Ch.
28 – Running the Gauntlet/Disaster
"Are you sure you want to
continue?" Came an irritant Corsair.
"Look, we got in on our ship, we're
gonna get her outta here in our ship."
Slash responded. "She's not to badly
damaged, and I'm hoping Lilandra's fleet has engaged the Kree. If she has, we have a shot to get through
unnoticed."
"Fat chance at that. Look at your…" Communication was cut off, as
a blast rocked the Eagle. Six Kree
fighters screamed past, and came around.
Slash followed them on sensors and readied a series of proton missiles.
"WOLVERINE! GAMBIT!
RETURN FIRE NOW!" Slash screamed
so loud that they could hear him all the way in the gun mounts without the
radio.
"Simmer down Squid. Cajun and I already on top of it." Wolverine blasted one.
"Forge, take evasive action. Iceman, get me more power."
"She's already maxed out and
starting to overheat now."
"Then cool it off and push it
harder." The five remaining Kree
fighters flew back at the Eagle and fired their laser cannons. They scored a few hits. Suddenly Slash had an idea. "Bobby, does this thing have an emergency
stop control or something?"
"Yeah. Use for emergencies only."
"Ok. Ready to hit it. Slowly
ease the power down. I want them
closer."
"CLOSER???" They all cried in unison. Forge leaned over to Shadowcat.
"I think your husband has lost his
mind." She nodded.
"Everybody get seatbelted in. And hang on." The Kree ships were moving in for the kill. "Ready…push it…NOW BOBBY!" Iceman threw the lever over, and the ship
came to an emergency stop. The Kree
just flew on by, totally surprised by the maneuver. Slash fired six photon missiles.
"BOBBY! Get those engines going
again!" Iceman got the engines going
back again, and the Eagle plowed forward again. The proton missiles had taken out two
fighters. They were down to three, but
then a new flight of nine fighters arrived.
The twelve began ganging up on the Eagle. The ship slowly became a wreck. Forge was hit, and Slash took over flight
operations from secondary control.
Rogue and Shadowcat joined him there to take over weapons control and
help Psylocke. Gambit and Wolverine had
knocked six Kree ships out of the fight.
They were almost to the Shi'ar fleet.
Suddenly, an urgent call from Iceman.
"Hey, Slash man, the engines are
overheating, and this time, there's nothing I can do." Slash thought for a second.
"Alright. Forge, get down there and help Bobby. Jean, where's Corsair? I
thought he said he was going to cover us!"
"Right there." Suddenly, the Starjammer uncloaked and began
to blast the Kree fighters. However,
the Kree fighters turned and headed off to chase the Starjammer. The heat was off of them for a few moments.
"Bobby?"
"Sorry skipper. She's goin' critical. There's nothing Forge an' I can do. Looks like we've got to abandon ship." Slash crashed his fist on the control panel
in front of him. Jean suddenly, came on
the radio with a frantic voice.
"Slash! Corsair is in trouble! He
can't shake the Kree. Slash was numb
and silent. "Slash? Matt?"
He slowly came around.
"Tell Corsair to give us two
minutes, and then lure them back to the Eagle. The rest of you man the escape pods. Abandon ship. Beast, go
with the wounded. Forge, get up
here." With that, Psylocke and Rogue
got up and ran out the door. Shadowcat,
however, did not go.
"I'm not leaving you."
"Yes you are. In case I don't make it out, I want you to
take care of Laura." Tears came to her
eyes.
"Don't you say that. You will."
"And if I should die in getting you
all to safety, tell Laura I love her."
Tears came to his eyes. "Now,
get out of here, before I have to take drastic action." She slowly turned, and as Forge entered, she
returned to him for a long kiss. She
pulled away, and then ran out the door to the escape pod. Slash called Forge over.
The escape pods slowly gathered away from the Eagle. She looked like a ruined wreck. But she had saved the Shi'ar Empire. Rogue, Jean and Shadowcat had squeezed into
one pod. Shadowcat waited anxiously for
the last pod, containing Forge and Slash.
The Starjammer appeared with the Kree fighters in tow. Suddenly, the Eagle exploded and
destroyed the pursuing fighters.
