Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Re: Legion Worlds Seven (finished 27 July 21)

Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
M'Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magic

Chameleon Boy - Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla, shape changer
Sun Boy - Senior Team member, Dirk Morgna of Earth, generation of intense light and heat
Tellus - Ganglios of Hykraius, telepathy and telekinesis
Comet King - Drinchnar Lamment of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion
Friction - Janee Whittakka of Xanthu - manipulates the force of friction
Spoiler ii - Gord Eno of Naltor, precognition, specialising in short range visions for combat situations

Dirk led the team through the warp and immediately could see who was attacking their teammates.

<Pick you dance partner folks, I'm taking zappy>

Sun Boy sent the message to the team as he flew towards the attacker he had chosen to tackle; the opponent that crackled with electricity.

Dirk reckoned his opponent wasn't as powerful as Garth or Ayla but his streaks of blazing electric energy made him potentially the most dangerous - long distance attacks were easy to overlook but incredibly effective at taking out the opposition - he knew as he had used that tactic many times before.

As much as the electric flashes looked impressive, Dirk quickly realised that the person producing them wasn't terribly well practiced in aiming them as none came all that close to the Legionnaire. Sun Boy increased his own temperature until he burst into flames as he dived at his opponent. As he expected, they flinched away from his fiery form and the Legionnaire quickly overpowered them and set incapacity cuffs on their arm. As they dropped unconscious Dirk saw that the attacker had been wearing some sort of an electricity generating net across their torso, arms and head - an interesting weapon, he thought, but clearly not much more than a proto-type given how ineffectual it was to aim. Dirk smiled to himself, glad to have gotten that technology off the streets.


There was a figure in front of Friction that hurt her eyes to look at.

She thought it was like the spots one might see after staring at the sun that were really difficult to focus on. A person made of those sun-spots...? Janee Whittakka was grateful that her abilities reached across wide areas and weren't specific to a defined spot. With a thought, she loosened the effects of friction's grip from around her strange opponent. Despite being difficult to focus on it was obvious they were finding standing up on such a slippery surface to be rather difficult. It only took a couple of seconds before they collapsed, banging their head as they fell. As they landed their cloak fell off their torso revealing a young man wearing some old looking military gear laying dazed on the street. His ancient (and obviously malfunctioning) chameleon-cloth cloak had covered the wide range of weapons strung about his body. Janee quickly increased the frictional forces pinning the young attacker.

<Let me help> Tellus sent as the Hykraian telekinetically placed a set of incapacity cuffs on the fallen attacker's arm.

Janee signalled her gratitude. Someone with that sort of arsenal on them was much better off being asleep as far as she was concerned.


Spoiler dived at his opponent.

The woman wore a green uniform with white vertical lines. Her skin was dark and her hair was bright red. Her thick gloves appeared to glow. Gord had his standard issue Pre-Commando titanium baton in one hand ready for combat. They were away to clash when the Naltorian foresaw what was just away to happen and turned away: Comet King tore into the side of the woman in green, slamming her into a wall before blasting away to grab one of their opponents that had tried to make a break for it across the slate rooftops of the town. Gord swore to himself as he reached for a set of incapacity cuffs to put around the woman's arm. He had been speaking to Titan only a couple of hours earlier about wanting some more excitement and Comet King had taken this opportunity away from him.

As he reached down his precognition warned him to pull his hand away. Just in time, he retreated as she appeared to exude an acid from her gloves that sizzled as she put a hand on the wall to steady herself as she stood up. Gord Eno smiled, perhaps he would get a challenge after all. The woman charged towards him clumsily though he had already seen the move ahead of it happening so leapt into the air and delivered a solid blow to her head with his baton knocking her unconscious. He slipped the cuffs on her arm, tore the acid exuding gloves off her and looked around to see if any of his colleagues needed assistance.


Comet King flew after the escaping thug.

Drinchnar Lamment was in the perfect mood for a scuffle. The day before, Grava had been signed off from active mission duty by that Nebulonic-headshrinker Anje Falkner. Then this morning they had their first ever argument - Drinchnar wanted Grava to formally object to being signed off from missions, sure that a bit of nova burst excitement would spin her out of her black hole moods... Grava had said 'no', just that one word then she had flown through to their bedroom and locked the door behind her so he couldn't get in. He had pounded on the door, shouted and pleaded, cajoled and begged, but she had not allowed him in and in the end, he had respected Grava's wishes and put himself forward for a mission to give her the peace she said she wanted.

He hoped the cowardly thug would put up a fight, Comet King really wanted to punch someone right now...as it was, he never got the chance as the attacker that had fled from the Legionnaires slipped on a slate rooftop and landed on the pebbles below with a loud crash. They looked pretty messed up but at least they were alive as the Legionnaire got to them. Disappointingly for Drinchnar, rather than fight, the Legionnaire had to order a warp and take them to a hospital to get fixed up. Comet King made sure to remove their weapons and request the hospital's security kept an eye on them before the Science Police arrived. As he flew through a warp back to the scene of the fight, Drinchnar hoped at least one of his colleagues would need his help...


Chameleon Boy tackled the muscular woman with the asymmetrical bobbed hair.

Assuming the form of a horned Grecharrian devil-bear the Legionnaire pounced on her. Unfortunately for the Durlan, her reflexes and strength were enough to turn him around and throw him over her head. He quickly changed into a Venusian golden hawk and turned back to dive at her before again changing; this time Reep became a large Braalian ferropotamus and crashed down, pinning his opponent underneath him.

<I have cuffed her> Tellus sent. The Hykraian had used his telekinesis to wrap a set of incapacity cuffs around one of her wrists as she struggled underneath the Durlan. Tellus had been telepathically monitoring their colleagues and helping where necessary.

"Thank you... anyone need our help?" Reep looked around.

<I believe everyone is fine, these were not much of a threat to our team> Before the Hykraian could continue there was a loud crashing noise!

The dome that Kinetix had created to protect her and M'Windaji from the sudden attack burst open and they rose into the air. Zoe was clearly supporting the obviously injured Gahaji though they both looked as if they were ready for some action.

"Oh, hey guys, you okay?" Sun Boy said lightly as he flew across to join them.

"Umm... is the fighting over already? Wow! You guys are good." Zoe looked about at the destruction around them - she realised that most of it had been created by her telekinesis as she tore material from around them to create the protective dome over Gahaji and herself.

"Yeah, no problem, bunch of low-level thugs really. Nothing much to worry about. Gahaji, you want to get to a hospital?"

"Ah, I'll be okay." As he said this, M'Windaji knew it was a lie. He could use the Ruby of Life's magic to prop himself up for a short time but it would not sustain him forever. "Maybe though I'll get Kent to check me over... just to be sure, like." He added with a shrug. Sun Boy smiled at him and called for a warp.

"Good idea." Chameleon Boy stepped forward, "Dirk and Janee can get these guys processed with the SP. Zoe do you want stay to help the rest of us clean up this mess? Lunar London is usually rather pretty so we can't leave it looking like this. The Tourist Board would be ever-so disappointed if we did." The Durlan smiled at her.

Second Base main gymnasium

Comet Queen - Grava of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion
Atom Girl - Sylva Nrilsan of Imsk, can shrink to microscopic size
Thirteen - Dann Hortra of Naltor, line of sight probability manipulation

Gravity Kid - Science Police Officer Tel Vole of Earth, manipulation of personal or nearby gravity
Power Boy - Science Police Officer Jedidiah Rikane of Earth, personal density control


Grava forced herself to go to the gym.

She had been sat in her quarters mindlessly watching a holo of the monitor board and noticed that Drinchnar had left to go on a mission. She knew he had been upset by their argument earlier - more because he was worried for her than anything else - it was just she couldn't stand the thought of anyone being too close to her right now. Especially Drinchnar...

