Upper Levels of the Shi'ar Space Station, Thirty Minutes Later

"Bishop, are you sure this is where Deathbird's subordinate would be?" Xander asked as he made his way through the mess of debris and scattered bodies.

It had taken awhile for him to calm his stomach after he had seen his first dead Shi'ar body but he was fairly certain that he wouldn't wind up tossing his cookies. However that could change at anytime since most of the carnage he had seen consisted of someone's bloody arm or leg sticking out from beneath some rubble. Still he knew that if or rather when he saw a whole body in all its gory detail he was going to have some time keeping his insides settled. He was determined though to find this second in command of the bird lady's one way or another because when she got better she'd likely skin him alive if he turned tail and ran like a coward. Not that he knew anything about her aside from the brief description he had been given when she had been rushed to the med-bay of the ship but even that was enough to tell him she had a short fuse. So here he was trying to track down one person amidst all this debris and seriously bloody corpses with no clue as to what the subordinate of the empress' sister would look like. He sure hoped that the ol' Harris luck wouldn't come into play because his situation was complex enough as it was without lady luck messing things up further.

"Definitely. Beast was able to find some schematics for this sort of space station from the ship's data banks. If someone did want to attack this place and kill everyone inside the secondary docking port would definitely be a primary target of the attackers." , Bishop replied in typical military fashion before asking, "Are you sure you don't want some back up?"

"I'll be alright. Besides Hank needs to stay on the ship to monitor Deathbird's condition and you know how to work all the ship's fancy doo-dads better than I could ever hope to so I'm the logical choice to search this place." , Xander said as he panned over the are in front of him with the light attached to his laser rifle, "Besides it was pretty clear that the bird lady wanted me to be the one to find her second in command so no sense ruffling her feathers any more than we have to by going against her wishes."

"I guess so. Just keep the com-link open and report on anything unusual." , said Bishop with a no nonsense tone, "We still don't have any idea who we're dealing with here and you don't exactly have any experience in this sort of thing."

"Bishop I'm in the middle of an alien galaxy with a bunch of mutant superheroes trying to stop an invasion by unknown aliens capable of turning something the size of a large city into scrap metal with technology I only have a loose understanding of. This whole thing is unusual for me!" , Xander replied sarcastically, "Besides I might not have experience with aliens but I have plenty of experience with things that look at me like I look at a box of twinkies. Besides, if something does attack me I doubt you'd be able to get here in time to do anything about it. Still if it'll make you happy I will keep the line open just in case. I'll probably need it to talk to Hank if I find this subordinate anyway since I know jack about fixing injured bird ladies."

"Indeed. The main site of the battle should be only a few more meters ahead of you so keep your eyes peeled." Bishop ordered in a way that was beginning to grate on Xander's nerves.

It wasn't until the Zeppo made it over the hill of debris ahead of him that he realized that he should never doubt Chess dude when he says something. Laid out in front of him was a sea of carnage that almost made him hurl right then and there. An assortment of body parts littered the area like trash in a park and the blood on the ground looked like it had come from sprinklers in the ceiling. Whoever had done this had done so with the intent of leaving a gruesome scene for any rescuers or survivors he was sure of that. There was no efficiency here, no precision hits, just mindless bloodshed and brutality. It did not bode well for Deathbird's subordinate for even if she survived this massacre she would likely be in pretty bad shape. Tracking his light over the scene before him and examining every inch for signs of life he made sure that nothing escaped his notice. It was times like this that the military training he had inherited from the Halloween incident would come in handy. That would be because part of the training he could recall was search and rescue of downed pilots and missing units. True nothing in the training said anything about what to do when on an alien space station but he'd like to think that improvisation was one of his strong suits. It took him almost three quarters of an hour to look over all the piles of twisted metal and lifeless corpses but when he was done he was certain that anyone who was visible to the naked eye was dead. That left him looking at square one again with little else he could do with the tools he had used thus far along with the training he possessed. There was one more option he had yet to use but he shuddered at the idea of using it.

C'mon! Chances are any bodies that are under there are long since dead and have lost any trace of body heat they had before! , Xander thought to himself as he closed his eyes and attempted to calm his nerves, Just tap into Kung Lung's power a little bit and look for body heat in the shape of a person. If the subordinate is still alive it should be a piece of cake to find her and then all you have to do is get this junk off of her without killing her. Yeah, easy as pie!

Closing his eyes so he wouldn't be disoriented by the sudden change in his visual spectrum he tapped into the ebony power inside of him and willed his eyes to be able to see the heat given off by other living things. He knew it could be done since he did something similar when tracking that woman who worked for Osborn back on Earth. This would be a piece of cake by comparison since this woman or man depending on what the case might be wouldn't be running away from him or moving at all. So with a deep breath he opened his eyes and a rainbow of colors filled his field of vision. He supposed that along with the body heat he was looking for he was also seeing dissipating heat fading away from places where explosions happened or weapons were fired. They were fairly dull though so a Shi'ar warrior would easily stand out from the crowd of heat signatures he saw before him. True to form his prediction was right as it took him less than a minute to find a humanoid and definitely female heat source beneath the rubble. The woman was fairly deep in but from what Xander could tell the debris on top of her should be easy enough to take off without fear of dropping something on the injured woman's head. Shutting down his heat sensitive eyes he immediately summoned his armor and for a moment was afraid that there might not be air for him to breath. After all given the damage this place had sustained it was not foolish to believe that the life support system might have failed or that a hole on the station had sucked out all the air. His fears were dispelled though when he took his first breath and found that there was indeed air for him to breath.

It had been a concern of him when he had originally gotten prepared to leave the ship but Hank had explained that the suit generated a weak force field around the users body that kept the oxygen it produced from leaking out. It made sense when Bishop informed him that these suits were used by asteroid miners for ore extraction since those big hunks of rock would have very little if any atmosphere of its own. The suit would pump air up through the collars on the suits and the weak force field would make sure that the air would go where it was needed. Apparently though this space station still retained enough air for him to live off of while he had his armor on otherwise he would have to conclude that Dr. Strange had anticipated this and put some spell on this outfit to make air for him. In either case he would still have to move quickly if he was going to save this female Shi'ar warrior before she died from her wounds. Extending the claws from the tips of his fingers and thumbs he dug them into the first piece of metal and then used some of Kung Lungs power to enhance his strength. The claws would allow him to maintain a grip on the metal while the strength would let him lift the debris and toss it aside.

It took him a total of thirty minutes to carefully remove each piece of debris until his target became fully visible but when he saw her he banished his suit to where ever it was kept when he wasn't using it. Whatever this woman had been through he doubted seeing an armored figure with claws and glowing yellow eyes would put her at ease in his presence. In his experience rescuees tended to be calmer around the rescuers when they showed a familiar or friendly face and while he doubted an earthling was familiar to this lady he hoped it would help if only a little. She didn't seem to be conscious from what he could tell but given how deeply she was buried and the unknown amount of time she might have been trapped she was likely quite weak. He decided it would be better if he got some instructions from Hank on how to move her since he was 'knowledge guy' for their team.

"Hank? I found the subordinate. She looks alright since I can't see any serious cracks in her armor or anything but she isn't conscious either." , Xander said after making sure that his com-link was on, "Any ideas on how to move her safely back to the ship? I really don't want to make her condition any worse since if I do Deathbird will likely make my condition terminally worse."

All he got back though was static and to his naturally paranoid and Sunnydale trained mind that meant trouble with a capital T. It meant one of two things had happened since the last communiqué. First it might mean that some metal or energy from the damaged station was interfering with the signals his suit was sending out. If that was the case all he would have to do would be to walk back to where the signal had gotten through and try again. The second possibility was the more likely one that whoever had done this was still around and was jamming his communications in preparation for an ambush. If that was the case then he was going to have a devil of a time getting the female subordinate back to the ship in one piece.

No sense letting this get to me or I'll just screw it up in the end! Xander thought to himself as he shouldered his rifle and lifted the woman up with both arms.

Once he was sure she was secure and wouldn't fall out of his arms he pulled his two pistols from their holsters below his armpits before returning the arms to their support positions. At least this way he would be able to defend the two of them if it came down to a fight even though holding the warrior woman limited the range of firing he could use. He took off back down the path he had used to get here at a brisk enough pace that they would get back to the ship soon but slow enough so that he would not jostle and worsen any wounds the subordinate had. With luck he would be able to escape their jamming field in time to call in some reinforcements.

This went on for about ten minutes before he first sensed that he was no longer alone in these misshapen caverns of debris and junk metal. He couldn't pin it down to a specific sense or anything that let him know something was amiss but he was a strong enough feeling that he could not ignore it. Deciding to risk a quick look around he tried to see if there was anything out of place or any direction he could look in that caused the feeling to intensify. At first he could not see anything other than what he had noticed his first time through here but then he saw what he was looking for. In one of the darker shadows he could see four sea blue electric eyes looking in his direction but he did not let his eyes linger on them so as not to let his viewer know he/she/it had been spotted. Letting his eyes look over the area a little more he did not fail to keep his other less visible senses trained on his watcher's position. He couldn't see anything definite about his stalker's size or shape but if the head was anything to go by then he was fairly large. That only left the question of why the guy hadn't informed his comrades and set up an ambush already. He doubted this guy was all by his lonesome on this station and where there was one there was likely an entire team nearby. He supposed that this person might be getting his measure before radioing it into to the others but if that was the case he couldn't let that signal get sent. Making it look like he was proceeding on his way Xander carefully disengaged the safety on the pistols and began to thumb the power setting to its highest setting. Hopefully that would be enough to pierce whatever shielding or armor his pursuer might be wearing.

