Chapter 25

Traveling in faster than light speed was a mix of how I remember Star Wars and Star Trek portrait it. We were in a tunnel like space as the ship shook left to right. We traveled past beams of light that look like flat lines. The ship would follow the path of the tunnel as it turned in different directions to avoid hitting an object.

"Hey, it says here that the planet Morag had life before but now everything is submerged in water," Carol asked as she was looking at the planet file.

"Yeah, every 300 years the water recedes exposing the ruins that are still there," I added.

"Do we just dive and search?" Carol asked.

"No need, I have the general location of where it's at and I am capable of sensing its energy. At least I hope I can. The container its in might reduce its emissions," I clarified.

"Ma'am, dropping in 5 minutes," Tessa said as she was looking at her terminal. Carol looked at me with a smug smile. I looked down in embarrassment.

"Well, I'm going to get ready with those suit upgrades. I'll be back….Ma'am," she said trying to hold her laughter. I sighed as she left.

"Did I do something wrong?" Tessa asked.

"Nothing, you're fine," I said.

As we neared to our location, the ship started to slow down, and the lines started to shorten. The tunnel started to fade as we came closer. The display window opened, and a small dot became bigger and bigger. When we exited, there was some vibrations around the ship but its very hard to notice.

"Good jump. Setting course to orbit around planet Morag," Tessa announced.

"Perfect, Carol and I will take a shuttle down. Maintain a close orbit," I said.

"Understood," Tessa replied.

"Carol?" I asked through my communicator as I boarded the shuttle.

"Heading down," I heard her voice. I saw a trail of light heading down towards the planet.

"That's so unfair," I whispered.

"There a storm nearby, we should keep an eye on that," Carol said as she continued to maneuver around the atmosphere.

"Okay, I'm activating the scanner now," I said. I moved the shuttle away from the storm and positioned it above the water to begin the water scans. As soon as I started, I received a large sonar reply.

"Nice, we got lucky. I see the ruin already," I said, and Carol worked her way to my location.

"What's the plan?" Carol asked.

"We dive," I said. I activated my suit and programed the shuttle to hover in this location. I dove down to the water and Carol followed me.

"Whoa," Carol said as we dove down. The colors of the ruins were luminating. Sea creatures were swimming all around the structure, making it their home. There were all sorts of colors displaying brightly as we approached. Some of the creatures were curious about us but swam away the closer we got.

Once we reached the ruins we began to look around for an entrance. I found a doorway that looked like it went inside. As I positioned myself to enter, I suddenly noticed how eerily quiet it was. I stopped myself from entering and turns around. The creatures around us were rather far from us now. My instincts told me that something was off. I looked for Carol and found her to my right getting closer to me.

"Something wrong," I said.

"Yeah, it got weird all of a sudden," Carol responded as she reached me.

"Let's head inside bef-" I was cutoff as my instincts screamed to move. I managed to turn around to see a creature much like a shark attack me. I put up my shields just in time and saw it try to sink its razor-sharp teeth into me. The sudden attack was fast, and its speed pushed me into the building.

"Lydia!" Carol scream and launched a photon blast at the creature. It stopped trying to attack me and swam away with a wound on its side.

"You good?" asked Carol.

"Yeah, thanks," I said and deactivated my shield. I think I would have been okay if I didn't activate my shield in time, but I am glad I practiced with my speed on activating it.

We continued to move deeper into the ruin until we finally arrived at a locked door. I placed my hand over the door and let the suit do its things. A number of programs launched and started to try to unlock it. One of them was successful as the door started to slide open. Once it opened, we swam inside.

"That's the stone?" Carol asked looking at the contained that was held in midair.

"Yeah," I said as I swam closer to it. The force field around it evaporated the water that hit it. It looked like a constant stream of gas going upwards.

"So, how are we supposed to get it?" Carol asked.

"With magic," I said smiling. She looked confused as I began to use my sling ring to open a small portal. Once it opened, I used my telekinesis to move it. When I grabbed it, I placed my hand on Carol's shoulder and teleported us above the water near the shuttle.

"Magic?" Carol asked.

"I'm not the best at it, but I can hold my own," I said.

"Where did you learn that?" she asked.

"A long time ago on Earth. There is a master who still teaches those willing to learn," I said.

"You're going to have to elaborate more on that later," Carol said.

"I will," I said with a half-smile. We landed inside the shuttle, and I began to open the container. Once I opened it, purple light shined all around us. I could feel the power gushing out.

