Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Post-ZH Legion: Legion Of Superheroes #126-130

Garth/Imra is love they just go so well together, and without being too co-dependent (ahem Jo lol)

Underlines are indeed more visually... outstanding lol

Just made the change.

Wow, I love the tension in that scene...the characterisation for everyone was really good; Brainy just casually figuring out there hasn't been much temporal displacement, Garth jumping to defend Imra, Zoe nearly losing her temper herself, even XS who didn't really do anything was still more than just wallpaper with how you mentioned how upset she was.

And I do feel sorry for Jo even though he was being a nasshead...I had stopped reading the reboot before the Blight came along so I only really know about it from y'all mentioning it here but it sounds like something really traumatic, and as codependent as Jo and Tinya were it doesn't surprise me that he'd be handling her absence so badly. I like that you still write him as being aware enough to realise that the others were right and he's just mad and feeling helpless too, it humanises him because we've probably all been in situations where our concern for a loved one is at war with our rational selves.

I thought the convo between Garth and Imra was very well done too, and it's so like Imra to still be trying to put the team's needs before her own but I'm glad she's not just shutting Garth down.

Very excited about that cliffhanger with Ayla! Looking forward to seeing where this goes next!

Thanks Raz!

One of the things that really bothered me in the reboot was the Tinya/Jo relationship. So, I'm trying to see how they can grow past that co-dependence, but its a fact about their characters, so his reaction had to ring true. Of course, the team has had about enough of it, too, and I had Zoe do the lashing out as she was the only one with a power that could demonstrably put a barrier between Jo and Garth. Imra could have stepped in, but that would have been too easy.

Like I told Ibby, Imra and Garth are the heart of the Legion to me and they really didn't get a fair shake in the reboot, so its important to me that they are together.

And thanks for the vote of confidence!! I'm in the middle of a house move, so once all that settles down in the next week or so, I'll be able to focus on the more specific plotting of the next couple issues.

Hey Gl, I must preface this by saying I don't really know this era at all so I'll just roll with it though may have a couple of silly questions as I go.

"When Brainiac 5.1's awakened, it was like something had been reset in his mind." - that's how I feel every morning at 0530 when my alarm goes off. Though seriously, nice that Coluans don't sleep in a way that we would relate to, that makes sense that they wouldn't want to 'waste' tht many hours in the day. Also good to see him immediately asessing the situation. Also, nice that he made sure Imra had a healing pack on before reviving Garth and didn't try to bluff him when he woke up, just straight to the logical answers. And of course, Garth's responses were cute - "I don't know would have been fine" haha.

The snippets of conversation from the other groups dotted about the station are intriguing, worrying even. Gates' line is great! And a good entrance, I do like the little bugger.

Jenni and Zoe to the rescue! And while I never read a comic with Lori in it I'm glad you wrote her out - 10 year olds really have no place in the violent world of comics. Ouch! A broken leg - ow! poor Val, though no doubt he'll be stoic about it. Remote linking flight rings is a great idea - I will borrow it, thank you Great use for Zoe's powerset, the team need a healer.

Cham is so super efficient isn't he? He's one Legionnaire you really want in a crisis, and stretching himself out like that to block the escaping air and grabbing the transuits for the team was great. Lyle's cool acceptance of the situation and getting on with the necessary business at hand read true as well - guess he's the same sort of character in every Boot. I hope, like Triad, that brainy can figure out where they are too, though perhaps not before a nice side adventure or two

Jo's dream was cute, bless him. Though that's not how anyone would want to wake up.And, Ouch! What a way to stop Umbra from bleeding out, that was drastic (though probably necessary as Jo never struck me as someone to carry a first aid kit in his belt pouches, more likely a 30th C Gameboy and a few chocolate bars ) Good to see Cham's team again, and it Jo did have a hypospray! I'm impressed. Again, linking flight rings to move a colleague, such a sweet idea. And there is is, co-dependent Jo is back... Oh, where is Tinya? Please don't drag it out as that is one relationship that always annoyed me (in fact I killed him in my fic because it was to irritating to write it).

So the team are all together and it's all hands on deck. These are the moments that really stand out as the best of the team, like when they rebuilt their HQ afer Omega or helped with repairs to Metropolis. It's something that so many of them are perfect for. Imra is so pragmatic calling a meeting, though getting Chuck to go first was a great way to deflect off the negativity being shown towards her. Love the tension between Lyle and Brainy, more please! The list of missing teammates is really worrying.

Jo and Imra's little scene was great - she's so cool while he's freaking out. Garth stepping in was epected but escalated quickly. Nice line from Gates, sadly all too true that fists are used before brains.

Go Zoe! Very well said, Jo isn't that special indeed.

Imra's speech was great too, and how funny that Garth said it would make Rokk proud. Jo - Brash but not stupid - I think that's the best description of his personality I've ever read. Nice scene with Garth and Imra btw, their honesty with each other was really touching. And Imra stepping down? Wonder who'll pick up the top spot after her?

No idea who repulse is so looking forward to where you take that, and glad Ayla is alive. hopefully the team won't leave her there for too long.

So, even though I never read this era of the team their characters personalities were really well written and the ongoing mystery of where and when the team have found themselves is a beaut. Looking forward to seeing where you take this, and of course more, more, more!

Thanks for the detailed review, Harbi! Made my morning.


This very specifically made my morning.






Absolutely. I'm kind of shocked that this apparently hasn't been done before. It may be that we are in such a more technical age now then the 80s and 90s. So feel free to run with that! And same regarding Zoe, actually. She had been shown as doing some healing work during the actual run, so having her be used as a team healer made a lot of sense due to her nurturing nature with her friends. The anomaly is a nice way to make that an actual thing. Someone elsewhere made a comment that she was almost too powerful, but I never really thought that, but the team needed someone to help with recovery during action.


I didn't think I'd enjoy writing Cham, but I really do. And, as you've seen, they generally know where they are, but I think the more specific reveal will be in the next issue.



LOL on the Gameboy and Chocolate bars!

Yeah Jo basically slept through the primer on first aid and what's in you belt pouches. Looking back I should have described the situation to indicate that their carried first aid kits wouldn't have really helped, so that's great feedback there. And I want to get everyone together as fast as possible, so hopefully soon, but there may be unexpected complications for Jo. I hadn't thought about killing off Jo.... interesting idea. Tinya's already been killed once, so I can't go that way...


Thank you - I had get Imra "back to herself" as I felt like the DnA version of her at the end of the LSH run was more indecisive and unfocused than we've ever seen her. Not necessarily Iron Butt, but definitely someone who has Leadership skills and can use them properly.


I'd been itching to write those words for any character for a long time. I wanted it to be Zoe as she's in a similar emotional situation. The leader election won't be for a bit yet, so that gives me time to approach who would be next.


Repulse is one of the replacement Workforce that McCauley hired at the beginning of the Widening Rifts story. So the Legion is disbanded formally by VP Wazzo, partly due to the members being "children" so McCauley fires his current workforce and replaces them with new lackeys over the age of 21. Repulse is the self-styled leader of the new squad, which went to the new Outpost to "help" in the crisis and proceeded to make everything worse, including accelerating the rift collapse and fighting with some of the Legionnaires on the outpost bridge. He, as well as the rest of the new Workforce, were last seen running for escape pods with Ayla in issue 125.


Thank you again! That is high praise indeed! Now that my move is mostly done, I can focus again on the plot and get moving again!

Ooh, a new writer debuts on Legion World! And there was much rejoicing!

While the Reboot Legion are 'after my time,' I like a lot of the new characters (Kid Quantum 2's my fave, but I also have a fondness for Gates and all his curmudgeonliness, or Monstress and her *niceness*).

I like the characterization here, as well as the practical matters being attended to, of life support and flash-vision-sutures and flight ring coordination.

I don't know as much about the characterization of the Rebooters vs. the 'classic' continuity Legionnaires, but they feel true enough to the classic continuity to feel recognizable to this old-time fan, even if they are subtly different characters. (Cham, in particular, feels very much like the experienced and competent Legion Espionage Squad leader of my own remembrances, even if the Reboot Chameleon may have been a bit younger and less experienced, from what I recall, not that I'm complaining, 'cause I love me some competence in my heroes! Situations can be dire enough if they are all on the ball, so long as the threats they face are *also* on the ball!)

Great stuff, looking forward to seeing where it goes from here, and what shenanigans the Work Force are up to!

