She looked at Quill through the viewport.
Quill looked back at her.
Her eyes were blue, but not the ordinary kind of blue.
They were blue like burning gas, blue like a Stellar Core, blue like the Infinity Stones.
There was no hostility in those eyes, no kindness—only an overwhelming, unshakable certainty.
As if she knew who she was, knew what she had to do, and knew that nothing could stop her.
"Who are you?" Quill shouted at the viewport, but his voice was blocked by the glass and never reached her.
Yet that being seemed to hear him.
Not through sound, but through some more direct, more fundamental means.
Her lips moved. There was no sound, but Quill read the word.
"Carol!"
The newcomer was none other than Captain Marvel.
Carol Danvers extended a hand and touched the Benatar's hull.
She did not knock or strike it; she simply pressed her palm against the metal shell.
Golden light poured from her palm and spread across the ship's surface, flowing like spilled mercury until it covered the entire hull.
That light seeped through the metal, through the circuits, through every damaged component and every severed cable.
The ship's lights came on.
Not the flickering, malfunctioning kind that could die at any moment, but a steady glow brimming with energy.
Every warning light on the console went out at once, replaced by green indicators showing normal operation.
A deep rumble came from the engine room—the sound of the engines restarting.
It was the sound of the energy core reigniting, the sound of life returning to this dying ship.
Quill stood before the console, mouth hanging open as he watched the screens light up again.
The energy reading jumped from three percent to ninety-seven percent—not slowly or gradually, but in an instant,