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

[Mr Zoat]

21st August
20:43 GMT

I raise my right arm and wave as my new recruits fly towards me. Koranys is a newly terraformed world on the far side of Maltus from the Reach border. Settlement has already started on the continents to the north and west of us, and the lingering liveliness of the atmosphere results in frequent storms with their associated torrential downpours.

Lantern K-K'p dives, using a gravity impeller construct to accelerate towards the ground and then to arrest his motion just before impact. He's a Clicker and since his sex is 'lesser C' I suppose that 'he' isn't strictly accurate. Ah, we're both using translators. I can't help that my language doesn't have a word for what he is. There are a series of visible scars along the left side of his carapace from where in his previous occupation as a Darkstar he took several hits from Reach soldier carried plasma weapons and had to be stuck back together. When he first put on his ring it converted the cybernetics beneath back into flesh but left the visible damage. I guess he wanted to keep the memento. He also usually wears his Darkstar exomantle, but for this exercise I asked him and the others to leave their armour and backup weapons in subspace.

"How did you get so far ahead of us?"

I flick my left hand out to the side, connecting in the whole class. Including the ones who are only just entering the upper atmosphere. "As with anything else you use it for, the speed of your ring-based faster than light travel is dependent on your ability to focus your desires. I'm teaching you because I'm very good at focusing my desires." Three concentric spinning circles appear floating over my left hand.

"I thought that we did not need to focus on precisely what we were doing. Was I mistaken?"

"No, but you do need to focus on the outcome. Either the fact that you want to get somewhere or what you want to achieve once you're there."

Another Clicker flies down toward our position. Lantern R-K'rr is a neutral Clicker and a former Darkstar uplift coordinator. His job was to help worlds that decided to resist the Reach to improve their defensive abilities as fast as possible. While he tested well for ring-compatibility, I'm a little concerned that his particular skill set isn't exactly what we want at this stage. Dox wants him to visit worlds on the periphery and help with their shipyard upgrades, but I'm concerned about how much harder that will make keeping track of his mental condition.

"Teacher, why are we here? Why do we not practice on the new world you captured from Mongul?"

"We're here because at the moment the entire surface of Ater Clementia is covered with Lantern Mother of Mercy's body. And while she doesn't exactly feel pain, I don't think we should be shooting holes in each other's bodies during our induction session." Sadly, that made it… Not impossible but certainly impractical for her to participate in the training session. Currently one of Hinon's deputies is going over her in an attempt to learn how she works. It turns out that the Controllers haven't encountered anything quite like her before. Though I do mean 'quite', they've encountered any number of things which were sort of like her. "And her atmosphere isn't something most of us could breathe."

Lantern K-K'p and Lantern R-K'rr glance at one another. I've noticed that Clickers have some sort of game they play with the direction their rearmost eyes look at, and the two of them have a quick round. R-K'rr loses and then lands before coiling slightly into the Clicker 'attention' pose. "Would our environmental shields not prevent that being a problem?"

"Lantern R-K'rr, you already have more space combat experience than me. What I'm going to teach you is how to maintain your focus, how to maintain your ability to think clearly while using the orange light and how to avoid becoming distracted by other emotions. Because something I've observed from other Lanterns is that if you focus on the wrong emotion, your environmental shield goes as well."

"I understand, te-."

BANG!

There's a huge explosion a short distance behind me, accompanied by a blinding burst of light. I've already brought up construct armour and a railgun, and I note that K-K'p has generated a basic construct barrier. Well done that Clicker.

The glow stabilises a moment later into a glowing portal, somewhat like the boom tubes which New Gods use. The difference is that the surrounding circle of light looks more.. ferocious, crackling and flaring and wobblingoh dear.

My armour appears from subspace, Sword of the Fallen transferring from my field uniform to my greaves. "That's a boom tube, armour now."

K-K'p's exomantle appears immediately, while R-K'rr takes a moment to achieve the necessary level of focus. Both point their masers at the portal rather than generating construct weapons, but I'll excuse that for now. They've only really had a few practice sessions with their rings before this, and they're trained to use exomantles.

"If you can spare the concentration, have your rings feed you data on New Gods, Apokolips and New Genesis." Though I've got no idea why either might come here. "If they're from Apokolips, shoot first. If they're from New Genesis, shoot second."

"Acknowledged." / "I obey!"

And then Dox steps through and I feel like an idiot. Strands from his ring feed back into the tube, visibly forcing it to stay open and more or less stable. He's wearing a variation on what I vaguely remember his uniform from L.E.G.I.O.N. to look like, with an orange sigil replacing the clenched-fist-with-lightning-shining-through emblem of that butterflied agency. He looks at us for a moment and then turns back to his portal, exhaling in frustration. "It appears that I need more experimental data before I perfect ring-based gravitonic hyperinflation."

He retracts his filaments and the boom tube undergoes a semi-controlled collapse, energy washing over us. Dox's personal force field flares slightly, and he idly looks at a construct monitor to find out exactly what's hitting him. My construct armour is mildly buffeted, while K-K'p's barrier is cracking and failing. Always use a learning opportunity.

I turn back to face him. "Do you want to be torn apart? If not, then I suggest that you focus on your need to remain whole."

"I obey."

A curved construct barrier appears behind the flat and failing barrier, which collapses entirely a moment later. The new one is brighter, energy being deflected around it. The local grass-substitute isn't going to be doing well out of this, but the isolated nature of our sparring ground is why we're doing this out here.

A moment passes and the boom tube finishes its semi-controlled collapse. Dox presses a few buttons on his arm-mounted construct control panel before returning his attention to the three of us. "Are we ready to begin?"

"Still waiting for the last four, sir." I look up. "Though-."

Lanterns Strata and Tarant slam into the ground. Tarant has kept his Darkstar flight suit, now with an orange sigil in the middle of the Darkstar starburst. Strata on the other hand is dressed a little more like Dox: loose black trousers and a black vest with the orange sigil on her chest.

To be honest, Tarant is far closer to what we're looking for at this stage than the others are. He wants the Reach destroyed and whatever's left of his civilisation restored to its pre-Reach state. But he's disciplined about it, never losing himself to the red light in any of the engagements he's fought in. Strata was the only prisoner to make the cut, and her motivations remind me of what Maddox said about Gregory Peck: she doesn't have any personal stake in the fight with the Reach but she's here because she recognises it as a good thing. Good power output, minimal chance of being distracted.

A moment later Koriand'r and Komand'r transition down to the planet's surface. They're only last because I asked them to keep an eye on the others as they travelled here. Not that they have much more experience, but what little they have means that they get the teaching assistant jobs for the moment.

"Thank you all for coming. Now let's get started."

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st August
20:58 GMT

"…simplest level of attack construct is an energy pulse." I generate a target ten metres away. "Lantern Tarant, take a shot."

Tarant looks at the target for a moment, then raises his right fist. His ring is on the middle of his three fingers, and the general pose he's using is the one he used when firing his exomantle's masers. He focuses for a moment, then a blast of orange light flashes out. The bolt strikes the target dead centre, dissipating to no appreciable effect. He makes a quiet snort to himself before looking at me to see if I want him to try again.

"A shot from a Darkstar maser will -power source allowing- always strike with the same power. Power rings do not work like that. They are empathic weapons." I dismiss the target and replace it with a Reach soldier. "Try again."

He clenches his fist, the orange bolt he fires being noticeably brighter than his first effort. The result is some minor cracking on the construct soldier's surface.

