Test Scene: Captain Comet:

[lanternslight]

Hal Jordan swears quietly to himself as he pursues the smuggling vessel deeper into the asteroid belt. He speaks again, sending the message through his ring to transmit on all frequencies used by starfaring races, auto-translating.

"I repeat: Unidentified vessel, surrender immediately. You are transporting illegal weapons. You are under arrest. This doesn't have to turn ugly if you just surrender. This is your last warning."

The vessel responds by firing several pulsewave blasts which Hal deftly avoids. "Have it your way, then," he replies, firing a blast into the engines of the freighter; as the vessel loses thrust, he begins pulling it back with constructs to slow it in the vacuum of space. Carol will be disappointed she missed out on this action, he thinks to himself; instead, she's off dealing with the Zamarons again. But this is hardly something he can't handle on his own; she'll just be sad she missed how stupid these people were being. They didn't have anywhere near the firepower to take on a Green Lantern.

But concentrating as he is on this, he doesn't see the fleet, hidden in the field, moving into position behind him... and a yellow blast hits him square in the back. Hal grunts with pain, his constructs fading, and he spins... now seeing the massive fleet of vessels aiming its weapons at him.

"Green Lantern!" a voice calls over the comms, his ring picking up and translating for Hal's benefit. Immediately, Hal recognizes the voice: Kanjar Ro. "I'm afraid it does have to turn ugly here... for you."

Weapons begin opening fire on Hal, every energy beam yellow. While yellow isn't the weakness it once was, it is tougher to deflect than other color blasts. "You see, there's a bounty on dead Green Lanterns... and your ring will fetch a wonderful price on the black market. I can't see you willingly submitting to either of those options. But don't worry... we've got enough firepower here to make sure you're dealt with soon enough."

Hal dodges several of the blasts, but there are just too many. Yellow mini-missiles swarming towards him on the right; yellow energy nets from the left; yellow particle beams all around. He's running out of space pretty quickly.

//WARNING: Interference is blocking ring from contact with Oa. No signal can get out,// his ring informs him.

"Great," Hal mutters to himself, avoiding the incoming blasts as best as he can. "And I walked right into Kanjar Ro's trap." And for a moment, he really wishes Carol had joined him... before he forces the thought of his mind and he starts looking for an opening -- any opening -- to start turning this around before one of the blasts breaks through his shields...

Comments

[mechamorph]

Adam Blake, the man who often adventures under the moniker of “Captain Comet”, nods his head in time to the beat as “Yellow Submarine” plays on his ship’s speakers. One of the things few people know about space travel is how quiet it is. Outside of the faint hum of the engines, there is very little noise in the depths of space. Listening to music from his native planet is just one of many mechanisms Adam uses to cope with the loneliness inherent to deep space travel. Still Adam would not trade the opportunity to travel through space for anything in the universe. The vast panorama of stars is still breathtakingly beautiful to him even after all these years of wandering the spaceways. Adam takes every chance he gets to appreciate it as he is often hurrying from one crisis to another as a member of the L.E.G.I.O.N. Although Adam does feel a twinge of guilt for taking a vacation, Vril did express the notion that the occasional “shore leave” is beneficial for his operatives. It prevents them from becoming mentally unhinged, except for Lobo in which case it prevents him from being a complete homicidal sociopath.

The music cuts out suddenly as the transceiver spits out a long string of gibberish. A few moments later, the ship’s computer resolved it into a clear message using Adam’s native English. "I repeat: Unidentified vessel, surrender immediately. You are transporting illegal weapons. You are under arrest. This doesn't have to turn ugly if you just surrender. This is your last warning."

Adam sits bolt upright in his command chair. He knows this voice as that of the Green Lantern from his homeworld. Or at least the one most familiar to him of the several sanctioned by the Guardians of Oa. He had often heard jokes about how Earth must be a hive of scum and villainy if it needs that many Green Lanterns to police it. Not being overly familiar with the situation back home, Adam devoutly wishes that this is not the case. Using his clairvoyance, Adam casts his sight towards where the confrontation is taking place. It looks like a routine patrol for Green Lantern but Adam plots a course towards it as fast as his craft can travel anyway. It has been a long time since he has spoken with such an old friend and comrade from Earth and Adam has little illusion of catching up to a Green Lantern if he resolves a situation quickly and decides to move on.

