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

Queen Projectra stood in the waiting area wondering why she had allowed Querl to persuade her into doing this. Her planet needed her for far more practical things than this ambassadorial meeting. The young queen held her poise, back straight, chin up, shoulders relaxed, a smile tracing around the edges of her mouth. She wanted to be with her dragon riders swooping over the Great Northern Oceans looking for spouts from the small white Whalekins so they could lead their fishing fleets out to a successful hunt. The Northern Isles economy depended on their fisher fleets and it was the start of the annual Whalekin migration through their waters.

Instead she was in this sterile green room dressed in finery that chafed waiting to be announced into an ambassadorial ball on Weber’s World being held to celebrate the recent trade agreement beetween the Vegan Worlds and the United Planets. “Brainy had better be right”, she thought darkly to herself, “Ever since the Psion takeover in 2759 the Vegans were renowned to be a tricky society to deal with.”

The bell chime signaled it was time to enter the hall. Protocol dictated that as a recognised Galactic Royal she was one of the last to be welcomed into the hall. With a brief sweep of the hall her Orikall enhanced senses warned what to expect inside at the ball and she looked forward to getting back to her bed later and catching up with the never ending paperwork that she personally read through to ensure the smooth running of her kingdom. That, she was certain, would be far more interesting than the various ambassadors, politicians, representatives from the galactic trader Houses, polished hangers on and outright liggers that were away to greet her.

Even as she thought this she caught the presence of someone she knew, someone who could definitely save her from this dreary event. “Oh thank you Senator Kem,” she said it under her breath as the doors in front of her opened and she walked regally into the ball to applause and the expected fake excitement with her broadest smile

Senator Kem was talking to the Lallorian ambassador and his twin and coincidentally very attractive assistants when Queen Projectra’s entrance was announced to the hall. Tenzil smiled and asked to be excused. As he turned away the ambassador held onto Tenzil’s arm and said, with unexpected honesty, “I’d really love to meet Queen Projectra, she really was my favourite Legionnaire. Present company excluded of course.” The Lallorian ambassador raised his eye brows and smiled in a hopeful expression. Tenzil laughed and agreed that the Queen’s plunging costume while she was a Legionnaire made her a very popular member of the team indeed.

The ambassador’s assistants exchanged a look and then both smiled their broadest smile at Senator Kem. Through the amassed crowds of sentients and sapients from throughout the northern arm of the Milky Way Tenzil Kem led the small group towards his former team mate with a skilled ability of talking to everyone that got in their way while avoiding being dragged into unnecessary conversations that would slow them down. The Lallorian ambassador held onto Tenzil’s arm and kept expressing his gratitude as they made their way through the room.

As they approached Queen Projectra Tenzil turned to the ambassador and whispered, “Oh, just to let you know, we’ve met Psyche from the Wanderers a few time and she’s a much better emotional manipulator than you so stop trying to take control of me. You don’t want to get too needy now. Needy people just give me an appetite and you really don’t want to get me hungry!” his smile was positively vicious.

The ambassador’s eyes widened in surprise before he started apologising gratuitously but Tenzil stopped him and said quietly in an exasperated tone, “We’ve known that the Lallorian planetary champions aren’t the only meta- mutants on Lallor so don’t worry, just do yourself a big favour and don’t try it with Queen Projectra. She’s not nearly as forgiving as me and she knows martial arts.”

The ambassador expressed his gratitude and reiterated his fondness of the Queen that stretched back to her Legionnaire days. Tenzil smiled and turned, ready now to introduce the young empathic mutant from Lallor to his friend and former comrade, Queen Projectra of Orando.

Sentinel of the Khundian Battle Brigade was considered to be emotionally weak by his comrades, he knew that was part of the reason why he had been chosen for this mission. He was known as the ‘Considerate One’. At least amongst the Battle Brigade anyway, the greater populace of Khundia were terrified of his magnetic abilities that he used to bloody effect in the Challenge Courts. Amongst the upper echelons that governed his war loving world the knowledge of his conscience when it came to outright killing opponents to be made to attend this event and act appropriately was his punishment for a recent indiscretion. Relationships within the Battle Brigade were strictly forbidden yet somehow The Command Echelon had learned that he had been with the A’achmekkad psychic slave that they had recently introduced to the trainee scheme. She may have been useful but the two sleep cycles they had spent together were not worth this torture.

