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

[Khornelius]

"Making a .45 out of a .22"?

That's how Texans say it, right?

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I've never heard this idiom before. At least not from my family, but it makes a lot of sense though.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Heh, the Reach actually taught Paul a new trick.

I feel for that poor customs official. Anyone having to deal with Paul in an official capacity should automatically get a promotion.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

8th August 2012
09:31 GMT

"We… Had.. reports.. that you had died."

Click to shrink...

Yes, yes. He already has the frequent mortality discount card with the Grim Reaper. What the freebie is is best left to the imagination...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

The gyuanite diplomatic attaché looks at me nervously. I suppose that from his point of view I'm a combination president/pope/anti-matter bomb, but I'm not really used to being treated in that way. Other Orange Lanterns being deferential, sure. I'm their superior, and the master of a skill they are learning. My fellow superheroes on Earth are people I've worked with or actual friends. This is strange and I'm not sure that I like it.

"Oh? How?"

Click to shrink...

Maybe if you weren't so passively scary and strange, people might not spread word that you are. But no, you come back from the dead, leave bizarre social impressions and casually flit about the galaxy. It's hard for people to not hear weird rumours...

"We.. are not a party to your war with the Reach, but we do try to maintain a degree of awareness of its course. We have no desire to send merchant convoys into systems in dispute."

"No, I meant, how am I supposed to have died?"

Click to shrink...

Indeed, would the Reach allow word to spread that they used a substance as strange and dangerous as Qwa-Matter? Or are they simply claiming he was killed by an anti-matter bomb or something?

"I… I doubt that it matters; you're clearly alive."

"Alive now. I've died twice before."

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OL, not making your reputation any less strange here.

"Oh? Oh." The attaché calms down noticeably. "Mind recordings dubbed onto a cloned body? We're aware of some societies using that technique. I always thought that it would promote stagnation, but I suppose that the loss of a vital individual during a war would be damaging enough that it would be worth doing it anyway."

I shake my head.

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So close, yet so far. I mean, it's hardly an uncommon technique at higher levels of technology.

"I'm familiar with the technique. There's a Terminan lawyer on my homeworld, and his people clone anyone who dies of unnatural causes. But no. I can encode my consciousness on my soul. All I need is either a supporting medium or a host body and I'm fine. Organic death just isn't that big a deal for me."

His face goes slightly purple. Worried confusion.

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Fascinating colour displays. Green for.. nervousness? Purple for confusion... Quite the unusual physiology...

"I don't.. think I understand..?"

"A humanoid's consciousness lies it the electrical potentials of their neural network, right?"

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That being the thing that gets scanned and cloned via the aforementioned mind uploads. With you so far.

"That's-. That sounds like an oversimplification, but… Yes, I understand what you mean."

"But there's nothing inherently special about electrical potentials, is there? There are few species with purely chemical neural networks, a few with exotic energy networks…"

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Though how you'd recreate such from physical scans might be an issue.

I pull back, reducing the importance of my physical form and increasing my presence in the orange light. It's a little like when the Ophidian and I switched from my human body to her snake body when we were joined, though I'm still myself. I look down at my translucent form, and then up at the attaché.

"See? I can transubstantiate at will."

Click to shrink...

...Oh, boy. That's a big trick. In theory, if you could work the same change on Construct Lanterns...

I shift back into the material as the attaché-.

"Are you alright?"

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I'd say he looks like he's seen a ghost?

"Ah-. Ah-. A-."

"Do you require medical attention? If you can't speak, just want it and I'll-."

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Ah, OL. That pleasant obliviousness still gets a laugh now and again.

"Nono, that's fine! Um. Please remain mundane while you are visiting our world."

"Alright. I mean, subject to normal self-defence exemptions, sure. Is there some sort of cultural sensitivity I should know about? Because I've been reading your tourist information brochure and I didn't see anything..?"

Click to shrink...

To be fair, do the Gyuanites get any Lantern visitors? Being on the Reach periphery, they'd likely be under GLC jurisdiction until they actually join the Reach... Do the local Sector Lanterns simply not come here?

"People think of Lantern constructs as something they attack with. If people saw you like that it might inadvertently cause.. confusion."

