Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Legion Worlds (fanfic - Finished 23 April)

Tasmia Mallor and Milnak Hortenshai, the Shadow and Forest Champions of Talok viii strode into the camp of the Green Rift Forge without an apparent care in the world. Two friends enjoying a stroll on a summer’s evening could not have looked as nonchalant.

They were perhaps thirty feet into the camp when the great gates closed behind them with a sudden boom and the attack started. The aggressors were heavily armed and obviously prepared for them but still they were the ones who were surprised as the air around them became blacker than midnight and Shadow Lass taught them the error of their ways.

One by one they heard screams and blows around them as their comrades fell. Within two terrifying long minutes she had established that Legionnaires were not easy prey as the last of her opponents was rather brutally knocked unconscious when she kicked his nose, incidentally breaking it beyond recovery, and he fell, unconscious before he landed with a crash.

While Shadow Lass had been dealing with the expected attack Milnak used the abilities of the Forest Champion to change his shape, becoming one of the fearsome Death-Birds of the Southern lands. Salu Digby, who had been hiding within Tasmia Mallor’s hair jumped onto the crest of the great green bird and clung on. He took to the air above the dome of darkness that his fellow planetary champion had created and swooped towards the Grand Yurt at the centre of the camp where the current Master Smith of the Green Rift Forge should be found.

As the Death-Bird swooped down towards the yurt Milnak resumed his own form and strode in without the customary holler to announce himself. Shrinking Violet was half a step behind him, regaining her height as they pushed through the heavily curtained doorway. It was only her instincts honed from years of battling across this galaxy and the next s a Legionnaire that saved their life. Ahead of them in the twilit room stood a man in chain mail wearing a white mask. As they stepped into the room there was a sudden burst of light that swung towards them and Vi pushed Milnak ungraciously to the ground even as she shrunk in size. The air screamed as it’s very molecules were carved apart as the Atomic Axe swung millimeters from where they had just been.

The Persuader had been waiting for them.

On board Weber’s World Senator Tenzil Kem had finally persuaded Queen Projectra, Gear, Sentinel of the Khundian Battle Brigade – sobering quickly under the influence of smart medicine, Proty iii, the Lalorian Ambassador Oodoo Shanair and his two assistants, Ru and Em Haza, to join him into a small side room without attracting too much attention.

“Right, here’s the news. The Llorn are back and our Protean buddy here thinks we are in trouble. Anyone got any ideas?” He smiles his most encouraging smile and for a second there is silence before the questions and confused statements start.

“Llorn? They are a myth, aren’t they?”
“Can we not negotiate?”
“I will challenge these hidden cowards to single combat!”

It is Queen Projectra who takes over the conversation. She sits at the head of the granite table and in front of her the air starts to glisten. As the sparkles take form everyone present turns towards it.

“This is what we know about the Llorn.” The image before her shows ancient buildings almost reduced to dust by millennia of wear and tear, unfathomably technology with no discernible use other than the ornamental and carvings on dead planets of visitors from beyond.

“The Proteans are the only race that have had any known contact with them.” As she says this the Queen’s illusion changes into the accepted racial history of the Protean race. A history told so often that no-one thought to question the validity. A race that helpful aliens adapted so they could survive on their volatile world. A race thankful for the enigmatic assistance given to them in the distant past.

“Proty, can you share with us all what you shared with me? The truth about the Llorn” Tenzil asked the protoplasmic being sat on his shoulder.

As Queen Projectra’s illusion faded they all have their minds filled telepathically with a much darker story. One where a small race living in isolation suddenly find their world altered, it’s previously stable orbit moved for the amusement of aliens with powers of the gods. Those self same gods depopulated the seas and skies in a seemingly random game that involved finding new ways to capture and torture the large living beings that had formerly enjoyed their time under the Antaeran sun. According to the beings now known as the Proteans there had been three Llorn, only three. The Proteans had tried with their telepathic voices to sue for peace. They had begged for understanding. They had pleaded to open a dialogue. And finally the early Proteans had screamed as the seemingly godlike beings from beyond their sky turned their deathly game onto them.

In a twist to their usual game the Llorn modified a small number of the race that would become the Proteans into protoplasmic blobs. The Llorn wanted more sport so they used technology beyond anything currently available to the many space faring civilization in the 31st century that allowed these few survivors of the indigenous Antereans that the Llorn had yet to massacre to assume whichever form they wanted. The Proteans believed that the Llorn did it as a sadistic jest, a way to make the hunt a little bit more interesting before they finally murdered this entire world and moved on to their next conquest. The racial memory of the Proteans had been kept alive down through the countless centuries but they never knew exactly why the Llorn didn’t totally exterminate them. They simply vanished. It was supposed that they simply got bored and went looking for another challenge.

“And now it seems they’re back and rather than prey on primitive worlds have set their sights on Weber’s World.”

Brainiac 5 and the Khund known as the Dead Brain were examining the latest result from their last attempt to find the missing Weber’s World. The Vegan who had introduced himself as Nimbus had tried to integrate Vegan technology into a machine they had been constructing but the resulting feedback had nearly deafened them. After that Nimbus had stepped back and allowed the two genius’ to continue by themselves while he went off to find “some Psion Sphere’s to help.” Neither the Coluan nor the Khund had asked what he meant as they continued to design, tinker and search. When Nimbus returned with two floating sphere’s, perhaps a little bigger than a traditional Moopsball, they had shown little interest until he explained the Sphere’s sensory capability. Brainiac 5 had raised an eyebrow in surprise while the Dead Brain clapped his stumpy hands together and congratulated Nimbus for bringing them to their attention. Created by their billion by the Psions over he last four centuries they roamed the outskirts of their sun’s Oort cloud and acted as an early warning system and deterrent for unwanted interlopers. AI controlled metallic spheres with the most advanced sensory capabilities evercreated, the Spheres were legendary.

