****
Summary: Our heroes arrive at the mother ship and encounter a few setbacks; meanwhile, the JLA struggles to keep the advancing armada from destroying the Earth. Will the Titans succeed in communicating with the mother ship's Artificial Intelligence?
Acknowledgement: I'd like to thank The Great Book of Oa website for the background information on Green Lantern and RoyToys The Unofficial Arsenal Fan Site. These two fan run sites are both exceptionally informative.
As always, much thanks to Terri and Dannell for their patience and assistance; their critical input was priceless in the final development of my story.
Disclaimer: All the characters are owned by DC Comics and Time/Warner; this is an original story that does not intend to infringe on their copyright. Feedback is welcome!
Copyright 1999
****
JLA/Titans: Invasion! by Syl Francis
"Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice." (Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice")
****
Chapter Sixteen
The last surviving starship of a lost race, long-destroyed by the murderous Krghlm, experienced a momentary 'twinge' of fear. The ship's artificial intelligence deployed its entire armada to the distant yellow star earlier. Now, its sensors detected an intruder in its vicinity. An intruder so small it barely registered. Nevertheless, the ship recognized the alien's signature as the one that disabled two of its scouts.
The ship's artificial intelligence immediately sent out an intruder alert throughout its length. As the ship slowly responded by powering up to full defensive status, a small blip encroached its shielding through a long- forgotten, eons-old emergency escape hatch...
****
"There she is," Green Arrow intoned unnecessarily. Batman ignored him as usual and continued preparing for boarding. When he finished shrugging into the JLA exo-suit, Batman turned impatiently to his unwelcome companion.
"Are you coming?" he asked, pointedly holding out a second exo-suit. GA looked at the Dark Knight and grinned sheepishly. Batman was ready to go, while he'd been gaping at the sight of the tremendous ship, like some green kid. GA took the suit and donned it clumsily.
"Who made these things, anyway?" he groused. "It has more clasps, snaps and zippers than--"
"--Here. Let me," Batman interrupted. Before GA could react, his grim partner had him suited up properly. "Let's go." Batman immediately walked to the transporter chamber.
Before stepping into the sole chamber, Batman quickly punched in several coordinates into the control console. Without a word, he turned to GA and slapped him on the arm.
"Don't lose that," he growled. He stepped onto the transporter portal and vanished. GA looked at his upper arm where Batman left a small triangular patch with the JLA logo. A transporter automatic recall device, GA realized. He felt chagrinned.
"I wouldn't have thought of it," he sighed. He looked at the transporter chamber. He hated the damn things. Hated having his essence turned into so much plasma. "Okay, Doctor McCoy," GA grumbled, paying homage to Star Trek's famous doctor, "let's get going!" Without further hesitation, GA stepped onto the portal and followed Batman into possible oblivion.
****
"I should be in Atlantis with my people," Aquaman said angrily. "I am a creature of the sea. Out here, I am less than useless."
Wonder Woman glanced at him askance.
"We can only do our best, Arthur," she said gently. "You know that. I may not be a product of Man's World, but that doesn't make my love for my home world any less. If we cannot stop this invasion, then my beloved home on Paradise Island, as well as yours beneath the Seven Seas will cease to exist. We are not many, but we must nevertheless draw a line on the sand out here."
Aquaman glowered at the Amazon Princess.
"You are correct, Diana. However, it does not make my decision to be apart from my Queen and my people any less difficult. They tolerate my role as a member of the JLA, but they do not understand. Nor do I at times. Especially now. And young Garth. He is my right arm...whatever shall I do without his good counsel and companionship?"
Wonder Woman placed a comforting hand on Aquaman's arm. "He will be all right, Arthur. They all will. We must continue to believe that. We must."
Aquaman looked deeply into his beautiful teammate's eyes, seeking doubt or possible hesitation. All he saw was strength and courage, as well as the confidence to continue the battle despite the long odds.
Aquaman placed his hand on hers momentarily and smiled warmly, a first for him.
"Thank you, Your Highness," he said, his eyes twinkling.
"You're welcome, Your Majesty," she replied, smiling in turn.
****
"What do you have, Supes?" the Atom's voice crackled over the small headset.
"Do you want the bad news or the *really* bad news first?" Superman asked wryly.
"..." Superman could hear a throat being cleared over the open channel. "Uh, how about the not-so-bad news first?"
"They're hanging at the edge of the solar system, just on the other side of Pluto's orbit," Superman reported.
"And the 'really bad' news?" Atom asked tentatively.
"They're arming their plasma warheads even as we speak."
"I suppose a preemptive strike is rather pointless at this juncture?" the Flash cut into the conversation.
"I don't think that even *I* could be of much use, Barry," Superman admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I won't try. Pa always told me that a man can do anything he sets his mind to."
Flash gave a small laugh. "'Pa', huh? Remind me to say thanks to your 'Pa' when this is over, Clark."
"Thanks? For what?" Superman asked, genuinely puzzled.
"For *you*, you Super-dope!" Flash yelled. Superman blinked in surprise. A few seconds later, Flash added, "Be careful, Supes. We'll stand by for your call."
"Roger. Superman out." Superman turned his x-ray and telescopic vision on the waiting armada. "Talk about an impossible mission," he muttered.
****
The _Avenger_ powered down and came to a soft landing. The small cruiser sat quietly for a few moments, then its outer hatch opened, almost tentatively. Five figures moved out quickly, keeping to the shadows.
At an intersection in the endless corridors, the group split into two. Two shadows zipped suddenly towards port within the blink of an eye.
The remaining three continued forward. Suddenly, one of the three rose, in defiance of the artificial gravity. Simultaneously, several deadly particle beams fired upon the small group.
"Take cover!" called Robin. He saw Wonder Girl dodge under two beams that had her targeted. Aqualad meanwhile was running and diving to avoid being hit. Robin looked around the corridor, his sharp eyes taking in every minute detail. Spotting a likely target, he quickly took out a Batarang and let fly!
Instantly, his Batarang found its mark and one of the particle beams was instantaneously silenced. "WG!" he called. "To me! Hurry!" Wonder Girl immediately turned towards Robin and dove in his direction. At the same moment, Robin began sprinting. He lifted his arms to indicate he wanted her to pick him up. Wonder Girl complied immediately.
"Over there! Quick!" Robin cried, pointing. Wonder Girl instantly flew him in the direction he'd indicated. Getting a good position, Robin threw another Batarang. Abruptly, a second particle beam was silenced.
"Down!" he ordered, pointing towards Aqualad. Soon, the three teens were behind protective cover. "Okay, I count three more particle weapons," Robin reported. "Aqualad, I need you take *that* one out." He pointed towards the far left of the corridor. "WG, you take that one over there." This time he indicated one nearer the ceiling. "I'll take this one." He looked at his friends. "Ready?" They nodded. "Let's go!"
****
Speedy watched openmouthed as Kid Flash zoomed in a blur of red and gold, taking out the deadly beams that ambushed them. In less than a second, all of the particle weapons were knocked out.
"I'm beginning to feel useless again," Speedy muttered.
"Why's that?" asked Kid Flash behind him. Speedy spun around, his heart pounding rapidly.
"*Don't* do that!" he gasped in protest.
"Don't do what?" asked Kid Flash innocently. Speedy sighed. Robin hates me. That's the only explanation possible. Why else would he team me with brainless here?
"Never mind, Twinkletoes," Speedy said. "Come on let's look around. Robin said that the power core should be in this area--"
"Found it!" Kid Flash said, tapping Speedy between the shoulder blades. Speedy whirled around, his heart in his throat.
"*Don't*--!" Speedy bit off what he was about to say. What was the use? The Kid was only doing his job. Unfortunately, he was just too dumb or innocent to know that his disappearing/reappearing act was giving Speedy a twitch!
Kid Flash was staring at Speedy with wide eyes. "Your face is all red. Are you feeling okay?"
Speedy nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
"Yeah, Twinkletoes," he rasped. "I'm just hunky-dory...Why don't you show me what you found, okay?"
Kid Flash gave his teammate a bright and eager smile. "All right!"
Before Speedy could respond, he felt himself being moved at supersonic speeds into the bowels of the ship. Robin, I'll get you for this, he promised darkly.
****
Robin's third Batarang found its mark. One more particle weapon down, he thought with self-satisfaction. He heard a yell behind him. Wonder Girl! She was in trouble. He looked up toward the high ceiling where she was dodging the beam in a sort of deadly mid-air ballet.
Wonder Girl expertly deflected the beam with her bracelets, but before she could recover, she was instantly targeted again. Robin could see that she was quickly tiring out.
Taking out his grappling gun, Robin shot out a line and instantly lifted to her aid. His bat line found the only protrusion in the corridor's ceiling, the particle weapon's metallic bracket, and looped several times around it.
As he rose, Robin took out two pellets from his utility belt. Coming up and swinging over the weapon, Robin tossed the pellets at the particle weapon as he passed above it. The results were instantaneous. A bright flash, followed by a brief acrid burning smell, hinted that the weapon was now so much slag.
The pellets were comprised of a corrosive acid encased within an explosive outer shell. The force of Robin's throw caused the outer casing to explode on impact in a bright flash; this in turn, released the corrosive acid contained within the shell, an acid which could eat through titanium steel.
As his pellets found their mark, Robin released his line, somersaulted in midair, and landed gracefully. He looked up and waved at Wonder Girl. She waved back and blew him a 'Thank you' kiss. They both turned and looked over to where Aqualad was having his own battle.
They both hurried to the Teen Atlantean's aid.
****
Aqualad was in trouble. He'd tried several stealth approaches towards the deadly weapon, but was thwarted at each turn. He was beginning to panic in despair. He wasn't good enough, he told himself. He was a fish out of water. How could Robin expect him to be able to do this?
Aqualad didn't have any of those handy throwing weapons that Robin was armed with. Nor did he have any arrows. He couldn't fly and he didn't have superspeed. What *good* was he?
Aqualad felt a cold fury building inside himself. He was angry at Robin for entrusting him with a solo mission. He was angry at himself for wanting to quit and proving once and for all just how totally useless he was away from the sea.
"No!" he cried. "I won't quit. I won't let my friends down." With a renewed determination, Aqualad ran out into the open, immediately drawing the weapon's fire. As he ran, he was momentarily distracted and thus failed to duck to and roll on time. He felt the beam's burning energy cut through his left shoulder.
"No!" he cried out once more, feeling himself falling into dark oblivion. As he fell, his surging fury suddenly manifested itself within him in a churning purple rage. In one last burst of angry effort, before darkness claimed him, Aqualad sent out a powerful bolt of violet energy from his normally gentle eyes.
****
"Aqualad! Look out!" Robin called out in warning. Too late, the teen from Atlantis was hit. Robin searched his utility belt for another Batarang. He was still too far. Robin poured on the speed. He had to get within throwing range. He looked up.
"WG!" he called. "Can you fly him to safety?" At that moment, the remaining weapon targeted its beam at the flying Amazonian Princess. Wonder Girl immediately began to fly an evasive pattern. Robin meanwhile had to somersault to avoid getting hit himself.
Not missing a beat, Robin regained his feet and continued on his way to Aqualad's aid. What he saw, pulled him up short. To Robin's amazement, something totally unexpected occurred. A kind of purple beam of pure energy seemed to shoot out of Aqualad, effectively disabling the last weapon.
Robin stood nonplussed for a moment. Then realizing that Aqualad was hurt, he hurried to his teammate's side.
Turning the unconscious Aqualad over onto his back, Robin quickly examined him. The shy teen was badly burned on his left shoulder.
"How bad is he?" Wonder Girl asked worriedly.
"As bad as can be expected," Robin grunted in return. "However, the beam's clean energy seems to have cauterized the wound. This could reduce any chance of infection."
Robin quickly took out his first aid kit and bound the wound as well as possible under the circumstances. When he was done, he turned to Wonder Girl.
"Donna, you're the strongest one, and you can fly. You've gotta get Garth back to the _Avenger's_ infirmary and do what you can for him."
"But Robbie, what about you? I can't leave you out here alone. It's too dangerous!"
Robin laughed. "Are you kidding? I've grown up in Gotham City, remember? This alien spaceship's a walk in the park compared to that. Heck, even the weapons are a lot cleaner." He grinned at his friend with false bravado. Seeing her real concern, Robin dropped his eyes. Looking up slowly, he held his hand out to her cheek. "Hey, we've got a job to do, remember? Aqualad did his part, now we have to do ours. We can't quit now."
With a heartbroken cry, Wonder Girl reached across and hugged him. "Oh, Robbie, *please* be careful. I couldn't bear it if something were to happen to you."
"Heh," Robin laughed softly. "I don't think I'd much like it myself." Wonder Girl released him with a slight push.
"Oh, you," she said, laughing slightly.
Growing serious, Robin continued, "But if something *did* happen to me, then I'd expect *you* and the others to carry on. Promise me, Donna, that if something *does* happen to me, you *will* carry on as Titans leader."
Wonder Girl looked at him startled but nodded reluctantly. "I promise," she whispered.
Holding her hand, Robin stood. Pulling her to him, he hugged her closely. "Take care of Garth," he whispered fiercely.
Robin released her and quickly turned, continuing on his mission to the ship's control center. He'd wanted to say so much more to Wonder Girl, but what was the point? Donna liked Roy and that was that. Dick Grayson was relegated to the position of best friend and brother in her heart. So be it.
