MARVEL/DC COMICS PRESENTS # 12

Nova/Green Lantern

A Cave in an Asteroid

Rhomann Dey, Centurion of the Nova Corps, looked at the bald red faced Green Lantern with quiet indifference. The Green Lantern got the drop on him. He was unaware of their ability to phase through solid matter with their Oan Power Rings. He mentally filed the matter for his report when he returned to Xandar. If he gets there.

“State your business, Corpsman,” Green Lantern Abin Sur commanded.

“My name is Rhomann Dey, Centurion of the Xandarian Nova Corps. Badge designation 67919,” he replied nonchalantly.

“What brings you so far from Nova Corps Jurisdictional space?”

Rhomann paused for a moment before replying, “Distress call. One of our transport vessels was damaged in an attack with a unknown hostile force and wandered into your Sector. I was dispatched to quietly ascertain the situation and take Nova Corps property back into our space.”

Abin Sur stared for a moment with a questioning gaze at Rhomann. A gaze that Rhomann was all too familiar with questioning suspects as a peacekeeper. He was not exactly lying to the Green Lantern, but he was withholding more of the story.

“What of the two dead Corpsman that were in the damaged ship? Why did you leave them behind? Were they not worthy to be returned to Xandar as well?”

“I will not answer any more of your questions, Green Lantern.”

“I believe you will not,” Abin Sur said. “A pity since I would like to know what happened to the third Corpsman as well.”

Rhomann’s eyes widened underneath his helmet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I believe you do,” Abin Sur said. “I believe you really do. Since you’re supposedly not answering my questions, now you listen. There were reports of a superpowered scuffle on Almeer-5. I was training a new recruit in a neighboring system and we were tasked to check it out by Oa. By the time we arrived, the altercation was over. We spoke with what locals would speak to us. They mentioned three unknown individuals accosting then attacking another. The fight wrecked five blocks of the local city there before they apprehended him.”

As Abin Sur spoke, Rhomann was busy. His eyes were shielded from being seen beneath his helmet. He connected with his ship’s computer and silently used only his eye movements to communicate his plan.

“What happened after they apprehended them is a mystery. My trainee found your Corpsmen’s ship damaged and drifting in space. He stated that you attacked him when he was making his observation of the ship.”

“Did your trainee state how he was ripping into our ship trying to forcibly take our prisoner,” Rhomann asked calmly as possible.

“Hmm, it seems that he has not ,” Abin Sur said as he pondered. “ He’s a little brusque and has a lot to learn, but I see great potential in Thaal Sinestro.”

Rhomann made the last command to his ship’s computer through his helmet. “I suppose you will take us to Oa for breaching our jurisdiction.”

“Along with having the Nova Corps giving the agreed compensation for this breach. I believe this may be the end of your tenure as Centurion after this. Your prisoners will be released and…”

“Wait,” Rhomann interrupted. “What do you mean prisoners?”

“Just as I said,” Abin Sur replied puzzled by the question. “My ring picked up two humanoids in the container in your cargo hold.”

Rhomann was confused then wondered out loud. “Could Kalar have survived the attack all this time in there?”

“Who’s Kalar?”

A loud thud was heard at the door to the cargo room not far from them. Both men looked in the direction of it. There in a porthole of thick glass, a Nova Corpsman helmet could be seen. It appeared as though the wearer was hitting their head against the glass of the porthole of the cargo hold door.

“Kalar!”

Suddenly the door to the cargo door violently burst forth. The thick metal door hit Abin Sur and caused him to lose his concentration upon his ring’s construct. As the construct faded, Rhomann fell upon a computer console. As he lifted up from the floor of the ship, he noticed the dead body of Kalar lying near him.

“Yak, yak, yak,” a gruff voice said from the direction of the cargo hold. “The Main Man can’t get any sleep around here with you bastiches making all this noise.”

Rhomann witnessed as the prisoner stepped forth. A large muscular man with chalk white skin and red eyes walked casually out of the cargo hold. He rubbed his nose and then his eyes before letting out a loud yawn.

“I have to give ya’ Nova guys credit, it’s not everyday that someone can get a drop on me,” the chalk white man said.

