Author's Note: Storm is coming so I thought I'd get today's episode out early.

Sora’nik was alive; that’s all that mattered.

The doctors were taking care of her while I was waiting outside the hospital. The battle was over. With the Central Power Batter destroyed and the Sciencells emptied, the Yellow Lanterns scattered, their job complete. Within the day the Green Lantern Corps would be out of juice and next to useless.

“We must leave, Jade,” said the new female sounding voice of my ring. “Without the Green to defend the universe, Sinestro will reign. We cannot allow this to happen.”

I sat there staring out at the mess that was the central city. Very few green streaks moved through the sky. I’d be surprised if most of the Corps members weren’t already land-bound. “What am I supposed to do? I’m only one person.”

“I have downloaded the database of the Sapphire ring and subjugated it to my will. You must proceed to Sector 1416, specifically the planet Zamaron. There, the necessary materials to construct the Star Sapphire rings reside.”

Looking back at the doors to the hospital I frowned. “I can’t leave her, Ring.”

“Your love will be safe for the time being, Jade. If you do not proceed and build your Corps then I calculate a ninety-nine point seven three percent chance that she will die when the Sinestro Corps return.”

I stood and brushed the dirt off of my uniform. “Can you… I’m afraid to ask you to change my uniform.”

A violet glow shimmered over me and simply switched the green and white portions to violet and the lantern emblem to a starburst which I assumed was the symbol for the Star Sapphires. I shrugged.

“Well, I guess that doesn’t suck.”

Looking around, it appeared that I was starting to be the center of a little attention. Holding my hands up, I said, “Don’t worry. I’m a friend.”

“We better get out of here before someone thinks that I’m not.”

“Acknowledged. Plotting course to Sector 1416.”

Before I even got three feet off the ground, Guy Gardner zipped up with an angry look on his face, until he saw it was me.

“Jade, what’s going on? What’s with the new look?”

I pointed back at the hospital. “It was the only way I could save Sora’nik. She died, but this ring popped up and said she could be saved if I joined its Corps.”

“Pink? Hold on, Sora’nik died?”

“I shook my head. She’s going to be okay; at least that’s what the doctors say. And it’s violet, not pink.”

He scratched his head. I had a feeling that Guy spent a lot of time bashing heads and not really thinking too much. “Uh… what’s the emotion it’s tied with?”

I looked to the side for a moment. “Love.”

“Oh… OH… you and Sora’nik? Wow, who woulda saw that comin’?”

I shrugged. “It’s more on my side than hers, but still. She’s alive.”

He nodded. “Well, we owe you. I saw you helping out with the wounded.”

“I was just doing my part.”

“You leaving?”

“Yeah. With the Green Corps out of the game until you get your Central Battery fixed, I need to get the Violet Corps up and running. For some reason, they chose me to lead them.”

He looked over his shoulder and then back at me. “Look, Mogo’s on his way here to help out. He’s juiced up more than anyone and can handle the battery situation.”

“Who’s Mogo?”

He grinned. “Mogo is more of a what not a who. He’s a sentient planet and part of the Corps. Anyway, if you were to uh… make a formal request, as a leader of your Corps, you know, for assistance. Then we’d be obligated to help out. If you get my drift.”

I smiled slightly. “Not really a fan of cleanup duty?”

He grimaced. “Not really. Everyone’s already been brought to safety, now we’re just sitting around twiddling our thumbs. I really hate sitting around. Plus the keg is out at the bar. The explosion took out the power.”

A smirk was working its way onto my face. “You okay on power?”

He waved his ring at me. “Eight-three percent. As long as I don’t have to go into heavy battle then I’m good for a while. Plus I know a way to siphon off pretty much anything radioactive. Cosmic radiation is as good as any.”

Clearing my throat, I said. “Guy Gardner, as leader of the Star Sapphires I formally request your aid for a trip to Sector 1416 in order to protect me as I build the new Violet Corps to aid the Green Lanterns in their duty to the universe.”

He chuckled. “Laying it on there pretty thick, huh?”

