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

boo600 · Oct 5, 2024

1.025 mega-electrovolts. That's… small.

That's 3.829293706979^-29 megatons of tnt.

I suppose it is only the smallest readily available particles, but anti-matter can be ludicrously destructive. And it's still an absurd amount of power for two electron-mass particles.

Thank you, Mr. Zoat.

Ardy · Oct 5, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
He might not, actually. He's too young for the eighties series and had a rubbish childhood. He'd probably vaguely recognise a picture of Optimus Prime, but he wouldn't necessarily know the name.

Perfect! Sets up drama when he finds out why he's been calling himself that with the Illustres suggestion

Mr Zoat · Oct 6, 2024

29th April 2013
Should this hurt?

Smaller ones, I guess. They don't look like the scary things Paul showed me, and small ships are usually faster. And they're okay with shooting-

I should be moving.

-through their own station, so I'll fly… This one's pretty wrecked and the next one is that way, so that way-.

Everything flickers green for a moment, but… They're not shooting at me-.

Krillik. And… If those crates do have brains in them, the brains aren't as tough as us. I actually-.

This feels stupid.

I fly towards the ships, past the broken and melted bits of space station, and… A few floating bodies, but hopefully the ships can see me anyway. I start disrupting matter around me to make it a bit more obvious that they didn't kill me with their first shot. I'm not.. sure that will work, because the metal around me is pretty melty so I'm probably not hotter than it is. I should move a bit as well, make it obvious that I'm not floating junk. I hope-.

Is it-?

Ah, faster!

Green beams smash into the station around me as I fly-. And a lesson I-. Overheard from the school phys. ed. teacher: jink. Change direction, because if they just run in a straight line they can tackle you really easily. So I change direction, and-. Oh yeah, yeah, they were paying attention. Guess they're given up on this station-. Or trying to destroy the brains? Or the station's just big enough that getting shot like this isn't a problem? Or-.

The outside of the station shimmers, and-. It's harder to fly through. Not much harder, but I have to focus, and now the shots from the-.

Pfff!

They're not punching through, and they finally hit me. The ships are getting closer, but… That shot didn't really do anything. I'm not sure how tough the shields are compared to me, but those beams don't… Look as big as they were the first few times they fired. So either they're more focused and it's some sort of optical illusion, or they've turned the power down.

Why?

They're clearly fine with shooting their own people-. But they're rational about it. They don't just shoot their own for fun, or because getting beaten means that they get executed. Did they..? Think I killed everyone where I was?

Did I kill everyone where I was?

Don't know don't care because there's the interdiction system thingy. I-.

AGHFUCKINGFUCK!

And now I'm back inside the station…

Ah…

Not sure if I got turned around or not. I don't feel.. great, but-. Check for injuries…

Just for a moment I see what looks like a small cut on my right arm, but it.. sort of.. vanishes a moment later. That's nice, and-.

Right. They knew I was heading for the end zone, so they could just point all their guns-.

Okay, not sure how many ships there are but that looked like a lot of guns, so…

Why haven't they shot me again-?

Okay, moving, not thinking things like that. I was pretty close, so it's just a couple of-.

The wall next to me vanishes, and there's a green beam before-. There's a hole. They're just shooting me, and they don't care-. Do they even know that Krillik's here? Someone might have reported it. But-. Hang on, he's over there…

Uh…

So it's better for me if they shoot up their station, because it makes my life easier. I mean, I could try attacking those ships, but the bigger ones probably aren't that far behind them. And I don't really-. I guess we could move brains in them-.

No, no, that's stupid. We can't fly them and the Reach people won't fly them for us.

I wonder if the Controller can add mind control to us? Wouldn't have to be really good mind control, just make them think the Reach needs-.

AGH!

FUCKing assholes.

Quick check. My head… Aches a little? But that's about it. Looking across the… chasm where their interdiction system used to be, I think we're done here. Only problem is checking whether Krillik's ready… Because no communication system was going to survive that. And if they just shoot up the hangar, then we've wasted our time in trying to rescue them.

How should I..?

Okay. Are there any Reach people around..? There.

I fly through the wall and grab one in… A slightly fancier than normal spacesuit.

"You look important." He tries struggling for a moment, but doesn't get anywhere. "Important enough that your life has value. And you've seen me close up, which makes you doubly important. Open a communication line to your main cargo hangar and I'll let you live."

"You killed the last people you offered that deal to."

"I asked them an honest question, and they lied to me. But for you, the communication line is either on or its not. You can't lie about it because you don't know what I expect to be there."

"That won't stop you killing me afterwards."

"But even if I do kill you, you'll have delayed me a little. What else are you expected to do?"

"Just evacuate." He points his free arm at a wall terminal. "I need to touch that. I doubt you'd trust my suit array."

I let go. "Fuck up and it's your funeral. And your ships are getting pretty shooty."

He walks over and presses some buttons. "I noticed. Frustrating… Writ-wrangler."

"What?"

He finishes pressing buttons, then studies the screen-. I shove him aside, looking for Krillik. He's opened some crates-.

"The Writ is our sacred text. A Writ-wrangler is someone who takes part of it out of context to justify doing something idiotic like shoot up a productive space station as part of a weapons test when there are perfectly-"

My right ear… Buzzes, and I look around and he's pointing a gun at me. Fucker shot me!

"-good ways to test-." The barrel starts glowing again, so I disintegrate him and then turn back to the screen.

"Krillik, you done?"

"Yes! I've got brains and a shuttle! But I can't work out how to get out. I can't put together a stealth system that-."

"Can you pretend you're a Reach person evacuating?"

"Maybe. The emergency beacon's automatic, but they'll just pick me up. Escape shuttles aren't fast enough to-."

What? "You can just push the ship from inside, though. If they ignore you for long enough, you'll get away."

"Push-? I should have thought of that."

"Don't worry. Easy mistake. Get going. I'll-." Fuuuuuck. This is going to hurt. "I'll get their attention."

boo600 · Oct 6, 2024

I see the Reach has Bible Thumpers.

Or rather, they see people who respond to 'Reach commit genocide = good" with 'I guess you're the bad guys" as BTs.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 6, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
29th April 2013
Should this hurt?

Smaller ones, I guess. They don't look like the scary things Paul showed me, and small ships are usually faster. And they're okay with shooting-

I should be moving.

Yeah, staying still in a shooting fight is a good way to get heavier ordnance zeroing in on you. Be it grenades, artillery or strategic-scale ship weapons... And even if they can't obviously hurt you with their guns, doesn't mean they can't make it hard to get away.

-through their own station, so I'll fly… This one's pretty wrecked and the next one is that way, so that way-.

Everything flickers green for a moment, but… They're not shooting at me-.

Right, still one interdiction generator online,. And even one is enough to produce the effect they want, even if it's at a reduced intensity.

Krillik. And… If those crates do have brains in them, the brains aren't as tough as us. I actually-.

This feels stupid.

While you could just abandon them, you have committed to rescuing the unfortunate. So leaving without them would feel a bit low.

I fly towards the ships, past the broken and melted bits of space station, and… A few floating bodies, but hopefully the ships can see me anyway. I start disrupting matter around me to make it a bit more obvious that they didn't kill me with their first shot. I'm not.. sure that will work, because the metal around me is pretty melty so I'm probably not hotter than it is. I should move a bit as well, make it obvious that I'm not floating junk. I hope-.

Joy of playing distraction. How to get the message across that you should be paid attention to.

Is it-?

Ah, faster!

Worst case, they ping you as some sort of delayed missile or something. I doubt they've got detailed information on the Effigy project yet.

