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At Jean's feeling of confusion, Storm explained. "We can't compare the Empire's leaders to politicians of the world as it is now. We have to think of their entire society as being around the same social level as existed back in World War I or even before. Nationalism, or in this case, imperialism, trumps everything else. You are lesser because you are foreign. Thus Harry's plan of doing onto them when they betray us is really the only plan that makes sense. I still don't like it, but he's right."
Jean frowned, but eventually sent back an acknowledging nod and went back to listening in on the planning session going on above them. She did so just as Harry shot down a plan from the Emperor, staring at the man in horror.
"That makes no sense," he said with a shake of his head. "First of all, if we use a heavily populated planet, it's almost certain that you will lose thousands of civilians, maybe more for no real purpose. Reed and I just explained that we can re-create the signals needed to convince Morg that a desolate planet actually has some kind of life on it."
While Harry was willing to release the equivalent of a virus that would destroy their empire's communication and computer network and wreck their infrastructure for decades at the least, that wasn't the same as willingly putting a few billion Shi'ar civilians into the crosshairs of their ambush for Galactus. Especially since if push came to shove, Harry would have to use a Bloody Insane spell, perhaps even two. And if he did that, nothing on the planet would survive.
"But you have stated that you're not certain if those abilities will indeed fool the World-Eater or his Herald." The Emperor was somewhat amused at the human's squeamishness. After having shown such ruthlessness in cutting off Gladiator's hands, he now balked at the idea of sacrificing mere civilians?
"That might be true, but sacrificing a planet is still not a necessity," Storm intoned, speaking up for the first time since Reed had begun to speak about their plan and the background information about Galactus. "Unless you will tell these people that they are going to be sacrificed, and they accept that?"
"They are my citizens. If I want to sacrifice them, I will do so!" The Emperor shouted back, before subsiding, going on in with a wry grimace on his face. "Given the losses already suffered against the World-Eater, I do not think another planet too high a price to pay to see him ended."
""And I say it is not necessary!" Harry growled, getting to his feet. The Imperial Guard on the dais all stiffened, and Electron stood up quickly, ready to interpose himself between the human and the Emperor. But Harry simply glared down at the Emperor, making no move to get closer to him. "We humans have this thing called morality, which implies that someone in command, a leader, is just as loyal to his people as vice-versa! It is a societal compact, and if you do not believe that, then perhaps you do not need our help to deal with Galactus and Morg!"
At that, Deathbird and Lilandra, who had been whispering to one another in tones that, though he couldn't make out the words Harry recognized as quite frosty, broke off, looking at one another than at their brother. They both nodded as one, and the one called Deathbird leaned over, whispering in his ear. After a few moments, the Emperor nodded grimly. "Very well. As Deathbird just reminded me, public opinion would indeed be an issue after such a move. So we can go with your plan, but only if you can prove that your illusions and these decoy signals of yours can at least fool our technology. If they can do that, I will agree to your request that we do not use a living planet as bait."
Jean had listened in to this, and Hela, linked into the same telepathic web as the others, asked her archly, "And do you still believe that Harry's plans to deal with this pestilential race are too much? I note that none of his advisors have actually argued with him on that point, even those who aren't genetically Shi'ar."
Jean replied with a shake of her head on the mental plane.
The plan was to basically fool Morg into finding a world for Galactus that didn't, in fact, have any kind of sentient life. Lilandra had found one near where they estimated Morg could be, an ancient mining world that had long been abandoned. Originally it had been a penal colony. But when the resources had dried up, so did the impetus to keep bringing in prisoners to work the mines.
Normally, such a place would be overlooked by Galactus. The Heralds were supposed to lead Galactus to worlds with a high population or massive amounts of life and tectonic energy.
To solve this problem, Reed, using Harry's work on his bio-energy runic arrays, discovered the correct 'signals' that the Heralds used to discover living planets. With that, Morg could be fooled into entering the trap, after which Harry and Steven's use of solid-state illusions would enable them to fool his senses until Morg was on the ground.
Once he was faced with combat, Morg would remain to fight even if the planet wouldn't to Galactus's liking. "Taking him out once the message has been sent but not before he can break the illusion could be tricky, but I think with sufficient military forces on hand, and chosen members of the Imperial Guard, I think we can keep his attention so much that he won't even care once the illusion breaks."
Harry clicked his fingers suddenly and looked over at Lilandra, who had been the one to volunteer this planet for their plan. "What kind of star does that system have?"
"A red dwarf star," Lilandra replied, her brow furrowing.
"Why does that matter?" The Emperor asked curiously.
Harry smiled grimly. "How would you go about slaying something that eats planets?"
That confused all of them, and Vin'car replied bluntly, "Speak plainly, human."
Not addressing that point, Harry continued to outline the plan against Galactus. "Among my Custodes, there is a young lady who can interact and control tectonic energies. Tectonic energies, along with life force, make up what Galactus eats. With an attack on the energy siphon and her ability to manipulate tectonic powers, I believe that we can give Galactus the equivalent of massive indigestion. Then, myself, Phoenix, Strange, and Storm will attack using our various powers."
All of the Shi'ar looked a little bemused at that, still uncertain what Harry's exact powers were, whereas Jean at least had been explained away as being a monstrously powerful telekinetic. Still, the Emperor waved that off. "Before that, you still have to prove that you can trick our technology to even have a chance at this."
Harry nodded, then concentrated, and an image appeared. Then Harry began another spell underneath that image, a golem rising from underneath it, shifting to fill the image, which was a doppelgänger of the Emperor. A few more spells and Harry was finished.
By this point, D'ken was fuming, glaring at Harry angrily. But Harry merely shrugged and gestured. "This is an illusion. Can you tell me if it would fool your technology?"
Vin'car looked between it and the Emperor, then slowly reached forward to push his hand into the illusion, only stopping when his hand hit something solid. "What the!"
"A Gollum underneath the illusion. I could create thousands, hundreds of thousands of such given space to work with. The illusion aspect would take longer, but even so, my part of this would be relatively simple, if time-consuming," Harry explained. "I can even create heat to make it seem even more real."
Vin'car barked out a command to one of the other technicians, who quickly moved to the side after glancing at the Emperor getting a nod in reply. She came back with a handheld sensor, which she ran over the illusion, frowning. "It's, it's fooling everything! It's even reading as having heat like the human said!"
