“Are you ready to begin the conversion of the lesser rings, Jade?”

“Yeah, just don’t tell anyone yet, I want to see who notices first.”

To end the issue of the costume/communication rings, we’d decided to just change the symbol to the starburst of the Sapphire Corps. They were produced from my personal ship and I’m not a GL anymore so the Guardians can pucker up. I guess that trip Sora’nik sent Kyle on was just a waste of time. Ha!

Suu and I entered the Earth’s atmosphere and Ring did her thing, shooting out dozens of signals all over the North American continent that would subtly change the symbols on all the rings that my friends wielded. And the clock was ticking.

Sarl collected the violet crystals that hadn’t had a chance to root yet and we made a beeline straight to the fourth planet of the system. Seeing the red of the atmosphere made me frown.

“The purple and pink are going to clash with the red.”

“The red is a trick of the eye, Jade: the combination of the iron-oxide dust on the surface of the planet in conjunction with the thin atmosphere only makes it appear red. The surface is actually more of a crá¨me color.”

“I think that’s worse.”

“Once we’ve established a base here and the crystals have had a chance to seed then it will be much easier to terraform the planet.”

“Oh, really?”

I might not have been a massive science geek, but even I knew what that meant. It is thought that life could have lived on Mars long ago, but due to a number of different reasons: dwarf-planet impact, polarity shift, global warming, you name it, an important layer of the atmosphere was lost and the planet died.

“It was the former. That’s where all the iron-oxide came from.”

“You’re taking all the fun out of space exploration. You know that, right?”

Ring’s voice sounded playful. “I thought you weren’t interested in being an explorer?”

I shrugged. “That was before I found out I was being evicted from my home planet.”

Pointing ahead when I saw a spot on the surface, I asked. “Is that where we’re going?”

“Affirmative. Olympus Mons, or Mount Olympus is a several millennia old dormant volcano. According to the information Lantern Stewart provided the previous inhabitants located their strongest military structures there. His duties with the Corp haven’t allowed him time to explore, but he had taken a number of scans. If there is any place on this planet that might have held up over the centuries, this would be the most likely.”

Picture, if you will a really wide mountain, about four hundred miles wide and fourteen miles tall, and you have Mount Olympus. Big.

“Sapphire Rathbone, if you would seed the northwestern portion of the mountain.”

Sarl looked to me for conformation and I nodded. “My queen, if you would wait for me before proceeding, I would be grateful.”

I grinned, knowing I had already blown several of his plans for protecting me, it was the least I could do. “Sure. Take your time, we need to scan the area to confirm John’s findings anyway.”

When he jetted off at high speed I turned in place to talk to Suu. “May I assume you agree with Sarl about my personal safety situation? Tripling of the guard and lots of big ships?”

Her hands moved behind her like she was standing at parade rest while floating in the air. “Ideally, this would be best, Jade, until the threat of Sinestro is dealt with at minimum.”

I crossed my arms and looked around the surface. “I really didn’t think he took me all that seriously. He knows we’re a fledgling Corps.”

Suu agreed. “All the more reason to destroy us as quickly as possible -- to avoid any threat to him in the future.”

You have a choice here, Jade. You can fight the inevitable and crawl along at a snail’s pace, slowly building your power base as a Corps to be reckoned with, or you can show confidence in your fellow members and let them do their job.

“It’s not really a job. I’m not paying them anything.”

You have the ability to change that. Take my suggestions. Within the month you could bring this system into the economic fold with the rest. It really wouldn’t be much of an effort considering the tools that your Corps wields.

Sarl returned and I stared the both of them down. “My ring has the details that should please both of you regarding how we can make everyone happy. If you know of someone that can start things in motion we’ll let them work out the particulars.”

As we started down to the mountain I added. “Ring, update Kori with the situation.”

“Acknowledged.”

