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

[Mr Zoat]

18th July
21:04 GMT

"…understand that 'indenture' is one of those words that puts me on edge. Particularly given who we're fighting."

There's a sort of.. wave of motion from the upper legs of the Clicker opposite me. Comprehension/appreciation. "Were you told what they did for us?"

Hinon went into closed session with her fellow Controllers, which gave me the time to do a little sight-seeing. Then I got to try finding a hotel on a planet that doesn't have tourism, which was mildly amusing. Then I found out that Director Jeddigar wanted to talk to me, but couldn't get in touch because no one knew where I was. And I only found that out by walking through the front doors of the Darkstar headquarters.

"A little while afterwards, yes."

"Please restate as you understand?"

"Your species used to have four sexes, three involved in reproduction and.. neutral, without any significant reproductive attributes. Your reproductive genders generally lived about a third to a quarter as long as the neutrals, and represented about one hundredth of your total population."

"Greater genders also reached physical maturity faster and lost mental acuity well before their final expiration age."

I nod. My current conversational companion is the veteran Darkstar who got the job of babysitting me until the Director becomes available. Perhaps most importantly, he-. Um. Oh, let's go with 'he'. Perhaps most importantly, he also gave me a Darkstar communications device, as it turns out that most Darkstar communications occur using techniques that are rather hard to eavesdrop on with a power ring.

"Okay. And your people regarded that as perfectly normal until you started encountering aliens… Humanoid aliens, whose reproductive systems didn't work like that."

"Yes. Strange though the idea of having live young erupt from your bodily orifices must have seemed, it was realised almost immediately that not condemning our progenitors to mind-rot and premature death was far more desirable than the arrangement we had."

"It was really that quick?"

"Yes. Why would it not be?"

"Because your evolutionary history would have adapted you towards accepting the way you did things already? I mean, your genetic-. Ah, your forebears' genetic parents didn't play any part in raising them, the way you did things was necessary for continuing your species…"

"Did your species never suffer deaths during childbirth?"

"Yes, but the rate was never that high."

"And did you regard a percentage as inevitable?"

"It… Kind of is."

"But you attempt to reduce them? Things that would have killed your gestators now seldom kill them?"

"Yes, but we haven't totally reengineered our reproductive systems to do it. We don't even do pre-conception genetic screening anything like as much as we could."

He rears back slightly. "That is strange to me. What is the reason?"

"I think the feeling is that it would be claiming that people with the characteristics not selected for are… Less people than the ones with the characteristics considered desirable. I mean…" I wave my left hand in a circle, showing off my power ring. "I'd have no compunction about using it if I were having a child, but… Some events that occurred in my species' history before we understood how genetics work rather gave that sort of thing a bad name. But… Anyway, how did your people get from that to this?"

"Originally we attempted to moderate the negative effects through drugs and surgery. There was some success, but there were clear limits to what could be achieved. Later, our efforts focused around reproductive cloning. Though not ideal, cloning either adult individuals or sex cells would have removed the requirement for sexed genders. Regrettably, we were unable to develop either technique to the point where it could reliably replace the existing method."

"Then you ran into the Controllers?"

"Yes. Their agents were looking for systems with small rocky worlds and they encountered one of our smaller warrens. We asked to trade for biotechnological knowledge. Two Controllers examined our problem and offered a solution."

"In exchange for your service."

"They have no need for conventional exchange media. In exchange for a reproductive system which would not kill us, we work for them for a span of time. Virtually all warrens considered it a fair exchange."

"That…"

"Are you alarmed? Some humanoid species react with great vehemence to interference in their reproductive practices."

"If you made the decision freely… No, not really. It must be fascinating how your society has changed in the interim."

"Our forebears gave the matter some considerable thought-"

There's a chime from both of our communicators.

"-before…" I rise to my feet as he uncurls into a walking posture. "The Director is ready for you. Please follow me."

He leads the way across the wide open interior space towards the internal teleportation system. While it is perfectly possible to walk around the building, the place is large enough that it would be too time consuming for the people involved. They also don't have stairwells or stairs, ramps between different floors being the norm. Probably something to do with the Clickers being the ones to build it.

"Will you be joining us?"

Flying inside appears to be a no-no. Clicker bodies aren't flexible enough to move in the way that caterpillars do, but on an even surface they can manage to move at a reasonable speed by having each foot touch the ground every third or fourth 'step', sort of like how running Humans don't have either foot on the ground for large parts of the motion.

"No, though I am being assigned to the analytics pool who will be trying to deduce what the Reach's response to your appearance will be."

"I.. hope you have fun with that."

He circles around as I step onto the teleporter. "I might. Usually new occurrences are not in our favour. Good fortune in your discussions."

I feel a tug a little like the one I felt as the ship came in, and then the room has been replaced by an office. The Director is standing at a small console in front of a circular holopit, another Controller part of the way around the circle. This Controller is dressed similarly to Jevek Jos Jar, but his robes are slightly longer and.. he has a greater physical presence. Perhaps he works out? No, more likely he maintains it through bio-control because he has to deal with fighters on a regular basis.

Noting the symmetry I walk over to a position an equal distance from both. "Director. Controller."

Director Jeddigar's eyes scrutinise my face. "Orange Lantern. Thank you for coming to see us."

"It's only sensible. I imagine that we're going to be working together quite a lot for the foreseeable future."

He nods, summoning up an image of the fight with Yellow Beetle. "You and Tarant made short work of that Scarab Warrior, but I wouldn't get too confident. From what we've been able to determine, she was probably a recent recruit. Certainly, she wouldn't ever have fought a Lantern before."

"If fighting the Reach with a power ring was easy, the Green Lantern Corps would have done it."

"Just so long as you understand that." He glances at the Controller. "This is Manu Mia Mosopo, the founder of the Darkstar organisation."

"Yes, I've gained… Some understanding of how that works in Controller society."

"I am glad." His voice sounds slightly… African, perhaps? "My interest therefore is how the organisation you hope to build and the one which I have built will exist together. I do hope that you have thought about it."

"But of course."

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th July
21:09 GMT

"Firstly, I should say that doing… The possibility of doing anything with orange light is going to depend on us being able to neutralise Larfleeze. And while Hinon Hee Hannanan sounded fairly optimistic about our chances, I wouldn't want you to assume anything."

"Of all of us, she is most familiar with the orange light. If she believes that it can be done then she is most likely correct."

"If you don't mind me asking, sir? Why haven't you gone after the Orange Central Power Battery before now?"

"It was stolen from our research centre after our split from the Guardians. If it is true that they located it and chose to allow him to keep it, they did not share that information with us."

"I'm pretty sure that I included its location on the file I sent you with the Guardian's ship."

"Yes. Along with a warning on the nature of its current owner and a recommendation that we not investigate it ourselves. I do not know what you were expecting, but we Controllers are not incapable of taking advice."

"And it was Hinon's thing."

"Waiting until she could be consulted was judged to be appropriate."

"I would be fascinated to know what the Guardians said about it."

"That they stood by the decision. That the orange light is inherently unstable and should not be used directly in the manner you intend. And that once we split from them we lost the right to be involved in their decision-making."

"Hm." I nod. "They don't intend to prevent you trying though, right?"

"They have never had the right to be involved in our decision-making."

"Fair enough." I return my attention to the Director. "If we assume that Controller Hinon and I are going to be back on Maltus in a few days with a Central Power Battery, I'd like your organisation to run psychological checks on its members for individuals who might be capable of using the orange light without going crazy. Hinon is probably better placed than me to describe what the precise trigger factors are. Once we have a list, we can request volunteers and start testing and training."

"And if they are people in vital roles in my organisation?"

