6549/Milano Tales: The Power Stone

Milano Tales: The Power Stone
Date of Scene:	13 June 2021
Location:	Knowhere
Synopsis:	Ronan the Accuser's ship The Dark Aster suddenly appears before Knowhere and attacks without provocation. Missiles are fired and troops are deployed. Luckily the Guardians of the Galaxy are there to fight back. And fight back they do. Defeating Korath the Pursuer and the Sakaaran forces accompanying him they save Knowhere. However, the attack was just a ruse. Nebula slipped in through the nose and stole the power stone. She escaped, but not before Phyla got a tracker on her. To be continued...
Cast of Characters:	Phyla-Vell, Nebula, Groot, Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket

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Phyla-Vell has posed:
    The Dark Aster appears suddenly and without warning. It's vertical sections twirl in to position and unleash a barrage of missiles toward Knowhere. Unprovoked it seems, Ronan the Accuser has launched an all out attack. Dozens of small ships containing Sakaaran troops are deployed. The klaxons on the space port begin to sound across every device linked to its network.

    Phila-Vell jumps up from the eatery table she's sitting at the moment the ship arrives. Her eyes stare off in to the distance and then she begins to run. As she runs her body begins to glow brightly like a sun and she lifts up in to the air. The large mouth of the celestial that once was, is where she emerges and she grips her quantum band and punches toward the Dark Aster. Brilliant energy ripples forth from her like a pulse.

    The missiles from the Dark Aster shimmer and shake before exploding well before they hit Knowhere, however the landing parties shoot right by her. Ronan on the bridge of the Dark Aster places a hand on a control bar and grips tightly, "Quasar!" Anger wells up inside of him. The odds of that goodie two shoes being here today are astronomical! "Forget the missiles. Korath, tear this place a part."

    The first of the Sakaaran troopers land on Knowhere. Some with guns, some with melee weapons. They mean to cause mayhem. Their leader? Korath the Pursuer. The tall proud looking man filled to the bring with cybernetic enhancements steps off the transport and cracks his neck to the left, then to the right. Lifting up his large blaster canon, he takes aim at a small mom and mom and mom and pop clothing shop and fires. Sakaaran troops start to spread out through Knowhere and the security is not equiped to handle an invasion.

Nebula has posed:
    It's a new dawn. It's a new day. And I'm feeling good. Nebula smirks to herself in the holo mirror as she seals up her armor. Dark makeup is smeared across her eyes. She picks up her energised staves and gives them a twirl. Storage in her thighs opens up and she slides them in. She's feeling good. That's what a good 'fixing' will do to a Daughter of Thanos. Her hand strokes over her bald head and she laughs. Freedom is hers, freedom from the idea of freedom. The factory reset was a success.

    It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me. And I'm feeling good.

    Nebula strolls out to the bridge in time to see the incredible light show from Quasar. She raises an eyebrow, resting a hand on her hip and smirking, "Plan B then?" Ronan turns abruptly with annoyance to stare down at Nebula. Not a few days ago she was a prisoner here but now she's back in a position of power. He simply nods to her. Nebula says, "I thought as much." She turns on the heels of her feet and wanders off toward the fighter launch bay.

Groot has posed:
Groot frowns greatly. He is not a fan of tyrants no matter who they are, and this place is the closest to home he knows, he deliberately straightens himself up to maximum height and intends to kick ass and take some names and he is all out of names. All except one. "I am Groot."

Peter Quill has posed:
A few minutes earlier...

"Hey now, Borth, I was definitely going to pay you back those units I borrowed," Peter says hands up as the beefy alien in front of him glowers down at him.

"You pay now, Terran or I rip off-"

BOOM the missiles light up the window in the bar and Peter and his would-be attacker turn to see it. "What is that?" Borth asks before Peter calmly draws a quadblaster and leaves the big alien a stunned slab of meat on the floor. "Oooh boy this is going to be interesting."

Now...