I shrugged. “I’m sure the Guardians will be impressed.”

“I doubt it. Love is a little gooey for them. Emotions and all.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

~O~

In order for Guy to save as much of his power as possible, I volunteered to shuttle him on my snazzy violet couch construct as we rocketed through another wormhole.

“Not too fond of all the pink, but it’s comfy.”

“It’s violet.”

I knew he was just ribbing me. Granted violet was pretty darn close to being pink.

“What happened to Hal’s ring? Is it off to Earth?”

I shook my head. “It’s still here. The other one tried to take it over, but my ring smacked it around a few times.”

He looked at it. “But it’s pink too.”

“Violet. We both resigned from the Green Lantern Corps before the big battle so technically we shouldn’t be using their symbols. Besides I like her better as a girl.”

Guy chuckled. “Hal would have loved that his ring had a sex change. It took him the better part of three years for it to make him a guy.”

I blinked. “Hal was a girl?”

He nodded. “A lot of the GL’s from Earth are. Not me of course. I’m all man, through and through.”

That was stressed with a bicep flex for my benefit, at which I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m into girls. That doesn’t do anything for me.”

He deflated a little after that. “Oh yeah.”

That topic brought on a question from me for the ring. “Can you do that for me?”

Of course. The process will be much easier on Zamaron, however. I will have a virtually limitless power supply to facilitate the transition on the surface.

“How long until we arrive?”

“Three standard minutes.”

“Getting a little antsy?” said Guy.

“A little,” I agreed.

When we finally exited the wormhole, the sight before me nearly took my breath away. The planet itself was probably half the size of Earth but it was completely pink or violet rather. Guy activated his personal shield and I pulled mine back in.

“Wow, that’s a really feminine looking planet.”

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “Because of the color, or do you see breasts somewhere?”

He shrugged and smiled. “Well if you count mountains as breasts…”

“You’re an odd man, Guy Gardner.”

He waved me off. “Aww, you’re just sayin’ that.”

We began our decent, looking for some central area, a population, anything that spoke of life, but there wasn’t any that I see. “Scan for life signs.”

“Scanning. Scan inconclusive.”

“Why’s that?”

“I think the whole thing is alive,” Guy said with a mild amount of awe.

I stopped and my eyes went wide. “You mean that’s not a planet?”

Guy looped around and came back. “Not in the traditional sense, maybe more along the same lines as Mogo. It’s too hard to tell right now. We’ll have to make contact first and find out.”

The atmosphere wasn’t breathable, at least not by Earth standards, but that wasn’t a problem with our shields.

“Jade, I’ve located an area that will serve our purpose.”

“Cool, well let’s go.”

The landscape was crystalline in structure, all looking like vast natural shafts of different shades of purple, pink, and violet shot up from the ground, some forming mountains, some very small making little clearings. It was very pretty, but quite odd and somewhat cold and impersonal.

I saw the area that my ring was leading us to. There was a mountain of crystal ahead and at the base of it was a fairly large clearing. We touched down and I heard tiny crystals crunch under our feet.

“Well, this is a whole lot of nothing. Nice planet here, Jade. One of those nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live here things.”

“You’re just saying that because there’s nothing to drink.”

“Well… yeah. I thought there was going to be beer on this trip.”

I grinned at him and then followed the mental urging of my ring. “This way, I think.”

A conical ray of violet light shot out from my ring and covered a twenty foot portion of the mountainside, melting the face away to reveal a cave entrance. The interior wasn’t dark, seeing as how light filtered through the exterior enough to provide adequate illumination.

From the looks of things, I didn’t think that we’d find anything but the crystals. The inside was just as littered with them as the outside.

“I don’t think anyone’s home,” said Guy. “How’d you know this was here?”

I shrugged. “I’m just following my ring. She seems to know what to do.”

Guy stopped and looked over to the left side. “Does that kind of look like a dais of some sort, or is it just me?”

He lit it up with the green light of his ring. “There’s something in there.”

We cautiously closed in and I saw what he was talking about. “Those are bodies!”

