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

Orsnge Lanterns are probably the best cooks in the galaxy.

Who doesnt want really, really good food after all?

Dox probably. He seems the type to simply use a version of Wholeness Rightly Assumed to keep his body in prime shape without wasting time on such biological frailties as eating or sleeping.
 
I nod, finishing my own scraal with knife and fork rather than the more manual option my fellow diners are going for. This sort of infiltration is what the Darkstars exist to prevent, and from the reports I had my rings feed my brain this sounds like it was another resounding success for Jade. Which in turn firms up our support in this region of space. While we haven't got the Reach completely enclosed -that would be more or less impossible- we now have allies and N.E.M.O. members all around Reach space. I… Think the totality of our military power is greater then theirs, though not all that much is made up of ships designed by Dox's team or under his direct command. The Reach warships have a technological advantage on everything else, even if they can't use them aggressively without starting a war with the Green Lantern Corps.
You're likely overestimating your military power by a significant amount.

But then, that's why Dox is in charge.
 
13th April
04:43 GMT


"Victory!" / "Victory!" / "Victory!" / "Victory!" / "Victory!" / "Victory!" / "Victory!"

Jade and our dinner guests raise their tankards in a salute, then the locals -a four eyed humanoid species- immediately chug a gulp. Jade follows suit with a little less enthusiasm, careful not to obscure her sight-lines as she does so. Caccanah just takes a small sip while the clicker serving as L.E.G.I.O.N. coordinator chugs too much and ends up choking on the stuff, prompting a friendly expression of amusement from the locals.
And now a public appearance as the face of the Orange Lantern Corps at a N.E.M.O. function? This is a busy week for OL.

Okay, the locals potato bread type thingy is done, the fish analogue will be ready to serve in a few minutes… I check the grill and the scraal -eight-legged pseudo-insectoids that the locals think are fine dining- are… Done. I pick up a pair of tongs from the work surface and transfer them to small plates. Drizzle of the flavoured oil… And carefully check the faux-insectoid for the officer with the alternate digestive system… Okay! I load them onto the floating serving tray and push it into the dining area.
Showing his culinary and hosting skills, I see. Even alternate food for those incapable of eating the local fare safely.

"…looked like-"

Caccanah holds her hands up to her forehead and mimics the eyestalk gesture someone made.
The fun of trying to copy body language for parts you don't have.

"-this, and the guards dropped their weapons without even trying to fight back."

Jade looks mildly relieved to see me as I place a plate in front of her slightly tipsy colleague, immediately drawing her-

"You cook too?"
Presumably said companion speaking, since Jade would well know how well OL cooks.

-attention.

"I'm a man-" From the affirmative gesture from the locals I hand plates to next -an officer in the planetary police called Baezen and someone from their intelligence agency named Trouk- it looks like I copied the local dish reasonably well. "-of many talents."
Indeed.

K-Ku'ss seems a little uncomfortable.

"I don't think I can digest this."

"Already thought about that. Yours is synthetic, designed to replicate the taste and texture of a scraal without actually being one. It's perfectly fine for you."
Power of the Orange Lantern Corps. When you want something, it goes above and beyond to accomplish it.

"Oh. Thank you."

"That's a fake?" Seinea, one of the locals and a strong political proponent of N.E.M.O. cooperation, takes a closer look. "Where did you get it? I've never seen one that good before."

"Oh, I made it myself. I'll send the design to one of your vegetarian food companies after dinner."
Presumably there's minimal competition laws. Though it's a safe bet once one releases its' version, every other company will scramble to catch up.

I put down the last plates in my and Jade's places, then take my seat next to her. Jade pulls off a leg, dips it in the oil and then bites the oiled end off. Really, it's remarkable how edible alien food generally is. But… Humanoid species generally have similar nutritional needs, fruit-bearing plants need animals to eat their fruit in order to spread their seeds, so it's not that unusual for a person to be able to pluck a fruit from just about any planet in this galaxy and be able to eat it safely. Or at least as likely as it is on their home planet; plenty of fruit on Earth are poisonous in humans, after all.
It's amazing what Humans have evolved the ability to eat...

