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

Darko · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
but since he hadn't

"he hasn't"

Mr Zoat said:
he captured over to the research and development researchers

Maybe "development department"

Mr Zoat said:
the Reach as a way

"has a"

Ngamer11 · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
18th January 2013
05:03 GMT

Since it wasn't mentioned in this conversation, what is the name of the Darkstar whose POV we're seeing now Mr Zoat?

Mr Zoat · Jan 10, 2023

Darko said:
"he hasn't"
"has a"

Thank you, corrected.

Maybe "development department"

He didn't hand it over to the research and development caretakers.

Ngamer11 said:
Since it wasn't mentioned in this conversation, what is the name of the Darkstar whose POV we're seeing now Mr Zoat?

Ferrin Colos.

ptb_ptb · Jan 10, 2023

Sorry for the mispost. I followed @Zarco 's quote to get to the last chapter post instead of using the Threadmarks and it went to the wrong thread.

Mr Zoat said:
Unless he wanted to use the toilet…

He's joking, right? Because the environmental shield takes care of that (literal) crap as established in that chapter where the MC builds a (pointless) toilet on the Moon.

Ngamer11 · Jan 10, 2023

ptb_ptb said:
He's joking, right? Because the environmental shield takes care of that (literal) crap as established in that chapter where the MC builds a (pointless) toilet on the Moon.

Most non-Lanterns might not know about that function, because Lanterns probably don't want to talk about how it works.

Chojin Patriarch · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
18th January 2013
05:03 GMT

We crawl into the system, those sensors we dare risk flicking outwards to try to find our target.

Yes, there. I see the return on the sensor station half a second before the officer sends it to the main screen. Three planetoids with signs of habitation, and an actual Reach fleet.

Ah, Darkstar Colos. Keeping a close eye on everything? Probably a good idea on a brand new ship. I would assume it's already had its shakedown cruise, but that doesn't rule out other problems turning up. If something does, at least you have Lanterns to lend a hand fixing it...

"Finally." Lantern Zartok glowers at the screen. "They actually decided to fight for their worlds."

Details sensor returns appear only slowly while we're in full stealth mode. The place the Reach fleet is gathered isn't particularly close to any of the settled planetoids. Nor is it in a particularly convenient place to reinforce any of them if they're attacked. There are damaged ships there, but after this much time I can't believe that the Reach haven't recovered their own personnel. I'd be surprised if they haven't recovered their wrecks; this system doesn't have shipyards that could handle battleship-class vessels or larger, but they could handle the smaller classes of ship.

Assuming those are only their ships floating derelict. If they put up a fight, maybe they got a kill or two...

Instead, they're… There.

"Take us toward the closest settlement. I want to assess what sort of damage it took."

Not totally wiped out, I expect. What's the bet the Citizenry showed up, tried a raid and fled after being beaten back?

"Yes, sir."

But my attention stays on the wreckage, as our view of it gradually improves. Because if it's not a Reach wreck, that implies that it's one of Grayven's. Or several of Grayven's. The drawback to their strategy being that if their ships are caught they can't just run using their faster than light drives. They have to open a boom tube and fly through it at sublight speeds. If they're surrounded, then they're probably dead.

And I doubt they get access to things like Hush Tubes. Grayven would probably keep the best for himself, after all.

Zartok comes up alongside my chair. I'm not entirely sure why he's on the bridge, but since he hadn't been overstepping his bounds I decided to accept it.

"Citizenry vessels."

More than likely, yes. Your point, Corpsman?

"Probably."

"Are our sensors good enough to harvest data from their computers without needing to reveal ourselves?"

...Probably not without getting a hell of a lot closer.

"Not with citizenry systems. They use a type of magic that we can't combine with our sensors."

"I have a godling in my squad."

And he does have motivation to break Citizenry coding. Only one problem...

"And if we had time to study the way his people's sensors work, that might be enough."

"You have wizards onboard to operate the stealth system."

Huh. So that explains the 'new' stealth technology.

"Which is why we can't have them stop doing that to study an entirely original magic technology. The Illustres has handed the ship he captured over to the research and development researchers. We'll get the opportunity to study the Citizenry later, but I doubt this is the time."

"Mm."

Remember, those wrecks are under the eyes of a Reach fleet. And they're watching them very closely. Do you really think you can slip in under that cordon?