If Robin were to meet his end here, then he would face it as a man. Like Batman taught him. As he ran down the endless corridors and climbed an infinite number of ladders between decks, Robin's mind turned towards his mentor.
Whatever happened, Robin wouldn't let Batman down.
****
"The atmosphere is safe for humans," Batman reported. He immediately began removing his exo-suit. Green Arrow followed his example. "Don't forget the transporter automatic recall tab," Batman reminded him.
GA nodded, feeling like a kid sidekick. He was beginning to have a tremendous amount of respect for Robin. How did the kid put up with Ol' Smiley, he wondered? GA had to admit, though, that as little as Batman said aloud, it was obvious that his mind was working overtime. He always seemed to be five or six steps ahead of everybody else.
GA looked around. According to Batman they were amidships, near the power core. Their job was to attempt to disable the ship's warp core, and hopefully stop its relentless advance towards their solar system. Their secondary target was the ship's control center. Their mission was to establish contact with the ship's intelligence and somehow convince it to stop its attack on the people of Earth.
If that failed, then they were to destroy the ship, not just disable it.
As they made their way down the endless corridors within the bowels of the ship, the two men noticed definite signs that someone had been there ahead of them. There were numerous objects that appeared to be defensive weapons that had been inexplicably bent out of shape.
Other signs that someone was ahead of them soon manifested themselves. Bulkhead doors whose internal mechanisms were removed and laid out on the floor were left swinging carelessly open.
GA and Batman exchanged glances. At last, GA found incontrovertible proof that someone was there before them: a red arrow! GA examined it closely. It was one of Speedy's explosive-tipped specialties. Apparently, the micro-warhead failed to explode. GA looked it over closely. There! The detonator was defective.
He shook his head. "How many times have I told that kid to check his arrows before he puts them in the quiver?" He looked proudly over at Batman. "They're here. The Titans are here. Can you believe it?" He narrowed his eyes. "When I get my hands on that Speedy, I'll--"
But he was talking to empty air, because Batman was already gone.
****
Batman moved quickly. More quickly than stealth recommended, but he didn't care. Robin was here. He was here on the ship. Momentarily forgetting his mission, Batman thought back to his parting words with his ward. Whatever happened, Batman had to ensure that Robin, no that *Dick*, knew just how he felt about him.
He'd tried to tell Dick before he'd left, but as always when it came to matters of the heart, Bruce Wayne put his foot it and botched it badly. He had to set matters straight between them once more.
As Batman rounded a corridor he came upon Speedy and Kid Flash. The two youngsters were seriously studying the readings of what Batman assumed to be the ship's warp core.
"Where's Robin," he growled. Both Speedy and Kid Flash jumped as if shot. Batman couldn't tell which one was trying harder to hide behind the other. He repeated his question, impatiently. "Where's Robin?"
"Really, Bats, they're just kids. Why don't you growl at someone your own size?" GA asked drolly. He looked a bit uncertainly at Speedy. "Hi, kid. I see you Titans beat us here." He held his hand out. "Roy, I know that I should've said something before I left, but--"
Speedy didn't listen to the rest. Instead, he ran to GA and unselfconsciously hugged him. Then, in sudden anger, he reared back and punched him.
"You *lied* to me! *Again*! I love you, Ollie, but it's over! If we get back home, I'm leaving!"
GA ruefully rubbed his chin where Speedy had connected, hard! "You know, I'm getting just a little tired of being everybody's favorite punching bag. We'll talk about this later, Roy. Now isn't the time. But *when* we get back--not *if*--we'll talk...You, me, *and* Dinah! She's part of this, too. And no fists!"
Seeing that the happy reunion was over, Batman once more asked about his partner. "Where's Robin?"
Kid Flash zipped over to him. In his excitement, the junior speedster spoke at supersonic speed. "RobbieandAqualadandWonderGirlhaveallgoneforwardtothecontrol centertotrytomakefirstcontactwiththeship'sintelligence!"
Batman scowled at Kid Flash. "Speak at normal speed," he said menacingly. Kid Flash's eyes widened and he unconsciously stepped back. Realizing that he was unnecessarily frightening the youngster, Batman relented and spoke surprisingly gently. "Kid Flash, I can't understand you when you speed-talk. Please, repeat what you said at normal speed."
Kid Flash nodded nervously, cleared his throat, and repeated his earlier statement. "Robbie and Aqualad and Wonder Girl have all gone forward to the control center to try to make first contact with the ship's intelligence!"
Batman nodded. "Thank you, Kid Flash." Batman was immediately rewarded with a bright, happy grin.
Batman turned to Green Arrow. "GA, do you think that you and the Titans here can figure out the warp core's control sufficiently to program it to self- destruct, if necessary?"
Green Arrow was about to reply with a distinct negative, when he was interrupted by Kid Flash.
"Oh, Speedy and I have that under control, sir. Robbie kinda told me what to do, and I've done it."
Batman looked skeptical. "What did Robin tell you to do?" he asked.
"Oh, he told me to vibrate to the core's matching internal electromagnetic shield's vibration level, walk through the protective core shielding, and pull out anything that looked important...Like these!" Kid Flash pointed to several exceptionally large devices whose purpose Batman could only guess at.
"'Anything that looked important'...Just how did you determine what was important?" Batman asked.
Kid Flash shrugged. "I just do," he said. "Doesn't everybody?" The others looked at him strangely. "By the vibration," he said, as if explaining the obvious to a child. "The speed of the vibrations. The tone they emit...I don't know...It just sort of lets me know." He looked at them helplessly. "I don't know how else to explain it."
Batman nodded. "And Robin *knows* that you have this ability to differentiate the importance of objects by the vibrations they emit?"
Kid Flash nodded eagerly. "Sure he does! In fact, Robin is the one who showed me I could do it. He comes up with these ideas all the time. If he sees me doing one thing, like manipulating the air molecules surrounding an object so's I can lift it, then he'll tell me something like, 'Well, if you can do *that*, then it should be relatively simple for you to do *this*!'"
Kid Flash waved his arms dramatically to emphasize his point. He gave a slight, excited laugh and continued.
"And then Robbie'll have me do something with my superspeed that I've never even thought of! I think Robbie must be just about the smartest kid on the whole planet. And I'm his best friend." He added this last bit with a tinge of pride and awe.
Batman surprised them all by giving Kid Flash a half-smile and placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm glad that Robin has a friend like you, Kid Flash."
The junior speedster blushed a bright pink.
"Since the Titans have already incapacitated the warp core," Batman said by way of helping the boy recover his composure, "I recommend that we make our way to the forward Command Center."
****
"Superman?" Atom's voice came through sounding worried. "Superman, we're detecting activity from the armada. Looks like the ion-impeller drives are coming back online. What can you tell us?"
Superman quickly checked the nearest scout's engines. Sure enough, they were coming online. He shook his head. Apparently, he'd have to use force after all.
"Supes?" Atom's worried voice buzzed in his ear. "Supes, are you there? Superman, are you--?"
"I'm all right, Atom," Superman said quietly. "It looks like you people better start moving up. I think a movement to contact is a better tactic than a static defense. Fan out for widest possible spread. I'll try to disable as many of the enemy as superhumanly possible before they enter the Sol System."
"Understood, Superman," Atom replied. "JLA out."
Superman turned sadly towards the alien that had suddenly become 'the enemy'. "What a waste of new knowledge," he murmured in quiet anger. "What a waste of new resources."
Superman turned his heat vision on the first target. He intensified his concentration, until a white hot jagged hole burned through the ship's defenses. It exploded in a pyrotechnic mushroom display of an ion-impeller/warp core rupture.
Superman was already gone, engaging the next 'enemy'. "What a waste of potential new friends."
The space immediately outside the Sol System burst in an aurora of mini-suns suddenly rising in a false dawn. But there was no birdsong, no joyful music to meet this new day, for in the silence of space the only sound one could hear was the horror screaming in one's own head.
****
Chapter Seventeen
The ship's intelligence 'felt' its fear increase. The fear of the unknown. The fear of the alien. The fear of the invader. For now, several of the ship's defenses had been breached by the unknown alien invaders. And several of the ship's defensive weapons had been nullified. Furthermore, several biological life-forms were moving steadily forward...
****
Robin ducked, ran, somersaulted, came up and threw. "Stee-rike!" he called. "Woo-hoo! The crowd goes wild as Grayson once again shuts out the entire lineup!" Robin back flipped in triumph, a purely boyish expression of exuberance. He'd cleared another corridor of particle weapons. "That's thirty down and an infinite number to go!"
Laughing devilishly, the Boy Wonder climbed yet another set of rungs. According to the schematic he'd downloaded from the ship's central computer, the control center should be on the next level.
"And the defenses will probably be even tougher," Robin muttered. "Oh, well. As Dad used to say, 'It's show time!'"
**** "This way!" called Speedy, pointing in the opposite direction that the senior heroes were headed.
"And how are *you* so sure?" asked Green Arrow skeptically.
"'Cause Robbie gave us a map," piped up Kid Flash. "Look!" He held out a ship's schematic as proof.
Batman and GA exchanged rueful glances. Batman reached for the diagram that the junior speedster was holding.
"Let me see," Batman ordered. He took the schematic and studied it closely. "How did Robin--?"
"How did Robbie get it?" finished Kid Flash.
"He tapped into the giant ship's central computer somehow," interrupted Speedy. "I don't know how. He and Wonder Girl did some fancy typing...calling numbers and other things out to each other...then, before we knew it, our ship was talking to the giant ship...Robin called it a 'handshake'...and it gave us what we asked for."
Green Arrow looked askance at Batman. "Gee, Bats, why didn't *you* think of that? Looks like the kid is outdoing the old man, eh?"
Batman didn't bother to answer. Instead, he studied the ship's plan and started down the correct corridor. As he walked, he allowed himself a small smile. Robin was doing himself proud on this mission. He was demonstrating a sound and mature leadership ability that seemed to maximize his teammates' capabilities.
And as GA said, he was outdoing the old man.
****
"Where are the others?"
Wonder Girl whirled at the sound of the voice by the open hatch. Green Lantern! Her eyes widened.
"Great Hera!" she exclaimed. "Green Lantern, you startled me!"
"Wonder Girl, where are the others?" GL repeated. "I thought I told you kids to stay out of it, because this was too dangerous." He caught sight of Aqualad and hurried over to the boy's side. GL checked the medbed readings.
"How is he? What happened?" he asked.
Wonder Girl told the Emerald Knight how Aqualad had been injured. "He seems to be all right, but I can't be one hundred percent sure. These medbeds aren't programmed accurately for Atlantean physiology."
"I know. I've raised the same concern a number of times at our JLA meetings. I'm supposed to be the resident 'expert' on space survivability," GL said ruefully. "However, Aquaman refuses to provide us with the appropriate data necessary to program them accurately." At Wonder Girl's look of incomprehension, Green Lantern smiled. "Aquaman does not wish to give us 'surface dwellers' sensitive information about his people. The kind of information that could easily be used against them in time of war."
Wonder Girl nodded. She'd been raised a warrior and knew something about withholding sensitive information from allies and keeping one's enemies close. "I can understand the reasoning," she said. "However, it doesn't do poor Aqualad any good."
GL studied the sleeping youth. The boy's pained grimace indicated that he was suffering despite the medication that Wonder Girl had started. GL spread his hands over the quiet form, and concentrating began to envelop the boy inside a protective emerald aura. As the aura's green glow grew in intensity, Aqualad's pain-filled scowl began to soften, until finally, he lay sleeping soundly and restfully.
"What did you do?" asked Wonder Girl.
"Something your young leader, Robin, taught me." He smiled at her surprised look. "I just helped Aqualad focus his will on the pain he was feeling. Now, whenever the boy feels the pain returning, he'll be able to see it clearly and step aside from it."
"Robin taught you to do that?" Wonder Girl asked amazed.
"Well, not that exactly, but the same principle. I've just sort of learned to adapt it to different needs." GL smiled down at the beautiful slip of a girl whose strength could topple a mountain.
"And now, it's best that I go and find your friends," he added. "I've got to try to make contact with the ship's intelligence, before it destroys the earth. Take care of Aqualad."
Wonder Girl nodded absentmindedly. "Make contact," she murmured. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Make contact! Of course!" Taking one last look at her unconscious teammate, Wonder Girl rushed to the control room...
****
"Evasive action!"
Wonder Woman immediately cut the JLA cruiser hard to starboard, then followed through by dropping 10,000 kilometers 'down' in a spiral spin along the ship's z-axis. She instantly fired the ship's forward thrusters and came up behind the enemy scout, firing with point-blank accuracy.
The cruiser's fire control computer targeted its main batteries on the enemy scout's most vulnerable point, its impeller star-drive engine compartment. As Wonder Woman concentrated the deadly plasma particle beams on the alien's defensive shields, the earth's defenders were soon rewarded by yet another silent explosion in the blackness of space.
****
"Barry! On your tail!" Flash heard the Atom over the ship's open channel. The fastest man alive instantly rolled his cruiser out of harm's way, his control super fast.
"Thanks, Ray," Flash called, gratefully. As he spoke, Flash brought his weapons to bear on the enemy scout and fired. "Scratch another enemy ship!" Flash yelled over the JLA open channel.
"Yeah, now we only have a few hundred thousand to go," the Atom replied wryly.
"So, what are you trying to say, buddy?" asked Flash, laughing. "You wanna live forever?"
"No, just long enough to see this year's Freshman class conquer Physics!"
