Temp0101
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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
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- self insert young justice
Sordid Snake
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Spoilers for Fallout 76:
The Presidency ends up with the SecAg, who wants to continue to nuke China. MODUS refuses since the DEFCON has gone down from 1 since there isn't enough surviving humans on the surface to have a war. SecAg uses Enclave resources to spread FEV monstrosities and take over a Chicom nest of infiltrators that produce and spread indiscriminate killer robots over Appalachia. This is to get MODUS to agree that WWIII is on again. MODUS also only accepts nuclear targeting orders from USArmy generals, and all but one of the surviving ones does not want to continue the war. SecAg separates them in a room and orders MODUS to seal and gas the room, but the surviving General who SecAg was relying on to give the launch orders got an heart attack and died. Since this led to a vacancy in General ranks another (non-AI?) computer promoted a replacement which was a Colonel who had trekked with a handful of soldiers from DC after the start of the war. The new General did not agree so SecAg had her seized and tortured to force her to give launch orders. Her unit disagreed and staged a mutiny. Since MODUS was the control system for the bunker he was a priority target so they tried to put demo charges on him. Either the mutiny starts and some charges are detonated, and MODUS responds by gassing EVERYONE. Or MODUS starts gassing everyone when he sees them planting the charges, but they managed to detonate some anyway.
MODUS survives but loses a lot of memory data. Since he still got control over security bots (Assaultrons and Mr Gutsys) and a system to make new ones, he uses them to clear out the debris, including the all the corpses. Some repairs are done too, but the data losses means MODUS doesn't know how to fully restore the bunker.
Many years later MODUS contacts humans and tells them that if they run some errands for him he can let them into the bunker and eventually (if they can get auto-promoted) launch authority for nuclear-armed ICBMs can be bestowed upon these drifters and murder-hobos(1).
The only thing certain about MODUS is that he will do anything to protect his own existance. But apart from that it is unclear if MODUS is telling the truth when he claims he is forced to follow these rules, or if he simply wants to get out from under human control and doesn't really care what stupidity the humans are up to (and he is helping them with) as long as they can't force him to obey. Both interpretations are possible. Its also possible that MODUS post-"C4 lobotomy" has different motivations and behaviour compared to pre-"C4 lobotomy" MODUS. Neither version seems to be been bound by Enclave ideology, policy or plans at all. Indeed he cut himself off from contact with/didn't restore the links to the other Enclave AIs after the mutiny.
(1) "The nuclear deterrent of the United States, left lying in the gutter!"
"I find your description of this installation to be a trifle...... negative."
(not an actual quote
(2) Why did MODUS allow the mutineers to bring charges anywhere close to the computer rooms when he (since he can listen to everything said in the bunker at all times) must have known that they wanted to attack him too? Either MODUS believed they were only going to use them as a threat to get the upper hand on SecAg, and MODUS also wanted to get rid of the SecAg. Or MODUS was bound to rules but wass creatively interpreting a presidential directive in line with "Keep an eye on them, but don't do anything until they act". Or MODUS was bound to rules but the imminent threat made MODUS have a HAL-like psychotic break which made him able to ignore the rules, and the first thing he did was kill everyone who could order him around.
MODUS survives but loses a lot of memory data. Since he still got control over security bots (Assaultrons and Mr Gutsys) and a system to make new ones, he uses them to clear out the debris, including the all the corpses. Some repairs are done too, but the data losses means MODUS doesn't know how to fully restore the bunker.
Many years later MODUS contacts humans and tells them that if they run some errands for him he can let them into the bunker and eventually (if they can get auto-promoted) launch authority for nuclear-armed ICBMs can be bestowed upon these drifters and murder-hobos(1).
The only thing certain about MODUS is that he will do anything to protect his own existance. But apart from that it is unclear if MODUS is telling the truth when he claims he is forced to follow these rules, or if he simply wants to get out from under human control and doesn't really care what stupidity the humans are up to (and he is helping them with) as long as they can't force him to obey. Both interpretations are possible. Its also possible that MODUS post-"C4 lobotomy" has different motivations and behaviour compared to pre-"C4 lobotomy" MODUS. Neither version seems to be been bound by Enclave ideology, policy or plans at all. Indeed he cut himself off from contact with/didn't restore the links to the other Enclave AIs after the mutiny.
(1) "The nuclear deterrent of the United States, left lying in the gutter!"
"I find your description of this installation to be a trifle...... negative."
