With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
01:23 GMT

Lantern Toren stares at his ring, which stubbornly remains active.

"I don't think this is going to work for me."

"Not now, no. It requires a very particular mindset, and this wasn't how I wanted to teach you all anyway."

Xor -who actually paid attention to what I was saying and only briefly participated in this diversion to show willing- nods.

"Would we have to survive bonding with the Ophidian?"

"I don't know, but I don't think so. Lantern Xor, have you ever lost control under the influence of the orange light?"

He thinks for a moment.

"No."

"Well, there you go. It's a very specific mental state to be in. Just staring-. Lantern Dul, stop, please."

Onik has managed to keep his environmental shield down to a minimal level, which I'm pleased to see as it means that he, A, gets the idea and, B, has engaged in sufficient reflection that he has a rough idea how it might be done. Dul on the other hand is at the centre of an orange bonfire and I'm starting to get a little concerned.

"Why won't it turn off!"

"Because you're being excessively direct. Rather than just wanting at it, consider… Pride. Focus on how much you want the intrapsychic reward that you would receive by achieving this objective, on how much you want to impress your political overseers with your skill."

She takes a deep breath and her environmental shield shrinks a little.

"That worked for you?"

"It worked for us."

There's a peculiar echo as we taste the desires of those around us. This place worships the Green Men. It makes them taste strange. We don't like it.

Onik smiles weakly. "Could you demonstrate it for us?"

I shrug and sit down cross-legged on the library floor.

"I originally did this on my homeworld's moon. My homeworld's moon doesn't have a breathable atmosphere. This-"

I raise my left hand, fingers pointed downwards.

"-is a far more benign environment."

The ring drops from my finger to the floor.

"If any of you were empathic you'd feel a curious lassitude in my thoughts. My desires are there, but they're partially disconnected. But it's not-"

My ring jumps back up onto my finger.

"-a particularly pleasant way to exist. Especially if you're used to having an orange ring."

Lantern Toren nods, clearly intently interested. "An admirable self-mastery."

"I'd say it's not about mastery, but about learning to direct the flow." I shrug and shake my head. "But we've been distracted from the point. Lantern Dul, please-."

"That is all?"

Xor looks bemused.

"That is all."

Xor raises up his left hand, frowning as he looks at his ring.

"That would make me a better Lantern?"

"That is part of how I became such a powerful Lantern. 'Better' is far more subjective."

"I… Think…"

His environmental shield blinks out for a moment, then he starts and it reappears.

"Oh."

Lantern Onik stares at him. "How did..?"

"In the Warhounds, we have it beaten into us that personal desires are wrong. That selfishness of any sort is a betrayal of our comrades and our people." He exhales through his nose. "That any desires of our own were a betrayal. I wanted to be a better Warhound. I wanted it-." Another exhalation. "I wanted it so much."

His eyes narrow.

"I no longer want it."

"I'm impressed. Good work, Lantern Xor."

He breathes in and then out. Then he turns away and walks towards the exit.

I nod as he goes. That sounded like a fairly big deal for him, and since he's ahead there's no problem with him taking a few minutes to collect his thoughts.

"Did that give anyone else any ideas, or can we go back to what I was trying to teach you?"

Lantern Dul glances at Xor as he lets the library door close behind him, then stares at me.

"That's it?"

"Lantern Xor's been doing a lot of thinking. I was teaching him my philosophy while he was under arrest on Earth. And he's had a life that lends itself to this."

"No struggle?"

"The struggle is internal; the Lantern is forced to feel or think things they would rather not. You heard what Lantern Xor said about your loyalty; he didn't like it because he used to feel that way about the Alignment. And now -with all the zeal of the convert- he doesn't."

Her face goes slightly blank and she's not quite meeting my eyes.

"Can you think of a time in your life when you genuinely wanted to not want something that you wanted?"

"That-."

She bites down her initial response.

"I will not share that."

"Okay. But you're going to need to revisit it in the privacy of your own head if you want to overcome this. You're going to need to accept your feelings and decide how you want to feel."

"I… Will do so."

"Glad to hear it. Now then Lantern Toren… Let's talk about fear."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
01:29 GMT

"And since I'm sure that this will be awkward and uncomfortable for everyone, I'll go first. I used to fear my own death. Not pain; I've been hurt before and I could get my head around the idea of injuries which caused more pain than what I had previously experienced. I'm talking about the sheer incomprehensibility of the cessation of my conscious existence. When I arrived in this parallel, one of the first things I did was investigate local religious beliefs in an attempt to find out if anything they said about post-mortem existence had any validity to it. When I discovered that it did but that as an outsider I wouldn't benefit from it, I immediately took steps to rectify that."

I send all of my clothes other than my pants into subspace in order to show off my tattoos.

"Now I have a soul. And I don't think that people like you who come from a parallel where that's normal understand exactly how great it is to have built-in budget immortality. Furthermore, I've actually experienced organic death twice, so the idea that an enemy might bring enough force to bear to kill me again just doesn't have the same psychological weight."

Lantern Toren nods. "You have no fear of change, then?"

"We learn to fear things that have hurt us in the past. All the change I've experienced over the last two years has been either positive or a step on the way to a positive change I'm reaching for. I no longer fear death because it's a solved problem. I still fear non-existence, it's just further away now than it used to be. I still fear decay, but thanks to my ring I'm not troubled by physical decay any longer."

Another nod. "Environmental shields can filter out disease organisms. Wearing it full..." I'm shaking my head. "Time-. That isn't what you mean?"

"I fear decay, due to the association with death. I fear losing functionality. But early on I was so accepting of the idea of using my power ring to solve all of my practical problems that I don't age any more. I cut bits off myself as a demonstration of my ability to regrow parts of my body with my ring. If I got crippled now, I wouldn't despair at permanently losing a capacity, I'd either fix it with my ring or -if I didn't have it on me- work out how to get it back and then fix the problem. At a fundamental level, I no longer believe that there are problems I can't fix with my ring."

I make an amused snort.

"At this point, if I received a severely crippling injury it might actually be easier to die and resurrect in a new body than to fix the one I was in."

"You don't lose functionality?"

"It's constantly restored by my ring, so, effectively, no."

He looks awkwardly at Lanterns Onik and Dul.

"Is that the same for all Orange Lanterns? I can see the advantage in not retiring veterans."

Lantern Dul looks mildly contemptuous. "I have never feared death."

"Which is why you can't do what I do. Tell me." I take an x-ionised sword out of subspace. "If I took this and cut off one of your wings, would-"

Armoured wing-cowls appear over her wings.

"-you be able to restore them? Well done on responding rationally like that, but I'd still like an answer."

She holds out her right arm and draws a dagger with her left hand. Making sure that she has my full attention, she stabs herself in the right bicep. It bleeds freely for a moment, then the wound is concealed by the orange glow.

"Okay, but you're missing the point. I can tell by your scars that you've had injuries to your arms before. And most other parts of your body. But not your wings."

Lantern Onik nods. "They are totemic for your species. Losing them would be a greater psychological shock than even losing an arm."

The glow dies down and her arm… Has a new scar, actually. The flash that cleans her knife is far more thorough.

"I don't fear-."

My sword flies towards her right wing, her eyes widening and armoured cowl collapsing as it stops a millimetre from the flesh of her ulnare.

"Yes. You do."

I recall my sword, and wait patiently as Lantern Dul flares her environmental shield and looks about a heartbeat from going for me. Which I'd be fine with; it might help her, actually.

"It's perfectly natural to fear losing your extremities, but when you're a Lantern-"

Her environmental shield dims back down to normal levels.

"-it actively impedes your ability to defend yourself."

"So I have to let you cut off my wings, huh?"

Her voice is fairly level. She's not angry, or even afraid. I've demonstrated that it's perfectly possible to heal with a ring. She's healed with a ring. She knows that it's possible. And she wants to expunge the weakness just a little more than she wants to protect her wing-based ego.

"No, of course not. That would be ridiculous, though I'm sure that there are some Orange Lanterns who do that."

Onik looks awkward for a moment, then nods. I'll have to talk to Lantern Ragnar about that.

"It's entirely natural to want to avoid injury, but you allowed your fear of losing your wings to overwhelm your desire to keep them. You see why that's bad, right?"

"Yes." She nods.

"You've been in combat many times. Have you been worried about losing your wings before now?"

"Only as a.. background thing. Our wings have enough Nth metal in them that it's hard to destroy them with something that doesn't kill us outright."

"Are there cybernetic replacements?"

"They don't feel right. And you need to use them as a pair, which…" She flexes her wings. "If you'd only lost one, they would cut the other off as well."

"Chay'ara manages."

"Sharon Parker wears the wings of a three thousand year old corpse. That's even worse. Did she tell you that she intends to try to die on Thanagar next time?"

"No, but that's a fairly sensible thing to do. Even if it doesn't work, she'd learn something." Have to see if there's enough DNA in those wings to clone her. "But to return to your wing issue, do you understand why it's such a big deal for you?"

"I'd be less of a Thanagarian without them. Just a common humanoid."

"Just so. It's not the injury, it's the loss of status and the violation of your self-concept. You are a Thanagarian before you are a soldier. Even before you are Paran Dul. And certainly before you're an Orange Lantern."

"I…" Her voice is quiet, subdued. "Understand. You're right."

"Of course I'm right. It's my job to be right. Need anything else?"

"Not at this moment."

"Rightoh. Lantern Onik-."

"I fear that I have horribly misunderstood the nature of the universe and my place in it, leading to me making increasingly poor decisions in search of spiritual validation while pushing people away and so entirely missing the point of life itself."

I hesitate for a moment, then nod. "Good. Good. Well done." … "Lantern Toren?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
08:32 GMT

I hold up the lumpy purple fruit.

It looks edible, scans say that I can digest it and it smells faintly of custard. I slice it in half with a construct knife… Yes, odd fig-like interior but…

Ah. I send construct peelers to remove the skin and then pick-

"Customarily, those are eaten-"

The abbot sits down opposite me at the canteen table, a bowl of muesli in front of him.

"-with the skin intact."

"I have a bit of a thing about textures."

I cut off a small piece of the fruit's flesh and put it into my mouth. It tastes… Well, that's not custard. Maybe more… Floral? It puts me a little in mind of a potato, only… Not, obviously.

"Seems edible enough."

"I assume that you scanned it?"

"Naturally, but the fact that I can digest it doesn't necessarily indicate that I want to. I mean-"

I take an apple out of subspace and put it down next to his bowl.

"-do you know what this-?"

"Apple." He picks it up in his right hand and bites into it. He chews, smiling slightly as he tastes it. "A little sweeter than I was expecting, but I imagine that your species have developed multiple commercial varieties by now."

I frown. "Okay, I know that we don't export fruit… Or anything, so how do you know about 'apples'?"

"The records of Green Lanterns of Sector Two Eight One Four. A few of them took the time to describe the societies they encountered when they visited your homeworld."

He takes another bite and chews it slowly. I do the same, focusing on my own fruit. With my power ring abilities being what they are I don't strictly need to eat. Regularly, anyway; the desire to ingest is so built in to the human psyche that it wouldn't be a good idea to stop eating completely even if I could. But there's no real link between my health and my diet. I could just eat chocolate for every meal if I wanted. Or that ridiculously sugar-rich cereal with the 'marshmallows' that Wallace eats despite not needing to any more. But instead I mostly eat a normal diet. It's a good habit in case I'm forced to go without a ring for an extended period or eat in company.

"Are you making progress?"

"Yes, though that's about all that I can say. Xor managed to turn off his ring yesterday, and Dul is a little more engaged with the program."

"And Lantern Toren?"

"It's a rather different way of thinking, and Green Lanterns aren't selected for their adaptability. The Guardians actually have Guy Gardner going through their list of abilities that former Green Lanterns developed to see if he can replicate them."

"I don't believe that I've heard of him."

"Really? Guy Gardner, Host of Ion? I thought-"

The abbot freezes in shock.

"-that would be bigger news."

"He is.. merged with Ion constantly?"

"No, but he's pulled it off at least twice. The first time wasn't deliberate; he was just focusing really hard and had a breakthrough. The second time was. I'm not sure what not having Ion in the Green Central Power Battery actually does to it, but Guy's only using it sparingly."

I frown.

"I think he converted to Lanternism, actually. I'm a little surprised that he hasn't visited."

"We will be happy to receive him if he appears." He loads his spoon with muesli. "Your quarters were sufficient?"

The quarters we were offered were Spartan and possessing of a Green Lantern theme. Perfectly adequate and free of distractions. Naturally, I redecorated, changing the theme from green to orange.

"Yes, thank you. I assume that we're not besieged by the curious masses?"

"There has been some interest. Fortunately, the people of Karax respect our work enough that they have merely been messages of curiosity and enthusiasm rather than anything too intrusive. What are your plans for today?"

"I want to do more work on instinctive emotional responses. We touched on fear yesterday, but really we need to do all of them."

"Yes, you mentioned that you encountered a yellow power ring user other than Sinestro." He frowns. "I thought that he was the only one."

"Parallel universes. Al Scott lives on a parallel universe version of Earth. If I had to guess, his ring was an early prototype Kalmin-"

The abbot's eyes dart to stare directly into mine at the mention of his name.

"-made before he could complete his masterpiece for Sinestro. Or… Parallel universe. Maybe they have their own Kalmin, or their own Krona, or perhaps all of their Guardian-equivalents are evil. I don't know. And… He wasn't the only yellow ring user I encountered. The other one was a parallel universe version of me."

"If there are so many other rings, why don't Green Lantern Corps records mention them?"

"The Green Lantern Corps is a paramilitary police organisation. They're not explorers or scientists. Going to parallel universes on a jolly isn't really their job."

"Did you learn anything about how they used their rings? Anything that might give us some clue about how Sinestro uses his?"

"I didn't see Al Scott fight. And frankly I didn't enjoy his company enough to want to-."

"You didn't-" The abbot frowns. "-fight him?"

"No, that whole situation was a mess. I mostly-. Here." I generate a datapad with my full report on it and slide it across the table. "In summary, I had a choice between a devastating war which would probably eventually be pyrrhically 'won' by the 'good' guys, who weren't particularly good, or arranging for a mutual de-escalation that allowed some of the bad guys to temporarily escape justice but caused the least collateral damage. I didn't spend time socialising or training with him."

"I see. And the other?"

"He'd achieved enlightenment by constantly reflecting on his fears and forcing himself to feel them. Accepting them as part of his psyche. He did that because he didn't have a personal lantern and had to come up with an alternate way to recharge."

"Is it possible to recharge a power ring through meditation? There's no mention of that in our archives either."

"Not without access to certain types of arcane artefacts. It's like the difference between plugging a battery into a recharging station and building a wind turbine and a transformer." I shrug. "But yes, it's possible."

"Fascinating. Tell me more."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
08:49 GMT

"Back with us, Lantern Xor?"

He nods, slowly lowering the 'ultra strength' training loads back into the 'neutral' position. This portion of the gymnasium doesn't appear to see much use, but the heavy metal cowling protecting machinery that allows it to test even beings of his strength is in full working order.

"Yes. I apologise for leaving."

"Orange Lantern Corps. If you've got something better to do, go and do it."

He turns away from the machine, shaking his head.

"That is not sufficient. I should have controlled myself better."

"That's green." I shrug. "We're dealing with strong emotions and deeply personal issues. And we're not on a time limit here. If you need a few hours to think about things, that's fine."

"This was your intent. That I would come to know myself better."

"That's been something I've wanted from the start. But I'm also trying to learn what these sorts of emotional stress do for Orange Lanterns. If people need a little while to decompress after a study session, I can alternate between teaching two groups."

"Should we see if I have become stronger?"

"I'm not expecting that learning how to turn your ring off has made you stronger."

"No, but understanding my desires better should. Shouldn't it?"

"I honestly don't know. I noticed an increase in power when I achieved enlightenment, but I didn't check part way through to see if there was an improvement."

"So it would be useful knowledge."

"I suppose." I look around and spot the monk in charge. "Could we please use a sparring arena? Probably one of the big ones."

"I'm sorry Illustres, but we don't have a sparring arena that can reliably withstand the level of force that Lantern Xor can generate."

I shake my head. "Of course you don't. The arena is there to prevent accidental collateral damage. If we were actually intending to go all-out we'd head into space. And for any Lantern, their physical strength is the least of your concerns."

That's true even for someone like Lantern Xor, who can punch construct barriers down with his fists.

"Besides, there are plenty of ways to assess a Lantern's strength that don't involve wrecking things."

"As you say, Illustres." She nods. "This way, please."

Xor and I follow her as she leads the way out of the gymnasium, past a couple of conventional rings-. Ah, Lantern Dul is testing herself sans ring against two locals, attempting to maintain an appropriately orange frame of mind. Her opponents aren't so restricted and she's taking a.. bit of a beating. I suppose that's the challenge.

The monk briefly pauses in front of a fortified double door, then enters a code which causes it to clank open. Another press deactivates a force field.

"You are right." Xor nods. "This is not adequate for a Warhound."

I smile at the monk.

"Do you want to watch? You might find it educational."

"Yes. That's a requirement." She nods. "From the control room, with the secondary force field."

"Alright."

Xor ducks slightly to get under the lintel, heading into the arena. Ah, I see they have fortified doors at both ends. I wonder what this was designed for? The monk follows him part way, then opens a side door and heads upwards towards the control booth. Then I fly after Xor, emerging into the… Pretty barebones, arena. The walls are covered in an armoured material made of a combination of carbon nanotubes and ceramics. Were they focusing on heat resistance? I mean, it's still tough, but it wouldn't have been my choice for a super strength brawling arena. It's ten metres across and five high, so it wouldn't really be possible to use flight-based evasion here.

Xor turns to face me, looking up at the control booth as the monk takes her place and closes the fortified doors.

"What was this place built for?"

"Last time we had neophytes in Lantern Xor's weight class, they used this to perform our standard training exercises."

"With the.. shock poles?"

"We had some difficulty making the discharge strong enough. They had to replace them after each strike."

"Alright. Set it up."

Force fields shimmer into being around the walls, designed to absorb energy rather than block shots completely. It's probably a better design for a place like this.

"You may begin."

Xor and I walk to the middle of the arena. I remove my ring and lay it on the ground. Xor starts to do the same thing, then stops himself and closes his eyes. A moment later his ring falls off, landing next to mine.

"Do you practise pushing your desires away, Illustres?"

"No, but there wasn't much time between me learning that I could do that and me attaining enlightenment. There aren't that many uses for it in itself. Perhaps if a Lantern realised that they were having control difficulties?"

"Or avoiding empathic detection."

I shake my head as we walk away from each other.

"I'm afraid not. I'd still see the desires… I suppose it would allow them to dodge my empathic manipulation abilities."

I turn… Yes, that's far enough. I sit down on the hard floor, and he does the same.

I raise my left hand.

"Ready?"

He closes his eyes, taking a few moments to centre himself. Then he opens them again.

"Yes."

He raises his left hand and our rings rise into the air until they're half a metre off the ground exactly half way between us. Ever since I took Lantern Zartok's ring from his finger this has become a fairly standard 'test of strength' between Orange Lanterns. Initially, they tend to use it purely as a test of raw power, but now? Now a few understand that it's not about that. It's not about the power you can draw at the peak, it's about resting power. About the unity of one's desires.

I understand exactly why the rings should fly towards me, and the ring's systems react to that. My ring is already drifting my way, its systems finding my desires to be a perfect match for me. Xor's ring isn't immediately convinced-.

