Invasion Earth

Summary: Kal-El leads the Kryptonian invasion of Earth and comes up against the Justice League whose members include a raven haired goddess who haunts his dreams.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters I use in this story.

Author's Note: A kind of Elseworlds story where Kal-El was never sent to Earth and Krypton is ruled by a dictator intent on carving out an Empire for himself with Kal-El as a loyal soldier.

Kal-El enters his bed chamber aboard his ship to find Aethyr waiting for him. He knew she would be there. She had been his mate as well as his second-in-command for some time now. Not out of love of any sort. He knew that. It was because it made sense for her to be close to someone in his esteemed position. After all he is the adopted son of General Zod, ruler of the Kryptonian Empire. He sits down on the bed and lets out a weary sigh. It had been a long day. Aethyr is quickly up and massaging his shoulders.

"What is the matter Kal-El?" she asks with some concern. Aethyr does have a modicum of affection for him. After all he is most handsome and very skilled in bed. She has some hope that one day he will agree to be bonded to her and thus cement her position in the hierarchy of the empire.

Kal-El takes a moment to savour her hands. She is most skilled with her hands and in truth she can be considered quite beautiful. Although her vivid green eyes bother him slightly as he often finds himself dreaming of a woman with blue eyes. "It was a trying day," he replies.

"Did the Almerac Queen not wish to be allied with us?" she asks. Kal-El had been sent by Zod to negotiate an alliance with the planet Almerac.

He huffs. "She was more interested in getting me into her bed."

Aethyr stops her massage for a moment and peers over Kal-El's muscular shoulder covered in its black skin-tight suit with the symbol of the House of El etched across the front in blue. "Was she not attractive?" Aethyr asks. After all she has no problems if Kal-El wishes to take a mistress. She herself had had many lovers from many different worlds as had Kal-El. It was simply the Kryptonian way to take pleasure in sexual intercourse.

"Her appearance was pleasing yes but her attitude was most irritating. It was like dealing with a spoilt child. She has no concept of how the universe works beyond that she expects that she commands and it is done." He shakes his head wearily and rubs his eyes. He hadn't even mentioned yet Maxima's attempts to try and arrange a marriage between him and her. How one such as her became queen Kal-El will never understand.

Aethyr moves round so she can kiss Kal-El on his cheek. "Well maybe you will be fortunate and General Zod will decide simply to conquer the planet."

Kal smiles slightly. "If only it were so simple. If it was I wouldn't be talking to her in the first place. She may be a fool but her generals are not. Invading Almerac would be a difficult undertaking even for us."

"I'm sure you could do it Kal-El," Aethyr says with assurance. Over the years Kal-El had proven himself a most skilled leader who had led the Kryptonian forces to many victories. It was part of the reason she had worked so hard to get assigned to Kal-El's command in the first place. Here she could face true tests of her skills as Kal-El was often assigned the most important assignments.

Kal-El smiles at her. "You are too generous as always but in truth I shall be glad to be away from this world as soon as possible. I miss the red sun of home."

"Even though it robs us of all our abilities?" Aethyr queries. She had discovered she liked all the abilities she gained when she was in systems with a yellow sun. She liked the immense strength and speed not to mention being all but invulnerable to any sort of physical harm and she hasn't even gotten to the flight ability or the various visual and auditory enhancements. Rao had been most generous to them in granting them such power.

Kal-El on the other hand worried slightly that such power would simply go to the heads of those under his command. "It is a reminder," he tells Aethyr. " A reminder from Rao not to be caught in the arrogant belief that we are all powerful and indestructible."

Aethyr shakes her head. "Sometimes I think you would have been a good philosopher Kal-El."

"My father would have never accepted that from his son, even one not of his blood."

Aethyr strokes his cheek. "Come to bed. You have had a hard day and I wish to make you forget it."

Her touch is scorching as her hands glide over his skin. She is a goddess. She must be. Never in his life has Kal-El seen such physical perfection even amongst his fellow Kryptonians. She moves with grace and poise that even the finest soldiers under his command do not possess. She is hovering over him and he reaches up and touches the smooth skin. It is soft like nothing he has ever touched before and he can feel her heat pour into his hand and light his body aflame.

He needs her. He has to have her. He'll go insane if he can't be one with her and then as if she could read his mind and maybe she can for all he knows it happens. He is inside her and they are one and it is beyond description. No woman he has met on a dozen planets has had the effect on him she does. He is helpless before her. She asks and he'll obey but she says nothing as she just begins to rock her hips as they make love.

