Chapter 54: Slave Ship of Space
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman and Adam Strange belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
"It's the damn Zeta beam," Kara muttered under her breath. "Every single time I travel on that damn Zeta beam, something like this happens!"
"Will you let it go, sister?" Diana whispered from where she stood besides her, looking every bit as angry and frustrated as her best friend.
"We should focus on how to resolve this situation," J'Onn added his own whisper, standing on Diana's other side. "We can dispense the blame later."
Adam, standing on Kara's other side, was far too stressed out to add anything.
It had started innocently enough. Adam had shared the joyous news that his daughter Aleea had been born to his wife Alanna and had invited the League to the planet Rann to partake in what was basically the Rannian equivalent of a baptism. Kara, Diana, J'Onn, and Green Arrow had eagerly accepted. The Hawks had stayed behind to mind the store, having just recently been inducted into the League and not yet being very close to Adam and the others. Batman had simply replied that he had other things to do. Kara figured that he was running himself ragged, trying to find Lex Luthor.
Kara's eagerness to finally meet Adam's family had been dampened somewhat by the realization that they would travel by Zeta beam, but still. She had wanted to visit the planet Rann for some time now. Considering that the Guardians of the Universe already regarded the planet as part of her coalition, she figured she should at least know what it looked like and meet some of its native people.
The ceremony itself had been quite beautiful, too, and the sheer joy on Adam's face as he held his infant daughter was a sight to behold. It had immediately made Kara think of Kona and Clark, still back home on Earth and hopefully staying out of trouble while she was away. Maybe that was why she had been too slow to react, or maybe everything had happened so fast she wouldn't have been able to do anything either way.
12 hours earlier
The first warning they had was when a gong sounded through the building where Adam Strange and his family lived. It was not a gong, of course, but rather some kind of sound weapon, as they quickly realized. The sound affected their nervous systems and everyone in the room immediately froze in place, incapable of moving. J'Onn toppled over, having been in mid-step when the paralysis took hold, and everyone else just remained where they were, utterly helpless.
Only a few seconds later a bright yellow flash of light lit up the room and the intruder appeared. He was not of any alien species Kara had ever seen before. He (if it was a 'he') had lilac skin and bright orange facetted eyes. A long, almost beak-like nose adorned his face and he sported a blue and white suit that left his arms and legs bare and a helmet covered much of his head.
"Greetings," he announced himself in weirdly-accented Interlac. "I am Kanjar Ro, supreme Delon of Dhor."
Kara tried to fight the paralysis, but her limbs utterly refused to obey. From the corner of her eyes, she saw that her comrades weren't faring any better. None of them could move.
"I am certain you are wondering why I am honoring you with my royal presence," Kanjar Ro continued, looking around the room. "By the way, I would not advise fighting the paralyzing effect of my gamma gong. The effect will wear off in an hour or so, but until then none of you will be going anywhere, no matter how strong or invulnerable you might be. Where was I?"
He almost tripped over the prone form of J'Onn. "Oh, now that will simply not do!"
Brandishing some sort of scepter-like tool, he enveloped J'Onn in some kind of energy field and set him back upright.
"Much better. Ah, the Martian, yes. Last member of a very powerful race." He turned to look at Kara. "Just like you, Kryptonian. Words of your deeds have already spread far and wide, especially how you destroyed the War World and freed Colu from that rogue AI. Very impressive. Yes, you and your allies have certainly garnered a reputation already. Which is why I am here, actually."
He looked around, finally spotting a chair and sitting down in it with the air of a king. "You see, I am currently involved in what has sadly proven to be a rather lengthy war against a rival planet in my native star system. We have warred for decades already and there is no end in sight. We are simply too evenly matched. So I have decided to get myself an edge."
He folded his hands in front of him, looking at each of them in turn. "As of today, you are all conscripted into the Royal Army of Dhor as my personal slaves. You will help me win the war and become undisputed ruler of the Antares system."
He paused, smiling. "Now, if you were capable of speech, I am sure you would be asking why you should agree to any such thing. Excellent question! And the answer is quite simple, really."
Taking out his scepter-weapon again, Kanjar Ro shot off an energy pulse that enveloped Alanna and her infant daughter Aleea. A moment later, both had disappeared into thin air.
"I am certain you are seeing things my way now, aren't you?"
With the lives of Adam's wife and newborn daughter hanging in the balance, the Justice Leaguers had had no choice but to obey. So 12 hours later Kara, Diana, J'Onn and Adam were standing on the bridge on Kanjar Ro's flag ship, which, funnily enough, resembled some kind of Earth-built sailing barge, only larger and with huge engines attached to its aft. Solar sails adorned metal masts and the face of Kanjar Ro was actually painted onto its side.