Wait … wait … wait … NOW! Xander thought before spinning on one heel and firing three shots from each blaster pistol at his hidden stalker.

An almost electronic gurgle was heard from the shadow in which he had fired before a figure that looked like he was composed of copper wiring and kinda solid oil like skin fell to the ground. From what he could tell two of his shots had succeeded in hitting the thing in the head while the remaining four shots landed in the upper chest area. He was pretty lucky given his experience with alien weaponry and what little he had to aim for in the first place. Still he couldn't linger because if this guy was due to check in at some sort of appointed time it wouldn't take a genius to figure that they'd send a search party to find out what happened to him. That being the case it would probably be a good thing if he moved elsewhere before they arrived. After giving the dead alien's body one more look he continued on his way back to the ship hoping that he wasn't heading in the direction this guy's friends would be coming in. After all there was no way he wanted to look like Han Solo in the first Star Wars movie and run into a room filled with enemy soldiers. That might have been funny seeing it happen in the movie but he doubted he would find it one bit funny if it happened to him here in real life.

Fortunately though nothing happened to him and he made it to the entrance ramp of the ship without encountering anyone else along the way. Walking up the ramp he saw that Bishop was apparently getting ready to head out, most likely to look for him after the com-link was jammed, but soon the sounds of his approach caused the X-man to look up.

"Xander? Are you okay? We lost contact with you about fifty minutes ago." Bishop asked with some concern while keeping one of his hands slightly behind his back.

Xander recognized the move as a subtle way of reaching for the pistols the guy had holstered behind his back. It was perfectly reasonable to be a little paranoid when you lose contact with a team member inside unknown territory possibly still occupied with enemy forces.

"Yeah. I managed to find the subordinate that Deathbird was talking about. She's a little banged up but I think she'll make it." , Xander said as he didn't advance on his comrade's position, "As for the break in communication that was caused by some weird looking robot I encountered on the way back. Must have been planning some kind of ambush but I think I managed to take it out before it could call for reinforcements. Still it might be a good idea to prime whatever defenses this ship has just in case."

This seemed to calm the tall black man since it would not be to the enemy's advantage to let the prey know about an ambush in advance. Once that was out of the way both he and Bishop made their way to the med-bay where Hank was still working on Deathbird although it seemed to be simple status checks rather than surgery.

"Hank! I found the subordinate Deathbird was going on about. She looks alright but I think I'll wait for your official diagnosis before I commit myself one way or another on whether she's going to live or not." Xander said as he laid the woman down into the medical pod next to Deathbird's.

"Then if you give me but a moment I will endeavor to provide you with the information you seek." Beast said as he moved over to the controls of the next med-pod and began to operate the controls.

Deciding to occupy his time in a more interesting manner than just standing there waiting for Hank to tell him something he looked over to the display showing the regent's life signs. He figured that medical displays were pretty much universal in how they chose to display a person's vital data. From what he could tell Deathbird's pulse and breathing seemed normal enough but her EKG readings seemed a little low, almost like she was in a very deep sleep. Still Hank McCoy of the X-Men was heralded as a genius back home on Earth and if he could operate all of this techno-junk he would be able to patch these two ladies up no problem. Deciding that he would sit by the Bird Lady's pod and wait for her to wake up he sat down in a chair seemingly made for that purpose and waited. While sitting he wondered about the weird outburst that this woman had made when he had tried to brush a lock of her hair back into place. He hadn't been making a lot of noise so that couldn't be it. Maybe her people have some kind of extra sensory perception that notified her when he got within a certain proximity to her. In any case it was something he would ask her about when she woke up.

"Well aside from a few broken bones and severe dehydration this little lady seems to be in pretty good shape as you said Xander." Hank said as he tapped a few pressure sensitive buttons on the control panel.

"So she'll make a full recovery?" Xander asked more than a little pleased to know that his less than gentle manner of getting her here didn't wind up making things worse.

"Indubitably my friend. Provided she receives the rest she requires." Hank replied with a cheery grin.

"Good. First aide is so not my forte." , Xander said as he turned to look back at Deathbird, "How about radical regent here? Is she going to be alright?"

"That is a bit harder to tell one way or another. From what little I can discern given my lack of knowledge about Shi'ar physiology she is in a coma." , Hank said as he glanced at the display above Deathbird's pod, "Still I have noted some progress in her recovery since she was placed in the pod so I have chosen to take that as a fairly positive sign."

"Well I guess we'll have to take turns watching over these two while the others are out looking for survivors." , Xander said as he tried to get comfortable in his chair, "I'll take the first watch and let you guys know if there is any change in their conditions."

"Are you sure? You don't really know how to work any of this equipment." Bishop asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It's no biggie. After all this isn't really all that big of a ship and I'm sure it'll take you guys thirty seconds tops to get here if you need to." Xander said with a confident smile.

"Very well my young friend. We will only be a room away if you need us." Beast said as he gave some kind of sign to Bishop that he should go along with everything.

Nodding rather than saying yes Xander looked down at his two charges, Deathbird and her subordinate, and wondered what he was going to do to pass the time.

Oh well! I'm sure I can think of something. Xander thought with a small smile.

The Next Day, Med-Bay, Noon

"…And that about sums up what my life was like back home before I left for Manhattan. Not exactly exciting for a pair of warrior women like yourselves of course but compared to what most teenagers in America go through it was definitely strange." Xander said as he finished conveying the facts of his life to his unconscious listeners.

It might seem odd for a person to talk to two people who in all likelihood wouldn't remember any of it but it did the job of killing time and he was sure he read somewhere that it helped coma patients recover if someone talked to them a lot. He had no idea if that worked on Shi'ar women but he was willing to give it a shot and it wasn't like he had anything else to do. Ever since he first started with watch with the others they had done their best to make sure that he stayed on the ship. Apparently his more detailed retelling of his adventure in the space station had them worried. Especially when Bishop went to take a look at the alien he had killed and had found nothing where the body should have been. He didn't like getting sidelined like that but the X-Men had more experience in these matters than he did so he deferred to their judgment. Give him vampires, demons and the yearly apocalypse and he could do as well as any guy but give him aliens and ray guns and it was safer for everyone to keep him behind the front lines. So here he was taking about his life back in Sunnydale but making sure it was the edited for TV version rather than the uncut and uncensored version.

While he felt he could trust the X-Men he didn't want to send any unnecessary attention the Scooby gang's way. They had enough on their plate without the spandex super set paying them a visit and dumping a whole new load of problems on their plate. Besides considering that the aftermath of a super hero/super villain fight generally meant massive property damage and other collateral damage he doubted Sunnyhell would survive. Better for Hank and the others to think of him as nothing more than your standard 'trying to blend in mutant' that they probably ran into often. That way they likely wouldn't be looking too deep into his past and wouldn't find out about anything strange about where he lived or the number of times he visited a hospital. If they did find out about his unusual past then there would be questions and inquiries and before he knew it he'd find himself heading back to Sunnyhell to warn Buffy and the others. So not what he wanted to be doing! It wasn't that he didn't miss them or want to see them. He just figured that it would be better for everyone involved if he kept some distance between the gang and him. He was pretty sure those damn F.O.H'ers still had his name on file and at the very least put someone in Sunnydale to keep any eye out for any other possible mutants. With any luck though he'd wind up a vamp and get dusted by Buffy inside of a week. However his luck was never that good so until he managed to get rid of Kung Lung or found a way to trick the Friends of Humanity into believing he was one hundred percent human a wanderer he would have to remain.

"Any change sugah?" came a familiar southern voice from the door to the med-lab.

"Nah, nothing new to report Rogue." , Xander replied as he looked up see the skunk striped sensation standing just inside the room, "Then again hearing me talk on and on might just be motivating them to go into an even deeper sleep than before. Still they have to wake up and go to the bathroom sometime so I don't think it'll be much longer."

This of course had the desired effect of getting Rogue to giggle in amusement. Which was good considering how tense everyone was beginning to get. The others had been continuing their search of the station and were almost halfway done. Beast figured it would be another two days before they were finished and then they would disembark to head deeper into Shi'ar space. Assuming of course Deathbird or her subordinate didn't wake up and inform them of who exactly the invaders were and how bad the situation was. After if they had just gotten here in time to hear the fat lady sing then they might as well just turn tail and take these two survivors back to Earth with them. Aside from the haircuts and the white eyes they could quite easily blend in with humans and Deathbird might actually managed to start a new fashion trend with that haircut of hers. In the meantime though he was determined to keep the spirits of the team up and take their minds off of the slaughterhouse that was that space station. After all there was no way he was going to let them turn into deadboy impersonators. If it got that bad he just might save these invaders the trouble and kill himself right away or at the very least see if this ship had an escape pod or something.

