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

Mr Zoat · Nov 21, 2022

Darko said:
"hang back"

Thank you, corrected.

"fleet can force"

Handlewithcare · Nov 21, 2022

I really like the way you describe this space battle, Zoat.

Methodical and logical, the reader can easily follow the motivations for everyone's actions, rooted in the ships technologies.

Well done.

BrotherofaStudio · Nov 21, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Not much of one.

Why not? I really hope there will be some because I'm really curious about these missing gaps in the stories.

Mr Zoat said:
It would start by having him try to deal with the Deacon's War. Serra's church was set up so that higher clerical appointments could only be made by Serra. With her gone, no one can get promoted and the organisation gradually got taken over by the bureaucrats. They then competed and eventually fought amongst themselves for power.

I don't recall there ever being an event called the Deacon's war and I thought that her death and therefore these events would occur before the Phyrexian invasion was dealt with and therefore unless he travels to another Plane like Ravnica, he would have to deal with Urza probably trying to use him. But it's a good idea and I wish I could see more of it.

Rafin · Nov 21, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Determination, focus, and being a little crazy.

So... How is China faring?

Mr Zoat · Nov 21, 2022

BrotherofaStudio said:
Why not? I really hope there will be some because I'm really curious about these missing gaps in the stories.

Alternate SIs are something I write when inspiration for a particular setup strikes. I'm not sitting on a bunch of story ideas for each one.

I don't recall there ever being an event called the Deacon's war and I thought that her death and therefore these events would occur before the Phyrexian invasion was dealt with and therefore unless he travels to another Plane like Ravnica, he would have to deal with Urza probably trying to use him. But it's a good idea and I wish I could see more of it.

There wasn't. It's what I imagine would have happened to the nation she abandoned following Feroz's death.

Rafin said:
So... How is China faring?

Not great. Thundermind is fine and their wizards are able to partially shield some areas. China's greatest defences are its huge size and constant oppression.

Darko · Nov 21, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
China's greatest defences are its huge size and constant oppression.

So the people are able to deal with the oppressive feeling that Anti-Life brings because they already know how it feels to be oppressed.

BrotherofaStudio · Nov 21, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Alternate SIs are something I write when inspiration for a particular setup strikes. I'm not sitting on a bunch of story ideas for each one.

I can respect only writing these when you have inspiration for them. But I really do hope we get summaries at some point of what the alternate Pauls did when we didn't see them like the Paul in Eternia and Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes, we didn't see how they got there or how they bonded with their friends and unless we get these timelines we won't have a full picture of their stories.

Mr Zoat said:
There wasn't. It's what I imagine would have happened to the nation she abandoned following Feroz's death.

An interesting scenario that seems like just the thing just about any version of Paul would get involved with. That right there could be an excellent entry for an alternate Paul, I do hope you'll change your mind about not having a Planeswalker Paul because it seems to me you have it figured out.

Silveraith · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
The waiting isn't the worst of it, it's just the most annoying. Because the Reach are wasting my time. I could phase out, but the Reach have phasing technology and it would probably do more to draw their attention that to deflect it.

Than.

Mr Zoat · Nov 22, 2022

1st January 2013
20:32 GMT

Ring?

It's focusing on our fleet, but it's not a gravity weapon. It's bending space around the ships to… Prevent them turning back?

Ring, is that plausible? Macro-gravity gives me a headache.

Suggestion is plausible.

The Lanterns should be able to fly around it, but-. There go the Scarabs, and the Reach fleet is getting into range. The N.E.M.O. force should win the engagement, but I'm assuming-.

Warning.

The Scarab Lantern reappears, this time towing a Reach troop ship. It forms a giant cannon construct and a construct shield which blocks the shots incoming from the planetary defence network. It then returns fire, yellow energy lancing out and cleaving the closest defence platform in two.

Looks like this is a job for m-.

The Scarab's gun construct swivels and fires at me. It's sub-light so I evade easily enough, but the Scarab Lantern has registered me as the priority threat.

