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

Reader mode
néocorvinus said:
Well, the fact is that they deserve to be treated condescendingly, because millions of their people are getting killed, yet they are letting their pride guide them. The Gordanians don't have a leg to stand on, even if they push back the Crown Imperium, a rather big if, they will still be at the mercy of their old allies, and the Imperium will be back one day.
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In the Renegade timeline, the Crown Imperium supported their puppets. In this one, the groups on the border are more unified and they aren't risking it. The karnans are still in contact with their sponsors, but they're fighting without thier direct involvement.
 
néocorvinus said:
Well, the fact is that they deserve to be treated condescendingly, because millions of their people are getting killed, yet they are letting their pride guide them. The Gordanians don't have a leg to stand on, even if they push back the Crown Imperium, a rather big if, they will still be at the mercy of their old allies, and the Imperium will be back one day.
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yeah, im getting a feeling neither leader really -cares- about this people from this-Dickbeating (*thumps fists on chest* "look at me! i have a huge-") and Personal, petty revenge feels like their actual priorities, respectively, at least on the surface/in public...
i mean, if there weren't potential telepaths in play, id say rewire them to fix this- knock their WANT for their people/responsibilities to be safe up a couple of notches past "padding ego" >.<
 
Jiggity-Jig (part 10)
  • Threadmarks
    • 8th February
    20:35 GMT

    The Councillor from Gizzard Spiker floats in a ring-generated flight aura, a muzzle over his snout. The guards who headed towards us the moment he lunged at me slow to a stop, while the councillors, representatives and emissaries freeze.

    "Sir, please don't do that again. If you wish to register your displeasure, you may simply inform me of it."

    The Councillor from Long Striders cranes his neck slightly to see around his floating colleague. "In that case, let me register it. Disarming down to the level the Supreme Commander requires would leave us helpless against a great many of our neighbours. Our normal ships aren't well-armed enough to fight off dedicated attackers."

    "And how long do you think those raiders will exist for?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "The Beast -the one being whose presence kept the Green Lantern Corps from intervening in Vega- is now receiving psychiatric treatment on Maltus. Jarko gets his revenue from taxation rather than raiding, Amalak provides security services for pay, the Spider Guild are shipbuilders and the Citadel is gone. The sort of mass piracy Vega enabled was always a bubble economy and it just got popped. Karnans who've lived most of their lives in the Crown Imperium won't regard that as the cost of doing business; their fleet will be sent after anyone who tries that sort of thing just as soon as they've secured their home here. In addition, Tamaran is building a fleet. A few of the older delegates here might remember the way they used to use their fleet before their ill-fated attack on Citadel Complex."

    "Fewer raiders."

    "Fewer, if any. The price of them doing business will go up too much."

    "What about the branx, or the psions?"

    "I fully expect the branx to pivot, as you were doing before the karnans arrived. Those with close ties to the Citadel will lose out, while those with external contacts will gain. The psions have worked through proxies since they recovered from creating X'Hal. They're going to find themselves in an extremely hostile environment. They might leave, they might fortify. If they try raiding themselves then they're going to receive more attention than they can deal with."

    "Are you guaranteeing that yourself?"

    Am I?

    "I suppose that I am." I turn to the Councillor from the Gizzard Spikers. "Have you calmed down now?"

    He glowers, but doesn't strain against the muzzle. I float him back to his seat and then remove the flight aura. He makes a variety of small stretching motions, maintaining eye contact all the while.

    Then he sits.

    "Clan Gizzard Spiker will never disarm. There is no longer any purpose in you being here."

    The Councillor from Blood Flecks bares his teeth slightly. "Clan Gizzard Spiker would be well advised to make fewer definitive statements."

    The Gizzard Spiker councillor turns his way and snarls. "Clan Blood Flecks would be well advised to find its gizzard once more!"

    "If I may interject, gentlemen. The disarmament requirements would only apply to ships within Vega. If Clan Gizzard Spiker does not like the restrictions, they may wish to negotiate for passage out of Vega. Clan Unending Conquest have done rather well for themselves with only a token presence here."

    "Or we could just leave."

    "I imagine that you would die if you did. I doubt that your fellow gordanians would like you leaving them in the lurch like that. And even if you actually made it away, the Crown Imperium has 'Wanted: Dead' bounties on your entire clan for piracy. If you went anywhere near their space they would send their navy after you… In fact, there's a good chance they'd send naval vessels after you anyway."

