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

IB, thanks again, very grateful for your review.

The trial will be... ummm... unpleaant for all. I've drafted it out and written the first three posts in full, but we've a couple of missions and individual moments to get through first - Tinya's one that started above will lead to one of the team really needing to push themselves to get through it, Lu will take a team out to investigate a histooric artefact, Yera goes looking for a friend, and a couple ges into a fight.... it'll be a rollercoaster ride

Thanks again, more more and more coming soon,

C

hiya Harbi more amazing stuff. Mindbender gets some action, also liked Ferro's teamwork and his kindness in thanking Atom Girl for a warning that might not have been needed (for him). Cosmic Kid being all shock and awe as a distraction was priceless.

Great use of XS softening the force of the tidal wave (and IMO a better use of her than saving people one by one like in Legionnaires Annual 2!)

nice scene with Dirk, I like how you have him acknowledging many have done dumb things... but the difference is most are genuinely sorry about it, while Hadru and Brek can't even see they were wrong. Him resolving to do his best in a bad situation was great. Also nice insight into how the team has changed (more paperwork now). Also, the little detail about Gim being just a little bit fitter - makes sense, his power is more physical! Impressive though that Dirk almost kept up! Your Dirk/Gim friendship is one of my favorites among your cast, and one of my fave Legion friendship INCLUDING the "canon" ones!

Chameleon Girl - Yera Allon of Durla, shape changer
Starkling - telepathic swarm-being composed of indestructible ball bearing sized components
Mordecai of Rimbor - golem with incredible strength and durability


As Gim was stepping through the warp to First Base, Yera waved her husband off with a less than genuine smile.

Her husband had been asked by Dirk if he had time to catch up, though of course Gim and Yera both knew Dirk wanted more than that. She felt bored almost as soon as he had gone; they had hoped to pop down to Earth to visit a couple of galleries and perhaps indulge in a bit of shopping this afternoon but after Tinya's announcement earlier on they understood that those sorts of lazy days would need to wait.

Yera was harumphing around their apartment when the idea struck her - she knew exactly what to do! After checking with her flight ring that the Legionnaire she wanted to see was on one of the bases she called up a warp and walked through it onto First Base.

The warp opened out into a bland corridor, facing a large doorway. She knew exactly where she was, this was the entrance to Tellus' methane sea filled environment. She had never been inside but had heard that it was almost the size of the docking bay on Home Base.

As she stood there, contemplating her next move, a telepathic invite welcomed her and the huge doors irised open. Yera smiled and darted into the airlock. It only took a few seconds for the door to lock behind her and the pod she was in to fill with the methane sea that Tellus liked. With little more than a thought Yera transformed her legs into a long V-shaped fishtail and she happily swam out.

Before her stood the golem known as Mordecai and, wrapped around it was the Legionnaire Yera had come to see.

<Starkling, my friend, how are you?>

The composite being released a string of its parts towards her, inviting her to come closer. The Mordecai didn't move, though Yera was aware that it knew she was there. As physically intimidating as the great golem was, Yera found it to be quite a sad creature, lurking in this area for the most part and having little or no contact with the majority of the Legionnaires.

Yera realised that this was an opportunity to get to know it as well as catch up with the composite being that had unwittingly helped her decide to give up being a Legionnaire to focus full-time on being a tutor. She really wanted to make sure that Starkling was okay after its experience on Talok vii, and perhaps, with a bit of support they would be able to integrate the Mordecai fully into the Legion family. She already had ideas how it might be able to help out at the Academy...

She reached out and touched the leading edge of Starkling's welcoming tendril and sent her happiest thoughts to her friend.

Titan - Nasir N'Cube of Titan, alpha-level telepath
Spoiler ii - Gord Eno of Naltor, precognition, specialising in short range visions for combat situations
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


Jed and Tel avoided each other.

The two Science Police Officers had both returned to their apartment after arguing in the gym but before their tiff could continue Jed had made an excuse to run an errand and left. Four hours later he ended up sat in the Romper Room talking to Thirteen and Spoiler.

They had been swapping outrageous stories of their experiences working in law enforcement prior to being Legionnaires and Jed asked to join them. He had a few tales from his time on Tarkon-Galtos to share. Initially, the two young men had only smiled politely but Jed quickly got to the funny stories involving several failed attempts at escaping the facilities... and that was just the staff, he added to knowing laughter. Soon the three men were enthralled in the stories they each had.

Three quarters of an hour later they were all in howling with laughter when Tel Vole walked in. Jed's body language immediately changed, becoming far more closed off than it had only moments before. Both Nasir and Gord followed suit, though they sniggered as the humour from the last story spilled out.

"Hey guys," Tel said, "do you mind if I join in?"

"Of course, no bother..." Nasir said with a smile. Tel smiled back at the telepath, though without much warmth.

"Yeah, please do." Gord added. Tel nodded his thanks.

"It's okay, I'm coming..." Jed started to stand up but Tel put and hand on his shoulder to stop him from rising. Jed quickly sat down again.

"So, what you talking about guys? I could hear you all laughing right down the corridor." Tel smiled at Gord and Nasir. Both noticed he had kept a hand on his husband's shoulder ensuring he couldn't leave. As Gord answered Tel sat down next to his husband though didn't look in his direction as he did.

The next fifteen minutes were not comfortable for anyone as Tel tried to tell stories but wouldn't allow Jed the chance to add anything to them as he focussed entirely on Nasir and Gord. Eventually they both made excuses and left.

"Well, that was nice." Tel said brightly as he stood up. He still didn't try to make eye contact with his husband.

"Why are you so mad at me?" Jed asked, his voice was quiet, dulled by his obvious sadness. He made a point of remaining sat down.

"Y'know, sometimes I'd like some quality time with my husband too. Doesn't seem he feels the same though." Tel said as he started to walk out.

"Tel, listen, this... I don't know what this is about, but it's hurtful. It has to stop. I'm... ah, I do love you but I'm not gonna be a punchbag..."

"Oh, stop whining already. You need to make an effort with me too, not just the fair-weather friends you pick up on the base."

"Hey... I think you need to cool it now 'cause if you can't see what a bitch you're being then I'm not gonna hang around much longer."

"Yeah? Suit yourself. Oh, your dinner's on the table waiting for you back at our apartment. I'm going out to see who I can find now... don't wait up." And with that Tel Vole took flight and sped from the room.

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


They stepped through a warp into a small town with three suns overhead.

<Hey team, we're on Zuun. According to the Monitor Board there's been some troubles here at the zoo so be careful, this place may be full of nasty surprises>

Despite Tinya's warning the mission was surprisingly easy - the local zoo had their prize exhibit of rare indigenous creatures called Torryquines stolen overnight from their pens. Tinya had taken one look at the tunnels used to get the animals away and she immediately accessed the planetary population database. In under two minutes she had found the address of the person she suspected responsible.

As she expected, the person responsible lived on the very outskirts of town, their grounds had no fences and despite track marks clearly indicating that the animals from the zoo had been there, the tracks also indicated that they had returned to the wilderness of the Mushroom Forests. The owner of the farm came forward when he saw the Legionnaires and gave himself up. He had merely wanted to see the animals return to the wild, not live the rest of their lives in cages anymore. When he asked how they had found him so quickly, after he had done everything he could to ensure there was no evidence left behind, Tinya smiled and said she had seen another Bismollian eat their way into and out of places before so it was pretty obvious to her how the tunnels had been created ...and as he was the only one from that distant planet currently registered on this Rim world... the animal thief nodded and agreed to join the team down to the local police station without any fuss after that.

