[04.13: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantage over large competitors]

[Inter-dimensional trucking…]

--

[Trader's Journal: Day 902]

[Current Dimension]

Justice Alliance Earth-02 [Superhero Earth]

[Current Location]

Aboard the Fortune's Chance

[Trading Report – Taking on Stores]

Restocked conventional missile stores.

Took onboard extra cabling, power converters, generators into stores.

Filled Cargo Holds with foodstuffs for Home Base & for the Station.

We did some fairly basic trading, nothing major outside the basics to feed people back on Home Base, to fuel the recolonization, and we drew down on our bank reserves here to do that. We still have a decent balance, and we're setting up Corporate Offices under Deborah {hero world Deborah} under her civilian guise, not as under the Crimson Crow. I'm inclined to trust the four staff we've assigned, and really, it's better than the situation without doing anything as both Kara and Quinn agreed.

[Diary Entry]

Something of a route change, but it's worked out for us I think. We've arrived in the superhero, well their both superhero run now I guess, Justice Alliance world and taken on supplies. Taking on stores to return home with, and just talk shop on how things are going on former Villain world – to answer, Good and Not Good. Good in that most supervillains are dead, captured, or lying low. Bad in that it's taking a major effort from four superhero dimensions to start stabilising the place, in the long run I mean. Right now it's all the fear and paranoia that one would expect from various world governments where things just got revealed and trust completely collapsed not too long ago.

Our resident guest just got joined by Ellie Eleven, the hero one since our Ellie is back on Home Base studying, to take care of White Sorceress – though rein in the annoyingly chipper mage is more what I see it as. Good to have another magic user, and two more technicians, aboard for our voyages now we've left a number of people behind on the Freeport station. Thankfully it's only a quick stay, three days in total, as we've to get to Home Base with our deliveries, take on material goods to trade and give to the station, and then plan out our next set of moves. That and none of us really want to get too focused on the Monitor's multiverse war outside of allied auxiliaries, we want to help of course, but not become soldiers in it as we've the Kromaggs as trouble enough already.

Me, well, I want to spend some time doing research and study, along with alchemy and artifice, which is much easier without the constant distraction of having to focus on months of construction. Delegation than is the key here, along with Investment, so it's been a matter of finding trustworthy people, signing contracts, and then hoping it grows in the future. Eggs in many baskets rather than one, and our current crew wouldn't be the best to stand idle lets say – as most signed on to see the multiverse, with those not having that interest favouring Home Base's Arcane University, or now Freeport in the Bleed.

In that regards, I'm inclined towards seeking out magical knowledge or even attempting to risk the Phlogiston and seek out magically active worlds. I've been studying certain artefacts, and I've got ideas, but I'd need power sources for that to test out in experimental stages. Don't want to damage that green ring for instance on a larger scale test and discover I'd fucked up half-way through. I could risk bringing in Zee and the others, but I'd rather do that much further down the line, when I'm more advanced in my plans, and we're near the Guardians of Oa who might object. Understandable of course, since they are a Dimensional Barrier themselves, but people I'd avoid annoying till the Ring is done.

--

[Trader's Journal: Day 917]

[Current Dimension]

Home Base Earth-02

[Current Location]

Trim Castle, resting while the ship is fitted out

[Trading Report – We're a cruise line temporarily]

Sold the majority of our food-stores, invested much of the funds into the Arcane University and Academy of Interdimensional Sciences under Other-Quinn. We also somewhat replaced our expended munitions in the form of twenty-four mini-nukes, and four nuclear cruise missiles. All repairs completed to the Power Armour and we've replaced the damaged/destroyed robots from the Fallout dimension.

Our primary job, the one paying well, is the transportation of a large 'science and security' team from here to Freeport-in-the-Bleed, along with construction material and hazard materials suits. Materials are from salvaging Empty Earth Home Base, and all we have to do is bring them to the Station, unload, and then we've another mission to start. Namely explore along the chain of Earth's the Other-Quinn and company came along, while also inserting a scout team to a, still to be designed, target world with a one-way recall Slide Drive. Not back to her obviously, but an empty Earth that has an extended chain back a designed meet spot.

[Diary Entry]

So, yeah, they want us to scout out 'nearby' Slide Dimensions, largely to see how 'close' the Kromaggs are to Earth after we drop off our large science team to the Station. This is all very hastily organised in my view, the team we're delivering being originally organised for Fallout Earth but now for the station, and the insertion teams in planning since after we first arrived. I can't disagree that scouting is vital, as hiding heads in the sand won't make the danger go away, but it's still a risk. Now we've been handed a Letter of Marque to engage the cannibal psionic cave-men, and to raid and find out their weaknesses, or how likely are they to attack Home Base.

Move fast baby, don't be slow. Well, silently and invisibly too, and we'll have another look at the Manta's we left on Mars in that dimension to see if they are still there, or was there a response on the drone footage. I expect the Monitor will want to know something too, as I know the UN and US of Kara's DC-Earth certainly had a lot of interest. This is, well, I'm uncertain as I don't want to get involved in someone else's war, but the crew are behind it, and it's, in-theory, less dangerous than trying to seek out those enemies that attacked Nil. Helps that the Kromags don't have FTL to our knowledge, hell they shouldn't have space travel if we're lucky. That and they are the *primary* threat to our Home Base holdings, and while great progress is being made it's not going to safe, outside the crude slide-cages, for many years.

So, been a very busy few days in negotiations. Can't avoid it, and I'm exhausted, as is my Kara, and it's funny how being 'at sea' tends to be the 'fun' and 'relaxing' part even if lack of Barbara is increasing our workload while do that. Debbie is looking to be a possible addition to the bridge in that, magically skilled, and she's mentally in a better place now, so can actually navigate the ship in 'safe waters' with a little training. I don't like relying entirely on any one system, or one point of failure in me or Zee.

That means we're gearing up for a minimum of a six-month voyage, and we've retained food stocks for that at the price of selling less than planned due to needing to supply the Station. Still sales, and we've brough in Mead, Meat, some other general supplies, from Skyrim as well that we got ahead of the locals here. No trip over this time, nor crew from there, but I've been told they are going to do an expedition in a few months, most likely a year, once they've organised a team of mages and trained guards for them. They, after all, don't want to get involved in any potential war between the League of Aquitaine and the Kromagg Empire; - which is perfectly reasonable in their point of view I feel. For now, I need rest. Slán.

--

[Trader's Journal: Day 928]

[Current Dimension]

The Bleed, DC-verse

[Current Location]

Fortune's Chance, Freeport-in-the-Bleed

[Trading Report – Preparing to a Wiking]

Got here fast, 'Bleed Tides' with us as they say. Just finished unloading all supplies, along with all the staff assigned to restoring this facility, along with all the furniture and food they need for many months. Holds are now empty, outside precious metals, rare minerals, and various things we might sell. We also supplied the cables, generators, and such to the Station, with enough kept onboard for our own purposes if we need to lie low on Mars or a non-Earth planet for a few weeks. Just in case it's a concern while entering Kromagg space or need to enter a dimension on foot by planar means and we need a Forward Operating Base.

[Diary Entry]

Crews ready, I'm ready, Kara's ready, and Quinn's eager to get going, so on we go. We've got a small special forces team to insert to chosen 'slide' coordinates, along with a mission to explore and buccaneer. Yar, we be privateers in the name of the Republics of Ireland, France, and Germany! Yar, Har, Fiddley-dee!

But, in all seriousness, we've taken every precaution, planned out as best we can, and we're ready to start the expedition from a Bleed exit, then a Planar one, into a targeted Earth, from the outer solar system. Energy-intensive I'll admit, but we've repowered and refuelled the drives from the Monitor's restoring the Station's docks and magical empowering the reality bubble. Ideally we do not want to get noticed anywhere 'close' to Home Base, as speed, stealth, and confusion are our allies against a multi-dimensional empire. This is an area we don't want to make mistakes in.

So, that's the plan, they onward to the new frontier beyond that hopefully. Now I must go and give a speech with the rest of my triumvirate and get the ball rolling.

--

[04.14: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[Running hot, running silent…]

Our starting point was a dead world, a dead earth, long since consumed in ice millennia past. Entering by means of the Bleed Drive, guided by the Arcane, we had arrived into a howling blizzard the long way round, then upwards into the starry heavens above with the thrust of the engines of the Fortune's Chance. All so we could fly out to Jupiter, to 'hide' near the planet as we triggered the Slide Drive and powered forward into the shimmer portal into another dimension. A slow way to do things I'll admit as the dimensional coordinates ripped from the Kromagg Mantas drives many moons ago were put to use and we arrived at the 'edge' of their dimensional advance.

"So, how are we looking?" I asked as I came back to the bridge, taking my seat as the holographic displays and screens display the observations of the Earth we were drawing near under cloak, along with the feed from the Monitor drones we'd deployed "Got an idea of what's going on with this particular Earth?"

"It's not a very nice place Boss" Brewster replied as I took over my shift from Quinn as the Sunnydale girl sent the data to my console "But it is human-run, we guessed that right"

I frowned as I read through the signal intercepts "Wow…is anyone down there not a dictatorship?"

"Doesn't look like it Callum…" Quinn replied with a snort "…and we're best not getting too close planet-side as…"

"Lots of satellites?" I muttered as he trailed off as he brought up a global display "Hmmm, well that does explain the high threat rating…or what we have to assume was a high threat rating…on the Kromaggs systems…" and thank the Boss it was based heavily on Other-Quinn's Slide Drive data "…but I think any ideas of allies just fell through"

"Uh-huh, which do you want the United Slaveholders of America, the Han Purity Bloc I think is the name, the N'Zulu-Afrikaans Imperial Union, of Nazi Nuke dropping Gandhi? It's like choosing between poisons" he muttered back, the sentiment cleared shared by the others on the bridge as, well, the last one wasn't called that, but…well it was Gandhi, of a sort, and he had nuked must of the Middle East and Europe. It was understandable that the Kromaggs were wary of this particular dimension as it was a testament to the Will, the monstrous, monstrous, Will of Humanity in a nightmarish, heavily militarised, dystopia. I sighed, putting aside the summary and shaking my head.

"Not an auspicious start to our expedition eh?"

"Eh, we don't need to stop for supplies anyway, I say we just head back to Jupiter and head to the next dimension. This place is heavily armed in space, and spy equipment everywhere…we'd never easily slip in and do the merchant ship thing, and I don't think it helps us any either way"

I nodded after a moment "Yeah, I tend to agree with you. Kara's still asleep, so she'll be up in a few hours so we'll continue taking long distance surveys and intercepts and then make it unanimous hopefully amongst our trio. Best gather what data we can on the worlds on this….chain?...so we know what to expect, or avoid in the future"

We'd come on a 'distant' world to Home Base, via the Slide Drive anyway, as the maths were…far out in terms of 'distance' relative to jumps as Quinn had explained it to me. In my head we'd sailed out in the deep ocean of the Arcane to get around here, and were now in the 'shallows' as there seemed to be, frankly weird, travel distance and 'slides' with the drive. But, then again, all dimensional travel was 'weird' like that, so I could hardly complain about it. On the bright side using the Kromaggs own tech tracking us would lead onto the 'wrong' chain to get tom Home Base…just as we wanted, in the end, should we fuck up. I took up the data-pad, gesturing at Brewster and Rose.

