Chapter Nine
Hyperspace Exit Point
Earth Orbit
00:16 – Station Time (Eastern Standard Time)
March 13, 2007
Green Lantern hovered at the hyperspace exit point awaiting whatever was going to come out. Alongside him was Gavyn, also known as Starman, Kimiyo 'Doctor Light' Hoshi and John Henry 'Steel' Irons, who was piloting a Javelin.
The exit point had fully formed, but as of yet, there was no sign of any ship. In fact, absolutely nothing had come out of it yet and it had been open for a few minutes at this point. This struck John as odd, as usually, the formation happened moments before whatever had formed it exited. Unless of course, something was wrong with the ship, or it wasn't created by a ship, and this was the prelude to some invasion.
He hoped not. But he couldn't ignore the fact that it had been open, far longer than it should have been.
The portal shimmered. "Prepare yourselves," Lantern said to the others, through his communicator.
Still, nothing came out. Then there was a burst of radiation, as it shimmered again.
"It's destabilising," J'onn reported from the Watchtower. "Be careful I am also detecting radiation."
"Fall back to fifty miles," Lantern ordered them. He didn't want to be too close if the thing went unstable.
As they fell back, the exit-point released another wave of radiation, before a ship came speeding out, almost ploughing through John, who barely managed to move out of the way in time.
Steel in his Javelin wasn't so lucky. The slightly larger ship smashed the right wing off of the league shuttle. It began to spin before Steel got it back under control.
Green Lantern was quick with the orders. "Gavyn, go help Steel get back to the watchtower. Light, you're with me."
As Gavyn headed for the damaged Javelin, Lantern, and Doctor Light followed the out of control spacecraft.
"It's heading to the North American Continent," J'onn informed them. "It looks like it will crash down in the Canadian province of Quebec."
"Understood. We're going after that ship."
"Do you want some assistance?" J'onn inquired.
Lantern, who was now in pursuit of the ship with Light, responded, "If you've got one or two to send."
"I can send Diana." There was a brief pause. "As Captain Atom has just arrived on the Watchtower. I'll send him down, also."
"Sounds good. When Starman and Steel get back, send them down with them. I have no idea who's on that ship, and I'm not taking any chances."
"Understood."
Quebec
Canada
00:33 – Eastern Standard Time
March 13, 2007
The ship had crash landed in the middle of nowhere, smashing through the woodland, and uprooting countless trees. It had come to rest in a clearing by a small lake. There wasn't anyone, or anything for miles, which suited John Stewart just fine.
The Lantern and Dr Light landed on the port side of the crashed ship.
"Any idea who they are?" Doctor Light asked in her distinct Japanese accent.
"Unfortunately, no," Lantern said in frustration.
"Can't your ring can't get a read on it or something?" she asked.
John didn't get the chance to respond, as a deep metallic pounding sound began to echo from the ship. Lantern raised his ring hand in anticipation. "Get ready."
He clenched his teeth, as an airlock hatch flew off the side of the ship. It crashed into a tree, splintering bits of bark before it fell down into the grass with a clatter.
"Get ready," he repeated.
Two orange-skinned, red-headed aliens flew out of the craft. The older female, who was clutching the hand of the younger male, began to shout in a language that John's ring couldn't translate.
Seeing that she was becoming more distressed, he tried to calm her down. "No one is going to hurt you," he said in a raised voice. "We aren't your enemies."
It did little to calm the two alien's fears, and the female in blue began to charge some kind of green energy in her right hand, while pointing fiercely at him, then towards the forest.
He guessed she wanted them to leave, but that was the one thing they couldn't do.
"I'm going to contain them till backup arrives," he told Light.
"Understood," she acknowledged.
As Lantern projected a sphere around them, the female lost her mind. Letting the other one go, she began to smash green bolts of energy into his construct. The male then joined in, striking the side of the sphere with waves of energy unlike that of the other.
Failing with her green bolts, the female began to pound at her green prison with her fists, the other soon joining in.
John soon realised that they were going to break free.
"I can't contain them!" he said.
Doctor Light started to slowly approach them, waiting for the moment they broke free.
