=====A=====

With a grunt, Aqualad tossed yet another of the reptilian aliens into the waiting arms of the androids near him. The teen had already knocked the alien out earlier so it offered no resistance as the androids stripped it of its gear and put it in bindings. Machina always said he would provide support for the team, but I never thought that would extend to having actual support staff, he thought ruefully. The Silver was of course its own entity which Machina didn't have direct control over, but it was nice to know they could get some extra hands to manage things when said things got this hectic.

And the current situation certainly qualifies. As the androids took the latest prisoner away, he swept his gaze across Justice Plaza. Admittedly, most of the visible damage had been caused by Machina's fight with that Green Lantern, but Aqualad knew that there was a lot of damage under the surface. The tremors had cut off before any building could topple over, but there were a number of cracks running through the concrete and broken underground pipes. Construction was going to have their hands full, and that was to say nothing of law enforcement and the aliens they captured.

There was a blur of motion and Kid Flash appeared in front Aqualad, arms full of alien staff weapons. "Alright, think I got all of them," He said, dumping them into the pile nearby. "The crashed ships are a little too big for me to haul away though."

Aqualad tried not to start when he heard Robin's voice close to his left. "We can let the machines worry about those." The boy said, melting out of the darkness that was starting to cover the plaza. Night had started to fall by the time the aliens had been defeated, and power in the city was still a bit spotty after the tremors.

Adding in that Aqualad was here for the fight against the Gray earlier, he was starting to feel the exhaustion seep in. He activated his comm as he said "Team, status report."

"The genomorphs are fine. The new aliens left them alone, and Dubbliex managed to herd them north out of the city." Superboy replied.

Aqualad waited a moment before his gaze tilted upwards towards the stars above. "Troia, what's your status?"

"Still searching." Came the terse reply.

Aqualad tried to push down the knot of worry, looking up at the spot in the sky where he had seen a blinding explosion an hour ago. During the chaos Calculus had taken on the role of relaying information between Titans, explaining how Machina was under attack by an unknown Green Lantern. Aqualad had to focus on the aliens in front of him at the time, so he only learned after the fact that Machina had stolen one of the alien ships to fly up and stop the mothership causing the earthquakes. And that Starfire, who had engaged the Green Lantern to let him do this, had been captured by them and dragged into space on Machina's heels. The explosion had marked the destruction of the alien mothership, but there was still no sign of their teammates.

Once Calculus had told them of this, Troia had shot upwards after them. And she… hadn't come back down yet. Aqualad wasn't surprised that Troia was durable enough to endure the rigors of space, but he had thought that she would still need to breathe. Wait, how did she even respond to me? He wondered before he shook his head and commed "Superboy, Artemis, regroup at Justice Plaza."

It wasn't long before the other two Titans converged on his position, returning from their own tasks. "How are the genomorphs doing?" He asked.

"Managing." Superboy said. "They're not used to being exposed like this, though Dubbilex and the Silver are keeping them organized. Last I checked in they were trying to get them moved to some properties on the outskirts of the city the Silver just bought. Honestly, I'm hoping to get back to them as soon as I can." He looked around. "Is Machina not back yet?"

Aqualad didn't know how to respond. Before he could figure out what to say though he noticed something approaching from the Hall of Justice from the corner of his eye, and he turned his head to see Lantern Stewart headed towards them. "Green Lantern!" He called out. "We received your warning, but we haven't been able to contact you or the League. What happened?"

"We were tricked." The man said as he set down next to them, a scowl on his face. "The League was called up to the Watchtower for an emergency meeting, but once we all got there we realized that none of us had made the call. That's when I got the message from my military friends, and called you. But before we could leave, the entire Watchtower was set into emergency lockdown mode. None of us could get out, even our rings were locked down." He grunted. "We had to cut a hole in one of our hangar bays to escape, and that took time."

"Pretty sure we can guess who caused all that," Superboy said, tightly held-back anger in his voice. "There was a Green Lantern down here attacking Machina. And he kidnapped Starfire!"

Stewart blinked. "What? What Green Lantern? Both of us were up on the Watchtower."

"I don't know, it was some alien that showed up out of nowhere!" Superboy yelled. "He broke into the Hall of Justice and wrecked the place attacking Machina. Serling and Mr. Kord barely managed to get out of the way, and Kord had to go to the hospital."

