Ethan rejoined Star-Lord and the others. Both the Milano and the unnamed Ravager warship brought by Yondu began flying in the same direction again.
As for where they were going? None of them had a plan. They were just going to play it by ear and fly wherever. The immediate goal was to find a planet to resupply basic necessities.
Star-Lord also needed to discuss the details of this commission with Ethan.
"I don't know why, but I just feel like something about you has changed."
Star-Lord kept scrutinizing Ethan. He looked exactly the same, hadn't even changed clothes, yet Star-Lord had a strong feeling that Ethan had undergone a significant change. He just couldn't pinpoint the reason for this feeling.
"Just some insights in magic. You don't need to dwell on these things. Let's get back to the commission."
"Right, right, we're only interested in the commission." Rocket Raccoon had been standing nearby. Due to his height, he was standing on a table beside them, which allowed him to converse with Ethan and the others on equal footing.
"Wait a minute, isn't this my job opportunity? It shouldn't have anything to do with you!"
Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon's relationship hadn't improved much after defeating Ego together. After all, Rocket Raccoon had hunted him down before. Caught off guard, Star-Lord had been thoroughly thrashed by the ambushing Rocket and only escaped the predicament thanks to his recently deceased biological father.
Looking back now, if he had been captured by Rocket Raccoon and brought before Yondu, perhaps a lot of the subsequent trouble wouldn't have occurred. But this didn't mean he could forget the past grievances. Losing face was a big deal, not something easily overlooked.
While these two were arguing, Ethan noticed Nebula and Gamora were constantly talking about something together. Although both women wore sullen expressions, as if standing next to the other was highly irritating, their conversation never stopped. With his excellent hearing, Ethan could make out what they were saying.
Gamora and Nebula were discussing Ethan.
From the content of the two women's conversation, it was clear this wasn't the first time they had discussed him. The sisters hadn't reached a consensus on some matters.
Nebula believed they should find a way to incite Ethan to oppose Thanos, preferably leading to Thanos's death. Although she didn't know if it would succeed or whether Ethan's strength could contend with Thanos, or if he would be killed by Thanos.
She didn't care about Ethan's life or death at all. If Ethan survived, even if he couldn't kill Thanos, it would prove Ethan was a strong individual capable of opposing Thanos. Considering the two brothers from Asgard, killing Thanos would no longer be impossible.
If Ethan couldn't defeat Thanos, or even protect his own life, then Nebula would either die with him or find a way to survive and look for the next opportunity.
After all, Nebula didn't know Ethan at all. From the very beginning, her agreement to follow Ethan was solely to achieve her own goals.
After reuniting with Gamora, bickering, and then confirming each other's true intentions—they both wanted to kill Thanos. The sisters were temporarily back on the same side.
However, Gamora didn't quite agree with Nebula's idea. She felt that even if they wanted to oppose Thanos, they shouldn't involve unrelated people.
Nebula's explanation for this was: the Asgardians held an Infinity Stone, and Thanos would eventually come for them. They were already naturally opposed to Thanos, so they couldn't be considered unrelated parties.
Interspersed were some sarcastic remarks about how Gamora had suddenly become soft-hearted, perhaps wanting to be a good person. Gamora, of course, wouldn't let Nebula's taunts go unanswered and inevitably retorted with a few jabs of her own, before explaining her own plan—to hide the information about the Infinity Stones as much as possible so that Thanos couldn't obtain them.
As long as Thanos couldn't collect all the Infinity Stones, he wouldn't carry out his terrifying plan.
Gamora's plan was to delay, using the Infinity Stones to occupy Thanos's attention. Maybe if they delayed for countless years, Thanos would grow old? Perhaps then there would be a way to deal with him... maybe?
She wasn't very certain about this, because ever since she knew about Thanos, became his adopted daughter, and was raised and taught by him, she had never seen any signs of aging in him.
There were many races in the universe, and long-lived species were not uncommon. She wasn't sure how long Thanos's lifespan was, but having a clear understanding of his strength, she didn't believe anyone could confront Thanos head-on. Therefore, she could only choose such a passive method of dealing with him.
Even though she had just witnessed the battle between Ethan and Ego with her own eyes, she wasn't very sure if Ethan possessed the strength to confront Thanos directly.
She just felt that with Ethan's strength, he could guard the Infinity Stones well, and perhaps Thanos would never be able to collect all of them.
In this situation, there was no need to provoke Thanos actively. Doing so would be tantamount to willingly delivering the Infinity Stones to him.
