Chapter 6
[Jupiter]
Blackfire's mini-fleet had arrived in the Sol system on schedule. The Justice League was probably in the Grand Centauri Empire or close to it by now and well, even though they intercepted Batman's recall, they knew that it would take time for them to return. Plenty of time for them to either capture Starfire or convince her to return to Tamaran on her own, they figured.
"Princess?" the commander said, "We're getting word from Earth that they are preparing defenses. Somehow, we've lost the element of surprise."
"It's of no matter," Blackfire said, "Their weapons cannot penetrate our shields anyway."
"What of the Titans?" he asked.
"What of them?" she replied.
"Our sources are telling us that they may be calling in reinforcements of their own. Another dragon like creature was spotted landing on the roof, then, Barnes disappeared for five of their minutes and returned with a young girl and another man."
"We have the weapons, do we not?" Blackfire said.
"We do, milady," he said.
"And the rest of the fleet?" she asked.
"Approaching Tamaran," he replied, "They will arrive in two solar hours."
"That means their defense network is also seeing the fleet. Hold position here until they arrive. Have them send a small invasion force and take over one of the smaller cities, if possible. I want that old fool to know he's got a problem on his hands."
"As you command," the commander said and left to send the message. It was a sign of respect that Blackfire allowed him to depart before being dismissed. Anyone else would have been punished on the spot.
[Tamaran]
Galfore had been sitting on his throne, thinking about affairs of state as well as his little Starfire. Little was the operative word as Galfore was huge, as all males on the planet. He was easily 10 feet tall by human standards and weighed close to 400 pounds – all muscle. He was a just and fair ruler of his people, having seen his share of battle, as evidenced by the scar that ran down the left side of his face, a scar that also claimed his left eye.
He was interrupted by a harried looking messenger, though.
"My king!" the man said, bowing low, "We have reports of a large fleet approaching our planet."
"Do we know what kind of ships?" Galfore asked.
"They appear to be Gordanian, sire," the man said.
"Wonderful!" Galfore groused, "Just wonderful. How long until they get here?"
"Two hours, sire," the messenger said.
"And they got tactical surprise as well," Galfore said, "Muster every able bodied warrior and those on reserve status, immediately. If they refuse, inform them that they and their families will face immediate exile."
"By your command," the man said and rose.
"You have my leave," Galfore said and the man hurried out of the room.
Galfore sighed and went to his communications room. He hit several buttons and waited.
[Titan Tower}
The communications board lit up and a chime was heard.
"I'll get it," Edward said.
He went over and hit a few keys and was surprised to see a hulking man there.
"Titans Tower," Edward said.
The other man spoke in Tamaranian and that prompted Edward to motion to Starfire.
"Just a moment," Edward said in Tamaranian, "Koriand'r is coming."
"You speak my language?" Galfore asked.
"I do," Edward said, "Koriand'r speaks it here at times and I was able to learn it, your Highness."
He had figured out that this was Galfore.
Starfire beamed when she saw Galfore and took Edward's place.
They exchanged greetings and as Galfore spoke, Starfire's face fell.
"They are approaching Earth as well," Starfire said.
Edward's face also fell as he was the only other one that could understand her native language.
"We have a bigger problem, guys," Edward said, "They are also about to invade Starfire's home."
"We can't be in two places at once," Robin said, "The WatchTower can only fight a holding action and if that's destroyed, the base of the Justice League is gone. It's also the most advanced defensive weapons platform as well. Nothing we have militarily can stop them."
"This is too weird, Pop," David said, "Why would there be two invasion forces? What is their goal?"
"No idea, yet, son," Edward said.
[Earth and Tamaran at the same time?] he asked Raven.
[It makes sense,] she replied, [This is pointing towards Blackfire being involved.]
[Starfire's sister, right?] Edward asked.
[Yes,] she responded, [My question is this: First Malchior wants revenge, then, Slade tries for Terra, and Trigon makes another move. Everyone's coming back to try their luck for some reason. Why?]
[Beats me,] Edward replied.
There wasn't time to meditate on the problem as Robin had to make a choice: Keep the teams together or split them up to try to defend two worlds.
Starfire ended her discussion with her beloved k'norfka and walked over to Robin. Everyone could tell she was saddened by this turn of events.
