I now proudly present, a brand new chapter! In this chapter, the Titans and Tamaraneans are in serious trouble now that they've been caught on Gordanian land by the natives. But could this unpleasant situation yet unfold peacefully? Let's find out. Shall we? All that said, here's me hoping you read, review, and enjoy!

A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based (with the exception of the Umbrosians). Believe me, if I did, Zack Snyder would have never been allowed anywhere near the DCEU (or David Goyer for that matter). But enough of that, onward with the story!

Chapter 6:

An Unexpected Alliance

For a heart stopping moment, the small contingent of Gordanians and the mass group of Tamaraneans and Titans stared each other down in an intense standoff. Neither side dared move, neither side dared breathe, neither side dared indicate any sign of weakness.

Eventually, the apparent leader of the Gordanian group lost patience, and he thrust his trident threateningly in Galfore's direction. "Answer us scum!" he roared. "What are you doing on our land!?"

Galfore narrowed his eyes, as did all the other Tamaraneans. Starfire, however, was the one who stepped forward to face the Gordanians.

"I am Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran," she said. "My friends and my people, as you can plainly see, have been attacked and forced to land on your planet."

She pointed her finger at the squadron leader. "As you certainly are aware, there has been peace between our planets. An uneasy and tense peace. But a peace nonetheless." She folded her arms across her chest. "Allow us the courtesy of staying in this area unharmed long enough to repair our ship and leave without any trouble, and we shall cause you, your people, and your planet no harm in return. Do we have a deal?"

As the Titans and Tamaraneans watched Starfire and the Gordanians in half awe and half nerves, the Gordanians all narrowed their eyes at Starfire. The leader, in particular, seemed to recognize her. "I remember you," he hissed. "You used to be the heir to the throne of your planet." He clenched his fists tightly around his weapon. "But then, in exchange for the current peace between our kind, you were sold to us as a slave."

He hissed again. "I was there, with field commander Trogaar and my fellow general Garzvohg." He snarled. "You were to be taken and sold to the Citadel alongside a vast variety of other prize fighting stock we'd gathered. Including a Locrix, an Anulaxian screecher, and even an Okaaran sand worm.

"But then, on our way to the Citadel home planet, we were passing by Earth one night. I remember now. You miraculously managed to escape from our ship, and landed on Earth." He then directed a closer look at the rest of the group around Starfire, and his eyes seemed to blaze with fury at the sight of Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg. He pointed at them. "And you joined up with those four," he snarled. He lifted his trident, slamming the dull end down on the ground. "We should have won that night, gotten you back under our custody, and blasted that dull and bland city you landed in to for good measure. But by some impossible miracle, you and those four cretins dealt us one of the most humiliating defeats in our history!"

"And a well deserved one to," Robin grumbled under his breath.

Yarboth promptly pointed his trident straight at the boy wonder, his fellow Gordanians doing the same with their own tridents and staves. "SILENCE WORM!"

Robin gulped, cringing nervously.

When tensions had somewhat calmed down, Yarboth returned his attention to Starfire. "We made it to the Citadel home planet sometime after that mess, but because of your escape, they refused to pay us with the promised amount when they learned of your escape and our failure to recapture you." He shook his head. "Then, just to spite us, they put an end to our partnership.

"But now you have all landed on our world unannounced, and a mere week after a cowardly attack against us by that dishonorable worm you call sister!"

Starfire's eyes widened. "My sister . . . she attacked your planet?"

"Yes," Yarboth hissed. He slammed his trident. "And she was not alone. She had an entire army of living shadows under her command."

"Living shadows?" Robin asked. "You mean the Umbrosians."

Yarboth raised his eyebrow. "You know what they are called," he commented. "How?"

"Those same living shadows were attacking us when we were forced to land here," said Starfire.

Yarboth narrowed his eyes. "Hmph," he snorted. "A likely story."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never you mind."

Yarboth glared at Galfore. "You listening to what she's saying? You dare ask us to allow you any courtesy towards you after having now twice committed blatant violations of the peace between our planets?"

"Twice?"

Galfore stepped forward. "Twice? You blame us for our exile's cowardly attack against you alongside the Umbrosians?!"

"We certainly wouldn't it put past you. You're Tamaraneans. You're always conniving like that."

"That's a lie and you know it!"

Yarboth pointed his clawed finger at Galfore. "You may not retain any physical characteristics of the beasts you evolved from, but you still have all the pride, laziness, and cunning of them. Deny it all you want, brute, but you and your kind still hide sharp teeth and claws behind those charming smiles and sickeningly sweet emotional exteriors. And will gladly lash out against anyone that displeases you in the slightest."

