To Be a Hero: Fall from Grace (Green Lantern Corps/GotG)

I'm going to start to post this side story to Family on its own thread.

Fall From Grace

Chapter 1: Lights in the Sky​

Disclaimer: all characters are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: Green Lantern (comic) general spoilers, and Guardians of the Galaxy (movie) spoilers.

Author Note: see at the end of the chapter.

---

Sector 1417. Planet Korugar. Korugar City. Six months ago.​

"What have you done?" Green Lantern Katma Tui said to the figure sitting on the throne.

"It's simple, I brought order to our world.” he said, standing up.

"Order? You call this order, Thaal Sinestro?" Katma said, gesturing to the corpses of the former government of Korugar, who had been exposed in the Great Square before the Government Palace, that now was occupied by Sinestro, together with a lot of the people who had tried to protest peacefully Sinestro's ascension, "This is not order, it's tyranny!"

"I was going to offer you to join me, but you have already answered the question." He said, and then he produced a Green Lantern power battery from thin air, "Do you recognize this?"

"My power battery?" Katma said, trying and failing to summon it, “How?”

"You don't become a veteran Lantern without learning a few tricks that the Guardians don't want you to know.” He said with a smirk, “Your charge is almost exhausted, Katma, so, remember, you brought this on yourself."

And with these words a portal opened under Katma, who fell through it. Sinestro then turned to the cameras that had been transmitting everything live to the whole planet.

"This is what awaits those who oppose Korugar's New Order!"

Deep in space​

Katma found herself deep in space, surrounded by unfamiliar stars.

"Elders damn him to the darkest pit of the Underworld!" she said, letting out a stream of curses worthy of any old spacedog. She stopped mid-tirade, remembering that her ring charge wouldn't last much more. "Ring, where are we?"

"Sector 2807. Close to the Xandarian wormhole." the ring informed her, "Warning, closest inhabitable planet beyond range attainable with current charge."

"How long can the life support function with the current charge level, without additional power expenses?" she asked, her quick mind starting to elaborate a plan.

"16.684 standard cycles." it answered.

This was bad, a standard Oan cycle lasted roughly a fiftieth of a Korugarian day.

"And how much it would last with an emergency beacon also active?" she asked, the plan near complete in her mind.

"7.203 standard milicycles."

"And if after activating the beacon, I was put in suspended animation, how long it would last?" she asked.

The ring paused for a moment, before giving the answer.

"18.613 standard milicycles."

'Better than nothing. Xandarian ships often cross the wormhole to assert their control over both sides of it, so they could detect the beacon.' she thought.

"Do it, and awaken me if a ship answers the beacon." she then took a deep breath and added, "And in case nobody has answered when 18 standard cycles have passed... use emergency storage mode on me and try to reach the closest Green Lantern."

“Acknowledged.” It said, and after a pause it continued, “Warning. Retrieval of holder after use of emergency storage mode not guaranteed.”

“I’m aware.” She said, “Do it.”

“Activating suspended animation mode in ten milicycles.”

Before falling in the dreamless sleep, she had a bit time to admire the stars, how beautiful they were...

Xandarian wormhole. Milky Way end.​

Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey yawned in the seat of his ship. Nova Prime had programmed a 'freedom of navigation' exercise for today, which, translated to real people speech, meant that a trio of Nova Star Blasters was to keep position in the Milky Way end of the wormhole for a couple days.

Frankly, it was boring as Hell, something that hadn’t changed over the years. According to one old timer he had talked with, the only real excitement over the years in these exercises had been when a planet in a nearby solar system, located in the center of a dead zone, incredibly enough, had blown up, and radioactive debris almost clogged the wormhole entry.

Now? Comets and micrometeors, and the occasional smuggler, like the one they had transferred to the cruiser on the other side. Seriously, the guy was probably a bit touched in the head. Trying to claim a fake name like Han Solo, while his biometrics were in the system? Madness...

Wait a microperiod. A distress signal?

'Oh, shit.' he thought, recognizing the frequency and modulation. He had never seen it, but it was drilled in the head of all the Nova Corps members who participated in these exercises. He checked it against the records, just in case, and he was right. 'A Green Lantern.'

"Corpsman 47 to Mothership, Corpsman 47 to Mothership, please answer." He said opening a channel to the cruiser, codenamed Mothership for the exercise.

"Mothership here, what has happened, 47?" the operator, by his voice drowsy by virtue of being just the start of his shift.

"I have just received a Green Lantern distress signal." He announced.

"Repeat, 47." his interlocutor said, drowsiness gone from his voice.

"I just received a Green Lantern distress signal" Rhomann repeated, "According to the navcomputer, it's fifty-two point six one six standard lightyears in the direction to the Galactic East."

There was a pause and a new voice started to speak, a voice he knew well, even if he had never met the owner in person.

"Corpsman Rhomann Dey, this is Nova Prime Inari Rael. Can you confirm that it is indeed a Green Lantern distress signal?."

He rechecked again, and checked against the record again. You didn't play games while Rael was watching.

"It's confirmed, ma'am." He said.

"Go, and assist the Green Lantern.” She ordered “We'll send a replacement for you in the exercise."

"Aye, ma'am."

