And so, eleven years after the events previously described, our attention returns to deep space, aboard an alien space craft and into the mind of its captain…
Scott moaned as felt her hands run over his body. She was touching him so gently, yet so firmly that it was driving him mad. Even in the pitch darkness he managed to find her mouth and kissed her with all the ferocity he could. She kissed him back eagerly and desperately as her hands traced his numerous scars. She tenderly touched them because she knew they still hurt him despite their age. He ran his fingers through her hair and touched her as well, knowing that she hid nothing from him.
Her hands, however, always stopped in the same place. As they danced across his back, they halted at his largest scar. Carved into his very back was this symbol, this death mark, this atrocity that separated him. She didn't care, though, because she had her own mark. He felt the difference in skin texture now as his hand roamed the flesh above her right breast. He felt it and knew what it was. What he didn't know was what it meant.
Suddenly, a door opened wide in the darkness, flooding the room with a blinding white light. He didn't need to actually see the figure standing there: his silhouette was terrifying enough.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked in a deep demonic voice. Then he laughed, a terrible, blood curling laugh that scared him more than anything in his life…
And then he woke up.
Scott Summers took a deep breath as he re-assessed his surroundings. He was in a king sized bed, in a room, and completely alone. He yawned and checked his watch to see that he's been asleep for only five Earth hours. He sighed. Scott knew he needed eight full hours if he was to be alert for his next mission.
Before stepping out of bed, he shyly checked his pants and blushed. "I hate my life" he groaned, flopping back down onto his bed.
"You shouldn't say what you don't mean" came a voice from the door. Scott sat back up as a tall woman with blond hair walked in. She was wearing a robe with and intricately designed 'E' on the shoulder and was carrying a tray with coffee.
"Thanks" he grumbled, taking the coffee.
"Scott, have you checked the time?" she asked him.
"I know, I know. I need three more hours" he mumbled putting the coffee back on the tray.
She looked at him funny. "No you don't. Look"
The woman reached behind her and pulled out a coo-coo clock. Scott squinted and leaned foreword to see what time it was but the woman swung it and smacked him across the face with it.
Scott woke up for real this time. He shot up with a yelp and then let out a curse as he slammed his forehead against the landing gears of the Star-Treader. He eased back down into the pilot's seat rubbing his forehead, cursing under his breath.
"That's gotta hurt" he heard a voice say from behind him. Scott turned his seat around to face his visitor. The golden cat humanoid was smiling at him teasingly.
"Actually, it doesn't hurt at all" he responded sarcastically and upset. The girl laughed and came up to sit beside him in the co-pilot's seat. She moved her long bushy tail to a side so that she wouldn't sit on it.
"I hope you got your sleep" she said, "Because I was the one who ended up feeding Austin. He wasn't too happy about it I might add" she said still with that cat grin of hers.
Scott checked his watch as he switched out of autopilot and back to manual. He'd been asleep for ten straight hours. They hadn't been the most enjoyable, though.
"Yeah, I got my sleep"
They both were silent for a while as they sat in their seats and watched the stars fly past them. Then, Zixa spoke up, carefully and cautiously.
"You know what today is, right?" she asked him with concern. He nodded his head and said in one breath, "The eight year anniversary of Earth's alliance with the Shi'ar Empire."
"Still bugs, huh?"
Scott sighed, frustrated. "How can they not know? How can my people not see D'Ken for what he really is?"
"He's crafty" she said bitterly. Her smile was gone and she had a spark of darkness in her amber eyes. "He gives them all this Shi'ar technology so that it's more like their living in 2005 rather than 1965 and they worship him like a god"
He didn't respond but Zixa knew him well enough to notice his white knuckle grip. Her eyes softened and she came over to him. She sat on the chair's arm and gave him a sideways hug. "It sucks to have to fight your own species" she said as she stroked his hair.
"No, what really sucks is to be one of the last of your species" he said looking up at her. "I really shouldn't complain"
Zixa looked away from his hazel eyes. Scott felt bad and gave her a small reassuring hug. She changed the subject.