"Good eff-"

The troop transport accelerates towards the surface, construct shield still protecting it as more orbital and ground defences target it. It uses its thrusters to take evasive action, but the shield-.

"-ort."

The shield actually takes it fairly well. I don't think that this Scarab has attained fear enlightenment; I remember the distinct feel of the soul of my alter-ego who had managed that and I'll not forget it any time soon.

Construct armour.

Compliance.

Is Sinestro siding with the Reach, or just using them to test his techniques? Or us?

Railguns.

Compliance.

I fire a volley of crumbler rounds, but at this range the Scarab Lantern will-.

Point defence lasers appear on its shoulders, thin rays of ultraviolet light lancing out and piercing each of the crumbler rounds in turn. Yes, it can still use its integrated weapons along with the power ring. Didn't bother dodging, though, and I've still got some armoured crumblers left over from my fight with the Apokoliptian robot.

"Meat."

The Scarab Lantern is flying backwards, staying close enough to the transport to shield it while facing me so that it can maintain focus. I accelerate, construct boosters behind me because I've seen the construct interdiction system it's created on its back. I'm too well-drilled by my sparring sessions against Guy to even try that.

"Bug."

I smile inside my armour, turn my railgun towards the gravity distortion device the Scarab Lantern brought here and fire a volley of crumbler rounds. It's not close to where we are, but spatial dynamics means that-.

That it only has to bend space a little for them to miss, yes. And-. I see emotions-. Emotion. Fear. There are people on there, and they-.

They're fuelling the Scarab Lantern's constructs. He brought his construct booster with him. Passably clever-.

No, it's the Reach. Flooding the place with a fear toxin equivalent wouldn't be enough. This Scarab will have made sure that they're afraid of it. Overwhelmingly. Not sure how long the Reach had to work on the problem or what their relationship with Sinestro is. Rescuing them would be ideal, destroying that structure and killing them would weaken the Scarab Lantern and free up the fleet.

No. I can manage. I'll prioritise that if any other Yellow Lanterns or a second fleet appear, but failing that I should be able to manage.

Another shot from its construct cannon and this time I intercept it with a construct shield rather than evading. This is our world, interloper, thief, bandit. Try to take it from us and we will squash you.

The shot hits but doesn't penetrate, force endured and attack not sustained. Probably because the Scarab didn't think it would be necessary or useful. The hit was about as hard as a moderate hit from Guy pre-Enlightenment, and I doubt that it was as hard as this Scarab can hit.

Still, it does suggest a perfectly winnable fight.

Magnification shows me the moment that the Scarab realises that I took their hit without slowing. A small sneer, then their face stills for a moment. Then the Scarab abandons their shield construct and uses their Scarab's booster system to fly away from the ship and towards me.

The ship takes a couple of hits and then phases, lasers and plasma beams passing through it without damage. Defence station railguns loaded with phasic rounds open fire, but the volume of space is vast and the projectiles relatively slow. Some might hit, and with the ship's other defences effectively useless in a phased state they might get a kill. Or maybe not.

Deal with the oncoming Scarab Lantern first.

It fires again, beam hitting my shield and once more failing to break it. Then the beam changes, turning into a giant construct drill and spinning to try and bore its way through instead.

It makes a few scratches before my crumbler ram construct hits it in the side and shatters it.

"Did Sinestro not train with you before sending you out?"

I fire the ram towards the Scarab Lantern. Its point defence lasers do nothing, so it throws up a construct shield to block it. Predictably, it's a single layer construct and crumbles instantly, forcing the Scarab to dodge the attack with a snarl.

"Did you think that Reach records of us was all you'd need?"

It accelerates towards me using its booster, blades forming on both of its arms. They have a glowing yellow edge which suggests to me that they'll hit a little harder than normal Scarab swords. It also suggests to me that whoever this is really hasn't integrated the niceties of Lantern combat… Either that or it's too arrogant to deviate from Reach training when it doesn't absolutely have to.

