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

Harbi, I haven't caught up yet but I just wanted to repeat my comment on Critic's Corner - your sense of the dramatic is amazing, and I am so very glad you are continuing this wonderful thread. I cannot count the number of times I was floored by some of the amazing twists you included.

Loving it! Looking forward to seeing XS, love the idea of Cos and Lydda being sent off on their own mission, Gazelle as a Khund warrior....so much to be excited about! I really like your take on Tinya as leader too, much MUCH more than the horrible job Levitz did with her in the comic. I think you have done an excellent job with only a few words in showing how her strength is in her friendly nature. Can't wait to read more!

As Luornu expected, Jenni arrived before she was supposed to.

What was it, Lu wondered, that made speedsters always want to be early? Chuck was in the Quad with a couple of the Alpha group giving them a little bit extra combat training. Lu watched a screen in the Command office on the top level of the Academy. An early group of students had referred to the room as the Eye and that title had stuck.

Jenni’s supersonic wake pushed the roaring waves underfoot away from her as she sped across the angry sea outside. Lu was impressed that the new tutor had run here from her temporary home in the Rift Valley, Africa. Lu just hoped that her determination would be matched by her focus and professionalism. XS had been a Legionnaire in an alternate version of the team so Lu had no doubts that Jenni would be a fine fit into Academy life. Certainly, from what Duplicate Damsel had seen of her brief personality profile Jenni Ognats seemed committed to the Legion and everything it stood for.

The young speedster ran up the side of the southern tower and entered the building through the landing pad, burst along the corridor and finally screeched to a halt outside of the Eye’s circular door. Inside Lu commanded the door to open and turned to welcome the newest addition to the Legion Academy staff.

“I’msosorrythatIdidn’ttakeyouuponthisofferbefore!”

“Ah.. sorry my dear but I’m not sure....”

“NightGirlkindlyofferedmeaplaceherebutIwassofocussedonfindingmyfamilytree....”

“Ah... yes, now ...”

“Ohsorry!Ihaven’tintroducedmyself, howrude! I’mXSthoughpleasecallmeJenni, youlookexactlyliketheLufrommyworld,wow! DoyoumindifIcallyouLuonlysomepeopledon’t....”

“Slow down Jenni, please remember to breathe!” Lu hoped she had managed to hide the exasperation from her tone.

Jenni stopped talking and gave a small snorting laugh. "Sorry...butit'sbeen... so.. long since I hadanyoneto talk to!" With a noticeable amount of effort she had separated some of her words enough to for Luornu to follow. XS grinned a cheek splitting smile and held out her hand for Lu to shake.

“... sorry! I’m Jenni, it’sareal privilege tomeetyou.”

Duplicate Damsel shook the young Legionnaire from the other realities hand and beamed her most engaging smile. A diamond in the rough, Lu thought to herself, but with a little bit of work XS could fit right in.

Chuck Taine was sat at a desk in the office overlooking the training quad. He did not look happy as he realised that all the scenarios he had put towards the Alpha team were exactly that: scenarios. These kids need some real life experience, he thought, maybe I’d best see what’s out there and give them a taste of what it really means to live the Legion life. Checking the time he realised that XS was due to join Lu and him up in the Eye in 20 minutes. He punched the stop program button and announced:

“Right gang, time to call it a night. We can re-start where we leave it tomorrow at 0800.”

The three trainees below all looked relieved. The robot swarm of Daxamite attack crows they had been fighting while trying to save a holographic unconscious victim all immediately broke off their swooping flight pattern and returned to a small slot on the quad wall. The holo’s faded out and the lights came back on.

“Remember, we have a test tomorrow afternoon on standard UP law so don’t plan on going out tonight, ok? If you fail this test you won’t progress much further here”.

He could hear the complaints that memory grafts would be easier but like his wife Chuck Taine believed that the students should have to learn these things for themselves. He knew that things were going to have to change over the coming months, had changed in the last few weeks, but some principles would remain regardless of the pressure put upon him.

Chuck wished that Lydda hadn't agreed to go to Khundia with Rokk though of course totally understood her decision He would have done the same if offered. The chance of a once in a lifetime placement with the Khunds Battle Brigade was simply too good to miss out on. And as Rokk had proposed to her only two weeks before the couple needed sometime together right now. It would help cement their relationship. Chuck knew all this and absolutely understood. It was just that her professionalism and hard work would be missed here, especially now that the Academy had been given these bloody 12 week try-out targets for their students.


Well, maybe it was time to step up the training. Lu always said he molly coddled their students and maybe she was right. With that thought came an idea! Inflating and bouncing along the corridor he knew that somewhere on Earth right now was an alarm going off that would have his students name on it. Even better, he realised, there would bound to be an alarm go off somewhere on Earth at 0200 hours when the students should have been asleep for a couple of hours. They could have simulations until their eyes bled but real life was the way he would teach them from now on, get them out there doing what they say they want to do. Chuck Taine knew that if he was going to have these kids ready for full membership they needed to get out in the real world actually helping people.

