Gone Native: Decisions (ch. 15) (Patreon)

The return from the planet Craxus was rewarded with more work. They only had a small window of time to gather intelligence on Tarble's Empire, so they had to make the most of it. All of them kept notes of their observations and findings, but Tim's were by far the most expansive and detailed. That was simply his nature.

What was unexpected was that Elery decided to stick with them. In an effort to stave off boredom, which she openly admitted.

"Can you transform?" Elery pestered Kara, who she found the most impressive of the group. For a species that valued strength, that was hardly a surprise. You couldn't get much tougher than a Kryptonian.

Kara weathered the constant barrage of questions with an easy smile. "I can't," and Elery's disappointment was immeasurable. As if she suddenly decided life just wasn't worth living anymore. But she quickly bounced back.

"Are you sure? You look like a Saiyan, just without the tail, so you might be able to transform if you try really hard," Elery continued, finding hope in the face of reality. She flew around in the lounge of a ship that took them to another destination that Ada'la had lined up.

One in the Vega System. Kori's excitement was papabile, it radiated from her with near physical force. Teleportation and FTL speeds weren't anywhere near fast enough for the Tamaranean princess.

"I'm sure. And the same thing could be said for humans," Kara pointed out, making Elery's face blanch as she shit a dirty look at Tim, saying without words exactly how unimpressed she was with humanity.

Elery shook her head, "No," she dismissed the entire idea as a possibility.

Tim let out a sigh, "I'm right here, you know," he pointed out from his seat, lowering the datapad to pin a look at an unrepentant Elery.

"I know. Talking about people behind their back is dumb. How else are you going to hear what I have to say about you?" Elery questioned, crossing her arms and Kara was visibly fighting off a smile. And losing. Instead, the Kryptonian looked in her direction so they could share a look.

Raven allowed herself a small smile. This trip was progressing better than she thought it would. When they took off, she expected tension and barely concealed hostility. While it was there, Elery proved to break the worst of it. Though, at Tim's expense. The Saiyan princess was too excitable, naturally breaking any tension she didn't cause.

"Saiyans have a bunch of transformations. We can turn into oozarus, we can transform in the Wrath State, and Brother can turn into the Legendary Super Saiyan," Elery lorded her races transformations over Tim, the one true human in the Titans now. "Can you even power up?"

Tim wasn't anywhere near annoyed as he made himself appear. The prodding and insults washed over his back like a duck, leaving him unaffected by the taunts. "Maybe," Tim hedged. "How about you show me how it's done," he said, earning a broad smile from Elery as Tim attempted to manipulate her to give away all the secrets of a Saiyans strength. His efforts weren't really needed. Raven was pretty sure they could just ask and get honest answers.

"Of course! Maybe you can become the first useful human," Elery offered, genuinely meaning what she said. Both the racism and the hope that he could power up.

Settling down on the ground, Elery took a wide stance, "First, you brace yourself like this; hn!" Elery began, "Then you become more powerful like this; HNNNN!" there was a stir the air as power radiated off of Elery, proving that as much as she was an excitable young girl, she was strong in her own right. "Then, finally, you let loose like this: AHHHHHHHHH!" Elery threw her head back and screamed as the air hit them like a wall, the ship starting to warp underneath an unseen force, her cloak behind blasted back as her hair was treated much the same.

Then the force receded as Elery stood with her hands on her hips, gesturing at Tim. "Now, you try."

"What?" Tim blinked, making Elery's smile fall. "You didn't explain anything. You just made some faces and screamed."

Elery looked affronted, "I explained how to power up! Don't blame me because you’re too dumb to understand! The fault lies with the student, not the teacher!" Elery added, sounding like she was quoting someone as she jabbed an accusatory finger in Tim's direction.

"There wasn't an explanation-" Tim started to argue, only to catch himself, knowing that there was no point. He looked to the others for support and found it -- they hadn't understood either. But, regardless of the explanation, Elery proved that she was in a higher weight class than Raven had expected. She had felt the power in the air, like electricity dancing on her skin -- she wasn't anywhere near as powerful as Tarble, but Raven suspected that only she and Kara would stand a chance against the Saiyan princess.

There wasn't an animal strong enough to fight a Saiyan on even footing. Wally also stood a chance, but in the confines of a ship, his odds were diminished. Greatly. Kara could easily beat her, and Raven doubted that all Saiyans had mutilated their souls to ward off magic. Hopefully. She could still scarcely believe anyone would subject themselves to that, and the idea of an entire race doing so was honestly horrifying.

"Was to! You just suck! Why is Brother making us live on a planet of you weaklings?!" Elery questioned, throwing her hands up with a shake of her head. She looked to Kara, expecting support, but instead, she got a gentle smile.

