Attack!
The Nova Corps frigate 'Corona' was on its way to the Virgo cluster. The ship measured 250 metres and had a crew of 800, 350 of which were Corpsmen and officers. The ship had an oval cross-section, the basic shape looked like a horizontal cylinder that had been vertically stretched. It had a blunt, conical front side. The aft ship contained a powerful FTL drive, pushing the frigate towards the Virgo cluster at over ten billion times light-speed. The Milano followed in slipstream.
Rhomann Dey, the new Nova Prime, led the mission. Rocket had been added to the Nova crew temporarily to coordinate the logistics of the operation. Peter Quill, Groot, Drax and Sam stayed in the Milano.
Somewhat over a day after depart, the frigate arrived at Virgo galaxy 1472. In there, the ship followed its course at slower speed to a star called Bar-en-Koud. The ship stopped after passing the star's Oort cloud. There the Milano docked to the frigate. Peter went over to discuss the last details and then went back with Rocket.
The Milano travelled to the cold, rocky planet Bar-en-Koud 4. Rocket readied a precision laser cutter, opened a hatch and secured the device. Peter manoeuvred to an exact location in the sky, kilometres above the cube building, out of detector range.
Rocket activated the cutter, which emitted a small guiding beam. After some position changes of the Milano in the thin stratospheric air, the cutter was positioned at the right angle. Now the raccoon could fire the cutting beam. He monitored the appearance of a growing hole in the metal of a roof cube until it had the right size. Then he launched a self-propelling capsule with a jamming device that flew down, through the hole. From its feedback signal Rocket could verify that it had entered the teleportation chamber. The device welded itself to the floor and activated itself to disable the transporter.
Sam checked his scanning device in the meantime. There was no sudden movement of the soldiers inside the building, which meant that the installation of the jamming device had not been noticed.
Peter opened a com channel to Dey and reported. Soon after, the giant frigate descended from the sky. It landed in front of the cube pyramid with the Milano behind it. Hundred Corpsmen left the ship, ran up the stairs of the building and lined up in rows of ten. The front men used the metal cutting devices designed by Rocket to create a number of large holes through which the soldiers could enter. As expected, the internal doors of the cubes were sealed off, so, inside the outer cubes, a second and third series of holes needed to be drilled before the soldiers could reach the inner parts of the cube building, where a number of heavily armed Skrull soldiers were hiding.
In the meantime, Rocket was lifted up by Groot at the backside of the building, to drill a hole in one of the cubes. When he got through, Groot lifted up the rest of the crew into the opening. Inside, the raccoon worked on a second hole. This way, they could reach the teleportation room. They opened the outer doors of the room and faced Gamora, who had been standing guard. She was engaged in heavy battle with the Nova Corps soldiers. The overpowering force of the Corps had already taken out most of the Skrulls, but Gamora was a fighter of a different level.
Rocket stayed in the teleportation room. His mission was to hack the system to gain control. Drax and Peter stepped into the battle zone. The allied Nova soldiers went after the last resisting Skrulls, making room for the two Guardians. Sam sped up the stairs after them, into the reactor room. There he tried to disable and secure the biochemical processor, making sure no viruses would leak.
Peter tried to shoot Gamora but was no match for her speed. She cut him badly into his left arm. Considering the fact that she easily could have killed him, this counted as a lucky break. At the same time, Gamora had to keep Drax at bay, which proved to be much more of a challenge for her. Both Guardians fought each other as furious devils, jumping and ducking to avoid being cut by the other, bouncing off walls, charging and stepping backwards rhythmically.
Groot stepped in (the holes burned into the metal had cooled down sufficiently for him not to catch fire) and took care of Peter's wound. Drax finally managed to fork Gamora's neck to the wall with both his knifes crossed. He hadn't counted on the fact that Gamora didn't plan to defend her own life. She still held her battle blade and would have ripped Drax open if Groot hadn't latched out a branch with the speed of lightning and bashed the weapon out of her hands.