His ring glows as he directly accesses the sensors. He's probably examining the system with his brain. I read up on his record when he first started gaining notoriety,-. As a Lantern. The Orange Lantern Corps has mirrored the Green Lantern Corps' practice of employing people from warrior cultures who don't necessarily have civilised virtues. So far he's tolerated not being in command better than I thought he would. But then, there hasn't been anything to disagree about until now.

Not yet, no. Let's hope this isn't the first thing he chooses to disagree with you on.

This ship is nothing like fast enough to outrun the Reach fleet if we're discovered. And unless one of the Lanterns is secretly an Illustres too, there isn't any other way for us to escape.

"Their ships are surprisingly intact."

Never know, Zartok might stumble into some additional prowess during adversity.

"It may be that the Reach as a way of disrupting their sublight drives."

"The Citizenry have heavily armed ships and a powerful warrior ethos. I doubt that simply disabling their drive would stop them."

And any boarding action would be best performed by Scarab Warriors, not regular marines.

"No, but the Reach could cycle their ships. They could take as long as they needed to batter their target down."

While we do have reasonable data on Citizenry behaviour, we don't have good data on what they do when they lose. They usually only attack targets they can be certain of overwhelming. They take losses, but they haven't left wrecks behind anywhere that N.E.M.O. has been able to find out about.

...Until now. It could be a good thing, or it could be a trap of some kind...

On the other hand, destroying the ships is a good deal more practical. I firmly believe that it's in our interest to keep Grayven's people attacking the Reach and slow their research into his weapons whenever we can.

But it's not our priority. I turn my attention to…

...Zartok's gone, isn't he?

Zartok's gone.

He can access the sensor reading from anywhere on the ship with his ring. He can also communicate with anyone on the ship with his ring. He might even be able to communicate with the Illustres without turning off our stealth system. There's no real reason for him to.. either be on the bridge or leave the bridge.

...He's not going to Leeroy Jenkins his way to the Citizenry ships, is he? Because I get the feeling that's what he's planning to do...

Unless he wanted to use the toilet…

He probably wants to ask Lantern Allyn about the Citizenry ships. I read his debrief after I heard that he had encountered the Citizenry. None of it was anything I could really use. As a field agent I like to think that I keep up to date on our information on our enemy's capacities, but when magic and gods start getting involved… I don't even know how to prepare for things like that.

Not many do, unless you come from Earth. And I would assume the Illustres has had plenty written down about that sort of thing already.

"Sensors, any sign that they've noticed us?"

"No, sir-. Ah, ships are moving in this direction. We'll pass close by them if they continue on their current heading. Looks like a patrol group."

Of course, 'close' at this scale could mean a few hundred thousand kilometres. But if their sensors are pointed the right way at the right moment...

The one thing we couldn't account for was alien technology the Reach might have traded for. Trying to trade with Apokolips is a fools errand, but we know that the Reach have traded with Qward. Given how… 'Dissolute' the Weaponers had become and how chaotic the place is now, it's far from unthinkable that one or more might have decided that a change of scenery suited them. Kalmin was part of this ship's design team, but even he admitted that there's no such thing as flawless stealth.

"They still have eyes, don't they? Avoid being seen." To be fair, stealth in space, even with magic involved, is always tough.

"Tell me immediately if their behaviour changes."

"Yes, sir."

Let's hope they aren't feeling trigger-happy...

"And for the sake of the record, how much do they outgun us by?"

Darkstar Scratch-Scratch-Squeak clicks their mandibles together.

"They appear to have a standard configuration. So no more than fifty times. As a group."

Definitely outgunned, then. It's be like swatting a fly with a nuclear bomb. Not even by setting it off, just hitting it with the bomb itself.

I smile wryly and make eye contact with the pre-Illustres Darkstars on the bridge. Yes, this puts us all in mind of how things used to be: fighting a foe that outgunned us by a hilarious degree and sure that we'd be killed the moment we were spotted. It feels depressingly familiar.

"Let's avoid giving the ship's shields a trial run."

In this case, running and hiding is definitely the wiser option.

"We have shields? I thought those were coming with the production model."

Technically we have shields, and if we run into a speck of dust while moving at high sublight speed we'll be very glad that we have them. But they won't do much against actual weapons fire.

Yeah, unless your ship has armour a hundred feet thick, you need some kind of navigational shielding.

"Count on the battleships?"

"Two, and no dreadnoughts. The largest object appears to be a mobile shipyard vessel."

