Legends of the Green Lantern Corps Special:Vidar#1

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Legends of the Green Lantern Corps Special: Vidar #1
Secret Cargo

Written by Scott D. L. Kruger
Edited by Daniel Dyer

Though this planet’s not my own, I’ve felt compelled to stay, for the sake of my wife and son. It’s been an odd adjustment, after growing up on Titan. It’s become much more hospitable in recent centuries due to the invention of climate control. It also helps that it’s people stopped killing each other over trivial things, such as land and religious beliefs.

In fact, it was apparent, until recently, that as Green Lantern of sector 2814, my services were rarely, if ever, required. Before, there were rare occasions where I had to use my power ring to stop robberies and random acts of violence. Unfortunately, even with advances in modern technology, poverty and ‘human’ nature still remain. Greed’s always been a driving factor… But recently this system of planets and others, in my sector specifically, have seen a rise in crime.

Not so much here on Earth, but Titan… Orando, other colony worlds.

Earth.

Since the early days, the birth of what we consider modern civilization, the name Green Lantern has become synonymous with the word hero. In those earlier times Earth needed heroes and, indeed, had several Green Lanterns to look after her. Names recorded in the annals of the Book of OA. Jordan, Scott, Hayden, Rayner… all Green Lantern’s of Earth. All born here. A feat unheard of before or after that period in time. Four deemed worthy of bearing a ring of power, all within a generation or two, all from the same continent of this planet. This one in fact.

Maybe that’s why I’ve followed my wife to the planet of her birth, to be on a planet that has nurtured many of us. Maybe one day, a thousand years from now my name will be found in the Book, among the other legends.

From the journal of Vidar, Green Lantern 2814 May 2992

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Titan airspace, Sector 2814.

Space pirates… the scourge of the United Planets. Rarely are they ever seen this close to Earth… Earthgov has actually cracked the whip on these guys. 25 to life on their first offense, that’s if they’re caught. The Science Police have a strict ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ policy ever since the raid of ’89. Those pirates weren’t smuggling goods… they were dealing in slaves. Earthgov figures, civilians are better off dead than stuck as a Khund slave, or worse at the hands of the Durlan’s.

That’s when the Guardians got involved and ordered me to keep an eye on the space lanes. Since I started, I taken out a few slaving cartels and rescued thousands of slaves.

These Frakkers aren’t that bad though. Stealing food supplies from cargo ships. Who knows where they were hauling them? Tons of settlements on the Dominion frontier that pay top dollar for goods. Elia itself pays triple the going rate for Earth food alone. Damned Dominators acquired a real taste for it when they attempted an invasion long before the formation of Earthgov. Hell, rumor has it the Dominion has had sleeper agents on Earth for well over a thousand years.

I approach the freighter carefully from below and use my ring to slice a nice hole through their hull in the cargo compartment. I seal it quick with the ring. So fast, I’m on board before they even determine what hit them. Old freighter… Daxamite, by the look of it, no external cams or sensors. If I’m lucky, it would have been stolen from Daxam. If there are Daxamite’s on board, under Earth’s yellow Sun, I may be in a bit of trouble.

I look around the cargo hold and confirm it’s definitely food. Hawaii Province, Pacific region of Earth. Nice place to visit. Food pirates. I was hoping for something bigger… It couldn’t have been weapons after all? I’ve been on the trail of these guys for days… I must be getting old.

Still no sign of the pirates… these guys must not be too keen. I begin to run a diagnostic on the nav computer from a console I find in the hold when I hear voices…

"… Yeah… No, I’m lookin’." Interlac, Braalian accent. "Well, if you’d installed the sprocking sensor instead of blowing our cred’s at the casino on Terrell we’d already know what hit us!"

He walks in unarmed, just a repair kit slung over his shoulder. Not a Daxamite… I relax a bit. No metal on me… shouldn’t put up too much of a fight. Still, I should at least make it fun. I look around and make sure all the proper materials are there. I use my ring to puncture a hole in the hull the size of a needle.

Instantly the atmo starts leaking with a whine and the ship bucks, wildly.

"Eep!" the guy actually squealed before using his magno-power to plug the hole with a stray sheet of metal.

"What in Valor’s name was that?" the guy’s personal comm unit barked… I had to stifle my laugh. These guys are far from pro.

"Something else must have hit us. Started venting air."

"Well, did you fix it?"

"No, I figured we’d suffocate. Yeah… I got it."

Time to really make these guy sweat. I use the ring again, but this time I puncture the hull 10 times in different areas of the cargo hold.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!" The guy’s screaming and flinging sheet metal left and right to cover the holes. "Are you flying us through a frakkin’ meteor shower?"

My ring signifies that it’s done with the nav computer diagnostic. I take my eyes off the scatter brained Braalian for a minute to read the results… Figures… Elia. Dominion homeworld. Blasted Disk-Heads. Why the Guardians haven’t destroyed these Frakks already, I’ll never know. But is that the destination, or the origination point?

Waitaminute… Why the sprock would a Braalian work for the Dominion? This guy must really be desperate. It’s times like these I wish I grew up with my mothers’ ability to read minds instead of my fathers’ ability to lose hair.

I feel a sudden burning sensation in my shoulder that snaps me out of my thought. I turn to see the Braalian running full sprint out of the hold. He stops and shuts the blast doors. Too fast, couldn’t stop the door from closing. The cargo hold doors open. I go flying out of the ship headfirst, along with the rest of the cargo.

