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

[BR549]

"The Controllers approved this?"

"The Controllers like order. And they don't like it when pissant primitive would-be empires decide to make everyone's life difficult."

"Then they are enemies of Thanagar."

"Oh, please declare war on the Controllers. It will make my life much simpler."

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...and if this happens to get out, well.

The Controllers overall will ignore the squawkings of the annoying primtive bird-people.

Hinon will laugh and get back to work.

...the Thanagarians, on the other hand? The people up top who know what the Controllers actually are and are capable of?

Once they finish changing their suddenly brown pants, anyway:

"...yes, Shayera Hol. By all means. Do threaten that we will go to war with the people who are of the same species as the Guardians of the Universe, who have all of the Guardians' knowledge and abilities, and who split with the Guardians because they felt that the Guardians of the Universe were being too hands-off."

 

[Duke Long]

Actually, is singularity projector the best brute force option Paul has outside direct Ophidian summoning?

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I think it probably is if it works, but since it is relatively easy to block or deflect I think that in practice his best brute force against foes with sufficient esoteric defences might be basic orange destruction pulses.

 

[Lurking Shade]

I'm not sure where you're getting this from?

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I also stumbled on the whole "Thanagars armies were created by Hyathis" part on three different wiki when looking up info on her out of curiosity when this arc started, because my knowledge of Thangar is entirely "they're locked in war with the Gordanians wanting to enslave / exterminate them" from the older Justice League show.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Even ignoring Paul's reaction should Thanagar try anything near Earth, the league is quite capable of beating back moderate sized invasions without either lantern corps.

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Oh, they wouldn't send an invasion force. It would be a small strike team of Crows.

Does she know he knows that?

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Yes, the fact that they went to downside and had to fight the manhawks is part of his intelligence file.

"...yes, Shayera Hol. By all means. Do threaten that we will go to war with the people who are of the same species as the Guardians of the Universe, who have all of the Guardians' knowledge and abilities, and who split with the Guardians because they felt that the Guardians of the Universe were being too hands-off."

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They split off because the Guardians wanted to keep the Manhunter androids in service after they murdered an entire Sector.

I also stumbled on the whole "Thanagars armies were created by Hyathis" part on three different wiki when looking up info on her out of curiosity when this arc started, because my knowledge of Thangar is entirely "they're locked in war with the Gordanians wanting to enslave / exterminate them" from the older Justice League show.

Click to shrink...

In this story at least, Hyathis isn't a mind control specialist. She can nudge things a little if you've got her engineered microscopic plant life in your body, but mostly she doesn't bother. The Thanagarians who originally followed her did so out out of gratitude and a sense of obligation... And being a little off balance because getting cured doesn't mean that your mind immediately gets straightened out.

 

[Lurking Shade]

And being a little off balance because getting cured doesn't mean that your mind immediately gets straightened out.

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That part was also listed on it, though made a much big deal and treated as the primary and only reason they let her crown herself an absolute monarch. I'd mainly been curious about what her whole deal was since Hyathis is a character I'd only ever heard of in this story.

Was a real "Ah, comics" moment reading up on things and how the version of the Plague described there stripped all Thanagarians of their individuality until cured. Especially its version of why the Hawks were sent to Earth being "how to handle crime?" because according to it Thanagar had no criminals before the Plague and was practically a peaceful utopia. As was her trying to use telepathy to get a planet to start a war with the Darkstars as a false flag to conquer them.

 

[Austin Pharos]

I wonder if there are civilizations advanced enough to use singularity projectors as their main guns, but not advanced to use something better?

Actually, is singularity projector the best brute force option Paul has outside direct Ophidian summoning?

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Define brute force.

By area of effect, maybe? However it struggles to bypass esoteric defenses.

Esoteric defenses tend to have a narrow range of solutions anyways. Spell-eaters might be better at brute force due to how common magic defenses are.

 

[Neruz]

I'm not sure where you're getting this from?

