Chojin Patriarch
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Ooh, a little side-trip into the depths of the Thanagarian Intelligence Service, eh? More evidence that the cultist's little show was more than it seemed, no doubt. And an interesting thought: Would the kind of issue he's suffering be like a bum knee for a human, and about as awkward to move with?15th October 2012
17:02 GMT
Krandor Vat winced slightly, twitching his right wing as the muscles responsible for furling it didn't quite respond as they should. He took a moment to reflect that it was fortunate for him that Thanagar never quite adopted the sort of extreme warrior culture that some had called for. Dismissing a senior officer because they were no longer quite the brawler they'd been in their youth would have been the height of wastefulness, and politicians needed a strong arm even less.
And would seem like suspiciously quick timing. Any sane security force would have him and other politicians in secure lockdown for a couple of days, just in case of follow-up attacks.If his mind ever weakened-. No. As things stood he'd be dead before that became a problem.
He could have come to Enndupar the moment the crisis was resolved, but… That would have served no purpose. Strong soldiers on patrol and ships in the air would calm and reassure better than a public appearance.
Unless they're so inept that success would be unlikely even with all the chips on their side. Then it's time to dispose of them.He glances down at the part of his right wing still in his field of view.
Particularly these days. Besides, there wouldn't have been time for anyone to have learned anything. Far better to give the officers involved time to piece things together so that they could present him with a complete report. No matter how well disciplined, it was good for morale for officers to be allowed to succeed.
Ah, so it was an inside job, all right. I doubt the lot of them were all agents, but, like I suggested previously, a few good agents in the right place...An attack by Seven Devil cultists, carried out against a major city. All hands would be raised against them now, Thanagar motivated to carry out a purge such as their forebears had never been able to carry out. No more fools or paupers drawn into their grasp. No matter how indolent or ill-disposed towards their own government, no one would want to align themselves with people who would carry out that sort of attack.
And now we get to meet those agents' bosses, eh?A chime, and he presses the button to allow his senior civil servants access to his office. Not as secure as the office in Thanaldar, but it wasn't as if he was staying for long. He would speak with the garrison commander and home guard captains later, to acknowledge their actions in preventing a catastrophe.
But first, the people who had created it.
Or he knows how to delegate better.Andar Pul comes in first, subtly applied makeup disguising how tired he was. For a moment the High Mor wonders if the man's conscience is keeping him up, but swiftly dismisses the idea. It's far more likely that the effort of ensuring that his agents get to where they are required to be requires constant attention and allows only irregular rest. Darl Klus is second, and seems far more ready for action. With the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps having departed and the Earth end of the operation mostly concluded, he didn't need to put in quite so many hours.
When OL is involved? When would they ever? OL is something you plan around, not for or against. Like a stage hazard in the Great Game of espionage."High Mor." / "High Mor."
"Ambassador. Senior Analyst. Are things going according to plan?"
A clean-up of anyone they don't already have in their pocket. Never know when a secret society fomenting unrest could be useful...Pul looks awkward. "Not… Precisely. Most of the senior members of the Cult who aren't under our control are in our custody. Without Paran Dul or a reliable telepath our ability to interrogate them is limited, but our best predictions show that a near-complete cleanup of the cults is now within our grasp. But we underestimated the Darkstar. She may have deduced that things were other than as they appeared."
"What led to the underestimation?"
More importantly, would she feel the need to do anything with that proof? After all, I'm sure it would make great blackmail material at some point."Incomplete intelligence. Dul had no opportunity to study their current-generation exo-mantles in detail and only knew their approximate capacities. We prepared for improvements on the known suit types, but between the operative's skills and the exo-mantle's superlative performance that prediction was… Out. It also appears that she nonlethally disables several of our insiders, who were unable to perform their roles quite as intended."
"Can she prove anything?"
And for good reason. You got what you wanted. Better not to push your luck, since next time OL visits, he might not be in as helpful a mood."I don't believe so. But on both occasions the Illustres was quite clear that he is absolutely opposed to the reactivation of the Devils. It… Shouldn't be an issue now, but whether we are successful or not, we should never perform an operation of this type again."
Galling. But he wasn't wrong, and there was no sense in pretending otherwise.
Hmm... Now what do they think of her ideas, I wonder?"Ambassador."
"Operative Bleez is getting closer to him, but-."
Ah, good, they're not opposed to the plan. Merely indifferent. A good way to get rid of potential disruptive elements, after all.Krandor Vat makes a dismissive gestures with his right hand. "It doesn't matter. At this point I would gladly let her take our untouchables merely to have them out of our way. Thanagarians should be driven to greatness by aspiration, not fear."
The Ambassador lowers his eyes for a moment in submission. It's not a completely unquestioned viewpoint, but the High Mor is resolute on that point.
