The Novas on duty were shocked when I zipped up and appeared before them so quickly. I had simply exited the arcology, flown thirty miles around it, re-entered, and easily made my way to the Palace. After all, there was a lot of traffic at all hours here in the central arcology.

Nevertheless, I was shown inside, the Corpsmen treating me with wary respect and goodwill. I naturally looked very impressive in Wrecker-mode, and of course they knew just what I had done to the Skrulls out there during the attack on the star-cities here.

The sky was still full of Acanti, some of them rivalling the size of the arcologies themselves. Most of the pods had broken off to encircle the sun at dispersed distances, feeding on the solar wind politely, aware that their presence could seem looming and threatening to smaller beings at their new sizes.

They were a patient species, however, and busied themselves gathering up a lot of Skrull ships for scrap and salvage, and of course the Xandarans loved listening to their Starsong.

If some of them zipped out to somewhere and came back with things tucked away internally that could be of use to trade or refine, well, there were a lot of discussions between about that kind of thing going on, and the Acanti as a whole had absolutely massive knowledge of all kinds of things in space.

The Acanti didn’t even want to upgrade. They preferred to just sail the stars and listen to the song of the void. But even with the Sublime Chord helping them now, they had realized that they were being preyed upon, and they had to do something about it or face extinction.

Not being able to fight and not wanting to fight were two very different paradigms of thought. Once you were able to, being willing to was much easier to come by, especially in the face of zombified enslavement and extinction.

I was shown into a room where Peggy and Queen Aurora were talking. The Queen was an attractive woman, also brown-haired and in fit shape, as the Nova Force would keep her. She didn’t wear the uniform, of course, but I was pretty sure the diadem she was wearing did much the same thing, a level of tech just above that of a Nova Corps Uniform.

“Your Majesty, Peggy,” I greeted them after I was shown in. Wreckered up, I was slightly taller than even Peggy was, on the Asgardian scale of things. I wasn’t spamming voltage, so my hair was a very dark red at this point, none of the ends lit up.

“Please have a seat, Miss Dynamo,” the queen waved me to a seat next to Peggy. I noticed they had a lot of paperwork between them, so I assumed some treaties and political stuff were being ironed out.

I skated over to the seat and sat down calmly, Specs peeling back, the equivalent of taking off my hat. I did not say anything, nor even look at the documents on the table, waiting patiently there.

Queen Aurora seemed a little surprised at my discipline. “You don’t seem very curious about why I called you here, Miss Dynamo,” she said to me.

“Quite curious, Your Majesty,” I corrected her. “All in due time.”

She glanced at Peggy, who just smiled slightly. “I did tell you she was quite exceptional, and I didn’t mean her biceps,” Peggy reminded her.

“I see.” Her blue eyes flashed as the Queen reconsidered how to approach this. “You are aware that Commander Carter here has been appointed and is serving as an ambassador on behalf of your homeworld, correct?”

I had to smile slightly. “The United Nations agreed to that?” I asked Peggy knowingly.

Peggy didn’t even blink. “I understand the motion quietly passed a floor vote yesterday, although there was some posing in the Security Council.”

“How unexpected! Get sent out into space and are appointed planetary ambassador after doing so. Horrors, how are they going to get the paperwork to you in a timely fashion?”

“I’ve been told you can probably teleport between Terra and here, or at the least form a floating Portal again,” she pointed out to me.

“You are NOT ordering me to open up a Portal to Terra just so you can receive your bona fides,” I sniffed haughtily, and turned to Queen Aurora. “She seems legitimate, yes.”

Queen Aurora nearly burst out laughing at the exchange. “There are... exceptional individuals of your people who are negotiating terms through her. These... United Nations are something of a veneer covering the true powers on your homeworld, is that correct?”

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“The United Nations exist because The Great Bear and The Golden Hag allow them to,” I agreed calmly. “They at least form a venue for nations of our world to come together in discourse instead of gunfire, but a planetary government they are not.”

She nodded once. “And this Bear and Hag don’t aim to force them to comply.”

“I’m sure that they think that eventually the combination of population pressure and jealousy of missing out of a united economy will result in active hostilities that will need to be addressed. But at this point, no, they aren’t of a mind to conquer the world. They’re rather too busy saving it from itself, as I understand it.”

She nodded slowly at my irreverent reply. “So, I need to clarify this matter. I am not truly dealing with a united planet, but the foremost powers upon it?” she pressed.

Peggy looked like she wanted to say something, but I held up my hand, as the Queen was looking at me. “That is correct. It would be much as Xandar was, before your world was destroyed and the entire population was centralized. Certain areas are rural and want to remain simple, other areas are industrialized, far more educated, and tend to hold the real power.

“The introduction of a common genetic language is helping the situation and starting to break down some borders at home, but millennia of grievances, traditions, customs, and conflicts are not wiped away so easily.

