“That almost seems like there’s a trans-alternity intelligence or something reallocating dangers from universes that cannot handle certain things and are sending them here to dispose of,” Gamora spoke up sharply. She hadn’t attended many of these meetings, but after her miraculous return to her people, she had thrown herself into the protection of the Zen-Whoberis with all the fervor of a lost soul coming home, to the point of straight-up joining the Emerald Corps. Sama had given her a Core directly after removing her cybernetics personally.

One of the most dangerous assassins in the local galactic cluster, now rapidly rising in a Nova Corps alternate, and glowing with the joy of finding a true purpose in life.

The older members of the High Guard all nodded at the same time, including Centurion Lygaete. “She figured it out,” Carol sighed, as Beta Ray Bill and Saber looked very curious at this. “Yes, we’re so damn good at this that seemingly random shit keeps getting thrown at us from other alternities, diverted by... who knows what. Past, future, current, whatever... it comes here, and we have to get rid of it.”

“There’s one of them now on your homeworld,” I informed Gamora. “The Maestro is a future alternate of our planet’s Hulk. He’s big, mean, green, smart, and right now he’s already conquered what’s left of the former slaves and is fortifying the planet against the Badoon... and trashing anything they send down to deal with him.”

“But since we kept him around and are making use of him, there hasn’t been another one,” Nimue pointed out helpfully. Gamora looked thoughtful, and would definitely be looking into that.

“Not exactly something we can do with a bunch of those kinds,” Callie pointed out.

“Keeps life exciting for the Big Two,” I shrugged, and everyone nodded. “Be that as it may, I am back and full time once again. We need to work out how operations are going to...” I turned my head in a certain direction, frowned, and rolled my eyes. “Gawdammit!”

Primus sighed theatrically. “What is it this time?” he asked on behalf of everyone.

“Another Magus came popping in from somewhere and promptly cloaked himself!” I grit my teeth and slapped the table in irritation.

“The AW reports on that one were fairly horrific...” Beta Ray Bill recalled carefully.

“His Church of Universal Truth is basically an intergalactic crusade devoted to finding the Universal Messiah or something, which is a nice cover for their merciless genetic supremacy.” I grit my teeth. “It’s always something, and we can’t rely on someone else to fix it!”

“I have a proposal,” Zhuli spoke up, and everyone turned to the Korlugi expectantly. “You indicated that you and your sisters found a hundred worthy souls and brought them to the World of the Watchful Eye to receive their Eyes, intending for them to return to the Krempi Federation to make a difference.

“The distances between here and there are immense, and the Watchful Order does not normally sprinkle themselves about, preferring to expand sector by sector, if possible. Still, if the Eye selects them, there is no problem.” He paused significantly. “Could you do the same for this galaxy?” he inquired calmly.

“If you are asking if we could locate worthy souls, the answer is yes. Our doing so for the Krempi was basically a rebound effect against the weight of Doom acting against that galaxy. Doing so for this galaxy and its neighbors...” I frowned slightly. “None of the local empires will want an extra-legal force of cosmically-empowered do-gooders interfering with their business. I doubt many of them are aware of exactly how powerful the Watchful Order actually is, only knowing of you.

“If we start empowering them here, they are going to know Terra is responsible. I think it would almost be treated as an act of war by some of them, easily as an excuse for one.” Briggs’ Source Destiny made looking at time an iffy thing, but I wasn’t getting good vibes off the scale here. “We basically are in a state of shadow war with the Skrulls and the Badoon, active war with the Brood, and our relations with the Shi’ar and the Kree are... temperamental at best.”

Even with the Consort a Terran. Maybe because the consort was a Terran mutant telepath of the highest order.

“The new presence of other space-faring races in the Sol System has happily scared away many casual attempts by other worlds here in the Milky Way to subjugate us. There were infiltrations by at least sixty different extrasolar species over the past fifty years, completely ignoring the interdimensional ones,” Primus informed the others in counterpoint. “Thank you all for relieving us of that little annoyance, at least.” The five non-Terran representatives on Venus all smiled despite themselves.

“Double that number if you include the dimensionals in force,” Callie added under her breath, and the rest of us sighed. Hells (literally), we’d had an invasion from Limbo not even six months ago!

