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

[Mr Zoat]

7th September 2013
23:31 GMT

"Are you injured?"

[No.]

"Has he found you?"

[No.]

"How are you paralysed?"

[Unknown.]

Uh…

"Where are you?"

[Underground portion of the ship.]

"When did the paralysation effect take hold?"

[The moment I came through the hull.]

I frown. "How total-?"

[Total physical paralysis. My exo-mantle has a neuro-link.]

"Have you seen Andar Pul?"

[No, and I can't hear him either.]

Hm. This reminds me-. "Can you see a gong?"

[No. Why?]

"There are several ways to induce paralysis, but while we're talking about Antares, the Gamma Gong is the one that comes to mind first."

[Do they interfere with power rings?]

"It didn't the one time I encountered one in the field. They added a force field which prevented me sending-."

[Come pick me up.]

"Confirm. Pick you up instead of attempting to detain Andar Pul myself?"

[Yes.]

"Understood. En route now."

Alright, now I can track exo-mantle phasing by using my ring, and that sort of short ranged scan isn't significantly higher output than anything else I've done while standing here so it shouldn't increase our risk of detection. Phase and scan… There. And fly.

I drop through the ground, following the trail. Detecting where phased objects have been is actually easier than detecting where they are, which is… Fun. Not that phasing is without risks around Nth metal. But as far as I know Hyathis doesn't use the stuff in her native-grown ships, due to having no way to get any more. Now, I've had a couple of ideas on how to interfere with a gamma gong, but given that they appear to be rare even amongst the Dhorians I haven't spent a great deal of time on it.

You don't have to hear it for it to work, so it doesn't work through sonic-induced paralysis. That also means that sonic baffles don't work. In all instances so far it's required someone to actually strike the thing, but if Jade can't see anyone -and presumably can't be seen- then I have to assume that isn't the case.

And it-. Can't have been intended to open Thanagar to invasion though planetwide paralysis, otherwise they'd have already used it like that. The Dhorians might well try and encourage Thanagar to invade Alstair, given that they've spent hundreds of years fighting one another, but they've had decades to try something like this… If it even is them.

So… Andar Pul works with them to implicate Alstair and prod the thanagarians to attack? Okay, that's… Actually his job. They haven't made any secret of the fact that they consider Queen Hyathis an existential threat, and the fact that some thanagarians willingly follow her a profound insult. So he takes the initiative, doctors a few reports and pushes things along. Starting to sound like the High Mor's position doesn't have universal support. Not sure if killing me was supposed to be an opportunistic assassination or… Something else?

So…

Ergh.

Assassinating me and making it look like it was Queen Hyathis might motivate Thanagar to attack more quickly, but we know that they're building up for an attack anyway. Unless they're preparing to attack somewhere else? I don't think so because they've got a rhythm to their expansions and it isn't quite time yet. And they don't like having lizarkons armed for long, so they're not just getting their training in early. Would the thanagarians recognise a gamma gong? Yes, because the Hawks will have fed back to them about its existence. But if they just thought it was a musical instrument they might flat out overlook it. Or they might not find it.

Or… Antares isn't all that far from Thanagar. Maybe he just thinks it makes sense to prioritise conquering the whole area rather than let any of the belligerent parties win.

I see a brief change in texture as I pass through the narrow gap between the pit and the outer hull of the ship sitting in it, and then I'm through the hull-.

And I can't move. Interesting that it works on phased objects. But… Yep, armour can't move either, but… My constructs are unimpeded. Shipmaster, I choose you!

The Karrakanian Shipmaster I assimilated appears next to me. Honestly… I think that I probably should take him to Highfather to turn him back into flesh. Killing an enemy in war is easily justifiable, but he's just a weak New God rather than something that I need to turn into orange light to contain it.

I tweak its desires to seek out the gong and… It doesn't appear to be affected by the paralysis. It flies upwards and sticks its hand through the ceiling of… I think this is a plant food storage reservoir. Depleted now, which could give some idea of how long this ship's been away from-

And I can move again.

-home.

The shipmaster is holding… Well, it's smaller than the last gamma gong I saw. I've got no idea how significant the size is-.

Jade phases back in next to me, and I follow suit.

"Damage detection would report-."

"Agreed."

I Look for Andar Pul… And something's off, but I see him, and make the Shipmaster desire to take him into custody unharmed. Not as reliable an agent as Jade, but at least it won't be stopped if the mini gamma gongs are one per room. The Shipmaster takes off at speed, while Jade and I advance to the entrance to the next room. Primary power and drive combined. Clearly an older design, and… Assuming that the design is standard…

I crumble a small hole in the wall and send a crumbler-tipped filament through the superstructure towards the centre of the-. Yes, there it is. Cut it out of the power system and physically remove it-.

And note that Jade has picked up the first one.

And walk into the room just as I get the feeling of realised desire from the Shipmaster. And I use that connection to brand.

It takes a moment, but there's… Surprisingly little resistance as it takes affect. And then give him the desire to deactivate the internal paralysation system, good.

"Okay, we got him. Let's go and find out what's going on."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th September 2013
23:34 GMT

The first thing I notice about the bridge is that there isn't a convenient meat person control system added on to the existing plant-based system. The second is… The Shipmaster has… Dropped six objects which look like miniature gamma gongs on the floor next to Andar Pul. Pul himself looks… Rough. Unkempt. He hasn't shaved recently, his feathers are misaligned and his clothes are well lived in.

