Chapter One: Submit or Perish
Under the scorching sun of Spartax, the desperate cries of a thousand voices had engulfed the area surrounding the Royal Palace.
As she climbed the hot stone steps to the palace entrance, Captain Victoria was bombarded by pleas for help, as well as the occasional insult cutting through this orchestra of cries.
A crowd of no less than a thousand men, women and even, Victoria noticed, many children, had flooded the palace gardens like vermin, with only a small assortment of armoured soldiers - members of the Spartax Royal Guard in their golden armour and red cloaks - there to hold the line. While the occasional rioter did succeed in breaking through the wall of guardsmen, their reward was a swift, sharp spear through the back.
Captain Victoria continued to climb the stone steps, her eyes fixed to her feet. Voices of men, woman and children of all ages and all species native to Spartax called for "bread" and "water", whilst other, more vicious voices flung out insults such as "bastards" and "whore"
The latter, Victoria suspected, had been directed towards her exclusively.
Captain Victoria was relieved to reach the top of the towering staircase where a member of the royal guard, this one wearing an armour of silver as opposed to the traditional gold and red, awaited her arrival. The doorman led her through a wooden arched door five times Victoria's height, down a long and enclosed hallway which eventually opened up into an enormous hall large enough for one of the Celestials to breathe in.
The sheer scale of the Royal Palace's great hall never failed to overwhelm her. The room stretched up almost as high as the sky itself, with a number of different levels built into the halls' red and gold walls; the higher levels reaching so far up they were but a blur to Victoria's humanoid eyes.
At the centre of the hall stood the Tube, the Royal Palace's transportation system composed of a glass, circular elevator which moved through a clear tunnel that stretched around the great hall in every direction. The Tube offers quick passage to each and every level of the palace, even the control room of the Emperor himself.
Scholars, Priests and the occasional royal guardsman passed them as the doorman escorted Victoria to the Tube. Once inside, he asked her the same question he always asked: "Which level, Captain?"
The answer was always the same. "Take me to the Emperor's quarters," she instructed in a stern tone, "I must speak with my father."
The doorman thumbed the highest button on the panel, and the elevator's glass doors slid closed.
Even over the humming of the Tube as it lifted them beyond the highest levels of the palace, Captain Victoria could still hear the men, women and children rioting outside the thick stone walls, with each hurtle of the word "whore" causing her to grimace.
Whether those voices had been coming from outside those palace walls or within the walls of her own mind, even the good Captain herself could not have been sure.
"Level 616: Emperor's Quarter's," the doorman called out moments after the Tube came to a smooth halt.
Captain Victoria stepped out of the glass elevator and into her father's quarters. As she had suspected, the Emperor was nowhere to be found.
She heard the fading hum of the Tube as it returned to the ground floor, leaving her to search for her father alone.
The room's harsh lighting offered her a good look at his desk, which was littered with scrolls and parchments yet to be opened. The room's red walls were decorated with a number of finely crafted tapestries, each one depicting a different battle fought on the soil of Spartax between the Emperor of that time, and an army with the gall to attempt an invasion.
In the furthest corner of the room stood a wooden bookcase that was rich with annals, accounts, journals and testimonies that told the stories of various battles, wars, and other crucial events in the Empire's long history. Next to the bookcase sat a bronze bust of the Emperor's head on a marble pedestal, its eyes seemingly gazing at Victoria.
She approached the pedestal and leaned down to meet the bronze head's gaze. "Captain Victoria of the Spartax Royal Guard to see Emperor J-Son, I have updates regarding-"
The bookcase to her left began to slide aside, revealing a hallway that led into jet-black darkness.
Immersing herself into the darkness, Captain Victoria made her way down the narrow hallway until she came to the Emperor's Command Room, a glass, domed room protruding from the side of the palace like a Shark's fin.
The glass room offered an expanded view of Spartax; a view from the clouds. Victoria imagined it to be enough to make her father feel God-like, as if he needed the ego-boost.