Construct crumbler gauntlets, x-ionised shards and… Load phasic rounds. The Reach ship is flying almost directly away from me and I'm closer than the defence platforms. Aim a few shots at the Scarab Lantern to tie up its point defences and fire.

The Scarab loses a little mass from its booster pack to reform its point defences, but they intercept my shots easily enough.

"Pathetic."

"Yes, because I'm rather bad-"

I smile as the ship shudders and undergoes an emergency phase-in, its primary drive in ruins.

"-at this."

The Scarab Lantern glances back at the ship, but doesn't change course.

"…useless…"

Thing about power rings, is that they make environmental catastrophes easy to deal with. Even if that ship manages to hit a somnolent super volcano, it'll only take a couple of Lanterns a few hours to tidy things up so well that you'd never know that it happened. As it-.

There's little sound in space, so I don't hear it as the Reach ship is repeatedly struck by the local defence systems and torn apart, whatever was inside being spread out across the planet's upper atmosphere.

As it is, it looks like it was just a troop ship.

And now for the Scarab Lantern.

Venustoise · Nov 22, 2022

Ten bucks says he assimilates the Scarab Lantern.

Caerwen · Nov 22, 2022

Venustoise said:
Ten bucks says he assimilates the Scarab Lantern.

And kill whoever the scarab is puppeteering?

Mr Zoat · Nov 22, 2022

Silveraith said:
Than.

Thank you, corrected.

Ngamer11 · Nov 22, 2022

Caerwen said:
And kill whoever the scarab is puppeteering?

It would depend on whether or not there is currently a way to remove the scarab without killing the host. Also, since this is a Scarab warrior from the inner fleet, it's possible that this isn't some mindless host body, but a true member of the Reach species who's been chosen to become a Scarab warrior.

FreeGod · Nov 22, 2022

Caerwen said:
And kill whoever the scarab is puppeteering?

If you can find a way to trigger the enemy's self destruct that's a fairly good way to take them down.

Cuchulin · Nov 22, 2022

FreeGod said:
If you can find a way to trigger the enemy's self destruct that's a fairly good way to take them down.

Also It's not like killing them isn't a mercy.

Handlewithcare · Nov 22, 2022

Paul, wtf, scan the contents of what you just scattered over the planet!

Bioweapons? Supersoldiers? Scarabs???

crazygrox · Nov 22, 2022

Bioweapon maybe?
If it involves a scry ward in the design the bioweapon wouldn't be detective to ring scans, and I remember this world being magically active such that even knowing a scry block pattern would be enough to create a scry ward much like how Luthor did the same to paper all over the place.

mastermenthe · Nov 22, 2022

crazygrox said:
create a scry ward much like how Luthor did the same to paper all over the place.

Wait, what? I don't remember this. When did that happen?

If that's real, then that means science fantasy artists have a genuine justification for having user interfaces be embellished with alchemy symbols and tron lines like you see in mobile games these days!

Rafin · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
while face me

facing

Mr Zoat said:
lasers to nothing

do

Chojin Patriarch · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
1st January 2013
20:32 GMT

Ring?

It's focusing on our fleet, but it's not a gravity weapon. It's bending space around the ships to… Prevent them turning back?

Ah, some form of interdiction platform? The Scarab Lantern dragging it into place effectively let it create an exclusion zone against FTL transit. Great for gaining dominance of the enemy airspace. It's a surprisingly clever move from a Reach agent.

Ring, is that plausible? Macro-gravity gives me a headache.

Suggestion is plausible.

At least it isn't a planet-killer, then. Still going to be a pain to deal with, once the Scarab is eliminated...

The Lanterns should be able to fly around it, but-. There go the Scarabs, and the Reach fleet is getting into range. The N.E.M.O. force should win the engagement, but I'm assuming-.

Warning.

