“Shippie! Get us off this living rock,” I ordered as I landed at the base of the ship. Memories now flooding my mind. I realized I had seen this same ship before. Back when I went to the future I had met Weston from…the future. A lot had been going on around then, and the ships didn’t look exactly the same, but I was fairly certain this was the same ship Future Weston rode in on to take all of my credit for saving the future. 

“Why am I not surprised?” I mumbled. The System often sent me quests leading me to places, I was sure it had led the future me to this ship in that timeline as well. 

“Captain?” Shippie’s voice asked in surprise as I walked up the ramp to the interior of the ship. “Are you alright? My scanners are showing altered brainwave fluctuations that imply-” 

“I’m the same Weston,” I assured, walking to the bridge. I could feel Groot on the ship as well as Rocket. “I received my memories back.”

“Oh congratulations,” the voice said, following me through the ship like a formless ghost. “Unfortunately we used much of our reserves in the battle against the Xandarians, and Betelguese, and Osiris, and the Xandarian Asterian.”

“Aster,” I said, remembering the name of the other lone person in the battle royale we had been involved in. “Fine,” I said. “How long until you have absorbed enough fuel to get to Shi’ar space?”

“Where exactly in the Shi’ar territory are we venturing? As their empire spans many-”

“The capital,” I cut in. “Chandilar.” It had been well over six months since the Arin’n Haelar, where me and another twenty of Earth’s mightiest heroes fought against the Shi’ar’s best. Though we didn’t really have an answer about who the strongest was, I had given harder than I got. Granted I lost an arm, but they lost an emperor, or Majestor, or whatever the hell he was called. 

Amnesiac Weston having run into their agents a few times over the last few months, the constant threat had pushed him to train more and more. Something I was very much grateful for now as I felt stronger than ever. 

“How long, Shippie?” I asked. 

“Two hours,” the ship said. 

“You have one,” I shot back, confident the ship was being conservative. It always preferred to be extra careful when gathering energy for fuel. Utilizing solar, wind, and some type of geoenergy, I knew it would have enough. “Rocket!” I yelled as I headed toward the raccoon man’s room. “Rocket! We gotta go!” 

“What now?” The little man growled as he pounced up from his hiding hole. 

“Get your boom sticks going. Every fucking one you have,” I said. With the words, the racoon’s face lit up. 

“You mean-”

“Yep, we are going to war,” I said. The man’s explosive cocktails for engines had been restricted since the incident with the Wrary people and Shippie’s subsequent damage. 

“Who with?” Rocket asked, confusion clear on his face, despite it being that of a racoon. Somehow I had actually gotten pretty good at reading the expressions of a lot of aliens and human wildlife. 

“The Shi’ar,” I said, but turned to face my other crew. Peter Quill out of breath he had run after me, but Blade next to him looked like he hardly broke a sweat. “Peter, how long ago did you see Delilah?” 

“Like an hour? She was playing with that blue stone and-” Peter said as I pushed between them to head back to the bridge. I hadn’t even thought about the circlet, but I recalled Shadree’s fascination when I said it was the Mind Gem. All of it was coming together. “Shippie, scratch that you have 10 minutes.” The last thing I wanted was to deal with the Mindscape again. 

“Weston!” A very blue woman yelled as she entered the ship. 

“Weston!” A much more tattooed gorilla of a man yelled next to her. 

“Why are you yelling for him?” Nebula barked. 

“I thought that was what we were doing,” Drax responded. Soon the duo was making their way to the bridge as well. 

“Quite the crew you have here, Weston,” Blade growled.

“Right?” I said, a smile on my face. Before Nebula could speak as she entered the large bridge I raised my hands. “Things are going on, this is not the time or the place to be asking questions.” I was sure a lot of people wanted answers, but rather than give them to the crew, I wanted them working toward my goals first. “In as few words as possible, I will try to explain everything.” 

I took in a slow and deep breath. Wrapping my head around everything going on, as well as all the assumptions I was making, I began to speak as quickly as possible. “About six months ago I was summoned to a trial by combat, which turned into a tournament on Shi’ar. One thing led to another and I helped the rightful Majestrix of the Shi’ar kill her brother, who had usurped the throne.” Nebula’s eyes widened, obviously hearing that for the first time, but I kept going. “Over the last few months I had been hearing rumors about a civil war going on between the Shi’ar. Now I suspect something else was going on. Either way Shadree, your first-mate or whatever, wanted Delilah, and I suspect she swiped the Mind Gem while she was at it. They are probably on their way to Shi’ar now. But I have no idea which side Shadree is on, since last time I fought her she was working for the Majestor before I killed him.” To my surprise it didn’t take too long to explain and I had plenty of breath left. Since I needed some gaps filled I pointed at Nebula. 

