The Guardians of the Galaxy in…

A DAY IN THE LIFE

By Travis Hiltz

Author’s note: this story takes place in that vague period of the Guardians’ history, when they were no longer appearing in Marvel Presents, but before their trip to the 20th century for the “Korvac Saga” in the Avengers.

The starship Freedom’s Lady limped through space, its hull decorated with scorch marks and makeshift repairs. It slowly made its way to an Earth-like world orbiting a pale blue star.

Gathered around the ship’s bridge, the unique group of space wanderers known as the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ were studying instrument panels as well as continuing with repairs. All the Guardians had the sad distinction of being the sole-surviving member of some race or group.

Major Vance Astro, his body enveloped in a blue and white containment suit, paced the bridge, supervising repairs and watching over his friends and teammates. Vance was not a sole survivor; he was an Earthman, but an Earthman from a different era. An astronaut from the twentieth century, Vance had spent centuries in suspend animation. He was separated from his fellow Earthmen by history and the suit that kept him alive.

Stationed at the controls was the team’s resident space pilot, Charlie-27, the last Jovian. He was not an overly tall man, but raised in the heavy gravity of the Jupiter colonies, was rock solid. He was dressed in a short-sleeved, yellow body suit, heavy red boots, gloves and belt as well as a red mask. He reminded Vance of the professional wrestlers he’d used to watch as a child.

“How we doing?” Vance asked, peering over Charlie’s shoulder at the view screen.

“We’re gonna make it to that station orbiting the planet,” Charlie-27 grunted in reply. “But just barely and we ain’t leaving without some serious work on the ‘Lady’.”

Vance nodded and walked over to the science station. Standing by the console, intently studying the monitors was Martinex, a scientist from the Pluto colonies; he looked to be a living statue made of crystal.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, at Martinex’s feet, rewiring a panel was the team’s newest member, Nikki. She was a slim young woman with tanned skin and hair that resembled fire. She wore a green, short-sleeved body suit, with a fringe skirt. She smiled up at Vance’s approach.

“Monitors are almost set,” she announced. “We’ll soon have official confirmation have how much trouble we’re in!”

“Good to know,” Vance said. “How much trouble are we in, Marty?”

“It looks worse than it is,” the Plutonian scientist replied, not looking up from his console, “but it is still, and I hope I’m not sounding too technical, pretty bad. Starhawk is down in engineering, using his stellar energy to keep the main energy core charged. There was an odd power fluctuation a couple minutes ago. I’m trying to figure out if that’s a problem with the monitors or the warp engine. Yondu went down to check.”

“Was that the good or the bad news?” Vance asked Nikki, under his breath.

She shrugged and went back to work.

“Once we dock at the station, we can use the star’s solar energy to recharge the core, which will mean we can get the diagnostic and automated repair systems back on line.”

“We’re gonna need some supplies to deal with the structural damage,” Charlie-27 said, over his shoulder.

“…and I’m getting tired of three square meals a day of emergency rations and recycled water,” Nikki added.

“Yeah, I got it,” Vance said. “Let’s focus on keeping the ship space worthy. If you’re a good girl, Nikki we’ll take you to the station food court once we get the repairs done.”

All four Guardians were suddenly startled by a staticy screeching noise that immediately died down to an incoherent murmur.

“Communications system is back on line,” Martinex said, finally looking up. “Going to take a second to sync up with the planet’s comm. grid… oh, when did that start blinking?”

He touched a button and a voice came from the console.

“Hello? This is Yondu… I’m in engineering… can you hear me up there…? Cursed technology…!”

“We hear you, Finhead,” Vance said. “Everything okay?”

“Starhawk is acting…. odd. I’m not sure if it is a problem or not.”

“I’ll be right down,” Vance said, clicking the comm. panel off and heading for the door. “Great, like we didn’t have enough problems. Let me know when we reach the station.”

