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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    It's just Paul insulting the guy in his head. That way, Mr Zoat can show us how annoyed Paul is about this. If you replace it with prick, it would have the same meaning.
     
  2. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Yeah, the enemy's capital ship - presumably Sparta's flagship too - is going to be the major issue in this fight. And being rammed by a cruiser probably isn't going to slow it down as much as OL is hoping it will...

    And until it is destroyed, it's going to keep doing that. Better get a move on, OL, people are dying en masse.

    ...Yeah, I don't think that's going to go over well with your hosts.

    Can't count out the possibility. Though it'd be kind of anti-climactic if they were taken out by simple lasers so easily... :p

    Perhaps Sparta is too busy dealing with something else right now, or someone. I wouldn't be surprised if she was on New Cronus somewhere, hunting for a Titan to slay...

    Careful, OL. Don't go poking things you don't fully understand. Remember what happened... Every other time you did?

    No doubt Best Snek is raging at the edge of whatever effect is blocking her from her Agent. Which means everyone might be in for a shock once it ceases.

    ...How casual. 'Oh, my eyeballs just exploded. Eh, wasn't using them right now anyway."

    Well, at least in the latter case, you could lead them about like a charging bull.

    Indeed, it'd be a rare turret that could traverse as quickly as a Lantern could fly.

    Huh. Well, let's hope they're not smart enough to realise that.

    Kind of hard to stay focused when energy bolts bigger than you are are flying past, huh?.

    Alas, too little too late, I think. The cruiser doesn't need much steering at this point. And it's not going to slow down, unless something with more grunt than its engines intervenes.

    Joy of getting stuck in the middle of them. Hard to fire at will when you might actually be firing at Will, on the ship opposite. :V

    An interesting exchange. Presumably whoever's on the battleship is standing at their own Apokaliptian control station, screaming at the oncoming ship.

    Ha, he's literally having to push it home. Not quite a Hammerhead Corvette, but it should do some nice damage.

    Yeah, as much as Sci-Fi movies lie about spaceships exploding at the slightest collision sometimes, never underestimate kinetic energy.

    If nothing else, that might be able to weaken it at the point of impact...

    :confused: ...Oh, for... Those things are becoming more trouble than they're worth, you know. Maybe next time you die, tone them down a little?

    Depending on how closely the commander is tied to the ship, the pain thing might well serve as a solid distraction.

    Ha! Oh, that is sneaky. And with the Ophidian blocked, there's nothing to stop the guy.

    And it's a pity space is silent, because that would have been one hell of a prang. I hope the commander feels like he just got kicked somewhere sensitive.

    Now, if the New Cronus gunners take the hint, this battle will be over that much quicker. Though that was quite the imaginative assault by the battleship's commander. Anyone else might have been fatally distracted by their arm playing silly buggers. A pity they're probably not in the best shape after OL's counterattack...


    ...as the discs start hitting the shield and doing...
     
  3. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Shouldn't he be super low on Ring Power with everything going on and being cut off from the Ophidian?
     
  4. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Since when he that stopped any version of Paul?

    I think he remembers but he hasn't really internalized the information yet.
     
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  5. Radiant Knight

    Radiant Knight Phoenix Fire

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  6. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    He still feels Avarice, so the energy that fuels his ring is still fine. Only his method of communicating with the Ophidian is blocked
     
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  7. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    It's not our fault that the rest of the world is wrong.
    Thank you, corrected.
    That looks like I remember, but I won't be able to update the old link until I get home this evening as I need to save the image.
     
  8. Dakkan Sall

    Dakkan Sall Random Encounter

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    The Ophidian didn't seem to be... inhabiting OL previous to the cut-off, more focusing her attention through him (and talking a bit when Thia was acting snooty), so she probably wasn't empowering him any more that he usually is. Her 'physical' form is still back in her cozy nest/Central Power Battery on Maltus.

    And one way or the other... Power Ring energy depletion has always been subject to author fiat since you can't exactly itemize "he's used technique X at 79% power for five seconds, which should use up N%..." I forget off the top of my head if he has two rings again, or just the one, but it is likely that within a chapter or three it will become at least acknowledged how much power he's been using.
     
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  9. Silveraith

    Silveraith Argent Phantasm

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    He's currently wearing two rings I believe, Larfleeze's ring and the new one that was made for him after the explosion death.
     
