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

Does anyone here remember those aliens Paul fought that were brainwashed on the genetic level to follow the Reach?

If Zartok's theory on them altering aliens to make them biologically Reach, then those aliens may have been heading on that path.
 
18th January 2013
21:47 GMT


Zartok returns to the bridge, glancing at me before returning his attention to the main screen.

"Anything of note, Drusa?"

Many things, few of which will interest him. Life on the planets in this system doesn't seem to have been changed by the presence of the invading ships at all. The ship can get close enough and the sensors are acute enough to follow single individuals as they go about their day. And because we're monitoring all of it, I can just leave that on in one corner of my screen while I work through the rest of the data.

"The main inhabited world is suburban."

"And?"

"Different forms of land use occur at different levels of technology. Large settlements can't form until transportation and farming increase to a certain level-."

"Spare me."

"They don't have cities. Technically. There are some industrial zones that cover a significant area of land, but there aren't many residential buildings in those areas."

"No single targets to attack, but the people are too spread out to be properly defended."

Not how I'd put it.

"I imagine that their strategy for defending a world is the same as their strategy for defending their empire. Their forces are so mobile that they don't see any advantage to keeping their population in smaller areas."

"They could build stronger shelters-." He cuts himself off. "Of course."

"Of course?"

"They're not a martial people. Not any longer. They can fight, but they fight with the intellect, not with the spirit. They have weighed and measured and found that this is the most resource-efficient way to organise things."

"Isn't that what you did?"

He frowns, his eye briefly returning to me.

"Of course not. If people in my outer colonies knew that I wouldn't defend them because it 'wasn't efficient', then no one would have settled those worlds. I'm not talking about the policy of their government, I'm talking about their people."

Ah.

"The fact that people live in settlements laid out like this means that they know what their chances are, and they aren't doing anything about it. They're not trying to moderate the effect of the policy on… The chance of them living. They just accept it."

He leans slightly closer to the monitor.

"The question is whether it's indolence or fatalism. I would assume indolence had I not born witness to the skill of their fleets and Scarab Warriors. But perhaps there is some internal divide that only the Reach are aware of. Some worlds allowed to grow lazy while others provide tithe of warriors."

"Genetic analysis of recovered remains suggests that's not the case."

I can see him trying to understand. He's not stupid by any means, but-.

"I read what the Illustres wrote on the subject, and what little the Controllers have been willing to share with the rest of us. All creatures need to have certain impulses in order for their species to live long enough to attain intelligence. One of those things is a desire to live, to fight to protect themselves and those close to you. I have it, you-."

He looks mildly disappointed.

"Have part of it. It may have different strength in different people, but a creature lacking it entirely indicates that something is fundamentally wrong with them."

"What about artificial int-?"

Oh.

"Yes. Only creatures that were designed can be different. An artificial intelligence needs no ancestors. It does not need to inherit their passion to live. It can be told to do things that would see a creature in the wild killed and it will do so without complaint because it lacks spirit."

"You think that they bio-engineered themselves."

"When they used to make war on their neighbours, before the fight with the Green Lantern Corps, they cleared the worlds they conquered using guns. Such widespread death would normally cause an adverse psychological response in their soldiers. The level of hatred that is required for such methods take time to create, but it's hardly unheard of. Then the war, and before the ink is even dry on the treaty with the Guardians they begin subverting their neighbours."

"You think they already had the technology. They just didn't use it on other species."

"Or perhaps they did? If any public health records survive from those worlds then the Reach are the only ones who have them. A plague might be noticed by their neighbours, but anything more subtle might pass unnoticed."

"And the neighbours would have bigger problems, like their new neighbour."

"Yes."

"We'd need to get access to their medical databases to find out for certain."

He grunts. "Does it matter?"

"If they've edited their genome too much then it might mean that they're more susceptible to biological weapons."

"You might get a single world. Their command of biological science means that they would detect it too easily for a delayed attack, and they would be able to neutralise it without much difficulty. In ship to ship combat it would be less effective than an explosive even if they weren't wearing sealed suits. It might be possible to make something that could be used on a civilian population to secure compliance in exchange for palliatives, but we already know that they don't value their own lives."

