As the ramp went down, Rhino saw the Guardians surrounding the Liset from all sides.
"What is she made of?" Rocket asked in wonder as he went around the ship, knocking on the surface area all over.
Rhino just waited for them to finish admiring his little baby while crossing his arms.
He was more interested in what kind of materials they used to build the Ravager ships, as he wanted to know how much more insulation he needed to get the Liset to use the jump points.
"Maybe if we work together, we can help each other out," Rocket said, walking around the ship, then standing again in front of the ramp.
"I hope so too," I said, coming to a halt next to him.
"Before that, I have some things I would like to discuss with you in private, Rocket," Rhino said as he began walking back into the Liset, beckoning him to follow.
Quill looked after them and shrugged, then turned back to his ship, not really getting why Rocket was so fascinated by this ship; theirs was way cooler anyway.
He studied the damage on the exterior of the Milano. "Man, she's beat to hell."
He scratched his beard thoughtfully. "We'll have to put her in dry dock for a while."
Groot patted the hull of the Milano sadly, giving a low moan.
Rocket looked around in wonder as he came to a stop inside the cockpit of the Liset, while Rhino went to the holographic table on the right from the entrance and started showing some schematics.
"These here are blueprints I could secure that I would like you to use to create something similar to it. That is my only requirement if we want to work together," he said, waving Rocket over to the table.
"I will see what I can do. What is it that is so incredibly important that you would need it for our cooperation to work?" he asked while scanning the blueprint.
"Well, with the near-suicidal tendencies you guys showed in our last little adventure, this is really needed for you guys," I said as Rocket's eyes slowly grew wider.
"This is a shield generator, isn't it?" he asked while seemingly trying to burn the schematics into his frontal lobe. "That's the blue hue around your armor I saw the other day, right?" he asked while looking at Rhino suspiciously.
"Yeah, that's right. I got one already, but the materials to build another are not really around, I would say. You are the expert in tinkering around here, so I came to you. In exchange, I would ask you to build one for everyone on the team. I can't be everywhere at once all the time to save your asses," Rhino said while waiting for Rocket's reaction.
"It looks pretty straightforward; I should be able to build it without problems. Let me run some simulations and I will come back to you on that. But first things first , " Rocket said while taking some more pictures of the schematics with his Holo pad, to which I just shook my head and gave him a stick with the Blueprint on it, which he gladly took.
The common area was full of the Guardians and Ravagers who sat around the long table, the last of the bottles pushed aside. The chaos of earlier had shifted into planning mode.
Stakar leaned forward, elbows braced on the table's edge. "Before we start talking routes and firepower... I want you to meet someone."
He tapped a control on his wrist. A flickering blue holo shimmered to life over the center of the table.
The projection formed into a Kree male-steel-gray skin, bald head, and the clean lines of an Imperial Forces uniform fitting his frame.
"Stakar. Guardians."
"Meet Korath, son of Attilan," Stakar said.
Korath's gaze swept over them, assessing each in turn. "I can provide security codes, patrol schedules, and entry points. In return, I take one item from the vault. Logged under 'sentimental effects.'"
Gamora tilted her head, then nodded in agreement.
The holo winked out.
Gamora leaned back, arms crossed, a toothy grin playing at the edges of her mouth. "Okay, I like him. He's grumpy."
Ordis' voice cut through the moment, sharp and precise.
"Operator, I am detecting an unregistered vessel shadowing the Elector's trajectory , " he said, while Rhino looked at the systems of the ship, not seeing any activity on the Ravagers' scanners.
Same Time Elector - Hangar
The Milano sat quiet in its berth while Aleta walked past, her wrist angled slightly. A faint whir from a scanner swept along the ship's systems.
A sharp metallic click echoed from the shadows. Rocket stepped out from behind a support strut, arms crossed. "Lose something?"
She didn't so much as blink. "Just curious."
"Yeah," Rocket said flatly, "same here . My scanners didn't find anything where the ship is supposed to be - anything different with yours?"
He questioned with a smirk, while she just snorted and went to the elevator.
Rocket went to the ramp and stepped into the Landing ship.
The holotable cast a bunch of blueprints into midair while Rocket slipped out a datapad in his paw , trying to access the main access .
A piercing shriek erupted from the console, through which Rocket went on the floor into an embryonic position.