Galfore jabbed his finger at Yarboth. "At least we try to be diplomatic! You scum? Your first instinct is always to declare war!"

Yarboth hissed as if in 'tsk, tsk' fashion. "And easily offended to. Just like cats."

Starfire stepped between Galfore and Yarboth. "Please," she said. "There is no need for this to end in violence."

Yarboth scoffed. "Why's that? You and your kin have already had your conveniently exiled sister commit blatant violent actions against us and our planet just last week. The only reason we haven't already revoked the peace and declared war against you all over again is because of how the planet is currently in mourning."

Starfire raised her eyebrow. "Mourning? For whom?"

Yarboth raised his eyebrow. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you wouldn't know. What would you care?" He gestured down the path behind him. "During the attack, the first location to be struck was the royal palace. Our king and the rest of the Gordanian nobles were having a meeting, and he was one of three nobles to be crushed to death by the cave-in that ensued thanks to a blast from the Umbrosian ships. Our fleet commander Trogaar was also among ten attending soldiers who were crushed alongside the three luckless nobles."

He clasped his hands together, bowing his head as if in respect for his fallen king and commander. "And on Gordania, it is custom for the entirety of our race to spend within 1-3 weeks mourning at the time of our ruler's death." He lifted his head. "But unless you give us a good reason against it, we will be more than willing to cut our mourning short so as to kill you right now and declare war upon Tamaran first thing tomorrow."

The Titans and Tamaraneans all hurriedly thought to themselves, desperate to think of something to say. Starfire, however, seemingly had no problem. "General," she said, "is it not customary for interplanetary intruders to be allowed a chance to properly speak their case to appropriate officials?"

Yarboth thought to himself. "Yes," he responded. "But why should we allow any of you such courtesy? We do not believe in the ideals of Tamaran, nor do we wish to bother ourselves with anything involving Earth."

"Indeed," Starfire admitted. "But I am told that you do believe in honor. And out of belief that your kind are morally superior to my own, wouldn't you wish to uphold your honor in contrast to my sister's dishonorable attack?"

"I must admit," one of Yarboth's underlings hissed. "Naïve as she may be, the kitten has a point."

"Indeed." Yarboth nodded. "I hate it when the Tamaraneans are right."

Starfire had to fight to prevent a wide grin from coming on her face. "So you will allow us to explain ourselves?"

"Yes," Yarboth hissed, seeming to find the word bitter tasting. "We shall allow you to present your case to our current ruler, Prince Greerak. He shall grant you a fair chance to explain yourselves for your intrusion."

He lowered his trident, his subordinates doing the same with their own weapons.

"You," he said pointing at Starfire. "Shall come with me, and your four friends who fought alongside you that night. Along with the brute. As much as our kin respectively hate each other, he is still the Emperor. He is granted the privilege to speak for himself before his equivalent in our culture in situations like this."

He turned his head. "You two," he said, pointing at two of his subordinates. "Shall accompany us. But everyone else on both sides must stay here on truce until a signal is given on what to do next."

The Tamaranean captain of the guard suddenly stepped forward. "Excuse me general," he said. He raised his hands and stopped at the sight of the Gordanians pointing their weapons at him. "If I may speak?"

Yarboth thought to himself, and then nodded. His subordinates lowered their weapons.

"As captain of the guard, it is my duty, alongside that of my men, to keep the Emperor protected at all times." He bowed his head. "If it is alright with you, I request that I at least be allowed to accompany his Excellency."

The Gordanian underlings looked to Yarboth, who nodded after a moment's thought.

"Very well," said the Gordanian general. "I shall allow you to come with us. But only you. All your men, as well as the other Tamaraneans, must stay here with my own underlings. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes."

"Good."

He turned around. "Let us proceed. His Majesty awaits."

. . . . .

The Titans couldn't help but let their eyes wander as they were escorted alongside Galfore and the captain down a long hallway. The most noticeable detail by far was the long line of statues of fierce Gordanian warriors on both sides.

Yarboth noticed. "These are the statues of all of our most fearsome warriors over the course of our history. It takes true courage to earn a place as a statue in this hall. Out of all our rulers, only seven of our kings have statues dedicated to them here." He rolled his eyes. "Right now, you have only luck on your side in determining whether or not his majesty Greerak allows you to live or chooses to kill you himself the way many of these warriors would have."