The four Leaguers were lined up behind a throne-like command chair on the bridge of the ship and wearing ugly purple-colored uniforms that resembled the leotard-like outfit Kanjar Ro wore himself. Only Adam had escaped the indignity somewhat, he still wore his Rann-designed armor, but some servants had also painted it purple. Green Arrow had been left behind on Rann, as Kanjar Ro had no interest in a 'useless human who shots arrows'. He was only interested in those with super powers or advanced Rannian technology at their disposal, it seemed.
What can you tell us about the war between these two races? J'Onn inquired telepathically, having joined all four of them together in a mental conference call while the ship travelled through hyper space towards the Antares star system.
Not much, Adam replied, the tension and worry clearly evident in his thoughts. The Antares system is home to two planets with intelligent life. Kanjar Ro's species inhabits Dhor, a very arid planet, while the planet Alstair is mostly oceans and populated by an amphibian species. They are ruled by a queen, or Panala, as the local term goes. The two species have been at war for the better part of 30 years now, I believe. Rann has kept tabs on it, just in case the war would spill over onto any neighboring systems.
Why are they fighting in the first place? Diana asked. If one race is desert-dwelling and the other aquatic, what do they want from each other? I imagine neither would find the world of the other very hospitable.
Who cares? was Adam's tense reply.
I fear we will have to play this by ear, Kara told the others. We need to play along to protect Adam's family, but we can't just go ahead and slaughter our way across a sovereign planet, either, especially if we know nothing about either side.
Any trace of Alanna or Aleea on this ship? Adam asked.
Kara, having swept the entire ship with her X-Ray vision, subtly shook her head. No, and this was the only ship in orbit. Odds are they are still on Rann somewhere. I doubt that scepter of his is capable of interstellar teleportation.
Well, in that case, let us hope that our 'useless human who shoots arrows' is on the ball.
"We are almost there, slaves," Kanjar Ro announced, interrupting their silent communication. "We are now entering the Antares star system, soon to be under my complete and utter control!"
Kara wasn't sure whether he expected some kind of awed reaction from them in his dramatic pause, but none of them said anything. A moment later Ro huffed and turned towards them.
"Well, your mission will be an easy one for beings with your wondrous powers! You will fly to the planet Alstair, you will enter the royal palace of Panala Hyathis, and you will bring her to me! With her as my prisoner, her people will quickly surrender to my benevolent rule and this war will finally end as it should, with MY victory!"
Wide gestures with his scepter accompanied his short speech. Ro definitely seemed to have an overdeveloped sense of drama.
"Why are you still here?" he finally asked when, again, no one said anything.
Kara rolled her eyes. "We do not know where the planet is, where on the planet the royal palace is, or what this Panala Hyathis looks like."
Kanjar Ro huffed, annoyed.
About an hour later, the four Leaguers were flying towards a deep-blue planet, their small size and lack of recognizable propulsion masking them from the numerous satellites and space ships in orbit. The world showed all the signs of being involved in a large-scale military campaign, as there was a constant back and forth between the surface and orbit.
"At least Ro didn't ask us to directly attack those ships," Kara said, her vision powers scanning the various war vessels they came across. "They are relatively primitive compared to Kryptonian or Rannian tech, but there sure are a lot of them. All with pretty big crew complements, too. I am not sure we could disable them all without catastrophic loss of life."
"Antares is a red star, Kara," Diana remarked. "Won't that impact your powers?"
"Not if we can wrap this up quickly," she replied. The red star's light wouldn't recharge her powers, at least not beyond the most basic level, but it would take quite a bit for her to empty her reserves.
"I was wondering why Ro needed our help in the first place, given his devastatingly effective sound weapon," J'Onn added. "But the Alstairians are living underwater; sound waves behave differently in such an environment."
"Much of the Alstair-technology seems water-based," Kara said, having scanned the ships. "Probably not well-suited to combat on a desert-world like Dhor, either."
"All the more nonsensical that they are at war in the first place," Diana huffed. While a warrior born, she was also an envoy of peace and found war abhorrent, especially if it made so little sense.
Adam was silent, fully focused on the mission. Kara understood completely, of course. If it was Clark or Kona's life hanging in the balance, she would tear entire worlds apart to save them. It was kind of weird that Kona was already occupying such an important place in her life, she mused, given that the young hybrid had been part of her family for only a few months now, but Kara found that that didn't matter at all. No matter how and when she had come into the world, Kona was her daughter and Kara loved her.
