Kree Corps

#7

"The Ultimus Decision"

Brought to you by Stephen Crosby

Who are we?

What are we?

Why are we here?

These are questions I have asked myself for as long as I could remember. By my peers, I am called Ultimus. Supposedly, I am a Kree Eternal, capable of manipulating the cosmic forces that make up our universe.

That theory is flawed, however. Eternals are products of Celestial manipulation, as are Deviants, the result of manipulating the DNA of a planet’s dominant species. The Terrans of Earth were so manipulated, as were the Skrulls. Thus, both those species have the capacity for growth, to adapt to the world around them and develop new genetic traits over time. Until recently, the Kree were a dead-end species.

The Celestials never experimented on the Kree. Therefore I cannot be a Kree Eternal.

I have my suspicions as to my origins. During it’s reign, the Supreme Intelligence had attempted to jump-start the Kree species. It had altered numerous Kree citizens, experimented on them in ways meant to duplicate the Celestial experiments.

There were few successes, but they proved the capacity for growth did exist in the Kree. Mar-Vell, a former Kree Captain, was one such success. Captain At-Las and Dr. Minerva had also been a success, the empathic link developed between them proof that the Kree had a capacity for mental growth. Perhaps it were these successful experiments that prompted the Supreme Intelligence to carry out with it’s mad plan.

The Supreme Intelligence had manipulated the Kree into a war with the Shi’ar. The Supreme Intelligence had orchestrated events leading to the creation of the Nega Bomb, a radioactive explosion capable of ravaging a galaxy.

The Supreme Intelligence detonated the Nega Bomb in the heart of the Kree Empire. Billions of Kree were killed instantly. Billions more died later from radiation poisoning and rebellion against the dominant Shi’ar Empire.

The Kree had won their freedom eventually. A species of only a few million, not even enough to populate their home planet, had control of a vast sector of space encompassing thousands of planets.

The Kree government had to be rebuilt from scratch. The military was a fraction of a fraction of it’s former glory. Yet the Kree still had their racial pride, will to survive, and desire to fight to the death. Only a year after having won their freedom, the Kree have rebuilt their glorious capital city of Kree-Lar, organized a place for ever Kree citizen in the government, and taken steps towards insuring the swift propagation of the species.

Despite the catastrophic actions of the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree have survived. Furthermore, many have developed the capacity for genetic growth, among them the Emperor himself.

Because of the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree had fallen farther and harder than they ever had before. Because of the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree may well rise higher than any other species in existence.

Perhaps I am one of those early experiments of the Supreme Intelligence? In it’s attempts to duplicate the experiments of the Celestials, it could very well have duplicated the success that is Eternal. I do not believe this, however. To make such a vast jump in so short a time is unlikely, even for such a being as the Supreme Intelligence.

Which continues to beg the question, what am I? Could it be that I am not even Kree?

The Kree Emperor, Mas-Kedd, has sworn that he will help me learn the truth. In return, I have agreed to join in an elite branch of the Kree military. They are made up almost entirely of Meta-Kree, with exceptions that are exceptional in their own right. They are referred to as the Kree Corps, and have been charged with defending the empire from extraordinarily powerful and dangerous threats.

Among the members of the Corps are old acquaintances of mine. Korath the Pursuer and Shatterax, both bionically enhanced Kree. The aforementioned Captain At-Las and Dr. Minerva, genetically engineered for greater psionic capacity.

Also among the Kree Corps are new faces that I have fast grown proud to serve with. Captain Var-Dann, a veteran who served in the Kree/Shi’ar War, had developed super-fast movement as a result of radiation from the Nega Explosion. Jaxur the Accuser, considered by many to be second only to the traitorous Ronan, represents the Accusers among the Kree Corps. Star Gate, another experiment of the Supreme Intelligence, is capable of interstellar teleportation. Mid-Get, a former Kree miner who developed the ability to manipulate gravity after the Nega Explosion. Ver-Gull, a Kree woman who is now able to grow to great heights after the Nega Explosion.

And finally, there is the leader of the Kree Corps. He is known only as Grieve, and the name suits him. When the Nega Explosion occurred, the memories of all those that died, a billion billion Kree, entered the mind of a single Kree male. I could only imagine the insanity that came as a result. And yet, Grieve survived past the trauma, and had proven himself time and again as a true Kree warrior. I am proud to serve under his command.

The Nega Explosion. In it’s wake Hala was devastated, most of the Kree race was killed, and a large portion of the survivors suddenly found themselves physically affected by the radiation. Most died from the radiation, but a fraction found themselves developing meta-physical abilities. One Kree, apparently caught near Ground Zero, was among that fraction.

The poor soul had absorbed large amounts of the radiation, but he hadn’t been killed. Instead, his body was changed on a molecular level. A living nuclear reactor, he exudes the deadly energies, endangering others through his mere presence. I do not know how he came to be trapped within a giant block of ice, floating in the depths of space. He was freed during a battle between the Kree Corps and renegade Kree under the command of the Supreme Intelligence. It had no doubt intended to use this.... "Nega Man" for it’s own purposes, much like it had used me.

When released, the Nega Man had gone wild, discharging his vast energies erratically. Jaxur the Accuser had been fried alive within his armor, an ordeal he is still trying to recover from. Though the battle had tired me greatly, I had succeeded in stalemating the Nega Man, allowing for Shatterax to trap him.

The Nega Man is now in containment at the Corps Compound, the home-base of the Kree Corps. We keep him trapped within the Compound’s reactor, siphoning off his energies to power the base. Grieve is of the opinion that, by keeping him from generating too much radiation, the Nega Man lacks the strength to escape from the containment. It is only temporary, he says, until a way can be found to stabilize the Nega Man’s condition.

I wield the power cosmic. I can perceive the nature of the universe itself, can detect and manipulate the forces that holds all matter together. Though I do not know why or how, I know that I am god-like in my power. I am not so foolish as to believe that I could challenge the likes of the Silver Surfer or Thanos, but nor am I so naive that I cannot see that my powers have few limitations.

If I so desired, could I effect the Nega Man on a molecular level? Could I lessen the radiation in his body? Remove it altogether? Do I have the power to make this man normal again?

As I have done since his capture, I float within the containment facility, keeping watch over the Nega Man. I leave only when called upon. I have not shirked my duties to the Kree. But I am uneasy about leaving the Nega Man unguarded.

Among the many powers I possess, I have the ability to see into the mind of another. I do not like to use this power. Seeing the lives of others, while my own life is such a mystery, unsettles me. But while I have not probed too deeply into the Nega Man, I can feel his pain. It is great, but his anger surpasses it by far. He perceives everything around him as an enemy, something that he must destroy. I have no doubt that if freed, the Nega Man would slaughter countless lives in his madness.

Madness is an unpredictable thing. It is a thing that we should all fear. I feel the fear within Grieve. His fear that the billions of memories within his mind, his sudden shifts of personality, will eventually lead to his making a fatal error as leader of the Corps.

It is right to know fear. Because the Kree have always carried a fear of being conquered by a more powerful species, they had strived to improve upon their bodies and minds. The Kree were a race of perfect warriors, a mighty militant empire, because of fear. It was the loss of fear, an overconfidence in their own power, that led to the disastrous war with the Shi’ar.

Despite my power, I continue to know fear. I fear the inevitable situation where I find my power to be lacking. I fear corruption of my power. I fear the truth about whom I really am. And I fear the Nega Man.

"Ultimus, you are needed."

That is Shatterax. I knew of his presence the moment he entered the chamber. Because much of the Kree’s body is composed of heavily armored bionics, he is capable of surviving within the highly volatile core. In addition, Shatterax’s bionics make him a formidable teammate, as I discovered when he assisted in capturing the Nega Man.

I turn from the Nega Man. If I am needed, it stands to reason that Shatterax would be called to relieve me, so long as he was not required for the mission. "Where I am needed, there is where I will go," I tell the cybernetic Corpsman. Striding past him, I pause and say one more thing. "I ask that you stand vigilant in my absence."

Shatterax nods, saying nothing. He realizes what I said, acknowledged what it meant. I, who will not trust the emperor himself, just said that I trusted him.

The heavily reinforced chamber doors slide shut behind me. An instant later, the outer doors open, allowing me access to the rest of the Compound. Not that I desire to explore the building. The cosmic energies within my body allow me to live without sleep, sustenance, even air. My body cannot grow soft, and so I have no need to train. Even if I desired recreation, the term is alien to the Kree, and so no such facilities exist on Hala. The only areas I feel the need to frequent are the core chamber and the tactical room. Metaphorically speaking, they are the heart and mind of the Corps Compound.

Uninhibited by the extensive shielding of the core chamber, I allow my body to rise. Concentrating, I expand the very molecules of my body, enabling me to pass through the ceiling to the levels above. The Compound is made up of five levels. The core is on the bottom level, while the tactical room is located on the second level from the surface.

Floating through level after level, I see no others. For a compound the size of ours, residents numbering only a dozen would seem inadequate. Perhaps because it is inadequate, much like the rest of the Kree Empire. Hala, once a planet that held an overflowing population of hundreds of billions, now only holds a few million, situated within the capital city of Kree-Lar. Ninety percent of the Kree Empire are stationed within Kree-Lar, the capital of an empire consisting of hundreds of planets.

Some would say that the Kree are stretched too thin, but I know that this will soon change. Within only a few generations, the Kree will a thousand times more than it does today. From millions to billions, all through the perversion of nature to meet their own ends. But it is a necessary perversion, to protect the Kree from their many enemies. Though their homeworld is gone, the Skrull are a numerous people, united under a powerful ruler. Though the Shi’ar have currently ceased their expansionist ways, they will find a way to escape the threat of extinction that has been levied upon them.

The Kree must be protected. Until they can protect themselves with an effective military, the Kree Corps are the only way.

Floating onto the second level, I contract my molecules and rest my feet onto the floor. I stride towards the tactical room, and the doors open before my approach. We shall see what the Kree need protection from today.

Within the tactical room are most of the Kree Corps. As always, Star Gate is there, hooked up to the extensive computers within. His computer-like mind is one with the Compound, and through the communications array he receives information from the far corners of the Empire. In tandem with his teleportation ability, Star Gate can teleport the Corps to any situation the moment it develops.

Also in the room is Grieve, the woman Ver-Gull at his side. This is not unusual, for they spend a lot of time together. Ver-Gull is an expert in the relatively new Kree science of mental disease and traumas. While I do question the validity of such a science among the Kree as a whole, I acknowledge that Grieve has need of such a physician.

Captain At-Las and Dr. Minerva are also in the room, also close together. Their shared exposure to the energies of a Psyche-Magnetron resulted in an empathic link between the two, making it impossible for them to hide their emotions from one-another. I know the feeling. Under such a situation, they would have to become the most bitter of enemies, or the most passionate of lovers. They are the latter, I suspect because of Minerva’s desire to carry a Kree with the potential for genetic improvement.

Jaxur the Accuser, his features hidden beneath the armor of his station, stands in one corner of the room. His Cosmi-Rod, a lesser version of the legendary Universal Weapon, is held ready in his hands. Ever since his near-death at the hands of the Nega Man, Jaxur had been...subdued. Even through the armor, I can see his scars, feel his pain. I would give anything to take it from him.

Finally, the diminutive Mid-Get. The short, pink-skinned Kree proved useful in the battle against Nega Man. Using his ability to manipulate gravity, Mid-Get enabled Captain Var-Dann to utilize his super-speed in the depths of space. It was this speed that saved the life of Jaxur.

It is odd that Captain Var-Dann is not here. A former prisoner of the Shi’ar, and veteran of the Kree/Shi’ar War, Var-Dann has always been eager to enter all combat situations.

"The situation?" I ask upon entering. Surely it must be dire, else they would not have called for me.

It was Captain At-Las who replied. His voice, as always, was heated. "An Acanti has entered the Empire."

That is all he says, for no other words are necessary. The Acanti, the magnificent space-whales, are all slaves of the alien Brood. Those vicious, monstrous creatures use the mammoth Acanti as living space ships, and as a source of food during voyages.

If an Acanti has entered the Empire, then up to a hundred thousand Brood have as well.

"We’ve been tracking the Acanti’s course," said Grieve. "It’s heading straight for Hala. The planetary defenses are still being repaired from Ki-Ree’s attack, and the our navy is in no shape to handle an Acanti. A few ships may intercept, but with our forces spread out...." Grieve trailed off.

"The Brood will reach Hala relatively unopposed," Jaxur concluded. "The defenses of Kree-Lar will slow them down, but they will eventually reach the city. It will be reduced to bloody hand-to-hand fighting. It’s possible, even likely, that we can defeat the Brood, but we would take heavy loses."

"And we have reason to believe that more Acanti are en route," Grieve finished. "Until the military can be mobilized, and the fleet assembled, it calls on us to deal with the Brood."

"What’s our plan of attack?" Captain At-Las asked.

"I have two prepared," Grieve answered. "One, is that Star Gate teleports us into the Acanti itself. We will then engage the Brood in that bloody, hand-to-hand fighting that is so sure to work in our favor. This is what the Emperor suggested."

"Am I wrong in assuming that the Emperor wants us to bring him a Brood prisoner?" asked Dr. Minerva.