"Okay, let's see can we safely get a peek at that hardware near the moon. It looks to have no power readings, so a fly-by scan lads and lassies…"

--

{…man's blind indifference to his fellow man!)

"And everyone's dead Dave" I muttered to myself as I gazed down at the Earth below that was very much dead as a doornail, nuclear winter everywhere, then sighed "Well, I guess that's why the Maggs didn't go after nasty dictator Earth"

Kara made a disgusted face "They blew up the planet?"

I was still reading the data intercepts from the satellites we'd taken aboard, all being about a decade or more behind the ones we'd spotted about three Earth's back down the chain "No, humanity blew up the planet I think reading the last sets of logs on these come satellites. Bunch of racist bastards this lot might have been, but United By The Power of Hate at the end as they found someone else to be racist against at the end. It's pretty incomplete but with all the battered wrecks of Kromagg equipment down there, in what's not nuked anyway, says to me boom-boom the invasion force went at the end"

"You think anyone's alive down there?"

I shook my head at Kara's question, though she seemed to already knew the answer "Pretty sure Not-India had a doomsday weapon as…part of the planet's in space and atmosphere is complete and utterly fucked. What exactly happened we can't say, but there's…it's depressing really. Second dead Earth in a row, similar histories I'd reckon, but that's only a guess to be honest"

Quinn nodded pointing at two active energy sources in low orbit "That and the Kromaggs left, pretty crap to be honest, satellites in orbit"

Kara studied them a moment "Most of the stuff is human, just…seems to have a slide drive and a power core maybe?"

"It was probably launched in another, close, dimension and then brought over…" Quinn speculated as the two adjusted the holo-displays "…probably from someone's captured space program since, on the outside, it looks like a different design than the local stuff. If we could…"

"Which would tip them off to our presence, so no to that"

Kara nodded "Yeah I agree with Cal, Q, those things might have some bug out feature on them to give warning to evil nazi cavemen that we're on the way. Still terrible to see though"

"Tell me about it, Doctor Chen will have her work cut out for her if its all like this, or worse, along the way" I muttered then tapped some more of the debris "Right, I think we could probably take onboard these dead sats, look military, and see can we learn more without alerting these two sky eyes here and here. Then we'll head back to the outer sol coordinates so we can enter the next set of coordinates"

It did show the Kromaggs could be somewhat inclined towards thinking ahead as they'd set up a very basic 'picket' system to watch for…well, sliders or survivors with those sensor-sats in orbit, matching the one in each of the previous systems. We could, in-theory, salvage down below to find out more, but the destruction was very doomsday-ish, the destruction wide-spread, and I'd be wary of other tracking, or of armed survivors in bunkers we'd only draw attention to. Though that was very, VERY, doubtful as there wasn't a hint of surviving plant-life down there, and in a few decades or centuries, I was sure it'd be one giant ice-ball, or another version of Mars…just with lots of radiation…

--

(Enemy vessel sighted to starboard Cap'n!)

"Found a Kromagg world…" Zee greeted me as I entered the bridge with a yawn and a mug of coffee in my hand "…if you can call it that"

"Hmmm?"

"Only one a few active energy sources, looks like a large base…" she answered as the maps and holo-display showed ruined Earth below. This one though only had a few spots of 'everybody dies!' radiation and craters according to scans as she tapped a flashing icon, then bringing up long-range images "…and it's probably where the satellites are coming from in the other dimensions"

I frowned, studying the image closer "It's….a spaceport?"

"Hmm…more Cape Canaveral from the sixties than anything the League or the Martians use, but basically it is we think. They launch missiles here, then do the slide thing to the next reality"

"How do we know that?" I asked still only waking up really. Zee gave an awkward chuckle, then Quinn walked over to answer the question.

"Saw then launch one about two hours ago, so don't let her tell you it's here great detective skills at work"

Zee gave a sniff of annoyance, arms folding across her chest "I'm not Batman of course, but it seemed rather obvious to me, and for Callum to be told"

"Fair enough…" I murmured back sipping the strong coffee "…no trouble? They have sats in orbit?"

"A few…" Quinn came back with, shrugging but also showing the ones we'd spotted "…but they don't seem to have noticed us under the Cloak. Most all are aimed downwards, or in orbit to communicate I'd guess, so it's not too hard to avoid that notice"

I nodded after a moment "Hmm…hmm…yeah, that looks likely. We could try do a scouting run on…"

"Can I suggest something else?"

I shrugged in response to Quinn's worlds "Sure, go ahead?"

"Why don't we just…deal with their rocket launcher site?"

"Because we're trying to avoid attention?" I answerer cocking an eyebrow as he shook his head.

"Well, yeah, but I don't mean to let them know…or even do it now…destroying it now I mean" he retorted doing the hand gesturing think, this time as if throwing a ball or something to that effect "What we can do is grab one of the asteroids they can't see, do some calculations and then….send it on its merry way to blow up the place in a few months. We'll be long gone by then anyway"

I sipped my coffee, looking at Quinn as Zee gave him a dirty look, then I smiled "Yes, my Padawan, Yes, Dew It, Dew It! Rocks Fall, Kromaggs Die! I like this plan…"

--

[04.15: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[Plans, and rocks, are in motion…]

Another day, another ugly looking Earth it seemed like as we entered into another dimensional alternative from the Kromagg's damaged Mantas. The bright side was that they didn't seem to make use of any space ports here like on the Earth three slides back, and that made Quinn's idea to set an asteroid moving to knock that place out had been a good idea. This whole 'chain' of dimensions seemed to be….a Wild West of sorts, or maybe the Savage Frontier of the Kromagg's multi-dimensional Empire.

They were light on the ground beyond a few bases here and there, usually specific mining or maybe weapons testing facilities of some sort judging from the energy readings on our sensors. Since it'd be…about four months…till the large rock hit Not-Florida we shouldn't have given any warning in that regards to enemy about any problems at hand. That and it seemed that this Earth had been less advanced, prior to it's conquest, but it was still a mess in terms of destruction, along with shattered cities.

But, compared to the previous world's on the chain this one still had a decent number of humans on it…just clearly knocked back to the stone age. There were a few Kromagg bases down, but no cities left, and no real indication of much going on as humanity seemed to have been hammered back to a nomadic lifestyle…from what little we could see from the drone feed. There was also another issue at hand.

"You want to risk a scouting mission?"

Nathan made a so-so gesture with his hand "Less myself than Captain Williams, but I am inclined to agree that if we are to gather more information on the abilities of the Kromaggs then a scouting mission might be advisable. We could use the shuttles we acquired, land in any number of locations, and then scout forward as if locals. The fact there are humans below…"

I glanced at Kara who nodded "If we are spotted, well not the ship but the team, they won't be worried that we're anything but survivors resisting them. It might also give us a chance to see if we can talk to the locals, see what might be left"

"So, who is to go down?" I asked back as the general outline of a plan was laid out to me, and I generally agreed with Kara's and Quinn's support of it "We'll need a mage, and I can go…"

"Zatanna wants to go…" Kara replied as I read through the report from the former US soldier from Home Base that now worked for the French as he'd been married to a Frenchwoman or something. That and the Home Base alt-America was…a war-torn nightmarish mess that no sane person would want to live in right now "…so she's the wizard for keeping the shuttle invisible and if they need to break cover and run"

I gave her a suspicious look "And I'm guessing you want to go down"

"It's only logical" she retorted firmly, hands folding across her chest "I'm still very strong down there Callum, even if not proper strong, so if the going gets tough…"

'Which is why your conspiring with Zee as I'd try object if I went down with either of you' I thought unhappily, then sighed, rubbing at my forehead "Yeah, yeah, and you can fly too…just, just be careful Kara, you're not invincible down there either. The Kromaggs are dangerous, and those beam weapons of theirs will kill you if they hit you a few times"

"I will Callum, and you need to be careful when we bring the ship into the atmosphere"

I nodded "Aye, we'll stay cloaked obviously….so, grand gather your team, we'll meet in an hour and plan this out in more detail. By the end of the day we'll pick out a location that'll suit us and insert…"

--

[Trader's Journal: Day 954]

[Current Dimension]

56X-78RT-EXIU [Kromagg Slide Detail]

[Current Location]

Library, Fortune's Chance

[Trading Report]

Nothing obviously. Some recovery of some old, half-rotted books, seed and soil samples, and a few bits of salvage that won't make us anything even with magical restoration. Just background data for our employers down the line.

[Diary Entry]

Right, doing my studies, though this a break from that obviously. Kara led a mission down to the surface alongside Zatanna and our allies from the League of Aquitaine, in the shape of their special forces team, to scout around. Eight-hour mission and didn't reveal a whole lot in my opinion. At least in terms of what we didn't already know in my opinion; - though we do have pictures of a Kromagg base from a snipers position I'll admit. Oh, and a general idea of their patrolling patterns on a frontier world. Hint; their very lazy out on the backwards frontier as best we can tell.

Then again, they can afford to be I guess. Kara's team didn't encounter any people, by that I mean humans, but it was a fairly focused mission and the area around the Kromagg bases seem to have been aggressively cleared in previous years. Sensor scans indicate it's similar around the other few bases across the world, and this one was in what would be Krasnia in my Other-Me life. I'm confident they test weapons, or test recruits here, as we did see a 'patrol' leave the base down near Not-Ethiopia go out, shoot up some ruins of the city there, twice, then roll on back home. Maybe there were people there? Too far away to know, but I think it was just target practice?

Anyway, we have learned a bit about the modus operandi of the Kromaggs out here. Firstly there's about ten satellites in orbit, none from this dimension, and all of them human ones with Kromagg stuff tacked onto them in some way. This Earth was hit some time ago, like within two-three decades, which doesn't fully match with Quinn's, I Other-Quinn's view they got slide tech off an alternate Earth of him. No matter, they seem to use the satellites for basic watching and communications, probably slide-drive sensor sensors as well, but that's hard to check without risking detection. They certainly aren't using them to the same extent as a late twentieth century, or early twenty-first century, human earth would where the orbit is full of debris and different types of satellites.

Humanity, treating the majesty and danger of space like a garbage dump since the discovery of space flight!

But, that aside, we've done well so far, and looks like our stealth systems, magic and otherwise, stand up to their sensors good at range. Less so up close I'm sure as one of the sats started to turn in our direction when we drifted a bit too close to one in the last dimension and it started to be turned to where'd we'd been a short while afterwards. Potentially it's energy sensors, if it's seeking out slide-drive signatures on the planet below and nearby them an auto-adjust might be in play with them?

Kara and Quinn think so, and Isabel, The Mechanist, backs them up, so that's the assumption I'll work on with the damned things. That done we've pulled back to the dark side of the moon, a Monitor drone watching things for us, while we go over the bits and pieces Kara's team recovered and plan out our next move. I think she had ideas of, as did Zee, of rescuing people, but unless we were actively looking, I don't think that'd be an easy task at all. And actively searching, and then hiding our approach from any monitoring units on said larger human groups, might potentially blow our cover – and no guarantee the locals won't shoot at us. That, and from a selfish point of view, there's little they can do for us, and little we can do for them that wouldn't get them destroyed possibly. Because outside of a small group we can't take them aboard. And how many worlds would that need to be repeated on?

