Mahkent actually takes a step away, but I trust Kadabra to have found any self-destruct charge in the armour pieces we're working with.
"Understood. Contamination?"
Ah, good, it was a status report, albeit a
fatalistic one.
"I've been better. But I might have an antidote."
"Stand by."
Heh. I'm guessing that can be interpreted as 'found potential allies in hazardous situation.'
The communicator goes onto standby. Ko looks up at me. "It's a standard call and response set-up. They saw me go down in hostile territory, and the… What do you call them?"
"The soldiers are called Justifiers. The small flying ones with the bombs are Suicide Jockeys. They're using Apokoliptian technology, but they're not actually Apokoliptians themselves…" I look to Eiling. "Do we have a name for them?"
Ones fit for polite company, preferably, as I'm sure Eiling has plenty of
unpleasant terms for them.
"What, everyone working for Mannheim? Bad guys. Charlie. Does it matter?"
Mahkent raises his right hand. "I'm pretty sure I'm a bad guy. Could we call them something more definitive, like evil guys?"
'Enemy' is probably bad, since they
are innocent people subverted by Anti-Life.
"You're fighting to save the world, Icicle. That makes you a good guy."
"Aw, I didn't know you c-."
"Today."
Still, that's good for
now. And if OL's little pep talk takes, maybe longer.
"No, we don't have a collective name for them. They're all people that Mannheim controls through the Anti-Life."
"We were kind of assuming that it was some sort of group within your society that made a deal with a more advanced species. This was all just… One man?"
In a way. Don't underestimate the capabilities of a single human, especially with near-divine backup.
"He had help, and a lot of the damage you can see from orbit is from the last invasion, but yes."
He thinks for a moment. "We're quite a long way from Dhor, but we'd probably be willing to send you construction equipment in exchange for mercenaries. We've made deals like that before."
How magnanimous of you. But I suspect that's not a deal OL can make for the League.
"I'm afraid that everyone worth taking would be better employed working here to fix our planet. And given the distance involved, it wouldn't bee all that easy for you to-."
The communicator buzzes, and Mr. Ko gives it his full attention.
Probably for the best. If they kind out how badass some humans can be, it may inspire their opponents to start collecting humans too.
"Not dead then, Trooper?"
Ko straightens up slightly. "I am in dreadful danger, s-."
Almost like a reverse bravado. I suppose it makes sense, though, since he thinks he might still be in trouble for getting captured...
"We've boosted the bandwidth to make this line secure. Though I approve of your communications discipline."
"Thank you, sir. No sir, I'm not dead. I was wounded in the legs but the local primitive faction healed me. They want a truce with them, and they're willing to trade 'Apokoliptian' technology to us."
Still seems risky, but if it gets it off-planet so no-one else is tempted to use it...
"That's interesting. I assume that they're listening to what you're saying now?"
"Yes, but only one of them has a translator. He's a Lantern. The other three can't understand us."
Though Eiling can probably catch a hint from tone of voice, and Kadabra's still tuning in.
"Put him on."
He shuffles away from his helmet, looking at me and gesturing to it. I take his place and pick the helmet up.
The drawback of
integrated systems. Awkward to use when not in their intended configuration.
"Illustres here. Who am I speaking to?"
"I am Commodore Volgar Zo of the Republican Navy of Dhor. What authority do you have to negotiate?"
Well, that's a wise move to start with. Make sure the person you're talking to can actually make promises they can cash.
"The 'primitive' faction is commanded by a group called the Justice League. They listen to me, though under the circumstances I doubt their deliberations will take long. I personally have little negotiating authority."
"I would rather speak to a member of this 'Justice League'. I seem to remember… They're the ones Kanjar Ro tried to use in his coup, aren't they?"
Good to know they made an impression.
"Yes. Though I didn't know it was a coup attempt."
Might explain Ko's visceral response, though I don't know if that was because Ro genuinely did a lot of damage or because the people in charge wanted to give the impression that trying to overthrow them was bad for everyone.
Why can't it be both?
If he did enough damage, they might
well have felt a little insecure.
"You can study our history later. What can your people offer?"
"All of the Apokoliptian weapons and technology you came here to acquire. The surplus we currently hold, the stuff we don't need anymore once the war is over, all of our field intelligence on locations you can't see from space. Things like that."
To be fair, a lot of it might not work as
demonstrated for the Dhorians, but that's their problem. No refunds.
"Prisoners?"
"No point. The only one who knows anything about their technology is Mannheim himself, and if you can take him then you've got whatever you need."
And doing so would be quite a feat, given what he showed off against the Team in Gotham.
"No. I assume that you want back the ones which we already have."
"Yes, naturally. If you have no interest in cooperating with us, that's fine, but obviously we can't tolerate our people being abducted."
'Ones'? So they've already snagged more than just Tuppence.
"Does that include the Apokolips-aligned humans?"
"They're mind-controlled, and we're hopeful of our ability to fix them. We're happy to share everything we've learned about how it works, but we want them back. Afterwards, if you want to offer people employment, that's between you and them."
And they might well find some takers. Who would
want to work on an alien planet for a while.
"And if we don't?"
"I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I can't bring my Corps to bear on this planet because they're not resistant to the Anti-Life. But your fleet is far enough away that they're not affected but it. And I doubt that your ships are Reach-quality. I have no active desire to fight you, but I'm responsible for my people."
A subtle boast there. 'You're not as strong as the people I
usually fight.'
"The Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps?"
"I know there aren't many Orange Lanterns active in this region of space, but I assure you-."
Oh, that's not questioning. I suspect he
recognises the name.
"We got a report about the self-moving planet. I don't doubt your organisation's existence."
"Good. So, we'll need a little while to make contact with our overseers, but once we do we'll pass on-."
Nice way to put it in a manner they might understand.
"I also remember a report about someone with that title visiting Alstair. Just before their technological capacities began improving in leaps and bounds."
"Yeah, that was me. I needed their help with something. And now I need yours. I'm usually open-handed with trading partners."
In other words, 'They worked with me, and look what
they gained from it. Can you afford not to try?'
"How… Nice."
There's a moment of silence. I look at Ko for some sort of guidance-.
Yeah, was that a
good 'nice' or a
bad 'nice'? Because the implications...
The world around me glows blue, and I see blue auras flare around my comrades-.
And then we're in a cell, with a lot of guns pointing at us.
Ah, they wasted no time transporting them up. I suspect if they mean any harm...
Eiling snorts. "This it?"
"No." A figure carrying-. Shit, that's a gamma gong! I send a beam out-. Too late! He strikes the gong, and everything-.
Stops.
I would assume that's standard operation with an unknown party brought aboard. Lets them disarm them, among other things.
