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Grayven's not exactly going to be unhappy if it works, because he uses magic and the Reach don't. But he wouldn't give Sparta something like this unless he was sure that she'd stay on-message.Would be kind of funny if someway somehow this was all set up by Grayven. Like, he's the one that first told Sparta about the ritual and it turns out what it's ultimately going to do is send all this Titan power to Grayven.
I'm calling bullshit on this.Yeaaaaaah, you are. Maybe you didn't mean to, but taking warships into someone else's space without an invitation is an invasion. If you want me not to inform the Green Lanterns that you've torn up the treaty, you're going to have to do better than 'our bad'."
Welp. Looks like the Reach know about Minosyss now. Though from the looks of it, they're running. So either they lost their pursuers, or other trouble is on the way. But first, OL gets to deal with these guys...1st January 2013
21:30 GMT
"Five ships, damaged. Cruisers. We were already recalling our patrols."
Ring scans are not entirely reliable at long range, but Pontico doesn't appear to mind me borrowing New Chronos's sensors. New God technology being unaffected by this system's oddities. Reach cruisers, from an inner sphere fleet. Don't know if they're the ones that are fighting around Karrakan, but it seems like a reasonable guess.
Oh, boy. This is going to be a diplomatic and political hot potato."Have you had a chance to go over their combat performance against your ships yet?"
"I'm a physician. And our most capable ship masters are taking part in the ritual. Are you willing to involve yourself?"
And that's not just hyperbole. Given the way their spiritual networks are organised, only he would have the metaphysical strength to do the work..."I assume that we shouldn't call Athyns away unless absolutely essential?"
"He is our leader. It must be him who draws Grandmother Rhea's magic into the world."
...Hopefully they won't take issue with you moving in to an already occupied system. Because they technically did roll up on the Minosyssian population and went 'Hi, we're your gods now.'"Right. Okay. Thing is, as you're not a N.E.M.O. member world, there are certain things I can't do. On the other hand, since you're not a N.E.M.O. member-."
"I heard. We can request the assistance of the Green Lantern Corps."
Hmm... Call the Space Cops now, or after you kick the ass of the Reach? Quite a conundrum."And I can get hold of them a lot faster than you can. Do you want me to contact them? They might not be able to get here immediately."
"Their ships appear to be heavily damaged."
And this could turn into quite a fight. Possibly a four- or five-way battle depending on who turns up..."I agree with that assessment."
"Sparta… I prefer being a healer. I don't want to start a fight if I don't have to."
I'll bet. Kid is totally not paid enough to handle this tango."Perfectly reasonable. Want me to go and have a chat with them while you muster your forces?"
"Yes, I would be grateful."
And if worst comes to worst, he can kick their asses."Alright. I might be out of contact when I get closer to them."
"I understand. Thank you for trying."
...Confiscation, perhaps? It's one of those things that never seems to come up in military training, I suspect.I nod and fly towards the Reach squadron. It's been a few minutes, and destructive as the Absolute Dominion is, damaged and flanked I don't… I don't think it could have destroyed all of its attackers that quickly. And coming here… I should find out how they did that.
Alright, I'm about halfway towards them. If I'm supposed to negotiate their… What's it called when ships are held by a neutral third party? I've never heard of Reachians accepting anything like that, but them being here at all is something…
At least that probably answers how they got here. Ascendants Boom Tube to a known location, they slip through before it closes...That's wreckage. Wreckage of one of the Ascendancy ships. That… If it opened a boom tube and got… Overtaken? Jumped?
If there's anyone still alive on there then I should get them off. Getting some sort of intelligence on Grayven's activities would be nice, but if I'm not taking them…
Pity you can't do the Green Lantern thing and flash a giant badge of office. But that would be a big-ass target, not an intimidation method...Should be close enough, now.
"Illustres to Reach fleet. Please explain your presence here."
Small world. Fella got lucky, then."Illustres. Explain your presence here."
Huh. It is that guy from earlier.
