by CSyphrett
The bar was a cacophony of alien dialects and the clinking of glasses when he entered, the storm outside casting a gloomy pallor over the dimly lit establishment. Rainwater cascaded off his long green coat, pooling on the worn wooden floor. Water dripped from the brim of his hat, a deep emerald that matched his attire, shielding his eyes and giving him an air of mystery.
“Where can I find Nebula Jav Gozar?” he inquired, his voice steady, betraying no hint of the urgency that brought him.
A squat Golbinda, with skin like the bark of an ancient tree, eyed him suspiciously. “Who’s asking?” he retorted, recognizing the lanky figure in green as a Flarain, a pale-skinned species known for its relentlessness.
“The law,” the Flarain declared, revealing the emblem of the Green Lantern Corps displayed like a badge of honor on the collar of his coat.
“It’s a Slinger!” shouted someone in the back, using the shortened form of one of the Corps’ more colorful nicknames: Ring-Slingers.
“Get ‘im!” shouted another.
Panic ensued. The patrons, a motley crew of intergalactic scum and villainy, unleashed a barrage of weaponry, lighting up the bar with deadly intent. After a few moments, the onslaught subsided.
“That’ll show him,” the Golbinda sneered, spitting a viscous substance onto the feccrete-lined floor, confident of their victory.
“Completely annihilated,” a Coluan agreed, nodding toward the smoldering ruin they presumed was their victim.
Then, from behind the bar, the Flarain arose unharmed, startling the gunmen. “Let’s try this again, with a bit more vigor,” he suggested, his tone deceptively calm.
A surge of green energy erupted, coalescing into a huge, ferocious reptile that roared through the establishment. The assailants were flung about like ragdolls in a tempest, and the front wall crumbled under the might of the Lantern’s power.
“Where is Gozar?” he asked as soon as the dust settled, his demeanor as serene as the eye of a storm.
“W-we don’t know,” the Golbinda stammered, fear replacing bravado. “He just raised plasma this morning and took off.”
“You wouldn’t lie to me, now would you?” the Lantern probed, a hint of warning threading his words as he adjusted the brim of his hat.
“I swear!” the Golbinda exclaimed, hands raised in a gesture of surrender.
“Tell him I’m looking for him,” the Lantern said before disappearing in a brilliant flash, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.
“I hope we never see his kind again,” the Golbinda muttered to the now-empty room.
***
Elsewhere, Nebula Jav Gozar himself was in his element, orchestrating a heist with the precision of a maestro. The best thing about it was that there wasn’t a Green Lantern or a Manhunter ship within spitting distance.
The merchant vessel stood no chance, its bridge compromised by a volley of cannon fire. Magnetic clamps secured the breach, and Gozar’s crew swarmed aboard, dispatching any resistance with ruthless efficiency. The cargo was theirs within minutes, and the crippled ship was abandoned to the void, a silent testament to the raider’s skill.
The raid was over as quickly as it had begun, but the repercussions of Gozar’s actions would ripple across the galaxy, for a Green Lantern’s pursuit was relentless, and justice inevitable.
***
Noleon Fae’s passage across the stars was silent, a mere whisper of movement in the void of space. His green mask, a symbol of the organization he served, obscured his expression, but his eyes were a tempest of resolve and regret as the ring on his right middle finger pulsed with a distress call that had come too late.
The Flarain shifted his trajectory slightly, riding the ethereal form of a reptilian construct, a creature of power from his homeworld. His heart held little hope of aiding those aboard the distressed vessel; Gozar’s raids were swift and merciless. Yet, perhaps there was a clue to be gleaned, a trail to follow.
As Fae entered the system, his ring scanned for signs of life. His keen gaze fell upon the ravaged ship, its hull a gaping wound in the fabric of the cosmos. A weak pulse was the only sign of life that could be found in the silence of the void, the first and only survivor of the pirate’s raids as far as he knew.
Phasing through the hull with a surge of emerald energy, Fae emerged within the ship’s corridor. His coat billowed, and his tail flicked with a predator’s precision. He advanced toward the beacon’s origin, each step measured and silent.
In the wreckage of the engine room, amidst the debris of a catastrophic salvo, a humanoid figure cowered, clad in a hastily donned suit. The survivor’s eyes met Fae’s, a mixture of fear and relief within their depths.
Fae’s voice was gentle, yet it carried the weight of authority. “What transpired here?” he inquired, though the scene before him spoke volumes.
“We were attacked as we left the system,” the survivor recounted, voice steady despite the chaos that had unfolded. “The pirates tore through the hull, boarding with no quarter given. Our crew were all pacifists… and they were still wiped out to the man. I hid in a storage bay, and when silence fell, I activated the emergency beacon for help.”
