Chapter 7: The Art of Diplomacy
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
Proxima Centauri, Year 14 ASW
"Thank you for the briefing package you sent, Dox," Kara said, walking alongside her Coluan colleague through the seemingly endless corridors of the former War World.
"It is always good to be prepared," Dox replied, matching her pace. "Especially for a diplomatic meeting on this scale."
During the last two years Kara had deliberately restricted her off-Earth activities, and not just because she had been away from her home so much in the years before that. With the newly named Free Worlds Alliance taking shape and expanding, she wanted the young political entity to find its own path and purpose. Given her role in creating it, there were way too many people who wanted her as the Alliance's leader. Since that was not something she wanted – in fact it was something she feared, becoming the kind of despot that Brainiac had always wanted to her become – she had mostly retreated from any official affairs of the Alliance.
Today, though, was a special case because her presence had been explicitly requested by their guests.
"Have the Almeracians given any indication as to what they wish to talk about?"
Dox shook his head. "No, only that they would only discuss the matter with the Alliance's highest authority. Which, according to them, is you."
Kara sighed. Given everything she knew about the people of Almerac, though, this was not a surprise. Almeracians were a highly advanced warrior society with several centuries of constant military expansion behind them. They were ruled by a Royal Family that, according to Dox' briefing package, practiced highly selective breeding in order to create the most powerful warriors possible. Members of the Royal Family displayed powers ranging from telekinesis to telepathy to superhuman speed and strength. So it was hardly surprising that they were not interested in talking to a bunch of elected representatives, but would rather speak with her.
"And you are certain they asked for me as well?"
Kara looked at Clark, who had been walking silently behind them this entire time. Like her he was dressed in formal robes of Kryptonian design, their house crest proudly displayed, but she could see that he was uncomfortable. Clark had no problem taking command during a battle situation, she knew that, but diplomacy and politics were not something he was interested in. He was simply too direct and good-natured for that. Behind him came the last member of their group, J'Onn J'Onnz, who had reverted from the near-humanoid shape he usually wore into his original Martian appearance.
"They did," Dox replied. "Their exact words were 'the Alliance's Warrior Queen Kara-El, the Super Woman, and her first-born heir, Kal-El, the Superman'."
"They do seem to have a flair for dramatics," J'Onn remarked.
"Well," Kara said after a moment's silence, "only one way to find out what they are after. Let us meet our illustrious guests!"
"You are in the presence of the Warrior Queen Primaa of Almerac, the Royal Consort and War Leader Megaraa, and the Princess Maxima of the Blood Royale."
Kara looked at the group assembled on the other side of the conference table. The Almeracians were humanoid and very close in resemblance to both Kryptonians and humans. Queen Primaa had dusky skin and hair that shimmered almost purple, while her consort Megaraa was lighter-skinned and had hair so dark it seemed to swallow the light. Both of them were tall, muscled, and wore metallic suits of armor. Maxima, the princess, looked like neither of her parents, to be honest. While she was as fair skinned as her father, her hair was so red it almost seemed to be on fire. She, too, wore armor, though hers was... well, revealing a good deal more skin. If she were human, Kara would estimate her to be about 17 to 18 years old.
"Welcome to Proxima Centauri," Kara said. "I am Kara-El, Bythgar of Krypton, and speaking for the Free Worlds Alliance. To my right is my chief advisor Vril Dox, chosen representative of Colu. To my left are Kal-El, my son and heir, and J'Onn J'Onnz, last Manhunter of Mars, my long-time brother-in-arms."
Kara did not really like to use the old Kryptonian title of Bythgar, a remnant of Krypton's warlike past when the planet had been ruled by kings and queens, but given the mindset of their visitors, it probably did not hurt to hurl out a few impressive titles of their own. She had originally wanted to ask Diana to come along as well for some of that old-school royalty feeling, but her daughter Donna was currently down with an illness, which of course took precedence.
Everyone took a seat at the conference table. If she concentrated, Kara could almost sense the mental presence of J'Onn in the back of her mind. Given the Almeracians' documented mental powers, Kara had asked him to keep a mental eye out for anyone who might want to sneak into their thoughts.
"Thank you for granting us this meeting, Bythgar El," Queen Primaa began. "We of Almerac have observed your recent victories over the Dominators with great cheer."
While Almerac was a multi-system empire, it was little more than a gnat when compared to the vast territory controlled by the Dominion before its civil war. According to Dox' briefing package, Almerac had actually been in imminent danger of being among the next wave of worlds annexed by the Dominators, had their expansion continued unabated.
"Many of these victories were not mine alone," Kara replied. "Many brave warriors fought on our side, quite a few of them Elians themselves."