Oh.

"Don't look so surprised, Drusa. I built an empire. I'm not a fool."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Be wiser. What else does them not having cities mean?"

"Planning and terraforming. New colonies might have the technology to function spread out, but that technology still needs infrastructure. Most species build a relatively dense settlement with farms surrounding it when they first colonise a planet. As far as I can tell, the Reach didn't."

"Did they use a slave species to do it for them?"

"Not here, not as far as I can tell."

"And they do not make much use of automata. Then they planned everything in advance. Most likely their buildings were pre-fabricated and transported here in great cargo transports to be assembled on the planet."

I nod. "Or built using material from local asteroids, fabricated in space and then landed for construction."

"And they all accepted the plan. Have you found anything resembling a civil enforcer station?"

I perform a quick check. Some things don't look the same in different cultures, but there are some things that police usually do or have…

"No."

"Then their rulers are certain that the populace are obedient and will remain so, even if they are attacked."

"Where are you going with this, Lantern Zartok?"

"The Illustres has said that the worlds that the Reach took from species which still exist will be returned to them after the war. All other worlds will be up for grabs. I see no reason for slaughtering their entire species."

"You want to take over?"

"A system like this would be a perfect place to start again. But on this occasion, I want to deny the Reach whatever is on that ship."

This is unrelated, but what made you want to start writing WTR? Do you have other plans to write more fics after this is over? However long that takes? How much has your writing quality changed over the years, since this is your first, I think, fic?
 
Counterpunched (part 11)
18th January 2013
21:56 GMT


I bite down.

Marrow.

False marrow. Not marrow. The bones aren't real bones. Made by machines. Made by my ring-machine.

I swallow.

Taste good, though.

"…tube is easily detectable too, if we could make one, which we can't."

"Allyn?"

"I… Don't have a handheld system. And I didn't bring my ship-. The ship I used to command, with me, when I joined the Orange Lantern Corps. The assassin who worked for Sparta had a lower-emission version of the system, but I don't remember anyone else having anything like that."

"Could you use theirs?"

"The system is designed to need a New God in communion with the ship. I'd have to be close to even try. If there is another New God onboard, I'd have to be on the ship. I may have to beat them in combat."

Words. Not action. I can understand, but it does not smell of food. Hunt-Leader Zartok looks for pack victory on ship. Prowls cage, searching for it in his mind.

"What if we brought the ship closer?"

Drusa's liver is not in it. Not supporting Hunt-Leader.

"If you mean, 'brought into physical contact', that would break our stealth field. And if the boom tube generator was working, the Citizenry would have left by now. Which means that we'd need to repair it before we could use it."

"Unless it was hard coded to create tubes for the ship, not for the crew."

"No, it's the same system. Sparta, or Grayven, or Astarte, might not have explained it to them as a security measure."

"A cowardly measure."

"Would you want to serve under Astarte?"

"No. I am a warrior, not a gigolo or a eunuch. But the warriors who form the Citizenry accept their culture."

What? Ring-voice, explain.

The Citizenry kill most men who they encounter. A small number are kept temporarily as breeding stock.

What happens to them?

Eventually, they are killed, liquidised, and fed to the population.

Eventually?

No precise timeline has been established. It is not known what eugenic standards the Citizenry hold themselves to. Nor is it known if their breeding slaves are bred naturally, or if their seed is extracted mechanically and then implanted into the citizens.

Oh.

I move the bone, and bite down again.

I was eating soft food, but my mouth felt strange when my teeth got too long. So now I eat hard food. Feels better.

Drusa said that ring can fix teeth. Don't want. Should not build body with ring. Ring might be gone tomorrow. Must remember how to be strong without it. Must remember how to have body without it.

"…way to get things off this ship at all?"

Drusa thinks hard. Difficult. Difficult to do things when secret-hunting to remain secret.

"If one of us were inside the ship, next to the hull, we could fabricate an object outside of the hull. It could be detected -and I don't know how easily- but we could do it."

