Another Chance, part nine

[sylph_fics]

Title: Another Chance, part nine
Co-writer: merfilly
Fandom: DCU/Pern Crossover
Characters: Slade Wilson, Dinah Lance, Roy Harper, Dick Grayson, Vic Stone, the entire cast of Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey
Word count this part: 5,073; 46,153 words total
Warning/Notes: You all know us. You know our OTPs. Hopefully by this point you know who's in the verse. We still really hope you enjoy it.
Note the second: Any "misspellings" or altered words are deliberate, in order to mimic language drift, and no disrespect is intended towards the canonical birth culture of our favorite redhead and brunette.

part one

part two

part three

part four

part five

part six

part seven

part eight


Dinah grimaced and wondered for about the fifteenth time that day why she had come back to Landing to run her latest tests. Use of a computer was not that necessary that she should have to put up with Ted Tubberman throwing his weight around, interfering here and there, and generally being disagreeable. If she'd known he was going to be there, she'd have used the smaller system at home, and accepted the delays. Dinah was trying to unlock why the native plants were able to survive, so she could possibly save the immigrant varieties they had brought. And she could not do that if the only other true botanist was allowing his grief-madness to distract everyone from what needed to be done. What he thought he was doing, wasting everything that girl had wanted...

Almost as if responding to her irritation, Pol Nietro walked through the doors, and headed straight towards Ted. "Ted, we need to talk."

//Oh thank the stars, finally.// Dinah, despite being the only other remaining fully trained, specialized botanist, did not have the authority to really do anything about Ted, and she respected his grief too much to do more than just try and work around him. But Pol... Pol was pretty much in charge of all the bio labs now.

Ted stuck his jaw out, his spine straightening as he tried to bluster. "What about, Pol?"

"Come on outside, Ted. Dinah's working."

"If you have something to say to me, you can say it here."

"Fine, Ted," Pol said, voice grim as he looked straight at Ted. "Grab your stuff, and get out of the labs."

Dinah kept working. She had learned on the satellite, so cramped for space, how to not show that she could see or hear, no matter what was going on around her. She kept working on cataloguing the repetitive trait of slender rhizomes that went deep, and were easily burned free of the foliage above the soil.

"You can't force me out of the labs, Nietro, you don't have the--"

"I have the seniority, Ted. And I have the position. You've been harassing Wind Blossom, Bay, and probably Dinah. I'm not going to say it again. Get out, Ted."

The small woman did glance up as Ted got the point, just to see for herself as he exited. Maybe now, she could possibly get somewhere with how to save the more fragile Earth and Centauri plants.

Pol walked with him as he left, then came back in. "How're you doing, Dinah? Any luck?"

Dinah blinked, looked up at him, and nodded. "For some reason, all the low-growth plant life is fond of making their stems very narrow, very easy to cut off. My working hypothesis seems to be that if the greenery is sheared off, the Threads cannot burrow down fast enough to reach the heart of the plant. Thread passes, and it sends up greenery as fast as possible to nourish itself, repeat ad infinitum through a cycle of that stuff."

"I'd say it has plenty of reason, then," Pol agreed. "Our little friends evolved teleportation, there isn't a lot of large fauna that isn't winged or burrowing, and the plant-life adapted to have fine stems and deep roots... Wonderful planet we have, even with the dangers, isn't it?"

"It is, Pol... and dammit, we can make ourselves fit inside its life cycle!" she said fervently, her eyes sparking dangerously bright.

Pol nodded, quick and sure. "We can, Dinah. We will.. and you and Slade gave us one hell of a gift, as far as survival goes, when you thought up those shutters. I don't know if anyone else would have even tried to cover as much ground as we're going to need."

"Everyone brings something from their backgrounds," she demurred. "Covering enough fields to support the population now is very doable... but I pray those experiments turn out to be viable, because otherwise..." Population control was not something she wanted to live under again, even if she and Slade never got comfortable enough with the idea to contribute to the expansion of the colony.