Nova Corps Cruiser “Pride of Xandar”. Xandarian side of the wormhole. Andromeda Galaxy.​

"How did you end up stranded in this area? The sector we found you in is quite far from Korugar, Green Lantern Tui." Rael said, after Katma had been ushered into the office that Nova Prime was using to oversee the exercise.

Her first impulse was to not answer, shielding herself from questions, in that it was an internal matter of the Corps. But she dismissed the notion, partly because she recognized that her own biases against the Xandarians were a reflection of Sinestro's, and recent events had shown how suspect his judgement was, and partly because of expediency, with her ring running on fumes, she was going to need their help to reach Oa.

"My partner has gone rogue, ma'am." She said, trying to keep it short.

"That would be... Thaal Sinestro?" Rael said, checking it on the screen before her, “I have reports here of him being confrontational with Nova Corpsmen.”

"Yes, ma'am, that would be him." Katma said, “It’s no secret that his opinion of the Nova Corps is quite low.”

“Indeed. Unfortunately, we don’t have a ship available that could carry you to Oa.” She said, and forestalled any protest of Katma with a raised hand before startying to talk again, “This ship is needed where it is, giving our ongoing tensions with the Kree and the Skrulls, and you have a first-hand experience of how uncomfortable our Star Blasters can be for two people. But there is a possible alternative.”

She paused for a moment, and looked to Dey, who had remained in the background, trying to remain as unconspicious as possible.

“Corpsman Dey, what is your assessment of the smuggler you apprehended earlier today?” she asked him, forcing him to step ahead.

“If I can speak candidly, ma’am…” he said,

“Go ahead, that would be a refreshing change in this office.” Rael said with a smirk.

“Quill is or used to be connected to the Ravagers, and his rap sheet… has to be seen to be believed.” Rhomann said, shaking his head.

“Ravagers… Aren’t those a group of space pirates?” Katma asked.

“Yes, they mostly operate in space out of our direct control, or yours for that matter, that’s why they still exist, instead of languishing on a prison planet.” Dey answered, and turned to Rael, “If we are going to use his ship, we’ll have to dangle some incentive in front of him.”

“Aha. What is the exact nature of the contraband, Dey?” Rael asked.

“Stolen goods. More than smuggling, it seems to be a case of petty theft, as, after reviewing the facts, we have reason to believe that he stole them himself.” Rhomann said, and then added with a shrug, "It's really a few baubles, ma'am, but..."

“I get the picture, Dey. Tell him that we’ll erase those two charges from his rap sheet, if he transports Lantern Tui to Oa. If he insists, add that we'll let him go. But you and your Star Blaster will accompany him all the way to Oa, to guarantee his good behavior.”

“Aye, ma’am.” He said, although he couldn’t avoid an expression of displeasure to show on his face. Rael's expression softened when she saw that.

"Ma'am?" Katma said, "May I make use of the ship stores, the charge of the ring is very low, and, well, I didn’t have time to change from my bedclothes when I had to go on my last mission."

"Yes, of course." Rael said, and turned to her assistant, "Go with her, I have a couple things to discuss with Corpsman Dey."

"Aye, ma'am." she said, and accompanied Katma out of the office.

"Dey, I know that it's a, and pardon the expression, big load of biological waste what I'm putting on your shoulders, and checking your service file, you would have made Millenian or even Denarian long ago, if politics hadn't interfered in your career. I'll call your wife personally to explain the situation."

"Thank you, ma'am." Dey said, genuinely impressed.

"Don't thank me yet, there is another thing I want you to do, to carry a proposal to the Guardians..."

Nova Cruiser brig. Not too long afterwards​

"This is Quill? He doesn't look like much." Katma, now clad in blue fatigues similar to the ones worn by Nova Corps member out of service, said when she saw Peter Quill for the first time.

"For your information, I'm the legendary outlaw Star-Lord, wanted in twelve systems." he said making a theatrical gesture, while Rhomann rolled his eyes behind Katma.

"Sure you are." Dey said, "Look, Quill, this lady needs transportation to the planet Oa in the Milky Way galaxy."

"Aha, and what do I get in exchange?" Quill said, suddenly interested.

"We return those baubles you had on your ship to their owners, and you aren't charged with their theft." Rhomann said.

"Sure, and when my back is turned you get me for all the other charges you have against me." Quill said, “I’m not an idiot.”

Rhomann took a deep breath and then said.

"Very well, after you carry her to Oa, we let you go, but I'm going with you." He forestalled Quill's protest adding, "That's not negotiable, Quill. You have a reputation, after all."

Quill bristled for a moment before deflating visibly.

"...Okay, you win." Quill said, "I hope you haven't scratched the paint on the Milano."

"Don't worry, other than removing those things, everything is as you left it." Rhomann answered while he was opening the door, thus missing the brief smirk on Quill's face.

Nova Mothership Hangar.​

"What the hell is that?" Quill said when he saw the small ship docked on the upper side of the Milano.

"My Star Blaster, Quill." Rhomann said, "It has the communication codes so that Oa defenses wouldn't blow us from the sky. Once we leave Ms. Tui on Oa, we go our separate ways."

"And how do I return to...?" Quill started to say before snapping his fingers, "Knowhere. It's not as fast as the wormhole, but it'll shave months of the travel."

"Knowhere?" Katma asked, not having heard of that place before.

"An space station located in a Star Cluster on Intergalactic space." Rhomann said, "It sits close to a sweet spot where several Hyperlanes cross. That means that..."

