Chapter 1
4 Vesta; Asteroid Belt (Sector 2814)
Hal looked out into the distance, thinking. How long had it been since he last saw his home of Coast City? Months? Years? Decades? He stopped counting long ago. As he looked into the distance, nostalgia filled his mind.
He remembered when he first boarded the cockpit of an A-10 Thunderbolt II, his experiences in the air force, and when he first left the planet.
When he first left he felt eager to go back, but now he wasn't very sure. From what Hal had learned, a greedy business man was now the most powerful man in the world, which as history has shown time and time again, is never a good thing.
Hal was taken out of his train of thought as one of his crewmates tapped him on the shoulder.
"Jordan" a woman's voice said "Didn't you here what I said?" He turned to see a woman about his age with dark skin and short brown hair, wearing the same type of suit he was wearing. "We have orders to return to base, we're going home."
Hal thought long and hard, looking off into the distance. He thought back to the last he heard of his home, Coast City, and how it was no longer there. He remembered, about a year ago, of this crazy event that wiped Coast City completely from the map. Add to that the current situation and his mind was made up. Sighing, he turned to face the woman.
"Sorry, Captain Seaton" he replied "but with all due respect, this is an order I just can't follow."
The woman, now known as Captain Seaton, looked at him confused. "What do you mean by that, Jordan?"
"Simple, I don't have a home to go back to, and with the way things are now, there really is no reason why I should go back."
Seaton took a good look at the man in front of her. There was clearly something different about him, he wasn't the same Hal Jordan she left Earth with several years ago. His eyes were drained, his hair was tangled and he had dirty stubble on his face.
Sighing, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Hal. I…" The Captain was cut off as a blinding green light began to approach at high speed. Turning, they both saw that it was coming for them. They rushed to the nearest crater and hid, awaiting the impact. It never came. As soon as they realized it, they emerged only to see that whatever was heading for them to have stopped mere inches away from them. Both Hal and Seaton walked towards it with extreme caution.
The object appeared to float right in front of them, the green light dimming the closer they got. Upon reaching it the light completely faded and the object dropped into Hal's hand. They got closer to examine the object.
"A ring?" Seaton asked confused. Hal then closed his hand and proceeded to place the ring in his pocket.
Air Force Station 27; Asteroid Belt
The crew was doing what they usually did, laughing, drinking, talking with their families, and all sorts of different things. As Captain Seaton entered the base, followed by the pilot Hal Jordan, they all stopped to look at the woman in charge of the operation.
"New orders men" she shouted after a moment of silence "Pack your things, we're going home."
The entire base erupted into cheering, Seaton rolled her eyes at this and proceeded to her dorms, Hal walking closely behind her. As the rest of his crewmates packed their belongings, Hal reached into his pocket, pulled the object from earlier out and began to examine it.
It was a small green ring with a strange symbol in the center, almost shaped like a lantern. As he touched it, the glow from earlier returned. Hal pulled his hand back and the light faded. He repeated the process with the same result. Curious, Hal slid the ring into his finger and soon, his entire body was engulfed in a bright green glow, as soon as it dimed he saw a bright symbol on his chest similar to the one on the ring.
"What the?" he whispered as he inspected himself. Not far from Hal's room, Captain Seaton was on the phone, talking to her superior.
"I understand, Miss Waller, but we are so close to discovering something, I just know it." Seaton spoke into the speaker.
"I'm sorry, Captain Seaton, but the President insists that you return to Earth immediately." The voice on the other side responded.
"I know, but I think if we wait a little longer, we can…"
"I didn't ask you what you think, Captain. I want your ass back here as soon as possible."
Captain Seaton let out a defeated sigh "Understood, ma'am. Seaton Out."
The woman placed her phone back on her desk and looked out the window, completely unaware of the strange figure moving closer to the station.
Air Force Station 27; Martian Orbit
The station roamed as fast as it was able to, barely reaching the orbit of the planet Mars. As the station continued moving, Hal kept analyzing the ring he found. It seemed rather simply, each time he took it off, the green glow disappeared, but as soon as he put it back on the glow returned.
Made sense, right? Not exactly. Now, from what Hal was able to hear, Aliens were pretty much real, as there was one living in Metropolis right now. So the ring was likely built by Aliens, but what exactly was it? Where did it come from? Why did it glow when he put it on? And what did that symbol mean?
