Post by redsycorax on Nov 11, 2018 22:13:19 GMT
Note: This particular Legion universe is the continuation of the "Five Years Later" incarnation of the Legion. It is now the thirty first century.
As Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl scooped their son Chub up into his toddler hover, they were met at the interdimensional transit station by Mon-El, Shadow Lass and their new daughter Lyral: "I can't believe it's been so long since I went home for a vacation..." Phantom Girl exclaimed.
"Have your parents and brother met their grandson/nephew yet, Tinya?"
"No, which is why this is so long overdue. Honestly, the amount of work that we've been under for the last few years. A Legion School, and the emergence of second-generation Legionnaires. Okay, I know Luornu, Garth and Imra are hesitant about that, but sooner or later, their sons and daughters are going to follow in their footsteps. And, inevitably, so are ours. And the latest United Planet frictions."
"Tell me about it," groaned Ultra Boy, "Stig and I aren't talking to each other because we're on opposite sides of the Redistributionist Question. Rimbor and Braal's leadership are being absolute khundheads about the issue of public works funding and so there's pullback from the more affluent UP members- Earth, Naltor, Titan and Xanthu are digging their heels in over this. It wasn't this way when we were kids, was it?"
"Lucky you, taking a delayed honeymoon on Bgztl."
"Right, Tasmia, three years after we got married. So who's going to tide the Legion over before we return?"
"Supergirl's back here from the twenty first century. We're not sure about Tinya's power match at the moment..." Mon-El remarked.
"That's for Luornu to sort out. Incidentally, are you as worried about the fact she hasn't found someone since Chuck died either?" Tinya replied
"She's changed, though. Her widowhood has toughened her up." Tasmia responded.
"Ahem. Our interdimensional transit window is waiting." Ultra Boy said, clearing his throat.
"See all of you in a month..." But as the IDTV vanished into the interdimensional flux, there was a moment of intense heat and light.
Mon-El shielded his wife and daughter from the blast: "What the hell was that?!"
"Something went wrong. There was a temporal displacement too, and probably not an accidental one."
"Are they all right, Lar?"
"They seem to be, Tasmia...but unconscious."
BGZTL: Bgztl occupies a spatiotemporal area analogous to that of Earth, but within a four-dimensional universe (See: BGZTL BUFFER ZONE). Despite this, for over a millenium, its inhabitants have been capable of interdimensional transit, usually through assisted transportation, but in some cases, through personal capabilities, such as Phantom Girl (See: TINYA WAZZO) of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Other members of the Wazzo family have been capable of this transit capability. Initially after contact with the three-dimensional multiverse and its worlds, it was postulated that Bgztl was an errant alternate Earth that had somehow wandered into its current four-dimensional universe. However, while biochemistry, hominid evolution and stellar composition are comparable to those in three-dimensional universes, this may be due to mimetic proximity to three dimensional multiverses. Bgztl has been ruled for most of its history by a planetary state and has been reasonably free from alien invasion for most of that period. Its inhabitants can enter other four dimensional universes such as the Phantom Zone, Survival Zone and Ghost Zone (See: KRYPTON: See: JOR-EL). During its twentieth century analogue, it experienced a "Time of Troubles" under the malignant influence of a corporate chief executive officer of zeppelin transport, entitled the Dirigible Dictator. (See: TIME OF TROUBLES: See: DIRIGIBLE DICTATOR).
Encyclopedia Galactica, CE 3018 Edition.
"Ooooh. Did someone get the registration code of that starfreighter that sideswiped us. Tinya? Chub? Everyone okay?"
"We've been timecrashed, Jo. The current temporal readings indicate that we appear to be stranded in Bgtzl's forty-fifth hectade, about one thousand Terran years ago."
"Okay, so this is Bgztl's analogue to Earth's twentieth century. What's the rest of your solar system like?"