Fae nodded, absorbing the tale of woe. “Rest now — you’re safe,” he assured the survivor. “Justice will be sought for those lost today.”
As the survivor slumped against the wall, exhaustion taking its toll, Fae turned his gaze to the stars. Somewhere out there, Gozar continued his reign of terror, but Fae knew that the pursuit of justice was as relentless as the march of time itself. The Green Lantern would not rest until balance was restored. “We’ll see about getting you to your port,” he said, his voice a comforting baritone that seemed to resonate with the power of his ring as he used it to vanish through the hull.
The Green Lantern took up a station at the bow of the cargo hauler, and then, with a mere thought, he conjured a majestic winged beast from the emerald energy of his ring. Nine of its ten tentacles, each pulsing with otherworldly strength, secured the battered vessel. The last tendril tenderly encircled Fae himself. With a powerful flap of its wings, the creature set forth, towing the hauler back to the heart of the system from whence it came. Fae left behind a marker in the form of a stone monolith, ensuring that he could find his way back to this spot.
Upon reaching the spaceport of Wiatearp, Fae’s presence commanded attention, yet his demeanor remained humble as he helped the lone survivor safely out of the damaged craft, then assisted him in navigating the bureaucratic maze to file a report with the local authorities. Duty fulfilled, he cast his gaze upward, the stars calling him back to his quest.
After another flight through space, Fae returned to the marker, a sense of unease gnawing at him. A clue had eluded his grasp, a piece of the puzzle that remained obscured. Resolute, he scanned the vicinity with his ring, its light cutting through the darkness of space.
The ring responded, a faint trail emerging from the cosmic tapestry, distinct from the myriad paths left by the comings and goings of interstellar traffic. With newfound determination, Fae sprouted wings of pure energy, propelling him forward in pursuit of the elusive marauders.
The nagging thought persisted, a whisper in the back of his mind, but Fae knew that clarity would come. For now, he focused on the mission at hand, the pursuit of justice fueling his flight across the galaxy.
***
Nebula Jav Gozar’s grin stretched wide, a sinister arc across his rugged face. His ears, small buttons perched upon either side of his head, twitched with anticipation. Another vessel had wandered into his domain, ripe for the plundering. It was a gamble, but the promise of spoils was worth the risk.
He aligned the Wagon with predatory precision, the cannons of his vessel humming to life with a menacing whine. The merchant ship, oblivious to its impending doom, continued on its path — until the Wagon descended upon it like a raptor upon its prey. Salvos erupted, piercing the hull before the merchant could muster its shields. Gozar’s crew, a band of ruthless marauders, attached the boarding chute and swarmed aboard to claim their prize.
***
Noleon Fae’s brow furrowed, a shadow of concern etching his features beneath the emerald mask. The cosmos sprawled before him, planets dotting the expanse like jewels on velvet, and a nebula, a swirl of yellow mist, loomed ominously. Gozar was cunning; he wouldn’t dare the nebula’s treacherous embrace without cause. Which celestial body, then, harbored the fiend?
A distress signal, a cry in the dark, set Fae’s ring ablaze with urgency. He veered toward the source, his heart heavy with foreboding. The merchant vessel floated, a ghost ship, its crew lost to the void through a large breach in the hull. Fae’s resolve hardened; he would not let their deaths be in vain.
Generating a Corinthian necro-hound with his power ring, Fae set the spectral beast upon the trail of life. It wasn’t long before a quivering soul was found, cowering in the remnants of a closet. Fae’s approach was gentle, his lobster-claw construct easing the door aside. The survivor’s shriek pierced the silence, a raw sound of terror.
“Peace, friend,” Fae soothed, his voice a balm. “You’re safe now. Tell me what happened.”
The survivor’s tale spilled forth, a mirror of past horrors. Gozar’s signature was unmistakable — the swift strike, the merciless boarding, the silence that followed. Fae listened, his ring capturing every word, every nuance. It was a story he knew all too well, yet each retelling steeled his resolve anew.
As the survivor’s breaths steadied, Fae’s thoughts turned outward. The chase was far from over.
***
In the bustling spaceport of Wiatearp, Noleon Fae stood amidst the throng, a silent guardian cloaked in the emerald light of his power ring. The shattered ship he had towed lay like a wounded beast behind him, its hull a testament to the savagery of space. Curiosity ignited within him. Just how many survivors did a deadly pirate usually leave in his wake?