"Then.. you.. should be glad that people who you know and have worked with will be playing such an important role in setting up an allied organisation. If Green Lantern recruitment is anything to go by a vanishingly small proportion of people possess the right mindset to use power rings. I'm not trying to poach your best and your brightest, I'm trying to get anyone who can use orange rings and stay sane. You just happen to have a large pool of well-trained people with detailed psychological profiles who are already motivated to fight the Reach."

The Director gives me a shallow nod. "That's… Reasonable. And how do you see these new Lanterns supporting my Darkstars in combat?"

"I don't know exactly what sort of Lantern-detection technology the Reach have. Lanterns are good at large effects, but giant glowing constructs are terrible for concealment. On the other hand, Lanterns can fight Beetles one on one."

"We could deploy a Darkstar infiltration team with a single power ring trained Operative. If they encountered a Scarab Warrior they could put the ring on and kill them, but otherwise carry on as normal."

I shake my head. "That would work… And maybe in the short term that's what we'll do. But in the longer term there are other things Lanterns can do that.. even your current generation maxim suits can't. Look, Darkstars are very good at getting onto worlds coming under or about to come under Reach control and operating there for extended periods. Heck, even attacking their naval docks further in upon occasion. But they don't have the power to fight off an actual attack, let alone push the Reach back."

"Do you know how many Lanterns it would require to do that?" He presses a button and a map of the Reach appears. "How big the Reach is?"

"Yes. And I know that we'd never get enough Lanterns to do it in time. But something I've discovered about orange rings-" My armour appears around me and I phase out and go invisible for a moment before reappearing. I take a cold gun and a purple healing ray out of subspace and brandish them. "-is that we can use them to build things. If we're going to take the war to the Reach, we're going to need a fleet. And a proper army."

He narrows his eyes slightly as he considers it. "We have ships now."

"Ships for transporting Darkstars and performing ambushes of opportunity. I'm talking about building up to the point where we can fight them openly and directly. It's an entirely different philosophy of design and action."

"If we press the Reach on one front they'll simply fortify and expand elsewhere."

I wave my left hand, an image of the worlds around Reach space appearing around the hologram. "Then we build up everywhere. We share technology, we police potential defectors-."

"If I had the people to do that I'd already be doing it."

"So we get them. Darkstars require very specific training, instruction and equipment. To say nothing of Controllers personally empowering their exo-mantles."

"That will become less draining once we have a Central Power Battery with which to replenish ourselves."

"A standard navy won't have that problem. We can pass technology to worlds under Reach threat… Not immediately threatened, but in the next decade or so. Build them up and coordinate them."

"A division of responsibility. Each part doing the thing it can do best while coordinating with the rest."

"Somewhat optimistically, yes. The Darkstars would keep doing what they do best-."

"While no longer being put into situations where they need to do things which they cannot." He nods slowly. "I admit, I had been preparing myself to compete with you and your Lantern Corps."

And nothing I said had anything to do with me seeing that clearly with empathic vision, no not at all.

"But this sounds like an arrangement I can support. Tell me, do you have someone in mind for organising this fleet?"

"Yes. But I'm holding off on making contact with him until after we get control of the Orange Central Power Battery, because without it we're not in a position to create the post."

"And what place is there in your grand vision for we Controllers?"

"We'll need rings, ships and equipment. And I understand that you can reshape matter on vast scales."

"I can accept that in good humour. But I imagine that my brethren will want an organisation they can control."

"Except they defer to you on matters concerning the Darkstars, and to Controller Hinon on matters concerning me. We're fighting a fight they want fought, one which will earn them the acclaim that the Green Lantern Corps has earned the Guardians. If they wanted operatives incapable of having their own initiative then they shouldn't have voted to destroy the Manhunters."

The gem on his chest crackles slightly. "I would recommend not making that particular observation to the other Controllers."

"I shouldn't need to make it. Give good orders and people will follow them. Demonstrate sagacity and people will listen to what you have to say. Do things for people and they will feel grateful. Do not demand obedience as your right; show that you've earned it and continue to earn it."

"I should meet with this.. 'individual' you have in mind for Grand Admiral as soon as possible. With you as head of the Orange Lantern Corps-."

I shake my head. "Ah, no. I don't have the administrative skills for that. I can teach other Lanterns and I can fight, but the job requires abilities I don't have. I was planning to recruit someone for that as well."

"Very well. You have my provisional support. I will begin the vetting process you requested."

"Thank you."

Now all I need to do is defeat Larfleeze. And how hard can that be?

 

[Mr Zoat]

20th July
17:48 GMT

"So how hard is this going to be?"

We're standing at the entrance to a small amphitheatre, the stalls around us populated by Controllers. I'm not completely sure whether this is all of the Controllers, or just all the ones on Maltus or even just the ones who could be bothered to turn up. Most look roughly like Controller Jevek, though there is a degree of individual variation. Longer robes and slightly softer face here, shorter and with hair there. Skin colour ranges from Guardian blue to purply-red and hair comes in black and white with nothing in between.

The general style of the robes appears to be set, but precise length, cut and colouration vary in a number of cases. The glowing crystal and glowing forehead are universal, though the one Controller Hinon wears is dimmer as she draws power from her ring. There are far more males than females… But I'm wondering if some of those I mentally designated as 'male' are actually gender neutral.

"I really couldn't say for certain." Hinon looks down at her ring. "Oh, if only Ganthet was answering me. We always worked so well together."

"Sorry, but I think they blacklisted orange rings."

"I'll go and bother him in person later. We will need to send a formal deputation once everything's up and running, and I do so want to see what they've done with Oa since I've been gone."

"Made lots of green stuff."

"But all of the people! I find it astonishing to think that they're prepared to tolerate an actual population when-. Oh, they're ready for us." The portal melts away in front of us to allow us access. "Follow me."

She floats through the air, feet trailing a little behind her as she goes. I fly after her while maintaining my upright posture. I didn't think that armour was appropriate, but with my initial impression made I've switched to grey robes with orange trim. I've only met a few of the Controllers while I've been here, and I'm not… I left Earth after haranguing the Justice League. Superman has been the iconic superhero on Earth Prime since the forties and I didn't think twice. So while even Guy hesitates to make cracks about the Guardians, to me? They're.. just some people in robes.

Maybe I'd feel differently if they weren't jamming my empathic vision…

Hinon occupies the centre and looks up and around at her fellow Controllers. "Brethren. You've all had the chance to consider the matter under contention. The Orange Lantern and I have given the matter a considerable degree of thought, and we believe that we have a methodology which offers us the best possible chance to recover the Orange Light Fountain. And neutralise its present owner."

There's a flash from the gem at the neck of one of the blue-skinned female Controllers. "The Guardians?"

Jevek's gem glitters. "What does it matter? The Vega Systems have been off-limits to the Green Lanterns since their inception. And now we know why." He looks around the room. "The light will be ours. The Controllers will be in control."

Another flicker from another Controller. "The continuous presence of Green Lanterns on the borders of Reach space slows the Reach advance. It would be advantageous for them to remain."

Another. "Alienating our Guardian brethren would serve no useful purpose, but it is a secondary matter. The orange light must be recovered and put to our use."

One of Jevek's look-alikes. "How do you intend to remove the Orange Light Fountain from Larfleeze's control? Your equations indicated that after so much direct exposure he will have become even more powerful than he was when he enslaved our brother Ogandu Onna Oslan."

"I'm glad you ask." Hinon raises her right hand and generates… I think that's the Maltus version of Atlantean rune equations. "I won't know for certain until we can observe him directly, but I believe that I have a model for how Larfleeze could survive his experiences, even remaining capable of coherent speech. The most likely possibility is that he had what we might call a natural affinity for avarice, for seeing everything in terms of wants and needs. Without anything very much to get in the way of it, the orange light could form a most intense bond with him. At this point I'm not certain he needs either ring or lantern."

A glimmer from Jevek. "But his link can be severed."

