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

2nd January 2013
18:14 GMT

I smile at the spokesperson of the gordanians of the clan manning 'my' ship, as well as the prisoners that were on the one Allyn captured.

"So that's the situation. You can all get in the other ship and boom tube back to somewhere where the rest of your fleet can pick you up, or accept internment here for the duration of the war."

"We're going back to the fleet. What about the other ship?"

"Unless you've got more to offer than I think you have, or unless Grayven is actually prepared to agree to a non-aggression pact like I asked him to the first time we met, I'm keeping it."

"That's not for me to say."

"Do you want me to send a message with you, so that I'm the one telling him I'm keeping it?"

He thinks for a moment, then snorts a negative.

"No. Grayven isn't that sort of clan chief. I will tell him directly."

"No? So… What sort of sanctions is Astarte looking at?"

He snorts again, but my ring tells me that it's an 'amused contempt' snort. "I'm gordanian, not citadelian. I don't tell people information just because they ask and no one tells me not to."

"And you're not dead."

He tenses for a moment, then frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Citadelians don't really exist any more. I mean, there might be a few, but they're sterile and I destroyed their cloning facilities. Psions too, though that wasn't me."

"No great loss. Guess Vega's kinda quiet, these days."

I nod. "Nearly civilised. "

"What about Karna?"

"It's karnan dominated, but there are still plenty of gordanian clans living on the planet."

"As slaves?"

"No. The karnans control most of the orbital infrastructure and they've got a bigger fleet now, but the remaining gordanians are free to conduct their affairs with only a few added restrictions."

"Huh. That's nice. We don't get a lot of messages from the clans in Vega."

"No problem. Vega isn't at war with either Grayven, N.E.M.O. or the Reach, so there's no real reason why you can't use a boom tube to visit home."

"Karna's not home for us. It's just where our ancestors happened to come from."

"Fair enough." I gesture to their escorts. "These people will escort you to your ship. It should go without saying, but any perfidy on your part will result in your immediate deaths, and may harm Grayven's future attempts to win Minosyss over."

He makes a mildly submissive gesture. "No, it wouldn't achieve anything."

I smile as he moves back to the holding pen to inform this comrades of the outcome of our discussion. As gordanians, they almost certainly can't tell that anything odd has happened with the planet's thaumosphere. Might be interesting to see how much Astarte actually passes along, as for mischief's sake we included a complete report on their computer. And one from my perspective in the Karrakan system. Wouldn't want him to think that I shot his ship on purpose.

I mean I'm pretty sure that we're going to end up fighting each other, and that this current thing of mostly avoiding each other is due to his plan not requiring that he fight us at the moment, but a little optimism won't hurt.

I

step out,

reappearing next to Athyns on New Cronus. And he isn't surprised in the least by my appearance. Looks like being the man who created this world's thaumosphere gives him a little insight into other people who use it.

"They're off."

"Yes. It will not be enough to ensure peace, but it will enforce the ideal of honest and open-handed dealing in our world's soul. That itself will serve as a defensive weapon."

"In human popular fiction there's a thing called a Justice Field. If you tried to commit a crime inside the area affected, the crime would be done to you instead."

"I doubt that it will be so absolute. Though there is a lot I don't know about New God technology. Would it be possible for us to find a technologist who is from Grayven's people but not allied to him?"

"Usually I'd say 'yes', but we're not in direct contact with New Genesis and my homeworld is being attacked by Grayven's homeworld. If you could lend my homeworld a few Ascendants we could probably put you in touch once the fight is over, but that's the best I can do."

He walks over to the balcony and looks down on Minosyss. You can't see any damage from up here, but the tower of New Othrys was critically damaged. They were thinking about tearing it down and starting again, because while they have access to some advanced technology, molecular reconstruction isn't anything the Titans could do.

"We are not in any position to start a war. Particularly not with people as advanced as Grayven."

I shrug, and fabricate a data crystal.

"Here's a summary. If you feel able to participate, great. If you don't, then you don't. Oh."

I also fabricate a couple of books on thaumaturgy.

"Since your thaumosphere is more active now, you could probably start a native magic tradition. These might help."

"Thank you. You're being surprisingly generous, when there is little I can offer you in return except thanks."

I smile. "If the Reach decide that they won't leave you alone, what will you do?"

He nods. "You would be my natural choice of ally."

"Rather than Grayven. N.E.M.O. is a mutual defence pact with some technology sharing. Help out where you can, and we'll help you in return. If my homeworld was in a better state I'd be able to offer more…"

I shrug.

"It is appreciated anyway. Allyn wanted to speak to you before you leave."

I nod, and

transfer

myself to the docking area.

"Allyn?"

He draws himself up slightly. "What you said before, about there being no one whose job it was to hunt monsters like Astarte down. Is that something that your organisation does?"

"The Orange Lantern Corps is currently focusing on the Reach, but individual Orange Lanterns are free to act on their own recognisance. There are even a few who aren't involved in the war at all, but the Reach are probably the worst people in this galaxy."

He thinks for a moment, then nods.

"What would I have to do to involve myself in this work?"

I pull out my spare ring.

"You have to want really hard to involve yourself."

 

Counterpunched

6 558 937.M41

"…job."

