Send in the Cavalry

Peter contacted Rhomann Dey. The Nova officer was in the middle of a training when he answered, "Peter! Good to hear from you. Wait a few minutes, I'll go to my office and then we can talk."

After a short while, Star-Lord's communicator beeped and he connected. "Rhomann, what about the problem we've discussed?"

"I've encrypted this line. We need to be cautious."

"OK, I'll try to explain our current status without giving away too much. I can tell you that we found our package."

Denarian Dey brightened up. "That's good news!"

"Not really. We're back to square one. A member of our crew disappeared during the rescue."

"You mean, vanished like ..."

"Yes."

"I'm really sorry, Peter. Can you give me details?"

Peter thought a moment about what would be safe to say. He continued, "We're still tracking."

After a pause, he added, "We have some clues about the problem. It's not pretty. Basically, it's hard to know if anyone can be trusted. What do you suggest we do?"

"Do you trust me?"

"I sure hope I can; but to be honest, this thing makes me paranoid. We're dealing with a condition that can affect anyone."

"We have to find a way to deal with this. The Corps is still loosing people and at the moment we're a sitting duck. I need you back here to brief me. I don't know who to trust either."

"How do you know I'm not affected? Why do you think you can trust me?" Peter asked.

"I'm willing to bet on that. Besides, your operation is the only one that seems to have made any progress."

"OK, we'll come to you, but I don't think Nova headquarters is safe. Can you meet us at Knowhere? Alone?"

"I'll arrange it. Come as quickly as you can."

Peter put the ship on autopilot and went to the deck below. Sam was working with his medical equipment. A rectangular device floated above Drax's head. The cat worked with a holographic interface to command the floating box. He was so caught up in it that he didn't notice Peter sitting down on an opposing bunk. Groot signalled him to be quiet.

Peter looked around and noticed a new door in the back of the ship. This didn't make any sense, because the door would give access to a shielded part of the engine room. After some thinking, he figured that it must be a portal. He walked towards it. He couldn't find a handle, but there was a white disc on the wall with an orange symbol. He tapped the symbol and the door opened. He bent down and went in. There were a number of white doors. He tried some of them; one wasn't locked. He entered and saw Rocket being busy in a holodeck, working with the teleport replica. "How are you doing, Rocky," he asked.

"This is tough shit. Not yer everyday teleport technology. I figured out part of it. See, this memory bank contains the destination data. If I manage ta decrypt it, we're in business."

"Sounds good."

"Don't cheer yet."

"Rocky, I need you to co-pilot. We're going to Knowhere. We need to see Rhomann Dey."

"Finally! Let's mobilise the troops."

"I'm worried about something. This brain-altering virus can be everywhere. What if Dey is infected?"

"Ye're getting paranoid, huh? How did he look when ya talked to him?"

"He seemed to be the guy I know. But how can we be sure?'

"We can't, unless we got a way ta detect if someone is infected."

"I'll check with Sam if he can come up with something."

"That might work. His people seem ta be able to track a lot of things."

"I'll ask him when he's done operating Drax. We need to get on our way, come with me."

Rocket dropped his work and both Guardians stepped into the Milano again. Sam had just completed the operation and was closing down the equipment.

"Don't ya need scalpels an' stuff to operate?" the raccoon asked Sam.

Sam turned around and said, "We don't even have scalpels. That's so yesterday. Massive 4D nanoportation is less intrusive and completely painless."

"Did it work?" Peter asked.

"I'm optimistic. His brain chemistry is back to normal and his memory should function properly. I expect him to be able to reason again."

"That flarknard can't reason his way out of a broom closet unless ya performed a miracle," the ringtail sneered.

"OK, that's enough Rocket, we need to fly this crate."

The Raccoon wasn't done yet. "You better tie him up again before he wakes up. And remove those d'ast knifes!"

"Already done that," Sam replied. "I think it's wise to let Groot guard him for now. He will need some time to recover anyway, so I'll give him a mild sedation to keep him calm."

Meanwhile, Peter set a course for Knowhere.

During the trip, Sam was checking out if he could learn more about the virus. Both Drax and Groot were sleeping superficially.

The warrior slowly regained his consciousness. Sam dropped his work and checked if his patient was doing all right. Groot woke up too.

Drax rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up on his bunk. He looked around with small eyes, getting his bearings and collecting his thoughts. He glanced at Groot, who nodded friendly, and then noticed the little cat. "You, cat! Have you done something to my brain?" he demanded to know.

"Yes," the cat answered, "I made it back to how it was."

"How do you mean?"

"You had a virus infection. It started on the desert planet you visited some days ago. You didn't seem to be your usual self, according to your crewmates. I cured it and now you are like you were before."

Drax needed some time to process this information. His brain was fuzzy; he found it hard to concentrate. "You didn't do a good job. I'm not clear in my head."

"You'll feel better in a few days. Until then, you need to recover. For now, I've given you a sedative. You may respond a bit slower than you're used to."

The warrior nodded. Then a thought overtook him, "Where are we going? I need to go back to Indezon. The mission is in danger."