"....okay then, the SP will be here shortly to pick up the Bandits and their horses then we'll be on our way. Am sorry about the delay but it's standard practice, we don't have the facilities to hold a dozen of them on our ship and we can't very well leave them here can we?" Ayla's I'm-trying-to-be-patient smile was not very convincing.

Sister Olivia had done everything short of physically throw the legionnaire out of the airlock towards the cruiser. Jo and Deathstorm were sat in the open courtyard outside with the unconscious Starburst Bandits and their mounts. Ayla was hoping that Jo could use his Pentra-vision discretely out there to locate Reep. Their Durlan comrade had still to report in, almost forty five minutes since vanishing down a corridor to "just have a quick look around..."

Over the years Jo Nah had seen his friend Reep Daggle alter his form into an incredible range of things, though Jo had learned the Durlan Legionnaire had a few favourites for infiltrating unknown places. Right Now Jo was hoping to pick up either a common Blue Bottle fly or a Sirian Oddal Hopper, either of which would likely be the missing Legionnaire.

Instead, he saw Ontiir.


There was no mistaking the yellow skinned reptilian Dark Circle traitor in his black cassock with a large grey zero printed across his back.

Lightning Lass had been chatting to Sister Olivia in that bland affable way that people do when trying to sustain a conversation with people they have absolutely nothing at all in common with and probably don’t particularly like when her Flight Ring pinged as a holo of Jo Nah popped up.


"What's up Jo?" She didn't turn around as she spoke, keeping her eyes firmly on their less than welcoming host.


"Just spotted Ontiir, it’s a Dark Circle base! I'm off to shut it down now...." And with that he was gone in a blur of Ultra-speed. Sister Olivia turned to run but a jolt of lightning from Ayla's finger tips scorched the stone in a line just in front of her feet.


"You ain't going anywhere Sister until you start being honest with me, understand?" The thin elderly woman looked terrified as she turned back to face the electric Legionnaire. Ayla Ranzz used her Flight Ring to share Jo's news with Legion HQ and Deathstorm who was still above the planetoid keeping the Bandit's horses from disappearing into space.


A holo of the Khund's head popped up and said, "Be right with you." and not two seconds later a streak of energy gently touched down next to the Winathian.


Below their feet they could feel vibrations as if detonations had been set off. "I think Jo is enjoying himself...." Ayla smiled at Deathstorm as she said it. Sister Olivia took the opportunity to make a break for it but only managed two steps before a flicker of electricity tapped her shoulder.


"I'd rather not shock you unconscious but if you try that again...." Ayla's threat remained unfinished as the elderly woman stopped running and began to weep into her hands.


"You have her covered, I'll go help Ultra Boy." with that Deathstorm transformed into radiation and vanished.


"We are trying to save you, you ignorant child! We are going to bring peace to this hellish system!" Sister Olivia began to rant, her eyes still streamed tears but she stood up straight and flexed her hands as if building up the momentum to attack.


"Yeah.... heard all about your Dark Circle peace. It's great so long as we don't have any opinions of our own, eh?" Ayla said it sweetly though there was a definite challenge in her body language. Underneath them the ground rocked again.


"You silly cow and your stupid friends ...." The electric arc that flew from Ayla's hand struck the older woman unconscious.


"Boring.... And it sounds like Jo and 'stormy are getting all the fun too, damn. Those boys better leave some for me."

Between Deathstorm's energy form and Ultra Boy's practised combination of switched Ultra-speed and strength the Dark Circle followers were soon defeated. As they approached the centre of the planetoid they came across a large circular door that led somewhere that Jo couldn’t see into. The door was ornately painted with images and glyphs showing some sort of religious story where it appeared priests of the Dark Circle defeated unbelievers and led the survivors to live in peace thereafter. Jo Nah switched to Flash Vision and scorched a crude picture of a Legion shooting star symbol over the final motif.

"I hate all this rubbish, they just take advantage of vulnerable folks... right, let's see what's behind Door number three!" And switching back to Ulta-strength he ripped the door off its hinges.

After being in the dimly lit corridors of the Planetoid the blazing light from the room within made both Ultra Boy and Deathstorm cover their eyes.

“I think it’s a temporal vortex.” It was Chameleon Boy. The Durlan was standing at the side of the room beside a bundle of three unconscious Ontiir clones.”I saw our friend here and followed him as he rushed in here, thought it best to stop them before they did something outrageous.”

Jo could hear the smile in his comrade's voice.

“I think Brainy will want to look at this. Their control console is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before....”

IB and Raz, thank you again for your kind words.

More coming soon as we learn more about what the Dark Circle are plotting, check in on Cos and Lydda and get a look at some of those eager Academy kids.

Love the Khund/Legion exchange program. Very cool. The notion that the Khunds have an ancient beef with the Dominators is also a fun way to tie the various races of the Legionverse together, and give both more depth.

Starburst Bandits, Dark Circle, Miracle-Eater Lad, all sorts of classic stuff, and some fun new twists, like Gazelle being a Khundish hero, etc.

