JLU 2001 - Legion Worlds #1

FIVE YEARS EARLIER

"Hurry up with that lifter already!" Nervously, a black haired man in patchwork clothing took his eyes off the afternoon Metropolis sky long enough to shout over his shoulder.

A second man, looking identical to the first, slammed a hand against, the control panel of the construction vehicle, he stood on. "Sprockin' anti-grav emitter is busted. I can only get it half up!"

"Story of my life," The veiled attempt at humor and insult didn't prevent the third man, also identical to the first and second, from piling on more rectangular boxes onto the lift.

The construction lifter was a mangled structure of painted yellow metal. The operator stood on a platform behind a massive, anti-gravity platform that should have been able to raise tremendous weight effortlessly. Like much of everything left in Earth's major cities, the lifter was damaged; hotwired and kept together with binding foam long enough to serve a temporary purpose.

"Hold on a minute, let me crawl underneath and check the emitters." The third man-- a Carggite-- left the stack of plas-steel containers and stretched to look beneath the operator platform. Since persons born on Cargg possessed the natural ability to split their bodies into three identical beings, this particular 'individual' was able to pull off his own heist. "Hey Uijong, go get my tool kit from the hover. Uijong?"

"Look." Uijong, the name all three beings shared, pointed upwards. "Up in the sky!"

The third Uijong straightened and looked in the direction the first was pointing, blocking out the sun with his hand. "It's a Thanagarian?"

"It's a grav-ship!" The second called out, waiting impatiently on the lifter's, operator platform.

"Frak!" The first Uijon cursed. "Its---

The 30th Century's Greatest Superheroes.....

Feels Like Old Times

Legion Worlds #1- January, Year Three by Matthew J. Pierce

"Sprock! Get those weapons powered up!" Third Uijon scrambled for a trio of long, gray cases on the ground behind the construction lifter.

"Forget it, I'm out of here!" First Uijon hopped down from the mound of broken metal and debris, he was standing on and ran towards a waiting hover; the vehicle they used to get to the half buried commissary they were now in the process of ripping off.

In the air, a quartet of Legionnaires, slowed their descent towards the crime scene. While normally, food theft fell below their radar, the squad had been on routine hit and run duties and, just happened upon the Carggite. Given the regular of flow of supplies from off-planet, there was no impending food crisis so looting hardly seemed excusable.

"Who're we looking at?" A thick gray vapor drifted from the lead Legionnaire, as he spoke.

A winged member of the quartet held up an Omnicom, and reviewed an entry before lowering it. She looked back out to the trio down below and replied with notable displeasure. "Uijon Caro. A Carggite wanted, by Science Police on nine counts of amenity theft."

"That's it?" Another member of the quartet, this one blanketed in an aura of flame, seemed shocked. "So we're chasing down shoplifters now?"

"All right, let's cut the chatter. This isn't the first time we've found a hole in S.P. coverage." The last of the squad came from behind the other three. Dressed in his costume of blue and white with gold lightning bolts down the front of his chest, this was obviously one of the Legion's founders, Livewire. "We could probably stand having them in our debt anyway."

"Can I say it?" The other Legionnaires looked at their teammate in flames. "Well? Can I?"

Garth Rannz shook his head, almost as if disappointed in his over-zealous teammate. "Sure, go ahead and say it. But do it before the perp gets too far away, huh?"

With a smile on his face, the Legionnaire raised his hand towards the air and shouted with an excitement that almost seemed out of place given the state of the planet. "Let's go Legionnaires!"

We were warned. Allow me to say that again for clarity's sake. We were warned; we knew they were coming. I remember the day, almost perfectly, when a frantic Thom Kallor, busted into the monitor room to inform us, of what his girlfriend had seen. So powerful was her apocalyptic vision, viewed during one of her narcoleptic episodes, that he exhausted himself to the near point of death to speed across space to tell us.

The Blight was coming.

Defending Earth should have been a simpler task. Not so simple, that we could have mobilized the Science Police, the Legion and all of Earth's defenses overnight but, at least as simple as deciding on the best way to go about it or who'd be in charge. We couldn't even get that right. For every Science Police Chief, there was at least three "recommendations." For every United Planets representative and politician, there was another half dozen. I remember the look on poor R.J. Brande's face just before he stormed out of the strategy session. It was the look of a man who, as U.P. President, carried the burden of over sixty planets on his shoulders, and saw instantly that these United Planets had never been more divided.