The anti-grav elevator quickly took him to engineering. It was a cavernous room, dominated by the massive pillar that was the ship’s space-warp engine. Only the emergency lights were working and Vance had to walk carefully, so as not to trip over any of the debris, equipment or tools scattered about. He found Yondu, sitting on a makeshift work bench, restringing his bow. Yondu was an alien from Beta Centurai; his people had been primitive hunters, masters of the bow and arrow. Yondu was blue skinned, his ears slightly pointed and instead of hair, there was a large crested red fin upon his head.

He was dressed in a red body suit, one sleeve short the other served as an arm guard for his bow hand and covered his arm to his finger tips. He wore a golden metallic sash, and an arm band and hoop earring, both made of the same metal.

He looked up at Vance’s approach and nodded. His stoic nature reminded Vance of the portrayal of Indians in old western movies. Though, he wondered if Yondu was the faithful Indian sidekick, did that make him ‘the masked man’?

“Where is he?” Vance asked.

Yondu got off of the work bench and beckoned Vance to follow. Around the other side of the engine pillar sat the team’s final member. He sat Indian style and floating three feet above the floor. Starhawk was a cosmic being, created by the merging of a married couple and the energies of an alien god. He wore a blue body suit and cowl with yellow gloves, boots and belt. His eyes were closed and his fisted hands rested in his lap.

“How long has he been like this?” Vance asked.

“Several minutes,” Yondu replied.

“Right about the time Martinex noticed that energy flux,” The ancient astronaut muttered. “How are the power levels?”

“Stable, according to the sensors, so whatever happened might not be because of that.”

“Then what’s he up to?” Vance muttered.

Suddenly, Starhawk’s head snapped up and his eyes opened. The yellow crest opened on his forehead and his energy wings appeared. He straightened up and suddenly flew out of the engine room.

“Oh, great!” Vance exclaimed. “After him!”

The duo raced after their cosmic teammate, barely able to keep up.

“He is heading for the shuttle bay.” Yondu said.

“I think he’s leaving the ship!” Vance added. “What’s he up to?”

They skidded to a halt, and Vance tapped the star emblem on his chest. All the Guardians wore one. They acted as communicators and translators. “Hey, guys! This is Vance, can you hear me?”

“What’s up, cutie?” Nikki replied. “Everything okay with ‘he who knows.’…?”

“Not as such. Starhawk’s in some kind of trance and flying off. Try and follow him with the sensors and see where he’s going. We’ll sort it out after we get the ship fixed. Any world from the station?”

“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t believe it… hey!”

“Vance,” Martinex interrupted. “We have a problem.”

“Another one?”

“We’ve connected with the station’s comm. system. The station is over run with refugees from the planet,”

“Why? What happened?”

“That part is fuzzy, but we’ve been lucky enough to arrive in the middle of a planetary disaster. They are attempting to evacuate the planet.”

“God hates us,” Vance muttered, hanging his head. “What now?”

“We can get a berth on the station and at least recharge, but getting supplies for repairs is going to be a fight. Sounds like the station is stretched past its limits.”

“All right, we’ll be up in a minute and figure out the next step.”

Minutes later, all the remaining Guardians were gathered back on the bridge.

“So, here’s my plan,” Martinex said. “Charlie and Nikki will go to the station and see if they can find what we need, the rest of us stay onboard and…”

“Why us?” Charlie asked.

“Because this world is an Earth colony. We need to send the ones that will blend in,” Vance explained. “The war may be over, and we may be heroes, but we’ve already learned that normal people have some problems with us. Those people are on the verge of panic from the sound of things. Aliens wandering around is going to push somebody over the edge.”

“What about the planet?” Nikki asked. “ We aren’t just going to go shopping and leave are we?”

“This is a planet wide disaster, Nikki.” Martinex said. “If half of the comm. chatter we’ve heard is true, we are talking massive weather disruptions, continent wide earth quakes and a shifting of the gravitational field. At this point we can barely take care of our selves.”

“Then, while Chuckie and I are on the station,” Nikki said. “You guys could be investigating what’s going on down on the planet.”

“I don’t think that’s…” Vance started.

“We can also look for Starhawk,” Yondu added.