You've got a gift for integrating classic characters like Ayla and Jo and Reep, with newer characters like Hadru and Marya, and your own inventions like Dead Brain and Deathstorm. It's a fine line to walk, trying to give equal weight to old, new and original characters, and you are doing a great job of it, so that I don't feel like I'm being cheated out of seeing my classic characters, or the newer (or original) characters are being thrown in my face. That's not an easy feat, but you certainly make it seem effortless!

Set, you are very kind, thank you. The ancient beef between the Khunds and Dominion comes from Jo's trip to the past in the 5 year gap stories.

I've drafted a few more parts to post, hopefully by the end of the week I'll put them on here.

So when are you going to write some more for us too?

It took Brainiac 5 almost an hour to reach the Dark Circle's planetoid in the Oort cloud.

In that time the SPs had been and gone, picking up both the Starburst Bandits and their mounts and all but one of the the forty one Dark Circle cultists. Ayla was watching as Cham delicately examined the strange console that they assumed was the control for the roaring energy vortex at the heart of this small dark world. Deathstorm had offered to blast it and close the infernal vortex for ever but Ayla had patiently explained to the Khund that that may not be such a clever idea. Ayla liked 'Stormy, certainly he had followed Jo's lead throughout most of this mission and performed well but his impulsive nature was something she thought she'd better warn the rest of the team about. The Khundian warrior made an excuse to go to the surface, something about going to check the others landing properly. Ayla knew he was excited and eager for action so let him go with a warning to keep his eyes peeled in case they had missed anyone earlier. Jo had left ten minutes ago, checking to see if there were any other cultists hidden on the planetoid or if he could find any information that may help them figure out what the Dark Circle were actually doing here.

The one remaining cultist was an Ontiir clone that the SP had bound in a high tech arrest restrainer - he could no longer move his arms or legs and, Ayla thought, he'd make a pretty impressive paper weight as he sat unmoving, his unreadable eyes flickering around the room.

"Ayla, am I mistaken or do you agree that this looks like some sort of Dominion chloro-tech?"

"Sorry Cham, I'm not sure.... Hey Ontiir...." She turned to heir captive, "Do you want to tell us what's going on or what?"

The reptilian traitor remained quiet, his eyes never quite reaching the Legionnaire.

The Legionnaires flight rings pinged and a holo popped up before them of Querl Dox.

"We'll be with you in under five minutes. Can you make sure everything is ready for me, I have to be back on Earth by 2300 hours." And he was gone.

"Get him and his all important big brain...." Lightning Lass said it without thinking. Chameleon Boy kept silent though shrugged an acknowledgement.

Within three minutes they were joined by the Coluan, and with him were the academy student Otaki, Danielle Foccart and her brother Jacques. Ayla could tell that the normally unflustered Invisible Kid was not happy, his usually relaxed shoulders were tensed and he glanced around as if checking every shadow for potential assassins. She guessed that he had not wanted to put his sister in a dangerous place but, if the stories Ayla had been told were true, Danielle Foccarts Techno-pathic skills would be very helpful here if they were to figure out the strange console and the temporal vortex, and what the Dark Circle were planning on using them for.

"Otaki, find out what Ontiir knows. Reep, I need you to step away from the console now and let Danielle and I get to work." Brainiac 5 set to work.

Ayla wondered where Deathstorm and Jo had gone and if they would mind if, wherever they were and whatever they were doing, she joined them. She genuinely loved Querl dearly but when he went into his brusque business mode like that he really did irritate her and she found it hard to resist the urge to zap him a little until he remembered the use of the words 'please' and 'thank you'.

"Professor Dox," Danielle's voice sounded a little bit concerned, "...this control isn't from here, it has a very funny accent. I think it's saying it was brought back from sometime in the future as a link between the two eras. I think it's a beacon maybe.... ."

"Ma Cherie, move away now." Jacques, the protective big brother stood between Danielle and the console.

"Yes, thank you Danielle. If you would like to wait over there beside Lightning Lass I'll take it from here. " Brainiac 5 stepped up to the strange control and put his hands over the projected concave hard light screen.

"But Professor, it's telling me that it has already done its job here. It's closing down now so you won't learn anything more."

Ontiir started to snicker quietly as the realisation dawned on the Legionnaires that they may be too late.

He had been on the monitor board for six straight hours now. Ayla had managed to get the lead on the team investigating the Starburst Bandits in the Oort cloud, then Brainy had grabbed a team to follow. Other than an afternoon at the Academy two days ago he hadn't had the chance to let lose for over a week now and he knew from experience that would lead to one thing and one thing only. Dirk was bored.

That was about to change.

The monitor board flashed an incoming message on the Legion Family cipher. This was a priority personal call and it was showing his icon. Dirk leaned forward and pressed the accept button. A holo of a man he had known for most of his life popped into existence before the suddenly interested Legionnaire. The holo said ten words and Dirk’s world shifted.

Sun Boy knew who he could turn to for help. Using the intercom straight into Polar Boy's quarters where he knew the Tharrian was studying up on standard Affiliated Planets law Dirk Morgna said with a joviality he didn’t feel:


"Brek Brannin the golden coldy! I need a favour, are you free my man?"


"Hey Dirk 'the-sun-really-does-shine-outta-your-ass' Morgna! Good to hear from you, whatcha after?"