As a result, and punishment, the Most Honourable and Blood Thirsty High Council of Khundia had requested his presence in this utterly appalling event. These uncivilised races had not started the day with the necessary ritual bloodletting or combat events, instead they had introduced him to ‘canapés’ and ‘string quartet music’. The blackout lenses that had been fixed onto him to make this brightness bearable for any length of time were beginning to make his eyes itch. Sentinel missed the twilit atmosphere of Khundia Prime. Had it not been for his companion, Speaker ChaChauck of the Split Skull’s incredible talent at keeping the necessary conversations between them and the wash of aliens around them interesting and brief he would have ripped the floor out from under these dreadful weak beings in a heartbeat just to watch them fall.

As Sentinel stood there, watching the weak and undeserving of the Galaxy around him he noticed something that caught his attention. Walking through the crowd before him was a Legionnaire being trailed by a weedy looking human and two of their women who at least were marginally attractive. He wasn’t sure what the pinkskin could do but it was definitely a Legionnaire. Maybe he could insist on a challenge now just to liven this place up. “Yes”, thought Sentinel, “it’s definitely gotten more interesting here now”. And with that he slipped into the crowd to follow the Legionnaire and his group of liggers through the crowd.

As Senator Kem approached his former teammate he could see her genuine smile. He made a discreet sign towards his flight ring, something that would alert her to potential Legion business. Queen Projectra’s eyes twinkled with mischief and she said quite openly:

“Tenzil Kem you scurrilous dog’s rear, what brings you to a reputable function like this?”

Tenzil laughed, slightly embarrassed by his former teammate’s unexpectedly coarse comment in this otherwise polite gathering. Queen Projectra laughed in return, “Oh don’t worry about the rest of them Tenzil, I’ve spun a little illusion that we are greeting our guests with appropriate aplomb, now what is bothering you?” She lightly placed her hand on his shoulder, a rare tactile expression from the usually prim woman.

“Well, I heard you might be here your most revered Majesty and thought I’d blag a ticket. Actually I’ve been here since the start and to tell the truth if you hadn’t of turned up I was thinking of eating myself an escape tunnel soon.” Projectra laughed, understanding exactly how exasperatingly dull these formal events could be, even for one as gregarious, irreverent and popular as Tenzil.

"Just to let you know, this man, the Lallorian ambassador Oodoo Shanair, has some emotional manipulating skill. He tried it on me but I caught it.”

“Thanks for the warning Ten. Yes, I can see there’s an almond sized gland above his hippocanthus, it’s a bit like the Titanian’s telepathy mutation. We need to be a bit careful. Oh, you may like to know his two companion’s body density is right off the scale. Hmmm, it seems Lallor has been putting its mutants to use. Anyway Tenzil, time to rejoin the conversation.”

The Lallorian ambassador was speaking, “.... so she said it was entirely in the lap of the Five Gray Gods above.” He chortled a slightly uncertain laugh, which Queen Projectra joined in with polished tact.

“You! Legionnaire! What is one of your kind doing here?” The voice had the thick accent that Senator Kem and Queen Projectra both recognised as Khundian.

“Ah, never a dull moment in a Senator’s life. Apart from all the dull ones of course.” Tenzil had turned to face the steel skinned warrior who now stood three feet from him. He was very aware that the crowds who had been trying to eavesdrop on his conversations earlier were backing away from them and the background hubbub of noise was dipping.

Holding out his right hand for the Khund to shake Senator Kem said, “Pleased to meet you sir, I’m Senator Tenzil Kem of the Bismoll Protectorate, How may I help you?” His expression was one of utter delight that this stranger had interrupted their conversation. An expression Queen Projectra knew from years of experience was as fake as the pleasantries Tenzil had just exchanged. When he had turned Tenzil Kem had moved his feet so they were shoulder width apart and tensed his stomach muscles, readying himself for a fight.

On Earth Nura Nal and Thom Kallor sat snuggled in a large backed leather clad armchair in their shared apartment within the Legion’s Headquarters.

“Are you sure Nura? It seems odd that you aren’t there on Xanthu.”

“I don’t understand either but my vision clearly had Reep, Brainy, Harmonina and I in a shuttle in open space. I knew you were with your parents for their anniversary on Xanthu. I’m so sorry Thom, please pass on my apologies but it seems the future is conspiring to have me miss their party.” Despite being a skilled manipulator and tease Thom knew Nura was genuinely sorry about this situation. Her relationship with his parents had not always been too cordial but over the last couple of years his mother and Nura had gotten into the habit of chatting at least once a week and the two women were now as close as any mother and daughter in law could hope to be.

Thom Kallor hugged the woman he loved and said nothing.