Thank you, Set!! I very much appreciate your comments!

And great comment about the threats also being on the ball. I had to completely rewrite this as it was originally not much to the tale, but in the end, its a man v nature tale of survival.

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Issue #127 - "Love and Rockets" (Part 1) - "Zoe's Dream"
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Legionnaire Roll Call:
Kinetix
Violet
Monstress

On the Legion Outpost, stranded in the center of the galaxy...



Zoe's dreams for the last few nights had always started from the same memory.

It always started with the arboretum. Zoe and Violet had been best friends since the moment they'd met, but in recent weeks Zoe had realized she had much more serious feelings. Zoe, being who she was, couldn't bottle that up and had to say something, so one impulsive handwritten note later, here she was, waiting for Vi. Zoe knew that Vi's favorite place on the station was the arboretum deck of the Legion Outpost; a full level that had an almost unbroken transparent aluminum window to the heavens encircling a miniature forest and ecosystem that would rival many in the United Planets. It was a great place to just relax whether you wanted to meditate to nature, the universe, or both, and Zoe totally understood why the introspective Violet would love this place. Zoe sat down on a bench facing the window overlooking the cosmos and waited for while her own emotions were pinging back and forth like agitated atoms.

"You're in my spot, Zoe," Vi's voice said as her hand gently touched Zoe's shoulder. Zoe felt herself give in to the happiness of Violet's presence and tilted her head to cover Vi's hand.

Zoe smiled and took Vi's hand. "You want to make me move?"

"Yes," Violet said with a joking lilt to her voice, "Now scoot!"

"Fine," Zoe snickered and shifted to the other side of the small bench. Violet sat down facing the window, holding her hands together between her knees.

"I just wanted you to warm my seat up," Vi smiled.

"Ha ha," Zoe responded ironically while gently leaning into Violet's side, "remind me to create an engraving here with your name on it when we leave."

Vi turned with an expression of mock indignance. "Well, it IS my seat," she said, then smiled, "So what's up?" she asked.

Zoe took a deep breath. "Vi, we're best friends, right?"

"Always," Violet replied directly; this fact was an absolute truth for both of them.

"Have you felt like we've been getting closer lately?" Zoe asked, still trying to figure out how she was going to get to her point.

Violet nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess so, especially now that you're yourself again," she said and put her hand on Zoe's, "I'm really happy about that. I never thought you'd come back to being you again after that anomaly. You were so spaced out and losing touch with everyone. It was like you were fading away from me."

Zoe's pulse started to quicken with the touch and she turned her hand over to interlace her fingers with Vi's. She looked directly into Violet's eyes and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, I'm glad too, obviously," Zoe said with a laugh, "I've been thinking a lot about us in the last few weeks since you saved me. That just by itself - what you risked - I'm not sure I can put into words what it really means to me. But that whole anomaly experience made me think about things and realize something about myself?" she trailed off.

"Zoe, you've done the same for me. I'm not sure I can count how often we've been there for each other," Violet said, placing her other hand on top of their other clasped hands. "Are you OK?" Violet asked with concern.

"Yeah I'm fine," Zoe laughed, easing Violet's concerns, "you just caught me at the one time in my life where I can't seem to express myself. My world always seems to be a bit of a frenzied, chaotic swirl. There's only one thing in my life that's a constant - you". Zoe paused and looked out the window to the ribbon of the Milky Way.

"Zoe, what is it you're trying to tell me?" Violet asked softly as she leaned in closer.

Zoe's heart committed and took the jump off the cliff of no return, prepared for a dashing on the sharp rocks of emotional rejection. She shifted on the bench to face Violet directly and blurted it out. "Vi, I kind of like you more than just friends," she said almost too quickly. She reached out to brush back Vi's green lock of hair from her brow then leaned in, holding her free hand against the side of Violet's head and kissed her for what seemed to her like minutes.

The kiss ended and Violet blinked as her cheeks flushed. Still holding hands, both girls turned to stare out the starry viewport for another long moment. Zoe began to worry. Biting her lower lip in anxiety, she looked at Violet out of the side of her eyes.

"Vi?" Zoe asked in a whisper.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Vi asked still staring out the window.

"I was afraid to tell you," Zoe said, "I don't want our friendship to change."

After an uncomfortably long moment for Zoe, Violet seemed to stir and relax somewhat, still flushed, but having processed what had just happened. "Why would that change anything except make it better?" Vi responded at last and squeezed Zoe's hand. She looked back at Zoe with a twinkle in her eyes and said, "You're a good kisser."

Zoe could feel the relief rushing through her body to the tips of her fingers, toes and even into her waving hair. "Oh honey, you have no idea," she said with a grin, as Violet wrapped her arms around Zoe's shoulders, moving in closer to kiss Zoe again.

Then the scene started to fade like it always did, flickering out down a dark grey tunnel.

Nononono... Stay here, please... Zoe thought to herself uselessly as her dream shifted. She tried to will her dreaming mind toy to at least move her body in the bed to force her to body awake to no affect. All she could seem to manage was a bare twitch in her shoulder while her consciousness slid deeper into the dark well.

The dream changed to Metropolis, just after the invasion. Violet's warmth had been replaced by a cold darkness with the smell of ozone and decay in the air. They had been called in to Earth from the Outpost to fight an invasion that had appeared out of nowhere. The resistance had been going on for most of a day, and the tide had turned significantly against them. What was a bright and bustling city had been turned into a dark, decaying landscape of crumbled buildings and rotting vegetation within a matter of hours. Jan and Thom had been taken alive in front of Zoe's eyes and their ring signals had disappeared from the grid. She hoped to god that they were still alive. Zoe and Violet were the last from their group to find refuge in an abandoned magnoball arena.

Zoe looked at Violet. Vi's face was smudged with grime; blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Even her green lock of hair was obscured by dirt. "Vi, what do we do?" Zoe asked nervously, "I'm really scared..."

"Me too, Zo," Vi replied breathing heavily. She gave Zoe a quick, tight hug and said, "Let's get out of here. Open a hole and let's head to the Lanning Arcology. If there's anything left of it."

"Done!" Zoe pushed out with her expiring energy and a hole blasted in the ceiling of the stadium and both lifted off into the air. Zoe formed a shield around them, and they flew out the hole created in the wall, landing a few miles away against the ruins of the crumbled arcology. Once standing dozens of stories in the air, all that was left now was the ruined frame of a building that spanned multiple city blocks, crumbling as if the atomic forces binding the molecules together had just given up. They settled against a wall in the interior.

Zoe felt a panic set it and clutched at her partner's arms. "What's happening Vi?" She asked desperately, "Everything's falling apart so fast!" A whooshing sound echoed all around them and both girls could sense the presence of something else surrounded them, approaching and pinning them in; it was as if the decaying of life itself had been made manifest and was pursuing them.

A combination of protectiveness and anger surged through Violet. "It's an ambush! Get behind me Zoe!" She yelled as she stepped forward and increased her size to over twenty meters, sweeping her arms wide and knocking unseen invaders away like scythes through grass. From their left side, a sudden purple energy pulse connected with Violet's side and for a moment she froze, her back and head arced back then immediately shrank to her normal size around her center of gravity, which was about 20 meters forward from their original position. As soon as Vi hit the ground she was swarmed by shadowy figures.

"VI!" Zoe screamed as she rushed to help. Enraged, she cast her remaining energy out in green sweeping fields to push a path to her girlfriend, plowing the dark figures to either side. Violet was splayed on all fours on the ground, desperately trying to push herself up while alien fibers pulled her down and wove into her skin. Zoe stopped and was frozen with horror.

Violet's eyes suddenly connected with and focused on Zoe. "Zoe! Run! PLEASE!" she pleaded through labored breath. It's just a dream, part of Zoe's mind kept repeating, as she stood rooted in shock as Violet's eyes began to glow red as her face contorted in resistance. Too late to help Violet, Zoe turned to run and within a few strides slammed directly into a tall figure that stank of mold and death. Zoe looked up in horror as the alien seemed to laugh and reached down towards her.



Zoe's scream echoed in the room as she shot bolt upright in her bunk, drenched in sweat. She pulled her knees up towards her torso, held her head in her hand and rested her elbows on her knees. "God dammit," she muttered to herself. She looked at the clock. 0430 Actual.

"Zoe, are you OK, dear?" A familiar voice asked in the dim light. Of course, she'd woken Candi. The two of them were bunking together for the time being, until more individual quarters were available on the station barracks.

