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

Chojin Patriarch · Sunday at 8:41 AM

Mr Zoat said:
29th April 2013
12:33 GMT

"And this is the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps."

The eight other members of the Effigy Corps stand in two rows as Mr. van Wyck introduces me. Empathic vision is working and… He genuinely wants me to be here. This is reinforcing his authority, showing respect.

Which might help to steady him as he adapts to each new enhancement. Just OL being here is a big thing for them, I suspect. One of the Orange Lantern Corps' highest officers here to observe their first group engagement...

Good. I can work with that.

Jevek Jos Jar isn't here, but this is the mustering zone so that isn't either surprising or unusual. Hinon doesn't see off Orange Lantern taskforces unless she's joining them as part of the diplomatic team. Dox does for larger groups on longer missions, but Orange Lanterns are mostly left to their own devices.

After all, the very nature of their empowerment requires independence of action.

I doubt that's something that Controller Jevek will do.

The other Effigies are a mix of N.E.M.O.-aligned species. No clickers, oddly, and the white face mask appears to be unique to Mr. van Wyck. Only two of them have the fire hair replacement, though most of the others are from species that have no body hair. Only one is wearing body armour, which appears to be a Darkstar exo-mantle. I wonder if he's wearing it for basic protection, or if Jevek is actually empowering it?

Could just be that he understands the sensibility of wearing armour, even if you don't need it.

Their logo appears to be a white circle with a black… I'm not sure if that's a flame or a hand on it? There's a smaller red flame coming from the wrist, and combined with the red of their… Skin? Bodysuits? The whole thing is actually fairly similar to the Darkstars' design, but… Simplified. Clearly part of the same thing, just not the same part of the same thing.

Close enough to be recognisable to allies or enemies alike, without being mistaken for the other in the fog of battle.

I'll ask about the logo design later.

"I'm pleased to meet you all. I'll be tagging along on your first mission so that I can feed back to Clarissi Dox about how you and your successors can best fit into N.E.M.O.'s order of battle. I look forward to seeing you in action."

But not taking a direct hand unless needed, of course. After all... This is a test of their capabilities.

The former Darkstar raises a hand, looking at me. I make a point of obviously noticing it and then looking at Mr. van Wyck. He looks at me, as if not sure what I'm doing. Then I see his expression of surprise and pride as he works it out.

After all, I was where he is a year and a half ago; the leader of a handful of people with powers like mine joining in a war which the Darkstars had been fighting since the Industrial Revolution.

And you've come a hell of a long way, OL. Now, can Marty manage the same?

He gestures to the Effigy with the raised hand. "Krillik."

"Will you be participating in the battle, Illustres?"

Heh. I see they're smart enough to wonder about his presence. Backup? Observer? Clean-up crew? No surprise he's asking.

"If your commanding officer asks me to, I can. However, the purpose of the exercise is to see what you can do on your own, to fully test out how effective your augmentations are in the field. If I do too much, I would undermine that."

Krillik makes a gesture of affirmation, and several of the others look… Pleased? I suppose that if I was told that I was going to be shadowed by Darkstars who would jump in the moment I started having trouble -after having used my ring for a year on Planet Hard Mode- I'd have been a bit annoyed too.

Heh. True enough.

"I'll be accompanying you to the edge of the Reach's anti-Lantern interdiction fields, then I'll wait for you to reach your target before teleporting myself to you." I smile. "But if I don't see it, you don't get any points for it."

A few half-smiles, but these…

Well, I'm sure they'll acquit themselves with honour and glory.

Actually... Empathic vision and personnel files show… Krillik is indeed a former Darkstar. Applied to join the Orange Lantern Corps when we first formed but didn't pass the personality screening. Not avaricious enough. Good guy, though. One of the others failed screening for the opposite reason: too avaricious. He'd have…

...Gone full Larfleeze? A reasonable concern for a tool driven by base urges.

Huh. Orange light looks a little more muted. So either he reconsidered his life, or Jevek did something to him that gave him better self-discipline. Good move either way. The others appear to have been recruited through L.E.G.I.O.N., all… Ah, several of them have notes relating to psychological concerns, but not all of them and… I suppose a Controller can fix a lot of things when you're up on the slab.

Perhaps his lessened avarice is just that he has what he wanted: Power to fight and win.

"Well, that's… It from me. Effigy Prime, back to you."

Mr. van Wyck nods. "In case any of you have forgotten, our target is a Reach tertiary shipyard. Priority target is any ships under repair or construction, then the space docks themselves. If their fleet hasn't turned up, we can wreck whatever's left." He hesitates. "Honestly…" He makes a fist with his right hand. "I'm a bit eager to try these upgrades out on their bigger ships…" He smiles, pseudo flames flaring. "But this is a trial run to see what we can do and get us used to killing the Reach for real. Bigger ships tomorrow."

So try not to die, I guess. Then again, they've made it this far, so unless something goes horribly wrong...

A couple of them nod.

"Right, come on." He rises into the air, the other Effigies joining him a moment later. "We've got a long flight ahead of us."

Not one for any formal command style, then. Very much a bro leading bros.

They all zoom upwards, accelerating away from Maltus and towards Reach space. We'll actually be flying around Reach space for a good distance before turning inward, and… That's a pretty good place for me to make a distraction attack. Reach forces who encounter me appear to be under orders to 'retreat in good order', so letting them know where I am is a low-risk endeavour.

Let's hope it inconveniences that one Reach commander who seems to keep turning up whenever he's around.

I

step out, looking for the patterns of desire that represent the Effigy team. Finding it, I

return to normal space and bend space to match the effect of their telekinesis.

Not a difficult technique for an advanced Lantern, I suppose.

Mr. van Wyck has taken the lead, a position that's a natural one for a leader to take in an organisation like ours: one where personal combat skill counts for more than organisational ability. I fly past the rest of the squad and pull up alongside him, matching my 'bubble' to his so that we can speak privately.

Probably tricky to communicate in transit otherwise. If they're FTL, any non-entangled signal will be light-years back before they can pick it up.

"Feeling confident?"

"I've been practising."

Wonder how long he stayed up practising that little speech and sweating over how he'd do.

"I noticed. None of your targets on this mission have armour significantly better than the ships you destroyed. But this is the first time you've had command."

"They all know what they're doing." He glances back towards his team. "If I need to tell them stuff… This isn't really something we can do wrong. Just… Less right. They're learning, I'm learning."