The other man's eyes narrowed. "What did they look like? Did they-" He was cut off as one of the androids hauling rubble away passed nearby, and it looked at the Lantern while its eyes glowed. Stewart's ring blinked green, and the man looked at the ring before giving the android a nod. Holding the ring in front of him, a screen appeared showing a video of Machina and the alien Green Lantern fighting in the plaza. The recording was from the Silver drones who had watched the fight, and later joined in when Starfire had engaged.

When the recording finished, Stewart scowled. "That's Hraalkar, an Alpha Lantern. If he orchestrated this… it makes too much sense. An Alpha could absolutely access the Watchtower systems and activate the lockdown protocols, not to mention spoof its sensors in the first place. I don't know what he's doing working with the Gordanians, but if his target was Machina…"

Robin folded his arms across his chest. "Then what? What the hell does an 'Alpha Lantern' want with him? I don't know what you're bosses think, but when Mach gets back-"

He was cut off as Troia… appeared. Aqualad had a hard time describing how it happened, he just noticed out of the corner of his eye part of the night sky shaping itself, and when he turned to look she was there. Her features were tight as she said. "I… I couldn't find them. They're not up there. Nothing's up there but ashes."

A heavy silence settled over the group. Eventually Artemis said "Wait, that's not… I'm sure they got away. There must have been escape pods or something." She hesitated. "Unless, that Alpha Lantern grabbed them both."

Troia shook her head, and her tone was flat. "Our other Lantern swept the debris, he found trace remains of the Alpha's gear. But nothing else. There's no trace of them." Her gaze turned slowly towards Stewart. "What was that Alpha Lantern doing?"

"I don't know!" Stewart yelled in frustration. "Alpha Lanterns are the Corps' internal affairs, they have no reason to go after Machina." He calmed down a little and scowled. "At least, they're not supposed to. I already had a run in with a different Alpha Lantern while investigating Machina's nanites. I knew there was something more to the Guardian's attitude towards him, but I'd never thought they-"

There was a blur of motion and suddenly Troia was in front of Stewart, hand grasping his front and lifting him off the ground. "You didn't think?" She said, her tone somehow perfectly calm and absolutely furious at the same time. "One of your own helped invaders almost destroy a city, and you didn't even think to tell us this might happen?"

Stewart tried to pull back, but even with his ring assisting he couldn't pull away. "No, because it's impossible! Everything I know about the Green Lantern Corps says they wouldn't do this!"

Aqualad swore that the black of her outfit and her hair grew deeper, and the stars embedded in it grew brighter. Troia's eyes glowed with starlight, and her voice made the air feel heavy as she said "Then you don't know them as well as you thought you did. And now, Starfire and Machina are dead."

"We do not believe they are dead."

There was a pause before everyone turned to look at the figure that approached. Though 'figure' was a bit of a stretch, as it was more of a dark cloud in the shape of a person. Aqualad recognized this as Calculus's preferred form, and asked the AI "Why not?"

"From our research into other Kingdoms, a significant 'ripple' occurs when an Avatar slain permanently. And nothing of the sort was felt by us. Furthermore, in the last few seconds we detected Machina forming Zeta Beam technology internally. There is a high probability that he and Starfire used a Zeta Beam to escape."

"Oh thank god!" Kid Flash yelled, and everyone else present relaxed at the news. "So where'd they end up?"

"Unknown. It is highly improbable that Machina was able to perform the needed calculations fast enough to control the destination. And given the amount of power being given off by the ship's drive systems, the potential range is interstellar."

Troia released her grip on Stewart, having calmed significantly but her brow was furrowed. "So, they could be anywhere in the galaxy."

"Within this quadrant of this galaxy, but yes." Calculus confirmed. "Zeta Beams favor exiting at gravity wells, so statistically they are likely on a planet. But beyond that we cannot say."

Aqualad saw the team start to tense again, so he spoke up "We have to trust that, wherever they are, they'll make they're way back to Earth. If any of us could do it, it would be those two."

That seemed to calm everyone down, at least a little. Artemis wasn't entirely placted though. "So… what do we do until they get back?"

Aqualad drew in a breath before he stood up a little straighter. "What we always do. Be superheroes. Threats aren't going to stop just because they're absent. The question is what we're going to tell everyone else."

"We cannot reveal that Machina is missing." Calculus said firmly. "The Silver has just announced its presence to the other Elemental Kingdoms, along with the rest of the world. This was done with a show of force and competency with him as the figurehead. For him to disappear immediately afterwards would be extremely detrimental to our position."

Troia's expressions soured. "That's what you're concerned about?"

Calculus's 'head' snapped towards her, a motion made jarring by the flowing cloud that was their head. "We consider Machina to be a friend, and we wish that he would return safely. But we also have a responsibility to the other members of the Silver and their well-being. Do not assume that our response to his situation is one of callousness."