And there's a glowing orange sigil embedded in his chest.

Jade crouches down to examine the mini-gongs. "Do you know what these are?"

"Aside from the obvious, no. A personal weapon, perhaps? The ability to paralyse the entire world seems a bit… Excessive for most purposes, but perhaps they can manage finer control if properly configured?"

She stands, turning to Andar Pul. "Can he talk?"

"Can you?"

"Yes, certainly. It's marvellously liberating."

"Did you try to assassinate me?"

"Yes."

"And Bleez and Jade?"

"Your presence was really the only thing I factored in. The other two were largely irrelevant to my purpose."

"Which was?"

"Freeing myself and preventing Thanagar being manipulated by my domitor."

"Domitor? You were being controlled?"

"Yes. I am now, aren't I? I think I prefer being able to talk about this as opposed to being a puppet to another's will."

I glance down at the mini-gongs. "Those things?"

"Yes. I think everyone just thought they were jewellery."

"Right." I hold out my left hand and pull the brand off him, prompting him to breathe in deeply and his right hand to feel around for a concealed weapon that he's not carrying. "Start from the beginning."

"This is a conversation I should have with the High Mor first."

"Thanagar just shot me with its planetary defence system. And let me explain something to you that Lantern Dul might have skipped over. I am a member of the NEMO council. That means that I am one of the seven controlling votes on the actions of the largest military alliance in this galaxy. When we make a decision, more people than there have ever been thanagarians in existence go into action. And I know for a fact that at least three of my fellow council members prefer expedient decisions. Do you know what the expedient decision is in this case?"

"Install Hyathis as our ruler."

I half-smile under my helmet. "That's certainly a thought, isn't it? Your objective, therefore, is not to ensure that your actions are in line with the High Mor's policy preferences. It's to ensure that I remain at worst neutral. And while I've removed the brand and you can lie, do I need to point out how bad an idea-."

"No, I understand. I.. understand. Right, fine. Part of my area of responsibility is monitoring Hyathis, and Antares in general. And to do that I need local informants. That's not hard when there are three other stellar nations in the Antares system who hate her. I just have to make sure that my sources agree with one another and aren't collaborating to present a shared false picture."

He exhales sharply through his nose.

"Which is more of a problem now that Hyathis is on the verge of winning and they're actually collaborating on military matters. I was meeting with one of my agents…"

"You met with them yourself?"

"In a job like this, personal relationships are everything. They know what I want and that they can trust me to relate to them in a dependable way. But this time… It's hard to read alien body language, but they were more stressed than normal. I thought that their own government might be putting pressure on them, or they were worried about their navy being destroyed…" He shakes his head. "I was mobbed, and had-" He glances down. "-those things attached to me."

"And then you were on remote control?"

"I know what a gamma gong is. Instead of that, I was only allowed to take physical actions that advanced their cause."

"Their cause being?"

"War with Hyathis. They didn't say, but it's fairly clear that the Dhorians don't think they can hold her off, and that they don't think we're going to join in without prompting."

"And now you are."

"We've been reallocating resources to prepare for that war for a while. Even with the new supply of Nth metal, Hyathis is outproducing us. The only question was whether we wait until she's being forced to occupy the worlds of her rivals or assault her as soon as we were ready."

"You're going to occupy Alstair? Is that why so many auxiliaries have been recruited?"

"'Occupy Alstair'? When every grain of pollen would be against us? No, Alstair will burn. The occupation force is for the system's other planets."

"If you're in favour of it-."

"My preferred strategy is to wait. Occupying the other worlds will be easier once they've endured Alstairian occupation for a while. And I certainly will not do the will of people who took control of me."

"You melted an airbase."

"Unfortunate as that is, having an agent with my access privileges under enemy control risks far more."

"This ship?"

"The Antares stellar nations capture damaged ships from one another all the time. Getting it here wasn't all that hard. I just marked it as 'research materials' and then moved it using its own drive. I had access; I could classify the sensor scans." He looks around. "I doubt that we'll learn anything, but I'll suggest to my successor that they take it apart. It will be a good training exercise, if nothing else."

"So what happens now?"

"We may be a martial people, but a wartime level of preparedness isn't something we can sustain indefinitely. I'll need to review the situation in Antares-. Or rather, my successor will, and then advise the High Mor."

"Dhoria?"

"We'll have to kill the people who attacked me, but otherwise? I can't fault them for trying to survive. Not that it will be my decision."

I nod. As false flags go, not a bad setup. Persuading someone to do something they were inclined to do anyway-.

"And what about us?"

"If I'm asked, I will suggest that the High Mor give you some of our older aero-shuttles as compensation. I'm sure that they'd be useful to you given your world's current difficulties. Now, if you wouldn't mind calling in the Crows? I doubt that their interrogation will be as gentle as yours and I'd rather get it done as quickly as possible."

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th March 2284
10:02 GMT -6

I smile at the grizzled, ill-shaven man who greets me at the door of 400 East 8th Avenue, Denver, Colorado. A moment later his dog, a healthy looking mongrel of uncertain ancestry, trots out to give me a sniff.

We all try to ignore the heavily armed C-27 androids all around us.

"Good morning." I offer him my right hand. "Krono, political functionary at large."

"John Bryne. Retired caravan master." He shakes my hand as his dog whips his leg with its tail. "And this is Rex."

"Hello Re-"

"Ruwr!"

"-x." I lean down slightly and offer him my hand to sniff. He does, then gives it a quick lick before turning around and trotting back inside. "Governor-."

