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

Ngamer11 · 2026-08-18T07:12:40+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"The Genomorph Entire could have. And then… Well. We'd probably treat the g-goblins are humans, and the other genomorph types as animals."

That should say 'as'.

Mr Zoat said:
"Can you. do that?"

That should either be a comma or an ellipsis.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-08-18T07:22:21+0100

Mr Zoat said:
27th September 2013
15:34 GMT -6

"…even the sewers have never been cleaner." Mayor Fermin puts down the last report and sits back. "Honestly… Hub City has never had it so good."

"No problems at all? Nothing untoward happening? With the… Old crowd?"

Ah, OL. Checking in on his investment in the city, I see. I would expect that the city has also never been less criminal at this point, with a superhero actively involved in the rebuilding of the town.

"The old crowd is dead." She shakes her head. "Or they ran so far they might as well be. The people who live here now… I mean, they're people. If Hub had stayed the same, they'd probably have joined in. But as long as we keep it clean, they'll stay clean too."

"Anything I can do to help with that?"

Prevent the temptations that lead to crime, maybe. Keep folks happy, comfortable and well-fed, so you won't see as many coveting their neighbour's anything.

"I don't think-." She frowns. "Alright, I guess there is one thing. The genomorphs have been helping out with policing. Using g-gnomes saves a lot of time during interviews, and the g-elves are great at foot chases. The only issue is with actually talking to them. Dubbilex can't be here all the time."

And the G-Gnomes don't exactly think in English. So you end up with the interviewers having to interpret their telepathic projections.

"What about the g-pooka?"

"They act like hyperactive children a lot of the time. I know that their psychic network is supposed to let them share skills, but the others can't talk and the g-pooka can't focus."

They might seem hyper-active, but that could just be the collective directing them to where they're needed without any visible cause.

"The g-magtatangal can talk."

"But whenever it does, it reroutes the conversation towards surgery."

If you asked them, they'd probably point out that 'It is what we were made for. Is it any surprise we focus on it?'

"Okay, I can bring it up with Dubbilex. There are enough other genomorph types that he can't really complain about being forced into a human-shaped hole."

"Human.. shaped hole?"

Him, and any other G-Goblins he has created.

"Genomorphs aren't human. But more than that… They're not really Earth-creatures. G-pooka aren't humans with a fixation; they're entirely mentally healthy g-pooka. G-goblins can fake being human-like in a way the others can't, but they're… Not. And Dubbilex didn't want to genomorphs to be forced to become more human-like in exchange for recognition."

Because that would be inefficient for those not suited to that purpose. Surely he gets tired of being the only 'face' of the collective, though...

"Because he-. He could have just grown more g-goblins whenever he wanted."

"The Genomorph Entire could have. And then… Well. We'd probably treat the g-goblins are humans, and the other genomorph types as animals."

And that literally leads to them being dehumanised. People ignoring the members they're working with in favour of the obvious human-like one... Tres rude.

She nods. "Which they're not. So-."

My ring blinks, and I hold it up slightly. "Excuse me. Orange Lantern, go ahead."

Ah, that'll be the rookies.

"We found a guy being mind controlled, but when we broke the control a load of other people who'd been acting suspicious ran off."

Fingers to forehead. "Excuse me again." I

I imagine even OL had a moment of 'Seriously?' when he heard that.

step out, the desires of my students being easy enough to

distinguish from rest of the population. Ian lowers his communicator while Toni is looking down the road towards someone running away. She's.. got a g-gnome on her shoulder, which is a good show of initiative when dealing with mind control. She jerks her head towards me for a moment and thrusts a… Baseball cap towards me-? Ah, I see.

Tetch, of course. Right, time to round up the hat guys, then.

"Looks like Mad Hatter's work." And yeah, there's the scry ward. Just on the technology, not on the hat or the wearer. "How many ran?"

Face shifts awkwardly. "Five that I saw, but if they're all being controlled then there might be others."

Though the ubiquitous hats will help to narrow down the field...

"Right." I tether both of them and transition upwards. "Now, the wards mean that I can't scan for the mind control hat directly, but there are only so many people running away from where you were working."

Orange tendrils flash out, and then they're running in the air next to us, suspended in a flight aura.

And once more, the age-old scry wards interfere with convenience.

"Mister Tetch, have your abilities grown to encompass long distance puppetting?"