"Of course, of course," Queen Primaa said, "no offence was intended. Still, an army is only as good as its leader. You have made quite a name for yourself, Bythgar El, at a time when most believed your people to be extinct. Yet here you are, creating a new and powerful empire from nothing. Highly impressive. I salute you."
"Thank you," Kara said, though she felt somewhat uncomfortable accepting this praise. "I assume you did not journey all the way here merely to salute me, though?"
Queen Primaa smiled. "To the heart of the matter then. Yes, we have come here for a reason, Bythgar El. I am uncertain how much you know about my people's history. We have always sought to expand both in terms of territory as well as diversity. We have incorporated other races into our own, adding their strengths and diversity to our culture, our technological base, and to our gene pool as well."
"I have heard of your people's expansions, yes," Kara agreed. "Though I was under the impression that many of the races you... incorporated... were not exactly willing."
"Some people recognize their fortunes, others need to have it forced upon them," Primaa said, shrugging.
"Why are you here, Queen Primaa?" Kara asked, beginning to lose her patience.
"Why, we wish to ally our empire with yours, Bythgar El," Queen Primaa said as if it was self-evident. "Your Alliance is a rising power, as you have already demonstrated. Joint with our strength, there is no one in the galaxy who could challenge us."
Kara frowned. Thinking about it, it was not really a surprising offer. The Almeracians respected strength, that much was evident, and the Free Worlds Alliance had demonstrated its strength in the past few years. And while Kara was not exactly a fan of the way Almerac was governed, it was not exactly unprecedented, either. At least two of the many worlds of Vega were constitutional monarchies and the planet Dhor was ruled by a monarch as well, though not a hereditary one.
And Queen Primaa was right in one regard. Now that the Dominion was no longer a factor in galactic politics for the foreseeable future, a Free Worlds Alliance bolstered by the influence and power of Almerac would certainly be a power player on the Milky Way stage of politics.
Still, she was not in the business of empire-building for its own sake, no matter what some people might think or wish.
"A tempting offer, Queen Primaa," she said diplomatically. "We would, of course, have to speak at length about the details of such an alliance. While the Free Worlds Alliance is still a very young entity, we do have certain principles and standards we would expect any member or ally to uphold."
"I am sure we can come to an agreement, Bythgar El," Primaa replied, looking confident. "Of course, we of Almerac have certain principles and standards as well, especially when it comes to making alliances."
"Such as?" Kara asked, not liking the way that sounded at all.
"You have a son, I have a daughter," Queen Primaa said, smiling triumphantly. "I propose to unify our empires through the time-honored tradition of marriage. Your son and future Bethgar Kal-El shall wed my Maxima, the future queen of Almerac."
Princess Maxima of the Blood Royale, future queen of Almerac, was well aware that she was beautiful, desirable, and powerful. She was destined to rule a great empire among the stars, where billions would prostrate themselves at her feet. She also knew that only the best male would serve as her consort, nothing less would do. A powerful specimen to further enhance the Blood Royale, to make their offspring even more powerful than Maxima herself was. Many candidates had already come and gone, but none had been worthy of her.
Then they had learned of the El family, the sole survivors of Krypton, who were recreating their people's ancient empire. They had scoffed at first, but events had quickly proven them wrong. The Els had destroyed the War World and defeated the tyrant Mongul, whose name had been feared even on Almerac. They had toppled the Citadel of Vega, they had driven off the Dominators, and now the once great and powerful Dominion was falling apart while this so-called Free Worlds Alliance was expanding at a rapid pace, settling new worlds and creating new breeds of superbeings with enhanced abilities. Clearly the El family was powerful and worthy of Almerac's attention.
As her mother talked, Maxima studied the man she was to wed. He was maybe a few cycles older than her, but not much. Tall, muscular, and she could practically feel the power rolling off him. On a whim she decided to take a look into his mind, but she was quickly repulsed by a powerful mental presence. Looking around, her eyes met that of the Martian, who subtly shook his head at her. Her temper flared. How dare that creature block her? Didn't he know who she was?
Before she could reprimand the green creature, though, her mother finally came to the point of this meeting.
"You have a son, I have a daughter," her mother said. "I propose to unify our empires through the time-honored tradition of marriage. Your son and future Bethgar Kal-El shall wed my Maxima, the future queen of Almerac."
Pushing the Martian from her mind, she settled her gaze on her intended once again, giving him an enchanting smile. He was looking at her with wide eyes, clearly taken by surprise by her mother's revelation. Well, she mused, he better prove himself worthy of the honor bestowed upon him.
"Out of the question," Kal-El suddenly said, bringing her thoughts to a screeching halt. "That's not going to happen!"
"What?!" she hissed, not believing what she was hearing.
"What my son means," Kara-El said, obviously attempting to salvage the situation, "is that political marriages are not a custom on Krypton, and we are not interested in changing that."