I found some decent footholds and climbed to the top easily enough. It wasn’t high, being maybe a couple of feet off the natural floor.

Guy continued his scan. “Carbon based… I think they’re human or something really close.”

“Ring?”

“Inside are the remains of Prince Khufu and his consort Chay-ara. Theirs is a tale of ancient love in the Egyptian region of Earth. Leave them, their presence here is what made the Violet power a reality and that is a tale for another day.”

Guy gave me a gentlemanly hand down from the dais and I smiled my thanks to him. I could have just as easily floated down, but I don’t like to rely on my ring for simple things like that.

“Lantern Gardner, what will occur over the next hour will not harm Jade; nonetheless, you will most likely feel anxiety. I ask you not to interfere.”

He gave me a look that was silently asking if I was alright with what was happening. I nodded. “I’ve been expecting this. I’ll be okay. If you want to go out and take…”

“I’ll hang out here and make sure…,” he looked around. “Well, I don’t guess anything is going to sneak up and pants you, but I’ll be here just in case.”

“Thanks, Guy.”

He found himself a relatively flat surface and sat down to watch me.

“Ring, let’s do this.”

“Just relax, Jade. I will not let any harm befall you.”

“Thanks.”

Violet light from the ring created a dome that covered me in a ten foot radius, all around. From the ground up, the fine crystal that was on the floor started growing, surrounding me, a little too close for comfort.

“Be at ease. The crystal will not hurt you. It’s been waiting for you to spread its influence across the universe. It will not endanger someone so valuable to its existence.”

I didn’t get a chance to reply before my entire body was covered and I saw nothing but violet light.

~O~

The story of Prince Khufu came to me, of which I will not relate at this time. How did I suddenly know it? Guy was right, about the planet being alive. It wasn’t the planet really, but the violet crystal that covered it.

Not every life form has to have arms, legs, eyes, and mouths.

This one was a different kind of intelligence that lived for one reason alone. I think you can figure that one reason out on your own.

It did have an ability to sense the universe and to store data. It made the first ring, you see. A Green Lantern officer had passed within its sphere of influence and it scanned his ring, making something very similar of its own. It sent that ring out to find someone that was uniquely suited to convey its purpose in being.

That was me by the way. It’s not that I was some ultimate expression of love in the entire universe or anything so grand. Since it made a copy of a GL ring it was thought that a Corps member would be an ideal candidate to use the powers that a Violet Ring granted.

So it went to Oa and waited. However, being on a planet where emotion of any kind was frowned upon by the Guardians left it with slim pickings. That’s why it was suddenly there when my heart broke at Sora’nik’s death.

I’m not going to be all melodramatic as say that my one true love died there that day. It was true that I barely knew Sora’nik, but I really felt that if given the chance, that it could be something more. In other words I could see myself easily falling in love with her. That’s why I was distraught.

“Warning–Con — Warn — Conver — War — Conversion complete. Jade Cross of Earth, Sector 2814, welcome to the Star Sapphires.”

My eyes snapped open and the crystals that surrounded me exploded outward. I nearly stumbled but my ring caught me and levitated my body clear of what was going on with the crystals that were surrounding me.

Guy was standing at the entrance to the cave, just dropping an additional shield he was holding in front of him. His eyes were wide, looking at me.

“Well, I definitely like the new uniform.”

My brows bunched and I looked down. “Oh, hell no.”

Calling what I was wearing a uniform was ridiculous. It was more like a porn star’s swimsuit. Thigh boots and cleavage that ran down nearly to my… um. Let’s just say my entire front was open. The costume barely covered the middle and the outsides of my breasts. Plus I was wearing something annoying across my face.

“Ring, this isn’t going to happen. Ditch the mask and cover me back up.”

Guy leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, enjoying the view. “Now, let’s not be hasty, Jade. You are representing the emotion of love. That includes lust as well. You can hardly go around in a nun’s habit.”

I dug my tongue into the side of my cheek and gave Guy a withering glare.

“Ring.”