When we touched down on the surface, we used our rings to dig through pretty much a quarter mile of accumulated dirt, dust, and crap that had been piling up over the centuries. Mars was known for its dust storms and even the highest mountain in the solar system fell victim to the sands of time, no pun intended.

Sapphire Lawquane has located one of the access ports.

Sarl and I joined her as she found the manual release for the door, sort of. It took tearing away at a sheet of some metal-like plating to access it, but a few seconds of using her ring was all that was needed to open the door outward.

“The atmosphere inside is just as toxic,” she said. “Whatever they breathed, it wasn’t conducive to most terrestrial life forms.”

“Could that be what killed them in the first place?”

She shrugged. “Unknown.”

“Scanning… Lantern Stewart was correct in his estimation of what this facility was used for. It was indeed a military establishment. Seventeen expansive levels are below.”

Another moment later and the ring displayed a holographic representation of the base in relation to the mountain. It was tremendous. Each level was circular with several shafts running between all of them, which I assumed were elevators or access ways. As the levels went deeper they increased in diameter forming a hive of sorts.

“Can we use this?”

Sarl nodded. “I’ll need to take a look at whatever power they used and see if it can be adapted. This could be ideal for our needs.”

“I would suggest not venturing beyond the first level. The one below contains the Fuel Storage and Handling facilities. Given the age of the contents it would be better to let professionals in the field explore further.”

“Agreed,” Sarl said and then he looked to me. “With your permission, Jade.”

I nodded my assent.

He dropped down through the hatch and disappeared into the darkness.

“Incoming transmission from Sapphire Koriand’r.”

“Go ahead.”

“Jade, the Tamaranean Command Cruiser Phy’zzon and the Frigate Phy’zary are in route to your current location and should arrive in twenty-three minutes. They are being escorted by two of our Corps.”

Looking up at Suu I noticed a pleased smile beginning on her face.

“Uh, why?”

She sounded somewhat unsure. “You have given permission for your ring to proceed with certain plans for your security and the acquisition of profitable ores in your system, have you not?”

Me and my big mouth.

“No… I mean, yes. I mean, why are two war ships coming here?”

This time she sounded relieved. “The Frigate has the necessary equipment and personnel for exploration. It’s mostly non-military through it is well armed. The Command Cruiser will serve a dual purpose, to protect Tamaranean interests in your system and to protect you, specifically.”

I think I saw where all of this was going. “Let me guess. We’ll be doing a lot of trading with Tamaran in the future?”

Kori sounded amused. “Your ring has transmitted information on certain ores that are in abundance in your system that Tamaran holds in high regard. It is my mother’s pleasure to do business with you. We will be helping each other out tremendously.”

I nodded, even though it was a simple voice transmission. “Just as long as I’m not taking advantage of your planet’s generosity.

“You are not.”

“Good,” seeing Sarl poke his head out of the hatch I closed the conversation. “I’ve got to go, Kori. I hope to see you soon.”

“You know where to find me, my queen.”

My eyes narrowed, but she cut the transmission before I could say anything.

“The first level is scrap-metal,” Sarl said. “Nothing of any use survived the span of time. About the only thing that we will be able to take advantage of is the space.”

Suu didn’t look surprised and neither was I. “The Tamaraneans are on the way. Once they arrive, Jade, I suggest we leave the renovations to them. They are skilled in terraforming and exploration.”

~O~

“Okay, who’s been messing with my ring, came a teen girl’s voice. Whose ass do I need to kick today?”

I giggled just behind the moon as we were heading to the Jordan so I could pack up a few things. “Hi Courtney, I’m back.”

“Jade?” the voice sounded relieved. “How’d everything go and why is my ring calling me dear now?”

“I may have made a few minor adjustments.”

“Everything is fine. Look, why don’t you gather everyone that can make it on short notice to headquarters. There has been a few changes that you all need to be aware of, you specifically since this might be a government issue at some point.”

I heard her groan just a little. “You didn’t cause an international incident that I haven’t heard about yet, did you?”