"Are you sure about this thing at Exdonz? I mean, with half of the Starjammers M.I.A., wouldn't it be safer if we attacked at another time?"
After saying this she met his brown eyes again with her yellow ones. She saw the determination in them practically sizzle as he spoke the next words.
"We can't give up this chance. You know we can't"
"But can we do it? With only half a team and one ship instead of two?" she asked worriedly.
For the first time that evening, Scott allowed a smile to tug at the corners of his lips. "What? Don't you trust me?"
Zixa laughed as her confidence was secured. "Of I course I do. Because you are…" She leapt to her feet and proclaimed dramatically:
"Caspian! Prince of Narnia! Ruler of the land stretching from the lamp post all the way to the—"
"Zixa" he interrupted her speech with an annoyed, yet humored, glance, "For the umpteenth time. I was eight when I chose my codename. Let. It. Die."
Zixa laughed and gave him another squeeze as Scott reached foreword and tapped a blank screen on the ship's dashboard.
"E.V.A.? Come in, girl!" he said.
The screen flickered on and was full of lime green lines. They vibrated and swelled as the ship's computer brain spoke.
-I'm Here, I'm Here. You Don't Have To Shout-
"How far to Exdonz?" he asked her.
-Twenty Minutes If We Remain At This Speed, Caspian-
"Good. You can download back into your body and meet us in the kitchen."
-Well, I Was Going To Pry Pill'oc And Nico Off Each Other But Downloading Seems Much Safer- she responded. Scott groaned.
"What are they fighting about now?" Zixa asked.
-Don't Ask Me. I'm Downloading- she responded snootily as the screen went blank again. Scott sighed and got up. Zixa quickly slipped into his seat and took over the controls.
"Don't be long" she stated, flipping a switch on the dashboard that opened the door to the pilot's compartment.
Scott made his way through the door and down the Star-Treader's labyrinth of hallways with ease until he reached Nico's room. He could hear the shouting from halfway down the hallway.
"How many times have I told you, you big Frigjal! You do not touch my 93K8!"
"How many times have I told you that it's mine to begin with!"
Caspian pressed his finger against the pad on the side of the door to the room. It beeped and opened swiftly to reveal a rather petite looking female cyborg shouting at a large green lizard-like alien.
Caspian stood at the door for a minute watching the two fighting, both unaware of his presence. He let out a loud cough and they both stopped and stood in attention for their captain.
"All right, how did this one start?" he asked wearily.
A certain Institute for certain Gifted youngsters...
"Checkmate!"
Annie groaned as Jean triumphantly moved her bishop into position. "Ha! I win again!"
"Rematch!" Annie declared with an evil grin as she began putting the pieces back into place with her telekinesis. Jean laughed at her.
"Annie, you sore loser, we've been playing that last game for two hours! It's already eight in the morning!"
Annie's eyes widened and she checked her watch. She sighed and levitated the chess board back to its shelf. "I hate you" she muttered playfully as she started getting her clothes out of her drawer. Jean got up from her bed as well and stretched.
"I'm sorry, Annie. Would you rather I have nightmares at two in the afternoon?" Jean said sarcastically but still smiling. Annie rolled her eyes as she pulled out and tossed Jean her slacks.
"I honestly rather you not have them at all. Then I wouldn't have to get up and entertain you at the most unholy hours of the night and day"
Jean laughed again as she caught her slacks and tossed Annie her tank top. The two worked in such perfect unison, that any outsider would have immediately taken them for sisters.
However, Annie's mood changed to the more somber. "So, was it the same nightmare?"
"Best sex of my life followed by creepy guy tearing bedroom door off hinges? Yeah" Jean said.
The two were silent for a moment.
"We're going to be so whacked out at the ceremony tonight" Annie commented finally as she attempted to be cheery again. Two pairs of sneakers, one red and the other black, floated out of the closet and landed in front of each girl.
