They will serve. I raise my hands to my mouth.
"Lantern Zartok! Lantern Allyn!"
So, you think Allyn is
ready for real field-work? That slowness you mentioned might get him in trouble...
Or he might find some much-needed
haste in real battle.
It pleases me to see that neither of them are distracted. Ranged constructs fall silent at once and no new energy pulses are sent across the duelling ground. Both maintain their shields and armour and don't take their eyes off one another. Zartok's people don't end their training duels in quite the same way that mine do, but he-.
Zartok raises his right fist up to his ear, then extends it towards his opponent. Allyn doesn't respond. He doesn't know the gesture and isn't used to looking things up on his ring's database. His own people have no ritual duelling tradition as they've spent too much time engaged in full scale war. When I first hear of it, I thought that it might suit me. Or rather, I would be better suited to it than the peaceful world I was born to.
Heh. Different training regimens, different practices. I wonder if the strategists mix their trainees in units in order to encourage
espri-de-corps. Don't want to form distinct power blocs within the Corps, after all.
But it's not all about me.
Ah, Allyn has dropped his construct armour. Not the proper response, but it will stand. In another situation, Zartok wouldn't be above attacking a Lantern who hadn't properly signalled the end of a spar, but he's usually a little more understanding when I'm around.
Probably because you'd slap him down just as he would the rookie.
According to the Illustres, I'm a beef gate.
The term was not explained on my ring's cultural database. Metaphors often don't translate well, if there is no equivalent phrase. In an attempt to understand what he meant, I had the cooks prepare a meal of beef. The taste was fair, but I saw no similarity between it and myself. So I asked him directly. Essentially, he feels that anyone thinking about challenging him would first seek to challenge me, as I am the most available Lantern of rank. Anyone who cannot beat me is not worthy of his time.
Beef Gate via TVTropes, if like Ragnar, you haven't heard the term. And OL really should have given some thought to including more internet slang in his database, really. Would be amusing to hear Lanterns spouting gamer lingo during battle.
"I claim Mid!"
"Just don't Feed like you usually do, Noob!"
"Fornicate with your mother, as I did last night!"
Lantern Zartok and I both want to kill the Illustres. Or rather, have both stated that we will. Having reflected on it at length, I don't think that I do want to kill him; not specifically. Beat him as proof of my skill and supremacy, yes. But unlike Zartok I didn't kill my former swordmaster when I was done with my training.
Zartok sneers for a moment, then lowers his own defence constructs. "It is customary to salute an opponent at the end of a spar. Remember that next time."
A useful lesson, and thankfully not having to be taught with
physical reinforcement.
Allyn responds by raising his fist in a mirror of Zartok's gesture.
"Adequate." His eye shifts to me. "Have you been introduced to Lantern Ragnar?"
Still more
manly than, say, the Naruto gesture of
reconciliation.
"Yes. The Illustres introduced us when I first arrived."
The Illustres recruits the most interesting people. Aside from Lantern Xalitan Xor -my 'beef gate'- none of them have been warriors, exactly, but all of them have had a unique perspective on the orange light. Each have been far more powerful than most of our recruits, and the boy Lantern Sodam Yat is stronger than most recruits even without his ring.
OL does favour
interesting quality over generic quantity. I do hope Sodam Yat has attended to his species'
chemical issues, though.
Lantern Zartok glances up as the stands, where his coterie of Lantern Drusa and Lantern Grood sat watching as is their custom. Lantern Grood jumps down to his master's side with a single thrust of his arms, while Lantern Drusa flies more slowly, eyes flickering as she reviews reports from the front lines to try to determine what I want.
A good team. Balanced.
The Leader, the Brute, the Hacker and the Rookie. A
classic squad. Though how the Power Trio of Zartok, Drusa and Grood respond to working with Allyn will be curious to see.
"You have news?"
Lantern Zartok stares directly into my eyes as he asks. He mirrors my stance, neither respectful or insolent but as an equal. But unlike him I have two eyes, and I see the awkwardness of Lantern Drusa as he asks me a question she could already answer.