The next warp took them to the Siver Forest on Hullien-Kolnnus Prime where a reported monster was attacking the local tribes' villages. Rain was tipping down, blurring their surroundings as the Legionnaires made their way across the resplendent treetops towards the last sighting of the beast.

<it's weird but I can't sense anything alive down there> Mindbender sent to the team, <not for a good way all around...no people, no animals. I don't think this is right>

<What is it Marmud?> even as she asked Tinya signalled the team to stop.

<there's nothing ahead of us but in an ecosystem like this there should lots of life so I should sense...something?>

At Tinya's command XS zoomed ahead, darting through the forest below. They waited several seconds and heard nothing before a static blast tore through the telepathic grid that connected the team.

"Jenni!" Po still clutched his head with a hand as he dived into the trees to look for his fianc?.

"Ferro, go with him." Phantom Girl ordered before turning to the intern, "the rest of you stay close here, Marmud, what was that? Psychic feedback?"

"Technological... and it hurt, whoever did that has compromised the grid so don't use it. I'll keep us linked up. Ah... I think I've found Jenni, she's in an electric net. She's hurt, I'll point Po and Doug towards her." The young telepath looked angry as he scanned the forest below them, "That feedback is generating more static... this is tough".

Gazelle and Atom Girl had both flown closer to the tree tops while their team leader was talking to the telepath. There was a rumbling below and a giant erupted through the lush canopy and reached up with both hands to grab the Legionnaires. Atom Girl shrunk and flew as fast as she could towards one of his ears - she knew how to take him down. Meanwhile, Gazelle acrobatically dodged, keeping his attention while she dived and ducked through his enormous hands. The Khund struck at nerve points on the giant's hands and arms, as well as managing to smash the giant's nose with one particularly savage spinning kick.

<Gazelle, Atom Girl, I'm taking Marmud to get Po and Jenni...>

<and Douglas!> the Khund interjected.

<He's not the one I'm worried about J'izl. Have fun 'til we get back> Tinya replied with a smile as she dived into the thick foliage, the telepathic intern flew close behind. They could hear a loud roar and the giant stumbled and lashed out, entangling himself in the ancient trees around him. Tinya smiled, realising that Sylva was probably using one of Violet's ticks and attacking the giant's inner ear sending his balance askew.

Ahead of them they could hear shouting and a small detonation.

"Follow as fast as you can." Tinya said to Marmud before phasing straight through the huge trunk in front of them, going straight towards their colleagues and the sounds of fighting.

The intern smiled as he swung around the tree and wove his way through the forest towards the sounds. His telepathy was being hampered, not blocked entirely but there was definitely some strong interference he'd need to tackle to be of full use to the team. He could hear a definite fight as he approached where Tinya had been flying towards.

There were several unfamiliar minds alongside his teammates. Unfortunately, the three Legionnaires were unconscious. The must have been taken prisoner quickly, efficiently... the young telepath realised that whoever it was only metres away must have prepared to face this team.

Marmud Illic had a moments panic until he realised that Atom Girl and Gazelle was still free so they still stood a chance. He activated the distorter on his belt, willing it onto the Hide Mode and levitated up into the branches above. As the hologram sprung around him showing foliage and shadows like his surroundings, he took a deep breath. The intern concentrated on his colleagues and let his immense metal powers stretch out around him. The artificial psychic static made this usually simple task quite tough though he eventually found them... both unconscious, with another three unknown minds around them.

The intern was all by himself in a distant rain-soaked forest with a gang of meta-terrorists that had just taken out a full squad of Legionnaires...

The Siver Forests of Hullien Kolnnus Prime:

Mindbender - Marmud Illic of Titan, alpha-level telepath


With the rest of the team unconscious and an unknown group at large the intern called Mindbender felt justifiably worried by his predicament.

He had activated his flight ring comms-function but only received static as a response. As well as blocking the telepathic grid between the teams their opponents had also blocked the wider communication functions. Marmud knew that according to his Academy training he should by rights go for help but as he was unsure where that help would be found he doubted that would work. His choices were either to flee and hope to get help soon or risk capture and try to get his colleagues free... Marmud Illic had a strong IQ, far above average, but the choice he made would be thought of as stupid if it was presented as a case study in the Academy classroom.

Using his telepathy to pinpoint the location of his teammates was painful through the static but Mindbender quickly realised they were being moved away from him, while four of the opposition had remained behind. Marmud took another big breath as he focussed his strength. He contemplated his options again then decided he would fly as quietly as he could towards his teammates, all the while looking out for their attackers... a solution would come to him, he hoped. The constant downpour and the thick foliage on the branches of the trees made both difficult. He was thankful that whatever problems he was having in seeing too far ahead was probably shared by the gang that had attacked them. He also had the benefit of his telepathic sense to alert him if anyone got close, though due to the artificial TP static this was limited.

And several times his telepathy, as strained as it was, helped him avoid the people that were hunting him. One of them had a brutish mind that was clearly hoping to hurt anyone that crossed their path. Marmud was especially quiet as they stomped underneath him on the sogging forest floor. Another flew close-by, leaving a trail of sparkling lights in the air behind them. That one was moving fast and Marmud only had a second's warning that they were close before they tore through the forest not ten feet away from him.

The third one was a man, apparently human from what Marmud saw, wearing fairly standard body armour with a crest of some kind on his belt buckle. He had stopped about ten feet from the hiding intern to shelter under a bushy branch from the ferocious rain. Marmud quietly levitated closer, hovering a few metres above and behind them, and gently probed their mind, careful to be as sneaky as possible.

The man had very recent memories that showed he was part of a group that had been sent here specifically to cause a news story that would attract the Legionnaires on their Hit Squad mission. They had known who was on this team as they had followed the daily news-streams dedicated to the Legion's missions. There was no monster attacking villagers here, in fact there were no more villagers as they had been murdered to ensure no-one could warn the Legionnaires when they got here. They had set this trap to catch Legionnaires so they could publicly execute them.

From the memories Marmud scanned he found that there had been seven on this team of rogues. This man, Charrafen Maller, was a former UP soldier... had gene-mods to mimic Braalian's magnokinesis as well as increase his physical strength. He was now a high-priced mercenary... His job on this mission had been specifically to catch Ferro, which he had done quite easily as the metal skinned Legionnaire tore through the forest.

Realising that this gang must know about him and his own abilities Marmud considered what he needed to do next.

Marmud used Titanian breathing and relaxation techniques to fake being unconscious as he was carried through the forest across the former soldier's shoulder.

The intern could keep coontrol if they maintained physical contact - it was a fairly basic telepathic trick to shift the mercenaries mind into a drean state and give him basic commands like 'walk'...

The other three gang members had joined the former soldier as he carried the intern towards the rest of the gang and the Legionnaires. The psychic static made it impossible for Marmud to take control of their minds as he had the soldier carrying him but he had enough strength to mine their memories - all knowledge of an opponent is good knowledge! The training from the Academy stood him in good stead as he learned everything he could from the attackers without tipping them off that he was snooping inside their heads.