"Krztl is a dwarf planet scorched by our primary and one of the last to be explored within it. Asztl is within our primary's ecosphere and is a waterworld with no habitable land, so we can't land there. Mnztl and Nvztl are both ice giants and lack large planetary satellites, which Zlstl is our outermost world and comparable to 'superearths' in your universe, Jo. This is a transit vehicle and we can't exist in the vacuum of space for long. We appear to be back during the Time of Troubles on Bgztl."
"Yeah, you've told me about that, Tinya. Any more detail?"
"For most of our history, Bgztl has been dominated by a planetary government, with interludes of chaos lasting several decades between different phases of that government. The Dirigible Dictator of this period was the corrupt Chief Executive of the Global Transport Planetary Corporation, which had been privatised by the declining First Planetary Government, Ambor Onegys. Onegys abused his executive authority and control over Bgztl's zeppelin network to seize control of much of the western continent of our planet, and his rise led to anarchy as several ambitious but less capable, more ephemeral dictators vied for power. Altogether, three hundred thousand people died during his period of dictatorship, which lasted fifteen unades- years. As to why his Global Transport portfolio was so strategically important, Bgztl never went through a period akin to your Carboniferous period and so we had greater incentive to diversify away from coal and petroleum during our Industrial Revolution, eventually settling on hydrogen power."
"Was this before or after your people learnt to phase across dimensions?"
"Slightly before. They aren't aware of the existence of Earth or the three-dimensional multiverse, although some of our physicists theorised the existence of alternate Bgztls. Remember, we met those two alternate versions of ourselves from Earth-Prime and Earth-247 during the "Final Crisis" aftermath? In one of their universes, Tinya-Prime's Dirigible Dictator was a woman, Ambora Onegys, while in Tinya-247's Bgztl, the Time of Troubles was shortened because someone assassinated their Dirigible Dictator before he could get started."
"But this is your own Bgztl, right?"
"Tinya-Prime... "Apparition"... doesn't have a brother. I do, Gyma, who you've met. All three of us had the same overbearing authoritarian mother, Winema but in the case of Apparition and the other Phantom Girl, their fathers are still alive. And the broadcasts that we're picking up are consistent with the Time of Troubles and the threat to planetary security posed by the Dirigible Dictator. Apart from the sidelining of petrol in favour of hydrogen and the existence of a planetary state, forty-fifth centade Bgztl is comparable to Earth in technological and social terms... although without Earth's restrictions around gender and sexuality. As you might guess, spiritualism is our dominant faith."
"So, there are policemen and traffic lights akin to those on Earth. Anything to beware of?"
"I think I can hack into the planetary identification card database with my Legion Espionage Squad skills and provide our family with some ersatz official records and documentation. It's probably only a matter of time until the Legion recognise that we're been stranded in this century on my own world."
"Wow. Bgztl, before its inhabitants learnt how to phase."
Luornu nodded: "Something, or someone diverted their interdimensional travel vehicle downtime. We'll need the Espionage Squad to find out whether that was random timestream turbulence or something more ominous. Mon-El?"
"That residue looked consistent with a small explosive device. Crude sabotage, and not enough to wreck the IDTV outright. Which could indicate a transtemporal enemy... like the Time Trapper or Glorith."
"Danielle, have you located their emergency beacon?"
"Oui, madam Luornu. It is one thousand years or so in Bgztl's past."
"We'll need the Espionage Squad. Cham, Shady, Violet, Ayla, this one's for you..."
As the time bubble accelerated down the vortex, Reep cleared his throat:
"Okay, strategic report. What information do we have on the historical background, Salu?"
"Nothing much. Bgztl was in a state of civil war during this period, and it was before the planet's inhabitants learnt how to phase, as Tinya does. Nor are they aware of three dimensional universes. Fortunately, they also have none of contemporary Earth's quaint views about gender and sexuality. Due to the conflict and destruction of archives, detailed historical data has been compromised. Damn, I wish we had Imra or Tellus here."
"Yes, but Garth and she are running the Legion Academy now. Not to mention their four children. And Tellus is on Hykraius on bereavement leave."
"Ayla, you're along for offensive capabilities and Shady, for defensive reasons. Here's a dystorter, Tasmia."