    "Then by the First, what I am supposed to be negotiating for?!"

    "Safe passage. They might be prevailed upon to let you through their territory as long as you were definitely going somewhere else and staying there. I can provide you with a list of worlds you could colonise… Or you could carry on as you do here until someone important takes notice of you and kills you. Up to you."

    He takes a moment to glare at the other gordanians, but he knows full well that they'd happily hand his entire clan over if it guaranteed their survival. Heck, most of them were actively fighting Gizzard Spiker not too long ago.

    "Leaving… My clan will consider this. But what of the Green Lanterns? The karnans can't speak for them."

    "Ring, contact Green Lantern Green Man."

    "Compliance."

    "This might take a moment, depending on what he's doing."

    Blood Flecks looks at my rings with undisguised avarice. "What would we have to trade for your help? Or for one of those rings?"

    "You want a ring?" He tilts his head, eager but wary. "Here." I put a copy of my… Training guide, an editor-needed draft of my personal philosophy on orange light use, mixed in with practical lessons and reports from my own missions, onto the desk in front of him. "If you're interested, read that and reflect upon it. Master it, and you should be able to call a ring to you."

    He grabs it.

    "As for getting my help, you have nothing I want. The Gizzard Spikers have my enmity for working with the Citadel, and though I have revenged myself upon the Tearing Bite for doing the same-" I look over to the Representative of Tearing Bite. Mildly surprised that they've got enough force left for a place there. "-it is extremely unlikely that I could bring myself to help them. As for the rest of you, while I recognise that slavery does not automatically mean that the owned party is particularly mistreated, your karnan slaves appear to be used purely for manual labour and not kept as technically-owned helpmeets. I am not impressed. If it came to it I'd probably help the karnans, but I'd rather-."

    Green Man's image appears over my ring.

    "Illustres."

    "Lantern Green Man."

    "Given your company, I suspect that I will not enjoy this conversation."

    "Have you had any trouble from the mercenaries or the Spiders?"

    "Many minor complaints and many enraged messages from the government of the Crown Imperium."

    "But no acts of genocide or piracy."

    "None that have come to my attention. What do you want for the gordanian slavers?"

    "The karnans are on the verge of retaking Karna. I'm trying to negotiate a surrender. For obvious reasons the karnans want them to hand over or scuttle their war fleets. Some gordanian clans aren't prepared to do that and so will have to leave Vega."

    "How many?"

    I look around the room. "Anyone other than Gizzard Spiker seriously considering it?"

    Blood Flecks and Silent Stalking knock on their tables.

    "Three somewhat depleted clans."

    "And what do you want me to do?"

    "Let them go, and only pursue them for crimes they commit after they leave."

    "Let the most heavily armed gordanian clan, the clan most closely allied to the Citadel, leave the area and go anywhere they wish."

    "Yes. With my personal guarantee that -should they act out- I will respond as soon as I'm notified and exterminate them."

    "What?"

    "Exterminate?"

    "Yes. I'm only doing this to lower the death total on Karna on both sides. I'm not actually interested in helping them, just in getting a settlement."

    "I will.. consider the matter. Green Lantern Green Man out."

    "Right. I'll check back with the karnans."
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Mr Zoat said:
    "Let the most heavily armed gordanian clan, the clan most closely allied to the Citadel, leave the area and go anywhere they wish."

    "Yes. With my personal guarantee that -should they act out- I will respond as soon as I'm notified and exterminate them."

    "What?"

    "Exterminate?"
    Click to expand...
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    ...........:D:D


    Thank you, Mr Zoat.

    I LOL'd.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    The Councillor from Gizzard Spiker floats in a ring-generated flight aura, a muzzle over his snout. The guards who headed towards us the moment he lunged at me slow to a stop, while the councillors, representatives and emissaries freeze.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Looks like he's not happy with the Deal.

    "The Beast -the one being whose presence kept the Green Lantern Corps from intervening in Vega- is now receiving psychiatric treatment on Maltus. Jarko gets his revenue from taxation rather than raiding, Amalak provides security services for pay, the Spider Guild are shipbuilders and the Citadel is gone. The sort of mass piracy Vega enabled was always a bubble economy and it just got popped. Karnans who've lived most of their lives in the Crown Imperium won't regard that as the cost of doing business; their fleet will be sent after anyone who tries that sort of thing just as soon as they've secured their home here. In addition, Tamaran is building a fleet. A few of the older delegates here might remember they way they used to use their fleet before their ill-fated attack on Citadel Complex."
    Click to expand...
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    In other words, sirs and ladies, the universe has changed around you. It's up to you to adapt to it.

