ALL NOVEL Star 16
Star Burst Of Sector 2814
Star 16
By BigToFu
Dex-Starr
Best Kitty
Purring softly, Dex-Starr enjoyed the nice warm stop on top of the CIC table. The holograms were arranged nicely for him to enjoy. A red flashing light drew his attention, but Dex-Starr knew that if he touched it, the table would stop vibrating. His hooman had explained this to him once or maybe twice before. It would be fine since Dex-Starr was enjoying the sensation.
Closing his eyes, Dex-Starr napped a little while longer before the beeping vanished as the ship shook. The beeping inside the room intensified and Dex-Starr could tell that the ship was moving. One eye opened to peer at the hologram to see that the ship was evading fire as other smaller ships and flashing lights approached. Closing his eyes once more, Dex-Starr settled down but grew annoyed when the ship shook once more.
On the third shake, Dex decided that it was best to get up and get rid of the pest before his hooman came and stole the hunt again.
Meow, “Let them board the ship.”
With a nice long yawn and stretch, Dex then jumped down off the CIC counsel and strutted his way out of the room.
Meow, “Open, cargo bay.”
Not waiting for the computer lady to reply, Dex-Starr strolled out of the room and then waited in the open crew area that led directly to the cargo bay. The ship rocked once more, and the computer lady gave him a hologram to see that the engines were attacked to prevent them from escaping. His tail swished at the thought of facing competent foes. Removing a prey’s abilities to run was a basic tactic so Dex didn’t want to give them too many points.
Meow, “Dismissed.”
The hologram winked out as Dex-Starr settled in to wait while the hologram winked out as a ship docked in the cargo bay. Falling asleep into another light nap, Dex-Starr’s ears flicked as the doors hissed open.
One eye lazily opened, and he noticed the strange things entering his hooman’s ship. Laying in the nice warm spot on top of the table, his tail flicked back and forth catching the big one’s attention. The large lumbering thing walked over to Dex-Starr’s location and tried to shoo him away with one arm, its other was reaching for the food on the table. Foolish prey; Dex-Starr moved with a blur of blues and reds, the head of the thing falling from its shoulders. The others that came with the thing into his hooman’s ship all panicked as Dex looked down from his new perch on top of the light fixtures.
Footfalls light as a feather, Dex stalked another unsuspecting prey into the CIC. There was a hiss as the doors closed behind the female when Dex-Starr struck. His claws sharp, his movements swift, his grace daft with the lightest touch. Before the body even touched the floor, he was already moving into the air vents underneath the center counsel. His hooman had used flaps instead of that metal thing: the best hooman. His ear flicked one way then the other as Dex heard his foolish prey react to his hunt, it was only right. He was the best predator, after all, his hooman told him that all the time.
Ignoring the squeaks of those lesser than his hooman, Dex-Starr continued on his path until he circled to the vent right in front of the armory. Another one of those strange people was trying to break in and steal his hooman’s stuff and Dex-Starr took exception to that. With his nose twitching and his focus on one of the tools on the ground, Dex leaned forward and used a phantom paw to pull it into the vent and only leaving part of it showing outwards. Resting a paw on top of the device, his wait wasn’t long.
“Wait, I didn’t leave that there.” The strange creature spoke. Then Dex-Starr felt the creature try and pull the device. The creature pulled and pulled, but it was unable to get it back with Dex-Starr’s paw on top of it keeping it in place. An arm was pushed in deeper to try and dislodge the device but still, it would not come out.
It was when the shadow moved and shifted that Dex-Starr knew that it was his time to strike. He watched as the creature's second knee went down and the shadows darkened as they bent over to get a better look. The moment he saw flashing lights was when he struck, his little teeth latched onto the creatures’ neck, but it was the larger red snarling construct that severed the thing. With the creatures’ head in his mouth, Dex-Starr jumped from its back to lightly land in the hallway.
“What the fuck!” Another one of those strange creatures screamed at the sight, and Dex-Starr had to wonder why he was hunting such dull prey. He gave her a flat look even as his last prey's head was still gripped in his jaws and hung from his mouth. Before she could move to react, Dex-Starr was already moving, his treat dropped from his jaws. Claws flashed, and the lady fell into three parts.