Troia did not look convinced, but she let the matter drop. "Fine, we keep it secret for now."

With that resolved, the team hashed out a few more things before they broke, heading for the Zeta Tube. There was still a lot to be done, but they were all tired and that could be dealt with tomorrow. Aqualad moved at a slower pace and hung at the back of the group, something that Robin and Kid Flash noticed. "Hey something wrong?" Kid Flash asked. "I mean, beside the obvious."

"I am… concerned that we may not be able to handle threats of this level without them."

Kid Flash folded his arms. "Come on, man. We're not helpless without Star and Mach."

Robin on the other hand was thinking the same thing as Aqualad. "Yeah, but you gotta admit, things are going to get pretty dicey with two of our heavy hitters missing, KF. I think we may need some extra help."

"Oh. Should we ask M'gann to come back?"

"If she's not ready, it won't do anyone any good. No, I was thinking of something else."

Kid Flash made a face. "You're not saying we should ask the League for help, are you?"

The other boy snorted. "No. Well, kind of. I was thinking we pull in someone we already know and trust."

Aqualad caught on to what Robin was getting at. "Red Arrow."

"Hey, yeah!" Kid Flash perked up. "We could finally get the whole gang back together. Didn't he just join the League though?"

Robin shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm sure we can borrow him for a bit. What do ya think, Kaldur?"

Aqualad gave it a moment of thought before he nodded his head. "I'll give him a call."

Noah didn't particularly care for travel, and tried to avoid it whenever he could. One of the perks of his skill set (made even greater by his metahuman ability) was that he could do most of his work remotely. As such, when he joined the Light, he decided to set up his physical base of operations on the U.S. west coast. Central enough to the Light's main operations that he never had to travel too far if needed, but far away from the chaotic mess that the east coast was turning into.

It also placed him fairly close to one of his assets, who he was meeting at the moment. The San Diego coffee shop was innocuous enough, and didn't have a particular large clientele at that time in the afternoon. In short, it was a decent place to wait in an isolated corner booth for a drop off.

Though he ended up waiting longer than he would have liked before he spied her walking through the door. As she approached his booth, he gave her a flat stare. "You're late."

"I got her as soon as I could." Serling replied flatly, sliding into the seat opposite him. "Turns out being a part of a massive incident involving a minor alien invasion eats up a lot of your time."

Noah grunted. He wasn't really surprised by her excuse, but dealing with a coerced asset like her required a specific touch. He couldn't be too distant or forgiving, lest she start thinking that she could get away with something. At the same time he couldn't be too heavy handed or she might rebel, damn the consequences. So, he let the matter drop and said "Well? Let's see it then."

The woman hesitated for a moment before she stiffly reached into her purse, pulling out something wrapped in thick cloth and sliding it across the table to him. Noah carefully unwrapped it so that the object inside would remain obscured from anyone looking at them and took in his prize.

The 'beetle' was aptly named, about the size of his hand and shaped like a stylized blue and black insect. Of course, the first thing he noticed past that was the damage it had suffered. Several of its legs were missing, and a deep rent stretched across its body, removing a chunk out of it. He looked back up at her and asked "This was the best you could come back with?"

Serling folded her arms across her chest. "Sorry, but being attacked by a renegade space cop out of nowhere lowers my performance, 'boss'." She said, not bothering to hide her disdain. "The Lantern was throwing energy everywhere, he caused enough damage that the Hall's going to be closed for a while. Of course the thing got caught in the crossfire."

That crossfire was something Noah had been glad to have no part in, even if it caused his own plans to go a little sideways. He had been pressuring Serling to get him whatever secret technology his info network had told him Kord was squirreling away. After she dropped some hints to Machina, he decided to convince Kord to give it to him during an alien attack. And then a new Green Lantern showed up, apparently. It was a small miracle Noah got anything out of that fiasco.

Still… when did she get so snippy? Noah wondered. Seemed like he had to make his hand just a little bit heavier. In a casual motion he propped up his chin with his hand, but his finger found the knob on his discreetly hidden collar. "You know, I'm starting to think you're dragging your feet a little," he said, carefully reducing the restraints on his passenger as he reached out to Serling's nanomachines.

The woman stiffened as her nanomachines moved against her will. It was a small thing which gave her some discomfort, not enough to inflict actual pain. Though it was a reminder that it could become painful with a thought. He watched carefully in her nanites code for any sign of resistance, but he found none. This was reinforced when she said "I-I'm sorry. I'll do better in the future."

