Chapter One: Treachery Ends Things

Disclaimer:

Greetings (hopefully kind) readers. This is my first attempt at publically submitted fan fiction. It is written as a form of therapy against my depression and to keep my brain somewhat active. It is not written to replace the originals of these works, to make financial profit or to do anything criminal.

Another thing. This is fan fiction. This means I can take the base idea in a creation and play with it. I am doing so with the X Men. The rating is a matter of safety as I truly do not know where the long term plot will end up.

Reviews. I would like them, but only if they are supportive. Supportive does not mean gushing with praise (although I would love them ). Polite assistance in guiding me to better do this is eagerly desired.

Finally. I have no beta. The chapters with this paragraph in it have not been betaed. I would like to correct that. As things stand, uploads will vary in time depending on writing and betaing. Chapters will be of varying length, written to story, rather than set number of pages or words.

To recap, my work, no money, need beta, hope you enjoy, please give helpful reviews.

Thanks all

Main title: I Never Expected This

Chapter One: Treachery Ends Things

Charles Churchill frowned. There was no reason the alarm should be sounding. None. He was alone on the craft.

Wasn't he?

Then his memories caught up with his awareness.

No further words were used. He grabbed a smoking jacket, threw it over his pajamas and dashed for the control chamber.

What he saw there turned his frown into a look of deep disgust. It was Sarah attempting to override the navigation controls. It worried her that she was doing so a good job of it.

Churchill slapped his hand on her rear. Hard. He then took his usual chair. "And just what in the Fate's name do you think you are doing?"?

"What's it look like?" She snapped back, her face flushed with rage. She slammed the hatch back and sat down to start inputting.

"It looks like treachery. The woman that I thought loved me is trying to control of my life's work."

She sneered. Then she answered in a tone hardly warmer than the bleak space outside the ship. "Love? You? The weirdest, ugliest geek ever to live? The guy whose ideas of normality run counter to everything, ever? I love you? HA!" She continued her programing.

Churchill matched and cancelled it with one hand. He kept his tone level and calm. "Very well. You do not love me. So be it. Why then did you volunteer for this trip?"

"Volunteer for this trip? God knows how long in deep space with a liberal lunatic mad scientist? Hell no! I was ordered. Now stop resisting me. It's time to go home and submit to your superiors." She upped her efforts to get the ship to follow her commands.

"Oh, really? And whom claims to be my superior?"

"Anybody is. But I've with the National Intelligence Directorate. The NID." Now she was using both hands, concentrating primarily on her task.0

"The NID honestly expects me to hand over control of this ship to them? Not even rocks can be that stupid. They have no grasp of the responsibility to the world that such knowledge brings." He too was now using both hands to counter her. Actually he was prepping more defenses against her intrusion.

Then they both saw the screens for the engines pop up. In the distance they could be heard revving up.

"Give up." She smirked evilly. "You taught me everything."

Churchill finished a long keystroke series. He leaned back and shook his head sadly. "Not everything. You proved yourself too dense for that. I kept you on because I thought I loved you. Apparently that was just being blinded by lust. Besides, you do not know it, but you have failed. You may have trapped us here for five years at least."

She actually stopped. Sarah had many bad thoughts about the madman in the center chair, but then one thing she could not say about him concerned pronouncements like these. He had never, not once, been wrong about them.

"Explain." Her tone held all the anger she would feel if she did fail in her mission. She doubted both would leave the bridge alive if that turned out to be the case.

Churchill then spoke in a level tone. The tone he used when trying not to show some emotion about a situation. "I have activated the Orphan Protocol."

"I don't remember that one."

"That is because you might say it is among the last choices makeable. Situations worse than this involve activating the self-destruct mechanism. It is for when the ship is compromised, but death is not the only answer. Should you push the button, the dispersion drives will operate."

"Good."

"They will not take us to your destination, however. The universal limiter is off. That means effectively that the one place you want to go will is the exact place we can never be. Plus the genetic safety is also engaged."

Sarah glared. He look should have vaporized Charles and pretty much everything behind him. Possibly including the small planetoid on the screen. "How dare you?"

"How dare I do what? The right thing?"

"No! The wrong thing. You are refusing to put our country as the unquestioned power on Earth. That is treasonous."

Churchill lounged back a little in the chair. He was not going to press another button. He knew did not need too. "Unquestioned? Or unquestionable? Such a mentality with that much power would be the true crime. Like giving the typical three year old and explosive chemistry set and then leaving the house for the weekend. If you are even the slightest hint of the mentality of the American government, then they are possibly the last group that should get this power."

"Well, I have an order from Homeland Security that says otherwise."

"Your choice then." He turned his chair to face the screen and looked out at the view.

Sarah snapped. "You're bluffing. Even you're not nuts enough to do something to stop you from returning home." She slammed her finger on the button.

The engines spooled up. A field surrounded the ship. Reality started to blur, just a bit.

All this Sarah expected to happen. She started to turn to snark smugly at her rejected superior.

That's when things stopped going as she thought they should. She saw herself start to fade. Her last coherent sight was Churchill waving goodbye sadly.

Then Churchill was alone.

The ship lurched.

And now the planetoid was alone.