"Yeah, you see I got stuck with monitor duty as Rokk is away and really need to get out of here and.... well you know, I was wondering if you were free to cover? It's a quiet night and all, you could do your studying up here if you wanted?"


"Sure, so long as I can get swatted up for tomorrow, I'm running a tutoring session at Montauk Point in the afternoon...." Dirk could see Brek on the monitor as the short man grabbed his Omnicrom and left his quarters. Dirk was glad that he'd taken the time to hang out with Brek. Polar Boy may be a puppy in a man's body in need of a home but he could be damn helpful when needed.

"Can you tell it to stay open please Danielle." B 5's voice was soft though his clipped tone made it clear he was not asking lightly.

"It says it's done what it came here to do, it really does talk funny Professor Dox, though it's telling me everything speaks like it does where it comes from we are the ones who sound funny...." Danielle Foccart sounds like a child as she spoke to the Black Circle control console. B 5 raises an eyebrow as he scrolls through the holo'ed results of his scans, "Fascinating.... " he mutters to himself.

In the corner the Ontiir clone starts to rant about the just cause that he follows and how all those who won't acknowledge the true path will ultimately fall. Jo casually knocks the reptile unconscious with a blast of his ultra-breath. Otaki looked as if she wanted to say something to Ultra Boy as it had been her psychic prodding that had made the reptilian Dark Circle clone start to open up. The student kept her mouth shut though she looked daggers for anyone to see. Jo Nah whistled tunelessly to himself apparently unaware of Otaki's feelings.

"So what's going on Brainy?"

"It appears we have been invaded. The Starburst Bandits were not here to raid the planetoid, they were summoned here by this machine. This portal doesn't only extend through time, it also pushes a hole into the realms of what may be. It scans both the timeline and alternate dimensions and calculates which ones show the most beneficial circumstances to progress the Circle's plan and snatches anything that it deems appropriate. I would say it has been running for about four, maybe five months now so we can only guess what they have already found and brought here."

"Oh, so it's not too good then?" Jo's face betrays his attempt at sly humour. The Coluan legionnaire is well aware that his Rimborian colleague is no idiot but plays along in deadpan.

"No Jo, I would have to concur it is not too good...."

"Professor Dox, it says it needs to recharge so it's going to..."

There's a large POP! and the swirling vortex before them was gone

"... close itself off now." Danielle finishes her sentence lamely.

Dirk touched down on the southerly balcony of his father's Metropolis apartment.

It overlooked the central park area within Olde Metropolis City, the original city state that had, over the centuries expanded to include most of the East Coast of this continent. This area had archaic by-laws that prohibited any automotive flying over the park so the view was always clear. It was said that some of the buildings in this sector were easily a thousand years old, though Dirk doubted that. He had seen the skyline 1,000 years ago with his own eyes and nothing here matched quite right. Still it was an impressive selling point that made the resale value of property here quite astronomical.

Morgna Senior's Metropolis home was an understated masterpiece of style over substance. The floors were subtly heated organic woods bleached into neutral whitened beige. The walls were a similar off white that reflected the amber and green glow from the city streets below. All the furniture was, of course, miniaturized and carefully stored between the seemly random cracks of the wooden boards to become apparent only on the inhabitants spoken command to use. The whole effect was of an open and light space with uninterrupted views out into an open space - something that would be greatly craved by the many millions of inhabitants who had the standard one room apartments in this built up city state that expanded for many many miles on all sides.

Inside the apartment Dirk met with Oliver Sidebletter Croo, his father's attorney and long time business partner and friend, Saskia Montague-Brunlry-Frogeside, his father's current life partner, and Ellasi Coodermin iii, the family butler who had worked for the Morgna's for almost 30 years now. Ellasi was the only one present who had the decency to look even partially upset.

"Your father was found thirty minutes ago by Saskia here. The in-house auto doc apparently didn't respond to changes in his vital signs so did not respond when he had the massive heart attack." The old attorneys voice was rich and laden with faux concern. Dirk didn't reply immediately and let the ridiculousness of the statement hang in the air between them for almost a minute before he broke the silence.

"I want all AI records for the last 48 hours. Download them to the Legion account. I want this looked into immediately and Brainiac 5 can do that for us impartially."

Saskia started to speak but the attorney shooshed her and cut in, "Dirk, my boy, I'm terribly sorry but as executor of your father's estate I've already passed them along to our firms investigation unit to look into, it is most odd that..."

"It's ludicrous Oliver, florgging ludicrous." Sun Boy's anger started to rise and he knew if he stayed here he would act in a way that he would later regret. He turned and walked out onto the expansive cantilevered balcony and without another word flew up into the Metropolis night sky leaving a fiery trail behind him.

He had thankfully had the foresight to set his flight ring onto automatic scan mode as he entered the apartment so he should have some data to analyze and process back at HQ, but what really upset him was not that the old dog had died but that it was being covered up and despite the angry history between Morgna senior and junior, Dirk knew he would have to get to the bottom of it.

Mon El agreed with Pedtu J'guimunsfji, the Science Police Chief for the Outer Worlds.

