21 Star 21

Starburst of Sector 2814

Star 21

By: BigToFu

Green Lantern Commander

Domonic Wolf

As I was being led through the space station, I had my ring scan devices, Xenos, and ships rapidly and all I could say was that this place was a moshpit of mixed flavors. Before we reached the lounge area, I had at least scanned twenty alien species with twice as many ships. I raised a brow when I noticed the establishment was called Nova, but ignored it for now. With everything being early morning, the bar was of course open because this was space which meant it was always happy hour. Although, I did notice that there was a galactic standard clock on one of the walls which was a good thing to note. Double-checking it against my own ring told me that I was still on Shi'ar time so I added Nova time along with that because of course different sides of the galaxy would have different time zones.

Walking into the bar area, I raised a hand to wave at my guy standing by one of the floor-to-ceiling port windows for people to get a spectacular view of the outside. "Hey, Kilowog, where are the rookies at?"

At my call, the big guy turned from the window and shot me a smile. He took two steps before his arms wrapped around me as he hauled me up off my feet and into a massive bear hug. With a sigh and a chuckle, I let the big man do his thing before he set me back down after three to four hard shakes of the body. Then came the massive bear paw swat to the back that almost sent me stumbling.

"Ha! Good to see that you survived those mad birds!" Kilowog stated with his loud voice with a pat to the back almost sent me stumbling by a step.

*Sigh*

"Good to see you, too big guy," I replied with a flex of the shoulder stretching it out. "So, where are the rookies?"

Kilowog let out one of those snorts that sent his pink ears flapping. "Parker already called and should be down in five. I don't think Silvers will make it down in time though."

I blinked twice at that because I wasn't expecting any of it. "Why?"

The big man let out a chuckling snort, "She got herself some fancy tail."

My hand went up as I palmed my face, "Really, Kilo, you couldn't tell them to keep it in their britches."

He shrugged at me, "They're grown adults, I shouldn't have to tell them what they can and can not stick their bits into or got stuck into themselves."

Well, when it was put that way, there was nothing I could say because as an adult my people would make their own choices. Well, long as the choices didn't come back to bite the Corps in the ass at least. With a nod of the head, I followed him as Ricard followed me to an open table that was waiting for us. Raising a hand, I called one of the robot waiters over and ordered myself a simple plate of noodles because even in space you can't ruin something like that. Along with a simple bottle of hydration, because water was universal.

Richard also ordered himself a plate of something else which I had no love for, same as Kilowag. Richard and Kilowag had the same thing which looked like jumping meatballs with little squigglies coming off its sides. We were enjoying a nice meal before Richard decided he wanted to finally ask the hot question that was burning a hole in his mind.

"So… how do you know about me?" Richard Rider asked while chewing through a moving meatball that had purple sauce on it.

Looking at him over my bowl of warm noodles, I slurped up the last of it, then held out a hand. From my hand raised a green scrolling list of names.

Richard blinked as he took a closer look at the list of names, "What are those for?"

With a grunt, I started to point to the connections, "Each name is linked to spatial anomalies around the earth."

Richard blinked as he reeled back a little bit, then I hit him with the jab.

"Ohh and I hacked most systems to cross reference and figure out if there just happen to be any surviving humans out in the wilds." With that being said, I showed him a picture of his own face. A picture of Carol Danvers, Christopher Summers also known as Corsair, and six other humans around the galaxy of note.

Richard peered a little closer at the list of names and then poked one, which was one of the more recent ones that I was thinking about investigating.

"Who's this Malcolm Leeds?" Richard asked while the name he poked dissolved into motes of lights, then shifted to give a profile view of the person in question.

With a sigh, I shrugged, "Recent kidnap victim from Earth, I was going to follow the trail once I make sure the rookies are doing okay."

Richard rocked back in his seat a little, "Wait, how do you know he was kidnapped from Earth and not left on his own."