Deathbird looked between the two emperors, and her older brother glared at her. "You're about to ask something stupid like 'which one is the real one,' Deathbird. If you do so, I'm going to send you to a penal legion."
"The thought never crossed my mind," Deathbird replied dryly, before looking over at Harry thoughtfully. "And you say that this, combined with Richards's engineering knowledge, will be able to fool even Morg and Galactus?"
"Yes," Harry said simply before adding a caveat. "Or rather, we can certainly fool Morg. Galactus will know the truth the instant he starts setting up his siphon device, I think, though I would wager even he will have trouble up to that point."
"Excellent!" Vin'car spoke up, giving his own approval of this idea while the Emperor still looked annoyed, glaring at Harry. Yet he too nodded, then thrust out a finger towards his body double.
Before he could even open his mouth, Harry had dissipated the spell work, smiling beatifically at the other man.
"Enough poking at our new allies. Now it is not the time for a flyting contest, my Seidr Man," Hela murmured, gripping his wrist slightly, before looking around at the others. "Do you now believe that we can provide you with at least the cheese to bait the trap?"
"You still haven't proven that you will be able to fight Galactus, but that isn't exactly something that we could test anyway." The Emperor scowled, then looked over at Richards. "What do you need to create the technological part of this?"
"Access to quite a lot of high-end technology, and a factory of some kind. We'll have to essentially build radio towers, to be mounted across the world and create the signal of a living planet. I have done the calculations, and I believe that one tower for every two-hundred miles or so should do it," Reed answered.
"That will still be quite a few towers, but once we have the schematics for what you intend, we will be able to build them quickly enough," Lilandra murmured.
"You mentioned Nightside, and wanting at least two hand-to-hand combatants to help you against the Herald. I would say that we should also add at least a few others, such as White Noise, and anyone else who can perhaps help in blinding or confusing the enemy. With your permission, your Majesty." Vin'car added hastily, looking over at his Emperor. No one in their right mind forgot the Emperor's presence at such a time.
"Agreed. Let it not be said that we, the Shi'ar Empire, did not stand beside our new allies against Galactus at this moment. In fact, let us double down," The Emperor announced magnanimously. "We will issue orders to the Subguardians to send us their best super-strong members to join the battle. With that, we should be able to overwhelm Morg, if you are certain that you have among you those strong enough to stand against him?" he questioned Harry.
Hela nodded firmly, fielding the question before Harry could speak. "We do. I will be leading that aspect of the battle. That will allow Harry to keep up the illusion, right up until we don't have to, and also to create a series of magical surprises for Galactus with Storm's aid."
At that, Deathbird was up again as she looked between Harry, Hela, and her brother. "That brings up an interesting point. The plan is that of these humans, and much of the abilities we will be relying upon. But this is a threat to our empire we are facing, and this is our space. Surely, that implies that Electron, or perhaps Neutron or Starbolt should be in overall command."
"No. Under no circumstances will my Custodes serve under anyone besides officers I personally choose," Harry growled, leaning forward, his emerald eyes spearing Deathbird to her seat. "And you mentioned it yourself just now. Without us, there would be no ambush. Without us, the Herald alone would be beyond you." Especially with that sword. "By any stretch of the imagination, we are the largest guns at this party. That implies I should be the one in command."
"Unacceptable!" The Emperor, Deathbird, and even Lilandra shouted back.
Sighing, Storm leaned back, exchanging a glance with Reed as Hela and Harry began to argue their points. It looked as if this was going to go on for a while.
OOOOOOO
While Harry was arguing reality versus precedent and pride, the group of infiltrators had moved away from the palace and out into the vast, rolling acres of its gardens. E, Morph, Betsy, and Nikolai had moved away from the palace. They had run into a few issues because the palace grounds were patrolled by aspects of the Palace Guard, all of whom were Shi'ar, a sharp change from the Imperial Guard. These men were meant to be seen, not to be a credible threat against superpowered adversaries.
Thanks to the Disillusion arrays wound into their uniforms, and E's ability to create a chameleon cloak on his body, they could avoid being discovered. But about forty minutes into their slow, careful trek, E had the bad luck of walking around a piece of shrubbery right into an Imperial Guardsman, who had been loitering there. The two of them crashed into one another, with the palace guardsman being bowled over by the android. He stared up at what had been nothing and now was shimmering into an individual, raising his rifle quickly.
Then Betsy was there kneeling behind him, her psychic blade forming around her hand as she pulled back his head, holding it at his throat for just a moment. That brought her enough time to reach into the man's mind and start scrambling the last few seconds of his life so badly that he wouldn't know left from right. "Help me stand him up," she ordered.
E nodded and picked the Shi'ar soldier up as if he weighed nothing. He then leaned the patrolman back against the bit of shrubbery he had been leaning against before.
"Good, now skive off." Betsy waved her free hand at the others, her other hand still holding onto the back of the alien man's head, a conduit for her telepathic powers. The others raced past her, then Betsy swiftly let her telepathic powers fade and quickly slid around the bit of shrubbery, then looked down at her hands, willing the camouflage charm to come back, grimacing as she felt the first pangs of hungry hit her. The Dissillusion array was amazing, but it was starting to eat into her bio-energy reserves.
From behind her, she heard the Shi'ar soldier mutter, "What in the… That is the last time I go drinking with Shrie'af. Beautiful voice or not, that girl has a cast-iron liver!"
That caused Betsy to nearly burst out into laughter, but she kept it inside with difficulty, watching as her hands slowly began to disappear once more. She stayed there as the man started his patrol again before standing up and looking around for the others. She saw a slight shimmering in the air, as two robotic fingers suddenly appeared above a piece of tree, which had strangely enough been cut to look like someone's head. It was one of many in this area of the grounds.
Making her way in that direction, she found E and the others hidden behind the group of heads. Nikolai was staring down the row as Betsy joined them, shaking his head. "I'm Russian. We are not strangers to the heights that self-aggrandizement can reach or even near-idolatry of our fellow man. And yet, the sight of these hands, each of them a different Emperor, that bothers me quite a bit."
