Yue

 24th August

02:58 GMT

"...why you poozers thought attacking him-" There's a half second pause as Lantern Kilowog takes a breath. "-was a good idea in the first place, when you were supposed to be training!"

I see a thin strand of spittle drip down Maestran's face. Lantern Kilowog's mouth structure doesn't really lend itself to precise control. The rookie doesn't react, other than to unconsciously lean away from his towering instructor slightly. Kilowog is a big guy, and now that he's here in the flesh he's all the more imposing.

"This is Oa! Things don't happen here without the Guardians knowing about it, and if they had a problem they'd be sending the Honour Guard to deal with it!" He paces down the line of recruits, arms behind his back and clearly unimpressed with what just took place. "You rookies would be called back to the citadel to wait it out!"

"Lantern Kilowog-."

He wheels towards me. "And what did you think you were doing, coming here unescorted?"

I shrug. "I told Lantern Gardner that I'd need a day or so, he said that was fine. I tried to make contact when I got into the system, but apparently I'm still barred from communicating with members of the Green Lantern Corps."

Kilowog wrinkles his nose. And Bolovaxians have a lot of nose to wrinkle. "Gardner didn't turn that off?"

I raise my left ring to my left ear. "Illustres to Kilowog."

Nothing happens.

Kilowog snorts. "Guess I didn't beat the stupid out of him hard enough, either." He lowers his arms to his sides, then raises his right hand to his face. "Let me just see if there's-. Oh."

"What?"

He lowers his hand, the lights from his ring fading. "Standing order from the Guardians. Communications block stays up until you meet them."

"Tremendously helpful of them. Are they ready for me now..?"

"No, they're debriefing Lantern Venizz. I'll tell you when. Alright!" Kilowog turns back to the recruits. "One lap around the planet. First one back gets twenty push-ups."

"Query. First one back?"

"Everyone else gets forty."

The cyber insect turns to see that all of its companions have already started their lap, and hurries to follow them.

Kilowog and I watch them go. "Eh, we were all that bad at it once."

"Were you?"

He glances sideways at me, then raises his left eyebro-. His left eye ridge. "Guy told me about the cake."

"Could you make a cake that big? Heck, I was making faster than light jumps and complex constructs on my first day." I smirk. "Want me to chivvy your recruits along a little? I imagine that a giant orange chomping mouth construct would do wonders for their concentration."

"Nah. I make them do this because repetition works. They need to learn to focus their minds through anger and tiredness and get the job done."

"You sure?"

"Teaching Lanterns is what I do. And if Gardner could make the Honour Guard less than a year after coming off medical leave, I don't think I'm doing too badly."

"I might have had a.. little something to do with that."

"Yeah, maybe. Teaching something makes you think about it in different ways from when you're being taught it yourself."

"Guy told you he taught me? Because… Green Lanterns habitually use side arms and railguns?"

"Alright, so maybe-."

"It only took me a few weeks to get most of the stuff you taught him out of his head so I could teach him how to do it properly." I smile.

Lantern Kilowog folds his arms across his chest. "Oh yeah?"

"I realise that at the entry level green rings are so limiting that Green Lanterns have to settle for just making whatever constructs they can… But I'd have thought that senior Lanterns would be able to do better. I mean, Guy got the hang of filaments for constructs eventually and I have to credit him with learning how to resist orange light infections quickly enough, but I can't really credit you with either."

Lantern Kilowog's eyes narrow slightly. "There some reason why you're trying to piss me off… Kid?"

"I'm used to sparring with Guy. He's pretty good, but I generally come out ahead. John's getting there, but he hasn't got as good as Guy or I yet. Jordan's a good guy, but he's falling behind as far as Lantern to Lantern combat is concerned. You're a… Longer term veteran. How long now?"

"Closer to forty years than thirty."

"There you go. So I certainly haven't fought the best the Green Lantern Corps has to offer. But the way I see it, if the man responsible for training isn't the best, he's certainly got to be up there. Assuming.. your… Illustres isn't available."

"No, Illustres Chaselon's usually pretty busy. So, what; you think I might be a challenge?"

"I think we'll force each other to think about Lantern-to-Lantern combat in ways neither of us have before. Hopefully. I mean, for me it's this or pick a fight with Sinestro… And I don't think he's a… Sparring sort of guy. Also, I'm a bit annoyed about your recruits attacking me and with the Guardians, and I.. may be taking it out on you slightly." I nod my head to the side. "Sorry about that."

"Do you think you can wait until they get back?"

I shrug. "I pretty much have to wait at the Guardians' pleasure, so… Sure? Unless a free range Orange Lantern appears in this Sector before then. Those take top priority."

He nods. "Here's what I'm thinking. I've been having the rookies train against each other and against me. They haven't really seen what experienced Lanterns can do yet. They haven't seen how people like-" I think that's a smile. "-me fight when we're being pushed."

"And you want to make it a lesson." I nod. "I approve. Though I do have a condition."

"Oh? What's that?"

"I'm training rookies of my own back on Maltus. Sometime -doesn't have to be soon- you turn up and we run a similar session there. So the first generation of Orange Lanterns can benefit from your experience as well."

Kilowog thinks about it for a moment, then nods in the affirmative. "Probably a good idea. I don't want you making the rest of us ring-slingers look bad."

"Though I'll warn you: for Orange Lanterns, the problem isn't getting the required level of focus to use the ring. It's staying sane enough to use it sensibly."

"Heh. I've outthought powerful guys before. You should be more worried about me making them think they picked the wrong Corps."

"Well. One of us is in for a rude awakening."