They both knew that it was a waste of resources to have Legionnaires permanently stationed here on this remote world. As much as the Science Police and Legionnaires always worked well together it was simply unsustainable to have both here on monitoring duties. The UP fleet had arrived and re-deployed soldiers to the official listening post including two of the fleet’s Titanian staff. It was hoped their innate telepathic skills would help prevent the Dominion from taking control of the regiment again.


Comet Queen had been making friends with the new batch of eager soldiers, one in particular had come from a neighbouring settlement to Grava and shared some of her idiosyncratic speech patterns. For a long time Lar Gand had suspected her unique take on language may have been a sign of some neurological damage, it appeared to be purely cultural though. The two were fast becoming inseparable when they had any free time which Lar had to admit he found rather cute. Grava had struck him as a particularly interesting person, unique in so many ways with a determination and drive that could be easily overlooked as it was too easy to focus on her speech and appearance, she also struck the elder legionnaire as quite lonely as she had only really tried to open up to Chuck Taine and he was just not that interested. The young private, Drinchar Lamment did not, in Lar's opinion, have the brains to progress too much further up the ranks in the UP armed forces but his open honesty and determination made him seem quite charming. Lar hoped that somehow Grava and Drinchar could remain in contact. Luornu Durgo would certainly be happy if they did.

Jan Arrah and Thom Kallor were speaking with a sergeant dressed in standard army gear about the alert button they had installed into the two comm consoles. If the Dominion tried sneaking back into united planets space this way again the Legion would have far more notice and could be here within a standard day.

As he completed his final circuit around the small world Mon El signaled his colleagues to say it was time to leave. He would meet them in orbit. It was time to get back to Earth and standard Legion business.

At 0125 standard the Mission Monitor board alert bleep made Brek Brannin jump..


Brek has been dozing on the comm chair when a holo popped up - the ancient Daxamite Green Lantern Sodam Yat had arrived at the Polyscreen above Earth demanding to see Mon El immediately.


Brek yawned, stretched, rubbed sleep from his eyes and generally didn't rush to reply. Polar Boy had never particularly liked Sodam Yat and as Green Lanterns were not allowed on Earth he decides to make him wait a little bit before replying....
Using HQs holo system Brek sent an image of himself, set to be slightly taller than in real life, up to face the Daxamite Lantern.

"Oh hi there, what do you want?"

"You Legionnaires fought the Llorn. They are enemies of the Guardians. I need to know what happened?"

"Ahh that’s a no-brainer, like duh, we won!"

"Good, now tell your leader I want...."

"Mon ain't the leader anymore Sod 'em. And maybe you should ask rather than demand before you talk to our new leader, she doesn't stand for that sort of crap."

Brek was beginning to enjoy himself. Soddam Yat was an insufferable blow hard with a passive aggressive superiority complex as far as Polar Boy was concerned.

"Brek, stop that. I'll take over now." Tinya's cool voice surprised Brek, "We'll talk about this later, now computer end Polar Boy holo transmission, start my holo transmission in its place please.... Ah Soddam, how are you? What can the Legion do for you?" Tinya's holo does not convey the dread she felt that the ancient Lantern was there with bad news.

"The Llorn, what happened to them?"

"We returned them to their pocket dimension where they won't hurt anyone else and now I'm trying to sleep. Was there anything reasonably pressing that you set off half the alarms on the planet below for?" Tinya smiled softening some of the sarcasm.

"Aah.... I am eternally sorry Legionnaire, the Llorn have previously caused great trouble for the Guardians and as soon as I heard I came to see if you needed any assistance."

"Thank you Soddam but this time we didn't need any." She was about to break off the transmission when a thought struck her, "You know, we need to talk more now you are restarting the Corps. Are you able to meet me on Lunar London, by the Bridge of Towers in... say... 20 minutes? I think it's time we hammered out a proper arrangement between us."

Twenty minutes later and on a table outside a small cafe in the Lunar London colony Tinya Wazzo, Tasmia Mallor and Gazelle of the Khundian Battle Brigade sat and enjoyed a very early morning cup of the local coffee. Gazelle was almost purring as she drunk it.


"Legionnaires, this is ex-quis-ITE!"


Tinya exchanged a quick glance with Tasmia who attempted to reciprocate but as she no longer remembered the knowing looks or shared language that they had established over years of close friendship the shadow caster ended up looking confused and slightly embarrassed. Tinya could feel her own blush begin to rise on her cheeks as she looked away.

"Legionnaires!" the Green Lanterns voice was a kindly interruption.

Tinya quickly got to her feet and asked Soddam Yat to join them.

"My ring is all I need to sustain..."

"Oh lighten your load there Greenie, this is divine!" Gazelle laughed as she spoke. Tinya and Tasmia shared a concerned look, this was not how they expected their Khundian colleague to act. She almost appeared high!

The Green Lantern shone a quick line of light over the Khundian then held up his hand and projected the results of his scan before them. "Caffeine and Khunds can make an explosive mix. This one at least can burn it out of her metabolism before it does any lasting damage."