"giggleI suppose they do!" , Rogue said with one of her cute smiles, "Anyway Beast wanted me to check an' see if you wanted to take a break for awhile."

"Nah I'm fine. Besides if I leave then Bishop will probably stick me with comm. Duty when I get back from my break. Do you really think I want to be stuck listening to Gambit and Joseph acting all snippy towards each other for five hours?" Xander asked with a mix of seriousness and levity.

It had been something that he had very quickly noticed in the last little while. Remy and Joseph got along about as well as Cordy would have gotten along with Buffy after a lousy day. Of course those spats usually only lasted a few minutes. With Gambit and the Magneto look-a-like it was more like an hourly occurrence that only got worse as the day went on. By the look on Rogue's face at the moment she didn't like the situation either between those two grown men. From what he had been able to learn from Hank both men apparently had their heart set on being the southern belle's one and only man. Needless to say that got a rivalry going between the Cajun and the blonde guy that was only getting worse. Oh they were civil enough when they had to be but as soon as things got safe enough they were back at each other like cats and dogs. Here in the med-bay at least he had some peace and quiet for awhile and had two beautiful ladies to look at who couldn't slap him if he stared at their chests for too long. Not that he did that all that much of course. He was a gentleman and respected both Deathbird and her subordinate as warriors. Anyone who could survive a massacre on this scale was to be respected. Still eye candy was eye candy and both ladies were providing him with some wonderful happy places to go to when he got bored or depressed.

"Alright then sugah. Just make sure you don't get too distracted that you forget to call Hank if they take a turn for the worse." Rogue said with a knowing wink as she left the room.

Damn! Is she telepathic too! Xander thought with surprise as he reviewed everything he had thought while in the lady X-Man's presence since they started this adventure.

He sure hoped not because that just made him wonder what form of payback she would most certainly be sending his way would take. Anything was possible with this group and Rogue in particular seemed to have quite the evil mind when it came to revenge. He just hoped he faired better than Gambit did when she found out about the little prank the Cajun had pulled on Joseph.

The Next Day, Bridge, 9:00a.m.

"Does that machine even know what coffee is supposed to taste like?" Xander asked with disgust as he forcefully swallowed his morning java.

He had gotten up just half an hour ago after trying to catch a few more Zs but finally decided that the combination of the X-Men moving about and the unfamiliar surroundings made that impossible. He was the sort of person that needed to become comfortable with both a new bed as well as new surroundings before he could sleep normally. It was like each time his parents by some miracle had decided to go on a summer vacation and decided to take him along rather than leaving him at home. He was never quite able to sleep well unless he was in his own bed in his own room. It had taken him two weeks when he had finally arrived in New York to be comfortable enough in his apartment to sleep to noon on his days off. Needless to say that trying to get some extra sleep in the company of super heroes while in some alien galaxy on a spaceship was making it even harder for him to get some sleep much less extra sleep.

"Wouldn' count on it mon ami." Gambit said looking up from the main control displays.

"Great. You'd think with all this advanced tech they got hooked into this thing a simple cup of coffee would be child's play for them." , Xander said as he tossed his cup into the waste disposal slot Hank had showed him on day one of the station search, "I mean I realize that Earth is out in the boonies for them but still I expected more from tech far beyond the scope of mankind."

"Guess it just goes to show you that even the brainy types can screw up something simple." Gambit said with a small grin showing that he too had a bad experience with the food dispenser himself.

"Isn't that the truth!" Xander said as he looked out the view screen to see if he could spot the search teams heading out for the morning.

It was almost three days since he had first hooked up with these guys and much to his surprise he was beginning to get along with them pretty well. Oh he would consider himself a lot closer to say Hank and Rogue than to say Joseph and Bishop in terms of officially becoming friends but he was working on becoming more than strangers with them too. After all he was going to be living with these people for the next week or however long it was going to take to complete the mission and get back home things would go smoother if they actually respected or even liked each other. So he was going to start with the easy ones to get along with like Gambit and leave the person who was probably going to be the hardest nut to crack, Bishop, for last. He was sure that the tall black man was a nice guy once you got to know him but that stony exterior of his was enough to make anyone want to keep their distance. It would be better for him to wait and gather some intelligence from the others before trying to have a conversation with him.

"So you stuck on comm. Duty or are the rest still asleep?" Xander asked as he began to ponder in the back of his mind how to get something edible out of the food dispenser.

"Comm duty unfortunately. You?" Gambit asked as he took out a deck of cards and began to shuffle them.

"More med-bay duty but the scenery is nice enough in there that I don't mind it that much." Xander said with a raised eyebrow signifying that there was some hidden meaning to his words.

"I'll bet. You just be careful 'round dat Deathbird." , Remy said as he began to lay out cards for solitaire, "Sure she's a beauty when she asleep but when she wake up look out."

"Yeah, I know. Just about everyone else has told me the same thing." , Xander said remembering the numerous warnings and advice concerning the sister of the empress of the Shi'ar empire, "Any luck converting the ship's language to English? I was thinking of doing some reading up on the Shi'ar while I wait for the two sleeping beauties to wake up."

"Beast managed to get an info pad and one of the computers to accept Anglais verbal commands but dat's about it." Gambit said reaching for a vaguely rectangular looking object that kinda resembled a palm pilot or digital notepad and passed it to him.

"Thanks. See you later Gambit." Xander said as he walked towards the door.

"Call me Remy Xander." Gambit said with a smile.

"Sure thing Remy." Xander said and smiled internally at the fact that he now had effectively eliminated Gambit from his 'people who I don't get along with' list.

Med-Bay, Two Hours Later

"Talk about dysfunctional." Xander muttered to himself as he pressed the 'next page' button on the info pad he was holding.

He had just finished reading the overall summary of the Shi'ar Empire and in particular the house Neramani and he had to say that his home life was beginning to look pretty tame compared to Deathbird's. First born of the house Neramani and scheduled to rule as empress only to be kicked out because of some kind of stupid prophecy the head honcho's advisors prattled on about. Exiled into space and stripped of her birth name to boot only to fight over the crown with her baby brother and sister again and again. Now apparently she was regulated to some sort of governor position over some recently acquired sectors of space that once belonged to a race called the Kree. To him it looked like she was being bought off by her sister with a small but respectable portion of the empire in the hopes that no more coup de tats would be attempted. Somehow he doubted that someone with Deathbird's colorful history would be satisfied with some small chunk of territory like that. More likely she's just biding her time and amassing resources for another try at the imperial throne. This little invasion by an unknown enemy though was probably one helluva set back for her though. She'd either have to speed up her timetable or wait until her own assets recovered before carrying out her plan.

Personally he wasn't sure where he stood on that. According to some of the comments he overheard the X-Men saying Deathbird was treacherous, deceiving and manipulative. The woman was apparently so dead set on reclaiming the Shi'ar Imperial throne that she was willing to do anything to get it. Still he could kinda see her point given that she was screwed out of her rightful position to begin with, kicked off her home world due to some stupid prophecy and pretty much besieged by usurpers and enemies almost every year. Given all of that her methods and tactics are understandable since there has probably never really been someone she could trust. After all if you can't trust your family, your kin, then who can you trust? Add to that the fact that there can't be too many trustworthy people she could approach for aid in overthrowing her sister Deathbird probably figured she had to become as ruthless and cunning as possible. In any case though there was one thing that she had that wasn't evil and that was what he was looking at right now.

"Cal'Syee Neramani. Pretty name." , Xander muttered when he looked at the section of the document he had been reading that listed Deathbird's original name, "Granted it's not exactly Nancy or Jessica but given that I've hung out with girls named Buffy and Willow it isn't really that odd."

In any case though that was neither here nor there at the moment and until circumstances changed it would be best for him to keep his mind on the job at hand.

It was then that he heard moaning coming from the pod that saw to the medical needs of Cal's subordinate and when he looked at her it looked as though the woman was about to wake up.

Activating his com-unit he said "Hank! Looks like Deathbird's subordinate is about to wake up so you'd better get down here."

"On my way!" Hank said over the com-link and Xander had little doubt that the blue Beast would be using every handhold available to get down here as soon as possible.

Deciding that the least he could do was open up the pod for her he got up from his seat and pressed the series of buttons that he had seen Hank press one time when he had to physically check on the subordinate's condition. The pod opened with a hiss as pressurized air escaped into the room and the lid slid into some kind of hidden compartment. It was a few moments later when the subordinate finally opened her eyes and Xander found himself wondering what would be the first thing she would do when she saw him. Some kind of formal Shi'ar greeting or maybe simply an inquiry as to what had happened to her and where she was.

It turned out the answer was neither as a first show towards his face almost too fast for him to dodge. Even though the punch missed he had not expected such a violent first act upon awaking from sleep from her and it put him off balance. This only encouraged the Shi'ar woman to press her attack and she all but lunged at him from the pod. Deciding it would be best to defuse this situation before it got out of hand he grabbed bother her hands and attempted to hold her still long enough to get her to calm down. This only partially worked as he had planned since she was apparently still in some pain from whatever injuries she incurred in the space station so a considerable portion of her strength was absent. He was pretty sure that if she had been at her full strength she could have ripped his arms out of their sockets. Since she wasn't at full strength though she seemed to go for the next best way to injure him and delivered a solid kick to his stomach forcing him to let her go. He only stumbled a few steps but by the time he recovered she was airborne with her hands aimed at his throat.

