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Kingston Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 5:25 PM After the decision had been made to move to the ruins of Kingston to await the arrival of the Boran Dovox, also known as Sovereign, the heroes that had delt with the minor rampage of Explodo the Great moved to a location not far from the Doomforge. Paradigm and Star Khan flew to the new location, to ensure that Dovox's assault transport would detect them and not start searching for the Star Khan. Fleur provided transportation for the other heroes. Paradigm and Star Khan stood out in a ruined parking lot, a few burned out husks of cars scattered about and half destroyed buildings nearby. Neither seemed particularly nervous as Paradigm was scanning the sky. "I see the transport." She stated after a few moments. "It appears to be headed directly for us." Star Khan had been alternating between scanning the sky as well and looking over at Paradigm. When she indicated she had spotted the transport, he looked back to the sky before looking about the barren landscape around them for a moment. It was not long after that the transport came roaring into view, flying down low towards the ruins of Kingston. As it approached the area where Star Khan stood beside Paradigm, it veered to the right and started to circle the area. As it passed to the right, a large, circular object dropped out, rockets slowing its descent as it landed a short distance away. A large, nearly eight foot tall mech dropped down next to the circular object, which opened up to reveal dozens of armed aliens in armor that began to move out away from the drop pod. With them were three large reptilian aliens with red scales and tusks, and two normal sized aliens dressed in black body suits. The transport continued to circle around, another drop pod dropping down to the left of where Star Khan and Paradigm were standing, along with another mech. A group of similar forces deployed from the second pod as well. The transport then flew over to the area out in front of Paradigm and Star Khan, almost landing as five figures jumped out of the back and the transport lifted back up into the sky. Leading the group was another of the red skinned reptilian aliens, standing well over seven feet tall. He was dressed in ornate armor and held a large, glaive like weapon in one hand. Walking just behind him, on either side were two tall figures dressed in black, teal and white armor, which had a small white eight pointed starburst in the center of the chest plate. The armor had a black and teal hood, and a full armored face mask with black visor. Each carried a long pike, the tip of which crackled with energy. Fleur recognized the armor from Freedom League briefs about Khanate Justicars. Just behind them were two more of the large tusked aliens, each carrying large swords. Star Khan looked from side to side a moment before looking back at the group approaching from the front. "Hunters, hounds and traitors." He stated simply as he looked at the two armored figures. "Justicar Wryy, Justicar Har’al, you would do well to set down your weapons and surrender, I may be willing to forgive you." "Kinarr Khan! I am Prince Dovox, the Sovereign!" The large tusked alien in the front of the group called out loudly as he came to halt. "You are not worthy to lead the Stellar Khanate, so I am here to take your head, and your throne!" He added, pointing his glaive at the young Star Khan. He then turned to look at Paradigm. "Praetorian, you have no business here, step aside." He snarled. "Neither do the Terrans." He added, glancing about at the others. "That is where you are wrong Dovox." Paradigm stated simply. "The new Star Khan has extended an offer of peace to the Republic and Coalition, so his safety is of great concern to the Praetorians." "But additionally, I have a personal interest here. Kinarr also made a proposal of marriage to me in the council chambers. So, until such time as I either accept or decline, he is my prospective intended." Dovox simply snarled as he gripped his glaive with both hands. "Then you can die together, makes no difference to me."

Bayview Freedom City, New Jersey February 14, 2024 4:00 PM A few blocks away from Bayview Mall was an old, converted warehouse that now housed a laser tag arena known as Crossfire. It offered its customers an opportunity to experience laser tag in a more realistic, tactical environment than the run-of-the-mill laser tag experience. The majority of the old warehouse space had been converted into a large area, filled with all sorts of realistic obstacles, from old vehicles to sandbag walls, stacked tires and more. It was here that Charlie had told the rest of the Guardians to meet up this afternoon for a chance to have a bit of fun and practice teamwork at the same time. After finishing classes for the day at Claremont, Bernadette had quickly headed back to her dorm room to drop of her books and change before catching a shuttle from the campus down to Bayview Mall. The redheaded teen was wearing a pair of black jeans and dark grey long-sleeve T-shirt. Over that she had put on the laser tag tactical vest (which included the sensors to record hits) as she and the others finished getting ready for their time slot in the arena. Looking at some of the rather realistic looking laser tag guns, Bernadette finally settled on one, a small gun that was modeled to look like a compact sub-machine gun. Lifting it up in one hand, she glanced over at some of her teammates. "I think this is tha one fer me." She said with a grin.