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From the OG comics (Justice League of America if memory serves), which is where the storyline of Hyathis being made ruler of Thanagar for fixing the Equalizing Plague comes from: Thanagar was a relatively peaceful utopian world ruled be a benevolent science council until the Manhawks showed up. In response they established the Wingmen to serve as police force to restore order, as crime was now a thing.

The Equalizer showed up and hit them with the Equalizing Plague, Hyathis escaped from the prison she'd been put into by the Justice League and ended up on Thanagar, where she offered to fix the plague in exchange for being made their ruler. After becoming ruler she militarized Thanagarian society and trained the Wingmen police forces into a proper army, which the Thanagarians just sort of went along with because the aftereffects of the plague made them submissive and breedable, and even after she was deposed they remained militant due to that influence.

(Then you've got the Crisis that rebooted Thanagar as a slave world that rebelled, I forget what New 52 did with it, and most recently with DC Rebirth it turns out that Thanagar was just a colony world of the real Thanagarian homeworld, Thanagar Prime, which has been kept hidden outside of reality this whole time and is a massive fortress world full of secretses that gets conquered by Onimar Synn and Starro.)


If you mean the telepathy and empathy, Hyathis has always had a degree of telepathic and empathic powers, which she can use to mess with people's heads and occasionally demonstrates a degree of mind control, such as in her very first appearance way back when in 1961 where she attempts to enslave the Justice League. You've also got things like the time she mind controlled the Zaredians to fight the Darkstars in Superboy and the Ravers, and plenty of other instances.

Of course as always with superhero comic book characters the extent of her powers varies wildly from author to author.

 

[AmericanNumbers]

From a galactic tactical perspective: in less than a decade Paul effectively swung a peer conflict between the Reach and the Controllers, took out the Citadel and was the key person in repelling an excursion from Apocalypse to Earth. Thanagar is so outclassed here that the threats from Shayera are laughable.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

I wonder if there are civilizations advanced enough to use singularity projectors as their main guns, but not advanced to use something better?

Actually, is singularity projector the best brute force option Paul has outside direct Ophidian summoning?

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Hmm....It's got to be up there on energy output, but stopping to think about it, while a gravity singularity (even a tiny one) is powerful, gravity itself is the weakest of the fundamental forces. Now, that said 'weak' is only comparative to the other forces.

Going on a tangent here.

Fundamental Force - Weapon or Construct

Strong Nuclear Force - Anti Matter Fabrication / Positron Projection Cannon (Throws antimatter at matter causing mutual annihilation)
Weak Nuclear Force - 'Crumbler Gauntlet' (Actively Removes binding force Holding Atoms together)
Electromagnetic Force - Emp's and REALLY BIG MAGNETS (Renegade used some sort of Star level magnet constuct vs Brimstone during the Deliverance Fight)
Gravitational Force - Gravity Torsion / Singularity Beam Projector. (Compress and twist local space time, crushing targets)


Now...the implication of most of these weapons would LIKELY result in significant side effects, generally being something along a nuke going off because messing with the base rules of the universe tends to have bad results for existing in that universe.

Honestly I'd say the Crumbler effect, if properly scaled up is far more frightening. Even one of the Weaponers mentioned upon speaking about it mentioned they felt it was inspired by the Anti-Monitor. And it just Erases the energy in binding, which SHOULD cause booms but doesn't. It's honestly a bit like those Entropic weapons that OL's run into a few times....something on the Theological Scale.

 

[Vaermina]

In this story at least, Hyathis isn't a mind control specialist. She can nudge things a little if you've got her engineered microscopic plant life in your body, but mostly she doesn't bother. The Thanagarians who originally followed her did so out out of gratitude and a sense of obligation... And being a little off balance because getting cured doesn't mean that your mind immediately gets straightened out.

Click to shrink...

She's going to need to now, otherwise she's in for the bloodiest insurgency in history since none of those conquered planets actually wanted her rule.

 

[RoninSword]

@Mr Zoat way back, there was this bit

"Indeed. I am here because you have pushed them entirely out of what was once a Sector which the Green Lantern Corps patrolled."