...Put a pin in that for now. It's complicated."I'm here because I was invited here by the local government to assist them in a construction project. You?"
"This is a N.E.M.O. world?"
Bud, you don't get to dictate terms here. Ask nicely, and maybe they'll let you have an asteroid or two for materials."This is a world that has authorised me -as an independent contractor- to kill all of you if we don't get a satisfactory explanation."
"We will make repairs and then leave. We-."
Not nearly enough force, after all. This is more 'a platoon has blundered into neutral territory during a firefight. What do?'"N-o. You jumped a group of warships into a neutral system. To my great pleasure, that breaks your treaty with the Green Lantern Corps. You just accidentally started a war that every Green Lantern in the region has wanted since that treaty was signed. And my own superiors will be positively giddy with joy at the prospect."
"We are not invading this system."
Ah, see? Now that's the attitude you should have started with. Willing or not, you are a guest here. But that's contingent on you not starting shit."Yeaaaaaah, you are. Maybe you didn't mean to, but taking warships into someone else's space without an invitation is an invasion. If you want me not to inform the Green Lanterns that you've torn up the treaty, you're going to have to do better than 'our bad'."
"… What do you want?"
Figured as much. Interesting that the Ascendant ship knew to come here, though. I doubt they spotted the funerary flotilla leaving during the fight..."Firstly, you will explain how you got here."
"We followed one of Grayven's ships through a portal."
You took a gamble. And it didn't pay off. That's luck for you."You didn't know where it was going?"
"Not for certain. I assumed a shipyard."
Nicely done, if risky, I suspect."And how exactly did you get close enough to it to do that?"
"Short-range faster than light jump as they attempted to withdraw. I believe that the ship's captain was inexperienced."
"Just minor damage."Possible. If the interdiction systems weren't working… I'm not sure how fragile a system they are on an Apokoliptian warship like the Absolute Dominion. Without me there, and with the N.E.M.O. defence platforms destroyed, they might have been able to do that.
"You appear to be somewhat damaged yourselves."
Gee. guess OL tossed them a little too hard. Ah well."Gravyen does not talk to his enemies. We reached his fleet ahead of our re-enforcements."
"I take it that he's still fighting, then?"
Now, the test. Will they play nice, or double down on their egotistical arrogance?"That was true when we left."
"Come on, send your sensor logs."
Good. They are willing to play nice. Progress!
The hit to his Godhead would be unthinkable. He committed to the assault. He will either succeed or die. And if it's the latter, things get a lot simpler.Ah. Yes. Grayven's prow-mounted hyper blaster is a remarkable anti-capital ship weapon when it's pointing in the right direction. When it's pointing in the wrong direction and the Absolute Dominion's manoeuvring systems are damaged, it's irrelevant. And it looks like Reach dreadnoughts are capable of damaging it by themselves. I doubt that they could stop his disengaging if his boom tube generator is still working, but I also doubt very much that he'll want to disengage.
...And now I'm suspicious of them again. Great.Assuming that these logs aren't doctored to heck, which is a distinct possibility.
"Alright, I've got an offer for you."
Don't mind the classy bracelets they'll insist on you wearing. Just a precaution."I'm listening."
"Deactivate weapons and slave navigation to my ring. I'll take you in-system. The locals have generously offered the use of their medical facilities."
Technically, you're surrendering to the locals. OL is just acting as their representative, since they can't get out here that quick."We will not surrender to you."
"Didn't I say this isn't a N.E.M.O. system?"
Don't worry, their confinement facilities are surprisingly pleasant if you don't piss them off."You did."
"Good news for you is that it's true. Your ships will be held until the conclusion of the war between N.E.M.O. and the Reach, at which point they will either be returned to the Reach government or to the N.E.M.O. occupation authority, whoever won. For you, the war is over."
I suppose OL could leave it to whoever's showing up. Depending on who it is.
