Back Door (part 16)
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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9th July 2012
06:46 GMT
The fleet is… Spreading out. As per my directions all their primary weapons are powered down, as are their main drives. While I can't get perfect scans of their interior, it's far easier to detect how much power is running through which parts of their hull. And once you know roughly which parts of their ships' infrastructure are where, that tells you where they're applying combat power. And unlike L.E.G.I.O.N. ships which have the luxury of maintaining full combat power indefinitely, the Leentniar ships don't.
"Observations?"
"To use the human phrase, we have them over a barrel. They can't get away and they can't afford to lose these ships. They might decide that dying here is better than dying while fighting the Reach, but otherwise you can probably make them do whatever you wish."
"Don't put too much faith in people behaving rationally."
"I don't. But leaving their original homes in order to survive suggests a far higher degree of rationality than most species display."
"We don't know who stayed behind."
"Then the rational ones escaped, and with a little fortune passed on their traits to their descendents."
They don't open a shuttle bay for us. I suppose that might be because they don't have permeable force fields, because they don't use small craft or because they're trying to keep our presence a secret from the majority of the crew. Instead, we're heading for what is basically a maintenance hatch. Quick scan… A basic sensor system but no obvious weapons. I press my right hand against the surface of the door and someone inside triggers the system to open it.
I float inside first, Lantern Gozzi just behind me. An actual airlock. Do they not have the capacity for anything more sophisticated, or do they just choose not to overcomplicate a perfectly functional system? I'm getting slightly better scans of the interior of the ship from here, so I suspect that whatever's defying my scans is built into that impressive external armour.
The outer door closes behind us and air metaphorically hisses into the vacuum. I land on the surface that's in the direction of local gravity and wait for pressure to equalise.
"I assume that you're taking the lead during negotiations."
"You assume correctly. This sort of discussion is something my rank requires me to handle, and my empathic abilities make me well suited to."
"Understood."
"Feel free to use silent ring communication if there's something you think I'm missing."
She nods as pressure equalises and the interior door retracts directly away from us, sliding along a corridor on rails. Hm. I.. think they were trying to avoid having a weak patch in their exterior armour, which means that they've compensated for the relatively primitive construction with sheer mass. I wait until the column has fully retracted into an interior wall before walking down the short corridor into the ship proper.
A single Leentniar is waiting for us. Humanoid, female and decidedly thin. Scans show… The surrounding part of the ship has been evacuated. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're planning anything; given their isolationist tendencies it's possible that everyone who has contact with us is going to kill themselves.
I give her a moment to say something, but she's focusing on a personal scanner that she's waving at us. Well, social norms aren't the same everywhere.
"Hello, I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps and a member of the N.E.M.O. Council. Might I ask who you are?"
"I will act as a go-between between you and the Masters of the Leentniar."
Her voice… Sounds like she's ill-. Of course. If someone has to die, it's better if it's someone who was going to die anyway. Quick check… She wants to serve, to avoid being a burden. Do I scan her directly? They might detect it, but I don't think that really matters at this point. Do it. Ah, looks like widespread leukaemia-variant. Easily fixable by power ring. If we get a result which leaves the Leentniar as a going concern I'll fix it and offer her an ambassadorship.
"Because they can't speak to me directly. I understand. Are we talking here or somewhere else?"
"I can communicate with the Masters perfectly well from here."
I look around at the plain utility corridor. I suppose there's no real need for a fancy meeting room-. Ah. It's a local custom. They consider things like that wasteful.
"Very well. To summarise my demands: the worlds of this region are allied to my organisation."
"We have encountered Green Lanterns before."
"We're focused on a far smaller area."
And… Well, we don't have the same quantity of veteran ring users that they do, but our total numbers aren't all that much smaller at the moment. A combination of lower moral requirements and far more Maltusians able to work on ring production. We'll probably outnumber the Green Lantern Corps within a year. For better or worse.
"And we're at war with the Reach. Whether that was your intent or not, the Reach are using the Leentniar as proxies to get their foot in the door of civilisations neighbouring them with the eventual aim of assimilating them."
"The methods of the Reach are known to us."