"Weird how Bgzti's biochemistry and its universes laws of physics are so analogous to those of our worlds."
"What worries me is the fact that this is occurring in the past. Could it be a plot to change Bgztl's history?" Reep mused.
"To do that, they'd have to have a time-sorter available. And we confiscated the only known model after the first incarnation of the Fatal Five used it to erase the existence of the Legion from history and temporarily 'kill' Superboy." Salu noted.
"Telepathic plugs all programmed with Bgztli dialect from this historical period?" Reep continued his operational check:
"Confirmed. We're lucky that Tinya's there with Jo. She has the greatest historical experience of all of us, next to the late Val Armorr. And espionage experience."
"Who could have done this, Reep?"
"I don't know, Tasmia. We haven't heard from the Time Trapper since 3010, or Glorith since 3012. And that act of sabotage was small-scale. It could've been a local job."
"But Bgztl is a stable world. It doesn't have strong seperatist or secessionist movements like Durla or Imsk. It was one of the foundation members of the United Planets and it's had diplomatic representation since the twenty fourth century CE." Salu replied.
"Apart from this phase of its recent history. Which means this can't be coincidence."
As it turned out, it wasn't. Ambor Onegas sat on his throne, overlooking the operational centre in Dirigible One. Alongside him was a familiar figure- Glorith. She stared down at the Legionnaires and frowned at the turn of events: "This isn't good, Ambor. I know those interfering young adults- they're called the Legion of Super Heroes."
"But they lack someone with your formidable skills, Lady Glorith."
"We need to concentrate our efforts on these individuals, Lord Onegas. I have fought them many times before and know some of their weaknesses."
"Trouble. There's a massive chroniton anomaly in the vicinity. Looks like we were right about the presence of transtemporal intruders. The readings are congruent with Glorith"
The Dirigible Dictator focused a multispecific weapon on the incoming Legionnaires. As it activated, multichromatic light shone from its barrel and algorithmic sequences evaluated the levels of risk and threat the newcomers posed. Shrinking Violet found herself pursued by nanobots, inertron started to materialise around Lightning Lasses hands and amorphilyn projectiles shot toward Chameleon Boy, while Shadow Lass was able to prepare countermeasures in time. A wall of blackness closed in front of the oncoming zeppelin, leading to targeting and geopositioning system failures. Shrinking Violet decreased her scale even further, so that the nanobots now dwarfed her, until she could see their core componentry- and took appropriate steps, causing the nearest to open fire on accompanying pursuit robots. When the last flared into oblivion, she enlarged and focused her attention on her wife's inertron bonds. The constraints were subject to molecular bonding, which meant that attention to appropriate points could cause accelerated corrosion, which it did. Ayla used her sudden freedom to target Reep's amorphylin projectiles, with pinpoint lightning strikes which vaporised the projectiles.
Phantom Girl waved from the grounded vessel: "We have trouble. This wasn't an accident- Glorith is trying to manipulate events connected to the Battle of Hgltrnnz, one of the core events of our planetary history. It marked the first major defeat for the Dirigible Dictator. It's regarded as a temporally sensitive nexus point by most Bgztli historians and if there was any interference with the course of events, the consequences could be indeed severe. Bgztl would become an alien staging point and collaborator in Terran invasions, which won't happen if history stays in place."
"So she's actively collaborating with the Dirigible Dictator, then?"
"He had an intensive research and development process underway. Hgltrnz will be one of the bloodiest battles of our whole history and forty three thousand Bgztli will die. However, it caused widespread revulsion against warfare and armed conflict. It was also extremely close in its outcome. The Dirigible Dictator was mortally wounded after eight hours of conflict and he died shortly afterward. Without his presence, the tide of battle turned."
"The problem is, the battle's already started, so we have no opportunity to do deep cover. And with her protective and defensive wards, Glorith will detect our presence instantly." Salu noted
"So why did she abduct Tinya and Jo back to this time in the first place?" Tasmia asked.
"She wants to predate the emergence of phasing from the early forty sixth centade and give the Dictator an edge."
