Loose Ends
By Trynia Merin
Disclaimer: Excalibur and its characters are property of XMEN. This is a work of fiction, and is not meant for profit or to demean the characters. The events here take place after my first story Dreams Nailed. Please R and R. This part has no R rated stuff, but I'd put it a PG for language and some tense situations. As for adult material, they'll be marked in upcoming individual chapters.
******
Chapter 10
Both of them activated their armor's chameleon mechanisms and moved off to hide till the battle was over. Wisdom glared at the women rushing back and forth as a voice came over the loudspeaker; "This is your Kommander! Prepare to engage the enemy! Show no MERCY! MAKE THEM know we mean business! For the glory of her Mastrex, Saturnine!"
"For the glory of her Mastrex!" the women chanted, saluting in a style that would have done Adolf Hitler himself proud.
"Ruddy bitches," mumbled Wisdom. He couldn't help but think that Sciluna WA S involved in this somehow. He saw the image flash on the high screen replacing the dagger with the cold smiling sadistic face of a platinum blonde. Courtney Ross or her look alike, Saturnine, the leader of this mess. And he suddenly recognized that she had the EXACT same look that Sciluna had come to wear as of late.
"Please kick her arse for me when ya see her," he whispered a silent prayer. While Wisdom had never been a praying man in much of his life, he demanded SOEMTING of fate that he would see Kitty again when this was all over.
***
As Kitty and Cerise materialized, they glanced left and right. Cerise's circuitry sparked with sensor readings, and she quickly drew Kitty out of the way as they rushed down the halls. Kitty shivered when she saw the interior of the s hip, and felt her blood run cold. She had seen this technology before, and the ship looked remarkably like something the Phalanx would have constructed, or grown rather.
"What's up Big C...' she asked. "You said you and I were going to LET ourselves be captured?"
"So you and I can get closest to Saturnine. I recall she wished you as a 'captive' when she was last at Braddock Manor... and she will expect you to come after Brian and Meggan. Is it not logical to give her what she wants?"
"Ah," she said sardonically. "But what's this about putting up a fight?"
"You and I are warriors. Give her what she wants... and give her confidence that she has all the pieces of the trilogic game..." said Cerise. "Standby to deactivate chameleon mechanisms..."
Kitty nodded, knowing the armor had a built in stealth mode that was concealing all the teams. They had all activated the stealth modes when they reached their destinations. She could hear the sounds of the loudspeaker, spoken in English echoing throughout the ship, "This is the Kommander speaking... our Majestrix Saturnine would normally wish us to show our enemy no mercy, but we must drive them off, and make an example of them for their mistress."
"Shit," said Kitty. "I hope D'marran can fight them off..."
"That is why she must think she has something to bargain with," said Cerise. "Namely us. And wouldn't you like a chance to see the look of humiliation on her face when she sees that we have outsmarted her..."
"I like how you think, Big C... and the others will get Brian and Meggan freed... right? While we let Saturnine see us?"
"Affirmative... so let us make our presence known," said Cerise. Nodding to her former teammate, Kitty Pryde readied herself as they walked out into the open, almost careless about their lack of hiding as Vixen's troops turned. Cerise hurled a blast at them, and they scattered, rolling over in the crimson blast to bear their guns.
Kitty phased through the resulting beams as Cerise deflected the blows with an easy shield. They nodded as they moved into battle, kitty phasing as she whirled forwards and disarmed the first trooper, and sent her fist cracking painfully solid into the next one. Cerise's battle-axe formed from solid light, and she swung it in ever broadening arcs as the troopers sounded the alarm.
"GET them! Intruders!" cried their leader.
"You heard 'em big C, let's not disappoint them!" Kitty said, eager to kick some butt, and let off some steam at the last twenty-four hours events. She had a personal score to settle with Courtney, and she knew Cerise had chosen her for this purpose. Both the ninja and the Shi'ar warrior swung into action.
"Intruders surrender or die!" shouted the Lieutender, who wore a blue space suit with red piping and the dagger logo inscribed in a circle on her sleeve. Their spherical helmets covered the tops of their faces, while their lips, clearly feminine, curled back in contempt to show their white teeth in a battle face.