"I'm fine Candi, thanks," Zoe replied with an exasperated sigh, "Just that damn dream again." She ran her fingers through her sweaty auburn hair.

Candi's large figure propped up in the bunk that Zoe had augmented for her earlier. "Maybe you need to talk to Imra about it to see how she might help, honey" Candi suggested in her friendly way as she yawned and ran her large hand across her pronounced brow.

"Already did," Zoe responded. She looked towards the window out to view the odd starscape. "I just need to see her again is all," she said softly.

"I'm sure Imra will give you some time, dear," Candi responded and adjusted herself in the bunk to go back to sleep.

"I wasn't talking about Imra," Zoe muttered softly.

"What was that, sweetie?" Candi called half asleep already.

"Nothing," Zoe replied sullenly, "sweet dreams." Knowing that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, she put her uniform on and stalked out of the room to find something to do in the station.

oooh I am clapping my hands in glee! Zoe and Vi as a couple, and very realistically developed too. I like - no, I love it!

Vi's fave place being the arboretum is so her. also Vi being "you're in my spot, Zoe." She'd pretty much only say that to Zoe. I loved the build-up with Zoe being hesitant while still taking the lead. "One time in my life when I can't express myself", yeah after all the chaos of that stupid Anomaly... and you captured Vi's anguish over that really well. (Also, no Terrorform Zoe coming up i'm sure I really hated that for basically taking everything fun about Zoe away!)

I was elated at that kiss! I love it, so well done! and the flirting at the end. what a lovely romantic scene!

the Lanning Arcology nice touch

also props re continuity, for mentioning Legionnaires taken in the first Blight wave!

great news of Zoe's powers by the way, now that's the alpha-class telekinetic and matter animator I know and love!

love Vi's protectiveness in the Blight ambush. And the moment when Vi was Blighted, and Zoe trying to save her then running when she realized it was too late...

The Widening Rifts arc made a big deal about how the Blighted Legionnaires were scarred, and you explore it well here

also love Candi being all sleepy-comforting, and the misunderstanding about whom Zoe needs to see again.

excellent bit, just absolutely excellent. can't wait for more!

Thanks for your kind words and your support!

It was important for me to continue this Legion and there be more representation in the ranks. We know that Lyle was intended to be gay, but it was never shown in frame. Given the fact the Vi & Ayla were so popular pre-ZH, and the fact that the girls way outnumbered the boys, there should be representation there in the team on that side. Vi and Zoe are the natural choice for so many reasons, and I couldn't really go reboot Vi & Ayla as Ayla is on her own journey, even though they are all good friends. It also kind of bugged that my teen daughter can't find a hero to relate to in this version of the Legion. I get that things were very different 25 years ago in the comics world, but DC is DC after all...

These two will always have each others' backs on mission.

re:Widening Rifts - Tasmia's PTSD in Lost was one of the best parts about it, even though I think they turned it to 11 then made it disappear altogether. But they did a good job showing that with Jazmin and Jo. The Legionnaires were affected for a month, which is even longer than Vi was the Empress. It'll affect these folks too, especially for someone like Zoe.

And yes - hell no to the Terrorformed Zoe.

Zoe and Vi make an excellent couple in all ways and yes, yay to representation a wonderful pair for your daughter to relate to!

yeah, agree, even having Jazmin, Jo and Tasmia troubled by being Blighted up until Lost. that was good and realistic.

Terrorform Zoe is going away, far away lol!

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Issue #127 - "Love and Rockets" (Part 2)
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Roll Call

Livewire - Garth Ranzz
Saturn Girl - Imra Ardeen
Brainiac 5 - Querl Dox
Invisible Kid - Lyle Norg
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin
Ultra Boy - Jo Nah
Umbra - Tasmia Mallor
Triad - Luornu Durgo
Chuck Taine
Dyrk Magz



The Legionnaires filed into the conference room in the early morning. It had been three cycles since the Outpost had emerged through a wormhole and into this bright area of space, where the view outside the window almost looked like a negative of the night sky from Earth, Titan or even Winath; a dull yellow haze punctuated by points of red, orange, black and blue. Much work had been done on the station, making it almost completely workable, if not yet to the homey conditions they were used to from the original outpost.

Garth wandered into the room yawning and running his fingers through his bright red, spiky hair. "Y'know, I'm really glad to be rid of the smoky smell all over the place," he said tiredly, "but this place is still a dump."

"We'll make do, Garth" Imra said reassuringly. She swept her hand across Garth's trim shoulders as she made her way to the replicator to get coffee for herself.

Brainiac 5 entered and immediately made for the computer workstation on the wall to start manipulating data. "I'm good over here," he said, then suddenly scrunched his face. "An ergonomic chair would be nice," he thought out loud.

"Imra, make way for me when you're done with that replicator," Lyle said on entry. "What I wouldn't give for a good espresso right now..."

An uninvited Zoe had followed the group in and said with an almost excessive exuberance, "I gotcha covered, Lyle!" She pushed in front of Lyle and Imra both and began rapidly pressing controls on the replicator, activating it and producing a white cup of steaming espresso in the dispensing slot. "You'll need to replicate your own sweetner or cream," she said deadpan, "I'm not a barista. But you're right, Garth. We need to do something about this room. Lady and gentlemen, please step away from the cargo containers."

All the Legionnaires backed away from any loose equipment as Zoe flourished her arms as a green energy spread out across the containers spread around the room. Like the conductor of an orchestra, Zoe moved her arms so the matter making up the cargo boxes dissolved and swept into the center of the room, reforming into a wide, circular table with the Legion ?L' logo and several chairs parked around it.

"Oh damn! Sorry Brainy," Zoe said, "I kind of got caught up in the moment." She gestured to one of the newly-created chairs and it dissolved and reformed into an ergonomic chair in front of the computer terminal. Zoe placed her hands on her hips and looked at her handiwork with pride and a huge grin on her face. "I can't believe I didn't think of this the other day."

Imra took a sip of her coffee and looked around approvingly. "Wow, Zoe!" Imra said, "Great job! We were all in a bit of an extreme situation then, so its okay," She sat down adjusting in her chair, testing out its supportiveness. Brainiac 5 looked at the new workstation chair somewhat suspiciously before sitting at the conference table.

"We still are," Lyle said in a flat voice, finally testing his espresso. He briefly looked approvingly at his cup after tasting the caffeinated liquid. "Not bad," he said to Zoe.

"Hey, I've had three already this morning once I figured out the right replicator sequence," Zoe said, plopping herself on a chair and kicking her feet up on the new table, "I've got a lot of practice." She specifically ignored Imra's glance in her direction.

The Legionnaires started focusing on holographs on the table projected from the generator in the ceiling. It showed a view of the local star group, focusing on two yellow stars, several light years apart, with tiny planets circling around them.

Lyle spoke up first. "Brainy, I've been looking at the stellar data, and there are these two star systems closest to our position," he said, suddenly focused and completely awake. "We need to go move out and explore."

Brainiac 5 turned from his workstation to address the table. "You're right Invisible Kid, but the farther we move away from here, the more dangerous travel becomes," he said directly, "Between the fluctuating gravity waves in this region of space due to the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy and the X-Ray output interfering with our sensors, ANY travel is at risk. You heard Ultra Boy's report."

"That's just it, Brainy," Lyle said, "I've worked with Dyrk and we've determined that the cruiser in docking bay 2 is in spaceworthy condition. We can take a group and investigate one of these systems since the cruiser is faster than this station." He gestured at the two holographic stars hanging over the table. "We'll be back before you know it."

Brainiac 5's hand, which had been resting at his temple, dropped to the table as he said to Lyle in a monotone, "Do you have any understanding of how I perceive time, Invisible Kid?"

Lyle shook his head in exasperation. "Imra, what do you think?" he asked her directly.

Imra sat sipping her coffee for a moment, then finally spoke up. "I think it's a good idea," she said at length, "Now that the station is in spaceworthy shape, we need to get a better idea of what's around us ? or if any of our friends might be nearby."

Garth chimed in saying, "We also need to see if we can get some supplies either to break down for the replicator, or if we're lucky, it's a class M planet with a sustaining ecosphere and we can have some edible natural food."

"Well, Garth, we've always made our own luck," she said smiling as she put her cup down, "but we seem to be at a deficit on that right now, so I'm not going to trust to it. You're right, though, we do need supplies."

Lyle pressed his case. "So?"

