In Universe-500, the Overlords of Oa have convened a Green Lantern Hegemony. However, it differs from Universe-One's Green Lantern Corps in some important ways...

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JAA SEABASE:


"Jose Hernandez, Green Lantern of Earth. Your assistance is required urgently in an adjacent interstellar sector."
Abruptly, Jose Hernandez was woken from a good night's sleep alongside his partner, Hermes Trimegistus. As the bearded Greek man groaned, Jose's power ring flickered back into tangibility and his Green Lantern uniform appeared over his body. He leant forward and kissed Hermes:
"Sorry, mi amor, but duty calls. See you in a day or two."
"Want me to come with you?"
"No, Herm. You're exhausted after that Anakaro rescue mission and you need the rest. Don't worry about me..."

And with that, Jose Hernandez turned to his charging lantern:
"And I shall shed my light over dark evil
For those dark things cannot stand the light of...
the Green Lantern!"

After he had completed the ages-old ritual, he soared into one of the Seabase egress tubes, into the morning Atlantic air and upward through Earth's atmosphere into space.
"All right, Overlords. Briefing time. Which of my ringwielding colleagues needs our attention and why?"
"You have met Tyrion-Re, Green Lantern of Xudar, before. Zyra Tui, Green Lantern of Korugar, has also received our summons and will rendezvous with you. We have reason to believe that Rann, a dead planet in the Alpha Centauri system, is encountering an inter-universal phase distortion. If not stopped, there will be severe spatial and temporal disruption."
"What, like the Crisis that I didn't survive in my first iteration?"
"Not exactly, Jose Hernandez. Although our universe's Rann has been an uninhabitable radioactive wasteland since its nuclear war ten thousand years ago obliterated all life within its biosphere, the same cannot be said of its alternate universe analogues. They will be in danger too from the lethal radioactive elements that exist on our universe's Rann."
"Overlords, if our Rann is uninhabited, why did we stand on sentiment and leave it alone so it could endanger its alternates?"
"The Galactic Federation, specifically the inhabitants of Sfar and Hebos within the same planetary system, overruled our entreaties."
"And has the Hegemony confronted any analogous interstellar threats of this nature before?"
"The Antarean solar system, due to conflict between four of its inhabited worlds- Dhor, ruled by insectoid Kanjar Ro; Alstair, ruled by vegetoid Hyathis; Mosteel, under the control of the siliconid Kromm; and Llar, tyrannised by the dictatorial Emperor Sayyar. The four worlds have fought over the remnants of the red supergiant's pulverised earlier phase inner planets and the industrial elements found in great bounty within its dense asteroid belt. None of those worlds exist anymore. Regardless of who initiated it, there was exactly this manner of inter-universal phase disaster. Dhor merged with its alternates and the resultant calamity destroyed all four of those inhabited worlds. Billions of sapient life forms perished. This must not be allowed to repeat itself. The Antarean cataclysm also obliterated a metamorphic lifeform on Proteus,  one of its other inhabitable worlds uninvolved in the fratricidal conflict of those four worlds."

"What happened to those tyrants, Overlords? Did anyone escape?"
"With the demise of Alstair, Hyathis travelled to your Justice Alliance colleagues Hawkboy and Hawkgirl's homeworld Thanagar in the Polaris system. Given it was suffering from a devastating plague, and Hyathis' world was highly advanced in medical technology and pharmaceuticals derived  from its genetically engineered vegetation, it was able to cure the Equaliser Plague that afflicted the planet. Hyathis demanded absolute control of that world in return for her far from disinterested interest, and-"
"No need to discuss what happened next- Kator and Shay told the rest of us. Hyathis proved a highly competent if tyrannical and repressive ruler and despite a Thanagarian dissident movement in which they were involved, she brutally crushed all dissent and they were the resistance movement's only survivors. She's a murderous character, whipping up humanoid and reptilian Lizarkon Thanagarians alike to hit out at Polara, the former coreworld of that system. Fortunately, Kator and Shay managed to locate an abandoned Polaran starship and use its tech to escape."
"We are concerned that Hyathis may be behind this latest exploit as well."
"What?! But Rann is thousands of light years away from Antares! What possible reason could she have for doing that?!"
"If she was behind the obliteration of Dhor, Mosteel, Llar and Proteus, then she might still be attempting to harness this apocalyptic technology for further abuse."
"Blazes. Shouldn't you have contacted the rest of the Alliance to assist here? I'm sure they'd be pleased to do so."
"Unfortunately, as you have already observed from your colleagues' experiences, Jose Hernandez, Hyathis is indeed a highly competent tyrant. While there is considerable antipathy toward her rule, given its repression and brutality, she has also been responsible for the planet's economic and social recovery and return to its self-perceived former glories and beyond. She still commands particularly strong populist support on that world."
"In other words, we are to return her to Thanagar and make sure that this weapon isn't used against any perceived strategic 'threat' to her usurped planet. I thought we were supposed to represent law and order, Overlords? Hyathis seems keen on the law aspect, as long as they obey her orders. I will follow your orders, but under strong protest."
"We dislike this as much as you do, Jose Hernandez. Unfortunately, given that Hyathis is doing this on an uninhabited Open World under interstellar law, we cannot imprison her merely because of her reckless warmongering alone. We can act to prevent the weapons test given its threat to Alpha Centauri's other worlds, Barnard's World, your own solar system and those of Epsilon Eridani, Epsilon Indi and Tau Ceti." 

