12-So long, suckers!

Rocket sighed and darted toward the bridge. "Fixing the ship now, I'm on it."

"I'll cover us from the ground." Gamora stated before opening one of the two circular airtight side doors and jumping outside.

Peter smiled at Groot, who was standing in front of him, obviously torn between wanting to help his friends fight and stay here to comfort his fallen mate. "I'll be fine, really. Go help Gamora defend us."

The Flora Colossus smiled back and nodded gently. "I am Groot."

Left alone, the former Ravager sighed and slightly shifted his position to ease the tension on his back. Staring at the screen, he tried to make sense of what looked like a cohort marching toward them.

"What is it, an army?" he said through his comm.

"This is what it seems for now." Drax answered from the bridge. He zoomed in on the blurred mass growing on the horizon and winced when an ankh cross became visible among the dark walkers. "The Universal Church of Truth."

"What!?" Rocket exclaimed next to him. He was currently testing the compatibility of their new tech, slowly increasing the power of the core reactor. So far, so good. "What are those zealot suckers doing here?"

"We passed by the wreckage of one of their templeships when you were in the decontamination shower."

Rocket's whiskers twitched at the recent memory. "Ah, yeah. Interesting times." He was still fighting off the fatigue and overall soreness the decontamination process had induced. "Ugh, I hate the Universal Church of Truth," he huffed, returning to his task.

Drax smiled at the slight déjà-vu. Rocket and Peter were more alike than they cared to admit. Meanwhile, the cohort had gained ground. "They are getting closer fast. How long before your repairs are completed?"

"About ten minutes."

"They will have reached us by then."

"Hey, I'm on uncharted territory with this new technology here," Rocket answered gruffly. "One wrong calibration and we could end up inside a sun or, I don't know, die in an explosion so big it could level this planet!"

"I was making a statement, not criticizing your work, my friend." Drax replied calmly.

"Rocket, do you think you can restore the shields and continue to do your tests at the same time?" Gamora asked through the comms.

"Maybe, why?"

"They have a plasma cannon."

Rocket swore loudly and repeatedly while fiddling furiously with the controls of the ship. "Okay, okay. I need you and Groot to come inside while I'm doing some tests. I don't want you to get fried by mistake."

Gamora agreed and she and Groot came back into the common area only to find Quill as white as a sheet and finishing changing his dressings. "Couldn't you wait for us to help you?!" She exclaimed in disbelief.

Peter leant his back against the wall, breathing out loud. "The things were completely soaked and it started to hurt bad again, and you were all busy doing much more important things. Like making sure we aren't about to be annihilated by an army of crazy murderous zealots."

She came closer to take a look at his work.

"I'm fine," he all but whined, fed up of being sick and weak. "Sort of." He added quickly after she glared at him.

"You did good work." she observed flatly, and handed him new cold packs that he put on his arm with relief.

"I've been injured and alone before, you know. It was kind of a trademark before meeting you guys."

"And yet you still act recklessly." she scolded him.

"I told you I don't learn. Repeatedly."

They exchanged smiles and Gamora was about to reply when something hit the ship and everything shook.

"What was that!?" Peter exclaimed through gritted teeth, holding his throbbing arm.

"Well," Rocket's voice answered him, "bad news is they have a flarking powerful plasma cannon, but good news is that our shields are now a hundred percent effective. No harm done to the ship."

"Great," Gamora quickly replied. "And do we have control back over the Milano's weaponry?"

"Now we do." the raccoon answered after a short silence. Gamora didn't miss a beat and rushed to the flight desk while another massive ray of energy hit the ship with a deafening bang.

"Lots of awesome things we can do," Peter said with a hint of sarcasm. "Is getting the hell out of here one of them?"

"Not yet!" Rocket roared over the sound of Gamora firing back at their opponents. "I need five more minutes!"

"I HAVE FAITH!" A deep, hollow voice resonated from outside.

"He's blocking my shots with some sort of psionic force-field!" Gamora shouted but kept on firing, just in case.

Outside, hundreds of devotees had gathered around the ship. There were mostly black knights and a few cardinals, and one of the latter was standing in front of the ship, arms raised in a praising posture.

"Faith that our high master has sent us this functioning ship to spread his truth across the Galaxy once again!"