K-Ku'ss picks up her faux-scraal and gently begins feeding it into her mandibles. She's remarkably adept at the process. Not a drop of oil or faux-bug juice drips onto the table and I can hear the quiet crackling as the carapace is crushed.

"So… What exactly was the Reach trying to do here?"
Ah, and it's not completely a fluff affair.

Jade glances in my direction.

"Do you want a full report?"

"I'm not that boorish, Jade."
The Cliff's Notes version, then. He can check the full details later.

Trouk makes a gesture of disbelief with his right arm. "We've know that the Reach were going to head this way for generations. We've tried guarding against them, making alliances… We usually spot infiltrators and patsies pretty quickly-"

My eyes dart to Jade and she slightly inclines her head. The summary is mostly true, though it does skip over the brutal totalitarianism they've had to instate to do it. Of course… There's a reason why they're our strongest partner in this region of space. When any internal division is a target for Reach leveraging… Not allowing any works really well for keeping them out.
Though I expect there's still some dissension. And they end up having to make examples of them...

"-but some entertainment programs created by our allies-"

Vassals, but they're not total dicks about it.
Ah, state doublethink. Fooling themselves for the sake of security.

"-only get light-"

Medium. If you want to ask a politically sensitive question, best do it in private.
Heavy public surveillance, then. I suppose if they weren't so useful, someone would feel obliged to do something about the state of things.

"-censorship." He looks around at his fellow members of the local establishment. "I suppose we should take it as a mark of our success that the most they can do is interfere with our children's entertainment."

Baezen makes a gesture of disagreement with his eyestalks. "That is what happens when standards are allowed to slip; enforcement was lax."
And his opinion is that any slight softness is a weakness to be exploited, eh?

"What exactly was this children's program supposed to do?"

Baezen looks around to… Ceally, who works for their intelligence service as a scientific advisor.
Of course he's not up on the specifics, he's leadership!

"Mm?"

"Pael wants to know how the Reach's program was supposed to work."
Please, do share for the folks at home.

"Oh. Well, we've know for a while that certain sounds combined with certain colours can induce predictable emotional responses in our species. The stun projectors used by the low-police use a very particular pale blue combined with a high pitched tone to render suspects unconscious without risking injuries. But the Reach have.. been studying our brains. They were able to introduce a signal which would render those exposed to it susceptible pro-Reach ideas. The complexity of it is greater than anything we've tried ourselves; we thought that level of control was only possible in fiction. But… They managed it."
Fascinating. I wonder what evolutionary use that served, and how long it's been since they didn't need it? At least they have a simple, painless way to disable their people.

"Did they give you any trouble?"

Caccanah nods. "We had.. five..?" Jade nods. "Five assassination attempts from people they've used their signal on already. There was nothing linking them because they were responding to the signal rather than making decisions themselves. But the security at their base wasn't a problem because they were just supposed to be the security for a television production company."
Rent-a-cops, in other words. No match for trained soldiers, much less Darkstars.

I nod, finishing my own scraal with knife and fork rather than the more manual option my fellow diners are going for. This sort of infiltration is what the Darkstars exist to prevent, and from the reports I had my rings feed my brain this sounds like it was another resounding success for Jade. Which in turn firms up our support in this region of space. While we haven't got the Reach completely enclosed -that would be more or less impossible- we now have allies and N.E.M.O. members all around Reach space. I… Think the totality of our military power is greater then theirs, though not all that much is made up of ships designed by Dox's team or under his direct command. The Reach warships have a technological advantage on everything else, even if they can't use them aggressively without starting a war with the Green Lantern Corps.
Bet the local Greenies are having a private chuckle at the Reach's misfortune.

Seinea slides her empty plate forwards. "Have you studied our cooking for long?"

"No, but I've studied a great many different culinary traditions. Specifics vary, but a lot of things are the same."

Wallace seemed to enjoy insectivore week well enough, until Richard told him what he was eating.
Yeah, anything can be tasty, if prepared well. Just don't tell them what they're eating... It might have messy results.

"Are you a professional chef? That's… Not the match I would have expected-"

I frown at Caccanah, who isn't watching.

"-for an operative like Jaed. And I don't recognise your species; have you been in the service of the Controllers for long, like the clickers?"
Honey, you haven't seen him in combat... When he's motivated, fights don't last long.