"Aw grife... J'izl are you okay honey? We need to get her back to HQ." Tinya had a brief flash of anger at herself for not double checking the Khund's medical file for allergies. This sort of misunderstandings could cause political fallout. The Khund was starting to talk gibberish, giggling as her neck twitched her head. Soddam Yat encased the now almost incoherent Gazelle in a sphere of emerald energy.

"She will be okay Tinya Wazzo, I will remove the poison from her system for you."

"Thank you Soddam, thank you" Tasmia Mallor had stood up and approached the Daxamite Green Lantern, there was something in her expression that alerted Tinya. She had last seen the same expression when Tasmia had unexpectedly fallen for the now dead Earth Man. The look told Tinya that her Talokean colleague had designs on the ancient Green Lantern. Cursing the urges of Talokean hormones that drove their women to find the most powerful mate to father their children. Tinya phased through her friend and stood almost nose to nose with the Daxamite.

"Soddam, " Tinya put out her hand, "It struck me that we need to know what's going on with the each other so wanted to offer you this. " She opened her palm to reveal a flight ring.

The alarm buzzed once and Chuck Taine was awake.

0200 hours.

Time to scan the SP alerts coming in from Earth and nearby. If anything came up that he thought his students might learn from he had to give Chief Cussiomano's office a call and they would give his students the first crack at it. The SP were curious to see how this would work out almost as much as Chuck was nervous.

Jeni and Bbob were each allowed two of the Alpha class to join them. Chuck had already asked them to pick their teams. He knew it was unfair as there would be certain students, and legionnaires, that would be perfect for certain situations while others might be less helpful. This was as much as test of the new tutors as it was of the recruits and both XS and the Crystal Kid knew it.

Jeni's team would be first. She had chosen Zoe Saugin and Xao Jin. She had been excited to see both of their names on the student roster as, she said, in her home reality both had been excellent Legionnaires. Lu had gently tried to point out that these were not the same two people. Jeni acknowledged that point though both Chuck and his wife were worried that when the chips were down XS may not remember and might have unrealistic expectations. "Wait and see," Lu had said, "wait and see...."

Bbob had chosen Sade, the teleporter from Rimbor, and M'Windaji. Crystal Kid seemed a lot calmer than Chuck had expected when he had returned to Montauk Point. Maybe the nine months he had been assigned to work on Talkon-Galtos had done the young man some good.

Well, no more thinking about it, time to see what was out there to push his students...

When the alarm rang it wasn't what Chuck expected.

Tinya Wazzo's holo appeared before him. "Chuck, good to see you’re still up. We have a serious incident. The main team will need some support. How soon can you have your alpha team ready?"

"What is it?"

"Starburst bandits...."

"That's not exactly worthy of..."

"....approximately 4,000 of them detected so far. Spread between the Saturnian colonies, they seem to be targeting smaller settlements right now. Brainy thinks it's a diversion so I want you to get your team together ready as I fear it's gonna get nasty quickly."

"Right, we'll be ready in five. Good luck Tinya."

"Thanks Chuck."

Tinya steadied herself. The holo transfer, what they used to call the Anywhere Machine when Querl first proposed and created it, made contact between various places so much easier than anything they had used before, but still left her feeling a bit cold after using it - Rokk had loved it she remembered. Tinya and the team that had joined her to Lunar London had just gotten back to their HQ when the alarm rang out. Initially she thought Soddam Yat had forgotten something and was banging on the Polyscreen again.

She now wished she had been that lucky!

The Science Police officer she spoke to was quite abrupt - the Legion was needed now, here were the co-ordinates, there was a massacre happening. After contacting Brainiac 5 and the team in the Oort Cloud, ensuring Mon told his team that they could potentially be returning straight into action, alerting the group on Weber's World to be ready just in case she had realised that there were only a few Legionnaires left on Earth. Dirk had vanished, Brek was definitely in her bad books and staying on Monitor duties until this crisis had finished and that only left Harmonia, Vi, Shady, Gazelle, Glorith and herself, everyone else was on personal time off Earth. Chuck had wanted to prove his academy kids were ready for action so she had taken him on his word. She would be leaving Earth in their hands when she took her team out into space to deal with the attacks.

Phantom Girl hugged herself and wished that Jo was with her.

Damn it, she thought, muscle was needed to stop 4,000 bandits quickly... well if Jo and Ayla and maybe Deathstorm came from the Oort cloud then Harmonia can go to the planetoid and keep an eye on Brainy - her elemental abilities were severely limited in space anyway - and it was time to see if Soddam would respond to his new Flight Ring.

Rokk and Lydda had been on Khundian Prime for almost three standard days and had still to meet any of the Battle Brigade other than the Dean Brain and Pressure Point - both of whom they had read the reports on after their appearance at Weber's World - an incredibly highly muscled dwarf called Hyper-K and an alien that looked somewhat akin to Gates called Shootskin. The rest of the team were apparently away on separate missions.


