It had been three days since they had left planet Phobeos. Razer had barely come out of his room since then. The only time he actually left his room was when he got something to drink. Other than that, neither Hal or Kilowog had seen him eat anything, Hal was a tad worried. Other than these small leaves, Razer didn't venture from his quarters. And whenever he did, it was at times when both of them were doing something else and were busy.
That was why it was a bit of a surprise when Razer came out into the multi-purpose room, which at that moment was serving as their dining hall. He seemed displeased by their being there, but he said nothing and just walked right on past Hal and Kilowog. He took about a half-glass of water and began to head back to his room, but Hal called to him before he could get more than a few steps towards the door.
"Hey, Razer, hold on a sec!" Razer paused, looking out of the corner of his eye and over his shoulder. "Don't you want to come and sit down, have something to eat? Maybe we could talk." Razer turned his head back so he was looking straight ahead and spoke in a flat voice without looking at them.
"I am not hungry and there is nothing to talk about. So there is no reason for me to sit down with you two buffoons." Kilowog growled, wiping the food from his mouth. Razer said no more and walked back to his room, not looking back as the door closed behind him. Kilowog 'hrumph'ed, cracking his knuckles out of habit.
"That guy seriously gets under my skin. He's like a Morgonian Jer-worm without the extra eyes." Hal swallowed what he had been chewing with a slow gulp.
"Yeah, thanks for the... interesting image while I'm trying to eat." The doors swished open again and Aya entered.
"Green Lanterns Hal and Kilowog, I require your assistance." Hal nodded, shoving the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and gulping it down.
"Sure Aya, what's up?"
"I believe that we may have an intruder on the ship." The G.L.s straightened up and trained their eyes on Aya.
"You sure Aya?" Kilowog asked. "It's not just a misreading on your scanners." Aya shook her head, looking very serious as always.
"I am quite sure. At first I believed that it was merely a minor malfunction. Now, though, I believe that it is an intruder. They must be using some form of jamming technology, as I cannot clearly pick up what kind of being it is, or where they are in the ship. As it stands right now, there is no foreseeable danger, I do not believe that it is hostile. However, it is not good to have a breach in security. I would like to track down and deal with this breach as soon as possible." Hal and Kilowog stood up, placing down their plates.
"Alright Aya," Hal said as he puffed out his chest, "let's go find this intruder."
–
Razer was asleep again, that was what he mostly did other than brood. His dreams were not unpleasant this time around, which he found rather surprising. The dream-scape was not a place he was very familiar with, it was mostly rock formations made up of slate-gray stones. Without even knowing why, he turned around. He found himself looking once again at the hooded figure, the one who foretold his going to planet Phobeos.
"Ah, hello again," he said coldly. The figure seemed to have a smile in their voice as they spoke.
"I see my little warning came to fruition, did it?" Razer glared at the face under the hood, unable to see it but knowing who it was. "Either way, I'm here because I have another to give you." Razer turned from them, crossing his arms.
"I am not interested. I would prefer to learn things that happen when they happen to me, thank you very much." The cloaked figure turned away from him, so their backs were now facing.
"As you wish. However, I will say one thing." The smile returned to the cloaked person's voice, almost mockingly. "Things so important to you refuse to be left behind." Razer, sensing an underlying tone, turned to confront the cloaked figure, but instead found himself awake. Cursing under his breath, he sat up, wondering if he had woken because of something in the waking world, or whether the dream had just ended on its' own. Hearing a noise outside his door, he got up to investigate it.
–
"See anything yet, Jordan?" Kilowog asked. Hal shook his head, showing that the search on his side of the room was negative.
"Nope, nothing yet." He was hunched over a bit, looking carefully for clues. He was looking at the bottom of Razer's door when it slid open, and he found himself looking at Razer's shoes. He stood up quickly, looking at Razer's face.
"And just what, pray tell, are you two doing?" Hal gestured to Kilowog and himself as he spoke.
"Aya said that she thinks there's an intruder somewhere on the ship. She wanted us to help her find them." Razer looked like he was about ready to roll his eyes in annoyance.
"I have been in my room for most of the time since we left planet Phobeos. I have heard nothing sneaking around back here. If you have not been able to locate the intruder either back here or in ther control room, then I expect that there would be very few places that would truly require searching." Kilowog crossed his arms, unimpressed by Razer's examination of the situation.
"Well, if you got off your lazy butt and helped us, then maybe our search wouldn't take so long." Razer let out a silent breath in frustration, then stalked out of his room, allowing the door to slide smoothly shut behind him.
"Very well, I will assist you. Only because I wish not to be disturbed while I am thinking." Hal smiled, hands on his sides.
"Spectacular." Aya stepped up, suggestion on the tip of her tongue.