The one that he thought of as a brute had a gene-mod that allowed him to grow in size, while one had only gained his abilities recently so wasn't confident in his powers of flight and heat generation. The third could induce intense nausea and pain in her victims. She was also a weapons expert and had helped take out both Phantom Girl and XS. Marmud gently planted an urge to ignore him in their minds, hoping it would be enough to slow them down a little if he got into a scrape, but he wasn't able to do much more.

As they pushed through the forest Marmud could finally sense the other gang members and the unconscious Legionnaires. Going by how dulled the Legionnaire's minds were, he realised that his teammates were most likely in a drugged state. XS seemed the closest to consciousness so Marmud called psychically to her in an attempt to wake her up so she might assist him. After unsuccessfully trying to rouse Jenni, he decided that it would be best for now to focus on his breathing and keeping control of the mercenary that was carrying him towards his teammates. He'd need all the strength he could muster soon enough.

Ten soaking minutes later, after trudging through the muddy forest floor, the former soldier that was carrying the psychic intern reached the air-cart that the Legionnaires had been slumped onto and covered with electric netting.

Mindbender realised he had seconds to act.

The cyborg ring leader of the group stood to the side of the air-cart. Even trying to telepathically scan in her direction brought sharp static busts so Marmud realised that she must be the source of the interference that was hurting him so much. He knew she would have to be the one he took out first if his crazy plan stood a chance of succeeding.

As the former soldier threw the intern onto the cart Marmud commanded him to release an aggressive magnetic pulse to disable the cyborg. At the same time the intern twisted and kicked the woman who could influence moods in the face, knocking her off her feet. As he did, the cyborg crumpled onto the ground as the magnetic pulse disrupted her systems.

The painful telepathic static immediately stopped.

<SLEEP!> Marmud commanded the gang around the cart, just as the brute was reaching for him. Thankfully his psychic command knocked the seven mercenary's unconscious.

The intern's flight ring kept him hovering in the air above the cart, as he took several deep breaths.

<Wake up> Marmud telepathically sent at his colleagues. As expected, they remained unconscious, though XS started to moan and wriggle in the netting. Her Speed-Force infused metabolism was burning through whatever drug the gang had used.

The intern looked around for the control for the nets and after finding it in the dirt beside the cyborg he switched off the electric field. He quickly ripped the netting from his colleagues and threw it over the gang that had attacked them. He took a surprising amount of pleasure activating the electrics again to hold the gang that had attacked his colleagues and him in this rain bleary forest. He then got back onto the cart and checked on his colleagues.

It took a few seconds before he realised that he could smell something like burning. Looking over the side of the cart Marmud saw the gang members were all starting to decompose at an incredible rate. The smell became truly nauseating. They had all started to rot, their flesh and muscle bubbling as it decomposed at an alarmingly accelerated rate. It had begun once the nets had covered them but he had been too focussed on resuscitating his colleagues to notice.

In front of his eyes their bodies disintegrated into piles of bones and mulch.

"What is that... *cough... smell?" XS said as she started to sit up.

"Jenni!" Instinctively Marmud hugged the Legionnaire, "I think I just killed them all!"

XS extricated herself from the intern and quickly jumped off the cart and ran around the scene, scanning everything with her flight ring.

"You called for help? Where's Henry's warp?" Jenni asked.

The intern called Mindbender's jaw fell as he realised that he had forgotten the first rule of working with the Legion: If in doubt, ask for assistance. As soon as the cyborg's static had lifted, he could have sent an alarm through to the Bases for support.


Within two minutes there was a team of Legionnaires and support staff at hand to help.

Ming Sul had the Green Lantern gently scoop up the remains of the gang that had attacked the team to be transported back to First Base for a thorough examination. Mindbender felt dejected as he saw Dkyun Mu take the remains back through Henry's warp. If only he'd sent the alarm...

Phantom Girl had been revived by Dr Shakespeare and called Marmud over to speak with her as the team's doctor supported her to a warp to his medi-bay. The Legion leader looked exhausted as she smiled at the intern.

"You did good, thank you Marmud."

"I wish I'd only thought to..."

"No! Don't think anything Marmud. Today you saved six Legionnaire's lives. You are a credit to yourself, the Academy and the intern program. The thugs must have had a kill-switch implant that you couldn't have done anything about. Whoever sent them here ensured they wouldn't tell any stories if they were caught. Take a couple of days off. I have a feeling you may not be an intern for too much longer after today."

While Marmud Illic was pleased with Tinya's comments, the most pressing thought he had was that he wondered how long it would take to get the smell of rotting flesh out of his nostrils. He didn't feel particularly heroic as he stepped through the warp back to First Base.

Phantom Girl - Team Leader, Tinya Wazzo of Bgtzl Dimension, intangibility

Intern:

Mindbender - Marmud Illic of Titan, alpha-level telepath

Support staff:

Henry - Anti Lad - Spatial warp controller



It was two hours later that Tinya requested that Marmud join her for an informal meeting.

The team had been given the all-clear by Dr Shakespeare after he had neutralised the drug that had been used to knock them out and a quick check. Atom Girl had a broken arm and Cosmic Kid would have some serious bruising, but Dr Shakespeare reassured them they would be back on active duty within a few days.

The young telepath that had risked his life to save them had been unable to rest since returning to First Base so immediately agreed to meet with the team leader. Within ten minutes he was sat opposite the legion's current leader detailing what he had read in the minds of the gang that had attacked them.

"So, you're saying they knew who was on the mission due to real time media-streams? And that team of mercs were chosen specifically to counter us?"

"That's what two of them thought. They were chosen as their abilities could counter the Legionnaire's on that mission's roster."

"And who picked them?" Phantom Girl asked, eager to know if they had a name to track down.

"A dark silhouetted man on a holo, that's all I could get. Sorry... though they each knew if they succeeded, they would get their share of the bounty."

" ...that bloody bounty again." Tinya muttered.

"The mercenaries know that there will be many more like them lined up to take a shot at one of our teams whenever they can find them. That group were happy to go first as they thought they'd have the best chance to kill us."

"Okay, I thought there might be more coming after us. We'll need to stop live feeds... blast! I'll ask Theena to work out a way we can share random mission feeds to keep anyone watching interested, but the mercs off guard. It won't stop them trying something like that again, but at least they won't know who'll turn up."

"One other thing Tinya..." Marmud remembered something that had struck him as a little odd at the time, "they had their gene-mod or cybernetics in the last year. None of them were planetary norms like Braalians or me or you."

"That makes sense. I think this all leads back to Sa Lok on Rimbor. He's been running gene-mod shops in the fringes for a while now. Thank you Marmud."

After the intern had left Tinya contacted the senior team to discuss what she had learned. They all agreed that the media stories on their missions would need to be monitored and managed going forward. The senior team were less certain what to do regarding the bounty and potential mercenary traps springing on them when on missions. After twenty minutes of to-ing and fro-ing between various suggestions Tinya asked if they would all consider their options and they could meet the next day to finalise a plan. The Senior Team agreed and their holos winked out leaving her in a darkened room.

She sat in silence for several minutes before calling for the only member of the team that she thought might know something more about this situation:

"Henry, come to me when you're free please, we need to talk."

The holo-man from the 75th century appeared before her.

"You know what's going on, don't you?"

"Of course."

"I told you that I didn't want to hear any future history from you before, well forget that now. What is going on?"

Henry gave a humourless smile and nodded his head.

"I do not have full access to the minutiae of history but if you are certain, I can share a little."

Tinya nodded.