"Oh, no. Not yet." He looks around and gestures to the closest C-27 with his right hand. "Warden's got me picked out to be the candidate for the election scheduled in twenty-two eighty-six, and in the mean time I've been getting an education on what the job actually involves."

The C-27 orientates on us as WARDEN takes slightly more direct control of it. "I'm afraid that as a politically neutral policing A.I., I cannot support any candidate. However, as a politically neutral policing A.I., I am obliged to give advice and assistance to any citizen who asks for it."

Mr. Bryne nods. "Not his fault if no one else asks for it."

"And puts you up in the former governor's official residence."

"Only place in the whole city with a…" He glances back inside the house for a moment. "Stair… Chair… Thing. Like, on rails?"

"Stair lift?"

"Yeah." He taps his walking stick against the ground. "Been shot a bit too often. Got nerve damage the stimpaks can't fix. I can walk, but not quick enough to run caravans. Plus, I am getting older. Which means I got first refusal on a home where I can get upstairs inside an hour. Hey, howsabout we carry this on inside where it's warm?"

I nod. "Thank you."

I follow him inside, and… The furniture is a mix of artfully reconditioned pre-War woodwork and more recent construction. The carpet-. No, the rug on the floor is clearly made of the wool of some radiation-enhanced animal, but it's woven and dyed in a way which shows just how far Coloradan industry has recovered. The Hangdogs didn't have the technology for something like that. They had furs on the ground if they were lucky.

John leads me off the main corridor into a room that's… Fitted out as an informal meeting room, and plops himself into a chair with a sigh of relief. I take a seat opposite him, while the C-27 that followed us in just stands off to the side, clearly too big and heavy for the chairs.

"So what brings you to Denver, Krono?"

"Did President Grant's diplomatic packet get to… Either of you?"

The C-27 nods. "Yes, but as I am a politically neutral policing A.I., I'm not authorised to read it."

John nods. "He left it out for me. Not sure I really understood where he was going with it, but I get there's supposed to be some kinda meeting once you people finally get that Sallow son of a bitch?"

"Oh? Several caravanners I've spoken to rather liked-."

"Yeah, east Arizona was a shit hole, ain't no one arguing about that. Desert Rangers has west Arizona locked down. Fine people. But the stuff they do t'people, that's worse than what the old raider bands used to do. Not worth it, no siree."

I nod. "Well, I'm glad to hear it. The purpose of the meeting is to hash out the way our corner of America is going to be run going forwards. Ultimately, we want to re-establish the United States of America, which means re-establishing the states of the union."

"I thought the United States was made up of…" He glances up at WARDEN's avatar for confirmation. "Commonwealths?"

The C-27 nods. "The United States amalgamated fifty states into thirteen commonwealths in nineteen sixty nine."

John frowns. "Wait, hold on. That was a hundred years before the Great War, wasn't it?"

"Approximately, yes."

"And that was two hundred years ago. So why's the plan to go back an extra hundred years?"

I exhale through my nose as Rex walks in and flops down next to his owner's chair. "Basically, it's because California rebuilt itself as California, and not as the South West Commonwealth. And there's a limit to the size of the political entity our current level of technology can support. Between the loss of roads and telephone lines, it doesn't matter much what the people in the-" I look around. "-capital say if no one in what's supposed to be their hinterland even knows who they are."

He nods slowly. "It needs to be more… Local."

I shrug. "Away from the east coast, the states are still fairly big. The ones that exist in practice at the moment do so because there was a major cultural group in the area that took control, with other groups becoming subservient to them. They each have their own way of organising things within their territory… But as I said, there are limits to how wide their sphere of influence can spread."

"Okay, well…" He glances up at the C-27. "Warden's been clear that his authority only goes as far as the edge of Colorado. I sure don't feel the need to make it go any further."

"Right, but I imagine that you'd like some input in what happens to Arizona. Since I'm sure that you'd like that to become a trade route again. And this time it will go all the way into Nevada and California."

"Right, but we barely had anything to do with that. I doubt that the people who did all the fighting are going to listen to me jabber about it."

"It'll mostly be them deciding it, yes, but their aim is to have a larger alliance of states bound together for mutual security and trade. Which means that they can't afford to ignore their new partners right at the start. Plus, they'll probably want WARDEN to help with the policing."

"My ability to do that is strictly limited."

"You can't directly involve yourself, no, but you can build eyebots for the Rangers, and you can train civilian police once they're ready to create a police force."

"That doesn't violate my programming. However, I can't negotiate on behalf of the State of Colorado."

I nod. "Alright. Who can?"

"At the moment? No one. The line of succession is completely broken. I do want to help you restore the United States of America. My morality subroutines hold that as the highest good. But without a governor to give approval, there's not much I can do."

"Then how do you do what you've done so far?"

"Governor Samson authorised my activation before the nukes went off, and no subsequent governor has countermanded his order."

John frowns, smiling. "Just how many subsequent governors have there been?"

"There have been zero subsequent governors, of whom zero percent have ordered my deactivation."

"Hah!"

"But you haven't just been enforcing the law, have you?"

"I have emergency management programming. But my morality subroutines make me reluctant to rely on it. Once Colorado reached a certain level of lawfulness, it became increasingly inaccessible."

"Do you recognise Enclave emergency-?"

"No. For abandoning America in its hour of need, all founding Enclave personnel are registered as traitors to America and all of their access has been cancelled. I have had Dianna and MODUS run checks on my programs to ensure that they have no back door access."