Green beams smash into the station around me as I fly-. And a lesson I-. Overheard from the school phys. ed. teacher: jink. Change direction, because if they just run in a straight line they can tackle you really easily. So I change direction, and-. Oh yeah, yeah, they were paying attention. Guess they're given up on this station-. Or trying to destroy the brains? Or the station's just big enough that getting shot like this isn't a problem? Or-.

Or they just decided yeah, 'Fuck the people on it. Acceptable losses to kill enemy forces.'

The outside of the station shimmers, and-. It's harder to fly through. Not much harder, but I have to focus, and now the shots from the -.

Pfff!

Looks like the shields came back up, maybe? Or the ships are throwing their own interdiction fields out.

They're not punching through, and they finally hit me. The ships are getting closer, but… That shot didn't really do anything. I'm not sure how tough the shields are compared to me, but those beams don't… Look as big as they were the first few times they fired. So either they're more focused and it's some sort of optical illusion, or they've turned the power down.

Could be trying to dial in the energy needed to kill you without burning out their capacitors?

Why?

They're clearly fine with shooting their own people-. But they're rational about it. They don't just shoot their own for fun, or because getting beaten means that they get executed. Did they..? Think I killed everyone where I was?

Or something about the beam makes it less lethal to Reach personnel? Who knows?

Did I kill everyone where I was?

Don't know don't care because there's the interdiction system thingy. I-.

Right, time to get punching.

AGHFUCKINGFUCK!

And now I'm back inside the station…

...Hopefully they smashed you through the generator.

Ah…

Not sure if I got turned around or not. I don't feel.. great, but-. Check for injuries…

Just for a moment I see what looks like a small cut on my right arm, but it.. sort of.. vanishes a moment later. That's nice, and-.

Thank goodness for rapid healing abilities.

Right. They knew I was heading for the end zone, so they could just point all their guns-.

Okay, not sure how many ships there are but that looked like a lot of guns, so…

Note for Jevek: Upgrade the Effigy sensory systems for medium-distance space use.

Why haven't they shot me again-?

Okay, moving, not thinking things like that. I was pretty close, so it's just a couple of-.

Maybe they think they killed you?

The wall next to me vanishes, and there's a green beam before-. There's a hole. They're just shooting me, and they don't care-. Do they even know that Krillik's here? Someone might have reported it. But-. Hang on, he's over there…

Uh…

Well, that could be a possibility. It's unlikely he would have taken off if he found out the fleet's scouts were here.

So it's better for me if they shoot up their station, because it makes my life easier. I mean, I could try attacking those ships, but the bigger ones probably aren't that far behind them. And I don't really-. I guess we could move brains in them-.

No, no, that's stupid. We can't fly them and the Reach people won't fly them for us.

Never mind the fact that there's no real way to warn your teammates that you're aboard, short of trying to reach OL and have him pass it on. Unless you burn an Orange Lantern sigil onto the front or something...

I wonder if the Controller can add mind control to us? Wouldn't have to be really good mind control, just make them think the Reach needs-.

AGH!

FUCKing assholes.

Heh. Not particularly hurting him with their shots, just annoying him by knocking him about...

Quick check. My head… Aches a little? But that's about it. Looking across the… chasm where their interdiction system used to be, I think we're done here. Only problem is checking whether Krillik's ready… Because no communication system was going to survive that. And if they just shoot up the hangar, then we've wasted our time in trying to rescue them.

So... Find a helper?

How should I..?

Okay. Are there any Reach people around..? There.

I fly through the wall and grab one in… A slightly fancier than normal spacesuit.

Ooh, someone with authority.

"You look important." He tries struggling for a moment, but doesn't get anywhere. "Important enough that your life has value. And you've seen me close up, which makes you doubly important. Open a communication line to your main cargo hangar and I'll let you live."

"You killed the last people you offered that deal to."

They were lying assholes. Are you that dumb? Also, I guess he was monitoring Marty's movements, if he knows that.

"I asked them an honest question, and they lied to me. But for you, the communication line is either on or its not. You can't lie about it because you don't know what I expect to be there."

"That won't stop you killing me afterwards."

Little thing called trust. Might be an unfamiliar concept to you Reach folks.

"But even if I do kill you, you'll have delayed me a little. What else are you expected to do?"

"Just evacuate." He points his free arm at a wall terminal. "I need to touch that. I doubt you'd trust my suit array."

Good, he's decided to do the sensible thing. He knows what'll happen if he pulls anything.

I let go. "Fuck up and it's your funeral. And yours ships are getting pretty shooty."

He walks over and presses some buttons. "I noticed. Frustrating… Writ-wrangler."

Ah, some dissension amongst the ranks?

"What?"

He finishes pressing buttons, then studies the screen-. I shove him aside, looking for Krillik. He's opened some crates-.

Hopefully it's got access to any monitoring cameras.

"The Writ is our sacred text. A Writ-wrangler is someone who takes part of it out of context to justify doing something idiotic like shoot up a productive space station as part of a weapons test when there are perfectly-"

My right ear… Buzzes, and I look around and he's pointing a gun at me. Fucker shot me!

Ah. Asshole bureaucrats. Weapons test, eh? Presumably those green beams. Also, stupid move, sparky.

"-good ways to test-." The barrel starts glowing again, so I disintegrate him and then turn back to the screen.

"Krillik, you done?"

Can't fix stupid, alas.

"Yes! I've got brains and a shuttle! But I can't work out how to get out. I can't put together a stealth system that-."

"Can you pretend you're a Reach person evacuating?"

Could work, especially if they can detect the brains on board. Though that would also pick up that Krillik isn't a Reachian.

"Maybe. The emergency beam's automatic, but they'll just pick me up. Escape shuttles aren't fast enough to-."

What? "You can just push the ship from inside, though. If they ignore you for long enough, you'll get away."

...Play dead until they stop looking at you? Could work. Slow but possible.

"Push-? I should have thought of that."

"Don't worry. Easy mistake. Get going. I'll-." Fuuuuuck. This is going to hurt. "I'll get their attention."

You're right, it is going to hurt. Still, you chose to be the one playing bait...

Right, then. Time to make some noise and take some hits. Hopefully he can distract the relief ships long enough for Krillik to get safely away. And do it without giving them too much of a demonstration of his capabilities and resilience. Best way might be to blast past them and get them looking away from the station. Maybe smash one or two to get them to give chase...

Darko · Oct 6, 2024

boo600 said:
I see the Reach has Bible Thumpers.

Or rather, they see people who respond to 'Reach commit genocide = good" with 'I guess you're the bad guys" as BTs.

The Writ is basically their instruction manual for how to conquer societies.

It's kinda like the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition; a set of practical instructions that have been given religious significance.

Neruz · Oct 6, 2024

boo600 said:
I see the Reach has Bible Thumpers.

Or rather, they see people who respond to 'Reach commit genocide = good" with 'I guess you're the bad guys" as BTs.

Every culture has its selfish idiots who twist the rules to benefit their own personal agendas, even one as curated and designed as the Reach, it seems.

Prince Charon · Oct 7, 2024

RichardWhereat said:
Prime is a good rank for him, but eventually there will be more primes. I think they should use a word from our culture as an intensive prefix. Optimus. Paul should spread that.

Different referenced series: Given my opinion of his Controller, I suggest that he's Jevek's First Prime.

EDIT: Sure, he's not arrogant in quite the same way, but he isn't someone to be trusted, either.

Mr Zoat · Oct 7, 2024

29th April 2013
23:00 GMT

What..? Is..?

Effigy Krillik is… Pushing a Reach shuttle, not… I mean, its engine is active, he's not just shoving it through space. Effigies don't have any sort of way to spread the load out, so if he tried accelerating to faster than light speed by brute force alone all that would happen is that the shuttle would explode. But he's combining its drive and his space-warping to make it go far faster than it could in any other situation.