His latest victims are flailing and trying to get away-. And I can see the fake drives overlying their natural ones.

Not long-distance, pre-programmed. less flexible, but if their commands were to 'go get implanted with those symbionts' and 'avoid capture', that isn't too hard to adapt to any situation...

Toni frowns at me. "Shouldn't you just-?"

I remove the hats and float them closer to me, the flailing stopping almost immediately.

Wonder if they're all generic local sports team hats? Easy enough to pick up in bulk and modify.

"Sirs and madams, I'm sorry to say that you've been acting under mental control. You are presently in Hub City in Illinois."

The initial panic of waking up fully clothed somewhere they don't recognise fading, they all manage to give me their attention.

The orange glow holding them up probably also helps focus them on you.

"I'm going to drop you and Face off at the local police station, please give full reports to the interviewing officer."

And transition, and then I float Argent upwards. Hm. How best to go about this without causing panic?

What, by grabbing the hats off every person he can find? That would be disruptive, certainly. Or try a mixed-media scan, see what gives any blank spots concerning headwear...

"Can you. do that?"

"Do what?"

"Just send them to the police station?"

I mean, have they committed a crime yet? They're technically victims here, and letting them go over what they remember will be easier in a nice, safe place.

"Yes? There's an ongoing attack, and the local police have the skills to help them. If you mean, 'can I compel them to give testimony?', then no, but I'm afraid that U.S. law and practice is that as long as they don't flat out refuse I'm allowed to imply that they're obliged to assist me. Even if they're not mentally firing on all cylinders yet."

Probably makes it easier, if anything. Plus, if they recognised you as a superhero, they'll be inclined to trust that you've got their best interests at heart.

"That's a bit…"

"You read the first victim's mind to find out whether he was being controlled or not?"

"Yeah?"

Top marks for that, incidentally. A little intrusive, but with your training so far, it worked out well enough.

"In your opinion, could the same technique have been used to create an assassin?"

"Um. I don't-. Maybe?"

Quite easily, really. Hell, they'd be more single-minded in their pursuit of their target than any fanatic from the League of Shadows, even if they aren't as skilled.

"And we don't know that it hasn't been used for that, just that the first six weren't programmed in that way. While there is a degree of disagreement amongst Justice League members and affiliates on how paranoid we're supposed to be, I believe that the majority would accept what I just did. Now." I halt our upwards travel. "How do you think we should deal with this?"

After all, the rookie might have an idea crazy enough to work.

"Aaaaaah… Stop anyone using the portal so they can't get away, and… Get the police to check everyone?"

"Impractical. Hub City Police Department hasn't got enough trained officers for something like that. Honestly, I don't think anywhere in the country does. Not that they could spare."

And even something like flying around asking folks to remove their hats for a moment would be... Certainly impractical, but quirky enough that no-one would question OL asking.

"Okay, then… What?"

"The ward prevents me from scanning for the mind control hat. It doesn't do anything to block my empathic abilities, and people who are having their minds altered stand out when I look for them."

Ah, good. I bet Tetch didn't even consider that possibility when he set this up.

I stare downwards, looking for the unnaturally twisted desires that I saw in the hatted.

"And… How should I do it? Because I don't think I can do that."

And I doubt you could manage 'fly about knocking hats off anyone acting suspicious.' without someone complaining very quickly...

"Calling me is an option, but failing that, genomorphs can do a similar thing if you spread the g-gnomes out across the city centre. Your new colleagues Hunter and Toyman could probably figure something out with magic or technology. If nothing better occurs to you, contact whoever's on console duty and ask for advice."

Good, some very sensible advice. Especially if you have G-gnomes willing to assist as they were here.

And there they are, another six. None of them are fleeing, but they all show the same mental restrictions. Filaments flick out and bring them up to us before removing their hats.

"Now, let's see if this helps us actually find Mister Tetch."

Hopefully they're transmitting some sort of signal back to Jervis. At the very least, they'd have to have some way to indicate 'mission complete, pickup requested'.

Somehow, i doubt it'll be as easy as anyone might think. The Illuminati have made themselves very hard to tack down, especially if they've got Hush Tubes to move around with. And if Jervis is actively monitoring the hat guys, he'll know OL has rumbled them and the group have already bugged out of whatever site they've been operating out of...

boo600 · 2026-08-18T09:09:36+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Because we don't want to make someone's visit to the park unpleasant. And that doesn't exactly apply here, but this is Orange Lantern's favorite city-.

