Gone Native: Choices (ch. 14) (Patreon)

There were few things more haunting than standing on a desolate planet. It was chilling and unnerving. Humanity loved movies of the post-apocalypse, but they would love it a lot less if they couldn't turn off the TV, take a hot shower and go to bed in an air-conditioned room after eating their fill. It was very different seeing a dead world in person.

The worst part of it were the signs of life. Trees that once stood proudly were withered and dead. The clouds above were nothing but poison, dying the entire sky a sickly yellow. That yellow covered the ground like a toxic miasma, killing everything that it touched. The entire planet was dead.

"The Reach did this," Ada'la informed them as she stepped off of the shuttle used to transport them. "A delaying tactic to slow King Tarble's advance. I don't believe that they expected him to cover expenses to provide adequate protective gear for his soldiers." She noted, a faint blue outline covering her body, the protective gear she mentioned. It was both a shield and a filter, letting them breathe and interact with the world normally.

Raven looked back out at the ruined city they stood in -- a city on the planet Craxus, which made the city not far from where they started that much more incredible. She never would have guessed that they were on a dead planet.

"It's being terraformed, right? How long do you expect it to take?" Tim questioned, striding forward as he inspected the abandoned city. There were signs of battle everywhere. From the streets being covered in rubble to the potholes caused by explosions, bullet holes, and scorch marks everywhere… to bodies that were left where they had fallen and rot.

"Yes, planet Craxus is included in a sweeping reform to terraform hundreds of thousands of planets. Given that Craxus produces a rare mineral, it's slotted as a high priority, so it should be done in as little as a year." Ada'la said, going into detail because she knew what she said was impressive.

"A year? And this planet will be teaming with life once again?" Kori questioned, sounding hopeful. Ada'la offered a smile while the rest of them let that sink in. There had been major strides to push for clean energy on Earth, but money made an otherwise simple problem extremely complicated. The fact that this level of damage, to the point that the planet itself felt dead, could be undone was… shocking.

Ada'la nodded, "Of course. In the years that follow, we will be reintroducing the animals that lived here by extracting DNA from their bodies. Such an endevor will take time, but King Tarble is committed to the restoration of the ecosystems that were demolished by the war."

To that, Elery revealed herself, a frown on her face as she crossed her arms. "I don't know why Brother is bothering. He should just spread out the toughest species across all the planets. Like we used to do with planet Vegeta, only when a planet blows up, we won't lose such a harvest of tasty monsters." Raven spared the princess a look -- she was frowning, but she felt anticipation and excitement.

Raven fought off a small smile as she recognized the look. Elery was imitating Tarble all the way down to his scowl.

Then she shook her head, "Recruits! Our mission is an important one!" Elery began, floating over them solely so she could look down at them. Kara was visibly fighting off a smile -- it was easy to tell that Elery had fallen under the cute category in the Kryptonian’s mind. For good reason, Raven could admit, but for the rest… for most of the Titans, excluding Kori, they had a bit more insight into to Saiyan princess.

Elery was in the same boat as Tarble was. She grew up on the frontline that her older brother constantly pushed. For the entirety of her life, she only knew war. Tarble… Tarble seemed solemn about it. The fact Elery acted like a normal child was more than a little alarming. Had Tarble protected her from the horrors of war better than the documentaries showed, or was something else at play?

"Our mission is simple! Some bad guys are pretending to be our soldiers- well, they were our soldiers, but they turned out to be jerks, so we're beating them down before they can dirty our name!" Elery informed them of their mission, and Raven could feel Tim mentally shifting gears. She could also feel Ada'la's frustration -- it was clear that she would have liked to show off more high points than low points during their brief tour of Tarble's Empire.

Tim raised a hand, making Elery point at him, "Permission to speak, Earthling!"

"What have they been doing to have themselves be labeled as bad guys?" Tim asked a very loaded question. One that Elery didn't pick up on, but Ada'la certainly did.

