War Machine had been flying for several minutes through the alien atmosphere when the massive space station finally came into clear view. The structure was even more impressive up close—a multi-tiered facility that seemed to blend military functionality with advanced technology far beyond anything he had seen on Earth.
"Finally," Rhodey muttered to himself, adjusting his approach vector for a better view of the installation.
Suddenly, his armor's warning systems erupted in a cascade of alerts. FRIDAY's voice cut through the noise: "Colonel Rhodes, detecting incoming object on collision trajectory. Impact in thirty seconds."
Rhodey looked up to see a massive fireball streaking through the alien sky directly toward his position. His enhanced optics automatically analyzed the object's trajectory and composition.
"Meteorite, large classification, metallic composition," FRIDAY reported. "Recommend immediate evasive action."
Without hesitation, Rhodey banked hard to starboard and activated his maximum thrust, putting significant distance between himself and the impact zone. As he watched the space rock hurtle past, a grim realization settled over him.
"Well," he said to no one in particular, "either I'm in some extremely remote and unknown location on Earth, or I'm not on Earth at all."
The meteorite's approach had not gone unnoticed by the personnel manning the space station below.
"Incoming meteorite detected," announced the automated early warning system throughout Rishi Station. "Impact probability: high. Defensive measures recommended."
"Activate deflector shields," Sergeant O'Niner commanded from the station's control center.
"Finally, some excitement," Cutup said with dark humor.
"Yeah," Heavy replied sarcastically, "real thrilling. Nothing like natural disasters to break up the monotony of watching empty space."
The meteorite struck the station's energy shields in a brilliant display of light and dispersed energy. Rhodey, still airborne and observing the defensive systems in action, found himself genuinely impressed by the technology on display.
"Okay, seriously, where the hell am I?" he wondered aloud. The defensive capabilities he had just witnessed were decades beyond anything in Earth's military arsenal.
As he continued his approach to the station, movement on the planet's surface caught his attention. Strange metallic objects were emerging from what appeared to be some kind of landing craft—a disc-shaped vessel with three spindly legs that had somehow escaped his notice during the meteorite incident.
"What is that?" Rhodey asked, zooming in with his helmet's enhanced optics.
A red beam of energy lanced out from the mysterious spacecraft, and suddenly the area was crawling with mechanical figures. They looked disturbingly similar to...
"Ultron drones?" Rhodey muttered, his weapons systems automatically coming online. His finger hovered over the trigger controls as he studied the robots more carefully.
"No, not Ultron," he corrected himself after a moment's observation. The design was different—cruder in some ways, but clearly military in nature. One of the robots bore some kind of antenna or communication device on its back, apparently directing the others as they moved toward the space station with obvious hostile intent.
War Machine maintained his distance while continuing to observe. What he saw next made his blood run cold—something that looked distinctly like a body in white armor was thrown from the station's landing platform.
Gritting his teeth, Rhodey made a decision. Whatever was happening here, innocent people were being killed, and that was something he couldn't ignore regardless of what planet he was on.
He began a careful approach toward the station, using the crater-scarred terrain as cover while staying low to avoid detection. Every instinct told him he was flying into a combat situation, and he had no idea who the good guys were supposed to be.
His concentration was shattered when something massive and alien suddenly loomed over him. His armor's proximity alarms screamed warnings as he found himself staring up at what could only be described as a giant space eel—a serpentine creature easily thirty feet long with rows of razor-sharp teeth and eyes that glowed with predatory intelligence.
"What the fuck is that?!" Rhodey shouted, immediately triggering his repulsors and rocketing away from the creature.
The alien beast pursued him with surprising speed and agility, its massive jaws snapping at the space where he had been moments before. Rhodey spun in midair and unleashed a barrage of repulsor blasts, the energy beams searing through the creature's hide and eliciting a roar of pain and fury.
The beast was intelligent enough to use the terrain to its advantage, diving behind rock formations and using the numerous craters as cover. After several exchanges of fire, it retreated beyond Rhodey's effective range, leaving him hovering in the alien sky with his heart pounding.
