Legion of Super-Heroes: Star Man

[fajrdrako_fic]

Title: Star Man
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Legion of Super-Heroes (DC Comics)
Characters: Thom Kallor
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims. Property of DC Comics all the way.
Note: Spoilers for vol. 4. This is one of a series of Legion of Super-Heroes stories I wrote in 1994 for the apazines Interlac, APA-247 and APA-LSH. These stories were all based on DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, Keith Giffen and Al Gordon. Contextual notes follow the story.


Star Man

Thom Kallor lay back in his tub, relaxing. The music from the stereo was his favourite Greek symphony; the drink in his hand was a Winathian mint julep. His team had won. He was very happy.

Happy? He could have been... if things had been different.

At the party celebrating their victory, his wife had looked beautiful in her black satin gown. He knew no other woman who could look stunning in evening dress or grubwear; who was as casual and elegant at a celebrity ball as she was on the playing field, where she could hold her own, by god, as many players had learned when she sweetly let them underestimate her.

But she wasn't Nura....

There was nothing to match the excitement of the game. Try-outs.... Auditioning the applicants till you found the ones who, because of their skill or unusual talents or, sometimes, the inarticulable something that made them better than the others, as good as the best.... Taking these unformed players and moulding them into a team that could think together, act together, win together, and still play as individuals with individual talents.... Spending time together, united in an ongoing cause that meant more to any one of them than anything else in their life... Fighting by the rules. Determination. Training. Hard work, and taking risks.

Nothing to match it except travelling among the stars, with a band of youths chosen from throughout the universe their diverse and useful powers, driven by inner compulsions and the call of honour to defend what they believed in. To fight the megalomaniacs, the cruel, the powerful unjust, the monsters and the killers. Nothing to match it but following the rules so carefully created by themselves, for themselves, in an honourable corps that would create a just society where no one was victimized. Doing it through determination and training and hard work, and by taking risks.

Defeat was something that brought you together with your teammates, made the whole strong, more determined to win the next time, and the next. This time, they had been spared.

Defeated by Universo; defeated by Khunds; defeated by Glorith, or the LSV, or the Fatal Five, or Darkseid, they had always come back, and had never given up, and never would, not while any of them still lived.

Sometimes you misjudged, and someone had to go. Sometimes the person whose suitability was doubtful turned out to be best of all. You couldn't make every play perfectly, couldn't cover all the angles, couldn't know the outcome.... you could only take it as it came.

Sometimes someone had to leave, for a breach of rules, like a justifiable killing when killing was against the code. There were other reasons to leave, too. A passion that was increasingly unbearable, where possession was increasingly untenable. Memories that were as painful as happy. Rash decisions made, and regretted too late.

With maturity had come responsibility, dependability, a stable career in a field that had made him both rich and famous.

In dreams he still had the freedom of the universe. Flight rings, courage, and the overconfidence of youth.

A man makes a decision and sticks by it.

A man remembers the tickle of blonde hair on his chest, the warm laugh of the High Seer of Naltor, the lights of Brainy's lab, the way Brin used to scrap and Tenzil used to joke and Wildfire used to crack wise. Cute, dotty Quislet and sober, clever Imra. Little Vi, finding herself and her strength. Valor, with the universe on his shoulders. Each of them growing up, and finding themselves.

A man makes his home, and finds a place there he belongs.

A man thinks of Talus, and older victories, and wonders.

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Notes: In Vol. 4 of Legion of Super-Heroes, Star Boy (Thom Kallor) was not a member of the Legion; he was a sports professional. I wrote this story for an apazine when the theme of the issue was "Star Boy".

Brainy is Brainiac 5: The cleverest member of the Legion; a scientist from Colu, with green skin and yellow hair.
Brin Londo (Timber Wolf): A member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, from the planet Zoon.
Darkseid: A Villain the LSH fought against.
The Fatal Five: Villainous group the Legion had opposed.
Glorith: Villain the LSH fought against.
Imra is Imra Ardeen Ranzz, Saturn Girl: One of the founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a telepath from Titan, a moon of Saturn.
Khunds: An enemy race.
The Legion of Super-Villains (LSV): Villainous groups the Legion had opposed.
Nura Nal or Dream Girl: Formerly a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, significant as its leader. Extremely beautiful, she had been Star Boy's lover, but in this continuity, he had married someone else. She was the High Seer of Naltor with powers of precognition.
Quislet: A member of the Legion of Super-Heroes who came from another dimension, he consisted apparently of energy wrapped in a floating metallic shell.
Talus: Asteroid headquarters of the Legion.
Tenzil Kem or Matter-Eater Lad: A member of the Legion of Super-Heroes with a particularly wicked sense of humour. In this continuity, he had his own TV show on his home planet of Bismol.
Universo: Villain the LSH fought against.
Valor: A name used in vol. 4 continuity for Mon-El.
Wildfire: Drake Burroughs, a member of the Legion from Earth.
Winath: The hedonistic agricultural planet that was the home of Ayla (Lightning Lass), Garth (Lightning Lad) and Mekt Ranzz (Lightning Lord)