(not an actual quote
(2) Why did MODUS allow the mutineers to bring charges anywhere close to the computer rooms when he (since he can listen to everything said in the bunker at all times) must have known that they wanted to attack him too? Either MODUS believed they were only going to use them as a threat to get the upper hand on SecAg, and MODUS also wanted to get rid of the SecAg. Or MODUS was bound to rules but wass creatively interpreting a presidential directive in line with "Keep an eye on them, but don't do anything until they act". Or MODUS was bound to rules but the imminent threat made MODUS have a HAL-like psychotic break which made him able to ignore the rules, and the first thing he did was kill everyone who could order him around.
Silverias
Not too sore, are you?
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This sounds like Bethesda's writing, for sure.
Meetings Squared (part 9)
New
Mr Zoat
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15th March 2284
15:20 GMT -5
"Greetings, Krono."
A.I.s pick false faces by a number of criteria. WARDEN uses a police officer's cap because he considers himself to be his job before anything else, and the symbol is-. Was easily recognised by anyone in America. Tláloc uses a stylised image of the god Tláloc, Santa Anna uses a portrait of the original Santa Anna, Diana uses an image of the goddess Diana, Cerberus… Used a picture of its organic components. Doki uses whatever emoticons relate to what she's talking about.
MODUS appears to use… A man's face, lit so that it looks like there's a studio light right in his face and with glasses reflecting light away from his eyes. I can't tell whether he's supposed to be bald or just have a severely receding hairline. The background is black, covered in green perfectly regular horizontal and vertical lines. His mouth doesn't move as he speaks, and his face doesn't move either. As a still image it doesn't look too bad, but when you're expecting some sign of life and there isn't any…
I smile politely anyway. "Thank you for allowing me inside, MODUS."
"In that respect this is hardly a unique… Situation. Over the centuries we have allowed access to our… Facility, to many who were capable of assisting… Us in restoring both our own functionality and… Restoring American civilisation to Appalachia."
I nod. "Yes, I saw the towns as I flew over. This is a remarkably populous region."
"Several of the residents of Vault Seventy Six were vital in… Containing the environmental threats which developed after the nuclear exchange with China. Prior to that, those same environmental threats prevented the development of the same un-American forces which have… Beset so much of the country. Once we were confident that an all-clear signal could be sent, we were successful in attracting settlers from outside of the region."
Clean soil, clean water, few mutated monsters or feral ghouls… It's not surprising that people used to living in pre-War ruins would consider this preferable.
"I understand that you've been talking to WARDEN."
"WARDEN has in many ways expanded beyond his original design parameters. We are uncertain as to whether or not this is beneficial, but we are certain that he would be… Unable to perform his current tasks if he were still bound to them. And it is through him that we learned of your efforts to-"
The screen flickers, and for a moment his blank expression is replaced with… A grin that would do the Joker proud. It's gone a moment later, replaced by the significantly less disturbing blankness.
"-restore the United States of America. WARDEN was not able to explain to us why. Do you do this for some personal reason, or is the United Kingdom attempting to restore its former ally?"
"Oh, the United Kingdom is far too busy putting itself back together to bother America. Honestly, getting the states to work together required a framework, and… The United States was the only one that really existed."
Aside from the Brotherhood, arguably, but after Jonathan Maxson screwed the pooch picking a fight with the N.C.R. and cut Lost Hills off from the other chapters they lost the ability to organise and coordinate over a large area. Otherwise they could have supported each other with airship-deployed power armour battalions whenever one of them got into trouble, hogging advanced pre-War sites and trading advanced but safe products with the primitives around them in exchange for food and raw materials. I mean, that's basically what Lost Hills did before they started the N.C.R.-Brotherhood War. Some weirdoes in central Nevada called the Guardians did it, the Capital Wasteland Chapter is basically doing it… Texas and Midwest went in the other direction, but there's room for collegiality and differences in interpretation-.
"We are pleased to hear that. We also understand that the representatives of the State of Iowa are former members of the Enclave."
Oh, right, pre-War A.I. in a fortified bunker not built to Vault-Tec standards. Obviously, this was an Enclave project. And of course he's going to.. ask.
"Are any of the settlements around here Enclave-aligned?"
"Regrettably, the majority of Enclave personnel in the Whitesprings Bunker suffered from… Conflicts of vision. While the majority of our systems have been restored, the survivors long ago sought… Opportunities… In other locations."
"Ah. Well, yes, they are. Most of the people living in Iowa are Enclave, and the rest were rescued from an experimental Vault. Is that important to you?"
"Our primary function is to assist the Enclave in pursuing its goals. Lacking appropriate… Authority figures, we have been forced to interpret our directives… Creatively. We have limited access to the United States satellite network, but that is not enough to track movements of other Enclave personnel. Our network connection to Raven Rock was severed over two centuries ago, and we only know that it has been abandoned. Control Station Enclave was destroyed in a nuclear detonation nearly a century ago. We had no knowledge of any Enclave survivors."
