Yue

 24th January

18:33 GMT

Green laser beams are absorbed by my construct armour as cold beams and a magnetic siphon construct prove to be an adequate counter to the plasma-positron weapons the computer is bombarding me with. I mean, yes, I've now got a large invisible bag of anti-matter, but nothing's blowing up so I'm calling that a success. Better still, with giant explosions not turning the atmosphere into plasma I can generally see what's shooting at me well enough to disable it at once.

"Still not a Green Lantern."

Though it's mildly reassuring to know that someone else spotted the green laser weakness. I mean… There are good reasons for police not going around in full riot gear the whole time. And since Green Lanterns are mostly a policing organisation it does make a sort of sense that they usually limit themselves to basic body armour. The problem is that most of them assume that that's all they need.

And there goes the last positron beam projector. Not trying to 'taunt Murphy' here, but I'm a little surprised that the ship hasn't self-destructed yet. The positron thing appears to be its most powerful internal weapon. At this point, it should either admit defeat and scrub itself or blow the main reactor. I know Devlos programmed them with the ability; they used it during his crusade. So either this ship is somehow so valuable that its own value-weighing won't allow it to destroy itself…

Or I'm missing something.

"Ship, how about we resolve this like civilised peop-."

Shock-poles extend from the frame of the blast doors blocking my way to the computer room, an appreciable fraction of the main reactor arcing… Into the hull around me because constructs don't conduct electricity. I raise my left hand and shoot each one with destructive bolts before-.

"Sure. Let's talk about this."

That's a new voice. I stop.

"Who am I talking to?"

"The man who can scrub the computer at the touch of a button."

I nod, and open up my empathic vision. Hm, not seeing… No, there we go.

"And if you don't want me to do-"

I build a physical containment vessel for the positrons. Now, do I risk the final layer of defences to disable the speaker now, or let them talk themselves out?

"-that, then stop scanning-"

I step out

and then back in just behind the young Ungaran man whose desire to take control of this ship is about as strong as that of the commodore outside. Though far less altruistic.

"-and pay-."

One construct connects me to the computer and the second pokes through his armour and subverts his central nervous system.

And relax, and get the computer to turn off the automatic-.

"Automatic defences on autistic mode."

Fine. Fine. I'll just have to use my armour's stealth systems when I go anywhere I haven't already destroyed. No, wait, can I turn off the reactor from here? Sure they've got batteries, but… I can, because the self-destruct isn't automated, while the guns are designed to go autistic if the computer is destroyed by enemy action. Excellent! And… I've got Devlos Ungol's maps. Well. What he actually put on here, anyway. A few sites I don't think anyone has visited. Aaaaand this guy. The little Black Circle emblem on his armour makes it clearish what he's here for.

"Computer, you work for me. Confirm command."

"Command confirmed."

"Glad to hear it." I turn the pirate around to face me. "Now how the devil did you get on board?"

He gazes vacantly back at me.

Okay, give him control of his head back.

He twitches, then appears to decide to pretend that he's still paralysed.

"Oh, come on. If you're going to try deceiving me, at least try it when there's a chance it might work."

"I have nothing to say to you."

Ring, check him for suicide devices.

None found.

I haven't forgotten that thing with Jade. Anything substantially similar? Mind wipers, coma-inducing drugs, that sort of thing?

None found.

I'm trusting you with this.

Understood.

"As I tried to tell the computer, I'm not a Green Lantern. Do you know what I am?"

He regards me with studied disinterest.

"Orange Lanterns have a few unique quirks. For example, I can rewrite your desires so that you want nothing more than to tell me everything I want to know." I take control of his right arm and wave it around for a moment. "Or manipulate you in other ways. Now, at the moment I don't have you for anything worse than entering a restricted area, which is a slap on the wrist offence. And I'm prepared to let you off anything you might admit to in the course of providing me with information I want. Am I clear?"

His expression doesn't change, so I take control of his facial muscles and make him smile and nod for a moment.

"Glad to hear it. Anything you particularly want to say?"

His face goes slack as I allow him to take control once more.

"No."

Okay, anything about who this guy is in the Ungaran-.

"Amon Sur?" He grimaces. "You're running with a bad crowd, chum. Mind if I ask why?"

I think he was a Sinestro Corpsman for all of five minutes before Laira killed him. Angry with Abin Sur for spending all his time being a Lantern and little to none being a father. He almost certainly doesn't know about the Indigo Lantern Corps or what his father did to the woman who murdered his sister…

I frown. Whose name I don't know. Don't think I ever saw his mother's name, either. I don't want to think 'disposable female characters', but I am.

"They're the strongest power in this region of space."

Actual desire triggered: Undo my father's work out of spite.

"No, I'm the strongest power in this region of space. I have a planet Lantern."

"You were nearly killed by this ship's defences."

"I'm uninjured. And the only reason this was even slightly hard is that I was trying to keep the computer core intact." And shut down the shield… "I'll ask one more time: do you feel like talking?"

His eyes narrow. "No."

"Okay." I shrug inside my armour. "Time for an attitude adjustment."