"By damn! And who do you think they'll invade next?" Brande's fist, slammed against the table's face hard and without warning. More than one representative appeared startled and I nearly went invisible just out of instinct. "Have you even thought out that far?" The President's face was beginning to turn a deep red and when I looked out to the faces at the table I had a glimmer of hope that his point was being made. "We drag our heels on this initiative any more and we can start our counter-attack from Durla! With any luck, the Blight won't have made it that far by then!"

"The problem, Mr. President, is that we don't have any guarantee, that the Blight will start with Earth." The olive-skinned ambassador from Cyranus replied first, gills at its neck opening and closing as it breathed. "Marshalling forces here would require relocating forces from the garrisons on our world. What if this child is wrong and the Blight don't start their assault on Earth but on Cyranus, or Braal, or any other planet you intend to scavenge?"

"Not to mention, we don't know anything about this... Blight. Your Legionnaire left a lot to be desired in the way of information about our enemy, Mr. President." This from, Ambassador Wazzo of Bgztl, an on again off again supporter of the Legion of Super-Heroes and the mother of my teammate, Apparition.

"Actually, I am to understand Nura Nal is not a member of the Legion. Is that correct?"

I don't remember who asked the question, by then the purpose of the session was lost to me and I felt that earlier glimmer of hope dim like an exhausted ember. "It is," I replied. "Dreamer is not a member of the Legion." All though not the current leader of the Legion, R.J. Brande had his reasons for wanting me here, none of them requiring a great deal of imagination.

"What then, may I ask, is the relationship between Dreamer and the Legion of Super-Heroes?" The ambassador from Cyrannus, Nyxil, was asking all the right questions.

"She's the girlfriend of one of their current members. Star Boy, if memory serves." And Ambassador Wazzo was answering them. "Though, apparently a girlfriend in high standing… I'm told she recently pulled monitor duty for Star Boy and in the middle of a crisis!"

"Is that permitted?"

"No, it's not," I quickly replied. "Star Boy was suspended from the active roster and only recently put back on after he flew back from Naltor to deliver the details of her dream." I wanted to be invisible. I knew that, in doing so, no one in the room would see the look on my face, and how mad I'd gotten. "I felt he deserved that much."

"That seems to be the troubled issue at hand, doesn't it? No offense to the Legion of course. But, a vision of a non-member-- the citizen of a planet who's been without a precognitive in over seven generations-- should not be enough to render every planet in the UP without defense. What if we followed through with this 'threat' and the invasion never came? Or what if her dream caught a glimpse of something not intended to come for many years?"

"Her powers don't work like that, Ambassador." Member or not, I knew Dreamer's powers were far more accurate and timely, for better or for worse.

"Regardless, if there is no actual invasion, we might actually invite one the minute we leave the outer planets vulnerable!"

"Then what do you suggest, Ambassador Nyixl? That we forego, building a perimeter around Earth? That we leave it to chance that, Dreamer had it all wrong?!" R.J. was on his feet now, his hands formed into angry fists.

Nyixl raised open hands towards the President, closed his inner eyelids and looked away. "I would not sacrifice Earth for any amount of caution, Mr. President. I merely suggest we use some measure of restraint when considering the number of forces we send."

"Oh I know all about restraint, Ambassador. Restraint is the only thing keeping me from coming across this table!" R.J. chose this time, rather than a moment before saying something regrettable, to leave the room. As the dutiful leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes, I stood and followed him. But I didn't leave... they only assumed I did. To their credit, it was an easy mistake considering my invisibility.

"The President's outburst aside, the issue remains outstanding. The question is not 'if' we should create a Science Police perimeter around Earth but how much of one. If you link your Omnicom’s, you'll see I have proposed a 30% reduction in SP staff on all member worlds, a 60% reduction in the outpost stations and a recall of half of the fleet. Fleet Admiral Everett reluctantly agrees the fleet, could continue patrol coverage of U.P. space even with the recall. I see few other options if you wish to depend on the SP to provide coverage of your worlds."

"His outburst aside, is what you're proposing enough?" Leejah was not only the Ambassador of Durla, but also its spiritual leader. She hadn't been in the seat long because Durla didn't join the U.P. until after our bout with the Dark Circle but even still, it was obvious she was a staunch supporter of R.J. Brande.

"I believe it is," Ambassador Wazzo broke a brief silence. "Let us not forget, Earth is the favored home, of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Whatever SP forces we send into this perimeter, it'll be supported by the children we've already sent." And no one knew that better than Tinya Wazzo's mother. "I should say, we've already sent them our flesh and blood and if the Legion is all it was meant to be, then this 'Blight' shouldn't stand a chance."

