Part 1 - Fires of Revolution

Chapter 13 - Headquarters

Miles and Gwen stared out the window in awe. The ship had just emerged from the light show which reminded them both of Kingpin's collider. They heard some chattering from the cockpit. Gwen looked, but there was nothing to see there so she turned back to the window. Objects were coming into view now. They were predominantly black with green lights shining out here and there on their surfaces. They all seemed to be relatively simple shapes, ranging from small oblongs up to enormous cubes that dwarfed the craft the pair were currently aboard. The largest of them all was an enormous cylinder with holes in its ends and a bulge in the middle. Soon the black and green ships began to thin out to be replaced with a variety of other ships. Gwen spotted Thanos' ship, Sanctuary II, amongst them. Most ships were nowhere near the size of Sanctuary II, but still many caught their eyes. Miles spotted one that looked vaguely like the USS Enterprise. As their small ship drew nearer to it, he read the name USS Enterprise, and noticed the registry numbered ended with a 'J'. Clearly Starfleet were involved in some way. The miscellaneous ships began to give way to more consistent colour schemes. Very quickly, all of the ships in view were a spotless white colour like the two spiders' ship. They varied in size from the same type of ship which Miles and Gwen were currently on, to an enormous warship many hundreds, if not thousands of times the size of it. Grey letters and port holes were all that broke the sleek white of these ships. Miles read the name of the largest ship: 'SGC Resurgence'. That was when he and Gwen spotted something coming into view towards the front of the ship: an enormous sphere that dwarfed even Sanctuary II. The comparatively microscopic ship they were on was swallowed by a hangar of some kind. With a clunk it landed and the ramp opened up. Captain Lucille emerged from the cockpit.

"Let's go, you two. This place is gridlocked on the best of days."

Gwen stood up and followed her and Miles. She began to overthink what the captain had just said. If the place was gridlocked then surely it was good since it meant the resistance was gaining more members? She rolled her eyes at herself. There was so much more to focus on. They were currently inside a small hangar with enough space for only a single ship. The captain led them to a rectangular wall. A grey 'X', surrounded by a circle, was engraved on the door. As they approached, it hissed open. A man was standing on the other side with his hands behind his back. His uniform was similar to Captain Lucille's, but the entirety of the top half down to his chest was gold. Miles had a sudden tingle that perhaps this was a well prepared trap by Conall. There was far too much gold for his liking. The captain came to a halt in front of the man. She went stiff, standing at attention. Her right hand flew up in a smart salute.

"Reporting as ordered, sir!" She said loudly and clearly.

"Thank you, Captain. Return to general duties unless ordered otherwise."

"Sir!"

She saluted again, did a smart side-step around the man and walked away down the corridor. At the same time, there was a thump and a rattle as the ship Miles and Gwen had been on began to slide along some sort of invisible rail, through a large set of doors and out of sight. The pair looked back at the man. Miles tried to stand at attention like the captain had done. Clearly this was someone who commanded respect.

"Miles...what are you doing?" Asked Gwen with a grin on her face.

She was clearly trying to supress her laughter. The man's face broke into a supressed smile.

"Well, I'm guessing you're Miles. Which makes you Gwen." He said, relaxing and letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Yes, sir." Miles replied with an attempt at a salute.

The man couldn't supress the smile any longer and it spread across his face giving it a friendly glow. Gwen couldn't supress her laughter either, and burst into a fit of it.

"Miles, if you stay like that much longer you'll pull so many muscles in your body you'll be useless to the resistance." The man told him.

Miles tried to relax himself a little whilst staying smart.

"Is that better, sir?"

"A little. If you want to make it perfect then be like a normal kid and chill out."

"Oh...I was just trying to be respectful." Miles replied, letting himself relax completely and feeling slightly stupid.

"You don't need to bother. I demand respect from those who work in SGC, but nobody else."

"So...who are you?" Asked Gwen.

"If you're wanting to be like Miles, I'm Grand Admiral Melbourne, Commander in Chief of Sol Galactic Command. In that case you call me sir, or are on engine greasing duties for a week. Otherwise just call me Edward. Edward Melbourne."

"Well, Miles. Better make sure you obey your orders. Wouldn't want to be greasing the engines, would you?" Gwen taunted Miles affectionately.

It was these goofy moments that made her love him even more. Miles sighed.

"I'm never gonna escape that one, am I?"

"Nope."

Edward chuckled to himself.

"How I miss being a teenager. Anyway, before anything else I want to say sorry about Thanos. He wasn't supposed to leave you guys behind. He's a warrior first and foremost, certainly not a very caring guy. He got quite the beating from the rest of the High Council for it. Oh well, you're both alive, well and here now. Come on, I'll show you around as much of this place as I can be bothered. It's massive."

