| Zamaron - September 3
Millennia ago, the denizens of the planet Maltus divided themselves along gender lines, each abandoning their homeworld and settling on separate planets where they could evolve according to their respective ideals.
While the male Maltusians embraced logic and immigrated to Oa, the females clung to passion and developed into a race of warrior women. They colonized a planet of their own, which they named Zamaron.
The Zamarons cultivated a warrior culture and, unlike the Guardians, focused more on developing their physical abilities than their mental ones. They also developed the practice of storing their psionic energies within purple crystals.
Thus, they became the founders and leaders of the Star Sapphire Corps, a Lantern Corps composed solely of women who drew their power from the emotion of love.
Now, that power of love was being tested against one girl's rage.
Kara Zor-El wore the uniform of the Red Lantern Corps, the white Red Lantern sigil emblazoned over a black House of El crest. She also sported a red domino mask and flowing crimson cape.
She shattered pink constructs with ease using her immense Kryptonian strength while spewing acidic napalm blood from her mouth, melting both constructs and people alike. Her eyes periodically glowed red, unleashing beams that sliced and burned through everything around her.
She had already slaughtered nearly thirty Star Sapphires in her ambush and continued savage assault. The remaining forty failed repeatedly in their attempts to suppress her rage with love.
Granny Goodness had been thorough in breaking the girl's mind until little remained beyond fury. Staying in the X-Pit while enduring constant torture tended to have that effect. The only fragment of sanity Kara retained was an unwavering loyalty to Darkseid.
Her mental conditioning was further reinforced by a Fatherbox bonded to her, constantly warping both her body and mind toward the ideology of Darkseid and his Apokoliptian empire.
Grayven, the third son of Darkseid, watched dispassionately from above as he floated upon his Aero-Discs.
Tall and muscular, with violet-hued skin and long white hair flowing freely behind him, he wore ornate golden battle armor.
Born from an unknown mother on one of the countless worlds conquered by Darkseid, Grayven was the younger brother of Kalibak and Orion, and the older brother of Grail. Yet despite carrying a portion of Darkseid's power, he lacked any true recognition from his father.
Kalibak, for all his pig-headedness and thin skin, had inherited Darkseid's immense strength and used it to honor his father through conquest.
Grail, spoiled as she was, wielded the Omega Force better than any of her siblings despite being barely a century old, and because of that, Darkseid doted on her.
Even Orion held greater value in Darkseid's eyes for being the child most similar to him, despite having been raised on New Genesis and remaining loyal to it.
Meanwhile, Grayven possessed only a fraction of Darkseid's strength and access to the Omega Force, making him easily the weakest among his siblings. Darkseid barely acknowledged his existence.
That neglect had festered into resentment and bitterness. One day, Grayven intended to lead a campaign of destruction across the cosmos, ravaging planets until he amassed enough power to seize his birthright by force and conquer Apokolips itself.
To accomplish that, he had already begun secret talks with Virman Vundabar, Desaad's replacement, attempting to bring the schemer to his side. But he needed more than one ally.
Which made the man beside him extremely valuable.
Metron.
Metron lounged lazily upon his Mobius Chair as he observed the battle between the Star Sapphires and the Red Daughter of Krypton, waves of pink crashing futilely against crimson fury.
Metron was an exceptionally stoic New God whose sole interest was knowledge. He lacked empathy and emotion entirely, willing to go to any lengths to satisfy his curiosity. Yet that same curiosity had led to countless wonders and miraculous inventions, including Mother Boxes, Father Boxes, and Boom Tubes.
It seemed he had taken a temporary break from studying the Source and had instead turned his attention toward the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum, evidenced by the blue Lantern ring he idly twirled between his fingers.
So when Metron requested permission to pit Kara against the Zamarons in order to study the Star Sapphire Central Power Battery, Grayven had insisted on replacing Granny Goodness as Kara's handler so he could get closer to the enigmatic New God.
"The power of love sits among the furthest emotions from the balance point at the center of the Emotional Spectrum," Metron remarked absentmindedly. "As such, it exerts greater influence over its bearer, though as a tradeoff, it appears less effective against opposing emotions. Interesting. I wonder how rage and love will interact with hope."