The sisters were still arguing, while Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord had somewhat reached a conclusion to their argument—which was no conclusion at all. Neither of them would yield to the other, but since they were on Star-Lord's ship and Ethan had indeed come to find Star-Lord, they argued for a while, and ultimately it was up to Star-Lord to talk to Ethan.
"I need your help to conduct a detailed survey of a certain planet. To be honest... I'm not very good at this kind of thing."
"A survey?"
Past commissions for Star-Lord or the Ravagers were never clean jobs. Something like surveying a planet wasn't the kind of work they would get. Star-Lord was completely surprised that this was the kind of job Ethan wanted to commission.
"Surveying a planet? What a boring job."
Rocket Raccoon said this, but he still didn't leave.
"Shut up!"
Considering he had just killed his biological father, and his stepfather seemed to be in a state of bankruptcy, he hadn't had any income for a while. If it weren't for the money he made from Ethan back then, he wouldn't have lasted this long. He would have actively taken on all sorts of jobs to earn money already.
"Why are you asking me to do this kind of work?" Star-Lord thought for a moment and then explained a little: "It's not that I can't do these things, it's just that surveying planets is usually done by specialized teams sent by governments. People like us are rarely hired for this."
More importantly, most planets in the galaxy have already been surveyed. While the galaxy is vast, most habitable planets are already occupied, and the few that are still vacant have long been marked by powerful factions, not to be casually encroached upon by others.
Want one? Sure! Pay up! If the price is right, you can buy a small habitable planet.
As for large, resource-rich planets, no civilization or faction would transfer them casually. Obtaining such a planet essentially means an interstellar war.
But even when conquering a planet, the target planet has already been surveyed. It seems unnecessary to find someone to survey it again, right?
"The planet I'm asking you to survey isn't in the Milky Way."
"Not in the Milky Way?"
Star-Lord hadn't reacted yet, but Rocket Raccoon showed some interest in this task.
"Is it a planet in another galaxy? Or a rogue planet in the dark regions?"
The so-called dark regions refer to the vast areas between galaxies that appear to contain nothing. Of course, these areas aren't completely empty. They contain various particles, atoms, and other matter, and there are also stars, but they are scattered and not as dense as the stars within a galaxy. Furthermore, they don't necessarily move in any particular direction and it's uncertain where they will end up.
Perhaps at some point, they will be captured by a galaxy and become a new member of that system, or they might continue to wander in the dark regions.
"Sorry, I can't reveal the specific details yet. If you accept this commission, then I can tell you more."
In Ethan's view, Rocket Raccoon wasn't someone who absolutely needed to be kept secret from. If there were no surprises, this raccoon and that tree would still join Star-Lord's team, because he didn't seem to have anywhere else to go. Perhaps this commission would become the Guardians of the Galaxy's first official mission?
"So it's a completely unknown area?"
"An unknown star system, an unknown planet. Everything is unknown. I need to find an experienced veteran, as I don't have experience in this area. At the same time, I need to find someone I can trust, which is why I came to you."
Star-Lord nodded. The reason Ethan gave was very convincing. If he were in this situation, he would make a similar choice.
"You've made an absolutely correct choice. I'll take this job." Star-Lord didn't quibble about the payment because he remembered Ethan wasn't a stingy person. The reward he gave for finding the Orb before was very generous. "Let's talk about the specifics."
As he spoke, he was also waving his hand, motioning for Rocket Raccoon to leave quickly. Next, he was going to discuss the job details with Ethan, so anyone irrelevant should go find somewhere cool to stay.
However, Rocket Raccoon was never one to be obedient. If you ignored him, he might leave on his own when he got bored, but if Star-Lord tried to drive him away, he refused to leave, standing there with his arms crossed and arguing with Star-Lord again—just mutual mockery.
But Ethan's single sentence immediately drew both of their attention back.
"There's something I must make clear to you beforehand. For this commission, I cannot use money as payment."
Star-Lord hadn't asked about this. Ethan could have simply let him finish the task and then used another method for payment. Even if Star-Lord wanted to refuse, Ethan's matter would already be resolved by then.
But this approach went against Ethan's principles. He felt it was better to explain the situation upfront, even if Star-Lord refused the commission because of it.
"What? No money? Then what's there to talk about?"
Rocket Raccoon reacted even more intensely than Star-Lord, as if he were the one not getting paid, not Star-Lord. Star-Lord, however, was silent for a moment, then still indicated that he was willing to accept Ethan's commission.
(To be continued.)