Her meaning is clear. Some months ago, Grieve uncovered a series of genetic experiments that involved combining Kree DNA with that of the Dire Wraiths.

"Before he defected, Mar-Vell encountered infested Kree," Captain At-Las stated. "They cannot be controlled."

"Whatever our opinions, the decision is not ours to make." Grieve was every bit the Kree soldier in his words. "The Emperor has ordered that the Kree Corps engage the Brood, and so we must."

A smile formed on Grieve’s lips. "But he did not order how the attack would be done, nor did he order the taking of prisoners. I for one will not lead us into a suicide mission."

"Then what do you suggest?" Jaxur asked.

Grieve looks at me. I suspect what he is about to ask. "Ultimus, I will send you, alone, to engage the Acanti ship."

"Not inside it?" I ask.

"No, Star Gate will teleport you into it’s path." Grieve’s voice is cold. "We have to show the Brood, the whole universe, what will happen to them when they threaten the Kree. I don’t care what you do, or how you do it, but not one Brood is to survive."

I do not answer right away. Grieve has faith in my power. He believes me capable of butchering a Brood army and a majestic space whale. I am more than capable. That only thing that could limit me would be my conscience.

The Brood are a deadly virus, slaughtering and infecting all that they come across. To serve their ends, they had enslaved a peaceful, wondrous race. I would gladly kill an Acanti to save it from suffering further under the Brood.

As for killing Brood, I think no more about that than I would about killing bugs.

I nod. "After today, Kree will become the Brood word for ‘death’".

Captain At-Las and Jaxur scoff. The others appear uncertain. Grieve was confident, however. "We’ll be on stand by, just in case. Star Gate, take him."

Star Gate turned his pupiless, gray eyes to me. They glowed me, I saw myself surrounded in the same blue glow. I feel myself disperse, transforming into energy. My surroundings fade, replaced with the infinite expanse of outer space.

Far ahead of me, several hundred miles at least, the living star-ship that is the Acanti looms onward. Along it’s back, whole acres of its skin are missing, replaced with vast plastic bubbles that contain Brood colonies. I see the machinery within the space whale’s body; the electronic scanners that substitute for its eyes, the advanced computes attached to what is left of it’s brain.

Even in the airless vacuum of space, I hear the Acanti’s wail of pain. And I feel the Brood inside of it. Scurrying about. Feeding off it. Using it to transport them on their never-ending quest of genocide.

I prepare myself for what I must do, and I will bear no regrets.

Slowly, I raise my arms out to my sides and over my head. I feel the power within me, the very energy of the universe fills me. I drink from the power, allow it to crackle around me, flaring up like a star. The cosmic energies pour into me, near to overflowing, and still I take in more. More. I will need more.

As I gather my strength, I think about where it came from. How did I come to wield such awesome power? I know only that I wield it at the cost of my memory, of my identity.

Today, I wield the power like a sword. The Acanti is only a few dozen miles away from me, it’s gaping maw wide open. I feel the weapons array charging. I strike first.

I bring be hands together in front of me, fingers out. The energy I had been gathering, the power crackling within me, explodes forth from this conduit. A vast stream of cosmic energy, beginning only a few circles in diameter, expands in power and size as it blazes towards the Acanti.

The diameter of the blast is roughly one-quarter of a mile when it enters the great maw of the living ship.

The Acanti, a peaceful creature who’s only crime was being made a living-dead slave, explodes from the inside out. Energies seep out through the cracked skin and Brood-made domes instants before the skin and domes are vaporized by those same energies.

All that was left were the scattered remains of a space-whale, and the wreckage of Brood technology.

No, wait. I still sense life. Small traces, many quickly fading out, but amongst bits of the wreckage I still sense life. Pockets of air, most likely. Sealed chambers with Brood inside. A few dozen at the most. With the systems down, they shouldn’t last long.

In one piece of wreckage - large, it may have been a weapons station - I see a signal. A distress signal, no doubt meant for other Brood ships. Perhaps they’re waiting at the edge of the Kree Empire, waiting for word of the attack. In that wreckage, at least, power remains.

I raise my hand, release small traces of energy. The Brood are asking for help, asking to be rescued. I allow the signal to be sent. I create my own signal, on a frequency similar to the Brood’s, and I send it alongside the distress call.

Come, and die.

The message sent, I wait in the void of space.

One-by-one, Brood life-signs flicker out, until only those at the former weapons station remains. It takes hours, but their power supply is eventually exhausted. Life support ceases, and they too die.