"During the initial formation of Tarble's Empire, there were a number of defections to his side. A number of them were escaped slaves, but most came from the military that wished to continue to serve under their Supreme Commander. However, some are not… handling their newfound freedom with grace," she quickly explained.

Elery shrugged, "It doesn’t matter who they are or why they’re doing it! Are we going to let them get away with it, Hero-Force?!" She demanded, expecting a resounding no.

"No!" Kori cheered with a little too much enthusiasm, earning a broad smile from Elery before she quickly schooled her expression.

"Here's what we know -- there are ground forces in some old mines. They've taken some slaves from various planets prior to joining our side and are having them dig up metal and stuff. That metal and stuff get transported to a fleet, but as of this moment, we are uncertain which ships are guilty of breaking Brother's rules." Elery began, holding up a hologram projector that gave a short brief -- where they are, estimated numbers, people of interest. "Then those ships use something called a black market to smuggle the metal and stuff to other people. Or they're holding onto it in the hopes that it'll be expensive when we implement the economy."

"Implement the economy?' Tim echoed, sounding stunned. "As in…"

"A currency will be introduced to the empire in the coming days," Ada'la quickly smoothed over the point before Elery could do any more damage. "Given that Tarble's Empire is mostly comprised of slaves that had no finances to speak of, some of which don't even understand money as a concept, it was decided to introduce the economy… gently to the population-"

"Not important! Recruits! You have your mission so go show me you deserve a spot in my Hero-Force! And I would say don't die, but I don't have high hopes for some of you," Elery said, looking at Tim. The Titan leader swallowed his irritation before he looked to her. Raven nodded before her shadow began to grow, making all of them sink into the ground. Except for Elery, who dove in headfirst.

A moment later, they were rising out of the ground vastly closer to their target, on a ridge that overlooked it. There was a vast hole in the planet, not too different than mining on Earth based on her limited knowledge. The only difference being that at the bottom were several transports and heavy machinery for extracting whatever mineral was buried. She spotted tunnels that seemed to me smaller mine shafts, Kara tilted her head as she kept an ear out, but Raven's attention was brought to Ada'la when she very pointedly scoffed.

"They aren't using matter extractors. No wonder they're using slave labor, they might as well be primitives," Ada'la remarked. It was obvious that she was doing, but that didn't mean she wasn't doing a good job of it. The point was being made on every front -- Tarble's Empire used technology that was wildly more advanced than the standard on Earth. To the point that anything short was archaic and primitive.

"I'm picking up a few hundred voices and heartbeats," Kara noted, and that caught Elery's attention.

"You're like Brother?" She questioned, earning an odd look from Kara. "Brother always knows where everyone is. I've tried straining my ears really hard, but I still can't hear heartbeats if they're too far away. But Brother can. Or he does something."

Kara seemed to mentally file that away for later, but Tim easily fell into old habits. "Titans -- our top priority is to secure the hostages. Second is finding the fleet connection. If someone runs, then they run. I can't imagine it would be difficult catching them in this wasteland." And with old habits came their own roles.

Leaving Kara as the odd one out, "I'll… make sure the ring leaders don't get away?" She tried -- she had brief moments of cooperation with the Teen Titans, but she never became a full-fledged member. It was more circumstances pit them against the same bad guy instead of actual teamwork.

"Titans, go!" Tim said, and they fell into their roles seamlessly. Wally took off in a blur of speed, vanishing in one of the tunnels of the mines while Raven once again expanded her shadow and sank into the ground. She followed where the emotions were the strongest -- anger, despair, and yearning. When she materialized with Tim in tow, Raven found herself in what could only be described as a pen.

Aliens were seated, collars marking them all. Only those that were nearby bothered to look up at her sudden entrance. Raven was no expert in alien physiology, but she didn't need to be one to know that the aliens had been treated poorly. She saw injuries and neglect. Tim felt anger and he let it strengthen his resolve.