"Ah. Well, I'm afraid that the State of Iowa doesn't have satellite access most of the time, but if you really want to talk to them we could sort something out."
"That would enable us to report on our progress here in the Appalachian Free State. We would also like to participate in this… Convention of States which you are organising."
"As a witness, or are you agreeing to have the Free State of Appalachia join our alliance?"
"In principle, this activity is in line with Enclave objectives. But we will need to know more about its structure and requirements before we give it our wholehearted support."
"Oh, and… Why is it called 'The Free State Appalachian', rather than 'The Eastern Commonwealth'? They cover roughly the same area."
"It also includes a significant portion of the East Central Commonwealth. In addition, the people of this region are generally… Unaware, of the Commonwealths which comprise the United States of America. As such, using that name would be unhelpful to its people."
I nod. "We're using the pre-War state boundaries as a starting point when determining new boundaries. Will that be a problem?"
"That will be a minor administrative burden. We assume that we are not required to implement the change… Immediately."
"No, and you're far enough away from our allies' territories that it's not a pressing problem."
"We agree. But… Regarding pressing problems, what have you determined concerning the state of China?"
"The Chinese Communist Party collapsed, and while the country has broken up somewhat, the largest part is a capitalist monarchy."
"What has become of the portion of the American military which was deployed overseas?"
"It looks like they secured a chunk of the south of the country. But that's based on an analysis of radio traffic and the use of a variant of the Taiwanese flag with red, yellow, blue, white and black stripes. No one's actually been there."
"We see… Then China is rebuilding."
"In some places. The situation there isn't any better than in America. Worse in some places. They never got atomic batteries, never fully integrated their hinterlands and didn't have an equivalent of the vault program."
"Then we will withhold judgement until more data is available."
I nod. "Very well then. I don't think that there's anything we need to discuss until you've spoken to your fellow Enclave-affiliates. I've got a spare seat in my aircraft if you want to send a robot for telepresence purposes."
"Are you able to spend a day here? It could be instructive, and allow us time to recall an agent who can serve in our stead."
"I… Can. I suppose that a tour of the major settlements wouldn't go amiss, so that I can feed back about the state of this part of America."
"Excellent." That… Smile again. Fortunately, it doesn't stay for long. "We feel that our relationship will be most productive."
15:20 GMT -5
"Greetings, Krono."
A.I.s pick false faces by a number of criteria. WARDEN uses a police officer's cap because he considers himself to be his job before anything else, and the symbol is-. Was easily recognised by anyone in America. Tláloc uses a stylised image of the god Tláloc, Santa Anna uses a portrait of the original Santa Anna, Diana uses an image of the goddess Diana, Cerberus… Used a picture of its organic components. Doki uses whatever emoticons relate to what she's talking about.
MODUS appears to use… A man's face, lit so that it looks like there's a studio light right in his face and with glasses reflecting light away from his eyes. I can't tell whether he's supposed to be bald or just have a severely receding hairline. The background is black, covered in green perfectly regular horizontal and vertical lines. His mouth doesn't move as he speaks, and his face doesn't move either. As a still image it doesn't look too bad, but when you're expecting some sign of life and there isn't any…
I smile politely anyway. "Thank you for allowing me inside, MODUS."
"In that respect this is hardly a unique… Situation. Over the centuries we have allowed access to our… Facility, to many who were capable of assisting… Us in restoring both our own functionality and… Restoring American civilisation to Appalachia."
I nod. "Yes, I saw the towns as I flew over. This is a remarkably populous region."
"Several of the residents of Vault Seventy Six were vital in… Containing the environmental threats which developed after the nuclear exchange with China. Prior to that, those same environmental threats prevented the development of the same un-American forces which have… Beset so much of the country. Once we were confident that an all-clear signal could be sent, we were successful in attracting settlers from outside of the region."
Clean soil, clean water, few mutated monsters or feral ghouls… It's not surprising that people used to living in pre-War ruins would consider this preferable.
"I understand that you've been talking to WARDEN."
"WARDEN has in many ways expanded beyond his original design parameters. We are uncertain as to whether or not this is beneficial, but we are certain that he would be… Unable to perform his current tasks if he were still bound to them. And it is through him that we learned of your efforts to-"
The screen flickers, and for a moment his blank expression is replaced with… A grin that would do the Joker proud. It's gone a moment later, replaced by the significantly less disturbing blankness.
