HIATUS

"HAHAHAHAHA! Get back here you Kree scums! HAHAHAHA!", Ava said as she began taking control of the weapons systems of the ship that Howard and the Skrull scientist had redesigned.

Since 2000, Ava along with one of Ethan's clones, 12 phantoms, and the Skrull scientist had become mercenaries for hire on the planet of Xandar. The group had taken missions mostly from the government of the Nova Empire and some of the wealthy members of their society.

Right now the team wasn't on a mission, they were just flying in space watching its beauty when they spotted a Xandarian ship being chase by 3 Kree ships. Ethan's clone seeing this immediately commanded the crew to go to battle stations, hence Ava's delight in firing the lasers.

"Careful Ava. We don't want to accidentally hit the Xandarian ship. If we're lucky the person inside that ship will allow us to garner some positive opinions from the Nova Empire. We can't let this chance get by us", Ethan clone said as he commanded the Skrull to fly towards the 4 ships and to provide cover for the Xandarian ship.

"Tsk. I'm not stupid. I know what I'm doing", Ava said as she continued her shooting.

The three Kree ships that were chasing the Xandarian ship were suddenly shocked that another ship began firing at them. The battle between Nova Empire and Kree Empire had been happening for so long now that when most people happen to find themselves in the battle of a Kree and Nova ship, they would immediately get out of the area. No one wants to get in the middle of the fight between two powerful empires after all.

One Kree ship that was too late to react was hit by Ava lasers and immediately exploded.

"Hell, yeah!", Ava said with joy as she began to continue firing at the remaining two.

Seeing this, the two remaining Kree ships spread out in different directions. One on the left and the other on the right. Since the Xandarian ship had already sustained high amounts of damage from them, the Kree pilots decided that eliminating the other party must take priority. Only after destroying the other ship would they began firing back at the near destroyed Xandarian ship.

The Kree ships were fast enough that they were able to fire lasers at both the wings of the ship.

"BANG!BOOM!!"

"Damn it Skrull, shows us some moves already", Ethan's clone commanded the reanimated Skrull. The Skrull scientist began to maneuver the ship to dodge all incoming lasers. Ava tried to land a hit but the Krees were more accustomed to space warfare than her, this made Ava frustrated.

"Fucking sh*t!", Ava said with anger in her voice.

The Kree pilots were being extremely careful in their engagement, every time Ava thought that she could land a hit, the Kree ship would immediately dodge.

"Damn it! We need to finish this quickly. We can't allow the Krees to call for back--", Ethan's clone said but he suddenly stops talking when he saw a fairly large meteor that was just drifting in space, and he immediately had an idea.

"Go towards that meteor, and in the last moment fly up!", Ethan's clone commanded. He then controlled one of the Phantoms to go towards the empty cargo hold of the ship. The ship began going towards the meteorite head-on and at the last moment the Skrull changed the trajectory of the ship to fly up, with the Krees behind their tail, Ethan's clone opened the Cargo hold prompting the Phantom to float near the two Kree ships.

"Goodbye you idiots", Ethan's clone said with a smile.

Once the Phantom and the two Kree ships were in fairly close distance between one another, the Phantom exploded.

"BOOM!!"

Behind them was a huge explosion that destroyed the two Kree ships that were following them.

"Damn, writing exploding seals on their bodies is one of your best idea, boss", Ava said. After officially graduating from Ethan's tutelage all of his disciples either refer to him as boss or sir now.

Ethan's clone began doing multiple hand signs, and afterward, he slammed his hand on the floor of the ship. Suddenly a huge puff of smoke appeared and what came out of it was the Phantom that recently self-destructed himself, he was still reforming when he was summoned.

"Okay, go towards the Xandarian ship, make contact if you can", the clone said.

The Skrull nodded and went towards the barely intact Xandarian ship.

"This is the mercenary team named Shadow, our mercenary permit was filled in the planet of Xandar. Would you like any assistance?", Ava said as she gave the Xandarian ship a message.

After a while, on the screen of the command center, an image of a person was shown. The person had a bleeding forehead, and he was wearing a standard Xandarian military gear.

"I am a Denarian rank officer in the Nova Corps of the Nova Empire. My name is Garthan Saal. I would like to thank you for saving my life", Saal said with heavy breathing.

"As we said we are Shadow. Do you need any further assistance?", the clone asked.

"On behalf of the Nova Corps, I would like to hire your group to return me to Xandar with due haste. All of you will be handsomely repaid", Saal said.

"Will take the job. Will get you out of your space junk and into our far excellent ship", the clone said.

The moment that Saal heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, while the clone was not celebrating on the outside, he was 100% over the moon because of who they just save. A Denarian is a moderately high ranking officer in the Nova Corps, saving him will get them in the good graces of the Nova Empire. This is a big step towards the mission.

They eventually took Saal from his ship and treated him for his injuries. After that was done they immediately went to the closes jump point to travel towards Xandar.

Meanwhile, a man on earth seated himself in a meditating position. In front of him is a cube that had a blueish glow to it. The man closed his eyes and it did not open for 48 hours. On occasion, a bald woman wearing a yellowish robe would look at him in interest. Then suddenly after the 48-hour mark, the man opened his eyes but instead of seeing the pupil of his eye, his eyes were glowing with power, yet only briefly, for the man lost consciousness immediately afterward.