"According to the history that I still remember, at this time you are facing the challenges set by the Dark Man."

"That was Tharok's clone, we defeated him, didn't we?"

"No, I believe that version was a clone sent on a mission to test your colleagues, and the Fatal Five, by the United Planet's Security Council. They wished to test-run their own potential meta-army in case the Legion ever went rogue. The League of Assassins was their first attempt."

"That actually makes more sense..." She muttered darkly to herself.

"The real Dark Man is the person pulling the strings. At this point in your history, it is my understanding that you do not know exactly who or where he is. What you do know is what he is doing though." Henry gave a bland smile and stopped talking.

"Ah... so, we go after the gene-mod shops? Reep will be happy. Thank you again, Henry. As ever, I'm very grateful for you being on our side." She gave a warm smile as the holo-man faded from view.

hey Harbi, more great stuff! Though I see you posted the same installment twice, and there seems to be one missing in return?

loved the bit about Marmud's actions being used as a case study for what NOT to do!

Also, is a full Legion membership in his future? I love Tinya's emphatic praise of him - and I am glad Marmud wasn't too hard on himself for momentarily forgetting to call for back up.

XS metabolizing the drug, great use of her speed.

Also love Tinya's practicality in getting some info from Henry!

whoops, that'll learn me for trying to get these all posted while setting up a zoom call that's it fixed now.

Thanks B, grateful for you pointing it out to me.

thanks Harbi! and my pleasure, I love reading your work and that bit was amazing.

Really impressed by Marmud, such telepathic tricks he knows, I daresay he's even more competent than some versions of Saturn Girl have been shown. Like putting people in dream states or accessing memories WITHOUT tipping the subject off

Thanks again IB, Marmud has obviously practiced being sneaky since his first appearance when Gim caught him reading his mind

oh that was him! I remember that scene well, forgot it was him though nice bit of growth there!

Loved Marmud saving the day! I also like that the bad guys were prepared and intelligent, and not just dumb grunts...having the live feeds disadvantage the Legion like that is a development that makes sense.

Trouble in paradise with Jed and Tel too, that awkward scene was unfortunately very well written, you could feel the discomfort at that table lol

Awesome intro for the Dark Man! I think Tinya's gonna have her work cut out for her this time!

Oh, nearly forgot...Tinya recognising Bismollian tunnel digging waa a cute thing to throw in there too, I really liked that scene

Home Base, Sol system

Dawnstar of Starhaven - Senior Team member, space flight, incredible speed, tracking
Southern Lights of Starhaven - spaceflight, magic user


Southern Lights was floating in space a klick outside of Home Base.

As a Legionnaire, even one with a few weeks left of having Mon El as his mentor, Southern Lights was obliged to have one day a month working at Home Base to help support the tutors and get to know the students. On his last two shifts, he had worked with the students that exhibited magical gifts. This time though Rokk asked him to help out with a group of the students that could naturally operate in the vacuum of space. These were Wildfire's training team as unfortunately Drake was busy elsewhere.

Having been a member of Wildfire's first training squad after the anti-energy being had become a full-time tutor, Southern Lights felt a little bit uneasy at the prospect. Drake Burroughs had been so incredibly supportive and encouraging of his squad that the young mystic felt unworthy to take over from him, even if only for a day. He knew that he did not have the patience with immaturity that his former tutor had, as for one thing, Southern Lights did not find it particularly funny.

The Wildfire Fighters, as the training squad now called themselves, wanted to spend more time asking him about the transition from student to Legionnaire, as well as any gossip he could dish on his teammates, rather than work at the course that the training AI had holo-generated for them. The young mystic remembered his own time at the academy - he had found the majority of students to be childish and unprofessional in outlook back then. It appeared things hadn't improved. The only good thing about the training so far was that Startstorm stayed at the back of the class and did little to engage with him. He realised that his own disdain for his former academy squad mate was very probably reciprocated.

They had been training for a little over two hours when Dawnstar approached with a group of Science Police cadets that she had been asked to train that day. There was an awkwardness between Dawnstar and Southern Lights that the young mystic could not quite understand. He assumed that because they had both come from Starhaven and shared so much of their home world's culture and customs that things should be easier between them but that was clearly not the case.

The next four hours had been quite intense as Southern Lights pitted Wildfire's training squad against a group of mainly Daxamite Science Police Officers in a series of increasingly difficult training exercises. By emphasizing to the Wildfire Fighters the benefits of teamwork and using the varied abilities within the squad they eventually come out on top against the SPO's, though it had been very close. Almost as soon as the competition was completed Dawnstar had called an end to the exercise and sent the SPOs back to Home Base to pick up further training from Tues El.

Southern Lights excused the Wildfire Fighters, saying they deserved an early end to their day after all their hard work. As they drifted back into the planetoid base Southern Lights called out across a private bandwidth to his fellow Legionnaire before she could leave.

<Dawnstar, would you mind waiting for a moment. I would be very grateful if we could talk>

<I would prefer to...>

<Why do you always seek to avoid me? We are of the same people, if not the same Family, so I would think we have more in common...>

<I do not know you to avoid you Southern Lights. And we have work to do...>

<You are not being honest Dawnstar. I am a Spirit-Talker; you know we see through lies. Why are you lying to me now? Do the changes I have gone through alarm you?> He motioned his torso and his blue skin.

<no, no your changes do not alarm me. I have been a Legionnaire for half of my life Southern Lights, do you really believe something as petty as blue skin would alarm me? You are arrogant and ill-informed>

<...I do not wish to undermine or embarrass you Dawnstar. My apologies> He bowed his head in respect to the Senior Team member as she hovered close by.

<Southern Lights, you should be focusing on yourself more than others. Take that advice from one who has walked the path you are on for many years more than you> And before he could reply she flapped her white wings and sped away from him.

After Dawnstar had left the young mystic remained floating in space for several minutes, his mind racing. He was not so inexperienced to miss that there had been an ...attraction between them. Southern Lights knew what he had seen and felt was true, yet she continued to rebuff him at every opportunity.

Perhaps, he thought sadly, she would never be open about what she seemed to feel so it was time for him to look elsewhere if he really wanted to find a special connection with another. As she had advised, he needed to focus more on himself...

Duplicate Girl - Senior Team member, Luornu Durgo of Carggg, creation of multiple identical duplicates of herself
Monica Sade of Rimbor - strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.
Spy (also team counsellor) - Dr Noah Kabbo, heightened awareness and limited telepathy
Kid Pulsar - Neel Koduah of Earth, incredible strength, invulnerability, projection of explosive blasts

Science Police meta-squad member seconded to Legion World Second Base:
Magno - Science Police Officer Dyrk Magz of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields

Intern:
Solar Gorilla - D'Nadka Endarooga of Dmansca - generate and project extreme heat and light

Encyclopaedia Galactica: 'Bubble Arc' is a generic term used to cover any colonist transport crafts from the Sol System used between the end of the 22nd century and the early 26th century that held over a thousand colonists. These crafts carried technology that typically cryogenic froze passengers to ensure the colonists would remain at the same age and peak health for their arrival to their new home system as when they left. There were just over one thousand nine hundred that are known to have left during this time frame of which over nine eight percent reached their target systems. As was legislated at the time that they left Sol, all were fitted with a beacon that automatically sent out updates on their position along an ancient radio carrier system. Fourteen are now known to have been destroyed, through mechanical failure or natural disaster, three have been discovered intact after over-shooting their target system and floating intact afterwards, their beacons attracting their rescue. Another three are known to have malfunctioned at some point during their journey meaning the colonists were woken up years, if not decades, before they were due to arrive at their new world. Only two have never been found.