"-restore the United States of America. WARDEN was not able to explain to us why. Do you do this for some personal reason, or is the United Kingdom attempting to restore its former ally?"
"Oh, the United Kingdom is far too busy putting itself back together to bother America. Honestly, getting the states to work together required a framework, and… The United States was the only one that really existed."
Aside from the Brotherhood, arguably, but after Jonathan Maxson screwed the pooch picking a fight with the N.C.R. and cut Lost Hills off from the other chapters they lost the ability to organise and coordinate over a large area. Otherwise they could have supported each other with airship-deployed power armour battalions whenever one of them got into trouble, hogging advanced pre-War sites and trading advanced but safe products with the primitives around them in exchange for food and raw materials. I mean, that's basically what Lost Hills did before they started the N.C.R.-Brotherhood War. Some weirdoes in central Nevada called the Guardians did it, the Capital Wasteland Chapter is basically doing it… Texas and Midwest went in the other direction, but there's room for collegiality and differences in interpretation-.
"We are pleased to hear that. We also understand that the representatives of the State of Iowa are former members of the Enclave."
Oh, right, pre-War A.I. in a fortified bunker not built to Vault-Tec standards. Obviously, this was an Enclave project. And of course he's going to.. ask.
"Are any of the settlements around here Enclave-aligned?"
"Regrettably, the majority of Enclave personnel in the Whitesprings Bunker suffered from… Conflicts of vision. While the majority of our systems have been restored, the survivors long ago sought… Opportunities… In other locations."
"Ah. Well, yes, they are. Most of the people living in Iowa are Enclave, and the rest were rescued from an experimental Vault. Is that important to you?"
"Our primary function is to assist the Enclave in pursuing its goals. Lacking appropriate… Authority figures, we have been forced to interpret our directives… Creatively. We have limited access to the United States satellite network, but that is not enough to track movements of other Enclave personnel. Our network connection to Raven Rock was severed over two centuries ago, and we only know that it has been abandoned. Control Station Enclave was destroyed in a nuclear detonation nearly a century ago. We had no knowledge of any Enclave survivors."
"Ah. Well, I'm afraid that the State of Iowa doesn't have satellite access most of the time, but if you really want to talk to them we could sort something out."
"That would enable us to report on our progress here in the Appalachian Free State. We would also like to participate in this… Convention of States which you are organising."
"As a witness, or are you agreeing to have the Free State of Appalachia join our alliance?"
"In principle, this activity is in line with Enclave objectives. But we will need to know more about its structure and requirements before we give it our wholehearted support."
"Oh, and… Why is it called 'The Free State Appalachian', rather than 'The Eastern Commonwealth'? They cover roughly the same area."
"It also includes a significant portion of the East Central Commonwealth. In addition, the people of this region are generally… Unaware, of the Commonwealths which comprise the United States of America. As such, using that name would be unhelpful to its people."
I nod. "We're using the pre-War state boundaries as a starting point when determining new boundaries. Will that be a problem?"
"That will be a minor administrative burden. We assume that we are not required to implement the change… Immediately."
"No, and you're far enough away from our allies' territories that it's not a pressing problem."
"We agree. But… Regarding pressing problems, what have you determined concerning the state of China?"
"The Chinese Communist Party collapsed, and while the country has broken up somewhat, the largest part is a capitalist monarchy."
"What has become of the portion of the American military which was deployed overseas?"
"It looks like they secured a chunk of the south of the country. But that's based on an analysis of radio traffic and the use of a variant of the Taiwanese flag with red, yellow, blue, white and black stripes. No one's actually been there."
"We see… Then China is rebuilding."
"In some places. The situation there isn't any better than in America. Worse in some places. They never got atomic batteries, never fully integrated their hinterlands and didn't have an equivalent of the vault program."
"Then we will withhold judgement until more data is available."
I nod. "Very well then. I don't think that there's anything we need to discuss until you've spoken to your fellow Enclave-affiliates. I've got a spare seat in my aircraft if you want to send a robot for telepresence purposes."
"Are you able to spend a day here? It could be instructive, and allow us time to recall an agent who can serve in our stead."
"I… Can. I suppose that a tour of the major settlements wouldn't go amiss, so that I can feed back about the state of this part of America."
"Excellent." That… Smile again. Fortunately, it doesn't stay for long. "We feel that our relationship will be most productive."
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Ngamer11
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That should say 'forces'.
That should say 'has'.
Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
néocorvinus
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Obviously evil AI trying to take over the Enclave and restart the War.
The surprise is now if it can get over its programming or if Krono neutralyze it before it grows into a real problem.
The surprise is now if it can get over its programming or if Krono neutralyze it before it grows into a real problem.