"Unauthorized data copy detected," Ordis announced through the speaker.
Rocket gritted through his teeth. "You got an attitude problem."
"Ordis protests ; you just have sticky fingers," Ordis countered while he put out the frequency.
"Sorry for that ; didn't know the ship had an AI," Rocket said while slowly stepping backward to the ramp.
The ramp shut close before he could get out of the ship , as Ordis responded.
"I have contacted the Operator," Ordis said as he projected himself into the ship as a hologram.
"And I must say that I'm deeply DISTURBED that you think I'm an AI. Ordis is a Cephalon; I am way more SUPERIOR than any AI could ever be." Ordis said, seemingly deeply agitated, but then suddenly...
"You seem in luck . We just detected a ship in our vicinity, Sir . You may go now, but this is the last time I will refrain from PURGING - I mean punishing you, dear intruder," Ordis said and opened the ramp.
Rocket ran down the ramp as fast as possible . After being out of the hangar, and feeling safe, he went towards the cockpit where he thought everyone was currently.
When he reached it, he saw Stakar speaking with Quill about the ship they encountered.
"So we are not alone then," Kraglin said.
Quill nodded grimly. "Seems that way."
Aleta shook her head angrily. "Who else is following us?"
"Looks like some kind of Kree ship," Quill said, reading a display on the front console. "We got their beacon."
"Kree?" Aleta asked. "What the hell would they want?"
Stakar tapped the console. "Let's find out."
Quill leaned forward over the controls. He tapped a button on the communications panel, activating a wideband broadcast. "Unidentified Kree vessel, this is Starlord of the Guardians of the Galaxy, proxy of the Nova Corps . Come in."
Silence answered. Then crackling static filled the speakers. Gamora adjusted a few knobs, trying to clear the signal. The voice came back, faint and distorted.
"...They are everywhere... Purge..."
He looked up at Gamora. "Can you make out what they're saying?"
She shook her head. "Nope."
He turned back to the comms unit. "Unidentified ship, we did not copy your transmission. Please repeat."
A burst of noise shrieked through the cabin, loud enough to make the entire crew wince. "...coming for us..."
The Ravagers all looked at each other. Rocket raised an eyebrow.
Quill took a deep breath. "Guess they have problems over there."
Gamora turned to Quill. "You think they're following us because of the Sovereign bounty?"
He shook his head. "Don't see how. There's no way they could have tracked us or be stupid enough to risk a war over such a bounty , " he said as he looked down at the screens again.
Suddenly, something went wrong with the Kree ship's engines, and it started venting as it fell behind.
"There goes our shadow," Kraglin said.
They watched as the fighter disappeared into the distance.
"I'm aboard," they suddenly heard over the comms, clearly being Tenno, who wasn't there, which they all realized at that moment.
Tenno POV:
I waited silently in the Liset while everyone else was talking about the ship that was following us.
From the records, Rocket appeared to have gone into my landing ship and tried something I'm not even sure of, but luckily Ordis was there and told me everything afterward .
Now he was sulking somewhere around the Elector.
Hopefully tinkering with my order.
I was listening to the comm chatter as it happened.
As soon as the ship had lost engine power, I activated my thrusters and went to its location . While it didn't seem to notice me coming toward it, everything felt normal.
In good Tenno manner, I docked onto a wall and sliced a hole into it.
" I'm aboard," I said over the comms and waited for their reactions while stepping into the hallway of the ship.
The walls were lined with green lights, pulsing gently, while I saw that there was not one crewmember anywhere in sight, nor was there any noise except for the alarms going off.
"Operator, I'm detecting a lifeform inside the ship," Ordis said. "It's in the lower decks."
I nodded, switching weapons to my Energy Sniper as I slowly went down the hall, checking every corner for traps or surprises.
As I reached the door, it opened slowly, revealing a dimly lit room behind it.
I stepped forward cautiously, scanning the darkness.
A faint glimmer caught my eye -the outline of something metal, sitting against one wall.
I walked closer to investigate. It seemed to be some kind of container, shaped like a sarcophagus.
I touched it lightly, feeling cold steel beneath my fingertips.
Something moved inside the box. A low moan echoed from within.
"What the hell is this thing?" I thought.
The lid slid open with a hiss. I jumped back, hand tightening on my weapon.
"Whoa!" came a voice from inside the coffin.