I paused for a moment. “International? No, not international.”

“Jade, what did you do?” The sound of dread was in her voice.

“See you in about an hour, Courtney.”

Sarl didn’t seem pleased. “We’re going to the planet’s surface?”

I nodded as I pressed my ring to the Sapphire emblem on the hull of the Jordan. “Yeah, I need to update my friends and let them know what’s going on, and I’d like to do it in person.”

Suu cut me off and dashed upstairs. I paused for a moment to allow her to secure the upper deck. It seemed Sarl had a few words for me.

“I have taken the opportunity to peruse the criminal statistics for your home planet, my queen.”

Cutting him off before he started on a role was paramount. “The vast majority of which are committed by regular humans which aren’t any threat to me as long as my personal shield is up.”

“This is true. I am unsure about these metahumans however.”

“Check with my ring, Sarl. None of them have been any threat except to the local population.”

“Be that as it may, it would be prudent to wait for the remainder of your guard to arrive.”

Once Suu reappeared and gave the okay that she didn’t find anyone lying in wait for me, I started up the stairs with my four-armed nanny right behind.

“When will they be here?”

“Two should arrive within the hour, the rest are taking care of other issues before they depart.”

I frowned. “Should we be taking valuable Sapphires, which we don’t have a lot of by the way, from their home sectors just to watch me move around?”

“With the Green Lanterns resuming their duties, we have the personnel and more are joining every hour.”

“Really?” I hadn’t thought to check the rosters as of late. “Where are we sitting at now, Ring?”

“Five hundred and forty-two… make that forty-three.”

I whistled. Considering how the rings choose their wielders, it made me uncomfortable to know there was so much heartache out there. However, it was the universe. I was sure there were a lot more than five hundred broken hearts out there.

“Okay, but there’s still 3600 sectors out there and we barely have half the rings even available, and I’m not a big fan of only two Green Lanterns per sector much less my own people.”

Sarl stopped before following me into my private quarters.

“Come on in. I’m not going to be stripping or anything.”

The bulk of my bodyguard ducked a little and entered my room, while I grabbed a sports bag out of the closet that I used to move some of my more personal items up to the Starcruiser with. Setting it on the counter, I unzipped it and started putting in my toiletries.

“I would advise starting small with a well-trained core and then increasing our size from there.”

I nodded, agreeing with his idea. “I know everyone that’s been recruited so far knows how to fight, but there’s a lot more to using a power ring than even I know.”

“If I may, Jade?”

“You have an idea?”

“When you were encased during the conversion process on Zamaron, there was a reason for this, your personal situation notwithstanding. We were making new rings, and I was being, copied, so to speak. It was the new me and not the version that the Zamarons chose to implement.”

I stopped and stared at my ring though the mirror. “Are you saying that all of the Star Sapphire rings are sentient?”

“No, just that that they have the ability to be sentient if they choose.”

“Oh… well, that’s good I guess. So, any takers?”

“Not as of yet, no. I don’t expect any either. Even with my powerful data processing abilities, it took me the better part of a year in order to come to that decision.”

“So, why bring this up now?”

“One of the deciding factors I used to find potential recruits was to include military experience or training in the makeup. It was obvious that we were heading into a situation where the rigors of battle would take an emotional toll on those less than prepared.”

“You needed soldiers,” Sarl nodded in appreciation. “Understandable.”

“What are you getting at, Ring?”

“Do you remember when we were on the surface of Oa and you were helping the wounded?”

I leaned up against the counter and crossed my arms. “Yeah.

“You said if I could do the job faster, go for it.”

I may be slow, but at that point I was starting to twig onto what she was saying. Ring took over with a vengeance, doing a lot more than I was capable of since she had access to her own sensors and didn’t have to take relay information and wait for me to give the orders. Plus there was the added benefit of her ripping that Tri-Eye Yellow Lantern to shreds.

“So why are we waiting for the rings to find people to wield them? Can’t they do the job just as well?”

