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#9
SEP 12 |
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“Family Ties”
Anchorage, Alaska, long ago…
The young man smiled widely as he reached his favourite spot on the hill and saw his beloved already there waiting for him. He placed the picnic basket on the ground and hugged her warmly.
“I’m glad you made it, Katherine. I can’t wait to tell you my news,” he said, so happy he didn’t register his girlfriend didn’t share his excitement.
They sat down the picnic blanket he spread out and admired the view of the city and the crystal blue bay. The air force base was nearby and Chris took a moment to admire the sleek jets taking off and landing, practicing maneuvers.
“Kath, with graduation in a few days, we really need to think about our future. I’ve always loved flying with my dad, it’s in my blood,” he took a deep breath, “and that’s why I enlisted this morning.”
The young woman’s face, which was already pale, turned positively ashen. “You joined the air force without talking to me?”
“We have talked about it, honey,”
“Yes, but it was all hypothetical! The future was so far away and now it’s crushing down on me…on us!” tears were welling in her eyes. Chris held her close and shushed her reassuringly.
“What’s this about Kath?”
“I’m pregnant, Chris, and now you tell me you’re going to fly off with the air force and leave me behind.”
He wrapped his arms around her and smiled reassuringly. “I promise I’ll always be there for you and for our family. I love you, Katherine, and I’m not going anywhere.”
That promise often came back to haunt Chris, especially whenever he returned to Earth. A lot had changed since that day. It almost felt as if that memory had happened to someone else.
For a time things had been great. He had progressed through the military ranks quickly, a natural born pilot. Occasionally his young family had to relocate, but they returned home to Anchorage often. It was on one such trip home that things had gone terribly wrong. If he had just listened to Katherine and taken the SUV instead of taking his modified Mosquito for a joy flight they would have been fine.
As he eyed the Earth through the force field window, he wondered if this was one of the reasons he rarely returned home; the bad memories it drummed up. He wouldn’t lie to himself, he was a flawed man, but with this trip he would be making changes.
“Heavy thoughts?” queried Z’Cann. “As if I have to even ask,”
A relative newcomer to the Starjammer, Z’Cann was a Skrull blessed with the ability to read minds; there was no hiding your emotions from her.
Corsair merely shrugged, not denying her question but not wanting to elaborate either. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “A few hours ago you helped save this planet, and now you’ve dedicated yourself to protecting it and everyone else in this galaxy. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” She smiled and walked away, going to prepare for landfall.
Several hours ago the Starjammers had been caught in the middle of a major war between the mysterious Quel’toth and the fantastical worshippers of the false god Dragoon.Thankfully, an inextricable explosion had taken both armadas off the board, saving the Earth from untold devastation.
The close call to Earth and the damage inflicted on the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy had spurred Corsair on to prevent anything like this ever happening again. He was determined to set up a coalition of worlds determined to protect the galaxy from outside threats. And he would start with Earth.
Anchorage, Alaska. Now...
Chris took in the familiar view of the city, the same view he had taken in with Katherine so many years ago. He heard footsteps and turned; his son, Scott, approached up the walking trail, dressed in plain clothes rather than his usual costume. “Hello son,” he said nervously.
It had been too long since he had come to see his sons. He always deluded himself that it was because was doing important work, saving refugees or fighting occupying systems, but the simple truth of the matter was he hated the guilt he felt every time he came back. The guilt of getting Katherine killed, of leaving his sons to grow up without their parents.
“Hi Dad, it’s good to see you,” replied Scott, though Chris could sense the tension in his voice. “Where’d you park the ship?”
“When Charles told me you were staying up here I had the crew drop me off. They’re waiting in Westchester.” Scott nodded in understanding but didn’t speak any further. This was going worse than Chris had feared. “Son, what are you doing out here? Charles said you were going through a hard time. Where’s Jean?”
“Jean and I are divorcing, Dad,” said Scott, his voice heavy.
Chris heart sank. To think his son was going through this and he wasn’t here to support him. “Son, I’m so sorry. Surely there must be a chance you could work things out?” He reached out reassuringly to his son, but Scott stepped away.
“There isn’t...I...this isn’t something I’m ready to talk about, not yet. This is why I came out here on my own; to get away from everyone I know and sort things out on my own.”
“I understand, son; these things can be hard but its times like these that you need your family and friends.” An idea occurred to him. “Why don’t we pick up your brother and head on out to the old family cabin for a few days?”
Scott’s face fell. “I don’t know where Alex is dad…no one does. He fell off everyone’s radar a while ago.”
The father grabbed his son by the shoulders. “Son, listen to me, I can help you find him. With the ship’s scanners I’m sure we...”
Scott pulled away again. “I know you want to swoop in and fix everything, Dad, but that’s not what I need! This has been the hardest six months of my life since the first time Jean died, and I could have used a father then, but now I’ve learned to deal with things on my own. Go back to space, I don’t need you, and Alex has made it clear he doesn’t need any of us!”
The pain in his son’s voice broke Corsair’s heart and, while he knew there was some truth in those words, he also knew the pain was talking also. “Son, I promise you things are going be different. I have a plan that’s going to keep me a lot closer to home...”