"Humans might be fragile, but that's no excuse to look down on them," she gently chided. Not quite sure how much authority she had to do so.

"The only redeeming features humans have is that they can get cool powers," Elery remained steadfast in her beliefs while casting another dirty look at Tim, not happy that he wasn't spontaneously developing superpowers.

"Would your brother share that belief?" Raven questioned, making Elery's face twist when she knew the answer. Though, she was too stubborn by half to admit that she was wrong. "I thought the 501st was a place where all abilities had value. Regardless of strength." To that, Elery sent a harsh glare at her, telling Raven that she had touched a sore spot without meaning to.

"Don't talk about the 501st like you knew them," Elery bit out in a low growl of a tone. There was grief there, but… it was different. It was so very different. When a human grieved, it was always there in the background. It could be smothered by other emotions, but it was still there. It was a wound that needed time to heal. Elery didn't have that grief until Raven made a point about the 501st.

Her emotions were like tidal waves -- when they were brought forth, they crashed down and were overwhelming. But, they retreated back to the sea until they were brought forth.

However, Tarble didn't share that trait, which caused the misstep. Tarble… he grieved like a human, even if he crushed his emotions with an iron grip.

"And Brother made the 501st a place where useful abilities were recognized," Elery said, jabbing a finger at Tim. "Anything he can do, another alien can do better and odds are they won't be so weak. I was stronger than him when I was a baby!"

"This… is the Vega System?" Kori said, breaking the growing tension in the lounge. Everyone's attention went to the window to see that they had teleported again. The vast expanse that was space was still on the other side of the window, but it was anything but empty now. Raven's lips parted, the closest she had ever come to her jaw-dropping in shock.

The others weren't anywhere near as restrained. "Dude, this is-" Garfield cut himself off, approaching the window and placing a hand on it.

On the other side could only be described as devastation. For as far as the eye could see, there was the ruined wreckage of countless ships. Truly countless. They were absolutely everywhere, filling up millions of miles of space to the absolute brim. The only way that they could get through without hitting something was because clear paths were made to and from the planets in the system.

Raven saw a machine shifting through the wreckage, a corpse in its claws that tossed it into a net… that was disturbingly full. The machine was one of many, one of the thousands that picked through the wreckage.

Raven barely heard the door slide open and Ada'la enter, "It will take several years to recover all of the bodies in the system," Ada'la informed. "The final battle of the war was the bloodiest. The Federation sent two trillion soldiers into this system. Less than a fifth survived." Raven couldn't picture it. Near three hundred times the human population had fought in this system, and a fifth of that made it out. Not even a fifth.

She tried to imagine what that battle would look like -- the volume of people. The sheer amount of death. And in response to her attempts, she felt something brush across her skin. A ghostly touch. No words were exchanged, but feeling washed over her. For the briefest of moments, Raven felt it. She felt billions of lives being snuffed out in an instant, and the battle so fierce that no one even noticed. Death on an unimaginable scale.

Raven calmed herself with a deep breath, closing her eyes and finding her center. She had felt death before, which is why she wasn't overwhelmed. But never on such an unimaginable scale.

"I didn't get to fight in it. It was just a trap to make the Federation commit a bunch of their forces while me and a bunch of others took a bunch of capital planets," Elery said, sounding disappointed that she hadn't been here.

The battle left a weeping wound on the system. So many strong emotions as people fought their hardest and died. Resolve. Determination. Anguish and fear, but courageously pushing forward even at the cost of their lives.

"It was a lie," Raven voiced, her lips thinned. It felt like she was being pressed down on all sides by an invisible force. She… was a beacon of sorts. An empath. And a powerful one. The echoes of the dead were drawn to her like moths to a flame, using her to cry out their last feelings. They weren't vengeful spirits or even ghosts. But, in a single chorus, so many dead in one place left an impression for those sensitive enough to feel it. "King Tarble lied."

"Not a lie," Ada'la corrected. "The enemy assumed that there was a good reason for the secrecy in the Vega System. They feared King Tarble -- both his physical prowess and his capacity for war. Their fear led them to the worst possible conclusion because that is what King Tarble taught them to assume throughout the war when dealing with him. They believed they are stopping a weapon of mass destruction. Something so powerful that it would end the war."

Raven opened her eyes and looked out at the window to see what she could only describe as several planets that looked like they had been smashed together and broken into pieces. As if they were simple stones. "But there was nothing here," Raven voiced what the echo of the dead cried out. "They all died for nothing."

