Okay, if you just want to know about the figure, skip down to the end. If not, please stay tuned for a delightful little short story that really has no right being here.


Air hissed as it leaked through the canopy.
Slowly, fearing the sights that would meet him, Abin Sur opened his eyes. He wished he hadn’t.
Around him, the cabin of his star cruiser was in a shambles: instruments were destroyed, panels were cracked and, most worryingly of all, a small fracture ran down the length of the cabin's canopy.
Somewhere to his left, an air quality monitor beeped. He pulled himself up from the chair he had fallen into and gasped as a jolt of pain shot up his leg. “By Oa…” He collapsed back and examined his wound; there was blood.
The monitor beeped again.
“I’m coming, I’m coming…” No; what was he thinking? Walking at a time like this? With a flicker of his will, the monitor floated through the air on a glowing emerald tray and rested on his lap.
A quick look at the device confirmed his worst fears; the oxygen level in the cabin was rapidly dropping.
“I can’t… I can’t make it…”
The sound of another alarm broke through the thinning air. PROXIMITY ALERT. UNIDENTIFIED CRAFT INCOMING, a mechanical voice announced.
All hope drained from Abin Sur, lost with the oxygen into the endless void surrounding his small craft. “Sinestro.”
He leaned back in the chair, contemplating the fractured canopy. Would it be better to end it now, to use his ring and the last of his strength to escape Sinestro forever?
No. Sinestro would find his corpse, take his ring. But he couldn’t fight; he was already too weak to do anything but the most basic of tasks.
“But…” A plan was forming.
UNIDENTIFIED CRAFT ROUNDING PLANET.
“But…”
With a push of his will, the craft’s maneuvering thrusters fired, pushing downwards into the atmosphere of the planet below him.
“Computer: scan for acceptable life-forms to receive my ring.”
NO COMPATABLE LIFE FORMS FOUND.
The craft bounced as it hit a pocket of cooler air.
“What do you mean?! There’s an entire civilization down there!”
IT IS NOT AN ASSOSCIATED MEMBER OF OAN—
“I don’t care! Sinestro is out there, and he can’t get this ring!”
For a moment, nothing could be heard but the rush of burning air outside the craft.
SCANNING FOR COMPATIBLE LIFE FORMS.
Good, Abin Sur thought, good, I might salvage this after all.
COMPATIBLE LIFE FORMS FOUND. APPROXIMATELY SEVEN BILLION SPECIMENS CAPABLE, TWENTY-FIVE MILLION ACCEPTABLE, SIXTY-TWO THOUSAND RECOMMENDED, SEVEN-HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR OPTIMAL.
Well, at least there were no shortages of successors that he could use to hold off Sinestro. "How many optimal specimens are located in proximity to the projected landing-site?"
ONE.
"Excellent. Pinpoint the location of the specimen--"
SPECIMEN IS IN MOTION.
"What?" He knew the computer wouldn't mention the specimen's motion unless it was of incredible velocity--
PROXIMITY ALERT. UNIDENTIFIED CRAFT INCOMING.
It couldn't be Sinestro; the computer would have been tracking him. Unless the look for compatible life forms had distracted it--
The craft suddenly shuttered and bucked as it passed by another, much larger craft. Abin Sur only had a brief moment to see the bizarre, predatory craft slice through the air before it was gone, and his own craft went into an erratic spin.
DESCENT COMPROMISED. DESCENT ERRATIC. PREPARE FOR UNCONTROLLED LANDING.
All around, the swirl of brown earth, blue sky, over and over; the sudden lack of pressure as the canopy finally gave way and went spinning off in a million different directions; the emerald haze of an energy sphere around him.

******************************************************

Slowly, fearing the sights that would meet him, Abin Sur opened his eyes. This time, he found himself spread on the hard, backed clay of an alien world. Off to one side, he saw the burning wreckage of his craft, the trough dug by its violent entry stretching off to the horizon. There was nothing now… no hope.
With a resigned sigh, Abin Sur turned his head away.
On his other side, however, was an even stranger sight. Another long furrow in the earth, this one not as deep or traumatic as his own, with the strange craft he had seen earlier laying crumpled but in tact at the trough's head. And, coming towards him from the wreckage, a gangly, bipedal creature in a baggy suit and bulbous helmet.
"Computer--" That wouldn't work. The computer was as destroyed as the craft that contained it. With a grunt of effort, he funneled his thoughts and energy to the large green ring on his right hand. Lantern… I need to know… Tell me this creature's name, teach me it's language…
The last of Abin Sur's strength drained away as a blast of information jumped from the creature's mind, into his ring, into his mind--
The creature stumbled and fell to its knees a few steps from Abin Sur. With some apparent effort, it raised its hands and pulled at the helmet. Moments later a head emerged, smooth and round, with a bristly collection of close-cropped hair.
Abin Sur weakly lifted his hands, tugged at his ring, and held it out toward the creature. With some effort, he was able to form his lips around the creature's strange language, to give some words of instruction before he faded from this world.
"I… am Abin Sur, protector of… region. In name of the Guardians of Oa… in the name of the Green Lantern Corpse… I authorize you… take… protect from… protect… take now, Haley Jordan…"

******************************************************

Moments passed. After some hesitation, Captain Haley Jordan reached out and took the strange device from the creature that lay dead before her. She knew she needed to report to base, to tell them everything that had happened…
But that could wait. Fearlessly, she slipped the device onto her right index finger, gasping as a whole knew world suddenly exploded into her mind…



Wow. Yes, that was a little long-winded. And it still didn't manage to get into everything I wanted to put down. What were Sinestro's motivations? What would be the consequences of his acquiring the ring?
But I digress…
Okay, so we now have Haley Jordan, former USAF test pilot (In the story, I've based her test craft on the F-22 Raptor-- let that serve to date the setting) and current member of the Green Lantern Corpse. I actually designed her a few months before I found out about this contest, in the effort to diversify the Justice League. However, when I saw the contest, I knew I had to hurry up and rush into this figure.
The base is parachuting Scarlett from the G.I. Joe 25th anniversary line, with the head from the Rise of Cobra Reactive Impact Armor Scarlett. The whole thing was then shaved down and completely re-sculpted with Apoxie Sculpt (other than the nose and lips) and painted. I originally did a painfully strong gloss finish to try to simulate the energy-based nature of the armor, but it looked painfully amateurish, so I dullcoted the thing and dry brushed on some lighter green. It instantly went from my least favorite paint job to my favorite. I hope the rest of you will agree.
TTFN