12th July
22:33 GMT
For a second time today I look into the T-.
Huh.
Ring, what do the Tamaranians call their star?
Liot'r. 'The Fire that Bestows Life'.
Ah. Thank you. The Liot'r system from the outside. Ring, plot course to.. near Tamaran's larger moon using… Spatial.. fracture induction..? Make it as sloppy as you can without injuring me.
Compliance.
There's a reason why this form of FTL isn't my go-to technique. It's slow, inefficient, blinds you at the exit point, is easy to track and once started can't be stopped. Still, if I want the Gordanians to see me coming in from outside, it's probably just the ticket.
Execute.
The space around me shimmers pale blue for a moment and then uhhhhhhh, yep, that's why I don't use that. Maybe there's a way I can use the basic technique with the Plane of Avarice somehow? Something to take up with the Controllers. Wholeness Rightly Assumed, and show me what the Gordanians are doing.
Compliance.
And release the Praexis Demons.
My minions flow forth from the rings as I get a look at the Gordanian ships. The closest one is coming about at speed and increasing the power to all systems as it comes to combat readiness. The one furthest away isn't doing much at the moment and the one nearest the station is… Recalling its crew from the station, by the look of things.
This… Can't be their entire strength. Even if they're bucking Gordanian tradition and using the ships exclusively for combat and not habitation, there isn't enough power here to have made much difference during Tamaran's fight with the Citadel. I need to find out where the rest are.
Tubbs makes momentary eye contact with me, then accelerates so that he's further away.
Ring, take us in the general direction of the station, but slowly enough that the closest ship can intercept us.
Compliance.
Gordanian sensors aren't usually top of the line… But if I assume that they've kept the Tamaranian made ones on the station in good repair… They'll be able to estimate my size from the power of the fracture I used to come here, but my lack of mass should be confusing them. What would they assume? Probably that I've got a stealth system, if they bother to guess at all. What do they think I am? An attacker? Probably not. If I was another Gordanian clan, I'd come in closer and with more ships. Merchant in the wrong place? Maybe, but… Vega doesn't get that sort of traffic. They'd have to be desperate to make any sort of journey on their own in this region of space, and there flat out aren't unaligned merchants in the Vega Systems themselves. Not these days. I suppose it's just about credible that I would be running from an attack… Part of a flotilla that was attacked and panic-jumped here?
I don't know. They're not Citadel-grunt dumb, but the Gordanians don't have a reputation as being great planners. Probably not worth trying to fake mass. After all, I'm not trying to draw them in. Just give them an incorrect idea of my capacities.
Speaking of which… Ring, give me a sloppy, Alan-style flame aura thing.
Compliance.
They've probably got combat veterans over there who have at least heard of Green Lanterns. I'd like to be able to pull off 'Challenger to the Beast' but 'New kind of Lantern' works about as well.
Communication stream incoming.
From the ship or the station?
From the station.
Put it through.
"You have entered the territory of the Tearing Bite clan! Your ship property is hereby confiscated! Heave to and prepare to be boarded!"
I wonder if that was.. recorded…
Ring, reply using… Whatever transmission system they used.
Standing by.
"How were you planning to 'board' me, exactly? Is that some sort of… Gordanian sexual metaphor?"
"It can be! Hahaha!"
Praexis Swarm, accelerate towards the closest ship. Fly by the hull, let them get a good look at you.
The ship still isn't close-close. After the initial surge of power, they appear to have decided that it isn't worth coming after me quickly. At this range, a light speed weapon… Wouldn't hit me reliably. Kinetic torpedoes aside, the ships appear to have a mixed armament: masers for long range, coilguns for close range and for flak, and… High fidelity short range teleporters, both for sending over infantry and grabbing stuff from their targets. Yeah, those are general purpose ships, not dedicated warships. The maser turrets on the top of the ship have rotated to point my way -ring, make sure that we're never actually in their reticles- but they're not otherwise taking offensive action.
"No, seriously, I don't get it. Can you actually see me yet?"
"We know exactly where you are! Do not try to escape!"
"That's not what I asked. Can you see me? Do you have the technology for a visual identification?"
"That does not matter!"
"You'll laugh when you spot it."
A beam of microwave radiation flashes by. Nothing like close enough to hit, though that does give me some idea of their beam attenuation. Not bad, for Gordanians. Don't think that was a full-power shot. Probably trying to intimidate me into compliance. And -hah!- they've actually put up an interdiction field against spatial fracture induction! Not stupid at least.
The Praexis Demons are about to get into 'looking-out-the-windows' range, so I strain my empathic vision to try and see their crew's responses. Not that Gordanian ships have windows -those are a purely civilian-ship-flying-in-a-safe-area thing- but they do have camera mounts. Small objects in proximity should trigger an automatic-. Yep, there we go. And unlike Tamaranians, these people have been out and about since Larfleeze started sending his Construct-Lanterns out to visit people.
And there's the flash of yellow. Just the bridge so far, focused on… That's a command seat, so the other one is probably the sensor operator. And now it's spreading. Just to the bridge… The guns look automated, so there isn't really any reason for anyone else to-. More flickers of yellow. It doesn't spread further, but a small number of people across the ship just started being afraid of me.
"Are you laughing yet?"
I get dead air for a few moments.
"Begone, slave of the Beast. We have nothing that belongs to your master."
"Oh, I'm not a slave. I retain my own purposes."
"Do you claim to be the Beast yourself? How stupid do you think I am?"
"No. Just someone who uses the same power as him. I have a… Business proposition for you. Do you think that we could talk in person?"
"What business?"
"I wish to purchase some Tamaranians from you."
