"Transition in three, two,
one."
I feel the mass of desires that makes up Lantern Natu and sight the mass of desires that make up Amalak. I know him well enough that finding him isn't exactly hard, though it is interesting to note that his desire to expand his operations appears to have been well and truly
Looks like Amalak's been successful in his many endeavours. Hopefully without stepping on
too many toes or making too many enemies.
satiated.
We're standing on the roof of his headquarters, and I'm mildly pleased to note that not only are the automated defences already aimed at us, but Lantern Nate already has a dome shield up. Long practice evacuating people under fire, I imagine.
Impressive response time on both parties. Though she loses points for only having
one layer of shield active. Or is the multi-layered thing so
ubiquitous amongst the Corps that OL doesn't even mention it?
"We're authorised!"
The limited AIs controlling the guns takes a moment to compare me to their 'approved' list and then put the guns back onto standby before sending a high priority message to the Commodore to alert him.
Heh. Reminds me of Edna Mode's security. "
...And Guest."
"Good reactions, Lantern Natu."
She gives it a moment before dropping her construct and lowering… Her right hand. Interesting. Most humanoid members of the Corps copy me and wear it on their left hand. I suppose her home Sector has had more Green Lantern contact that the Periphery.
There's a
reason the Greenies scooped her up in the series. And it wasn't
just because she was a damn good medic.
"I thought you teleported to people."
"Usually, yes, but I can vary the emergence point a little."
Because
some people don't like having him pop up
right next to them.
She considers that for a moment and then reaches the obvious conclusion. "Did you walk in on someone?"
"I can't tell where the target is located and… His species is going extinct. Ring, message to Weaponer Lysis. Tell her that we're here."
Heh. Natural assumption to make. Wonder if, when anyone else manages to copy it, they'll experience that embarrassment on their first few jumps?
"Compliance. Message incoming."
"Answer."
"Illistres! Welcome back. Do I need to recall a fleet?"
Ah, he knows OL well. Our hero's gotten something of a
reputation as a harbinger of trouble, hasn't he?
"No, Commodore, that shouldn't be necessary. I just needed a neutral location for a meeting, and you were the first person I thought of."
"I'll be happy to host you. Do you need catering?"
These aren't the kind of people you'd
like to associate with, Commodore...
"No, thank you. It's just a handover, and should only take a few minutes."
"Then feel free to avail yourself of the facilities."
The joy of knowing the owner.
"Thank you. Is there anything happening here that I need to know about?"
"No, no, not at present. I've even managed to improve relations with the Crown Imperium thanks to the additional trade revenue coming through your gateway."
Good to see associates getting ahead in business.
"I'm glad to hear it."
"I am too! As a mercenary, I always want to have enemies, or friends with enemies. I just don't want them too close."
After all, feuds, police actions and civil unrest are profit for him.
"True, true. Mind if we use plaza three?"
"I'll notify the training sergeants that it's off-limits until further notice."
And discreetly evacuate anyone of importance from the area, just in case?
"I appreciate that. Good day."
Lantern Natu looks out across the barracks and training grounds, a slight frown on her face. "Mercenaries?"
They have their uses. Sometimes you don't have the luxury of deploying ground troops of your own.
"Yes. One of the disadvantages of living next to a lawless and Lantern-free region of space is that it's pretty lawless. There were a lot of pirate groups in this region, far more than most worlds could afford to build a navy to counter."
"So they hire some pirates as private security contractors and have them fight the other pirates?"
And the first ones to work that out became
very rich.
"Basically. Although as time passed, those groups engaged in security work got used to working in a defensive way. Amalak has contracts with a dozen or more inhabited worlds, and no one he has a contract with has ever gone to war with anyone else he has a contract with. And now that law and order are emerging, he's switching over to shipping. Amalak himself prefers a recurring revenue model."
"Are you saying people pay him to conquer them?"
I expect he has clauses in said contracts that his personnel can't be deployed in actions against other contractees... Far too much potential for graft and fixing fights.
"More or less. Though his recruits come from-. Mostly come from the worlds hiring him. If he tried acting as a tyrant, they'd mutiny."
"What happened to his species? You said they were going extinct."
And after all, ruling a whole world is far too much work. Better to leave it to someone else and get paid to handle their security.
"General Zod of Krypton. He fabricated a conflict and killed most of the targetted population before trying to take over his own planet. He wasn't successful in the second part, but that was too late for most of Amalak's people."
"What happened to Zod?"
Always did strike me as a soldier looking for a war to fight. And when he couldn't, he
made one.
"He and his closest confidants were sent to a place called the Phantom Zone. It's an extra-planar prison where the inmates are unable to interact with the material universe. Krypton… Didn't have a death penalty at the time, so eternal imprisonment had to do."
"Eternal? They don't age?"
Well, assuming they don't get attacked by whatever creatures exist within the
Zone in this universe.
"I don't believe so. I can't say that I've really studied it."
Because the only person I might want to take out is perfectly happy where he is.
Mon-El? He'll be getting out sooner or later, after all.
"How do they get in there?"
"The device that sends them there is about the size of a large gun."
And well guarded, if it even exists in physical form right now. I expect Kal-El would be
leery of keeping a working one handy.
"That could have medical uses. If we could send critically injured people there and take them out at a medical facility, we could almost eliminate field medicine entirely."
"Ah. I suppose we could. I'll talk to Kal-El about it once Earth's liberated, see what he can do. His species didn't use it like that, so I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some fairly severe-"
After all, would
you want to use a prison dimension for your worst criminals as an
ambulance?
My ring blinks.
"-drawbacks. Answer."
Weaponer Lysis's face appears. "We are in-system. Are you prepared?"
Ah, now to see if she's living up to the spirit of their agreement.
I look up, and see the tiny fleck of yellow towards the inner edge of the Oort cloud. Earlier than she said, but it's not like I was expecting honesty from her.
"Yes. The locals know that you're coming. We'll be ready when you get here."
And you don't want a Weaponer having the advantage of a prepared ground.
