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"BEEP!"
"BEEP!"
"BEEP!"
The bridge of the USS Enterprise was suddenly bathed in the harsh, strobing glare of red tactical lights. The ship's AI, 'Enterprise,' spoke, her smooth, slightly androgynous voice now carrying a note of urgent warning.
"Alert. Alert."
"Multiple incoming ship signatures detected."
"Multiple incoming ship signatures detected."
Gwen, who had been completely absorbed in observing the mesmerizing chaos of the Quantum Asteroid Belt, snapped back to reality. She glanced at the flashing red lights, then quickly turned to Hawk.
"Hawk."
"It's fine." Hawk didn't even furrow his brow. "Did you finish gathering your data?"
When Gwen had found out there was a Quantum Asteroid Belt nearby, she had been determined to come here to observe it and record data to take back to Earth.
After all, a macro-scale, observable quantum state was an incredibly rare cosmic phenomenon.
The data would be priceless.
Gwen checked the progress bar on her new purple bracelet computer.
"Forty-five minutes left."
"Okay."
Hawk nodded. Through the main viewscreen, he could already see a battered, ragtag spaceship hurtling toward them at breakneck speed, closely pursued by a massive swarm of sleek, golden, uncrewed fighter drones. "Don't worry. They won't bother us."
With that.
He took a single step forward. In the blink of an eye, he bypassed the hull of the Enterprise and materialized in the vacuum of space, hovering thirty miles ahead of the ship, directly in the path of the incoming pursuit.
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"HOLY SHIT!"
"JESUS CHRIST!"
"WHAT IS THAT?"
In the cockpit of the fleeing ship, Peter Quill—Star-Lord—who was currently executing a series of desperate evasive maneuvers to dodge the incoming fire from the Sovereign fleet, shouted in shock as he saw the lone figure hovering silently in the void of space dead ahead.
Behind him, Rocket Raccoon echoed his disbelief.
Drax the Destroyer and Gamora, alerted by Quill and Rocket's shouts, rushed to the front of the cockpit and stared out the viewport.
The next second. They saw a blinding, radiant golden light erupt from Hawk's body. From within that brilliant aura, a towering, spectral figure seemed to step out, mirroring Hawk's movements.
The Gold Cloth—
Aries!
Under the starlight, the Aries Gold Cloth shimmered with a luster like liquid golden honey. The spiral horns adorning the helmet pulsed with the power of the cosmos, and the massive, segmented pauldrons seemed to flow with the inextinguishable fire of a dying star.
And then!
As Hawk raised his right hand, the fully materialized, towering projection of the Aries Gold Cloth mirrored the action, raising its own golden hand.
His voice was low, yet despite the absolute vacuum of space, it resonated with bone-shaking clarity across the sector.
"CRYSTAL WALL!"
CRACK—————
Billions of microscopic diamond dust particles erupted from his fingertips. A massive, shimmering barrier, rippling with a mesmerizing, iridescent rainbow light, blossomed outward, expanding instantly to form an impenetrable wall across the starry void.
It was the ultimate defensive technique of the First House of the Zodiac: Aries!
"SHIT!"
"Quill, brake! Stop the ship!"
"I can't! It's too late! Brace for impact, we're going through!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Seeing the massive, shimmering wall of diamond dust forming directly in their flight path, panic erupted in the cockpit of the Milano. Star-Lord and Rocket reacted on pure instinct. Quill slammed the throttle forward, maximizing their speed, and they punched through the Crystal Wall in the exact fraction of a second it took to fully solidify.
They made it through the main barrier, but the ship's rear stabilizers clipped the edge of the rapidly hardening crystal structure. With a shower of sparks and a small explosion of brilliant fire, the Milano instantly lost all main thruster power.
But they were the lucky ones.
The Sovereign's remote-controlled, golden drone fighters were not. One by one, the sleek fighters slammed head-on into the unbreakable Crystal Wall.
In an instant, the surface of the Crystal Wall lit up as if a hundred miniature suns were detonating against it simultaneously.
A continuous, blinding chain reaction of explosions filled the void.
Of course.
If sound could travel in the vacuum of space, the noise would have been deafening.
Unfortunately, it couldn't.
Once the very last Sovereign drone, unable to alter its course or simply too slow to evade, smashed into the wall in a final, brilliant flash of destructive light, Hawk slowly lowered his right hand.
The projected manifestation of the Aries Gold Cloth faded into nothingness.
The Crystal Wall dissolved, leaving behind a massive, expanding cloud of golden debris—the shattered remains of the entire Sovereign drone fleet.
The next second, Hawk's gaze shifted to the crippled spaceship, now drifting aimlessly through the void.
His Seventh Sense washed over the vessel, penetrating its hull.
And then…
He saw him. A man who looked entirely human. A man who represented the exact opposite extreme of Captain America's 'a mortal with the power of a god'—Peter Quill, Star-Lord, 'a demigod with the power of a very average mortal.'
He saw Gamora, the deadliest woman in the galaxy, with her green skin, sharp features, short black hair, and piercing eyes—the last survivor of the Zehoberei race.
He saw Drax the Destroyer, a massive, heavily muscled brute whose red skin was covered in intricate, raised black tattoos, wearing nothing but a pair of pants.
And, of course.
He saw the foul-mouthed, heavily armed raccoon named Rocket, and the small, sentient tree-creature, Groot.
Finally, he saw Nebula, the cyborg assassin whose body had been almost entirely replaced by cold, blue mechanical parts, leaving only a fraction of her original skin visible. She was currently bound and restrained in the back of the ship.
So, these are the infamous Guardians of the Galaxy?
Well, how about that.
'Look who I bumped into...' When Hawk had first decided to visit Xandar, he had idly wondered if he might cross paths with the Guardians.
