Chapter Seventeen

Javelin-S4

Watchtower II Approach

20:18 - Station Time (EST)

March 14, 2007

They all stared out of the window as the mass of enemy shuttles flew towards the Watchtower. What was even more frightening was part of the upper ring had sheered off and a debris field was forming around the upper part of the station.

"It's like something outta Star Wars," Speedy commented.

"No kiddin'" Green Arrow agreed.

Black Canary glanced at Arrow. "Focus on the controls, we're on final approach."

A group of five enemy shuttles altered course and began to head towards them, their weapons charging in an attempt to cut them off.

"Incoming shuttles," Canary told Arrow.

"ETA?" Arrow asked.

"Forty seconds at their current acceleration. Our ETA to the Watchtower is two minutes, current speed."

"Putting on the burn," Arrow said. "We'll outrun 'em."

"Let's hope we can slow down again before we crash into the station," Speedy said.

"They're opening fire," Canary said, her eyes wide.

The Javelin shook from the impacts. Green Arrow began evasive action, hoping to avoid the incoming fire. Explosions erupted around them, causing Booster Gold to clutch onto his small robot companion Skeets tightly.

Then Booster began to scream as the Javelin was struck by a direct hit. The craft jolted hard from the impact, causing everyone to be thrown around in their harnesses.

"Lost all control!" Arrow shouted. "I can't slow us down."

Canary pointed forward at the fast approaching Watchtower. "We're coming into hangar bay 2 too fast."

"I'm trying to slow us down," Arrow said. "She's not responding."

Speedy held tightly onto his seat. "Great, just fantastic," he said sarcastically.

"Ten seconds and we'll be in the Javelin bay. Or rather through it," Canary said.

"I can't do anything, Dinah," Arrow said, fear edging its way into his voice.

With no other option, Argo unbuckled her harness and flew quickly to the rear of the shuttle and began to push on it, hoping that it would slow them down. While she knew she would survive such the crash, no one else would and she couldn't let them be killed, not like this.

She gritted her teeth as the rear wall began to buckle.

"We're slowing down," Arrow said. "Good work Kara."

"We're in the bay already," Canary said hotly.

"And we're gonna hit the back wall!" Speedy shouted out, bracing himself.

"I shoulda stayed at home," Booster Gold complained.

The Javelin struck the wall hard. There was a horrible tearing sound, just before the cabin began to decompress.

"That isn't good," Zatanna said.

"Can you do something?" Arrow asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um, I could try; Laes chaerb!"

The sound of escaping air stopped.

"That won't last long," Zatanna warned.

"Doesn't have to."

"Hang on," Speedy began. "I thought the bays used a forcefield and always had an atmosphere?"

"Must be offline," Arrow said. "They're probably going to have to seal the door and re-pressurise the whole bay instead."

Kara made her way forward. "Let's hope they hurry."

Canary looked at the readout on her panel. "I don't think we have to wait long at all. I think the last Javelin just entered the bay."

Arrow held his hand to his ear. "Javelin-S4 to hangar bay control. We're at risk of losing atmosphere. Can you get the doors closed?"

Arrow nodded to what he heard on the other side of the comlink. "They're pressurising," he told the others.

"Once the pressure's up, we need to get out of the bay as quickly as possible," Kara suggested. "Before the attackers decide to start shooting the main door. It will be their target to get rid of as many of us in one go as possible."

"Pressure's stabilised," Canary reported.

"Let's go!" Arrow said, as everyone who was still in their seats unbuckled and headed for the exit.

They climbed out of the shuttle, as were others from the other shuttle, including Steel and Flash. They all headed to the internal airlocks that ran along the back wall that lead out of the hangar bay.

Before they made it through, however, an energy beam sliced through the main door. Immediately, the bay began to decompress.

Thinking quickly, Kara flew back to the smashed up Javelin and using her strength, peeled the top of it open like a sardine can. She then made her way over to the damaged bay door and pushed it against it, using her heat vision to weld the piece of Javelin hull to the door, effectively sealing the breach.

She turned around to the others. "Go, quickly, before they decide to blow another hole in the door!"

They quickly left the room, Kara following soon afterwards. Just as she reached the door, another energy beam tore through the main hangar door, once again causing decompression. She pushed forward through the airlock into the hallway, the pressure door sealing behind her.

"That was close," Arrow said, slightly out of breath.

"Too close," Zatanna amended. "Who are they and why are they attacking?"

"I don't know," Steel said. "Whoever they are, they were blocking communications between the Metro and Watchtower. J'onn's down there now trying to sort it all out.