Frakker shot me! Must have had a concealed yellow particle beam blaster. Damn. So much for my fun.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The engineer ran from the cargo hold to the bridge in a panic, dropping his tool satchel in the process.

"Go!" he shouts throwing himself into his chair at the navigation console.

"What the Hell did you do?" the pilot asks.

"Go… Green…* pant*… Lantern!"

"‘Nuff said!" the pilot immediately jerks the control yolk to the right and slams his foot on the acceleration pedal. "Dump the cargo container… we’ll get better speed."

"… *pant*… acknowledged!"

The ship accelerates quickly after jettisoning the cargo container.

"Ellison to Elia command," the ship’s pilot barks into the headset hanging from his ear.

No response.

"Ellison to Elia command, please come in…"

"Ellisonnn… this had betterrr be good." The face of a diskless Dominator popped on the control screen (Note: Dominators rank and social status are determined by the disk (or caste) size on their forehead, even a Dominator without a disk considers themselves superior to all other species).

"We had to dump our cargo and run. We were boarded by the Green Lantern of this sector…"

"Unnacceptable Huumannn. You werrre paid forrr a serrrvice in advannce. We expect…"

"We can’t go up against a Green lantern!" Ellison shouts back into his microphone. "And we’re Braalian!"

"How unforrrtunnate forrr you. We prrrovided you with weaponnns to defeat a Grrreenn Lannterrrnn," it spat back.

"Ellison, no sign of the Green Lantern on our rear sensor. We’re not being trailed," the engineer said finally relaxing after catching his breath. He leans back in his chair exhaling.

"We will wire you your money as soon as we return to Bra…"

"Ellison, full stop!!!" The engineer screams as the sight of the Green Lantern came into view. He was floating there directly in front of the ship, his arms folded across his broad chest.

Ellison immediately activates the reverse thrusters, but it is too late as the ship barrels into the Green Lantern!

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

OK, that was a little more fun than it should’ve been. I used the ring to make myself intangible at the last second. As I passed through it, I grabbed the two space pirates, making them intangible as well. My protective aura wrapped around them both immediately. Lucky for me, sound doesn’t carry in the vacuum of space, since both of these frak-jobs are screaming like little girls at a Magno-ball tournament.

The strain on my shoulder isn’t that bad… I make it look worse just to make them nervous.

"You two do know that Piracy is against several Earthgov laws, not to mention interplanetary law. Let’s say we hand you two over to Earthgov…" I’m just trying to get a reaction out of them. I swear one of them wet themselves when I mentioned the ‘E’ word.

"No! Please, don’t! Take us to Braal… anywhere but Earth!"

"Alright… Since you asked nicely, I’ll hand you over to Galte-Re in your sector… He’ll take you back to Braal…" I stop in mid-sentence as they start acting wild, thrashing around. Strung out on Silver?

I separate them, placing them in energy bubbles. They’re not strung out… they’re convulsing. I check their vitals with my ring, but even before the results are up, they go limp. Dead. Blood pouring from every orifice.

"Ring. Explain."

{Analyzing… both subjects were killed by microscopic nano-mytes.}

Hmm… Nano-Mytes. Never trust a Dominator.

I fly toward their ship to check their logs. I want names. I’d say faces too, but Dominators all look alike to me. There’s a quick flash of light and the ship is vaporized. No piece left is any bigger than a pebble. Same with the cargo carrier.

The cargo though… I fly over to the cargo containers that were tossed out. The Dominators blew the ship for a reason… there has to be more to it than Tropical fruit.

I dig through a few crates and find nothing but just that. Then I come across another. I open it. Weapons. Blasters. Yellow particle beam rifles & small hand blasters like the one that I was shot with. I feel a twinge in my shoulder. The ring started to heal me the second I was hit… but I’m going to be sore for a while.

Damn Disk-Heads are planning something…

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Elia, Dominion homeworld.

The surface of the planet was devastated in the early 21st century by ‘Valor The Liberator’ when he rescued captive humans the Dominion experimented on. For nearly a thousand years the planet has been pelted by fragments of it’s moon, shattered during that attack. They were left to rot on their planet, their technology destroyed. It was left in a veritable stone age.

They fought back from near extinction and saved their race by re-conquering their own world. The time for expansion was drawing near again.

"Massterrr," the lower caste dominator bowed before his regent.

"What iss it worrrmm?" he acknowledged without looking at the creature bowing at his feet.

"I… aahhh… rrregret that we’ve… aahh… lost a shipmmennnt of weaponnnss in Sssectorrr 2814."

"Grrreenn Lannterrrnn?"

"Yesss Rrregennt."

"Hhhmmm…" he grunts stepping over the lower caste to a computer console. He punches up a code bringing up pictures of the Green Lantern from sector 2814. The humanoid Green Lantern’s distinctive bald head and pointed ears set him apart from others.

The high caste Dominator looks at another, lower caste Dominator standing beside the computer console.

"Prrrogrress?" he demands with a growl.

"We have… aahh… deterrrmminned he isss basssed on Earrrth. Mmmetrrropolisss Rrregionnn. We have nnarrrowed his idennntity downnn to thrrree possssibilitiess." Images of three beings appear on the screen next to the image of the Green Lantern. The images are taken from security ID’s issued by Earthgov. "Sssoulsssarrr Rrriderrrr, T’xplannn Th’innne… annnd… aaahhh… Vidarrr. All otherrr ssusspectsss, Rrregennt, have beennn… aahh… elimminnnated,"the lower caste Dominator says proudly.

"Excellennt worrrk. Elimmminnate themmm all."

To be continued.