In the end—
He hadn't seen them on the planet, but now, just as he and Gwen were about to head back to Earth, they had literally crashed right into him.
Interesting!!
Hawk thought to himself as his Seventh Sense scanned the crew. His expression remained perfectly calm, his eyes betraying no emotion as he stared at the drifting Milano.
Inside the cockpit, the Guardians of the Galaxy were staring right back out the viewport at Hawk, who was floating effortlessly in the vacuum of space.
Their eyes were wide with disbelief.
Peter shook his head.
"He's not wearing a spacesuit."
"He doesn't need one." Drax stared at Hawk, his eyes filled with a strange, intense reverence. "Peter, that is a god."
Gamora found her voice. "Your 'god' just wiped out an entire Sovereign drone fleet with a wave of his hand. Rocket, can you fix the ship?"
Rocket was already frantically running diagnostics on his console.
"Main thrusters are dead."
"Look, the god is moving."
Everyone's eyes snapped back to the viewport.
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Outside.
Hawk pulled his gaze away from the Milano. He turned, and in the blink of an eye, he teleported back onto the bridge of the Enterprise.
Thirty miles. On Earth, that's a considerable distance.
But on a cosmic scale, thirty miles is nothing. It's practically arm's reach.
So, Gwen, sitting safely on the bridge, had seen everything.
With the help of the ship's AI, 'Enterprise,' which had magnified the external view, she had also seen the crippled spaceship now drifting dead in space.
Gwen looked at Hawk as he reappeared beside her.
"Looks like that ship is dead."
"Yeah." Hawk settled back into the First Officer's chair, glancing at the holographic projection of the Milano that Enterprise had displayed. "They lost their primary drive thrusters. If I had to guess, they're not going anywhere."
Gwen blinked.
"Shouldn't we help them, then?"
"Help them?" Hawk raised an eyebrow, looking at her in amusement. "You want to run a rescue op?"
Gwen nodded earnestly. "Of course. When you're traveling in deep space and you encounter a ship in distress, you are obligated to offer assistance. It's a fundamental rule of the cosmos."
Hawk stared at her, stumped.
"Is that an actual rule?"
"It is. It's right here in the guidebook." Gwen held up a small, sleek datapad. It was the complimentary 'Welcome to the Galaxy' guide the Nova Corps inspector had given them before they left port.
The guide contained basic information about the Xandarian system, but it also heavily promoted the Nova Corps' core philosophy of mutual aid and galactic harmony.
To put it simply: if they handed this guide to a hundred tourist ships, and even one of them internalized their message of peace and cooperation, the Nova Corps considered it a successful PR campaign.
Clearly—
Gwen, with her strong moral compass, had thoroughly internalized the Nova Corps' ideals of justice and order.
Hawk looked at the datapad Gwen was holding up and chuckled. He glanced at the Milano, which, considering they were in deep space, was effectively stranded without any means of calling for a tow. "Alright. The Captain has spoken. We'll run a rescue op."
With that.
He called out to the AI. "Enterprise. Bring them in."
The Enterprise surged forward, closing the distance to the drifting Milano in seconds. The massive cargo bay doors on the underside of the saucer section opened, emitting a powerful, glowing tractor beam that enveloped the smaller ship and slowly, gently pulled it inside.
With a heavy, pressurized hiss, the cargo bay doors sealed shut, and the atmosphere stabilized. The boarding ramp of the Milano lowered, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, weapons drawn and eyes scanning their surroundings, cautiously stepped out into the pristine, silver-white cavern of the Enterprise's hangar bay.
Just then, a holographic projection flickered to life, materializing from the ceiling to stand directly in front of the wary Guardians.
It was Enterprise.
The AI had chosen an avatar: a sharp, professional woman in a tailored business suit, her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail.
"There is a maintenance bay adjacent to this hangar equipped with the tools necessary to repair your vessel."
"You are authorized to effect repairs here."
"Mr. Rocket, Mr. Groot. The Captain has requested a meeting with you, if you are agreeable."
"Whoa, hold on a second..." Star-Lord immediately stepped forward, his blasters lowered but his brow furrowed in deep suspicion. He glared at the holographic projection. "Why does your Captain only want to see Rocket and Groot?"
Enterprise responded with synthetic calm.
"Because that is the Captain's request."
The truth was, Gwen had never seen a talking raccoon or a sentient tree before, and she was intensely curious.
As for the other three, and the bound cyborg in the back?
Gwen didn't find them particularly interesting.
Rocket Raccoon hoisted his massive laser cannon onto his shoulder, pointing it vaguely at the AI. "If your Captain wants to see me, tell him to haul his ass down here. Otherwise, we all go together. We don't split the party."
Up on the bridge, Hawk watched the interaction on the main screen. He let out a short laugh and looked at Gwen. "See? You save their lives, and they're not even grateful."
Gwen rolled her eyes at him. "They're normal people, Hawk. Anyone would be terrified after seeing what you just did out there."
Hawk just smiled.
"So, what do you want to do now?"
"Let them all come up. I guess I'm a little curious about the green girl with the pointy ears, too."
"You're the boss!"
Hawk nodded. With a mere thought, he reached out with his telekinesis.
The next second.
Clatter!
Clang!
Thud!
Down in the hangar bay, every single weapon carried by the Guardians of the Galaxy was violently and instantly ripped from their grasp and thrown to the deck—including the hidden dagger Gamora had tucked inside her boot.
Gwen was carrying twins. She was a priority-one protection target. Hawk wasn't about to take any chances, no matter how small.
The Guardians stared at their empty hands and the pile of weapons on the floor, instant panic flashing across their faces.
But before they could react.
Enterprise spoke again.
"The Captain is waiting on the bridge. Please follow me. Do not touch anything on your way."
"Right this way, please."
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