…people think Hub City is OL's favorite city?

Mr Zoat · 2026-08-18T10:05:21+0100

Darko said:
"didn't want the"

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'as'.
That should either be a comma or an ellipsis.

Thank you, corrected.

mastermenthe · 2026-08-18T10:50:16+0100

Mr Zoat said:
The initial panic of waking up fully clothed somewhere they don't recognise fading

"Their panic of 'oh god i was mind controlled' was fading. Their panic of 'oh god I'm in detroit' was growing."

Steelplaza · 2026-08-18T13:38:03+0100

The question is, what was all this about? Did Tetch's group want samples of the symbiotes so they could check what they're doing to people?

LazySloth13 · 2026-08-18T14:13:57+0100

Tetch and Anarky are still super paranoid about the League having control over the planet so symbiotes surgergically inserted into citizens probably seems crazy because they can't seem to understand the benefits outweigh the risks for those with medical issues. It's all the underlying issues to society they seem to forget about or ignore because it clashes with their whole world view, Anarky especially because he's every teen protester cliche in a character who's too smart for his own good, so rather than get a symbiote themselves they would rather mind control people instead.

Ngamer11 · 2026-08-18T14:17:56+0100

LazySloth13 said:
Tetch and Anarky are still super paranoid about the League having control over the planet so symbiotes surgergically inserted into citizens probably seems crazy because they can't seem to understand the benefits outweigh the risks for those with medical issues. It's all the underlying issues to society they seem to forget about or ignore because it clashes with their whole world view, Anarky especially because he's every teen protester cliche in a character who's too smart for his own good, so rather than get a symbiote themselves they would rather mind control people instead.

I feel this is why Detective Chimp and Question are with them, to act as counterbalances so they don't go over the edge. Though I still hope the Illuminati's efforts ultimately blow up in their faces, even if they end up revealing some stuff that needs to be taken care of simply because in the process they mess up a lot more stuff that OL, the Team, and the JL have to clean up.

hkim · 2026-08-18T14:38:00+0100

boo600 said:
…people think Hub City is OL's favorite city?

I mean it literally is, he's showing it favour that he hasn't shown to any other city. He's basically their patron god at this point

mastermenthe · 2026-08-18T16:29:53+0100

hkim said:
He's basically their patron god at this point

Prayers to him do have a noticable affect, in the forms of "stop praying to me" and "this could have been an email."

Vaermina · 2026-08-18T17:32:55+0100

LazySloth13 said:
Tetch and Anarky are still super paranoid about the League having control over the planet so symbiotes surgergically inserted into citizens probably seems crazy because they can't seem to understand the benefits outweigh the risks for those with medical issues. It's all the underlying issues to society they seem to forget about or ignore because it clashes with their whole world view, Anarky especially because he's every teen protester cliche in a character who's too smart for his own good, so rather than get a symbiote themselves they would rather mind control people instead.

No, it is crazy.

How many times has someone in DC used something like that to seize control of large amounts of the population? Too many to count. And just because OL thinks they're safe, doesn't mean they actually are. Remember the Justifiers that OL signed off on?

Mr Zoat · 2026-08-19T06:18:03+0100

2nd January 2258
0801, Station Time

"Hey there!" The man wearing what I've come to understand is what passes for a suit in the 23rd century smiles as I enter his small office. Space is at a premium on a space station like this, so no one can really afford space that they don't need. "Why don't you take a seat, and tell me how your government can help you today!"

"Ah." I cross the room and take the indicated chair. "Thank you. But… Did you really just say 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help'?"

He shrugs, still smiling. He's balding, and… I think of mixed European and Asian ancestry. "Reagan was a cynic. I like to think that a lot of us volunteered to work here because we really wanna make a difference. You know, in a positive way. Oh, ah, do you have an ident card?"

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not."

"Okay, ah, any other sort of identification?"

"Not that's going to be on any current database. That's why I'm here."

"Okay… Sounds like there's a story there?"

I nod. "Ah… I do understand that what I'm about to say sounds ridiculous. I'm perfectly happy to sign a waver for telepathic confirmation…"

He shrugs. "This was gunna be a slow day anyway. Why don't you let me decide?"

"Alright. I should exist in pre-unification British records, I just don't know if it got transferred over to the current system, and… I don't have any supporting paperwork, so even if you did find the record, I can't prove that it's me."

