Chapter 107: Seeder of Worlds
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Vukar Tag system, 12 minutes until Phase ends
Roughly 40 hours ago Adam Strange and Hawkwoman had watched their comrade and leader, Superwoman, approach the planet called Vukar Tag on a reconnaissance mission. 35 hours ago Superwoman had missed her check-in and the two Justice League members had sent off an emergency signal, calling for aid from back home.
Now usually the sheer distance between the territory of the Dominion and the planet Earth meant that any reinforcements would need at least a week to get here, even using the Kryptonian-style hyperdrive that Superwoman had recreated from her escape ship. Thankfully, though, Adam Strange was the champion of the planet Rann, which meant he had access to Zeta Beam technology.
Still, given the opposition they were likely to face, a fleet of over a hundred Dominion warships, it had taken some time to assemble a task force. Superman, the Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, and Batman took the Justice League Javelins. Wonder Woman recruited several of her sisters to pilot a small fleet of Swan Planes. The Earth Defense Command did not yet have any space-combat-worthy ships of their own, but they sent an official call for assistance to the members of the as of yet unnamed interplanetary alliance Earth was now a member of. Well, officially unnamed. Unofficially everyone was calling it the Kryptonian Alliance in honor of the woman who had brought them all together.
Several ships from Rann, Vega, Antares, and Colu arrived shortly afterwards, eager to join a mission to rescue said woman. Brainiac 2 proposed bringing the War World along, but that was vetoed by nearly everyone. The attack of the War World on Elia had caused this entire affair in the first place. The last thing they wanted to do was pour yet more gasoline into the fire unless absolutely necessary.
So it was roughly 34 hours after Superwoman's missed check-in that a sizeable fleet arrived in the Vukar Tag system by way of a powerful Zeta Beam fired off from the planet Rann. The unique properties of the beam would mean, of course, that all the ships would be displaced back to their points of origin once the radiation wore off, but that was a small price to pay given the ability to travel halfway across the galaxy near-instantaneously.
"Any news?" Wonder Woman asked, she and Superman having joined Adam Strange and Hawkwoman on their Javelin.
"Nothing much," Adam replied. "We're too far out to get solid readings on the planet. There seems to be some sort of strange opaqueness to the atmosphere, possibly a force field of some kind, making any long-distance observation impossible. The garrison fleet hasn't moved apart from standard maneuvers and supply runs."
Superman gazed at the wall of the ship, his enhanced eyes easily spotting the planet. It was nothing but an opaque disc, though.
"I can't make out any surface features or anything, either," he said.
"Looks like we will have to get closer after all," Wonder Woman said, being the de facto leader of this strike force.
"Not worried about political ramifications?" Hawkwoman asked.
"I think we can safely assume that, if there had been no human prisoners or something equally abhorrent going on, Kara would have been back by now, telling us that everything is fine."
There was a flash of green light in the Javelin's cockpit and an image of Guy Gardner appeared next to the others.
"Hopefully you weren't planning on starting this party without me, did you, oh Wondrous One?"
Wonder Woman merely smiled. He would protest the notion to no end, but Guy Gardner had grown into his role as Green Lantern recently. He was still obnoxious, but it was clear that his experiences with the Ring of Fear, the campaign against Darkseid, and being out from under Sinestro's watchful eye had done wonders for him.
"We would never dream of it, Guy," Wonder Woman said. "Seeing as you are here in your official capacity as Green Lantern of the Milky Way, why don't you take the lead. Remember, though..."
"Yeah, yeah. Diplomacy first. God, you're starting to sound like Sinestro."
"Okay, Superman and Green Lantern will have point, the rest of us will follow."
A few minutes later the fleet started moving, falling into a loose formation behind Superman and Green Lantern.
They were still several million kilometers out when the opaqueness around the planet Vukar Tag suddenly faded.
Vukar Tag system, 5 minutes until Phase ends
The Dominator titled Pinnacle Command was sitting in his command chair and tapping a single clawed finger on the armrest as the minutes counted down. It was always the same when the gravity well generators in orbit around this cursed planet began to bring it back in line with the rest of the universe. The moment synchronicity was achieved the orbit around the planet would become insanely busy with supply ships, reports going back and forth, and – most importantly – updates from the genetic experiments going on down below.