Shadowcat couldn't look, so she turned to Jean for comfort. She looked up at Jean, who shook her
head. Shadowcat began to sob, and a
tear came to Rogue's eye. Then she
looked out the window.
"KATE! LOOK!" Suddenly, from out
of the settling fireball that was the Eagle came the cargo hold that had
saved them before. It was burned and
charred, but suddenly, it broke apart, and two men in spacesuits came out and
drifted towards the escape pods.
"See Kate? Told you we'd be fine." Came
Slash's reassuring voice on the radio.
Shadowcat was to surprised to see her husband floating in space.. The Starjammer returned and brought the
escape pods and the X-Men floating in space on board. The all gathered up on the bridge to watch the Eagle burn
to space dust. Slash turned to Forge.
"She was a tough little ship."
"Little?" They all chuckled over that one.
"Yeah, she served her purpose.
Guess now I'll have to build another one." Corsair joined them both.
"Ha ha! Told you we'd smoke those bastards. Sorry about your ship."
"That's OK Corsair. We didn't lose anyone, so that was a good
thing." Slash flashed Corsair a smile.
"Now let's get home and see
Scott." Suddenly, the demeanor of the
room changed totally. Corsair noticed
in an instant. "What's wrong with you
people? You look like the walking dead
every time I mention Scott. Now I
demand to know this instant where he is!"
Slash took him by the arm.
"I think we should talk…" Corsair
cut him off.
"NO! I want to talk about Scott
NOW! Where is he?" Slash looked at the floor, the team, and
then Corsair.
"He's dead." Corsair's face turned to one of total
shock. "Scott died a few missions
ago. He…took a bullet to save us, and
some of our teammates. He's buried by
the lake in Xavier's family cemetery.
We didn't want to tell you and totally lose your focus on stopping the
Kree. I'm sorry Captain Summers." Corsair slowly turned around and put his
hand on Slash's shoulder.
"Dead? All now? My wife, Scott,
Alex…" Slash perked up.
"Who's Alex?"
"Scott's younger brother…" Corsair began to walk away.
"The only brother I know is
Havok. He's Scott's brother and working
with X-Factor right now. Yeah, I think
his name is Alex." Corsair's face lit
up like a light bulb.
"I'm going to go to my
quarters. Could someone take me to
Scott's grave?"
"I think I will." Piped Jean.
Hepzibah, the helmsman, turned the Starjammer to head for home. As they reached Earth, Lilandra came on the
viewscreen.
"Thank you X-Men. We owe you this great victory. We are sorry at the loss of your ship. It was a noble and honorable sacrifice made
for victory over the Kree forces. We
wish you peace until we meet again." Up
until now, Slash had purposefully and skillfully avoiding his wife. She had the look of death on her face, and
wielded the evil eye like Slash had never seen before. She managed to corner him down and then she
slapped him.
"HOW COULD YOU?"
"It was for the sake of the
universe. There was no other way the Eagle
and Corsair were gonna make it. We
needed a quick answer to destroy all those fighters."
"WELL YOU COULD HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT
GIVING ME A HEART ATTACK!"
"I'm…sorry Kate. Can you ever forgive me?" She looked into his eyes, and knew he was
sincere.
"How bout this?" She quickly dropped him to the floor by
kicking out his legs from under him.
Then she slowly got down on top of him, and they embraced. They rolled around for a few seconds, then
Gambit came walking by.
"Ah, Gambit tink you should get a
room." They both looked up at him and
they all got a good laugh.
The Starjammer landed as close at it
would come to the cemetery plot next to Breakstone Lake. Corsair and Jean went off to visit Scott's
grave. The rest of the Starjammers waited
for their commanding officer to return.
The X-Men were ready for a good shower, and a long night of rest and
relaxation. They all slowly walked back
up to the mansion, then Wolverine stopped them and began sniffing.
"Hmm. Someone's been here. I
can smell 'em. They could still be
here." Slash whipped out his MP-5 while
everyone else readied themselves for battle.
Slash moved in position next to the open front door of the mansion. Gambit had his back with a ready charged Ace
of Hearts.
"GO!" He shouted. Slash charged
in the room, followed by Gambit and Wolverine.
The stench of blood made Slash vomit, that and the site of the mangled,
burned corpse that lay before them.
Who
is it? Wait and see. Hope you enjoyed their space outing.
