Tilaria Malekithdottir leaned against the railing on the upper landing of the bridge, and looked out at the Viewscreen. Stars passed by the ship like a swarm of white sparkling arrows from the ship's hyperspace travel. She had failed in her mission, and Loki had won. A day had passed since her attack on Asgard, and although the report of the battle had already been sent to the Celestial's who ruled over the army, no response had been sent commenting on her failure. It did not sit well with her.
The communicator microbonded to the back of her left hand hummed, and Tilaria looked down at it. She had muted it earlier, and was now glad that she had because she had an incoming communication. That would be the response to her report that she had been waiting for. The delay troubled her though and she reached up and turned the alert off.
Only the vulture of a Vice General, the Æsir Sigurd, had noticed he had received a summons, and he casually leaned back in the chair on the bridge he had commandeered. His expression was smug. He knew that he might soon be given her rank for her failure.
Tilaria pretended that she hadn't noticed him and walked calmly to the ready room she had been given so the bridge crew would not suspect she had been summoned. She had failed what could possibly be the single most important mission in the Celestial Regime, and even worse, she had allowed Loki to join forces with Asgard. The threat of the Alliance of the Nine Realms now loomed before the Celestials because of her failure.
Sigurd knew that. That was why he hadn't already taken his starship in the hanger and gone ahead of the larger and slower warship. If Tilaria was demoted for this blunder as was likely, then the Celestials would need a new High General. Since Sigurd's rank of Vice General was only one step below Tilaria's he was one of the most likely to receive that a promotion while Tilaria lost a ring.
Not going to happen Sigurd, Tilaria thought to herself as the doors to the ready room opened and she walked inside. She was a High General, and she was not going to let Sigurd anywhere near the rings on her uniform's sleeves. Somehow, she would talk High Commander Arjax into letting her keep the third red ring that announced her rank was a High General. Sigurd aside, Tilaria wasn't sure how she was going to manage it. She had only one ace that could save her rank, and how she presented it would determine her rank.
Tilaria walked to the holocomm, her movements calmer then she felt. After almost 30 years of active service she had finally failed a mission and lost her perfect record. Of all the missions she could have failed, why did she have to fail this one?
It was my fault, Tilaria rehearsed to herself as she tapped on the holocomm, I underestimated Laufeyson's power. She knew that taking responsibility for her failure would help her.
Virana and her squad had completed their mission. When they had returned without the staff, Tilaria hadn't been surprised. It had been expected that Loki would have hidden it well. There was no way for Tilaria to shift the blame onto her, or Sigurd despite his unscheduled appearance.
She still had her ace though.
In a way, it was better for Tilaria that he was speaking to her through the holocomm instead of waiting for her to return to base. Arjax couldn't reach through a hologram and strangle her like he might do if she had been speaking to him face-to-face. The fact that Arjax had put himself at a disadvantage made her disquiet grow. Had he already made up his mind to demote her, and wasn't going to listen to what she had to say?
The holocomm responded as the transmission synchronized and a full-body image of Arjax appeared. Due to the restrictions of the technology, Arjax looked only a foot taller than Tilaria instead of a few dozen feet. Tilaria instantly stepped away from the holocomm's console and dropped to one knee, head lowered similar to an Æsir soldier addressing the Allfather.
"I believe an explanation for the events on Asgard are in order Vice General," Arjax addressed Tilaria stiffly.
Tilaria curled her fingernails into her palm. Arjax had demoted her rank when he had addressed her, and that did not bode well. He was giving her a chance to explain though, so Tilaria still stood a chance at keeping her real rank rather than the one Arjax had said.
"I underestimated Loki's power," Tilaria admitted. "He was not raised on Jötunnheim, but among a culture where his ice magic was suppressed. Considering that ice kills Chitauri I did not believe he would have received training there. His power level is not proportional to any instruction he received."
"You forget why the Chitauri picked him," Arjax snapped. "Laufey's son tamed an Infinity Stone as a child with no training. He turned it to his will and received scarce more than burns on his hands where any other mortal would have been vaporized. Not even the Elder God Chthon has as much control over the Infinity Jewels. His ice dragon is yet another example of his capabilities!"
Tilaria did not move as Arjax's voice got louder. She had it coming although she had thought that her previously perfect record for the past thirty years would give her some credit. Only when he finished speaking did she move and summon her ace.
Using her magic she pulled a small metal disk from her belt and let it hover in one palm as she kept her head lowered. There were eight lights spaced equidistant from the center of the disk and each other. Two were lit red. In the middle of them was a small button.