Pleased with himself, Dex-Starr made to leave the area only to discover that he was leaving a trail of blood with each of his paws. With a tsk, Dex-Starr’s upper whiskers twitched before he was cleaned once more.
Looking upwards towards one of the screens, meow. “How many?”
“One.”
Dex watched as the thing on the wall showed his prey skulking about towards what his hooman called the bridge. Then he saw it sit down in his favorite seat and Dex-Starr saw red.
That seat was reserved for his nap time and his hooman only.
[ Scene Break ]
Green Lantern Commander
Domonic Wolf
Advanced Human
Okay, I got to admit, waking up to the sound of an egg timer was not the best thing in the world. For some reason, the thought of being cooked came to mind before all the other sensations made it through my addled mind. For the first time in twenty-five years, I felt damn good since none of the little aches and pains that I have collected over the years decided to show themselves.
The zero-G of the medical pod slowly deactivated, allowing me to settle onto my feet and enjoy the new sensation of power that came with my recent upgrades. I tapped my thumbs to my fingertips before going through basic stretches. Happy with my results once I completed those with a fluid grace that would make any Olympic-level gymnast green with envy, I took a step away from the pod and into open space. Balance, dynamic range, and spatial awareness were beyond perfect.
“Give me the hand-eye coordination test.”
There was a chirp before three circular red holograms appeared, then with a double beep, the holograms started to move. I stood still and waited even as the holograms hovered and shifted, all flashing bright red.
In the nanosecond the color shifted to green, my hands were already moving. My hands flew in a blur along with the color changes tap, tap, tap, hundreds of hits over a few seconds. Things came to an end with a honk of a horn even as my left smashed through a high left target. Good, it would seem like I was more than on point with the hand-eye coordination aspect of the upgrades. That just means a lot more firing from the hip with hand cannons and shotguns. Yeah, I could definitely work with this, next I walked over to one of the cell sections next to my medical pods and had the security restraints activated.
With a firm grip, I gave it a nice pull, going through a set of workouts before putting it all away so that Athena could gather the data for me. While she was doing that for me, I went for a shower and found myself sitting on one of the beds looking at the red ring on my finger.
A RED ring of all things was on ‘MY’ finger, that bastard must really be enjoying himself right about now. If my own RING could undergo mitosis by itself when I reach a threshold, then there were no limits. And no limits meant infinitely more danger for me and all those who had rings based on my own.
A lot of my plans needed to be reevaluated, but that didn’t mean I was going to put my Green Lantern Galactic Police Corp to the side. No, I was still going to keep pushing my own powerbase and the rest would just have to fuck right off as I took a seat at the table.
Pushing the thoughts of possibly wielding the WHITE Lantern ring in the future out of my mind, I stood, gave myself one last look in the mirror, then activated my ring. Before the green could get very far up my arm, I canceled that, then activated both of my rings. That felt a lot better overall, but before I could leave medical, I noticed the change in my uniform.
Overall, I was still sporting my all back and green favorite, but now, I noticed the inner linings were replaced with red. Where the green lantern symbol was located over my heart, which was lined with GREEN and a RED interior and it was looking damn nice. I still couldn’t get my mind off the internal shocks of what was my heart now.
Closing my eyes for a second, I breathed deeply in and out twice before pushing it all away; because dealing with emotional issues was for chumps. I had shit to do and wasn’t about to break down like some weak ninny. Real men die with their issues and share nothing, ‘Merica, fuck yeah. Once I was done dealing with my shit, I walked out of the medical bay, activated my internal communication with a thought, and damn near went deaf from all the alerts. First was the fact that Dex-Starr had been busted and had been hunting, the second was that shit was getting interesting out in the solar system and the third was that Diana had worked out a deal with Lilandra down on the planet.
The fourth was that Athena had cracked the Shi’ar Systems and it was Deathbird’s ship out there hanging at the edges, well fuck. First I was going to have to deal with my own personal little murder beast, but from the records, it was all bad. With a sigh, I watched as the doors to the medical bay slid into the wall with a hiss and rankled my nose at the smell.
