Chapter 3: Helping an Old Friend

Maria sat in her chair on the bridge as she tried contacting Centurion Ko-Rel and after a few attempts with no repsponse, she let out a sigh as she walked out of the bridge and looked at the others as she said, "I tried contacting Ko-Rel but I didn't get a response, fetch me from my room if Ko-Rel does reply." before she then walked towards her room.

Rocket then let out a heavy sigh and looked at the others as he said, one of you can get Quill if Ko-Rel does answer, I…I need to talk with Quill, got some things I need to get off my chest." before he then left to find Maria. Once Rocket found Maria's room he knocked on the door as he said, "Hey Quill, do you mind if I talk to ya for a minute?"

Maria then opened her door and looked down at Rocket as she replied, "What's up Rocket?" Rocket walked inside Maria's room before he looked back at her and took a deep breath and said,

"Look, I don't usually say this Quill. But Groot is right, I have been too hard on you. So…I wanted to apologize as I realize I ain't the only person here who lost someone. Also, Poochie gave me something to give to you, so…here you go I guess." As Rocket then handed Maria a box.

Maria placed the box on her bed and slowly opened it, inside the box was a pair of pistols and she picked up one of the pistols in her hand as a few tears rolled down her face before she looked at Rocket as she replied, "These were…my brother's pistols, how did they end up with Cosmo? Oh and umm thanks Rocket, I really appreciate you giving these to me, dude."

Rocket shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "Eh, I was doing a favour for Poochie. But…you're welcome Quill." before he then walked out of Maria's room and Maria could hear Gamora calling her,

"Maria! Get up here, we got a message from Ko-Rel."

Maria then made her way to the bridge and sat down in her chair and Gamora smiled at her as she said, "Putting it up on screen now, Maria." and as Maria looked at the screen, she smiled as she saw Ko-Rel and Ko-Rel smiled as she said, "Hello Maria, you know when I first recieved your message I was sure it was from your brother. But, I will give you and your…friends permission to speak with me. Meet me at these coordinates."

Maria was about to reply but Ko-Rel was already gone and she looked around at the others and gave them a hopeful shrug as she said, "At least she's willing to talk to us, it could've gone worse." Gamora smiled at Maria and replied,

"You're right that could have gone worse, let's not keep Ko-Rel waiting and head to those coordinates. I'm just surprised she wanted to talk with us at all given our history."

After Maria had punched in the coordinates sent by Ko-Rel, the team strapped themselves in as they jumped through hyperspace. When they emerged from hyperspace, they could all see a large Nova corps ship floating in front of their ship and Gamora looked at Maria as she asked, "Are you sure Ko-Rel didn't want to arrest us? I mean why else would she have given us coordinates directly towards Hala's Hope?"

Maria smiled back at the others as she reassured, "Relax guys, Ko-Rel probably gave us coordinates to her ship to make it easier for us to talk to her. If she really wanted to arrest us then she would have done it by now." Rocket then looked at the others and said,

"Quill's got a point, if those bucket heads wanted to arrest us then they would have cut our engines already."


Hala's Hope…

After Maria and the others had boarded KoR-el's ship, they walked off the Milano and they were greeted by a few Nova corps soldiers as a Nova corps officer looked at Maria as he said, "Maria Quill, Centurion Ko-Rel asked me to escort you to her, your friends can wait here for you." Maria looked back at the others and specifically at Rocket and said,

"Remember Rocket, no stealing! we need to be on our best behaviour."

Rocket rolled his eyes at Maria and replied, "Yeah I get it Quill, no stealing. Just hurry up and speak with your girlfriend already." Drax then looked at Maria and chimed,

"Do not worry Peter's sister, I will make sure the rodent does not take what does not belong to him. We will eagerly await your return."

Gamora smiled slightly at Maria as she said, "I'll make sure the boys don't get into any unnecessary trouble, Maria. Just go and have a talk with Ko-Rel." as Maria looked back at the Nova corps officer she felt a pair of handcuffs being attached to her wrists and she perked a brow at the officer and asked,

"Are the cuffs really necessary dude? I just came to speak with Kor-el."

The Nova corps officer looked back at Maria as he replied, "Sorry ma'am, just a precaution. follow me and I shall take you to see Centurion Ko-Rel." Maria let out a heavy sigh as she followed the Nova corps officer towards the lift as they headed up towards Ko-Rel's office. Once they arrived, Maria stepped out of the lift and slowly walked down the hallway towards Ko-Rel's office and as she stood in front of the door, it slid open and she saw Ko-Rel standing on the other side smiling at her and said,

"Maria, it's been a while! How have you been?"

