Nova (2007 series) #4

In the 1st 3 issues Nova became seriously worn out after the Annihilation event and then trying to be a 1-man galactic police force as the only surviving member of the Nova Corps. He visited home on Earth for some R&R but found it in the post-Civil War era. He met Iron Man and had to explain about Annihilation and the death of the Corps, Annihilus, Quasar and Thanos plus the loss of the Skrull Empire and a large chunk of the Kree Empire. Richard Rider knew about the Civil War but IM had to tell him that it was caused by the New Warriors, many of whom died in the Stamford explosion including his friends Namorita and Night Thrasher - and the public blames all NWers including Nova who wasn't even on the planet. He met Justice who also wasn't in NW at the time and is now part of the Avengers Initiative. When Norman Osborn sent his Thunderbolts to arrest him he discovered that Penance was Speedball, the only NW survivor of Stamford. When his own parents couldn't accept him with the Xandarian Worldmind sharing his brain he headed back to space and answered a distress call from Hala, the Kree capital world ...

... and now he's made it to the Hala solar system and has been immediately attacked by a Kree Sentry robot which he swiftly destroys. He doesn't know why the Kree now led by Ronan The Accuser are treating him as an enemy because he and Ronan were staunch allies in the Annihilation Wave war. The Worldmind can't get any response from any official Kree source. But it detects a very strong signal being broadcast which when it hits them knocks the WM offline. It doesn't take long to reboot itself but then it detects that all transmissions from outside the Kree Empire have been discontinued.

It has also analysed the remains of the Sentry and discovered that its operating system had been invasively altered. It turns out not to be a 1-off because more Sentries attack, and we see that there's something wrong with their eyes (as we've seen in the Annihilation: Conquest Prologue). The WM has to block a viral program that is trying to invade it while Nova starts destroying this new threat. But then the WM determines that the virus is the work of the Transmode Technophage known as the Phalanx (AnnCP again). And it tells Richard that they must exit Kree space immediately. But of course Nova isn't going to do that.

On Hala the Phalanx have detected the intruder and identified it as an Earth human male member of the Xandarian Nova Corps, which they thought had been wiped out (by the Annihilation Wave in the Annihilation Prologue). They send out more Sentries to stop him but he destroys them too. We then see that Gamora is with them, and she has the strange eyes as well. She tells them it will take more than that to stop Richard Rider. They ask her if she has 'operational knowledge' of the threat. She says she has, but doesn't tell them that this operational knowledge included being his lover during the Annihilation War. They tell her they want him killed or processed for 'selection'. Gamora pauses to get 1 last look at Richard's face. They ask her why she hesitates? Is she not the 'deadliest woman in the Galaxy'? She says she was taught to kill by Thanos himself. Now she asks for teleport control and access to at least 100 Sentries. This is the last of the Nova Centurions and so he has the whole of the Nova Force to use against them. He could cripple the Phalanx if given the chance.

As Nova approaches Hala the Worldmind tells him about the Phalanx. They are a techno-organic lifeform that use the Transmode Virus to infect both machines and living beings to make them part of the Phalanx. The WM figures (correctly) that the Phalanx have taken over the whole Kree Empire. It urges Nova to flee the sector because it can't afford his host to become infected. But Rider refuses to abandon his allies in the War, so the WM admits that there *may* be a way to defeat them. They construct Babel Spires as foci of their power, and it detects 1 on Hala (we saw it self-building out of Sentries in the Prologue). So Nova heads towards it but many Sentries are teleported in his path.

The Phalanx are controlling the teleportation under Gamora's guidance. She tells them that if Nova gets away the Sentries won't be able to catch him so they must block all escape routes. But the Phalanx are too slow so Gamora takes over the teleport control. She uses her intimate knowledge of how he thinks to anticipate his every move and soon he's trapped. But he isn't being infected by the Prodromal Transmode Contagion and the Phalanx realise an artificial intelligence is preventing it. Gamora doesn't want to kill him. But because of the Virus she sincerely believes that he should become 1 of the Select like her.

Nova has been battered by multiple blasts and is now buried inside a mound of Sentries. WM says they have only 1 option left, and Rider concurs. He uses the Nova Force to open a Stargate.

The Phalanx detect what they think is a massive explosion that destroys all the Sentries. But Gamora recognises it as a Stargate which has wiped out the robots as a side-effect of the gravimetric vortex. However they remind her that there's no way to escape from Kree space (because of a barrier erected by the transmission above as seen in the Prologue). They tell her to pursue Nova and apprehend him, alive if possible because his power will be useful. She leaves to assemble a hunt-cadre.

Nova and some Sentry bits are flying through the Stargate tunnel when the Worldmind realises that there's an immense actinic field enclosing the whole Kree Empire. They can't afford to hit it so the WM tells Nova to abort the Stargate but they don't quite make it in time. There's another massive 'explosion' and Nova is left drifting in space with Richard not answering WM's calls.

Our next port of call the the Kree outworld Drez-Lar which was destroyed in the Annihilation War. Most of the inhabitants were evacuated but the Light Cruiser Spirit Of Supremor was brought down on the planet after fighting a rearguard action to protect the evacuation fleet. Only 102 of its 2000 Kree soldiers survived and they've been trapped here for a year. The highest-ranking survivor was Battlefield Medic Ko-Rel so by Kree military rules she's now in charge. Every day she's sent out the same Mayday message but the comms system can't tell her if it itself is actually working. Or maybe there's no-one to hear it. She just wants to get home to her son Zam.

But this day something different happens. Something crashes into the planet nearby and she suits-up with some others (including Chief Yan and Flagpole) and goes out to investigate leaving Dimples in charge. They approach the crater and, against Yan's advice, she goes in to investigate while the others cover her. She finds a horribly burned body with a Nova helmet but a voice talks to her mind, calling her by name. The Worldmind apologises but it has no choice. There's an exchange of energy and the other Kree rush forward. But Ko-Rel is still standing and doesn't understand why her men are staring at her. She doesn't realise that she is now in a Nova Centurion uniform, leaking power.