With a snort, I showed Richard the missing persons report from the police along with a ship's drive core emissions. This was picked up by one of my deep space satellites in the system and cross-referenced with one over the planet leaving the solar system around the time of the guy going missing. Richard looked closer and I could tell that he was thinking from the way his jaw and eyebrows shifted.

"What do you know?" I questioned as I put away the rest of the list but kept up the information on the ship's engine trail.

"Just that spectrum trail looks a little familiar," Richard muttered while rubbing at his chin.

Okay, now that was an interesting development that I didn't see coming. Maybe I could take this lead to investigate this situation some more instead of following what might be a dead trail.

"Alright, Rich, how about I go check on these rookies and you get the data on this ship's emission signature?" With that, I generated a data stick for Richard to catch and I could see that the little thing was niggling at the back of his mind.

"Alright, but I want to ride along on this one," Richard replied with a look.

Picking up my bowl I gave him a nod of the head, "I don't see why not."

3 Hours Later…

Standing next to Kilowag, I had a frown on my face while I watched through the monitor window as Diana beat the breaks off the trainees and Jessica down below. Jessica Silver decided she wanted to talk shit without realizing her ass couldn't cash that check with Jessica Drew and almost created an intergalactic issue on the space station with her pheromone powers. Ben Parker was just unlucky as he wasn't fast enough to escape the volunteered surprise training. There was a snort at my side as Diana swept the leg out from underneath Jessica Silvers and followed that up with a roundhouse kick which shattered Ben's hasty shield.

"He's too much of a paladin," Kilowag grunts at my side.

This causes me to chuckle a little, "He's from the generation of defending the fairer sex, it's going to be his biggest weakness out here."

"Should I break him of it?" Kilowag asks while we watch Ben intercept another mean hit aimed at Jessica Drew.

"No, but he will need a partner if he goes anywhere beyond the solar system, I rather he kept the soft edge for anything close to home," I replied as I turned away from the monitors. "He's going to represent me back on Earth while I'm out galavanting across the stars."

Kilowag snorted at that and just shook his head while he walked away. Leaving him to go deal with the training along with Diana, I turned my attention towards the man with a scowl on his face approaching my ship's docking ramp. Leaving the training area, I traveled a little distance to the cargo hold to meet with Richard Rider. When I got there, I found that Dexx-Starr somehow entranced him. Who would have thought that the big bad Richard Rider would be a pet person? I shook my head as I watched him give Dexx scratches under the chin, then along the neck, and behind the ears.

With a chuckle, I leaned up against the wall as I watched Richard pet Dexx-Starr "So, did you find it?"

"Hmmm," Richard idly hummed before catching himself as he gave Dexx-Starr one last good scratch behind the ear. He then did a fake cough to clear his throat before turning towards me. "Yeah, but things are still not adding up."

At his reply, I just raised a brow, then caught the data drive he threw at me.

"What about it that's raising a stink," I questioned as I had my ring create a sandbox before scanning the data drive and then projecting it onto the nearest wall.

"The ship's drive signature is one the Nova Corps has been tracking, but for the last twenty-three times it has just vanished in sector 4J of the Delta quadrant," Richard replied with a sigh and hand motioned towards the hologram projecting on the wall.

I looked at it and then pinched my brow because it couldn't be that fucking easy. We were going to need drones, lots and lots of fucking drones.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" Richard asks as I just give the hologram on the wall a very flat look because this was such an easy open-and-shut type situation.

"It's camouflaged Richard," I said with a hand motion towards the hologram. "Compare the local star chart data with the energy trails and we will find their location along with some drone work."

His face twisted into a frown as he looked at the hologram, then back at me. "And how could you possibly know that?"

I rubbed a hand against my chin, "How to explain this in a way that you will understand." I muttered as I looked from him to the hologram, then snapped my finger as I figured it out. "James Bond."

Richard blinked a few times then looked at me with his head tilted to the side, "Yeah, the British spy guy right, well, what about him?"

Great, Richard Rider, the infamous super cop of the Nova Corp was an uncultured swine. With a sigh I brushed that aside as I brought up a few clips of the movies. Then I had them play around the scene of discovering the villain's lair. "What do you see?"

