Carpe Tempus (part 1)
- Location
- Hampden Park
18th March
16:41 GMT -4
"His Excellency will see you now."
I nod at the secretary- "Thank you." -as I get to my feet. I managed to arrange this meeting a while ago, but in light of what's been happening in Kahndaq I rather imagine that things are going to get somewhat hijacked. I don't have any real contacts in the Russian government, but I have spoken briefly to Mr Churkin at a couple of diplomatic functions. As good a place to start as any, I suppose.
I follow the secretary a short way down the corridor, then into an outer office. As one might expect from the sixth richest country in the world, it's pretty plush. The secretary holds out a hand to stop me as he approaches the door to the Ambassador's office, before walking up to the door, knocking politely and opening it slightly. "Orange Lantern to see you, your Excellency."
"Yes, yes. Show him in."
The secretary pushes the door the whole way open and steps into the room, holding it open for me. Best foot forwards… The ambassador rises to his feet as I enter the room. "Orange Lantern, good to see you." He holds his right hand out over his impressively robust looking desk. I walk over to the near side and reach out to shake hands, noticing that his eyes dip momentarily to the glowing ring on my right ring finger. "Please, take a seat."
"Thank you, your Excellency." I lower myself into the visitor seat as he sits back down.
"The Russian Federation wishes to extend its condolences to the people of Kahndaq, regarding the Shiruta Massacre. Have you been able to find anything else out about where they came from?"
"I'm afraid not." I shake my head. "Has my initial report been forwarded to you yet?" He gestures to a folder on his desk with his right hand. "The biological self destruct system left next to nothing for me to analyse. There's.. some hair that might have come from one of the attackers, but at that level of detail it might just as well have come from a tourist. The hush tubes could have come from anywhere in the galaxy."
He nods. "That is unfortunate. Were you able to recover examples of their technology?"
"Yes. Critical systems self destructed, but we were able to collect up some armour fragments."
"I am aware that the Justice League likes to use American companies for technological analysis, but we do have our own laboratories. If there is enough to go around..?"
"The Kahndaqi government is keeping possession for now, pending guidance from the Security Council on the status of Teth Adom's government. Frankly, Adom's been too busy trying to get the country organised to take any further action in that regard."
"How is that going?"
"Slowly. The attack killed most people who were in a position to join the national government, and Adom's own attack on Cairo killed people.. he'd been planning to pardon in exchange for staying in their jobs. The de facto situation is that virtually all power has been devolved to the governorates while Adom himself speaks for the country as a whole. We're hoping that they'll be able to get something a bit more stable in place in the next couple of weeks."
He nods. "I wish you luck, but the Russian government will wait for that before making any strong statements either in favour or against. I doubt that we're the only nation concerned about a superhuman taking over-" My mouth starts to open. "-though we are aware of the level of self restraint Teth Adom had been exercising prior to last week's events. We would only be seriously concerned if he continued to prosecute aggressive wars against his neighbours."
"He has no further plans to attack anyone."
"It is not his plans that worry me. In your interviews you've been at pains to state that you don't know for certain whether or not Queen Bee was responsible. With no clear trail of evidence Teth Adom killed over two hundred people, one of them a head of state. That doesn't speak well for regional stability."
"Whether she was behind the attack or not, she was trying to affect his mind." I shake my head. "As long as no one else invades his country or tries mind controlling him, I really don't think he's going to pick a fight with anyone."
He nods. "And what of whoever it is directing Apokoliptian soldiers and combat robots?"
"The Justice League is working on a way to detect hush tubes, at least approximately. I think Batman also plans to request additional funding to expand the zeta tube network so that they can respond more quickly in the event of a future attack."
"I understand that you provided the Kahndaqi military with weapons from the Justice League's arsenal. I haven't been briefed on that policy. Could you.. enlighten me?"
"Not.. really. I'm not a member of the Justice League. I believe that the League's policy is that they don't provide governments with weapons, but the weapons I provided were my personal property. I lent them out to assist in fighting against an alien attack. I know where they all are and I'll be taking them back once things have calmed down. For reasons I'm sure you can understand, I'm reluctant to upgrade the weaponry of national militaries, though I have given weapons to some police forces in areas with high metahuman crime rates. Obviously, if alien incursions become a regular occurrence I may have to reconsider that."
"Is there some reassurance the Russian Federation could give you about their use in order to persuade you to change your mind?"
"Certainly. If you can push the formation of a unified planetary defence force through the Security Council, I will be happy to provide them with whatever weapons they want."