"Yes. Quite interesting," Grayven replied, despite not caring in the slightest. He only wanted to flatter Metron enough to gain his support. "Would it be possible to wield multiple rings of differing colors simultaneously? Including green? I have also heard rumors of a yellow emotional spectrum hidden on Oa."
"Those are not rumors. They are facts," Metron replied calmly. "And I will soon begin testing the dual wielding of rage and hope. In time, I will study them all."
Then Metron turned his gaze toward Grayven.
The stare was intense and deeply unsettling, as though the New God could see directly through him and every secret he possessed.
"Have you come to me seeking aid in overthrowing your father?"
Grayven's body went rigid as he struggled to keep his expression neutral.
He did not know where Metron's loyalties truly lay. After all, Metron had upgraded Darkseid's Parademons into Paradooms and gifted him Kara along with a Red Lantern ring. One careless answer could easily mean death.
Should he order Kara to kill Metron right now to silence him?
If Darkseid caught even the slightest hint of betrayal, Grayven's life would be over. There would be nowhere in the galaxy he could hide short of seeking refuge on New Genesis, and the New Gods there would gladly kill him as well.
Metron turned away dismissively, already losing interest in Grayven as he looked back toward the carnage below. Kara drove her arm through a Star Sapphire's chest before melting the woman's face off with a glob of napalm blood and hurling the corpse through several cracking pink constructs.
"Rann possesses a technology known as the Zeta-Beam," Metron said casually. "A product of Rannian science capable of instantaneous transportation across vast distances, even between dimensions. Make of that information what you will."
Grayven's eyes narrowed.
With Zeta-Beams, Darkseid would not be able to track his movements through Father Boxes. He could transport his forces directly onto Apokolips itself, announce his challenge to his father, and seize the planet by force.
"Why?" Grayven asked carefully, curious about the sudden assistance.
Metron shrugged, boredom already creeping back into his voice.
"Because it's interesting."
**
| Kuraq - September 3
Kuraq was a planet not far from the Vega system and currently housed the last remaining base of the Spider Guild, a coalition of arachnid aliens.
Over fifty thousand years ago, the arachnids developed the ability to travel among the stars. They were a conquering species that deployed fleets of drones all linked to a central computer on Wombworld. Moving from sector to sector, they constantly searched for new worlds to occupy. In the process, the arachnids built the Spider Imperium, a threat that eventually spread across the universe.
When Spider Guild drone ships arrived at a target world, they unleashed colonizers—robotic spiders that wrapped inhabitants in webbing to preserve them as food for their hatchlings.
A decade ago, the Guild swept through the Vega system, first conquering the planet Aello before continuing their invasion across Euphorix and Okaara. Inevitably, these attacks brought them into direct conflict with the Omega Men, who managed to repel them with the aid of local populations.
Even so, the Spider Guild remained a serious threat throughout Vega, hiding across multiple planets.
That changed when the Czar successfully staged his coup and established the New Citadel Empire.
Though the Czar was undeniably a tyrant, it could not be denied that he crushed anything that threatened order within the territories under his rule.
Interplanetary and intraplanetary conflicts alike were suppressed with an iron fist by thousands of Gordanites. Enemies of the Citadel, including both the Omega Men and the Spider Guild, were hunted down or exterminated like vermin, leaving only around a thousand surviving spiders who had fled to Kuraq.
Pren NuParr had been born into a noble family on Euphorix in the Vega system, so he knew exactly what he was talking about. Like many of his lineage, Pren had been selected for advanced combat training by the Warlords of Okaara. It was there, during his youth, that he met a fellow Euphorian royal named Kalista, whom he later married, making the two of them the rightful king and queen of Euphorix.
As an adult, Pren adopted the name Primus, a Euphorian phrase meaning The One Who Leads. Under that title, he rebelled against the Citadel and became the leader of a group of refugees known as the Omega Men.
So while it pained him to admit it, Primus knew Harry Hokum was both charismatic and highly capable.
The man had risen from obscurity through sheer cunning before orchestrating a brilliant coup and expanding his empire, using external wars to consolidate internal power.