On the lead Khund interstellar battle wagon Chameleon Boy and Harmonia had been led to a large room with several members of the Khundian Empire’s Battle Brigade, a team the warrior empire had created as a response to the Legion. Reep Daggle had learned over the years that diplomacy saved him from bruises and aches later so had courteously inquired about them and shared information as they discussed the situation. Almost immediately he had realised that both Harmonia and himself could easily become hostages if the situation warranted it so had endeavored to become friendly with the team from Khundia.

Harmonia had shown surprising skill at following his lead and had charmed two of the Battle Brigade, a cyborg called Deathstorm and a yellow skinned woman with long blue hair called Pressure Point, with her stories about the recent destruction of Titan. The Khunds had obviously known about the Jovian moon’s loss and were interested in learning from someone who had survived the destruction firsthand. While they spoke Harmonia was clever enough to sneak a few queries into the conversation and learned a surprising amount about the Khundian Empire’s current state of affairs and the forming of the Battle Brigade.

As Harmonia used her aeons of social skill to mine for information Reep spoke with the co-leader of the group, a fierce looking Khundian woman called Spyke who had dark eyes and a thick accent. Initially they discussed how they felt Brainiac 5 and the Dead Brain were their best hopes at finding Weber’s World before covering more general topics like the current state of their respective civilisations trade agreements and broad interstellar politics. Neither had went as far as saying anything definite or potentially detrimental about one or the other as they felt their way around their opposite numbers. Neither were open or stupid enough to give the other any information that was anything other than old news.

On the Vegan Silver Guild ship Dream Girl and the academy student known as Mwindaji were sipping an exotic fruit cocktail while sat in large comfortable organic feeling seats speaking to the Psion overlord in charge of the Vegan ships investigating Weber’s Worlds disappearance. Nura, an experienced negotiator was enjoying learning about this previously closed off civilisation from their Psion host when she felt the tug of her precognitive abilities as they kicked in.

She managed to say “Please excuse me for a moment....” before folding into a narcoleptic slump.

Several seconds later she awoke, snapped to attention and stood up, almost knocking over Mwindaji and two of the Psions staff who were stood over her in their concern. She apologised to their Psion host and excused herself. Without waiting for the trainee to catch up with her Nura Nal dove into the air and flew at breakneck speed out of the door and down the dark circular corridor towards the docking bay. Mwindaji finally caught up with her as she stepped onto the small Legion Cruiser.

“We need to find Brainy. In two hours it’s going to be all out hell unless he can stop it now.”

The Persuader! Awesome!!

I like how you show positive attributes to everyone even if they're not necessarily nice people, it helps make anti-social characters like Harmonia and Dragonwing more likeable when you can see what the Legion would have seen in them to let them join in the first place.

Looking forward to seeing what happens with the Llorn as well, they sound hardcore!

Really love how you explore previously-unknown factes of these characters (like Harmonia and her eons of social skill, or NUra and her able negotiating) yet do it in a way that makes absolute sense, and not forced at all!

Those godlike Llorn are despicable!! I really want to see them beat.

Nura Nal spoke to the assembled beings on the deck of the Star Fleet Cruiser Maximus Bond.

“I saw Weber’s World distorted as if not quite in this universe and between seconds beings whose presence made my nose bleed were out there then *poof* were gone .”

For two seconds there is silence before Querl Dox asks “And what of the all the beings on Weber’s World Nura? Did you see them?”

“No... no I didn’t see anyone other than the three beings who radiated a malignant power. There was something really dark, as if they inhabited Boom Tubes or... or like the Iron Curtain of time but really messed up. I know it sounds odd but I think they were more out of whack with temporal reality than the most outrageous Seer’s vision.”

”Of course!” It was the Khund known as the Dead Brain who spoke, “Weber’s World is out of synch in time with us. That’s it!” The misshapen being turned away and rushed to a large bank of equipment and began rummaging through it.

The Vegan known as Nimbus spoke, “The Sphere’s can monitor Planck level events so now we know what to look for...” His form shimmered into a dark mist and floated across the deck towards the two floating metal balls that he had brought from the Vegan command vessel.

Brainiac 5 smiled quickly at Dream Girl before saying, “You’ve given us the chance we needed. Now we have to figure out what to do with it.”

The Coluan Legionnaire turned and joined the Dead Brain at the bank of equipment the two geniuses’ had gathered since arriving here. Also present were two senior Star Fleet officers, a Khundian Warlord with two bodyguards, a Psion and Okaaran from the Vegan Command craft. They all began contacting their own commanding officers and relaying the news. All spoke quietly into their respective communications devices as if worried they would be overheard. Nura felt slightly disturbed that in the face of what may have been the biggest diplomatic disaster in living memory they still hadn’t put aside their stupid racial divides to work together. Well, she thought, at least it looked like Brainy and his little Khund friend were leading the way.

Dream Girl held her right hand up and used her flight ring to contact Cosmic Boy back on Earth. After quickly letting Rokk know what the current mission status was she asked if Glorith were available to join them. Nura had been present while Brainiac 5 had been running tests on the magic using new Legionnaire and so was aware that somehow the quiet girl from Zerox had an affinity with Time. The hologram of Cosmic Boy turned away as he looked at another screen on the Monitor Board in the Legions headquarters before he confirmed that Glorith was on a mission with Invisible Kid and they would be routed to join Nura and the team looking for Weber’s World.

