Bend Around the Wind by Scyllaya

Chapter 28: Infiltrate

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Infiltrate

Andromeda Galaxy

Bek System

Planet Yirb

As straightforward as the plan was, Loki had quite a lot of misgivings concerning it. Planet Yirb, and the Yirbeks who inhabited it, were loyal servants of the Skrull Empire. Juyu's information about the planet was not too bad, but it could have been better. Yirb was not a major base of operations, so they could not expect too many Skrull soldiers if any at all, which was to their advantage. It was said that the Yirbeks themselves sent out probes towards the Silver Galaxy, so there was a chance that they would be able to get the much needed maps from them, they would not have to search for any Skrulls then. Juyu and Bee helped themselves to the clothes found in the cargo, after that they looked a lot more like soldiers or spies than slaves. Bee even shifted her hair short without anyone having to ask her. It was another proof that she paid a lot of attention to what was going on around her. Maybe it would have been better to leave her on the ship, but Stark and Loki agreed that it was not a good idea. It was better to have her in their sight.

There were problems of course. The biggest was that Yirb's gravitation was 150% of Midgard's. Stark had to carry a considerable weight now that he had his armour finished to begin with, the gravitational pull made it a lot worse. Considering Stark's weight, the armour and the extra gravitation... he must've felt like he was almost three hundred pounds heavy. First Stark said he would be fine, but in the end Loki stared at him angrily until he caved and activated his armour and let the machine carry the weight for him. Juyu informed him that they had their ways to adjust to such circumstances. Loki assumed they shifted something inside of their bodies, but he did not ask. They could walk without a problem, only that mattered. Loki himself was not bothered by the extra weight at all, it took him a little time to get used to it, but it did not tire him out. Stark seemed to be envious of that. The atmosphere was suitable at least, so Stark did not have to put his helmet on as well.

Now Yirbeks were also obsessively hateful towards any race that was not their masters the Skrulls. This also meant that Stark and Loki would have to stay in the background and let Juyu play leader. The girl shifted before they landed. She remained in her Skrull form, but made herself even taller and broader and slightly older looking. This way the clothes she picked fitted her perfectly. The Yirbeks could not see through shape shifting, so if they did not do anything to indicate otherwise, they would most likely assume that Loki and Stark were Skrulls as well, only in a different form. They had a suitable explanation in case they realized this was not the case.

Having non-Skrull clothes and weapons was also easy to explain, since the Skrulls were indeed remarkable spies and did venture outside of the Empire in disguise quite a lot. Again, most likely there would be no questions asked. The Yirbeks would do what they are told, Juyu assured them. She heard plenty of stories about the loyal brutes of the Skrulls. Besides, Loki thought of plenty of plans in case something did not play out as expected. He would have been a fool to land on a planet unprepared, led by two Skrulls like this. He was still slightly surprised when Stark sat up in his bed the previous night and asked Loki what their fail-safe plans were. Loki smiled and asked him if he did not trust the girls. The human's only reply was that not as much as he trusted Loki. Satisfaction coiled warmly in him whenever Stark said something like that. So Loki told him some of the possibilities they had in case something went wrong. They were prepared.

Once day landed, this time in an aerodrome and not outside of the city, they let Juyu talk to the Yirbek who came to greet them. Loki was standing by the Drake with Stark and Bee, but he still tried to listen to the conversation. When Juyu was back she motioned them to step back inside the shuttle.