This idle thought vanishes however when the yellow energy blasts start. An ambush fleet of this size is a formidable foe even for an experienced Corpsman let alone one exploiting the Yellow Weakness. As his ship, the Cometeer, races towards the pitched battle in progress Captain Comet grabs his jet pack and heads for the airlock. The Cometeer is like an old friend to him, a gift from a man who Adam is proud to call “friend” and “mentor”. While remarkably well-armed and durable for a ship her size, the Cometeer is essentially a police vessel and will fare poorly in a fight with the kind of firepower being thrown about. If Adam is to intervene, it will be using his own powers. Luckily this is not something that Captain Comet finds himself bereft of. As the distance between the Cometeer and the fleet attacking Green Lantern closes rapidly, Captain Comet uses this time to scan the various ships. His eidetic memory cross-references them with the L.E.G.I.O.N. database and Captain Comet takes note of performance profiles as well as any weaknesses.

Captain Comet narrows his eyes as he listens to Kanjar Ro’s broadcast. Few law-abiding citizens open fire on a Green Lantern and they have more than enough enemies that a bounty is far from implausible. Still, Kanjar Ro must be desperate or stupid if he thinks such activities can go unnoticed or unpunished for very long. Although the foes of the Corps are legion, so are their friends. Leaping out of the airlock, Captain Comet creates a forcefield around the corpsman to shield Green Lantern from the worst of the blasts. An application of that self-same power protects him from the rigours of vacuum as he projects his thoughts to Green Lantern using telepathy.

“Hello Green Lantern, I hope that you don’t mind me cutting in.”

Dodging attacks, Captain Comet widened his telepathic broadcast to encompass the enemy fleet.

“This is Officer Adam Blake of the Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network. You are in severe contravention of galactic law. Power down your weapons, surrender to the relevant authorities and you will be allowed to plead in your defense.”

To no one’s surprise, the ships kept firing anyway.

[lanternslight]

The additional shield protecting him comes as a welcome surprise.

"Not at all, Captain Comet; thanks for the assist!"

Comet's shields don't have the weakness to yellow; Hal trusts in the newcomer's powers to keep him protected, and he instead turns on the offensive, unleashing a salvo of green energy blasts at several of the vessels, intending to destroy their weapon systems.

[mechamorph]

Seeing that Green Lantern has things well in hand, Captain Comet turns his attention to scanning the minds within the enemy fleet, trying to locate Kanjar Ro's flagship even as he maintains the telekinetic shields protecting the Green Lantern. The Dhorian is known to be less than stalwart and perhaps a little nudging can convince him that discretion is the better part of valour. The conqueror appears to be savvy enough not to use the largest and most powerful vessel in his fleet as his own, such vessels often becoming fire magnets for enemy gunners. Instead he is on a smaller cruiser that still mounts respectable weaponry and armour while still retaining a decent turn of speed. Again, being able to run seems to be consistent with the files Adam has read about Kandar Ro.

Using the files he memorized from the L.E.G.I.O.N. database, Captain Comet finds a particular flaw in the design. A structural seam that would compromize the thermal shielding of the ship's power plant if it were to rupture. Normally such a seam will never give way under battle conditions, protected as it is under several thick armour plates. However such protections mean little to a sufficiently powerful telekinetic. The superstructure of the ship shakes as Captain Comet slowly pulls the seam apart and temperatures start to rise within the vessel.

"Kandar Ro, I recommend that you surrender immediately before your ship's engines cook you within your own hull."

The telepathic message is mainly a bluff, Adam would hardly murder an entire crew to get to one man but he is more than willing to make it just hot enough for the crew to pass out from heat exhaustion if it means Ro's surrender or decapitating the command structure of his fleet.

[lanternslight]

Sure enough, as Hal focuses on taking out the fleet, vessel after vessel knocked completely out of the fight, several of the warships are starting to retreat.

Kanjar Ro himself doesn't respond directly to Adam's order, but his vessel does begin to move to retreat, covering its escape with heavy firepower... but, for the moment, Adam's shields are holding.

[mechamorph]

Kandar Ro's ship shudders again as Captain Comet tears a larger gash in the seam. It will make things stiflingly hot for the crew but not to the extent where he risks people dying or the ship's engines detonating. Soon, Dhorians will pass out from the heat if nothing is done which ought to give Ro a certain impetuous to act quickly. His other ships can certainly rescue the crew with very little difficulty given the size of his fleet. That is, it would be a simple operation if two rather peeved lawmen are not actively trying to stop you.