"They died so the war would end. The deaths on both sides were the price of peace," Ada'la responded, her voice solemn. "If it hadn't ended here, then several times more would have been killed across the war front over the centuries the war would have lasted without King Tarble. The only difference is that they died here instead of scattered about across the front line."

There was a heavy silence as they continued their way to Tamaran. It felt like they were walking over graves as they approached, and in a way, they were. It was a horrible feeling. Even seeing the awe-inspiring sight of Tamaran couldn't detract from it -- the planet was in pieces. Vast metal plates that had once covered the planet's surface were floating up above, letting other pieces move in. One that was covered in dirt.

They were replacing the crust of a planet. Like it was a Lego block that needed to be snapped into place.

They descended onto the planet in a section that already had been replaced, allowing them to step off the ship to a city. Kori gasped as soon as she saw it, her hands going to her mouth, and the pure, radiant joy that she felt almost matched the furious echoes of the dead who knew they died for a lie. The city seemed futuristic, but at the same time… simple. Like a room that you just moved into so it didn't have a personal touch.

Of all the races that Raven had encountered, Tamaranean were one of her favorites. They were an emotional species, so their happiness and joy were vast and deep. They landed in an airport of sorts, and the Tamaranean quickly spotted Kori and greeted her warmly.

They waved and smiled, but there was something holding them back. It was a pretty big difference from the last time Kori returned, where the people had mobbed her to celebrate her return. If Kori didn’t seem to care in the slightest, though.

“There are so many of my people,” Kori observed. “There are no Tameranian slaves?" She questioned no one in particular, but the hope she felt was powerful. Everyone felt it as she floated above them, her hands clasped in a silent prayer.

Ada'la was the one that answered, "Not in Tarble's Empire, no. Sadly, I cannot speak for the Trade Organization nor the Federation, but Queen Komand'r has made an active effort to break the bonds of every Tamaranean and bring them to your home planet."

Then she elaborated when Kori let out a breath of relief, "Which is being renovated. It was turned into a battleground, but we took samples of all the foliage and animals. Once the planet's ecosystem has been restored, we will be reintroducing the native wildlife, similar to how we are to the thousands of planets that are being terraformed."

She used the word renovation and applied it to planets.

"I wish to see my sister," Kori said, looking to Tim. They were on an important mission, but any resistance that Tim might have had melted away when he saw her hopeful look.

"You're sister is one of the leaders of King Tarble's Empire. It would make sense to meet her," Tim said, rationalizing the choice. Kori smiled before she took off in a blast, not waiting for them as she headed for a tall skyscraper that had a circle balcony going around it near the top. Elery seemed to take it as a race, while the Titans all shared a look.

They met Komand'r once and it had been a poor impression. The last time they met, Komand'r hated Kori for being chosen as the heir to their people over her. Now that she was queen, that issue should be nipped in the bud, but those things so very rarely end as neatly as they should. Raven expanded her shadow, teleporting them to the balcony that Kodi was headed to, and arrived just after she did. Kori was fast when she wanted to be.

Raven was greeted with feelings of hope and anger. Of joy and fear. Of love and… something that resembled hate.

"Sister!" Kori exclaimed, her gaze landing on Komamd'r. Raven looked at the Tamaranean queen -- the resemblance between her and Kori was there, but the disease she suffered as a child left her with jet black hair and dark violet eyes compared to the red hair and green eyes every other Tamaranean seemed to have.

She was seated on a throne at the center of the room, but it seemed to be more of an ornate lounge chair on a platform with stairs leading up to it. Komamd'r wore little -- a trait of the Tamaraneans. Kori would wear nothing if she could get away with it, and on their home planet, they could. Komamd'rs dress was little more than two sleeves of cloth that draped over her shoulders, the sleeves joined together at her waist and there were golden chains along her hips to keep the dress from slipping anywhere.

On her head was a crown seated at her hairline, and metal fangs dripped down at the edges to frame her face. Her expression said all that it needed to, it portrayed exactly what she felt.

They were not welcomed here. Kori most of all.

"Koriand'r," Komamd'r greeted her sister coolly, and that was enough to stop Kori in her tracks. "Titans. I would say it's a pleasure, but that would very much be a lie." Then her gaze slid to Ada'la and Elery, "It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Princess Elery. Your brother speaks fondly of you."

Elery puffed up, "Of course he does! What does he say?" She asked, fishing for compliments.

"It is good to see you, Komamd'r. King Tarble told me of your exploits during the war! I couldn't believe our people are finally free," Koriand'r pressed on, floating forward, but Kori wasn't oblivious to the growing tension in the room. Komamd'r narrowed her eyes into a glare that stopped Kori cold.

This was going about as well as Raven imagined it would.