Across the Vega system, Hokum was increasingly viewed as a benevolent dictator, an authoritarian pragmatist, and in some places even a god. He prioritized practical results, stability, and economic growth over ideology or democracy. Under his rule, infrastructure modernized rapidly, economies flourished, and order was maintained, albeit often at the expense of civil liberties.
And the war against the Reach and Kroloteans was not without justification.
The Vega system had inherited millenia of conflict from the old Citadel Empire. Nearly every planet in the system had suffered during the Reach's previous attempts to seize Vega before being repelled.
The people were constantly reminded of that danger by the indiscriminate attacks of the cold, sadistic being known as the Black Beetle, who launched guerrilla assaults across the system. Every attack only strengthened the Citadel's legitimacy after it arrived to restore order and provide relief.
So after countless arguments—especially with Tigorr, the Omega Men's second-in-command—the Omega Men eventually ceased their direct attacks against the Citadel.
They were simply too outnumbered and outgunned, even with the Nova Helmets they now possessed.
The only reason they were still alive was because the Czar considered them beneath his personal attention unless they became a genuine threat and was busy spending his days raising his heir with Queen Komand'r. And the Xandarian Worldmind's ability to open Boom Tubes had saved them from multiple near-fatal ambushes by hundreds of Gordanites.
In the past, they might have attempted a full-scale assault supported by hundreds of allied starships against the Citadel homeworld, which housed Complex-Complex, the sentient supercomputer that coordinated the empire's operations. Without it, the dumb Citadelians—hybrids of Okaarans and brutish Branxians—would never have been capable of expanding so effectively.
Tigorr had once proposed detonating a bomb powerful enough to destroy Complex-Complex and sever the Citadel from its central network. Without the supercomputer coordinating strategy and logistics, the Citadelians would have become vulnerable targets for the Omega Men.
But now it was too late.
The Citadel possessed Gordanites, each powerful enough to contend with a Nova Centurion. A few dozen of them could annihilate hundreds of starships within minutes.
And Complex-Complex itself had already been destroyed by Hokum after he obtained godlike power. In its place, he implemented more efficient systems and elevated the highly intelligent Psions to positions of leadership after exterminating the less capable Citadelians.
He had also abolished many of the Citadel's more needless cruelties against those who willingly served him. Entire races such as the Changralynians and Tamaraneans now submitted voluntarily.
Of course, internal tensions still existed. Species that resembled Hokum more closely—such as the Gordanites and Euphorians—were subtly favored under certain policies. Whether that bias was intentional or not remained unclear, but for now it had yet to become a major issue.
So what was the point of rebelling on behalf of people who no longer wanted liberation against an empire vastly stronger than them? It would only result in unnecessary bloodshed.
Even Nova Prime and the Nova Corps could not fully intervene.
The Sun-Eater—a nickname Hokum earned from his practice of bathing in stars—had allied himself with gods of the House of Tuath-Dan and was rumored to possess a favorable relationship with the Orange God. If the Nova Corps entered Vega in full force, there was no guarantee the Vega system itself would survive the resulting conflict.
But despite all of that, the Omega Men remained heroes of Vega.
Primus glanced toward Ferrin Colos, who floated beside him wearing a Nova Centurion helmet, before looking toward his wife Kalista on his other side.
Also present were Tigorr, Broot, and three newer members: Felicity, Scrapps, and Elu. Ryand'r was currently attending his niece's birthday celebration and could not make the mission.
Though the New Citadel Empire was better than the old regime, it was still far from good. Under the guise of war against the Reach, it forcibly annexed innocent worlds, and when those worlds resisted, they were destroyed.
So the Omega Men had adapted their mission.
Now they worked alongside the Nova Corps to hamper the Citadel's military operations while protecting the Vega system from both internal abuses and external threats. When the Citadel overstepped—such as when the Omega Men eliminated a group of Psions experimenting on civilians they were meant to protect—they intervened. And they had also clashed multiple times with threats like the Black Beetle.
Today, however, they were dealing with the latter kind of threat.
Today, the Spider Guild would cease to exist.
Primus gave a single nod before descending into Kuraq's atmosphere. The Omega Men followed.