"Damn it," War Machine growled, his anger mixing with confusion and growing dread. "What the hell has Hydra done?"
His moment of fury was interrupted by the sound of weapons fire echoing from the space station below. Turning his attention back to the facility, he continued his approach with significantly more caution than before.
That's when he saw them—four figures in white armor who had apparently escaped from the station through some kind of ventilation system. In the distance, another of the massive eel-like creatures was stalking them with obvious predatory intent.
Rhodey's eyes widened in horror as he realized what was about to happen. Without thinking, he pushed his thrusters to maximum and dove toward the scene, hoping to intercept the creature before it could reach the survivors.
Meanwhile, the four clone troopers who had escaped the massacre at Rishi Station were trying to figure out their next move.
"Now that O'Niner and the others are dead, what's our protocol?" Cutup asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
"According to regulations," Echo began in his characteristic methodical manner, "the next senior—"
"Wait," Heavy interrupted, holding up a hand. "Do you guys hear that?"
"What sound?" Fives asked, straining to listen. "That doesn't sound like battle droids."
"Don't forget about those giant creatures we saw earlier," Heavy was saying when Echo suddenly cut him off.
"Look!" Echo shouted, pointing at something approaching them at high speed through the sky.
"What in the galaxy is that?" Heavy immediately drew his DC-15 blaster pistol and took aim. "It's coming right for us!"
"Looks like some kind of—"
Before Cutup could finish his observation, the massive eel creature burst from behind a rock formation with its jaws wide open, clearly intending to devour the four clone troopers in a single bite.
Just as the beast was about to reach them, a metallic figure slammed into the creature's side with tremendous force, sending it tumbling across the rocky ground. The armored figure then rose into the air and fired what appeared to be a small missile directly into the creature's eye, killing it instantly.
"What the kriff was that?!" Heavy shouted, his blaster still trained on their unexpected savior.
"It looks like some kind of droid!" Echo said, his voice tight with stress.
The metallic figure descended to land directly in front of them, and suddenly its helmet retracted to reveal the face of a dark-skinned human male.
"Are you men alright?" he asked with obvious concern.
The four clones stared at him in amazement, exchanging glances as they tried to process what had just happened.
"Uh, yes sir," Echo said slowly. "We're uninjured."
"Thank you for saving our lives," Cutup added, still breathing heavily as the reality of their near-death experience sank in.
"Who are you?" Fives asked directly.
"Colonel James Rhodes," their rescuer replied with military formality. "My callsign is War Machine, and I'm a member of the Avengers."
"The Avengers?" Echo repeated, clearly unfamiliar with the term. "What are the Avengers?"
"Did you say Colonel?" Cutup asked, immediately snapping to attention.
"I'm not your colonel," Rhodey said with slight amusement. "Look, I need you to tell me something—where exactly are we?"
The clones looked at each other in confusion before Fives shrugged and turned back to address him. "Sir, this is Republic Listening Post Rishi, Outer Rim Territories."
"Republic what now?" Rhodey asked, his confusion evident.
"Sir, this station monitors—" Echo began to explain.
"Brothers, look up!" Heavy suddenly interrupted, pointing toward the sky above them.
"It's Commander Cody!" Echo said with immediate recognition, spotting the distinctive Republic assault ship approaching the station.
"A ship design I've never seen before," Rhodey muttered to himself, studying the approaching vessel. "Well, I guess that confirms it—I'm definitely not on Earth anymore."
"We have to warn them," Cutup said urgently, suddenly realizing the implications. "If Commander Cody attempts to land at the station, he'll be walking into a trap."
"Echo, try to contact them on the command frequency," Heavy ordered.
Echo activated his comlink and attempted to establish communication several times before shaking his head in frustration. "It's no use. They're not responding to our transmission frequency."
"If this continues, Commander Cody and his men are going to be ambushed by those battle droids," Fives said with growing anxiety.
Suddenly, Echo seemed to have an idea. He pulled out a signal flare and held it up. "We can use this to warn them that something's wrong!"
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