18 Chapter 18: A lost treasure
Five!
Four!
Three!
Two!
One!
"Happy New Year!"
Cerion joined in on the celebration by popping a bottle of champagne and spraying it all over the people in his office.
With the launch of YouStream scheduled for New Year's eve, it was decided to hold celebrations in their office.
The last few days were filled with work like never before. He was busy on working out some background modifications to the YouStream and advertising the whole thing. YouStream's first video was about to be uploaded and that was the New Year celebrations of Vex Corp.
While the video quality was going to be 280p the work was already underway for including 480p by February last week. Not to mention, his marketing team was working closely with Hollywood to get some viral videos online. Nothing gets the interest of people like embarrassing videos of celebrities and pets.
There was of course going to be a screening process before any video was going to be uploaded. Wouldn't want inappropriate content in the net and thus become liable for lawsuits this early after all.
"How're we doing?" he asked Deborah who was pouring over their systems and running diagnostics of YouStream.
"Our servers are functioning smoothly. No problems with any codes so far and we are starting the first upload." said Deborah
The screen showed the video being uploaded. A few minutes later the video was on the platform running smooth and easy.
"Congratulations! You are the first YouStreamer." he patted Deborah on the shoulder before moving onto Elliot Hall's section that dealt with traffic on the YouStream platform.
"Elliot, keep an eye on the traffic. If we break a million subscribers you know what to do."
"All compression programs are ready and loaded. I've got my eye on it."
"Good man." he clapped him on the shoulder. "Rotate your people. I want someone always on the lookout."
"You got it, boss."
On and on it went. Finally, when he returned home it was just a few hours to sunrise. Jane had already returned to Culver so there was nobody around at his home. A few hours of shut-eye later he was back at work.
While it sounded easy to launch an online video streaming platform the work done on the background was enormous. The whole website required constant monitoring as well as supplementary codes and revisions to make the platform more user friendly.
The whole week and much of the month was spent on HTML video embedding, establishing a rating system, encrypting comments and reaction systems, link sharing via email and working round the clock so that the platform is accommodating to as many users as possible.
The sheer amount of work being put behind full-screen viewing and increasing the video-time limit was enormous. Mostly his ideas and add-ons were constrained by lack of technology and pool of skilled labour, more specifically young labour.
So, Vex Corp was back to hunting talent which caused us to reach out to different universities and even looking into absorbing small firms working in the software field.
On the other hand, Cerion's idea to bring the Kree ship safely into his island base was now possible. He accomplished this by modifying the Space Bridge technology.
Originally, the Space Bridge was supposed to just facilitate his travel from his home at Mountain View to his island base. But then, he found the Kree City and an idea took root in his mind.
Why not shift the Kree City to his island base near the Hawaiian islands?
It was indeed a brilliant idea but the technology used in the space bridge is volatile. A single mishap could create an unstable space-time anomaly. Hence, the better part of his time was spent on making the technology as safe as possibly can.
One of the instrumental things that helped him achieve this feat was the Kree teleportation technology and Jumpdrive. The Kree ship he commandeered housed a Jump Drive and a teleportation device that could transport a limited amount of matter even within the gravitational scope of a planet. The teleportation device while has a similar function to his Space Bridge was far more advanced. Its advantage is that it did not need a similar device to receive transmission like his Space Bridge which makes it malleable as location is the sole factor that determines the device's reach.
Combining the two technologies was not so easy but he used the technology of the Kree teleportation device and the Space Bridge he developed to form a modified Space Bridge.
The new Space Bridge he built took the form of small metallic discs. The idea is that the discs would envelop the Kree ship, shrouding it in a layer of the space-time continuum. There will be one disc that will be responsible for tracing the location of teleportation. With the aid of that disc, which he named the Control Disc, he could teleport the ship to any place on Earth with the help of some advanced scanners.
And now the time has finally come for the concept to become a reality. So far, the trials he conducted with the modified Space Bridge was a success.