Even as the flagship's salvo washes over his own shields, Captain Comet quickly reviews his options. Kandar Ro seems to be reverting to type and choosing to run. Attempting to hold an entire starship in place with its engines firing at full bore is not something Adam believes to be a feasible course of action for him. And while arrests are always a good thing, the main issue is that Green Lantern is safe. Capturing the Dhorian dictator however means that, for a while at least, he is not out there hunting Green Lanterns. The easiest means that Adam has at his disposal is to simply use his telepathy to control Ro's mind, something he is loathe to do unless the stakes are high enough and other options are exhausted. Besides, it will take so much of his concentration that he will be a sitting duck. Captain Comet is more than capable of multi-tasking and using several powers at once but mind control on top of maintaining two separate sets of forcefields will have him simply floating on the spot in space. However while Adam cannot prevent Kandar Ro from fleeing, he knows someone else who can.

Besides, Kandar Ro is out there hunting for members of his Corps. It is Green Lantern's prerogative to decide what happens to the Dhorian.

"Green Lantern, Kandar Ro is on this vessel," a quick mental image pointed out the exact ship and its location within the fleet, "he's all yours if you want him. I'll run interference."

At the end of his telepathic message, Captain Comet peels off from his trajectory behind Ro's ship and begins attacking the weapon systems of those ships still intent on making a fight out of it with his telekinetic blasts. Weaving effortlessly between several vessels, Adam's genius level intellect calculates the best flight paths to minimize the amount of firepower Kandar Ro's fleet can bring to bear on him at any one time.

[lanternslight]

"Much obliged, Captain Comet," Hal replies. He flies towards the capital ship which Adam pointed out to him, and, deftly avoiding the heavy fire which his vessel is firing, he phases through the hull directly onto the bridge.

"Can't we get it cooler in here?" the captain snaps to his men. "I... Green Lantern!"

Hal hovers in the fore of the bridge, aiming his ring at Kanjar Ro. "I think we're done here, Ro. What do you think?"

Kanjar Ro snarls and fires a blast from his sidearm at the Lantern, but a single sidearm is easily shielded. Hal flies forward, body-checking the planetary dictator, knocking him against the far wall. Kanjar Ro hits the ground and doesn't get up.

Hal turns towards the others on the bridge. "Anyone else?"

A few minutes -- and a call to surrender from the capital ship to the rest of the fleet -- later, the battle is over, and Hal is seeking out the man who made his victory possible.

[mechamorph]

As soon as the fleet stops shooting, Captain Comet knows that Green Lantern managed to get to Kandar Ro and make him see reason. Or pummel him into unconsciousness which is as close as some people get. A seasoned space cop, Adam moves from subdual to damage containment mode almost instantly. His telepathy and clairvoyance allows him to examine the fleet for any vessels suffering from catastrophic damage. Both Green Lantern and he aimed for weapon systems but those tend to be somewhat volatile and Adam does not want to take the chance of any needless loss of life.

Satisfied that Kandar Ro's fleet seems to be able to handle the damage they inflicted by themselves, Adam gives a jaunty wave to the beam of emerald light that emerged from Kandar Ro's flagship. "Green Lantern, its been a while. I haven't seen you since Sue and Ralph's wedding."

For the umpteenth time, Adam was grateful for his telepathy. It allows him to communicate effortlessly in space and a light scan of Kandar Ro's fleet ought to warn him if there is treachery afoot. Still as Green Lantern gets closer, Captain Comet surrounds them both with a telekinetic shield just in case an overly-ambitious gunner decides to try something.

[lanternslight]

"You picked a good time to drop by and catch up," Hal replies with a grin, offering him a friendly handshake. "Thanks again. What brings you out to Sector 2814?"

[mechamorph]

Adam smiles warmly as he shakes Green Lantern's hand. "Ironically I am on vacation, heading towards Earth to catch up on events back home."

Adam decides that if any Earth-based heroes could understand what is running through his head, it would be a Green Lantern.

"I have been working with the L.E.G.I.O.N. over the past few years before it struck me that I have no clue what is happening on Earth outside of official reports. We do a lot of good work out there and I am glad to have been a part of it but it just feels strange that I have become so detached from my own homeworld. So Vril gave me some shore leave and here I am."

