Hello everyone! Here I am with a brand new chapter! In this official 1st (non-prologue) chapter of Black Star, a seemingly ordinary morning at Titans Tower is interrupted by the arrival of some pleasantly surprising guests who bring considerably less pleasant news for Starfire and the Titans regarding the continued safety of the universe. Sound like fun? I certainly hope so! And thanks to my hard work and Bearhow's careful (and much appreciated) editing of my initial 'rough cut', hopefully you'll indeed enjoy what I now have to offer (not to mention leave a respectable amount of feedback). All that said . . .

A/N: Oh wait, almost forgot. I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based (regardless of whether it is something that physically appears in this chapter or gets merely mentioned). Furthermore, I also do not own the Star Wars franchise either. Or the works of a certain pair of filmmakers whose movies I largely wish had never been made. All that said, onward with the fic people!

Chapter 1:

A Crisis of Intergalactic Proportions

Four young housemates present in the living room of the giant 'T' shaped tower, were attempting to enjoy a quiet afternoon watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Emphasis on the word "attempting". Two of the teens, however, were engaged in one of their infamous squabbles.

"Come on grass stain," Cyborg threw up his metallic hands in frustration. "How is it that you hate the newest Star Wars movies?"

"That's not what I said, and you know it," Beast Boy, his emerald eyes narrowed into a glare at his half robot best friend. He then shoved his finger into his face. "All I said was that I'm not a huge fan of the newer stuff is all!"

"And I'll tell you again," said Cyborg, "that you've already made that point clear, so stop harping on about it!"

Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boys," she grumbled.

Robin, meanwhile, had his eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Guys," he stated warningly.

"Look dude," said Beast Boy still inches from Cyborgs face. "we both at least enjoy this Star Wars movie. Can't we just watch it for Robin and Raven's sake?"

"Well you could make it easier," said Cyborg, before pointing at Beast Boy and continuing, "if you would just admit that the newest Star Wars movies are not worse than all the Seltzer and Friedberg movies combined!"

"Dude, I never said that!" Beast Boy yelled. "Stop putting words in my mouth!"

"GUYS!" Robin yelled. The two arguing boys turned their attention to their fearless leader. "Seriously, stop," he pointed at the TV screen, "and enjoy the movie. Do you want me to change the channel back to that talk show?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy promptly grumbled unintelligibly, turned their heads to face the TV screen, and folded their arms across their chests with disgruntled glares on their faces. Robin took a deep breath, exhaled, and then turned his own head back to face the TV screen, simultaneously pinching his nose and feeling the beginnings of a headache starting to form. "Ten and a half months, plus one day, before I have to literally go to Hell, and this is the kind of craziness I still have to deal with in my free time," he thought to himself. He shook his head. "I really wish Starfire were in here right now."

"Friends, is everything the alright?"

The other four Titans turned their heads to look behind them in time to see none other than Starfire herself standing in front of the now closing main door to the common room, a concerned look on her face.

It took all of Robin's willpower not to let out a sigh of relief. "Speak of the Devil," he thought happily to himself before mentally facepalming at his less then pleasant choice of mental words. "Oh don't worry Star," he said, smile still on his face to mask his brief discomfort. "Everything's fine."

"Yeah, what he said," said Beast Boy as he pointed at Robin. "Everything's just fine and dandy."

Cyborg directed a look at the shapeshifter, his eyebrow raised, and Beast Boy chuckled nervously. "Or, well, sort of anyway."

"That's one way to put it," Raven droned, Beast Boy promptly slumping over with a rankled look on his face with a sidelong glare directed towards the half demoness for good measure.

"If you say so," said Starfire. She directed a look at the television. "What are you watching?"

"Return of the Jedi," said Cyborg. "6th Star Wars movie. Would have waited for you but Robin said you really didn't want to be bothered, and it was the first thing we found playing on TV today that was actually good."

Raven rolled her eyes. "It's certainly better than that boring talk show that was playing when we first turned the television on this morning."

Beast Boy shuddered. "I'll say," he agreed. "That self-help guru who was there as a guest on that show this morning? He had to have weighed a ton; he was so full of himself. And don't even get me started on the host." He snorted, rolling his eyes. Then his face took on a thoughtful, albeit slightly confused, expression.