Hal didn't have time to think as the alarm sounded all over the station.
"Attention" Captain Seaton's voice echoed through a speaker "Asteroid on collision course, all hands brace for impact. This is not a drill! Repeat, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
Before Hal could react a large chunk of the hold burst open and he was sucked into the vacuum of space, instinctively Hal slid the ring onto his finger. As the glow returned and enveloped his entire body, Hal tried to reach for the station only to see a green wall enveloping the whole.
"What the?" Hal whispered to himself. Wait, how can he still talk in the vacuum of space? Much less breathe? Hal then inspected himself before noticing his entire body was covered in the same green glow from earlier. Not only that but he was also floating. This just got stranger.
Taking a moment to breathe, Hal floated closer to the station before tapping into the nearest window.
Inside the station, Captain Seaton inspected the crew before noticing that someone was missing. She did a quick headcount and it confirmed her fears.
"Volkov" she shouted, catching one of the crew members' attention. A tall man then took a step forward.
"Yes, Captain?" he asked.
"Where's Jordan?"
"I don't know, ma'am. I haven't seen him since he got back on the station."
Seaton lowered her head to the ground. "This can't be good" she whispered to herself when suddenly she heard a tapping sound in the widow. The entire crew turned to see that Hal Jordan was floating just outside of the station. What caught their attention the most was the faint but still bright green glow surrounding him.
"Is that Jordan?" one of the crew members asked.
"How'd he get out there?" another one asked.
"More importantly, how is he still alive?" A third spoke.
"We gotta let him in" Volkov shouted as he ran to the airlock.
"NO" Captain Seaton shouted, stopping him in his tracks.
"But Captain, if you don't let him in, he might die."
"And if we let him back in we might all die. We don't know what that glow surrounding him is, for all we know he could have been exposed to radiation."
Hal looked onto the inside of the station, noticing that Captain Seaton appeared to be writing something on a white board with a marker. Moments later, she ran to the window and turned the board around. Hal squinted his eyes so he could read the message.
"Risk too great, can't explore crew to radiation." He managed to read, Hal floated back just a couple of feet away from the station. "Well, of course they can't let me in. They don't know what this is, and come to think of it neither do I. What could this…"
Hal was cut off mid-sentence as something slammed into him, throwing him off balance. Taking a moment to recover, Hal turned to look at the object that slammed into it and his eyes widened in both surprise and confusion. Hovering not far from him was a massive red robot.
"Okay, first magic rings and now killer robots. Sure, why not?" Hal joked as he got closer. Inside the station, the crew looked on as the robot got closer to them. Captain Seaton held onto her pistol should it try anything. The robot simply remained there, floating, looking at them, almost as if it was scanning the station.
Not far from them, Hal looked at the ring. "Okay, Jordan, think." He said to himself "Try to see if you can do what you did earlier."
Hal closed his eyes before pointing the ring at the robot. When he opened them a beam of green light was shot out of the ring and hit the robot dead center in the chest. The robot quickly recovered before turning to face Hal.
"Okay, I got its attention. Now what?" The robot then charged at him again. "Alright, here we go."
The robot tried to hit Hal as it did so earlier, but Hal moved aside to dodge it before pointing the ring at it again. The former air force pilot then fired another shot at his assailant, but this time he missed.
The robot then pointed what looked like laser guns at him.
"Oh, come on!" Hal complained as the robot began to fire on him. Hal spun around trying to avoid the robot's barrage. As the fight dragged on, the crew looked on in horror. Captain Seaton remained petrified, too shocked by what was occurring to even react.
Hal began panting when the robot's onslaught seized, sweat began to roll down his face. "Alright, Jordan. Focus this time." He told himself before readying the ring again. The robot then charged at him at full speed, Hal positioned himself in the closest piece of debris from the shuttle and launched himself at the robot.
"Alright, you stupid tin can. Let's see if you like THIS!" Hal shouted as the two slammed into each other. Hal concentrated all of his energy, causing the ring to glow brighter and brighter. The robot began to shake violently until finally exploding into pieces.
Hal let out a sigh of relief which soon turned into a panicked pant as the ring's glow began to fade away. Slowly, Hal felt his lungs contract as the air began to leave him. His sight began to dim with each passing minute before everything went black.