If we could trust him to stick to a contract, he'd be an excellent Orange Lantern.
"Hello indeed. I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps."
Yeah,
no. He strikes me as the sort to be willing to change horse midstream, especially if it looks like it's sinking. Last thing you need is a potential deserter.
"Harrow is the name I go by. My friend's name is Chance." He points a thumb at the grizzled man wearing a tricorn hat. "And the lady there…" The woman in purple. "That's Risqué."
"Doesn't look that risqué." I smile. "But maybe I've spent too much time on Tamaran."
Though her outfit
is quite pleasingly tight in all the right places...
"I don't think I'm particularly harrowing, and I've never seen Chance leave a hand of cards to chance for as long as I've known him." He shrugs. "Names are what you make of them, Illustres."
"Mine's fairly literal. People call me 'Illustres', and-" I intensify my environmental shield. "-I make light."
How.. illuminating. <ducks.>
Hey, it had to be said by
someone.
"Would that be a power ring?"
"Long way from here to D'xe?"
"A long way from a lot of places."
Cagey, isn't he? Not wanting to give away even the
hint of a clue.
I hold out my left hand.
"I meant, have you been incommunicado? The existence of orange power rings isn't a secret."
Which begs the question galaxy-wide: "What
other colours do they come in?" Certainly, while the Guardians tend to have a
monopoly on Spectrum technology that's now being broken down by the Controllers, they can't be the
only species in the whole galaxy who've experimented with it... Wonder how many
have been experimenting...
I don't think I'm radiating orange light in any metaphysical sense, but his eyes glow and he's not even touching a ring. That sort of thing makes me think 'strong but crazy'.
"Though I imagine the fact that we're at war with the Reach is a more immediate concern."
...Okay, that's just a
little worrying, yes. Maybe his species has a little
natural Spectrum-usage ability?
"Not at all! We're not called 'Free' Lancers because we're under contract! We love bidding wars!"
"Then you do not-" The Negotiator step forward, his bodyguard fanning out slightly. "-intend to honour your commission to the Reach?"
Boy, kind of leaning on the implied threat
there, brother. Think he's a little put out?
"It seems that what we've picked up might be a little more valuable than we thought. We'd be fools to let an opportunity like this to slip through our hands."
"And the closest N.E.M.O. planet is closer than the closest Reach planet, and the closest N.E.M.O. fleet is a lot closer than the closest Reach fleet. And I'm here, of course."
And a whole
other kind of implied threat.
Harrow doesn't seem unduly bothered. "It's up to the client to arrange delivery after the hand-off. And since you're not just attacking our ship, it seems to me that you're obeying local law."
"Yes, though I want to be clear that I'm nothing like as obsessive about the principle as the Green Lanterns are."
Indeed, he's mostly trying not to annoy the locals into turning hostile, after all. Not that he's too worried one way or the other, but Dox would
probably yell. And that's just annoying.
"Meaning..?"
"Meaning that depending on what you even have, I have to decide how much it will affect the progress of the war. And then I have to decide how badly we need it and whether we need to offend certain parties more or less than we need it. We don't have a multi-million year legacy of lawfulness to live up to."
Which I bet a
lot of people are forgetting or overlooking, in-universe. The Orange Lanterns and their associates aren't
space cops. Nor do they intend to be. They're a
military power.
"Ooh." He holds up his hands. "Consider me warned."
Well, at least he has a rich talent for
sarcasm...
Risqué regards me sceptically. "The Reach are offering us a Scarab implant."
"You know those things mind control you, right?"
And honestly, there are
better weapons out there. Power Rings, for example. And yes, I know,
tools. But most people only know of Greenies using them as weapons...
"None of us are planning on wearing it. We have sophisticated analysis engines and a contact book full of technical specialists. We're going to reverse engineer the technology."
"Good luck with that. What would I have to offer you to outbid that?"
I rather suspect any planet or facility they tried to set up a research centre on would suffer a strangely
coincidental case of existence failure shortly after...