He held his grip over her for a moment longer before he released it, and she slumped in her seat. Noah gave a dismissive wave of his hand and said "Well, I suppose I'll have to make do. You can run along now." Serling muttered something under her breath, but otherwise left without a word.

Noah leaned back in his seat, considering how much he was going to bring forward to his partners. Things had been a bit of a mess with the Light lately. Ever since the General's rather unsightly showing in Barcelona, the various global authorities had been putting the pressure on the Light's operations around the globe. Interpol in particular had been a thorn in Noah's side, going after a lot of their more mundane money-making operations. He had mostly kept their revenue intact, but he had to be slower and more careful about moving funds around.

The rest of the Light had likewise been cutting back on their own operations, though they had been dealing with it with, let's say, various levels of grace. Ra's and Vandel were used to being patient, but Lex and the Brain were starting to stew a bit. Though the Brain did mention that his equipment detected some larger bits of debris from the alien mothership enter atmosphere, possibly escape pods. It would be interesting if we could find some of those aliens that weren't in police custody, not to mention their technology.

His musing was cut off when he noticed that his technopathic ability had settled into the broken beetle in front of him, and was parsing through its structure. It was a gentle touch, but it was happening without his conscious control. Noah sighed in annoyance. "Really? You know I was going to analyze it later."

His passenger didn't immediately respond, continuing to search through the tech in front of him. Noah could have reeled his power in, but curiosity stayed his hand. Something in the beetle had interested the parasite, and he wanted to know what. He could feel the entity note the physical damage, but it seemed more interested in the software, shifting through remaining circuitry for any data. There were still large amounts of code stored in various parts of the machine, but he couldn't see any kind of functioning OS remaining.

It was a foolish thought, but the machine felt… dead. Or empty.

'This Tek-al is non-functional.' Noah's passenger finally said, it's tone almost regretful.

Noah wrapped it back up and put it in his bag. "Well, how about we fix that?"

There was an eagerness as his passenger replied 'Agreed.'

Serling did not head back home after her meeting with the Calculator. Instead, she headed to the gym.

She went there relatively often, having told her protection detail how she needed frequent physical (biological) maintenance to make sure that her body could withstand the strain of her nanomachines. They took the explanation at face value, though she was pretty sure they didn't really care either. She knew they were in the Calculator's pocket. But she needed to make sure they wouldn't get suspicious by disappearing on them

Inside the gym, Serling walked down a corridor that led to some backrooms and, making sure no one was looking, slipped through an innocuous locked door that led to the basement level. A flight of stairs later she came to a much thicker door, which she unlocked with a Silver cryptographic key. Stepping inside the lights turned on to reveal a makeshift workshop, a few pieces of lab and manufacturing equipment scattered about and a terminal tucked into a corner.

It was her home away from home, one which she had invested in after the bastard had broken into her apartment. After her home was compromised, she couldn't trust that she wasn't being watched there. Given how extensive the Calculator's abilities and information network was, she knew there was a chance he already knew about her little safe haven (he seemed like the type of asshole who liked to lord secrets over people), But, if for no other reason then for the sake of her sanity, she had to assume she was safe here.

Which is why, after she got settled in, she said out loud "So, did he detect you?"

[There was no indication that the technopath detected my presence.] Said a voice in her mind. [His influence over your hardware was noted, but said influence passed over sections protected by your quantum improbability algorithms.]

Serling rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you can just call it magic." She had found the broken beetle in the aftermath of the Lantern's attack, heavily damaged and on the brink of failure. It was in that moment an idea had come to her, a way to get the Calculator off her back and possibly give her a means to get out of her current mess. "Speaking of which, are my 'quantum improbability algorithms' giving you any trouble in there?"

[No, it is… manageable. That aside, while the architecture of your hardware is compatible with this Khaji Da, it is substandard by comparison. Several recent memories along with sections of remaining database did not survive the transfer.]

Serling's lips pressed thin. It had taken some convincing on her part to get the AI inside the beetle to migrate to her own nanites, and she didn't appreciate the criticism now that it was in there. "Yeah, well, your original hardware was built by an advanced alien civilization. I had to build my nanites from scratch, so you should be happy it works at all."

['Adequacy' is not something to be happy with. Doubly so if that is the attitude you took with the trap you created.]

She ignored the jab and refocused on the terminal in front of her. It was currently running a number of simulations on possible ways said trap would help her. "I had been working on that virus ever since the prick showed up. It's made to be as versatile as possible, working on just about any kind of hardware architecture it runs into. If it settled into your old beetle body without issue, then it'll get into anything the Calculator will try to hook it up to as well. And that will give me a back door."