...Sounds like they're either planning to recover their wrecks onsite, or dismantle Citizenry ships for study right here.

"Anything we haven't seen before?"

"The shipyard vessel is slightly different to models we've seen before, but there's nothing particularly unusual about it. The fleet composition is slightly weighted towards smaller ships, but that may well be because the heavy ships are chasing Grayven."

So, a fleet of small-to-medium ships, any one of which outguns the Darkstar ship. Not great odds.

"Anything that looks like it's had a sensor upgrade?"

"No."

Well, that's a relief.

"Anything that could move faster than us?"

"At sublight? The smaller ships maybe. At faster than light? Probably not anything here, but the Reach has dedicated faster than light interceptor squadrons."

"Then let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Yeah, you probably don't want a fight... Which makes me really worried what Zartok's up to.

A very tense situation, I see. I bet more than a few of the Darkstar crew will be sweating through the next few hours... Unless Zartok makes things rather simpler, yet more difficult. Let's hope he's meeting with his Lantern squadmates and advising patience and calm, rather than... Oh, who am I kidding?

I get the feeling the next couple of chapters will see Zartok or Allyn going out there and poking the hive...

I read up on his record when he first started gaining notoriety,-. As a Lantern.

Something seems a little mangled here. Did a few words get cut off?

jasonh23761 · Jan 10, 2023

This whole arc reminds me of the submarine in space version of space and I really dig it.

ptb_ptb · Jan 10, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
Most non-Lanterns might not know about that function, because Lanterns probably don't want to talk about how it works.

I can see there being rumours and jokes about Lanterns forming around that.

"Those darn Lanterns, think their shit doesn't stink." "Oh, they don't do that." "What?" "When you turn up to a Lantern recruitment station there are two lines. At the end of the first one, they give you your ring. At the end of the second one, they sew your 'ring' up."

Mr Zoat · Jan 10, 2023

ptb_ptb said:
He's joking, right? Because the environmental shield takes care of that (literal) crap as established in that chapter where the MC builds a (pointless) toilet on the Moon.

It's a bit of a joke in N.E.M.O. that Lanterns don't like using that feature, for reasons the SI discussed.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Huh. So that explains the 'new' stealth technology.

No, just part of it. They're mostly flying through thaumically dead systems.

Something seems a little mangled here. Did a few words get cut off?

No, but Zartok had a good degree of local notoriety before he became a Lantern.

BR549 · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
No, but Zartok had a good degree of local notoriety before he became a Lantern.

I think the issue is that it says "notoriety (comma)(dash)(period) As a Lantern". Should only be the dash, I think.

Also:

Details sensor returns appear only slowly while we're in full stealth mode.

"Detailed", I think.

Mr Zoat · Jan 10, 2023

BR549 said:
I think the issue is that it says "notoriety (comma)(dash)(period) As a Lantern". Should only be the dash, I think.

No, he was going to think a sentence with a comma, then realised that he needed to clarify it.

Also: "Detailed", I think.

Thank you, corrected.

DeathReaperZ · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
No. They'll just appear in the Story Only thread. Please don't

Good to know. I'll be careful not to reply without looking the post tags.

Mr Zoat said:
To be honest, I don't remember.

Huh. So what about who brought Paul to this universe?

Mr Zoat said:
Lois Lane is publically associated with Superman.

I know that, I just mentioned that he said that Superman and Lois Lane have an intimate relationship.

PS: Why did you choose Jade for the pairing? And will they eventually break up due to not being able to spend time together properly? Even instant transmission across the universe might not be enough.

Mr Zoat · Jan 10, 2023

DeathReaperZ said:
Huh. So what about who brought Paul to this universe?

When we get there, you'll laugh.

PS: Why did you choose Jade for the pairing? And will they eventually break up due to not being able to spend time together properly? Even instant transmission across the universe might not be enough.

I didn't choose Jade. She just sort of happened. I chose Zatanna. And she didn't.

Coda · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Not with citizenry systems.

Citizenry

DeathReaperZ · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
When we get there, you'll laugh.

Let's see if we will.

Mr Zoat said:
I didn't choose Jade. She just sort of happened. I chose Zatanna. And she didn't.

I'm sure Zatanna would have liked being in a relationship with Paul(After she gets older, of course), or was that attraction due to the Nabu arc's events? Although, I am confused by your apparent lack of control over your characters(lol). Did you mean that Jade would mesh better with Paul than Zatanna? And if so, why?