"That guest though," he then said. He thought to himself some more. "Wasn't he that same guy who wrote that 'Men are from Jupiter, Women are from Venus' book?"

"I do not believe that Jupiter or Venus are habitable," Starfire said, now clearly confused. "Certainly not by Earthlings."

"It's Mars," said Raven. "Not Jupiter."

Starfire put a finger to her chin. "Mars may still be marginally habitable."

"Ok," Robin said, now feeling slightly confused and off guard by how the conversation had deviated from its original topic. "I think we're getting off topic here."

"Don't worry Robin," said Cyborg. "We can get back on track." He turned his head to face Beast Boy. "Oh, and for the record Beast Boy, that guy you're thinking of? Different person anyway."

"Anyway," said Robin, seemingly ignoring Cyborg's last comment to Beast Boy. "We're still relatively not that far into the movie, so you're free to join up with us if you want."

"Not gonna argue there," said Cyborg. "I mean, it's not every day that we're all able to hang around together without Raven and BB making things feel just as awkward for us as it already is between them."

It had been a week since Valentine's Day in Jump City, and the other Titans had very quickly noticed the lingering effects of that week on Beast Boy and Raven's behavior. In that week, Beast Boy had ended up revealing to Raven the possibility that he'd developed potentially romantic feelings for her, followed by the two mutually agreeing to give each other time to sort things out and get their minds and feelings in order. However, even with only a week having passed since, and despite Beast Boy and Raven constantly claiming that everything was just fine, Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire all couldn't help but feel as if their two chromatically challenged friends were spending much more time awkwardly dancing around each other and the issue between them then making any worthwhile progress on getting things resolved. But of course, all three of them had the feeling that attempting to intervene would potentially do more harm than good.

As it so happened, this current unwitting instance from Cyborg proved no different, as he soon found out seeing the glares from both Raven and Beast Boy. "Cyborg," Raven hissed. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Shut up."

"You heard Rae," said Beast Boy. "we're handling it, ok?"

Cyborg raised his eyebrow, and was seconds away from making a response, but then he heard a cough, and looked at Robin in time to see the Boy Wonder shake his head 'no'. Raven and Beast Boy directed slight side glances towards Robin as well, and similarly chewed down their annoyance at Cyborg. Now didn't seem like the proper time to let drama ruin what could very well shape up to be a plenty enjoyable morning. Particularly since Beast Boy and Cyborg's earlier argument had similarly risked such a fate.

"Like I was saying," said Robin. "You're free to join us in watching Return of the Jedi." Then he took a closer look at Starfire and noticed the look of uncertainty and concern that had now returned to Starfire's face. "Unless, of course, there was something else you needed?"

Starfire took a deep breath, and then directed a worried look at Robin. In that instant, all four of Starfire's fellow Titans found themselves directing their own worried looks at Starfire. Considering how chipper and unrepentantly happy the Tamaranean usually tended to be, the times in which she was in a mood like her current one were never to be taken lightly.

"Is uh, something wrong?" Beast Boy asked.

"I fear their might be," Starfire responded, her tone appearing rather somber.

This got the other Titans even more concerned than they already were.

"What happened?" Cyborg. "What's wrong?"

Starfire took another deep breath. "Earlier this morning, right as I was finishing up the last of my post-breakfast preparations for the day." She lifted her right hand to indicate the jewels in her shirt and 'gloves'. "These started blinking."

Robin drew out his communicator, his eyes narrowing in confusion and suspicion. "Odd," he said. "My communicator doesn't appear to have done the same." He looked over at Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. "What about you? Any blinking on your ends?"

The other three Titans shook their heads in the negative.

Robin thought to himself, looking once again at his communicator. "Why would Starfire's gems go off like that?" he asked aloud to himself.

"You know Robin," said Raven. "Last time I checked, there is one other moment Starfire claims this kind of thing happened once before."

Robin looked at the half demoness, his eyebrow raised. "When was that?"

Raven raised her own eyebrow. "You really don't remember?"

