Written by Tanith
On board the GSV Dream Within a Dream, the members of the Resistance Council slowly gathered for the meeting. The HALST representatives, leading Z-man and The Meddler, were the last to arrive.
After introductions were made to all, Tanith stood from her seat and began to give her briefing on the Battle of Khazan. It was when she reached the part of her report naming Jaffa as the one responsible for the Overlord's invasion that discussion suddenly broke out.
"This traitor has been among us since the very beginning," said an irate Magneto, one of the few survivors of the Marvel Universe. "Who knows what secrets of ours he has been privy to, both on the Andromeda... and as a verteran member of HALST."
Immediately, the three HALST members in attendance jumped to their feet in protest.
Written by Ramz
"Don't you ever accuse my friend of being a traitor again. Especially you Magnus."
Tanith: "Ramz! Calm down! This isn't the time!"
"But Tan-"
Tanith: "I was there Ramz, it was Jaffa, he betrayed us."
The anguish in Tanith's face, which to most in the room lasted all but a blink of the eye, but too Ramz was almost like a life time, made him see the folly of his outburst. Powering down, Ramz apologized, and told Magneto to proceed with the meeting.
Magneto: "As you now know, we are now in more trouble than we ever were in. There is no telling what information he gave to the overlord about HALST and the Andromeda."
Nobody: "But.... ahh... Jaffa hasn't exactly been around for quite awhile. Actually, his position in HALST was being debated, there's no way that he knew any of our recent plans."
All eyes turning to a now red faced Nobody...
Written by Nobody
Written by Tanith
"But if he had no access at all, we would not be here either, as opposed to Khazan," insisted Magneto. He turned to regard Tanith. "What of the Andromeda in this mess?"
"The method of reaching Khazan and the schedule for major meetings, he could have had access to," Tanith began slowly. "But much of what the Andromeda carries out are either very flexibly scheduled... or involve either tech or magic beyond his experience. Whatever security that he might have breached can be repaired."
"Ahem." KrispyKreme cleared his throat as attention was focused on him. "Are we even sure if he really was the spy? MunchKING could have been lying..."
"...And I suppose leaving all his gear behind and going AWOL isn't incriminating?" Mg commented sarcastically from behind Tanith. "And when has the MunchKING ever lied... to the one he's about to kill?"
Beside her sister, Rune finally stirred. "And there is this..." She said quietly as she took out Jaffa's Uru sword from somewhere.
"What about it?" asked Benedict, finally getting a word in edgewise.
The answer came from an unexpected source. "It's been enchanted to go to him at need," said Agatha Harkness as she picked up the blade. "With his death, that enchantment should have faded away. And yet, it is still there, though now unattuned. That could only happen if--"
"--if the thing decided to reject the bearer," finished John Constantine in a lazy drawl through a puff of cigarette smoke. Data, sitting next to him, waved his hands in order to see through the smoke. "Turns out the ol' boy ain't *noble* enough to please it, eh?"
"And thus why he didn't summon it to his fight with the MunchKING, though he would have had nothing to lose in the trying," mused Tanith thoughtfully.
"The attunement had been lost some time ago," Lady Harkness stated further as she examined the blade closely. "But not *that* long ago. Perhaps a month... and certainly the young man in question had once been worthy of the blade, even if he no longer is... was."
"Before he turned traitor, ya mean," mumbled Kon-El from beside Garth.
Tanith sighed. "Whatever the circumstances had been, the fact is that his insider knowledge could only have come from the Andromeda. For that, I take responsibility. I will see to it that all of the security protocols on board, even the ones he didn't know about, are all overhauled before we leave."
"Good. Then we leave that for you to handle," said Pug, forestalling any more discussion on the issue. "And now, I do believe you've never finished your report?"
Smiling wanly at Pug, Tanith continued her report, concluding with the activation of the Sethanon Protocols and the destruction of Khazan, and their relatively uneventful escape.
Pug took a deep breath when she finished. "I had prayed that the eventuality that I helped wrought would not be forced into play... but some things are unavoidable, it seems."
"So many lives lost..." murmured Garth sadly.
"Would ye rather have the Dominion torture an' kill our boys rather than them rifts?" sneered Constantine. "They'd be a bloody less *gentle*."
"Those who stayed behind to defend Khazan knew what they risked," Benedict said softly. "We all knew what we risked." He cleared his throat and looked around. No one else seemed willing to comment further, so he took up verbal ball again. "I would suggest that we discuss the issue that our meeting had intended to back on Khazan, but I believe a more pressing issue would be where to head next. We cannot stay in this universe indefinitely..."
