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

Cuchulin · 2026-06-20T08:48:59+0100

McGraww said:
Interesting that guess about being scared seems more likely.

Might be the entire species have some Agoraphobia or that their psychology is similar to that of Pierson's Puppeteers.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-06-20T08:51:35+0100

Mr Zoat said:
15th September 2013
08:01 GMT

One more major and a few dozen minor worlds showing an interest in a cooperation agreement. The Autocrat of Margave even agreed to hold off on active measures while Hyathis tries to subvert the slave populations instead, which I thought was generous. And now I'm looking at the territory of the third major non-thanagarian regional power.

Heh, a slightly self-serving sort of generosity. The Margave probably expend a lot of effort on those slave uprisings, and they probably find the idea of letting someone else foot the bill for a while useful.

Sthuounoo.

"Lantern Guarn, I don't have any files on Sthuounoo. Is that the name of the species, or their homeworld?"

It could well be a case of 'yes, all of the above'

"I don't know."

I look at him and raise my left eyebrow.

I mean, they are aggressively isolationist, apparently to the point of shooting interlopers?

"They don't like having anything to do with the Green Lantern Corps either. And while the Guardians grant us unlimited authority in our Sectors, most Green Lanterns in this Sector choose to leave them alone. They only threaten people when their territory is invaded."

"So how do you know their government isn't evil and their world isn't a hellhole?"

That's a good question. I'm guessing the Corps respect their borders mostly to avoid hostile encounters...

"Three hundred years ago an exploration vessel entered their space unknowingly and then suffered a drive malfunction. Their security fleet arrived at the same time as my partner's predecessor. There was a… Terse negotiation, and she was permitted to briefly visit their homeworld."

Terse, eh? A species of few words, then? Not least 'Leave', 'Go Away' and 'Now'.

"Three hundred years is a long time. Can you get me an audience?"

"There is no mechanism for gaining an audience. They might be slower to shoot you if I am with you, but it is difficult to know."

"What do they look like?"

Knowing their physical configuration might give some idea of tendencies, yes. For instance, species with wide-set eyes that provide a very large field of vision suggest an ancestry of various prey species...

He projects a construct… Huh. Spade-shaped face, with eyes and mouth on the cutting edge. Four foot-fins and manipulator tentacles, so I'm going to assume that they were aquatic until relatively recently in their evolutionary history… Okay, the lower tentacles specialised for movement while the upper ones became 'hands'…

That's a peculiar morphology. I'm guessing some sort of rapid-assault predation method in their ancestry - swimming rapidly at prey, biting and ripping chunks off before they race out of retaliation range...

"No gills?"

"No, they're amphibious."

Interesting that they retain water-breathing. Hopefully they can flush their lungs without coughing the water up or leaving a pool would get messy.

Ah, I saw the head and thought 'shark'.

"Any idea why they're isolationist?"

"No.

Maybe a bad experience earlier in their development? Some alien species swinging through their system, leaving a hostile impression on a barely-civilised culture?

Aquatic species are usually good at 3 dimensional navigation-. Or I suppose that should be 4 dimensional navigation, as they have to take into account where everything is going to be in time as well. And being amphibious probably means that they don't need to keep the interiors of their ships submerged, which would dramatically cut down on the weight.

Big assumption, but you don't become a space-going species without developing that sort of skill one way or another.

"Is it how we look?"

"Is that a joke?"

...I mean, he's got a point. They look like tentacle shark-folk to us, we look like hideous bony things to them?

"No? It's pretty natural to be afraid of species who looks like things who ate your ancestors, and our body shapes are fairly standard pattern humanoid. Theirs aren't."

"My ancestors were mostly eaten by other insectoids."

"Mine sometimes has a bit of a thing about insects, but that's mostly because of the venom."

Especially Australian species. Fortunately, most of them prefer not to make trouble with the big things. The ones that do... Well, that's when the bug spray comes out.

"I have venom."

"Yes, but I'm not very likely to put a boot on with you inside it. Alright, let's head in."

Ah, giving a bit of a clearer picture of Guarn's morphology. A bit of arachnoid-anthropoid, eh?

We warp inwards, not particularly fast because we want them to see us coming and intercept us before we get somewhere they consider sensitive. Supposedly, their doctrine revolves around the spaceship equivalent of self-propelled guns. Small ships based around one large energy weapon, capable of damaging ships far larger than themselves. At the cost of not being efficient against ships in their own class. At least that's what the Thanagarian Empire fought when they tried intruding in this region; they weren't all that good at combating their attack craft but they were very good at hunting base ships.

They must also have very good or very extensive sensors, if you expect them to spot you that quickly and respond.

Or it could be that they just never bothered to send point defence ships after base ships. That would-.

Something presses against my warp field as something tried to interdict me-. Ah, us. I lose Lantern Guarn at once, and drop back into normal space myself a moment later to avoid getting separated. Turn around and transition back towards that faint green glow.

"They are here."

I suspect the locals might be a little worried that their interdiction didn't stop OL until he noticed his companion hadn't kept up... God only knows how they'd have reacted if he'd greediported...

"Good-" A… Frankly excessive flotilla of ships emerge into normal space about 3 A.U. away. "-show." Looks like their primary gun philosophy carries on to their battleships, but without the sort of sensors that allowed the Traitor's fleet to expand their engagement window. Instead, it looks like they're relying on armour and prow-focuses shield emitters to let them survive closing the range. Yes, the battleship would probably two-shot a Thanagarian Command Carrier, if it could catch up with it and stay on target, which I'm dubious about.