No ship came for them.

I point my hand at each piece of wreckage large enough to hold a single Brood or more, and I obliterate them all. The weapons station I tear in half, and watch the Brood corpses spill out in the cold depths of space. Their tough-shelled bodies, bred to withstand the rigors of space, are unaffected by the sudden change in pressure.

I only had to search for a few moments before I found the corpse I wanted. Only then do I send a signal out to Star Gate. I am immediately surrounded by that faint blue glow, as is the large corpse held in my arms.

Once again, I am in the tactical room of the Corps Compound. Around me are Star Gate, Jaxur the Accuser, and Grieve.

Grieve looks at what I brought back, then switches his gaze back to me. "You took longer than I thought."

"You wanted me to send a message," I said. "The Brood heard their brothers die slowly, in the worst way imaginable for their species. I believe the message had been sent."

Jaxur nodded. "We were monitoring. I’m ashamed to say that I almost pitied them."

"It had to be done," Grieve replied. "Better them than us. The Kree are safe from the Brood, for the moment." Again, Grieve looked at the corpse in my arms. "You brought the Brood Queen back. Why?"

I drop the dead Queen to the floor. "The Emperor did not order it in so many words, but his desire was clear."

Grieve was still looking at the Brood Queen’s corpse. "You brought this one for a reason, didn’t you Ultimus? Bodies are floating out there in space. Even now, I would imagine that the Emperor has sent out ships to gather up the corpses. He won’t find the Brood Queen. What does that mean?"

"You are the one with the memories of geneticists," I reply.

"Yes, I am." Grieve pauses to think, then continues. "Brood are notoriously protective of their Queens. With only Drones to splice DNA from, Emperor Mas-Kedd won’t be able to create a Queen hybrid. It simply isn’t in their genetic structure. Left to themselves, the Drone hybrids would be impossible to control, and therefore useless to us."

"But if the Emperor had a Queen, if he did create a Queen hybrid through which to spawn all the other Brood/Kree hybrids," Jaxur began.

"He would hold it hostage, use it to keep the Drone hybrids under control," Grieve finished. "Ultimus you could have left this corpse there. Or you could have destroyed it then."

"It is not my decision," I say. "You are my superiors. The decision is yours to make."

"We know the risks," said Jaxur. "But it is not our call."

After a moment, Grieve nodded. "True. It is the Emperor’s decision to make. I saw the data on the Kree/Dire Wraith hybrids. They can’t breed, and instabilities within the DNA ensures that they will die out in only a few decades. Enough time for the Kree to grow strong on their own."

"Until then, we must do everything in our power to protect the Kree," Jaxur said. "Even if it means defiling our pure blood."

"Then we are decided," Grieve said. "This goes to the Emperor, to do with as he sees fit." Grieve looked up to address me. "Good work, soldier. You may return to your post."

I nod. "Thank you, sir." I move to leave the room, but I stop. Hesitantly, I turn to face my superiors again. "When I killed the Acanti, I did it gladly. The Brood had essentially killed it’s brain, kept it alive only to carry and feed them. Once it had outgrown that purpose, it would have been discarded."

"It is a tragedy," Jaxur agreed. "What is your point?"

"We are using our prisoner in much the same way," I answer. "Once freed from his prison, he lashed out blindly, and so we contained him out of necessity. Now we have made a battery of him, a fellow Kree who’s only crime was that the Nega Bomb mutated him so."

"The Emperor assures me that he has scientists working on the problem," Grieve tells me. "I have also studied the Nega Man, and I am also working on a means of undoing his condition. Until then, this is the safest means of containing him. Do you disagree?"

I shake my head. "No, sir. But I can see into his mind. He is conscious. He feels pain as we draw the energy out of him. I believe that if he could, he would destroy this entire Compound."

"What do you propose, then?" Grieve asked.

I look down at my hands, then back up at Grieve. "I believe that I have the power to reverse his condition, or at least stabilize it. I ask permission to try."

Jaxur spoke up. "And what if you fail?"

"I do not know," I say truthfully. "In the event that I succeed, the core would have to be shut down. Otherwise the man would be killed by exposure. Obviously, that would leave us vulnerable if I failed."

"Yes, it would," Grieve said. "Therefore, I will not have the core shut down. It will be up to you to keep him alive, Ultimus. If you succeed, that is. We’ll afford the risks of failure, but only so far."

I nod. "Thank you, sir." Again, I turn to leave. I shall return to the core chamber, relieve Shatterax, and set about freeing the Nega Man.

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