The Flagship's Heart: An Artificial Sun!

The bridge of the Jokester was like a temple adrift in the sea of stars, silent and solemn.

Victor Stone, also known as Cyborg, stood before the main console, streams of blue data flickering across the electronic eye in his half-mechanical face. After a month of frantic work, the main structure of this warship—a fusion of the finest technologies of Earth, Apokolips, Krypton, and Olympus—was one hundred percent complete.

But it still lacked a heart.

"Link." Victor's voice came over the internal comms, grave. "I've run more than ten thousand simulations. Neither Tony Stark's Arc Reactor, nor the Shadow Engine we salvaged from the Ghost Ship, nor even the Mother Box Core inside me can provide enough peak power for the Jokester."

"We've integrated a Psinergy Invisibility Field, a Divine Rune Shield, a Heat Vision Main Cannon Matrix, and a faster-than-light Boom Tube. If those systems activate at the same time, the energy required... it's astronomical. Any known power source would be drained in 0.3 seconds, then undergo a fusion explosion."

Victor was stating a cold fact. They had created an unprecedented beast, only to discover they had nothing that could feed it.

Link sat on the Throne, tapping the armrest with his fingers. He did not look surprised.

"I already knew."

He rose and walked to the vast viewport, gazing at the burning golden sphere in the distance—the sun that brought light and warmth to the entire Solar System.

"If we can't find a suitable power source, then we'll... make one ourselves."

"Make one?" Victor froze. "You mean... a Dyson Sphere? That would take centuries to build."

No, something much simpler. Why go to the trouble of building a cage around the sun when we can just catch a sun and stuff it into our engine room?

To Link,