HIATUS

It took 3 days before Ava got a chance to meet with the Nova Prime. The two of them are currently in her office. With The Nova Prime were her two most trusted Nova Officers. Ava scanned the room and it seems the leader of the Nove Empire likes her office to look simple.

"I would like to thank you for the services that you have given to the Nova Corps. If it wasn't for you discreetly helping our people both before and during Ronan's invasion then more people would have been killed and because of that, both I and the Nova Empire are both eternally grateful", the Nova Prime said.

Ava smiled and replied, "Don't mention it, besides I have to tell you something that you may not like".

The Nova Prime was quite baffled by this statement. She motioned to the couch in the office and said, "Let us talk then".

Ava seated herself on the other couch fronting the Nova Prime. She took out an orb-like device and place it on the table in front of her and said, "This is the Power Stone that Ronan had in his possessions. I am sure you wanted to discuss this with me during this meeting and I will tell you right now that I want you or the best way to say this is that my leader wants you to have it".

The Nova Prime became even more interested in what she heard. It was true that she went into this meeting wanting to make sure that the Power Stone be given to them for safekeeping. Even though Ava is a powerful mercenary, The Nova Prime believes that she is not powerful enough to safeguard the stone. She didn't know if the information that Ronan having the power stone before his death was already being spread in the galaxy. So, it was tantamount that Nova Empire has the stone for the safety of the Nova Empire and everyone in the Galaxy.

She came into this meeting believing that she would have to pay a significant amount for the stone. But before she tried that she was planning to use a friendlier approach. But now it seems that it isn't necessary anymore.

She also became interested in hearing Ava talk that she has a leader to which she is subservient to. She had the assumption that Ava was her own boss.

"I didn't know you had a leader?", The Nova Prime stated.

"Yes, and it was my leader who sent me here to become a mercenary in Xandar. He wanted me to build a solid relationship between the two of us"

With one eyebrow raised, the Nova Prime said, "I see...But why go through all the trouble to become friends with the Nova Empire? Surely this wasn't done on a whim. It took you years to build the friendship that we currently have. Also, something must have changed that your leader is now cashing out this friendship".

"All but one infinity stones have been used in the last few years. My leader believes that it isn't a coincidence. Shadow is not just a mercenary group. It is an organization that was established back on earth, or as your people call Terran. The group was established not long ago for one purpose, to protect the stones at all cost", Ava said with extreme seriousness in her demeanor. The Nova Prime had on multiple occasions interacted with Ava in the past and she knows that the girl rarely shows a serious side to herself.

"I see, so other individuals just like Ronan had found the stones and used in the past. Tell me, do you know where the other stones are?"

"Yes, as of this moment, except for the mind stone, Shadow knows the location of the other stones. In fact, our leader is in the personal possession of one", Ava said.

The news that the mysterious leader of Ava is in possession of one infinity stone was extremely shocking to the Nova Prime, "Your leader has one of the infinity stones? and yet he is willing to give the Nova Empire the power stone. Why?...Why doesn't your leader keep it for himself?".

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely and our leader knows this.  I for one believe that he fears this outcome. That is why our leader wants you to have the power stone. You protect the power stone while we protect the stone we have in our possession"

"....Is that all your leader wants? Something tells me that there is still something going on here...", The Nova Prime said as she narrowed her eyes.

"Our leader wants to form an alliance with the Nova Empire", Ava replied as she looks at the narrowed eyes of the ruler of Xandar. "We have reason to believe that someone is making moves to gather all the stones. And we believe that even the mighty Nova Empire would be hard press to guard the stone alone".

MEANWHILE:

On a distant planet, a group of alien scientists could be seen scanning something that was inserted on the ground. The aliens belong to a group of refugees who were able to escape their planet before the Krees could kill every single one of their kind. This happened before the Kree Government and The Nova Empire signed their peace treaty. The destruction of their planet and near wiping out of their race occurred near the end of the war itself. It was because of this event that these aliens thought of finding a new planet to call their home. During their travels, the Krees were able to find them but luckily events occurred that enabled them to survive and live their lives. After a while, they found a planet to their liking and decided to call it their home.

At first, the inhabitants of this planet were wary of them, but they were lucky that the inhabitants were kind and at least allowed them to stay after hearing that they were refugees.

These aliens then settle on one of the continents of the said planet. With their technology, they quickly began building and making excellent homes for their kind. It was during this expansion that they found something that their scientist labeled as odd. They found a weird glowing plant-like organism. Their scientist then took some samples to study and it just made them question the said organism even more.

The aliens had green like skin and long and pointy ears. But the most notable feature of their race is their ability to shapeshift. With this ability, this alien race is able to replicate other life forms with great ease. This alien race is the Skrulls.

Just to be sure, Talos asked Soren to call Carol to see if she knows the existence of this plant. She was always out in space helping people and Talos thought that maybe she had seen something like this before. Unfortunately, when Carol saw the image of the organism, she told him that it was the first time she saw something like that. Carol became interested in it and decided to visit the Skrulls in a week.

One week has passed and currently, Talos, the leader of the group could be seen looking at the strange plant-like organism in the ground. He was so engrossed at this weird plant that he didn't even notice the arrival of two women.

"Talos, my dear"

Talos was immediately removed from his own thoughts when he saw his wife, "Good you guys are finally here", Talos said as he hugs both women.

Carol squatted and look intently at the plant and asked Talos, "What did your scientist say? Do they know what this plant is? Or is this even a plant?".

"We know that it's alive...but the scientist also believe that there is something more to it", Talos stated.

"What do you mean dear?", Soren, Talos' wife asked.

" Earlier this morning one of the scientists took a tiny piece of it and after thorough checking, they found a sort of  D.N.A. sequence but the sequence did not belong to any fauna in this planet. Nor any fauna in our database...And now they can't stop themselves from researching this plant-like, thing", Talos replied as he looks at the plant.

"That's interesting", Carol said as she stood up and looks at Talos and said, "Is it dangerous?".

"We don't know", Talos replied.

Suddenly a Skrull scientist came running towards them and handed Talos a tablet-like device and said, "Boss, you might want to look at this".

Talos took the device and he looks at the data that was on the screen. He subconsciously raised one of his eyebrows as a sign of interest.

"This thing has a faint signal?...but how???", Talos stated.