Ah, there we go. I feel it as Xor begins to apply himself. His ring begins floating towards him while mine slows.

I respond by increasing my focus, the rightness of my fingers bearing rings. Xor's ring stops again. We've done this exercise many times before and we're… Just taking the strain at the moment. I'm interested to see if he actually has become stronger.

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:01 GMT

The air between us glows orange as Xor's ring wobbles back and forth. He lost control of my ring fairly early but we kept going since his own is still in play. I'm confident that I could take it, but he's been getting continuously stronger as we've been going.

An evolution, or a genuine breakthrough? How much was that sense of obligation holding him back before?

"How is the new government coming along?"

"As well as could be expected."

"Felt like putting the boot in with the old officer corps? The people who approved the creation of the Warhounds might still be around somewhere."

There isn't even a wobble.

"If the Warhounds did not exist then I would have been strangled in my crib or starved to death on the side of the road. I can understand people trying to do something good but being restrained by their job."

"So you think that they created Warhounds because that was the only way they had to save orphans?"

"Even if they placed us in state orphanages to draft us into the regular army, the expenditure would not have been justified. Conscripting or enlisting free citizens is cheaper. The only unique facility we children had is that we could adapt to war bodies more easily. So that was the justification."

"And your trainers?"

"Followed the orders that were necessary to keep us alive. If the first generation had been failures, the program would have been cancelled. They did not choose the conditions to determine if the project had been a failure or not. If I am given a choice between a beating and a summary execution, I will choose the beating."

"And the politicians who decided that orphanages were an unnecessary expense?"

The wobble isn't from his anger or hatred. If that had been the problem then his ring would have shot into my hand. Rather, he appears to not have fully resolved his own desires on the subject. But the wobble only lasts a moment.

"Why must justice and retribution be at odds?"

"No reason at all, depending on the system. How do you feel about retroactive law? Because I doubt that you could prosecute them under existing law."

"An agreement on the tribunals will be part of the peace settlement which ends the civil war. Government officials who believe that they will be only lightly punished have already either killed those who want to fight on or placed them in 'detainment' so that they can assuage our bloodlust. They will agree to what we ask."

"And who is 'we'?"

"Me. Lantern Canar has given advice, but I have followed your lead when dealing with Green Lanterns in places where they have clearly failed is concerned."

"And Onigar?"

The ring jerks a metre in my direction before Xor regains focus.

"Are we expanding our focus?"

Which is the closest he'll get to accusing me of cheating. It was a little sneaky, switching from avarice skill to empathic disruption. But…

"I can talk about Jade if you like."

A quiet grunt.

"In theory, it should be possible for anyone to use different colours at one time. Your constructs are powered by your avarice; other colours only weaken them inasmuch as they distract your focus from that."

"I shall wait to experiment with that."

"Probably wise. Ready to get stronger?"

"Yes."

Lantern Xor desires most strongly to conform to his own ideas of honour. Part of that is repaying his obligations; on one level he doesn't want to keep me-

Xor trembles.

-from getting this ring.

It starts floating my way.

"Xor, I want you to get better. You're not doing me a service by letting me win."

"I am not letting you win."

"Xalitan. I'm proud of your achievements, and once the war with the Reach is over it will be your example that I use to demonstrate to new generations of Orange Lantern Corps Sector Lanterns what their job is. But the obligation, the.. gratitude you feel towards me, you need to refocus it."

"You want me to beat you."

"I want you to get stronger. I don't mind losing the occasional test to make that happen, though I'll.. be annoyed with myself if it keeps happening. As you want to build an honest and honourable society, I want to build an Orange Lantern Corps that is a force for good. You're part of that. Your excellence is my excellence."

I point to the ring.

"And that's your tool. You'd be a good man one way or the other, but you wouldn't as effective as you are without it."

He nods solemnly.

"On a related note-"

I smile as the ring begins drifting back in his direction.

"-have you had any trouble with the Dominion?"

"None. Will they be next, after the Reach?"

"Probably not. Not if they keep going the way they are. Rebuilding after this war is going to take a lot of effort, and honestly Apokolips is more dangerous. And of course, without an imminent threat the N.E.M.O. alliance might break up."

"That would be foolish."

"Sure, you and I know that, but we've got privileged access to information. Most stellar nations will see that the regional threat is gone and that they have good relations with their neighbours and disarm. They certainly won't want another war right away, if at all."

"I.. see. I will stand with you in whatever wars follow."

"Thank you, Lantern Xor. I appreciate the faith you show in me."

Hm. I take a deeper look at Lantern Xor's desire network. It's still not as unified as mine, but there aren't any major irregularities. He's done well to bring his desires and ideals into alignment. But this is still slow going.

"Come on Lantern Xor, don't keep me waiting. This ring is the instrument by which you realise your desires. Take it."

"Very well."

He catches it in his left hand as it rockets towards him, his environmental shield reappearing. I cease my attempts to pull it and nod respectfully.

"Well done. Now let's go and find Lantern Dul. We need to work on her defences."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:09 GMT

"Again!"

Lantern Toren fires construct shears at Lantern Dul's wings, and she responds by generating large construct wings and slapping his constructs aside with them. They don't shatter, but he isn't quite able to force them to hit home.

Lantern Xor and I watch impassively for a moment.

"Is this a good training method, or has she missed the point?"

"I lost my fear of heights by flying regularly. Even without my ring I don't really feel anything anymore."

"Again!"

"Of course, Lantern Toren doesn't want to cut her wings off, and she probably doesn't believe that he can-. I mean, doesn't know for certain that he can in the way she's certain that I could."

But while I could shoot out her defensive construct with a crumbler round or anti-construct ray, and while that might provide a better lesson than having her block attacks she knows that she can block, I'm not going to do that unless she specifically asks for it.

Xor watches them for a moment.

"You can see our souls."

"Something like that."

"You know our fears. You know why we fear things."

"I either know or could find out with relatively little effort, yes."

"Then why this?"

"Because I don't need to know. You need to know. You need to go through the necessary mental steps toward that realisation yourself. Me just telling you isn't the same thing. And in some people… Like Lantern Dul, there's resistance to being told about things like this by someone else."

"But not me."

"I don't think you'd fight against the ideas I present you. But I still think you'd have an easier time internalising them if you went through the steps-" My ring blinks. "-yourself. Illustres here?"

Lantern Onik's face appears.

"Great Master, in light of what we discussed I am visiting my former monastery. If possible, I would appreciate it if you could visit later today and speak with people."

"Certainly."

He smiles. "Thank you. I know that-."

His face vanishes.

"Lantern Onik?"

…

"Lantern Xor, follow me."

I

step out, the line representing Onik's desire to speak with me leading me directly to

his previous location, construct armour forming around me and absorbing a rocket barrage from.. that robot. Cheap and cheerful Spider Guild model, devastating to unprotected civilians and light infantry but-

I put a destructive pulse through its central processor and each of its targetters. Those things are usually set to blind fire their rockets if the signal from the CPU gets interrupted, but if I destroy the launch system-. Yes, dead.

"Lantern Onik, re-"

Plasma bolts punch through the wall to my left, slamming into my environmental shield! I form a construct shield and respond with destructive pulses.

"-port."

I'm getting good returns on my scans, though the robots aren't mentally complex enough for me to see with empathic vision. Spider Guilders tend to fight Lanterns using ships, legions of regular robots or small numbers of super-robots. There aren't enough here to stop me. The only thing that makes sense is that it's a terror raid.

I think I may need to have a word with some people. Starting with the local defence force.

Ring, analyse robot computer program.

Compliance.

The Guild isn't supposed to have Lantern-compatible interdiction systems, but I settle for flying through what's left of the wall and shoot dumb railgun rounds through the plasma repeater robot. As it falls I grab the overloading plasma bottle and-

And as we're under a dome on a dead planetoid I can't just throw it into space, darn.

-stick it in a safe construct as it explodes. No hole in the dome so they can't have punched through there. Tunnels, tunnels, there. Don't know how they got this close, but that's a problem for five minutes from now.

"Lantern Onik, report."

If he'd died then his ring should come to me, so I'm assuming that's not what's happened. I can see flares of desire and hope throughout the building but nothing that specifically looks like Onik.

Analysis complete.

I head for the closest path to the interior of the monastery, calling my heavy armour out of subspace and phasing through a wall. Two robots are holding position inside and this time I send filaments to burrow into their CPUs and rewrite them to answer to me. Records… They don't even record the route they used to get here. They're just reacting to environmental cues. I disarm their if-destroyed directives and switch their targets to robots.

Simple programming. No one's watching and no one's feeding them instructions. They're shielded against electromagnetic radiation at levels that wouldn't fry organic creatures as easily as it would them. No easy way to destroy them.

Or rather, no easy way to destroy them all at once.

I send filaments ahead of me, having them latch onto any robots they find as I head for what looks like the monks' panic room.

"Orange Lantern Illustres to anyone listening. Report."

A swarm of vaguely spider-shaped minibots fall from the ceiling and land on my construct armour, trying to stab me with electrified leg-knives. They get nowhere in the few seconds I allow them to persist before subverting them and tossing them aside.

"Another Orange Lantern? Please, we're in our fastness but the robots will break through soon."

"Nearly there."

Down a corridor, down another, and there's the fortified retreat. And the heavy siege robots trying to blast their way through the force fields, and the dead defence turrets they targeted first.

Filaments go first, easily subverting the medium robots. Unfortunately, the siege robots have integrated force fields which means that I need to hit them with a crumbler construct-

And ignore the weak laser fire from their point defences.

-before breaking into their control centres and turning them to my purposes. There are still robots in the monastery and me destroying them will cause far less collateral damage than letting my robots do it, but finding out what happened to Onik takes priority.

"Do you know what happened to Lantern Onik?"

"I… I think the Yellow Lantern took him."

Wonderful.

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:14 GMT

The last of the surviving robots -now firmly under my control- marches out into the monastery's space dock. I finish patching up the armour and defence turrets of the upper portion of the monastery as the monks continue laying out their dead. It turns out that this monastery prefers to store the bodies of believers until they can be transported to the Source Wall, reuniting body and soul before their creator.

"A Yellow Lantern."

Now with the immediate threat to people under my protection dealt with I rather need to get on with rescuing Lantern Onik.

"Ah-. Yes. I thought it was just some sort of teleportation system, but then I saw the sigil of fear on their chest."

"Not Sinestro?"

The monk shakes his head. "I would recognise him. It was a Spider Guilder."

So is Sinestro lending his ring to people now? Kalmin said that he only made the one, but… How hard would it be for other Weaponers to make more once they'd seen it done? Sinestro would certainly be able to contact them; heck, in the comics he just straight up enslaved them and forced them to work on making rings for his new... Corps.

Manhunters. He convinced Hank Henshaw to work with him by promising to find a way to kill him. But Doctor Henry Henshaw 16 is an astrophysicist happily employed by NASA-. Or he was last time I checked before the Sheeda attack. But he definitely didn't go into space and get turned into an energy being who could jump from machine to machine.

Anyway, Old School Weaponers would have died before working for an alien under those conditions. But given how far they'd fallen… I mean, Varnathon would have taken a cash payment, and the others… Yes, I could see it.

And of course as First Lantern I'm sure that Sinestro could have gotten his hands on a portal to a parallel universe at some point.

Right. We're fairly close to a couple of big and old Spider Guild Septs here. The Green Lantern Corps has made it clear that continued expansion at the cost of others will not be tolerated, but that doesn't mean that they won't launch the occasional raid just to test the defences. I could easily see a Guilder making a deal with Sinestro to break the status quo. Or just taking a natty weapon. I doubt the Guildmasters would commit to something big without some fairly convincing proof…

But they're a highly internally-unified culture that invades people's homes and eats them, but who have never quite made it into the top tier. They wouldn't be a bad place to start if he wanted an Army of Fear.

"Do you have any idea why you were targeted?"

"I assume that the Guilder was seeking Novice Onik. Though how they knew in advance that he would be here, I don't know."

I didn't notice any sort of Guilder monitoring device when I went through the monastery. Given the damage, I'll have to take their word for it that their network wasn't subverted. So either the Guilder was monitoring the area, or someone in the monastery back on Karax tipped them off.

Or it was pure chance.

Right.

"Did the Guilder say anything?"

"Not in my hearing."

I access the monastery's monitoring network, but from the images I'm getting it looks like the Guilder didn't say anything out loud at all. Can't really get a good idea of their skill level from how well they overran a monastery full of scared monks, but I'm not seeing anything too scary.

How did Onik lose?

If he was caught in the middle of confronting his fears, and the Guilder could detect that, it certainly would be plausible. Otherwise… Onik doesn't have all that much combat experience. He might have been overwhelmed. Or outfought by someone trained by Sinestro. I'm certainly not afraid of a random Guilder with a ring.

"Illustres to Lantern Xor. Finished the lower repairs?"

"Yes, Illustres."

"Work with the monks to repair their monastery. Defend it if necessary. I'm going after Lantern Onik."

"No support?"

"I'll have Onik, once I find him. And we're never entirely alone."

"As you will, Illustres."

Right, that's the monks looked after. Guilder space is in that direction. Core worlds… There, border territory where they tolerate alien traders across there…

Those places are usually fairly fear-filled. Aliens are tolerated but they aren't protected. Cannibalism is perfectly normal, Guild worlds being 'good' places to offload slaves without specialist skills. There are always buyers, even if the price isn't all that good.

Honestly, the fear's so intense that I'm not sure that I could pick out a Yellow Lantern.

Easier to just make them come to me.

I

step out

, reappearing on the bridge of a slaver ship with packed holds. I don't bother mucking around, I just send a beam of orange energy into both brains of the members of the slug-like species that are running the ship before having my ring savage the ship's computer for recent news. No mention of a Lantern, but they have some data on Guilder space that I lacked. No crew outside the bridge, so I set the auto-pilot to fly the ship back to Karax-controlled space. Then I

step out

and reappear outside of the ship before warping towards… Chughraghahh. I suppose that I can just about pronounce that. As I approach I feel the interdiction system try and stop me or slow me down. Spitefully, I push it away, a reaction which will most likely cause the emitters to explode quite enthusiastically.

And then the warp ends and I'm there, in the high orbital plane above Chughraghahh.

And there's the largest ship in the defence fleet.

And there's the area of densest habitation.

A colossal orange dragon claw appears around the ship, tears through the shields without apparent effort and then pushes. The ship deforms as it drops, and moments later the friction causes the now-unshielded outer portions and leaking atmosphere to catch fire. The ship wasn't designed to ever enter an atmosphere, but all things considered it's doing fairly well. For a first attempt. The dust cloud when it hits isn't quite as big as what I got from the Citadel Complex, but it's a respectable first attempt.

"This is the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I believe that the Guild has one of my Lanterns. And one of its own Lanterns. Until they are brought before me I will keep killing until every one of you disgusting insults to sentience on this miserable rock are dead, and then I will move on to the next world. I am not interested in your surrender. Get me what I want or die."

Shots plink off my construct armour from one of the monitor stations, so I make that my next target. A claw forms and squeezes, inflicting critical structural damage before a flick of the hand tosses the station downwards.

"Take as long as you need."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:18 GMT

Warning: Fear detected.

Good thing too, I've run out of ships.

I turn away from the slowly-burning planet and head in the direction of the Guilder. Scans show that he's got Lantern Onik wrapped in construct chains. Onik still has his ring, but his environmental shield is barely there.

My ring shimmers.

"Yes?"

"You are the Illustres." Guilders physically can't smile, but this one is moving its mandibles in an attempt to replicate the gesture. "I thought that you would take longer to arrive."

Given how far out they are, they can't see the damage I've done to their world. Their ring could tell them, but it wouldn't necessarily occur to them to ask. Not if they're used to Green Lanterns.

"You attacked a monastery and abducted one of my Lanterns. I assume that you wanted my attention, because otherwise this is very stupid."

"I thought I would have more time… But I suppose that it doesn't matter. Do you want to know how I-"

I warp, stopping about ten metres away from… Her, as it turns out. Male and female Guilders usually look quite a lot like each other to standard pattern humanoids, but there are differences if you look for them.

"-broke his mind?"

She blinks her primary eyes twice before fully focusing on me as I raise my left hand and use a construct knife to cut through my right forearm. I send my forearm armour back to subspace and use a construct to propel my severed limb towards her. She catches it with two of her upper left arms.

"Eat it."

"I'm not hungry at the-."

"Eat it."

Onik shivers.

The Guilder blinks her primary eyes, then shoves my forearm into her mandibles. My ring helpfully ensures that the crunching and slurping sounds traverse the airless void between us. I wait for her to finish.

Then I reach down and cut off my lower right leg, and throw that her way.

"What are you-?"

"Eat it."

There's a slight bulging as my chewed up forearm makes its way down her throat.

"Normally, I'd-."

"Eat it."

"Do you-?"

"Eat it. Eat it. Eat it."

She's clearly not stupid. She knows that something is going on, and she scans the limb a little more thoroughly than she did the first one. But she finds nothing. And we nudge her physical hunger a little to ensure that it follows my arm down her throat.

"You taste bland. Why did you give me your limbs?"

"To demonstrate beyond all possible doubt that I- "

For a second, the missing parts of my body appear as orange scaffolds. Then they are fully restored to flesh, and I take a moment to hold my right arm up and point it at her.

"-am not afraid of you or anything you can-"

She blinks again, this time looking past me. Ah yes, that should have been about enough time for the damage to Chughraghahh to become visible.

"-do." I restore my armour. "Have I communicated this point effectively?"

"You burned the planet."

"Would it help if I burned a second one?"

"Are you..? Trying to scare me?"

"How long have you had that ring? A week? Two?"

"And you think that means I don't know how to use it?"

"And no training, because the Green Lantern Corps would have detected that. So you've been sitting in a hole until someone gave you your marching orders. Sinestro wouldn't have given that to you; he had the same contempt for the Guild that I do, and-"

She yanks Lantern Onik forward and modifies his bindings so that there's some sort of ratchet-operated choke collar around his neck.

"-would only have given one to you as a trap of some kind. Yes?"

"He fought poorly. Perhaps I could eat him as well?"

"Yes, you caught him at a moment of vulnerability. I'm encouraging my Lanterns to confront their fears; naturally as a Karaxian he's been raised on stories of how evil your kind are. Combined with the problem of confronting his own flaws with his fellow monks, he couldn't match even a neophyte like you. Hot or cold?"

"He was weak-."

"I wasn't asking you. Lantern Onik? Many of the first batch of recruits were selected to see if people with those characteristics could make good Lanterns. You have an orange power ring and an opportunity to strike back against your ancestral enemy. If you do not take that opportunity then you will die. Do you want to strike them down? Do you want to continue this campaign? Do you want to continue your discovery of the spectrum? I cannot decide these things for you. The key to your freedom is on your finger and-"

Orange light bubbles under the yellow restraints as Lantern Onik begins to struggle against his bonds.

"-it's for you to use."

The spider woman gives him her full attention as her collar breaks, swiftly followed by the manacles.

"Take her power for your own."

"Corrupt."

The chains still binding him begin to turn orange and the spider abandons construct and backpedals to increase the distance between them.

Jam space warping.

Compliance.

"Adequate, Lantern Onik. But I'm not going to be satisfied with your performance until this Yellow Lantern is dead. Get on with it."

"Yes, Great Master."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:21 GMT

"This changes nothing."

The Guilder's environmental shield swells as they create a pair of construct robots.

"The apostate is still the same fear-filled weakling. What has changed in the last few minutes?"

One of the robot constructs opens fire while the other deploys its missile launchers. Onik generates an orange sigil inscribed shield to block the shots.