Robin glared.

"Oh wow," said Cyborg. "Man, I thought for sure you'd still remember that time. Especially considering how funny it was dealing with everything that happened to Beast Boy."

"Not funny," Beast Boy pouted. But then a cheeky grin came on his face. "What is funny though," the shapeshifter continued, "is the way you behaved Robin. I mean, honestly? I thought you'd literally burst into flames at one point! You were so jealous that day!"

"What are you talking about . . .?"

Robin then paused, his mind finally putting two and two together and getting four. "Starfire's almost wedding."

Raven and Cyborg nodded. Beast Boy grinned and flashed Robin a double thumbs-up.

Robin mentally rolled his eyes at Beast Boy's response, and directed his attention back to Starfire.

"Star?" he asked. "Tamaran. Is it in trouble?"

Starfire hung her head. "I do not know," she responded. She lifted her head. "Or at least, not for certain. The message I received after I noticed my gems blinking indicated that something terrible was at risk of happening; but they wouldn't give me a full explanation as to what it was."

"That doesn't sound very helpful," said Cyborg.

"Indeed it is not," Starfire agreed. She directed her attention towards the rest of her friends. "They did, however, say that I could expect a visitor within the next few days who would explain it further to me, and potentially to you. They say they believed it would be wiser and more convenient to do this in person rather than in a message."

The other Titans promptly noted this information in their minds, Beast Boy going so far as to gulp.

"It must be really serious if they decided to send a guest to us for explanation instead of just explaining in a message," said the changeling. He turned his head to face the TV screen and windows, only for his eyebrow to raise in half confusion and half worry. In a flash, he lifted the remote and turned off the TV.

"What the?" said Cyborg. "Why'd you turn off the TV?!"

Beast Boy pointed out the now blank window that doubled as the television. "Would that have anything to do with this guest you mentioned Star?"

Starfire and the other Titans all looked in the direction Beast Boy was pointing, and their eyes widened at the sight of what looked like some sort of spaceship descending towards the bay outside the tower.

Robin eventually tore his gaze away from the space ship and saw the wide-eyed look of shock on his girlfriend's face. "Star?" he asked. He pointed at the ship once Starfire had her attention on him. "Is that the guest you said your people told you to expect?"

Starfire paused for a moment, thinking to herself. "Yes," she eventually responded. "It is." She shook her head side to side in bemusement. "But I must admit, I was not expecting them to arrive so soon after I received the message."

"Tamaran must have wanted this news given to you fast," said Cyborg. He took a closer look at the approaching ship. "That ship; is it Tamaranean?"

Starfire nodded. "It is."

"I thought Tamaran didn't have spaceships," said Beast Boy.

"I'm afraid you thought wrong friend," said Starfire. She gestured towards the ship. "Yes, my kind hardly need use them anymore. But in the earliest days of our society, the spaceships we had, combined with some appropriate protective gear, were invaluable for our kind on account of our not yet having developed the ability to breath or similarly survive in any atmosphere apart from that of our home planet unaided. While we have since lost the need for those ships and protective outfits, we still keep our ships around and updated for the times just in case we need them for special occasions or especially dire emergencies."

Starfire took another look at the ship. "Even if I were to have expected my people to come here by ship, I was most definitely never going to expect them to use a ship like this."

"Why not?" Raven asked.

"Observe," said the Tamaranean as she pointed at the ship. "Those fin like extensions on the top of the ship's back and undersides of its wings. Or the orange coloring on the very front complete with black stripes. Or the decorative fang-like extensions underneath the 'nose'. A ship of this design is reserved exclusively for Tamaranean nobility."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "A Tamaranean royal arriving here by ship in record time?"

"Whatever the situation on Tamaran is must really be bad," said Cyborg.

"Well we'd better not keep this messenger waiting," Robin said resolutely. He turned around and ran past Starfire towards the main common room door. "Come on team. Let's get out there so we're ready to greet them when they land."

. . . . .

