Episode 2

Lantern's Light

Chapter Two

Mid-Late 2000

The early days of training had been simple. It had involved reading, simulations and tests. After two months that had changed in some ways for the better and others for the worse.

He had begun to go with Katma on actual patrols. That's where things became more complicated. Especially with the incident with the Phoenix construct, which still bothered him months after.

Kyle had made plenty of mistakes, but he was getting better. Even Katma agreed that he was doing quite well, even though she also told him that he could be both annoying and frustrating. She even joked that he was ahead of where John had been. That made him feel proud of himself, it made him feel accomplished. Back on Earth he couldn't really say the same.

At eight months into training, Kyle was feeling confident in his abilities and his knowledge about his ring. Now his training had taken on a more serious turn as their current mission was investigating the smuggling of an illegal narcotic into their, or rather Katma's sector. It was the first big operation he had been part of. Sure he had chased smugglers and criminals and helped apprehend them, but this was a full-on investigation.

They had tracked the drug to a smuggler that operated primarily in Hirunan's sector. This meant they were working with her. Kyle didn't mind. He had only seen her twice since their first meeting on Ceremes station and each time he had enjoyed her company.

Out here though on the job, she was a very different person. She was cold and calculating, not letting anything take her off track. She had a focus that he found more than a little disconcerting.

The drug itself was one that induced extreme muscle growth and a sense of euphoria. Not only did it physically change whoever took its physical size, but also muscle density. The problem came from the fact that with prolonged use came the increase in anger and rage.

Destruction, injury and even death was the result. It also ended up killing the user most of the time as while their muscle mass increased, their bone mass didn't. They essentially crushed themselves with their own strength.

This was something they had to stop and soon.

The three of them found themselves sat in some dingy bar, which was apparently a drinking hole their smuggler was a frequent patron of. All they had to do was sit and wait. He would show. Eventually.

It was a few gruelling hours sat in the sty that was supposed to be a bar when their target came sauntering in. Kyle had seen pictures of him, but he couldn't recall the species he was. There were so many that he simply couldn't remember them all. All he knew was that he was very short, but looked like he could throw a hefty punch if cornered.

"That's our guy," Hirunan whispered.

Katma nodded in affirmation. "How do you want to do this?" she asked.

"You're the senior lantern," Hirunan said.

"This is your sector," Katma pointed out. "We'll do this your way for now."

"Then we take him outside and rough him up," Hirunan said. "I doubt any of the patrons are going to want to take all three of us on, so we don't have to worry too much about anyone else getting involved."

"We'll follow your lead," Katma said.

Hirunan slowly stood up and walked over to the man. Kyle was about to follow when Katma stopped him. "Don't want to spook him too early," she told him. "Wait for Hiru to make the initial move. We'll block him if he tries to flee."

Kyle nodded in acknowledgement and watched as Hirunan rested her hand on the smuggler's shoulder. He turned around and looked up at her.

"What do ya want?" he demanded loudly, before noticing her uniform. "Wait, ya one of them Green Lanterns."

"Yes," she confirmed. "I'm one of "them Green Lanterns" like you said. Now, I want to talk to you."

"No deal," he said as he ran past her and bolted towards the door.

Just as he was about to exit, a green barrier appeared in front of him and he bounced off, landing hard on his behind.

Katma, the one who had erected the barrier moved towards him, Kyle close behind. "There's three of us," she told him. "It's best that you comply."

The smuggler suddenly looked very nervous.

Hirunan stepped up behind him and helped him back to his feet. "Let's talk outside," she said.

He nodded and the three of them stepped out of the bar and headed around the corner into a nearby alleyway.

Hirunan began, "Tell us about the drug known on the street as 'Super'."

"I dunno nuthin'," the smuggler said with what appeared to be a shrug.

"You want me to believe that you don't know what you have in your cargo hold?"

"I don't ask."

"I don't believe you," Hirunan said. "Tell us what we want to know and you walk out of here. Don't and we can arrest you on several counts of smuggling."

"Ya don't have nuthin' on me," the alien said.

"How about this. You tell us and you walk away. Don't and you crawl away."

"Ya wouldn't," he said, starting to look a little paler.

"Remember what planet this is," Hirunan reminded him. "No one on this backwater world will care."

He turned and ran. Hirunan sighed as she raised her fist and grabbed hold of him with green bindings and slammed him against the wall.

"Tell me where the drug 'Super' comes from, now!" she commanded.

"They'll kill me if I tell."