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about Green Lanterns being able to once again patrol/recruit from Sectors that had had Green Lanterns before the Reach. My understanding was that this didn't actually amount to any official policy making, being between these three rather then NEMOs council.
Have NEMO and the Guardians come to terms on how such a thing works? Especially since the Guardians still have their own treaty with the Reach.

 

[Steelplaza]

From a galactic tactical perspective: in less than a decade Paul effectively swung a peer conflict between the Reach and the Controllers, took out the Citadel and was the key person in repelling an excursion from Apocalypse to Earth. Thanagar is so outclassed here that the threats from Shayera are laughable.

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Of course she didn't threaten him, did she? OL asked Shayera what she was hoping to accomplish, and she said essentially, "I wanted to yell at you at let you know I'm mad." She sort of came close with "if I ever catch you off earth" but it seems like the cutoff was more because she thought better of it than because trailing off was meant to be a threat.

"Ah. Feel free to bring that up at the next meeting. I think that everyone knows that the power ring means that I work for someone else."

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I got to say, Paul's claims to "work for" the Controllers have always been incredibly disingenuous. When has he ever done anything because a Controller ordered him to do it[1]? Or even consulted the Controllers about their policy and attempted to fit his actions to their policy? He only ever brings them up when he wants an excuse. If anything, the one he actually asked about this was the sector Green Lantern, who he sort of got to bless the whole effort. (Not that he was taking orders from the Green Lantern, but he at least consulted the guy and possibly would have been willing to do something different if the GL had a different, actionable idea.)

[1] Okay, he may have take a request from his favorite Grandma Controller one or twice, but that was more in the spirit of gratitude to her than because she's his boss.

Have NEMO and the Guardians come to terms on how such a thing works? Especially since the Guardians still have their own treaty with the Reach.

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I wonder if the Guardians are considering withdrawing from their treaty with the Reach. You can withdraw from treaties! Now that the Reach are vulnerable and NEMO has proven itself, might be time to try again to be rid of the Reach.

 

[Darko]

She's going to need to now, otherwise she's in for the bloodiest insurgency in history since none of those people actually wanted her rule.

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It's not like she can control the environment to capture people.

Except she can.

 

[Vaermina]

It's not like she can control the environment to capture people.

Except she can.

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Except she can't be everywhere at once even with the very dangerous organic supercomputer frying her brain.

 

[BR549]

I got to say, Paul's claims to "work for" the Controllers have always been incredibly disingenuous. When has he ever done anything because a Controller ordered him to do it[1]? Or even consulted the Controllers about their policy and attempted to fit his actions to their policy? He only ever brings them up when he wants an excuse. If anything, the one he actually asked about this was the sector Green Lantern, who he sort of got to bless the whole effort. (Not that he was taking orders from the Green Lantern, but he at least consulted the guy and possibly would have been willing to do something different if the GL had a different, actionable idea.)

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The Orange Lantern Corps operates with the blessing of the Controllers and under their overall command; other Orange Lanterns have been seen being given direction from Controllers directly.
Paul is the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps.
Therefore it is technically correct (which, as we all know, is the best kind of correct) to say that Paul works for the Controllers; the fact that the Controllers use their big Malthusian brains to recognize that ordering him around would be an exercise in futilityannoyance and thus don't is merely a detail that's unimportant to the dick-measuring contest Hawkwoman initiated.

 

[Darko]

Except she can't be everywhere at once even with the very dangerous organic supercomputer frying her brain.

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That still let's her cover a lot of places. Not to mention her new army of lizarkons.

 

[Vaermina]

That still let's her cover a lot of places. Not to mention her new army of lizarkons.

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I really dont think you understand what level of "occupation" it takes to keep a technological civilization of irriegulars from wrecking your shit.

 

[Darko]

I really dont think you understand what level of "occupation" it takes to keep a technological civilization of irriegulars from wrecking your shit.

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I really don't think you understand what a god-level plant magician is able to do.

Not to mention the fact that she may seemingly have the allegiance of someone that can manipulate stars.

