The Birth of a Lantern
(Chapter 18)
Little Dorn was only four-years-old when his parents died at the hands of the Decayans, and instead of him staying at the barracks with the rest of the Lanterns, Ora Nye and John stayed in Leetha's abode where they could take care of him better. Little Dorn Dre took a liking to John immediately, and he made sure the boy had everything he needed. By day, John and Ora trained with the Lanterns and by night, they trained with Leetha, including Jadicus.
John, Ora, Dorn, and Leetha sat around the emerald table in Leetha's abode and ate full course meals nightly. Leetha sat to the right of John and Ora sat on his left side. Little Dorn sat across from John and mostly ate only Madi meat because of his species' digestive system. Boda Gustians didn't normally start eating vegetables until around ten years old.
Leetha was old. It was obvious by her scrunched face and extremely wrinkled skin. She had an old-sounding voice, gravelly, and somewhat nasally at times. "John, I've advised the Lantern Corps to put you and Ora on Ock."
"Ock?" Ora said, "Coralex's moon?"
"Yes," she said, "Only until Dorn Dre is a little older and your next child is at least five years old."
"But why?" John asked. "We'll like to be in the mix with the rest of the Sage Warriors."
Leetha scoffed. "There are different ways to participate in the war effort, Lantern," she said, "I need you on Ock to help Coralex's fleet when the Decayans attack." She looked over at Dorn Dre, and then said, "Coralex just signed the Treaty of Protection with the Federation of Planets, and it will put them in Decay's crosshairs."
"What's going on?" John asked. "What do you know about Dorn Dre?"
"John?" Ora said as she placed her right hand on his left arm.
"You know something, Leetha," he said. He looked over at Ora and smiled. "It's okay."
"How could I know anything?" She asked with a grimace. Placing her hands on the table, she leaned forward, and then said, "Bet it had something to do with you," she responded, "And I bet it was because he missed you."
"Missed me?" John asked. "Do you think I died?"
She shrugged. "It's war, John," she said, "I know you're only twenty-three, but war is ugly. It's unpredictable at times."
Leetha walked out of the room while John, Ora, and Dorn remained at the table. For a moment, it was an awkward quietness that made John uncomfortable. "I can't help but feel that we'll be better suited in the Moxian fleet."
Ora placed her hands on John's hands, and then said, "We're Sage warriors, John. If the Corps puts us on Ock, then we do as we're told for the war effort."
John clasped his hands together and then said, "We're soldiers. I understand that much." He felt Ora's belly, and then said, "I'll do it for our children."
John sat on a large rock in front of Leetha's abode by a warm fire. The fire popped nicely, and from what he could tell, it was a bit nippy on the mountain. Little Dorn Dre was stretching next to John who was sitting on a large rock. It was cold atop Mount Lantern, but he didn't mind because of the nice, extremely warm fire. Little Dorn Dre began kicking and punching in the air, a form of Lantern Martial Arts that Leetha taught him when John and Ora were off training.
"Those are good kicks, little man,!" John said with a smile. "You have good snaps."
Dorn screamed, "Ya!" And then he kept kicking and punching until Ora Nye came out of Leetha's abode. She was a small woman with a large belly, and as far as John could tell, she was nearly six months pregnant. She had a bag full of potatoes, dumped them into the cauldron, and began to stir them steadily.
"It's Madi meat and potatoes tonight," she said as she dumped the potatoes into the pot. "We have one more week left before we are bonafide Lanterns."
"I know," he said with a grimace. "I'm just thinking about our assignment."
She sighed but continued to stir the food. "You'll love my world, John Stewart. It's a beautiful, peaceful planet."
He laughed. "I almost feel like we're being left out of the war."
She scoffed. "We will work together against evil and raise a family at the same time," she said with a serious visage. "The war will find us soon enough. I promise."
When John looked over at Dorn, he was looking up at the sky, so John looked up too. The sky lit up as lasers hit several of the ships that orbited Oa; they began to enter into the atmosphere with large holes in the hull. Warning sirens rang throughout that land ordering all Lanterns to take to the skies for battle. Quickly, he flew up into the sky and several hundred Lanterns followed behind him. In the distance, he saw a fleet of Decayan Battleships armed with gamma weapons. Without hesitation, he unleashed a series of green rays that slit one of the Battlecruisers in half.
