Moving slowly through space, the Starjammer hung in the shadow of a tiny moon, avoiding the sensors of the Skrull race. It was quite for now, only Carol Danvers on duty, the other occupant of the ship still asleep.
Scott Summers, the Captain of the vessel, was resting in the arms of Morpheus. Stubble dotted across his chin and face, and a few odds and ends, such as the belt bearing a sword, dagger, and other pouches casually tossed over a chair seemed to imply that he was not exactly a neat freak.
He'd sent the Silver Surfer and Nova to go investigate some troop movements along the evacuation lines of the Kree star system Bra'din.
The Kree weren't exactly likeable people, but refugees were refugees. There was no stopping a sun going nova. The Skrull obviously thought differently. Hence their troops movements. It made Scott suspect they might be trying to reduce the Kree population by a few billion.
Surfer and Nova tended to work well together, hence their being sent on the mission. Scott tended to begrudge the way they partnered so well, because…well….that, but they had served the same master at one time. They knew each others strengths and weaknesses, and that was highly efficient.
They were due back in a few hours, and so Scott had availed himself of some muchly insisted on rest. Danvers had threatened to sing lullabies over the ship's PA if he hadn't fallen asleep within the hour. Internal sensors showed a slight drop in his life signs after just fifteen minutes.
Norrin Radd had always been a man of few words. It was hard to believe that he could have become even less verbose over the years, but he had. Once, he'd been prone to breaking his silence in order to make great, inspiring speeches. Now, however, if he broke his silence at all, it was generally only to utter a string of no more than five words at a time.
It was hard for Nova sometimes to see the man she had come to love beyond words reduced to such a state, but she well understood. Serving Galactus, and the fallout that followed it, had left numerous scars on them both, far beyond the marring of their physical appearances. And anything she had suffered was nothing compared to what the first herald had been through. After they'd lost the cosmic end of their powers, he'd sunken into a deeper level of brooding depression, seeming to give up on even his personal quest for redemption. As a result, Nova had taken on the mission of looking after him as he'd once looked after the universe. While he certainly never said it, she was sure he appreciated her continued offer of friendship in spite of the fact he'd make it clear that there would never again be anything romantic between them. And though he hadn't said a word in the past two hours, his subtle mannerisms indicated that he appreciated her light, one-sided conversation as it kept him from wandering off into the darker recesses of his own mind.
So when Norrin interrupted her humorous anecdote of the last time she and Binary had gone shopping on Tilas V, murmuring a soft, "Look," she fell silent and surveyed the monitors of the small, two-person craft. Norrin had narrowed the sensors in on the rings surrounding the system's eighth planet. Amidst the ice, dust, gas, and rock were odd, shadowed anomalies.
"Definitely not Kree… Not big enough to be a Skrull ship," Nova murmured thoughtfully. "Some kind of device, but what…?" Wordlessly, Norrin flicked the display to the system's star. Confused, the young woman stared at the dying sun, and felt her breath catch in her throat for a moment. Once, she'd more or less been a star, and in some ways, it was like watching a family member die. She thought she could feel the star's agony faintly, but that was probably just her imagination. Either that or her own feelings of loss resurfacing. Nova lowered her gaze, but only for a moment as she was suddenly struck with a realization. "That thing… it's killing the star." Norrin confirmed this with the barest of nods.
Knowing that their small ship wouldn't survive for long in the gravity of the giant world, they set in a course for the Starjammer at full speed.
"Skipper! Surfer and Nova are on their way back."
Silence.
"Captain?"
More silence.
"Scott! Wake up!"
There came the noise of someone stirring in bed over the intercom.
"Cyclops! Skrull ships coming in hot on an attack vector, 38 degrees to port!"
"Very funny."
"If you say so, but you've fulfilled the requisite 6 and a half hours the crew demanded, so I'm taking the liberty to bother you. Unless you'd like me to send Miss Raye in to rouse you?"