"We're putting a stop to it. Which means that your people have a decision to make. We can't have you threatening our allies or driving neutral parties into the hands of the Reach. So, either you settle down and ally with us, or you accept us marooning you somewhere out of the way. Refusal will result in us assuming that you're siding with the Reach and treating you as our enemy. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I will relay what you have told me."
She takes a few steps away and activates a force field generator built into the collar of her space suit. It surrounds her head in a translucent purple bubble, a privacy screen which lets us know that she's still there but prevents us from hearing what she's saying or reading her lips. I take a moment to check, and I can scan through it perfectly well. But
looking outside the physical, seeing the patterns of her desire mesh with those… There they are.
Ring, send to Lantern Gozzi. 'I have the location of the Leentniar civilian government'.
Message sent.
Directly confronting them might make my point a little better, and I doubt that the people the Leentniar have raided over the years would object. But there are far more L.E.G.I.O.N. affiliates that haven't encountered them than that have, and we already risk looking high-handed due to the forceful way we've assembled our coalition at relatively short notice.
'It's for your own good' is a justification that really looks better in history books than in a diplomatic conference.
I advise taking no action. Don't even mention it.
I don't nod. If I use that location, I can write off persuading them to ally with us. It might help convince them to surrender and it will make destroying them easier, but we're not there yet.
The force field around the nameless emissary's head shuts down.
"The Masters have questions."
"Ask away."
"What do the Leentniar stand to gain materially by aiding you?"
"Assuming that we win, you can have your original homeworld and territory back, if you want it. In the short term, if you ally with us, we'll assist you in bringing whatever ships you want to commit up to our standards, and arrange a place away from the front line to settle as many of your people as you want to settle. You'll also gain the good will of your neighbours, which can be useful at times."
"What do the Leentniar stand to lose materially by aiding you?"
"Your lives. Your relative anonymity. The Reach might be happy to leave you alone while you weaken their targets, but if you side with us then that will change. Our main fleets have technological parity with the Reach, but in a slugging match we expect to lose ships and crews. You also stand to lose your fear."
"Fear?"
"The fear that causes your people to send a dying woman to meet a diplomat. Once the Reach are gone, you can become what you want, not what you need." I shrug. She probably doesn't have the cultural context to understand that answer. "Anything else?"
06:46 GMT
The fleet is… Spreading out. As per my directions all their primary weapons are powered down, as are their main drives. While I can't get perfect scans of their interior, it's far easier to detect how much power is running through which parts of their hull. And once you know roughly which parts of their ships' infrastructure are where, that tells you where they're applying combat power. And unlike L.E.G.I.O.N. ships which have the luxury of maintaining full combat power indefinitely, the Leentniar ships don't.
"Observations?"
"To use the human phrase, we have them over a barrel. They can't get away and they can't afford to lose these ships. They might decide that dying here is better than dying while fighting the Reach, but otherwise you can probably make them do whatever you wish."
"Don't put too much faith in people behaving rationally."
"I don't. But leaving their original homes in order to survive suggests a far higher degree of rationality than most species display."
"We don't know who stayed behind."
"Then the rational ones escaped, and with a little fortune passed on their traits to their descendents."
They don't open a shuttle bay for us. I suppose that might be because they don't have permeable force fields, because they don't use small craft or because they're trying to keep our presence a secret from the majority of the crew. Instead, we're heading for what is basically a maintenance hatch. Quick scan… A basic sensor system but no obvious weapons. I press my right hand against the surface of the door and someone inside triggers the system to open it.
I float inside first, Lantern Gozzi just behind me. An actual airlock. Do they not have the capacity for anything more sophisticated, or do they just choose not to overcomplicate a perfectly functional system? I'm getting slightly better scans of the interior of the ship from here, so I suspect that whatever's defying my scans is built into that impressive external armour.
The outer door closes behind us and air metaphorically hisses into the vacuum. I land on the surface that's in the direction of local gravity and wait for pressure to equalise.
"I assume that you're taking the lead during negotiations."
"You assume correctly. This sort of discussion is something my rank requires me to handle, and my empathic abilities make me well suited to."
"Understood."
"Feel free to use silent ring communication if there's something you think I'm missing."
She nods as pressure equalises and the interior door retracts directly away from us, sliding along a corridor on rails. Hm. I.. think they were trying to avoid having a weak patch in their exterior armour, which means that they've compensated for the relatively primitive construction with sheer mass. I wait until the column has fully retracted into an interior wall before walking down the short corridor into the ship proper.
