Chojin Patriarch
Veteran Lurker
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21st November 2012
10:14 GMT -5
I grin as I spot the latest addition to the room.
"Princess Koriand'r! Good to see you!"
Well, at least they have the Titans, even if it isn't quite the familiar roster. For those confused, the two in the centre are Tomorrow Woman and Triumph, by the way. I also recognise Liberty Belle II and Hourman II on the right. Crouching guy is Brain Wave II, but the girl in back is new to me, unless she's Rocket?
Yes, Earth 16's Kori is far less... Expansive. I expect she's also wearing the sling-bikini-esque outfit, in JSI colours.Glowing green eyes and a slightly puzzled explanation confront me, her head wreathed in the gloriously frizzy eighties hair that I saw on the version of her on Earth with the Gold Lantern Corps.
"I am sorry, I do not think that we have met."
Don't forget to mention that they didn't suffer the energy experiments this Kori (or the Renegade's) did, so no starbolts."Parallel universe." I hold up my left fist, knuckles and ring facing her. "When I founded the Orange Lantern Corps, our Koriand'r was one of the first wave of recruits."
I generate construct images of her and Komand'r. Koriand'r looks at her own image with curiosity, while-.
Yes, she's very covetous of a great many things. That makes her an excellent Lantern.
I'll bet that's a vicious smile, too. She's got no love for the leatherheads."I encountered her before she went-" I dismiss the constructs. "-full evil. Our Vega's a much better place with certain people no longer in it."
Koriand'r smiles. "The Citadel is defeated?"
Well, OL can't really take personal credit for the Psions, but the rest..."I killed the First myself, and destroying the Citadel Complex and fleet was a team effort. The Spider Guild sept sued for peace after their leaders were killed, Karna now belongs to the Karnans and the Psion's Wombworld was scoured from orbit."
"Heh." The masked Atom Smasher nods approvingly. "Thorough."
Or a different cybernetic process. Not all DC cyborgs are crafted equal, after all."It's not very often you encounter a species with literally no redeeming moral characteristics. Vega was unlucky enough to have two. Past tense. I-."
Interceptor drops down next to me, having been talking to the platoon of cyborg soldiers on the other side of the room. Most of them are humanoid, but a few have more unusual shapes. Those ones appear to have… Clouded or suppressed emotional responses. Are they condemned criminals? Or do the people with weaker emotions just cope with it best?
Man, promising power rings to girls who aren't even from your universe? Better warn her to be careful, or she'll get Larfleeze on her pretty, pretty ass."That's everyone. We're ready."
I nod, then turn back to Koriand'r. "No time right now, but if you're interested in a power ring, come and see me after the mission."
Yeah, I don't think she'll be taking the offer. Not from the weird orange guy."Very… Well?"
I float over to the stage where Alan and Commander Scott are ready to begin. Just.. one addition.
Ah, the old days. Not quite Pre Crisis, but still pre-War of Light.Ring, call Green Two Eight One Four. Both of them.
Error. Only one connection available.
...Man, that must have been a confusing day for John.Ah, the old 'one-Lantern-and-however-many-deputies' system. I remember comic where Jordan got knocked out slipping on a bar of soap and… Stewart? Got subbed in with no notice and little training. Terrible system.
He'll do.
Heh, playing the communications officer. I suppose with Alan's ring not being Green Lantern Corps-spec, it's necessary.Jordan's face appears. I suppose that not having to deal with Earth's nonsense means that he's a little likelier to live to an old age.
"Green Lantern Two Eight One Four. Commander Scott."
...Oooh, that suggests all kinds of fridge horror. He's basically been living in exile since he was recruited, huh?Commander Scott turns to the glowing face of the man he chased off Earth.
"Green Lantern, on this one occasion, I am inviting you to Earth. My location."
Which plants it square in the Corps' jurisdiction. And it'll make their mission more legitimate if they have the OG space cops on their side."Why? You hate me."
"No, I just have no respect for the people you work for. You can quit at any time and come home without us charging you with anything. But this is an off-Earth operation-"
Oh, did Alan not brief anyone in the process of gathering this little operation together?A few ears in the audience metaphorically prick up.
"-so you are actually relevant in your current role."
I'll bet the Dominator invasion was a big black mark on his record, if he was around then."Where?"
"Metropolis. My current location."
"Okay, but-. 'Off-world'? You're going to-!