"If I may interrupt, there is one place that the intruder would most likely be hiding." She pointed over to a door on the far wall, one that no one knew what was behind it since there had never been much need or occasion to go and see what was inside. "That space is normally used for storage of supplies and spare parts. If we do indeed have an intruder, then that would be the most probable place that they would be hiding in." Hal nodded, leading the way as they went to the door. He pressed the button on the side panel, unlocking it with a quiet click and entered quietly. There really wasn't much in there, just some storage boxes with food and the like that Aya had described.
"Yes, a room full of dust and boxes, how very interesting," Razer drawled. However, after he looked around a bit, he paused. He had heard something from behind a pile of metal boxes. Not wanting to alert whatever was hiding, and Hal and Kilowog so they wouldn't give it away, he crept over to the pile without telling anyone he had heard. He moved quiet as a shadow, then lashed out. He felt his hands close around two wrists and pulled, and found himself looking at Raxor and Aliana, dangling by their wrists from his hands. They initially cried out when they were pulled out of their hiding place, but stopped when they saw it was Razer who had caught them. Kilowog, Hal, and Aya had looked up at the noise, and their eyes widened at the sight of Razer's children.
"What the- how did they get on board?" Razer placed them down, releasing them and fixing them with a withering stare that only a parent could accomplish.
"What are you two doing here? You were supposed to stay back on the planet." They looked down, shamefaced.
"We're sorry daddy," they synced.
"We were going to stay, but-"
"-we didn't want to be left behind again." Razer's face softened a fraction, then hardened once more.
"That does not matter." Barely keeping his composition, he turned and questioned Aya. "I'm guessing that we're already too far away to go back." Aya nodded in response.
"Affirmative. If we were to go back, it would take us the same amount of time, three days, in order to go back and put them back. This would be rather impractical considering our current need to go as quickly as possible in search of more Green Lanterns to aid our cause." Razer was distracted near the end when the twins yawned, eyelids drooping slightly. Hal looked at Kilowog, shrugged, and made a move towards them.
"Come on," he said, motioning at the children, "let's save this for when they're awake, they seem tired." Razer seem perturbed, but didn't argue. He merely picked them up and carried them to the bridge, where he placed them in a chair. They fell asleep not long after.
"You know," Kilowog commented, looking at the children sleeping in the chair, "even though they're the Poozer's, the kids are kinda' cute." Razer shot a scowl at Kilowog, though the sergeant remained unfazed by it. "They kinda' remind me of-" he stopped himself short. He had almost said that they reminded him of his own children. But he couldn't say that, not out loud, and certainly not in front of the rest of the crew. Hal raised an eyebrow, craning his neck to get a better look at Kilowog.
"They remind you of who?" Kilowog, thinking fast, spat out the first thing that came to his mind.
"Er, they remind me of Shir Rev's kid, you know, Amala." Hal made an 'aah' noise, nodding his head.
"Oh yeah, I remember. You're right, they've got that kind of cuteness to them, don't they?" Razer had begun paying close attention to their last few comments, staring at them both openly, though not so much in a way that they could read his feelings.
"Shir Rev had a child?" Hal and Kilowog looked at Razer when he spoke, a bit surprised since he normally refused to join in on a conversation unless it was to throw in an insulting, or otherwise just plain snarky, comment. An atmosphere of awkwardness seemed to settle on the room upon the mention of the Green Lantern whose home that Razer had been forced to destroy. It hung especially heavy around Razer himself, as Hal knew that the guilt must have still weighed heavily on him.
"Correct," Aya monotoned, not seeming to read the mood. "The late Shir Rev did have one offspring, as well as a spouse. They remained with the surviving colonists after they relocated to their new planet." A strange look came onto Razer's face at this. His eyes went a bit off, looking off into the distance but not really looking at anything.
"Something wrong, Razer?" Hal asked, a bit concerned. Razer stiffened a bit, his eyes coming back into focus to glare at Hal in his usual fashion.
"No, nothing is wrong." He stood, then went to the chair and picked up Raxor and Aliana in his arms. They head nodded off to the side so they were leaning against his shoulders. "They shall be sleeping in my room, so as to not take up too much space." Without another word, he exited the room, stiffly, but silently. Hal and Kilowog looked at each other, but Hal broke off the shared stare with a shrug.
"Family bonding maybe?" Kilowog, however, had other things on his mind. The memory, if it really was a memory, of Razer's that he had seen showed that the Red Lantern wasn't always the way he was currently. But, if that was so, he wondered, what was it that had changed him so?
–
Stopping here for now. I just had to get this idea out of my head before I lost it, that's why I updated so quickly. The mysterious cloaked figure returns again? Who could it be? And how do they know what will happen for Razer? You will find out... later, but not next chapter.
Contest for chapter 9 is still ongoing. Answer right and claim your prize. I will PM you if you have won. Good luck, and please favorite and review.