"Oh." I nod. "I suppose that makes sense. Now, about me meeting with officials in your government?"

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Ah, Any Lantern visits would usually be police pursuits, I guess. And 'confusion'? Quite the understatement, I think...

"Yes, several officials are clearing their schedules and we should be able to have a preliminary meeting with you a little while after you arrive. You.. are.. aware that there is a Reach trade mission on Yuna?"

"I was planning on boiling the water anyway."

Click to shrink...

Not that you'd be drinking local water anyway. I mean, even if the ring cleaned out any local infections... There'd probably still be a hint of taste in there...

"I'm sorry, I don't think that translated."

"When you're in the wilderness and you're not sure whether the local stream is safe to drink from or not, you can boil it to remove impurities and collect the steam to drink. I'm implying that the Reach would contaminate the drinking water."

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Goes a bit past implying when you have to say it outright. Joy of having to explain the joke...

"We have very thorough safety procedures for publically-consumable water sources."

"You wouldn't be the first people to have said that."

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And they probably won't be the last... Until the war's over, anyway.

"We are aware of the Reach's habits. Be assured that they and their thralls are monitored closely."

"Or that. But on your heads be it."

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What's the bet they're so busy watching the flunkies they can see, they missed the ones they couldn't? Sleeper agents, covert teams, local sympathisers... So many ways to infect the planet...

"To be clear: while we certainly do not expect you to like each other, violent hostility will not be permitted."

"Don't worry: Clarissi Dox has given me clear orders in that regard. Nothing more cutting than a quip, unless they start it."

Click to shrink...

Though I suspect he gave you latitude in finishing any fight they start.

"We would prefer it if you kept away from them entirely. We find that two belligerent groups meeting generally results in hostilities and we are eager to avoid that."

"If you insist. I think it would be a wasted opportunity, though. I rarely get to meet Reach citizens, and I've never done so somewhere I could have a conversation with one."

Click to shrink...

Well, any conversation besides them yelling, "Die!" And OL replying, "After you." Could be an amusing chance to meet some recurring Reach diplomat characters...

"I really think it would be best."

"Alright then. Who will I be meeting?"

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Besides not the Reach delegation?

"Initially… It.. really depends on the purpose of your visit?"

"I.. thought that was obvious, but if you want a summary: Reach bad. N.E.M.O. good."

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Do you need hand-puppets? I'm definitely getting the feeling the Gyuanites are not good at dealing with the unexpected...

I grin idiotically for a moment-

"Friends?"

-and then regain my normal facial expression.

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There we go again with the bizarre statements, OL. This is why people think you're odd.

"So, obviously, military and trade policy, and interstellar relations. It's not at all surprising that your government has concerns about a major military alliance appearing on your metaphorical doorstep, and I'll do what I can to allay them."

"We can get people from the Diplomatic Affairs Office, the Defence Force Office and the Trade Commission to meet with you. They can convey the concerns of their superiors and then feed back to them with your responses."

Click to shrink...

So, going to form a committee to oversee the diplomatic committee? Wonder if they'll want to meet separately or all together?

"That's… Fine for a first meeting, but I'm going to have to meet with someone senior once we've got the general shape of an agreement thrashed out."

"That will rather depend on how the earlier meetings go."

Click to shrink...

...Well, not leading off on a friendly footing, then? I foresee obstruction after obstruction on this case.

"Ah. Alright." I shrug. "I'd have thought that your government would at least want some kind of positive-sounding joint statement to steady the markets, but I'm sure that you know your people better than I do."

At the moment, at least.

"Thank you." He bows. "I will convey this to my superiors. I hope that you have a peaceful and productive visit."

Click to shrink...

Will you look at that? They don't even need me to taunt Murphy on this one.

I'm getting a funny feeling OL and company will get shuffled from subcommittee to branch office to under-secretaries before they really get anything done. A bureaucratic case of 'out of sight, out of mind', perhaps? At any rate, let's hope the Reach delegates decide to throw the first punch. Keep N.E.M.O's hands clean, and all that. But that's still a few days off yet...