Diving into the water brought Kara's thoughts back into focus and the four of them made their way towards the royal palace of Alstair. Diana and Adam had helmets on to supply them with oxygen, while J'Onn simply morphed gills. Kara could go extended periods without air, of course, but would have to watch her energy levels even more closely. Even if Antares had not been a red star, the sunlight did not reach down here. Hopefully this entire thing wouldn't take too long.
"That must be the palace," Diana said over the coms, pointing towards the lavish structure ahead of them.
"I can see some security, but less than I expected," Adam supplied.
"The Dhorans are desert-dwellers, remember? I doubt they have much experience in underwater combat, so most of the defenses are in the atmosphere and orbit, not down here."
"Well, if it makes our job easier, I'm all for it!"
As a matter of fact, infiltrating the palace turned out to be ridiculously easy. The Dhoran technology, while advanced when compared to that of Earth, was no match for Adam's Rannian tech and he quickly hacked his way into the security systems. Kara and Diana used their super speed and knocked out most of the guards before they even noticed that anyone was there, while J'Onn easily phased through walls to disable those his friends couldn't without noisily breaking down doors. They were careful not to cause any lasting harm to anyone, but even with that restraint, they arrived in the throne room of the palace within minutes.
A large throne stood in the center of the room and an orange-skinned woman sat on it. More security guards were present, as well some unarmed people that seemed to be courtiers or advisors of some sort. Not that any of them really cared.
"Let's do this quick and clean!" Kara commanded and the four Leaguers exploded into action.
"What is the meaning of this?" the woman on the throne screamed as four aliens took out her guards within a matter of seconds and had her surrounded a moment later. "I am Panala Hyathis, supreme ruler of Alstair and future empress of the Antares System! You dare enter my chambers without permission?"
Kara sighed, already more than fed up with this entire affair. "Yeah, yeah, you are the queen, we get it. Sorry to bother you, but I fear Kanjar Ro is also laying claim to the whole Antares System and we are currently somewhat beholden to him. So you are coming with us!"
The look of pure arrogance fell from Queen Hyathis' face, only to be replaced by one of utter confusion.
"Kanjar Ro? He sent you, but... no, that's impossible! He wouldn't!" She focused her eyes on Kara and a moment later Kara felt something inside her head, the characteristic sensation of someone poking around where they shouldn't.
"Stay out of my thoughts," she yelled, fire exploding from her eyes, heating the water around Hyathis to near-boiling. The monarch shrank back, shrieking, and the telepathic intrusion ceased.
"No, it can't be!" she yelled. "He betrayed me! He betrayed our agreement!"
"Agreement?" Diana asked. "I thought you were at war with each other."
The alien queen merely hissed at her and Kara was more than fed up. A mere glance sufficed and Diana quickly took the golden lasso from her hip. A moment later, the queen was wrapped up tightly, protesting all the way.
"Now let's try this again," Kara said. "What kind of agreement do you have with Kanjar Ro?"
"Anwer her," Diana ordered, gripping the end of the lasso tightly. The golden rope flared brightly, golden flames licking at the captured queen's skin, and a moment later Hyathis could not help but answer.
"The war, that's our agreement, alien! Being at war is good for a planet. Industry booms, patriotism runs strong, and the people don't question their rulers as long as there is an external threat. That's why Kanjar and I started this whole war to begin with. It's what keeps us both in power."
Any and all sympathy Kara might have had for the queen they had been forced to attack and abduct vanished into thin air. Adam had said that this war had been going on for roughly 30 years. 30 years of people killing each other, merely so that two corrupt rulers could stay in power.
Well, no more of that! Not on her watch!
"It seems your good buddy Kanjar Ro has decided to aggressively renegotiate your agreement, your Highness."
"But why?" Hyathis whispered, seemingly still unable to believe it.
"How about you ask him that yourself, sweetheart," Adam said, clearly out of patience. "We've got a deadline here!"
"He's right, let's go!"
A moment later, the four Leaguers and their captive were gone again.
"Ah, my dearest Hyathis," Kanjar Ro greeted them as they returned to the bridge of his ship with the Alstairian Panala in custody. "So glad to see you again."
Hyathis, still wrapped up in Diana's golden lasso, did not seem all that happy.
"What is the meaning of this, Kanjar?" she hissed. "We have an agreement!"
"Oh yes, we do indeed," he nodded, grinning. "An agreement that has served us both quite well these last few decades. But times do change, my dear. There are factions on Dhor that are no longer happy with the eternal stalemate and they are gaining influence. So I fear Dhor must win this war and soon. Nothing personal, Hyathis, you know how these things go!"