Finally, his construct shattered, and he was forced to dive out of the way as bolts of green energy flew his way, tearing up the dirt where he had been moments before.
Doctor Light moved in. The Female alien threw the green projectiles at her, while the male went after Lantern. Kimiyo dodged them, before casting a beam of light at her opponent. The energy struck the orange alien, to little effect, except to make her angrier.
"Stand down!" Kimiyo ordered.
The alien responded to the command by firing twin beams of energy out of her eyes. Light barely put up a shield in time, as the energy struck.
"Where are our reinforcements?" she asked Lantern.
John Stewart, who had his hands full avoiding the waves of heat the younger alien was projecting at him, responded, "There's some radiation coming off of that ship. It's safe for now, but could be interfering with the teleporters. They might have to set them down up to two miles away."
"Which is not far. They should be here by now."
As the younger male fired yet another stream of superheated energy at him, Lantern put up a barrier, before pushing it forwards, it turning into a giant green hand, ready to grab the alien.
He responded with a hefty punch, shattering the construct, almost like glass.
Light cried out as, the alien managed to punch through her shield, sending the Japanese hero hurtling towards the trees.
Her flailing, half-conscious body was caught by Wonder Woman, as she, Captain Atom, Steel and Starman.
The Amazon rested her on the ground, as the others flew towards the aliens.
"Gavyn," Lantern began, "you stay with Light, make sure she's okay. I need Wonder Woman in the fight."
"Why me?" he demanded.
"Just do it!" he snapped, as he erected another shield to block an attack from his opponent.
Gavyn flew to Kimiyo, and Wonder Woman flew towards the female, who was in the process of fighting Steel. She grabbed Steel's hammer out of his hands, and threw it towards Wonder Woman. The Amazon easily dodged, and went in for a strike, only to be surprised when the alien struck her in the face with a powerful left hook.
She quickly recovered, and threw one of her own, knocking the orange alien back fifty feet. The alien retaliated by firing more bolts of energy.
Both Steel and Wonder Woman flew towards her, dodging the energy bolts.
Lantern meanwhile, was keeping the male busy, while Captain Atom came in to restrain him. Unfortunately, he knew what they were up to, and struck the silver hero at point blank range with unrelenting waves of heat.
Captain Atom was forced to fall back. Lantern took the opportunity presented and slapped the alien to the ground with a construct.
"My containment suit's been damaged," Captain Atom reported. "I'm going to have to withdraw, the chances of a breach are too high."
"Understood," Lantern said in annoyance, as he saw Steel get thrown to the ground by the female alien.
As he put up another shield, to deflect another heat attack from his opponent, he wondered if they would be able to take them down, without more reinforcements.
Metro Tower
Metropolis
United States
00:40 – Eastern Standard Time
March 13, 2007
Shayera was heading home after spending the evening flying up the coast, deep in thought about what Inza had said to her. It was her intention to grab her mace from her locker, then head back up to the Watchtower.
It didn't take long for her to realise that something was up. Considering no one had contacted her, she decided not to bother asking. She wanted to get back up there, go to her quarters and go to bed.
She was teleported back up to the station, and made her way down the hall, where a passing Elongated Man commented on whether she knew about the ship coming out of hyperspace.
Her interest piqued, she headed up to see J'onn.
As soon as she stepped into the Monitor Nest, she began to speak, "What's this about a ship?"
Without turning around, the Martian answered, "A damaged vessel exited a hyperspace terminus point, and has crashed in Quebec."
"What type of ship is it?"
"Unidentified. Not even Lantern was able to determine its origin."
"Can I take a look?"
"Of course. But if Lantern couldn't identify it, then I doubt you'll be able to."
He brought up a static image. He was right, she didn't recognise the design.
"Do you recognise it?"
"No," Shayera said.
"Well, Lantern asked for back-up. I'm sending you down with Fire and Ice.
"Understood."
"I will also contact Superman."
"If you think he'll be needed," she said.
Shayera turned and left, while J'onn informed John of their arrival, before contacting Superman.