She could see through the clear glass that night had descended upon Spartax during the course of her journey from the ground floor to the Emperor's Quarters. The shimmering stars being the only source of light for the command room other than the blue glow of the Emperor's circle of displays, located at the centre of the command room.
All of these displays, Victoria noticed, were solely dedicated to showing satellite footage pulled from the recent Battle of Xandar, in which Ronan the Accuser had fallen, and the Nova Corps had gained a glorious victory.
In the centre of the circle of displays, in a pitch black armchair crafted out of the finest leather, sat Emperor J-Son of Spartax.
He sat motionlessly in the shadows, his gaze fixated on the display directly in front of him. From the display, violent flurries of blue, yellow and purple shone from the display and reflected in the Emperor's stone cold eyes.
It was only when she was within a couple of feet of the Emperor's armchair that Captain Victoria noticed that the footage was playing on a loop. Over and over, it replayed the moment of Ronan's demise in the climax of the Battle of Xandar, when he fell at the hands of a team of unknowns the Xandarians had begun to call the 'Guardians of the Galaxy'.
By joining hands and sharing the power of what the Emperor's scholars had confirmed to be an Infinity Stone between them, these so-called 'Guardians' had somehow been able to harness the power of the stone and use it to destroy Ronan.
It was an extraordinary event that even Emperor J-Son couldn't seem to comprehend as he watched the satellite footage on repeat, paying particular attention to the Terran amongst the team.
"Emperor," she said, risking disobeying the rule of only speaking to the Emperor when spoken to; a rule even Captain Victoria, his own daughter, had to obey. She only hoped her father would overlook this violation when he knew the significance of what she had to say. "I have collected reports from our scribes and scholars and compiled them into a single condensed report for you to examine."
She was about to receive the scroll from the inside of her white tunic when she noticed that the Emperor was yet to draw his eyesight from the display. In fact, the focused man was yet to even acknowledge her presence. "In summary," she decided to continue, "our food supply has dropped by another %7 in the last week, causing us to having to begin digging even deeper into our emergency supplies." The words alone tasted bitter as they left her tongue. Victoria dreaded to think how they would sound to her father. "The number of rioters has increased by %19 in the last month, with crowds growing larger both outside the palace and across the city. It appears to be the people's way of retaliating after the priests of the Universal Church of Truth encouraged them to begin rationing." She paused. "They don't have any food to ration, you see."
The Emperor's gaze remained fixed on the display. The man never even seemed to blink.
"I know where the stone is," Victoria burst out suddenly in a desperate bid to acquire her father's attention. "It was hidden after the battle… beneath the Nova Headquarters. With enough men, maybe we could-"
"I have no interesting in wasting my time chasing magic gems," the Emperor growled, cutting through Victoria's words. "And even if I did," he added, "there's no way of getting an army through that blockade." Finally, his armchair made a 180 degree turn and, at last, the Emperor was facing the good Captain.
The Emperor came into the pale blue light from out of the shadows, revealing a slightly wrinkled but stern face, clean cut brown hair with grey streaks and a well kempt beard. He returned Victoria's gaze without flinching, then decided to fill the silence with speech. "What we need, should we ever wish to be rid of that damned blockade, is firepower."
Captain Victoria lifted her gaze above her; through the domed glass ceiling. Looking past the passing traffic of landing craft, cargo ships and royal guard ships that soared over the palace, Victoria spotted the Nova Corps fleet, consisting of nine warships, each one the size of a small moon, in a semi-circle formation just outside the planet's atmosphere; too far away to communicate with, but not so far away to rule out the possibility of them wiping the Royal Palace, and the entire capital city, from their existence in the furthest corner of the galaxy.
"It's been six weeks since those blue and yellow bastards appeared in our skies," the Emperor reminded her in a calm and collected manner. "That's six weeks we've been without a supply run of food, water, and whatever else the people of this great city are crying out for, all because those monsters that call themselves 'Centurions' refuse to let traders, suppliers, and anyone else that isn't Nova Corps through that blockade of theirs."
His words, bitter as they were, reminded Victoria of an incident that had occurred three days prior. "They beamed another one of their liaisons down to the surface this week to deliver the Nova Prime's terms," she explained.