Imra turned her chair to look at Lyle in the eyes. "How soon can you get the cruiser and a crew ready?" she asked.

"Four hours, max."

"Very well," Imra said, "Lyle, you'll have command of the scouting mission." Garth began to move to interject but was stopped by Imra gesturing to Garth with her palm out. "Pick your team at your discretion, but please let me have right of last review," she said, "I do have specific requests. Garth, I want you on the team." Garth relaxed as he had been lobbying to fly the ship.

"Okay," Lyle said, leaning back in the chair as he folded his hands across his chest, "so that's our pilot."

Imra continued, saying, "I also have one other request for you. We have one Legionnaire in particular who needs to have something to do...."



Ultra Boy stalked through the corridors preoccupied with thoughts of his wife running through his head. It had been days since they had appeared somewhere near the center of the galaxy and Jo had tried to patrol as far away as he dared from the Outpost in search of any of their nine missing Legionnaires, but especially Tinya. Even flying through the glowing multicolored void, as he got further away from the station, he could feel the buffeting gravity forces that threatened to pull him in unexpected directions. Any time he traveled beyond an astronomical unit away from the station, the disorientation started; it was sheer providence, along with the homing beacon from his Legion Flight ring, that enabled him to focus and get back to the station as soon as he could. At least Imra had finally come to her senses and assigned him on a search mission.

All these thoughts, were running through his head as he rounded a corner and almost plowed through a darkly cloaked woman.

"Grife, Tasmia, I'm sorry!" Jo exclaimed, "I was too caught up in my thoughts."

"You never have to apologize to me Jo Nah." She stepped closer and put her hands on his chest. Almost reflexively, he put his hands on Umbra's hips.

"Umbra, I..." Jo began.

"I heard about the mission," she interrupted, "I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life earlier, and good luck." She leaned up and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Come back safe."

She kept going down the corridor toward the station bridge as a confused Jo looked after her. He shook it off and resumed his walk to the hangar.

Just before she turned the corner to the bridge, Tasmia turned to stare at Jo's figure as he walked out of view.



Luornu made her way to the docking bay with her mission bag, always full of extra everything in case she triplicated. Lyle had messenged her to be at the hangar by 1100, so she was making sure she was a half hour early.

"Lu! Hey! Wait up!" Chuck's voice called from the end of the hall. Her heart bounced a beat, which it did every time he swept in. Chuck jogged up, a little out of breath.

"Hey, Lu," he said, quickly catching his breath. She definitely had noticed over the last few months his increased regimen and was starting to become rather svelte, which she definitely appreciated. "I heard you're going on the away mission and I wanted to see you off," he panted.

Lu scrunched her face up. "Yeah, I think I got picked so there's less mouths to feed here on the station," she said in a subdued voice, "Can't do much else in our situation."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Chuck said, placing his hand on Lu's elbow, "My inside scoop is that they have you around for the hand to hand combat."

Luornu blushed and said, "You're sweet to say that, Chuck."

"Hey, I'm being serious!" Chuck said earnestly, "I pity the fools that pick a fight with you!"

"Stop it!" Luornu laughed and jokingly pushed at his shoulder, then took his hand in hers. She could tell from his amused expression that Chuck was happy with her reaction. "Hey listen," she said seriously, nodding her head in the direction of the hangar, "I gotta get going to prep..."

Chuck nodded. "Yeah..." he said, "um... Listen..."

Lu leaned just slightly closer in to Chuck. "Yeah?"

"We all got through this rift thing and are wherever we are for a reason," he said, looking her in the eyes, "Keep yourself in one piece okay? Or is that three pieces?"

Luornu lifted Chuck's baseball cap off his head and put it on her own, ruffled his hair to fix his "hat head", then swept some of Chuck's dark hair across his brow to smooth it out. "I'll make sure that all of me is back for you, ok?"

"Promise?" Chuck asked and held out his pinky finger with a smile.

"Promise."

Both shook their pinkies, then Luornu leaned in and wrapped her arms around Chuck's neck, kissing him intensely before turning and heading to the airlock, still wearing his hat. As she approached the airlock door, she turned to smile and wave back at Chuck, who was still standing in the same spot, touching his hand to his mouth.



Imra's voice came over the cruisers's console. "Okay," her voice said, "The plan is that the scouting team will rendezvous with the outpost within four days at the other system. Based on the specifications from Brainy and Chuck, we estimate we'll be there in two days. We'll begin to prep for FTL as soon as you've jumped."

Lyle was sitting in the cruiser's co-pilot seat, and pressed a control to engage the communicator. He'd taken the time to pull Triad, Gates, XS and Karate Kid for the away team in addition to Garth and Jo, he even pulled Dyrk for an engineer, just in case, and everyone was secured in their seats. He mentally went over the preflight check again just to ensure that nothing had been omitted before he confirmed back to Imra. "Roger that, Legion Outpost," he said, "Legion cruiser Alpha is ready to depart." Lyle looked at the viewscreen as the imagery showed the ceiling of the docking bay sliding aside. "All yours, Garth," Lyle said.

Garth nodded and pushed the button to activate the repulsors and slid the control up, lifting the cruiser past the docking bay doors and into space. Garth was an experienced pilot and his first impression was to be completely disoriented in the face of an opposite void, where it seemed that the dark elements of the void were much more rare than the more ubiquitous yellow glow that seemed to surround them at all sides. It made piloting in space extremely confusing compared to what he was used to, so Garth made an extra effort to concentrate on the task of basic flight.

"We're free of the station, Outpost," Lyle said into the headset, "starting engines and heading towards the secondary M Class star."

"Good hunting, Lyle. Let's hope you find our comrades," Imra's voice came over the intercom, "Legion Outpost out."

"Bye Imra," Garth said softly as he engaged the engines to full speed, but Lyle still heard.

Lyle looked over at Garth and measured him up for any signs of stress that he may have to account for. "You OK Garth?" he asked.

Garth quickly looked back over to Lyle and acknowledged with a nod before turning his attention back to the controls. "Yeah, I'm fine Lyle," he said, "It's just really hard leaving the ones you love behind, after all this."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lyle said softly, staring out into space.

Garth looked back over to Lyle with curiosity etched all over his features. "Okay mister secrets, what are you talking about?" Garth asked directly. "Spill. We're only tens of thousands of light years from home. You don't have to keep everything to yourself all the time."

Lyle looked over at Garth with a stare and finally signed and said, "Fine. I'm dating Condo. I have been for months now."

Garth blinked in surprise. "Arlik? The reporter?" he asked, "Hey, that's awesome!" Garth familiarly slapped Lyle's arm with the back of his hand. "I'm really happy for you," Garth said genuinely, "You know, you don't need to keep that kind of stuff from us!"

Lyle looked back at Garth directly. "I'm just a...," he began.

"A private person," Garth finished, "Yeah, believe me, we all know."

"Yeah," Lyle said settling down further into his seat, "I figure if something happens to me out here before we find some way home, someone should know. Just in case."

Not sure exactly how to respond to that, Garth turned back to the controls. "Yeah," he said at length, I get it buddy. We'll get home and you can tell him what you did out here in person."


--------------------------------

A BIG Thank you to Invisible Brainiac, who kept me on track with this particular chapter, as well as providing good feedback for a lot of the ideas in the first one!

Yay! more good stuff! and thanks for the recognition

Heh, I love these little bits re the station being a dump. Brainy's back hurting in the chair was hilarious! I love it. Also humanizes him a bit.

LOL at Zoe walking in uninvited and staying there, despite not being part of the "leadership council"! And ignoring Imra's side glance. perfect! also perfect use of her powers, while still setting limits - and i like how the good coffee was her figuring out how to use the replicator. (also: three coffees, wow, she really couldn't sleep...)

Jo as scout, nice touch there

also the Brainy/Lyle debate, with Lyle just giving up and asking Imra to referee

Garth as pilot, nice. Funny bit with Garth about to protest, but Imra giving him what he wanted too. Your Imra is a great leader, I would follow her. She knows when to step in, and when to let people do their thing

The gravity waves bit adds to the danger, and more importantly sets boundaries on how far anyone can go

Whoa, Tasmia! Jo's reaction mirrored my own, she was being unusually touchy. I would have been afraid of her snapping at me... uh oh. Is Tasmia feeling some overly strong gratitude, or... and I remember that shadowy thing when Jo was patching her up, any relation? Gosh! Well, with Jo pining after Tinya I think he'll be faithful, but he can also be a bit dense so I wonder if he realizes just what Tasmia seems to want...