"My people," Komamd'r corrected, a deadly edge in her voice as her hands clenched into fists. "It seems King Tarble has not informed you that you were removed from the succession." She spat out, her words laced with venom.

The words hurt Kori. Badly. "I never wanted to be queen, Komamd'r," Kori said, her voice conveying the depth of her sorrow. "I do not care if I am not a princess of our people. I just want to be your sister."

Komamd'r stood, her face shifting into a snarl, "You should care! Our people were slaves! We lived under the boot of the Citadelian empire, and you were on Earth pretending that you were a human!" She spat out, anger welling in her chest. Raven had seen this before.

People got used to thinking a certain way about people. When they learned to be angry with them, they stayed angry even when the original reason for their anger was gone. Komamd'r got what she wanted -- she was queen, but she grew up resenting Kori and that wouldn't change so easily.

"I never forgot the plight of our people, but we both knew that even with the two of us, we could not defeat the Citadelian empire. Not without great cost," Kori replied, her voice as serious as Raven had ever heard it. It wasn't a word she often used to describe Kori, but as she stood before her sister that looked down at her, the word serious was the only one that came to mind. The rest of the Titans stood back, knowing that they had no place in the discussion, though they wanted to speak. All of them did.

And Elery… Elery was feeling a maelstrom of emotions. She should focus more on it, but her friend was Infront of her. Kori had her attention.

"Except there wasn't. King Tarble came to the Vega system alone, and within days the Citadelian empire was no more and the pirates were eliminated. Our people were free and those that enslaved us paid the price for it in blood," Komamd'r snapped.

"And all it took was submitting to a mass murderer and committing your people to the War of Light," Tim said, not able to… no. He was doing it on purpose. He was poking the fire to see what came up in the sparks. He was putting the mission first before Kori's reunion with her sister.

Komamd'r began to walk down the steps, but she still looked down at them. "Yes. That's all it took. And it was well worth the price. I rule the Vega system at King Tarble's behest. My people will prosper like they never have before. Because of me and the sacrifices that I made for them." Komamd'r came to a stop on the final step. "We should have gone to King Tarble as soon as we escaped the Psions. All that pain and suffering we endured was unneeded. We should have never listened to those old fools on Okkar about the Trade Organization."

It was obvious without being an empath. It was how she spoke, and how unashamed she was of it. Komamd'r had feelings for Tarble. It was a question of if they were romantic feelings or feelings because of what he could do for her.

"Komamd'r, you and I both know that our people would have been crushed by the Trade Organization. We would have traded one master for another. I left for the good of our people," Kori returned, and Raven could see it. Kori was beloved by the people. They rallied around her as easily as breathing.

"You refused to accept any sacrifice for our people," Komamd'r spat.

Kori clenched her hands into fists, "The marriage you arranged was not for the benefit of our people. You wanted to hurt me."

"I can multitask," Komamd'r hissed, her eyes glowing violet light. "Tamaran would have gained a powerful ally against the Citadelian empire and you would have been married to a slug. I couldn't even take your place because they wouldn't accept defective goods. It had to be you. It's always about you. Perfect Koriand'r that can do no wrong," she bit out, barring her teeth.

"I have always loved you, Komamd'r. Your anger is misplaced. I never did anything but love you and want you to be happy," Kori argued back, green light coating her hands as she prepared a starbolt. The tension grew as everyone prepared themselves for a fight.

"Stop it!" An unexpected voice screamed out, bringing everyone's attention to Elery. Raven was shocked to see that she had tears in her eyes. "Stop fighting about stuff that doesn’t matter!" She shouted at the top of her lungs before she turned around and took off flying with a burst of wind. Raven watched her go, her emotions rapidly dwindling in the distance. But the sorrow and grief that she felt were too personal to be about Kori and Komamd'r.

There was silence in her wake as both Tamaraneans felt uncertain and ashamed. Though, one felt more shame than the other. Raven looked to Ada'la for an explanation to see her watching Elery fly away with a sadness that Raven couldn't explain.

Komamd'r recovered first, "Forgive my outburst. You are welcome on Tamaran. Conduct your investigation and learn what King Tarble can offer your planet." She said, floating back to take a seat on her throne. There was no warmth in her eyes. Her words were polite, but her tone was ice cold. "Perhaps, with some luck, this will be the last time we ever see each other."

Komamd'r knew that the words would strike deep and they did. Raven felt Kori's emotional turmoil as if it were her own.

"Then I hope we are not lucky," Kori returned, turning around, and there was pain in her eyes. Raven wished she could say that she hadn't foreseen this. But she hadn't been able to stop it either. You couldn't tell people who to love, regardless of if they deserved it or not. All Raven could do was try to be there for the aftermath.