Coda · Jan 10, 2023

DeathReaperZ said:
Although, I am confused by your apparent lack of control over your characters

More like lack of control over social mores. The community collectively squicked at the age gap, so he really didn't have a choice but to change it.

PDV · Jan 10, 2023

DeathReaperZ said:
Although, I am confused by your apparent lack of control over your characters

No author worth their salt can control their characters. They're people, and they do what makes sense to them in the situation they perceive, not what the author thought they should do in the situation he meant to put them in.

Some authors understand their characters well enough to predict this well in advance and change the circumstances until they get an outcome that makes the character's motivation line up with the author's plans. And some hacks make their characters do stupid OOC things rather than accomodate changes to their plans. But no plan survives contact with the characters.

Mr Zoat · Jan 10, 2023

Coda said:
Citizenry

Thank you, corrected.

DeathReaperZ said:
I'm sure Zatanna would have liked being in a relationship with Paul (after she gets older, of course), or was that attraction due to the Nabu arc's events?

That was where it started. He did her a big solid, and showed himself to be completely reliable and dependable.

Although, I am confused by your apparent lack of control over your characters(lol). Did you mean that Jade would mesh better with Paul than Zatanna? And if so, why?

I wrote the characters behaving in accordance to their personalities, and they ended up in a different place to where they were supposed to in their outlines.

Coda said:
More like lack of control over social mores. The community collectively squicked at the age gap, so he really didn't have a choice but to change it.

Oh, please. I don't give a shit about you people.

boo600 · Jan 10, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

That was where it started. He did her a big solid, and showed himself to be completely reliable and dependable.

I wrote the characters behaving in accordance to their personalities, and they ended up in a different place to where they were supposed to in their outlines.

Oh, please. I don't give a shit about you people.

But you weren't going to try and do something as limiting as try and write yourself as a teenager, and you aren't a pedophile.

Honestly, I'm not sure why you're surprised.

It is a bit of a shame, though. YJ fics that focus on Zatanna tend to be poorly written smut, particularly when they're SI focused. With the work you've put into Magic, here, as well as Zatanna's reconciling her religion with YJ DC as you've written it… it would have been great to see more ZZ. It's not like you couldn't have kept up the references and IKEA songs (spreading culture, one link at a time!)…

Ah, well. To the stories that never were. I suppose that in this alternate reality where you'd write ZZ and Magic heavy stuff, I'd want to see more of Space.

…actually, is there more Zatanna content coming up? Preferably without Violet Crystals?

Rafin · Jan 11, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Ferrin Colos.

Who is that? Have we seen him before this chapter arc?

Mr Zoat said:
It's a bit of a joke in N.E.M.O. that Lanterns don't like using that feature, for reasons the SI discussed.

They are all using the Ring feature wrong. As did OL back then.

If you don't like the feeling of whole sausages of poop being sucked out of your asshole then just deal with that with one of many available ways.

Tell your Ring remove the poop without waiting for its AI to do so automatically as you try and press it out on your own.
Have the Ring disintegrate the poop as it builds up, before it even reaches your asshole.
Extend your environmental shield into the toilet and subspace/eject it with a filament as it drops out without ever touching the local environment.
Automatically numb your asshole whenever the Ring pulls on your poop.
Change your biology so that you don't poop anymore.
Change your butt nerve endings so that it feels good instead if bad/weird when the Ring does its thing.
Ask for an off switch for that particular feature.

Mr Zoat said:
Oh, please. I don't give a shit about you people.

Wasn't Zatanna already pretty much not a love interest anymore before you switched to a forum where such things are tolerated (or should I say encouraged)?

Stsword · Jan 11, 2023

Rafin said:
Who is that? Have we seen him before this chapter arc?

I think so, but in a brief mention sort of deal.

He's pretty much the Darkstar character from the comics.

Mr Zoat · Jan 11, 2023

18th January 2013
05:11 GMT

"You. Analyst."

I don't look up. I've had a program notifying me of his location ever since the mission started. The Darkstars are all on-task and the other Lanterns defer to him. If there's going to be a problem, he's where it's going to come from.

"Lantern Zartok. How can I assist?"

"Confirm for me that the Reach are besieging a New God vessel."

"In-combat analysis isn't my speciality, but since-" Colos ordered us to be as helpful as we could without violating orders. "-you ask, I'll take a look."