Raven knew he would include the sight in her report, but she could already hear the rebuttal in her ears. How many times had they stumbled onto a similar sight on Earth?

"We're here to help," Tim began, crouching down to the closet alien to inspect his collar. The alien, surprisingly, leaned away from his touch.

"They're bomb collars," the alien spoke in a soft voice that was more of a croak. Similar to a human with a dry throat… or someone that had been exposed to a poisonous atmosphere. "They'll blow up if you mess with them."

To that, Tim felt anger, but he looked to her. "I'm going to gather the intel. Take care of them, Raven," he said before he stood up, heading to the door. Raven was sure that the energy field keeping the aliens penned inside was very complex, but it only took Tim a few short seconds to make it drop. That got the aliens’ attention.

"I'm going to remove the bomb collars," Raven said, and oddly enough, it wasn't the first, second, or even third time she had uttered that sentence. It seemed that some things were universal, and one of those things was villians love for explosive collars. "Please remain still," she said, and she felt hope brush against her. It was tainted with fear and uncertainty, but it was by far the strongest emotion in the pen. She took in a calming breath, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Her magic reached out to the collars, well over fifty of them in the cramped pen. They were covered in dark magic outlined in white for the briefest of moments before the collars simply clocked open. As the aliens stared on in awe, Raven gathered the collars up into a ball before she flung them into a portal on the ceiling, where they would be deposited far away where they couldn't do any harm.

"That's- are you a member of the 501st?" The alien that Tim had first spoken to questioned. Raven looked down at him, caught off guard by the question.

"I'm not. I'm sorry to say that the 501st was killed in action at the end of the war," and to that, there was nothing but disbelief. Then it struck her. These people didn't know about the war ending, which only would have been a few short weeks ago. How long had they been here?

"The wars over?" The aliens questioned, "So that Saiyan bastard actually did it. I thought the war would last generations."

Raven dropped down, torn between her curiosity and the mission. But… she also had another mission. "Were you a soldier?" She questioned quietly, reaching out to keep a check on the situation. She felt panic and fear, but her friends felt confident. They didn't need her at the moment.

"Slave, more like it. Frieza razed my home planet and enslaved whoever was left," he answered, earning a quiet chorus of agreement. "Prince Tarble bought us to fight in the war."

Raven stilled, "Tarble used slave soldiers?" She questioned quietly because the documentaries certainly left that fact out. Her understanding had been that Tarble bought slaves, freed them, then fought with those that chose to fight. Several of the documentaries made that point explicitly. Raven supposed that's what she got for getting her information from a tainted source.

"Hm? Yeah, plenty. But save your pity for someone else. Prince Tarble's slaves are the lucky ones. At least with him, you had a chance of survival. I'm not sure if Saiyans can feel empathy, but he seemed to act like he had it."

Empathy? "King Tarble was a slave?" She questioned, and that was another detail that had slipped through the cracks. In the shows and the documentaries from both sides of the war, that fact wasn't mentioned -- or, it was implied that at some point he gained his freedom very early on. For the Federation, Raven imagined that it was to prevent Tarble from being cast in a sympathetic light. And the Trade Organization likely wanted to smooth over the fact that their greatest general was still a slave.

The alien looked just as puzzled as she was, "King Tarble?" He questioned right back at her, but he chose to elaborate on her question. "Prince- er, King Tarble was Frieza's favorite slave. Sounds like a hellish position to me, but seems like King Tarble managed to do well for himself in it. But I thought he had a brother? What happened to him?"

"He died," Raven answered shortly, taking in the information, but she was distracted when the alien felt pure relief. Equal to her taking a bomb off of his neck.

"Maybe the gods are real," he muttered to himself. "The War's over, Prince Vegeta is dead… I don't suppose Frieza is dead too?" He asked half as a joke and was thoroughly stunned when Raven offered a curt nod in response. "Huh. Well, seems like a lot happened and I'm doubting you have the time to get us up to speed," the alien said, his voice still raspy, but there was a quality of strength returned to it.