"They're looking healthy, Dinah, from everything we can observe," Pol did his best to reassure her. They couldn't run any actual tests on the eggs while they were within the incubator, they could only observe. With the lower tech level they had brought with them, there was no way to do testing that minute without causing damage to them. Any of their tools had too much risk attached.

Dinah nodded, and returned with dogged determination to her research.

****

Dick's head snapped up at the sound of running feet as the Admiral, the Governor, and three men he vaguely recognized from Admin came literally racing across the sleds' parking grid towards where he and Fulmar were working together on one of the sleds. That was almost unheard of-- "Fulmar, trouble!"

The senior mechanic had barely enough time to pull his head out from the sled's guts before the Admiral was barking orders in his direction. And if Dick had had any doubt that something had gone seriously wrong, it didn't last past the expression on Benden's face.

Governor Boll gave Dick a long look, and tried to place if the man's guardian was in Landing. "Grayson, can you ask Wilson to be on hand... we may have need of a man with that much experience policing civilians, when we get back."

"Yes, ma'am. Report to Admin?" he asked as he listened to the Admiral commandeer Vic and one of their other largest techs into the augmented sled Kenjo had left them.

"Yes," Boll agreed. Fulmar took his place behind the sled's controls, and the Governor took the last place available in the sled. Once they had taken off, Dick called for Chakano, scrawled out a fast note, and looked his bronze square in the eye. "To Slade, Chaka. To Slade."

The fire lizard didn't make much more than one cheep and launched, blinking out to go find Slade by homing in on Major. The bronzes met and conferred, before Chakano would allow Slade to take the note.

Slade unfolded the note and shook his head, thankful he was in Landing for the next couple of days as he and some of the farmers talked over what order they would put the shutters up on stakes in. "I have to leave, I'm needed in Admin," he told the table--thankful to be able to get away from their arguing for at least a little while. "I'll be back when I can."

There were grumbles, but Slade was a hard worker, and that was one thing the few agronomists still trying to work the land respected.

Slade took off at a fast jog once he was out of the building, and Dick met him before he reached the Admin door.

"Trouble," his dark-haired son said, "and I don't mean the brown. Benden and Boll just took a crew of muscle in Kenjo's sled, headed towards Oslo Landing. I have no idea why, yet, but the Governor asked for you."

Slade nodded slowly. "We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure. Let Dinah know I'll likely be late tonight? I can't think why I'd be needed unless it's for my former profession."

"She said 'someone with that much experience policing civilians'," Dick nodded. "I have to get back, but..." He'd learned years ago that you took word like that personally, rather than trust it to paper or comm lines. This planet was very trusting, and normally he loved it, but right now... a little paranoia sounded like a really good thing.

"You've got long legs," Slade told him, to try and make light of the fact he could feel every hair on the back of his neck rising.

Dick managed a quiet laugh as he nodded. "See you tonight." He leaned enough to catch Slade's shoulder a moment, then called Chakano to his shoulder again to head back towards the sleds.

Major took wing, watching the horizon for his human friend, while Slade kept his emotions under short leash and waited. Major too frequently communicated them to Hope, and Dinah was highly receptive to her little friend's emotional state. It wasn't that long before Major told him that a sled was coming in. Then the bronze made a startled noise, because the sled was not going to land at the usual pad, but was coming towards the Admin building, much deeper into the press of buildings than usual.

Slade grunted at that information. Whatever had happened had to be real, deep trouble for the colony. He shifted to a militant stance without truly noting it, on guard for whatever was threatening the colony this time, as obviously it was trouble with a human face. He wasn't going to have to wait long for the answer as the sled landed a couple of meters in front of him. Vic Stone was the first one out of the sled, followed by a very belligerent Ted Tubberman and three men that were obviously there as guards as well.

Vic moved towards him quickly, letting the other three bring Tubberman along. "Slade," Vic called with relief obvious in his face. "Glad you're here. We're supposed to call Joel, but I'll be glad to hand Tubberman off to you."

"I was summoned by Boll," Slade agreed. He looked at Ted Tubberman, ice in his veins as he called up every ounce of intimidation he had, glaring at the man that had given his partner nothing but trouble of late. Tubberman glared back at him, though apprehension was obvious in his posture.