Very much a looser command style than other branches of NEMO. After all, their boss treats them like smart, reusable ordnance.

I nod. That's probably about as much as I can… Say 'do you want advice or assistance?' without coming right out and saying it, which would be counterproductive.

"I take it that you've done exercises together?"

Making sure he's dotted his 'i's and crossed his 't's, eh? I imagine said exercises were still live-fire, though.

"Yeah. Just a couple. Small fleets, a listening post or two. Nothing like this, but we're not going to win this war without destroying things that matter."

I nod. "Alas, no."

And every system will have to be won individually, one slow step at a time...

We fly for a little while without speaking, turning very slightly to make an arc around the periphery zone.

"How did-? You get started? Being in charge of things?"

Anything to break up the pre-engagement jitters, eh? Though it is a good idea to compare notes.

"You know how I was on the Justice League's youth team?" He nods. "On our first mission, I made a couple of sensible observations. Since I had the spare time I did some planning exercises in my spare time. Eventually, our team leader needed a holiday and I was the natural choice to take over temporarily."

Though not without giving Batman a few headaches in the meantime.

"What was it?"

"The President of Qurac got mind controlled. We had to sneak around his palace, free him and defeat the people controlling him. It went… Not perfectly, but we achieved our objectives without anyone dying." I chuckle. "And then we nearly blew the whole thing because some Bialyan soldiers decided to raid a wildlife sanctuary on the border and… Superheroes, we had to get involved."

So long ago. Several years in-universe, quite a few more outside.

"Anything you weren't expecting?"

"Well, they had Apokoliptian weapons, but they were all 'made for export' things and they weren't that much harder to deal with than normal guns."

"No. Like… Being in charge."

You never know how you're going to deal with it until you are, sometimes. You can prepare and study all you like, but when the time comes...

I shrug. "They were all people I'd known for months. I was living with two of them. And it was a lot less… Formal? Than a military unit. In terms of.. motivating them, I just made it clear why I was assigning the tasks I was. They could follow my reasoning, so they understood why things were happening and what they were supposed to be doing." I shrug. "I didn't like it or dislike it, if that's what you mean." I smile. "But if being in charge was hard, then the people in charge wouldn't be able to do it, right?"

"Heh." He smiles back. "Yeah."

Not so easy a task in a war like this, but if Effigy teams operate like loose little warbands, that might be a better method than large-scale deployments.

All right. Knowing OL's luck, this may go horribly well. For instance, a Reach fleet with a lot more power than they expected might be on-site, and they get to see just how big a force they can stand up to before retreating. Let's hope they all make it through this in good shape, or Marty will end up having quite a time of it.

Bud-E · Sunday at 9:29 AM

I like how this is going so far hope it stays that way... Also does Effigy prime look any different then he did before considering the upgrades?

NightmareWarden · Sunday at 9:41 AM

I didn't comment on the preceding chapter, but I'm glad we got to see Jade again! Personal feelings aside, I think that was an excellent contribution from her too. Good way to use her which feels natural. Could foreshadow her popping up again, or it could be a one-off.

GigaVanguard said:
I'm gonna be either really bummed when the rapport OL has been building with Effigy crashes and burns, or pleasantly surprised if he listens to Paul when JJJ's inevitable face-heel turn rolls around and turns coat.

I've got my money on the "Do you think I would give you this power without installing an off switch" option when Effigy declines to follow an order.

Rin · Sunday at 1:38 PM

NightmareWarden said:
I've got my money on the "Do you think I would give you this power without installing an off switch" option when Effigy declines to follow an order.

I'll bet that the Effigies won't *purposefully* turn traitor, but, well, as far as we know they've been enhanced by weird otherdimensional mutants, elder (robot) gods, future-earth tech and a whole bunch of other things that could all easily create a problem for the setting. Like, one dies and suddenly the reach has access to the Blood of Unicron or something similar to it that JJJ cooked up.

Nothing Can Go Wrong.

Ardy · Sunday at 2:35 PM

NightmareWarden said:
I've got my money on the "Do you think I would give you this power without installing an off switch" option when Effigy declines to follow an order.

I mean... it's Jevek Jos "Sun Eaters" Jar. I could totally see him not installing an off-switch.

rdfox · Sunday at 3:12 PM

Honestly, Effigy Prime's command style actually seems like that of a good junior officer when taking his first command--that rare "butterbar" (2nd Lieutenant in US Army terms, OF-1 by NATO rank codes) who shows up at a new unit, knows he's really not that much better at this than his men, listens to them, respects the input of his NCOs (who have a lot more experience than he has), and only relies on the "I'm an officer, you're enlisted, you do what I say" card when absolutely necessary, instead using a lot more of the carrot than the stick and only busting people's asses as necessary to ensure that they do still respect him (which gets a lot more respect than trying to force that respect from them). Or, you know, a 1LT/OF-2 who actually has a solid career ahead of him, or what they call a "mustang" in the US military--someone who started out enlisted, did a good job, got noticed, went to Officer Candidate School, and became an officer.

The last is probably the most accurate--he started out as a grunt for Jevek, got a decent amount of experience on the front line, and then was selected for a leadership role. Means that he knows how the grunt thinks, and what the grunt needs, and he can tailor his leadership style to that quickly. It's also seen in a lot of people who get field commissions to fill open junior officer billets on an emergency basis in a combat zone, and often leads to a very effective unit, since those guys bond hard with said leader and are thus willing to run through a brick wall (or off a cliff, or directly through enemy fire) for him. (In some ways, it's similar to why the Detroit Lions of the NFL have, over the past four years, gone from the league's 60-plus-year joke/punching bag to being one of the top teams--it's almost entirely the same team, but when they hired Dan Campbell to coach, he knew how to motivate them, and the players love him for it, getting great results out of a group of castoffs and never-weres who are finally coming into their own.)

Now it's just a matter of making sure he is able to keep that emotional distance needed to be able to order his men to do something that's certain death, if needed... if Effigy Prime can't still stay detached enough to do that, it'll all fall down eventually.

Steelplaza · Sunday at 4:08 PM

I think another useful conversation the SI could have with Effigy is to remind him that even with all their precautions, Orange Lanterns still go crazy. A certain percentage of their recruits literally go insane and have to be locked up. And they're still recruiting Orange Lanterns and using them to fight the Reach.