Star-Lord's mask is down and his jet boots are on, as he flies and blasts at the Sakaaran troops storming the station. << Guys what's your status there's a lot of ugly swarming in here >> he calls over comms. Spotting Korath lift the weapon and blast some poor shop, he calls out, "Hey dude with the metal let's see how you do with a moving target!" he calls firing off some blasts from is weapons before jetting up towards some of the mining rig looking for cover.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora has not been here long, and has been too distracted by a cocktail of anxiety, worry, doubt and... cocktails to really absorb the culture. But she knows that ship, and it's enough to ignite a growing fury in the Zenwhoberian.

    A million questions race through her mind. Are they here for Gamora? Does that mean Nebula failed? If the Dark Aster is on another mission, did they already bring Nebula to Father? Or did they turn right around here mid way?

    Could Nebula be here, too?

    Part of her hopes that Ronan just made their rescue mission redundant. The rest of her can only focus on blood until the matter is settled. Before she emerges from a narrow pathway, a Sakaaran trooper rounds the corner, only to immediately be carved in half by Gamora's blade. His body falls in two directions to reveal Gamora on the other side of him, who steps over his bleeding carcass without looking at it.

    If Father's here for her, then she's done restraining herself for 'stability's stake. She was getting sick of playing nice anyway.

"hhhhhhhhhggggggggRAAUGGHH!!" The growl starts low in her throat as she rushes forward, only to erupt into a roar as she swings her blade across two troopers advancing left in front of her; splitting the closest one's head in half horizontally, and cutting the ear off of the man behind him, before her blade whirls back around at an upward angle, cutting him from his right armpit, through his neck, and above his left shoulder.

    Gamora kicks him forward, his body flying away in two pieces, while his rifle flies upward, only to fall back into Gamora's free outstretched hand, immediately before she turns on her heel to fire on another group of Sakaraan as she advances towards them.

    << I'm fine. >> Gamora answers tersely, with laser fire in the background of her audio. << That's the Dark Aster. Everyone who steps off of it deserves to die. Don't hold anything back. >>

Rocket has posed:
In the middle of whatever shenanigans he was up to on Knowhere, Rocket is interrupted by the sounds of an attack. "Oh, you have got to be flarkin' kidding me," he growls as comm-chatter fires up before long. <<What'd you do this time, Quill?>> is his first reaction, before a live feed nearby clues him in. Dark Aster. Missiles being intercepted. Ground forces invading.

Quill talking about lots of ugly swarming around. <<How many times I gotta tell you, stop lookin' in the mirror!>> he retorts.

A response follows for Groot. <<Ohhh yeah, buddy. We'll kick their asses, all right. If this is who I think it is, I got a present for 'em.>> It's been difficult to track down enough information to give them the advantage in finding Nebula, but now they're coming to the Guardians. The only question is, who have they sent?

As he flies his way into the mix via his own jet pack, he's toting a suitably oversized cannon of a gun with him. "Say cheese," he snarls at the Sakaarans closest to him, a pair that fire in his direction. Zipping above the blasts, he returns fire. A glowing orb of plasma or something like it lurches out of the gun, homing in on them before the two are engulfed and all but disintegrated. "Boom."

Phyla-Vell has posed:
    Phyla shuts her eyes a moment as she 'watches' the energy of those pods racing from the Dark Aster to Knowhere. Most of them are headed to heavily populated areas. One has split off from the party though. She waits a moment to see if Ronan will volley another round of missiles. Nothing.

    Turning back from open spaces, she lands at the docks and instantly has to lift up a hand to block incoming fire from Sakaaran soldiers. A long pointed shield is formed by her quantum bands and absorbs the blasts. It blows for a moment before it becomes a real chunk of composition materials.