Encyclopaedia Galactica: The Lesser Spider Nebula is several hundred light years away from Sol in thearea of the Milky Way usually called the Outer Rim. It is renowned as being one of the smallest yet densest nebulae ever discovered. It was created by the remnants of a nova several hundred million years ago. The nebula measures just less than fifteen light minutes across (15 x 17,987,547.5 klicks, approximately 2AU). As it sits between two major binary systems it has been theorised that the gasses that are contained within the nebula are kept in place due to the strength of the heliotropic bubbles of the neighbouring star systems. It is also rumoured to be the base for a race of Terran-like beings that are ferociously anti-social. What little information that is known about these people has been mainly gained by second-hand accounts. All of these point towards a race technically capable of space flight but that have not yet reached a faster than light level of technology, that do not welcome outsiders and, will not partake in trade. In recent years the expansion of the Tallatanri Empire from system BH-1211113184 into the binary system galactic north of the nebula has led to concerns about increasing tensions with the people in the nebula next to this system.


Luorno had piloted the cruiser towards the Lesser Spider Nebula.

While the nebula itself sat almost 50 light years outside of the United Planets in the neutral space of the Outer UP Rim, there were settlers in this region that originally came from the Terran colonies. One of these had sent an interesting signal that Second Base had intercepted stating that a scavenger had found signs of ancient Earther-tech and was requesting assistance in retrieving it. Due to imminent threat from the Tallatanuri, they had not been able to salvage what they assumed were some remains from a late 24th century Bubble Arc. As there were only a couple of these massive crafts left undiscovered the potential monetary gain was worth an awful lot of credits. Though, there was the huge risk of coming up against the supposedly anti-social natives and the expansionistic Tallatanri for any that would want to assist with the task. The offer was put out into the Rim aether... help to retrieve the beacon as proof they had found a lost Bubble Arc. 50/50 split on Salvage Rights... any takers?

Duplicate Girl had decided that the Legion should assist.

The team needed a mission to take their minds off the recent announcements by Tinya, and a trip out to the edge of the Rim would definitely help...

Luornu had put out a call asking for a team to join her on a non-urgent mission and was pleased that within minutes she had five volunteers making the team quorate. She realised that her request had been answered so quickly due to the moratorium on the team leaving the bases alone meant that there were more of the team available than usual for these kinds of 'softer' missions.

It surprised her that Monica Sade had agreed to join as usually she stuck pretty close to Tyroc, though Lu knew better than to ask. Whatever was happening, or not, within their relationship was nothing to do with her.

Instead, Lu asked Babbage why it was wearing a cloak: a warm sky blue on the outside with a wide white trim along the edges, and a black starfield pattern with a hint of aurora flashing on the inside. The large Robitican wore it around its neck and had it fall to the floor across the right-hand side of its body. Babbage pulled up the hood over its head and tugged the cloak around its whole body before standing before the team. If the Robotican wasn't striking enough before, it certainly made an impression now! Magno congratulated Babbage while Monica Sade looked away with a small grin on her face. Kid Pulsar asked if he should get a cloak as his powerful frame was often seen as intimidating as well. Luornu smiled at him and shook her head.

The Robotican Legionnaire stated that it wished to alter its appearance as it believed organic beings often found intelligent robotic individuals to be inherently threatening and so had designed the cloak to look less alarming. Lu resisted the urge to laugh and simply nodded and said that it was being very thoughtful. Dr Kabbo stated that it certainly softened the Robotican's edges so was probably a good psychological trick. Luornu gave a quick glance towards the former team counsellor though was unsure if he was being serious or not.

As the team took their seats on the cruiser Lu checked who was next up on the Intern's rota and called up Solar Gorilla, offering her a place on the team if she wanted to join them. Of course, the student agreed and happily bounded into the docking bay a minute later. Within seconds of the student intern joining them on the cruiser bridge the team were ready and Lu piloted the craft out of the docking bay. They arrived at a point ten light minutes Galactic west of their target just under an hour later.

"Okay... scanning. The nebula seems to be giving some trouble to our scanners but there's a small craft close to its boundaries..." Sade said as she called up a holo of the nebula.

Babbage stood behind the Rimborian teleporter intently staring at the holo-display as she read out what was flashing before them.

"Definitely two human beings on board..." Sade said as she read off the hard-light screen.

"Technological footprint equivalent to late 23rd century. It appears the scavenger was correct." Babbage added.

Duplicate Girl smiled, "Right team, let's go investigate some living history."

And with that she piloted their cruiser towards the Lesser Spider Nebula and the small craft that had recently come out of it..

Ahead of them they could see a small shuttle craft.

Their scanners showed it did indeed have occupants. Terran, female, mid 20's... and a baby no older than a standard day! Lu wanted to talk to the young woman before the legion took their own craft into the small nebula.

The team tried hailing across a range of common frequencies though none elicited a response. After several minutes of trying to contact the person board the small craft Luornu decided they needed to bring them onboard the Legion's cruiser.

The cruiser's grav-array gently carried the mysterious craft into their docking bay. As the craft was pulled closer to the cruiser the scans made it apparent that there was only a limited amount of oxygen on board, with an estimated supply for only another few hours. Whoever was in the small craft would probably not survive without the Legionnaire's assistance.

Duplicate Girl, Babbage, Spy, Solar Gorilla and Magno went to the cruiser's docking bay to investigate.

Luornu walked up to the pod, a hard light data scroll that shone from her flight ring gave her an in-depth scan of the ancient looking vehicle. At its longest it was no more than ten feet and looked as if it had originally been made for a single use, perhaps an escape pod, though the scratches and dents on its otherwise silvered surface told a different story. This was a craft that had been used many times before. It lay horizontally on the docking bay floor, perhaps four feet tall. There was a transparent section at the highest point and Lu went up and looked inside. The material was scratched and misted but it was clear enough for the Legionnaire to see a young woman clutching a small baby to her chest, the woman's eyes were tightly closed and she looked to be terrified.

"Okay, stand back, I think this is a first contact situation... and she looks really scared so I'm going to be extra gentle now."

With a thought Luornu activated a protocol through her flight ring that contacted the control circuits of the small craft and commanded it to pop open the top.

The woman inside screamed!

Home Base

Chameleon Boy - Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla, shape changer
Titan - Nasir N'Cube of Titan, alpha-level telepathy

Intern:
Strobe - Denal Lort of Dryad - assume electro-magnetic energy form

Students:
Nemesis Girl - Mi Pra of Dryad - neutralisation of energies
Rebounder - Lozaro Koosta-Nevarra of Rimbor - physical density giving strength, durability and reflection of attack


Strobe, Nemesis Girl and the new student called Rebounder had been requested by Chameleon Boy to meet in one of the offices on Home Base's lower levels.

The Durlan Legionnaire was sitting at a large round table with Titan when they arrived. Reep Daggle smiled and asked them to join the Legionnaires. He reassured them that they were there to help the team, they weren't in any trouble, he only wanted to ask a few questions. Strobe and Nemesis Girl appeared eager to help while the latest student from Rimbor was hesitant. Reep smiled to him and motioned for him to sit down.