Quebec
Canada
00:46 – Eastern Standard Time
March 13, 2007
The knowledge that Shayera was on her way didn't help with Lantern's concentration. Especially considering how he was still feeling rejected my Mari, for declining his marriage proposal.
Starman had joined the fight after Steel's suit had been disabled. The two aliens had decided to start fighting side-by-side, which made them far more effective at dealing with Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Starman.
The biggest surprise was Captain Atom. It took a lot to take him out of a fight, but the heat waves the male alien could generate had weakened his containment suit in short order. This only went to show how dangerous the two were if they didn't take them down.
Wonder Woman used her lasso on the female, wrapping itself tightly around her torso, restraining her upper arms. The alien was still able to grab the rope, and yank it hard, pulling the Amazon towards her.
The alien threw a powerful punch, but Wonder Woman deflected it, before throwing a fist of her own, striking the alien hard, spinning her around.
She grabbed her from behind and drove her down into the dirt in a cloud of dust.
The male saw this, and broke off from his fight with Lantern and Starman, diving down to help his kin. Starman went to intercept but wasn't fast enough. The male alien knocked Diana clear, allowing the female to fly up into the sky and discard the lasso from her torso.
The female shouted something at them, before sending out waves of the green energy bolts. Lantern raised a shield in front of him, while Diana and Gavyn fell back, as the night sky was illuminated by the orbs of energy.
Things were getting further and further out of control. The two had to be stopped and quickly.
Then his wish was granted, as the alien's energy bolts stopped. She pointed and began to talk in her unrecognised language. John followed where she had gestured, to see Shayera flying with Fire by her side, holding Ice in her arms.
"You're outnumbered," Shayera warned. "Stop and give up."
The female began to speak again, pointing at the Thanagarian. Shayera slowly shook her head and shrugged. "I don't understand you," she told them, speaking slowly, as though it would somehow help the two aliens understand better.
Suddenly, the female rushed towards her. Shayera rose her mace in surprise. "Stop!" she shouted.
The alien did so, understanding the meaning of the words through the tone-of-voice.
The male slowly approached, until he was hovering next to the other one. He began to speak slowly, before pointing towards their crashed ship.
"It crashed," Shayera said. "You crashed it."
The male pointed at Shayera, then pointed back at the ship, and waved his arms as though they were wings.
Lantern was surprised that she was able to get them to calm down. Usually, Shayera had the opposite effect on people. Despite him initially not wanting her to be here, it looked like her presence was a good thing. At least for the moment.
"You understand any of that?" John shouted up to her.
"I think," Shayera began. "What they're trying to tell me, is that there's a Thanagarian on that ship. Maybe more people."
"Then we have to rescue them," Lantern said. "Diana, Ice, Fire, Starman. You go into that ship. See who you can find."
They acknowledged the order and started for the ship. They then stopped as a helmeted winged figure emerged, with a dead orange alien in his arms.
He slowly lowered the body to the ground, before casting his eyes towards the league members. He then looked over to Shayera.
He took to the air and flew towards her. "You," he said in Thanagarian.
Shayera was instantly on alert. "Who're you?" she responded, speaking in her home language as well.
"I am Lrek Tomar. Who are you?"
"Shayera Hol."
His eyes narrowed. "So, this is Earth?"
"Yes, it is," she said cautiously.
"Don't be surprised," he said. His voice taking on a dangerous tone. "Near every Thanagarian knows who you are, and where you now live."
"Just tell me what you're doing here?" she urged. "And who're these?"
"These two are Tamaraneans," he told her.
"Okay, I'm remotely familiar. But I don't recall them being able to fire energy beams. Are they Tamaranean Meta's or something?"
"I don't know what a Meta is, but they were both 'guests' of the Psions. I will explain further, but not here." He then gestured off behind her. "That a friend of yours?"
She looked around to see Superman arriving. "Yes," she told him.
Superman flew up next to her. "What's the situation?" he asked.
She turned to him. "It appears that these-" she stopped as she realised she was still speaking Thanagarain. She started again, this time in English. "It appears that they escaped from the Psions."
"I don't know who they are," Superman replied, with a half-shrug. "Tell them we mean them no harm," he then said to her. "And tell them we'll help in whatever way we can."