"I remembered why you need to die."

"Make me."

The missile launchers fire their shots, some missiles moving directly while others fire sideways before correcting their flight paths. Onik raises his right hand and orange rays radiate out, piercing the missiles and causing them to prematurely detonate.

The Guider tries to warp, twitching slightly when she finds that she can't. Transitioning would cost her her constructs so that doesn't even warrant consideration. Instead, she has her robots charge Onik down. Onik responds by-.

What-?

Oh, no, that's not actually the Ophidian, but a large snake construct undulates from his shield, coiling around one robot and biting into the other.

"Fear will not stop me doing what I want!"

The constricted robot switches from guns to circular saws and tries cutting through the snake. But unfortunately for the Guilder, Onik's a devout Lantern. He wants the Ophidian aiding and guiding him in a way that.. would actually be a very bad idea. And he certainly doesn't want her to be stopped by a Yellow Lantern.

The pseudo-Ophidian injects orange light poison into the missile robot, the discolouration spreading through the target construct as the Guilder waves her ring-bearing limb to disconnect it. Her mouth free, the Ophidian doubles back to wind more coils around the saw-wielding robot. A moment later it's no longer visible, and another moment later there's a small puff of yellow as it fails under her crushing pressure.

"How are you that much stronger?!"

"Didn't Sinestro tell you? The strength of your constructs is dependent on your mastery of your own fears and the amount of fear you inspire." I glance back at the planet. "They're too busy being afraid of me to be afraid of you. You have nothing that can scare me, and Lantern Onik's working things out."

"No, Great Master. Lantern Onik has been reminded of what he wants. And how it may be achieved."

His Ophidian construct grows.

"From my mind, a decision.
From my decision, an action.
From my action, completion.
From completion, repose."

The Guilder was watching his snake carefully. Which may explain why she missed his gun construct as he fires, the orange beam punching through her carapace and out of the other side.

Her blood freeze-boils in the void as her environmental shield flickers.

"Kkkkkk."

Onik dismisses his Ophidian construct, but sensibly keeps his shield.

"That didn't rhyme."

"It does in my language." He scans the Yellow Lantern. "Are we taking prisoners, Great Master?"

"We need information. I am indifferent to having a prisoner."

"Unworthy."

The Guilder's ring shakes as she weakly tries to hold onto it.

"Another will be chosen."

The voice isn't Sinestro. Or anyone else's that I immediately recognise. Of course, that doesn't mean anything; setting a ring's AI voice is a simple function.

"Lantern Onik, have you ever assimilated anyone?"

"No."

"Well, now's your chance. We need confirmation of how the Spider Guild got hold of a power ring. Grab her before that ring works its way free."

"I'm still…"

Onik flies towards her, a construct coffin-

The same design of coffin as the monastery uses, I note.

-forming around her as the yellow ring breaks free and tries to go to warp.

I.. let it, and it vanishes in the direction of Karax.

"Identity theft in progress."

"Take her to Karax while you're assimilating her. I'm heading back now to see where that ring's going. If the Guild's ships gain on you, contact me before they reach you."

"Yes, Great Master."

Onik puts his hand on the coffin, where the barely-alive Guilder has been wired into a life support system as the assimilation begins converting flesh into construct. He orientates on Karax for a moment, then the two of them vanish. I

step out and

appear a short distance from one of Karax's self defence fleets. Their larger fleets generally stay closer to the truce line… Have to get Onik to ask how the Yellow Lantern managed to get past them with a swarm of robots.

Tracking the yellow ring… Yes, it's heading this way. So, is Sinestro in the area? Is Lantern Dul secretly playing both sides at the request of her political masters? Is Lantern Toren secretly a Sinestro loyalist?

Or is it the abbot?

I mean, his explanation for how he knew what an apple was makes a lot more sense than the idea that he and Sinestro got together and had a detailed conversation about Earth fruit. I'd be surprised if Sinestro had been on the planet long enough to pick something like that up. But the man held himself in a state of intense mental focus at all times. Guy doesn't do that. It's just about the only method that a non-specialist can use to block my empathic vision. And he spent a significant amount of time asking me about how the yellow light worked, despite making it clear that he thought there was no chance of his being selected for the Green Lantern Corps. None of that was information that a lay person could use to get the better of Sinestro.

The yellow ring returns to normal space and accelerates towards the planet and towards the monastery.

The only real question is whether he got the ring from Sinestro or from somewhere else. But I suspect that's a question I'm going to have answered shortly.

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:25 GMT

"Illustres to Lantern Toren."

I suppose there's an outside chance that the ring has merely selected a new bearer as per its seeker protocols. That seems unlikely given that it didn't just fly to the meanest Spider Guild affiliated slave master, but in the interest of the presumption of innocence I should at least ask them before I go in shooting. With the designs for the anti-construct ray stored in my ring, I'd be astonished if a newly minted Yellow Lantern was able-

"Lantern Toren here."

-to stand against me.

"A Spider Guilder with a yellow power ring just attacked Lantern Onik's old monastery. The attack has been defeated, as has the Lantern who carried it out. Their ring is heading this way and I want to see who it goes to."

"That is concerning, but I agree with your judgement. Do you believe that we can defeat Sinestro?"

I take a moment to look over the planet, looking for… Something that could conceivably be Sinestro. I'm not seeing anything, not even another individual with the same green blur as the abbot.

"Yes, as long as you don't mind explaining to the Guardians why you jumped straight to lethal force. Otherwise, I believe that I can defeat Sinestro."

"Under the circumstances I believe that to be the correct decision. Can you detect his location?"

"I'm not convinced that he's actually here. At the moment my money's on your abbot."

"That-. Why? How?"

"To paraphrase J'onn J'onzz, 'He was the only one on the planet whose soul I couldn't see'."

"I hope that you're wrong, but I'll stand by in case." The image of his head changes angle slightly. "I can detect the ring now. You're right, it's heading this way."

Some of the defence fleet ships pick it up on their sensors as it flies past, but it's a tiny object and not the sort of thing they were designed to track. And… They're ships designed to fight Spider Guild swarm fleets, not Lanterns.

"Stand ready. I'll follow-"

The ring flies past me and I turn to follow it.

"-it down."

"I will be ready."

"Good man. End." Toren's face vanishes. "Contact Lantern Dul."

"Oh, I'm included, am I?"

Because she was still sparring with Lantern Toren and heard the entire conversation. Nice to know that she was using her time productively.

"Yes. Recharge and stand ready to cover an evacuation."

"I'm in position to intercept the ring."

"So am I; I don't want it intercepted. I want to find out where it's going and who it's going to."

"Understood. Dul out."

Descending through the atmosphere, towards… Yes, the monastery. The ring is slowing slightly, scanning for something or more likely someone. Of course: if the abbot is keeping his willpower active then the fear ring is going to have trouble locating him. I suppose I could try assimilating it, but that runs the risk of it wiping itself. And I can always do that after we find its target.

Still don't really know what I'll do if I do encounter Sinestro. Yes, Kalmin wants me to kill him, and I can think of uses for a yellow ring… And an extra blue ring for Koriand'r, of course. But Sinestro's a veteran and if he's actually got a body of Lanterns under his command already…

I see a burst of fear and the ring zips away towards… The monastery's front lawn, and into the open right hand of the abbot. Toren is a short distance behind him inside the monastery, though clearly still aware of the man. Dul is circling around, ready to block the route between here and the closest population centre.

I slow to a stop as the abbot considers the ring. His environmental shield is active but he hasn't actually put the ring on yet.

"Would you like to explain?"

He looks sombre, his eyes only lifting from the ring for a moment to acknowledge me.

"I was a young man during the last war with the Spider Guild. I served in the marines, it was… The last time we actually tried occupying one of their worlds. I got to bear witness to their barbarity first hand. Their butchery centres, carcasses… I originally came here-"

He lifts his eyes up for a moment to take in his surroundings.

"-to try and learn how to cope with the nightmares."

"Did it help?"

"As you noticed, I can control what happens in my mind. So long as I do that, I sleep perfectly easily. It's.. supposed to be a triumph of will." He rotates the ring around until the sigil is facing him. "It doesn't feel that way."

"And that ring?"

"Sinestro sent it to me, along with a quantum entanglement communicator. He made me see exactly-. That my whole life had been defined by fear. All of our… Society. We reacted in fear of the Spider Guild, and…" His face creases in distaste. "Our fear shapes us, cracks papered over with will. We've never gone all out. We know they're evil, we say that we prize the ability to follow through on an action, on a thought, above all other psychological virtues, yet we never followed through on killing the people who kidnap and eat us. Because we're afraid of them. We bravely sit in one place and let them carry on. And we lie to ourselves about it."

"'We' or 'you'?"

"Do you think I became abbot by being atypical? My people consider me to be the pinnacle of virtue."

"Well… On the positive side, they probably don't any more."

"Tuh-hah! Yes. You're right."

"Why did you give the ring to that Spider Guilder?"

"I wanted to see if you would be paralysed into inaction as we have been. Instead, you fed her your own body just to make a point."

"Lantern Onik had trouble, to start with."

"But only to start with."

"I'm not sure what would have happened if I hadn't caught up with him."

"It was foolish of me to assume that everyone was motivated by the same thing or in the same way." He looks up and makes eye contact with me. "What happens now?"

What indeed?

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
09:29 GMT

Supplying weapons to the Spider Guild carries some fairly heavy penalties on Karax, for obvious reasons. Treating with enemies of the Green Lantern Corps like Sinestro would also warrant a heavy punishment. Karax tends to treat persistent criminality as a defect of will, so their punishments for serious crimes tend to involve the sorts of things that this monastery did anyway. Is there anything to gain by trying to arrange for something different to happen here?

I haven't personally lost anything. Lantern Onik got a useful lesson in the face of his people's ancestral enemies, I got a slightly better look at modern Spider Guild combat robots and we've got access to a yellow power ring.

"Did Sinestro provide you with a yellow personal lantern?"

"No. He said that I should.. seek him out, if I… Came to a resolution."

So… What? Option one, hand him over to the local police. I can actually see inside him now, and he has no desire to resist. Option two… Try and get him to act as a double agent inside whatever Corps Sinestro is building? Karaxians aren't generally considered good at obfuscation, and he's not in the best mental state. Option three…

Ring..?

Option three would be to allow him to carry out a one-man death and glory attack on the Spider Guild, an option that is actually supported by Karaxian law. I don't know how much charge he's got left, but there's no way that the Spiders would try and take a Lantern alive right now.

"Have you?"

"Even though I didn't feel it, fear shaped my thoughts and actions. My will was impotent. His argument that fear is more fundamental was borne out by my actions."

"Do you want people to fear you?"

"If that is the most productive way to act, yes. I don't like it, but that's… My life hasn't been about doing things that I've liked."

And given how I assisted Onik in beating the Guilder, I can't argue about the efficacy of fear.

What was Sinestro trying to get out of this? A loyal henchman? Was it for a propaganda victory, and if so who is the intended audience? To weaken Lantern Toren in some way? To disrupt interstellar Lanternism and so encourage other fear-filled people to seek him out?

But that's all really about Sinestro.

My 'Lord Protector' alter ego attained enlightenment by meditating on his fears. By constantly forcing himself to feel them he became preternaturally aware of them, and so freed himself from their control. I wouldn't mind sticking the abbot in a laboratory to see exactly what he can learn to do…

Except that I'm here to improve my abilities as a teacher, and the abilities of my students. Mucking about with this is likely to get me cut off from this place as a source of teaching materials. Self-centredness is the way to go. If the Karaxians want to try something clever I'll offer my advice, but that's something they can decide for themselves.

"To return to your question, what happens next depends on you. I can tell that you're feeling pretty down about the whole thing. If I ask you to hand over your ring and surrender, will you?"

"Would it help?"

"Counselling by a non-Karaxian psychiatrist would probably help, but I imagine that they're going to want to disarm you before taking your case."

All else failing I can probably persuade Harleen to take the case. This sounds more like a cultural blind spot rather than a complex issue.

"But…"

"You said yourself: you haven't ever truly overcome your fear. There is nothing in your current belief structure that you haven't tried. All that's left is to try something else, something new."

He holds up the ring slightly.

"Like this?"

"If an excess of fear caused this problem, how would more fear help you solve it? Don't you want to stop feeling fear because the fear is gone? Don't you want to stop being afraid of fear?"

He shudders slightly.

"More than anything. I-."

"Conflicting emotional resonance registered. Avarice overriding fear."

"A curious response, and not one I was expecting."

The ring… Fades. It was a construct of some sort? I suppose that would explain part of how it could exist. I know that imbuing energy from a ring into another object is possible, it just never seemed useful or efficient. As it fades, the light spreads out slightly, forming an…

That's what the local Sinestro looks like.

"I assume that you have spoken to one of Vril Dox's people, then. If a man as fearful as you can learn to overcome himself through avarice, then perhaps I should reconsider my selection criteria. Farewell. I doubt that we'll see one another again."

The light fades out completely, leaving no trace of his presence.

Oh. So-. A transmission? He didn't seem to be aware of my physical presence. Aware of the candidate only? I could just contact him directly but I strongly suspect that he's a better character analyst than me when I can't use my empathic abilities.

Lantern Toren walks out of the monastery and towards the abbot, who has collapsed to his knees. Lantern Dul follows, though she stays a little distant and keeps her ring at the ready. Toren has the resigned air of someone with a necessary but unpleasant job to do, and his ring's glowing at the bare minimum level that it can and still function.

"Abbot, you're under arrest."

The abbot doesn't move for a moment, then nods.

"Yes. Of course."

He rises to his feet, then holds his arms limply out for Toren to cuff. Toren nods at me as he does so.

"Thank you for resolving this peacefully."

"In the interest of providing you with all pertinent information-"

I toss a glowing orange mote to his ring, where it provides him with everything that happened since I left.

"-I only handled this bit peacefully. But you're both welcome."

Toren's eyes glow as he takes it in.

"I.. see. I will have to consider this. What are your plans now?"

"Being slightly more aware of the Spider Guild now, I think I'll have the practical part of this instruction session take part on their side of the border. Have Lanterns Dul, Onik and Xor put what they've learned into practice. Until either Dox calls us back or one of them has a breakthrough I need to share with Maltus immediately, I'll be staying here."

"We will speak more about that when I return."

He and the abbot rise into the air and head in the direction of the nearest large city.

I turn to Lantern Dul.

"Does the Thanagarian Empire have any contact with the Spider Guild?"

"No. We don't."

I smile.

"Let's go and fix that."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
10:33 GMT -7

"In what way 'like me'?"

Artemis and I glance at each other, and I shrug. "I'll take the lead, then."

"The… Shape of it, the… Space it makes in the arcane energy flows of the universe. You're similar to a New God, but different enough in the way you function that there's a difference we can feel. Your manifestation is similar but the way you're wired in is different."

"Other than Donna there isn't anyone like me."

"That you know of."

"I suppose that the universe is a big place-."

I shake my head. "No, this is Olympian flavoured. I've been to Themyscira. I know what your people feel like."

Kicking myself slightly for not getting a better feel for Hippolyta or the other demigoddesses. That would have given me a better point of reference. As it is, I only have three. And I'm… Not likely to get another invitation, am I?

Diana looks understandably puzzled. "Amazons have never had spaceships."

"I'm painfully aware of that."

Artemis glares at me out of the corner of her eyes. Hunt-Partner Warns Prey.

"Sorry. Sorry, I know you… Your people, never developed in that direction. But did any of you know anyone who did? Did you have any contact with space-faring civilisations? The local Green Lantern?"

Diana shakes her head. "No. I have never seen any records of any contact like that. Are you certain that you felt what was actually there?"

I spread my arms to the sides. "As sure as I can be. 'Space Amazons' wouldn't have been my first guess for something like this. It's so out of character. Even your grandmother wouldn't have entirely depopulated a planet."

"Are you certain that they are dead?"

"I can't really be certain of anything. But… Ockham's Razor."

"Could it not be a Chaos Lord?"

"I'd feel one of them. There are only so many you can kill before you get a feel for their magic." I shake my head. "And I don't think it was another equivalent magic user. There would be a distinct feel to it."

"Themyscira has produced sorceresses before."

"Then we're back to the problem of how they got there." I shake my head. "Look, if you want to look into it yourself I'm sure that Scott can lend you a boom tube, but I don't have any information I haven't already given you."

"Aside from the fact that whoever this was, they're working with another version of you."

"That was news to me too. That he was working with an Amazon, I mean."

"But not that he existed."

"No, I've known that for a while. And before you complain to me about it, it isn't pertinent information that I'm obliged to share with you by your intelligence sharing agreement with the US government. I had no information that he was heading for Earth, and as far as I know he isn't."

"The Earth Fifty version did."

"Superman Fifty killed Darkseid. He needed to go to their Earth to confirm his authority. Earth Sixteen just isn't that interesting to him."

"What if he follows you here?"

"What if he came here anyway?" I shrug. "Earth's a thaumically active world. His New God navigational systems could easily pick it up, and it isn't exactly a secret on Apokolips that this is where Scott ended up. When this is over… Either he'll be dead and in no position to come after Earth, or I'll be dead and he'll have no reason to come after Earth."

"Unless he decides to anyway."

"Then.. you should probably get busy on anti-ship defences. I know Lex is."

"If he sends ships to Vega-."

"No no-" I shake my head. "-no. We worked that out. No human ships, just in case."

Lex offered, but it… Wouldn't be a good idea. Apokoliptian ships would be shielded against purple death rays, tough enough to take cold guns and have sensors good enough to detect ships through our stealth systems. It just wasn't worth the risk.

"Very well. I will raise the matter with the rest of the Justice League. I take it that you want our aid."

"It-."

Artemis elbows me.

"Yes. You should feel free to have a look around Vega and check that I'm not worse than someone who vanishes the populations of entire planets."

Artemis shakes her head. "Grayven, you have disappeared the populations of entire planets."

"Yeah, but they were really bad. And.. some psions survived, so really it was just the Citadelians and they were all clones of one man. Anyway, I'm perfectly happy for you to-."

"You're not." Diana looks me in the eye, challenging me to contradict her.

"Alright, I'm not. But I'll put up with it if it means that my people have a better chance of not getting vanished. I like the Tamaraneans. I've put effort into making the place a little more civilised." I exhale, and bow my head slightly. "Plus of course if you do decide to take part, I'll have to tell you everything about what I've been doing there."

"You should tell us that anyway."

"Well, it's not like I'm going to chain you to a ship so you can't leave if you say 'yes' and then later feel like taking it back… But I suspect that if members of the League commit themselves to helping then they're committed to helping."

"We would not necessarily be helping you."

"Yes, I understand that, but I'd rather that more of my people survived than I remain in charge of them." I raise my eyebrows. "Was that true?"

"Yes." Diana nods. "It was."

"Oh, and I'm perfectly willing to upgun anyone who wants to take part. Because this is a battle, and anyone who tries to avoid lethal attacks is probably going to die."

"I will inform the League."

"And..?"

"And I will recommend that we aid the people of Vega, subject to what we find. But if there is some long lost sister of mine in the other Grayven's fleet, then she is mine to deal with."

I nod. "Oh, I totally get that. It would actually bypass some New God technology-based defences if she were confronted by someone thematically associated with her."

We stand, and the hush tube opens to take Diana back to New York.

Artemis and I watch her leave. This is about it, really. With the fleet pretty much as good as it's going to get we're going alternate-me hunting tomorrow. Any last things to take care of-.