"Then, let's go!" Flash replied. "We got us a few hundred thousand ships to take down!"
****
Wonder Woman turned a rueful glance towards Aquaman. They'd overheard their teammates' inane bantering over the JLA open channel.
"Those two!" Aquaman huffed disapprovingly. "They jest during battle as if it were but a game to them. If they were officers in my army, I would reprimand them for such untoward behavior!"
"Oh, Arthur!" Wonder Woman sighed. "Get a grip!" At the King of the Seven Seas' raised eyebrow, she smiled and shrugged. "I overheard Kid Flash say that to Speedy a few days ago. I believe it means 'to lighten up' or 'stop being so serious'!"
"I am quite aware what the vernacular you've uttered means, Princess," Aquaman said stoically. "I was merely unaware that a warrior princess such as yourself would use such vulgarisms."
"Chill, Arthur," Wonder Woman warned, concentrating on her piloting, "or I may have to hurt you!"
Aquaman's eyebrow shot up even further at her threat. "Women!" he muttered under his breath. They belonged at home, not in the midst of a mighty battle.
"Diana!" Black Canary's voice came over the intercom. "I need help! He's on my tail and I can't shake him!"
"I see you, Dinah!" Wonder Woman called. "Hold on! We're on our way!" The Amazon Princess began calling out orders in rapid succession. "Arthur, the main batteries...that means 'weapons', Your Majesty...*man them*." At Aquaman's look of surprise, she barked impatiently, "*Now*, Arthur! Move your *tush*, man. We've got a teammate in trouble."
As Aquaman jumped to do as ordered, Wonder Woman shook her head. "Who thought that placing a Princess and a King in the same ship was a good idea?" she muttered. She was beginning to think that Aquaman was right...perhaps he *was* less than useless in space.
****
Black Canary zigged then zagged then zigged again. The bogey was still on her tail. The cruiser rocked back and forth in wild gyrations as the enemy's shots barely missed on either side. Suddenly, BC felt herself being slammed forward into the Command Console. Her seat restraints saved her from a head injury.
A hit! She'd been hit. Quickly running a diagnostic, BC commanded the ship to immediately follow its programmed damage control procedures. Fires in the aft section were instantly doused. A hull breach was quickly vacuum-packed by foam sealant. The ship's shields automatically strengthened the weakened area of the hull.
BC checked her diagnostics a second time and breathed a sigh of relief. "Today is *not* a good day to die," she muttered irately. "I haven't yet given Ollie a piece of my mind for leaving on that foolish suicide mission! When I get my hands on that idiot--!"
Another shudder through the ship instantly interrupted her angry musings and brought Black Canary back to the problem at hand. She continued taking evasive action, bringing to bear all of her specially hewn warrior instincts, which had been developed from years of Martial Arts training.
Suddenly, a second ship appeared on BC's monitor. It gave off a JLA friendly signature! Almost at the same time, a targeting signal from her relentless pursuer began its deadly warning buzzer. The enemy ship had successfully targeted her cruiser.
****
"Diana!" Black Canary's voice called desperately. "Whatever you're gonna do...*Do it*!! The bogey's got me on a weapons lock!"
"Arthur! Now! Fire!" Wonder Woman called.
Aquaman instantly pressed the firing button. They were rewarded by a blinding flash of a mini-sun across their monitors, which automatically darkened to prevent sensory overload, then came back on line. Flying before them, in a sea of space debris, was their sister JLA cruiser.
"Dinah!" Wonder Woman radioed. "Black Canary, come in!"
"Whoo-wee!" Dinah's exuberant voice rang joyfully over the intercom. "That was some fancy firing there, Warrior Princess! Remind me to buy you a drink when we get back home!"
Wonder Woman smiled. "Don't thank me, Dinah," she said. "Thank Aquaman. He fired the weapons."
"Well, Hell's Bells," called Black Canary, "will life's wonders never cease? I owe you a drink, your Majesty! Just name your poison!"
Aquaman's eyebrow shot up. "Why would I want to ask you for 'poison', Black Canary?"
"..." They heard a long suffering sigh come over the intercom. "*You* talk to him, Diana. You're also royalty. You speak the lingo. Me, I'm just a little ol' girl from the city. Black Canary out."
Wonder Woman turned to Aquaman. He gave her a bland look devoid of all emotion. About to open her mouth, Wonder Woman instead shook her head. "Never mind," she said, turning back to her Command Console.
As soon as the Warrior Princess turned her back to him, the King of the Seven Seas allowed himself an enigmatic smile.
****
Superman's battle seemed to be a relentless video instant replay. He'd concentrate his heat vision on a ship's engine room, burn a searing hole through its shields and its hull, then ratchet his special vision power to temperatures that rivaled the sun's.
This was invariably followed by the enemy ship's star-drive reaching core overload, resulting in a brilliant explosion.
As he worked, Superman felt himself growing numb with fatigue. Not a physical exhaustion, he knew, but a numbing feeling in his soul. To destroy, to kill...his adoptive parents, the Kents, taught him that one should always value life...all forms of life, no matter how small or different.
In his travels Superman had encountered many different life-forms. Many were openly friendly. Many were reticent at meeting newcomers. Most were outright suspicious of strangers. And unfortunately, the majority of the latter met the stranger at the door with weapons.
Not exactly how Ma and Pa raised him. They'd always invited friends *and* total strangers to the house for a hot meal and a friendly conversation. The Kents willingly shared their bounty in times of hardship with their neighbors, and vice versa. Clark was taught to always offer a hand to a man who was down, and to always use his incredible gifts to help his fellow man.
Certainly his Pa taught him that a man defended himself when all else failed. But fighting was always a last resort. One should try to talk first. If this failed, then one should try to walk away from a fight. If *this* failed, then one should only fight in self-defense, and stop fighting as soon as his opponent was down.
"We didn't even get to talk," Superman said sadly. "Because we couldn't understand the question." He paused as he destroyed another enemy ship. "Bruce, you're our last hope."
****
"Robbie! Robbie, come in!"
Robin dodged, rolled, leaped and threw with all his might. He somersaulted in midair, allowing his momentum to carry him to the next target. Finding cover, Robin paused momentarily to answer Wonder Girl's call.
"Robbie, please--!"
"Robin here, Wonder Girl," he gasped. "What can I do you out of?"
"...?" His facetious question was met with startled silence.
"Never mind, Wonder Girl," Robin said. "What do you want? I'm a little busy right now."
"Robbie, I just figured out how we can make contact with the ship!"
"Yeah? That's real interesting, Wonder Girl, but if you'll excuse me for just a sec...!" Robin suddenly dove out from under the beam's deadly energy. Taking out a set of explosive bolos, he twirled them to maximum velocity, then threw them at the particle weapon, which was already readjusting its sights on him.
The corridor resounded with a loud, reverberating BOOM!
The force of the explosion knocked the Boy Wonder off his feet, slamming him into the corridor's wall. He lay there momentarily stunned.
"Robbie? Robbie, are you all right?" Wonder Girl's tremulous voice came over their Titans' wrist communit. "Robbie? *Please* come in!"
Robin blinked his eyes to clear his vision. There was a loud, resounding ringing in his ears. His head felt like he'd been kicked. At last, he heard his teammate's voice, which by then reflected her increased agitation.
"Rob--!"
"--I'm here, WG," Robin said painfully. "I'm okay...just had the wind knocked out of me." Note to self, he added ruefully. Don't use the explosive bolos in an enclosed environment again. He looked around the corridor. The bolos had managed to take out the five remaining particle weapons in his path. "And just about the entire corridor," Robin added wryly.
"Robbie, I think I've figured out how to make contact with the ship's intelligence," Wonder Girl began again.
Robin took a deep breath, concentrating on what Wonder Girl was saying to him. "Sounds great, WG," he said shakily. "How?"
"We've already established communications, remember? When we downloaded the schematics. If we can somehow tap into its 'meta-conscious', we should be able to establish a rapport."
Robin sat where he'd been thrown, still not entirely at one hundred percent awareness of what they were discussing. Concentrating on what Wonder Girl was saying, Robin finally began to comprehend the ramifications of her words.
"Of course," he whispered, the pieces coming together. "WG, you're a genius!" he said smiling. "Okay, here's the plan. You start trying to establish communications with the ship's intelligence from your end. *I'll* continue on my way to the ship's Command Center and attempt to make contact from there. A two-pronged attack should improve our chances. Copy?"
"I copy, Robin," Wonder Girl replied. "Robbie? Be careful."
"Hey, 'careful' is *my* middle name!" he replied laughing.
Wonder Girl giggled. "Robin the Boy Wonder, you don't know the *meaning* of 'careful'!"
Robin laughed in turn. "Like I told Batman, guess I'm just a slow learner. I've gotta go now, WG. As soon as I enter the control center, I'll start looking for some kind of input device. You go ahead and start running the 'handshake' program. That should give you a foot in the back door."
"Right," Wonder Girl replied. "I'll get on it ASAP. Take care, Robbie. Wonder Girl out."
As soon as Wonder Girl signed off, Robin began his final leg to reach the ship's control center.
****
When she'd signed off with her friend and teammate, Wonder Girl was suddenly struck with another idea. She smiled to herself. "Keep this up, Donna Troy," she muttered, "and Dick will think you're vying for his job as leader."
The teenaged Amazon Princess rushed to the ship's transporter room and quickly began to input a series of commands. First, she scanned the ship for signs of her teammates. Locking onto their individual signals, she immediately programmed the transporter room for automatic recall, just in case.
Simultaneously, while scanning she found GL's unique signature. Grinning mischievously, Wonder Girl programmed his recall as well. "GL will be fit to be tied if I dare transport him again, but what the heck. This *is* a Titans' mission, so we gotta do what we gotta do.
About to turn away from the transporter console, Wonder Girl spotted two additional signatures, she hadn't seen before. They were giving off a JLA signal, she realized elated! They *must* be Batman and Green Arrow. They'd arrived and were presently onboard the ship!
Tamping her elevated spirits, Wonder Girl added their signatures to the __Avenger's__ already overloaded transporter. While the single transporter could only materialize one individual at a time, it was capable of transporting multiple persons and keeping them safely in the transporter buffer in temporary stasis.
Satisfied with her efforts, the Teen Warrior Princess hurried back to the _Avenger's_ control center.
****
Batman moved quickly through the ship's endless corridors. Green Arrow, Kid Flash, and Speedy followed him. As he strode rapidly down the miles of corridors, Batman tried not to think about Robin. The boy had certainly proven himself on this mission.
Why couldn't Batman have encouraged Robin prior to taking his leave? Why did he have to belittle the boy's courageous efforts by saying that as the 'adult' *he* couldn't 'risk' a 'child' by taking Robin along? Why did he *always* say the *wrong* thing to his own son, Batman raged silently?
When Speedy punched Green Arrow by way of greeting, Batman felt it in his own soul. For Speedy's angry, open feelings of hurt and betrayal were an echo of Robin's own look of hurt at being dismissed as a mere child.
Things were going to be different, Batman vowed. When he found his boy, he'd make it up to him. "And things will be different," Batman said to himself.
"What?" Green Arrow asked. "What'd you say, Big Guy?" No answer. "Hey, Roy how'd you Titans beat us here anyway?" GA asked as a way of making small talk. No answer. GA sighed. At least when Batman and Speedy hit him, GA knew that they were paying attention to what he was saying. This cold shoulder stuff was growing real old, real fast.
"Hey, Flash Kid," GA began.
"Uh, sir, that's Kid Flash," the teen speedster corrected timidly. GA's famous temper made the boy a little nervous. GA wasn't anything like his Uncle Barry.
"Yeah, GA," Speedy derided. "Can't you even take the time to bother to learn the Titans' names?"
"Sorry, Kid Flash," GA apologized sincerely. "I know how hard it is to get name recognition." GA recalled how the newsmen at first dubbed him 'Batman with a bow and arrow.' Then, later how they kept confusing him with Green Lantern.
"S'okay," Kid Flash said shyly.
"Tell me, kid," GA began again. "Just how did you Titans get here ahead of us?"
"Well, sir, it's a long story, and I'm not exactly sure how we did it, but maybe you'd better ask *him*! He can probably 'splain it better than *I* ever could!" Kid Flash pointed suddenly to something or someone behind them.
Batman, GA, and Speedy all turned as one. Green Lantern was at that moment flying towards them from down the corridor...
****
Chapter Eighteen
The ship's intelligence was nearing a state of 'panic'. Its scouts were increasingly coming under attack by unknown forces, and its own personal defenses were now completely destroyed. Worse, its forward hatches had just been encroached. The ship's intelligence knew cold, numbing fear...
****
"I'm in!" Robin cried out elatedly. He did it! He'd traveled halfway across the galaxy and successfully made it into the mouth of the lion's den. Maybe Batman would finally notice that he wasn't just a little kid any more. Maybe Batman would see that Robin was an equal partner worthy of assisting him on all his missions.
Yeah, maybe Batman would break into song the next they were fighting the Joker, Robin thought darkly.
"Okay, can it, Grayson," Robin muttered. "You may be in, but you haven't beat this thing, yet!" Robin paused and looked around the darkened control room. He took out a penlight and began searching for a light source.
As he swung the pencil-thin beam around, Robin realized that he was inside a large room. It held a variety of control consoles whose functions Robin could only vaguely guess at. Several dials and meters on the consoles showed an incredibly old technology, almost vacuum tube era, while others rivaled and surpassed the best and latest that WayneTech had to offer.