--

{Mission accomplished, get some rest before the next one…}

"Is a stupid movie. The should have made the ship better. Poor engineering"

"Oh shush now you!" Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl, told her black-robed new friend as they gathered in the 'entertainment' room and watched the film while talking "It's a classic according to the system!"

"In some dimensions!" shy mc-serious-pants mumbled back "I think it's celebrating tragedy and foolishness"

"Tut, tut, Weryl-senpai have no choice!" Chao giggled plopping down on the other side of the boy, just beside Amelia, The White Sorceress, who was dozing against the edge of the couch "Democracy triumphs! Fair maidens say Titanic, so Wertl-senpai be best boy and enjoy our company!"

"Yeah Weryl, enjoy the all the beauties around you!" Courtney muttered throwing a bit of popcorn at his head "Don't be such a party-pooper! You don't see Jonathan complaining!"

"Jonathan's playing a game and has headphones on! Just like Rose!" the boy muttered, swatting away the thrown popcorn, then another as Courtney did it again "Stop that!"

"I'm feeding you popcorn!" she muttered back in a fake-serious voice "Isn't it romantic?"

"Hrrrn!"

"Oh, you are like an old man!" Courtney muttered, rolling her eyes as she sat back, edging in a bit closer and offering him the popcorn properly "Lighten up, the multiverse is your oyster!"

"I don't like oysters, they make me sick"

"Oh Weryl-senpai, never fear, Chao is here to save thee from the nasty seafood of doom!"

"Didn't you, like, live on an island?" Courtney followed on from the Chinese girl as she got comfortable as Chao adjusted Weryl's arms around hers and Courtney's shoulders as she went back to eating the popcorn as Rose let out a Woohoo! sound across the room at the distant games station "And did any of you think it was super-unfair that Supergirl got to go down to the planet with Zatanna! Like, that's not fair, I could do everything she can do?"

"You can shoot lasers from your eyes too?"

Courtney glared across at the fake-asleep Amelia in her white robes "No, I can't, but I've my Cosmic Powers! I fly, and shoot energy beams, and look good doing it!"

"Hoh-Hoh! Such a scary place below!" Chao teased back "So scary and travelling with old men through stinky woods and mountains! Not a place for poor, helpless, Chao!"

Courtney, and Weryl, gave a snort of amusement and disbelief at that as the boy answered for both of them it seemed "Such as you are Chao? Thy are far from helpless my poor, aching body recalls"

"Tut-tut, Weryl-senpai needs to learn to defend himself. Soon martial arts will be less sore once little Chao's gentle hands of guidance lead you to skill!"

"No help either of you!"

"Since none of use wanted to fight the cannibal cavemen?" White Sorceress, who was ironically enough was darker-skinned than Green Lantern was "Or walk and hide in woods? This mage is much happier studying, and fighting when we have too, then challenging such beasts without need"

"Hmph! No support from any of you! You're worse than Dad!" Courtney huffed back in annoyance "Just… we've been, like, cooped up on the ship for ages now! We should be punching the bad guys an' stuff!"

"Courtney, we are not your crazy goblin friends. No, we do not want to charge in like crazy Chaos Wizards"

"Thanks Weryl, your encouragement is legendary…" she replied with an amused sigh "….and while they are crazy…Tirdelk's building me a suit of power armour! Which'll be awesome!"

"With strings attached!"

"Shut up Amelia!" Courtney huffed back "It's fine, I just have to let him puppet it, and me inside, around for a bit. Which is, like, totally worth it!"

"Lost at dice didn't you?" Weryl asked and she gave an embarrassed chuckle…

"Mario Cart actually…"

--

[04.16: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[Exploring the webs cast by a multiversal empire…]

"It's less a chain of reality than a spiderweb"

I nodded in response to Quinn's comment as we studied a three-dimensional holographic representation of what we'd discovered, combined with the very basics torn out of the long ago captured Kromagg Mantas "Yeah, I don't really get the restrictions yet, but sliding seems to be limited somehow, but able to slid…near?...somehow, but not from here to here, but this chain seems separate somehow after this point…"

'And doesn't that show our ignorance a bit worryingly now doesn't it?' I thought trailing off my and studying the dozen dimensions we'd visited while the ship hovered in the Inner Solar system, drawing in radiation and light for a small bit of energy to convert to fuel. Sliding, on the scale we were, was proving energy-intensive, especially with our sub-light traveling in the system and needing to constantly have a cloak up to hide from Kromagg surveillance. Not much, they seemed to have only used two, captured, launch sites to 'seed' surveillance in these systems, but it still showed a constant watch for limited investment within what they considered their territory.

"It's sort of worrying how far they've explored"

Quinn shook his head in response to Kara's statement "I don't think they have, considering how vast reality is…but, yeah, the fact they even put at least one or two satellites even in empty Earth's is a surprise"

"Well, we are using their data….so, yeah, makes sense to find a presence there" I replied with a shrug, then sighed as I rubbed my chin "Still…they've been pretty light on the ground, so I think we know that some of these added designations mean. Which says we'll hit something different on the next slide…"

I tapped the glowing icon that was one of the lines on spiderweb out of this Earth "…as these are different letters and symbols, and I'm pretty sure that bit there is all the Slide Drive needs to get to there from here"

"Uh-huh, all maths and genius to pull it off" Quinn replied 'humbly' with a nod "'S'why is costing more to slide far out in the system instead of inside Earth's gravity. We're having to adjust for the lack of…"

"No need to get technical" I muttered with a sigh "I know it's costing us energy, but we've got an idea of what's out here at least. The wild frontier of their empire"

It was fairly obvious they'd run into a series of brutal conquests against the nearest accessible Earths, all going down in blood and violence that had wrecked the planet before falling. In the end that left the Kromaggs with little of benefit as best I could tell, these humanities going all scorched earth tactics, probably persuading them to seek easier conquests elsewhere. As such it was lucky we'd entered from this direction through an arcane portal rather than risking approaching from 'our' Home Base Earth – it'd make it harder than original intended for the Kromagg's to track us back to there. Even if their sliding tech seemed to be superior to Quinn's and Other-Quinn's in many ways.

Unfortunately, we couldn't repeat the meteor trick we'd done a while ago, not without being obvious about it, but it would knock out at least fifty percent of their 'Local Sector' launch capacity. That was something I supposed with a shake of my head; so far we'd done little else to harm the Kromaggs. Not even scouting out a major world of theirs as yet. All while being trapped on the ship and having to play manager to the powerful grown-up children that were my crew…the fun it was. At least I was getting to catch up on my acrane studies, and work on my artifice and alchemy I mused as Kara nodded, finger tapping the display.

"Sooo…. tomorrow?"

I nodded "Once we've recharged the power cells a little and we've all had a good long rest"

--

{The hard part is doing nothing….}

"It's a slave world" Zatanna Zatara hissed angrily "It's…vile"

Callum nodded as the stood on the bridge, hovering in space out beyond the moon "Yeah, looks like at a distance. Maybe a processing centre? Atmosphere's choked with pollutants anyway, so it's only a guess at this range. What bothers me is there's a decent sensor net around that planet, facing in and out…and there's a few new satellites there that don't anything like the ones we've seen so far"

She gave a slow nod to that "Is there nothing we can do?"

"There are lots of things we can do, but nothing that'd do a whole lot of good" he answered her, glancing at Supergirl who gave a tight nod, and Mister Mallory who gave an awkward shrug "As we can't exactly save a planet's worth of people right now. I'd raid, but we'd need a specific target to be worth us blowing our cover here and now, as there's whole armies down there in the way. We wouldn't get much time before we'd be overwhelmed…and I think those there are anti-asteroid, or maybe kill-sats, space systems of some sort"

"We could try for a squad insertion?" Nathan, the Ship's Security Chief, offered as Zatanna sadly surveyed the distant dirty skies over blue ocean of Earth "With the goblins in support?"

"Hmmmm…"

Quinn interrupted before Callum could decide on what he was going to say "We could, but shouldn't we explore a few more of the new coordinates before we decide to do something that risky?"

Zatanna winced at that. There wasn't any reason not assume every Earth along the way would be like this one after all "Yes….that probably is the sensible thing, as much as I hate this place and….doing nothing to stop this horror, we are few to their many"

That was the most frustrating thing about travelling the Planes….some places were simply Evil, and there seemed to be no-one willing, or simply able, to take up the fight against it. Here, before her eyes, she could see should horror from a distance even if they couldn't see into the cities down there beyond long-distance telescope and sensors. Considering what they knew about these foul creatures…it truly wasn't anything she herself wanted to see, but would likely have to face. Then glanced at Callum "You should likely have Doctor Chen watch out for any of those we rescued from them already…"

Her young friend and commander let out a grunt of acknowledgment "Already did, Zyanya already taking some time off shift because she nearly had a panic attack from memories…unfortunately those they'd tormented also are the best at understanding their language and procedures, and all want to do it. But, yeah, you're right, it's a stresser, especially since we've been cooped up on the ship the entire time"

Zatanna nodded at that as they talked on the details of the situation. It was actually…. strangely both stressful AND dull at the same time as the ship travelled between these dimensions like a silent ghost. Everyone wanted to do something, especially once they saw this Earth and their imaginations started to run wild as the survivors of the rape-camps stories had been…

'Nightmarish' she thought resisting a shudder at the what she'd been told "Might be an idea to divert and rest up somewhere if everywhere…is as bad as this. Somewhere to rest up and setup a temporary camp?"

"Maybe, we'll see what's on the other side…"

--

{Elsewhere, nearby…}

[Spacial-Monitoring-Unit-678923/T/Y783/Active]

[Transmit-Begins]

/Alert/Unknown Energy Surge/Sector-Grid/444-678234XFTYW-882-{H}/Alert/

/Match-Match-Confirm/Secondary-Detection-Surge/Match-Match-Confirm/External Dimension/

/Priority-Update/Surge-Detection-Transmit/Update-Analaysis-to-Dynasty-Command-Analysis/

/No-Visual-Detection/Match-Match-Confirm/Overlay-Match-Non-Visual-Source-Surge/Match-Match-Confirm/

/Alert/Priority-Tasok-Priority/Alert/

[Transmit-Ends]

--

{Time and a dimension later…}

"Looks like we found a major world…" greeted me as I came onto the Bridge as Quinn gestured at the screen beyond as we moved slowly in range of the moon, using two drones to observe further forward "…and there is a lot of stuff in orbit. Oh, and they have spaceship"

"You could have started with that part you know?" I huffed as I came forward, the distant image of a large, but still sleek-looking, design much like a massive Manta-ship was magnified "I thought they didn't have any of those?"

Quinn gave a so-so handwave "I'm not sure they do, not like this ship. I think it's a massive Manta, kinda like a submarine, and then fitted with those anti-grav things they use. I don't think it could go very far from the planet…and we're not sure how fast it moves, but it's been pretty slow in orbit so far"

"And there is a lot of stuff in orbit too Captain…" Jonathan supplied from the sensors as Kara came in behind me, coming over to study the images before us "…it looks, to me, like they've been hauling satellites from other places and putting them in orbit here, though some of the stuff is probably Kromagg in origin. I'd say it's a large scale anti-asteroid and deep space tracking system"

"Hmmm…good point" I muttered frowning. There was a lot of stuff in orbit here, nothing like we'd encountered before, and there were actual probes further out in the Sol system as well this time. I frowned more as saw the energy readings distant "Are those…Slide Drive signatures?"

