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

BR549 · 2025-11-30T09:05:29+0000

Trust us, Amalak, you really don't want to visit Earth.

We're all mad here.

Prince Charon · 2025-11-30T09:06:16+0000

Mr Zoat said:
"You're welcome, but it's not really at its best right now. Oh, do we need to do new recordings of the state of Timaron before Lantern Mother of Mercy starts work, or are existing records alright? And who's volunteering to act as advocate for the defence?"

Oh, yes. That last bit is important, but also rather... emotionally significant for a lot of people.

Vanbers · 2025-11-30T09:34:01+0000

Mr Zoat said:
And who's volunteering to act as advocate for the defence?

...It's going to end up being OL, isn't it?

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-11-30T09:35:17+0000

Mr Zoat said:
8th August 2013
15:21 GMT

Xudar's Foreign Minister Zolan-La looks at Commodore Amalak and a woman introduced to me as Nallam like she's seeing a pair of unicorns. Nallam is the closest the timaronians have to an actual jurist; apparently she was their equivalent of a junior solicitor before Dru-Zod's attack. She's an elderly woman now, and… Well, there wasn't much call for criminal lawyers during the decades of exile.

...Which makes me wonder just how old Amalak is. Rejuvenation treatments, good genes or do their people live quite a long time... At any rate that's a bit of a promotion, relatively speaking, though naturally she'll not be the sitting judge, merely the chief prosecutor.

"I'm.. sorry if this is an uncomfortable question, but how many of your people..? Ah…"

Amalak smiles. "How many of us are there? A few thousand. Enough for a sustainable population so long as we track lineages. We haven't settled any one world, but there are communities from here to Vega."

I'm sure the Maltusians can help get some variety into their available population after a little study. But that's somethign to consider later, after all this is sorted out.

"And you are their leader?"

"Not precisely. Each established community has their own leaders, but I've done rather well for myself since I was evacuated. It lets me do certain things that my impoverished kin can't."

...That's not really a 'No', Amalak.

"So yes, basically."

He ignores me. "I don't have a formal position of leadership, but those who do have entrusted me with this task."

So effectively you've been elected as... Consul? by popular acclimation.

Zolan-La nods. "The practical issues, then. We have a fairly up to date copy of your legal code, but we have less details on the actual practice of law."

Nallam nods. "Procedures as written are seldom procedures as enacted. It has been some time, but between my training and our records, we should be able to create something accurate."

True enough. People will be people, after all, and often speak out of turn or make mistakes in points of operation.

"Can you explain to me what it is that you hope to get from the process?"

Amalak now glances my way. "It was a requirement of the one currently holding General Zod that there be a.. process. Really, you should ask her."

Remember that OL has effectively tricked him into thinking a certain other Kryptonian is behind their part in enabling all this.

Zolan-La looks me over again, her fronts shuddering. "'Her'?"

"Sub-Commander Karsta Wor-Ul, a surviving kryptonian."

Better than letting him know about Kal-El and Kara Zor-El, and the various other Zone Parolees.

"Ah. Will she be available to give testimony?"

"Ah… She can be? Will that be required?"

Will she go along with that request, though? I'm sure she'd rather keep her continued existence somewhat private.

Zolan-La nods sharply. "Timaron law was largely derived from the laws of the Kryptonian Empire in structure." Amalak's expression hardens as she continues. "Kryptonian law had substantial allowances for acts committed under orders. It may be helpful if she was able to explain the normal rules of engagement of the kryptonian military so that it can be demonstrated that he violated them."

Ah, all right, serving as an expert on matters important to the crime. Probably more tolerable.

"Wouldn't his subsequent imprisonment by the Science Council be sufficient to do that?"

"No, as they didn't punish him for what he did against Timaron."

Indeed. Their charges were acting without orders, if I remember right. After all, 'the victims were just aliens'...

"Ah. Uh, I'll ask. I've also got a neural imprint of Har-Zod, if that's any help."

Amalak frowns. "Who?"

"Har-Zod was head of the Military Council and High Councillor until the Science Council won an election. He was dead when Krypton exploded, but he should be able to give an overview of normal kryptonian command and control processes."

Ooh, that's a good point to bring up. The question is how acceptable his input will be, given he's technically just a very characterful database query front-end.

And now he's glaring. "Where did you find that?"

"Xenon. There was a small outpost. He wasn't convinced that the Science Council's plan would adequately defend Krypton, so he made a few arrangements."

Very prescient arrangements as it turned out. If for different reasons.

"He cooperated with you?"

I hold up my left hand with a smile, ring sigil towards him. "I'm very persuasive."

