posted
After a little coaching, Laurel and Ol-Vir were ready to accompany Dawnstar and Wildfire.
Dawnstar supplied the 2 Daxamites with telepathic plugs from her pouch. "Mmm hmmm" Brainy said coyly, "What other illegal items might you have in that pouch?"
"Tools of the bounty hunter trade!" Dawnstar replied as she turned to Brainiac 5. "And my right uppercut should be illegal!"
Brainy rolled his eyes again. "I've no doubt." he said. He turned to his departing companion. "Drake, you realize you're placing the entire mission to Xanthu in jeopardy?"
"Do you doubt those of us going WITH you, Brainiac 5?"
Brainiac hesitated... "Of course not, Mysa Nal."
"GRIFE, Brainy!" Wildfire threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "Do you think Brande would WANT us to abandon Trom and Somahtur to the Spiders...!!?? Those races are incredibly powerful!"
"This debate ends now, Master Brainiac." With that, Veilmist leaned over and kissed Ol-Vir on the cheek. A split-second later Dawnstar, Wildfire, Ol-Vir, Laurel and Veilmist vanished.
Another split-second later, Veilmist reappeared... alone.
"VELIMIST...!" Brainiac sputtered, "Where did you...!"
"Trom." she interrupted. She turned to her other allies. "Mistress Mysa, Master Brek... are you ready to 'port to Xanthu?"
Mysa and Brek were too busy trying to stifle their laughter to reply.
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Dawnstar was disoriented. She felt as if she might throw up. "What did she...?"
"You're feeling a little queasy from Veilmist's planet-hop. It'll pass." Wildfire reassured her.
Dawnstar glanced around her. She knew this planet. She had been here before. The lush green countryside reminded her of home... home... best not to think about her people, trapped within the webs of the Spider Guild, waiting to be eaten. She would aid them soon enough, but for now she was on Trom, and Trom needed assistance.
"SPIDERS!!! SPIDERS!!!" Ol-Vir screamed. He and Laurel were looking to the sky.
Dawnstar saw nothing but clouds... and quickly realized Ol-Vir and Laurel were using their enhanced Daxamite vision to look into the atmosphere of Trom.
"GO!!" she prompted, "Get up there!! They're going to detonate a venom bomb! Stop them!!"
Laurel and Ol-Vir lifted off and flew straight up. Dawnstar watched until she could no longer see them. She prayed these Daxamites... only hours out of their cocoons and with powers they didn't fully understand... could stop the Guild's monstrous plan.
"We have a visitor."
Dawnstar looked where Wildfire was pointing. A young blonde lad had exited one of the huts that were scattered about.
"Greetings to you!" Dawnstar offered.
"You MUST get off planet at once!" the boy said, panicked. "The spiders mean to kill us all! I saw you appear and left my family's prayer-circle to tell you... GO! GO NOW!"
"We're here to try to thwart the Guild's plan..."
Dawnstar's explanation was interrupted by an incredibly loud explosion from above.
As Dawnstar, Wildfire and the lad looked up, they noticed a black mist begin to spread out and blot out Trom's blue skiy....
posted
Dawnstar was horrified. "Stargods! They failed! The Daxamites failed!"
The young blonde lad spoke with a stern voice. Dawnstar could sense that it was an effort for him to do so.
"I hope you haven't ruined everything!! The spiders will NEVER take Trom!"
"LOOK!" Wildfire exclaimed.
Dawnstar saw that the Trommites had exited their huts. As one, they lifted their arms skyward. The black mist began to vanish, replaced once again by the serene blue skies of Trom.
The Trommite lad spoke again, arms outstretched, "The people of Trom are united against this menace. WE are in no danger, but I understand that isn't true elsewhere. Go where you are needed, for you are surely not needed here."
Dawnstar smiled. "What's your name?"
"Jan. Jan Arrah."
"Well Jan Arrah, I can see Trom doesn't need our help after all. But so many other worlds do. I have a proposition for you..."