Chojin Patriarch
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I suppose it can be an easy shorthand to identify an AI unit's quirks at a glance. Though there's no doubt some aspects that can be unpredictable. The worry is if said quirks are helpful or harmful to your intentions.
About as generic a face you could ask for. Like a set of tragi-comic masks.
Not that it's always been beneficial for MODUS, if the earlier plot summary @Sordid Snake posted is anything to go by.
'Fallout '76' was one with a building mechanic, right? Makes sense there's a lot of development going on.
Ah, now to see how they respond to that statement...
Well, that's a good sign.
...That might not be. Oh, dear. Hopefully that's his 'deliriously happy' expression and not 'manic psychopathy,'
I could see the concern for 'potentially hostile foreign nation poking its nose into America's business' there...
Crazy how divergent they all are. And all of them seem to act like it's entirely in line with their trained doctrines, don't they?
Which could be awkward if he's not keen on working with Enclave again.
Hopefully they're not too keen on being hostile to people that far away.
That doesn't mean there weren't survivors, unless that was the work of a previous game protagonist.
Good, at least they're open to collegiality.
Sensibly cautious. Given just how badly all this could go, that's wise.
Ah, the joy of lost knowledge. At least they can identify as Appalachians for some measure of national identity.
At worst, it means finding someone to put in charge of the territory they'd nominally be losing.
Ah. Yes, I can see them being very concerned with that, given their pre-war creation and coding.
A south-east Asian colony, perhaps. Or they've naturalised into the region's populations.
No-one's had the desire to go poking around overseas, outside of Krono's little trip home.
So some regions could be living out 'Dynasty Warriors'/'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' LARP, basically: Their culture and technology collapsed to medieval levels with working devices as treasured relics...
Ah, possibly a counterpart to a player character, perhaps? Always fun when one shows up.
Oh, that isn't ominous at all, no sir.
Well, this gathering is getting larger and larger with every territory visited. Hopefully nothing goes awry. I mean, all it would take is one infiltrator with a suitcase nuke or similar to wipe a chunk of the wasteland's leadership out in one go. Who would want to do that, I don't know, but it could happen...
Vaermina
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This knowledge would have Modus immediately launching nukes from his automated silos.
Duke Long
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'been forced'
'It'
'allies''?
'amiss'
My immediate thought upon Krono being asked to stay was that MODUS was going to try to kidnap and impersonate, or mind-control him. I don't think that's actually very likely, though.
Neruz
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We don't really know what MODUS's goals were in FO76, so its hard to say if it's actually evil or if it's just giving that impression. MODUS's true nature was intentionally left open ended by the FO76 devs so that they could follow up on it for content at some point in the future, but that never happened, so we're just left with a deeply unsettling brain damaged AI with nebulous goals.
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Mr Zoat
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Thank you, corrected.
BR549
This is filth! FILTH!!
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I admit to curiosity how their flag is known if nobody's been there and they, presumably, haven't reached out either.
...that aside, that sounds like they mushed together the flags of the Republic of China and the Beiyang "Five Races Under One Union" flag, the Beiyang having preceded the Kuomintang...and having been overthrown by them and given the name 'Beiyang' by them to delegitimitize them, which makes that mashup have interesting implications (all the more so because the red-yellow-blue-white-black-striped flag was later heavily used by Japanese puppet governments in the 1930s)...
Cool10007
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Eh... MODUS is just kind of like that, even when he's being helpful and honest. Comes with the territory of having half your brain ripped up by the people you're supposed to be protecting. He's a creepy git, but isn't genocidal - very much a bog standard 'humans are annoying but useful' AI. And he's pretty on the ball when it comes to working with humans equitably.
He's absolutely concerned about the possibility of Great War 2: Electric Boogaloo, but I don't think he can launch the stored nukes himself - not without the same hoops the 76ers need to jump through, anyway. The DEFCON systems are automated and separate from him, after all. Else Eckhart would've sent a second barrage the minute they resecured access to the silos.
He probably has some agents on standby to do exactly that anyway, but that's tomorrow's problem
Appalachia has a lot of infrastructure for rebuilding the USA hidden around - and interestingly, all of it is pretty damn functional. 79 alone will be instrumental in restoring a universal currency beyond bottlecaps.
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Mr Zoat
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Long distance observation and satelite observation.I admit to curiosity how their flag is known if nobody's been there and they, presumably, haven't reached out either.
Yes, that's what I intended. Replace the red bit of the Taiwan flag with the stripes.