ALPHA CENTAURI A: RANN-500:

RANN:  A dead world, the third one in orbit around the G class main sequence sun Alpha Centauri A.  Ten thousand years ago, rival nations on Rann engaged in a devastating fratricidal conflict with hydrogen and cobalt based nuclear weapons, given that nuclear fission does not work within that planetary system outside the main triad of primary stars, but nuclear fusion does. The use of cobalt-based weaponry proved the prelude to the extinction of Rann's humanoid species, given that the use of intensely radioactive fallout would only be survivable in deep mineshafts and while skeletal remains of humanoid Rannians have been found in such subterranean regions, they seem to have had inadequate protection from the devastation caused. Cobalt bombs cause omnicidal devastation in their wake and the tragic case of Rann was no exception.  Rann's biosphere was destroyed  altogether and not even saphrophytic bacteria or viroids survived on that planet.  The inhabitants remains are the subject of xenoarchaeology and archaeoforensic investigation particularly and serve as a potent reminder that certain thresholds should never be crossed.  Given the extent of contamination, Rann cannot be colonised by other worlds either within or outside its former planetary system. 

ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

Hyathis looked upward from her radiation-protected exohydrocraft, glaring at the three dots of intense emerald light converging on the dead planet Rann from high above. She scowled and then her lips curved upward in a cruel smile. She would prove no rapid trophy for these Green Lanterns, given her chlorokinetic abilities and given the particular weakness of the Green Lantern Hegemony was mycorrhizal fungi, she had come prepared. From a vast container on her vessel, she released her potent payload. In Alstairean, she whispered: "Fly, fly, my pretties!" 

ALPHA CENTAURI: RANN ORBIT:

Jose decelerated as he entered Alpha Centauri A's system, sighting his fellow Green Lantern Hegemony colleagues:
"Hello. You must be Zyra Tui, Green Lantern of Korugar. I was sorry to hear about Thal Sinestro's death. I never actually met him, but he was a legend throughout the Hegemony. I'm Nagin Sur's successor, Jose Hernandez of Earth."
"I never met him, but your reputation precedes you, my friend. Ah, here comes Tyrion. A pleasure to see you again, my friend."
"I take it you both reviewed the background data on Hyathis and her skill set en route?"
Jose nodded: "She sounds a bad case. So we take her prisoner and return her to Thanagar? Doesn't seem enough somehow. The meta law enforcement agency back home that I belong to has two teenage Thanagarian refugees as members, so they've told me some useful intel."
Tyrion smiled behind his visor: "I see Nagin Sur made an excellent choice. I know, Jose Hernandez, your moral compass is excellent. Given what that tyrant did to Alstair and those three other Antarean planets, and her occupation of Thanagar and dictatorship there, it certainly does not seem an adequate punishment. She has certainly reached new depths here. Although Rann is an Open World under the Galactic Federation's Charter, that is not meant to include the 'right' of other sapient species to unleash weapons of universal destruction as a mere test site. Particularly not when it comes to desecrating a funeral world that should remain sacred to the memory of the species that once flourished there."
"Not to mention the species that might still exist on alternate Ranns. She's coldly and callously endangering...uh oh..." Jose noticed his power ring was emitting a warning pulse, as were those of his two GLH colleagues:
"I was afraid she might try something like this. I take it you're aware of Hyathis' chlorokinetic abilities?"
"Yes, so she's taking preliminary precautions, Tyrion? Mycorrhizal fungi, our rings' achilles heel?" Zyra asked.
"Indeed. I suspect that she must have prepared a spaceborne strain beforehand so she could utilise them against us."
Jose produced a large tanker-sized carrier of his own:
"Okay. So I took the precaution of taking this payload of antifungal herbicide out here. Will it work on spaceborne fungi?"
"It will if we provide a planetary atmosphere around the spread of the fungi. Fortunately, they do register on sensor equipment not associated with our rings and the fungi can only affect us if they make direct contact with our bodies or ring-built perimeters. Come, my colleagues..." The three Green Lanterns concentrated their efforts on the incoming mycorrhizal fungi, still thousands of miles away. Around the spores, a powerbeam barrier formed and within it, a planetary atmosphere. As the fungi adapted to atmospheric conditions, it was unaware that above it, Jose's tanker load of antifungal herbicide had been released and was spreading specific mycotoxin around it. However, within minutes, the fungoids began to shrivel and die as the toxins made contact and did their work. When they were done, the three Green Lanterns were free to act once more. 