"I've left a letter for Mom, in case I don't come back."

I nod. "And Tao?"

"We… Broke up."

"I hadn't felt him for a while, but I thought it was just the disconnect."

"I'm a hundred times his age. At least. He just feels… Young."

"Yes, I get it. Luna's a fraction of my age now, but at least she's an adult."

"You going to spend some time with her?"

"I hope so. But I've got another obligation to discharge first."

 

[Mr Zoat]

27th August 2012
13:05 GMT -5

"Agent… Grayven?"

He recognised me at once, but it took a moment for him to get his thoughts in order. He looks haggard. Tired.

"Officer Danvers." I smile politely, but try to avoid showing actual joy. This isn't really that sort of occasion. "Thank you for opening the door."

"What-? What are you here for? The DMA people already checked… They already checked."

Surprising what a few FBI agents with a little magic training can turn up when they put their minds to it. The individual known locally as 'Buzz' escaped, but the summoning he was attempting was interrupted. Not before the death of the ritual sacrifice, but from the reports it looked a lot like her involvement wasn't entirely involuntary.

"Ye-ah, I'm… Not here about that. I'm… I'm here about the will."

His face falls slightly. "Oh. Oh."

"I wouldn't normally even hear about something like this, but she actually posted me a copy and my clerks brought it to my attention…"

He shakes his head. "There's no way that can be legally binding."

"… No, but it does express your late daughter's wishes fairly explicitly."

"'Use my body for some… Fucked up magic or some shit like that. Something that'll piss off my parents.' And-." His face creases up. "And you actually want to do that?"

"Chirurgeons used to train on corpses stolen from graveyards. I've got a ritual that requires the reasonably fresh corpse of a woman infused with demonic magic." I spread my hands out. "Not really a lot of opportunities for something like that, and I'm pretty sure that a disinterested party would consider it to be 'fucked up magic'."

He lets out a burst of decidedly unamused laughter, then shakes his head.

"Shit. What d'you even want her for?"

"Are you sure that you want to know?"

"It's got ta be something that'll piss me off, hasn't it?"

"Alright. Well, demons have no sense of morals. While humans…" I remember what state I'm in. "Are descended from people who ate the apple from the tree in the Garden of Eden and so have certain God-given moral intuitions-"

Or are descended from ape-men who gradually learned that cooperating with other ape-men improved their chances of survival.

"-demons aren't and lack that. However, demons are capable of learning to function in human society. Most just use that knowledge to conceal their actions better, but a few make a genuine effort to fit in. One of my children's tutors is just such a demon. She's been living as a human without… Alright, not entirely without incident, but considering what she is a couple of counts of operating an unlicensed abattoir is pretty minor."

I mean, there's no specific law against eating puppies.

…

That I know of.

"O-okay, so, what?"

"So she got married, and she and her husband want to have children, but it turns out that's actually quite hard when your body is a manifestation of demonic energy. And because we're keeping an eye on her, she can't get away with the usual standby of possessing someone. And it turns out that isn't as easy to maintain in the long term as you might assume."

"And you want to put her in my daughter's body?"

"Yes."

"No."

"But that's not all."

"No. No."

"Okay, but you might want to-"

"No you goddamn-"

"-consider where your daughter's soul likely ended up."

"-son of..! … The Hell you mean by that?"

"Drugs, promiscuous sexual activity, demon magic and generally being kind of a bitch. These are not the things that lead to a glorious unification with the Source after the end of one's time in this veil of tears. Unless you're one of my kind and have special dispensation to just be yourself, that sort of thing results in the newly liberated soul heading straight down."

His mouth twitches like it wants to fold down at the edges but he's trying to keep under control. No one wants to believe that their daughter went to Hell, even if a disinterested party might look at the available evidence and say 'well, duh'.

"W-. W-? If this demon is just… Gunna be possessing her body-."

"Part of the ritual involves bringing her soul back. She won't be able to interact with the world, but she won't be enduring all of the torments of Hell any longer."

"Dear God in Heaven."

I bring my hands together in a clap.

"So…"

"Can-? Can we think about it?"

"I'd like to say 'yes', but the ritual has a definite deadline and we're already pushing it. We're not going to get a chance to do this again for a good long while, and that won't get Linda out of Hell."

"I don't-. I-. … Yes! Yes, do it."

I nod respectfully.

"Thank you. I shall trouble you no more."

I turn away and walk back through the hush tube that brought me here.

27th August 2012
11:08 GMT -7

Sunset looks up as I walk into her workroom, Linda Danver's naked corpse on a raised bier and painted in runic designs. John Constantine is still busy completing the patterns on her right leg while the prospective graftee fidgets awkwardly.

"Retrospective consent?"

I nod. "Attained. You ready, Gloria?"

Gloria doesn't look too impressed. "She doesn't look anything like me."

I hold out my left hand to her and she hesitatingly takes it. I focus my designs on the corpse and orange light radiates out, moving over the deanimated flesh. Bones lengthen, skin and hair darken and her breasts swell from 'reasonably well-endowed teenager' to 'chirurgically augmented WAG'.

"My nose does not look like that."

"If you don't like it, having a fleshy body will mean that you can pay a man to change it. Mister Constantine?"

"All set." He steps back. "The girl's soul will power the tattoos-"

Gloria grimaces. "Tatt-?"

"-which won't be visible when they're on, and will hide you from anyone looking for you with magic."

I remove my left hand. "Body's all done. Sunset?"

Sunset holds up a pair of unpleasant-looking rune-inscribed brass chains. "All ready here! Let's do some original research!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

Veganism

1st September 2012
14:01 GMT

I smile as the Justice League taskforce walk or fly through the boom tube. There were a… Wide variety of places where we could have done this, but after some consideration I decided that the Orange Lantern Corps headquarters was the best place for it. Few things say 'I'm powerful and on my home turf' like having one of two Central Power Batteries in the universe standing in the background.

Scott and Barda are joining in, naturally. The League trust Scott to discover if the people in my domain are 'unfree' as Bruce just doesn't have the required knowledge on alien societies and J'onn knows perfectly well that Lynne could make him think that Apokolips was a liberal democracy. Which is probably why they've both gone to Rashashoon instead.

Just because hush tubes are difficult to detect doesn't mean I can't detect you.

Kal-El's here as well, because we're going to need his muscle. And because the League are quite rightly confident that he could take me in a fight. Me or.. other me, I suppose. Arnus is here to check our legal systems and enforcement processes. Oliver is here because he's trying to keep tabs on Artemis. In a… Concerned family friend sort of way, not in a 'she's a threat to the universe' sort of way.

Though I suppose that when we were in the far future, Earth was the universe. Darn, I had an opportunity to kill everyone in the universe and feel somewhat morally justified and I didn't take it. I could literally have been the last man in the universe.

And there wouldn't have been any sheep.

And Adam Blake -looking far healthier than he was last time he was here- is joining in because he genuinely likes the place and harbours me no ill feeling. Which is somewhat weird, but… Actually nice. Someone who's actually experienced the universe thinks that what I've done-. What I've admitted doing, is at least justifiable if not actually good. His telepathy hasn't really recovered from what the First did to him, but his telekinesis is stronger than ever. Cranius does good work, when he maintains his focus.

And Komand'r has flown forward to greet him personally because apparently standing in line isn't really a Tamaranean thing, and with me abandoning her for Luna and Duke Oswin preferring his own species she's a bit stuck for suitably armigerous men. A hero from Tamaran's doomed fight with the Citadel now rejuvenated with the help of the Un-Men might be just what Tamaranean politics wants.

Dinah's here for Artemis as well. And Patrick heard about the 'orange swimsuit model' thing and decided to tag along. I don't know how useful he'll be. I mean, it's hard to test how resilient someone is without honestly trying to kill them, I know that he's not… All that strong, his shapeshifting is somewhat irrelevant against people with advanced sensors or… Well, spaceships. Still, more Leaguers forming social bonds with Tamaraneans can only work in my favour.

Next to me, Weaponer Lysis studies each of them with interest.

"Is that one some sort of synthetic life form?"

I smile proudly.

"You never visited Earth, did you?"

"I hardly see what that has to do with anything."

"He's human. His body is made of some sort of ultra flexible-"

"Hey Comet, when do the rest of us get an orange bikini babe?"

"-ultra stretchy material now, but he started as organically human."

Komand'r uncoils herself from Adam a little.

"I have a sister, if you so desire?"

Which is an insult to Koriand'r, as Patrick has no particular status here and would drag her slightly down. And an insult to Patrick, as Komand'r knows that and is doing it deliberately. And they'd be horribly mismatched anyway, though I know from personal experience that Koriand'r would be up for letting him experiment with his abilities. And she'd experiment right back with her ring, so maybe I should nudge him in a different direction.

"Welcome to Tamaran!" I walk forwards, raising my right hand in greeting. "Thank you all for coming."

Kal-El nods. "I'm looking forward to having a look at what you've built here."

"Personally? Very little. Virtually all of the rebuilding has been done by the Tamaraneans themselves. I create opportunities for rebuilding." I half-turn. "This is Weaponer Diataria Lysis. She's been invaluable in bringing our fleet up to scratch."

I notice Kal-El giving her a very quick once-over with his expanded visual range. He's never dealt with any Qwardians himself, but I'm sure that he's been fully briefed on their activities. Then again, he's not going to stoop to species prejudice, no matter how warranted.

"My Clarissi, Vril Dox the Second." I gesture to Komand'r. "Princess Komand'r of Tamaran. And Sub-Commander Karsta Wor-Ul."

Who's giving the impression that Kal-El is an unusually incompetent recruit at her boot camp. They've never actually-.

"You're kryptonian?"

"You're Seyg-El's grandson. I didn't like him either."

He's smiling hopefully. "What are you doing here?"

We decided not to tell Superman about the cloning, because the absolute last thing I want is the Justice League hanging around here long-term. On the other hand, lying isn't an option because Diana's right there.

"He needs someone to control the Doomsday."

"That sounds ominous. What is it?"

I make a show of looking mildly awkward, in the hope that it will reassure them to catch me out on a few things.

"You remember when the team got sent to investigate some excavation work Lex Luthor was carrying out in Texas?"

He clearly doesn't, but Diana nods.

"Turns out that when the Science Council ordered the Kryptonian Stellar Navy scuttled, Admiral Dru-Zod instead sent his flagship to some arse-end planet in the middle of nowhere. Earth, in other words. And since there wasn't much happening in Texas at the time, it buried itself there."

Kal-El's face stills.

"You're saying Lex Luthor has a kryptonian warship."

"No, I have a kryptonian warship because Lex Luthor works for me. It's in orbit now if you want to take a look."

"Why didn't you tell me about that sooner? Even if you wanted to keep it, that's a part of my history-."

Karsta's eyes narrow.

"Your history is being part of the family that ordered the fleet destroyed. Your history is your grandfather, great uncles and aunts and the rest of your house scuttling the fleet that could have saved our species when the planet fell apart. You've never even been to Krypton. You never saw Kryptonian society when it still existed. It's not a part of your history at all. I'm only letting you see my ship because Grayven asked me to."

"My family?" He frowns. "What are you talking about?"

Right, because Jor-El almost certainly didn't include that information on the data he sent Kal-El to Earth with.

"House El? The entire Science Council? The isolationist fools who-."

BOOM!

Huh? That's not-.

Kara shoots out of the tube opening and halts just in front of her cousin.

"Kal?"

"Yes? Who-?"

She wasn't supposed to put in an appearance just yet, but best foot forward.

"This is Kara Zor-El. Your cousin."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th August 2012
06:17 GMT

"That looks bad."

I squint at the medical hologram showing Kara's rema-. Bod-. Person. I don't want to tempt the fates by referring to her in a way which suggests that her current state of inanimation is permanent.

"That looks very bad."

I turn to look at Karsta.

"This is bad, right?"

She sighs.

"That's bad."

If it were just the malfunctioning suspended animation unit-. No. No, I should be fair. It was performing well within its design parameters. It just wasn't designed for the stresses it was forced to undergo by the suddenly exploding planet beneath it. Or the radiation from a dozen novel forms of kryptonite along with whatever the heck that did to the pod's faster than light system, the pressure of the rock…

And she's still… Kind of alive.

Living tissue, certainly.

Anyway, if it was just a suspended animation unit that wasn't quite up to the job through no fault of its own, we'd stick her on a nutrient drip for a week or two… Maybe use an aortic stimulator, some sort of stem cell suspension to aid in her internal healing…

Kara, we've got in a tank. Parts of her body are… Dead tissue. Not much rot, but slow-burned, shrivelled, desiccated…

After I healed one of my own injuries with my power ring for the first time, back while I still looked human, it occurred to me that I could probably fix anything other than a brain injury, that anything else was just a temporary problem. Even if I didn't have my ring on me or if it was out of power at the time, I just had to survive in the short term and it could be fixed.

Her brain's damaged.

I mean, it's still active. There are still brainwaves occurring without us using a cortical stimulator, but that's… Serious stuff.

"Any ideas?"

"I'm a soldier, not a brain chirurgeon. Injuries like this, we used to ship them back home."

"What sort of damage..?"

"Reduced spatial awareness…" She points to the damaged sectors. "Problems with object permanence, synesthesia, numbness and her intelligence will be about half what it was. She could live, and maybe have a happy life as a smiling simpleton, but she wouldn't really be herself anymore."

I nod. "Recommendations?"

"Find an actual physician."

"You know, I have actually been looking for kryptonians?"

Ugh. Between the vacuum exposure and radiation, there's no chance of finding anything on kryptonian medicine on Krypton itself. Mitchell and Kon had big problems precisely because humans don't have the technology to clone kryptonian brains properly. Inactive kryptonian brains without pre-existing patterns that we want to preserve. Who else might..?

"I don't suppose that the Vrangs would have the required…"

She looks at me like I'm an idiot.

"If there are any left, they'll be the same unwisely uplifted techno-barbarians they always were. You might as well go to Daxam if you're going to look for help from the technologically illiterate."

"Was that a serious suggestion? Because I can go to Daxam."

She moves the holoscreen aside and takes a closer look at the horizontal tank.

"The Doomsday's medical systems can replace most of the damaged tissue. That sort of thing used to be pretty common, before the clone rights movement got started. But I won't clone neural tissue, and even if I could, the ship couldn't implant it."

"Would the Daxamites-?"

"No they wouldn't have a brain chirurgeon. I'd be surprised if they had apothecaries."

"Would they have an automated chirurgeon? From one of the original colony ships?"

She looks a little more thoughtful.

"They might. If they didn't melt it down for scrap."

"Would it still work?"

"Kryptonian programmable crystal lasts a lot longer without maintenance than human technology. Unless they destroyed it, it should still work."

Not… Great, but what alternative is there? Kryptonite didn't even exist in large quantities until Krypton went up, so whatever medical system Kal-El has in his fortress isn't going to have any records on it. And it certainly doesn't have an automated chirurgeon better than what the Doomsday has.

Guess I'm going 'shopping', then.

13th August 2012
08:33 GMT

I chuck the slab of crystal through the boom tube, fire another burst of energy at my pursuers and then step through after it.

"Okay, so it turns out that the Daxamite elders are total hypocrites."

Karsta picks up the chirurgeon engine and attaches it to Kara's pod as the tube shuts down.

"Imagine my surprise."

"Yeah, they're fine using advanced technology to prop up their control. They had sunstones!"

"You don't look hurt."

"I had paint chips. This what we need?"

She calls up a new screen as the chirurgeon engine glows to life. Most of the information doesn't mean much to me, but I can clearly see the 'S' of House El.

"That explains how they got access to the materials for their expedition. Kem-El sponsored them."

"Never heard of him."

"Cultural puritan. He believed that contact with aliens polluted us. I could see him sponsoring isolationist primitivists so they wouldn't be 'tainted' by alien technology."

"But it'll work?"

"As far as I can tell, yes."

"When you say-?"

"Everything here's telling me that it will work. I can't think of anywhere else we could get something better, and she's going to die if we don't use it. But it's not like I can check it."

"I guess sometimes you've just got to roll the dice."

1st September 2012
14:05 GMT

Kara beams. "Are you here to fight the aliens?"

A somewhat stunned Kal-El nods. "If negotiation doesn't work, then yes."

"Great! Let's eradicate them together!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:34 GMT

"You know, Barda…" I glance around at her and then turn back towards the main view screen. "Dear sister-in-law,-"

I don't have to look around to feel her shudder.

"-you don't have to follow me everywhere. With the greatest respect to you, I haven't adapted the Tamaranean ships to take advantage of New God abilities and as far as I know you've never been involved in fleet actions."

"That's not why I'm here."

"Would you care to explain, then?"

"I'm here in case you're up to something." I turn my head to look directly at her, then pointedly continue turning my head to take in the marines and Lanterns in the command centre, then drop my eyes to indicate my own rings, then return my gaze to her. "It was supposed to be Superman, but you managed to get him distracted."

She's currently showing him around the Doomsday. While I was going to ask Mr. Near to command it, she's… Actually turned out to be a complete natural. She doesn't have any military experience as far as Karsta and I can tell, but I suppose that the control interfaces are quite similar to the civilian ones she would have been used to. And the Dru-Zod neural clone serving as the ship's main computer isn't complaining about having a kryptonian in command.

"He's not exactly hard to influence. Though you might want to talk to one of the Green Lanterns about not picking Kara up earlier."

"I could see the scars on her face."

"And if she'd been naked then you'd have seen scars on every other part of her body as well. Kryptonians don't just grow body parts back like we do."

"What are you up to?" "Tell me or I will beat you with words until you tell me."

"Stuff." "Hah!"

The Hitchhiker's quote is overused, but it's true; the thing about space is, it's big. Even sending out Lanterns in every direction -something I don't particularly want to do, as I don't exactly have an unending supply of those- we could only cover a relatively small area. Our intelligence gathering within Vega is reasonable, as there are only allies and primitive worlds with listening posts left. But that's in actual systems; virtually all of the internal volume of the region is near-empty space and we're relying on emission detection systems that are merely good.

And that's not even starting on the more sparsely systemed universe outside of the Vega Moat.

I'm taking a large portion of the fleet and Orange Lantern Corps to do reconnaissance in force in the direction of the depopulated planet Artemis and Kanto found. We're not just boom tubing there for a number of reasons: it's a big fleet and making boom tubes big enough isn't exactly easy, Other Grayven might well detect it and the fact that since we don't know where the attacking fleet is we're having to scan as we go. So far we're detecting all of the signals we're expecting to, but that could change at any time.

If I'm really lucky, we'll encounter him and it'll turn out that he only has a tiny fleet with him, we'll destroy it to deny him his sovereign authority bonus and then I'll jump in in person and finish him off. Otherwise-

My ring glimmers.

-things could get interesting.

"Grayven here. Go ahead."

A face… Ah, yes, that's probably something I should have sorted out. Nice thing about living in Vega is that you don't have to deal with -or 'deal with'- Green Lanterns. Apparently our Sector only has one rather than the usual two for some reason, and since I've spent virtually all my time in Vega I haven't bothered having any contact with him.

"You're moving a large fleet into Sector Two Eight Two Eight. Explain yourself."

I could refuse-. Actually that's not a bad plan. He is unlikely to attack unless I start something with someone, and refusing to explain would probably prompt him to follow us. Which could be useful. On the other hand I'd feel obliged to him if he did step in, and having the Green Lanterns keeping out of Vega has been pretty convenient. They don't necessarily stop empire-builders, but…

Mm. But… No. I mean, it's not like the Green Lantern Corps doesn't know what I'm doing. Green Man can watch from outside, and the Two Eight One Four Lanterns have at least a rough idea.