"Thank you for coming here, it is appreciated. We've had some ...startling information regarding the proliferation of establishments that offer meta gene-modifications and hoped you could share your own experiences so we can understand them better." Again, the Durlan gave a smile. "My colleague here, Nasir, is here to ascertain if there have been any memory modifications while you underwent the processes that gave you your abilities. If you are uncomfortable with him entering your mind let us know, it is perfectly understandable to be wary of telepaths if you are not used to being around them." Chameleon Boy glanced at Rebounder as he said this.

"Nope, it's fine." Said Strobe. Nemesis Girl nodded, her expression never changing. Rebounder looked less than comfortable but after a couple of seconds said "ah...okay."

"Thank you. Denal, can you start please. What do you remember about your own experience?"

The intern called Strobe told the story of him and five friends from Rim colonies that had survived the destruction of Dryad became meta-humans. He told the Legionnaires how they had each suffered the embarrassment of knowing that the League of Assassins had used the Legion's help with evacuating that world to justify their murderous spree. The six youths decided that they would do something about it. Each had received the standard UP Survivors Financial Support package, a sum given to those needing to relocate from their home world due to some disastrous stellar event, which, along with family money meant they were all reasonably wealthy... It took six months of planning and research before they found the gene-mod shop that could give them what they were looking for - working analogues of the abilities of the League. Both Strobe and Nemesis Girl agreed that the processes were laborious, painful and took almost a month to complete, and they each had a further six weeks in isolation afterwards where only auto-docs would monitor their progress.

"Was nothing like that on Rimbor!" Rebounder said, "I was strapped to a chair, given half a dozen injections and put in this big casket thing and then exposed to a weird light which knocked me out an' four hours later I was woken up an' told to take a couple a days to rest."

"Lozaro, do you mind if I look into those memories? It might give us a hint..." Titan said.

"Yeah, go on." The young student did not appear happy with the prospect but conceded anyway.

"Interesting..." Titan nodded as he gently probed Rebounder's mind. "It appears that they almost randomly assigned the gene-mods to you... as if testing their creations."

"Yeah, two of us din't make it. I was a lucky one." the student looked away from the rest of them as he spoke, his face clearly showed how upset he was.

"A third of the test subjects died." Titan said bluntly, "Whoever set up this organisation was not as thorough or careful as the one Denal and Mi visited."

"Or, they had the information they needed from their earlier experiments and were developing it so the meta-gene transference would be quicker. Denal and Mi spend a couple of months getting their abilities, it took Lazaro less than a week..." Chameleon Boy mused.

"I remember one o' my group asked if she would be able to read minds after the treatment and they said there are certain powers weren't possible to copy properly..." Lozaro said, looking hopeful, "like, everything had to be manipulation of energy or some type of change to the body. They said true telepathy wasn't possible as it took a lifetime to learn properly, and I think they said Cargggite replicating and invisibility was a no go. Even changing shape like you do..." He looked at Chameleon Boy, "they said it was too tricky. We were to be the test subject for their latest batch of mods... we asked a lot of questions as I don't think none of us really wanted to be there."

"What were the others gifted with?" Titan asked.

"Umm... Ardulman could, like glow and I think do fire stuff, Garetta made people scared and anxious and I heard her sister Griffa grew spikes and armour and was real strong ...and I think H'kromasal had some gravo-metric power. We was all different. O'Gryet and Moddi didn't survive, not sure what mod they were supposed to get."

"Do you know if there were any other groups experimented on before you? What talents they received?" Reep asked.

"Oh yeah, there were dozens, the gangs were lining up to send folks in to get powers. It's an arms race goin' on, I said that when I applied to the Academy." Lozaro looked surprised that Chameleon Boy wasn't aware of this.

"Okay. Thank you for coming in, I think we have everything we need now. You should resume your studies now." Reep was abrupt, surprising the students. After they left the room Titan asked him if he was okay.

"No.... no, this has obviously got out of hand. We need to shut down these operations as fast as we can before we have a super powered war on our hands."

Yay! more! i just finished dinner and this is the perfect dessert

Scenes between Legionnaires from the same homeworld are always nice. Classic Dawny, aloof and hiding her feelings. Her being all "YOU are arrogant and ill-informed!" was so her.

Fun mission, those space arks!

And I like where you are going with this super-powered arms race... is there something behind Cham kind of not knowing, about what Lozaro said when he joined? Is this a big plot point?

I like the Dawny/Southern Lights interactions too, I am glad we got another scene to explore that a bit!

Lu's team seems like a bit of a mixed bag, it'll be interesting seeing how they all gel together...and I really dig the idea of a Terran colony going all Mad Max like that and just becoming fiercely insular and refusing to play well with others.

The super-powered arms race is an interesting subplot, Cham in investigator mode is best Cham

Weber's World, the artificial planet that houses the ambassadorial workforce of the United Planets.


Chameleon Boy - Espionage Squad leader, Reep Daggle of Durla, shape changer
Titan - Nasir N'Cube of Titan, alpha-level telepathy

Weber's World ambassadorial team:

Oodoo Shanair of Lallor - empath
I.Z.O.R. - Gear i, Chief Maitre D' on Weber's World, nannite collective being, technomorph


Before arranging the meeting with Oodoo Shanair on Weber's World, Reep had called Rokk on Home Base.

The Durlan had calmly explained that the student called Rebounder had just told him that he had mentioned a potential meta-gang war on Rimbor at his entrance interview, but the main team had not heard of this potentially troublesome news. Rokk blushed slightly as he tapped on the virtual control to bring up the minutes from that meeting.

"Reep, he's right, he definitely mentioned this. I'm so sorry, we ... ah... we missed it. I'll make sure we have an algorithm set up to catch these in future so it won't happen again."

It was ten minutes later that Chameleon Boy and Titan walked through the warp into a large meeting room on Weber's World.

Oodoo Shanair stood at the side of the long dark wooden table that dominated the room with a huge grin on his face. The Lallorian ambassador approached the two Legionnaires with his hand outstretched to shake. After they had exchanged pleasantries the three men sat down and discussed the matter at hand.

Chameleon Boy quickly got to the point and shared his concerns regarding the meteoric rise in back-street gene-mod operations within the Rim Worlds. Oodoo immediately saw the risks and started to scroll through a hard light screen as he decided which ambassadors he should contact first. Chameleon Boy stopped him from going any further as he explained that according to the list of recipients they had procured from Sa Lok's personal files, there may be people of strategic importance - Oodoo understood that Reep meant senators and ambassadors - that had benefited from these gene-mod operations. Reep slid a data-crystal across the table, stating it had been set to be opened by the Lallorian's DNA alone and it would be best perused in strictest privacy. Oodoo grimaced and stood up from the table.

"IZOR, can you join us please?" He spoke up towards the ceiling.

It appeared as if particles of dust were swirling before them and over a matter of a few seconds they assumed the humanoid shape that the Linsnarian they called Gear used when in company.

"Hello Reep, hello Nasir, it is good to see you both." Gear bowed his head in acknowledgement of the Legionnaires before continuing. "We are secure here Ooodoo, I have enhanced psi-buffers and ensured we cannot be disturbed."

Titan looked around as he felt the psi-buffers slide into place - a low level static that interfered with his psionic talents. It wouldn't affect him as long as he didn't try to probe too deeply through it. As he looked around, he noticed that there were no doors into this room, instead there were only four blank walls with no point of entrance. He smiled at how efficiently Gear operated, altering the material surroundings around them without the Legionnaire noticing.