"Lantern Tarant has fought the Reach for a considerable period of time. Certainly, he defaults to wanting their soldiers destroyed more easily than he does a series of concentric circles." I dismiss the soldier and generate a Beetle construct. "When I intervened on Urrigen, the Darkstar coterie had been in continuous combat for three days. It is perfectly natural to feel fear in combat, and the Darkstars there were controlling theirs as expected from professional soldiers. Except Lantern Tarant, who was barely feeling any at all. Unusual, considering how lethal Beetles are to Darkstars."

"I've killed Scarab Warriors before."

"Glad to hear it. Kill this one."

"Meat!"

The construct Beetle opens its wings and shapeshifts its arms, a shield forming on its left and a blade on its right. It zips through the air directly towards Tarant at full speed-.

And is caught in the twin beams blasting from Tarant's forearms. The construct Beetle cracks and crumbles to orange fragments before fading completely.

"Tarant could do that because he really really wants to destroy Reach Beetles, and because animating it made it seem more like the things that he actually wants to destroy." Tarant himself is still staring in the direction the construct was coming from, his arms still raised. "But it turns out that he wants to destroy them a little too much. Lantern Tarant."

He grunts. Eyes locked, environmental shield flaring, muscles tensed and… Yes, orange sigils glowing in his eyes.

"Lantern Tarant, what planet are you on?"

"I'm-." I watch as he shudders, his overwhelming drive to fight the Reach being undermined by his rational appreciation that this is a training exercise. "I'm.. fighting…" His environmental shield fades to its original level. "What was that?"

"That was your brain on the orange light. You gave that shot your all?"

"Y-yeah."

His environmental shield cuts off for a moment as his fear of losing control like that causes yellow light interference.

"Lantern Tarant, remove your ring and take a moment to collect yourself."

"Yes sir." His hands shake slightly as he gingerly grasps his ring with the fingers of his left hand and pulls it free.

"And that's the other reason we're doing this somewhere with a breathable atmosphere." Tarant stares at his ring for a moment and then stows it in one of the pouches on his uniform. "Everyone notice what Lantern Tarant's environmental shield was doing there?" Dox doesn't move, but the others all give me affirmative gestures appropriate to their physiology. "Years of warfare have left Lantern Tarant with a very strong desire to destroy the Reach. On that last shot he channelled all of it and was overwhelmed." Tarant trudges back to the group and sits down hard, not quite looking at anyone as he tries to work out what the heck just happened. "He became convinced that the Reach were about to attack. I'm not sure that he was even aware that the rest of us were still here." I raise my eyebrows. "Were you?"

"I…" He blinks, eyes still not focusing on us. "I wasn't… Thinking about you."

"This world is highly defended and the rest of us are more than capable of taking down anything short of a full Beetle strike force. And yet, his need to strike them down overwhelmed his rationality. One of the things you're all going to learn is what your own warning signs are."

Dox give me a shallow nod. "What are yours?"

I smile, flaring out my environmental shield as I rise into the air to better emphasise my point. "I don't have any. I have attained enlightenment. I have perfect unity with and awareness of my desires. Though I am.. no longer precisely the man I was before. This doesn't mean that I can do anything; I still have to actually want to do a thing and the mortal frame is only capable of wanting a thing so much. However, it has left me exceedingly powerful and mentally stable."

K-K'p wiggles his mandibles. "How do we attain such power?"

"No idea. I did it through months of meditation and self reflection, constant ring-usage while maintaining my humanitas, followed by merging with the Ophidian and managing to separate again. If you want to try working towards that, be my guest. I'd suggest leaving the advanced stuff until you've gotten the hang of the basics, but since the first steps are the basic training I'm giving you anyway…."

"Now, did you notice how Lantern Tarant's environmental shield shut down for a moment?" Another round of affirmatives. "His fear of what happened to him overwhelmed his personal desires. As such, his ring temporarily shut down because it could no longer connect him to the orange light. Needless to say, that happening in combat is very bad. And why you'll all be wearing spacesuits or armour when we start practising space combat."

I take a hologram projector out of subspace and activate it, displaying the sigils of each of the Lantern Corps… Or at least each of the colours.

"Those of you who have seen Green Lanterns will be familiar with the sigil in the centre. Green is the colour of willpower. Those who use it focus their minds on precisely what they want the ring to do in order to generate constructs. Doing the same yourselves will turn your rings off. To the left we have the sigil of the yellow light of fear. The only extant user of this colour is the Green Lanterns' former First Lantern, Thaal Sinestro. If you act with the intent of causing fear or are overwhelmed by fear yourself, your ring will turn off. On the right, the sigil of the blue light of hope. No one uses it. Feel too much hope and your ring will turn off. At mid-left, we have our own sigil. The orange light of avarice is what you will be trained to use. Focusing on it will allow you to fight. Focusing on it too much will drive you mad. Lantern Tarant got a mild flash of what it can be like. If you want to see a more extreme example, visit the Blue Cells and try talking to Larfleeze."

"Far left, we have the red light of rage and hate. You've all got cause to be angry, and several of you hate the Reach. That's fine in itself, but if you focus on those emotions during combat?"

I click my right thumb and forefinger and point at Strata.

"What happens?"

"Our rings will turn off."

"Quite." I nod. "Mid-right, we have the indigo sigil of compassion. Feel too compassionate? Your ring will turn off. Last but not least, the violet sigil of love. Used by the Zamarons. If you focus on love your ring will turn off."

I smile. "And the kicker is, remaining able to feel each of them is a vital component to you remaining sane. I have no interest in turning you into semi-guided weapons. I am creating a Lantern Corps of Lanterns. I will teach you to focus without becoming too narrowly focused, to feel without being overwhelmed by feeling and to fight and to not fight. And if it all goes wrong and we're forced to put you in the Blue Cells with Larfleeze I will do my best to restore you to sanity."

I look around the group. "Any questions before we move on?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st August
22:27 GMT

"…energy pulses are a problem, power rings can create almost any other kind of weapon and those will have their standard effects. For example-" I generate a railgun, somewhat shorter than what I'm used to using in actual combat. "-this is a railgun. My people worked out how to make them a little after we first achieved powered flight, and they're excellent at delivering solid ordnance to a humanoid target at medium range or a large or stationary target at long range. They're useful for Lanterns because they're propelled by a burst of electricity; even if you're only building up a charge slowly, a construct capacitor will wait until you've got enough before firing."

R-K'rr rotates his head slightly to the side. "I am unconvinced that a physical projectile propelled in this way would have significant impact on warships in combat."

"Fair enough. Would you mind creating a construct barrier for me?"

"That is not a fair test. I do not believe that I currently have the ability to create cruiser-grade barriers."

"I understand. Please do it anyway."

R-K'rr concentrates for a moment and a barrier forms just in front of him.

I nod. "Thank you. This may hurt a little." I take a crumbler round out of subspace and hold it out so that everyone can get a look. Dox doesn't merely look, he scans it at once. "My homeworld is much less technologically advanced than each of yours. But. A tiny proportion of my species are scientific and technological savants, able to invent things that we shouldn't have the ability to create yet. This, is a crumbler round."

I step forward and tap the end against R-K'rr's barrier. The crumble effect triggers immediately, a fracturing and fraying hole appearing in the construct as the remains of the activated round fall through my fingers.

"Ow."

"I use them for destroying energy shields, and I usually propel them with a railgun. I have another type for penetrating magic shields and hurting arcane lifeforms. And a third type for killing Demons." I dismiss the railgun construct. "Though the damage that can be inflicted by a sufficiently powerful kinetic strike should not be underestimated."

Next, I generate a cold gun construct. "This is a cold gun. Please have your rings grant you thermal vision."

There are flickers of orange from the eyes of all of the assembled Lanterns, even the princesses to whom I've shown this before. I wait until they're all finished, then point the gun at the ground to my right and fire, panning it around as hoarfrost builds up on the ground.