 

[Darko]

Indeed, would the Reach allow word to spread that they used a substance as strange and dangerous as Qwa-Matter? Or are they simply claiming he was killed by an anti-matter bomb or something?

Click to shrink...

Assuming the people of the galaxy knew what the stuff is and why they should fear it.

Well, any conversation besides them yelling, "Die!" And OL replying, "After you." Could be an amusing chance to meet some recurring Reach diplomat characters...

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Now I'm picturing a Reach version of Londo Molari.

Imperialistic bastard with a heart of gold.

There we go again with the bizarre statements, OL. This is why people think you're odd.

Click to shrink...

His actions also kinda leave that impression.

Will you look at that? They don't even need me to taunt Murphy on this one.

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But we know you wanted to.

 

[Vaermina]

Watching Paragon attempt diplomacy is like watching a train wreck...

 

[NightmareWarden]

I feel like Paul has been stealthily trying to find a catchphrase, but none of them seem to quite work.

Click to shrink...

Reminder that one of Renegade-Paul (Grayven)'s delightful catch phrases is "Let Joy be unbound, for I am/have _____!" Though he is usually interrupted before he can finish. It makes me grin every single time.


Actually, Mister Zoat is that a reference to something? Perhaps Doctor Who or another work I'm too uncultured to appreciate?

 

[moralrelativity]

"I.. thought that was obvious, but if you want a summary: Reach bad. N.E.M.O. good."

I grin idiotically for a moment-

"Friends?"

-and then regain my normal facial expression.

Click to shrink...

Now this... this is weird even for Paul. Eris would be pleased.

 

[Cuchulin]

As Mark Twain once said "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Which is also something that the late great Stan Lee might have said.

 

[AverusBlack]

As Mark Twain once said "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Which is also something that the late great Stan Lee might have said.

Click to shrink...

Jean-Luc Picard pulled that line too. It's always the juggernauts saying it, isn't it?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Actually, Mister Zoat is that a reference to something? Perhaps Doctor Who or another work I'm too uncultured to appreciate?

Click to shrink...

If it was another work, I'm not sure I'd be allowed to tell you.

But not as far as I remember.

 

[Ngamer11]

"But there's nothing inherently special about electrical potentials, is there? There are few species with purely chemical neural networks, a few with exotic energy networks…"

I pull back, reducing the importance of my physical form and increasing my presence in the orange light. It's a little like when the Ophidian and I switched from my human body to her snake body when we were joined, though I'm still myself. I look down at my translucent form, and then up at the attaché.

"See? I can transubstantiate at will."

I shift back into the material as the attaché-.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah-. Ah-. A-."

"Do you require medical attention? If you can't speak, just want it and I'll-."

"Nono, that's fine! Um. Please remain mundane while you are visiting our world."

"Alright. I mean, subject to normal self-defence exemptions, sure. Is there some sort of cultural sensitivity I should know about? Because I've been reading your tourist information brochure and I didn't see anything..?"

"People think of Lantern constructs as something they attack with. If people saw you like that it might inadvertently cause.. confusion."

"Oh." I nod. "I suppose that makes sense.

Click to shrink...

How useful is this trick, besides possibly giving atheistic aliens a pseudo-religious experience? Also, I love how Paul just casually reveals in-universe and to us his ability to transubstantiate.

 

[m_d]

"That's… Fine for a first meeting, but I'm going to have to meet with someone senior once we've got the general shape of an agreement thrashed out."

"That will rather depend on how the earlier meetings go."

Click to shrink...

...Well, not leading off on a friendly footing, then? I foresee obstruction after obstruction on this case.

Click to shrink...

I'm getting a funny feeling OL and company will get shuffled from subcommittee to branch office to under-secretaries before they really get anything done. A bureaucratic case of 'out of sight, out of mind', perhaps? At any rate, let's hope the Reach delegates decide to throw the first punch. Keep N.E.M.O's hands clean, and all that. But that's still a few days off yet...

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't say that I have enough data on their government and how it operates to assign even that high of an indication that this is what they are doing. Other alternatives that I would consider at least as likely:

1) They're between two powerful forces, both of whom have strong competencies in changing people's desires, albeit through different means. They may consider it prudent to keep decision makers' direct contact with those forces representatives to a minimum while they evaluate and negotiate through go-betweens whose ability to make formal agreements can be limited. Maybe they're more concerned about shenanigans from one than the other, but they also may not want to give a strong appearance of favouring one over another at this point so as not to cause problems with their relationships with the other party that could result in escalation which could have been avoided.