I like that Lu was picked by Lyle. Lu being uber-prepared and early is cool

aw, Chuck trying to get fitter. I like it! very relatable also Chuck encouraging Lu re why she was picked! I love it, and a nice reference to her excellent tri-jitsu skills. very sweet scene with Lu and Chuck!

nice away team you have! logical choices in Gates and XS too.

Yeah, what Garth said about leaving loved ones behind... and also Lyle being secretive but spilling - but only spiling for practical reasons. so very Lyle.


Loving it, and can't wait for more!

Thanks!

I find that I enjoy the Brainy/Lyle dynamic a lot; Lyle the practical genius butting heads with the hyperintelligent overthinker.

I'm exploring where Tasmia's journey will take her. I think her brush with death just after the blight is making her re-evaluate some things.

And I am very specifically making Chuck and Lu closer. I know they were getting friendly by the end of the PMS run, but were they ever shown as a couple under DnA?

Maybe Tasmia is beginning to think about her legacy. after all, she still has that whole "they kicked me out of the role of Planetary Champion!" thing hanging over her head. and it's a hereditary title, passed down... so she also needs to produce an heir

no, I don't think DNA gave Lu and Chuck any couple moments or any acknowledgement that they were! but indeed, in PMS, Legionnaires 66 and 77 made it super clear that Chuck and Lu liked each other. Jenni and Dyrk too for that matter...

-----------------------------------------------
Issue #127 - "Love and Rockets" (Part 3)
-----------------------------------------------

Roll Call

Saturn Girl - Imra Ardeen
Brainiac 5 - Querl Dox
Umbra - Tasmia Mallor
Chameleon - Reep Daggle
Ferro - Andrew Nolan
Kinetix - Zoe Saugin
Monstress - Candi Pyponte-Le Parc III
Chuck Taine



Imra watched out the bridge viewport as the cruiser maneuvered away from the station and quickly accelerated, leaving a dissipating bluish-white trail in its wake. She turned to see the Legionnaires on bridge detail: Chuck and Ferro at the main control center, Umbra monitoring communications, Chameleon there for anything else, and the ever-present Brainiac 5.

"All right, gentlemen," she called to the others, "are we ready to start moving?"

"If the cruiser is clear, we can spin up the engines and start moving towards the closer star system," Brainiac 5 said in agreement as he walked around the bridge with his holographic screens following him around, constantly updating data flashing across the displays.

Chuck and Ferro were seated at the main bridge console with Cham standing behind them with his arms folded.

"So what is this drive system, Brainy?" Cham asked.

"It's called a Stutterwarp drive," Brainiac 5 replied without looking up from his work, "It produces a series of microjumps through space to move the ship. It's crude, but effective."

"Ferro, how are we looking, buddy?" Chuck asked the teen in the metallic mask.

Ferro responded with a thumbs up. "Systems are a go," he said, "initiating the FTL sequence."

Cham glanced over at Brainy, but Cham couldn't tell if the Coluan was concerned about something or just keeping busy. "What do you think, Brainy?" he asked, "Are we getting there in one piece?"

Brainiac replied, "It's certainly not the fastest FTL drive ever made, but it will at least get us there in a day or two. It was the only drive we could adapt for this station in the time we had. Over the next day or two we can modify some of the remaining life boats as landers for when we arrive at any world that may have an atmosphere."

"Well, let me get on that with Ferro and Kinetix once we are well enough along," Cham said, "I think we were able to salvage enough station debris to make those modifications."

Still not looking away from his screens, Brainy responded, "A fine idea, Chameleon, provided that Kinetix doesn't start changing the lander designs mid way through because she's bored. Or worse yet... decorate them up in silly paint jobs every ten minutes."

"It wasn't that funny, Cham!" Kinetix's voice cut through his laughter at Brainy's comment. Surprised, Cham turned to see Monstress entering the bridge trailing an annoyed Kinetix.

Umbra looked over at the commotion and rolled her eyes before turning back to her station. Imra turned to the new arrivals with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth; she had also found Brainy's comment amusing, but didn't want to add fuel to Zoe's fire of annoyance.

"Kinetix, Monstress, what brings you to the bridge?" Imra asked, trying to get everyone back on track.

"We had finished with getting the infirmary squared away, so we wanted to see the new drive in action," Monstress replied back, "but it looks like we just missed the grand launch." Kinetix was still looking daggers at Brainiac 5, who completely ignored her.

"Well, why don't you two and Cham head to the conference room to review those schematics..." Imra began.

"Saturn Girl," Umbra interrupted suddenly from her station, "This is really strange. I've lost telemetry with cruiser Alpha."

Fighting a sudden urge of panic, Imra strode over to Tasmia's station to look at the same displays with Brainiac 5 in close behind. "WHAT? Did something happen to them?" she asked directly.

Brainiac pulled one of his floating displays to be directly in front of him and examined the data.

"Based on the data signature, it just cuts off without any other data or energy signatures, which implies a blocked signal," Brainy said after a moment, "The probability is that we would hear some kind of communication or have an indication of an energy surge in the data stream prior to the interruption if the cruiser met an unfortunate fate." He tapped at a few other controls. "Not only that," he added, "but it appears that our flight ring communications are also affected."

Chameleon was confused. "So our flight rings are inactive?" he asked.

"No, only the communications seem to be affected," Brainy replied.

Just to prove the point, Kinetix pushed off the deck and did a flip in the air. "This seems to be about right. I'm able to float and fly with this like normal," she said.

"Communications block confirmed," Umbra said addressing Brainy and Imra, "I am not reading any ring signatures on my console."

Alarms started flashing on all the screens and everyone scrambled as the Outpost shook suddenly. Chuck and Ferro focused their attention on the engine controls.

"Brainy! The engine's getting shut down somehow!" Ferro called out. "Some kind of damper is affecting the propulsion systems!"

"Shut it all down!" Brainiac 5 called back, "Take the engines offline before the station shakes apart!"

Chuck deftly swept his fingers over the console and momentarily the shuddering of the station vanished, as it stopped its micro-warping through space, once again drifting in the void. Everyone slowly came to a stand as they looked out the viewport and saw they were not alone.

"Whoa," an amazed Ferro walked closer to the window to get a better look. Brainiac immediately began collecting data from his sensor arrays.

Looming in space ahead of their trajectory hung a large spacecraft, more along the size of a UP destroyer versus the smaller, more agile Legion cruisers. The spacecraft was vaguely wedge-shaped with large wings on either side that swept forward. A mosaic of decorative angular shapes, primarily triangles and trapezoids of red, blue, and green stretched along the hull and wings.

What made Andrew Nolan much more fascinated were the floating figures flanking the spaceship. Filing out from the ship and moving towards the Outpost were dozens of winged humanoid figures. The leaders, probably a dozen in all, appeared to be men and women, most with longer dark hair wearing a bodysuit that was mostly a blood red in color except for a thin diagonal white line from the right shoulder to the left waist, separating it from the upper left side of the suit, which was a burnt yellow, studded with red, orange, black and blue; somewhat resembling the star fields of this region of space. Their white wings stretched out as if they were providing buoyancy in the airless environment.

The rest of the figures, the vast majority, appeared to be humanoid as well, but encased in a type of mechanized armor, even around their wings and a helmet that bore a blank facemask. All the new arrivals, with armor and without, bore a type of laser weapon; each armored figure had the same kind of long rifle, while the winged humanoids all bore a similar weapon or wore sidearms.

Saturn Girl turned to Umbra. "Please send a signal on all known channels and languages," Imra ordered, "Tell them we are requesting assistance."

Before Tasmia could send the message, the unknown vessels sent a message of their own, crackling over the Outpost speakers, "Attention unidentified vessel. You have entered the borders of the sovereign Empire of Starhaven without authorization. Please state your intentions or be fired upon."

Brainiac 5's head snapped up from his screens. The rest of the Legionnaires looked at each other in confusion. "Our translators barely flipped a cubit working out that language matrix," he said to the rest in surprise, "No one from the UP has been to this region of space, but they are speaking some early derivative of Interlac."

"How is that possible?" Imra responded. Then to Umbra, "Open a channel to the unknown ships." Following a nod from Umbra, Imra began, "Unknown vessel, this is the Legion Outpost. We have come to this area of space by accident and are in desperate need of assistance."