Yes, Paul doesn't care that much, but Hyathis did benefit in a lot of ways from his actions, so while he technically may not care, a lot of people may assume that he does.

 

[Vaermina]

I really don't think you understand what a god-level plant magician is able to do.

Not to mention the fact that she may seemingly have the allegiance of someone that can manipulate stars.

Yes, Paul doesn't care that much, but Hyathis did benefit in a lot of ways from his actions, so while he technically may not care, a lot of people may assume that he does.

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Actually I do, because we saw Swamp Thing pull the same thing.

As to other people caring, you're ignoring that Queeny's actions firmly reached the "spite" point of "I will fight you even if it kills me".

 

[Mr Zoat]

@Mr Zoat way back, there was this bit

about Green Lanterns being able to once again patrol/recruit from Sectors that had had Green Lanterns before the Reach. My understanding was that this didn't actually amount to any official policy making, being between these three rather then NEMOs council.
Have NEMO and the Guardians come to terms on how such a thing works? Especially since the Guardians still have their own treaty with the Reach.

Click to shrink...

Based on how the Green Lanterns act when the Reach take over Earth, I suspect that their position would be that the moment the Reach are pushed out of somewhere then the Green Lanterns can go right back in. NEMO lets them, because having a less popular group around makes you look better.

I got to say, Paul's claims to "work for" the Controllers have always been incredibly disingenuous. When has he ever done anything because a Controller ordered him to do it[1]? Or even consulted the Controllers about their policy and attempted to fit his actions to their policy? He only ever brings them up when he wants an excuse. If anything, the one he actually asked about this was the sector Green Lantern, who he sort of got to bless the whole effort. (Not that he was taking orders from the Green Lantern, but he at least consulted the guy and possibly would have been willing to do something different if the GL had a different, actionable idea.)

[1] Okay, he may have take a request from his favorite Grandma Controller one or twice, but that was more in the spirit of gratitude to her than because she's his boss.

Click to shrink...

Neither the Controllers or the Guardians micromanage their followers. The SI has been clear about what he's doing. If they had a problem, they'd pipe up.

I wonder if the Guardians are considering withdrawing from their treaty with the Reach. You can withdraw from treaties! Now that the Reach are vulnerable and NEMO has proven itself, might be time to try again to be rid of the Reach.

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It's come up, but their view is that having made an agreement they're obliged to stick with it. The moment the Reach collapses they'll help with the clean up, but that's it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th May 2284
07:01 GMT -6

Where do you hold a major diplomatic reception in the wasteland?

Convention centres haven't exactly been anyone's priority for restoration. Heck, there are only a few places that have functioning hotels, and those are more like rest stops for travellers rather than destinations in and of themselves. New Reno used to have actual hotels, mostly catering to the wealthy of Redding, but Anderson destroyed most of those and… Made the rest unappealing for their former clientele.

A few of the N.C.R.'s cities could have handled it, but it would have required them to build a single-purpose structure from scratch. Shady Sands could have managed by kicking an entire government department out of their offices for a few weeks, but that was obviously impractical.

Dallas? Rusk is a hardcore fiscal conservative and wouldn't use his limited tax-raising powers to splash out on something like that. Austin? We're still pulling bits of Cerberus out of the sewers. Denver? Still half-rubble. Gloria? We'd have to kick their parliament (sorry, Chamber of Deputies) out of their accustomed residence, so that was a non-starter.

President Vialla offered to host it at his mansion, but I felt that didn't quite have the right… Tone. Reynosa doesn't have the facilities, though Santa Anna did agree to send an observer to the actual meeting. Vault City doesn't have the room, and their society might well collapse if their indentured servants were exposed to that much of the rest of the world. New Canaan? No. Area 51? No. Phoenix is one big N.C.R. military base, Paradise is a nature reserve, New Demon City is far too far out of the way…

Fortunately, Mr. House was willing to volunteer. Yes, we had to bring in a load of builders from across the N.C.R. -including their military engineers- but it was faster to bring one of New Vegas's convention centres and the associated hotel back into working order than to build something new.

