Amber didn't even stir this time as Janet climbed in through the window. It took only a thought to banish the uniform and replace it with the sweats she had put on just earlier, and she collapsed into her bed. According to her clock, it was four in the morning. She'd been up since eight that morning; good thing it was Friday-or rather Saturday now-so she could sleep in a few extra hours. Heck, good thing the coming week was spring break, otherwise she was sure she'd lose her mind.
About two weeks had passed since she had first received the ring, and mental and physical exhaustion had been the order of the day, every day, since then. Kyle certainly wasn't going easy on her. The crash-course training was incredibly intense, though it was appropriate when she thought about it. After all, a Green Lantern never did have it easy, so it was best to be prepared. Though her dreams of being a Lantern hadn't ever included this. She felt a small surge of amusement from Kyle at that; as long as he was in the ring they had low-level access to each other's thoughts. That ability to communicate was certainly handy sometimes. It was also sometimes awkward, but it was definitely helping her improve her mental discipline. Just like her other skills were improving. She was at least competent now.
Somewhere in her reflections on her training, Janet drifted off to sleep.
She awoke with a start to hear the ring repeating, "Alert. Recieving distress signal from space sector 2834. Alert. Receiving distress signal from space sector 2834. Aler-"
"Janet, your ring," Amber's voice drifted from her bed, muffled by blankets. "Some sorta alert."
"I'm on it," Janet mumbled, crawling out of bed reluctantly. It was seven-thirty-four, way too early for an interstellar emergency! Up to this point, she'd only been involved in minor things like car accidents, bank robberies, and one almost plane crash.
Just stay focused and remember your training, came Kyle's mental voice from the ring. Hopefully it's just a damaged cargo ship or something, and not pirates.
Yeah, that was just what she wanted to think about. She willed the ring to let her pass through the closed window as she launched herself toward the sky, her clothes transforming into her costume as she went. A sheath of emerald energy solidified around her as she reached the upper atmosphere and shot into space.
A lot of her training had been taking place off-planet, so that was nothing new, but this was only her second extrasystem trip. As she passed Saturn, heading for sector 2834, she felt a small thrill of excitement mixing with her nervousness and uncertainty. She tried to control the last two by not thinking about what she was headed for.
Better increase your speed, Kyle told her. You don't want the emergency to be over by the time you get there. Janet willed herself to move faster. Space blurred around her, and stars became little more than streaks of light as she sped by. Then, almost before she knew it, she was slowing down.
Just ahead of her lay an Earth-sized planet orbiting a red star. Run a scan, came Kyle's reminder, and she said, "Ring, scan system for anomalies."
"Scanning. Residue of enormous power discharge near fourth planet in system. Planet surrounded by debris. Debris identified as previously belonging to sattelites. Planet identified as Vega Four, called Scyria by inhabitants. Scyrian people known to be highly peaceful."
Peaceful or not, that planet's in trouble, Kyle broke in. 'Enormous power discharge' hardly begins to describe what the ring's picking up.
"Intercepting distress signal. Planet on high alert. Communications infrastructure severely damaged."
Janet felt her concern rising. Scyria was ringed by debris-apparently from trashed sattelites-and that made it difficult to see the planet itself until she maneuvered her way through, going around the larger pieces of debris while the ring's force field deflected the smaller ones. She gasped when she got through and finally saw it, though.
Scyria's nearest continent was divided almost in half by a dark scar, slicing through the green and brown vegetation. Smoke rose from it, and Janet could pick out several cities in the line of the disaster zone-or, rather, what was left of them.
She was about to head for one of the cities when a massive explosion, clearly visible even from as high up as she was, erupted near the end of the scar.
"Warning. Yellow energy detected. Sinestro proximity alert."
Ah, hell, came Kyle's thought. Janet bit her lip. She was in serious trouble.
A crowd of Scyrians-short orange beings with insectoid eyes and long flowing robes-scattered in panic as a once-graceful building collapsed over the square, seconds after a flaming figure had crashed into it. The armor-clad figure climbed out of the rubble, flames still eating at its tattered cloak, and grinned manically as it raised its massive mace.
A giant green hand attempted to pluck the mace away, but only succeeded in lessening its impace on the ground. It still sent shockwaves rippling throughout the city and caused other buildings to begin to collapse. "Dammit!" Janet grunted. Whoever the hell this guy was, he was powerful. And he wasn't wearing a yellow power ring, which meant there was still a Sinestro around.
Damage control! Kyle snapped, a second before Janet felt his consciousness leave the ring as his contrust body formed and he flew over to snatch a pair of civilians out from under a collapsing wall. Janet willed a construct of Atlas to form under another toppling building, holding it up as Scyrian emergency crews raced to get people out of the danger zone.
"YOU CANNOT STOP D'KAR!" the creature roared, raising his mace above his head. "D'KAR WILL CONQUER ALL!"
"D'Kar needs to shut the hell up!" Another figure, this one glowing with yellow energy, swooped down and dropped a pile of rubble on the self-proclaimed conqueror's head.
"Warning. Sinestro proximity alert."
Janet felt a chill looking at the Sinestro. He appeared human, but a quick scan with her ring confirmed that he was a Daxamite. Good thing they were in a red star system, preventing him from using his other powers, otherwise she would be totally screwed. She had a freakin' Daxamite Sinestro and an insane powerhouse to stop from tearing the planet apart. Actually, maybe she was already screwed.