“I have a potential alternative.” Zhuli had a crafty smile on. “Certain worlds in the sectors of the Watchful Eye, those of sterling caliber and openness, are designated Lantern Worlds, and are used to coordinate and train members of the Order. Naturally, designating such a world is a momentous event, and at least several other Eyes will arrive in order to begin the establishment of a Chapterhouse.”

He was looking at the other non-Terrans, who all looked suitably intrigued.

“You would like Venus to be designated as such a place?” Centurion Lygaete asked, impressed at the idea. He and Zhuli got along quite well, both of them coming from storied martial orders and noble civilizations.

“We’ll have to exclude Terra from their operational mandate, or people will start calling them ‘alien enforcers and conquerors’,” Doc Bronze said thoughtfully, nodding. “Zhuli has won Terra’s trust because he’s part of the High Guard, and has never interfered in Terran affairs. His restraint is extraordinary.” The crimson-skinned Korlugi nodded briefly at the compliment. “Zhuli, are you going to retire home?” Doc Bronze asked calmly. After all, he had been here a good two decades, a long time to be away from his people.

“I believe that if a Lantern World can be established here, I will be allowed to return home... or, perhaps, we might join the peoples on Venus with a colony of our own?” he asked, and there was quick enthusiasm at the idea of bringing some Korlugi halfway across the universe to here.

Gamora cut through the congratulations and encouragement with another question for me. “When do you expect Galactus to move on the Badoon homeworld?” Her dark green eyes sparked with personal interest. The Emerald Corps had experienced a notable surge in martial spirit after she had joined, imagine that...

Silence fell as I frowned slightly. “The Kree Celestial Seed was as big and fat as the Skrull one. That is a minimum of a year between needing to feed, I believe. There’s been no reaction from the Badoon, so they don’t seem to realize the danger they are in.

“Assume at least another six months, possibly longer if He stumbles across another Seed. He can’t really ‘store up’ more than two or three Seeds to get ahead on things, and He usually only does that if He’s expecting to fight something momentous.”

“Galactus... fights things?” Wrench asked for everyone, blinking at that.

I nodded. “He fights both things from Outside Creation, and old things, as old as our universe, or even older, as well as manifestations of the Void and Oblivion. Such things come in waves, according to what He told Ben Parker. Guess where the wave is at right now?”

Everyone groaned together.

“He has personally intervened in cosmic events six times in the last decade, and that does not include the moment of His time dealing with the Negative Zone. They were just so far away that there’s no way we’ve heard of them, and sapient life might not exist within a million light years of their tussles,” I went on.

“The universe is a big place. I’ll settle for being important in our galaxy, and making our galaxy important sometime in the next millennium,” Primus sighed for everyone. “Oh, a new order of business. I believe the new Phoenix is ready for elevation to the High Guard, as is her significant other, the young fellow called Cyclops.”

Oh ho! There were murmurs around the table at his judgment.

“I went down to evaluate her personally. She seems even more centered and focused than Sasha was, due in no small part to the strict regulation of her link to the Phoenix. Her Cynosure training has been as exemplary as usual.”

“It will be good to have a full-time Psion AND a Sorcerer up here,” Wrench nodded happily. The Phoenix had been loved and admired by all the High Guard. They had great hopes for Jean.

“Her man is Cyclops? His efforts in the defense of Xandar were extraordinary. What has he been up to?” Centurion Lygaete asked quickly. “I know his brothers are on the Starjammer...”

“He’s an officer in the Deep Strike teams,” Carol reminded him, and Lygaete snapped his fingers in remembrance. “He and Centurions Richard and Jessica Ryder are in command of the Darkhawk Squadron.”

“They do a lot of work in Broodspace, as I recall,” he nodded. “Do we want to take him off the teams? The Deep Strikers are doing some very good work out there.”

“Actually, I do not,” Primus admitted, startling everyone. “I don’t want him out there as a High Guard, anymore than I want the rest of us.” Not a few people glanced at me, small smiles on their faces. I resisted the urge to whistle and look away. Not many people knew I was supposed to be a head taller and golden-skinned. “However, if he wants to give up his team to stand alongside his lady, I want him able to do so. He’s a full Epsilon-class energy projector, capable of taking out major capital ships, and indeed entire cities at once if he has to, and he can do so for literally hours at a time.