“What?” She asked. 

“You are supposed to fill in gaps. Shadree was your first mate, right? What reason did she give you for kidnapping Delilah?” I had my suspicions but I wanted answers before I assumed even more. 

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug, but was holding stuff back. 

“Neb,” I said, trying to be familiar as I gave her a disappointed shake of my head. “I like you. We are prison buddies, prison escapees, and whether you like it or not, you and your Andromeda’s are now part of my crew. My nakama, if you will. So either get on board the ever growing Guardians of the Galaxy fleet, or step aside. Either way, I am leaving planet in 7 minutes.”

She grumbled, her own inner turmoil going on as she flipped her hair to lay on the other side of her head. It took a bit, but she did eventually answer. “We were doing work for the Shi’ar. Shadree had joined my crew about six months ago. And their Majestrix got in contact with her. The Majestrix needed work that normal people wouldn’t accept.”

“Because of the civil war?” I asked. 

She shook her head, sporting a frown as she explained. “It wasn’t a civil war. It was Thanos.” As she said the name, things clicked one by one in my brain. Each a revelation as minor clues I had been given over the last six months finally fell into place. “The Shi’ar did have a very minor civil war going on, that lasted only a few weeks. It wasn’t long until the Majestrix was back in power, and reforming their military. That was when Thanos, or at least his fleet struck. Ronan, my um… Thanos’ son,” I could tell she didn’t want to dig into their actual relationship, but didn’t push. “He took charge of the fleet. At least that was what I heard. They besieged Chandilar. The Majestrix asked for help from us, because she didn’t want it getting out that a civil war wasn’t actually happening.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Rocket said, always on the up and up for all drama going on in the galaxy. “Wouldn’t they want people to know? The Xandarians would have helped if it was Thanos. Maybe even the Kree.”

Nebula shook her head. “The Shi’ar pissed off the Kree. They were basically at war as it was.”

“True, the Shi’ar had kidnapped their Champion,” I said. I seemed to remember during my escape from the Shi’ar airspace, the Kree had sent ships to attack the Shi’ar. Most likely to save their Champion, Carl Danvers.”

“Something like that,” Nebula said with a frown. “The Shi’ar knew if it got out that they were having trouble fighting back Thanos’ and his fleet, every pirate fleet, warlord, or actual power, like the Kree, would be taking more of their territory.”

“So why did Ronan on the Osiris come after you?” I asked. Nebula had hinted that Ronan wanted her for some slight with Thanos. At least that was what she said before the Betelguese saved us. 

“The girl, I suspect,” Nebula said, actually surprising me. “The Shi’ar wanted her bad for some reason. Last I heard, Ronan and the Shi’ar were at a stalemate. I doubted he wanted me bringing in some trump card the Shi’ar were cooking up.”

I frowned, unconvinced. I guessed the Shi’ar wanted Delilah because she was the clone of Jean Grey. The very red headed psychic that had announced herself as the Phoenix during the Arin’n Haelar. A very showy fiery bird that caused the Shi’ar to go into panic. After the drama of the Haelar they must have gotten some of her blood and tracked her to Earth somehow, but rather than getting the real Phoenix, they got my innocent Delilah. 

Rage filled me as I tried to make sense of it all. Unsure if they were going to try to extract the Phoenix Force from her, or mistakenly point her at Thanos’ warriors. Or now that they had the Mind Gem, would they just use that nuclear deterrent to fight them off? Too many possibilities I opened my mouth to recruit when Shippie broke the silence. 

“A powerful entity has entered Ego’s airspace,” the ship said. I turned to the main screen on the bridge to see an armored man flying through clouds. A deep yellow glow surrounding him, I frowned, but then forced a smile on as I pushed through the crew. 

Stepping off the ship I waved at the yellow glowing super hero as he stopped short a dozen yards away. He was as I remembered when he showed up during our battle royale between the Xandarians and Osiris. He threw a few yellow beams but had mainly played guard between the Osiris and Xandarians. Looking at him now, I knew just who he was, or at least I was pretty sure I did. 