Okay, maybe my good kitty was being a bad kitty because damn, Dex-Starr created a blood bath. A sigh followed by a mental command activated the ship's cleaning systems. Four separate spots along the walls opened revealing drones that came and swept up the mess. I of course made sure to give the command to gather a genetic sample even as they disposed of the mutilated corpses, because there was just no other name to call them by.
Looking around, I made a body count before having the computer ping me Dex-Starr’s location. The last body was found on the other side of the doors to the pilot’s cockpit and I gotta say, damn. Dex used whoever that was as a scratching post, because right next to my seat were mulched remains of some poor sap. With a shake of the head I walked over to my chair and turned it around only to find the culprit purring as he napped on my seat.
“No remorse after creating such a mess,” I muttered looking down at the little bugger.
With a shake of my head, I picked him up and placed the little troublemaker on my lap. Getting myself settled, I waited till Dex was also settled before activating the video call. Things cycled as they do before I was greeted by Diana inside what could only be a luxury conference room.
Diana was angled in such a way that I was able to see the ones around the room from the reflection on the window. My attention though was on the one dressed in silver sitting in what was clearly a chair and positioned for royalty.
“Status report, Diana,” I spoke ignoring those in the room, even as I ran a hand down Dex-Starr’s back.
“Clean up is underway, we lost no lanterns, but there were roughly a thousand civilians that couldn’t be cleared in time due to infection,” Diana reported sharp and crisp while sending over data for me to look at.
I rubbed my chin a bit as I went over the information provided, “Alright, have three squads form and go through the area sector by sector. I want no stone left unturned, then we can schedule a time we can throw that sector of the continent into the local star.”
“Excuse me,” One of the people who was clearly a hanger-on Lilandra spoke up. My attention snapped to him as if I was a large predator staring down my prey. “If the infection has been dealt with, why would you need to throw the area into the local star?”
I stared him down nice and hard, even Dex-Starr perked up from his position in my lap to peer at the fool on the hologram. Time and silence stretched until it started to get uncomfortable, and I let it stretch some more as the fool started to shift where he stood. “People can be cured of the infection, but pets, clothing, water deposits, and food are all susceptible to escape the quarantine zone. Checking each individual along with a seventy-two-hour hold will clear them, but not that section of the continent.”
“What about their landing site?” The same goober asked, speaking up once more. The look that I gave him said more than enough about what I thought about his IQ levels. Not even giving him a reply, he was dismissed as I continued to get an update from Diana while Lilandra said nothing and absorbed everything.
Halfway through, maybe ten minutes into the meeting, the proximity alert decided to make an announcement. We were in a discussion on maybe leaving five lanterns in the system after leaving before I decided to pause the conversation and answer the call.
Hitting the button brought up another hologram, with Diana’s shifting to the side and placed on mute since I didn’t feel like merging the call. If this was going where I think it was, then I wasn’t about to get myself pulled into the middle of some family drama bullshit. The Shi’ar Empire emblem spun for a moment before showing the bridge of a ship.
Before the image shifted, there were at least ten people around the bridge and I was glad not to see Gladiator standing next to her, and I do mean her because damn. Deathbrid was looking mighty fine and she was put together in all the right ways even with one leg crossed over the other. It was clear that she was fit and thicc with the double C’s. My eyes roamed over her form, taking in the tight leather and purple of her outfit, then I pulled back my libido and looked with my eyes at the terror of the Shi’ar empire.
“Who are you Terran?” Deathbrid spoke first, taking the lead in the conversation.
“Commander Domonic Wolf of the Green Lantern Corp, galactic peacekeeper and mediator,” I spoke to the point and succinctly.
“And where are my people Terran?” The lady who was clearly Deathbird commanded.
I raised a brow, looked around the cockpit, then went back to scratching Dex-Starr behind the ear. “You are?”
She leaned forward in her seat, and I could see the feathers on her arms shift and sharpen. “I am the one who is in control of the fleet at the edges of the solar system. I am the one tasked by my brother the emperor to cleanse this sector of the Brood infestation. I am the one asking one last time where are my people.”