Lightning Lass flew at the front of her fellow Legionnaires.

Shadow Lad carried Lady Memory behind her, Dragonwing flew alongside Chemical Kid. Marya Pai was worried that her fellow academy graduate may do something stupid. She had met him under a year ago but had quickly realized his pride could make him act a little too aggrieved when hurt and right now he was furious that someone had tampered with his memories.

The crowds in the amphitheater roared as they flew overhead, both in recognition of Legionnaires flying into action alongside their planetary champions and also to show their disapproval of flying in this traditionally pedestrian event. Less than a kilometer ahead of them a cloud of darkness was dissipating, a sure sign that Grev’s cousin had recently had to act.

As they sped across the air towards the Green Rift Forges encampment they heard a cry of pain coming from the central yurt, where the Master Forge Smith should be found.

“Get ready!” Ayla Ranzz cried out as they landed just outside the multi-coloured yurt. Her hands crackled with electricity. “Kahnya”, Ayla looked towards Lady Memory, “Keep an eye out for any of your kin, we need to....”

Before she could say anything else there was a loud scream from within the great tent before them.

As she had pushed Milnak Hortenshai to the floor to avoid the swinging Atomic Axe Salu Digby shrunk to an almost microscopic size and flew as fast as her Flight Ring could carry her straight towards the Persuader’s face. She didn’t look towards the Talokean Forest Champion to see if he had avoided the attack, her focus was entirely on the Persuader’s left eye. At the last instant the intergalactic criminal saw her and tried to swat her away but she was too fast. The millisecond before she crashed into him Vi curled up into a ball and shrunk. Slipping into the molecules of his pupil Shrinking Violet began to grow again as she pushed herself into the dark bulb of his eye.

The Persuader let out a scream as his eye burst, the clear retinal fluids streaked with blood as they ran down the inside of his mask. He reached up and tried to strike at the source of the pain with animal instinct and only managed to give himself a blow to his already painful face.

On the Floor Milnak had taken the opportunity to assume another form. This time he contracted in size and became a Golden Curveleg, a small almost insectoid creature with twelve crescent shaped limbs attached to the thorax that delivered a highly toxic sting that could easily kill a man. These creatures were rare within the southern forests of Talok viii but greatly respected and usually avoided when found. In this form Milnak jumped onto the Persuader’s right leg and began to push its poisonous barbs through chainmail to deliver the neurotoxin sting. The Persuader let out another, even louder scream and tried to resist as the poison released neuro-dampeners into his system.

As he slumped to the floor, the toxin from the Curveleg paralyzing him, Ayla Ranzz burst through the curtains at the front, her eyes and arms flaring electricity.

“Vi... What? “

It took a second for her to emerge from the Persuader’s mask and as Violet grew she kicked the Atomic Axe out from the Persuader’s hand and checked her enemies pulse at the throat to reassure herself that he was still alive before walking across to Ayla and giving her a quick hug. Behind her Milnak slowly resumed his true form.

“Don’t let me make two changes that soon together again please, my head’ll hurt for a week now.”

Shadow Lad helped his fellow Planetary Champion to his feet while Dragonwing and Chemical Kid looked around the inside of the yurt, ostensibly to ensure they were safe and there were no hidden enemies or traps waiting to spring, though both were fascinated by the incredibly detailed designs lovingly sewn into the hanging cloth panels to give their security sweep their full attention.

It was Lady Memory who spoke; “Grev, where is your cousin?”

Senators Tenzil Kem of Bismoll and Oodoo Shanair of Lallor walked around the Great Hall where senior figures from a multitude of planets and races had gathered and tried to calm the panic that was becoming palpable.

Senator Ken turned on the charm: the winners smile and easy confidence, the sure knowledge that Legionnaires always won together with the casual dismissal of anything other than a positive outlook. Senator Shanair used his mutant abilities to sense the inner feelings of each being they encountered and, when his new companion did not seem to ease any underlying problems, would casually touch the worried being and, through the tactile element of his psychic skills, imprint his own desires onto their psyche, effectively turning them against their better nature into supporters of the message of hope that the two men were trying to spread.

Queen Projectra and the newly named Proty iii sat in the small side room where the group Tenzil Kem had gathered together had recently been told about the expected return of the god-like Llorn. The young queen meditated as the Protean telepathically shared all the information it had on their ancient and fearsome opponent. Queen Projectra’s senses had been dramatically altered by strong magicks several years before to release her from the limitations of the human sensory condition. The illusions of distance and density meant nothing to her anymore. With the aid of the telepathic being at her side she hoped to glean some advance warning in case there was an attack.

Meanwhile Gear had led Sentinel of the Khunds and Ru and Em Haza from Lallor to Weber’s World defence centre. The Linsnarian techno-morph injected them with quick release nano-tutorials to imparted basic information; in this case how to work the planet wide armoury. Sentinel seemed particularly impressed as he ran his fingers across the hard light controls. Gear couldn’t help but notice that the two Lallorian Ambassadorial aides seemed mildly disappointed as they practiced manipulating the control panels to some of the United Planets most sophisticated weapons. Gear, despite superficial appearance, was not human by any stretch of the imagination. Like most of his people he was composed of ultra adaptive sapient high tech nannites; A collective being that held its form more out of politeness than necessity. As the Khund and two Lallorians were engrossed with the control panels before them Gear released a microscopic stream of molecular machines into the air of the planetary defense control room. If anything untoward were to happen or any of his three guests where to act in any way unsupportive of their current cause he would know about it instantly.

Thanks once more Raz and IB for your kind support. Glad you like my interpretation of the gangs personalities. We'll be seeing more of them and hopefully a surprise guest star too in the next section.