"As you can see -and would probably be able to feel if your environmental shields weren't protecting you- the ground where it struck was just reduced to near absolute zero. The particular mechanism which this weapon uses also tends to bypass most forms of energy shield. Both of these weapons can be created with relatively little avarice. With a little more focus-" I create a graser construct. "-coherent radiation weapons are possible. As are scarier things-" I generate a singularity beam projector and Dox blanches. "-like this. It should go without saying that if you generate an indiscriminate weapon you should be certain what you're pointing it at."

"On a more philosophical level, learning to unify your desire to achieve a particular objective with your desire to perform a particular activity leading to that objective is a quite useful tool for increasing the power you can bring to bear in conflicts in which you don't have a particular personal investment. Unavoidably, most of the people you will be fighting will be Reach-altered slaves for whom you will feel pity. Others will be Reach soldiers for whom you bear no personal malice. Remember that our ultimate objective in this war is not the death of any one person but the cessation of the Reach as a political entity. Focus on your desire for that, and be mindful of how every action you perform contributes to that."

"Now, I'm sure that you're tired of listening to me so I've set up a practical exercise. In the rings around the third planet of this system-" It used to be the first, until the Controllers started ripping useful elements out of it to make this one. "-I've placed a number of transponders. And automated defence drones. Lanterns K-K'p, Strata, R-K'rr and Tarant. Your job is to get three transponders each and then come back here. Komand'r, Koriand'r, you're on monitor duty again. I don't want any of my first proper class dying."

Strata… I think that's a frown. "How powerful are these automated defences?"

"Low power. They can hurt you through your environmental shield and they can batter down your construct shields. But they won't do either particularly quickly and they should cut out if it looks like you're in serious distress. I'm not trying to get you hurt. This test is adjusted to skills you should already have. Future practicals will be harder. Dismissed."

Tarant smiles. "Is there a prize for the winner?"

"I will personally pat them upon the head. It's a gesture of great approval in my culture."

"Heh. Right."

Some of R-K'rr's eyes turn towards Dox. "Will Lantern Dox not be participating?"

My eyes move to Dox. "He can if he wants."

"I do not understand. Are you not in command?"

"No, he.-" / "In point of fact…"

Dox and I look at each other, and I bow my head and open my right hand in his direction.

"The command structure we have agreed upon is that I will have strategic command while he will have tactical command. He will teach you how to use your ring and lead you into combat. I will ensure that our forces are numerous enough to win and are deployed to places most likely to harm the Reach to the greatest extent possible. It is unlikely that I will often take to the field with my ring, but I wish to ensure that I understand the application of a device I may well depend upon. My rank is Clarissi. His is Illustres, and he is my immediate subordinate."

I nod. "As the Corps expands and we.. learn where one another's particular skills lie, our roles may evolve somewhat. But the important point is that while it might aid his understanding of how to use a ring to go with you, I can't actually order him to do so." I frown. "Also, it appears that your classmates are leaving you behind."

R-K'rr's eyes swivel to the place that they were standing a moment before. Komand'r is floating just above where she had been standing, eyebrows slightly raised and clearly waiting for him. The rest are… Ring? Ah yes, halfway to the ring already.

There's a flash of orange light as R-K'rr follows them, Komand'r just behind him.

I watch them leave for a moment, then turn back to Dox. "I thought that went alright."

"Most of what you told them was already stated in your written reports."

"Not everyone reads those quite as thoroughly as you do."

For a moment he seems genuinely puzzled. "That's foolish. You warned them what might happen before you handed them their rings."

"If everyone made sensible decisions the whole time, our job would be much easier."

"I disagree. With regard to their stated objectives, the Reach are exceedingly sensible. I hope that they become less sensible when we start fighting them in earnest."

"You know… It might help if you did participate in-."

"Coluans don't get overwhelmed by our desires. Most of your philosophical practices would be pointless for me."

"Oh. Then -if you don't mind me asking- why are you here?"

"There may be tactical uses of power rings that I have overlooked. And since Sinestro was unwilling to tutor me-."

"What?"

"He didn't believe that it was a worthwhile use of-."

"No, no, I mean: you spoke to Sinestro?"

"His ring uses the same communication system as ours. He was surprised to hear from me, but he was reasonably civil about it. Why does this concern you?"

"Because-." My ring flashes with an incoming message. "Who is it?"

"Lantern Gardner."

Oh.

 

[Mr Zoat]

21st August
22:32 GMT

Right. I look away from my ring and toward Dox. "Would you mind if I answered this? I doubt that the Guardians would lift their communications ban if it wasn't important."

"You detailed your personal relationship with Lantern Gardner at length in your reports, along with your recommendation that we do everything reasonable to maintain a cordial relationship with the Green Lantern Corps. Answer him."

Okay. First time I've spoken to someone from Earth -aside from Adam Blake- in over a month… "Answer."

An image of Guy's… Chest and part of his leg appear over my ring. "…probably not even gunna-."

"Guy?"

The image from my ring blurs for a moment as Guy moves it in front of his face. "Paul! How's it goin'?"

"Pretty well, all things considered. You?"

"Couldn't be better. Hey, ah, Green Man told me about what you did in Vega."

Ahhh. "Which.. bit in particular?"

"Where you took down the Citadel, freed a bunch a' slaves and negotiated a peace treaty between alla the pirate groups. And Medphyll told me about that Dominator prison you broke open. Good stuff."

"Oh. Yes. Um, the Citadel was really a team thing, but… Yes, I was involved in all of that."

"What, you got a new team now?"

"… Yes. Guy, as much as I'd love a chat I'm.. sort of in the middle of a lesson-."

"What, you got someone new t'teach yah stuff?"

"No, I'm teaching a class of Orange Lanterns. It's.. not really something I can offload… Since I'm the only one who's really got any experience…"

"Oh. Yeah. Ah, listen, I kinda gotta talk to yah in person. Think we can meet up?"

"Sure. I'm a few systems away from Maltus right now. I'm still warded, but the other Lanterns aren't. You should be able to find us easily enough."

"What, you think I'm faster than you?"

"I assumed that the Green Lantern Corps kept you around for some reason. Why, where are you?"

"I'm in the Sector House in One Four One Six."

Never been, haven't planned to. Quick check where the class are… "Guy, I haven't got time to get to you, have a chat and then make it back here by the time I have to carry on teaching. On the other hand, you can fly here while I finish the class and we can talk then. That'll be quicker."

Guy looks away for a moment, his head sort of wiggling back and forth as he considers the matter. "There anyone there with you right now?"

"Yes. Vril Dox the Second."

Guy clenches his eyes slightly. "You know he's a clone of Vril Dox the First, right? The guy who took over his homeworld, turned everyone into bio-robots before deciding that they were crimping his style and flyin' off to steal cities?"

Dox's face is pretty impassive. My own is forming a rictus grin. "You know Kon-El is half a clone of Lex Luthor, right?"

"That ain't the same thing. He didn't bring him up, an' Wondy-."

"And you're half Roland Gardner. And he brought you up."

Guy's face hardens. "Low blow, Paul."

"You're insulting a colleague of mine who's standing right next to me. If he starts collecting cities I'll be sure to have a word with him about it."

"Alright, fine." His face becomes more serious. Professional. "Where exactly have you been recruitin'?"

"I've had an eye out for potential Orange Lanterns everywhere I go. I even offered Jack Chance a ring."

"You wh-?" His face grows larger as he pulls his ring closer and stabs his left forefinger towards my point of view. "Okay, new rule: no stealin' our guys."

"Why, are they indentured or something? I thought that a Green Lantern could give up their ring whenever they wanted?"

"No, I'm tellin' you not to do it because it's a dick move."

"Fine. I won't offer rings to any more currently serving Green Lanterns. Happy?"