“Lobo,” Abin Sur said as he lifted himself up. Even though his ring protected him from the full force of the door, he was holding his side as though he was injured. He turned his attention to Rhomann, “You tried to take Lobo into custody?”

“It was handled, but something went wrong,” Rhomann shouted back.

“Are you ladies through yappin’” Lobo said in a mock polite tone. “I’ve got some fraggin’ to do if you don’t mind.”

Abin Sur quickly shot an energy beam from his ring at Lobo. The Czarnian moved with a speed that belied his thick frame and evaded the power beam. He was on the Green Lantern in seconds and grabbed his arm. He smiled and broke his arm then threw him like a rag doll to the far end of the ship. Rhomann watched in shock at the speed and strength of the attack.

“Now,” Lobo said as he cracked his knuckles and turned his attention to Rhomann. “I believe I owe you a special frag. After all it was one of you Nova bastiches that actually managed to take me down.”

“What did you do to Kalar? Why did you keep him in the container like that with you?”

“Wha’? That Nova corpse? Decided to kill him last…slowly. He was the main one that took me down! Me! The Main Man! Shocked him and those other bastiches real good later. They didn’t figure me pickin’ the lock and beatin’ the crap out of them! Decided to keep the last one in a special move I learned on Almeer-5 before they got me. Strangled the life out of ‘em slow. Got a little hungry waitin’ on em to die and took a few bites out of ‘em too. Damn Xandarian meat got me sleepy! Ah! Look what you made me do! You got me yappin’ like you bastiches! Time to die now.”

“Order Omega,” Rhomann shouted.

Weapons opened from hidden compartments inside the ship and trained on Lobo. Two weapons fired beams of energy that resembled lightning and held Lobo in a form of stasis. The ship’s engines quickly roared to life. In seconds the landing gear were retracted and the ship shot out of the cave at near maximum speed. As it sped from the asteroid it hit a few smaller asteroids that it could not evade as it left the system.

The force of the take off had thrown Rhomann hard against a wall near the cargo hold and pinned him. He saw as Lobo struggled to move, his strength was starting to compensate for the beam. Once the ship left the system it continued at a high rate of speed. The ship’s computer began sounding alarms as the engines began to fail. A hatch above where Lobo stood opened. The ship maintained a force field keeping the air from being sucked out. The stasis weapons that held Lobo began moving him to the hatch. It managed to get him in front when another set of weapons activated and their concussive force shot him out of the still moving ship.

Rhomann smiled at the fate of his protege’s killer. The smile was short-lived when strain of the high speed began to take its toll and the ship began to fracture. As the ship began to fly apart, Rhomann lost consciousness.

“Are you awake?”

Rhomann opened his eyes and groaned from the pain he felt all over. He was alive. Lobo was gone. He found himself encapsulated within a green bubble and could see the star-field around him. Next to him was the Green Lantern Abin Sur. He looked up and saw another red-skinned, dark haired Green Lantern with a distinctive widows peak and wearing a green domino mask. This Green Lantern was carrying them in the bubble as he flew to some unknown destination.

“I think it best to say that we can try to forget as much of this as possible for both our sakes,” Abin Sur said. His arm was in a green sling.

“Taking me to Oa?”

“No. Taking you to Nova Corps monitored space. We’re near a system now where you can reach out to your Corps.”

Rhomann was puzzled. “Why are you doing this? What about the Jurisdiction violation?”

Abin Sur smiled to himself and turned to Rhomann, “I think that your Nova Corps has learned a valuable lesson on that front today. You’ve already suffered much to learn it as it is. I will handle things on my end with the Guardians.”

“Hmmph!”

“Despite the objections of some,” Abin Sur said in response to his trainee’s vocal displeasure. “Your stunt has sent Lobo off in the midst of deep space. We’ll have our Corps look for him later. We found the remains of your student and will have him and your other fallen comrades sent to you after we drop you off. I am sorry for your loss.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Rhomann said, confused at the turn of events.

“Nothing more to say, friend,” Abin Sur said as he patted Rhomann’s back. “We’re keepers of the peace despite our jurisdictions. We are brothers in our duty. One day our superiors will understand that.”

Rhomann’s mind reflected on all that happened and, despite the loss, he felt wiser for it. A wisdom he hoped that can be useful for the Nova Corps in the future.