Captain Marvel- Starforce on the Rise, page 1
© 2019 Marvel
All rights reserved. Published by Marvel Press, an imprint of
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Designed by Kurt Hartman
Cover Illustration by Veronica Fish
ISBN: 978-1-368-05055-5
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Title Page
Copyright
Then
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Now
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
“All I’m saying is, the only reason we’re in this mess is because of you, twinklefists.”
Vers crouched down in the muck, her brown eyes boring a hole right through Minn-Erva’s accusing glare. “Wait, what now? How is this my fault? And where do you even get off calling me ‘twinklefists’?” Vers was so over Minn-Erva’s cracks and sarcasm. No matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t seem to gain the esteem of her fellow Kree Starforce warrior. Right now, she was done caring.
Minn-Erva’s nose wrinkled slightly, and her upper lip twitched. It was clear to anyone who knew her even remotely that she had a lot to say, and it was about to come pouring out.
That’s when the shooting started.
Or more accurately, that’s when the shooting—which had pretty much been a constant since they had been discovered—cranked up a few hundred notches.
Minn-Erva yelled over the din of laser fire, “Based on our current situation, I think I’m well within my rights to call you ‘twinklefists,’ ” then added almost as an afterthought, “or anything else I come up with.”
Rolling her eyes and resisting a retort, Vers clawed her way up the muddy wall in front of her, climbing to the top of the dirt ditch that she and Minn-Erva had dived into just minutes before. As she peered over the edge, she saw them, roughly a hundred meters out—a hunting pack of eight Skrull warriors. They were armed to the teeth, each packing a rifle, a sidearm, and grenades. Above them, another Skrull aboard a hovercraft kept close watch.
Searing laser fire erupted from one of the Skrulls’ rifles, and Vers managed to slip the blast by relinquishing her hold on the muddy ridge, falling down into the ditch below. To Minn-Erva, it seemed that Vers had ducked before the laser blast scorched the air above her head. She had hit the ground even before the sound of the blast could be heard. Minn-Erva had to hand it to her teammate—she might not like her, but the woman had incredible reflexes.
“How many up there now?” Minn-Erva said, ejecting a cartridge from her weapon. She reached for a magazine from her belt, flipped it end over end in her hand, and slammed it into the weapon’s loading compartment. One second later, the weapon emitted a high-pitched whine, indicating that it was ready to be fired.
“Eight,” Vers said. “Give or take.”
“With more on the way,” Minn-Erva added.
Vers nodded. “Undoubtedly.”
“Hold on. Did . . . did we just agree on something?” Minn-Erva asked.
Vers cracked a grin. “Sadly, yes,” she said. “Believe me, no one’s more upset about it than I am.”
Less than an hour earlier, everything had been running like clockwork. Minn-Erva and Vers had entered the space surrounding Aphos Prime in a small, two-person Kree fighter. The ship’s larger external weapons had been stripped in favor of adding an additional engine with enough thrust to enable the vessel to evade the Skrulls, who controlled the space surrounding Aphos Prime, as well as the planet itself.
Due to its incredible speed, the Kree fighter had managed to avoid detection. But in order to do that, the ship had to move faster than a normal spacecraft, and maintain that speed well into entry of Aphos Prime’s atmosphere.
The fighter entered the upper atmosphere well above cruising speed. Normally, a vessel like theirs would have engaged reverse thrust to slow the ship down, before allowing the atmosphere to act as a kind of natural air brake. But Vers and Minn-Erva couldn’t afford that luxury, unless they wanted to alert the Skrulls to their presence.
To say the Kree fighter took a beating upon entry was like saying that Minn-Erva and Vers didn’t get along—pretty obvious, and a gross understatement. The ship bounced around on the atmosphere at first, and nearly threatened to skip right off and back into outer space. Vers stayed at the helm, riding the ship, fighting with the controls every step of the way.
“Yon-Rogg said this was gonna be easy, didn’t he?” Minn-Erva shouted over the screaming engines. It sounded for all the world like the ship was going to shake itself apart.
“Uh-huh,” Vers yelled back.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Minn-Erva asked skeptically, steadying herself in her seat.
“Of course I’m sure. I can fly anything,” Vers said. She wasn’t bragging; it was just a fact. Since she had joined Starforce, Vers had proven herself across numerous levels and disciplines. Everything from strategy to battlefield tactics, weapons and unarmed combat, ground-based and airborne vehicles. You name it, Vers was good at it.
Which kind of annoyed Minn-Erva.
The Kree fighter continued its assault on the atmosphere of Aphos Prime, piercing the planet’s ozone layer. The hot gasses that had built up on the ship’s underbelly were dissipating, and the hull sounded less like it was going to crumple or explode at any given moment.
It was time for Phase Two.
In order to avoid detection by the Skrulls’ planetary sensors, Vers had to keep the thrusters pinned at faster-than-landing speeds. While this kept the Kree warriors safe from the threat of being blown up by their enemy, it made the possibility that they would smash into the surface of Aphos Prime a very real one.