“…gonna be a problem,” Vance finished, shaking his head and knowing he wasn’t going to win this argument.”

“And Martinex is coming with us,” Charlie added. “We’re going to need a bit more technical knowhow than Nikki and I can manage.”

“Again, I don’t think you guys…” Vance started.

Nikki pulled a tarp off of a pile of equipment and quickly wrapped it around the Plutonian scientist, forming a makeshift cloak with a hood.

“Never mind. Every body keep in touch and be careful,” Vance said, heading for the door. “Come on, Yondu, before I lose another argument.”

Moments later, the Freedom’s Lady was docking with the station with all the grace and speed of a drunken manatee and the shuttle was hurtling its way towards the planet.

“Hope they’ll be all right,” Nikki said, peering out a viewpoint at the shuttle, as they headed out into the docking bay. She now wore a green head cloth to cover her distinctive hair. Charlie had removed his mask and covered his usual outfit with a rumpled coverall.

“Hopefully, they can find Starhawk and make some sense of all this,” Martinex told her. He too wore a coverall, as well as having his face and hands wrapped with makeshift bandages. “Now, remember, we are here for a specific reason and trying to keep a low profile. No wandering off and think before you talk to anyone.”

“Why are you looking at me when you say that?” Nikki asked.

“Yeah, funny that,” Charlie smirked, and stepped out into the docking bay.

It was chaos, several dozen ships were jammed in the bay and maintenance crews and refugees were everywhere. There were holographic signs, as well as numerous exhausted looking security guards stationed around to direct people, but the lines stretched all across the bay and out into the corridors.

“Harkov’s bones,” Martinex muttered.

“This is horrible,” Nikki added.

“Come on,” Charlie said, gruffly. “Bad as it is, we can’t do anything to help right now.”

With his massive build, he was able to steer his way through the crowd, the other two struggling to keep up and he made his way to the nearest guard.

“Taking on refugees or supplies?” The guard asked in an obvious much repeated speech.

“We just got in,” Charlie replied. “We’re from out of system. Need repairs before we can be any help. Can you direct us?”

The guard eyed the odd trio then shrugged.

“Supply and the merchant’s row is orange level. Need to see what they can do. Looting is an automatic last to be evacuated offense.”

“Got it. Thanks for the help.” Charlie nodded, as they headed out.

“We can’t just leave these people,” Nikki breathed.

“If Vance thinks whatever is happening on the planet is something we can deal with, we will,” Martinex said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Stay focused on why we are here.”

The young girl from Mercury nodded sadly and followed the others, but she couldn’t help looking behind at the mass of humanity in the docking bay.

Meanwhile, the Guardians shuttle flew over the devastated planet. Vance Astro’s fingers danced across the controls, struggling to keep on an even course, as the strange weather batted the shuttle around.

“I may not be as good at the science as Marty,” he muttered, “but, I’m not picking up anything that explains what is tearing this planet apart. It makes no sense.”

“The way of the gods are not always straightforward,” Yondu said, not looking up from his scanner. “We still have a clear trace on Starhawk.”

“Okay, but let’s keep the mysticism to a minimum,” Vance replied. “I’ve got my doubts that whatever is happening to this world can be explained by ‘the will of the gods’…whoa! There’s some kind of energy signature just past that mountain range. It’s off the chart. Might be a good idea to go around…”

“Starhawk’s energy trail goes straight to it.”

“Of course it does,” Vance muttered. “Well, let’s go see how bad it is.”

The shuttle veered and then rose to pass over the mountains.

Standing in a valley were three figures. Each stood close to a thousand feet high and was covered in head to toe, ornate armor. The one in the center was red, on his left was green, and on the right was done in various shades of purple.

“Oh my god…!” Vance gasped. “Celestials!”

“It would appear the gods did have something to do with this disaster,” Yondu added.

The Celestial in purple held out a device that resembled a massive sextant. The Red one held his hand out palm up and seemed to merely be staring at it.

“How do we deal with this?” Vance said. “There’s no way… we need to get a hold of the others….”

“Can we move closer?” Yondu asked.

