Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1 - "Bump in the Night"
Written by: Space Jawa
Edited by: GarganisScorpion

After the Guardians left the surface of Earth aboard the Far Seeing Eye of the Osiris, Jazinda activated the systems that come with the Herald class ship but had seen very little use thus far – namely, its cloaking and hologram technology designed to keep it hidden. She and Victory hoped that it would give them the chance at some peace before deciding where to zoom off to next.

“So job well done then?” Quill asked, as he and the others that had been present at the final fight with Thanos and the faux-Watcher entered the ships cockpit. “Everyone pat each other on the back and take five?”

“I would not be so sure of that,” Adam said. “Thanos yet survives, and will be looking for the gem that I yet possess.”
“We also need to return to New York and find the symbiote,” Gamora added. She didn’t sound like she was offering it as a suggestion.

“This one is not sure that returning to Earth for anything at the moment is a good idea,” Mantis said, “not while Thanos remains there.”

“We should be safe for the moment,” Jazinda said, sounding sure of herself. “I’ve been looking at these Kree defensive systems, and while they’re not top-of-the-line, they’re still daast impressive. I doubt Thanos even knows we’re here.”

It was at that moment the Osiris shook from a violent impact.

“You were saying?” Rocket Raccoon asked, leaping into a chair and grabbing on to keep from getting thrown around.

“Hang on!” Major Victory shouted, and took control of the ship from his position, pushing it forward and evading the next volley of shots meant to hit them. Not having any particular location in mind aside from ‘anywhere but here,’ he brought the Osiris out of Earth's orbit and took them out of the system.


Aboard the cockpit of his own ship, the Sanctuary II, Thanos had taken the unusual step of piloting the ship himself, taking to the controls and personally using it to try to destroy the Guardians own ship. It was something that his assistant Skreet had never seen him do before, at least not since she had joined him as the ship's sole crewmember.

“Sir, if I may…”

“Quiet!” Thanos commanded with a booming voice. “I’ll have no distractions while I destroy the Guardians!”
“What about the Gem?” Skreet asked.
“I’m sure the Gem will survive the destruction of their ship,” Thanos replied. “And it will be far easier to retrieve it while I’m shifting through the wreckage and their dead, decaying bodies.”


“He’s gaining on us!” Jazinda said. “How is he still gaining on us? I though this ship was supposed to be one of the fastest in the universe!”

“Was,” Peter Quill said from an auxiliary station. While Quill was an experienced pilot himself, Victory was already busy trying to fly them out of harms way, and so the space adventurer had taken a seat at another station, relaying information about the ships systems for its pilots. “That first hit Thanos got in did a number on your systems. Engines aren’t even close to running at full power, and I wouldn’t count on access to most the other defensive systems right now, either!”

“So much for Thanos not knowing where we are,” Gamora shot at her.
“Not helping!” Jazinda fired back.

“People, if I might suggest concentrating less on what we can’t do and more on what we can do?” Rocket said.

“The Raccoon is correct,” Adam Warlock said. “We need to focus on escape.”
“Then how about using some of those crazy wizard powers of yours to teleport us to safety?” Jazinda suggested.
“Even if I were not currently preoccupied protecting the ship from Thanos’ attacks,” he answered, “my powers do not work that way. I cannot teleport a ship of this size the kind of distance we require. Not by myself.”

“Then turn the ship around,” Gamora replied. “We hit him straight on, board his ship, and take him hand to hand.”
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but are you crazy?” Quill asked. “Even if we can get close enough to pull that off, there’s no way the ship will survive long enough for everyone to get on board his ship --assuming we’re able to get on board it at all.”
“I’ll take whatever odds we have,” Gamora said, blade in hand. “It beats what we’re doing right now.”
“What we’re doing right now is surviving!” Quill replied.
“For how long?” Gamora answered. “Thanos is not going to give up until either we’re dead, or he is.”

“Or until we escape,” Major Victory said. “I may have found our answer.”
“What you got?” Quill asked.
“It’s some kind of phantom gravity well,” Vance answered.
“A what?”
“There’s a source of gravity, but no planet to go with it.”
“You’re thinking we can use it as a slingshot?” Rocket asked.

“I have a better idea,” Warlock said. “Fly straight at it. I can use it to super accelerate the ship and take us far away from here.”