"I'll kill you if you don't," she told him, her tone cold and threatening.

"Fine," he said in almost a whimper. "It's on a small rogue planet between stars. There's a base built on the frozen waste of a world."

"Where is this rogue planet?"

"Between Verdant and Hector," he said. "Closer to Verdant."

Hirunan released him. "We know your routes and we know your contacts. We know everything about you. If this is a lie, we will find you."

"It ain't a lie and ya didn't get it from me," he yelled as he ran off out of the alleyway.

Katma stepped up to her. "You believe him?"

Hirunan shrugged. "We'll see won't we."

"He might not be as easy to find a second time," Katma pointed out.

"No, but unless he decides to drop all of his contacts and move out of the sector, we'll find him. Now let's go shut down that operation."

The three of them moved out of the alleyway and took flew off into the sky. Their destination was clear. They just hoped that it was accurate.

"We're coming in on the approach," Katma said.

Katma had taken an active lead in this operation. She was the senior Green Lantern so command fell to her.

Hirunan nodded in affirmation. "You want us to raise defence shields?"

"Yes, both of you. I don't know how good their sensors are. We might be able to slip in unnoticed."

Just as Katma had finished speaking, a wall of energy fire flew at them. They quickly raised their green shields just in time to stop themselves getting fried.

"Or we might not," Katma mused.

"That's a lot of defences," Kyle commented.

"Too much," Hirunan said. "We're going to have to start thinning out those turrets or we're not going to make it."

Katma nodded. "Get behind me and prepare to drop your shields. I'll extend mine around you. You two concentrate on taking out those defence turrets."

"Okay," Kyle agreed, as he and Hirunan moved behind her.

Katma extended her shield and the other two lowered theirs. "I'm moving forward," Katma told the others.

The three of them moved in unison towards the base, both Kyle's and Hirunan's motion were now controlled by Katma as they were within her shield.

"Can't make out where the lasers are coming from," Kyle said. All he could see was a wall of red energy bolts flying at them. It reminded him of that scene from the eighties Flash Gordon movie where the rocket ship was flying towards the enemy base.

"Let the ring do the work," Hirunan told him as she began firing green bolts towards the base.

Kyle made a laser rifle construct, complete with a reflex sight and began to shoot, spraying green energy hoping to hit something. He wasn't exactly a skilled combatant when it came to shooting things, but he did his best.

"We need to get closer," Hirunan said, as she stopped shooting. "We're too far to hit anything."

"Speeding up," Katma acknowledged.

Kyle followed Hirunan's lead and his laser rifle construct vanished as he waited for them to move in closer. Unfortunately, the closer they got, the harder it was to see due to the overly bright mass of laser-fire.

Hirunan aimed her ring and began to fire once more, Kyle seeing this, he reconstructed his laser rifle and sprayed towards where the laser-fire was coming from.

At first, Kyle thought they were wasting their time, but it started to become apparent that the lasers were starting to thin out.

Katma spoke up, "I've spotted an airlock. I'm taking us in."

Hirunan and Kyle both took out a few more laser turrets before they reached the hatch, the laser-fire stopped as they went into their blind spots.

Hirunan moved up next to Katma. "I'll cut through."

She placed her ring against the door and cut through it. She then pulled it free and discarded the door to the side. The three of them entered the lock where Hirunan began to cut through the inner door.

"Be prepared," Katma warned. "This might not be easy."

Hirunan glanced back at her. "Think they're ready to deal with three lanterns?"

Katma corrected her, "Two lanterns and a trainee."

"Gee, thanks," Kyle muttered.

Hirunan finished cutting and the inner lock door fell outward. A steady stream of air rushed outward passed them as the corridor decompressed. The three of them cautiously headed inside. The corridor was long and straight, with no signs of life. They headed onwards, ready for anyone or anything to jump out and attack them.

But it didn't.

Well, not until Kyle dropped his guard.

Out of nowhere, drones began to swarm into the corridor. Katma erected a shield that filled the corridor in front of them, while Hirunan and Kyle took aim and returned fire, Hiru directly from her ring and Kyle from his laser rifle construct.

They moved forward slowly, Katma's shield stopping the incoming fire, but allowing their fire through to destroy the small flying robots. Hirunan stopped shooting for a moment and a small display projected out of her ring.

"Scanning for life-forms," she told the others.

Kyle continued to shoot down the drones as they continued to pour into the corridor from parts unknown.

