Chapter 1 - Boredom
Tap, tap, tap
"Mmph," she murmured sleepily at the noise and heard tittering, frowning slightly as her consciousness slowly came back to her she realized she was no longer in the woods sitting on sun-warmed grass, but in class.
Tap, tap, tap
Opening her eyes and blinking slowly waiting for them to adjust she saw her professor's silver fingers tapping patiently on the tablet on her desk.
Tap, tap, tap
She groaned inwardly knowing that it would mean another report going home to her parents. Which meant another lecture on how she was the first generation to have the privilege of not being prepped for war or whatever her father rambled on about.
"Good of you to join the rest of us, Adrynellis. Now, as I was saying…"
He stated trying to hide his amusement as he moved away from her desk and returned to his spot at the front of the room to resume his teaching.
She readjusted herself in her seat, played with her dreadlocks for a moment absently twisting them while trying to listen, but failing as she noticed movement in the corner of her eye, turning her head slightly to look out the window she saw smoke billow in the distance. Frowning slightly, it wasn't the usual brown colored smoke that was produced when there was underbrush burning, this smoke was black and before she could speculate further a loud crash caused her to jump, he had dropped a book on the floor and looked at her pointedly as he bent over to pick it up.
She groaned inwardly, he was getting good - too good- at knowing when her attention wandered, but then again it was the price she paid for having him as a cousin and living under the same roof.
Slinking down even further into her chair she watched idly as he began to go over basic engine components while the rest of the class seemed enthralled she was rolling her eyes she was already rebuilding shuttle engines in the spare room with her cousin.
The dull tone sounded jolting her from another daydream and signaling the end of class as well as the end of the day.
"I will see you all tomorrow, remember to go over today's lessons and there will be a quiz."
She made a move to leave her desk hoping to be able to sneak out before he had a chance to stop her, his citrine eyes landed squarely on her. No such luck, she sat back in her chair and waited as the rest of the room cleared out.
He strode over to her desk, pulling a chair from the desk in front of her and sitting in it to face her.
"Addy," he said with a sigh of resignation, his waist long black dreadlocks rolled to his side, metallic beads clicking softly against each other he brushed them back.
She looked down, unwilling to meet his eyes to see the look of disappointment in them.
"Look, I know you're bored. I get it, I really do. We both know you're good and you could be great, but you can't advance until next semester, which means you're stuck with me until then, okay?"
She nodded mutely.
"Do you think you can make an effort to stay awake for the whole class?" he asked hopeful.
Another nod.
"You know what happens now."
Her dreadlocks bobbed up and down the charms on a few of them chiming melodiously.
"Good, now go before you miss your shuttle. The letter will appear on your tablet by the time you get home."
The shuttle ride home was normally uneventful and filled with the same view of the canopy of trees that she had seen for the past ten years. As the shuttle banked softly around a small pond one of many that connected to a river that turned into a waterfall opening up to the ocean, she sighed heavily turning away from the window pulling out her tablet and pulled up her assignment.
Silver fingers flying over the screen with an uncanny deftness that came only from experience, matching engine parts with their names and how one fit into the other and which parts had to be installed with care or it could cause the entire engine to overheat and -
The shuttle lurched forward suddenly causing her head to meet the back of the seat in front of her. A few of the other passengers were thrown a bit further but no one seemed to be injured, she rubbed her head slightly, feeling for and finding the lump that would surely raise before the morning. Bending down quickly she felt the floor underneath the seat in front of her for her tablet.
As she was going to settle back into her seat she heard a few gasps and murmurs, turning she saw them pressed against the windows to her right looking at what should have been the thickest part of the rainforest where the canopy of the trees barely let in any light, but instead was engulfed in orange flames some of the trees had already fallen under their own weight the heat of the flames warmed the windows and they gasped hearing wood splinter as one of the trees in the path began to crack, the shuttle lurched forward causing everyone to fall back slightly as it sped through and the tree fell with a loud crash behind them engulfing the path behind them in flames.
The shuttle finally came to a stop with a jolt about twenty minutes later, the passengers grumbling as they got off, she tried not to notice the distinctive shudder the machine gave as though it was a living being giving exhaling its last breath.
The wind suddenly shifted and the smoke from the path they had just left came billowing in like an army marching into a battle that would surely mean their death. She started walking on the path that she thought was there that led to her father's house, pausing for a moment to regain her bearings, a hand grabbed her shoulder and she whirled around to see it was her father who put a cloth over her mouth.
"Quickly." he shouted and led her down the path, she made a move to stop him but he urged her on, leading her towards the community center and inside, there he removed the cloth. She blinked away the ash that had gotten into her eyes and looked around, she was in the large wheel shaped atrium, a few of her neighbors were there, a few with burns others coughing and gagging.