"Looking for another version of myself. He's got a gordanian warfleet and he's heading this way to deal with me. There's a good chance-"

I send him the contents of our investigation of the now-empty world.

"-that he had something to do with this."

"Your records show no evidence that a gordanian fleet was involved."

"Other than the fact it's in a straight line route. But does it matter? If we find the people who depopulated this planet then we'll ask them some polite questions, and if I find my doppelgänger then we'll politely ask him to turn around, and if they're the same people then… Not much changes."

"I will accompany you to ensure that you remain… Polite."

"Okay, well done for being the only member of your species who understands euphemisms, but I only intend to be polite up to a point. My casus belli is either defence of another or self defence. If those are dealt with then I have no further reason to engage in aggression, but I will have them dealt with."

"You have come a long way from your territory for 'self defence'."

"What sort of fool lets an aggressor enter his territory when he can see them coming? There's nothing else for him in this region of space. But if it turns out that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding and not an attempt to slay me for sharing his face, then that's fine. I make an effort to get on well with my brothers."

I make a gesture of appeal to Barda, and she reluctantly nods.

"Your expressed objectives are reasonable. I will take part in any discussions to ensure that is all that happens."

"Fill your boots. Grayven out."

The face vanishes, though ring scan says that he's keeping pace with us.

"Captain, time to next planet?"

Obviously I know, but you've got to make sure that they're awake every so often, haven't you?

"Screening vessels are already there. We will emerge in two, one-."

Normal space reappears, and-.

That's a lot of ships.

That's a lot of big ships.

The sensor officer pulls up a summary with commendable speed.

"One hundred and two ships of dreadnought class by mass and power output. Four hundred seventeen battleship class by mass and power output. One thousand two hundred fifty cruiser class by mass and power output, along with that many again… I'm not sure, civilian ships?"

I nod. "Any of them Apokoliptian?"

She shakes her head. "None match known Apokoliptian ship types."

"That's a mercy."

Now, the simple fact that there are a lot of ships doesn't necessarily mean that we're outmatched, though on the face of things we're epically outmatched. Building big ships with big reactors isn't that hard; if their weapons and sensors aren't good enough just our Lantern complement could kite them indefinitely. But I'm not going wall to wall with a fleet that big.

"Alright, interdiction-." Captain Karras nods, having already activated them. "Good man. We'll sit back and get a very good look at how they perform. Lanterns, get outside and prepare to intercept. I-."

"My Lord!" The sensor officer pulls up an image of the planet they're menacing. "Look!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:38 GMT

Some of the ships marked as 'probably not warships' have entered low orbit, which suggests that they're either troop transports or dedicated bombardment vessels. But instead of releasing drop pods, assault shuttles or kinetic harpoons they appear to be releasing…

Grey snakes?

They're about an inch long, and from the way they're squirming in the air it looks like they've got some sort of flight ability. Like Thread in the Pern series, they're cascading down-.

Scans of the parts of the planet which the snake deployment ships have already passed over show that the snakes have grown larger, metre long, ten metre long, hundred metre long monstrosities as they chase down and gorge themselves on the locals. A lucky shot from a battery of muzzle-loading cannons manages to down one of the larger ones, only for its fellows to swoop down and consume it, growing larger as they do so.

And where they pass… No living creatures remain.

Well then. Explains that.

"Grayven to fleet. We're going to prevent an extermination campaign."

Something I know the Tamaraneans can get behind. Though I'd try to stop it anyway.

"Boom tubes stand by to evacuate civilians on my signal. Lanterns Caeras, Cwn'r and Lovind'r will accompany me to the surface to cover the evacuation. Otherwise, standing orders remain in effect."

Three Lanterns who lost family to gordanian bombardments after the conquest and who would die before allowing further civilian casualties.

I deactivate fleetwide communications and look at Barda.

"I assume that you'll accompany me down."

She hefts her mega rod.

"Try to stop me."

"Captain Karras, keep me apprised. You have the ship. Mother Box, boom tube… " No.. No. "There."

"Ping."

Some locals nearby, plenty of medium sized snakes and a few giant ones a little further away. A pleasant escalation. And if an Olympian puts in an appearance, Diana's a boom tube away.

BOOM!

But I don't draw my sword. Not yet.

Instead I walk through, arms folded Darkseid-style behind my back and an expression of mild irritation on my face.

The change when I cross the threshold is immediate, the terror of a dying civilisation all around me.

It reminds me of what the Weaponer who forged me did to generate the requisite level of fear, Lantern Grayven.

Let me know if-

A fifty centimetre long snake slams into the environmental shield covering my left shoulder. I manifest a kingsnake construct and have the interloper consumed. Barda steps around me and charges.

-you detect anyone trying to repeat the feat.

Certainly, Lantern Grayven, though I suggest allowing them to finish and then taking it from them in their moment of triumph for greatest psychological effect.

Well duh.

BOOM!

Lanterns Cwn'r and Lovind'r fly through the boom tube, rings blazing as I make a point of intercepting the small snakes with constructs of my own.

"Maintain shields around the locals and call in boom tubes to evacuate them."

"Yes Lord!" / "Yes sir!"

Cwn'r flies upward, taking in the environment before generating a dome shield to ward the snakes off the general area. Lovind'r flies directly towards the locals huddled in a nearby building.

"This way! We have an escape route!"

The locals look like skinny minotaurs, humanoid bodies topped by elongated horn wreathed heads, and their fears are making intercepting the metallic air snakes far easier than would otherwise be the case. The mid-sized ones form up into a swarm, and I retaliate by creating a giant kingsnake and having it swallow them whole.

The snakes appear to have no ranged weapons and only basic mental abilities. Too simple-minded to feel fear themselves.

BOOM!

Lantern Lovind'r maintains a local barrier as the locals recover themselves sufficiently to hurry through the boom tube.

"Grayven to Karras. Any response from the fleet?"

"Additional warships have begun moving towards your location."

Barda activates her aero-discs and swoops to intercept a mid-sized snake poised to attack the would-be evacuees.

"Any direct communication?"

"No. Do you want to communicate with them?"

"I'd like information, but-" The big snake finishes munching on a panicking musket platoon and turns in my direction. "-I don't think there's anything I particularly want to say-"

A mid-sized snake rams Cwn'r's barrier and causes a small breach, wriggling through as he repairs it. The snake then zooms towards him-

BOOM!

-and is split in half by a beam of orange light from Caeras as she flies in.

"-to them at this juncture." I turn to Lantern Lovind'r. "Clear?"

He nods. "Yes, sir."

"Lantern Caeras, destroy incoming snakes. Lovind'r and Cwn'r, as you-"

A large snake explodes through a nearby hill, undulating through the air towards me!

"-are."

I reach back and draw my daiklave.

"Proceed from the closest concentration of locals and evacuate them. Call me-"

The snake lunges at me, poison fangs longer than my entire body arching towards me as it turns its head sideways to bite me!

"-if-"

I swing my blade, slicing through both fangs before impaling its upper jaw upon the tip of my blade. With my left hand I catch the bottom jaw and hold as the beast writhes, trying and failing to close its jaw around me.

"-you encounter an obstacle that you cannot overcome."

I step back, shifting my grip to slam the two jaws shut and hold them closed. I then form a muzzle construct and bind its head and step back further as it writhes impotently in its bonds.

A construct guillotine blade puts it out of its misery a moment later.

"Now."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:41 GMT

"Thank you, Legate! Thank you!"

Unsurprisingly, the prospect of getting to live rather than be eaten by giant flying snakes promotes a sudden switch from fear to hope. And with my source of fear gone, my constructs-.

I wince slightly as one of the flying grey snakes erupts from the interior of my kingsnake construct.

With the aura of fear diminished locally, my constructs are proportionally weaker. There's still plenty of fear on the planet, but the fleets in orbit aren't afraid and… The planet's population is being rapidly reduced. Though that does make me think-.

I switch, serpentine yellow constructs fading and being replaced by orange flak cannons. There wasn't anyone here to be impressed by the fact that my snakes were beating their snakes, so what I have left is my desire to prevent this pointless destruction. Here I Stand.

Lantern Caeras appears next to me, eyes glowing as she searches for more targets. The snakes appear mindless and might just be an undirected terror weapon, but that just seems… Irrational. Inefficient. There are far easier ways to wipe out a planetary population than 'unleashing the snakes'. Something is going on here.

"Evacuation complete."

"Good show. Next refugee concentration is-."

I wince slightly as a city to the south of us is utterly enveloped by mid-sized snakes, their last bastions collapsing and the serpents gorging themselves.

"Is here."

I mark a city just ahead of the main mini-snake wave. We might well be able to get everyone out before they arrive, which will make it easier to establish a new community.

"Mother Box."

BOOM!

Lovind'r and Cwn'r fly through at once. I trigger my aero-discs to follow-.

"Lord?"

"Fly and talk, Lantern Caeras."

I'm through the boom tube opening a moment later, a cannon construct forming on my left arm and pointing skywards. An Apokoliptian blaster this time, as it feels thematically appropriate. I can.. just about make out the ships as they approach, the dimming of the light caused by Threadfall making their progress even more obvious.

BOOM!

Lovind'r isn't bothering to discuss the matter with the local and is instead just picking them up and shoving them through. Reasonable enough given the time constraint we're under, and I haven't picked up a single local-created radio signal since we got here so there's not really any point trying to call ahead. Cwn'r is raising a shield and Caeras is following my lead and creating construct flak guns.

"Lord, why not call in more Lanterns?"

"Because of their fleet. This world is lost, and while I'm happy to save its residents I'm not prepared to impair our combat effectiveness to do it."

Adjust for light diffraction in an atmosphere and to-target time… Feel My Contempt!

A coruscating beam of energy lances out, shooting up into the atmosphere and then out of it. Can't really see the damage from here… Ring?

Outcome favourable.

I frown.

Define 'favourable outcome'?

They all died.

Ah, yes, the ship is drifting out of formation slightly. No, the wreckage in the approximate shape of a ship. Good.

"Karras to Gravyen. The ships will be over your position in two minutes."

"Thank you for keeping me-" I shift my aim slightly, targeting the next ship in sequence. "-informed. Any other fleet movements?"

"They're interdicting us and their heavy ships are formed up."

"Lantern Green Man?"

"He appears to be attempting to open communications with their admiral."

Good luck to him.

"Initial tech assessment of the enemy fleet?"

"I think we're slightly more advanced, but that's just an initial assessment. Until we start testing their weapons and shields we won't know for certain."

"Understood. Grayven-" I fire again. "-out. Ring, contact Weaponer Lysis."

"By your command."

"Yes?"

I don't look at her as her face appears over my ring, but instead keep my eyes on the oncoming snakenado as Caeras opens fire.

"How much fear would you need to forge a new yellow power ring?"

"Kalmin refined his approach considerably after his initial efforts. Time is a more critical factor than intensity. So unless we had advanced warning or could slow the process without stopping it, a planet being consumed by serpents would not work. Do you want another ring?"

"It's not a priority at the moment, but I'll always have a use for new power rings."

"Understood. Weaponer Lysis out."

And there goes the second snake ship. Track the flight path… It'll hit the planet, but that area has already been depopulated and the environmental consequences don't matter in the short term and can be dealt with in the longer term.

Next objective, either make the attackers afraid of me to boost my yellow constructs, or make me more significant in their thoughts in order to boost my god powers. Of course, the nice thing about having a power ring is that I can bypass conventional jamming and speak to everyone. I can activate even manually disconnected speakers.

"Grayven to fleet." And Now I Will Taunt You.

BOOM!

Caeras looks around and then shifts her guns as Lovind'r moves the boom tube aperture. Looks like Barda's gotten a bit too focused on her beatings to keep up.

"Grayven to all the pirates and cannibals who are attacking this world. Grayven to all the miserable failures at civilisation up there. Bringing a fleet to exterminate a pre-industrial world? How weak-willed you must be that this is the limit of your ambition? How moronic must you be that you cannot build on the remains yourself? Did you even build those ships, or did someone take pity on you and make them a gift? Do they pat you on the head like a child with a full potty when you show them the death you have caused with the cowardly press of a button?"

WHERE IS YOUR NAME, THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE STARS?!

I take a handful of Construct-Rings from a pouch and toss them to the ground, releasing the Construct-Lanterns contained therein. Without speaking I point upwards, and up they fly.

A pillar of brilliant white light flashes into being and then vanishes, leaving a strong-looking woman in green snake-themed armour. Gun, sword, and the unmistakable smell of Olympus.

She levels the gun at me. "It is written here, impostor."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:44 GMT

I smile.

"So you've met my lesser half? Where is he, anyway?"

Mother Box, ping Diana.

Ping.

Yes, if she wasn't Olympian, I could just leave. Unfortunately, she's got just enough divinity about her that she could match my shout, which means that she counts and I don't want to take the hit from backing down.

"He has designs on Vega. I want to see what strength Vega has produced."

"You just want a fight? You should have said! I'd have saved you the journey and come to you!"

I raise my hands out to the sides in a gesture of appeal.

"Why the cold shoulder? You clearly don't have any problem working with me."

"You aren't Grayven, the Ascendant God of Conquest. I felt the stygian power of Apokolips on him. Beneath your rings, you have nothing of note."

"Oh, I used to have Anti-Life, but I got some ponies to remove it with the power of friendship. I feel much happier in myself now." I lower my hands. "But since you've turned up and he hasn't, we might as well get this started. Who are you, anyway?" "And what is it that is written here?"

"I am Captain Astarte of the Citizenry. And who are you?"

"Grayven, obviously." Conquest.

She presses something on her gun, and the interior begins glowing orange.

"Liar."

"Not every name's unique. There are multiple parallel universes, and I've encountered at least one version of 'me' who wasn't this me, and… Desaad could have easily doubled us. I mean…" I shrug, as Barda flies up behind her at speed. "I don't remember him doing that, but I was away for a whi-"

Astarte twists as Barda swings at her, mega rod whistling past the Olympian's left shoulder as she moves the barrel of her gun to point at Barda's chest and fires!

END.

Orange Kirby dots form a corona around the muzzle and I'm astonished to feel real fear from Barda before the orange beam strikes her in the chest! Energy flares and Barda goes down, a thin plume of smoke rising from her body.

"U-ugh."

"Still alive?"

War Prize.

Astarte lowers her gun and holds out her right hand, Barda's mega rod flying into it. "A respectable display. You will be permitted to take part in the trials. Though if you don't-"

She kicks Barda in the chest, sending her flying twelve metres before Barda lands and rolls bonelessly to a halt. Yes, her chestplate barely even survived that.

"-recover, your participation will be short."

Huh. Okay. Mildly impressive that she subverted Barda's weapon like that, but it was an Apokoliptian weapon. That gun was more impressive, as was the speed of her reaction to Barda's approach. The blast looked a lot like the Omega Effect in gun form, which… Shouldn't be possible. The Omega Force killed a lot of high-tier Apokoliptians before Uxas finally succeeded in merging with it. Containing it and directing it are not simple matters.

I also need to keep my sister-in-law alive. It didn't sound like Astarte planned on killing her, but I find it's not a good idea to assume things with lunatic space warlords.

Somewhere behind me I dimly note the 'boom' of the boom tube opening and the refugees flooding through in as well-ordered a fashion as my Lanterns can manage to organise.

"Did the other Grayven build that for you? I've been focusing on making armour for my followers. Haven't really experimented with that sort of exotic weapon."

"Studying him aided us, but this technology is ours."

"Interesting." I raise my daiklave slightly. "I'll look forwards to studying it."

"Will you?" Blades Quail.

The glowing tron lines on my sword flicker and then fail, the blade itself falling apart as if they had been cut lines.

I just can't keep one of these in-

Astarte leaps, stolen mega rod swinging for me as I dart back on my aero-discs.

-one-

She lunges again, and the awkward directional shift forces me to use chains to pull on her arm and redirect her swing. She overextends, but blocks most of my retaliatory punch with her gun. She's forced back slightly and I get confirmation that she can't fly, but she twists to threaten me with the rod and I pull back slightly.

-piece for five minutes.

Stealing weapons, breaking weapons. Some sort of weapon goddess? Or demi-goddess? Did Hephaestus and Athena have a daughter they don't talk about in company? No, a mortal and a god.

Scan her genes.

Unable to comply.

Fair enough, but-.

END.

Orange light lances out and I shoot skyward, the beam pursuing and rapidly gaining! What blocks the Omega Effect what blocks the Omega Effect? I take an armoured panel out of subspace and throw it behind me as I viff, switching from vertical to lateral movement.

This was a lot more fun when I was doing it to Kara In-Ze.

The Omega Effect-. Punches through the panel and redirects itself without apparent difficulty, coming after me.

Okay, but the beam's still coming from the gun. I generate construct missiles and fire at Astarte while flying towards the closest medium-sized snake, because ducking behind a parademon worked for Batman 12 and I'm hoping that the same applies here.

And ping Diana again!

Ping.

Astarte sees the missiles coming and braces. Is she locked in place? Confident in her resilience? In my weakness? Well let's add just a little of my fear of Darkseid and see what-

I don't feel fear from her. But in the moment before they hit she looks a little less sure of herself.

-happens.

Yellow explosions envelop the area she was standing in, hopefully blocking her line of sight as I grab a snake and throw it head first at-

Pffzzap!

-the Omega Beam. Success! The beam vanishes as the snake explodes, but the force of the explosion is easy to manage. Below me, Astarte walks steadily out of the dust cloud, a little singed but basically in one piece. Soon fix-

BOOM!

-that-.

Diana flies at Astarte fists first and knocks her into the sky!

Or not.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:47 GMT

"Who is she?"

I generate a positron cannon on my left arm as the boom tube closes behind her.

"Name's Astarte, and-."

Diana rockets forward as Astarte tries to aim her gun one-handed-

END.

-and fires-?

Diana dives in the way of the shot, bracers crossed before her! What? I look around as the fury of the Omega Beam blasts at the protective shield Diana's bracers generate. The evacuation portal, she was aiming at-.

Right, bitch. Aegis of Authority.

I carefully target her as Diana recovers and pushes onward, forcing Astarte to stow her gun and brandish the stolen mega rod. Mega rod. Ah, yes. Eyes dipping down I see Barda try to rise for a moment, then collapse back to the ground a moment later.

Mother Box.

Ping.

A hush tube opens next to Barda, so as not to distract the brawling Amazons. Then a construct claw tosses her through. I'll check up on her later. Generally, when Darkseid hits someone with the Omega Effect there isn't anything left to study, so it will be fascinating to learn from the damage pattern. Once I'm sure she isn't going to die, I mean.

Diana's doing well. It looks like Astarte can actually fly, but her efforts to keep Diana back using the reach provided by her mega rod are failing due to Diana's skill in aerial combat. She's comfortable moving in any direction and striking at whatever part of her opponent she can reach. Submission holds might be the best way to win super strength fights, but strikes to nerve cluster and joints can still do a heck of a lot to disable someone who can't regenerate.

But… wait for a clear-. Defeat By Resource Denial.

I fire, a magnetic beam protecting the positrons as they howl through the intervening space and slam into Astarte's gun! Her eyes widen as she glances down at it, orange Kirby dots now appearing from the breach in its side. Diana gets a clean hit to her chin as she's distracted, but even as Astarte's head jerks back she manages to get a hand on her gun so she can toss it-.

Toss it at me.