Shayera turned her attention back to Lrek. "We are the Justice League," she said in Thanagarian. "We will help you and your friends to the best of our ability."
Lrek turned to the two Tamaraneans and began to talk to them in their language.
After a moment, he turned back to her. "We accept," he told them, looking at Superman as he spoke. "The dead will need to be brought with us."
"How many?"
"Two. They were already wounded after the escape. The crash finished them off."
"What species?" Shayera asked.
"One Tamaranean and a Thanagarian," he told her in Thanagarian while keeping his eyes locked on the man in blue, as though it was him who had asked the question.
"We'll make sure it's done," she assured him. She turned back to Superman and relayed what she had been told, "There's a dead Thanagarian in that ship. The two deceased will have to be brought with us. Where are we taking them? Metro or Watch?"
John flew up beside them. "Take them to the Watchtower," he said. "We can keep them out of sight until we know what to do with them."
"Watchtower it is," Superman agreed.
Shayera turned back to the Tomar. "You speak galactic standard?"
"Yes," he said in the intergalactic trading language, that the leaguer's communicators could translate.
"Excellent. We're taking you to the Watchtower. We can discuss things further, up there."
Watchtower II
Earth Orbit
01:56 – Station Time (Eastern Standard Time)
March 13, 2007
The founders were all sat in the conference room. All except Batman and Flash, who had both not answered their communicators.
Lrek Tomar sat with them, his arms folded over his armoured chest.
"So," Lantern began. "How exactly did you come into possession of a Psion ship?"
"A long story. And it's a Citadel ship, not a Psion ship. I was hired to go after Ryand'r, who had gone after his sister, Koriand'r, who was in the hands of the Citadel."
"The Citadel and the planet Tamaran are enemies," John told the others.
"How did she get captured?" Diana questioned.
"Koriand'r was given to the Citadel in exchange for peace, by her father," Tomar revealed.
"Her own father gave her to their enemy?" Superman asked in surprise. "What kind of father would do something like that?"
"He believed it was the only way. Her brother, Ryand'r was with an organisation not unlike the league, called the Omega Men. He was training to become one of their warriors. He didn't find out what had happened for nearly four years when he was home for a visit. When he discovered what his father had done, he set off to find her. I was hired by the father months after that, to find and retrieve him. Part of the agreement was I had to take one of their best warriors with me. That was the Tamaranean that died."
"And somehow the Psions got a-hold of the two of them?" Shayera asked.
He clenched his jaw, before answering, not looking at her as he did so, "Somehow, yes. Whether the Citadel gave her to them, or they took her, I'm not sure. What I do know, is that the trail for Ryand'r went cold. It turned out, he had located her to the Psoins, and had been captured himself."
"And you rescued them," Superman said.
"After nearly three months of planning, we found a way in. We stole a Citadel ship and was able to go in unmolested, using their own codes. I lost my partner in the process of escaping, unfortunately."
"What about their powers?" Wonder Woman asked.
"That was due to experimentation by the Psions. Tamaraneans can naturally convert ultraviolet radiation into energy. This ability is what gives them natural flight and great strength."
"Similar to me," Superman observed. "But mine is yellow sunlight."
"Koriand'r's ability to form green plasma energy, was due to experimentation from the Psions. Same with Ryand'r's ability to generate waves of extreme heat."
"We should probably keep an eye on them," Lantern said. "Who knows what else they did to them."
Shayera webbed her fingers together. "You said you were hired. Are you a mercenary?"
He glared at her. "Most Thanagarians are mercenaries now," he said heatedly. "No thanks to you."
"She was only asking a question," Diana said.
"Sorry. I guess being in the same room as the one responsible for the loss of Thanagar is starting to aggravate me."
John folded his arms. "Try to remember what planet we're in orbit of right now. She helped save billions down there. Not only that, but the extinction of trillions of species. All of which the Thanagarians wanted to destroy. In our eyes, what you tried to do to us, was no better than what the Gordanians did to you."
Tomar's brow creased his eyes narrowing in cold fury. "To save this world, she might have doomed several others."
"What do you mean?" Superman asked.