“Closer? Getting suicidal in your old age, Yondu? Those are Celestials! You don’t get closer to them. You get as far away as possible and hope they don’t notice you.”

“Starhawk’s energy trace goes directly to the Celestials,” Yondu replied matter-of-factly.

“I hate this day,” Vance said. “Let’s go push our luck some more.”

The shuttle took a wide arc towards the giant beings, struggling against not only the out of control weather but the fact that the energy of the Celestials wrecked havoc with the ship’s instruments.

“This is as close as we can get!” Vance announced. “As it is we have structural stress alerts all over the shuttles outer hull. You’ve got five minutes to find Starhawk. If I think they’ve noticed us, you’ve got twelve seconds.”

“Scanners are all off-line,” Yondu said, shaking his head. He looked up and his eyes went wide. “I’ve found him.”

“Oh no.” Vance said, looking to where Yondu suddenly pointed.

Starhawk had returned to his meditative posture from before, but at the movement he was floating right above the red Celestials’ upturned palm. His eyes were open and seemed to be in eye contact with the armored eyes of the red Celestial.

“What is he doing?” Yondu asked.

“I don’t know, but I think we need to get back to the station and tell the others what is going on. Hold on.”

With that, the shuttle sped off.

Back on the station, the other members of the team were making slow progress with their task. Charlie trudged along, carrying a medium sized box of assorted parts and bits of technical equipment. Martinex was tinkering with a palm-sized computer device. Nikki was munching on some brown pencil shaped items that she took from a small greasy paper bag.

“You sure you guys don’t want any?” Nikki asked. “Bit chewy, but not bad tasting.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and kept walking.

“I think this will be compatible with our systems,” Martinex said. “Things seem to be working out.”

“Yeah,” Charlie added. “Aside from the desperate, shell shocked mobs of refugees and soon to occur death of a planet, it’s been a cake walk. Let’s get this stuff to the ‘Lady’, then we…what the…?”

Up ahead, the corridor hit a corner. A man in a station security uniform came flying round the corner, hit the wall and slumped to the floor, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead.

He was soon followed by a ragged mob. They were wide eyed with panic. and they carried some hunks of pipe and a could of knives that looked they’d been stolen from the food court as weapons.

“This is bad,” Nikki said, reaching for her gun belt.

“Leave it to me,” Charlie said, tossing his box to her. She staggered under its weight. “Slow down, folks, this isn’t gonna help anybody.”

The mob raced forward, shouting demands for a ship and just generally roaring in fear and frustration.

Luckily, the corridor was narrow. Charlie-27 planted his feet firmly and stuck out his arms, so his palms were pressed against the metal walls.

“They can’t keep us here!”

“Outta the way…ooofff!”

The mob slammed into Charlie with the force of a wave against a sea wall. He held his position and they stumbled back, colliding with the rest of the crowd. Once started, the mob was unable to stop or coordinate, so they just kept pouring down the corridor, several dozen of them shoving against the stubborn, lone Jovian.

“Could use…unn… a little help…arrgh…here!” Charlie said through teeth gritted with effort. He pushed back, pressing his hands against the walls till he left gouges in the metal.

Martinex quickly unwrapped the bandages around his hand and reached down to touch the floor. Using his powers, he was able to generate a thin sheet of ice that slowly spread down the corridor and under the feet of the mob. Slipping and sliding they had no chance of pushing Charlie-27 back and so he was able to hold them until station security arrived and began breaking the mob up and escorting them back to the waiting areas.

The head of security, an older man with a handlebar mustache and a rumpled uniform walked up to the trio of Guardians.

“So, what’s your story?” He asked, his voice casual, but his yes intent and studying.

Charlie-27 looked from Nikki to Martinex. Both gave him a brief nod. He shrugged his massive shoulder.

“I guess we’re here to help.”

The shuttle struggled out of the planet’s chaotic atmosphere and then had to work its way through the vast, rag tag fleet of ships transporting the population away. The trip back to the ‘Lady of Freedom’ was tortuously slow.