"Not particularly. You been recruiting in One Four One Seven?"

Why would.. he have a problem with that? Not like the Green Lantern Corps are welcome on Korugar. "I've… Sort of. Why would that matter to you?"

"What, you didn't think having a Green Lantern and an Orange Lantern comin' from the same planet might be a problem?"

"Under the circumstances, no. Not really. Not unless Lantern Tui's banishment sentence has been rescinded. And I haven't-."

Guy frowns in bewilderment. "Katma doesn't like your guy anymore than I do, but what's that got to do with-?"

"'Guy'?"

"What?"

"No, not Guy. 'Guy'." He blinks, his head tilted slightly to the side. "You said 'my guy'. I'm trying to recruit a Korugarian woman, Doctor Soranik Natu. And I haven't recruited her yet. Given how.. the Korugarians feel about power rings I was trying to build up to it. What guy?"

"Prince Ragnar of Betrassus."

"Who?"

"He's flyin' around this Sector with an orange power ring. You sure there ain't somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"Guy, we've only just started making personal lanterns. We've only got four Controllers hooked up to our Central Power Battery. I'd like to move to a Sector Lantern system eventually, but that's not going to be for years yet."

"So who else is givin' out orange power rings?"

"Ah. The Qwardians, maybe? But.. it's more likely that he picked up one of the ones I called from Larfleeze's cave. I still don't know how many of those there were."

He frowns. "You haven't tracked them down yet?"

"It was… Fourth on my to-do list?"

Guy looks decidedly unimpressed. "Well when yer finished with yer class, get over here. You've got a mess t' clean up."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd August
02:51 GMT -6

Ping.

My eyes slowly come open, and it takes me a moment to remember where I am. Been a while since I've been that tired, at least without being blasted near to death. On my left Koriand'r grasps my arm a little tighter, moaning softly in her sleep. On my right, Komand'r's legs are entwined with mine and her head is lying on my chest. It's also a while since I've been able to engage in penetrative…

I frown. No, that was actually the first time, not counting that incident in Osaka when that silly woman hospitalised herself. Huh.

Ping.

Yes, yes, I haven't forgotten.

I try sitting up a little, and feel a tightening about my extremities from my bedfellows. Drat. Don't particularly want to wake them… No, that's probably unavoidable. Ring, transition quietly.

By your command.

An unavoidable flash of orange light and I appear across the room, completely naked. Ah, there's nothing quite as good at clearing up a soiled bedchamber before sleeping as a power ring. Wonderful device. I bend down to pick up a pair of Hulk-size jogging bottoms and carefully slip them on before picking up my recently self-repaired Mother Box and tiptoeing toward the door. It's night in this part of Tamaran, but I don't particularly want to flash a member of the night staff. Keeping my body between the door and the bed I extrude a thin orange filament and spread it throughout the door's locking mechanism before silently opening it and stepping through. Carefully close it behind me… Done.

With their ancestral… Does it count as ancestral yet? It's only two generations since Tamaran lost… But they'd been fighting on and off before that… Traditional enemies. With their traditional enemies 'verifiably put beyond use' as the Irish say, Tamaran had as large a street party as their economy could support. With my Orange Lanterns as guests of honour. Given that tithe requirements have been abolished it turns out that was actually a pretty good party.

Not that I think that they underestimate the amount of work they'll have to do in order to capitalise on the situation, but the mood is celebratory and… The Princesses were feeling frisky and didn't want to risk a 'woman of titanium, man of plywood' incident. Not that they had to work hard to convince me. I'm certainly not.. over Jade or anything like that, but I'm… At least willing to.. think about other people in an amorous fashion.

Still need to do something about the Psions before too long, and I'll have to start organising work crews for the shipyards and the G-Gnome settlements-.

My ring flashes.

That's something I'm going to have to get used to. Tamaranians tend to be direct, and with my Lanterns still being so new to the role I'm fielding a great many questions. I was assuming that we'd have to train as we go, but I'm going to have to try to find time to put some sort of structure in place… Get someone else to do the organisational work which I'm not temperamentally suited to.

"Answer."

Lantern Ernal's face appears above my ring. She's one of the ones I left hanging around the Imperium's fleet, partly to offer aid and partly to remind them that they don't have hegemony here. "Yes?"

"Grayven, Admiral Oswin wishes to speak with you."

And partly so that we can communicate. Tamaran doesn't have FTL communications other than power rings and my own stuff isn't compatible with the Imperium's technology. I could probably talk to them, but they couldn't get hold of me with it. Assuming that the Crown Imperium's fleet keeps Kranaltine time, it's early evening for them. If he wants to discuss anything particularly complex I'll just have to tell him I'll sort it out later.

"Put him through."

Lantern Ernal's face moves out of shot, being replaced with that of Admiral Oswin. "Prince Grayven, I have recently been informed of a development in our anti-piracy work-" Read 'near-genocidal purge'. "-which I feel may be of interest to you."

"I agreed to give you free rein. If you want Lantern support-."

"No, no. Nothing like that. Have you ever heard of a planet called 'Timaron'?"

Name sounds familiar from somewah. "Sector Two Eight One Three. Bombarded from orbit under the orders of General Zod of Krypton, shortly before his militarist rebellion got shut down hard by the Consular Guard."

"If you say so. I hadn't heard of it before today, but apparently that's where the late and largely unlamented 'Commodore' Amalak came from. Some of our intelligence people have been digging through the wreckage, and they found certain alien artefacts they couldn't identify."

"If they found anything Apokoliptian, I would strongly advise that you dispose of it without exposing your people more than you absolutely have to. My people usually booby trap anything of value, and some of the traps will be of considerable magnitude."

Oswin holds up some sort of sash, turning it so that the decoration on the front is clearly visible to me. "Do you recognise this symbol?"

Yes I do. How the heck did that get here? "Yes, and I'm interested."

"Though it pains me to admit it, a good deal of it is too advanced for us to do anything with. I thought that you and I might negotiate an exchange."

I nod. "It's of no interest to Tamaran. I can't in good conscience grant political concessions for what might be a barrel of trinkets. But if you want something from me personally…"

"Visit me on my command ship when you have a moment. I'll trust you to make a fair offer."

He nods, and the ring deactivates. He might be serious about that. The Imperials are the 'my word is my bond' sort of aristocrats, at least between nobles. Of course, I'm going to assume that they're keeping at least one of everything I identify for them-.

"Have you grown tired of us already?" I turn, seeing.. Komand'r walk languidly out of the bedroom completely naked. "Or were you perhaps having trouble sleeping?"

"I think it would take me a very long time to grow tired of you." She walks closer, slowly, deliberately… Mm. "I had Mother Box-" I raise my right hand slightly, showing her to Komand'r. "-wake me because it's mid-evening in my home on Earth now. And I like to read to my daughter before she goes to sleep."

Komand'r's eyes narrow very slightly. Curious rather than irritated. "You have a daughter?"

"Yes. She's not really old enough to participate in a war yet, but her telepathic abilities are really quite impressive. She starts school for the first time in two weeks. Ideally, I'd be spending more time at home to prepare her, but-" I look around. "-I couldn't put this off."

"And her mother?"

"Oh, her natural parents died before I met her. I adopted her… Nearly five months ago now."

"And do you have a wife?"

I smile and frown at the same time, then point my left thumb at our bedroom door. "I probably wouldn't have done that if I had a wife. I'd have invited her, at least."

"Then I would like to marry you."

Huh? I shake my head. "I'm.. sorry..?"