"Will the Overlord be able to track us here?" asked Magneto with a frown.
"Oh no. This is a dying universe. The decays of entropy generates more than sufficient distortions of the continuum around it to throw off even determined teleporters or scryers," lectured Pug. "But at the same token, we cannot stay too long either, before the adverse conditions start to affect us as well."
"In other words, we need to agree on a new headquarters," agreed Benedict. "One which we can expect to last for a while," he continued wryly. "Unfortunately, we have not many of those. Or, indeed, even a few of those. Suggestions?"
Written by The Watcher
"AHEM!"
At the clearing of his throat, the entire assembly turned and looked at the Meddler.
"As the newest member of this grand coalition, I would like to extend an invitation to you all, and offer the hospitality of my Empire to this...Rebel Alliance."
He smiled at the irony of his last words.
Constantine: "That's all very good, bloke, but what makes you think we'd be safe in your Empire? It's not like that you can lock the door and keep the bad guys out."
Prince Garth: "John's right. Even Khazan eventually proved to be a less than perfect sancturary to our forces. What would prevent the Overlord from simply tracking us to your Empire and trying to finish what he started?"
"I'm glad you asked, your highness. As some of you familiar with basic cosmology already know, universes tend to come in what some would call families or constellations. One prime universe acts as a hub or central axis, and other variants of that universe tend to branch off or "orbit" around it. The more similar the variant, the closer it is toward the central axis, cosmolgically speaking. The more different a variant, the farther from the hub.
Now, as many here may know, the Overlord's pattern of conquest is to first invade and subdue the prime universe of a multiversal constellation. This is due to the fact that prime universes are the easiest to locate and travel to for most forms of interdimensional travel, including the type employed by the Overlord's Sphere Ships. Invading the prime universe first simplifies things from a navigational and logistical standpoint. Once they've taken the prime universe, the Overlord's forces then use such a central axis as a staging area, attacking the most similar variants first as they work their way steadily outward. Thus it could take quite a while before an entire constellation of universes is completely conquered. It's even possible for them to overlook a universe entirely if it's far enough from the central prime one.
Now, since my coranation as Emperor, the universe of my Empire has become wildly divergent from the prime universe it sprang from. From the defeat of the insurrectionists and the reunification of the galaxy, the development and flourishing of super weapons that were checked in most other universes of its constellation like Sun Crushers and the World Devestators, the preemptive neutralization of the Vong, and the final imprisonment of Palpatine's spirit have caused it to become very different from its prime universe. The incorparation of extra-dimensional technology and beings into my Empire have made it more divergent still.
As a result of all these divergences, my Empire has drifted very far indeed from the central axis of the constellation. The outer fringes in fact. So far is it that if one was totally unaware of its existence, it would be nigh impossible to find. Even if its existence was ascertained, being able to find it among the multitude of variants in its constellation would be very difficult indeed without the exact coordinates or a transdimensional navigation beacon to lock onto.
One would have to search through many universes before stumbling on to it. And with sensors placed in a number of neighboring variants, one would have a good chance of receiving advanced warning if the Overlord's forces were getting close. Add scry blocking to prevent another method ascertaining the location, and one can be very secure for some time.
And should the Overlord eventually find it, you have an entire universe to hide in, giving you time to evacuate to another dimension entirely while the Overlord scours it searching for you. And as I said before, I do have super weapons of my own. While I would rather avoid a direct conflict with the Overlord on my own territory, I do command enough power to put up a serious resistance against his forces. Not enough to prevent him from eventually conquering my universe, but enough to keep his forces occupied for a while, buying time for many to escape to greener pastures.
So, with all this in mind, doesn't my Empire sound ideal as a new location for our headquarters?
Written by Tanith
A puff of cigarette smoke drifted in his direction. "Yeah. I've got one." Everyone turned their attention to the lounging form of John Constantine again. "What's innit for you, mate?" His sarcastic glance met that of the Meddler's. "Quite a bit o' risk yer taking, harboring us rebels in yer backyard. Might bring down yer precious empire, if yer not careful."
The Meddler turned an ironic gaze on Constantine, and met his sarcasm with his own. "And what makes you think he won't get to my 'backyard' anyways in time? Sooner or later, my double that he keeps in his prisons would be force to reveal me to him. I would rather strike first, than to merely react like sheep to an invasion."
