My own entry to the bridge passes largely unremarked, and by the time Brand reaches the command podium everyone is focusing on their tasks. What to do now? Dox will give me an order in a couple of minutes just to reinforce his authority so I can't disappear. I'm getting updates from the ship's computer via my ring, but as Dox demonstrated he's far better at processing that sort of thing than I am. Mundane data, anyway.
Remote Honden-routed check-ins on noteworthy lanterns? Make sure no-ones getting a little twitchy?
I'm not completely convinced that he problem he had was with magic, exactly. But I felt Grayven doing something which coincided with the ship's main gun firing. It's perfectly possible to interact with magic using a power ring and I know that Dox is highly skilled with his. Yes, I've… Been assuming that it would require a level of spiritual awareness that he doesn't have, but I'm happy with the idea that there's more than one route to a skill.
So he
might get to invent proper Orange Light Magic after all. And teach it successfully to other Lanterns.
The alternative is that he literally just overloaded his brain with data and actually gave himself a mini-stroke. I doubt that's what happened as his ring should have prevented it as long as he wanted to continue to be aware of the incoming data, but I don't think I'm going to look too closely into it just in case.
I mean, that's not impossible. If he shorted out the part of his brain capable of controlling the Light, it might have stuttered long enough for neural damage to occur... And given his known Canon quirks, it's worth making sure he doesn't have any lingering issues on the physical side.
Instead, I look out through the hull of the ship at the other Lanterns in the fleet, spread out as they are across this segment of the outer sphere of Reach territory. The gleeful killers and retribution-seekers are raring to go, while the more disciplined ones are simply focused on the job before them. I-
Good, good. No overloads or untoward desire-sets? Not quite a well-oiled machine yet, but...
"This is Vril Dox, Supreme Commander of L.E.G.I.O.N. and Clarissi of the Orange Lantern Corps. I have recovered from a minor neutral shock created by the Apokoliptian Grayven and am now resuming command of the operation."
I raise my left hand slightly. "This is the Illustres. I yield command."
...They're getting there. And the story spreads. Which will make people curious about what the nature of Grayven's attack involved. Would be a good chance for OL to look into Godspeech more.
I then turn, looking back from the way we came, deeper into Reach space. Still don't have a great handle on how they think, and at this distance, without something specific to aim my gaze at, we'd have to have made a much bigger impression that we did for me to see much of anything.
I glance over to Dox and spot that he's moved on to the reports from the Lanterns attacking the periphery. That's as good an opening as any. I walk towards him, and he looks up as I pass through his command station's shield.
Ah, impatient as ever, OL. So many things to do, so little time. Such is life.
"Sir. How are we doing?"
"The Reach ships are pulling back. Most likely, they're going into survival mode until they can either get orders from their regional command or reinforcements."
I see they're smart enough to know to yield before a stronger enemy. Probably a standard procedure. The problem is, they don't know just how
big NEMO's war-front is, do they?
"They're not just abandoning this part of the periphery? I thought that was how the Reach usually responded to a concerted attack. Those ships could make it to the next periphery region without too much difficulty."
"The most likely reason is propaganda. They know perfectly well that we're going to tell everyone on our side of the periphery exactly what they do with worlds they annex, with all the evidence and testimonies we can gather."
The question is how many will
believe them, depending on how deeply the Reach has their pincers dug in...
"They're destroying evidence?"
"Or creating a false narrative that we hunted down helpless trading vessels. Or perhaps they don't want to make themselves look weak to periphery worlds not presently aligned with us. The fact that they usually do a thing in a particular way is no indication that they will continue to do so forever. We might not be the first time that they've had to deal with significant opposition but we are the first time that someone has tried to envelop their entire border."
They grew complacent, didn't they? The Reach leadership took their peace treaty with the Green lanterns as a given that they'd have an easier time being sneaky... Which makes it a bit harder when someone comes looking for a fight. I mean, sure, they have the weapons and will for a stand-up scrap, but
those forces are deeper in, aren't they?
"We could ask-. Some of those Lanterns to take ships in one piece. If they're just armed merchantmen and there aren't any Scarab Warriors present, it's a manageable risk."
"No, we need them here."
You'd better have a good reason for that. Letting the Reach run their cover-ups unopposed is a big risk.
He brings up a holographic image of a… World the Reach seized a generation or two ago. I'm not seeing much in the way of defences, which makes sense. We're the main threat to the Reach in this region, and they wouldn't put defences that could stop us on a world they don't particularly care about. They'd much rather counterpunch us with ships and scarabs than build fixed defences they can't support.
"What, all of them?"