She walks past me, heading for the balcony at the end of the corridor. I amble along behind her. Reaching the balcony, she leans against the waist-high railings and unselfconsciously flashes the sleeping city below. "Tamaranian monarchs designate their heirs. Since I was… Damaged, I never thought that I could become queen. I assumed that in the fullness of time the throne would go to Koriand'r or Ryand'r." She turns her head to look over her left shoulder at me. "But now I am healthy. More than that, I have the power of X'Hal herself." She turns around, raising her hands and allowing burning purple energy to glow around them for a moment before dropping them again. "Given your mockery of the Omega Men, I no longer believe that my brother is a rival. I want to be crown princess, and I believe that marrying you maximises my chances. You are popular, you have demonstrated your abilities as a warrior and leader and you have enabled us to have a stronger future."

Iiiii… Ah… "I… Recently ended a long term relationship. I'm.. not.. sure.. that starting another now is really-."

"It is a political match. I'm not asking you to love me."

"And it feels wrong that you're not. Wouldn't that be better?"

She frowns. "I suppose." She shrugs. "But I doubt that I'd find a lover as politically useful as you."

"I didn't make myself a New God to accept anything less than the best. I have no interest in a political relationship without love. That said…" I look her over. Well… I could do a lot worse. "I'm not.. promising anything. But.. if you.. want to get to know me on a more personal level... I'm open to the idea."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd August
09:37 GMT

Not being an idiot, I drop out of warp a good long distance before I reach the Green Lanterns' Sector House. Phasing and invisibility engaged, I scan the system.

Warning: Will detected.

Green lights flash across the space between me and the Sector House, probing the region of space near my emergence point. Momentum being what it is I'm not still there, but it's nice to know that the Greenies are reasonably on the ball. Attempts to scan the Sector House -which looks hauntingly like a slightly scaled down green-decorated Watchtower- are met with failure. Plenty of green light energy residues around the place, indicating that Lanterns must come through here a lot. No obvious traps or mining facilities nearby, though there's a hydrogen harvesting platform on one of the system's two super Jupiters.

I was a bit sceptical of the Sector House system, personally. Given that there are two Lanterns per Sector at most, how worthwhile is it to give them a place in space to work out of? They're going to be able to go home most evenings if they want to, any prisoner is either going to be handed over to a local world or Oa pretty quickly… Then I remembered that this Sector neighbours that of their former First Lantern and I'm surprised instead that it's not bigger.

It's all about sending a message.

I phase back in and accelerate in the general direction of the Sector House, and only a few seconds pass before my ring starts to blink. I raise it to the left side of my helmet. "Orange Lantern Two Eight One Four."

"Paul, was that you?"

"I'm in-system now, if that's what you're asking."

"Guess we've still got some bugs to work out on the detection system."

"I am pretty sneaky." I stare into the distance where I can just about make out the twinkling light of the Sector House with my unaided eyes. "So… Can I come in?"

"Hey, mi… Ah… Space station is you space station."

"Right."

I remove my left hand from my helmet and cut communication. Then I become visible, change my velocity relative to the Sector House to zero and then transition towards the Sector House's entrance. The entrance tunnel is open to space with bright green light shining from its exterior and controlling the flow of air. I can just about see something of the interior of the station.

I hope they've got actual light-lights in there, otherwise seeing everything in green is going to get uncomfortable. I reach out gingerly with my right gauntlet, pressing against the… No, completely permeable. Alright then. I move forwards, floating inside the entrance tunnel.

"You coming in or what?"

I accelerate, coming out into a small antechamber. Air's fine, so I send my helmet into subspace. There are what look like defensive weapons concealed in the walls, paramedic supplies mounted on the walls in case whoever was coming in was injured and several more glowing portals leading off to other parts of the Station. And a normal light mounted in the ceiling. The whole structure is green, but at least other colours show up like they're supposed to.

I pass through the room and descend through the portal in the floor, which brings me out into the main meeting hall. Or rather, what serves as the meeting hall in the Watchtower. Here, it's clearly a working area. There are a small cluster of empty Sciencells along one wall, banks of computer equipment and monitoring screens. Actual screens; they have colour. The meeting table is smaller than the one in the Watchtower and round rather than oblong.

Guy waves up at me as I descend. Lantern Tui is content merely to watch me as I come in to land a short distance away and walk up to the one free seat. I don't recognise the third fellow, but my database identifies him as Betrassusian. Dull purple skin, facial tattoos, powerfully muscular build and-. "You're wearing body armour!"

"Ah? Yes?" He glances at Guy, looking for guidance. Guy just shrugs. "As are you..?"

"Have you got any idea how long it took me to persuade the Green Lanterns from Two Eight One Four to do that?" I wave my left arm at Guy. "I mean, look at him!"

The Betrassusian fellow takes a moment to look Guy over.

"What?"

He looks away. "I am certain that Lantern Gardner's personal protective equipment is adequate to his needs."

Guy gets up and walks around the table, moving behind Lantern Tui before approaching me. "What kept you?"

"I can't just disappear whenever I feel like it, Guy. I have a job." I dismiss my power armour back into subspace as I land, keeping only my lightly armoured field uniform. "Though if you really need me to hold your hand while the nasty Orange rookie makes faces at you, then I suppose that I'm obliged to put in an appearance."

Guy grins. "Just wanted you to see what happens when you Orange bozos tangle with a real Lantern."

We stare each other down for a moment, and out of the corner of my eye I see the Betrassusian chap's ring start to glow.

Then we step towards each other, right hands clasping together as we pull each other into an embrace.

He pats me on the back, a little harder than he really needs to. "Been too long, Paul."

"Sorry. I've been busy."

We separate, and Guy makes an upwards gesture with his right hand. "And what, you can't call?"

"Actually, no. Thanks to the Guardians, orange rings can't communicate with green ones. And I'm…" I look down. "I'm not ready to go back to Earth yet. Stuff to do."

Guy looks at me sceptically for a moment, then appears to shrug it off. "Alright, if you say so."

He keeps an eye on me as he walks back around the table to his seat, and I take position opposite him. "So what's the problem, anyway? I told you Prince Ragnar's not a part of my Corps. If he's committed a crime, arrest him. It's no different to me arresting…" I point at Guy with my right forefinger. "You remember the Poglachian Green Lantern Corps?"

"Ah, man, those guys were painful. Unfortunately, your guy Ragnar-"

"Not my guy."

"-seems to actually know what he's doin'." A holographic image appears in the middle of the table, showing a slender Betrassusian man in silver and orange armour. His tattoos are more complex than those of the local Lantern, and he's carrying a sword whose edge shimmers with some sort of energy field. "Which is kinda the problem."

The Betrassusian Lantern nods. "Among the aristocratic families of my homeworld, status and authority are traditionally gained through combat. Prince Ragnar is using his ring to enable his belligerence. He challenges any other noble who he feels has slighted him and then slays them in the arena. Any criminal who has the misfortune to cross his path is slain no matter what their crime."

"And what does the local law say about that?"

The Betrassusian looks to Guy for a moment before continuing. "As a member of the ruling household, he has the authority to administer justice as he sees fit. And no-one is forced to accept his challenges."

"So he's inconvenient and brutal but hasn't actually broken the law yet." He nods. "He doesn't have a personal lantern. Why not just wait for him to run out of power?"

Lantern Tui purses her lips. "He seems to be managing. That was why we assumed that he was working with your blessing."

Hm. Interesting. "Alright then. It sounds like I should meet him."

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd August
09:45 GMT

Lantern Dulok frowns in puzzlement as we fly towards Betrassus. And probably a little in disapproval. "There are orange power rings scattered throughout the universe, and you have no idea where they are or who wields them?"

"Something like that. I had been assuming that they'd either find bearers in Okaara or be strewn between Okaara and Earth, but if one made it all the way here then that clearly isn't the case."

Lantern Tui looks thoughtful. "Do you think that they have seeker protocols?"