[Assuming that this Calculator does not discover it first.] The AI pointed out. [This Khaji Da believes that more of a plan is required. The Serquette needs to-]

"For the love of- stop calling me that!" She shouted. "Look, I know that is not the most complete plan, but it's the best I can manage with being watched. I need to create my own opportunities and then take advantage of whatever comes."

Khaji was silent for several minutes, letting Serling work. She had just about thought they had dropped the subject when they suddenly asked [What about the Silver?]

Serling perked up. "Hmm?"

[The collection of intelligences you ostensibly belong to. You have yet to contact them since this Khaji Da entered your hardware. It would be much easier to create a comprehensive plan if you draw on their resources.]

Serling sighed, leaning back in her seat. "That's… not an option. Asking for their help will most likely lead to them finding out what I've done. And I don't want to get on their bad side."

[It would be a risk, but estimates show you would still have a higher chance of success if you had additional agents working with you.]

"No." Serling said firmly. "I got myself into this mess, so I'm going to get myself out of it."

[...Your current predicament indicates that sort of thinking is what caused your current 'mess' in the first place.]

"Don't you make me reformat my data drive!"

Kal'lac, Diplomat of the Reach, strode swiftly down the halls of the Regional Outpost station. He was in something of an irritated mood at the moment, as his recent meeting with planetary governors had been cut short due to a priority message from Integrated Engineering. This normally wouldn't have been too much of an issue; as much as they all strive to put everything in its correct place, things could shift out of balance and demand immediate attention. But what was vexing about this was how little he was told about it. All he was given was data from an emergency transmission from one of their Infiltrator Scarabs, and a note to see Engineer Arga immediately.

And as he went over the data on the way to the Engineer's lab, he could see a number of unusual things about the transmission. The first of which being the means the signal was sent. Wide Oscillation Bleed Transmission? He thought in confusion. That hasn't been used since the Lantern War, and even then it had fallen out of favor towards the end. It had excellent range and signal quality, but the Lanterns had learned how to listen for it, making it useless for anything important. Kel'lac hadn't even been aware that Scarabs were capable of sending such transmissions. A relic of their early creation perhaps? Something he'd have to ask the Engineer about.

Past that though, large parts of the file had their data expunged, apparently by Engineer Arga herself before sending it to him. 'Security Issues' was the given reason, though Kel'lac wondered what could possibly be so sensitive that she couldn't send it to his personal data hub. Regardless, he took in what information he could as he walked. Let's see, Scarab is on a planet in octant 5, third from its sun. Hmm, the database shows that it has a twin on the fourth planet, but unlike that this one hasn't found a host. Log data is… corrupted? Oh this is going to be an absolute pain isn't?

He didn't have long to mull on the possibilities as he soon found himself in front of the Engineer's office. He mentally commanded his hub to fold back into his raiment and stepped inside, entering the cramped and dark space. Engineer Arga sat in her usual place, hunched over a terminal with a number of holographic screens around her. The two were friends, of a sort, so he didn't react much when she made a gesture and the door sealed behind him, the room activating isolation mode. Instead he just said "So, what is it that is so secretive you had to interrupt a very important meeting and not tell me why?"

She didn't respond, instead making a gesture with her hand to restart whatever she had been watching on the largest screen. After a few seconds Kel'lac realized that he was looking at recorded video from the Scarab, though the fact that the image appeared to be from the perspective of a gray humanoid's hand was a bit of a give away. He wanted to just ask Arga why she wouldn't just tell him, but she was a stubborn sort, so he just continued to watch.

The video continued for a few more seconds before a beam of green light pierced the humanoid's chest, and the Scarab went tumbling to the ground. When it righted itself and got eyes on the action, Kel'lac went stiff at what he saw. Oh Void, a Lantern, he internally groaned, watching the green glowing alien fight the gray one and two other humanoids. He didn't know why they fought, and didn't really care; Lanterns discovering one of their Scarabs always caused a headache. Still, this didn't seem like too much of a problem. The Scarab was unbound, and they had protocols for this sort of thing. It didn't explain Arga's secrecy.

The view then refocused on the gray one, and he saw the man shapeshift his arm… into a cannon of some sort. Kel'lac narrowed his eyes, taking another look at the almost organic armor he wore. "...Did they reverse engineer the Scarab?" He wondered out loud. It was hard to tell from the video, but there were noticeable similarities between this gray figure and their own Scarab Warriors. Normally he would scoff at the idea of such primitives managing to crack the Scarab's protections and fail-safes, but Arga wouldn't have called him here without a reason.