Robin took a deep breath, got his bearings, and began walking towards a likely candidate for the main control console. He shrugged. He knew that the ship was fully automated; however, at some point in its history, it must've had a live crew. Otherwise, why did it have an atmosphere or artificial gravity? Whoever or whatever the crew had been who'd manned the ship, they'd been very close in physiology to Earth human.
Robin noted that the consoles were all built at a height that allowed a normal- sized adult human male to man them. While the ship itself was gargantuan in size, most of the objects necessary to enhance the crew's standard of living were not. For example, the rungs on the ladders between floors were not spaced far apart for a giant, but rather for a normal-sized human.
The same with the corridors. They weren't humongously proportioned, but rather about what one could expect to find in a large skyscraper.
Therefore, Robin surmised that the likeliest console the human-like builders would have designated as the Command Console should be the large circular one in the center of the control room. Whoever the long-dead commander of the vessel had been, he or she (if the alien crew was divided into male and female, Robin added to himself) stood inside the semi-circular opening within the Command Console itself.
As Robin approached it, he walked around it curiously, looking for an opening or some other means to let himself into the Commander's station. Not finding a means of entry, Robin placed his hand on the console, intending to vault over it. As soon as Robin touched it, however, the console began to glow and an opening instantly appeared.
Robin stared for a second, taken aback, then recovering his composure, he walked into the Commander's station. As soon as he entered it, the console closed around him.
"Okay, Grayson, you've made it this far...now what?" Robin carefully touched the console before him with his forefinger. As soon as he did so, the dials and monitors before him came to life. Several monitors began giving him live pictures from within the ship; others were obviously for monitoring the space outside the ship.
A movement in one of the internal closed circuit monitors caught his eye...Batman! and Green Arrow! They were with Speedy and Kid Flash. Batman had made it here safely, Robin thought happily. He was all right.
"Gotta talk to him," Robin muttered. He was about to contact him through his Titans wrist communicator, when Green Lantern appeared.
****
"Just got word, gentlemen," GL said without preamble. "The Sol System is under attack by the enemy armada. Our remaining teammates are barely holding their own. We've got to end it here and now. They need us back home."
Batman and Green Arrow nodded in understanding.
"If they've already launched their attack, then it's too late for us to talk with this thing!" GA said, hotly. "We've gotta blow this monster out of space!"
"I'm in agreement with Arrow," GL said. "The others are outnumbered by several thousand to seven. They'll never be able hold off the enemy's forward advance."
"If that's true, then there's little point in our rushing back, is there?" Batman replied. "All we can possibly do is add emotional support. The difference between several thousand to seven and several thousand to ten is negligible. Our best bet still lies in establishing contact with the vessel's intelligence."
"I agree with Batman," piped up Kid Flash. At the JLAer's looks of surprise, the boy blushed crimson, and he dropped his eyes. "Well, Uncle Barry always says that we should do everything possible to talk out our differences first *before* we turn to fighting."
Batman gave the youngster a half-smile.
"Listen to your Uncle Barry, Kid Flash. He's a good man." The others gave Batman looks of stunned surprise.
"I do believe that's a compliment I just heard uttered by our enigmatic Dark Knight," GA said in awe. "Why am I not surprised that he wasn't talking about me?"
"Don't worry, GA," Speedy began. "When the Bat wants an example that he doesn't want us to follow, I'm sure your name will figure prominently." Speedy grinned sardonically at his mentor. GA responded by giving his junior partner a sour grimace.
"So, what's the plan, gentlemen?" asked GL.
"We'll attempt to establish contact," Batman replied. "If that fails...we destroy it." This last was uttered with grim finality. The senior heroes nodded in agreement.
The two Titans glanced at each other in silent awe. Speedy tapped his teammate on the sleeve.
"Hey, Twinkletoes," Speedy said in a low voice, "what say you'n me zip on forward and--"
Kid Flash gave Speedy a bright smile, and before the junior bowman could complete his sentence, dropped him off at the Command Center's forward hatch.
"--meet up with Batboy?" Speedy finished, chagrinned. "I *really* wish you'd stop *doing* that, Twinkletoes!" Speedy was gasping for air and holding onto his chest as if stemming the onset of a heart attack.
"What?" Kid Flash asked confused. "Stop doing what?" He paused. "Are you okay?"
Speedy brought a shaky hand up to his forehead and wiped the cold beads of sweat that seemed to have appeared out of their own volition.
"Never mind, Twinkletoes," he muttered. "Never mind."
****
As his two teammates entered the Command Center, Robin gave them a distracted wave.
"See you made it," he muttered. He was working intently at the Command Console. Every now and then, he'd call out a string of numbers, listen intently, nod, and continue on whatever he was doing.
"Okay, WG, gotta go for a couple of secs...Speedy and Flasheroo just ambled in, and I'm about to put 'em to work." Robin turned to them.
"Flasheroo, I need your speed," he called. Come on--" Robin felt a sudden breeze next to him. "--over here," he finished. Someone tapped Robin between his shoulder blades. The Titan leader whirled around in surprise. He glared daggers at his teammate. "Do that again, Flasheroo, and I may forget we're friends."
"Now you know what I've been going through for the past coupla hours," Speedy said smirking. He leaned against the bulkhead, his arms crossed.
Kid Flash flinched slightly at Robin's threat. He looked so hurt that the Boy Wonder relented. "Oh, forget it. Look, I'm sorry. You can't help your speed. In fact, I really need it right now."
Kid Flash gave Robin a pleased smile. "How can I help?" he asked.
Robin and Kid Flash immediately put their heads together and went to work.
****
Speedy watched as his teammates worked intently on whatever they were doing. As always, he felt left out. On a whim, he activated his wrist communicator and called Wonder Girl.
"Hey, Wonder Doll, ya busy?" he asked.
"Wonder Girl here," the teen Amazon Princess replied. "Is that you, Robbie?"
"No, Babe," Speedy said, slightly annoyed. "It's me, Speedy."
"Speedy," Wonder Girl's pleased smile could be felt in her tone of voice. "What are you doing? What do you need?"
"Nothing. And you," he replied.
"What? I don't copy," Wonder Girl said, sounding confused.
I don't copy, mimicked Speedy darkly. She's even beginning to talk like Bird- boy.
"Speedy, I'm really busy right now," Wonder Girl said a bit briskly. "What did you want?"
"Nothing, Wonder Doll," he said sounding tired. "I'm sorry I bothered you." He cut the communications and turned to where Robin and Kid Flash were still deeply immersed in their 'Grand Doings'.
"Hey, Bird-boy," Speedy called out, "ya got anything for me? I'm beginning to feel as useful as a second string on my bow."
Robin didn't look up. "A second string?" he asked distractedly. "Sounds nice...No, Flasheroo, like this--" he proceeded to show Kid Flash a complicated series of numerals. Kid Flash nodded, then picked up the speed until his hands were a mere blur.
Speedy meanwhile gave up trying to make small talk and simply wandered around the Command Center. A tap between the shoulder blades caused him to begin a slow burn. *That* did it! So help him, he was going to punch the junior speedster's lights out!
Speedy whirled around, his fist ready to deliver. He was met, not by Kid Flash's slightly vacuous smile, but by Robin's grim look.
"I need you--" Robin ducked, grabbed Speedy's wrist, and threw him head over heels halfway across the Command Center.
"Hey! What was *that* for?" Speedy protested.
"I might ask you the same question," Robin replied quietly, his voice deadly. "You were about to take a punch at me."
Speedy looked up at Robin from where he'd landed! He shook his head. This mission was just one humiliation after another.
"I wasn't going to hit *you*," Speedy tried explaining. "I was gonna hit *him*!" He pointed in Kid Flash's direction.
Robin looked at Speedy skeptically, a single eyebrow raised. "Oh really? And how were you going to accomplish that marvelous feat? By tactile telekinesis?"
"Huh?" Speedy asked, clearly not understanding.
"The power of mind over matter. Using your sense of touch to over come greater obstacles," Robin offered as explanation. "By punching *me* out, you'd somehow transfer the force over to Kid Flash."
Speedy shook his head, his confusion having grown even more. "Robbie, I don't have the slightest idea what you're jabbering about. I thought you were Kid Flash pulling his 'sneak up on people' dirty trick. I was mistaken, that's all."
Robin stared at his rebellious teammate a little longer, then finally nodded his head. "Okay, I can understand that. The Kid gets to me, too, on that one count." He walked over to Speedy and offered him a hand up. "Come on, Arrowhead, I need your knowledge of weapons."
Speedy looked up at Robin's outstretched hand. Nodding slowly, he smiled slightly, feeling back in fold again. "You've got it, Batboy," he said, taking Robin's proffered hand.
****
"GL, you're our resident space expert," Batman said. "You have the greatest experience with contacting alien races. Going forward and making contact should be *your* mission. GA, in case things don't go down in our favor, you need to find us an escape route. You and I have our auto-transporter recalls, GL has his ring. But the kids..."
"Hey, speaking of the kids," Green Arrow spoke up. "Where'd they go? They were just here a second ago!" The others looked around.
"Kid Flash," Batman said succinctly. "The boy probably just zipped himself and your junior partner out of here."
"Speaking of the Titans," GL began, "they have their hijacked JLA cruiser inside one of the cargo bays. Wonder Girl is nursing Aqualad over there. That may be your primary escape route, Batman. GA, you could go there and prep it for an emergency take-off."
"Can do," GA replied easily. "And Bats here? What're *you* going to be doing meanwhile?"
"I'm going back to the engine room," Batman said quietly. "If all else fails, I'm making sure that this tin can doesn't ever wreak havoc on any other civilization in the universe."
The two Emerald Warriors stared at the Dark Knight for a long moment. Finally, Green Arrow nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
All three men rapped their fists together in a show of JLA camaraderie. "Let's go!" As they were about to part ways, Batman hesitated.
"Hal...Ollie..." Batman's use of their first names stopped them both in their tracks. They stood and waited patiently for whatever he was going to say. "Robin...if anything were to happen to me..." He stopped. Finally, he said quickly, "Take care of my boy for me." Batman turned and disappeared into the ship's vast body.
****
"What do you want me to do?" asked Speedy.
Robin smiled. "Disarm the enemy," he said enigmatically.
"Huh?" Speedy gave Robin a blank look.
"I want you to figure out a way to send a signal, via the ship's Target Acquisition and Fire Control Computer to the armada. I want you to order the armada to stand down. Immediately."
"Heh. You don't ask for much, do you?" Speedy said weakly.
Robin shrugged. "If you don't think you can do it, just say the word. But don't take too long to decide," he warned. "At thousands to seven odds, I'd say that even the JLA is hopelessly outnumbered."
"I didn't say I couldn't do," Speedy protested. "Did *I* say I couldn't do it? Sheesh!" He immediately turned to the nearest console and began running a systems check.
Robin gently placed his hand on Speedy's elbow. "That's the life support station, Archer. The Target Acquisition Computer is over here." He pointed Speedy in the right direction.
"I knew that," Speedy blustered. At Robin's look, he insisted, "I *did*."
Robin nodded. "Of course," he said seriously. "Now get to it!"
Speedy immediately began to run a diagnostics of the ship's fire control system.
"Hey, Batboy," he called. "What if the armada's fire commands aren't being sent from the TAC, but rather from the Command Console?"
"That's what I've got Flasheroo checking. So far, all we've found is command and control. The final command to go 'hot' *was* given by Command; however, the patterns, targeting, and rates of fire aren't controlled from there. At least, we haven't found any indication so far."
Speedy nodded. Robin might be a geeky kid in an elf suit, but he knew his stuff. Didn't Batboy *ever* make mistakes, Speedy wondered? Robin could really give a guy a complex.
Speedy's concentration was suddenly broken by a jubilant cry from the Command Console...
****
Kid Flash worked at supersonic speed. Robbie's lessons on computer programming, coupled with the young teen's innate ability to *see* the complete puzzle before he had all the pieces finally paid off.
When the junior speedster ran through hundreds of possible numerical combinations, he suddenly began to see a plausible pattern. Slowing slightly to sub-sonic speed, Kid Flash ran through the same sequence again. Not trusting his findings, he did it again. And again. With the same results.
Grinning in triumph, Kid Flash suddenly called out, "Robbie, I think I've got it!"
"You've got what?" All the three teens turned to the sound of the new voice at the Command Center's open hatch. Green Lantern!
Robin rushed over to Kid Flash's side. "Show me," he ordered calmly.
Green Lantern levitated over to where they were. He 'stood' in mid-air, above the Titans' shoulders, observing what the youngsters were doing.
"Look," Kid Flash said, running the numerical sequence once again. Robin watched as the string of numbers began to coalesce into something that seemed to make sense.
"See? This marker here...and this one here. It's repeated again several lines further down. When I run it through the translator, this is what I get..."
Robin and Green Lantern watched, fascinated, as they read for the first time, a coherent message from their intergalactic visitor:
WE COME IN PEACE. WE ARE THE NUL^~HT+N. WE COME IN PEACE. WE ARE THE NUL^~HT+N.
"This is what it was trying to tell us from the beginning," Robin said awed. "That its intentions were peaceful. But, because we couldn't translate their message accurately..."
"Because we couldn't translate their message, the earth is in danger of annihilation," finished GL. He sighed, then turned to Kid Flash with admiration. "Good work, Kid Flash. Your uncle will be proud of you."