    << Guardians, we're under attack. The Dark Aster is back. They don't know you're alive.. so.. that's an adv~ >> she says and stops talking about advantages when Peter charges straight for Korath. << Never mind. Let's kick butt >>. She unleashes a quantum blast from her free hand at a Sakaaran that's getting too close, then runs toward the shopping district where the majority of people live on Knowhere.

Nebula has posed:
    The Sakaraan are an insectoid race.. which means some of them suddenly start to flutter wings behind them and take to the air. It's almost as if the moment Peter called Korath out, they moved to defend him. He looks up when he sees Peter Quill and smirks at him.

    "Star-Lord," is all he says and he begins to take pot shots at the flying guy. One of his blasts hits a Sakaraan and green guts burst through the air toward Peter. There's so many of them on the ground too. Moving from store to store and aiming weapons at the civilians.

    The local defence force engages in a pitched battle with blasters behind large metal crates. They are defending the power cores and civilian homes from further advancement by the Sakaaran troopers.

    Nebula slips in to a pod and launches off toward Knowhere like the rest of the troops. She deviates from the planned course and heads up through the nose instead. She is not interested in a fight in the streets. Her eyes are on the prize.

Groot has posed:
Groot picks up a large industrial washing machine that looks like it weighs about 10 tons. He shrieks in rage and lifts it over his head and throws it at three of the bug men who fire at Rocket and himself and the washingmachine before realizing the physics of the situation as it moves right past them, hits the station wall, as they chuckle and start to fire again only to realize that it bounces off the wall and squishes them flat with a satisfactory squishing sound. It also clears the way for several civilians who had been pinned in an ally.

Gamora has posed:
    Four Sakaaran rush Gamora, wings fluttering as they fan out to attack her from four directions. One gets shot in the chest; another in the chin. A third closes in on her in that time, only to receive a sword through the stomach, which then curves downard to the floor, bodily pushing him by the sword pommel into the ground and impaling him to the floor.

    The fourth takes a swing at Gamora's head with a long weapon, only for Gamora to pitch forward, keeping one leg on the ground as the other snaps back and upward as the Sakaaran passes, taking a boot to the face that knocks it backward, staggering and sputtering, while Gamora plants that same leg on the dead Sakaaran, pushes down on him while pulling her blade out, and then slashes it across the remaining bug man.

    Noting his wings are still fluttering, Gamora fires a shot into his head for good measure.

    In the distance, she sees what can only be Star-Lord flitting around a familiar shape. Gamora grits her teeth and growls softly, before she begins to sprint in their direction. Her instinct is to take Korath by surprise, but a certain... distracting sentiment brings her to fire a few shots at Peter's pursuers shortly before she swings her blade towards Korath's back.

Peter Quill has posed:
<< This sucks, we finally fight a guy who knows me and we have to kill him so he can't tell anyone I'm alive >> Peter gripes, wiping alien guts off his mask. One blaster is holstered and Peter pulls his little gravity device from a pocket. Beginning to throw it in Korath's direction, he diverts it at the last second seeing Gamora has joined that fight, flinging it behind some of the bugs firing at civilians trying to draw them down and trap them.

<< We got anything that'll stop these guys from killing people? >> he asks the group as he guns down some more of the ones taking aim at civilians. << Maybe threaten shiny metal guy until he calls off his army?>>

Rocket has posed:
<<More guns? More guns always helps.>> Rocket has his own views there, no question about it. He causes a few more bugs to go 'splat' with his nice new weapon, giving it a good run-through after preliminary testing on various things that absolutely didn't belong to Quill.

(Sometimes in science and other things, there are reasonable casualties.)

The strange and oft-angry little beastie adds, <<I'm startin' to lose track of how many kills I got. Can't count that high! Did I hear somebody say something about a guy with a bunch of metal? Lemme get a good look at him...and yeah, sure. Of course we'll protect the..you know, the ones who need protecting.>>

He's much happier shooting things, but helping the civilians of Knowhere would make them all look pretty good, it's true.