The Titans returned their attention to Yarboth, their eyes narrowing at his mood killing comments. But they wisely said nothing, so as to avoid risking his temper.

The group reached the end of the hallway, and the eyes of the guests widened at the sight of a pair of impressive green stone doors with golden lightning bolts engraved across them.

Yarboth raised his right fist and knocked thrice on the doors. "General Yarboth," he said aloud. "Reporting for duty." He bowed his head. "We have business to attend to with his Majesty."

After a tense minute, a voice finally responded from the other side of the doors. "Request accepted," the voice hissed. "Enter General."

Yarboth grunted, and pushed the doors open.

Standing at the end of a long green carpet was a trio of Gordanians dressed in dark gray cloaks. Their eyes widened at the sight of the seven foreigners behind Yarboth and his two subordinates.

"What are they doing here?!"

Yarboth pointed at the seven guests. "We found them in a clearing within the nearby forest. They claim to have been forced to land here by an attack from the living shadows. They have been brought here, as per legal privilege, to explain their case to his Majesty."

The three cloaked Gordanians looked each other in the eyes, and then turned their heads to look behind them. They nodded, and stepped aside, revealing what looked like a considerably younger Gordanian sitting on a throne positioned in between two braziers that burned with green flame. Raven and the boy Titans raised their eyebrows in confusion at the sight of him. Unlike the more frog-faced adult Gordanians they knew, this Gordanian's face looked more like that of a gecko.

As it so happened, this supposed young Gordanian currently appeared to be asleep, and he let out a snore. One of the cloaked adults grumbled, pressed his scaly hand on the sleeping teenager's shoulder, and shook him around. "Your majesty," he hissed. "Wake up. You have guests."

The young Gordanian snorted, opened his eyes, and straightened up in his throne. He licked his eyes with a long tongue as if to wake himself further. Then he closed his eyes, shook his head side to side, and focused his attention towards the group gathered at the doors. At the sight of the seven foreigners, however, his orange eyes narrowed, instantly taking on the familiar look the Titans had seen in the eyes of the other Gordanians.

Greerak hummed, gazing intently at his seven unexpected guests. "Intriguing," he hissed. "It's not every day you get visitors from another planet, let alone from Tamaran. Certainly not right inside your own throne room either." He leaned back in his throne, eyes still narrowed warily. "Well then," he said. "I suppose I'd best get this business over with. I am Greerak, son of Vraarak, and ruler of all Gordania."

The three cloaked Gordanians narrowed their eyes irritably. As royal advisors, the accepted protocol was that they were the ones who were supposed to introduce the king to any guests present. But evidently, the young king was still not fully taught enough to understand that yet.

Greerak nodded his head, and then pointed at Galfore. "I've heard of you. You are Galfore. Former caretaker of the Tamaranean royal line's children, now proud emperor of Tamaran."

Galfore nodded his head. "I am," he said.

Greerak grunted in acknowledgement, and then leaned forward in curiosity. "Well then," he began. "As sovereign ruler of Gordania, I ask you, sovereign ruler of Tamaran, to explain the reason behind your visit. Judging by our kinds' longstanding mutual enmity, you clearly must be personally here on Gordanian land for a very important reason."

"In a way, yes." Galfore lifted his head. "It is my understanding that your planet has recently been attacked by the Umbrosians."

"By the living shadows, yes." Greerak nodded his head. "And they were led by Komand'r, former princess of Tamaran turned disgraced exile. Why do you ask?"

"Well we were on our way peacefully to Tamaran," Galfore explained. "But we were attacked ourselves by Umbrosian forces. We were forced to land here for our own safety."

Yarboth snorted, and then rolled his eyes. "A likely story."

Quick as a viper, Greerak picked up a nearby trident, pointed it in Yarboth's direction, and blasted the floor right in front of the general's feet with a burst of green light. Yarboth jumped in fright. The Titans and the Tamaranean captain of the guard also jolted in surprise. Galfore merely lifted his eyebrow.

"General Yarboth!" Greerak shouted. "I am the King! I will decide whether my guests are being honest or telling lies! Not you! Am I understood?"

Yarboth gulped, and eventually nodded his head. "Yes."

Greerak narrowed his eyes further. "Yes what?"

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Good." Greerak nodded. "Now hold your tongue until I give you permission to speak." He looked back at Galfore. "Continue."

Galfore continued. "Like I said, we were forced to land on your planet through an attack by the Umbrosians. If we had been aware of this being Gordania, or our ship not been as damaged, we would have been more than willing to travel onward to another planet within this system."