"Can you tell me something about the mission?"

"Where is Peter?"

"If I were you, I wouldn't bother Peter for the moment," Sam said in a voice that wasn't unfriendly. "He has a lot on his mind and he didn't like the fact that you left the team. He wants you to stay on board."

The tattooed man tried to get up, but only managed to make the chains rattle noisily. He looked tense. "No, I must go back! We must turn the ship!"

Groot and Sam looked at each other. The unaltered behaviour of the patient made them worry a bit, but they tried not to show it.

"Drax, it's not going to happen, trust me. The mission you're talking about is fake."

"What? Who are you to tell me what to do? What do you know about the mission."

"A lot more than you."

This seemed to catch the attention of the warrior. He sat down, rubbing his pants, nervously gesturing. He couldn't find his daggers. "My knifes!" he called out.

"We removed them for your safety and for ours. Please listen. You've been ill. You're still not right in the head. You may want to think things over before you make rash decisions."

"I need my knifes!" He commanded.

"Your crew doesn't trust you anymore. You need to repair some damage before they hand the weapons back to you."

This took him aback. He started thinking. The Guardians had been his friends for a while now. He remembered the strange encounter on Waa'i-Du'in with the Kree captain who had been their enemy shortly before. He had been talking with Peter about chasing Thanos. Then he was stationed among a Skrull crew. He recalled how he wounded Rocket; it was a painful memory. The bunk he sat on felt uncomfortable. He wanted to get up, but was forced to stay seated. Then he decided to hear Sam out and said, "You said you knew about the mission. Tell me."

"You joined a group who said they could track Thanos."

"Yes, I told Peter."

"Have you found Thanos?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It took more time to track him."

"They had a tracking device, you said."

"Yes."

"Have you seen this device?"

"No."

"So you never actually saw the tracking device. You waited patiently for it to finish, but it never did. You never saw as much as a glimpse of Thanos."

"True."

"And during this time, you worked together with Kree you only met once before, during a fight. These men sent you to an outpost manned by Skrulls, which happen to be their mortal enemies."

"Yes," Drax nodded impatiently. "Now what do you want to tell me?"

"Doesn't all this strike you as odd? Why would you trust a bunch of rogue Kree and Skrulls more than your friends, the Guardians?"

"It was glorious!"

"What was glorious about it? Guarding a door for a day?"

Drax looked confused. Why was it glorious?

"It felt glorious."

"Have you ever felt like that before?"

"Yes! When I fought Ronan. And in many battles."

"And you had the same exhilarating feeling while you where guarding a door?"

Again, the tall man fell silent. He was confused. Did the cat try to trick him or did he make sense? "I need to think about it," he concluded.

"That sounds like a good idea. Try to remember what happened, why you did what you did, and see what parts of it make sense. Meanwhile you're in a safe place, among friends who mean well. If you need something, just ask. Maybe you want to eat or refresh yourself?"

The big man didn't say a thing. He sat on the bunk and pondered.

The ship arrived at Knowhere and docked in the port of the giant head-shaped space structure. Sam was still studying his medical data. Drax and Groot played a game of cards to pass the time. Peter and Rocket came down. Drax looked up. He wasn't sure what to say.

Peter asked him, "Drax, how are you doing?"

"I'm not sure, Peter. I'm confused about what happened in the last days."

"That makes two of us!"

Then Drax saw Rocket and said, "I'm sorry I stabbed you."

The raccoon made a dismissive gesture and said, "Don't do it again." Nevertheless, he looked at the big man with uneasiness and didn't approach him too closely.

Peter took the word, "Listen up guys, I've invited Denarian Dey to our ship. We can't be sure if someone is infected with this virus or not, so it's going to be hard to trust each other."

Sam remarked, "We now can. I programmed my augmented vision system to be able to see if anyone is infected."

Peter said with a hint of admiration, "That's good work, Sam! Does this only work for you or can you share this tech with us?"

"With you, Pete, not with me, "Rocket intermitted, "no cyborg stuff for me."

Sam chuckled. "Cyborg? Ahh come on, that's so passé. All the tech we use is body-external."

"External? Where do ya hide it? I can't see any tech."

"That's because it's invisible and phase-shifted into a parallel dimension. But it's there!"

Peter looked at him impatiently.

"Sure, I can lend some of it temporarily. We don't like the idea to give away tech too much, but I think I can trust you with it."

"What's so special about yer tech?" Rocket asked. "Is it patented?"

"No, that's not it. We don't have patents and we even don't use money. We're just very cautious that our tech doesn't fall into the wrong hands. It's pretty powerful and shouldn't be abused."

"Figures," Rocket said.

Sam looked at Peter and said, "OK, come here and sit down." Then he grabbed his bag and took out two black marble-sized balls. He positioned the marbles in the air, about 10 cm away from each of Peter's eyes.

"Now move your head," the cat said.

The marbles maintained their relative position to Peter's head while he moved.

"Cool. But now I have two floating balls in front of my eyes."

