Part 20
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
-- Francis Scott Key, 1814
"Luthor?!" exclaimed several of the Titans at once.
"But how? Why?" continued Donna in consternation. "I mean, we all know how rotten the guy is, but even assuming he'd want to pull a stunt like this off, how would Luthor and this Tongear connect with each other?"
"That's my thought as well. Ma'am?" Dick asked, turning to the queen.
The queen replied, "From what I've read in his notes, my uncle first heard of your people at a diplomatic summit. The Gordanian ambassador was answering questions about a recent settlement between his people and their former enemies, the Tamaranians." She broke off in puzzlement as Wally slapped Garth on the back while Donna snickered and Roy leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and looked slightly disgusted. "Excuse me?" she asked.
Dick felt she deserved some explanation. "Garth over there was the one who negotiated the settlement."16
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "That's the name the Gordanian ambassador said. When my uncle questioned him further, he explained that the Gordanians had encountered your people before. They had even considered attacking your planet but finally decided against it."
"They did?" asked Dick, intrigued in spite of his natural skepticism. He had occasionally wondered why a race of slavers like the Gordanians had never come against the Earth in force. They didn't seem the type to back away from a fight.
"Yes. My uncle's notes are fairly detailed. While the Gordanians felt confident of their ability to eliminate your military defenses, the unknown capabilities of your planetary defenders -- what my uncle labeled as your 'warrior caste' -- made them decide that your planet was, if you'll forgive me, not worth the trouble."
The Titans stared at each other. Dick was pleased to see them maintain their composure in front of the Ch'ton queen, although Donna's eyes looked suspiciously bright, and Wally's jaw was clenched in an effort not to burst out laughing.
"Um, yes, that's quite all right," Dick managed to say in a normal tone. "But what does all this have to do with your uncle, uh, Tongear?"
"My uncle needed someone to blame in order to carry out his plot against my cousin. He needed a race of people who were technologically advanced enough to make a believable enemy, but who were not so advanced that it would be impractical for the Ch'ton to attack in retaliation. Based on the Gordanian's information, he thought your planet might make a good candidate. He sent a scout ship with several of our best intelligence officers aboard to gather some preliminary information."
She took a sip from the glass of water Donna had given her earlier. "The intelligence officers were able to put together a geopolitical survey fairly quickly and then settled in to flesh out the data. It soon turned out they had arrived just as the leader of one of your wealthiest nations resigned because of some sort of scandal. This naturally intrigued our people, so they focused on that country and that leader in particular."
The queen grinned. Her smile lit up her face and made her look like a mischievous girl instead of the ruler of a planet. "Intelligence officers and historians actually have a lot in common. I must confess that I found their reports to be the most interesting part of reading my uncle's files. Anyway, they finally came back to Ch'ton and gave my uncle everything they had learned on President Lex Luthor and the United States of America." She stumbled a bit over the English words that had no Ch'ton equivalent, but her listeners had no doubt about what she meant.
"So then your uncle contacted Luthor?" asked Dick.
"Yes. I think Tongear viewed him as a kindred spirit. He proposed a deal: help assassinate my cousin, and my uncle would help Luthor regain his rule. Luthor agreed.
"So this whole war, all the millions of people who died in the initial attack and all the battles since then, were just window-dressing for a power grab?" Wally asked in horror.
The queen nodded, her face solemn once more.
Donna spoke up. "There's one thing I don't get, though," she said. "You said you were just a pawn, that your uncle wouldn't really try to find you. If that's the case, why did he bother to sabotage the other kidnapping mission?"
This time, Terga answered, "The kidnapping idea was the Warlord's. The plan for the ambush was Luthor's. Tongear didn't really care whether the mission worked or not. He planned to use the failed attempt as an excuse to move the queen to 'more secure quarters for her own safety.' That was actually going to be his proposal at court today."
"So he could hold me prisoner until he felt secure enough to kill me," interpreted the queen bitterly. "I suppose I should thank you for saving me from that fate."
~~~~~~~~~~
Dick looked around the room as Donna took her seat at the table. She had escorted the two Ch'ton women back to their quarters after dinner so the Titans could discuss these new developments. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He wished he had a wall to lean against.
"I'll admit, this was certainly not what I had in mind when I invited you guys to join me on this little excursion. Ideas? Comments?"
Vic said, "I can't say I've been able to verify everything she said, but nothing I've found in their files contradicts anything."
