"Because they were contaminated by talking to you, and you implied that you could follow them if they returned home. Of course."
"The only thing that surprises me now is how fast they were able to rig their ships to explode. That sort of system would be a liability in combat."
They're clearly clever, if nothing else. A pity it's devoted to killing themselves, or killing the inhabitants of the next planet they decide to move to...
"Perhaps they assume that their assault forces won't be returning."
"I'd be surprised. This is a lot of mass of ship to write off that casually."
Even if they were mining exostellar planetoids or the like, there's still a major investment of time and resources to build them... They can't suffer that kind of wastage for long, no...
"Just the crew, then? Ah."
I pause my own scanning. As far as I can tell, they projected a distortion effect into their own superstructure, causing their fuel reserves to undergo nuclear fusion. The area around what I think are the fuel reserves is… Gone. Reduced to slag. Other parts of the ship are somewhat intact but they either borrowed Reach Lantern-defying technology or developed it independently. It's still quicker for Lantern Gozzi and I to go through this piece by piece than call in a L.E.G.I.O.N. salvage team.
The equivalent of shooting a bazooka into their own gas tank... Or would that be a grenade into the ammunition locker? All a matter of scale. Obviously a lot more effective when you're using somewhat unstable fissile materials than simple gasoline, I suppose...
"Anything useful?"
"A part of their communication system. It appears to have been furthest from the centre of the explosion. If I can get some idea of their range, we can narrow down how close their main fleet is."
Lucky. Very, very lucky.
A reasonable idea. Even with systems that can communicate instantly, there are usually some limitations. L.E.G.I.O.N. doesn't have that problem and the Reach get around it with a somewhat energy intensive system for long distance communication. Most species don't have that advantage.
I'm reminded of a scene from 'Down Periscope'. Kelsey Grammer's character fakes being unable to perform a piece of navigation in order to trick a member of his submarine's crew into thinking that their special skills are crucial and so gain the confidence they'd previously lacked. Near the end of the film the member of the crew works it out, but since they'd completed the task successfully it didn't matter.
In other words, you'll let Gozzi get on with it herself, while you poke around looking stupid?
A flotilla was destroyed here, far from a living world. The souls of the dead might make it to the world we were protecting eventually, but right now they're swarming about us in the confusion of the recently dead.
And I can see them.
That... Is that a
new development, or simply not worth mentioning? Because... That's kind of
significant, man...
It's never really come up before. On a living world souls generally go to their final rest a little quicker than this. When I destroy ships I usually just move on, or leave the spiritual aspect to Lord Hades.
But I can't shield entire systems. Even if whoever was in charge of these ships did actually send a message back about the level of resistance they encountered, we've got no guarantee that it will amount to more than a mild pause. Perhaps just an information bulletin. I can't afford to not offer-.
"Caution: Alien defenders have exhibited a tendency to attempt to communicate. Do
not engage the foreigner!" Yeah, I can see their leadership playing it down for morale purposes.
"I believe that I have them."
"From a broken communication device?"
One clue amongst many, Watson. Elementary, after all.
"No, from a number of factors, of which this debris is only one. I assume that you're following your cultural imperative and 'letting me work it out for myself'?"
"Not exactly. I was just wondering how long I should leave it before doing something that I'm reasonably confident will get us the location. Would you-?"
Like sniffing out their desire networks from the souls you sense?
"Their souls. You can.. see them?"
"If I unfocus a little. Jade's reluctant, but I do strongly recommend picking a religion and leaving your executor some sort of instruction on where you want your remains interred."
Yeah, even if you're not afraid of dying, knowing you'll be a cold lump floating in space (or a very hot clump of excited molecules going somewhere else very quickly) would be just a little scary.
"I've always known that Colu was mystically inert, but I assumed that arcane phenomena were limited to places like Earth."
"No. It turns out that 'inert' just means 'not very ert'. Everywhere in the material universe is linked to the Dreaming, and hence to magic. The souls of the crew are mere-"
Ugh, Robin rubbed off on you a bit there. So, this area is now slightly more magically active due to the extra energy of those souls? Not that that would last too long...
I hold out my left hand, feeling the imprint in the Honden and pulling it to me.
"-wisps, but they still have weight to them."
At least he has a trace on their desires now. If the leadership is
comparable, it'll be easy to locate them from here.
They really are very simple things. I wonder… Is Lord Hades giving the souls of the aliens he judges complexity they never had before? Or is the lack of a connection what causes this? Are his new subjects integrating so well because he's effectively making them human?
"You may as well bring them."
"I'm not sure that I can. Certainly not safely. Using them to find 'home' would necessitate me not caring about them. So let's try your way; we can always come back if you're wrong."
It says a lot that he
does care. I mean, Gozzi probably doesn't see much value in them, but his work with Hades has left him aware of their value... And I'm
not just talking about as currency or anything like that...
"Very well. I've also notified the local L.E.G.I.O.N. assets that they can find these wrecks here to study in detail."
W-?
I nod. "Because they might have to fight them if we're not quick enough."
And if the rest of their fleets are like this, that's a very nasty sort of weapon to deal with...
"Yes." She pings me some coordinates. "I think that it would be best if you accompanied me. They will probably have countermeasures ready and be in a high state of alert."
I float closer to her and grab her with a construct tether. "Probably best if you let me fly us there. My construct strength carries over into FTL speed. Armour up."
Still wondering if she's still plying the usual skin-tight outfit of a typical Lantern, or if OL has gotten her
properly armoured yet...
She nods, generating a construct version of Amalak's organisation's boarding armour.
"Two, one."
Hopefully this armour proves a little tougher than before. And that she's using the automatic dodging programs...
Space bends and-. Keeps bending? Why-? A trap, or-? Gravity, some sort-.
Flatten.
Huh. Sounds like these folks are honestly just
good with gravity tech...
Space snaps back, and the rings show me the colossal wave of x-rays shooting away from the not-actually-all-that-small black holes I just jumped into, the generators being converted into vapour immediately. The ships are further away, the larger ones moving to interpose themselves between the smaller vessels and the oncoming radiation wave. They've got FTL sensors, then, at least in the larger ships.
And concern for their smaller brethren, I see. Even if it's only on a tactical level.
Transmit.
Compliance.
"Alright try. Three out of five. I won't hold it against you."
Mostly bluffing? That would not have been fun for his charge, as you-know-who pointed out...
Scans of the system show a large fleet, but it appears to be comprised entirely of warships. No tenders, no workshops, no docking cradles.
"But it didn't work. I want to negotiate with your government, and I don't believe that your civilisation can survive having the ships here destroyed as well as the raiders who killed themselves to try and prevent me finding you."
This
is a pretty major assembly of naval power. No guarantee that it's their sole invasion fleet, but it has to be a significant chunk of their overall naval power...
With the radiation wave having passed us by, I untether Lantern Gozzi and reach out across the void, flattening space around the ships as they try to alter it to increase their agility.
"I understand that you do not habitually have direct dealings with aliens. However, in this instance the price of not doing so will be the discontinuation of your people as technologically sophisticated species. Which means that you will no longer be able to flee the Reach. If you choose not to speak with me, you will immediately receive the worst option. Continuing as you are is thoroughly off the table."
In other words, break your habit, or you will
be broken. I see OL is losing his patience.
"Speak to me or I start shooting."
…
"We will hear you."
Sure, they'll hear him. But will they really
listen to him?
