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. (Pantsuuuu...)
Chapter 7

Knock knock.

Captain Tromand'r turned and threw a glare at the door to the guest room the Titans had prepared for him. He pondered whether or not to allow entry to whoever it was, and eventually decided to be lenient. "Enter," he commanded.

The door swished open. Light, graceful footsteps told the captain who it was before he even looked round to greet his guest.

"Princess Koriand'r. What do you require of me?"

Starfire heaved a slight sigh. "I have come to talk, and to hopefully aid in solving this disagreement, before it begins to cost lives…human or Tamaranian."

"With all due respect, I have already given my stance, Princess," Tromand'r answered. "I will not relent to this incompetent human. He will apologize for his actions…or he will face the consequences."

"Captain…the General Graham's words and actions were of course wrong. But he is only one being, and yet you intend to take action against him that in all likelihood will be the beginning of a terrible conflict between our two races. You cannot incite war with an entire species simply based on the actions of one of their kind!" Starfire argued.

"You would suggest I do nothing, then?" Tromand'r countered. "That I let his dishonoring of our people pass without consequence? You ask too much, Princess."

"I am not asking that, Captain," Starfire insisted. "I am, however, asking you to consider whether your honor is worth the lives of countless other Tamaranians and humans, if your actions against the General lead to yet another war. We should be standing together with Earth, Captain…especially now. The Gordanians are still coming. If we are so busy warring with each other, the Gordanians will take this planet. But if we stand united, we can defeat them!"

"Stand united with these arrogant, primitive creatures?.!" Tromand'r snapped.

"Not all humans are as shortsighted as the General Graham. My friends, for example. They are…they are wonderful, Tromand'r. They have treated me with nothing but kindness and friendship ever since I arrived on this planet. And Robin, he…"

"This Robin is no leader," Tromand'r interrupted.

Starfire's eyes flared angrily. "Robin is a brilliant leader! He has led us to victory more times than I am able to recall!"

"Why do you defend him, Princess? Why do you defend someone who is sparked into madness by a simple language exchange?.!"

"I have already informed you, Captain, that what is merely a language exchange for us carries a very…d-different meaning on this planet," Starfire said, managing to keep her blush to a minimum.

"I remember quite well, Princess. It is a sign of affection. Of romantic interest. Of powerful emotion, in other words. Now answer me this, Princess. How can you defend a leader who allows his emotions to affect his judgment?"

"I…"

"A commanding officer must be able to separate himself from his emotions and make decisions with a clear head. And I just witnessed your Robin lose control of his temper and his judgment because he allowed his feelings for you to interfere."

That stopped Starfire cold. "Wh…what? F-feelings for…me?"

Tromand'r frowned. "You could not tell? I would think it was obvious from the way he looked at you when we returned from the wreckage of the Isom'r. He might as well have s'lored you right then and there."

Starfire's emerald eyes bulged like saucers. Her face flared bright red in an instant and she let out a squeak. "Captain Tromand'r!.!.!"

Tromand'r ignored it. He slid open the window and stood in the warm midday breeze. "My position will not change, Princess. General Graham will apologize…or he will die for his actions. The choice is his."

Tromand'r lifted off the ground, soared out the window and up to the roof…leaving the other Tamaranian standing alone, starstruck.

His…feelings…? her mind raced. Robin has feelings…for me?

Elsewhere in the Tower, another Titan was equally stunned into silence, though for very different reasons.

How did she know? Robin demanded of himself. Did she read Terra's mind? Or Mine? No…Raven wouldn't do that. Maybe Terra blabbed. But…why tell Raven? If she was going to tell anyone, it would be Beast Boy. But how else could Raven have found out?

He remembered Raven's words; 'Terra wasn't alone, that day we beat Malchior.' Did she mean that literally? Was Raven's mind somehow IN Terra's when she discovered his identity?

That had to be it, Robin realized. It was perfectly within Raven's power to do that. It was just like her to keep that knowledge to herself without even needing to be asked, and definitely like her to use that knowledge to get his undivided attention.