Plus, the VI engram is quite sensible and open to diplomacy.

He nods, thankfully assuming the worst.

Zolan-La blinks. "What is a neural imprint?"

Ah, right, not all cultures have the same level of technology, or expand in the same directions.

"A computerised copy of a person's consciousness, including their memories. The ones I've spoken to have been clear that they're not really people in their own right, but they're fairly close."

She looks at Nallam. "Would Timaron law allow such an entity to give testimony?"

Ah, the million-dollar question.

"Legally, it is an exhibit, but as far as I remember it would be treated as a witness unless someone believed that its records had been altered. Timaron law didn't treat them in the same way that Krypton law did because they never shared the technology." She shrugs. "We never had to take them into account."

Which is why they're basically turning to Kryptonian law for this one.

Zolan-La makes a note. "That.. is something that we can cover later. But I am still not clear what you want."

Amalak doesn't seem to follow. "I think I've been fairly clear..?"

I think she means beyond the trial itself. A lot of systems in Krypton's old reach will be quite interested in this affair...

"Do you want to establish guilt to the minimum level required to pass a death sentence, or do you wish to show to a wider audience what happened to your people? Do you wish to expand the investigation to discover if there are any other guilty parties? Perhaps parties that are dead and cannot be tried themselves? Obviously there can be no order made against the government of Krypton, but the system itself is unowned and may be of some value."

Some very critical points.

"Lantern, you've visited. Is there?"

"I haven't conducted a detailed analysis on the whole place, but unless you're interested in novel radioactive minerals, not really. The faint green glow along Krypton's orbital plane is pretty to look at, but I doubt that it'll ever be a tourist hotspot."

And with any luck, no technology remains intact in the system, because you know people will be poking around...

"Then no, let their system moulder. And while I.. suppose an airing of grievances might help some of my people, most of us just want him dead."

"And the other one? Ursa?"

"I don't have the same intensity of emotion towards her. But yes. Is that a problem?"

At worst, she's a willing partner and accomplice, at best an unwitting patsy who the Kryptonians tried because of the aforementioned 'acted without orders' thing. Though given other portrayals, I suspect it'll be the worse end of the scale.

"No. The few other groups who have expressed an interest in their punishment have made it clear that they can have a full fact finding hearing later. They all know that they don't have as strong a claim as you do."

Amalak nods. "I don't mean to disrespect anyone who had family members killed during the attack. They should feel free to attend the trial and the execution-."

Gracious, and I expect all of the interested governments will be sending observers.

"Assuming that he's found guilty." He narrows his eyes at me. "I know, but we need to maintain the appearance of fairness, and that involves neutral language. And if by some miracle he wasn't responsible and someone else was, I assume that you'd want them instead."

...I find that possibility highly unlikely. But yes, I suppose not talking about him like he's already been found guilty will help with the optics of the thing. Not that anyone will likely object to a kangaroo court...

"How could he possibly not be responsible?"

"You've never been to Earth, have you?"

"No?"

Probably a good thing he's calmed down a bit on his anti-Kryptonian 'crusade' lately. He might take meeting Superman poorly.

"There are multiple ways to control someone's mind. Or take control of a ship when everything runs off a single computer system. Feigning transmissions, using stealthed ships to make it looks like a ship that isn't shooting is. There are ways the attack could have been disguised, and we'll need to eliminate those as possibilities during prosecution."

As long as you don't end up causing a reasonable doubt in his guilt...

He face relaxes slightly. "I'm beginning to think that I should visit this homeworld of yours."

"You're welcome, but it's not really at its best right now. Oh, do we need to do new recordings of the state of Timaron before Lantern Mother of Mercy starts work, or are existing records alright? And who's volunteering to act as advocate for the defence?"

...I get the feeling you're about to get nominated, OL...

Some very pleasant points raised in all the discussion. Questions of procedure and performance of duty... The concerns of other peoples done harm by Kryptonian empire-building... The possibility (however slim) of acquittal... Lots of things to worry about, and many moving parts that might end up clashing as events trundle forwards...

Vaermina · 2025-11-30T09:43:09+0000

CrazyNoVa said:
Yeah, but even then, only by people who have unusual abilities or magical means, which no version of Brainiac has access to.

As far as I remember the only version of Brainiac who managed to successfully harness magic was the one from the DC Universe Online MMO, and even then, I don't think that version is compatible with Zoat's version, because I don't think that one was Coluan.

In story the big brain Reach thing managed to do it.

As did the OMAC's.

