The following chapters correlate at the same time as this one.

~ At Earth's Orbit ~

"Do we have a connection to the fleet yet?"

"Not yet. All of our channels are still scrambled up."

"Then keep focusing on reestablishing them. We need to alert the fleet as soon as possible."

"Understood."

Red Robin growled in frustration as the console's screen lit up in red for a fourth time, informing him that an error has occurred. He wiped a few droplets of sweat from his forehead and glanced briefly at the feeds in the screen, seeing the conflict that was currently taking place outside the Watchtower before returning to the console. He pondered on other alternatives to disrupt the interference when, suddenly, three alien gunships flew closer to one of the hangar bays and fired their turrets, causing the station to shake due to the impact of the ordinance. The shuttles tried to make another bombing run but were immediately shot down by the station's defense cannons upon entering their firing range.

"WARNING. DEFLECTOR SHIELDS DOWN TO 93% OF FUNCTION."

"Keep those ships away from us while I try to reestablish our channels," Red Robin announced, directing his order to the operators in charge of the defense system. "Okay, let's try… this instead…"

He commenced to type faster once more as he thought on elaborating a malware virus that could disrupt any and all hostile devices attacking the Justice League's server mainframes while trying to restore the communication links at the same time. Meanwhile, outside on Earth's orbit, Batman shot several shuttles down and aided Orion in destroying one warship; Captain Atom flew towards the middle of two of them and released massive quantities of energy through the use of the Quantum Field, to which both ships exploded under intense atomic pressure; and A.M.A.Z.O. used his psychokinetic abilities to force two other warships to collide with each other with one arm while shielding himself from enemy ordinance with the other.

Seeing a breach in the enemy's formation, Batman hoped the others could hear him and spoke into the comms, "Batman to all units. Fallback to the Watchtower – we'll have a better chance to take them on until the fleet arrives. I repeat, fallback. Over."

After a minute or two of dispensing ordinance, all heroes and remaining fighter ships began to fly towards the Watchtower through the artillery line gap, the larger cruisers providing cover to the smaller ships in their escape. The enemy began to move in relentlessly and initiated a new offensive wave against them. The battlecruiser Python, being the last ship to fallback, was immediately targeted by the enemy warships and fired upon, wreaking one of its main engines and forcing it to collide into another warship. The ensuing explosion caused several pieces of debris to destroy many hostile shuttles in pursuit and move towards the Watchtower.

"(static and explosions) -Python destroyed! (static)"

"When- (static) -fleet coming?! (static) -backup now!"

"(static) -hold out- (static) longer!"

Back at the Watchtower, the operators looked in horror as the battlecruiser exploded alongside a warship and the enemy closing on their position. Red Robin kept typing furiously on his console, almost losing his balance and falling on the ground several times as huge chunks of debris made their way towards the station, causing it to shake effortlessly. He regained his composure and continued to work, glancing at the feeds once more before looking back at his console, seeing the uploading panel reaching to completion. He observed the feeds again and noticed two squadrons moving in attack position towards the Promenade Area.

"WARNING. DEFLECTOR SHIELDS DOWN TO 78% OF FUNCTION. CRITICAL DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT 10%."

"Almost got it…" Red Robin muttered impatiently as he observed the loading finishing uploading the data he sent. The screen lit up in green instantaneously and a button appeared in it, to which he pressed it a minute too late as several explosions occurred outside of the window-screen. The enemy shuttles had managed to destroy two turrets and one hangar bay, forcing the station to enter on lockdown.

"ALERT. DEFENSE SYSTEMS DOWN. LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS PARTIALLY DEACTIVATED. DEFLECTOR SHIELDS DOWN TO 43% OF FUNCTION. CRITICAL DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT 39%."

"We're sustaining heavy damage! We're not gonna last a minute out here!"

"I'll try to get all life supports systems activated! Someone better check if the Medbay sustained any damage at all!"

"I'm on it!"

"Sir! The comm links are operating at full capacity!"

"About time! All open channels, this is the Watchtower. All communication links are back online. Repeat, all communication links are operating at full capacity. We need a planetary SITREP now. Over."

"Watchtower, this is Lancer Leader!" Curtis spoke, his voice loud and clear enough without interference, "We're sustaining heavy losses out here! (gunfire) Battlecruiser Python is down and the remainder of my squadron are taking heavy fire on all fronts! (explosions) Bogey down!"

"Watchtower, Wonder Woman reporting in. We've secured the Queen and are escorting her out of the city. (gunfire and explosions) We're also trying to evacuate a major portion of the populace trapped in the City of London borough, but the Royal Army is having difficulty in keeping the enemy at bay. We need reinforcements. Over."

"Watchtower, Cyborg here! (explosions) Both Kazakhstani and Russian forces have taken heavy losses on all fronts! The Cosmodrome is done for! (gunfire) We're evacuating all personnel and civilians from what facilities still remain! Over!"

"Watchtower, this is the First Fleet Command. We've received your distress signal and are en route to Earth. Standby for reinforcements. Over."

"Acknowledged. Over and out," Red Robin spoke in the comms. He wiped his head once more and added, "All units, this is the Watchtower. Reinforcements are on their way. Repeat, reinforcements are on their way. Keep the enemy at bay as much as you can. Over."

"Copy that, Watchtower!" Supergirl spoke, "(grunts) But they better get here soon! Our jets won't last long out here! Over and out!"

"Shit," Red Robin muttered under his breath, observing closely one of the feeds focused on Batman. He saw how much damage the Batwing had taken and how his mentor managed to gun down two shuttles in front of him. However, he held his breath as he saw three more ships tailing behind him and shooting ordinance at his ship. Batman tried evading them, but it was futile as the enemy had him boxed in with a warship moving in front of him. Red Robin averted his eyes away, unable to witness his death on the feed.