Kid Flash beamed with pride. "Robbie and Wonder Girl are really the ones who did it. They figured out the first numerical sequence that I started working with. They started with the partial translation that Batman was able to decipher earlier...the one about the Krghlm..."
"...However, Batman's earlier translation was too sketchy, with more unknowns than deciphered strings. Therefore, we used only the string that we *assumed* meant Krghlm..." interrupted Robin.
"...After that, I ran thousands of variations at superspeed, until I got the right combination," finished Kid Flash.
"So we've been able to translate the ship's initial message. Can we *talk* to it now? Can we establish contact?" GL asked.
"I think so, sir," Robin replied. "But it'll take a while. This translation of something the *ship* sent took Flasheroo several minutes. The reverse...well, that will probably take a little longer." Robin looked helpless. "See, this isn't the complete message, just the opening greeting."
Robin dropped his eyes as if he'd failed somehow. "The message we've translated doesn't use all of our alphabet. It just repeats the same symbols. Our next problem is sending a coherent message that makes use of all the alphanumeric symbols we have."
"Wait," GL said, forestalling further efforts from the Titans. Concentrating on the communications console, GL aimed his ring's powerful beam on it. The console was instantly enveloped in a pulsating emerald glow. Immediately, Kid Flash's translation of the alien's message began to change.
As if by magic (and Robin was inclined to believe that the ring could very well be such), the untranslated portion of the message began to change. Soon, the entire message could be read.
Robin and Kid Flash stood with mouths gaping. "I don't understand, GL," Robin said. "If you could do that, why didn't you just do it from the start?"
GL shook his head. "I couldn't translate it earlier, Robin. At least, not until I saw the message you Titans successfully broke. Just like you said about the earlier translation having too many unknowns. I couldn't see the pattern before, but, when I read yours, I was able to formulate a mental picture and translate the rest." He smiled. "The best part is that now we *can* communicate effectively..."
****
Chapter Nineteen
The ship's AI scrambled to find a way to destroy the intruders. The enemy dismantled one of its auxiliary power stations and managed to enter its Forward Command Center. Now the enemy was working to bypass the ship's Target Acquisition and Fire Control System. The AI needed to quickly and efficiently find a way to dispel the intruders from its midst, and to successfully eradicate their home world and all of the surrounding star systems before it was too late!
****
Batman hurried through the endless corridors within the cavernous belly of the alien ship. He climbed ladders, ran across ceiling-high catwalks, and took bullet-fast elevators. He felt worried. Even though the Titans dismantled what appeared to be the warp core of the ship, it seemed too small to effectively power a ship of this breadth.
No, a ship this size probably had secondary systems, Batman thought. If so, then there was a great danger that the ship was not disabled, because the power station that the kids destroyed was little more than one of the ship's numerous back-ups.
The World's Greatest Detective studied the schematic that he'd taken from Kid Flash. He grinned again. He felt very proud of Robin. Somehow his junior partner managed to access the ship's computers at the programming level, bypassing the Artificial Intelligence.
"Wish *I'd* thought of it," he muttered ruefully.
Glancing around to get his bearings, Batman oriented the schematic and headed towards a corridor lying at an oblique angle to him. Picking up his speed, Batman was soon jogging at a ground-eating pace.
Rounding a corner, he came to a full stop. The scale of what lay before him, caused even Batman to pause in wonderment: the ship's main power core!
The Dark Knight could literally *feel* the awesome power of the massive ship, throbbing with the energy of a thousand suns. Inside the containment field, the ship's power core radiated outwardly in a blue-white swirling maelstrom. Batman donned a set of goggles to dampen the blinding, sunburst illumination.
Batman looked up and followed the engineering marvel as it rose far as the eye could see, eventually becoming lost in the darkened, cavernous ceilings over head. Similarly, it dropped until it disappeared into the nethermost gloom.
"I think I've found what I was looking for," Batman said unnecessarily...
****
"Fall back to your secondary line of fire!" Atom's voice rang clearly through the open channel. "JLA! Fall back! We can't hold them here."
As soon as she heard the order, Black Canary broke off her attack, fired off her aft engines, and began a shoot and scoot retreat. An enormous scout relentlessly pursued her.
"Okay, ugly, I've just about had it with you," BC muttered. "Retreat? Like Hell!" Going into a 360-degree loop-de-loop, BC swung over and behind her pursuer, and opened fire. "Attack *my* home world willya? You've gotta get past *me* first!"
The enemy scout burst into flames before her in a kaleidoscope of fire and molten metal. BC flew straight into the debris field, her ship's shields glowing from the intense heat around her.
"Hah! Scratch one would-be world destroyer!" Black Canary went into an exuberant victory roll, and immediately piloted her ship back towards the primary line of defense. The place was overrun with skyscraper-sized enemy scouts. BC became suddenly embroiled in her one-woman battle against seemingly hundreds of the enemy.
"Dinah! What are you *doing*?" Atom's worried voice sounded stressed.
"Holding the barbarians at the gate," BC replied grimly. "What does it *look* like? I may not have heat vision, but I'm meeting all comers."
"Dinah, are you *crazy*? You were ordered to fall back!"
"Sorry, Tiny Tim," BC shot back. "Detective Drake's little girl doesn't know how to walk away from a fight. These invaders don't know who they're messing with!"
"Ease up on the showboating, Canary!" Atom angrily responded. "You need to fall back to the secondary line. You're fighting solo over there! The cruisers' shields aren't indestructible and neither are *you*! We can't afford to lose anybody because of personal grandstanding!"
"Personal grandstanding? Me? Listen, Mighty Mouse, you fight *your* way...I'll fight mine!" Black Canary was suddenly caught in a three-way trap. "Uh-oh, love to chat with you, Atom-Ant, but I gotta go." BC concentrated on evading the enemy's combined efforts. "Looks like somebody here doesn't like me," she muttered.
As she dodged the increased firepower aimed against her, Black Canary felt a momentary twinge at a sudden and unbidden memory of Green Arrow and their unhappy good-byes. "You're an idiot, Ollie, but I love you. If I get out of this alive, I guess I'll have to tell you."
Seemingly out of the blue her pursuers suddenly veered off their attack. All three turned as one and began firing on something else. BC brought her monitors to bear on the enemy's new target. As her screen focused on the newcomer, Black Canary's heart leaped: Superman!
"That Lois Lane is one lucky gal," she said under her breath.
"Why thank you, Black Canary," Superman's voice came over the open channel sounding slightly amused.
Black Canary blushed pink inside her cockpit. "Hey, no fair listening in on a girl's private musings," she laughingly protested. Then seriously, she added, "Thanks for the save, Superman. Anytime you need a Canary cry, just give me a call!"
"I'll do that," the Man of Steel replied seriously. "Oh, and Dinah?"
"Yeah?"
"I think that *Ollie* is the lucky one."
The two heroes parted ways and returned to the job of protecting their home...
****
"Let's see if we can convince this thing not to destroy our home," Green Lantern said. Robin and Kid Flash nodded in acquiescence. GL looked around, trying to find something to focus his attention on while he talked to the ship's intelligence, but all he saw were monitors, consoles and blinking lights.
Shrugging his shoulders, he began to speak.
"I am Green Lantern of Earth! I represent an organization comprised of men, women, and children who have currently banded together to defend our world against all enemies. We are known as the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans!" He paused to check for any reaction. There was none. GL continued determinedly.
"An armada sent forth from this ship is currently attacking our home-world's star system. I am here to ask that you...*No*! I am here to *demand* that you cease this unprovoked attack!"
GL's words were met with silence. Robin and Kid Flash stood to the side, watching as the Emerald Knight grew increasingly frustrated at the lack of response from their alien visitor.
"I must warn you...if you do not stop this senseless and unwarranted attack on our home system, we will have no choice but to destroy you!"
"YOU ARE THE KRGHLM...YOU MUST BE DESTROYED."
The cold, inanimate voice startled Kid Flash out of a year's growth. "Shades of Hal Two Thousand!" he gulped. "The thing spoke!"
Robin turned a sardonic look at his friend, _2001, A Space Odyssey_ was one of his least favorite movies. Robin rolled his eyes when he realized that Kid Flash seemed to be trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible by hiding behind the Boy Wonder. "No kidding, Flasheroo," he said, shaking his head.
"We *are not* of the Krghlm!" Green Lantern denied. "We are of *Earth*, the third planet from the yellow star system that your armada of ships is currently attacking. Our race *evolved* independently on our planet...we were *not* colonized either by the Krghlm or by any of the old races." GL began walking around the Command Console. He was in *his* element now.
"The Green Lantern Corps of OA knows of the Krghlm and of the swath of destruction that they visited upon countless of the early races. You have the technology to judge for yourself...You can *see* that our home system was not even formed yet when the Krghlm's star went nova, and they first began their relentless course of savagery and annihilation across the stars."
"OA? WE KNOW OF OA AND THE GUARDIANS...THEY FAILED TO ASSIST US WHEN OUR PEOPLE PLEADED FOR HELP AGAINST THE KRGHLM. INSTEAD, THEY STOOD BACK AND WATCHED AS OUR HOME WORLD WAS DESTROYED BY THE KRGHLM'S PLANET-EATER. IF YOU ARE OF OA, YOU ARE ALLIED WITH THE KRGHLM."
"*No*!" GL denied. "That's *not* true! The Guardians of OA couldn't assist you then, because they weren't strong enough. The Green Lantern Corps had not even been formed then. The Guardians were the last of their kind...a mere two dozen left of a mighty race that once roamed space as freely as you. But they were dying out. Each millennium brought the end of one more of their long-lived kind." GL's voice was pleading.
"When they discovered the secret of the emerald battery, their lives changed. They gained a purpose. They were appalled by what the Krghlm wreaked, not just on *your* people, but on many others. They swore to do something to forestall any such horror from ever being visited on the newer, younger races that were being born...Like ours."
Green Lantern stood with his arms out, asking for belief and understanding. "That's why *I'm* here. I am the Green Lantern of Earth, and all the inhabited star systems within my sector. There are more like me...we were brought together by the Guardians to serve and protect these diversified worlds...to keep the peace in our galaxy...with this!"
GL held out his closed fist. The ring pulsated green with the mysterious energy of the Emerald Battery, tapped from the very Source that set off the Big Bang. The ring's power radiated with the energy of Creation itself.
"I AM OF THE NUL^~HT+N...THE LAST OF OUR KIND. MY PRIMARY COMMAND IS TO DESTROY THE LAST OF THE KRGHLM. I MUST DESTROY THIS STAR SYSTEM AND ALL THE SYSTEMS CONTAINED WITH THIS SPIRAL ARM OF YOUR HOME GALAXY!"
The ship's words were met with stunned silence.
"I think that went over well, don't you?" Speedy asked sardonically.
"Shut up, Quiver breath," Kid Flash hissed, annoyed.
Uncharacteristically, Green Lantern cursed under his breath, a string of colorfully non-repeating and highly descriptive words that he'd picked up in hangars from dozens of airplane mechanics. Catching himself, GL turned a slightly abashed look at the youngsters who were staring at him in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock.
"Um, sorry, boys," GL said apologetically. "This thing's getting to me, I guess. It's being completely unreasonable, and I'm not sure how to handle it, short of destroying it. It obviously has intelligence, but we've no way of finding out if it's also sentient. This Primary Command it mentioned is undoubtedly some type of command-level program that gives it irrevocable standing orders to destroy the Krghlm. The ship's AI may be incapable of circumventing it."
"Maybe not, GL," Speedy replied. "But I think we can still stop the attack." The others turned quickly towards the junior bowman. He gazed back at them with his signature smirk.
"Oh, yeah, Arrowhead?" Kid Flash sneered. "And just how do you propose we do *that*?"
"Glad you asked, Hayseed," Speedy replied nonchalantly, smiling broadly. "I found the firing codes."
****
Batman worked swiftly and silently. The sheer size of the ship's primary warp core made his daunting task seem impossible. The traditional explosives wouldn't work here, he'd discovered almost immediately. The ship's power source was too well shielded.
"Probably double and triple shielded," Batman muttered. No doubt to protect it from outside attack. It was the ship's most vulnerable point, and once breached, it would go into an irreversible chain reaction that would end in a pyrotechnic display rivaling that of a million thermonuclear explosions. Enough to destroy the Earth a thousand times over.
Although, once was certainly more than enough, Batman thought ironically.
Thankfully, the shielding that protected the power core from outside attack also protected anyone standing within its vicinity from being instantly fried.
Furthermore, these energies being generated by the ship's engines appeared immeasurable. So far, none of Batman's instruments could even begin to gauge the radiation levels that the warp core was emitting. And somehow Batman had to cause the warp core itself to go into a self-destruct mode.
Consulting his ship's schematic, Batman made his way to a vast console with countless gauges, monitors, knobs, and other unrecognizable objects. After a moment's search, he found something that looked familiar, an instrument that resembled a computer's input device.
Walking over to that section of the console, Batman took a second to study the alien artifact. Deciding that there was nothing like taking the plunge, he reached out and lightly touched the instrument. Almost instantly, the console's many gauges and numerous instruments began pulsating with life.
Batman raised an eyebrow. Reaching a decision, he activated his JLA communicator and placed a call. "Batman to Robin. Come in."
There was moment's startled pause from the other end, but suddenly he heard his young protege's excitedly worried voice. "Batman! Batman, this is Robin! Come in! Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, chum," Batman replied quietly, momentarily savoring the sound of his young ward's voice. "But I need your help."
