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

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:31 GMT

Five move to surround me in the hope of avoiding my weapon, their belief that I can't see the ones behind me giving them the courage to try this. I don't look around as I block a strike to my rear with the shield then spawn a new Gordanian construct to drag my attacker down. They rise a little into the air, hoping to at least hold my attention. Yellow light flowing strong I deactivate my aero discs and use the ring's flight aura to erupt upwards towards the one whose tassels suggest seniority.

"Shoryuken!"

I keep the blade of the axe back so that only my fist strikes the armour in the centre of his chest. Nth metal is a remarkable absorber of force but I struck in the assumption that a display of force, of obviously overcoming their strongest advantage, would serve me better than a clean kill or KO. I turn to the other marines with a grin as the squad leader flies across the room to land hard on the floor of the lowest level. I gesture with my right hand and generate new spiked ropes, letting the hooks on the end mirror the movements of my foes like Cobras following a charmer's pipe. A thought and my construct Gordanians pull back as well, flying around to flank me.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Thanagarian Empire, I respectfully suggest that this is the time to yield. I have no particular love of unnecessary bloodshed but I am perfectly prepared to kill every last one of you if it proves to be necessary." I change my expression from the grin of a confident pugilist in the midst of a fight to the calm smile of a victor and allow the moans and whimpers of the wounded and dying to filter into their consciousness. "Surrender now and you will live to see Thanagar again."

Professional soldiers don't break and flee but these ones look about ready to fall back in poor order. Why aren't they doing that? I clearly have overwhelming force on my side. I look around the room as the officer who called in reinforcements nervously sticks his head out of cover. "You. What's your name?"

He briefly glances at his remaining forces before returning his attention to me. "I am Lieutenant Kragger of the Thanagarian Navy."

"Those heavy weapons are taking their time, aren't they? Don't think they're going to get here soon enough."

"We will never surrender to the likes-" That's who he is! He's the one Mister J'onzz leaves near-vegetative by forcing his way into his mind! "-of you, Praetor." They keep calling me that. I know it means either commander or magistrate but it's a very particular translation that presumably has some special meaning for them. Ring, I'd like a look at their database. Are these computers power ring proof?

Hardly, Corpsman. Accessing now.

The marines who were close to me have pulled back towards their comrades. Lieutenant Kragger turns to his subordinate. "He's the Praetor! If we kill him, the war is over!"

Don't give orders you know full well won't be obeyed, fool.

Data available, and I would not be so swift to demean his intelligence, Corpsman.

Ooooooooooh. So.. my alter ego unified the Gordanian clans, forged them into an empire and now leads them. And they think I'm him. Easy mistake to make, I suppose. They only identified him a little over a year ago which is why Shayera didn't recognise me when she first saw me. Any chance he could detect my presence here? Probably not. Any point trying to contact him myself? No. A military that could batter the Thanagarians to breaking point isn't something I want anywhere near any version of Earth. Hm. If these Thanagarians think I'm basically super-Hitler there's not much chance of achieving a negotiated solution.

Ah well.

"You couldn't take me when you were fresh. You certainly can't…" What's that noise? Ah. I don't turn to look at the three Thanagarian fighters currently lurking just in front of the bridge's front window, but I do look at Lieutenant Kragger as he manages a vicious smile.

I missed you doing that. Well played.

A storm of ironically yellow bolts blast the window to smithereens as they try and track me. I take three hits which ruin my construct armour and transition down to the lowest level, out of their arc of fire. Shield interposed.

"Evacuate the bridge! Carry the wounded if you can, leave them if you can't!"

One problem resolves itself. You know, if I had my flipping drones… Okay, my ring and armour can throw off most methods they could use to detect me. Construct armour. A ship this size could have hundreds of fighters. Do I try fighting them or move further inside the ship? Father Box?

Ploong.

I did not know that. So, Nth metal throws off boom tube generation and I only got in here because they have a great big window stuck on the front. Don't really think the main hangar would be a better place than here. Top surface of the ship? No, there's nothing up-. Fuck! Guess they've written off the rest of the wounded! I crouch shield over head as another volley of yellow bolts punch clean through the walls of the bridge. They're only approximately aiming at me but they're hitting with agh!

Fine then! I fly up and out of the window at high speed. Three ships close to, another five further back. Guns are on fixed nose mounts. I fly past the first fighter and hammer its left wing with the blade of my axe, cutting through and throwing off the balance of its antigravity propulsion system. Two plumes of smoke erupt from the cut and the fighter lurches to the side as the others in the squadron try and reacquire me. Standing in the air I glare at the closest and open my soul to their fear. They saw their fellow Thanagarians fleeing, didn't they? The yellow light builds in my eyes for a moment and then blasts out, smashing clean through the craft and severing the rear third. As it tumbles in the air the canopy blows and the pilot leaps free. Right, wings. Does he have a grav-chute on that ridiculous armour? Doesn't look like it. He's not going to-? Yes, he drew his sidearm and shot me. Fine then. Flashes of yellow from my eyes annihilate his pistol and pierce his wings in what looks like an extremely painful location, causing him to yelp and drop from the sky. He'll probably manage a survivable landing.

The third fighter manages to bring its guns to bear and open fire. Construct armour fractures when the beams strike home, right shoulder and forearm, before I get the shield in the way. My eyes glow again before the beam flashes out, gouging a furrow along the underside of the craft. I open my eyes wider as the beam reaches the armour protecting the main engine and increase the power. The beam slices into the hull and the fighter jerks as an internal explosion signals the end of its participation in the fight. Okay, so, what next? I sort of.. jumped in without coming up with a concrete-.

GAAAAAAHH!

Trans-transition! Get me back inside. Aaah. Guh. Agh. I'm… I'm lying on the uppermost walkway. The commander's station. No bodies up here and the fighters didn't manage to hit it. Uhh. Fucking.. anti-boarding external.. defences. I don't think that was just a big electrical discharge but whatever it was it hurt like agh! Aaaah. Right. Okay, map. This isn't fun any more. Ring, connect to the command station.

Impossible, Corpsman. The bridge has been physically disconnected from the rest of the ship's systems precisely to prevent a remote take over.

Okay, so I need to get to the computer core. Or at least somewhere I can make a hard connection. I push myself up onto my feet, taking a moment to steady myself. That.. really hurt. I should heal up before too long but I'd rather-.

The doors below me burst open as the marine heavy weapon teams finally put in an appearance. The first thing they see in the combat zone is the groaning bodies of their own fallen. Good start. Unfortunately for me they fly upwards and spot me almost immediately.

The first two are carrying what look like… Blaster Launchers? Hook coated chains wrap themselves around the bearers and yank them back down towards the middle layer where they land with a pair of yelps. Three shield bearers keep back, covering another marine with a short barrelled weapon of some kind. I create another construct Gordanian just in time for us both to be struck by another fusillade of yellow energy bolts from outside the ship. I create a barrier covering the hole where the window used to be just as the marine with the gun fires. Oh, what's-.

Ah.

Blood?

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:34 GMT

I tap the fore and middle fingers of my right hand against the mush that a good portion of the left side of my abdomen has been reduced to. They come away damp with a strange red-purple liquid that I presume is what my blood looks like these days.