Anyway, thanks again, I really do appreciate your feedback.

Next time the Llorn are coming - be scared!

The Dead Brain smiled.

Alongside Brainiac 5, a Psion warlord with an unpronounceable name and the mysterious being called Nimbus, he was truly pleased with their final creation. It looked like a vaguely organised techno-junk pile with three large antennae festooned with cabling and lights. The Military leaders from each of their civilisations had left them in peace, accepting that the challenge here was not one of firepower but of brain power.

Dream Girl casually spoke to the academy student Mwindaji while watching the geniuses at work. For all her scientific interest, aptitude and training Nura Nal knew she was way out of her depth as the spoke about “Relevant Q-Field access points transecting *hrr* dimensional temporal matrices” to stabilise the power source. After that their discussion became amazing, mind blowing gibberish and she had decided the student might want some company. And, while he was very young he did have verrrry nice arms...

Onboard the lead Khund Battle Wagon the Legionnaire Harmoia Li and the Khund known as Deathstorm were watching the holofeed to the Starfleet deck. Harmonia had found the Khund, for all his bluster to have an incisive scientific mind as they discussed the machine that their teams respective geniuses had just built. Chameleon Boy and Spyke stood at a distance, keeping half an eye on the third member of the Khundian Battle Brigade, the blue haired woman called Pressure Point. She was floating gently about three feet of the deck in a lotus position, her eyes closed and her mouth silently speaking the magicks that allowed her to influence the forces of gravity as she tried to sense the return of Weber’s World to tis plane of reality.

“At first we didn’t want one of her kind in the Brigade,” Spyke spoke through the side of her mouth, “magic users are not greatly respected in the Empire. She has proven her worth though. She single handedly crushed the Obushi Ka revolutionaries and saved their planetary government less than a cycle ago.” There is a sense of pride in the tone and Chameleon Boy realises that he has just been warned about how powerful and ruthless the Legionnaire’s opposite numbers could be.

On the holofeed Brainiac 5, the Psion and the Dead Brain were going through their final checklist before firing up their machine. Nimbus had sent the two metallic spheres out into the space where Weber’s World once occupied. They shared a look and the Dead Brain nodded. Almost casually Brainiac 5 pushed at an array of hard light screens and the machine started the hum, lights flickered along its length as the Psion grinned triumphantly.

Several moments passed in silence before Pressure Point shouted, "There's something there now. I think that's Weber's World coming back!"

Queen Projectra appeared at Gear’s side as he strode out of the defense center. His internal scanners knew instantly that it was only an optical illusion.

“Gear, there’s a strange emptiness growing in the central core. It feels like the absence outside. Can you get there to investigate?”

He broke into a run as he replied.

“Of course ma’am, the hyper magnetic generators are at the core so if there’s a problem there it will need to be remedied immediately.”

As he approached the junction at the end of the corridor his form became fuzzy and split into a shimmering cloud that seemed to merge with the wall. In nano-form the many millions of sentient micro machines that made up the being know as Gear slipped through several kilometers of the substance of Weber’s World and came to rest on an apparently metallic sphere, roughly a tenth of the diameter of the world that was built around it. Gear knew that for the most part the sphere was composed of energy fields manipulated by powerful quark relays, the only two actual solid parts were small sections on either pole. Inside were the massive generators that kept this world’s gravity and magnetic fields working and aligned. He also knew that any damage to the internal workings could lead to potentially huge repercussions. Assuming the humanoid form that most of the beings onboard Weber’s World assumed was his true shape he squatted down, stretched his hands out onto the metal and laid the side of his head onto it as if listening to the great machinery within.

Even from outside the dome Gear was sufficiently attuned to the artificial world that he could feel there was something amiss. As the Linsnarian approached one of the safety valves built into this outer protective layer his right arm extended and altered, become a crude adjustable spanner to turn the safety seal open. His shape once more broke up into a myriad of tiny forms that streamed into the open valve. It took nearly thirty seconds to pass through the tube into the truly massive space within. He had been here once before but he was still surprised by the feat the United planets had incorporated within Weber’s World. A small black hole, held tame within the energy fields placed at the optimum distance of 657 Kilometers from the event horizon. The energy generated and harnessed powered the entire world and somewhere within this dark space there was an anomaly that needed investigating.

Although he would never admit it to anyone Gear was secretly enjoying the current situation and the opportunity to work alongside former members of the Legion.

His head split open and fanned out to create what looked like a hi-tech windmill as his legs merged and stretched out, nodules of sensory arrays grew and slowly he stretched out into the vastness. He realised that he had no way to contact Queen Projectra so would need to locate the mysterious space himself. As he scanned the area he became aware of an area roughly the size of a human child that seemed to resist his probes.

By the time he had reached it the strange space that resisted every particle or energy wavelength he projected at it had almost doubled in size. With his right arm he reached out, transforming his hand into a small sensor array and gingerly pushed it into the mysterious space in front of him. He would never know how to describe the feeling afterwards, it baffled his senses and stunned his mind, almost causing the all of collective nannites that composed him to become unconscious in shock for the first time in their existence. There within the growing dimensional emptiness his hand brushed against something. He snatched at it, transforming the sensory grid into extended tentacles that wrapped themselves around the object. He pulled with all his strength and with a loud ‘POP!’ his hand came out and the mysterious occurrence that had baffled his sensors shrank into itself as if it were a balloon leaking air.

Opening his hand to look at what he had found he realised that he recognised the object. It looked as shiny as it had appeared in every news-holo he had seen. Before he could react a small tinny voice said:

“Oooh boy, Quislet doesn’t want to go through that again! No, no, no that was not any fun at all...”