He frowns, and gives me a small shrug. "What about a D.N.A. sample?"

"At the time, D.N.A. samples were only taken in Britain if you were arrested by the police. It was actually a… Mildly contentious issue at the time, because they weren't obliged to destroy them if they didn't press charges or you were found not guilty."

"Huh." He frowns. "That's a little-." His frown deepens. "At the.. time?"

"Twenty thirteen."

He blinks. "Twenty… Thirteen."

"Yes indeed. I did say."

"You… Did. So you're..?" He shakes his head, shrugging. "Two hundred and forty years old?"

"Chronologically? I'm two hundred and seventy five. Except… I wasn't… Around for two hundred and forty of those years. I just… Woke up, and it's the future." I lean back in the chair with a smile and a shrug. "I'll just… Sit here until the men in the white coats get here, shall I?"

He takes a moment to think that over.

"Twenty thirteen. So you were on Earth?"

"Yes."

"And you woke up somewhere else?"

"Yes."

"And you don't remember how you got there."

"No idea at all. Woke up in my pyjamas. I only found out what year it was when I got to this station."

"Was there..? Anyone around when you woke up? Who could confirm your story?"

Yes.

My right hand slides over to cover my left. "Some… Robots. Someone could probably recover their databases. I… Couldn't really… Bring them with me…"

That's not entirely true. I woke up in space, and I don't think that their sensors were that good. But the robots inside the reliquary could certainly confirm my presence. Assuming that they have that sort of memory storage and didn't flash their drives after I disabled them.

"So there weren't any people around? Including… Aliens." He frowns. "Have you..? Met any aliens, yet?"

"Yeah, um…" I point my thumb towards the door. "A… Fellow with a.. bone crest on the back of his head was kind enough to point me in the right direction. He was an.. alien, right? Not someone with some sort of.. wart growth-."

"No, no. That was an alien." He looks at me like he's expecting more.

"Well, once I realised the date, and the fact that you had faster than light travel, having aliens around is… Was expected. I'm a bit surprised that they look so human, but I'm not really… I'd have been more surprised if there weren't aliens."

Dear, you're sharing your head with-.

Yesyes, I know. Just… Let me get through this meeting, and I'll get to work.

My interviewer nods. "Do you think you could have been abducted?"

"I mean, mayb-. Does that actually happen?"

"Litigation is ongoing. A few species have abducted humans, and some of the people who were abducted experienced a degree of time loss. Never anything like two hundred years, but it's not unheard of."

"Ah. Well, I can't confirm it, but if you need something to put in the files…"

"What was the planet like?"

"I don't know what classification system you use. The… One area I looked at looked like a ruined city, mostly made of stone blocks… It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, and… But there wasn't anything growing, no lichen or anything like that." I shrug. "So maybe some sort of radiation weapon completely sterilised it?"

"Would you recognize it if you saw it again?"

"Oh yes." I nod. "Definitely."

"So how did you get from that planet.. to here?"

Why are you bothering with the foolishness? Get to work!

Let the man be, Darish.

"There was a… Small ship? Shuttle? The moment I got on board it engaged some sort of auto-pilot. Flew me to the system's… Jump gate? Which was pretty darn terrifying because I had no idea what it was. And then, after a little while in hyperspace, I came out somewhere called 'Rota'… I don't know if that was the planet or the town, and when I asked about contacting the human government some of the people there suggested that I come here."

"And the ship..?"

"Currently in the docking bay."

He nods. "That's helpful. Having actual physical evidence lets me prove that something happened to you. And if you know the location of a formerly inhabited planet, our friends down the hall at Interplanetary Expeditions will wanna hear about it."

No!

"So you wanna get added to our database." He nods. "We can do that. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Ah… I'll probably need a passport, or whatever you use for that sort of thing today… I don't know if you can find whoever grabbed me, but I assume that I should talk to… Police, or someone in intelligence? Other than that, I just want to… Head back to Earth and work out what I'm going to do with myself."

"That all sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I can go through the registration process with you now." He smiles a customer service smile. "On behalf of the twenty-third century, welcome to Babylon Five."

GigaVanguard · 2026-08-19T06:24:19+0100

Been a good while since we've seen the start of a new Elsepaul's journey and not just been dropped in the middle of it.

Bigking321 · 2026-08-19T06:24:32+0100

Oh dear...

New setting time.