Constantine nodded absently at this, seemingly mollified. Benedict's eyes swept around the circular metallic table they were all gathered around. "Any other comments?" he asked, his eyes stopping on Constantine once more. His only reply was a puff of cigarette smoke. "Any other alternative suggestions, then?"
There was a short silence in the room, before Pug spoke up once again. "None that holds the merit of what the Meddler here speaks of," he admitted quietly.
Benedict nodded, then moved the council into a vote. The results were fairly predictable, as most agreed that the Meddler's empire would be the best place to set up in next. After agreement was reached, Benedict asked the tech experts on how long their fleet had in their current universe.
"It'll take about 3 more hours for everything to be fixed," replied Victor Stone. "According to our calculations, we need to leave this universe within 5 hours before the entropy levels become too much to handle. It seems safe enough, for now."
Benedict nodded. "Very well, then let's turn to the other topic that has been on everyone's mind: the Orb of Power."
Silence fell across the table.
The silence was first broken by an impatient Kon-El, who stirred restlessly in his seat. "What to discuss? We go find it before the Overlord does and use it to give his empire some payback."
"Or at least keep him from obtaining it himself," murmured Garth from beside him.
"Finding it would be the hard part," said Nobody ruefully. "The Dominion has the numbers to do a mass search of any area they suspect the orb's in. We do not have that luxury."
"We might have better luck, though," offered Tanith. "Between the Infinite Improbability Drive, Yeoman's luck aura, and my own minor probability altering powers in the slipstream... the Andromeda might just have a chance of... stumbling onto... the orb."
"A method such as that would require the utmost in mobility and stealth," said Thian. "It would be best if the Andromeda along tried that path... so where does that leave the rest of us?"
"Running distractions against the Dominion?" mused Ramz.
"Better yet," said Z-man, "with so much of the Overlord's forces focused on the orb and lost at Khazan, their border forces must be stretched thin. This may be the perfect opportunity to...liberate a few border universes form the Dominion." He paused to think over his own words. "If only we can get to their Throne world, we can end all of this bloodshed with a single stroke."
Benedict raised an eyebrow. "Bold words. And in the current situation, it might even work. Unfortunately, we cannot penetrating the veil that hides the Throne world, anymore than we can find the Orb that way."
"Perhaps there is a way," mused Tanith. "What of Wayfinder?"
"It's magic has not been able to pierce the shields of the Throne World or the Orb," noted Pug.
"Yes, yes. But it's never had the opportunity to track one of its brethren there," explained Tanith. "During the boarding attempt on the Andromeda, Z-woman made off with a cache of medical supplies; a cache that included Woundhealer. Since all the Swords have been forged of the same metals in the same fire, they do have some sort of residual link to each other."
Pug nodded as he understood what she was saying. "So, If she leaves the Sword on the Throne world trophy archives, then Wayfinder would lead us there. And if she keeps the Sword..."
"Then Wayfinder would take us to her," finished Z-man. "Most likely after the Overlord has gotten wind of where the Orb is and sent his lackies to go pick it up... She might lead us right to it!"
Tanith shrugged. "It can't hurt to try."
"Then let us try," said Pug. With a gesture, he summoned the Sword of Wisdom from the rift-pocket where he had kept it. Hilt-first, he handed it over to Tanith.
Holding the Sword loosely in her hands, Tanith gave a command. "Lead me in the direction to the Throne World." The Sword did not stir. Nodding, she tried again. "Take me to Z-woman." Again, the Sword was silent. She gave one last command. "Lead me to Woundhealer."
Immediately, the Sword in her hand began to emit a slight hum. Then, it leapt into the air, pulling Tanith's hands along with it. The room gasped as the Sword stopped, as if frozen in midair. Tanith hung onto the hilt, as if straining to prevent the Sword from pulling her forward. The end of the blade seemed to blur as it tapered off into Shadow.
"Well, I think that worked," commented Tanith as she pulled the reluctant Sword in and handed it back to Pug. "It might require a shadow-walker to work, though."
"If which ever group takes up this challenge does not have a shadow-walker among them, I will go with their group," offered Benedict.
"But we should discuss first who will be going on this second mission," said Pug "As the rest of us continue with our attempts to liberate the border worlds."
"Of course," agreed Benedict. His eyes swept around the table, slowly somewhat as he scrutinized the HALST members, Z-man, and the Meddler where they sat together. "Any volunteers?"
In Progress