"Looks like, we'd need to get closer to be sure though, but this must be a big hub of some kind…" he trailed off and I nodded. There was a huge number of signals on the Earth ahead, and it was clearly developed, and the Kromaggs since the signals were all in their particular code and language. It looked like we'd found what we'd wanted to find at long last, and now came the risks associated with that. They were more developed than expected for one, if even they seemed to be like Magpies in robbing everything that wasn't nailed down from other dimensions to beef up their orbit defences to what was before us.

I nodded "Right, lets call a command staff meeting and see what we can do. This is going to be risky, but finding out more is also important…"

--

[04.17: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[He who fights and runs away, lives to trade another day…]

Approaching this particular Earth was proving a frustration I found as the Fortune's Chance carefully weaved its way surface-ward towards South America, which seemed to be less populated and covered in sensor systems watching everything and everyone. The Kromaggs were certainly security conscious, and even with our magic and tech advantage there were…difficulties in getting close enough to pull off our mission of finding our more information on the enemy. They were also very militarised, and we were already getting a good look at a worryingly large military force versus size of population…

'They're nazi caveman Sparta in all honesty, and not Karg's Sparta, but shitty Greek Sparta' I thought unhappily watching, feeling, the tides and sensors as my magic hummed alongside Zee's to guide and hide our descend as best we could. There was plenty of traffic, in both communications and physical terms, along with flashes of Slide Drives across the world. Military forces moving perhaps, but Kara was more likely right in that they were moving materials in from other Earths for construction and other jobs. Those areas were, unfortunately, even more heavily patrolled and monitored, so getting a 'look' wasn't any easy thing to pull off.

Currently the plan was to land in the Not-Amazon river, and submerge into deeper waters and hide while we scouted out some more 'rural' Kromagg settlements. Right now we were gliding into high orbit, now that their spaceship was on the other side of the planet, passing between satellite scans even if they shouldn't be able to see us either way. It was always better to be cautious than overconfident, since the second was an insidious killer in the end….and perhaps I was just a bit on edge and stressed at the dangerous mission. Every enemy scan, every Manta-ship launch or patrol….every sudden burst of comms-chatter that could be our cover blown…

"We're breaching atmosphere in….three….two…one" I spoke, eyes closed, as we slowly, carefully, hit the atmosphere at a nice stead speed, the engines handling the increased gravity without giving any visible signs of our descent. After all a fiery re-entry probably wouldn't be the best idea for a stealth mission…

"No signs of increased activity…" Jonathan announced from the sensors, the tech-ones anyway as my mind was cast out, eyes closed, as I saw through arcane and divine powers. I still really needed a true Core for a spell-jammer, but that was for another day as I wove a new illusion, to match the skies of blue and white, as we moved towards the sunlit jungles below "...another….seven minutes fifteen seconds till Sat-45D and 63R come back into surveillance overwatch on this position"

"Increasing descent speed by secondary margin!"

"Copy that…" I murmured as Kara slowly increased the downward thrust, while I drew on Zee's magic to aid my own efforts to match the flows of power and the weather "…. compensating for speed increase…cloak holding"

"Five minutes, seven seconds to landing area…" Jonathan counted down, Brewster and Rose near him monitoring individual ship systems while the whole ship was alive and active, everyone at action stations, the tension thrumming within our bubble of reality. The ship was alive in a way, and I was looking and listening through 'its' eyes and ears as I observed the lands below…

"Four minutes, twenty-six seconds…"

I ignored Jonathan's countdown as Kara called out about air resistance and I fought to adjust to match, energy flow and visual signatures covered up. It was a team effort, a strange dance of magic and science and dimensional energies as the ships engines 'burned hot' so to speak to supply the energy to do everything we were doing. That and ensuring our defences were ready, and the various dimensional drives were ready to jump us out if need be…

"Three minutes, thirty-four seconds…

"Power surge….two hundred and seventy three miles north of us!" Brewster called out as a new icon flashed brightly to my senses and I frowned as I focused on controlling my part of the mission…

"Three minutes to…"

"Second power surged to the west…" Brewster followed up Jonathan's roughly thirty second countdown as we crossed the agreed upon call out heights "…it's directed in our general direction!"

"Confirm that?" Kara asked as the drop continued, my focus on the Veil "On us?"

"It's…."

Brewster paused as *I* felt the energy pulse this time as it slammed into the ship as a wave. I spoke this time as Brewster said it was "On us, just felt it! We're being ping….like they're using sonar to find a submarine"

"Abort the landing, power to engines, bring us up an out!" Kara stated calmly, and I focused on my task, my magic, as details started to be relayed rapidly over the next few seconds as I saw and felt more directed energy pulses. They knew something was wrong, and a rough idea of where, but still couldn't see us apparently as I started to feel the effort as the strain increased second by second…after hours of constant pressure. More annoyingly the Kromaggs were determined little bloodhounds as they directed more and more energy pulses our way, satellites changing in orbit and….

"DIMENSIONAL SHIFT IN ORBIT ABOVE US!" Jonathan called out loudly as…

'Yep, there's another Super-Manta' I thought in irritation and concern as a portal slowly, with far more energy than previously seen spilling out to announce it's arrival. Maybe they had another world nearby and they had consistent, but opposite, patrol routes so that they always effectively cover both 'sides' of the globe?

"They're…firing missiles…"

"At us?" I demanded, though I could 'feel' the answer as the satellite fire weapons…didn't seem aimed, so much as streaking down in streaks of light to explode "No…"

"That'd work to find us" Kara stated as I 'saw' the missiles detonate and…

Fill the sky with confetti?

Then I frowned, finding myself agreeing with Kara "Shite that will see us in a moment…I don't think we can run into orbit without making obvious we're spaceborne…"

"Plan B?"

I nodded in agreement with her "Plan B!"

"Power to Slide Drive, Quinn you better have us ready to go…" Kara took charge as I focused now on arcane shields as well Veil as the seconds ticked by as our engines reversed, slowing, then stopping the ascent so we could accelerate forward as power flowed to the weapons systems, missile batteries opening and adjusting to targeting data "…and fire when target locked on nearest enemy unit!"

"Drive's fully powered, coordinates set…ready to engage!" Quinn's voice came back over the intercom, followed by Kara ordering him to activate it immediately just as missiles took flight from the upper launchers at the high orbit Super-Manta. The 'confetti' though drifted against our reality bubble, indicating where we were to the otherwise weak targeting radars and energy pulses…not exactly, but it would be enough…

..then the explosion of energy that was the energy vortex of the Slide Drive firing from the front upper decks of the Fortune's Chance to tear open the barriers between dimensions. That forced us to hold in place for precious seconds, but as missiles took launch towards us, towards the portal…but they weren't going to reach us in time as the engines drove us forward through the breech. Our energy weapons still fired, eliminating any that had the potential to get too close as we passed the event horizon and I pulled back my senses, opening my eyes as we emerged out onto the planned exit point…

"Dimensional Vortex above us!"

"Dammit" I muttered at Jonathan's warning, glancing over at Kara "Well, we know they can track and open vortex tears now…"

Then shook my head "We should engage and fight our way free while we jump again…"

Kara nodded "We're over a Kromagg world after all….weapons free, drive jump again soon as we can. Callum, you handle weapons?"

"On it" I stated closing my eyes again and gathering my strength once again to cast through the reality bubble as the ship accelerated towards the enemy vessel. First though we launched missiles again, nukes this time, as we suddenly changed course away from the enemy's changed track as the Kromags launched their own missiles….

'No…no, their not missiles…' as I pushed a shield out as the 'missiles' exploded…or more emitted a focused blast of that dirty energy beam the Manta's used, save to greater effect, and I used the variable energy lasers on the hull to fire at those blasts about to hit is. It was hard to track, and there was team fighting with me as I commanded the arcane to block and support our attacks as the nukes detonated near it's hull as it's own close in weapons lashed out.

…the slide vortex, again deliberately visible, tore open as more Mantas jumped in nearby and made their way towards is as the Kromagg slave-world below came alive…

…but by then we were over a dead ice-ball, in the middle of frozen blizzard as we sank towards the ground, the Super-Manta emerging behind us. But…

"They're bleeding energy" Jonathan saw what I did, the enemy ship clearly….struggling as the energy output on our sensors dropped like a rock…

"Too late!" I muttered as our systems renewed their connections with the orbit weapons we'd left behind, just in case of this scenario happening , fired and sent their rods from God raining down on the enemy ship seven minutes after we'd entered the dimension…a little short of where we'd wanted, but the damage wasn't disastrous either on our side. Not compared to the heavily damaged Super-Manta that was now crashing planet-ward as we once again spun up the Slide Drive, this time cloaking it as best we could, me and Zee throwing our sorcery to disguise the very existence of the vortex, let alone it direction.

"Exit complete….target dimension, powering up drives again!" I called out as I winced at the effort, feeling Zatanna feel the same burning ache as we emerged on one of the emptier Kromagg Earth's just beyond the chain as we ascended into the atmosphere again, sensors scanning for pursuers, but finding none as the minutes counted down and we again carefully covered the vortex point…

"We can't keep this up Callum, Kara…" Quinn's voice came to me as I let out a groan of effort, as Zatanna, as we entered another dimension "…we took damage, and the drives are starting to over heat…"

"It's now or never Callum…" Kara stated calmly, seriously, "…you look exhausted and we're getting warnings across the board. We're invisible again, there's no sats here….random jump us like we planned so we can recharge and make repairs"

"Unnn….fine, power to Celestial Etherscope, touching the Void…" I chanted out the words, drawing us into the realms beyond, guiding us somewhere safe, with limited threats, that we could track back as my head burned and hurt, feeling, reaching….

Then we were on the river…onto the sea that wasn't a sea as I opened my eyes, slumping back in my chair, panting with the effort that had taken….

--

[04.18: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[And then, the Fire Nation attacked…]

"Callum and Zatanna are completely out of it…" Kara Zor-El muttered to Quinn as the Fortune's Chance hovered in the darkness of space near an inhabited world "…and FTL doesn't work either"

Quinn shrugged tiredly "We can still do a few more jumps, but that'll just mean we'll need even longer to restore reserves and replace equipment. So, FTL doesn't work, but we've got an early industrial, human looking, civilization down there….so we've had worse options. Magic looks functional, you'll be pretty strong, and we've an exit point in…maybe a week anyway if we don't want to burn out the drive, and our wizards on anything but an emergency jump?"

"I'd say if we rest, we should rest…" Kara heard Anna, the ship's engineer state as the woman took a seat, drinking her coffee "….the outer hull needs repairs on the hardpoints, and we burned out a few of the relays with the power were using. Monitors could handle it, but our replacement systems couldn't keep up with the constant high-level use. Hell, I'd be saying the same even if we'd pulled off that Op without a hitch as it was the cloaks and high energy use that's done the most damage"

Kara sighed…she hated being in charge sometimes "And the fight just brought it to a head"

"Uh-huh, very much so Boss" the tired engineer replied "Nothing too serious, but I'd like to do a complete overhaul of the wiring on two of the deck for one, and that's without a full ship-wide inspection"

"We won't have a cloak till Callum or Zatanna are awake?"

Kara shook his head in response to Quinn's half-question, half-statement "No, we do…it just won't be as good without the guidance or whatever it is they do, but it'll function if we need it. It's just…"

She waved her hand at the readings "We've being using it constantly, so magically active world…we'll need it down there when we land. Anyway Mister, what about the data on the Kromagg fight?"