Darko · 2026-08-19T06:34:13+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Dear, you're sharing your head with-.

Mr Zoat said:
Why are you bothering with the foolishness? Get to work!

Let the man be, Darish.

Mr Zoat said:
No!

Judging by the title of this episode, and these little sentences, I'm guessing this Paul found a Soul Hunter base and is using the soul orbs the Hunters use to power his ring.

Maybe that big orb that was used to contain the race that managed to ascend into becoming energy beings.

RichardWhereat · 2026-08-19T06:37:54+0100

Ah damn. Never watched this.

Whenever Possible · 2026-08-19T06:49:03+0100

Well damn, what does Paul want?

GhostKing 666 · 2026-08-19T06:54:25+0100

Whenever Possible said:
Well damn, what does Paul want?

Prevent the assassination of Santiago and the rise of Clark, stopping the Earth Alliance Civil War before it can begin would be my first objective.

Darko · 2026-08-19T07:04:06+0100

GhostKing 666 said:
Prevent the assassination of Santiago and the rise of Clark, stopping the Earth Alliance Civil War before it can begin would be my first objective.

Unfortunately, Paul probably doesn't know that those things will happen.

They don't tend to remember things about the specific setting they are in.

The versions that ended up in comic book universes don't remember anything about the specific show that they're in, but they still remember everything about the comics and other materials.

Babylon 5 doesn't really hace that much of a diverse franchise.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-08-19T07:12:35+0100

Mr Zoat said:
2nd January 2258
0801, Station Time

"Hey there!" The man wearing what I've come to understand is what passes for a suit in the 23rd century smiles as I enter his small office. Space is at a premium on a space station like this, so no one can really afford space that they don't need. "Why don't you take a seat, and tell me how your government can help you today!"

Looking ahead a little, this is gonna be a dozy. And certain parties in the setting are going to be having conniption fits when they find out what he's capable of, never mind whatever acquisitions he has so far.

"Ah." I cross the room and take the indicated chair. "Thank you. But… Did you really just say 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help'?"

He shrugs, still smiling. He's balding, and… I think of mixed European and Asian ancestry. "Reagan was a cynic. I like to think that a lot of us volunteered to work here because we really wanna make a difference. You know, in a positive way. Oh, ah, do you have an ident card?"

From the description, that's Security Chief Garibaldi. And man, if this Alt!Paul didn't have his memory of the setting flushed, he'd probably be geeking out right now...

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not."

"Okay, ah, any other sort of identification?"

Ah, the tricky part of being an alternate-reality transplant. Proving to bureaucracies that you exist.

"Not that's going to be on any current database. That's why I'm here."

"Okay… Sounds like there's a story there?"

There's a lot of paperwork in his future, I foresee.

I nod. "Ah… I do understand that what I'm about to say sounds ridiculous. I'm perfectly happy to sign a waver for telepathic confirmation…"

He shrugs. "This was gunna be a slow day anyway. Why don't you let me decide?"

Oh, you have no idea what you're in for, Garibaldi.

"Alright. I should exist in pre-unification British records, I just don't know if it got transferred over to the current system, and… I don't have any supporting paperwork, so even if you did find the record, I can't prove that it's me."

He frowns, and gives me a small shrug. "What about a D.N.A. sample?"

I see he's gotten caught up on historical events, by the sound of it. Presumably by tapping whatever information network exists in that era. (Admittedly, the series barely predated the modern Internet, so who knows how it operates.)

"At the time, D.N.A. samples were only taken in Britain if you were arrested by the police. It was actually a… Mildly contentious issue at the time, because they weren't obliged to destroy them if they didn't press charges or you were found not guilty."

"Huh." He frowns. "That's a little-." His frown deepens. "At the.. time?"

Ah, here comes the big shock of his origins.

"Twenty thirteen."

He blinks. "Twenty… Thirteen."

As in the year, yes.

"Yes indeed. I did say."

"You… Did. So you're..?" He shakes his head, shrugging. "Two hundred and forty years old?"

This technically predates the first episode of the show (by a single day, as far as I understand it) so this is probably one of the weirdest things Garibaldi has run into at this point...

"Chronologically? I'm two hundred and seventy five. Except… I wasn't… Around for two hundred and forty of those years. I just… Woke up, and it's the future." I lean back in the chair with a smile and a shrug. "I'll just… Sit here until the men in the white coats get here, shall I?"