And if that isn't a metaphor for this whole thing…

I walk into the canteen-. Sorry, restaurant, and look around. Most of the actual formal dining is being handled by the Ultra-Luxe, and the Vegas strip actually has a plethora of other restaurants if anyone feels like eating elsewhere. Mr. House has been taking advantage of his improved relationship with the Boomers to have airships from Eagle Rock fly in a far wider variety of foods than are usually available, and an advertising campaign across the N.C.R. has resulted in the diplomatic parties and their aides being joined by all manner of the great and the good who want to be able to say that they were there when history was made.

But either they're not morning people, or they're not morning people here. The only people in this restaurant at the moment are a few lower level functionaries and Douglas Granite, who waves his right hand in my direction when he spots me. I raise my own in greeting before hitting the breakfast bar…

It looks almost exactly like the one at the hotel I stayed at that one time for the U.K. Magic: the Gathering judges' conference. Diana's pretty much the only source for the fruit, but she earnestly wants this to succeed and she's pulling out all the stops and harvesting all the exotic fruit she had available. Vegetables and meat mostly come from the N.C.R. via the monorail or 'Utah' via brahmin caravan, though I think some of the more perishable stuff was grown by my own people. Potatoes are actually grown locally, and I was pleased to discover that they're essentially unaffected by two hundred years of heightened radiation exposure.

Unlike the poor apple…

But! Busy day planned, and I'm a midget super mutant so I can handle a few extra calories. Bacon, toast and a bowl of porridge-.

Cazador honey? Is that a real thing? I… Think it's a brand name, but I think I'll… Skip it.

And a glass of milk, because we won't be getting orange juice for a decade or so. The trees are planted and growing, but they're a way off fruiting.

Breakfast assembled, I pick up my tray and head over to Douglas's table, levitating out a seat opposite him and sitting down.

"Are your bodyguards sleeping in?"

"No. I sent them out to… Deal with something."

I nod. "Can you tell me what it is?"

"There's a pre-War bunker in the Mojave that… We had listed as a possible local base of operations when we-. If we ever started working in Nevada. I wanna see if anyone used it as a fallback point. And it's not like I really need a bodyguard in a place like this."

"And you plan to offer them a place in New Demon City?"

"I dunno. If they've been doing their own thing for this long, I doubt they'll want it. Maybe just put them in contact with old friends. Plus, I… I kinda wanted 'em outta the way for today's big speech."

Ah. Yes. The N.C.R. managed to persuade Senator Chitsa of Arroyo to do the opening address. Understandable that Douglas thought it would be best to have former Enclave soldiers somewhere else when that happened. They probably wouldn't be tempted to do something regrettable to the woman who blew up the Poseidon Oil Rig...

I'll have to make sure that Marcus and Goris know that she's here.

But why take the risk?

"And… You're alright about her being here?"

He sighs, staring at the table. "No. Not really. I-I don't really know how I should feel about it."

I nod sympathetically. "I understand. Even knowing that releasing Curling Thirteen would be an act of unparalleled evil,-"

"She's my Mom."

"-you-."

I blink.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The way Dad explained it to me, he was on guard duty when that… Whole thing happened. Horrigan wasn't just waiting for her, he was holding up the evacuation for everyone. So Dad… And his squad, helped her out."

"With killing Frank Horrigan?"

"Yeah. The guy was a psychotic super mutant in power armour. And then there was only one ship off the rig, so there was a handful of… 'Rig workers' at one end and a whole load of surviving prisoners at the other. And with… 'Rig Leadership' in a state of chaos… And with her vouching for Dad's squad for helping her out, and him… Kinda having the bottom cut out of his whole world… One thing led to another… By which I mean me."

"So he..? Moved to Arroyo? Or-."

"Surviving senior leadership made it to the Navarro military base. And eventually they got a message out. Dad and his people were headed that way when the Brotherhood and N.C.R. overran it. Met up with some survivors of that, and… Founded Granite Company."

He shrugs, looking away.

"They operated out of a place called 'Eureka' for a while, but with how they were moving around it wasn't any place to bring up a kid. Dad got me into a… 'Friendly' vault, where I grew up."