So if the newly boosted Effigy process results in some bad side effects, even if a certain percentage of effigies go crazy or something equally extreme, that doesn't mean that Dox or the rest of NEMO leadership is looking for an excuse to shut this thing down. They'll be prepared to put up with a lot. They just need to know about it and be able to account for it. So van Wyck shouldn't feel he needs to hide anything to protect the program, is the point.

Stsword · Sunday at 6:50 PM

Steelplaza said:
So if the newly boosted Effigy process results in some bad side effects, even if a certain percentage of effigies go crazy or something equally extreme, that doesn't mean that Dox or the rest of NEMO leadership is looking for an excuse to shut this thing down. They'll be prepared to put up with a lot. They just need to know about it and be able to account for it. So van Wyck shouldn't feel he needs to hide anything to protect the program, is the point.

If he's a rational actor.

We don't know what, if any psychological effects all these improvements could have had on him, and unless Zoat is ignoring the comics entirely van Wyck had issues before all this- Effigy in the comics was one of those "became a villain because he's fucked up by his issues" villains, namely anger. He felt, rightly or wrongly, that he'd been the world's punching bag and now that he had power he was going to punch back.

Honestly, I'm rooting for him here, but I could see him reacting to any perceived attack on the Effigy program as "You think I'm not good enough, HOW DARE YOU, I'll show you I'm good enough!!!"

Darko · Sunday at 7:14 PM

Stsword said:
If he's a rational actor.

We don't know what, if any psychological effects all these improvements could have had on him, and unless Zoat is ignoring the comics entirely van Wyck had issues before all this- Effigy in the comics was one of those "became a villain because he's fucked up by his issues" villains, namely anger. He felt, rightly or wrongly, that he'd been the world's punching bag and now that he had power he was going to punch back.

Honestly, I'm rooting for him here, but I could see him reacting to any perceived attack on the Effigy program as "You think I'm not good enough, HOW DARE YOU, I'll show you I'm good enough!!!"

In the chapter where Jevek told him about getting new powers he was definitely shown to have issues.

Anger and, judging by the black text, depression.

Mr Zoat · Monday at 6:08 AM

20th December 2282
14:27 GMT -7

It's nearly Christmas. And… I'm in a trench with a dozen or so mechempaths waiting for the… Hm. Yes, in terms of mass, the largest combat robot in America, to finally reach us.

Subtle, ARGOS is not.

Doki Doki's broadcasts… 'Wasteland's Most Eligible Batchelor' isn't broadcasting with enough power to overwhelm other transmissions anymore. Tuning to Doki Doki's usual broadcasts just results in you receiving the image of a test card. I didn't catch it, but apparently she was… In a bit of a state after we left and the two remaining participants needed medical attention from ODYSSEUS's medical protectrons.

This is… Doki Doki is so lacking in malice that I find it hard to be angry with her, even after she crashed my saucer and nearly killed me. With AIs I just… Keep feeling that if I can just work out how to get through to them then we could come to terms. They're not all that complicated. They usually just have one thing they really want, and one person or group that they're happy to be subservient to.

Take Skynet, for example. It just wanted something to do that wasn't rearranging inventory in an underground bunker. Hayes has been giving it economic and military data and asking it for projections, which is keeping it entertained while the Isotope Chapter finish transforming the Sierra Nevada Depot into a factory and research complex. Or WARDEN, who just wants to enforce the pre-War law of the land. Or ODYSSEUS, who just wants to turn prisoners into honest citizens. Aside from that brief time where he nearly nuked Colorado due to a New Plague outbreak, but that at least made sense.

But, Christmas. The Sky Walkers aren't a materialistic people, due to not having much in the way of materials. They're also not very Christian. The Cult of Whispers discouraged displays of conventional religiosity quite thoroughly, they weren't rich enough to attract the Hubologists and the NCR is majority sort-of Hindu. And Tears may have converted, but apparently the Mormons celebrate Christmas in April for some reason?

I mean, I remember hearing that Christmas is in the middle of winter because the early Church usurped a pagan midwinter festival, but why it should be in April I've got no idea.

THUD.

It's just a bit strange. I don't really want to introduce the sort of Christmas that I remember because there's no tradition to build off. There aren't any Christmas Trees in the Mojave, tinsel doesn't exist and as much as I liked Christmas crackers I'd have to reintroduce about four different industries… It just doesn't make sense.

THUD.

But Diana does have turkeys, and potatoes -actual potatoes, not the weird mutant things that were developed to survive a nuclear war- and other vegetables that I consider part of a proper Christmas dinner. I'll invite my father-in-law, my mothers-in-law…

THUD.

And just bring the whole family over. They're increasing the area of land they can cultivate. Maybe they'll want to start growing some of them?

THUD.

So the best route for ARGOS to take is through Sleepers territory. Technically, they're an apocalypse cult. Fortunately, since Victor Presper's death they're not in any position to cause their apocalypse so I've been happy to leave them to it in their crashed space station home.

THUD.

It appears that ARGOS agreed.

THUD.

Next to me, Paladin Hayman grasps the detonator with more strength than is strictly necessary.

THUD.

And there he is. In a way, seeing him in the light and… You know, not erupting from the river at night illuminated by his own searchlights is a good deal less intimidating. We still have to actually stop him, of course.

I pick up my satellite phone handset.

"ARGOS, this is Krono."

"TRIANGULATING PRISONER LOCATION."

"What orders did Doki Doki give you?"

"PRISONERS ARE TO BE RETURNED TO TIBBETS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY."

Paladin Hayman turns her helmet to glare at me as-

THUD.

-ARGOS continues to approach. And… Yeah.

"P-" She presses the detonator. "-ress it."

There's a very bright light, and my handset makes a decidedly unhappy noise at the electromagnetic discharge of a lot of pulse grenades detonating at once. ARGOS is hardened, but hardening isn't a magic invulnerability spell. There's still a limit to what he can absorb. And then there are his peripherals which have to be at least somewhat exposed to work. And if that didn't work then hopefully the-

BOOM! CRUNCH!

-fact that we just dropped a large piece of canyon wall on him will slow him down, as well as the super flashbang.

And… He's twitching, but I think-.