“If rumors are to be believed, the one-eyed black knight of the Acanti death ships is the single creature most feared by the Brood. Where his eye turns, they die.”

It was totally true. The amount of casual energy Cyclops could unleash was impressive, and if he moved up to Indigo or Violet, it was all over for whatever he hit, unless they had some major invulnerability or force fields. Chopping apart atomic bonds, with Violet making that effect explosive, was pretty much doom.

It got much, much worse when starsinging Acanti choristers amplified the optic blast tenfold. Zip that beam down the side of a ship, and its hull became the atomic bomb blowing it apart. A lot of Brood and Skrull ships had met that beam in passing...

“I’ve no problems with it,” Carol offered. “I’ve seen his and the Ryders’ battle reports. Scott could serve right now, the Ryders as soon as they get their Cores to Nine.”

“Don’t be taking all our best to sit around a conference table!” Centurion Lygaete smiled, wagging a finger at her. The Ryders were famous in the Nova Corps, and their performance and dedication had been behind much of the approval for help setting up the other Corps.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved back at him with a grin. “You’ve got more Sevens and Eights in the Nova Corps than you’ve had in a thousand years. I wonder who’s to blame for that?”

“Xandaran discipline, resolve, and conscientious decision-making!” he puffed up instantly, but his eyes were gleaming, and we just laughed at him. He did a great stuffed-shirt impression.

“Sure, bring the Phoenix up, we’ll slowly help her upgrade and manage the power,” Nimue said for everyone. If Primus said she was ready, she was ready. “I am more curious about the Moondragon Mysteries coming from Cynosure. Is there more news?” she asked.

Leading me in... “Primos full psionic capabilities,” I said shortly.

There were exclamations from everyone at the table, non-Terrans included. “Does that include our people?” Gamaora blurted out excitedly.

“Yes. Including you, now that you’ve lost your cybernetics. It is the psionic Tradition that Moondragon, Heather MacDouglas, uses. It is VERY heavily weighted towards telepathy, so it does not have the full range and power that a true Psion does, but just making telepathy available to the average being out there is an incredible jump in psychic techniques,” I answered her.

“This was something designed by the Eternals on Titan, yes?” Callie asked thoughtfully. “We should have investigated into that more...” Before Thanos killed off the entire order of monks in passing, anyways...

“The crux of the discipline is being able to enter Psychic Focus, and remaining that way while executing your techniques. If you can’t concentrate and remain focused, you have no power to speak of. That may not sound like much of a handicap, but it is.

“On the flip side, while Focused, Moondragon is one of the strongest telepaths on the planet, at least equal with Emma Frost, perhaps stronger. That literally opens up the possibility of a whole planet full of potential telepaths, with the educational and communication revolutions that come with it.”

“Xandar has always relied on its technology to protect it. If we could finally unravel some of the gifts of the mind...” Centurion Lygaete trailed off softly.

Beta Ray Bill nodded as well. “Us Corbinites, as well!”

Knight Arumvel of Galador spoke up, “Our technology and artifice have carried our people for generations. To think the possibilities of the mind might open to those who cannot stride the path of a knight is a momentous gift!”

I turned to Gamora. “This gift is available to all, but if it is to be taught to the Dancers of the Night, it must be taught with incredible discipline. Telepathy is not kind to covert operators. If you have doubts about this, go and speak to Kwannon at Cynosure. She heads up the Mindblade training there.”

“Mindblades, even for us!” Saber seemed delighted at the thought. The new generation of Strontians were going to be different from the last regardless, why not in this way as well? Strontians didn’t like to rely on devices, like a Sword Focus, to improve themselves, and a Primos would only evoke a mindclaw otherwise.

Full Mindblade potential would be a wonderful thing to train up, even for a Strontian, and perhaps especially for one of her people...

The rest of the session devolved into discussions on technology, production, and some overarching plans, but mostly the High Guard’s duty was to guard. The offensive operations were undertaken by the various Corps themselves...