They can handle themselves, Illustres. They're well-trained and well-equipped. Look to your own foes.

The Scarab Lantern reappears, this time towing a Reach troop ship. It forms a giant cannon construct and a construct shield which blocks the shots incoming from the planetary defence network. It then returns fire, yellow energy lancing out and cleaving the closest defence platform in two.

Looks like this is a job for m-

Let's hope it's a total rookie at Ring-slinging, then. Betting it's leaving great big tethers to its constructs...

The Scarab's gun construct swivels and fire at me. It's sub-light so I evade easily enough, but the Scarab Lantern has registered me as the priority threat.

"Good eff-"

Gonna need more than that, bug-boy.

The troop transport accelerates towards the surface, construct shield still protecting it as more orbital and ground defences target it. It uses its thrusters to take evasive action, but the shield-.

"-ort."

He, she or they seems to be able to focus on their task, as least. Even with the scariest Orange lantern bearing down on them...

The shield actually takes it fairly well. I don't think that this Scarab has attained fear enlightenment; I remember the distinct feel of the soul of my alter-ego who had managed that and I'll not forget it any time soon.

Construct armour.

That would be the Lord Protector, fresh from Thundercats 2011. Helpful that he's seen a few of himself that have been Enlightened. Makes it easier to recognise in others...

Compliance.

Is Sinestro siding with the Reach, or just using them to test his techniques? Or us?

Because while Fear may be more effective against Willpower, it can hurt Avarice as well. And if Sinestro is still holding his 'conquer everything for its own good' plans, he'll have to be ready to fight both colours.

Railguns.

Compliance.

I fire a volley of crumbler rounds, but at this range the Scarab Lantern will-.

Same problem as their sub-light weapons. If a Lantern can see it coming, it's not going to connect.

Point defence lasers appear on its shoulders, thin rays of ultraviolet light lancing out and piercing each of the crumbler rounds in turn. Yes, it can still use its integrated weapons along with the power ring. Didn't bother dodging, through, and I've still got some armoured crumblers left over from my fight with the Apokoliptian robot.

"Meat."

At least one good thing came out of last episode's encounter.

The Scarab Lantern is flying backwards, staying close enough to the transport to shield it while face me so that it can maintain focus. I accelerate, construct boosters behind me because I've seen the construct interdiction system it's created on its back. I'm too well-drilled by my sparring sessions against Guy to even try that.

"Bug."

Whereas this rookie won't have had a chance to fight Light against Light. No matter how strong they might be, there's no counter for experience.

I smile inside my armour, turn my railgun towards the gravity distortion device the Scarab Lantern brought here and fire a volley of crumbler rounds. It's not close to where we are, but spatial dynamics means that-.

That it only has to bend space a little for them to miss, yes. And-. I see emotions-. Emotion. Fear. There are people on there, and they-.

Perhaps next time, throw some rounds with internal guidance and manoeuvring systems, give them a surprise.

They're fuelling the Scarab Lantern's constructs. He brought his construct booster with him. Passably clever-.

No, it's the Reach. Flooding the place with a fear toxin equivalent wouldn't be enough. This Scarab will have made sure that they're afraid of it. Overwhelmingly. Not sure how long the Reach had to work on the problem or what their relationship with Sinestro is. Rescuing them would be ideal, destroying that structure and killing them would weaken the Scarab Lantern and free up the fleet.

And in a warzone, there's no 'nice' option. Not when they're shooting at you. Just as there are no atheists in a foxhole, there's no non-combatants in a firefight...

No. I can manage. I'll prioritise that if any other Yellow Lanterns or a second fleet appear, but failing that I should be able to manage.

Another shot from its construct cannon and this time I intercept it with a construct shield rather than evading. This is our world, interloper, thief, bandit. Try to take it from us and we will squash you.

The power of level 1 versus level 50... Or whatever level OL technically is.