I'm… Hurt.

I'm hurt.

And there's the pain! Ah! Gawhah! U-uh! Arhhuh.

Ring, do somethi-.

I'm trying. Your body is resisting-.

I know the injury is resisting. Do something about the pain!

Similarly impossible.

I drop to my knees, then to all fours.

"He's down! Hit him again!"

"It has to recharge!"

Fuck. Fugker. Aaaahh. Ring. Ahh. Assess damage.

Difficult. Were I to use humanoid physiological norms, I would say that your digestive and waste purification organs have either been destroyed or critically damaged. Your skin and armour are pierced front and back. Furthermore, the shot appeared to contain some form of poison which is now spreading into the surrounding tissues.

"Icthultu take it, I had family on New Andar. I'll take his head-." Armour. "-now!"

I look up as the marine flies at me, shield forwards and knife drawn. I'm finished going easy on you people. Twin beams of yellow light flash from my eyes and strike her neck, forming an agony matrix construct.

"Aieaaaaghah!"

She drops to the middle deck, shaking and burbling as the matrix ravages her nervous system with levels of pain that should cause unconsciousness but now cannot. I raise my right hand from the floor and point it at the other two, firing beams of yellow which pierce their spines, paralysing them but leaving them both alive and aware.

Ah-oh-h-h-h-oh. Ah, this hurts. What was..? He said… I take a few breaths and try and get my mind in order. He said 'radon blaster'. I checked. I tried exposing my skin and my blood… Blood. Ugh. To radon at… Under various environmental conditions. Nothing much happened. It's a noble gas!

Left hand shielding my wound, I sta-ah-h. No I don't. I float up off the deck, clearly sagging in the air. The marine with the knife… The agony matrix construct isn't there any more, but she's curled up in shock rather than coming after me again. My eyes drift back to my wound and I move my hand aside slightly to give me a better look as my blood continues to pour out.

Shit.

Okay. What next? Leaving right now is looking like a-.

Ploong.

Marvellous. Awwwwahh! Damn it! Okay, not only does whatever was in that gun bypass my defences, it also stops boom tubes. Dahh! Two more deep breaths, shuddering. I really haven't felt anything like this before, certainly not since I got to this crazy Earth! I mean..! The last one! I wave my right arm in the direction of the radon blaster and attach a construct rope to pull it to me. Ring, what the fuck is this?

It is a 'rad-i-on blaster', Corpsman. My records indicate that the charge negates New God resistance with a high degree of effectiveness, though I never had a chance to observe it directly.

Prognosis?

You survived the initial blast but are bleeding heavily. I don't have enough data to precisely judge how your kind respond to traumatic injury nor how toxic radion is to your kind beyond the resistance bypass effect. If you continue to bleed as you are now you will certainly die.

Patch… Patch the wound?

To start with.

Mgkrarughafugha!

Bandages of yellow light cover the wounds, front and back. Blood stops flowing outwards but the pain is even worse! Aaaaawwwwwoooo! AH! Next, next… No. Ring, subspace the blaster. It disappears, and I take a quick look around the room. Those who are still alive are all watching me. And they're… They're less afraid. As I am now, any one of them could kill me.

I take a couple of breaths. I don't like fighting like this.

Bolts of yellow flash out from my eyes, seeking brains to liquefy. Twelve shots to finish off all of the marines and bridge officers left. What a.. waste. A stupid waste.

Well done, Corpsman. Given how you were fighting earlier I was starting to think you didn't have the stomach for it.

I twist up my face as another wave of pain hits. Next step.

Your organs cannot be repaired by power ring. Your regenerative abilities can deal with it but are being suppressed.

Can you remove the radion?

No.

I work out what Sinestro wants. N-nooo.

The longer you wait, the more likely one of those fighters will come in closer. Or more marines will brave the bridge. You are in no condition to fight them as you are.

He's right. I drop myself back down onto the upper walkway and use a construct blade to cut a long thin section out of the deck before whittling it to a blade and x-ionising it. I don't think I can hyperventilate anymore but I'm trying.

The only way to get rid of the poison is to cut it out.

Subspace my armour.

It vanishes, revealing grey skin, purple blood and a squelching mix of tissues and what I presume to be organs in the wound itself. Ring. Cut away image of affected area. One appears in front of me. Huh. Looks so… Small. I hold out my x-ionised scalpel. No anaesthetic that will work.

I have cut myself before, to see how fast I heal now. I did briefly consider cutting off a finger to see if and/or how fast it grew back.

On the plus side… I doubt very much that anything will ever hurt this much again.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

The blade slips through the construct bandage and into my insides. Things have flopped around a bit and ah-ah-ah I have to use staple constructs to pull them around so that I can get at the bits I need to.

Slice.

A construct reductor extracts the lumps of flesh and drops them onto the deck.

Slice.

Like… Like meats for a pie.

Aiahhhhaaa-hha-hah-ahhhhhhh!

My breathing is slowed, huffing deep breaths. Construct tourniquets appear inside me to prevent the internal bleeding worsening.

Can't… Can't feel faint. Can't afford to feel faint.

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:40 GMT

Lights... Dance before my eyes.

Good work, Corpsman. Your approach to the task showed considerable resolve, marred by only a single instance of pleading. An entirely satisfactory performance.

I slump back on the floor, the sharpened chunk of deck plate falling from my hand. U-huh-hurr. At least one of us is happy. I take a moment to look down at the glowing hole in my abdomen. Ring. Did I get it all?

The constructs currently holding your insides together are detecting attempts at regeneration throughout the site of the injury. Further analysis will have to wait. Your next step-.

Form construct-replicas of my organs, link them to my organic components and keep the Thanagarians from hitting it again.

Your nervous system is resisting any attempt at interfacing and your guts don't generate enough fear to overcome it. Furthermore, I feel that the pain you are currently experiencing will prove to be an excellent aid to memory.

What? No, never mind. Scan immediate environment. Anyone coming?

Yes.

I get a quick mental picture of another marine group heading... I turn my head to look at the door to the captain's promenade. Right. This is going to hurt more. I grit my teeth and lean forwards, putting my right foot flat on the floor. Akh! I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment and take a couple of deep breaths. Up! Get UP! Armour, put my armour back on. And the construct armour in case they have a radion blaster. Now up!

I lean forwards and plant my- Owowow -right hand on the deck. I push up into a crouch- Raaaagh -then take a few breaths. Don't have long. I lean right a little and push- Rrrrrehhhh. –up, getting upright and gently putting my left foot on the ground. Not putting.. any weight on it. But I need to look like I'm unhurt. It's a little hard to tell given how different people here look compared to how they looked in the cartoon, but-.

The door slides open and another set of Thanagarian marines fly through, guns in hand. Yellow light flares from my eyes, jinking around the front rank's shields and stabbing into the flesh beyond.

"Ahh!" / "YAAAAGH!"

Yeah, we're past the point of talking. Huh, not seeing-. One gets a shot off with a rifle-sized energy weapon of some kind and it hits home-. The site of my injury is glowing brighter than the rest. It's drawing their attention! Okay, okay, it won't actually hurt as long as the construct armour stays up.

"Gah!"