He chuckles. "I.. don't think that will be possible."
I smile ruefully. "No, I didn't think it would be."
He pauses for a moment, then pulls a new dossier across the desk. "Now, on to your request to move your 'Ice Fortress' down through the Bering Strait. I will be clear, the Russian government doesn't think that you are planning to use it for intelligence gathering. Aside from anything else, if you wanted to observe our country there's no reason why you couldn't just do what the Americans do and monitor us from orbit."
"Thank you."
"Unfortunately, the answer is still no." I give him a look of mystification. "I'm afraid that the authority to authorise this rests with the Director of Defence Research and he is a very suspicious man."
The chap I spoke to for a few minutes when the League got mind controlled. Not exactly chummy. "Couldn't your President overrule him?"
"Yes, but that would be tantamount to asking for his resignation, and that isn't something he's prepared to do."
"Okay. Is there some way I could persuade him or am I going to have to fly it over Canada?"
"There is a matter he thinks you could assist with. When the Justice League's charter was submitted for Security Council approval, the Russian Federation voted in favour despite most of the members being American." He shrugs. "Better to have some control than none. We rather assumed that it would continue to be an American organisation. Then we found out that a member of the Great Ten had joined."
I can see where this is going. "Accomplished Perfect Physician is only a member of the Great Ten on paper."
"Nonetheless, China has one of their metahumans in the Justice League now. And I understand that you were instrumental in making that happen."
"I… Assembled some information on candidates that.. might have otherwise gone unnoticed."
"The Russian Federation would.. appreciate it, if you could bring one or two of our people to the League's attention in a similar way." He watches my face for a moment. "Now, we're not going to try and force them to take Steel Wolf or Proletariat or anyone like that. We're only going to suggest people we feel could adapt to the League's way of working."
Ahh… I suppose there's no harm in looking. "League membership isn't in my gift. But, if a candidate has the ability, I don't mind taking a look at them and -possibly- giving them my recommendation."
He smiles. "I'm glad to hear it. Here-" He picks up a ring binder and holds it out to me. "-is the full service history of Sergeant Dmitri Pushkin, as well as the technical specifications of the armour he would be using. I am confident that you will find him satisfactory."
He stands, which I assume is my signal to leave. I get up and take hold of the binder. "Thank you, your Excellency. I'll let you know when I've finished reviewing it."
16:41 GMT -4
"His Excellency will see you now."
I nod at the secretary- "Thank you." -as I get to my feet. I managed to arrange this meeting a while ago, but in light of what's been happening in Kahndaq I rather imagine that things are going to get somewhat hijacked. I don't have any real contacts in the Russian government, but I have spoken briefly to Mr Churkin at a couple of diplomatic functions. As good a place to start as any, I suppose.
I follow the secretary a short way down the corridor, then into an outer office. As one might expect from the sixth richest country in the world, it's pretty plush. The secretary holds out a hand to stop me as he approaches the door to the Ambassador's office, before walking up to the door, knocking politely and opening it slightly. "Orange Lantern to see you, your Excellency."
"Yes, yes. Show him in."
The secretary pushes the door the whole way open and steps into the room, holding it open for me. Best foot forwards… The ambassador rises to his feet as I enter the room. "Orange Lantern, good to see you." He holds his right hand out over his impressively robust looking desk. I walk over to the near side and reach out to shake hands, noticing that his eyes dip momentarily to the glowing ring on my right ring finger. "Please, take a seat."
"Thank you, your Excellency." I lower myself into the visitor seat as he sits back down.
"The Russian Federation wishes to extend its condolences to the people of Kahndaq, regarding the Shiruta Massacre. Have you been able to find anything else out about where they came from?"
"I'm afraid not." I shake my head. "Has my initial report been forwarded to you yet?" He gestures to a folder on his desk with his right hand. "The biological self destruct system left next to nothing for me to analyse. There's.. some hair that might have come from one of the attackers, but at that level of detail it might just as well have come from a tourist. The hush tubes could have come from anywhere in the galaxy."
He nods. "That is unfortunate. Were you able to recover examples of their technology?"
"Yes. Critical systems self destructed, but we were able to collect up some armour fragments."
"I am aware that the Justice League likes to use American companies for technological analysis, but we do have our own laboratories. If there is enough to go around..?"
"The Kahndaqi government is keeping possession for now, pending guidance from the Security Council on the status of Teth Adom's government. Frankly, Adom's been too busy trying to get the country organised to take any further action in that regard."
"How is that going?"