Hank is probably going to kill me for this but it's for the best. Xander thought as he grabbed the woman's arms while she was still in the air, planted his right foot on her stomach and flipped her in the direction of the door.

It was at that exact time however that the door opened to admit one Hank 'The Beast' McCoy so when one female Shi'ar woman collided with a gorilla sized man it wasn't difficult to do the math as to what would happen. Both warriors went down in a pile and Xander was left to do the explaining before he got accused of battering a patient.

"Heheheheh, one very much awake patient Hank, just like I said." Xander said in as composed a manner as possible given the look he was getting

"So I see." Hank said as he got to his feet as respectfully as he could without looking at the Shi'ar woman who wore nothing but a halter top and G-String underneath her armor.

"An X-Man! By Sharra what are your kind doing here?" the woman demanded once she got a good look at Beast's face.

"Before we get into that how's about you give us a name sparrow lady?" Xander asked deciding that it would be easier to explain things to her if he had a name to with the attitude.

"I am commander Ver'casai of Regent Deathbird's royal guard! Now you will explain what you are doing here." Ver'casai replied with ice in her tone that said her patience was being worn thin and that she wanted answers NOW.

"I assure you milady that our intentions are entirely benign. We were asked to render assistance to the Shi'ar Empire by Gladiator and arrived only two days ago." , Beast replied appearing to take no notice of her chilly demeanor, "We arrived at this space station and seeing the condition it was in immediately began search and rescue operations. Unfortunately so far only yourself and Regent Deathbird have been found alive."

"The regent! Where is she?" Ver'casai demanded with the worry a person in her position would be expected to have for her superior.

"Over here Ver'casai. She was pretty banged up but Hank thinks she'll make a full recovery." Xander replied before indicating the pod where the regent lay resting and recovering from her injuries.

Ignoring the rest of them completely Ver'casai zipped over to the pod containing her mistress and examined the display screen above it which showed her vital signs. Then she began to operate the controls on her own and while Beast did try to intervene out of concern for one of his patients Bishop stopped him. He was probably thinking the same thing that Xander was at the moment. Ver'casai would know more about her mistress' medical history and medicinal needs than anyone from Earth. Still the Zeppo wasn't about to leave the regent alone in the med-bay with her subordinate since he still unofficially saw himself as Deathbird's unofficial watcher until she regained consciousness. True he hadn't even had what could be termed an official conversation with the woman as the regent had slipped into a coma soon after asking him to find Ver'casai but he still felt he should keep an eye on the warrior woman.

"Which one of you has been in charge of her medical care?" Ver'casai asked after finally finishing with the adjustments to Deathbird's medical pod.

"That would be me Commander. I'm sorry if I made any errors in her treatment but I am afraid that I am somewhat unfamiliar with Shi'ar physiology." Beast said as he took a step further.

"Your attempts were competent for a mere terran but it would have required that she stay in the medical pod another three days at the settings you implemented." , Ver'casai stated with obvious contempt for Hank's medical skills and intelligence in general, "With the adjustments I have made my mistress should regain consciousness by the end of the day and be fully restored twenty-four hours later."

"Good. In the meantime perhaps you could enlighten us about who or what attacked the space station." Bishop stated as more of a command than a request without any regard for her superior tone of voice.

"That information is classified terran. You will have to wait until my mistress awakens this evening so that she can clear you for that data." , Ver'casai stated in a challenging tone of voice making it clear that she would not be moved on the subject, "Unlike that buffoon Gladiator I do not think you and your comrades will be of any help at all in defeating the current threat to the Empire!"

With that she left the room, no doubt to get some proper clothes on, leaving one perturbed X-man, one insulted genius bio-chemist and your average Zeppo standing there all wishing the woman had just remained unconscious.

"Well it could have been worse." , Xander said as he sat back down on the chair between the two medical pods, "She could have called me an incompetent fool and that just wouldn't be right at all given I did rescue her from that carnal house."

His comment was so absurd and outrageous it had the desired effect on the two X-men and small grins appeared on their faces. Just like back home with the Scooby gang whenever things got too tense or two or more members almost came to blows a light and irrelevant comment from him was enough to shatter the tense atmosphere and lighten things up a bit. After asking him to continue to monitor Deathbird's condition both Beast and Bishop left the med-bay and the Zeppo decided to resume his previous methods of killing time. Admiring the view and talking to someone who probably couldn't hear a word he was saying.

That Evening, Med-Bay

"Doctor's log: startdate… Er, today. Dr. McCoy recording." , Hank said into the medical computer's audio receivers, "We've been in space for nearly a week now ever since we were shanghaied by the Shi'ar imperial guardsman called Gladiator. He said we were to combat a force that poses a threat to the entire galaxy. Judging by the med-bay's sole occupant, he wasn't exaggerating."

No kidding! , Xander thought as he watched the blue furred gorilla hand from a ceiling fixture, The more I read about her the more I am certain that whatever took Deathbird down was something nasty in the extreme.

The Zeppo was pretty much finished going through all the files the ship's computer had on Cal'syee Neramani and even if the person who had wrote the file had been exaggerating a bit this woman was seriously lethal. Still he was fairly certain that whoever did this wouldn't expect a guest appearance by the X-Men and a former Scooby gang member. Then again it probably wouldn't change a whole lot even if they did know because anyone capable of exterminating four thousand lives wouldn't be all that concerned by a force of eight assuming Deathbird was in fighting form by tomorrow. Still he was optimistic since he remembered facing down a giant demon snake with his pals using nothing more than a few items purloined from the local military base and bronze age weaponry. After all if he and the gang could do that with stuff that was centuries behind what these Shi'ar people had then stopping a galaxy wide invasion shouldn't be too much harder.

Right?

Best not to think about it until we actually know who or what we're up against. Xander thought as he continued to listen to Hank's monologue.

"The ship's automated med-station is the only thing keeping her alive." , Hank said with genuine lack of knowledge, "But don't ask me how."

"You're saying she should have died, Beast." Bishop stated in his usual blunt manner.

"Quite the bedside manner you have there, Bishop. But, let's put it this way, if she was human she would be dead as a doornail. Because of the Shi'ar physiology, it is all too easy to think they're like mutants." , Beast said with some sarcasm at his comrades choice of words, "But actually, that is a misassumption, the alien race is more avian than mammalian. Although to be fair since it's we six who are trapped here in the furthest reaches of the Shi'ar Imperium I guess it's actually the X-Men who are technically the 'aliens' here. Hmmm, what's this?"

"Something off about Deathbird Hank?" Xander asked as he looked to the screen displaying the regent's vital signs and trying to see if anything seemed wrong.

"As near as I can discern from these readings" , Hank said as he pressed a few of the pressure sensitive buttons on the screen, "she's regaining consciousness."

"No kidding." Xander said as he watched one of Deathbird's hands grip his own probably in an effort to sit up.

Deciding that even if she was awake she'd need some time to recover her full strength the Zeppo reached into the pod and helped her sit up.

"The others … my people." , Deathbird said in a tone that was barely audible to the people in the room, "What happened to my people?"

For a few moments Xander was torn between sugar coating the truth so as not to cause her undue stress and respecting her status as a veteran warrior and telling her the truth. In the end though he decided that if this woman had the volatile temper that everyone else said she did the Neramani woman would likely be pissed later if he lied.

"I'm afraid they're all dead. The others are still searching the few remaining areas of the space station for survivors but the chances are slim that they'll find anything." , Xander said as she raised her head to look at him, "As of right now out of four thousand people only you and your subordinate Car'versai survived that massacre."

However Cal'syee only looked at him for a moment before examining the other occupants in the room. Her eyes narrowed and left the Zeppo certain that the last time the X-Men and Deathbird had encountered one another they had not parted under good circumstances.

"X-Men? By sharra, you were the last beings I expected to find out here." , Deathbird said before looking back at the Zeppo's face, "Still terran, you have my thanks for your honesty."

"You may want to belay your gratitude, woman … as I point out how … curious … it is that you and your subordinate were the only survivors." Bishop stated from the other side of the pod in what he probably believed was a good strategic position.

"YOU DARE?" Deathbird yelled and Xander had to wince in sympathy as the warrior woman slapped him hard across the face.

"Definitely. Definitely has to work on that beside manner." Hank said quietly at the display console.

Yeah. Even I know that you don't say like that to a woman just getting out of bed! , Xander thought as he saw Bishop back up a bit in surprise, It doesn't matter if the woman is a warrior or a normal young woman, you just don't do that!

"I am Deathbird – of the house Neramani – sister to Majestrix Lilandra, Regent of the Shi'ar Imperium! And you dare to accuse me terran?" , Deathbird yelled as it almost looked like she was ready, willing and able to get out of the pod and kill Bishop right there and then, "If I did not vaguely recall it was you who rescued me from the ossuary below I would kill you for your innuendo that I was a party to that massacre."

"Dat's tellin' him chere! But don't feel too bad Deathbird." , Came a familiar Cajun voice from the entrance to the Med-bay, "Our friend from the future just has one of those 'suspicious natures'. But then again hangin' around that charnel house down there? It's got everyone a li'l on edge."

