Vell wasn't one to succumb to the anxieties and fears of failure, but she was certainly uneasy about her current situation. Tomar-Re, a senior Green Lantern officer, was overseeing her final assessment period; the results of which would dictate whether she graduated, was dismissed entirely from service, or underwent continued training. Two of those three options would be seen as failure to the Bekkorian. She wanted to succeed. Worst of all though, if she was kicked out of the Corps one might say that it would be difficult for her to regularly see her newfound partner Hal Jordan, who lived several galaxies away from her and anywhere she'd be able to travel without a GL ring. So yes, Vell was not entirely calm despite the fact that her favourite teacher was assessing her performance.

A Green lantern Initiate's final assessment could be literally any assignment of the instructor's choosing. The Initiate was required to complete said task in a desirable manner whilst adhering to and applying all concepts taught to them during their corpsman studies. The examination could be based on extracting and analysing raw materials from radioactive asteroid fragments, destroying hostile vessels attacking innocent targets, navigating and charting high-risk regions, keeping the peace during interstellar political meetings, or literally anything else.

Suffice to say, it was the mystery behind her exam that Vell didn't like. She might need to broker peace between two peoples or manage a population of homeless and displaced victims of war; things that she would be absolutely terrible at. And knowing Tomar-Re, he'd probably choose something like that to best test the versatility of this very brash, aggressive and violently-inclined Lantern cadet.

Tomar decided to select an assignment from his home sector of 2813 since he knew the area extremely well and wanted to place Vell in an environment completely foreign to her. He was leading the way by following a complex flight path in an effort to both gauge Vell's level of navigational skill and keep her sharp. "You must relax, Vell. I sense fear in you."

"I don't want to fail. I'm afraid of screwing this up. And I'm afraid that in being afraid, I've already failed. Have I already failed?"

Tomar laughed. "No. We are not machines, Vell. Feeling fear is natural; it is impossible to be brave without first feeling fear. A good Green Lantern acknowledges their fear, then musters the strength to overcome it. They are not immune to it."

Vell understood what he was saying; she remembered from her classes that the GL rings' trigger mechanisms were the wearer's mind, specifically the part of the brain that urged them into action. The direct opposite of that signal is the anxiety that causes someone to freeze and not act. GLs who freeze up or doubt themselves produce constructs at less effective rates compared to those who don't. It was a matter of psychological training to overcome these things.

"What are you afraid of?" Tomar asked his pupil.

She swallowed. "Being alone."

"This stems from your being sold into slavery, does it not? You were abandoned. You do not wish for it to happen again, which you feel will if you fail your final assessment."

"Yeah...basically."

Tomar chose his next words carefully. "You must become confident in your actions. This is not something I can assist you with. You must do so on your own accord. You must trust in yourself that you will not fall short of what is expected of you."

"Okay...I think I understand." She said quietly.

"Only experience will assist you in such an undertaking."

The pair passed through a golden, globular nebular on their path through Sector 2813. The particles that culminated in the cosmic event twirled about as their ion trails whisked them across the stars like missiles. "Kal-El and Kara Zor-El are currently occupied with the cosmic storm approaching Sector 2814 from dead space, so it is imperative that we maintain a vigilant watch on all areas of Guardian space. There are those who would seek to take advantage of the Kryptonians' absence."

"So we're just going on patrol? Is that all?"

"For now, yes. Something will arise, something always does."

Flying was starting to feel second nature to her. She devoted her otherwise unused mental capacities to thinking about Hal. He was, as promised, covering for Superman on their homeworld of Earth while he was occupied. While Vell was studying all of her notes on Oa, Hal found the time to call her, wish her luck, and joke about how it would be hilarious if she failed the test and had to repeat her training period. Vell didn't appreciate this sentiment and hung up on him after calling him an elkosh. She found the thought of flying solo, without a mentor, both enticing and worrying. Vell was able to find solace in the fact that she didn't have to make her own calls previously, as Hal would issue commands to her and all she had to do was listen. Now if she passed and became a Sentry, she would have to decide how to solve her own problems and make sure her conclusions conformed to Green Lantern policy. She didn't really trust herself with that kind of responsibility.

