Suli and Dreamer had moved in with Darkseid. The good thing was that his basement had a lot of empty rooms that the girls could use for themselves.
The two of them were now in the dungeon studying the workings of the interdimensional gate machine. Darkseid couldn't explain to them how it worked, as the design was practically put inside his brain by Delirium.
Suli was the head researcher on this "project", while Dreamer, as a scientist in training, was helping her out by carrying out the necessary tasks set up by the scientist-witch.
As for the motherboxes that the trio wanted to create to help in communication, the task has been delegated to the equipment Suli had. She had moved most of her lab into the basement, including various droids and robots that were helping her with the creation of various machinery.
Suli and Dreamer only needed to study how the motherbox worked, including inner structure and schematics, and then rebuild it from scratch. The hard thing was figuring out how the soul inside the motherbox was developed.
Each of the motherboxes was its own sentient being, essentially a living computer capable of emotions and feeling pain. That soul allowed it to possess the magic required in some of its abilities, including healing and boom tube creation. However, its potential in establishing communication was not something extraordinary for modern technology.
But modifying the purpose of the machine from establishing portals and healing to more advanced communication methods that were known to the Apokoliptians, namely telepathy, they would be able to improve their collaborative efforts on future projects.
Currently, a prototype of such motherbox focused on telepathy was in the works. Lab tech robots were working on the computer parts and combining them with required functions, while Darkseid and Suli had worked on a ritual aimed at granting it a soul. Dreamer was the one working on the telepathy, as a telepath herself, she was able to modify one of Darkseid's rituals.
This new ritual, much more neutral in its nature, one that didn't require sacrifices, would grant the motherbox an ability to establish a telepathic connection across vast distances of space.
The actual distance that the motherbox would be able to work on required further testing, but even if the working distance ended up being several star systems, it would be a major win.
Currently, the universe in all of its immense size actually was comprised of several hundred navigable star systems divided between major players, such as Apokolips, New Genesis and H'san Natall. The real distance between those systems was insurmountable even for modern spaceships, as they would travel for months between them. Which was possible, but not feasible.
What made those star systems traversable fast enough was the wormholes linking all of them. This system of wormholes was a known fact of the universe, something that was known for developed stellar-level civilizations for thousands of years. These wormholes were used by the ancient civilization of Maltusians, the first intelligent lifeforms of the universe that discovered space travel, to study and research what later became known as the traversable universe.
Wormholes not only allowed travel between them, but, as was discovered, they also allowed the transfer of particles and atoms. This, in turn, allowed for establishing signals through them. This principle would be used for establishing telepathic links between the users of their motherboxes.
The rest of the infinite universe was not connected with wormholes and thus were not accessible even with modern tech. It would take too much time to fly to them and were not worth getting to. The connected universe already provided enough opportunities to expand.
Thus, with everything taking care off, and tasked given, the plans that Darkseid had set for their trio were well underway. Now, it was time for the next step in his plan for conquering H'san Natall.
That plan required the hiring of one legendary space mercenary. The Bastitch of Czarnia. Lobo.
Lobo was the last surviving specimen from the planet of Czarnia. Previously a lush paradise rich with natural wonders and greenery, it was now a desolate, toxic waste of a planet, void of any resources. And the direct cause of that was Lobo himself, a maniac who killed his own people seemingly for fun.
A violent psychopath from a race of nearly immortal beings had tasked himself with killing his almost unkillable brethren; the task that he had eventually succeeded in accomplishing. The immortality of Czarnians, now represented by Lobo exclusively, came from their powerful blood capable of regenerating their whole body from a single drop. It was unclear how it worked, but its potency was a tale of legends in the universe.
Lobo, after killing his people and using all of the natural resources on his planet, came into the universe at large as a force of chaos, a mercenary for hire. He was able to become the most sought-after mercenary in the whole universe in no time, considering his prowess and reputation. Even green lanterns were hesitant to deal with him. Even if he was clearly someone that the Green Lanterns were created to protect the universe from, a killer of a whole planet, they were either ignoring him for some reason or were incapable of doing so. Either way, the fact that Lobo was still free from the Green Lantern Corps' retribution spoke volumes for him, too.
The Green Lantern Corps are something akin to a space police organization, established by the remnants of the ancient Maltusians, who now called themselves the Guardians of the Universe. The headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps were situated on the planet Oa, which the Guardians had declared to be the center of the universe. The task of the Green Lantern Corps was the safekeeping of the universe, protecting it from individuals and disasters capable of destroying it or influencing it in a bad way. Although they were once a formidable force, now Darkseid would describe them as a corrupt and almost defunct organization that fell prey to infighting and bureaucracy.
Darkseid was standing on one of the main platforms of the space port on Apokolips. He was waiting for Lobo's arrival. Earlier that day, Drax had notified him that the mercenary had agreed to meet with him, but the exact details of the mission were yet to be disclosed. After all, no one besides Darkseid knew what the mission was supposed to be, even Drax. He had kept them secret in an effort to hide his next moves from his enemies.
Eventually, Lobo had arrived on his signature spacebike. White skin, muscular body, long black hair and blood red eyes. If Darkseid hadn't known better, he could have easily mistaken Lobo for an Apokoliptian. Ashen white skin and red eyes were a tell-tale of his people after all.
"Darkseid!" Lobo's voice was gruff with obvious signs of a heavy smoker. A lit cigar in his mouth was another such sign. It seemed like the mercenary was not averse to various vices. "What do you want from me?"
Straight to the point, with no pleasantries exchanged. It was hard to tell if he liked that or not. On one hand, he was the Emperor of Apokolips, one of the strongest figures in the entire universe. But on the other hand, it was a waste of time to exercise etiquette with a psycho for hire. Instead of contemplating it, he decided to let it slide and say his piece.
"Are you aware of the tournament hosted by Mongul?"
"The one on the Warworld? Yes. I got an invitation myself". Lobo was lost. Usually, his missions required an assassination or something like that, but here the client was asking about a fighting tournament.
"I'm aware", Darkseid knew that Lobo would be invited to the tournament, as the invitations were sent out through the mercenary network to the most notable people for hire. "I'm also aware that the invitations are not personalized, so it's possible to claim them from other people".
Lobo scratched his head while pulling out a metal plaque from somewhere inside his pockets. There was no name on the invitation plaque. It seemed like the client was right about his claims.
"I'm not giving you my invitation. I wanna fight bastitches at the tournament".
Lobo started his bike, fully intending on leaving the conversation at that, but Darkseid had other plans. With a flick of his fingers, the engine of the spacebike had stalled. This was a trap. Lobo jumped from his vehicle and threw a right punch in the face of his opponent. New God or not, Lobo was never afraid to throw hands with someone.
"I'm not asking you to". Darkseid blocked the punch, catching it with his own fist. "Get me four invitations from someone else, I don't care from whom".
At the sound of that, the dark-haired mercenary had paused mid-punch; it seemed like the deal would happen after all.
"I'll send you my price later, and it won't be small".
"Never thought that people like you worked for small prices".