Yes, there was teasing in that tone. Yes, that was a muffled growl over the speaker. But it definitely sounded like he was awake.
"I'll be right there."
There was more noise of muffled growling as it sounded like he was moving around his cabin getting dressed, muttering about it. Carol could swear she heard something that sounded like changing the clocks.
"That'd be the third time this month for that, sir," she quipped. A final irritated snort came over the speaker before the noise of a hand roughly slapping the 'off' button ensued.
It would have been preferable to give Cyclops and Binary a heads-up on the situation before they arrived, but that would have risked someone picking up the signal and catching onto the Starjammer's hiding place. So Nova settled for waiting until they were face to face with the rest of their small team to make the report, Norrin looming quietly behind her. "So… that's the sitch. Silverado thinks that maybe if we can get to the device, there's a chance we could reverse the process… Whatcha think?"
"There's a chance, but with the evacuation well in progress, I'm worried more about the innocents trying to escape. Has there been any movement of the Skrull military towards the system at all? Those evacuation ships are about as fast and maneuverable as a lopsided asteroid. Every last one could be torn apart by a mere handful of light cruisers."
Scott turned to lean over one of the railings on the bridge. "I can't picture the Skrull aiming to take out a star system just to kill Kree, even by the billion. They either want something from that system, or else they're just trying to drive the Kree out in order to take possession of it themselves."
Gaining one of the Kree star systems would be a major victory for the Skrulls. It would give them more territory and resources, not to mention gaining a staging point for harassing the traffic of at least three other systems easily.
"There were a couple of scout ships along the fringe. We detected what might have been a fleet lurking in the next system, but whether it was Kree or Skrull is anyone's guess…"
"Skrull," Norrin commented, then stepped away, moving to his customary station on the bridge.
"Skrull then," Nova said, giving a cheery grin to Scott to make up for the looming storm cloud that was Norrin Radd. "So are we gonna go kick some reptilian bad-guy butt, or what?"
The visor was fixed on Nova's bright grin perhaps a moment longer than necessary, but then, it could also be chalked up to Scott thinking. "Binary, Surfer – I want you two to send a message to the Kree High Command and apprise them of what we know. They can pass us off as pirates and rogues, but that won't save their people from getting annihilated. After you do that, delay as many of that fleet as you can. The Starjammer is faster than anything out there, so take advantage of that. Harass their flanks and support vessels. See how much of the fleet you can pull after you. Every ship will keep a few more innocents alive that much longer."
Glancing back at the fiery-haired woman, perhaps the next step was obvious.
"Nova, you're with me. You're going to find exactly where that transmitter is," he stated, obviously meaning to rely on her rather uncanny ability to find whatever she was looking for, "and I'm going to blow it up."
Scott was definitely the best pilot there, and he was doling out assignments to play to his team's strengths again. Carol's smug glance tossed his way when Nova wasn't looking was mostly ignored. He wasn't doing this for his own crushes or whatever they were.
But, as turnabout was fair play….
"And if there is a scratch on the Starjammer when I get back, Carol – no allowance this week."
He'd already left for the shuttle bay before she could retort.
"Don't have too much fun without me, B, Silverado…" Nova said with a cheery wave, trotting off the bridge after Scott. She wasn't exactly looking forward to crawling back into their tiny excuse for a shuttle for another several-hour journey, but if it meant she had a shot at actually being useful, it was well worth it.
Still, she might have looked a little wistful as she gazed out the view-port during the first part of their journey. She greatly missed flying through space without being encased in a tin-can. Trying to avoid going off into a fit of her own brooding as there was someone else around, she shifted her legs, stretching a bit. "We should steal a better shuttle sometime," she remarked lightly. Nova seemed to be enjoying the 'pirate' life.
"Better in size? That'd probably mean getting a slower shuttle. Unless we can find someone willing to 'donate' something top-notch to our cause. Military issue, possibly."