"Can you tell me anything about those that captured you?" She asked, and it was another that spoke up.

"They said we were here on King Tarble's orders, but we didn't believe that. Everyone knows he uses machine labor on planets like these, even if it's way more expensive. But, they all wore Frieza-Force gear and said that we were helping end the war. The fuckers," another alien cursed.

"Are there any others here?" Raven questioned as she stood up, and she was gladdened to see there were nos all around. "My team is clearing through the base. Remain here until we can get you all protective equipment," she requested before she began to float towards the door. However, she was stopped by one of the aliens speaking up.

"If you aren't with the 501st, then who are you?" He asked, and Raven almost answered on reflex. But the name wouldn't have meaning to them here. Instead, Raven offered a gentle smile.

"We're with the Hero-Force," Raven decided on, and the reaction she received was equal to the reaction of people seeing the Teen Titans in person. Hope. And the certainty that they had been saved.

It was a good feeling, and as an empath, it was even more so.

Raven descended into the floor through a portal before she reemerged through a wall near Tim and Wally. She was in some sort of command center -- there were at least twenty aliens, all bound and lined against a wall in various states of consciousness. Tim didn't even look up as he poured over an alien computer, interacting with a hologram as if he had been born doing it. Wally gave her a thumbs up to show that everything was going according to plan.

Raven turned her attention to the security cameras. She did see one in the pen, but her attention was drawn to the ones showing her friends take on the rest of the base. Kara and Kori made themselves obvious targets to take the enemies’ attention. Garfield was doing mob up as a silverback gorilla after Wally had blitzed through the base.

It was a short and some mission. One that they had gone on what felt like a thousand times before. Raven fell into a support role, Kori and normally Jamie would act as the powerhouses, while Wally would use his speed for crowd control. Garfield's role changed as easily as he transformed -- bugs for stealth, T-rexs for challenging fights, and multilimbed creatures for cried control.

Tim, however, was at his best when it came to dealing with technology. He put together pieces of a case better than any one of them, making connections that no one else would. And when Raven felt a familiar flash of confidence, Raven knew that Tim had gotten through security.

"I have the names. The admiral of the fleet is in on it, and so is the commander of a ship called The Enny," Tim informed them, digging deeper in the information. The name seemed to come from a serial number, taking the letters and numbers to make a name. "Nothing suggests that the crews were in on it. They were just following orders their commanders gave them…"

Raven sensed that it was coming, "But?"

"But, the deliveries were handed off to another fleet with the Enny as transport. The issue is, I can't find any reference to the fleet of ships mentioned in King Tarble's database. Either I haven't dug deep enough into his empire’s systems, or the fleet doesn’t belong to Tarble." Tim explained, making Wally frown. But Raven saw it.

"But it could belong to the Trade Organization," she ventured, and Tim nodded. After all, Tarble had taken the equipment that his soldiers had when he created his empire. Raven couldn't imagine that both factions had undergone a complete refit, so they would both share the same ships, guns, and whatever a military needed to wage war.

Meaning that they might have discovered proof that the Trade Organization was operating in Tarble's empire.

"What's the issue?" Wally questioned, sounding uncertain.

Tim responded with actions rather than words. A hologram changed to display Tarble, only he looked far worse for wear. There was dried blood on his face and hair, his clothing was ripped to shreds, revealing a number of injuries. Above all else, he looked exhausted. Haunted. Yet, as he seemed to glare at the camera, he seemed strong and he spoke with conviction.

He gave a message to the galaxy -- proclaiming the death of Frieza and the separation of his empire. There was a lot to latch onto in the short speech, but Raven found herself drawn to a sentence he had uttered.

'I threw away my ideals, my conscience, and beliefs.'