Phyla-Vell has posed:
    Some of the civilians are running for it under cover of local security forces to get back to safety. But others, upon seeing Quasar, stop and stare from their places of hiding. << On it >> Phyla replies, the glowing woman lifts up her quantum band and large shields begin to fall down in place in front of shops. Blaster fire from Sakaaran's looking to ruin lives hits them as they form in to something real too.

    She moves up behind a trio and with a slash, a whip of energy cuts through them, their bifurcated bodies flopping to the ground. A shop keeper calls out, "Who are they!?" Another replies, "Quasar.. and the Guardians of the Galaxy!" A third calls out, "Hells yes! KICK THEIR ARSES!"

    Phyla smirks pridefully and launches in to the air, a burning trail of energy behind her feet and arms which she twirls and unleashes on a dozen Sakaraan troopers all at once.

    The gravity device yanks a Sakaaran away from the people he's harassing and his bones break suddenly from the impact with the singularity.

    Korath laughs at Peter missing him with the gravity ball and takes out one of his staves. He drops to a knee and hits it in to the floor. A large energy wave bursts out and all the lights and electrical in the area flickers and goes out. It becomes dark save for the glow of energy weapons and Phyla-Vell.

    Much to Korath's amazement, a sword stabs right over the top of his head. He rolls quickly and comes back up to face Gamora, "You're dead!" Not a threat, an exclamation that she's not meant to be alive. "Well, you're GOING to be dead," he amends and lifts up his second stave, the tip sparkling with deathly EMP energy. It's powerful enough to knock out an eternal.. anything less may not survive.

Nebula has posed:
    The pitched battle can be heard in the distance as Nebula steps out of her pod. Strolling quietly down an abandoned hallway and to the door of The Collector. It's closed. She knocks -- using the blaster at her side to blow a hole in it.

    Stepping through gingerly, she is feeling quite good about the world, and about herself. The effect never lasts but for now it is euphoric. "Taneleer Tivan," she calls out in to the odd shop of odds and ends. The eccentric man steps out from behind a large unopened crate with his hands up. "Neeebula. How can I help a Daughter of Thanos today?"

    She smirks and steps forward, pressing her blaster to his chest and walking forward, pushing him back at the muzzle, "Don't worry your pretty little head. I'm not here for _you_." She nods her head toward the sphere containing the power stone, "I'm here for that."

Groot has posed:
Groot thickens his arms to twice their normal thickness making him look almost gorilla like as he grabs the companion dryer, lifting it with sparking sockets and tosses it at a gaggle of Sakorans that have managed to herd a group of civilians into a holding area. They might want to be interogated later, either way, this proves to be a poor choice as the stations peculariar gravity shifts the dryer on an l shaped arc instead of a parabola which smashes them to powder as the civilians move deeper into the station for more secure spaces.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora grunts sharply as her attack narrowly misses, falling back a few short steps as she glowers at Korath. In the back of her mind, she realizes that if Korath thought she was dead, then they can't be here for her. But if not, why? What could possibly draw Ronan to so brazenly attack Knowhere? There's no way it's on the priority list for a purge, and most single targets hiding among them would call for a quieter approach than this.

    The question goes unexamined as the dangerous brute finishes arming himself in front of her with weaponry her enhanced body likely can't endure.

    But Gamora doesn't back down from fights. She's made exceptions for peace on the Milano, but... this isn't the Milano, and he isn't her crew. Gamora raises her blade and says "Know your place, Korath...!" before she advances on him with a swing of her sword.

Peter Quill has posed:
The EMP blast is a surprise and as power goes out all around Peter's mask flicks on nightvision, "Nice try jerkwad, but I can see in the dark," he casts around the darkened insides of Knowwhere. << Yeah, he's fighting Gamora right now, see if you can give her a hand. If you take him out you can strip him for parts >> he saya over comms to Rocket.

He pauses to kick a bug who grabs for his leg blasting it as it falls. << Groot, you and I'll keep metal guy's thugs off Gamora and Rocket. And Phyla... just keep doing what you're doing >> he says before firing off another burst off shots.

