The Brotherhood is in way over their heads when their small bodyguard job ends up taking them across the galaxy and into a galactic civil war. Between saving their charge, battling alien races, and teaming up with the renowned space pirate the Starjammers, what could possibly go right. A sub-story to Lust and Love.
A/N: Okay so I've tried writing this thing a hundred times… This is a Sub-Story that follows along with Lust and Love during a chapter split. This can also be read separate, but certain characters mentioned will have better introductions in LL.
Kiss Our Stars Good-Bye
Chapter 1
This Was A Stupid Idea
Lance took deep breath as he focused on a particular spot on the nearly translucent ceiling. He'd tried focusing on less movable and reminding objects like his chair… but that hadn't worked very well. Instead the zooming stars were the most calming…. But it made his flight nausea more unavoidable. It took him less than a second to reach the bathroom and he heard the sighs from more than one of the people aboard this particular flight craft.
"Lance, why don't you just stay in there," said Tabitha, her nerves and excitement still in a tango in her voice.
"He's going to need to suck it up," said Wanda, though she held a look of apprehension on her face.
"That's mean," said Fred, "Lance can't control it."
"Maybe it's like an earth mutant thing, yo," said Todd, also with a since of nerves to his voice, "He needs to be grounded."
"Makes sense… Amara can't handle being off regular earth land for more than six hours," said Tabitha, "Besides, Wanda is right… we took a job, and Lance is going to be useless if he's sick."
"He could puke on our enemies, it might deter them," said Pietro, his calmness was starting to get on the groups nerves however, "Besides, this job is like once in a lifetime."
"We're going on a space laden rescue mission to save a kidnapped princess, THIS IS NOT A VACATION, PIETRO!" yelled Lance and then a moment later he returned to the bathroom.
"Why are you so worried, I mean we've handled strange battles before," said Pietro.
"This isn't the X-men brother, nor are these mutants…. We barely know what we are up against and now we… us… just us are traveling across the galaxy to go on a rescue mission… we failed at body guards... that's how we got into this mess," said Wanda with a glare towards her brother, "If memory serves me right, you're the one who got her kidnapped."
"Memories aren't everything," said Pietro as he turned to glare out the window.
"All you had to do was keep her safe for twenty minutes, instead you had to get Chinese," said Tabitha, "And you didn't even get it for all of us."
"I was hungry… and traumatized by aliens ruining the concert we went too," said Pietro, "I needed something… and she wanted dumplings so it wasn't all my fault…. Like I knew I'd walk into an ambush just as the hunter alien … Brood… thing showed up…. She was the telepath, not me."
"She's not really a telepath… not really… she kinda is only in the moment, yo," said Todd after a few moments of silence.
"This is your entire fault by the way," said Pietro with a side glance at Todd.
"Excuse me?" asked Todd, "I didn't get Chinese food…"
"No, you just got us associated with aliens," said Lance as he fell back into his chair, "We only had to deal with stupid earth issues before this."
"Yeah, you had to go and get involved with aliens… and then got us involved," said Pietro, "We were perfectly happy only having sometimes squabbles with the X-men."
"You are the one dating an alien," said Tabitha with a shrug.
"I didn't know she was part alien, yo…. SHE didn't even know she was an alien…. And she sure as hell didn't know her cousin was an alien princess that people were trying to kill…. Her cousin didn't even know…. None of us knew until a few days ago…. WE ALL found out the same way and time," said Todd defensively, "Besides, we would have gone to the Zodiac concert even if I wasn't dating Candy…. And we would have ended up in the same situation."
"Who says?" asked Pietro, "We might not have gotten involved."
"We would have," said Fred calmly.
"We might not have taken the job," said Lance.
"Yeah we would have," said Fred.
"Not necessarily, I mean we partly took it in obligation to Toddles," said Tabitha.
"We just tell ourselves that," said Fred, "We would have gone to the concert. The alien would have crashed it. We would have helped out and stopped the chaos, probably by accident and self-preservation. Then Nature would have hired us because we helped, Zodiac would have still found out. Pietro would have still gotten Chinese and in the end we would be here right now…. The only thing this gave us was a more personal connection."
"….."
"I hate it when Fred's right," scoffed Pietro, Lance ran back to the bathroom, "This was a stupid idea…. This way or in whatever alternate universe it happens…"
"Yeah well it's our luck we finally go out and do normal things like go to a concert," said Lance returning, "And then the singer turns out to be an alien who's being hunted and we end up being her bodyguards and going on a space adventure…. I'm sure the X-men never have these problems."
"Next time they complain about having to deal with us…. That's it I'm getting souvenirs," said Tabitha.
"What did you tell Kitty?" asked Wanda.
"That I had a job to do and that I wouldn't be in the country for a little while," said Lance, he sighed, "She's confused and annoyed."