Something's got me a little on edge but it isn't mass grave outside. Xander thought to himself as a feeling of discomfort and unease began to rise within him.

Ever since he had merged with Kung Lung the 'sixth sense' that most people had that warned them of danger or let them know when someone was watching them from the shadows was much stronger than before. Where before it wasn't much more than a whisper in his ear it was now something more like hearing a TV on in another room. It wasn't distinct enough for him to be able to identify exactly what the source of his discomfort was without tapping into Kung Lung a bit more but it was enough to put him on his guard. Something about Gambit and Joseph wasn't right, it was like he was looking at two strangers instead of two people he had been spending the past week with. Slowly moving his right hand to where one of his energy pistols were he decided to make sure that he would be ready of things took a turn towards screwed-ville.

"Gambit. Joseph? You're late getting back. I was hoping that the delay meant you found another survivor?" Hank said as he looked at Joseph.

"No such luck mon ami." Gambit replied as he very subtly made a visual survey of the room.

"Perhaps Rogue has found something." , Bishop said with an unusual tone in his voice that Xander hoped meant he sensed something was off about this too, "Did she check in with you at the agreed upon time?"

"Don' go worryin' 'bout Rogue, ami .. she's perfectly safe where she is." , Remy said with a saucy smile on his face that seemed to be his usual carefree smile but at the same time was not the same, "I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I ask the bird-lady exactly what she 'members."

That clinches it! There's no way that the Cajun I know would so casually push aside Rogue's safety! Xander thought as he unbuckled his right blaster and let it slide into his hand.

"Perhaps that is not a good idea at this moment LeBeau. As I can attest, she's already been over-stimulated. Any interrogation can wait until she has properly recovered." Bishop said and behind him the Zeppo could see Deathbird placing herself so she could use the muscled X-Man as a shield making it clear she knew what was going on just like him.

Thumbing the power setting on the blaster from minimum to maximum Xander decided he would take no chances with these guys because if they were anything like the thing he had taken down a few days ago then trouble had just found them big time! As much as he figured that the X-Men were like the Scoobies in that they didn't like lethal force he figured he could say 'I'm sorry' to Beast and the others after they were safe.

"Au contraire, Bishop. We insist" Gambit said in a tone that made it clear he would press the issue with force if he had to.

Time to make the move before these guys start pulling all their neat tricks out to show us. Xander said as he raised his blaster and took aim at the one that looked like Joseph.

Almost in perfect synch both he and Deathbird let the laser bolts fly pelting the fake Gambit and fake Joseph with high powered ammo. Although he had to say that the Regent was taking a much more long-winded approach to it than he was.

"DIE! Die, you lifeless, soulless spacescum!" , Deathbird roared as she fired both of the blasters that had once been in holsters at the small of Bishop's back, "In the name of all who have suffered at your hands DIE!"

"What in the name of -- ?" Bishop exclaimed as both Xander and Deathbird continued to fire.

"Gambit? Bishop stop her while I stop Xander before they .. both .. save our fat?" Beast exclaimed before lowering to a dumbfounded whisper as he saw that neither imposter fell immediately as any human mutant should have.

"Kict … Zaraz?" came a distinctly mechanical sounding voice from the heavily damaged but apparently not dead Joseph.

There was no response from the one Fake Joseph had called Zaraz and all those still upright watched as the pseudo-Cajun dropped dead to the ground.

"Kict .. Shi'ar WITCH! Kict … It is you who shall cease to function!" , Fake Joseph declared as his right arm morphed into a seriously large arm cannon, "Kict … So swear the Phalanx!"

"Swear this!" Xander said as he lined up his shot and then unloaded a full powered shot from his blaster right into the Phalanx's head shattering and leaving a decapitated body in its wake.

"Well said young warrior. McCoy called you Xander correct?" Deathbird said as her eyes and Bishop's blasters never left the remains of their wolves in sheep's clothing.

"Yes." Xander said as he smoothly replaced the power cell in the recently fired blaster.

"I am impressed that you were able to perceive the deception these monsters attempted to perpetrate on us." , The Regent said as she finally lowered herself back into the pod as her exertions took their toll, "If not for the two of us your friends would have been like blind men being led to the slaughter."

"The Phalanx are old enemies of ours, woman. The shape-shifters once threatened the entire existence of the human race." , Bishop stated in a vain attempt to salvage his team's pride, "But how did you two know what they were?"

"I picked it up at first like a sixth sense thing that was telling me that something about these two robo-morons wasn't right." , Xander replied as he returned his blaster to its holster, "After 'Gambit' so casually tossed aside Beast's concern for Rogue I knew it couldn't have been Remy."

"As for me it was their smell. Humans – even mutated ones – have a unique stench to them. A stench these two were lacking." Deathbird replied as she looked down with disgust and anger at her downed enemies.

"Indeed. Then one question remains though." , Bishop said with a frown on his face, "What has become of Rogue, Gambit and Joseph?"

"Do you really need to ask such a stupid question? Whoever these Phalanx guys are I doubt they'd come trotting in here posing as our friends if the real deals were still walking around to ruin the 'surprise' part of a surprise attack." Xander said as he headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Hank asked somewhat concerned and puzzled.

"To get the rest of the gang back of course." , Xander replied as though he thought it was perfectly obvious what they should do next , "I'm just going to stop by the armory to pick up a few things then I'm going to head to the last place Rogue and the others checked in at."

He didn't bother to listen to their words of caution since he figured that while it was true that these Phalanx beings were dangerous it was also true that the invaders already knew that they were there. That meant that sooner or later trouble was going to come after them in force so it was best to try and rescue their friends and get the hell out of dodge before things got too complicated. Besides these tin plated tonka toys weren't so hard to take down and once he picked up a few choice tools in the ship's armory he should be able to make a big enough distraction to get the others to safety.

Besides judging from the way these guys talk they're probably as cocky as newbie vamps. , Xander thought with a smile as he tried to picture how a Phalanx would look when they were utterly taken by surprise, Shouldn't be too difficult.

Back in the Medical Bay, One Minute Later

There is something strange about that terran. Deathbird thought as she continued to look at the door to the medical bay where 'Xander' had been a minute ago.

She could vaguely recall waking up briefly after the X-Man Bishop brought her back to the ship and seeing the young human looking at her. Unfortunately she also remembered begging him to find and rescue her subordinate in a manner more suited to a weak, pathetic peasant than a warrior of her stature. She was going to have to give that terran a more accurate presentation of herself as soon as the medical pod finished doing its work on her body. She would never let it be known that she had begged anyone for anything for any reason no matter what. Still Xander had shown a certain skill in detecting and dispatching the Phalanx who had attempted to infiltrate the ship. Add to that the fact that McCoy and Bishop seemed to possess only a vague understanding of what the young man was capable of. Even more puzzling was that it didn't seem as though he was actually a member of the X-Men as they had a familiarity between them that was sorely lacking in Xander's case. She would have to discreetly inquire about his origins when the chance appeared.

"Do you think Xander has any idea what he's doing?" Hank asked Bishop with more than casual concern.

"Unlikely. However he has also demonstrated good survival instincts both when he rescued Ver'casai and just now with those Phalanx imposters." , Bishop replied with a frown that only got deeper as time went on, "Still one of us should probably go with him."

"That is a matter easily dealt with." , Deathbird said before calling out, "Ver'casai! Come here!"

Only seconds later her second in command and the soldier she placed in charge of the bulk of her forces appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in typical miner's gear just like Bishop and McCoy and while this was not as Cal'syee preferred she doubted that any quality combat armor remained intact within the station for her subordinate to use. If her defense was lacking Deathbird was certain that her second in command would make sure her offensive capabilities made up for the deficiency.

"You called Regent?" Ver'casai asked she went down on one knee before her mistress.

"The Terran called Xander is about to leave to mount a rescue attempt to save three of the X-Men." , Deathbird said in her most imperial tone, "I want you to go with him and provide support when needed. When you both return I will expect a detailed report. Understood?"

"I shall make preparations to join him immediately." , Ver'casai responded as she rose from her kneeling position, "By your leave Regent."

Nodding to give her second permission to leave Deathbird had no doubts that Ver'casai had read her true intentions beneath the seemingly innocent orders. While her subordinate would carry out her official orders to render aide to the terran she would also be covertly gathering information on him at the same time. Every word the young man spoke and every action he took would be scrutinized by her second in command and described in detail in her report. If the boy turned out to be useful she would see to it that he 'decided' to remain in the Empire for a while until he had outlived his usefulness. If it turned out Xander was more trouble than he was worth then he would wind up just like the rest of these X-Men fools when she became Majestrix and annexed Earth into the Empire. In any case it made for a nice little distraction to keep her occupied until she could take more direct control of the counter attack against the Phalanx.

"Are you sure that's wise Deathbird? Xander and Commander Ver'casai had a small altercation when she regained consciousness and may still hold a grudge." McCoy asked unintentionally telling her that Xander had managed to get the best of her subordinate if only briefly.

Interesting. Deathbird thought as her opinion of the young man increased.