"Intergalactic travel through Knowhere is faster than a direct route." Katma said, having recognized the implications immediately, "But who controls it?"

"A coalition of crime syndicates." Rhomann said, "They enforced an strict neutrality, and their combined strength is enough to give even the Kree pause."

"Yeah, you won't find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in all the known galaxies." Quill said, "Just my kind of place."

"Of course it is. Come on, let's get going." Katma said, walking intently toward the entry ramp to the Milano.

Korugar​

The orbital defenses of Korugar were being strengthened. Mass drivers and lasers adding to the particle and plasma cannons already in place. Sinestro had given the pirate attacks suffered in the last years as a reason, but the complex IFF being built on them, as well as the specially marked ammunition for the mass drivers, spoke of having another enemy in mind for them.

But life didn't stop because a tyrant had taken power. Normal people still had to go to work, although they now had to avoid the attention of the newly formed green clad units of Enforcers, always watchful of signs of disloyalty to the New Order. One such person was Doctor Soranik Natu, a young and brilliant neurosurgeon.

"Mom! Dad! I'm leaving for work!" she said, taking her luggage

"Are you sure, dear? The Enforcers are out looking for... well..."

"People still get hurt, what kind of doctor would I be if I refused to go to work because of the thugs on the streets? Even if those thugs now work for the government.." Soranik said, "Besides, you know me, I never talk about politics."

And with this she left the house, toward her aircar, parked just in front.

"I fear for her, sometimes. She is so passionate, so willful." Dgibb Natu, Soranik's father said, "So much like Katma."

"Or Arin. And look what happened to them," answered his wife, Karoll. "I never trusted Sinestro, Elders take his black soul."

TO BE CONTINUED...

---

Author Note: I took the Green Lantern mythos and shaved what it doesn't work in a cosmos where Galactus and Celestials exists, as well as compressing the timeline, and trying to remove a bit of the 'human Green Lanterns have to do everything' that seems to pervade the mythos quite a bit.

 

Chapter 2: Darkness in the mind​

Disclaimer: all characters are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: Green Lantern (comic) general spoilers, and Guardians of the Galaxy (movie) spoilers.

Author Note: I have picked elements from several incarnations of teh Green Lantern Corps. And added element of the comic version of the Nova Corps to their movie portrayal.

---

Milano space ship​

"Okay, we have just cleared the gravity well." Quill announced to his passengers, "Get ready for the hyperjump, the Milano can be a bit temperamental."

"We're already strapped down, Quill." Dey said, evidently annoyed, "Neither of us are novices on interstellar flight."

"It's the principle of the thing, Dey." Quill retorted, "If I'm gonna serve as a spaceliner..."

"More like a charter flight and those don't have announcements and demonstrations." Dey answered.

"Yes, why don't you cut the talk?" Katma added in an annoyed tone, "I have to be on Oa ASAP."

"Well, excuse me, princess!" Quill said as the ship jumped into hyperspace. "What is so important, anyway?"

"My planet's freedom." Katma said, with a tone of finality that shut Quill.

Korugar City Central Hospital​

"What do we have here?" asked Soranik to the paramedic who had accompanied the wounded man to the Hospital.

"Multiple cranial fracture, caused, according to the Enforcer present, by the patient falling and hitting his head on a rock, when he was talking to him."

"I see..." Soranik said, understanding what the paramedic was really saying, before barking a series of orders to the personnel standing by, to ready one of the operating rooms.

Before disappearing into the lift that would carry her to the floor where the operation room was located, she observed out of the corner of her eye a couple of Enforcers in the Waiting Room, waiting, no doubt, for her patient to wake up so they could continue talking to him.

'Frakking vultures.' she thought.

Xandar. Nova Prime Office.​

Having left the command of the exercise to a trusted Centurion, Nova Prime Rael had left the Cruiser at the same time as the Milano, and came back to Xandar with all haste. The official reason had been exhaustion, but the truth was that she had felt the telepathic pull that meant that the Worldmind was calling.

Once in her office, she dismissed her aide, and closed the door with her codes. Only then, the concealed door that gave access to the Worldmind chamber opened.

As she entered the chamber, she reflected that most people considered her the true ruler of the Empire, and the Worldmind was merely an instrument, while, in truth, the reverse was closest to the truth. Centuries of psychic impressions left by successive Nova Primes, as well as the influence of the Nova Force, had changed the Worldmind over the centuries in subtle, and not so subtle, ways.

Originally, the Worldmind had been an AI designed to simplify the bureaucratic quagmire that the expanding Xandarian realm was becoming, and later, modified to administrate the access to the Nova Force by the Nova Corps ships. What it was now, maybe only the mythical Source knew, but the best theories were that, ironically enough, it had become something somewhat similar to the Kree Supreme Intelligence. Whatever it was, though, only a very small number of people, the Nova Prime and the Centurions that comprised her closest advisors, one of which would eventually succeed her, knew the truth.

The room was very spartan, the only thing in it was a chair with the Nova Corps starburst on the back. She sat on it and closed her eyes, emptying her mind of all thought except the pull, and soon enough, she felt the familiar, yet very alien, presence of the Worldmind.