Jadicus flew next to John when they immediately stopped in front of a Decayan Battlecruiser. It was a monster size ship with gamma lasers on either side. He could look through the windows on the front of the ship and see the bridge crew as they scrambled to get into position. Several Lantern ships raced to Oa from patrolling the perimeter.
"Stand down!" John ordered, "We have you surrounded."
The Decayan ship revved up its lasers, and within seconds, fired upon the Lanterns, but they blocked the deadly shot with their personal shields. The green glow encompassed their bodies and the ray bounced off them. Immediately, Jadicus made a gigantic green hand with his Lantern ring, swatted the bow of the ship, and it began to spin out of control.
"Did you see that?" Jadicus said with a look of glee in his eyes.
"Yeah," John said with a smirk on his brown face. He then shot a laser into the ship and caused it to split into two sections. The way the green laser tore into the hull of the Decayan ship impressed him, but at the same time, terrified him; it totaled the vessel and killed over four hundred Decayan soldiers.
When the Decayan bodies leaped from the broken vessel, many of them were on fire, and when John saw that, it caused him dismay. He never wanted to kill anybody, but watching over four hundred burning humanoids fight to breathe hurt him to his core. Immediately, he felt he had to do something to stop the senseless deaths as the Decayan soldiers leaped to their deaths as the vessel continued to burn.
He shot another beam out of his ring that grabbed the two halves of the ship, brought them together, but when he did, a Lantern Battlecruiser hit the damaged ship with a gamma-ray that obliterated the vessel completely.
"We're not in the saving business today!" Lantern Brack Lo said as he patted Stewart on the back. "War is ugly."
"But we don't have to be," John said.
Most Lanterns moved quickly through space attacking the alien vessels without any remorse. Jadicus flew up to another Decayan ship, and when he shot it with a laser, the ship put up a yellow field. Suddenly, eight yellow Lanterns exited the ship, and they were experienced wielders of the ring. One of the yellow Lanterns grabbed Jadicus with a yellow hand that protruded from his ring and slammed him into a Lantern Battlecruiser. It caused the wing warrior to lose consciousness almost immediately, but his ring kept a green field around his body so he would be protected against the elements.
Ora grabbed Jadicus with a green hand, and then took him down to the planet.
John flew up to the yellow Lantern with an emerald rope that came from his ring. He lassoed the yellow Lantern, threw him toward Oa's sun. And as the Lantern tumbled toward the ultimate heat source, John raced to him, shot him with a sage laser that caused the yellow Lantern to pass out. Just as the Lantern approached the sun's gravitational pull, John lassoed the creature's leg, pulled him back, and then removed his ring. He protected the yellow Lantern by encompassing him in his emerald field.
After hours of fighting with the yellow Lanterns, the Decayan fleet pulled out of Oa's space. The space around the planet had debris from the Lantern Battlecruisers and a few of the Decayan vessels. The Decayans lost two vessels and the Lanterns lost five, but four of the Lantern's vessels were actually Moxian medical ships and weren't meant for combat. Three Lanterns had critical injuries and one Lantern named Soho Tar perished while fighting against three yellow Lanterns.
Ock, The Moon of Coralex
Ock, the moon of Coralex was twice the size of Earth, and when it came to Coralex, it was twice the size of Ock. The entire moon looked mostly sapphire in color, but in the northern hemisphere was a large volume of green land. The entire moon had approximately seventy-five million miles of land when it was all added together.
The Lanterns flew back to Ock in Ora Nye's ship with Jadicus, Brack Lo, and several other Lanterns following behind them.
When they approached Ock, John counted twenty-four space stations of different sizes, but they were all larger than anything he had ever seen floating in space.
"When I left my world eight months ago for Lantern Basic, we didn't have all this," she said with a look of concern. "I guess the war has arrived."
John hugged her for a long moment, and then said, "We'll stop the Thaddicans and the Decayans in their tracks."
"I truly hope so," she said.
Suddenly, the ship's proximity sensor started flashing red like a newborn baby whining, and then a Doraxian Fighter Plane appeared on the screen. It was a sleek-looking ship with two positronic lasers on each wing and a powerful cannon on the front of the ship. The Lanterns had studied the Doraxian fleet of ships during their training.
Ora Nye pushed a green button on her control panel, and then said, "Doraxian vessel, this is Lantern Ora Nye and Lantern John Stewart. The ship behind me is carrying Lantern Jadicus."
"Lantern Nye, I'm Commander Kumar T'Nead," he said, "I'm going to guide you into Crystal City."