"No, that's… Not impossible, but highly unlikely. Larfleeze didn't make rings in the way that the Guardians and Controllers do, he just ordered Construct-Lanterns to become rings. I haven't worn one for any length of time, but apparently their personalities remain somewhat intact."

That makes her look uncomfortable. "Then do you think..? They're trying to get home?"

"Based on the sample of one that I've located so far, I'd say not." I shrug. "It went to a man who desired something constantly and very strongly. My working hypothesis was that any that weren't just floating in the void would have been drawn to people in a similar way, but I don't have anything like enough evidence to prove that."

Lantern Dulok nods. "And what happened to him?"

"Not a lot. King Myand'r recognised the symbol on the ring as belonging to a local legendary monster and refused to wear it. Then, after we destroyed the Citadel, he didn't want it anymore."

"Would it not have been helpful in restoring his world, or in protecting it?"

"Maybe. But orange rings have an unfortunate effect on the minds of those who wear them. I haven't studied enough subjects to know exactly how bad it can get-."

"Giant cakes, moons spinning around…"

"I put it back."

Lantern Tui blinks. "You… Put back..?"

"Yes? Did-?" I glance at Guy. "I can't believe that Guy didn't mention it when you were on Earth."

"I've learned to tune Lantern Gardner out."

"And see what you miss!"

"How come you're dealing with this, anyway? We're not anywhere near Two Eight One Four."

Guy grins. "Guardians recognised my skills."

"What, they thought you had the best chance of persuading me to help you?"

"Nope." There's a momentary green glow, then a red sash with a gold lantern badge appears across his chest and a red cloak trails from his shoulders. "I mean they formally recognised them. Guess they couldn't have the Host of Ion being a regular Sector Lantern."

"Well done. How did Jordan take the news?"

"Ugh." Guy looks away, rolling his eyes as he groans. "Guardians upped him at the same time. The exact same time. Said they didn't want either of us claiming seniority over the other."

"How well they know you both." Oh. "Does that mean that Two Eight One Four has a new Lantern?" Because if it's Alan I can put that journey to Qward on the backburner.

"Yeah, some Russian chick. I haven't met her yet."

"And she got chosen ahead of Alan because..?"

"'cause the Guardians don't want a guy they can't train from scratch. I asked, okay? I think he's a great guy too."

We've lost Lantern Tui. "Who is 'Alan'?"

"A long time ago there was a Green Lantern called Yalun Gur. He went off the deep end Sinestro-style-." Lanterns Tui and Dulok share an awkward glance. "What?"

"It is…" Lantern Dulok looks away awkwardly. "Something of a point of contention between us. Betrassus benefited greatly from Lantern Sinestro's protection while he was a Sector Lantern here, and I was called to the Green Lantern Corps to take his place upon his ascension to the Honour Guard. Even after learning.. what he did, I still find much to admire about him."

"You wouldn't say that if it was your planet he took over."

"On the contrary. On Betrassus, most battles are fought between small numbers of aristocrats. If a single warrior as skilled as Sinestro emerged he might well rise to a position of supreme power by his own abilities. If anything, the relative peace Sinestro brought is more unusual than the return to the old ways that Prince Ragnar's ascendancy is threatening to bring about."

"Anyway, Lantern Gur goes off the deep end and tries to conquer Earth. The Guardians hear about it and remotely destroy his ring's AI. I don't know if he just wasn't a very good fighter without it or if the AI being destroyed shut the rest of the ring off as well. In any case, the locals kill him and dispose of his ring and lantern. Centuries later, it somehow ends up in the hands of a man named Alan Scott, whose will is powerful enough to activate it. He used it on and off for about twenty five years, and because its AI was fried the first the Guardians heard of it was when Lantern Jordan asked them about him."

"So what irritates me about it is that he's a veteran with incredible willpower who would be perfectly happy to work for them, but the Guardians put a block on his recruitment. No matter how strong willed or heroic he is, he will never be chosen."

Guy winces slightly. "He is ninety, Paul."

"And he rejuvenates when exposed to green light. And how old are the Guardians themselves? Age is no excuse. And I will be telling them that when I visit Oa."

Guy raises his eyebrows slightly at that, but with the atmosphere coming up he decides to ignore it for now. "So what exactly are you planning on saying to Ragnar?"

"He likes fighting, I've got a large war that needs fighters. Unless I see a very good reason not to, recruiting him is my preferred option. Failing that, I'll take his ring and let him think about what he's done."

"Need a bit more detail than that, Paul."

"What? I.. can't, not until I've had the chance to examine his psyche. And since when do you want detailed plans in advance?"

"Comes with the sash, Paul. I'm the ranking Lantern here, which means I gotta take responsibility." He smiles smugly. "And come to think of it, you should probably call me 'sir'. Y'know, when we've got company."

"Okay, one, being ranking Lantern means nothing if the other Lantern is from a different Corps. Two." I let my own formal robes appear from subspace, my full rank insignia running down the left flap. "What makes you think you outrank me?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd August
09:51 GMT

"Let me see that…"

Guy squints slightly. Power rings will translate pretty much anything, but if the format is very different from your own language it might take a moment for your eyes, ring and brain to work out what they're seeing. The Clickers' written language is quite pretty to look at, so I decided to use that for rank insignia. Unfortunately, because they sort of write with their mouths it tends to result in a column of characters resembling Japanese characters that got pushed together into a single character and written out by someone more familiar with Arabic.

"Lantern assigned to Sector Two Eight One Four… Host of the Ophidian… Hey, where is she, anyway?"

"Still in my personal lantern, but we'll be moving her into the Orange Central Power Battery before too long."

"Oh really?"

"That was the arrangement I came to with her. She wants to experience multiple non-overlapping desire sets, and the best place for her to do that is the Central Power Battery. The Controllers think that'll also boost the rest of the Corps a bit, which is probably why the Guardians keep Ion in your Central Power Battery."

"And your little Demon-things?"

"I find they mostly unsettle people. And I don't want to encourage other Orange Lanterns to use assimilation outside of.. dire necessity."

"Alright. Raised to the Honour Guard…" Guy smirks. "And exactly how many of you are there?"

"The Honour Guard consists of me. The Corps has two other Lanterns and five trainees, not counting Prince Ragnar or the Controllers or… Whoever else has picked up an orange ring while I've been busy."

"Oh. 'cause for a moment there I thought it was a big deal. And, ah-." His eyes widen very slightly. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Lantern Tui appears to have tuned him out, but Lantern Dulok gamely reads on. "Raised to the rank of Illustres." He looks at Guy. "I suppose that means that he has seniority."

Guy turns to face the planet once more. "No, no, it doesn't count if they're in a different Corps."

Lantern Tui's clearly had enough with our posturing. She dives towards the planet's surface. "Can we please get on with the mission? Sirs?"

Dulok looks like he wants to follow her at once, but hesitates while Guy decides what to do.

Guy and I look at each other. "We should probably-." / "We should probably-."

We twist in the air and swoop after Lantern Tui, heading towards the planet's fifth largest city. Prince Ragnar apparently picked his most recent fight with a scion of its ruling clan, and we're heading for their coliseum now. Though if the flickers of red and yellow I'm seeing are anything to go by…

Magnify.

Prince Ragnar floats before the ducal box as the clan chief very grudgingly hands him… Some sort of medallion. In the arena itself a group of medical orderlies check the corpse of his late opponent for a moment, then begin the process of respectfully removing his body. Sword wounds. Not ring-inflicted. Maybe that's how he's kept his ring going: the environmental shield alone would boost his survivability and wouldn't consume all that much power. If he only wears it in combat…

"Too late for that poor bastard."