"You want to know what's even stranger? This whole place, I've been mapping it as we go," E shook his head. "It's laid out in a checkered pattern. That's it. There are no attempts to landscape, there's no attempt to pretty the area up a bit. It's just the original terrain, plus these heads laid out in a checkered pattern."
Everyone else looked at E in surprise. "What are you talking about?" Betsy asked.
The android that had patterned himself on Admiral William Halsey Jr, when he commanded from the carrier Enterprise, shrugged. "I might be a robot, but I am also an artificial intelligence who has based itself and its underlying mental pattern upon humanity. This place is… I believe the proper expression would be creepy."
Everyone else there chuckled, as Nikolai very firmly nodded. "Got it in one, my fine mechanical friend. Have you begun to map the interior?"
"I did. I had to make my infiltration nanites minuscule, the size of mites, but they are out there now marking out the place, and its hundreds of video cameras and security apparatus. With that, and what the others will send on to you all once they're back aboard the ship, we'll have a full map of the palace soon enough."
Nikolai nodded. "Good. Now let's find a place to set up camp. Then, Morph, you're going to have to start practicing your alien face."
Morph chuckled, and his face slowly morphed into the features of the Emperor who had been immortalized in the shrubbery next to him. Complete with green-seeming skin. "Heh, I think I'd pull this look off a heck of a lot better than the guy in question. What do you think?"
The answer was a chorus of groans, even E groaning at him, which caused Morph's grin to widen quite larger than the face he was currently wearing.
OOOOOOO
After what felt like hours arguing the necessity of putting the people who actually came up with the plan thank-you-very-much in charge, it was decided that while Harry would be in overall charge of the trap, Deathbird would be in charge of the Shi'ar portion. It was also decided that portions of the Imperial Navy would also be sent to make the planet seem even more normal. The Shi'ar had long-range bombardment ships, massive ships that were built around single energy weapon systems. They had yet to try them out against Morg, although Vin'car knew they probably wouldn't do anything against him, let alone Galactus himself. But their use here would appear as if they were attempting some new strategy. A few more Mammoth types - their species were called M'outac'k - whose homeworld was nearby, would also be used in that initial engagement and sacrificed in so doing.
To the Emperor's shock, Harry didn't argue the point. Instead, he simply nodded his head and agreed. The Emperor looked at him in surprise, and Harry smiled grimly. "I'm not a bleeding heart, Your Excellency, who thinks there shouldn't be any kind of sacrifice no matter how much more dangerous it makes the actual endeavor. I simply believe that there is a difference between asking soldiers, who willingly put on the uniform, to sacrifice themselves, then sacrificing millions, perhaps billions, of civilians on the altar of expediency."
The Emperor stared blankly, not understanding his point, although to Harry's surprise, both his sisters seemed to, and they shared a glance, as the meeting adjourned.
The moment they were back with on the Long Voyager, Jean reached out telepathically to the group of infiltrators, certain now that she could keep Oracle from figuring out anything was going on in the telepathic plane. "Nikolai, how are you all doing?"
"Tired and hungry at the moment," the infiltration team leader sent back. "These Disillusion charms we have on our uniforms work, but they take a lot of our bioenergy. I feel like I've been on a ten-day march and the others are no better."
Jean commiserated with the man, but then reminded him that the infiltration team were carrying a lot of food with them. "Do you think you'll be able to hide out for a while?"
"Easily," Nikolai answered as Jean slowly reached out to the others of his group, bringing them all into the mental discussion, having already pulled Harry, Hela, and Ororo in as well. That was a little more difficult to hide than a single connection, but she was able to do it. Unless Oracle was extremely good at playing possum, she just didn't have the telepathic strength necessary to find Jean. "Will we need some kind of password to get into the Strategic Operations Command Centre? And any faces you think would be good for Morph?"
Jean supplied several of the SOCC technicians' faces that she had seen as well as the passwords and codes they would need to use to enter the SOCC. She'd lifted the information from their minds, again without Oracle being able to sense anything. Even here in the center of their Empire, the Shi'ar understood security, yet they hadn't taken the concept of telepaths to their logical conclusion. "You'll need to find a daily schedule, it changes randomly apparently, and you'll have to do something to the actual person too."
"Remember, this must be the blackest of black operations. They literally cannot figure out where this virus comes from or have any records of humanity being involved in this whole affair at all," Harry cautioned. "That's just as important as the virus itself."
Nikolai nodded firmly. "Understood. Do you have any last orders?"
Harry shook his head. "No, other than what we've already talked about. Wait for my signal, and then release the beast."
When this was relayed to him, E chuckled at that because it was a very apt concept. The virus that Dr. Doom and Reed Richards devised between them was perhaps the vilest computer virus that the universe had ever seen. It wasn't artificial intelligence, neither mad scientist (and E was certain Reed did qualify in the strictest sense of the word) was willing to go that far: creating a computer sentience like E himself whose underlying orders were to destroy an empire's infrastructure, but it was a bare slip below that. "Do not worry. It will be ready."
After Nikolai passed that on, Harry nodded at that, and after exchanging good lucks with the infiltration team, Jean cut the connection, looking around at everyone else. "So, thoughts, impressions? Anything anyone wants to say at this point?"
Hela and Thundra both made to speak, then looked at one another in surprise. Thundra nodded graciously, having come to respect Hela's strength and personality over their interactions. Hela nodded back before turning to Harry. "Deathbird. There is something off about that woman. And it has little to do with the fact she seems something of a throwback in comparison to her siblings. She is watching D'ken all the time, not like someone wary of an older sibling with a bad temper, or even an Emperor with a bad temper. Rather, there is a certain amount of calculation going on behind those eyes. No fear. Not a hint of it, unlike Lilandra, who is afraid of her sibling, a bit."
"Agreed. Deathbird reminds me of women back in my own dimension, those who were always plotting to get ahead. And given what we know from Gladiator's interrogation, we know she is ruthless."
Frowning, Harry nodded. "Ambition and ruthlessness are not a good combination. Does she want to make a play for the Imperial seat, do you think?"
Jean spoke up before the others could. "If she thinks that, she's very good at hiding it. None of the Imperial Guard have any thoughts on that matter. Although with the number of them which had electronic protection against telepathy, I couldn't tell you if that was the case in the court."