And for a moment I'm tempted to dive for it and try integrating its power into myself as Darkseid and presumably Other Grayven managed to do. I mean, I've got the same soul structures as the other fellow. It should be possible. And the ability to fire an erasure beam from my eyes sounds darn useful, even if I don't get some of the more esoteric abilities I know Darkseid has managed to use it for. But that sounds like a stupid risk to me. So instead-

Mother Box?

Ping.

-I open a-

BOOM!

-boom tube to the ship Lantern Green Man was just trying to communicate with.

The gun tumbles through the aperture and vanishes from sight, the portal closing down immediately. I feel a little smug-.

Diana hits into my chest left shoulder first, forcing me to brace to avoid being knocked back. She's bleeding from a dozen weeping wounds on the left side of her chest, the skin reddened in a slash where the mega rod got a clean hit.

"Is she supposed to be your me, impostor?" Astarte is bleeding from her nose and I can see where she'll be showing bruises on her face in a few hours. "Could you find no one stronger?"

Diana regains her feet.

"What strength I have earned was not gained by slaughtering billions of defenceless civilians, murderer."

"I am surprised that you called her. Grayven would have insisted on single combat with the entire Citizenry as witnesses." Slight by Comparison.

I raise my eyebrows. "Did he?" Your Words Are Dust.

"But you are apparently too weak for that. I can replace the gun."

"It's not a matter of weakness. It's a matter of efficiently achieving your objectives. Diana wanted a swing at you so she could find out why you feel like her, mystically speaking. But unlike my lesser half I don't want to win your service. I just want you to not attack my people. If you died fighting him, he'd have lost a useful resource. If you die fighting me, I'm closer to achieving my objective. And since single combat clearly has some sort of significance for your people, they might all decide to leave."

I shrug.

"Or not. Diana, do you want another crack at her?"

"Yes."

"Too bad." Die.

Twelve death ray drones and eight freeze ray drones drop stealth and open fire at Astarte. I see her body wither as it's stripped of vitality, and I grip her with a -heh- construct lasso and pull her to the ground as she loses control of her flight ability.

I dismiss the construct and walk towards her, arms once more folded behind my back.

"I am not a warrior. I am not a soldier. I'm not even much of a tactician. But it seems that you're even less of one. You brought sn-" I punch left, causing the snake lunging at me through the air to splatter all over my left side. "-akes to a gunfight."

I shake my head.

"Honestly."

Quick check… Yes, my Lanterns have finished and moved on. Which is good because those ships that Karras warned me about are opening their gun ports.

Astarte grits her teeth and pushes herself up into a crouch. Tools Obey Their Mistress.

"But you're not, are you? Did you miss it?" I lean a little closer to her. "I'm still taunting you. The life you're losing for your own foolhardiness is the punch line, the proof that I'm right. Die knowing that you brought this on yourself, substandard one."

"Grayven, call off your guns."

I straighten up. "Diana, that's not a good idea. If you want her as a prisoner-."

Diana detaches her lasso from her belt and partially uncoils it.

"Fine, but we need to leave. Grayven isn't here."

Mother Box.

Ping.

BOOM!

"Grayven to fleet, disengage and return to Vega. I'll follow shortly." Diana pauses as the drones cease fire, slamming Astarte into the earth before using the lasso to bind her arms behind her back. "We have captured the fleet's leader and need to interrogate her."

"Understood. We're falling back to the edge of their interdiction systems now."

Diana pulls Astarte to her feet and shoves her towards the boom tube aperture, and I notice that Astarte is already starting to heal while Diana isn't. I assign a healing ray drone to her before following her through the tube a moment before the ships above us open fire.

 

[Mr Zoat]

3rd Brauzeit 2512
Mid-Afternoon

I look slightly awkwardly at my guests.

"I'm… Sorry, but I think there's been.. a miscommunication."

Ambassador of the Phoenix Court Prince Sharvan the Poet was… Okay, I can't say was, because while as an ambassador he has his instinctual rudeness under control compared to many of his countrymen he can still be more than a little haughty. He appeared to be satisfied with the result of my initial discussions with Queen Khalida, and sent a somewhat vaguely worded note indicating that he was condescending to aid me in another matter we had previously discussed.

There were a grand total of two things I risked discussing with him, and the embassy was one of them.

"I admit that I may have been unclear in my request, but…"

The other was my offer to investigate the underlying cause of the collapse in Ulthuanian birth rates.

"I rather thought that if he accepted my offer that he would send a… Couple who were attempting to conceive?"

The woman introduced to me by my usher as Fillinno of Everwatch narrows her eyes slightly. "We have attempted to conceive."

My eyes unavoidably drift to the other woman, Macese of Angerrial. Because if it turns out to be that simple, I'm going to be astonished.

"With..? One another? Because-."

"Obviously not."

"Alright. Um. Well, thank you for agreeing to participate-."

"We have agreed to nothing. Our Prince bade us come and so we have come, but I have no intention of submitting to your ill-educated prodding."

I nod. "Because naturally you are at least somewhat acquainted with the state of human medicine in the Empire and are quite reasonably sceptical that I would have anything to offer that had not already been attempted."

"Just so. As if a human could understand the bodies of elfish women better than the physicians of the White Tower or the priestesses of Moonspire." She manages a condescending smile. "I am satisfied that you at least recognise your folly."

"But I'm afraid that you're missing something, which suggests to me that you don't actually know who I am."

She scoffs.

"You cannot be so conceited as to believe that there is a quality unique to you which allows you to defy all reason."

"Oh, no." I raise my hands in mock surrender. "No, there's little special about me. True, I had the advantage of growing up in a country more technologically advanced than anything on this planet, but it wasn't me who made it so. I could talk to you about stem cells and chromosomes, but I didn't discover them."

I turn my left hand around and focus my desires on making my point as clearly as possible.

"This ring was made by a species who were peers of the Old Ones. They made them for much the same reason that the Old Ones taught High Magic to your forebears: because they felt that with a little improvement we could become useful to them. Not as equals, but as valued servants. And if you want initial proof-."

"Your speech." Macese nods. "Humans do not customarily speak Eltharin with the accent of Calador. Nor so clearly as you do."

"My sponsors could hardly be expected to learn my language, so they ensured that communication would never be a problem for their ring-bearers. I can be understood by and understand anyone with a common frame of reference. Words or concepts with no equivalent may not work, but English to Eltharin is simple."

"What manner of place speaks 'English'?"

I create a globe displaying the continents of Earth.

"My own dear homeworld, on the far side of the Gates." They both look warily at the construct, though I spot Fillinno taking in every detail of the landmasses. "So when I say that you haven't heard of me, perhaps I should instead say that you haven't heard of what I've achieved with this ring."

Fillinno reaches out with her right hand and pokes the construct, presumably to see whether or not it's an illusion. When it resists the pressure she applies she lowers her hand with a nod.

"How will this tool aid this investigation?"

I wave my left hand, dismissing the globe and replacing it with a construct image of her, internal organs included.

"I can detect substances in your body in quantities too minute to detect with any means you may be familiar with. And I can monitor them constantly, without the need to actually extract blood or other fluids or tissues. Should you become pregnant, I can monitor the foetus at every stage of its development so that if something goes wrong I will at least be able to guess at what it might be. And should the Ambassador be successful in gathering the data I requested, I can tabulate five thousand years' worth of birth records and track trends in seconds because something's changed, and historical records are the best place to work out when it started."

"And what do you need of us?"

"Your permission to study you. Though I haven't taken any oaths myself, I'm trying to practise medicine to an ethical code that the physicians in my home country would accept. I'm not going to scan you in detail without your express permission and I'm going to answer any question you have about any part of the process. Do I have your permission?"

"What else would you have us do?"

"Encourage other elves to give me permission to study them. My current sample size is too small, and I'm getting… Unrepresentative results."

"Who has already placed their wombs in your hands?"

"A small village in Mousillon. The elven inhabitants were seafarers who liked the place so much that they decided to stay. Out of fourteen women, discounting one who mates exclusively with a local human and two who exclusively keep the company of women, two years after the founding of the settlement, all of the rest either are or have been pregnant."

Which -even given the higher Dark Elf birth rates- was strange enough that Aranei asked if I was doing something to make it happen. As far as I know I wasn't, and the birth rate amongst the local humans and beastwomen remains the same as it was before. Apparently, Dark Elves usually ritually sacrifice slaves when they want to have children, and since the High Elves in theory don't allow slavery that's not really an option for them.

Might be worth trying at some point. Aranei was sketchy on the details, but I've got a lot of orcs and beastmen to kill. It's a shame not to get some use out of them.

Fillinno straightens up slightly and Macese frowns.

"Eleven births in two years?"

"Nine children born, with several pregnancies ongoing. They're… Scaling back their potentially-reproductive sexual activity now that they're aware that something is boosting fertility rates. Having studied them, I haven't… There's nothing that stands out as odd going on in their bodies. Human and elf pregnancies proceed in a fairly similar way, so I've been using humans as a model."

With good harvests and no monster attacks, the human inhabitants of my village are experiencing a bit of a population boost as well. We're going to honestly be able to call it a town before too long.

"But I'm still going to need to examine your male lovers, in case whatever causes the difference is in their bodies."

Macese nods. "And when you are done, what then?"

"Depending on what the problem is, I can correct it or keep it in abeyance or… If it's a matter of diet or something like that, I will suggest changes to your lifestyles to work around it. That's basically what I've offered the dwarfs, though their problem is.. far simpler than yours appears to be."

"Explain."

"Low number of female births combined with quite a lot of warfare. Their actual birth rate isn't the problem, they just can't make good on their losses generation to generation." I shrug. "Even closeting their females isn't enough. I could fix that by modifying the testicles of male dwarfs so that they sired more daughters, but I didn't get any volunteers. In the case of High Elves, the fact that women fight on the front lines is probably having an effect, but that's not a new development so I don't think it can be what's causing the issue."

"No." Macese considers for a moment. "I will consent, on the understanding that this information is for you alone. And I will direct my lovers to visit you."

"Thank you. And you, Fillinno?"

"I will wait. I wish to visit your village first."

I nod. I'll let Aranei get out the dresses without skulls on them.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:51 GMT

A grey metal corridor, blue tinted lights from above making it look even colder than it actually is. Diana frowns for a moment, but the ongoing action of my healing drone appears to convince her that this isn't some sort of backstab attempt.

As if.

She slows, keeping a grip on her prisoner.

"Where are we, Grayven?"

"Karras kindly pointed out which ship held their command staff. We're on it." Let's see, the interdiction systems should be that way. "Obviously we can't leave it to carry on its work, much less reach Vega. Plus…"

Scan Astarte.

Unable to comply.

Yes, she is knitting herself back together a bit, isn't she? I'd assume it's the killing down below giving her some sort of boost, though I suppose it could be the presence of her ships.

"Diana, can you do something to reduce her resilience?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to scan her and I can't. New Gods like me -or you, apparently- can resist some types of probe. I'd like to learn more about who we're fighting."

"I can't, but we-."

I punch Astarte across the face, causing her to fly back before being tethered back to the deck by the Lasso of Truth. Subject To My Whims.

Scan Astarte.

Unable to comply.

Ah well. I-.

Diana steps in the way.

"What are you doing?!"

"Trying to weaken her resilience." I lower my fist and shrug at her. "You can see how she's healing, right?"

"You will not assault my prisoner."

"What, you want to do it? I suppose that I could shoot her or assimilate her, but-."

"It's called the Lasso of Truth for a reason, Grayven."

"And how would that let me check her for internal injuries?"

"She's healing herself."

We maintain eye contact for a few moments. Alright, fine.

"Astarte. What are the snakes for?"

She glowers, then the lasso glows.

"The Providers harvest worlds with inferior populations before returning to our ships to be processed into porridge."

"To be clear." I look at Diana with my eyebrows raised. "You kill people for the sole purpose of eating them?"

"The strongest women are recruited. Some of the strongest men are used for breeding before they are killed."

"Is this a ritual thing, or a religious thing..? High days and holidays? To mark a victory?"

"It is all we eat."

"So you've done this a lot?"

"Yes."

"And you personally…" I shrug and shake my head. "How long..?"

"I have been a Citizen for around three thousand years."

"Gosh." I raise my eyebrows and look at the clearly horrified Diana. "Eaten a lot of planets in three thousand years?"

"I haven't counted how many, but it is a large number. And I fully intend to eat yours once Grayven is done with you."

"You want to eat Apokolips? Good luck." I take a step back and smile at Diana. "So, about hitting her until her scan-blocking ability stops working?"

"No matter how monstrous she is, it is still wrong to beat a defenceless prisoner."

"Oh. Oh! Sorry, silly me." I return my attention to the prisoner. "Astarte, whereabouts are you from?"

"Themyscira. It is a Greek nation on Earth."

"Three thousand years ago? Diana, when was it that your forebears left the mainland?"

"It was three thousand years ago, as well you know. Astarte, do you remember your mother?"

"No."

"Diana, I just-."

"Astarte, who was your mother?" Truth Unchanging.

The lasso glows, the usual mute gold colour suddenly shining brilliantly!

Astarte gasps-.

Ring, scan her.

Compliance.

I smile at Diana as I feel the data come in. "Well done on-."

"Not now, Grayven."

Astarte's eyes glow with the same golden light as the lasso. "Queen Otrera is my mother."

And I jump in. "Any other family?"

"A younger sister. Hippolyta."

Diana's jaw tenses, and her eyes shift to me. "Did you know?"

"N-."

"Put your hand on the lasso and tell me that you did not know."

I roll my eyes and put my right hand on the lasso.

"I did not have confirmation that the mysterious Olympian -whoever they were- was related to you. I suspected, and I am not surprised, but this part of what's happening-"

Darn it.

"-was not a set up."

I take my hand off in something of a hurry.

"I mean, how many women were having sex with gods in the Old City? It can't have been that many; you don't have that many gods. And the goddesses would have gotten annoyed about it. Anyway, yeah, your aunt is a mass murdering cannibal warlady. Thoughts?"

"What is he-" Astarte strains briefly against her bonds. "-talking about?"

"I am Diana, Princess of Themyscira, and your niece. And now I must decide what I am to do with you."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
14:55 GMT

I shrug. "Well, you can't beat her up. It's-"

"Niece?"

"-quite wrong to do that to a prisoner."

Diana scowls. "That is not what I am debating."

Astarte is staring at Diana in disbelief. I wonder w-? Oh, of course. She's from the Old City. Back when Amazons lived their mortal span, aged and died like normal humans. Hippolyta would have died a little under three thousand years ago-. Wouldn't she?

"Diana, is Hippolyta a demigoddess? I didn't really get a good look at her when I visited Themyscira."

"Yes. And before you ask, I do not know who my mother's father-"

The lasso glows. "Ares."

"-was." Diana's eyes widen slightly, her face falling. "No."

Huh. "That would explain Astarte's divine voice. I'm a little surprised about Hippolyta, though. She doesn't seem to be the war demigoddess sort."

"'A warrior must know when to sheathe their sword as well as when to draw it'. She told me that when I was a girl. I never thought it had any deeper meaning."

"A war demigoddess with self-control." I frown. "You know, she's wasted on Themyscira. Do you think-?"

"No."

I give her a reproachful frown. "Not like that. I'm with Luna, and Hippolyta's doing that painfully oblivious thing with Captain Philippus. I'm talking about giving her a greater stage upon which to demonstrate her abilities. But we can discuss that later."

Diana frowns. "Oblivious..? Yes. Astarte. Can you command this fleet to abandon Grayven?"

"Easily. They have no love for him. But that will not prevent them from ravaging this region."

"Could you command them not to?"

"I could issue the command. They would not obey it. They would kill me, then the commanders would fight amongst themselves for my position. And then the victor would carry on as before."

I smile brightly. "Works for me."

Diana scowls at me. "It does not work for me."

"Diana, I realise that you don't leave Earth all that often, but let me be very clear about this. Out here, all too often, this is what it's like. There is no universal law or accepted moral code. The Green Lantern Corps are a very small-" I hold up my right hand and hold my thumb and forefinger a small distance apart from one another. "-plaster over a ripped open ribcage. People like the Citizenry, like the psions, like the Citadel, like Apokolips, they do what they like and no one tries to stop them. Worlds burn, and if other places hear about it it's met with profound indifference. Space is vast and full of malevolence and it's by sheer chance that the Earth hasn't been snuffed out as the planet below us has."

I lean forward slightly, maintaining eye contact.

"The laws you're used to do not exist. The common moral standards you're used to do not exist. The fellowship between peoples you're used to does not exist. What we have here is a community of mass murdering cannibals. If you want to try to persuade them to take a course of action that doesn't result in the preponderance of them being dead? Fine. That will make them your responsibility, yours to stay with for as many years, decades, centuries even, that it takes to get them straightened out. Are you prepared to do that? Are you in for the long haul, or are you going to throw a speech at them and then leave them to it? Because I assure you that will not work."

"And that is why you want to kill them? Because you believe that is what it will take and don't believe that I am prepared to do what is necessary to ensure that it does not?"

"I want to kill them because I'd like to establish a baseline of morality and under the circumstances I don't think that exterminating a culture of genocidal cannibals is a particularly unreasonable thing to do. If you disagree with me then put. The. Work. In. Place your mark upon the universe and change it to better suit you. But don't assume that it'll just happen."

She looks at me, frustration giving way slightly to curiosity.

"Has that happened to you?"

"I was it happening to you."

"If you beat me in the arena, the other-" We both turn to Astarte. "-commanders might accept you. Niece." She doesn't sound like she's signing her own death warrant. Maybe she thinks that she can win? "Once they realise what you're trying to do they'll try to kill you, but they'll do it as one Citizen to another without tearing the fleet apart."

"Interesting opportunity there, Diana. Kill quite a few people one at a time over a period of years, or let a lot kill each other over a couple of days."

"I don't believe those are the options. Can I fight to first blood?"

"No."

"Submission, then."

"Perhaps. You would have to be extremely brutal to make a commander submit to you, and if it looked like you were unwilling to kill then the others would see you as weak. I would never submit to you."

"Never?"

"Never."

I nod. "People don't rise to the top in this sort of society by doubting themselves or hesitating to use violence." Hm. "Hey, Astarte, do you have any children?"

"Yes. One daughter."

"Let me guess: you raised her the Spartan way and now she's some sort of crazy warrior champion."

"The Spartans were weak. Theana is the most vicious Citizen soldier we've ever raised. Every cruel impulse embodied in a single woman."

I grin. "Oh, a true granddaughter for Ares. How about it, Diana? Do you think you can talk her down? How is reforming Ares going?"

"I refuse to believe that any mortal woman can be that cruel."

I shake my head. But, hey, at least she's committing. "If you die, I'll include that optimistic quote in your funeral oration. So we're doing this?"

"I'm doing this. You may do what you like."

"Frustrating as I find you sometimes, I'm no more likely to abandon you than you are to abandon me. I don't think this will work, but it would be nice if it did."

She nods.

"Aunt. How do I announce this challenge?"

"Unbind me."

Diana hesitates, but I just smile.

"It's not like my drones have gone anywhere." I hold out my left hand and begin fabricating a new daiklave. "Let her go. She's going to get the chance to fight you anyway. She's a psycho, not an idiot."

I deactivate the healing ray and phase the drone out as Diana steps behind her aunt and begins removing the lasso. She steps back promptly as the rope comes loose and Astarte rises to her feet, loosening the muscles in her arms in preparation for a fight.

Diana stands proud. "Here or in the arena, aunt Astarte."

"The arena. Captain Astarte to all commanders. I have a challenger."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th Vorhexen 2512
Late Morning

"M'seigneur Orange?"

