Celdon was a technologically developed planet on the fringe of sector 921. Hal and his newfound trainee Vell were inbound for a routine patrol on this world, to check up on the planet's government and ensure that it wasn't breaking any intergalactic statutes.

Hal didn't have access to a wealth of options when it came to assignments at the moment, so this flyby was the most exciting sounding one.

Hal muttered "Alright kid, this is apart of your sector so get familiar with it. This job should run smoothly."

"Database says crime doesn't exist on this world. Why are we even here?" The rookie snapped.

"Just shut up and follow me."

Vell snarled under her breath.

The Lanterns zoomed through the planet's pink atmosphere and came up on a gigantic structure that floated in the clouds like a balloon. It was roughly pear shaped and possessed a line of landing pads across its top.

"Those people...are they waiting for us?" Vell remarked.

"Yeah. Some systems out here know about the Corps."

"Why don't you make yourselves known to everyone?"

"Because some races would lose their minds if they knew how small they really are. My people would've gone insane if they found out a few decades ago."

"That seems petty."

"Well the Guardians seem to think most of your sector is on the same plate so don't get too smug. Let me do the talking first."

The pair set down gracefully on one of the pads, to a crowd of bewildered spectators. The Celdonians were humanoid, but had no faces. On their blank, otherwise featureless heads was a gaping 'mouth' that passively gathered all essential proteins and nutrients that were transmitted through the planet's atmosphere. In other words, their food was in the air and was free to everyone. Hal believed that was one big reason why crime wasn't a problem here.

The species perceived their environment through a kind of echo-location; they constantly emitted ultra-sonic tones and interpreted the feedback to map out the terrain. Thankfully, humans and Bekorrians couldn't hear these frequencies.

"The Protectors...! The Protectors have arrived! We have been expecting you," a Celdonian greeted warmly, bowing. He was draped within a purple robe lined with golden lacings. "I am Senator Reltorryg, councilman for this territory."

The society's language of clicks and clucks was automatically translated by each Lantern's ring since they were already filed on the database.

Hal bowed much like the Senator did, and responded "Thank you for hosting us, Senator."

"I apologise but we were expecting Lantern Nil...he is still the officer of sector 921 is he not?"

Hal glanced at Vell, who gave him the same awkward look. The Guardians undoubtedly explained that new Lantern recruits are sought out only when their predecessors are killed in action.

"Nil is dead. My name is Vell; his successor," Vell answered bluntly.

Hal shot her an irritated glance. He thought that she could've handled that a little more smoothly...

Reltorryg and the crowd around him gasped in shock. "By the light...what a tragedy... Lantern Nil was an honourable soul. Please, Vell, let us escort you through our council chambers. And you friend, who are you?"

Hal smirked and answered "Hal Jordan Lantern 2814, Senator."

Murmurs of awe became audible. The crowd was enamoured by his presence. Vell muttered under her breath "What an elkosh..."

"The Terran, the greatest Lantern, this is unprecedented. You should've informed us of your arrival!"

"I don't want any special treatment. I'm just here to mentor Vell. Continue."

Hal trailed behind the cloud of politicians as they herded themselves into a stairwell inside the structure. Vell was encompassed entirely by the Celdonians. Reltorryg led the party down the immense stairwell. "We pride ourselves on our immaculate society. All anti-social behaviour is corrected before it culminates in violence or hostility."

"Corrected?" Vell pressed.

Hal was aware that she was already judging Celdonian culture with her own standards. It was wrong, since what's best for one race isn't exactly the best for all of them. Life should be able to carve their own paths, and it took Hal some time to learn that lesson.

"I assure you Lantern Vell, our processes are non-invasive. If these subjects are beyond rehabilitation, they are contained within our penitentiary."

"Only one?" Vell peered up and down the insides of the structure.

"Yes. The Arxis is our planetary prison. It spans five miles in each dimension and houses two hundred and seventy five inmates."