"But how? She hasn't captured Tinya, so how can she replicate or drain her abilities?" Jo pointed out.
"Oh no. She doesn't have to, Jo. She hasn't abducted me, she's kidnapped one of my ancestors- she'll try to active her or his latent phasing gene."
"The problem is, we can't directly intervene in this battle or we risk changing history as well."
Tinya was consulting her copy of the Encyclopedia Galactica:
"With only forty-fifth centade instrumentation, they won't be able to detect Jo moving at ultraspeed, and there are accounts of diminished visibility during the battle, which could be explained by Tasmia's use of her abilities, as well as numerous incidents of equipment failure in the Dictator's flagships."
"But wouldn't Glorith have studied the battle and prepared castings for those contingencies?"
"She's always had a weakness insofar as intensive electrical activity is concerned. That's your cue, Ayla."
"Is the shuttle teleport still functioning?"
Jo nodded: "Yep."
"Leave her to me."
"Be careful, sweetheart," Salu said as she kissed her wife farewell,"your personal force screen won't be operative. And just how Dirigible Dictator acquired that wound is a matter of historical debate."
Ayla materialised on the lead zeppelin of the Dictators fleet, leading Glorith to try to gesture a nullification spell, but Lightning Lass started her lightning bombardment almost at once, providing her enemy with no quarter. She fused the entry portal controls shut and destroyed the Dictator's side arms, intent on frustrating their quarry's plans:
"All right, where is Tinya Wazzo's ancestor?"
"There's a problem with Bgztl's morphogenic field, which won't be able to interact with contemporary Bgztli for at least another decade. But that doesn't matter. This world will fall to me and Ambor and nothing you can do will prevent that happening."
"No, you madwoman, you don't get to turn this planet into a totalitarian armed camp. And remember, I'm your achilles heel."
"Damn you, Ranzz-Digby. Why do you and your infernal Legionnaires always interfere in my quest to bring order and stability to the universe?"
"'Order and stability?' Have you checked the Dirigible Dictator's historical record? He's already killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and now he's presiding over the worst battle in this planet's history. No, Glorith. You should have stayed out of this. Remember, I'm your match. I have the determination and endurance to stop you, especially if you hesitate for long enough to try and cast counterspells against the others."
Outside the vessel, the battle was continuing, with fluctuations of light and shade adversely affecting the visual imaging equipment as others shorted out because of a small intruder beyond their capabilities to detect. Moving at ultraspeed, Ultra Boy threw the escape pods from the Dictators vessels far and wide from the immediate battle, causing attrition on a considerable scale. Zeppelins collided and burst into hydrogen flame, as the Planetary Government fleet gained the upper hand. However, the Legionnaires weren't able to completely account for the Dictators support fleet and some enemy bombardment got through. Chameleon Boy slipped into the control bridge through a ventilation shaft and then assumed the shape of the Dirigible Dictator, albeit with a golden, yellowblood scar on his forehead, as previously arranged. His counterpart snarled and began to manually battle the newcomer, distracting Glorith's attention and weakening her still further. Then, disoriented and dizzy, Glorith got in an attack bolt at the battling Dictator and his impersonator. He screamed and convulsed and then, he was still. Glorith screamed:
"Damn you! Damn you all to hell! Are you satisfied, you bastards?!" She dissolved into a black necrotic haze, her face full of grief and fury, as the other Legionnaires assembled on the bridge.
"There had to have been a better way," Reep said sadly,"but he brought it on himself."
"Thank you all, anyway. Bgztl's timeline is safe from that woman's interference and that mass murdering opportunist is dead. Glorith tried to distort Bgztl's history, but only ended up reinforcing the actual course of events. Ah, thanks, Reep. I take it this timedrive is for the shuttle, once we get it up and operational?"
"So, what about your honeymoon, you two?"
Tinya smiled:
"Well, we're on Bgztl and I've always been a history buff, so...what do you say, Jo?"
"Lead on, milady."
But one millenium uptime, Glorith brooded and wracked her grimoires for assistance. They would pay for this, and there would be a reckoning. Bgztl might have resisted her incursion, but there were other worlds that could be subverted and twisted for her cause. One day, she would prevail...
