So we know of Orion Batman, but it feels incomplete, for some strange reason...
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Worlds' Finest
On the world of Shirjat, on some deep, unwatched stretch of road, a duo walked-- a man and a woman, green-skinned Orions, hands laced together as they went, the simple people of a simple place. "I know what the doctors said, Daz. But there are always kids needing adoption!" She was long-haired, bright-eyed. A teacher. Petite, and small limed, she was no grand titan.
"I know, Thera, but...I dunno." He looks to the stars, sighs. His eyes narrow, and almost thoughtlessly he points. "Wait, wait, okay hold that thought. Is...is that star moving?" One of the grunts of the hypercorps, close-cropped hair kept near his green scalp. His eyes were a deep brown, filled with compassion-- though now confusion, the same as his laced, frightened brow. He was tall, by Orion standards.
Thera followed his finger, looking up. "Wait, huh, you're right. You suppose it's some sort of exercise by the Union, a ship?"
"Whatever it is, it's getting bigger. Actually..." His eyes go wide, "A
lot bigger! And a lot closer!"
And indeed in the skies above, a great light was shining brighter, growing larger, fiercer, fierier. In moments had doubled in size from its first sighting, and growing bigger, quicker with every second. First a little dot in the sky, now a growing circle, quickly growing to block sight of all the other stellar objects in the sky.
A moment later, there was a bang not unlike a rocket-propelled hammer striking a chunk of woznium next to the ears of both Orions. A space-craft, sleek and shining like something from Earth's twentieth century, went quickly overhead, passing out of sight. It streaked fire and smoke as it went, like a bleeding wound opened in the dark night sky, weeping fiery-blood and spark alike, so terrible the heat of atmospheric entry as the alien craft went, swift, from many thousands of miles to a quick-ish-stop.
A moment later, it slammed into the earth, with an even greater bang as it did.
The two Orions raced where they had seen the crash, a green field-- one of the few on the planet. Inside, the hunk of steel smoked, steaming in various bits. It was a simple craft, really, simply a long, almost bullet shaped body, some sort of engine at the back, with two wings affixed, made of what almost looked like red chrome. The body was split into two parts, an opaque front with a diamond symbol burned into it. The rest was hard metal, shaded blue and brightly shining, scarcely scratched by the hard landing.
For it had been a hard landing. There was a crater at least ten meters long, though shallow. Thera and Daz stared, wide-eyed and from a healthy enough distance. Neither spoke. Thera bit her nails, even as Daz crouched, trying to hide from sight. They did not so much as breathe too deeply, such was their fear. Sweat ran down their foreheads.
Something bumped inside.
Daz moved.
"What are you doing?"
Ignoring her, the Orion walked slowly, carefully, calmly, but unflappably towards this strange ark, carrying its unknown payload. Thera hissed and a moment later began to follow, curses running through her mind all the while. It was slow going, this careful walk, designed in hope of not frightening whatever may be inside that ship.
Finally, Daz reached the vessel. Drawn by some inexorable power, he placed his hand on the thing's carven glyph. Though strange, it seemed to fill him with something...unknown. Some sort of odd emotion.
Then it started scanning him, some projector from the door shining a bright golden light on him. It ran from head to toe, drinking him in once, twice, thrice. Once that was over the ship started beeping, slowly but surely growing in all intensity.
"Daz!"
"Thera!"
She raced towards him, but by the time she reached him it had already finished. A seam appeared in the rocket's face where there had been none before. Terrible machines crafted by far alien intelligence worked their terrible science, grinding open, slowly but surely. Steam poured from it.
"Are we dead yet?"
"If we die, I promise, you can tell me I told you so."
"I probably won't feel like it at that point."
Slowly, the door began to grind open. The (Padded?) inside of the rocket was exposed, a calm blue, deep and reassuring. At the floor of its current orientation there was a crystal, long and thin, laying on the bottom; it too had a symbol like the one on the front of the ship worked into. Slowly, surely, a plinth the thing was slotted in started to rise up from the floor, a circular column with the thing worked into it.
A message began to play from it, a recorded hologram of a white haired, tired old man, clad all in white:
"Encased in this vessel lies the last memory of my people. We grew arrogant in our power, and did not look to the stars until it was too late. The planet's core grew unstable, mere random misfortune growing beneath our feet. There was no chance left, to save us; we were dead long ago, we simply did not realize it. No way to move us all, from this doomed cradle; no way to save
everyone. Therefore I have sent into the stars our last legacy, to save what I can. Firstly-"
"Wait, firstly?"
"- A crystal, etched with the history, and culture, and remembrance of my people-- from our golden heights, to the lowest depths to which we sunk. All of this in the hopes our mistakes can be learned from, even if we cannot learn the lessons.
But more than that, I leave you, whosoever finds this poor doomed vessel, one last request, from a father who never did receive the chance:"
The second gift was revealed as the door opened more, a giggling baby swaddled in red and blue.
"Save my son."
Daz grabbed the baby, holding the giggling child in his arms.
"We have to find someone-"
"No. No, you think we can trust the descendants of hypercorps to not try and cut this baby apart to see if they can't make some kind of profit off an unknown species, never mind the crystal? No. No, we are not letting them hurt this boy."
Thera looked at the baby, harsh at first-- though her eyes softened quickly. "Fine." She started tickling the baby, making him laugh. "But what do we call him?"
"No idea, but I'm sure we can think of something." Daz pocketed the crystal. "Now let's go-- even out here, I'd bet someone will be along quick."
And so the two left, leaving the empty rocket behind.
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