Wavelengths
A DCAU Plus fanfiction project
Hal Jordan
High Orbit over the planet Biot:
Hal Jordan's gaze carefully shifted between the eyes of his opponent, the field of their battle, and back to his opponent. His opponent raised their eyebrow before smirking and making their move.
A reddish-orange line the same color of their hair was drawn on the grid, completing a square and allowing them to move again. Six more lines were drawn, completing five more squares filled with his opponent's color.
"Your move Hal," Guy Gardner stepped away from the holoprojector's controls, allowing Hal his turn.
"Not bad Guy, but if I move... no," Hal second guessed himself as he looked closer at the present state of the grid.
"I've got you this time flyboy," Guy boasted.
"That would be true if we weren't playing with a three dimensional grid," Hal countered as he made a new brown line perpendicular to the plain all the previous lines and squares had been drawn on.
Guy laughed, "Oh it's on now!"
Several new reddish-orange and brown lines were added to the holographic image. Many new squares were completed and filled in. Cubes of mismatched colors quickly started to dominate the space above the holoprojector as the two Green Lantern's moves became increasingly daring. The two grew quiet as the competition grew more and more serious, and soon the only thing that could be heard was Ch'p's distant quibbling with Aya about maintenance duties at the front of the bridge.
Both men heard the elevator open at the same time the smell of breakfast food drifted past their noses. Nether of them looked away from their game as simple process of elimination let them know who had just came in: Soranik Natu, a new Lantern who had completed her basic training on Oa only two weeks prior and had almost immediately been assigned to the Interceptor to finish her field training under the crew's tutelage.
"Good morning Lantern Jordan, Lantern Gardner," Natu greeted as she placed a plate with simple MRE breakfasts in front of both of them. "I was surprised when Aya informed me you were already awake, nether of you are supposed to up for another hour."
"Well, being on high alert for over seventy-two hours can kinda mess with your sleep schedule," Guy Gardner shrugged as he stepped away from the holoprojector and dug into the meal that Natu had provided. "I usually just take a bunch of catnaps when we're in situations like this. I still get most of the sleep I need while being awake for more time that way."
"I've always needed less sleep than the average person," Hal explained as he also started to dig into the meal before him. "So when we're on high alert like this I don't bother trying to get a full eight hours."
"I see," Natu replied before turning her attention towards the image the holoprojector was displaying. Her expression slowly shifted from one of studious study to one of complete befuddlement. Turning to look at Hal she said, "Sir, I'm not following this battle plan. Why are the brown and red colors intermixed in such a chaotic fashion? Who's forces are represented by brown and who's forces are the red? I'm seeing absolutely no kind of pattern or logic here!"
"It's not a battle plan, it's the square game!" Guy Gardner proudly declared between bites of food.
"Square game?" Natu's gaze snapped towards Guy.
"Yeah the square game! You take turns drawing lines and whoever completes a square gets to claim it," Guy explained. "Whoever gets the most squares when you run out of space wins."
"I know what the square game is," Natu gestured wildly to the holoprojector, "Why are you playing a child's paper and pencil game with a holo-map of this star system?"
"The star and planets make great no go spaces to keep things interesting," Guy answered before shoving his last bit of breakfast in his mouth.
"Why are you playing a child's game while we're on high alert?" Natu clarified as she brought a hand to her forehead.
"Well," Hal answered for his fellow human, "For starters all work and no play can stifle the imagination, and a Lantern's versatility comes from their imagination. Secondly spending too much time fine tuning your equipment and strategies can be detrimental to overall readiness. You start overthinking things, psyching yourself out trying to stay on the edge of the fight or flight response, and become a ball of stress that will shatter instead of rolling with the punch when the punch finally comes. Simple games that can be dropped at a moment's notice are great ways to stay relaxed at a time like this."
"That's... perfectly reasonable," Natu reluctantly admitted. Then her eyes widened as if she had just realized something terrible and she stiffened into a posture that would make any drill instructor proud. "I'm sorry for my outburst sirs! I didn't intend to imply that your handling of this situation was improper!"
"Relax rookie," Hal sighed, "Is there a reason you keep clamming up like this every time you start to express yourself in front of us? And don't try to deny it, I've overheard you talking with Ch'p and Aya enough times to know you only do this... thing when you're talking to me or Guy."
"Bootcamp may be the problem Hal," Guy observed, "From what I've heard the drill instructors are still telling stories about the stunts we pulled against the Spider Guild, and the tale of how you toppled Evil Star's empire all by yourself is almost as popular as my fight with the Faceless Hunter. Our newbie here probably thinks living legends like us are so far beyond her that seeing us pal around like regular folks throws her off."
"Is that true Lantern Natu?" Hal asked, "Do you have a problem seeing us as fellow Lanterns?"
"NO SIR!" Natu snapped out, then realizing how loud she had been immediately stammered, "I mean no Sir!"