2) They could be one of the many forms of polity in which the substantive discussions and negotiations are done by the professionals in the civil service, not their notional bosses. The minister, or whoever, may have the final sign off once the details have been worked out, but may not actually really understand what's being agreed to, and that's not necessarily their job. There are lots of governments which operate this way, for various reasons, some of which are quite practical.

3) A variant on 1 in which the senior people want to get a better idea of who these representatives are and how they operate culturally before opening more formal talks (I don't know that the Corps has done the sort of groundwork that many government or government-like agencies usually do in advance of a visit by someone of OL's seniority in terms of setting of the agenda, the terms of the questions under negotiation, protocol, etc... They may have, but I didn't get that impression from the type of briefing that OL got and the way that the interaction in this chapter went, though that may be an artifact of the story/medium's format). The people they send for the initial meeting(s) may be there to do the quick and dirty version of the above so that they can brief the people to come after (and so that they can actually prepare for meeting the sort of person they are meeting with) so that they can minimize the involvement of senior officials in the sorts of interpersonal gaffes that can come in surprise cross-cultural meetings. If lower authority people make them first, the weight and stakes of the mistakes can be much lower, for various reasons, which again, I can't narrow down, not knowing enough about Gyuanite cultural mores.

"A humanoid's consciousness lies it the electrical potentials of their neural network, right?"

"That's-. That sounds like an oversimplification, but… Yes, I understand what you mean."

Click to shrink...

lies _in_

And yes, drastic oversimplification. At least in terrestrial animals there are so many non-neural network aspects to personality (by most commonly understood definitions of both of those terms, anyway). e.g.: hormone production and regulation (see: changes in horses, cats, dogs etc... after gelding/spaying/neutering), presence/absence of chronic pain, differences in how the GI tract processes food and hence increases or decreases availability of and ratios of substances in the body that can inhibit or promote various biochemical signalling chains, hormonal and otherwise, ditto the liver and kidneys, diet too, and on and on.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

How useful is this trick, besides possibly giving atheistic aliens a pseudo-religious experience? Also, I love how Paul just casually reveals in-universe and to us his ability to transubstantiate.

Click to shrink...

Didn't Doctor Mist do something similar? Can't remember, going to search story only.

Edit:

I nod. I'm probably the most resilient person taking part. And least likely to hold back. I float slightly off the ground, construct armour manifesting around me as I mirror Dr. Balewa's partial etherealisation.

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OL himself this something similar. I still don't know what this does. Mr Zoat?

Edit2:

Dr. Balewa takes a deep, slow breath. He… Doesn't look… Entirely there, as if he's partially transubstantiated, so much magic being channelled through his body that his flesh just wasn't sufficient to contain it.

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My current guess is that this allows him to channel more power, like Dr. Balewa is doing.

 

[Mr Zoat]

lies _in_

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[Whiteeyes]

Sorry OL, but you're probably not going to meet anyone who is high ranking for about three MONTHS. You're dealing with diplomacy now, and it is a very slow process. Normally for somebody of your rank minor diplomats would have spent the last few months setting things up for your visit which would have been largely hammering out the last few details (whoch could honestly still take weeks depending on the details) and then having a signing ceremony.

So basically unless plot happens this is going to be a very long process.

 

[Stsword]

How useful is this trick, besides possibly giving atheistic aliens a pseudo-religious experience?

Click to shrink...

He's turning himself into an avarice construct here.

I'm not sure how much is instinctive and how much would need to be learned but- He'd be as strong and tough as one of his constructs, and he'd be able to utilize anything he can do with a ring with his own internal energy. Edit: Including shapeshifting, just as a lantern can shape their constructs anyway they like.

 

[Wivk]

Didn't Doctor Mist do something similar? Can't remember, going to search story only.

Edit:

OL himself this something similar. I still don't know what this does. Mr Zoat?