I’ve finally caught up, and wow, there’s so many characters and so much going on! What a wild ride!

Random specific observations;

The Forest Champion of Talokk VIII being a shapeshifter is a great way to show off some Talokkian wildlife (and the idea that there are other … Champions on Talokk is also a cool idea!).

I like the personality you are giving Grev. He’s been pretty much ‘Shady’s cousin’ who is quiet and accepting of his place, in most continuities (barring the more aggressive and ambitious version of the Threeboot), so seeing him speaking up and finding a voice of his own is fun.

I’m intrigued with this Khundian Battle Brigade (awesome name, btw!), and the name-dropped members ‘Deathstorm’ and ‘Pressure Point.’ It’s always a challenge to introduce new characters, and, especially a new team, in a story already as character-rich as one involving the Legion, but fanfic is the perfect venue to do that.

Little details, like the only Karnans in the Vegan delegation being Tigorr clones, are neat. I wonder if, using DNA from thousands of preserved ‘hunting trophies’ collected from old Gordanian trophy rooms and private collections (as well as DNA recovered from burial sites), they might be able to revive the Karnan race?

Projectra is really coming into her own with your presentation of her powers, able to communicate with all of Weber’s World, and sense whether or not there is any matter within a parsec. All logical extrapolations of her new powers, and awesome to see!

I never really got to know Gear in the Reboot, he was used fairly lightly, it seemed, and he often acted like a non-combatant tech support character dragged along, so your portrayal of him as a nanite collective is fascinating. Very, very cool.

Little world details, like Projectra wishing she was with the ‘dragonriders’ of her world’s whale/fishing fleets, are amazing. Such a vivid image as almost a throwaway . I love it.

I like how the Lallorian ambassadors twin mutant assistants accidentally give the game away to Tenzil, unintentionally cluing him in (or confirming his suspicion) that the ambassador was up to something (and giving him an empathic mickey). The presence of more Lallorian mutants than the five members of the Heroes of Lallor is a welcome change. Why should Earth have all the super-diversity?

Thanks Set, glad to hear you are enjoying it.

I must admit that I find it hard to focus on just one character and much prefer writing about the interactions and motivations of large groups. I think the Subs2ii storyline is the only one I've done that focused purely on a single character - Nightwind - even the Dream Boy stories expanded rapidly into a story about the Amazers.

random replies to your observations - I always thought that Talok needed further exploration so took everything I could find out and ran with it. The Forest champion seemed like a good idea and, as you rightly said, was a fun way to introduce a range of weird and wonderful creatures. And Grev was crying out for a personality so again I took what I knew and just expanded on it - he always seemed ruled by duty and I liked the 5YG story where he had married Lady Memory - it seemed to make sense that they would do that to try to heal their clans feud.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Khund Empire wanted its own Legion so the Battle Brigade were created. As this is part one of the Legion World's series we will be going to Khundia probably in the next arc and we'll meet more of them there.

I really don't know too much about the Omega Men, it's probably been 15 years since I read anything with them in and I certainly haven't read everything they appeared in but do remember one cover where there were multiple clones of Tigorr and that led to the idea that the Psions use his clones as bodyguards. As this is 1,000 in the future of what we know about them there is a wide scope to play.

And Projectra is incredible powerful when you think about it so I wanted to use her effectively, and Gear is pretty much a blank slate so am just having a ball trying to write him.

Glad you picked up on Em and Ru's smile tipping off Tenzil as I wasn't sure if it was clear (or even made sense) when I re-read it.

Thanks again Set, your feedback is appreciated.

Now for a post I meant to add last night (but ended up talking on the phone instead).

Lightning Lass led Shadow Lad and the two new Legionnaires outside the yurt.

Before they had left she had asked Vi to make sure the Persuader stayed alive and preferably unconscious. Vi knew without being told that Ayla also wanted her to keep eyes on Lady Memory and the Forest Champion. Vi nodded once and turned away from the departing group. She could see that Lady Memory seemed genuinely upset that Grev had left to find his cousin while Milnak Hortenshai had his eyes closed and appeared to be exhausted.

“Kahnya, don’t worry about Grev, my Ayla will look after him you know.” She gave a brief smile and could see the thanks in Lady Memory’s eyes as the Talokean smiled back. Shrinking Violet walked over to the unconscious enforcer and shrunk to about half her full height and released the straps on his face mask. It came away from his head with a schlurping noise. She pulled a face and saw that Kahnya Nahtahnie looked away as the drying blood and optic fluids splatted onto the elaborate carpet. Vi checked his pulse at his throat and put her head down so she could hear his breathing.

“Well I don’t think he’ll be troubling us for a while. I don’t suppose... could you access this brute’s memories while he’s unconscious? It might help if we knew who hired him?” Her tone suggested it was an almost whimsical request but Salu Digby really wanted to know who had sicced the Persuader on the unsuspecting Talokeans and without Tellus or Saturn Girl here her best bet was trying to get the support of Lady Memory.

Lady Memory took a deep breath before squatting down beside the Persuader. She laid her hands on either side of the fallen villains bulbous and blood spattered head and closed her eyes. So as not to appear to eager Vi walked over to the curtain door. As she reached it she heard Lady Memory gasp behind her and a solid sounding ‘thunk’. Vi turned around. Milnak Hortensai was standing over Kahnya Nahtanie, a cruel blade had pierced her chest and he was struggling to rip it out from her torso. Vi flew at him, punching him under the jaw, she landed on top of him and stuck her hands under his arms and into the points she knew Talokeans had sensitive nerve clusters.