He rubbed his chin as he watched the battle escalate, the gray one and the Lantern moving outside the building they were in. The view from the Scarab scuttled across the ground and over rubble, stopping a hole in the wall that gave it a full view of the fight. Well, kind of, as the Lantern had trapped the gray one in some giant construct death trap. "This could be a problem." Kel'lac finally said. "If it's possible for them to replicate our technology, and the Lanterns know it, this can cause all kinds of security breaches. Though I'm not sure what-"

Whatever else he was about to say died in his throat as he saw it. It broke out of the trap before running up the wall and leaping into the air. The figure that soared above the Green Lantern and descended down upon them like divine wrath. A thing of Myth.

Remember their form, the terror that the Hunters once brought to you. We have assimilated them, and now they shall hunt for us, not for paltry things like flesh or material, but for knowledge. Their sightless eyes will be our gaze to the future.

He continued watching in stunned silence as the Hunter form grappled with the Lantern, eventually being blasted away by a burst of energy. It tumbled across the ground before landing on its feet, smoothly transforming into the gray humanoid.

Through you shall these Hunters be bound, their form melding with your essence. Though shape will be unlimited, through our Will shall you be forged into our Archon.

Eventually, Kel'lac managed to find his voice. "That… that can't be what I think it is." He said shakily. "I-It could just be a coincidence. The report said the neighboring planet has a shapeshifter race, perhaps-"

Arga cut him off by fast forwarding the footage, stopping as it showed the gray one fighting a reptilian alien atop a small craft. The gray one dispatched swiftly, getting around its personal shield before ripping the shield emitter off its body. They held the emitter up for a moment before its hand… unfurled into spikes, tearing apart and consuming the emitter. A moment later, a personal shield came to life around it.

And as we assimilated them, so too shall they assimilate the knowledge we lack. They will take the physical form of machines into themselves, and thus by becoming one with it, it shall become one with us as well.

The pair watched the video in silence, watching the thing from mythology shrugged off the attempts to destroy it. It tore its way into the small craft and disappeared from sight. The video ended shortly after that, as a spear of green light hurdled at screen before it went dark.

Then, Arga finally spoke. "The emergency signal was triggered when… it tried communicating with the Scarab. Its priority was Foundation level. I triple checked the code with the archives, I have a sister that works there. It's… a Codex Archon." Kel'lac turned to look at her, and found her looking back with an almost rapturous look on her face. "One of the Lost. His agents walk this galaxy again."

For several moments, he didn't know how to respond. The old religion was not something discussed in the open. Every true bred child of the Reach was taught it, of course, but it was a thing done behind closed doors and taboo to speak about in public. But to Kel'lac it was just some old tradition thousands of years old, likely a reaction to his ancestors losing their homeworld in the war and trying to find a way to cope. It wasn't something people actually believed. But the hopeful look Arga was giving him was telling him otherwise.

Eventually, he said "This is a very dangerous situation."

"Of course it is! That Lantern was targeting the Codex!" Arga said. "They clearly recognize it for what it is. We have to muster every force we can and take this world immediately!"

That wasn't quite what Kel'lac was getting at, but this was a whole other problem. If the legends were true, the Lanterns spent the tail end of the war hunting and scourging every Archon from the galaxy. The modern Scarab, something that had been made to be mass produced for the war, was supposedly based on the Archons. So it was entirely possible her assessment was right. But… "Arga, if the Green Lanterns are aware of what they're dealing with, then this Earth is most certainly protected by one of their own by this point. Sending a fleet would reignite the Lantern War." He gestured to the screen. "Besides, if this one was cooperative with the Reach, it would have reached out to us on its own by now."

Arga waved him off. "You know as well as I do that He needed to imprint His Archons in person. Without His guidance, the Archon has only the host template to work with. It's lost, doesn't know any better. And as for the Lanterns, so what?! With an Archon we can reopen His Sanctuary!"

Kal'lac sighed. "Arga, I must be blunt. Even if all the legends are true, even at the height of our power… The Reach lost to the Green Lanterns. They all but crippled us, and trapped Him in the Bleed. If they see us trying again, they will not hesitate to go for our throats."

Arga looked like she wanted to argue, but she couldn't deny his logic. Eventually her shoulders slumped, and her tone turned bitter. "So, what, we do nothing?"