The engine of the mechempaths' APC rumbles to life as they finish repairing the few parts that are vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses, and then the driver puts his foot down hard. Brotherhood Paladins with Gatling lasers and missile launchers rise out of our trench at a slightly more sedate pace, ready to rain fire down on ARGOS if he shows signs of life. The Brotherhood may like technology, but rampant robots are something they absolutely hate. And I… Walk out, because Paladin Hayman and I are the ones that he's been instructed to retrieve and he might ignore actual threats if we're visible.

Hayman keeps pace with me. "If we had brought mini-nukes, we could destroy it here and now."

"That would make getting to Doki Doki's central mainframe unnecessarily difficult."

"I didn't think that you would let me destroy her."

"I… Accept that she needs her priorities reprogrammed a little. Her core personality is fine."

"Allowing a robot to control human civilization is foolish. Particularly one with a mind based on a courtship simulator. Something as dangerous as either of them should be destroyed. Human civilization will not be safe as long as they exist."

The mechempaths are exiting the APC, and at this point it should be over. Even if ARGOS can reactivate, they can override each of his components externally.

"Humans wrecked the world perfectly well without AI." I shake my head. "Doki Doki told us that she reprogrammed ARGOS prior to the first Wasteland's Most Eligible Bachelor. Resetting him or putting him in debug mode should be simple. And then we can put him back in the prison guard role he was originally built for."

"You should at least remove some of his weapons."

"That… You might be right. Or we could at least-."

**Chief?**

One of the mechempaths is looking at me, and I hear concern in his mental voice.

**Yes? Is he under control?**

**Oh, yeah, but you wanted to know what Doki told him to do with you?**

**Yes? Take me back to Tibbet's Prison, he said.**

**Ah, no? I mean, on the surface-. He thinks he does. But there's this hidden command line that-. He was supposed to take you to someplace called Vault Zero. Along with any other psykers he could-.**

**How long has he had that programming?**

**Timestamp says a month? But if Doki got root access-.**

**Fuck!**

Chojin Patriarch · Monday at 6:41 AM

Mr Zoat said:
20th December 2282
14:27 GMT -7

It's nearly Christmas. And… I'm in a trench with a dozen or so mechempaths waiting for the… Hm. Yes, in terms of mass, the largest combat robot in America, to finally reach us.

Subtle, ARGOS is not.

To be fair, it's a big stompy prisoner-recovery robot. It's probably designed with some manner of 'the inevitability of justice' metaphor going on. Never mind the heavy armour, carrying cages, armaments... He's a chonky boy.

Doki Doki's broadcasts… 'Wasteland's Most Eligible Batchelor' isn't broadcasting with enough power to overwhelm other transmissions anymore. Tuning to Doki Doki's usual broadcasts just results in you receiving the image of a test card. I didn't catch it, but apparently she was… In a bit of a state after we left and the two remaining participants needed medical attention from ODYSSEUS's medical protectrons.

Very much not happy? As much from the absconding contestants as the damage wrought on the facilities.

This is… Doki Doki is so lacking in malice that I find it hard to be angry with her, even after she crashed my saucer and nearly killed me. With AIs I just… Keep feeling that if I can just work out how to get through to them then we could come to terms. They're not all that complicated. They usually just have one thing they really want, and one person or group that they're happy to be subservient to.

The problem is when the former is actively disruptive to the normal functioning of society or the latter when said person or group no longer exist?

Take Skynet, for example. It just wanted something to do that wasn't rearranging inventory in an underground bunker. Hayes has been giving it economic and military data and asking it for projections, which is keeping it entertained while the Isotope Chapter finish transforming the Sierra Nevada Depot into a factory and research complex. Or WARDEN, who just wants to enforce the pre-War law of the land. Or ODYSSEUS, who just wants to turn prisoners into honest citizens. Aside from that brief time where he nearly nuked Colorado due to a New Plague outbreak, but that at least made sense.

...Because it would have put his prisoners in danger, and he takes their safety very seriously? Logical, if excessive.

But, Christmas. The Sky Walkers aren't a materialistic people, due to not having much in the way of materials. They're also not very Christian. The Cult of Whispers discouraged displays of conventional religiosity quite thoroughly, they weren't rich enough to attract the Hubologists and the NCR is majority sort-of Hindu. And Tears may have converted, but apparently the Mormons celebrate Christmas in April for some reason?

...Hindu? How peculiar.

I mean, I remember hearing that Christmas is in the middle of winter because the early Church usurped a pagan midwinter festival, but why it should be in April I've got no idea.

THUD.

The feast of Sol Invictus, which they tried to syncretise with Jesus early on.

It's just a bit strange. I don't really want to introduce the sort of Christmas that I remember because there's no tradition to build off. There aren't any Christmas Trees in the Mojave, tinsel doesn't exist and as much as I liked Christmas crackers I'd have to reintroduce about four different industries… It just doesn't make sense.

THUD.

And many of those things are from other winter traditions the Church absorbed...

But Diana does have turkeys, and potatoes -actual potatoes, not the weird mutant things that were developed to survive a nuclear war- and other vegetables that I consider part of a proper Christmas dinner. I'll invite my father-in-law, my mothers-in-law…

THUD.

...And he's taking now to think about this? Shouldn't he be a little more worried about ARGOS?

And just bring the whole family over. They're increasing the area of land they can cultivate. Maybe they'll want to start growing some of them?

THUD.

And potatoes are a good staple crop, especially in reasonably limited cultivation areas. There's a reason why it became the signature crop of Ireland...

So the best route for ARGOS to take is through Sleepers territory. Technically, they're an apocalypse cult. Fortunately, since Victor Presper's death they're not in any position to cause their apocalypse so I've been happy to leave them to it in their crashed space station home.

THUD.

...I'm guessing most of the tech inside is wrecked, or people would be going for it more. Or they are very determined about defending their home turf.

It appears that ARGOS agreed.

THUD.

He's not an idiot, after all. Just very unconcerned with anything outside of his mission and whatever would impede it.

Next to me, Paladin Hayman grasps the detonator with more strength than is strictly necessary.

THUD.

Looking forwards to getting some payback, if ARGOS was the one that collected her earlier, I take it.

And there he is. In a way, seeing him in the light and… You know, not erupting from the river at night illuminated by his own searchlights is a good deal less intimidating. We still have to actually stop him, of course.

I pick up my satellite phone handset.

And this is where your backup comes in.

"ARGOS, this is Krono."

"TRIANGULATING PRISONER LOCATION."

