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

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By the by, how is the "Mad Scientist" sponsorship going at Kord Industries?

Considering the egos that most of their sort tend to have, I suppose it would be a lot like herding cats.

Have any precautionary steps been taken to placate any of those who are just a WEE bit sensitive about the validity of their work, and might fly off the handle if they feel that they've been wronged and/or not being taken seriously enough?

Finding and training up a few Moloch von Zinzer-grade minions lab assistants might also help...
 
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Alienated (part 9)
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    • 8th October
    20:42 GMT

    "…a military dictator."

    Ms Lane has her hands on her hips as she interrogates the neural imprint. Har-Zod doesn't appear to be particularly troubled by her hostility.

    "I'm afraid that I don't have files on your planet's government. As such, I wouldn't know how to characterise the precise differences between them. I would not describe myself as a dictator. I was head of the military council during a time when the military council was pre-eminent, but the council as a whole was elected to that pre-eminence by the population as a whole. And that pre-eminence itself was hardly an unusual state of affairs. Krypton's first contact with alien races came when we were invaded by the Vrangs. After their occupation force was destroyed, it became quite normal for the military to set policy with regard to our interactions with other species."

    "The.. Vrangs?"

    "An alien species which occupied Krypton during our industrial age." His head shrinks, and an image of the military council's organisation chart appears next to him. "The military council was comprised of senior officers retired from active service, the field commander of Kryptonian military forces and the heads of each branch of the services. Depending on election results, additional individuals from areas not directly associated with Krypton's fighting force might also act in an advisory role."

    "So if it got popular enough, the military could take control of whatever it wanted."

    "In theory, the military council could take control of anything the people of Krypton wanted it to. In practice, that should not have ever happened. What I meant to imply was that at times it made sense to coordinate closely with the science council in the design of new ships or with the labour council in planning ship building projects. The results of elections would determine exactly how forceful that 'coordination' would be. Likewise, when the military council was not pre-eminent we would follow the policy direction set by whatever council was."

    "I should also point out that it was the science council who thought that isolationism was a good idea."

    "Hm." Ms Lane steps away from the display as I come closer.

    "Har-Zod, do you have any particular problem with us moving this base?"

    "I would have liked to remain here, in case any other surviving Kryptonians manage to make the return journey. But I suppose the chance of that isn't particularly high."

    "I'm happy to leave beacons in place to relay any message you wish to send. And I think we can give them Earth's location. It will just take them a little longer to reach you."

    Ms Lane raises her left eyebrow. "You're giving Earth's location to potentially hostile aliens?"

    "I'm not doing anything which the Voyager probe isn't doing. Besides, anyone who can track Kryptonian FTL could follow Kal-El's wake and find us eventually. This is just a slightly more polite way of doing it."

    Har-Zod's head nods. "That's acceptable. Do you intend to try to move the whole moon?"

    Hm. Not sure. Putting Xenon at a Lagrange point would work, but it might also cause the governments of Earth to throw a bit of a fit. On the other hand, digging this place out is… Well, it's doable, if not exactly quick. And it can grow more space if we need it to by consuming some of Luna. Someone might spot it if we put it on the light side, but if we put it on the dark side we could keep it secret…

    Of course, while I sort of have the final say since.. I'm the one moving it, it would be impolitic to ignore what the Kryptonians think of the situation.

    I raise my right hand to my right ear. "Orange Lantern to Superman."

    "Go ahead."

    "Har-Zod's given the go-ahead. Have the three of you talked things through?"

    Ms Lane stares at me for a moment. "You were serious about the League having an orbital battle station?"

    "As both a non-signatory and as a non-state actor, the League is exempt from the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. The UN has de jure accepted that, otherwise they couldn't allow space-capable League members into space. The League is presently the Earth's only way of stopping space-borne aggressors reaching Earth and their capacity to actually do that isn't anything like as good as you might think."

    She opens her mouth to respond, but Kal-El gets there first. "And this has nothing to do with you constantly installing new weapon systems in.. your own facility."

    Subtle. I know that he means the Mountain, but Ms Lane might think he's talking about the Ice Fortress. "The reason I do that is the same as the reason why I'm arguing for this. Either the League has military responsibilities, or it doesn't. Since none of you told me that I was mistaken during my performance review when I assessed you on it-."

    Ms Lane blinks. "You gave the League a performance review?"

    "Yes, and if you want a copy you can ask them for it. Anyway, if you actually want to do that job, you need deep space sensors which the Guardians can't turn off on a whim, you need weapon platforms and.. preferably ships. And I don't mean Batman's space plane."