Alright, I'm about halfway towards them. If I'm supposed to negotiate their… What's it called when ships are held by a neutral third party? I've never heard of Reachians accepting anything like that, but them being here at all is something…
...Confiscation, perhaps? It's one of those things that never seems to come up in military training, I suspect.
Yes, but you don't take an entire war fleet in with a damaged vessel - OL did confirm such an exception existed, but there was sufficient evidence to disprove this was the caseI'm calling bullshit on this.
Because there's no way the Green Lanterns didn't include an exception for damaged vessels in need of repair. If only because there's no way the treaty would have held up for thousands of years if they didn't.
"Look, I was pooping okay!? Sometimes a guy has to poop! I hit the self destruct button as fast as I could, but even if I was about to die I still needed to wipe and wash my hands!"You know, I was kind of expecting them to self-destruct immediately. Someone must not be taking their Joy
I don't get this. Calling Green Lanterns wouldn't be an act of war. The Green Lanterns and the Reach have a long standing peace treaty. If the Reach ships are truly here peacefully and in need of emergency repairs then calling the space cops to supervise is only prudent."I heard. We can request the assistance of the Green Lantern Corps."
"And I can get hold of them a lot faster than you can. Do you want me to contact them? They might not be able to get here immediately."
"Their ships appear to be heavily damaged."
"I agree with that assessment."
"Sparta… I prefer being a healer. I don't want to start a fight if I don't have to."
I believe the treaty states that they can't go to Green Lantern space without being invited first. The fleet hoped they would end up in Grayven's territory, which isn't covered by that agreement, but instead ended up in Green Lantern territory, which breaches their treaty.I don't get this. Calling Green Lanterns wouldn't be an act of war. The Green Lanterns and the Reach have a long standing peace treaty. If the Reach ships are truly here peacefully and in need of emergency repairs then calling the space cops to supervise is only prudent.
Edit: Or is the Orange Illustress purposefully taking advantage of Pontico's inexperience and ignorance of galactic politics in order to better insinuate himself into the situation and spin it to the advantage of NEMO?
I miss the boom image used early in the story.
Anyway, I don't know much about the Reach outside of this story, but from the way it's been described it's an absolutely fascinating civilization. Reach citizens are rewarded with physical goods and luxuries I believe was explained? But they are also so dogmatically loyal they will suicide themselves when appropriate as to not risk giving out Reach secrets.
Unless that wasn't them blowing up their own ship(s), and instead was a boom tube opening.
No. Also, I did German at school rather than Spanish.And considering Paul thought that Jaime was named Jamie, I don't think Zoat read the Blue Beetle comics anyway.
All the vessels in that group were damaged...Yes, but you don't take an entire war fleet in with a damaged vessel - OL did confirm such an exception existed, but there was sufficient evidence to disprove this was the case
What, you think the chapter had a downer ending? Eh, I'm sure a happy few will survive.You know, I was kind of expecting them to self-destruct immediately. Someone must not be taking their Joy
, it turns out that the police actually like it when career criminals earn money legitimately.
But in both locales I know about, it serves as a join drinking den and labour
"Hah! You're one of the X-Brats?!"
"No, no X-gene. I'm just a student
Thank you, corrected.
No, that's correct.
In general, Marvel power levels aren't any lower than DC power levels. It's just that the most popular characters are generally much less powerful.X-Men / Marvel is utterly uninteresting for a Lantern, but I like this Paul at least.
"And what happens if I say 'no'?"
I take a sharpened iron oval four inches long out of subspace. "Then I shoot you."
"Suuure."
I wiggle it towards his right eye.
...
"And how exactly are you going to do that?"
Ring? Railgun.
Huh.....
Creed didn't get the adamantium bonded to him in most 'verses I know, at least not at the same time Logan did.
Been a Looooong time since I saw the '92 cartoon...but I'm fairly sure that they cover the fact that Wolverine breaking out of Weapon X is what released the other members, before they could try to do the same to anyone else. There's a whole episode of with Logan and the old crew getting together to figure out things about their modified memories.
[Digs]