The shot hits but doesn't penetrate, force endured and attack not sustained. Probably because the Scarab didn't think it would be necessary or useful. The hit was about as hard as a moderate hit from Guy pre-Enlightenment, and I doubt that it was as hard as this Scarab can hit.

Still, it does suggest a perfectly winnable fight.

It just a matter of how much of a nuisance they make of themselves before it ends.

Magnification shows me the moment that the Scarab realises that I look their hit without slowing. A small sneer, then their face stills for a moment. Then the Scarab abandons their shield construct and uses their Scarab's booster system to fly away from the ship and towards me.

The ship takes a couple of hits and then phases, lasers and plasma beams passing through it without damage. Defence station railguns loaded with phasic rounds open fire, but the volume of space is vast and the projectiles relatively slow. Some might hit, and with the ship's other defences effectively useless in a phased state they might get a kill. Or maybe not.

And probably a hell of a lot of fear, not that it'll help the Lantern.

Deal with the oncoming Scarab Lantern first.

It fires again, beam hitting my shield and once more failing to break it. Then the beam changes, turning into a giant construct drill and spinning to try and bore its way through instead.

Unsubtle. Who do they think OL is!

It makes a few scratches before my crumbler ram construct hits it in the side and shatters it.

"Did Sinestro not train with you before sending you out?"

Assuming they were given any training at all. Fear isn't the toughest Light to figure out, after all.

I fire the ram towards the Scarab Lantern. Its point defence lasers to nothing, so it throws up a construct shield to block it. Predictably, it's a single layer construct and crumbles instantly, forcing the Scarab to dodge the attack with a snarl.

"Did you think that Reach records of us was all you'd need?"

I wonder if this offensive was put into play because they acquired a Yellow Ring, or if it's a coincidence...

It accelerates towards me using its booster, blades forming on both of its arms. They have a glowing yellow edge which suggests to me that they'll hit a little harder than normal Scarab swords. It also suggests to me that whoever this is really hasn't integrated the niceties of Lantern combat… Either that or it's too arrogant to deviate from Reach training when it doesn't absolutely have to.

Construct crumbler gauntlets, x-ionised shards and… Load phasic rounds. The Reach ship is flying almost directly away from me and I'm closer than the defence platforms. Aim a few shots at the Scarab Lantern to tie up its point defences and fire.

Melee combat.

How foolish. A skilled Lantern can multi-task. Let OL demonstrate, Scarab...

The Scarab loses a little mass from its booster pack to reform its point defences, but they intercept my shots easily enough.

"Pathetic."

Yes, you are, assuming that he was aiming at you.

"Yes, because I'm rather bad-"

I smile as the ship shudders and undergoes an emergency phase-in, its primary drive in ruins.

"-at this."

Starting to get the picture of your position, Scarab? Newflash: you are not the big dog in this fight...

The Scarab Lantern glances back at the ship, but doesn't change course.

"…useless…"

Not going to be that easy, Scarab.

Thing about power rings, is that they make environmental catastrophes easy to deal with. Even if that ship manages to hit a somnolent super volcano, it'll only take a couple of Lanterns a few hours to tidy things up to well that you'd never know that it happened. As it-.

There's little sound in space, so I don't hear it as the Reach ship it repeatedly struck by the local defence systems and torn apart, whatever was inside being spread out across the planet's upper atmosphere.

...I assume you did check to make sure there's nothing untowards, OL?

As it is, it looks like it was just a troop ship.

And now for the Scarab Lantern.

Huh. Not sure what they planned to do with one shipload of infantry... Not like they're Astartes, after all.

Well, one thing eliminated. The Scarab Lantern shouldn't be too much of a threat, and then you can deal with the interdiction platform. Seems a bit of a wet fart of an attack, but it was basically a probing strike. And unless there's an entire flotilla's worth of Scarab lanterns waiting for the signal to attack, it doesn't look likely to be much more trouble...

...a few hours to tidy things up to well that you'd never know that it happened.

...a few hours to tidy things up so well that you'd never know that it happened.