He had grown used to Nura Nal’s reliance on her visions. If the precognitive vision said that he would be going to his parents thirtieth wedding anniversary without his lady love then that would be what was going to happen and it would be pointless to ask her to change her mind or try to do anything different. Thom squeezed Nura a little tighter and breathed in her scent pleased that they had this moment at least.

Oh, sorry, meant to say this takes place in the current version maybe around about the end of issue 12 or so - before any of the Fatal Five shenanigans. I should have said that before the first post.

Hope you enjoy, and as always feedback is greatly appreciated.

Talok viii had a relatively slow orbit around it’s parent star, it took over nine Terran years to complete one circuit. The Talokians were not a particularly long lived race, on average surviving 90 or so Earth years so the Talok viii Decade Challenge was therefore seen as a once in a lifetime event that drew crowds from all over this world and from many more.

The Weaponsmiths of the Nine Great Forges used this once every 93 Earth year event to showcase their latest inventions and achievements. As was tradition the Forges were allowed to only update the established weapons and armour that their race had traditionally used: spears, swords, shields and the mace being the most common. With the exception of bows and arrows they had no projectile weapons like guns or missiles on display. That’s not to say the weapons were in any way other than state of the art.The Weaponsmiths of Talok viii were known through out the galaxy for their technical brilliance.

On the southern continent of Bakar there had been a meteor strike roughly eighty three million Terran years before. It had virtually wiped out the nascent life on this world at the time. Thankfully it hadn’t and now the four mile wide crater that collision had indented into the planetary crust had left behind had been hewn out over several thousand years into an ornate amphitheater that traditionally held the Decade Challenge.

Chemical Kid looked around at the crowds with him in the amphitheater and said “I hate this heat. This heat blows big time.“

Neither Dragonwing nor Lightning Lass acknowledged him though Shrinking Violet smiled her agreement and continued through the crowds towards their friend. Tasmia Mallor the planetary Shadow Champion of Talok viii was expected here of course, it would have been seen as an insult to her people if she had not come. Not that Tasmia would have missed this event for all of Brande’s riches and a chance to kick the Emerald Empress firmly in the butt. The excitement in the air was electric. Starting tomorrow there would be three days of combat. There were reputations and money to be made. Tradition stated that the Planetary champions of the Three Creeds – one from the Shadow, one of the Memory and the third from the Forests would put aside their usual antipathy and judge the competitions, naming the overall winner at the end of the third day.

Tasmia couldn't wait to catch up with her cousin Grev. He had taken on the role of Shadow Champion in her absence and it had been too long since they had had the time to simply chat with one another. There ahead of her she saw his mo-hawk standing above the crowd. She resisted the urge to use her Flight Ring to fly across the crowd as such acts would have been seen as immodest and unbecoming so sticking her elbows out Tasmia Mallor ploughed through the crowds before her. The smile on Tasmia's face faded as she broke through the ring of people around her cousin and she saw he was stood with his arm around their hereditary enemy, Lady Memory. It was obvious to anyone looking at the two of them that they were not simply posing for the crowds, Grev was looking with adoration at the lithe green skinned woman in his arms and, worse still Tasmia felt, she was looking back at him with the same look on her face. Here was a young couple very much in love.

This is so awesome, Harbinger! Bonus points for using Tenzil and Jeckie (whom we haven't seen much of in the actual comic for a long time) and for showing effortlessly why they're Legionnaires! I really liked Tenzil's matter-of-fact acknowledgement of the empath, and Jeckie's illusion to hide them talking business. The setting is good too...the government connections have only ever really been utilised as a convenient way to write these characters out, so it's cool to see those connections actually fuel a story for a change.

Shady is one of my faves as well, so I am way on board for anything focused on her....to steal your thing, "more, more, more!"

Tasmia Mallor had never been one to hide her emotions and at this precise moment she felt incandescent with anger and betrayal. Her vision closed in around the object of her rage and the unfortunate members of the crowd who were in her way as she strode towards Grev were mercilessly shoved aside with a ruthless passion.

Grev Mallor looked up from the young lady he had been intensely rubbing noses with as he had heard the sounds of a commotion and saw his cousin approach through the crowds. He knew immediately from her expression that she would want to have words with him and those words would not necessarily be very polite or repeatable.

“Darling..?”

“Wait here a second, I think Tasmia wants to speak to me.”