The Dead Brain reassured the two visiting Legionnaires that this was standard practice as the Brigade were at the call of the Khundian military and High Council. At least, Rokk thought to himself, the Brigade's leader had the empathy to look embarrassed. As a treat the two legionnaires were taken to see a scheduled high level challenge at one of the larger battle domes that littered the outskirts of the metropolitan area they had been stationed in. They had learned that the ritual combat domes had many levels of fighter that fell within several very finely defined categories. The Dead Brain had told them that it was from the Major non-Cog League, where most combatants had inherent abilities that did not rely on cybernetics or outside power sources that he had initially chose potential members for the Battle Brigade.

Lydda showed a surprising interest in the domes and the combatants that lived and quite literally died within them. The Dead Brain was delighted to explain the complex and often archaic system that legislated and monitored them as they made their way to the large arena.

Lydda and Rokk both had standard Legionnaire distorters in their belt buckles so assumed non-descript holographic appearances. Rokk was reminded of the Terran Romans that had their own arenas and amphitheatres throughout their empire where public battles were played out to the amusement of the common populace.

The two combatants they were there to see had drawn the Dead Brain's attention as both were relatively new to the arenas circuit but had progressed quickly and were renowned for their physical prowess. The first was a tall khundian male called Wraith in brown and gold armour whom, it was said, could alter his own density at will. Lydda seemed to bristle a little when they were told this. She had always supported Jedidah Rikane's application for Legion membership and it was still a small sticking point in the two legionnaire’s relationship that Rokk had ultimately blocked the young man's chance at full membership.

The second combatant was one of the so called Dark Maidens - an almost legendary sub species of the Khundian race that lived in this system’s Oort cloud that were famous for their ferocity. She wore a simple blue toga with her raven black hair falling freely over her pale shoulders and down her back. Rokk and Lydda both exchanged a glance as they assessed her impressive muscles.

"This should be illuminating," The dead Brain said, "...do you engage in wagers Legionnaires? It's a racial vice I'm afraid that I suffer rather badly from. It is protocol that all the viewers should place a small bet on whomever they support before the match begins. Now Lydda, who would you want to win?"

"The Wraith for me please. Thank you."

"I'll try the Dark Maiden." Rokk didn't make eye contact with his fiancé as he spoke.

The Dead Brain smiled to himself as he punched in their wagers to the small hard light screen that hovered before them.

"Let the games begin...."

The fight had initially appeared to be fairly even. The Dark Maiden's raw strength had been enough to dissuade the Wraith from simply swatting her while assuming his densest form while in an immaterial form he had been immune to her ferocious attacks and vicious strength.

The Legionnaires and the Dead Brain were sat in a box screened from much of the audience around them but they could hear every rowdy cheer and jeer as the fight continued. The Khundian continued to work on a hard light projection as he watched the combat. Much like the way Brainy would multi-task, thought Rokk.

"Would your Brainiac 5 enjoy these games do you think?"

Rokk didn't let his startlement show, he knew Querl had set parameters to their Flight Rings that would scramble any unwanted telepathic intrusions so it must have been a coincidence.

"I really don't know, he would probably be trying to figure out the most efficient way for each combatant to proceed, while working on a dozen other problems at the same time. Much like you he multi-tasks very well." Rokk nodded towards the floating hard light screen.

"He wouldn't appreciate the balletic struggle and determination shown by the combatants as they wear their opponents down though?" The Dead Brain seemed a little surprised that the Coluan genius didn't share the Khundian love of blood.

In a flourish of graceful murder below them the Wraith reached into the Dark Maidens skull and removed her brain. The pale woman from the Oort Cloud collapsed brutally like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

The crowd erupted and the Dead Brain casually announced, "Why Lydda, you have a skill at picking winners my dear. Come, let's meet your new champion."

Hi there,

I appreciate there is lots going on now, hope you are following this okay and enjoying what you have just read. More coming soon.

I wish Tinya's leadership in canon was half as well done as it is here! I really like how you turn her friendly nature and sunny disposition into good leadership qualities! Also, interested to see what's gonna happen with Shady (as well as the everyone else!)

"Vi,the cruiser has enough weaponry to let you kick your quota of ass but I really need you in here to be our eyes and ears.....Sorry. Glorith, we need shields, can you supply them hon?"

"That won't be a problem Phantom Girl. I may be able to.... ah...." The shy mystic seemed uncomfortable speaking about her powers, though everyone present knew just how devastating she could be, "ahh ....I was thinking maybe I could..."

"Thanks, grand, you do that while the rest..."

"Be quiet Gazelle, let Glorith finish talking." Shady had stood up as she spoke, an unsaid challenge in her posture.

"Okay, girls behave, the enemy is out there." Phantom Girl, rather dramatically phased her arm through the bulkhead as she pointed, "Glorith, whatever you think you could do to even the odds would be greatly appreciated, there's gonna be a lot of those buggers out there." Tinya smiled at the girl before turning to the Khund. Glorith nodded solemnly and lowered her eyes back to the pouch she had taken with her.

"J'izl, please let everyone speak in future. I am in charge here, okay?" Her tone was firm but with enough softness so it could not be misinterpreted as a threat.

"My apologies Legionnaires, I am only eager to prove my worth to you in combat."

"Yeah... me too." With that acknowledgement Tasmia returned to her seat and looked back at the Khund. Gazelle smiled at the Talokean in response.