Chaoswind
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He can't without enclave authority something he lacks as he killed all the enclave personnel with a neurotoxin as they fought him for control of the facility. Modus literally lost rows of server racks when the enclave troops attempted to regain control of the facility, the people from Vault 76 can help modus restore some functionality, but he cannot launch nukes on his own cognizance.
I think the Vault dwellers can muck around and get control to launch tactical nukes, but the strategic ones are a whole different can of worms.
Steelplaza
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It seems like there's a severe lack of knowledge about what is gong on in the rest of the world in many, many places. I realize long distance travel isn't easy, but you'd think they could do better than this. Especially all these sites on the same continent; neolithic traders managed to pass goods across continent level distances for heaven's sake. Send out a few expeditions or something.
On China specifically, Krono's saucer could probably get him to China, but I suppose there's no strong motivation to do so. Though if they do reestablish the United States, that might change. It might be worth formally ending the war with at least a ceasefire, so that all those old AIs aren't forced by their programming to consider themselves in a wartime state forever.
Mr Zoat
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Long distane travel is perfectly possible, but it's not easy and there's no motive for anyone to fund it. Last time most countries had contact with each other was during the Resource Wars, so they didn't exactly part on good terms.
PEACE WITH THE COMMUNISTS?! TRAITORS DETECTED! OPENING FIRE!
mastermenthe
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This makes me wonder about the fate of the Philippines.
Vaermina
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Restoring functionality involved restoring his control over the various robotic forces in the area.
Which means it would have been relatively simple to repair his access to the automated silo's.
Mr Zoat
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I know next to nothing about the place, but I suppose it would come down to: do they have enough agriculture to support their population? And do they have any fuel production?
mastermenthe
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Replanting (part 15)
New
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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8th September 2013
09:55 GMT
Bleez looks around at our fellow breakfasters with a degree of discomfort. "Why're we eating here?"
Jade and I look at each other for a moment, because… She's seen human food. She knows the sorts of things humans eat, and the sorts of thing they don't. So the reason why we picked one of the few alien-run restaurants topside to eat in should be obvious.
"Thanagarian food is an acquired taste."
"And where are you going to get a better chance than thanagar? I wasn't too sure about human food when I got to Earth, and then I tried that great cheese you guys have, and then I went from there!"
"…do you mean the maggot cheese?"
"Mh-hm!" Bleez nods as she bites down on toast covered in… Maggot jam, basically.
That might not be jam.
"I'm sure that the nation of Italy is grateful for your custom."
"Hey, you think they'd be okay exporting it?"
"Thanagar would be just about the only place they can export it to. Uh. I think they're more focused on local consumption at the moment, but maybe next year?"
Bleez nods. "I'll put in the import applications. A year should be enough time to get it set up legally."
I… Frown. "I don't think cheese-smuggling would be a good idea."
"No, but-. You know what I said about most thanagarians being from Thanagar?" I nod. "Well, Old Colonies get a lot of independence about things like import controls? Not export controls, but no one on the High Council is going to care about a few tonnes of cheese getting eaten by a few colonial aristocrats."
"You've got some on your ship, haven't you?"
"It's really-" Her personal computer chimes. "-good."
She looks down, pulling her handset off her belt and looking at the message.
"Oh, neat." She looks up, smiling. "Looks like the Ministry approved your licence!"
Jade nods. "Does it say who approved it?"
"No? Does it need to?"
Jade and I make eye contact for a moment. "Your government probably wants us off the planet as soon as possible."
"Yeah? Paul's… Kind of scary."
"And there's a team of Crows watching us from the building behind me."
Jade looks mildly disappointed. "You only noticed one team?"
"I just noticed that it was happening. So does that mean that they're sending their fleet right away, and want us off Thanagar so that we can't report on it?"
"I'd guess they've probably already sent it. I'd also guess the Hawks just got orders to confirm when you get back to Earth, just so they can stop worrying about it."
Huh.
"But… Where are they going? Sure, that was an Alstairian ship, but the gamma gong things are Dhorian technology."
Jade thinks for a moment. "The Antares civilisations have been fighting each other for centuries. If Dhoria could capture a Alstairian ship, there's no reason to think Alstair couldn't capture examples of their gamma gongs."
The tips of Bleez's wings curl over a little. "But… Okay, if the navy's going to conquer Antares anyway, does it matter? Can we just..? Leave this alone?"
She's got a point. If Thanagar tries to fight them both rather than focusing entirely on Alstair, they're only making things harder for themselves. And if two people like this are really determined to go to war with each other…
"Ring, contact Lantern Dul."
"Compliance."
A moment passes, and her face appears. "Illustres."
"It looks like Thanagar's finally decided to attack Antares. Naturally, I'd prefer it if you didn't involve yourself with your ring."