'Prisoner', eh? Well, Krono did assume Doki's boyfriend would tag them as escaped prisoners.

"What orders did Doki Doki give you?"

"PRISONERS ARE TO BE RETURNED TO TIBBETS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY."

Pretty blunt. I don't think you're gonna be able to talk this one out, Krono.

Paladin Hayman turns her helmet to glare at me as-

THUD.

Yes, he was right. Don't feel so annoyed. He gets that a lot.

-ARGOS continues to approach. And… Yeah.

"P-" She presses the detonator. "-ress it."

I get the feeling if ARGOS had gotten any closer, she'd have pressed it regardless.

There's a very bright light, and my handset makes a decidedly unhappy noise as the electromagnetic discharge as a lot of pulse grenades detonate at once. ARGOS is hardened, but hardening isn't a magic invulnerability spell. There's still a limit to what he can absorb. And then there are his peripherals which have to be at least somewhat exposed to work. And if that didn't work then hopefully the-

So he's momentarily blind, deaf and disoriented.

BOOM! CRUNCH!

-fact that we just dropped a large piece of canyon wall on him will slow him down, as well as the super flashbang.

And… He's twitching, but I think-.

Yeah, that should slow him down nicely. Now what?

The engine of the mechempaths' APC rumbles to life as they finish repairing the few parts that are vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses, and then the driver puts his foot down hard. Brotherhood Paladins with Gatling lasers and missile launchers rise out of our trench at a slightly more sedate pace, ready to rain fire down on ARGOS if he shows signs of life. The Brotherhood may like technology, but rampant robots are something they absolutely hate. And I… Walk out, because Paladin Hayman and I are the ones that he's been instructed to retrieve and he might ignore actual threats if we're visible.

Heh. He's had time to plan this out well. Given that ARGOS is apparently kind of slow-going over long distances, it's to be expected.

Hayman keeps pace with me. "If we had brought mini-nukes, we could destroy it here and now."

"That would make getting to Doki Doki's central mainframe unnecessarily difficult."

She certainly wouldn't be happy about it. Nor would her boyfriend, who would go into lockdown.

"I didn't think that you would let me destroy her."

"I… Accept that she needs her priorities reprogrammed a little. Her core personality is fine."

The trick is getting to modify them at all.

"Allowing a robot to control human civilization is foolish. Particularly one with a mind based on a courtship simulator. Something as dangerous as either of them should be destroyed. Human civilization will not be safe as long as they exist."

The mechempaths are exiting the APC, and at this point it should be over. Even if ARGOS can reactivate, they can override each of his components externally.

Now, if only they could do the same to other AIs. Without getting shot, anyway.

"Humans wrecked the world perfectly well without AI." I shake my head. "Doki Doki told us that she reprogrammed ARGOS prior to the first Wasteland's Most Eligible Bachelor. Resetting him or putting him in debug mode should be simple. And then we can put him back in the prison guard role he was originally built for."

And hopefully with commands to ignore Doki's requests.

"You should at least remove some of his weapons."

"That… You might be right. Or we could at least-."

I mean, given some of the stuff wasteland bandits and wildlife can turn up with? He probably needs the defensive options.

**Chief?**

One of the mechempaths is looking at me, and I hear concern in his mental voice.

Oh-ho, a twist?

**Yes? Is he under control?**

**Oh, yeah, but you wanted to know what Doki told him to do with you?**

I'd expect that to be rather obvious?

**Yes? Take me back to Tibbet's Prison, he said.**

**Ah, no? I mean, on the surface-. He thinks he does. But there's this hidden command line that-. He was supposed to take you to someplace called Vault Zero. Along with any other psykers he could-.**

...And that is what, exactly?

For the benefit of those not steeped in Fallout lore?

**How long has he had that programming?**

**Timestamp says a month? But if Doki got root access-.**

**Fuck!**

All right, it's definitely a bad thing, then.

This promises to be an interesting wrinkle in the course of Krono's life, I bet. I'm guessing this Vault Zero place will end up being the focus of a lot of trouble for everyone, and thus get a lot of factions working together that wouldn't normally. Since its controlling AI is apparently fully in the omnicidal camp and has command of an army of killbots...

Lord Ernest · Monday at 6:56 AM

Krono, why are you being so lenient with the unhinged AI?!

I'm with Hayes here. If they were genuinely harmless, fine. But when Doki can just cause chaos on a whim and nobody can stand against it because it's too dangerous? Also, pretty weird being unable to hate or be angry against something/someone that tried to kill you without a valid reason.

A wild animal may attack me and they probably have a valid reason but I'm still going to have a grudge against that animal. It may not be personal to them but it's personal to me!

NightmareWarden · Monday at 6:58 AM

Chojin Patriarch said:
This promises to be an interesting wrinkle in the course of Krono's life, I bet. I'm guessing this Vault Zero place will end up being the focus of a lot of trouble for everyone, and thus get a lot of factions working together that wouldn't normally. Since its controlling AI is apparently fully in the omnicidal camp and has command of an army of killbots...

Do you think an Orange ring, telepathic powers, and research from other wetware mad science could be enough to restore the defrosted brains?

Neruz · Monday at 7:03 AM

Chojin Patriarch said:
This promises to be an interesting wrinkle in the course of Krono's life, I bet. I'm guessing this Vault Zero place will end up being the focus of a lot of trouble for everyone, and thus get a lot of factions working together that wouldn't normally. Since its controlling AI is apparently fully in the omnicidal camp and has command of an army of killbots...

Vault 0 is the Fallout Tactics Vault where the brains from the greatest geniuses of pre-war America were turned into a networked supercomputer called the Calculator.

Except according to prior posts from Zoat, Calculator has already been dealt with. Which means someone else has taken over Vault 0 and is apparently trying to acquire psyker brains, which definitely cannot be a good thing, especially if they're trying to rebuild the Calculator with psykers instead of geniuses.

e:

NightmareWarden said:
Do you think an Orange ring, telepathic powers, and research from other wetware mad science could be enough to restore the defrosted brains?

The Calculator is already dead, there's nothing to restore.

Mr Zoat · Monday at 8:32 AM

Me said:
There's a very bright light, and my handset makes a decidedly unhappy noise as the electromagnetic discharge as a lot of pulse grenades detonate at once.

Thank me, corrected.