“Hang on,” Vers said, as the ship bucked up and down. “Landing in ten!”
“Ten?!” Minn-Erva protested. “There’s no way! We’re going way too fast, you’ll kill us!”
“Anything is possible,” Vers muttered. Then, in a more audible voice, “Hang on!”
As it turned out, not only was it possible, it was the most likely outcome. The ship surely would have exploded on impact, if Vers hadn’t engaged the ship’s thrusters at the five-second mark. Minn-Erva was thrown back against her seat with significant force, to the point where she thought she was going to be pushed right through it.
Then she felt her stomach hit her throat, and it seemed as though the ship’s bottom was going to give way.
The vessel skimmed the planet’s surface, hitting the ground, then popping up, like a rock skipping along the surface of a lake. Every time the craft went up, Vers shoved the controls forward, tilting the ship’s nose back down. Then it would hit the ground once more, and bounce upward again. The pattern continued for several seconds, until the ship’s momentum was at last depleted, and the vessel came to a sputtering rest in a mudbank.
“At least we’re not dead,” Minn-Erva said sarcastically, as she unstrapped herself from her seat.
Vers was right behind her. “ ‘Wow, that was a great landing, Vers. I can’t imagine anyone else being able to pull that off,’ ” she prompted helpfully.
“What, you want me to say thank you? Really?” Minn-Erva grumbled, as she went to the weapons rack on the wall. She lifted her rifle, an ammunition belt, and a sidearm. Vers met her there, and took the same weapons.
“For protection and defense only, Vers,” Minn-Erva clarified with a look. “Remember what Yon-Rogg said.”
“Got it, Mom,” Vers replied sarcastically as she strapped on the weapons. “And I’m just saying, a thank-you wouldn’t be out of the question,” Vers said.
“I am not saying thank you,” Minn-Erva declared with finality. “Not now, not ever.”
“Bet you do,” Vers replied.
When Minn-Erva said nothing, Vers kept talking. “I’m serious. Before this mission is over, I bet you thank me.”
“You must like losing” was all Minn-Erva could say as she stomped toward the ship’s exit hatch.
They weren’t even a minute into the mission briefing before Vers was asking questions. It had all started promisingly enough. Within the confines of the stuffy briefing room, Yon-Rogg, commander of Starforce, had gathered Minn-Erva and Vers to walk them through a two-person missio
The action on Aphos Prime was supposed to be easy. A “no-brainer,” as Vers would have described it—one of her odd expressions that her teammates shrugged off as Vers being, well, Vers. Yon-Rogg had actually described it as a “routine reconnaissance mission.” A Kree scout ship had reported Skrull activity on a remote planet, Aphos Prime. The ship had managed to get off one communication before the vessel was destroyed by enemy fire.
“Any survivors?” Vers asked.
“No,” Yon-Rogg replied, his voice dispassionate. “The Skrulls don’t leave witnesses. Therefore, your mission is simple. You will touch down on Aphos Prime undetected. You will ascertain the strength of the Skrull force encamped on the planet, and you will report back, so we can plan further action.”
“Report back?” Vers asked.
“Yes,” Yon-Rogg said, prepared for resistance. “Report only. You are not to engage the enemy.”
“Well, we might not engage the enemy, but they’re sure as heck gonna engage us,” Vers said aggressively.
“Vers . . .” Yon-Rogg interjected.
“Why send members of Starforce on a job like this, anyway?” Vers asked. “If it’s just a straightforward recon mission, why bring us in? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I wasn’t aware we were questioning orders,” Minn-Erva said, her voice drenched in sarcasm. “Or did I miss that part of the briefing?”
“I’m not questioning the order,” Vers said, a little defensively. “I’m just saying. We’re warriors. Fighters. We’re not scouts. Not me. Not with these.” Vers raised both hands in front of her, indicating the photon blasts that could erupt from her fingertips at a moment’s notice.
Minn-Erva was about to say something else, when Yon-Rogg cleared his throat. Whatever she was going to say, Minn-Erva suddenly thought better of it.
“The order comes from the Supreme Intelligence,” Yon-Rogg said, ending any further discussion of the matter.
Vers nodded. “Understood,” she said.
But all three of them knew she didn’t mean it.
In the hallway outside the briefing chamber, Vers watched as Minn-Erva strode ahead, the sniper rifle she wore strapped across her back like a second skin. Since joining Starforce, Minn-Erva had been the most difficult member for Vers to form even a tentative connection with, let alone truly befriend. Att-Lass, Korath, Bron-Char—they each came with their own quirks, but they seemed to appreciate Vers for who she was and welcome her as a valuable addition to the team.
Minn-Erva, not so much.
A moment later, she felt a presence behind her. She turned, and saw Yon-Rogg.
“I’m sorry,” Vers said, trying to make her tone sound genuinely contrite. “I shouldn’t have questioned the order.”