Rocket has posed:
The Collector with Nebula is beyond Rocket's awareness right now. It wouldn't be the first time one of the Guardians made his life more bothersome.

<<Be right there.>> His answer to Quill comes as a few of the bug-like attackers decide to try firing upon unarmed inhabitants on the run, ones who can't fight back. "Ohh. Think you're real tough, do ya? Have a taste of this!" After flipping a switch, the barrel of the gun rotates to load the chamber up with a different kind of ammunition. Hot fire almost literally blasts out of the weapon in the form of molten bolts of some kind that look a bit like nails, some ripping through the creatures, others pinning them to the wall behind them as they begin to smoke, smolder, and give their death screams.

Looking around, the attackers are no longer where he is, and the civilians are taking shelter. <<Ohhh yeah. It's time to play.>> He homes in on the location of Gamora and Korath.

Phyla-Vell has posed:
    Cosmo the Space dog, head of Knowhere security, barks orders in a Russian accent over the Knowhere security comms << The Guardians are holding them. Move up in teams of three! >> Knowhere security begins to slowly advance. They are aiming down sights with blaster rifles shooting any Sakaaran's that have made it this deep.

    Cosmo runs ahead with tail wagging in his cosmonaut space suit. He focuses on a shard of metal and telekinetically sends it straight in to the neck of a Sakaaran.

    Phyla starts to get a bad feeling about that pod that went up the nose << You're doing great! >> she says encouragingly to the team. The glowing energy whip swirls around her as she spins like a.. a quasar, and slices through dozens of Sakaaran troopers.

    As the emergency lights turn on, a dull red glow, the bodies of the invaders can be seen dotting the streets. They're starting to add up between Rocket's weaponry, Groot's brute force, Gamora's slice and dice, Peter's quadblaster, and Phyla's energy weapons. But Phyla has run off toward the nose-docks.

    Korath looks around noticing a distinct lack of troops near him. Where'd they all go??! "Rally to me!" he calls out as he slowly backs away from Gamora and her sword. He has the superior weapon, but he knows all too well she has the superior skill. His heavy battle armor is designed to defend him from many things - but another weapon made by Thanos, such as Gamora's sword? not so much.

    "My place?!," Korath says with a laugh, "You're the one running away from your responsibilities. I'm not telling you to come back, but your father was beside himself when he thought you had died." Yep this is totally the place to lay down some family guilt tripping.

Nebula has posed:
    Tivan steps back with his hands up high in the air. As Nebula indicates what it is she's after he takes another step back and does a courtly bow. Sweat on his brow he says, "Well then allow me to fetch it for you." He's not a fighter. He's a survivor. He knows when to run and when to cowtow. Right now is a time for obedience. He slips behind the counter and picks the sphere off the shelf, then offers it to Nebula.

    Nebula lowers her weapon and takes the sphere in her free hand. She smirks at the man and says, "Good boy." She motions with her chin, "You can flee now." Another deep bow by Tivan and he starts running for it to his escape hatch. She turns on her heels and starts heading back to the pod she arrived in.

Groot has posed:
Groot takes queue from Star Lord and says into the comm, <<I am Groot.>> Which might be unintellible to anyone but Rocket but...sounds kind of like Affirmative? Maybe? Either way while Lucky Sakoran #42 isnt looking, a large hulking shadow looms as a large space girder, taking from one of the bulk heads damaged by the troops entering the building is swung at the Kree very much like a Terran Baseball bat. "I am Groot!"

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora slices hard to the right,  using the momentum to spin once on her heal and raise her blade in time to swing downward against by the time she faces Korath again; only to leap backward to avoid a strike of his own. Gamora's composure flickers as Korath speaks. As absurd as it may be, she DOES feel guilty. One need not dig too deeply to find just how thoroughly her mind is still wired by Thanos' hand. The shame of ingratitude.