"Yeah." So let's take a closer look at Ragnar himself. Ah. "He wanted to be a Green Lantern."

"If that was what he was aimin' for he kinda missed."

"You only recruit when there's a fatality or a promotion. You probably miss any number of perfectly good candidates because there isn't an opening at an appropriate time in an appropriate place. I mean, look at the man."

"Yeah, looks like a real piece a' work." Ragnar turns and raises the medallion so that the crowd can see it. A small group cheer rapturously while the rest seem far more subdued.

"Look at his will. His absolute conviction. And his yellow."

"Barely got any."

"I think there's some there. But you're right; it's so controlled, so... Beaten down. I can barely tell what it is."

"Another Great Clan has fallen." Guy and I look at Dulok for an explanation. "I wasn't certain at first, but now it seems clear that Prince Ragnar is demanding oaths of vassalage from all of the Great Clans."

"And why's that a big deal?"

"All clans acknowledge the supremacy of the Royal Clan, but maintain a high degree of independence. King Nol has been encouraging collegiality and shared decision making. It seems that his son prefers autocracy."

"I've got to say, this is starting to sound like one of those 'Prime Directive' situations."

Guy nods. "Okay. I mean, I think Tui's single but I haven't actually asked."

"What?"

"'Prime Directive'. That's Star Trek, right? Like with Kirk and the hot alien babes?"

"Actually, the Prime Directive was more of a Next Generation thing. And Kirk's libido gets overstated quite a bit."

"Neeeeeerd."

"Pretty much. But this is how Betrassusians decide things. Usually, unifications require massive wars. They're doing it with a few dozen deaths, and none of the people he challenged were forced to accept."

"If it helps, most Betrassusians would rather things weren't decided this way. It was something we were moving away from."

"Then why doesn't the law get changed? Why doesn't the King rein him in? The fact that Sector Lanterns exist shouldn't be an excuse not to gird your own loins and sort the situation out yourself." I sigh. "I better go and talk to him before Lantern Tui decides to do it for me."

I flare my environmental shield slightly, then accelerate towards the arena. Prince Ragnar has flown over to his supporters, receiving backslaps and commendations in good humour with his trophy in hand. Wants to be a Lantern, but grew up while Sinestro was active. As a result he'd be of the 'order over all' school. Which explains why he'd want to follow Sinestro's example and improve 'efficiency' by removing superfluous layers of debate in the planet's government. Curiously, I'm seeing no desire to actually rule himself. And more curiously for me, no obvious sign of spiritual instability. I wasn't expecting anything useful out of this trip other than maybe a mild improvement in relations with the Green Lantern Corps. But I wasn't lying when I said that Prince Ragnar might be exactly what we need.

The background noise drops away as I descend past Lantern Tui and through the open roof of the coliseum. More and more of the locals look upwards, no doubt seeing the green lights behind me as well as my own orange glow. Slight increase in the background fear, but Prince Ragnar's supporters don't seem particularly bothered. One points my way, their idol following it and finally making eye contact with me.

His environmental shield flares as he rises into the air and flies towards me.

"Finally!"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd August
09:58 GMT

And he flies past me and stops in front of the slightly concerned looking Lantern Tui. "I was concerned when the ring which came for me was the wrong colour, but now I see that this was just some kind of test of worthiness! Now I can finally join the Green Lantern Corps!"

Oooh dear. I turn around and float up towards them as Lantern Tui drifts back in an attempt to reclaim her personal space.

"Excuse me, your highness?"

He glances at me and then back to Lantern Tui before turning fully to face me. "Are you to join the Green Lantern Corps as well? I do not know your face…"

"It seems very unlikely to me that I will ever join the Green Lantern Corps. Prince Ragnar, it is my sad duty to inform you that the ring on your finger is… Not green." He frowns. "It is, in fact… Orange."

"Is it… Some sort of training ring? Will I graduate to green once the Green Lantern Corps hierarchy has completed my evaluation?"

"Sorry, no. Completely different organisation. Some of the people who have oversight on the Orange Lantern Corps used to be Guardians, but that's about as far as it goes."

"… Oh." He looks like he's not quite sure what to make of the news. From the look of the colour balance inside him I'd say that while he's slightly disappointed he's prepared to hear me out before having a tantrum. "Then why have I not heard of you?"

Behind him, Lantern Dulok and Guy form up next to Lantern Tui.

"While the Orange Lantern Corps technically predates the Green Lantern Corps, it only had one fully functioning member for most of that time and he never came anywhere near this region of space." At least, assuming that Larfleeze went in a reasonably straight line from Krona's laboratory on Maltus to Vega. "We've started expanding the membership recently-."

"And you noticed my skills and sent a ring to me." He nods to himself. "It is not exactly what I wanted, but I will-."

"Again, no. This came as a complete surprise to me. Though if anything, that's more impressive. The only people I've seen acquire orange rings in the wild tended to go insane as a result. Tell me, does it have a mind of its own?"

"Yes. I had it show me its original form. A head, with the rest of its body atrophied. It was weak." He frowns at me. "What does this mean?"

"If a person knows what they're doing, rings can be remote controlled. I used that ability… A little less than a Betrassusian year ago, to call rings from another part of the universe. I did so unintentionally and a number of the rings got lost on the way as a result. The one you're wearing almost certainly came from a planet called Okaara."

"If I was not chosen, why is it on my finger?!"

"Orange rings respond to avarice. Desire, need. You really want to be a Lantern. And now you are."

His expression sours. "This is not what I wanted at all."

"Your avarice was strong enough to call a ring from a very long way away. I'm the only other Lantern I know to have done that. I certainly can't think of any Green Lanterns who have. My question to you is: what do you intend to do with it?"

"I had thought that I was finally being inducted into the brotherhood of the greatest warriors in existence! Not some… Tiny gathering of madmen!"

"Point of clarification: if they go mad we remove them. Going mad is something to avoid, not some inevitable fate that befalls us all."

"And I thought that it was in recognition of the skills and traits of character which I had developed with the specific aim of becoming a Green Lantern! And instead you say it is because the universe decided that I was throwing some kind of childish fit? As if I was demanding power as my right instead of what I was doing, which was working to earn it!?"

"I'm saying that your desires were so focused on your objective that the ring reacted to that. I doubt very much that you could have focused so intently for so long if you had not been working to realise your desire yourself."

He exhales sharply in irritation, then raises his right hand slightly and looks at the orange ring glowing on his middle finger. He stays like that for a moment, watching the glow. "What do you want?"

"That's what I was planning to ask you, actually. If you want, you can hand me that ring and pretend this never happened. Perhaps if the Green Lanterns have an opening-" I look past him to Lanterns Dulok and Tui. "-due to promotion, hopefully, you could be recruited to replace them. You can keep the ring. You called it to you, so it's yours." Guy doesn't look too pleased at that suggestion. "Or you can join us. We are relatively weak now, but we will grow stronger. Centuries hence, our successors will list you amongst the first generation of Orange Lanterns and recount your deeds to inspire their own." I shrug. "What do you think would have happened if you had been called to join the Green Lantern Corps?"

"A lifetime spent in valiant combat."

Ah. I'm getting a better read on his mindset. Something like that of a medieval knight. Your obligations and personal warrior virtues matter, the causes less so. Unfortunate, but…

"I can offer you war. The Orange Lantern Corps is preparing an invasion of Reach-controlled space. The Reach defeated the Green Lantern-"

"Drew with the Green Lantern Corps."

"-Corps and has continued expanding since. I could detail their crimes, though I suspect that aspect doesn't bother you. Their regular soldiers are unremarkable, but their leaders are cunning, their fleet is powerful and their Beetles are a match for most Lanterns. And the Green Lanterns are barred by treaty from fighting them."