Arjax recognized what it was and fell quiet, curious to hear what she would say. Tilaria was relieved.
"The secondary objective was completed, High Commander. The palace was searched with no sign of the staff, but I gave extra orders to Virana and her squadron to plant two explosives I made especially for the Æsir." Tilaria announced. "As both of the lights are still active neither has been found. They are already armed and I merely need to press the button to detonate them."
"Why have you not done so yet?" Arjax asked, but the demanding tone from his voice had lessened.
He knew how wonderful of a general Tilaria had become since her old memories of growing up in the Nine Realms with Loki had been erased. Obviously the detonator floating in her hand was a tactic to try and keep her rank of High General, and Arjax was curious to see what this plan was. Tilaria usually had a plan, and planting bombs had not been part of the mission objective.
"One of the explosives is in the Healer's Ward. By giving Asgard until tomorrow to detonate, it ensures a maximum amount of injured warriors will be killed. Losing their main medical facility along with their healers will be demoralizing and frightful for Asgard. Plus, once it is destroyed, Asgard will have nowhere to send their wounded, and they will die."
Tilaria held her breath as Arjax mused the point over. Setting the explosives had not been part of the original plan, but a touch of Tilaria herself. Arjax liked initiative. Would the pleasant surprise be enough to save her rank?
Arjax had to admit, the prospect of her plan was impressive. "What type of explosives are they?"
Tilaria felt a rush of relief but said nothing and kept her emotions hidden. "C-Type Tri-Rathlin. That's not too powerful on its own, but it is undetectable by mages. I added a little surprise." She paused for affect, "they're filled with Fel flames."
Now Arjax nodded. Fel was a forbidden branch of magic that had been created by the Elder Gods. It had also led to their destruction. Tilaria was one of the few mortals who knew how to use it, but even she rarely touched it. Normal magic manipulated and changed matter and energy, neither creating nor destroying, but Fel destroyed, leaving only a void behind. It was the anti-thesis to how magic should work. Flames made from Fel were hot enough to burn normal fire and despite its unstable essence, it was nearly impossible to extinguish it by magical or mundane means.
"When will you detonate them?" Arjax asked, giving Tilaria authority over the issue. "Soon I hope, before too many wounded recover."
"The second explosive is planted in the council chambers where tomorrow, Asgard's leaders will assemble to discuss the attack and what they will do next. When they are assembled I will detonate both," Tilaria promised. "Prince Thor will likely be present as well as his father. It might be possible to eliminate all of Asgard's leaders at once."
"That is doubtful," Arjax said. His tone of voice had changed to a contemplative one and Tilaria knew she was safe. "Even eliminating some will do though. Very well, discharge the explosives when you believe the time is correct High General."
"Yes my lord," Tilaria said.
The hologram vanished with a rush of static, and only then did Tilaria finally raise her head. She let her shoulders slump and exhaled in relief. Her spell ended and she caught the detonator in her hand.
She stood sharply as the doors to the ready room hissed open, and slipped the detonator up a sleeve as she unclipped one of her lightswords on her belt with her other hand. The visitor was Sigurd, and he looked surprised that there was no transmission going. Tilaria clipped the lightsword hilt back onto her belt, and took advantage of the chance to return the smug smile Sigurd had given her.
Sigurd tssked at her smile, guessing already that he was not getting Tilaria's rank anytime soon.
"What are you doing here?" Tilaria asked confidently. "Were you expecting something?"
Like Arjax to summon you to inform you that I had been demoted and that you were the new High General? Tilaria's unspoken question echoed in the ready room, and the two realmers faced off.
"Nothing," Sigurd surrendered. "You had a transmission and I thought we might be getting new orders."
Tilaria would credit Sigurd on his recovery, and so she played along with him. "No new orders. We're to rendezvous with the base tomorrow and await redeployment there."
"I see," Sigurd said quietly.
He tipped his neck in a stiff mockery of a bow, and turned on his heel to stalk as calmly as possible from Tilaria's presence. Tilaria waited until he had gone, and then let the detonator fall form her sleeve back into her palm. She held it up to the white lights that illuminated the starship, and smiled appreciatively the piece of metal.
"You," she addressed the detonator with a smile that showed her fangs, "are marvelous."
Fel is a big bad in magic and this isn't the first time it's been mentioned. I get the feeling you readers don't like this story. Can you tell me why? Is it Tilaria or her being Malekith's daughter? Because there is a really good explanation for that. The Celestials are real Marvel villains and I'm not the first one to incorporate them into a fanfic.