I looked at her, then let out a long-suffering sigh, and shrugged. “I’m unaware of anyone from the Shi’ar empire being anywhere within the area other than those down on the planet below. The only people other than those were some pirates that decided to board my ship while I was in medical. Dex took care of those for me.”
The line went silent as a graveyard and I allowed it to be that way, then I got over it. “So, are you going to share your name, or do you plan to continue this play of the mysterious Fleet Commander?”
She stared me down with those smoldering eyes of hers, then spoke, “Understand something Terran for my name is that last you shall hear before your end. For I am Cal’syee Neramani of the Shi’ar Imperium.” She raised a hand and then brought it down causing the communications tech to cut the transmission.
Too bad for her: I had no plans to die today.
Shaking my head, I turned my attention back towards Diana, “Finish your clean up and I’ll get a fast mover from the fleet commander after I take her head from her ass.” I stated then made a shift and focused on the one that has been watching me from the start. “Anything to add, princess?”
The room went deathly still, some of the Warbirds shared a look between themselves. Ignoring all of that, I kept my gaze on one person only.
“You are aware of who I am?”
My reply was to shrug, “It’s the only reason why I left Diana behind, her protection is far better than any of those Warbirds.”
There was a minor twitch of her brows which I picked up with my scouter, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to call me on it. So, I of course wasn’t going to call her on her own stuff.
“Resolve this situation and I shall speak with the Majestrix about the Green Lanterns being allowed to patrol across our borders.”
Humming at that, I shot Diana a look before cutting the hologram. Getting up from my seat, I placed Dex back before walking out of the cockpit. On my way to the airlock, I called up Diana on the Green Lanterns' internal communications systems.
“Diana, keep an ear out, we came to help these people not get caught up in whatever type of family squabble that this is.” I spoke even as I activated the airlock system.
“So, something is going on then.” Diana replied smoothly, not even missing a beat.
“Of course, there is,” I answered with a roll of my eyes. “Didn’t you notice how she didn’t even make mention of the Emperor being her brother?”
“I noticed, along with the fact that she has had people speaking for her,” Diana stated along with sending certain recordings.
“Hmm, could be her telepathy in effect,” I answered, then activated the armor systems. “Notice any buzzing at the edges of your mind?”
Things went silent before Diana came back sharply with a question, “That was her?”
Stopping with one hand on my Full Frontal Armor, I spoke up with a shake of the head. “Yes, but the rings should be able to keep her out, just will it so.”
“Of course, Commander, any other orders Commander?”
“No, that will be all Green Lantern Diana,” I stated before closing the communications and allowing my armor to enclose around my form. Boots, leg guards, thighs, and hip along with back bracers snapped into place. That was followed by shoulder mounts, chest straps, and gauntlets wrapping around my torso and limbs.
Ohh yeah, not only was I feeling good, but I was also looking good. Right now, though, it was show time and I had places to be, so with that in mind. I activated the venting system and opened the airlock before hopping out out into space.
With a little boost here and there, I made my way to the top of my ship and took up center position. My armor shifted, the helm retreating into the neck lining allowing me to survey the armada approaching my location. Hundreds, thousands of ships were fast approaching, clearly, Deathbird had plans to sweep her opponent off the board.
I waved my left hand in front of me creating a hologram as my Gibson from home started to form from a strap that hung off my shoulder. More of my will pushed outwards, I had a kicker at my feet that stretched down some cables to a standing mic system. I strummed a few times to check the tune before forcing a call to connect to Deathbird’s ship.
“What is it you want Terran? Come to beg for your life?”
Looking at her, I tilted my head to the side, my lips pulling into a smirk as I checked the rest of my setup. Massive hundred-story tall speakers, subs, and bases formed along the side of my ship and surroundings. My guitar pick formed, a demon’s head with a forked tongue, the horns wrapped around the back, detail so interactive that it looked alive. A green ghost base guitar with an echo of my body stood to my back left, another guitar was to my back right, and on a podium behind the band sat a massive drum set with a red echo of my form.
“Not really,” I replied with a shake of the head. Mentally, I had everyone in the bad perform little checks.
