Flames rolled over his skin, harmless warmth that brought on an urge to bask in the sun. Dan shook his head, he needed to focus. A flick of his biofield brought him clear of a ruined capital ship and into the side of another. He caught glimpses of shocked expressions as he tunnelled through the vessel's hull and into its reactor core.
“On your left!” May blitzed past, hands extended as she dove from ship to ship. The fleet around them filled the star system, packed so densely that HK had called on his masters to thin the herd before his own forces arrived. May returned to his side and dusted her hands against her knees. “How do they still have so many ships?”
“This should be the last big fleet out here,” Dan let his heat vision clear a chunk of space inside the closest planet's orbit. Once the explosions cleared, several massive shipyards showed their face to the rest of the system. “And those are probably why… I’d bet the Old Sith Empire still has at least one more of these production systems squirrelled away somewhere.”
“I hope we can put this war to bed soon,” May added her own red vision to his blue and expanded the ruination to yet more vessels. “We finally found the Exile over a month ago, but we’ve been too busy to act.”
“She’s on her way to Telos as we speak, Carth sent the Harbinger to pick her up like he was supposed to,” Dan frowned slightly at the mention of the now Admiral of the Republic. Carth had returned to service after the last of the Sith forces had been purged from Republic space. “If I didn’t think the quest reward would be better with him, I’d leave that guy behind.”
“He’s not that bad,” May laughed as Kryptonian vessels began to emerge from the phantom zone and lay waste to the enemies that remained. “He just doesn’t like the fact that we don’t care about the rules, but he’s been loyal enough.”
“I know,” Dan rolled his eyes and stretched. The last five years had filled out his frame, fully grown at almost fifteen. May was much the same, a young adult on the cusp of maturity. “But he never stops complaining… when we get home I’m going to pawn him off onto Doom, let the good doctor deal with the nagging instead.”
“That would drive them both crazy,” May snorted as she drifted close, hand extended to grasp Dan’s. She pulled them from the battlefield, toward the warmth of the star. “Let’s relax for a minute, before it’s time to collect the children for their first trip off-world.”
Dan nodded as May guided them into a stable orbit, where they basked in silence. They had a week, before it was time to meet with the Exile. During that time, the young Kryptonians would be introduced to this galaxy. Alongside the fleets of Krypton, and HK’s countless drones, they would begin a sweep through the more lawless sections of the outer rim.
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Before that, they would display their real power to Coruscant. A demonstration that would leave little room for debate about Krypton’s right to act. The timer on May’s wrist pinged, a herald to her mighty sigh.
“Time to go,” she flashed a rueful grin his way and planted a kiss on his lips. “When exactly are we going to have time just for us?”
Dan snatched up her hands and drew her into a tight embrace. Hand pressed to the curve of her back, he kissed her with more force. A breathless moment later, she leaned back and nipped at his nose.
“We can always ditch the kids and play hooky,” Dan laughed as he dodged his Wife’s teeth. “This test plan is just that, a test… the timeline here is far less relevant than back home.”
“I can’t disappoint them like that,” May shook her head, face determined. “But once we’ve finished our part in their training, we need to wrap up your quest and take a holiday!”
----------------------------------------
“I hate this part…” Cal shook himself like a dog, positioned in line with the rest of the Kryptonians. Kara gave him a scathing look, before she returned her eyes to the figure of their Emperor and Empress.
“The phantom jumps are just extra time to train,” she readied herself, prepared for the signal. “If you used them properly, you wouldn’t be so far behind in your combat training.”
“I use the time to study magic… do you spend the whole time doing visualized combat?” Cal shuddered. He was perhaps the most skilled in magic, after Mistress May, but no one in their generation could stand against Kara in battle. “Maybe you wouldn’t be so far behind in magical studies, if you put even half that effort into those lessons…”
“Shut up, it’s time!” Kara tightened her fists and followed the course they’d all received. Into the frozen time of the phantom zone, and out again into orbit around Coruscant. Countless vessels, military and civilian, cluttered the spacelanes as they docked to the stations or descended to the surface.
“It never gets any better…” Cal sighed as he slipped from the zone beside her. He squinted down at the endless cityscape of Coruscant’s surface. “That planet doesn’t look very healthy…”
Kara nodded. The whole place had a pallor that was absent from their home. The ki of the planet lacked vibrance and variation, a monotonous grey that shrouded the world in fog. They had been warned it would be an assault on the senses, but even at this distance she already wished to leave.
“Children of Krypton, prepare yourselves,” Master Dan-EL’s voice carried into the ears of every Kryptonian, transmitted by their personal symbiotes directly into their ears. “May and I will lead the way, do not engage unless one of us gives the order… we’re not here to take lives, just send a message the galaxy can’t ignore.”
Dan-EL and May pulled away from the group, on a direct course for the planet below. Ten thousand Kryptonians followed, wrapped in symbiotic armour emblazoned with the symbol of the house of EL. They entered the atmosphere, right above the fabled Grand Jedi Temple, and encircled the monolithic structure.
Kara flexed her fingers, eyes riveted on Dan as he raised a hand, the signal that the broadcast had begun. HK-47, the mechanical servant of Krypton, had hijacked the galactic holonet for this event. They were now live, in front of trillions of intelligent beings.
“People of the Republic, My name is Dan-EL, Emperor of the Kryptonian Empire…”