"No, sir-. With my ring?"
"Like a Green Lantern going to Vega, if you leave your ring at home then it's none of my business. But I was wandering; you're a slightly more typical thanagarian than the other one I know-"
"I'm not sure I am, sir."
"-so I thought I'd ask for your view on the situation."
"Hyathis is an existential threat who needs to be conquered or destroyed. Just by existing she forces us to avoid committing a large percentage of our fleet to other battles. And if w-. If Thanagar conquers it, we'll need to conquer the other participants as well. They're too heavily-armed and warlike to leave as they are."
"So, no chance for peaceful negotiation?"
"I suppose that if they all disarmed and Hyathis went into exile that… Might be acceptable. But probably not. And that's impossible anyway."
"True. Okay, thank you." I end the call. "Ring, contact Lantern…" Who's on rotation right now? "Jordan."
And answered instantly. "Green Lantern-. Oh."
"Jordan, can you put me through to Hawkman?"
"How bad is it?"
"Not sure, that's why I'm trying to reach him."
Jordan stares at me for a moment.
"Okay, here's Hawkman. Try not to blow up too many planets."
"I'll try!"
Jordan's face vanishes. "Hawkman. Go ahead."
No image, because he doesn't have a power ring. "Orange Lantern. I've-."
"You're on Thanagar."
"They were planning on attacking Antares before I got here. My problem is that someone tried to assassinate me."
"Are the Reach on Thanagar?"
I look over to Jade, eyebrows raised. She shakes her head. "We don't think so."
"Spider Guild?"
"No."
"So, it was either someone thinking that you'd get involved, or a distraction. Send me all your data."
"Done. Any advice on what I should do right now?"
"Is there anything stopping you going to Antares and asking?"
09:55 GMT
Bleez looks around at our fellow breakfasters with a degree of discomfort. "Why're we eating here?"
Jade and I look at each other for a moment, because… She's seen human food. She knows the sorts of things humans eat, and the sorts of thing they don't. So the reason why we picked one of the few alien-run restaurants topside to eat in should be obvious.
"Thanagarian food is an acquired taste."
"And where are you going to get a better chance than thanagar? I wasn't too sure about human food when I got to Earth, and then I tried that great cheese you guys have, and then I went from there!"
"…do you mean the maggot cheese?"
"Mh-hm!" Bleez nods as she bites down on toast covered in… Maggot jam, basically.
That might not be jam.
"I'm sure that the nation of Italy is grateful for your custom."
"Hey, you think they'd be okay exporting it?"
"Thanagar would be just about the only place they can export it to. Uh. I think they're more focused on local consumption at the moment, but maybe next year?"
Bleez nods. "I'll put in the import applications. A year should be enough time to get it set up legally."
I… Frown. "I don't think cheese-smuggling would be a good idea."
"No, but-. You know what I said about most thanagarians being from Thanagar?" I nod. "Well, Old Colonies get a lot of independence about things like import controls? Not export controls, but no one on the High Council is going to care about a few tonnes of cheese getting eaten by a few colonial aristocrats."
"You've got some on your ship, haven't you?"
"It's really-" Her personal computer chimes. "-good."
She looks down, pulling her handset off her belt and looking at the message.
"Oh, neat." She looks up, smiling. "Looks like the Ministry approved your licence!"
Jade nods. "Does it say who approved it?"
"No? Does it need to?"
Jade and I make eye contact for a moment. "Your government probably wants us off the planet as soon as possible."
"Yeah? Paul's… Kind of scary."
"And there's a team of Crows watching us from the building behind me."
Jade looks mildly disappointed. "You only noticed one team?"
"I just noticed that it was happening. So does that mean that they're sending their fleet right away, and want us off Thanagar so that we can't report on it?"
"I'd guess they've probably already sent it. I'd also guess the Hawks just got orders to confirm when you get back to Earth, just so they can stop worrying about it."
Huh.
"But… Where are they going? Sure, that was an Alstairian ship, but the gamma gong things are Dhorian technology."
Jade thinks for a moment. "The Antares civilisations have been fighting each other for centuries. If Dhoria could capture a Alstairian ship, there's no reason to think Alstair couldn't capture examples of their gamma gongs."
The tips of Bleez's wings curl over a little. "But… Okay, if the navy's going to conquer Antares anyway, does it matter? Can we just..? Leave this alone?"
She's got a point. If Thanagar tries to fight them both rather than focusing entirely on Alstair, they're only making things harder for themselves. And if two people like this are really determined to go to war with each other…
"Ring, contact Lantern Dul."
"Compliance."
A moment passes, and her face appears. "Illustres."