Katma glanced back. "Hiru, how about finding out where these drones are coming from. If we blow that area up, then things will be a whole lot easier for us and we can concentrate on finding the criminals before they escape."

"On it Kat."

Katma turned to Kyle. "Keep up the good shooting, you're doing well."

"Thanks," Kyle said as he destroyed six drones, which were promptly replaced by seven more.

"Think I've found it," Hirunan told them.

"You wanna take the lead?" Katma asked.

The purple woman pointed. "Follow this corridor for now."

"Get ready to run," Katma told them as she started forward.

Her shield struck the drones and began to push them backwards, causing them to bundle up against each other. Some of the drones shot other drones by accident, but more were being destroyed by Kyle's more spray and pray approach.

Hirunan pointed down another corridor. "That way."

"Okay," Katma said as she raised a second shield behind them so they weren't flanked.

"Kyle, take up the rear," Hirunan told him. "I'll shoot forward," she said, while also keeping track of where they were headed.

Kyle hoped they weren't too far from where these drones were coming from. His ring had only so much charge and he was worried they might be overwhelmed.

"Scratch that, I need you up front," Hirunan said to Kyle.

He looked around from the empty corridor behind to see a mass of drones ahead. He stepped up and opened fire.

"Through here," Hirunan said pointing.

The three of them made their way through the door and entered a large area. Ahead of them lay a large and loud machine that appeared to be spitting out new drones as fast as they were destroying them.

Katma gestured with her head. "Destroy that."

Kyle and Hirunan took aim and shot green energy bolts at the drone constructor machine. It only took a few hits before it began to spark. They continued to rain green fire on it until it erupted into flames and exploded in a fireball and a near-deafening boom, causing Kyle to wince as his ears began to ring.

With the production of drones now at an end, they easily finished the rest of them off.

Katma turned to face both Hirunan and Kyle once the drones were all destroyed. "Here's how it goes from here. Both I and Hiru are going to find the boss. Kyle, I need you to find out where the drug is being manufactured."

He nodded in affirmation. "Understood." He held out his ring and began a scan of the facility. "What am I looking for?"

"Look for areas of high energy. But not the reactor, or reactors," Katma told him. "Contact us if you need help."

The two of them flew off down the hallway, leaving Kyle behind. He checked his scan results which were not very helpful. There were power sources all over the place, maybe six. He detected only one big energy source which he suspected was the facility's main reactor.

Kyle decided to head to the nearest power source, which was a few levels below him. He moved quickly, encountering only one or two stray drones which were easily dispatched and proceeded on until he came upon the first room with a distinct energy reading.

Kyle grinned. "First shot," he said thinking that he had found the room that was producing the drug. He flew up to the line and took a scan of the sealed containers.

It wasn't the right drug.

Still, from the scan he found that the drug was still a class A narcotic. Illegal in most sectors and highly addictive. It appeared that they were manufacturing far more than just the one.

Kyle moved on to the next area, finding more illegal narcotics. The third was the drug they had originally come here for and the final two were not making drugs, but manufacturing illegal firearms. There was enough here to put the perpetrators away for a long-long time.

Having discovered all he believed there was to discover, he made his way to Katma and Hirunan.

He found them with a group of aliens held in a bubble projected by Katma.

The senior lantern glanced back at him. "Did you find it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but that's not the only thing. Other illegal drugs and weapon production."

Katma smirked as she looked back at the criminals before them. "Interstellar law is something you can't get away from. You're all going away for a long time."

The largest of them growled. "I know people. Nothing will stick on me."

"We'll see about that," Katma warned. "You have the attention of the Green Lanterns now."

"You don't scare me," the big one who was obviously the boss said, his tone thick with venom.

"I don't care if you're scared. The Manhunters are on their way to pick you up and take you to where you will await trail."

The boss snarled in response but said nothing else, which suited them fine.

It took a few hours for the Manhunters to arrive and take the criminals away. Once that was done, they waited until a starcruiser arrived to catalogue and dismantle the facility before the three of them departed.

As they flew away from the rogue moon, Hirunan turned to Kyle with a smile. "You did well.

Katma nodded in agreement. "Yes, he did. He'll be a full-fledged Green Lantern before too long."

Kyle grinned. He liked the idea of that. Though he was also a little apprehensive. There was a lot of responsibility that went with the role. He wasn't sure he was mature enough for that, but he also realised that by acknowledging that fact he was taking a step in the right direction to better himself.

"I won't let any of you down," he told the others and he meant it. He was proud of what they had accomplished today.

Updated January 2018