My normal job is to analyse the behaviour of civilian populations. Which is extremely important when your enemy specialises in mind controlling them, and when anyone you meet might be a sleeper agent. But I'm also trained to look at demographic trends and decipher what major shifts in attitude are happening just under the surface.

I'm supposed to be here to analyse changes in the behaviour of the Reach civilian population, and we've only just arrived at a planet that actually has a civilian population. I have work to do.

I dismiss the image of one of the Reach cities, leaving the ship's AI to crunch numbers of population movements and likely industrial output. And then I bring up an image of the 'siege'.

"The ship matches the images on-file for the Citizenry's ships. I can't tell you from here whether or not there's a New God on board."

"Does it use New God technology?"

"There's no outwardly visible sign of it. All New God ships on record -from Apokolips, New Genesis and Karrakan- have a network of lines on the outer surface. But that just means that it isn't using New God technology in its shields, armour or sensors; the internals could have been refitted."

"Can you detect that?"

In a word, no, but I'd prefer to phrase it differently.

"The sensors-."

"No."

I bring up an up-to-the-second hologram of our sensors' ongoing attempt to make sense of the ship through our stealth systems.

"I can tell you there's no obvious sign of exterior work and that its mass is roughly what we'd expect it to be, allowing for the observable damage that the Reach inflicted to disable it so completely."

"Do not assume that."

"Excuse me?"

"Astarte is not the sort of willingly bow her head. The New Gods Grayven recruited will naturally be his supporters. That means that they are an impediment to her taking power from him."

"So she might have sabotaged one of her own ships."

"Or the New God might have sabotaged it without realising that they were in enemy territory."

"They have to open a boom tube somehow. Wouldn't a New God have to know where they were going?"

"Boom tubes do not necessarily require a New God to open them. Clarissi Dox can generate them using his power ring."

I.. didn't know that.

"Alright, but we don't know how their navigation systems locate the place where they want to end point. That might need a New God."

"Mm."

"I don't have access to Clarissi Dox's personal file."

"Neither do I. The Illustres mentioned it."

"Did he say how the Clarissi located his end point?"

"No. I doubt that he knew. The Clarissi is sufficiently intelligent that I doubt it would be a method that most of us could use."

I've heard about Coluan intelligence, but I always assumed that it was overstated. I still don't see how an organic brain can out-think a power ring's AI, but Zartok doesn't strike me as someone who gives out compliments freely.

"What is this?"

He indicates a point on the hologram.

"That's where the Reach ships are focusing their scanners." I press a button to bring up a cut away image compiled from other Citizenry ships of this class that have been dissected before. "It-."

"A storage bay, yes, I can read. How long until we get an image of what's inside?"

"We won't. It's shielded, and the sort of things we'd have to do to get through that would give the Reach a good chance of detecting us."

"How about reading the Reach's sensor logs?"

"Same problem."

Zartok keeps staring at the image. I give him a moment, then reach for the control to bring back the images I'm supposed to be studying-.

"Are we detecting any Scarab Warriors?"

"Ah, no. Not that that necessarily means that there aren't any here, but there aren't any deployed with their Scarabs active."

"Normal Reach soldiers could undertake a boarding action, but if all they wanted to do was destroy the ship then they could accomplish that with their own vessels."

"So you think they're waiting for the Scarabs to arrive."

"I doubt that it would be more than one."

"I wonder what the delay is."

"There's no reason for Scarab Warriors to simply sit on worlds that have no particular significance. They have far more ships than they do Scarabs and they weren't putting their ships in defensive positions either."

"The Scarabs for this area are with the ships attacking the periphery. They don't have any here."

"It could just as well be that the Scarabs themselves consider this task to be beneath them."

"And that means… They don't have a counter for Lanterns."

"They have interdictions fields capable of stopping most forms of power ring faster than light travel. They don't need a counter when they have enough ships to wear us down and kill us with overwhelming firepower. At most, we would have a few minutes of relative freedom while they repositioned their ships." He smiles, awkwardly. "Besides, going by the current kill-death ratio, I wouldn't call the Scarab Warriors 'Lantern counters'."

It's true. A new Scarab Warrior will usually kill a new Lantern, but once they start gaining experience the advantage shifts to the Lantern, and as far as we can tell it stays there. The Reach either don't have the ability to create something better, or they're saving it for something.

He keeps looking at the image, and I'm-.

Oh, that's not awkward. That's just how he smiles.

I'm thinking of asking if there's anything else he wants. But he turns away, eye glowing.