Kel'lac looked back at the images scrolling past on the screens, of the bit of their past which had all but been forgotten. Which had been intentionally wiped away by the Lanterns, he now realized. A sense of anger filled him at that, of the indignity his people had been forced to suffer. But, as his eyes fell again on the form of the Hunter, something different came to him.

A feeling of victory assured.

"No." he said firmly. Arga sat up straighter at his voice and he continued. "This is an opportunity. We must secure the Archon, and we must be swift, but we must also be careful. In the past 40 thousand years, we have learned to be patient, methodical, and this is no different. With the Archon in our possession, the Reach can build its power in secret. We will prepare for the next war. And this time we will win."

The Engineer brightened at his words, and nodded. "So, how do we proceed?"

"I have some special assets I can trust in Reconnaissance. They can arrive quickly and assess the situation. Beyond that… I will have to speak with my parents. It seems the Old Way will have to be applied once again."

Arga nodded again, and when she spoke she did so in Cant. "Praise be to Him, for He gave us the stars."

Kel'lac smiled, and continued "Woe to His enemies, for we will bring them into the fold."

Together, they finished the chant. "All shall bow before Dominion, for we are his Reach."

Slowly, Koriand'r's eyes fluttered open, though she had to squint a little as her eyes adjusted to the light. What happened? She wondered. The last thing she remembered was Jacob pulling her close followed by a blinding light and great force. She clearly wasn't dead though, so she tried propping herself up and taking in her surroundings.

She was in a small room that seemed to be carved out of stone, every surface smooth to the point of almost being polished. The stone bed she was laying on was not the most comfortable thing she had rested on, but in addition to being smooth it was also contoured to her body. The light was streaming in from a small hole at the top of the room, revealing a cut out of an orange sky. She could also see a rectangular doorway at the far side of the room, with stairs leading downwards. She couldn't see beyond the stairs given the angle, but she felt a warm breeze with a floral scent drifting from it.

Most of her attention though was locked onto a stone basin that was right next to her bed, filled with clear water. She stiffly sat up, taking stock of what hurt as she carefully scooped some water into her mouth with her hands. It was clean and cool, and she had just about had her fill before a noise got her attention. Footsteps could be heard from the stairs, and she tensed… only to relax as Jacob walked into the room. "How are you feeling?" He asked, walking over next to her.

"Rough, but I've been worse." She replied, letting him carefully look over her injuries. She knew better than to try and stop him from acting the medic over her. And to be fair, after the fight she had just been through, she could stand to have a little medical attention. Though even as he did so, she noticed something off about his motions, like a heavy weight was on his shoulders.

Eventually Jacob finished wrapping some fibrous material around her worse cuts and pulled back. "Looks like you don't have anything too serious. You should be fine in a day or two."

Koriand'r nodded. "Now, what happened? The last thing I remember was you pulling me into your arms and then a blinding light."

"Emergency Zeta Shift." He explained, his tone tired. "With the ship's core going critical, there wasn't enough time to get us clear of the blast. So, I made a Zeta Beam generator in my chest and beammed us away."

Koriand'r hummed, looking up at the sky through the hole in the ceiling. He had already explained to the team the downsides of using such a method. "So, where did we end up?"

"We can get to that in a moment," He said, his voice becoming tense. She looked back down at him and found him scowling at her. "First, why did you endanger yourself like that? You practically threw yourself into an active warp core. You nearly got yourself killed trying to save me."

Koriand'r, of course, was unbowed. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't do the exact same thing."

"Of course I would, that's not the point!" He protested. "I could probably survive. We've talked about me jumping bodies."

"Yes, we talked about how you weren't sure how it would work, if at all." She responded. "For all I knew, the Lantern could have stopped you. And that doesn't matter, because you weren't thinking of that."

"What? What are you-"

"Others may have a hard time knowing what you're thinking, but I don't. I know you Jacob. And I know that you were seriously considering the Lantern's offer."

He never wanted to show just how much of a weight being a superhero put on him at times. He had put on a good face, but Koriand'r had seen how much strain keeping the Gray from destroying the city had put on him mentally. The threat of the Gordanians right after had made it worse, and the Green Lantern made it worse still. Jacob had enough force of will to carry on through all of that… right up until the engine room. She saw it, in that moment when the Lantern had given his ultimatum. It was just a moment… but Jacob had considered giving himself up to save her.

And she couldn't allow that. Not when it was her own failure to stop the Green Lantern that brought them to that point. Not when she loved him so much.

Jacob looked like he was going to protest, but thought better of it and sighed. "It wasn't exactly plan A," He admitted.

"But you would have gone through with it if you didn't think of anything better."