"You hear 'em," said Cerise. "We will NOT surrender!"
"No way!" Kitty shouted as she sank into the floor, then came up behind the three troopers to the left. She grabbed two heads and knocked them together with a crack, and sent the other flying with a savage kick to the kidneys as she levitated momentarily on air.
Cerise's axe flew back and forth as she slashed at her opponents chests, not killing them but seriously wounding them. Blood dripped from her axe, and Kitty's fists flew in a fury as she felt the crack of nose bones from the next two troopers she hit.
"Aren't we being a bit harsh?" she asked Cerise.
"According to my Majestrix, these murderers have already caused much damage. Somehow they slaughtered half a scout bug which was just coming to investigate her presence in this system..."
"Slaughtered?" she asked.
"Why else do you think the Majestrix Lilandra sent me here with a fully armed battle cruiser?" she asked.
"Damn," Kitty said as she flipped upside down and sent both her feet cracking into the heads of two more footsoldiers as she whisked their guns from their hands.
"GET THEM!" screamed the Kommander, whose helmet was red. Kitty watched as Cerise formed a sphere of energy around her, choking off her air. She gasped, choking as the air was slowly sealed off.
"Cerise..." she gasped.
"I'm not killing her, merely depriving her of oxygen till she passes out," said Cerise, who suddenly dealt the Kommander a blow in her neck, which made her crumple. Their casualties were piling up, but Kitty failed to see the energy net, which crackled over her. She screamed in pain as she was snared, her phasing temporarily disrupted. There came a KCHOW as something landed in her armor, piercing it, and she felt oblivion.
"Kitty!" Cerise shouted as she turned from the Kommander and rushed to her friend's side. Over Kitty's limp form stood the Lieutender, who raised something in her hand. It crackled with energy as a net sailed toward Cerise. As it fanned out, Cerise levitated and sent a beam of energy to surround Kitty, limp in the net and pull her toward her in a sphere. She towed her unconscious friend with one hand as she directed beams of crimson power toward the others that fired at her.
"You can't stop me," Cerise said. "Few are the constructs of man or woman which can stand my unfettered fury!"
"Tough talk, feather brain!" shouted the Lieutender. Cerise felt something sting her back as it lashed around her neck. From below she saw a sparking surge of power streak through a long cable, which had lashed around her legs. Four Soldiers had unleashed energy whips, and snared her in them. Cerise thrashed, beaming wild blasts in all directions. Seeing her chance, the Lieutender took three steps and flipped up, a gun in her hand as she pressed it to Cerise' armored neck, and shot point blank with a resounding KCHOW!
"KOMBAT has ceased!" shouted the Lieutender, as her comrades snared Cerise in their energy whips and the sphere faded from around Kitty. Both women were tossed into a heap as the footsoldiers attended to their fallen comrades. The Kommander groaned as she came to, and saw her Lieutender slowly helping her up.
"You are victorious?" she asked slowly as she leaned on her Lieutender.
"Yes Kommander Maxima," she said slowly. "Our special Huntars have captured the Shi'ar saboteurs..."
"Good, now we can have some bargaining power, and send them over for Interrogation, the Mastrex will be pleased," smiled Kommander Maxima cruelly as she walked over and put her hand down to take off the helmets. Gasps came out when the features of Cerise and Kitty were revealed.
"IT is the promised," whispered Lieutender Gallia.
"The Shadowcat," whispered Maxima reverently. They had been on the ill-fated raid which had been sent to capture Kitty Pryde and secure the team Excalibur a year or so ago.
"We must take her to the Mastrex..."
"Yes. Tell the ships to only cripple the ship. They can take a message to their leader, Lilandra Nerimani," said the Kommander. "I personally will convey the news to our Mastrex!"
"Hail the Mastrex!" shouted the troops as they saluted, one hand held up diagonally from the body.
***
Khaos and Amanda materialized on the next ship, glancing around. Their silver space armor crackled with eldrich power. They quickly moved away into the cargo hold, Amanda's cloaking spell hiding them from view of Satyrnyne's troopers. They heard the sounds of battle and the shouts as laser fire rammed into the ship, rocking it.