    "I fully expect the branx to pivot, as you were doing before the karnans arrived. Those with close ties to the Citadel will lose out, while those with external contacts will gain. The psions have worked through proxies since they recovered from creating X'Hal. They're going to find themselves in an extremely hostile environment. They might leave, they might fortify. If they try raiding themselves then they're going to receive more attention than they can deal with."
    Click to expand...
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    After all, Vega is no longer off limits to the Green Lanterns... Once the Guardians get onto it...

    He glowers, but doesn't strain against the muzzle. I float him back to his seat and then remove the flight aura. He makes a variety of small stretching motions, maintaining eye contact all the while.
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    Not a happy lizardman.

    "Clan Gizzard Spiker will never disarm. There is no longer any purpose in you being here."
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    Welp, he just committed suicide, politically at least.

    The Gizzard Spiker councillor turns his way and snarls. "Clan Blood Flecks would be well advised to find it's gizzard once more!"
    Click to expand...
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    Man, where's the Krogan Headbutt interrupt when you need it?

    He takes a moment to glare at the other gordanians, but he knows full well that they'd happily hand his entire clan over if it guaranteed their survival. Heck, most of them were actively fighting Gizzard Spiker not too long ago.
    Click to expand...
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    He can see the knives being readied, yes...

    "You want a ring?" He tilts his head, eager but wary. "Here." I put a copy of my… Training guide, an editor-needed draft of my personal philosophy on orange light use, mixed in with practical lessons and reports from my own missions, on to the desk in front of him. "If you're interested, read that and reflect upon it. Master it, and you should be able to call a ring to you."
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    Heh. Good luck, little gecko.

    "Illustres."
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    I can just hear the "Oh god, what have you done now?" in his voice.

    "Given your company, I suspect that I will not enjoy this conversation."
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    And you might be wrong there...

    "None that have come to my attention. What do you want for the gordanians slavers?"
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    Erroneous Plural. Again. :p

    Some gordanians clans aren't prepared to do that and so will have to leave Vega."
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    And again.

    "Let the most heavily armed gordanian clan, the clan most closely allied to the Citadel, leave the area and go anywhere they wish."
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    Not without conditions, of course!

    "What?"
    Click to expand...
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    And now I'm picturing the councillors going boggle-eyed at that statement.

    "Yes. I'm only doing this to lower the death total on karna on both sides.
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    "Yes. I'm only doing this to lower the death total on Karna on both sides.

    Gotta love OL's Enlightened perspective, where he can casually promise to wipe out thousands of sentients to seal a deal. And they have no reason to doubt him, given the Citadellians' fate.
     
    Last edited:
    thebishop8 said:
    *helpless against
    *the way they
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    Chojin Patriarch said:
    "None that have come to my attention. What do you want for the gordanians slavers?"
    Erroneous Plural. Again. :p
    Some gordanians clans aren't prepared to do that and so will have to leave Vega."
    And again.
    "Yes. I'm only doing this to lower the death total on karna on both sides.
    "Yes. I'm only doing this to lower the death total on Karna on both sides.
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    zerofarad said:
    Its gizzard, no apostrophe, probably?
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    Thank you, corrected.
     
    Handlewithcare said:
    Paul, missed opportunity here!

    "EXTERMINATE!"

    "...Paul, why do you look like an orange, angry salt shaker all of a sudden?"

    "Uncultured swine!"
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    That's assuming that Doctor Who is fictional in the DC multiverse.

    Since this picture seems to show a Dalek trophy in the Batcave-
    batman_has_dalek.jpg


    That might not be the case....
     
    Bigreader said:
    Holy crap Batman killed the a Dalek. Well there's some kind of crossover comic I need to read probably Batman traveling to another universe. Now I'm trying to imagine how the Doctor and Batman would get along.
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    That, or he confiscated a dangerously functional costume from a homicidal cosplayer. One has to consider the likelihood of various scenarios, and Gotham leans heavily toward literal insanity.
     