"But she is the sister who's most involved in military affairs, right? Then perhaps she would not need to suborn those closest to the throne," Ororo mused.
"The Borderers and the Subguardians," Harry nodding, understanding what his love was getting at. "Yeah. And I would wager that she would be perfectly willing to use us in some manner. Hmm… we're going to have to be aware of that in the future. And then make certain that it's D'ken who ends up trying to stab us in the back at the appropriate time." He smiled over at Alex, although there was nothing humorous in that smile. "It would be such a shame to leave that madman still in charge of the Empire after we leave, regardless of other circumstances."
Ben began working the ship's controls, and the ship slowly took off as Harry turned to Reed. "Any problems on your level?"
He shook his head quickly. "No, not at all. The bioenergy signal towers will be constructed quite quickly. I think we should have enough to start with in a few days of our arrival at the target planet."
"Did they give us the course?" Harry inquired, looking over at Ben. He nodded, and Harry smiled. "In that case, take us out. The sooner we get this over with, the better."
It barely took three jumps, around six hours to get to the planet Lilandra had discovered that would be perfect for the plan. How close that meant Morg was to the homeworld of the Shi'ar was appalling and showed why they were concerned enough to work with the humans.
The planet in question was small, between the size of Mars and Earth, Harry estimated, although it was in the life range of the red dwarf star it was circling. Despite that, it hadn't developed life, but there were still bits of mining towns, jails, and scattered brown vegitation, showing where the miners had been allowed to grow some food. Of course without maintenance, the greenhouses had become overgrown and broken out into the surrounding environment, which had eventually killed what was within. But they were still there, and Harry could work them into the illusions.
The Voyager settled down to the planet as everyone read the atmosphere. It was still breathable for Shi'ar and humans, but extremely hot, the kind of hot you got in deserts, no moisture in the air, just heat that slammed into you the instant you left the ship. Harry warned everyone totake a lot of water with them before going on to specific orders. "Storm, Hela, Dr. Strange if you would start laying out the runes? Reed, you and Banshee are on mapping the planet for your towers. Jean, you will play opposing force for the others for a few days for everyone else, but don't push them too hard, two battles per day."
Thundra snorted. Of all of them, she had worked directly with Harry the least and was the one to ask the obvious question. "And what will you be doing?"
"Working on a final project before I start laying out our illusions with the other magicals," Harry answered easily.
"What project?" everyone said as one.
Harry smiled at Thundra and Ben. "Fitting those two for Orichalcum armor. We brought enough of my supply to do it, and I think we need everyone in this fight to be as armored as we possibly can make them."
OOOOOOO
The Emperor was once more back in his throne, although he had not recalled his full court. Instead, only his two sisters, Vin'car, Electron, Oracle, and the Admiral of the Home Fleet, P'ster were there. For several silent minutes, they watched the human ship, abnormal vessel that it was, leaving the system and then jumping to hyperspace, on a hard light screen projected from the roof of the throne room.
As the ship vanished into hyperspace, D'ken turned his gaze on those around him, his face set in a snarl. "These humans have angered me! They have angered me since the moment they showed up! Who do they think they are to dictate terms to me? To the Emperor of the Shi'ar Empire!"
Lilandra attempted to cut through his anger with a bit of cold reality. "They're the people who defeated Gladiator. They are the people who have a plan to deal with Galactus. Something that we do not."
"But it is based on abilities that they call 'magic'!" Deathbird scoffed. "How backward can they be? I can't deny that their ability to fool our sensors is both impressive and concerning, but still, the arrogance of them is unconscionable."
"Exactly!" D'ken growled, looking over at Adm. P'ster. "You were told where the trap for Galactus was being placed. You will move two-thirds of the Home Fleet to a nearby system, where we can jump into Paralis 4 and be prepared to attack either the humans when they prove that their arrogance is justified, or Galactus after he deals with them."
"I do not think that this is wise. If the humans can deal with Galactus, does that not tell you they will deal with our regular forces easily? They certainly proved to be a match for our Imperial Guard." warned Lilandra.
Oracle stiffened, and Electron growled out, "With respect, Princess, they merely faced those of the Royal Guard on duty. That is a far cry from facing the full might of the Imperial Guard. I believe that we could overwhelm them with sufficient numbers. Especially after they battle Galactus. Whatever their 'magic' can do, I refuse to believe that they will be walking out of a fight with the World Eater unscathed."
"And if you were wrong? Or if that ship can evade us? We will have made a dangerous enemy. After having lost our strongest, most powerful superpowered being," Lilandra cautioned, still attempting to keep a lid on everyone's anger. "I well understand why you are angry and insulted, brother, but this is a moment to put the good of our Empire above our own..."
"Enough!" D'ken growled. "You have made your point, Lilandra. We will only attack them if the humans have lost enough of their people for us to finish them off with conventional forces. Meanwhile, Oracle, you will be involved in bringing in as many Borderer and Subguardian units as you can together here in the palace without severely weakening the defenses of our Empire's borders. We will hide them here, waiting for the victory ceremony."
Vin'car nodded at that, not giving his opinion on it. He was merely the strategic advisor, he did not make policy. "I had wondered why you had requested them to return for a victory ceremony, Your Majesty. You mean to ambush them."
"Might I suggest your Majesty, that on top of gathering further Imperial Guard, we manufacture as many anti-telepathic circlets that we can and hand them out to every Imperial Guardsman we can? I believe there is a telepath among them. Their fight with us seemed far too coordinated and organized," Oracle interjected, making her agreement with this plan plain.
Everyone else there winced at the idea. No one but Oracle's people were used to the idea of telepathy, to the fact that someone could reach into an individual's mind and discover their secrets. There was not a power that the Shi'ar, in particular, liked to contemplate.
On top of that, Deathbird added a word of caution. "I do not think that numbers will help us overmuch against Potter. He proved that he was able to simply make an army with a wave of his hands." Deathbird was still having trouble with that, and with the whole 'magic' concept, as were all of them. It simply was so illogical, so based upon imagination, in something that could not be scientifically proven, that it attacked their basic belief on how the universe worked.