She then knew why the Worldmind had summoned her back. Through its connection to the Nova Force the Worldmind could sometimes glimpse the future, and the image it was projecting in her mind was enough for a deep chill to run up her spine.

In the image, Xandar had been laid waste, and the one responsible seemed to be a mustachioed red skinned humanoid clad in an unfamiliar black and yellow uniform. She needed a moment to recognize him... Sinestro, the renegade Green Lantern, who in that vision of the future seemed to have acquired a yellow power ring somewhere.

She scrutinized the image for other details. On the ground, broken and bloodied, laid the corpses of many members of the Corps clad in their familiar uniform, but mixed with them she could see people clad in a blue and gold variant, which, by how the bodies were placed, seemed to have been the last men standing.

She filed it in her mind for later appraisal, and continued to look at it for a sign of when this was supposed to happen. She didn't need to bother, as the Worldmind supplied it immediately, four, maybe five, standard years in the future.

Another image replaced the first one, blueprints, blueprints that she recognized as the ones of the next generation of the Nova armor, which would allow members of the Corps to tap into the Nova Force directly. Maybe those new armors seen in the future were a development of these? She decided to increase the funding of that project, if they could last a bit more than a second against a Lantern...

She waited to see if the Worldmind had something else to say, but she felt its presence retreating, and she was left alone with her thoughts. Measures would have to be taken to ensure the survival of Xandar and the Nova Corps.

Milano. On route to Oa.​

"The autopilot is set, we'll arrive at Oa in a few hours." Quill said, "Where is Grumpy?"

"If you are talking about Corpsman Dey, he is checking his Star Blaster." Katma said, without lifting her eyes from the holoscreen she was watching.

"Okay." Quill said and he looked at her with a smile and said, "What'cha doin', beautiful?"

"Reading about the Nova Corps." she said in an annoyed tone, "Today was the first time I have seen any of them."

"I would have thought that a Krylorian..." Quill started to say, before being interrupted by her laughter. "What?"

"I'm not Krylorian, I'm Korugaran," she said, once she had calmed down.

"Koru...what?"

"Korugaran. From Korugar, here in the Milky Way." Katma said, "And you? You look a lot like a Xandarian, but with what you said about your world, and the way you keep making references nobody is catching, you obviously aren't."

"How did you...?"

"You stop a fraction of a second after you say them, as if you expect somebody to recognize them." Katma said, and then added with a shrug, "I studied Psychology, I notice those things."

"Guilty as charged." Quill said, and sat down in front of Katma, dropping the smarmy tone, "Okay, seriously, why you don't like me? I can understand from Grumpy, Nova Corpsmen tend to be a humorless lot, but I usually get a better reaction from anybody else."

This stopped Katma in her tracks. She had taken an instant dislike to the alien, but she hadn't stopped to think why.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it with a complete stranger." she finally said, trying to evade the question until she could give it more thought, "I'll try to be less hostile in the future, though."

"...fair enough." Quill said, evenly, “So what happened to... Korugar? An evil empire conquered the planet or something?"

"Or something." Katma said, noncommitantly, "What do you know about Oa?"

"Until today, not even the name." he said, "I have barely stayed more than a day in the Milky since I was a kid. But I gather that they are like Xandar in the Andromeda Galaxy, the big guy in the neighborhood."

"Something like that." she said with a smile. 'Oh, you don't know half of it.' "They are the ones who can help my people. But enough of me, what about you? You haven't still told me anything about you."

"Well, it's not that interesting of a story. I was born on Earth, a little, primitive planet in the Milky Way."

'Didn't Abin mention that world one time?' she thought, "And how did you end up in the Andromeda galaxy?"

"Well, my mother was human, but my father was an alien. After her death, the Ravagers came to collect me at the behest of my father, but Yondu, their leader, took a liking to me, and I became their mascot..."

He told Katma about his adventures with the Ravagers, and later solo. Katma had to recognize that Quill, or Star-Lord, as he apparently liked to be called, was a gifted storyteller, although she doubted that any of those stories happened as he was telling them, or at all.

"Why don't you tell her about the Gramosian affair?" Rhomann said having approached them without them noticing, engrossed as they were in an improbable tale involving a Skrull princess, a Kree assassin and a member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard.

"The what?"

"It's on his rap sheet. The Gramosians have an order on him for 'Illegal handling of a Gramosian duchess', whatever that means."

“You know how Gramosians are with their nobility. You can’t even touch them if you are a commoner without their permission.” Quill said.

“Knowing your reputation, I doubt that you limited yourself to ‘touch her’”

“Hey, how could I know that the girl that practically threw herself at me was a Duchess?”

“Really.” Katma said skeptical.

“Yes, really." Quill said, then turned to Dey, "Come on, man, didn't something like that happened last time your people sent people there?"

"Well, yeah, but the person involved had enough common sense to keep it in his breeches."

Planet Oa​

"How are things going, old friend?" The purple skinned humanoid saluted his colleague and older surviving friend. He seemed more morose than usual. "What has brought you to Oa?"

"Tolerable, Abin." the avian alien said with a sigh, "And two things brought me here. The first was something that I found in a ship that had launched a distress call."

"What happened, Tomar?" Abin Sur, Green Lantern of sector 2814, asked, wondering if it was related to his own reason to come.

"They had found something in a derelict, and it had... infected, for lack of a better word, a good part of the crew, starting to transform them into some kind of insectoid creature." Tomar-Re, Green Lantern of Sector 2813, answered.