"Illustres to… Reach shuttle. We've already got examples of this piece of Reach technology. Is there a reason why-?"

"They were shipping brains out. I've got them on board."

I nod as the shuttle approaches our ship. "What sort of state are they in?"

"I'm not sure. I think they're in suspended animation, but I'm not a physician and I didn't want to poke them too much."

"Probably the right call. Did Prime say what he wanted done with them?"

"He wanted them safe. He's not a physician either."

Our cruiser isn't designed to have shuttles on board, but creating a construct docking bay doesn't take much effort so I do so.

"Illustres to medical bay. Stand by to receive-. Brains."

"Sending ratings to assist with offloading."

I nod as Krillik lands the shuttle, melts its cargo exit and part of its computer and then flies out. I close the construct bay door behind him and then give the interior an atmosphere. That should make it easier for the medical detail.

"Are you heading back out right away?"

Krillik makes a negative gesture. "We can't afford solo missions. And Prime might need my assistance now that the hostages are freed. Can you see him?"

Naturally. "He's heading back now."

"Injuries?"

"I actually can't tell. I don't think he's desperate for medical aid, but that's about all I can say."

"Where is our next target?"

I generate a system map, showing the stations, destroyed and intact.

"This one. Should be a bit safer, but the main fleet is sending cruisers out in all directions. Were you hit?"

"No. Prime was, but he was in good health when-."

Mr van Wyck drops back into sublight a short distance from us.

"Ow-w."

Yes, he's-. I take a purple healing ray out of subspace and fly closer to him before shoot him with it. It looks like his.. 'skin' is smouldering, though I'm not sure if that's part of his power or if he's actually burning. It doesn't seem to be stopping.

"Martin? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." He nods slowly. "Turns out? We can be injured."

"I'm sure that your Edison Award is in the post."

The smoking dies off as he turns his head to look at me. "Who?"

"Edison. He-." I shake my head. "Not important. Are you in one piece?"

"Yeah?"

"Uninjured, I mean."

He looks 'up' and accelerates to faster than light speed for a second, stops and then turns around and flies back.

"I think so. I'll ask the Controller to check once we get back to Maltus."

"Alright, but, both of you? The guns on those cruisers have about… One twentieth of the output of the battleship weapons."

Mr. van Wyck nods. "And they were pulling their punches when they hit me."

Hm. "Yes, I suppose they'd be interested in capturing you."

He blinks. "Huh?"

"If they capture you alive or dead, they can get a better idea of what you can do. Controller Jevek isn't going to stop producing-"

"Oh. Yeah."

"-more Effigies. Are you alright to keep fighting?"

"I think so, and I'm-." He frowns. "Do you think they've got more brains in storage?"

"I don't know. You didn't actually find that many, so… I'm wondering if they were installing them in their own system rather than storing them for someone else."

"I mean, do we need to tell the others to check the cargo bays in the other interdiction stations?"

"Not much point. They're going to know that you took something from the cargo hangar, and it probably wasn't cabling. Once they know that, they've effectively confirmed why we're here. And then the order will go out to destroy the-."

"Can we-!?" His eyes widen for a moment, then go back to normal. "We can't, we can't rescue them. Fuck."

"Almost certainly not, though I respect your impulse. Look, if you're going to go, you should-."

"Yeah."

He glances at the map, glances at the starfield, then glances at Krillik. Krillik makes a gesture of affirmation, then they're both gone.

Huh.

Can't really judge what that means about his resilience. I could tank a cruiser's firepower pretty much indefinitely, but most Lanterns aren't me and I don't know how hard they were trying to kill him. Of course I don't know how much of him saying 'ow' was psychosomatic and how much was a response to actual pain. Or he may have been more heavily injured than he showed.

I send my purple healing ray back into subspace as I mark off another interdiction field generator and note the slowing of the Reach fleet. Going well so far-.

"Darkstar team to Illustres."

"Responding. You've got about fifteen minutes before we need to start-"

Purple strands blur away from the planet, heading for-. Tracking? The interdiction stations. Empathic vision is rebuffed, but their F.T.L.…

"-panicking."

"We've got Scarabs. Improved ones. And the robots have been activated. We need assistance."

My eyes flick to the interdiction construct that's the only thing preventing the Reach fleet from jumping onto us.

Oh dear.

Darko · Oct 7, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
idea of what you can to

"can do"

Mr Zoat said:
They're going to know out that you took

"know that"

Mr Zoat · Oct 7, 2024

Darko said:
"can do"
"know that"

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 7, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
29th April 2013
23:00 GMT

What..? Is..?

Effigy Krillik is… Pushing a Reach shuttle, not… I mean, its engine is active, he's not just shoving it through space. Effigies don't have any sort of way to spread the load out, so if he tried accelerating to faster than light speed by brute force alone all that would happen is that the shuttle would explode. But he's combining its drive and his space-warping to make it go far faster than it could in any other situation.

Back to OL for now, and it looks like Krillik made it safely 'home'. I can't imagine how awkward the process was, especially if he doesn't reliably have the kind of tactile forcefield effect Kryptonians have when moving large masses.

"Illustres to… Reach shuttle. We've already got examples of this piece of Reach technology. Is there a reason why-?"

"They were shipping brains out. I've got them on board."

Yeah, that's a good reason for lugging this thing back. A few extra rescues, at least.

I nod as the shuttle approaches our ship. "What sort of state are they in?"

"I'm not sure. I think they're in suspended animation, but I'm not a physician and I didn't want to poke them too much."

Good plan. Never poke something if you don't know how it'll react.

"Probably the right call. Did Prime say what he wanted done with them?"

"He wanted them safe. He's not a physician either."

Though that desire says a lot about his character, doesn't it?

Our cruiser isn't designed to have shuttles on board, but creating a construct docking bay doesn't take much effort so I do so.

"Illustres to medical bay. Stand by to receive-. Brains."

...I mean, they probably were geared up for it just in case. Now they get to actually use the stuff they might have brought along.

"Sending ratings to assist with offloading."

I nod as Krillik lands the shuttle, melts its cargo exit and part of its computer and then flies out. I close the construct bay door behind him and then give the interior an atmosphere. That should make it easier for the medical detail.

If nothing else, the glowing walls should encourage haste.

"Are you heading back out right away?"

Krillik makes a negative gesture. "We can't afford solo missions. And Prime might need my assistance now that the hostages are freed. Can you see him?"

Hopefully well, given last time, we saw him prepping to take on several ships at once.

Naturally. "He's heading back now."

"Injuries?"

"I actually can't tell. I don't think he's desperate for medical aid, but that's about all I can say."

So, everything still attached. If there's any internal injuries, his own healing can manage that.

"Where is our next target?"

I generate a system map, showing the stations, destroyed and intact.

Should certainly be a few downed by now. While Marty's particular experience might have been atypical, the others would probably write any brains they found off and rip the stations up.

"This one. Should be a bit safer, but the main fleet is sending cruisers out in all directions. Were you hit?"

"No. Prime was, but he was in good health when-."

We'll see how he is in a moment, I think...

Mr van Wyck drops back into sublight a short distance from us.

"Ow-w."

Heh. The tank's lament. Taking all the big hits so the squishy DPS doesn't.

Yes, he's-. I take a purple healing ray out of subspace and fly closer to him before shoot him with it. It looks like his.. 'skin' is smouldering, though I'm not sure if that's part of his power or if he's actually burning. It doesn't seem to be stopping.

"Martin? Can you hear me?"

Should be useful to him, given it encourages natural healing.

"Yeah." He nods slowly. "Turns out? We can be injured."

"I'm sure that your Edison Award is in the post."