"If I know Nova Prime Rael, I assume her terms were something along the lines of… 'submit or perish'?" the Emperor wondered aloud. Victoria was sure she detected a hint of sarcasm in his gravelly voice.
"Perhaps not quite so bluntly," she replied as her mind returned to her meeting with the liaison. "The Nova Prime is requesting permission to place no less than 500 corpsmen on Spartax, to keep the peace as well as our contribution of 10% of our food supply to their famine relief supply which, the liaison explained, will go towards aiding cultures affected by the recent Nova/Kree war." Victoria had tried to explain that the summer droughts, which occurred every five years when Spartax was unbearably close to its local binary suns, had caused the quantity of their produce to plummet, but the liaison only responded by repeating the Nova Prime's terms in a tone that suggested impatience.
Captain Victoria swallowed hard, aware that this last part would frustrate the Emperor the most. "And, although you'll remain Emperor of Spartax, they wish to place an experienced Nova centurion at the head of the Spartax Royal Council."
J-Son scoffed. "I'll be Emperor in name only," he ascertained. "They practically want me to hand over the Spartoi Empire to them, so that they can burn it to the ground like they have done with so many great cultures." His chair began another 180 degree turn as the Emperor returned to the comfort of the shadows. "Spartax will never submit."
"Then what will we do?" Victoria asked, somewhat out of turn.
"What we do best," The Emperor replied as he peered over his shoulder, his sharp eyebrows furrowed. "We will fight."
A fresh display popped up in front of the Emperor, this one displaying footage from within Ronan the Accuser's ship, the Dark Aster, moments before it was downed by the Nova Corps.
Stepping closer, Victoria once again spotted these 'Guardians of the Galaxy' who, at this time, were about to take on Ronan himself. Amongst them, Victoria noticed the Terran again, who appeared to be just slightly below her own age, and seemed to be the leader of the team. He was wielding a large mechanical weapon that Victoria couldn't say she recognised.
In a sudden flurry of fire and smoke, the weapon fired, and an explosion followed that sent Ronan to his knees.
After seeing this incredible weapon in action, Captain Victoria now understood what her father had previously meant by "firepower", and why he had confined himself to his control room for the past few weeks, never taking his eyes of his displays.
Any weapon powerful enough to so much as stun a celestial as powerful as Ronan the Accuser, was surely worth a look.
"It's called a Hadron Enforcer," she heard her father explain to her, clearly noticing her curiosity. "I had my scholars examine it for days." He raised a crooked finger to the weapon on display. "According to them, this weapon was custom built, and by quite the demolitions expert too, it would appear. Unfortunately, they were unable to identify the element acting as the weapon's core from this footage" He paused, hoping Victoria was keeping up. "The weapon is capable of manipulating hadron particles, transforming them into what are essentially bullets that explode on impact," he continued as the display in front of him once again demonstrated the weapon's brutal force. "The scholars believe that, if someone were to be able to get hold of the weapon and – more importantly – its core, this weapon's capabilities could be replicated, as well as increased to a much larger scale."
Well aware of what the Emperor was insinuating, Victoria's gaze was attracted to the Nova blockade hovering in the sky miles above her. "Is it really powerful enough to-"
"Not yet," he interrupted, "but with the core in our possession, the scholars claim that our engineers would be capable of building a Hadron Enforcer of our own design; one powerful enough to annihilate the Nova Corps blockade, and perhaps even Xandar itself."
"Allow me to retrieve the weapon, father," Victoria offered graciously. "It would please me to please the Empire."
"No," the Empire denied swiftly. "You'd never make it past the blockade."
She took a moment to think. All the while, she could feel her father's patience wearing thin. When an idea finally struck her, she took no time to think it over. Her words left her before she could fully collect her thoughts. "There's a smuggler," she burst out suddenly. "An Insectoid from Kaliklak, a tropical planet in the Outer Rim. He's proven himself in the past, completing a number of illegal trades across the galaxy whilst avoid the all-seeing eye of the Nova Corps. I believe he'd be capable of retrieving the weapon for us and smuggling it through the blockade." A smile grew across her face. "The Nova Prime will never know what hit her."