“So why have you called, Terran?” Deathbrid growled
“I heard that the Shi’ar were big proponents of cultural exchange. Or we could also agree on a nonaggressive stance from your fleet.” I stated running right over whatever she had to say. Only a true fool would agree with the Shi’ar’s way of cultural marriage. “This song is called, Zero To Hero.”
Then, I cut the hologram, hit the kicker, and started to blast sick music.
“From the time I was young, I knew this day would come!
Mama she said, "Son, you'll always be on the run!
Your daddy was a man, a man people wanted dead!
Now that storm's coming for you, a price hangin' on your head!
The massive towers blasted out soundwaves as I had Athena take over the solar systems communications network. A ripple of green shot outwards from my position as I introduced the galaxy to the music of my people.
If push comes to shove, we'll bring hell down from above!
Tonight we ride straight into the fire (fire)!
Are you ready to go, go, go!
We'll make our stand (stand)!
Don't give a damn (damn)!
This is our time to go from zero to hero!
Another hologram formed for me to look at, this time with no communication feature. Deathbird was screaming on the bridge of whatever ship she was being the Fleet commander from. Multiple ships came towards my location, but all it took was a thought to get us moving on an evasive course.
A man on the run, he's a ghost he is no one!
The thunder when it comes will bring with it many guns!
The gypsy woman said!
She said, "Boy your time draws near!
You can't run forever, gotta stand and face your fear!
The bass drops along with the drums, then I strum a nasty note with the solo. A soundwave of green destroyed all incoming attacks. The music picks up as I belted the lyrics into the mic.
If push comes to shove, we'll bring hell down from above!
Tonight we ride straight into the fire (fire)!
Are you ready to go go go?!
We'll make our stand (stand)!
Don't give a damn (damn)!
This is our time to go from zero to hero!
Deathbird was on her feet now clearly losing her composure, which was really a shame to be honest. “Fire everything!”
Tonight we ride straight into the fire (fire)!
Are you ready to go go go?!
We'll make our stand (stand)!
Don't give a damn (damn)!
This is our time to go from zero to hero!
Eyes closed; I tapped my feet to the beat of the music, my arms strumming my six-string for all that it was worth. Regardless of it being made out of emotional energies, my guitar slapped harder than ever. My blood pumped through my veins as the music washed over me.
There was no stopping the power of Rock & Roll!
My RED ring flared to life as my music and anger were channeled into both arms, my hands bursting into flame, the demon pick in my grip weeping flames, lava dripping down and onto the top of my ship. My left moved from high to low back to mid along the neck.
Tonight we ride straight into the fire (fire)!
Are you ready to go go go?!
We'll make our stand (stand)!
Don't give a damn (damn)!
This is our time to go from zero to hero!
I belted out before hitting the sick transition, sound waves blasting outwards. Stabilizing crystals cracked in ships, bulkheads shook themselves apart and bolts burst from holes. I would have to review this footage later, because it had to be fucking sick to see someone standing on top of a ship flying through space in a Gundam suit rocking his ass off.
The ending solo came, and I killed it, arms aflame, demon guitar pick dripping lava, and nothing to stop my rock and roll. I kept the solo up then transitioned into my own solo because fuck if I was going to stop now.
“Enough! Enough! We agree with your terms,” Deathbird screamed, a hologram springing to life, Athena handling the link, but I was in the zone jamming. I dug in a heel, and twisted my hips as my ship pulled an over-under and flip. Now from their perspective, I was upside-down playing my guitar as my ship sailed overhead. I blasted a hard riff and windows on the surrounding ships cracked.
Author's Note:
Okay, after being stuck for a bit, this chapter turned out to be a lot of fun. Took me some time to narrow down my song. It was between Cosmic Castaway, Five Finger Death Punch, and Momma Said Knock You Out. Rage Against The Machine, and Holy Diver. Hell, I have such an eclectic collection of songs that the list for the second half was a long one. But I felt something from Marvel would fit better and I did play Guardians of the Galaxy over the weekend to unwind so it more than fit the occasion. It just so happens that I own the soundtrack to the Guardians of the galaxy game which is awesome by the way. Both the soundtrack and the game itself.
Let me know what you guys think about the chapter.
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