Strange primal noises escape his throat. He is pretty sure he has never made such noises before. No woman before her has managed to illicit them from his lips. Oh Rao. He can feel the pressure and heat within him building so intensely, beyond anything he has felt before. Her pace increases and she gasps with pleasure and it makes him so happy that he is giving her pleasure. He wants to give her pleasure she has never felt before the same way she is doing the same to him.

The end comes suddenly. Her movements become erratic and he knows she is close but so is he and then it happens. Her body arches and Kal can't help but look into her blue eyes and that moment. It is the most impossibly beautiful thing he has ever seen as he stares into her at the moment of rapture and that is what tips him over the edge and he follows her into release. The dam bursts. The heat flows out of his body. It seems endless. Part of him doesn't want it to end. He could die right now and be completely satisfied with his life because he had this one moment.

Then all too soon it ends. He isn't dead and the beautiful goddess has collapsed on top on him as breathless as he is. He takes his hand and runs it through her long, dark curly hair.

She murmurs into his neck a breathless "Kal." A single word that manages to convey everything she is feeling.

And he responds with a breathless utterance of her name that does the same thing. "Diana."

Kal-El's eyes shoot open. He swallows hard and discovers his body is slick with sweat. He has never had a dream that intense before about the strange woman that haunts him every time he closes his eyes. He turns his head to see Aethyr asleep beside him. Rao. This is insane. He just dreamt about the most amazing sexual intercourse he has ever experienced when he and Aethyr had been making love just before he fell asleep.

Their love making as always was efficient…which is not a great word to use now he thinks about it but it is true. Aethyr is a soldier in everything she does. She is a very good soldier. One of the best under his command but yet she can't fill the void he has in his heart. She is not someone he could sit and have long conversations with or simply lie in commendable silence with. She is not someone he can ever see himself being bonded too. Not like the woman in his dreams. He closes his eyes and can see her as vividly as if she was really there.

Who is this woman that haunts his dreams so? He prays to Rao often for answers but receives none. Why has Rao forsaken him? He has tried to walk the path as best he could and it has not been easy considering he has been expected since he was a child to be this loyal soldier of the Empire.

Kal-El sighs softly. He wonders what his birth parents would think of what he had become. Zod would have his hide for such thoughts. Jor-El and Lara had opposed Zod's takeover of Krypton and had been sentenced to the Phantom Zone for doing so yet for some reason Zod had shown pity on their infant son and raised him as his own. He had been taught from an early age how his birth parents had been fools to oppose the order and discipline Zod had brought to Krypton but Kal-El had been unable to help himself in digging around the archives and had in fact discovered his father and mother were actuality quite brilliant scientists. So the fool analogy wasn't quite correct. A part of him doubts this is what they would have wished for him but they aren't here and he is trying to live his life the best he can.

Zod had allowed Kal-El to keep his name despite his parents being Zod's enemies and a position as the head of the House of El much to his uncle's chagrin but Zod, quite wisely, did not trust Zor-El. Kal-El did not trust his own uncle. Zor-El was duplicitous, only interested in his own survival and position.

Anyway Zor-El was on Krypton where Zod could keep an eye on him. Kal-El actually rarely saw his uncle as he was growing up. Probably due to the fact Zor-El might try and have him done away with.

Kal-El's upbringing had been to groom him for the position he now occupies as the commander of the Kryptonian flagship, leading the forces of Krypton as they carve out an empire in the name of Zod. Kal-El had personally overseen the conquering of over a dozen planets since he had been given this role.

His musing are interrupted by a communication from the bridge of his ship. Kal-El passes his hand over a small crystal on the table next to the bed. "Speak," he tells the person on the other end.

"Sorry to disturb you commander but General Zod demands you contact him immediately," the man on the other end informs Kal-El.

Kal-El suppresses a groan. "I shall be right there." he gets out of bed and starts to dress himself.

Aethyr wakes up at his absence. "Kal-El. What is it?"

"My father wishes to speaks to me. It is nothing you should be concerned with. Go back to sleep and I will return shortly," he tells her while he smoothes out the symbol of his family that is displayed on his chest. Aethyr does so and Kal-El makes his way to the bridge. "Open a channel," he instructs the communications officer.

Kal-El then drops to one knee and a hologram of General Zod appears in front of him. "Father," Kal-El greets the middle-aged man sporting a slightly greying beard.