After all, only one or two generations? Hardly time for the Reach to become 'their trustworthy benefactors...' yet. Depending on how long the locals live, especially.
"No, just the ones reliable enough to trust to do anything complex with their rings."
…
The man has a point. You won't need thugs and melee specialists for long-range bombardments, nor would you put artillery Lanterns on electronic warfare duties. Sure, a Lantern can do any of them, but some people just do
better than others.
Fair point. Ragnar is a great fighter and master-at-arms, but I'm still not sure that he'd turn down an opportunity to duel with a Scarab Warrior in order to do something of strategic value. And most of the others… Their self-control isn't good enough to ensure that they'd stick to the mission with the orange light influencing them. Normally that's fine, but it does somewhat limit our options in situations like this.
"So what's special about it?"
Yep. Some jobs need people who can stay on task. For Orange Lanterns, that's
especially important.
"The dominant intelligent species is still populous and -to the best of our knowledge- unmodified."
I frown. "Collaborators?"
Yeah, that'd be my first thought. Reach conquests usually don't care to keep the locals around, do they? Was leaving their population unmolested something the leadership insisted on in return for a peaceful surrender? Though I doubt the Reach wouldn't eventually start the usual routine after a couple of centuries passed...
"We don't have any pre-annexation records. They weren't fond of other species before the Reach absorbed them, and the local monitoring was too good for a Darkstar team to penetrate for long enough to learn anything until recently. There should be a team there now, and we'll get a data burst once we arrive."
"You wouldn't be putting this level of resource in on the off-chance. What do you think is happening?"
...What are the chances Jade is on the team on-site right now? I mean, she's
probably a good choice for the more covert jobs Darkstars might need to run...
"Material resources are plentiful in the universe. Energy is freely available in any of a hundred different ways. The Reach aren't primitive raiders like the gordanians or philosophical obsessives like the Apokoliptians. If they're holding a planet contrary to their usual manner of operating, there's something unique there that they want."
"You read my reports on the future of my own species, I assume."
He's no idiot OL. Even a mere Tenth-level intellect like him will pick up on Earth's bullshit nature. Now, what's so special about this world... What's it called, I wonder?
"Certainly." Gosh, he's mellowed out all of a sudden. "And that's the approach I would expect them to take. Breeding a species for a useful trait if they can't engineer it into themselves or a device, and conditioning them to loyalty. That doesn't appear to be what has happened here."
"I assume that you want me on it?"
And what happened on Earth during their initial probing missions. We saw them in Canon, investigating the Meta-gene. Something like that, something that can give people any number of exotic abilities? Not to be passed up on.
"I want you on the planet supporting the Darkstar team the moment we know what's going on."
I nod.
Nothing but the best, eh? As long as things don't go tits-up once OL sticks his nose in... And the likelihood of that occurring rise with every moment...
"Speaking of useful traits, do you know what's happening on Colu at the moment? The last I heard, a Green Lantern Honour Guard strike force was attacking the Computer Tyrants."
"Coluans would make better analysts then most alternatives. If they were willing to work with me."
I'm honestly not sure Dox cares too much about his homeworld except as a resource. So if you're expecting any concern, OL... I think you'll be out of luck.
"You're not even biologically identical to your tissue donor."
"He isn't biological any longer. But that's beside the point. And irrelevant. The Green Lanterns managed to land on Colu and destroy the Computer Tyrant defence force, but the majority of the population remain locked in the simulations. And with the Computer Tyrants effectively running on their neural structures and adapting to the Green Lantern Corps' attempts to extract them, it's a deadlock."
Heh. It's funny how similar that is to the Matrix. Not the 'energy-generating' crap they had in the movie, but the original concept. I wonder if the Wachowskis had read about Colu before that?
"Nothing you can do to help?"
"I'm the most intelligent Coluan there has ever been, but I can't outthink a billion other Coluans running in parallel."
Quantity is a quality all its own, after all.
"Do the Computer Tyrants have radio telepathy?"
"Not a version that's compatible with an unmodified organic brain."
Probably a good thing, since it means they couldn't mind-whammy invaders into submission...
"The Martians do owe us a few big favours. We could probably telepathically transfer people out of the simulation. Reduce the Computer Tyrants' hardware capacity."
"I'll give it some thought. Hm." He changes a screen, and turns the sound dampening around us right down. "We're being intercepted by a security fleet. Mercenaries. Capture as many as you can for questioning."
Shouldn't be too hard. OL could probably disable the fleet in his sleep.
Alone.
Check position… Feel them.
"Certainly, sir. Back shortly."
And as soon as he's gone, Dox relaxes.
Imperceptibly Slightly.