"We're supposed to use the Admiral's office to keep him until they can get back," Vic added, and the group headed that way. Once they'd managed to get Tubberman into the room, Vic stepped outside with Slade for a minute. "Dad forced his sled down a ways from Oslo. That one was bragging about doing "what needed to be done to save this colony from annihilation." Wish I knew what the hell he meant, but the Admiral was steamed."

Slade looked sharply at Vic. "Make sure not to repeat that, Vic. One time that freedom of speech can do more harm than good is telling only part of a tale." He did try to process it, to try and figure out what could have been done. He really didn't like what he was thinking of, and was only able to dismiss what came to him because Tubberman, by all accounts, was rather deficient on the technical side of things.

"Yes sir," Vic nodded, taking the warning to heart. "Dad took the Admiral and Boll on to Oslo Landing. Don't know how long they'll be." The last of the information he had given up, Vic went to call Joel Lililenkamp and get him there, while the rest of the techs headed back to the last of their shifts.

The stocky quartermaster arrived in short order, and pulled up with long look at Slade, fury still obvious in his expression. "Wilson. Wish this was better circumstances. Tubberman," he practically spit the name, "in there?"

"And not going a damn place." Slade had gone in just long enough to make sure Tubberman could neither escape, nor panic and find anything useful enough to kill himself... if he had the guts. Whatever had happened, Slade intended to make sure the man answered for it according to due process, rather than allowing him to take the fast way out.

"Come in and make sure I don't deck the slime-producing maggot, will you?" Joel asked before he pushed the door open. Slade followed him in rapidly. If Joel was that moved to temper, there could not be a good outcome.

****

Slade moved fairly quickly, but with a tight coil of energy throughout his body, as he crossed Landing over to Irish Square later that night. He made it inside and saw that everyone had already eaten and his meal was waiting on one of the warming plates. He wasn't sure he had the stomach for it, but the scent hitting his nose whetted his appetite. Dinah had to have cooked; she had a deft touch for knowing just how to suit his moods with the right meals. It was one more part of their partnership, no, their marriage now, something he still wasn't used to. That night after Tar--Telgar had made his declaration, she had curled into his arms and slowly asked him if they could go see Cherry Duff, the local magistrate. Now, with the worms in the apples so obvious, he was actually more relived to have that solid affirmation of what they were for each other.

Major nuzzled at him worriedly, and he heard the sound of one of them rising in the living area to come towards him. With all six of them in the house, things were occasionally cramped, but there was room enough. Dinah came through into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, while Hope launched off her shoulder to join Major on his. The little gold nuzzled her mate, then his cheek, and he ran his fingers lightly down her back.

"Are you all right, love?" Dinah asked quietly.

"Let me eat before I talk." Slade looked at her with warmth as he spoke. "Else I won't eat, and that would be an insult to you."

"All right," she said as she moved over to kiss his other cheek gently, and settled quietly nearby while he ate. It wasn't long before there was another dark head in the doorway, but Dick took one long look and vanished back into the living room.

Slade ate the meal in easy silence, trying to phrase exactly what needed to be said to the others as clearly as he could in his head. When he finished eating, he set his dishes into the sink, then wrapped his arm around Dinah's shoulder to go into the living room with the others. He had a nod for Sean, a smile at Sorka, and shoulder squeezes for both boys. A quick word to Major and Hope had them take off to their corner nook as he settled.

"How bad is it?" Dick asked, blue eyes dark. "Vic and Fulmar both looked pretty worried when they came back."

"They managed to find the homing capsule in Joel's sheds, and send it off."

Dick tensed instantly, shaking his head, but he stayed silent as Slade continued. "By they, I mean Ted Tubberman and Stev Kimmer, possibly others. Though only Ted was caught and he's claiming he did it on his own." Slade took a moment and let that sink in.

Even Sean rolled his eyes at that, while Roy looked as disdainful as he possibly could. Tubberman's inability to handle mechanics was legendary. Slade ignored the silent commentary and continued. "The launch was recorded as being on the proper course for system breakaway, unless it hits the debris of the Mariposa or that crap up there is in its path as badly as it has been for the probes."