    From the lack of response I'm going to guess that he's still mulling it over. Either that or I was excessively frank again.

    "Or if you want to um and ah about this a bit more I can drop Xenon off outside the Sol system while you discuss it amongst yourselves and clear it with the Security Council."

    "That does sound a little more sensible."

    "No, it sounds more reasonable. In fact, it forces you to take people out of their comfort zones without giving you the advantages that a space-based facility would provide, and thus is less sensible."

    "Kal, I… I know Earth is less advanced than Krypton was, but Paul's right. It isn't safe to not have some sort of defence system. And if there was some kind of natural disaster-."

    "Earth doesn't have the same structural problem Krypton had."

    "We…" I can hear the reluctance in Kon's voice. "Do… Have super volcanoes and crazy supervillains… I'm not saying we need this, but it.. could be useful. Y'know. Just in case."

    And I'm getting Joeyed again. Kon and Kal-El both know that the League has a space station, giant floating target that it is. Lois apparently doesn't. I imagine that the arguments I'm advancing in favour are similar to the ones raised when the League discussed whether or not to use the Watchtower. I still don't agree with the decision to keep its existence a secret. The number of supervillains who could even try to reach it is tiny compared to the ones who could reach the Hall of Justice, located conveniently as it is in the middle of a major city. Carrying on using the Mountain would have made more sense, seeing as it's a reasonable distance from Happy Harbour and Happy Harbour has a low population anyway.

    Of course, what I really want is for the team to start using this place. But that's probably a stretch too far.

    I hear Kal-El sigh. "Alright. We'll move the moon, but I don't want you taking it close to Earth. Could you put it in orbit around Jupiter?"

    Ring? "Yes, though if that's the route you want to take my personal preference would be putting it in a off-plane orbit around our sun."

    Ms Lane looks at me askance. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

    "I've already asked another member of my Corps to visit us to help me with another project I'm working on. I doubt that she'd mind babysitting it."

    Kal-El thinks about it for a moment. "Okay, whatever you think best. Will the rest of us be able to meet her? I'll be interested to see what sort of people you've been recruiting."

    "That shouldn't be a problem." I step away from Har-Zod. "Shall we start back now? Even with all three of you pushing, I imagine that it will take us a while to get up to speed."
     
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    Mr Zoat said:
    "I've already asked another member of my Corps to visit us to help me with another project I'm working on. I doubt that she'd mind babysitting it."

    Kal-El thinks about it for a moment. "Okay, whatever you think best. Will the rest of us be able to meet her? I'll be interested to see what sort of people you've been recruiting."

    "That shouldn't be a problem." I step away from Har-Zod. "Shall we start back now? Even with all three of you pushing, I imagine that it will take us a while to get up to speed."
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    That's going to be Mother Mercy isn't it... :lol
     
    I read once a day, and haven't done a full reread in about a month now. What's changed in the rewrite, and what's been rewritten? Was it much?
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    Ms Lane raises her left eyebrow. "You're giving Earth's location to potentially hostile aliens?"

    "I'm not doing anything which the Voyager probe isn't doing. Besides, anyone who can track Kryptonian FTL could follow Kal-El's wake and find us eventually. This is just a slightly more polite way of doing it."
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    I don't think the comparison really applies. For one thing, the Voyager probes are barely outside the solar system. It's the difference between a map to your house laying right next to your mailbox and the same map a neighborhood over where someone's house burned down. The latter is more likely to influence someone to come over.

    On the other hand, sunlight passing through our atmosphere and showing diatomic oxygen absorption lines is visible for massive distances, and that's been present for hundreds of millions of years. It's not a sign of a civilization, but it's a pretty big indicator that there's life.
    RichardWhereat said:
    I read once a day, and haven't done a full reread in about a month now. What's changed in the rewrite, and what's been rewritten? Was it much?
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    The guy with the axe from the future got axed. Apparently the same with the Legion of heroes or whatever they were called. So far this is only the third update to be changed, so you haven't missed much.
     
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    Empiricist2 said:
    I don't think the comparison really applies. For one thing, the Voyager probes are barely outside the solar system. It's the difference between a map to your house laying right next to your mailbox and the same map a neighborhood over where someone's house burned down. The latter is more likely to influence someone to come over.
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    But it was set up and sent to tell aliens about our society, and where we were, and how much we knew. So, it's fairly accurate, the major difference is that it doesn't show as much information as the Voyager Probe, and it's much further out, and won't move too much in comparison to Rao.

    Empiricist2 said:
    The guy with the axe from the future got axed. Apparently the same with the Legion of heroes or whatever they were called. So far this is only the third update to be changed, so you haven't missed much.
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    Ah, cheers. Damn. I kinda liked how Kal and Paul worked together there.
     