Oodoo took the crystal from Reep and activated the holo-function. For five solid minutes they remained silent as the Lallorian read through the data-scroll.

"This is incredible! We knew Sa Lok was corrupt but this is... it's mind-blowing! How did you get this data Reep? In case it goes to a formal investigation, you understand." The thin ambassador looked up to the Legionnaire as he asked his question.

"Surreptitiously." the Durlan Legionnaire replied with a small grin.

"Okay, I suppose that makes sense. So... it seems that our former Under Secretary has been making his own army. That obviously needs stopping. The financial information can be leaked to the appropriate auditing authority but the meta-army... hmmm, there could well be some serious breaches to the Genome Laws here. I'll definitely help you with that, and as I have the ear of a few judges and senators we will have official warrants for you within the next twenty-four hours to close down these gene-mod operations. What do you plan for Sa Lok himself? We can easily monitor the situation ...but do you feel that we need to take direct action?"

"Direct action will be difficult. From what the information at hand tells us we know there are definitely over forty on his compound on Rimbor but more worrying is when I cross-referenced, I found over four hundred metas that are no longer on any planetary registries so could potentially be in his pay. Who knows where they are and what they're doing right now? And, technically it?s not a crime to have received a meta gene-modification or work for a former UP dignitary so we would have no grounds to hold them if we find them."

"Unless they've taken some action that we disapprove of... okay, leave it with me Reep, I'll see what we can do."

"Thank you Oodoo, we are very grateful for your help." Chameleon Boy and Titan stood up to leave and shook hands with the Lallorian ambassador once more.

Henry's warp opened before them and the two Legionnaires returned to First Base. After the warp had closed Oodoo looked around the room before he turned towards Gear.

"Um.... you can let me out now IZOR.." He said with a smile.

Weber's World's Maitre'd smiled and the wall closest to them dissolved into a door sized opening.

"Splendid, thanks awfully." Oodoo Shanair whistled to himself as he set out to get the warrants the Legionnaires would need to close the gene-mod operations. He rather enjoyed the challenge of persuading senators and planetary judges to agree to this, without sharing the potentially illegally gotten data or using his mutant abilities. He smiled at this thought.

Who was he kidding, he knew fine he'd simply shake their hands and they would do whatever he asked them to...

It was so much fun being part of the Legion's covert squad on Weber's World, he thought to himself as he made his way to the apartment of the Rimborian ambassador's Cargggite mistress. With a whisper in their ears his words would reach the ambassador far faster than if Oodoo went through formal channels.

The mutant from Lallor had to admit, he loved playing politics!

The Lesser Spider Nebula:

Duplicate Girl - Senior Team member, Luornu Durgo of Carggg, creation of multiple identical duplicates of herself
Monica Sade of Rimbor - strength, reflexes, line of sight teleportation
Babbage- I-45ENG/Nth Series, of the Robotica Confederated Worlds, strength and durability, internalised weapons, hyper awareness and analytical skills.
Spy (also team counsellor) - Dr Noah Kabbo, heightened awareness and limited telepathy
Kid Pulsar - Neel Koduah of Earth, incredible strength, invulnerability, projection of explosive blasts

Science Police meta-squad member seconded to Legion World Second Base:
Magno - Science Police Officer Dyrk Magz of Braal, manipulation of magnetic fields

Intern:
Solar Gorilla - D'Nadka Endarooga of Dmansca - generate and project extreme heat and light


The Legionnaires remained quiet.

As the woman in the capsule screamed her baby awoke and started to cry and this made the woman stop her own yelling. There was a silence for about five long seconds before she sat bolt upright and looked around the docking bay. Luornu stood eight feet away with a small smile on her face. The other members of her team were ten feet behind her, allowing their team leader to deal with this situation.

"Hi there. I'm Luornu. We rescued your craft. Do you need any medical assistance?" As she had spoken the woman's eyes grew wider and a look of horror crossed her face. For a few seconds there was silence and neither moved.

"Stay away, you are Non-Conforms!" The woman said this but she did not sound terrible convinced as she looked around the docking bay again. "Your kind are not true, you are...." Her eyes widened as she stared at Babbage, "You mock my faith!" She clutched her child closer to her chest and pointed at the Robotican.

"This one does not mock..." Babbage said, its tone of voice was perfectly modulated to give the appearance of calmness.

"He'd need a humour program first to do that." Magno muttered and smiled at Solar Gorilla as the intern giggled. Luornu turned to face them, her stern expression making it perfectly clear that their banter was to stop immediately. It stopped immediately. Magno blushed.

Duplicate Girl turned back to the woman in the small craft and smiled again, "We're really sorry if we've scared you but I assure you we mean no harm and have not intentionally set out to mock you. Can you tell me your name please so we can discuss this further?"

The woman stared at Babbage before turning away, tears started to fall down her cheeks, "My name is Maiara... it was my grandmother's name as well, it goes back to the First Colonists."

"Maiara, that's a sweet name. We're happy to meet you. As I said, my name is Luornu and my colleagues here are..." She pointed to her team and they one-by-one introduced themselves. Maiara had nodded as Spy said his name was Noah but seemed dismissive of the rest and refused point blank to look in Babbage's direction as the Robotican took its turn to speak.

It took a few more minutes before Maiara allowed Luornu to help her out of the capsule. Noah Kabbo had been gently influencing the scared woman so she would feel a little bit more relaxed. He didn't really like manipulating people like this but knew right now they needed information so they could keep the woman and her child safe more than they needed an ethical dilemma.

The Legionnaires had used that time to find as much information as they could: Maiara said her people knew they were originally from another place, a green and blue world with a single satellite moon. They called themselves the Blue, and as she said this she started crying again. She had been taught that there were alien races and other descendants of her home world outside of the Nebula - which she called the Home-Glow - though these beings were Non-Conforms... she didn't know what they were non-conforming to but that didn't matter, it was the name her people gave to anyone not born within Home-Glow.

Solar Gorilla had used the cruiser's facilities to create a new set of baby clothes for the child and a warm red shawl for the scared woman. Maiara seemed taken aback!

It took several minutes for the team to establish that her people all wore shades of blue or green to show that they were Conforms, to wear red was to say one was willing to die... it was a colour usually reserved only for the terminally ill. D'Nadka asked Maiara if she had a problem with the Legionnaires wearing red, pointing to her own uniform of red and gold, to which the woman from the pod scoffed, "You all live in the Cold Outside, you clearly want to die."

"Maiara, do you want us to take you back into your Home-Glow?" Luornu asked.

"No. They say Gerral is Non-Conform. He would not survive. He has a red mark on his leg..." She started to sob and held her baby out towards Luornu. Duplicate Girl took the child in her arms and gently removed the pale blue romper suit from him. There was a bright pink mark on his thigh.

"It's a simple birthmark... why would they want to harm him for that?" Dr Noah Kabbo asked. He had intentionally not disturbed Luornu as she spoke with Maiara but he couldn't help himself but ask.

"Non-Conforms! you really don't understand, do you? As a child we all learned that the Blue gets you through, Red means your dead." She shook her head and looked at Luornu as if she had just explained the simplest of facts to a child.