"What did you...?" Abin started to ask, fearing what measures his old friend had to take to deal with the infection.

"I put the uninfected survivors in quarantine on one of Oa's moons, watched by Chaselon." Tomar said, dispelling his fear, "I'm not a rookie, you know."

Abin nodded, Chaselon was a silicon based lifeform, which made her immune to infection by anything organic.

"And the infected ones?" Abin asked

"I brought them to Oa in stasis, to see if they can be saved." he said, "The Science Director doesn't have much hope of that."

"May the Spirits be merciful." Abin said.

"Let's hope so." Tomar said, before sinking again in a morose silence.

"You mentioned two things, and the second?" Abin said, trying to get Tomar from thinking on whatever he was thinking.

"My perennial request to the Guardians. They denied it again." he said, without looking back at Abin.

"Tomar, if the Guardians haven't deemed it important to investigate that planet explosion in the last 25 years, I doubt they'll change their mind now." Abin said, repressing the impulse of facepalming. He knew that Tomar-Re meant well, but his obsession with the destruction of that planet was becoming a bit tiresome.

"I know, I know, Abin. But those traces of femtotech in the planet's remains worry me still. It could have been native research, as the Science Director says, but femtotech would be one of the few reliable ways to... well, to initiate a reaction that would make a planet explode without leaving traces that even F Sharp could see." Tomar-Re answered, referring to the blind Lantern of a completely dark sector of the Galaxy, and then looked at the Central Battery, and looked down, "I... I think that the Guardians are right on one thing about this, though. I should give it a rest, I'm becoming obsessed with it."

Abin pursed his lips. On one hand, he agreed with the Guardians about Tomar's interest becoming a bit obsessive; on the other, he also agreed that there was something fishy about that data. Unfortunately no one in the Green Lantern Corps had the expertise to look at it. Tomar continued, not noticing the change in his friend's expression.

"Maybe that way I can look at it with a fresher perspective later." he said.

"Actually, Tomar, that..." Abin Sur started to say, when a signal from his ring stopped him cold, "There is an unidentified spaceship approaching Oa in hyperspace. Ganthet is signaling all Lanterns to intercept."

They took off, soon joined by a smattering of trainees, Honor Guard Lanterns, including good old Kilowog, and a Guardian, Ganthet, who always seemed to be charged with this sort of stuff.

'I'm here mostly as an observer, Lantern Sur.' Ganthet said telepathically to them, 'Keep going as if I wasn't here.'

Abin sent a mental nod to Ganthet and, as the most senior lantern present, he started to order them into position in case it would be necessary to shoot down the ship, even if the pilot ignored all safety and exited hyper just on the edge of the gravity well.

Which it did. And he sighed in relief when it started to transmit valid Xandarian codes immediately... and not only that. The ring informed him, just as an emerald light shot up from the ship and a voice he knew well started to speak.

"Green Lantern Katma Tui reporting." she said, with an accent that brought a nostalgic smile to his face, a smile that was erased as Katma said her next words, "I have grave news regarding Sinestro."

"What happened to him?" Abin said, fearing what could have happened to his old friend and brother-in-law.

"More than what has happened to him, what he has done. He sent me in a graxer chase to Mindala, and when I was out he murdered the government and put himself as ruler of Korugar." she said in a matter-of-fact, no-nonsense tone that made it difficult to doubt her, "When I came back with my charge almost depleted, and I refused to join him, he somehow blocked my access to my battery and sent me through a wormhole to sector 2805. If I hadn't managed to put myself in stasis for long enough for a beacon to attract the attention of a Xandarian ship, I wouldn't be here."

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

Chapter 3: Hope in the Heart​

Disclaimer: all characters are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: Green Lantern (comic) general spoilers, and Guardians of the Galaxy (movie) spoilers.

Author Note: I have picked elements from several incarnations of teh Green Lantern Corps. And added element of the comic version of the Nova Corps to their movie portrayal.

A.N. 2: You'll probably had noted that this chapter is a bit shorter than the others. I had to cut a entire section at the last moment because it did fit better much later in the story.

I wish to thank Jediknight and TimeVortex for betaing this.

---

Oa Spaceport.​

"In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night,
no evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might
beware Green Lantern's light." Katma recited as she charged her ring on a spare power battery that Ganthet had summoned.

"Lantern Tui, the news that you bring is worrying." Ganthet said, "You must bring your testimony before the rest of the Guardians." He then turned and signalled Katma to come with him.

They floated toward Rhomann, who was waiting beside the Milano accompanied by Quill, at a reasonable distance of the group of Lanterns.

"Corpsman Dey, can you come with Lantern Tui when we summon her?" he said, lowering himself to the ground, "I think that we also need to hear what you have to say."

"Yes, sir." Rhomann said.

"Good, and some advice, young man, don't let my colleagues intimidate you. Some of them can be a bit... overzealous." Ganthet said, looking Rhomann directly at the eyes, before smiling a grandfatherly smile, "Good." He then turned to face Quill, "Hmmm, interesting. I have heard of you, Star-Lord, isn't it?"

"Ah, good or, ah, bad things, ah, sir?"