Long moments passed, as the Legionnaires waited for any kind of response as the winged soldiers surrounded their Outpost. Imra closed her eyes and reached out to try and glean some sort of intent from the minds of the individuals surrounding the station. Her face grimaced in confusion.

"It's the strangest thing," she said, still concentrating with her eyes closed, "I don't believe they are actively hostile; it appears they are all just following their protocols. But with the winged men and women, its almost like I'm reading a human mind, but that's impossible!"

"What about those others?" asked Ferro, indicating the armored figures who had all trained their weapons on the outpost.

"Whatever it is they are wearing is interfering with my telepathy," Imra replied, "I'm getting nothing from them."

"Prepare to be towed," the message came simply, finally breaking the silence. The ship maneuvered around the outpost and in a wide circle. When the ship had almost completely circumnavigated the outpost, a beam came out and latched itself to the hull. The Outpost gently shook as the sensation of movement was abated briefly after the inertial dampers kicked in. The armored soldiers around the station moved in close and magnetically clamped their boots on to the outer hull.

"Saturn Girl we can't just sit here!" Monstress interjected angrily, "We have no idea where they are taking us! This just seems bad all over!"

Imra coolly looked out the window, but still addressed Candi. "Maybe," she said evenly, "but right now, they're getting us to some type of civilization a lot faster than we were able to just a few minutes ago." She looked back at Monstress and finished, "Besides, the only thoughts I was sensing were those of vigilance and curiosity. I'm thinking that we should have the same outlook."

Imra looked over at Ferro who was still staring out at the ship and the figures now escorting the Outpost through space. She walked over and touched his elbow. "What is it, Ferro?" Imra asked quietly so others would not overhear, "I'm sensing a lot of confusion coming from you."

"I don't know, Saturn Girl," he replied, "There's something about these aliens that kind of seems almost... familiar." He folded his arms. "I'm just not sure what it is yet."

"Well, let me know first thing if you figure something out," she said.

Outside the unsuited aliens flew in front of the cruiser and, one after another, seemed to accelerate in a red blur before the towing vessel shifted faster than light and space turned into a blue tunnel.



Thirty light-minutes later, in the region of space where the Outpost had originally emerged, the wormhole flickered to life for a bare instant.

Another excellent one! Brainy's new drive is similar to Legion Lost 4, but yours takes so much less time - a testament to Brainy's brilliance.

Starhaven!!! Whooa!!! Way to find a good middle ground between the Shikari / Dawnstar thing!

Lol at the good-natured teasing by Brainy/Cham, Zoe's angry reaction, and Imra trying not to laugh. And Tasmia just being done with it all and rolling her eyes.

poor Candi, I can feel how upset she is!

Why did the wormhole flicker, was it related to Brainty's drive? Or the Starhavenites showing up?

another excellent segment!

I probably should provide attribution here and in the original post - the Stutterwarp concept was introduced in the 2300 AD RPG. There are a couple other cool applications for it too, but its not very fast....


Just you wait.


Zoe's a hot tempered redhead, so easy to make angry, especially when the caffeine starts to wear down. She wears her outfit changing with pride, but wouldn't like people laughing about that.


I'm trying to decide if I dig into THAT in 128 or in an epilogue for 127....

always great borrowing ideas from other sources

yeah, Zoe can have a temper but it's different from, say, Tasmia's or Brainy's or Garth's temper hee hee

ooh i'm excited to find out

Hey GL, I haven't been online much lately so lots of catching up to do - this is really fun! Some thoughts:

- Zoe falling for Vi was really sweet...I don't know if you ever read Avengers comics in the 80s but I'm starting to get a Janet Van Dyne feeling about your Zoe, I feel like she's gonna become a really core part of the team's backbone without compromising the fun part of her personality (and 80s Wasp is probably my favourite Avenger so I'm here for it!)

- Starhaven!! I am dying to see what you're doing with these guys! I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Ferro recognises some cultural stuff about them from the 20th century

- Umbra rolling her eyes is me with morning people, highly relatable

- generally speaking I really like the focus on characterisation and I appreciate that you've spent time establishing where everyone's at physically and emotionally before introducing any other elements...also, the visual description of space is great, it brings home the sense of disorientation really well!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks, raz! No worries - I'd been pre-occupied for a chunk of time too, so these are all fairly recent.

re:V&Z - thanks so much! To me, the way that their friendship had been portrayed for 5-6 years, whatever it was, was a highlight of the Legion that was completely dropped on the floor with DnA's writing, so I wanted to put it back along with taking it to the next level. I'm actually only familiar with Janet from the MCU in the Antman movies, so I'm curious to understand where your parallels are with Zoe. But yeah, she's going to be integral given her power set can be used for offense or defense/repair, and her 'brand' is to be fun! Any time writers have moved away from that, it doesn't seem to work.

I really hope the Starhaven stuff comes across as intended. When it and Dawnstar were introduced in the 70s, it was dripping with stereotype, so much so that I think DnA just sidestepped by making Shikari someone totally other. I really think that Starhaven can be done keeping faith with the cultural background, but be sci-fi and not stereotypes with buckskin and frills. So fingers crossed. But we probably won't get to that until next issue.

And thanks on the characterization comments - That's an important detail for me.

-------------------------------------------------------
Issue #127 - "Love and Rockets" (Part 4)
-------------------------------------------------------

Legionnaire Roll Call:

Livewire - Garth Ranzz
Invisible Kid - Lyle Norg
XS - Jenni Ognats
Triad - Luornu Durgo
Ultra Boy - Jo Nah
Gates - Ti'julk Mr'asz
Karate Kid - Val Armorr
Dyrk Magz


Typically, interstellar navigation is easy enough; you just point the ship in a direction and hit the burners. This time was much different. Garth kept having to adjust the cruiser back on course, thrusters and speed every five minutes as the ever-shifting pull of gravity kept pushing the cruiser one way or another.

"Wow, this was really difficult to navigate," Garth said, concentrating. They'd been flying for hours.

"Need a break?" Lyle asked from the co-pilot's seat.

"No, I got this," Garth replied, "We're coming up on the planet in a few. The choppiness is getting smoother the further we get in the planet's gravity well. In fact, I'm gonna slow down here." Garth slowed the cruiser's velocity so that it they smoothly slung into the planet's orbit. "Take a look at that planet. Pretty lush, yeah?"

"Wow! Yeah, you're right," Lyle whistled. The new planet looked like a paradise from orbit, with Earth-type ice caps at both poles, large bodies of blue water, and tracts of continental land covered with mountains and green. "Okay come into that planet nice and low from the southern pole," Lyle said, "Nice and easy. If there's anyone let's try to be as inconspicuous as possible."

"Always the Invisible Kid, right?" Garth teased. Lyle acknowledged with a laugh. "Planetfall commencing," Garth said louder to the Legionnaires strapped in behind them. He moved the control stick to gently drop the cruiser into reentry and the shields buffeted the process so that no turbulence was felt by the riders, even as the atmospheric friction showed flames arcing over the external display screens. Finally, the small cruiser fully emerged into the atmosphere and dipped lower to the planet's surface.

During the descent, Lyle had been busy working at the co-pilot's console. "Okay now make your way over that large body of water to the east," he said, "Keep Nap-Of-The-Earth speed and altitude, just in case as we come over the first land mass. If anyone here has sensors, this altitude should help hide us."

"Already done," Garth replied confidently. They flew on for several minutes without incident. The oceans and occasional forested islands rolled beneath them.

"This place is really beautiful," XS said from farther back, looking at her screen.

"Uh, Garth?" Dyrk called from the sensor station behind Lyle.

"Maybe we can get the Outpost over here and just have some R&R time," Triad said.

"Garth!", Dyrk said more urgently, "There are a bunch of energy surges coming from starboard!"

Lyle quickly switched his view to Dyrk's to see what he was talking about.

"Garth!" Lyle yelled, "Take evasive action!"

"Hold on!" Garth cried, as he instinctually rolled the cruiser avoiding a barrage of plasma bolts and missiles that missed the space the cruiser had been a moment before. Jenni and Luornu grabbed on to each other's arms in support with the sudden move. "Lyle, I don't think your stealth approach worked!" Garth grated.

"Lyle, let me jump out here and help with this," Ultra Boy called from the back.

"Great idea," Lyle said, "Since they know we're here, let's take the fight to them." He took a brief look at the scanner. "Garth, change course to move towards whatever's firing at us, it'll throw off their targeting," he called back to Jo, "Ultra Boy, fly ahead of the cruiser and play defense!"