On impulse Grava called a warp to Second Base and made her way from the central Warp Control Room to the lower level Gymnasium. She wanted peace to exercise and knew Drinchnar was unlikely to look here for her. As she got to the door of the gymnasium Grava had to fight an urge to flee back to her apartment. Unconsciously, a small parp! of gas was released out from her head, creating a mini-smoke screen behind her as she flew into the gym. There were a few others inside but, she was thankful to see, not enough that she would be forced to talk to anyone.

Atom Girl was sparring with Thirteen. They had both agreed that they weren't to use their abilities and they'd win a point by holding the other on the ground for three seconds. Sylva had given him an advantage by tying one arm behind her back but it wasn't a surprise that she was still winning by a solar mile! The Naltorian had laughed gracefully the first couple of times that she had quite literally floored him but was becoming less and less happy as she continued to beat him. Dann had asked sylva here to help him but he was clearly not enjoying the learning process as much as he had imagined.

Jed Rikane and Tel Vole where the only other people present. The two had a training schedule to complete each month from the Science Police so were eager to get on with it as quickly as possible in case any missions came up that they could be on. Gravity Kid was running an AI generated flying course that tested his agility and reflexes while his husband, Power Boy, tried to distract him by throwing objects at him: solid light constructs of bricks, blocks and generic 3D shapes. They had laughed and joked amongst themselves as they did. Tel Vole had generally been successful at avoiding the various objects Jed had flung, though had exclaimed after a brightly coloured stuffed toy flew past his head.

"Did you just throw Squiggly Joe at me? He better not be damaged!" and with that the young gravity manipulator flew off course to rescue the fluffy animal as it arced across the gym. Below him, his husband laughed loudly.

Thirteen and Atom Girl stopped their combat training to watch as Gravity Kid swooped through the air to retrieve the stuffed animal before landing not too far from his husband to berate him. Without consciously thinking of it, Grava flew over to Sylva and Dann and joined them as the two Science Police Officers squabble quickly got serious.

"Jed gave that l'il fluffstar to Tel on their first date. Tel's like extra stellar-sweet on it since as he had vacuum-zip like it when he was a-sproutin', at least that's what Jed said... supposedly Tel grew up in a real darkstar cold lab. When Jed gave that l'il cuddle-comet to Tel, Tel knew it was like real moonlight and rockets romance 'tween them." As she finished Grava felt a sudden wave of panic come over her. She had hoped to avoid people yet had swooped right in towards her colleagues and started a conversation. Before she could move away though the argument between Tel and Jed escalated even further.

Tel had started shouting, a finger pointing at his husband's face as the argument got more heated. The gravity manipulator clutched the cuddly toy to his chest protectively as Jed accused his husband of lacking in a sense of humour, the purple skinned man's temper started to flare in response to his husband's nastiness. Tel's response was brutal. As Jed tried to explain that he was only pulling a prank Tel's words became more and more personal and vicious. Jed tried to defend himself against the accusations but they kept coming, louder and nastier.

"They need to stop; this is so embarrassing." Atom girl said.

"Yup, well, maybe it's time we gave them something else to think about..." Thirteen muttered as he stepped forward.

"Guys!" He said loudly, waving his arms above his head to attract their attention, "Hey, you two want to stop..."

"Wanna stay out of it, pretty pretty boy? Maybe go wax your ass instead?" Tel snapped in response.

"You're funny Tel, given the way you stare at my ass when you think I can't see you; you shouldn't be casting aspersions about my looks. What's the matter, you after a bit of prime Naltor beef there?" Thirteen cupped his crotch provocatively with one hand while slapping his backside with the other as he asked.

Both Tel and Jed stopped arguing with each other and stared at Dann.

"Okay guys... you want something to fight over, try this." Thirteen shrugged off his waistcoat revealing his bare torso. He flexed his broad shoulders and twisted his arms to highlight his extraordinary cable-like muscles before starting to unfasten his belt. He teasingly looked towards the two Science Police Officers as he slowly undid the fly buttons on his trousers. After he had unfastened the top three, he looked them both in the eye with a provocative grin on his face.

Both Tel and Jed were absolutely silent by now. Dann smiled broadly as he said, "Hah, you've got to see this..."

Before their eyes, as he undid one more button in his fly the sculpted torso of Dann Hortra started to bulge and expand, his immaculate hair lost its curls and hung dankly, his height diminished and his chiselled good looks faded.

"Still watching there, Tel...?" Thirteen chuckled as he resumed his natural form. "See, this is me without using my powers. I changed myself 'cause day-to-day I had to deal with nasty controlling behaviour from people talking just like you did Tel when you were shouting at Jed. I had to hide myself, change myself into something I wasn't and only present what others wanted to see. I had to stop being true to myself just so other people would be happy and not be so judgy and cruel." His voice cracked as he finished. Dann had fully resumed his natural form. Both Tel and Jed were silent, so Dann smiled crookedly and continued, "...So, unless you want Jed to start doing the same on some level and you end up married to a phoney, I'd suggest you stop bullying your husband for pulling a harmless prank ...and definitely stop thinking you know anything about other people."

Thirteen, still in his natural shape, turned to Atom Girl and Comet Queen, both of whom were staring with their mouths open, surprised and shocked by what they had just seen.

"This is me ladies, when I don't use my abilities. Wotcha think? Do you still love me?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"Dann, you're outrageous..." Before Atom Girl could say anything else, Comet Queen flew at the young Naltoran and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. After she had unravelled herself from him, Dann turned back to the now sheepish Science Police Officers.

"It's the after-effect of the Blight that's making you so savage Tel, we all know that, but that nasty shit still came from inside you. We've all had to deal with the mood swings that bring out the worst of us since Talok. You gotta learn some control. I can show you some meditation techniques that'll help calm you down if you like?"

"Like Starshine, would you mind if I...?" Grava choked as she interrupted, suddenly extremely self-conscious again.

"Of course, Grava, whenever you want you call me." Dann smiled and his eyes glowed as he resumed his muscular altered form before her eyes.

"Dann... " Gravity Kid stepped towards Thirteen, a hand held out before him, "I'm so sorry... I don't know what..." It was obvious that Thirteen was not going to shake the offered hand so Tel awkwardly took it back to his side.

"Whatever man, just get help from somewhere okay? You know your husband doesn't deserve that sort of abuse... and no-one else needs to hear that sort of toxic rubbish either. We're all better than that... should be anyway." There was a slightly disdaining look on his face as Thirteen spoke but his tone was neutral and he ended on a small smile.

Jed Rikane slung a muscular arm around his husband's shoulder and thanked Dann. The Naltoran nodded towards the two of them, picked up his waistcoat from the floor and walked towards the exit of the gym.

Dann smiled to himself as he left the gym, especially as he overheard Jed whisper to Tel, "See, I told you no-one was naturally that super-hot."

Home Base, Sol System

Student:
Haze - Science Police Cadet Tkemwa Autmi-Hu from Ungara - strong, durable, transmits confusion

Tutors, former Legionnaires:
Shadow Lass - Tasmia Mallor of Talok viii, summon and manipulate total darkness
Wildfire - Drake Burroughs of Earth, composed of sapient anti-energy, extreme strength, speed, durability, space flight, anti-energy blasts

Tutors, Science Police training staff:
Jumping Jack - Science Police Senior Training Officer Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd of Morshesh 5, hyper-awareness, reflexes and agility
Brain Girl - Science Police Officer Ella Drottmi of Titan, telepathy and telekinesis


It was his student flight ring that ultimately saved Tkemwa Autmi-Hu from seriously freezing.

It had registered his encasement in ice, out of combat lesson time, and sent an alert to the tutors. Despite being several times stronger than an average human, the student called Haze struggled against the pressure of the ice that trapped him but as Chemical Kid had badly affected his metabolism, he was not even close to having the strength to break out of the icy block that trapped him. The student flight ring generated a layer of warmth around him as the eco-protection mode kicked in. Tkemwa tried in vain to free his arms at least but he was still too weak, small stars flashed before his eyes and his muscles started to cramp in pain.

