MARVEL/DC COMICS PRESENTS # 11

Nova

Deep Space

Outskirts of the Milky Way Galaxy

“Can..”

“...you....me?”

“I...can anyone....me”

“...is Nova Corps transport....”

It was the fifth time that Nova Centurion Rhomann Dey had played the audio only distress call he received. He took his golden Nova Corps helmet off which flattened into a cloth-like material in his hand. He played the message over and strained to hear if any obscure sound was missed in the message.

Nothing.

The Nova Corps transport was manned by a crew of three Centurions to apprehend a dangerous criminal wanted on Xandar, homeworld of the Nova Corps. The Corps, intergalactic peacekeepers based in the Andromeda Galaxy, had received word that their prey was in the neighboring Milky Way Galaxy and that they had a short time to apprehend him before he left for an unknown destination. An added problem was that they had to cross into a sector that was out of their jurisdiction. To do so was to break treaty with another law enforcement group. Despite this the word was given by Nova Prime to send a small force of their most capable to stealthy apprehend and transport the criminal back to Xandar.

Rhomann was not one of those chosen for this mission, but one of his students, Kalar, was. Kalar showed extreme capability in wielding the Nova Force and quickly rose up to the level of Denarian, which is a step below of Centurion class in the corps. Rhomann felt like a proud father to Kalar watching his success. He knew him to be capable, but felt peculiar with this stealth pickup. Against orders, he tracked Kalar’s ship and came across it heavily damaged. The two Centurions were found dead and Kalar was just gone.

“Where are you,” he asked aimlessly under his breath. “The ship is wrecked and the prisoner is still secure. Your message is still being sent and yet the others are dead and you are not here.”

He decided to check the mobile prison carrying the criminal they were after. After placing his helmet back on, Rhomann floated under his power amidst the bits debris floating around him. The ship’s internal gravity was disabled in whatever attacked the ship. He made his way past the floating bodies of the Nova Corpsmen that accompanied Kalar on their mission. The bodies looked as though they were killed by sheer blunt force. Rhomann kept his fears for Kalar at bay as he past their bodies and made his way into the cargo area of the ship. The normally secure door looked violently ripped open by something of sheer power. The cargo area was not very large for a ship such as this. It was a ship more suited for stealth and not to carrying large cargo.

“Let’s take another look,” Rhomann said to himself as he approached the prison container. The container was a large almost coffin shaped box. Rhomann looked at the display on the front which showed that the prisoner was still intact. “Everything checks out on you at least, butcher,” he said as he stared at the computer display.

An alarm ringed in his helmet. His ship’s computer alerting him to an object fast approaching their destination.

“Blast! I hope it’s not one of them,” he said with a wave of surprise and anger. He quickly made his way to the midsection of the ship. There his ship was connected to the damaged stealth ship. Even though his own stealth ship was powered down and masking its presence, it could still be spotted by sight. That and the damaged distress message was still activated. It was a secure message on the Nova Corps frequency but one of them could still possibly pick it up. He thought about the prisoner and started to turn back when he felt the damaged ship jostle and saw an emerald light peeking through the cracks of the damaged ship’s hull.

“No, no, no,” Rhomann repeated as he looked all around. The light he viewed was moving like a ship’s scan. He moved through the cracks of the ship’s hull until it was out of sight.

Rhomann’s mind weighed with decisions for his next move. It could be who he feared, the killers themselves, or some wary ship that happened to be passing by. Either way he couldn’t let the prisoner fall out of his hands. Especially with the sacrifice of the Nova Corpsmen and Kalar to get him.

“A quick strike before they notice too much and get the prisoner out of here, then...what the?”

The ship began to jostle more forcefully. The bits of debris started to scatter in all directions in the zero-gravity. The sound of the damage of the ship was quickly being muted as the vacuum of space sucked out the ship’s remaining air. Rhomann quickly used his speed and strength to fly out through the damaged ship and quickly in the direction of his ship. In a matter of seconds he was along the hull of his ship and looked as the emerald light he saw earlier was tearing through the cargo area of the ship. Then it stopped for a moment before it sliced through and enveloped the prisoner’s container. As the light carefully pulled the container out, Rhomann followed back a solitary source that glowed with the same bright green light. He quickly went at full speed at it and punched it. The prisoner’s container was no longer enveloped in its glow. Rhomann quickly swooped in and grabbed the container and went to his ship’s cargo area. His stealth ship picked up his approach and opened awaiting him.