While being recently unconscious and no doubt still in some pain from her injuries Ver'casai would still have been a formidable opponent. It was one of the things she made certain of before appointing the commander to her present position. In battle a true warrior must be able to rise above injury and personal discomfort in order to achieve victory no matter what. That was what she made sure to impress upon all the candidates who had been selected to have the chance to become her second. Of them all only Ver'casai had managed to maintain her skill and efficiency despite the pain of the injuries inflicted upon her. If Xander had managed to overcome her than it was only logical that he would possess a skill level similar to her subordinate's. Either that or the young man was exceptionally lucky which had its uses on the battlefield as well as skill and power.

I could find a use for such a warrior. She thought before she replied "My subordinate knows her place McCoy. She would not take such action without my expressed permission."

Both X-Men seemed to doubt her for a moment but eventually they conceded that she was right. Just like she knew they would as she knew more about her second than they did so they had no choice but to trust her judgment. She would look forward to reading the results of Ver'casai's real mission when she returned.

She had a feeling it would be most interesting indeed.

Maintenance Shaft Leading to Rogue, Gambit and Josephs Last Known Position

Thirty Minutes Later

The trip had been unusually silent since both he and Ver'casai had left the ship and headed to where Rogue and the others had last checked in. He had been a bit surprised when Ver'casai had shown up in the armory and informed him that Deathbird had ordered her to provide him with back up. When he had asked why she had pointed out in a snobby manner that she was more familiar with the layout and the technology of the station. It seemed like a rational and logical reason so he didn't bother to look for any hidden meaning behind her words. That had been half an hour ago and they were less than ten minutes away from their destination thanks to the shortcuts she pointed out. Some of them were blocked off by debris but most of them were in reasonable enough condition that they were able to use them. So aside from the occasionally arrogant comments from her along with the insults about his physical conditioning things went pretty smoothly all around.

As they finally reached the top of the ladder the funny and uneasy feeling he had experienced when taking an unconscious Ver'casai back to the ship had returned but it was much stronger. What that could mean he didn't know. It could mean that there was a more powerful Phalanx warrior nearby or it could mean that there was more than one Phalanx close by. In any case he wasn't about to walk into a room full of these bad boys without having a little present for them. Bringing his plasma rifle forward from its position on his back he took three cylindrical containers from his ammunition belt and slid them into a compartment about an inch beneath the rifle's barrel. By the time he had finished loading Ver'casai had fully emerged from the maintenance shaft and the woman was looking at his actions inquiringly. He motioned for her to remain silent and then indicated that there were as many as many as six Phalanx nearby and that he was taking point. He had been using the hand signals he could still remember from his Halloween as soldier boy and apparently the signals were universal enough that even a Shi'ar soldier could understand them or at least get a rough idea of what he was attempting to convey.

Keeping his rifle at the ready but not turning on the built in flash light on the top of the barrel he proceeded down the corridor in the direction of their destination. While he had momentarily considered disposing of the Phalanx he had sensed he eventually decided against it. No sense looking for trouble when a body could just slip in and out with the enemy being none the wiser. Unfortunately as he followed the corridors that seemed to lead in the direction where Gambit and Joseph had said they'd be looking he found that those same corridors were leading them in the direction of the Phalanx.

Well at least we know how they got caught. Xander thought with some disappointment that these heroes had gotten themselves captured.

Once the feeling in his gut got strong enough that he was fairly sure that the Phalanx were in the next room he motioned for Ver'casai to mimic him and flatten herself against the wall as they approached the entrance to the next room. Moving as quickly but also as silently as they could both of them edged towards the entrance until they were about an inch from exposing themselves to whoever was inside. Giving the Shi'ar woman behind him the signal to stop he reached into one of the pockets on the ammo belt and pulled out something he had purloined from Rogue's civilian clothes. It was a make-up mirror and like all women on Earth he had been fairly certain that the Southern Beauty had at least one with her. Stretching out with his left arm he used the mirror's reflective purpose to take a look inside the room and winced as he saw two Phalanx loading someone who looked like Gambit into a shuttle craft. The others looked like they were just hanging about providing lazy security for the shuttle. Obviously the ink brains didn't think there was any reason to maintain proper escort/security discipline in a wrecked space station.

Mistake number one for them.

Deciding to listen in for a moment rather than charge in with blasters blazing he closed out all other sensory input except for his sense of hearing.

"Kikt … should we not be concerned Oralis?" asked one of the Phalanx providing security.

"Kikt .. ?" Oralis just asked in an inquiring manner.

"Kikt .. if these two terrans found us, how can we be certain there are not others who will scan us? We know from our collective consciousness these X-Men are a formidable foe." , Asked the Security Phalanx with concern, "After finding Zelaz killed earlier by energy weapons we know that there must be at least one more terran unaccounted for."

"Kikt .. their defeat of the expedition on Sol III was only a setback. We have learned from that experience." , Oralis said derisively at the idea that they should be worried, "Kikt … we have already cut a swath through the carbon-based center of the Shi'ar Imperium … it is … kikt … only a matter of time before the entire universe is ours to consume. Kikt … after a hundred thousand lifecycles, the Phalanx are at last within reach of our manifest destiny. What possible difference can a podful of 'X-Men' make in the …"

Alright! That's enough listening in! Time to make these choke on that crap they're spewing! , Xander thought as he prepared to jump into the fray, Besides I doubt I could keep Ver'casai back anymore given how badly these Phalanx just insulted her people.

Unfortunately for the Zeppo and the Shi'ar warrior someone else had decided to deliver the first blow and as expected she did it with a bang.

"Are y'all being rhetorical, fellas or do ah get a chance t'answer?" came Rogue's southern voice and a moment later the entire ground shook as she hit the floor hard in the room.

So much for catching them by surprise, Xander thought before he turned to Ver'casai and said, "Get to the shuttle and spring Gambit and Joseph! I'll go to give Rogue some back up!"

"I am a Shi'ar warrior! Second in commander to Regent Deathbird herself!" , Ver'casai said angrily as though he had just insulted her, "I will not be held back from this fight!"

Grabbing her roughly by the shoulder he pulled her so she was face to face with him and let his anger be shown in his eyes as they no doubt glowed extra brightly.

"You will do as I say! Deathbird ordered you to provide support for me! That means that I am in command!" , Xander said in his best no nonsense drill sergeant tone, "Besides if you took a minute to think you would realize that once you free Gambit and Joseph we can catch the Phalanx in a crossfire and obliterate them! Now GO!"

He hadn't wanted to get so hostile towards her but he needed her to follow her orders and he needed her to do it NOW! Judging by the surprise on her face and the almost automatic nod she had gotten the message and gripped her twin blaster pistols to show she was ready. With that he charged around the corner and just as some of the Phalanx turned to look in his direction he lined up a full powered shot with his rifle and let superheated plasma fly. He almost let his jaw go slack as he saw the horizontal column of energy tear through the first Phalanx's head and seriously damage the back of another. Moving over to some debris that could offer him some cover in case they decided to fire back he hid behind it for a moment while preparing for his next attack. Rogue however decided to take advantage of her surprise reinforcements and punched through the floor beneath on of the Phalanx tearing its right leg off.

"Kikt … this unit's lower limb?" Oralis said in as much surprise as a machine could manage.

"Sorry, fella … didn't think you'd need it – since in a sec, y'all 're gonna be so much scrap metal anyway!" Rogue said as she exploded from the ground and looked like she was going to punch a hole right through her enemy's chest.

Deciding turnabout was fair play and deciding that he would be able to get any more precision shots off he switched his rifle from single shot to semi-automatic and began laying down fire in short bursts. Just as Rogue's attack from below had caught them by surprise his attack from the side also seemed to knock the Phalanx warriors off balance. It didn't last though and much to his annoyance the two that decided to take care of him began to move faster than he could accurately aim with only a tenth of his shots making contact. Deciding it was time to deliver his surprise he activated the compartment he had slipped the three cylindrical into and fired at a spot just in front of the lead Phalanx warrior heading his way. With a slightly bigger bang than he had anticipated the plasma grenade launcher on his rifle worked like a charm and stopped both Phalanx in their tracks and set them up for his knockout punch. Quickly pumping the next shot into the launcher he fired again but this time directly at his two mechanical sparring partners. The chest of Phalanx warrior number one exploded leaving his upper body connected to his lower body only by the slimmest of connections. However when he turned to fire on the second one he found that it had used the cover produced by its destroyed comrade to close to within striking distance of him. Knowing that another grenade would hurt him as much as it would destroy the Phalanx warrior but also realizing that he had no time to switch back to plasma blasts he did the next best thing. Pressing a red button on the side of the rifle he dropped it and jumped up vertically as hard as he could. Three seconds later the warrior stopped right where he had once been and one second after that the rifle overloaded and detonated. The blast tore apart the Phalanx's entire lower body but the upper body was still functioning and seemed ready to skewer him when he came back down.