"Where are you, Batman?" Robin answered immediately. "I'll come right over."
"No! There's no need for that," Batman quickly said. "Are you still in the forward Command Center?"
"Yes, sir," Robin's eager voice responded. "But I'm not needed here, honest! Speedy and GL have the thing under control. GL's managed to communicate with the ship, and Speedy's decoded the ship's fire control protocols. They should have the armada standing down in another few minutes!"
"That's good to hear, Robin," Batman said calmly. "But I need your skills up there at the Control Center."
"Yes, sir," Robin sounded disappointed.
"Robin," Batman began tentatively, "you've done a fine job so far. I'm very proud of you, son."
"..." Robin's young voice came over a bit shakily. "Batman, about what I said earlier...I didn't *mean* it, sir! I'm really sorry--"
"Hey, partner, none of that now," Batman said with quiet reassurance. "We'll have plenty of time for talk later. You were right, Robin. This job *is* too big for one man alone. You're here now, and I need you. Let's get to work."
"Yes, sir," Robin said simply. "What do you need me to do?"
Batman thought he detected the slightest trace of a sniffle being bravely suppressed. He allowed himself a small, proud grin. The boy had grit.
"You downloaded the alien ship's schematic," Batman began.
"Yes, sir."
"Do you still have the handshake protocols that allowed you to do this?"
"Sure. The _Avenger's_ shipboard computer still has it. In fact, we were just using it to develop a new-improved translator program. Let me check with Wonder Girl. Hold on a sec."
Batman waited while Robin switched channels on his Titans communicator. A few moments passed, then Robin came back on.
"Batman, WG's bringing the handshake program online now. Stand by." Robin's young voice was soon joined by Wonder Girl's.
"Robbie, I have it!" Wonder Girl said crisply.
"Great, WG...Batman, did you get that?" he asked.
"Yes, I did. Titans, listen carefully. I'm going to need you to communicate with the ship on the programming level. I believe that if we do that, its Artificial Intelligence will be unaware of what we are doing," Batman explained. "I'm fairly certain that that is *why* you were able to download the schematics. Your ship's computer *spoke* directly to the alien vessel's computer. The ship's consciousness remained unaware of what was transpiring the entire time."
"Whoa," Robin said in quiet awe. "*We* did *that*?"
"You sure did, partner," Batman assured him. "Now here's what I want you to do..."
****
"But if you do that, Speedy," GL protested, "the alien armada will still be able to fire on our people."
"I know that, GL," Speedy replied, annoyed, "but it's the best I can do under the circumstances. I can't order the armada to go to Cold Fire. Not yet anyway. But I *can* reprogram the Firing protocols so that they return to the default setting, for want of a better word."
"GL, why don't you do that nifty thing with your power ring that you did earlier and get us the protocols we need?" Kid Flash asked.
"I can't, son," GL admitted regretfully. "My ring was able to decode the strings necessary to bridge the language barrier, almost the same way as Tarzan and Jane were able to communicate." At Kid Flash's blank look, he explained further. "You know, point at something, say what it is in *your* language, then wait for the other person to say it in his language. Once we were able to establish minimum communications, the rest was easy." GL shrugged. "Firing protocols are different. That's getting into computer speak...unlike the translator program that you Titans were able to piece together, the Target Acquisition Computer doesn't work with spoken language, only in code."
"I'm sorry, GL," Speedy apologized. "But for now this is the best I can do."
"Don't worry, GL," Kid Flash added reassuringly, "as soon as Speedy can figure out a few more Fire Command and Control protocols, he'll be able to order the armada to go Cold." Kid Flash smiled. "He's kind of a jerk, but he sure knows his stuff when it comes to weapons and things like that." He easily ducked under Speedy's half-hearted, playful punch.
Not ready to take their word, GL turned away from the Titans and spoke into his JLA communicator. "Arrow, did you copy that?"
"Got it, buddy," Green Arrow's confident voice came over the communicator. "And let me assure you, pal...if Speedy says that the best he can do right now is to go to the default firing program, then I doubt if there's anyone there who could do better. That kid knows more about weapons and targeting than anyone alive...except for me, of course. Heh."
Speedy rolled his eyes at this last, but felt secretly pleased over his mentor's unsolicited compliment.
"All right, Ollie," GL said, unhappily. "Got everything set on your end for emergency take-off?"
"Waiting for the word, Fly-boy. The little Amazon Princess and I have everything under control. Oh, and tell the kids that their pal, Aqualad, is recovering nicely. He's already complaining about being in bed."
"Roger, Arrow. Green Lantern out." GL sighed. He would've preferred that they order the armada to go Cold, but if the default was the best they could for now, so be it. "Do it, Speedy. Let's get this alien armada to start telegraphing its moves."
"Yes, sir!" Speedy said, immediately turning to the Target Acquisition Computer and inputting the necessary commands that would revert the enemy armada to its original target practice pattern. After a few minutes, he looked up and smiled in triumph. "Order transmitted and received, GL! The armada should now be going into its little outer space ballet routine."
****
"Superman!" Atom's desperate voice came over the open channel. "I've got five on my tail. Can you help?"
"Sorry, Atom...got a few problems of my own!" Superman replied sharply. "JLA, Atom's in trouble...Everybody to him--stat!" Superman's usually quiet voice rang across the JLA open channel with a 'not to be ignored' command timbre.
As Atom desperately dodged and rolled, his mind flashed to the previous hours' nonstop battle. The heavily outnumbered JLA bravely fought against the relentless invader, but the overwhelming odds were finally taking their toll. Earth's heroes were steadily and rapidly losing ground. They'd already fallen back to their tertiary positions. Soon they'd be forced to fall back to the final line of fire.
If the alien armada broke through this final defensive line, then there would be nothing left between the invader and Earth.
As he continued the unremitting battle for his life, somehow escaping one deathtrap after another, Atom recalled the brief, heartstopping moments he'd lived through less than an hour ago when the Flash lost his ship. Too busy to go to his best friend's aid, the Atom watched helplessly as the Flash took a brutal pounding...
****
"Mayday!" the Flash's frantic voice rang across the open channel. "I've lost hull integrity...life support's gone...I'm rapidly losing atmosphere!"
As Atom fought on, trying to get through the enemy in order to reach his friend, he waited impatiently for the Flash's voice to come back. Silence. Atom began flying in quick, reckless maneuvers.
"Barry!" Atom called desperately. "Barry, come in! Flash, come in!"
At last the Flash came back on the air. "I'm all right, buddy. Close call though. I managed to get into an exo-suit in time." He gave a small nervous laugh. "They don't call me the Fastest Man Alive for nuthin' ya know."
"Hang on, pal, I'm coming for you!" Atom replied. In a wild frenzy, he fired off twin volleys of deadly plasma rays at two enemy scouts in quick succession, disabling one and destroying the other.
"Um, I'd love to be able to do that, Ray, but I've got a slight problem. That last hit I took? Well, it was a pretty bad one."
"How bad?" Atom felt a cold chill in the pit of his stomach. He quickly rolled right, firing as he moved. Another three of the enemy became stardust.
"Got a warp core breach, buddy," Flash replied quietly. "It'll reach critical mass in about another forty-five seconds."
"..." Atom swallowed. He was still surrounded by too many of the enemy. He knew that he wouldn't be able to save his friend. "Barry, I--"
"--that's okay, Ray. Tell Iris I love her and that I was thinking of her...And Wally...tell 'im that--" His transmission was cut.
"*Barry*!!!!" Atom screamed, his pain echoing across the emptiness of space. "Barry...no," he whispered. "You can't be dead..."
****
He wasn't. The Atom remembered gratefully how his friend and teammate was saved at the last possible instant by a quick-acting Black Canary who transported the Scarlet Speedster onto her own slightly worse-for-wear ship...
"Woo-hoo! Don't get your shorts in a twist, Atom-Ant!" Black Canary's exuberant voice shouted over the air. "I've got the Flash-man safely tucked away in my transporter stasis!" She laughed. "Can I keep him? Pretty pleeeease?"
"Don't let *Iris* hear you say that," Atom warned, laughing. "She'll scratch your eyes out!"
"Aw, you sure know how to spoil a girl's fun," BC replied good-naturedly. "And don't worry, Mighty Mite. We ladies all know that Barry Allen is the Most Married Man Alive!"
Black Canary's warm, bubbly laughter could be heard even as she turned to the cold business at hand: training her deadly weapons upon the enemy that almost killed their friend...
****
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Aquaman were not sitting idly by on the sidelines. Indeed, the JLA's own two Royals were fighting a steady, consistent space battle, successfully targeting one enemy scout after another. The Amazon Princess's uncanny warrior instincts saved each of her JLA teammates several times during the course of the battle. She even managed to assist the Man of Steel on at least one occasion.
Now, it was the Atom's turn to need help. "And I need it now," he muttered. The Mighty Mite could almost *feel* the enemy's particle beams as they just missed his ship on either side.
Suddenly, the space around him appeared to be covered with JLA cruisers. Silent explosions that were too close for comfort mushroomed outwardly towards him. Wonder Woman's voice came on the air.
"Cut right, Atom! Now!" Atom cut his cruiser to starboard. The space he'd just occupied instantly imploded in a subspace detonation. The very fabric of space around them seemed to fold in on itself, sucking in any debris in the immediate hot zone.
"Eeee-Haaaa!" BC's Wild West yell came over clearly through the Atom's intercom. "Hey there, Tiny Tim! Never fear! 'Cause Black Canary is here!"
BC's JLA cruiser buzzed the Atom's at near-light speed, dispersing the remaining enemy attack formation that was closing in on him.
"Oh, terrific!" Atom shot back. "I'm saved. Now all I have to do is *survive* the rescue." He quickly turned 180 degrees and followed in BC's wake, engaging the momentarily disoriented enemy. "Thanks, Diana...Arthur!" Atom called.
"You're welcome," Wonder Woman said with quiet dignity. As her cruiser pulled away, she waggled its wings at Atom in a silent salute.
"You owe us big-time, Ray!" the Flash called. "Hey, Pretty Bird, you take your steak rare?" Atom saw BC's ship open fire on the enemy. The deadly volley was being shot off with an almost faster-than-the-human-eye could follow sequence of salvos. The Flash was acting gunner's mate, of course.
"You betcha, Barry," BC said easily, answering his question. "By the way," BC added with open admiration, "that was great shooting, Fastest Man Alive." Then quipped, "But I think GA's a tad faster on the trigger."
"Oh, you do, do you?"
"Yep. Sure do."
"Dinah, you are living proof that love is blind," Flash teased.
"I'll say," the Atom chimed in.
"Hey, no fair," BC protested, laughing. "That's two against one." She paused to take out a few of the enemy that suddenly converged upon their position. Atom watched admiringly as her cruiser executed a series of complicated movements that were capped with an impressive array of strobe-like rapid fire. After four of the enemy ships went down expeditiously, BC came back online. "Well, maybe it's more like 'one-and-a-quarter' against one."
"Ouch!" Atom called back, pulverizing his own set of twin scouts. As he concentrated on the enemy around him, Atom suddenly heard BC's lively, but off- key singing over the JLA open channel.
"Short people got no reason to live--" she began. Atom snorted, almost getting hit as a result for his temporary loss of focus.
"I can't believe this!" he called. "I haven't heard that old ditty in years. You're aging yourself, Dinah!"
"I heard it on an oldies station my Mom used to listen to," she shot back good- naturedly. After she went through the entire song twice, BC began singing her own original, never-heard-on-the-radio bawdy lyrics.
Atom was soon laughing so hard, he quickly felt himself losing control. It took almost superhuman effort to evade the enemy's tireless pursuit. Just managing to pull his ship out of harm's way in time, he gasped helplessly in laughter.
"Whose side are you on, anyway?" he guffawed. "You almost got me killed." To his chagrin his 'best buddy' the Flash took up the silly refrain.
"Short people got itty bitty <*censored*>, and teeny weeny <*censored*>--"
"All right! I give up!" Atom could feel the helpless tears of laughter streaming down his face. "You've got two rare steaks on me! Just stop it. Please...I surrender."
His unrepententive teammates' voices rose even higher as they reached new lows of salaciousness. However, their momentary respite of levity proved short-lived and they soon found themselves back in an unending cycle of shoot, dive, dodge, and run. "BC, behind you!" Atom warned suddenly. He saw that she didn't have time to maneuver out of the way. He quickly spun his ship around, bringing his weapons to bear on the enemy! As he was about to press the firing button, he caught sight of something different. Something odd. Huh?
"Flash...Canary, you see what I see?" he asked tentatively.
"What's that, buddy?" Flash asked.
"The armada...look at the ships. They're acting kinda weird. Almost like they're--"
"Almost like their dancing!" Flash interrupted excitedly. "Ray! They did it! Batman and Green Arrow! They must've managed to--"
"--They must've managed to return the armada to its original practice-firing pattern," Atom finished. "JLA! Our teammates came through for us. The armada's ships are telegraphing their moves. Let's go, team! We've got a planet to save!"
****
Chapter Twenty
The ship's AI 'felt' confused, caught in a logic loop. Its Primary Command program was explicit: Destroy the Krghlm! The inhabitants of the third planet did not provide the proper response codes when the ship initially tried to establish contact with them; therefore, the AI's primary programming deduced the third planet to be a Krghlm colony.