There was a loud crunch! and a large chunk broke away from the top half of his body.

<Tkemwa, are you alright? I have requested medical assistance> Ella Drottmi telepathically checked that the student was not hurt while she used her telekinesis to crack the solid block that surrounded him. He was too cold and weak to fully reply but allowed her to access his memories so she understood the situation.

"What's going on?" Tasmia Mallor said from behind them. With her was the Science Police officer Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd. They had been going over some potential tweaks to a training module when the alert had sounded. Without turning round Ella telepathically showed them what had been in the student's memories.

"We'd better go get them. Brek is mine." Tasmia said. Her face was tight with obvious anger. The two Science Police officers shared a concerned glance. The Talokean was well renowned for her ferocity. There was a roaring sound behind them as Wildfire flew around the corner, also investigating the alert that had registered.

"Brek and Hadru assaulted Tkemwa." Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd said, before the anti-energy being could ask. "We're going after them, you wanna join us Drake?"

"Oh yes, absolutely." The anti-energy former Legionnaire growled. As he answered Tasmia called Henry and asked for a warp to the location of Brek and Hadru's flight rings. A violet and honey coloured warp spun into existence and Shadow Lass, Wildfire and Jumping Jack flew through it.

As the three tutors left to find Polar Boy and Chemical Kid, Ella Drottmi had finished freeing the student from his icy prison and was stood with her arms around him trying to warm and comfort him as they waited for Home Base's medical team to arrive.

- Drinchnar fascinates me, the idea of CQ having her own version of herself...I'm intrigued to see where they go now that she's had a more adult experience than he probably knows how to deal with.

- your Sun Boy seems like a really solid part of the team. He's always kind of hovering around the ranks of the 10 least used active Legionnaires in my stories, but I think he's definitely a core member of your team and I am always interested about how you use him to show that.

- ferropotamus is brilliant, I love it

- I DEMAND A SQUIGGLY JOE MINI-SERIES!!!

- aww, Thirteen is such good people and I love how far he's come in terms of how he sees/projects himself; and of course Grava loves him in his natural form, lol...weirdly, I kinda think Comet Queen reminds me of Meggan from Marvel's old Excalibur comics, they're both just purely emotional beings and when they love someone it doesn't feel exploitative or fetishistic, they just love you that way <3

- Shady + Wildfire was never a pair of Legionnaires I thought of being united in anything, but I also would 100% not want to be the people on the other side of their righteous anger either...I don't see this being a good time for Hadru or Brek, yikes!

Thanks Raz,

Yeah, Comet King, I really love him, and by extension Grava has become one of my faves to write too, so they will get a bit of spotlight soon as they work through things.

I always really disliked Dirk so have been really trying to make him work (before I kill him of course - joking!...maybe) so glad that you like how he's developing. He's going to have to do something he really doesn't like soon so hopefully he's mature enough to do the best he can. There's a follow up of him and Gim coming soon too.

Ferropotamus was my favourite part too

Actually plan on using Squiggly Joe soon, haha, be careful what you wish for.

Thirteen is always good, he's the teams conscience in a way, though Grava is their heart. She really is great isn't she?

Shady and Wildfire... yeah, things will get messy. Sorry Brek and Hadru fans (not really).

Coming up, fall out from the attack on the Moon, Brek and Hadru make an escape and Tinya gets more bad news. Things will heat up quite quickly as several things come to a head.

Thanks,

C

hey Harbi, real life has been crazy, haven't gotten to read yet, but it's on my list. glad to see more installments!!!

PS i did read the same with Jed and Tel, and Dann revealing himself. it worked, though i do think feel a bit for Tel. Grava rightly noted that Tel grew up in a test tube or something, and of course the influence of the Blight. I felt a bit bad for him, when Dann was so disdaining and didn't shake his hand. Idk if that was what you were going for.

he was definitely in the wrong, but i have been in situations before where I blew up at someone cause i felt they were ignoring my requests and needs. i was also in the wrong, but i empathize with Tel a lot because he clearly realized he was wrong in the end

I loved that bit with Dann saying "I know you check me out when nobody is looking' plus Jed being all "nobody can be REALLY that hot!"

Hey IB, thanks for the quick review, I totally empathize with being busy so hope it settles down soon.

There's a story coming up regarding Tel's background and also a reveal that will explain something more about Dann...

Hope all's going well,

C

ooh looking forward to that!
yeah, I was just scrolling and happened to glance on the scene with Jed, Tel and Dann and decided to read... rest will follow! all generally well, just crazy-busy at work... but that's a rant for another day

will catch up soon!

Cheers!

okay, so i glanced at the cliffhanger with Brek and Hadru assaulting a student... and I just had to catch up!

The entity in Southern Lights (was gonna say possessed, but he definitely still has control of himself). Intrigued to see where it will go, you obviously have something cool planned. Maybe Lights will teach it something... ordering the leaders of a society towards peace, heh, I like it

Loving the Sade and Troy relationship, looks healthy, they get each other. And Theena's media-and-PR-savvy, I love the spin you've put on her

Love Lexikon being able to read BODY language!

And your Mon is one of my fave iterations of Mon-El, yours has a teeny bit of the confidence and knowledge of intimidation that my favorite versions of Superman have!

A Dominator that's NOT afraid of a Green Lantern...! excellent set-up for this mystery... what DO the Dominators want?

I love how you are dealing with the Blight fallout. Lovely scene between Anje and Captain Heavyweight

miraculous flight rings indeed was there ever a story that addressed that - how do the flight rings work with the powers of Violet, Gim, Strobe, etc...?

Dkyun used to be an engineer, so cool!

Nice look into Strobe's head, to see how his altered perceptions work

Love the mental experiment between Spoiler and Titan. Loving these two and their go-getter attitude. Were you inspired by the Titanet idea in the Reboot, where Nura wanted to see if it would boost her precognition? Also, the beginning of a beautiful friendship? interesting point on the scale of things the Legion handles... rather than the quantity...

Avocado Day on Aleph! hahahaha! that is so... Zoe.

I like your proud Tasmia who knows when she's wrong and someone else is right... Can you remind me how Grev died, was it because of the Blight attack? I love this regal "champion" on "champion" interplay, mutual respect, between Tasmia and Lady M, and the insight into Grev's character. Tasmia offering lady M a place was sweet!

LOL at Tesseract's observance and bluntness. A Legionnaire with a very nice body... the muscley doctor... hahahaha! Funny how both Tesseract and Poltergeist had crushes on Jan... lol at Kent being excessively handsome... ah, those two... tee-hee, I would certainly not mind double-daitng with Kent and Jan

curious to see Poltergeist's telekinesis in action. How different would it be from Kinetix's or Tellus', for example

The Dominators assuming the Legionnaires would only be in groups of 6, ha!

Love the resolution to that story. the beginnings of peace? and a simple truth spell solved it all, ha!

Zoe using her telekinesis to close wounds, whoo!

Reep is such a strategist. Charm offensive, legislation, I like where this is going. Fits into Reeps crafty character


Haze and not spending money, hee. I like how he was asked to keep an eye on Brek.. gosh, Brek is so out of control...



Friction has an interesting powerset! you use it more imaginatively than i could



poor Grava she must be feeling the Blighting hard





can't wait to read more more more!!!

Encyclopaedia Galactica: The Intrepid Satellite of Mars was originally established as an orbiting immigration inspection point for the red planet in the mid 23rd century. It was reputed to have processed over 200 million immigrants fleeing Earth after the Second Great Collapse. As Mars Colony had access to the earliest warp drives at that point in history (the technology was seen to be too expensive for any of the struggling Earth based confederations and crumbling empires), the fourth planet in the Sol system became the focus for those that wanted an escape from their damaged home world. In the centuries since the satellite has been added to and rebuilt at least a dozen times. Currently, it is one of the biggest leisure facilities in Sol system, with a huge range to offer from the family orientated to the exclusive and intimate to its galaxy renowned Ultra Mega Rave-Pits - often seen as a rite of passage for youths wanting to tell tales of experiencing the non-stop excessively hedonistic parties. It is said that Sun Boy took Lightning Lad and a group of their colleagues into one of these for his Bachelor Party though no Legionnaire has ever confirmed this story.


