Thresholding by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
This fic is dedicated to Post, for all he has contributed to its existence. You wyrdo you.
Chapter 2
"Sorry, BB, game's over."
Beast Boy glared daggers at Cyborg and the rest of the Titans, who were all now gathered in the main room. "WHAT?.! No way! It was just getting good!"
"This is important, Beast Boy," Robin said. "We're getting a priority one message from someone in the government."
Beast Boy grumbled something incomprehensible as Cyborg switched off the game and flipped the main screen to the incoming transmission. The image of an older, grizzled, hard-faced man dressed in the dark green garb of a military officer appeared onscreen, glaring at the teens.
"Hmph…'bout time ya goddamn little shits answered me," the man barked.
Robin's eyes narrowed at the rudeness with which the man talked, but let it pass. "This is Robin of the Teen Titans. What can we do for you, sir?"
"Cut the 'sir' shit, for starters, we don't have the time for it!" the officer said. "The name's General Graham, and if you don't mind, I'd like to skip the bureaucratic bullshit and get straight to the point."
"Man, he's got a mouth on him, doesn't he?" Terra whispered in Beast Boy's ear.
"What's the problem, General?" Cyborg asked.
"Ten minutes ago we detected a foreign object entering our airspace. Immediately after that we began receiving a transmission from the object."
"What was it?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be calling a bunch of pubescent kids about it!" he snapped. "It's safe to assume it was some kind of alien spacecraft, because the transmission it was sending was some language we've never heard before. We couldn't decipher a word they said. We ranked it as a hostile and fired a heat-seeker on it…"
"You fired on an alien craft with no clue what it wanted?.!" Robin interrupted, appalled. "What were you thinking?.!"
"I'm not here to listen to you bitch about my command decisions, kid!" the General retorted.
"What did this alien craft look like, General Graham?" Starfire spoke up as politely as she could.
The General glared at the girl silently for a moment. Then, "We'll send you some satellite photos now. In the meantime, the transmission continued after we fired on the craft, and just before it impacted, one phrase came in loud and clear: 'Teen Titans.' That's why we called you. If they knew you, then we figured you might know them, and could tell us exactly what it is we're dealing with."
"Can you play the transmission for us?" Cyborg said.
"For all the good it'll do you…standby…"
The General fiddled with some controls on his end. As he did that, the satellite photos appeared onscreen of the craft in question. The original form of the craft was hard to discern, as it was heavily damaged, but its color was ruby-red, and it seemed to have several spires, some sticking out on top, others hanging down from below. They looked familiar, somehow…
A sharp gasp sounded from within the group, and all heads turned toward the source: Starfire.
"Star? Do you recognize that ship?" Robin asked.
"N-not that ship specifically, no," Starfire said, "But I do know that style of spacecraft very well…"
Before she could finish, however, General Graham had connected the transmission, and as soon as the words began coming through, both Cyborg's and Starfire's ears perked in recognition.
"Isn't that…Tamaranian?" Cyborg said.
"Yes!" Starfire said. "That is indeed the language of my people! That spacecraft is a Tamaranian fleet ship!"
"Can you translate what the message is saying?" General Graham demanded.
"My Tamaranian isn't that great…" Cyborg began, but Starfire jumped in.
"The message is this: 'Princess Koriand'r. This is Captain Tromand'r of the Tamaranian fleet ship Isom'r.'" Starfire gasped. "By X'Hal…Captain Tromand'r!"
"You know him?" Robin asked.
"His history of battle is legendary!" Starfire admonished. "He has led the Tamaranian fleet to many glorious victories over the Gordanians."
"The who?" Terra asked, but the eyes of every other Titan widened in recognition at the mention of the aliens; the same beings that Starfire had once escaped enslavement from.
"The Gordanians are vile, terrible, vicious beings," Starfire explained to the earth maiden. "They desire nothing but war and conquest and destruction. We Tamaranians has been infrequently at war with them for many years."
"And who's Princess Koriand'r?" Terra added.
"I am," Starfire said. "I am part of the royal family of Tamaran. Koriand'r is my given Tamaranian name."
"That's fine and dandy, woman, but I don't really give a damn. I want to know what the rest of this message is saying!" the General interrupted.
"Oh…my apologies," Starfire said. She closed her eyes in concentration. "The message continues: 'We have suffered heavy damage in a battle with the Gordanians. We request of you a place to land and make repairs. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated, Princess.'" Starfire looked back at the Titans. "The transmission ends there."
"A distress call," Robin muttered, and turned to glare at the General. "You answered a distress call by shooting them down. Perfect…absolutely frikin' perfect…"
"A battle with the Gordanians…?" Cyborg said. "This close to Earth? Does that mean the Gordanians are-"
Emergency lights suddenly flashed into existence throughout the tower, accompanied by blaring alarms.
"What the hell is that?" Graham demanded.
"The Titan Alarm," Robin said. "There's trouble somewhere…"
Cyborg's hands flew across the keyboard, pinpointing almost instantly the source of the trouble. "It's the ship!" he realized. "The Isom'r! It's still intact, but it's dropping like a rock…and it's on a crash course straight toward the Tower!"
Starfire let out another gasp. "If the craft is still intact, then there may be survivors! We must help them!"
"But how?" Robin wondered aloud. "There's no way we can get close to the ship, it's scorching through the atmosphere!"
"We have to at least deflect it from the Tower," Raven said. "I might be able to do that with my powers…"
"I can help as well!" Starfire added. "I can protect my body from the heat with star-bolt energy and assist Raven!"
Robin hesitated momentarily, but then, "All right, do it. There's not much else the rest of us can do. Guide that ship to a safer landing in the bay. Terra, I want you to build a wall around the impact zone, or else the city's going to be flooded with a tidal wave."