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  10. Diraniola

    Diraniola I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    I love how the handful of times this happened to Grayven, it was this huge hassle that took a long time to heal, but Paul is just "Oh bother, better fix that real quick."
     
  11. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

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    He also ususally carries a couple spare rings for recruiting purposes, unknown how many he has atm, but they would likely have a charge as well.
     
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  12. CTrees

    CTrees Chasing the ring

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    Does Paul's Consume technique restore his charge, currently? I seem to recall that his first try wasn't great for energy efficiency, but he might have gotten to the point where he can recharge by feeding of strong energy fields like he has been intermittently doing in this fight.

    On the other hand, I could see OL suddenly being out of ring charge at an inconvenient time, because his current focus on gathering new information has distracted him from paying attention to his charge level.
     
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  13. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    Fair point, you're right. I was using "enlightened" as a handwave description for that connection, but I shouldn't do that.

    Comma instead of semicolon
     
  14. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  15. Michael Vonica

    Michael Vonica Know what you're doing yet?

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    The laws of foreshadowing decree that Paul must now improvise mid battle and learn the technique of charging without a lantern.
     
  16. Doccer

    Doccer I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Or better yet turn those bloody things off! He already has a soul so he's already set. Nobody else suffers from this do they? Hell given what Priest said about powerful Lanterns Paul should have been determined to get what Malvolio wanted shouldn't he?
     
  17. Threadmarks: Sungate (part 26)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    11th September 2012
    20:16 GMT


    The first thing I see is that the cruiser loses momentum suddenly, the hull around the point of impact crumpling in a little as the hull armour fails and the exterior corridors form a crumple zone. Then the battleship's hull starts to bend, armour cracking as the empty hold of the launch bay provides no structural reinforcement while the more solid interior structure of the cruiser has far less give to it.

    It bends a little more.

    A little more.

    Then it caves, the entire front… Fifth? Of the battleship's underside caving inwards. Is it-? Yes, whatever environmental shield they used to keep the air in fails with such widespread damage, atmosphere escaping in the direction the cruiser came from.

    The battleship is moving. And it appears to be a weakness of the design that it doesn't have good manoeuvring abilities. That's a common feature of battleships, and why a lot of polities don't use them. Accelerating an object that big takes a lot of thrust, and larger ships have proportionally less surface area than smaller ships. When compromising between space for guns and space for the thrusters that would be needed for something it wouldn't ever be particularly good at anyway, most places allot the space to guns and have escorts cover them when it needs to turn.

    The Karrakanians appear to have adopted that methodology and right now it's biting them in the rear.

    I head for the battleship as it begins to tumble very slowly in the direction I want. That's not doing anything to move the troops that it has already landed other than wound their morale -they can all clearly see it- but if they're fighting in the Apokoliptian way, anything that weakens their supreme commander should have a knock-on effect on all of their weapons.

    The remaining cruisers don't appear to be trying to reacquire me as a target, which is a little curious. Two are moving from their 'guard' position, presumably to render direct aid or recover escape pods.

    Only question is whether the guns are going to actually take advantage of the opportunity. Well… That, and do I board the ship or operate the guns myself. I could… Drag the battleship while they're distracted. If I keep close to the hull I doubt that they'll dare shoot me, not with the battleship in the condition it's now in.

    Okay. Ring, calculations based on the visible thrusters. Can the battleship stop itself getting hit by the guns if they're active?

    Assuming that it has no other means of generating thrust, the battleship will drift into the arc of fire of the guns. However, the cruisers may be able to act as tug boats and prevent that.

    Agh, that's what they're doing. Okay, not an insurmountable problem. Ships that size don't have lots of tractor beams, for the same reason that battleships don't have a lot of manoeuvring thrusters. It takes a lot of power to use and doesn't add anything to their gunnery. Some fleets relegate them to dedicated tug boats kept with the fleet tenders. I'd be surprised if they have more than one designed to work on capital ships, though they might have smaller ones from grabbing escape pods. And now that I know how to pierce their shield, and could just destroy them when they are deployed and then carry on with attacking the battleship.

    I-.

    Ah. I turn back and pick up the disc launchers. They're dry now, but they can generate their own ammunition given time. I stick them back into subspace, and then fly towards the closest of the two supporting cruisers. I've got no idea where they deploy their tractor beam from, so it's really just a-.

