The space between us and the dreadnaught is obscured as the dreadnaught's main gun fires, a test of the strength of my desire for the fulfilment of my mission.
A test of the strength of the mortal's desire for the fulfilment of his mission against my drive to conquer. Can he hear me, I wonder? So mortals long accustomed to divine power can become aware of us, though I've yet to see one with any degree of true insight.
And it appears the New God is as curious about OL's nascent ability to perceive Godspeech as we are. No doubt he plans to
experiment...
I smile as I feel something other than the power of the main gun directed at me from the dreadnaught. Hello there.
"Tomorrow belongs to me!"
And OL's definitely beginning to pick up on it properly. I foresee him finally breaking through and being able to catch it clearly this episode, if not
this segment...
I pointedly turn away from the blazing fury raining down on my shield. The Lanterns I assigned to tow duty appear to have found a workable method for ducking the jamming. It's not exactly fast, but it's faster than light and that's fast enough. They should only need a few minutes.
"Alright, let's try that again, but I expect you all to join in this time."
Ah, the greatest insult you can offer a prideful foe:
Irrelevance. That's not going to make Grayven-16 any happier.
Tomorrow belongs to ME, mortal, and all of the days thereafter.
Yes, there's a New God over there, and they know who I am. But this is my Lantern Corps, and if they need a victory then I will ensure that they have one. My vision of the future won't be stopped by a demigod with a big… 'Ship'.
So the Gordanian delegation definitely conveyed their impressions of him. Assuming Big G wasn't watching through their eyes anyway... And even OL can pick up on the clear overcompensation.
Nice.
My vision won't be stopped by a mortal with a glowing ring.
"Oh orange light, orange light
Show us the-!"
So, making up the song as he goes, or subbing lyrics for another? In the finest bardic tradition, of course.
No one's joining in.
"Oh, come on. Most of your cultures have a concept of music! And the rest of you-"
Well, OL, they aren't quite as capable of working while being shit-scared. Unless you want to be able to build a wall out of
bricks...
The dreadnaught accelerates, coming steadily closer.
I Am Inevitable.
You Are Also Annoying. Seriously, he's not even sure OL can hear him, and he's
monologuing. The Ego on this God...
It fires again, the ravening energies once more obscuring the wider universe on the other side of my barrier. Yes, yes, it's a very big gun. But these Lanterns are mine, and that's more important.
This ship is mine. My capital. My throne. And it is of more significance than your cluster of mental defectives.
...Holy crap, Grayven-16 heard him thinking back?
Holy shit, OL's Godspeech Tourette's pays off. And while that
may make the Dreadnaught stronger while he empowers it, it'll also cost him more mojo if it gets damaged or even destroyed... After all, how worthy is a king of command, if his castle can be assaulted so easily?
"-can just chant it?"
Most of the L.E.G.I.O.N. ships are nearing the edge of the jamming limit now, the Lanterns who moved fastest dumping their loads before flying back to aid the slower ones.
Jolly Cooperation! And a healthy amount of self-preservation, no doubt...
"Oh orange light, orange light!"
There's a reluctant muttering along from the Lanterns surrounding me, which is mildly frustrating as their shield is inside my shield and as such isn't actually getting shot at the moment. You'd think they could multitask well enough to sing.
Probably many of them are feeling sheepish at the idea of singing in battle. Those
with such a martial tradition might join in happily, but many? It's probably
not done.
"Show us the sign!"
With a little effort, I add an orange sigil wider than planet Earth to the inside of my shield.
An added bit of insult. Oh, Grayven-16 must be
fuming...
"Your Lanterns have waited to see!"
I will show them their futures in a handful of ash.
Yep, he's getting annoyed. This is probably the most resistance anyone has shown, with or
without his Godly mojo backing up the fleet...
"The morning will come!"
Now the dreadnaught's secondary batteries open fire as well, testing the outer parts of my shield. Yes, still strong there as well.
After all, why would one part be weaker than another, if it's all of one piece? It's not like it can suffer from manufacturing defects...
"When the gal'xy's mine!"
Slightly more Lanterns singing along now. Actually-. Ah, a proportion of those on tow duty have returned and joined in. I suppose that from a distance my shield is visible and the dreadnaught's own weaponsfire obscures it.