Grinning in a feral manner he pulled his blaster pistols and let loose a downpour of heavy fire down on the Phalanx beneath him which tore through the ebon warrior like hundred mile an hour hail stones. By the time the Zeppo touched down there was nothing left of his second adversary but a pile of stinking flesh and fried circuits. Looking to see how Rogue was doing he was shocked to find her trapped with a Phalanx wrapping its arms tightly around her body. Preparing to charge in like the cavalry he stopped as he spotted a familiar figure leap onto the back of the Phalanx restraining Rogue. Deciding that the Cajun could free Rogue on his own without any extra assistance he scanned the room with his eyes to see if the Phalanx here were about to receive any reinforcements of their own. He could see Ver'casai helping Joseph out of some kind of containment cylinder and hoped that the platinum blonde man could shake off any grogginess he still had quickly. With all the commotion they were stirring up here it was only a matter of time before the rest of the robo-twits found out what was going on and came running.

A massive explosion rocked the area and the Zeppo was almost thrown clear off his feet by the blast. Only a firm grip on some dug in debris and a bit of Kung Lung's strength kept him more or less in place. Once enough of the blast subsided he turned and saw that Gambit had been successful in freeing Rogue and the blast, presumably his, had thrown them right into Joseph. Jogging over he was only able to catch the last little bit of what the Magneto look-a-like said in response to a comment from the Cajun.

"Your insane plan apparently worked. The Phalanx separated itself in an effort to prevent contamination of its larger core." Joseph said with a bit of annoyance directed at Remy.

"I know, mon ami, I was dere." , Gambit said in a 'duh' like tone as he figured Joseph had just stated the obvious, "What d'you say, chere You okay?"

"Ah was there." , the Southern Belle replied with a shaky and fearful voice, "For an instant … ah was one o'them. When ah linked with the Phalanx, ah saw what they did to … to Chandilar … the Shi'ar homeworld. Ah've seen the forces they gathered – the civilizations they've swallowed whole. Ah know what they intend to do with the Shi'ar … an' … God help us all … ah know what they have planned for Earth."

"Then boy won't they be in for a surprise when we wind up sending them packing!" , Xander said as he attempted to lift everyone's spirits from this doom and gloom moment, "After all if there is one thing that you can always count on with bad guys is that their arrogance always comes back to bite them in the ass in the end."

All of them, from Joseph through to Ver'casai, looked at him as though he had just told him he was going to dress up in a grass skirt and cocoanuts and do the hula. Not at all unreasonable of them considering that they were outnumbered, outgunned and very likely outmatched but then again that never stopped the Scooby gang from coming out on top. Besides if worse came to worse at least he wouldn't have to worry about keeping Kun Lung locked up within his body any longer.

Seven Thousand Light Years Outside the Orbit of the Prime Moon of the Shi'ar Throne World, Aboard the Imperial Cruiser, Armory

This is turning out to be more interesting than I had first thought. Deathbird thought as she began to slip on one of the few remaining uniforms that remained in the ship's locker room.

A little while after Ver'casai and the terran Xander returned with the missing X-Men her subordinate had provided her with a vid-disk containing a complete recording of the fight from four different angles. The Regent could only surmise that her second in command had taken a clip of vid-shells with her when she visited the armory and placed them in the area once the fighting started. The fight hadn't lasted very long but it endured long enough for her to get a taste of what the young terran was capable of. While a novice might look at the recording and see nothing more than basic military tactics and in some cases simple luck she saw much more indeed. There was resourcefulness there combined with an almost instinctual feel for combat that allowed the boy to adapt to any situation within seconds. A fine soldier but there was also what she didn't see that intrigued her immensely. While there was no outward sign she was certain that this young man possessed great power within him, power that she could sense on an instinctive level that went beyond conscious thought. Yet nowhere in the entire recording did he show any of this extraordinary power leaving only his golden reptilian eyes to hint at something more laying beneath his naïve exterior. In short he was a mystery and one that she was most interested in unraveling piece by piece.

Once she concluded dressing herself she left for the cargo bay where most of the X-Men were gathered working on some device of McCoy's that he believed would give them the advantage against the Phalanx. Personally she was willing to give the terran the benefit of a doubt as she knew he was smarter than most of his breed and would likely make good on his promise. However she had not remained in the cargo bay long enough to learn what the device was exactly as she tended to leave such matters in the hands of scientists and underlings. However as they were on the approach to Chandilar she decided it was time to see exactly what this 'advantage' was and how she could improve upon it with her superior intellect.

When she arrived all she could see as the results of the X-Men's labor was a metal capsule roughly the size of a large escape pod. Gambit was working on the circuitry on one side of what she surmised was the entrance to the capsule while Rogue and Bishop lifted heavy contraptions of some kind closer to the device. Ver'casai was off to one side apparently trying to covertly fish for more information by talking to Xander so rather than bother with speaking to the X-Men she would speak with him. Her subordinate would be able to assist her and make sure that what the terran had told her would be what he told the Regent.

"What is the progress on McCoy's little toy terran?" she asked Xander in her most imperious tone to make up for her moment of weakness when they first met.

Xander however seemed to be completely oblivious to her tone and answered as though he was on equal footing with her.

"We're almost done welding the metal plates to it that have responded best to Joseph's magnetic abilities and Bishop is helping Rogue move the last of the sensor jamming equipment into place." , Xander replied with no sign that he saw her any differently than the X-Men, "Assuming there are no screw ups we should be ready by the time Hank finishes powering down the ship and engaging the auto-drift. I just hope this plan of his works or else we're going to be a pretty attractive target for the Phalanx."

"And what plan would that be terran?" Deathbird asked while letting her voice lose some of its imperial nature since it seemed to have no effect on the young man.

He looked at her as though she had just repeated her first question that he had just finished answering. When she didn't elaborate on her question but rather continued to glare at him expectantly he finally sighed and decided to answer.

"The plan in a simple one. We let the ship drift into sensor range of the Phalanx ship orbiting Chandilar. Once we're all inside and close the door Hank will activate the sensor jammers preventing those cyborgs from detecting us." , Xander explained as though he was giving a lecture at one of the Shi'ar Universities on Chandilar, "About ten seconds before the Phalanx blast this seemingly derelict ship into itty bitty pieces of debris the pod will eject from the ship allowing us to escape the worst of the blast. Hopefully we'll look to the Phalanx like just another piece of debris and after a while Joseph will use his powers to guide us down to the planet. From there we make our way to one of the outlying military installations that still has a working transporter and use it to get into capitol."

"Won't the Phalanx detect the use of a teleporter and have soliders ready for your arrival?" Deathbird asked hoping to tear this plan to ribbons in order to propose a more honorable strategy.

"Beast figures he can rig the power emissions from the transporter so that it just looks like a generator or something has blown up." , Xander replied in a way that indicated he wasn't completely confident about that part of the plan, "With all the devastation down there it would just be one more thing for those wind up soldiers to cheer about. Remember as far as they're concerned they've already won so they won't be too careful about investigating every odd occurrence or explosion."

The Regent almost growled at the thought of those monsters gloating over the remains of her people's empire. She would show them! She would prove her superiority over her sister by defeating this enemy with no more than the warriors present right here and it would be a grand victory! Still she could hardly claim victory for such a cowardly battle plan as slinking into the capital like a coward.

"No." she stated clearly making her position clear.

"No what?" Xander asked although she suspected he knew what she was objecting to but just wanted her to say it out loud.

"This is a coward's strategy! Slinking around in the shadows like a thief! It is beneath a warrior of my stature!" Deathbird stated making it clear she would not go along with any plan that wasn't her own.

"Look I know it doesn't have the same ring to it like 'the brave warriors fought and slew a hundred Phalanx warriors' but we have to be realistic here." , Xander stated trying to convince her to accept the plan, "They have more soldiers than us, they have better weapons than us and we will not be receiving any last minute help from the Shi'ar cavalry. Trying to take them down head on is suicide and it will kill the one hope your people have of slamming the brakes on this invasion."

Deathbird was beginning to get quite angry at the way that this human was talking to her and treating her as though she were a raw recruit in the imperial military. She decided that before things went any further she would defeat this human in a battle of words and then she would take control of this team of miscreants and defeat the Phalanx.

"And while we're skittering around in the shadows how many of my people do you think will die because you and your friends were acting like cowards?" Deathbird asked as though he were so far beneath him it was disgusting.

"A lot less than if we get killed trying to take on the Phalanx head on!" , Xander said with noticeable anger, "Who do you think is going to rescue your people if we wind up getting killed before we even set foot on Chandilar? There isn't going to be a second chance at this Cal'syee so you better come down off your superiority complex and start thinking rationally or by God I'm going to tell Hank we should just leave you here to go up with the rest of ship when the blast it!"

She was somewhat startled as well as intrigued by the fact that he had called her by her birth name instead of the one everyone else in the Empire used in reference to her. The name had been virtually stricken from every public record and even the majority of the more classified ones. Obviously that muscle-bound buffoon Gladiator had given the X-men and Xander unrestricted access to certain classified files and this boy had taken advantage of that to learn more about her. Xander had made a wise choice for it would be foolish not to conduct some research on someone who could be an enemy or an ally given the proper circumstances. Apparently this young man was more realistic and practical than the rest of these fools and while he might not be their match in terms of experience or technical knowledge he held promise. Promise she was tempted to explore further once the crisis was over and the Phalanx army lay in ruins.

"Just because I am not afraid to confront my enemies with honor does not make this 'plan' of McCoy's any less cowardly." , she said in order to gain the upper hand, "However I believe I have a way to improve the odds that this child's mission will succeed. I have a hidden safe house in an old abandoned mining station outside of the city and it has a transporter strong enough to reach the center of the city. It is also design so as to be nearly undetectable by any known sensor grid."