Dick and Sean managed to somehow spit the same bit of Roma profanity even as Roy cursed in his first tongue and Dinah dropped into spacer argot for several choice phrases that came near making him wince. Sorka waited the four of them out, then looked at Slade. "How much chance do we have of that actually being true?"

"With our frakking luck, Sorka? Don't be daft. Real question is if the damn FSP'd acknowledge a capsule sent rogue, isn't it?"

Slade nodded at Sean, and shrugged as he answered Sorka. "Good strong chance it won't make it. Another, even stronger chance it will be ignored. Not to mention... it'd take forever for them to decide, and then to come here. So, wouldn't be useful to us if they did come, any way you look at it."

"At least a twenty-year turnaround, wouldn't it be?" Dick slipped in. "By that point, we're going to have this under control, one way or another. What the hell good does he think it's going to do?"

"The man has not thought rationally since First Fall!" Dinah exploded. "Yes, grieve, man, but don't be counterproductive to everything being done to actually fight what took your daughter from you! I mean, he still at least has his wife and his son!" //Far more than I had left...//

Slade tightened his arms around his new wife, hearing exactly what she wasn't saying, and wishing, deep down, that he and Joel had lost control enough to at least deck the fatherless good-for-nothing.

Roy left Dick's side to come and take her hands, crouching next to their seat. "He's a damned idiot, Di, we know it. And Slade's right, there's a strong chance they'll just ignore it..."

"They don't, we bury ourselves in the Barrier Range, guys," Sean said again. "I'm not living under FSP rule again."

"Like they'd take us, with what they'd have to invest?" Dick asked. "We all know they wanted rid of us just as much as we wanted gone."

"The Barrier range works for me," Sorka said. "I'm sure Da would think the same."

"If they come, we tell them to shove it up their reactors," Dinah growled. She pressed into Slade. "What are they going to do to him, and Stev?"

"Actually, we want Stev watched, since we can't prove it. Think you and Sorka over there can put the lizards on him? As for Tubberman? Duff and Cabot and the rest hashed it out, and they're going to shun him."

Dick, Roy, and Sean looked at each other with sudden darkness in their eyes. Each of them knew just what shunning could do to someone, it was part of the cultures they'd been born in, and if Sean hadn't been Porrig's son, it was something he might have faced after they'd reached Pern. Dick spoke for all three of them a moment later. "Wish they'd do worse, but that'll work better than near anything else on that blowhard of a windbag."

"Don't insult a good set of pipes," Sorka protested, but she nodded at Slade. "We can do that. He ignores them so completely, after all."

"Good," Slade said. He then looked at the boys, shaking his head. "Charter. Autonomy limits the types of punishments."

"I know, Slade, I know. And I know we signed to it, too."

Slade nodded then, sure they understood. "Speaking of autonomy... it's being kicked around again as a reason those eggs better hatch out right. People are not happy to be centralized."

"Those complaints are everywhere," Sean agreed. "All of Da's folk aren't happy being stuck in the caves, and I hear the same thing all through Landing. It's getting worse with every set of shutters you put up, too."

Slade made a noise, but Dinah was the one to answer that. "The shutters are not the only answer. We're going to have plants that won't adapt to it. We're going to have problems controlling the growth to not over use the fields we can cover... but there should be a second base, at the very least, with supplies stored up at Thread-proofed claims as well."

Sorka sighed, red hair falling around her face as she shook her head. "Making people understand that is going to be hard, with how much everyone wanted their autonomy. But you're right. We've got to get out of Landing anyway, it was never built for this..."

"None too keen on having a volcano or three so close when so many are erupting out at sea. Illyria blew again," Slade said. "Some were panicking that the ash was Thread char."

"Idiots," Dinah said with a snort.

"Now, Di--oh, hell, you're right," Roy shook his own head, giving up on trying to defend that foolishness. "But yeah, having that old bastard's name on the peak doesn't help any, either."