"We'll find out soon, though, I'm sure of it," Flash said.

"We need to stop talking and move," Canary urged the others.

They all agreed and headed off down the corridor.

20:22 – Station Time (EST)

Terrific was monitoring the Gordanian shuttles as they began to attach themselves to the hull of the station. He wished they were using the airlocks as that would be easier to defend against, but they were instead starting to cut through the hull.

He hit the intercom. "Everyone, the Gordanians are cutting through. We'll have hostiles on board in a matter of minutes."

They really wanted the two Tamaraneans for some reason. He was really interested in finding out what that reason was. At a guess it was the two Tamaraneans they had on the station. But why? Sure they were supposedly alien royalty but still, from what he understood Koriand'r had essentially been stripped of her title and given up to The Citadel for peace or something.

Terrific checked the readout on his board. The enemy would soon be boarding and the fight would truly begin.

"I hope everyone's with their teams," Terrific said over the line.

He received twelve affirmations, which meant everyone was ready to repel the Gordanians.

20:24 – Station Time (EST)

Nightwing hadn't signed up for this. He had never really dealt with aliens before. Sure, when the Thanagarians had invaded, he, Tim and Barbara had been developing a plan to fight them, but they had been driven off-world before they'd had a chance to implement it.

Later, through Barbara, he had learned that Supergirl had fought them in Metropolis, but because of the information that had been given by Shayera, or 'Hawkgirl' they had been able to drive her off. She was after all, very similar to Superman in powers and abilities and the same tactics they developed for the Man of Steel had worked on her.

Right now he was in a group of five called Team Ida. Every team used the Western Union phonetic alphabet. Superman was in charge of the first team, or Team Adams. Team Boston was being led by Wonder Woman, Team Chicago by Green Lantern, Team Denver by Shayera, Team Easy was lead by Flash, Team Frank by Black Canary, Team George by Orion, Team Henry lead by Pat Dugan aka S.T.R.I.P.E, Team John was lead by Steel, Team King by Aztek and Team Lincoln by Big Barda. He was in Team Ida, lead by Captain Atom.

The Captain was somewhat of a mystery to him, though that wasn't saying much, because almost everyone else in the league was as well.

Second to the Captain in their team was Metamorpho, a large albino man that was apparently a friend to John Stewart and some kind of shapeshifter.

Then there was Crimson Fox. He didn't know much about the cobra-themed hero other than she had a French accent and that her powers were related to pheromones. Nightwing hated pheromone powers. They were nothing but trouble. The fourth and finally was Zatanna, who had only just arrived on the station. He both knew and trusted her. At least more than the others present.

"The enemy is cutting through the hull," Captain Atom warned.

Nightwing checked his oxygen mask that hung around his neck. They had all been issued them in the event the pressure dropped too low due to a leakage of atmosphere that was sure to happen once the outer hull of the station had been cut into several times.

He pulled a Birdarang from his utility belt, which he had forgone for a number of years and prepared it with a press of a button, the wings folding out.

He was ready for what was about to come, or at least as ready as he could be. He had no information on the Gordanians, their fighting style or strength. But that wasn't truly an issue for him. Sure, he would prefer to know everything, however, every night he went up against strangers that he knew nothing about. Some of them even put up a decent fight.

There was a deep rumble as a circular chunk of wall crashed to the deck. Not a moment later the alien creatures began rushing in.

The moment Captain Atom had given the order, Nightwing's Birdarang was flying through the air. It struck the ground and exploded, powerful enough to stall them, even knocking a few of them back.

That's when they charged. Crimson Fox was the first there, moving surprisingly fast, slashing at the nearest Gordanian with the steel talons on her gloves that he hadn't noticed before.

Nightwing was next in. His opponent tried to bash him with a heavy mace, but he easily dodged it, throwing a punch into the green alien's face. That's when another Gordanian took a swing at him. He dodged, then disarmed the creature, taking its weapon for himself.

He dodged as another fired an energy beam out of some kind of weapon that looked like a tube. Nightwing struck his immediate opponent, causing the creature to stumble.

He then slipped around he opponent as the Gordanian with the energy weapon fired another shot. The bolt flew right past him, striking the Gordanian Zatanna was fighting.

Captain Atom easily took three out almost at once, knocking two unconscious and driving the third into the wall. It was dazed but still conscious.

Nightwing dodged a strike, then using his acquired weapon, he knocked his opponent to the ground, before following through and hitting another in the gut. A Gordanian got in a lucky shot, striking him in the side of the head and knocking him off of his feet.

He used his momentum and rolled right back, blocking a second strike, before returning the favour. He ducked as a Gordanian struck by Captain Atom sailed over his head. It bowled over a group of the green aliens that were rushing in to join the fight, giving them leeway to finish off their current opponents.

20:26 – Station Time (EST)

Argo punched a Gordanian in the face, easily knocking him right over into two of his comrades. While she was holding back, the leader of their group Big Barda wasn't.

The New God was smashing her way through the enemy, using her gold-coloured rod as a bludgeon, nearly taking the heads off several of the green aliens.

Out of Mister Miracle, Vixen and herself, Barda had easily taken out the most.

On the other side of the scale was Miracle. He was the weak link in the team. Not because he wasn't trying, more that Barda was clearly protecting him, essentially fighting both of their battles and stopping him from being an effective team member.

The Gordanians didn't quite know what to make of Vixen. She was able to change her fighting styles quite quickly thanks to her totem. One minute she was using speed, the next she had the power of an elephant, smashing her way through them.

Argo continued to hold back.

She had always held back. She could count on her fingers the number of times she had actually gone all out on an enemy. It was rare and it was for a reason.

One of them shot her with their energy rod, causing pain to shoot through her shoulder where it had struck. She responded by melting it with her heat vision, before dodging a strike from a spiked flail mace, though she wasn't quite sure why she bothered. The chances were it would break if it hit her, though there was always the chance it would hurt so she thought it best to just move out of the way.

As another of the alien lizards went to strike her with a sword, she moved her hand up striking the blade along the flat edge, easily splitting it in two. She then struck him on the chin, sending the green alien sailing into the air, before coming back down, knocking several of his comrades to the deck.

Just as they were getting back up, Vixen ran through them with the power of an elephant, knocking them and others off their feet.

At this rate, the Gordanians wouldn't last long.

20:27 – Station Time (EST)

"She's crazy," The Ray said as Shayera swung her mace wildly, smashing Gordanians left and right.

Red Tornado, Shining Knight, and The Ray, while trying their best, could not deny that she was practically fighting them off all by herself.

"Her actions are making us a less effective team," Red Tornado said in his calm, robotic synthesised voice.

"The red-haired maiden seems to hast a bone to pick with these foul demon creatures," Shining Knight uttered, as he and his winged horse Victory flew in the large bay overhead. He blocked an attack with his shield, before knocking the Gordanian's weapon free of its grip using his sword.

"Shut up and fight!" Shayera shouted back at them as she bashed another around the head, denting its helmet. We can't let them past us. We stop them at the breach."

"Doth not worry warrior maiden. They shan't get past us," Knight, Sir Justin proclaimed.

"I'd just like to get a chance to do more," The Ray complained as he fired a beam of light energy at a stray Gordanian, knocking it back.

"Then do more!" Shayera said. "And stop complaining."

The Ray blasted a Gordanian in the face that Shayera was about to strike, knocking it away.

"He was mine, find your own targets!" Shayera shouted at him.

"That's kinda hard when you've picked all of them as yours."

"Stop complaining and just fight."

The Ray didn't respond. He decided to simply focus on whoever the former Hawkgirl missed.

20:28 – Station Time (EST)

Flash was playing with them. He had waited till they were all on deck, their weapons out before making his move.

He rushed into the enemy lines in a red blur, then seemed to vanish. The Gordanians stood confused for a moment before they all realised their weapons were no longer in their hands.

Flash suddenly appeared in front of Vibe and Sand with a smirk on his face.

"Lost something?" he asked rhetorically, the weapons now in a pile behind them.

"You stopped playing now Flash?" Sand asked the group leader.

"Sure," Flash said. "Let's go get 'em."

The three of them rushed forwards.

Flash was first into the fray. He clotheslined one of the aliens, knocking it down onto its back, then in an instant was zipping around two, disorientating them, causing them to stumble and fall over.

Vibe sent out powerful sonic shock waves that knocked the now unarmed to the floor.

Sand was less effective as he was cut off from the Earth, but he was still able to use his abilities to shift form to a more sand-like material to avoid attacks and then hit back hard.

The team of three held back the invaders quite easily

20:29 – Station Time (EST)

Wonder Woman's Team Boston found the Gordanians not to be particularly tough, though Diana suspected that their strength lay in their numbers. If they got past them and managed to start joining with other invading groups, they would become very difficult to deal with.