"Yes, sir," she said, "Lead the way."
The atmosphere on the moon had approximately twenty-two percent oxygen, and as soon as John took a breath, he thought he was in heaven. The air was nice and clean-and refreshing. He stood on an airstrip in the middle of Crystal City, and he could tell it was a wealthy world with many resources.
Upon their arrival, John was issued a nanny named Faya, and she was considered a second-class citizen on Ock. She had ridges on her nose as Ora Nye did, but a tear-drop-like symbol in the middle of her forehead. She was a young woman no older than eighteen at the time of her arrival. Her hair was long and black, and when she wore it, it was in a ponytail.
The government of Ock set them up with a nice abode on the outskirts of Crystal City. A beautiful river ran behind their house with the bluest water that John had ever seen. In the distance, he saw several brown unicorns drinking from the sapphire water. They were almost majestic to him in a way.
When John entered into his government-issued abode, Faya stood by the door. He had been briefed on the nanny when he met with Crystal City's government liaison named Ari Icka. He was a slender alien with a flat forehead and broad shoulders. In fact, he wasn't even of the same race as Ora Nye from what he could tell.
"Lantern Stewart and Lantern Nye, welcome to Crystal City," he said upon the introduction. "We've set you up with housing on the edge of Crystal City. You have a nanny who will work for you named Faya."
"Thank you, sir," John said.
Faya was a quiet lady and took care of Little Dorn Dre while John and Ora patrolled the sector. Not only did she take care of Dorn Dre, but she purchased most of the food supplies and always had a meal prepared when they returned home.
They had a Lantern Vessel with powerful gamma rays on it that they used. It was parked at the space station called Mecca located in Ock's orbit. It could easily hold fifty thousand people comfortably. Over twenty Moxian Warbirds patrolled the sector with the sixty-four Lanterns, and there was a party vessel called Luciferious that slowly flew around the solar system accomodating soldiers on leave. For eight hours a day, they patrolled and then Jadicus and Brack Lo for the next shift, and the last shift consisted of Lantern Drillo Lavier and Trello Geer. Due to the war effort, sixty-four Lanterns patrolled the sector between Ock and Coralex.
"There are more Lanterns here than I expected," John said as he talked with Ora.
"It's due to the location of Coralex," she said, "Decay is only a few light-years from us." She paused for a moment, and then said, "They threatened to attack us over the Treaty of Protection."
"They can always try, but with this many Lanterns concentrated in one location, it would be foolish of them."
Eight years earlier:
Prince Nefare landed the Vortex on Vega Prime; he landed it safely and away from the other ships in the airfield because he didn't want any possible accidents caused by intoxicated party-goers. His ship was one of many ships in the lot with the other ships possibly being Decaying, he didn't want to take any chances. The ship directly across from his vessel had Thaddican insignias on it, but the ship itself was a Decaying design. He had a visual of the ship on his monitor, and then Eli looked at it closely for a moment. She stared at the screen for about thirty seconds with a troublesome visage.
"It's definitely a Decayan ship with Thaddican insignias on it, Prince Nefare," she said with a worrisome look on her face. "It's due to the Decayan and Thaddican alliances." She walked directly in front of the bow of the ship after they exited their vessel and pointed her monitor at it for a proper readout. It was a small box with a tube-like device on the front of it. It made a slight beeping sound as it analyzed the ship's structure, engine, and weapon system. When she pointed it at the ship, a panoramic laser beam came out of it that engulfed the front end of the vessel.
"Great Ptah!" She exclaimed, "They have level ten gamma weapons on this sucker."
"That's a warbird," Broady said, "They aren't playing games."
Tre'Yan pulled out the computer terminal on the side of the ship and started pushing buttons randomly. "I know what to do," Tre'Yan said with an intuitive look on her face.
"What's that?" Narious asked while he watched her in action by looking over her shoulders.
She smiled, looked back at him over her left shoulder while she continued to type on the keyboard, and then said, "We'll just place the Vega-Knight symbol outside our ship since we're still a neutral world."
"You should just enable the voice commands instead of doing all that typing," Broady said with a scowl on his face.
"Yes," she said with a smile, "I do love typing."
"Computer?" She asked. "Please, place the Vega-Knight logo in place of the Moxian Royal Logo on the side of the ship?"
"Yes, ma'am," the computer said, "Done!"