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Jan could not believe what his eyes were seeing-- it was almost too much for the young Trommite to take in. He had never been off-planet, and suddenly here he was being escorted at super-speed-- wearing one of those mythical trans-suits-- by an equally-mythical super-powered Daxamite through space. Planets and stars whizzed by at speeds his brain could nearly not comprehend.
He looked to the side of the blonde beauty that held him protectively and saw the young Daxamite that sped beside her. Beside the child was the energy-man called Wildfire and beside him was the stunning Starhavenite named Dawnstar.
He could not resist her request for assistance, and indeed his parents had blessed his journey with them to the mysterious planet of Somahtur in an attempt to prevent the genocide the Spider Guild planned there.
His thoughts were broken by the hollow sound of Wildfire's voice...
"Somahtur dead ahead... and it looks like the Spider Guild is already there!"
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"They've already detonated the Venom Bomb in Somahtur's atmosphere." Laurel stated matter-of-factly.
Dawnstar looked at her, puzzled... "How can you possibly know that?"
"I can hear them, I can see them, I can smell it..."
"Me too!" Ol-Vir interrupted.
Laurel continued, "They have released the bomb and it is absolutely worthless. The disease-controllers of Somahtur have easily metabolized the poison. The spiders dare not make planetfall as the Somahturians apparently can rot the spiders from the inside with some sort of disease..."
"Thank the Stargods..." Dawnstar replied, "As we would have been too late to stop this otherwise."
Laurel began to slow down her flight-speed. "Well, I for one have had ENOUGH of this foolishness. The people of Daxam lie trapped in webs! My family! Ol-Vir's family! We have flown around on a wild klanth chase attempting to assist planets that don't NEED assistance while MY planet is about to be eaten by these monsters! I'm going home and ripping the eight legs from each of those spiders. Then I'll let MY people eat THEM!!!"
Dawnstar slowed her speed to match Laurel's. "THINK, Laurel... remember what Brainiac 5 told you. You'll never make it to Daxam's surface alive. Daxam's red sun is what prevents the activation of your powers!"
Jan Arrah was still being held by Laurel and he spoke up during this brief moment when neither Laurel nor Dawnstar knew what to say next. "You will need allies to free Daxam, Laurel Gand. And Daxam WILL be free. This vow I make to you!"
Jan's calm demeanor seemed to soothe Laurel somewhat. "But when...?" She was near to tears.
"I wish I knew what to do next!" Dawnstar replied. "I'm tired and I'm worried about Starhaven as well!"
Wildfire and Ol-Vir had by this point rejoined their allies, after having flown ahead of them somewhat. Drake heard Dawnstar's last statement and spoke, trying to keep everyone encouraged. "Well... we could always hook back up with the gang on Xanthu. Strength in numbers and all that. Check in with Brande on Colu, see what's going on. For all we know, Brande's paid the Spider Guild to leave!"
Dawnstar could not help but smile. "You are quite amusing, Drake Burroughs... thank you for that. And I agree we should be united to tackle the Spider Guild from here on. Jan?"
"I look forward to meeting these allies", the Trommite lad responded.
"Laurel? Ol-Vir?"
Laurel glared at the Starhavenite for a split-second, then said, "Just a moment..."
She flew straight to the Spider Guild ships orbiting Somahtur. The ships were as monstrous as the giant spiders inside, as they were made in the Spiders' own image.
Dawnstar, Drake, Jan and Ol-Vir watched as several silent explosions illuminated their faces.
When Laurel rejoined them minutes later, not a Spider Guild ship was left orbiting Somahtur. "NOW I'm ready to rejoin the others on Xanthu" she said.
What a delight, Lash! This story was a great way to start the morning.
I liked to see that Somahturians could cause disease in other creatures than humanoids - I don't know if that had been specified before. Great to have Daxamites victims of scare tactics, not lead poisoning, to keep them on the planet. I thought Trom was going to get wiped out there, but it survived - YAY! Shifting hair colours on Mysa - lovely! Brainy's not all geeky computer talk - YAY! Dawnstar is kickin ass - YAY! R.J. has a personal teleporter - makes absolute sense for a rich businessman - and she's a Khundian, and my favourite Khundian to boot - HOORAY!
From: Café Cramer | Registered: Jul 2003
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