“Any luck on the comm.?” Vance asked, as he slid past several massive cargo ships and arced up and over the station to reach the docking bay where the Guardians’ ship was berthed.

“There is still too much interference. How they can understand each other or organize this…?” Yondu shook his head. “Careful of that solar glider.”

“I see it,” Vance muttered. “Almost… damn…!”

The shuttle rocked and Vance had to struggle to keep it on course.

“I think we lost a wing tip,” Yondu said, peering out a side viewport.

“Okay, okay, shut up for a second…if I can get us into the landing bay…where the hell did that cargo runner come from…! Oh hell… hold on, we’re gonna scrape the paint!”

The shuttle swerved from side to side, like a drunken fish struggling to get up stream. They squeezed past ships and strained every system before skidding to a halt next to theFreedom’s Lady.

“I believe there is an old Earth expression,” Yondu said. “Any landing you can walk away from…”

“Oh, shut up,” Vance muttered, rubbing at the various bruises he’d acquired on their trip back to the station. “We need to figure out a way to find the others without attracting too much attention.”

“Yes, after that landing no one will give us a second look.”

“You picked a lousy time to grow a sense of humor, finhead,” Vance said. “Let’s see if we can get the comm. badges working well enough to find the others… ah, got them.”

“Comm. working?” Yondu asked.

“No, look there.” Vance said, pointing.

Charlie went walking by, hefting a crate roughly the size of a Volkswagen. Martinex stood nearby, all his bandages removed, as he used his heat generating powers to seal up a maintenance panel on a cargo barge.

“Let’s see what’s going on,” Vance said, getting up.

“Vance! Yondu!” Nikki shouted happily, as she came rushing up to give them a ‘welcome back’ hug. “You’re okay!”

“What’s going on?” Vance asked. “I thought we…”

“I made the call, Major,” Charlie said, putting down the crate and joining them. “Much as I hate to admit it, Nikki was right, we had to help these people.”

“and things are going pretty smooth,” Nikki added. “Martinex has gotten several ships fixed, as well as the station systems, Chuckie’s been hauling cargo, as well as working crowd control…”

“ And you, Nikki?” Yondu asked.

“I’m morale officer.”

“Of course you are.” Vance said. “So, what about the ‘Lady’? She hasn’t gotten lost in the rush, I hope.”

“Energy panels have been recharging as planned,” Martinex said. “Some trouble scavenging parts and supplies, but I think we have the major repairs covered. Did you find Starhawk?”

“Yeah, what’s going on with the planet?” Charlie asked.

With an anxious look, Vance and Yondu told them about their trip.

“Harkov’s Bones!” Martinex mumbled, looking stunned.

“Cripes!” Charlie added. “Celestials!”

“What was Starhawk doing?” Nikki asked.

“Talking to them, I guess,” Vance shrugged. “At least, I think that’s what it looked like.”

“We need to get moving,” Martinex said. “While Starhawk operates on a level above the rest of us, I doubt he can do more than ask the Celestials politely not to ravage this world.”

“Back to work,” Charlie said. “We got people to get to safety.”

Back down on the planet, the red Celestial turned his massive armored head to glance at the rapidly retreating shuttle craft, then returned to peer at Starhawk.

No words were spoken between Starhawk and the trio of cosmic giants. Above even the sounds of disaster, storm and departing ships could be heard the hum of power and energy that flowed from the Celestials themselves.

After several moments, Starhawk unfolded from his sitting position and stood up.

“I understand, Arishem of the Host,” he said, with a nod. “ I appreciate your hearing my petition and will of course yield to your judgment ” His wings unfurled and he flew off in search of his teammates.

The three Celestials turned so that they faced each other and seemed to be in conversation. After a few moments of this silent communion, the red Celestial, Arishem, raised an enormous armored hand and beam of white light shot from the palm, heading into the sky, in the direction of the station struggling to relocate the planet’s population.

Within seconds, it had caught up to and enveloped Starhawk in a cylinder of white light. The cosmic being gasped as the energy permeated every atom of his body and then was absorbed into his mind. His very soul seemed to be awash with the energy. As suddenly as it struck, the beam faded, leaving Starhawk, limp, senseless and slowly drifting towards the busy station and his teammates.