    The cruiser I used as a ramming ship activates its thrusters at full reverse, pulling itself out of the battleship with a flare of the shields of both vessels. They… Shouldn't have any sort of central command and control, but I suppose 'we just hit something, move away from it' doesn't require a great deal of instruction from on high. If their tractor beam was front-mounted rather than underside-mounted then they won't be able to use it, but if it was-.
    We Will Have Revenge!
    I hurriedly throw myself into an evasive pattern as they work out where I am and decide to demonstrate their displeasure with all of their remaining guns. A cavalcade of plasma bolts fly at me with… More accuracy than they were able to pull off. I'm taking hits, and my construct overshield is cracking in a dozen places. They aren't keeping the guns on me like whoever it was controlling that laser did, but it's a good deal harder to redirect plasma. I'm going to have to keep moving-.

    Oh! One of the surface guns is up and tracking. Not sure if that was because of me-.

    It shoots, hitting… One of the cruisers that was preparing to act as a tug. Its shields flare, movement slightly thrown off. I know that Coeus said that the guns of New Cronus dealt with them easily last time, but I suppose that was without them boom tubing into assault boat range. If that cannon can't even destroy a cruiser, maybe it's best-.

    It fires again, then maintains the rate of one shot every four seconds. It takes five shots before the target vessel's shield weakens to the point where they start hitting the hull, but the cruiser is already giving up on whatever it was trying to do in order to get out of the arc of fire. The other cruiser stays on the near-side of the battleship, one of its weapon ports opening up to reveal its tractor beam. I immediately start flying towards it, only for the-.

    Ah ah ah.

    Damn, bubble-. Bubble gone, and my construct armour is taking a battering. It turns out that someone over there has basic tactical awareness and had everyone else shoot through the space between my position and the cruiser that deployed the tractor beam. I just got shot by at least four different ships and I-. Alright, don't compromise on evasiveness. They know where I'm going and I have to go there, but that doesn't mean that I need to make myself an easy target.

    The outer part of the battleship's hull just… It's falling off, the part near the hangar doors being completely disassociated from the rest of the structure. It's still attached at the opposite end, but the weakened sides are tearing from the stress as the ship tries to change vector. I can see bodies and small ships falling out through the gaps.

    The cruiser that got into range of New Cronus' gun is nearly out of the arc of fire before it takes a final hit to the rear armour that punches straight through, a brilliant plume of gold-white fire burning through the armour and flaring through the interior! The ship loses control of its acceleration immediately, drifting along its last vector without further thrust.

    One of the gods boosted that. And if Hyperion is fighting around the New Cronus launch bay I'm going to assume that it was Theia. Excellent! That makes my job far simpler.

    Okay, I'm close enough to the tug boat cruiser that it's shielding me against fire from the rest of the fleet. Its anti-attack ship guns have deployed and are peppering me with fire, but they don't have anything like the power of its main guns. Destructive pulse… Doesn't penetrate. Okay, not a problem, I need to fly around the bulk of the ship anyway. Hug the shield, strands ready and-.

    Alert!
    Seek The Foe's Heart!
    DODGE!

    "Surprise, alien!"

    A New God carrying a cruiser-class gun like it's an infantry rifle is floating in space. Light power armour and thrusters, and from the tron lines I'm going to assume that it's Apokoliptian issue. They narrowly missed the first shot, mostly because they're using a slower than light weapon and my ring's still guiding my dodging. They change pose and accelerate after me, weapon ready and apparently not slowing their accelerating at all.
    Die!
    Alert!

    I change vector immediately and agh! Hit me anyway! There goes my construct armour and my power armour isn't rated against that class of weapon! Nowhere to evade to, have to fight them quickly and then carry on with my attack.

    I turn, generating a construct shield and sending out construct tendrils.

    Feed Me!

    "Cannibal." Four small flak turrets extend from their armour and shoot out my tendrils. "Degenerate."

    Two can play at that-.

    They fire their main gun, the oversized shot smashing straight into my construct shield, which…

    Technically it holds, deflecting the plasma before being reduced to a disc of cracks and dull orange light. Then it fails completely as my opponent prepares to fire again.

    Spear it is, then.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2022
  18. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Godspeech. Minor but pertinent.
     
  19. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    What exactly is preventing Paragon from reaching the Ophidian again? He was able to access the Honden in the last chapter, and now that the battleship is wounded, maybe there's less interference. I'm asking to see how feasible a desire alteration of this enemy New God/Ascendant is, given that Paulphidian managed to mess with the real Grayven temporarily.
     