"Yes. With difficulty. Over time. In the short term we're going to attempt to neutralise his capacity to focus his desires on any one object, and so paralyse him. That should enable us to transfer the Light Fountain into a proper Central Power Battery housing."

"And we can control the link. Cut him off."

"Perhaps. Eventually. If we actually want to do that, we'd have to wean him off it and then feed in other colours gradually. It wouldn't be a quick process."

I form an orange gem on my own chest and forehead and flash it before anyone else can get in. "Yes, we do want to. Orange light damage is something we're going to end up having to treat amongst Orange Lanterns. We don't need crazy ones running around the place and making the rest of us look bad. Anything we learn from treating the worst case in existence would be invaluable in that regard."

"If it is inevitable, how did you manage?"

"I didn't-."

"Very weak desires, possibly aided by his lack of an attendant arcane construct. There was so little opportunity for the egress of orange energy that he had nearly enough time to learn to channel it without being overwhelmed." She brings up another chart. Me, presumably. "Then he had a construct created in such a way that it would encourage proper interfacing. Unfortunately, for those future Lanterns not fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time in high magic regions, it won't be practical to use it on others."

And also because you'd need to destroy their existing souls in order to do so.

"Larfleeze's current slaves?"

"Once we disrupt him, he should become listless and apathetic. He won't be able to direct them."

"I would very much like to see if restoring them is possible. If nothing else, Ogandu Onna Oslan's restoration to flesh would assist us in maintaining good relations with the Guardians."

Various Controllers look around the room, and there's a shining of gems.

Then a short, Guardian-looking one nods. "We have a consensus. You are to proceed. We will begin constructing a Central Power Battery and holding cell in line with your specifications."

Hinon looks pleased. "Thank you, brothers. The Orange Lantern and I will make our final preparations and depart."

She turns and heads back towards the door, me close at her heels. She eyes me sidelong as the door closes. "I thought you weren't going to talk."

"You told me not to. It isn't quite the same thing."

"Starting as you mean to go on?"

"Yes. I told you that I don't intend for the Controllers to completely control the Orange Lantern Corps in the way that the Guardians do the Green."

"And I agreed that their sort of control wouldn't work with orange light users. But we need to lure the other Controllers into accepting that situation. Tempt them into committing to it fully."

I give my head a small shake. "What's left to do?"

"I want to check the system with the Ophidian once more. Then, nothing. We're off to see the Beast."

"'We'? I thought you were keeping out of sight?"

She pats me on the shoulder. "I'll be with you in spirit. Ready to begin again more intelligently if you lose."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21th July
02:57 GMT

Space bends around-.

"Are you sure you wouldn't-?"

"I'm sure."

03:04 GMT

Space bends-.

"I'm perfectly capable of-?"

"I know."

03:21 GMT

"You did say that it took you mere moments-?"

Space continues to bend around us, despite Hinon trying to be a back seat Controller.

"Yes. It did. I had been waiting to come and see you for a long time and the Reach represented the perfect mix of acceptable targets and no one I knew being in the firing line. My drive to return for a showdown with Larfleeze is much weaker."

"I would have thought that you would want to get it out of your way."

"Not really. On two occasions I have outthought Larfleeze, now I'm deliberately confronting him in a situation where I can't do that and where his advantages are strongest."

"I will eat the Gnat!"

"Not a good idea. I still don't really understand how he trapped you in the first place, but I would not want to rely on a technique we suspect that he can beat." Hinon looks around from where the Ophidian swims through space just behind us. "I don't remember her being that affectionate."

"Remember? You.. met her before?"

"Yes. Krona insisted on studying each of the Embodiments. We didn't find them all… Though, now that I consider what he's been up to while I was indisposed, perhaps he just didn't tell the rest of us."

"I do not remember you."

"I didn't look quite as I do now. I wore my hair long. And-."

"Warp terminating in three, two, one."

Normal space snaps back into being around us. We're just a little outside of the Moat. Ring update-.

"It seems that your recent travails remain largely unnoticed. Pirates are staying calm and the Citadel isn't doing much of anything. Oh, my word, this region used to be a lot quieter. There's some lovely music coming out of-."

"What are you… Doing?"

"Getting out and about for the first time in three billion years. I've already reviewed everything on the database you gave me." She looks me in the eyes. "You know that party trick some AIs like to do to show off to organic creatures, processing a few hundred lines of communication all at the same time?"

"The AIs I've met have been patterned after Humans."

"Ah. Well, one of the many things we Maltus-originating groups can do is process data in a similar way. Not multi-threading so much as multifaceted awareness. We're rather clever, you see."

"So you just..?"

"Checked out the entire region, yes. Except the area on Okaara you warned me about. It's so convenient to be facing people who aren't quite so good at countering our technology as the Reach are."

"The Construct-Lanterns?"

"A few are still loitering around Hny'xx, but as far as I can tell the rest have gone back to Okaara."

"And Larfleeze isn't reacting to the Ophidian?"

"Not so far as I can tell. I think my device is working." An orange line appears in space. "Check for me?"

I fly past the line, then turn around and raise my left hand. "Scan for orange light."

"Not found."

And I can see the Embodiment of Avarice just behind Hinon. Whatever that device is doing it isn't blocking my empathic vision… Any more than she was by default, at least.

"And visible light?"

"Power ring-like object and Ophidian-like object found."

"I wasn't trying to stop visible light. Now, come on." She flies past me. "We have a Light Fountain to acquire."

"People on my homeworld can do that with a bit of paper and a circuit pen."

"People from your homeworld should try doing that in a low magic environment. My device-" She holds up the machine, which resembles two glowing metallic Frisbees stuck together. "-should function anywhere."

"Alright. Ring, plot course for Okaara."

"Course plotted."

"Warp."

Space bends again, and a moment later Okaara lies before us.

"Doesn't look like much."

"They had a nuclear war. And a Larfleeze. I got the impression that several challengers stopped off in various places to get some practice in."

"And Larfleeze lives.. down.. there."

"Even during what is now referred to as 'The Time of X'Hal', no one dared launch weapons anywhere near it. There are a few plant species that survive there that no longer exist anywhere else on Okaara."

"Yes, so I see. If everything goes wrong, try not to destroy them. Now." She passes me a device which looks a little like a pair of headphones. "Put this on Larfleeze when you reach him. That should keep him in a daze until we can come back for him. Getting the Orange Light Well is your only objective."

"I know. Alright, wish me-."

"Oh." Something occurs to her. "And thank you for not making any Sleeping Beauty references. I understand that they're culturally expected, but I used to be a Guardian and I fear that my sense of humour will never quite recover."

"Ah..."

"Off you go. Shoo. I'll be waiting for you outside to receive Larfleeze."

"Right. Although, in case I do die... I think that I'm glad that you're not still a Guardian." She gives me a look of mild reproach. "Going."

I drop towards the planet, the thin air around me burning as I fall towards the small fort the Okaarans maintain to observe the Forest of Weeds.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21th July
03:52 GMT

Invisible and phased I float through the Forbidden Forest of Weeds. No sign that anyone has been this way… Ever. It turns out that it's called the Forbidden Forest of Weeds because a plant that is a combination of ivy and Japanese Knotweed covers… Pretty much the whole place. And it pretty much defines the ecosystem as well; just glancing around I can see four different types of creepy crawly feeding on it or cutting through it for building material. As far as I can tell it attaches itself parasitically to the local tree-analogs somewhere near the top and then drapes down, wrapping itself around anything it can reach. It's extinct everywhere else on the planet.

Lovely place. The way the canopy of leaves and vines almost completely blocks out the light really adds to the ambience.