“You sure?” Jazinda asked. “There’s got to be something at the bottom of that thing.”
“It won’t matter,” Warlock said. “I can send us straight through it.”

Another explosion shook the ship, bringing the debate to a premature end.

“If you’re going to do it, you better do it soon!” Quill said. “I’m not sure if this ship can take another hit.”

Hitting the accelerator, Victory pushed the ship as fast as it could possibly go.

“Hang on,” he said, and pointed the ship straight at the mysterious space signature.

“Redirect all power to the engines and rear shields,” Adam said. Stretching his arms out to either side, he started to float in the air as his hands began to glow with cosmic energy.

The Osiris began to shake as it closed in on its target, and everyone who wasn’t busy making sure the ship would survive the maneuver grabbed on to whatever solid surface was closest for stability.

Suddenly, the ship’s power seemingly went dead. The lights and control panels went dark, but the engines sounded like they were continuing to function. No one was sure what to make of it, but when Adam’s hands flashed brightly and shot the ship forward like a giant space bullet moments later, everyone lost consciousness and didn’t have time to think about it.


When the Osiris vanished from sight, Thanos slowly brought his ship to a hault.

“Leave,” he said after several moments of silence.

“Sir…” Skreet started, but she was quickly interrupted.
“LEAVE,” Thanos reiterated, just short of shouting at her.

The mite knew better than to continue, and flew off the bridge, leaving Thanos alone to fume over his loss.

“I will find you, Guardians,” Thanos said to no one in particular as he stared out into space. “I will have what I desire.”

Despite his seemingly calm exterior, the Titan was furious and raging on the inside. He needed a proper way to let that anger out.

He needed something to kill.

He needed to find death


A figure floating out amongst the void of space watched as the Sanctuary II floated out in space facing the direction of its escaped prey. Satisfied that their aim had been accomplished, the being faded, almost as though it had never been there at all…


“GUAH!” Quill shouted as he sat up suddenly, his hands gripping either side of his helmet as he did. Fortunately, the feeling quickly faded and left him free to focus on the matter at hand.

“Anyone else feel like they were stepped on by a Gorgabeast?” Quill heard Jazinda asked.
“I don’t know what that is, but yes,” Rocket replied, raising his hand.

“Is everyone at least still alive?” Quill asked. He picked himself up and looked around, seeing that aside from Rocket and Jazinda, Gamora was also awake and picking herself up. While Adam, Mantis, and Major Victory were still out, a quick check revealed that they weren’t dead, just unconscious.

“Let’s never do that again,” Gamora said.
“Hey, we’re alive, aren’t we?” Quill replied.
“But with no idea where we are,” Jazinda said, looking over the Osiris’ control panels. “Either the ship is having trouble figuring out where that trick shot us, or some of the instruments got busted up during our escape.”
“Or when we were getting shot up by Thanos,” Rocket added.
“Either way, we’re pretty much stuck here until we figure out where in space we are,” the Skrull said.

From the floor, the sounds of Adam Warlock and Mantis coming to were heard. Once they had gotten over their own massive headaches, Quill helped them to their feet.

“You alright?” he asked.
“This one believes so,” Mantis replied.
“I think I shall survive,” Adam said.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Quill said, not entirely sure how to interpret the latter answer.

“Either of you know a safe way to get Vance back up?” Jazinda asked.
“I shall see what I can do,” Adam answered.

Walking over to the unconscious soldier, Warlock put his hands next to Major Victory’s head. They glowed for an-ever brief moment before Victory suddenly sat up with a deep inhale.

“What…oh…” he said, putting his hand up to his head and letting everyone know he was feeling the same thing the rest of them had felt when they had woken up.
“It’s alright,” Quill said, putting a hand on Victory’s shoulder. “You should feel better in a moment.”

“Great, the gang’s all up,” Rocket said, perched on top of a chair. “Now anyone have any interest in finding out where the frell we are?”


Her name was Rita DeMara, but she was more commonly known as Yellowjacket. In a situation that was highly ironic for a woman with powers such as hers, she was fairly certain she had found her way into a situation that was far bigger than anything she was prepared for or had agreed to.

Following her defeat alongside the Masters of Evil during Baron Zemo’s plan to defeat the Avengers*, Rita had found herself rescued from prison by another group of villains that had also decided to call themselves the Masters of Evil. Aside from the name, however, the group shared very little with the team that Yellowjacket had previously been a member of and had revealed themselves to be nothing more than a bunch of wannabes.