Scott didn't usually go for mercenary work. But oftentimes those he wound up helping were grateful for his assistance, and would offer money, and more frequently, goods.
Scott usually preferred goods. With as much as the Starjammer got around, trading was easily done, especially in goods that some local warlord had outlawed just because he was having a tantrum at some other warlord.
But, if by any chance the Kree didn't outright ignore him for this, and an admiral happened to 'lose' a shuttle, possibly, Scott wouldn't say no.
Re-creating the flight path that Nova had taken earlier with Norrin, Scott maneuvered the shuttle from the bay easily, engaging in a hop over the neighboring star system. Just having napped, he didn't resort to sleeping for the trip, though he did suggest it to Nova.
"I'm sure you enjoy being cramped in the tin can again, but couldn't be helped," he chuckled weakly.
"Hey. If you want me to go looking for donations, boss, I'm sure I could find something fun…" Nova offered amusedly as she settled as comfortably into the seat as she could. A short nap wasn't going to be refused. "I don't mind. At least the company's more cheerful this time," she murmured, closing her eyes. "And how often do we get quality time alone? B seems to have the market, there…" she added wryly. She knew why she and Norrin generally got paired together for missions, and she didn't really mind at all.
Scott allowed himself a slight wince as she leaned back to nap. It wasn't at all like that, Binary was more like the sister he'd never had. Neither were interested in making more of things than that. But to actually tell her…..well, that was going to have to wait for another day. This definitely was not the right time, and why he could never seem to bring himself to tell her was beyond him. He'd spit in the face of death enough times, what was telling someone how he felt worse than that?
Maybe it was just the possibility that telling her might actually hurt if she told him she had no interest.
Wordlessly, he kept the small ship on course, guiding it towards the point she and Surfer had found. It was only seldom that his gaze glanced slightly to the side, sneaking a glimpse of her face from time to time, somehow finding her peaceful face an appealing sight.
Nova yawned softly when Scott nudged her out of her nap, and then tried to look awake and business-like. "I don't suppose there's a Starbucks on the radar? I could use some caffeine," she commented with a lazy grin, drawing her attention to the ship's sensors. They were just entering the Bra'din system.
Pulling up current scans of the ringed world, she narrowed her focus onto the dark anomalies. "Eeny meeny miney mo…"
"I hear there are about seven planned for this sector alone. Maybe we should introduce Starbucks to the Kree. A fitting vengeance for all they've put us through."
Scott grinned wryly, heading in the general direction they'd been in, but there was no telling where it was now, spatial drift and everything involved. It was why he'd brought her.
Though he'd be lying if he said that was the only reason he'd want her along.
"No Skrull ships detected yet. I'll keep a bit of hope it stays that way."
Their shuttle was fairly quick, but poorly armed.
Responding with a soft chuckle, Nova ran her fingers over a console, producing a seemingly random selection of coordinates. Biting her lower lips for a moment, she checked the coordinates against a display of the system. The spot selected was in a cloud that was actually quite far in the system from the ringed world where they'd seen the devices earlier, but she shrugged, her pupil-less gaze flicking to Scott. It was harder doing it this way, with a ship in between her gift and what she sought. "I… guess that's where I'm supposed to go…"
Scott didn't miss the fact that the coordinates she was indicating were not the ones they'd reported before. "Then that's where we'll head," he said definitively. He was trusting her instincts, and what she made of them. Riddling her with questions was out of the question.
"Put scanners up at maximum. I don't want to waste any seconds getting a targeting lock than I absolutely have to." Granted this would slow down the ship's response time, focusing so much on their environs, but still…
With sensor resolution flaring out, Scott found he already didn't like the picture.
"That's at least a squadron of Skrull fighters, and that ion trail means somebody saw us coming and dropped the bogies to come get us."
Calling up the fire control, Scott took command of three of the shuttle's laser cannons, and both of its torpedo launchers. The controls for the last laser cannon appeared on Nova's console.