"Kal-El," Zod greets him back. "I hear your negotiations were not successful."

Kal-El had sent a message explaining his failure. He hadn't been sure how long it would take before his father would respond so he had gone to bed to rest. "Queen Maxima is arrogant. She believes she does not need allies."

Zod arches an eyebrow. "That sounded like distain in your voice Kal-El. She was not to your liking I presume."

"No father but I was civil to her throughout our meeting. I swear."

"I am sure you were. You always obey me without question."

"Of course father. Strength comes from obedience as you taught me."

"And you learned well Kal-El."

Kal-El waits in silence as Zod seems to contemplate things. "I had hoped to avoid a war with Almerac. The resources needed for a full scale invasion would leave other parts of the empire vulnerable but it seems Maxima wishes to make things difficult." He pauses for a moment. "Kal-El."

"Yes father."

"I am sending you the location of a nearby planet which will serve as a base for an attack on Almerac. Conquer it and subdue its inhabitants."

Kal-El looks at the communications officer who nods signalling that they have received the co-ordinates of the planet they are to conquer. Kal-El's gaze returns to Zod. "As you command father," Kal-El responds as the hologram fades to nothing. He stands up. "Lieutenant," he says address the most senior officer there at the moment.

"Yes commander," the lieutenant snaps in reply.

"Send out the long range probes and gather all the information you can on this plant my father wants us to invade. Signal the rest of the battle group to meet us at the edge of the solar system this world resides in."

"Yes commander."

"Once the probes have scanned the planet bring me the results immediately," he orders.

"Yes commander."

Kal-El then departs back to his bed chamber where he finds Aethyr sitting up waiting for him.

"Kal-El. What did General Zod want?" she inquires.

"We are to set up a base on a nearby world as a staging post for the invasion of Almerac."

Aethyr smiles gleefully. "That is wonderful news."

Kal-El does not share her enthusiasm. He has never been fond of unnecessary violence. In every conquest he has overseen he has always tried to preserve life both Kryptonian and those who were conquered. In another world he would never kill at all but unfortunately Kal-El lives in this one and a sad fact of war is that people die and worse die as a result of his orders. It will certainly be no different at the planet they are heading to now. He feels the ship shift into hyperspace as they break orbit of Almerac wondering what planet they are actually heading to.

Many hours later Kal-El is looking over the scans of the long range probes and all relevant information on the planet they are to subdue. Aethyr's enthusiasm had dulled somewhat as she sits with him.

"This primitive world is of no challenge. One of our ships could conquer it," she claims.

Kal-El looks up at her briefly. "Perhaps but I would prefer to be able to hit this world's military facilities all at once. Once they are disabled the inhabitants will see how pointless further resistance is."

Aethyr shakes her head. "Kal-El. You should not waste your compassion on inferior creatures with inferior technology. Their weapons can not hurt us. Frankly I'm amazed they have survived to this point in their development. From what I have read they are a most violent and savage race who constantly wage war on each other."

"If only we were so different," Kal-El comments ruefully at the civil war that had brought Zod to power.

"That was different," Aethyr insists. "General Zod was bringing a new order and the old one had to be destroyed first."

"Still I am in charge and I decide our tactics," he insists. He doesn't want to have to kill more people than is absolutely necessary.

"Of course Kal-El. I will obey whatever order you see fit to give," she responds suitably chastised. Aethyr has learned exactly how far Kal-El can be pushed and knew when not to push any further. In fact she got this position because her predecessor didn't learn that lesson and pushed too far. Kal-El had him reassigned to a garbage scow if she remembers correctly.

Kal-El gives her a stare for a few moments to make sure she understands him before getting back to finalising his attack on this world. Aethyr is right that these people possess no weapons capable of hurting them. Their most powerful weapons were thermonuclear devices which could be easily neutralised.

Aethyr picks up a pad with information on the inhabitants. "They look remarkably like Kryptonians," she comments idly. Hmm maybe she could find some attractive males here that would please her.

"Yes they do but they do not possess our dense molecular structure or even the tinniest fraction of our abilities so take it easy on any males you wish to have intercourse with," Kal-El informs her. He doesn't want to hear stories of how she has shattered bones because she was careless.

"Well I could say the same about you and any females of this world," Aethyr retorts.

"You could if I hadn't read up on how fragile these beings are an hour ago."

"What do these beings call themselves?" Aethyr asks out of idle curiosity.

"Humans. They call themselves humans," he informs her before adding, "and they call their world Earth."