That said, you're forgetting that Brainiac's technopathy is a special ability further enhanced by his technology.

CrazyNoVa said:
Not true. Power rings have been improving and getting updated. We know this, because in both canon and in this story, there's been different types of specialized power rings and additional equipment and inovations invented by the Guardians for various purposes (examples: the special rings and batteries used by the Corpse and Alpha Lanterns).

Also, remember the various prototypes and attempts to harness the emotional spectrum that came before the power rings that we see today, such as the prototype Green Gauntlets or the Phantom Lantern ring. The fact that they exist proves that Malthusian tech hasn't been completely stagnant during the last couple of eons.

Besides, even if you're somehow right and Power Rings haven't been advanced since then, I don't know if either Brainiac 13 or Blood Moon Brainiac would be able to hack one, because they would still be the second most advanced form of technology in the universe, with only Mother Boxes being more advanced than them.

As far as I recall the Alpha Lanterns and Corpse don't exist in story.

Also, the idea that Power Rings are the "most advanced" technology in the universe is complete fannon. Even discounting New God tech. And Monitor/Anti-Monitor tech. There's a bunch of stuff more advanced floating around like the H-Dial.

Mr Zoat · 2025-11-30T09:49:31+0000

Duke Long said:
'look'

Thank you, corrected.

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'be'.

Look up.

Vanbers said:
...It's going to end up being OL, isn't it?

Heck no. Arnus can handle that one.

mastermenthe · 2025-11-30T12:40:59+0000

Chojin Patriarch said:
...I get the feeling you're about to get nominated, OL...

Vanbers said:
...It's going to end up being OL, isn't it?

You just know that an Incident will demand OL's personal intervention during the trial, forcing the court to go into recess until OL can come back to represent the defendant, and this will happen over and over again, stretching the trial over months...

until it is revealed the entire thing was a plot to force OL to create a mental duplicate of himself to stay at the trial, resulting in OL having to rescue himself from his engram's kidnappers

CrazyNoVa · 2025-11-30T14:45:04+0000

Vaermina said:
In story the big brain Reach thing managed to do it.

As did the OMAC's.

That said, you're forgetting that Brainiac's technopathy is a special ability further enhanced by his technology.

As far as I recall the Alpha Lanterns and Corpse don't exist in story.

Also, the idea that Power Rings are the "most advanced" technology in the universe is complete fannon. Even discounting New God tech. And Monitor/Anti-Monitor tech. There's a bunch of stuff more advanced floating around like the H-Dial.

And yet, we never see Brainiac use his technopathic abilities to take control of a Green Lantern's ring whenever he fights them. How strange. In fact, I might be remembering this wrong, but wasn't Larfleeze recently able to use his ring to hack and enslave Brainiac in canon?

Also, yes, the Corpse does exist in this story. They're mentioned several times, and I recall that they tried to kill the Renegade at some point.

Lastly, I never said that Power Rings were the most advanced things in the universe. I even said Mother Boxes were more advanced, remember? Also, the idea that the H-Dial is more advanced than a Power Ring is ludicrously nonsensical, considering that Power Rings are more versatile, more practical, more powerful, and just has many more overall functions than the H-Dial.

Mr Zoat · 2025-11-30T16:05:48+0000

CrazyNoVa said:
Lastly, I never said that Power Rings were the most advanced things in the universe. I even said Mother Boxes were more advanced, remember? Also, the idea that the H-Dial is more advanced than a Power Ring is ludicrously nonsensical, considering that Power Rings are more versatile, more practical, more powerful, and just has many more overall functions than the H-Dial.

To be fair, no one who has tried to use a H-Dial on-screen was exactly an expert in its utilisation.

CrazyNoVa · 2025-11-30T16:43:06+0000

Mr Zoat said:
To be fair, no one who has tried to use a H-Dial on-screen was exactly an expert in its utilisation.

True. But everything I've seen so far indicates that even the ability to turn into various superheroes pales in comparison to the full potential of a Power Ring or a Mother Box.

Darko · 2025-11-30T17:20:34+0000

Vaermina said:
In story the big brain Reach thing managed to do it.

As did the OMAC's

Yet neither side has managed to defeat Paul.

Vaermina said:
As far as I recall the Alpha Lanterns and Corpse don't exist in story

The Corpse first showed up when the tried to attack the Renegade.

He actually Assimilated one of them.

Vaermina said:
Also, the idea that Power Rings are the "most advanced" technology in the universe is complete fannon. Even discounting New God tech. And Monitor/Anti-Monitor tech. There's a bunch of stuff more advanced floating around like the

They still are in the top 5.

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

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