Well, she has it, Robin admitted. He sighed. Starfire…maybe Raven's right…maybe I should talk to her…work this all out…

At once his mind's eye conjured up his most cherished memories of the Tamaranian girl. Dancing with her at the prom, and their time stranded together on an alien planet…those memories floated by first in a blur. But then more recent memories bubbled to the surface. Memories of the first time she kissed him, to free him from Kitten's mind control…memories of their second kiss, lying battered and bruised by the Earth Titan…and ultimately, that image of her emerging from the bay, sopping wet, her uniform clinging to her body, outlining every last one of her curves…

Robin's body jerked again. He shook his head vigorously, disgusted at his thoughts. This is exactly why I have to keep a distance between her and I, he told himself. I'm supposed to be preparing for the Tamaranian fleet's arrival and instead I'm getting lost on memory lane. I can't afford to be distracted like that!

…But Raven has a point, too. I can't afford to let it affect the rest of the team either, and if my keeping distant from Starfire starts affecting her negatively, I have to stop it.

…But then I'm back to square one. How can I keep my distance if I'm trying not to ignore her?

Robin's head spun in that vicious circle for a good few minutes, until a knock on his door interrupted him. "Yeah?" he called, not quite hiding the frustration in his voice.

The door slid open, and by some strange twist of fate that Robin couldn't decide was good or bad, Starfire walked slowly into the room.

"Robin? I…erm…thought I should inform you…Tromand'r will not relent. I have done all I can…but I could not change his mind. I am sorry."

Robin sighed in annoyance, but hadn't really expected much else…Tromand'r and Graham were alike in that sense…unyielding and stubborn. Trying to convince either of them to back down when their egos were at stake was like trying to stop the tide. He'd need to find another way to end this conflict before it blew up into something worse…

"…Robin…?"

The Boy Wonder cast half a glance at Starfire. "Yeah, yeah…thanks…" he muttered, all of a sudden determined to ignore her. He couldn't deal with the Starfire problem right now, not with a bigger problem looming over his shoulder…

"Robin, please look at me."

With just that sentence Robin's determination vanished as quickly as it had come. Suddenly Starfire had his complete attention.

"Robin, you have been acting very strangely ever since the events earlier at the island shore. I wish to know why."

Robin tried to put on a casual air, but it came out shaky and forced. "Strange? N-no, I feel fine, I don't think-"

"You became abruptly angry with Tromand'r when you awoke despite your own offer of peace a mere hour earlier. You became angry with me for reasons I do not understand. And you have since been short and irritable whenever you and I have talked. You have changed quite dramatically in the last few hours, Robin, and I do not like it at all."

Robin's forced-casual expression morphed into his 'leader' face. "I've only been trying to stop this conflict from getting any worse than it already is. We're looming on the edge of two separate wars here. One of them can be prevented entirely, but only if we do everything in our power to make sure of it. I'm sorry if I've seemed harsh because of it, but this job is more important. You realize that, don't you?"

Starfire held his gaze evenly. "Are you sure that is the only reason?"

Robin faltered. "What do you mean?"

Starfire closed her eyes and turned away. She let out a deep sigh. "Nothing…"

Robin tried to summon an answer, but the alien girl left before he could manage one.

Dammit…Robin sighed to himself. Why is this so hard! I've fought more psychos alongside Batman than I can count…I've battled Slade time and time again…I've even faced Raven's demon father…why is talking to Starfire so much harder than any of that?

Whether it was good luck or bad, Robin wasn't sure, but he was saved from his lack of an answer by the wailing of the Titan Alarm.

"Nngghh…this is not what we need right now," he grunted. He returned his attention to Cyborg's computer and brought up the alert system. A map of the city popped up on the screen, and Robin quickly scanned it for the red mark that would tell him where the trouble was…except there was none.

"What…?" he muttered to himself. His fingers dashed across the keypad, and the map zoomed out, giving Robin a wider view of the area around the city. Still he saw nothing.

"Yo Robin, what's the trouble?" Cyborg said from the doorway.

Robin turned to see the Titans gathered just inside the room. "I don't know…the alarm's going off, but the alert system isn't registering any hotspots. Not in the city, nor in the surrounding area."

"That's because it's not exactly danger. Not yet," Raven said. "And it's not exactly in the city, either."

Robin glared at Raven. "How do you know that?"

Raven glared back. "Simple. I looked up."

Robin raised an eyebrow in confusion, and most of the others did as well…but Starfire understood almost immediately.

"My people have reached Earth!"she exclaimed somewhere between joy and nervousness.

Robin's eyes widened. His fingers flew across the keyboard again, and the computer's digital map rotated until it was looking skyward…and there it was. A spacecraft was holding orbit just inside Earth's atmosphere, directly above the Tower.

"We must make contact with their commanding officer before the General Graham is able to repeat his earlier mistake!"

