"Horrible..."
The last few holovid images faded from the screen; the four people viewing them sat for a full moment before turning to face the woman leading the council.
"Earthgov members, this is actual footage of what the United Planets now faces. These creatures, these 'red dogs', are becoming threats on more and more planets along a specific line of approach. That these savage beasts are being deliberately introduced goes without question. What we don't - yet - know is who is doing this. Beren?"
"I was one of the first to foresee this, madame president Ardeen. Unfortunately, neither I nor our most adept seer, Nura Nal, have the ability to view what has already happened."
"Noted. Science Police officer Norg?"
"You know my thoughts, madame president Ardeen."
'I know everyone's thoughts, buck-passer! But it's the others you need to tell.'
"All right then; the most likely suspects are the Khunds."
"May I point out that our most important job is to foretell where our enemy will strike next?"
"Exactly, Beren. According to our data, the next target - one we especially cannot afford to lose -will be Starhaven. That gives the United Planets a chance to take the initiative by assembling a strikeforce on a nearby inhabited world.
"Members of the council, I suggest we deploy our premier force, the Legion of Super-Heroes, to the world known as Saselki."
"That in-the-middle of nowhere planet? Why bother? Wouldn't it be better to post the Legion to Starhaven to begin with?"
"I thought I made myself clear. Sasalki lies between those worlds already infected and Starhaven. It's our enemies next target."
Shadow Lass turned her attention to the Legion roster before her, running a finger down the list. 'Saselki, hmm? Mon-El and Ultra Boy should definitely go; Wildfire too. It's near Starhaven - and he's been clamoring for months about going there. Easy to guess why.
'Polar Boy as well. He's been equally insistent, though I can't understand his interest. From what I heard, he and Dawnstar never did get along..
'I'm going too, of course. Even if I wasn't Legion leader, I'd go. This mission simply promises to be my favorite type, with danger and surprises all around.
'Back to the team; Brainiac has to come along as a researcher...'
The roster was done by the time Shadow Lass took the helm of the Legion cruiser. All the selected Legionnaires were on board, along with an unexpected volunteer, Dream Girl. When asked about her presence, the only answer she gave was "I want to be there for the big surprise."
Brainiac 5 spent much of the journey referencing some very old encyclopedias, some of which dated to over 1,000 years ago.
"These are the only sources I have for anything even remotely connected with 'red dog'" he told Shadow Lass, "In Earth wildlife, these records seemed the closest match with what we're up against."
DHOLE; THE RED, OR WILD DOG OF INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA, IS NOT A TRUE DOG ALTHOUGH IT RESEMBLES VILLAGE OR PI-DOGS, WITH WHICH IT IS SOMETIMES CONFUSED IN REPORTS.
"Read this," he directed, pointing slightly down the report.
DHOLES ONCE LIVED IN PACKS OF 100 OR MORE IN FORESTS OF BOTH HILL AND PLAIN
"According to the information supplied to us, these packs of red dogs number 200 or more; 200 highly predatory animals in each pack, with no means of telling how many such packs we may find."
"I see your concern," she answered "Wait a minute. How do you know so much about these red dogs on Saselki?"
Brainiac was already returning to his research. Tasmia shrugged.
'I might have known. He's simply not one to let anyone else in on what he's been doing.
'Red dog, red dog. All jungles are our jungles. In the spring, I hear you running alongside me. In the summer, I taste the prey you have brought to me. In the fall, I smell the lair you share with me. In the winter, I see how our lives go on without ever ending.
'Red dog, red dog. We are hunters both. All jungles are our jungles. While we kill, we are also killed. Where we travel, many others have also traveled. We are alike, even though of different hide. Red dog, red dog.'
The Legion shuttle came to rest upon a slight rise of ground amid a vast, level prairie. The various grasses, most of which were waist-high or better, made this the only practical landing site. It alone provided an effective view of more than a few yards.
The sole sign of humanoid habitation was that of a half-dozen well weathered shacks encircled by little more than a series of sticks driven into the ground. It looked like a fence a child might create.
'Guess it's time to meet the locals,' Shadow Lass decided. 'I'd expected to have Brainy with us, but he wanted to stay aboard the cruiser along with Dream Girl - a real surprise, since they aren't at all that comfortable with each other. Maybe I'm overly suspicious, but it seems they're keeping secrets.
'Same could be said for Wildfire and Polar Boy. But whatever that is, it feels...worse somehow.'
A sizeable crowd had gathered by the time she left the shuttle to meet with them. Flanked by Mon-El and Ultra Boy, she made her way toward a man who's steady approach suggested he was the headmaster of the ragged assembly.
"I'm SDhadow Lass, of the Legion ofg Super-Heroes-" Tasmia began.
"The Legion?" The man interrupted, viewing the stylized logo prominently emblazoned on the shuttle "I'd never have guessed!"
"-and we've come to help you against the threat of these red dogs."
