick armor the Parademons wore.

Kona arrived, hitting one of the Parademons with enough force to send it flying backwards.

"So much for diplomacy," Kona said as she came to stand beside her.

"Maybe they will be more in a talking mood after we've given them a good trashing," Clark remarked, bowling over another of the Parademons without slowing down and then turning towards the smaller of the two women. She was still taller than he by nearly a foot.

Kara turned towards the taller woman, hoping against hope that there was still a way to solve this without further bloodshed.

"Stop this, please," Kara implored. "This is all a misunderstanding!"

Tall gal did not answer; instead she was aiming her mace at Kara. Kara realized that the mace was actually an energy weapon a heartbeat too late. A bolt of energy hit her square in the chest and sent her flying backwards. It really hurt, too, and nearly distracted her from the impact her body made against the main building of the base. She went right through the walls and finally came to rest inside some kind of laboratory.

A moment later, the building came toppling down on top of her.

It took her precious seconds to recover her wits and even more time to free herself from the debris. When she finally made it out again, she saw that her children were matched up with the two warrior women. Kona was facing the taller one and even as Kara watched, she touched the mace weapon that had done such a number on her and made it go to pieces with her tactile telekinesis.

"How dare you defy the will of Darkseid?" the woman shouted at her, now trying to skewer Kona with her spear.

In a flash of super speed Kara was there again, her chest still hurting from the blast, but mostly pissed off. She wrenched the spear out of tall gal's hand and quickly broke it across her knee. The other woman tried to come to her commander's aid, but that distraction allowed Clark to get a good blow in, which struck her down. Briefly Kara had feared that he would have qualms about striking a woman, but it appeared Clark knew when to be chivalrous and when not to be.

The four Parademons were down, too. Sandy seemed to have taken down the remaining two, as she stood next to their prone bodies. It appeared as every bit of technology in the demon's armor had short-circuited and come apart. Was this the same effect that had destroyed the Mother Box? Had Sandy done it intentionally this time?

"You stand alone," she turned back towards tall gal. "There has been enough death for one day!"

A side-glance had shown her that the other two Dominators were dead as well, one slain by an energy blast, the other skewered with a spear. Too slow, she admonished herself. Maybe they could have saved them if she had just been a little faster to react.

"We die for Darkseid," tall gal hissed at her, reaching for something on her belt that looked like a grenade. Kara was faster, though, and caught her hand in hers. For a long moment, the two women strained against each other, tall gal displaying a strength that nearly rivaled that of Diana. Despite being a full head taller than Kara, though, she eventually faltered and fell to her knees in front of her, groaning in pain from where Kara was squeezing her hand.

"Not today," Kara said, beginning to feel a bit winded. There was a red sun overhead, she reminded herself. They needed to finish this before they expended too much of their power.

"I had no quarrel with you," Kara told tall gal. "But you attacked us and killed three sentients without regard. That pisses me off! So here is where you tell me who you are and who you are working for. Who is this Darkseid?"

"Darkseid is all," the woman growled defiantly. "Darkseid is Alpha and Omega! All will bow to Darkseid!"

"That's really helpful," Clark remarked.

"How did you open a Boom Tube? You don't have a Mother Box on you!"

This caused the woman to chuckle. "You know much, alien, yet so little. All will be Darkseid!"

She spat in Kara's face, which sufficed to distract her from tall gal touching a button on her wrist. A second later there was horrible screaming. The four Parademons began to burn up, screaming in pain, and were so much charred ash a moment later. It took Kara a moment to realize that this, too, was merely a distraction.

Tall gal surged back to her feet, probably wrenching her arm out of its socket in the process, and hit Kara with a haymaker that caused her to break all the bones in her own hand. It did rock Kara back, though, giving tall gal an opening to leap over to where her companion had fallen. There was another click, another button pressed, and a flash of light.

The two women were gone.

Kara got back to her feet, feeling more winded than she had in a long time. The blast from that mace thing, together with half the Dominator base falling on top of her, had drained a good portion of her energy. The fight, short as it had been, had been tough and that final haymaker from tall gal made her chin hurt. Whoever she had been, her strength was formidable.

"You okay, mom?" Clark was by her side, looking to steady her if necessary.

"I've been better," she said. "You three okay?"

Clark, Kona, and Sandy all nodded.

"What were those things?" Clark asked.

"The four soldiers were Parademons, the same creatures that accompanied Steppenwolf when I encountered him in ancient Greece. As for the other two, I have no idea."

She dimly remembered Steppenwolf mentioning someone called 'Darkseid' as well, now that she thought about it. Well, there was nothing they could do about it now. They had far more immediate problems. Kara looked around. The base was destroyed, three Dominators were dead, and the only ones left standing to take the blame were the four of them. This did not look good at all.

"What now, mom?" Kona asked, probably coming to the same conclusion as she.

"We'll take the ship," she decided after pondering things for a few seconds. "Hopefully it can take us to another civilized planet nearby, so we can get rid of it quickly. I fear we can but hope that the Dominion doesn't put too much effort into investigating this event."

Giving the devastation around them one last look, she motioned towards the ship.

"Let's go then!"

"Freeze that image," the Dominator commanded. The image on the screen stilled, showing the form of a golden-haired humanoid female climbing on board the ship.

"Analysis?" the Dominator inquired.

"My superior, it is as you so wisely suspected," the underling replied. "The few surviving records of the Lyme research station security system clearly show that the invaders who stole a ship and destroyed the station appear to belong to the Kryptonian race."

The Dominator stroked his chin, deep in thought. "So the rumors are true. Some members of this ancient race have survived the destruction of their home world. It was said that one of their number destroyed the fabled War World, but that tale seemed so outlandish…"

"Your orders, my superior?" the underling asked.

The Dominator hesitated only for a moment. "Prepare a report for the home world. The Dominion must be informed that the Kryptonians yet travel the stars."

In the empty wasteland far from the Lyme research station, the fabric of space-time was rent asunder for the second time in as many days. A Boom Tube opened and two mighty shapes stepped out of the glaring light. One of them, broad and muscular, scanned the surrounding area with the eye of a warrior, looking for threats to defeat. The other, tall and lean, knelt down and their fingers brushed over a few twisted and scorched shards of metal that littered the ground.

"Our readings were correct," the kneeling person said with sadness in their voice. "A Mother Box died here."

"That is ill news indeed," the other said, growling. "We must inform Highfather of this immediately!"

The Boom Tube opened once more and the two shapes were gone once again.

End Chapter 74

Author's Note: The Dominators are probably the most well-known hostile alien race in the DC Universe (the Khunds being a close second). The Dominion started out as an enemy of the Legion of Superheroes in the 30th century, first appearing in Adventure Comics #361 way back in 1967. They were also used as present day villains, though, both in the comics (the 1988/89 Invasion storyline being the most prominent) and more recently in the Arrowverse TV series. They predate their Star Trek DS9 namesakes by nearly 30 years, too.

Those familiar with DC's New Gods will probably recognize at least three of the four characters shown in this chapter, though no names were given. Nevertheless, yes, the New Gods will soon play a larger role in this story after having only been teased so far.

Up next: Mysteries in Space!