“I don’t know how long this will last. Got to make it count,” Rhomann said under his breath as he carefully placed the container down within his ship. Then he quickly went to his ship’s cockpit and said, “Emergency thrust, Code Omega Z.”

The ship responded to the vocal command and quickly unattached itself from the damaged ship. The engines roared to life as the ship cruised from the area.

“That was too easy,” Rhomann checked his ship’s instrumentation panel. He saw the display showing him leaving the area at seven times the speed of light. The ship could maintain this speed for a limited time as a means of emergency escape. He knew he would need to find a nearby system to allow the engines time to recharge to finish making the trip back to Xandar if not at least to Nova Corps monitored space. Luckily for him, a part of the Milky Way Galaxy’s outskirts was considered their monitoring territory. “Now I’ve just got to get there,” he said as he went back into the direction of the ship’s cargo bay.

As he walked casually to the cargo bay, he regretted leaving his fellow corpsmen’s bodies behind. His heart sank more as he also regretted not knowing the fate of his protege, Kalar’s fate. The mission was a near complete failure. The ship and its dead occupants were proof enough of the jurisdictional line that was crossed. All that could be done now was to lessen the fallout.

Hours later, the ship slowed as it reached a threshold going at near full speed during an emergency thrust. Rhomann woke from an uneasy rest in the ship’s cockpit. His ship’s display showed that they were at a point where the ship needed to stop for a recharge for the trip to Nova Corps monitored space. The ship’s computer alerted to a system consisting of an old red-giant star ringed by an asteroid belt. He took the ship’s controls and flew to a more stable region of the belt. An area less likely to cause him to be smashed by a large stray asteroid while waiting.

The ship flew to an especially large and somewhat oblong asteroid that was pocked marked with craters and impact sites of various sizes. Rhomann landed in a spot that showed strong geological stability and contained a large cave. He landed the ship within the cave and set the sequence for the engines to recharge. The whispering hum of the engines gave him little comfort. His thoughts drifted for a moment before he steadied himself with duty.

“I have half an hour for the engines,” Rhomann whispered to himself, “best check on the prisoner.” He walked to the cargo area near the back of the ship. Before he could touch the key panel to unlock the door, the ship began to tremble.

“What?”

He raced back to the cockpit. Activating the sensors, he saw as the ship detected a small object heading for his location.

“Blast! He must have tracked me!”

The ship’s visual display was activated. It showed the dimly lit exterior of the cave. The light of the red-giant star illuminating the cave entrance with a fairly strong stream of light. It reflected off of something within the rocks of the asteroid that gave an almost sparkling effect. Rhomann stood still as he looked outside the cockpit. He braced himself when he saw the light take on a faint emerald glow. The sparkle of the cave began to reflect it as well.

“He’s here.”

Rhomann began to mentally charge the Nova Force within his body preparing for a sudden attack. He found himself almost enjoying the distraction of a battle. It helped to keep the mind focus from the pain and worry of his lost comrades.

The emerald glow of the object grew brighter as it approached his location. It drew closer and brighter until it suddenly winked out.

“He’s gone?”

Rhomann quickly went to his ship’s sensors that were tracking the object when it drew near. The sensors showed…nothing.

“Can’t be,” Rhomann said incredulous of the moment.

Rhomann moved slowly over to the side to look outside for any glimmer when something came up through the floor. Whatever it was grabbed him and slammed him into the top of the ship and began to sling him around. Then it stopped and pinned him to the ceiling of the ship. The stillness gave opportunity to see what had him. A green energy construct beaned through the floor of the ship. It held him on the end in the shape of a hand.

“You gave me quite a chase, Corpsman,” a male voice said. The voice came from the direction of the floor.

Rhomann, pinned to the ceiling of his ship, could only watch as a figure began to phase though the floor. A red-faced humanoid flew up wearing a green and black bodysuit with white gloves. A distinctive green symbol within a white circle adorned the center of his chest. Upon his fist sat a small green ring with like colored energy connected to the construct that held him.

“My name is Abin Sur, Green Lantern of Sector 2814,” the humanoid introduced. “You and your officers are in violation of the Oa Jurisdiction Accords. State your intentions.”

To be continued….