Grev knew that this moment was coming but had hoped it would be carried out with a little clarity and decorum, maybe in the privacy of a Legion ship or at their ancestral shrine in the Deep Caves. In his musings Grev had never considered it would happen within sight of half of the royal families and major trading Houses of Talok viii. Grev swallowed though his mouth was fast becoming dry.

“Tasmia, what a deli...”

“You! Grev what do you think you are doing?” Tasmia’s voice carried and heads turned quickly as the crowds backed away slightly to watch this most unexpected confrontation. “She is our ancestral enemy yet you blatantly cuddle up to the bat witch as if...”

“Wind you neck in Tasmia!” Grev doesn’t expect the blow that follows and he goes to the floor.

“I am the Planetary Champion...”

“Well if you are then come back home and act the part Tas,” Grev rose as he spoke and pointed at his cousin, “You can’t always have it your own way you know. And just so you know, our ‘cuddling up’ is helping heal countless generations of hurt and mistrust. It’s not going to happen overnight but it will happen. We are both from families that are supposed to be the Champions, the role models of our respective peoples but all our ancestors have done is keep this pointless feud going and damage our beautiful world. What are you doing for the common man on Talok who can’t trade with their neighbours because of a fight that started so long ago no one cares anymore? Well Tasmia, as the Planetary Champion, what exactly are you doing about that?”

With that Grev turned, put his arm around Lady Memory and walked away without looking back.

“Grev....” Tasmia Mallor stood and watched as her cousin, the young man who had joined her all those years ago into their ancestral shrine to receive the gift of the Shadow, walked away from her in this most public of places.

“Tasmia, sweetheart what’s going on?” Ayla Ranzz with Salu Digby right behind her, had squirmed through the crowd and stood at her side.

“I think I’ve just lost my cousin.” Tears start to build in her eyes as Ayla takes her into a heartfelt hug.

Hadru Jamik feels queasy.

Since having the gene-mod placed into his system he has only felt like this once before. He has become sensitive to certain reactions happening around him and he is sure there’s something happening that reminds him of the battle he had been involved in with the Cosmic King when the villain had transformed the Legion’s headquarters into a radioactive isotope. Hadru can sense the same half-life reaction occurring around him but instead of it being localised to a single surface it seems to be emanating from the air around him. As he strolls he concentrates and slowly his senses alert him to the source, the trail clearly leads to the section of the amphitheatre taken over by the supporters and workers of the Forge of the Green Rift. He continues to amble through the crowd, the picture of a perfect tourist, slowly circling towards the highly decorated yurts, tethered sky ships and camps all the while tracking the source of the Strontium 90. As far as Hadru remembered the rules of this Challenge expressly banned using radiations, the Talokean people being sensitive to their effects.

He looked around, ostensibly taking his bearing, but also looking to see if any of his teammates were in sight and with a confidence in his step that he didn’t necessarily feel walked up to the entrance to the camp of the Forge of the Green Rift.

At the Ambassadorial ball Senator Tenzil Kem took one more shot glass of the Sinthi-whiskey and threw the contents down his throat. Across the table the Khund warrior known as Sentinel did the same. The Khund’s yellow skin was starting to blotch with patches of orange and his eyes had turned a decidedly unhealthy looking pale green. Classic signs, Tenzil remembered, of a Khund on his way to passing out from alcohol poisoning. Tenzil wanted to bite the glass in his hand but knew that the challenge before him had said quite strictly that neither could eat anything until their opponent had either conceded the contest or collapsed unconscious from the amount of alcohol they consumed.

It had started when Sentinel had challenged the Bismollian ambassador. Tenzil asked for the option to name the challenge and had honourably agreed. Tenzil thought that as challenges went he had chosen a good one. He had even allowed the Khund to pick the drink they would have to consume. Well, if one of the Khundian Empire’s Battle Brigade wanted to challenge a Legionnaire they really had better get their challenges straight. Did the buffoon before him not know that Bismollian physiology counteracted alcohol before it even reached the stomach?

Even as he played at being drunk Tenzil watched the crowd around them. Initially there had been several dozen observers but that was almost two hours ago and as neither former Legionnaire nor Khund warrior had conceded or collapsed yet and the Khund’s initial threats and bluster had subsided into quite amiable chit chat and sharing of opinion and gossip so the crowd’s interest had waned dramatically. Tenzil had watched as Queen Projectra had skilfully taken the Lallorian Ambassador aside to discuss matters that probably had more to do with his planet’s reluctance to share their meta mutant program than the usual dry conversations that usual floated around these events. The Bismollian ambassador’s eye caught one of the Lallorian’s companions and he gave his most flirtatious grin and lifted his eyebrows. ‘Well the day didn’t have to be a total bust’ he thought.