"Oh, gosh no. Our homeworld is a long way from here, and I've worked for the Controllers for less than a year."

Jade nods. "This is a personal vocation, for both of us."
And if you told the Jade Nguyen of two years ago where she'd be, she'd laugh in your face. Then stab you.

"Then how did you get here?"

I pick up the empty plates with orange filaments, to the visible surprise of several present, and float them back into the kitchen.

"Long range teleportation."
True enough. Though not in the way they might think at first.

I raise my right fore and middle fingers to my forehead and

vanish, reappearing in the

kitchen.

"Does anyone want a refill?"
Showoff. But considerate.

Funny, when you said four-eyed, I instantly imagined Batarians. But from the sound of it, they've more in common with Andorians, with antenna eyes? The DC Universe is a strange place. Still amusing to see OL in such a genial setting. This is definitely shaping up to be a quiet period, letting us see all his projects on the go. Probably makes for a good breather after the last few episodes.

...those exposed to it susceptible pro-Reach ideas.
...those exposed to it susceptible to pro-Reach ideas.
 
He is? Youve read all the in-universe reports, and have access to the full metaknowledge to be able to say that? Or are you just shitposting again?
Simple logic.

If they had the superior military force, Dox would have them attacking the Reach directly instead of continuing to play defense via putting out minor fires.
 
Only in your part of the world, Colonial. Mr Zoat uses real English.:D
Feh. American English is real English, the English that real people spoke. Britain's "received pronunciation" is the result of 19th century Francophiles butchering their own language, then, because those Otaku happened to be the rich nobility in Britain, passing laws forcing the common people, who up to that point were speaking real English, to speak pidgin Frenchified English instead, a practice that continues to this day.

British "English" is the 19th century version of LOLcat speak, enshrined into their law as their country's official language. :p
 
Feh. American English is real English, the English that real people spoke. Britain's "received pronunciation" is the result of 19th century Francophiles butchering their own language, then, because those Otaku happened to be the rich nobility in Britain, passing laws forcing the common people, who up to that point were speaking real English, to speak pidgin Frenchified English instead, a practice that continues to this day.

British "English" is the 19th century version of LOLcat speak, enshrined into their law as their country's official language. :p
Huh, the more you know.
 
Simple logic.

If they had the superior military force, Dox would have them attacking the Reach directly instead of continuing to play defense via putting out minor fires.
Just because you technically have a slight edge in manpower, warships, and munitions doesn't mean your forces have the training, organization, and logistical capability to invade Reach space. Paul's side is a rather young and loose alliance up against a much more unified empire. And with the treaty preventing the Reach from launching a preemptive invasion without bringing the GLC down on their heads, Dox can afford to build up forces and countermeasures to a more comfortable margin before doing anything more ambitious.
 
Simple logic.

If they had the superior military force, Dox would have them attacking the Reach directly instead of continuing to play defense via putting out minor fires.

Not neccessarily.

I… Think the totality of our military power is greater then theirs, though not all that much is made up of ships designed by Dox's team or under his direct command. The Reach warships have a technological advantage on everything else, even if they can't use them aggressively without starting a war with the Green Lantern Corps.

The sum of all N.E.M.O. assets put together gives them more more total power than the Reach, but the Reach still have a tech advantage over the majority of N.E.M.O.'s forces. This means that a direct attack would most likely incur significant losses... possibly even heavy enough to tip the scales and give the Reach the advantage... and the Reach would then be able to counterattack, and the GLC wouldn't have cause to see them as the aggressors.
 
pick up the empty plates with orange filaments, to the visible surprise of several present, and float them back into the kitchen.

"Long range teleportation."

I raise my right fore and middle fingers to my forehead and

vanish, reappearing in the

kitchen.

"Does anyone want a refill?"
It's always nice to see Paul casually showing off and causing jaws to drop.

I also hope that the idea of making a multi colored Lantern Corps is going to go somewhere. I can just imagine the benefits of specialized healers with blue light, warriors with orange and yellow, and maybe some sort of pact with violet and Indigo so that they would be included. This is of course assuming that Paul kills Sinestro so that Paul can take his ring and bring back for personal use or study.