At least he can be humorous about it.

He takes a moment to think that over.

"Twenty thirteen. So you were on Earth?"

Unless human history in this setting was different and human had colonies off-planet, yes?

"Yes."

"And you woke up somewhere else?"

Quite a long way from home, yes...

"Yes."

"And you don't remember how you got there."

"No idea at all. Woke up in my pyjamas. I only found out what year it was when I got to this station."

Didn't appear over Earth, then, given they would have noticed him.

"Was there..? Anyone around when you woke up? Who could confirm your story?"

Yes.

...Oh-ho, does he have a passenger in his Ring, then?

My right hand slides over to cover my left. "Some… Robots. Someone could probably recover their databases. I… Couldn't really… Bring them with me…"

That's not entirely true. I woke up in space, and I don't think that their sensors were that good. But the robots inside the reliquary could certainly confirm my presence. Assuming that they have that sort of memory storage and didn't flash their drives after I disabled them.

Very interesting. Part of the setup for his specific variations of the standard Lantern loadout, eh?

"So there weren't any people around? Including… Aliens." He frowns. "Have you..? Met any aliens, yet?"

"Yeah, um…" I point my thumb towards the door. "A… Fellow with a.. bone crest on the back of his head was kind enough to point me in the right direction. He was an.. alien, right? Not someone with some sort of.. wart growth-."

A Mimbari, by the sound of it. And it is amusing that most of the non-humans do look so much like Earthlings. There was a precursor race sticking their oar into their genepool, wasn't there? I was never a Babylon 5 watcher...

"No, no. That was an alien." He looks at me like he's expecting more.

"Well, once I realised the date, and the fact that you had faster than light travel, having aliens around is… Was expected. I'm a bit surprised that they look so human, but I'm not really… I'd have been more surprised if there weren't aliens."

A very sensible outlook, and probably one Garibaldi wasn't expecting.

Dear, you're sharing your head with-.

Yesyes, I know. Just… Let me get through this meeting, and I'll get to work.

Huh, a ghost with an agenda, it seems.

My interviewer nods. "Do you think you could have been abducted?"

"I mean, mayb-. Does that actually happen?"

Wouldn't be surprised. It's a common setup, especially for HFY stories.

"Litigation is ongoing. A few species have abducted humans, and some of the people who were abducted experienced a degree of time loss. Never anything like two hundred years, but it's not unheard of."

"Ah. Well, I can't confirm it, but if you need something to put in the files…"

A useful legal dodge, I suppose.

"What was the planet like?"

"I don't know what classification system you use. The… One area I looked at looked like a ruined city, mostly made of stone blocks… It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, and… But there wasn't anything growing, no lichen or anything like that." I shrug. "So maybe some sort of radiation weapon completely sterilised it?"

Presumably some part of the last war between the ancient powers that lurk under the setting.

"Would you recognize it if you saw it again?"

"Oh yes." I nod. "Definitely."

Why do I get the feeling it was a location very important in the setting.

"So how did you get from that planet.. to here?"

Why are you bothering with the foolishness? Get to work!

Let the man be, Darish.

I'm sure that name is meaningful to someone, but...

"There was a… Small ship? Shuttle? The moment I got on board it engaged some sort of auto-pilot. Flew me to the system's… Jump gate? Which was pretty darn terrifying because I had no idea what it was. And then, after a little while in hyperspace, I came out somewhere called 'Rota'… I don't know if that was the planet or the town, and when I asked about contacting the human government some of the people there suggested that I come here."

I'm guessing that isn't the whole story, especially about the 'autopilot'...

"And the ship..?"

"Currently in the docking bay."

...Oh, if it's exotic, that could be quite a dramatic butterfly.

He nods. "That's helpful. Having actual physical evidence lets me prove that something happened to you. And if you know the location of a formerly inhabited planet, our friends down the hall at Interplanetary Expeditions will wanna hear about it."

No!

Seems his passenger isn't happy about that.

"So you wanna get added to our database." He nods. "We can do that. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Ah… I'll probably need a passport, or whatever you use for that sort of thing today… I don't know if you can find whoever grabbed me, but I assume that I should talk to… Police, or someone in intelligence? Other than that, I just want to… Head back to Earth and work out what I'm going to do with myself."

...Let's hope he doesn't, he's likely to get disappeared by some secret intelligence branch, especially if he shows off his Ring.