Maria blushed a little towards Ko-Rel as she replied, "It has been a few cycles since we last saw each other hasn't it? I would give you a hug but…my hands are sort of tied at the moment." waving her cuffed hands in front of her and Ko-Rel let out a small huff as she walked over to Maria and undid her handcuffs and said,

"I must apologize for my men's actions, I didn't give them orders to handcuff you when you arrived."

After Maria removed the handcuffs from her wrists she smiled at Ko-Rel and wrapped her arms around her in a hug as she said, "It's fine, when do men ever listen to orders from a woman anyway? I have trouble getting my own group to listen to me sometimes." which made both women giggle at the statement before Kor-el perked a brow at Maria and asked,

"Wasn't your brother in charge of them? When did you end up with such a huge responsiblity?"

Maria then looked somberly at Kor-el as she replied, "My brother Peter…left me in charge of the Guardians as his dying wish after he was killed during my escape from the Kree. I barely even know what I am doing with those guys half the time since I was left with them on such short notice."

Ko-Rel then gave Maria a hug and frowned a little as she said, "I'm so sorry, if I had known you were with the Kree, I would have put together a team to rescue you." Maria buried her head in Ko-Rel's neck and replied,

"I'm free now, well…mostly free since the reason I tried to contact you in the first place was because the Kree have sent Ronan the Accusor after me. and I figured since the Nova Corps have dealt with Ronan before…maybe you could help out an old friend?"

Ko-Rel looked at Maria and thought for a moment before she said, "I'm not even sure if I will be allowed to help, but I will see what I can do and I can't promise anything." she then let out a sigh and took Maria's hands into her own as she gently squeezed them as she added, "If I'm not able to get permission from the council, promise me that you will stay safe and in one piece?"

Maria nodded at Ko-Rel as she replied, "I'll try my best at least, I should probably head back to the others and tell them the news, assuming they haven't gotten themselves into any trouble while I've been catching up with you." before she then stood up from her seat and began walking back towards the elevator with Ko-Rel following behind.

As Maria got to the elevator Ko-Rel smiled at her before leaning forward and planting a kiss on her forehead which made Maria blush slightly before Ko-Rel said, "Hopefully it won't be so long before we see each other again next time." Maria smiled back at Ko-Rel as she nodded and replied,

"Yeah, hopefully it won't be as long. Take care Ko-Rel and if you happen to see Nikki, tell her I'll come see her soon."


Later…

After Maria had returned to the others by the Milano, she looked at Gamora as she asked, "You guys didn't get into any trouble while I was with Ko-Rel, right?" Gamora looked back at Maria and smiled slightly and replied,

"I've had a few suspicious looks from Drax, but other than that I made sure the boys stayed out of trouble. How did things go with Ko-Rel anyway?"

Maria let out a small sigh as she looked at the others as she said, "I'll explain once we're inside, let's just get out of here." Rocket smirked at Maria and said while walking onto the ship,

"Quill's in such a rush to get out of here, probably because she pissed off her girlfriend and wants to leave before we all get thrown in jail."

As Maria boarded the ship, she sat down in the lounge area and looked at Rocket as she said, "I already told you Ko-Rel isn't my girlfriend. It's…a little more complicated than that." before she then looked at the others and let out a heavy sigh as she added, "Ko-Rel said she would speak with the council about Ronan, but…there's a chance that we might be on our own as the council may not give Ko-Rel permission to help us out."

Gamora looked at Maria as she said, "Well, we beat Ronan on our own before with your brother. So there's no reason why we couldn't beat him on own again."

Drax then sat next to Maria and put his arm on her shoulder and smiled at her as he said, "I would gladly follow you into battle against Ronan, Peter's sister. Your brother went out with a warrior's death and I will continue to honour his wish." Maria smiled back at Drax and replied,

"Thanks dude, I'm trying me best to be a good leader for you guys."

Rocket then climbed onto the table and looked at Maria as he said, "I dunno about you being a good leader just yet Quill, but you're a more competent pilot than your brother was. Look, what I'm tryin' to say here is that I'll follow your lead as long as it doesn't get us all killed."

Groot then smiled at Maria as he said, "I am Groot." Rocket looked at Groot before looking back at Maria and said,

"Groot says that your brother was a good person, and he can tell that you are a good person as well despite your past with the Kree and…that he would give his life to protect us if it came to it."

Maria looked at everyone as she said, "Ok, I think that's enough mushy stuff for now. Let's just get out of here and figure out what to do next." before she then stood up and made her way towards the bridge.