"They will not stop at my world. They have been emboldened by our defeat, and seek more to conquer, to destroy." He looked at his fellow Thanagarian. "Your duty was to you world, regardless of any feelings you might have felt towards this one. You had sworn yourself to the Thanagarian military. You had no right to do what you did."
"Of course I had the right!" she said, slamming her fist hard down on the table top, causing Superman to jump in surprise.
"You think you did," Tomar retorted, "but you were duty bound. You should be executed!" he spat at her.
"This planet would be gone right now if I'd followed orders blindly. Killing to save one's own skin isn't what I'd call just, or right, and I certainly wouldn't call anyone who advocated for those things it. I'd call them sick. A coward, who would selfishly sacrifice others. Even if there was no other way, genocide is never an answer. It's only the answer for the twisted, for evil people who are disturbed in the head."
"You dare to say those things," he said, struggling to maintain his composure.
"Yeah, I do dare," she said. "I couldn't let this planet be destroyed. Even if it risked the world of my birth. John is right. It made us no better than the Gordanians."
J'onn raised his hands, sensing that the two might soon come to blows. "We are not here to discuss what happened years ago. We are here to talk about how and why you are here."
"And I've told you," Tomar said, more calmly.
"The question," Superman began, "is what will you do now?"
"Buy a ship and get out of this system," he said. "As quickly as possible, and deliver the two to their homeworld."
The others exchanged glances at one another.
"There aren't any ships you can buy here," Lantern told him.
"Because I'm Thanagarian?" he questioned.
"No, because Earth isn't a space fairing world," Superman explained.
Tomar looked shocked. "You're telling me that my people were driven off this world, by primitives that don't even have interstellar space-flight?"
"Afraid so," Superman told him.
"No wonder the Gordanians beat us. We can't even deal with a backwater world-bound culture." He leaned back. "So, we're trapped here?"
"No," Lantern told him. "We have ships that can travel through interstellar space."
"I thought you said you didn't?"
"The planet doesn't, but the league does," J'onn explained. "We have shuttles known as Javelins, which can make the journey."
Tomar nodded. "Acceptable."
"It will be a few days till we can schedule a departure," J'onn told him. "We have an induction of new members that have to be dealt with first. Once that is done, we will then have as much time as we need to plan out the safest route to the Vega system."
"I suppose it will do," he said with a slight nod.
Lantern's brow raised. "It'll have to. I can help map out the best route to Tamaran. I obviously won't be taking you though. The GL Corps can't enter that system."
"I can take myself," Tomar assured them.
"You're not having one of our Javelins," Shayera told him firmly.
Tomar glared at her but otherwise said nothing.
"We will send a pilot and a few others with you," J'onn said. "The details can be worked out later. For now, I believe we have said all that needs to be said. I suggest Mister Tomar, that you get some rest. We have a room assigned to you."
"What about the two Tamaraneans?"
"We have issued them a shared space so that they are not separated," J'onn told him. "They seem content for now."
"I'll have to talk to them before I go to my room. Tell them the situation."
"Understood," J'onn acknowledged. "You may go."
Tomar rose up and left the room. The remaining five was silent for a moment.
J'onn spoke up, "I am monitoring the Tamaranean's discussions, in order to try and isolate their language."
John leaned forwards. "Tomar said Ryand'r is a member of the Omega Men. I know of them, and it's probable he knows the galactic standard. Or rather, he should."
"Then why not try and communicate?" Superman asked. "Our communicators would have been able to translate that, and we'd have avoided a fight."
"Possible that the Psion's experiments made him forget," John suggested, thinking out loud, more than making an actual hypothesis. "All I know is that the Psions have done some of their 'business' outside of their home system. It wasn't pretty. The two might be confused, disoriented over what's happened."
"Then we keep a close eye on them," Shayera said. Her eyes locked onto John's for a moment, before the two both looked away.
"Don't worry," J'onn told her, "we are."
Superman stood up. "Well, it's late. I have to get up early tomorrow, got a day-job after-all."
"Then we are adjourned," J'onn said.
The rest of them rose up and filed out of the room.
Updated December 2017