Then Annie glanced at Jean and smiled devilishly. Jean's thoughts of her nightmare instantly vanished as she recognized her friend's grin. Then, as if prompted by a gunshot, both girls took off running to the suite's only bathroom. Annie got there first and slammed the door shut. Any outsider would have definitely taken them for sisters.
"C'mon, Annie! You got dibs last time!" Jean complained from the outside.
"You're the one who made the rules!" she exclaimed from inside as she began washing her face and brushing her teeth.
I despise you she sent through their psychic rapport as she grabbed her clothes, hand towel, and toothbrush.
You love me and you know it! she sent back playfully. Jean rolled her eyes and opened the door to find her boyfriend already there and poised as if about to knock.
"Annie got dibs again, huh?" he asked playfully as Jean closed the door behind her.
"She got dibs last time!" she whined childishly. Her boyfriend laughed and kissed her on the mouth.
"There, there" he said leaning her head against his shoulder. "I could always blast down the door" he suggested jokingly as he pointed one of his topaz gauntleted hands at her bedroom door.
"Nah, she'll just hang you from the chandelier like she did the last time you broke into our room" Jean said as she began walking towards the girl's bathroom down the hall.
"You can use my bathroom" he said as he turned her around and nudged her in the direction of his room the opposite way.
"Thank you, Alex"
"Nervous about the big ceremony today?" he asked her.
"Not really. We were going to have to travel into deep space sooner or later. We can handle it" she stated calmly.
"You sure you won't need me beside you?" he asked playfully, "You know, to rescue you if those pesky rebels show up again?"
"I'll just end up saving your butt again" she laughed as they arrived at Alex's bedroom. She gave him a peck on his smiling lips.
"See you downstairs in five" she said with a giggle.
"Hours?" he joked. She gently slapped his arm with a laugh and went into his bathroom.
Returning to deep space…
Aboard the Emperor D'Ken's Imperial Cruiser, a teenage girl sat in the middle of an enormous room. The decorated fuchsia walls rose up to a huge domed glass roof where the stars went slowly past. The young brunette wasn't paying attention to the stars, however, and was deep in meditation. Her body was slack and her eyes were closed with a peace that was hardly achieved in the world she lived in. It had taken her eight Earth hours but she had finally achieved the state of mind she needed. Ever so slowly, her blue-green eyes opened and she let out a small sigh. Then she spoke to her only other companion: the ball of light purple fire dancing in her hand.
"What do you need me to see?" was her whispered question.
The ball of fire, which she herself had created with her abilities, became motionless in her hand in response to her question. Then it began to flicker again, this time, forming shapes and designs. She could tell out two beings and a ship. The two individuals looked human, like her, but she knew full well that appearances could be deceiving. She blew on it and the images returned to the fire's regular flicker.
"What else?" she asked.
It stilled and danced once again, this time revealing an image of feather headed being.
"D'ken?" she wondered aloud.
The image vanished suddenly and quickly. Not like the image before that flickered out but almost as if he had been taken out.
"There's an interesting concept" the girl smirked, her voice still low. Realizing that she was reverting to her normal self again, she took a few minutes to regain her concentration. She opened her eyes one more time and stared at the dancing fire before her, waiting for its next image. It didn't come.
"There's something else, isn't there?" she addressed it; her voice was filled with curiosity because she could feel it in her bones that there was something else it wanted her to see. The fire stilled but it didn't start again. If it were a living thing, she would actually believe it to be scared.
"What is it?"
All at once, the small ball of fire erupted into a huge image that nearly engulfed her. She could clearly make out a head and wings and as it reared, it let out a screech.
Out of fear and astonishment, she quickly closed her fist. The image vanished as soon as her fist fully closed. It took her a moment to regain her bearings. She checked her clothes for any singes, momentarily forgetting that the fire she was using was psychic. She let out a sigh and got to her feet.
"I-I'm done!" she called to the door, having noticed a shadow from underneath it. A green skinned and blue haired female alien came rushing.
"Ms. Lensherr, I am so terribly sorry. I knew that you didn't want anyone to interrupt you or anything but it's very important so I stood outside of your door until—"
The pyrokinetic raised her hand to stop the woman's rambling.