Then there was silence for a moment. The fights were over. The Nova officers carried the dead, wounded and unconscious Skrulls to the outside of the building and to their ship. Sam descended the stairs. He had succeeded in switching off the virus reactors and thus the protection suits were no longer needed in this round. Rocket had managed to hack the transporter control and stepped into the cube where Drax was still pinning Gamora to the wall. Peter sat on the ground. Groot had wound bandages around his cut open arm, which was still bleeding.
Sam had taken the tranquiliser gun with him and fired a few rounds on Gamora. It didn't work. Rocket said, "She has auto-healing abilities."
Sam did a bit of math in his head and then fired twenty rounds of tranquiliser on Gamora. This had a more desirable result. She slowly slid onto the ground and Drax quickly removed his knifes so she wouldn't get cut. The cat activated a small medical device and said, "She should be out for a couple of minutes. You better bring her to the Milano quickly and shackle her up."
Drax took Gamora into his arms. Groot followed him.
Sam went over to Peter and checked his arm. It took him a minute to heal the cut and regenerate the scar tissue. Then he said to Peter, "You can take off the bandage, the wound is healed."
Peter did so and looked at his completely regenerated arm with amazement. The sleeve of his jacket and shirt were cut open for the most part. He asked Sam, "Can you repair my clothes too, while you're at it?"
Sam joked, "Not with this device. Why? Don't you know how to use a thread and a needle?"
The next phase of the fight commenced. Rocket, Peter and Sam left the building to gather with the Nova troops that were not injured during the fight. Twenty-five of them were selected to join Rocket to invade the next cube node through the transporter network. They had to go in groups of five or six men, the maximum capacity of the transporter. Rocket would lead the frontier group.
Rhomann Dey briefed the instructions for the next phase. The soldiers needed to carry a virus protection suit along that they could slip into in case of emergency. Each group carried one hole-cutting device.
The next target cube node contained half of the abducted Nova officers. It was Nova Prime's priority to get his own men back before further explorations of the network could be performed.
The groups lined up in the cube that gave access to the transporter room. Rocket went in with the storm troops, consisting of Peter (who had mended his garments provisionally), Drax and Groot (who had chained Gamora up in the Milano and had come back) and Sam. Rocket activated his control device and initiated the first jump.
The next scene that came into view was overwhelmingly scary. They dangled above what seemed to be a volcano the size of half a planet. Rocket repeated what they had heard already during the briefing, "This isn't a real volcano. We're phasin' through. In normal space-time, we're in a cube on the surface of a solid planet. Most matter around looks transparent due to the phasin'. The next two nodes will be like this too." He specially said this to his friend Groot, who was instinctively frightened by seeing this amount of red heat.
The next jumps were at least as impressive. Sam focussed on his holographic view screen and verified that they had made jumps of billions of light-years each time. The coordinates matched the planned route.
When they arrived at the final node station, the teleportation room was already filled with infected nova soldiers. They needed to fight them and make room on the teleport platform to allow the next batch to arrive. The four Guardians didn't waste a second and dove into the fight with the speed of their instincts. Groot smashed soldiers to the walls, Drax wounded them with nasty cuts, making sure they would survive as he was aware that these were hostages rather than real enemies. Peter and Rocket stunned whoever they could lock their weapons on. Sam took a few hits but apparently wore an effective hidden shielding system, so he didn't need to pay too much attention to the fight other then to see who got wounded and needed the most urgent care.
One minute and a half after the fight broke out, the teleport platform was cleared. The Guardians stood between the bodies of Nova soldiers who lay unconscious on the floor or squirmed in pain. Sam moved between them, sedating the conscious soldiers and tending to their wounds.
The next fire-team group of allied Nova soldiers arrived on the platform and stepped off quickly. Rocket had managed to open the door of the teleport cube, shooting down some fighters that stood outside. The battling group forced the rest of the infected soldiers through the door, into the next cube.
The fight continued in the hall. Drax had taken a hit and let himself be patched up by Sam. The five fresh Nova corpsmen joined into the fight and were able to disable some of their rogue colleagues. By the time the third group arrived, the renegades on the first building level were all captured and sedated. Sam followed the fire-team to the second floor to secure the monitoring and science section. There, the members of the third group and the still resisting infected Novas were an even match. Sam was in a tight spot. While he deactivated the virus installation, the fighters penetrated the reactor room. Fortunately, the fourth invasion group arrived on time to break the last resistance on the second level.