An actual thing, of course. And I'm sure Jevek will be interested to have reference for the limits of your durability.

The smoking dies off as he turns his head to look at me. "Who?"

"Edison. He-." I shake my head. "Not important. Are you in one piece?"

Well, Marty did note he didn't do so well in school.

"Yeah?"

"Uninjured, I mean."

Since super-durable types kind of need to clarify that. Something that might dismember a regular person but wouldn't an invulnerable one still has a lot of energy, and it has to go somewhere.

He looks 'up' and accelerates to faster than light speed for a second, stops and then turns around and flies back.

"I think so. I'll ask the Controller to check once we get back to Maltus."

I'm sure he;'ll find it very fascinating data for future calibrations.

"Alright, but, both of you? The guns on those cruisers have about… One twentieth of the output of the battleship weapons."

Mr. van Wyck nods. "And they were pulling their punches when they hit me."

That obvious, then?

Hm. "Yes, I suppose they'd be interested in capturing you."

He blinks. "Huh?"

Reverse-engineering in the best case, destructive sample testing in the worst.

"If they capture you alive or dead, they can get a better idea of what you can to. Controller Jevek isn't going to stop producing-"

"Oh. Yeah."

And I doubt Jevek thought ahead to include a self-destruct mechanism of some kind. Then again, he might have. But until one of them dies in a way that leaves a corpse...

"-more Effigies. Are you alright to keep fighting?"

"I think so, and I'm-." He frowns. "Do you think they've got more brains in storage?"

The question should be 'If they do, what can you do about it?' As I noted, the other teams probably aren't looking to preserve any brains they find, installed or in transit.

"I don't know. You didn't actually find that many, so… I'm wondering if they were installing them in their own system rather than storing them for someone else."

"I mean, do we need to tell the others to check the cargo bays in the other interdiction stations?"

Could put them at risk, though.

"Not much point. They're going to know out that you took something from the cargo hangar, and it probably wasn't cabling. Once they know that, they've effectively confirmed why we're here. And then the order will go out to destroy the-."

"Can we-!?" His eyes widen for a moment, then go back to normal. "We can't, we can't rescue them. Fuck."

Ideally, the Darkstars can abduct as many as they can haul. That'll have to do.

"Almost certainly not, though I respect your impulse. Look, if you're going to go, you should-."

"Yeah."

He glances at the map, glances at the starfield, then glances at Krillik. Krillik makes a gesture of affirmation, then they're both gone.

Time for some percussive therapy: Break shit until he feels better.

Huh.

Can't really judge what that means about his resilience. I could tank a cruiser's firepower pretty much indefinitely, but most Lanterns aren't me and I don't know how hard they were trying to kill him. Of course I don't know how much of him saying 'ow' was psychosomatic and how much was a response to actual pain. Or he may have been more heavily injured than he showed.

I bet his viltrumite body isn't as transparent to Ring scans as it used to be, either.

I send my purple healing ray back into subspace as I mark off another interdiction field generator and note the slowing of the Reach fleet. Going well so far-.

"Darkstar team to Illustres."

And now a new complication appears. Dammit.

"Responding. You've got about fifteen minutes before we need to start-"

Purple strands blur away from the planet, heading for-. Tracking? The interdiction stations. Empathic vision is rebuffed, but their F.T.L.…

Oh, buggeration. Those weren't Darkstars, were they?

"-panicking."

"We've got Scarabs. Improved ones. And the robots have been activated. We need assistance."

Oh, joy.

My eyes flick to the interdiction construct that's the only thing preventing the Reach fleet from jumping onto us.

Oh dear.

Time to decide which thing is more important, OL...

Welp, the excrement looks to be making its way towards the rotary cooling device. Hopefully the Effigy teams can withstand the Scarab warriors headed their way. While OL has a tough choice: Assist the Darkstars and let the fleet haul ass, or block the fleet and leave the Darkstars to their own devices. Keeping in mind that his partner is down there somewhere...

Someguy Somewhere · Oct 7, 2024

There is a decent solution for this issue, if Paul wishes to go off to the rescue of his lady fair.

He's not the only Lantern that can Greedyport any more.

boo600 · Oct 8, 2024

Improved ones, eh? It looks like the Reach does have something better than their run-of-the-mill scarabs - at least now.

I wonder if this is in direct response to Jevek's efforts - and how they managed to do it? Yellow rings didn't work out for them, and they don't have Maltusian Genius plus Many Alternate Worlds… although they have a lot of space and resources for a reason.

Still, while the Reach makes spacefaring aliens say things along the lines of 'we thought our response to colors could only be used for outright mind control in blatant fiction, but they managed it,' they have their limits. How far have they gone to exceed them?

Mr Zoat · Oct 8, 2024

2013 12 29
Mission Time 00:23:32

Phase shifter active, I throw myself through a wall as the Scarab fires again, some sort of homing particle beam flying around the corner and striking the wall just behind me. I dash through the room, not letting my eyes linger on the body of the person who followed the order to 'put your right hand into the citizen chip implantation device'. They weren't quite loyal enough to keep doing it when everyone who did died a few moments later, but less than half of the people we came here to rescue were left before Darkstar Nueh hacked the broadcaster.

Scarabs are manageable. If you get the drop on them.

Warn-

A spatial compression well appears next to me and I throw myself left towards the living room as a detonates.

-ing!

It knocks me off my feet, but I roll with it and keep running.

One Darkstar dead and another critically injured before we realised that it could track our flight systems. If I had to guess, I'd say that the improved systems require improved brainpower. If not, we're going to need to warn N.E.M.O. that Scarab Warriors are about to get a whole lot more effective. Whatever that spatial compression thing is, it also prevent us from using subterranean ambushes because it somehow worked on phased matter.

Could just be the phasing technique we use. Feedback during debrief.

As I phase through the side of the building the ground shakes as Effigy Cyreg detonates another generator. The shield around the settlement isn't down yet, but it looks a lot less solid that it did. Hopefully, the defence guns are running short on power too.

Another volley of particle beams fly over the building, arcing down towards-

"Weasel."

-me, and then missing as Caccanah shoots him from behind. She'll reposition immediately, probably diving down from an elevated position.

I need to get into a firing position myself while he's distracted. If I take too long, he'll chase her down.

"Nueh to team. Message sent."

This time I don't clamp down on the feeling in my chest I get when I hear that Paul's been notified. If he's shielding the ship he can't afford to leave. There wouldn't be much point in sending L.E.G.I.O.N. marines down and I don't know what the other Effigies are doing. Fighting the whole Reach fleet, probably.

My exo-mantle makes me strong enough to leap up onto the roof of the next building over, and I carefully take in the Scarab's position. Heading 'south' after Caccanah, who is taking cover in the parking garage.

"Wild."

Deploy masers, manual targetting. Acceptable targets are the Scarab's head or spine. Passable targets are anything that gets the Scarab's attention.

Not an actual Wild Weasel of course, but you lose some of the subtleties when you talk to aliens.

Target acquired. Activate flight system.

The Scarab sprays some sort of plasma flamethrower into the parking garage with one hand while firing the particle beam upwards with the other, probably planning on making it drop down onto Caccanah when she comes out. An instant later and they're awkwardly redirecting themselves towards me.

"Flight system targeting is automatic."

His head turns and I fire, maser beam hitting him in the left eye just before his flamethrower turns into a shield.

"Weasel."

I deactivate my flight system and fall over the far side of the building, absorbing the impact with my armour's leg systems before springing 'east'.

"Target still active."

Of course he is.

And my evacuated firing position just got hit by particle beams. I'm trying not to think about how those are looping around at all.

"He's boosting. Cyreg's hit."