He watched for a moment with a frown on his face before turning to look at me, "All I can see is a stupidly hidden location. I don't see how that helps with this situation or about the camouflage as you said. We have nothing but open space in sector 4J, and we checked the few asteroids, and the planet on record isn't there, nor was it in the location provided."

I snapped my finger at that because even I didn't know that about the sector. "That right there."

"What?" Richard asked back confused.

"Villains don't change much, we are just on a grander scale, the same way that Bond villain has a crazy satellite setup to hide the island, they have something similar to hide the planet you are looking for," I replied to him with a wave at the hologram.

Richard frowned at me, then his jaw shifted as he started to think hard, "Okay, but why couldn't we find the planet?"

My shoulders went up and down in a shrug, "Not sure, they could be using a phase modulator to phase the planet out from reality."

Richard shook his head, "The power to do something like that would be astronomical."

"Well, did you guys at least use the records of the last location of the planet and then adjust your search parameters to the stellar drift? The Earth is always on a constant move and we know the universe is always expanding." I shrugged again, "It's worth a try at least."

His look wasn't a pleasant one, "It can't be that simple."

With a chuckle, I made a hand motion for him to follow me, "Only way to find out." I answered on my way to the bridge of my ship. Richard didn't even give it a second thought as he placed two fingers on the side of his helm and spoke up. While he was giving out orders to his own people, I made it to the bridge, sat in my Captain's chair, then started to flick at my dashboard.

[spoiler=Drone] [/spoiler]

The ship came alive under my control as the engines hummed to life, with the coordinates plugged in, I took us out of the docking bay. Then with a twist of the controls, I aimed us toward the proper direction and punched it. Within twenty minutes of the flight, Diana came to the cockpit and took one of the seats in the back. While they talked, I checked the security feed and found that Jessica Drew was talking with Ben in the mess bay while Jessica Silvers was still in the firing range with Kilowag.

Dismissing the feed, I activated the auto-pilot and had my chair shift backward so I could just enjoy the ride. The conversation stopped for a bit so I could upload the star charts that Richard had placed on the data drive. I said nothing as he came forward to watch as the hologram started to shift as it accounted for stellar drift and a few other things the Nova Corp was aware of over the last few thousand years. This was then compared to the star charts I got from the Shi'ar Empire. It was funny because I could see the disdain on his face when he looked at the Shi'Ar tag on the mapping charts, but he didn't say it, which was also good.

The calibration went quickly and it only took us another thirty minutes before we arrived at the location where the map said the system would now be located. Active scans couldnt read any planets in the solar system, because of course it didn't; but I had something for these so-called villains. Shifting the scans for gravimetric spikes and anomalies in the system, the alerts pinged a few locations which made them great places to start.

"What is that?" Richard asked with a hand motion towards the floating hologram.

With my hands on the sticks, I turned off the auto-pilot as I directed us toward the closest asteroid. While we flew, I shared my plans, "Those are the gravity anomalies in the system, the planet might not be visible, but it can still leave a gravity wake."

Richard shifted in his seat, his eyes shifting into a glare, "Wait, so you already found it?"

Before I could answer, Diana beat me to it with a shake of her head, "No, from the looks of the radar, we are only able to see the local gravity anomalies, but given that we are looking for a planet, I would say we should start with the largest one and work in an elimination pattern."

I brought us into a hover over the asteroid before activating the tractor beam system, "Exactly what she said."

Letting out some air, Richard folded his arms across his chest, "Alright, but why are we here in this specific spot if we already know what needs to get done?"

With a chuckle and a smile, I got up from my seat and I left my ring in charge of everything, "Because we like to work smarter, not harder." Richard still looked confused so I brought up an image for him to look at.

"Drones Richard, drones will take up the bulk of work, no need to waste manpower," Diana answered for me since she was always on my wavelength and knew where I was going with this.