"I must return to Tamaran," she said without preamble, "While I call Earth my home, Galfore reminded me that as I am still a princess, my duty requires me to be there now."
"Star," Raven said, "I have a feeling that Blackfire is somehow involved. I bet if we all went with you, this fleet would suddenly give chase."
"I can't ask you to come with me this time," Starfire said.
Robin stood up and said, "You don't have to ask, Star. Family sticks together. The team went with you before, and, we'll go with you again."
Starfire looked at the other members and everyone nodded. Even David nodded his agreement.
"The T-Ship can't hold everyone, though," Cyborg said.
"It may not have to, Cyborg," Edward said, "If Rae's theory is correct, we'll lure this fleet away from Earth once they see that their target is making a run for it."
Robin thought about this for several long moments before speaking, "This is a risky plan, but, if it works, the planet can rest easier. This will take our strongest members: Edward, Raven, Star, Terra, Cyborg and, if he wants to go, David. If not, Beast Boy can go."
"I'll stay and help coordinate from here," David said, "I don't want to break up the couples."
"I'm staying," Robin said, "So that means that one couple is already being split up. Sadly, this is one time when even my skill might not be good enough."
"Warning!" the AI said, "Long range sensors have determined that the invasion fleet is moving."
"Let's move!" Cyborg said.
The ones selected for the mission raced to the underground hanger and did the quick launch checklist.
They were taking off 5 minutes later and heading into orbit.
"Let's see what she's got," Cyborg said. He was in the center seat and punched in a command. A second later, the T-Ship was speeding up and pointing in an upwards position. The altimeter was still climbing higher and higher. It was climbing at a rate similar to the recently decommissioned Space Shuttle fleet and within 10 minutes, they were in a low Earth Orbit. The HUDs changed from ground based to spaceflight.
"Awesome view!" Edward said with a smile as they sped across the USA. He'd seen the pictures beamed from space, but, he was in awe of how pretty his home world really was.
"That it is," Terra said. It was her first time off-planet as well.
"Plotting a course," Cyborg said, "That fleet is coming fast and we need to get their attention. It looks like they are going to try to come through the asteroid belt, and, that might slow them down."
"It will not," Starfire said, "Their ships will not be affected by the rocks."
"Can we get close enough for my powers to work?" Terra asked.
"Our intercept will take place near Mars' orbit. It won't be close enough, Terra," Cyborg said, "We only have to draw their attention and they should follow."
They broke orbit a few moments later and headed away from Earth. As the gravity weakened, the T-Ship increased its speed until Cyborg stopped the engines. They were coasting past the moon a short while later and Cyborg opted to use the lunar gravity as a slingshot.
"Computer, plot an intercept course. Make it so that we pass within 500 miles," Cyborg said.
"Plotting course," the AI said.
A moment later, the T-Ship made a course correction as the AI took over.
"The ETA will be 4 hours, 25 minutes from now," the AI said.
[Blackfire's command vessel – Glory to X'hal]
Blackfire had settled into her chair on the bridge of the Glory of X'Hal, and looked at the medium range scanners. They were able to reach the Earth's moon already. As Blackfire, she was curious about the fast moving contact.
At first, this contact appeared to come close to the lunar surface and Blackfire was puzzled to see the contact not only missing the lunar surface, but it sped up. She figured that the object had approached the moon at the right angle to slingshot away.
What got her out of her was that a few minutes later, the object changed course!
"What is that?" she asked, "It has to be something made by those weak Earthlings! Plot its course, Commander."
A moment later, "It's heading for us. Milady."
"Can we scan to see if this is manmade or not?" she said.
"No, Milady," he said, "it has to get within 500 miles of us to get a low res scan. Within 10, though, if this is a space vehicle, we can get a high res scan. High enough to almost see if they have hair."
"Let's meet this object, then," Blackfire said.
"By your command," the commander said, "Helm, increase speed to .90 of lightspeed."
"At that speed, I cannot guarantee that we would not hit an asteroid," the helmsman said.
"Do it," Blackfire said, "Or would you rather be teleported to one of them?"
"Plotting safest course," he said and hit the sequence of buttons to increase the ship's speed.