"True, but this is where subtlety comes in." D'ken smiled, a smile of reminiscence tinged with old anger and hate. A hatred that had been added to today. "They are, after all, humans. And I well remember the concoction of various invisible gases and foodstuffs that we were able to use to keep that human woman malleable and responsive."
The women present all looked slightly uncomfortable at that, but Deathbird nodded, understanding his point.
Lilandra, on the other hand, was still shaking her head. "This is madness. I agree they are arrogant. I agree that they are obstreperous and vain in the extreme to think themselves our equals. But without the humans, we could well be facing Galactus here, in our home system, soon enough. And they have already proven their powers and their ability. I will not be a party to this."
"You don't have to be! You're part of the diplomatic corps, and the time for talk is over," Deathbird sneered, before turning back to D'ken. "Although I too would prefer to attack them on the heels of the battle. Fighting them here in the Imperial Palace is a little too risky."
After a moment of ruminating, D'ken pointed at his warlike throwback of a sister. "It will be your call for how we ambush them, Deathbird. You will be in charge of the fleet that we will send in as part of baiting this trap. You will command the space-based portion of the battle, and it will be you who decides whether to call in the rest of the fleet. But understand me. If you do not, then the plan to ambush them here in the palace will go forward! I will have revenge for Gladiator's death and our humiliation today!"
Deathbird nodded, bowing deeply to the Emperor as did the others, even Lilandra. Lilandra knew that to do otherwise would be a step too far. She had objected, but since she would play no part in this action, that was as far as she could go. "Hail Majestor, your will be done."
OOOOOOO
For all of his vast intelligence, knowledge, and power, Galactus' thoughts were often very simple. This was due to the Hunger: the need for the energy of planets to sustain himself. The Hunger ate at him, drove his every action. And because of that, he was well pleased with his latest Herald.
He had chosen Mort because he was a ruthless, pragmatic sociopath. Someone who, when faced with his own death, had turned on his people and began to execute them for treason against their conquerors. He well understood where he stood with Galactus and had no sense of empathy to get in his way of finding planets that could feed Galactus' vast Hunger.
Morg had found more planets in a shorter amount of time than any of his other Heralds. And they were planets which fed Galactus' bottomless Hunger to a greater degree than most. Only Terrax came close in terms of planet type, and he had not found nearly as many in so short a time.
The fact that those planets belonged to a space-faring empire did not register to Galactus. Not because he didn't know, it was obvious. No, he just didn't care. Shi'ar, Kree, Skrull, Baodoon, humans. It didn't matter who owned the planet, who lived on it. All that mattered was feeding to allow Galactus to continue existing and to retain his purpose. Nothing else mattered but the purpose and the Hunger.
OOOOOOO
About half a local day passed before the first group of Shi'ar arrived to add their own portions to the trap. These included many of the Imperial Guard, led by Neutron, the man whose ability to absorb and then redirect the Power Cosmic had caught Harry's attention. Indeed, several of his race, the Re'An, arrived, men and women who had the same space black with stars skin as the first one the Custodes fought. A few Smashers, several aliens like Kyte, and more arrived.
They were mostly standoffish, remaining in orbit aboard their ships, but Jean taunted them into practicing to fight her along with Warpath and the rest of the Custodes. Eventually, the Imperial Guard decided these exercises served a point and joined in, but even so, they mostly remained to themselves.
Meanwhile, the magic users were busy, spreading out, creating illusions on thousands of golems that were then hit with a series of spells that made them read to modern sensors as if they were alive and, of course, laying traps. Harry was determined to take advantage of the choice of terrain as much as possible. A series of binding, gravity, energy-draining, and disorientation arrays were set up all across the planet. This was slow going because with runes, you had to be very precise. But thanks to Ororo, Hela, and Dr. Strange, the work proceeded apace. Harry joined them after a day spent crafting Thundra and Ben's armor.
The two FF members were very happy to have their magically imbued armor. With both of them so equipped, Jean began to have a more difficult time as Ben took charge of the opposing force. He would be acting as Hela's second in command for that aspect of the battle. The Imperial Guard would be led on the ground by Neutron, although Deathbird would be in overall command of the Imperial forces.
Banshee, whose part of the battle would be relatively simple, helped Reed map out the planet, flying him around in the ship while Reed used a mathematical formula he'd developed to mark out places where the towers that would hopefully fool Morg into attacking the planet would be placed.
Late in the first full day on the Praxis 5, the first of these towers arrived from the Shi'ar's homeworld. A set of one hundred had been completed since Reed had handed over the tower's blueprints, although Reed did spend a long time going over each of them in turn. There could be nothing that could detract from the signal of this planet, or else Morg might well bypass it, heading for a real life-bearing planet.
The towers were large, ten-story tall constructs. Filled with electronics, each of them broadcast a signal of biological energy, powered by an internal set of batteries. Praxis 5, after all, no longer had an energy grid.
Because of that, the towers were so heavy the Shi'ar either had to bring in special equipment or the towers had to be lifted out of the ship by Jean or a few of the teams' super-strong members. To their chagrin, many of the Imperial Guard found themselves relegated to this menial labor, removing the towers one by one around different segments of the planet, after which they helped to emplace them while Reed went over the electronics.
Reed checked out the first, and then walked several dozen teams of Shi'ar technicians through the process. As more of the Shi'ar arrived, the work sped up dramatically.
In orbit, more Shi'ar arrived, first in the form of Imperial Guard units. These were more long-range combat specialists, which could fight in space before pulling back.
The bombardment ships also started to arrive in divisions of three. The Shi'ar apparently believed in using a base three system when dealing with capital ships. They were accompanied by divisions of destroyer-like ships with two long-range weapons and lots of close combat weapons.
But the majority of what arrived in those first few days were cargo ships. Some were loaded with army units, tanks for the most part, more defenders to prove to Morg this planet was as inhabited as it would seem to him. Others tugged orbital platforms into place. A few of them were of civilian-make, just more bait for the trap. Others were purely defensive platforms, heavily armed and ready to do their part.
All of this preparation made Harry question his decision on their preemptive strike once more, but he reminded himself of how the Shi'ar dealt with people outside their empire. He reminded himself of Chris Summers and his wife. Of Gladiator and his immediate reaction to being challenged in Sol. He remembered and hardened his heart for what he would have to do. Yes, there were no doubt good people throughout the Shi'ar Republic, but their very system was built on arrogance and treating those outside the system as less than slaves.