Tinya let there be silence for a couple of seconds before continuing, "Tasmia and Gazelle, you two are fierce enough to wreak havoc amongst the Bandits so I'll buy a night on Demon-ice cocktails at the Tenth Planet Starshine Club to whichever of you knocks out the most of them, okay? ....Though if I get the most you both owe me, okay?" Tinya's grin was echoed by Shadow Lass and Gazelle. The offer of a combat challenge was exactly what both the warrior women, eager to prove themselves, needed.

Salu Digby had been monitoring the controls and cut in, "Right... we'll be there in 6... 5... 4... 3...2...1"

Salu Digby brought the cruiser out of warp into the heart of the expanse of the Starburst Bandits huge raiding party.

Without slowing considerably she tore through the mass of bodies before them, scattering the attacking horde around them. Glorith had pulled several strands of hair from her head and wrapped them around Shadow Lass and Gazelle’s arms, muttering in arcane tones as she did. Once she had finished the ritual the sorceress spoke quietly.

“This should deflect some of their blasts. I’ll enhance the spell from here for you both.... good luck.”

The two warrior women raced to air locks on opposite sides of the cruiser while Phantom Girl phased through the underneath of the vessel. Salu smiled at Glorith briefly as she returned to the command deck, “You’d better hold on tight, let’s see how tough those bastards are when there’s a mark viii cruiser streaming up their flamin’ behinds.”

Glorith bowed her head with a smile and continued muttering the spell that would help protect her comrades from the Bandits solar blasts.

Outside the cruiser the telepathic gestalt automatically generated by the legion flight rings kept the three legionnaires in contact as they each set about dissuading as many of the Bandits as they could in their own unique way.

Gazelle moved with a fluidity and acrobatic prowess that Tinya had only ever seen Brin Londo exhibit before. The Khund warrior used her incredible skills to tear through the ranks of the oncoming raiders without mercy.

Shadow Lasses sphere of darkness attracted the Bandits though none seemed to come out of it, at least not conscious. Tinya knew that Tasmia would be out to prove herself after the horrific loss of her memories recently on Talok viii. The Legion leader hoped that Shadow Lass would be careful enough not to let her eagerness lead her to make any mistakes.

They had arrived here above the moon of Saturn, Rhea, twenty minutes ago.

Ayla was beginning to feel exhausted, there seemed to be wave after wave of the Starburst Bandits flying towards her firing off their nasty stinging energy bursts and no matter how many she blasted they just kept on coming. Her electrical generating abilities had limits, quite high limits admittedly but even so, she was fast reaching the point of exhaustion.

Jo and 'Stormy were smashing through the attackers ranks and even they were having trouble.

Ayla knew it was time to try something drastic. She timed it so Jo had just flown past her at super speed knocking out the twelve nearest bandits in a single swoop. She stopped and closed her eyes, concentrating on what was in front of her. She could sense the bio-electrical flickers of the bandits and their mounts. She had never tried this before on anything living but the situation was becoming desperate! In her mind she pictured the tiny bio-electrics stopping. Not being extinguished, not turning back, just stopping. Then after a second she pictured each of those same sparks erupting within the brains of the attacking hordes.

The effort made her sweat and she could feel the tension in her shoulders as if a heavy yolk had been put upon them.

She opened her eyes carefully, her head thumping with the effort. Before her at least two hundred of the attacking force were suddenly unconscious. Insentient Bandits and their flaming horses fanned out like fallen skittles for half a kilk. The attacking wave behind them crashed into their fallen comrades adding to the already chaotic scene.

In a blur Jo was at her side, "Hey Ayla, don't know what you did but grife! that was good!"

His broad grin faltered as Lightning Lass collapsed, unconscious herself, into a ball at his side.

“24... 25... what you girls at? Ooh gotcha, 26....” Tinya’s telepathic message carried her smile.

“54... no, 55, come here you... 56, too easy I’m gonna get those cocktails, 57, 58...” Gazelle’s focus and determination shone through the telepathic gestalt.

“They are too stupid. I stopped counting at 75...those drinks are mine Tinya. These bandits fly into my dark sphere and crash into each other. There must be over 100 here.”

“Good going you two... 31... Keep in touch okay?”

“Sure thing... 67... “

“Of course Tinya... don’t want to distract you any more, you do have a lot of catching up to do...” Tasmia’s pride underscored her teasing of her comrades.

Jo Nah’s telepathic voice unexpectedly interrupted the three ladies banter. “Hey you guys, Ayla needs help and ‘Stormy isn’t anywhere nearby. Can you come quick please.”

Tinya immediately directed Vi to take the cruiser to their comrades, though she knew that the Imskian would have been doing that as soon as she heard Ultra Boy’s request for help.

“Jo, hang on there, Vi and Glorith will be with you in a moment.”

“Thanks Tinya.”

On board the cruiser Salu desperately directed the Legion’s ship towards Ultra Boy’s signal. It was coming from the far edge of the attacking army, approximately ten kliks space north of their current position. Without even registering the hordes of Starburst Bandits and their strange mounts that the cruiser tore through she punched the controls to take them to Lightning Lass...

Ayla...