Yon-Rogg shook his head. “You are a good warrior, Vers,” he began. “You have the potential to become a great one. But you must learn that every warrior has their place. And yours is not to question. Ours is not to question. Ours is to follow the orders of the Supreme Intelligence. For the good of the Kree Empire.”
“For the good of the Empire,” Vers repeated, casting her eyes downward.
“This mission is more important than you know,” Yon-Rogg added. “It’s vital that we determine the exact strength of the Skrull force on Aphos Prime.”
“Why are we so concerned about their numbers?” Vers asked. “Shouldn’t we want to know what it is that they’re doing, more so than how many are doing it? Or even better, stop them from doing it altogether?”
“That will come,” Yon-Rogg said. “Consider this a test.”
“A test?” Vers echoed as Yon-Rogg walked away.
It took her a few seconds, but then it clicked. “You’re testing me and Minn-Erva, aren’t you?” Vers said, loudly, to Yon-Rogg’s rapidly shrinking figure.
“I’m not answering,” he replied over his shoulder.
“I knew it!” Vers shouted.
As Yon-Rogg reached the end of the hallway, the yellow elevator doors slid open. He stepped inside, and turned around to face Vers as the doors closed. Maybe it was her imagination, but she could have sworn there was the slightest hint of a smile on his stern face.
“You know, some people might say it’s a sign of intelligence to check a planet’s atmosphere before they open the hatch and expose themselves and members of their team to a potentially toxic environment,” Vers said, glaring at Minn-Erva.
Her teammate had simply opened the hatch door without performing any of the routine atmospheric checks. Granted, Aphos Prime was a known entity. It had been charted previously, and Kree probes revealed the planet had a breathable atmosphere similar to their home world. But who knew what could have happened since the Skrull enemy had taken up residence on the planet?
Vers was annoyed. Usually, she was the one who would subvert protocol. She wasn’t sure how she felt about someone else on the team copying her act.
“Are you coming?” Minn-Erva asked, ignoring Vers’s comment and making her way out the hatch.
“Right behind you,” Vers called out, as she was just about to jump.
From outside the ship, Vers heard Minn-
Erva say, “Then you’ll want to watch your—”
Vers threw herself from the hatch, and promptly landed stomach-first in a muddy field, making an unsavory squelching sound.
“—step.”
Vers stood and looked down with distaste. She was now covered in mud from head to toe. Then she looked at Minn-Erva, and saw that the same thing had happened to her when she’d exited the ship.
“Natural camouflage,” Vers offered.
Minn-Erva didn’t laugh.
“What are the odds of us having arrived without tripping any Skrull alarms?” Vers asked.
“We came in fast and hot,” Minn-Erva said, scraping mud from a disc-shaped device she clutched in her right hand. “No way they could have gotten a bead on us. If their scanners picked up anything, they would have us pegged for a meteorite. There’s a lot of that kind of activity in this sector.”
“That almost sounded like a thank-you,” Vers said.
“You wish,” Minn-Erva shot back, her gaze still locked on the object in her hand. Shaking it several times, Minn-Erva sighed. “There’s something wrong with this.”
Vers took a step toward Minn-Erva and looked over her shoulder. The device that Minn-Erva held was a delicate tracking system that could detect the Skrulls’ unique DNA signatures.
“What’s wrong with it?” Vers asked.
“When I first tried to activate it, the tracker went haywire,” Minn-Erva said, shaking her head. “Now, there’s nothing. Must be some kind of interference.”
“You think it’s being jammed?” Vers asked.
“No way,” Minn-Erva said. “They’d have to know we were here.”
“Uh-huh,” Vers said. “So . . . what if they know we’re here?”
“I thought you were such a great pilot that they’d never know we were coming.” Minn-Erva looked at her with a smirk. “So how could they know?”
“Good point,” Vers said.
Suddenly, the tracker came to life again, flashing in the palm of Minn-Erva’s hand. “We have signals,” Minn-Erva said, her voice tense. “Multiple targets. That direction.” She nodded her head to the east. Then the tracker went dark once more.
“There must be something about the planet itself that’s playing havoc with the tracker,” Vers mused.
“Great,” Minn-Erva replied. “Mission’s off to a good start.”
With that, Vers touched a control on her left glove. The Kree fighter, half-buried in the mud, briefly shimmered, until it disappeared completely from view. “Ship’s cloaked,” she said. “Let’s move. At least we have a direction. If we stay here, we’re sitting ducks out in the open.”
“What on Hala is a ‘sitting duck’?” Minn-Erva asked. “Never mind—I don’t want to know.”
“Anything?”
Minn-Erva looked at the tracker. It had flashed bright red a few minutes earlier, then the blips faded from sight. The signal confirmed that they were at least on the right path, but it didn’t last long enough to provide an accurate count of the Skrull forces that occupied the planet.
“Not since the last blip,” Minn-Erva replied. “Maybe if we get close enough to the source, we can get a read.”
“At this point, we’re going to be giving Yon-Rogg a visual confirmation of the numbers,” Vers said. “And we’re going to have to engage the enemy if we get that close. You know it, I know it. There’s no way around it.”