The next marine out of the door flies straight at me with some kind of lance. I knock the point aside with the back of my right gauntlet, letting my Apokoliptian armour absorb the weak energy discharge before grabbing its wielder around the throat with my left hand and squeezing until I hear a crack. A filament grabs the x-ionised scalpel from the floor before flicking it at the next shield-bearing marine. It embeds in the shield and then explodes in a blast of brilliant white energy as the x-ionisation effect reacts vigorously with the energy reflection technology. Have to remember that some metamaterials don't play nicely together.

"Uh."

Corpsman-.

Yes, I've seen them. I couldn't hope to keep the barrier I had over the front of the bridge up while I was cutting into myself and the Thanagarians are only too happy to use it as an entry point. I form a minigun turret behind me and spray enough fire in their direction to force them to keep back as I charge forwards. A half-blinded but still oncoming marine has no time to react and I grab her around the head with my right hand and mash her face into the wall. Ring, chlorine gas.

Transmutation underway.

Thin wisps of yellow-green vapour start to appear around me. Power output is based on fear. I'm not going to get all that much until people without breathing equipment start trying to fly after me and realise what I'm doing. Hopefully as the acid melts their lungs. Honestly, when I owowow. Right. Little more care. I get inside the doorway as the next marine appears, his eyes widening as he spots the gas. When I get control of a space faring military, everyone will wear fully protective gear while in a combat zone. He tries aiming his rifle with his right hand while shielding his mouth and nose with his left. I jab him through the gut with a construct-blade.

"Akgh..."

That's more like it. I grab his gun as he collapses and my follow up eyebeams disintegrate his throat. I increase my pace to the fastest walk I can without causing flashing lights to impair my vision. That appears to be.. all of the squad they had assigned to this corridor. I feel a tiny tremor of feedback as one of the marines in the bridge destroys my minigun turret. Fine. Ring, suggestions?

Thanagarians typically operate with short chains of command, and senior officers like to be nearer the action than is entirely sensible. Personally confronting and slaying Commander Talak would most likely cause their military response to fall into disarray. Alternately, destroying the primary generator-.

I take a moment to calculate the likely effect of a highly energetic blast surrounded by Nth metal occurring inside a planet's atmosphere. No.

The ship's primary weapon battery can be used to destroy the hyperspatial bypass structure. The weapons can be accessed directly or via the primary computer core.

I hear a yelp from behind me as the marines try flying through the chlorine, and a corresponding increase in the production of the gas around me. Ring, locate Talak. If he's outside the ship...

Commander Talak appears to be directing the assault from a command station a short distance from here.

A picture forms in my head of him, Kragger and a small squad of marines... Ah, there's the gas masks. Okay, map? Okay, this shouldn't...

Wait a second. Am I..? Ring, if all of the officers are dead, exactly who was going to give the evacuation order?

What purpose would an evacuation serve? Corpsman, you may be wounded but you are not crippled. It is not beyond your abilities to kill everyone in the Thanagarian flotilla. Then you can proceed with your plan to inspire the creation of a force to protect the Earth by posing as a threat yourself.

Ring, I don't want to kill all those people. Not if there's a halfway sensible alternative.

A sub-par choice under the circumstances.

I'm wearing a recording of your brain on my finger. I think I'll make the strategic decisions. What sort of access to their computer systems can I get from-

Incoming message from Lantern Stewart.

-here?

Basic, to say the least. Warships are not designed to be 'hack friendly', Corpsman.

Internal communications?

Yes.

Put John on.

"Grayven, what the hell are you doing? Nightwing just-."

"Your president is an Apokoliptian robot. Given how fast the pro-SHADE agenda has advanced since the Lords lost power I suspect that the original was killed and replaced by SHADE. A detailed analysis of his body language could probably tell you exactly when it happened. If you've got the time you should probably check up on his family."

"My God. Okay, Shayera's on it. Where are you now?"

"Thanagarian Command Carrier. Listen, does the Watchtower have the ability to broadcast to the whole of the Earth?"

"We can override channels but SHADE will probably block us if we do it for too long."

"Okay, I can work with that. Stand by to transmit."

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:42 GMT

"Hello, Commander Talak."

He barely reacts, scowl deepening slightly. "He's off the bridge." He turns to Lieutenant Kragger. "Anti-boarding protocol sixteen."

Kragger bows his head in acknowledgement. "I'll get right on it, Commander."

Thanagarian armour plating means that if I want to forcibly connect myself to the system by power ring I would usually have to maintain either a filament or construct link, but a few seconds' fabrication work bypasses that requirement nicely. I put the plate back after I implanted my bug so unless their internal sensors are a lot better than I think they are they'd have to pull apart the entire ship to work out how I'm doing it. Of course, if I actually get into the primary computer core their arses are mine anyway.

I stop for a moment, wincing as a new wave of pain spreads through my abdomen. It… I think that the pain is decreasing, but it could just be that I'm getting used to it. "Commander, is there any chance I can talk you out of this? I saw what you are building in Libya. You have to realise that the attack is never going to work if we've seen it coming."

"I have nothing to say to you, monster."

"I'm a monster? I saw your plan of attack, Commander. How many are going to die even if it works perfectly?" Come on, say something incriminating.

"The Gordanian homeworld will be razed to the ground and the war will be over."

Two marines jog into view at the intersection just ahead of me. I'm getting the impression that they're a little short staffed. They get half a second to stare at me in shock before my eyebeams pierce their spines. Protocol sixteen means they're using health monitors to guide others to my location, but they only trigger if the wearer dies. Paralysis won't set them off. This is what they get for not using proper power armour.

"Don't be absurd. The original Gordanian homeworld is a slave-operated agricultural planet in the Vega Systems called Karna, and it's controlled by the Citadel Empire. You're threatening my Throne World of New Gordane."

"Whatever it is called, soon it will be ash."

"And then what? You know full well the fleet has already left and is heading to Thanagar. You've got… Days at most. Even if you carry out your objective you won't be able to stop it." This is the problem with soldiers; if someone with the fancy hat tells them that a plan will work they just put their heads down and push on. He doesn't have the authority to call the whole thing off so he probably won't even consider what I'm saying. Fortunately for me, the bridge computers had access to records on the state of the war. My alter ego hasn't exactly been Geneva Convention compliant but then neither have the Thanagarians. I can't say exactly what his motives were… "At each step of the campaign I have offered your people honourable terms. I would do so aga-."

"Terms you knew we would not accept."

"Terms you could have accepted with a minimal loss of face. I want to conquer your people and integrate them into my Empire, not eradicate them entirely."

"We remember what your people did on New Andar."

"A perfectly predictable result if you site your ground based defence systems in the middle of inhabited areas. And have a population almost entirely under arms."

"The Gordanians are slavers and raiders. Your promises mean nothing."

"I haven't broken my word at any point during this conflict. No, this is about-"

He bares his teeth as he turns to his subordinate. "Can we not get him out of the system?"

Kragger cringes slightly. "We're.. trying, sir."

"-your rulers' pride." No, this isn't working. Not too far from my objective, now. Another approach. "I was talking to Shayera about it earlier-" He goes rigid. "-and-."

"Sir,-" Kragger sidles up to him. "-he probably just got her name from our database."