THE END
As Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl scooped their son Chub up into his toddler hover, they were met at the interdimensional transit station by Mon-El, Shadow Lass and their new daughter Lyral: "I can't believe it's been so long since I went home for a vacation..." Phantom Girl exclaimed.
"Have your parents and brother met their grandson/nephew yet, Tinya?"
"No, which is why this is so long overdue. Honestly, the amount of work that we've been under for the last few years. A Legion School, and the emergence of second-generation Legionnaires. Okay, I know Luornu, Garth and Imra are hesitant about that, but sooner or later, their sons and daughters are going to follow in their footsteps. And, inevitably, so are ours. And the latest United Planet frictions."
"Tell me about it," groaned Ultra Boy, "Stig and I aren't talking to each other because we're on opposite sides of the Redistributionist Question. Rimbor and Braal's leadership are being absolute khundheads about the issue of public works funding and so there's pullback from the more affluent UP members- Earth, Naltor, Titan and Xanthu are digging their heels in over this. It wasn't this way when we were kids, was it?"
"Lucky you, taking a delayed honeymoon on Bgztl."
"Right, Tasmia, three years after we got married. So who's going to tide the Legion over before we return?"
"Supergirl's back here from the twenty first century. We're not sure about Tinya's power match at the moment..." Mon-El remarked.
"That's for Luornu to sort out. Incidentally, are you as worried about the fact she hasn't found someone since Chuck died either?" Tinya replied
"She's changed, though. Her widowhood has toughened her up." Tasmia responded.
"Ahem. Our interdimensional transit window is waiting." Ultra Boy said, clearing his throat.
"See all of you in a month..." But as the IDTV vanished into the interdimensional flux, there was a moment of intense heat and light.
Mon-El shielded his wife and daughter from the blast: "What the hell was that?!"
"Something went wrong. There was a temporal displacement too, and probably not an accidental one."
"Are they all right, Lar?"
"They seem to be, Tasmia...but unconscious."
BGZTL: Bgztl occupies a spatiotemporal area analogous to that of Earth, but within a four-dimensional universe (See: BGZTL BUFFER ZONE). Despite this, for over a millenium, its inhabitants have been capable of interdimensional transit, usually through assisted transportation, but in some cases, through personal capabilities, such as Phantom Girl (See: TINYA WAZZO) of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Other members of the Wazzo family have been capable of this transit capability. Initially after contact with the three-dimensional multiverse and its worlds, it was postulated that Bgztl was an errant alternate Earth that had somehow wandered into its current four-dimensional universe. However, while biochemistry, hominid evolution and stellar composition are comparable to those in three-dimensional universes, this may be due to mimetic proximity to three dimensional multiverses. Bgztl has been ruled for most of its history by a planetary state and has been reasonably free from alien invasion for most of that period. Its inhabitants can enter other four dimensional universes such as the Phantom Zone, Survival Zone and Ghost Zone (See: KRYPTON: See: JOR-EL). During its twentieth century analogue, it experienced a "Time of Troubles" under the malignant influence of a corporate chief executive officer of zeppelin transport, entitled the Dirigible Dictator. (See: TIME OF TROUBLES: See: DIRIGIBLE DICTATOR).
Encyclopedia Galactica, CE 3018 Edition.
"Ooooh. Did someone get the registration code of that starfreighter that sideswiped us. Tinya? Chub? Everyone okay?"
"We've been timecrashed, Jo. The current temporal readings indicate that we appear to be stranded in Bgtzl's forty-fifth hectade, about one thousand Terran years ago."
"Okay, so this is Bgztl's analogue to Earth's twentieth century. What's the rest of your solar system like?"
"Krztl is a dwarf planet scorched by our primary and one of the last to be explored within it. Asztl is within our primary's ecosphere and is a waterworld with no habitable land, so we can't land there. Mnztl and Nvztl are both ice giants and lack large planetary satellites, which Zlstl is our outermost world and comparable to 'superearths' in your universe, Jo. This is a transit vehicle and we can't exist in the vacuum of space for long. We appear to be back during the Time of Troubles on Bgztl."