"Slowly. The attack killed most people who were in a position to join the national government, and Adom's own attack on Cairo killed people.. he'd been planning to pardon in exchange for staying in their jobs. The de facto situation is that virtually all power has been devolved to the governorates while Adom himself speaks for the country as a whole. We're hoping that they'll be able to get something a bit more stable in place in the next couple of weeks."
He nods. "I wish you luck, but the Russian government will wait for that before making any strong statements either in favour or against. I doubt that we're the only nation concerned about a superhuman taking over-" My mouth starts to open. "-though we are aware of the level of self restraint Teth Adom had been exercising prior to last week's events. We would only be seriously concerned if he continued to prosecute aggressive wars against his neighbours."
"He has no further plans to attack anyone."
"It is not his plans that worry me. In your interviews you've been at pains to state that you don't know for certain whether or not Queen Bee was responsible. With no clear trail of evidence Teth Adom killed over two hundred people, one of them a head of state. That doesn't speak well for regional stability."
"Whether she was behind the attack or not, she was trying to affect his mind." I shake my head. "As long as no one else invades his country or tries mind controlling him, I really don't think he's going to pick a fight with anyone."
He nods. "And what of whoever it is directing Apokoliptian soldiers and combat robots?"
"The Justice League is working on a way to detect hush tubes, at least approximately. I think Batman also plans to request additional funding to expand the zeta tube network so that they can respond more quickly in the event of a future attack."
"I understand that you provided the Kahndaqi military with weapons from the Justice League's arsenal. I haven't been briefed on that policy. Could you.. enlighten me?"
"Not.. really. I'm not a member of the Justice League. I believe that the League's policy is that they don't provide governments with weapons, but the weapons I provided were my personal property. I lent them out to assist in fighting against an alien attack. I know where they all are and I'll be taking them back once things have calmed down. For reasons I'm sure you can understand, I'm reluctant to upgrade the weaponry of national militaries, though I have given weapons to some police forces in areas with high metahuman crime rates. Obviously, if alien incursions become a regular occurrence I may have to reconsider that."
"Is there some reassurance the Russian Federation could give you about their use in order to persuade you to change your mind?"
"Certainly. If you can push the formation of a unified planetary defence force through the Security Council, I will be happy to provide them with whatever weapons they want."
He chuckles. "I.. don't think that will be possible."
I smile ruefully. "No, I didn't think it would be."
He pauses for a moment, then pulls a new dossier across the desk. "Now, on to your request to move your 'Ice Fortress' down through the Bering Strait. I will be clear, the Russian government doesn't think that you are planning to use it for intelligence gathering. Aside from anything else, if you wanted to observe our country there's no reason why you couldn't just do what the Americans do and monitor us from orbit."
"Thank you."
"Unfortunately, the answer is still no." I give him a look of mystification. "I'm afraid that the authority to authorise this rests with the Director of Defence Research and he is a very suspicious man."
The chap I spoke to for a few minutes when the League got mind controlled. Not exactly chummy. "Couldn't your President overrule him?"
"Yes, but that would be tantamount to asking for his resignation, and that isn't something he's prepared to do."
"Okay. Is there some way I could persuade him or am I going to have to fly it over Canada?"
"There is a matter he thinks you could assist with. When the Justice League's charter was submitted for Security Council approval, the Russian Federation voted in favour despite most of the members being American." He shrugs. "Better to have some control than none. We rather assumed that it would continue to be an American organisation. Then we found out that a member of the Great Ten had joined."
I can see where this is going. "Accomplished Perfect Physician is only a member of the Great Ten on paper."
"Nonetheless, China has one of their metahumans in the Justice League now. And I understand that you were instrumental in making that happen."
"I… Assembled some information on candidates that.. might have otherwise gone unnoticed."
"The Russian Federation would.. appreciate it, if you could bring one or two of our people to the League's attention in a similar way." He watches my face for a moment. "Now, we're not going to try and force them to take Steel Wolf or Proletariat or anyone like that. We're only going to suggest people we feel could adapt to the League's way of working."
Ahh… I suppose there's no harm in looking. "League membership isn't in my gift. But, if a candidate has the ability, I don't mind taking a look at them and -possibly- giving them my recommendation."
He smiles. "I'm glad to hear it. Here-" He picks up a ring binder and holds it out to me. "-is the full service history of Sergeant Dmitri Pushkin, as well as the technical specifications of the armour he would be using. I am confident that you will find him satisfactory."
He stands, which I assume is my signal to leave. I get up and take hold of the binder. "Thank you, your Excellency. I'll let you know when I've finished reviewing it."
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