"Well, yeah." He said with a frown. "It's combat, sometimes you have to make that call. You of all people shouldn't be surprised by this."

"I'm not, but you keep doing it!" She exclaimed. "Every time the situation gets bad, you always arrange things so that you're the only one to fall if things go wrong!"

"Yes! That's what should happen!" He yelled back. "I'm supposed to keep the rest of the team alive! If I have to sacrifice myself to do it-"

"And who told you that you could die alone?!"

Jacob stopped, his eyes going wide as she continued, leaning in to put a hand on his chest and continuing more softly. "I will always be here for you, no matter how bad things get. Please, don't shut me out from bearing this burden with you. Trust me to stand by your side. And if we fall in battle… we will do so together."

Jacob stared at her for several long seconds before his shoulder slumped, and he leaned forward until his forehead was touching hers. "There are so many reasons I should argue that. And yet…" He muttered. "Why can I never tell you no?"

"Your heart knows why." She whispered back, and pressed in close. She wasn't sure how long they remained like that, entwined in each other's embrace, but when they pulled apart, she saw that the weight that had been bearing Jacob down had lifted somewhat. "Now, first thing first, where are we?"

Jacob breathed in before standing up and offering a hand to her. "I have a guess, but I'd like to get your opinion first."

She took his hand and got to her feet, letting him lead her to the stairs. They didn't have to go very far until they emerged out onto a ledge on the side of a small mountain. Sprawling out below them was a jungle with pale green and yellow trees. That combined with the orange-gold sky told her that they were no longer on Earth. And yet, something about this landscape felt familiar to her. She had never been to a place like this before, but…

As her gaze drifted upward, it stopped just shy of the sun in the sky, and she froze. She knew that light, the way it felt as it sank into her body and soul. "Roshak…" She said, the name of her home sun coming out unbidden.

Jacob nodded. "When I made the jump I was still wired into the ship's nav data, and I was making it reverse course back to Vega. Considering how split my attention was, I guess I accidentally aimed the beam this way. And with the core emitting as much power as it was… well, I guess it's lucky Zeta Beams favor exiting in gravity wells. And that it missed the sun."

Koriand'r nodded numbly as she scanned the horizon. This wasn't Tamaran, she knew that much for certain. But the jungle reminded her of her studies all those years again, back before she had been surrendered to the Citadel. "I believe this is… Karna." She said, "It was one of the first worlds in the system that fell to the Citadel when they began their war of conquest. It's primarily used by their Gordanian slavers, as it's essentially their homeworld."

Jacob hummed, processing this. "There aren't that many radio waves, but the ones I could pick up led me to the same conclusion. It's why I dug out a hole rather than heading for the nearest settlement. Getting home is going to be difficult…"

Koriand'r could see him getting lost in his own thoughts, and at the moment she felt it was best if she kept him in the now. And doing so was simple enough. "It doesn't matter. You'll get us home."

He paused and looked at her. "...I haven't even come up with a plan yet."

"But you will, because I know you will." She said with certainty.

Jacob's mouth opened and closed a few times before he fixed her with a flat expression. "Kori, stop having complete faith in me this instant."

And she had the perfect counter to this as well. "No."

He looked up at the sky and groaned, giving her the chance to slip in closer and wrap her arms around him. Reflexively, he wrapped his arms back around her in kind, even as he continued to look upwards in exasperation. Still looking up, he said "You know, I should be a lot more distressed than I am right now. And it's your fault."

"Oh?"

He looked down at her, a helpless smile on his face. "Because you're right. You'll always be there for me. And somehow, that lets me know everything will be okay." He leaned in and kissed her deeply, and when they broke apart he whispered "I love you."

"And I love you." She whispered back, joy swelling her heart. "And whatever the future brings, we will face it together."

=====A=====

A/N: So, I remember the early days of writing this fic when I could put out a chapter every two weeks or so. Now, taking a look at recent chapters, it seems like it's taking me closer to a month.

I hate to say it, but this is starting to exhaust me.

It's entirely my own fault, of course. I've been ramping up the complexity of both the plot and the fight scenes for years now, and I kind of hate the monster I've created. Not the story itself, mind you, just the agonizing effort it's taking to put out chapters I'm ok with. So, I'm revising my estimate I made at the end of book 2, and cutting down the main story significantly.

We are still a ways out from the end, but I will start pushing things towards a more definite conclusion as far as the main plot is concerned. This will mean a few of the looser plot threads will end up on the cutting room floor, but I don't want to push myself to try to tie them back in.