Chemical Kid - Hadru Jamik of Phlon - catalyses chemical reactions
Polar Boy - Brek Bannin of Tharr - cryokinesis


Almost immediately after stumbling through their warp Hadru started to recover from Haze's psionic attack.

The warp had dropped them off at an up-an-coming club that occupied a section of the outer wall of the satellite, offering tremendous views of the red planet below from its wide force-field covered terraces and balconies. Chemical Kid was furious but Polar Boy pulled him away from where they had just arrived and yanked off both their flight rings and threw them into a trash bin on the edge of the enclosed balcony. The club appeared to be relatively quiet - Brek was happy that there was no-one around to see them as they had arrived.

"They're gonna be after us Hadru. We've got to get away quickly. I'll sort this out once we catch our breath, but right now we need to leave!"

"What? Why? He had it coming..."

"Come on, we'll get through this alright, but we need a bit of space first."

Hadru could see the panic in Brek's expression and realised that the Tharrite was making some sense. As far as the Tinya would care they hadn't done exactly as she dictated so they would immediately be in the wrong, despite the provocation and slights they had both endured lately.

"Okay, way I see it we've got two choices... go back and face the music or leave now and figure it out." Brek said looking around nervously.

"We can't go back right now, everyone will be... yeah, let's go." Hadru replied quietly. His smug expression had turned into something more serious as he considered their options.

"So, wotcha say we use our distorters so any AI-peepers won't clock us..."

"They'll be able to track them. As soon as we get a ship away from here then the sooner we can ditch all of it." Hadru stood up straight and started look around at the exits.

Brek put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hadru, if you want to go back, I'll take the fall for this. I know Tinya wants rid o' me. You can still have a career. Listen, you don't..."

"It's okay, really. It's been a drag for an age now Brek. The Legion... it's not a happy place so let's just go. I have enough credits to give us a start somewhere else." What struck Brek most of all about what Hadru said was the sense of relief he knew the Phlonite was feeling. Brek was sad that his friend felt that way because he understood it perfectly.

The two activated the distorters on their belts so they appeared to be a completely different couple and walked through the bar and out into the satellite. Although they had been to the club before and knew that the Intrepid was huge it wasn't until they got to the nearest concourse that they fully realised how big it was. They were in the Western Section - devoted to clubs, bars and more adult orientated entertainment establishments - and the concourse faded from view before them as it was so long... Brek estimated two or three klicks at least! Of non-stop clubbing! Why, he thought fleetingly, had they never visitted here properly before? He doubted he'd get the chance to visit again for some time...

"We need to get going, let's get to a docking bay and find a decent ship." Hadru nodded as Brek made the suggestion.

After checking a holo-display the two men hurried to a grav-lift and their escape.

First Base, medi-bay

Kinetix - Zoe Saugin of Aleph, telekinetic animation
M'Windaji - Gahaji of Kiringyaga, super tracker, carries the Ruby of Life allowing tactile transformative magic


Less than half an hour after being warped to the medi-bay Gahaji was told he was fine to leave.

Zoe was waiting for him and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his face.

"Kent says the Shaman kid fixed me up so I'm good to go now." Gahaji said, worried that Zoe would be fretting about his injuries.

"Yeah, he told me that ten minutes ago. Glad you're okay. So, you wanna hear the latest? It's pretty awful really..." Zoe spoke quickly, her body language was tight like a coiled spring. Gahaji knew it was not going to be the best of news.

"Tellus read the minds of those scuzzlers and it turns out someone posted a ten million credit bounty for the head of any Legionnaire... Ten. Million. Credits! Like, it was even on some webnews streams until Theena persuaded them to stop broadcasting it. Now all the idiots in the galaxy know that they can make a killing if they just, well ...kill one of us. We've got huge targets on our backs!"

Gahaji could see in Zoe's eyes how nervous this made her.

"Hey, what you saying? We've always had targets on our backs, that's what being a Legionnaire is. We got to keep our chin up and not let them get to us, same as always." He said this without much emphasis, as if it were a simple everyday matter.

"Yeah... yeah, your right." Zoe didn't sound completely convinced but gave a bright smile and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the nose. She stepped back; there was mischief twinkling in her eyes as she spoke again, "C'mon, Tinya is calling a meeting then we can find something fun to do... maybe we can go finish celebrating Avocado Day in my apartment."

He put an arm around her shoulder as they walked to the grav-lift.


Drura Sehpt and Jacques Foccart had been leaving the medi-bay just after Gahaji and Zoe and had heard their conversation.

?Ten million credits is an awful lot of money. That will attract the wrong sort of attention."

"I do worry mon cher... we will 'ave to wait and see though if enough of ze wrong sort of people 'ave 'eard of this .. if they 'ave then ze team will need to be more careful."

"Yeah, it worries me thinking we'll never know who's gonna come for us now..."

"Oui, but we will get through this Drura. Ze Legion is not so easily scared off."

The Intrepid Satellite, Mars orbit, Sol System

Chemical Kid - Hadru Jamik of Phlon - catalyses chemical reactions

Tutors, former Legionnaires:
Shadow Lass - Tasmia Mallor of Talok viii, summon and manipulate total darkness
Wildfire - Drake Burroughs of Earth, composed of sapient anti-energy, extreme strength, speed, durability, space flight, anti-energy blasts

Tutors, Science Police training staff:
Jumping Jack - Science Police Senior Training Officer Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd of Morshesh 5, hyper-awareness, reflexes and agility

Students:
Polar Boy - Brek Bannin of Tharr - cryokinesis


Wildfire had found the two flight rings in a bin and swore loudly.

"I got their scents, don't worry." Jaxi Delgrado-Hynd said as he bounded through the club towards the exit. Shadow Lass and Wildfire exchanged a glance before flying after their colleague from the Science Police.

"Yup, I can see their footsteps, hot spots on the floor. This way!" The anti-energy being flew ahead of the Talokean and Science Police trainer and they made their way out into the main concourse.

"Goddamn... too much footfall!" Drake grumbled. The infra-red foot prints were lost under those left by the hundreds of patrons that were on the satellite at that moment.

"This way, I still got them." Jumping Jack ran along a walkway that had an anti-grav lift in the centre. "Where do you think they'll be going?"

"Another bar knowing Brek." Drake said, his suit's vocal modulator conveying a disgusted tone.

"No, they'll know we're after them. They're running. What is the quickest way off of this place?" Tasmia Mallor pressed a hard light display to bring up a schematic. "Now, if I were running, I'd need to steal a vehicle, does that sound right? There's no warping tech in here. The docking bays are ...here." She enlarged the hard-light display and pointed towards the nearest section designated for transport.

Without waiting for a grav-lift to take them down four levels to the docking bay the three tutors flew down the circular lift shaft. They reached the docking bay moments later. Wildfire flew in first and scanned the dozens of vehicles immediately before him but without any luck. Shadow Lass and Jumping Jack followed as quickly as they could. The Science Police Officer quickly found the two fugitives' scent and led his fellow tutors down a further two levels. In amongst the half-lit parking bays, they could hear a clatter and muttered curses. One of the voices had a noticeable Tharrite twang...

"Got them!" Wildfire said as he flew towards the noises. As he roared over a stack of parked shuttles and personal pods a cocoon on thick ice sprang up around him throwing the anti-energy tutor into a wall. It didn't take many seconds for wildfire to blast himself free but by then it was over.

Shadow Lass covered the area in a deep darkness and flew towards the two figures she could still see. Behind her, the acrobatic Science Police Officer quite literally followed his nose as he too moved to catch Brek and Hadru.