Broady scoffed and then said, "I don't know, y'all. Maybe we should travel to Neo Star, and party there because I don't feel safe being this close to a Decayan ship."
Prince Nefare laughed. "How many Decayan vessels have you stolen, Broady?" He was standing to the side of Broady with a wide mouth grin on his face.
"Six, but that's not the point," he said with a serious visage. "I'm just saying we're on the verge of war with the Decayans and the Thaddicans."
"Are you afraid they might recognize you?" Eli asked.
"No," he said, "I'm afraid they might notice the Prince." Everybody looked worried at that point, and began staring directly at Prince Nefare with a concerned visage.
"Good point," Eli said with a serious look on her face. "We must be extremely cautious because there is a bounty on your head."
There were several soldiers monitoring the lot from the planet Korugar, a planet in sector fourteen-seventeen and under the protection of the Lantern Corps. Prince Nefare knew of the world because of the Korugar embassy in his world and had a Korugar General over one of his military schools. The Korugar's look was similar to that of the Vega-Knights with the pointy ears and tanned skin, but when it came to the Korugar people, they were much more militaristic in mind, body, and soul.
"I think every one of those guards is chiseled," Narious said, "They have such strong features."
Tre'Yan scoffed, and then said, "They're okay, but they seem to hit the gym a little too hard in my opinion."
When Sinestro, a powerful Yellow Lantern, took over Korugar a few years earlier, it hurled the planet's economy into shambles, and even after the Lantern Corp defeated Sinestro, it didn't bring them out of economic ruin. Therefore, the nation fueled its economy by leasing its citizens to other worlds for menial labor, the sex industry, and security.
"It seems all the guards guarding the parking lot are from Korugar," Broady said, "They're usually by the book in every way possible, so don't get into trouble."
"That's true," Eli said, "We had several Korugar Generals running our military academies on Moxia. They've been in Moxia for the last fifteen years at least."
"Yup," Prince Nefare said in agreement. "Remember General Tui? He was the meanest."
"Nah! His daughter Katma was much worse," he said as they walked down the ramp of the ship. "She used to steal the money that I used to buy Booshi fruit."
Underneath the ship, the Prince had eight, military-style hoverboards that he unfastened from the bottom of the ship, and he issued each one of the party crew a hoverboard. "Don't lose or break my boards," he said as they dropped from their holsters into position.
"We won't," Narious said with a wicked smile. He had thin lips and had many Moxian features, but was a Vega-Knight.
"Please, understand that these hovers are military-types with positronic weapons on the front and rear. Don't activate them for any reason." He looked up for a moment, across the way, and thought he saw a beautiful Vega-Knight woman that resembled Tre'Yan, but thicker. She had merely walked across the field, but he thought the Vega Prime sun was getting to him.
"It's hot," Prince Nefare said, "It's like an extreme tropical climate around here."
"Yup," Broady said, "That's why I'm always taking trips here, but it's been a minute."
The sky over the airfield was free of any flying cars, but in the distance, the flying cars painted a unique picture of colorful grays and blues, and in his entire life, he had never seen such a beautiful skyline of pretty cars. The Prince stood atop his hoverboard and led his crew down the street at speeds upward of thirty miles per hour.
"Feel that breeze?" Eli said with a smile on her face. "It's wonderful."
"Yes, it is," Narious said, "I love this weather."
"Let's have a good time," Prince Nefare said, "It's been a long time since I've been on Vega Prime and enjoyed a nice Booshi with some Petalnoids." He had a smile on his face because the Petalnoids loved partying and often were polyamorous, and when he was growing up on Moxia, about two million lived in the city of Drago Banter.
"It has been some time for me too," Broady said with a smile.
"You said that," Eli said.
The dance halls, casinos, swimming plazas, and fancy things were approximately six miles from the airfield, and they traveled there on the nifty hoverboards that floated approximately three feet from the surface. It was a crowded area with people floating on hoverboards throughout the city. When humanoids were in the area where they wanted to be for a while, they usually put away their hoverboards and walked the area for exercise. Fleshies from all over the galaxy flooded the streets, showing breasts, and trying to entice visitors to enter houses of sex and pleasure.
When the gang stopped in front of the dance hall called Dancing Lights, they saw a Petalnoid woman standing outside the main entrance. The streets were swarming with aliens and some of the areas looked congested-almost impassable. Most of the aliens walked the thoroughfare and some of them were on hoverboards, but it didn't matter the mode of transportation in the main district, it was almost impossible to pass. Directly across from the club Dancing Lights was another club called Alien Beats with about seven naked Korugar women trying to entice other aliens to come inside.