Five minutes later, and still the Lallorian ambassador's assistant had refutely not returned Tenzil's look the Vegan diplomatic team had arrived and Tenzil and Sentinel both perked up as the young Tamarean woman who accompanied the Psion ambassador had smiled briefly at them. Both men shared a knowing look as they threw more whiskey that tasted of smoking lava down their throats. Tenzil had also clocked the two Tiggorr clones that carefully walked just behind the Psion, their feral gazes scaring off much of the potential conversations that the interest their arrival generated.

Out of the corner of his eye Tenzil was aware that the air appeared to be turning blue. Surely the alcohol hadn't started to affect him had it? The air was definitely starting to turn blue...

Thom Kallor stepped up to the control deck and smiled through the screen to Nura who waved him off. As the Mark vi personal cruiser left the docking level taking the man she had dedicated her life to Dream Girl turned and strode confidently towards the grav-lift. “Time to tease Brainy” she thought with a small smile as she made her way towards the laboratory her Coluan teammate used on the lower levels.

Within the Laboratory she found the object of her attention carefully placing an oddly clunky looking piece of technology onto the head of Reep Daggle. Harmonia Li stood at a console whipping through holo-readouts.

Dream Girl stopped for a second. This was the same members of the Legion that she had foreseen would be in empty space with her soon. Well whatever was away to happen would happen and it was a waste of time wonder how as she would find out by simply letting the present catch up with her vision.

“Querl, I can easily alter my form you know, you don’t need to push...”

“This will give us the best results if you just remain yourself. I’m sorry for the inconvenience Reep.”

Nura stepped over towards Harmonia and asked what was happening. The new teammate didn’t take her eyes of the read outs as she replied, “Querl has this idea that by mimicking and increasing Reep’s Durlan spatial awareness senses we can monitor the results of his experiments with a bit more clarity. Personally I think he’s clutching at straws to justify not finding the results he wants but who am I to judge?” There’s a small smile on Harmonia’s face that Nura has learned meant that her companion was joking. The ancient elemental before her still concerned Nura as Harmonia had taken to supporting Brainiac 5 in an almost obsessive manner and had irked a few of their teammates with her dry wit and condescending manner. That said she was a scarily smart genius who had an incredible power set that made her both versatile and strong. ‘Well,’ thought Nura, ‘the Legion was full of odd balls, what was one more to add to the list?’

Even as she finished this thought an alarm started to howl.

Brainiac 5 consulted with a read out and exclaimed in shock.

“What is it Querl?” Both Nura and Harmonia asked together.

“This can’t be right. It seems Weber’s World has just vanished. According to this read out it has totally disappeared in a heartbeat without leaving a trace. It looks as if someone has kidnapped the Galactic political hub.”

Reep Daggle straighten up and said, “Does that mean I can take this infernal contraption off now?”

Thanks Raz, greatly appreciate your feedback. I agree that the potential political situations that the Legion could quite easily be involved in has been woefully under-explored and that was my starting point for this part of the story. The other was my interest in Shady - have you read her first appearance? There were Talokeans dressed in high tech armours and that stuck as a springboard idea for this part of the story.

With the events that just happened a lot of under used characters are going to be called up. Stay tuned and hope you enjoy!

Querl Dox looked at the holo- read out that floated in front of him and sighed.

They had been on board the Star Fleet Cruiser Maximus Bond for ten standard hours and he had tried virtually every way he could think of to scan, examine and otherwise tweak information out of the gap in space where Weber’sWorld had been until twelve hours ago. The trainee known as Mwindaji had joined them when they left Earth, his tracking powers having been proven recently on the Dominion homeworld but unfortunately he had been unable to sense anything out of the ordinary and could find no trail to follow.

In the first five hours after the disappearance several other galactic civilisations had arrived looking for answers as well. Currently his companions Chameleon Boy and Harmonia Li were in parlance with a Khundian group that had initially arrived and blamed the Legion for the missing artificial world. It had taken Nura and Harmonia almost an hour to calm that situation down only to then have the Vegans arrive in one of their fearsome Silver Guild crafts demanding information. Brainiac 5 was glad his teammates were all skilled at diplomacy as this situation could easily have ignited a war and with Mon El and a group of experienced Legionnaires currently helping out on Panoptes the team were too under staffed at present to be able to stop any potential skirmish from escalating through force.