"Do you have a Scarab?"
"Unfortunately, no. They've started building self-destruct systems into them that make them rather tricky to capture."
Haha... If he only knew...
Though I do dimly remember… A Booster Gold comic where he got hold of a Scarab after the Rock of Eternity blew up. This continuity doesn't have a Booster Gold… Yet, anyway. And I couldn't find anyone called Jamie Reyes wearing any sort of beetle-themed armour. I could ask William to ask Jebediah whether or not he's got a Scarab, but Jebediah has no reason real to work with me after I killed Nabu.
Wait, was it Jebediah or Nabu..?
Boy, is his face going to be red in a couple of years time... When he finally let's slip about the Scarabs in earshot of Ted Kord and
he mentions his mentor's old artefact... Or introduces his new intern,
Jaime Reyes.
"How about a power ring?"
"If you want a long-term contract, I'd be happy to give each of you one. There are very few mortals who can forge rings, and you gaining the ability would make you very valuable to us."
Though that contract might need some
magical enforcement, just in case. Harrow probably enjoys his freedom to quietly (or not-so-quietly) slip away from any
compromising employment.
"I hate to repeat myself here, but what part of 'Free Lancer' suggests that we want to be under contract?"
"It's the way your eyes are glowing. Your dominant trait is avarice. I can give you a ring, I can give you access to technology far more advanced than anything the Reach has. You can fiddle around with it to your heart's content and all we'd ask in return is that you share what you learn."
And knowing that, what's the bet Harrow gets it into his head to go looking for an Orange Ring somewhere?
"We're not really looking for that sort of commitment."
"I see why you came to Yuna."
Oof, multi-target Burn.
"Hah! Yes, they are a bit like that, aren't they? But that doesn't change the fact that I've already got a generous deal lined up. If you can't outbid the Reach, then… Well…"
He shrugs with exaggerated insolence.
At least he's sanguine about it. Got to like the guy, he knows what he is, and is entirely happy with the way he is.
I nod. He has a point, but at this point I don't even know what he has. Asking after that Scarab that might be on Earth would be the next logical step, and… Would Kalmin be willing to trade his antithesis ring?
"Simply knowing that you have something that the Reach want isn't quite enough to make me want to sell the farm. What is it-."
No mention of K'ryssma being hot on their heels? Well, at least he can pull that out later, maybe shake that confidence of theirs. Assuming they haven't
already noticed.
Chance snorts. "You don't even know?"
"I heard a report that you acquired a power ring, but I have no idea whether I should believe it or not."
I'm sure there are plenty of 'traders' who claim to have acquired 'power rings'. The veracity of such claims is up to the listener.
Harrow reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box.
"There's a standing bounty from all sorts of people for an intact power ring." I smile slightly. Naughty K'ryssma. "But what we got is a little different. We didn't get the full story, but it looks like the Guardians were trying out a new design… But didn't have the bugs all worked out yet."
Oh, really? I suppose it's not impossible. There's probably a line of technical development to do with Power Rings. I doubt the current model is exactly the same as the ones used by the First Lanterns.
More Bobblehead malware for one thing.
The small box partially liquefied, revealing the green…
Huh.
Green power rings usually have green sigil on a circular face.
This one is.. slightly darker in colour, with the outline of a square in place of the normal sigil. I can
feel the focused will associated with it so it's definitely
genuine, but…
Hmm... Older prototype or newer? Going by the
storyline involved, it's likely the advanced Ring introduced there...
Why would the Guardians make something like that, much less actually issue it?
"Have you tested it?"
Well, for one thing, proprietary Bobblehead security features? And it
may require a downright
unsafe level of focused
Will...
"How could I do that without tipping off the Guardians? I don't want to get dragged to Oa and stuck in a sciencell."
"In that case, I'm going to need to consult with other parties. Can you hold onto it for a few days?"
"Certainly. I think the bidding might just get interesting."
Let's just hope the resulting
bidding war doesn't turn into a
shooting war.