He let out a cry and tried to curl up into a fetal position but before he could Vi gave a solid kick to the side of his head knocking him unconscious. She quickly turned back to the fallen Lady Memory. As she pushed her hand over the ragged wound she activated her flight rings comm channel.

A life sized holo of Ayla Ranzz’s face appeared and said, “Hey lover, we just...”

“Ayla, I need Chemical Kid. Now! Send him now! Kahnya has been stabbed.”

Jacques Foccart sat quietly at the control deck of the cruiser enjoying the sight of his sister Danielle playing with a holocube. After the recent attack on the medi-center that housed the Tharok chip Jacques knew that he needed to have Danielle back on Earth and much to his surprise Brainiac 5 had agreed.
The journey to Zardon and persuading Danielle to join him had been easy. He had invited Glorith as the young sorceress still had to see much of the United Planets. If all went well they would stop off a planet or two en route back top Earth. Danielle still had problems with face to face contact, struggling with basic interactions on a personal level but she had never stopped loving him, her big brother who never gave up hope in her. The Doctors had commented how she followed his Legion adventures daily. With him the shy legionnaire Glorith had remained quiet and glanced around the medical center, like Danielle she never quite made eye contact with the many medics and staff.

When they had boarded the cruiser Glorith had sat at the back of the Comm deck, avoiding the controls or any obvious paraphernalia of the strange technology around her. The young sorceress had left Zerox almost a year before but she still felt uncomfortable around such cold instruments. Danielle had sat close to her and the two quiet girls had not spoken directly to each other until Danielle had summoned a gaming console and started to play with a holocube. Glorith had started to pull away until Daniele created a holo representing the two girls playing together. Glorith smiled at her shy companion and started to mutter under her breath, her fingers weaving an intricate pattern. An illusion started to spin out of the empty air of a unicorn and a griffin, both standing proudly beside the two holo images Dannielle had produced.

Initially Danielle seemed shocked as she could not find any subroutine in the holo console that had created the images before laughing unexpectedly and her own fingers started to spin across the holo control as more and more elaborate images appeared. Glorith giggled as she spun more illusions to interact with the holos. Jacques was once again surprised at how techno-savvy his sister was. She had always been quick to learn but she had picked up these controls in no time, something that he certainly hadn’t managed to do even with the Legion sleep training session to prime him.

When the call came from Rokk Krinn to rendezvous with the team investigating Weber’s Worlds disappearance he initially considered refusing as it may put Danielle at risk but Rokk persuaded him quickly that the political situation was desperate and Glorith’s aptitude with time was needed urgently. There was not real choice, his sisters potential safety against the United Planets being dragged into a spiraling political disaster. There really was no choice.

Jacques would need to keep Danielle safe himself.

Weber’s World started to shake.

As Gear flew through the kilometers of tunnels, trailing the barely conscious inter dimensional Legionnaire Quislet behind him, he was aware that while the structural damage was minimal their was the potential to be fatal. All it would take was one supporting wall to collapse in the wrong place and a plaza full of diplomats would be seriously compromised. While the body of the being known as Gear flew as fast as he could towards the Great hall where Senator Kem had set up base the many nannites that were part of his collective consciousness went into action. Within the Defense center a screen sprung to life in front of Sentinel. “Most valiant warrior,” Gear’s image spoke directly, “we will need your mighty magnetic abilities to help stabilize our world, please disengage from the mainframe and help us hold this world together.” Sentinel, as a member of the Khund Battle Brigade knew that sometimes in order to win a battle one would not have to attack, merely hold steady. With a frustrated roar he pushed is way out of the command couch and held his hands to the walls, allowing his awareness of magnetic fields to guide his abilities to where they were needed.

Queen Projectra and Proty iii were still in the small room where Tenzil had taken them earlier. She fought against the rush of sensory information. Her Orikall enhanced abilities told her that they were no longer fully within the empty dimension they had been held in, there were overlapping images and stimuli flashing across her mind even as she struggled to stay upright. Whatever was drawing them back to their universe was obviously not as sophisticated as the process that had taken them here. Proty iii had formed into a ball and was rolling around the floor issuing small telepathic exclamations of fear. The Orandese Queen understood the creature’s worries but knew from her many years of experience that fear in itself would not help them, they needed to translate that feeling into an action.

Within the great hall Senator Kem had been thrown along with the Vegan delegation into an ungracious heap of bodies. With many embarrassed apologies he managed to regain his feet as the shaking subsided. Looking around him he could see that most of the beings present were regaining their feet amid the debris. There were moans and groans but as far as he could see no-one was in serious need of help. The Tamarean woman that had caught Tenzil Kem’s eye earlier floated nearby, her hair casting spirals in the air behind her, “What’s happening now?” Her emotions were obvious, here was a woman from a race that prided itself on its strength that had enough of political machinisms, she wanted to act!

An image of Queen Projectra appeared beside the Bismollian ambassador, “Tenzil, we are re-integrating with our universe, I think someone there is pulling us back.”

Even as he started to reply his flight ring gave a ‘ping’ and a flickering holo of Dream Girl appeared.

“*beeee* ...enzil, Jeckie, *hsss* ..ank the mu... *fizz* you are alri..*fizz*. You should *hsss*..pect company, I’ve seen some serious bad com..*fizz* your way.”

“Okay, thanks Dreamy, we’ll take it from here. Jeckie we need to know our current status. I’ll get the wounded dealt with here and anyone who’s able to support us together in the hall. Can you check the other levels please.”