Neruz said:
Vault 0 is the Fallout Tactics Vault where the brains from the greatest geniuses of pre-war America were turned into a networked supercomputer called the Calculator.

I'm afraid you're misrepresenting the quality of the brains used.

Neruz · Monday at 9:42 AM

Mr Zoat said:
I'm afraid you're misrepresenting the quality of the brains used.

Well "the greatest geniuses" is what Vault-Tec said were going into the Vault. What actually went into the Vault was, as usual with pre-war Fallout America, probably not what was claimed.

Also most of them ended up with dementia and brain damage from radiation exposure and cost-cutting on the backup systems, so even if they were geniuses when they went into the Vault, by the time of the Fallout games their genius had at best been somewhat eroded, shall we say.

WereDragon · Monday at 12:28 PM

Mr Zoat said:
"I… Accept that she needs her priorities reprogrammed a little. Her core personality is fine."

Strongly disagree.

Also there is the issue that all the resources spend on disabling, reprogramming, repairing and maintaining Doki Doki could be better spend on… basically anything else. Fallout has no shortage of problems that could do with more manpower and equipment dedicated to solving them.

Steelplaza · Monday at 1:11 PM

Come on folks, you should know by now what a soft spot the SI has for taking "bad girls" and fixing them. Of course he wants to help Doki.

Jus4532 · Tuesday at 2:00 AM

@Mr Zoat would 40k Paul join the Leagues of Votann if he knew about them/if they existed rather than the Tau?

skulljester · Tuesday at 4:22 AM

Jus4532 said:
@Mr Zoat would 40k Paul join the Leagues of Votann if he knew about them/if they existed rather than the Tau?

i think the the votan legitimately have an amount of lore measured in a single digit number of pages. Games workshop doesnt even have enough knowledge on votan to say their stance on most things.

Lord Ernest · Tuesday at 4:44 AM

Jus4532 said:
@Mr Zoat would 40k Paul join the Leagues of Votann if he knew about them/if they existed rather than the Tau?

In what edition where they inserted in the setting? Because on that depends if they exist or not in Zoat's WH40K segments, I think.

Mr Zoat · Tuesday at 6:11 AM

29th April 2013
12:59 GMT

I wave as the Effigies go, but they're out of visual range in a fraction of a second. Hm. Okay, there are Reach listening posts around the border, as well as the first layer of interdiction fields. It would be…

Huh. How many enlightened Lanterns would we need to cut a reliable path through..?

Assuming that we could locate them, we could… Probably get a fleet to the core of the Reach with… Twenty? Destroying them doesn't take long, and space is really big. Fifteen working their arses off destroying them and replacing them with ours and five making sure that the Reach didn't throw ships at the gap to replace them. I don't have twenty… Eighteen prospects at the moment, but three years ago there weren't any.

Anyway, it's worth doing, and will suggest that we're going to send a fleet through in a little while, rather than that we've already sent a strike force. So sight a Reach watch station's crew and

step

to it, raising construct armour.

"Attention Reach crew. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Destroying your station would take me five seconds, but I'll allow you one minute to evacuate if you don't try shooting. Your choice."

That's the turn of phrase that I've found works best. If I put it in terms of 'you not fighting delays me by more' they follow my suggestion about sixty percent of the time. Telling them to stand down and surrender works almost zero percent of the time, because that involves letting us take the station intact with its database and controlled technologies. I mean, we've pretty much deduced how they work from the wreckage, but getting the interesting parts in one piece would be helpful.

You know what? There's no reason why I can't do that today. Putting something that big in subspace will reduce my maximum charge but I'm not supposed to be fighting on this assignment anyway. And I could probably disguise that I did it.

Ah, there they go. The first wave of escape pods. The commander will set the self-destruct before evacuating, and their second will flash the drives. I generate a beam singularity projector construct and aim it as the clock counts down-.

There they go, and minimum safe distance, and…

Kmpf.

Not a big explosion, because the structure of the station isn't valuable and they want me to take those five seconds-

I fire, slicing it vertically in two before switching to an eddy pulse to tear it apart.

-to actually destroy it. If I don't then the escape pods could just loop around and land back on board. They wouldn't be able to start doing their job again until replacement parts could be brought it, but it would be a good deal more comfortable a wait.

I check the crew, just in case there's anything particularly significant about any of them. Not much yellow, I note. If anything… Oh, the commanding officer is a stickler for drills and none of them are going to complain about it again.

Should I just kill them?

Technically, killing skilled personnel during a war is only sensible. And it's not as if we're going to keep a puppet government in charge when we win, so there's no benefit in some sections of Reach society having a residue of positive feeling towards some of us. But the Reach population is… Very big, and well educated. I don't think we're going to beat them by killing so many of them that they can't maintain their war effort. And, well…

The Green Lantern Corps has no official position on the war. Individual Green Lanterns -particularly those whose Sector or homeworld is on the Reach side of the border- are privately cheering us on, but the Guardians are clear that their policy hasn't changed and the treaty is still in effect. But there's a question of what happens if we recapture somewhere and grant the Green Lantern Corps access, or if we restore a government in exile without making them part of N.E.M.O.. Can Green Lanterns operate there? Even a fairly strict reading of the treaty suggests 'yes', and we know that the Guardians don't like the Reach.

So there's a diplomatic advantage with one of the few groups whose opinions actually matter, because if we act like a force for Lawful Good and the Reach drop their pretences, the Guardians might declare them in breach and declare war.

"Does anyone feel like requesting asylum?"

"No." / "No." / "No." / "No." / "No." / "No." / "No."

"Alright. See you next time."

I sight the crew of the next station and

step out, reappearing

in their midst, sending filaments in all directions faster than I can aim because this needs to happen quickly. Brand the crew, infiltrate the computers, physically disconnect the auto-destruct components, grab-.

Half a dozen scuttling devices trigger a fraction of a second after I appear, and I'm impressed by the Reach's sagacity. This isn't a critical location, but they set things up to give them the best chance of stopping…

Me?

That's a brain. A living organic brain. Genetics… Threllian's species. I'm mildly surprised that they had…

Had one here.

Damn. It's… I was thinking that they took his species' brains for major industrial centres or capital ships. But it turns out, no. Not at all. It's just slightly more convenient for them to rip and entire species' brains out of their skulls than it is to ship… To ship a computer in.

That's… Impressively evil.

It's like… They didn't think about it at all. Just, 'oh yeah, that'll save on shipping' and ploop, out come the brains.