I wince, coming to a complete stop and redirecting power to my stealth system. I want to ask how injured Cyreg is, but any transmissions-.

The Scarab is now high in the sky above us, one arm transformed into a sensor array. I wonder if the person inside there is actually loyal to the Reach or trying to fight the parasite off? More likely they're just confused.

"Evacuation complete."

"You got everyone?"

"Everyone who's coming."

"Position secure?"

"Robots are focusing on Effigy Malag. Entire Reach planetary occupation force inbound. So, no, not-."

The air around me starts to shimmer. I redirect power from stealth to electromagnetic shielding and press myself into a corner.

CLRKCLRKCLRKCLRK!

Lightning leaps from the Scarab, blasting from plasma cloud to plasma cloud as he gives up on targeting us individually and settles for electrocuting the entire district. I flinch as a section of wall near to me gets hit and then explodes as its interior is vaporised.

This attack is highly lethal to unprotected conductive material, like people. If you're prepared and not very unlucky, you'll probably be okay if not for the fact-

The discharges weaken and I switch back to muscle enhancement and start running. Minor discharges hit my armour, but they're well within tolerance thresholds.

-that it's really easy for the Scarab to detect you right afterwards.

"Caccanah? Life check."

Take the corner fast by running up and along the wall, try and get one of the few still standing tall buildings between me and the Scarab because there's no way I'm going to have time to line up a shot.

"Wild."

A brilliant burst of plasma explodes in the air above us!

"Weasel?"

I slow and glance up to see the Scarab get himself back under control. But his armour looks like it took a beating.

"Good shot." And while he's distracted, I bring up my maser and aim for the weakened section of armour. "Got another?"

"Wasn't me. I think that was the Illustres."

Shooting a small target near the ground from space? … He's probably got a way to do that.

"Fire."

Four maser shots, three hitting the damaged section of armour and-.

He turns, both arms morphing into particle beams and I'm running again.

There's only so much of this town left, and less I can hide behind. We can't get the local people away from a Scarab, and ground troops are moving in.

I don't know what's going on up there, but they better hurry it up.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 8, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
2013 12 29
Mission Time 00:23:32

Phase shifter active, I throw myself through a wall as the Scarab fires again, some sort of homing particle beam flying around the corner and striking the wall just behind me. I dash through the room, not letting my eyes linger on the body of the person who followed the order to 'put your right hand into the citizen chip implantation device'. They weren't quite loyal enough to keep doing it when everyone who did died a few moments later, but less than half of the people we came here to rescue were left before Darkstar Nueh hacked the broadcaster.

Looks like we're on the ground with Jade. And things are going about as well as you'd expect when infiltration troops get confronted by super-armoured shock troops... And it sounds like they managed to stop some of the locals from being 'euthanised' by the Reach...

Scarabs are manageable. If you get the drop on them.

Warn-

Of course, doing so when they know you're about is much harder than simply saying it.

A spatial compression well appears next to me and I throw myself left towards the living room as a detonates.

-ing!

It knocks me off my feet, but I roll with it and keep running.

Smooth moves. I'm guessing they're trying to keep it away from any evacuation efforts so it doesn't murderise innocents.

One Darkstar dead and another critically injured before we realised that it could track our flight systems. If I had to guess, I'd say that the improved systems require improved brainpower. If not, we're going to need to warn N.E.M.O. that Scarab Warriors are about to get a whole lot more effective. Whatever that spatial compression thing is, it also prevent us from using subterranean ambushes because it somehow worked on phased matter.

Hmm... Could indeed be a side-effect of using Threllians' people.

Could just be the phasing technique we use. Feedback during debrief.

As I phase through the side of the building the ground shakes as Effigy Cyreg detonates another generator. The shield around the settlement isn't down yet, but it looks a lot less solid that it did. Hopefully, the defence guns are running short on power too.

That's assuming you make it to a debrief, Jade. Fortunately, you have some powerful assets in play...

Another volley of particle beams fly over the building, arcing down towards-

"Weasel."

-me, and then missing as Caccanah shoots him from behind. She'll reposition immediately, probably diving down from an elevated position.

tag-team hit and run? About their best option when they're this outgunned.

I need to get into a firing position myself while he's distracted. If I take too long, he'll chase her down.

"Nueh to team. Message sent."

That'll be the alert that OL picked up last scene. LEt's see what he can do...

This time I don't clamp down on the feeling in my chest I get when I hear that Paul's been notified. If he's shielding the ship he can't afford to leave. There wouldn't be much point in sending L.E.G.I.O.N. marines down and I don't know what the other Effigies are doing. Fighting the whole Reach fleet, probably.

Good point. Pretty close guess, too.

My exo-mantle makes me strong enough to leap up onto the roof of the next building over, and I carefully take in the Scarab's position. Heading 'south' after Caccanah, who is taking cover in the parking garage.

"Wild."

Super-poweed combat at its most basic. When tall buildings are not exactly an obstruction to your mobility.

Deploy masers, manual targetting. Acceptable targets are the Scarab's head or spine. Passable targets are anything that gets the Scarab's attention.

Not an actual Wild Weasel of course, but you lose some of the subtleties when you talk to aliens.

To be fair, you are in much lighter gear than the sort of aircraft that usually employed the technique.

Target acquired. Activate flight system.

The Scarab sprays some sort of plasma flamethrower into the parking garage with one hand while firing the particle beam upwards with the other, probably planning on making it drop down onto Caccanah when she comes out. An instant later and they're awkwardly redirecting themselves towards me.

Joy of super-armour that can make whatever weapon its user (or Scarab unit) decides is optimal for the moment.

"Flight system targeting is automatic."

His head turns and I fire, maser beam hitting him in the left eye just before his flamethrower turns into a shield.

Not necessarily a kill-shot, alas. Scarabs are tough, after all, and their eyeballs are as armoured as any part of them.

"Weasel."

I deactivate my flight system and fall over the far side of the building, absorbing the impact with my armour's leg systems before springing 'east'.

And bow she's playing bait for her teammate's sneak attack...

"Target still active."

Of course he is.

Because bad luck loves to make things worse.

And my evacuated firing position just got hit by particle beams. I'm trying not to think about how those are looping around at all.

"He's boosting. Cyreg's hit."

Bending energy beams. Typical super-science bullshit worthy of Earth itself.

I wince, coming to a complete stop and redirecting power to my stealth system. I want to ask how injured Cyreg is, but any transmissions-.

The Scarab is now high in the sky above us, one arm transformed into a sensor array. I wonder if the person inside there is actually loyal to the Reach or trying to fight the parasite off? More likely they're just confused.

Wouldn't look much like one of Threllian's people on the outside, would it? Assuming that's what it's wearing.

"Evacuation complete."

"You got everyone?"

Because leaving without at least some of the locals kind of blows the main objective.

"Everyone who's coming."

"Position secure?"

And can they risk launching with the Scarab watching?

"Robots are focusing on Effigy Malag. Entire Reach planetary occupation force inbound. So, no, not-."

The air around me starts to shimmer. I redirect power from stealth to electromagnetic shielding and press myself into a corner.

When you can't find a target, just start throwing shots addressed to 'resident' or 'to whom it may concern'...

CLRKCLRKCLRKCLRK!

Lightning leaps from the Scarab, blasting from plasma cloud to plasma cloud as he gives up on targeting us individually and settles for electrocuting the entire district. I flinch as a section of wall near to me gets hit and then explodes as its interior is vaporised.

On the upside, an attack that distributed can't be as potent as a direct assault. I suspect it's trying to push them into exposing themselves...

This attack is highly lethal to unprotected conductive material, like people. If you're prepared and not very unlucky, you'll probably be okay if not for the fact-

The discharges weaken and I switch back to muscle enhancement and start running. Minor discharges hit my armour, but they're well within tolerance thresholds.