"What's going on?" she asked trying to sound braver than she felt.
He remained stoic as always, "We're under attack, come."
She tried to search his face for any sort of clue as to what was going on,"Where?"
"To the shuttle downstairs."
"I thought it was only a prototype."
The ground shook with an explosion and she nearly fell forward if not for his large steady hand on her shoulder.
"Remember those engines you were working on last week?"
She nodded.
"Well, we're about to test them out."
She couldn't help but feel a little bit excited despite the circumstances.
"Nymthir, good you made it and Adrynellis, wonderful. Where's Nesian?" the familiar face of the constable appeared from the cockpit of the shuttle.
"Right here." his voice came from behind them.
"Great, let's get going before he finds out we're trying to escape."
While her father moved towards the cockpit, she found a seat in an empty row and sat, buckling herself in. Her cousin sat next to her and elbowed her slightly.
"Excited to see how your engines do?"
She nodded, not wanting to admit her excitement.
"All right that's everyone then." the constable said and pulled the door shut and twisted the knob to seal it. Getting back into the cockpit and flipping a few of the switches the machinery around them began to come alive as they were pushed back into their seats as the shuttle surged forward, the shattering of glass was heard around them as it pierced the glass ceiling and continued steadily heading into the sky, it was then she saw the damage that had truly been done to the forests, half of it was on fire the rest of it was burned. The shuttle continued on, obvious to the chaos it was leaving behind, pushing through the lower, then upper atmospheres,until it began to right itself and level out it was then she caught sight of the ominous black twisting rectangular figure hovering over their planet.
"What is he doing here? We signed the treaty, surely Ronan cannot attack without consequences." a voice said nearly squeaked behind her.
"Who is going to stop him? Nova Corps are days away on Xandar." the man sitting beside her replied.
"We must fight." someone across the row said determinedly.
"No. We signed the treaty, that alone should give us immunity from this uncalled for attack." Nesian replied.
"Did you see what his army did?" the man behind her
"I heard that he's after the plans." the squeaky woman again.
"What could he possibly would he want with those?" her cousin asked.
"What plans?" She asked her curiosity getting the better of her.
The silence fell thick and Nesian leaned over ruffled her hair playfully.
"Hey, that's going to take forever to retwist." she huffed and began the slow process of doing so.
"Good, that outta teach you to stop eavesdropping."
She opened her mouth to retort but the ship jolted from a sudden impact and then another and another until their shuttle began to slowly tilt forward, the machinery surrounding them stopped whirling and died leaving them in a near deafening silence. As the ship tilted further downward and began to descend slowly at first then gaining speed, the woman behind her screamed and the husband let out a small shout of his own.
Adrynellis swallowed her own scream as something hit the wing and caused them to spin hurling towards the gray surface of one of their moons.
Dull throbbing pain brought her back to consciousness and she found the orange sun blaring down upon her, she blinked slowly feeling as if she had been heavily drugged, thoughts came even slower as she tried to piece together what had happened she remembered being in the shuttle and it being shot down and… nothing. She tried to move only to find something sprawled across her lap, it was the constable who had been thrown from the cockpit back. Turning she saw the rest of the wreckage of the shuttle around her cracked open as though nothing more than a nut shell, wires, parts and people scattered everywhere.
Nudging him gently with her knee to try to wake him, he groaned softly but made no move to get up. She nudged him again a bit more forcefully and he moved slightly turning his head to face her she saw the angry red gash from his forehead to his neck oozing blood, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped back over her.
Fighting the urge to gag she reached underneath him, trying to find the latch to her seatbelt, finding it she undid it and let out a small sigh of relief, she was halfway there.
"Find any survivors and bring them to me." a harsh metallic voice screamed.
She cringed and began to wish she had shared the constable's fate.
It didn't take long for the gray armored soldiers to find her and pull her roughly from the wreckage, pushing her towards the others that had survived. Among them was her father and her cousin who was cradling his left arm protectively to his chest. He gave her a tight smile and a nod glad to see she was among the living.
"Move it." the blue humanoid female screamed in a steely voice leaving no room for pleasantries nor excuses.
Those that were left and able to stand were forcibly marched towards the gaping entrance of the cave that held the ore mines.
The smell of rot assaulted her nose and she coughed trying to repress a gag.
"You will suffer as my people have suffered." The armored man sneered as they limped and dragged themselves towards the entrance of the mining caverns.
They were marched, a few dragged further and further down into the deepest levels of the mine, those that tried to stop for a breathe were kicked, poked and prodded or worse.
The narrow passageway finally gave way to a large open cavern, the armored blue skinned man stood before them, regarding them coolly.
"Your kind has blood the of the Kree on its hands and yet you try to deny the truth. Your failed escape only proved to me that you are willing to kill your own people to protect a lie."