This was the current situation the Brotherhood of Mutants was currently in. It had all started a few days ago… well actually more like almost a year ago. Todd had met a girl, a nice girl, his current girlfriend to be precise. Todd and herself had thought she was just a typical human girl but as of the past few days, it turned out that had all been a lie by her family. The situation was still a little foggy but it had been supposed to be for protection. Todd rolled his eyes, it had seemed to cause more issue than what was worth. That part had only just happened a few days back at her cousin's concert. The Brotherhood had ended up going to the sold out Zodiac concert because Todd's girlfriend, Candy, was her cousin. The concert had been great save for the giant alien creature that had ended up attacking the performer causing the Brotherhood and company to go into defensive tactics, mostly because Candy's sister and Zodiac's manager, Nature had hired them in case something had gone down. It had been Candy's aunt and a few good hits from Fred that had ended the creature. Then when they were all dealing with what had happed, Pietro had failed the twenty minutes of solo watching Zodiac while everyone else gathered their thoughts.
That in short was the Brotherhood of Mutant's current problem and situation. On a space ship, crossing the galaxy, facing unknown adversaries, and all with the hopes of rescuing Zodiac and getting home without being killed in space… Todd was just thankful that his teammates had agreed to this. Unlike him, they didn't really know Zodiac other than her being a singer and being related to his girlfriend and one dinner. They could have said no, but they hadn't. He sighed, Zodiac was also his friend and he felt guilty about her getting kidnapped, Pietro's watch or not.
"Thanks for doing this guys," said Todd after the quiet moments that followed.
"Yeah… well, when we get back you're buying dinner," said Tabitha with a smirk.
"For a week," Wanda smirked, which faded fast as the ship jetted forward, "What was that?"
"Turbulence, don't worry," said an auburn haired women coming out of the cockpit.
She looked just as pail as Lance did, but her hazel eyes were blotched with red. She had apparently tried to fix her makeup but it was still apparent she had been crying, but was keeping on a good face. Nature was Candy's older sister and Zodiac's business manager; she was also her best friend. Todd didn't know if the tears were still from Zodiac being mad at her for not telling her the truth or if it was because she had been kidnapped. Todd was certain it was both if not still from the horrible fight they'd had beforehand. Though Todd knew her pail face had nothing to do with crying, if anything her face should have been pink.
"You don't look too hot," said Todd with a grimace.
"I don't do well off land," she gave a weary smile, "And I'm not too sure about the coordinates."
"Are you serious?" asked Tabitha, "You're the guide for us, we've never been up here."
"Okay, let me just say this once. I am a music manager, a business woman, and I happen to have an interesting heritage. I have never been in space, at least that I remember, I just learned yesterday how to fly this thing... and OUR only guide hasn't been up in space for a decade," said Nature as she sat next to Todd.
"So we really are going into this thing blindly," said Wanda, "We should have packed more."
"I shouldn't have told Kitty that I'd see her in a couple of weeks," said Lance with a cringe, who a few seconds later excused himself by running back to the bathroom.
"Okay, I have it on auto-pilot," said the tall brunette man coming from the cockpit, he held a strong jawline set in a stern manor but his eyes looked similar to Nature's with the red color fighting the normal white.
"Mika, I can't believe you were the only one who could fly this thing," said Nature with an exasperated sigh.
"Even if I couldn't I wasn't going to sit idly by why my little sister is being held captive by a Tricidian," he look repulsed.
"Okay so that thing at the concert was a Tri-what?" asked Pietro, with a raised brow.
"No, I don't know what species that was…. That was a hired hunter by Tricidia. They are a horrible species. They've been at war with Animite for ages. They are violent, disgusting, and despicable shape shifters," said Mika as he grabbed a bottle of water from what they now saw was a small fridge instead of a security box they'd first thought.
"I think Mystique might fit in," whispered Tabitha, Pietro smirked, "Refresh us, what exactly are we up against… in detail."
"Yeah, not just the skimmed over version that was told by Tigeria," said Todd, looking at the two in front of them, "I think we need to know everything, yo."
"Agreed," said Lance coming back into the room.
"Okay, a history of Animite," said Mika, "Allow me to begin with what I know. Animite is a peaceful planet that trades with other planets in jewels, minerals, and wines. It's a very lucrative planet and Tricidia's own goods trade dwindled out decades ago and they tried to marry in to Animite for a good and peace treaty but that fell through when their ruler tried to assassinate the Queen. Thus began a type galactic civil war between different parts of each planet and the planets themselves. Recently though Animite has gained more influences over some of the other trade planets and more backing. As well as the civil war on the planet itself has ended."
"Which leads to why Tricidia has kidnapped Zodiac," said Nature taking over, "Animite is a Matriarch and she is supposed to be Queen eventually. They figured that using her as a bargaining tool would aid in winning back the trade… Which proves they are getting desperate and unpredictable…. Tricidians are ruthless and dangerous."
"I'm really fighting up making jokes about Mystique and Magneto this entire time," whispered Tabitha, Pietro snickered.
"Got it, but is there anything else we should be worried about?" asked Wanda.
"Because alien shape shifters, civil wars, and violence are not enough?" asked Fred, taking a deep breath.
"We need to be prepared," said Pietro, "Although all we have to do is get on the planet, I can zip through the guards, grab her and get out. Cake walk."
"That confidence is going to be our downfall," sighed Lance, the ship suddenly shook violently and a screeching sound and flashing lights began, "WHAT THE HELL!"
"Turbulence?" asked Nature hopefully.
"That wasn't turbulence," said Mika as he ran to the cockpit, the group followed him to show a large and long silver ship that held four elongated fins off the back end, "Pirates."
TO BE CONTINUED