Beside Brainiac 5 stood a short Khund with a grotesquely swollen cranium in a metallic body suit. He had introduced himself as the Dead Brain, current leader of the Khundian Empires own meta powered team the Battle Brigade. Surprisingly, Querl rather liked the misformed being at his side as he had showed incredible insight and a razor sharp mind. Between them they had just finished creating their twenty third experimental attempt to locate the missing world.

The United Planets had assembled a squad of technicians and scientific support and Brainiac 5 and the Khundian known as the Dead Brain had spent several hours discussing ideas and creating more and more esoteric machines in their attempts to unravel the mystery before them. One of the UP crew was a young mystic from an outpost world who informed Brainy that she could sense no magic in the vicinity. Querl realised, while he was relieved in part to hear there was no chaos logic of magic involved, that this could also mean that Queen Projectra, who he had asked to attend the event in honour of the new alliance with the Vegans in order to gain accurate data, was also definitely missing.

Dream Girl had left the Cruiser over three hours ago to visit the Vegan ship. She reported that they would send over someone to assist “Brainy and his cute little friend” shortly. Even as the holo of the Naltorian faded a dark mist started to coalesce close to him. In a matter of seconds a thin pale faced ancient looking being with a translucent halo robed in black smoke stood beside the Legionnaire and the Khund.

“I am Nimbus. How may I assist you?.”

On Talok viii Marya Pai, also known as Dragonwing, had watched her fellow Legionnaire walk suspiciously into one of the camps of the competing Forges. She had known Hadru Jamik, the Chemical Kid, long enough now to see when he was trying to look nonchalant and not draw attention to himself. To her street wise eyes it made him stand out like a flare on a dark night. He was up to something and wasn’t smart enough to realise that anyone with more than a modicum of people watching skills would know that too. He would need her help, she could feel it.

Dragonwing had grown up in the heaving megalopolis of the Xin-Jiang Region on Earth, one of the highest density of people anywhere in the United Planets and had learned at a very young age how to move in a crowd without drawing any unnecessary attention. She also could tell when she was being watched and right now that awareness was screaming to be heard.

“Well there’s no need pretending...” and she strode confidently into the camp of the Forge of the Green Rift after her academically brilliant but sadly not so street smart colleague aware that every step she took was most likely leading her further into trouble.

Up ahead, beside one of the small stone altars that the Talokeans used as part of their daily ritual to acknowledge their ancestors she saw Hadru. He looked surprised to see her but didn’t appear to be otherwise fussed. As she tried to speak to him he was initially dazed and seemed uncertain why he was there but almost just as quick was his usual smug self as he commented how 2990’s the fashion was.

Marya looked around but couldn’t see anyone acting out of the ordinary but she knew that something suspicious had just happened to her... her friend, and she wanted to find out who was responsible before they got away.

I love fhe juxtaposition of Dragonwing and CK's respective backgrounds! Makes perfect sense and maybe if we saw stuff like that come up more in the actual book they might be more likeable characters.

It kind of makes me wonder how Ultra Boy and Marya would get on actually....

The Dead Brain has an awesome name/look too! Enjoying this muchly!

Tasmia Mallor strode into the brightly coloured yurt. The cloth walls were heavily embroidered scenes of the tales and teachings of the Forest Folk. Scenes of great beasts of legend and brave acts of daring. Tasmia remembered the stories from her youth and started to smile. It was the first time she had smiled since her encounter with her cousin Grev this morning. Ahead of her, sat on a small wooden stool her counterpart from the Forest People. The young man with the pale mauve skin of Talokeans from the southern islands stood as she approached and grinned.

“Legendary Shadow Champion, please make yourself welcome and feel free to call on our staff as if they were your own.”

“It’s good to see you too Milnak, you haven’t aged since the last time we met.”

Tasmia and Milnak hugged and both laughed as they broke apart.

“So tell me Tasmia, How have you been? What is it really like out there with the T’huchanar?”

“The T’Chunar? The different ones? They are the same as us only not quite as blue Milnak. Perhaps you should join me to Earth to see for yourself when I go back in a few days,” Tasmia smiled though her tone had a challenging edge. Milnak Hortenshai was the representative for perhaps a third of the population on this planet yet he expressed the old fashioned views that verged on xenophobia, a distrust of any being not born and raised in the Old Ways. When they had first met, a season before she had left Talok to join the Legion they had talked until they argued again and again on this very point.

“You know I can’t Tas, unlike the Shadow, or even the Memory clans, the Forest Chosen lose our skills the further we go from our home. But enough, tell me what has been happening please, is it true Earth seceded from the United Planets because they didn’t want us Blue folks there anymore?” The teasing tone in his voice was matched by his broad grin.