Brek was firing off chunks of ice randomly into the darkness in a vain attempt to discourage the former Legionnaire he now knew had followed him here. He was desperately twisting around when he heard a breath behind him.

"I'm sorry Tasmia, please..." He had meant to also say 'don't hurt me' but was unconscious after one of Shadow Lasses feet smacked into his head. While he didn't feel any hurt at that moment, when he awoke an hour later he had a justifiably ferocious headache.

Hadru had watched as Brek froze Wildfire to the wall so knew their time left before being forcibly returned to the Legion was short. He was desperately trying to manipulate a dna-lock pad when the darkness fell over them. He stood up and closed his eyes. As he concentrated on the sounds around him all he could hear was Brek. He was totally surprised for several milliseconds as Jumping Jack landed solidly on top of him and punched him stoutly on the face. After that Hadru lay on the floor unconscious, blood streaming from the ruins of his nose.

Tasmia lifted her darkness and gave Jaxi a triumphant grin.

"I'm quite protective of my students, they're like the children I never planned." The Science Police Officer said as he bent down to place incapacity cuffs on Chemical Kid.

"Yeah? Personally, I hate bullies... and quite enjoy kicking them in the head." Tasmia said, her smile never leaving her face as she put a cuff on the fallen Polar Boy.

"And I'm pissed you didn't leave anything for me. Can?t believe Brek caught me like that... Don?t tell Gim or I?ll never live it down.? Wildfire said as he flew overhead.

"You snooze you lose Drakey." Jaxi said with a cheeky grin, "Though sorry t'tell you but I set my ring to auto-record and report so it?s already gone back to Base.?

Tasmia laughed as she called for a warp to return them to Home Base.

Tinya was furious though desperate not to show it.

The Senior Team had held an emergency meeting after Sun Boy had reported Tellus' findings about the massive bounty that had been offered for killing a Legionnaire. It had been their second meeting that day as Reep had called them together only a few hours before to discuss his findings from Sa Lok's files taken during the recent espionage squad mission. That meeting had focussed around the meta-army that the Rimborian appeared to have created. That had been depressing enough for Tinya without finding out there was now a massive bounty on her, and all of her colleague's heads being offered by an anonymous source. They all agreed that it was likely there was a connection between the two.

Tinya understood that if she didn't get ahead of this situation quickly then there would be ugly rumours and god-only-knew what else to deal with in the days to come from within the team. She already knew that certain of her teammates would want to rush off and deal with this head-on. Until they knew for certain who had set this bounty though there was little chance of them doing anything other than kicking an already stirred up hornets' nest. There would be a lot of questions that she didn't have answers for but wanted to be as up-front as possible with her teammates to try to keep a lid on the situation.

Phantom Girl had issued a recall notice to all Legionnaires and Support Staff currently off base that weren't on registered mission. An emergency meeting was to be held in 30 minutes and it was absolutely compulsory they were on their respective bases for it. Tinya had quickly returned to her quarters and jumped in the sonic shower for three minutes before putting on her uniform.

Tinya was making her way to the Senior Team Ready Room when Home Base sent a message that tipped her mood from bleak into incandescent. It appeared that Hadru and Brek had assaulted a student from the Science Police contingent and then ran away... The student was recovering well according to Home Base's medi-bay, thankfully. Meanwhile Wildfire, Shadow Lass and the SP trainer called Jumping Jack were in pursuit. They had found their two flight rings but neither Brek nor Hadru were in sight. Tinya had to stop and take several deep breaths. She swore heavily to herself before she stood up straight, pulled her chin up and made her way to the Ready Room. Just before she arrived a message reached her from Ella Drottmi on Home Base that Brek and Hadru had been caught and were on their way to the medi-bay.

Tyroc, Dawnstar, Duplicate Girl, Thunder, Chameleon Boy, Lightning Lass and Sun Boy were waiting for Tinya to arrive. They had planned on issuing the announcement about the ten million credit bounty and inform their colleagues that until further notice they were advised not to leave their Base without being in a group of four or more. It was the minimum number that the senior team had agreed on for safety. As Phantom Girl entered the Ready Room, she could see that the Senior Team had obviously just been told about Brek and Hadru's actions as well; now they just had to decide how to deal with them...

"It never rains, Tinya." Thunder said to the team leader, her eyes full of compassionate understanding.

"Brek's been playing up for an age and Hadru's always been a handful, but I'm stunned by this... attacking a student, a Science Police officer at that! They're back on Home Base now so, any ideas?" she said without any preamble. The quicker they dealt with this mess the better.

"They both have to go." Luornu said, her face sad even though her voice was firm.

"What w're the circumstances 'round it? What do we know?" Tyroc asked.

"From what Ella just told me, Hadru and Brek wanted to go out clubbing for the night and Tkemwa didn't think they should go out for more than an hour or two. Hadru attacked the student, he fought back, Brek froze him in a block of ice and the two of them left in a warp leaving the student severely weakened and trapped. Shady, Drake and one of the SP's have retrieved them. Haze,s in the medi-bay, seems to be recovering. I don't know the state of Hardu or Brek but imagine it isn't too happy." Tinya said. Her voice was level, though everyone present knew she would be livid about this situation.

"If tha' is what happened then they gotta go. Attacking an SP student because they want t'get drunk... What a pair of jerks!" As Tyroc spoke Sun Boy agreed.

"Were they both Blighted?" Dawnstar asked.

"Only Hadru. Still, he's never been much of a team player. His recent actions have been increasingly erratic." Tinya said, her mouth turned down at the edges as she spoke, making her look sadder than she felt. She was too angry right now to be sad.

"What was psych assessment after his little scuffle the other week?" Chameleon Boy asked quietly.

"Ah... privileged, insecure, increasingly violent fantasies... That's all I remember off hand, not that I was told everything. It really wasn't good. He'd looked like he was flaking out before that which was why I moved him to First Base, I wanted to keep an eye on him." Tinya replied.

"We need to make sure it is safe to release them. And I mean, safe for other sapient beings. Hadru obviously needs professional help and Brek... actually, I believe you were right Troy, Brek is a jerk." Dawnstar shook her head as she finished speaking.

"So ...what? Hand them over to the Science Police? If we go that route, we would need to make a public announcement and that'd humiliate them... both have pretty damaged egos so that'll not end well." Dirk said.

"We need the full team to vote, and credible information from Home Base, Dr Shakespeare and Dr Falkner before they decide. Terminating membership is tough but before we can do that, they need to be called before the whole team to explain themselves or we could potentially lose other teammates in the furore." As Thunder spoke the rest of the Senior Team present knew that she was correct.

Polar Boy and Chemical Kid would go on trial in front of the team for assaulting a Science Police Officer, as well as other minor misdemeanours. If they were found guilty it was likely they'd have certain memories stripped from their minds, all Legion privileges revoked and possibly jail sentences.

None of the Senior Team were looking forward to the next 48 hours.

Whew!

Brek and Hadru... very realistic, how you showed them moving down this path. No sympathy for them for sure.

Loved the senior team meeting. very realistic. Thunder's wisdom shows through.

Loved the take down too. man, what were Brek and Hadru thinking... and their thoughts and actions also show that leaving is probably for the best, Hadru obviously isn't happy anymore

and the bounty... chilling! it's true that being a Legionnaire is dangerous, but... bbeing actively hunted for a bounty...

more more more!!

Timber Wolf - Brin Londo of Zuun, enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes and senses
Shield - Laurel Kent of Earth, physical invulnerability, tactile psychometry


K'Frean the Wilderness World

Encyclopedia Galactica - K'Frean the Wilderness World.