"That all sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I can go through the registration process with you now." He smiles a customer service smile. "On behalf of the twenty-third century, welcome to Babylon Five."

By law of Narrative Causality, even if he leaves, he'll find himself getting dragged back sooner or later...

Well, well, well. This will be fascinating. Going by the 'episode' title of this alternate, he's going to be dragged into the bigger metaplot of the precursor species. Though more than likely he'd come down on the more positive side of the conflict. I wonder how Kosh will react when he meets Alt!Paul...

Vaermina · 2026-08-19T07:41:12+0100

Mr Zoat said:
2nd January 2258
0801, Station Time

So Babylon 5.

In an odd juxtaposition to how things usually go, the only way he survives this is if he doesn't have a Power Ring.

Because if he does the First Ones will kill him and steal it.

Darko · 2026-08-19T07:47:27+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
There was a precursor race sticking their oar into their genepool, wasn't there? I was never a Babylon 5 watcher...

Kinda.

An ancient race called the Vordons altered many species in order to allow them to become telepaths.

This was done so that the Vorlons could use them as weapons against their ancient enemy, the Shadows.

Because Shadow tech was organic in nature, telepaths could take control of it.

Aside from that, most humanoid species, like Minbari and Centauri seem to look human due to convergent evolution.

Heck, there is a really funny scene where we find out what Centauri make genitalia look like.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Seems his passenger isn't happy about that.

If this is that race that was imprisoned by the Soul Hunters, then they don't have the best experience with aliens coming to their world.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Let's hope he doesn't, he's likely to get disappeared by some secret intelligence branch, especially if he shows off his Ring.

And telepathy can disrupt him.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Well, well, well. This will be fascinating. Going by the 'episode' title of this alternate, he's going to be dragged into the bigger metaplot of the precursor species. Though more than likely he'd come down on the more positive side of the conflict. I wonder how Kosh will react when he meets Alt!Paul

I wonder if he'll recognize the symbol on his ring.

Maybe the Maltusians did exist in this universe, but they left the galaxy like the other First Ones.

BoML · 2026-08-19T07:48:56+0100

This is actually very interesting. Been a while since I've seen Babylon 5, so I'm actually a bit hyped about this Alt!Paul episodes.

There's *so* many things he could mess up just by accident.

Vaermina · 2026-08-19T07:52:40+0100

Darko said:
Kinda.

An ancient race called the Vordons altered many species in order to allow them to become telepaths.

This was done so that the Vorlons could use them as weapons against their ancient enemy, the Shadows.

Because Shadow tech was organic in nature, telepaths could take control of it.

Wrong.

Telepaths, which arent actually psychic in the traditional sense since B5 telepathy is just hyperspatial manipulation on an insanely advanced level, can only disrupt Shadow ships when those ships have a "lesser race" organic control system. And they do that by interfering with the organic control systems connection to the Shadow vessel.

Cuchulin · 2026-08-19T07:55:28+0100

BoML said:
This is actually very interesting. Been a while since I've seen Babylon 5, so I'm actually a bit hyped about this Alt!Paul episodes.

There's *so* many things he could mess up just by accident.

He will likely cause both the Vorlons' (who like to touch people in inappropriate ways) and the Shadows fits by doing so.

Darko · 2026-08-19T07:58:35+0100

Vaermina said:
So Babylon 5.

In an odd juxtaposition to how things usually go, the only way he survives this is if he doesn't have a Power Ring.

Because if he does the First Ones will kill him and steal it.

Except not really.

The ancient races in Babylon 5 aren't that impressive compared to ancient races in other settings.

Londo's men were able to easily kill several, and Kosh was poisoned the first time he showed up.

The First Ones aren't exactly the Ancients or the Q.

Not to mention that if my theory about the Ralgans providing him power is true, then he has the advantage of having people that can potentially detect the Vorlons or Shadows.

Vaermina · 2026-08-19T08:15:26+0100

Darko said:
Except not really.

The ancient races in Babylon 5 aren't that impressive compared to ancient races in other settings.

Londo's men were able to easily kill several, and Kosh was poisoned the first time he showed up.

The First Ones aren't exactly the Ancients or the Q.

Not to mention that if my theory about the Ralgans providing him power is true, then he has the advantage of having people that can potentially detect the Vorlons or Shadows.

