"We're upgrading this ship."
Rowan left Yondu to deal with his stunned crew and sent Gamora to use the Tesseract to establish contact and confirm Thanos's whereabouts. He himself began walking through the Ravager carrier, examining every corridor and engine chamber with a critical eye.
For interstellar travel, nothing mattered more than the ship.
Rowan could survive the vacuum of space through magic alone. He could even cross vast distances in his transformed state. But speed was another matter. Compared to a starship equipped with jump coordinates, navigation arrays, and spatial anchors, brute-force travel was inefficient.
More importantly, he still couldn't perform long-range spatial jumps across star systems on his own. Unlike mystic practitioners who borrowed power from higher dimensions, Rowan relied solely on himself. That limitation made preparation essential.
So he reinforced the carrier.
The first modification was awakening the ship itself. Through a binding ritual, he granted it a rudimentary consciousness, one that answered only to him. From that moment on, any attempt to hijack the vessel, flee in auxiliary craft, or sabotage systems would be detected and blocked by the ship's own will.
Next came spatial expansion. Internal volume was quietly increased without altering the external structure. Defensive barriers were layered in overlapping formations. Hull integrity was reinforced far beyond its original specifications.
By the time Rowan finished, the Ravager carrier was no longer just a ship. It was a magically augmented fortress.
Gamora returned the Tesseract shortly afterward, her expression tense.
"Thanos isn't on Titan," she reported. "He's operating near the boundary between the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic region. The Kree are under pressure from their war with the Skrulls and are trying to negotiate peace with the Nova Empire."
She paused.
"Ronan the Accuser opposes it. He's planning to break away from the Kree and wants Thanos's support. Thanos ordered him to wipe out half the population of a Nova border world as proof."
Rowan considered it briefly.
"A three-way conflict," he said. "Have Yondu set course for that Nova border planet."
In this universe, the Skrulls hadn't been crushed. The war between the Kree, Skrulls, and Nova Empire remained unresolved. Unlike other timelines, the Kree weren't negotiating out of weakness caused by a single overwhelming force, but because they were stretched too thin.
Rowan smiled faintly.
"Taking out Thanos and Ronan together should make a compelling introduction. The Nova Empire will be far more willing to help Earth after that."
Yondu relayed the order. With Quill and Rocket at the controls, the carrier moved toward the nearest jump point. Most of the Ravagers were still unconscious, smoke curling from their armor.
As the ship accelerated, Quill finally spoke up.
"So we're really doing this? Helping you take on Thanos and Ronan? That's… not exactly profitable."
Rocket scoffed. "You're thinking too small. Look around. This place is full of ships. We set the carrier to autopilot, grab a few fighters, and vanish. The galaxy's huge. He'll never find us."
Gamora cut in coldly. "Don't."
She looked at both of them.
"Remember how we were caught in the headmaster's office. We never noticed when he arrived. If you think he isn't listening right now, you're fooling yourselves."
She meant it. Somewhere along the way, her priorities had shifted. If Rowan truly killed Thanos, the price on the Tesseract meant nothing to her anymore.
The others shivered.
Quill and Rocket instinctively glanced around the bridge.
"You're right," Yondu said slowly. "Now's not the time."
He didn't like taking orders either, but he understood reality. Rowan killed without hesitation, and worse, in ways no one understood how to counter.
Escape could wait.
When Thanos and Ronan entered the picture, chaos would follow. That would be the moment.
"Having a good discussion back here?"
Rowan's voice suddenly came from behind them.
All of them jumped.
"N-no," Quill said instantly, spinning around with a flawless grin. "We were just talking about how to help you take down Thanos and Ronan."
The lie came out smooth, confident, practiced.
Gamora barely managed to stifle a laugh.