I didn't need to turn around and see that he was following me as I made my way to the engineering deck of my ship. Once I got there, the room had already unfolded and was waiting for me to confirm the selection already available. Instead of doing that, I opened the tap and made a few modifications to the drones that would be rolling off the 3D printer. The regular communications relay was updated with real-time sensor matrix sharing. Then I went ahead and gave it a coupling system that would let more than one of the drones work together to perform any task, then added a robust anti-gravity system to the drone.

Once I was happy with it, I hit the print button. The hologram that I was working on shifted into something massive as it displayed the ship lowering a cannon that shot out a material synthesis beam at the asteroid. The cargo hold of my ship opened with the atmosphere barriers up, then out of the ceiling, a mark sixteen material 3D printer appeared. Then within seconds the first drone was made and left the cargo area once it activated.

"Alright," I said with a clap of my hands as I turned around to look at Richard, "I'll plug you into the ship's network so you are on the same channel as the rest of us."

"Thanks," Richard replied with a nod of the head, then I noticed him thinking for a bit. "Should I call in some backup, this is a planet hidden by pirates or maybe something worse."

Thinking about it for a time, I shook my head at him, "If things really kick off that bad, Diana will just stop holding back, she is the big gun after-all."

Richard Rider paused in his motions, then turned to look at Diana and saw the smirk that was on her lips.

*CLAP!*

"Alright folks, let's gather the kiddies and get this show on the road," I called as I made my way out of the engineering room.

An hour later found us all hovering between two suns on the elliptical. The funny thing was it didn't trigger on the gravimetric system, it was the lack of that that brought it to my attention really. So now we were here with the swarm of drones around blank space because of course the space would be blank.

With a thought, waves of green rolled from my shoulders before shifting into solid plates flowing around until they found their stations. Screws, coolant systems, wires for fiber optics, and crystal structures form from my imagination as my will pushed it all forth into the world.

[spoiler=Commander Wolf] [/spoiler]

Yet…. as I built the destruction of the cloaking tech that kept the planet from our gaze, the ring upon my finger gave a light tug. It wasn't the usual tug of it trying to leave me, but it was a nudge from someone who overcame great fear. My ring, my will was resonating with someone unseen to my eyes and regular senses.

With a raised brow, I held my hand out and willed a trainee ring to appear, for now, the restrictions would be off. It would stay that way until I could discover who this new recruit was and if they had the stuff I was looking for.

Malcolm Leeds

Waking up with a jolt, Malcolm didn't know if today was his fifth day or his sixth day in captivity as what was clearly an alien station shook violently. With a sigh, he sat up on the single cot that made his bed and ignored the guards running outside the forcefield of his cell.

The station shook one more time and Malcolm made a promise to himself. It was that if he ever got out of this mess, he would never go drinking with those assholes from his job ever again. Then he paused mid thought, he didn't even have the first clue in how he would be getting out of this or even how to get back to earth. Shit, he didn't even know his head from his ass, how was he going to get back home, but the other question was did he even want to go back to earth. He allowed the thought to roll through his brain for a moment or two before he made up his mind.

His old girlfriend Ashley could go and so could his deadbeat job, boy Malcom couldn't throw aside his family. The station shook once more which sent a little spike of panic up Malcom's spine as more guards ran by the cell. Making up his mind, Malcolm ran his hands over all the seams next to the force field keeping him locked inside of the cell. He might not be Captain America, or any great hero, but he at least had common sense.

5 Minutes later…

Okay, he maybe could admit that maybe his common sense had let him down a little. Yet before he could get further with that thought, something burst into his prison cell. There was a green ring floating before his face and Malcolm could honestly admit that he had no clue what to do next.

The sounds of boots hitting the ground sent Malcolm into action as he reached out for the ring and it shot forward and onto his hand.

Malcolm Leed of Earth, you have the ability to overcome great fear, welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.

With that, a great deal of information uploaded itself into Malcoms brain and he could only smile as he brought his hand before his face. "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light."

Then the door to his cell was violently opened, the guards standing their with all manner of weapons, but it sucks to be them because Malcolm was ready.

[spoiler=Malcolm Leeds] [/spoiler]

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