Over twenty miles of space to contain two hundred perps sounded pretty sufficient to Hal.

Hal whistled. "Considering your eleven billion population count, two hundred criminals is pretty damn clean."

Vell quickly rebutted "...You're not worried about a breakout?"

Reltorryg chirped "Our systems are more advanced than any other society in this sector. Seconded only by the Guardians. If you wish to inspect the Arxis, we will be humbled to receive you."

Vell immediately answered "We do."

"Why don't you go on ahead; I need to have a word with your fearless protector," Hal declared, brushing by all the politicians surrounding Vell.

Reltorryg nodded eagerly. "Of course Hal Jordan. Whatever you wish." He and the other Celdonians slithered faster down the stairwell, leaving Hal and Vell in solitude.

Hal planted his hands onto his hips. "Hey, you forget who's in charge here? What was that?"

"They could be doing something you know...suspect."

Hal groaned "Don't get too excited. Rule number one of ring slinging; different doesn't automatically mean suspect."

"Jordan. Tell me that 'correction' doesn't sound wrong."

Hal stared absent-mindedly into the distance. "...Okay we'll have a look. Just a look. Don't do anything stupid."

Ecstatically, Vell nodded and said "Yes, sir."

A tense pause followed.

"What...what was that?"

"What was what?" Vell shrugged.

"You just gave up and agreed with me."

"I...believed that your judgement was sound and worth accepting."

Another body of silence filled the gap in the conversation.

"...Yeah...nice try."

The Bekkorian widened her eyes and bore her teeth. "What is your problem!?"

"Listen lady, this is your first mission. You make the wrong call, it could get people killed."

Vell snarled once again at her human partner. "Then I hope it's you. Maybe your replacement will be less of a--"

Hal slid a hand down his face as he sighed. Vell glanced over her shoulder and noticed that the Celdonian party was staring from the bottom of the stairs.

Hal leant in and whispered "We're doing a terrible job at representing the Corps right now... So why don't we just pretend to like each other for diplomacy's sake?"

"No. Because I don't care about your damn reputation," Vell hissed at her partner, then stormed down the stairs.

Hal rubbed the back of his neck as he cursed. He regretted ever setting foot on that pirate vessel in the first place...

The Lanterns followed the Celdonians down to the bottom of their parliamentary structure, to an elevator that would descend to the Arxis' visitor intake. Reltorryg stood beside the elevator's entrance and said to the two officers "Here I shall divert my duties to Security Minister Joolter, who shall take you through the prison's inner workings."

Another Celdonian stepped out from the crowd and entered the elevator car. This one wore a mask that covered the majority of its head. "Please. The Senator must return to his duties," Joolter said with a smooth female tone.

"Thank you for your time." Hal nodded curtly to Reltorryg and boarded the pod, promptly followed by Vell. The pod sealed itself and propelled down towards the planet at startling speeds. Soon enough, they pierced the dense cloud layer below the floating parliament building, and caught a glimpse of a pyramidal structure that glowed gold.

"This is the Arxis; the pinnacle of Celdonian security technology. Its kiltonium composite outer wall deflects all signal transmissions and dampens energy. Not even your power ring constructs can dent its surface."

Hal whistled in amazement as he scanned the structure with his ring, holographic displays appearing in front of him.

Vell crossed her arms as she scrutinised the sprawling pyramid.

"I'd doubt that you'll ever need that much security," Hal quizzed as the elevator pod sunk into the Arxis' receiving dock.

Joolter laughed seductively and cocked her masked head "You would be surprised, Hal Jordan. Perhaps I could give you an elaborate explanation some time."

With that, the elevator doors parted, and Joolter left a very disgusted Vell inside with Hal.

Vell scrunched up her face. "By the twin moons of Yothor...what a revolting creature."

Hal shrugged as his readout holograms fizzled out and disappeared. "It could be a way in if we wanna know anything."