After much deliberation, he chose the Kree City's shipyard as the intended destination. With this in mind, he programmed the Control Disc of the Space Bridge and took a Scouter to the Moon. The Scouter would provide the appropriate cover as it housed advanced cloaking technology which made it invisible to SHIELD's or any nation's observatories and satellites. The Scouter also functioned as a signal booster for the Control Disc to scan the location inside the Kree City.
"Control Disc, assemble the Space Bridge."
His order was immediately followed as the Control Disc guided the other secondary discs to fly over to the Kree ship. One by one, the discs began to attach themselves to the ship's surface. The Control Disc was the last one to stick to the ship's periphery.
Cerion ran last-minute diagnostics on the Space Bridge to ensure the teleportation functions smoothly.
"All systems and failsafe are operational." said Optima who was monitoring and controlling the Control Disc.
"Good. Open Space Bridge" he gave out the order.
Immediately the Control Disc went from red colour to blue signalling the start of the space-time continuum. The secondary discs began to emit pale white energy that blanketed the Kree ship in a cocoon of energy.
"Control Disc activated. Destination?" asked Optima
"Hanger K1, Kree City." said Cerion as he observed the energy readings spike briefly when the space bridge was engaged. He made a reminder to rename the city and island at some point before concentrating on the Kree ship.
His enhanced vision picked up a last flare of light before the Kree ship vanished from his view kicking up dust on the surface of the moon.
"The Kree City has responded. Hanger K1 received the Kree ship. Congratulations on a successful Space Bridge operation, Commander Vex." said Optima
"Well, our work is just getting started. Commence remodelling the Kree ship to Kryptonian Dreadnought."
"Right away, Commander." said Optima before going quiet.
Cerion stayed on the moon until the Control Disc and other secondary discs returned to the Scouter. After that was done, he turned the Scouter to Earth, more specifically towards the Kree City.
As the Scouter made its way to the city on a cruising speed he went through the scanning reports of Optima once more. More detailed scanning of Earth revealed major Vibranium deposits on the North Pole. So far, he made no love towards Antarctica as the whole region was too delicate to mine. He didn't want to be responsible for destabilizing the region especially when the climate change is on the brink of becoming a disaster.
That doesn't mean he did not have plans to collect the Vibranium samples from the North Pole. The success of the modified Space Bridge opened up many possibilities. He could use the Discs to fly in through precision cavities shaped through laser cutting and extract the Vibranium safely with the least amount of disturbance to the area. It was going to be a delicate process and that's why he was delaying the extraction as a lot of parameters were involved.
Another piece of interesting discovery in the scanning for Vibranium was the location of the Nazi warship Valkyrie. Cerion had not even thought of tracking down the ship. The location popped up when the Vibranium shield used by Steve Rogers pinged the location of the ship when his Scouter was scanning the globe. The Valkyrie was off a few miles the coast of Greenland and he didn't know what to do.
On one hand, handing over the location of Captain America should have earned him some trust points with Fury but he was not so interested in earning the man's trust in the first place. There was also the concern that introducing the Captain to the world may bring some serious changes to the timeline.
Then again he cared not for the 'timeline' either so there is that.
The third most important concern is the chaos that he will surely unleash with the Captain introduced to the world. There was no possible way of knowing how HYDRA will react. They are already spooked as it is and introducing the Captain may just make them desperate. Desperate people who have access to mass-murdering weapons and resources are dangerous. There was no telling how HYDRA will decide to move forward.
Cerion watched the red dot signalling the location of Captain America's Vibranium shield on his drone's interface and came to a speedy conclusion.
"Optima change our course. We are going to Greenland."
A few hours later Cerion watched on as the iced body of Steve Rogers enters into a cryostorage pod in the Kree City. There was no way he was going to revive the Captain immediately after retrieving the guy from ice.
"Monitor his health. Nurse his body to working condition and collect samples."