The allied Nova officers carried their infected colleagues to the transporter system and Rocket issued a number of transports back to the base planet, Bar-en-Koud 4. Five officers stayed to keep the building secure. Finally, the Guardians beamed back to the base.
Rhomann Dey ordered the next invasion step. As soon as the liberated Nova officers were brought back to the base and secured in the frigate, a new platoon was prepared. This time, an alternate transportation route was chosen to a node further away where the rest of the abducted Nova officers were expected to be found.
The Guardian storm troops made a large number of jumps to arrive in a node outside the visible universe. Again, they had to fight through a room filled with rogue Nova officers who tried to keep them on the platform to prevent more transports from coming in. After a short but violent battle, the cube door could be opened and the rest of the abductees could be overrun while a growing number of clean Nova soldier fire-teams transported in. The upper floors were secured, the captured officers were sedated and medical aid was given. The groups retreated again back to the base, leaving a Nova fire-team behind.
This time, the Guardians didn't join the invaders back to base however, but waited for fresh squads to join. To reach the next node, they needed to jump ahead, deeper into the transporter network. The next target node was larger than the ones they were in before. It probably contained a command centre of some kind. The soldiers and the Guardians were prepared for more resistance and more exotic combatants. They made sure they all had a version of the special shield designed by Rocket. This time, they would go in with a whole platoon, grouped into eight batches of six soldiers.
The Guardians and Sam went in first. They passed six relay stations and arrived at a transporter cube that was exactly as big as the previous one. This room was filled with Fish People. All team members held a shield in the left hand to fend against the poisoned needles they fired at them. Drax did most of the work, slaughtering one after the other. Apart from the poison darts, the Fish People didn't have much defences.
Then the door opened and a large eight-armed creature walked in that could best be described as a land-octopus. It used four of his tentacles as legs to support his massive body and used his remaining four body extensions to envelop Drax. The tentacle arms were slimy and unexpectedly resistant to the blows of Drax's mighty arms. He slowly suffocated as the creature pressed all air out of his lungs.
Rocket and Peter engaged the rest of the Fish People, while Groot tried to free Drax from the grip of the monster. Although he managed to pull one arm of the creature loose at a time, he couldn't get much grip on the slimy octopus who eventually tore off one of Groot's arms.
The octopus had pushed the battle onto the transportation platform, blocking arrival of more soldiers. Peter and Rocket had been hit by some poison darts they weren't able to shield themselves from.
Then Sam had an idea. He fumbled in his blue backpack and pulled out a cup filled with a brown liquid. He crawled towards the octopus, crouching and ducking to avoid being smashed by the frightening tentacles. The octopus was not targeting him - he probably didn't even notice him - but his tentacles moved dangerously while he tried to fight Drax and Groot to the death.
Sam found the beak of the animal. He fired his tranquiliser at the lower jaw. The creature opened his beak in response. Then Sam threw in the brown liquid and tried to pull the lower and upper beak together with all his might.
The squid's pupils suddenly became big. He started to foam around his beak and collapsed.
Drax slipped through the loosening tentacles and fell to the ground, were he tried to take a breath with a pain stricken face. Probably he had a lot of broken ribs. Groot wound his remaining arm around the big animal and dragged it off the platform. Soon after that, the waiting Nova troops could beam in and joined the battle.
Rocket had been hit with some darts and was sitting on the floor, pooped out and not feeling well. Sam went over to help him first. Peter had been hit too. He was still standing but his face was contorted with pain and soon he had to sit down. Sam came over and extracted the poison darts with a special device, then removed the poison from his blood stream. Rocket was already up and running again.
When Sam had treated Peter, the latter asked, "What the hell did you feed that octopus?"
Sam gave him the empty cup and said, "Smell."
Peter put the cup to his nose, expecting to sniff a vile poison and then said in surprise, "Is that coffee?'
"Yep. It's completely harmless for us. But for molluscs, caffeine is poisonous."
Peter nodded in approval. Knowing your exobiology can pay off, he thought.