"Everywhere down here's seismically active to one degree or another," Dick put his nose in. "I mean, the Barrier Range isn't prone to quakes, but it's still compressing and going up. ...Not that it matters what we think, but if I were betting, I'd say they'll push to move up North before too long." The older, more stable, but much cooler continent had already been drawing the hardiest of their settlers; at least before the Thread came.

Slade considered it. "That might be best... for those who can't hack it, at least. We're going to need some strong backs and stronger minds though... the growing season up there is too short, and we've already started Thread-proofing fields here."

"But if the helpless were out of the way..." Sean said, considering it, then jumped and glared at Sorka for the hit she'd lodged against his ribs. "You know what I mean, woman! Get the techs out of our hair and let us make the place fit for living right!"

"You are impossible, Sean Connell," Sorka glared at him, her eyes sharp, but she nodded. "I'll give you that, though."

"He does have a point, even if a little undiplomatic in it." Slade began wondering who was likely willing to stay, if it came to that, to produce the foods and medicinals they would need planetwide, while new homes were built and fields made up north.

"I for one won't leave my lands," Dinah said firmly. "The north's too cold for a lot of my specialties."

"Like anyone could doubt that?" Slade shook his head at his wife. "All right. To bed, all of us. Long day tomorrow."

"Bed does sound good," Roy said with a suggestive stretch along Dick's body. Sean kept the eye-roll to himself, taking Sorka's arm by the elbow to lead her to their room, while Dinah stood and waited for Slade to join her.

****

Their conversations about volcanoes took on an eerie prescience when just as the notices of Ted Tubberman's crime and punishment went out, Pern decided to do a little dance right under Landing. It was the second time they'd felt one in the initial colony site, but the first had been way back at the original gathering to celebrate all of them being landed on the planet.

Roy came through the door for lunch still growling under his breath quietly, and had nearly wrapped his arms around Dick from behind him before Slade's low "Roy" stopped him. After he froze, he saw the tape wrapped around Dick's lower ribs and his own irritation fled his mind, "What happened, Robbie?"

"Flipping quake kicked one of the supports and the motor we were working on slid a little," Dick growled.

"Nothing broken, but he's black and blue already," Slade said.

"Now I'm even more glad the struts on the incubator held, but damn a little warning woulda been nice," Roy said, carefully draping his arms around Dick's shoulders.

"The eggs are okay?" Slade asked, looking at the redhead with concern. So many tentative plans hinged on that project. Sleds were just not going to be enough, and the shutters did no good if they could not keep the mess out of the people and livestock via some kind of aerial defense.

"Yeah, we think so. Pol and Bay swear they didn't even ripple, but none of the bio labs knew before it hit--surgery gets first call." He shrugged, unable to argue with the good sense of that, but still...

Dick winced, "Man. I think we all oughta be grateful Sorka and Sean're supposed to be doing vaccinations on some of the stock today, or we'd be hearing all three of your redheaded tempers going off."

Roy laughed at him because it was true, and Slade gave a small smile. "Seems Dinah took off right at the best time to avoid the possibility," he said wryly, but he wasn't really happy his wife had gone back to their stake with a few of the agronomy students to start teaching them her tricks with native plants.

"She always does have good timing," Dick nodded, and tipped his head back against Roy's arms, looking up at him. "Too bad you have to go back to work, Fulmar doesn't want me in the shop..."

"We're not really doing much but final tests before the move," Roy insinuated. "I'm sure Pol'd give me the afternoon..."

Slade wanted to chuckle at them, but he decided leaving might just be the best gift he could give his precocious boys. "I do have work to do, as it seems the Admiral has found one more set of shoulders to switch burdens to...Tillek's a good man, though, and he's got ideas to run with."

"The Bahrain's captain? Sorka had a lot of good to say about him a couple of times, and Joel likes him, too. Bet he hates giving up his boat, though." Dick vividly remembered the huge mass of the Southern Cross in the freight shipped down from the Bahrain's cargo hold.

"So I hear...still, anyone that gets things moving, and keeps the hecklers in check is welcome by me," Slade said, before he tipped his head at both and moved out.

Dick watched him leave for a moment, then looked up at Roy, "Go call Pol, if you're going to."