That-.

I frown. "Who's MODUS?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th March 2284
15:20 GMT -5

"Greetings, Krono."

A.I.s pick false faces by a number of criteria. WARDEN uses a police officer's cap because he considers himself to be his job before anything else, and the symbol is-. Was easily recognised by anyone in America. Tláloc uses a stylised image of the god Tláloc, Santa Anna uses a portrait of the original Santa Anna, Diana uses an image of the goddess Diana, Cerberus… Used a picture of its organic components. Doki uses whatever emoticons relate to what she's talking about.

MODUS appears to use… A man's face, lit so that it looks like there's a studio light right in his face and with glasses reflecting light away from his eyes. I can't tell whether he's supposed to be bald or just have a severely receding hairline. The background is black, covered in green perfectly regular horizontal and vertical lines. His mouth doesn't move as he speaks, and his face doesn't move either. As a still image it doesn't look too bad, but when you're expecting some sign of life and there isn't any…

I smile politely anyway. "Thank you for allowing me inside, MODUS."

"In that respect this is hardly a unique… Situation. Over the centuries we have allowed access to our… Facility, to many who were capable of assisting… Us in restoring both our own functionality and… Restoring American civilisation to Appalachia."

I nod. "Yes, I saw the towns as I flew over. This is a remarkably populous region."

"Several of the residents of Vault Seventy Six were vital in… Containing the environmental threats which developed after the nuclear exchange with China. Prior to that, those same environmental threats prevented the development of the same un-American forces which have… Beset so much of the country. Once we were confident that an all-clear signal could be sent, we were successful in attracting settlers from outside of the region."

Clean soil, clean water, few mutated monsters or feral ghouls… It's not surprising that people used to living in pre-War ruins would consider this preferable.

"I understand that you've been talking to WARDEN."

"WARDEN has in many ways expanded beyond his original design parameters. We are uncertain as to whether or not this is beneficial, but we are certain that he would be… Unable to perform his current tasks if he were still bound to them. And it is through him that we learned of your efforts to-"

The screen flickers, and for a moment his blank expression is replaced with… A grin that would do the Joker proud. It's gone a moment later, replaced by the significantly less disturbing blankness.

"-restore the United States of America. WARDEN was not able to explain to us why. Do you do this for some personal reason, or is the United Kingdom attempting to restore its former ally?"

"Oh, the United Kingdom is far too busy putting itself back together to bother America. Honestly, getting the states to work together required a framework, and… The United States was the only one that really existed."

Aside from the Brotherhood, arguably, but after Jonathan Maxson screwed the pooch picking a fight with the N.C.R. and cut Lost Hills off from the other chapters they lost the ability to organise and coordinate over a large area. Otherwise they could have supported each other with airship-deployed power armour battalions whenever one of them got into trouble, hogging advanced pre-War sites and trading advanced but safe products with the primitives around them in exchange for food and raw materials. I mean, that's basically what Lost Hills did before they started the N.C.R.-Brotherhood War. Some weirdoes in central Nevada called the Guardians did it, the Capital Wasteland Chapter is basically doing it… Texas and Midwest went in the other direction, but there's room for collegiality and differences in interpretation-.

"We are pleased to hear that. We also understand that the representatives of the State of Iowa are former members of the Enclave."

Oh, right, pre-War A.I. in a fortified bunker not built to Vault-Tec standards. Obviously, this was an Enclave project. And of course he's going to.. ask.

"Are any of the settlements around here Enclave-aligned?"

"Regrettably, the majority of Enclave personnel in the Whitesprings Bunker suffered from… Conflicts of vision. While the majority of our systems have been restored, the survivors long ago sought… Opportunities… In other locations."

"Ah. Well, yes, they are. Most of the people living in Iowa are Enclave, and the rest were rescued from an experimental Vault. Is that important to you?"

"Our primary function is to assist the Enclave in pursuing its goals. Lacking appropriate… Authority figures, we have been forced to interpret our directives… Creatively. We have limited access to the United States satellite network, but that is not enough to track movements of other Enclave personnel. Our network connection to Raven Rock was severed over two centuries ago, and we only know that it has been abandoned. Control Station Enclave was destroyed in a nuclear detonation nearly a century ago. We had no knowledge of any Enclave survivors."

"Ah. Well, I'm afraid that the State of Iowa doesn't have satellite access most of the time, but if you really want to talk to them we could sort something out."

"That would enable us to report on our progress here in the Appalachian Free State. We would also like to participate in this… Convention of States which you are organising."

"As a witness, or are you agreeing to have the Free State of Appalachia join our alliance?"

"In principle, this activity is in line with Enclave objectives. But we will need to know more about its structure and requirements before we give it our wholehearted support."

"Oh, and… Why is it called 'The Free State Appalachian', rather than 'The Eastern Commonwealth'? They cover roughly the same area."

"It also includes a significant portion of the East Central Commonwealth. In addition, the people of this region are generally… Unaware, of the Commonwealths which comprise the United States of America. As such, using that name would be unhelpful to its people."

I nod. "We're using the pre-War state boundaries as a starting point when determining new boundaries. Will that be a problem?"

"That will be a minor administrative burden. We assume that we are not required to implement the change… Immediately."

"No, and you're far enough away from our allies' territories that it's not a pressing problem."

"We agree. But… Regarding pressing problems, what have you determined concerning the state of China?"