One of the naked ladies approached Eli, and said, "You're hot, Moxian."
Eli smiled, inched closer to Broady, and said, "Thank you, but I'm not interested."
The Korugar prostitute smiled, and then said, "I can show you some things." She then scuttled back across the street and left them alone.
Dancing Lights had an array of lights shooting from the rooftop of all the colors of the rainbow. It had a balcony scene with hundreds of aliens dancing on it, and as they danced, the Prince watched some of them with joy. Suddenly, a Petalnoid fell from the balcony, and the Prince leaped into the air, catching the alien by his waist, and set him on the ground gently. "Careful!"
"Thank you," the Petalnoid said, "Thank you for your kindness. I'm Pewa Paylo." His speech was badly slurred and the Prince knew he was drunk.
Immediately, the Prince noticed the poor alien was drunk on Booshi wine, and he reeked of it in a way that he wasn't used to. When the creature spoke, his breath carried the stench of a soul who soaked in Booshi alcohol daily and frequently.
"Good catch," Tre'Yan said immediately.
"Is he okay?" Narious asked with a grimace.
"I think so," Prince Nefare said, "Just a little drunk. Are you drunk, Pewa Paylo?"
"I'm a lot drunk," the alien said with some levity.
"He's not lying," Eli said, "You smell like a boatload of Booshi, Pewa Paylo."
He gave Eli the thumbs up and then smiled. He then looked over at Broady and squinted. "Don't I know you?" He asked as he pointed to Broady.
"I don't think so," he said.
"Not you, idiot, you! You?" He said as he finally pointed to Narious.
Narious laughed, and said in a calm voice, "You have me confused with somebody else."
The Petalnoid species' entire body was covered in dog-like hair, but in the chest area, the hair was red, petal-like shapes that resembled the petals of roses. The hair on their heads was usually silver unless they dyed it or if they had some kind of condition that turned it a brownish color. But most of the healthy population had white hair, long and well kept. The males of the species didn't have any red on their faces; the hairs were all white and usually well kept. But when it came to the females of the species, they had blotches of red petals mixed in with the whites, and they usually tried to style it in such a way as to attract a mate.
"Prince Nefare, what brings you to Vega Prime," the Petalnoid woman asked.
"Do I know you?" He asked with a grimace on his face.
"It's me. Maro Prago," she said, "My brother Padjo and I went to school with you during our childhood days."
"I remember," he said with a smile on his face.
"I do too," Eli said, "Didn't your family leave after the Northern attacks?"
"That's correct," she said, "We feared for our safety." She looked down at the ground for a moment and then said, "The war has made its way to Vega Prime, Prince. Please, be on alert of foreign agents who work for the Decayan Empire."
"We got this," Narious said, "We're the Prince's protection detail." He laughed.
"Shut up, Narious," Eli snapped, "This is serious."
"Sorry," he said, "Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers."
"Well, we have a Lantern here named Katma Tui. If the threat level changes, seek her out," she said, "She will help you if you need any help."
"Katma?" Tre'Yan asked, "Isn't she from Korugar?"
"That's correct," she said, "But she has been assigned to Vega Prime for now. She lived in Moxia for some time I believe."
"So, it's the same Katma?" Prince Nefare said with some levity in his voice. "I hope to avoid her at all cost." The group laughed, walked into the club, and found a cozy table in the corner of the crowded discotheque. Blue fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling throughout the entire dancehall with pink trim that circled the wall of the main dance room. There were cozy little tables that sat on the outside of the dance floor, and just about every table had creatures from all the galaxies enjoying the ambiance.
The tables had a computer in the center of them that they used to order drinks. The Prince looked at the computer for a moment, and then said, "It does accept Moxian credits." He waved his right hand across the panel on the computer, and it said, "two thousand Moxian credits accepted." The computer had the voice of a Petalnoid, a somewhat soft, nasally voice.
"That's a lot of drinking," Tre'Yan said as she looked at the computer. "That's enough money to buy alcohol for a hundred people."
"He's a big spender," Eli said as she stood up to adjust her dress. "This is Neonodian rock music."
"I can't tell," Broady said, "It all sounds the same to me."
The Prince pushed several buttons on the computer screen that had images of the different drinks he wanted to be brought to the table. He tapped the screen quickly, and then robots traveled to his table and dropped off a boatload of alcoholic beverages.
