After speaking, Thanos hung up the call and dropped his pen, quickly changed his clothes, called a dedicated transport from the Interstellar Security Committee, and arrived at the nearest portal of the Shi'ar Empire. He then jumped through the portal to reach the outpost where the incident took place.
Throughout this journey, Thanos was conversing with various people. He first chatted with the transport diver about the sudden situation that just occurred, then he confirmed patrol details with the portal guard. Upon landing, he exchanged pleasantries with the outpost's commanding officer. Before attending the combat meeting, Thanos took a quick bathroom break, finally providing Death with an opportunity to speak.
"Er, may I ask what you're doing?"
"I'm guarding interstellar safety, ma'am. This is a men's restroom, could you please step out?"
"I am not...oh God, don't undress. I'll come back later."
Thanos walked out of the restroom and returned to the meeting room to find it already well-occupied. He walked up to a Skrull official and shook hands with him, saying, "I am glad to see you again, General Aze, how's the Interstellar Alliance Defense Fleet treating you?"
"Thanks to you, it's not bad, much better than having to fight everyone we encountered before...Oh, representatives from the Shi'ar Empire have arrived, along with the Nova Corps and those space pirates."
Thanos frowned at the mention of 'space pirates.' However, as he looked, he discovered three people he somewhat recognized.
The leader, in a cape and armor, with a red star at the center of his helmet, stepped forward, shook hands with Thanos and said, "Hello, I'm the centurion from the Nova Corps, you can call me Nova."
"Hello, big guy, Peter Quill from the Guardians of the Galaxy, and this is Rocket Raccoon. We met at the wedding of the King of Asgard." Quill, dressed in his newly tailored Guardians of the Galaxy uniform, walked up and shook hands with Thanos.
Thanos then turned to another youth. He was wearing a red uniform with a triangular logo on his chest, appearing broader than his two companions.
"Dou Jian, captain of the Shi'ar Empire's Royal Guard," Dou Jian introduced succinctly.
"Have a seat. Let's talk about this incident. It's Galactus again, a real nuisance, right?" Thanos extended his hand, inviting the three figures to sit. The high-ranking officer known as Aze, sitting at the head of the table, nodded at his companions.
"We must thank the Interstellar Security Alliance System we established. The Carl Star on the edge of Ring Region reported their losses in a very timely manner. They sent us a warning signal the moment they spotted the silhouette of the Star-swallower Envoy, the Silver Surfer, which gave the Nova Corps time to divert Galactus from his course and prevent him from directly barreling into the core area of the Ring Region."
Nova stood and acknowledged the crowd before turning to Quill, saying, "We should thank our good partners, the Guardians of the Galaxy. They're a disciplined spearhead team that perfectly attracted the attention of Galactus."
"At the same time, I must say, the Ravager Team—these space pirates—have found for themselves a somewhat less vile occupation. Without them cleaning up the battlefield, Carl Star would've been buried under two planets' worth of space debris."
Dou Jian raised his hand to indicate he had something to say and spoke, "Her Majesty the Queen sends her greetings to everyone. She expresses the highest recognition for the quick response and good handling of this unexpected incident. However, if we are to talk about the recent establishment of the Interstellar Security Alliance System, we must begin from the start of the thousand-year friendship between the Shi'ar Empire and the Skrull Empire…"
Death gasped.
Twenty minutes had passed, and Dou Jian had finally finished reciting his speech. Aze, the senior officer of the Skrull Empire, stood up and gently applauded. Soon, everyone else followed suit with a round of applause. Aze cleared his throat and said, "Indeed, the stability of our interstellar security situation is all thanks to the enduring friendship between the Three Great Empires. It reminds me that at the inception of the Skrull Empire, we upheld the grand ideal of interstellar unity. Our Skrull forebear, Bradick, once said..."
Death rubbed her forehead in exasperation.
Another half-hour later, Aze had also finished his speech. As a result, Thanos stood up. Death was thinking that Thanos was the last to find out about this matter, so he probably hadn't had time to write a speech. However, the first sentence from Thanos made everything go dark for her - Thanos began his narrative from the Big Bang.
Over the ensuing four hours, Death experienced the essence of intelligent life hosting a meeting. After finally enduring a series of useless rhetoric about reviewing the past, encouraging the present and looking to the future, and hearing everyone's views on this accident and the response measures, Thanos finally stood up from his chair, ready to leave.
Startled, Death also stood up from her chair, following behind Thanos. She said, "Thanos, I came to see you for a serious matter..."
"Oh, my God, isn't this Thanos? How have you been? Haven't forgotten about your old friend, have you?"
A burly man with blue skin quickly walked up to Thanos. He grabbed Thanos' hand and shook it vigorously. Thanos pulled his hand back, adjusted his glasses, and looked at the man in front of him and asked, "Yondu, how did you manage to infiltrate inside an outpost? How could Aze permit a damn space pirate like you to get in?"
"Don't speak so harshly." Yondu leaned back with a dramatic pose, "I am now a mercenary for the Interstellar Security Committee, responsible for cleaning up battlefields. After all, who could do a better job than the Ravager Team in quickly plundering and evacuating securely?"
"I heard you quickly cleared the wreckage left by Galactus' consumed planet, saving Carl Star?"
"Ah, I thought you were going to say something important. I dispatched the Ravager Ship, along with a fleet of engineering and gravity tow ships, which cleaned that area spotlessly in ten minutes. Not even dust was left behind, everything was fed to the ore dogs. Like I said, when it comes to clean sweeps, we are professionals."
Thanos snorted coldly and shook his head, "True, it was a clever use of waste. But I must say, this time you guys did a pretty good job."
Immediately, Yondu moved closer to Thanos, put his arm around Thanos' shoulder, and said, "It's not easy to receive a word of approval from a lifetime advisor. The Emperor of Carl Star is hosting a victory feast, care for a drink?"
"I don't have time, there's a goddess looking for me…"
"Goddess? What goddess? You, a lifetime advisor who gets paid by the Three Great Empires, won't lack women, right? I heard there will be a troupe of dancers at the victory banquet. You can choose any you want."
Death glared at Yondu, her face seemed as if she was ready to drag this blue-skinned pirate to the Realm of Death the very next second, but Thanos paused for a moment and then stepped forward, saying,
"Right, it wouldn't be very gracious to ignore the Emperor of Carl Star, would it? But I've been quite busy recently so I'll leave right after the banquet."
"That's more like it. But are you sure you won't stay a little longer? How busy can you be?"
Thanos looked back at the Death invisible to Yondu and said significantly, "Can't afford to die."