Time is a murky concept in deep space, especially in a chaotic place like Knowhere, where day and night were inverted.
When Kirk's message arrived, Sean was seated in a casino in the residential district, watching a peculiar game...
On a broad metallic table, a pair of rotating fans at either end periodically released small, scurrying creatures known as Orloni onto the platform, where they would chase and tear at each other in what seemed like a cosmic equivalent of horse racing or dog fighting.
Those bizarrely shaped alien creatures guzzled a blue, potent liquor, shouting loudly with frenzied expressions, filling the casino with a raucous and heated atmosphere.
The Orlonis, resembling oversized rats with rows of sharp teeth, propelled themselves on their powerful hind legs and viciously tore into each other. The strongest one emerged victorious, a result that thrilled the gamblers who had placed bets.
Sean didn't join in... he was merely an observer, lounging lazily against the bar and quietly taking it all in. Observation had been his most frequent activity during his time in Knowhere.
Orlonis were a tenacious bottom-feeder species in the cosmos. They had rapid reproduction rates and were capable of surviving in extremely harsh environments to quickly form colonies. This often led to them being captured for entertainment.
In fact, Knowhere once had a dedicated gladiatorial arena. It was the biggest attraction which was run by Taneleer Tivan's brother, the Grandmaster...
Pitting powerful beings against ferocious beasts in bloody combat was a thrilling spectacle that drew crowds of spectators. Wealthy merchants from large caravans, colonial governors, and warlords were particularly fond of it, and the annual tournament for the strongest warrior was a rare major event the universe.
Unfortunately, as time passed, the slave trade, ownership, and the confinement of sentient beings for sport were deemed illegal... at least on paper.
Pressured by legislation passed by the three major empires, the Grandmaster was forced to close the arena and leave Knowhere. The bloody, live gladiatorial battles were replaced by the current Orloni brawls.
"When civilization advances to a certain stage, it dresses itself in a veneer of respectability and glamor." This was Sean's take.
The slave trade persisted unabated despite bans. Many warlords within the Kree Empire, one of the advanced civilizations, built their fortunes on it; Ronan's family included.
Countless alien races were sold off to barren, backward resource planets, reduced to lowly miners, toiling day after day in grueling extraction work.
The grand colonial wave of the cosmic age held no shred of compassion. Lifting the facade of progress revealed the underlying savagery and bloodshed.
This was precisely why Sean was determined to clear all obstacles and lead Earth into the starry sea. Even without the threat of Thanos, a civilization forever bound to its homeworld would, at best, amount to nothing more than a speck of dust in the vast cosmic backdrop.
Sean glanced at his wrist, where a personal message lit up his smart terminal, "After all these days of waiting, they're finally here."
He had instructed Kirk to keep a close watch on small ships docking at the spaceport to spot Star-Lord and his crew.
Having escaped the Kyln, Star-Lord was bound for Knowhere. Sean had received intelligence that the Collector, Taneleer Tivan, had secretly placed a sky-high bounty of four billion units for the Orb...
...
At the spaceport, Star-Lord in his red leather jacket descended the ramp of his ship. Behind him followed a lithe green-skinned woman, a tree person creature and a raccoon, and a burly man covered in red markings.
Fresh from their daring escape from the high-security Kyln and having evaded Nova Corps pursuit, Gamora knew that the master of Tivan Group, the famed Collector, was willing to pay an astronomical sum for the Orb. So, Star-Lord's crew had crossed half a galaxy to claim this massive payday, dreaming of retiring to a quiet, peaceful star system to live a life of comfort and luxury.
Of course, not everyone shared that singular goal. The green-skinned Gamora was desperate to break free from her adoptive father's control. This was my especially so now, with rumors of the Mad Titan's possible weakened state, she was more eager than ever to flee.
Thanos had slaughtered half the population of Zehoberei and molded her into a ruthless killing machine. Now, Gamora only wanted to shed her dark past and start anew.
The burly man, Drax the Destroyer, harbored an unquenchable blood feud with the Kree Accuser, Ronan, who had murdered his wife and daughter, shattering his family.
As for Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and their leader Peter Quill, their motives were simpler... they wanted to make a quick fortune.
The five of them, each with their own agenda, had come together temporarily for the Orb...
"I'm telling ya, we gotta plan this right. Four billion! I ain't never seen that many units in my life!" The wiry and sharp-tongued Rocket chattered incessantly.
Beside him, Groot chimed in with his signature, "I am Groot."
"Head to the other side of the galaxy, buy a luxury ship, then drown yourself in fine drink and food every day... Not long after that, you'll find four billion might not be enough to keep you satisfied for long," Star-Lord shrugged.
He was originally from Earth, taken from his home planet by a Ravager ship when he was nine.
The Ravager leader, Yondu, was supposed to deliver him to someone, but upon finding his cargo was a child, he had a change of heart. Thus, Peter Quill from Earth grew up among Ravagers, and being raised in a bandit den, he picked up plenty of bad habits along the way.
When he first got the Orb, he thought it was some relic from a super-ancient civilization. But then he was hunted by Ronan's subordinates, and in a moment of carelessness, ended up thrown into the Kyln by the Nova Corps...
"Riches mean nothing to me. I only wish to kill Ronan and avenge my family," Drax grumbled heavily.
He had broken out of the Kyln and thrown in with this band of utterly unreliable misfits solely to wash away the pain of losing his wife and daughter with Ronan's blood.
Star-Lord's face lit up with satisfaction at that, "Well then, that just means more for the three of us to split."
"I am Groot!" the Flora Colossus protested indignantly.
"Fine... Four of us," Star-Lord amended with a resigned sigh.
He led the way, passing through the lower mining levels into the interior of the residential sector.
Gamora had already contacted the Collector, but as the head of the Tivan Group, he was temporarily unavailable, so he sent a representative to meet them instead.
"This is really disrespectful. We crossed half the galaxy, and he makes us wait," Drax grumbled.
The others were less bothered. After all, as long as they got their hands on that four-billion-unit bounty, everything else was negotiable...