Earth-717: Ms. Marvel Vol 1
Chapter 4: Sentry 459
His personal shuttle landing on an outstretched platform attached to the Central Tower, Ronan stepped down the loading ramp. The Central Tower, true to its namesake, stood at the direct centre of Kree-Lar, the Capital City of the Kree homeworld of Hala. The city was home to almost thirty million Kree and ten million beings of other races, and was easily one of the busiest metropolises in the known galaxy.
Paying no mind to the thousands of aerial vehicles flying all around the surrounding city, Ronan stepped down the path leading into the tower. Once inside, he walked up a short staircase that led into the main chamber on the top floor. The room was relatively barren, aside from a giant glass cylinder placed against the back of the far wall.
The cylinder was completely transparent, and was occupied by a large, blue-green organism. It was a circular mass with pupil-less eyes, a wide mouth and dozens of squid-like tentacles protruding from the top of itself. It resembled a brain with a face, and it squinted its eyes upon seeing Ronan enter its chamber.
This was the Supreme Intelligence, the unchallenged ruler of the Kree Empire.
Approaching the Intelligence, Ronan then dropped to one knee.
"My master."
The Intelligence's voice was both booming and mechanical, a monotone echo that filled the entire room. It carried both a methodical pace and a majestic aura.
"My Accuser. You may rise."
Ronan stood back up, meeting the Intelligence's gaze.
"I see that you have reacquired the Universal Weapon from the Nova Corps."
"Once I learned of its location, it was only a matter of time. I dealt justice on those responsible for its theft."
"I expected nothing less. I am receiving reports that your recent actions have placed you at the very top of Nova Prime's most wanted list. Still, it is distressing that you lost the Universal Weapon at all. It is not meant to be wielded by any who I do not authorize, and given time, the Xandarians may have learned its secrets."
Ronan exhaled.
"They did not, my master. I retrieved it from them before they could learn anything."
"You do not have sufficient knowledge to make that claim, Accuser."
Ronan grunted and looked down at the floor.
"Still, this matter is a minor distraction," said the Intelligence. "We have far more pressing concerns at the moment. The stalemate that we have endured against the Skrulls and the Nova Corps has placed great strain on the outer rim worlds. The Sakaarans are also expressing their concern due to Skrull patrol fleets advancing dangerously close to their territory."
Ronan furrowed his brow.
"The Sakaarans?! They are but a client race! What does it matter if they are . . . ."
The Intelligence scowled at Ronan, silencing him.
"Your racism has no place in this discussion, Accuser. The Sakaarans may be a client race, and they may be suppliant to the Kree, but they are also an important part of this Empire. Do not forget that nearly fifteen percent of Hala's population consists of Sakaaran citizenry. They are an ally that we cannot afford to lose, and they are under my protection. If their government claims to be in distress, then I will seek to address their concerns."
Ronan took in a couple deep breaths, taking his time to choose his next words carefully.
"Forgive me, Supremor. You are correct. You speak with the wisdom of the Ancients."
"I am the Ancients. I am wisdom itself. You may be a great scientist, a brilliant tactician and one of the Empire's foremost authorities on divine cosmic artifacts and galactic history, but I am the sum total of all knowledge that has been collected by the greatest civilization in the history of the known galaxy. That is why I am Supreme."
The Intelligence paused for a moment before speaking again.
"However, I may have yet found a way to break the stalemate and aid the Sakaarans in one swift stroke."
"What do you require?"
"Nothing, as of the moment. I have already taken steps towards my new objective. I have dispatched Sentry Number Four-Five-Nine to survey a particular planet. I already had the planet under surveillance, but only recently learned of its unique qualities. It is a primitive planet, but annexing it may hold the key to victory in our war."
"A primitive planet?! I don't see how conquering a single primitive planet could possibly turn the tide of a galactic war."
The Intelligence narrowed its eyes.
"That is why I am the Supreme Intelligence, and you merely my Accuser."
"Major Danvers!"
Carol walked into the command centre of the Air Force base, followed by Salia and Michael. Plenty of personnel were at their stations performing their duties, but around the central hologram table were three people: Nick Fury, a man in a blue uniform with a name-tag that read 'Phillip Lawson', and a blonde woman in a beige business dress who Carol did not recognize, but carried an uncanny resemblance to her.
Carol narrowed her eyes as she looked at the woman. Fury then spoke again.
"Major Danvers?"
Carol blinked as she shifted her gaze to Fury.
"Director Fury, sir."
"Good to see you again, Major."
"Likewise, Director."
Phillip walked around the table towards the three pilots, smiling at Carol as he did so. Salia took note of the gleam in his eyes as he stepped up to her.
"Major."
"Phillip."
The two held each other's silent gaze for half a second longer than they probably should have.
"How'd your test flights go?"
"Uh, well enough," said Carol. "Phillip Lawson, I'd like you to meet my two candidates for the space fighter program."