“What was that?” Vance said, sitting in a control room on the station. He tapped at several controls and then scratched at his chin.

“What?” Martinex asked. He was seated on a packing crate, trying to rewire an overheated control panel.

“Another energy surge. Weird one… seemed like … a beam fired from the planet, but it just stopped and faded away. Not sure why I’m surprised that I don’t understand any of these readings. Celestials are so far out of our league…. I think if the readings made sense I’d be even more worried.”

“I find it better to think of the Celestials as a force of nature,” Martinex said. “You don’t try to figure out the motivations of a storm, avalanche or solar flare. You concentrate on getting through them and aiding the survivors.”

A panel buzzed and Vance touched a switch

“Um… hello…? Station… um… damn… … I can’t remember the number…!”

“Vance?” Charlie-27’s voice said. “Can you come down to the docking bay? We’ve got a…uh… visitor.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Martinex muttered, as he and Vance raced out of the room.

The visitor stood in the middle of the hanger, in a clearing between ships and equipment. She was a slim young woman, with short blonde hair. She wore a white, thigh length tunic. There was a nimbus of light around her. She turned to face Vance and Martinex as they came running up to the crowd around her.

“Aleta…?”Vance asked, recognizing the pretty features of Starhawk’s ‘other self’. “What are you doing here…?”

“This unit is not the organic designated Aleta of Arcturus 4. This unit is a replitoid. I represent the Celestial Host.”

“Some kind of …android,” Martinex said. “A messenger from the Celestials.”

“Um…okay, what do you want?” Vance asked, nervously. “You have a message for us?”

“The unit known as Skatar, avatar of the Hawk god, has sought audience with the Host and his petition has been heard. This unit was sent to present you with this.”

She reached out her hands and there was a brief glow and when the glow faded she held in her hands a metal cube.

“This must be installed in this stations defense grid,” The Aleta replitoid said, holding it out to Vance.

“That looks like an asma-form shield unit,” Martinex said.

“A what?” Charlie asked.

“We just take her word and install that… gizmo in the station systems?” Nikki asked. “Does that sound like a good idea to anybody? We trust somebody who works for the things ravaging the planet?”

The crowd began to rumble in a way that made Vance anxious. This situation was already balancing on a razor ‘s edge. They had somehow managed to gain the stations’ trust and acceptance. They’d done a lot of good and saved a lot of lives, but that could change in an instant, if the crowd got ugly and word spread that an agent of the Celestials was giving a suspect bit of technology to ‘that band of alien freak gatecrashers’.

“…Within the next seven minutes,” The Replitoid continued, raising her voice to be heard of the rumble of the crowd.

“What!” Vance shouted, grabbing the cube from her and tossing it to Martinex. “What do we do?”

“Maintenance access port should… Hey!” Martinex said, holding up the cube and studying it.

Charlie grabbed Martinex and the cube and immediately plowed through the crowd.

“There’s one on this level!” He shouted, as he ran.

“What?” Vance said. “Maybe we should…”

“Look!” Nikki exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pointing towards the viewport with her other hand.

There was a clear view of the planet, and the nimbus of light that was gradually starting to envelope it.

He spun on the Replitoid.

“What will that cube do?” He demanded, grabbing her arm. “What’s happening?”

“Vance!” Nikki shouted. “The people! We’ve got to… ow!”

The crowd stampeded, some of them going after Charlie and Martinex to either help or hinder. Some fleeing to the nearest ship that was space worthy. The rest seemed to have decided that they were about to die and had decided to make sure the Replitoid suffered with them.

“Oh no. We are not doing this!” Vance shouted. Telekinetic force shot from his forehead, hitting the crowd like a bettering ram. The people tumbled about, like leaves in a hurricane. He then grabbed the Replitoid and Nikki , each by an arm, and steered them towards the Freedom’s Lady.

“Get on the ship! I’m going to check on Marty!”

“You want us to hide?” Nikki protested.