The last six months had seen so many changes for the Dominion. The failed invasion of Earth, the destruction of Elia by enemies unknown, and the start of a civil war. He muttered under his breath. Traitors, weaklings! The caste system had served the Dominion well for thousands of years, had seen them become the major power in this galaxy. They would throw it all away and for what? Anarchy? Some deluded notions of freedom? Bah, he would see them all executed for it.
Yet instead of fighting those who would see his beloved Dominion destroyed, he was sitting here in orbit, playing guard dog for a bunch of scientists who had to be threatened into doing their duty. Well, he had no one to blame but himself, truth be told. With the destruction of the High Caste, the Military Caste had taken command, meaning that he was now one of the Highest. And as much as it had pained him to admit, military might alone would not see order restored to the Dominion anytime soon, not after the destruction of the Elia Home Fleet and his own losses during the failed invasion of Earth. No, they needed an edge. Something none of their enemies, be they from within or without, could hope to match. Something like those accursed ape children from Earth and their Kryptonian protectors.
Being among the few who were privy to the unique properties of the world called Vukar Tag, he had quickly brought his fleet and the acquired genetic samples and readings here to be worked on. Six months had passed in the universe at large, but the scientists down on Vukar Tag had now had 30 years and more to work on this project. The last reports he had received two days ago had shown a lot of progress. Many specimens with stable outlier abilities had been created. None as powerful as those accursed Kryptonians, sadly, but still. If they could mass produce them, they would have an army that would prove unstoppable. They would not only reunite the Dominion, no. They would conquer the galaxy!
"My superior," one of his underlings interrupted his train of thoughts.
"What is it?" he bellowed, checking the clock on his personal screen. Two minutes to go until the phase ended.
"Long-range sensors are picking up unidentified objects approaching from the edge of the system. There are at least 30 objects, probably more. None of them are showing Dominion ID signals."
"Intruders?" Pinnacle Command mused. "Who would dare? Bring the fleet to combat readiness!"
Alert claxons sounded through the ship as his underlings brought weapons online and activated shields. Pinnacle Command studied the readouts, seeing a growing number of objects on a direct course towards Vukar Tag. Foreign invaders looking to capitalize on the Dominion's current state? Renegades once more trying to upend the natural order?
A new sensor window opened up as the energy signature of one of the leading objects was identified.
"A Green Lantern," Pinnacle Command growled.
This could be trouble. Not only were Green Lanterns notoriously powerful with those thrice-damned rings of theirs, but they also believed that they held authority over the entire universe and could call on thousands more like them to enforce that belief. Usually they stayed out of any political entities' internal affairs, but with a civil war going on and a planet full of human specimens about to return to normal space, it would be rather difficult to classify this as such.
Not that Green Lanterns were unbeatable, far from it, but it certainly made things far, far more difficult.
Preoccupied with the forces moving toward him from the outside, Pinnacle Command missed the moment the planet Vukar Tag realigned with the rest of the universe.
"Oh boy, oh boy," Gardner chuckled happily. "Looks like some Dominators are looking for a fight!"
"The Dominator ships are powering up their weapons and shields," Adam reported in from the lead Javelin. "I think they've spotted us."
"I hope none of you will be so goody-two-shoes as to tell me that we can't blast them if they open fire on us," Gardner said. "I checked the handbook! A Green Lantern may defend themselves when fired upon."
Superman chuckled. "Are you still mad you didn't get to actually fight in the invasion, Guy?"
"I didn't get to fight in the invasion," Gardner complained, "I didn't get to fight against Darkseid because of some weird time travel rules. I missed it when Brainiac attacked Earth. I always miss the good stuff!"
"You did get to fight against the Citadel in Vega," Superman reminded him.
"That was one time," Gardner replied. "You owe me at least two major space battles, kid!"
"Enough chatter," Wonder Woman reminded them. "Let's at least try to resolve this without any exploding spaceships!"
"Spoil sport," Gardner grumbled.
"Hey, something funny is happening to the planet," Superman interceded. "The opaqueness has faded. I can now see the surface."
"Any trace of Kara?" Diana asked.
Before Superman could answer, though, the com crackled, and a message came through on an open frequency.