I come to a halt mid-stride, then walk over to the training room's table and put my ring back on. Eudes stands awkwardly in the doorway as my environmental shield kicks back in and my armour returns to subspace.

While the gromril armour inscribed with the Master Rune of Arcane Defiance is still in the process of being forged, Thurgun elected to gift me with a suit of steel armour of the same dimensions 'to get my stringy human body used to the weight'. His decision might have something to do with my cheek at giving him a suit of armour once I finally worked out which of the various metal samples I'd found was titanium, but far be it for me to question his integrity. Compared to the human-wrought pieces of armour I've tried wearing before it's a wonder to move in and provides far better protection, but I'm still not exactly swift of foot.

"Mi'lord Orange?"

Eudes still isn't really sure how to talk to me. Living in the arse end of Mousillon, which in turn is the arse end of Brettonia, he didn't ever have anything to do with Brettonian nobility. No Knight of the Realm guarded his village, or even the nearest town. There are knights around, but they're either feudalistic supremacists, lunatics or vampires or all three at once. Or chaos worshippers. The thing with Mallobaude was a complete fluke; even Questing Knights generally don't come out to places like this.

But he's been raised on stories, and let me tell you, the stories they tell about knights in places like this aren't exactly the 'high fantasy chivalric ballad' sort. Some are bawdy and comedic, and it's a lucky knight who makes it to the end of the tale with his clothing intact, much less his honour. Others are clearly warnings about the stab-happy lunatics they imagine their rulers to be.

I don't behave like either, so while Eudes is aware that it's probably a good idea to be deferential, he spends half the time worried that I'll disembowel him for daring to look at my horse, and the other half waiting for me to trip over a bucket in such a way that my trousers fall off.

"Yes?"

"A ship, mi'lord. A big one. Don't know the sail."

"Big as in Black Ark big, galleon big, bigger than a fishing boat big..?"

"Definitely bigger than a fishing boat, mi'lord. Dunno about the other two."

My attempts to attract scholars to move to Mousillon have met with only limited success. We've got a couple of priests of Verena, but I'm half-convinced they're spies for someone or other and they're focusing their efforts on teaching the children to read and write and perform basic arithmetic rather than trying to teach heraldry to adults.

I nod and smile. "Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I'll go and take a look myself."

He smiles and nods cautiously back, then sort of stands there-.

"Thank you, you're dismissed. Return to whatever you were doing."

This time I get an actual bow as he backs out.

"Thank you, mi'lord."

Okay, ring, what exactly oh that's a big ship. A capital ship catamaran? I mean, it's clearly High Elf-.

Oh dear.

I transition into the air over the town and check for the location of the local elves and the location of any visitors who might have-. No, the Dragonship is far too large to use our little fishing dock, the escorts are keeping their distance and their skiffs haven't launched yet. Fine, good. I transition down to where Aranei is pacing on the balcony of our manor house. She stops pacing and straightens up when she sees me, but she's clearly still agitated.

"It's a Dragonship."

"Yes, I've heard of them. The largest class of High Elf capital ships. Why-?"

"My lord, the High Elves do not lower themselves to raid the ships of lesser races. They seldom even raid our shipping. Dragonships only leave harbour during the greatest of wars! They are as irreplaceable as our own Black Arks!"

"I doubt that they sent a warfleet just for you."

For a moment, she considers the idea that they would. It appears to please her. Then she snaps out of it.

"But they might for you!"

Oh. Yes, she does this sometimes. She sort of forgets that I'm not a Dark Elf noble and assumes that other people are going to treat me as one. And since clearly I'm a powerful one, in her mind it makes perfect sense for the entirety of Ulthuan to have it in for me.

"I accept that's not very likely. But this is strange, my lord."

"I'd best go and see what they want-."

"Be warned. I scarcely dare touch the winds of magic for fear of the wizards they have aboard. Three archmages, one of extraordinary power. I do not know that they are here to fight you, but if that were the reason for their arrival, then-."

I nod.

"Then archmages would be the best counter to my abilities they could get, since I've already shown that swords and arrows are basically pointless and that I can deal with large monsters."

I don't think I've done anything that would push the High Elves' buttons. Heck, I've had near-civil conversations with Ambassador Sharvan at least twice! On the other hand, someone important might have heard about the ring and decided that it belonged in their care without bothering to find out anything else about it. Communication speeds being painfully slow is one of the things about the Warhammer World that I've had to get used to.

"There are most likely lesser mages as well, though that would be normal for a ship of that size. Three archmages is not normal."

I nod. "I will bear that in mind. But unless I'm willing to destroy the ship without warning, I'm going to have to go and talk to them."

"My lord, you-" She comes closer and lays her hands on my chest, which is a pretty clear sign that she's deeply unhappy about this. She usually tries to avoid being assertive with me as part of her desire to avoid alienating a powerful patron. "-can send a herald. A peasant. Someone expendable. Someone else."

"And once I have educated subjects I might consider doing something like that, but at the moment I can't see that asking them to speak to a yokel will go down well with elves of any stripe. This is a matter of personal responsibility, of noblesse oblige."

She looks away, squirming at the idea.

"Aranei." I raise my right hand and gently lay it on her cheek, turning her face back towards me. "You don't need to worry. If they're hostile… You know what usually happens when hostile magicians-."

"But what if they're not!? What if it's some hussy from the Tower of Hoeth here to offer herself to you? The political advantages would be considerable. I can't compete with that!"

…

Because while she is a little worried that they're here to attack me, from her point of view being replaced is a more immediate fear. She's not an archmage, and I haven't invested the resources in her improvement to accelerate the rate at which that could change. She may be better equipped than most sorceresses at her level of experience, but her skills are only 'average'. In fact, given that she's had to give up a lot of standard rituals due to the murderous components, she might even be weaker.

"Aranei, even if they are planning that -and I think it extremely unlikely- loyalty is more important to me than absolute power. You have proven your loyalty, so while I would be happy to make common cause with them, they cannot replace you."

I lean forward and kiss her, and feel a little of the tension leave her.

"Yes, my lord."

"Now." I gently lift her hands off my chest, kiss her fingers and then let them go. "I'll go and speak to them."

I transition to the air above the ship, noting the free movement of motes of dust through the air above it and the flight of hawks carrying messages between ships. Probably no force field, then. Good. Now look for who's in charge…

Three elves with glowing amulets and staves standing near the skiffs of the dragonship. One is indeed a woman, and another is… Surprisingly short. Heh, and compensating with a large-. A large hat.

I know that hat.

My goodness, what the heck have I done to earn his attention?

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th Vorhexen 2512
Late Morning

The elf I strongly suspect to be Loremaster Teclis looks directly at me, and I awkwardly wave my right hand. I haven't tested myself against High Magic users, but based on the records of the Dwarfs I think I'm out of Deadlock range up here. So even if the ring counts as a magic artefact they can't easily drop me in the ocean.

The Tempest would still be unpleasant, but I could probably hide under water.

The other two… Uh, would they be Archmages or Loremasters? Not all high end High Elf wizards work for the White Tower of Hoeth, and I neither know how to tell them apart or whether they'd be offended by me getting it wrong-.

They're High Elves. Of course they'll be offended if I get it wrong. It's a coin toss as to whether they'll be offended by me getting it right.

I fly closer as probably-Teclis's companions notice where he's looking. There's a.. certain amount of arcane glowing happening as a result, and a group of nearby archers put arrow to string. Their bodyguards -who bear the muscular builds and huge swords of the Swordmasters of Hoeth- also stand at alert, though without a specific order from their masters they don't ready their weapons.

I could create a filament to a telephone construct on the ship, but I don't imagine that would go better than flying closer. If they don't want me to, I'm pretty sure they can just loose an arrow or a fireball at me. Though…

"Ahoy there!"

A construct megaphone shouldn't be too alarming. I'm sure that there's a better design for a sound projector, but I haven't experimented with that sort of thing. There isn't.. much point, usually.

A gesture from Teclis and arrows are returned to quivers, then the wizards walk away from the skiffs and over to an open area of the decks around the starboard bolt thrower battery. That… Seems like an invitation. Alright then. I transition to the deck just ahead of them and nod politely.

"Lady and gentlemen. What brings you to my home?"

"Strange tales of a human sorcerer who glowed with orange light and planned to take control of all magic in the world."

I make my face completely deadpan.

"Never heard of him."

Teclis smiles very slightly, and I-. It's not just that he's short. He's gaunt, stick thin. I thought that his staff made him healthy but from the look of it that's not the case. I guess it just deals with the symptoms rather than the root cause.

"Several months ago my spies in Altdorf brought word of a man seeking to build a waystone network which would channel the winds of magic on a global scale, such as the waystones on Ulthuan have since the Great War Against Chaos."

"Several mon-?" I close my eyes, sighing. "Are you telling me that your spies reported that to you faster than the courier I paid to directly inform you?"

"I have received no word by courier, so it would appear so. Did you ask for a receipt?"

"That's it. I'm not bothering with couriers any more. I'm just going to have a locked box in my room with 'highly secret do not steal' written on it. Everyone will know in an afternoon."

He smiles politely, while his colleagues remain stoney-faced.

"It's true, then? A global network?"

"It should be possible, shouldn't it? I wrote to you because after the slann you are the person I thought would be best placed to actually plan the thing out. And when I visited, they… Weren't helpful."

"They usually don't appreciate surprise visitors."

"I just stood there for half an hour. The Mage-Priest didn't even react. Still, the skinks were able to help me get a few bags of potatoes so it wasn't a complete waste of time."

I think he's frowning, but the hat covers a lot of his forehead. "What are 'potatoes'?"

"A plant related to Deadly Nightshade which produces edible tubers. They're extremely nutritious, as long as you don't eat the green parts. I want to help my people become healthier than they are, and improving their diet is part of that."

He appears to decide to ignore my digression.

"And the Nehekharans were your third choice, as their tombs are aligned to points of geomantic significance, their deathless state makes them resistant to corruption and since their lands are dead the effects of any harm would be moderated. Where would you have gone if they were unwilling to aid you?"

"Albion. It turns out that their Ogham Stones are a waystone network, but they… Don't have a feature like Ulthuan's inland sea to focus the overflow, so the island is just a mess. Between the druids and the Light College we might be able to work something out, but you're a far better choice."

"Where does your scheme place the overflow for a network covering the entire world?"

"Since… There's a portal over each pole, I was hoping that they could each be each other's overflow."

"That..?" He shakes his head. "No." Behind him, the male archmage shudders slightly while the female rolls her eyes. "You would essentially be blowing more wind into a hurricane. Such a thing might be bearable in the south, but in the north it would spread the Realm of Chaos even further."

"Okay, so that-. Not a good idea. But in the generality, is it..? Would it be useful?"

"Yes, certainly, if it could be made to work. Though given the locations that would have to serve as nodes in the network… How good at killing orcs are you?"

I shrug. "Remember how the Dwarfs used to have problems with orcs and goblins?"

Ah, Skarsnik. My first special character kill.

"Used-?"

"Yes. I got a lot of grudges settled doing that. Oh, which… Reminds me. Do you still want the original Phoenix Crown back? Because I'm going to settle the grudges concerning the attacks by Malekith's followers that were the original casus belli, so all that's left will be Caledor the Second's insults and the Shaving, and… Those could probably be settled in a few hours, if your king were willing."

"May we return for a moment to your claim that there are now no orcs in the World's Edge Mountains?"

"I doubt that I got all of them, but it turns out that there's a chemical formula which is highly injurious to orcoid algae. Plus, they're physically distinct, so it's easy enough for me to locate them." I shrug. "I know that the waystones will need to be defended, so I've been working at clearing certain areas where I'd like to start."

"Yes, that is true. I am glad that you have some concept of the scale of the undertaking."

"But… Are you onboard? Does this plan sound plausible?"

"It may prove possible for me to turn your outline into a workable scheme, yes."

"Great! Let me know what areas you need cleared first, and I'll get right on that. I can't personally garrison every area, but I can build fortifications like you wouldn't believe."

"It will be some time before we can mark sites. We would need to survey… The entire world before we can do that."

I nod. "Right, but you've got a general idea of the places likely to be important, right? For the main hub waystones?"

"Yes, but-."

"No time spent killing greenskins and beastmen is wasted, I just want to be a little more efficient. I'm not going to write a grudge in the book if it turns out you were a little off."

"I see. We can certainly provide you with the approximate areas which we are likely to need to clear."

"And I can escort your survey teams there and keep them safe while I clear the area." I look at the other Archmages and the Swordmasters. "I assume that's what they're here for?"

"No. They're here for the other matter. Prince Sharvan relayed your request for information on Ulthuanian birth rates, as well as the fact that several elf women you attended to are now pregnant. We are here to escort written copies of birth rates from several cities, and to see what you can learn from them."

That must have caused some teeth-clenching. But it's certainly nice to have someone who's prepared to work with me like this.

I smile.

"Then by all means, show me the data."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
15:32 GMT

They've evacuated, Lantern Grayven.

I nod to myself as the arena stands begin to fill. The reconnaissance fleet I brought with me just got out of interdiction range, and those who could be saved from the planet below have been. The death toll was still hideous, but it wasn't one hundred percent and that's more than nothing.

I don't think that Diana has thought this through. I mean, I certainly haven't helped her gaining the necessary mental clarity, but she's pushing ninety. At this point if she hasn't got a better idea of her limits, then that's on her. And of all the people I know, with the exception of Artemis, she's probably best placed to actually pull this off. There's nothing… Other than the severe gastrointestinal distress that comes with a radical dietary change-

And for a strange moment I relive the distant memory of my return home from university, when I switched from a diet of curry and rice to a more balanced diet and spent a couple of days on the toilet. Huh. Haven't… Thought about that part of my life for a while.

-that can't be overcome with good planning and tyrannical leadership.

I walk closer to the balcony to get-

"Hey breeder, get back to-."

I pick the woman up by her neck, swing her upside down and then slam her legs against the railing hard enough to snap them sideways, then toss her behind me.

"A-ah!"

-a better look at proceedings. Ah, nothing special going on. Astarte's still got her armour and Barda's mega rod, and she's added some sort of bracer-mounted gun. Diana's going with her bracers and lasso. Which is stupid, but she doesn't want to actually kill her aunt…

Ugh, if she's dedicated to this foolishness, at least she's being true to herself.

Ah, some sort of blue woman with four ears is checking Astarte's equipment. Diana's just-. Oh, I was thinking of this as a gladiatorial thing, but if this is more like a formal duel…

I trigger my aero-discs and fly out over the arena, landing next to Diana.

"Need anything? Better armour? A sword."

"No."

"Shoulder rub? Luna doesn't have the right physiology, but Jade said that-."

She frowns. "No."

Four-ears stares at me for a moment before Astarte slaps her.

"That is not Grayven, merely someone who looks like him."

"Then what is it doing here? It has no standing. It cannot issue a challenge and it isn't a Citizen."

"Oh, I was planning on offering my service as Diana's second."

Astarte shakes her head. "You would have to be a Citizen to do that."

"And how does one become a Citizen? Because if it's single combat, there's an ex-Citizen back there-" I point my right thumb at the stands. "-who needs her leg bones set."

Diana closes her eyes for a moment. "Grayven."

"Becoming a Citizen requires that you be one of the hundred strongest women on a planet we recruit from, or to be born to a Citizen and survive to adulthood."

"Well, tell you what." It's a crude technique, but I walk past Astarte and loom over Ears. "If you don't want me to be her second, then make me leave." Scathing Contempt.

Her eyes widen slightly, but I don't feel any fear.

"That's exactly what the-. What Grayven said."

"We are very alike."

"It hardly matters." Astarte checks the straps on her armour before nodding. "Once Diana is dead I plan to kill you anyway. Whether you're recognised as her second or not makes no difference."

I step aside so that I can keep both of them in my field of view.

"Sure it does! If it's formal, I won't be able to just gun you down with drones again. I'll have to fight you personally, and between you and me?" I shrug. "I'm not that great a pugilist."

Better than I was before I spent time in the Land of Summer's End, mind-. Oh, that's right. Diana hasn't seen my current level of swordsmanship, has she?

"No, you will be cut down like the dog you are."

"You cut down dogs? Why?" I grin. "Do you consider them to be foes on your level?"

Ears shakes her head. "I take it back. Grayven is no jester."

"His loss. Diana, you got everything you need?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. Have fun."

Astarte waves off Ears, and she retreats towards the opposite end of the arena. I wait until she's gone a short way, then wave and mirror her action. Right, Diana will either win or she won't. I have to prepare for what happens next. This fleet is a lot bigger than anything that I want anywhere near Vega, even if they weren't going to eat the inhabitants. If Diana loses, I very much doubt that I can slaughter them all before the fleet arrives.

I land on my balcony, noting with pleasure that the other occupants back away. And Legs is trying to bind her own wounds. Makes sense, given their culture. If only I had an ally to help with these ships.

"Hey." "Fancy seeing you here."

I smile as Artemis takes position next to me, leaning against the railings.

"Hay is for horses, Artemis." "I'm slumming it. The ordnance?"

"Your girlfriend's a pony." "Ready. Where do you want it?"

"If you ever feed her, I want to watch." "Target the officers. I want them leaderless. Use whatever you've got left over on technically complex systems. They don't strike me as tech-savvy."

"Can I? 'cause I didn't exactly have a pony growing up. And those Sheeda-side things weren't really the same." "The fleet's too big."

"You can ask her. It's honestly never occurred to me to raise the subject." "I know. And I still don't know where Conquest Two is. Not much I can do about it until this farce is over."

"Citizen."

A blonde woman with dreadlocks stands at the… Entrance to the otherwise-abandoned balcony, Legs having managed to crawl off somewhere.

"Leave."

Artemis vaults over the balcony and disappears in the lower level.

"And what do you want? Theana, right?"

"The right to kill you once my cousin falls."

"Think your mother has you pipped there. Though I'm honestly not fussy. If you're closest, you die first." I shrug and gesture to the arena as Diana throws the first punch. "Want to watch the fight before your world is destroyed?"

"I suppose I may as well."

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
15:36 GMT

When do Amazons peak?

They've been on that island for three thousand years, but is there a point where they just… Get as good at something as they can get? Orana is considered to be a mistress of the bow even by her fellow Amazons, but she isn't much better than, say, Oliver Queen… Pre-Awakening in both cases, I've got no idea how they stack up now.

Diana's arms move across her torso, bracers blocking a volley of shots from her aunt's forearm-mounted gun. Astarte doesn't appear to be using her divine abilities to enhance it, so I'm assuming that she's just trying to get more of a feeling for Diana's abilities. A moment later Diana flicks the noose of her lasso at Astarte, who sidesteps and bats at it with the mega rod.

Diana's in her late eighties. Astarte is early in her fourth millennium, and unlike the women back home has actually spent that time fighting people who were trying to kill her with the full range of weapons available to advanced civilisations. Plus, she's a war demigoddess rather than whatever Diana is trying to pretend she's not. Everything about that says to me that this should be an Astarte beat down.

Diana ducks and drops, flying across the deck to get under Astarte's guard. Astarte tumbles sideways, swinging the rod at the point Diana will be passing through. But Diana blocks it with her left bracer and reaches for the haft with her right hand.

Wait, that's not-.

I can just about see her wince as she discovers that while the head is the most dangerous part, the haft isn't safe for non-owners. Astarte manages to apply her boot to Diana's face, but Diana just rolls in the air with the hit, her own feet striking Astarte hard in the tits and sending her flying backwards.