Most notably was their actual effectiveness, made all the more obvious when she later learned that she was about the only villain they had successfully freed, and even that much was only by accident – she’d only gotten out on account of her powers and hadn’t even been among the captured villains they’d intended to free in the first place – a fact they hadn’t been shy about telling her.

Even so, the group had offered her an invitation to join anyway, which was likely on account of the fact that she had been a member of the previous group and was probably the most experienced supervillain among them –another highly telling fact about what kind of joke the so-called ‘New’ Masters of Evil were. Out of some misplaced sense of thanks for freeing her, Yellowjacket had in turn decided to accept their offer and at least give them a shot.

Right now, Yellowjacked was considering that decision to be one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made. Right next to her decision to obey their orders and investigate an alien ship that had apparently landed in New York, one the team had hoped they could then follow up on by stealing it or technology aboard it to give themselves an ‘edge’ and possibly some real muscle.

She would have gladly been back amongst the group of wannabe villains if only it meant she were still on Earth, rather than having accidentally allowing herself to foolishly be still aboard the ship when it had lifted off and not finding a way off it before it had left Earth’s atmosphere, where she was now trapped. By comparison, having mysteriously fallen unconscious had been a minor setback.

“ ” she continued to mutter to herself as he flew through the ship, not sure where the best place to hide was till she figured out a plan to get home without being discovered – if such a plan was even possible…


“I don’t know where we are,” Jazinda said, “but I think I know a place we can go - at least temporarily.”

Tapping a button on the ships scanner systems, she brought up a hologram showing the space surrounding the ship. On it, only two signals could be seen – one for the Osiris herself, and one for some unspecified object off in the distance.

“What is it?” Quill asked.
“No idea,” Jazinda said. “I just know it’s there.”
“How enlightening,” Gamora said with a touch of sarcasm.

“It’s more enlightening than you realize, Gamora,” Victory said, “because whatever it is, it’s about the only thing that’s there. There are no signs of anything else. Considering the range of the sensors, it’s an unnerving discovery.”

“Just how far did your little trick shoot us, Warlock?” Rocket asked.
“I do not know,” the space wizard replied, “but whatever that thing is, it is likely our best hope of getting answers at this time.”

“Guess that about settles it then, doesn’t it?” Quill said. “Towards the mystery space object, then.”

“One other little problem,” Jazinda added.
“Please don’t tell me the engines are dead,” Quill said.
“Fortunately, no,” Major Victory said, “however, the navigational systems have no idea where we are right now. They’re trying to calibrate and get a location, but until then we’re only capable of making sublight speed. At that speed, we’re estimating at least a day before we reach the object.”

“Then perhaps it is best that we get on our way,” Adam said.


“Hey Rocket, you want to hand me that hydro-driver?” Quill said as he pulled himself out of a maintenance shaft opening. While it wasn’t the most comfortable way to get at some of the Osiris’s deeper workings, it was the best way to get at them while still keeping the ship running.

“This thing?” Rocket asked, picking up a twisted-looking tool with a thing that looked like a suction cup at the end.

“No, the pointy one with the bulbous wheel-like thingy on the end,” Quill said. He waved off the first tool Rocket offered him and pointed in the general direction of a different set of tools.

“Oh, you mean this one?” Rocket said, picking up a different tool.

“Yeah, that one,” Quill replied, and held out his hand to receive the object when Rocket brought it too him. “Thanks.”

Tool in hand, Quill slid back in through the opening to climb his way back to the area he had been working on.

“I thought you’d have a better idea what these tools were, Rocket,” Jazinda shouted from inside the shaft.

Hopping over to the entrance, Rocket stuck his head in to give a reply.

“These aren’t the kind of tools I’m used to working with, Jaz,” he said. “I’m more accustomed to smaller-scale tools. The kind you use to work on hand-held equipment.”

“Ah,” Jazinda replied. “I thought it would just be because they fit your hands better.”

He could hear both the Skrull and Quill chuckling at her joke.

“Funny,” he said, suppressing a snicker at the joke himself.

“So Rocket, what’s your plan once we get somewhere half-way recognizable?” Quill asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Once we’ve found our way back to civilization and we’re not dealing with an imminent end-of-the-universe level crisis.”
“Hadn’t thought much about it,” Rocket said.