"Why would her name be in your database? She's not part of your crew. No, I had a chat with her on the Watchtower… Her intelligence reports mentioned that, didn't they? We went over the plan, and she agreed that not only was it unworkable, but would almost certainly doom your species. I mean, my control over the Gordanians only goes so far. If you do this, they will hunt down every last Thanagarian in the Universe. You've seen the statistics. You know the strength of our fleet, or you would not be attempting this act of desperation. Commander, this will not result in your victory."

Ring, play recording.

"It… I didn't want to believe it, but that's what a hyperspatial bypass of that size should look like. I didn't know the war with the Gordanians was going that badly."

"Sir, that could easily be falsified."

"…the only way I can help my people.. is to help the Gordanians win the war."

"Aaaaaah!" He grabs Kragger around the upper arms. "Find him!"

Can't use rage. "She and her lover, the former Green Lantern John Stewart, are friends of mine." There's something in his response, a slight change in posture. That hurt. "Surprised? You shouldn't be. Five years apart and you show up trying to kill… How many people? All her new friends... How many are you willing to kill rather than capitulate? How many must die before Thanagar has its fill of blood?"

"Six and a half billion on Earth. Two billion on Gratan. One billion on Sesyus. AND FOUR BILLION GORDANIANS! FOR THANAGAR I WILL DESTROY EVERY ONE OF YOU!"

Thank you. "Stewart, did you get that?"

"I got it alright. Relaying now."

"Let me know when it kicks off."

Talak snaps out of it. "What? Who was that?"

"Another man. A better man than you. And you should include in your count the five billion Thanagarians on Thanagar. And the three billion Lizarkons. Not that I imagine you care about them. Hmm, or maybe they'll take my offer? Maybe they're a little less mental than you bird types."

Ah, there we are: the communications room. Better guarded than when Batman snuck in. No way I can take all that without letting someone know what I'm up to.

"All will burn. All will die. Not for the glory of Thanagar. Not even for its survival. For your pride, Commander."

I hang up. I don't know exactly what the nations of the world will do when they hear him openly saying he intends to destroy the Earth, but I do know that this ship is perfectly capable of jamming worldwide communications. At present, at least.

I fly at full speed-

"Grayven! He's here!"

-eyes glowing as beams burn through the chests of the first two guards. Immediately the other marines fire back, energy beams slamming into my construct armour. And I can't afford to let the armour go down and it's cracking already. Another two fall as I get inside melee range. The closest drops his gun and charges me barehanded while the others grab their melee weapons. Eyebeams take two more as I punch my attacker in the ribs hard enough to cave them in. No time for flashiness as the rest lunge in from all directions. I grab an arm to turn aside a mace strike and fly sideways to get outside the reach of an axe. Can't concentrate long enough for a construct. Grab, crunch-

"Huuuuuuh!"

-micro transition, shoot, agh! Two marines shot me from the far end of the corridor. I take a second to form a minigun construct, forcing them back into RAAAAAGH! AH! FUCKING FUCK FUCK! An Nth metal spear just, uhh, just hit me in the chestplate. The construct's down. EEEEagh! Trans… Transition into the communications room, eyebeam the technicians and point a fucking minigun at the door.

Ring, take their communications.

Done, Corpsman.

 

[Strypgia]

Good rule of thumb is to take anything that Vaermina states as a fact with a metric ton of salt. Or to treat the exact opposite of what he says as a fact, since he's usually wrong.

Click to shrink...

attention Cool it. Sniping at other posters like this is not conducive to a peaceful forum.

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:47 GMT

Alright… Ugh. Cover: none. Points of ingress: one, with a construct turret keeping an eye on it. Floors, ceiling and externals are well armoured and I'll get plenty of notice if they try coming through there. The communications centre has its own power plant so they can't cut that off. Right now the world is hearing from Commander Talak's own mouth how he plans to destroy the planet.

They have the technology to well and truly mess up Earth's militaries except that without access to their full communications suite or the bridge they can only shut down things within a few miles of the ship. They can't call home either to get new orders or tell them that I'm here… Assuming they haven't done so already. Their point defences are excellent on the ship, but the hyperspatial bypass itself has only light defences. Earth militaries don't even need to destroy it completely, just smashing the power generator will shut it down. Heck, just damaging its systems a bit would alter the displacement effect too much for it to be safe for the fleet to use it.

On the down side, my wound is oozing. A-and it really hurts. It's not leaking blood as fast as it was so I think the blood vessels must be healing or.. something. Since I've got a little breathing room I should fabricate some sort of… Maybe I can just repair the armour? Actually, how much power-?

A little under nine percent remaining.

Oh. Oh well, looks like having the personal lantern in subspace is going to pay-. The minigun turret blazes away as a foolhardy marine tries sticking his head around the door. Another corpse for the pile. I'm getting plenty of fear from them but they're not sodding getting a clue! And… If I try recharging I'll lose my constructs. The turret and what's left of my construct armour. Fabricating Apokoliptian armour is fairly power intensive… I can't risk it.

My other ring warns me when the power gets low.

Yes, the fall off in functionality. The Qwardian who made this ring considered that to be a 'bug'. The idea of making a weapon that wouldn't kill people despite still having power offended him quite profoundly.

How fast can the recharge be made to happen?

If you speak the oath quickly, about five seconds.

I have to speak the oath every time?

Yes.

Fricking orange lantern doesn't make me say the oath every time.

Chin up, Corpsman. You will most likely be dead soon and then it will be someone else's problem.

Thank you. This is what I get for rushing off almost entirely uncocked when I spotted Gonzo. How far do I think the two shots of Garrick I've got left will take me? Heck, I'm in communications…

"John, you still there?"

"Still here. The US and Israel are in the process of scrambling their aircraft. About half the Thanagarian fighters have moved out to form a perimeter and most of the rest are on guard duty around the bypass generator. The Command Carrier is moving up out of the atmosphere. You need any help in there?"

"I don't suppose you ever learned to do anything medical with your ring, did you?"

"Sorry. Wasn't part of the Corps' training program. I didn't even know they could do more than splint broken bones 'till I saw you do it. You hurt?"

"Yeah."

"Bad?"

"If I were Human I'd be dead. As it is I want to lie down and do nothing for a -eureh- week or two."

"I was planning on heading down to the bypass generator, see if I can help out with the fighters. But if you need evac…"

Do I? "Okay, they don't have the resources to build a second bypas-." I take a hurried step to the side as a marine sticks his gun around the doorway and tries firing blind for a few seconds before the turret construct puts a round through his weapon. Sticking the turret outside would be better but they've gotten rather good at smashing constructs. "Uh. If the air forces take care of it, their mission is a failure and the attack doesn't happen."

"And the Earth doesn't get destroyed."

"But Commander Talak is a shockingly callous man. If they have orbital supremacy they might shoot up a few cities just to make a point. Okay. Can you teleport on board the Command Carrier?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Can you teleport near the ship? If you wreck their FTL system-."

"They'd get stranded."

"No, their shuttles are FTL capable. They'll have to abandon all of their other equipment in order to evacuate, but they could do it. Always leave them room to run."

"Then why not just leave them the Command Carrier? If I take out main weapons control-."