Raven was no master detective, nor did she study under someone that was proclaimed as the world's greatest detective. But, that simple sentence made a lot of things click into place. It explained a number of actions that Tarble made. It confirmed some of her own thoughts while making her reevaluate other opinions.

Tarble was a liar. He hadn't lied to anyone of them, but he was lying to himself. He had cut away everything that he didn't need to fight the war…

And he was on Earth to try to get some of it back.

"Oh," Wally muttered as the speech finished, latching onto something very different. "That's… are we going to give the evidence to them?" He questioned, sounding doubtful.

"It's not really our call to make," Tim returned, his tone not betraying his uncertainty. "This isn’t our empire."

"But it will be if Earth decides to join," Wally pointed out. "You heard him. And so far Tarble's done pretty much exactly what he said he would do every time. He's threatened total war against whoever picks a fight with him."

It was a choice. To look out for Earth's interests over the interests of citizens in a foreign empire. It should be a simple choice, but it was anything but. Especially the ramifications of the evidence would have.

"It'll start a war," Raven pointed out, making both boys look at her. "If we give Tarble evidence that the Trade Organization is operating in his empire, enslaving his citizens while pretending to be members of his military… he'll follow through." Her opinion was made clear. She had been right in Japan -- Tarble was looking for something familiar. And this would give him an excuse to return to what he knew.

Tim looked away, "If Tarble goes to war, then the focus will shift away from Earth. And now that people know the threat is real, by the time he comes back, Earth will be ready." He voiced, earning dark looks from both of them.

"You seriously want to start a war to protect Earth? I mean… a lot of people are going to die, Robin. I'm not okay with that," Wally said, shaking his head.

Tim shook his head as well, "I don't, but people back on Earth will. They aren't going to care how many people die out in space if their nations are protected." He pointed out. "If we give the evidence to the UN, they will give it to Tarble to get him to leave Earth."

It was obvious what he was hinting at, "We can't delete it." Raven offered a stern rebuke. "This can't be the only operation. There has to be more. Deleting it now means the others will go unnoticed for longer." And more innocent people would suffer for it.

This was the hardest part of being a hero. The most bitter pill that you had to swallow was that you couldn't help everyone. That you had to settle for helping those that you could. It was never easy. And it never got any easier, no matter how many times Raven faced a choice like this… only this choice would affect the lives of people far beyond Earth.

There wasn't a good option. But, as heroes, it was their job to make a better option. Maybe they couldn't save everyone, but they would save all those that they could.

"We don't give it to Tarble," Raven continued after a lengthy beat of silence. "We give it to Ada'la." It was subverting Tarble's authority, but Raven didn't find that she really cared when doing so would mean outright war. "She'll know what to do with it… and we leave this out of our report to Earth."

It wasn't in Earth's best interest to not give them what amounted to be a silver bullet and time to prepare. She didn't have the right to make this decision that would affect billions of lives.

But Raven would take that right regardless.

Wally seemed to mull it over for a moment before he offered a hesitant nod, sending Tim a sideways look, "I… can live with that," he voiced his opinion. He was anxious and uncertain. Just like her, Wally understood how many people would be affected by their decision, and he didn't want to be the one making it.

Tim was silent, warring with himself. Much like Jason, Batman had put a cold edge inside of his Robins. With Jason, it never saw much use. The late Robin had embraced his emotions with full force, letting him feel everything and he let them guide him. Possibly into an early grave. Tim had that same edge as Batman. That ruthlessness never saw much use, and only for acts of good, but it let him coldly analyze a situation to get the most ideal outcome.

And to Raven's relief, he nodded in agreement.

"We'll give it to Ada'la. Then what happens next is out of our hands," Tim decided. Meaning that if there was a war, then it wasn't for a lack of trying to prevent it.

And if there was a war…

Raven wondered how many heroes would be content to stay on Earth knowing that countless lives were being snuffed out in the galaxy around them.