Quinn let out a groan as he brought up a big long list of numbers for her and the others "They've a better drive than we have, for Sliding anyway, and they can clearly track us…unless we mask the vortex. See these algorithms here? They tracked us here, and here….but not a sign on either of the slides after that, and we did wait an hour before we jumped out into the Bleed-like vortex. I certain we've lost them, and hidden where we came from, and went, despite everything"

Security Chief Anderson was frowning, looking at the world below "Still doesn't answer how they actually discovered us in the first place"

Kara sat back in the chair, resting her head against the headrest behind her "Guess we were wrong about how good their sensors were…."

"The most likely scenario, but we should analyse all the information just in case it's something we did" the man answered, and Kara gave a tired nod of agreement. Well, she had wanted responsibilities, now hadn't she?

"Good idea Nathan, we'll stay in orbit for a day or two…make what repairs we can while we scout out for a good spot to land and maybe take an extended stay. I'm sure Callum will be eager to trade for fresh fruit, and probably magic since this world seems to be magically active or whatever…"

It was funny being listened too, it was so unlike back home when she was…Clark's little cousin, or just a silly girl who didn't know what she was talking about. Now everyone was listening to her, depending on her…and boy was that stressful Kara had found as they talked about all the things Babs used to handle…

'Ugh, need find Babs and kidnap her to do paperwork!' idly entered her mind, but she pushed the joke away as she looked forward to getting into bed and curling up with Callum. Rest would be wonderful now, but that meant getting all the boring stuff done first…

--

{In a dimension far, far, away…}

"Investigator-Scientist Preyn yes?"

Preyn saluted back the Defender-Colonel as they exited the vortex into the freezing viciousness that was the frozen world the Magnificent Domination had crashed upon after engaging the unknown vortex-vessel "I am the Investigator-Scientist Defender-Colonel. The situation?"

It was best to ask now as the snow assaulted his face, the warmth of the civilized world behind his team now vanished as the vortex disengaged as war-fighters patrolled the skies above where the battle had taken place, and been lost. The Defender-Colonel was a veteran at least, likely retired from the Dominator Corps, and spoke in a colloquial accent indicating he was from Third Home the same as Preyn was, though Preyn's accent was much less pronounced due being in the Investigator Corps "Bad Investigator-Scientist, and I will Truth You this. The damage will take many cycles to repair properly, Command Dominates that the ship is to be restored to function and brought back to Evartus Hub…"

"…then sent for repairs a few cycles later. Of course. One thanks the Ancestors that it is not the responsibility of the Investigator Corps to achieve such speed" Preyn replied as they stood in the freezing winds and snow, then gestured at the lesser being at his side "And I want my human scan-tagged now if you please. I do not want difficulties with our sniffers in a cycle or two"

"Of course, Investigator-Scientist, of course" the Defender-Colonel replied gesturing for them to come over to the ad-hoc screening and sign in station. Personally, Preyn did not consider his assistant, Annabelle, a lesser being, but High Command were particularly obstructive of late as the First World clans grew more demanding to restore themselves to the so-called Prime. Even the nonsense, and it nonsense, of having to bring his assistant under a Breeding Licence of all things….

'And this is why First Worlders can be idiotic cave-children in their territories!' he mentally groused as they stepped in out of the snows, allowing his identifying chip to be scanned on his arm and then wasted time ensuring Annabelle, and Rugn's Tarbac, were scanned, stripped, then searched for contraband. Necessary true…largely because of First World Clans impulsiveness in their conquests, but they controlled the Emperor and Senate…because they had the strongest of militaries of the Original Worlds. Preyn found it frustrating, but eventually the suffering of the Fertility Plague that they had been hit with by one of the human world's would diminish that effect...despite all their insane breeding efforts to stem such things.

"Investigator-Scientists, welcome…" they were greeted within the field headquarters, inside a secure hab-module, by a senior Dominator-General who stood with tired eyes and a unhappy mind hum "…though circumstances are less than desired. Disastrous even perhaps, though standard Silence will be maintained"

"Understood Dominator-General, my team is prepared to serve" Preyn replied with a formal salute of submission "We have only received the basic information, but it appears to be a radically different design to the last Anomaly, rather than a pirate or alternate version of the situation on the Exodia-9 File"

The Dominator-General nodded, mind hum firm but still unhappy "As expected, the weaponry was different, as were the tactics, in the eyes of the Dominator Corp at least. The vortex link-chains were also radically different, and the Vortex systems much more primitive. Perhaps a relief, extermination of the Draka Domination world proved very costly…when they blew themselves up…though I find it unlikely this is another of our People either, a friendly Parallel. That can only happen so much the Corps feels"

'Ah, more to be forcibly added to the Dynasty….lucky them if it is such' Preyn didn't replied, keeping the sarcasm from his mind, instead projecting agreement as he spoke "It is most likely a Furgan Scenario, or possible a Voruk one"

"If it is humans, as you say, then we will assess their threat level for High Command, but you are correct, Voruk Scenario Protocols are in effect for now while your investigations are underway. Assess what you can, though it seems certain, having seen the engagement, a more neutral stance will be taken against a foe that has proven themselves to this level. Priority is on the ocular and energy veiling systems we have observed…"

--

{Ghost town in the mountains…}

"You're right, this does look like a good spot…" I said looking around the abandoned town in the mountains just off where the Fortune's Chance had set down and was now under a weak veil, then squinting at the script on the signposts. Maybe Chinese? Japanese? I wondered, sighing as this was going to be magic using translation world it looked like "…out of the way, but still within range of major towns…and just enough off the coast that those warships won't bother us"

"Can you actually read the sign?" Kara teased as I squinted, and I gave her a grumpy frown before sighing and casting a spell to do a brute force understanding. Then looked again.

"Okay…Fire Bad!...something about cabbages?...oh…." I tapped the larger, battered on "…we are in somewhere called Tu Zin, Beautiful Flower of the Valley, yadda, yadda, faded away…"

I waved it off as I stood up from the fallen sign "See, being helpful I am!"

"Your just glad to get out and about" Zatanna muttered walking back from the old building she'd been looking inside, all disguised as an Asian woman, just like me and Kara were darkened. Unfortunately, not my natural green, as seemed this was a colony world of some sort, or formed by a dimensional travelling nation long ago…but no Europeans about, or Africans either. Added to that magic seemed to be racial grouping, and there was a war on between them….so locals it was…

I shrugged "I think we all are, and will, need the excursion and air after everything. Stretch our legs and all that good stuff, under protection of course. Even Tiny Angry Whitey can take flight, as long as doesn't burn villages or draw attention obviously"

"Is that really a good idea?"

"Do you really want a cranky dragon locked up on the ship?" I asked Kara back as our small team investigated the small town. Surprising amount of stone used, and it seemed….well, Elemental Mages were common here, and the town could be made liveable fairly easily if we were to stay here a few weeks. Kara thought about that a moment, then grimaced.

"No, we don't want Halley getting angry at us not letting her fly about"

"Yup, that's what I thought" I chuckled back, shaking my head as I gestured at the town with my cane "I don't think the people here were very literate…"

"It's an abandoned town Callum, books cost a fortune in medieval times…and this place is abandoned, and poor before that, so anything not treated wood and stone would have rotted away by now…" Zee told me and I nodded, at my unreasonable complaint "…and looks like they carried off everything that could be carried when they left. I wonder why it was abandoned?"

"Doesn't seem to be haunted, or anything that way…" I murmured looking around again "…but probably poverty and this war that's going on. Lands are fairly marginal for farming…and lots of rice growing on this world, and the fields….well desert that'a'way…"

I shook my head as I pointed towards the massive desert over the mountains outside this valley. Well, at looked like we had decent base-camp/summer home to establish while we made repairs and perhaps traded with the locals….

--

[04.19: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[The village that time forgot…]

--

[Trader's Journal: Day 993]

[Current Dimension]

Avatar: The Last Airbender maybe? Not enough data and knowledge beyond vague memories and faded memes.

[Current Location]

Village of Tu Zin, Earth Kingdom?

[Trading Report – we're building a village!]

Or restoring one maybe is the more honest answer. Good practice for us as fabricating stuff is really easy, and we've been practicing more peaceful magic as well in the two days since arrival. It's in line with the situation of starting repairs, badly, badly, needed repairs and maintenance to the ship itself. Materials to feed into the fabrication unit is from recycling the damaged units, plus from stores, and it looks like there's abandoned mines we can make use of nearby. Abandoned mining town it seems, probably a gold rush or something that killed it off, or maybe the war?

Whatever the case we're going to set this place up as a base camp, resting area, and training spot, as we'll stay a while, study the local villages off a ways, and then try trade in a few weeks with them. The 'Fire Nation' would be the better bet for decent trade, but I'd rather have repairs finished before we start trying to infiltrate a centralised, industrialised, colonial power that's been on a war footing for decades. It's almost guaranteed that they'll have a formalised system, with some degree of tracking, and the smaller size can make it harder to pass compared to more advanced and populous societies where such odd traders wouldn't seem odd.

[Diary Entry]

Right, rough idea of where we are. Vague memories drawn from my meditations, but our data-systems don't quite back it up entirely as there's two variants on the databanks, and neither seems to apply, nor did the movies go beyond one, or the series beyond one season, on the drives. That's unfortunate, and contradictory, so no point in getting too bothered by what's always a danger in this line of work – just have to work at it as best we can on a world at war. Me, I'm recovered from the fight with Kromaggs, and boy did we underestimate their sensor nets, but looks like we did get a good grasp on their level of technology and probably size. The answer is – very advanced compared to 'standard' Earth and larger than our ally's ability to easily deal with. Joy.

Bright is that dimensional blocking pushes out further than we'd though, and we may be careful of that with the Slide Drive in future as its clear the Kromaggs version is more advanced. That and they've near-orbit spacecraft, and that indicates the Slide Cage they can't get through extends out well into the solar system – and we'd best not encourage them to push more into a space programme. For us it's given my Tech Team ideas for our own missiles, based on the observed 'pulse' ones of the Kromaggs that shoot a focused, life-poisoning, energy beam at a distance rather than relying on a direct hit. Scrolling through our fiction library, or our 'Explorers Library' it seems a crude, primitive, version of the idea in the Honor Harrington series pumped energy torpedoes. So I've given permission for our Chief Engineer to get to work on that idea – when we've got repairs finished. That has priority.

Isabel, or 'THE MECHANIST!' as likes to tell us in that oddly bombastic helmet of hers, is in charge of the Village Restoration Project. Need to name these things myself really. Anyway, she's in charge and it's a good experience for her in relation to whenever she returns home, and in controlling her robot minions without the need of horror brain cyborgs in control of'em. That and it's let using test out the 3D printers we created with the Androsynth fabber, and the result is pretty good as we've also created some basic tools to create, less than pretty I'll admit, furniture. Still it's a start, and having our own internal manufacture is pretty damned useful let me tell you!

Anywho, we've sent some of the drones south and east, getting a handle of dress-code, general layout of the land up close and all that. Really need to get a few deployable satellite-drones let's call them? The Monitor-drones are fantastic, and fill that role shockingly well, but we can't replace them easily, and I'd like a few 'risk losing' ones to stick in orbit. Something for another day I suppose, but our failed effort over that populated Kromagg earth is grating on me a little. Learn from your mistakes!