Besides, if I smash the system, he thought, as he pushed those worries to the side to finish an illusion of a forest, perhaps the rest of the races which make up the Empire will make a bid for freedom. That, and making certain they can't bother Earth in the next thousand years or so, is enough of a reason.
Preparing an entire planet to be a trap took time, no matter its dimensions. Because of this, news reached Harry and the others six days after they had arrived on the planet that Galactus had found and devoured another planet elsewhere in the Shi'ar's Empire. This merely added to the desperation the Shi'ar felt, and more technicians, towers, and military might arrived at an ever-increasing pace.
Finally, nearly two weeks after Harry and the others had initially arrived on the planet,the last of the Shi'ar's forces arrived. Around the same time, the last of the magic-based traps were prepared.
OOOOOOO
On the bridge of the flagship, Deathbird stared in shock at what her eyes were trying to tell her of the planet below. Deathbird knew the reality of Praxis 5, she had read reports on it. She knew that that planet had little to no life on it, not having nearly enough water to sustain any kind of biological life. And yet, here it was, vibrant and alive with cities, forests, and even a series of small landlocked oceans. With that, the industry she was seeing, the orbital stations, and everything else she could see through optical or even heat-based scanners, it looked as if the planet was as alive as any other Shi'ar world.
"They haven't started up the towers yet, Lady Admiral," her sensor specialist intoned, using Deathbird's current military rank rather than the more political 'princess'. "They're waiting on our word. Beyond that, what they have done so far has our optical scanners fooled completely. Even our heat scanners are having difficulty seeing through the illusion. With those towers added in, this planet would even fool us, and we know it isn't real. I think we can assume that is going to fool Galactus's Herald."
"Then give the order," Deathbird answered firmly, nodding her head. "The die is cast. Let us bait the trap, and hope that it works."
Within moments, all of her fleet's scanners told her the same story: that the planet below her was a fully industrialized Shi'ar planet. That it had a population in the billions, and that it was even sending out the proper radio waves and everything else that it should. When she was satisfied with that aspect, Deathbird turned her attention to her own portion of the trap. She had a fleet to whip into shape, and her own late arrival to this system was going to hamper her ability to train the ships to be a proper combat force instead of simply a thrown together shambles. And no one knew how long they would have until the Herald took the bait.
She had just begun to put her fleet through the fourth of five series of exercises she had planned for the first day, when her sensor specialist walked up to her, saluting quickly. "Lady Admiral, our sensors are picking up something else moving away from the planet."
"Is it the human's ship?" Deathbird demanded quickly, wary of betrayal. If they abandoned the Empire now…
"No ma'am, it's not their ship. Their ship is still on the planet. No, this is something else, an odd gravitic anomaly, coupled with some kind of…well, air bubble. If one of our recon drones hadn't been making a flyover of that specific part of the planet, we would have missed them entirely.
"Get me a visual," Deathbird ordered, and as the recording drones littered across the orbit of the planet shifted on a new heading, waited impatiently. It surprisingly took the drones over two hours to catch up to the target, and when they did, they were almost immediately destroyed in a burst of telekinetic fire. But not immediately enough to stop them from sending out the images to send the images back to their ships.
When the image came up on her viewscreen, Deathbird burst out into laughter, shaking her head. "Never mind," she said, to a quietly chuckling bridge crew. "That doesn't seem to be anything we need to be concerned with."
OOOOOOO
With all the work done, Harry had ordered everyone to rest. This included himself, and after consultation with the others, Harry decided to take Jean out on a date. Jean enjoyed being in space far more than Hela or Ororo, so, with a conjured sofa and a conjured floor set in the middle of an air bubble, the two of them set off for a jaunt through the star system.
The two of them moved through space, staring out at the stars, and talking quietly about the number of races that made up the Shi'ar Empire while eating a meal that Harry had prepared earlier that day alongside Ororo. Harry's first lover was also out on a date with Hela back on the planet. Harry had initially thought they would all go out together, but Ororo had demurred when Hela refused. She was still enjoying their courtship too much to jump further into the physical side of things, and both she and Ororo knew that Jean wanted some more physical type loving, having missed out on such for the past few months.
As the drones exploded under her telekinetic powers, Jean smirked, then turned to Harry only to find him reaching for her already with a small, tender smile of his own. Jean smiled in reply, nuzzling into his chest as Harry twisted them both to the side, putting his feet up onto the sofa as Jean lay out on top of him. "So, where else do you want to go?"
"Hmm, are we talking about this system, or in general? Because I would love to see a nebula before we go back to Earth. Heck, the only thing that's keeping me from begging for it is the fact we left Emma behind. Can you imagine," Jean mused aloud, looking dreamy as she grabbed up a grape and plopped it into Harry's mouth. "Having a picnic like this, in the middle of raw star-stuff? I know nebula aren't as dense as Sci-fi would have you think, but it would still be a sight to see."
"Heh. Sounds as if you would love to be captain of the Long Voyager," Harry teased. "Reed has been chomping at the bit to launch a purely scientific mission for months."
"Ooh, don't tempt meEEE," Jean started, then moaned a bit as Harry nibbled at the spot behind her ear that was extra sensitive. "I would so love that. I know I'm not as smart as Reed, Doom, or even Sage, but I have loved the idea of space travel for so long I can't remember a time I didn't think about it somewhere in the back of my mind, even before you freed me from Charles' well-meaning but idiotic mental blocks."
"Heh, well, I just helped. You and the Phoenix Force were the ones who came to such a great understanding with one another." Harry waved off her phrase, before repeating his earlier question.
The ball of air and its occupants moved around the star system, looking at a few asteroids, and what Jean felt was the remains of a gas giant, then near to the red star itself. Unfortunately for Jean's space-lust, this system had been chosen precisely because it was boring and worthless to the Shi'ar.
Her normal type of lust however had been well stoked by the time the meal finished, as Harry had continued kissing at her neck and shoulder between bites and comments. Finally, as the ball of shielded air hovered near the star, she very purposefully kicked out, sending the small table a bit further away from the sofa before arching her back, grinding her rear back into Harry, causing him to groan in appreciation.