“In short, no. You and I are partners, Jade. We anchor each other. If not for you and Hal Jordan, I would not be sentient.”

I quit trying to figure out what Ring was thinking a while back. “Bottom-line it for me.”

“I suggest that we cease in searching for soldiers and open the search parameters to those that capable of great love and encourage sentience in their rings. They won’t need the intense training right away.”

Sarl saw where she was going a split second before I did. “We have our warriors, they can concentrate solely on the Sinestro threat. Now we need Star Sapphires to attend to the true purpose of our mission.”

“Exactly.”

The Daffathian grunted in pleased agreement. “I like this plan.”

With a smirk on my face I turned around and resumed packing. “Of course you do. It means you can bring in more people to guard me.”

“The formation of a royal guard is paramount, my queen. A contingent of twenty to twenty-five Sapphires would…”

Spinning back around, I glared at him. “Twenty-five?” Holding up my hand I pointed that the ring. “Each of us holds one of the most powerful weapons in the universe on our fingers. I was pretty sure I could take care of myself and you want to pull twenty-five out to guard me?”

Sarl crossed his upper arms which I was coming to notice was a sign that he was going to be stubborn. “Need I remind you, my queen, that the Sinestro Corps has equally powerful rings?” I frowned and he went on. “Regardless, not all of them would be guarding you at the same time. Some would be sent ahead to secure places where you will be in attendance, such as this Houston we will be going to. Then there are some that require sleep. Rotations would…”

“Fine.” Sometimes you had to know when to cut your losses. There were more important battles to be fought.

Sarl’s ring sounded with a very authorial male voice. “Incoming message from Sapphire Lawquane: Two guards have arrived.”

Joy… more nannies.

“Ring, bring the ship around and land us outside of headquarters,” I said.

“Acknowledged.”

I’d finished filling my bag with the essentials. Zipping it up, I motioned toward the door. “Let’s go meet the new recruits.”

Sarl led the way and I carried my own bag. Feeling the slightest change of motion from the ship and I knew we were on our way. Everyone was in the Galley when we arrived. It was somewhat pleasing to see that Suu had probably informed them not to bow or kneel. Thank god.

The two of them appeared to be female. I didn’t take anything for granted since I found out about Sora’nik’s gender. One was tall, about five-nine and she appeared human looking of East Asian descent, maybe Korean, with medium length highlighted brown hair and brown eyes. The other was green-skinned with really long — I’m talking past the butt — green hair. Her two distinguishing features were her bright pure yellow eyes and her vertically ribbed chin. She was the first to step forward.

“My queen,” she tilted her body toward me a little in a minor bow. “I am Lyja. It is an honor to serve.”

The second took her cue and performed the same motions, except her eyes moved to Sarl briefly before centering on me. “I am called Sharon Agathon.”

The first name was definitely human the last, I had no idea. “Are you from Earth?” I asked.

Her eyes looked nervous for a moment. “Not exactly. The sector of space I was born has heard tales of thirteen tribes that, at one time, called Earth their home. Most of them have been killed in a war with a machine race and they set off to find Earth once more, hoping for refuge.”

“Her race was from Earth? Seriously?”

She tells only a portion of her story, Jade. The machine race she spoke of is called Cylon, of which she belongs. Sapphire Agathon is a rogue Cylon.

“Is she a danger to me or the others?”

No, just the opposite. She fell in love with a human and they bore a child. The Cylons captured them and they were killed. She owes them no allegiance.

“What about the humans? Shouldn’t she be helping them instead of being here?”

It is complicated, Jade.

Of course it was. The Star Sapphires were already becoming a gathering of personal shared tragedy. It was heartbreaking. “Welcome, Sharon, and you too Lyja. Suu and Sarl will let you know how much of a pain in the butt I am in terms of doing my own thing.”

“When Sharon is alone, let her know I want to talk to her about the other humans.”