    For her own sake, she snarls, chasing the thoughts off as best she can. "You'd be dead if you'd witnessed such a thing." she iinsists with less conviction than she'd like. Something else gives her pause, however, as she catches sight of movement behind Korath. The trembling figure of a young child only partially hidden behind some debrie, likely having been too scared to flee with the others. The further she pushes Korath back, the closer she brings him to the child.

    Drawing in a sharp hiss of breath, Gamora goes against her better instincts, and feigns an attack, putting herself in motion to move around him to his right, putting their profiles to the hidden child. The move itself is risky. Riskier still is that Gamora begins to fall back gradually to lead Korath farther away, dodging attacks rather than deflecting them or punishing Korath's openings.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket zips in while Gamora is leading Korath to a different place. He's spotted what she has, namely the child in danger, trying to hunker down behind some cover. He's also caught wind of what she's up to. Grimacing at what he's about to do, he finishes an arc that lets him touch down by the kid, holding up a finger to his mouth before motioning for the child to follow. Getting hold of the boy, he leads him around the way to a building others are huddling up in and says, "You go in there and stay there until this is all done, you understand?" The boy nods quickly, scurrying in.

"Kits," he scoffs, nose wrinkling as he turns attention back to Gamora and Korath the Pursuer. "Now what should ol' Rocket use on you?" he muses to himself, considering options as he notes the metallic armor all over the guy. Armor, or something more interesting? Only one way to find out. "Hey, pal! You using that?" He arrives closer now, and there is a laser-like cutting tool flickering at the end of his custom-made weapon of mass destruction. "Because I want it." He aims the laser in the direction of one of Korath's hands.

Phyla-Vell has posed:
    Phyla walks in to the nose-dock and peers at the pod there. Turning around slowly, she approaches. << Hey team, there's something fishy going on. I think the attack was a diversion. >> She turns around to see Nebula standing there, her arm transformed in to a large energy cannon and in her other hand, an infinity stone encased in a sphere of special metal.

    The energy from the infinity stone shines in her eyes and her Q-Band starts warning her immediately of the danger related to the object. She says with comms open << Nebula... >> the very person they're trying to rescue is right before her and seemingly not at all interested in being rescued.

    Phyla makes a quick motion to throw a tracker at Nebula. Nebula's arm cannon fires and the blast hits Phyla center-mass. She flies back and thunks hard against a metal beam. Shaking her head and standing back up. Double vision shows her two pods fleeing the nose-dock << She has an infinity stone! >> ...

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula wanders down the pathway and back to the nose-dock. Her cybernetics warn her of a presence nearby. She pauses and holds out her arm. The internal structures swivel and rotate reforming in to a biig nasty energy cannon. She steps out in to the open and spies one of Thanos' most wanted. Quasar.

    Hearing her name she says, "Quasar." It's traditional to swap names like that. Hero meets Villain and all. Her reply is heard over Phyla's comms. As is the sudden and powerful blast that hits her from Nebula's arm cannon. It was in response to Quasar's sudden move though.

    Quasar flies back and hits a metal beam hard behind her. Nebula isn't waiting around to see if she's alive or dead, she's most likely alive and pissed.. Quasar is well above her paygrade. She tosses the sphere in to the pod, then dives in and fires up the engines.

    As she exits through the nose she sees Quasar stumbling back to her feet.

    Docking back in the Dark Aster Nebula says over comms to Ronan << Jump. Now. >> It's an order not a request. With Quasar out there, they cannot afford to wait and see what happens. Not now they have the stone.

    Korath laughs, "Any moment now another full legion of Sakaaran troopers will land. You cannot fight them forever and we can print as many as we need." He swings that deadly baton, sparkling with threat, toward Gamora. This may have allowed Gamora to dodge and protect the child, but it also left Korath open.