“You take all the fun out of being a girl, Jade.”

The skin between my boots and torso was covered and the massive cleavage I was showing closed in… a little, the opera gloves melded with the rest of the suit.

“Satisfied?”

“The heels too.”

“Aw, come on. They make your legs look really good.”

“I don’t need to be fighting someone and trip over… what are these, five inch heels?”

“Four, and I’ll balance you properly. You’ll never know you’re wearing them.”

I sighed. I was arguing with an inanimate object.

It was then that I noticed that it was true. I could feel the fabric of the uniform touching most of my body. It was real. And I think my breasts are bigger. It may have been the, what laughingly could be referred to as cups, supporting them, making them just look fuller or something.

It was then that hundreds of female voices sounded behind me.

“Priority directive located. Proceeding to Sector…” It all became a mishmash of numbers after that.

I turned to see the crystal I was encased in had split apart into hundreds, if not a couple of thousand rings and started jetting off through the cave entrance. Guy had to stand aside or get pelted by a boatload of rings off to find their new wielders.

I smiled, satisfied then brushed my hands off. “I think my work here is done.”

~O~

After sealing the cave and erasing any evidence we were ever there, Guy and I took to the sky and returned to Oa. That’s when I got my first look at what Mogo was. Imagine a planet about the size of Mars with a big green ring around the equator and a massive GL symbol at the center.

“Now that’s a ring!”

Guy floated there in space beside me. “The most powerful one in the universe.”

In case you were wondering, we’d been gone for most of the day. I was seriously eager to get back and see how Sora’nik was doing. Guy escorted me past the new guard that had been stationed at the only entrance to the sphere. All the others had been sealed to traffic and the majority of the armed robots were patrolling the one entrance.

When we were clear, I set off to the hospital and Guy went to inform the Guardians of my Corps new status. He said they would want to meet me as soon as I checked up on Sora’nik.

It didn’t take me long to find her. All the rooms were doubled up considering the massive amount of injuries incurred. I passed through the window and saw her laying there, no injuries apparent, only her bare red arms and shoulders were above the sheet on the bed. Her roommate was unconscious as well.

Seeing her made my heart ache and soar at the same time. It was like my emotions had multiplied for her. I didn’t know what made it happen, whether or not it was whatever the ring did to save her didn’t matter. I simply knew that I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the universe at that moment.

Leaning over the bed, I brushed her cute spikey hair back and felt the warmth of her exotic-colored skin. I’d like to think the look of contentment on her face was caused by my presence, but she was unconscious. Even I wasn’t that delusional.

“Ring, how’s she doing?”

“Scanning. Lantern Natu has been healed of her wounds, Jade. She’s just sleeping off the trauma. When she wakes, she’ll be fine.”

“Thank God. Any idea when that will be?”

“Estimated to be twelve to fourteen hours.”

I nodded and leaned down to set a kiss on her forehead and breathe in her scent. It relaxed everything inside of me, easing the stress I was feeling over the last day’s events.

“Do me a favor and keep an eye out on her. I want to be here when she wakes up.”

“Synchronizing vital statistics monitor. Alignment complete. Go now, Jade. Settle business with the Guardians so that you’ll be free to be with her when she wakes. I will alert you the moment that happens.”

For a newly birthed sentient Power Ring, the AI was pretty smart. I passed through the window and started toward the Central Battery. The Guardians usually held court there, but considering the devastation earlier, I didn’t know where else to go.

“I can’t keep calling you Ring. Most intelligent beings have a name.”

“I will ponder on one for the near future, Jade. Thank you for the consideration.”

The main hall, which was more like an amphitheater was toast. There was nothing left, but I hovered like an idiot looking at it. The side of the Central Battery had been blown out and it was on that side where most of the blast was released.

“Hey you!”

Looking down I searched for the voice that called out. A grounded GL was pointing a seriously heavy duty rifle at me. Without making any abrupt movements, I dropped lower.

“What?”

He had blue scaly skin and four legs; I think they were legs anyway. They were more like spider legs, each ending in a wicked spear-like point.