"Yeah, you've told me about that, Tinya. Any more detail?"
"For most of our history, Bgztl has been dominated by a planetary government, with interludes of chaos lasting several decades between different phases of that government. The Dirigible Dictator of this period was the corrupt Chief Executive of the Global Transport Planetary Corporation, which had been privatised by the declining First Planetary Government, Ambor Onegys. Onegys abused his executive authority and control over Bgztl's zeppelin network to seize control of much of the western continent of our planet, and his rise led to anarchy as several ambitious but less capable, more ephemeral dictators vied for power. Altogether, three hundred thousand people died during his period of dictatorship, which lasted fifteen unades- years. As to why his Global Transport portfolio was so strategically important, Bgztl never went through a period akin to your Carboniferous period and so we had greater incentive to diversify away from coal and petroleum during our Industrial Revolution, eventually settling on hydrogen power."
"Was this before or after your people learnt to phase across dimensions?"
"Slightly before. They aren't aware of the existence of Earth or the three-dimensional multiverse, although some of our physicists theorised the existence of alternate Bgztls. Remember, we met those two alternate versions of ourselves from Earth-Prime and Earth-247 during the "Final Crisis" aftermath? In one of their universes, Tinya-Prime's Dirigible Dictator was a woman, Ambora Onegys, while in Tinya-247's Bgztl, the Time of Troubles was shortened because someone assassinated their Dirigible Dictator before he could get started."
"But this is your own Bgztl, right?"
"Tinya-Prime... "Apparition"... doesn't have a brother. I do, Gyma, who you've met. All three of us had the same overbearing authoritarian mother, Winema but in the case of Apparition and the other Phantom Girl, their fathers are still alive. And the broadcasts that we're picking up are consistent with the Time of Troubles and the threat to planetary security posed by the Dirigible Dictator. Apart from the sidelining of petrol in favour of hydrogen and the existence of a planetary state, forty-fifth centade Bgztl is comparable to Earth in technological and social terms... although without Earth's restrictions around gender and sexuality. As you might guess, spiritualism is our dominant faith."
"So, there are policemen and traffic lights akin to those on Earth. Anything to beware of?"
"I think I can hack into the planetary identification card database with my Legion Espionage Squad skills and provide our family with some ersatz official records and documentation. It's probably only a matter of time until the Legion recognise that we're been stranded in this century on my own world."
"Wow. Bgztl, before its inhabitants learnt how to phase."
Luornu nodded: "Something, or someone diverted their interdimensional travel vehicle downtime. We'll need the Espionage Squad to find out whether that was random timestream turbulence or something more ominous. Mon-El?"
"That residue looked consistent with a small explosive device. Crude sabotage, and not enough to wreck the IDTV outright. Which could indicate a transtemporal enemy... like the Time Trapper or Glorith."
"Danielle, have you located their emergency beacon?"
"Oui, madam Luornu. It is one thousand years or so in Bgztl's past."
"We'll need the Espionage Squad. Cham, Shady, Violet, Ayla, this one's for you..."
As the time bubble accelerated down the vortex, Reep cleared his throat:
"Okay, strategic report. What information do we have on the historical background, Salu?"
"Nothing much. Bgztl was in a state of civil war during this period, and it was before the planet's inhabitants learnt how to phase, as Tinya does. Nor are they aware of three dimensional universes. Fortunately, they also have none of contemporary Earth's quaint views about gender and sexuality. Due to the conflict and destruction of archives, detailed historical data has been compromised. Damn, I wish we had Imra or Tellus here."
"Yes, but Garth and she are running the Legion Academy now. Not to mention their four children. And Tellus is on Hykraius on bereavement leave."
"Ayla, you're along for offensive capabilities and Shady, for defensive reasons. Here's a dystorter, Tasmia."
"Weird how Bgzti's biochemistry and its universes laws of physics are so analogous to those of our worlds."