I think I'm dithering, but at least I'm dithering with a purpose. The fort told me where the 'orange ghosts' usually appear from, but no one knows exactly where Larfleeze lives due to him killing everyone who comes looking for him. His presence here predates the Time of X'Hal and while they could do geophysics scans… Why poke the monster? I'm not using ring-scans for much the same reason.

I remember from the comics that the Controllers brushed aside a group of Okaarans on their way in, then went through the Forest and into a cave complex. Assuming the people in the fort were the same as the ones they barged through in the comic that was another example of Maltusian-descendant highhandedness. All I had to do was ask. They're not here to stop people, just give warning to the rest of the planet of anything Larfleeze does.

Thinking about it, that might well have been what killed the Controllers' comic counterparts as well. If they'd thought to stop and ask, they would have gained some idea of what they were walking into. Then again, if they'd done that they might have lost their Worf Effect awa-.

I see a flicker of orange through the foliage. I stop dead, increasing my armour's magnification…

That's a weird one. Sort of… Undead Battle-Dragonfly-Wasp? It appears to be drifting somewhat aimlessly, its construct-body rippling slightly as it phases through the tree trunks. I'm not seeing any other orange light… I could try usurping Larfleeze's control-. No. Ah. It came from that direction, so I'll try that way. At least I can check whether my stealth systems are achieving anything.

I drift closer. Its flight pattern isn't so much erratic as odd, swooping in one direction and then stopping dead before reorientating and surging into a swoop in the new direction. An apparently random movement causes it to head towards me and I float back, tensing as its… Is that a head? I don't have a record of this species and it isn't immediately obvious where its sensory organs are. One, two… And it carries on its way.

Okay. Scry wards are a problem for other people as well, good to know.

Ring, if you can do it using visible light scans only, try and work out if there's any pattern to how it's flying.

Compliance.

So this way.

I accelerate, not even flinching as I pass through trees and vines. Come on, caves, tunnels… Some sort of building..? There aren't that many areas within the Forest that should have caves. Wrong sort of soil and rock for the most part. On the other hand, it wouldn't have been hard for Larfleeze to just transmute whatever was around him… Ugh, a proper stealth search of this place could take days. I can't go faster in case I miss something and I can't do wide area scans in case Larfleeze picks up on it.

Some sort of ridgeline up ahead, the vines trailing down its side turning what looks like a sheer slope into something that would probably be climbable. Assuming that the vines held. I'll break away from my search pattern to look along its entire length, and then circle…

That bit looks darker than the rest.

Might just be a natural cleft in the rock, but I need to take a closer look. I alter my approach angle and accelerate again, moving through the outer layers of still-living vine, through the dead and hardened layer serving as their support framework and…

The passageway within is roughly-hewn, the floor covered in loose soil with a few ragged plants trying to grow in the faint light which pierces the vine-curtain. No orange. Ring, visible light enhancement.

Compliance.

The passageway continues downwards and to the right. If there were once steps here they've been eroded down or covered over long ago, but the fact that the cave moves steadily in a particular direction suggest that this isn't a natural tunnel. Could be a large creature of some kind, but there aren't any of that sort native to Okaara and I imagine that Larfleeze would have killed it by now anyway.

Accelerate.

The passageway continues for about fifty metres and then starts to head downwards at a steep incline. From the look of the rocks making up the side wall I'd say that whoever made it was trying to go around a patch of harder rock. Maybe it… Originally followed the path of natural caves and then got widened out? I'm definitely well below the surface level now. Yes, this is… Going to be it. Somewhere at the end of this tunnel is Larfleeze and the Orange Central… Light Fountain. I'm a little surprised that I'm not feeling drawn to it, but I genuinely can't feel a thing-.

I notice that I'm slowing down and make an effort to speed up.

The end of the passage ahead is dark, and I briefly wonder if it's a dead end. I'd be surprised, but...

No. Not a dead end.

The cavern-. No, the chamber beyond the end of the tunnel is vast in all dimensions. There are shallow stone stairs leading downwards to the floor twenty metres below me, and from there great pillars rise up a good sixty metres to support the chamber roof. The walls themselves have crumbled in places to reveal the rock and earth beneath, but in those places where they remain whole I can see pictograms in dozens of forms… A quick analysis from the ring shows a few to be taken from the myth cycles of species not native to this region of space. The others… The best the ring's translation system can do is translate concepts with no context. Wealth. Travelling.

Danger.

Stalactites point down from the ceiling, their mirrors on the ground appearing to be permitted to reach only a short height before being smashed down. I can see where two pillars have also suffered the same fate, the stump of one flattened to serve as a… Table? There are broken bits of bone on the upper surface and scattered around the base. The other has been left as a jagged spike of stone.

Scattered here and there are small braziers and fire pits, though at the moment only one or two still burn. The rest are only marked by blackened smears of ash and charred wood.

Not that seeing is a problem with all of the Construct-Lanterns around.

A woman with no eyes and a distended jaw floats in the air to my right. A regal looking… Thing floats in the centre of the chamber, near to the roof. Others sit, stand or float in all parts of the ro-.

Oh shit that's-! No. Oh, goodness me. Not Larfleeze. Looks like a member of the same species, but… Just another Construct-Lantern. And-. Oh, I recognise that one! That's Glomulus! None of them are.. reacting to me. Good stuff…

I drift out into the room, taking care not to get too close to any of them. I'm not seeing Blume. Is he too big to fit in this room? Certainly, he would be too big to fit down the tunnel I came in through. Also… I look around again, spotting for the first time that from this side the tunnel entrance is marked with the orange sigil. None of this is what I saw when I called to the Ophidian. No piles of jewels or other valuables. And all of the orange light is coming from the Construct-Lanterns. Given that I'm here for the Orange Light Fountain…

He hasn't moved it, has he? That would be a bit of a bother.

A flicker of light as a Wurm-like Construct-Lantern emerges from an opening in the wall draws my attention to a side passage. Okay. Time to do some exploring.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st July
04:01 GMT

Narrow confines. Marvellous.

At least the glow will give me plenty of warning if any of the construct Lanterns come this way. The walls of this tunnel are far rougher than the one leading to the main chamber. I wonder how he made them? A ring-blast wouldn't be a good idea for tunnelling, cutting would require a degree of precision I'm not sure that Larfleeze is capable of… Did he get his Construct-Lanterns to dig it out by hand? Or… Maybe a pre-existing natural cave? The Okaarans didn't have any records of what this place was before Larfleeze made it his home. It certainly doesn't look Guardian…

Orange light ahead, and an opening into a large chamber. I stop for a moment to make sure that no Construct Lanterns are heading my way, then move forwards to the very mouth of the opening.

Oh my.

Make that a very large chamber, far larger than the first room. Three things immediately draw my attention. The first is an unknowable depth of stuff on the floor. I see precious metal and jewels along with the occasional weapon and.. what I can best describe as lumps of machinery. Parts of starships, something that looks a.. little like a windmill. All things that a covetous being like Larfleeze would want. This is the chamber I saw in my visions.

Atop the valuables and detritus lie orange power rings. Dozens, certainly. My ring quickly counts 137 visible ones but the piles imply that there are more beneath. A person could start a Lantern Corps with that many, if he were willing to overlook that they used to be people. Between those piles… Biological matter. I didn't think to ask whether the First Ring had a bio-filter. If it doesn't, quite a lot of that is probably Larfleeze's shit. There are also bones… I think those are the shells of exoskeleton-bearing creepy crawlies. Some of the rest… Plant matter? There are small swarms of insects making the refuse piles their home and I can see eggs and maggots too.

I am rather glad that I can't smell like this.

The second thing I notice is Blume. The size of this room is such that he isn't the overwhelming presence that he would be somewhere smaller-. Wait a moment, he stole my cash pile six months ago… Quick check… Yep, a small portion of this is my property. I guess he picked it up and brought it back here. Somehow. Long range warp-vacuuming is well within the abilities of a being like Larfleeze. Or maybe he recalled Blume for long enough to drop it off and then sent him back?