"How large an object?"

Drusa makes a motion of her hands.

"One cross section could be no bigger than that. The rest, as long as you want. But the longer it is-."

"Yes, yes. Can we include the object in the stealth field?"

"If you're a Controller and you can talk Colos into staying in the system for a few months-."

"Just say 'no'."

"I… Might…"

"Lantern Allyn?"

"I haven't experimented with using my ring to make New God technology. And… My nature doesn't lend itself to stealth. But I do know the designs for New God stealth systems. They're not as effective as what we're using now, but the Reach have no knowledge of magic-."

"Start experimenting."

He does obeisance and then leaves.

"I don't understand where you're going with this."

"The Reach clearly don't understand what they're looking at. They want it intact so that they can study the system while its active, and living crew they can mentally subvert to explain it to them. But I know the limits of normal sensors. I don't think that they know exactly how many survivors there are on board."

"So if the boom tube system is either intact or intact enough to repair, and if we can get on board and convince the crew to cooperate with us, and if the Reach don't put together a boarding party and if the Reach don't fire on the ship once they realise what we're doing, we could get valuable information."

"Yes. Though none of that matters if we would just give this ship's position away the moment we tried. I'm eager, not foolhardy."

"Unless-."

"Using this ship as a decoy would be foolish. Even if we could evacuate the entire crew using the boom tube, it would destroy its value as a stealth craft and alert the Reach to our capacity. We will always have a use for a stealth vessel that can sneak around Reach space undetected. If this is to be successful, the Reach must simply assume that the Citizenry were making repairs while they delayed in their boarding."

"That will be easier to explain to Colos."

"There is no sense in explaining anything to Colos until we have a firm plan of action. And we will rely on Allyn to fabricate the materials we need."

"He's new."

"If he can't do it, I'll either try something else or accept it and move on. Prisoners are useful, not essential."

"What I do?"

"You, Grood? You'll be the first on board. The Citizenry respects brutal violence. I'm sure you'll convince them to respect you."

"Kill them?"

"Yes, Grood. Kill them until I tell you not to."

I grunt, and get new bone.
 
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This is unrelated, but what made you want to start writing WTR?
A desire for something to do. It was this or make an Ork army using boar models.
Do you have other plans to write more fics after this is over?
I have all sorts of thoughts on things I could write. I have no idea if I'll actually do any of them.
However long that takes?
1-2 decades.
How much has your writing quality changed over the years, since this is your first, I think, fic?
I think that other people are better placed to judge that than me.
 
18th January 2013
21:56 GMT


I bite down.

Marrow.

False marrow. Not marrow. The bones aren't real bones. Made my machines. Made by my ring-machine.
Ah, Grood. About time we saw the third member of Zartok's power trio. And his estimate of the quality of replicated food is probably accurate. No matter how good Maltusian technology is, there's always something to be said for natural products instead of 3d-printed molecules...

I swallow.

Taste good, though.
Heh. Tastes great, less filling. At least they can get that part right.

"…tube is easily detectable too, if we could make one, which we can't."

"Allyn?"
I see Zartok is still planning his little heist.

"I… Don't have a handheld system. And I didn't bring my ship-. The ship I used to command, with me, when I joined the Orange Lantern Corps. The assassin who worked for Sparta had a lower-emission version of the system, but I don't remember anyone else having anything like that."

"Could you use theirs?"
I'll bet that was a Hush Tube the assassin used. One probably kept in Grayven's hands, with said assassin operating from his ships rather than the Citizenry or the Karrakanians.

"The system is designed to need a New God in communion with the ship. I'd have to be close to even try. If there is another New God onboard, I'd have to be on the ship. I may have to beat them in combat."

Words. Not action. I can understand, but it does not smell of food. Hunt-Leader Zartok looks for pack victory on ship. Prowls cage, searching for it in his mind.
A very primal viewpoint old Grood has, isn't it?

"What if we brought the ship closer?"

Drusa's liver is not in it. Not supporting Hunt-Leader.
...Well put. Drusa seems very much the type to only act when success is guaranteed, doesn't she?

