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The group fell into a heavy silence for a long while before finally agreeing, this wasn't something they could afford to rush. It needed to be thoroughly discussed.
But whether the Nova Corps outside could hold out that long… that was anyone's guess.
Arthur took the initiative to establish communication with Nova Prime. Naturally, he couldn't reveal the full truth. He simply told her that he had temporarily seized control of Ronan's forces and could manipulate them into walking right into a trap.
Nova Prime was stunned. Wasn't this supposed to be a clean decapitation strike? How had it turned into a hostile takeover?
In the end, Arthur threw together a vague excuse to explain the situation, whether she believed it or not, that was up to her.
To his relief, Nova Prime didn't dwell on it. Instead, she quickly agreed to coordinate with Arthur on a plan to lure Ronan's forces to their doom.
Once the plan was set in motion, Arthur had Ronan transmit orders to his subordinates.
A new crew was dispatched to pilot the warship. Arthur had already eliminated the original crew, and obviously, they couldn't let Ronan himself fly it back to Thanos like some kind of twisted peace offering.
The moment the new team boarded the warship, Ronan issued a command: Stand by for further instructions.
With a bit of breathing room, Arthur gathered the team for a strategy meeting.
It wasn't the most orderly gathering. The main reason? Drax was restless to the point of being unmanageable. In the end, Hulk had to physically restrain him.
Meanwhile, the others took turns inspecting Ronan's condition, tapping his face, patting his head, even going so far as to slap his rear. Star-Lord, who did the latter, earned a round of collective disgust from the team.
"Are we sure he's really under control?" Natasha asked, arms crossed, her eyes fixed on Ronan. After a pause, she turned to Arthur. "Is there a range limit to whatever you're using?"
Arthur shrugged. "If we're talking about the big green guy, yeah, there's a range limit. Basically, my influence fades once my neural link hits its boundary. But with Ronan… not really. However, I can't access his memories or thoughts directly. So I can control his body, but not his mind. No intel transfer."
Natasha nodded thoughtfully. Steve added, "His expression might give it away."
True enough, Ronan's face looked unnaturally stiff. The disconnect between mind and body was subtle, but noticeable. Anyone who knew him even a little would sense something wasn't right.
Even Steve had picked up on it, and if he could, there was no way Thanos wouldn't.
"That's the problem..." Arthur muttered with a sigh. "It's a missed opportunity. If we could've passed Ronan off as legit, we could've planted him as a deep-cover spy next to Thanos. Could've tracked his every move. But like this? He'll never pass the sniff test."
The group nodded grimly.
Gamora looked at Arthur and asked, "Then what's the plan?"
Arthur paused, then smirked. "I'm thinking... gift wrap a bomb, stick it inside a nice-looking package, and send it with Ronan. When Thanos opens it, boom. Fireball."
There was a brief silence.
Then Star-Lord clapped his hands and asked, "Okay but, why do we have to kill Thanos?"
"Kill Thanos? COUNT ME IN!!!"
Drax, still struggling under Hulk's grip, roared in agreement.
Everyone turned to look at him. Star-Lord raised an eyebrow. "You too? Why?"
"He killed my wife! He killed my daughter!"
Drax's voice boomed with rage.
The rest of the team exchanged weary glances. How many people did Drax blame for that now?
Ronan was his mortal enemy. Now Thanos too?
Still, after going back and forth, the group came to a conclusion, it really was the best shot they had.
The meeting kicked into high gear. If they were going to go through with it, they needed to be meticulous. Not a single thread could lead back to them.
All traces of Ronan's interaction with Arthur and the team, especially during this operation, had to be erased. They couldn't risk Thanos following the breadcrumbs.
Because if Thanos didn't die...
He was originally supposed to arrive on Earth years from now. But if they tipped their hand too early? He might decide to come tomorrow.
First order of business: wipe every piece of data from this warship. Clean it all out.
Someone suggested they keep the warship.
Arthur paused for a moment, clearly tempted, but in the end, he shook his head.
There was no denying the warship was impressive. It was massive, loaded with firepower, and practically begged to be taken apart and studied. Part of him itched to break it down using the Disassembler System, see how its core architecture ticked, how Kree tech could be repurposed.
But there were complications. Tony Stark would probably veto the whole thing, citing security risks or moral objections. And more critically, if Ronan showed up empty-handed, Thanos would almost certainly grow suspicious. Without the ship, Ronan's cover might not hold.
Then someone raised another point: if Ronan were to die, wouldn't it be worse to let the warship fall into Thanos' hands?
After all, this beast of a vessel was still a major threat. Even if they didn't intend to use it themselves, handing that kind of weapon over to the Mad Titan was not an option.
There were no alternate endings in this story, they couldn't afford to get it wrong.
Problem after problem came up, and they tackled each one head-on. Eventually, the group agreed: forget the idea of sneaking in a bomb with Ronan. They'd go in more directly. If Thanos refused to allow the warship into his territory, they'd detonate it outside his stronghold, just loud and sudden enough to send him a message.
Still, that was a worst-case scenario.
With a vessel that size, even a long-range explosion could potentially leave Thanos scorched and disoriented.
At the same time, they started questioning how reliable Arthur's mind magic control, or rather, his hybrid tech-magic system, really was. That kicked off a round of diagnostic scans and theoretical calculations.
Arthur's main worry? That Ronan's fractured psyche might resurface at the wrong time and compromise the mission.
So, he issued a hardline command through the control interface: if any rogue personality within Ronan tried to interfere during the approach to Thanos, and if it couldn't be suppressed, then Ronan was to trigger the warship's self-destruct immediately.
Ronan acknowledged the order with eerie calm. Arthur grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "Now that's what I call guts. Walkin' the line between life and death."
The others exchanged glances. Trusting Ronan with this? That still felt like a long shot.
Once everything was finalized, Arthur ran through a series of system-wide instructions.
Two stood out above the rest: first, erase all visual and audio data on the warship that could connect them to the mission.
Second, program the self-destruct mechanism.
This part was tricky. In the end, they laid down the sequence architecture, but left the actual trigger unset, just a final step waiting to be activated. Once it was, the countdown would initiate instantly, giving Thanos zero time to react.
Several additional protocols followed, covering contingencies and failsafes. Once all commands had been uploaded and confirmed, it was time for Arthur and the others to pull out.
Just then, a message came in from Nova Prime. The old soldier sounded uncharacteristically exhilarated. After a lifetime of war, this was a first: a mission where the enemy commander had willingly led his own troops into a death trap.
And this wasn't some clever tactical ruse, it was a flat-out betrayal, engineered to maximize Kree casualties.
Within moments, the Nova Corps had mowed down countless enemy troops, all thanks to Arthur's orchestration.
With the battlefield outside now mostly cleared, Arthur and the rest headed for escape pods scattered throughout the warship. One by one, they launched, slipping into the safety of deep space.
And behind them, the massive Kree warship drifted silently into the dark… bound for destiny.