Ferrum II Outer length of the Perseus Arm, Lor Republic Space Lor time mark 2104.8 As a binary star system, the Ferrum was generally awash with solar energy. This was particularly true of one of the planetary bodies within the system, Ferrum II. Located in what was typically considered the prime habitable zone for most standard star systems, the intense solar radiation and winds made the planet a barren wasteland of wide-open spaces intermixed with large rocky mountain ranges and no apparent source of water. However, this hostile environment did not prevent the enterprising engineers of the Republic and Coalition worlds from finding a productive use for the world. Scattered across the vast open spaces between the baren mountain ranges, were extensive arrays of solar collectors held aloft by anti-gravity generators. During the intense days of a standard rotation, the arrays exposed to the binary stars would fully charge massive power cells stored within collectors. Meanwhile, on the far side of the planet, shielded from the intense solar radiation and heat in the planet’s night, several atmospheric orbiting cities would slowly circle over the fields of arrays, collecting the charged power cells and replacing them with new cells to be charged when the arrays greeted the next day. It was an extensive and precisely timed operation, with entire cargo vessels filled with freshly charged power cells for use throughout the Republic and Coalition worlds every cycle. Unless something were to disrupt those operations. Recently, a large number of Sarcota, massive space faring creatures that generally resemble Terran eels, some reaching the size of military frigates, had for some reason chosen to nest within the deep crevices of one of the rugged mountain ranges. The behavior was rather unusual, as the gigantic creatures tended to be solitary nature. While generally docile, if provoked, Sarcota could get quite agitated, and given their massive size, could easily cause significant damage to (if not outright destroy) some of the solar collection arrays and could even pose a significant risk to the orbital cities. Given this potential danger, the various corporations overseeing the operations on Ferrum II had enlisted the services of two rather unique individuals to attempt to determine what had attracted the Sarcota to the planet and to find a way to encourage them to move on from their current location and hopefully relocate to one of the more distant worlds in the system, or outside the system all together. Starshot was waiting on a landing platform of one of the orbital cities where his ship, the Xeno, was currently docked, waiting for the arrival of another individual from Earth, Doctor Viktor Archeville, so the pair could begin their investigation into the unusual behavior of the Sarcota….

Inward length of the Perseus Arm Lor time mark 2104.7 J'onn Shepard, also known as Space Ranger III, sat in the cockpit of the Star Lance as he guided the vessel towards the outer boundaries of the Korus system. Recently, some astronomers on Korus happened to spot a large asteroid approaching the system from deep space. After several days observation and various calculations had been made, it had been determined that the asteroid was on course to intersect with Korus' aphelion when the planet reached that part of its orbit, resulting in what was likely to be a very catastrophic impact on the still recovering world. While generally a technologically advanced world, capable of space flight and other technologies not common on Earth, Korus was still very much a world recovering from devastating internal wars, which had left large gaps in its technology. As such, unlike many worlds with similar space faring technology, Korus had a very poor deep space tracking system for identifying such hazards long before they would be realized, providing ample time to address them. Had it not been for the pure happenstance of this danger being spotted, it likely would have gone undetected. As it was, there was barely a standard month before the impact would occur. Recognizing the situation might be one he could not handle on his own, J'onn had reached out to Sri Kath'lana, a Star Knight he had worked with in the past for assistance. The felineoid Star Knight had responded back that she was being dispatched to provide assistance, only when she arrived it was not alone, she had with her a more senior Star Knight, Kyle Steward of Earth. The two Star Knights were with J'onn on the bridge of the Star Lance, as the vessel passed outside of the Korus system and into deep space, rapidly approaching the asteroid on its way toward the system…

Riverside Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 4:54 PM Seeing that it was Valentine's Day, Sampson’s Sodas had been pretty busy since the local middle school had gotten out. It would continue into the evening with high school students from the area and beyond. Once classes had finished for the day at Claremont, Michael Adon had hurried to start his shift at the store, now nearing the end of the first hour. Currently, all the seating at the raised tables along the front windows were full, as were most of the booths along the interior walls. But for the moment, there were no pending orders that needed to be filled, so Michael was able to catch his breath. This gave him a chance to go over and talk to one of the few individuals sitting on the barstool seating along the counter that ran towards the back of the store. Seated furthest from the door was one of his fellow Claremont students, Carmen Arrache, who arrived at the store just a short time ago. Carmen had finally decided to take Michael up on his offer of a discount at the soda shop and come out to see him during his shift. Elsewhere in Riverside…. Jean Dweomer was currently sitting on a bench at one of the small park areas that were scattered throughout Riverside. Dressed in civilian clothes, the Anthro-fox certainly attracted a few stares, but this was Freedom City, so they were often brief. The small playground in the park was currently empty, with any of the kids that would be interested likely home and having dinner. At least a few couples had walked through or by the park since Jean had sat down on the bench, seemingly on their way to one or more of the restaurants, art stores or other venues in the area.