Unrelated note, how long until the video game showing Paul genociding the Citadelians gets created and becomes a super popular game Mr Zoat?
 
Just because you technically have a slight edge in manpower, warships, and munitions doesn't mean your forces have the training, organization, and logistical capability to invade Reach space. Paul's side is a rather young and loose alliance up against a much more unified empire. And with the treaty preventing the Reach from launching a preemptive invasion without bringing the GLC down on their heads, Dox can afford to build up forces and countermeasures to a more comfortable margin before doing anything more ambitious.
Except they aren't operating in a vacuum.

Every minute they spend building up their forces and countermeasures, is a minute the Reach has to build up their own forces and countermeasures. Which is a lot more advantageous to the Reach, due to the Controller forces already playing their Orange Lantern trump card against them.
 
Simple logic.

If they had the superior military force, Dox would have them attacking the Reach directly instead of continuing to play defense via putting out minor fires.
If the Reach initiates open warfare, the Green Lanterns come down on them for violating the armistice. Better for Dox to stall the Reach's advance and reinforce his forces to the point that either the Reach gets reckless or the advantage is so overwhelming that it's worth not having the GLC on side.

Dox is not simple.
 
Except they aren't operating in a vacuum.

Every minute they spend building up their forces and countermeasures, is a minute the Reach has to build up their own forces and countermeasures. Which is a lot more advantageous to the Reach, due to the Controller forces already playing their Orange Lantern trump card against them.

You know, there's a saying 'novices always learn faster'. It's the rule of diminishing returns.
 
You're likely overestimating your military power by a significant amount.

But then, that's why Dox is in charge.

Agree and disagree here.

It's likely they may have a tonnage advantage against the Reach but there are several problems with that-

1) As said, only a fraction are on parity with Reach vessels technologically. This means the majority of the fleet will seeing highly unfavourable results against the Reach.

2) The Fleets are also heavily peacmeal and scattered and highly motivated to protect only their own holdings, making strategic movements that leave some places undefended to attack or defend more important locations utterly unfeasable. This stretches the fleets out to almost useless levels.

3) They are highly diverse in build principles, combat principles and overall structure that unified command and control, along with adhoc organisation would be an utter mess.

4) As above, imagine the supply lines issues that such a unified force would represent- utter and complete hell.

All together while it's an on paper advantage, it's a complete and utter organisational clusterfuck that would strain under its own enormity, while the Reach would not suffer any of these issues.

The same could be said for the Infantry or... well, any other portion.
 
I wonder how much OLC Corps, Darkstars, LEGION, NEMO, etc have to work to make it so Reach can't subjugate in subtle ways anymore and are so fed up they do decide to return to war. I can't imagine their conquests being slowed so much is making their empire happy.
 
...those exposed to it susceptible to pro-Reach ideas.
Thank you, corrected.
Unrelated note, how long until the video game showing Paul genociding the Citadelians gets created and becomes a super popular game Mr Zoat?
It won't show that, though the players will have the option to genocide them themselves or watch their allies do it if they back the appropriate factions.
I wonder how much OLC Corps, Darkstars, LEGION, NEMO, etc have to work to make it so Reach can't subjugate in subtle ways anymore and are so fed up they do decide to return to war. I can't imagine their conquests being slowed so much is making their empire happy.
That would take a long time. The Reach take a very long view.
 
Feh. American English is real English, the English that real people spoke. Britain's "received pronunciation" is the result of 19th century Francophiles butchering their own language, then, because those Otaku happened to be the rich nobility in Britain, passing laws forcing the common people, who up to that point were speaking real English, to speak pidgin Frenchified English instead, a practice that continues to this day.

British "English" is the 19th century version of LOLcat speak, enshrined into their law as their country's official language. :p
I'd say : real English should be the one spoken by William the Conqueror, just a little modernized.
 
If you want to go back to "real" English, before it mugged every other language for words to use and wrong spellings to adopt, then get in your time machine, for it be time to speke Anglish.