"How old were you?"

"I dunno. About a year old, maybe? Left the vault when I was fourteen. By then Granite Company had moved to New Reno. Dad trained me as an officer, we got to know each other… But I didn't see Mom."

"So you wouldn't recognise each other?"

He gives his head a small shake. "Dad had a picture, so I know what she looked like. And she wrote a book about the whole thing… N.C.R. press puts her picture on the back cover. I don't think she knows what I look like. I mean, I look kinda like Dad, but not so much like that we'd look the same to someone who hadn't seen him for over thirty years. I've actually got half brothers and sisters I've never met."

"Any other family on your father's side?"

"One uncle. Between the N.C.R. and the Brotherhood… On both sides of the country... Not exactly a good time to be… On our side."

I nod. "Do you want me to make an introduction? Hang around?"

"I…" Breath hisses through his teeth. "I think I'd… Appreciate that. I should be able to handle this. We don't know each other at all, so it's not-." He huffs. "Hell, I don't know. I could have gone see her when we were in New Reno. I could have gone to Arroyo instead of down to Area Fifty One. Guess I just built it up in my mind."

"I think meeting up with the mother you haven't seen for over thirty years is a fairly big deal. When do you want me to set up the meeting?"

 

[Darko]

President Vialla offered to host it at his mansion, but I felt that didn't quite have the right… Tone

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Yeah, that shows that it may be Vialla's government that's going to control everything.

Are your bodyguard sleeping in?"

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"bodyguards"

Kinds having the bottom cut out

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"Kinda"

 

[BR549]

Ah. Yes. The N.C.R. managed persuade Senator Chitsa of Arroyo to do the opening address.

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'managed to persuade'

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

18th May 2284
07:01 GMT -6

Where do you hold a major diplomatic reception in the wasteland?

Click to shrink...

Ah, the conundrum for the ages. Where do we stay? Where do we eat? Who's footing the bill? All major concerns for a meeting of the territories most amenable to forming a new United States of America.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Convention centres haven't exactly been anyone's priority for restoration. Heck, there are only a few places that have functioning hotels, and those are more like rest stops for travellers rather than destinations in and of themselves. New Reno used to have actual hotels, mostly catering to the wealthy of Redding, but Anderson destroyed most of those and… Made the rest unappealing for their former clientele.

Click to shrink...

I expect most places are more like motels, a couple of floors of usable rooms with anything else left to rot for the time being. Such a setup would be a considerable outlay of resources.

A few of the N.C.R.'s cities could have handled it, but it would have required them to build a single-purpose structure from scratch. Shady Sands could have managed by kicking an entire government department out of their offices for a few weeks, but that was obviously impractical.

Click to shrink...

Not least the upset politicians and bureaucrats disgruntled by their temporary relocation getting in the way of things.

Dallas? Rusk is a hardcore fiscal conservative and wouldn't use his limited tax-raising powers to splash out on something like that. Austin? We're still pulling bits of Cerberus out of the sewers. Denver? Still half-rubble. Gloria? We'd have to kick their parliament (sorry, Chamber of Deputies) out of their accustomed residence, so that was a non-starter.

Click to shrink...

And paper-pushers have long memories for inconveniences.

President Vialla offered to host it at his mansion, but I felt that didn't quite have the right… Tone. Reynosa doesn't have the facilities, though Santa Anna did agree to send an observer to the actual meeting. Vault City doesn't have the room, and their society might well collapse if their indentured servants were exposed to that much of the rest of the world. New Canaan? No. Area 51? No. Phoenix is one big N.C.R. military base, Paradise is a nature reserve, New Demon City is far too far out of the way…

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...Boy, not a lot of suitable places for this, is there?

Fortunately, Mr. House was willing to volunteer. Yes, we had to bring in a load of builders from across the N.C.R. -including their military engineers- but it was faster to bring one of New Vegas's convention centres and the associated hotel back into working order than to build something new.

Click to shrink...

Well, it's certainly something Vegas has lots of.

