Thanks to everyone for reading! Please comment on any characters and universes you’d like to see in the future below the chapters. I can’t guarantee they’ll make it in, but I want to have some fun and fit in the audience's favourites if I can! Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful for our supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! Our Patrons make this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be!

 

https://www.patreon.com/maizeblu

 

Now, on to the chapter!

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“What do you mean…” Dan gave Ultron’s hologram a deadpan stare. “How could you ‘lose’ Merlyn?”

 

“He entered a portal device, alongside his apprentice,” The A.I. shrugged over the holo-com in Dan’s hand. “I sent drones after him, but I can find no signs… the Goat is fast when he wants to be.”

 

“...I’ll be there in a few hours…” Dan switched his communicator off and turned to May, who stood beside him in Merlyn’s study. “Let’s take Gladius. We’ll stop at Zonama Sekot first, it’s finally ready to make its first phantom jump!”

 

“You don’t want to go find Merlyn and Anakin first?” May raised an eyebrow. “They could be in danger…”

 

“Maybe, but the Wizard ran off without telling me anything,” Dan shrugged as he opened the door and waved her toward the hall. His system showed that Merlyn was alive, so Anakin was likely fine as well. “For all we know, he’s lost in the study of some strange artifact… if not, he can suffer for a few more hours.”

 

---

 

 

A vast shadow, large enough to eclipse a solitary blue star, rippled across the void of space. A twist in reality, the phantom portal of a living world. Zonama Sekot squeezed itself back, free of the silent emptiness of the phantom zone. The Gladius drifted, just outside the planet's orbit, with Dan and May onboard.

 

“It worked,” May squinted as Gladius shared its sensor data with her mind. “Sekot is well, no one was injured in the jump!”

 

The orange-green world drifted closer to the sun, headed into a perfect orbit for the future inhabitants. Dan smiled as he set his hand on May's shoulder, with this success they had a fortress world no one could find.

 

“Perfect,” A bit of tension lifted from the base of his skull as he leaned on his Wife. “Did Jor-EL say how long it would take to get genesis chambers in place on the surface?”

 

“I ordered Utron to help him and follow his commands,” May tipped her head to the side and rested it against Dan’s. “They said the work could be done in under a year, but the first chamber will be complete in less than a week.”

 

Dan hugged May close and pecked her on the cheek. With Sekot positioned in this system, nothing would stop the rise of the Kryptonians in this galaxy. In one year they could begin a mass expansion of their population, with millions born every five years until the first generation is old enough to begin natural reproduction.

 

“Alright…” Dan stretched as he suppressed a yawn. He was always a bit sleepy when they left home, probably just the lack of quality sun. “Let’s go find Merlyn and get back home, we’re almost ready to hole up and let the seeds we’ve planted grow.”

 

The Mandalorians, the Killiks, and the Taurill Overmind were forces that needed time to mature. Supported by Ultron’s powerful force of industry, these races would become the strongest in the galaxy. Doom’s mission to the senate was also intended as a long game play. 

 

The evil genius would create a position where Garnib was always ready to step forward. They would offer solutions to problems that the Republic refused, or couldn’t solve. If all went well, Dan would usurp the systems destined for the separatist movement into a political force of his own.

 

“Ok…” May frowned as her mind meshed with Gladius’, focused on the coordinates Ultron had given them. “It’s in the deep core, even the phantom drive is having some trouble with the spatial distortions…”

 

A flash and the space around Gladius darkened, then brightened to a tightly packed field of stars. They loomed from between vast cloudbanks, a dense nebula of blues and golds that replaced the back of night. Deep core space, a place mostly lost to the greater galaxy.

 

“There we go!” May sighed as she opened her eyes. “Utron is on the planet below… if you can call that a planet.”

 

The rocky world below lacked an atmosphere, barren rock exposed to the ravages of space. Ninety percent of the surface had been bored free, great holes larger than Earth’s moon arrayed side by side. The hollowed core held no light, an empty shell that somehow remained intact.

 

“Is it stable?” Dan had his doubts. That crust should have collapsed long ago, an impossible structure that reeked of Celestial involvement. “Maybe we should just fly down, we don’t want Gladius falling into that abyss…”

 

“The sensors can't read anything… it’s like the planet isn’t there,” May bit her lip as she drew knowledge from the ship. She shook her head and moved Gladius into a far orbit. “You’re right, let’s head down on our own!”

 

They moved together, side by side, until they stood within the emergency airlock. Gladius wasn’t built to deploy troops into space, at least not yet. The ship would grow and change, until it was a world all its own. Venom covered Dan, while Mayhem coated his Wife, as the air evacuated into space. May’s hand in his, Dan led the way down, toward the ashen, storm covered surface below.

 

---

 

 

“Master Merlyn!”

 

Anakin’s voice echoed through the darkness. No answer came, just the silent hum of the earth around him. The smooth walled tunnel extended forward, the last five hours the same as the five before that. The stupid Wizard had disappeared as soon as they arrived, with Anakin left to suffer alone.

 

“Heellloooo!!!”

 

---

 

Sweat dripped from his tattooed flesh, a steady rain that dotted the floor below. His newest restraints creaked, almost released by his efforts. It was time, the count in his head had reached the inevitable, precise return of his capture. A clank confirmed his thoughts, a muffled creak of metal on metal as a pair of red eyes floated in the shadows beyond.

 

“Greetings again, oh so determined Sith!” Ultron sauntered into the room, lights still inactive. “I see you’ve nearly defeated the newest set of chains… why do you bother?” Ultron set a heavy tray, stacked with high calorie food, on the ground. “Every day a drone brings your food, every day you destroy it,” The A.I. flicked his wrist and lowered Maul to the floor. “You know that thousands more stand beyond this door, yet you never give up.”

 

“I am owed a grand destiny, droid,” Maul snarled, muscles flexed against his bonds as he rose to one knee. “A future of dominance and power, something a tool like yourself could never understand!”

 

An explosion of strength shattered the binders on his arms and launched Maul at the silent droid. He ripped the passive A.I.’s head from its shoulders and tossed it to the ground. Every fibre of his body screamed from the effort but he ignored his pain. A step brought him from his cell and into the hall, further than he’d ever gone before.

 

“Where are you, droid?” Maul taunted the shadowed, industrial walkway. “Normally you’re all over me by now, have you finally given up?”

 

“Not giving up, just trying a new approach,” Ultron’s voice echoed from the far end of the hall. “Now come and see what we can offer you, a whole new life that you can’t refuse…”

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Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful to all of my supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! The Patrons make this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be! Updates for this series will be at five a week, a chapter part monday-friday, with bonus chapters whenever I can get them written and edited. 

 

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