Edit2:

My current guess is that this allows him to channel more power, like Dr. Balewa is doing.

Click to shrink...

No no that isn't the same at all. When you become ethereal you are moving your physical matter to another plane of existence, the ethereal plane, that overlaps basically the entirety of the prime material plane, which is what we call the normal physical world. Becoming ethereal is either identical or incredibly similar to what martians do that puts them out of phase with physical reality, letting vibrating packets of their physical matter pass harmlessly through other vibrating packets of physical matter as long as they vibrate at a different frequency.

Transubstantiation isn't the same at all because your physical form isn't moved elsewhere or vibrating correctly to dodge between other particles, it is transformed into magical or spiritual energy of the sort that makes up a soul. Its closer to astral projection than becoming ethereal, like when the sorcerer supreme punches your soul out and you can wander around as a ghost.

When most people astrally project themselves their body stays exactly where it is, unmoving and insensate, connected to their soul form by a microscopic silver strand coming from their third eye. Both are weaknesses that could be exploited. Killing the body or severing the strand leave you as a powerless ghost trapped outside of physical reality. So either turning your body directly into a soul and bringing it with you, or turning your soul directly into a body and coming back, are stupid over powered on their own, being able to do both is our typcial levels of absurd from this fic that we are accustomed to.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

No no that isn't the same at all. When you become ethereal you are moving your physical matter to another plane of existence, the ethereal plane, that overlaps basically the entirety of the prime material plane, which is what we call the normal physical world. Becoming ethereal is either identical or incredibly similar to what martians do that puts them out of phase with physical reality, letting vibrating packets of their physical matter pass harmlessly through other vibrating packets of physical matter as long as they vibrate at a different frequency.

Transubstantiation isn't the same at all because your physical form isn't moved elsewhere or vibrating correctly to dodge between other particles, it is transformed into magical or spiritual energy of the sort that makes up a soul. Its closer to astral projection than becoming ethereal, like when the sorcerer supreme punches your soul out and you can wander around as a ghost.

When most people astrally project themselves their body stays exactly where it is, unmoving and insensate, connected to their soul form by a microscopic silver strand coming from their third eye. Both are weaknesses that could be exploited. Killing the body or severing the strand leave you as a powerless ghost trapped outside of physical reality. So either turning your body directly into a soul and bringing it with you, or turning your soul directly into a body and coming back, are stupid over powered on their own, being able to do both is our typcial levels of absurd from this fic that we are accustomed to.

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I mean, OL observed what Dr. Mist did as "transubstantiation" according to the acual text, and copied that, in the chapter the quotes come from. There's no evidence that your definitions are actually correct.

 

[Pinklestia]

general shape of an agreement thrashed out."

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Trashed means discarded in the best meaning possible so I don't think that's the word you wanted to use there

 

[Mr Zoat]

Trashed means discarded in the best meaning possible so I don't think that's the word you wanted to use there

Click to shrink...

I guess.. that's why.. I didn't, then?

 

[Doccer]

We have very thorough safety procedures for publically-consumable water sources."

"You wouldn't be the first people to have said that."

"We are aware of the Reach's habits. Be assured that they and their thralls are monitored closely."

"Or that. But on your heads be it."

Click to shrink...

Number 2983
Number 4413

"We… Had.. reports.. that you had died."

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Whoohoo! 100000000! Wait a minute is it a good thing I came back so many times or bad thing that I died so many times?

"Thank you." He bows. "I will convey this to my superiors. I hope that you have a peaceful and productive visit."

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Heh.

 

[fappingtoyourpost]

"I'd have thought that your government would at least want some kind of positive-sounding joint statement to steady the markets, but I'm sure that you know your people better than I do."

Click to shrink...

Human political memes would be seriously poisonous to any functioning alien government, wouldn't they?

 

[Mastigos2]

"It's a perfect conductor of heat. And -and this is the important bit- electricity." I stare into her eyes but I don't think she's getting it. "No loss in transmission. No heat. No electromagnetic radiation. No light. One hundred percent of what you put in comes out again in a useable fashion." She gives me an uncertain nod. I don't think she's quite getting it. "Something like six percent of electricity generated in the US each year is lost in transmission. Nearly five hundred kilowatt hours just gone, per person. A hundred and sixty billion for the country as a whole each year. To say nothing of the disruption to radio signals copper cables cause. And that's ignoring the possible applications it has in communications or computing."

