Nestled deep within the center of Space Sector 1861, the planet Euphoi orbits a bright, blue star, defended from onlookers by a well-placed asteroid field circling the planet’s orbital path. The planet was covered mostly with plant life, uninhibited growth, sunlight, and raid making for entire continents covered in tropical forests. From the tops of trees that dwarf skyscrapers on any civilized world, birds and creature alike fend for themselves, fighting over the most delectable fruit that no-one outside of the planet has ever tasted.
The natives of Euphoi, wide-eyed and primitive, still taking their very first steps towards building a civilized society, have never known anything else. The fruit provided an amalgam of desirable nutrients and energy, as two whole fruits a day could sustain a lone adult male. The people of these villages that are beginning to grow out of the forest want for nothing, and the direction of their growth remains undetermined as of yet.
That may very well change before the day is done.
For the last several days and nights, the people of one particular lowland village have been hearing monstrous sounds coming from deep within the forest. Cackling, snorting, grumbling… a cacophony of alien voices sounding all the way back to the people from the most isolated depths of the forest.
In one particular village, a search party was dispatched in order to discover the source of the noise. They may have just found it.
The locals know the location well; a lagoon that’s fed by a waterfall, branching off of one of the rivers crisscrossing through the jungle. The trees that grow here bear this delicious fruit low enough to the ground that it’s no hassle to retrieve, so it has become a popular spot by virtue of the ease with which you could feed your family here.
As the villagers approach the tree line, peeling back the wide, flat leaves to survey the site, the blue-skinned natives are shock to see what appears to be a collection of orange ghosts parading about, their hands gripping tight the locals’ preferred food source. It would be easy for the natives to fall back on superstition, to flee and speak of this tale later, but the phantoms continue to pluck the fruit from the trees, depriving the natives of their food should lean times come.
It is fight, or face starvation; they choose the latter.
The leader of the search part, done-up in war paint and wielding a spear, steps through the foliage and hurls his spear at one of the apparitions, a small, round, gleeful-looking thing that’s remaining relatively still. The spear connects, but is deflected away by the energy comprising the being. The tiny alien and his companions, one of them with a perfectly feminine face, her pincer-like hands belying her true nature, and another with his head and upper body wrapped in fraying rags above a pristine-looking uniform. The creatures cease their marauding and turn to face the onlookers. They sneer, all at once releasing a battle cry of, “MINE!”
They move fast, inhumanely so. The dozen or so members of the search party are accosted, torn apart, and gone in seconds. The leader of the party, as well as those at his flank, is only temporarily given reprieve at the cost of their partners’ lives. They beat a quick retreat through the forest, but are just as quickly surrounded by the orange ghosts.
They tremble in fear, never having faced an enemy such as this. The leader closes his eyes, saying a silent prayer to his gods before the inevitable happens. The orange phantoms lunge at the group…
“Stop!” The orange beings halt in mid-air, the natives confused as to what’s happening before them.
They look up, wondering if their gods have answered, and are treated to a sight of only another being cloaked in orange. This one is different, though; he looks solid, not composed of light, and carries lantern in his hands.
“I’ve never see one of these things before!” He swoops down, closely examining the face of the search party leader, “They must be a rare thing! *snrrkff* I like it, I want one!”
The leader hastily replies, a dialect unfamiliar to the alien’s ears. His lantern does the job of translating for him, though.
:Please, spare us, our village… leave us be, monster!:
“Village? *snkrff* You mean there are more of you?” His words have a dangerous edge to them, “…and just when I thought you were interesting! If there are more of you, how are you special?”
He turns in the air, fleeing the scene, “Kill the rest of them! They’re of no worth to me!”
The rest of the search party is torn limb from limb, but the alien doesn’t care.
He is Larfleeze, known as Agent Orange to those who serve the Guardians of the Universe, and he only cares for that which is worth something.
“Insolent savages!” Larfleeze curses to no-one in particular, “I’ll teach them to interrupt my harvest! This fruit…” Larfleeze rolls one of the palm-sized fruits around in his hand, “will make a delicious treat to gorge myself upon, away from the prying eyes of those who would take from me! …Eh?” Larfleeze suddenly spots a steady stream of smoke rising up from a small clearing a short distance away, and remembers the party leader’s words.
“That…*snurkk* village…*snork*” He seethes, “he did say there was more of them, yes?” He asks aloud, “…If I’m to make this planet my new home, I suppose I should kill them all.”
Just then, his lantern ignites brighter than usual, “ *snurkk* Huh?”
His lantern projects a view of a squadron of Green Lanterns hurtling through deep space, on approach to Euphoi.
“No…” He growls through grit teeth, “Interlopers! Can’t they simply leave me be?! …Bah! No matter, I’ll deal with them before they even set foot on this planet… on MY planet!”
His lantern glows bright, the energy being emitted consuming him…
Crux flies in silence, privy to the discussions happening around him yet taking part in none of them. He prefers solitude, and in this case finds himself legitimately working.
Larfleeze, the bearer of the orange light, is a bit of a mystery to anyone who wasn’t present the day of the Guardians’ march into the Vega System. Since then, the alien had sequestered himself away from public view, hoping from world to world and taking what he can before fleeing again. This time, though he seems to have gone too far. The people of Euphoi are young, full of potential… they have nothing beyond hand tools, and they’re nowhere near ready to battle a Lantern of any kind.
Crux spends a majority of the flight briefing himself, slides of Larfleeze’s numerous construct soldiers flashing through his visor. He memorizes their biology, their preferred methods of take down, at least those documented by the Green Lantern Corps in the wake of their first battle with Larfleeze. He’s so busy, in fact, that he isn’t even aware they’ve exited the asteroid belt near Euphoi until Stel says as much.
:Be ready, Lanterns, as Larfleeze is not to be underestimated.: Stel warns.
:Will he know of our arrival?: Crux asks through his Power Ring.
:Negative. Though he may be powerful, Larfleeze is a simple creature without much forethought.:
Just behind the group, on the inner edge of the asteroid belt, one massive rock in particular seems to stop and turn itself of its own volition. It is soon overtaken by orange energy, beady, dead eyes and a massive maw emerging in detail on the surface of the rock, now revealed to be an alien life form. From within the alien’s wide, open mouth, orange energy begins to coalesce, charging with energy.
:He will never see us coming.:
