Among the endless space of cosmos, between aeons upon aeons of light bringing stars and planets orbiting around them, one Apokoliptian spaceship was following its course to New Genesis.
Although most of the Apokoliptian ships were massive and intimidating space fortresses that were meant to carry out military operations (mostly invasions and planetary sieges), the one that was currently occupied by Darkseid and his diplomatic mission was quite small in comparison. This ship was built to be fast and manoeuvrable, able to outpace most of the ships in the universe; thus, the size and weaponry of the ship were sacrificed as a result. However, even on board such transport, which was moving at speeds closer to the speed of light than recommended by most scientists, and using wormholes as a means of transportation between distant star systems, the journey to New Genesis was still a lengthy endeavour that took up nearly a week.
Darkseid himself was currently bored with the dark interior of the ship; the various shades of grey and black inside (and outside) of it grew boring quite quickly. The variety of rooms was lacklustre aside from multiple personal chambers - one for him, one for Suli, and one for the Furies - there were also a kitchen and the pilot deck. Personal chambers were all quite small, fitting only personal stuff, a bed and some space to walk in. The kitchen was a set of automatic food dispensers with rationed food serving calculated and carefully stored in the storage bay. There was a small automatic contraption that would pick up a ration from the storage whenever the crew would order a meal on the computer panel.
The pilot room was the biggest room on the craft. At the front edge of the ship, at the nose, stood a control panel with dedicated displays and controls for different purposes, like control of the movement, control of the weaponry, shields, living conditions, communications, etc. At the helm of the room, a row of massive chairs was built able to fit all five members of the crew, taking into account their size, weight and height, with Darkseid and Tina being the quite intimidating figures, it was a necessity.
As for the ship itself, it was currently moving on its own; its propulsion engines were firing on all power, speedily approaching the edge of the star system they were currently crossing. Their destination was the wormhole that connected this system with the home system of the New Genesians. Yes, their four-day-long trip to the planet of their "light" New God counterparts was almost over. In two to three hours, they would arrive at the space station at the outskirts of the Supertown, the capital of New Genesis.
***
New Genesis was a massive, lush green planet that was inhabited by the New Genesian New Gods living in the absolutely colossal city called Supertown that was the size of a planetary moon. The city was flying in the sky, lifted by the godly magic.
The New Genesians used renewable sources of energy to fuel their needs; as a result, the planet was the complete opposite of Apokolips. Green, full of expansive forests, crystal-clear lakes, vast and full of life rivers, high mountains that seemingly reached the sky limit, and most importantly, fresh air. On the surface of New Genesis lived numerous tribes of bug people, the primitive civilisation of insect-like sapient creatures, that were distinctly different in culture to the New Gods. Though the peace between the tribes and the advanced civilisation of the New Gods was established and supported for aeons, the relationship between the two was quite strained. Most of the bugs looked at the supremely overpowered people from the sky city to be colonisers that dominated them both technologically and economically.
The shaky peace between Bugs and the New Gods aside, the planet was a vibrant, celestial paradise, idyllic and temperate, seemingly perpetually sunlit; it resembled an earthly utopia and had a reputation across the universe to be the only power capable of opposing Apokolips. They were looked at as the good side of the conflict.
Darkseid's predecessor, Yuga Khan, didn't care for the optics of his endless war campaign, as for him the result was the same - the planets that they would wage war on were falling under the Apokoliptian might. Surely, the New Genesis would fall sooner or later. But Darkseid held a different opinion.
Now, with his meta knowledge, he knew that the endless war would lead to the endless ruin of the Empire. The brute force that the Empire had was not enough to defeat all the enemies it had. So he had two options to deal with that: increase the power he had at hand or use other methods of getting an upper hand. And for him, the smarter option was - both. There was no such thing as too much of an advantage. Everything that he could do to win, he would do.
So here he was, about to meet one of his mortal enemies, the Hightfather Izaya, and talk peace and partnership with him.
The Highfather, the leader of New Genesis, real name - Izaya the Inheritor. He had a reputation as a wise and benevolent leader of his people, one who was able to oppose the force of the Apokoliptian war machine. An accomplished warrior, he faced Darkseid's father multiple times in battle and came out of it alive, so the personal power of the Highfather was, without question, immense.
In the original timeline, Izaya and Darkseid would do their own version of the Peace Pact, where they exchanged their newborn sons as the means to guarantee the eternal peace between the two factions. That deal backfired on both of them. The peace ultimately fell through, and the two sons ended up resenting their fathers for the exchange (one more than the other).
Both factions, Apokoliptian New Gensians, were twin brothers to each other, formed from the destruction of the Old Gods, born in the new God Spark that created the New Gods. It was universally accepted that the New Genesis embodied light, order, peace, and life, while Apokolips was defined by darkness, tyranny, and war. And while true on all accounts, the comparison didn't bode well for the Apokolips. And Darkseid was here to partly rectify that.
He would end the eternal war between their civilisations. And not the temporary one, like the original pact, but hopefully the eternal one. He would be the one to bring the end of an entire cosmic era, a fitting accolade for the new ruler of the Apokolips.
Their ship, after getting clearance from the New Genesian space port, descended into the planet's atmosphere, several hundred kilometres away from the point of landing. Then, after another half an hour of (comparatively) slow flight through the sunlit sky of the New Genesis during its dusk hour, they landed in the Supertown.
Commonly nicknamed the Golden City, Supertown, was home to all New Genesian New gods. Modern, clean, it was a picture-perfect illustration of the supposed utopia that was the New Genesis.
White towers as high as mountains pierced the clouds, dividing passing clouds into fascinating strips of white. The resulting ribbons would then dress the city in their fluffy white fur-like cloud.
Boarding the ship, the Apokoliptian delegation was met with cold stares and guarded animosity. For the people here, they were enemies at the heart of their home.
"Greetings, ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid, and his servants", a young man who seemed to be in his twenties, an untrustworthy metric for immortal gods, engages Darkseid and his party soon after the landing.
The newly crowned Emperor recognised the man; it was Lightray. A cheerful strawberry blonde man, member of the Council of Eight - the governing body of New Genesis, the god of light, and the would-be-future friend of Darkseid's son, Orion, that would have been exchanged with Izaya's in the Peace pact.
***
Lightray was a rather tall, muscular man; his supermodel-like face was always decorated with a blindingly white smile. But not this time. His face was solemn and thoughtful, the voice was still cheerful, but it was without a doubt a front for the bad mood. The man wasn't happy with Darkseid's arrival.
"Highfather is waiting for your arrival at the Hall of Meetings. Follow me." Lightray turned his back to the Apokoliptians and started walking without regard to whether he was followed or not.
Of course, they followed. Furies seemed to be angered by the Lightray's actions. Darkseid gestured for them to calm down. The little man was nothing more than a nuisance. The only important person here at this time was Izaya himself. No other New Genesian mattered to him.
Darkseid looked at Suli, the final member of their delegation. She was distracted by the city landscape, looking around, she looked almost carefree. He liked that. He took her here as a scientist and a witch; she was meant to be, for the large part, an observer. And that part of her job, observing, she did perfectly.
The five of them had their jobs for tonight. An observer, three guards, and an envoy.