"Weapons control isn't centralised. And that wouldn't stop them grabbing a few asteroids and dropping them. No, we need… The soldiers have heard what I've been saying. They're trying to ignore it, but they know that their commander is perfectly happy to kill everyone as long as he destroys New Gordane as well. They're working through it, but they're scared. If the bypass gets destroyed and they've only got one way out, I think they'll take it. Plus, I-" Wait, what's happening? The marines outside communications are pulling back. "-need this ship for phase two."

"Phase two? You forget to mention something?"

"Originally, I wanted a new super team to defeat the Thanagarians. Then I found out about the President. Now, I want to present myself as the 'opposing force'." Once my insides have knitted back together, at least.

"Think you might be skipping a step." There's a pause. "Okay, Batman's back. I'll head down to the teleporter."

"Make sure you hit the ship in the right place. It's right next to the primary generator."

"Could it explode?"

"I don't think so. Thanagarian engineering is pretty solid, but we'd have to make massive repairs if the ship does a forced shutdown."

"Right."

Three grenades fly towards the doorway and the minigun turret tracks and destroys them before they get any distance into the room. They explode anyway… And the turret construct goes down. Ring what?

The explosive was seeded with trace amounts of Nth metal, Corpsman. They appear to be playing 'area denial'.

Oh dear. I create a new turret construct a little further back, behind a construct barrier. One of the marines sticks the head of his mace out and the turret shoots it, sending it flying out of his hand. Ah hell, I can still see it. I send out a filament and pull it back into the communications room and my right hand. Another volley of grenades come in. The turret automatically shoots the first which detonates as before. I pull the turret construct back before it can be destroyed while I use the barrier to knock the other grenades back through the doorway.

Ring, exactly how power intensive is transmutation?

They're all wearing breathing equipment. Chlorine won't do you much good, Corpsman.

"I was thinking dioxygen difluoride. Just enough to force them back."

Between one and two percent. If you're evacuating soon you can probably risk it.

Right then. "Soldiers of Thanagar. Burn!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:51 GMT

Yellow beams from my eyes pass through the air outside the doorway and a brilliant white explosion radiates outwards!

"YYYEEEEAAAAHHHHHGH!"

"Full body armour! Mention it to your superiors if you ever return!"

Five percent remaining, Corpsman.

Right.

"In blackest day or brightest night-"

Another grenade flies in, meets a construct bat and flies back for a fraction of a second before detonating anyway! The bat crumbles and evaporates. Damn it! Ring, any idea what happens if I use the Garrick Formula while there's a hole in me?

None at all.

How did you become First Lantern again?

By not doing idiotic things like this. I would have never let the war between Thanagar and the Gordanians get this far. That Rayner boy has much to answer for.

Didn't you try to kill him?

I can admire competence, even amongst my enemies.

I send a filament out through the doorway near the roof. Still more marines… And mobile force field generators. They're not man-portable, but they're creating enough cover that a simple incendiary spray isn't going to kill enough of them. Internal doors are sealed so I can't just transition away… If that was safe for me in my current condition.

One near the back's got a radion blaster. Right. That's not good. The filament should be nearly invisible-.

"There!"

Or not. I extend it rapidly as a marine lunges towards it with an Nth Metal axe, grab the blaster and yank it back before the blow can sever it. Ludicrously lethal blaster and a mace. I'm rather conforming to Apokoliptian techno-barbarian type here.

"He just… Took it. How are we supposed to fight someone like that?"

"That's enough, soldier." Ah, the Commander himself. Please tell me this isn't going to turn into a duel. I'm not sure I could cope with the stupidity of it. "He's trapped. Our fighters are exterminating their primitive aircraft. We will complete our objective and then-." The ship.. rattles around us. "What now?"

Kragger comes up behind him with some sort of computer pad. "We're under attack from the outside. With the bridge out of commission and communications-."

"Take a fighter squadron-."

"We can't actually do that, sir. All fighters are currently deployed and-" Commander Talak's face is a picture. "-we can't signal them. We would have to send a shuttle down into the atmosphere in order to-" I guess his day has been worse than mine. "-get a message across. Our guns are operational, but the target is too small and emits too little radiation for them to reliably track. As long as it stay outside the range of our hull's defence field-."

"Do we at least know who is doing it?"

"It appears to be a Green Lantern, sir."

I lean forwards slightly. "Don't you Thanagarians have some sort of protocol for removing insane people from important positions? You can't possibly complete the hyperspace bypass under these conditions and they will get something through your defences eventually. Seriously, the mission was poorly conceived to start with and it's a bust now."

"It isn't if we kill you."

"No, still is! Your own intelligence reports say that Councillor Vayneek has enough support to keep the Gordanian Empire together in my absence! But he doesn't have enough.. authority, to keep the fleet in line to the degree that I do. If you want Thanagar to survive this in one piece you will take your shuttles and you will leave, now. My word that you can leave unmolested."

Yellow, yellow everywhere… Even without the ring keeping me informed, there's no mistaking that the remaining marines would much rather be elsewhere right now. Talak's still got enough wherewithal to realise that he can't be sure that his soldiers are still with him. Can I risk a recharge now? What's he going to do?

The ship rattles again.

"Hyperdrive off-line. You need anything else?"

"Let you know in a second." May as well. "In blackest day or brightest night
Beware your fears made-."

"Then I will face him myself!"

Wait, what?

"Sir, I don't think that-."

Commander Talak grabs a shield and launches himself into the air. He detonates a grenade right at the doorway a fraction of a second before passing through it, another already heading in my direction! I frantically transition to the side, trying to draw a bead on him with the radion blaster! I fire and he drops down to the deck in defiance of aerodynamics before accelerating towards me again, axe ready! Fucking Thanagarians! I activate aero discs, launch myself upwards and bend forwards, causing him to pass underneath me as he swings and misses. Blaster… Needs to recharge, right. OWFUCK! Aerobatics are not a good idea right now! I toss the blaster aside as he pulls an impossibly tight turn and comes back around. What to do when one party's a master of aerial combat and the other isn't?

Endeavour to be the master.

Not helping. Ground him! The fears of this entire ship fuel the chain I wrap around his legs to pull him to the ground. Realising that I'm not going to fire direct blasts he drops both his shield and another grenade! The chain evaporates and I'm not quick enough to get out of the blast!

Aaaaaagh! "Erh."

My construct armour starts to fail FUCK IT! I step forwards while he's still off-balance from the chain and swing the mace! It strikes him hard on the right of his chest and I see ribs give way under his skin as he's knocked aside. That's what you get for wearing stupid, minimalist faaagh!

"Commander!"

"That hurt!" Yellow beams from my eyes blast through Kragger's hand, disintegrating the energy weapon he just used to shoot me in the head.

"Huyah!" He staggers and falls to the floor.

Ow! I'm just lucky it was a sidearm! I turn back to Talak just in time to get my left bracer up to block his axe agh! He pulls back slightly as I move my mace up to a guard position. Do maces guard? His attack pierced my armour and cut into the flesh, though from the feel of it not deeply. When I get back I'm plugging myself into that mana focus thing I offered Mister Queen. Divinity should not be this hard!