IN the bridge, they hid in plain sight, watching the battle from the pov of the enemy as Cerise's ship turned to bear on the main screen. Frantically the all-female crew swung into action, shouting orders as she brought their cruiser to bear.
"This ship is alive," Khaos whispered to Amanda, unheard as she kept up her clever spell of concealment.
"Yes, like the Phalanx..." she nodded, keeping up her concentration. "How did they..."
"We shall soon see," he said. "Let us hope D'marran knows which ship we are on..."
"Yeah," nodded Amanda, still not trusting Cerise.
"And since their ships are not cold iron, but partly living matter, techno organic, our powers could theoretically affect them... in a way that this Saturnine did not anticipate," Khaos said through his com.
"Yes... so Cerise DOES need us more then she realizes," Amanda said.
"Do not be bitter," said Khaos. "I do not think she will long hold unrequited feelings for your mate..."
"What makes you so sure?" she asked.
"Last night, I made a proposal to her that she could not refuse," Khaos smiled.
"You mean, you and she..." Amanda said, with a smile perking up her lips.
"Indeed... she was MOST receptive..."
"That's the BEST news I've heard all day," Amanda laughed.
"Concentrate on your spell," he smiled back. Hopes lifted, she channeled all her concentration into the spell.
***
Rahne and Kurt materialized on the last ship, and Kurt quickly ducked into the shadows, climbing the walls while Rahne hid behind some crates. They had materialized in the cargo hold, and awaited the sounds of battle as the ship shook.
"I hope D'marran has his head on straight," Kurt mumbled into the comlink. So far the crew rushed about, sending out small ships to intercept, Nightcrawler guessed.
"D'marran to Nightcrawler, are you in position?" came D'marran's voice.
"Ja," Kurt nodded. "Where now?"
"Stay out of sight. We've put everyone else on board. We'll break off the attack in five minutes... and then we're hoping they head back to the base. We've got a tracker on each of you that will transmit an encrypted signal. Hopefully we can trace it to her base... and you can commence the search."
"Have you heard from Cerise, and are they able to detect this signal?" Kurt asked.
"It's triple scrambled. I don't' think she has our latest Shi'ar subspace codes. Your armor's decoding it now. She'll think it's just space static..." said D'marran. "Cerise and Kitty have been noticed, and already they've been captured..."
"Mein Gott," Nightcrawler gasped.
"Hold on, it's part of the plan," D'marran's voice reassured him. Just then they heard the alarms stop, and the sounds of the crewmembers cheering as a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"When your ship reaches the base, you must get out, and scope the area. Wolfsbane must use her senses to scope out the captives, as we hope Cerise and Kitty will be able to distract Saturnine, and the stealth team tap into the computers to disable the weapons and the shield generators. You'll have to report back, and hope that the others will scope out the layouts... the technoorganic confirms that he'll transmit the layout of the base to us, and to you once he hooks into the computers..."
"Good," said Kurt. "I think they're convinced you're gone..."
"D'marran out. Good luck, and Sharra and Kythree's grace be with you, Nightcrawler and your team..."
"Aye," Kurt nodded. "God be with us all, and have mercy on us..."
"Kurt, listen," Rahne whispered. They tuned into the broadcasts which rung out loud and clear throughout the ship, which was pressurized. Still they kept their helmets on, just in case so the ship would not see them. They quickly operated their armor's chameleon mechanisms, adjusting them for the atmosphere as they heard the loudspeakers.
"This is your Kommander! Break off the attack! WE have hostages, and we have repelled the attackers! Return to base immediately!" said the loudspeaker. "WE have shown the enemy we are stronger! Now we must have the celebration!"
"What?" Kurt asked.
"We have captured two saboteurs and we will broadcast their interrogation live over the band. We will show the Shi'ar fools that we are a force to be reckoned with! Your Majestrix Saturnine commends you on this brave show of force!"
"Indeed," Kurt mumbled.
"Kitty and Cerise?" asked Rahne.
"I hope they know what they're doing," Kurt said as he clung to the ceiling. Rahne nodded, feeling bitterness at the thought of her friends being captured, even if it was according to plan. From what she heard about the Majestrix Saturnine, she figured it would be a nasty ordeal for Kitty and Cerise. They had to work fast.
