"There's a saying on my homeworld. 'You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs'." I shrug. "I don't see a way to stop the Spider Guild that doesn't involve vastly reducing their industrial power as well as their military. And forget about occupying their Nests; you'd need an army of billions for each world, plus a fleet… Do you have one?"
"No."
Especially since that sort of thing
could be seen as pulling a Sinestro... There would be very
pointed questions being asked of her by the Guardians...
"Do you have a plan to get one?"
"I have working agreements with the militaries of all worlds in my Sector, but I haven't tried to recruit a force for myself."
Ah, but
agreements will only go so far. And even a Green Lantern doesn't have the kind of
budget needed to start a private fleet.
I take a bite of something that's very nearly a crumpet, covered the what is actually jam from a local fruit that reminds me of the fig.
"So what was the plan? I can see how much you hate them, and how much of your life revolves around that hatred. Presumably you have… Some idea of how you were going to realise that ambition. Tell me."
Ironically, I bet that
hatred would go a ways to earning her a Red Ring if they
existed. Not that it'd be much use making her a berserker...
"I negotiated for access to the network of sensor buoys each world maintains, and I intercept every ship I can. I've convinced Lanterns from neighbouring Sectors to meet up to share information, and to make recordings of everything they see. My aim is to shame the worlds of this region into increasing the strength of their militaries until they can combine their efforts to destroy the Guild."
I nod as I chew, then swallow.
In other words, you've been taking a downright Orange Lantern route to getting what you
want.
"Any progress?"
"I've intercepted hundred of vessels."
Whoopie. They probably have
thousands shipping. A drop in the ocean.
I nod. "Probably keeping the price up nicely. What about the military build up?"
"I would be talking to you if it was going as I want it to."
Not as fast as you'd like, then. Gee, you'd think inciting an entire
Sector into an interstellar war wouldn't be so
hard, huh?
"I am actually slightly impressed by that, by the way. A lot of Green Lanterns will beat their head against a wall until the wall breaks. I mean, that's a problem for a lot of people, but the Green Lantern Corps deliberately trains for it."
"I don't want to engage in wholesale slaughter. Plenty of civilisations manage perfectly well without cannibalism and piracy."
Indeed. It's like some cosmic writer needed an unequivocally
bad guy for a protagonist to fight...
"Not theirs. Do you know how many Nest have ever reformed?"
"I wasn't aware that any had."
Because you weren't looking on the right place.
"Oh, yes. Precisely one. Sector Two Eight Two Eight. They lost a war and their entire leadership was killed, but the victors didn't want to launch an invasion. So -and this is the funny bit- one of their biological experiments took control of the Nest and negotiated a surrender, which she could do because she hadn't had a normal Guild upbringing or socialisation and so didn't share their assumptions. And she'd have been killed if I hadn't been around to look after her."
Ah, our dear Spider Queen. About the closest thing to a 'good' Spider Guild nest in the galaxy...
"How did she take over?"
"It wasn't just the leadership who'd been killed; it was most of the adults. Their new ruler the Queen was free to culturise the children in any way she wanted, so she left out everything that wasn't helpful and had to leave out everything she didn't know."
Which says a lot about their culture. Still, her neighbours are
much happier about it.
"Is that your plan? Kill every adult-."
"No, of course not. It's completely impractical. Who would bring up the children? Someone from the civilisations on the border, populated by people who hate them? Or… Default to hating them, since they won't have had any personal contact. Would they? Would you?"
Just imagine the psychological abuse that would produce, even if they didn't realise it.
"No. Would this 'Queen'?"
"She wouldn't take that many. And why ask her to take any at all? Biologically, she's got all of the records on Guilder genetics that she needs. Sociologically, she's in her teens and she's created something better; nothing worth preserving there. Which leaves the idea of valuing individual existence for its own sake, which… Yes, I do. I just don't value them more than the people who will eventually be their victims."
Because when you take to eating other sapient life when you don't absolutely
need to? You've basically forfeited your right to continued existence...
"You want to kill… All of them."
"No. I don't actually care all that much about the Spider Guild. I'm just using them as training dummies for the Lanterns I'm trying to upskill because I recognise them as the drain on universal utility that they are. If I wanted them dead, then I assure you: they would be dead."
And their tech level is high enough for it to not be a total
walkover. So his trainees actually have to work for it. Like punching bags that can punch back.
"You're willing to see them all dead."
"Not all. As I said, the Queen is abiding by the terms of her surrender, and has reformed her Nest. But all the ones here? Certainly."
And you'd rejoice at the victory. Plus the lessons learned by your students are always useful.
I finish off my pseudo-crumpet as she considers her response.
"But I imagine that makes you uncomfortable. So tell me, if the stellar nations of the region had done as you want an mustered their forces, what would you want their rules of engagement to be?"
Because there's a
big difference between warfare and
genocide, and I think some of those races you plan to involve might draw the line at the latter.
"It wouldn't be my decision."
"It wouldn't be your decision because it's not going to happen. But if it was? Hm? Target only warships, known pirates and military instillations?"
A tiny fraction of the whole problem. You'd be treating a
symptom, not the root cause.
She doesn't rise to the bait.
"I use the Guild for target practice, because they're both nearly as bad as it gets, and weaker than the people who are actually as bad as it gets. But come on. Would anyone be willing to occupy those worlds?"
Whether after wiping the spiders out or not. Since they can live on worlds
inhospitable to regular humanoids...
"They would not."
"Do you believe that there is some substantial internal resistance who you could work with to form a collaborationist government?"
Pfft! As if...
"No. There is none."
"The Green Lantern Corps usually limits itself to arresting named individuals. Do you believe-?"
"There is no one I could arrest who would not be replaced by someone near-identical."
Their culture doesn't really lend itself to making those who would object to the state of 'normal'...
"See, I get it. You're a good person. You want to help people, improve their circumstances, rescue them from those who would enslave and consume them. But while you're trying to go about it in a reasonably rational way, I can see how you feel about the methods I'd use. So what do you really want? Do you want to be someone who fights the Spider Guild? Or do you want to actually destroy them?"
"By killing every last member of their civilisation."
Yes, since even one functioning Nest would simply begin rebuilding. Total genocide or nothing at all. There is
no middle ground here.
"Or by whatever method you can make work. Because as far as I can see, what you're doing isn't bringing you any closer to that objective. All it's doing is making you fail more efficiently."
I lean forward slightly.
Admirable, but pointless. And no doubt
frustrating for her...
"What do you want, Lantern Vode-M? What is your most fundamental desire? What drives you to fight? What does your ideal universe look like?"
"I thought you already knew."
More than likely, but saying it helps
you more than it does him.
"I've got a fairly good idea. But these sessions can cause changes in our reflexive equilibrium. Would you like to join my other students, or have I said enough to drive you off yet?"
Since I don't think she'd be happy wearing the Orange. Totally not her colour...