Oa Defense

Of all the planets in the universe, there was one that every villain dreamed of breaking.

Oa. The home of the Green Lantern Corps. The bright shining heart of cosmic order. If Oa fell, the Lanterns fell. If the Lanterns fell, the universe would slide into darkness.

So Oa had to be defended. Always.

Hal Jordan was almost always at the front of that defense.

One of the most terrible attacks came from the Sinestro Corps. You may have heard of Sinestro — once a great Green Lantern, once Hal's mentor, now his most fearsome enemy. Sinestro had built his own corps, powered not by willpower but by FEAR, and their light was yellow. He gathered thousands of them. And one terrible day, they came for Oa.

The sky filled with clashing light. Green against yellow. Yellow against green. From the ground it looked like cosmic fireworks — beautiful, if you forgot it was a battle. The very foundations of the city rumbled with each strike.

Hal led the counterattack. He flung up his ring, focused his will, and his green light exploded outward into something extraordinary — a squadron of emerald fighter jets, one for each Lantern who flew beside him, blazing through the yellow ranks with the precision of his old test-pilot days. WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH. The fighters tore across the sky in perfect formation.

The battle moved into the streets of Oa itself. Now it was Lantern against Lantern, will against fear, hand to hand in the great emerald plazas. Hal saw flashes of friends everywhere. Kilowog, the giant Bolovaxian, holding a line of yellow monsters back with shields the size of houses, his deep voice roaring orders. Guy Gardner, the brash redheaded Lantern from Earth, swinging green wrecking balls with both fists. John Stewart, the architect-turned-soldier, building elegant precise constructs that anchored the orbital defenses.

Hal's heart swelled. The Corps was UNITED. Thousands of beings from thousands of worlds, fighting side by side. Together, they were stronger than any single fear.

But the heart of the attack was aimed at the heart of Oa — the great Central Power Battery, the enormous emerald lantern from which all Green Lantern rings drew their power. If the Battery fell, every ring would go dark.

And it was Sinestro himself who flew toward it.

Sinestro was tall and proud and pink-skinned, with a sharp little mustache and eyes like cold yellow flame. He swept down through the burning sky toward the Battery, and Hal flew up to meet him in the great plaza in front of it.

Their rings collided with a sound like grinding stone.

What followed was not just a fight. It was an ARGUMENT — fought in light.

Sinestro reached into Hal's mind with fear. He made Hal see his deepest worries. The fear of losing the people he loved. The fear of failing. The fear of waking up one day and not being good enough. "You don't understand, Hal," Sinestro hissed. "Fear is the only way. Fear is the ONLY way to keep order!"

Hal staggered. The yellow light was strong. The fears were real.

But he took a breath. He remembered Kilowog standing in a solar flare. He remembered Earth. He remembered every single life he had ever fought to save.

"Order at the cost of freedom isn't worth having, Sinestro!" Hal roared.

And his ring blazed.

He reached out, in that moment, and channeled the willpower of every single Lantern still standing on Oa — thousands of beings, one breath, one wish — into a single enormous construct. A giant emerald HAND. It rose up from the plaza, taller than the towers, and it closed around Sinestro and HURLED him back up into space.

The shockwave of that blast cleared the sky. The yellow ships scattered. The attack broke.

A great silence fell over Oa.

It was the silence of after-battle — heavy and tired and holy.

Hal walked through the ruined plaza in the long green dusk that followed. He helped wounded Lanterns to their feet. He carried a small Lantern who had lost a leg to a healer. He listened. He bore witness. He did not look away.

The Guardians emerged from their chamber, and for once — for ONCE — they did something they almost never did. They publicly THANKED the Corps. Hal stood at the edge of the plaza and watched the small blue beings bow their bald heads in gratitude, and his eyes stung.

As the green sun finally set over the scarred emerald spires of Oa, Hal stood quietly with his ring held up to the dying light.

Oa was safe. For tonight.

But the watch never truly ended. Tomorrow, somewhere in the great dark universe, something would gather itself to try again. And tomorrow, somewhere on the bright shining surface of Oa, the Green Lantern Corps would stand together once more.

Hal looked at his ring. It glowed steady and clear.

In brightest day. In blackest night.

The Lanterns would never go out.