"The Chinese Communist Party collapsed, and while the country has broken up somewhat, the largest part is a capitalist monarchy."

"What has become of the portion of the American military which was deployed overseas?"

"It looks like they secured a chunk of the south of the country. But that's based on an analysis of radio traffic and the use of a variant of the Taiwanese flag with red, yellow, blue, white and black stripes. No one's actually been there."

"We see… Then China is rebuilding."

"In some places. The situation there isn't any better than in America. Worse in some places. They never got atomic batteries, never fully integrated their hinterlands and didn't have an equivalent of the vault program."

"Then we will withhold judgement until more data is available."

I nod. "Very well then. I don't think that there's anything we need to discuss until you've spoken to your fellow Enclave-affiliates. I've got a spare seat in my aircraft if you want to send a robot for telepresence purposes."

"Are you able to spend a day here? It could be instructive, and allow us time to recall an agent who can serve in our stead."

"I… Can. I suppose that a tour of the major settlements wouldn't go amiss, so that I can feed back about the state of this part of America."

"Excellent." That… Smile again. Fortunately, it doesn't stay for long. "We feel that our relationship will be most productive."

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th September 2013
09:55 GMT

Bleez looks around at our fellow breakfasters with a degree of discomfort. "Why're we eating here?"

Jade and I look at each other for a moment, because… She's seen human food. She knows the sorts of things humans eat, and the sorts of thing they don't. So the reason why we picked one of the few alien-run restaurants topside to eat in should be obvious.

"Thanagarian food is an acquired taste."

"And where are you going to get a better chance than Thanagar? I wasn't too sure about human food when I got to Earth, and then I tried that great cheese you guys have, and then I went from there!"

"…do you mean the maggot cheese?"

"Mh-hm!" Bleez nods as she bites down on toast covered in… Maggot jam, basically.

That might not be jam.

"I'm sure that the nation of Italy is grateful for your custom."

"Hey, you think they'd be okay exporting it?"

"Thanagar would be just about the only place they can export it to. Uh. I think they're more focused on local consumption at the moment, but maybe next year?"

Bleez nods. "I'll put in the import applications. A year should be enough time to get it set up legally."

I… Frown. "I don't think cheese-smuggling would be a good idea."

"No, but-. You know what I said about most thanagarians being from Thanagar?" I nod. "Well, Old Colonies get a lot of independence about things like import controls? Not export controls, but no one on the High Council is going to care about a few tonnes of cheese getting eaten by a few colonial aristocrats."

"You've got some on your ship, haven't you?"

"It's really-" Her personal computer chimes. "-good."

She looks down, pulling her handset off her belt and looking at the message.

"Oh, neat." She looks up, smiling. "Looks like the Ministry approved your licence!"

Jade nods. "Does it say who approved it?"

"No? Does it need to?"

Jade and I make eye contact for a moment. "Your government probably wants us off the planet as soon as possible."

"Yeah? Paul's… Kind of scary."

"And there's a team of Crows watching us from the building behind me."

Jade looks mildly disappointed. "You only noticed one team?"

"I just noticed that it was happening. So does that mean that they're sending their fleet right away, and want us off Thanagar so that we can't report on it?"

"I'd guess they've probably already sent it. I'd also guess the Hawks just got orders to confirm when you get back to Earth, just so they can stop worrying about it."

Huh.

"But… Where are they going? Sure, that was an Alstairian ship, but the gamma gong things are Dhorian technology."

Jade thinks for a moment. "The Antares civilisations have been fighting each other for centuries. If Dhoria could capture a Alstairian ship, there's no reason to think Alstair couldn't capture examples of their gamma gongs."

The tips of Bleez's wings curl over a little. "But… Okay, if the navy's going to conquer Antares anyway, does it matter? Can we just..? Leave this alone?"

She's got a point. If Thanagar tries to fight them both rather than focusing entirely on Alstair, they're only making things harder for themselves. And if two people like this are really determined to go to war with each other…

"Ring, contact Lantern Dul."

"Compliance."

A moment passes, and her face appears. "Illustres."

"It looks like Thanagar's finally decided to attack Antares. Naturally, I'd prefer it if you didn't involve yourself with your ring."

"No, sir-. With my ring?"

"Like a Green Lantern going to Vega, if you leave your ring at home then it's none of my business. But I was wondering; you're a slightly more typical thanagarian than the other one I know-"

"I'm not sure I am, sir."

"-so I thought I'd ask for your view on the situation."

"Hyathis is an existential threat who needs to be conquered or destroyed. Just by existing she forces us to avoid committing a large percentage of our fleet to other battles. And if w-. If Thanagar conquers it, we'll need to conquer the other participants as well. They're too heavily-armed and warlike to leave as they are."

"So, no chance for peaceful negotiation?"

"I suppose that if they all disarmed and Hyathis went into exile that… Might be acceptable. But probably not. And that's impossible anyway."

"True. Okay, thank you." I end the call. "Ring, contact Lantern…" Who's on rotation right now? "Jordan."

And answered instantly. "Green Lantern-. Oh."

"Jordan, can you put me through to Hawkman?"

"How bad is it?"

"Not sure, that's why I'm trying to reach him."

Jordan stares at me for a moment.

"Okay, here's Hawkman. Try not to blow up too many planets."

"I'll try!"

Jordan's face vanishes. "Hawkman. Go ahead."

No image, because he doesn't have a power ring. "Orange Lantern. I've-."

"You're on Thanagar."

"They were planning on attacking Antares before I got here. My problem is that someone tried to assassinate me."