A minute later, all five of the teenage superheroes were waiting outside the tower just in time for the large Tamaranean ship to come to a landing not too far from the bay. As the ship made noises that indicated it was winding down and would soon open its doors, Robin directed a side glance at Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy; particularly towards the latter two. "Remember everyone," he said. "We're in the presence of nobility. So whatever you do, be on your best behavior."

Cyborg and Beast Boy nodded, and Raven rolled her eyes dismissively.

The large door hatch on the bottom of the ship opened. Once the resulting ramp was fully lowered, three figures came walking down. Upon sight of their orange skin, the Titans instantly recognized them as Tamaraneans. All three of them were dressed in the exact type of clothing that Robin remembered to have been worn by the royal guards during the time they'd visited Tamaran three years ago. The guard in the very front of the trio seemed well-built, and had long reddish orange hair that was in convenient view on account of him carrying his helmet in his hands instead of on his head. The two other guards walking behind him had their hair covered up with their helmets.

The trio of guards came to a stop, staring impassively at the Titans. In the period of silence that passed, Robin found himself raising his eyebrow as he observed the helmetless guard in the front. He couldn't help but feel as if he'd seen this Tamaranean before. Starfire, meanwhile, also seemed to recognize that same guard, but with more of a half happy and half regretful look on her own face compared to Robin's outright confusion.

The helmetless guard nodded his head, and then gave a respectful bow. "Greetings to you, Princess Starfire," he said.

Starfire nodded, her own face taking on an impassive look for the sake of formality. "Greetings to you, captain."

If the captain had any strong feelings to being referred to merely by his title, he showed no sign of it. He only nodded, and turned his head to face his two subordinates. He stepped to his right, the two subordinates turning sideways to face each other and taking steps back in the process.

Seconds later, right as the Titans saw the outline of a rather bulky and large figure appear at the top of the exit ramp, the captain gestured his hand. "Presenting his excellency, Emperor Galfore."

The Titans' eyes widened in surprise. This was big news. And sure enough, the heavy-set figure stepped into view out of the ship and down the ramp, and the Titans instantly recognized him on sight as indeed being Galfore.

When the burly Tamaranean emperor reached the bottom of the ramp, the Titans belatedly remembered their manners and bowed. They stayed in this position right up to the moment that Galfore came to a stop directly in front of them. He spent a few seconds standing still with an impassive look on his face. Then he allowed a warm smile, and placed his hand on Starfire's left shoulder, the younger Tamaranean lifting her head and facing up towards him in response. The older Tamaranean's smile widened, and he nodded his head. "Arise little one."

In that instant, all pretense of being proper evaporated from Starfire, and with a joyous half tearful squeal of joy, she leaped up and wrapped her arms around Galfore's neck in a hug. Galfore returned the embrace, making extra sure not to risk crushing her comparatively delicate body with his immensely thick arms.

The other Titans couldn't help but smile while keeping their heads bowed. After all, as much rotten luck as they had in regard to several of their own parents or parental figures, they were most certainly not going to begrudge Starfire of her quite happy relationship with this father figure of hers.

Eventually, with Starfire still giggling, the two Tamaraneans ended their embrace and Galfore placed Starfire gently on her feet. Starfire giggled one last time and wiped her joyous tears away. "Oh K'norfka," she stated. "It is such a great joy to see you again."

Galfore chuckled, a warm fatherly look still in his eyes. "Same to you my little Koriand'r." He directed his gaze towards Starfire's four fellow titans. "Arise warriors," he stated.

The titans rose from their bow, Robin noticeably doing so a couple seconds behind the time it took for Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy to rise. And while the latter three titans seemed perfectly at ease, Robin still had a respectable amount of nerves clearly showing in his facial expression. As much as the Boy Wonder was happy that his girlfriend had a genuinely loving father figure in her life, the fact that Galfore filled this role was also more than enough to make Robin feel quite understandably nervous and uncertain of how best to proceed and behave around him.

He remembered how he'd unintentionally gotten himself on Galfore's bad side for a brief moment after first meeting him three years prior on Tamaran. And while that incident had come and gone without too much trouble, plus with a mercifully quick resolution, Robin still, to this day, had no real idea just what the Tamaranean gentle giant thought of him or how he felt about his affiliation with his surrogate daughter. And much like any boy trying to make a good impression for his girlfriend's father, the teen caped crusader felt quite understandably as if he were walking on eggshells.