[lanternslight]

"I understand that one. The League will be happy to see you, I'm sure." He pauses, then adds, "Except Batman. He's never happy. But he's been lightening up a bit lately... he might only grow mildly paranoid."

[mechamorph]

Adam chuckles as an image of Batman in a party hat holding on to a set of balloons with the bat symbol imprinted on them while still in his unbearably grim expression comes to mind. "You know, I am not sure if Batman ever will find happiness but I think I will paraphrase the Duke of Wellington. 'I have no idea what effect he has on criminals but, by God, he terrifies me'." Mainly because Adam worries that if there is no levity or comfort in his life, Batman will eventually snap like a twig and have his own psychotic episode.

"Still its good to hear that he's lightening up a little. The man could use it before his scowl becomes permanent, if it isn't already. However credit where credit is due, Batman has made himself a weapon against crime while you were chosen as a guardian of the human race. Me, I was born with my powers and I can only be so irresponsible with them because there are people like the League protecting Earth. Its going to be great playing catch up with everyone. By now some of the teen sidekicks probably have become splendid heroes in their own right and some of us older folks might have become parents. I wonder if Sue and Ralph or Jean and Ray have a bundle of joy for me to fuss over already."

[lanternslight]

Hal grins widely, and his ring displays an image of a young toddler. "This is Henry. I adopted him a couple years back. Ralph and Sue have a little girl, too... and so do a few of those teen sidekicks you mentioned."

Best not to bring up the complicated situation with Jean and Ray right now. She's better now, but... things there have changed significantly.

[mechamorph]

Adam blinks once as the thought percolates in his head that some of the sidekicks have children. Damn does that make him feel old. It also reminds Adam that there is no one special waiting for him, not on Earth or in L.E.G.I.O.N. space. Shaking off his maudlin thoughts, he looks suitably impressed with Green Lantern's news.

"He looks like a fine boy, Green Lantern. He'll probably grow up into a hero just like his old man. Ralph's little girl as well. Safe as houses the both of them with the world's most formidable honorary uncles and aunts looking after them."

Adam hummed in thought for a moment as his mind ran through a quick list of the younger heroes. "If I have to make a wild guess, the parent among the teens is probably SPeedy. Good lad but with Green Arrow's influence and his natural eye for the ladies, a paternity suit would certainly not be surprising."

[lanternslight]

Hal's pride of his young son is obvious as he dispels the boy's image. He nods at Adam's thought.

"Well, you're not entirely wrong. He's got a daughter -- a good kid of her own -- but Speedy's straightened himself out. Calls himself Arsenal these days, and is married to Wonder Girl, who's Troia now. There are new kids with their old names these days."

[mechamorph]

The temptation to sit down somewhere is again making itself known. He remembers Speedy and Wonder Girl as children, barely in their teens and still firmly in the shadows of their mentors. Now they are parents and inspirations for others to take on a heroic mantle. Which they passed on to them.

It is only now that the thought truly, insidiously creeps its way through Adam's thoughts. "Exactly how much did I miss?!"

"You know, I wouldn't have pegged those two as a couple but time changes people I guess. It must be a whole brave new world back on Earth. I remember a place with cassette recorders and VCRs. I wonder what sort of technological marvels grace our home planet now?"

Well notwithstanding that Adam has seen fantastically advanced technology from various alien races but the difference is that it will be human ingenuity this time around rather than the products of an alien mind. Provincial perhaps but a man can and should proud of the accomplishments of his fellows or at least that is how Adam rationalizes it.

[lanternslight]

"Well, jets are faster. And there's Blu-Ray instead of VCRs and DVDs." Hal grins. "But women are still the same."

[mechamorph]

Adam chuckles. Some things it seems never change. "Good to know. I haven't had a date since..." Adam trails off for a moment not because his eidetic memory fails him but because it finally hits him just how long it has been. "About six months before I left Earth actually. Maybe Vril is on to something with this whole 'home leave is good for us' mentality."

"And I wish I could tell the Guardians that making their Green Lanterns have day jobs if they want to live honestly on their home planet is none too bright. It seems that those of us who are supposed to have superhuman intelligence aren't always as smart as we'd like think we are."

Adam gives Green Lantern a wry grin. "Happen to know any lonely hearts back on Earth you could introduce a respectable bachelor to?"