...So, not unlike 'Mass Effect' fleet doctrines? Long-range bombardment with near-light-speed weaponry? Just the sort of thing that would get wrecked by fast, agile light craft...

Our rings twinkle. "Identify."

"I am the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps."

"Green Lantern Guarn, Sector Two Six Eight Two."

Good, at least they're talking, not shooting.

"Purpose of visit."

"Counter-Thanagar coordination."

And definitely terse. Few words wasted, you'll note.

"Sthuounoo disdain coordination with you."

"Not with me. With everyone currently being threatened by the Thanagarian Empire."

Admittedly, said coordination may come down to 'Our borders. None cross.'

"What had happened?"

"Enduring peace with Alstair, which will release-."

Not a happy peace, it's fair to note. I expect there's still be a few more incidents with OL and this coalition having to give some lessons...

"Yes."

Right, an admiral would be fully briefed on threats and on how they could evolve. I float there for a moment, waiting for some indication of-.

Probably muted while said admiral curses under their breath at the bad news.

"Explain form of coordination."

"In the event of an attack against a party, other parties would attack Thanagarian Empire assets. The idea would be to prevent the Empire overwhelming any one target. Weaker worlds would provide material support, while-."

Not quite what I'd been picturing, but having people stinging the Thanagarians while their back turns would be decent enough.

"Sthuounoo borders inviolate."

"Well, sure, but that will limit the amount of support the others can give you."

I suspect the Thanagarians have learned to leave well enough alone for now on this front, merely offering a few pokes now and again to test the waters.

"Sthuounoo will not occupy Thanagarian Empire worlds."

"Could you strike governmental and military targets?"

...Presumably justifying it as pre-emptive defence - literally 'they might attack us, so we'll hit them first'.

"Yes."

"Then depending on how things go, one of the other parties could occupy them, or you could just destroy military assets and move on."

Quite likely from very long range, especially if enemy fleets are distracted from detecting long-range attacks...

"Sthuounoo suspect that this alliance will go to war with Thanagarian Empire."

"The primary intent is to prevent war by making the Thanagarian Empire aware that it's usual methods won't work. The alliance will be open about its existence once-."

In essence, forming a sort of stable push-and-pull, cold war situation. Thanagar can't attack one group without the rest carving bits off.

"Open?"

"It's existence will be open. Your territory can remain as closed as you wish."

I do wonder how these folks expand their territory.

There's a moment of silence, and then the ships slowly wheel in space.

"Follow. Decision made on homeworld."

Well, that went well?

It'll be interesting to see what Mr Zoat present us with for this original race in terms of culture and described architecture. And at least Guarn gets to update the Corps' data on them without too much trouble. I still suspect their answer will be a tentative 'We'll handle our territories ourselves, look to your own' if they're this isolationist. Not a 'no', but not a 'yes' either.

Mr Zoat · 2026-06-20T09:14:52+0100

Darko said:
"it is"
"What has"

Thank you, corrected.

"of a species"
"coordinating"

No, those are intentional.

BR549 said:
'Spade'
Missing end quote.
'look'
'focused'

Thank you, corrected.

Duke Long · 2026-06-20T09:19:07+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"The primary intent is to prevent war by making the Thanagarian Empire aware that it's usual methods won't work. The alliance will be open about its existence once-."

'its'

Mr Zoat said:
"Open?"

"It's existence will be open. Your territory can remain as closed as you wish."

'Its'

So, are these people just scaredy-cats, or do they have some weird specific reason they're afraid of people coming in that Oh El is going to, advertently or otherwise, get involved with? Look forward to finding out.

Mr Zoat · 2026-06-20T09:37:00+0100

Duke Long said:
'its'
'Its'

Thank you, corrected.

Also, it seems that I forgot the difference between Illinois and Iowa. There's probably a joke there, but I'm not American enough to know.

PDV · 2026-06-20T13:49:14+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

Also, it seems that I forgot the difference between Illinois and Iowa. There's probably a joke there, but I'm not American enough to know.

"So does Chicago."

mastermenthe · 2026-06-20T13:59:02+0100

PDV said:
"So does Chicago."

This joke does not parse. Please elaborate?

Herb456 · 2026-06-20T14:15:43+0100

mastermenthe said:
This joke does not parse. Please elaborate?

I think its a comment on how the greater chicago metropolis treats all the less populous areas within reach of its orbit. Iowa is a relative afterthought to most americans and sits straight to the west of illinois, where chicago dominates the north of the state. A "short drive" away to some midwesterners.

Zig · 2026-06-20T16:05:28+0100

Huh no results for the species outside of this fic so it seems zoat made them up end there's no way to predict where this is going

Khornelius · 2026-06-20T17:42:29+0100

These guys remind me of the Dark Forest philosophy, they seem to be really afraid of having others come to them. Bet clearly they aren't blatantly or irrationally xenophobic. At least that's my impression for now.

BR549 · 2026-06-21T00:08:01+0100

Khornelius said:
These guys remind me of the Dark Forest philosophy, they seem to be really afraid of having others come to them. Bet clearly they aren't blatantly or irrationally xenophobic. At least that's my impression for now.

I'm definitely getting the vibe that something early on in their development as a spacefaring culture left a mark.

Like, say, if Star Trek Earth had had First Contact not with the Vulcans, but the Orions; or worse, Romulans...

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

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