The invaders currently on board claimed to be a *new* race, not one that had been colonized by the Krghlm. Impossible! If a race was not of the Nul^~ht+n, then it was Krghlm.
This is how the ship's primary programming analyzed the current situation. How it had analyzed the situation in the past. How it would analyze the situation in the future.
And this is why the ship left behind a vast trail of burned-out civilizations while on its infinite trek across the universe...
****
Robin worked furiously on the equations as Batman recited them. With the translation program Robin and Wonder Girl successfully worked out, Batman somehow wrote an entirely new command-level primary program. In another few keystrokes, Robin would 'slave' the giant ship's computer to the _Avenger's_ computer.
"How're you coming along, Robin?" Batman asked.
"Just about done, sir," Robin replied distractedly. "Got a few more lines of code left."
"Robin?" Batman began. "When we return home..." he paused. "Robin, when we return home we should..."
"Hm-mm?" Robin was only half-listening, completely immersed by the task at hand. Even now the Boy Wonder continued to work as he spoke. "Sorry, Batman. Didn't catch what you said. When we return home we should...'what'?"
"Robin, what I mean is that--" Batman's transmission began breaking up. His words became garbled. Robin strained to make out the words. "--different ...together...more often..."
"Batman? Batman, you're coming in broken! Adjust your gain...see if that helps."
No answer.
"Batman?" Robin tried boosting his own communicator to maximum gain. Nothing. Not even static.
Robin knew that loss of communications did not necessarily mean that Batman was in trouble. However, Batman was currently located near the ship's warp core, an area with incredibly high-energy output. Even if heavily shielded, some of the power core's radiation could be inadvertently leaking. Robin began to feel a twinge of uneasiness.
"Robin to Batman. Come in, please. Batman--"
At that moment, the ship's emergency klaxons went off. Robin didn't need a universal translator program to let him know what was happening: Hull breach!
The giant ship was losing atmosphere!
"Emergency!" Robin called. "Hull breach. We're losing atmosphere, Titans. We've gotta get this thing sealed--ASAP!"
"I'm on it, Robin!" Green Lantern called out. His entire being was instantly covered in a protective emerald aura. As gracefully as if he'd been born to it, the Emerald Guardian lifted upwards and flew through the Forward Command Center's bulkheads.
"Wonder Girl!" Robin called.
"Here, Robbie," Wonder Girl's quietly efficient voice replied. "I'm attempting to run a diagnostics with the minimum communications we've already established between the _Avenger_ and the alien ship--"
Green Arrow interrupted her.
"Boy Wonder, I can tell you with some certainty that this is *not* a hull breach. The giant cargo-hold landing bay doors have been deliberately opened. The sudden depressurization almost sucked us out into space. Somehow we managed to keep the _Avenger_ in place while the rest of the cargo-hold's contents went flying out."
"Yes, sir," Robin said politely. "May I speak with Wonder Girl, sir?" Robin didn't have the time to try to issue orders to the JLA's most vocal and least cooperative team member. At the moment, the Teen Caped Crusader wanted his commands executed quickly, without being second-guessed.
There was a slight, surprised pause from the other end.
"Yeah, kid, hold on a sec," GA said, sounding vaguely annoyed. Wonder Girl came back abruptly.
"WG, run that diagnostics of the alien ship's systems as quickly as possible," Robin requested. "I'll do what I can from my end. And WG, be ready to yank us all out of here if necessary."
"Gotcha!"
"Batman! Batman, come in," Robin called. "Batman, this is Robin. Come in, please."
No answer.
Robin's insides grew cold. He felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. Not allowing himself time to worry, Robin turned to completing the task of inputting the new command protocols.
"Once these are in," he muttered, "Big Bertha here will dance to our tune."
"Big Bertha?" Kid Flash said behind him, startling Robin out of several years' growth. "I thought you said that was a big cannon in the First World War?" He paused reflexively. "Funny, I never knew that there'd been more than one World War."
"Flasheroo, if you don't stop sneaking up on people, I'm gonna put a bell on you!"
"You have something for me, boss man?" Kid Flash asked, ignoring Robin's threat. "I may not have a power ring, but I *do* have a power that's not in use right now."
"Before I send you anywhere, Flasheroo, I've gotta make sure we know what portions of the ship are safe to enter--"
Abruptly, Robin felt himself floating, weightless. The gravity was gone! Unprepared for the sudden change to zero-g, Robin's awkward struggles hurled him away from the Command Console.
"Oh, <*censored*>!" he muttered. It was a forbidden word that he'd heard GL use earlier. And if Alfred ever heard him say it, he'd probably wash out mouth his with soap, Robin thought guiltily. He struggled to regain his equilibrium in order to get back to the Command Console.
Kid Flash, himself struggling under zero-g, looked over at Robin admiringly. "If my Aunt Iris ever heard me say *that*, she'd wash my mouth out with soap--" His super-fast reflexes saved him from slamming into the bulkhead. "Whew. Close call." Then continuing where he'd left off, added, "--I don't care how fast I become. Believe me, my aunt's *way* faster!"
Robin smiled sheepishly at the junior speedster's words. He'd finally gotten his momentum under control and managed to right himself. "I guess being a teen super-hero doesn't carry a whole lotta weight in *your* house, either, huh?"
Robin casually pushed off the bulkhead, bounced off an opposite wall like a billiard ball, and headed straight for the Command Console.
Kid Flash responded with a broad smile. "Yeah, grownups sure are funny. Uncle Barry trusts me to bring down the bad guys and a bunch of other stuff, but when we get home, he still treats me like a regular kid."
"Yeah, know what you mean, Flasheroo. Do this...don't do that." Robin sighed. Then smiling impishly, repeated another word that he'd heard GL utter. Kid Flash's eyes widened in shock. Then, mirroring Robin's grin, he joined the game, he voicing a word that made Robin blush.
Over on the side, Speedy amusedly listened to his teammates' forbidden fun, not a little bit enviously. What must it be like to have adults who punished you for using dirty words? He shook his head impatiently. "Aw, cut the whining, Harper," he declared in a low undertone. "Ollie's Ollie and he'll never change. No matter how many promises he makes."
He listened as Robin and Kid Flash giggled like small boys who knew they were doing something extremely naughty. Unable to tolerate the unbidden feelings of estrangement that were threatening to consume him once more, Speedy suddenly called out to Robin.
"Hey, Bird-boy! What the heck's goin' on? What d'you do? Cross-wire something?"
"This isn't anything *we've* done, Arrow," Robin replied. He'd grabbed a nearby handhold and started typing in the final lines of code with only one hand. "No, whatever's causing this...it's not *us*!"
"Then, who?" Speedy asked. He was struggling with weightlessness again; however, the lessons from their previous experience in zero-g taught him to move slowly and deliberately in order to avoid being slammed against the bulkheads.
"The *ship*!" Robin replied succinctly. "What else? We know it's intelligent and programmed for defense. It probably decided it's had enough of us."
"Well, then...we've gotta *do* something!" Speedy called out lamely.
"Yeah? No kidding," Robin said sardonically. "That's what I'm trying to do...Something!" Robin turned to the junior speedster. "Kid Flash! Get on the horn and call WG. See if she's found out which areas of the ship have lost life support. Also..." Robin paused, then finished hurriedly, "...ask her if she can detect life signs near the ship's warp core area."
"Life signs?" Kid Flash asked. "You don't mean--?" Kid Flash noted Robin's determinedly stoic features. Gone was the playfulness of just moments before. Batman, Kid Flash immediately surmised. Only Batman's safety could possibly make Robin look like this, like a scared thirteen-year-old boy. "I'm on it, Robbie."
As Kid Flash turned to make the call, the hatch leading to the Forward Command Center abruptly slammed shut and automatically sealed itself. Following instantaneously on its heels, the temperature in the room dropped to below freezing. And, as if to drive a nail into their coffin, the Titans next heard the unmistakable hiss of air escaping.
"Uh-oh," Robin whispered.
Then, all hell broke loose!
****
As he flew in the vacuum of space, Green Lantern left a beautiful emerald trail behind him. He never tired of the freedom, the silence, the peace. Space...he'd dreamed of being an astronaut as a kid, but when he volunteered for the astronaut program, he didn't make the final cut. Politics, sprinkled with a little bit of nepotism, kept him from his dream. The bitter memory still hurt deeply...
****
"I'm sorry, Captain Jordan, but the selection committee decided to cut you."
Hal felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. Cut? From the Space Program? Impossible!
"May I at least ask why, sir? Yesterday, you practically said that I was a cinch to make it."
"I'm sorry you got that impression, Captain," Gen. Douglas said dismissively, "but Space Command doesn't play favorites. You know that."
"Do I, sir?" Hal asked bitterly. He held the general's eyes in an intense glare. "*Who* made the final cut, General? Tell me *that*, sir!"
"Captain, you're very close to insubordination," Douglas warned.
"Okay, then, *I'll* tell *you*, sir," Hal replied, ignoring the general's warning. "Isn't it coincidental that a certain Senator Davis, who sits on the Space Command Appropriations Committee, just happens to have a son, Lieutenant Tom Davis, who also happens to be an astronaut candidate? A son, who happens to be *my* junior with less flying experience. And whom I've also happened to 'kill' during the last five air combat simulations. General, I can fly rings around Davis--*and* the rest of the candidates!"
Hal proudly stood to his full height, still holding the general's eyes. "General, I'm the best man qualified for the job, and you know it!" He paused, then added, "Sir."
Douglas didn't say anything. Hal continued to glare at the general, his personal disappointment and bitterness almost getting the best of him. Eventually, both men looked away in shame and self-disgust.
"I'm sorry, Captain Jordan," Douglas said, truly sincere this time. "But Lieutenant Davis *was* selected over you. I tried to stop it. Told the powers that be that it was wrong, that you deserved the slot. That you were the best man for the job. I was overruled."
Hal listened to Douglas' quiet recitation, his stomach twisted in knots. All he could see were his hopes and dreams being shot down. Next year, he'd be too old to apply for the astronaut program.
"I'll fight you, sir," Hal vowed, fiercely. "I won't go down without a fight."
"No, you won't fight this, Captain," General Douglas replied with quiet certainty. "I wish you would, but you're too nice a guy, too much the professional to complain." Douglas paused. "Which is exactly *why* you're the one who's being cut and not one of the others."
General Douglas looked angry and guilty at the same time. "Don't you get it, Captain? Space Command anticipated that you'd never raise a fuss and deliberately embarrass the Space Program." Douglas stood up, and turning his back to Hal, effectively dismissed him...
****
GL glided silently in the vast blackness that was the outer reaches of the galaxy. He flew a careful zig-zag pattern around the planetoid-sized alien vessel, a pattern designed to reconnoiter the maximum amount of area in the least amount of time. Soon, GL discovered what he assumed was the 'hull breach.'
The vast outer doors of the ship's gigantic cargo hold were wide open, looking like gaping maws. These openings included what GL assumed were the larger than life launch bay doors from which the ship's armada of scouts had been sent forth.
As GL inspected the titanic apertures, he began to feel a certain dreaded sense of misgiving. He shook his head at his conclusion, then nodded slowly.
The ship's multiple bay doors had been deliberately opened. GL felt his insides go cold. The ship was fighting back. If so, then GL's original assessment that it was possibly sentient was correct. And if he and the others were indeed fighting an intelligence capable of semi-independent thought, then their current predicament was even more hazardous than they'd previously believed.
****
"Robin! Robin, come in!"
No answer.
Batman grimaced at the useless communicator. Taking out a palm-sized device, he quickly ran a spectro-analysis of the warp core chamber. The reading was off the scale into the Red Zone.
"Hmmmmm. Not good." Batman studied his instruments with narrowed eyes. In a rare show of frustration, he gave the sensitive device a good shake and banged it across his palm for added measure.
Still bad.
"The question is--is the instrument functioning properly? Or is it being affected by a possible radiation leak? Something is certainly causing the communicator to be on the fritz."
Batman looked up at the raging storm of violent blue/white energies that comprised the ship's massive warp core.
"And if the electronics are being detrimentally affected," he mused, "then logic supposes that it isn't doing *me* any good, either." He raised a sardonic eyebrow. Good thing his costume was comprised of triple-weave Nomex/Kevlar fiber. It could withstand high-radiation levels, but the protection was limited.
Time to exit.
Fast.
As he ran to the nearest hatch, Batman mentally reviewed the information he'd given Robin. The Boy Wonder now had most of the equations necessary to reprogram the alien ship's computer; however, Robin was still missing one- eighth of the equations. Batman decided to head directly to the Forward Command Center.
As he neared the open hatch, it suddenly slammed shut. "What the--?" Before he could finish the statement, a slight movement towards the farthest edge of his peripheral vision caught his attention. Spinning round, Batman quickly assumed a defensive stance. At the same instant, he heard the hatch's automatic seal fall in place behind him.
He was trapped inside the warp core chamber!
At this moment, Batman was startled by several knee-high mechanical droids advancing towards him. Not skipping a beat, Batman acquired and readied a Batarang, then waited tensely for the alien robots' first move. He didn't wait long.
Small robotic arms extended from the main body of each of the droids. At the end of each mechanical arm a deadly weapon appeared and opened fire.
Batman instantly hit the deck, rolling to safety. He had several near-misses. As he scrambled to safety, his JLA patch fell off his left arm. The robots immediately began to fire at the spot where the patch fell on the floor, instantly destroying it.