Blume isn't alone. Two significantly smaller Construct Lanterns also stand guard over Larfleeze's treasury. One is a vaguely Twi'lek-looking woman floating at something approaching parade rest near the cavern's ceiling. The second is closer to the glittering floor of the cave, a bandage-wreathed humanoid. As I watch he moves from one pile of rings to another, his single eye darting from ring to ring as if taking an audit.

None of them react to me. Blume has a wide variety of non-standard senses in addition to being a Lantern. If he isn't reacting I think that I can assume that I'm good as far as being spotted is concerned.

Which is good, because the third thing I see is Larfleeze.

There's a finger of rock poking out through the piles of stuff near the centre of the room, the upper point about eight metres above me. Orange power rings are scattered around it, a few resting on the spire at various points where they've been knocked aside and happen to have come to rest. Somewhere near the top and just outside my line of sight is a brilliant orange glow which I sincerely hope is the Orange Light Fountain. Closer than that, Larfleeze twitches in his sleep, curled up on the top of the bare rock promontory.

As I watch, his right hand rises to swat at some of the insects buzzing around him.

Hinon was right, his ring does look kind of rubbish. My own ring has a slightly recessed bezel with the sigil resting on it flush to the rest of it, and being made in a slightly different shade of orange. His looks like it was made of a single piece, having a uniform colour and the sigil clearly sticking out from a thicker hoop.

Okay.

That's Larfleeze.

…

I float forwards slightly, then begin rising up. Ring, monitor the other three and the opening as best you can with my armour's optical systems.

Compliance.

My right hand shakes inside my armour as I take hold of Hinon's device. My breathing gets faster, and I daren't do what I normally do and have the ring restore it to my resting rate.

That's Larfleeze.

"Sngrghgrahgrah…"

Larfleeze twitches again, his snout wrinkling and his breath coming in snorts. I stop dead.

Anything else..?

His right arm thrusts out, waving around until his hand touches the handle of-. Yep, that's the Orange Light Fountain alright. The design is even more archaic than what my personal lantern used to look like when it belonged to Alan. It's even doing the same flaming-effect lightshow thing his ring does when it's fully charged, though the orange flames are bolder and brighter. Larfleeze's fingers brush against the Light Fountain's flame-wreathed handle for a moment, an orange glow running along his arm and into his torso.

"Recharge complete. One hundred thousand percent regular charge available."

"Sngrgh."

His ring's voice is slow, masculine. Ring, is that Krona's voice?

Words spoken in ancient Maltusian dialect. However, no record of Krona's voice on file.

Okay, nothing else… Just got to approach the most dangerous Lantern ever and hope that he doesn't wake up. And that if he wakes up that he can't see me. And that if he can see me, then… I don't know.

I asked Hinon about doing something to the Light Fountain to weaken their connection, but she didn't think it would be possible in the field. I'm.. really wishing that she'd answered differently.

I drift a little closer, the armour's sensors combining with my ring to give me a really detailed view of Larfleeze's face. He isn't blocking my empathic vision, but all that I'm getting is orange. Deep orange, bright orange, connected to more and more orange. There's so much of it that I can't even make out details. I can't tell anything about his life, his past desires, why he… Did this to himself. The only thing I can see within is a clear picture of the Light Fountain, and even that is diffuse, spread out and connected to the rest of that… That mess of a soul.

I'm about four metres away now. Close enough that if I wasn't phased I'd be able to hear his breathing. My left hand strays to the hilt of the Sword of the Fallen. From this distance… A short lunge. I know the Sword nullifies lantern power; I've sent Praexis Demons to oblivion with it. Whatever power he's built up, it'll vanish like everything else. Shorn of that energy his meat body is about as vulnerable as everyone else's. A stab to the head or a decapitation stroke… Heck, just hitting his ring or cutting it off should be enough.

No. There but for the grace of Eris go the rest of us. And she's not the most graceful.

I move my left hand away from the Sword and extend my right, holding it so that it's over Larfleeze's head. Little closer, little closer…

A twitch and I back up two metres.

No, sometimes a twitch is just a twitch.

I take a quick look at the exit and the three Construct Lanterns. No change.

Right.

I float around Larfleeze until I'm directly behind him, then lower the device onto his head. There's a tiny shimmer as it moves fully into phase…

I back up. It won't make much difference if he wakes up, but-.

Larfleeze's eyes snap open!

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st July
04:08 GMT

BACKUPBACKUPBACKUP!

I'm already on the far side of the chamber before his eyelids reach the limits of his eye sockets.

PLEASEWORKPLEASEWORKPLEASEWORK!

Larfleeze blinks slowly.

"Uugh?"

The Construct Lanterns turn to face him.

Okay, okay, even if he's free and aware, there's still a good chance that he isn't aware of me.

He blinks, turning slightly so that he can see the Light Fountain.

…

And that's it. His… His eyes are open…

I float around the room, not coming any closer to him or the Construct Lanterns than I have to. He's breathing slowly, his eyes are unfocused… Empathic vision shows… His desires are.. sort of.. smoosh.. y…

It worked.

It wor-. No, time for patting Hinon and myself on the back later. First, I need to check. I float upwards, taking a container from my armour's torso and stopping once I'm more or less in Larfleeze's line of sight. We weren't exactly sure what Larfleeze would most value, so we threw in a few possibilities. The gold and platinum coins, small amounts of element x and stellarium were Hinon's contribution. The bowl of beef stew was mine. Yeah, looking at him now… I don't know what Larfleeze's species considers good looking. Or even how they normally look. I mean, my body is totally hairless and that isn't normal for Human males. But while he doesn't exactly look unhealthy, there isn't much fat on him, and his fur looks… Unhealthy, matted, greasy. If I had to guess, I'd say that he hasn't been getting anything like the nutrients that he needs and his ring isn't getting told clearly what it should do about it.

Okay. I hold out the container and activate its spatial grip. That's a lot harder to detect than an anti-gravity device, but he still might be able to… No, looks like that's safe. Delay ten seconds and then back the heck off again.

And wait.

I'm at the far-interior of the room here and-. Oh, that's how Blume gets out. There's a very clearly discoloured part of the ceiling, the outline making a circle which would be large enough for him to pass through. He must have just shoved it out of the way and then put it back into place. Larfleeze must have been aggrieved enough to allow his treasure-trove to be momentarily exposed.

The container shifts back into phase. A couple of Blume's tentacles twitch but neither of the other two Construct Lanterns respond. And Larfleeze himself? No response. Okay. A few seconds more… The container releases small platforms, spatially locked in the same way that it is. Coins, ingots and the bowl of food. If he's actually aware of it, the scent alone…

Nothing.

Some of the orange within him moves a little, but it's sluggish and meandering. He wants as much as he ever did, but without being able to focus on any one…

Right. Next step. Depending on what instructions he's given the Construct Lanterns… Or does he not allow them that much independence? I… Don't remember any but Gromulus having any initiative in the comics. Have to hope…

I phase in, remaining invisible.

No response from Bandages or Twi'lek. Or Larfleeze, which is the main thing. Blume's tentacles twitch and he rises off the ground slightly. He doesn't seem to be behaving aggressively but I'm pretty confident that he just became aware of me. But that's okay; if Jordan and company could take him I'm pretty sure that I can.

And drop invisibility and raise railguns! And set the ring to take control of my body again. Oh, better, much better. My heart and lungs are now moving at a reasonable speed and the sweat disappears from my armour's interior. No response from Twi'lek or Larfleeze, a low murmuring from Blume as he rotates in my direction and Bandages is heading right for me. Two railguns immediately focus their attention on him. Can he recognise the threat? He slows so I'm going to assume so, his one eye staring madly at me.