"Here goes nothing," I said as I began to reach for the stone.

"What are you doing?" Carol asked. I ignored her and gripped the stone. The moment it touched my hand, my body locked up. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out as the radiation burns climbed up my arms. This was much faster than the space stone. I let the stone drop and Carol grabbed it using the container. My arms were entirely black as I dropped to my knees. I couldn't feel any pain, meaning it destroyed the nerves.

"Oh my god, Lydia! Your arms!" Carol said as she looked at me.

"I-it's okay," I grunted slightly. I could tell my healing was kicking in as I felt pain.

"Take the shuttle back. Put me in the medical chamber," I said. I passed out after that. When I came to, I was inside the medical pod as it began to drain the water. My arms were healed now but I felt a throbbing pain. The door opened, and I grabbed the edges to lift myself up. I looked to see who was in the room with me and found Carol looking at me with her arms crossed. Her look said it all. She was upset with me. I took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Explain," was all Carol said.

"I attempted to see how bad the reaction would be to absorb some of the energy. I didn't think it through," I said honestly.

"Clearly," she said.

"I need to be able to safely absorb its power before I can use the stone for the plan. Otherwise, I would be in a similar state if I use it without learning to channel it safely," I said.

"And this is the only way for you to achieve this?" she asked.

"Yes, the more I absorb, the more my body will get used to the strain," I said.

"This seems reckless," she said. She pinched her nose in frustration.

"I know," I said. I got up and stretched.

"Where's the stone?" I asked as I began to put my clothing back on.

"Here," she said with a sigh. She tossed the container over to me.

"I'll try something different. Let's go to the training room," I said.

When we arrived, I activated my suit. Carol looked at me confused but I just went into the center of the room. I suspect that the stone probably needs a medium for me to channel it safely. On my right hand, I began to program the suit to interface with the stone and channel its power through the suit. It would probably explode if left alone, but I��ll be absorbing its power as its flowing through the suit. This way the suit will take the front of the force. I opened the container and tilt it to fall on the top of my hand. As the stone got closer, the nanites in my suit began to make room for it. When it reached, my body again locked up. Purple was released all around me. The suit seemed to cry as the material began to bend. I started to absorb the energy and slowly stabilized the suit. It took a while to maintain a balance, but I had finally succeeded. I was on my knees from all the force it took, but the power I felt was intoxicating. The whole suit had purple lines from the energy that was flowing inside. I couldn't tell, but I was willing to bet that those lines are on my body as well.

"I-I'm going to stay like this for a bit," I struggled to say. The pain was still there, and it didn't lessen.

"I'll stay with you," Carol said. I smiled at her.

I sat down and crossed my legs. I began to meditate like how the Ancient One taught me. I tuned out everything and focused solely on absorbing the energy. I began to merge the Power stone's energy into my own. I continued to do this until I felt that my energy began to change. The Power stone's energy was hard to tame. It kept going out of control every now and then, but I finally manage to stabilize it. In this state, I'll be able to unleash hell on the Kree. I'm not sure how much time passed, but when I opened my eyes, I found Carol sleeping next to the door. I smiled at her and got up. I put the stone back into the container. My body felt so refreshed after putting the stone back. It felt like a heavy weight was constantly trying to crush my body when I had it. I walked over to Carol and pushed her hair to the side. Doing that made her wake up.

"How did it go?" Carol asked as she yawned.

"Good. I reached a stable point. Let's continue the plan," I said and we both went up to Central.

"How are we going to do this?" Carol asked.

"I was thinking sending them a message first and then hit them with the Power stone. Something along the lines of don't attack Earth," I said.

"This will have different results. It might deter them, but it'll bring more attention to Earth which is not what we want. A covert operation would be better. Same plan, just more covertly. I know of a Kree operations building. It will definitely bring the attention we want," Carol suggested.

"You're right. I didn't put much thought on what other people might do knowing Earth had that type of power. You take lead and I'll follow. Tessa and Emma will go to the main building. Can you give them as much information as possible about the building?" I asked.

"It's hard to get in. I've only been there a handful of times, but I'll explain as much as I can," Carol said.

"Better than nothing," I shrugged.

Carol began to tell Tessa and Emma everything she remembered about the main building. Astrid had sent over the virus information. If we manage to succeed, then it will cripple the Kree's leadership and intelligence divisions. I began to prepare the equipment and made sure our suits were good to go. The Power stone remained in the container mainly because I was afraid its energy would be detected.

"All good," Carol said.