…

Not long after, they were back on the shuttle, leaving Craxus. Those that had been enslaved were freed and sent to get medical attention. Those that had been captured were in holding, their fate unknown and to be decided. The detour hadn't been a long one, but it felt exhausting, and even more so because they still had a number of stops to see.

But, as Elery congratulated them all for surviving, and taking special notice of Tim, who she had been certain would die, Raven sought out their guide. A few questions plaguing her, and Ada'la might be the only one that had answers.

Raven found her in the observation room nursing an alien equivalent to wine as she stared off into the void. She had the information, and Raven could feel her indecisiveness on what to do with it. Proving that she was the right choice. She understood what would come next.

Ada'la glanced at her as Raven entered through the door, giving her a friendly expression that she didn't feel.

"Why did Tarble choose Earth as his capital?" Raven questioned, her cloak fluttering around her as she floated to Ada'la.

The alien gave her a practiced smile, "Sentemantality. Earth was-" she began, and Raven could feel how practiced the answer was. Because beneath her words was confusion. Uncertainty. Doubt.

"You don't believe that," Raven interjected calmly. Ada'la's eyes narrowed a fraction but her smile didn't falter. Though, she did reach up to her earrings.

"I see these didn't work," Ada'la noted, taking them out. "King Tarble was right -- you are deceptively powerful. I had these enchanted specifically to block your empath abilities."

"I'm flattered," Raven remarked and she wondered how Ada'la would react if she learned that not even she knew how powerful she was. That the flashes of the depths of her power frightened her because even then, she felt no strain. "But you didn't answer my question. I think we both know that Tarble isn’t one for sentimentality."

Ada'la's lips thinned as her smile fell, seeing no point in hiding behind it. She searched Raven's gaze for a moment before she looked away. "I don't know," Ada'la said and for the first time since they met, Raven found that the woman was being honest. "I prepared for the war ending, as much as I could. I never saw independence as a possibility, but I knew that King Tarble would need a capital. I prepared one for him. I even had several backup planets to serve as the Saiyan home planet prepared because I knew it was an inevitability that it would be destroyed."

"I met King Tarble when he was just a boy. Even then, he was a force to be reckoned with. He led thousands of soldiers despite being so young, and had a number of military accomplishments… but what made him so incredible was that he understood that nothing could be gained without sacrifice. And he fought so hard to make sure that he was the one that took the brunt of that cost." Ada'la continued unprompted. "Everything that he did was rational. It followed a simple train of logic -- if it helped end the war, he would do it without complaint. If it didn't, then he wouldn't do it."

Then Ada'la sighed, "His choice of a capital is unlike him. It makes no sense. I will admit that your planet has capable individuals, more than I was expecting, but that doesn’t explain why King Tarble would choose Earth. Or stay there as his empire needs his guiding hand. It…" she trailed off, falling silent.

Raven saw the emotion that Ada'la was trying to hide. "What happened with Tarble's brother?" Raven asked quietly.

Tarble… the anguish he felt whenever his brother was mentioned. And the hate he felt whenever his team was brought up. And how he felt when he murdered Adonis…

"I don't know. The only one that knows the whole story is King Tarble. The rest died on Planet Vegeta," Ada'la answered honestly. "But King Tarble loved his brother. And his team. Likely more than he should, even when they didn't deserve it." She added, undercutting any dubious conclusion Raven could have made.

What about those that didn't know the whole story? The question nearly left Raven's lips, but she swallowed it down. There wasn't a point in asking. She wouldn't receive an answer.

Ada'la turned around to face her fully, "I have no clue why King Tarble places any value on your planet, much less why he's giving it such special attention. But I will advise you to come to a decision quickly. This Empire needs its king, and you Earthlings have monopolized too much of his time already." Ada'la stated, walking by Raven towards the door, letting the conversation end there.

Leaving her alone with only the void and her thoughts.