Whilst Gwen had felt there was always a sinister feeling to Conall, Edward didn't give her that vibe at all. He seemed like a genuinely kind and caring person, despite his high rank. He turned and began to guide them down the corridor.

"If you hadn't already figured it out, this place is the resistance headquarters. It's over a hundred kilometres to the opposite side of the station. Two main groups contributed to its construction: the Borg and Sol Galactic Command."

"What are both of them? Sol seems to keep coming up, and you're the Commander in Chief of them, so you seem the best person to explain them." Said Gwen.

"Sol Galactic Command, or SGC for short, is kind of like Starfleet. We're just from different dimensions to each other." Edward explained.

"Ah. So what about the Borg? Are they like SGC or Starfleet?" Asked Miles.

Edward shook his head vigorously.

"The Borg are nearly as far from the principles of SGC as can be. They come from the same dimension as Starfleet. However, instead of acting as ambassadors and explorers, they're a bunch of people who got too carried away with their robotic technology. They go around injecting people with nanoprobes which turn you into one of them. They caused quite a few problems when they first joined. They kept saying it would be more efficient to assimilate us all into their Collective to speed up progress and tactics and stuff. Since most of us enjoy being individuals and not cyborgs, you can guess we refused which caused them to get all annoyed. We had a short civil war thing for a couple of weeks until someone went into their dimension and blew up one of their transwarp hubs. After that they decided to co-operate and sit down to talk rather than stick it to you."

Edward stopped and turned to the pair of them.

"They may be on our side now but I still don't trust them. You will have seen their cubes and stuff as you came in."

Gwen sensed there was something more that Edward had on the tip of his tongue, but couldn't bring himself to say. He closed his eyes, clenched his fist and took a deep breath. He opened them again and relaxed. Miles replayed the short moment of Edward's visible irritation; his face was familiar like that. It hit him like a ton of bricks: Edward was the man he had seen in the Mirror. What did he have to do with the pair of them? Miles turned away. The image of Gwen tore through his mind again. He felt a tear roll down his cheek. The child...had it been his child? The darkness...what would become of her? Did it matter? Galadriel had said these things would only happen if his greatest enemy prevailed. Surely his greatest enemy was Conall? Yes, that was the only idea he was sure of. A hand on Miles' shoulder brought him back to reality.

"Miles? Are you OK?" Asked Gwen.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

He covered his face with his hands and did his best wipe away the few tears that had escaped before turning back to her and Edward. Edward's face was one of concern, a deep concern he had never seen from Conall.

A few minutes later, the trio reached a large glass window. On the other side, row upon row of small ships were visible.

"That's our primary hangar. It contains thousands of light combat and transport craft. If you're ever told to find a missing ship in there, it's even more painful than greasing the engines."

Gwen chuckled at the joke, but Miles was still dwelling on what he had seen.

"Our next stop is the elevators. I say that's the next stop, because they really do put a stop in your plans to get anywhere."

Edward showed them further down the corridor until they came to a bank of elevator doors. He stepped into a small ring in the centre of the corridor.

"Central command." He said to a computer somewhere.

A split second later, there was a ping.

"Ooh! That's the first time that's ever happened to me. I usually have to wait a couple of minutes on a good day."

The doors rumbled open. The trio entered.

"Confirm destination: command centre." Said a voice.

"Confirmed. Authorisation Melbourne Sol GC."

"Confirmation. Authorisation. Approved."

The doors slid shut. The elevator began to hum.

"Your destination is quite far away. Would you like some music?" The computer said.

Edward sighed and looked at Gwen and Miles with raised eyebrows.

"Sure." Gwen replied, curious as to what sort of music it would play.

"Oh boy..." Muttered Edward.

"Playing music: Balatarnik's Ninteenth Symphony."

A strange noise began to play from the speaker. Edward covered his ears as it grew steadily louder. Gwen and Miles did the same as it became a squeal.

"Computer! Stop the music!" Edward yelled.

The hideous melody, if it could even be called that, stopped.

"Was my music selection unsatisfactory?" Asked the computer.

"Unsatisfactory is an understatement." Edward replied. "You know, some species actually call that a musical masterpiece."

Gwen raised her eyebrows.

"Do they have ears?"

"Yes, just very different to..."

"Let me play you something else." The computer interrupted. "Playing Eine Kleine Nacht Musik by WA Mozart."

The iconic melody began. Edward leaned back against the wall.

"Usually it just starts another of Balatarnik's symphonies. Someone must have extended the library at last."

"Who was Balatarnik?"

"I believe a Borg, before they all turned themselves into cyborgs. I'm sure he's still alive somewhere in the collective, now wishing he hadn't composed anything."

Twelve minutes later, the computer turned off its second track: Für Elise.

