CHAPTER 1 OF THE PHOENIX AND THE WOLVERINE

II

Fire; flames; dead soldiers in uniform.

She could see the bodies as she walked among them; but there was one she was searching for.

He had to be here...she could not remember his name; it seemed to linger just out of reach.

Then she saw a familiar body; it was that of a man; covered in dust and blood. He was lying on his side facing the other way.

She felt a sob escape her throat as she ran to him; she knelt down and turned him towards her; praying he lived.

His chest barely rose; his face was ashen as blood ran from his mouth. He was not long for this plane of existence.

"Please! Please speak to me!" cried Jean.

The man known as Wolverine opened his eyes.

"Jean..." his voice was so weak "I said...I would die for you," then he smiled and died in her arms.

Jean stared at him in shock then started screaming.

At that point; everything started exploding around her.

III

Jean woke up screaming and in a blind panic.

She was in a glass covered pod; she pounded the covering frantically and continued to hit out when the top cover began to retract slowly.

"Dr Grey! Please calm down."

Jean ignored the voice and was still screaming when firm hands gripped her shoulders and shook her.

She pushed the hands away as they helped her sit up.

When the pressure was gone; she stopped screaming; her throat now sore from exhaustion. She quickly opened her eyes as her heart pounded furiously; she tried in vain to control her breathing as she looked at herself and around her.

She was wearing a one piece stretchy white jumpsuit; the room's floor and walls were white and gleaming.

She could see she was in a bed which seemed to protrude from the wall; on her right were 2 large covered pods. That seemed to be the only thing in the huge room.

She could sense their minds of the nearby occupants of the two pads and one of them was very familiar to her.

Jean felt her heart rate slow down as she tried to lean over to see who was in the pod closet to her.

"May I be of assistance?"

The young male voice that came from her left side almost had her jumping out of her bed.

She turned quickly to face a young male teenager. He had curly dark brown hair; was slim and tall. He wore a red plaid shirt tucked into a pair of dark blue jeans. She guessed his age would be around 15 or 16 years old.

At once she realized he was very odd.

That was because she could not sense him at all.

"Who...are you ?" she asked warily.

The boy smiled earnestly. " I am your medical assistant and also your engineer. My designation is ...Q Junior."

Jean frowned at his words; her instinct was that something was off about her surroundings. She gingerly tried to get out of her bed.

The boy called 'Q Junior' came forward to help her.

"May I assist you ?" he asked again.

Jean hesitated; her first thought was to refuse; but she felt so exhausted.

"Yes; you may," she said.

Q Junior grabbed her left forearm and gently helped her off the bed.

Jean touched his hand; desperately hoping to hear or feel his thoughts; she could barely hide her shock when she still felt nothing from the boy beside her.

Once her feet touched the pristine white floor; she felt strength gradually returning to her legs. She thanked Q Junior for his help and moved away from him; trying to get a feel of her environment.

At the moment; she could only feel the two other minds still asleep in the two covered pods beside her's.

She turned to face the boy.

"Okay ...Q Junior; where are we?"

She saw him swallow nervously before replying.

"We're in the medical bay on board the spaceship Xavier; we're in space about 5 months away from Earth's solar system."

His words were met with dead silence.

Jean stared at him and was convinced for several seconds that she was either having another nightmare or having an extremely bad nervous breakdown.

"You have got to be kidding," she stated blankly.

Q Junior said nothing; he just maintained eye contact.

Jean was the first to look away; something was seriously wrong...there was something else she should be thinking about.

"Dr Grey; what do you remember?"

Her head jerked up to look at Q Junior in fear. " What...?"

"I said; what do you remember last before you ...fell asleep?" asked Q Junior tentatively.

Jean stared at him as memories that had been buried slowly rose to the surface.

The Phoenix...Scott; Professor Xavier; the Institute; Magneto and the Golden gate bridge...Wolverine; flashing claws; excruciating pain and peace.