"Let me know if any Scarab Warriors appear."

Darko · Jan 11, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
have a network on lines on

"of lines"

Mr Zoat said:
fields capable of stopped most

"stopping"

Someguy Somewhere · Jan 11, 2023

It's like watching a wolf circling prey....he's looking for just the right angle to make a strike on SOMETHING, but he's not quite sure what it is, and if he's biting off more then he can chew.

Mr Zoat · Jan 11, 2023

Darko said:
"of lines"
"stopping"

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch · Jan 11, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
18th January 2013
05:11 GMT

"You. Analyst."

I don't look up. I've had a program notifying me of his location ever since the mission started. The Darkstars are all on-task and the other Lanterns defer to him. If there's going to be a problem, he's where it's going to come from.

I wouldn't be surprised if some members of NEMO thought of Orange Lanterns as barely-controlled weapons. Especially if they're privy to the results of Avarice overload. Or maybe this guy is just pessimistic and paranoid.

"Lantern Zartok. How can I assist?"

"Confirm for me that the Reach are besieging a New God vessel."

Well, not wanting anything difficult, are we?

"In-combat analysis isn't my speciality, but since-" Colos ordered us to be as helpful as we could without violating orders. "-you ask, I'll take a look."

My normal job is to analyse the behaviour of civilian populations. Which is extremely important when your enemy specialises in mind controlling them, and when anyone you meet might be a sleeper agent. But I'm also trained to look at demographic trends and decipher what major shifts in attitude are happening just under the surface.

Something that would be a big red flag for a Reach infiltration, I bet.

I'm supposed to be here to analyse changes in the behaviour of the Reach civilian population, and we've only just arrived at a planet that actually has a civilian population. I have work to do.

I dismiss the image of one of the Reach cities, leaving the ship's AI to crunch numbers of population movements and likely industrial output. And then I bring up an image of the 'siege'.

I'm sure this won't take long, after all. Zartok's probably looking for a reasonable cause to attack.

"The ship matches the images on-file for the Citizenry's ships. I can't tell you from here whether or not there's a New God on board."

"Does it use New God technology?"

It's not like it carries a big flag showing who's in command...

"There's no outwardly visible sign of it. All New God ships on record -from Apokolips, New Genesis and Karrakan- have a network on lines on the outer surface. But that just means that it isn't using New God technology in its shields, armour or sensors; the internals could have been refitted."

"Can you detect that?"

I'm sure there's some actual reason to have them exposed like that, but really? It just looks cooler.

In a word, no, but I'd prefer to phrase it differently.

"The sensors-."

Bit worried how Zartok will take such a response, eh?

"No."

I bring up an up-to-the-second hologram of our sensors' ongoing attempt to make sense of the ship through out stealth systems.

Presumably not a quick process, of course. Only to be expected, since any active pings would instantly expose them.

"I can tell you there's no obvious sign of exterior work and that it's mass is roughly what we'd expect it to be, allowing for the observable damage that the Reach inflicted to disable it so completely."

"Do not assume that."

...Huh, guess the analyst isn't the only one feeling paranoid.

"Excuse me?"

"Astarte is not the sort of willingly bow her head. The New Gods Grayven recruited will naturally be his supporters. That means that they are an impediment to her taking power from him."

Guessing that's based on the Illustres' observations? OR an estimation based on your own 'conquering warlord' experiences?

"So she might have sabotaged one of her own ships."

"Or the New God might have sabotaged it without realising that they were in enemy territory."

That's a lot of assumptions. Lots of ways you could be wrong...

"They have to open a boom tube somehow. Wouldn't a New God have to know where they were going?"

"Boom tubes do not necessarily require a New God to open them. Clarissi Dox can generate them using his power ring."

Yes, but he's a ludicrously smart fellow.

I.. didn't know that.

"Alright, but we don't know how their navigation systems locate the place where they want to end point. That might need a New God."

Or a very good method of sensing a specific location anywhere in the universe. Like, say, a universal network of emotional lights.

"Mm."

"I don't have access to Clarissi Dox's personal file."

To be fair, we've only seen him Boom Tube anywhere on screen... What, once?

"Neither do I. The Illustres mentioned it."

"Did he say how the Clarissi located his end point?"

Targetting data sourced from OL's Power Ring? Who knows?

"No. I doubt that he knew. The Clarissi is sufficiently intelligent that I doubt it would be a method that most of us could use."