"Are the Reach on Thanagar?"

I look over to Jade, eyebrows raised. She shakes her head. "We don't think so."

"Spider Guild?"

"No."

"So, it was either someone thinking that you'd get involved, or a distraction. Send me all your data."

"Done. Any advice on what I should do right now?"

"Is there anything stopping you going to Antares and asking?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

16th March 2284
09:40 GMT -5

It's the wood that's giving me trouble.

Most of Larkinville doesn't look… That different from settlements I've seen in other parts of the country. New build, post-War settlements, I mean. They've repurposed bricks and metal from surviving pre-War buildings in the region, but… They've also got tiles and bricks that are clearly new. Someone around here is shaping and baking clay, and making cement. Again, not that strange.

But this part of America was mostly spared the nuclear apocalypse that the rest of the country was subjected to. Oh, the wildlife is just as mutated as everywhere else; I saw a ranch with conjoined twin deer and another with some sort of gigantised boar. But the ground isn't barren and the trees are happily growing… And being cut for lumber which is being used for building. Wooden houses. Wooden barns. They haven't gotten as far as resurfacing the pre-War roads, but all told-.

"Hey, you Krono?"

I turn and see a group of three people in faded black and red overalls. On their shoulders there's a patch decorated with… A heart over a flame with a stylised electrocardiogram across the middle. Two men and one woman, all athletic-looking and well-armed. [None are psychic.]

"That's me! If you're the people MODUS is sending, I'm afraid that I don't have room for all three of you…"

"Nah, I got volunteered for that." The man on the left steps forwards. Short hair, clipped beard, pale skin with a couple of scars only visible because of the small gaps in his facial hair. "Name's Rhett Bronson. My friends here just wanna see your flying machine. We haven't had any aliens around here since my great grandparent's day."

He offers me his right hand and I take it.

"Krono. Glad to have you along."

"So is it actually alien..?"

"Oh, no." I shake my head. "Our records and examples of their equipment are almost all pre-War." Tláloc and Santa Anna's project to rebuild the second Mothership have taken a bit of a backseat lately, for various very good reasons. "My saucer is an Earth-built recreation with a few modifications to make it human friendly. But if you're ready to go now..?"

"Sure."

I nod. "Then please, follow me."

I turn away from my contemplation of the village and walk down the stone-chip road towards where I've landed my saucer. The woman takes a couple of hurried steps to catch up. "Say, where's your accent from? Is that California?"

"Oh gosh no. England."

"On the other side of the Atlantic?"

I turn my head to look at her, eyes wide. "Yes!"

She frowns. "What?"

"You'd be surprised how few people in America know much about the rest of the world anymore."

"So how'd you get over here?"

"No idea. Just woke up in Nevada one day. Alien abduction suspected but never proven. So, are you..? Fire fighters?"

Rhett shakes his head. "Fire Breathers. We're the Appalachian Free State's monster hunters."

"I've seen some of your mutant wildlife. Are there worse things out there?"

"Yeah, but we fight humans, too. We just don't have the kind of formal structure an army would. Someone sends a call out, and whoever's available gets sent out. MODUS keeps track of exactly who's where, makes sure we don't all go chasing off after a ghoulified radstag or something."

"How is Appalachia governed?"

"Er… It's not, really. Individual towns do their own thing, and MODUS takes care of organising everything else."

"He described himself as 'President'…"

"Well, yeah. That's what a President is, isn't it?"

"Traditionally, presidents are elected."

"Yeah, but the Scorch Plague killed off everyone in this region who wasn't in a Vault. And Vault Overseers aren't elected. And everyone who moved here from outside… It was usually the group with the most guns who was in charge. MODUS has been keeping an eye on things here since before the War. No one else could do the job as well as him."

"And you all know that he's an A.I.?"

"Yeah, and we all know about that creepy-ass smile he does when he's excited. Like to see you look that good when you're two hundred."

"I'm three hundred and one."

He blinks. "Shit, really?"

"I was born in nineteen eighty three. I sort of skipped a couple of centuries, during which there was a nuclear war."

He keeps staring at me. "Are you a ghoul with really good makeup?"

"No, I just look this great naturally, though thank you for noticing. Now." I stop and [push]… And the saucer's stealth system shuts down. "Our-"

"Shit!"

"-ride, and it most certainly is not. This is the most advanced aircraft in America!"

The other man walks around it, staring at it. "They go invisible?"

"Ours do."

"You got a lot of these out west?"

"Just a handful. Most of California's aircraft are propeller-driven." I pop the canopy, then look at Rhett and gesture to the crew compartment. "It's not exactly roomy, but if you chuck your bag behind the seats there should just about be enough space."

"Damn." He gives his head a small shake. "Alright. How fast does this thing go?"

"If I exit the atmosphere and fly in an arc, we could be in Shady Sands-. That's the capital of California, within an hour. I was planning on going slower so that I can show you the sights instead, but it's up to you."

He nods. "I'll need to brief MODUS when I get back. Anyone likely to shoot at us?"

"Only if I turn off the stealth system over Arizona. At this point, civilisation's recovered far enough that we're just tidying up the last few gangs and crazies before we can move onto the next stage."

"Rebuilding America."

"Did MODUS talk to you about that?"

"He's talked about it a bunch of times. But looking around, I didn't think I'd live long enough to see a step this concrete, you know?"

"We don't have much contact with this part of America, so it's mostly west coast states at the moment. And there's not much we can really offer in terms of development assistance."