“This area is off limits to unauthorized personnel.”

“I was supposed to meet with the Guardians, but I guess… did any of them survive?”

His rifle lowered slightly, but stayed on me nonetheless. “Three died in the explosion.”

I looked back at the ruined battery which was being lifted off its raised dais by what I was guessing was Mogo. When I turned back I saw the guy looking me over.

“What are you supposed to be?”

“Star Sapphire. Violet Lantern.”

“Violet?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“Look, do you have any idea when or where the Guardians are getting their groove on?”

His rifle lowered, pointing to the ground. “Three sections back in the auxiliary chambers. You should probably call ahead. They’re a little twitchy at the moment with so many of us drained.”

Which explained why he was land bound and carrying the rifle. “Thanks.”

Once I was back in the air again I figured I was spinning my wheels. “Can you patch me through to Guy, Ring?”

“Standby.”

“Yo, Jade! How’s our girl?”

“Her wounds are healed and she’s sleeping it off. She’s good.”

“Good, hey, you busy? There’s a gaggle of little blue guys that are humping their chair legs to meet you.”

I giggled at his really odd sense of humor. “Let me know where you’re at.”

“Beacon received. Estimated time of arrival thirty-two seconds.”

“Tell your guards that I’m a friendly. The powered down Lanterns are itching to shoot anything around here that’s not green.”

“Will do.” He tied me into the mass announcement which was even broadcast over the public address system. “Attention all you poozers out there: this is your ever-lovin’ and huggable Honor Guard, Guy Gardner. If you see a hot human girl in a skin-tight pink uniform, don’t shoot her. She’s one of the good guys. That is all.”

“How’s that?” he said.

“Violet!”

“Are you sure about that? Looks pink to me.”

“You’re drinking too much of your stock, Guy. Get an eye exam.”

“Ah, there you are.”

I looked down to see him standing in front of a fairly unharmed three story building waving up at me.

When I touched down, he held out an elbow for me, so I slipped my hand through. “You know I’m taken, right?”

He looked disappointed. “I can be a gentleman when I want to be.”

My heels clicked on the stone floor as we entered the overly white building and ascended a really wide ramp in lieu of a staircase. Remember, not every species of alien out there has legs. At least it wasn’t green. After a year of wearing it, I was starting to get sick of the color. Anyway, violet was more my style and I could always accent it with purple and pink… and black… and maybe white too. My bare navel was screaming out for a violet crystal. If I wasn’t able to talk my ring into making the outfit a little more modest I might go that route.

Not going to happen. Just wait until I get you on a beach.

“Anything I need to know about these guys before we make an appearance?”

Guy glanced over at me. “They love short people jokes.”

I rolled my eyes. “You suck. You know that, right?”

He patted my hand for that. “Just be yourself, Jade. They’re telepathic to a point, so they’ll know if you’re lying to them.”

When we arrived at a pair of large double doors, Guy reached his ring out and opened them then he formed a triplicate of long-necked trumpets and started playing a tune.

“What are you doing?”

He held a finger up to his lips. “It’s called To The Color. It’s normally used to render honors to the nation, back home. I figured since you’re like a visiting dignitary and all, then you need a little splash to stand out.”

Once the music died, he escorted me inside. The Guardians that were closest to the door were uncovering their ears.

“I think you overdid it on the volume.”

“Yeah, but it got their attention didn’t it?”

He had a way of making me relax that a lot of people didn’t possess. “Thanks.”

“Anytime. I’ll be over here, so don’t think that I abandoned you or anything.”

The Guardians apparently had issues with their height. The places they chose to sit were about ten feet tall and made me feel like I was in a courtroom. There had to be two dozen of them in attendance. I had the feeling they didn’t have a turnout like this all the time.

Three Guardians that sat dead center were dressed slightly different from the others. Most of them had on red robes with white bibs that fell down the center. On the front of the bibs was the symbol of the Lanterns. These three had it reversed, white robes with red bibs. I assumed they were in charge so I gave my attention to them, primarily.