She was also curious about Earth. She hadn't spent too much time there, and the majority of that aforementioned time was inside Hal's small apartment. Mainly, she wanted more yoghurt. It wasn't the best tasting substance she had consumed, but for some reason she'd been thinking about nothing else.

As the two peacekeepers wound their way deeper into sector 2813, Vell's scanning subsystems identified the signature of a spacecraft engaged in a level 20 thrust jump. This speed was well beyond what was the established safety limit for a ship of its size in this immediate area; it was susceptible to the occasional wave of asteroid debris due to a nearby supermassive star's high gravitational field. A ship going too fast could collide with one of these fast-moving pieces of ore and be destroyed without a chance to perform evasive manoeuvres.

"Walk me through your chain of logic, Initiate." Tomar-Re demanded.

Vell squinted at the vessel, altered her course to a direct intercept, then explained "That vessel's speed is exceeding the maximum safety threshold for a debris-heavy region. I'm going to get closer, initiate communications and see if I need to do anything else."

The Bekkorian took off with great speed with her Xudarian instructor in tow. Once she entered contact range, Vell initiated a systems scan of the ship, which cross-referenced its identification credentials with the Oan archives. Half a second passed, and she was presented with a document describing the craft with great detail.

"The ship is a cargo freighter called the Mestorius Gale...and...is labelled as stolen from the nearby planet of Oxidien IX." Vell announced. "Okay, so I'm going to hail them and tell them to cease all operations or else I'll disable the ship without their consent. After that, I'll apprehend the thieves for questioning, then return them to their point of origin."

Tomar nodded. "Excellent. Proceed."

Vell commanded her ring to open a secure channel to the Mestorius Gale, then warned "Attention Mestorius Gale, this is Green Lantern 921. Your vehicle has been identified as a model declared stolen from Oxidien IX. I'm ordering you to drop out of your unsanctioned level 20 jump and prepare for boarding. If you refuse to comply, I'm going to permanently disable your engines and come aboard anyway." Needless to say, Vell polished up her speech for her assessment. Her usual warnings would be a little less fancy-sounding.

There were several seconds of static. Suddenly, a fear-ridden voice responded "W-We can't stop...they'll catch us...! They'll k-kill us all!"

Normally, Vell would've kept pushing and probably yelled at them until they stopped, but considering that her performance was being scrutinised, she bit her tongue and rethought that course of action. "Tell me what happened. Who's going to catch you?"

"The demons. From the pits of Ceortenul itself...! They came to punish us for our sins!" The alien on the comm explained. Vell's ring identified Ceortenul as the Oxidien equivalent of Hell and other realms where the guilty were banished for punishment.

"Can I come aboard? Just slow down two levels. My partner and I would like to help you. Maybe we can deal with these demons." Vell said calmly and smoothly, in an effort to impress her supervising officer.

"Y-Yes...we can't slow down too much. We have to keep r-running!"

After the channel closed, Vell looked to Tomar with great concern. "This sounds pretty serious."

"Indeed. 'Demon' isn't a particularly useful descriptor; humanoid lifeforms tend to attribute anything that makes them afraid with evil creatures from dark realms. Perhaps questioning the passengers will reap more tangible testimony. Lead the way." Tomar said to Vell.

"Okay. Let's do it."

The two Lanterns made their way to one of the airlocks highlighted in their scans of the Mestorius Gale and entered with the approval of the ship's crew. The interior was intensely cramped and laden with an enormous number of lifeforms. Vell saw men, women, children, and the elderly wrapped in dirty clothes and burns. Their grey skin and yellow eyes matched the database entry for Oxidien IX natives. The docking hangar, which was what the airlock was connected to, was absolutely packed with refugees instead of the usual docked ships and storage containers.