"Please, Ahoptet, call me Anya. And it's really all right, I just finished" she explained warmly.
"Of course Ms. Anya. Your brother's on the video phone and he wants to speak with you. It's of the greatest importance, he says"
"Thank you, Ahoptet" she responded. When she was leaving, she added under her breath, "Knowing Pietro, he probably just got a haircut"
She slipped out of her meditation robe and into her combat uniform, just because it was less swishy, and sat down in front of the large video screen. "Line 4" she addressed the computer. The screen flickered to life and she could see her brother.
"Good grief, Anya, it took you long enough" he complained.
"What is it, Pie-pie?" she asked with sibling annoyance.
"Well, it's of use now" he stated, obviously upset, "If you had picked up the video phone thirty minutes ago—" Suddenly, Pietro, who had obviously been sitting on a swiveling chair was pushed out of view of the camera. Anya couldn't help but giggle at the scream and crash that followed. Suddenly, her second oldest sister filled the screen.
"Thanks, Lorna" Anya laughed, flipping a few controls to improve the image. Lorna pulled up another chair with her magnetism powers and sat down in front of the screen with a smile.
"How, it going Firewalker? Dad pampering his littlest girl enough?"
Anya rolled her eyes. "No, not so much. He made me spar with Famew for three hours yesterday"
"Ah," Lorna sighed, reminiscing, "what I'd give for the good old days"
"C'mon, Polaris," Anya laughed, "S.H.I.E.L.D. can't be as bad as you make it out to be"
"It's worse than the X-Men for sure" she said, head in hand. Then she added with the tiniest hints of a smile, "Not to hear Wanda tell it…"
"Wanda loves the X-Men and she knows we know it. Now, what was the important news?"
Polaris pressed a few buttons on her own control, and a couple of holographic images appeared on Anya's screen. One had a lot of numbers in binary, the other had her personal information, another looked like a passport, and the fourth was the schematics for a ship.
"This is your boarding information and the flight you'll be on to Exdonz for the ceremony" Polaris said, looking down at her controls, pulling up another screen with Erik's information. "This is dad's. I need you to download both of them onto your…"
Lorna stopped when she noticed that Anya wasn't listening to what she had just said and was looking curiously at the schematics of the ship. Lorna had seen that expression before.
"You've seen this ship in one of your visions?" she asked, not attempting to hide her curiosity. Her sister's pyro-precognitive abilities had always fascinated her.
"Just now" she confided with her favorite sibling. A few control button pushes later, the holographic image of the ship's exterior, interior, and even the different engines appeared before her blown up to a larger scale. "A 3XK-9er" she read from one of the screens, "A Bennu"
"So?" Polaris asked, having enlarged the same screen on her own computer. "What about it? Half the ships of D'Ken's fleet are of the Bennu class"
Anya'a eyes betrayed her voice when she spoke, "It's probably nothing, Lorna. Thanks for the flight information. I'll pass it along to dad and let you know if I find anything with the ship"
Polaris gave Firewalker an implying look. "I will" Anya confirmed. Lorna held her hands up in surrender, "You know, you can just tell me if you don't want me to know…"
"I do want you to know" she smiled. "I'll call"
"All right, I'm going to go check up on Pie-pie" she laughed pressing the off button on her panel. "Polaris out"
"Firewalker, over and out" Anya announced shutting off her own communication. She spun around on her chair to go get her holo-projector to download the info when she found herself face to face with her father.
"If you still want, we can change that codename" he said, smiling with a fatherly amusement. She laughed and got up and came to hug her dad. He was dressed with a cape covering his combat clothes as was expected when the Head of the Imperial Guard was off-duty. His short white beard tickled the top of her head as she hugged him tight.
"I haven't changed it for eight years; I don't plan on changing it now"
"That's right now, huh?" he asked, pretending to try to remember, "You just turned fifteen now so then…"
"Da-ad" she chided softly, "you know I just turned seventeen last Earth month"
"Of course, of course" he chuckled, "D'ken's mystics brought you back at age two, right?"
