Dawnstar woke in a white room. Her arms and legs were strapped to the bars at the sides of the uncomfortable bed she lay on. Her wings had been pulled down to the ground and clamped into place. She couldn’t move, and could still feel a small charge travelling through her body.

“Ah. I see you’re awake.” A male voice came from her right. Dawnstar looked over and saw a man in a Folek’s uniform. “Very impressive, my dear. You made it here a lot quicker than any of us could have imagined. Unfortunately, you failed the second test. Your tracking skills are exemplary, but you fell for a simple trap. Oh, please forgive me. I am Folek Pelne, commander of the Gralve Collective”

“Pelne? So Folek Faul is also part of the Collective?” Dawnstar asked, realising she’d probably been duped rather easily.

“Oh no, my dear. Faul and the other Foleks are true to their cause. I transferred my alliance weeks ago, but with the Foleks’ inner squabbles they probably haven’t even noticed I’m gone. The Gralve Collective is a fabulous initiative, bringing life and hope to lots of under developed worlds, and creating fascinating opportunities to the peoples who become part of the Collective.”

“So you aren’t planning to take over Yosh Kia or Starhaven?” Dawnstar stretched her neck.

“Take over sounds so harsh, doesn’t it? No, we offer membership of the Collective, only refusal isn’t an option.”

The door to the white room they were in slid open and an automated voice announced that Nonca Canno was entering. Dawnstar stretched the other side of her neck.

“Excellent. She’s awake. I hope she had a good sleep, Commander.” Canno peered over Dawnstar’s face.

“She is awake, Canno,” Dawnstar said, “and can hear and see you perfectly well.”

“Feisty.” Canno looked toward Pelne. “Useful.” Canno stepped away from Dawnstar and moved a monitor around to face Pelne. Whilst they were both looking at the screen, whispering between themselves, Dawnstar clenched her fists. She gritted her teeth, and with all her might she brought both arms up simultaneously, snapping the shackles that tied her down. She did the same with her legs, and then swiftly freed her wings. She beat her wings rapidly, creating a strong wind which kept her two captors away from her.

“Impossible!” Canno shouted over the sound of the wind, “Those restraints are Sastoria Ore. Unbreakable.”

“Something appears to have gone very wrong, then, Canno.” Pelne replied in a smarmy tone.

“How did you…?” Canno couldn’t finish his question before Dawnstar flew over to him and moved him to the other side of the room, away from Pelne. When Dawnstar turned, Pelne was already making his escape through the door, which slid shut behind him.

“How?” Canno sat on the floor, perplexed.

“Doctor Canno, for someone with such a great scientific mind you certainly overlook the obvious.” Dawnstar pulled two chairs over and gestured for the Doctor to sit on one and she sat on the other. “I can fly through space at great speeds. I need strength to withhold such pressure. Such strength doesn’t leave me just because I’m not in flight.”

“Really remarkable. Your mutations must be observed and analysed.”

“I think not, Doctor.” Dawnstar retrieved the radio from her pouch, and pressed the button to open the communications channel.

“That won’t work, I’m afraid.” The Doctor smiled. “The electrics have fried its circuitry. We’d have removed it from you if that wasn’t the case.” He smiled again.

“Naturally.” Dawnstar returned Canno’s smile. “Now, tell me, what is going on?”

The room shook suddenly, and in an instant returned to the white stillness.

“Commander Pelne has just left in the flight deck capsule.” Canno stated very matter of fact. “We’re now trapped on here, this section of rooms is part of the cargo hold.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Dawnstar pointed to herself. “Me… space… flight.”

“Ah. Yes. I’ve been left in something of a predicament, haven’t I?” Canno stood. “Never mind. Come with me, Dawnstar, and I’ll show you what is going on.” He walked to the door which slid open. Dawnstar remained seated. “Come!” Dawnstar stood and followed him into the next room along. The door to this room announced Canno’s entrance and they both walked in. “Frustrating little droid that!” Canno grumbled, and pointed to a large device on the table in the centre of the room.

“Is that your dimensional portal device?” Dawnstar asked.

Canno smiled proudly. “It is indeed. It is complete, and ready to be tested. You and I are to be the test subjects, my dear.”

“So you’re not working with the Gralves?” Dawnstar asked, confused.

“Not with them… for them.” Canno still looked proudly over his device. “They are paying me very nicely to create this device. When Pelne came to me with his vision to go back through the time barrier with today’s technology, I thought it a remarkable way both to test it and then expand the Gralve Collective. We can go back thousands of years and travel to thousands of worlds and bring them all into the Collective, so that today nobody will see things as ‘invasions’ or ‘takeovers’, and instead things will just be as they are, with everyone in the Collective.”

“That isn’t how things should be, Canno.” Dawnstar said. “When we travel through time, we can’t change history. Planets have to develop on their own, in their own time.”

“And make their own mistakes. Yes, I’m aware of that. But this way is more streamlined. The perfect sol…” Canno noticed a green light at the back of his device. “Oh, dear.”

“Canno, what is it?” Dawnstar asked.

“The device is primed. Pelne must have activated it before he left the ship. The chronological element has been set. It seems Pelne is planning to destroy this device, send it into the time stream.”

The ship shook again. Blaster fire exploded on the hull outside. Dawnstar looked through the window as another blast hit.

This is the twelfth instalment of my fan fiction tale based on the DC Comics character Dawnstar.

The first part can be found here.
The second part is here.
The third part here.
Part four is here.
Part five is here.
Part six is here.
The seventh part is here.
Part eight is here.
Part nine is here.
Part ten is here.
Part eleven is here.

Dawnstar was created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell, with Starhaven being a planet from the DC Universe. All other characters are of my own creation.