Carol turned to her two friends, beckoning them to step forward. They both shook Phillip's hand in turn.
"Salia Petrie and Michael Rossi."
"Hello," said Michael.
"Yo," said Salia.
"Ah yes," said Phillip, nodding at them. "You're Carol's friends. I've heard nothing but good things, I promise."
"So have I," said Fury, putting his hands on his hips. "Carol says you're some of the best."
"Some?" asked Salia.
Fury smirked.
"Well, she reserves the very best for herself. Best damn pilot in the whole Air Force, I believe her exact words were."
Carol rubbed the back of her neck as she weakly laughed.
"Wasn't expecting to see you so soon, Fury," said Carol. "Figured you had your hands full with your latest . . . . stuff."
Fury looked to the side, observing the various base personnel who were at their stations.
"Well I wasn't far outta town, so figured I'd drop by. Wanted to get a progress update on the prototype space fighter. Mister Lawson was just showing me the latest schematics from the finished model."
"It's finished?!" blurted Salia.
"Yes," said Phillip. "One prototype. Fully built and operational. Ready for testing. That's why the Major was finalizing the testing roster."
Phillip pointed his finger at the three pilots.
"That's you."
Salia put her hands behind her back, holding her head up as high as she could. The blonde woman, who had not spoken this entire time, folded her arms and noted the gesture with her gaze.
"Well," said Salia, "I also happen to be an aeronautical engineer who works for NASA, so . . . . I really wanna see those schematics."
Phillip gestured towards the hologram table.
"As you wish."
Phillip activated the schematic hologram, which showed a fully interactive three-dimensional light model of the prototype fighter. Salia approached it and started to read the streams of data, before pulling apart the model and inspecting all of the parts. Her eyes lit up with wonder as she marvelled at what she was seeing.
Fury walked up to Carol, beckoning for the blonde woman to follow him.
"That wasn't the only reason I was here, Major. I'm also appointing you a new operative."
Carol shrugged.
"We already have the test pilots picked out."
"Not a pilot. May I introduce . . . ."
Fury stepped aside and let the woman step forward.
"Doctor Karla Sofen."
Karla stepped up to Carol, with a hint of a devious smile on her face. Carol did her best to maintain a straight face, but the resemblance that Karla carried to herself instantly made her both curious and anxious. Karla reached out, and Carol instinctively shook her hand. She thought she could faintly feel Karla squeezing on her hand harder than she should have before letting go.
"Major," said Karla. "It's a pleasure, truly."
"Doctor."
Fury looked back and forth between the two women.
"Doctor Sofen is a highly respected psychologist. She's published several books on trauma theory and recovery, and has been consulted by government agencies dozens of times. She comes very recommended."
"I'm sure," said Carol. "But with all due respect, Director, I don't think it's entirely necessary that . . . ."
Karla gave a soft chuckle, interrupting Carol's sentence. Carol tilted her face sideways a bit as Karla started to speak. Michael folded his arms as he furrowed his brow at Karla.
"I won't be a bother, I assure you. My role will be to ensure the mental and emotional well-being of the pilots during their training and missions. As with any military operation, mental health is a critical component, and one that is, quite sadly, far too often overlooked. I'm here to alleviate any stress or concerns that the pilots have."
Karla then turned to look at Fury.
"And given that Director Fury himself has sought my help in the past, I can guarantee that my services will be of the utmost importance to your program."
Carol felt a shiver snake down her spine at the way Karla's voice sounded when she finished off her sentence. Michael could notice that something was off with Carol given that she took a second longer to respond than expected, but he did not speak. Carol then put on her best feigned smile and nodded.
"I'm sure you'll be a valuable addition to our team, doctor."
"Holy crap, this is awesome!"
Everyone turned to look at Salia, who was still looking over the hologram schematics.
"Carol, this is nuts! The propulsion designs, energy batteries, weapon systems! This thing's got laser cannons, deflector shields, hell, it's even got a nuke! A tactical nuke! And the engines! A thing this size that can actually break Earth's gravity well! We could fly this tin can to the Moon!"
"We're hoping to go farther than that," said Phillip.
Salia looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Once Reed Richards is finished designing the warp core . . . ."
Salia blinked and shook her head.
"Wait, wait, wait, run that by me again. Did, did you say warp core?"
"Why, yes. A faster than light drive. Doctor Richards says that he's very close to cracking it. He'll build two, one for his own testing, and the second he's been commissioned to send to us."
Salia stared at Phillip with awe for a few seconds before she started to stumble backwards. Michael rushed forward and caught her as she nearly fainted, her eyes fluttering.
"Oh, oh . . . . hold me, baby. I think he just said, he just said . . . . faster than light drive. This, this, this . . . . this I gotta see. He did say it, right?"
"He said it, Sal," said Carol. "We've known about it for months, but it's still technically highly classified military information, so . . . . I couldn't say anything about it until you were officially signed on to the project."