"That's a good question, isn't it?" Ganthet said, "Most of my colleagues wouldn't look beyond your rap sheet, though, so I'd advise you to stay here close to your ship, and not try to take off, without a valid ID code you would be shot down before you could leave the atmosphere." he then started to float away, "I'm going to convene the other Guardians, I'll summon both of you as soon as everything is ready."

When Ganthet was at a safe ditance, Quill turned to Katma and Rhomann.

"Why didn't you tell me that Oa was Green Lantern Central?" he asked Dey, and then he turned to Katma, "Or that you were a Green Lantern?"

"You didn't ask!" they both said at the same time.

"Yeah, sure. When I saw them..." he pointed to the rapidly shrinking group of Lanterns, as they went to resume what they were doing when the alert sounded, "...I almost...well, I was sure we were a goner, and then you had to change and...whatever you did to get out."

"I needed to report, and charge the ring," she said. "It's a lot to swallow, I know, but, well..." she then looked over her shoulder and said, puzzled to see Abin coming toward them. "Yes, Abin?"

"I want to talk with Mister Quill, if it's not a problem." Abin said.

"You would have to ask him..." Katma started to say, before she looked toward the Great Battery, and the Audience Chamber located underneath, and remarked, surprised,, "That was quick." she then turned toward Dey and said, "We have been summoned, come on."

Without waiting for an answer, she enveloped Dey in a bubble of emerald power and flew, with her charge straight toward her destiny.

"A remarkable woman, I can see why the ring chose her." Abin said, following the emerald trail the other Lantern left.

Audience Chamber​

Katma and Rhomann walked to the center of the stage, while a few Guardians were huddled together talking between themselves in voices low enough that they couldn't be heard from the floor, way down below. They stopped talking and went back to their places, facing the new arrivals. One of them floated toward the podium, emblazoned with the Green Lantern symbol, that was facing the circle in the center of the chamber.

"Wonderful, Appa Ali Apsa is presiding, I had hoped for Ganthet or Sayd." Katma whispered, with a grimace, and then explained, "He is a bit of a dick, while Ganthet and Sayd tend to be more reasonable."

The Guardian looked down, as they occupied their place in the circle and said.

"Green Lantern 1147.2 Katma Tui. It has reached our ears that you have some serious accusations against your partner, Thaal Sinestro. This assembly has been convened to hear those accusations, and verify them." he said, and then added, looking Katma straight on the eyes, "You may start."

Haltingly in the beginning, but gaining strength as she continued her tale, Katma told the Guardians, how she had been summoned by Sinestro in the midst of the night and told to go to the primitive world of Mindala, to foil a Kronan raid, while Sinestro dealt with a crisis closer to home. There was no sign of the Kronans anywhere close to Mindala, and she looked for quite a long time. And when she returned home, she found that Sinestro had seized power of the planet. She then told them of the confrontation in the Korugar Government Palace and how Sinestro had managed to block her access to her battery.

"If I may interrupt," Ganthet said, looking at the Science Director, "I thought that there was no way to block the access of our Lanterns to their power batteries outside Oa."

The Science Director didn't answered immediately, addressing Katma instead.

"Lantern Tui, was Thaal Sinestro one of your instructors after you were chosen by the ring?"

"Aye, ma'am."

"Are you aware that Instructors are given special codes to block their trainees access to the power batteries for security reasons?" the Director said.

"Yes, but those codes are removed once the training ends, and anyway they are supposed to also restrict the ring wielder to Oa." Katma said, remembering Kilowog's profanity-laden, but strangely poetic, tirade, explaining the rules that all rookies were subject to during their training. "Or at least that was what I understood."

"You understood correctly." Appa Ali Apsa said, matter of factly, and moved a hand removing the ring from Katma's hand, "We need to examine your ring."

'I start to see why they have such a reputation.' Rhomann thought. 'Both good and bad.'

The ring floated before the Guardians, blinking at odd intervals while they made several gestures, faint traces of power arcing from it. Then, as suddenly as it had departed, it returned to Katma's finger.

"Our theory is confirmed. Somehow, Sinestro had managed to reinstate the trainee security codes into your power battery," the Director said, her face just showing a hint of curiosity, "We need to revise the security parameters of the power batteries, so this can't be done again."

"Indeed. Now, regarding the other actions of Thaal Sinestro..."

Korugar City Central Hospital​

"When will he be able to answer questions?" asked the Enforcer.

"It depends of how forceful you are on obtaining answers." Soranik Natu said.

"What do you mean with that?" the Enforcer said, looming threateningly over her.

"I mean, Mister Enforcer, that he is still very weak. Stress alone could kill him now." she said, looking at the Enforcer in his eyes, not budging an inch from her stance. "And then you wouldn't get the information you are looking for."

The man looked furious, opening and closing his hands as if he was about to assault her, but he took a deep breath, closed his hands, and said in a flat tone.

"I will be back tomorrow, and every day until he is in condition to answer, Doctor Natu." and he turned about and left.

Just as he disppeared from sight, Natu let herself fall on a nearby chair with a heavy sigh.

"For a moment I thought he was going to hit you," a nurse said.

"Yeah, I thought that I had gone too far with that remark." she said, "But you have to make a stand sometimes."

Meanwhile, outside the building, the Enforcer used his communicator to report to his superior about the news.

"...and we can't shake that fucking bitch a bit?" he said, his tone showing all the anger he had repressed before.