Ring. Scan.

The orange pseudo-flames around the Orange Light Fountain flicker and then flare as my ring fills me in on the state of my environment. The pit below us is deep and filled with all sorts of interesting things. There are also others buried further beneath the rock through other tunnels. Some are sealed, perhaps from when Larfleeze went through a paranoid stage. Genetic material… Fresh meat. Looks like some Citadelians came in here recently and were killed rather than being assimilated.

Guess Larfleeze was hungry.

"Thief."

Looks like Blume remembers me. I keep one railgun pointed at bandages while the rest point at him.

"Lantern Blume." Tentacles wiggle and twitch, but unlike our first encounter his mouth remains narrow. "Do you want something?"

"I..." He shudders and actually fades slightly. "I think..." He turns, his eyes glazed, and floats away from me.

Oh flip the heck yes.

I cautiously move towards Larfleeze. Nothing. Great. Now, Hinon thought that the one thing that might break him out of it would be me taking the Orange Light Fountain from him, and having looked into him earlier I think she might well be right. We certainly don't want him storming Maltus to try and recapture it. Which.. means that we have to remove them both together. Hopefully, without his direction the rest will just float around listlessly as Blume is doing -and gosh he's big in a confined environment- and not follow us. Otherwise I'll have to use the Sword on them. Hinon was pretty clear that she didn't think they could ever be turned back…

Still no reaction from my main target. I would so very much like to pull this off without any fighting. I mean, I would have to try and kill him, and… The sheer number of things he must have seen in three billion years of life…

The flames from the Light Well are billowing, almost… Reaching out towards me. Larfleeze himself still looks fairly out of it. Okay, construct platform underneath him and lift… Still no reaction, good, need to keep him near it…

Making sure that he has an unobstructed view of it, I gently place my gauntleted hands on its outer case.

…

Huh. Nothing. No sudden super surge of desire, no burst of short-termism. Either that means that enlightenment makes me proof against it… Or I've managed to become sufficiently 'productively insane' that the difference isn't noticeable.

"U-ugh."

Larfleeze reaches out weakly for the Light Well… No harm in it I suppose. I gently lay it on the construct platform next to him and he curls up lightly around it.

Okay! Both objectives secure for now. Time to get the heck out of here. I don't warp -I'm not doing that until Hinon can check that her device is really working as advertised- but I drop my railgun constructs and fly very rapidly through the treasure chamber, along the tunnel, out through the entrance chamber where the Construct Lanterns have stopped still and out through the entrance tunnel. Larfleeze doesn't react until we break through into the tree-shaded air, and even then only to wince and blink as a stray beam of sunlight strikes his eyes.

"Orange Lantern to Controller Hinon. Mission successful."

"Good show. Come up above the canopy and I'll take a look at the 'Beast'."

Orange filaments pierce the foliage above me, shoving it aside as I rise into clear view. No local aircraft go anywhere near this place. I see Hinon in the distance, then up close as she warps to me in order to look at Larfleeze.

"Oh.. what.. a.. mess. "

"Will it hold?"

"With a little help from me. If you focus on getting us-."

"Warning: avarice detected."

What-?

I get a construct barrier up just fast enough to block an orange energy pulse as four Citadelian Orange Lanterns appear just above us.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st July
04:15 GMT

The universe slows as they open fire.

Energy pulses rather than beams. They're firing them directly from their rings. Firing directly at me and not at Larfleeze or Hinon. Hinon isn't blasting me, which implies that she didn't set a trap for me. No, she's shielding Larfleeze. Sensible. The Citadelians are aiming and shooting not charging in stupidly. They waited until Larfleeze was down before attacking. No implants-

Bolts begin striking my barrier as construct armour appears around my body.

-visible, which means that they're either lightly modified or unmodified. But their behaviour is too intelligent for that. New Breed, produced in the facility I destroyed. Larfleeze wouldn't let people have rings, so-. They got them due to my summoning. And had the sense to sit on them and not put them on straight away.

I begin forming railguns.

Was Admiral Drolyk just fishing for information? They didn't know how to use them safely? Or know if they could? The Emperor wouldn't have wanted to move out until his new generation soldiers were ready anyway, so they weren't pressed for time… Empathic vision shows… Desire to follow orders and make the Citadel great. Must be why my barrier is holding out so well; they don't know me well enough to want me dead in a personal way.

I jam my complete railgun constructs through my own barrier and fire a one-two combination of a crumbler round followed by a tungsten at the closest. He doesn't have a barrier or construct armour of his own. Neophyte. No experience. The crumbler strikes home, impacting on the left side of his chest. At this speed I can watch both the physical force from the impact move across his armour and flesh and the crumble effect itself propagate across the surrounding matter. He's already reeling in the air as the tungsten round strikes the hole its predecessor created, blasting through the exposed wound. Normally it would overpenetrate, but as I fired as fast as I could rather than letting the power build up it isn't moving anything like as fast as it might have. Combined with the Citadel's high quality infantry armour-

"ARHHHHHHH..!"

-the result is the round bouncing off the inside of his back armour and being deflected back into his body. A perfectly manageable wound for someone with self-preservation instincts and an orange power ring, but he'll struggle to do anything else for the time being.

Mental pathway damage limit reached. Acceleration discontinued.

Even as I move my railguns to the next target, they're putting up barriers. Three barriers cover all three effectives as the one I shot falls from the sky. Shock rather than death, though I didn't specifically tell Drolyk that rings could be used medicinally. Are they assuming that he's dead, or just that they don't have time to help him during combat? Of course, if they don't know that he can heal himself I'm not going to tell them. Construct armour complete I drop my outer barrier and generate another couple of railguns.

"Would you care to explain to me what this is about?"

They hesitate for a moment as their brother crashes through the canopy. Citadelians are tough, but combined with the internal damage he's going to need to fix himself quickly. Then the one slightly closer to me floats forwards slightly.

"Fight test."

"Don't feel obliged to keep your answer to two words."

"After Larfleeze attacked our facility on Hny'xx and you fled rather than face him, the Emperor was concerned that you could not fulfil your part in any bargain we of the Citadel Empire made with you." He looks over to where Hinon is checking on our prisoner. "You didn't fight Larfleeze. We needed to know that you had the stomach for combat."

…

They don't know that was intentional on my part. They think I might still be interested in dealing with them. But… If the Emperor has Lanterns under his command he could just rebuild what Larfleeze destroyed. Unless he doesn't know that he can do that.

"I do. I also have the intelligence to realise that it isn't always the best approach."

He nods. "Good. The Emperor approves."

They might not have developed good Lantern combat skills yet but they've got pretty good focus and coherence. I'm still confident that I could beat them-. Kill them. As long as there aren't any more. And it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the Emperor kept a ring for himself. But what happens if they decide to visit Larfleeze's cave while I'm gone? Even if I left my own Construct-Lanterns, a well equipped strike force could penetrate and get an awful lot of rings. I had been assuming that a fear of the place would keep anyone away, at least for long enough for us to go there and back.

"And?"

"And he wishes to make his offer again. Join us. Instruct us to fight as you do. Lead his fleets and his armies as his mightiest warrior. The universe can be ours!"

"And if I say 'no'?"

The three of them look at each other for a moment, then back at me. The closest one shru-.

BLOUGHDUGHDOFF!

Uh. I push myself upright in the trench my impact just dug into the Somewhat Less Forbidden Forest of Weeds, the trees around me torn and shattered by the force of my impact. Construct armour held, just about. I generate a new set from beneath and let what's left of the old construct flake away. Giant orange beam. Didn't come from the three talking to me or the one who fell. And it was fast, relativistically fast. I remember from the Stewart ring's database that humanoids generally can't fight like that as they can't get their head around the principles involved well enough. I can just about do it myself -out of combat at least- but there's no way that a rookie Lantern with no database could. Maybe their ring was made from a non-humanoid?