Terraformed in the mid- to late 27th century, this world is now an ecological treasure with only very limited access given. The 3rd planet in the K'Fri system was seeded with a huge range of plants and animals before the settler ship carrying human colonists was to arrive. Unfortunately, the Bubble Arc that carried the colonists had a catastrophic accident en route and no human set foot on the world until the early 29th century when this world was re-discovered. By that time the ecosystems were firmly in place and, as it is a relatively mineral poor world far from major trading routes, the United Planets decided to name it as an Environmental Heritage World, thereby stopping any hi-tech settlements from being developed upon it.


Laurel Kent was feeling more than a little bit disappointed.

Brin Londo had taken her to the Wilderness World of K'Frean for a mini-vacation. As soon as Timber Wolf stepped through the warp, he had immediately gotten naked, which Laurel thought boded rather well, before he dived off of their treehouse and swung amongst the branches scattering flocks of arboreal creatures as he passed. He called out to her to join him but she only laughed and shook her head.

Laurel had watched her partner from the rustic balcony for a minute or so before she decided to go looking for a mini bar. After several minutes searching through the rudimentary hut suspended several hundred metres above the forest floor the invulnerable girl realised that the only touches of modernity were a flushing toilet and old-fashioned water shower. There wasn't even an auto-chef! Was she expected to hunt for her own food? Laurel was beginning to regret letting Brin choose where they went for this break...

"C'mon Laurel, you gotta try this!" Brin shouted across the treetops. She could see him charging along a huge branch, laughing as he did.

She knew that between her flight ring and natural invulnerability she would be perfectly fine if she did start jumping about in the trees like Brin, but Laurel was feeling just a little bit deflated. When Brin had suggested they try something truly wild for a weekend... well, this wasn't what she thought he had meant. It didn't help that her tactile psychometric abilities showed her that the previous residents of this very exclusive resort had experienced the sort of wild weekend that she had hoped for.

The most disappointing thing was, when she considered it, that this really should have been exactly what she had expected! This realisation made her laugh. Brin Londo may not be the deepest man she had ever met but he certainly had a physical poetry about his movements that Laurel appreciated as she watched his play amongst the trees. There was a visceral beauty about the way he interacted with nature, and he would share with her only after he had connected the deepest point of his soul to the wilderness around them.

With that thought Laurel Kent tore off her own clothes, took a deep breath and leaped from the balcony onto a nearby branch.

It was two hours later, while the pair were enjoying a game that involved chasing spider monkeys through the trees when the alert came informing them that all Legionnaires off base were to immediately return. Brin swore loudly and Laurel admitted to herself that while this hadn't been exactly what she wanted from a weekend's break with her fella, she still felt disappointed to be called back to Second Base. Brin surprised her by growling that he hoped that everyone was fine and this was just some stupid drill...

They both grabbed their clothes and quickly dressed before Henry's warp arrived to take them back to the base.

First Base

Mon El - Senior Team member, Lar Gand of Daxam, incredible strength, speed, stamina, senses, laser vision, space flight, invulnerability

Science Police Psychiatrist - Doctor Anje Falkner, alpha-level telepath


Mon El sat in front of the team's counsellor and sighed.

"It's the damned predictability of it all. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. I saw the Dominators and knew immediately what they had planned for those people... they've been doing the same sort of thing for millennia."

"Tell me Lar, from your perspective, what could the team do to break the... these cycles?"

"I think we already do that to a degree just by existing. The team get amazing results and I'm very proud of being a part of it, especially the last couple of years since Tinya made the decision to expand off Earth. That was overdue."

"Okay, so I don't understand, can you explain it for me. If the team are breaking these cycles that you said are sad, what are you concerned about?"

"That they still exist. That we have to deal with the same problems as the heroes a thousand years ago dealt with. It's frustrating. It's annoying... I guess it just angers me that I know Super Man had the same mess to clean up. Kal would have been so disappointed..." Mon El trailed off and looked at a picture on the wall of Dr Falkner's office, clearly avoiding eye contact.

"Why does Kal El's opinion matter to you now Lar?"

"Not his opinion, that's not it... it's more that if we have to fight the same battles then surely, we aren't really progressing anything are we? I'd hope that Kal's legacy would be more than a pattern for us to follow, intentionally or not. We should be leaving something better for the next generation, surely?"

"Okay, while that's understandable I need to say I disagree that Kal El didn't leave things better, as I believe he did. And we must remember he was not responsible for what happened next..."

"I know, I witnessed it, remember?" Mon El snapped before apologising.

"So, Lar... tell me exactly why you wanted to speak to me today? What prompted you to come if, as I assume, you have felt like this for so long. Why now?"

The Daxamite took a deep breath and considered his answer.

"It has been building for a while, but ...I guess with the team expanding so much in the last year or two and the depth and range of power available... we have three other Daxamites assigned to the team, there's the Spear of Artemis.... or whatever she calls herself now... and Thunder so there's enough raw strength here to turn a Sun-Eater! I'm not really... I guess I feel ...it isn't so vital to the team that I'm here so I'm perhaps relaxing and no longer avoiding all my thoughts." Again, he turned away from the counsellor, though this time he looked embarrassed.

"Are you saying you're considering leaving the team?" Dr Falkner asked quietly. The silence sat between them for several seconds before he answered.

"Maybe.... I thought Tasmia and I would have done this together... she never really wanted to, to be fair, it was my dream."

"Has there been anyone since Tasmia that..."

"No." The single word was said with such a lack of emphasis that Dr Dr Falkner could feel the Daxamite Legionnaire's loneliness like a third person had entered the room.

At this point Phantom Girl's announcement requesting all Legionnaires return to their bases cut through the room.

Mon El stood up to leave.

"Okay, so before our next meeting can you do me a favour and consider what exactly would be necessary to make you feel more content. I look forward to speaking to you soon Lar. Good luck Legionnaire."

As the last word left her mouth he sped from the room in a blur.

First Base

Comet Queen - Grava of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion
Comet King - Drinchnar Lamment of Extal colony, spaceflight, comet gas extrusion


Comet King kept this head down as he crept into the apartment he shared with Grava.

After the mission team had returned from Lunar London, he had strolled around First Base looking for distractions.

Drinchnar knew that Grava was annoyed at him and desperately wanted to see her but the gnawing worry wouldn't let him face up to it. He had briefly popped into Shakes where he had spoken to the robot bartenders the team had affectionately christened Malone and Tortelli about his worries as he sipped an iced fruit tea. They had given him the support and suggestions that their programming allowed but ultimately when he left Drinchnar felt as bad as when he had entered. Still, the bar-bots had given him a few ideas...

As he was working on procuring one of those ideas an announcement went out stating that all Legionnaires and Support Staff must return to their bases and there would be a further announcement to follow in half an hour. Drinchnar knew then he needed to get to the apartment right away in case they were going to be sent off on a horror-mission and things turned sour and his and Grava's relationship ended with their argument that morning being the last conversation they ever had... the very thought terrified him!

Comet King rushed to the apartment and panicked just before he flew through the doors. Instead, he screeched to a halt outside their quarters and snuck in. He was shocked by what was waiting for him!

"Drinchnar, sunbeam!" Grava called out, obviously surprised to see him, from the kitchen nook. She had a frilly pink and white gingham apron on as she stirred a bubbling concoction in a copper pot. There was evidence of less successful attempts at cooking... spilt flour, scattered condiments and a blackened pot with a strange green goo sitting on top of the small bin. "I was... like trying to cook you a nucleonic-nice meal to apologise, like bright as starlight, to say I'm so sorry..." She didn't get any further as Drinchnar swept her in his arms and kissed her passionately. The flowers he had been holding behind his back that he had cut from various gardens around the planetoid and planned to give to Grava as a peace offering fell to the floor.

"I wanted to apologise to you..." As he started to speak, she kissed him back. They slowly spun in the air until a loud pop! and crash! interrupted them. The pan Grava had been stirring when Drinchnar arrived was now on the floor spilling a bubbling off-ochre substance across the tiles.

They both laughed and called for a cleaning-bot to clear the mess away. Drinchnar swoped down to recover a couple of flowers which he then presented to the love of his life with a great big smile.