"No, sorry, she is off-limits, orders from the top." said the calmer voice of his boss.

"How far up on the top?" he asked.

"From what I have heard, from the man himself." his boss answered, "And better don't ask why, because I have seen a man sent to the Pit just for trying to find some dirt on her."

Oa Spaceport. Close to the Milano.​

"...I never knew that the guy was real." Star-Lord said. "I mean, I read comics about him, but... I thought it was fiction, not like Captain America. And if the comics had some truth in it, his ring was magic, not...well, technology so advanced that it looks like magic."

"Thanks anyway. I haven't been able to return to Earth since then..." he trailed off. "Sorry, kid. It seems that the Guardians have a job for me."

He had barely flown off when Katma brought Rhoman back.

"How much for carrying me to Korugar?" she said, without preamble.

"Whoa... wait a moment, can you at least give me the background on this?"

"We have a plan, and it requires me being there, unnoticed." she said.

"And I imagine that he will come too." Quill said pointing to Dey.

"Nope, I'm going back to the wormhole," Rhomann said, with a smirk.

"Hmmm...We'll discuss it later, but I want to know how are you going to fool security."

"Easily." she said, closing her eyes. Before his eyes, she changed, her skintone taking a more purplish tone, her facial features changing and her hair lenghtening, and her body became more toned and athletic. When she spoke, her voice had changed too, becoming lower and smokier, "Meet Janshe Parr, from Ungara, your new partner. I have the paperwork to show it, even."

"How?" he asked, when he managed to find his voice.

"The ring. It only works for a limited time and consumes charge like you wouldn't believe, though." she said, before returning to normal. "Well, how much?"

"Are the Guardians footing the bill?" Quill said, with glint in his eyes

"Of course, but don't be too greedy." admonished Katma, guessing what he was thinking about, "Remember that the Guardians can always say no."

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Chapter Four: Visitors at home​

Disclaimer: all characters are property of their respective owners.

Spoilers: Green Lantern (comic) general spoilers, and Guardians of the Galaxy (movie) spoilers.

Author Note: I have picked elements from several incarnations of the Green Lantern Corps. And added element of the comic version of the Nova Corps to their movie portrayal.

---

Korugar City. Natu residence.​

Soranik parked her aircar in front of her parent's house. She just had finished a double shift, and the Enforcer pestering her about the patient he had brought hadn't helped. Right now, she wished for nothing more than a hot bath, a hot homemade meal and lie on her bed for a while.

She was about to start going toward the door, when she saw that her parents aircar was missing. She looked around, but she couldn't see it parked anywhere on the street, and then she noticed that there was something on the door.

As she ran toward the door, that something revealed itself to be a sheet of celulite, pasted to the door with an adhesive strip. When she arrived she saw that her mother, she would recognized her writing anywhere, had written "Call us." on it. Moved by a sudden feeling of dread, she checked her persocom and there it was, a voice message from her mother.

'Sora, uncle Vorten had an accident, and we'll stay with him all week. Kisses, mom.'

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard it, as her imagination had already been going wild with the wors case scenario. She had opened the door and started to key her mother's persocom code, when she heard something moving in the house. As silently as she could she went for the gun that her father kept in the house, but she forgot all about it when she caught a glimpse of her visitor.

"Vilne?" she said, recognizing her old buddy from Korugar's Central University, and then as he stepped vacilantly into the light of the main room, and saw his wounds, she added, running toward him, "You are hurt!"

"Always Captain obvious, aren't you?" he quipped feebly, holding his right hand against his side, where purple blood was seeping out between his fingers, before he fell down unconscious.

She didn't want to think about what had happened, although she could guess, given his involvement with the reform movement. She took the first aid kit and the medical case she kept in her room and started to work on him, hoping to save his life.

Korugar City. Government Palace. Audience Hall.​

"...our moles in the Reform Movement have informed us that there has been a tussle between the hardliners and the moderates." the Head of the Enforcers, who had actually held similar positions, though disguised with titles as Social Investigation Brigade or State Security Directorate, for several of the prevous governments, droned on.

"I wouldn't call a shootout with several deaths a 'tussle'." Sinestro said, deadpan.

"Three deaths, and two more on intensive care." the Head Enfporcer said with a shrug, "Quite light, given how heated the discussion was before the shots started."

"And how much of that heat was the work of your moles?" Sinestro asked.

"The hardliners didn't need any aditional prompting, actually." the Head Enforcer said with a smirk, "Most of the work had been done before the last elections and the surprise victory of the Reformists, despite the... corrective measures applied to the counting of the votes."

"I always wondered how the reformists could win, despite all the rigging your office usually did." Sinestro said, fixing a baleful glaze of the Head Enforcer, "It seems you underestimated how tired the people were of the crap going on."

"I thought..." he started to say, rattled by the dismissive tone in the voice of his new boss.

"That I supported the old regime? Ha." he said, with a snort, "Your people have given me a lot of crap over the years. All those insinuations, carefully denied leaks, and outright lies about me? I remember all of them." He said with an humorless smile, "Frankly, if I didn't need you and some of your fellow paperpushers, you would be joining the corpses in the square. But don't get any ideas, you serve at my pleasure."

"What do you mean?" the Head Enforcer asked, though he had his suspicions.