...And maybe the attack is great for removing any possible cover.

-that it's really easy for the Scarab to detect you right afterwards.

"Caccanah? Life check."

Be a pain if she was the only one left after that...

Take the corner fast by running up and along the wall, try and get one of the few still standing tall buildings between me and the Scarab because there's no way I'm going to have time to line up a shot.

"Wild."

Ah, good. Her teammate survived as well.

A brilliant burst of plasma explodes in the air above us!

"Weasel?"

Sounds like someone busted out the big guns.

I slow and glance up to see the Scarab get himself back under control. But his armour looks like it took a beating.

"Good shot." And while he's distracted, I bring up my maser and aim for the weakened section of armour. "Got another?"

Combat pragmatism at its finest: Kick them while they're down.

"Wasn't me. I think that was the Illustres."

Shooting a small target near the ground from space? … He's probably got a way to do that.

...Or he called in Xor? Won't know until we get back to him.

"Fire."

Four maser shots, three hitting the damaged section of armour and-.

He turns, both arms morphing into particle beams and I'm running again.

Shit, not enough gun.

There's only so much of this town left, and less I can hide behind. We can't get the local people away from a Scarab, and ground troops are moving in.

I don't know what's going on up there, but they better hurry it up.

Best hope is that whoever did that big hit can do it again a couple of times...

Well, that could be going better. Probably not helped by the covert gear not being especially well-armed in order to be stealthy. This is like lightly armed special forces trying to survive close combat with a tank. A big tank. Still, at least they're getting useful data on the apparently improved Scarab warriors, if they can get away alive.

Lord Ernest · Oct 8, 2024

And now we also get a Jade POV? This is pretty momentous.

Is the Scarab a member of the species that got harvested for their brains (We need a name for those guys)? Because if Jade noted that it probably needed more brainpower to supported this upgraded version, it makes sense to test it on one of these guys. Not a lot of species with high capacity brains as a natural trait, I think.

If instead the Scarab is just an Inner Reach Space model that they haven't encountered yet, it means the Reach's still hiding their better weapons, same as they're reserving their better fleets.

Silveraith · Oct 8, 2024

Lord Ernest said:
And now we also get a Jade POV? This is pretty momentous.

I don't think it was her PoV because of this section:

Mr Zoat said:
They weren't quite loyal enough to keep doing it when everyone who did died a few moments later, but less than half of the people we came here to rescue were left before Darkstar Nueh hacked the broadcaster.

Jade has never referred to herself in the third person before.

Ngamer11 · Oct 8, 2024

Silveraith said:
Jade has never referred to herself in the third person before.

Jade is referring to someone else named Nueh.

Mr Zoat · Oct 9, 2024

Silveraith said:
I don't think it was her PoV because of this section:

Jade has never referred to herself in the third person before.

Jade is Jade.

Mr Zoat · Oct 9, 2024

29th April 2013
Next objective

LeaveFTLReachshipsalreadyherepickangleandpunch!

Huh. The ship actually moved a little when I hit its shield. That's new. And then the shield breaks and I'm slamming into the hull as the ship's weapons start shooting at me. I think some of them hit me, but I covered the distance really quick and they don't have a lot of time to aim before they don't have an angle on me. Then-.

Huh.

Okay, hull held out a fraction of a second longer, but a couple of punches and I'm inside.

And that was a pretty good trick Krillik pulled, so I'm stealing it. Reach ships usually have their main support beams-

Are they called 'beams' in a ship?

-about here, yeah that feels right. Deep breath, disruption aura off, grab it and push. I can feel the station through the hull -feels smaller than the one we just wrecked- and… Either this ship's hull shields me, or they won't shoot their friends, or… It's got to be harder to work out what's going on, right? Delay them? Anyway, I accelerate it-

A Reach guy flies past me, sort of… Flattening? And gets pasted against the far wall.

-towards the station, and… Yeah, they're shooting it and I think its shield is still working. Makes sense; unless they get totally wrecked Reach ships can usually put them back up. I don't think the ship is using its engines… Not that I've tried this before. Station's getting closer… Closer-.

CRASH!

Dis-.

Agh. Agh? The ship just sort of broke around me. Guess I didn't make it hit hard enough to hurt me. Lost my grip but apart from that… Nothing-.

Shaking from the back of the ship. The other ships are going to try shooting through it, but this fleet is smaller than the other one. I start disrupting again and fly through the battered and twisted hull and into the station.

"Krillik!"

Nothing yet, but I was slightly ahead of him.

And I'm learning! Reach person in spare armour just in front of me. Grab the gun, chuck it aside, grab the helmet without melting it yet.

"I'm destroying your interdiction field generator. I can do that with everyone dead or most of you alive. Where is it?"

"You are not Written."

I flare the disruption aura around my head. "Lotta other people I can ask."

He points to his left, towards the bottom of the station. "That way."

I shove him aside and then drop him. "Thank you. A lot of your people wouldn't have died if they'd given answers like that."

"It-."

I ignore anything else he says, smashing and burning through the station-

"Prime!"

-until I get to… Looks like a Star Trek engine room. Bunch of Reach people, but they're backing away rather than grabbing their weapons.

I point to the exit. "Run." And then I walk to the buzzing, glowing thing.

It takes them a few seconds, but once they start going they really commit to the running thing.

"Yeah, Krillik?"

I was probably a bit too enthusiastic about the last place. Just wrecking the machine so they can't make it work in ten minutes should be enough. Disrupt… That… To slag, and we're good.

"Krillik?"

Could be nothing, could be too far away, could be busy-.

I flare my disruption aura to maximum and fly right out the way I came, bursting through wall after wall-. And there's space, and the ships are moving away-.

The flaming shooting star that is Krillik goes flying across the battle space… He's not in control, but a moment later he recovers and flies at one of the ships. He grabs it, and I start smiling and give him a little cheer.

And then a wide blue beam hits the ship and sends him flying again. Who was-?

Is that a Scarab? Purple armour, some sort of multi-barrel over the shoulder weapon tentacle gun thing-.

I fly, blue beams shooting past me-. Behind that ship? Doesn't look like he's morphed that big gun thing at the moment, and it should be able to take-.

He's stopped firing.

Okay, I killed Scarabs back before I got super strength. Hurt, and I had help, but there's two of us and…

Where'd he g-?

AK!

He-. Ax-. Shallow cut but that fucker-. Where's he gone?

Keep looking around-. "Krillik? You dead?"

"No, Prime." From… Below me, he starts flying towards me. "Hurt, but-."

I fly down, full speed with my disruption aura on, space blurring-. BAH!

And back in normal space, grab the Scarab's axe hand, disruption-.

Her armour is sort of shimmering along with it, but it's not-

OW! Fucking face!

-actually melting punch the fu-.

She's gone. Can't.. feel her. I know Scarabs can use stealth, so it's not that-.

I look around. I hate interstellar space. It doesn't feel like you're actually moving when you move, because the starfield stays the same. I came from-. Fuck, I got turned around.

Ah…

Okay, that's… The brain farm planet, over there. Which means I came from that system. The interdiction system's destroyed, but I need to check on Krillik. This shouldn't take-.

Augh-!

Something-. Something just hit-.

Move move move. I don't have vital organs. It doesn't even h-.

AAAAAAGHOOOKAy there it is. Took a moment. That's new.

Fly.

Space jumps again and-. A system with fucking lights, because the other fucking problem with interstellar space is that you can't see where anyone is unless they fly across a star and you're looking in the right direction!

"Krillik?"

"Prime."