"Wait now, just wait. Now it isn't anything personal. Far from it The Legion has an excellent reputation throughout the UP. But, harsh as it may sound, your really not needed here. Go home.
"We of Saselki can fend for ojurselves in this. The tree-folk have already volunteered to help us, and two finer trackers I've never seen. Believe me, Frostwing and Prey-Catcher are the perfect hunters. I'm actually amazed your team hasn't thought about having those young women as members."
"Frostwing and Prey-Catcher? Could you tell us anything more about them?" Shadow Lass tried not to show her surprise.
'If that isn't Dawnstar and Shikari, then.... Grife, who else can it be? That must be what Dream Girl meant when she said there'd be a big surprise. She and Brainy...he knew too. He as much as said so when he mentioned he'd been in touch with the Saselki people.'
"Frostwing? FROSTWING?" Wildfire snarled. "What the sprock is this? That's Dawnstar!"
The headman stood his ground. "That isn't the name we were told. In the half-year she's lived with us, we've only known her as Frostwing."
"Yeah? Well, listen, you squaj -"
"Wildfire!" Shadow Lass swept the area around him with a shadowfield, grateful that she could control her power to such a degree that even Wildfire could be affected. Except for Sun Boy, no Legionnaire's powers so worked in such contrast to her own.
The sharp buzz of the Legionnaires signalling devices alerted everyone in the vicinity to an incoming message. Dream Girl's rather sing-song words were brief and distinct.
"Shady, I've just receieved some holopics I thought you'd like to see. They're of..." A brief silence followed
'Bless your timing, Nura! You couldn't have chosen a better moment to interrupt.'
"Put it onm holo-image, so we all can see - level view if you can."
If anyone, even Ultra Boy, still doubted that Frostwing and Prey-Catchwer were Dawnstar and Shikari, the series of images they now saw put that question to permanent rest.
The two figures moved in a superbly coordinated aerial ballet, a whirlwind centered around a pack of bloody-jawed beasts. Both young women carried the same type of weapon, a staff with a wide, semi-circular blade at one end.
"Half moons. I told you they were good." The headmaster boasted, "No other 'primitive' arm would be as effective; a sword or spear is only good for single jabs, a bow and arrows...well, how many arrows can a person carry?"
Shadow Lass found herself agreeing. The half moons were swung back and forth in pendulum movements, and each sweep felled another of the rapidly decreasing red dog pack.
Through the battle, Dawnstar and Shikari worked together in precise unison; their actions and reactions complimenting those of each other. When Dawnstar paused to drive stragglers back into the frenzied pack, Shikari darted among the animals to fell one or two more.
'They make it look like they've been working together for years.' Shadow lass thoyught 'One covers for the other in every move they make. Look at that! i see Dawnstar has learned to hover. She has to have learned that from Sghikari. Funny, but if it weren't for the killing, this would be almost...beautiful.'
"And that's why we don't need your help." the headmaster announced. "What you're watching is a pairing more than equal to tghe problem."
More and more, as she watched, Shadow Lass found herself agreeing. Each swing of the letrhal blades, every strike and counterstrike, all the subtle coordinated interplay revealed a teamwork only long practice could have achieved.
'I almost wish I could be there too.'
"What I'm watching," Polar Boy shouted abruptly, "is someone too dangerous to be left on her own. She should be taken back to face charges of desertion, not to mention breaking the Legion code against killing."
"Desertion?" Brainiac 5's normally pedantic tone of voice was noticeably high. "To the best of my memory, Legion membership is voluntary. No one is forced to stay if they want to leave."
"But isn't there anything in the bylaws about being memory-screened of certain Legion passwords?"
"Wildfire, I can't believe you bringing this up. Are you actually suggesting we arrest Dawnstar for possible violations of our rules?" Shadow Lass objected "The two of you were quite close, as I recall."
"We WERE, yes. But look at her. Look at how she acts. She always was a hunter, now she's a killer as well."
Shadow Lass shook her head in disbelief "And you claim SHE'S changed!"
"Ah, true love!" Dream Girl teased "Where else could you find gthe boy wanting to see his ex-girlfriend chained and locked away because of the possibility that she no longer loves him?"
"Stop this, all of you!" Brainiac 5 broke in "This behavior is disgraceful. Look. The battle is over."
Shikari was flitting from spot to spot, prodding with the butt-end of her weapon while Dawnstar watched from above her. On the ground, a handful of wild dogs, between twenty and thirty, were being driven apart from the mound of dead animals. They formed a small pack which was quickly chased away.
'So not all the dogs were killed."asmia realized "The pack was reduced enough in numbers so thjey wouldn't upset the balance between predator and prey. Well done!'
The image showed Dawnstar and Shikari poised almost motionless, talking over some none-too-pleasant topic that, judging by the increasing number of physical gestures, quickly became an argument. Everyone watching wished they could hear what was being said.
The verbal fight ended when Dawnstar lobbed her weapon to Shikari, made a slashing motion with one hand, then flew swiftly away.