"What worries me is the fact that this is occurring in the past. Could it be a plot to change Bgztl's history?" Reep mused.
"To do that, they'd have to have a time-sorter available. And we confiscated the only known model after the first incarnation of the Fatal Five used it to erase the existence of the Legion from history and temporarily 'kill' Superboy." Salu noted.
"Telepathic plugs all programmed with Bgztli dialect from this historical period?" Reep continued his operational check:
"Confirmed. We're lucky that Tinya's there with Jo. She has the greatest historical experience of all of us, next to the late Val Armorr. And espionage experience."
"Who could have done this, Reep?"
"I don't know, Tasmia. We haven't heard from the Time Trapper since 3010, or Glorith since 3012. And that act of sabotage was small-scale. It could've been a local job."
"But Bgztl is a stable world. It doesn't have strong seperatist or secessionist movements like Durla or Imsk. It was one of the foundation members of the United Planets and it's had diplomatic representation since the twenty fourth century CE." Salu replied.
"Apart from this phase of its recent history. Which means this can't be coincidence."
As it turned out, it wasn't. Ambor Onegas sat on his throne, overlooking the operational centre in Dirigible One. Alongside him was a familiar figure- Glorith. She stared down at the Legionnaires and frowned at the turn of events: "This isn't good, Ambor. I know those interfering young adults- they're called the Legion of Super Heroes."
"But they lack someone with your formidable skills, Lady Glorith."
"We need to concentrate our efforts on these individuals, Lord Onegas. I have fought them many times before and know some of their weaknesses."
"Trouble. There's a massive chroniton anomaly in the vicinity. Looks like we were right about the presence of transtemporal intruders. The readings are congruent with Glorith"
The Dirigible Dictator focused a multispecific weapon on the incoming Legionnaires. As it activated, multichromatic light shone from its barrel and algorithmic sequences evaluated the levels of risk and threat the newcomers posed. Shrinking Violet found herself pursued by nanobots, inertron started to materialise around Lightning Lasses hands and amorphilyn projectiles shot toward Chameleon Boy, while Shadow Lass was able to prepare countermeasures in time. A wall of blackness closed in front of the oncoming zeppelin, leading to targeting and geopositioning system failures. Shrinking Violet decreased her scale even further, so that the nanobots now dwarfed her, until she could see their core componentry- and took appropriate steps, causing the nearest to open fire on accompanying pursuit robots. When the last flared into oblivion, she enlarged and focused her attention on her wife's inertron bonds. The constraints were subject to molecular bonding, which meant that attention to appropriate points could cause accelerated corrosion, which it did. Ayla used her sudden freedom to target Reep's amorphylin projectiles, with pinpoint lightning strikes which vaporised the projectiles.
Phantom Girl waved from the grounded vessel: "We have trouble. This wasn't an accident- Glorith is trying to manipulate events connected to the Battle of Hgltrnnz, one of the core events of our planetary history. It marked the first major defeat for the Dirigible Dictator. It's regarded as a temporally sensitive nexus point by most Bgztli historians and if there was any interference with the course of events, the consequences could be indeed severe. Bgztl would become an alien staging point and collaborator in Terran invasions, which won't happen if history stays in place."
"So she's actively collaborating with the Dirigible Dictator, then?"
"He had an intensive research and development process underway. Hgltrnz will be one of the bloodiest battles of our whole history and forty three thousand Bgztli will die. However, it caused widespread revulsion against warfare and armed conflict. It was also extremely close in its outcome. The Dirigible Dictator was mortally wounded after eight hours of conflict and he died shortly afterward. Without his presence, the tide of battle turned."
"The problem is, the battle's already started, so we have no opportunity to do deep cover. And with her protective and defensive wards, Glorith will detect our presence instantly." Salu noted
"So why did she abduct Tinya and Jo back to this time in the first place?" Tasmia asked.
"She wants to predate the emergence of phasing from the early forty sixth centade and give the Dictator an edge."
"But how? She hasn't captured Tinya, so how can she replicate or drain her abilities?" Jo pointed out.
