Hal Jordan isn't the biggest fan of authority. As a high-ranking peacekeeper in the Green Lantern Corps, he's willing to defy any and all orders if it means getting the job done. So what happens when he becomes the authority? When the Corps gains a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
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."