"Dawny!" Wildfire bellowed "Where...where's she going?"
"I'd say to wherever on Saselki she calls home." Mon-El answered "She's flying in that direction right now." He pointed to the northwest.
'He has to have been using his super-vision to find the battle site' Shadow lass realized. She turned her attention to Wildfire, who abruptly jetted away.
"I've got to find Dawny, talk to her!"
"Wait!" she called after him "Don't..."
But he was already out of hearing range. She stared after him "Mon-El, can you catch up to him and bring him back?"
"If you want me to.ut why?"
'Talk TO her, not with her. TO her - like a teacher scolding a student - or worse. Whatever Wildfire is feeling right now, it sure isn't love!'
'They came. The Legion of Super-Heroes came. I hoped, I prayed they wouldn't, but I should have expected it once this problem developed. Now I hope they leave as quickly as they came. Especially Wildfire.'
Try as she did, Dawnstar couldn't forget some of his last words to her, his praise of Shikari and his bewilderment of her actions.
'He didn't understand then. I doubt he understands even now. Maybe I'm being unfair, but I haven't the desire to confront him.'
She'd been flying fairly slowly for her gradually speeding up her flight without really paying attention to the almost frenzied beating of her wings.
'He's with them. I sensed his presence even before they landed. I wonder...'
A single glance backward confirmed her concern. Even from miles away, the tell-tale glow of his energy-based power was all too evident. She watched for a moment, n oting that it grew slightly brighter all the while.
'That's what I was afraid of. He's coming after me. I'm still too far from the trees to lose him among them, and while I can't match his speed while under planetary limitations, I can still outdo him in hard vacuum flight. No one, not even Mon-El, can overtake me there. The trouble is, I have to reach stratospheric level before I can attain supralight speed.'
She changed direction abruptly, making a 90 degree turn skyward, adjusting her flight to head toward some thicker clouds to the west.
'I'm far enough away from him that he can't yet see me, and I know that, despite his flight ability, he still tends to think along flat-surface lines - right, left, forward and backward. Up and down isn't natural to him or to most people the way it is to someone born with wings.'
It didn't occur to her that Wildfire wasn't alone; she didn't look back to see his energy trail rise to bring both him and his far-viewing companion into an interception course.
At mach-2, it took her only moments to near the first wispy clouds. The first indication of trouble came when, out of the corners of her eyes, she noticed a muscular red-clother arm reaching for her left wrist. She yanked it away, and her gasp of dismay became a shriek when she realized both Mon-El and Wildfire were flanking her.
Aother right-angle turn separated her from her pursjuers, but only temporarily. Wildfire was too quickly close behind her again in a few seconds.
"Uh-uh, Dawny. I know you better than that. You're not getting away this time."
He was reaching for her ankles. Mon-El, just behind and to his right, watched dispasskionately.
"You want my feet?" she asked "Here!" She kicked toward Wildfire's faceplate. Flinching, he veered to one side, directly into Mon-El's flight path.
The resulting collision didn't hurt either of them in the least, as she knew it wouldn't. But it did tangle them up long enough for her to gain the cloud covefr.
"Sprock! Sprock! Sprock! I almost had her. I was THIS close!" Wildfire looked over at Mon-El, who was dusting himself off. "Can you still track her even though she's in the clouds?"
"Not by sight. I can do it by listening for her heartbeat, but only if you shup."
He heard Dawnstar's heafrtbeat almost immediately, a far-too-rapid pounding that surprised him. 'She's terrified. Why should she be?" He glanced at Wildfire, now flying with arms at his sides.
His fists were clenched.
"There." Mon-El announced, pointing off to the left a short distance ahead. He immediately wished he hadn't said anything, as Wildfire zoomed ahead into the cloud, and winced when, a second or so later, there came a few muffled words followed by the sharp report of a fist striking flesh.
When Wildfire reappeared, he was holding an unconscious Dawnstar around her waist. "Thanks. Now let's get her to the cruiser before she regains consciousness."
"Dawnstar?" Shadow Lass asked cautiously.
"Don't call me that ever again! I'm Frostwing now. Let the name Dawnstar fade into nothingness."
"All right, if that's what you want. I just want you to know that you'll be free to return to Saselki as soon as we're sure you've been memory-screened about the Legion codes and passwords."
"The Legion! The Legion can fly into a super-nova for all I care! You're no friends of mine, not any more."
"Dawn - Frostwing, please. I know we were never all that close, but..."
"Leave me alone! Just leave me alone1 Once I'm off this ship, I don't want to see any of you again."
"But wny? What happened to make you so bitter I'm sure W - we can talk things out."
"You started to say 'Wildfire', didn't you? I hate him. I hate him! I HATE HIM!"
"Please, calm down. Why are you so upset with him?"
"You don't know what he said to me just before he knocked me out. Oh, I wish there was some way I could hurt him, REALLY hurt him."
Her next words were a whispered hiss. "He said 'This is for stealing Shikari away from me!'"
The End (for now)
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