She had split her team into two's except for herself, who stood alone. Hawk and Dove were the obvious duo and Fire and Ice's powers were strangely complimentary. Attacking a single target with a combination of both heat and ice caused some of the alien's weapons and armour to crack or in some cases even shatter.

Wonder Woman was just happy punching them and using her lasso to rip the weapons out of their hands.

It was evident that the Gordanians hadn't anticipated such strong resistance. That was a mistake that would cost them dearly.

20:30 – Station Time (EST)

Unlike the other teams, Team Chicago, or Green Lantern's team which consisted of him, Starman and Doctor Light were outside the Watchtower, stopping any more of the alien shuttles from leeching themselves onto the station's hull.

Starman and Light damaged their engines while Lantern used his ring to throw them back to whichever ship they had come from.

There were so many, however, that it was impossible to get them all. Some invariably managed to dock and begin cutting through the hull before anything could be done to stop them.

Most of them didn't get that chance before their shuttles were disabled and sent back. It was tough work, but the three were managing to keep mostly on top of it.

20:32 – Station Time (EST)

"We're leaving," Lrek Tomar said in Tamaranean, to the two orange-skinned aliens.

"How?" Ryand'r asked. "They're not going to let us just take one of their ships."

"They're busy fighting," Lrek told them. "And I and the Green Lantern were planning out a route back. I think we're more than ready. We can sneak in get a ship and get to Tamaran. There's nothing they can do, we'll be out of this system before they realise we're gone."

"What about the Gordanians?" Ryand'r questioned.

"They want us," Koriand'r said fiercely. "That's why they're here."

"How do you know that?" Ryand'r asked, confused.

"I just do." She had spent some time in the company of Gordanians before she had ended up in the hands of the Psions. She had been nothing more than a slave and she had no intention of letting that happen again. Yet she knew them. She knew that if they left for Tamaran that while the Gordanians would pursue, they would return here to this planet Earth and they would seek to conquer it and enslave the population.

She had no intention of just running away. Firstly, it wasn't really in her nature and secondly, she didn't want to return to the Vega System. Her parents had willingly given her up for a sense of security and peace. They had essentially given her up as a slave and she never wanted to go back.

"We should stay and fight," she told the others.

"Really?" Lrek asked surprised. "What about your brother? The Psions made him lose the ability to absorb new languages and made him forget the ones he had already learned except his own. We need to get him home to see if anything can be done."

"Don't lie!" Koriand'r snapped. "You don't care about his welfare!" she accused. "You just want to run away."

Lrek became furious. "Listen, little girl. I've fought the Gordanians and it isn't something to be taken lightly."

"I've been their slave. I managed to escape. I know what they're like"

"Didn't do you much good, did it," Lrek commented. "You fell right into the hands of the Psions. From one cell right into another."

"You are just a coward!" Koriand'r accused.

"Fine!" Lrek yelled at her. "Stay. I plan on getting out of here."

Ryand'r moved over to his sister. "We can't stay, you know that. We have to leave. Return home to our own world."

"Why?" Koriand'r questioned honestly. "So I can be sold back into slavery?"

"You weren't sold. It was a mistake, they know that now."

"I Don't care. I'm staying here."

"Just leave her," Lrek said.

"I'm not leaving my sister."

"In that case, I'm going without you."

"What about your reward for finding us."

"Not worth fighting the Gordanians over. I've already lost a comrade getting you out of the Psion's hands. I'm not throwing my life away too. Stay here and die for all I care. These primitives won't be able to defeat a Gordanian fleet, even if it is a small one. Unlike my kind, they won't show Earth any mercy. If they can't have it, they will destroy it."

Lrek left, heading for the hangar bay. Ryand'r looked to his sister. "When this is over we need to talk. You can't honestly be serious about staying here."

"I am."

"You know nothing about these people or their customs. How could you want to stay here?"

"Why would I want to go back to Tamaran?"

"Because it's your home."

"Go home just for them to give me back to the Citadel?"

"They won't do that. They learned their lesson."

"I don't care if they have or not. I'm not going back there."

"You're not staying. This planet is primitive and unsafe."

"Unsafe? They could have just given me up to the Gordanians like our parents gave me up to the Citadel. But they're fighting instead."

Ryand'r didn't say anything. He just looked away.

"I'm going to help them fight," she said, as she floated towards the door.

"Is that a good idea?" he asked his sister.

"I do not know. But I want to help them." The door slid open and she looked back at him. "Are you coming?"

He looked at her for several moments, unsure whether to join her. Finally, he made his decision and flew to her. "I'm coming."

He just hoped this wasn't a mistake.

Updated December 2017