Vell said to Tomar "This...looks like an ark."

"Indeed." He replied, looking at woman and her five crying children amongst the dense crowd.

A party of armoured and armed people strode in from one of the accessways. Their suits were horrifically damaged, and many seemed to have sustained deep injuries. The lead soldier introduced himself to the Lanterns. "Apologies for the...eccentric Captain, officers. We've...been through much."

"What happened to you? There has to be hundreds of thousands of people on this ship if its packed like this." Vell asked.

The guard sergeant swallowed. "We're an evac ship from Oxidien IX. Our government was eradicated by invaders...so I took command of my detachment and focused on getting as many survivors off the planet as I could. Yeah...I guess we stole this ship since everything went to shit."

Tomar pressed "Do not worry about the ship. These invaders, the captain called them demons."

"They descended from the skies and set our world alight with their mere gaze. Nothing we retaliated with could slow their onslaught. We don't know anything else about them." The guard recounted.

Vell exhaled, crossing her arms. "I'm sending coordinates to your navigational computer and requesting for an escort to take you there."

"Where? Where are you taking us?"

"Oa. You'll be safe there while we take care of your planet." She summoned a series of holograms, swiped and tapped at the interface for several seconds, then closed them. "Okay, officers are en route. Tomar-Re and I will leave for Oxidien. Keep your people safe."

With that, the Green Lanterns departed the Gale and set course for Oxidien IX. "I've called for additional reinforcements. Lanterns should be rendezvousing with us on the planet."

"Good call. Now let us investigate."

Minutes zipped by and Vell's eyes fell onto Oxidien IX upon her arrival in-system. Sections of the world seemed to be glowing...as if they had been set alight. Black smoke turned the white clouds grey, and clusters of destroyed starships littered orbit. There were no signs of hostile vessels anywhere in the entire solar system. The GLs entered the planet's atmosphere and witnessed an unseen level of destruction.

Buildings were toppled, rendered into piles of rubble, and scorched corpses littered the ruins as far as the eye could see. Some bodies had been torn apart and were no unrecognisable as any form of life; they looked like squishy piles of flesh with no shape. "Grakk...what in the name of Forgtor's beard could have done all this...?"

Vell landed in the centre of a body-strewn plaza. Tomar-Re struggled to retain his professionalism in light of the atrocities around him, but nevertheless he did so. "Crime scene assessment?"

Vell knelt by the bodies and inspected the damage. Some had been burnt so badly that what little remained of their flesh was boiled into the skeletal systems. These skeletons were encrusted onto the ground like roadkill. Other bodies were torn into pieces; the muscle damage noted sheer force was used to pull them apart. Military vehicles were littered about, showing signs of incredible force damage. Their hull plating was torn open and crushed so badly that all occupants had to have died immediately.

The blast points of the heat energy, as extrapolated by Vell's ring computer, determined that most of the scorching attacks were conducted from above. This denoted some kind of flight technology or ability in the attacking group.

"...Severe burns...exhibits of great physical strength...flight..." Vell trailed off.

Tomar bluntly pressed her. "Spit it out, Initiate." He knew what she was going to say.

"They appear to point toward...Kryptonian involvement."

Tomar growled under his breath.

Without a single sound, a figure descended from the clouds. Vell thrusted her ring hand out, ready to blast it with a burst of energy. The man was dressed in a Kryptonian body suit, adorned with a triangular family crest, much like Superman's. Instead of being shaped like an 'S' however, it was a completely foreign shape. He had a head of black hair, slicked back, and a black beard. Vell's ring instantly tied-into the Oan archive to identify the person.

They had a previous criminal record...including acts of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, and attempted subjugation of populations. His name: Dru-Zod, former military general of the Kryptonian Science Council. One of the most dangerous criminals the universe has ever known.

"Tomar-Re. Do you know why we have sought you out?" The man asked calmly.