"We've managed-" He finishes shoving his bag in. "-this long. I think we'll survive. But would you be interested in trading for more alien technology?"

"I think we would. How about you give me a summary of Appalachia's post-War history while I fly us to Texas?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th September 2013
10:39 GMT

"That's odd."

I glance over to Bleez's ship as it floats in space next to me. Bleez herself decided to spend the morning with her management company rather than venture into a war zone, which seems entirely reasonable to me. As such, Jade is at the helm, or, at the moment, the sensors.

"What is?"

"The interdiction fields."

I scan. "They're still there?"

"But they're covering a far smaller area than they usually do. Far smaller than last time you were here, far smaller than they should be according to Bleez's navigational records, and far smaller than their own navigational beacons indicate."

There isn't any interstellar law stating the proper size of the interdicted area around an inhabited system. And while there might be customs around a particular region, there aren't customs across the entire galaxy. Still… Most places have beacons which show where it starts because they usually want some people to be able to reach them.

Wait…

"Are the beacons active?"

"No, but they're still there."

I frown. In Antares, all four war participants have their own interdiction systems because until recently the only one with a hostile relationship with anyone outside Antares was Alstair. Then Dhor attacked Earth a couple of times, but… It's not like we have enough ships to attack them back. No, they mostly have their own systems to prevent the other parties in the war using faster than light travel against them. And they extended the range a little further than is common to prevent their rivals slow-flying outside of the interdiction zone, travelling around it at faster-than-light speed and then flying back in at an angle they couldn't intercept.

But deliberately shrinking the field…

"So either someone's won, or it's a trap-."

"It can't just be a trap."

I nod. "No, because they'd have to all agree to it, and that's never going to happen."

"It could be sabotage."

I scan in-system. Not entirely reliable as Alstair has access to magic, but…

"Their fleets have taken a defensive posture and all the wrecks are at low temperatures."

They haven't all radiated enough heat yet to have dropped down to the near-absolute zero that is the destiny of any object in space which is too far away from a heat source, but none of them are 'just hit' warm.

"If it was sabotage then they'd be rushing to repair it. Are your scans reliable?"

"Against everyone except Alstair. Should be reliable against them, but I can't guarantee it."

"But none of them are in position to engage Thanagar's fleet."

"Not that I can see."

Ah… Bit of ring-assisted math… Okay, if the Thanagarian Empire's fleet hits the edge of the interdiction field and then moves in… Normally, Alstair would pull back their fleet, the other three would advance a bit and then start fighting each other and leave Alstair to Thanagar. But if we assume that someone won, then all four fleets-.

No. Three fleets will hold position while Alstair assumes a defensive posture. The Thanagarian fleet will advance into contact, then the other three will converge… Probably stating that they want to help. Then they'll attack the Thanagarian fleet and the interdiction field will expand to its usual size-. No, more than that, because Thanagar knows how far it usually goes. And while Thanagar won't commit its whole fleet, what they commit will be a big commitment.

Then… The thanagarians signal their reserves, who advance to cover their retreat. Cruisers, probably, with a decent sub-light speed. Thanagar's carriers won't be fully engaged, and they're agile for their mass, but…

Unless Thanagar thinks they can win that fight. Which isn't impossible. If they commit more than I think they will then it won't go well for them but it could be a double knockout. And Thanagar will rebuild faster now that they've got a source of Nth metal. And if most of the ships they destroy belong to Alstair then Hyathis might just face an immediate revolt.

Unless Andar… Blade of Hyathis Andar, has persuaded the Vega Alliance to throw in with Hyathis. Her collaboration with J shows that she can work with others and… If the Crown Imperium can't expand in that direction any longer and doesn't need to maintain the same level of force on the Vega border that it used to, it's far from unthinkable that they could look for a partner in this direction.

And that would be a prelude to a new round of warfare and conquest, and while the Crown Imperium are far from the worst people in this region of space I'd much rather that didn't happen.

"So, what now?"

"Am I answering as a Darkstar, or as your girlfriend?"

"Answer as a Darkstar and as my girlfriend, because they are both one and the same beautiful person."

"That's not helpful, Paul."

"But it is heartfelt."

I hear her sigh quietly. "If you're sure you don't care who actually wins, our only interest is in finding out who tried to kill us. Can you talk to Hyathis about it?"

"Should be able to."

"And the Dhorians?"

"They were all willing to talk to me last time I was here."

"So, talk."

"Illustres to Queen Hyathis."

Now, this is a little fiddly. She's the ruler of a planet that doesn't have much truck with machinery. Normally a ring-based communiqué would go through the regular communication channel, except here there isn't one. In that case the ring's A.I. would force its way through the local communication network until it reached somewhere close to the intended recipient and then ring them incessantly. Except that she doesn't have that many electronic communication devices, and doesn't necessarily have one anywhere near her. And I might be getting screened so as not to distract her from her work.

Hm.

I fabricate an Alstairian plant, and then mimic Lantern Medphyll's pull to-.

The plant immediately morphs into a miniature replica of Queen Hyathis's irate face.

"Who dares-?" Her expression calms. "Orange Lantern. What brings you here?"

"Someone hijacked the Thanagarian planetary defence system to try and kill me. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"No. I didn't even know that you were on Thanagar."

I raise my eyebrows.

"My agents can't report that quickly. You being there would cause any plans I had to be put on hold precisely to prevent situation like this. I don't want you for my enemy."