Hal's mask shifted in a way that made it clear he was raising an eyebrow.
"I mean... no? It's just..." Natu's shoulders slumped, "I don't know what it is sir."
"Well," Hal sat down on one of the room's benches, "maybe demystifying the legends will help out whatever it is. Go ahead and ask me or Guy about anything not related to our past missions."
"I'm game," Guy leaned against the wall, "And don't worry about asking anything too personal rookie. If we don't want to talk about something we'll just let you know and you can move on to your next question."
"Are... are you sure?" Natu asked as she sat down on the opposite side of the room. Both men nodded. For a moment the red skinned woman looked to the floor before asking, "What... What did you do before you became a Lantern?"
"I owned a bar," Guy answered. "It was a street corner place in the bad part of town I inherited from my grandparents. It was a damn money sink that barely broke even each month but I felt like I owed it to my pops to keep the place running. Poured my heart and soul into that bar, even convinced the bank to give me a lone to remodel. Two months after the remodeling was finished the Maxwell Park riots happened, looters broke in and took everything. The vandals even went as far as to pull up all my floorboards and take the toilets from the restrooms. A week later the riots were still happening and an arsonist set fire to my apartment complex, burned the whole place down. The news stopped supporting the rioters after that so the mayor stopped cowering behind their desk and let the police actually stop the riots."
Guy chuckled ruefully before he continued, "So there I was; homeless, jobless, and up to my eyeballs in debt. I had nothing, so I left the city determined to get a new start somewhere else. My ring found me not long after that."
"I was a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft," Hal began once Guy finished, "In fact I was their best test pilot. Anytime they wanted a new design pushed to its' limit they stuck me in the cockpit. If they wanted to measure how much of an improvement a new design was they stuck me in an old plane and had me dogfight it, cause if the new model couldn't beat me in the old model it obviously wasn't enough of an improvement. We had a pretty tight testing team, my mechanic Tom was like a brother to me and I dated my wingwoman Carol for a while... but then Lexcorp bought a controlling interest in the company. All parts of the company expanded rapidly and the testing team got broken up into over a dozen new teams. That and the other changes Lexcorp bought to the work environment made the decision to join the Corps when the Guardians approached me a lot easier."
The look of sad nostalgia was only on Hal's face for a moment before being replaced with friendly curiosity. "What about you Natu?" Hal asked, "What were you up to before the Corps recruited you?"
"Oh," Natu startled slightly from having the question redirected back to her. Still there wasn't much reason to not answer, "I was in medical school. Neurology focus. My academic career was already on shaky ground because of my family's... old connections to the Sinestro regime, so when my ring found me I thought everything was going to fall apart because Lanterns aren't that popular on Korugar. But nobody saw the ring finding me so I hid it and prayed nobody would find out."
Natu sighed and then went on, "It worked for about a year... then when I was assisting with a delicate operation vital equipment failed. We were too far into the surgery to stop and not have the patient die... so I put on the ring and used it to replace our broken equipment. I didn't have any future back home after that. The Corps are the only thing I have now."
A heavy silence fell over the room before Natu spoke again, asking; "Have ether of you been able to visit your homeworld after you joined?"
"I haven't had a reason to," Guy replied. "I didn't have any friends or family I was close to when I left. I tried swinging by to help out the last few times aliens invaded the place but John Stewart's Justice League managed to clean those out before I got there. Earth's doing alright without me so I figure I'm better off spending my time in places improved by my presence."
"I've visited Earth a few times," Hal confessed. "Mostly to see members of my old testing team... but things got... complicated... with Carol and I haven't had the chance to go back since." Hal then leaned forward and asked, "Is there anyone back on Korugar you need help getting back in contact with? I know the situation there is difficult but I'm sure we can figure something out."
"No, I don't have anyone back home," Natu shook her head. "My mother died when I was young and my father... My father wasn't a good man. Almost everything that's gone wrong in my life can be traced back to some decision he made. It's just the fact that Lantern Tui is probably the only member of my species who will be happy to see me going forward makes me feel... lonely."
Guy Gardner stopped leaning against the wall and walked up to Natu, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Chin up Rookie. While I can't say the loneliness I felt when I first joined the Corps is the same kind of loneliness you're feeling right now I can tell you that every Lantern has felt some kind of loneliness. And when everyone's alone together at some point you stop being alone."
"Thanks," a sad smile grew across Natu's face as she spoke. "I understand what you're saying, and I appreciate it, It's just... Everything in my live has changed so quickly over the last few months. I feel like I haven't gotten any time to adjust."
"There's never time to adjust," Guy shrugged as he went to the holoprojector and cleared it of the game he and Hal had been playing. The real map of the Biot system with live updates concerning the placement of the Green Lantern Corps defensive fleets and other assets was pulled up. He observed the complex movements being displayed for a moment before turning back to Natu, "Alright Rookie, I think the next part of your field evaluations is all about getting incompetent subordinates to do their jobs right. Picket group six is out of position. Get'm On The Horn And Straighten Them Out!"