"What about the previous queen's death?" asked Roy.
"I haven't found the bomb plans the queen -- her name is Chandria, by the way -- talked about, but I did find the investigators' report she mentioned. They've got some scan data from ships that were supposedly 'in the area' when the queen's ship exploded. The interesting part is that there are definitely traces of Brainiac and S.T.A.R. technology, as well as pretty clear Earth-human physiological readings."
Wally asked, "Could someone from Earth have blown up the other queen's ship?"
"Not with that supposed 'ship,'" Vic replied confidently. "I'm familiar with those specs -- it always looked good on paper, and we even built a couple of prototypes, but the Brainiac technology was completely impractical for any form of space travel. It was something that Luthor had complete access to, however."
"So someone had to fake the data for the investigators," concluded Dick. "What about the ship that supposedly recorded the data?"
Vic smiled. "It was a Ch'ton military ship on patrol."
"The Warlord again," sighed Toni.
"Also, the Warlord assigned the investigators and signed off on their final report," added Vic.
"Was Queen Chandria connected with the investigation in any way?" asked Dick.
"She's listed as sitting on the panel that heard the investigators' reports, but that's it."
"Okay, I'm inclined to believe her story. How about you guys?" asked Dick, looking around the room.
Raven spoke up. "I did not sense any deceit in either her or her maid."
"And she couldn't have known that Vic would be able to check her story," concurred Donna. "I believe her."
"But what about Luthor?" asked Wally. "How does helping the Warlord help him?"
Everyone sat in silence for a few moments. Finally, Dick said, "We know about Luthor's efforts to delay the improved Barracuda. We know Mueller, someone with known ties to Luthor, deliberately sabotaged the original mission both by giving us faulty intel and by letting the Ch'ton know we were coming. The evidence in the previous queen's murder points pretty clearly at Luthor. I think it's undeniable that Luthor is in some sort of collusion with the Ch'ton military, presumably the Warlord himself. We also know that Lex is a very smart, very devious man. Just because we can't see a purpose right now, doesn't mean it's not there."
"Yeah," chimed Roy. "I can think of several ways Luthor could benefit from having an 'in' with the enemy, and I'm not even a devious kinda guy!"
"Yeah?" Wally challenged.
"Sure!" replied Roy. "For example -- the Warlord could give Luthor some of those space mines, but keyed to a different frequency. Luthor puts 'em in Earth orbit, and presto! Nobody can get in or out without Luthor's okay."
"Or puts them between the JLA Watchtower and the Earth," wondered Wally. He looked at the red-haired archer in slight amazement. "I thought you said you weren't devious?"
"I'm not -- that seemed pretty straightforward to me."
"In any event," continued Dick, "we're here, and Luthor's back on Earth. Let's deal with the Warlord first. Can I assume then that everyone thinks the queen is telling the truth?"
Heads nodded around the table as Dick looked at each person in turn. He leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table.
"My original orders called for my team to capture the queen and take her back to headquarters. I felt I could justify asking you to come out here because that fit in with my original mission. We have succeeded in the first part of that mission. Based on what Queen Chandria told us, I think I would be violating the spirit of the original orders if we just took her and her maid back to Earth. The question now becomes how do we carry out the spirit of those original orders? What can we use as a lever to bring the Ch'ton to the peace table if it's not the queen?"
"Why don't we just go back and kidnap the Warlord, too?" asked Donna.
Roy piped up, "'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise ... surprise and fear .... Our two weapons are fear and surprise .... and ruthless efficiency ...'"
Dick jumped in before Roy could recite the whole Monty Python skit, "Roy's weird, but he's right. The main reason our raid worked this time is because they didn't know we were coming. Assuming we could find the Warlord, they would be on guard against us now." He pushed back his chair and stood up.
"I'm going to go talk to the queen."
~~~~~~~~~~
Dick knocked on the door and then unlocked it, allowing Terga to open it from the other side.
"May I come in, ma'am?" he asked the queen who was standing behind her maid.
"What if I said, 'No'?" said Chandria idly.
Dick gave her his most charming smile. "Then I would ask if you would join me out here. But your quarters would be much more comfortable."
Chandria nodded, and she and Terga backed away from the door, allowing Dick to enter. The two women sat down on the small couch. Dick grabbed the desk chair, turned it around and sat on it, leaning his arms on the back.