Finally, Sam treated the broken ribs of Drax. Unfortunately he could not help Groot with his arm, but fortunately it had already grown back partially.
Finally, a group of Nova soldiers came in, but at the same time new Fish-people arrived through the door. With them, a group of Kree soldiers, some of whom the Guardians had met before. The battle continued from the start. Sam looked at a holo-schematic of the building because he started to suspect something and then called, "Rocket?"
"I'm busy fighting."
"Yes, I know, but did you know that there is a second teleportation device in the next cube?"
"Are ya serious?" the fast moving raccoon said while he shot a couple of enemies.
"Yes. It's a secondary system. We need to go there so you can hack it."
"Damn, why did I miss that?"
"Doesn't matter. We need to go over there."
Rocket shouted to Star-Lord, "Pete, did you hear that?"
Peter replied, "Yes, I did. Get to it!"
The raccoon left the battle zone and went to the wall adjacent to the second transporter. Sam took Rocket's shield and his own to cover his rear while the ringtail used his milling device to create an opening to the next room. Just before he was done, he said, "Drax and Groot, we need some muscle here."
He stepped aside while a hole appeared that exposed the next room. It was filled with Fish People who were about to join the battle, and some Kree. Drax and Groot stepped in and smashed them with all their power, making sure that the Fish Men would pile up on the second teleportation platform to block further transports. When the room was secure, Rocket and Sam went in.
Rocket needed to adjust his program to allow for controlling the second network. After a few minutes of tinkering, he managed to gain access. He even could reverse the pending transports. At the same time in the other transporter room, more Nova corps reinforcements came in and finally the battle with the Fish Men was decided in favour of the Nova and Guardian allied forces.
The Corps soldiers took the beaten Kree back to the base planet. The Fish People were wrapped in a special foil to prevent them from causing damage. It took a number of transports back and forth until more fresh soldiers could arrive to take the rest of the building.
The cube framework they were in was larger than previous ones. It had three stores. Sam could see in his scans that there was no bioreactor in this one. There was a large control centre on the second floor, manned by Kree, who were taken out in the next round of fighting.
The second floor contained a number of connected cubes that were sealed off from the outside world. Sam could detect a number of life forms inside. Rocket and two Nova officers started drilling into the walls. However, the walls of these cubes consisted of a tougher metal alloy and it took them a long time to break through.
Finally, they managed to create a big hole in a wall of one of the cubes. As soon as they had breached the wall, two Kree soldiers started to shoot through. After a fire fight of several minutes with the well-trained Kree, they managed to take them out.
Rocket and the two Nova officers entered the room. Meanwhile, Peter had joined and stepped inside with them.
The cubes they had seen so far were empty or contained technical equipment. In contrast, this cube had comfortable furniture and decorated walls. It was a luxurious living quarter with fresh food dispensers, couches and entertainment devices that looked refined and expensive.
The room seemed to have been inhabited shortly before but now was empty. Sam looked at his scanning information and said, "The residents have moved to the next cube. There are four armed persons inside. I'm afraid we have to dig deeper."
Rocket and the Nova officers started to burn holes into the next wall.
Meanwhile, back in the ship on the base planet, troops were treated in sickbay. The kidnapped soldiers were held in locked rooms and treated as comfortably as possible. Communication about the success of the operation was coming back and the soldiers who left for the ongoing battle had a good morale.
Unannounced, Rhomann Dey entered the cube where Rocket and the Corpsmen were drilling. Peter was surprised to see Dey. He walked towards him and shook his hand. Then he warned him, "This building isn't secure yet! There is armed resistance in the next room."
The new Nova Prime replied, "I can defend myself, don't worry. I want to be there to see what my men have been up against. Can't hide behind a desk now."
Peter smiled. A Nova Prime who stood in front of his troops, was modest and had a sense of humour. What a blessing for this war-torn universe!
Meanwhile, Drax, Groot and some additional officers came in to prepare for the battle to come. Nova Prime looked content to see his Corps and his valuable allies, the Guardians, work so well together. He smiled, but knew that he would have to hold back his compliments a bit longer; he didn't want to distract them. The battle wasn't over yet.