Her mother seemed thrown as well, but quickly gathered herself. "I believe you do not understand, Bythgar El. I am offering you Almerac's most precious treasure in exchange for an alliance. My daughter's hand in marriage. Your son could not hope to find a better match anywhere in the universe."
"None of my children will be forced to marry someone for political gain, that is final," Kara-El stated with a firm look on her face. "Clearly our cultural differences are great, Queen Primaa, so I propose..."
Princess Maxima of Almerac, single child and heir to an empire, was not used to being denied something. Nor was she used to keeping a lid on her temper.
In some ways the powers of the Blood Royal of Almerac and a powered-up Kryptonian were rather similar, in that many of their abilities appeared to be the result of physical attributes, but actually worked quite differently. No muscles, no matter how well-developed, could account for a Kryptonian's strength. Their strength resulted from the energy field projected by their cells, which allowed them to negate gravity around themselves and objects they touched. Likewise, Maxima had no more physical strength than a humanoid of her size and weight could reasonably be expected to have. The power of her mind, though, more than made up for it.
It was a combination of psychic assault and telekinetic burst that sent Superman careening through the outer wall of the conference room, right onto the metallic surface of the former War World. Thankfully the artificial planetoid was more than large enough to hold its own atmosphere, so there was no explosive decompression involved. Which also, of course, allowed Maxima to immediately launch herself through the newly made opening in pursuit of the man upon whom she projected her ire.
"How dare you?" she screamed, seeing red. "How dare you refuse me?"
Despite having been taken by surprise, Clark shrugged off the blow rather quickly and was back on his feet in time to see the irate redhead fly towards him, leading with her fists. Having been raised as a gentleman, he was rather hesitant to strike the girl, no matter how much she might deserve it, so he simply sidestepped her attack at superspeed.
Maxima hit the ground when her intended target vanished, leaving a deep furrow in the metal surface of the planet and coming to a rest in a rather undignified heap.
"If you think punching me will make me reconsider marrying you, you are quite deluded, girl!"
"GIRL?" she screamed. "You will address me as the royal princess of Almerac, commoner! You aren't worthy to lick my boots!"
Maxima unleashed a bright beam of force towards him. Clark considered sidestepping again but decided that a show of force might be more effective. So he braced himself and stopped the beam with his outstretched hand. It smarted quite a bit, but no strain showed on his face.
"We can still end this without anyone being hurt," he told her, doing his best to keep his voice calm despite being rather pissed off at this point.
"Oh, someone will be hurt!" Maxima hissed and launched herself at him again.
Back in the conference room Kara was about to launch herself after the girl who had blatantly attacked her son when someone stepped into her path.
"Out of my way, Queen Primaa," Kara told the ruler of Almerac.
"My daughter seeks to claim her mate," Primaa told her, "as is tradition on Almerac. Do not interfere!"
"Out of my way, Primaa," Kara growled, fists clenched. "I will not ask you a third time!"
"I know you are powerful, Bythgar El," Primaa stated, oozing confidence. "But so am I. So unless you are ready to prove your prowess against the greatest warrior queen Almerac has ever produced, I advise you to..."
One thing most people, even those familiar with Kryptonians and their wondrous abilities, tended to either ignore or forget entirely, was the fact that they were not just exceedingly strong and tough. They were also horrendously fast! Maybe not quite as fast as the Flash, but certainly much faster than just about anyone else.
Queen Primaa had telepathic abilities and against any normal opponent those same abilities would have given her ample warning about any hostile intentions towards herself. In the case of Kara-El, however, by the time her telepathy picked up said hostile thought, a far more hostile fist was already crashing into her face at several times the speed of sound.
To Queen Primaa's credit, the blow she took would have killed just about anyone else. Kara was well aware, however, how tough the Royal Family of Almerac could be, so she had applied her strength accordingly. Given her toughness, Queen Primaa was thus not reduced to a bloody smear on the wall. She still ended up embedded in said wall, though, and then slid down to the ground, deeply unconscious.
The battle, such as it had been, had lasted less than a second.
"Anyone else who wishes to stand in my way?" Kara asked, looking at Primaa's consort Megaraa.
Megaraa was a great and experienced warrior in his own right, but far more importantly he was a man with many years of experience dealing with powerful, pissed off women. So, wordlessly proving himself the wisest of the Royal Family of Almerac, he merely shook his head and knelt down to attend to his knocked-out queen.
Kara merely considered him for a moment, then quickly flew after her son and Maxima.
A burst of super breath unleashed by Clark took Maxima off her feet and sent her skidding across the metal ground for nearly fifty meters before she came to a stop. He was still trying to resolve this without actually hitting the girl, but she was certainly making it very, very difficult for him. Apart from not knowing when to quit, the constant vitriol she was spouting was increasing his desire to simply plant his fist in her face.