Tinya's holo popped up in front of each Legionnaire.

The team's leader did not look happy despite the smile she tried to force. Before she spoke Tinya swept her hair back from her face. Currently every Legionnaire, Academy Tutor, member of support staff, Science Police Meta-Squad liaison officer, and intern, were on one of their three bases.

"Everyone, thank you for returning to base. We've had several bits of news today that will affect us all in the days to come so I believed it is vital to share them with you so you can understand the decisions the Senior Team and I have made." She stopped to sip at a glass of water: a stalling technique she had taken to use when she wanted to take a moment to collect her thoughts.

"Earlier today, Kinetix and M'windaji were attacked on Lunar London. Thankfully there were no major injuries but it led to us discovering some worrying information. As some of you may have already heard; several news feeds have broadcast that an unknown source has offered a ten million credit reward for anyone that kills a Legionnaire. These streams have been shared across the UP and, while we have managed to shut them down, we must believe that enough people have seen them to make them common enough knowledge. The group that attacked Zoe and Gahaji were members of an underground ancient weaponry appreciation club that thought they'd take their chances against two Legionnaires that they had seen were visiting a local hospital... They were five supposedly normal people with no prior records that were tempted by the reward."

She paused for three long seconds before continuing.

"While that is worrying, we have also learned that unregulated gene-mod shops have been operating on Rimbor and a few of the Outer Worlds at a much greater rate that we previously believed. We have uncovered records that show they have to date successfully given meta-abilities to over 400 people that, so far, the location of remains unknown. The majority of those we can identify have connections to Sa Lok, the former UP Under-Secretary that backed Psyche's attack on us. This leads us to believe that an army of meta-beings is being created. With these facts in mind, effective immediately, unless you are on a team mission, the Senior Team and I ask that you do not leave the bases unless you are in a party of at least four. I appreciate that a lot of us wish to spend downtime with friends and relatives away from the bases, and while this should not stop, we ask that you are careful and do not do so alone."

Again, Tinya paused. She knew that there would be teammates arguing, complaining and swearing at her holo at that moment so she gave them five seconds before continuing.

"Finally, in 40 hours' time, at 0800 standard on the day after tomorrow, all active Legionnaires and support staff must present themselves for a meeting of the most serious order. Unfortunately, it breaks my heart to announce this, but we have a member of our team and a former member that we will put on trial for serious breaches of our constitution. Many of you will know that this is not something we take lightly, though for the sake of fairness and justice for all those involved I ask that you do not discuss this outside of the team until after the trial has finished."

Anyone watching her holo at that moment could see how upset and angry Tinya was, even through the thin smile she offered before ending the transmission.

Hey IB, thanks again for your kind review.

The trial is definitely going to happen soon, but as it's two days in the Legionnaire's future from this point there are two more missions and a few inter-personal moments to come first.

The bounty, and who's behind it, will play a part in one of those but the pay-off won't be for a while yet. It's only just begun (she typed channeling Karen Carpenter ).

Thnks again, more coming soon,

C

More lovely scenes, Harbi.

Chuckled at Laurel being the one wishing for a loud weekend - realistic! Well done writing relationships, I enjoy each of your snippets with couples in them, you do it so well. And Brin connecting his soul with nature, awesome. Gosh, Laurel's psychometry must be inconvenient at times lol

Comet Queen and king: adorable, love that they both wanted to apologise to each other

And Mon. Poor Mon. a nice exploration of his character and how being +1000 years old AND comparing then and now must be...

and dun dun dun. i am so eager to see the trial. i cannot wait!!

Phantom Girl - Team Leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility
XS - Jenni Ognats of an alternate dimension Aarok, phenomenal speed
Ferro - Douglas Nolan of Earth, can assume invulnerable iron isotope form
Atom Girl - Sylva Nrilsan of Imsk, can shrink to microscopic size
Gazelle - J?izl Dtutuu from the Khundian Battle Brigade, of Khundia Prime, enhanced strength, speed, agility and metabolic control
Cosmic Kid - Po Miman, Justice Legionnaire of alternate dimension Mars, energy manipulation and flight

Intern:

Mindbender - Marmud Illic of Titan, alpha-level telepath


In a bid to keep herself busy Tinya called on a team to join her on a Hit Squad mission.

Within two minutes she had received fourteen requests to join her, though she decided to only take those that were next on the mission rota. On impulse she requested the telepathic intern they called the Mindbender as she felt the team had enough physically powered individuals on it. As the team arrived, she explained that they were on the lookout for meta-criminals with the hope that word would get out to any of the rogue-metas from the gene-mod shops that the Legion were a force to be reckoned with, and hopefully dissuade them from thinking of trying to get the bounty on them.


An attempted robbery on a refuelling satellite in the Proxima Sagittarius system involving a telekinetic and two muscle bound henchmen was quickly stopped. Tinya wanted the intern to deal with it, firstly to give him a confidence boost but also so the news would state that a trainee took down three meta-terrorists. They walked through Henry's warp and stood there, staring at the three robbers. One grabbed a terrified customer in an attempt to take a hostage.

"Mindbender, take them down. They don't need to have nice dreams." After Tinya said this the young intern gulped before reaching out telepathically to force the robber's brains to shut down into a dreamless state of sleep. Within seconds the three meta-robbers were unconscious on the floor.

The teams first mission of the day lasted five minutes including XS cleaning up and the rest of the team taking time to speak to staff, customers and the attending SP officers. Tinya was ready for more...

The next mission led them through a warp to a township on the Inner Rim colony of Garandakesh IV. The settlers were being forced to hand over resources to a band of cybernetic raiders.

XS raced to the settlers and rushed them out of harm?s way while Phantom Girl and Cosmic Kid flew up to their gunship that floated ominously above. The rest of the team attacked the raiders on the ground.

Atom Girl had shrunk to a minuscule size and hitched a lift on Gazelle as the Khund cartwheeled into the fray. Ferro flew as fast as he could, while protecting the intern that stuck close behind from the blaster fire that erupted around them.

Gazelle landed squarely in amongst the raiders and immediately spun it action. In a frantic blur she struck kicking and punching out, knocking several of the raiders flying. While she did Atom Girl let go from the Khund and flew as fast as she could towards the raider that appeared to be the leader of this ground force.

A split second before she reached him Sylvia started to grow. The force of her blow knocked the cyborg raider off his feet. As he crashed onto the ground, she fully resumed her height and snapped an incapacity cuff on his arm. The young Imskian turned around to survey the remaining battle so did not see the raider get up behind her...

Ferro landed on top of a raider, crunching them into the dirt, behind him Mindbender reached out again and projected a psychic blast at the attacking force. While half of them staggered under the psi-blast the other dozen or so kept fighting.

<Ow! They've got serious psi-shielding... that really hurt!>

<Marmud, help Jenni with the colonists...> even as he spoke to the intern Ferro was wrestling a cyborg twice his size to the ground, <Go now>

As the intern took a final glance around the scene of this battle, he spotted the cyborg behind Atom Girl.

<Sylvia, behind you, watch out>

Without asking questions Atom Girl shrunk down as fast as she could, just as the cyborg swung a bladed arm which would have beheaded her had she not acted.

Sylva could clearly see the organic part of the raider had been knocked out by the incapacity cuff, unfortunately the technological part remained animate. At minute size she flew into the chest carapace and started randomly pulling out the few wires she could see in the hope she might dismantle the metallic menace. It took several long seconds and a lot of sparks that thankfully her flight ring eco-protect spared her from the worst of, but eventually it stopped moving. She had sent a warning about this turn of events out through the telepathic grid to her colleagues as she damaged the inner workings.

<Atom Girl, a Khund warrior knows how to dismantle cyborgs> Gazelle replied matter-of-fact.

<Yeah, an' I'm just smashing them up, so all's good here, thanks anyways Sylva> Fero responded.