Batman quickly pulled out a handful of pellets and threw them on the deck immediately in front of the advancing robots. The pellets rolled for a few seconds, then when the robots were a few inches away, the pellets exploded in a blinding-white magnesium flash-bang.
This was soon followed by an opaque smoke under whose cover Batman searched for a means of escape. Feeling his way along the bulkheads, Batman found an air vent. On a ship this size, the air system had to be exceptionally massive to keep the atmosphere up to life-support levels.
Hastily applying a small dab of Plastique, Batman inserted a short fuse, lit it and stood back. It burned in a blink, melting the locking mechanism. As he was about to enter the ship's air-conditioning vent, the defense droids again advanced on the Dark Knight.
Remembering how the droids targeted his JLA patch when it fell off his sleeve earlier, Batman took out a second and third auto-recall transporter patch, activated them, and tossed them in opposite directions. The robots instantly turned and followed after them, firing as they went.
Grinning grimly, Batman took advantage of the droids' distraction and faded into the ship's interior...
****
Green Lantern cautiously approached the open cargo bay. He scanned the immediate area for any booby traps. 'Hanging' in space, GL concentrated his powerful will on the ship's hull, running a careful analysis of its sub-atomic make-up. He grinned.
"Where's the Atom when you need him?" he asked.
GL shook his head. The material was completely alien to him *and* to the Power Ring. It was made of an alloy his ring couldn't analyze. Plus it had yellow bands running through it, which basically nullified the ring's efforts.
As GL inspected the outer hull of the ship, he reflected on the irony of the situation. The ship's creators no doubt fought an eons-long war with their enemy, the Krghlm. They'd probably been the final line of defense for many of the old races, fighting and dying in an infinite number of alien Alamos, until at last the day came when there was indeed but one of their kind left.
In a last-ditch effort to continue the fight once their race died out, the last of the ship's builders in a final act of heroic effort programmed the giant vessel to seek out the last remnants of the enemy and destroy them.
Unfortunately, as the ship's intelligence evolved into quasi-sentience, its irrevocable Primary Command kept it from achieving true Free Will. Because of this, the massive Machine/Being was still more Machine than Being. And twice as dangerous, for its decisions were based on cold logic controlled by its programming, rather than tempered by compassion.
Considering the options open to him, GL's mind traveled back in time to his first contact with an extra-terrestrial, an encounter that literally changed his life...
****
The fateful day when he almost collided with what could only be called a UFO, Hal's life took an unexpected twist. The strange, badly disabled craft headed straight towards his jet, and Hal barely swerved in time; however, the prototype jet was unable to withstand the added g-forces that Hal's seat-of- the-pants maneuver placed on it. As a result, both his plane and the strange craft went down.
Hal managed to parachute to safety, landing a few meters from the crash site. Realizing that whoever or whatever was in the UFO could be seriously injured, Hal rushed to the craft to render aid.
Not bothering with his own safety, Hal quickly forced his way into the disabled ship. Fire and the acrid smell of smoke greeted him immediately. He had to find the pilot and any crew members, Hal thought desperately.
At that moment, something or someone 'spoke' to him.
"Where *are* you?" Hal called out, recklessly going through the ship. "I can't see you because of the smoke. Talk to me. I'll follow the sound of your voice."
"Thank you, Hal Jordan. You are indeed worthy." To Hal's astonishment, the 'voice' spoke clearly in his head, and somehow knew his name. "Follow the emerald trail, Hal Jordan. There is little time left."
"Okay, Toto, we're not in Coast City anymore," Hal muttered, nonplussed.
Hal immediately saw a faint, glowing green trail, leading toward the ship's forward section. Feeling a momentary twinge of apprehension, Hal swallowed and quickly followed the trail to its source.
What Hal beheld still filled him with awe to this day: For lying there in the pilot's seat was a hairless being with red skin dressed in an amazing green and white uniform. On his chest was the depiction of what looked like an old- fashioned lantern.
"I do not have much time, Hal Jordan," the strange being gasped. "I am Abin Sur. I am the Green Lantern of this sector of space, Sector 2814. The power ring has selected you as my successor. It is only due to providence...or perhaps to the Power Source itself...that we meet thus. I am to expire shortly. Before I go, I must complete my last mission...to turn the power ring over to you."
As the strange alien who called himself Abin Sur spoke in weak gasps, he removed a glowing ring from his right index finger. "Here," he whispered. "You must put this on."
Hal reached tentatively for the ring. He held it between his thumb and forefinger, mesmerized by its ethereal beauty. He turned it slowly, awed by its soft, green glow and hesitantly placed it on his own index finger.
"Repeat after me, Hal Jordan..." Abin Sur whispered in short, painful gasps.
"Please, you mustn't talk," Hal interrupted, suddenly remembering where they were. "I've got to get you of here. This thing's gonna blow!"
Abin Sur reached his hand out to Hal in a staying manner. "It matters not, for I return to the Creator. My time is almost up. Please, listen. You are now the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. The Guardians of Oa will explain everything. Concentrate on the ring, Hal Jordan."
"I don't understand," Hal said helplessly. "Please, let me get you out of here!"
"Hal Jordan!" Abin Sur's voice cut in sharply. "I do not have much time left...Concentrate on the emerald ring. Now!"
Hal nodded reluctantly and concentrated. As he did so, a thousand-thousand images flooded his mind. Images that he couldn't separate at the moment. Suddenly, an old-fashioned glowing green lantern much like the emblem on the strange pilot's chest appeared as if magic and hung in the air before him.
Abin Sur nodded. "You will understand soon enough, Hal Jordan. Until then, place your ring hand inside the lantern and repeat after me..."
Abin Sur's weak voice gained volume and grew in timbre as he led his successor, the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814 through the solemn oath:
"In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Instantly, Hal was bathed in an emerald glow from the ring on his right index finger. As the glow completely engulfed him, Hal saw to his astonishment that his flight suit was now replaced with a green and white uniform identical to that of Abin Sur's.
"Congratulations, Hal Jordan of Earth," Abin Sur whispered. "Wear the ring with pride...you are a good man...I know because the ring selected you. I know that you will be an asset to the Green Lantern Corps." Abin Sur quietly died.
"Green Lantern Corps? Abin Sur! You can't leave now...there's so much I need to ask you!" The new Green Lantern saw that his predecessor was gone. "Rest in peace, Abin Sur." At that moment, Hal noticed that there was a dangerous rumbling coming from the alien ship's engines.
"I've gotta get outta here!" he said. Instantly, Hal found himself entirely cocooned in a soft greenish halo, and to his astonishment, he suddenly rose up in defiance of gravity and *through* the ship's bulkhead.
He quickly rose several meters above the alien ship...and above the Earth, he amended ruefully...and watched as the ship went up in a fiery explosion.
"Farewell, my friend," he murmured. "I don't entirely know yet what legacy you've entrusted me with, but you have my word, that I shall do my best to live up to that trust." Hal looked down at the ring, and grinned slightly when it seemed that it was pulsating in silent approval of the new Green Lantern's words...
****
The Titans found themselves surrounded by Pandemonium! Anything not nailed down became a missile aimed at them. Kid Flash with his super-fast reflexes managed to duck out from under most of the deadly objects. However, when he tried whipping up a whirlwind in order to send the items flying back, he only succeeded in hurling himself backwards.
"Flasheroo, ixnay on the speed tricks!" Robin hurriedly warned, somersaulting out of the way of yet another oncoming object. "Remember Newton's Laws. For every action--" He pushed away and ricocheted off of two bulkheads. "--there's an equal and opposite--" He caught one of the deadly missiles, spun round, and threw it at another projectile, which was heading towards Kid Flash, deflecting it. "--reaction!"
The momentum from Robin's throw caused him to be flung in the opposite direction. Kid Flash waved his thanks, while nodding his understanding.
"What's *happening*?" Speedy yelled. He was unceremoniously slammed with stunning force against the deck. A sudden, razor-sharp pain shot up his arm. "Uhhhnnn!"
"Arrow!" Robin called, alarmed.
At this moment, hidden portals lining the bulkheads began sliding open. Blinking red lights greeted the Titans as the portals' interiors became fully exposed. Robin's eyes widened.
"*Incoming*!" he screamed. Robin quickly dodged a sizzling red-hot beam and looped up and around a crossfire of deadly beams. He hastily took out a palm- sized mirror from his utility belt. Flipping in midair, he held out the mirror and immediately bounced one of the crimson rays at an open portal. The interior of the portal instantly melted in a dazzling display of sparks and smoke.
Grinning triumphantly, the Boy Wonder next angled the beam towards another portal, then another. Each time he aimed the enemy ray at a weapons portal, Robin met with equal success. Movement across the room caught Robin's eye: Speedy--struggling to avoid getting hit! Robin instantly turned towards his fallen teammate who was tenderly nursing his arm.
"Flasheroo! Can you knock out the ray guns?" Robin asked.
"I can try, Boss man," Kid Flash cheerfully replied and proceeded to move quickly, but not at superspeed around the Command Center. Superspeed in null gravity was only working against him. (What did Robin call it, he asked himself? Fig Newton's Law?) However, Kid Flash still had some of the fastest reflexes around and that certainly counted for *something*!
As he 'flew' across the dangerous open space of the Forward Command Center, Robin was targeted once again by the ship's deadly defensive array. Expertly dodging the multitude of scorching beams, Robin caught the distinctive smell of burning ozone around him from the many near misses. At last, reaching his injured friend, Robin quickly grabbed Speedy and pulled him safely to cover.
"Hurt much?" Robin asked, carefully checking Speedy's arm.
"Nah," Speedy replied, his pain-filled eyes belying his attempt at a nonchalant tone. He winced involuntarily as Robin gently ran his hands along his injured arm.
"Sorry," Robin apologized. Then, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew, not broken. But it's badly sprained. It's gonna hurt like heck for a few days." The next instant, Robin was struck with a powerful blow to the temple. Everything went black...
****
As he flew in the still silence of space, Green Lantern smiled. Who said nice guys had to finish last?
GL didn't consider himself much of a philosopher, but he *did* believe that things happened for a reason. Hal Jordan washed out of the Space Program because Fate had other plans for him. Whatever else happened, whatever the future might hold, GL felt fulfilled. Hal Jordan's life now held purpose.
As a Green Lantern he'd had the privilege of meeting more new races and working with a greater diversity of extraterrestrial life forms that rivaled even Superman's travels. GL hated the idea of being forced to destroy the last remnants of a long-dead race. Such an extreme measure would result in the irreplaceable loss of the long-forgotten knowledge of the ship's creators: their culture, language, art, science.
Unfortunately, the ship's builders had no doubt lived in such fear and hatred of the Krghlm that their final act was to program the ship to continue their mission of total eradication of their enemy.
"God knows how many other races were unable to respond to its initial greeting and thus met their end because of it."
How many more races would be annihilated by the ship because they couldn't answer its initial signal?
No! If the JLA couldn't reason with the ship's artificial intelligence, then they'd have to destroy it. The ship was impressive in its vastness, but it was a machine. It was built to serve a sentient life-form, not to pass judgement on other races' right to exist.
"The last of the Krghlm probably died out a millennium ago," GL mused. "This thing's been traveling for eons, destroying the very races it was programmed to protect. All because the newer races never heard of the long-dead Krghlm, the Nul^~ht+n, or their infinite war."
GL flew in close to the ship's hull, attempting a visual inspection of its outer shell. As he approached, unknown to him, several alien tracking devices followed his flight path. When GL was well within range, multiple high-energy weapons suddenly open fired.
"Son of a--!" GL rapidly swerved, avoiding a direct hit, but catching a glancing blow. The force of the particle beam physically threw him several hundred meters into space. Caught off guard, GL tumbled out of control.
"Whoa!" he whispered, once recovered and safely out of range. "Baby packs a wallop." He took a couple of minutes to catch his breath, then with renewed determination, GL flew a straight line back to the ship.
On the return trip, the Emerald Guardian intensified his protective aura, instinctively willing it to take on the form of an enormously sized knight's shield. The ship's deadly beams immediately began pounding the shield, and GL felt himself slowly retreating under their relentless onslaught.
Applying his powerful resolve with grim tenacity, GL *willed* the ring's ethereal Power Source to boost his ring's already fully charged capacity to even higher levels. GL felt himself pulling forth energies at intensities that were heretofore barred from him. GL wasn't certain, but he thought that he could almost feel a sense of amazement, even awe, from the Power Source.
As he neared the first point of attack, GL sent out his own walloping punch.
"This is for *Earth*!" GL struck at one of the enormous gun emplacements that was currently firing on him with a closed fist the size of an aircraft carrier.
"*This* is for my friends and family!" He knocked out another weapon with a green artillery piece the size of Mount Rushmore. GL grinned humorlessly as his 'cannon' fired a 'shell' in a dazzling show of counter-battery fire.
"And *this* is for *me*!" GL reached out with gigantic Paul Bunyon hands, ripped out a third particle weapon, and wielded it like a club, knocking out several more of the ship's implements of war. As he did so, he noticed with grim satisfaction that the rest of gun emplacements slowly and steadily began retreating into their storage silos.
One by one, for what seemed an infinite line as far the eye could see, GL noted massive weapons slowly returning to their bunkers.
"Now that's more like it," GL said, addressing the ship. "Maybe you're even ready to listen to a little reason." GL hung in space, feet spread shoulder width apart, hands on hips. "What say you'n me have nice chat? Like two civilized beings?"
He never saw it coming...
****
End of Part 4
48