"If you mean, 'brought into physical contact', that would break our stealth field. And if the boom tube generator was working, the Citizenry would have left by now. Which means that we'd need to repair it before we could use it."

"Unless it was hard coded to create tubes for the ship, not for the crew."
Another layer of control Grayven applied, then. One more leash he could use against the Citizenry if they ever turned.

"No, it's the same system. Sparta, or Grayven, or Astarte, might not have explained it to them as a security measure."

"A cowardly measure."
But a sensible one. This way, Grayven can keep track of the Citizenry. And you do not want them running loose...

"Would you want to serve under Astarte?"

"No. I am a warrior, not a gigolo or a eunuch. But the warriors who form the Citizenry accept their culture."
As stupid as it is.

What? Ring-voice, explain.

The Citizenry kill most men who they encounter. A small number are kept temporarily as breeding stock.
Usually those who put up the strongest fight, I bet.

What happens to them?

Eventually, they are killed, liquidised, and fed to the population.
Talk about a dinner date. :V

Eventually?

No precise timeline has been established. It is not known what eugenic standards the Citizenry hold themselves to. Nor is it known if their breeding slaves are bred naturally, or if their seed is extracted mechanically and then implanted into the citizens.
And doesn't that sound unpleasant. I doubt they go to the effort of having every member interested in breeding do it the old-fashioned way...

Oh.

I move the bone, and bite down again.

I was eating soft food, but my mouth felt strange when my teeth got too long. So now I eat hard food. Feels better.
Interesting detail. And entirely appropriate for a predator. I'm sure the last thing anyone else wants is Grood with a toothache.

Drusa said that ring can fix teeth. Don't want. Should not build body with ring. Ring might be gone tomorrow. Must remember how to be strong without it. Must remember how to have body without it.

"…way to get things off this ship at all?"
In other words, Grood only uses his Ring for the most essential tasks, or things he can't do for himself. How... Utilitarian of him.

Drusa thinks hard. Difficult. Difficult to do things when secret-hunting to remain secret.

"If one of use were inside the ship, next to the hull, we could fabricate an object outside of the hull. It could be detected -and I don't know how easily- but we could do it."
...Like a boarding tube? Interesting idea.

"How large an object?"

Drusa makes a motion of her hands.

"One cross section could be no bigger than that. The rest, as long as you want. But the longer it is-."
Not a large passage, then. And the effect that allows the ship to stay concealed probably only extends so far from the hull...

"Yes, yes. Can we include the object in the stealth field?"

"If you're a Controller and you can talk Colos into staying in the system for a few months-."
...That's a 'no', then.

"Just say 'no'.

"I… Might…"
Oh? Does the rookie have an idea?

"Lantern Allyn?"

"I haven't experimented with using my ring to make New God technology. And… My nature doesn't lend itself to stealth. But I do know the designs for New God stealth systems. They're not as effective as what we're using now, but the Reach have no knowledge of magic-."
Expect to find it very draining on Ring charge... Unless magitech comes a lot easier for him due to his semi-divine nature...

"Start experimenting."

He does obeisance and then leaves.
Either way, he'll find out for sure...

"I don't understand where you're going with this."

"The Reach clearly don't understand what they're looking at. They want it intact so that they can study the system while its active, and living crew they can mentally subvert to explain it to them. But I know the limits of normal sensors. I don't think that they know exactly how many survivors there are on board."
Or how long they'll stay that way? After all, I doubt the life-support systems are running at full-functionality right now.

"So if the boom tube system is either intact or intact enough to repair, and if we can get on board and convince the crew to cooperate with us, and if the Reach don't put together a boarding party and if the Reach don't fire on the ship once they realise what we're doing, we could get valuable information."

"Yes. Though none of that matters if we would just give this ship's position away the moment we tried. I'm eager, not foolhardy."
Lots of maybes there. This plan isn't ready for primetime yet, I think.

"Unless-."