Tsua'm looks mildly concerned as we walk through the secure biological research facility. Given the nature of what's being studied here, there are a lot fewer members of the Fire Caste than would usually be the case. Instead, internal security is provided by stationary turrets and gun drones, though they're neatly slotted into charge stations or otherwise folded away at the moment. Similarly, the whole place is run by a A.I. with the personality engram of the lead researcher who founded it, an interesting solution to the problem of A.I. friendliness and the novel problem solving difficulties A.I.s sometimes have.

"Your efforts have aided the Tau Empire greatly. I am unused to humans with-"

I smile slightly as she uses the English word without really thinking about it. She can be remarkably insightful at times.

"-your disposition-."

I glance at her with raised eyebrows. "You mean not fanatical converts?"

"I prefer to be polite. I would call them-."

"Mon'gue'vesa."

She makes the choking sound that tau make when they're laughing. "No-." She elbows me in the ribs. "No, I would not call them that, and you should stop corrupting me with such ideas. You… Filthy heretic."

I put my right hand over my heart. "Won't happen again."

"The Empire exalts you above all other humans. You could ask for a world to rule, and you would be granted it. Instead, you ask for trivial things."

I shrug. "I like my work."

"I know that, but the Lar'shi Por'ar'tol are used to humans who are used to… A 'neo-feudal' structure. And yet you do not want land, or trade contracts, nor marriage into-"

I wince. "Please tell me they haven't-."

"-a notable family and no, after your reaction to the concubines they sent last time I was able to convince them that it would not be a good idea."

"Thank you."

That was a bit of a shock. A really… Awkward shock. Because they came from a human world where concubinage was a perfectly respectable profession for a noblewoman looking for promotion, which meant that they were from really well-connected families because Tsua'm isn't joking about how much the Empire likes me. Working out how to turn the women down without getting them shunned when they got home was a lot of work, but not a hard decision to make because they were still nuts.

"The humans of your age were different, I understand. But this is not corruption. Placing industries and peoples in the hands of trustworthy families is a perfectly accepted part of rulership in human society. And I am not looking at you and I know you are either wincing or rolling your eyes." I'm doing both. "It is difficult to rule such a large area of space. Sometimes, it is necessary to use stable systems rather than ideologically pure ones, as well you know."

"Yes, but…" I sigh. "Okay, there are a few things."

"Then tell me what they are."

"I… Can't."

"In the same way that you can't say your name?"

"No. It's… Some things, their nature is affected by how they're given. Like… No one orders fire warrior squads to undergo the bonding ritual, they do it when they all feel that their relationship has reached that stage."

"Of course. I see. Then I must decipher what you want without being directly told."

"I'm afraid so."

"That is marvellous!"

I frown at her as we arrive at our destination. "It is?"

She nods.. in a slightly awkward way because it's not a natural gesture for the tau. She sort of thrusts her head forwards slightly before tilting it. It makes her look a little like a chicken pecking at the ground. "If I can intuit your intention with such precision, then I will be worthy of promotion. I will be much better placed to curb the well-meaning actions of the Lar'shi Por'ar'tol as Por'Vre Lar'shi Tsua'm Raard."

I take a moment to consider the effects of promotion on tau social interactions.

Hang on.

"Is your mother still-?"

"AND WE ARE HERE!" She puts her right hand on the palm reader. "One to access, one to monitor."

"Acknowledged, Alien Psychology Envoy Tsua'm Raard."

Two armoured doors slide open, and she wastes exactly no time in striding through the one to the right. And I receive a reminder that just because tau have less close family structures when compared with humans, that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes get pressure from their parents.

Ho-hum.

I walk in through the left door, which closes behind me.

"Please don protective equipment."

I clench my left hand, construct armour appearing around me.

"Acceptable. The following advisories are to be relayed before contact. The contained specimen has: supertau speed, supertau strength, supertau endurance, supertau senses and tau-equivalent intelligence. Interior weapons are permanently active, and in the result of a confrontation your survival will not be prioritised. Please confirm that you understand."

"I understand."

"Acceptance noted." The interior door opens. "Have a productive day."

"Will do." I walk into the holding room, dismissing my construct armour. "You too."

The room is divided in two by solid bars, with the captive on the far side. She's dressed in clothing that's not really any different to tau casual wear, if a little simplified. The actual interior of the cell is bare… Ah, the tau version of rockcrete, with a small rug to either sleep on or just to keep off the cold floor. The only other object is a commode, and the only hole in the bars is the device for taking waste material out and allowing food in.

The woman herself has brown skin and -naturally- no hair. The ridge crests are relatively small and she's clearly used to avoiding letting people getting a good look at her teeth. Two arms, two legs, skin covering her muscles… You'd almost think she was human. She'd be the picture of good health, too, if she wasn't curled up in the middle of the rug and trying not to shake.

Very nearly human eyes are fixed on me.

"Good morning, Subject Two Five Seven Nine Four."

"F-f-f-f-amily. Why-? Why can't I h-hear them? P-promised…"

"Because we're not stupid enough to put a fourth generation genestealer hybrid somewhere without a null zone." I activate the room's holographic display, switching it between images taken from the facility's various other holding cells. "As you can see, they're alive and well."

The other surviving members of her cult. And not 'her' in the sense that she ruled it. We're fairly sure that she's just a regular neophyte hybrid rather than one of the 'specialist' forms that genestealer cults produce if they reach the 4th generation, but she has seniority amongst those that escaped the Imperium and surrendered to the Tau Empire.

So much that we don't know about genestealer-infected humans. So much we could learn from willing test subjects.

And so much trouble we could get into if this goes badly.

"Now." I smile. "Let's begin with the background."