"Dominion soldiers," a familiar voice was heard on every ship in the system. "This is Kara-El, speaking for the Kryptonian Alliance and the free people of Elia. The planet Vukar Tag is no longer under Dominion jurisdiction. For crimes committed against the people of both Earth and Elia, you are all under arrest. Stand down and prepare to be boarded!"
"WHAT?" Pinnacle Command shouted, not quite believing what he was hearing.
"The transmission came from the surface of Vukar Tag," one of his underlings said. "It... it came from the command center in camp 7."
Pinnacle Command had never felt so furious before; he could barely hear his underling's words for the roaring of the blood in his ears. The Kryptonian was here? On Vukar Tag? Great Maker, that meant she had been down there for six months at the very least. He had seen this creature demolish dozens of warships all by herself in a matter of minutes. There was probably not a single Dominion soldier left alive on the surface.
"Initiate planetary sanction," Pinnacle Command ordered when he finally regained his composure. "Sterilize the planet!"
"My superior?" one of his underlings questioned. "But... but our people on the planet..."
"Are either dead or have failed me," he thundered. "You have been given orders, inferior!"
"Yes, my superior!"
A humming sound went through the ship, the familiar tune of weapons charging. Pinnacle Command looked at the sensor readouts. Well, at least one good thing would come of this disaster. The Green Lantern and the foreign fleet were still too far away to intercept them before they could open fire. And once the planet's surface was sterilized, there would be no more traces of the human experiments. The Kryptonian might survive the orbital bombardment, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
"All weapons fully charged, my superior," the underling reported.
"OPEN FIRE!"
A second later the lights went out all over the ship.
"Those bastards really did it," 362 growled. "They tried to wipe out their own troops."
"Well, we did count on it, didn't we?" Shamara remarked, smirking.
Kara stood beside her comrades, her eyes scanning the heavens above them. Even now every single space-worthy ship they had available was rising into the sky, boarding troops composed of Sub-Dominans and super-powered humans on board. The ships in orbit, on the other hand, were all shutting down one by one.
"It worked," Kara said, relieved. "Great work, 177."
The former Dominion scientist just smirked. "I cannot take all the credit, my dear. 471 and 233 did most of the work creating that computer virus we sent along with your transmission. I merely did the encoding."
"I am still amazed that it was so easy to hack their computers," Kara remarked. "I would have expected them to have better computer security than this."
"Oh, their computer security is excellent, my dear," 177 told her. "After all, 471 and 233 designed it."
Kara shook her head, once again marveling at the short-sightedness of the Dominators who had made enemies out of the very scientists who had designed and maintained their technological base.
"I will head up there to support the boarding troops. The rest of you..."
She was interrupted by the crackling of her com.
"Kara? Kara, can you hear me?"
"Diana?" Kara asked, a smile on her lip. "Is that you?"
"Oh, sister, what have you gotten up to now?"
Kara laughed.
Vukar Tag, two days after victory
The last two days had been insanely busy, even if there had not been an actual battle worth mentioning. Still, over one hundred Dominion warships needed to be boarded, their crews restrained, not to mention the orbital stations and their gravity well generators had to be secured, lest they send the planet back into dimensional phase. Those tasks had been made easier by the timely arrival of her friends, but it had still been an enormous amount of work and, sadly, not entirely without bloodshed.
Now, though, both Vukar Tag itself and its solar system were firmly under the control of the Kryptonian Alliance and the Sub-Domina. Guy Gardner was almost done sulking that he had once again arrived too late to partake in any actual space battles. Her friends had been brought up to date on what had been going on these last two days (or six months, depending on the point of view).
Of course the hardest part was still to come.
Kara looked across the vast crowd assembled before her. Thousands of humans, grown in clone tanks, all of them with some form of special ability or at least the potential for one. Former Dominators, their discs removed, who no longer wanted any part of the caste society that had suppressed them for so long. The celebrations of victory had lasted all through last night, but now a new day was dawning and the question of what to do and where to go was evident on all of their faces.
"My friends," she began to speak, the com system amplifying her voice for all to hear. "You have all come through a terrible ordeal. Many comrades and loved ones were lost in the battles we faced but faced them we have, and we have emerged victorious. I am very proud of every single one of you, as you have all shown that the drive to live free is stronger than any form of oppression."
