Yue

 21st January

15:21 GMT

The thanagarians don't -officially- have the technology for blocking Lantern faster than light travel. They… Probably have it unofficially, because they can't possibly believe that the local Green Lanterns -an insectoid from Staphis and six-armed humanoid Polarian- won't step in if they try expanding their empire again and they're not stupid enough to be unprepared for that. Plus, they know we're coming, and despite my dealings with Hyathis I doubt that I've antagonised them sufficiently that they're prepared to test any device they have on me.

Probably. They might have decided to try it if I'd affirmed my alliance with Hyathis to Ms Thal. That would have been stupid and probably resulted in Dox putting Hyathis on the throne after the Orange Lantern Corps had annihilated their fleet, but if superhero-Earth has taught me anything it's that powerful people are prone to very… Limited thinking.

Still. They don't have any easy way to get hold of arcane lore without someone like me ferrying information and personnel around. I'm fairly confident that my first trip will be unmolested. The second one… Eh.

"Orange Lantern to all passengers. We will be arriving at our designated emergence location shortly. Check your programmed course and IFF and prepare for transition to normal flight. Warp ends in three, two, one."

The orange glow around us fades as space remembers its proper texture, a new system around us, a new planet… Just about visible in the black eternity, and… Quite a lot of ships. Two command carriers with… About a third of their attack craft complement deployed. Two squadrons of three of their military reconnaissance ship to each command carrier for a total of twelve. Those are fast, lightly armed and armoured scouts, designed to probe enemy defences and report back. Their stealth systems are also good enough that I doubt that the two ships I just towed here can see them. Cruisers of the Thanagarian Empire's two favourite configurations are also plentiful: a light carrier for patrol work and a gunship for anti-capital ship attacks. There are a few battle cruisers as well, but the Empire favours speed and agility over staying power. Battle cruisers are things they send when patrol ships encounter something that needs a little more gun, not something they've built a doctrine around. And a little further back I can see the tenders: heavily armoured and shielded fuel carriers for replenishing the fuel burned when the warships use their full combat power, and the farm ships they use to keep the tens of thousands of naval personnel fed with food that doesn't taste like cardboard.

Because you do not want to be the officer in charge of a ship full of mace-wielding thanagarians who've been eating cardboard for a month.

"Ms Thal, are we being honoured or intimidated?"

I hear a snort from her, but it's Mr Hol who answers.

"In thanagarian culture, there isn't much difference."

"Alright, but am I supposed to honour them by generating a construct fleet? Should I have brought Lantern Mother of Mercy with us?"

"Sir, that might have been… 'Too much' honour."

"Tut tut, Lantern Dul. Adopting alien cultural practices?"

"Incoming communication."

"Answer."

My rings generate an image of a stern looking male thanagarian. "This is General Hro Talak of the Pride of Thanagar. Please identify yourself."

Oh. Him. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised. If I remember his appearance in Justice League Animated correctly, he's an ardent nationalist who values alien races very little. But… Given what I know about the culture of modern Thanagar, I suspect that his attitudes are actually pretty normal. I wouldn't expect him to start something without both provocation and orders.

"I am-"

Ring.

"-Paul-"

"-, the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I believe that we're expected."

He regards me impassively for a moment, then nods. "Identities confirmed. Operatives Katar Hol, Shayera Thal and Paran Dul are to proceed to the Vengeance of Kalmoran for debriefing. You and the four from Earth will take your pre-approved course to the foreign ministry in Thanaldar. You will be met by Ambassador Darl Klus, who will be handling negotiations."

Leaving aside the obvious fact that Kara isn't from Earth, that part was more or less what I expected, but...

"I'm sorry, I thought the plan was for your operatives to be on hand during the negotiations and for the debriefing to happen.. later..?" He doesn't look impressed. "I wouldn't want your ambassador to be unfairly disadvantaged because he was ill-advised."

"A senior intelligence analyst became unexpectedly available. These things happen. In any case, negotiations will not begin until tomorrow. You are to be taken on a cultural junket first."

"I suppose your government wouldn't want me to think that Thanagar was all warships."

He hesitates for a moment. Is he wondering if I'm insulting him and his, or trying to decide whether that would actually be preferable?

"Indeed. Pride of Thanagar out."

Both of the ships are already in motion, the League Hawks' ship towards one of the front-mounted launch bays of the right Command Carrier, while the…

"Ms Parker, Mr Cantrell, does that ship have a name?"

"Yes." / "No."

"Hector, sounds like you're the tie-breaker."

I begin flying after them, and notice as two squadrons of attack craft move away from their patrol route to escort us. And… Yes, I can see orbital and ground defence installations acquiring us. A pretty normal way to treat relative unknowns flying towards your capital city in a ship whose precise loadout you haven't been able to confirm for yourself.

"They always used to call it 'the Hawkship'."

"We can't call it 'the Hawkship' on Thanagar. That's ridiculous!"

"That wasn't the name I meant."

"But that's what we called it when-. Ooh!"

I politely turn aside some of the Thanagarian Defence Network's more intrusive efforts at scanning me. A couple of the vehicles in our escort are definitely using non-standard sensor packages. Nothing that's dangerous to me, but whoever that 'senior analyst' is they're not missing a trick.

"Care to share?"

"In our first lives, when I thought Chay-ara was a fallen goddess, I -Khufu-I- called the ship 'The Chariot of Horus'."

"Sounds like a fine name to me."

"It's a bit overblown. It isn't even that big. I just couldn't imagine what else it could be. The biggest vehicle I'd seen at that point was a wooden sailing barge."

"If Horus objects we can always change it."

I look towards the planet as it grows, my own acceleration matching that of the newly christened Chariot of Horus. There's a police cordon around the air corridor we've been instructed to take, but it looks like the locals are just working around it rather than hanging around to rubberneck. No reason to believe that our arrival has been widely trailered. It's quite possible that only a small portion of the government and military know we're coming.

I'm rather looking forward to learning about an alien culture from the aliens themselves. You just can't learn how a people see themselves or how they want to be seen by pillaging a database.