12th August
14:53 GMT
I look away from where Hinon is giving Dox an explanation of what a fully operational Central Power Battery is capable of, focusing my attention on the images of the Tamaranian princesses floating over my ring. "When you say 'gone', are we talking about them all performing hara-kiri, or..?"
Komand'r scowls. "Alas, no. We found abandoned sublight ships and bases… But the majority of Citadelian ships have left."
Koriand'r seems more sanguine. "Vega will be spared the harm they would have inflicted in their death throes. I do not see this as something to bemoan."
"Lantern Green Man tell you anything?"
Komand'r nods. "Yes. That he cannot be expected to be everywhere at once. He was concerned by Amalak's fleet movements-."
I nod. "And ended up being in the wrong region of space to intercept the Citadelians." Darn. Still, that should be good for Vega at least. "What are the other Vega powers doing?"
Koriand'r's face disappears, being replaced with an image of a cluster of Branx ships. "Branx consortiums have taken over salvage operations at the former site of Citadel Complex."
"Peacefully?"
Her face reappears. "With one another, yes. Others are fired upon."
"And they're not trying to muscle in on territory anywhere else?"
"They are… Marking out areas of interest. Though they are much less brutal in their dealings than the Citadel were."
"Right. I suppose we can live with that. And the Gordanians?"
"Those that are trying to seize territory are mostly fighting one another." Komand'r grins predatorily. "I considered helping the weaker groups with the aim of getting more of them killed. But when my ring nearly turned itself off I realised that I had no stomach for working alongside such creatures."
"And the Psions?"
The images of the sisters' heads turn to face one another for a moment. Then Koriand'r turns back to me and shakes her head. "Nothing. The ships that were close to the Citadel have returned to their Motherworld. We have neither seen nor heard anything about them becoming more active."
"Any good news?"
Komand'r affects a mildly strained air. "The energy barrier around Euphorix still remains in place and the Okaarans are still selling themselves to anyone with goods to trade. And we haven't heard from our brother or his friends." Koriand'r shoots her an irked glare. "Though -to be fair- we have been moving around a good deal."
I nod. "Alright. I trust you to manage the Gordanians. Let me know if you need any assistance." They nod. "Two Eight One Four out."
I close my left hand, the construct heads disappearing as I drift back towards Hinon and Dox.
"…could probably throw a ship or two together for you, but I doubt that many of us would be prepared to spend the sort of time on it that would be required to assemble a fleet capable of launching a conventional invasion."
"I was under the impression that you were better motivated."
"My good man, what is the point of having minions if you have to do all of the grunt work yourself?"
"You achieve your objectives faster and more reliably."
Hinon huffs. "Alright, yes, we could throw ships together, but it wouldn't be all that fast-."
"And do you really want to make yourself that dependent on Controller good will?"
They both turn to include me in their huddle. "Good news from Vega?"
"Things are surprisingly peaceful. I'm just not sure why."
Dox considers my previous comment. "What did you mean by that?"
"Simple. The more someone else does, the less this is your thing. The more authority you give to someone else over the enterprise. And you only have finite time. Do you want to spend it arguing with Controllers or organising the fleet production networks of the hundreds of inhabited worlds being threatened by the Reach?"
"I am surprised that they expect me to argue with them at all."
"You don't see the Guardians making ships for Green Lanterns."
"There are nine Guardians left to cover the entire universe. I doubt that they could make enough ships to be worthwhile. We will be operating over a far smaller area. I already have enough data to begin the design work but I need a fleet in the field as quickly as possible, far faster than tributary shipyards can be brought into alignment. As things stand I'm not certain that I understand what it is that the Controllers bring to this arrangement."
"If I may..?"
"Oh, go ahead. We're talking in spirals at this point anyway."
"Controller Hinon, how many Controllers have joined with the orange light so far?"
"Four. I believe that the rest are waiting to see if we go mad or explode before taking the leap."
"The point Mister Dox is making is: what's your buy-in? A conventional military force doesn't really need Controllers at all. Lanterns need you to keep the Central Power Battery in good working order and to make personal lanterns and rings. But we don't really need the thirty or so Controllers who are planning on aligning themselves with the Battery. What is the faction as a whole doing that we should want to give you authority?"
"And I take it that you expect us to engage in manual labour?"
"Needing ships into being is hardly that. My suggestion is that we agree a tariff. The Controllers agree to provide a certain amount of labour. Nothing offensive, but enough to get us in business faster and to encourage them to feel a bit proprietary about our forces."
"At the very minimum I'm going to need a large enough fleet to convince potential allies that I'm worth listening to. It would take a considerable amount of time to turn the relatively small shipyards I saw when we approached into something large enough to build such a force."
Hinon nods slowly. "I may be able to persuade them to accept such an arrangement. But it would help me immensely if I could present the final command and control structure as something that would salve their egos?"
"We're going to be doing most of our initial recruiting from the Darkstars, then from people the Controllers have already helped escape the Reach. They'll be naturally inclined to accept Controller authority. As for the.. steering committee, my thoughts were that it be formed of a group of seven individuals. Three Controllers, the Director of the Darkstars, the Clarissi, the Illustres and the commander of the conventional military organisation, whatever that ends up being called. That gives the Controllers the largest say without giving them an absolute majority."
"I thought that you recruited me to organise this endeavour."
"Certainly. You'll have two votes as Clarissi and commander, and complete control of both organisations. Except where you've agreed a compromise in exchange for something you want in return. The whole point of the exercise is that it is always better for us to cooperate than compete with one another. Things should be run by compromise and consensus rather than majority votes in any case, and as your parts of the organisation have more to offer your negotiating strength will increase."
"And that of the Controllers will tend to decrease."
"I wouldn't go that far."
"But it will hopefully nudge them into doing more in order to maintain their influence. Please note that I am not insisting. This is just a suggestion."
"One which is not without merit. So, Clarissi Dox, how exactly do you plan on starting our counterattack?"
