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

20th January 2013
10:21 GMT

I sigh as the last few Reach ships metaphorically strike their colours. They know perfectly well that they can't get away before they're overhauled, not in a situation like this. The commanding L.E.G.I.O.N. admiral sends me a request for confirmation and I approve their plan without a moment's hesitation.

The Reach offensive is -currently- under control. Not beaten, no, but we were successful in defending most of our worlds and all of the worlds that actually have a meaningful industrial output.

I take a moment to look at the drifting hulks of the L.E.G.I.O.N. vessels that were destroyed in this engagement. Not a single orange glow in any of them.

Our ships do have escape pods, but there's no understanding that escape pods won't get shot at in this war. It's actually safer for naval personnel on crippled ships to deactivate available devices drawing power and shelter in place. While the fight is still going on it just isn't worth the Reach shooting at ships that aren't participating in it. Launching pods is something that only makes sense to do once the people on board get an all-clear signal or if there are boarders.

If the L.E.G.I.O.N. fleet were on the losing side, most personnel not in a position to get away will kill themselves to avoid capture, knowing full well that if they don't they'll be mind controlled and sent back to act against their own people. Reach ships have escape pods, but they're more like mini-ships and are far better at escaping to the rear of their formations under their own power. Somewhat aided by the fact that we don't shoot them even if it would be really easy, like now.

"Illustres to Orange Lanterns. Highest priority is to make safe damaged ships. Don't get distracted by pick-up duty until all survivors are safe. Once that's done, request new orders."

They don't all hop to it, of course. They are Orange Lanterns, and some of them prioritise friends or allies above what's actually sensible in the fight. Or taking trophies from foes they personally bested. I can't stop them without either significant retraining or dominating them.

But…

We reach out to their desires and faintly cause them to resonate with one another. A little groupthink to counter our pernicious individualism.

My ring blinks again.

"Illustres here."

Dox's head appears over my ring.

"Is it done?"

"That part of the Reach fleet that didn't fall back has been destroyed. We're in the recovery phase now. Do you have a new assignment for me?"

"Darkstar Jade Nguyen's infiltration mission has been terminated prematurely."

There's a slight pause. I don't think that he's telling me that she's dead, if only because he wouldn't prevaricate.

"She had only minor injuries, but she and Lantern Zartok's team managed to capture one of Grayven's henchmen, along with the command centre of a Citizenry ship."

"Are we changing our focus, Clarissi?"

"No, but it is my intent to pay a little more attention to Grayven's activities. He has ignored your offers for an alliance and I have no doubt that he will attack us should we appear to be gaining a decisive advantage. At the moment we are no more able to counter fleets transported by boom tube than the Reach is."

I nod. "Alright, what do you need from me?"

"Humans display reduced performance quality when active for long periods of time without rest. While your status as an enlightened Lantern insulates you from some of the causes, I am moving you off duty for the time being."

"Appreciated. Any news on Earth?"

"All N.E.M.O. assets have been instructed to avoid the place. Darkstar Nguyen's prisoner might be able to provide you with information regarding the Anti-Life, but I encourage you to actually take time to refresh yourself."

"Certainly, sir. Anything else?"

"No, that's all."

His head vanishes.

Okay. Off-duty. And

Jade is… There.

I check my location… The N.E.M.O. facility on Tillettit. Zartok spots me at once, a material spear in his hands. Allyn is watching… No, refereeing Jade's fight with… Is that Knockout? While Grood is just sort of sitting in the corner. He's not eating, which is a little uncharacteristic of him.

"Illustres." Zartok moves through his spear katas, without using his ring. I'm no expert in spear combat, but it looks like he knows what he's doing. "What is it?"

I walk a little closer to the sparring arena, watching as Jade dodges around Knockout's punches with her exo-mantle's flight system.

"I understand that you were successful."

"You could call it that."

"You disagree?"

"There's a Darkstar stealth ship in Reach space that will have to leave now that we're no longer on board. We were barely able to defeat two Scarab Warriors, I was forced to damage parts of the ship's control system that will make it near-impossible to fully reverse engineer, and worst of all Grayven decided to hand us victory."