"As you wish Commander." said Optima before going into work.
The pod drilled through the ice and injected a stabilising agent into the sleeping Super Soldier's neck. Then the ice was slowly drained away from the Captain leaving the world's first perfect Super Soldier in his uniform.
"Sleep well Captain Rogers." he murmured against the glass before he turned his attention to other matters.
******
"This is the second time you have failed me, Ronan. Failed our Empire!"
Ronan sneered at the visage of his father the Supreme Intelligence took up in their meeting. If the decrepit non-biotic collection of codes thought to intimidate him then it was sorely mistaken. He was not some weakling to buckle under by a false visage of his progenitor.
He was Ronan the Accuser. He had watched civilizations burn all for the glory of his ancestors and the Kree Empire. Even now, he alone fought and gleaned victory in the war against the fools of Xandar. It was his plans and strategy that saw to it the Shi'ar was pushed out of Kree space in the Great Patriotic War.
But despite all that the Supreme Intelligence is right. He did indeed failed the Empire on C53 or as the locals call it Earth.
Just the name of the planet made him sneer. What kind of barbaric people would call their home planet dirt? This is why the humans disgusted him but knowing what he now knew he could learn to overcome that distaste.
"I accept my failure Supreme Intelligence. But you should know I am someone who has delivered victory to the Kree Empire from the jaws of defeat."
His declaration gave the Supreme Intelligent pause.
"Speak plainly Commander of the Accuser Corps."
"I may have suffered defeat from this new enemy but I do have some valuable information and some prisoners to show."
"What valuable information? What prisoners?"
"The information about a traitorous group of Kree Empire that conducted illegal experimentation in the hopes of creating enhanced slaves to fight our wars. The traitors call themselves the Reapers. My second visit to the Sol System revealed their presence and I had thought I was engaging them when I responded to the beacon from C53."
"I see. Where are these traitors? What other information have you gleaned from them Ronan?" asked the Supreme Intelligence taking an interest.
"The experimentation was a success. The human species of Earth adapted to the Terrigenesis protocol implemented by the Reapers. The traitors will be delivered for memory mining to extract more details of the nature of their experiment."
"It is not unknown to either of us that human species is dangerous when they are enhanced." said the Supreme Intelligence making Ronan nod in agreement.
He was intimately aware as they were losing the war against Xandar as their fleets were being decimated by Captain Marvel on the other side of the galaxy. It had forced the Accuser Corps to stop hunting for Skrulls for the time being. The new enemy he encountered was also a dangerous foe, one that he intend to eliminate in the future before the entity become too powerful.
"I request that you allow me a fleet to take down this new enemy before it grows too powerful." Ronan demanded
"Denied." said the Supreme Intelligence
"Why?" Ronan stepped forward in anger.
"You lack vision, Ronan. Asgard watches from their realm and there is a chance they may interfere if we push the boundaries of our pact too far. For now, we prepare and observe. We are already fighting a war on one front. Fighting the Asgardians over a backwater planet is not logical. What we need is a powerful ally."
"An ally?" Ronan frowned
"An ally of convenience. In time I shall share my plans. For now, bring forth the traitors. Their knowledge will serve the Kree Empire well."
"What about the enemy I encountered?"
"Leave that be. Focus on winning the war rather than winning all battles. Long live the Kree Empire."
"Long live the Kree Empire."
Ronan stepped out of the meeting with Supreme Intelligence and he was not at all satisfied.
"Master, shall I prepare the ship to C53?" asked Koran
"No. We join the war against Xandar. In time, we shall return to C53. Prepare the prisoners to be transported for interrogation."
"Yes, master." said Koran before taking his leave.
Ronan turned his back on his servant and looked at Hala. The capital of the Kree Empire shined brightly and it'd be his honour to bring further glory to the Empire. He will do so one way or another. But first, he would have to defeat those Xandarians and make them submit to Kree rule.