He nodded his head. "All I ask now, is that you allow us enough time to stay and repair the damages to our ship so that we may depart from your planet as soon as possible. We mean no harm to you, your planet, or your people."

Greerak nodded his head, his advisors and soldiers watching him carefully. He placed his trident back where it had been resting. "It seems my mother was right," he began. "The time has in fact come."

Everyone else in the room promptly raised their eyebrows.

"Your majesty," said one of the advisors. "What is this madness of which you speak?"

"It is not madness that I speak of," said Greerak. "It is pure cold fact." He turned his head to face his advisors. "Go to the royal scroll chamber," he commanded. "Fetch the annals, and bring them here."

The advisors looked at their king in confusion.

Greerak's eyes narrowed. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get the annals!"

The advisors promptly snapped to attention, realizing that, confusing or not, they had just been given an order by their king. "Yes your Majesty." They rushed off.

Yarboth stared in the direction the advisors had taken, and then looked back at Greerak.

The prince noticed. "Permission to speak," he said.

"Your Majesty," said Yarboth. He gestured towards the seven guests. "You're letting them live. Why?"

Greerak raised his eyebrow. "You're saying I should kill them?"

"Well . . ." Yarboth said, pausing as if to consider his words carefully. "Yes."

"And why's that?"

"Because they are our enemies. And they gave the command for the attack on our planet!"

"Based on what evidence?"

Greerak pointed at Starfire, Galfore, and the captain. "The fact that they're Tamaranean just like the one leading the attack? You know perfectly well how that particular Tamaranean has now been twice exiled."

"Twice?" Starfire thought to herself. "When was the first time?"

"Well yes," Yarboth admitted. "But even so. . ."

"And do you not recall how the Okaaran's have also reported an attack against them by the exact same enemies?"

Greerak shook his head side to side. "You know just as well as the rest of us how they are just as much allies to the Tamaraneans as they are to us. We also have their word on good faith that the Tamaraneans would never deliberately call an attack on their own allies. And as blunt as they may be in their words, the Okaaran's have always been honest. Isn't that right?"

Yarboth nodded. "I suppose you're right. But even so, why should we trust them? Especially now of all times?"

The Titans and Tamaraneans looked to Greerak, similarly curious as to the young Gordanian king's reasoning behind his current decisions.

"Because even though an exiled member of their own race now leads them, the living shadows are just as much an enemy to the Tamaraneans as they are to us." Greerak nodded his head. "And furthermore, much like how they've attacked us before, this is also not the first time they've made enemies out of Tamaran either."

"Your Majesty. The annals."

The advisors came into view and handed Greerak a collection of scrolls. The prince removed one from its sheath, unfurled it, and began to read. "As I suspected, my mother was right." He looked to Galfore. "Lord Galfore," he said. "I presume that you and your little group here aren't the only ones visiting?"

"You are correct. There are others of my kind in the clearing where your soldiers found us."

"I thought so. General!"

Yarboth stood at attention.

"Signal your men to stand down. And have them escort the rest of this group's entourage here. We shall have them treated to our hospitality."

"Yes my lord."

Yarboth and his men turned and left the throne room.

"Your majesty," said one of the advisors. "Why?"

Greerak turned his head to face his counselors. "The answer you seek I shall soon provide." He leaned back in his throne. "But for now, I have more work for you to do." He gestured to the side. "Call for the nobles. Tell them that a council meeting is in order."

Everyone else in their room clearly took an interest in this announcement.

"A council meeting?"

"What for?"

"Firstly, we must discuss and prepare for battle. And secondly," he turned his head to face his guests. "It is becoming clear to me that the time has come for a long dormant alliance to reawaken."

And just like that, another chapter done! I especially hope you like how this one has turned out. Granted, I am definitely engaging in a decent amount of artistic licence as far as the Gordanians' portrayal is concerned. But hey, when done right, a little inventiveness never hurt anyone, right? All that being said, I again hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, that my inventiveness here is a case of 'done right' rather then 'done Zack Snyder', and that you all leave a respectable amount of feedback (remember, A: I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews before I can post the next completed and approved chapter, and B: ZERO flames are allowed).

Coming up Next: Back on Umbrosia, we take a look at how things are currently unfolding regarding Blackfire and her shadowy allies. And we also get introduced to another shady figure who has some ideas of his own on how Blackfire can best get her revenge on Starfire.