"Rad-counters... It's radiation! That's it, isn't it? The old ships had rad-counters on every level, probably every room, and if they were blue, it meant it was safe but red meant there was a problem. Your people... do you know about stellar radiation?" She gave the young Braalian a withering look as a reply.

"Maiara, there are more of the races and peoples from outside of your Home-Glow that want to get closer... they may not be as open-minded as we are, so, how do you feel if we take you home?"

"No! We can't go back. They'll kill Gerral!"

"Perhaps we can convince them..." As Luornu spoke the woman ran over to Babbage and knelt on the floor before the Robotican.

"Will you tell them to spare Gerral, will you? You wear the Old World's Sky across your shoulders like the Titan that the Priests threaten us Grafters with, they might listen to you... please!"

As the rest of the team exchanged concerned and confused glances the Robotican gave an affirmation that he would indeed speak to Maiara's people on her son's behalf. With that Luornu sent a message across the telepathic grid to Monica Sade and Kid Pulsar on the bridge to take them into the Nebula.

As they entered the nebula the cruiser shook.

<We've been fired upon, nothing our shielding and structural integrity can't easily compensate for though. Guess the natives aren't happy to see us> Monica Sade sent through to the team in the docking bay.

"The Finders are here... they are looking for Gerral." Maiara held on tightly to her son as she looked around the bay.

"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe here Maiara, though can you tell us what to expect out there please? If we're going to help you then you need to help us." As Lu spoke Noah gave the scared woman another psychic push.

"They bring us back to face the Trials... to show if we conform." Maiara started to hug her child tighter.

<Lu, there's a message coming across an old radio bandwidth saying they want their sacrifice back. What should I reply?>

<Tell them we're coming to them and this will all be settled soon, thanks Monica>

On the control deck, Kid Pulsar monitored the scanners as Monica Sade piloted the ship towards the enormous construction they had discovered at the heart of this small nebula. Around the cruiser were a dozen or so small crafts shepherding them towards the huge structure at the heart of the nebula. These weren't what interested Monica though.
From the readouts it appeared to have a massive central body which led to hundreds of interconnected tubes and pods of varying sizes. Due to the intense magnetics and concentration of dusts in the nebula the scans could not give a definitive picture though of what exactly they were flying towards.

It took nearly thirty minutes to reach the structure within the nebula, by which time the Legionnaires had a pretty good picture of what they were approaching. Maiara had opened up and told the team of her people's home - the Big Bubble, they called it. Her people had arrived here centuries before and used the nebula as both a place to seclude themselves from the galaxy outside and as a source of the resources needed to keep their Big Bubble running. The society that had developed was led by a council of elders, though it appeared to be more of a collective from what the Legionnaires could gather. All adults were allowed to speak at the council meetings and everyone could vote if they desired. They seemed peaceful enough though they had some surprisingly strict rules. The Priests Under the Old Sky were both spiritual counsellors and law enforcement agents whose proclamations were seen as the final word on any matter. One of their strictest laws involved anything seen as a detrimental mutation. Maiara told them through her tears that anything marked with "the Red" was seen as dangerous to the People of Home-Glow and had to be expelled. She had held onto Gerral as she sobbed. Lu could see clearly on her teammates faces that none of them would allow anyone to harm the child, regardless of the laws on this colony.

As they got closer it became apparent from their scans that before them was the remains of a huge bubble arc, obviously cannibalised to make the structures that stretched out from it. Scanners began to pick up life signs - over 8,500 humans and a wide range of flora and several dozen types of animals all native to Earth. If there had been any doubts before this, they were now dismissed - this was clearly the remains of a colonising ship from the late 23rd century with the descendants of those early colonists still eking a life out here in this most inhospitable of environments.

As Kid Pulsar watched the read-outs he saw clearly where they were being taking and knew he needed to let the team know.

<They're guiding us towards some kinda landing pad, so get ready folks as we're away to meet the natives>

Duplicate Girl led Magno, Spy and Babbage out onto the landing pad.

A dome had moved over the cruiser, seemingly spinning out of the walls around the landing pad, as they landed and Kid Pulsar noted that an atmosphere was being pumped in.

The Legionnaires waited until they confirmed that it would be safe for Maiara and Gerral before leaving their cruiser. They stood protectively around Maiara and her baby.

Luornu had decided that the intern should remain onboard the cruiser for now with Monica Sade and Kid Pulsar. Solar Gorilla was disappointed but understood the rationale, her presence was unlikely to engender the team to this separatist society. Luornu promised that if things went well, she would introduce the intern as well as Kid Pulsar and Monica Sade to the People of the Blue. She didn't say it, though they all understood, that this also meant that there would be a small team on board the cruiser in case things didn't go too well.

Their welcoming party were actually less than welcoming. The dozen guards before the team each wore armoured space suits and held assault rifles in their arms, pointed towards the Legionnaires. They all stared at Babbage though despite their obvious awe signalled for the Legionnaires to walk into a tunnel that opened before them.

<Hey, don't worry, there's a lot of metal in those guns. They're not going to get the chance to hurt us> Magno sent reassuringly.

<Don't do anything unless they do Dyrk. We need to quieten this situation down for Maiara and Gerral's sake. Noah, what are they feeling?> Lu shot back.

<Scared mainly, though also happy to see Maiara back, like they've won a prize... I'm calming them down a bit, should be enough to stop any twitchy fingers> The counsellor responded.

The guards guided them through a maze of narrow dimly lit corridors towards a central point where they were told they could explain their transgressions to the Council and the People of Home-Glow. The Legionnaires each used their flight rings to scan their surroundings as they walked through the ancient ship, the readings being immediately sent to the small team still on the cruiser to analyse.

The scans and cautious approach the Legionnaires took wasn't enough to stop the trap from springing: Luornu was leading the way with two guards by her side when a metal wall dropped in front and behind her, immediately separating her from her team and the young woman and baby they hoped to help.

The guards must have known it was going to happen as they easily side-stepped so as not to be isolated like the Cargggite Legionnaire. Behind her the same thing happened to the whole team. Magno managed to get trapped with Maiara and Gerral, and reassured the woman that they would be okay. Noah Kabbo and Babbage each had their own individual cells behind the Braalian SPO.

<Everyone okay?> Lu sent through the artificial telepathic grid. Her tone was light, almost amused.

<I've got Maiara and the baby here, I can get us out in a second!> Magno sent.

<Do we want to tip them off that we're meta?> Lu asked, <As long as they don't try to hurt us, I'd advise taking it easy. This way we might be able to persuade them...> There was a loud crunch from behind Luornu.

<My apologies> Babbage sent <but I have already torn through the first steel barrier that fell in front of me. Are you suggesting I delay liberating you?>

<You're okay Babbage, they've probably guessed you're not an ordinary guy by now> Magno added, his laughter followed.

<I am not any sort of guy> Babbage responded with a little indignity <I am a single unit advanced combat-droid with adaptive...>

<Okay, okay, let's have Babbage get us out of here, which is probably what they expect. Noah what can you feel going on around us?>

<They're watching us...curious what we'll do, equally excited and scared> Spy sent, which didn't surprise any of the team.

<Hey guys, Maiara has just become unconscious... I think they gassed us but our rings' eco-protect...> Before Magno could finish the walls of their small cells started to collapse inwards. With a loud crunching noise, the ceiling pushed downwards as the floor started to rise as well. The boxes the Legionnaires had been trapped in were contracting in upon them.