Bis bok it es translate, Into Inglis tong to rede, For þe love of Inglis lede, Inglis lede of Ingeland, For þe commun at understand. Frankis rimes here I redd Comunlik in ilk a sted; Mast es it wroght for Frankis man — Quat is for him na Frankis can? Of Ingeland þe nacioun, Es Inglis man þar in commun. Þe speche þat man with mast may spede, Mast þarwith to speke war nede. Selden was for ani chance Praised Inglis tong in France; Give we ilk an þar langage, Me think we do þam non outrage. To lauid Inglis man I spell.
 
If you want to go back to "real" English, before it mugged every other language for words to use and wrong spellings to adopt, then get in your time machine, for it be time to speke Anglish.

Bis bok it es translate, Into Inglis tong to rede, For þe love of Inglis lede, Inglis lede of Ingeland, For þe commun at understand. Frankis rimes here I redd Comunlik in ilk a sted; Mast es it wroght for Frankis man — Quat is for him na Frankis can? Of Ingeland þe nacioun, Es Inglis man þar in commun. Þe speche þat man with mast may spede, Mast þarwith to speke war nede. Selden was for ani chance Praised Inglis tong in France; Give we ilk an þar langage, Me think we do þam non outrage. To lauid Inglis man I spell.
7d84fca0699f3ba02796fc9d09edb553.jpg
 
He is? Youve read all the in-universe reports, and have access to the full metaknowledge to be able to say that? Or are you just shitposting again?
Your comment is not helpful and just perpetuates your childish (I'd call it a feud if it wouldn't make it sound reasonable) hissy fit. The one true way to get Vaerminna to stop, would be to ignore them. Stop attacking people. Vaerminnas comment has a "likely" stapled right at the front, clearly marking the comment as speculation. Please drop this hissy fit, thank you.
 
Your comment is not helpful and just perpetuates your childish (I'd call it a feud if it wouldn't make it sound reasonable) hissy fit. The one true way to get Vaerminna to stop, would be to ignore them. Stop attacking people. Vaerminnas comment has a "likely" stapled right at the front, clearly marking the comment as speculation. Please drop this hissy fit, thank you.
Look, attaching likely to something doesn't make it immune to criticism. Secondly, you are assuming we - or at least, I - want him to stop. Thirdly, if the reason you want me to stop is because you are getting offended on Vearmina's behalf, it won't matter. Now, if we're actually bothering the rest of the thread, then yes, by all means, tell me. We'll stop.
 
Look, attaching likely to something doesn't make it immune to criticism. Secondly, you are assuming we - or at least, I - want him to stop. Thirdly, if the reason you want me to stop is because you are getting offended on Vearmina's behalf, it won't matter. Now, if we're actually bothering the rest of the thread, then yes, by all means, tell me. We'll stop.
I don't really mind impassioned debates, but if people could possibly leave out the content-free insults I suppose that would make things a little more pleasent.
 
Your comment is not helpful and just perpetuates your childish (I'd call it a feud if it wouldn't make it sound reasonable) hissy fit. The one true way to get Vaerminna to stop, would be to ignore them. Stop attacking people. Vaerminnas comment has a "likely" stapled right at the front, clearly marking the comment as speculation. Please drop this hissy fit, thank you.
They won't stop, they don't want V to stop, they give zero shits about how this looks to anyone not already part of the V hate brigade.

Edit: Hopefully Zoat saying something will get them to cool it? If that doesn't work nothing will.
 
Look, attaching likely to something doesn't make it immune to criticism. Secondly, you are assuming we - or at least, I - want him to stop. Thirdly, if the reason you want me to stop is because you are getting offended on Vearmina's behalf, it won't matter. Now, if we're actually bothering the rest of the thread, then yes, by all means, tell me. We'll stop.

To my knowledge you're not bothering the majority of the thread, since most of them are the "lurker" types and only visit the thread for updates.

I never claimed the comment was immune to criticism, I did however point out that your grievance with their comment was misplaced, since the comment never directly stated concrete knowledge of the facts speculated upon.

I'm not offended on Vaermina's behalf, I'm simply tired of having to constantly wade through people fighting with them about this or that, or "Look over there! Something that looks vaguely like an attempt at criticism or commentary! Kill Them! *REEEE*" This behaviour is annoying , and if you and your cohorts in this hissy fit want to continue it, please do so in DM's, so it does not bother the percentage of us who actually like to read the thread for opinions and theories.

Thank you.
 

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