"Did you talk him into it?"

"No. He said that Knockout was his father's spy, and that he arranged the entire affair to get rid of her. He assumed that it would be the Reach, but us having her was more convenient."

Ah. Hammer blows to his pride, then.

"Illustres?" Allyn turns away from the fight to look at me. "Could you please take over here? I have a prior engagement."

A glowing orange shield superimposes itself on the one he's making for a moment, then I absorb his construct.

"Dismissed, Lantern Allyn."

He smiles, nods, and then flies back towards the main compound.

I feel Jade's attention pass over me for a moment as she manoeuvres for space. Knockout looks like she's bracing for something, but Jade's posture relaxes and she raises her right hand to stop-.
Fight Better!
Knockout lunges across the arena as my barrier turns into a giant draconic fist, grabbing her and crushing her before spinning her around hard enough to turn a normal human into a bag of broken bones and shredded organs before slamming her into the toughened ground hard enough to crater it once, twice and thrice.

Knockout groans as I release the construct.

"Hey Jade. How did it go?"

"I submitted a mission report." She takes out her purple ray. "Do I need to use this?"

"On Knockout?" I walk over to Knockout and kick her. "No. She's Apokoliptian. You dead, Knockout?"

"Nnnnno?"

"Good answer. Apokoliptians understand and like the language of brutal violence. But really, how are you doing?"

"I nearly died because Grayven sabotaged his own ship. Aside from that, good."

"Are you finished with Knockout for now?" She nods. "Knockout, up." She groans, but comes to her feet. "Let's drop her off in a holding cell and do a full debrief."

 

6 563 938.M41

"I have…" Bo'ohk's nasal cleft is twitching spasmodically. "Concerns."

I take a moment to watch the recording of the Faultless One as he leads teams of gue'vesa medics and technicians through the factory complexes of the planet below us. The cameras following them are recording this more for propaganda purposes than anything else, but it's still a useful monitoring tool. The humans in the team aren't from the puppet world who are officially occupying this planet, but rather from a world that was t'auified a good deal longer ago. The people from there are considered far more politically reliable, to say nothing of being much better trained than their equivalents from most Imperial worlds.

"I suspected."

"What..? Is he?"

"Not sure."

"P'ol, I am going to have to explain this to the aun'ar'tol. Not the Lar'shi'aun'ar'tol, the T'au'aun'ar'tol. Aun'o'T'au'Acaya'Va'Denta himself will want to question me. This is not merely a matter of practicality. It affects everything about how the Tau Empire deals with these creatures. So, please; as much as I usually enjoy our banter, this is a time for absolute seriousness."

I nod. "Understood."

"That is a daemon."

"That depends on what definition of daemon we're using. So far as I can tell, he isn't related to the four greater Gods of Chaos."

"According to the records we have taken from the Imperium's daemon hunters, neither are the furies. They are still the enemy of the Greater Good."

"Y-."

"And can never be anything else. That is important. Tyranids can never be anything other than devourers. Orks… The orks are the reason why we have a list of species who cannot be a part of the Greater Good, and… Grem'len…"

Oh, hang on, he's… Blinking erratically, which combined with the nasal twitching-.

I step closer, firmly place my hands on his shoulders to lock him in place, then sharply exhale directly at his forehead. He shudders, eyes opening slightly wider for a moment. I stare directly into them, waiting for a sign that he's back with me.

"I… Thank you."

I nod, then pull him into a hug. Tau do hug, a gesture that has more or less the same meaning to them that it does to humans. The usual difference is that tau rest their foreheads against each other rather than putting them over the other person's shoulder.

"You alright?"

"Hah? No. But… This is the disadvantage of being the ethereal on the mission: you do not have anyone to turn to for counsel."

I pull back. "So…"

"The wisdom of Aun'Va is considerable, but-. But no one is flawless. Humans of the Imperium are often shocked by our lack of fear where the warp is concerned. Everything I have seen about the nature of the creatures that live there has led me to believe that they are right, and that we were right to say that nothing that comes from the warp is anything other than anathema. But I thought that of orks and Grem'len has been receptive to the concept. For the good of my… Soul, if I have one, I need you to explain this to me as best you can."