He perks up slightly. "You would have me lead warriors into battle against them?"

"Perhaps. If you proved yourself capable. You would also need formal training in how to use that ring, and we'd need to give you a personal lantern to recharge it from."

"I know how power rings should be used. I have studied every scrap of information on Green Lanterns. I even briefly had the honour of being educated by Thaal Sinestro himself!"

Right. Royal dynasty on a planet under his protection. He probably met Sinestro several times, and given how much of a Lantern fan he is I wouldn't be surprised if Sinestro gave him non-classified mission reports to encourage him. I guess I can tell which side of the 'Sinestro: good or bad' debate he's on.

"Seeing Lanterns fight and doing it yourself are very different things. Using a power ring requires that you think and feel in just the right ways while you fight, and the best ways to use your ring can feel quite counterintuitive to someone mostly familiar with ground-based combat."

And his eyes are orange sigils. Damn it, what did I-?

"You think that I am incapable? That having trained my whole life for this I cannot manage even this paltry copy of a proper power ring?"

I'd interject, but since his ring was made by Larfleeze he's technically right.

"I think that you're less skilled than you could be, yes."

"Then I challenge you. Here and now we will see who knows how best to use power rings!"

I blink, staring at him. Did he just..?

"Hah! Okay. When's good for you?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

22nd August
10:22 GMT

"You sure you can take him?"

I roll my eyes. "Guy, he's a melee fighter. I've spent the last twenty minutes reviewing his most recent fights: he barely uses his power ring. Jordan would do better."

"Heh heh heh." Guy shakes his head as Lantern Tui gives both of us the evils. "You got no idea how good it is t'hear someone else ribbin' Hal."

"You three still doing those training sessions?"

Guy nods. "We were, 'til Hal an' me got promoted. With just John on his own he's probably not botherin'."

"What about-?"

He shakes his head. "Nah, she's still on Oa doin' basic. John'll get t' polish her up once Larvox gets done teachin' her the basics." Something occurs to him. "Oh, hey, I wan'ned t'say… Last session before Hal an' me left? We brought Alan along with us. Show him what we'd been doin'."

"Oh. Um, thank you. I'm sure that he really appreciated it."

"Probably have liked it better if you were there." I nod. Huh. Surprisingly subtle nudge from Guy there. "See you're still usin' John's ring there. Does that mean we're splittin' credit?"

"What, this?" I hold up my right hand and show him the ring. "Does this look like John's ring to you?"

Guy takes it in with a frown. "Huh. No. Looks kinda crappy, actually. That what the Controllers are turnin' out these days?"

"No, this comes from Larfleeze." I shrug. "No one else wanted it, I've already got a normal one and the Controllers are too busy making rings and lanterns for new recruits to make a second normal one for me."

"So what'd you do with John's?"

"That's now being worn by Controller Hinon Hee Hannanan, who made my original ring. She was also involved in making the original Orange Central Power Battery."

"So did she make that other ring too, or was that Larfleeze?"

Outside in the arena, trumpets blare and I start walking down the tunnel. "No, that was Krona."

I step out onto the sands just as Guy's '"Are you shittin' me?"' gets cut off by the closing gates. Prince Ragnar enters from the gates on the opposite side of the arena, smiling faintly as he passes the bloodstains left by his previous opponent. I stand just inside the arena for a moment, then float up off the ground a little so that I can don my power armour. Then I use the armour's flight systems to fly slowly forward.

We both stop just in front of the referee's box, Ragnar with his sword at rest and me settling back on the ground. The referee is a local man and a minor noble. I imagine that he'd like to give me any advantage he can, but his role is far too constrained to allow anything too cheaty.

"We are here to witness the duel between Prince Ragnar of the Royal Clan and Paul, Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps! Gentlemen, state your terms!"

Ragnar looks at me sidelong. "When I triumph over you, I will have your rings and your rank."

"I cannot offer you my rank. It was a recognition of my abilities extended to me by others. But my rings? Certainly." He nods, smiling. "Should I win, I will expect you to acknowledge my authority and join my Corps as a rookie."

He takes a step away from me and hoists his sword in one hand, environmental shield flaring slightly. "Agreed."

"The terms are agreed! Gentlemen, you may begin on the second horn!"

BWWWWWWWRRRRHHHHHH!

Scan the sword again just in case… Yep, good. Environmental shield to minimal, kinetic barrier on… Good.

BWWWWWWWRRRRHHHHHH!

Ragnar charges straight at me, sword held high ready to bisect me. I raise my hands slightly in a guard position and brace. He's grinning and not bothering with a battlecry. His sword should defeat most conventional armour and he hasn't bothered scanning me to detect my force field. Does he not know how to? I'm pretty sure that intelligence gathering is something Sinestro would have mentioned… Wait, how old is he? Oh, he wouldn't have been more than ten when Sinestro got promoted, he probably didn't get detailed lessons.

His sword swings down at my left and my left hand comes up to catch it, kinetic barrier glowing faintly as the blade's energy gets nullified. My right hand opens at my chest, touching his and removing the momentum from his charge. His eyes open slightly in surprise, then my right hand moves left and sends a pinpoint kinetic energy blast into his sword hand.

His sword goes flying away to my left, then a backhand slap from my right arm sends him flying to my right. He hits the sands, rolls and comes up to his feet in a fighting pose.

"Ragnar, if you want to fight me, fight me as a Lantern." I take a step towards him, my helmet vanishing into subspace. Another step and the armour covering my arms disappears. A third and I step down onto the sand as my leg armour joins it. A fourth and I'm wearing only my light undersuit. "My people's duelling traditions are different to yours. I'll let you recharge your ring with my lantern if you want."

"That will not be necessary!" Glowing construct armour forms around his body, and a construct sword appears in his hands. "Arm yourself!"

I bow my head slightly, then shake it. Then I pull my main ring from my left hand and drop it to the ground. He looks down at it, then up at my face as I pull Larfleeze's ring from my right hand and drop it as well. "You're giving up your rings? Do you yield?"

"No." I point at him with my right forefinger. "You're a warrior. I'm a philosopher. There is a good deal more to using the orange light than 'screaming and leaping'. You know your desires. I know desire."

"And?"

"And I will teach that to you. I'm going to take your ring, and beat you with that." I extend my right hand and beckon him to me. "Come."

For a moment his constructs shudder as a wave of red passes through him. Then he recovers, eyes glowing with orange sigils, and charges again. "AAAAAAGGGHHHH!"

I look deeper and-

defeathisenemybecomeagreatandrenownedwarriorfollowtheexampleofhistoricalgreatsearnhisplaceinhistoryreceiveadmirationfindhisplacebringhisskillstotheirgreatestlevelaidhisfatherfollowthepathhe'schosentotheendneverbackdownshownofearremoveallweaknesses

-it's remarkably simple, actually.

Ring, come. I have a lesson to teach.

Prince Ragnar jerks, his constructs failing as his ring flies from his finger. Huh, didn't bring the finger with it this time. I suppose that's progress. I hold out my left hand and it lands directly on my ring finger. Ragnar falls to his knees in shock, then pushes himself back up and starts running towards me again. Filaments flick out and grip his sword where it lies on the arena floor, then pull it through the air into my hand.

"Ragnar, stop. I don't want to kill you. You have the makings of a good Lantern. Yield to me, and I will see that you receive the education you need to become the greatest lantern you can be."

"Never! I will die before I yield!"

Can't say he isn't consistent. I apply a ShockCrown to his head, causing him to collapse headlong at my feet. I hold up his sword for a moment, look at it, then carefully lower the tip to the back of his head until it draws a tiny amount of blood.

Then I look over to the referee. "He is unable to continue. Would you mind calling the match for me, please?"