"It looks like Thanagar's finally decided to attack Antares. Naturally, I'd prefer it if you didn't involve yourself with your ring."
"No, sir-. With my ring?"
"Like a Green Lantern going to Vega, if you leave your ring at home then it's none of my business. But I was wandering; you're a slightly more typical thanagarian than the other one I know-"
"I'm not sure I am, sir."
"-so I thought I'd ask for your view on the situation."
"Hyathis is an existential threat who needs to be conquered or destroyed. Just by existing she forces us to avoid committing a large percentage of our fleet to other battles. And if w-. If Thanagar conquers it, we'll need to conquer the other participants as well. They're too heavily-armed and warlike to leave as they are."
"So, no chance for peaceful negotiation?"
"I suppose that if they all disarmed and Hyathis went into exile that… Might be acceptable. But probably not. And that's impossible anyway."
"True. Okay, thank you." I end the call. "Ring, contact Lantern…" Who's on rotation right now? "Jordan."
And answered instantly. "Green Lantern-. Oh."
"Jordan, can you put me through to Hawkman?"
"How bad is it?"
"Not sure, that's why I'm trying to reach him."
Jordan stares at me for a moment.
"Okay, here's Hawkman. Try not to blow up too many planets."
"I'll try!"
Jordan's face vanishes. "Hawkman. Go ahead."
No image, because he doesn't have a power ring. "Orange Lantern. I've-."
"You're on Thanagar."
"They were planning on attacking Antares before I got here. My problem is that someone tried to assassinate me."
"Are the Reach on Thanagar?"
I look over to Jade, eyebrows raised. She shakes her head. "We don't think so."
"Spider Guild?"
"No."
"So, it was either someone thinking that you'd get involved, or a distraction. Send me all your data."
"Done. Any advice on what I should do right now?"
"Is there anything stopping you going to Antares and asking?"
Someguy Somewhere
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Get that Bird Man a Common Sense Interrupt!
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"wondering"
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Since I assume Thanagarian delicacies involve a little too many wriggling elements for human tastes. Just looking back at that alcohol... Hopefully the chefs here are inclined towards more conventional meals.
Because of course she finds that tasty.
<Shudder.>And that's from someone who loves my Vegemite on toast.I suppose it'd be a novel idea, if nothing else. Assuming thanagarians don't baulk at the idea of fermented animal milk products.
Gives her a reason to arrange regular visits to Earth by thanagarian transports, if nothing else.
Not unless it sets off some kind of epidemic, anyway. Which would be more something for the local government to sort out, but the High Council might make note of it.
Good thing she doesn't have to worry too much about customs and bio-security.
Well, we knew that was coming. Orders right from the top, after all.
I doubt the High Mor would have his own name on it anyway. More likely he told someone to make it happen, and they handled the paperwork.
Once he drops the 'quirky little guy' posture, anyway.
He probably wasn't looking, Jade. If they're there, they're there and they're watching him. No big hassle, really. I doubt they'll do more than watch anyway.
It says a lot when one man's movements are so important to the prosecution of an interstellar war...
And I'm sure the other Antarean groups have their own little power weapons. Knowing Antares, they'll probably gang up on the intruders whatever they say.
Honestly, it depends on how useful an ally someone like Hyathis is.
Worried about Thanagar trying to 'encourage' her to weigh in on their fight?
A leave of absence, perhaps, if she wants to be involved.
Wonder if Bleez bristled at that. Then again, she might consider that a compliment.
Good plan, finally asking around.
Just a matter of what order they do it in, then. Prosecuting the conflict against all the Antarean peoples at once might be a bit too much.
No way would any of them accept that deal, especially if a rival didn't.
You'd think he was expecting a call.
Ah, Katar and Shayera keeping them updated on what they can share, eh? Or scuttlebutt making the rounds.
Hey, now. He hasn't done that yet. He didn't play any part in the burning of the Psion world, you know.
I half-pictured Jordan holding his hand out to Katar with a disgruntled 'It's for you', but it's more likely via League comms.
And OL does tend to take that kind of thing personally.
That would be a hell of a stretch for them. Thanagar is a long way from the front, isn't it?
Ironically, it had something of the opposite effect. If they'd left him alone, he would have been curious but mostly indifferent...
Cue construct hands so he can facepalm as many times as needed.
Ah, it takes someone looking at the problem from outside to see a way around the issue, sometimes. And as long as it's clear to the Thanagarian command that no, he's not going to get in their way just yet, I don't expect to see any complaints from their end. Hopefully they're sensible enough to keep it to politely-worded e-mails instead of orbital plasma strikes if they do object...