Dear Brainiac 5,

I'm not sure if these quantum-based 'letters from home' are making it to you or not. Lyle was working with Kid Quantum on trying to adapt the flight ring technology so we could send messages over the Legionnaire specific frequency into the past. We can only assume you are still in the past, because it's been several months since you managed a transmission to us. Fearing an event in the 20th Century, might be responsible for the lack of any new messages, I attempted to pinpoint any changes in the past that may be directly linked to your predicament. You can imagine how difficult a task that might be, given changes in the past could affect us so completely that we might never know they were actually 'changes.' XS volunteered to help out by scanning as many volumes of the Encyclopedia Galactica as she could in between straggler-runs but... well the aforementioned dilemma still applies. While on the topic of memory, I thought I'd address some of the disparity you are undoubtedly finding if you've discovered a means to access the infonet from wherever, or whenever, you are.

People remember things differently. From my studies, I've read this to be an exercise among Earth's 20th Century school children. A student reads an excerpt or whispers a phrase into another's ear with the intention of passing it on around the room. When the last student in the link is asked to state the message aloud, it is often times different in some capacity from the original.

Despite not being on the front lines, as you recall, I hardly have talent sufficient enough to justify my presence there, I remember all too well the chain of events leading up to our current state of disarray. The U.P.'s response to Dreamer's warnings of impending disaster was feeble. Science Police Capital ships assembled a sort of 'zone defense' around Earth, while smaller vessels patrolled for any warning of a Blight incursion. Believing they had adequate control of the stargates, the S.P.'s left them virtually undefended. Invisible Kid didn't seem as confident, however, and so the Legion took it upon them to split their remaining number between the stargate and reinforcement duties.

Near as we can tell, the Blight entered the stargate network, somewhere near Xanthu. The Affiliated Planets, haven't been very helpful with sharing information, but Kid Quantum returned there early on in the days following the invasion and obtained eyewitness accounts of violet streams of energy marking the afternoon skies there. Similar reports filtered in from all around the U.P., particularly those worlds with a neighboring stargate, so we can easily conclude the Blight have learned how to use the network.

It should have taken them five hours by my estimates. Had Starboy not arrived when he did, with news of Dreamer's apocalyptic visions, I assess it would have gone that fast. Instead, the invasion took days. Four days to be precise. Stretched across U.P. space, and with the stargate network apparently under Blight control, the remainder of the S.P. fleet was unable to make it to Earth on time. Political conflict between member worlds prevented a timely response by anyone who could help. I suppose the Council was suddenly more concerned with the Blight's future intentions, than the Earth invasion.

As you can imagine, the loss of life was incomparable. The initial strike rattled the Western hemisphere so hard, its left the face of the planet marred forever. Droves of people head below the surface into shelter networks created nearly three centuries ago. Rescue tugs worked around the clock, ushering the injured to the Moon and Titan soon joined in on the effort, in case Saturn Girl was wondering.

All the while, there was little to no interruption from the Blight. At first the Legion surmised, the Blight wasn't interested in the people on Earth but the planet itself. Without any transmission from the invaders, the Council was left to guess the reason for their attack. Had the Blight's own home world been destroyed? Were they seeking a new home? Did they require the natural resources that Earth seemed to have in excess, thanks to our own scientific discoveries and conservation efforts? While the evacuation effort continued, the Legion attempted to find answers to those questions. I'm afraid to tell you, Brainiac 5, that some of them never returned.

Remaining optimistic, I continue to plan on your eventual arrival. We could certainly use the help; the team would benefit from your return. It's bad, Brainy, too bad for me to summon the courage to say. The Time Institute, as you remember it, is gone. I picked up as much as I could and brought it here, to the new Legion outpost on Pluto. I think you would appreciate the appropriateness of our setting up camp on War World. To be fair, that was M'Onel's idea - but he wasn't around to see it come together. I think the members of the Legion feel his absence the most.

There's chatter in the hallways about a squad's return, Brainiac 5, and apparently they've taken on more wounded. I've been assisting Doctor Gym'll as best as I can but sometimes, I fear I'm only getting in the way. It would raise a lot of spirits around here if you managed a reply. As usual, I am sending this message with the notes from flight ring process we used to get it to you. Wherever you are, Brainiac 5, I hope it's in a place that doesn't know the Blight.

Rond Vidar