A figure sat bolt upright, hands clutching at the sides of its face.
"Where am I?" it asked groggily.
I lowered my rifle slightly.
The man blinked, eyes adjusting to the light. He looked down at his body and frowned. "This isn't right..."
His head snapped up toward me, eyes blazing with fury.
"YOU! You're responsible for this!" he hissed.
He lunged at me, fists flying wildly, while I blocked them easily, sending him crashing backward into the wall.
He stumbled forward, grabbing hold of the edge of the box.
"You can't kill me," he snarled. "You can't stop me!" he said, an unsettling amount of madness in his eyes.
A blast of energy erupted from my Sniper and hit him square in the chest. The impact sent him spinning across the room. He struck the far wall hard enough to dent it.
But instead of collapsing lifelessly to the ground, he simply shook himself off and stood upright again.
He glared at me angrily. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.
"That won't work."
Another shot took him straight through the shoulder. This time he fell down like a puppet cut from its strings.
He lay motionless on the floor, blood pooling around his body . The lights flickered briefly before shutting off completely, while it seemed like something glowing left his body.
After a moment, they came back online, casting shadows everywhere.
I knelt beside him, checking for a pulse. His heart had stopped, and he wasn't breathing anymore.
"Operator, I'm detecting an unidentified lifeform in your vicinity," Ordis announced over the comms . "It seems to be non-organic."
I looked around the room until I realized that something was moving behind me.
I turned sharply, aiming my gun at whatever it was, as a dark shape loomed over me.
A voice came out of nowhere. "Hello again."
A metallic hand reached out toward me. I ducked aside as the metal fist crashed into the wall where I'd been standing moments ago, activating my shield.
"I told you, you can't kill me," it said.
The thing was huge and bulky, almost twice the size of Rhino. Its body consisted entirely of metal plating, with no skin or organs visible beneath , a glowing green hue pulsing rhythmically on its body .
Its gaze turned toward the direction of my landing ship, which was still attached to the hull of the Kree ship.
"I sense technology , but different, biological," it said as I sprang at it , pulled my fist back, and slammed it into its face.
The energy I put into the punch was so enormous that time seemed to slip, and I landed next to it as it was suspended in the air, falling in slow motion.
I took a stance and roared, a golden hue glowing over my body and weapon .
I reached for my back, took the gigantic axe that I had picked up from the weaponry, swung it, and cut its head clean from its body .
It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, while the rest of its body exploded into fragments of scrap metal.
"Operator, there seems to be yet another presence aboard the vessel," Ordis announced. "It seems to be going in the direction of your landing ship ."
I had a bad feeling, so I ran toward my landing ship as fast as possible, taking a look inside only to find a black sphere floating in the middle of it, giving off a greenish glow.
Suddenly, it started to move faster than humanly possible and then disappeared completely into the ship.
I looked around suspiciously but couldn't find anything else wrong.
"Operator, I detected some sort of anomaly within the landing ship 's systems," Ordis reported.
"What kind of anomaly?" I asked.
"It appears that some files were accessed by an unknown entity."
"A Technopath - we know that from the Sentinels. Activate the Sentinel stalling program ; I will think of a solution for this," I said in panic, as the lights of the Liset took on a slight green hue .
I went out of the Warframe and was inside the orbiter again.
Up until now, the manifestation alongside my Warframe didn't work like it normally should have ; there just seemed to be so much about this universe that I didn't understand.
Normally , when I try to manifest myself around my Warframe , I search for this brewing storm inside my mind, the Void, and push myself away from it.
The problem is, I can't find it anymore ; I can't feel this brewing concoction of madness and emotions anymore . It 's just silence and peace. Not that I'm saying anything against it ; I like it that way. I just can't come out right now and flee from this place in that manner , even though it wouldn't be permanent anyway.
But now I had to, because the only thing I knew of that was reliably good against enemies like the Sentinels was Void energy, and for that, I needed to be there in person .
So I started meditating.
I tried to feel the Void all around me and for the feelings I would normally encounter with it, but nothing came.
Again, just silence and peace.
But as I started to panic, suddenly I could also feel a slight, minuscule amount of panic responding inside the Void, nearly so little I didn't register it at first, through my own Panic.
I could finally grasp the Void, even the little bit, so I pushed myself away from it, and as soon as I did, I suddenly stood inside the Liset.