She couldn't help but smile even though she didn't like talking about the subject of her resurrection. If she had lived, she would've been going into her thirties now instead of just turning seventeen. Sensing his daughter's discomfort of the situation, Erik changed the subject. "You want to get a bite to eat before we board for Exdonz?"
She giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be done soon" she said giving him a small push in the direction of her door. He left without another word but still smiling as he shut the door.
At an undisclosed location on Earth…
Bishop rolled over to the other side of his desk to pick up his private line. "Talk to me, Eric"
"Hello, Bishop. How are you and the Mrs.?" Eric said calmly, feigning interest.
"You don't call to ask how I'm doing" he growled. He hadn't been on the best in the best of moods since a failed mission a few days ago. "What's going down?"
"I need a favor, Lucas. A favor that only you as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. can grant me" His voice was cool and had an icy firmness to it. "I'm going to need your S.H.A.R.D. team at the ceremony at Exdonz this evening"
"What?" Bishop hissed. He turned towards the couch on the other side of the room where his wife was taking a nap to see if he had disturbed her at all. "The President has already asked for my S.H.I.E.L.D. team for protection as well as both teams of Xavier's X-Men. Why—"
"Lucas, I have reason to believe the rebellion is going to have a special interest in this ceremony" Eric clarified, "D'ken thinks so too"
Bishop pinched his eyelids in frustration. "All right," he sighed finally, "I'll send in my S.H.A.R.D. team for the sake of D'ken's paranoia. Happy?"
"Quite" The line clicked and Bishop put the phone back in the receiver. He got up and crossed the room to gently shake his wife. "Tessa? You're going to have to cut your nap short. We're going out"
She stirred, annoyed. "Now?" she asked.
He nodded. "Could you call the team?" he asked her as he went to change into his uniform. "All right" she groaned. She searched the floor next to the couch, looking for her electronic sunglasses. She found them under the couch and placed them on the bridge of her nose after pushing a button on the side. She watched as all the networks of the immediate universe appeared before her eyes and she plugged her electronic brain into them all. She found her private line and sent her message. "Sage to S.H.A.R.D. team, do you copy?"
"Ve copy" came a voice with a thick German accent.
"Report to the hanger immediately," she ordered, "we're going on a field trip"
"Ready when you are, Sage" came another voice, this one with an Irish accent.
"Perfect. Sage over and out" She took the glasses off and went to get in uniform herself.
"Why do they insist on being so last minute?" she complained, zipping up her spandex. Bishop shrugged his shoulders and held the door open for her so they could leave. They made their way to the hangar and saw the team waiting for them.
"Sound off" Bishop ordered, adjusting his glove.
"Nightcrawler"
"Wolfsbane"
"Sunfire"
"Polaris"
The fifth member grumbled something and Polaris hit his shoulder. Hard.
"Quicksilver" he sounded off louder, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at his sister.
"Al right" Sage said, nodding in approval, "Let's go"
Aboard the Star-Treader…
The Starjammers stood in their weapons room, gearing up for the ceremony.
As Scott finished strapping a dagger to the inside of his army boot, his mind couldn't help but go to his father who had taught him the trick. They had started the Starjammers with the three aliens that had helped them escape from the prison ship eleven years ago. In the time that they had been in business, they had made a name for themselves as a feared pirate/rebel group with the Shi'ar and Princess Lilandra's best fighting force for the rebellion.
Scott looked over at his teammates who were suiting up. Nico, Raza's thought-to-be-dead daughter, had been found alive in a prison camp. To save her life, a allying species had fused her body with state-of-the-art robotics making her a cyborg, like they had done to her father. Additionally, they had trained her in at least sixteen interplanetary martial arts making her a formidable warrior. Scott watched her cock the gun she had been fighting with Pill'oc over earlier and thought with amusement that she probably wouldn't even touch it in battle.