Before she could answer and explain about the disastrous rule of the Justice League from behind her Shadow Lass heard a confrontation outside the Forest Champion's yurt, raised voices and a thud and the curtains were pulled aside and the young Legionnaire Dragonwing strode in, “Tasmina! Thank the Emperor I found you. You have to help, something’s happened to Hadru.”

“Well this one has your manners Tas so maybe they aren’t really that different....”

Dragonwing explained how she had followed her colleague into the Camp of the Forge of the Green Rift but when she found him he was confused and didn’t remember why he was there. As Shadow Lass had given a basic history lesson on the various peoples and tribes of Talok in the cruiser while they flew here Dragonwing knew of the skills of the Memory Clan and was immediately alarmed.

“What would have attracted your colleague young Dragon?” It was the first time that Milnak Hortenshai had spoken since Marya Pai had started her story.

“Who knows? He was all suspicious and trying hard to look cool. You have no idea how obvious that boy is. Please Tasmia, is there anyone here who could help?”

Tasmia Mallor had spent quite a bit of time training the latest generation of Legionnaires and had found Marya Pai generally to be abrasive, often opinionated, nearly always aggressive but always reliable. As she thought this she realized that Milnak’s comment about how similar they were wasn’t too far off the mark.

“Hey Tas, here you are.” Alya Ranzz walked into the yurt, “Vi and Hadru are outside, is everything okay? He says Marya thinks his mind’s been tampered with.” Lightning Lass looked at the serious faces of her teammates and knew that the pleasant day she had been having with Vi walking around the carnival event in this most spectacular amphitheater was away to become more exciting.

“Alya, unfortunately Hadru is probably right so I think if you take him and Marya to Grev and see if his...new lady friend is as he would like to believe then she will be able to reclaim Hadru’s lost memories.”

Dragonwing asked, “So what are you and Vi gonna do? You gonna kick their asses?”

Tasmia Mallor’s mouth smiled though her eyes grew hard “I think I may have to borrow Alya’s lady friend as it’s time the Shadow Champion visited the great Forge camps and a little reconnoitering may be in order.”

“The Green Rift Forge is in my territory so I’d really like to know what’s going on as well so if you don’t mind I’ll join you.” Milnak pulled on a regal looking cloak and held his hand out the Tasmia Mallor. “Let’s go visit our people Shadow Champion.”

Queen Projectra was obviously in some discomfort but she had maintained the illusions she had created to communicate with every being on board Webers World. The easy part of the task she had set herself had been using her Orikall enhanced senses to pinpoint them. The hard part hard been creating the illusion of herself in her Princess Projectra costume to address them. All of them. Almost 400,000 beings currently resided on the artificial world and in the space of three minutes she had send her image to each them whether they were in a group or on their own.

"Please remain calm, there are Legionnaires aboard who are working to establish where we are and how we can return home. Please remain calm."

That was all she had the strength to do but Tenzil Kem felt an awe struck chill in his spine as he realized just how powerful his former teammate had become. From out of the corner of his eye Tenzil saw something strangely familiar, a Protean, and it appeared the protoplasmic being was making it's way towards him. Tenzil turned and bent down to address the Protean.

Meanwhile Queen Projectra sat down and turned to the cybernetic being who had introduced himself as the AI controller of this planets technical staff. The being, one of the strange beings who called themselves the Linsnar, had been nicknamed Gear by the crew on board. He had patiently waited for his chance to speak with the former Legionnaire.

"Your majesty, " he said, his head momentarily bobbing in respect, "I've been monitoring our position and have some very strange readings. May I share them with you as I hope you may be able to help me assess their meaning?"

Queen Projectra looked up at the formal being before her and smiled, "We are surrounded by a void where there is neither matter nor energy. The lack is absolute, not even a free floating hydrogen atom within a parsec. Is that what your scans have shown Gear?"

Without a flicker of surprise Gear agreed with the Orandese Queen's assessment.

Bringing up holographic displays he ran through page after page of blue flat line results to his scans until they came to two read outs that showed violently swinging lines in an alarming red.

"Your majesty..."

"Please, call me Jeckie, it's what we would prefer in these less formal meetings."

"Of course, thank you ma'am... Jeckie.... these are chrono-sprectra analysis displays..."

"We've been shot through time? Is this...."

"No ...Jeckie, my apologies but it's rather the opposite. according to my readouts we've stayed exactly where we were. According to the data we have it appears we are still within that moment, it is the rest of reality that has moved on without us."