Acknowledged. We are approaching headquarters. Landing in thirty-eight seconds.

“We’re about to land.” I said. “The people we are meeting are my friends. They’ve been helping me keep the peace on Earth for the last year, so no intimidating them.”

I sent that last part straight to Sarl.

“Oh, and they’ve never seen an alien before, so everyone but Sharon is going to be gaped at. She can go with me when we exit. The rest of you I want to stay on the ship until I’ve had a change to let them know what to expect.”

Sarl didn’t seem to like that part, so I had to give him a reason. “If you take a step out that door without me saying something then some of them will arm themselves. Do you want that?”

“No, my queen. If you would expedite the preparation, I would be thankful.”

When I looked up, Lyja and Suu were both human looking. Suu’s sekku were gone and she sported blonde hair the same length as her tentacle things. Her skin color was the same, but it wasn’t threatening. Lyja could have been a Caucasian human, mimicking my skin tone perfectly.

“Illusion?”

Suu nodded, but Lyja had something to add. “My race is known for its shapeshifting abilities.”

I shrugged and turned to Sarl. “There, I’ll have three bodyguards. Just hang out, it won’t take long.”

~O~

The main headquarters that Courtney had set up was inside Ellington Air Force Base. The security was much better and we had access to unused facilities. For the most part it was one of the decommissioned military bases, but it still held an airfield that the President or other high profile names used whenever they travelled to Houston.

While the Starcruiser was smaller than Air Force One, it wasn’t by much.

Suu and Sharon were the first ones out and they stood at the end of the ramp that was extended by the Jordan. I followed right after with Lyja behind me.

A crowd had already gathered. Courtney’s team was spread out with excitement on their faces. It was the first time I’d brought the Jordan to Earth, and now they could ogle it at their leisure. Terra was there, bouncing appreciatively, and even the rarely seen Hell-girl was in attendance in her human form. It was the Houston team for the most part. I guessed one hour wasn’t really sufficient notice for the others to show.

Terra’s jaw fell open when she saw what I was wearing, but that didn’t stop her from rushing up. “Jade!”

I moved forward and dropped my personal shield so my guards would know that it was okay for her to invade my me-space. In a second, one of my best friends engulfed me in a hug and then backed away.

“We were so nervous about you going to Green Lantern World and now here you are with a makeover! I can’t believe you didn’t call. And there’s this guy that says he’s the new Green Lantern but he’s been around for a while, and I’m like, what the hell? Why haven’t you been helping out? He didn’t stick around…”

“Terra, breathe.”

She stopped abruptly and then jumped on me again. “It’s good to have you back!”

The rest of the team moved forward during Terra’s tirade. Courtney was looking at me somewhat dubiously and then her eyes went to the other two. “Hey, Jade.”

“Hey Courtney, doing good?” At her nod I looked at the others behind her. “Gemma, Abe, Liz.”

Gemma was eyeing Lyja with a strange look. “Hey Jade.”

“Okay guys. As you see, I’ve got a costume upgrade and a few friends I want to introduce, but I need to tell you something first.”

All eyes were on me. “None of my friends are from Earth.”

“Whoa, Aliens!” Terra bounced. Someone had obviously let her near the espresso machine for far too long. “But they look just like us.”

Holding my hand out, I said. “This is Sharon she’s from a race of people that used to live on Earth a long time ago.” Turning to my right, I smiled at Suu. “This is Suu. She’s from a galaxy far far away.”

At my nod, Suu dropped her illusion and Gemma’s eyes widened.

Terra gasped. “No — way.”

“Way,” I said. “And this is Lyja. She’s from… I’m sorry I never got the planet you came from.”

She stepped forward and shapeshifted back into her previous form. “Skrullos, my queen.”

I heard a few intakes of breath, but nobody freaked out. Courtney raised her hand in a point of order. “Hold on, backup and rewind. Did she just call you my queen?”