With a thought, Fae dispatched a squadron of luminescent moths, constructs of his ring, to delve into the archives of the civilized worlds. Somewhere, amid the vast records, lay the answers he sought. He waited patiently as the moths flitted away on their digital quest.
The moths eventually returned, their wings aglow with data. Fae perused the notes on a square holographic screen, his eyes narrowing as he discerned a certain pattern. Gozar always left behind a single survivor from each of his attacks, a witness who could tell the tale and ultimately lay claim to the wreckage upon being rescued by other ships or law enforcement.
Fae’s lips twitched in a wry smile as he checked on the whereabouts of the latest victim, who was still within the port as he waited impatiently for his papers to be processed. Got over his fear quick, didn’t he? noted the Flarain.
Becoming invisible to the naked eye, Fae took to the air and soared over the city, his form undetectable as he watched the survivor at the Hall of Records. The man filed his claim with a practiced ease, he observed, accepting a check for the wreckage Fae had salvaged. There was no proof that the man was in league with the pirates, yet the coincidence piqued Fae’s interest, and he waited quietly for his prey to continue as if his plan had gone as expected.
The Flarain’s vigil continued, a silent shadow trailing the survivor as the man toured the planet’s dens of vice. Each establishment — a bar, a brothel, a massage parlor, a drug den — promised to offer an escape from the world, but they would have also left his prey unhinged from reality. That would not do, since Fae needed answers.
Instead, the Green Lantern employed a quick but surreptitious use of his power ring to temporarily block all the pleasure receptors that made those houses of ill repute so alluring to the man.
Frustration quickly etched the humanoid’s features as he repeatedly tried and failed to give in to his indulgences. Finally, he gave up in disgust and went on to his next objective, which was sending a signal through a planetary radio network. A smile, sharp and knowing, creased Fae’s lean face.
“Bingo,” he muttered under his breath.
The signal was a beacon, and Fae, ever the hunter, readied himself. The game was afoot, and the Green Lantern would not be deterred. Justice would be served, and Nebula Jav Gozar’s reign of terror would end. All that was left now was to calmly await further developments to unfold.
***
As a shuttle descended through the atmosphere, the survivor’s silhouette was stark against the backdrop of the bustling spaceport. The craft’s engines hummed a low dirge as it touched down, and without hesitation, the survivor stepped aboard. The shuttle ascended, piercing the heavens once more, and Noleon Fae, unseen by all, followed in its wake.
The power ring on Fae’s finger pulsed with a silent warning — the shuttle bristled with armaments, an arsenal that belied its civilian guise. With a swift grace that defied the vastness of space, Fae trailed the shuttle as it docked with a larger vessel, a behemoth that set a course for the heart of the yellow nebula.
Together, ship and Green Lantern plunged into the nebulous mire, a dance of predator and prey amidst the cosmic fog. Fae counted on the nebula acting like a shroud, scrambling dedicated sensor arrays and thus obscuring friend and foe alike.
In the midst of the cloud, a clearing emerged, a sanctuary in the storm. Fae hesitated, as his power ring was unable to pierce the nebula’s veil. Still, he was undeterred, and rendered himself as invisible to as many different detectors as he could, before plunging out of the cloud.
His gambit apparently proved successful, as before him floated a satellite, a lone sentinel in the void. It looked to be an ideal haven for outlaws, a fortress spacious enough to harbor a fleet of pirate ships.
But there was a problem. The satellite’s surface gleamed a bright yellow under the nebula’s eerie glow, a beacon of ill omen. The pirates had chosen the color intentionally, knowing that a Green Lantern’s power ring could not directly work against the color yellow. Still, it wasn’t much of a barrier for any Green Lantern truly worth his salt.
As Fae approached the surface of the satellite, where he was certain he would be unseen, he encased himself in a construct of a fish with a transparent skull. Thus shielded, he directed his strange aquatic guardian to a service airlock, a portal into the heart of the enemy’s lair.
With a thought, Fae diminished his stature, shrinking himself small enough to easily slip through the airlock’s threshold. With a simple whispered comment to his ring, the Flarain was guided through the bowels of the pirate satellite to the main control center. Locating a stairwell, he headed down with silent steps.
The weed of piracy bears bitter fruit, Fae mused, his thoughts a quiet echo in the chamber of his mind.
Invisible still, he floated into the control center, a wraith in the machine. From his vantage point near the ceiling, he surveyed the room, his gaze sharp and calculating. The crew below bustled about, ignorant of the threat that hung above them. A smile, slight and sardonic, graced Fae’s lips. The stage was set, the players unaware, and the Green Lantern, a silent arbiter, watched and waited for his moment to strike.