    ... to Rocket cutting his freakin' hand off. He lets out a scream and grabs at his bleeding hand, dropping the cannon he was using... just as he sees the Dark Aster out in space curling its verticals and jumping away. This is, literally, the worst moment of Korath's life.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot." He has been knocking the 'legions' of bugs like swatting flies and makes a large arc, this time, throwing them into walls. He begins to hum the collipe music that he head at the baseball game, "I am Groot!" The problem is that while he can actually sing (well believe it or not) his memory of the melody is completely bonkers and it sounds like some kind of unholy mix of a garbage disposal and the goblin drums from the deep in the Lord of the Rings and might actually be more unsettling to the Sakorans than the fact that a giant talking tree is clobering them with a support beam.

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter's eyes shoot up towards Phylla. "Wait she's got what?" then Phylla's falling and Nebula is running. Peter blasts after her, his middle finger working the stun trigger rather than his index using the lethal one, she's still crew. But she's also fast like a freak and none of his shots land.

<< Crap they're running, everyone meet back at the ship we need to follow...>> the ship is gone.

"Damn it," Peter curses. <<Forget that... Rocket, Gamora hope metal guy's still alive looks like we might need him >> he flies up to go check on Phylla.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora hears exactly the wrong word, and exactly the wrong voice, at exactly the wrong moment. "*Nebula?!*" She gasps, distracted as Karath begins an attack that will never land, as he is literally 'disarmed' by Rocket. Gamora can barely process this as the words 'Infinity Stone' reach her ears, nearly giving her a heart attack. They found one of the Stones. *Here.* Absurdly, part of her feels something like a thrill of happiness for her Father... but if Thanos gets an Infinity Stone, there's a real chance that saving Nebula will be physically impossible going forward.

    Watching as the Dark Aster begins to leave, a certain grim composure comes to Gamora's face as she turns her attention to Karath.

    It's not his worst day. Not yet.

    Gamora kicks Karath square in the chest, putting him on his back, before driving her sword through his other hand, and into the ground. "You will tell me everything you know about how to find and approach that ship, or I will show you a kind of suffering your little mind can't define." And she'd know suffering. Not as much as Nebula, but... her record hasn't been spotless.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket picks up the hand and frowns. "Oh, shit. I thought this was something else. I guess that's my bad." He tosses it up and down a couple times, hearing Groot over the comms, then he shrugs and looks at what's left of Korath's wrist, where the wound has already been cauterized by the laser. "I really got no use for this," he says, chucking it over a shoulder where it lands close to a pack of..well, whatever the alien version of stray dogs might be here. They quickly go wild over it.

Just about the time Gamora's putting Korath down the rest of the way, he grimaces. <<Did I just hear Nebula was with them and she got an infinity stone? Fuck me. Wait. What's an infinity stone, and why is that bad?>> He makes no move to stand in the way of Gamora's interrogations, except to say, "Sucks to be left behind, don't it?"

Phyla-Vell has posed:
    Phyla shakes her head and focuses. Her body begins to glow as she jumps off the nose-dock and flies out in to space after Nebula. But then the Dark Aster jumps... she floats in space for a moment before checking her Q-Band. << I got a tracker on Nebula. We must catch the Dark Aster before they deliver that infinity stone to Thanos or the universe as we know it will never be the same again. >>

    Peter has the right idea, she responds to his order to get to the ship with << I'll meet you there. >>

    Knowhere security storms the plaza where Groot is. At first they're not sure if he's part of the invasion or not, swinging that support beam around. But when he takes out bugs they cheer and advance on past him.

    There are scant for Sakaaran troopers left. The guards are killing any they come across. Cosmo has been mentally been throwing them against hard walls. People are starting to re-emerge from their shelter and moving up behind the guards as they advance victoriously through their home.

    "Guardians! Guardians! Guardians!" they're cheering as they march down the street. Some of the Sakaaran's are now dropping their weapons and surrendering. With the Dark Aster gone, there are no reinforcements coming and they know it. Borth is with them and he shouts out, "Hey Terran. You still owe me those units, but.. take your time."