Jo jumped out of his seat and used super speed to cycle out of the cruiser hatch and into the air, getting his bearings for a moment, then flying in advance of the cruiser. In just a few minutes, their flight path had crossed over land, and moments after that a dozen missiles were on their way towards the cruiser.

"Garth we need to keep the cruiser moving," Lyle said, as he got up from his seat, "We need to make sure that this is a hard target to hit. Land the ship as fast as you can. Dyrk, take over as co-pilot and help Livewire! Legionnaires, prepare for action! Everyone out of the boat!" The rest of the passengers got out of their seats and prepared to bail out.

"Roger that, Invisible Kid," Garth gave a thumbs up as Dyrk settled into the seat next to him.

Triad had moved to the rear of the craft and opened the rear hatch, filling the cabin with rushing air, and exposing the surface speeding beneath them only a few hundred feet below. One by one, Triad, Gates, XS, Karate Kid and Invisible Kid jumped into the rushing air and forced their rings to catch up with Ultra Boy as Livewire peeled the cruiser off to the right. The missiles locked on to the cruiser and changed course to follow, ignoring the flying superheroes.

"Ultra Boy, can you see who's shooting at us?" Lyle called as they all flew forward.

Jo peered out with his ultra vision and made out a small fortress embedded in a mountainside in the distance. "Yeah, it looks like three energy cannons and a missile launcher protected by that mountainside," he said, "It looks like humanoid operators. Let me take care of the energy blasts; if I try to take out the cannons from here, I may kill someone."

"Good idea," Lyle said, "It looks like this has turned into a first contact situation."

"This is a great way to make a first impression," Gates muttered.

"Shut up, Gates," Triad snapped.

"Everyone else, in formation behind Ultra Boy," Lyle called, "Close up the gap so those long-range guns can't hit us! Move!"

"XS, get to the ground," Lyle ordered, "Scout ahead and let us know what to expect inside."

"You got it!" Jenni replied immediately and flew down to the surface. In a moment, the team could see her speed lightning zipping ahead in the terrain rushing beneath them just as more energy bolts were coming in their direction from the mountains ahead of them.



On the cruiser, the weapon lock alarm started blaring as the missiles started to gain ground despite Garth's maneuvering. "Grife," Garth growled, "Dyrk take over for me." He unstrapped and headed to the control panel behind him to port that contained screens and two large metallic braces jutting up from the panel surface, and a targeting reticle eyepiece that hung from the ceiling.

"What?" Dyrk said, "I'm not flight combat trained!" He grabbed the yoke and started to move the cruiser back and forth.

Garth steadied himself. "Hey, take it easy!" He yelled above the klaxons, "Just let me activate the power amplifier, and we'll be good to go!" Garth tapped a control to activate the panel, lighting up all the controls, including a display screen with a targeting reticle. He jammed his arms into the braces and gripped two handles embedded deep into the console. "Just keep her steady for a minute!"

"Steady!?" Dyrk yelled, "They're gaining on us, for grife's sake!"

Garth concentrated, then discharged his lightning into the handles. From behind the cruiser, out of the pod resting on the dorsal surface of the ship, an amplified lightning bolt ripped out and connected with the lead missiles, detonating them instantly, which then triggered the rest of the missiles to explode as they passed through that inferno. The missile lock alerts turned off.

Garth released himself from the machine and went back to the pilot's station, running his hand through his hair. "Whoo," he breathed, "That was close." He glanced over at Dyrk. "Nice flying."

Dyrk just stared straight ahead, wide eyed. "Uh huh," he said. Garth took over the controls and turned the ship around in a wide loop, flipping the ship over on its axis.

"You did good, buddy," Garth said with a wry smile.


The energy pulses kept coming towards the Legionnaires after the missiles stopped. Ultra Boy easily blasted two of the energy discharges while the others were able to dodge the others before reforming their phalanx. Another missile came close behind the barrage that Jo blasted easily as it was unable to lock on the smaller figures of the Legionnaires.

"On the ground, heading over." They see Jenni's speed lightning race towards the mountainside.

"Team, stay in formation!" called Invisible Kid, "Close up the gap so that those long range guns can't hit us! Move!"

XS chimed in over the comm unit, "Team! Go to the upper left battery ? it looks like it's the missile battery and was under remote control, so take it out! I'll meet you there!"

Immediately, Jo saw the mountain opening Jenni was referring to and shifted his trajectory towards it, as the rest of the Legionnaires followed. As the phalanx moved closer in and up towards the gun embankment, XS rans up the mountain and into the carved out chamber of the missile launcher bay. The Legionnaires enter in after, following Ultra Boy into the corridor behind, leading down into the mountain.

"There'sABigChamberDownBelowFollowMe!" Jenni said.

Legionnaires jogged down a stepped ramp that curved down the heart of the mountain into a large cavern turned into a large control center lined with monitors and machinery, both controlling weapons and devices as well as collecting data. The cavern was high as well as wide, with large, arched openings to the outside carved into the cavern near the ceiling. As soon as the Legionnaires arrived into the center of the chamber, dozens of soldiers streamed in on foot and surrounded the Legionnaires. Many of these were humanoid, but other species were in the group as well; some hexipedal insectoids, with four feet and two arms, others humanoid with four arms. One species was not humanoid at all, and had a sensory stalk as one appendage and four others used for mobility around a central shell. Regardless of the species, all were armed with some kind of dangerous weapon.

Without a command, all the Legionnaires prepared for action. Triad immediately split into her three selves. Ultra Boy rose into the air, his eyes glowing red. Karate Kid took a quick survey of the situation and prepared himself to fight. Gates looked around taking stock of the situation to determine his best course of action.

"I think we're outnumbered ten to one here," Val said to no one in particular.

"Don't worry, Kid," Jo said confidently, "I have the high ground here."

Almost on cue over a dozen humanoids in tan jumpsuits but with brilliant, wide white wings growing from between their shoulders flew into the large chamber, hovering above Jo. Most, especially the women, wore their dark hair long, some in braids or ponytails, and all were ready to fight, sporting weapons similar to their counterparts on the ground.

"Uh, Invisible Kid," Gates said, "Now might be a great time for some diplomacy?"

One of the winged humanoids drifted in closer. He was a burly man by human standards, maybe in his early twenties, and had his long, dark hair in a braid that fell over his left shoulder. The right upper breast and shoulder of his tan jumpsuit bore a decorative pattern. "It is in your best interests to surrender immediately," he said directly in a deep voice. He pointed his rifle at Ultra Boy, and all the rest of the winged soldiers did the same.

We can understand them without much need for the translator. Lyle thought. Its like an early version of Interlac.

Lyle raised his hands open palmed. "We're here in need of assistance," he said, "Our vessel came through space in a wormhole and we need help. We're not here to fight you."

"Don't listen to him, Grey! You saw what they did to the missiles!" one of the four-armed humanoids yelled.

An insectoid agreed, "That's right! Just more metas from rimward here to assist the empire!"

Grey, the burly leader, re-aimed his weapon straight at Jo's face. "State your business here outlanders," he said flatly. Jo smiled in response.

"I think you need to put down your weapons and talk nicely," Garth's voice said from behind the humanoids hovering over the crowd. He was floating behind them, lightning crackling from his hands, clearly threatening the two closest to him.

One of the soldiers on the ground yelled, "ITS ANOTHER LIGHTING WIELDER! THEY'RE WITH THE EMPIRE! THEY'RE HERE TO DESTROY US!" The soldiers began to open fire, making the Legionnaires spring into action as energy bolts shot through the air.

As soon as the soldier screamed out, XS sprang into action, running around the soldiers clustered around the Legionnaires on the ground, and ran in a tight spiral, quickly disarming the closest soldiers of their weapons. Within a second, she had rushed to the soldiers who had begun to fire and adjusted their blaster rifles to impact harmlessly against the wall.

Jo kept his invulnerability up but first threw a right hook at Grey, taking him by surprise and knocking his rifle to the ground, hitting the soldiers below. He began to fly around the chamber to block as many energy and plasma bolts as he could, using his fists to crack soldiers in the air or on the ground in the face as the opportunity presented itself. Similarly, Livewire kept active in the air with his flight ring, shooting electrical blasts out to keep the winged humanoids off guard.

