~~~~Chapter 2~~~~

"Okay, this sort of thing is happening far too often for my liking," Kilowog grunted. Currently all four crew members of the Interceptor were suspended midair in the center of the ship's bridge, surrounded by the emergency construct shields they had instinctively thrown up in the midst of the crash; three green and one red.

"For once, agreed," Razer added in a slightly strangled sounding voice.

"Everyone okay?" Hal asked, removing his shield and dropping to the ground. One by one the others removed their shields and dropped to the floor as well.

"I am unharmed," came Aya's answer.

"I'll survive," Razer grumbled.

"Ha, like a little bumpy landing could hurt me," Kilowog laughed. He hit a button on one of the control panels and the exit ramp descended. Cautiously the drill sergeant made his way down and peeked outside, as Aya moved to the controls and began pulling up data charts and scan analyses on the main screen of the bridge.

"Any word on what it was that caused the crash?" Hal inquired. Aya scanned the information in front of her, projected in midair by the holographic tech on the console.

"It seems that the magnetic field that caused the malfunction in the engines originates from…" Here she moved, crossing over to the front window of the Interceptor, and pointed at a large object in the sky above the planet.

"…this planet's lunar satellite."

"It's moon?" Razer asked incredulously.

"Yes," Aya replied curtly. "There is an abnormally large magnetic field emanating from this planet's moon."

"How come it didn't mess with the engines immediately when we dropped out of ultrawarp?" Hal asked.

"I believe it was because of its position in relation to the planet," Aya replied, pulling up a small holographic model of the planet and its moon on the screen. "Allow me to demonstrate." the miniature moon was surrounded by a yellow indicator of the magnetic field surrounding it. From one direction, a tiny version of the Interceptor flew into view and proceeded around the planet model.

"When we first approached the planet, the moon was on the opposite side. But, as we circled to find a suitable landing area, the moon moved out from behind the planet and its magnetic field was able to interact with the ship. I believe there may be some sort of mineral deposit making up the majority of the planet that masks or blocks the magnetic field of its moon."

"So as long as that moon is visible in the sky, we are stuck on this planet," Razer stated flatly.

"Yes," Aya said. "But at the rate the planet is rotating and the moon is orbiting, we should be able to leave in approximately 9…" She paused to calculate as accurately as possible.

"Please don't say months. Please don't say months. Please don't say months." Hal muttered to himself, clenching his fists tightly.

"…hours." Aya finished with the slightest of amused smiles.

"YES!" Hal cheered, pumping his fists into the air. He plunked down heavily into one of the seats and spun it around. While he celebrated, Razer contemplated.

"Could that mineral be causing the inconclusive scans we were sent to investigate?" the Red Lantern asked.

"It is possible," Aya said.

"Well then we should use our 'down time' to investigate."

"First let's get the lay of the land," Hal said, standing from his chair. "Hey, Kilowog! How's it looking out there?" There was no answer from the direction of the exit ramp.

"Sergeant Kilowog?" Aya called. Still no answer. The three exchanged a look and descended the ramp. Outside the ship was all thick jungle and swampy ground. Wildlife of varying kinds could be heard all around, rustling the leaves and calling from the trees and bushes. The sky was barely visible through the trees except in small patches here and there, and of course the gouge carved by the crashing Interceptor.

"Kilowog?" Hal yelled into the foliage. The entire jungle went quiet. There was still no answer from Kilowog.

"I…don't like this," Razer muttered. Hal scanned the forest one last time before turning to the remaining two.

"Okay, obviously something has happened to Kilowog," he began. "We need to find him and investigate this planet. But we can't leave the ship alone here. So, Razer, stay here and watch the ship."

"What? Why?" Razer bristled.

"Relax, it's nothing against you. Aya is the only one who can reliably track down a ring signal. And, like I said, we can't leave the ship unattended. That never ends well." Razer relaxed, accepting the explanation, though his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Very well. While I'm here I'll check the engine components to make sure there is no lasting damage."

"Great idea! And if we aren't back in 9 hours…you know…come find us." With that, Hal and Aya took off in flight, weaving their way through the tree trunks, and, with a large sigh, Razer made his way back into the Interceptor.