With the help of the Tamarean, Princess Shoordel, Tenzil started to gather the scared delegates together in the great hall. The seriously wounded were dealt with by Weber’s World auto-docs, small flying domed robots with access to each planets and races medical information. Senator Kem’s charisma and determination, together with a growing number of delegates obviously supporting him, muted the questions and underlying panic they all felt. Those that did try to oppose the former Legionnaire’s plans were tackled by Ambassador Oodoo Shanair, the Lallorian mutant quietly dealing with any mutinous intentions.

“Tenzil”, Queen Projectra’s voice in his ear,” there were only two deaths but expect a lot of wounded and scared beings. Also Gear will be back here in a couple of minutes, he found Quislet in a dimensional warp.“

Sub-vocalizing his reply “Wow! Thanks Jecs, great to hear we have another Legionnaire, whoever did this won’t stand a chance now.”

The air once again started to glow with a blue light that seemed to emanate from everywhere and a voice boomed into the air, shaking everyone present.

“<LITTLE PREY, YOU CANNOT ESCAPE FROM THE HUNT. THE TIME TO RUN IS OVER>”

WoW! Quislet, Danielle, Omega Men tie-ins, I just love how you're enriching the already rich universe of the Legion with your story. Mor,e more, more!!

Grev Mallor flew through the curtain door into the yurt closely followed by Hadru Malik.

The young Shadow Champion of the City People of Talok viii looked as if he was ready to cry. Or kill. Vi stepped aside, making sure she put herself between him and the unconscious man who had stabbed Lady Memory. Grev bent over the wounded girl, putting his hand over the wound, applying pressure to help staunch the blood flow. He spoke quietly in a thick dialect Vi didn’t recognise. Violet looked away from the obvious anguish on her friends face and turned to Chemical Kid.

“Well? You studied Talokean physiology on the way here; I know Jan has set targets for you so why don’t you show us what you know?” Vi had spoke in the clipped, no-nonsense tone that she had learned got results over the years. Jan Arrah had insisted in a way that let Vi know that their young Chemical Kid, as academic as he obviously was, had been slipping in his studies since fully joining the Legion. So many beings believed that all the Legionnaires did was fly into battle, kick nass and bask in the glory. Those same people were seriously wrong. Vi kind of liked Hadru so she hoped he would up his game and earn his place in the team.

Hadru had sat beside the wounded Lady Memory as the Imskian Legionnaire spoke and closed his eyes for a moment, taking a long breath. He reached out and gently moved Grev Mallor’s hand away from the wound. Kahnya let out a low moan of pain. Hadru spoke directly to her, his tone soft and confident as his fingers pushed into the wound.

Weber’s World shook.

The Khund called Sentinel was resting with his back against a wall. His skin showed blotchy patches, a sure sign of Khundian exhaustion. His breathing was just beginning to slow. He knew his magnetic abilities simply hadn’t been up to the task of holding the entire planet together as it slid back to its home reality, though he was certain he had helped stabilise the outer metal epidermic layer, stopping any vents in the atmospheric integrity. They may be a little shook up but at least they had air to breath. He took a pouch from his belt and spoke quietly into a small grey disc on its top. There was a clicking noise and he opened the pouch and took out a capsule of green liquid.

The Lallorian twins had watched him silently.

“It’s a nutrient capsule. That took a lot out of me...” he offered his explanation without looking directly at them. He could feel their antipathy towards him and wished they would just speak about it rather than casting those judgmental glances toward everyone they encountered.

“Don’t you two ever say anything?” He looked towards Em Haza, or maybe it was Ru, to be honest despite there being slight differences between the twin sisters he wasn’t sure which was which. She pulled a little disappointed smile with the ends of her mouth slightly drooping and shook her head. Her eyes looked angry.

“That explains that then....” he started to stand up, pushing up against the wall.

Two voices, both childlike, sung in his mind, “We are telepathic though, so, just so you know, that little fantasy that just flashed through your head about us being your silent non-complaining bed slaves ain’t ever going to happen. Just so you know.”

Glorith was distressed.

The young sorceress had stood up suddenly, her illusions fading out like morning mist. Danielle had sat back in her chair, her fingers no longer spinning across the holo control as she watched her new friend. At the Comms Jacques had noticed that the two young women no longer seemed to be creating holos and illusions to entertain each other and he turned around in his chair to check they were still alright. Danielle looked concerned though it was obviously Glorith who was struggling. The air around her started to glow with an eldritch energy. Jacques jumped from his seat and rushed to pull Danielle away but his sister stayed by Glorith’s side.

“Ma Cherie, please we must giver her room, her magics are...”

“No! She is my friend Jacques.”

Glorith’s feet had left the floor and she hung suspended in the air before them, her face was screwed up in pain and she grunted as if struck. “There is something coming that’s abhorrent to the natural order. Jacques, please, we must get to Weber’s World now! We must stop this from happening.” Although her voice was quiet there was no arguing with the tone. The sound of fear was too obvious.

Chemical Kid's tone was soft as he spoke to Lady Memory.

“I have a challenge to learn the physiology of every indigenous race I visit. So, just so you know, you will be okay, I’m slowing down the hormone that all Talokeans release that speeds up the metabolism when you get excited. It does make your people fierce warriors, only you do bleed a lot because of it Kahnya.” He stopped speaking and exchanged a slightly sad smile with Lady Memory as she caught her breath. While he was trying to be gentle it was obvious from her face that she was in a lot of pain.

She turned towards Shadow Lad and quietly said, “It was the Forest Champion who hired the Persuader Grev...”

“We guessed darling, don’t worry we’ve got them now...” He replied.