“I want you to keep her safe,” he replied, nodding towards the artificial woman. “I don’t want to survive this only to tick off the Celestials because we let their herald get killed by a mob. Get the engines heating up. Find Starhawk! “

He hit the air lock button, shutting them inside the ‘Lady’ and then spun and dove into the crowd. A few more telekinetic blasts cleared him a path and he was able to shove aside any stragglers.

“Get away! We are trying to help! So, help me god, you people do something stupid and get us killed, I will haunt you all. Charlie! Things okay?”

“I think so!” The Jovian shouted back.

They had ripped off an access panel and Martinex was frantically attaching connecting wires between a circuit board and the cube.

“Think I’ve got it…” Martinex muttered to himself, generating enough heat energy to seal the connection. “Might take a minute to sync up…”

“Good, since in a minute and a half we all die,” Charlie muttered. “What now?”

“If we are really lucky and I’m as smart as I think I am,” Martinex said. “Everybody lives. Might want to brace yourselves.”

The cube began to glow and tendrils of green energy flowed down the wires and raced through the stations’ systems.

Below, the energy wave encapsulated the entire planet and then built to a blinding blue light. When it exploded, waves of energy, hundreds of miles across cascaded out from the planet and washed over the solar system. The ships escaping the area were tossed about like toy boats hit by a fire hose. The station was suddenly surrounded by a sphere of energy. The energy waves from the planet simply washed over it, leaving it and its inhabitants shaken but unscathed. The physical force of the energy storm had no effect on the station, but no living being of less than god status cannot be unaffected by the power of the Celestials.

For the entire station, it was naptime.

“Vance! Vance, wake up!”

“Five more minutes, Mom. I’ll mow… lawn… promise.”

“What the Dast are you talking about?”

“Um… what?” Vance sat up. “Why am I on the floor?”

“More important,” Charlie-27 asked, also sitting up, “is why aren’t we dead?”

“Is anybody listening to me?” Nikki’s voice came from Vance’s comm. badge. “Hello? Vance!”

“Nikki?” Vance said, tapping his badge. “You’re okay? How about Aleta… uh… the Replitoid?”

“She’s gone!”

“Gone? How?”

“She just… there was a glow…. and… poof!”

“I hate when she uses that technical jargon.” Charlie said, rubbing at his sore muscles.

“Um… I think I’ve found her,” Martinex said.

The three Guardians looked up, as a glow appeared in the docking bay. The Replitoid stood there, holding the limp form of Starhawk in her arms.

“Your companion is returned to you,” She said. “ You will enter your vessel.”

“Why?” Vance asked.

“The Judgment of the Host concerns the inhabitants of this system. The inhabitants will be allowed to resettle. Variables must be removed.”

“Variables?” Charlie muttered.

“Us.” Martinex explained.

“We’re being told to get outta town by sunset,” Vance grumbled, getting to his feet.

The Replitoid smiled at the Guardians and there was another flash of light. When it cleared, they were all back aboard the Freedom’s Lady and the Station was nowhere in sight.

“Harkov’s bones!” Martinex exclaimed, moving to the bridge controls. “We are out of the system!”

“Basically, we tried to save the day and then got shown the door,” Charlie grumbled.

“On the bright side, the ship’s systems are fully re-charged, ”Martinex explained.

“So, that’s it?” Nikki asked, looking around at her teammates. “We try and save all those people and because Starhawk asked nicely, instead of wiping us out they just toss us across the galaxy? What are we going to do now?”

“Get some sleep,” Vance said, as he and Yondu helped Starhawk to his feet. “ I’ve had enough meddling with the affairs of the gods for one day, don’t know bout the rest of you.”

“I could use some coffee,” Martinex said. “ And to get rid of this outfit. I’ll never understand this insistence you people have on wearing pants.”

“Sounds like,” Charlie said, sitting back down at the ship’s controls. “We need a quiet spot to recover from our last attempt at finding a quiet spot. Gotta be somewhere in this whole galaxy we can go and not get into trouble. Let’s see if we can find it.