"You.. seem.. fairly excited about this."

"Diana, no one has this. No one."

Click to shrink...

Did anything ever come of Jovium?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Did anything ever come of Jovium?

Click to shrink...

Nothing that's had a wide social impact, but the US government is using it in a Federally funded infrastructure program to help the economy post-Sheeda.

 

[Vaermina]

He's turning himself into an avarice construct here.

I'm not sure how much is instinctive and how much would need to be learned but- He'd be as strong and tough as one of his constructs, and he'd be able to utilize anything he can do with a ring with his own internal energy. Edit: Including shapeshifting, just as a lantern can shape their constructs anyway they like.

Click to shrink...

Not very smart when you think about it given the Orange Light's many many many weaknesses.

 

[Sockmonkey]

Possible continuity error: In part 13 of Gammadion, Superboy refers to his armor being orichalcum rather than Nth metal.

With a soul of orange light, OL could do the Nabu thing and use the ring itself as a "body" as it has more than enough processing power to emulate a human brain. There's also no reason he couldn't give himself a kryptonian body as their powers are "science" based rather than magic or alchemical.

 

[Mr Zoat]

9th August 2012
10:12 GMT

I look around the Tamaranean countryside, taking in the recently planted fields and the genomorphs working them.

"Things going well?"

Telosmere nods. He's slightly more heavily built than the other g-goblins I've met, though I don't know whether that's to do with the heavy manual labour involved in running a commercial farm or something he was engineered with. While the genomorphs have access to more advanced farming equipment they have an obvious preference for manual labour. G-trolls pull the ploughs and harvesters, and act as ladders to allow the more agile g-elves to pick fruit from their backs.

"We are already more than self-sufficient. These farms serve as the main supply hub for the Genomorph Entire. In accordance with our agreement with the tamaraneans we have supplied g-gnomes to their schools. We will open our first mines shortly, though we will have to trade for more advanced equipment for the foreseeable future."

I nod. "Any problems?"

"A small outbreak of blight. It was easy to deal with. Other than that, the only problem I have is with tamaraneans who wish to mate with me when I visit the capital."

I frown. "They aren't usually pushy once you give them a flat 'no'."

"I decided not to do that. Sexual intimacy is a significant part of tamaranean culture, and we are trying to maintain a friendly social relationship."

I frown deeper.

"But you don't have genitals or.. erogenous zones. Or a sex drive."

"No, but I have telepathy. I am not quite as skilled at telepathic illusion as the g-gnomes, but at close range it can be quite convincing. Matching the display to the desires of my paramour is an interesting intellectual challenge, and if I am successful engenders a positive association which is helpful to our ongoing habitation of their planet."

"Well… Ah… As long as you're happy."

"I am as happy as I am capable of being. I have productive work that challenges me while also having observable achievement milestones. I want for little that my cluster cannot provide."

Hm. As far as I've been able to tell, g-goblins are perfectly happy to go almost indefinitely without anyone to talk to. But it… Seems…

"You're alright with no other individual sophonts to talk to? Really?"

He looks out across the field.

"Individuality is a burden I bear because someone must. I have no great love for my own thoughts. I prefer to spend my time dissolved in the cluster, using my greater creative capacity to assist others."

"Ah. Um, sorry about forcing you out of it."

"This is my burden to bear. Do you require anything else?"

"Do you?"

He thinks for a moment. "Reclamation has gone well. We have room to expand further. Dubbilex or Ecksey could create another cluster and send it here."

I nod. "I'll pass that on. Have a nice day. Mother Box?"

"Ping."

BOOM!

I step through the boom tube aperture and stroll out onto the command deck of the tamaranean self-defence fleet's main command station. A few members of the command staff look around, but there are enough boom tubes around here that I get more attention than the manner of my ingress does.