The communication operator said, "Begging your pardon, Milady. We're picking up a signal from our operatives in the Grand Centauri Empire.
"Let's hear it," Blackfire said sweetly.
A moment later, they saw Superman talking to one of the Government officials.
"We're sorry," he was saying, "We're going to have to turn around. There is an invasion imminent of Earth and Tamaran."
The official replied, "We understand. We'll try to keep an eye on Lobo."
"Don't bother," Superman replied.
"Why is that? He is still wanted," the official said.
"Because this smells of fraud," Superman said, "You might have a phony arrest warrant."
"A fraudulent government document? That, in itself, warrants an investigation. If this is true, we will need to locate and arrest whoever is responsible," the official replied.
"The League will cooperate in this," Superman replied.
Blackfire looked like she was going to explode, "No matter, we'll have Starfire by the time they get back."
[3 hours later – Edge of Asteroid Belt]
[T-Ship]
"We're within communications range," Cyborg told the others, rousing several of the Titans from a short nap in the process. Edward blinked and saw Mars off to his right, its two tiny moons glittering in the background.
"I never thought I'd be able to see Mars," he said.
"It is a sight of beauty," Starfire said.
"Let's get on with it," Raven said. Edward smiled at that.
"Should we open a channel, though?" Edward asked.
"Considering that they sped up recently, they are suspecting something," Cyborg said.
Edward gave it some thought for several long moments. He wasn't technically in command of the mission so, he could only advise.
"How far are they away?" Edward asked.
"They are about 500,000 miles away," Cyborg said.
"I'd wait until they were 250,000 miles off and issue a general hail," Edward suggested.
"Might I make the call?" Starfire asked.
"Might not be a bad idea," Cyborg said, "If Blackfire is aboard, having you initiate the contact would get her attention."
"How long?" Beast Boy asked.
"At our current speeds, that's about 15 minutes. They have cleared the belt," Cyborg said.
"Side note," Edward said, "How does one, well, take care of personal business?"
"The T-Ship is configured to allow for 'elimination' of bodily waste," Cyborg said, "We had several near-accidents, so, I rigged my baby to take care of that. In the back of each pod, there is a personal toilet. There is a slider near the controls to darken the glass for personal privacy. Once you are done, there is a red button behind the toilet. Make sure that the lid is closed and tap it. You will hear a WHOOSH for about 5 seconds. That will remove the waste from the ship to a special receptacle."
"I assume that there are ways to relieve one of liquid waste?" Edward said.
"There are tubes for the guys and gals," Cyborg said, "If you gotta go, Edward, now is a good time."
The others chuckled.
"Laugh it up, Titans," Edward said sourly, "It's not like we had a chance to do anything before we left." He found the slider Cyborg mentioned and hit the mute switch on his intercom.
After unbuckling, he put his feet into the magnetic boots. He looked around and saw what Cyborg was talking about.
A couple moments later, he was "relieved" and hit the switch to remove the aforementioned 'liquid waste'.
[Better, dear?] Raven asked softly.
[Much!] he replied with a soft laugh.
He sat down and put his harness back on, as well as his headset. He unmuted the mic and partially undarkened the windows.
Edward looked into the heart of the solar system and even though the sun was smaller, he could see that it was still intense enough to blind even him had he not left the window half darkened.
"Simply gorgeous," he said aloud.
"It is," Starfire replied with a giggle.
Edward turned his attention to some new points of light ahead of them and asked, "That them ahead of us?"
"That's them," Cyborg said a moment later, "They're about 275,000 miles away and closing fast."
"Open a channel?" Edward suggested.
"Not just yet, dawg," Cyborg said, "I want to keep them guessing until the last minute."
Hi, again!
So far, so good, right? Story is moving right along as the Titans and Blackfire's fleet will be coming together in the next chapter.
I know I'm really mucking about with several space related issues, mainly speed, but, considering that they went from Earth to Tamaran in record time in the series and were also on another planet far away from our solar system in "Stranded", I'm going to use the same basic nearly instant transport idea.
Side note: If you pull my profile here, I've added a couple of things to hopefully bolster reviews and a few other things. There's a C2 community as well as a straight up forum. Everyone's welcome!
TTFN!