After all their planning, the implementation of their scheme was almost anticlimactic. A month after Lillandra returned to Chandilar, the X-Men carefully arranged a remote-controlled crash of their Shi'ar scoutship into the Marianis Islands. Cyclops - in full battle armor, to encourage student rumors - walked into the Political Science class and requested Jeryn's immediate assistance. The murmurs started before the door had even closed. They were further fueled when the departure of the Blackbird was noted by a strangely wakeful student body later that night.
Confirmation came when a truly grieving Xavier entered the dining hall the next morning. Conversation immediately died out when the headmaster's uncharacteristically bowed head was noted. His arms seemed nearly too heavy to push the wheels of his chair forward. Jean Gray walked behind him, one hand resting on a wheelchair handle and tears in her eyes. She assisted the professor to ascend the platform that held the head table. Instead of assuming his usual place behind the great table he wheeled his chair in front of it, to the center of the platform. "I have an unfortunate announcement to make" he informed the room. "Yesterday morning, we received a request for assistance. Due to the nature of the request, Cat was informed of the situation and subsequently volunteered her services."
The students in the room nodded. Who wouldn't volunteer to ride in the Blackbird? To be, temporarily, one of the X-Men?
Xavier had to close his eyes to reinforce his shielding against the shock he was about to create. He felt Jean behind him, a steady pillar of psychic power that he could lean on if he needed to. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "The mission was successful. But," he held up a hand to forestall the murmurs, "An unforeseen accident occurred." Silence fell across the room, dropping like a guillotine's blade. Xavier dropped his hand to the arm of his wheelchair.
Jean laid a hand on his shoulder and addressed the students herself. "Cat ... Jeryn ... was lost." Somewhere in the hall a piece of flatware fell, sounding unnaturally loud.
The professor quietly concluded the announcement. "A memorial service will be held in the garden tomorrow evening. Everyone is welcome to attend."
With that he turned his wheelchair and left the room, which remained silent until the hall doors had closed behind him. Jean steeled herself as the students' reaction broke over her like a waterfall and the X-Men took up the all-too-familiar task of consoling the bereaved.
In the infirmary below the main school, a young Shi'ar paced back and forth. Dr. McCoy had applied the skin graft from Lillandra to the copycat the prior evening, and the transformation had again occurred. Jeryn had been particularly nervous (and Dr McCoy intrigued) when the exact same non-identical transfiguration occurred. This time, Jean and Xavier had been able to help dampen the pain and shock. For safety's sake Jeryn had insisted that the skin graft be split and applied in two separate locations as a precaution against accidental loss of the DNA source. The next sticking point was to make sure that her mutant ability would continue to mimic Lillandra's form. They all nervously awaited the 24-hour limit that had marked her previous copies.
Beast was with her when she clapped her hands to her temples and bent over in pain and surprise. "Jeryn! What has happened? Shall I call the professor?"
The teen straightened up and massaged her temples. "No Doctor, it's okay. The professor must have just made the announcement upstairs. Caught me by surprise, that's all. It's easing off now." She reinforced her shields as Xavier and Jean had taught her, and the psychic assault mercifully retreated from her mind.
Beast was greatly relieved when she exhaled and straightened up again. "I would imagine that it will take some time to calm down your classmates." Jeryn agreed with her furry blue physician.
To pass the time she sat down at a computer console and began another review of Shi'ar civilization. Henry returned to his laboratory equipment. They were running a parallel set of genetic tests so that the computer-stamped dates and times would be in sync with their story. He had also begun tests attempting to discover the cause of the nonstandard copying.
Cat hadn't gotten too far into her review when she heard the door behind her open. Professor Xavier was in the doorway. "It's done" he informed her quietly.
She shut down her console. "I felt the reaction." They stood wordlessly for a minute before the teen turned away from him. "You've made the call to Lillandra?"
He nodded and wheeled his chair across the floor to her. "The ship will be here in three days."
Jeryn reviewed her newly acquired knowledge of Shi'ar spaceflight. "A day to get clear enough of the throne world to create a wormhole, a day in the wormhole, and a day to decelerate and get into Earth orbit unseen."
The professor gave a grunt of acknowledgement. What he wanted to do most at that moment was to make his student reconsider, to back out of this dangerous scheme. He knew that she was determined to see it through, however. He couldn't help but respect and admire her for it. "Jeryn, I just wanted to say ... thank you. And to give you this." The ersatz Shi'ar turned to him in puzzlement as he extended a hand towards her. She held out her own - and he tipped a familiar circled X into her palm. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at her mentor, who said softly "You're as much an X-Man as any other student I've ever taught. I'm proud of you." She threw her arms around the only man that her heart would ever again call father and they hugged each other, crying.
Lillandra arrived on schedule. She brought her personal bodyguard, Gladiator, down to the planet with her. By prearrangement, they ran through the entire "discovery sequence" without informing Gladiator of the true provenance of the new Heir. His memories of the event would surely be called upon later to verify the details of this critical first meeting. The Majestrix could legitimately decline a mind-scan on the basis of her need to keep state secrets, but Gladiator could not.
Their plan worked beautifully; the empress' bodyguard reacted exactly as they had anticipated, suspicion and all. After he had been reluctantly convinced by the genetic scan that Lillandra ran with her own hands, it was logical that she should set up strong mind-shields in her bodyguard to protect that information. Only after those shields were in place did they reveal the imposture.
The next three days were spent in briefing Jeryn on the Shi'ar situation, briefing Gladiator on Jeryn, and preparing substitute teachers to run the school for the two weeks that the X-Men would spend on Chandilar. It was grueling for Cat, who spent much of the time in mindlink with Lillandra, Charles, and Gladiator. What time she didn't spend in mindlink was spent flying. They used the Shi'ar transporter to move back and forth between their supposed "crash site" daily - giving Jeryn a remote location to hone her flying skills. A level of expertise sufficient for a twenty-four hour transformation was woefully inadequate now. She almost literally fell into bed at the end of each day, exhausted both mentally and physically.