Almost half-an-hour later, Hal and Aya were hovering in a small clearing in the jungle. Their search had thus far proven difficult.

"Are you getting a fix on his ring?" Hal asked.

"I have located his ring, but something is wrong," Aya answered, somewhat hesitantly. She was confused about something.

"Wrong? Wrong how?" Hal was slightly worried. What exactly had happened to Kilowog?

"It is moving away from us rather quickly, but…"

"But…?"

"I don't believe he is wearing it."

"What? Why wouldn't he be wearing his ring?" None of the answers to that question were good ones.

"Perhaps…we should hurry to its location."

"Yeah." The two shot off into the forest once more, Aya leading the way in the direction her readings were pointing.

An hour-and-a-half later, Razer crawled out of one of the maintenance sections of the Interceptor, finally finished checking the engines from top to bottom. Nothing seemed to be out of place, but he had checked every minor detail just in case. He wasn't about to die during take-off just because a single bolt or seam had been weakened by a hairline crack. Considering all he'd lived through and all he'd done in his life, that would be terribly anti-climactic.

Returning to the main common room of the ship he checked quickly to make sure his ring was still in the stasis pod he'd locked it in. He'd had to remove it before making repairs because let's be realistic, there was no way in Grotz's name that he'd be able to maneuver correctly in those maintenance spaces with the pointy menace that was his Red Lantern uniform. But the small ring was where he'd left it, and he moved on to the washroom of the ship to at least try to remove some of the grease and dust he'd become covered in.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yes, Hal Jordan, I am."

Half-an-hour later, Aya and Hal sat cautiously in small opening in the ground, a ceiling entrance to an underground cavern. Below them, about halfway down, a shiny black mineral of some sort began to jut out of the walls. Even farther below was a camp, small and hasty and scraggly, with a matching crew of haggard looking aliens of all kinds working their way around, mining and processing the mineral.

"I don't suppose this little mining venture of theirs is legal, is it Aya?"

"Highly doubtful, as several of them are wanted for illegal strip-mining of asteroids and planets marked as to-be-colonized."

"And that over there?" Hal gestured to a small area set back into a recess in the cave half-hidden from the view of the camp. From their elevated view the two could see a familiar figure pacing back and forth in a makeshift brig, seemingly fashioned from the same mineral that was being mined.

"That appears to be Sergeant Kilowog."

"Thought so. Looks like we'll have to pull a rescue, shut down an illegal mining operation, and bring back some samples of this weird ro-ccckkgggggzt!" Suddenly an electric shock sparked through Hal's body, and Aya's next to him causing her eyes and construct skin to flicker briefly. Both seized, then went limp, sliding to the ground bonelessly. Behind them a pair of alien figures stepped out of the shadows.

"Huh, idiots," spoke one, that had the general appearance of a human-sized bat, albeit with a few alien traits, like the arc of seven eyes across its face and a second pair of clawed arms from its chest. "Didn't they even think that talking up here would be amplified by the cave?" One of his enormous, shell-like ears twitched and he tossed a small, sparking prod back and forth between his two chest arms.

"Still," spoke his companion, relatively humanoid from the waist up, but with an enormous serpentine tail instead of legs. "Over the mining noises, only you would really have been able to hear it, Desmod. Good work." He slithered over to Hal and grabbed his wrist, removing the Green Lantern ring.

"Thank you, boss," the bat-creature all but purred. The snake slithered over to the still form of Aya, grabbing her wrists and examining her carefully.

"Hmm, no ring on this one," he hissed, "odd. But never mind. Get these two to the brig with the other one. We'll take care of their ship next shift. They've got to have one to come out this far."

"Yes sir, Rallus." Desmod took the two unconscious forms in his extra pair of arms and leapt down into the hole they had been spying through, spreading his wings once inside and gliding his way over towards the cell that held Kilowog.

Back on the edge of the opening, Rallus smirked. Carefully he slipped Hal's ring onto one finger, next to another, larger, match to it.

"Green Lanterns all the way out here, huh? Thisssss should be interessssssting."