Roy nodded with a lazy smile, and went to wheedle out of work. Pol certainly didn't begrudge the younger man time away, given how ahard Roy worked, and there really wasn't much but watching the displays for now. A few moments later, and Roy was guiding Dick to bed, to be fussed over and taken care of properly.

****

Because of Fulmar's unwillingness to let him in the shop until his ribs weren't screaming every time he breathed, Dick had gone along with his best friends to help--or at least watch--the eggs being moved from their incubator to the specially constructed Hatching Grounds.

Roy was excited, and the other pair of Irish were just as bad. Even Sean had an expectant air to him as the twenty-nine eggs were carefully placed, shifted, and settled in the well-warmed sands.

The more they fussed, though, the more Sean's expectant air turned towards frustration, and Dick heard him muttering, "So much excitement's bad for the eggs," under his breath at the scientists that wouldn't leave well enough alone. Despite how they tried, none of the firelizards would settle down, flittering all around, but well up above the eggs. Not even Hope, who'd tagged along because of how excited Roy was, had been that bold. It looked like the entire Landing population of the little friends was there, though, up in the rafters and everywhere else.

"I think they might be happy now," Roy called softly to Sean when things began to ease off, and the vet techs were told that was the end of the transfer.

"Better be. This could've been done with half the fuss. And Sorka and I've got surgery in about ten minutes."

"Oh, stop fussing," Sorka told him, shaking her head with a curve to her lips that Dick couldn't recall ever seeing before. She'd been acting a little odd the last few days, even better able to anticipate and understand the firelizards' sends than usual, and... he wasn't sure what else it was. "Mind company walking over?" he asked. "I'm about to go space-nuts I'm so bored."

"Maybe if we walk with, Hope will get the hint from the sheds that maybe she should go home," Roy joked, watching the bossy little queen with a small fair of tame and wild fire lizards.

"I don't mind one bit," Sean said, watching that little smile of Sorka's with puzzlement.

Dick grinned at that, and started to head towards the vet area, listening to Sean and Sorka's comments about the likelihood of Lemos and Nabol managing to catch still-capsuled Thread in the upper atmosphere without much to say about it. He didn't think they'd gotten anywhere near enough time to work the detrius of eight years out of the abandoned shuttle they were going to use, but the Admiral hadn't asked him.

Sean and Sorka were bantering, playful talk between them as they walked, and Roy was quietly enjoying the day at Dick's side, when they snapped to a halt because Sean did, watching as he grabbed Sorka tight enough to draw her shipsuit tight. "Jays, Sorka, when were you going to tell me?"

"It's only just been confirmed, Sean!" Sorka snapped, and Dick stared, looking at the way her clothes were pulled against her body... //She's...// "Sorka...."

"Wow, we're having a baby!" Roy blurted out, happy to see that curve in the line of her body, and then he flushed at Sean's sharp look his way. "Okay, so it's you two but..."

"No, you're right. My babe, mine and Sorka's, but two finer god parents I couldn't ask for than you two," Sean admitted. "But Sorka Hanrahan, we're going straight to Cherry Duff's after this surgery, or my name's not Sean Connell! Babe has to have a proper two parent name!"

Dick didn't even try to hide the laugh as he listened to Sean, looking over at Sorka, who had her hands planted on her hips as she looked up at her lover. "Sorka... does anyone know?"

"Of course not, you pack of lunatics, why would I tell anyone else before I'd told Sean?" she glared over at him. "And as for you, Sean..." all of the irritation went out of her voice on her next, soft word, "yes. I'll marry you."

"Good. Right now, though, we're going to be late!" Sean swallowed all his joy and the resolution to focus on now...but his step was lighter in some ways, and his shoulders squared with resolve.

Dick watched the two of them break into a run across the last several meters, and turned to look at Roy. ""We're having a baby"?" He mimicked Roy's tone as precisely as he could. "Were you trying to get Sean to deck you one?"

Roy shrugged carelessly. "Sorry, 'mano...but a baby!!!"

"Yeah.. I know." Dick was grinning as he said it. "Now start thinking about how we tell Slade and Dinah."


part 10