Until a miracle happened.

Before the warship could fire any ordinance at the Batwing, several missiles came out of nowhere and landed on the vessel's deck and main engine, which produced a thermobaric chain reaction before it exploded. Red Robin and all the operators looked at the feeds and saw two squadrons of six ships emerge from the flames and head towards the enemy's position, firing ordinance at the five remaining warships several meters away from the Watchtower. Red Robin kept a close eye on the new cavalry that arrived, recognizing a few jet models among them but unable to identify the rest – some of them held a design that looked complex to replicate while others held no resemblance to any recorded Solarian technology in the past and present. But what he found most intriguing were the emblems they all had in their hulls. One of them portrayed a geometric snake nestled inside a diamond while another represented a flame inside a circle, all of which were accompanied by a secondary emblem composed of the letter V in orange, a white triangle looking downside and an indigo blue hexagon in the background. The ships launched more missiles in the vicinity and scattered around, destroying two more warships in the process as they reconvened in their previous formation.

Red Robin didn't realize how long he stared at the feeds until a voice spoke, "All open channels, this is Nox Leader. We have detected major Fallen activity on radar and are here to help. I need a full status report now. Over."

Red Robin snapped out of his stupor and responded, "Nox Leader, this is the Watchtower. 12 warships have breached our orbital defenses and are carrying out sieges in two locations while we're trying to hold our position until reinforcements arrive. Sending you the coordinates now. Over."

"Copy that, Watchtower. Fireteam Rattlesnake will assist the Vanguard at the first location and Fireteam Adrik will join Agent Crow at the second location," the voice said, producing a strange whirring sound as it addressed to his comrades, "Fireteams Nox and Cinder, on me! We have to take out these Skiffs until reinforcements arrive! Over and out!"

As soon as the voice gave the order, every ship within those two squadrons broke formation into four groups of three and began seeking out any hostile shuttle that got in their way. Each group managed to take down more shuttles without sustaining any losses as they used evasive maneuvers and hit-and-run tactics. Soon enough, the heroes and remaining jets joined the fight alongside them. Supergirl and Green Lantern reached one of the vessels and wreaked havoc on the main and secondary engines, rendering it immobile for their comrades to target. The battlecruiser Cobra rearranged its cannons on said vessel and opened fire, destroying it effectively as the armed carrier deployed EMP charges near the remaining warships. The impact of the charges was not powerful to cause an energy surge but strong enough to take out their firing capabilities. With the vessels unable to counterattack, the tide of the battle shifted on their side once more.

Red Robin held his breath once more as he saw seven warships emerging from the planet and moving in on their current position at high speed. But he sighed in relief when several battlecruisers arrived on Earth to assist the Watchtower, doubling their presence as multiple squadrons of jets and Javelins were deployed to intercede in the conflict. Seeing as they were outnumbered, the enemy began to retreat into deep space not before losing three more warships before activating their warp drive and escaping orbit. Everyone in the Promenade Area celebrated as the feeds recorded the enemy's retreat and the contingent of battlecruisers moving in to assist the other locations were attacked by the enemy. The Batwing and remaining jets of Lancer, Spear and Arrow squadrons moved towards the nearest hangar and docked in the few available landing pads it had. Meanwhile, Red Robin used the console near the teleporters to bring back the heroes from orbit and assess any injuries they may have sustained in combat. Shortly after, Batman entered the room followed closely by Curtis behind him.

"How many men did we lose out there?" Batman asked as he approached Red Robin.

Red Robin responded, "It's too soon to tell. We still haven't heard from the others." He looked at Curtis and asked, "How are you holding up?"

"As well as one can be after a battle like that," Curtis said, looking down at his dog tags as he added solemnly, "Would be better if I had not lost any of my men out there, though."

Starfire placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke, "Your men fought with honor and bravery. You should take comfort knowing they died for their world and that they would do it again without a doubt."

Curtis looked up and smiled at her, appreciating her attempt to uplift his spirit despite the situation they still. However, before he could speak, everyone swung their heads towards the entrance as they heard the doors open suddenly. They saw twelve people walk into the room, some of them wearing armor plates, others bearing hoods and cloaks, and a few bearing robes with a holographic bracelet in their left upper arm. All of them were wearing helmets that covered their heads, making it impossible to see who they were. The group stood in front of the heroes and one of them took of his helmet, revealing their self to be an android. The make and model of said android was unlike anything they have seen – it bore yellow lens and spikes all over their head with a symbol that resembled closely to the Greek capital letter Lambda on its face; the facial features had similar proportions to that of a real human as well as its body overall. But what captivated them the most was the sound of breathing it produced, as if it mimicked the functions of a normal living person.

While everyone stared at the android, Batman spoke, "I assume you are the one who communicated with us out there."

The android looked at Batman and responded in a young male voice, "That's right. "

"We owe you our gratitude for helping us in battle. More people would have died today had you not appeared as you did," Starfire said.

"We do what we can, ma'am," the android said, smiling a bit before making a frowning expression, "But don't thank us yet."

The heroes looked at each other, wondering what it was the android was talking about. They looked at the android again as it spoke the next words carefully:

"Both our leaders need to have a word with each other. And soon."

A/N: First and foremost, I apologize for not updating sooner. Things have been quite hectic these past few months. With the pandemic going on all over the world, many have have been forced to adapt studying and working at home; as a college student, I assure you the experience of online classes in nightmarish enough on it's own.

Second, I will try to update as soon as possible over the summer as I have nothing better to do. Pretty sure ya'll hold me responsible as you read this.

Third and last, if you're living in the U.S. right now, please stay safe. The current state of the nation will get worse in the coming days.

With that said, I hope you have enjoyed the chapter so much. See ya!