And if that isn't a metaphor for this whole thing…

I walk into the canteen-. Sorry, restaurant, and look around. Most of the actual formal dining is being handled by the Ultra-Luxe, and the Vegas strip actually has a plethora of other restaurants if anyone feels like eating elsewhere. Mr. House has been taking advantage of his improved relationship with the Boomers to have airships from Eagle Rock fly in a far wider variety of foods than are usually available, and an advertising campaign across the N.C.R. has resulted in the diplomatic parties and their aides being joined by all manner of the great and the good who want to be able to say that they were there when history was made.

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If nothing else, food trade might see an uptick as a result of the mingling of tastes and dishes the delegates and their retinues encounter.

But either they're not morning people, or they're not morning people here. The only people in this restaurant at the moment are a few lower level functionaries and Douglas Granite, who waves his right hand in my direction when he spots me. I raise my own in greeting before hitting the breakfast bar…

Click to shrink...

I imagine a few from the more distance regions are suffering a little jet lag, yes...

It looks almost exactly like the one at the hotel I stayed at that one time for the U.K. Magic: the Gathering judges' conference. Diana's pretty much the only source for the fruit, but she earnestly wants this to succeed and she's pulling out all the stops and harvesting all the exotic fruit she had available. Vegetables and meat mostly come from the N.C.R. via the monorail or 'Utah' via brahmin caravan, though I think some of the more perishable stuff was grown by my own people. Potatoes are actually grown locally, and I was pleased to discover that they're essentially unaffected by two hundred years of heightened radiation exposure.

Click to shrink...

Pulling out all the stops, I see.

Unlike the poor apple…

But! Busy day planned, and I'm a midget super mutant so I can handle a few extra calories. Bacon, toast and a bowl of porridge-.

Click to shrink...

For round one, of course.

Cazador honey? Is that a real thing? I… Think it's a brand name, but I think I'll… Skip it.

And a glass of milk, because we won't be getting orange juice for a decade or so. The trees are planted and growing, but they're a way off fruiting.

Click to shrink...

Hopefully radiation doesn't mess with them either. I shudder at the logistics of raiding the hives of giant bees, so it's probably a brand name... God I hope so, for the beekeepers' sake.

Breakfast assembled, I pick up my tray and head over to Douglas's table, levitating out a seat opposite him and sitting down.

"Are your bodyguard sleeping in?"

Click to shrink...

I expect there's a lot of security in place all over the facilities. Not least the House's own staff.

"No. I sent them out to… Deal with something."

I nod. "Can you tell me what it is?"

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And is it likely to make trouble before the negotiations start?

"There's a pre-War bunker in the Mojave that… We had listed as a possible local base of operations when we-. If we ever started working in Nevada. I wanna see if anyone used it as a fallback point. And it's not like I really need a bodyguard in a place like this."

"And you plan to offer them a place in New Demon City?"

Click to shrink...

Good idea, especially if said fallback base is in use by someone they'd rather it not be.

"I dunno. If they've been doing their own thing for this long, I doubt they'll want it. Maybe just put them in contact with old friends. Plus, I… I kinda wanted 'em outta the way for today's big speech."

Ah. Yes. The N.C.R. managed persuade Senator Chitsa of Arroyo to do the opening address. Understandable that Douglas thought it would be best to have former Enclave soldiers somewhere else when that happened. They probably wouldn't be tempted to do something regrettable to the woman who blew up the Poseidon Oil Rig...

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Eminently thoughtful.

I'll have to make sure that Marcus and Goris know that she's here.

But why take the risk?

Click to shrink...

Heh. Perhaps at least let them prepare for any surprises.

"And… You're alright about her being here?"

He sighs, staring at the table. "No. Not really. I-I don't really know how I should feel about it."

Click to shrink...

Political foes becoming future allies. Always a little awkward...

I nod sympathetically. "I understand. Even knowing that releasing Curling Thirteen would be an act of unparalleled evil,-"

"She's my Mom."

Click to shrink...

...And then there's that.

"-you-."

I blink.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Click to shrink...