As her team dealt with the raiders on the ground, Phantom Girl flew through the outer hull of the gun ship and punched the first person she saw. He fell backwards but was quickly back on his feet, a blaster in his robotic hand released a shot that passed straight through her and exploded the console before him. As he fired, she slipped incapacity cuffs on his organic arm and left the room, searching for the control deck.

If the raiders were all as stupid as that one, she thought to herself, this would only take her a minute. As it was, it took slightly under that to find the control deck, and another few seconds to slap a set of incapacity cuffs on the pilot. It was at this point that she heard Cosmic Kid's second broadcast...

Outside the gunship Cosmic Kid floated twenty metres from its front hull. He watched Tinya fly towards the craft and knew his role would be to distract the raiders allowing her the time to take control of the gunship.

"Stop now and give up. You have ten seconds or I will stop you." He had spoken through the flight ring loud hailer app, willing it to broadcast across a wide range of communication channels. At the same time, he pulsed all the ambient energy around him into a flashing light to draw their full attention to him.

As he expected, the gun ship let loose a firestorm of lasers and pulse blasts upon him. It was exactly what he wanted. The energies flowed around him, making it look as if he were in the middle of a gigantic energised string ball. After twenty-five seconds of continuous firing the raiders obviously realised their attack was not having the desired effect and it stopped. At this point Po Miman released the energy back at the craft, though rather than simply blasting the ship he formed the attackers weapons fire into fifty long spears of energy that surrounded the craft. The reshaped energies throbbed with potential explosive charge as they hung all around the raider's gunship metres away from the hull making it impossible for it to move without risking striking one. They hung there ominously for ten long seconds before Cosmic Kid sent another broadcast to the gunship.

"I'll take it that you'll surrender now." He smiled as he spoke into his flight right for the message to be broadcast, confident that he would have distracted whomever was in charge long enough for Tinya to get to the bridge and take control. It was several seconds later that she sent the message he had been waiting for.

<Po, hey, I've got it under control here now. You want to make some room underneath so I can land this garbage scow?>

<and I suppose you want us to move these bodies for you too?> Ferro sent from below. Cosmic Kid looked down, smiling as his teammates stood over the unconscious and deactivated bodies of the raiding party they had tackled.

Thirty minutes later, after Henry had warped the raiders straight to Talkon-Gartos, and Tinya and the team had cleared up the mess and reassured the locals that they were now safe they stepped through a warp onto their next mission.

The team's next mission was to help a CityState on the tropical paradise world of Mauratanius Primo that was threatened by an enormous tsunami after a major undersea earthquake had struck. XS ran with all her might out over the sea and smashed her way through the wave again and again and a thousand times again pushing the volume of water back so the massive sweeping tower of sea water would not hit with such a destructive edge. It was still heading in towards land, and would cause flooding, but at least it would not flatten buildings in its path anymore.

By the time Comic Kid had caught up with his fiance she had flattened the dangerous curve of water that was rushing in towards the exotic city. Po reached out and softened the kinetic push. He knew he would only have a limited effect as ultimately, he was fighting the push and pull of the sea itself that wrapped itself around this entire planet. Kinetic energy, generally, was not something he could easily manipulate, certainly not as easy as light or other radiations but he stretched his abilities to slow the wave down as much as he could... blunting the force with which it would eventually strike the land.

As both Legionnaires attacked the wave, their colleagues helped the population evacuate the beaches and shore up the sea defences against this sort of event. Mauratanius Primo was not a particularly rich world but its tourist industry, that more-often-than-not catered for the well-heeled of the galaxy, had provided its beaches and costal resorts with some protection and an efficient early warning system that helped clear their beaches and provide effective shelter in plenty of time. The Legionnaires quickly saw this and so focussed their attentions on the city which lacked the hi-tech infrastructure of the resorts.

A small fleet of fishing catamarans were airlifted to shore by Ferro and Gazelle while Phantom Girl, Atom Girl and Mindbender dealt with the public beaches and shoreside residences and businesses. Flight ring generated loud hailers and telepathic broadcasts woke up the sleepy city and helped save hundreds of lives.

The Legionnaires remained for over five hours after the wave struck. The impact was nowhere near as devastating as it might have been. There were no reported lives lost but the wave still caused a lot of structural damage that Tinya wanted the team to help to check out. Cosmic Kid rested for part of that time, exhausted by his efforts, that gave Ferro, Gazelle and Atom Girl plenty of opportunities to tease him. He laughed along with them and often joined in with a self-effacing humour that they all appreciated.

Overall, the team were feeling very good about themselves as they stepped through the warp to their next mission.

First Base:

Dirk did not want to defend either Hadru or Brek but had agreed to take on the role when Tinya had suggested it.

Luornu would lead on the prosecution, something Sun Boy believed would be a far easier job, but still this was the hand he'd been dealt so he planned on giving it his best effort. He had approached Hadru first but the catalyzer had told him where to go and turned away from him to face the cell wall and refused to speak after that. Brek had ranted about how awful everyone else was yet he had ended up in a cell... Dirk persevered, making the point that as the Legion were authorized law enforcement officers, they had 48 hours before the team were obliged to release them or send them to the Science Police to be charged. If either Brek or Hadru wanted a public trial for assault and possibly a custodial sentence afterwards, then he was fine with that, but before they left the Base there would be a trial under the team's constitutional rules. Brek hung his head and told Dirk to leave him alone.

Dirk felt numb.

They had all done dumb stuff, him more than most if he was being honest, but the way Brek and Hadru acted as if they were the victims here... it was incredulous! He knew that if he didn't get it off his chest soon, he'd just get angry and then he wouldn't be much use to anyone. A quick call to Gim and ten minutes later they were both running laps around the upper mezzanine level of First Base's main gymnasium. Gim Allon knew his friend well enough to realise that there were things on his mind that it would take time to get to so had remained virtually silent while Dirk thought about the situation. Midway through their second lap Dirk started to talk.

"Do you remember how Garth used to give everyone those little zaps on their asses and then claim it was a static build-up?" Dirk asked as he overtook Gim.

"Ha! Yes, he stopped after he tried it on Tinya but she phased and he zapped Imra instead... that was the end of Garth the butt-burner!" Both men laughed as they reminisced.

"Didn't get a choice, did he? Imra used to keep him on a fairly short leash." As he said this Gim charged in front with a laugh.

"Do you miss those days Dirk? The feeling that we could do anything?"

"We still can, in fact we do a lot more these days than we ever did back then... just got more paperwork to fill in afterwards, sadly." Dirk laughed and pulled ahead of his friend as they took a corner. Gim sped up and the two started to race along a 500-metre stretch. Gim won the race, which wasn't a surprise to either, though Dirk made him work for it as he pushed himself as he sped along the track. At the end Gim had suggested they do a circuit or two on the floor before grabbing a caffe-pod in one of the refectories.

The two friends spent the next forty-five minutes doing a circuit of exercises the gymnasium AI had created for them, occasionally bumping into each other as they moved between different apparatus. As there were several other Legionnaires present, they didn't speak about Dirk's obvious concerns over the trial and just teased each other about how poorly they saw the other doing.

Afterwards they had both taken a quick sonic shower and made their way to the nearest refectory for refreshments. Half way down the corridor Dirk asked the questions he needed to ask.

"So, do you think they're both guilty?"

"Hell, yeah!" Gim stated emphatically.

"Me too... how can I defend them?"

"Do your best, everyone knows Tinya gave you the job because you and Brek were BFFs for a hot minute and no one else on the Senior Team has been that close to him. Do your best Dirk, they may be dicks but they still deserve a fair trial."

"You're right. Mr Allon, you're a good egg, thank you."

The two men were walking side by side and Gim put an arm around his friends' shoulder to pull him in for a sideways hug. Dirk patted his friend on the back as he did.

"You'll do the right thing Dirk; they might have acted like idiots but the team gotta take responsibility for our failures as much as successes."