...as the Reach ship it repeatedly struck by the local defence systems and torn apart...

...as the Reach ship is repeatedly struck by the local defence systems and torn apart...

Ngamer11 · Nov 22, 2022

mastermenthe said:
Wait, what? I don't remember this. When did that happen?

If that's real, then that means science fantasy artists have a genuine justification for having user interfaces be embellished with alchemy symbols and tron lines like you see in mobile games these days!

It was revealed in Episode 47: Zigzag. It was really just having scry wards discretely added to all forms of paper documents and probably other kinds of things used by LexCorp, and presumably numerous other groups, organizations, and places. That way, it's impossible for Paul or most other Lanterns to scan for sensitive information.

Venustoise · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

Hey, question, if the Scarab self-destructs while OL is assimilating it, would it stop the assimilation or would it continue regardless? Because Admiral Drolyk died yet the Construct-Ring still assimilated him.

Actually, if he successfully assimilated the Scarab Lantern, would he just assimilate the Scarab or both it and its host? I know Demon Nabu was assimilated without assimilating its hosts, but the Scarab is biologically bonded to its host so would it be a two for one deal or not?

Ngamer11 · Nov 22, 2022

Venustoise said:
Hey, question, if the Scarab self-destructs while OL is assimilating it, would it stop the assimilation or would it continue regardless? Because Admiral Drolyk died yet the Construct-Ring still assimilated him.

Maybe it's because he was killed by the assimilation itself?

BR549 · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
swivels and fire at me.

'fires at me'

staying close enough to the transport to shield it while face me so that it can maintain focus.

'facing me'

Vanbers · Nov 22, 2022

Caerwen said:
And kill whoever the scarab is puppeteering?

Let's be honest, that's objectively a good thing.

Either the Scarab is:

A: Someone who is being puppeted and body-horrored into fear and would welcome the embrace of Death

or

B: A Genuine True-Blue Reach Agent who believes in the Reach, and is thus genuinely deserving of a swift death

So, y'know, win/win. Killing Scarabs is rarely a bad thing. Sure, saving them would be ideal, but speaking personally if I was Scarab'd, I'd be at least 50% cool with them ending it all. Shit is *terrifying* to contemplate. "Prisoner in your own body as it murders your friends and family while you watch" is pure horror, and a very good reason to forgive the guy killing you for killing you, or even thank them.

ZzzSlothzzZ · Nov 22, 2022

mastermenthe said:
Wait, what? I don't remember this. When did that happen?

If that's real, then that means science fantasy artists have a genuine justification for having user interfaces be embellished with alchemy symbols and tron lines like you see in mobile games these days!

Yes magic is real.
And using mobile games with a mild fascination curse is one of the many ways they keep you from noticing the wonderment in life.

The Spell Matrix has you

This phone has been compromised
'Big Magic' are coming for me.

Take the red pill.
Free your mind....

Vaermina · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
As it is, it looks like it was just a troop ship.

The moment LePaul fails to realize that having Power Rings means they should be able to engineer things immune to Power Ring scans.

Mr Zoat · Nov 22, 2022

Rafin said:
facing
do

Looks like this is a job for m-

Chojin Patriarch said:
...a few hours to tidy things up so well that you'd never know that it happened.
...as the Reach ship is repeatedly struck by the local defence systems and torn apart...

BR549 said:
'fires at me'

Thank you, corrected.
Thank you, corrected.

Handlewithcare said:
Paul, wtf, scan the contents of what you just scattered over the planet!

Bioweapons? Supersoldiers? Scarabs???

Whatever it is, it's on a purely ballistic trajectory such that if the planetary shield and reentry don't destroy it the ground-based automated defences will.

Revlis · Nov 22, 2022

Mr Zoat said:
whatever was inside being spread out across the planet's upper atmosphere

And hello Fear World.

Old Knife · Nov 22, 2022

Time to yoink another ring. Haha amateurs.

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

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