I can just picture the pause and slow head-tilt.

"The way Dad explained it to me, he was on guard duty when that… Whole thing happened. Horrigan wasn't just waiting for her, he was holding up the evacuation for everyone. So Dad… And his squad, helped her out."

"With killing Frank Horrigan?"

Click to shrink...

And, a friendship forged in the fires of battle.

"Yeah. The guy was a psychotic super mutant in power armour. And then there was only one ship off the rig, so there was a handful of… 'Rig workers' at one end and a whole load of surviving prisoners at the other. And with… 'Rig Leadership' in a state of chaos… And with her vouching for Dad's squad for helping her out, and him… Kinds having the bottom cut out of his whole world… One thing led to another… By which I mean me."

Click to shrink...

Huh. Less tragic than, say, 'Romeo and Juliet', but no less a tale of star-crossed lovers.

"So he..? Moved to Arroyo? Or-."

"Surviving senior leadership made it to the Navarro military base. And eventually they got a message out. Dad and his people were headed that way when the Brotherhood and N.C.R. overran it. Met up with some survivors of that, and… Founded Granite Company."

Click to shrink...

Assembling a solid foundation for the future, I guess...

He shrugs, looking away.

"They operated out of a place called 'Eureka' for a while, but with how they were moving around it wasn't any place to bring up a kid. Dad got me into a… 'Friendly' vault, where I grew up."

Click to shrink...

Sensible, especially if they were in front-line combat situations.

"How old were you?"

"I dunno. About a year old, maybe? Left the vault when I was fourteen. By then Granite Company had moved to New Reno. Dad trained me as an officer, we got to know each other… But I didn't see Mom."

"So you wouldn't recognise each other?"

Click to shrink...

So she parted ways at some point. There's a story there, I bet...

He gives his head a small shake. "Dad had a picture, so I know what she looked like. And she wrote a book about the whole thing… N.C.R. press puts her picture on the back cover. I don't think she knows what I look like. I mean, I look kinda like Dad, but not so much like that we'd look the same to someone who hadn't seen him for over thirty years. I've actually got half brothers and sisters I've never met."

Click to shrink...

This promises to be an interesting conference, then.

"Any other family on your father's side?"

"One uncle. Between the N.C.R. and the Brotherhood… On both sides of the country... Not exactly a good time to be… On our side."

I nod. "Do you want me to make an introduction? Hang around?"

Click to shrink...

Grease the social wheels, in case there's some risk of conflict between mother and son, eh?

"I…" Breath hisses through his teeth. "I think I'd… Appreciate that. I should be able to handle this. We don't know each other at all, so it's not-." He huffs. "Hell, I don't know. I could have gone see her when we were in New Reno. I could have gone to Arroyo instead of down to Area Fifty One. Guess I just built it up in my mind."

Click to shrink...

The imagination creates an insurmountable social barrier the rational mind doesn't want to risk climbing in case of denial.

"I think meeting up with the mother you haven't seen for over thirty years is a fairly big deal. When do you want me to set up the meeting?"

Click to shrink...

Just make sure everyone knows the circumstances, or it'll look like some sort of under-the-table thing going on...

Nothing ever just goes smoothly, does it? At least this is a fairly mundane subplot arising, not something disastrous like a Super-Mutant terrorist attack or something. Krono should be able to get this wrapped up in an afternoon easy... And then some other little brush fire will pop up, I just know it. His is never going to be a quiet life...

 

[Mr Zoat]

Yeah, that shows that it may be Vialla's government that's going to control everything.

Click to shrink...

No, it would suggest that the whole thing was a party rather than a serious summit.

"bodyguards"
"Kinda"

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

'managed to persuade'

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[NightmareWarden]

"I think meeting up with the mother you haven't seen for over thirty years is a fairly big deal. When do you want me to set up the meeting?"

Click to shrink...

See Hollywood?! You don't need to reserve "secret family members" for emotional scenes! It doesn't need to be some foreshadowed secret across a few movies! You can tell sideplots with minor characters, some with infamy too.