    I can't help but think back to Trugg's speech about how super heroes maintain the status quo which lead to future disasters due to how heroes handled most of the problems which left most of humanity underdeveloped, even when Paul tries to change things even on a minor level most of heroes tend to either reject it or think that his actions are a bit extreme since they've done alright by themselves.

    Even Batman as Bruce Wayne who spends tons of money in charities and donations seem to be less effective than Batman spending his night hunting down and beating up criminals, either due to the fact the system itself is corrupt or broken at times, not to mention other heroes who have even more power than him but don't do anything unless a crime happens to motivate them and have day jobs that don't really impact society.

    I'm kind of glad that Paul distanced himself from the League as a whole since he won't be held done by the same red tape or group mentality that they have, plus due to his actions by himself he won't be worried about government officials not knowing who he is or what he's capable of, so even if he strain his relations with the older heroes he wouldn't have much to lose. Especially if he encounters a member of the Light or an associate who warrants some more lethal measures that most heroes wouldn't consider, even if they decided to arrest him one day he could afford a great defense and is great at using the media to his advantage.
     
    sockmonkey said:
    Astronomy fail. There are far and near sides, Not dark and light sides.
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    Even if it isn't actually dark, it is referred to as the dark side of the Moon. Maybe not scientifically, honeslty no idea on that point, but in common usage it's fine.

    Althoug now that my attention is drawn to that line, I'm wondering how he thinks hiding would work. Physically placing the moon in the surface would probably make it collapse under its own weight, and putting it in orbit wouldn't hide it. Antigravity to suspend it above the surface?
     
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    Empiricist2 said:
    Even if it isn't actually dark, it is referred to as the dark side of the Moon. Maybe not scientifically, honeslty no idea on that point, but in common usage it's fine.

    Although now that my attention is drawn to that line, I'm wondering how he thinks hiding would work. Physically placing the moon in the surface would probably make it collapse under its own weight, and putting it in orbit wouldn't hide it. Antigravity to suspend it above the surface?
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    His plan if he were to put the base on the moon was to excavate the base and then implant it in the moon's surface not take entire celestial body wholesale.
     
    Empiricist2 said:
    I don't think the comparison really applies. For one thing, the Voyager probes are barely outside the solar system. It's the difference between a map to your house laying right next to your mailbox and the same map a neighborhood over where someone's house burned down. The latter is more likely to influence someone to come over.

    On the other hand, sunlight passing through our atmosphere and showing diatomic oxygen absorption lines is visible for massive distances, and that's been present for hundreds of millions of years. It's not a sign of a civilization, but it's a pretty big indicator that there's life.
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    More importantly, DC Earth simply has too much contact with the outside universe for safety by obscurity to be a practical option. Heck, Apokolips knows Earth exists; it's not like there are many worse groups that could find out about Earth from a beacon at Krypton.
     
    So, thoughts:
    1) I understand narrative conservation and such things, but... This is literally the only object that survives? No museums or vaults or whatever? Krypton exploded, but it did so in large chunks - Paul himself describes continental-sized ones. Stuff should be down there. Personal computers. Art. Hell, bodies, which might or might not be eligible for resurrection. And I would think Kara would want the equivalent of kryptonian bill of constitution or crown jewels to be rescued

    2) Warping in a planetoid and then having an Earth-sized planet Lantern (Mother of Mercy) come in is a great political move. It firmly, visually, viscerally establishes OL corps as the five hundred pound gorilla in the political room. At which point politicians have to consider what Paul says.

    I'm also interested in the reason MoM is going to visit. Maybe they are finally restoring Mars?
     
    RichardWhereat said:
    Since we never actually see the 'far side', and given it has insane cattle on it, It's fair to call it the Dark Side. Especially since that's the colloquial name for it.
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    True for us, but not for DC earth. I am pretty sure there are dozens of organizations with the capability of seeing the far side of the moon, if they believe something funny went down in it.
     
    Yog said:
    So, thoughts:
    1) I understand narrative conservation and such things, but... This is literally the only object that survives? No museums or vaults or whatever? Krypton exploded, but it did so in large chunks - Paul himself describes continental-sized ones. Stuff should be down there. Personal computers. Art. Hell, bodies, which might or might not be eligible for resurrection. And I would think Kara would want the equivalent of kryptonian bill of constitution or crown jewels to be rescued
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    Considering the forces involved it seems unlikely that anything not extremely simple and sturdy survived. I'd expect everything on what used to be the surface to have been repeatedly smashed, superheated, then frozen.
     
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