  20. gustyeagle

    gustyeagle Know what you're doing yet?

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  21. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Remove one 'be able'

    Hey, if you're Apokoliptian then you don't have the right to criticize other people.

    'Then it'
     
  22. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Pretty sure they just accepted weapons to become servants for actual Apokoliptians, like how the Order of Stone is made up of fanatics and puppets.
     
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  23. Alasnuyo

    Alasnuyo I am always here

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    Well, he's not technically wrong. Even if OL wasn't already a deity of some sort, he did sucked dry that one Rhea-descended demigod recently; that bout of theophagy may have been enough to make him count as a legit Olympian deity.

    I mean he got the godspeech working right before he figuratively ate that dude.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2021
  24. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    I'm betting either Sparta is doing something with her powers or with something Grayven gave her.

    It could be a method to block weird dimensional shenanigans, like what the Angels did, to prevent the Titans from just escaping and is also working on Paul.

    Paul may have been able to mess with Grayven since he wasn't prepared for that, but now that has probably changed.

    Yeah I know.

    But after he called him an Apokaliptian I thought that maybe he was someone that followed Grayven and is now helping Sparta.
     
  25. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Doesn't matter how big you are, when you get hit by thousands of tons travelling at hundreds of kilometres an hour, you are going to feel it. And something as large and rigid as the battleship is? It's going to feel it especially sharply.

    Of course, that 'bend' might only be a few inches of distance, but in something that large? A few inches is fatal.

    Nasty! And if the ship's inertial dampening systems aren't handling the impact well, a lot of crew just took a tumble into the nearest bulkheads in that direction.

    And in combat, you're going to want to point straight ahead, so the frontal batteries can pour fire into the enemy, while minimising your targetting profile. At most, I expect its thrusters' turning ability is intended more to adjust aiming than anything like agility.

    I suspect most everyone in Sparta's fleet is busy going 'holy crap!' I'm impressed the two moving have acted as quickly as they are.

    Why pass up the chance to loot intel or gear?

    Basically, at this point, the space fight is pretty much lost by Sparta's fleet, they just need to realise that... And a lot of the credit is down to one man. That'll sting something fierce when they realise that...

    :D Again, never let go of anything that might be useful. Adventuring 101.

    Whoops, the commander's still alive and fighting, it seems. And they've regained control of the cruiser OL subverted. This battle might not be as over as I thought.

    About damn time. Let's hope they can take down the battleship.

    Welp, not perfect, but not everyone can throw around the kind of firepower a Ring can provide.

    Ah, the 'more dakka' approach to anti-air fire. Put enough shots into the general area of the threat and you're bound to hit something.

    So one ship severely damaged, the other mission-killed. Not bad for a couple of minutes work. Now for the rest of them...

    The only problem with getting so close is...

    ...The crew can deploy to repel boarders.

    Well, at least this one went for ranged combat over melee. Probably heard what happened to the last two to try that...

    Then perhaps employ some tricks. I'm sure he's eager to kill you, so maybe take advantage of that and get him to fire without checking his backstop... Like, say, his ship.

    Huh. This guy actually has a clue about space combat.

    Okay, if it can do that much damage, maybe try not to tank it with your face? :p

    Geez, having to fight in melee, with your own two hands, like a savage... How primitive. :p

    On the upside, there can't be too many more of these Ascendants capable of direct combat around. Assuming at least one or two per ship, anyway. Hopefully after the fourth or fifth, they'll realise he can't be taken in close combat so easily. It seems like they all have a bone to pick with OL, though. I mean, sure, he's got a knack for pissing enemies off, but this is getting out of hand...
     
  26. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Why would the ship break under stress of movement? They have inertial dampeners?
     
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  27. Odysseus2099

    Odysseus2099 Versed in the lewd.

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    Bit of a nitpick, but if these ships can travel interplanetary distances without taking months to years, even just within a single solar system, then kilometres per second would probably be a more useful unit of measurement.
     
  28. cookiemontser

    cookiemontser Getting out there.

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    So is OL a New God now? I mean he's seeing god speech.
     
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  29. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Updated, thank you.
    Thank you, corrected.
    He's not hearing it so much as dimly being aware of it.
     
  30. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    would -> wound
     
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