Most of the crew are tamaranean, though a few Euphorians are still around the place. While this is in theory a temporary assignment… Well. I'm pretty sure that Regent Dulak used this opportunity to get rid of the noisiest dissenters, because while a few have made noise about going back 'in a few years', I haven't really noticed any great rush. And I have noticed a smattering of interspecies marriages, and if we assume that tamaraneans are being as formal about their interpersonal relations as they usually are, a far greater number of actual relationships.

These aren't people in any great hurry to get back under the Regent's aegis.

I amble over to the officer of the watch, who draws herself up slightly but doesn't leave her station. Good. The.. cybernetic eyes and left arm and the greying hair mark her out as a survivor of the tamaraneans' previous fleet. Our… Experience is that those don't make good fleet officers. They tend to struggle with active combat, which given the conditions they endured isn't all that hard to understand. On the other hand, their greater experience makes them good rear echelon officers, though we'll probably replace them all once we've got people who can replace them.

"Prince Grayven."

"Commander Delor. Anything to report?"

"The system is secure. Princess Komand'r's strike fleet is near Raggashoon, while the home fleet is exercising. Ship production remains on schedule."

Raggashoon will be an interesting test case for how dominant Tamaran can be. With the pirates exterminated, the Spider Guild slaughtered, the Citadel Complex crushed to slag, the Branx undergoing planetary isolation and societal meltdown and Wombworld burned, there aren't any 'evil' factions left in the area. But that doesn't mean that there aren't any empire-builders trying to fill the vacuum. The Karnans have aligned to the Crown Imperium, but they're in no condition to extend their reach without aid that the Imperium isn't all that eager to give them.

And so Tamaran has started colonising its neighbours.

It makes sense, really. With all the gordanians did, large areas of Tamaran are actually less hospitable than its most primitive neighbours. Having not sustained a civilisation's rise into space, they have untapped mineral resources which in many places are readily accessible. And in the long term, more room means more tamaraneans. A core population of their new empire that share a species and a culture.

With the more developed places, it's a little trickier. Certainly, they're used to being under someone's thumb. But there's still the question of how to integrate them. They don't have a significant tamaranean population, and their social structures are too different to integrate them into the semi-feudal structure that the tamaraneans use. I suggested a free port model, offering protection under better terms than the Citadel offered in exchange for nominal fealty, most importantly not building up their fleet or claiming other worlds. Komand'r -bless her avaricious little heart- wants something a little more domineering, but I suppose allowing herself to be argued down to my idea wouldn't be a terrible thing.

The work of this generation will be settlement and military expansion. Building up core territory and the strength to protect it. Then with the friendly Crown Imperium ensuring the safety of one border we will be free to begin a program of annexation and conquest in all other directions.

"Good show. Has a crew for the-?"

"Grayven."

I turn to face the diminutive Controller, managing a polite smile even as I see her psion acolytes following behind her. I mean, it's nice to see a Maltusian actually take some responsibility for that whole mess but I'd really rather not be in a position where there were any psions on Tamaran.

"Hinon. Something I can do for you?"

"On the contrary; I believe I can do something for you."

I raise my eyebrows. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm in a relationship at the moment. Not that you're.. unattractive or anything, but I'm inclined to monogamy and you're so short that you rather-."

"Don't be tiresome, Grayven."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Your… Doppelgänger." She holds out her right hand and creates a construct image of him. "It seems that he was planning on making war on the Reach."

"A fair target."

"Was planning. He's stopped advancing, and as far as we can tell he's recalling his forces. With boom tube technology he can travel the distance instantly but he needs time to dismantle his infrastructure."

Ah.

"And coming here."

"I don't know his mind, but that seems most likely."

I sigh. "Thank you for the warning. I will… Begin making preparations."

 

[Mr Zoat]

Possible continuity error: In part 13 of Gammadion, Superboy refers to his armor being orichalcum rather than Nth metal.

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He's got more than one suit of armour.

 

[doug89]

tamaranean

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gordonians

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I'm not 100% sure, but I think these should all be capitalised. I can see where the inclination to leave them lower case comes from, the word human is lower case after all. But I think because both species names come from a proper noun (Tamareans from Tamaran, Gordonians from Gordane), they would.

Like Australia and Australians.

 

[yingyang590]

He's already killed one Graven with far less resources than he has now. What's one more.