Nebula has posed:
Korath holds on to his stump for deal life.. that is until Gamora gets to him. Flat on his back, second hand skewered by her sword and in to the ground. His eyes wide and the look on his face is one of pain and terror. "Okay okay! There's a blind spot! from the sides. You can dock!! I.. I don't know where. Thanos keeps his fleet in hyperspace at all times - you know that!. The Dark Aster will be headed back to it." He's starting to look very pale as the Knowhere security forces arrive to secure the scene. "That's enough," barks Cosmo the Spacedog in Russian. "He's under our custody now."

Groot has posed:
Groot is...in shock at someone not wanting to kill him or arrest him. He humbly nods, "I am Groot." He says into the comm, <<I am Groot!>> He high fives a few random people cheering at him, as he moves back to the Milano expecting some rapid space chase after Nebula, unaware that the idea is to Good Cop Bad Cop Korath to death.

Gamora has posed:
    As she's ordered to stand down, Gamora glares intensely down at Korath for a very long moment before she slowly pulls her blade from Korath's hand. She swings it once to the side and stops it sharply, causing the majority of the blood to fly off of the blade before she returns the weapon to her scabbard. "You will answer their every question. Do not give me further cause for anger.

    As Gamora steps away, her attention is drawn to... cheering? For... *them?* Under better circumstances, Gamora might smile. Strong branding.

    << Understood. I'm on my way. >> Gamora replies over coms, and begins to sprint back to the Milano.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket gives Cosmo quite the look. There might be some distrust there, on both sides. Can't imagine why.

"Whatever. You want him, have him. We got what we need." He relays over the comms, given there are some who might not be close enough to hear, <<The loser we caught says there's a blind spot to get in through, but he don't know where. If anyone can find it, I will. Looks like we got a chase to make.>>

Whether the cheering for them sinks in or not, he allows himself a grim smile on the way back to the Milano. If Nebula's back to working for Ronan or Thanos or whatever, that's bad. It sounds like the infinity stone being in his possession is even worse. No trouble, right? "Yeah, you all remember who saved your butts next time we're thirsty."

Peter Quill has posed:
"Good work, knew I liked you for a reason," Peter tells Phylla when he hears of the tracking device. "Let's go," he says before the chanting of their name stops him in his tracks. This is what he's talking about! A shame there's not more time to enjoy it.

Dismissing his mask Peter holds up his hands drinking in the adoration, making his way towards Borth as he shouts, "Thank you, thank you, lots more Galaxy to guard so we gotta go, but if you guys need help," he puts an arm around Borth. "Just talk to my man Borth here and he'll get in touch," he lets go of the alien and slips a data chip with the Milano's comm info into his hand. "Five percent finders fee for any jobs come in through you, that make us square?" he whispers to the alien before he departs for the Milano. << Well, let's hope we live through chasing Ronan, because I have a feeling we're going to be rich. >> All they have to do is live.

Phyla-Vell has posed:
    Borth is stunned and amazed when Peter suddenly includes him in his ... dealings ... he nods at the finders cut and looks with admiration. This is going to make him $rich$ -- "Yeah... you got it... Star-Lord." Hey he _was_ listening.

    Phyla-Vell lands by the Milano. The glow around her body disappears. She looks extremely concerned and serious as she walks on board, a nod given to the crew as they arrive but she heads straight to the cock pit. "I'll explain the infinity stones on the way. There's no time to lose."

    She reprograms the tracker in her Q-Band for the Milano so the ship can follow The Dark Aster. Or Nebula. Hopefully both. She looks around to the crew, "I'm going to ask that you trust me. I will protect you. I promise you that. I know you want to save Nebula, but if we don't get that stone back, Nebula will be the least of our problems." She nods to Rocket and Peter, "Punch it."

    ... To Be Continued ///>