“The most advanced powers upon Terra are the Tribal Lands, led by Sama Rantha, the Golden Hag, and Russia, led by Briggs, The Great Bear. Those two beings are the most advanced members of our race upon our homeworld. In terms of power, either of them is capable of utterly destroying a Celestial in combat.”

Her eyes widened in partial disbelief.

I flicked up the Holo of Antarctica. She swore under her breath as she observed the figure of Galactus assembling his World Engine to devour the planet, and then the arrival of the Celestials.

The World-Eater being able to face off against them was one thing. That Sword cutting a Celestial in two, that was something else.

“So you truly did forge a deal with the World-Eater,” she murmured as the Holo faded away. “And she can cut down a Celestial...”

“She let it live. They know it. It was why there was no retaliation.” I folded my fingers together. “As I understand it, the Hag is the one who desires a deal with Xandar the most. It appears the reputation of your people has impressed even her.”

The Queen glanced at Peggy, and exhaled. “I have been told by the Commander here that you have... access to information that directly involves Xandar and its future. Knowledge that is prophetic in nature...”

“Attained by magic, you mean?” I smiled slightly. “Xandar’s technology touches on the cosmic. You surely have no disbelief that magic exists?”

“Yes, and both time travel and probability travel are possible, although not things engaged in lightly...”

“Magic touches upon the dimensional far more easily than science. Yes, there is dire news in Xandar’s immediate future, if nothing is done.”

“Do you know the manner of it?” she pressed immediately.

“Nebula, the daughter of the luphomite Zorr who was killed recently, is going to come here with an army of Thanos’ Black Disciples, and pound Xandar into scrap.”

Queen Aurora stared at me, and I stared back calmly.

“You are certain of this?” she had to ask.

“There’s been a change in things.” I flicked another finger, and the sound of Acanti whalesong hummed gently in the air. “However, you would be asking Acanti to die for you, and this is merely an arm of the Black Order. If they come with everything, and they well might in reaction to Xandar having such a defense, which fact by now is probably filling the hyperwaves, even the Acanti cannot save you.

“These are not Skrulls, with their largely predictable technology and tactics, refined and reused over the millennia. These are pirates and marauders of many races and types of tech, who seek only to plunder, kill, and burn all in their path, gathered to the will of one of the most intelligent, charismatic, and brutally merciless beings in all of space.

“Your entire population would have to be Centurions to survive, if that were the case. Even then, you will lose your arcologies. The sheer volume of firepower practically ensures it, and the technology the Mad Titan commands equals your own.”

She took a long breath. “This cannot be forestalled?” she asked unhappily.

“Fate has already locked this in as a Nexus event, a trigger for greater things happening. Something will take place here. It involves the destruction of Xandar. Chaos is still at play, and the particulars in how such things are to occur can still be changed and re-written.

“But the destruction of Xandar is imminent, Your Majesty. It would take a truly cosmic power to stop the event from occurring, or the full intervention of a major empire, neither of which is going to happen.

“Does Xandar have experience in dealing with temporal certainties, Your Majesty?” I asked her politely.

She winced despite herself. “Prophecies have always been interpreted many ways,” she replied hesitantly, and I inclined my head.

“Precisely! Now, it is time to interpret this prophesized Event to your benefit.” She blinked at my words. “`Xandar will be destroyed’ basically refers to the four arcologies that represent the last of your world, as well as the lesser satellite ones here and there. However, that says nothing of your people. If your people are not here, well, then... the arcologies are destroyed. Yay, Fate!”

“We could come back and rebuild...” she realized quickly.

“Or disperse, and found many, many new colonies, finally bringing your technology into true play. The light of Xandar will fall from the galaxy... and ignite a thousand suns as it does.”

I rose to my feet, lifting my hands and spinning around as I did, indicating everything around us. “This is the moment you change the destiny of your people, Queen Aurora. Will you bind them here to the dictates of Fate, ever returning here to be finally destroyed, or wrench them free, and set them on a bold and mighty course for the future?

“You were free-born, were you not? I understand it is a requirement for the throne.”

“Yes, I am,” she confirmed.

I lifted my arms again. “Look around you, Queen Aurora. Around you is a mighty cage, steeped in the history of your people. It is a comfortable dwelling made so that the souls in the Worldmind who come back do so in a familiar place, with familiar surroundings, to life as they once knew it.

“The Freeborn have no such attachment to this place, but they are completely outweighed by the votes of the dead and the reborn. Your society has grown to embrace the wisdom and knowledge of its elders, but in doing so... it has lost the fire of its youths.

“Lastly, I must mention a subtle point that you have likely not considered at all, simply because it IS so core to your society.

“Your Majesty, your people are bound to have pissed off Death, and in a truly Big Way.”