"Using this ship as a decoy would be foolish. Even if we could evacuate the entire crew using the boom tube, it would destroy its value as a stealth craft and alert the Reach to our capacity. We will always have a use for a stealth vessel that can sneak around Reach space undetected. If this is to be successful, the Reach must simply assume that the Citizenry were making repairs while they delayed in their boarding."
And now you're adding all manner of difficulty multipliers. Do you like the challenge or something?

"That will be easier to explain to Colos."

"There is no sense in explaining anything to Colos until we have a firm plan of action. And we will rely on Allyn to fabricate the materials we need."
If he can manage it at all.

"He's new."

"If he can't do it, I'll either try something else or accept it and move on. Prisoners are useful, not essential."
At least he's willing to change plans as needed. That's good, he won't get obsessed with just one idea.

"What I do?"

"You, Grood? You'll be the first on board. The Citizenry respects brutal violence. I'm sure you'll convince them to respect you."
I have no doubt he's got that part covered, certainly...

"Kill them?"

"Yes, Grood. Kill them until I tell you not to."

I grunt, and get new bone.
And soon you'll probably have some nice, fresh, real bones to gnaw...

It's worth noting that, while he doesn't seem to care much about the details, Grood was following the planning. He's not an idiot. He just has very simple desires, and knows how best to fulfil them. It makes me wonder how that translates to Ring skills, but I'm guessing he doesn't use it much. And we are getting to see a workable plan take shape, too. :p One that isn't just 'smash, grab and run'... I'm liking this.
 
She was being escorted from the palace when she decided to go for the mirror.

I... Don't believe that's the case?
I looked into it, and it may have been a fandom theory thing.

Apparently Sunset and Starlight meet in 'Mirror magic' special, so you'd expect it to have been mentioned if it were the case.
 
No matter how good Maltusian technology is, there's always something to be said for natural products instead of 3d-printed molecules...
Yes. Such as "these natural products are only distinguishable by the placebo effect." That is something one might say.

Appeal to Nature is a fallacy which bugs me.
Not that I know the ring-made one is actually equal, Grood thinking it's not might affect the manufacturing process itself. In which case, it's more, sabotaged by nocebo.
 
Yes. Such as "these natural products are only distinguishable by the placebo effect." That is something one might say.

Appeal to Nature is a fallacy which bugs me.
Not that I know the ring-made one is actually equal, Grood thinking it's not might affect the manufacturing process itself. In which case, it's more, sabotaged by nocebo.
I think ring generated blood lacked magic. So there is some noticeable difference. But outside of highly magical environment, it shouldn't matter that much, yes.
 
Thank you, corrected.
Apparently Sunset and Starlight meet in 'Mirror magic' special, so you'd expect it to have been mentioned if it were the case.
Yes, and they got on alright. But we're not actually at that point in time yet, and the Mirror is in Canterlot rather than Twilight's castle.

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle Starlight and Twilight murdering the universe six times. There's a fanfiction I'm reading where Spike realises that their original timeline is gone, and the best they could do is recreate something similar enough that they couldn't notice the difference. And he realised that in a timeline that was objectively better than theirs.
 
Appeal to Nature is a fallacy which bugs me.
Not that I know the ring-made one is actually equal, Grood thinking it's not might affect the manufacturing process itself. In which case, it's more, sabotaged by nocebo.
Or he might actually get something via some form of blood or spirit magic from eating actual bones that fabricated bones lack the mystical potency of, as they didn't ever have the strength of a real living creature behind them. Or maybe he can taste the DNA and analyze it and improve himself with any novel mutations the prey possessed, but when fabricating things by ring he can only make what he already had and so gains less from it. This isn't real life. Appeal to Nature isn't a fallacy here, it's a person you can ask boons from like Captain Planet. Or who might tell you to shut up and strip away your connection to the Green because you're too annoying.
 
Ah, Grood. About time we saw the third member of Zartok's power trio. And his estimate of the quality of replicated food is probably accurate. No matter how good Maltusian technology is, there's always something to be said for natural products instead of 3d-printed molecules

Picard and his brother agree.

