(Seven)
A short time later, Fallen startled awake with a gasp, drenched in a fear induced sweat. She'd had a terrible nightmare, one of many and certainly not the last. Valentin had provided her with plenty of material to work with on top of the full plate the Dognan had dished out for her already. She straightened up on the pilot's stick and groaned. Her earlier high was gone and she was now very sore.
"Good morrow, Fallen," Kimble greeted. He had returned just before she woke.
"Uhnn...Good morrow, Kimble. Where are we?"
"Ten minutes ta Nine."
Fallen stretched, still balanced on the stick. She looked down at the X-men. "You guys okay?"
"Just ducky," Logan grumbled irritably.
Valentin came down the hallway. The lights brightened. "How close are we?"
"'Bout ten minutes out of Nine," Fallen answered.
"Good. I can't wait to get out of this crate." He moved over to where the X-men were chained. "Did you enjoy your little trip? Enjoy our fine Clan transportation?"
"You people're all crazy," Logan complained bitterly. "We won't serve you!"
"Oh, yes you will. You will if you ever want to see your home again. My guess is Cerebus will make you an offer you won't refuse."
"Why should we believe you gonna bring us back, neh? You don' 'xactly inspire confidence," Gambit countered.
Valentin grinned an evil, wicked smile. "You don't fight, you're useless to us. Useless things have a way of dying painfully around here. You don't want to find out how, son."
"You gonna 'ave to work 'arder dan dat to scare me, vous encule de mere," Gambit snapped, his ruby red eyes glittering with arrogant anger. "Gambit ain't no petite fille you can shove around. Let's pull off dese chains, see who's gonna be sorry."
Valentin wasn't impressed. "Your weakness is surpassed only by your stupidity, alpha. Have a care, boy. I took you down easily already, I can do it again. You already got one fine cut to your pretty little face, would be a shame to get another." He then turned to Fallen. "Open a hailing frequency. Have your freak here---" he gestured at Kimble "--call up a squad to meet us at the hanger bay. Inform Cerebus that our little trip was a success."
Fallen nodded at Kimble. "Do it."
"Aye, Fallen." Kimble picked up a headset radio from next to him and began to speak into it.
Valentin walked over to join some of his men who were returning to their seats. The rest of the Clansmen came out from the galley, laughing and smelling of food and beer. They were returning to port and the men were glad. After months outside in the wild fighting the Dognan, none of them felt comfortable in Fallen's strange ship.
Lucky announced, "Clan Station Nine ahead. Prepare to port."
The Clansmen took their seats and The X-men were wary and alert, not knowing what to expect next. Meanwhile Fallen and Kimble negotiated their landing into the hanger of the large Clan military station. The two were an organized team, working together like a well oiled machine. The landing was smooth and well co-ordinated and it wasn't long before the X-men felt the ship touch down onto solid ground. The Clansmen rose from their seats and began to organize themselves and their belongings, getting ready to depart. There was a loud hiss as the Main hatchway of the Lucky Dragon opened up and the ramp lowered down, allowing warm air from outside the ship to trickle in.
A squad of fresh soldiers entered the ship and the leader spoke with Valentin, gesturing to the prisoners as he asked Valentin questions. He knew they were alphas from the restraining collars they wore and was cautious about how they were to be handled. Valentin wanted them taken to a holding cell to be processed. They wouldn't be there long, Logan heard him say something about them meeting Cerebus later this day.
The squad approached and the X-men were dragged to their feet. Gambit groaned as his legs were shot with pins and needles and he leaned into Beast who did his best to hold him up. His head throbbed as his headache threatened to return. Even Logan was a bit wobbly. With no healing factor, he was all pins and needles as well. They weren't given much time to recover, each X-man got his own double escort and was dragged none too gently down the isle towards the outside hatch.
As they passed her on the way out, Fallen spoke to them, her eyes sad and tired. "Good luck to you. Perhaps we will meet again under better circumstances."
They didn't get a chance to respond before they were roughly escorted out to the hanger bay.