"Had your fill, have you?" he murmured, nuzzling into her neck, kissing up from her jugular to her mouth, then quickly pulling away before Jean could deepen the kiss to nibble at her ear.
Jean rolled over and sat up, her legs to either side of Harry's waist, as she slowly started to grind her core against Harry's rising erection, tearing his pants off with a telekinetic heave. "My fill of food anyway," she murmured. When he pulled away from her ear, she swooped in, kissing him deeply as she moaned, "I love you, Harry!" through their telepathic link.
Down below on the planet, Ororo and Hela were having perhaps the oddest picnic of all time, including the date Harry and Jean were currently on. They were sitting on the edge of a lava flow, which had been covered with the illusion of a river, although that did nothing about the heat of the magma. Yet that didn't bother either woman: Hela, because of her Asgardian heritage, and Ororo because of her spellwork. The two of them were sharing wine, fish, and some chips as they talked about the upcoming battle, what might be going on back on Earth, and what they were looking forward to in the future, segueing into an argument about what Hela's eventual wedding with Harry would be like and where it should take place.
Ororo had long been convinced by Hela to go with a traditional Norwegian wedding from the time when the Asgardians were worshiped, even if that meant Ororo would be doing a lot of research on such, but she held out on where it should take place. "I agree that there is a certain amount of logic to your hope to have the ceremony on fortress Mars. Yet I maintain that a wedding should be in a beautiful place, not just have a beautiful ceremony. Camelot could do for that, or perhaps somewhere in France. Or," she laughed, somewhat tipsily, "In Rome someplace, throwing the reality of your existence into the Church's face."
"While I am b-, f-, fully behind that idea, I would rather my wedding not devolve into a battle, as it would, since I could not stop myself from attempting to, to do somethin' to the Vatican. Given what happened to Harry and the idol that, that giant-headed creature had, it's certain that the Church retains items w-, which can har, har, hurt, me," Hela retorted, sounding more than a bit drunk.
The two of them had almost finished two entire bottles of fire-whiskey between them, and though Hela was a God, she had never been a big drinker. The magical properties of the fire whiskey offset her own heritage to a certain degree. "No, if we are going to hold it on earth, then shim, shy, symbolism must come into play someplace in Norway. Or Greenland. Someplace where our Viking worshipers roamed."
"Roamed-hic, not reaved?" Ororo taunted, her taunt broken by an attempt to stifle a hiccup. She endeavored to thrust her nose into the air haughtily but nearly fell forward off of their precipice before reeling backward, flopping onto her back to stare over at Hela. "Your believers were not exactly known for being g, genck, nice to their neighbors, and while, ex, explorers, they were also conquerors and reavers."
Hela scoffed, poking Ororo's nose and cheek. "You used reavers twice, and I well know it. Indeed, I am proud of it! Back then, that was how the world worked. Or are you going to stick your nose in the air about your vaunted Christian conquerors? Your crusades, for example, were simply conquest by any other name."
"Not mine! I worship Mistress Gaia, and she has never taken part in war! That is a wholly human thing." So saying Ororo opened her mouth and nearly caught Hela's finger in her mouth, but ended up only kissing the tip rather than attempting to bite or suck on it. Even Ororo couldn't tell you which she intended at that point.
"Are we getting off-topic?" Hela asked, popping the last of her perfectly prepared fish into her mouth. Mmmm, my Seidr Man spoils me so well, it makes me eager for the day when I can…spoil him in turn, she thought, before looking down at Ororo's face framed by her silver hair, making her chocolate-colored skin stand out all the more, her blue eyes gazing back into Hela's violet eyes. Ororo had a small nose, high-cheekbones, and perfectly smooth skin marred only by a single little scar on her chin, something that added character in Hela's opinion. Her lips were full, devoid of any lipstick like Hela's own red-tinted ones, but extremely inviting for all of that.
Hela leaned over her closest friend, the woman who would become her sister-wife, breathing in the scent of her as her previously poking finger began to trace a pattern along Ororo's collarbone and neck, causing Ororo to hum appreciatively. "Whatever the topic, that is enough talking for now."
As Hela leaned down, Ororo tilted her head to one side and raised herself on her elbows to capture Hela's lips. The two of them had kissed occasionally before this, but this kiss was different. It was much more intensely sexual, their tongues questing into one another's mouth for a moment, each of them tasting fire whiskey on the mouth of the other. Hela then found herself pressing down chest to chest against Ororo, whose hands began to move up and down Hela's back.
But despite her inebriation, Hela was still mindful of her desire to not go too far before walking down the aisle with Harry, and after a few minutes of intense kissing, she slowly pulled away.
Ororo let her do so, but then followed her, sitting upright before her hands reached out to touch Hela's mask from either side. Hela stiffened, and Ororo stopped, smiling gently at her. In the face of that wordless assurance and love, Hela nodded slowly, and Ororo pulled Hela's half mask off, setting it to one side.
Most would have assumed that there was some kind of odd mark or scar there. And there was indeed a scar, coming from just above her eye then around and almost back to her nose. But that did little to take away from the beauty of those violet eyes, or the blush of her cheeks, or anything else really.
Looking at her, Ororo shook her head. "Why bother with the mask? That little beauty mark is nowhere near enough to take away from how gorgeous you are."
Blushing at the praise of a woman who herself possessed beauty worthy of a goddess, Hela shook her head and looked away. "I, it's partly psychological, I suppose. And partly well, it, the mark it, it was once a symbol of far worse things…"
Ororo shook her head and pulled Hela to her. But instead of kissing the other woman on the lips, she kissed the scar, lips lingering as she moved along it. Shuddering, Hela mumbled something about Ororo and Harry being a bit too alike, and remained there, hugging Ororo in turn.
Elsewhere on the planet, the rest of the Custodes were also taking it easy now that the work of setting up the track had done, and everyone had trained as much as they possibly could. The Imperial Guard might not have, but Ben, who most of them had come to respect over the past few days, had organized a cookout of traditional Shi'ar food as well as human food, then a series of physical contests. Volleyball with the Titans going against the Re'An and Alex took place on a field which to everyone's eyes looked as if it was a beach, instead of the black basalt that it actually was.