Hearing the sound of the main engineering bay access door open, Rocket turned his attention to the noise and saw Mantis enter from around the corner.

“Rocket Raccoon, is Peter Quill here as well?”

Rocket indicated for the woman to wait a moment and popped his head back in through the maintenance shaft opening.

“Hey Pete!” he said, slapping his hand against the exterior covering. “I think Mantis wants to talk to you.”

“Both of you, actually,” Mantis replied with a smile.

Rocket moved out of the way of the access opening and gave Peter Quill the space he needed to climb out. Quill then reached and hand in and helped Jazinda out as well, who proceeded to find a place to sit nearby.

“So what have you got for us?” Quill asked as he wiped his hands off with a nearby rag.

“Adam Warlock requested that this one offer the both of you a formal invitation to join the Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“He did?” Jazinda asked. “He didn’t think we should talk about it first?”
“What, you don’t want us hanging around?” Rocket asked.
“I didn’t say that, I just thought it would be nice if he had brought it up to everyone at once, that’s all.”

“So you’re saying Warlock wants us to join your band long term? Official membership, that kind of thing?” Quill asked.

“Yes,” Mantis said. “Adam believes, as does this one, that the Guardians would greatly benefit from the two of you remaining with us long term.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rocket said. “I’m in if Pete is.”

Quill hesitated a moment when he realized that everyone had suddenly turn their attention to him.

“Uh..maybe?” Quill said.

“Oh, come on, Pete! It’ll be like old times.”
“Really?” Quill said, not buying into the idea for a moment.

“Yeah,” Rocket replied, “but more consistent -and with a team of sidekicks to back us up.”
“Excuse me,” Jazinda said, “we’re suddenly sidekicks now?”
“You say ‘sidekick’ like it’s a bad thing,” Rocket replied.

“This one is certain he meant no disrespect,” Mantis said. Jazinda could only roll her eyes at the idea.

“Think of it…” Rocket continued. “Rocket Raccoon and Star-L…”

Rocket stopped momentarily when he noticed Quill giving him an ix-nay sign with a cut signal to the neck.

“Ok, so Quill and Rocket: Guardians of the Galaxy!”
“You are really into this, aren’t you?” Jazinda said.
“You better believe it!” the mammal said.

“What if I say, ‘maybe’?” Quill replied.

“That’s no fun,” Rocket said with a huff and a cross of the arms.
“I’ll think about it," Quill said.
“Very well,” Mantis replied. “This team can of course do nothing to force you into accepting the offer. Just be aware that there are members of this team that would be highly appreciative of what you could bring to this team.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”


If the holograms of the Osiris training programs didn’t dissipate upon ‘death,' the room would currently be near covered in dead ‘bodies.’ And with no set end point, the program continued to send virtual opponents at Gamora, each one quickly meeting their gruesome end in one way or another.

While the woman had intended the exercise to help her let off her built-up frustrations, she wasn’t sure if it wasn’t working or if those feelings were just being replaced by a surge of adrenaline. As each new hologram attacked her, she would quickly do away with them, either blocking their attack if they were about to get the drop on her and subsequently stabbing them through, or else just hacking their head or limbs off if they came at her without any plan of attack.

Regardless of whether it was helping her feel better, she couldn’t argue that she was getting a massive thrill from the action, however simulated it may have been. It was a complete rush, one that she got caught up completely, which left her entirely unaware that one of her teammates had entered the room.

After entering, Adam Warlock instructed the program to wind down. While this didn’t stop it immediately, it did cause the system to refrain from creating additional combatants so that when Gamora killed the last of the holograms, it was just the two of them left.

Not aware of this, Gamora initially assumed that Adam was just another one of the holograms and swung her sword at him when there was no one else left. Fortunately for the both of them, she was able to recognize him before the blade hit and stop the blade just before it reached Warlock’s skin.

For a moment, the two of them stood there. Adam appeared as stoic and unflinching as ever, possibly out of a sense of trust that he knew he had never been in any real danger. Gamora, on the other hand, was breathing heavily from her combat session. Her face quickly transitioned from grit, to surprise, to worry, and then finally to annoyance as she slowly pulled her sword back away from her teammate. Stepping back, she turned and walked away from Adam further into the room.

