My fellow citizens, yesterday we fought bravely. Emperor Ol-Vir has been defeated. However, our job is not yet over. Here on our free world, we must rebuild our city, our society, our hearts. This war has cost us all in many ways that will require exceptional forgiveness to our family and peers who may have chosen poorly for Empire over freedom. We must mourn our dead. Much damage has been done by the loyalists that must be repaired, and our infrastructure for energy and transportation is devastated. As they have helped us in the effort for freedom, Saturn Girl of the Legion of Super Heroes has pledged that their team will help us rebuild. When we rebuild, we will have to judge what penance our brothers and sisters who sided with the former empire must serve. We must free the other Imperial worlds that Ol-Vir conquered under his banner. And we must do this as one nation. The Legion has shown us the strength of diversity across cultures, and as they have sacrificed to enable our progress, so shall we honor their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of all who have won this victory, to make this a model of how many races and tribes can live and work together.
My fellow citizens of the Republic, we have fought and prevailed. The Empire of Starhaven is over. May the Republic live forever and may the Great Spirit guide us all.Owena finished her speech and stepped down from the podium, residing on the same dais that held the emperor's throne she had destroyed the day before. The cameras stopped the broadcast and she came down to meet Dawn, Fire and Imra. The rest of the Legionnaires stood behind her. After Ol-vir had turned into a child, and the threat of Meta neutralized, the battle pitched in favor of the rebels, as the able Legionnaires could assist in the battle against the rest of the Imperial forces. The destruction of the throne and time-reversal of Ol-Vir himself had been broadcast live for anyone who had power to see, and many of the loyalists either surrendered or ran, leaving an easy job for the Legionnaires and Rebels to convince the remaining fighters to give up.
Brainiac 5 and Chuck Taine moved the Legion Outpost back in orbit around Starhaven itself. A full Republic crew took over the ships Luornu had been piloting, as well as the ones Brainy had disabled, in order to guard the system from any incursions. Luornu, Chuck and Brainy returned to the surface and rejoined the rest of the Legion.
The mood among the Legion was somber with the loss of Andrew Nolan. Violet had been inconsolable since they received the news; she and Zoe met up with Imra's group a few hours after the battle, having rested and recovered somewhat. The joy that Zoe felt by seeing an older Lori Morning was balanced by the news she delivered about Andy, and Zoe found herself holding on to a Violet who alternated between quietly crying and outright sobbing ever since. Chuck also kept a watch on Luornu, who swung between anger and grief at any given moment, keeping their reunion subdued.
Ferro's death had cast a pall on the rest of the Legionnaires' reunions. The Manitou team were just finding out about Rokk, Tinya and Violet, to say nothing of Jan, Jazmin and Ayla. Garth held on to Imra for what seemed like hours when they met again, but Andrew's sacrifice had preoccupied her mind, along with all the other leadership responsibilities she had. It was Imra who had made sure all hands were present for Walker's speech.
Imra stepped forward as Walker stepped down the dais. "I want to reiterate the Legion's support for your efforts, General," she said, "We can help get things back in shape pretty quickly. Brainiac 5 has offered to create a new power station that can replace what you were generating, even considering the effects of the captured ERG-1." Imra gestured at Brainy who nodded at the General.
"Thank you, Saturn Girl," Walker said as she acknowledged Brainy in turn, "I appreciate the offer, and we will take you up on it. We have much to repair." Greatfire and Dawn walked over and stood on either side of their mother. Both were very subdued.
"What will happen now?" Rokk asked.
She folded her arms in thought. "We have so many priorities that are competing at the moment," she said, "There are the obvious repairs that we need help with, but the biggest priority we have is to get the Republic up and running. We are in martial law now, and the people need to see what we really fought for. Now if you'll excuse me, we need to meet with the tribal council to discuss just that."
"Thank you, General," Imra said as she walked away with Fire.
Owena paused and addressed the entire Legion. "Thank you all," she said solemnly, "We owe you everything. I owe you everything." She and Fire continued walking.
Dawn trailed behind them and walked over to Val, who was on the edge of the gathering. She lightly touched his sleeve. "Karate Kid," she said in a soft voice, "I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life."
"Um, You're welcome," he said. He connected with her piercing blue eyes and suddenly felt his heart pounding. He quickly concentrated with his training to control his reactions. "It's Val," he blurted out, "You can call me Val." He felt color rush into his cheeks despite his control.