"I may be trying to set up a functional government so I don't have to do everything myself, but in the end, I'm the man with the Power Ring." he said with a smirk at the same time that as if to emphasize what he had just said, the ring glowed for a moment as he said this. "And about those... what will we call them?"

"I think that 'violent extremists' have a nice ring to it, sir." the Head Enforcer answered, back in a more familiar place.

"More creative than 'dangerous radicals', at least." Sinestro commented, reminding him of a past fiasco, "You should give them enough rope to hang themselves. Keep harping in their connection with the moderates, so they'll be discredited together, as well as providing a tangible enemy to rally the sheep."

"Indeed, sir." he answered, in a tone that said, 'Don't tell me how to do my job.'

Sinestro didn't answered, instead smirking at the minister discomfiture. He then realized something, looking at the chronometer in the wall.

"The pirates are about to arrive to the system, aren't they?." Sinestro said, conversationally, "Those idiots and their idea of inviting them for 'peace talks'"

"If I remember correctly the terms of their invitation, they should be arriving to the outer system in three milicycles... if they are punctual, which given that we are dealing with pirates is not a given."

"Yes, indeed. I need to go a prepare the welcome they deserve." Sinestro said, starting to float in the air, "Don't let the planet be destroyed while I'm away."

He flew away, idly noticing a quite streamlined ship docked on the orbital complex before he opened a wormhole to the outer fringes of the system. An smuggler, excuse me, an "independent freight hauler", probably. He mentally shrugged, that was work for Customs, and he had pirates to teach a lesson. A pity that most won't survive the experience, Arin's killers deserved a more personal touch, but you can't have everything.

Milano. Docking on Korugar orbital spaceport.​

After a perfunctory examination of the cargo bay, the officer of the Custom Service left after approving the Milano for landing into Korugar City proper.

"And now, what?" Peter asked, as they sat on the cockpit, ready to undock and start to decelerate to land on the planet.

"I have some contacts. I hope they'll be enough." Katma said, reverting to her true appearance, "In fact..." she started to add, before she gasped, looking at something from the window.

"What the...?" started to say Peter as a figure enveloped by a bright green aura, passed close and disappeared in a wormhole vortex.

"He is going somewhere else, thanks the Spirits." Katma said, sighing in relief, "When I saw the green coming, I thought he had detected me."

"That was Sinestro, right? Your mentor fallen to the Dark Side?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, and I presume that was another Earth's pop culture reference."

"Yep." Peter said glibly, "So, you were saying about what we were going to do?"

"I said that I have some contacts, and that I hope they'll be enough." Katma repeated, sighing before adding, "Frankly, I'm playing it by ear here. Nothing of what we are going to do will matter, if Abin and the others don't do their own part of the plan."

"Which is? You never got around to explain it." Peter asked.

"I'll tell you when the time is right." Katma said.

"And how will you know that the time is right?"

"Believe me, it's going to be pretty noticeable." Katma answered.

Somewhere in the Milky Way​

"Why are we here, in the middle of nowhere?" asked one of the three members of the Nova Corps squad that had been assigned to this mission.

"Because the Green Lanterns wanted to meet here, Jesal." answered Garthan Saal, leader of the squad, "And before you ask, no, I don't know why."

"Maybe..." Rhomann, the final member of the squad started to say, but he was interrupted by the arrival of three lanterns... and a Guardian, who promptly opened communications with everybody.

"Denarians Saal, Dey and Jesal. I'm Ganthet from Oa, one of the Guardians." said the diminutive blue alien, "As we are a bit pressed for time, I'll go direct to the point. We're here to talk with the Controllers."

"Controllers?" Rhomann asked.

"An offshoot of my people. We have had our differences in the past, but I hope that they'll recognize that Sinestro is a threat."

"Do they live here, in the middle of nowhere?" Rhomann asked, incredulity evident in his voice.

"No, they retreated... Ah, they sent a representative."

In a flash, a red skinned bald male humanoid, with two black lines over the left side of his head and wearing a red and white armor with a black starburst emblazoned in the chest.

"I'm Ferrin Colos of the Darkstars Corps." he said, observing them with suspicion, specially Ganthet, "You are not welcome here, Guardian, Green Lanterns and... uhmmm, whoever you are."

"Nova Corps, from the Xandarian Empire." Rhomann supplied.

"Interesting, I can see the Controllers handiwork in your suit, Colos." Ganthet said, examining Colos with a critical eye, "It draws energy from the Darkforce, isn't it?"

"I think so, I'm not a scientist. But, seriously, leave before..."

"Don't worry, I was only going to ask your bosses if they could help us to deal with a renegade Green Lantern on Sector 1417."

Colos paused for a moment, moving his head as if he was talking mentally with somebody.

As if by magic, a tall being, bald and with dark pink skin appeared, his white eyes focusing on Ganthet. They looked to each other for a few seconds, before the being turned to look to Colos and nodded, before vanishing as suddenly as it had appeared. Colos looked a bit like an stunned ox before shaking his head and starting to speak.

"Very well, I'm going with you, together with a couple other corpsmen, Chaser and Merayn,to deal with this threat." Colos finally said, "He is the Lantern of sector 1417, you said?"

"Yes." Abin said, and pursed his lips before continuing, "His name is Thaal Sinestro and he is based on planet Korugar."

TO BE CONTINUED...