At the same time I see tiny mushroom clouds erupt from the surface of Karrakan.
And as ever, everything about the Reach just aggravates us. We distort space once more and fire the cold gun. The time to target is even smaller this time, and the ship on the edge of the sternguard formation actually cracks. The whole frozen and brittle front quarter of the outer armour splits off from the rest, numerous systems struggling to remain functional.
Crunchy. I wonder if the Reach will think the spatial warping is part of the Cold Gun's effect, or realise it's him doing it...
"The planet. Is there anyone still there?"
"We tried to evacuate, but… Sparta's way was the only successful attempt at instilling any sort of unity. They would not hear us."
They've made their choice, then. I suspect there weren't
that many left anyway.
Darn. Looks like… Kinetic harpoon? Or I suppose it could have been one of Rhea's descendants throwing their weight around; I never found out what sort of power level they topped out at. I mean, the Reach could have shot them from where their ships are now using a graviton accelerator, but...
But you don't need a fleet this big to destroy a planet no one is defending. So… Capture? The Reach are good at mind control. New Gods are resistant to chemical and exotic manipulation… A Scarab? Occupation or destruction?
Ooh, there's a nasty thought. A Scarabed-up Ascendant, fully indoctrinated into the Way. Not a pleasant idea, especially if they send them after him.
Okay, the Reach dreadnoughts will… Based on my estimate of their primary armament's effectiveness, be in a position to meaningfully bombard the planet in… Six minutes. Although given the sheer number of guns here they could start firing sooner, it would just be inefficient. The sternguard… Aren't moving towards me. If anything they appear to be accelerating away from me. More slowly than the rest of the fleet, but it's a change in behaviour. I suppose now that they know that I can shoot them there's no longer any reason to poke me.
Yeah, not such a fun idea when the target can shoot
back, isn't it? Let's hope the word spreads and others are reluctant to attack him...
That flotilla is pulling away from the main fleet, diverting towards the Ascendants' ships.
"I assume that your boom tubes are out."
I doubt they'd still be here if they could just jump away.
"Yes. They use hyper-inflated-."
"Gravitons, yes, I know. I thought that New God technology could be enhanced by you putting your spiritual effort into it."
There are limits, OL. Their force of will, their metaphysical
oomph... Probably not enough to overcome this obstacle.
"It.. can, but that is most effective when the Ascendant has some skill, and… Most of Ship Masters remained near Minosyss. Those of us here, we… We cannot push through."
Their small flotilla of six ships… Three aren't warships. They're heading for the asteroid belt around the system's first gas giant. At current speeds… The Reach ships pursuing them will get in probable weapon range before they arrive. And… Honestly, a standard gas giant won't do much to disrupt Reach sensors.
So unless someone aboard can
literally throw rocks at the Reach, they're hosed.
"What are your guns like?"
"Inadequate."
Of
course.
Of course I've got a spare orange ring, but she's an Ascendant and she's needed to keep the ship functioning. And to keep the mortal Karrakanians calm. And she hasn't studied Lantern combat. Against some fleets I'd just grab some likely looking local and give them a ring anyway, but the Reach are well-used to fighting Lanterns and an untrained Lantern would simply be killed out of hand.
"One moment. Ring, switch channel to Mister Unnamed Assimilation Specialist."
So the recruitment option is out. Deception? Diplomacy? Intimidation?
"Compliance."
"So what exactly are you planning to do, here?"
I mean,
besides being arrogant conquering assholes?
"Spread the Writ of the Reach to all parts of the universe."
Space bends with our need and the back tenth of a battleship in the middle of their formation suddenly experienced extreme thermal shock. Doesn't look like any of the vital systems are destroyed, but the crew in that part of the ship will be looking at severe frostbite.
Surprisingly weak effect. Though Cold Guns aren't really
that much of an area weapon, are they? Short of arraying an entire
battery and trying multiple warps at once, he's not going to do a lot of damage to the bigger ships.
"I mean, specifically. We're in a three way war here and if Grayven's really giving you that much trouble I'm fine with just letting you arm up on anti-New God weapons. I just want to help their ships evacuate."
"The ships are one of the things I want from this system."
Well, then. There's one theory confirmed, more or less. They want the Ascendants, and/or their divine-empowerment systems.
"Alright, but-"
We bend a larger area, getting a better feel for their efforts to stop us. The desires of untold numbers of physicists whisper their dreams to us, and we increasingly make them reality. This time our attack envelops the same battleship, causing cracks to appear all over the hull. Its size makes it unlikely that a attack like this could kill it quickly, but with the majority of its weapons compromised it is more or less 'mission killed'.
Unless they want to try and ram something. Even as brittle as it is now, that much mass will
hurt if it hits something.
"-how badly do you need all of them? Ah, were you on that ship?"
"I see no reason to compromise. As much as you're straining our ships' self-repair systems, the data we're gathering on your weapon is far more valuable. And, no."
No doubt they hope to develop a countermeasure before long. Probably not in time to be useful right now, but in a few weeks, the next Lantern to try a Cold Gun
might get a nasty surprise?
"End. Single… That dreadnought."
The one in the middle of the formation. Reach commanding officers we've encountered to date have been utilitarian in their positioning, neither eager for combat or afraid for their own safety. The most logical place for the senior officer to be therefore is in the largest class of ship in the centre of the formation, where they're best able to direct the response to attacks from any vector without unduly exposing themselves.
Logical enough. But no doubt the Nemesis is
also aboard, in the safest place aboard the ship.
"Hello hello?"
An acknowledging 'ping', but that's all. It's not actually possible for most Lanterns to identity theft someone via a com signal, but the Reach don't like taking chances with that. Because…
Heh. Brings a
new meaning to 'reaching out and touching someone', eh?
Hm.
I don't think I can, but I could probably use it to home in on someone through the Honden.
Oh, I'm sure you Nemesis thinks they're protected against tricks like that. Perhaps that can be a nasty little surprise for
them someday.
"Don't know how much of that you heard, or how much strategic decision making authority you have. But I'd like to take the Ascendant's ships and go, and you can have the rest. How about it?"
"That is uncharacteristically-."
Like I said, there's probably not that many left on-planet, and they'll likely not take well to any attempt to
conquer them. But good luck to you, Reach assholes.
I roll my eyes.
"Really? A little girl voice? I'm entirely too psychotic for that to work."
Also, what little girl would use a word like 'uncharacteristically'?
...Besides someone like Hermoine Granger?
"That's useful information too! But your offer is uncharacteristically generous, implying that there is something of value here that we don't know about."
"No-. Well, sort of. I'm trying to be a bit less kill-happy. In order to improve my relationship with my colleagues on my homeworld. They're not involved in the war, though you are welcome to travel to my homeworld to confirm that for yourself."
Of course, the fact that OL will
happily kill them if he sees them in Earth space doesn't need to be mentioned...
"Do you really expect us to believe that you'd make a deal with us to make your friends happy?"
"I gotta try, you know? I mean, I don't want to kill that Scarab Warrior who thinks I can't see it because they're phased… No, not phased, something else. Jumped out of your sternguard when I started shooting them? They've made good time. But when I kill it all I'll get is mild satisfaction. Having Alan or Kal-El tell me that they like the way I've altered my approach would make me feel far better. And it's not as if I have any sort good feelings for Grayven and Company."
Oh, look,
another bug to bait into self-destructing...
"That's a good point! But we're gunna kill you anyway!"
"We're going to make Scarabs an endangered species like this." I cut communications. "Alright, clever bug. Let's see what you've got."
My guess: Not
nearly enough. Of
anything.