A small smile tugged at Dawn's mouth, breaking the solemn mask of grief she wore for her brother, and Val found it a welcome sight. "You may call me Dawn," she said, "I hope to see you later, Val," then turned away to follow her mother and brother.
Imra turned to the assembled team, including Lori. She scanned over the faces of the full group, now gathered again. She could see, and sense, grief, and exhaustion in all of them, but having the team reunited seemed to lift some of the burden off her shoulders.
"Legionnaires," she began, "I cannot say enough how proud I am to be a part of this group, much less its leader. Against all odds, we've made our way back together. And we've all sacrificed, none more so than Ferro. We will honor him here on the world where he gave his life for the people of Starhaven, but when we return home, we will honor him again on Shanghalla as befits the example of his life.
"We have a lot to do still before we even start making our way home. Once we get the city repairs out of the way, we will be holding a new election for leader. We must honor Ferro and his sacrifice. We need to find and detain Amber and Dune, as well as determine long term arrangements for Meta. For now, though, I want you all to get some well-deserved rest. You're welcome to go back to the Outpost or remain planetside. Thank you all."
The Legionnaires began to disperse, mostly in couples, but the occasional group of three or loners. Violet slowly walked up to the dais, one arm trailing behind with her hand being held by Zoe, who followed and stood at her shoulder. "Is this where Lori said it happened?" she asked in a scratchy voice.
"Yeah," Zoe said simply and softly.
Vi remained fixated on the floor of the dais. "Why are you with me, Zoe?" she asked.
Zoe started at the unexpected question. "What do you mean?" Zoe asked in return, "What kind of a question is that?" She took Vi's hand she was already holding and clasped it in both of hers. "You're the most special person in my life," she said, "I can't imagine it without you."
"Are you sure?" Vi rasped glumly, "People who think of me like that, or that I think of like that, seem to end up dead."
"What?"
"Ion, Gim, Andy," Violet continued, "They're all dead now."
Despite herself, Zoe found that she was beginning to get defensive. "Yeah?" she responded and let go of Vi's hand, "Well they weren't in love with you, and we are NOT breaking up. It's just not gonna happen." And she turned and crossed her arms, a little more dramatically than she intended.
Zoe heard Vi's voice just behind her. "What did you say?"
"I said we're not breaking up," Zoe said grumpily.
"No, before that."
"I said," Zoe repeated, "That those people weren't really in love with you." Her voice lilted up at the end of the sentence almost as if she were asking a question. Zoe uncrossed her arms and shrugged, turning halfway back to Vi.
"So what are you saying?" Violet asked.
"That you and me can handle anything," Zoe said, then turning back to face Violet. "Team Vinetix is unstoppable. Because we're really in love. I love you." She shrugged and smiled almost shyly and her eyes glistened with moisture.
Even in her state, Violet snorted a small laugh as she wiped her face on her sleeve. "Oh, Zoe," Vi said as more tears started to stream down her cheeks, and she pulled Zoe close in an embrace as they kissed.
Imra smiled as she saw the two girls hugging on the dais, happy that at least two teammates were getting into a better place, and turned to give the couple some degree of privacy from her. She turned to hold Garth's hand and give it a squeeze as he smiled at her. Rokk and Brainy walked up.
"So what's next?" Imra asked to Brainy, "Are you already figuring out are way home yet?"
"Of course," he replied matter-of-fact, "Here at Starhaven, we can build a Stargate-type engine to help get us home. It will still take a while, but we have the team and raw resources to fully mobilize the outpost."
"That's great!" Garth said enthusiastically.
"Indeed," Brainy said, "I also want to create a red-sun projector to use for the Ol-Vir child. We can't risk him developing and discovering his powers at any age. Now that we can fully outfit the Outpost, we will have all the components we need. But there is something else that's very odd, that I need to spend some time to investigate."
"What is it?" Rokk asked, and all three founders looked puzzled.
"When a Daxamite uses their heat vision," Brainy began, "They typically scorch their target; it doesn't disintegrate. For example, Apparition's body was physically destroyed, but it wasn't disintegrated."
All three became very uncomfortable with the subject, remembering the White Triangle War on Earth months before. They looked over at Tinya where she stood reacquainting with Jo by one of the portals overlooking the city outside. "Where are you going with this, Brainy?" Imra asked.
"There was very little in the way of Ferro's remains," he said directly, "Less than an ounce of melted lead. Even in his transmuted state, there should be more physical matter remaining of Andrew Nolan."
"But what does that mean?" Rokk asked.
Brainy turned to look directly at Rokk and said, "I don't know. Yet."