***
By Trynia Merin
Disclaimer: Excalibur and its characters are property of XMEN. This is a work of fiction, and is not meant for profit or to demean the characters. The events here take place after my first story Dreams Nailed. Please R and R. This part has no R rated stuff, but I'd put it a PG for language and some tense situations. As for adult material, they'll be marked in upcoming individual chapters.
******
Chapter 10
Both of them activated their armor's chameleon mechanisms and moved off to hide till the battle was over. Wisdom glared at the women rushing back and forth as a voice came over the loudspeaker; "This is your Kommander! Prepare to engage the enemy! Show no MERCY! MAKE THEM know we mean business! For the glory of her Mastrex, Saturnine!"
"For the glory of her Mastrex!" the women chanted, saluting in a style that would have done Adolf Hitler himself proud.
"Ruddy bitches," mumbled Wisdom. He couldn't help but think that Sciluna WA S involved in this somehow. He saw the image flash on the high screen replacing the dagger with the cold smiling sadistic face of a platinum blonde. Courtney Ross or her look alike, Saturnine, the leader of this mess. And he suddenly recognized that she had the EXACT same look that Sciluna had come to wear as of late.
"Please kick her arse for me when ya see her," he whispered a silent prayer. While Wisdom had never been a praying man in much of his life, he demanded SOEMTING of fate that he would see Kitty again when this was all over.
***
As Kitty and Cerise materialized, they glanced left and right. Cerise's circuitry sparked with sensor readings, and she quickly drew Kitty out of the way as they rushed down the halls. Kitty shivered when she saw the interior of the s hip, and felt her blood run cold. She had seen this technology before, and the ship looked remarkably like something the Phalanx would have constructed, or grown rather.
"What's up Big C...' she asked. "You said you and I were going to LET ourselves be captured?"
"So you and I can get closest to Saturnine. I recall she wished you as a 'captive' when she was last at Braddock Manor... and she will expect you to come after Brian and Meggan. Is it not logical to give her what she wants?"
"Ah," she said sardonically. "But what's this about putting up a fight?"
"You and I are warriors. Give her what she wants... and give her confidence that she has all the pieces of the trilogic game..." said Cerise. "Standby to deactivate chameleon mechanisms..."
Kitty nodded, knowing the armor had a built in stealth mode that was concealing all the teams. They had all activated the stealth modes when they reached their destinations. She could hear the sounds of the loudspeaker, spoken in English echoing throughout the ship, "This is the Kommander speaking... our Majestrix Saturnine would normally wish us to show our enemy no mercy, but we must drive them off, and make an example of them for their mistress."
"Shit," said Kitty. "I hope D'marran can fight them off..."
"That is why she must think she has something to bargain with," said Cerise. "Namely us. And wouldn't you like a chance to see the look of humiliation on her face when she sees that we have outsmarted her..."
"I like how you think, Big C... and the others will get Brian and Meggan freed... right? While we let Saturnine see us?"
"Affirmative... so let us make our presence known," said Cerise. Nodding to her former teammate, Kitty Pryde readied herself as they walked out into the open, almost careless about their lack of hiding as Vixen's troops turned. Cerise hurled a blast at them, and they scattered, rolling over in the crimson blast to bear their guns.
Kitty phased through the resulting beams as Cerise deflected the blows with an easy shield. They nodded as they moved into battle, kitty phasing as she whirled forwards and disarmed the first trooper, and sent her fist cracking painfully solid into the next one. Cerise's battle-axe formed from solid light, and she swung it in ever broadening arcs as the troopers sounded the alarm.
"GET them! Intruders!" cried their leader.
"You heard 'em big C, let's not disappoint them!" Kitty said, eager to kick some butt, and let off some steam at the last twenty-four hours events. She had a personal score to settle with Courtney, and she knew Cerise had chosen her for this purpose. Both the ninja and the Shi'ar warrior swung into action.
"Intruders surrender or die!" shouted the Lieutender, who wore a blue space suit with red piping and the dagger logo inscribed in a circle on her sleeve. Their spherical helmets covered the tops of their faces, while their lips, clearly feminine, curled back in contempt to show their white teeth in a battle face.