I add a bubble barrier and generate small railgun and cold gun constructs, charging the railgun's capacitors in preparation.

"And what was that in aid of?!"

The three Citadelians drift in my direction, moving apart from one another. They're not surrounding me as yet…

"I felt that perhaps they were not being clear."

Orange light flares in mid-air, and when it clears another Citadelian Orange Lantern is revealed. This one looks older and far more grizzled, grey streaks from old scars visible against the blue-black of his skin. No implants. Odd. An early prototype, perhaps?

"You will work with us, or you will die and we will continue our work without you."

Construct armour flares into being around him, and a beam from his ring hits the dying warrior I shot and knits his chest back together. The warrior jerks into a sitting position, hands grabbing at the former site of his injury.

"Emperor Damyn, I presume."

The old warrior gapes at me for a moment before throwing his head back. "HAHAHA! Damyn, you think me Damyn?! Hah!" He wipes his eyes with his right hand. "This is what happens when your entire species is cloned! No, Orange Lantern, I am not Damyn, and I will dispense with the illusion that he is in command of my empire soon enough."

Then who-?

"You're the First."

"Yes indeed! The first Citadelian, formed by the womb of X'Hal and the technology of the Psions. For so long I have been reduced to directing my people through their implants, my own aged body barely ticking over, but now..! Now I lead and fight and kill once more with my own hands! Restored by this wonderful ring!"

He brings the ring he wears on his right middle finger to his lips and kisses it.

"We are a perfect match for the orange light, not merely one people but different iterations of a single person! I would ask you once more to serve me, but we both know that you will not." He points his ring at me. "Now die."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st July
04:19 GMT

His right hand glows and a spatial lensing effect appears to warp the background but I'm already moving. My crumbler round fires at full power, slamming into the construct armour covering his head even as his own beam flashes out and blasts a hole into the ground behind me. His visor fails, causing him to pull his head back slightly in surprise. As I fire my cold gun he raises his left arm and forms a shield construct, blocking the shot.

Not ablative as the construct armour I use when sparring with Guy and John is, but modular. One part can fail while the rest remains strong. That's actually quite-.

Energy pulses strike my bubble shield as the First pulls back, his escort advancing behind their own floating palisade shields. Not a problem. Just keep moving and-.

A shockwave of orange radiates outwards from the First, his escort shooting upwards just before it reaches them. I immediately mirror their action, simultaneously charging and firing my railgun at the closest. His palisade evaporates where I hit but the younger Citadelians have armoured themselves. Okay. I transition behind them and reload my first railgun while forming a second-.

"Yaarh!"

The Citadelian I shot earlier transitions into my bubble barrier, stabbing with.. an Nth metal cutlass. The bubble buckles and bursts as he fortifies the armour around his right shoulder and barges towards me. I retrain my railguns and dart left, getting a clear shot at the unreinforced armour covering his back. My guns hum as the crumbler rounds strike home, construct armour shattering, armour and flesh dissolving and then the cold beam hits. In a second hoar frost covers the Citadelian's body as he plummets to the ground for a second time.

Orange rings can't fix dead.

The three survivors pull back into formation with the First, forming a combined bubble.. with multiple layers. Okay. I fire a tungsten round at the one I killed, his body exploding into frozen lumps of meat. A filament snatches the ring he carried from the broken remains of his right hand and another grabs onto the pommel of his cutlass.

Holding up my right arm I phase out to allow his ring to pass through my armour and then phase back in, the ring fitting neatly over my right ring finger. Immediately, flashes of the life of a being I can best describe as being a tentacle elephant appear in my mind. He came to Vega to find a world to settle… A long time ago. Instead, he found Larfleeze. I take hold of the cutlass hilt a moment later.

Two rings again.

Inside the Citadelian bubble my enemies appear to reach a decision. Strands connect the First to his minions and then.. for an instant I'm confused as to what I'm doing here. It swiftly passes as orange flashes around one minion and transitions him into stabbing range. I swing my cutlass to intercept his as my railguns fire! There's a tremendous clang as his natural muscles try to overpower the muscle enhancements of my armour. I bring my left hand around to push on the rear of the blade as the railguns fire, the first hit destroying his construct armour and the second-.

I jerk forwards slightly as he disappears, a momentary flicker of orange behind me indicating that one of his brethren have transitioned into melee range as well. Before he can strike I transition myself to directly above the Citadelian dome, then drop so that I'm standing on it.

Corrupt and drain.

Compliance.

The orange light in the outermost bubble roils and spins for an instant before visibly flowing up my body and into my rings. I drop down slightly onto the next level and being to repeat the process as-

Alert!

-two Citadelians flicker into being next to me. Accelerating myself I slash at the one to my right with the cutlass while the one above and behind me is met with a destructive pulse. The pulse is met with only limited success; the construct armour covering his chest fractures but doesn't quite break but he's forced to back away and abandon his swing. The swords -ugh- achieve little either. Mine cuts through his construct armour and body armour to cut a thin line across his chest while his cuts through my own construct armour and slices through the power armour covering my left forearm. But since I've got an opening…

I hunger.

Both of the Citadelians are pulled back inside the bubbles as another layer fails and is sucked into my rings. Okay, in theory I could force my way in like this, but somehow I don't think I'll need to as the Hellwraith takes full control of its new host and stabs another Citadelian in the neck with its cutlass before manifesting construct claws and grappling with him. The other two look around in astonishment, giving me the opportunity to create a laser construct attached to my right leg and fire it through the bubble at the First.

If I can see you, light can pass through your shield. Yes, only orange light in this case but it isn't hard for me to make orange light.

"Graagh!"

The First instinctively jerks aside and creates an extra barrier, neither of which impede my light speed weapon that passes through orange constructs. This is why we wear head armour. Credit to him though; he's pretty darn physically resilient anyway. Finally getting his brain in gear he reaches up into the beam of my laser with his right hand and bends spac-.

Ah! Cutting that out. He turned the laser back on me. Do I pull back and-? No, the whole area around his body is shimmering now, he can just deflect it wherever.

"Raah!"

The First drops to the bottom of his bubble where the Hellwraith and the younger Citadelian are wrestling, grabbing the demonhost by the head and… Ew. It looked like he just rubbed the fingers of his left hand across its head, but that head then came apart in blood-pumping slices. I feel a slight tingle as the Hellwraith returns to my ring. The Citadelian he fought is visibly injured, but a glare from the First prompts him to start healing itself.

So I shoot him in the left eye with a laser and fry his brain instead.

There's a puff of burned meat smoke as he collapses dead to the bottom of the inner layer of the bubble shield. The remaining younger Citadelian takes his helmet out of subspace and jams it over his head before I can repeat the process. Maybe he isn't familiar enough with ring scans to rely on them to replace the input of his own eyes in combat?

The bubble shield twitches and I transition to a point fifty metres away without much in the way of conscious consideration, a black beam piercing my former position. Oh great, he knows how to do beam -I transition again- singularities as well. Under other circumstances I might call upon the Ophidian but Larfleeze is right there. I can't risk destabilising Hinon's control of him. The other surviving Citadelian is gathering up his fallen comrades' rings. Shouldn't help him much, but I can't pierce the shields fast enough -I dodge another black beam, this one passing through a chunk of the forest and violently compressing the terrain- to stop-.

There were three of them maintaining the barrier. I think I've got the First's full attention and the other one isn't giving the matter his full attention. Simple solid shot might be able to get through it now. I dodge again, plotting a random evasion pattern as I charge up my railguns and load tungsten rounds. The First drops his singularity projector for a moment, frowning at me as he tries to work out his next move. I fire orange lasers at his eyes to make sure he has to focus on his own defence, then point my railguns at his remaining junior and firechargefirechargefirechargefire!