Kembel Outer length of the Perseus Arm, former Khanate Space Lor time mark 1482.4 [April 2, 2016 (Terran Calendar)] Kembel was a lush, mostly tropical world that rotated around a blue giant star. With more than half its surface covered with relatively shallow seas, the continents that extended out from the planet's equator were covered with thick jungles. Despite the seemingly inhospitable terrain, Kembel had been colonized centuries ago, and quickly developed into a rather thriving world with dozens of species from around the sector within its small cities. Its location along the outer edge of what had once been part of the Stellar Khanate meant that it had been fortunate enough to be bypassed during the Communion's initial advance. The tide of refugees from many other Khanate worlds had only swelled the planet's population, a situation that had not changed much since the Communion’s defeat. With the chaos that had gripped the Khanate in the aftermath of the Incursion, Kembel had been one of the worlds that had taken the opportunity to establish its independence from the Khanate. It was here that a small group of Praetorians made their way through the crowded streets of one of Kembel's major cities. Cavalier and Moon-Moth did not have to worry too much about being jostled by the crowds, as Seresk's massive presence just behind them tended to cause the crowd make a bit more space for them to pass. The old buildings of this part of the city were covered with trees, vines and other planets that had grown up along the walls over the centuries, making the city itself seem like just another part of the jungle that lay around it. The three had been sent here to meet up with Traveller, who, since the incident involving the two Terrans that had been caught up with the Spectrum Knights and pursued by the Lor military, had officially been disavowed by the Praetorians, and had headed off into the border regions of Khanate space. Of course, this had been a planned by Paradigm and Traveller, to provide Traveller the appearance of being an independent, as she made her way out into Khanate space to see what sorts of information she might be able to gather about the state of things.

GM Kestevan 79 Coalition Victory Station Lor time mark 1482.4 [April 2, 2016 (Terran Calender)] The slightly over a year that had passed since the Battle of Kestevan 79 and the defeat of the Communion had seen the former Communion mothership converted into a thriving center of galactic trade and politics. Multiple city sized sections of the former Communion mothership had been converted into living areas, markets and commercial districts, ship yards, industrial facilities, and all the other amenities one would expect of advance spacefaring societies. The station had become a truly cosmopolitan collection of the various galactic civilizations that had made up the Coalition that had defeated the Communion. Within the station there could be found representatives from all the races that made of the former Coalition members, and beyond. While it was not uncommon for tensions to exist between those that had long been enemies, those feeling were somewhat offset by the promise that the station represented, when those former enemies had come together to face a common foe and ensure the survival of all. But today, the normal routine of the vast space station had been disrupted, at least for the organizations aboard with sensor equipment that scanned the area around the station and monitored the traffic at the nearby wormhole which connected the remote system to other parts of the known galaxy. Just a short while ago, a Stellar Khanate cruiser had emerged from the wormhole, quickly causing the many smaller transports that were flying to or from the wormhole to scatter from its path. The Khanate cruiser approached CoVic Station at a steady pace, not making any overtly hostile movements. As best as the many sensors scanning it could tell, the cruiser had not charged any of its many weapons. Then, a transmission was sent from the Khanate cruiser to CoVic Station, focused on the channels used by the various governmental embassies, the station peacekeepers and administrators, and the Praetorians. "Greetings, I am Ambassador Draan Raal of the Stellar Khanate." Stated a stern and confident Zultasian noble in GalStandard. "I am here on behalf of the great Kinan Khan and request an audience with the ambassadors of the Lor Republic, Grue Unity and other governments that made up the Coalition Council which have official embassies aboard Coalition Victory Station."