“What do you want?” she said. Turning back around, she planted her blade like a staff against the floor next to her and leaned into it as she waited for Warlock to say something.

“I came to talk,” Warlock said.
“About what?” she asked.
“An apology. I came to tell you that you were right, and that I am sorry for not having taken your concerns more seriously.”
“What?” Gamora asked. She was neither entirely sure what he was talking about off the top of her head nor sure if she had heard him correctly. She stood up again and listened closer to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

“On Earth, after we defeated Thanos, you told us that giving all the gems to a single individual, whoever they were, was a bad idea.”
“I recall saying that, yes,” Gamora replied.
“For whatever reason, you were the only one present who protested the decision to give the Watcher all the gems. Regardless of the reasoning for this, you were right.”

A large smirk found its way onto Gamora’s face in response, though she also found it in her to hold back an ‘I told you so’ to go with it. There was a voice inside her, one that she wasn’t all familiar with, which made a strong case for not gloating about the situation.

“I…we, as your teammate, I should have taken your argument under further consideration,” Adam continued, “especially for a matter as monumental as the handling of the Infinity Gems. I have come to apologize for this lapse in judgement.”

A feeling of relief passed over Gamora at Adam’s apology, one that was far stronger than anything she had gotten out of killing holographic opponents. It wasn’t just a feeling of vindication; there was something else satisfying about Warlock admitting to her that she had been right about something that no one else had.

“Apology accepted,” Gamora said with a sly smile, again resisting the urge to gloat about the matter.

Feeling much better about things, Gamora decided she had had enough of the hologram chamber. She proceeded to make her way out of the room, but stopped as she passed by Warlock. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she reached up and whispered in his ear.

“And thank you,” she said, then continued onwards, her walk and sway much perkier than before thanks to the buildup of adrenaline she still had coursing through her.

“I’m still upset about the Symbiote,” she said as she walked through the door to go clean herself up. “But at least I know I can’t blame that one on you at all.”

Adam simply watched as she left, slightly bemused by Gamora's suddenly more positive attitude.


Several hours later, the Osiris was finally within visual range of the mystery object. Mysteriously, though, while the ship’s sensors were functioning fine, they had yet to decipher what the mystery space object actually was.

“So…what have we got?” Peter Quill asked. He stood near the front of the bridge during the ship's approach, leaning forwards to try to get a better look at whatever it was supposed to be.

“I think…” Jazinda said as she pressed a number of control buttons, “we may be able to magnify it.”

Sure enough, with a little work, the object in question grew significantly larger on the screen. Once it was revealed, the object brought a gasp to everyone, even those that didn’t know exactly what it was – a Celestial. Or at least, most of one.

The Celestial looked like it had wound up on the wrong side of a brutal fight. Both of its legs were gone, and much of its abdomen was absent as well, but what probably constituted its ‘spine’ could be seen trailing out the bottom of where its torso cut off. Its arms, while still present, both appeared to be mangled to one degree or another. The torso itself looked like it had a massive crack-shaped hole in it, and a massive portion off on one side of the head looked like it had taken some kind of shot right to the face, breaking off part of the ‘helmet’ that made up its head and revealing where its ‘eye’ would have been.

“Dare I even ask what could have possibly caused that?” asked Jazinda.
“Let’s not jinx ourselves, shall we?” Rocket replied. “Odds are the moment we start, whatever did will pop out of nowhere and give us the answer in the worst way possible.”

“I’m going to agree with Rocket on this one,” Quill said. “We’re best off not thinking too hard about that right now.”

The rest of the trip towards the dead cosmic being was a rather quiet affair, with the ship's passengers remaining in awe of the site before them if they weren’t keeping their mouths shut to avoid accidentally summoning something worse and still alive.

As they neared the dead Celestial, Major Victory found an opening in its head near the ‘eye’ area, and landed in what could have arguably passed for a landing bay. That was, if it were cleaner, better lit, and didn’t look nearly so haphazard.

“So how're we doing this?” Quill asked.
“It would seem prudent to divide ourselves into two separate teams,” Adam replied.
“Makes sense,” Quill said. “One team can head into the… head… and try to figure out where we are, the rest can stay back here and keep working on the ship.”

“This one believes she would be best suited to travel into the Celestial,” Mantis said. “She may be able to connect directly with what is left of its mind.”