As soon as the remaining Legionnaires on the ground realized what XS had done, they immediately jumped into action. Invisible Kid disappeared and began throwing invisible punches at the disarmed soldiers nearest to him. Triad's three selves leapt at their closest opponents, each fighting another one on one, given the fact that they were outnumbered. Triad found very quickly that each of her was able to easily take out the soldiers they were fighting. "Nice job, sisters!" Neutral said. "Yeah, something tells me these guys haven't had much combat training," Purple replied. The two of them joined Orange, who had already begun attacking the next opponent. Purple and Neutral straightened their arms and grabbed each other's shoulders. Orange pulled the four-armed soldier off balance straight back to her sisters, who knocked him out by clotheslining him in the face.

Karate Kid found himself in a similar situation with his combatants. He easily stunned the soldiers nearest to him once XS had disarmed them and quickly began to use his martial skills to elbow and kick the weapons out of the next wave of attackers, even as XS had begun another round of interference. "Indeed, Triad," Val called out, "these people seem to be overly dependent upon their weaponry, so focus on disarmament."

"Not all of us, alien," a female voice said from above as one of the winged soldiers swept down and knocked Val off his feet with her wing. Tucking himself, Val rolled out of the next swipe of the woman's foot before flipping back to his feet and facing his new opponent in a combat stance. She was probably around his age, no more than sixteen, but she wore the same dark tan tight jumpsuit as the rest of the soldiers, although the upper chest of her uniform was black and bore a gold eight pointed star on each shoulder. Her long hair was jet black and Val was momentarily struck by her beauty, coming back to his senses barely in time to dodge a very well placed strike at his face. He struck back but was surprised to discover that his new opponent was able to easily parry or avoid his attacks, even with the extra bulk of her wings, which had folded close to her back.

The woman made a sudden move, and just as Val was contemplating how to include her wings in his combat calculus, she spun around, suddenly spreading her wings, which clipped Val forcefully in the arm and set him again off balance. As she completed her spin, she kicked him squarely in the chest and forced him back against the wall. "I won't make that mistake again," he said to her, regaining his composure in a combat stance.

"We'll see," she replied and went on the attack again.

Gates had taken the opportunity to use his green portal abilities to randomly pop around the large room, cracking solders in the head with his claws, or interfering with their weapons from behind, whether they were floating in the air or ground-based soldiers. One particular insectoid soldier was giving Gates a challenge due to the wide range of vision its eyes provided and kept on adapting to Gates' attack strategy. "Hold still, you Imperial gonk!" it clicked in frustration.

"You clearly don't know me if you're going to insult me like that," Gates retorted angrily, "anything Imperial is inherently fascist, and I hate fascists!" He opened a port to fall through, and another opened above the insectoid, enabling Gates to drop directly on top of it, enabling him to knock its rifle to the floor as well as wrestling it of its legs.

Livewire kept up his strategy of distraction through action, continuing to throw electrical bolts around, stunning a few fighters. He looked down to see the progress his companions on the ground were making and called to Ultra Boy, "Jo, grab the leader!" Ultra Boy looked up and flew directly at Grey, shifting into Ultra-strength. Jo moved behind and quickly overpowered him, grabbing Grey's rifle and ripping it apart, then moving behind him, and pinning his arms behind.

"Call off your men," Jo said to his struggling captive.

"CEASE FIRE!" Grey yelled. The soldiers, most of whom had been disarmed and were losing the battle against the more powerful Legionnaires, stopped fighting and, if they had them, put down their weapons. Many of those who had been stunned were trying to make their way back to standing or were being helped up by their fellows.

Garth flew over to hover directly in front of the pinned Grey. With a scowl, he looked Grey in the eyes and lifted is sparking fist in the air. "One of your people said something about another one of me," Garth said sternly, "And I want to hear all about that person." Grey grimaced back.

A new voice called in from the side of the chamber, "Grey! Dawn! Stop! This is a big misunderstanding!"

All the Legionnaires eyes turned and stared at the blonde teenager wearing her hair in a long braid. She was wearing a similar tight tan jumpsuit as the rest, but her shoulders were covered in an purple mantle. She was flanked by three more female uniformed soldiers.

Jenni was dumbfounded as she recognized the girl immediately. "Lori? Is that you?" she asked in disbelief. She rushed forward to hug her, then was shocked to find everything stopped around her, as typically happened when she used her speed in a sudden burst, but this time Lori jogging to her as well. As she approached, Jenni could see that Lori was just slightly taller than her; not quite the full-grown woman that had been artificially aged by Chronos and left in the 30th century, but certainly not the ten-year-old troublemaker that Jenni had last seen playing with a Hero dial just a few days before. Even stranger, Jenni suddenly realized that even with her super speed, she was frozen in place while Lori was still running towards her; none of the usual speed lightning or any wind was moving around her space.

Lori grabbed Jenni in a big hug, and as soon as she was touched, Jenni felt like she could move again. But now everything was frozen in time around them. When she would move at super-speeds, things would slow down to almost a standstill. But she could tell in the here and now, that everything had stopped. Even still, Jenni looked into Lori's eyes that were starting to run with tears and realized that her own eyes were blurring with tears. "Jenni, I never thought I'd see you again," she cried, "its been so long!"

"Lori, what's happening?" Jenni asked in complete confusion, "why are you so grown? Why is everything stopped?"

Wiping her eyes, Lori looked around in surprise. "Oh gosh," she said in surprise, "Sorry, this still happens sometimes. I'm still practicing." She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment and everything started moving around them again. Lori's escorts jumped as Lori was suddenly a dozen meters ahead of them. Jo and Garth were completely surprised so that Jo relaxed his grip and Grey floated out of his grapple, and Garth's electricity faded. Grey looked back at Jo with a scowl.

Lori looked in turn up at Grey and then back to the woman who was fighting Val. "Grey, Dawn," she said, "These are my friends. They can help us."

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Issue #127 - "Love and Rockets" (Epilogue)
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For many years, the Orandan royal policy had been to eliminate any official state religion. Still, many Orandans still followed the old ways, and the royal family at least had to appear to do so, even if many of them never believed in any of the teachings. But they were still taught the religion.

So when Jeka Wynzorr, the Legionnaire known as Sensor, woke up floating in a golden haze, she had a passing thought that the old religions were true. All she could feel was weightlessness and see a dull golden sky flecked with red, blue and black. Then her floating turned her around and she saw the twisted remains of the hangar deck drift into view, followed by a seemingly disabled Legion Cruiser and...

Oh stars!! M'Onel!? Jeka projected with her thoughts. She concentrated her flight band to take her over to his drifting body. "Mon...?" she repeated aloud over her communicator. The waldos on her Legion band around her midsection weren't working, so she couldn't shake him with her artificial hands, resorting to gently nudging him with her nose, which also pushed him in the direction of the cruiser. As they floated along, she wrapped her serpentine body around his and effectively carried him through space.

"You saved me before whatever happened here," she said to his unconscious form, "Now I've got you. I just hope there's someone else on that cruiser that can help us." She floated through space and remote activated the cruiser airlock, thankful for the refuge in the unknown void.



TO BE CONTINUED

more good stuff!!

Loving the banter. Garth and Lyle did spend quite some time together during the Team 20/30 split, and on the Outpost, so makes sense they'd develop some sort of friendship.

Great work referencing the no-killing bit, with Jo shifting tactics to avoid that.

great leadership from Lyle, great use of everyone's powers

Makes sense Dyrk would not be flight combat-trained, as he was a Legionnaire for weeks... Maybe it was coming up, but he left too soon for it? and of course, being Outpost support means no need for combat flight training. Nice scene for Dyrk and Garth!

Classic line from Gates as usual!

Nice seeing Dawnstar be the combat specialist in this group. And Greybird too!

Also, great work coming up with enemies that provide a challenge to individual Legionnaires.

nice touch having Jenni recognize Lori! great pay off here, having aged Lori appear with Dawny and Grey!

oh, Lori has some kind of time powers now! cool!!! nice illustration of how Jenni's speed makes her peceive things versus how Lori's power thingie works.

this is a cool installment! and i;m also curious, we have some Starhavenites here - why are they separated from the main group that Imra and co encountered?

and gasp! Sensor and M'Onel! nice bit about religion on Orando... uh oh, Sensor's arms are damaged, not that she got much use from them that I remember in the Reboot (did we see her drinking and eating with them? probably...!) - but they still would have been helpful!

another great installment, lots of great action and characterization!