Remnant Star

Chapter 294: Remnant Star

Wasteland Universe

Former Site of Spartax

In the asteroid belt surrounding this ancient planet, an artificial satellite station drifted slowly along its gravitational orbit outside Spartax.

The station’s interior hall was spacious, its transparent glass offering a direct view of space and the planet beyond. The planet bearing the Church’s mark was especially glaring, its savage surface stark and painful to behold. No trace of life remained there.

The sound of bottles clattering to the floor rang out. Not far away, a dejected figure staggered out of the biological pod, braced himself against the wall, and made his way into the hall.

"Oh, shit."

He was an elderly man, clearly long past his prime. His pale, filthy hair and beard showed that he had not tended to his appearance in a very long time. But he was the only one here, so there was no need to bother.

The old man raised the bottle, drained its last mouthful, and only then did his dazed, unfocused eyes slowly settle on his surroundings.

"Damn it, how long was I asleep?"

(Two months and three days, since you instructed me to disable the drive alerts.)

The space station’s automated artificial intelligence promptly answered him. The system here possessed advanced recognition capabilities.

Hearing the AI’s response, the old man turned and opened the liquor cabinet. Sure enough, there was nothing inside. "Didn’t I tell you to keep me in cryosleep until the Moonlight Interstellar Transport Fleet arrived?"

(Yes, you issued that command.)

"Then…" The old man rubbed his temples, feeling the oppressive silence around him. "Did they arrive?"

(No.)

"Then why did you wake me up?"

(You have a mission.)

"What?!"

The old man froze, his muddled mind unable to understand what the AI was talking about.

Just as he was about to curse and return to his sleep pod, he turned around and suddenly saw several strange-looking figures standing behind him.

At their head was an upright-walking raccoon, apparently the product of biological modification. Most of his components had been replaced with machinery, but his fur was dull and he looked somewhat frail with age.

Behind him stood three elderly green-skinned humanoids. The one in the middle was a particularly muscular man, red patterns branded across his tough skin. Two women stood on either side of him, one of them with a pair of antennae on her head.

"Oh, damn!"

The raccoon stared at the old man, his mouth falling open in surprise.

"Quill, I knew you were old, but I never thought you’d end up looking like a facehugger!"

The moment he heard that voice, the old man’s mind went blank. He stared at them in disbelief, never imagining that these old friends would come looking for him one day.

"Peter Quill, don’t you recognize us, Star-Lord?"

One of the women stepped forward calmly and stopped in front of him.

"It’s time to get moving and save the universe!"

The woman’s sharp cry jolted the old man awake. At that moment, long-sealed memories flooded back into his mind.

Countless indescribable emotions filled his head. He remembered leaving the Guardians of the Galaxy and returning to his homeworld, Spartax. He remembered becoming the planet’s emperor and living happily with his lover and children.

At the same time, he remembered how a tactical mistake of his had led to his homeworld’s destruction at the hands of the Church founded by Planet Eater, making all life on the planet pay the price for his failure.

That included the family he had given up everything to have. Not one of them survived.

Just as Quill was drowning in grief and self-blame, he suddenly felt something draped over him. Looking up, he found it was his old Guardians of the Galaxy uniform—the red jacket.

"You… you shouldn’t have come looking for me." Quill stroked his tattered combat uniform as though mourning an old friend.

The next moment, Rocket Raccoon jabbed him with his cane.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Nothing. Just wanted to see if an old piece of trash like you was a Skrull in disguise." Rocket Raccoon sneered. "But you definitely aren’t a Skrull. They wouldn’t abandon their friends just to inherit some royal throne."

Quill was already used to Rocket’s sarcastic barbs. He silently turned away. "Of course I’m not a Skrull. You know the Church wiped out the Skrulls decades ago. Besides, the point isn’t some ‘inheritance of the throne’!"

"Enough."

Seeing Quill and Rocket preparing to get into another screaming match like they used to, Gamora could not help stepping in to interrupt them.

"Stop talking about the past. We should focus on what is in front of us. Come on, Quill. Join us and save the galaxy once again."

"Keep dreaming." Quill laughed bitterly and slumped onto the floor, his voice trembling. "I’m not Star-Lord anymore. Rocket’s right. I’m just a useless old wreck. A wreck who couldn’t even protect his own home."

"But you still have a second chance." Gamora spoke seriously. "The Church will eventually turn its attention to Earth, Quill. That is your other home. At the very least, you can still keep Earth from being destroyed."

"Earth?"

Quill slowly opened his eyes and looked at Gamora. Suddenly remembering something, he climbed to his feet. "…Earth doesn’t need me. There are more heroes there—the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men. But when I needed them, where were they?"

Quill grew more agitated as he spoke.

"Where were they when I needed their help?! And if you think about it, none of you came to help either! How many life-and-death trials did I go through with you? The Annihilation Swarm, the cosmic coup, and that damned Infinity War! But what about you?!"

"When my family died… where were all of you then?!"

"Family?"

Rocket Raccoon let out a quiet sigh.

"Yeah, family, Quill. Then when your other family needed you, when Groot needed you, where were you?"

"Groot…"

Quill abruptly looked up. Only then did he realize that among his old friends, the one missing was Groot—the foolish tree-being who somehow always made him feel safe when it mattered most.

As if every bit of strength had been drained from his body, Quill collapsed weakly to the floor. He could no longer bear the thought of another friend leaving him. He could not accept losing both of his families.

"Fine." Quill weakly turned toward Gamora. "What do we do?"

Seeing Quill pull himself together again, Gamora believed this was a good start, regardless of whether he truly had the will to fight yet.

"I’m listening, Captain."

"Then we’d better head to Earth and warn the heroes there about the Church’s threat. I hope that after all these years, I’ll still see a few familiar faces…"

Quill stood up, put on his combat uniform, and picked up the dust-covered Element Gun.

"By the way, how did you get here?"

"Want to see another old friend?" Rocket Raccoon grinned.

Following Rocket’s pointing paw, Quill hurried to the space station’s window and saw the battered, heavily paint-chipped spaceship.

"The Milano."

Staring at the mighty yellow warship, Quill’s eyes immediately welled with tears.

It was his favorite ride and the Guardians of the Galaxy’s main vessel. That ship carried countless wonderful stories, along with happy memories he could never forget.