“Can I have a moment.” Hadru’s voice sounded far more confident than he felt but he continued, turning back to the injured Lady Memory, his voice became softer, friendlier, “that was the first part, now I need to speed up the coagulation of the blood around the wound. Talokean blood is copper based so it’s slightly less viscous than human plasma. This is tricky as I don’t want to clot anything in your internal organs by mistake.”

Grev shuffled aside though took Kahnya’s hand. He was not going to go far from her side for the foreseeable future. Hadru continued speaking, taking the wounded girl’s attention away from his fingers currently probing the sides of the gaping cut in her chest. “So now to give your system a quick boost to your serotonin like happy hormones to alleviate the pain... eh voila!” The young Phlonite stood up and wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve.

“Grev....”

“Kahnya. Please you need to...”

“ I’m the champion of the desert people not a Terran bimbo-dollykin. I know this wound isn’t good but help me up, we have to sort this out.”

Vi had a grin as Grev Mallor, shamefaced, held out his arm to Lady Memory. Hadru Malik had stepped over to the Persuader and was holding his hands out over the brutish enforcer’s muscle bound body. To no-one in particular he said, “That should keep his asleep for another couple of hours.” He stood up again and wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve.

“Grev,” Kahnya Nahtanie was standing straight, a look of grim resolve on her face, “Milnak hired him to do something terrible that would return Talok to the old ways. Whatever it is...”

“We stopped them Kahnya...”

“You don’t understand, they’ve already done it, whatever they had planned they’ve already done it. The Persuader only stayed because he’s sick, he wanted to watch us all die!”

In the air in the great hall three beings iridescent in purple floated above the assembled ambassadors and their aides.

Their initial threat had shook the air and terrified almost everyone present. The Khund ambassador Speaker ChaChauk of the Split Skull had taken a small silver rod from his belt and activated a function on it so it expanded into a fearsom looking axe with blades at both ends. With a bassy growl he had leapt at the three beings swinging his mighty weapon. As he leapt the Tigorr clones that had been at the side of the Psions also charged. The sentient shade of yellow known as the Oolool also struck up at them. Several other bodyguards and representatives from the more war like species took this as the opportunity to attack. Chaos erupted!

Senator Kem screamed for them to stop to no avail. In mid air a tendril of violet fog snaked out from the central being and enveloped the attacking ambassadors. Every one of them were frozen. Energy beams from previously hidden weapons stopped in mid track.

<PATHETIC!>

Every one of the attacker dissolved into dust. The dust sparkled as it slowly fell to the floor in small spirals. The energy beams reversed their direction exploding the weapons they had come from. The room was silent for almost a second before the screaming started.

The eruption as Weber’s World spun back into reality shook the armada of ships.

Brainiac 5 and the Dead Brain were both knocked off their feet. Nimbus exclaimed in shock, “Look at the readings the Sphere’s picked up. Oh dark X’Hal protect us!”

Nura Nal ran over to Querl Dox, “Querl, there will be three of them. They will kill a lot of people before we can stop it.”

“If they are that dangerous Nura we need you to try to see what will stop them.”

Brainiac 5 turned to the huge machine that he had constructed with the Khundian known as the Dead Brain and examined the readings that had terrified Numbus. M’windaji was standing beside Dream Girl as the coluan Legionnaire abruptly turned away from her and she could see that the academy student was not impressed with Querl’s manner. She was pleased to note his tact in hot saying anything. If he wanted to progress to being a full Legionnaire he would need to learn that the big characters already in the organisation were simply an occupational hazard that couldn’t be helped.

“Dream Girl, ma’am...”

“For the fifth time Ghaji, call me Nura please. Formality makes my teeth ache.” She smiled as she said it but the student saw her eyes weren’t laughing. Dream Girl was worried.

“Sorry Nura, your colleague has asked for docking access....”

“Colleague? You mean Jacques? Well why didn’t you say?” This time her smile reached her eyes, “Come on, I think he’s brought the solution to our problems.”

Gear and Quislet reached the great hall just as the crowds started to push their way out.

The screaming pandemonium that was erupting before them froze Gear. Even as he watched a Thaarian representative fell over and was lost under the fall of fleeing feet. Gear flattened himself to a wall and activated the emergency evacuation procedures. All doors flung open, a gentle voice announced that Weber’s World would be initiating it's evacuation protocols and would be most grateful if all representatives could form an organised queue and leave the hall in an orderly fashion. It wasn’t heard above the screaming.

Gear saw there had been several beings knocked over and his arms extended and pulled them out of the terrified crowd. He had been instructed in necessary first aid for each of the 431 races on board. Even as he tended to the stricken Thaarian woman he remember was called Ola he silently summoned all the remote Auto-Docs on this level. The small discus shaped AI machines were stored at regular distances throughout Weber’s World though they were rarely seen. Within moments twelve had assembled at the corridor and were tending to the many injuries.

“Quislet will stop silly beings from crushing themselves, whoop whoop!” and a spark of energy leapt into the wall beside the door. The wall started to peal away giving the terrified mass room to flee. The spark jumped back into the small silver ship and the newly peeled walls disintegrated. The crowds were running down the corridors. Quislets slipped over their heads and flew into the hall with a poop – a – doop.

Gear watched the Legionnaire go and knew he would have to join him in the hall. He gently rested Ola against the wall summoning an Auto doc to take over tending for her and he stretched his shape out, snake-like he wove through the tail end of the fleeing crowds. Inside the great hall there were overturned tables and chairs, debris scattered throughout the once luxurious room, and Senator Tenzil Kem, Quislet and a few other beings facing three glowing creatures who radiated immense power. Gear now knew who the enemy was and would do anything he could to remove them from his new home here on Weber's World.