I'm guessing you dont know that there is a lot of B5 canon beyond the show and movies because JMS had a whole lot built out about the setting and happily shared a lot of it through other mediums.

For example, Londo's men didn't actually kill any Shadows, they phased away.

And there actually are breakdowns of what Vorlons and Shadows can really do when they aren't sandbagging. And I will be more then happy to dig what I can about that up when I'm back on my computer in the morning.

One thing I can straight up tell you though, Technomage implants are Shadow technology adapted for alien use by the Shadows.

Darko · 2026-08-19T08:23:19+0100

Vaermina said:
I'm guessing you dont know that there is a lot of B5 canon beyond the show and movies because JMS had a whole lot built out about the setting and happily shared a lot of it through other mediums.

For example, Londo's men didn't actually kill any Shadows, they phased away.

And there actually are breakdowns of what Vorlons and Shadows can really do when they aren't sandbagging. And I will be more then happy to dig what I can about that up when I'm back on my computer in the morning.

One thing I can straight up tell you though, Technomage implants are Shadow technology adapted for alien use by the Shadows.

You go do that.

It would be genuinely impressive for you to finally show proof for your claims. It rarely happens.

But in case you forgot.

Power rings are bullshit.

Yeah, the First Ones may be more impressive than what was seen on the show, but that doesn't somehow mean that power rings will somehow become worthless as you're implying.

Heck, given the sheer power they have, it wouldn't surprise me if the Vorlons and Shadows are cautious around Paul because they think he's an agent of another First One group, and they don't want to get another party involved in their dispute.

Rebu · 2026-08-19T09:04:12+0100

For some reason, when I got to the "wart growth" line, I started wondering if this was B5.

Of course I'm a bit biased, because my YouTube algorithm has been feeding me Babylon 5 for the past month or two.

BR549 · 2026-08-19T09:32:42+0100

The moment 'space station in the 23rd century' was mentioned I knew what it was and started grinning.

Whenever Possible said:
Well damn, what does Paul want?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSD75pPsquM

GhostKing 666 said:
Prevent the assassination of Santiago and the rise of Clark, stopping the Earth Alliance Civil War before it can begin would be my first objective.

Wrong answer.

This is the correct answer.

Chojin Patriarch said:
This technically predates the first episode of the show (by a single day, as far as I understand it) so this is probably one of the weirdest things Garibaldi has run into at this point...

I think 'The Gathering' takes place in 2257, but that was an introductory movie, so you are still probably technically correct. The best kind of correct, after all.

There was a precursor race sticking their oar into their genepool, wasn't there? I was never a Babylon 5 watcher...

As mentioned, the Vorlons modified existing races for telepathy, but by and large it was convergent evolution. The First Ones didn't really go in for that; most of them set their sights on 'evolve into energy beings and leave for the Rim' (although not all, as the Walkers demonstrate, and Lorien (THE First One) of course).

Wouldn't be surprised. It's a common setup, especially for HFY stories.

That'd be, primarily, the Vree. Who are 100% the classic "greys with saucers" aliens (their saucers have a really nasty cannon armament), who, IIRC, literally abducted humans from Earth for the yucks. Needless to say EarthGov finding out about this was less than amused.

Presumably some part of the last war between the ancient powers that lurk under the setting.

That would be the last Vorlon-Shadow War...

Why do I get the feeling it was a location very important in the setting.

The fact he seems to have someone associated with the Soul Hunters in his ring means it may be wrong, but from the description alone it's not not possible it could have been Z'ha'dum.
Which would be an...appropriate place for a mutiversal traveler to get yoinked to, a place he's very very lucky to have escaped from...and, ah, yeah, very VERY important.

...Let's hope he doesn't, he's likely to get disappeared by some secret intelligence branch, especially if he shows off his Ring.

B5 Earth and EarthGov (notably, technically EarthGov is more like a successful UN and is solely responsible for affairs off Earth, but the "member states" in B5, IIRC, still have nominal sovereignty on Earth itself) are an absolute nest of vipers, and that's before we get to Psi Corps. I'm sure Mr. Bester will be very, very interested in Paul...

I wonder how Kosh will react when he meets Alt!Paul...

Likely "You should not be here" and passive-aggressive trying to make him go very, very far away.
Thankfully, Kosh is pretty much the chillest Vorlon. Ulkesh would just try to kill him.

The Shadows are of course going to have kittens, even if he didn't 'spawn' on their homeworld...

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

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