Salia moaned, as if she were simultaneously overwhelmed and aroused. Michael helped her so that she was standing straight up again. Phillip then turned to Fury, and started speaking with him while showing him something on a datapad. Salia and Michael returned to Carol, with Salia looking over as Karla walked to the other side of the room.
"Hey, Carol," said Michael. "Do we really need a brain ranger around here?"
Carol lowered her shoulders.
"I don't think so, but it's sorta outta my hands."
"Just seems so last minute."
Salia then looked over at Phillip, before turning back to Carol and putting on her best sultry voice.
"So . . . . why haven't you introduced me to your assistant before now?"
Michael put his hands on his hips and frowned at Salia.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Carol.
"Oh, I get it. Want him all to yourself, don't you? I saw you two makin' eyes. Don't try to hide it, Danvers. You like him."
Carol scoffed.
"Actually, knowing you, I didn't introduce you to him because you'd eat him alive."
Salia giggled.
"Well . . . . yup."
Michael threw up his hands.
"I'm standing right here!"
Salia playfully punched Michael in the ribs.
"Awh, come on, Blondie! You know you're my favourite. Just foolin' around. Well, not actually, ha ha."
"Right."
"Come on, I wanna show you what this jet can do!"
Carol then motioned for Fury to step aside with her, and he did. Looking over and seeing that Salia was showing Michael the schematics and explaining them, Carol then folded her arms and started whispering to Fury.
"Okay, I have to know. Is it true that you found Captain America?"
Fury blinked and held his head back in response.
"You did?! Oh my . . . . how, how is he?!"
Fury looked to the side before exhaling and turning back to Carol.
"He's alive, for one. How did you find out?"
"You're not the only person at SHIELD I talk to, you know that. And you knew how important this would be to me. I bet Coulson flipped a lid."
"He did."
"I wanna meet him."
Fury shook his head. Carol scowled.
"I wanna meet him."
"Major."
"Don't you Major me. I'm gonna meet him. You're gonna make it happen."
"Alright, alright. Fine. You win. I'll have something set up in a couple weeks. We're still trying to get him adjusted. It's a, it's a bit of a shock."
"Hell yeah, it would be!"
"Major!"
Carol and Fury looked over at one of the data analysts, who had just stood up from his station. She walked over as everyone else in the room turned their attention to him. Carol put her hand on the back of the man's chair as he sat back down, pointing at his screen.
"What is it, Staff Sergeant?"
"Ma'am, I got something on the long range scanner, something here I don't quite understand. Unidentified reading. An object from orbit has just descended into the lower atmosphere."
Phillip, who was standing nearby, took in a deep breath.
"Details, Staff Sergeant," said Carol. "What kind of object? What's its trajectory?"
"That's the thing, ma'am. It's descending way too fast to be a meteoroid, and its trajectory is almost completely straight, like it's being directed. Projections show it's going to land . . . ."
"Where?"
"Right here."
Everyone looked up through the window to see an object barrelling through the sky down towards them. Carol's eyes widened as she took a step back.
"MOVE!"
People started screaming and scrambling to get away from the windows. Grabbing the Staff Sergeant and heaving him behind her, Carol then leaped backwards as the object smashed into the ground just outside the building. The shockwave shattered the glass windows and knocked several people to the floor.
As the dust settled, the object stood up, revealing itself to be a ten metre tall robot. It was humanoid shaped, with a horizontally aligned cylindrical head. It had a purple and silver colour scheme, and its ocular visor glowed bright green. Its arms ended with rotating laser cannons. It looked straight at the people inside of the command centre, standing still for a moment.
Then, one of the officers pulled out his pistol, firing two shots at it.
The bullets harmlessly bounced off the robot's armour, but it still fired a green laser from its ocular visor in retaliation. The officer was blasted to the floor, a hole burned clean through his chest. Phillip cringed as he looked at the dead officer.
"NO!" shouted Carol.
Her eyes livid with rage, Carol then ointed directly at the robot.
"KILL THAT THING!"
All of the military personnel took out their weapons and started shooting at the robot. While it was knocked back a step by the sheer volume of bullets striking it at once, they still did no visible damage. Phillip reached out and grabbed Carol's arm as the robot charged its ocular visor again.
"Carol, stop! You don't know what you're . . . ."
"Get your hands off me!"
The robot fired its laser, causing an explosion that knocked both Carol and Phillip to the floor, as well as killing two more personnel. It then turned around and walked out of view. Everyone looked down at Carol, before gasping when they saw Phillip.
"Huh?"
Carol tilted her head to the side upon seeing that his appearance had been altered. A whirring noise was heard from some sort of hidden mechanical device as his skin pigmentation changed to a vibrant shade of blue.
"Phillip?"
Phillip sighed as he looked down at the floor. Carol stood up before offering her hand to him. As she helped him to his feet, everyone else in the room stared at him in shock.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do," said Carol.
"Trust me," said Phillip. "I know."