She shoots as she goes, and Diana takes a hit to her armour as her arms are out of position to block it.
Feel My Wrath!
These shots look a little more solid than the probing shots from earlier, which I suppose is intentional. She takes a hit, she's going to want to retaliate at full power rather than risk looking weak before her people, even for a moment.

"Mm."

I glance at Theana.

"Comments? Questions?"

"I was worried that she'd be weak."

"Good news: she's not. If you're interested, I can give you a tally of her victories."

"It doesn't change anything."

"It changes what you think of her. It might help you understand-"

Astarte tries to soak a hit to get into grappling distance but that's the Strength of Gaea! Astarte actually falls on her arse, blinking as she tries to clear her head.

"-why she's doing this."

Theana doesn't look particularly perturbed by her mother's setback -Astarte gets back on her feet as Diana takes the opportunity to try talking to her- but she is focusing on it rather than me.

"It doesn't matter. Strength is strength."

"Alright, if you're not interested in learning from me, would you mind explaining a few things for me?"

"What is there to say? We're the Citizenry, the strongest, fiercest and most ruthless."

"Then why are you working for the other Grayven? You're clearly a bunch of psychotic misandrists, and he's an unapologetic man. And his followers are gordanians, and their military is mostly male. What's going on there?"

"Mother wants another daughter. There's no point in trying to breed with a weak breeder."

Diana's a little slow on a dodge and her aunt rips a chunk of hair from her head.

"I don't really see the appeal, but I suppose it doesn't really cost him anything."

I haven't felt any sort of divine imprint from him on her, nothing that would let him control her. So what's the plan from his end? Extra troops are nice, but if they're just going to turn on you then you're setting yourself up to fail. So either they're supposed to be a first wave which can die down to a level where he can incorporate them in his other forces without worrying too much, or-.

Or he was going to remove Astarte anyway, and his choice of replacement is somewhere around here. His own daughter by her?

"And then what?"

"Once the girl is born, if she passes the trials, then we will kill the Apokoliptian and his lizards."

"That'd be a trick. I doubt that shooting him with his own Omega Effect would do it."

"Why not?"

"It's a New God thing. The fact that he's able to use it indicates that he's internalised its lessons. He's mastered it. Shooting him with it would be like injecting you with your own blood."

"We've followed my mother for nearly three thousand years. We have more than one way to kill a god."

"Then… What? Back to the same old same old?"

"We fight, we kill. What more is there?"

"Everything. Reliable food supplies raised by your own hand. An opportunity to live without constantly worrying whether you're seen as fierce enough to survive another day. An opportunity to develop yourself in ways not associated with warfare." Let Our Majesty Humble the Barbarian.

"We have reliable food now."
Dimly I feel it as Artemis moves through the Provider holding pen.
"Do you? I suppose if you like the taste of snake, but wouldn't you like to try something else every so often? Or just have the option to do so? Why make the universe kneel if you can't use it as a footstool? What's the point of fighting and winning if you don't benefit from-"

Diana gets her noose around Astarte's right forearm and pulls, dragging her aunt across the arena floor while shouting something.

"-it?"

"There are two of us, and only one plate of food."

"Then surely making sure that there's more food is the way to go? I mean, even conquering a few worlds and making them farm for you would result in a more reliable food supply than what you're doing now."

"It means more if you have to work for it."

"Yes, but does 'work' have to mean 'drop off snake, stand well back'? Wouldn't it be more rewarding work to grow crops and raise animals yourself? I mean, a halfwit child could press a button, but farm labour takes-."

"There's no point in fighting the weak."

"So who do you fight?"

"The strongest. The ones they think have what it takes to be Citizens."

"Do they actually have to beat you, or..?"

"No. Just survive. A few manage to wound me. None beat me."

"Oh?" I look her over. Okay, kryptonians aren't the rule or anything, but I don't really see what's so scary. "Hey, are you actually going to accept Diana's rule if she wins?"

I glance at the centre of the arena, where Astarte's lost her gun and just took a left cross to the face. Yeah, Diana's got that. From the sounds of things, she's got that due to actually fighting people in her weight class rather than being massively overpowered compared to everyone around her.

"Of course not."

"Then…" I draw my new daiklave. "Why wait?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
15:40 GMT

She lunges at once, my usual grip meaning that the daiklave is out of position to ward her off. Fortunately the daiklave is soul bound, and so grasping the blade with my left hand and pulling downwards to point the tip at her doesn't cost me my palm. She tries to duck under it but there's my knee.
Implacable God-King's Dismissal.
And she's gone, gore fountaining in her wake as she flies backwards through the late Citizens who had been in the stands.

Hm. So either she can't fly, didn't have it turned on or she hasn't inherited her mother's abilities. She survived, and I can see her pulling herself out of the pile of broken body parts, so she's clearly more than conventionally tough, but… Lack of mystically active planet?

Pass.

"You're not planning on just running at me-"

I glance left, noticing the stunned Legs who was just outside out the hecatomb. I extend orange cables to forcibly restore her legs.

"-again, are you?"

I lean down slightly as Theana gets back to her feet.

"Run."

Legs scrabbles back, discovers that her legs are working and then twists to a sprinting crouch before rocketing away from us. Along with the rest of the crowd.

Theana doesn't look happy, but she does look satisfied as she draws an oddly bulbous short sword and her forearm mounted blaster activates.

But I don't just shoot her. Because that won't solve the problem.

I'm a passable fighter. But I'm also the God of Conquest, and whatever some writers seem to think a war doesn't just stop just because someone on your side beats someone on the other side in single combat. I remember a Warhammer battle report where Prince Imrik fought Egrimm van Horstmann. The Chaos player aimed all of Egrimm and Baudros's attacks at Imrik's dragon, because unlike most ridden monsters in those days Imrik's dragon would reliably stick around if its master died. They failed and Egrimm died, but Baudros was still able to munch the elvish army's flank and chase off Teclis without its rider.

So what if Diana kills Astarte? So what if I kill Theana? There's no way that Artemis can sabotage enough of a fleet this big to stop it hitting Vega. There's no way I could kill this many people by myse…

Ah…

No, there's no way I could kill this many people by myself. It wouldn't be practical. Sure, they'd all die eventually, but all of my work in Vega would be undone. Try talking them around? Yeah, no. So what, then?

Well it turns out that I'm a god.

Theana looks around dismissively for a moment and then charges oh she's fast! A short lived construct shield blocks her bracer shot and then I block her cut and-.

And my fist meets hers and I feel my gauntlet crack! Fortunately she's not wearing a gauntlet and I think I just heard her fingers go. Keep the sword away knife! Knife in the reverse side of the bracer blaster like a misplaced bayonet. Who designed that?

So: faster than me, but not by enough to overwhelm me. Weaker than me, but not by enough that I can squash her. Her weapons can cope with mine but her armour's worse than mine. Unfortunately, I need to use my god powers to cow an entire civilisation because I suspect that Diana's going to try and be civilised.
Inexorable Assault.
I swing my left fist, turning her knife aside with my vambrace and managing to strike her face.
Soldier Supplants Warrior.
I need to break her. I need to break her people through her.
My Grand Purpose.
She kicks out, and I half-turn to let my leg armour take it before reaching out and punching down on her right shoulder, sending her to one knee!
Know Your Place.
A stab from her knife gets blocked by a construct shield and the tip of my daiklave -which is now effectively just a sharp-edged shield- opens a small cut on her breastplate.

Ring, contact Diana.

Unable to comply, Diana has no earpiece.

Of course.

Theana takes advantage of my distraction and gets a clear shot at my chest, environmental shield shimmering and armour straining to defy the attack. The tip of my daiklave slices into the mechanism and wrecks it, but my chest is burning and I can't afford to show it.
Common Purpose Methodology.
Start using your damn god-powers, Diana!

Theana grimaces, I assume due to her lack of visible progress. Her fingers appear to have healed though I didn't feel any magic being used. Nanotech, or some sort of alchemy..? Don't know. I assume her anger is due to the fact that she's not used to this sort of fight happening without visible progress. And… Yes, the pain in my chest is getting less. Her gun isn't stopping my regeneration.

She tries to stamp my left foot and I bring my daiklave down, nicking her thigh before she can withdraw it. I then lunge forward while she's off balance, forcing her to awkwardly hop back-. She punches, accepting falling to the ground in exchange for just being able to hit me, a blow I take on my shoulder armour. I feel it, but she's not anchored and it doesn't hurt, merely serving to send her flying further away from me.

I rapid-fly into her direction of travel anchor myself and punch down, sending her crashing down-. Through the deck and down into the service corridor below.
Imagine My Boot Stamping On Your Face, Forever.

Ring, how's Diana-.
Who Is Your Truer Self?
Never mind. I mean, that wouldn't be my approach, but if it-.

I generate another shield to block a rushed volley.
Powerless Before My Might.
And then I slam down, left heel landing on her wrist -which doesn't break, but does cause her to lose her grip on her sword- and right foot landing on her throat. I stow my daiklave as she aims her blaster, but the damage I did a moment ago meant that those shots-

The gun explodes!

-were a bad idea.

I flick the sword away with a construct and then rise up slightly, Theana not missing a beat as she pulls her legs under her-.
Know Your Better.
I twist, going head down and using my aero-discs to anchor myself in position as I grab her neck in my left hand and punch her in the face. Her hands latch onto my hand almost at once but between the burned arm and head trauma she's not working at full strength or coordination.
Know Your Better.
I punch again, tightening my hold slightly so that whatever force doesn't go right into her brain jerks her spine!
Know Your Better.
She tries to kick at me, but at this angle she can't get meaningful force behind it.
Know Your Better.
Another punch, and she gives up on removing my hand from her throat and tries to reach for my face. But her arms are too short, and the best she can do is grip my vambrace and try weakly to tug it off.
Know Your Better.
Another punch and her eyes lose focus.
Know Your Better.
Another punch and her hands come loose.
Know Your Better.
Another punch and her body goes limp.
Know Your Better.
Another-

-punch…

I haul her unconscious body up, right myself in the air and then fly upwards.

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st September 2012
15:42 GMT

Diana had better have won.

It's a simple calculation, really. She's not Artemis, but we're unified by purpose. If she's won, then we can use our divine voices to imprint ourselves on the watching Citizens over the crumpled bodies of their domitor and her heir apparent. If she hasn't then I'm about to look...

I look across the arena and see Astarte bound in Diana's lasso, Diana herself looking a bit the worse for wear while Astarte…

I'm not sure what Diana's done there, but she looks… Crushed.

Wonderful!

I-.

"…become something more than the murderers of worlds!"

Oh. I'm interrupting a heroic speech while covered in the blood of the people she was trying to convince. That's not a great look-. But some of the audience are looking at me so I can't really just hide and wait.

So what do I do?

"I see in all of you the potential to be something…"

I tune Diana out of a moment as my mind races.

Okay, so, conceptually, Diana and I can work together just fine. And if I flew out to the centre of the arena right now I'd have about-.

I clean blood off myself.

I'd have about-.

And Theana.

I'd have about four seconds to explain what we need to do to make this work, and convince her to go along with it, and she's already pretty dubious of my intentions. The first thing to do is create construct ropes to bind Theana to create a visual link to her lasso and make it clear that she's a prisoner and not a corpse. Make it so that they prop her up a bit as well.

Okay, if I accept-
I don't shudder.
-a subordinate role, I can reinforce Diana's efforts instead of making my own attempt. It won't work as well as the two of us working in concert and it would deny me any influence over them in-

- future, so…

Damn it.

I fly towards Diana as her vacuously uplifting speech continues, not so slow as to make a production out of it and not so fast as to look desperate or afraid. Diana barely pauses in her flow as she spots me, though I think I detect a mild lessening of animosity towards me as she sees for herself that Theana is still-

She doesn't know who Theana is, does she?

-alive.

I land a short distance behind her, depositing Theana slightly behind Astarte. Astarte's eyes drift to her daughter for a few moment but she doesn't really seem to be taking things in. I do my best to look like Diana's attendant as she gradually reaches the end of her monologue.

"…together, make our civilisation into something great!" Inspire the Soul to Dream.

I make an effort not to sigh. The Iron Hand for the Glove.

"Okay, Diana, what now?"

"Who is this?"

The crowd appears to be talking about things amongst themselves, though there's a definite drift towards the exits. I hope they've taken that speech as the new boss setting out her policy.

"Her name's Theana. She's your cousin. Apparently the only one. Still alive." With the attention somewhat off me, this time I do sigh. "I assume that we're leaving them alive, then?"

"Yes."

"Right, so do you have eyes in the back of your head now? Because I don't know what you did to Astarte, but Theana is planning on killing you."

"I made her have a conversation with her younger self, from when she volunteered to join the Citizenry in my mother's place."

I give her a look of-.

"Do not look at me like that. I did not realise that the effect would be so severe."

"Breaking her will is kinder than killing-." I frown. "Isn't there..? Don't I remember something about Hades having access to water that can erase a person's memories?"

"The waters of the river Lethe can have that effect."

"Can you erase three thousand years? Reset her back to who she used to be?"

"That would destroy who she is."

"And what she is is so valuable? Is she giving you the impression that she likes who she has become?"

She considers her aunt for a moment.

"You don't need to wipe her out completely. Just take everything until just after she left."

"And Theana?"

"Why not hand her over to Philippus for a decade or so? I'm sure that your mother would like to get to know her, and Philippus has experience in wrangling difficult demigoddesses."

Flat look.

"And some of the island's other demigoddesses can keep an eye on her. And you could hand off ambassador duties to Orana like she's wanted you to since the end of the Second World War." I shrug. "Or take her with you. I'm sure she'd be happy either way. Now you've just got to find Four Ears, and then-"

"Lieutenant Zusen."

"-you can-. Her too, and then you can navigate the fleet to an unoccupied planet and start settling down."

She frowns. "Don't you want my help?"

"Yes, of course, but I'm not entirely convinced that your new people can be trusted to obey you and not depopulate Vega."

"And Artemis hasn't finished planting explosives everywhere yet."

I smile, shrugging. "Probably not, but she's an industrious woman."

"I believe that they can be relied upon to follow my commands. If we engage Grayven away from your worlds, the Providers will not be able to reach them even if they are released contrary to my orders. It isn't necessary for-"

My ring blinks.

"-them-."

"Excuse me." I raise my left hand. "Yes?"

"Daddy? We're under attack."

 

[Mr Zoat]

17th Vorhexen 2512
Late Morning

I look as the ship's crew open another crate of scrolls, scan it and then nod as the data enters my consciousness. Ugh. I can deal with the feeling of disconnection between my normal thoughts and the records, but I can't quite get used to how bad the data is.

The crewelves glance at their employer and only then close the chest and take it away.

"I'm not sure this is going to work."

The other male archmage inhales, but Teclis gives him a look and he holds his peace.

"What do you mean by that?"

I wave my left hand, conjuring two construct line graphs. One shows recorded births per year and the other the citizens recorded by the census. I've got data from before the time of Aenarion, mostly from places in Saphery and it's all…

"Look."

There are so many holes in it. Which is perfectly understandable. Ulthuan isn't like modern Britain, where the closest thing we get to invasions is undocumented immigrants. It's not even early modern Britain, where our rivals would at least be cautious. It's more like early medieval Britain, raided and invaded repeatedly by everyone with a fleet. Between Dark Elves, the Norse, Grom the Paunch and -with frustrating frequency- other High Elves setting fire to things, there are huge pieces missing. And that's despite the mists and mobile islands that actively defend the place.

"And this is one of the better ones."

I generate a graph for each set of records I've scanned so far, offsetting each new set slightly to create a three dimensional display.

"I mean, you can see the population drops after Malekith's rebellion and The Great War Against Chaos, but there's nothing here on how much of that was displacement and how much was death. Then there's the gaps where… I'm assuming that records were destroyed?"

Teclis nods.

"Few places in Ulthuan have known no conflict."

"You see my problem. While I can try and work out what was going on during these years… Having seen this, I just don't think that the data I need exists." I sigh. "Do you have records of their diets?"

"None I would consider reliable. I doubt that I could tell you how my own diet has changed since the Great War, much less tell you how the diet of an entire kingdom might have altered."

"And I can hardly grab Malekith's dietician and ask them."

"Do you think diet is likely to be the cause?"

"I wouldn't have thought so, given that your people maintained a population in the Old World without any problem prior to the War of the Beard, but I don't want to rule anything out."

A new chest, another scan, another incomplete graph which… Yes, it mirrors the pattern seen in the others, but that doesn't really help.

"Tell you what: how much of a pain would it be to redo all the wards on this ship?"

"We rework them after every significant engagement. Why?"

"Because I can do this faster if I'm not considerate to your wards. Would you mind?"

"No. In fact, I am more interested to see what else your ring can do."

"Right then."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Fixing what is broken. Helping my allies. Sorting out problems myself.

I don't think I'm quite getting this. Some of the versions of myself that I met when Krona abducted us could handle the orange light far easier than I can, and I… Didn't really have time to get into a detailed discussion with them.

Progress.

"Scan."

Symbols on the clasps of the chest glow for a moment and then decay in a burst of glitter. Then on the masts and sails, and the three archmages are making warding gestures as the scanned area expands. And there's the data I want and it's…

No.

I shake my head.

"Is there anywhere where I could get better data?"

"Lothern may have more intact records, but I doubt that they will be adequate for your purposes. But I am puzzled: three women in our embassy to Altdorf became pregnant in your care."

"Right, but I couldn't study what could be preventing elf women bringing children to term on women who were already pregnant, could I?"

"Statistically, three pregnancies amongst such a small population is still unusual. What did you do to aid their chances?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to establish a baseline for a healthy elf woman. The only difference between them and other women in the embassy is… The.. fact.. I.. was scanning them."

"Ah?"

"The ring fuels itself by converting power from the winds of magic to orange light. I can recharge it quickly by going somewhere that's soaked in magic, but it recharges constantly from ambient magic energy. There would have been a slight magic drain from their bodies."

"There should have been records on the strength of the winds over most of the span of our history. That is something Saphery has always recorded assiduously."

I nod. "I've got them. Ah." I add a third line to each of the graphs. "There appears to be a correlation, though… This doesn't prove anything, and it doesn't explain what's causing it. What the mechanism is. Do elves who use High Magic have more success in reproducing?"

"No. Nor elves who don't use magic, either. And it can't be that simple. We have tried purifying or filtering the flows of magic on several occasions, to no avail."

"Well, why don't you and your retinue come over to the village and examine some of the locals? I'm afraid that we can't accommodate you in the style to which you are accustomed, but-."

"We have tents and a folding fortress. They will suffice."

"Rightoh." I hold up my left hand and generate a platform with guard rails. "Step aboard and I'll fly us over there."

One of the Swordmasters gets on first and checks the strength of the construct before giving her superiors a nod. They and four more Swordmasters get on board and I lift us off the deck.

"Why were you getting on a boat anyway? You all know Coruscation of Finreir, don't you?"

"Hah!" Teclis glances at his male colleague, clearly amused. "Do we?"

Hm? "I'm… Sorry?"

The man draws himself up slightly. "I am Finreir of Tor Hoeth. I created the spell, but I prefer not to ascend into the heavens on a pillar of white fire when I am on a boat, or near ignorant human-. Peasants."

Oh. Yes. "Ah. I'm sorry, I didn't recognise you. I meant no offence; I only recognised Loremaster Teclis because of his hat." I turn to their female companion. "And before I put my foot in it again my lady, might I ask your name?"

"I am Loremaster Kaleina of the White Tower."

"That's also a lovely name. Where does everyone want to start?"