In return, the Imperials had organized a pickup game of a sport that looked as if high-tech basketball had mated with rugby. A shooting and driving competition organized among the tank commanders took up hundreds of miles to either side of the main basecamp, while an arm-wrestling contest for both genders among the superpowered portion of the defenders rounded out the events, accompanied by vast quantities of alcohol.
Seeing his girlfriend beating out a female Smasher after defeating two more of the Imperial Guard, Ben laughed, pausing his run to watch. He only remembered that he was a part of rugby's unholy offshoot when Warpath shouted, "Mind in the game, Ben!" just before the ball came rocketing towards him.
He grabbed it and resumed racing forward, twisting around and through several Smasher, Earthquake, and Starbolt type Imperial Guard before dropping the ball, a heavily reinforced tungsten and titanium composite, to his feet. It bounced once off the ground before Ben kicked it towards the hovering circle that acted as the goal. There the ball bounced off, only to be fielded by Starbolt, who counter charged, racing past Ben towards the other goal.
Elsewhere on the planet, technicians piled into shuttles heading for space. Cargo ships began to leave orbit, heading away and out, carrying more technicians and other nonessential personnel away. Soon, only those that would be participating in the battle to come would be here. Even the civilian orbital structures would be empty within a few hours. Regardless of when Morg arrived, he would face only warriors rested and prepared as well as they could expect to be, no civilians of any kind.
Later that night, as the Custodes and Imperial Guard began to drift off to sleep, the Custodes leaders found themselves in a somewhat impromptu meeting…
Harry and Jean returned late in the local night to find Hela and Ororo curled up next to their picnic area, snoring drunkenly. The two of them had then used telekinesis and magic to carry them back to basecamp, where they entered the ship. Ororo was placed in Hela's bed with her to sleep it off, after which Jean followed Harry into their own room, a little too tired out to continue their earlier exertions. Indeed, given all of the exertions of late, it didn't take her any time at all to fall asleep, curled up next to Harry.
But instead of waking up to an alarm, Harry and Jean found themselves opening their eyes someplace else. Almost instantly, Jean knew this was some kind of mental projection or summoning, but not any type she was used to. It felt sort of like when she projected herself into the realm of the Phoenix Force, but she certainly hadn't done any such thing now. Moreover, the place the two of them found themselves in was nowhere she had ever seen before.
The two of them were in a room, one that seemed small yet also vast at the same time. The room was white, or it was white at first glance. But when Harry looked closer, it looked more like someone had flattened a rainbow into crystal, before making a room out of it, the colors mingling so much they turned into white. There was a deep thrumming noise in the background, like the heartbeats of a trillion stars.
Wondering why that phrase had sprung to his mind, Harry looked over at Jean, cocking an eyebrow. "This is new, is this something you've been working on?"
"Don't look at me," she exclaimed, shaking her head. "I didn't bring us here. This isn't my head or anywhere on the astral plane. This is someplace else."
A moment later, Hela appeared there, and upon opening her eyes, the Asgardian goddess of Niflheim looked around, startled. "I feel as if I should be feeling a headache of some kind, and also looking at Ororo or perhaps my alarm clock," Hela mused. "Yet I find myself here, my mind clear of its recent inebriation. The two of you look surprised, which means that you were not involved in bringing my astral self here either. So, is this a mental attack? It would have to be an incredibly powerful one to get through my defenses, but I well know that such things are possible. You being here, Jean, implies something else entirely."
Ororo joined them a moment later, then to the intense surprise of everyone else there, Emma appeared as well. "What in the fucking hell!? I just got to sleep after twenty-four hours of meeting hell, and this is what I dream!?"
While the others were staring back at her in surprise, Hela gaped, pointing at the woman. "Now I know that this is some kind of hallucination! No power of magic or divine could reach across the distance between us now, not when it is better described in terms of galaxies spanned than anything else!"
Jean, though, took this in stride, getting an idea of what might be behind this meeting, if not the reasons for it. "What was the first thing you did to me that showed you might be interested in me?
"I smacked you on your ass when I arrived at the Xavier mansion. Then we took to almost flirting until we laughed about the absurdity of it all," Emma replied promptly.
Jean moved over and took the other woman in her arms as Emma returned the gesture. She then held out a hand towards Harry, who also came towards her hugging her tightly. "I have no idea what the hell is going on, but I'm happy to see you all! Having you out of the system has not been easy at all on many levels! If not for Piotr, Sage, Mary Jane, Dani and Steve, I would be pulling my hair out!"
"Sorry love, but you know that no one else could do what we are going to be doing out here, and removing both the Shi'ar and Galactus as threats to earth is worth it," Harry murmured into Emma's hair, holding her and Jean tightly against him while Ororo moved over to join the hug. Seeing this, Hela rolled her eyes, yet was also smiling at the moment of tenderness despite her unwillingness to join in just yet with all of them.
"It is what you are this far away from Earth to do that we have brought you here to talk to about," a voice intoned. One which Harry and Jean recognized almost immediately.
They ended the hug, turning to look as a flame appeared moving out from the wall, then forming into the shape of a woman, with eyes of white fire, and wings of red and gold that spread to either side of her like those of an angel. "Phoenix Force," Harry acknowledged with a respectful bow from the waist, while Hela backed away quickly. She wasn't concerned about the Phoenix Force attacking her, but it was a fact that Hela worshipped and followed the Phoenix Force's opposite number.
She stopped as another presence appeared on the opposite side of the room from the Phoenix Force. As if summoned by Hela's worries, Lady Death stood there like she had always been there, cocking her head to one side as she looked at one of her most faithful servants.
"My Lady!" Hela murmured, going to one knee and bowing her head. "I knew that the World Eater was a massively powerful and dangerous individual, but is he so important that it demands this direct intervention?"
"Yes," Phoenix answered, while Lady Death merely nodded. The fire-woman sent a smirk, almost invisible against the backdrop of her fire form, towards her silent opposite number, before winking at all the mortals. Well, mortal for a given value anyway. "I will be doing the speaking for us since my friend over there very much prefers to be silent."
Lady Death stared across at Phoenix Force, then deliberately shook her head very slowly from side to side, as if lamenting the other woman's sense of humor. Then she pointed at Harry and intoned, "YOU CANNOT KILL GALACTUS."