I suspect nearby star systems are going to have
quite the show in a few year's time.
"Tomorrow belongs to me!"
Everyone who's still here sings a line, and inside my helmet I'm smiling broadly.
Finally, the sing-along's getting started. Though I bet
some are just going along with the crazy-powerful crazy Boss Lantern.
Enough of this!
The main gun shuts down, though the dreadnaught is still coming closer.
Looks like Grayven-16 wants to get this done up close and personal, then. A typically-Apokaliptian mistake, really. It basically says he doesn't trust his warriors to handle this themselves... Though I suppose you
could make a case that he's doing this to protect them from a foe they could not overcome... But he's not
that good a boss, as far as we know.
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Upon my order, disengage in small groups and link up with the L.E.G.I.O.N. fleet. I'll tell you when."
I begin sending order direct to their rings, flecks of orange light across the emptiness of the outer system blurring as they head away. A hundred and twenty two Lanterns to a hundred and twelve. A hundred and one. Ninety, and the only reason I'm going this slowly is to make it completely clear to everyone that this is a controlled withdrawal.
Rather than a headlong
retreat under the enemy's guns. Definitely better for morale.
The dreadnaught slows to a relative stop, its bow almost touching my barrier. Generally speaking, if your super gun didn't work then ramming probably won't either. Why are they..?
A small boom tube opens near the bow of the vessel and a single humanoid steps out, arms folded behind… His back. Big fellow. I guess this is the warchief that no one challenges. No one inside the clan challenges.
And he doesn't recognise him instantly because, after all, he's just a minor villain from an obscure run of Kyle Rayner's era...
"Remaining Lanterns may disengage on their own recognisance. Shield going down."
Rather than simply dismiss it, I allow the construct to shrink inwards, until it's merely the size of the great orange sigil. Lanterns retreat, but nothing like as fast as they would be if they earnestly desired to flee. I think a few are actually loitering.
No doubt the more warrior-cultured, hoping to watch the Boss fight, if only to learn how Grayven-16 fights.
"As much as I appreciate the offer of backup, the fleet does actually need you. Get moving. That is an order."
And they're going. I float closer, making eye contact with the hulking figure acting as his ship's hood ornament. And I have no doubt that it is his; he has New God armour similar in general design to what the other New Gods of my acquaintance wear, though a little more sombre in tone. Dull gold and black, his face bare and a cascade of white hair drifting in the vacuum.
...White hair? That's a change. But then, Renegade
is technically
brown-haired. I wonder what diverged to cause that? Well, besides the obvious fact of 'that's how he looks in the show...'
I have no idea who this is. The face and grey-blue skin tone reminds me a little of Marvel's Thanos, but otherwise, I've got nothing. I didn't learn all that much about the backgrounds of the New Gods on Earth Prime because… Whatever the original idea was, when I was younger they were serving as minor Superman characters with grand-sounding names but little actual plot relevance.
And, as I said, Grayven was a minor villain at the time, for Kyle Rayner of all people. In fact, I think he may well be better known to some of us readers from this story than from the actual comics, am I right?
Of course, if Canis is anything to go by, he's not exactly going to be shy about telling me. So… Fully disengaged? Yes, just me left on our side, except perhaps for a few Lanterns who are really good at stealth. I make sure that I have eye contact and then lightly tap the shield from my side with the knuckles of my right hand as I allow it to evaporate.
"Hello there! I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Mind if I come aboard?"
Heh. Politeness in the face of the Enemy. OL is really playing up his tip-top Britishness for this, isn't he? In the best Doctor tradition.
"You have my permission to stand before me."
The voice is as deep as I'd expect for a chest of that volume, but also… Dusty? There's a mildly wheezing quality to it that I find a little odd. I suppose that could just be a result of talking in a vacuum; I'm not totally clear how he's managing that.
Or an old, lingering injury? Or some quirk of his Godly nature. After all, If
he sounds like this, imagine how Darkseid sounds... Though honestly, Micheal Ironsides will always be
best Darkseid.
I fly through space, over the bow of the ship and land a short distance ahead of him.
"And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"
"I am Grayven." "I am Conquest."
Looks like OL will be doing the negotiating today. Hopefully Dox gets his head back on straight and sorts out a plan...
