15th October 2012
17:02 GMT
Krandor Vat winced slightly, twitching his right wing as the muscles responsible for furling it didn't quite respond as they should. He took a moment to reflect that it was fortunate for him that Thanagar never
quite adopted the sort of extreme warrior culture that some had called for. Dismissing a senior officer because they were no longer quite the brawler they'd been in their youth would have been the height of wastefulness, and politicians needed a strong arm even less.
If his
mind ever weakened-. No. As things stood he'd be dead before that became a problem.
He could have come to Enndupar the moment the crisis was resolved, but… That would have served no purpose. Strong soldiers on patrol and ships in the air would calm and reassure better than a public appearance.
He glanced down at the part of his right wing still in his field of view.
Particularly these days. Besides, there wouldn't have been time for anyone to have learned anything. Far better to give the officers involved time to piece things together so that they could present him with a complete report. No matter how well disciplined, it was good for morale for officers to be allowed to succeed.
An attack by Seven Devil cultists, carried out against a major city. All hands would be raised against them now, Thanagar motivated to carry out a purge such as their forebears had never been able to carry out. No more fools or paupers drawn into their grasp. No matter how indolent or ill-disposed towards their own government, no one would want to align themselves with people who would carry out that sort of attack.
A chime, and he presses the button to allow his senior civil servants access to his office. Not as secure as the office in Thanaldar, but it wasn't as if he was staying for long. He would speak with the garrison commander and home guard captains later, to acknowledge their actions in preventing a catastrophe.
But first, the people who had created it.
Andar Pul comes in first, subtly applied makeup disguising how tired he was. For a moment the High Mor wonders if the man's conscience is keeping him up, but swiftly dismisses the idea. It's far more likely that the effort of ensuring that his agents get to where they are required to be requires constant attention and allows only irregular rest. Darl Klus is second, and seems far more ready for action. With the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps having departed and the Earth end of the operation mostly concluded, he didn't need to put in quite so many hours.
"High Mor." / "High Mor."
"Ambassador. Senior Analyst. Are things going according to plan?"
Pul looks awkward. "Not… Precisely. Most of the senior members of the Cult who
aren't under our control are in our custody. Without Paran Dul or a reliable telepath our ability to interrogate them is limited, but our best predictions show that a near-complete cleanup of the cults is now within our grasp. But we underestimated the Darkstar. She
may have deduced that things were other than as they appeared."
"What led to the underestimation?"
"Incomplete intelligence. Dul had no opportunity to study their current-generation exo-mantles in detail and only knew their approximate capacities. We prepared for improvements on the known suit types, but between the operative's skills and the exo-mantle's superlative performance that prediction was… Out. It also appears that she nonlethally disabled several of our insiders, who were unable to perform their roles quite as intended."
"Can she prove anything?"
"I don't believe so. But on both occasions the Illustres was quite clear that he is absolutely opposed to the reactivation of the Devils. It…
Shouldn't be an issue now, but whether we are successful or not, we should never perform an operation of this type again."
Galling. But he wasn't wrong, and there was no sense in pretending otherwise.
"Ambassador."
"Operative Bleez is getting closer to him, but-."
Krandor Vat makes a dismissive gestures with his right hand. "It doesn't matter. At this point I would
gladly let her take our untouchables merely to have them out of our way. Thanagarians should be driven to greatness by aspiration, not fear."
The Ambassador lowers his eyes for a moment in submission. It's not a
completely unquestioned viewpoint, but the High Mor is resolute on that point.
"Then her work is going as desired, and it is highly probable that by monitoring her we will get notice of the Illustres's visits. As for our operatives on Earth…" A wing shrug. "They made an approach. The… Forge-God, Hephaestus, wasn't interested."
"Not unexpected. What did they learn?"
"We've known for some time that Earth is…
Unusual with regard to magic. Hephaestus admitted that he wasn't sure how the arcane transmutation of Nth metal was possible at all. Some worlds are 'thaumically'-"
A human loan word. The closest equivalent in Quarish would be 'bloody' or 'cursed', and those aren't quite right.
"-active, and others aren't. Most, in fact. Despite being ruled by demons, Thanagar isn't."
"Can it be made so?"
"Not by any technique described in publically available literature. The god said that he didn't think it would be possible. When pressed, he opined that there might be fairly extreme measures that could cause a world to become active, but that he didn't think experimentation would be wise."
Pul looks unsettled. "
Thanagar, High Mor?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Thanagar is the centre of our people and culture. It would be easier to impress our nature upon it." Pul ducks his head slightly. "But you are right to consider the potential undesirable consequences. Nothing
radical should be done without some measure of confidence that the outcome would be as we want. What worlds in this region are thaumically active?"
Klus shakes his head. "None, High Mor. None inside the Empire or amongst our neighbours. Aside from Alstair and Earth, the closest would be
Alavorn."
A touch on a hologram projector and its distance from the borders of the Empire is immediately apparent.
"It would be
possible to negotiate the use of part of their world, but with it being effectively impossible for us to annex it-."
"We will not place ourselves at the mercy of aliens, Ambassador." Vat's expression shifted to become even colder than normal. "Alliances of convenience may be considered, but not-.
This."
"Yes, High Mor."
There's an awkward… Quiet for a moment, and Vat realised that he'd been too emphatic. Klus was too young to remember living through the Equalisation Plague. It wouldn't have the same significance for him. He wouldn't understand why they
couldn't-.
He waves his right hand.
"Continue."
"There was… One other thing. Another.. Forge-God. Vulcan. He works with Hephaestus, but hasn't achieved the same degree of renown. He was apparently extremely interested in the Nth metal samples that Hol and Thal gave him. I doubt that he would be any more eager to come here than his compatriot, but if we needed assistance in piecing together the ritual, their report strongly implies that he would be willing to assist."
"If necessary. I remember that both the Illustres and our operatives have noted that humans are inefficient at taking advantage of the opportunities their technology affords them. Even with the reborn ancient able to instruct them, they've made no efforts to use Nth metal so far. If we must take a risk, I would rather take a risk on Earth than elsewhere. Senior Analyst, what did we learn about countering the Illustres?"
"The subspace interference matrix worked. He himself confirmed that he was unable to access his arsenal. Unfortunately, we weren't able to access it
either."
"Why?"
"The physics of the system are beyond me. Some sort of.. locking technique, crystallising the boundary of the subspace pocket. Dul hasn't mentioned it, so I suspect that it's something that someone on Earth taught him. Our efforts to interfere with his constructs came to nothing; he held up the entire city while still remaining combat effective. Other Lanterns seldom go into combat with their weapons stored, so this knowledge would only be applicable during an ambush. A full report will.. take a few days more."
The High Mor nods. "We are close.
So close, now. Continue with your work, and let me know the moment that this 'Vulcan' makes any progress."
"Thanagar soars."