And doesn't that sound unpleasant. I doubt they go to the effort of having every member interested in breeding do it the old-fashioned way...

Yeah, more technological methods may havevto be used due them being from multiple species.

It's worth noting that, while he doesn't seem to care much about the details, Grood was following the planning. He's not an idiot. He just has very simple desires, and knows how best to fulfil them. It makes me wonder how that translates to Ring skills, but I'm guessing he doesn't use it much

He's apparently on Zartok's level when it comes to ring skill, but tends to lose to him due to Zartok being more tactical.
 
"If if if". These OLs might not be superheroes but they most certainly are getting to the high risk/high reward part. Now to make sure they don't blow anything up...
 
I'm imagining Grood as a Larfleeze lookalike. If he was actually a member of the same species someone would have said so. Considering how many species look like humans, surely a few look like Larfleeze. Some do the less glamorous Ben 10 aliens could work as well. Anyway, I believe Grood was referenced briefly as an experimental ring-user. Akin to the "lantern kamikaze" attempts.

Have we seen the whole team now, Mr Zoat? That Thanagarian isn't part of the team, then (unless my reading comprehension is poor).
 
I'm imagining Grood as a Larfleeze lookalike. If he was actually a member of the same species someone would have said so. Considering how many species look like humans, surely a few look like Larfleeze. Anyway, I believe Grood was referenced briefly as an experimental ring-user. Akin to the "lantern kamikaze" attempts.

Have we seen the whole team now, Mr Zoat? That Thanagarian isn't part of the team, then (unless my reading comprehension is poor).
Only 4 Lanterns were assigned to this mission: Zartok, Drusa, Grood, and Allyn.
 
Did your school ever do a fire drill?"

"Where there was a bell ringing and everyone had to go outside?"
Wait, do the Atlanteans (merfolk? What ever the species name is) actually have fire drills? Aren't there hydromancers within a stone's throw in every city? And their classes are likely held underwater if they have grafted students?
 
From what I understand, Mr Zoat has Borrowed these 3 particular lanterns (minus the godling) from an episode of the Green Lantern Animated Cartoon.

Hal and Kilowog meet them on a mysterious planet, and it turns out they are prisoners for their crimes against fellow beings. The Planet turns out to be Mogo, pre him getting a ring in that universe.

A Later Episode has the Red Lanterns Recruiting from them for the war against the Guardians.

...Now long after Mr Zoat started this fic, the Young Justice Cartoon's later season did start to include characters and events from the Green Lantern one, (despite the massive art style difference). So we can somewhat infer that the universe of YJ does have canon versions of the trio.

Zartok
Drusa
Grood
 
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Anyway, I believe Grood was referenced briefly as an experimental ring-user

From what I remember he was stated to be some experiment in uplifting an animal and Dox wished to see how a more primal being would do with wielding a ring.

...Now long after Mr Zoat started this fic, the Young Justice Cartoon's later season did start to include characters and events from the Green Lantern one, (despite the massive art style difference). So we can somewhat infer that the universe of YJ does have canon versions of the trio.

Yeah, like Razer and Aya.
 
From what I remember he was stated to be some experiment in uplifting an animal and Dox wished to see how a more primal being would do with wielding a ring.
Grood's not an uplifted animal. I think it was more along the lines of getting a simple mind and seeing how well it can adapt to the orange light.
 
It was Sisko and his dad who had the replicator-vs-restaruant thing going on.
Though Picard and his brother had a somewhat similar conversation about wine.

Grood's not an uplifted animal. I think it was more along the lines of getting a simple mind and seeing how well it can adapt to the orange light.

Checked it out and you were right.

The hulking male glances up for a moment and then returns to gorging himself from the bowls of food around him. His desires appear to focus around hunting, eating and claiming territory. Dox put a note in his file indicating that he's an experiment. He should instinctively go from full-on combat mode to gorge mode to near-hibernation with little in between. Which would mean that the extremes of mood which come with orange rings might not matter. I'll be curious to see how that plays out.

I guess I remembered the word "experiment' and given how he thinks and acts I thought he was uplifted.
 

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