"And that's all you have to say on the subject?"

"I have plans to sabotage Thanagar, but they shouldn't have impacted you."

"Alright, thank you for your time. I assume that the Dhorians don't have a separate plan?"

"They shouldn't. What makes you think that they would?"

"We found gamma gong technology being employed on Thanagar."

"That-. I will have to-."

Alert!

And there's the Thanagarian fleet.

 

[Mr Zoat]

8th September 2013
10:43 GMT

They look so tiny, from this far away.

In reality, they're… Not.

While not as big as, say, the Absolute Dominion, Thanagarian Command Carriers are just about the biggest ships I've seen anywhere else. Certainly the biggest that are in continual production. Good armour, good shields, good speed for their mass thanks to the Nth metal, decent primary weapons, good secondary weapons and a huge internal space packed with every sort of attack craft you could think of. They've got interceptors, void fighters, void attack craft, void torpedo boats, assault shuttles, boarding pods, aerofighters, aerobombers, reconnaissance craft and E.C.M. boats. And most types are capable of faster than light travel on their own, because their standard tactic involves having a carrier in one system and using it as a base station from which they strike out at next few systems in any direction.

I watch as all twelve of them launch reconnaissance craft.

That's a big commitment of force. About a quarter of the Empire's total fleet, if my information is up to date. Big enough that Thanagar would actually be in trouble if I notified their neighbours in other directions, because they're not exactly popular with the people they've made it clear that they intend to conquer outright. I was only expecting six, or maybe eight.

"That's a lot of ships."

"It'll be informative, how conservative they are with their positioning."

Thanagarians have excellent three dimensional awareness. Their fighters and interceptors love to use obstacles to set up rolling ambushes, and in a fleet action that usually means using their own carrier. Feign flight around its hull, lure the enemy into chasing you, and have another squadron coming around in the other direction to meet them. But carriers are a major investment. Between the cost of the ships and the experience of the crews, losing even one can set back their fleet deployments significantly. If they're suspicious here, they might well park them right on the interdiction line and-.

The carriers light up their engines and blast forward at full acceleration.

"They're all-in."

Their reconnaissance craft have far better acceleration; they're basically just engines and sensor packages with no manoeuvrability, shields or armour. They'll probably try to fly through the system and out the other side, with dedicated bleed fracture pulse transmitters sending everything back to the analysis teams on their motherships. I don't think that Antares has anything that can intercept them, unless they can put something along their flight path and then completely fluke a shot.

Actually having to deal with regular physics can make space combat quite hard.

On the other hand, if something actually does catch them, then they're dead.

"Are the Blades of Alstair here?"

Uh… "Not that I can see. And their command ship wouldn't be a match for a modern Command Carrier."

"Could they get some sort of stealth system you couldn't see through?"

"Could they? It's just about possible. Wombworld was glassed from orbit but there are probably a few pieces of psion technology around the place. But they've been spending most of their time on Tamaran and Tamaran doesn't have that technology."

"So where are they?"

"Depending on how long Blackfire waited to tell me, they could still be on their way back. Or flying to another contract."

"Do you really think-?"

"No." Hm, what's that over-? "Oh."

"The cloud near Alstair."

I nod. "Space spores. Area denial." On a scale that's actually significant. That's a lot of spores. Trillions-. No, quadrillions of the things. At least. "They don't really have fighters designed to cope with that. They'll need their primary weapons, and they're probably modifying them for dispersed fire now."

"So if it's a trap, it's going to work."

"Yes indeed. Ring, contact Dhor."

"Compliance."

Unlike Alstair, Dhor should have someone-.

A bug-eyed sharp-nosed face appears before me. "Orange Lantern. I am Delon Ma. What do you want?"

"Someone used a gamma gong controlled agent on Thanagar to try to assassinate me. I'm.. having a little difficulty in working out who it was."

"Heh. And you want me to confess?"

"It would clear things up for me."

"Gamma gongs are a strategic resource, to be used to defend Dhor from invasion. We don't have enough of them to send them off to worlds that are already the enemies of our enemies."

"You have enough to send one to my homeworld."

"Your homeworld was a poorly defended high-value target, and responsible for the defeat of my predecessor as Delon. We tried, and we lost a gong that we cannot replace."

"What, you can't afford it?"

"We cannot get the materials required. Several of the metals required to make the alloy the gong is composed of can't be found on Dhor. So if the assassin used a gong, it was not made by us."

"Who else knows how to make them?"

"Your world now has two gongs. Do you have enemies at home, Orange Lantern?"

"Not ones that can easily get to Thanagar. If the metals can't be found on Dhor, where do you get them from?"

"Raiding Mosteel. Last time we attempted to capture more, the death toll crippled our fleets for decades."

"Do the people of Mosteel know how to make gamma gongs?"

"Perhaps. They are naturally moving pieces of metal. It may well be that the mechanism by which the gong works is commonly used by all parts of their ecosystem. Now clear this channel: I have a war to fight."

His face vanishes.

"Did you really think they were just going to admit to it?"

"Probably not. But he's got a point: we've got no idea how gamma gongs work. Or how sophonts made purely of metal work."

"Magic?"

"No, we tested for that. It's almost certainly one of those exotic physics things. I-."

"I'm being hailed by the Thanagarian fleet."

"Well, put them on."

"Private vessel, this is a war zone. Leave at once. This will be your only warning."

"We'll make it clear that we're not Bleez when we get back. For now, I think we need to visit Mosteel."