It's a pity you two probably don't have comparable anatomy, so you could just whip them out and
compare them to put an end to your dick-waving contest...
"Yes. They were hunting for Grayven's fleet. Whatever he has been doing to the Reach, it has roused in then an anger that not even we can equal."
His face twists as he tries to prevent himself feeling rage. "That will not stand."
After all, it's the OLC's job to put the fear of creation into the Reach.
Even if they don't quite have the right
colour for it.
"No. It won't. For the first time since the beginning of the war, we are sending a team to infiltrate deep into Reach space. If you are willing, the four of you will be a part of it."
"I am a warrior, not a spy."
Yeah, I can't picture you trying to be
discreet, ever.
"You will not lack for targets in the interior of the Reach. You will simply have to combine your wrath with subtlety. The Darkstar squad assigned to the mission will handle any actual spying that needs to be done."
"Not a fleet, then. One of their stealth cruisers."
Does
it have a pilot with brittle bones at the helm?
"A new design. Something that should be able to fly through the Reach's interdiction systems. Until they adapt them."
"Is there a reason why we do not build a fleet of such ships and then charge deeply into their territory in force?"
Cost, both in materials and construction time, I would bet. Same reason the
Normandy I was largely a development project rather than a line model.
"Yes." As disappointed as I was when I found out. "Such ships are difficult to build, even for the Controllers. They could have built a fleet in the time it took to build this ship."
Lantern Zartok clearly isn't happy, but he led armies. He knows when a logistical position is untenable.
Goddammit, now I
am going to be picturing it as the Normandy, no matter
how you describe it.
"Marines?"
I frown. Why would he ask about that? "What for? You aren't expected to hold territory or engage in broad-front combat."
Honestly, that's about all they'd be useful for, if you have
four Lanterns aboard.
"Then what are we being sent to do?"
"We need to know more about Grayven's fights with the Reach. We believe that we know where they have been fighting, because we know where they moved their inner circle fleet from."
And it'll be a lot easier to infiltrate Reach territory than it will be to even
find Grayven's.
"So their defences are weakened?"
"Not to the point where four Lanterns could destroy what's left. But enough that you won't have to worry about them flooding your area with gravity distortion weapons."
Which would probably be a solid threat to most Lanterns who
aren't Guy or OL.
Lantern Zartok nods. "Are you joining us?"
"No. You will work better without me. I would disrupt your chain of command."
Too big a dog for this fight, eh? I assume he's a known quantity to Reach intelligence, and would force a larger response than 'Team Z'.
He nods again, this time with more vigour. If I had a regret about taking responsibility for training so many other Lanterns, it is that it has not allowed me to form the bonds of camaraderie that I see other Lanterns having. Perhaps if Lantern Xor spent more time here…
Or perhaps I should speak to the Illustres. Another Lantern could take up my responsibilities here, and that would allow me to spend more time in combat. I would rather spend it on his homeworld, fighting the madness that it produces, but… Now is not the time. Anti-Life is not something that a buzz blade can cut.
And it probably
would do good to change up the trainers every so often, keep the skills of their trainees fresh and unpredictable to the Reach.
"I will want to speak to the Darkstar leader at once."
I fire a data packet to each of them, Lantern Drusa's eyes glowing at once as she goes through it. Lantern Zartok will do the same later, when I am not within sword's reach.
Ah, old instincts die hard, eh, Zartok?
I would not kill him, of course. Not outside of a sanctioned duel. He makes me reflect on what I might have become if I had not received my ring. Uncomfortably so.
"I wish you all best fortune. We need information more than kills, but…" I smile. "Neither of us want Grayven outpacing us."
And with his firepower, he can rack them up a lot faster...
"No. Where is he, anyway?"
"Not anywhere near Karakkan. We recovered some wreckage, but most of his ships escaped the Reach."
Probably good news for Allyn, but bad news for everyone else. Probably got his flagship somewhere, patching it up.
"And the Reach fleet? Then appearing behind us would be inconvenient."
Ah. "The Illustres intends to deal with them personally."
I do hope that was accompanied by a vicious grin. Because of there's one thing OL does well, it's teaching a lesson to bad people.