Talak changes his grip, left hand at the bottom of the haft and right just under the blade. There's another grenade on his belt but I can't spare the concentration to remove it. He's trying to shield his shattered ribs with his arm but I can see blood on his lips. I'm oozing again myself. He charges forwards, shoulder down and axe out to the side. I brace -he's nothing like as strong as me- and lean into-.

FUCK!

GAH!

Die, fucker!

Fucking elbowed me in the wound then tried to axe me. He overestimated how disabled my left arm was and I caught the haft before returning the favour by kneeing him in the ribs.

OW!

He's reeling. AAAGH! I don't even use the mace, I just punch him in the jaw, sending him flying backwards. Raaagh! I swing the mace overhead and bring it down. He rolls to the side but I still hit the bone of his left wing, the discharge from the mace ripping it clean off!

"Drehurh!"

The next swing hits him in the abdomen, the one part of his chest that could be called armoured. The discharge is still enough to wind him and smack him against the wall. I lunge forwards again, grabbing his helmet and slamming his head against the wall until he goes limp!

Okay Agh. I'm about… I'm about done.

Uh-uah.

"In… In blackest day… Or brightest night…"

 

[Mr Zoat]

7th January 2004
16:55 GMT

Don't let them see you bleed.

Yellow construct manacles around his arms, wings and legs hold Kragger in front of me as a Thanagarian shield as I walk slowly and purposefully out of the communications room. With my construct armour at full strength, my injuries are neatly concealed. Plus, it lets me move my body as if I were fully intact inside. Muscles in my arm damaged? No problem, just relax it and move the armour around it. Facial tremors are a bit more of a problem. The open helm construct only partially obscures it, so I'm settling for biting my teeth together and using my ring to actually make sounds when I 'speak'..

Marines ready their weapons, but no one shoots. Kragger's just about conscious but the man dangling by the throat from my left hand isn't. Talak's chest is a sack of crushed ribs and with his helmet off his battered face is a good deal less intimidating. I make a point of making eye contact with each of the marines, making note of which ones flinch.

"Who is in charge now?" A few look at each other, but mostly their attention remains fixed on me. "No one? Well then, let me make this simple. You are leaving. Your vile attempt to destroy an inhabited world not a party to our conflict has failed. You've lost. But since I have no particular hunger for slaughter I will permit you to leave in good order so long as you do so now." I step heavily on the remains of a charred marine who was too close to the FOOF and my construct boot crushes through to the deck. I make my eyes glow as if reconsidering. "Go."

They don't move immediately. There are definitely a few seconds where I'm worried that I'm going to have to start this whole messy business all over again. Then a couple of the marines closest to me -the least yellow ones- lower their guns slightly. I dim my eyes to show willing, then roughly shove Kragger into the arms of the nearest. He checks Kragger over and then girds his mental loins to speak to me. "The… Commander…"

"Will stay with me until I've persuaded your fighter pilots to disengage. Then I will put him on the last shuttle myself." He tries and fails to match my gaze, just nodding and backing away. Despite everything I've done, they're still not fleeing. This is an ordered withdrawal. Is this what having the divine ruler of your wartime enemies turn up in person and beat your strongest fighters does? Was it Talak and I undermining their righteousness? Simple fear generated by my bloodletting while appearing uninjured? I don't shake my head, but I redouble my effort to remain focused. The pain snaps me back every few minutes but I'm definitely getting woozy.

They're pulling back. Okay, with Kragger and Talak down, who is actually in charge? Oh. That Thanagarian in white armour at the construction site was actually someone important. She's probably still down there. Talak still held up in my left hand I fold my right arm behind my back, turn and walk back into the communications room. Every step… Eeerah. Okay. The Nth metal discharge from the grenades is still in the corner I swept it to. I'd collect it up if it weren't such a pain to manipulate with constructs. I generate a construct vault door, scan the room just in case I've missed someone… Then deposit Talak on the ground, generate a construct armchair for myself and collapse into it. A-ahhhhh! Take over the world tomorrow.

"John, good work with the hyperdrive. The Thanagarians are abandoning ship. I'm going to talk the fighter craft into evacuating as well."

"You might want to hurry. Kara, Rayner and Marvel just arrived on site and they're cleaning up."

"Lethally or non-lethally?"

"Rayner and Marvel are pulling their punches, finding out how much force the Thanagarians' shields can take. Kara's just trying to take them down as fast as she can."

"Right. Any chance you could get inside the launch bay and keep an eye on things? I'm a bit of a wreck at the moment."

"Yeah, I can handle that. You sure you don't need anything?"

"Just time. Grayven out." I flop back for a moment. Okay.

…

Eeeerr. Um. Think I… Think I spaced out a bit there. Ring. Link to the communications computer.

Link established, Corpsman.

I focus on the shape of the chair, turning it into something a little more professional looking. I also remove most of the helmet, making the rest look like an armoured collar. They need to be able to see me, but I'm still shivering inside my armour and can't risk them seeing my jaw shake.

Ring, open communications with all Thanagarian vessels and personal communication units.

They can both hear and see you now, Corpsman.

"Thanagarian vessels and personnel. I am Prince Grayven of Apokolips, and I am speaking to you from the communications suite of your own command carrier. It has fallen to me. Your commander-" I hoist Talak up using chain constructs. "-has been removed from office. Your scheme to bypass my world's defences has failed, and you are now confronted by a force your fighters cannot withstand: your mothership's own weapon systems. If you wish to avoid that fate, return to the construction site, evacuate your remaining personnel and rendezvous with the ship's shuttles at Lagrange Point two for the trip back to Thanagar. There's no deadline, but if I don't see movement in the next two minutes I'm going to start shooting the slowest of you dead." End.

Communications off, Corpsman.

That it? I was waiting for you to give me marks out of ten.

You're not home free just yet, Corpsman. Impressive as it is that you've retained consciousness there's still the little matter of ensuring that the fighters don't just come up here and destroy the ship with you on it.

It would be inconvenient, but by the time it's suffered enough structural damage to be 'destroyed' I could easily have escaped. Once I get back out into space I can just boom tube around a bit, hole up in the Watchtower until my wound knits back together… Three members of my new League just worked together without me having to lock them in a room… Nightwing can clue them in about the President. Shame Eliza didn't turn up, but I suppose it's not a big deal. And the fight took place in the air after all. The Flash can't fly.

And… I'm on the floor. Aaagh. Okay. Quick check, and the Thanagarian fighters appear to be behaving themselves. I take a look at Talak. Yep, that's some nasty internal bleeding. Before I lose consciousness I should probably fix that up a bit. Ring, do the thing.

What for? He tried to kill you and billions of others.

Because his death would hurt Shayera, and I've put too much effort into her to be willing to alienate her. And it's not like the Gordanians and.. me won't kill him anyway. Killing huge numbers of people for a plan that won't work offends me on an intellectual level… But he's no threat like this and he isn't worth killing. Let him know for the brief remainder of his life that he owes it all to me.

Yellow light flickers over his body as blood is drained from internal cavities, holes and leaks are plugged and some ribs are put back into place. I'm not stupid enough to make him fighting fit again.

…

Ugh. I need to get a watch. I think I lost more time there, but I'm not-.