"And how long do you think your citizens will allow you to stay in power, you idiot," Hyathis asked him, "if there is no external enemy left to fight? They'll get rid of you as soon as the victory feast is over, the only reason they tolerate your vile presence is because of the war!"
Kanjar Ro shrugged. "There will be other wars. Enemies are easy to find and even easier to fabricate. Besides," he gestured towards the four Leaguers, "I have the most elite personal guard in the entire galaxy at my beck and call. The Kryptonian alone can decimate an entire space fleet if I so order."
His orange-facetted eyes swiveled towards Kara. "As a matter of fact, why don't we start with that right now? Kryptonian, I order you to destroy the entire space fleet of Alstair. Leave no one alive!"
Kara did not move.
"Didn't you hear me, Kryptonian?" Kanjar Ro raged, his smile vanishing. "I ordered you to destroy my enemies for me! Or do you want the child of your colleague to perish along with his mate?"
Kara turned to meet his gaze.
"Sorry, did you say something? I was busy receiving a message from Rann. It seems our colleague has found where your servants were keeping Adam's wife and daughter prisoner and they're safely back home."
Kanjar Ro's purple complexion paled significantly, but even as he stumbled back, his fingers pressed a button on his scepter-device and the sound of the gamma gong rang through the interior of the ship. Several of his servants collapsed and even Hyathis froze in mid-motion.
Kara quickly darted forward and snatched the device from Ro's hand, crushing it in the process.
"Your sound weapon is very impressive, Ro," she told him, even as she hoisted him up by the lapels of his uniform, "but only if the target can actually hear it. Even before we left Rann, Adam supplied us with earplugs that render your weapon useless. We were merely biding our time until Green Arrow could find Aleena."
She turned to meet Diana's eyes and the Amazon quickly extended her magic lasso to ensnare Kanjar Ro as well. Kara unceremoniously dumped him on the floor next to Hyathis.
"Adam, you want to do the honors?" Kara asked, motioning towards the controls of the ship. Wasting no time, the Champion of Rann jumped into the control chair and steered the purloined royal yacht of Dhor towards his home and family.
A few hours later and back on Rann, Adam quickly embraced his recovered family, tears in his eyes. Kara walked up to Green Arrow, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Great work, GA," she complimented him. "And just in time, too. Ro was about to order me to commit mass murder."
"How did you find them so quickly?" Diana asked, also coming over to congratulate their teammate.
Green Arrow just smirked in the direction of the captive Kanjar Ro. "Let's just say the useless human who shoots arrows has a few tricks up his sleeve."
"This is all your fault, you desert rat," Hyathis hissed at her fellow captive. "If you had simply left things alone we could have kept this war going for another 30 years or more and remained in power."
"Shut up, you water-bloated eel!" he shot back. "As if you wouldn't have stabbed me in the back the moment an opportunity presented itself. I was simply faster and better than you!"
"Better, yes? In what universe is ending up the captive of aliens better, you stupid idiot? I should have done away with you decades ago! Whatever possessed me to think that someone like you could be a valid partner?"
Kara looked over at Adam, who had finally let his wife and daughter out of his embrace and was now watching the squabbling rulers with a vengeful smirk on his face.
"Are you doing what I think you are doing?" she asked him in a low voice.
"If you think I am having my armor record this entire thing and am broadcasting it live to both Alstair and Dhor, then yes, I am doing exactly that."
Kara chuckled under her breath. "Ro and Hyathis will probably not enjoy their homecoming then."
"Certainly not," Adam agreed.
Kara laughed.
End Chapter 54
Author's Note: This chapter's title is taken from Justice League of America v1 #3 (March 1961), which featured the first appearance of space villain Kanjar Ro. Ro used his gamma gong to imprison both Superman and the entire planet Earth in order to get the rest of the League to do his bidding (which included rowing his golden space boat). Of course he was outsmarted in the end, as villains usually were in those days. In a later appearance, Ro undertook several attempts to conquer the planet Rann, which brought him into conflict with Adam Strange. Hyathis is portrayed somewhat different here than in the comics, where she was something of a plant-elemental instead of an amphibian, but since she isn't going to play a huge role here, I wanted to keep things a bit simpler.
Merry Christmas everyone. I did have another "Very Super Christmas" episode planned, showcasing Kona's first Christmas with the Kents, but couldn't really get it down in paper (so to speak). Maybe next year, when we are all in a more festive mood (hopefully).
EDIT: I've been told that Antares is a red star, which would of course be an issue for Kara. I've modified the middle of the chapter accordingly.