"Ma'am, we've decided we believe your information, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, that information almost creates more problems than it solves. I was sent here to capture you and take you back to Earth to try to force your people to stop this war. From what you've said, my taking you back home won't do either of our people any good. What would you suggest I do?"
"Can't you just capture the Warlord the way you took the queen?" asked Terga.
"One of my friends also suggested that, but I don't think that will work. For one thing, assuming Tongear's in the military section of the palace, he'd be a lot harder to get out. Also, they're going to be on their guard just in case we try something like that. Finally, even if we did grab him, there's nothing to prevent some ambitious underling from taking his place and putting us right back where we started."
"I agree," Chandria replied. She sighed. "Unfortunately, my cousin's most trusted warriors were killed with her when her ship exploded. My bodyguards were nice enough, but I was never completely sure of them. I'm almost surprised they tried to defend me."
Dick felt the stirrings of an idea. "Are there any warriors you trust, ma'am? Any at all?" he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.
She looked at him, not completely buying his attempt at nonchalance, "There are some, yes. And please, call me Chandria. I think I've had quite enough of 'ma'am' for a while."
"Thank you. I think you see where I'm heading with this. Are there any warriors you would trust to be Warlord instead of your uncle?"
~~~~~~~~~~
"Gareth is the captain of one of their destroyer-type ships, currently stationed near the minefield on patrol duty," said Vic as he pulled up the translated personnel data on the large computer screen in the briefing room. "He was captain of one of their carrier ships but was transferred when war was declared."
"That's practically a demotion. Any reasons?" asked Dick.
"None given. If I'm readin' this thing right, ol' Gareth was on the fast track with commendations and high performance marks out the wazzoo until the war started."
"Or rather, until the queen was killed," inserted Dick sardonically.
"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way," Vic agreed with a smile.
"Any connection between Chandria and Gareth?" asked Roy.
"At first, I couldn't find any, but then I discovered that before she became queen, Chandria's name was actually 'Alandria.' Turns out she went to school with our boy, Gareth."
"You do know this is crazy, don't you, Robbie?" asked Wally plaintively.
Dick turned to his best friend, a resigned smile on his face. "Yes, I know it's crazy, but none of us have been able to come up with a better plan. You heard Chandria agree to sue for peace if we helped her take back her throne. She can't get her throne back if we don't do something about the Warlord, and this Gareth was the best bet of the names she gave us." He sighed. "I'll admit, I'm nervous about this. I don't really like trying to play kingmaker, or queenmaker, as the case may be. I just know two things: my gut says she's on the level, and I don't want to think those marines died for nothing."
~~~~~~~~~~
Rear Admiral Samuel Mueller awoke with a start. For a moment or so, he lay in the dark, fuzzily trying to figure out what could have wakened him. Suddenly, he began to get a sense that he wasn't alone in his room. Telling himself he was only imagining things, he cautiously glanced around the dark bedroom.
Now that was odd! It was almost as if the shadows were more ... concentrated in one corner of the room. He stared harder, trying to convince himself it was only a trick of the moonlight peeking through the gaps in the drapes. He couldn't help gasping when two glowing, almond-shaped lights appeared near the ceiling. His breath then caught in his throat as the glowing lights and the shadows condensed into the form of a very large man.
The man stepped out of the shadows, but the shadows were reluctant to let him go as they clung and flowed around him as he moved. When the man drew closer to Mueller's bed, he could see the faint outlines of a bat symbol on the man's chest. Mueller's breath came back in his lungs with a rush, and he almost began hyperventilating. Batman stood beside his bed and looked down on him.
"Samuel Mueller!" growled the dark figure in a deep, raspy voice. "You will tell me everything -- and I do mean everything -- about the sabotaged mission to kidnap the Ch'ton queen and anything else you know about Lex Luthor."
The corpulent figure lying in the bed whimpered and began to talk.
** End Part 20 **
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16 See Titans #19. Short synopsis: The Gordanians, a race of slavers, had been involved in an on-again, off-again war with the Tamaranians for years. Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, a.k.a. Starfire of the Titans, had involved the Titans in an attempt by her people to take over a colony world of the Gordanians. Garth, who had been captured by the Gordanians, convinced his captors that this was all merely a ruse to persuade the Gordanians to allow the Tamaranians to live on the Gordanian world. Roy, who was not on the mission at the time, resented Garth's taking on the role of team spokesman.