"May I go outside and murder this one?" Drax asked eagerly.

"Another would probably take his place instantly." Gamora answered.

"Still, it would make me feel better."

"Lost travelers! Convert and let yourselves believe in the one true God! Embrace the truth!"

"Thanks but we're pretty set on believing in ourselves." Peter commented, making his friends smile.

The cardinal sent a wave of psionic energy toward the ship, making the Guardians feel disorientated and nauseous.

Peter tightly closed his eyes and fought the bile rising up his throat. "Ugh. Everyone okay?" He smiled in relief when his friends all answered. "Not that I am not happy that we're still up and fighting, but why aren't we brainwashed or hallucinating right now?"

"Maybe they have been stranded on this planet long enough for their faith generators to deplete a little. From what we have seen, there are not much people to convert here." Drax answered thoughtfully.

"Open the doors and let us in!" the cardinal ordered.

Gamora replied by firing at them with gusto and the cardinal recoiled in surprise. He sent another psychic wave which didn't hurt as much as the first one and Gamora kept on firing at him in particular. "He's getting weaker."

"Fools! This cycle is nearing its end and only the power of the truth will help you get through! Convert!"

"What does he mean when he says this cycle is nearing its end?" Peter asked, already dreading the answer.

"Maybe they can see the signs of the next time-space jump..." Gamora mused, not liking it either. "We really need to leave now."

"What are those… things?" Drax, standing vigil on the other side of the bridge, pointed at a mass of creatures coming from the sandy area and running toward them at top speed.

Gamora left her seat to take a look and swore loudly.

"What's happening?" Peter asked from the common area, "The screen isn't showing me the whole scene."

"The mutants from the terran ship are coming at us!"

Rocket stopped in his tracks. "Terran? That awesome F.T.L technology is terran?"

"Yes it is," Gamora snapped back. "Now, focus on getting us out of here and we'll explain everything later."

Feeling the danger coming too, the cardinals and black knights redirected their energy toward the creatures, shooting at them rays of pure faith and other tricks in their arsenal, all for nothing. From where they were standing, Gamora and Drax could only witness with horror and a hint of awe the mutants breach every psionic barrier thrown at them and break the ranks of an army twice as numerous as them.

"They are different from the creatures that attacked us earlier," Drax said with a low voice. "How did you defeat them?"

"We didn't." Gamora answered somberly. "Nothing seems to kill them; we were only able to stun them long enough to escape."

Outside, the members of the church that weren't being ripped apart slowly realized that fighting against those creatures was a lost cause and started fleeing in all directions, leaving the side of the ship unprotected. Not paying much attention to the truthers running away from them, the mutants piled up in front of the closed side door, head tilted on the same side as if they were all waiting for something, before jumping on the ship and starting to claw at the hull, the ominous scraping sound resonating inside the ship.

"What are they doing?" Drax asked, dumbfounded.

"I think they're trying to tear off the airtight door." Gamora replied in a quiet tone. From where they were standing, they couldn't see what was happening. Nobody could, and that was making her nervous.

"Not on my watch!" Rocket exclaimed, jumping in the pilot's seat and hitting the enhanced shield button, releasing a wave of electricity which spread across the ship and hit the creatures. The scraping sound stopped immediately. "Everyone sit and fasten your harnesses, we're leaving!"

He tilted the ship a little as it took off to get rid of potential stowaways. "Ready to say your goodbyes to crappy planet?" He turned to take a look at his friends and noticed Gamora's crooked smile. "I'll take that as a yes. So long, suckers!" He pushed the engines to maximum capacity with delight and whooped when the ship reacted smoothly.

Soon they were far enough from the planet to watch it and its enormous sun from afar. A few seconds later, they witnessed the odd solar system vanish from the Universe as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Well, that was close." Gamora deadpanned.

"Yes. Had I not seen it I certainty would not have believed it." Drax replied, looking at the empty space before them.

"Agreed." Rocket added. "Okay, I've set the coordinates to Xandar, let's see how long it takes us to get there with this new baby!" He patted at the control panels with affection, but didn't have time to do anything as a clearly panicked Groot called for them from the common area, distress in his voice so palpable it could only mean one thing.

Something was wrong with Peter.