Chapter 9.1- All of Infinity in the Palm of my Hands

The thing about being the person in charge and then having your best friends as your essential seconds was that when it was time to get going and do something else, it was very difficult to find someone to complete your role without you. 

What am I talking about? The Kylosians, of course. I was the one keeping them sane and in check. Without me, the only one I trusted to take my place was Ovette. The problem with that? We’d arrived at Knowhere last night, and today was the day I’d make the journey to the Collector’s store. I needed Ovette with me because her input would matter on what kind of planet we’d end up purchasing (if we ended up purchasing anything at all)

A week of research into then galaxy later, and I was now convinced that while Drax’s plan had made sense the first time I heard it, it was actually one of the most stupid ideas to get hatched in the galaxy. There was a reason Thor and the Asgaurdians were willing to entrust him with an infinity stone for safekeeping. There was a reason Thanos had waited so long top go after the stone that he knew was in the man’s possession. There was a reason he’d gone after him personally and not just left the mission to one or more of his children or servants like he had with the others. There were only two stones that Thanos never bothered sending anyone else for. The first was the Soul Stone, which he actually had no idea where it was, and the Second was the Reality stone in the Collector’s possession. The latter couldn’t have been hidden from him. He probably knew about it the moment that it was sent there, and still, he didn’t seek it out. 

That on its own was enough to give any sane man pause, and then there was the other things I’d learned about his place and role in the galaxy. Remember what I said about empires? The galaxy was made of them, and smack dab in the middle was the man on the head of the dead celestial. The collector was neutral from every empire. One of the few truly neutral forces that existed in the galaxy, and he just so happened to be important to every single one of the factions. Everyone traded with him, and so much trade was facilitated through his deals and connections that he was, on his own, a lynchpin of the galactic economy. And even worse, was the fact that he was the last true stabilising element in the powder keg about to go off that was the criminal element of the galaxy. Slavers, Pirates, Bounty hunters, they all answered to him at the end of the day. He kept them in check, they acted as his enforcers when he needed any and in return, he kept them safe from culling attempts. Prevented the large empires from just wholesale killing and exterminating all of them when they got too annoying and problematic. 

Basically speaking, the Collector was friends with everyone and enemies with no one. Well, not literally no one, but no one important was on bad terms with him. If we killed him, we’d be basically fucked. Sure, I feared nothing in the Galaxy being able to hurt me, but the Kylosians and the rescued slaves were another matter entirely. 

Speaking of the rescued slaves, quite a few of them had expressed interest in disembarking at Knowhere. I personally felt that it was a brave, but stupid choice, but who was I to object to what they wanted to do with their lives. Sure, they were more likely than not to be sold right back into slavery the moment they spoke with the wrong person, but what did that matter to me. They were choosing to no longer be my people after I’d given them basically every luxury that they’d never seen before. What happened to them as a result of their own foolishness wasn’t my business. It couldn’t be. I couldn’t afford to waste time and energy on the matter. 

That was why I had AIKO take charge off it and pilot a ship with them onboard to land on the surface the moment we’d arrived at the orbit of the Celestial’s head. She used one of the six ships I’d been able to have automatically built by my small army of nanobots during the journey. With nothing else to do, I’d had them building things that I felt would eventually come in handy one way or another. The first of those things? Obviously spaceships. Not just any spaceships though. Ships fast enough to blow even the quickest of the Kree’s new fleet out of the water, and with enough weaponry to lay waste to a small planet. 

I stared at one of them as it flew right back into the _Dark Aster’s_ docking bay. For its shape, I took inspiration from the millions of fictional sources in my head. But when it came out it looked nothing like any of them, it was something special. Large enough to fit fifty people without any spacial enhancement and fitted with so much glass that everyone in the ship could see the outside at all times, it was similar to  pleasure cruise ship in design but nothing like any of them when it came to payload. 

All the spatial tech I didn’t use on the insides of the ship were saved for the outside.  Canons, repulsers, blasters, missiles, the ship had it all. Shoved into the form factor of a pleasure ship was enough weaponry to lay waste to Knowhere as it presently was. “Is it done?” I audibly asked.

“Yes, Captain. All the former crew members disembarked the moment the ship landed, and the rest of the night was spent according to your orders.” That was the third thing I’d adapted the ship for. It had sensors powerful enough to pierce whatever shielding prevented me from scanning the planet at will, and in a second, a display floated before me, showing all the data that the ship had gathered. Celestials were the closest things this universe had to actual Gods to the best of my knowledge, so it was useful for me to learn all that I could about them and what better opportunity would there ever be than the head of a dead one just ripe and waiting to be studies. 

The scans, on a molecular level, showed nothing beyond what I expected. It was fascinating, but if I ever wanted to figure out how to do what they did and become an essential God, then I’d ned to study an actual living sample of the species. 

Still, what I had was enough to make guesses and build models. I’ll get the information I really need when I go after Ego the Living Planet.

“AIKO, keep an eye on the Kylosians and prevent a mutiny while we’re gone, will you? I’ll tell Drax he’s in charge but we both know who’d truly be calling the shots” I said, finally come to a decision on the power vacuum that mine and Ovette’s absence would leave. 

“Of course, Kal. I wish you the best of luck in your negotiations” Her voice rang out from the speakers as I left the room. The Collector and his store were waiting. 

A/N; Guess that’s today’s update. Hope ya’ll are having a good one.