"Or before Tromand'r can convince them to open fire on the General," Raven added.

Robin jumped. "Tromand'r! Where is he?"

Raven immediately stretched her senses. "He's spotted the craft as well. He's flying toward it now. Lysand'r is with him."

"Tromand'r isn't quite as unyielding as General Graham," Starfire said. "He may be prideful, but he did not obtain the legendary history he possesses by being foolish. I believe he can be convinced to listen to reason eventually, especially if we can convince the commander of our plight as well. But if we are not there to present our case, the commander may be convinced by Tromand'r's bias and agree to attack. We must not let that happen!"

"Everyone, to the T-Ship!" Robin ordered. "Cyborg, get us ready for launch!"

"Ah…Rob…the ship's ready and all, but…uh…there's a slight problem."

Robin's head snapped toward the robotic teen. "WHAT?.! What problem?.!"

"I…ah…" Cyborg shifted about in embarrassment; for a moment his eyes darted toward Terra, who caught it and raised a curious eyebrow.

"What is it?" the blonde asked.

Cyborg sighed. "I…I'm sorry…but I haven't redesigned the ship to include a place for you yet, girl. I've been working up the plans and all, but-"

"Terra may assume my place, then," Starfire interrupted firmly. "I will go on ahead alone."

"Star, no!" Robin said. "I don't want anyone splitting up!"

"Preparing the ship will take time…perhaps more time than we have to spare," Starfire argued. "If I proceed ahead of you, we will have more time to prevent Tromand'r from convincing the commander to attack Earth."

"But Star, I-"

"Did you not yourself say that stopping this war was more important than anything else?" she cut him off, an edge coming to her voice that hadn't been there since they'd been stranded on an alien world. The rest of the Titans, having never heard Starfire speak so harshly toward Robin, stared in amazement.

Robin's mouth worked up and down, trying to come up with a response, but again his vocal chords failed him.

"That is what I thought," she said. She turned away. "I will go on ahead. Follow as quickly as you can, please."

She made to fly down the hall and toward the exit, but Robin suddenly found his voice before she could.

"Starfire!"

She stopped and turned back toward Robin, her expression firm. "Yes?"

"…I…" he began, stopped, and sighed. "…Be careful."

Her gaze softened somewhat. "I will."

"Here," Cyborg said, tossing her a headset communicator. "You'll need this."

Starfire caught it and fitted it over her ears. "Thank you. Now we must make haste!"

"To the ship, Titans!" Robin ordered. Starfire bolted down one hallway, while the others headed the opposite direction and into the T-Ship hangar. Robin leapt into his seat at the front of the craft, Cyborg jumped into the pilot seat in the tail section, Beast Boy seated himself in the very middle, and Raven and Terra took the wing seats. The ship slowly rose on its platform from a horizontal position to a vertical one. The ceiling opened up before them, revealing a straight shot out of the tower through the roof.

"Everyone ready?" Robin asked through the intercom.

"It's all good!" Beast Boy answered.

"Rock and roll, Rob!" came Cyborg's reply.

"I'm ready," Raven said quietly.

"Uhh…yeah…good to go…I think…" came Terra's less-than-sure response.

"Alright…LAUNCH!"

Cyborg fired the engines, and the ship rocketed upward. In a matter of seconds they were in the open air, the Tower quickly shrinking behind them. Far ahead of them they could just make out Starfire's emerald glow, riding close on the tail of two lights - one electric blue and the other a dark violet -that were surely Tromand'r and Lysand'r.

"She's caught up with Tromand'r…good," Robin said. "We may just have a shot at this yet…"

WREE! WREE! WREE! WREE!

Robin jerked again at the alarm, and the flashing lights that followed. "Cyborg, report! What's going on?.!"

"……"

"Cyborg? Cyborg, do you hear me?.!"

"Yeah, Rob. I hear you…" he answered. "…This is bad, man. Very bad."

"What is it?.!"

"…Incoming fighters."

"What?.!" Robin shouted. "Impossible! Tromand'r can't have gotten-"

"They aren't Tamaranian fighters, Robin. They're US Navy F-18 fighters. Starboard side. Movin' fast."

Robin's eyes shot to the right, and widened in horror. "Oh no…"

General Graham was making his move.

Four sleek, silver F-18 jets screamed upward in a diamond formation - several hundred meters below the T-ship but gaining fast - and heading straight for…

Robin gasped.

"STARFIRE!.!.!"