And our Alan's ring is probably picking up a huge surge in hope."Come or don't." His eyes dart to me, and I cut the connection. He nods, then walks over to the podium. "As I know you all just heard, we've just had an opportunity handed to us. Our parallel universe friends here both have power rings with all their functions unlocked. That means they can both fly faster than light with passengers."
He gives that a moment to sink in, then makes it clear in case anyone is a little slow.
Knowing the shit they got up to, I'm not surprised. Earth 16 probably has the same kind of hate for the Sheeda."That means that we can finally hit the Dominion."
There's an excited exhalation, eyes opening wide with feverish desire. I've seen the same thing in the faces of thousands of people where the Reach are concerned. People from Earth 16 barely know that the Dominion exists, and that's from my reports. Here, they appear to be global hate figures.
Now, let's hope non of them get carried away. Especially if any of them lost family in the invasion."While the Justice Society International is primarily charged with protecting Earth…" He smiles. "I'd be lying if I said we didn't hope an opportunity like this would come along at some point."
"It's been fifteen years. There isn't much chance that the people they took are still alive. But the dominators who took them almost certainly are, and we could get lucky. Orange Lantern-" I raise my right hand and then lower it. "-and Blue Lantern-" Alan waves. "-will take our taskforce to a world on the border of Dominion space, then perform reconnaissance operations in an attempt to locate exactly where out people were takes and by who. Once we have that information, we will be attacking in force with the aim of killing everyone involved in the attack on Earth."
The joy of a highly-stratified caste-based society. And those big red circles? Also great targets.Several nods.
"Orange Lantern has provided briefing documents on Dominion society." JSI staffers begin walking around the room, handing out binders to the attendees who aren't able to download them into their brains. "And it turns out that despite the impression they gave us, most of their population aren't involved in raiding other worlds for test subjects. Turns out that it's the exclusive purview of their rulers, the ones we all remember from their broadcasts with the big red circles on their foreheads. Those are all considered acceptable targets, as is anyone with a gun or any kind of super power. The rest are generally slightly less dangerous that humans are, and we are not going to punish them for the deeds of their overlords."
Though I don't doubt some will be tempted to go a little too far. Especially those with a berserker-rage type thing going on.The nods to that comment are more sombre, but he chose well when he assembled this gathering. None of them are interested in taking it out on the entire population. I suppose that's what separates superheroes from...
Alright, even I thought 'me' there. But dominators aren't spiders or reacheans. Spiders consider it normal and pleasurable to drug their sophont victims awake as they eat them. Reacheans love lording it over alien slaves. Most dominators don't even have contact with aliens.
Sadly, knowing the Dominators, they'll probably consider this unprovoked aggression, or some rubbish. Because lesser species aren't developed enough to hold grudges, of course!"Any humans we locate will be evacuated and put through a thorough decontamination session before being returned to Earth. In the event that we manage to kill all of our targets and complete the rescue, I will authorise infrastructure destruction missions as I deem appropriate. It probably won't be practical for us to take away their ability to wage interstellar war, but I'll feel much happier with them keeping what's left of their fleet home to ward off their neighbours."
The platoon commander of the cyborgs raises his hand and gets a nod.
So, no looting. Minimal pillaging, and sure as hell, no rape."Could we capture their ships, sir?"
"While our new Lantern allies can read any spoken or written language, the rest of us don't have that ability. Learning how to fly Dominion ships isn't something we can do on the fly, and they have a completely different technology base to us. Time allowing, we might be able to capture examples of their equipment, but it's a low priority task."
Do keep in mind that OL's team can't hang around forever, Commander Scott.The cyborg nods.
"Once that mission is completed, and everyone is fully recovered, we will plan our assault on the khundians."
Ah, a matter of cultural differences?
Ah, a moment of levity to ease the pre-deployment tensions. Smart, OL."Khundian marriage law says that anyone who defeats a khundian man inherits his wife or wives. I'm happy to help with the mission, but I'm going to need someone who's single to punch me out afterwards."
The wave of laughter is punctuated by the figure in green appearing at the back of the room.
Well, Commander Scott wasting no time taking advantage of OL's offer. Let's hope he's not poking a hornet's nest, though. I don't see the Dominators, or any allies of theirs, taking this strike laying down. And to some degree, it might be like the MCU Avenger's formation, signalling that 'Earth is ready for a higher form of war.' We'll have to see how this all plays out, then.