"Command centre."

The humming stopped and the doors opened. Edward took a brisk step out; Miles and Gwen followed. Miles hadn't said anything for the entire ride. Gwen eyed him worriedly. She could also see Edward was continually casting glances at him as well.

"Welcome to the command centre. It's tied for the smallest deck on the station, of course with the lowest deck down because that's how a sphere works." Said Edward.

This floor was certainly much smaller than all the others. She could see the other end of the corridor, although it was quite a distance away. Every door was labelled. Edward began pointing out what each door was.

"This one is where all the traffic coming in and out of the station is controlled. That one is where the High Council meets."

After a few minutes, they came to a door at the far end of the corridor.

"This is my office."

Gwen read the plaque on the door. It simply stated Edward's name and rank both in SGC and the resistance itself. Edward placed his hand on the handle. There was a beep and a click then he opened it. He beckoned the two spiders inside.

"Take a seat. Want anything to drink?"

"What's on offer?"

"Anything you can think of, within reason of course. I wouldn't recommend night lock wine. That stuff is a delicacy on some planets. But it will kill a human well before they can say 'I shouldn't have drunk that'."

"Have you got hot chocolate?"

"I'd brand myself a traitor to humanity if I didn't ensure it was available."

Edward tapped a few buttons on his desk as he sat down. Three steaming hot cups of hot chocolate appeared in front of them. Gwen picked hers up and gently blew on it to cool it down. Edward did the same, but Miles simply stared into the brown liquid as if it contained the answer to the ultimate question. Gwen put her hot chocolate down and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Miles. What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing's wrong."

Edward shook his head.

"I've known you for all of half an hour and I can tell something is up. It started right after I first spoke about the Borg. Had an encounter before?"

"No."

"He couldn't have. From what you've said, the furthest they've gone from their dimension is here." Replied Gwen.

"Not true. They invaded stream five a while back. Fluidic Space, it's called. Home only to Species 8472, or the Undine as they're more commonly known. However, as far as I'm aware that's the limit of their interdimensional travels. So, I agree that he can't have. Is it something to do with me, Miles? If I did or said something wrong, I'm sorry."

Miles shook his head.

"Stop guessing. You'll never understand."

"We'll understand if you explain." Pressed Gwen.

"No. You won't."

"Miles, me and you have spoken about everything with each other. It always helped. It will help this time."

"No!" Miles yelled, getting to his feet. "Take a hint! It won't help!"

He turned and walked angrily to the door. When he reached it, he went to open it but the handle wouldn't budge. Edward looked at Gwen.

"Should I let him go?" He asked her.

"I think he needs some time." She replied.

Edward pressed a button. The door beeped and clicked open. Miles stormed out, slamming it behind him. Edward looked at Gwen again.

"I assume he doesn't do that often."

"He's never done that before. It was something in that mine. I'm sure of it. He came back with an infection..."

"In his foot. I know. I read Thanos' report."

"The Ethereal Plate, perhaps?"

"It shouldn't have affected him. He didn't touch the actual Plate, just its crystal shell. If he did, he wouldn't be alive."

"Not anymore, no."

"As far as we're aware, only Conall and one other person can wield their power. That concerns us, since the only way to defeat Conall is most likely with their power."

Gwen bit her lip, trying to decide what to say.

"So, you know mine and Miles' names, but you don't have a clue what either of us can do?"

"We know vaguely. He has invisibility and venom strike, you're a standard spider person. Both of you are pretty sticky. But we always thought you must be able to do more."

"We can, or I can at least."

Edward sat forward.

"What can you do?"

"Let's just say Conall's attempt at kindness came back to bite him. I touched an Ethereal Plate when Doc Ock, or Olivia Octavius, stole it from a bank in my dimension."

"Yes. She was one of our best. But if you touched it, how are you still alive?"

"I almost wasn't. But Conall injected me with his blood. His DNA fused with mine and I gained two of his abilities: the power to summon objects such as swords and daggers, and also resilience to the effects of the Ethereals."

Edward's eyes were gleaming with curiosity.

"So..."

"Look, I get that you're excited, but my best friend slash boyfriend just yelled at me. He's never done that before."

"I'm sorry. It's a habit. I'm too keen to learn."

"It's alright. I just hope he's OK."

Miles had managed to find his way back down to the corridor with the view of the main hangar. He stared out across the countless ships, the images from the Mirror drilling through his mind, breaking him apart slowly but surely. He would never let what he saw happen to Gwen. Edward was still a puzzle. Another light bulb moment struck him. The thing he had seen burning in Conall's eye had been the resistance headquarters. This was good. Every answer he got was good. He just hoped his fear wouldn't consume him before he worked them all out.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Star Trek
- Avengers