"It doesn't exist." a out of breath, weary voice came from her right, turning she saw it was her cousin.
"Are you willing to die believing that?"
He hesitated glancing at her father. The man caught it and strode over to face him.
"The Codices." He demanded gruffly.
"The Codices are nothing more than a myth," her father spat angrily at the Kree warrior, despite the fact that he was very much unarmored and outnumbered.
"I have killed those who have said the same." The blue skinned man warned, his voice low and rumbling.
"We have nothing that you could possibly want from us."
Nesian did not respond, but his amethyst eyes blazed with an unrelenting fury, a look that she caused her to look away afraid to meet his gaze for fear of being physically harmed by it.
The Kree's lips turned upwards into an malicious smile, "Your feeble attempt to flee has been in vain. Now that you have led me here, I will finish what I started on your planet. There will be nothing left here but ore, dust and now death."
The armored Kree moved suddenly with speed that should have been impossible for someone of his size, grabbing her father up by the collar so that they were face to face shaking him viciously, the wooden beads in his graying dreadlocks clanked noisily, "You have sealed the fate of your people."
Letting go he beckoned to the cyborg male to his right. It was then she caught the glimpse of shiny metal and recognized with a chill it was a weapon and the purpose it was going to serve.
She shouted a warning to her father, but he was too late as Ronan's hammer-like weapon swung high and crashed upon the back of her father's head, his skull caved in where the weapon made contact his scream died on his lips his eyes wide open in horror and pain. His body fell lifeless to the ground, mouth and eyes open for all eternity. Her scream like his died on her lips unable to tear herself away from the image of her father's broken body and wanting to hurl herself at the armored man and demand answers but she found herself unable to move her feet molded to the spot as the cold realization came upon her like icy fingertips on the back of her neck that eventually she too would be next.
"Anyone else care to lie?" The warrior bellowed, dark eyes scanning the remaining survivors. They were all too shocked in the sudden brutal death of their fellow comrade to even utter a word, there were was a muffled sob that broke the silence and reverberated in the cave.
Methodically he went through each and every one of the survivors, she watched each and everyone of them perish at the hands of the Kree. There were fewer and fewer left to for her to stand behind until she was the last. A sea of blood and bodies of her species surrounded her.
She had no tears left to shed now for they had long since been cried out, no longer able to stand she sat on the ground, knees hugged to her chest in an attempt to keep herself warm as the cold night air had crept into the cavern and chilled the place like an icebox.
"You." the weapon was pointed and her and despite her desire to scamper away she found herself lifted up by her thick dreadlocks and half walked/dragged towards him.
"Thanos calls, Ronan." The green skinned woman to his left stated.
"I am not yet finished." The Kree's eyes turned back to her, she tried to look away from him, but found that it was quite impossible, either from the fact that the blue cyborg female was holding her head to face him or that his purple eyes were so much like hers but filled with so much anger, she felt as though she could be devoured by the fires that raged in his eyes.
"Our father does not like to wait, it will only fuel his anger." The warrior woman replied, her tone remaining neutral.
"Very well, then," he growled, grabbing her harshly by the chin, his dark fingernails digging into her skin and he turned her head forcing her to look at the bodies around her then back to him, "Look before you as the once mighty and formable Onari empire have fallen to Ronan the Accuser. You are no longer worth my time"
He let her go and she fell against the cold body of the blue skinned woman who regained her death grip on arms, pulling them behind her.
"What would you like me to do with her?" metallic voiced female asked, dark eyes void of all emotion.
"Kill her." Came the bored reply as he turned away from her leaving her alone with the cyborg, leaden footsteps indicating his departure.
She felt her right arm being twisted until a loud crunch was heard, excruciating pain shot through her. Biting her upper lip in a feeble effort to silence the scream that burst forth, but her efforts only succeeded in muffling it. She was suddenly shoved down to the ground, landing hard on her good arm before she could move to try to adjust her weight, a boot pressed her squarely down on the shoulder of her injured arm pressing her further into the floor, she involuntarily whimpered. Suddenly there was silence, her ears strained to hear something ,anything, she made an attempt to move only to receive a heel digging into her shoulder blade threatening to separate tendon from bone. A scream ripped from her lips echoing in the underground cave.
"No one will come." A metallic voice said so close to her ear it caused her to start," they are all dead, as you will be."
"Nebula!" an angry female voice shouted in the distance.
"Coming sister." The annoyed reply came as something sharp pierced her side and back repeatedly she tried to cringe away from it, but found herself completely pinned down, she could do nothing but continue to scream as the wounds began to ooze warmth. After what seemed like a millennia the pressure on her back ease off but each breath she took felt like a thousand needles stabbing her repeatedly.