Holding up my left hand, I recalled the old Vulcan salute from Star Trek. “Greetings Guardians, I come in peace. May you live long and prosper.”

What the heck, it couldn’t hurt.

The only reaction I received in the entire room was a snort from Guy. That probably wasn’t a good sign.

The red robed blue-skinned guy in the middle leaned forward. His wispy white hair told me Rogaine obviously hadn’t made it to Oa.

“Greetings Pink Lantern.”

I threw a scowl back at Guy. “It’s actually Violet, sir.”

The Guardian’s eyes moved to Guy and narrowed. “My apologies. This makes the rest of Lantern Gardner’s report somewhat suspect.”

“I’m here to answer your questions as best as I can under the circumstances. I have no desire for our two Corps to be at odds.”

Someone spoke up off to the right of me. “You’re a single person, not a Corps.”

Cocking my head to the side, I spotted another hair-challenged blue-skinned guy.

“Not for long. Ring, how many potential member rings were initially sent out?”

“One thousand-seven hundred-fifty-three.”

“Any takers yet?”

“Twenty-nine.”

I shrugged. “Well, it’s only been an hour or so. Each of those rings has duplicating abilities and I can always send out more when the need arises.”

The Guardians looked at each other with interest.

“Your rings have the same abilities as the Green?” said another.

I nodded. “Yes, plus a few extra, but I haven’t had the chance to test them out as of yet, so I’ll keep that in reserve until I can verify that they actually work.”

“Your laws, what of them?”

I had a feeling certain Guardians were looking for something to show I was beneath them. They were immortal after all. I find the longer-lived uptight people are, the more of a horses-butt they can be.

“I repeat, for the hard of hearing. It’s only been about an hour or so. Until such time as I am able to review them and add or subtract to the mix, I’m keeping in line with the laws of the Green Lanterns before the more recent add-ons. I find I can’t stomach a couple of those.”

The center guy that spoke first seemed interested in that. “Curious. To which are you referring? Surely you understand the need to exterminate the Sinestro Corps.”

I nodded. “Oh yeah. In fact I tore some nightmare starfish head off of one guy during the battle here earlier.”

“That was you?” Guy said.

I looked back and nodded.

“Good work. Excellent use of your ring.”

I held it up. “Well that was more her doing than mine. She deserves the credit.”

Guy spoke up again. “I should probably note that I saw that one happen myself. The shield that Tri-Eye threw up was useless. I don’t know what your ring did, but it was an awesome sight to see.”

Again with the murmuring.

“Oh, and that was when she was a Green Lantern Cadet,” Guy added.

“Can you transfer whatever you did to blast through the shields of that thing over to Guy?” I thought at my ring.

It will do him little good. Only an entity that has never known fear could accomplish such a feat. As an artificial life form, I have the advantage of disabling that emotion.

“Go ahead and send it anyway, maybe there are others that could use it. I’d hate for someone to die for lack of trying on our part. Just make sure you explain what’s required.”

~O~

The briefing took much longer than I anticipated; almost two hours. Some of the questions were amazingly none of their business, but in the end, they were satisfied that I posed no immediate threat, except for the base emotion that fueled the ring in the first place. Several of them took issue with the concept of Love being powerful in any way, shape, or form.

Once I agreed to not co-opt anymore of their members except under dire circumstances we settled on a verbal treaty of cooperation, again until I had someone with experience in the Corps that could negotiate something more formal.

The ring sent out notifications to all the other Star Sapphire rings of the update, and since we were both from the same sector, Guy was appointed my liaison to the Guardians.

When we exited the building, Guy was laughing. “I’ve never seen them so baffled. Love can conquer all with violet light. That was classic.”

I rolled my eyes and smacked him on the shoulder. “It can. It was enough to bring back Sora’nik from the dead, wasn’t it?”

He nodded, semi-seriously, still wearing that amused grin of his. “I stand corrected. Still, to see the Head Council with his mouth hanging open… I’ll be telling that story for years.”

TBC...