"Oh God no!" cried Jean as she felt her knees give way; she did not notice the pods quivering and shaking beside her as she unknowingly began to unleash her telekinectic powers.

"Dr Grey," called Q Junior a bit nervously. She did not hear him as she wallowed in her grief.

"DR GREY!" yelled the boy again.

Instantly the shaking of the pods stopped as his shout drew her attention and powers to the boy infront of her.

However her abilities had no effect on him.

"I believe one of the other passengers is about to wake up."

That was when she heard the hissing sound of the second pod covering sliding back.

Jean pulled herself up. "Who is it...who else...?"

"His name is Wolverine," said Q Junior gently.

Jean stared at Q for a millisecond and quickly moved round to watch the pod cover slide back the rest of the way.

She stood there for an eternity as she watched the man she begged to kill her.

He looked so peacefully asleep; she felt her hand going to touch his bearded face. Then he began to stir. She drew her hand back.

She knew how he badly he reacted when woken up suddenly.

Wolverine opened his eyes slowly and the first person's face he saw was Jean Grey's.

She was supposed to be dead. He was the one who killed her.

"Jean ?" he asked in a rough voice. He had to be dreaming.

"Its' not a dream Wolverine," said Jean. She moved back slowly as he sat up on his bed. He was wearing the same one piece white jumpsuit she had.

Wolverine looked at her in shock and looked at himself.

"Where the hell are we?"

Jean could hear and feel the panic in his voice and thoughts.

"I ...don't know Wolverine."

Wolverine then noticed Q junior.

"Who are you?" the xman found his strength recovering as he quickly got out of the bed. He started flexing his hands; ready at a moment's notice to produce his adamantium claws if needed.

Q junior stared at him. " My designation is Q junior; I am Dr Grey's medical assistant and the current engineer of the space ship Xavier."

His last words caught Wolverine's attention. He raised an eyebrow.

"The Xavier ?" he asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes sir; we are currently aboard her...and we are in space as well."

Wolverine stared at him for several seconds then turned to Jean with a sceptical look on his face. "I don't buy it."

Q junior could not help but sigh. " Then let me show you. Ship please change hull consistency to see-through for viewing."

"Acknowledged," said a soft male voice which seemed to come from around them. Q junior turned back to the 2 mutants and could see them regarding the surroundings with suspicion.

"What was that?" asked Wolverine as he walked up to Q junior.

"The ship's computer; he responds to verbal commands."

Wolverine raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Wolverine; I think you better look at this," said Jean in a very worried voice.

The xman turned back to see that a wall of the ship had become translucent and showed stars zipping past in whitish lines against a dark background.

"We're at warp speed 9; that is what space looks like in wrap drive," said Q junior. Jean turned to stare at him.

She was beginning to wonder if this boy was telephatic; for he just answered her one of her many unspoken question.

"What are you... are you a mutant?" asked Jean.

Q junior shook his head. " I am an Emergency Medical and Engineering Hologram; aka EMEH beta. I was specifically assigned to assist the 3 living crew members."

"Wait; you're not human ?" asked Wolverine in surprise.

He tried to grab Q junior and was astonished when his right hand went through him. Q junior grinned at him.

" I can solidify and phase at will," he demonstrated by grabbing Wolverine's right hand and shaking it briefly before letting it go. "I have to be able to do so ; if not I would not be able to assist in treating patients or maintaining the ship's engines."

"Alright...but I knew a girl who could do the same thing and she was a mutant" said Wolverine warily; he had many questions to ask but one stood out in his mind " I'm still not convinced we are in space...but I heard you mention a third crew member."

He turned to look at the third covered pod.

"Who is in there?"

Before Q junior could reply; there was a slight hissing sound and the third pod cover began to retract to show the final occupant.

"We're about to find out," said Jean in a wary voice as she walked towards the pod. The mind was both strange and a bit familiar and the images she was getting ; were very...disturbing.

III

Q junior watched a bit anxiously as the third pod slowly opened.