"I'll get to that," Sam said. He gestured a few commands and the balls turned invisible. "Now they're phased out." He continued, "OK, let's do a test. Don't say what you see; let's first ask the rest what they see."

Rocket said, "I don't see anythin'."

The tree-man confirmed, "I am Groot."

Sam asked, "Peter?"

"I see a floating fish."

"Splendid," Sam said. "You now have a private augmented vision system. It will project information that no one else can see onto your retinas. Next, I'll project a symbol that indicates infection above the head of someone in the room. Keep in mind that no one is infected here, it's just a test."

"Groot," Peter said.

Groot looked surprised.

"Can you describe it?"

"It's red, diamond shaped, with a biohazard sign turning around slowly."

"Correct! By the way, you can be certain Groot isn't infected. His biology is incompatible with the virus. Now I switch the sign off. If you see it reappear above someone's head, the person is infected. I'll be able to see it too."

Through one of the Milano's windows, Peter saw Rhomann Dey entering the port.

"And not a minute too soon", Peter said.

"What, do you think he may be infected?" Sam asked.

"It's just a precaution."

Dey entered the ship. He greeted everybody and then he walked to Drax. He said, "I had to see you with my own eyes. The fact that you are here proves that Sam has been right."

Drax nodded.

Peter said, "Besides that, Sam has given us a system to see if someone is afflicted and I can see you're not."

"That's remarkable," the officer responded. "I'd like to be in on that. I'm dying to find out who is sabotaging our rescue attempts."

"No problem," Sam said, "I'll give you a detection device. But that has to be the last one. I'm not Santa Claus."

Dey didn't understand that last remark, but was OK with it. Dey, Sam and the whole team sat together around a table in the ship to exchange viable information and to create a plan.

Peter did most of the talking. He explained about the installation they found on Indezon, the teleport and the virus.

He asked Sam to add on that and the cat explained, "There actually are two viruses, I found out; one of them is a 'reverse' virus. The bioreactor we saw harvests a special type of virus that has been spread through the planet's atmosphere. It extracts DNA from body cells and then leaves its unharmed victim. The device on top of the cubes sucks the viruses back in and takes the DNA out for analysis. Rocket and Peter had lung problems because the virus density was unusually high after the explosion. In low concentrations, it's virtually undetectable."

"What do you think is the purpose of that system?" the Denarian asked.

"I presume they harvest DNA to create a catalogue. That way they can select people they want to abduct. The second virus type I found is the actual 'brain virus'. It only affects people who's DNA matches a predetermined profile. Once you're infected with that type, it changes your brain to make you receptive to certain commands and suggestions."

Drax had a painful look on his face when he heard this explanation. He had trouble grasping the fact that he, a mighty warrior, had been in such a vulnerable state - even for a short period.

Peter continued, "When we freed Drax, Gamora must already have been infected. She went into the building and tricked us. A number of men and women were teleported in. They were Nova officers. Sam, can you show the footage?"

A hologram appeared with various scenes inside the cube building, where Nova officers grabbed Skrull soldiers and dragged them back into the teleportation system.

Dey's eyes were open wide in amazement. He recognised the officers. They all had gone missing in the last weeks.

"D'ast!" he swore. "That's where they are! Thank the gods they're alive."

Rocket said, "I've finished my analysis of the teleporter. I know where they went. Ya can send in the troops."

Rhomann Dey looked Peter straight in the eyes. Star-Lord seemed to know what the officer was thinking. They were silent for a moment.

Rocket noticed this interchange. He suspected both men to have second thoughts for some reason and didn't like it. "What's the matter with you two?" he called out. "We need ta bring in the big guns now! We need ta smoke them out while we're hot on their trail!"

Dey said, "I agree, really I do. But there are complications."

"What complications?"

"Why do you think we sent you out on a mission instead of doing it ourselves? We had data about the locations of our officers too, remember?" He paused and then said, "I can't say more than that. Before we do anything, I need to go back to headquarters to take care of a certain matter. Please keep this between us."

Rocket quickly drew the logical conclusion, nodded and said, "I see ..."

Somewhat bitterly, Sam complained, "Now I understand why they were so hesitant! First, I thought they took me for some paranormal quack. I told them we rely purely on technology. Then they demanded to see all our blue prints. I told them no, that's not how we work."

Now that the proverbial cat was out of the bag, Peter asked, "How high up do you think this goes?"

"I suspect two Centurions are compromised. The evidence about the missing Corps members you gathered can not be ignored. As soon as Nova Prime is informed, she can intervene and we can finally come into action."

"OK, I think we know what we have to do," Peter decided. "Sam, would you fix officer Dey a detection device? Rocket and I will fly the Milano to Xandar ASAP and lay low until Dey has tackled the Nova problem. Then you signal us, we come in and join a police mission to liberate the infected."

"Agreed!"

"I almost forgot," Sam said, "I've made vaccines."

"You're really a useful guy," Star-Lord said with a smile and patted Sam on the back, "hit us!"

The ship left Knowhere and set off to Xandar.