“How do you figure?” Quill asked.
“This one is an empath,” Mantis replied. “The Celestials are, among other things, living beings. If anything remains of this Celestial’s mind, this one may yet be able to gain information from it directly.”
“I’m going with her,” Gamora said. “I need to get off this ship.”
“I’m going, too,” Rocket said. “I’m curious about just what’s in there.”

“Quill, might I recommend you join them?” Adam said.
“Jazinda, you going to be fine here by yourself?” Quill asked.
“Sure,” Jazinda said. “Frankly, I’m not sure how much more the two of us are going to accomplish together considering what we’ve pulled off so far.”

“Well, suppose I can’t argue with that.” Quill said with a shrug.


The exploration team traveled into the Celestial’s head with weapons out and at the ready. The exception to this was Mantis, who didn’t carry weapons in the first place. Though in its place she did agree to carry a hand-held light source, helping illuminate their path far better than the natural lighting or anything any of their weapons could have carried.

For the first few hundred yards, the team traveled unimpeded, with what ‘doorways’ they encountered already opened or smashed through. Much like the area they had landed in, the ‘hallways’ were likewise a mess, though no one was quite sure if it was a result of the injuries the Celestial had taken or something else entirely.

“Somehow, I never would have imagined a Celestial’s head to be quite so organized,” Rocket commented somewhere along the line.

Answering the question of how to know where they were going, Mantis quickly put her empathic powers to good use. Each time they approached a split passageway, Mantis pressed her hands against the wall and focus, concentrating for what could last for several minutes. Then, without further conversation, she would then proceed to pick a passageway and continue to lead them on. No one was entirely sure if she really did know what she was doing. But as they proceeded deeper inwards, the time that Mantis needed to pick a direction grew noticeably shorter.

When they finally did arrive at a closed-off passageway, Mantis once again surprised everyone by pointing at the door and cutting through it with some kind of energy.

“You’re just fully of surprises, aren’t you?” Quill asked as he passed through the newly formed entryway first.
“Glad to be of service,” Mantis said with a smile, waiting for the others to go through before she followed them.

What they found on the other side was the worst mess they had come across yet. It was another hallway, but in addition to the rubble they’d found in the rest of the hallways there were also the first signs that the Guardians were not the first people to have visited the dead Celestial.

Stacked in the corner of the hallway were a set of crates. One had been left open, but upon close inspection the team discovered that they contained nothing of value, just assorted technical parts and equipment.

Several doors lined the passageway, though Mantis ignored them and focused on the one at the end, which was slightly different from anything they had come across thus far. It was also apparently thicker, requiring Mantis to take longer to cut through it.

“The Guardians have arrived,” Mantis said matter-of-factly, as they climbed through the hole she had cut. The other side was a far sight from anything they had seen thus far.

It was just as much a mess as any hall or room they had passed thus far, but this one actually had features, some of them not so pleasant. Spread about were clothing pieces like helmets and boots, as well as a number of discarded weapons. Holes in the walls, different from anything they had seen yet, made it clear that those weapons had also been fired.

In addition to the bad, there was also the good. While one side of the large room held an elevated platform of some kind with a large, unknown machine on it, the opposite side of the room held a set of control panels. They were exactly what Mantis had been looking for.

“You know how to work this?” Quill asked.

“This one will not be ‘working’ the machine,” Mantis replied. “She will try to use it to speak with whatever remains of the Celestial's mind, however.”

Closing her eyes and placing her hands on an open space on the panel, Mantis began to meditate.

“Can we talk to her?” Gamora asked, eager to ask questions, get answers, and go.

“I’d rather not risk it unless she says something first,” Quill replied.


On top of the Osiris, Adam Warlock was currently in a trance not unlike what Mantis was doing inside the station. To little success, he was trying to determine where the Guardians had ended up by his own means. But even his powers did not seem to be behaving quite like they normally did. It was beginning to become a frustrating matter for him. He’d never encountered a situation quite like it before.

“Adam, we have a situation,” Vance said from behind the space wizard. “If I’m reading the sensors right, there is a large number of living beings approaching us.”
“A ship?” Adam asked.
“No,” Vance replied, “from inside the station.”

Hearing a noise from nearby, both men looked inwards to see a humanoid standing just inside the border of light surrounding the Osiris. He had a ghostly look to him, with eyes that looked like they were barely there. Upon noticing that he was being watched, the creature bared his teeth and slowly backed up into the darkness.