He was replaying what had happened 30 minutes before he donned his 'EMEH beta' persona.

The ship was complete and stationary in a specific point in space; ready to move at his command. He had checked on the 2 stasis pods.

Jean and Wolverine were sleeping peacefully ; however it looked like Jean had entered an REM phase of her slumber.

He wondered what she was dreaming about.

"Hello Junior," said a familiar voice.

He turned to face his father; Q senior.

"I'm just about to set things off; dad."

Q gave his son a quizzical look. "Nervous ?"

His son took a deep breath and nodded quickly.

"Good...because if you weren't I would be very worried," said Q senior.

Q junior rolled his eyes. "What ever; by the by what brings you out in the open? I thought we agreed you would stay in the side lines and do nothing."

Q senior snorted. " I'm not really interfering...however I took a brief trip while you were arranging things and I came across someone very interesting."

Q junior frowned and folded his arms. "Dad; who have you been spying on ?"

"Oh lots of people and different timelines...would you like to see who I'm talking about or would you rather get on with your experiment ?"

Q junior sighed. " It's not an experiment...it's an intervention and yes I would like to see who you are talking about because you have now got me curious."

Q senior grinned evilly. "Are you sure...I mean I now you are busy.."

"Dad!" cried Q junior; now fully understanding how childish his father could be at times; Captain Picard and his god mother Aunt Janeway had his sympathy.

"Okay; if you insist," said Q senior with a long suffering sigh. He snapped his fingers and a holographic form of a young human girl appeared; numbers appeared above her head.

Q junior stared at them and gave his father a puzzled look.

"Her designation and her age...and the rest is what has been done to her," said Q senior with a solemn cold tone.

Q junior turned back to the images .

He was silent for several seconds as pictures of the girl's life appeared right next to her.

When it was over; he turned back to his father. Q Junior was furious.

"She will be included father."

Q junior's mind returned to the present as Jean and Wolverine moved closer to the slowly opening pod.

"Her designation is X23; also known as Laura Kinney; she's 13 years and 4 months old ...and she also awake."

Wolverine looked back at the girl child; she was clad in the same white jumpsuit. She looked asleep; but his keen ears had picked up the change in her heart rate. He moved forward; only to be stopped by Jean's outstretched left fore-arm. He looked at her to see her shaking her head from side to side.

Jean was the nearest; she was standing at the foot of the third pod.

"Child; we know you are awake."

The words were barely out of her mouth when the child rapidly sat up and propelled herself out of the bed with her arms extended towards Jean's chest; there was a distinct 'snikt' sound that Wolverine was all too familiar with.

"No!" screamed Wolverine as he saw adamantium claws sprout from the back of the young girl's hands. He began to move forward only to find himself locked in place.

As for the young female mutant she was also frozen in mid jump; one of the claws was at exactly one centimetre from Jean's chest.

The only people not affected were Jean Grey and Q junior.

Jean tilted her head to the one side as she regarded the frozen mutant in the air. She had waist length raven black hair; the same hue as Wolverine's and she also shared the same blue-grey eye colour.

Unlike wolverine she had 2 claws in the back of each hand and they measured roughly 12inches (30.9cm) long.

"Incredible," said Jean in astonishment.

"You can say that again," agreed the Phoenix.

Jean Grey's control almost faltered as the other presence in her became fully aware. At the moment; it seemed sleepy...and content to leave Jean in control.

Only God knew how long that would last.

"Now that you all are now awake; I expect you have questions."

Jean turned back to see Q Junior rubbing his hands in glee.

"There's a lot that has happened while you were asleep; welcome to the 24th century."

Hi everyone; sorry about the late posting; just completed 4 days of night shifts and it's my 1st day off.

This is a crossover of xmen:last stand; X23( marvel comics); star trek and battlestar galactic 2003. My next chapter will have the Earth timeline. That took a bit of searching to do and I also changed some dates in the star trek timeline so that it will all make some sort of sense.

Hope you like it! I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!

Please read and review and thanks for reading!