The Bekorrian froze in shock. "You'd...'present' yourself to a life form that strange just to get information?"

"Well...yeah. Like Captain Kirk."

"Disgusting," Vell snorted, ignoring Hal's strange reference.

"Duty calls," Hal proudly quipped with a grin as he ducked out of the elevator.

Outside of the elevator, Joolter awaited her visitors. "All security systems are automated."

In the hallway were an array of plasmic auto-turrets, scanners and immobiliser nodes. Hal's inspections revealed that these interior walls were made of the same energy dampening materials as the outer walls, meaning that they'd absorb Lantern constructs.

"I have to say...this place would be a bit of a pickle for even a GL to break out of," Hal cracked. He ran a gloved finger down one of the walls and glanced at Joolter. "The prisoners must mean serious business."

Joolter led the pair through this corridor and into the main containment area as she answered "They are mostly interplanetary ruffians who sought to take advantage of our peaceful planet. Not many Celdonians are irreparably corrupt; it simply is not within our nature."

As they explored the hundreds of cells, Hal and Vell noted the presence of several Qwardians and a Brainiac drone among the plethora of criminals behind bars.

Hal quickly found himself alone as he trailed off...and came across a very unwelcome face. "You gotta be kidding me..."

Behind a wall of near impenetrable paldite glass, was the hulking figure of a bestial alien that rivalled the size of Kilowog. It wore a blue and black suit and had grey skin that covered thick bands of muscle. Its face was a mess of razor sharp teeth and two black eyes.

It was Arkillo, the merciless Yellow Lantern...Sinestro's second-in-command of his own Lantern Corps. The Yellow Lanterns harnessed the yellow power of fear and wielded it through the use of power rings, much like how the GLs used the green glow of will.

Arkillo sneered at the human.

"You're losing your touch, Arkillo. Mind telling me what you were doing here?" Hal pressed.

The Yellow Lantern roared "One day, I will gut you like a fish and crush your skull in between my fingers...!"

"Geez. Someone's happy."

With that, Vell came around from the corner. "Jordan. What in Forgtor's beard are you doing? I don't like leaving that creature out of sight. Get a move on."

Her eyes instantly latched onto Arkillo's massive frame. "What is this?"

"Something's off. Arkillo here is a Yellow Lantern. They don't surrender easily."

Vell furrowed her brow. "A Yellow Lantern...and that means the Celdonians have his ring."

"Yeah, I think that qualifies as suspect. Either they're up to something...or he is."

It wasn't easy to remove any Lantern's ring. Arkillo of all people would rather die than surrender...so Hal wasn't feeling very confident.

Arkillo's twisted face morphed into a sickly grin.

For a split second, the lights inside the prison cut. As soon as they went, they were back...and the glass wall between Arkillo and the Lanterns lifted, along with all the other cell doors in the room.

"Shit..." Hal snarled.

Vell growled. "That was every door in the prison!"

Hal tried to will forth his power battery, which was stored in a dimensional pocket...but his ring simply sputtered without result. If they couldn't access their batteries, they couldn't recharge their rings...which were almost drained from the trip across the universe.

"You're after the prisoners, aren't you? A recruitment drive. We just happened to show up here," Hal taunted.

"And you will happen to die here," Arkillo stuck out his hand, and a yellow wisp trailed out from behind Hal and Vell. It slipped itself onto Arkillo's finger and the room was consumed by golden light. Hal's stomach turned.

As it dimmed, Arkillo was covered in the distinct yellow and black uniform of the Sinestro Corps.

"I guess its the deep end for you today, rookie. Control your fear. He'll feed on it," Hal stood ready, ring hand forward.

Vell panted "I can't summon my lantern..."

"Me neither. I guess we're gonna have to play this smart."

Two Lanterns at approximately fifty percent power against a fully charged Yellow Lantern and another two hundred formidable and infamous criminals from across the stars. Hal didn't like the odds.