A cheer went up from the crowd.
"We now need to figure out what to do next. Many of you have lived on this planet, Vukar Tag, for years. Some of you have never known any other home, even. I doubt, though, that any of you will wish to stay here. For those among you who are Elians, I swear I will do my very best to support you in any endeavor you wish to undertake. There is still a civil war going on across the former territory of the Dominion and there is no telling who is going to win and what kind of nation will emerge from the chaos.
"For those of you who are human, a possibly even more difficult choice lies ahead of you. Any of you that wish to be taken to Earth, the home of those from whose genetic samples you were grown, I promise I will take you there. However, I want you to consider something first: the Dominators cloned you in an effort to create an army with superpowers. Many of you already display special abilities as a result of these experiments. Others are just starting to show a glimmer of what you may one day become.
"As a result of this, I fear that many of you will possibly never feel at home on Earth. Many of you have far more in common with your fellow survivors here than with the people back there. That is why we have come up with an alternative."
Kara stepped aside, allowing 177 to take the podium.
"We have studied the records of the experiments performed on you and how they have changed you. We believe that, in time, you will grow into entire races of specially powered people. Human, yet different. For example, many of the survivors of camp 9 have shown the emergence of certain magnetic abilities that we believe to be dominant traits in their DNA. These abilities would flower among certain planetary conditions, such as those found on the currently uninhabited planet Braal."
Kara's breath hitched, though she did her best to hide her reaction. Braal. Home world of Legionnaire Rokk Krinn aka Cosmic Boy. A future superhero with magnetic powers. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to banish all thoughts of the future from her mind.
"As in that case," 177 continued, "some of you show abilities very much suited for certain planetary conditions. We have selected appropriate worlds that are outside the former territory of the Dominion, closer to planet Earth than Vukar Tag or Elia. We have a list displayed on the data terminals we have handed out before this meeting."
Kara knew many of the worlds on that list. Bismoll, Carggg, Lallor, Winath, and others. She had never been to most of them but knew them to be the home worlds of Legionnaires. Worlds that would be part of the United Planets in the 30th century. A shiver went down her back as she felt destiny breathing down her neck.
"You will all have a chance to study these potential new home worlds in depth before you make a decision," Kara announced, taking over the speaker's podium again. "I know this will be a monumental decision for all of you, so please take your time."
At the front of the crowd, Shamara stepped forward, flanked by several members of her "Ice Squad", as they had come to be called during the fighting.
"I'd like to get the ball rolling," Shamara began, "by volunteering every willing survivor with ice powers similar to mine for the planet Thaar. From what I've seen the planet is a hothouse, which would make it just perfect for our abilities."
Kara smiled at the woman, who easily returned her smile. She was just grateful that everything had worked out fine between the two of them.
Planet Vukar Tag, 12 days earlier
It was the last Dominion loyalist holdout on the planet, or so they believed, at least. The loyalist soldiers had hidden underground, somehow having guessed that the natural ores in this area of the planet would block Kara's enhanced vision. Or maybe they had just gotten lucky. Their luck had run out, though, when they had tried to steal a transmitter from a nearby base in order to contact the garrison fleet once the phase ended.
The fighting had been surprisingly brutal despite Kara's presence, as these were the most die-hard loyalists to the found on the planet and they apparently wished to fight to the last man rather than surrender. Still, the odds firmly against them, they had lost eventually.
It was there, standing amongst her victorious troops, that Kara suddenly experienced a sense of vertigo. For a moment she seemed a prisoner in her own body as she felt the presence of another mind inside her head.
"We did it," someone yelled to another round of cheers. "The bastards are running!"
Kara realized what was happening, even as she experienced an incredibly strong sense of déjà vu. As she turned to Shamara, who was standing next to her, Kara knew that a much younger Kara was currently looking through her eyes and experiencing a vision of the future.
"We really did it, Kara," Shamara said, smiling. "And it's all because of you!"
"What?" Kara asked, her voice confused. Younger Kara was speaking and not understanding what was going on.
"Now don't be humble, darling," Shamara said, draping her arms around Kara's neck. Where their skin touched there was a feeling of intense cold that made Kara's nerves tingle. "You saved us all!"