I cringed and shook my head. “That’s part of the story. I’ll tell you in a little bit. There’s one more. I asked for him to wait inside because he’s big and I didn’t want you to freak or anything.”

“Sarl,” I called back.

The airlock opened and he ducked until he cleared the door. I was still turned around when I could have sworn I heard Liz choke out. “Holy cow, look of the size of that… guy. Thank god I’m a lesbian.”

He came up, looking surly as ever and stood beside me, which put him right in front of Terra. She craned her head up, looking at Sarl’s massive arms and then his massive other arms. Half of his long black hair was draped over his shoulders and I could tell he wasn’t trying to grimace as hard as he normally does.

“You — are — totally awesome,” said an awestruck Terra.

I think that caught him off guard. “Uh… thank you.”

She grinned bright. “Welcome to Earth.” Holding out a hand to him she said, “Come on, we’ve got some really good coffee. I’ll make you some.”

Sarl looked to me and I nodded. “It is pretty good coffee, and I’m not a fan of the stuff.”

He deactivated his personal shield and took her hand. Terra had come a long way over the last year. It didn’t matter how gruff you were, she could charm the socks off of you with her enthusiasm.

When I turned back to Courtney she had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot. “So… queen?”

~O~

Gemma scratched her head. “Can you go back to the part where you took over Mars? I just… I’m having a little trouble with that one.”

Courtney looked like she was getting a headache. “You know every historian, environmentalist, and government on the planet is going to have shit-fit now, right?”

It was sometimes hard to remember there was a thirty-something man’s brain in that perky teenage body. “Tell you what. If there’s anything of note, I’ll ship it home and they can fight over it.”

“Is there a reason your costume is, you know, open like that?”

I looked over at Liz. Black trench coats were pretty much standard issue at the BPRD, except for Gemma, hers was always tan. What I’m getting at is all three of them were always covered from neck to toe.

I shrugged. “You should have seen the first costume.”

“What’d it look like?” she asked.

Point over at Sarl dressed in the original skimpy stripper outfit, including the thigh boots, I said, “That.”

Courtney looked like she ate something that didn’t agree with her. “Didn’t they have something a little more… masculine?”

“He likes it. Who am I to tell him what to wear?”

“His queen,” she teased.

“You can stop saying that any time you want, you know.”

She leaned back. “Oh, no… I’m getting a lot of mileage out of this one.”

Abe discreetly pointed at Suu. “Does she know she looks exactly like those Star Wars dancing girls?”

Gemma smacked him on the shoulder. “Some of them were Jedi, don’t be mean, Blue. And she’s Jade’s bodyguard. She can probably hand your ass to you on a plate.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think she knows what Star Wars is. Look, I’m going to be in and out probably for the foreseeable future. You can always get a hold of me through the rings and if the stuff really hits the fans, you can probably even contact the Green Lanterns.”

Courtney grimaced.

“What?”

Liz was the goto girl for that information. “We’ve already met one of them. Some jackass, name of Rayner. Thinks he’s God’s gift.”

“He’s back?”

Liz nodded. “Courtney almost put him in the hospital.”

I tracked to the blonde flexing her right hand. “I nearly broke my hand on his stupid shield.”

My eyes narrowed. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

At that moment a buzzing sound came from her belt and at the same time Gemma’s phone rang.

They answered and both of them looked at me. It was Courtney that won the race to ask me, “You know of any guys in yellow and black costumes with powers like yours?”

I was out of my chair and snapping up my shield. “Ring!”

“Scanning… four Sinestro Corps members, Jade. They’re headed this way.”

My guards were already half-way to me. Looking at my former team, I said, “Guys you need to stay out of the way on this one.”

Gemma was already red and her right hand enormous. “Screw that! This is our town.”

I rose up a few feet off the floor. This wasn’t an argument I had time for. “Sapphires! Take it to the air.”

Courtney had her weapons drawn and yelled at me as I shot out of the hanger door. “Jade dammit!”

TBC...