"Grayven." I blearily look around as Shayera flies in. Her eyes dart to Talak for a second, giving his state of health a quick assessment. "John said you were injured. We should get you to the ship's medical bay."

"The evacuation?"

"They're clearing out. Earth's militaries are letting them go." Her eyes linger on her ex, presumably making sure he's not about to become ex.

Heh.

"You heard what he said, right?"

"He wasn't always like that. I don't know what changed-."

"You hadn't seen him at his worst. It's easy to be nice when everything's going well." I float to my feet. "I can't afford to let the ship's crew see me weak. Dump Talak on a shuttle, then come back for me. I doubt medicine will do much for me, and I can lie on the floor here as easily as I can in the ship's sick bay."

She nods, and the last thing I see before my eyelids betray me again is her lifting Talak into a fireman's carry.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Stars, Crossed, part 2.

24th February
11:56 GMT +3

Kandake stares in amazement as her right ring and little fingers reappear. After my first few healing sessions Sadeh suggested that I make a bit more of a drama about it. Just making it 'wave of orange and your arm's back' was weirding the Amazons out too much, particularly in the case of old or ancient injuries. So I've suppressed the nerves around the affected area and I'm taking it slowly. First, the scar tissue and the skin covering the place the fingers used to be dissolves. There's a slight intake of breath as it starts -despite what I tell them most of my patients expect it to hurt- but she looks more fascinated than anything else as a construct takes the shape of the missing bones before gradually filling in from the hand end with transmuted material.

Next come the nerves, blood vessels and tendons. Amazons had a surprisingly good knowledge of the internal structures of the Human body. She knows what the parts I'm regrowing are. Oh, she's trying to keep her hand completely still. I did tell her… With those parts complete I cover the whole thing in construct skin, taking care to match her skin pigmentation as the uppermost layer goes on. Match the length of the nail to her others… And, done.

I take hold of her fully restored hand in both of mine. "Now, I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else. To lose your fingers may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose them twice would start to look like carelessness." I lean forwards a little. "Do try and be careful."

I release her hand and she holds it in front of her face, staring at her restored digits. She closes her fingers into a fist and the new ones lag a little behind their compatriots. She swallows, then touches her new fingers with her left index finger. "I can't… I can't feel them. Is that… Wrong?"

"No, it's to be expected, really. I've been…" I glance at Sadeh. "Well, actually, Sadeh's been keeping records on Amazons who've had body parts restored. With recent injuries there isn't a problem, but a substantial portion of those with older injuries experience numbness and a lack of responsiveness. Did you ever experience phantom limb pain?" She looks blank. "The sensation that the fingers were still there, did you ever feel like they were touching something?"

"They… Ached, sometimes."

"Right, that's pretty common. There are several theories about why that sort of thing happens… The one that I remember -and I don't know whether it's true or not- is that without any sensation, the part of your brain that used to interpret input from the fingers connects to other things. "

"Is this.. perman-?"

"No, it's not… It shouldn't be permanent. For obvious reasons there's not a lot of research on restored body parts, but from what the first few people whose old injuries I fixed have told me, you should experience a gradual restoration of sensation as your brain adapts to the new source of data. Human brains are remarkably clever things. Now, we think.. the best way for you to speed this up is to keep using them. Basically, we want you to-" I pick up a foam ball from a nearby table. "-take this, and we want you to spend an hour each day squeezing it in your formerly injured hand. Here."

Kandake takes it from me, feeling the texture. They don't have plastic on Themyscira, for obvious reasons. No rubber either. They could grow rubber-producing plants in this climate but they don't currently have much use for it. "Like this?" She gives the ball a squeeze.

I hold out my right hand and open and close it as if repeatedly squishing the ball. "Like that." She nods and repeats the motion. "We'd also like you to keep a written record… If you start getting any feeling back, if it hurts at all…" She nods. "After about a month, if you still haven't felt anything, there are other things I can do, but they involve fiddling with your brain and I'd rather avoid that if at all possible."

"I will do as you ask." She squeezes the ball hard. "Thank you." She turns and walks away to rejoin the small group of Amazons from her village who made the journey with her.

I turn to Sadeh. "Is that it?"

She nods. "Everyone who came. I don't think there's a single woman left carrying a wound on Themyscira now, thanks to you."

I smile. "Glad to help."

She frowns as I get up to leave the Temple of Apollo which doubles as Themyscira City's hospital. "Oh, I was thinking yesterday… Have you heard of Baroness Paula von Gunther?"

I nod. "Yes, Diana fought her during the Second World War. She.. came to live here afterwards. Died about thirty years ago."

She nods. "Yes. What you've been doing… It reminds me of one of the things she designed here."

"She… Built something that could regrow-?"

"No, no. She showed me once. It could regrow flesh and.. reattach severed body parts, but it could not restore them from nothing as you can."

"She built it here? That's amazing! Where is it, does it still work?"

"It's probably still in her workshop. As far as I know the last person to have seen it would have been the Princess."

"Still in her workshop? Why isn't it in.. here? If someone comes in injured..?"

She shakes her head regretfully. "It seemed very complicated. How would I know it was working properly?"

"Okay, that's… Reasonable. If you could show me where her workshop is I could-. I'm sorry, just a moment. Ring, what time is it?"

"Eleven fifty nine local time."

!!!

"TerriblysorrybutI'msupposedtobespeakingattheSenaterightatmiddaysorry."

I see her frown as the ring calculates the route. "We don't keep time that precise-."

I transition to just outside the small amphitheatre of the Themysciran Senate. It's at the centre of the city just to the left of the palace. The guards look my way, but they're become fairly used to me appearing and disappearing by now. No cry of alarm goes up at least. Right, right, ahhh… My usual armour disappears into subspace, being replaced by what I keep wanting to call a toga but isn't. Mala was quite clear about that and I have no desire to sit through another lecture on Amazon fashion. Fortunately, she was a good deal less certain about clothing for men so I'm cheating and wearing a himation rather than a peplos. The colours gave me some trouble. My signature colours are grey, black and orange and Amazons generally favour lighter colours for their clothes. I could just do grey with orange trimmings but I need to appear as a part of the group rather than as an external force. In the end I went for pale orange cloth with a darker orange border. Since they don't have an orange dye it draws the eye, but the style is more familiar while still being distinctively mine.

I hurry up akgh!

I walk slowly and carefully up the steps, nodding politely to the two guards on duty by the doors. "Haven't started without me, have they?"

"Probably." I vaguely recognise the guard who answered, but I don't think we've been introduced. "But I wouldn't worry. We don't keep a tight schedule here in the way you're used to." She looks past me towards the entrance to the palace. "In fact…"

I turn to follow her gaze. The royal party are approaching. Two guards to the fore, then Queen Hippolyta, High Priestess Menalippe, Captain Philippus and the two guards bringing up the rear. I recognise Zosime by her reflective skin. Should really see if she still wants to keep that at some point. The group climbs the steps and Hippolyta smiles at me. I bow… Well, as much as I can in this dress thing. "Majesty."

"Paul. I'm glad that I haven't missed anything. How were things at the Temple?"

"I think I've run out of people to heal. And Sadeh said something about a healing machine Baroness von Gunther built?"