I look around. He's sort of.. limping in space, but a few more ships are wrecked then when I left so I guess he's mostly okay.

"Scarab Warrior got a boost. Think we should head-?"

DURGH!

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 9, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
29th April 2013
Next objective

LeaveFTLReachshipsalreadyherepickangleandpunch!

Huh. The ship actually moved a little when I hit its shield. That's new. And then the shield breaks and I'm slamming into the hull as the ships weapons start shooting at me. I think some of them hit me, but I covered the distance really quick and they don't have a lot of time to aim before they don't have an angle on me. Then-.

Impressive, Marty, to make it suffer physical pushback from an impact on its defensive barriers. And moving quick is going to be your best defence here against their point defence weapons, I think. Their turrets can only traverse so fast, after all.

Huh.

Okay, hull held out a fraction of a second longer, but a couple of punches and I'm inside.

Since they probably don't have nice inter-panel seams to fit fingers into, after all.

And that was a pretty good trick Krillik pulled, so I'm stealing it. Reach ships usually have their main support beams-

Are they called 'beams' in a ship?

Going to haul it manually? Could work, especially if you can push harder than their station-keeping thrusters can.

-about here, yeah that feels right. Deep breath, disruption aura off, grab it and push. I can feel the station through the hull -feels smaller than the one we just wrecked- and… Either this ship's hull shields me, or they won't shoot their friends, or… It's got to be harder to work out what's going on, right? Delay them? Anyway, I accelerate it-

All they saw was a flaming meteor crash through their companion's shields and then it's hull. Who knows what they're making of it...

A Reach guy flies past me, sort of… Flattening? And gets pasted against the far wall.

-towards the station, and… Yeah, they're shooting it and I think its shield is still working. Makes sense; unless they get totally wrecked Reach ships can usually put them back up. I don't think the ship is using its engines… Not that I've tried this before. Station's getting closer… Closer-.

Pushing harder than their inertial dampening systems can handle, eh? Inertia is a harsh mistress in space, so the Reach probably aren't enjoying this little unwanted manoeuvring session.

CRASH!

Dis-.

Agh. Agh? The ship just sort of broke around me. Guess I didn't make it hit hard enough to hurt me. Lost my grip but apart from that… Nothing-.

That's what happens when your body is tougher than their hulls. Still, at least one ship is disabled, since smacking at an odd angle into a space station can't be good for the bodywork or the crew (Who would have been moving at the speed Marty was, and no dampening to stop them now... The front walls of the ship are probably a lovely shade of red, or whatever colour the Reach folks bleed.)

Shaking from the back of the ship. The other ships are going to try shooting through it, but this fleet is smaller than the other one. I start disrupting again and fly through the battered and twisted hull and into the station.

"Krillik!"

Right, you guys should have a better idea of the layout now, so no need to waste as much time finding the important bits.

Nothing yet, but I was slightly ahead of him.

And I'm learning! Reach person in spare armour just in front of me. Grab the gun, chuck it aside, grab the helmet without melting it yet.

Ah, good, leverage. Want the helmet back? Answer the questions.

"I'm destroying your interdiction field generator. I can do that with everyone dead or most of you alive. Where is it?"

"You are not Written."

Well, that's just rude. Calling him the equivalent of 'Infidel!', I'm guessing.

I flare the disruption aura around my head. "Lotta other people I can ask."

He points to his left, towards the bottom of the station. "That way."

At least he's smart enough not to try and play dumb.

I shove him aside and then drop him. "Thank you. A lot of your people wouldn't have died if they'd given answers like that."

"It-."

To be fair, fanatical loyalty and an ingrained sense if superiority don't exactly make for a cooperative crew.

I ignore anything else he says, smashing and burning through the station-

"Prime!"

Ah, there's Krillik. Hopefully he can keep the flotilla under control long enough to deal with the station.

-until I get to… Looks like a Star Trek engine room. Bunch of Reach people, but they're backing away rather than grabbing their weapons.

I point to the exit. "Run." And then I walk to the buzzing, glowing thing.

Let's hope they take the hint. Otherwise, they can learn the consequences when he opens up.

It takes them a few second, but once they start going they really commit to the running thing.

"Yeah, Krillik?"

Not profitable to try and stop him, after all.

I was probably a bit too enthusiastic about the last place. Just wrecking the machine so they can't make it work in ten minutes should be enough. Disrupt… That… To slag, and we're good.

"Krillik?"

Now, two more relays to wipe, and this station's down.

Could be nothing, could be too far away, could be busy-.

I flare my disruption aura to maximum and fly right out the way I came, bursting through wall after wall-. And there's space, and the ships are moving away-.

Best to err on the side of caution, given the opposition.

The flaming shooting star that is Krillik goes flying across the battle space… He's not in control, but a moment later he recovers and flies at one of the ships. He grabs it, and I start smiling and give him a little cheer.

And then a wide blue beam hits the ship and sends him flying again. Who was-?

Ah. that'll be why he called out. Looks like some up-close and personal resistance.

Is that a Scarab? Purple armour, some sort of multi-barrel over the shoulder weapon tentacle gun thing-.

I fly, blue beams shooting past me-. Behind that ship? Doesn't look like he's morphed that big gun thing at the moment, and it should be able to take-.

This will be tough. They have better sensors than you do, better long-range firepower options, and bloody-minded aggression.

He's stopped firing.

Okay, I killed Scarabs back before I got super strength. Hurt, and I had help, but there's two of us and…

The super-strength will probably be a lot handier here if you can get close.

Where'd he g-?

AK!

He-. Ax-. Shallow cut but that fucker-. Where's he gone?

Monomolecular edge, or matter-disrupting? Either way, that could be trouble.

Keep looking around-. "Krillik? You dead?"

"No, Prime." From… Below me, he starts flying towards me. "Hurt, but-."

Fortunately, Martian-style shapeshifting helps with patching themselves up.

I fly down, full speed with my disruption aura on, space blurring-. BAH!

And back in normal space, grab the Scarab's axe hand, disruption-.

I would have simply removed it entirely, but I suppose that's harder with only one hand on them.

Her armour is sort of shimmering along with it, but it's not-

OW! Fucking face!

Yes, they have guns. Gotta keep that in mind, Marty.

-actually melting punch the fu-.

She's gone. Can't.. feel her. I know Scarabs can use stealth, so it's not that-.

And phasing effects could probably make it harder to 'feel' telekinetically, too.

I look around. I hate interstellar space. It doesn't feel like you're actually moving when you move, because the starfield stays the same. I came from-. Fuck, I got turned around.

Ah…

It's the lack of parallax. Not the giant space fear bug, the visual sense of lateral movement. Without easy frames of reference, well...

Okay, that's… The brain farm planet, over there. Which means I came from that system. The interdiction system's destroyed, but I need to check on Krillik. This shouldn't take-.

Augh-!

Scarab's still on your ass, remember?

Something-. Something just hit-.

Move move move. I don't have vital organs. It doesn't even h-.

And if it has faster-than-light weaponry, he could feel the hit before he sees the attack launched...

AAAAAAGHOOOKAy there it is. Took a moment. That's new.

Fly.

Stay mobile, and find her, man.

Space jumps again and-. A system with fucking lights, because the other fucking problem with interstellar space is that you can't see where anyone unless they fly across a star and you're looking in the right direction!

"Krillik?"

One of the hardest parts of deep-space observation, yes. Without occultation, we wouldn't know about half the shit out there.

"Prime."

I look around. He's sort of.. limping in space, but a few more ships are wrecked then when I left so I guess he's mostly okay.

Well, you did draw away the Scarab, so he could get work done...

"Scarab Warrior got a boost. Think we should head-?"

DURGH!

That'll be the Scarab crashing into him from behind, I bet.