Tenzil put out his hand and the Protean extended a pseudopod before smoothly twisting it's entire body to slide up the Bismollian ambassador's arm to rest on his shoulder.

"Hi there fella, how are you?"

"You are known to us Legionnaire, your kind gave us a name. I must warn you..."

"A name, you mean Proty? Hey l'il fella if you want you can be Proty the third, that's if you're not the second one, are you? That would be an honour eh?" Tenzil grinned his widest grin as he peered at the protoplasmic blob on his shoulder.

"An honour indeed, though I must..."

"Well it's agreed then, hi there Proty iii...."

"The Old Ones have returned Legionnaire. We must escape from this trap. We must flee before they devour us."

"Uh... hang on, trap? Destroy us? Whoah whoah whoah there! What's the story here Proty my l'il blobby buddy?"

"The Hunters Who Change are back, the eternal beings who brought my species into existence. The Llorn have returned and we must get away from here before we become their prey."

Thank you muchly Raz. I've adopted your idea of adding the date to the title so anyone following this knows when it was last updated - a cool idea that!

Yup, Marya and Hadru are, as I see them, very culturally different and that's appealing to work with.

The Dead Brain was originally a typo - I meant to write the Deadly Brain but decided to go with Dead Brain instead. There will be more of him and some other Khunds as this progresses, hope you enjoy them too.

Once again, thank you for your feedback Raz, greatly appreciated!

This is awesome, looks to be building up into something epic! I am really enjoying how the unexplored parts of the Legion's supporting casts/backgrounds are coming to the fore!

...and Gear on Weber's World is pretty inspired, I wish I had thought of it myself!

I also very much love how you bring in each character's background into the story! And as always, I love your creative power uses - Projectra using her illusions as a sort of PA system, Tenzil winning a drinking contest, all very awesome

Thanks guys, really appreciate your support! It keeps me going.

Sorry but I've been really busy with inconvenient real life stuff so won't have much time to post anything new until next week now.

Kahnya Nahtahnie, Lady Memory of the Desert Tribes of Talok viii could feel Grev Mallor’s mind burn like it had been branded. He was still angry with his cousin, even now three hours after they had fallen out. She could ease the memory, not blank it totally but numb the emotional attachment it held. Without asking she knew Grev would never allow it. She had always known that the Clan Mallor were a proud people, she was only learning now just how stubborn they were as well.

They had walked through the crowds arm in arm attracting looks and had received a surprising amount of positive comments as they passed. The ancestral feud between their peoples would come to an end, it simply had to if their beautiful home were to fully heal and integrate with the United Planets and more and more the populace agreed. Grev’s Legion flight ring had pinged about fifteen minutes prior. He hadn’t acknowledged it but they both knew that their time would soon be interrupted again by their... friends? .... acquaintances from beyond their planet.

Ayla Ranzz spotted Grev and Kahnya first. She had seen the tail end of the fight between Tasmia and Grev and hoped his anger had dissipated enough that he wouldn’t get defensive when they asked for his girlfriend’s help. “Hadru, come with me.” She pulled the new Legionnaire behind her and fought her way through the crowds. Marya Pai kept up beside him Ayla noticed. Dragonwing, at least, knew how to handle herself in a crowd..

“Grev! Kahnya! Grev wait, please! You’re a difficult couple to track down,” Alya smiled her most pleasant smile as she approached, ”We need a favour. Sorry to interrupt but something happened and... “

“What is it?” Grev’s natural empathy over rid his anger. Behind him Kahnya could feel the embers of her boyfriends rage start to dim in him memory as he was given something more immediate to focus upon. It was the new Legionnaire known as Dragonwing who explained what had happened. As the dread locked Legionnaire was speaking Kahnya pushed her perception into Chemical Kid’s mind to search for any traces of tampering. They were writ all over the young man’s memories in clumsy blocks. At least nothing had been altered only dampened down so he could no longer access them. This had been done either in a hurry or by someone unskilled in the arts of the Memory Clan.

Kahnya walked up to the young Legionnaire and said: “Please, be calm a minute more. I’ll let you see what was hidden and if you want I can share it with your colleagues.” As she spoke Lady Memory reached up and tapped the side of the young Legionnaire’s temples.

“Oh... oh grife! There’s a radiation leak! The Green Rift Forge have Strontium 90 in their weapons only it’s leaking really badly into the amphitheater. If we don’t stop it soon it’ll be a disaster.”