“Let me guess, you are why they are called the Nova Corps,” I said. I had heard rumors about the general of the Nova Corps, mainly just stories about him destroying fleets on his own. Much like a certain champion of the Kree. “You have the Nova Force, don’t you?” The man frowned at me, his haki quiet. I couldn't get much from him, probably something to do with the Nova Force. Glowing like the sun itself though, I was sure I was right. 

“What’s it to you?” He asked, others from my crew walking up behind me. Nebula’s rage increased as she stared at the glowing and floating man. Guessing she had a history with him, I studied the Xandarian. About seven feet tall he wore full body plate armor, like all the other Xandarians I had seen since being imprisoned by them. 

The armor itself was red and gold, but felt almost menacing. Like the armor was powerful. Maybe some sort of smart armor like the Iron Man suit, the man floated above our heads staring at us for a long time. 

“So are you coming or not?” I barked at him out of the blue. He stared down at me from his helm, but I still couldn’t read his haki. “I might be assuming a lot, as I have been for a while now, but you don’t come in here throwing punches and shooting your Nova beams or whatever.” He had sprayed the Betelguese a few times with his yellow glowing beams. “As the general of the Nova Corps, you want to find out what was going on, so another story time. Me, her, him, and the guy over there were imprisoned at your lovely resort, Harche. After we got approved for a weekend furlough, the Osiris showed up. Nebula tells me that is one of Thanos’ flag ships. A fight ensued between your Nova Corps ship and the Osiris. Us caught in the middle. You and your ship followed us to here, and from what I remember your ship was going down. You escaped before Ego fended off the Osiris, and now you want answers.”

He slowly began descending as I spoke. I finished my rapid tale as he set foot on the ground. His armor making a clunk noise. As he stopped floating he turned to stare at me. 

“Someone I care very much about has been kidnapped, by the Shi’ar, or maybe the Osiris. I’m not really sure about Shadree's loyalties yet. Either way, if Thanos is besieging the Shi’ar, then the Osiris will be there. I plan to get some revenge for making me go on the defensive for the last…I don’t know how long its been since we escaped prison.”

“About six hours,” Drax said.

“Mother fucker, you are terrible at math. It’s been at least twelve,” Blade said, making me realize how much I wanted him to say mother fucker. I thanked Drax for the comment. 

“Six hours my home planet’s time,” he said. 

“Wouldn’t time be the same?” Quill asked, confused. 

“Shut it,” I cut in. “So, Nova boy, are you in? Up for going against the Osiris with us?”

“I wanted Nebula,” he said. Eyes watching us from behind the armor. “But…I also want some revenge on the Osiris.” 

“Then come aboard. We can figure out the Andromeda shit later,” I said happy to have another fighter with us. “Shippie, prepare lift off. Nebbie, you got anyone in the Andromeda’s you want coming along?”

“I’m not going with-”

“You most certainly are,” I said, releasing some Nen to show her how serious I was. Fear spiked in her but she pushed it away. Used to fear, that wouldn’t work on her. Instead I made my nen expel confidence. Trying to show her how sure I was we would succeed. “We are going up against Thanos’ people. I doubt the big man himself, since I heard he was on the other side of the galaxy, but at least we will be stopping something he is interested in. Which tickles my balls a little, and I’m sure it does yours too.” I gave her my best smile. “And if that doesn’t do it for you, at least we can blow up the Osiris. They fucked up your Betelguese, right? Should maybe remind your family why they shouldn’t mess with you.” 

I walked past and back into my ship. Many followed me inside. “Rocket, get me as many explosives as you got. Quill, train Drax and Blade on how to use the lasers.”

“I barely know how to use the lasers,” he said. 

“You’re the first mate, kid. Talk with more confidence,” I said. He opened his mouth, going through a range of emotions. I was sure he was ready for the job as no one else had wanted it. 

“You’re his mate?” Drax asked as he walked up to the much shorter kid.

“Goddammit,” I grumbled, annoyed by the idiot already. “I’m the comedic relief here, not you,” I told the big man but was heading to the bridge as Nebula and Asterian reluctantly walked into the ship. It wasn’t too long until the ramp closed and we were lifting off.