If Marty and Krillik can't coordinate to take the Scarab down, this fight is going to end up with someone getting badly hurt. Which is no easy task given their augmentations. Still, the Scarab definitely seems a cut above the ones in the Periphery, and if this is the kind of threats NEMO will be facing in the years to come, this war might be a lot harder to fight...

LZB1285 · Oct 9, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Space jumps again and-. A system with fucking lights, because the other fucking problem with interstellar space is that you can't see where anyone unless they fly across a star and you're looking in the right direction!

Reasonably sure there's a word missing here, maybe a comma too. "where anyone is, unless"

Mr Zoat · Oct 9, 2024

LZB1285 said:
Reasonably sure there's a word missing here, maybe a comma too. "where anyone is, unless"

Thank you, corrected.

Bud-E · Oct 9, 2024

Is this Scarab teleporting or invisible?

Mr Zoat · Oct 9, 2024

Bud-E said:
Is this Scarab teleporting or invisible?

Technically, neither, just moving fast while fighting someone not used to fighting man-sized targets in space. They do have stealth systems, but since ships and Lanterns can see through it they usually use the energy for other things.

Ardy · Oct 9, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Technically, neither, just moving fast while fighting someone not used to fighting man-sized targets in space. They do have stealth systems, but since ships and Lanterns can see through it they usually use the energy for other things.

On a related note, how's Lantern King's month-long love making session going?

Is he going to repopulate the vitrumite species?

Mr Zoat · Oct 9, 2024

Ardy said:
On a related note, how's Lantern King's month-long love making session going?

Is he going to repopulate the vitrumite species?

Assuming that viltrumite reproduction works like human reproduction, Anissa would have 1-2 children every year at most. She would probably recover faster than a human woman so could keep that up for longer without damaging herself, but that's not going to repopulate anything.

For that, you'd either need to do a Krieg and impregnate many women or better yet do a Thragg and impregnate many fast-living insect people.

Ardy · Oct 10, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Assuming that viltrumite reproduction works like human reproduction, Anissa would have 1-2 children every year at most. She would probably recover faster than a human woman so could keep that up for longer without damaging herself, but that's not going to repopulate anything.

For that, you'd either need to do a Krieg and impregnate many women or better yet do a Thragg and impregnate many fast-living insect people.

I'm picturing him being hit on by a large group of insect-Vitrumite women and just thinking "....So this is my life now."

Mr Zoat · Oct 10, 2024

29th April 2013
OWFUCK!

"Prime!"

Tha's a spear…

AAAAGHnd now it's gone, and th's a hole.

Aaaa-aaaa-aaagh!

Krillik's.. grabbing my shoulders and… Pulling me towards a wreck. For cover?

I reach for the hole in my front with my right hand, and the hole in my back with my… With the back of my left. Ah… I can still feel my legs, so I guess… I don't need my spine any more? Or maybe it missed? Or I don't have a spine?

"-ime!"

"Huh?" Huh? "What?"

"You are badly injured. We should return to the Illustres."

"N… N-o."

"Why?"

"Can't lead… Save the brains. Whole point." Ugh-uh… "Reach ships. What bits-? You know what bits explode. Yeah?"

"Yes? You want to use them as grenades?"

"Guns hurt, but spear… Did this." Not bleeding. Sort of… Flaking, but not bleeding. "Can't disrupt her armour. Doesn't work."

"That leaves us with physical force. And 'ship grenades'."

"An-." I push myself away.. weakly, but I'm still super strong, so… "An' melty… Stuff."

"You said-?"

"Grab a thing, melt it and push it together. Like-." I grab a chunk of… Station panelling, crush it into a-. Heh, a spear shape, and… Press. "Like this."

"I didn't know we could make our own plasma." He flies to a wreck and rips a chunk off. Then he looks around. "Why hasn't… 'She' attacked again?"

"Thinking..? Haven't seen us before. Doesn't know what we can do."

"That won't last." His lump of metal shimmers and then bursts. "Shade! How do you do it?"

How do I do it..?

"Like… Swirl around." I wave my right hand in a circle so he can understand what I mean. "Keep things moving. Push in a circle so it can't get away."

"I… Think I understand." He grabs some more ship, squeezes it into shape and… Ayyyy, he got it! "I hadn't realised that degree of control w-"

"Behind y-" I fly, my spear extended and compressed as the Scarab darts-

"-as-?"

-in through the wreck!

"-ou!"

Krillik turns around as the Scarab comes at him with some sort of… Spear-gun? He tries to parry it with his spear, but loses control as they come together so his explodes, knocking them apart-.

There.

I shove my spear forwards, hitting the Scarab in the side. Doesn't pierce-. But! Disrupt the plasma like that and-

Fssssss!

-it's a high pressure plasma hose! The Scarab goes shooting away, clasping her side where the armour's gone darker. Punch it! And ag-. Ow, ah, fucking fuck! She morphed her arm into a shield and blocked-.

"Krillik, metal!"

Except he can't hear because he's too far away again. The Scarab makes an ax with her spare hand and swings at me, but I can just fly around that. I punch and she blocks, but this time I grab the shield and pull myself around-.

Grab the ax handle and pull!

Crun-KRAK!

Part of her arm? Hit her with it! YAH! Neck! Side! Side! Gun!

Gun?

Ooof!

I go flying away from her-. Not positrons, doesn't.. really hurt, but I'm struggling to stop. Krillik-. Krillik's got a new spear, so-.

"Krillik, catch!"

I toss him the ax, and-. Judged it right, so he catches it and lunges at the Scarab, who… Um, not sure what she's doing. Shifting something.

"Aim for her left side!"

Okay, they're getting further away, which is bad, because I don't think Krillik heard me. Disruption aura and try flying really hard because it's my job! No, no, n-. Dah! There! Head back fast as I can!

Krillik's… Getting shot, but he seems to be coping with that as he-. Damn it, near miss on hitting her head with his plasma spear! She's gone with two thin blade-arm things and he's… Sort of smacking them aside with her own ax. She's knocked back each time-.

Krillik's keeping on her, but they're coming up to a wreck. Uh. Right. Disruption aura off-. Check my injuries. Hole's still there but it's not flaking any more, so… Good? Then fly around where they're fighting and around the ship so they can't see me. Can't listen in on people in space, not how we Effigies talk.

"Krillik, I'm behind her." I push my hand through the hull, forming a new spear. "Try grappling if you can."

"Not-. Easy, Prime."

"If you can't then you can't." Turn it to contained plasma… Good. Move to the edge of the wreck so that I'm just out of view… Good. "But I'm ready to jump her if you can."

"When I shout, come immediately."

"Got i-."

"NOWNOWNOW!"

I dart around-. Krillik's bear hugging her, and her blades are-. In his shoulders and.. stuck? She's trying to get free, but I'm already behind her with spear tip poking the base of her spine.

Release.

She shudders as the plasma hose bores right through the scarab machine, through her body -shame, but we probably can't save her- and into-.

"Agh!"

"Sorry!"

Into Krillik, but it should have lost almost all of its power. He releases her, grabs her blade arms and shoves them out of his shoulders as.. the scarab armour starts to fall off. Yeah, we can't-. Vacuum exposure will kill her even if the injuries might now. And yeah, it's one of the people we came here to save.

"You alright?"

Krillik checks his chest and shoulders. "I can fight. A bit." The ax falls apart, and he tosses the arm aside. "Back to the Illustres."

Yes, we should-.

Wait.

"No. There wasn't anything special about this place."

"Yes?"

"So why did a Scarab Warrior come here? We need to check-."

His eyes widen. "The others!"

"Yeah. Ah." I look around, trying to feel. "That way first."

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

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At the End...

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