Mother Knows Best

Deep Space, Sector 2262

On the command bridge of a purloined starship, the monstrous Sinestro Corps member known as Kryb paced, leaving the navigation of the vessel to its autopilot system. Seething, the Voranian lashed out at a nearby console with her power ring, smashing it into pieces as she bellowed with rage.

Internal artwork from Green Lantern Corps #39 (Aug. 2009). © and TM DC. Written by Peter J. Tomasi. Art by Patrick Gleason.

“Defiance! Once again, I am hindered by my enemies… including him,” she raged. “The one who brought me down – Gardner. Once more, he defies me – but I will not have it! I will NOT!”
 
 Another hapless console met its demise as the alien crushed it within a large, glittering energy construct – her own clawed hand cast in the yellow gleam of fear. With considerable effort, Kryb reined in her fury and stared at the main viewscreen as the brilliant beams of light streaked past her vessel as it traveled through hyperspace.  Once calmed, her thoughts turned to her most hated enemy, and her painful, humiliating defeat at his hands.
 
“If I had the time, I would find Gardner and do to him as he once did to me – feed him his own arm!  Bilious green ring and all!” 

Internal artwork from Green Lantern Corps #43 (Dec. 2009). © and TM DC. Written by Peter J. Tomasi. Art by Patrick Gleason.

“But no… no, a greater destiny awaits me. The destruction of the Green Lantern Corps and their stunted blue masters!  I will turn Oa into a smoldering, lifeless husk and leave it as a memorial to any who would defy the Sinestro Corps… and me.”

She paused to revel in the thoughts of her impending victory, and the glory it would bring her… the favor of Sinestro… perhaps even a place at his right hand. She moved to one of the still-intact consoles and tapped at the controls with one of her long, vicious talons.  Several images relating to her grand project replaced the view of hyperspace travel on the viewscreen.  Prominent among them was a vid-pic of a small, female human child – Hope Cavalera, daughter of a slain Blue Lantern.  Kryb’s toothy maw formed into a terrifying grin.  The children of Lanterns had always been her preferred choice when it came to building an army – before, she focused solely on those born to Green Lanterns, but after her defeat, she expanded her “recruitment” policy. The children who met certain biological profiles were her targets now – those born of a Lantern were… a bonus.  Still smiling, she turned her attention to images of super-advanced technology, scavenged from the ruins of a dead city… and a dead world.

“Krypton may be gone… but that which lingers holds a great many secrets… and power,” she said to herself. “With such gifts, such incredible technology, I will create a new force of soldiers, mighty beyond measure! I will nuture them, train them… guide them until they stand ready to deliver victory to me… their beloved mother.”
 
“My puppet Atrocitus and his horde of Red Lanterns kept my foes at bay on Mogo,” she said. “Ironic that the Corps once led by my hated nemesis became my unwitting lackeys. If only they were able to slay Gardner… but no.  That is a privilege I reserve for myself, and no other!”
 
Kryb switched the viewscreen to the ship’s cargo hold – and her precious cargo. As she sat in the command chair, she smiled as she viewed many small stasis pods, each containing one of her young test subjects.  “Soon, my darlings… soon. You will all make me proud,” she murmured, almost reverent. 

“Through your power, my beautiful children, I will make Gardner the last of the Green Lanterns. I will force him to watch as death comes for each of his allies, each of the mewling Guardians,” she said.  “I will break him, and his formidable will.  I will make him behold the destruction of Oa, helpless, defeated!  And when the last cinder of that broken husk of a world goes dark… I will have my vengeance!  I will have his death!”

Filled with dreams of revenge, conquest, and glory, Kryb returned the viewscreen to display the flow of hyperspace once more. The nav-computer informed her that her journey would be complete in a scant number of stellar days.
 
“Soon,” she whispered to herself as she watched the stars streak past her ship at superluminal speeds. “Soon, a new power shall rise.  My power!”