Raven looked to Kara, who caught her look with one of her own. The Kryptonian offered a curt nod before she began to float up.

"I'll go check on Princess Elery," she said before taking off in the same direction as the Saiyan Princess.

Raven opened her shadow and teleported all of them to the base of the tower, her eyes meeting Komamd'rs. Her gaze was cold and intense emotion rolled off of her in waves. She was angry and furious and nothing hinted that she regretted anything that was said. They sank through the floor and reemerged from the ground, and instantly, Garfield reached out.

"Don't listen to her, Star -- she's just bitter and angry," Garfield consoled.

Tim was swift to join in, "If reconcile was so easy, then you wouldn't be fighting in the first place. The only time you two can't is when both of you stop reaching out."

It was obvious that they were all prepared for the conversation to go exactly how it did because they all had words to reassure her in a vain hope to cheer her up. "She is angry, but she's also scared. She thinks she found her place and she's afraid you'll take it from her. I know you don't want to, but… people can't help what they feel." It was insensitive to reveal what another felt, and it wasn't something she often did but the situation called for it.

Kori gave her a wane smile, trying to cheer up, but the traded words weighed heavily on her. Garfield picked up on it, "Hey, let's go see the sights! Maybe we can find your… K'norkfa?" He said, butchering the word that was already incomprehensible. And to their collective relief, Kori's eyes lit up.

"I know where Galfore would be!" Kori said before she took off, and both Wally and Garfield took off after her. Raven looked to Tim, whose lips thinned.

"It seems you Earthlings are dwindling by the minute," she remarked. They deserved the barn. They were here on a mission and personal issues got in the way. "Shall we continue the tour?" Ada'la asked, a smile that could be mistaken for kind on her lips. She was pleased by the turn of events.

Tim looked at her and Raven considered the situation. They had twenty-four hours to do a grand tour of Tarble's empire, but even with teleportation and FTL speeds, it was too slow. They covered one planet, started on another, and they were down half a team. It was clear that they had vastly underestimated the sheer size of Tarble's Empire. Raven knew that there were fourteen million planets, but it was blatantly clear that the time they had wasn't even remotely enough to get even a sample size of his empire. They needed months. A year, maybe.

"I think," Raven began, "I should go back to Earth and ask Tarble for an extension on the summit." Ada'la stiffened, though not visibly. The only sign of it was that her smile fell into a cool mask.

"You'd think he'd go for it?" Tim asked, and Ada'la opened her mouth to speak, but Raven answered before she could.

"It can't hurt to ask," Raven remarked. He set the deadline once. And no one would complain if he did it again. Her eyes went to Ada'la, "we could ask for an extension of a couple of months. It would let Tarble take care of things on his end." And to that, Raven felt Ada'la's gratitude even if she didn't show it.

She nodded, "A perfectly reasonable request that in sure King Tarble will consider with an appropriate amount of thought. I trust that you know the way back to the shop?" Raven nodded, "Simply tell the attendants that you wish to go to Earth. The trip shouldn't be more than a few hours."

Tim gave her a firm nod and was nonplussed when Ada'la linked his arm with hers as they continued the guide. Raven returned the nod and sank into the ground. She did feel bad for not being there for Kori, but Earth was at stake. Kara was there, so if there was trouble, when you had a Kryptonian in your corner, you didn't have a lot to worry about.

Minutes later, Raven found herself back in space and she only realized a weight had lifted off of her shoulders when she was out of the Vega system. The oppressive feeling vanished, letting her breathe easy. To center herself, Raven closed her eyes and meditated during the trip. Unlike what most thought, there was a great deal of thinking during meditation.

Normally, Raven carefully examined why she felt certain ways, what made her feel that way, and package the feelings in neat boxes to never be opened again. But, instead, Raven found herself examining everything she had witnessed. The feelings she had experienced. The information that had been gleaned as well as the people she had met.

She separated the issues, mulled over the information. And reexamined her conclusions.

Komamd'r said something that stick with her. A phrase that put a thought into words. That Kori had been on Earth pretending to be human.

Raven wondered how much that applied to Tarble.

Raven felt light pierce through her closed eyelids, making her open them in the expectation that she would see the sun. The must have been close for it to get through the tint on the windows. However, her heart plummeted to her stomach when she saw it wasn't the sun at all.

Earth was before her, the swirl of white clouds, immense blue oceans, and green landmass. The moon hovered above, revolving around the planet… but it was dwarfed next to a dark blue ball that hung above the planet like a sword of Damocles. It was miles above the Earth, beyond even the moon.

And to Raven's growing horror, the ball began to descend.