The bubble crumbles at the first impact, caves in at the second and then the rounds hit the younger Citadelian in the chest. His armour cracks, and I'm slightly faster with my cold gun than the First is with his barrier.

"RAAAAH!"

The First roars his frustration and his ring momentarily shuts down.

He blinks in confusion for a second, then my cold gun freezes him in that pose permanently.

Haah.

I watch as the bodies fall to the ruined ground. He didn't realise. Focus on something other than avarice and your ring stops cooperating. No, no way he could have known. The Greenies don't advertise it and neither Larfleeze nor his minions ever encountered the problem.

His body and that of his runner-up associate hit the ground and shatter while the other two just… Burst. I hold out my left hand and immediately realise that trying to call the rings is a bad idea. Instead, I transition down and pick them up with filaments.

"Are you finished playing yet?"

Three of the rings show me pictures of species I don't recognise, but the one worn by the First…

Ogandu Onna Oslan.

I nod inside my armour as I turn to face Hinon. "Yes. Yes, I think so."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st July
06:01 GMT

Larfleeze's.. cell, gives me a mild headache just being near it. A room designed to.. nearly completely blot out the orange light. It won't exactly tear a person's soul apart, but a person would find it increasingly difficult to want things for themselves. In a way it's the opposite of the conversion crystals which the Zamarons used in the comics. Those forcibly converted people to their way of thinking, we're going to cure ours of… Not our… The way of thinking our light encourages if they lose control.

I hope he's the last person I put in here.

I glance at the Light Fountain in my left hand.

I don't believe that he will be.

The cell itself is relatively pleasant. A matter transmuter for food and.. whatever other materials the housekeeping drones require. The drones themselves are created and dismantled by the same device. We don't think that Larfleeze has any particular technical skills, but there's a risk that he might have picked them up from one of the people he assimilated. The walls, floor and furnishings are in various shades of blue. A sonic projection system is hidden behind the heavily reinforced walls and plays barely audible relaxing music. A Controller -one of the standard pattern Jevek-looking ones- is going to be here constantly to monitor Larfleeze.

I nod at… That Controller, as Hinon and I watch the trembling Larfleeze through one of the observation windows. "Did you have trouble getting a volunteer?"

"Not at all. Everyone wants to be my friend at the moment." She frowns. "A refreshing change, actually."

"From being comatose?"

That earns me a sidelong glance. "After the Manhunter Rebellion, a number of my colleagues expressed a degree of scepticism about the whole concept of sharing glow-technology with other species. It wasn't a popular field of research." Her eyes drop to the controls in front of me. "Do you intend to press that or are you going to watch him all day?"

At the moment Larfleeze is still wearing the system I put on his head in the caves. He's still wearing his ring as well. Taking it off in advance was just too much of a risk. Once the.. 'blue cell' starts work the ring will rapidly be drained of power, and there's a small and very secure slot for a drone to drop it into once he's sufficiently out of it for that to be practical.

I press the button and the air in the cell shimmers. Larfleeze himself stills, not even twitching. I can't scan him and I can't see him on empathic vision any longer. I have to stare at his chest for several moments before I'm certain that he's still breathing.

"That should do it." Hinon steps back from the observation window and starts walking towards the exit. "Do you want anything special done with his ring?"

Larfleeze's eyes open for a moment. No orange sigil. Not even any pain. They're just blank. Lifeless. He's gazing out at the universe and he doesn't understand what it is or why it's there.

They close again and I turn away.

"Do you?"

"Oh, I'd just destroy it. I'm not completely without sentimentality-" Her eyes drop to John's former ring. I wonder if she really still needs it? "-but that one doesn't have any good associations."

"No, I think we should keep it. It was the first ever orange ring."

We pass out of the cell block and into the central shaft, then rise off the ground and head upwards towards the night sky.

"All yours, then." She takes a moment to glance over the construction crew still putting this place together. This will eventually serve as our version of the Science Cell block which the Guardians have on Oa. Need to plug the Light Fountain into the Central Power Battery housing first… "I'll have it delivered to you when we finally get it off him."

"I was thinking.. more a museum or something. I don't want anyone forgetting that things like Larfleeze can happen to the rest of us as well."

"I thought you were leaving things like that up to this Clarissi candidate you still haven't told me the name of."

"Oh, sorry. Vril Dox. He's Coluan. Highly intelligent but with poor social skills. He and the other Controller-."

"Yes, the joke rather makes itself, doesn't it?"

We rise over the lip of the central shaft, getting a panoramic view of a formerly-pristine chunk of Maltusian wasteland. Now construction equipment and labourers are everywhere, the outlines of housing, training facilities and office buildings visible in several places. I can also see the dull glow as the Controllers working on the Central Power Battery housing make their last minute checks. Hinon smiles faintly at the sight before flying towards them, and I accelerate to catch up.

"Making sure the Corps is making itself useful will be his job. Making sure that its members stay sane will be mine."

"Mm." She frowns. "Aren't the Coluan people being mind controlled by a group of artificial intelligences?"

"Those were made by his father. The information I have suggests that he's in a Dominator-run prison, but I'll need to take some time to confirm that."

"Be careful if you go anywhere near Colu yourself. Losing you at this point would be awkward."

I nod. "I'd certainly hate for my mind being torn apart by monstrous AIs to be awkward for you."

"Do you intend to make a habit of saying things like that? I can see it rapidly becoming tiresome."

"Of course. You used to be Guardians. I need to make certain that you're not reverting."

"Hm."

We fly in silence for a moment, now close enough to see the detail of the Central Power Battery housing. The oval structure of it puts me in mind of a front-on view of a Portal turret. It's grey and inert at the moment, though that will change shortly. The upper part of the housing at the front is currently hinged up slightly to allow access to the internal systems into which I need to insert the Light Fountain.

"Speaking of the Guardians, I intend to stop off at Oa at some point. Zamaron as well."

"Aren't you bold. We don't have the same recent… Recentish, history with the Zamarons as we do with the Guardians. It should simplify things for you." She stops dead, something occurring to her. "If you see her, be sure to point out to Nadia Safir that she was completely wrong about the orange light necessarily excluding other colours, will you?"

"I think that a demonstration would be more effective than a lecture."

"But far less satisfying. You've no idea what that woman could be like." She turns to face me. "Sufficiently un-Guardiany for you?"

I fly on past her, heading for the opening on the casing. I had thought that the full gathering might want to show up, but it turns out that Controllers aren't big on ceremony. Once Hinon has made her checks each of the Controllers will come here and bind themselves to it individually under her supervision. The whole structure is about fourteen metres tall and about three thick at the widest point. I raise the Light Fountain, placing a hand on each side of the main body. Then I drift forward, holding it out towards the opening in the structure. The interior space looks plain, but from the parts of Hinon's description which I could follow it's a massively complicated partially extra-planar monitoring and projection system that they make look like a Lantern because that's what they used to do and there's no pressing reason to change it now. Bare, curved walls and a small plinth. I land, kneeling down to slot the Fountain in place.

Hm.

I rise off the ground and turn, flying out at speed. Hinon has come closer in order to supervise so I head her way.

"Link.. good."

As I reach her I turn, watching two of the other Controllers lower the front plate and make the unit whole.

"Bonding complete." She raises her left hand, ring glowing brilliantly. "And… Activate."

The core of the Orange Central Power Battery flares with orange light, shining almost painfully for a moment. Then the orange colour begins seeping into the rest of the structure and the core begins to calm. The light… Puts me in mind of the front of the nacelles on the original Enterprise. Moving, almost burning, but stable.

As stable as orange gets.

"And… Success. We have a functioning Central Power Battery."

We watch it for a moment, then she turns her head to face me.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Go and get me my Clarissi."