"Yes Sir!" Natu scrambled out of the map room to the bridge proper to access a com station.
With the rookie Lantern now gone Guy turned and faced Hal Jordan. "Hal, you know I've got things handled here. Go home and burn some of that vacation time you've got built up."
"I can't do that Guy," Hal replied as he got up from the bench and moved to the holoprojector's controls. "Sinestro's planing something big and we can't afford to have any Lantern off the frontlines until we know what it is."
"Bull," Guy countered. "Galactic conquers and wannabe despots pull crap every other week. Your best friend marries their childhood sweetheart once, and you missed it. Your best friend has their first kid once, and you missed that to. If you keep trying to wait for the interstellar dictators to take a vacation before you do you're going to miss everything that happens with the people you care about."
"Did you read my mail?" Hal gave Guy a disappointed look.
"You put the invitations to the wedding and the baby shower in my garbage can," was Guy's reply.
"Your garbage can? Guy, it's a communal-"
"The Point Is," Guy interrupted, "There's never a convenient time for friends or family, so if you keep using the I'm needed here excuse then everybody who cares about you on Earth are going to become strangers to you. I've got this handled. Go home."
"It's not that simple Guy."
"Your a Green Lantern Hal, you can make it simple."
"I can't make Carol simple," Hal replied in a tired voice.
There was a pause, and then Guy asked "What happened with Carol?"
"A Star Sapphire happened," Hal answered.
"What, like the one that fixated on Stewart and bonded with that Fatality chick?"
"Yes," Hal closed his eyes. "There's a Star Sapphire fixated on me and it's possessing Carol. If I'm nowhere near Earth that blasted gemstone doesn't have a reason to keep its' hold on her and should let her go at some point."
"I'm pretty sure Sapphires don't work like that," Guy narrowed his eyes, "The reason the one that was after John abandoned Fatality was because it noticed he found Katma Tui more attractive. If that doesn't happen you have to pry it off with your own hands."
"I know," Hal sighed.
"So why haven't you gone back there and ripped the damn gemstone off? Your not the average Lantern Hal, you could beat a Star Sapphire in a straight fight easy. You should have already fixed this."
"I've tired," Hal hissed, "I've tried. The last time I went to Earth I fought her and she almost died. I spent the better part of a month thinking I'd killed her. I am not dong that again."
A tense silence hung between them for a solid minute. Eventually Guy sighed and ran a hand through his hair before saying, "Look, your not the only Lantern who's let their vacation time build up. I have some free time, Markot has time, Droxelle has time, Salaak and a handful of others also have time. When this Sinestro stuff is over with we can round up a posse and meet up with John and his Justice League. With all of us together we'll be able to catch her and get rid of that thing safely."
"Guy I-" Hal began, only to be interrupted as Aya called out to them from the bridge proper.
"Lantern Jordan. Lantern Gardner. We are receiving a priority signal from Oa," The A.I. reported. "The Yellow Lanterns are attacking Oa itself, Sinestro has been spotted leading the assault."
The two men rushed into the bridge ready to asses the situation and issue orders.
"Check all priory channels for other transmissions," Hal commanded. "We need to make sure they aren't hitting us anywhere else important before we move to reinforce Oa."
Ch'p turned from the station he was manning and asked, "You think Sinestro would attack Oa without his whole army?"
"Oa has a lot of targets," Guy answered before Hal could. "Plenty of those targets are the kind of things a group of surgical strike teams would love to smash and grab. That would leave the bulk of his forces free to take advantage of a thinning front line."
Five tense minutes passed before Aya spoke up, "Your caution has been justified. Priority channel two reports that Mogo is under attack. Priority channel three reports a major enemy push in the Vershay Nebula, and..." The A.I. paused as she parsed new information, "We are receiving multiple reports from Biot's surface of Boom Tube activity alongside Apokoliptian mercenaries being lead by Yellow Lanterns."
"Send down Lantern Squadrons Utah, Omaha and Juno to reinforce the planet's defenders," was Hal's order. "Keep the rest of our forces in high orbit. There's a chance this is a diversion to pull our fleet into a place where it can't maneuver quickly."
Another tense five minutes, then Natu spoke up from the com station, "Picket groups five, seven and six are reporting a massive group of hyperspace echos approaching from grid sixty-five. It looks like a mixture of Thanagarian and Qwardian warships, and it also looks like they outnumber us six to one."
"Six to one huh," Hal mused. "Signal the fleet to form up, let them know we're going with the fifth formation we practiced."
"Do you want the left or right wing Hal?" Guy asked as he started towards the airlock.
"Right," Hal answered as he followed his fellow earthling. Ch'p and Natu weren't far behind, leaving the controls of the Interceptor in Aya's capable circuits.
"Showtime."
This was written by Sift Green of Spacebattles. Go see their works, they're great.