"Ah, yes. I think I remember it. You're welcome to go through her workshop. I imagine that she would be pleased that someone is making use of it. Now." She nods to her escort at they open the doors. "Shall we?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

24th February
12:03 GMT +3

I hold my hands out to the side and bow my head. "How may I serve the Senate?"

I'm facing Queen Hippolyta, but by long established custom this is a place for the Senators to discuss and interrogate. Aside from a few areas the reigning monarch is expected to stay above the debate. Similarly, while Philippus and Menalippe are here, they're here in case the Senate need their specialist knowledge of war or divinity. They sit on the Queen's right, while the Senators sit to her left by order of length of service. I only know two of them. Acantha gave me a friendly smile when I walked in. Clyemne just narrowed her eyes slightly. The others -Margarites, Paraskeve, Xenia, Eupheme and Cyanea- I don't know at all. Still, Diana did say that they're supposed to behave with a degree of comportment while in the chamber. Clyemne's actions when we first met were fine while in the forum but she'd soon get sat on if she tried that in here. The arc of chairs they occupy is actually quite small, unlike the huge hundred plus chambers I'm used to seeing at the higher levels of government in the rest of the world. Puts me more in mind of one of the old style autopsy lecture theatres, really.

"Thank you for answering our summons, Pavlos." As longest serving Senator, Paraskeve has a chairman-like role. Since the Themysciran Senate predates the modern committee and since all Senators are equal it isn't quite the same, but she'll do the initial announcements and has the right to ask questions first. "I do hope we haven't called you away from your work at the Temple of Apollo?"

"We ran out of patients." I spot my own inadvertent wordplay and smile slightly. That wouldn't translate, of course. "Anyone I haven't seen either can't travel or doesn't want my help." I'm told there are a few who feel that way. It still strikes me as odd when even Philomela of The Circle was quite happy to get her eyes back. It's interesting how reasonable those four are being with me these days. Even Alkyone barely hisses at me at all anymore.

Paraskeve nods. "There are several matters we wish to discuss with you. Firstly, your offer to assist any women of Themyscira who wish to become pregnant to do so… With other women."

"What would you like to know?"

"I'm told-" She glances at Clyemne. "-that you gave a technical explanation as to how that was possible in the forum during your first visit, but I'm afraid that most of us were not in attendance. For our benefit, would you mind repeating yourself?"

"Of course not. I was worried at the time that it might go over the audience's heads. There is a thing called 'Deoxyribonucleic acid'… usually abbreviated to 'DNA'. It is a chemical mechanism which -under certain circumstances- can build a.. person. I can provide a full written explanation as to how it functions, but.. if you could just take it on faith for this discussion?" She waves her right hand in a 'carry on' motion. "Usually a person gets half the mechanism from their mother and half from their father-. Again, I can-."

"Please assume that we are willing to read up on this afterwards. We are aware that natural philosophy has advanced somewhat in Man's World."

"Sorry. Um, essentially, aside from the chromosome -the component- which determines gender... Men have a 'Y' chromosome, women don't. Aside from that, it really doesn't make a difference if the DNA comes from two women or a woman and a man. Or two men, really, though obviously they'd have to have someone willing to carry the child to term. Other than the obvious difficulty in getting them to combine when, ah, the Human reproductive system isn't really designed to work in that way." I shrug. "With a power ring, it's fairly simple for me to merge them manually, trigger the.. process and implant them into a womb."

"How many children have been born this way?"

"Um… Similar techniques have been used by any number of species across the galaxy. If you're talking about Humans… To the best of my knowledge, no children have been brought to full term having been conceived in this way. Earth's technology simply isn't advanced enough to replicate what I do, and it would be very difficult to do with a green power ring."

"Have you had any volunteers?"

"Yes. Five couples and two groups. It's not really much harder for me to merge DNA from multiple individuals."

She raises her eyebrows. "Who?"

Ah. "There's a custom in the country of my birth called doctor-patient confidentiality. I'm not supposed to talk about their medical situation without their express consent. Also, it's considered unlucky to talk about it in the first twelve weeks of the pregnancy anyway because that's when most miscarriages happen." Though I've done my best to eliminate the genetic causes I've been clear with them and with myself that things will go wrong in a small number of cases. "If you'd like me to ask them if they're willing-."

"That's quite alright. They can hardly conceal themselves indefinitely." She looks at me for a moment. "Why are you doing this?"

"Seeing yellow dolls everywhere was weirding me out. Queen Hippolyta explained the situation with the.. whittle-babies to me." Faces tighten and eyes are averted. "It seems to me that having actual children is a much better idea. The island can easily support a population… What, twenty times what it is now? So there's no worry there. I'm making it available to everyone, so none of the, um-" I glance at Queen Hippolyta. "-jealousy that arose from Princess Diana's creation should occur. It just seemed like an obvious solution to me."

"Did you consult anyone before making the offer?"

"I.. read up on Amazon society in general and spoke to Princess Diana about it. And Eris may have egged me on a bit."

"I see. It did not occur to you that it may be wise to consult us, for example?"

"No. No changes in the Themysciran legal code were required, having babies isn't a crime… As you said yourself, you're going to have to do a lot of reading before you can really understand what I'm doing… There didn't seem to be any point."

"Hpf." That came from Clyemne. The others ignore it.

"Traditionally, the Senate has taken an active role in overseeing potentially.. disruptive social shifts. While I appreciate that you may simply have been ignorant of this fact, it really would have been better for you to have come to us first."

"No, with all due respect I don't think it would. Princess Diana was created eighty five years ago. You've had eighty five years to talk about this. Well, no, you've had three thousand years to talk about this, but that should have given you a nudge. If you haven't reached a conclusion yet, I'm forced to assume that you're just not going to. And if you're not going to…" I shrug. "I'm leaving the planet in four months' time. There's a limited window for this to happen. I realise that Amazon society isn't big on urgency…" I shrug again.

"The conditions of Princess Diana's birth were unique. We never reached a consensus on whether it would be wise to try asking Gaea to use her magics in that fashion again."

"That's the problem, right there. If there isn't a consensus in favour, nothing happens. The system favours conservatism and the need I see, the need I perceive directly in the souls of so many of my fellow citizens, goes unanswered. I am not a conservative individual. After three thousand years… Two thirds of which have been in near total isolation… I think we need a metaphorical kick up the arse." I create a sandaled foot construct and have it making a kicking motion before dismissing it.

"I suppose I can understand that point of view. Secondly, your request for a theatre troupe to travel with you to the United States of America."

"I didn't actually say 'America'. I said anywhere, though there is a certain logic to going to America."

"Why a theatre troupe?"

"Because theatre is one of the few areas where Themyscira has something… Where it can approach the other nations of the world as an equal. There are plays here no one else in the world has ever seen, and millions of people are positively salivating at the idea of having access to Sappho's work. There's already an interest in Amazon culture, and… It would let the players get a look at a foreign country in a professional setting. I should probably say that I want to sneak Io away-."

"Again." Clyemne's interjection goes unremarked. She has a point.

"I had her permission in advance, and I think that she found the meeting with Hephaestus rewarding."

Menalippe looks down at me with the air of a mother forced to scold her offspring for eating soil again. "Lord Hephaestus, Paul."

"He said he was cool with it?"