Speaking of the Loch Ness Monster, Scott thought as his gaze shifted over to his best friend. Pill'oc was Ch'od nephew, but he was just as strong and powerful as his uncle. He had been the second kid to be added and he and Scott had grown extremely close over the time they had known each other. They had a strong, brotherly bond that had probably developed subconsciously to try and replace the bond Scott had with his own lost brother. The two of them had been inseparable until Zixa had come along…
"-Caspian, We're Here-" E.V.A. said as she finished putting on her civilian clothes. Even though she was downloaded into her slick, malleable metal body, she still had part of her mind in the ship. Her elongated head as well as her shoulders held several green orbs.
"Thanks, Ev" Caspian said as he finished strapping on his boots. They had found E.V.A. when they "acquired" the Star-Treader. It had been called The Fantomex and E.V.A. was its original computer brain. The captain who went by the same name, had been diagnosed with a terminal Frigjal virus and was going to be put in a top secret military complex for first of its kind treatment which included deep freezing. As it turned out, D'Ken had ordered him infected with the virus when he discovered that he had been tipping the rebellion off. E.V.A. had at first refused to believe that D'Ken would have done something like that when the Starjammers told her. After searching her files, however, and finding Fantomex's last will and testament, leaving his ship and his 'beloved' E.V.A. to whoever was leading the rebellion at the time of his death, she joined the ranks of the Starjammers.
Caspian double checked everything on him, from his hidden guns to his grenades, to his communicator and watch. Then he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled for Austin. Like a shooting star, Austin flew from his perch nearby and landed gracefully on Caspian's arm. Austin looked like a bird, was about the size of a bird, but he wasn't a bird. The rough English translation of his species was 'Star-Treader' henceforth the name of the ship. What set Star-Treaders apart from all other birds was their lightning white feathers, their ability to survive in extreme solar temperatures and their ability to breathe in the vacuum of space.
"Oh, but he lets you touch him" Nico muttered under her breath as Austin climbed up to Caspian's shoulder. He chose to ignore her comment and he pushed a button on a nearby wall.
"All right, boys and girls" he smirked as the hatch opened to the burning light of Exdonz's double suns.
"Here we go"
Earth...
Jean strapped herself into the pilot's seat of the Blackbird and adjusted the seat to her convenience. As she flipped some controls, she felt Annie slip into the co-pilot's seat next to her and strapped herself in as well. Both of them were out of uniform and were wearing casual clothes.
"You sure you don't want Chaos' team coming with us?" Annie asked as she flipped some more controls on the dashboard.
"Alex and his team need to be in uniform if we're going to be civilians" Jean pointed out. "The rebellion will be suspicious if there are no X-Men there at all"
She gave Annie a devilish grin and continued with, "Besides, one of us has to remain focused"
Another figure entered the jet at that moment and spoke in favor of Annie. "It is not Marvel Girl's fault that she was assigned someone so captivatingly handsome on her team"
"Thank you, baby" Annie smiled as her boyfriend leaned down to kiss her. Also wearing civilians clothes, he was dressed mostly in leather. Jean rolled her eyes, now adjusting her seat.
"Very funny, Gambit. You know you're only here because you feed us"
"Mademoiselle Mindbender!" he said, pretending to be shocked. "Gambit is a very valuable member to his team! Am I right, Rogue?" he asked the girl just as she entered the jet.
"God help you if you didn't have your gumbo" she commented, not meeting any of their eyes and taking her seat in the jet. Gambit harrumphed and made as if to leave the jet but Annie grabbed him with her TK.
"Sit your ass down, thief" she said smiling as he took the seat behind her with another kiss.
"Where's the overgrown canary?" Jean asked Rouge who had just plugged herself into her music.
"Warren's going with Alex's team. Says he's too recognizable to go incognito"
"Will do" Annie's TK closed the door while Jean's final flick sent the jet's engines roaring to life.
"Hang onto your panties" Jean said with a rakish grin.
"Here we go"
Questions, questions, questions…What's at Exdonz? What's the deal with the new Starjammers? Where's Lilandra? How is Anya alive? Why did it take strayphoenix a whole frickin' year to update??? This and more in chapter three if you're still willing to read! Need at least five more positive reviews :)