"This smuggler," her father began, "are you sure he can be trusted?"
"He was once a member of the cosmic pirates known as the 'Ravagers', acting under the leadership of the Centaurian named Yondu Udonta," she admitted, "but those days are years behind him."
"Dispatch him at once," the Emperor ordered in a commanding voice. "And have a small assortment of our royal guard sent with him."
"It will be done," she replied. She was about to turn on her heel and exit the command room when her father's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"You do recognise the Terran wielding the weapon, don't you?"
She could feel the weight of her father's gaze on her as he peered over his shoulder. Looking past him, she examined the human in the blood-red jacket wielding the Hadron Enforcer. He wore a peculiar mask of a sleek design over his face, with eyes that pulsed red, which she assumed allowed the Terran to breathe on foreign planets.
A single conclusion filled her mind, and it was one that made her stomach tighten. "It's him, isn't it?"
What appeared to be the faintest of smiles began to form across Emperor J-Son's face. With a flick of his left index finger, he made a holographic list of data appear beside the display, which now focused solely on the Terran, who appeared now in a mug-shot captured by the Nova Corps, in which the Terran was performing a crude hand gesture that made Victoria grimace.
"Peter Jason Quill, of Earth," her father announced. "35 years old. Half Terran, half Spartoi."
Captain Victoria crossed her arms in an attempt to mask her anxiety. "Do you think he is aware of his royal ancestry?"
"Being able to harness the power of an Infinity Stone as he did would case any seemingly ordinary man to suspect himself of being something greater," the Emperor suspected.
Victoria was caught off-guard when the Emperor sat up from his chair and left his circle of displays.
"Second chances don't come around that often, Victoria," he told his daughter as he faced her, his blue eyes glinting in the starlight. "Have your smuggler bring him here, with the weapon. Alive."
This surprised Victoria more than anything. "You want the Terran brought here? To Spartax?" She pointed at one of the displays behind him, which now presented footage of the Terran named Peter Quill performing what appeared to be some sort of spontaneous dance routine directly in front of Ronan. "You truly wish to bring this imbecile to our planet?"
J-Son turned to the display, then back to his daughter, his empty expression showing no sign of shame or embarrassment for the dancing ape on the display. "That 'imbecile' is my only living heir."
A lump grew in Victoria's throat. "What about me?" she asked in an almost child-like tone.
Her father sighed. It was not the first time he'd shown disappointment in his daughter. "In the Millennia that this great Empire has existed, not once has it been ruled by an Empress. Had you been born a boy, as the eldest sibling, your claim to the title of 'Emperor' would be the strongest. Alas, such is not the case," he concluded, feigning regret. "As long as this Terran lives with my blood in his veins, he will remain my heir."
And with that bold statement, an idea was planted in Victoria's mind. It was one so perfect, and so resolving, she could barely contain hr smirk.
"Make contact with the smuggler immediately," the Emperor ordered as he returned to his armchair and his circle of displays. "Ensure that he retrieves the weapon, and my son."
"As you wish," Victoria replied before turning swiftly on her heel and walking briskly out of the command room.
Emperor J-Son neutralized his displays with another flick of his index finger.
The room descended into a darkness disturbed only by the starlight from above.
Through the glass walls, Victoria watched as the planet's local moon, Fargonia, shone brighter than ever before beyond the horizon of towers so tall their tops tickled the clouds. Even now, she could still hear the cries of those men, women and children rioting in the streets.
The words of her father echoed in her head. "As long as this Terran lives with my blood in his veins, he will remain my heir," he had said. "As long as this Terran lives…"
Despite her father's wishes, Captain Victoria had no intention of bringing the Terran back to Spartax alive.
Her hand stroking the glass, Victoria began to whisper to the rioters outside. "Hush now, children," she said in a soothing voice, like a mother comforting her babe, "all will be well in time." She paused. "Soon you will have a new ruler. An Empress," she whispered.
"And thanks to her, Spartax will finally know peace."
END OF CHAPTER ONE.
