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[i]Nova Corps Jurisdicted Planet # 25643-32 aka Kray 
Andromeda Galaxy[/i]
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The army crept forward like a terrible stain across the horizon.

Thanos, the mad titan stood motionless upon the walls of the capital he and his forces had taken hours before. Now these insignificant worms whom he had beaten back one before now came to try and wrest his prize from his hands. His large monstrous hands clutched the parapet, the conglomeration of stone and steel was coated in blood and ash. It wasn't the burnt lifeless ash that was seen in a dying fire; this was a deeper ash, harsher and heavy. The product of a laser cannon upon living flesh. It felt reassuring underneath the Titan’s hands, he was at home with carnage and bloodshed and it’s by products. It was familiar to him. 

He felt the soft glow of a deep red sun piercing into his eyes and illuminating his grey skin, but he ignored it. The sun itself was hanging in the distance close to setting. It cast the army that had come to take Thano’s prize from him. A prize which in the grand scheme was worth little, certainly not the blood that the Titan was willing to pay to secure it. Kray was little more than a backwater mining colony whose only claim to fame was a few rich mineral deposits near the poles. Now it had become one in many of the war torn battlefields that marked the savage path of Thanos’ conquest across the Galaxy. Thousands dead on an insignificant rock of gray, all because it needed to be his.

"Have our scouts reported back their numbers?" Thanos asked his voice a low grumble that still managed to cut threw the noise of his own army massing below.

"Sixty thousands with a supplemental regiment of thirty members of the Nova Corps."  Nebula said, she leaned against the fortifications with the same blaisse look about her that she always seemed to have, lithe frame juxtaposed against the giant mass that was Thanos.

"Sixty thousands...." Thanos muttered to himself as he peered at the armies ever slow approach. He only mustered an army half their size despite press ganging and forced recruitment on the path to Kray. It was almost unfair for the faithful defenders of Kray they would not much larger numbers to defeat his armies. Even with the wretched whelps of the Nova corps most of the army that was opposing them was more or less a civilian militia, the remnants of Kray that remained unmolested by his army.  “Is the artillery back in working order?”

"We managed to salvage three of the six pieces that were destroyed in the raid. Our tortures still haven't gotten any information out of the spy we captured." Nebula replied with a taste of bitterness. She was in command when the raid occurred, it was her failure. Her broken ribs still screamed from Thanos’ fist when he found out.
“Is the one known as Richard Rider among them?” Thanos asked with the same tone that one asked the exterminator when they were wondering if the rat problem had been dealt with.

"Not that we can tell. The telltale signs of his handiwork are not present." Nebula said quietly.

"[i]Hmph[/i] disappointing. At least then I might of had an inkling of a proper fight." Thanos replied and for the most part it was true. Richard Rider of the Nova Corps had become one of his largest enemies in this latest stretch of the campaign. He had lead many a rallying fight against Thanos forces, which well not pushing the Titan’s force back had lost him more men then was to be expected. His heroics were unpredictable and almost a breath of fresh air for Thanos. He was another denizen of the planet known as Earth. 

Earth. The little blue marble light years away from the current conflict had been taking up much of Thanos’ mind as of late. When he had secured Titan all those years ago he should of taken Earth as well even as if it was just a jungle full of insignificant monkeys having just discovered fire at the time. But he had let it fester and grow as he dealt with bigger problems and know it seemed like it was coming back to haunt him. It produced warriors of the like of Rider and of the mysterious superman that his spies tell him such of. It needed to be dealt with soon enough before the problem escalated beyond what it already was.

"Has Gamora returned from her venture?" Thanos asked eyes still not leaving the horizon as the army drew closer still.

Nebula nodded though her eyes tightened at the mention of her ‘sister’. "She returned just before the squabble started to advance on us. Her mission was a success. One of their leaders lay dead from poison and untrust now brews among their ranks."

"Good. I want you to go help her prep the ships to leave once I’m finished with this squabble. She’s been distant as of late, and I would like to prevent any.....unfortunate circumstances from arising." Thanos spoke though his voice was noticeably colder at the end. unfortunate circumstances usually meant executions for those that had failed him.

"How long?" Nebula asked though she already knew the answer in her mind. 

"Soon enough. I tire of this world."

And with that Thanos pressed down against the parapet with his forearms as his legs tensed. Then with a sudden burst of energy he flew upwards into the sky propelling himself into the air. He came to the ground seconds later landing amongst his own troops taking a hundred foot fall like it was nothing, the ground quaking underneath his heavy feet. 

Upon his landing his own army amassing outside the walls grew silent. The idle chatter of preparations and voices died down as all fell to attention almost immediately. All eyes turned to watch Thanos who towered over them all progress from the back to the front, cutting a path down the center like Moses parting the Red Sea. It was a strange sight seeing a mass of vagabonds, killers for hire and criminals - some of the worst in the galaxy for that matter all silenced with something of an aura of respect. To them Thanos was their savior, he had liberated them from their prisoners and daily lives, he was the one that promised a new order in which the strong would dominate over the weak,  and he was the force of vengeance that brought death upon all those that ran against them. To walk with Thanos was to walk on the side of victory. 

As he approached the front of his army he turned around to speak to them. His voiced boomed across the open air filling it with the sounds of conviction. The words were simple but simple was all he needed.

[h3]"V I C T O R Y  O R  D E A T H !"[/H3] 

And as he let his voice rang out the words seemed to hang in the air for a moment before silence enveloped the armies. Then one of the criminals in the front with a scarred head and a bulging right eye started to chant the words back. Victory or death, victory or death. The men next to him began chanting it and soon it spread across his entire army thousands voices chanting back in him in unison. It almost made him smile.

Turning around he march his army forward towards the enemy chanting all the way and soon the two armies met each other in the middle of the great rocky plain outside of the city. They halted some two hundred feet from one another and Thanos held his hand high as he observed the enemy force. Thier eyes were filled with conviction but their hands trembled in fear. Thanos smiled. In a slow movement he brought his hand down as he charged the enemy line.

[h3]"A D V A N C E !"[/h3]