“Get Jazinda,” Adam said. “We’re about to be attacked.”


As Mantis continued to ‘speak’ with the Celestial, Rocket scampered across the room, digging through small piles of rubble to see if there was anything interesting that had been left behind. Gamora couldn’t help but feel a tad disgusted by the matter, thinking it akin to digging through someone’s trash.

“Must you?” she asked.
“Whoever left these behind, I doubt they’ll be needing them anytime soon,” Rocket replied. “Why waste perfectly good weaponry?”
“You’re acting like an animal.”

Rocket and Quill both turned to look at her, with Rocket holding his arms out.

“You know what I meant,” she added with a huff and a roll of the eyes.

Finding his way to a larger pile of rubble, Rocket found himself particularly interested in a weapon that was sticking half-way out.

“Oooo…” he said like a kid who had found an open cookie jar left open on the floor.

With a little effort, he pulled the rifle out. He quickly proceeded to investigate the weapon for damage and functionality.

“You seem excited,” Quill said.
“Believe it,” Rocket said. “If I’m not mistaken, and trust me when I say I know my weapons, this baby is a High-precision ARK-con Alpha Model High Caliber Fission Rifle.”
“That means nothing to me,” Gamora said.

“It means I just about hit the jackpot,” Rocket said. “I couldn’t have even hoped to find something as valuable as this puppy just lying around.”

Holding up and aiming the weapon, Rocket tried pulling the trigger to no effect.

“Guess you came up short after all,” Gamora mused.

“Nah, I expected as much,” Rocket said. “Thing just needs a little tender loving care. When I’m done with it, this rifle will be able to punch a hole straight through a Kronan!”

Finding a piece of abandoned clothing, Rocket created a makeshift strap and attached the weapon to his back for transport before returning to the rubble pile.

“Let’s see if you left any more goodies behind for me,” Rocket said with glee as he began tossing the rocks around.

“Oh, my,” Mantis said. Everyone turned to look at her as she pulled away from the panel. She had a look of horror on her face.

“You need to leave,” she said. “Now.”

“What is it?” Quill asked.

Suddenly, the top half of Rocket's pile of rubble fell away, revealing a corpse that had been buried there. It was impossible to tell what species it has previously been, but at the top of his forehead was a hole where it looked like something had drilled into his skull.

“This Celestial, after its death it was invaded by Dire Wraiths,” Mantis said, “and they are all still here.”


*As seen in West Coast Avengers #30: Siege Relief


Aboard the Osiris

Osiris Crew
1) Adam Warlock (U CM87 - 61 Points)
2) Major Victory ( R SV58 Vance Astro - 49 Points)
->W/Guardians of the Galaxy ATA (4 Points), Stunning Blow (10 Points)
3) Jazinda (E SV05 Skrull Warrior - 30 Points)
Total: 154

vs

Dire Wraiths (Looking for new bodies to steal)
1) cw204 Space Phantom 60 pts
2) cw006 Space Phantom 45 pts
3) cw006 Space Phantom 45 pts
Total: 150

Map: Aboard the Osiris
The Guardians begin in the "bridge" (Any clear squares in G-P/10-15), the Waits begin in any of the purple starting zones. Blocking terrain represents hard vacuum of space so try your best not to cause a hull breach!


Inside the Celestial Corpse

Away Team
1) Peter Quill (E HA25 Star-Lord - 90 Points)
2) Mantis (R SV67 - 35 Points)
->W/Maneuver (8 Points), Vault (3 Points)
3) Rocket Raccoon (V HA28 - 65 Points)
4) Gamora (SI54 - 73 Points)
Total: 274

vs

Dire Wraiths (wearing the assimilated bodies of unfortunate alien explorers)
1) halo031 Cloaked Elite (Energy Sword) 96 pts
2) halo040 Cloaked Arbiter (Energy Sword) 91 pts
3) halo040 Cloaked Arbiter (Energy Sword) 91 pts
Total: 278

Map: Celestial Frontal Lobe
(Guardians start in the bottom starting zone)

BFC: The Dire Wraith player is considered to have played a copy of Communication Breakdown in both matches:
Before the beginning of the games's first turn, the player playing Communication Breakdown choose one combat value; that combat value cannot be modified during the game. When rolling a six-sided die for Leadership, subtract 1 from the result.