The three girls nodded their understanding. The window slid open with a flash of Raven's obsidian energy, and the threesome sped outside.
"Good luck," Robin muttered. "Be safe…"
"You kids must have a goddamn death wish," Graham said.
Robin turned his glare on Graham once again. "We're used to this sort of danger," he said shortly. "And for the record, with all due respect, General, 'shoot first, ask questions later' isn't the best outlook to have on this sort of thing."
"Oh yeah? How about 'better safe than sorry,' ya pompous little ass?" the General sneered back. "I told you before, I ain't here to be lectured at by some snot-nosed teenagers about my command decisions!"
Robin had had enough. "We have your frequency, General. We'll call you back if anything new comes up," he said gruffly, and without waiting for the General's response, he cut the transmission.
"Man, that guy needs an attitude adjustment…" Cyborg muttered. He looked toward his leader. "You okay, Rob?"
"This whole thing could get real ugly, real quick," Robin said. "We're talking 'global incident' ugly, here, especially if these… these 'Gordanians' are involved. I'd like to avoid that if at all possible."
"We can handle it, Rob," Cyborg said.
"Yeah, dude, don't worry…there hasn't been a problem the Titans couldn't beat!" Beast Boy chimed in.
"…I hope you're right…" was all Robin said.
High above Titan's Tower, the Isom'r burned through the air on a collision course with the giant 'T.' Beneath it flew Raven and Starfire, and farther below, near the water's surface, Terra hovered on a small rock, waiting…
"You sure you can handle this, Star? The hull is burning up!" Raven shouted over the growing roar of the falling craft.
"I will be fine," Starfire assured. "It is a technique I used once before, during the struggle with Malchior."
"All right then…let's do this! Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!"
Black bolts shot from Raven's fingertips, expanded into sheets, and wrapped around the front of the Isom'r. Instantly the combined forces of the plummeting craft and gravity slammed against her wall, forcing the dark girl into a descent right along with the ship…but she managed to hold the shield, and slow the craft's fall…though only slightly.
"Feel free…to help…anytime, Star…" Rae gasped between struggled breaths.
"Affirmative!" Starfire called from far below. The alien girl concentrated her emotions on the righteous fury she required; and as she'd done against the Fire Titan once upon a time, Starfire encased her whole body with the green glow of her star-bolt energy. Her eyes flashed emerald, and she shot up toward Raven and the Isom'r in a wide, sweeping arc, arms outstretched…
SLAM!
Starfire plowed directly into the right side of the ship's front section like a living battering ram and pushed with all her strength, angling the nose away from the Tower and safely toward a wide-open area of the bay. The shield of star-bolt energy kept the flames from burning the skin off her bones, but even then the heat was immense. She was all too glad, once the ship was aimed away from the Tower, to back away, sweating profusely.
"Raven, NOW!" Starfire shouted at the empath's descending figure. Raven nodded to herself, dropped the shield, and threw herself sideways with a burst of obsidian. The ship burned past her, picking up speed once again, now that Raven no longer held it back.
Starfire swooped in beside Raven. "Hurry! We must gain entry to the craft once it has submerged and search for survivors before they drown!" The alien grabbed Raven by the forearm and surged downward, dragging Raven unceremoniously along with her.
"Star, calm down!" Raven shouted over the roaring wind.
"I will not 'calm down'!" Starfire retorted. "My fellow Tamaranians are inside that craft. Some are perhaps even still alive. I will do what I must to save them!"
Raven grimaced, but said nothing more. She knew she wasn't going to cool the passion in Starfire's heart right now.
Far below, meanwhile, hovering right over the water's surface, Terra eyed the falling craft as carefully as she could…judging the spacing and the distance, waiting…
Slowly, her eyes lit up with pale gold energy, a glow that slowly spread down her petite arms and into her gloved hands. Her knees bent as she lowered her palms down, down below the lip of the rock she hovered on until the backs of her hands just touched the water's surface. Far below her, at the bottom of the bay, a faint, thick ring of gold started to shine…
"Terra! The ship's closing in!" the blonde heard Raven shout through the communicator on her belt. "You have to contain the waves it'll make!"
"I'm…working…on it…" Terra grunted back. Her hands clenched with some invisible force, muscles tense. The glowing ring grew brighter and brighter, until the outline could be seen shining through the water.
Starfire stared at the glow, awestruck. "Such power…"
"Let's hope she can control it," Raven murmured.
Terra's aim was dead-on; the ship's path was heading straight for the center of the golden ring, the radius of which stretched greater than the length of a football field.
"HrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAUGH!.!.!.!.!" Terra screamed, throwing her hands upward.
The earth shook with the force of Terra's power as, along the line of the golden ring, a hollow cylinder of rock and stone bigger than a coliseum jutted upward from the water's surface with a mighty SPLASH. The circular wall rose a solid hundred feet out of the water, forming a great stone basin in the middle of the bay. The Isom'r plummeted right down into the center of the massive makeshift pool…
SPLOOOSH!
A literal geyser of saltwater spewed upward as the ship slammed into the bay, spraying over the lip of the wall, but the huge wave that surely would have drowned the city was instead contained by Terra's wall.
The blonde girl sank to her knees, focusing just enough of her energy to keep the rock she hovered on aloft. "Okay…that…was a bit tiring…" she gasped.
"Rest, friend," Starfire sang over the communicator, hovering at the tip of the wall. "Raven and I shall attempt to access the ship and rescue anyone who may have survived."
Starfire turned to Raven. "Let us make haste to the fallen craft!" she announced. And without waiting for Raven's response, Starfire let go of flight, and fell in a perfect swan dive…down…down…down…
SPLASH!