*
When the gathered Legionnaires started to disperse, Ayla had intended to go to Garth to catch up more. She saw him holding hands with Imra, and he looked so, well, so happy, that she didn't want to intrude. Then Brainy and Rokk came up to have an intense conversation, and Ayla found herself staring at Rokk, wishing for the time months ago when he was the Legion Leader.
"Ayla, hey Ayla," Reep's voice intruded on her reverie, "Hey, Ayla, are you ok?"
She blinked then turned to face Reep. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. She smiled slightly but the smile did not reach her eyes.
Shifting uncomfortably, Reep said, "So I was thinking, if you wanted to talk, maybe we could go over to the shoreline, maybe walk on the beach? I know you've been through a lot, and I just want you to know that I'm here for you."
Ayla smiled again, hugged Reep briefly and patted his back twice. "You're sweet, Reep," she said, breaking the embrace and giving him a light kiss on his cheek, "I just want to be alone right now. Maybe sometime later." Ayla turned and walked out of the throne room area and towards the elevator.
"Is everything alright, Reep?" Jeka asked as she slid up beside him.
"I don't know, Jeka," he said with a frown, "I just want to help her, but she keeps pushing me away."
Jeka put a hand from one of her waldo's arms on his shoulder. "She'll get through it, don't worry," she said, "Now did you mention something about the beach? I could use some time on the sand."
"Sure," Reep said and they moved to fly out of the room, almost colliding with Tasmia who seemed to be pacing in thought as if debating with herself.
Why is this so difficult? Tasmia thought to herself, Just go up to him. You've spent plenty of time together. She saw M'Onel finish a conversation with some Starhaven VIPs and started to walk up to him just as he turned to walk and join Jazmin, who was alone and staring out over the ruined palace area below.
"Jazmin?" M'Onel said as he approached her, "Do you mind some company?" She turned to M'Onel and he could see that she was very pensive.
"Yes," she started, "No. Maybe. I don't know." She shrugged helplessly. "I think I'm just trying to make sense of everything that's happened to us. Being time displaced by months and being under some kind of mind control twice in six months has me reevaluating my life, I guess."
"What do you mean?" Lar was genuinely concerned with the doubt that he could see behind her golden eyes.
She turned away. "Maybe I'm just not Legionnaire material," she said, "I couldn't even save Ferro. Hell, I almost killed him myself! And I feel like he's dead because of me."
"Hey, don't be down on yourself," Lar reached out and took her shoulder by the hand. From a distance, Tasmia saw this and stopped in her tracks. "However this worked out, if you hadn't slowed the heat vision, then General Walker would be dead," he continued.
"Yeah, but I got you by mistake..." Jazmin countered.
"Meta threw me into your sphere," Lar interrupted, "Don't discredit the good that you did yesterday. You're tough and you have good instincts. Don't throw that away." He smiled and said, "And anyway we still need to get back home. I think you're stuck with us for a while."
Jazmin chuckled once. "There is that," she said, "I just need time. But thanks for taking the time to talk with me. It means a lot." She moved forward and hugged Lar tightly. Tasmia saw this and angrily walked towards the portal, roughly shoving Jazmin on the way out as she jumped and flew away.
"Hey!" Jazmin said in surprise, "What gives?" But Tasmia was gone. She turned her head to see Jan and Candi walking by and acknowledged Jan with a nod.
Candi led Jan across the room to Lori, who was off to the side of the dispersing group being an uncharacteristic wallflower and watching the scene of everyone dispersing. She looked unhappy, her arms crossed as she stared at the dais.
"Lori, dear," Candi said, "Are you ok?"
"Oh, I'm just great," Lori said sarcastically and looked at Candi with impatience, "I have this amazing power, something I've always wanted, and I can't even save my friends with it."
"Lori," Candi said. She let go of Jan's hand and hugged Lori, who didn't return the embrace, "What you did stopped the war."
"That is true," Jan added, "The lives saved by the people who no longer have to die from this war are likely incalculable. And not just here. If the Empire were to have grown, the damage done to the galaxy could be devastating. Sometimes a different perspective is helpful."
"I have temporal powers," Lori said wriggling free of Candi's arms, "I should be able to do something with them. Like save my sprocking friends."
"Don't you worry, Lori, dear," Candi said encouragingly, "These things take time. You'll learn to master your powers eventually."
Lori had a determined look in her eyes. "Oh I will," she said sternly, "I'll make sure none of my friends die like this ever again. I promise."
The End.... (?)
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