--

{…comes awake once more…}

"Looks you're having fun" Kara teased me as she landed, and I gave an amused shrug as I finished up using mage hand and various cantrips to complete the, now nice and cosy looking, square block house that I was standing at the doorway of. I smiled, cutting the magic as the table settled into place, leaning back against the doorframe.

"Well….yeah, I'll admit I am, chance to unwind…and it's a rather nice house, if small, in my humble opinion as a magical home decorator" I replied with a chuckle. Everyone had chosen their own little area to work on, and the Mister Handys were moving about sweeping up the rubble where we'd knocked a building, and not too far away putting heavy, neatly cut, slabs to form a pathway around a central square. There wasn't any true need to do any of this….but it was a diversion from our usual activity, even down to Stargirl, Weryl the Black Mage, and Amelia the White Sorceress, planting a flower bed around the Mechanists water fountain. A water found build around her design for a water purifier/recycler that was also a well…

Kara grinned "About time Buster, always stressing you are…"

"Eh, it's been a busy, and dangerous few weeks Kara dear…" I retorted with amusement "…and are you off on your break at long last?"

"Oh, yes, free at last from the terrible talk of cables and circuit breakers" she muttered and I chuckled again at that as I pushed off the door-frame, walking over to her.

"Yes, I've noticed that joy as well…and I got to see the mines get working again. Weird seeing laser eyed death robots playing miners…" the sighed, shaking my head "…all while speakers blared 'hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go' in the background"

Kara giggled as we started to walk side by side "She did not!"

I groaned, shaking my head a little "Oh…she did. Hence why I'm here, and not in the smelly not-disneyland mines…" then sighed, gesturing at the area where newly made tables and some cooking equipment was being setup within the protective wards against vermin and disease "…well, least we can have a barbeque here and now. I don't know about you, but I am hungry"

She rolled her eyes "Oh, all the moving stuff with your mind tire you out eh?"

Then held up her 'earth kingdom' clothes "And not one word about what I'm wearing, hmmm?"

I smiled back, putting my arm around her shoulders "Kara, you look absolutely gorgeous in them, and you know that me saying a word. That and you are rather darker than usual, and I think you are most beautiful as yourself!"

"Hmmm….is that so lover-boy?" she hummed back at in amused suspicion perhaps, then letting out her own contented sigh as her arm went around my robed waist. It was…something of a cover in that everyone was wearing what we could determine as 'traditional' wear for the region, along with the fact everyone was under an illusion to keep up the appearance as darker, or lighter, skinned where necessary. We…shouldn't miss anyone approaching, but there was always the chance someone would come in, and it was good practice for sending a team out to the nearest towns. Anyway, it just meant I wore green and black, like my white broadbrimmed hat that held off the bright sun from my eyes in its new colours, instead of my preferred ones.

"Oh, yeah…Sexy Supergirl for the win, no matter the skin tone"

"Well….hmmm…" she murmured studying me, then shaking her head and winking at me "…nope. Not seeing it. Green suits you better"

"Went we're back on the ship, your wish is my command!" I replied as we came over to the small cluster of crew that had already drifted in, even our murder-hobo goblins in the disguised form of human children. Though the ale they were drinking probably ruined the illusion up close "Oh, and see anything interesting with your fly-around earlier today?"

"The desert to the west is really big?" she muttered with a snort of amusement "No, nothing, didn't want to stray too far, and more so play chaperone to our hungry winged terror, without telling her that of course. That girl does not speak….ugh, the silences!"

"Good point I agree, also, yeah, she is called The Silent as well as The White after all, though she can get animated over….well, dragons have their own worldview" I answered not going into the whole Hunting IS AWESOME creepy cheerfulness that had erupted out of the normal stoic disguised dragon-loli, as well as the insanely detailed blow-by-blow that came with it. Eidetic memories and White Dragons…give an intelligence boost with age…

'But she still has the mono-focus as well' I admitted shaking my head in amusement "Frankly I'm more impressed with the fact we've managed to get a decent team effort out of this. Myself and Zee were working with Weryl and Amelia earlier, and it was a learning experience for our two teenagers I think"

"Callum…" Kara rolled her eyes "…stop doing the old man thing, we're still teenagers"

"No, we're older than that dear, Adults now, Captains of own destinies…"

"And ship" she added, and I grinned.

"…and ship yes, hard to forget that. But, anyway I was going to make a point about Elemental magic on this plane, and you're plans to try lean some…"

She patted my butt "Now, no talking shop yet. We are having a nice relaxing party and you will relax and enjoy yourself…

--

{…one party and sleep later…}

Kara woke me, sitting up in the bed and shaking my shoulder as I blinked my eyes at her "Hmmmmm?"

She look beautiful as ever as she swung off the bed, grabbing a robe "I can hear the others outside, they've got a call…"

…and an alert popped up on my bracelet as she told me what it was before I could check "…that there's a flying hairy cow coming towards. A magic flying hair cow since it doesn't have wings, or any way to fly Isabel's saying, with people on board, so…"

I groaned, rubbing at my tired head…no hangover, but I really would have like a few hours to sleep on our quasi-vacation. Clicking the alert brought up the same details as she laid out and I got out of bed as well, casting a spell to summon my clothes back on "Right. Magical flying whatever. Here. Let's get the disguises back up, see if we can trade or find out info…"

--

[04.20: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[In a crooked little town, they were lost and never found…]

'Yup, that's a magical flying giant cow…or bison maybe?' I noted to myself as I walked out in the disguise of village elder, clad all in my greens, blacks, and dark browns of my illusion. Kept the hat of course, the sun was rather bright after all and I held up my hand to shield my eyes as I watched what had been a speck grown larger with each passing second. Something was up, as there was other activity coming from woods a bit south, so first guests I thought tapping my cane off the brim of my hat. Protective spells too of course….one could never be too careful after all.

"Be nice Callum"

I sighed, glancing at Kara "I'm not that hungover…"

She yawned, giving me a shrug "No, but you are tired and cranky"

"It's a flying fecking six legged furry cow Kara, and we haven't seen many of those in these here parts…." Yeah she was right I thought yawning and rubbing my eyes "…but, yeah, trouble on the way. But be nice, be friendly nomads probably and…."

"Crashing" the bored monotone of our bored, resident white dragon in human teenager disguise stated as we watched and I sighed again watching the distant beast descend awkwardly….off a distance, towards the river. I nodded.

"E-yup….it's crashing…."

I pointed at another figure I'd spotted "And there's a small child on a wooden hand glider…today…today is just going to be one of those days isn't it?"

"Callum"

I waved Kara off as I glanced at the perimeter alert, just like she had done, showing yet more children and teenagers coming our way "Fine, fine, I'll be good, let's greet the first of our, apparently numerous, young visitors on their flying cows and water running lizards…I don't like this world…." Then tabbed my comms "Alright people, raise the security level, keep the cloak up on the ship, we've got visitors in coming. One by glider, someone get image on the flying cow wherever it landed…"

'Fast mover' I noted as the glider flew closer, landing, rather rudely in my view, on the roof of a nearby building rather than in the square where we were standing, where I'd waved the flyer too. Resisting the urge to grumble I gazed up at…monk of some sort it looked like as he turned his glider in a quarterstaff. I frowned…I wanted that design actually…

'First things first' I reminded myself firmly giving a wave at the boy who'd just landed above us, standing on the new tiled roof and looking around "HELLO! DOWN HERE! WELCOME TO OUR TOWN. COULD YOU….I E DOWN HERE AND TALK LIKE CIVILIZED FOLK?!"

"HI I'M AANG! HAVE YOU SEEN MY FRIENDS?"

'Some people don't listen' I grumbled silently as he shouted back inside of doing what I'd asked, then gestured at the open square before us again "THE FLYING COW? THEN MAYBE? CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE…I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO SHOUT"

"OH! OKAY…" he started to shout back, then…

'Air Element Sorcerer….so, not the evil version from Mass Effect database. Good to know, still annoying' I thought irritably as the young tattooed monk, glorified gang symbols my brain muttered, jumped off the roof and casually used his magic to summon himself a sphere of rotating air to descend. Not that he looked well with the thousand yard stare and deep dark bags under his eyes, giving a tired wave as he landed "Hi, I'm Aang…"

"You mentioned that already" I told him, gesturing off to the south-east "Look your friends on the flying cow…"

"Bison!" he replied as if correcting a child and I glowered at him "Appa's a flying bison not a cow! He has fur and horns…"

Apparently, an Air Sorcerer with the attention span of a gnat as he rambled off and I let out a breathe, gesturing towards the woods and river again "Ohhhhh-kay…..your friends are that'a'way a little bit. Now, what brings you all to our lovely little town, we don't get many visitors here"

"Did see Toph? See's my size and blind. That was Katara and Sokka, and we were looking for her, and then we were chased and I thought she might be here and we should go get…"

'Oh my Shrouded Lord is he yappy, I dread to imagine him not as exhausted as he looks' I thought again cutting off the blank eyed ramble "Right. I don't know who those people are…"

Kara gave me a gentle elbow in the side, a stage whisper "Callum, small lost blind child"

"Ugh….fine" I muttered listening to my better half, waving my hand in the air side to side "Look, we seen anyone else, but if you could describe…"

"Girl"

I glanced at the super-talkative 'girl', and then in the direction Haeletoth and Kara were looking…and there was another teenager, this time in different clothes, a fancy headdress. Rich possibly I judged as she….

'Wow, she's pretty limber' I thought as the girl moved very quickly along a roof, jumping down in a very acrobatic move that reminded me of Ninja-Kitty somehow. Instead I gave a wave, reminding myself to be friendly like I should be "Hello! Welcome to our town! How can we help you? Always open for trade and friendly visitors!"

Acrobatic fancy dressed girl paused in her advance, moving to a strutting walk that…yup, somebody thought very well of themselves I figured with hidden irritation at her tone as she spoke "Greetings, a trade you say? If the….if your….other visitor would come with me I'm sure you'll be rewarded as you…deserve"

I blinked, letting out a sigh. Yup, there was old memories of other me and such promises and threats in the one breath being given "Look, I don't want to get involved in whatever relationship troubles you and the young man here are having…"

"What?"

"Wha?"

'Oh, guessed wrong maybe?' I thought tiredly at the startled squawk from one and confused blink from the other as I continued "…but I'm more interested in the rest of your gang that's on the way. Such as the guide with the scars trying to sneak over by yon building. Look we're a peaceful, quiet town, so please behave and keep your relationship problems and teenage hijinks to…"

Fancy clothes eye seemed to twitch as she brought up her right hand, summon fire….hmm blue fire even…to its palm as Kara glared beside me as the quarterstaff in the monks hand came into a guard position "Okay peasant, I am being nice. Get out of my way, hand over the Avatar or you all burn"

"I can do that to" I stated cold, getting unhappy as I glared at fancy clothes as I held up my cane free hand, summoning my own flame into hand, causing her eyes to widen, then narrow to slits "Isn't that funny! Now, let's all be friends here, you and you're gang need to calm down…"

"AVATAR!" came a shout from where Mr. Sneaky's efforts at stealth, already beaten by our drone coverage, hopped out of cover as icons showed more idiots on the way as my security teams deployed and engineers headed away from the fire wielding idiots that'd just turned up "YOUR COMING WITH ME!"