Probably got enough on his plate right now, for a start. I bet he's been popular amongst the engineering community for his metamaterial knowledge."Then her work is going as desired, and it is highly probably that by monitoring her we will get notice of the Illustres's visits. As for our operatives on Earth…" A wing shrug. "They made an approach. The… Forge-God, Hephaestus, wasn't interested."
"Not unexpected. What did they learn?"
'Unusual', he says. The fellow has a way with understatement. But then, he probably takes the Hawks' reports with a spoonful of salt."We've known for some time that Earth is… Unusual with regard to magic. Hephaestus admitted that he wasn't sure how the arcane transmutation of Nth metal was possible at all. Some worlds are 'thaumically'-"
A human loan word. The closest equivalent in Quarish would be 'bloody' or 'cursed', and those aren't quite right.
As Mr Zoat's Word of Zoat suggests, they're more like C'Tan, then. Beings of energy that can inhabit bodies of Nth metal as avatars, and have latched onto Thanagar like leeches."-active, and others aren't. Most, in fact. Despite being ruled by demons, Thanagar isn't."
"Can it be made so?"
Yeah, you never pull shit like that in your home biosphere, after all. Because whatever Hephaestus is thinking of, it's evidently rather hard on the scenery."Not by any technique described in publically available literature. The god said that he didn't think it would be possible. When pressed, he opined that there might be fairly extreme measures that could cause a world to become active, but that he didn't think experimentation would be wise."
Pul looks unsettled. "Thanagar, High Mor?"
Which is not unexpected. We know magically active worlds are rare, after all. I bet there aren't a lot across the whole galaxy."Perhaps. Perhaps not. Thanagar is the centre of our people and culture. It would be easier to impress our nature upon it." Pul ducks his head slightly. "But you are right to consider the potential undesirable consequences. Nothing radical should be done without some measure of confidence that the outcome would be as we want. What worlds in this region are thaumically active?"
Klus shakes his head. "None, High Mor. None inside the Empire or amongst our neighbours. Aside from Alstair and Earth, the closest would be Alavorn."
Woof, I can see that plan getting a hard 'no'.A touch on a hologram projector and it's distance from the borders of the Empire are immediately apparent.
"It would be possible to negotiate the use of part of their world, but with it being effectively impossible for us to annex it-."
Never has that old idiom been clearer: "In times of crisis, where wise men build bridges, foolish men build barriers..." (To paraphrase...)"We will not place ourselves at the mercy of aliens, Ambassador." Vat's expression shifted to become even colder than normal. "Alliances of convenience may be considered, but not-. This."
"Yes, High Mor."
Heh. Such is the burden of the old, eh? To remember the worst times, where the young have never known them...There's an awkward… Quiet for a moment, and Vat realised that he'd been too emphatic. Klus was too young to remember living through the Equalisation Plague. It wouldn't have the same significance for him. He wouldn't understand why they couldn't-.
He waves his right hand.
"Continue."
Heh. Vulcan being a little hungrier for something new, eh? That could get him in trouble, someday, I bet."There was… One other thing. Another.. Forge-God. Vulcan. He works with Hephaestus, but hasn't achieved the same degree of renown. He was apparently extremely interested in the Nth metal samples that Hol and Thal gave him. I doubt that he would be any more eager to come here than his compatriot, but if we needed assistance in piecing together the ritual, their report strongly implies that he would be willing to assist."
"If necessary. I remember that both the Illustres and our operatives have noted that humans are inefficient at taking advantage of the opportunities their technology affords them. Even with the reborn ancient able to instruct them, they've made no efforts to use Nth metal so far. If we must take a risk, I would rather take a risk on Earth than elsewhere. Senior Analyst, what did we learn about countering the Illustres?"
Not the first time someone's dicked with his stash, after all. Remember the Sivana family visit?"The subspace interference matrix worked. He himself confirmed that he was unable to access his arsenal. Unfortunately, we weren't able to access it either."
"Why?"
Looks like OL at least took measures to keep his stuff more secure. Though I feel they're overestimating the average Orange Lantern, based on the greatest among them... Still, better to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised, than the opposite."The physics of the system are beyond me. Some sort of.. locking technique, crystallising the boundary of the subspace pocket. Dul hasn't mentioned it, so I suspect that it's something that someone on Earth taught him. Our efforts to interfere with his constructs came to nothing; he held up the entire city while still remaining combat effective. Other Lanterns seldom go into combat with their weapons stored, so this knowledge would only be applicable during an ambush. A full report will.. take a few days more."
I'd make a crack about flying too close to the sun, but he'd probably misinterpret it in some way.The High Mor nods. "We are close. So close, now. Continue with your work, and let me know the moment that this 'Vulcan' makes any progress."
"Thanagar soars."
Well, how enlightening. Possibly the worst kind of antagonist: A patriot with a cause he believes in. And not because of blind faith, but a rational estimation that his people could be better, and what he's doing is for their benefit. I'd say it'd be satisfying to see that kind of hubris laid low, but it's the sort of task that would result in a lot of suffering for people other than him alone. Perhaps we'll see it someday...