RANN:

"Hyathis of Alstair and Thanagar! Your presence on this planet is illegal under galactic law!"
"Neither Alstair or Thanagar is a signatory to your pathetic Galactic Federation's snivelling Charter of Rights and Freedoms! In any case, this is a dead world. I do not recognise your authority here!"
"Regardless of that aspect, you are desecrating the mortal remains of the former inhabitants of this planet. Cease and desist!"
"The 'former inhabitants' of Rann perished ten thousand years ago, and their mortal remains cannot speak or bear witness to the fact that this is a fallow, otherwise useless world. It is only fit to be destroyed. Its loss will harm no-one, for there is no-one to be directly harmed on this tomb world!"
"What about the neighbouring inhabited planets within this system, Hebos and Sfar? Or the neighbouring planetary systems?"
"That is none of my concern. I am conducting this weapon tests for the planetary security of Thanagar, and for no other reason."
"So you're not worried about getting into an interstellar arms race with rival interstellar empires?" Zyra Tui asked.
"Again, that is their responsibility, not mine. I repeat, I am a sovereign planetary ruler. Neither the Galactic Federation or Green Lantern Hegemony has any authority over me."
Jose shook his head: "I am an inhabitant of one of the planets in the neighbouring solar system to this one. What you propose would endanger my species."
"Rann has never been a constituent vassal planet to Thanagar or Alstair before it. You have no authority over this planet either, Panala Hyathis." Tyrion-Re reminded her.
"This is an academic discussion. I have initiated the triggering sequence from my starship and it will detonate within minutes. Moreover, my device has remote motion sensors, should you enter Rann's atmosphere and try to deactivate it. With your puny code against ending sapient life, you cannot prevent my withdrawal to a safe distance to observe the outcome of my experiment. If you have any concern about the neighbouring planets, then try to protect them. Farewell."
As Hyathis starship withdrew to distant Anthorann, on the perimeter of Alpha Centauri A's planetary system, the three Green Lanterns looked at one another:
"She's beaten us, then."
Zyra Tui smiled: "No, she only thinks she has. I looked up the project database on her inter-universal intersperser device."
"And?"
"The primary explosive trigger is based on nuclear fission. And given that stars of a particular G sequence mass inhibit nuclear fission within their attendant planets...someone didn't do her homework very well, did she?"

The device detonated. There was a hiss and sparking, but no chain reaction. The device short circuited and its inter universal insertion circuitry dematerialised without its inoperative explosive trigger, to be lost forever in bleedspace. Scowling and cursing, Hyathis triggered her starship's warpdrive and withdrew in pique and anger to her usurped throneworld Thanagar as the three Green Lanterns laughed at the fiasco before them. Jose turned to the others: "Is there any risk she'll repeat this elsewhere in any of our sectors?"
"No, Jose Hernandez. All of the other potential 'test sites' within our sector are occupied by scientific or military or colonial installations from adjacent planets. That includes the uncrewed probe vessels on the adjacent planets and satellites of your system too, so have no fear she'll try that on Venus, Mars or the satellites of Jupiter or Saturn there."
"I just wish we could have nabbed Hyathis too." Jose sighed.
"Have no fear. No tyrant lasts forever. At some point, she will overreach in her hubris and the consequence will be her downfall."
Jose nodded: "I know, but how many Thanagarians suffering under her repressive rule will perish before that happens?"
"We cannot intervene directly, but this was a defeat for her. It may initiate further events that eventually lead to the end of her dominion."

As they separated, Jose had an uneasy feeling about what had just happened. Would he encounter Hyathis again? And if so, would the outcome be this convivial?

THE END  [2.50  PM, MARCH 11, 2023]