"We're going to make for the cloud there at best speed. You see anything that looks remotely like the transmitter – blow it to hell. This could get nasty….," Scott trailed off, as though something was left unsaid.
"…so you let me worry about those fighters. Keep your eyes peeled for that probe."
When Scott didn't look in the least hesitant about where she'd pointed out, Nova relaxed a great deal and maxed up the sensors. The confidence boost seemed to last, even in the face of their sudden precarious situation, only giving him a small, curious look when he trailed off, wondering what he'd started to say. But instructions had been given, and she nodded and then grinned a bit. She wasn't too worried. Then again, she usually tried not to be.
Drawing her attention onto her own console to start looking around for her target, she remarked, trying to keep things light, "If we don't get ourselves killed before the next time we reach a civilized planet… we should do something. I mean. Silverado and I get plenty of quality time, and B and I do the shopping thing… But you and me… we never just hang, y'know?"
"Yeah…"
Spending time with her was something he'd look forward to….only he didn't have the luxury of letting himself focus on it at the moment. Chalk it up to insecurities with women, or maybe even just trying to dodge the fire of a dozen Skrull starfighters right then.
Scoring a hit on the main engine array of one, and blasting the hardpoints off another, Scott frowned. "Your suggestion from before is duly noted, Nova. We are definitely getting a better shuttle."
Their combat had carried them to the edge of the cloud, and Nova still wasn't sure what she was supposed to be looking for.
"Oooh. Can we get fuzzy dice for the rearview, too?" Nova asked half-distractedly, instinctively firing on a ship that had crossed into her cannon's sights, not entirely certain why she'd done so until after it had exploded, illuminating the area of space around it briefly, giving a rather pretty orange glow to a small asteroid.
She knew an artificial rock when she saw one. Or, at least, she thought she did, so she took a shot at it. The shot fizzed off some kind of energy shield. "Well. I found something worth blowing up…" she murmured. Of course, there was no telling how long it'd take to chip away at the shields with only one laser cannon. "Any chance of baiting one of the fighters into ramming that big rock, boss?"
Scott didn't answer her, mostly because the instruments started whining loud noises that normally meant that missiles had locked onto them. The shuttle lurched violently to starboard, just missing the artificial satellite by a distance that Scott really didn't want to know just how few decimal places they'd missed it by, actually.
"Will that work?" Scott thought he'd seen the shields on the satellite fizzle out, though he was a bit busy to be sure.
Nova didn't reply, being in the process of trying to regain her bearing after the sudden movement. She took another shot at the rock, and connected. "Beautifully," she replied at last, and then started methodically firing at the asteroid, hoping to strike a weak point and get a big bang out of it. Not surprisingly, it didn't take her long at all to hit just the right spot.
"Nice shot," Scott commented, opening his mouth to continue, only his words were lost in an explosion that rocked the small shuttlecraft.
"Guess I should have been keeping both eyes on the space-time continuum.," he noted dryly. The fact that they had slowed, and weren't maneuvering as well was obvious, but it was the arrival of several more ships that was drawing Scott's full attention.
"That's the Starjammer…,' Scott breathed in relief. "And those silhouettes behind it – those are Kree warships."
Laserfire from the Starjammer sent the Skrull fighters scrabbling away, followed by Binary hailing the shuttle.
"Hiya Skipper! Don't mind us being late, we just brought some friends is all."
Guiding the shuttle into the Starjammer's bay, Scott relaxed quite visibly.
"I think we're due for some R&R time after this mission to save the Kree from getting their collective rears handed to them. After we can find some planet that's reasonably nice without too much security….yeah, me and you will find something to do."
It was about as resolute as he'd been around her in a long time. Carol might even be proud he'd uttered the words aloud.
"Good ol' cavalry to the rescue," Nova said with a relieved grin when the Starjammer appeared with its Kree entourage.
Nova eagerly departed the little ship, stretching out properly once she was in the bay of the Starjammer. So nice to have room to move around properly.