    NightmareWarden said:
    The scenes here make sense in terms of realism, but for a story it feels odd that the witnesses Paul grabbed haven't reacted or contributed yet.
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    Read back a chapter or two and you'll see that the witnesses came in and spoke to the council prior to Paul going in. I don't think there's been any mention of what happened to them or whether they are still present.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    8th February
    20:35 GMT


    "Let the most heavily armed gordanian clan, the clan most closely allied to the Citadel, leave the area and go anywhere they wish."

    "Yes. With my personal guarantee that -should they act out- I will respond as soon as I'm notified and exterminate them."

    "What?"

    "Exterminate?"

    "Yes. I'm only doing this to lower the death total on Karna on both sides. I'm not actually interested in helping them, just in getting a settlement."

    "I will.. consider the matter. Green Lantern Green Man out."

    "Right. I'll check back with the karnans."
    Click to expand...
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    BWAHAHAHAHAAHA!

    shame they're slow thinkers- that what would be a lovely, fittingly-tinged yellow right now if they weren't..
     
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    Mr Zoat said:
    "You want a ring?" He tilts his head, eager but wary. "Here." I put a copy of my… Training guide, an editor-needed draft of my personal philosophy on orange light use, mixed in with practical lessons and reports from my own missions, onto the desk in front of him. "If you're interested, read that and reflect upon it. Master it, and you should be able to call a ring to you."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Heh. There's no possible way giving a guide on how to call an orange ring to someone who hates you could possibly backfire, right Paul?

    Stsword said:
    That's assuming that Doctor Who is fictional in the DC multiverse.
    That might not be the case....
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    I don't know about Batman, but there has been a Star Trek: TNG/Doctor Who crossover comic. And though that particular one wasn't published by DC there were (are?) some TNG comics there were published by DC. So they case could be made based on that. Though, honestly, if he existed in the DCU I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have turned up during one of the many crisis. In particular Flashpoint was a crisis caused by time travel, which is, you know, sort of his thing.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    8th February
    20:35 GMT

    ***

    "Given your company, I suspect that I will not enjoy this conversation."

    "Have you had any trouble from the mercenaries or the Spiders?"

    "Many minor complaints and many enraged messages from the government of the Crown Imperium."

    "But no acts of genocide or piracy."

    "None that have come to my attention. What do you want for the gordanian slavers?"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    If this line in the middle is Lantern Green Man communicating through Paul's ring, shouldn't it be in full Orange like the rest of his dialogue?
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    "Yes. With my personal guarantee that -should they act out- I will respond as soon as I'm notified and exterminate them."

    "What?"

    "Exterminate?"
    Click to expand...
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    "Yes, I'm being helpful and nice here, to prevent genocide. But if you fuck up, I'ma kill every last fucking one of you."

    A diplomatic stance I can get behind.

    Walk softly, and carry a big gun.
     
    B.B. Rain said:
    If this line in the middle is Lantern Green Man communicating through Paul's ring, shouldn't it be in full Orange like the rest of his dialogue?
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    AverusBlack said:
    https://forum.questionablequesting....stice-si-story-only.8961/page-28#post-2497367

    Link is broken
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    AverusBlack said:
    https://forum.questionablequesting....stice-si-story-only.8961/page-28#post-2497378

    Perhaps I should just save a file or something with these instead of making individual posts? I'm re-reading the story and noticing typos or things that didn't carry over from SV, is all.
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    Thank you, corrected.
     
    Siskulous said:
    Heh. There's no possible way giving a guide on how to call an orange ring to someone who hates you could possibly backfire, right Paul?
    Click to expand...
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    Eh, he's managed to flat out want the rings straight off of rookie's fingers. A relatively inexperienced hostile Lantern isn't a huge deal.
     
    Siskulous said:
    I don't know about Batman, but there has been a Star Trek: TNG/Doctor Who crossover comic. And though that particular one wasn't published by DC there were (are?) some TNG comics there were published by DC. So they case could be made based on that. Though, honestly, if he existed in the DCU I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have turned up during one of the many crisis. In particular Flashpoint was a crisis caused by time travel, which is, you know, sort of his thing.
    Click to expand...
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    There was also this Legion of Superheroes/Star Trek crossover, which had Flint/Vandal Savage's trophy room of time travelers he defeated to maintain his empire.

    baf21865f550e67040be9d106e765338.jpg


    The difference between Vandal Savage of DC, and Flint of Star Trek? Vandal never got past "life is nasty, brutish, and short." Flint? Flint gained the hope that people can make a better tomorrow.

    In this crossover, both Vandal and Flint were possible futures of the immortal caveman Vandar Adg.
     
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