"Let's start slowly," Broady said, "I'm a big guy, but damn. You're trying to kill us, Prince."
"Drink what you can," he said, "It's nothing like some good Booshi Wine."
"Let me get a Cheri Booshi?" Tre'Yan asked.
"That's a good drink," Eli said, "I'll have that too."
"Narious, what do you want to drink?" The Prince asked as he had his hands on the screen.
"Nothing for me," he said, "One of us needs to stay sober."
"That's true," Eli said, "Safety first."
The Prince scoffed. "Guys? Nobody is interested in me," he said. He quickly ordered the drinks for the ladies, and then said, "Narious, let me get you a girl or something?"
"You mean an escort?" He asked.
"Yeah," he said, "I can order you one right here on the computer. What do you desire?"
"I'm good," he said.
"They have Korugars, Petalnoids, Doraxians, and Neonodes. What's your poison?" Prince Nefare asked.
"Enough!" Eli said. "He's not interested." She gave her cousin a nasty glare and then tapped Broady on his right shoulder. "Let's dance."
For a moment, tensions rose at the table, but Prince Nefare immediately put all his attention on the Booshi drinks and acted like he didn't just insult Narious. But at the same time, he was thinking he should've left his dull comrade back on Vega Star. Quickly, he swigged down two Booshi Wines, and then looked over at Tre'Yan who was practically on his lap, and said, "I gotta pee."
"Don't let me hold you up," she said, "Because that bathroom line is long as The Great Barrier."
When the Prince stood in line, he immediately noticed a large Decayan male looking directly at him. They usually had grayish skin that almost looked rock-like, and due to their awful powers to rot flesh, they had their skin wrapped in special bandages so they couldn't come in contact with other humanoid species. The beast made eye contact with the Prince for only a second, but it was a second too long because he got the creature's attention.
"What're you staring at, Moxian?" The Decayan asked. "I'll beat your puny ass!"
The Booshi wine had an effect on the Prince, but he also had to make sure he was interpreting the moment correctly. But when the Decayan stepped directly in front of him, he struck the creature under its arms, and that was how he crippled him. The Decayan let out a loud roar that echoed over the music, and several of his comrades came to his aid. They all looked similar in appearance to the Prince with their bodies wrapped in a material that kept their skin from interacting with other species.
One of the creatures turned to the Prince, unwrapped his hands, and then said, "I'm going to rot you from the inside out." The creature's unwrapped hand looked almost rock-like, but not all Decayans had rough-looking hands. The ones who had harsh features worked in the mines of Fraragon as slaves nearly forty years earlier, and when the Federation of Planets passed several treaties nearly sixty years ago, it did away with all legalized slavery in the Dark Corridor. Slowly, he approached the Prince with his unwrapped hands, and the audience was screaming for the melee to stop.
The Prince had a laser pistol in his right boot that he kept for protection, but as soon as the enemy combatant made an attempt to touch the Prince, a green hand grabbed a hold of the Decayan. It protruded from the Green Lantern's ring from across the room. All the people in the club pretty much gasped at the same time when they witnessed Katma stop the fight.
"Calm down," Karma Tui yelled, "This is not the time or place to settle your grievances, Prince." She stood in front of the Prince in her long, green trench coat, black boots, and mask that covered only her eyes. She dressed in accordance with LR923, the Lantern regulation on the wearing of the Lantern uniform.
The Decayans quickly absconded from the club, but Katma pushed the Prince outside, and said, "Why are you on Vega Prime, Prince Nefare?" She asked, "Po'Lariet wants me to keep an eye on you, but you're too hot. Too many people want to capture you or kill you."
"I can take care of myself, Katma," he said, "I've been trained in the best schools in all types of fighting arts."
"That very well may be, but you can't take on a gaggle of Decayans. Nobody can," she said, "If you're hurt or killed on Vega Prime, it's going to cause problems for me."
"The war is coming to an end," he said, "The Thaddicans and Decayans have what they want."
She scoffed. "This war isn't nearly over," she said, "The cease-fire is tenuous at best. There isn't an ounce of comity between Moxia and Decay."
Tre'Yan walked out of the club, and said, "We should leave. It's too volatile for us to stay here, honey."
"Listen to your girlfriend, Prince Nefare," Katma said, "It's only a matter of time before the Decayans catch you off guard."