A tiny twist in the orange light and the facility commander walks towards me, eager to help.

"So I couldn't help but notice that you've got a brain in your central computer. What's that about?"

"A blind trial. I didn't know until you told me." He makes a gesture of confused interest. "I think there's an experiment going on to see if there's actually an advantage."

"Are the brains cloned?"

"Kind of. You have to expose them to complex stimuli or they don't develop properly. Same problem with our usual loyalty modifications. So they get a childhood on one of the periphery worlds and a good education until it's time for their 'work assignment'."

My word.

Oh, he's.. disintegrated. What a shame.

"Everyone else to the escape pods, please."

"Sure thing!" / "On my way." / "Early lunch!"

I…

Okay. The brain is getting input from the station's systems. Cutting that off would be like shoving someone in a sensory deprivation tank without explanation. Plus… As Abra said, the Reach are good at cultural indoctrination. Whoever this is, if they're still functional as a person, they might not side with me.

But…

Analyse their genes, clone a new body using our records on their physiology, create a link between the brain and the body and see-.

"Help me! Oh please please help me!"

That simplifies some matters.

And makes others more complicated.

Mr Zoat · Tuesday at 6:14 AM

Jus4532 said:
@Mr Zoat would 40k Paul join the Leagues of Votann if he knew about them/if they existed rather than the Tau?

'Leagues of Votann' not found. Did you mean Squat Homeworlds?

Since he doesn't drink, they wouldn't get on.

Darko · Tuesday at 6:19 AM

Mr Zoat said:
Everyone else to the escape pods, please."

"Sure thing!" / "One my way." / "Early lunch!"

No matter the species, everyone wants an early break.

Mr Zoat said:
Whoever this is, if they're still functional as a person, they might not side with me.

Yeah, whoever is in there may have known that this was going to happen and accepted it.

Mr Zoat said:
Help me! Oh please please help me!"

Or not.

Or they did know, but didn't know how horrible it'd really be.

Mr Zoat said:
And makes others more complicated

Yeah, now any base could have hostages.

Darko · Tuesday at 6:28 AM

Zoat, in the spoiler box it says "150 Equitisation" when it should be "150: Equitisation".

Mr Zoat · Tuesday at 6:31 AM

Darko said:
Zoat, in the spoiler box it says "150 Equitisation" when it should be "150: Equitisation".

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch · Tuesday at 6:49 AM

Mr Zoat said:
29th April 2013
12:59 GMT

I wave as the Effigies go, but they're out of visual range in a fraction of a second. Hm. Okay, there are Reach listening posts around the border, as well as the first layer of interdiction fields. It would be…

Huh. How many enlightened Lanterns would we need to cut a reliable path through..?

Not that many, depending on the size of said path. A small area could be done by one or two. Clearing an entire system's border simultaneously might need a lot... And they're no guarantee all of them will take to your tricks as easily as Zor did.

Assuming that we could locate them, we could… Probably get a fleet to the core of the Reach with… Twenty? Destroying them doesn't take long, and space is really big. Fifteen working their arses off destroying them and replacing them with ours and five making sure that the Reach didn't throw ships at the gap to replace them. I don't have twenty… Eighteen prospects at the moment, but three years ago there weren't any.

No telling how things will progress in future, especially if you start to rival the full Green Lantern Corps' 7,200-odd operatives.

Anyway, it's worth doing, and will suggest that we're going to send a fleet through in a little while, rather than that we've already sent a strike force. So sight a Reach watch station's crew and

step

to it, raising construct armour.

Anything that takes a little heat of the rookies. The less hassle they have to face, the better.

"Attention Reach crew. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Destroying your station would take me five seconds, but I'll allow you one minute to evacuate if you don't try shooting. Your choice."

That's the turn of phrase that I've found works best. If I put it in terms of 'you not fighting delays me by more' they follow my suggestion about sixty percent of the time. Telling them to stand down and surrender works almost zero percent of the time, because that involves letting us take the station intact with its database and controlled technologies. I mean, we've pretty much deduced how they work out from the wreckage, but getting the interesting parts in one piece would be helpful.

And giving them long enough to finish panicking, wetting themselves and then evacuating the station lets them think you're inconvenienced all the more.

You know what? There's no reason why I can't do that today. Putting something that big in subspace will reduce my maximum charge but I'm not supposed to be fighting on this assignment anyway. And I could probably disguise that I did it.

Ah, there they go. The first wave of escape pods. The commander will set the self-destruct before evacuating, and their second will flash the drives. I generate a beam singularity projector construct and aim it as the clock counts down-.

Heh. Classic Orange Lantern play. Don't wreck the thing, steal it wholesale.

There they go, and minimum safe distance, and…

Kmpf.

Wouldn't want to smite the relatively innocent grunts, after all.

Not a big explosion, because the structure of the station isn't valuable and they want me to take those five seconds-

I fire, slicing it vertically in two before switching to an eddy pulse to tear it apart.

And squish goes the space junk.

-to actually destroy it. If I don't then the escape pods could just loop around and land back on board. They wouldn't be able to start doing their job again until replacement parts could be brought it, but it would be a good deal more comfortable a wait.

I check the crew, just in case there's anything particularly significant about any of them. Not much yellow, I note. If anything… Oh, the commanding officer is a stickler for drills and none of them are going to complain about it again.

Should I kill just them?

Ah, that's hilarious. I guess the only evacuating was of the station. No pants will need changing.

Technically, killing skilled personnel during a war is only sensible. And it's not as if we're going to keep a puppet government in charge when we win, so there's no benefit in some sections of Reach society having a residue of positive feeling towards some of us. But the Reach population is… Very big, and well educated. I don't think we're going to beat them by killing so many of them that they can't maintain their war effort. And, well…

Plus, killing them after you vaguely said you'd spare them sets a troublesome example, and makes others less likely to willingly leave once word spreads, which it will.

The Green Lantern Corps has no official position on the war. Individual Green Lanterns -particularly those whose Sector or homeworld is on the Reach side of the border- are privately cheering us on, but the Guardians are clear that their policy hasn't changed and the treaty is still in effect. But there's a question of what happens if we recapture somewhere and grant the Green Lantern Corps access, or if we restore a government in exile without making them part of N.E.M.O.. Can Green Lanterns operate there? Even a fairly strict reading of the treaty suggests 'yes', and we know that the Guardians don't like the Reach.