Even as Shamara kissed her, Kara could feel the familiar presence fading from her mind. Younger Kara was returning to time-lost Kandor and Kara was once again in control of her own body.
"Be careful, Shamara," Kara laughed, playfully shoving the younger woman away. "Or your boyfriend might get jealous!"
Shamara laughed, too, and went over to join the young man in question. While a part of Kara had been somewhat disappointed when Shamara had informed her about the relationship she had begun with a fellow survivor of the camp she had been liberated from, it had also taken a burden off of her. Shamara did not have a crush on her, she was just very sensual with the few people she could actually touch without hurting. Her boyfriend, a fellow ice-powered human named Brek, merely laughed at her antics.
Vukar Tag, the present
As the gathering was breaking up so that the various groups could read up on their potential new home worlds, Kara approached Shamara.
"Are you certain about this, Shamara?" she asked her. All other things aside, she had grown very fond of the young woman over the course of the last six months.
"I know it seems somewhat counterintuitive," Shamara laughed, "but our powers make us natural heat sinks. The heat on Thaar will be for us what a sunny day is for you, darling."
Kara nodded. "It will be tough," she warned her, "trying to hammer out an existence on an entirely new world. But I know you will be strong enough to do it."
Shamara wrapped her up in a hug. "Thanks, Kara! For everything! Saving us. And saving me, especially."
Parting, the ice-haired woman gave her a cocky smirk. "Now excuse me, darling. Brek is supposed to start packing up our stuff, but I fear the boy is useless without my supervision."
Kara laughed.
Orbit above Vukar Tag, four days later
"How is it that you always manage to end up in these kinds of messes, sister?" Diana asked, smiling. "I take my eyes off you for one mission, and you end up spending half a year in some kind of pocket dimension. Only you, dear sister! Only you!"
"I do not know," Kara answered, smiling as well. "Seeing how things turned out, probably some impossible predestined universal balance thing. I am sure Metron could explain it better."
Together they watched as the large Dominion spaceships lifted off from the planet, carrying their precious human cargo to new worlds that would soon be their homes. Various ships from the combined alliance fleet Diana had brought with her accompanied them to ensure that they would arrive safely.
"You once told me about the statue that stands in front of the Superwoman Museum in the 30th century," Diana said, serious now. "How they named you 'Seeder of Worlds'. Do you think that this is what they meant?"
"Possibly," Kara said, then shrugged. "To be honest, though, I am doing my best not to worry about what the future may hold or not. Freeing these people and giving them new homes was the right thing to do, whether it was already history for someone or not."
Diana nodded, seeing the wisdom in those words.
"This is going to be a lot of work still," she mused. "The worlds most of these people are headed for are uninhabited and untamed. They will need a lot of help to actually transform them into homes they can live peacefully on."
"We will help them," Kara said, resolve firm in her voice. "We will stand united with them."
Draping an arm around her sister's shoulder, Diana watched alongside Kara as the first warships-turned-colony-ships accelerated and jumped into hyperspace.
New Krypton, 1,000 years in the future
"Most of the survivors, as it turned out," the teacher told her class, "were happy to participate in Kara-El's colonization plan. And many human and humanoid races flowered and flourished from the seeds Kara-El planted all these many centuries ago, becoming part of today's United Planets."
Turning off the holo screen, the teacher turned towards her students.
"Any further questions?"
"What became of Kara-El?" one of the students asked, raising her hand. "I mean, where did she go in the end? How long did she live? How did she die?"
The teacher smiled.
"Excellent question. One that we will discuss in another lesson."
End Chapter 107
Author's Note: Once again, sorry for the long break, but apart from stress at work I was down with a cold for over a week (not Covid, thankfully). So here's another big checkmark on one of the this story's open plot threads. Like I wrote before, the outline of this story arc was taken from Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2 from 1991, where Valor (aka Mon-El aka Lar Gand aka the stand-in for Superboy in the Post-Crisis Legion stories) liberated the prisoners and seeded the worlds that would become the United Planets, though I have changed quite a few things. Hope you enjoyed it.
So we have 7 chapters left in this story before we reach the end, the last one being an epilogue. All big battles have been fought, (nearly) all time loops have been closed, and everyone is in a good place. So let's see how we can bring this story to a close.