Finally, two holes were created in the wall almost simultaneously. A heavy gunfight broke loose, which lasted a couple of minutes. Sam could see that behind in the room, a number of beings were hiding, whereas the Kree soldiers were fighting in a Kamikaze mood. Groot managed to pull one out and knock him unconscious; his severed arm had almost healed. Drax took out a Kree by throwing a knife into his skull. Sam, who did not like people being killed, quickly sedated and healed the Kree. Simultaneously, Peter and a Nova officer shot two more. Now they could enter.
This room was as voluptuous as the previous one. Sam entered and looked at his scans. Behind a closet, he found two very pleasant looking indigenous females from another planet. They were scantily clad and looked very frightened. Sam assured them, "We mean you no harm." He figured they would not feel threatened by a small, upright walking cat. To his surprise, they started to weep bitterly.
Sam said to Rhomann Dey, who had entered too, "I can detect three more life forms; they are hiding behind that couch on the far side of the room. Unarmed."
Dey walked in the indicated direction. He found three beings that had a more or less humanoid shape. They had arms and legs that were so thin that it was doubtful they could stand or walk. Nevertheless, they looked well fed. They were smaller than an average humanoid, about 1.40 metre in length. Their heads were large and somewhat flattened. They had big eyes that stood far apart.
Rhomann Dey said, "You are safe now. Whoever did this to you is accountable to us."
The creatures looked upset, but didn't make any attempt to move away. They chattered among themselves with slow, soft voices. It wasn't clear if they understood what Nova Prime had said.
The two indigenous women rushed to their presence. With the greatest care in the world, they picked one of the creatures up and laid him onto a couch. Then they did the same with the other two. The creatures just lay there, unmoved, looking disturbed. The two women stood to the side, as if they awaited commands.
Rocket had come in and observed the events. Then Sam turned his head and looked at the smart ringtail. He kept looking. Rocket said, "What?"
Sam gestured him to come closer. He gazed at the three creatures, one by one. Then he faced Rocket again. The racoon looked puzzled for a moment but then his face brightened and he said, "Queen bees!"
Sam nodded and said, "How harmless they look."
Dey looked at Rocket and then at Sam and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Sam simply said, "You want to find those who are accountable? Well, here they are."
Nova Prime looked at the three creatures who lay helplessly on their couches. He stared at Sam with a big frown and then again at the creatures. "Them? What on Xandar makes you say that? Aren't these victims like the rest?"
"I don't think so," Sam replied. This is a hive organisation. The Kree were willing to defend them to the death. The women are slaves and tend to the needs of their masters. So these three guys must be in charge. They and what other family they have. By the way, they do understand us. I can tell."
The three creatures didn't respond or move.
Sam continued, "My system says they belong to a species called the Slevoth. They are sentient sloth-like creatures. As you can see, they are so degenerated that they can't even walk by themselves. They need others to do that for them." He stepped to the Slevoth that looked older than the other two and was laid on the highest, most voluptuous couch. Sam addressed him, "Isn't that right?"
The Slevoth looked at him with a bored face.
"Why don't you start with giving us your name?"
Now the Slevoth started talking very slowly. Most of the present company could not understand what he was saying. His language was not in their translator database. Sam responded by making a few gestures to his virtual interface. Now they heard a very slow voice say, " ... no ... right ... to ... trespass ... on ... our ... property... Asking ... to ... speak ... is ... tiresome ... You ... should ... obey ..." and more words that came out in a complaint that took minutes to finish.
Finally, Sam looked at Nova Prime and asked, "Are you convinced now?"
Dey looked surprised, but answered, "This sounds like evidence. My Lord, how have such innocent looking creatures ever been able to create such a dangerous system?"
Rocket intermitted, "I guess if ya know a lot about genetics and microbiology, and ya have time on yer hands, ya can make a slave out of everyone. They are more dangerous on the inside than on the outside."
Peter agreed and added, "Who knows how long this has been going on? If we hadn't been able to put the right people together, this may have continued for a very long time."
To which Nova prime said, "Let's clean up this mess. I'll contact the Kree and the Skrulls. Although we aren't on speaking terms, I guess they will make an exception for this matter."