"Oh no. She doesn't have to, Jo. She hasn't abducted me, she's kidnapped one of my ancestors- she'll try to active her or his latent phasing gene."
"The problem is, we can't directly intervene in this battle or we risk changing history as well."
Tinya was consulting her copy of the Encyclopedia Galactica:
"With only forty-fifth centade instrumentation, they won't be able to detect Jo moving at ultraspeed, and there are accounts of diminished visibility during the battle, which could be explained by Tasmia's use of her abilities, as well as numerous incidents of equipment failure in the Dictator's flagships."
"But wouldn't Glorith have studied the battle and prepared castings for those contingencies?"
"She's always had a weakness insofar as intensive electrical activity is concerned. That's your cue, Ayla."
"Is the shuttle teleport still functioning?"
Jo nodded: "Yep."
"Leave her to me."
"Be careful, sweetheart," Salu said as she kissed her wife farewell,"your personal force screen won't be operative. And just how Dirigible Dictator acquired that wound is a matter of historical debate."
Ayla materialised on the lead zeppelin of the Dictators fleet, leading Glorith to try to gesture a nullification spell, but Lightning Lass started her lightning bombardment almost at once, providing her enemy with no quarter. She fused the entry portal controls shut and destroyed the Dictator's side arms, intent on frustrating their quarry's plans:
"All right, where is Tinya Wazzo's ancestor?"
"There's a problem with Bgztl's morphogenic field, which won't be able to interact with contemporary Bgztli for at least another decade. But that doesn't matter. This world will fall to me and Ambor and nothing you can do will prevent that happening."
"No, you madwoman, you don't get to turn this planet into a totalitarian armed camp. And remember, I'm your achilles heel."
"Damn you, Ranzz-Digby. Why do you and your infernal Legionnaires always interfere in my quest to bring order and stability to the universe?"
"'Order and stability?' Have you checked the Dirigible Dictator's historical record? He's already killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and now he's presiding over the worst battle in this planet's history. No, Glorith. You should have stayed out of this. Remember, I'm your match. I have the determination and endurance to stop you, especially if you hesitate for long enough to try and cast counterspells against the others."
Outside the vessel, the battle was continuing, with fluctuations of light and shade adversely affecting the visual imaging equipment as others shorted out because of a small intruder beyond their capabilities to detect. Moving at ultraspeed, Ultra Boy threw the escape pods from the Dictators vessels far and wide from the immediate battle, causing attrition on a considerable scale. Zeppelins collided and burst into hydrogen flame, as the Planetary Government fleet gained the upper hand. However, the Legionnaires weren't able to completely account for the Dictators support fleet and some enemy bombardment got through. Chameleon Boy slipped into the control bridge through a ventilation shaft and then assumed the shape of the Dirigible Dictator, albeit with a golden, yellowblood scar on his forehead, as previously arranged. His counterpart snarled and began to manually battle the newcomer, distracting Glorith's attention and weakening her still further. Then, disoriented and dizzy, Glorith got in an attack bolt at the battling Dictator and his impersonator. He screamed and convulsed and then, he was still. Glorith screamed:
"Damn you! Damn you all to hell! Are you satisfied, you bastards?!" She dissolved into a black necrotic haze, her face full of grief and fury, as the other Legionnaires assembled on the bridge.
"There had to have been a better way," Reep said sadly,"but he brought it on himself."
"Thank you all, anyway. Bgztl's timeline is safe from that woman's interference and that mass murdering opportunist is dead. Glorith tried to distort Bgztl's history, but only ended up reinforcing the actual course of events. Ah, thanks, Reep. I take it this timedrive is for the shuttle, once we get it up and operational?"
"So, what about your honeymoon, you two?"
Tinya smiled:
"Well, we're on Bgztl and I've always been a history buff, so...what do you say, Jo?"
"Lead on, milady."
But one millenium uptime, Glorith brooded and wracked her grimoires for assistance. They would pay for this, and there would be a reckoning. Bgztl might have resisted her incursion, but there were other worlds that could be subverted and twisted for her cause. One day, she would prevail...
THE END