"And you waited until now to tell us because ..?" Xander asked as though he were speaking to someone mentally deficient.

"I didn't believe that McCoy and his X-Men would choose such a cowardly means of dealing with the situation." Deathbird replied while giving him her best 'speak me like that again and I will kill you' glare.

Xander just sighed and shook his head repeating the mistake of treating her as though she was just a bothersome subordinate. This was unacceptable. It was bad enough when he dared to consider himself her equal but to dare imply that he was superior to her was something else entirely. It was time for this upstart to learn to respect his superiors. Like lightning she lashed out with her talons intent on leaving permanent scars across his right cheek but to her surprise he went underneath her attack and grabbed her arm by the wrist and elbow. Before she could withdraw the elbow he used the grip he had on her arm to throw her over his shoulder and onto the ground. As this had been unexpected she had not been able to break her own fall and so was temporarily stunned. However Xander used this pause to his advantage as a boot pressed down on her throat pinning her to the ground. However when she finally regained her senses an looked up at him she was surprised to find that he was not wearing the Shi'ar mining uniform he had moments earlier. Instead he was clad in some kind of armor, black in color primarily, with a white symbol adorning his chest plate that looked to be some kind of lizard or reptile. Such creatures were definitely the theme the forger of this armor used in its design for sharp teeth could be seen on the upper and lower parts of the area where the mouth would be. Claws or talons adorned each of his fingers and when looking to the foot pressed down on her neck she saw two such blades extended and ready to draw blood.

"Look Deathbird I don't know how things work on your world but where I come from respect isn't given to someone because of some title or because of what family they belong to." , Xander said in a voice other than his own, "It's earned and so far you haven't done anything but make it clear that you are a royal pain in the ass to be around. If you want me to start treating you like you think you deserve than do something to prove that you're worthy of that level of respect. Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, you're just a waste of space on this mission and we all know what happens to dead weight."

With those words he released her arm and removed his foot from her throat before walking towards the pod acting as though nothing was wrong despite the incredulous stares the X-Men were giving him.

However before he entered the pod he turned and looked directly at Ver'casai with those golden eyes of his and said "You made the correct choice in restraining yourself commander. As Deathbird's second in command her life, her safety, is your primary concern and if I had sensed you were about to try something I would have been forced to do something … unpleasant."

With that he resumed his entry into the pod and everyone outside was left to wonder once more who Xander was and what he had been through to become the warrior he was. Deathbird was certain that where ever he had come from on that benighted backwater planet it had been a place where survivors were born. Xander had perceived a threat to his plans in her and had taken immediate and forceful actions in order to rectify the situation. He had even implied that he would have killed her if necessary and she had heard the honesty in his voice well enough to believe him. He didn't seem to be afflicted with the same 'no killing' morality that seemed to restrain the X-Men from taking such aggressive and permanent action. This placed him in a class above them even though he was not at their level of skill yet. Nevertheless though she would have to repay him for humiliating her in front of her second in command and the X-Men at some point in the future.

The immediate future is out of the question. , Cal'syee Neramani thought as she and her subordinate entered the pod themselves and took a seat across from Xander, Even if we are successful in defeating the Phalanx it will take the Empire years to recover from the damage those monsters inflicted. Even my own territory did not escape serious harm. So instead I will wait until the right opportunity presents itself before avenging myself.

"Woo, Woo! Look at all the happy faces in here! Everyone up for this?" , McCoy asked in his ridiculously cheerful manner, "O-kay. Maybe not."

Once inside, with the door shut, Beast began to input presumably the ejection commands for the pod so that they could evade the brunt of the Phalanx's attack when they destroyed the ship.

"But seriously folks we're about ten seconds from ejection." , McCoy said as he took his place next to the one called Joseph, "Hopefully, the sensor jams we attached should keep us undetected."

"Hopefully?" asked Joseph with some concern.

"Shhhhh." Was the only reply McCoy gave the man.

The Pod, One Minute Later

I am so DEAD! Xander thought as he tried to keep his tough guy façade in place despite his growing fear.

Now not only did he have the Phalanx to worry about but also an angry Deathbird who would probably come looking for payback for what he did to her sooner rather than later. What he had done her was something he had left over from his soldier possession and while he had lost most of the memories from that night the instincts were something else. For that had been what had thrown Deathbird and pinned her to the floor rather than something he had consciously planned. The only thing he had consciously done was summon his armor for his own protection, give speeches to Cal'syee and Ver'casai and walk away like nothing had happened. Everything else had been reflex and instinct all rolled up into one neat and tidy package that had wound up putting him on the Regent Deathbird's hit list. Hopefully though they could just get this whole beat the Phalanx thing over with as soon as possible so that he and the X-Men could go home and leave little miss homicide behind. Then he could try to squeeze out a place to stay with the X-Men as a reward for his help here with the Phalanx. He was pretty sure could use the guilt the trip 'you are the ones who dragged me into this' to make them agree but he would prefer it if they did it of their own free will.

Suddenly there was a jarring and a sensation of suddenly being dropped and he knew that they had just been ejected from the ship. However instead of relaxing he braced himself even more as he knew that any moment now the blast from the Phalanx ship would tear through the cruiser causing it to explode. Thus it happened exactly as he had predicted and were it not for the seatbelt he was wearing or his grip on it he would likely have been thrown all about the pod. For the next few minutes everyone could feel the pod tumbling end over end riding the shockwave of the destruction of the cruiser before it finally slowed to a more bearable tumble.

"Well, that worked well, no?" Bishop said from his seat to the right of Deathbird.

"But .. wasn't that the way you guys planned it Bishop?" Xander asked looking at the assembled X-Men and putting them in the same boat as the African American mutant.

"Sure." Bishop said confidently.

"Of course." Rogue said a moment later although there was a flicker in her eyes that said she wasn't quite as confident as Bishop was about the plan.

"Well it's nice to see that my friends and I weren't the only ones to come up with half baked plans that somehow work out in the end." Xander muttered as he wondered for the umpteenth time what he had gotten himself into.

Hank seemed to hear this but chose not to comment.

"But one never knows, does one? Now for part two!" , Beast said before turning to Joseph, "Getting this impromptu life pod planet-side. So tell us you're up to the job, Joseph?"

"It is the very reason why you welded metal to the sides of this craft, McCoy so that I might surreptitiously steer us toward the facility Deathbird mentioned on the otherwise desolate surface below." , Joseph replied as the magnetic nature of his abilities caused his hair to look like it had a terminal case of 'finger in the light socket', "That is still your plan, is it not?"

"Sure. Of course. But for the record you people put an awful lot of faith in me." Beast replied with some humor trying to cover for the fact that even he wasn't sure this was going to work.

As Joseph continued to guide the pod down to the surface the Zeppo could feel the heat of the re-entry phase through the hull and hoped that they wouldn't wind up incinerating because of Hank's 'thorough' planning.

"How amusing, McCoy. I was just about to say the same thing." Joseph said sarcastically as the heat from re-entry began to fade.

"Don't worry Hank! The wake of the falling debris is covering us and the docking bay of the mining facility is opening up just like Deathbird said it would." , Xander said attempting to back up his friend's plan, "Otherwise we'd all be in various states of pain after the pod slammed into the side of the building on the surface."

It was kinda amusing to see Hank's relief at some support suddenly turn sour as the Zeppo spoke the last sentence. It had the desired effect though of easing everyone's concerns a bit and making everyone a little less snippy. It took about ten minutes for the pod to finally come in for a landing but it at least they were on the ground now. Hank was the first to reach the entrance/exit to the pod and after a few buttons had been pushed the door clicked open releasing the pressurized atmosphere within the pod. One by one they exited the pod and once all were out Deathbird was the one to take the lead as this was her facility.

"T'be honest, guys and gals – the fact that this place let us in makes me pretty nervous. After all Deathbird even confessed that she used to function as a safehouse when she was a full tilt enemy of the Shi'ar Empire, opposin' her sister Lilandra." , Rogue stated from a position mid-air above the group, "How can we be sure this ain't all been a set-up? How do we know we ain't about to meet the devil we do know 'stead the devil we don't?"

"You don't, X-men." , Deathbird replied as she took her place on the transporter pad they had come to, "But let's find out together shall we?"

"Well at least we won't have to wait long before finding out." Xander said as he stepped on the transporter pad with the rest of the group.

He knew that given what the X-men and the intelligence reports he had read said about Deathbird it was a possibility that she might be behind all of this from the invasion to their arrival. However a feeling inside of him told him that she was on their side rather than the Phalanx's. If only military and political targets had been destroyed then maybe the Regent might be a suspect as those institutions would be the biggest obstacles to her taking power but such was no the case. From the preliminary reports that Gladiator had given them access to the devastation was indiscriminate with both civilian and government sites being destroyed equally. Deathbird might be ruthless and determined but she didn't strike him as the kind of person who would support the massacre of millions of Imperial citizens just to get her hands on the throne.

Well as long as the old Harris luck doesn't come into play everything should work out okay. Xander thought as the room around him faded to blue as the transporter activated.