A single Leentniar is waiting for us. Humanoid, female and decidedly thin. Scans show… The surrounding part of the ship has been evacuated. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're planning anything; given their isolationist tendencies it's possible that everyone who has contact with us is going to kill themselves.
I give her a moment to say something, but she's focusing on a personal scanner that she's waving at us. Well, social norms aren't the same everywhere.
"Hello, I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps and a member of the N.E.M.O. Council. Might I ask who you are?"
"I will act as a go-between between you and the Masters of the Leentniar."
Her voice… Sounds like she's ill-. Of course. If someone has to die, it's better if it's someone who was going to die anyway. Quick check… She wants to serve, to avoid being a burden. Do I scan her directly? They might detect it, but I don't think that really matters at this point. Do it. Ah, looks like widespread leukaemia-variant. Easily fixable by power ring. If we get a result which leaves the Leentniar as a going concern I'll fix it and offer her an ambassadorship.
"Because they can't speak to me directly. I understand. Are we talking here or somewhere else?"
"I can communicate with the Masters perfectly well from here."
I look around at the plain utility corridor. I suppose there's no real need for a fancy meeting room-. Ah. It's a local custom. They consider things like that wasteful.
"Very well. To summarise my demands: the worlds of this region are allied to my organisation."
"We have encountered Green Lanterns before."
"We're focused on a far smaller area."
And… Well, we don't have the same quantity of veteran ring users that they do, but our total numbers aren't all that much smaller at the moment. A combination of lower moral requirements and far more Maltusians able to work on ring production. We'll probably outnumber the Green Lantern Corps within a year. For better or worse.
"And we're at war with the Reach. Whether that was your intent or not, the Reach are using the Leentniar as proxies to get their foot in the door of civilisations neighbouring them with the eventual aim of assimilating them."
"The methods of the Reach are known to us."
"We're putting a stop to it. Which means that your people have a decision to make. We can't have you threatening our allies or driving neutral parties into the hands of the Reach. So, either you settle down and ally with us, or you accept us marooning you somewhere out of the way. Refusal will result in us assuming that you're siding with the Reach and treating you as our enemy. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I will relay what you have told me."
She takes a few steps away and activates a force field generator built into the collar of her space suit. It surrounds her head in a translucent purple bubble, a privacy screen which lets us know that she's still there but prevents us from hearing what she's saying or reading her lips. I take a moment to check, and I can scan through it perfectly well. But
looking outside the physical, seeing the patterns of her desire mesh with those… There they are.
Ring, send to Lantern Gozzi. 'I have the location of the Leentniar civilian government'.
Message sent.
Directly confronting them might make my point a little better, and I doubt that the people the Leentniar have raided over the years would object. But there are far more L.E.G.I.O.N. affiliates that haven't encountered them than that have, and we already risk looking high-handed due to the forceful way we've assembled our coalition at relatively short notice.
'It's for your own good' is a justification that really looks better in history books than in a diplomatic conference.
I advise taking no action. Don't even mention it.
I don't nod. If I use that location, I can write off persuading them to ally with us. It might help convince them to surrender and it will make destroying them easier, but we're not there yet.
The force field around the nameless emissary's head shuts down.
"The Masters have questions."
"Ask away."
"What do the Leentniar stand to gain materially by aiding you?"
"Assuming that we win, you can have your original homeworld and territory back, if you want it. In the short term, if you ally with us, we'll assist you in bringing whatever ships you want to commit up to our standards, and arrange a place away from the front line to settle as many of your people as you want to settle. You'll also gain the good will of your neighbours, which can be useful at times."
"What do the Leentniar stand to lose materially by aiding you?"
"Your lives. Your relative anonymity. The Reach might be happy to leave you alone while you weaken their targets, but if you side with us then that will change. Our main fleets have technological parity with the Reach, but in a slugging match we expect to lose ships and crews. You also stand to lose your fear."
"Fear?"
"The fear that causes your people to send a dying woman to meet a diplomat. Once the Reach are gone, you can become what you want, not what you need." I shrug. She probably doesn't have the cultural context to understand that answer. "Anything else?"
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