"I'm not sure. I thought that daemon princes of chaos undivided were a… Group project. They made offerings to the four, built up rewards from all of them, and at some point absorbed enough warp-stuff to fully transform. But…"

I link to the ship's computer and call up the file on eldar Avatars.

"That thing's a fragment of the eldar God of War, shattered when Kaela Mensha Khaine lost a fight with Slaanesh. Not allied to the Gods of Chaos. In fact it doesn't even spend significant time in the warp. If you destroy one, its spirit goes right back to its home craftworld."

I assume that it goes through the Warp when that happens… I've never heard of the process being interrupted. Logically, it… Should be possible for warp phenomena to interrupt it. The warp spiders would stop a daemon infiltrating the infinity circuit, but trapping a recently dematerialised Avatar sounds… Plausible.

"And then there's the Emperor."

"You said that he was created by human psykers killing themselves and merging their minds together."

"Right. A synthetic god. Not tied to Chaos. Because while-. The strongest and most universal emotions create… Most creatures in the warp… The reason why there aren't 'kindness daemons' despite the capacity for kindness being just as universal as bloodlust is because they'd get eaten. The most powerful warp currents just tear things like that apart. So the Emperor can exist because from the first moment of his existence he was strong enough to look after himself, and had an anchor in the materium. Kaela Mensha Khaine didn't… Merge with Khorne because… I don’t know, because the eldar are so psychic that they could prevent it? Because their particular attitude to violence was different enough? I don't know. But it is."

Bo'ohk nods. "There are records of orks being aided by manifestations of their gods also."

I shake my head. "That's just weirdboyz manifesting things with waaagh energy. As far as I know, Mork and Gork aren't directly involved. Other… I guess the Legion of the Damned would be similar, but we don't have good records on them. The point is, warp-native beings can exist who aren't.. exclusively hostile, they're just… Really unusual. And that will be part of their nature. No daemon of Nurgle, Khorne, Slaanesh or Tzeentch would act like this in a genuine way."

"So why does this one behave in this way? He has been close to many psykers, and they have not reacted in the usual manner. Is he, then, different enough from daemons that we should consider him something else?"

"I watched him absorb… Souls. But he wasn't eating them for their power. He made them his skin, adding them to himself. All… Human, so… The warp stuff was… Filtered? By human nature and human perceptions."

"Like the Emperor."

"No, the Emperor's components were psykers in their own right, and he had a material body. But… More like that. And their emotions… Resignation, suffering, betrayal by what they served… On a planet where those feelings were normal. It probably.. alters the local warp.. reflection. What I saw… Machines made of people. Because… That's sort of what it is."

"You said that daemons are fragments of the greater warp powers."

"Most are. Sort of. But 'daemon' isn't a purely descriptive term. The Imperium calls Avatars 'daemons', and they're different to most of the things that get called daemons." I point to the video as the factory machines are shut down and emergency field medicine is carried out on the scalded work force. "We won't actually know what he 'counts as' until we bring a holy relic into close proximity and see what happens. And even then, that might just be the Emperor's opinion rather than a statement about his nature."

Bo'ohk nods slowly. "Can we trust him?"

"I don’t think-. He didn't seem particularly deceitful. He wants to help brutalised humans everywhere, and… Goodness knows there are a lot of those around the place. He has no loyalty to the Greater Good and I doubt that he ever will." I shrug. "But if we have him keep doing things like this, there shouldn't be a problem."

I take a breath.

"And then, there are the study opportunities. And the possibility that we can have him shield human psykers from other warp-entities, though we'd have to study him a lot. And he'd probably have to learn from scratch."

"What about human theology?"

"The Ecclesiarchy's faith doesn't have theological space for things like him. So we can't use him as a figurehead without provoking a crusade-. A bigger crusade, as they assume that the Tau Empire has fallen to Chaos. We should probably record his unusual appearance as being due to archeotech armour on.. databases we think that the Imperium can access. So… What's next?"

"We work to incorporate this world into the Tau Empire. And then, we journey to T'au to explain ourselves."