Galfore, noticing how tense and nervous Robin appeared to be, raised his eyebrow in amusement. "At ease, soldier," he stated.

Robin gulped, fighting not to outright scream at Galfore's suddenly addressing him. "Right," he sputtered. "Yes sir." The Boy Wonder started taking multiple deep breaths, trying desperately to calm himself down. Beast Boy and Cyborg shook their heads in amusement at Robin's antics while Raven rolled her eyes and Starfire looked on in confusion as to her boyfriend's apparent nerves and stress.

Robin finally managed to seemingly calm himself down sufficiently. He stared Galfore straight in the face. "Greetings to you." He nodded his head. "You're excellency." He gestured his arms helplessly to this sides. "Um . . . welcome to Earth?"

Beast Boy facepalmed, half out of embarrassment and half out of necessity to hide the fact that he was visibly struggling not to laugh. Cyborg shook his head side to side with a mildly amused look on his own face. Raven, meanwhile, sighed, and shook her head side to side with a look of what seemed to be sympathy.

Starfire decided to try to come to her boyfriend's rescue. "K'norfka," she stated, the giant Tamaranean turning his head to face her. "As much as I am happy to see you after all this time, and how I was sure that someone important would likely be trusted to be the guest I was told to expect. . ." She paused briefly. "Well forgive me if I cause any offense, but I was not expecting you to personally be here, or for you to arrive here so quickly after I received the message."

"No offense taken little one," said Galfore. Then his face took on a somewhat sadder expression. "And I am sorry that I must now see you under these circumstances." He gestured towards the ship he'd arrived in. "There are many circumstances where indeed I would have merely sent a messenger." He nodded his head. "But the situation that Tamaran, and potentially X'hal knows how much more of the universe, could soon be at risk of undergoing, was something that I truly had to speak to you about in person, face to face." He took a deep breath. "And yes, as you have most certainly noticed, I made sure to reach you in record time. I even made sure to broker a deal with the Green Lantern Corps personally to ensure that I would be allowed to personally come to Earth to spread the news to you and your friends; and you know how our people feel about them."

His facial expression changed once more, this time with a slight angry light burning in his emerald eyes. "We have received word, more than once I'm afraid, that your sister has long departed from Dranthax IV, and is committing crimes once more."

Starfire nodded once, and then hung her head, a look of resigned sadness coming onto her face.

"That doesn't sound too big of a deal," Beast Boy abruptly stated, only to instantly wince under the withering glares from his four fellow Titans, plus Galfore, sent his way the second he said this. "Sorry," he hurriedly backpedaled. "That was out of turn." He hung his head, wringing his gloved hands in an act of shame. "And uncalled for. Continue please." The other Titans snorted, and returned their attention to Galfore, who took a deep calming breath.

"It is grudgingly that I accept the green one's point," said the Tamaranean Emperor. He nodded his head. "However," he continued, "it is not so much the mere fact that she is currently actively up to no good, as both exactly what it is she's doing and who she has chosen to ally herself with."

The last detail instantly got all five of the Titans' attention. "Allies?" Starfire asked.

"Who?" Robin impulsively asked. "The Gordanians?"

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven were instantly on guard upon hearing that name. They'd all had bad experiences with that particular species in the past, and so had Robin and Starfire. And judging from what they knew of Blackfire, they saw no reason to be surprised if she had in fact chosen to ally herself with them.

But much to their surprise, Galfore shook his head side to side. "I truly do wish that she were allied with those slimy clorbags," he snarled. "At least then, it would be an enemy I am personally familiar with and a choice of allies that I would genuinely understand her reasoning behind choosing. But no, from what reports say, she has chosen to ally with a race of beings considerably worse."

"Which race?" Robin blurted out. He winced as he realized he'd once again impulsively spoken potentially out of turn. "If, you don't mind my asking?" Even as he asked, and despite his slight misgivings about his behavior, he was already thinking a mile a minute about all manner of hostile alien individuals and races that he was familiar with thanks to his time under Batman's wing, and how each and every one of them could well prove devastating if actively working alongside Blackfire. And considering how many of them were already capable of causing plenty of trouble alone, the thought of them allying with anyone, let alone Blackfire, was not a comforting thought.

