Disclaimer: I do not own Icon. ICON is the property of Milestone Media and DC Comics.
CHAPTER 1: Arnus Of Terminus
Deep in the blackness of space was an interstellar Pleasure Cruise. This Space Liner was a spaceship which housed over 10,000 inhabitants. It gleamed of silver and black. Inside, a large black chandelier was hanging from the center of the ceiling. The light illuminated the several tables and chairs. The sounds of the piano can be heard over the joy of laughter. Smoke filled the rooms and races of all different creeds were seen together. There were poker tables and pool tables and lodgings inhabited by shady folk. Many sat at those tables to play card games.
At that moment Arnus enters through the "batwing" doors of the tavern and silence fell on all of the patrons as they turned their heads to look at who it was. The taverns folk studied him carefully while he stood in the doorway. The wave of cigarette smoke and alien hooch hit his nose. The sounds of the alien Jazz music came alive off the stage. He sauntered over to the counter and sat at one of the stools. The bartender had his back turned toward him so he cleared his throat aloud enough for him to hear it. The bartender turned around and acknowledged him.
"What'll it be?" says The Bar Keep in Galactic Standard. Since The Cooperative is an alliance of 10,000 planets and almost as many alien races, they cultivated this common language for all the members to use.
"What do ya got?" asks Arnus.
"One Unexcused Special, coming up." said the bartender in a raspy voice. An Unexcused Special is a large brew of alien liquor that's popular on this side of the galaxy. It's bubbly and produces a white gas over the brim. This same substance could be used to clean out an XPT-1 Racer, but the inhabitants chose to use it to drink themselves stupid.
When the bartender places the beverage in front of him, Arnus immediately gulps down the alien hooch and slams the empty cup onto the counter. He struggles to keep it down and to not puke it up all over himself.
"It's not Acquitar water, but it'll do." Says Arnus,"Keep 'em coming."
"Yeah," says the barkeep as he slings his wet rag over his shoulder, pulls up his sleeves and gets to work on the second helping.
Arnus was a Mediator which is pretty much a Space Lawyer. After finishing up a rough trial on Taldega, The Justice Moon of the Planet Terminus, he decides to kick back and relax.
He takes another sip of his brew and places it down. "Kali-Kak." Arnus says the name slowly to himself as if confessing a sin. Kali-Kak was a suicidal maniac who enjoyed killing other life forms. Arnus takes another sip of his brew to wash away the trial. To repress it, to bury it deep where he could never remember it again.
The Evacuation Alarm sounds and the entire ship starts to fall apart. Screams and yells can be heard over the destruction. Patrons of the ship run and duck for cover as debris hails down on them. The Patrons of the ship freak out and gasps and screams could be heard. In the midst of the chaos are D'amsi Police Officers . The D'amsi are Space Cops who're notified by red, white and black uniform. Calming the patrons and directing them to The Life Pods.
Arnus, being a lawyer of the Cooperative Legal System, always felt the utmost respect for the D'amsi. He decides to assist several other patrons who are hurt during the destruction. Some of the Travelers die during the chaos. Some are separated by their families.
"WARNING: DAMAGE TO WARP CORE. CONTAINMENT FAILURE IN FIVE MINUTES."
"Remain calm, Citizen." Says the Cop in Galactic Standard. "Help the civilians get to the Lifepods, mediator." A Life Pod was used for emergencies. It helped the patrons escape from the ship during a major catastrophe.
Arnus maneuvers his way through the chaos and gets to the emergency area. He hears someone calling out for help. He turns his attention to it. He sees an Kryptonian woman who's trapped under hailing debris. As she raises her head, she makes eye contact with Arnus.
"Help..Help." She whispers wall raising her free arm toward Arnus' direction.
WARNING: DAMAGE TO WARP CORE. CONTAINMENT FAILURE IN THREE MINUTES.
I can only help so much until I have to think of myself.
I might not make it.
Arnus breaks the eye contact he shared with the woman and runs to the emergency area. From there, he's able to get access to a Life Pod. He sees others jumping into Life Pods as well.
The Life Pod is an egg shaped Starship that is utilized in emergencies. It has four legs that protrude out the side of it and hold it up right. It's silver and has several components attached to it.
He presses the button to slide open the hatch. He jumps into the Life Pod and the hatch slides back into place. He operates the switches and levers to kick start the starship.
"Stand by to Launch. Ready."
Arnus falls back into his seat as a reaction from the Engine Thrusters. The Life Pod fires out the side of the Space Liner at an accelerated rate. Moments after the Life Pod rockets into Space, Arnus turns to look back at the Space Pleasure Cruise. His heart beats insanely in his chest as he watches it explode into thousands of pieces. Other Life Pods collide with the space debris or barely escape with a few scrapes.
Arnus sits forward in his seat and took deep breaths. His green skin perspires and the blinding speed almost makes him puke. The Life Pod leaves the Star System and The Fatser-Than-Light drive shifts into hyper space. Red Emergency lights flash through the center console.
The Life Pod has an automated Voice System that informs the pilot of his/her destination in Galactic Standard.
"Sensors are indicating a DNA-Positive planet. Found destination: Sol III."
"Sol III.." repeats Arnus in wonderment. He never heard of this planet before. Arnus accesses the Info Tool, a computerized database of virtually every planet that's a member of the Cooperative. There was no information on that is planet except that inhabitants had named it: Earth. Surely this 'Earth' is not part of civilized space. It is not a member of The Cooperative. But it's a risk he's willing to take.
Arnus sees the Planet through the front windshield of the starship. It looked so beautiful to him. He's used to seeing planets that are mainly in solid colors. Terminus, The Planet where he's from is in solid green color. As the Life Pod flies closer to the planet he notices a swirl of different colors. A good portion of it blue, some green mixed in. A little purple peppered in between and a chunk of brown in some places.
"Info Tool," says Arnus. "Access the Cloaking Technology." The Starship becomes cloaked for a couple of seconds, but starts to flicker the moment it touches Earth's atmosphere.
He felt the Life Pod getting hotter as he flew closer to Earth's atmosphere. The starship starts to shake uncontrollably. The Life Pod barrels through the white fluffy clouds, he saw darkness. The Life pod finally landed harshly on land. Little did Arnus know that he hand landed in The Deep American South in the Year 1839. Arnus did a systems check. The automated Voice System informs him of the conditions.
"The Quantum Tunneling Transmitter, functional. The Faster-Than Light Drive is no longer functional." Said the Automated Voice System. In other words, Internal Malfunctions.
At that moment, a slave woman named Miriam was sleeping in a cabin until she heard a ruckus. She awoke in the middle of the night to investigate. She looked out her window to see smoke rising up from an area behind the trees. She knew that if her master caught her out outside at night that she would have been beaten mercilessly. But she still took the risk. She threw on her dress and scarf and rushed outside.
She rushed towards the source of the smoke to discover a particular piece of machinery that she could have never imagined. It was in the shape of an egg except it wasn't no egg she ever saw. It was shiny like metal, but had bright blue lights on it like the stars that blinked in the sky.
Her curiosity got the best of her. She stepped forward to place her hand on the contraption and a blue energy engulfed her. It tinkled all over her body, but It didn't hurt. She froze, already regretting the mistake that she think she just made.