"Tessa, set course to Hala," I said.

"Setting course," Tessa said.

"Jumping," Tessa said. The ship shook slightly as it sped towards Hala.

"Alright listen up. A small change, we will change into a more covert style. Same plan just no grand entrance," I said to Tessa and Emma. They both nodded and went to get ready.

"What this building we're hitting?" I asked Carol.

"That's where I used to train. There are a lot of commandos in that building," Carol responded.

"That'll be a blow to their covert operations as well. I wonder if they can still fight the war with the Nova Corps," I wondered.

"You know about that too?" she asked, and I nodded my head.

"Well to be completely honest, it'll be a blow to the face for them, but they wont stop. They'll have another group become the Accusers and continue to fight the war," Carol explained.

"Ma'am, should I activate the stealth systems?" Tessa asked as she came back in.

"Yes," I replied. She went to her terminal and inputted the commands. A few seconds later we were about to reach our destination. The ship shook slightly as it exited.

"Stealth systems activated. No emissions. Running silent," Tessa reported.

"Alright. Let's begin," I said and activated my suit. Everyone else also activated theirs. We boarded one shuttle and took off.

"Tessa, automate the ship to maintain orbit close by and avoid any collisions," I said.

"Right away," she replied.

"Drop us off on the mark location then proceed to your objective. If anything happens or it becomes too much retreat. Understood?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am," Emma and Tessa said in unison. It was a short flight to the marked destination Carol put and we activated our stealth systems on our suits as we exited the shuttle.

"This way," Carol said as we moved through the alleys.

The designs of the buildings were something else. It was my first time seeing something like this so I couldn't help but let my eye wander to capture the scenes. The lights and the materials used captivated me. Everything was well organized for maximum efficiency. No wonder they follow the AI. It definitely knows what it's doing.

"Hurry up," Carol said as I was falling behind. I picked up the pace and got closer to her. She was leaning at the end of the alley peeking at a building.

"See that building with the S on the front?" she asked. I looked at the general area she was looking at and found that building she was referring to.

"Starforce?" I asked. When she was with them, she belonged with the elite Kree commandos known as Starforce.

"Yeah, that's where most of the trainings are held," she said.

"Okay, let's begin," I said as I started to walk to the building but was stopped my Carol.

"There's a field around the building. Only those with the proper credentials can get closer," she said.

"How strong is the field?" I asked.

"Not that strong. It's meant more for detection than protection," she stated.

"Good. Time to make some noise," I said and deactivated the stealth systems. I took out the container with the Power stone and placed it on my right hand. The sounds and lights gave away our position as some of the Kree people stopped and stared at our location. It took a few seconds for me to stabilize the power. I flew upwards and Carol followed.

I made my way to the building and as soon as I passed through the field, alarms sounded. I gathered more power from the stone and pulled my fist back. I was on top of the building now and unleashed all the power as my fist connected. There was a bright purple light that was emitted, and the building had purple cracks spreading all throughout. The cracks continued to expand downwards and hit the ground. Once on the ground, the cracks continued to spread all to the surrounding areas. A loud boom came next as the area exploded. Carol and I were knocked upwards from the force, but we managed to regain control. Having a bird's eye view, we could see the devastation that punch caused. I gulped from shock. I didn't think I put that much power into that punch.

"Lydia…" Carol said slowly.

"I-I didn't put that much energy in that punch. I was only trying to destroy the main building," I defended myself. I looked at my right hand. This stone is insane. I was sure the amount I took should have normally been enough. Now it looks like a larger meteor hit the ground. I was too distracted to notice the fighter ships heading our way. Carol managed to notice and dodge an attack.

"Lydia, watc-" she tried to say something to me, but I was suddenly hit with multiple blasts. It pushed me into the ground and continued to bombard me with their laser blasts.

"You're kidding…" I whispered. As the blasts kept hitting me, I felt nothing but a small tingle. I knew that it increased durability, but to this degree is insane. No wonder whoever possessed this became a literal god.

I closed my eyes and started to bring my shroud up slowly. I didn't want to take any chances with using the stone and my own energy, so I took it slowly. When I felt pain, I stopped and opened my eyes. My shroud was at the peak and about to turn to the second level. I guess doing that would be too much for my body. I levitated myself and started to launch blasts from my right hand. Each ship that got it was reduced to a pile of ashes. I looked at the stone in surprise again.

"That thing is crazy," Carol said as she came closer to me.

"I don't remember it being like this," I said honestly.