"Avatar…." I muttered, then pushed such memory searching away I glared at one, then the other as Kara folded her arms and the disguised dragon-loli….stood silently, doing nothing. Great security there I saw. Then held up my ball of fire "Okay! Children! I'm asking NICELY for you all to behave yourselves, or there will be consequences…."

Then I groaned AS MORE CHILD SORCERERS TURNED UP. This was just not my day…

--

{The Dragon of the West meets the Dragon of the North….}

Iroh grew concerned as he came out onto the street, watching the strange confrontation that was taking place between his beloved nephew and Ozai's daughter…

And what appeared to be a Firebender in Earth Kingdom clothes, the town Elder it seemed, who was sternly chastising 'the children', while holding flame at the ready while the Avatar stood a small distance away to the right, and two Water Tribe siblings off to the left. Young Miss Toph, who he had followed, was looking at him awkwardly…warily actually as Iroh narrowed his eyes at the town. For one Tu Zin should be abandoned many years now, and yet here it was occupied by prosperous looking folk, buildings good as new…

…and an adult firebender with an odd accent somehow the Mayor?

There was something seriously wrong here, and yet Zuko had rushed in without thinking. He always rushed in without thinking and here was Azula, growing irate and battle ready, in a situation where he could notice soldiers off in the shadows. Felt more than saw, and he kept his hands ready under his sleeves as he played the friendly old man noticing nothing, simply coming to collect his wayward ward and help lost children. It was… something was very wrong here, very…off as he saw people leaving what looked to be a fight…

….yet, there was the village elder and his….young wife?...daughter?...standing beside him as if there wasn't a care in the world, while a young girl a distance back watched. Watched with Azula's eyes he felt somehow, face impassive yet….yet….somehow hungry…

Young Miss Toph….

Iron frowned as the girl moved to walk with him, gesturing silently at the Avatar…and being ignored it appeared as he saw the concern marring the girl's face. She was an earthbender, a powerful one to be as confident as she was despite being blind. The war most likely at work, the horror of it making children into adults and soldiers far too soon…

'Smile, ease the tension' he told himself adopting a friendly look, hiding the tension as his body prepared to move and fight should the need arise. Unlike the young earthbender he already knew Zuko would not pick up on such signals with the temper he was clearly in "Oh Hello there! I see that you have found the young braves that have been in my care?"

Azula's eyes were watching him warily, but she, like he, had to watch all the other dangers as he continued "I would be lost without my beloved nephew and niece. To find them lost in such a place as this is a relief. You have my thanks and I think it best that you be on your way"

'Ah…a monster she may be, but she picked it up' he thought as he smiled at her, using words they both knew he would not refer to her as. She stiffened, eyes looking around without giving herself away…

…and giving him the faintest, briefest, of nods. Could he trust her?

No, not once they were out of danger. But that she could sense the danger…

The Village Elder nodded, let out a relieved grunt "Fine, just get. You, monk boy come over here, and we'll have you on your way…"

"Aang! Get away from them! They're not….right! Too heavy and there body's wrong. Why can't any of you see it? They aren't all human!"

…but the Avatar's young friends it seemed were too inexperienced to understand as Iroh brought out his hands as the Elder tensed up in an oh so familiar way, walking cane moving far to easily for such a feeble man as the flames grew "Ah…right. Can I ask you all to…"

…then was a blast of air into the Elder as the Avatar moved and the firebender than should not be stumbled…

….before standing back up with an enraged look "Okay. Haeletoth. Kara. Prisoners. Now. Somebody needs a spanking"

Iroh slid into a stance, using the anger at the foolishness, watching for escape as Zuko and Azula unleashed blasts of flame at the village Elder…only to be blocked somehow…

But the true threat was on….the….

…girl…

Iroh could not help but shudder as the short girl….

...smiled…

…the grin getting lower and lower, like her jaw was melting off as her arms came out of her sleeves, spreading out as if she was about to take flight like a bird and…

…flesh tore and ripped….

….white armoured scales and bone flowed out in seconds, growing in size…

'This is….very bad' as the village Elder and his daughter were suddenly pale, unnaturally pale skinned, like no people of the nations he had seen bare perhaps those suffering albinism. Spirits. They'd blundered into a village of Spirits…

"ROAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

…and worse he knew as his heart froze, everyone suddenly stunned as the square was filled with a beast the Fire Nation had sought to wipe out due thanks to his Grandfather and Father…

….this could be a problem…

--

[04.21: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test…]

….her eyes snapped back open, rolling from the…

"Oooof" and apparently rolled off a bed and hitting a floor. Azula resisted a groan, blinking, trying get her bearings as the world spun around her a little…

"Ummmm….you okay there?" a voice, male the…she got ready to throw flame as she spun on her heel as the damnable Spirit, or traitor Firebender was…

"Yeah, I'd hold off fancy acrobatics a little bit if I were you…" Azula managed to catch herself, bracing a hand against a metal wall, panting hard…so she was on a ship then she guessed taking in the surroundings…and focusing on the very much not human form of the white clad spirit as stood at the entrance "…muscle relaxant, and…"

He tapped his neck "And prisoner restraints on your neck, wrists, and ankles. Will deliver a nasty shock to you, or just stun you if need be. So, let's try act like civilized beings now shall we. Even if I sadly must enforce the peace in such a crude way"

Blinking, giving her head a shake to try clear it….Azula glanced at the strange metal cuff on her wrist, then bringing that hand up to her neck and feeling the same. Not only that…they changed her clothes, her eyes darting down and taking in the situation in with concern…

The green-skinned not-human in white gave an apologetic wave "It was female members of my crew who change you, so don't be concerned. Good holdout weapons on you by the way, oh, and your two friends too Circus Ninja and Knives Girl. There actually why we had to do the checks…and your Uncle of course…"

Memories flashed into mind….as the Dragon had appeared and she'd found herself suddenly thrust into a very nasty folk tale. Something she hadn't ever actually believed in, and it seemed Uncle had been….less than successful in dealing with the Dragon Problem, the liar, while also being disturbingly right about the whole Spirits and World situation. He was also….far more dangerous than she had ever believed, than Father had realised, as images flashed of roaring blasts of red flame meeting strange white ice-fire, and then redirecting lighting…

Azula calmed herself, forcing herself to relax, to be perfect, to not let the situation overwhelm her. Father expected so much more of her than this, the shame biting deep. She wasn't Zuko! She wasn't Iroh! She wasn't a Failure!

"You will suffer for this, my Father will…"

"Your dad will do nothing…" came back the response "…Firelord or not, he a) doesn't know you're here, and b) well, look, you lot set fire to our little holiday home here, so you and the merry band you arrived with are going to be our guests for a few weeks, till we've finished up preparations for our voyage, and then you'll be let go on your merry way, none the worse for wear"

The…man…thumped his walking cane off the metal floor and…

Azula felt…something wash over her, the dizziness clearing as she stood, falling into a combat stance "Now, whether you spend that time as our guest, or locked in a cell, is very much up to you"

"The Fire Nation…"

A gloved finger was waved in her direction but, wary of what kind of power this spirit had, she forced herself to remain calm "No, no, no, that would be a bad idea. Your uncle was most informative of your nation, and you will be treated with respect during your stay Princess, pampered even….as long as you behave. I'm sad to say your family members had less than positive things to say about…"

Azula sneered at that "Yes, I'm sure they did, they both hate and fear me"

The green man shrugged "Well, your brother did try to fry Zee, and get repeatedly shocked, in worry about your safety you know. You'd think he'd have grasped it after the first one, but quite the scarred determinator he is"

That was….a surprise, but Zuzu had always been an idiot, and overly sentimental and emotional "What did you do him! He is a Prince of the Fire Nation and…"

She trailed off, wincing at her blurting such foolishness when more important matters were at hand, such Spirits, and Dragons, and the Avatar and his little band of followers…

"He's fine now, I'm sorry we had to shock him, but we can't have you, or any of the others, using their powers without permission and endangering my crew. I'm Callum by the way, Captain of this Ship you are on in addition to temporary Mayor of the, now somewhat damaged, town of Tu Zin. Now, here are the ground rules, which will be expanded on in a group session; we're not taking sides in your war. I know YOU think YOUR NATION is all powerful….but it holds no power over us, and NO I won't hand over that annoying bald idiot to you. Nor will you start trouble with said blad tattooed idiot and his friends, or try to leave the village…"

Azula listened, forced herself to smile…and noting the green-man see through that effort clearly enough as he repeated the threats, in a polite way, of pain and imprisonment if they misbehaved. This was…

…her brilliant mind was struggling to understand what was going on as so many things crashed into her, from Uncle's clear hiding of power from her eyes, to the ease at which this 'Callum' and his unnatural flying golden ghost girl had simply grabbed her and knocked her own…to being helpless. That just wasn't acceptable, not at all! She was Perfect, she Had to be Perfect. Father wouldn't forgive her if she wasn't. So she'd find a way to escape, find soldiers, and then come back here and…

Two hours later, looking at a ship that couldn't exist, a crew that shouldn't exist, and the dangers she could think of. Azula grew very, very, worried indeed….

--

{Several hours later….}

"Weeeeee!" Mai watched as Ty Lee jumped backwards to flop on the…frankly very luxurious looking bed that had been given to her 'house', then stretched out in an overly dramatic way "Ahhh….this is the best prison ever!"

Mai frowned, shaking her head as she once again touched the wristband shackles that weren't like any shackles she'd seen before, or believed could exist. Bored? Agni, she was terrified right now, AZULA WAS AFRAID!, and here was Ty Lee acting like they were on a trip to the beach "Can't you take this seriously? We are prisoner of Spirits and Dragons and creatures from other dimension in a giant flying ship!"

"Well, I tried to escape!" Ty Lee replied back in a childish pout as she lay out on her bed, giggling and clearly happy "So fluffy! Oh…escape! Tried that! Tried get the new jewelry off. Can't! The Avatar tried going all glow-stuffy and he got knocked out! And even Azula can't think of what to do! Nope! Enjoying the nice bed and make the best of it. It's better than being locked up in a room! I can even do circus tricks if I want they said…"

"I'm going for a walk. Try scout out the village before it grows dark" Mai stated back to Ty Lee in a monotone, just feeling…. lost…and this wasn't helping right "Find Azula"

"Okay!" came the shout as she turned and walked out the doorway into the 'living area', hands folded under Earth Kingdom robes as she missed her brace of knives and a means to defend herself as she continued on out into the afternoon's dying sunlight "Don't we've been invited to dinner later!"

Mai felt her eye twitch in irritation, and that TY LEE of ALL PEOPLE was handling this madness so much better than she was. They were helpless here, utterly helpless, as any act of violence could be punished by some magical means…even down to Azula's, Zuko's, and General Iroh's firebending, or the bending of the Avatar's companions. Even the fact she was being allowed do this…walk out of 'their house' and walk along the street, free to go about her business, as long as she didn't attempt to leave the village…

That was terrifying when her eyes took in the distant figure of the 'young girl' sitting on a bench, looking bored, when in fact that figure was a Dragon, an ICE DRAGON, that breathed ice…

'How can we know whose human or not….or if anyone is human here?' she thought forcing her breathing to calm as she looked where the massive airship should be….