Galfore nodded, seemingly not minding the Boy Wonder's curiosity. "A race that I wish the universe never had to know the name of. A race that make some of the worst known races look virtuous by comparison." He lifted his head, directing a dead serious look towards the Titans. "It is rumored," he then said, "that these beings are so vile that even the H'San Natall fear them."

Starfire's eyes widened upon hearing this. The other Titans also became fairly stunned upon hearing this information. All five of them were at least aware of the H'San Natall to varying lengths thanks to talks they'd had with Hotspot and Argent. What they all knew was that the H'San Natall were one of the most ruthless alien races in the universe, unrepentant galactic conquerors, more than willing and guilty of going to all manner of morally reprehensible lengths, and even rumored to be actively avoided by Darkseid himself. The idea of an alien race capable of terrifying even them was not a pleasant thought to say the least

"K'norfka," Starfire managed to speak. "The H'San Natall; they are one of the worst races in all the universe. What race could possibly be so much worse than them?"

Galfore sighed, and hung his head. "A race that, were it not for your parents' explicit wishes, I would have made sure you and your siblings would have been aware of the instant you were deemed old enough to properly learn and be aware of our history and culture. A race that I have kept silent about around you and your sister for far too long and may very well have even informed your brother about far later then I should have."

The four non-Tamaranean titans mentally raised their eyebrows. They had occasionally heard mentions of Starfire having a brother before. But even now they still had no full idea of just who he was, what he was like, or why Starfire had for so long still not allowed them to know the full story about him. But then they filed the information back to the backs of their minds. Now was not the time to focus too much on this detail. Right now, there were more important things to worry about. And besides, they were sure that Starfire would eventually tell them the full story once she felt like doing so.

Galfore turned his head to face the three guards. "Captain," he stated, "do excuse me. What I am about to tell my surrogate bumgorf and her friends is something that I'd feel more comfort in speaking of without you present to actively listen to. I understand that time is of the essence, but I promise that I will return to the ship in due time."

"Yes my lord," said the captain. The helmetless guard turned to face his two subordinates. "You heard his excellency," he said to the two guards. "Let us return to the ship." In a flash, the three guards had departed back on board the ship.

Once the guards were gone, Galfore returned his attention to Starfire and the other titans, and then took a deep breath. "Listen carefully," he began. "For the information I am about to give you is of the utmost importance. Knowing this information I am about to give you could very well mean all the difference in preventing a crisis of truly intergalactic proportions. I am about to tell you about a race of beings known simply as," his eyes narrowed in half anger and half trepidation, "the Umbrosians."

And just like that, the story is truly off to a dazzling start! I hope you all read and enjoy what I have to offer this time around (and leave a respectable amount of feedback (flames don't count)). I especially hope for the following factors:

A: That you like how I've currently written and handled Galfore so far. He's arguably one of the aspects of this story that I've really been looking forward to for a while (again, one of the aspects, not the only one), and I hope I've done him justice so far.

B: That you like how I had Starfire's gems blink without Robin's communicator, Raven's gems, Beast Boy's belt device, or Cyborg's cybernetic eye blink as well. You see, I had recently started to wonder more strongly then before just HOW Starfire was able to get messages from Tamaran like she did in the 'Betrothed' episode of Season 3. Then I noticed how Starfire's clothing gems, plus those other aforementioned items all happened to blink uncontrollably in 'How Long is Forever' and 'Terra'. And after a bit of time continuing my thoughts, voila! Question answered! At least for this story anyway.

C: The fact that the race of beings that Blackfire met with in the prologue has finally gotten their name revealed to you all.

All that said, again I hope you read and enjoy! And remember, I require a minimum of 1-2 reviews before I publish the next (completed and Bearhow approved) chapter.

Coming up next: Galfore gives the Titans some much needed exposition on just how badly the universe could be at risk of destruction, as well as some interesting history on Tamaran's past.