Kestevan 79 The Spinal Core, Coalition Victory Station Lor time mark 1482.4 [April 2, 2016 (Terran Calender)] The Voidrunners' work rarely brought them near CoVic Station, as their bounties typically favored the border regions, away from whatever government, organization or individual that was looking for them. But their latest bounty had required them to make the delivery to CoVic Station, so now they had the rare chance to take in the thriving galactic hub that had arisen in the aftermath of the Incursion. Currently, they were making their way into the Spinal Core. The Spinal Core was a section of CoVic Station that had developed as the central market place, filled with business and shops. Its named derived from the fact that it was built along the inside of a hundred-meter-wide shaft that descended deep into the lower levels of the station from the section where most of the embassies and other governmental facilities had been established. With the somewhat hasty construction that had taken place in making parts of CoVic Station habitable, the engineers had not bothered trying to alter the shaft, but had simply set up the artificial gravity generators so that the entire surface of the Spinal Core was covered with two or three story buildings and numerous stalls. Assuming one could find a straight path that went all the way around the interior of the Core, it would have been possible to have starting walking and ending up right back where one had started. While there had been an initial attempt to set out orderly and symmetrical buildings and shops, expansion and additions had quickly sprung up that created twisting and curving avenues. Added to this were numerous small stalls and vendors selling their wares on a mat laid on the ground, making the Spinal Core something of a crowded, fast paced environment where all manner of goods could be found, if one looked hard enough. The Voidrunners had been taking in the sights of the Spinal Core, and taking advantage of the wide array of goods, when the news that a Stellar Khanate warship had emerged from the nearby wormhole and approached the station. As sense of nervousness had come over many in the Core, although they still went about their business as best they could. It lessened somewhat when the news began to spread that apparently the Khanate ship was delivering a diplomatic envoy that was to meet with Ambassador Th'emme and envoys from other intergalactic governments that had embassies aboard the station.

Zultas Heart of what remains of the Stellar Khanate Lor time mark 1487.3 [March 28, 2016 (Terran Calendar)] S'zan Sar moved to his assigned location in a formation that included dozens of his fellow Khanate soldiers. Sar's platoon was just one of hundreds that was gathering in the large courtyard of the Star Khan's reconstructed palace. Like many of the core worlds of the Stellar Khanate, Zultas had been one of the first hit by the Communion when it suddenly arrived, sweeping aside Khanate defenses and assimilating both ships and personnel. Luckily for Sar, he had been aboard a starship assigned to one of the border regions, and thus had escaped the fate of many other Khanate soldiers and citizens. While under Communion control, the cyberforming of Zultas had begun, turning large regions of the world into computonium. Since the Communion's defeat terraforming of the world had begun to reverse the damage, the computonium buildings and terrain stripped away to be reused or sold on the black market. Sar's starship had been among the forces that had stayed loyal to Star Khan, although the Khanate’s ruler had been severally weakened as a result of the cybernetics the Communion had implanted in him. Had the right opportunity presented itself, Sar might have considered deserting from the Khanate forces, as many had done. Several warlords had declared their dominion over the Khanate, but in reality only brought a limited number of systems under their control. Other worlds had simply declared themselves independent from the Khanate, often reforming the governments that had been in power when they had been conquered by Star Khan. Now, Sar was back on Zultas, his unit among the many recalled to the Khanate capital. Countless rumors had spread through the Khanate forces about why they had been recalled and consolidated around Zultas. Some had said that Star Khan was dying, and his potential heirs wanted as many loyal troops nearby to help them retain power once he died. Others claimed that one of the warlords challenging Star Khan's rule was preparing strike directly at the Khanate capital. But even as rumors ran rampant among the gathered forces, the appearance of Justicars among them ensured that order and obedience remained in place. Even as the thousands of Khanate troopers gathered into formation within the courtyard of the Khan's palace, Justicars could be seen moving among the ranks. Dressed in teal, black and white armor similar to that worn by Star Khan himself, and carrying power staves, the Justicars were among Star Khan's chief lieutenants, serving to ensure order and discipline throughout the Khanate. Although many had been killed during the Communion invasion, the remaining Justicars had been one of the key factors in preventing the Khanate from completely disintegrating. Sar was pulled from his thoughts, as a figure appeared up on a large balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Kinan Khan, dressed in his powerful power armor with the large white six pointed star on the chest, moved out toward the edge of the balcony, overlooking the massed troops below. Two other unusual figures could be seen just behind and to either side of Star Khan. On his left stood a massive figure easily over seven feet high, a Kovald heavy-worlder with a massive, muscular build. Over one shoulder the hulking figure had a thick metallic club with multiple studs along one end. To Star Khan's right was a lean female figure, a four-armed humanoid known as a Shoon, a popular choice as gladiators in Zultas' game-pits. This Shoon was dressed in a black reinforced bodysuit, and carried a staff in two of her four hands. Although the thousands of gathered Khanate soldiers had been quiet while standing in formation, an even deeper silence seemed to gather over the courtyard as Star Khan reached the edge of the balcony. Gone was any evidence of the alterations the Communion had made to Star Khan. Dressed once more in his regal power armor, the Zultasian ruler stood proudly, his coldly intelligent black eyes looking out over the crowd below...