"You hear 'em," said Cerise. "We will NOT surrender!"
"No way!" Kitty shouted as she sank into the floor, then came up behind the three troopers to the left. She grabbed two heads and knocked them together with a crack, and sent the other flying with a savage kick to the kidneys as she levitated momentarily on air.
Cerise's axe flew back and forth as she slashed at her opponents chests, not killing them but seriously wounding them. Blood dripped from her axe, and Kitty's fists flew in a fury as she felt the crack of nose bones from the next two troopers she hit.
"Aren't we being a bit harsh?" she asked Cerise.
"According to my Majestrix, these murderers have already caused much damage. Somehow they slaughtered half a scout bug which was just coming to investigate her presence in this system..."
"Slaughtered?" she asked.
"Why else do you think the Majestrix Lilandra sent me here with a fully armed battle cruiser?" she asked.
"Damn," Kitty said as she flipped upside down and sent both her feet cracking into the heads of two more footsoldiers as she whisked their guns from their hands.
"GET THEM!" screamed the Kommander, whose helmet was red. Kitty watched as Cerise formed a sphere of energy around her, choking off her air. She gasped, choking as the air was slowly sealed off.
"Cerise..." she gasped.
"I'm not killing her, merely depriving her of oxygen till she passes out," said Cerise, who suddenly dealt the Kommander a blow in her neck, which made her crumple. Their casualties were piling up, but Kitty failed to see the energy net, which crackled over her. She screamed in pain as she was snared, her phasing temporarily disrupted. There came a KCHOW as something landed in her armor, piercing it, and she felt oblivion.
"Kitty!" Cerise shouted as she turned from the Kommander and rushed to her friend's side. Over Kitty's limp form stood the Lieutender, who raised something in her hand. It crackled with energy as a net sailed toward Cerise. As it fanned out, Cerise levitated and sent a beam of energy to surround Kitty, limp in the net and pull her toward her in a sphere. She towed her unconscious friend with one hand as she directed beams of crimson power toward the others that fired at her.
"You can't stop me," Cerise said. "Few are the constructs of man or woman which can stand my unfettered fury!"
"Tough talk, feather brain!" shouted the Lieutender. Cerise felt something sting her back as it lashed around her neck. From below she saw a sparking surge of power streak through a long cable, which had lashed around her legs. Four Soldiers had unleashed energy whips, and snared her in them. Cerise thrashed, beaming wild blasts in all directions. Seeing her chance, the Lieutender took three steps and flipped up, a gun in her hand as she pressed it to Cerise' armored neck, and shot point blank with a resounding KCHOW!
"KOMBAT has ceased!" shouted the Lieutender, as her comrades snared Cerise in their energy whips and the sphere faded from around Kitty. Both women were tossed into a heap as the footsoldiers attended to their fallen comrades. The Kommander groaned as she came to, and saw her Lieutender slowly helping her up.
"You are victorious?" she asked slowly as she leaned on her Lieutender.
"Yes Kommander Maxima," she said slowly. "Our special Huntars have captured the Shi'ar saboteurs..."
"Good, now we can have some bargaining power, and send them over for Interrogation, the Mastrex will be pleased," smiled Kommander Maxima cruelly as she walked over and put her hand down to take off the helmets. Gasps came out when the features of Cerise and Kitty were revealed.
"IT is the promised," whispered Lieutender Gallia.
"The Shadowcat," whispered Maxima reverently. They had been on the ill-fated raid which had been sent to capture Kitty Pryde and secure the team Excalibur a year or so ago.
"We must take her to the Mastrex..."
"Yes. Tell the ships to only cripple the ship. They can take a message to their leader, Lilandra Nerimani," said the Kommander. "I personally will convey the news to our Mastrex!"
"Hail the Mastrex!" shouted the troops as they saluted, one hand held up diagonally from the body.
***
Khaos and Amanda materialized on the next ship, glancing around. Their silver space armor crackled with eldrich power. They quickly moved away into the cargo hold, Amanda's cloaking spell hiding them from view of Satyrnyne's troopers. They heard the sounds of battle and the shouts as laser fire rammed into the ship, rocking it.