Good plan to keep on the good side of the neighbours, after all.

So there's a diplomatic advantage with one of the few groups whose opinions actually matter, because if we act like a force for Lawful Good and the Reach drop their pretences, the Guardians might declare them in breach and declare war.

"Does anyone feel like requesting asylum?"

Heh. Basically needle the Reach leaders into making a dumb mistake that puts two Lantern Corps on their ass. It's a long-shot, but a worthwhile dream.

"No." / "No." / "No." / "No." / "No." / "No." / "No."

"Alright. See you next time."

Being extra-polite. Wonder how the people collating data on you will respond to that? 'Polite but murderously efficient when needed.'

I sight the crew of the next station and

step out, reappearing

in their midst, sending filaments in all directions faster than I can aim because this needs to happen quickly. Brand the crew, infiltrate the computers, physically disconnect the auto-destruct components, grab-.

No taking chances with this one, I see. For extra confusion, this one could easily have been on the other end of the sector, suggesting a multip-pronged assault.

Half a dozen scuttling devices trigger a fraction of a second after I appear, and I'm impressed by the Reach's sagacity. This isn't a critical location, but they set things up to give them the best chance of stopping…

Me?

Eh? Something surprising, OL? Though I am impressed they had a system to blow the station even before the crew registered your presence.

That's a brain. A living organic brain. Genetics… Threllian's species. I'm mildly surprised that they had…

Had one here.

...And if they had one, there could be others.

Damn. It's… I was thinking that they took his species' brains for major industrial centres or capital ships. But it turns out, no. Not at all. It's just slightly more convenient for them to rip and entire species brains out of their skulls than it is to ship… To ship a computer in.

That's… Impressively evil.

And yet none of the 'believers' would consider it so. For that extra-callous evil.

It's like… They didn't think about it at all. Just, 'oh yeah, that'll save on shipping' and ploop, out come the brains.

A tiny twist in the orange light and the facility commander walks towards me, eager to help.

If nothing else, you can follow the leads back to the distribution centre and go have a chat with the being responsible.

"So I couldn't help but notice that you've got a brain in your central computer. What's that about?"

"A blind trial. I didn't know until you told me." He makes a gesture of confused interest. "I think there's an experiment going on to see if there's actually an advantage."

So he was just told they were getting a new central computer, but not what was in it? Sounds about typical for the Reach.

"Are the brains cloned?"

"Kind of. You have to expose them to complex stimuli or they don't develop properly. Same problem with our usual loyalty modifications. So they get a childhood on one of the periphery worlds and a good education until it's time for their 'work assignment'."

Ah, I see. He knew about the brains, but not that he would have one in his computer.

My word.

Oh, he's.. disintegrated. What a shame.

Now, was that a self-destruct in his body, or OL absently handing out punishment? Oh, no... Anyway!

"Everyone else to the escape pods, please."

"Sure thing!" / "One my way." / "Early lunch!"

Bet that last one likes to take long lunches when he can, too.

I…

Okay. The brain is getting input from the station's systems. Cutting that off would be like shoving someone in a sensory deprivation tank without explanation. Plus… As Abra said, the Reach are good at cultural indoctrination. Whoever this is, if they're still functional as a person, they might not side with me.

Though I doubt they went into the process willingly. That might sway them in your favour, if you can even communicate with them...

But…

Analyse their genes, clone a new body using our records on their physiology, create a link between the brain and the body and see-.

And if they are willing to seek asylum, provide a quick transplant installation, of course.

"Help me! Oh please please help me!"

That simplifies some matters.

And makes others more complicated.

At least they're coherent. I would have half expected their response to be nothing but screaming.

Just when you think the Reach can't stomp on the 'we're bad guys' button any harder... Though I am amused by the similarity to Metal Gear Revengance's plot to use children's brains to pilot combat drones. Bet if the Reach guy who instigated the project heard of it, they'd probably think it was a great idea. Downside is, this means that any destroyed station may involve the death of a child...

"One my way."

"On my way."

Lord Ernest · Tuesday at 7:24 AM

Mr Zoat said:
Oh, he's.. disintegrated. What a shame.

Did the Illustres disintegrate the commander here as a reaction? Because if so, I don't remember seeing him having such a visceral one.

I mean, I agree with it. It's just strange seeing the Illustres do that, when he usually comes across as pretty detached.

Also, godsdamned Reach. That's like that Island movie, but worse. From what I understood, they're growing Threllian's species individuals and then removing their brains as kids. And if it follows the end of this segment, subjecting said child brains to a fate worse than death.

Mr Zoat · Tuesday at 8:27 AM

Chojin Patriarch said:
Though I am amused by the similarity to Metal Gear Revengance's plot to use children's brains to pilot combat drones.

I couldn't find a high quality toclafane video.

"On my way."

Me said:
step out, reappearing

Thank you, corrected.

Lord Ernest said:
Did the Illustres disintegrate the commander here as a reaction?

Yes.

Duke Long · Tuesday at 12:00 PM

Mr Zoat said:
"You know how I was on the Justice League's youth team?" He nods. "On our first mission, I made a couple of sensible observations. Since I had the spare time I did some planning exercises in my spare time. Eventually, our team leader needed a holiday and I was the natural choice to take over temporarily."

Extraneous 'spare time'?

Mr Zoat said:
This is… Doki Doki is so lacking in malice that I find it hard to be angry with her, even after she crashed my saucer and nearly killed me. With AIs I just… Keep feeling that if I can just work out how to get through to them then we could come to terms. They're not all that complicated. They usually just have one thing they really want, and one person or group that they're happy to be subservient to.

Yeah, I feel the same way. Although I am forced to agree that they are also often dangerous and probably shouldn't be tolerated.

Mr Zoat said:
Telling them to stand down and surrender works almost zero percent of the time, because that involves letting us take the station intact with its database and controlled technologies. I mean, we've pretty much deduced how they work out from the wreckage, but getting the interesting parts in one piece would be helpful.

Extraneous 'out'?
I really like the Reach decision making here.

Mr Zoat said:
But it turns out, no. Not at all. It's just slightly more convenient for them to rip and entire species brains out of their skulls than it is to ship… To ship a computer in.

'an entire species' brains'
So do members of this species have magic brains, or are they just complex in ways that the Reach can't artificially replicate yet?

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