I've heard about Coluan intelligence, but I always assumed that it was overstated. I still don't see how an organic brain can out think a power ring's AI, but Zartok doesn't strike me as someone who gives out compliments freely.

...No, he's not. But he does recognise talents he doesn't have.

"What is this?"

He indicates a point on the hologram.

Something the Reach wants, I bet...

"That's where the Reach ships are focusing their scanners." I press a button to bring up a cut away image compiled from other Citizenry ships of this class that have been dissected before. "It-."

"A storage bay, yes, I can read. How long until we get an image of what's inside?"

...And if the Reach want it, then you don't want them to get it.

"We won't. It's shielded, and the sort of things we'd have to do to get through that would give the Reach a good chance of detecting us."

"How about reading the Reach's sensor logs?"

That would take some serious hacking, given there's probably a noticeable light-speed delay.

"Same problem."

Zartok keep staring at the image. I give him a moment, then reach for the control to bring back the images I'm supposed to be studying-.

After all, if he wants to see this stuff that badly, he can just use his Ring...

"Are we detecting any Scarab Warriors?"

"Ah, no. Not that that necessarily means that there aren't any here, but there aren't any deployed with their Scarabs active."

They are infiltration-friendly tech, after all. Wouldn't be otherwise if they could be picked up at a distance.

"Normal Reach soldiers could undertake a boarding action, but if all they wanted to do was destroy the ship then they could accomplish that with their own vessels."

"So you think they're waiting for the Scarabs to arrive."

Are you asking, Zartok, or just looking for agreement, so you;'re in the clear to attack?

"I doubt that it would be more than one."

"I wonder what the delay is."

After all, Scarab Warriors are one of the toughest super-soldier systems in the galaxy. I'd be impressed if any non-Lantern threat needed more than one.

"There's no reason for Scarab Warriors to simply sit on worlds that have no particular significance. They have far more ships than they do Scarabs and they weren't putting their ships in defensive positions either."

"The Scarabs for this area are with the ships attacking the periphery. They don't have any here."

...In other words, Lanterns would effectively have a free hand in the system...

"It could just as well be that the Scarabs themselves consider this task to be beneath them."

"And that means… They don't have a counter for Lanterns."

...You've already decided to attack, haven't you, Zartok?

"They have interdictions fields capable of stopped most forms of power ring faster than light travel. They don't need a counter when they have enough ships to wear us down and kill us with overwhelming firepower. At most, we would have a few minutes of relative freedom while they repositioned their ships." He smiles, awkwardly. "Besides, going by the current kill-death ratio, I wouldn't call the Scarab Warriors 'Lantern counters'."

It's true. A new Scarab Warrior will usually kill a new Lantern, but once they start gaining experience the advantage shifts to the Lantern, and as far as we can tell it stays there. The Reach either don't have the ability to create something better, or they're saving it for something.

After all, most of a Scarab's weapons systems have to grow from the armour. A Lantern can create constructs anywhere.

He keeps looking at the image, and I'm-.

Oh, that's not awkward. That's just how he smiles.

Hey, it's still better than some species. Ever seen a yautja smiling? It's been known to scare small children of other species...

I'm thinking of asking if there's anything else he wants. But he turns away, eye glowing.

"Let me know if any Scarab Warriors appear."

...I suspect you'll know before they do, Zartok.

Well, looking more and more likely Zartok is lining up to capture a prize from the Reach. He doesn't even know what, but if they want it, then he wants it first. Any guesses as to what it might be, folks?

And how big a shitshow this is going to turn into? At least now that analyst can get back to his real job instead of answering near-impossible questions...

Duke Long · Jan 11, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I bring up an up-to-the-second hologram of our sensors' ongoing attempt to make sense of the ship through out stealth systems.

'through our'

Mr Zoat said:
Zartok keep staring at the image.

'keeps'

Mr Zoat said:
Oh, that's not awkward. That's just how he smiles.

Hahaha, I was wondering why he'd smile awkwardly.

Ngamer11 · Jan 11, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
18th January 2013
05:11 GMT

Okay, what's this Darkstar's name Mr Zoat?

Mr Zoat · Jan 11, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
Okay, what's this Darkstar's name Mr Zoat?

They were listed in the credits as 'Darkstar Analyst'.

Duke Long said:
'through our'
'keeps'

Thank you, corrected.

DAT_NOOB · Jan 11, 2023

Looking to breach stealth?

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

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