IN the bridge, they hid in plain sight, watching the battle from the pov of the enemy as Cerise's ship turned to bear on the main screen. Frantically the all-female crew swung into action, shouting orders as she brought their cruiser to bear.
"This ship is alive," Khaos whispered to Amanda, unheard as she kept up her clever spell of concealment.
"Yes, like the Phalanx..." she nodded, keeping up her concentration. "How did they..."
"We shall soon see," he said. "Let us hope D'marran knows which ship we are on..."
"Yeah," nodded Amanda, still not trusting Cerise.
"And since their ships are not cold iron, but partly living matter, techno organic, our powers could theoretically affect them... in a way that this Saturnine did not anticipate," Khaos said through his com.
"Yes... so Cerise DOES need us more then she realizes," Amanda said.
"Do not be bitter," said Khaos. "I do not think she will long hold unrequited feelings for your mate..."
"What makes you so sure?" she asked.
"Last night, I made a proposal to her that she could not refuse," Khaos smiled.
"You mean, you and she..." Amanda said, with a smile perking up her lips.
"Indeed... she was MOST receptive..."
"That's the BEST news I've heard all day," Amanda laughed.
"Concentrate on your spell," he smiled back. Hopes lifted, she channeled all her concentration into the spell.
***
Rahne and Kurt materialized on the last ship, and Kurt quickly ducked into the shadows, climbing the walls while Rahne hid behind some crates. They had materialized in the cargo hold, and awaited the sounds of battle as the ship shook.
"I hope D'marran has his head on straight," Kurt mumbled into the comlink. So far the crew rushed about, sending out small ships to intercept, Nightcrawler guessed.
"D'marran to Nightcrawler, are you in position?" came D'marran's voice.
"Ja," Kurt nodded. "Where now?"
"Stay out of sight. We've put everyone else on board. We'll break off the attack in five minutes... and then we're hoping they head back to the base. We've got a tracker on each of you that will transmit an encrypted signal. Hopefully we can trace it to her base... and you can commence the search."
"Have you heard from Cerise, and are they able to detect this signal?" Kurt asked.
"It's triple scrambled. I don't' think she has our latest Shi'ar subspace codes. Your armor's decoding it now. She'll think it's just space static..." said D'marran. "Cerise and Kitty have been noticed, and already they've been captured..."
"Mein Gott," Nightcrawler gasped.
"Hold on, it's part of the plan," D'marran's voice reassured him. Just then they heard the alarms stop, and the sounds of the crewmembers cheering as a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"When your ship reaches the base, you must get out, and scope the area. Wolfsbane must use her senses to scope out the captives, as we hope Cerise and Kitty will be able to distract Saturnine, and the stealth team tap into the computers to disable the weapons and the shield generators. You'll have to report back, and hope that the others will scope out the layouts... the technoorganic confirms that he'll transmit the layout of the base to us, and to you once he hooks into the computers..."
"Good," said Kurt. "I think they're convinced you're gone..."
"D'marran out. Good luck, and Sharra and Kythree's grace be with you, Nightcrawler and your team..."
"Aye," Kurt nodded. "God be with us all, and have mercy on us..."
"Kurt, listen," Rahne whispered. They tuned into the broadcasts which rung out loud and clear throughout the ship, which was pressurized. Still they kept their helmets on, just in case so the ship would not see them. They quickly operated their armor's chameleon mechanisms, adjusting them for the atmosphere as they heard the loudspeakers.
"This is your Kommander! Break off the attack! WE have hostages, and we have repelled the attackers! Return to base immediately!" said the loudspeaker. "WE have shown the enemy we are stronger! Now we must have the celebration!"
"What?" Kurt asked.
"We have captured two saboteurs and we will broadcast their interrogation live over the band. We will show the Shi'ar fools that we are a force to be reckoned with! Your Majestrix Saturnine commends you on this brave show of force!"
"Indeed," Kurt mumbled.
"Kitty and Cerise?" asked Rahne.
"I hope they know what they're doing," Kurt said as he clung to the ceiling. Rahne nodded, feeling bitterness at the thought of her friends being captured, even if it was according to plan. From what she heard about the Majestrix Saturnine, she figured it would be a nasty ordeal for Kitty and Cerise. They had to work fast.
***