While Clark was reluctant to strike a girl, however, his mother was anything but.
"That is quite enough, young lady," Kara growled, appearing behind Maxima in a burst of superspeed and striking the back of her head with the flat of her hand. The impact, not nearly as powerful as the blow that had flattened Queen Primaa a minute ago, sent Maxima tumbling to the ground, dazed.
"You… you cannot do this to me," Maxima stammered, trying to get back to her feet. "I am... the princess..."
Apparently all out of patience, Clark's mom grabbed Maxima by the scruff of her neck and wrenched her back to her feet.
"What you are is a spoiled little brat whose parents should have done something about your attitude years ago. Then again, your mother seems to be no better. So I guess it's up to me to make up for her neglect."
"What…? No! NO!"
Clark turned away with a smile on his face as his mother put Maxima, Princess of Almerac, across her knee.
Half an hour later everyone was conscious again and gathered in a different conference room, one that did not have a huge hole in its wall. Megaraa, Dox, J'Onn, and Clark were sitting, while Queen Primaa was pacing up and down like a tiger. Maxima, for her part, was leaning against the wall, looking rather dejected and currently unable to sit down without it hurting quite a bit. Kara was standing with her arms crossed across her chest, looking calm and collected. Only those who knew her well could tell that she was angry beyond belief.
"This will not be tolerated," Queen Primaa seethed. "We come here on a mission of diplomacy and you... you..."
"Your spoiled brat threw the first punch," Kara reminded her, unimpressed, and no longer willing to be diplomatic. "Until and unless you can teach her some manners, you and your family are no longer welcome in Alliance space."
Primaa all but snarled. "You think the proud warriors of Almerac will stand for this? We will..."
"I think the proud warriors of Almerac," Kara interrupted her, "might have second thoughts about things when they see a recording of their queen, their greatest warrior and martial leader, being taken out by a single punch. What do you think, Queen Primaa? How long will your reign last once they have seen that?"
For once, Primaa seemed at loss for words. Kara looked her directly in the eye. "Never try to threaten me or my family again, little queen. I took down a god for messing with my children! One uppity little space despot like you is not even worth the time it would take to squash you like a bug!"
"I think it is time to conclude this meeting," Dox said when it became clear that Primaa had no words anymore. "Your ship awaits, Queen Primaa. I suggest you depart as soon as possible."
Clark stood beside his mother as they watched the ship carrying the delegation from Almerac away from them, hopefully not to return for a long, long time.
Clark sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, mom."
She turned to look at him, confused. "Sorry for what?"
"I… there might have been a more... diplomatic way of... rebuffing that marriage offer. I didn't even think about the political implications, only..."
His mom chuckled and reached up to ruffle his hair. The fact that he was taller than her by now never seemed to stop her from doing that and, for once, he didn't try to stop her.
"Clark, you met those people," she told him. "Do you honestly think a more diplomatic no would have garnered any other response?"
He chuckled, too. "No, probably not. Still, I know that a treaty with Almerac could have been good for the Alliance."
She shrugged. "Possibly. Or possibly not, given our… vast cultural differences. But I have told you this before and I will tell you again. Your being happy is the most important thing in the universe for me. The Almeracians could have offered us the galaxy on a platter for all I care. So unless you have changed your mind about marrying that Maxima brat...?"
He emphatically shook his head. "No, no way!
"Thought so," his mom laughed. "So do not worry about it. Maybe one day Almerac will become a part of the Alliance or maybe not. Time will tell. And it will definitely not hinge on anyone being forced to marry someone against their will."
Clark nodded, spontaneously giving his mother a hug.
"Thank you, mom!"
They stood there for another few minutes before Clark gathered up his courage. "Uh, mom? Speaking of marriages..."
She looked at him, raising an eyebrow in question.
"There is... well, it's possibly that... I have considered asking..."
The Almeracian ship had long made the jump into hyperspace before Clark managed to finally tell his mother that he had plans regarding a certain lady reporter back on Earth.
End Chapter 7
Author's Note: Maxima first appeared in Action Comics #645 in 1989 and has had numerous appearances since, both in comics, as well as in animation, Smallville, and the Supergirl TV series. In the comics she was already an adult, chasing after Superman as a mate after having witnessed him as a gladiator on War World. In my universe she is not quite an adult yet and not yet queen of Almerac, either, but as you can see, she still has the hots for the Man of Steel. There is zero information about Maxima's parents in canon DC comics as far as I could find, so everything written about them here springs from my imagination and is not official. And if there was a bit of a bashing element to the entire interaction, well, I never really liked the character of Maxima.
The Royal Family of Almerac was previously mentioned in Adventures of a Super Family, Chapter 75. This story here takes place a few months after chapter 109 of AoaSF.