…and seeing nothing but open sky. Nothing. Just a mirage, even though she'd seen it, been ON BOARD IT, and there wasn't anything there. She and Ty Lee had arrived, like idiots, to the closing actions of the fight and…

Only Zuko, General Iroh, and the tiny earthbender girl had been left standing as a Dragon flew in the sky, people that weren't human wielded elements that only the Avatar should be able to use. While the Avatar and Azula HAD BEEN CASUALLY KNOCKED OUT…

Mai had felt something, a dart most likely, impact her arm, and then had darkness consume her. Just as she'd thought she'd seen tentacles made of shadows an nightmare emerge from the shadowy darkness of the streets, causing Ty Lee to raise her hands and shout out surrender…maybe. The whole situation had been blurry before she'd woken up, in a cell on a ship that shouldn't exist, and talking to an unnaturally pale girl with hair of spun gold that had casually….CASUALLY…allowed her to throw knives at her. Just so she could show that the knives broke without even causing a bruise, let alone hurting her…

"Zuko" it came out of her mouth as she realised she'd walked into the square where a fountain was sparkling somehow, and there was Zuko standing, glowering at it…

He turned, slowly, scar…Agni, that scar, and what that monster had done to him…

She pushed such thoughts away as he turned to her, glaring at her….and her heart sank, before it merely morphed into the usual Zuko brooding scowl, voice a growl that turned into a deep sigh "Mai"

"General Iroh is not with you?"

It wasn't what she wanted to ask as she looked around the square nervously, feeling naked without her weapons as both she and Zuko were trapped in this surreal spirit tale "They gave him a TEA SHOP"

Mai's brain crashed to a halt at that "They…what?"

"These…." Zuko gesticulated around wildly "…whatever they ares! They gave him a tea shop to run….because he asked! And now he's having TEA WITH AZULA AND THE EARTHBENDER GIRL! I'M IN A NIGHTMARE AND I CAN'T WAKE UP"

Mai….Mai needed to sit down…

The fountain had a bench to do that, and Zuko sat silently beside her after a moment as they both stared out at the madness and horror of the false village they were trapped in. They were only sane people here right now it seemed…

--

[04.22: Move Fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors]

[Awkward family gatherings at the local restaurant…]

It was a hot evening I found, even as it turned dark and night began to descend, probably something to do with it being summer and the valley being very near to the desert I figured as I walked along the streets with Kara. The battered old town, that had then been partially set on fire by our 'guests', was looking good as new, along with being all festively decorated and lit with electrical lanterns. We'd finally gotten the extended 'watch system' up, and layered, alongside the veil so it was best for crew morale to have a more 'civilized' experience for the night in our holiday-trade town.

'It's not like our cover isn't already blown with our prisoners after all' I thought unhappily, painfully aware they weren't exactly nobodies either. Dimensional mechanics were annoying clearly enough as we'd, somehow, ended up capturing the children of the rulers of two the world's nations, the brother of one them, the daughter of a powerful merchant family, two royal bodyguards, one a noblewoman….oh, and the physical Avatar of one of the world's major quasi-Gods. Because that's exactly what I needed to deal with now, wasn't it?

I smiled as Kara descended from the sky, coming down to land beside me "You're looking ravishing tonight"

She grinned back at me as her feet touched the ground, gesturing at her very attractive looking light dress based on local designs "Oh, this old thing? Whatever do you mean?"

"Yes you do, you look gorgeous" I replied with a chuckle to her smirk as I gestured "Though I can't stay her complimenting your beauty all night, we've a feast to organise and attend after all!"

"It's a barbeque, not a feast Callum"

I laughed at that, putting one arm around her shoulder and gesturing with my cane at the town, and crew, with the other "Ah, but it is! Food, drink, foreign guests…"

"Prisoners, and I still feel bad about that Callum….it's not there fault…entirely anyway"

I nodded as we walked "Yeah, I agree, but they started the fight and blew our cover. So they get to be prisoners for a few weeks, kids or no, they are magical sorcerer children, and one or two are near child soldiers more deadly than most police in both our Earths. Look on the bright side, we probably stopped them all killing each other!"

She let out a sigh, then nodded "Yeah…. probably, but it's still hard to see, and do. Have they caused any trouble since?"

"Nah, a few tested escape attempts from the two princes, the fire princess, and little lady tomboy, but they seemed to give up after about two hours as the bands pinged them a warning on getting a distance from the town centre" I replied as I waved at Debbie and S'tella where they were sitting at one of the picnic tables, chatting quietly, the former Crimson Crow giving a wave back when she noticed. While I wasn't overly found of the restraints, and they'd never contain a full mage, or various other power types, they were enough to track and hold the group of 'house arrest' prisoners for the next few weeks. Largely as they lacked the tech and arcane knowledge to break the things easily…so luckily it was only for two months or so that we'd need them.

"That's…better than expected I guess"

I gave an amused snort "That'll still plot and try, but it's the best we can do. Look I'll be offering them knowledge and wealth in exchange for their time here…"

Kara slipped an arm around my waist, giving me an amused look "Uh-huh, and you, buster, get to learn all their secrets as well"

I gave her a fake shocked look "Why…I never thought of that my dear"

She rolled her eyes as walked into the lovely smell of cooking meat, roast boar and burgers my nose helped me guess at. There was game in the area nearby, along with forage to ensure the giant flying bison could be feed along with the three weird lizard-horse-things the three Fire Nation girls had rode in on. Seems there was factionalism within said Fire Nation, jousting for succession in the middle of a global war…

Idiocy basically, and while I could understand the whole world conquest, having gotten various sides of that conflict during the interviews, the nature of the conquest had degenerated badly. That or 'Firelord Ozai' and his father were suffering from the racist moron syndrome that seemed to have infected this world as sorcery ran along racial lines. Or, sometime far in the past, societies had divided on racial-lines based on that magic with the 'helpful' Avatar Spirit in the background to enforce that Sperate But Equal for generations. Rather problematic for my earth human brought up side, and differently so for my orc side….but that was cultural differences, and it wasn't for me to judge either. Well…maybe a little, as the current was pretty awful..

I pushed that that think aside though as best not to be off in my own world as I saw said Avatar of the World Spirit, the annoying kid, along with his gaggle of young followers, with tracking indicating groups two and three, the Fire sorcerers were also on the move. Sadly time to explain the realities of the multiverse, in vague terms, while we all enjoyed some good food and cold beer. Or tea and soft drinks for those younger or not inclined of course as I watched Chao, our resident crazy cook, all dressed up….well, a chef's outfit yet somehow trying show off as well. No matter, there was a crew to entertain, prisoners to talk to, and a movie to watch that I didn't get to choose…

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{Sugar and spice, and all things nice…}

'Okay, okay, calm down Katara, the dress is not a mistake. Aang will think it's pretty and the scary spirit-not-spirit people won't suddenly turn around and decide you're the dinner for the dinner!' Katara instructed herself again as she fidgeted at the dress that she suddenly felt show a bit too much of her legs. It was almost knee high for the sake of the Ocean! And, oh La she'd opted for bare shoulders and a headdress like she'd agreed with crazy talk that she was an honoured guest and a pricess….

"Least it's blue I guess…" her eyed twitched as her brother came into view and looked her up and down before he held his hands up to his sides in the air as he stood in his own fancy spirit-offered clothes "…behold the glory of the Sokka ladies!"

"I'm blind and I know you look stupid Prince Snozzles…" her grumpy earthbender friend stated, dressed in a cleaner version of what she normally wore, before Katara could say anything as the shorter girl folded her arms across her chest as Sokka deflated with an 'awww' as Toph continued on "…and your supposed to compliment us dumbass, not preen like the girly-screamer that we all know are"

Sokka's face dropped into that whiny-pout of his, his voice rising as he gesticulated "I do not have a girly-scream!"

"The dragon begs to differ" Katara supplied and Sokka pouted even more.

"IT WAS A BATTLECRY! A BATTECRY!"

Toph let out a snort "Sure it was Mister Please Don't Eat Me! I'll Taste Terrible!"

"Says Lady There Not Human! Ahhh!"

Katara waved her arms about frantically to stop any argument just before they were about to leave "Hey, hey, fight later, and where's Aang?"

Sokka made a face "He hopped on his glider and said he'd meet us at the party"

'Must. Resist. Urge. To. Punch. Idiot. Brother' beat through her mind as she stood there, calmly, certainly not freezing Sokka to the wall just because she couldn't right now. No….No….Mother had raised her better than that….yeah, Revenge Later "You….let….Aang….go….on his own…to the Spirits and ZUKO AND HIS CRAZY BLUE FIRE SISTER!"

Oh…her hands were oh his shoulders, shaking the idiot "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!"

"Relax Sugar Queen…" Toph stated unhelpfully as a hundred worries roared through Katara's head in the moment's it took the short earthbender to shoulder past "…it's just Twinkletoes being an idiot. Nothing new. So, lets go to the party before he eats all the good food. We're all trapped here. Even Uncle's crazy niece and nephew"

"Can You Stop Calling Him That!"

Toph just ignored her as Katara let got of Sokka and followed after the younger girl, resisting the urge to snap at Toph, again, for meeting with their ENEMY so they could have TEA together!

Any minute now Zuko would spring some evilly-brilliant plan and try and capture them, or convince the ghost-spirit-people to surrender them to the evil Firebenders, or…or….lots of evil Firebender things she couldn't think of right now. Or the spirit-people with their freak ship, or the girl who was a dragon…that was a waterbender for some reason?...or all the other freaky, freaky, things that were…

"They have Barbeque!" Sokka's girly voice woke her up the daze she hadn't realised she was in, somehow having walked the distance to the town square, fiddling with the wrist-bracelet-things again without thinking as they glittered darkly in the lantern light "Oh, now this is my kind of town!"

'I am the only sane one here!' she wanted to shout out as Toph agreed with her bother of a brother as they were waved forward, announced…ANNOUCED…like they were at the Northern Water Tribe and being super-formal about almost everything….the sexist jerkbenders. And she wasn't like a Princess, weird fancy clothes and…

"Wow Katara you look super-pretty!"

Aang?

…..Huh?

…..oh, um…yeah….ummm….

SAY SOMETHING BRAIN!

"Ummm…."

SAY SOMETHING BETTER THAN THAT!

"Wow she is!" agreed a female voice from beside Aang, the sweet cinnamon roll that he was and….

WAS THAT CRAZY CIRCUS FREAK GIRL!

….the girl was still talking, clapping her hands together "And you're a Princess too! Just like Azula! Everyone's so fancy and important here! It's like a folk-tale!"

"She's just a water tribe peasant Ty Lee, she isn't a Princess" the…EVIL BLUE FIRE GIRL! GET AWAY FROM AANG….stated with a bored look on her face, dressed all sluttishly, like an Evil Firebender Girl would be expected too, with her arms and legs bare and all 'look at me! I'm so pretty!' with her gold head thing on her head.

"But Azula, the Captain person said she's one, and her Father's the ruler of the Water Tribe, just like yours is the Firelord of the WHOLE Fire Nation, and you're a Princess. And she's a Princess too! Just not as pretty and awesome of one as you are!" the evil circus freak girl stated, as Katara stood frozen, mouth opening and closing in confusion as the evil girl's eyes turned to Sokka who was coming up behind Katara….

"Hey Cutie! You're a Prince! Hey Mai, I've got myself a Prince as a date just like you! Isn't that super!"

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