"You scared them off," Carol said. I turned to look at the ships leaving the area.

"Tessa," I said establishing a link to her suit.

"Almost done," she replied. I could hear some background noise. Emma is probably fighting any guards they encountered.

"Virus uploaded," Tessa reported.

"Good, head to the ship," I said. A purple spark came out of my right hand and it locked my entire arm momentarily.

"Good timing. I don't think I can maintain control for much longer," I said as my arm trembled from the strain. I got closer to Carol and teleported us to the ship. I got on one knee from the exhaustion this stone was putting on my body. It was testing the limits of my body. I took the stone off and put it in the container.

"You okay?" Carol asked. I looked at my arm and noticed how it kept on trembling. Purple sparks could still be seen as it trembled.

"Yes," I said feeling the tension I didn't know was there, go away. My body sighed in relief. Carol offered her hand and I grab it to get up. I smiled, thanking her.

"Something wrong? You seem off," Carol asked.

"I just wasn't expecting the stone to be this powerful. I knew the stone could destroy worlds, but that happened when a higher entity used it. It's also rather hard to gauge how much power to draw. I would need to practice more to find the limits," I answered honestly.

"That's probably a good idea. We don't want the same thing to happen," Carol said crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

"I honestly thought I drew enough power to only take one building out. The fact that it created that large crater surprised me. Even the blasts I was releasing were more than I wanted. I merely wanted to cause damage, not reduce them to ashes," I continued.

"I know. I trust you. Come on, we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Carol said. I nodded and looked at the terminal. The shuttle Tessa and Emma used was just docking.

"Perfect timing," I said in a low voice. I started typing the commands to jump. I picked a nearby system that was in the jump network.

"Jumping," I said. The ship shook slightly, and the stealth system held but shimmered slightly from the jump. Since the system was close, we arrived in mere seconds. Tessa and Emma had come up through the door as we exited.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"There were more Kree than we expected but Emma held them off while I upload the virus. It proved to be challenging as it kept locking me out, but Astrid showed me how to bypass the lockouts. The virus did its job immediately. The AI is severely damaged," Tessa reported.

"Nicely done. Go get some rest. I'll stay here and monitor things," I said.

"Yes ma'am," They both said and turned to leave. I chuckled slightly at their formal attitude.

"Well that takes care of the Kree for a while. What should we do now?" I asked Carol.

"I wasn't expecting find a home for the Skrulls this quickly so I'm not sure," she paused.

"What else were you planning on doing?" she asked.

"I wanted to make a fake Power stone to place it back where it was. I also wanted to look for more materials. I need to go to Nidavellir, home of the dwarfs," I said.

"What?" Carol asked confused.

"They have a metal called Uru. Its capable of many things. It's like vibranium in that its very mystical. Uru was used to create the gauntlet I showed you before. It's capable of handling the stones power," I explained.

"So, where is Nid-Nidalir?" Carol struggled to say.

"Nidavellir. And that's the difficult part," I paused.

"I suspect that only the more powerful Asgardians know of its location," I said seriously.

"Asgardians? I remember that from the training the Kree gave me. They told us to avoid fighting them at all cost," Carol said.

"Yes, they are formidable fighters. On Earth, they were referred to as Norse Gods," I said.

"Like Loki, Thor? They actually exist?" Carol asked.

"Yes, in a way. The stories don't reflect the actual events," I clarified.

"So, they are actually gods?" Carol asked.

"Ah…that's a hard question to answer. Yes and no. They are definitely strong and have really long-life spans, but they can be killed," I answered.

"How are we supposed to get one of them to talk about its location?" Carol asked.

"I don't know. Thanos somehow managed to find the place. I don't know what method he used but I think we can use the Space stone to take us there," I said biting my nail.

"So, transportation is taken care of. Can't we just take the metal or find where to get more?" she asked.

"That's the issue. Uru has a high melting point. So high that a neutron star is needed. That's the reason they live in a giant multi-ringed structure that orbits a neutron star. They use the emissions from it and concentrate it to a fine point to melt Uru. Only then can they manipulate it to create," I explained.

"It's never easy," she said as she pinched her nose.

"I was thinking that we take some of the Uru and find a neutron star for ourselves. One that is outside the of the jump network," I said.

"That sounds like a plan," she said.

I retrieved on the Space stone and activated it. I visualized the area where I wanted to go, and a blue portal appeared.

"Stealth on," I said. Carol and I activated our suits with stealth systems active and walked inside.