Vell made to take a step forward, but Tomar's hand pushed her back. "Yes, General. But this death...this slaughter was uncalled for. You have committed crimes against the people of my sector and will be subject to the laws of the Guardians. Submit yourself for disciplinary action or face lethal force."

General Zod sighed. "You owe my people a debt, Lantern. The people you failed to save. Your condemning of them to death does not conflict with your laws?"

Tomar was made silent. He agreed with Zod. He still felt guilty.

"Tomar-Re didn't destroy your planet; you did it to yourselves." Vell snapped.

Zod grimaced at the pale alien before him. "I do not expect a whelp from a primitive society like yours to understand. Stand aside or die."

"I'm not afraid of you." Vell snarled.

Zod, somehow not sounding obnoxious but instead seeming as if he was issuing a genuine heart-felt warning, told her "You should be."

Tomar turned to face Vell. "Stop. He is much too powerful. Leave. I shall keep him at bay."

Zod held his hands behind his back patiently. Vell answered her mentor "I'm on assessment. That wouldn't look good on record."

Vell threw herself at the General with maximum thrust. A glowing green mechanical gauntlet assembled itself as she pushed her arm forward just as she came into contact with the Kryptonian. Faster than any eye present could comprehend, Zod raised a hand and caught the construct without any sign of exertion. His eyes flared bright red.

He squeezed and Vell's construct buckled. She manifested a sword in her left hand and swung it at the General's face. The blade impacted much like how a branch would against solid concrete; the weapon shattered. Vell, rightfully so, finally felt fear of her opponent.

With a roar, Tomar-Re entered the fight, discharging volleys of energy at the Kryptonian soldier. The bolts hit their target, but nothing more than a slight frown of discomfort was warranted by Zod. He slightly reeled his head back then released it forward directly into Vell's face.

The impact was akin to the payload of a heavy-duty ballistic missile. Vell was propelled backwards so fast that her brain couldn't process what exactly happened. The next few seconds were blurs of grey, blue, black that swirled endlessly amongst each other. Her ring howled, denoting that its shield integrity was below fifty percent. She was in complete and utter disbelief. A single blow reduced her shields by 73%...a blow that didn't even seem to be the tiniest potential of Zod's true strength. She had never seen a Kryptonian in battle before...and it seemed that she grossly underestimated them. When Vell's rolling through the debris finally stopped, she rerouted power from her ring's propulsion system to shields and offensive capabilities, then looked upward. According to her tracker, she was hurtled hundreds of kilometres away from the fight...

She leapt into the sky and lanced as fast as she could back to Tomar and Zod. Streaks of red tore through the sky and impacted against Tomar's shield, causing sparks to fly into the blue atmosphere. Vell willed two twin pulse cannon turrets into existence and set their sights on the Kryptonian General. She fired at will, staggering Zod but causing no real injury. However, she did give the attack pause and free Tomar from the onslaught.

"What are you doing?! Run! We stand no chance, you have to mobilise the Corps!" Tomar commanded.

Vell continued unleashing her flurry of fire, allowing Tomar's shield time to recharge. "Reinforcements are already on the way, remember!? No way this guy can stand against ten GLs, no way!"

Still under constant fire from Vell's construct, Zod manages to compose himself during the attack and leap through the air. Vell's heart stopped as she saw the General spear upwards and directly into her, seizing her by the throat. He punched her once in the face, and the energy shield protecting her splintered into millions of pieces. An alarm hollered in her mind. Without the energy shield, the GL ring still provided a level of protection, but it only reduced incoming damage instead of negating it. Zod was now able to harm her.

His face was drooped in a reluctant but determined grimace. Without warning, Vell's eyes were overcome with an indescribable brightness; if her eyes weren't passively protected by the ring, she would've been rendered permanently blind. Her skin was boiled with incapacitating heat that was well beyond anything she'd ever felt before. The sheer inferno made the sodium capsule from the Gornian encounter feel like a tickle.