And that’s when the taser struck him. Electricity surged through him body and his muscles lost all control, dropping him to the ground in an instant. Scott was struck also and, as his head hit the ground, his ruby quarts glasses were knocked off. The mutant clamped his eyes shut to hold the powerful optic blasts inside lest he kill his father or another innocent bystander. Cosair lay on the ground paralyzed as a dozen pairs of black booted feet moved around him. A couple of pairs of strong hands lifted him bodily off the ground and he found himself facing a striking woman with a clear thing for the color green: green hair, green lipstick and a dark green uniform.
The woman spoke, “You are under arrest for the illegal entry into Earth’s atmosphere, under the authority of the Sentient World Observation and Response Department.”
The Peak, S.W.O.R.D’s orbital headquarters. Interrogation Room A.
Corsair paced the small teen foot by twelve foot room for what felt like the hundredth time. Imprisonment was no new experience for the pirate but it chaffed nonetheless.
Only four hours ago he had been attempting to reconnect with his eldest son when they were rudely interrupted by the Sentient World something something (Christopher rolled his eyes at yet another government agency acronym). The well-armed officers bundled him into a prison transport while a second squad arrested the Starjammers at the Xavier mansion. The group were shipped off to S.W.O.R.D’S orbital headquarters and the Starjammer was also taken into custody. Cosair did take note that Hepzibah was not amongst the prisoners. He prayed the cunning woman had managed to elude the agents; the other scenario, they she had been killed resisting arrest, was too painful to consider.
They all managed a brief look at the space station as they approached; it seemed far more advanced than anything expected of Earth.
He was thankful they at least left Scott and the X-Men alone. Last he saw Scott his son was lying paralyzed on the Alaskan ground. The mutants at Xavier’s had tried to put up a fight but Z’Cann telepathically stopped them. There was no way she was having their blood on her hands. This was surely some sort of misunderstanding.
He spun about when the door slid open and Agent Brand stepped inside. With emerald hair and a uniform to match, she wasn’t what you would expect to see in the head of a government organization. The woman was all business; there was no smugness, nor disdain upon her face, and she kept her cool. She pulled out a chair from the small table in the center of the room and sat down calmly while examining what looked like an advanced Blackberry. “Please sit,” she said, her voice stern.
Chris was tempted to remain standing, just out of spite, but his legs were fairly sore after all his pacing.
“What right do you have to detain us? We’ve done nothing wrong,” asked Corsair angrily.
Brand reviewed her handheld device and read aloud, “Major Christopher Summers, U.S. Air Force. Declared dead, along with your wife Katherine, in 1985 after your plane disappeared, presumed crashed. Survived by two sons, Scott and Alexander.” she looked up with a smirk. “It would seem the military’s Intel is slightly off.”
This one was sharp. How could she know all this? Finger prints? DNA scan? In the end it didn’t really matter he supposed. “I...we were abducted–”
Brand held up a hand, cutting him off. “We know all about that, Major Summers, you can cry into someone else’s shoulder later. What I want to talk about is your illegal entry into Earth atmosphere.”
“Illegal? I’m human!”
“Then that just makes you a people smuggler, Major Summers, bringing half a dozen extra terrestrials to Earth without going through proper procedure. But that is nothing compared to the fact that ship of yours could level New York and you leave it sitting on the X-Men’s lawn!”
“It’s safer there than with you yahoos!” Without even realizing it Chris had rose from his seat and found himself leaning over the infuriating woman. Her calm face and slight smirk disarmed him, and with a sigh he dropped back into his seat. “We’ve come to Earth a dozen times and never had to deal with you before. We didn’t know.”
“Things changed recently. Where we were once restricted to passive monitoring of extraterrestrial space, S.W.O.R.D. now takes on a more active role.”
“We’re good people, Brand; don’t lock us away for a misdemeanor,” pleaded Corsair.
She waved her hand dismissively. “That’s day to day stuff, Major Summers, a clerk can deal with that,” Brand sat forward in her chair and placed her device on the table. “I’m the head of S.W.O.R.D., so only the big stuff interests me.”
As if on cue, a hologram was projected from the device and displayed a familiar scene. A three dimensional battled played out between the two. On one side a fleet of identical black crystal ships, each one beautiful in their own deadly way, and on the other side a hodge-podge of various ships, all armed to the teeth. Below them lay the blue vista of Earth
Only twelve hours ago the Starjammers had found themselves stuck in the middle of this epic battle between Dragoon’s acolytes and the mysterious Quel’toth. Chris cringed when he realized what was coming next. As the Starjammer and a second ship (which Hepzibah named the Beautiful Hepzibah, much to everyone’s chargrin) rocketed away from the scene, a piercing white light erupted from somewhere amongst the throng of ships. Several seconds later the energy was gone, along with both sides.
The hologram dissipated, revealing Brand’s face on the opposite side. She removed her high tech sunglasses for the first time, revealing a pair of startling green eyes. “Let’s talk about that, shall we?”
The Starjammer. Docked with the Peak.
Agent Fergusson groaned as the door slid open to reveal yet another empty room; five floors of searching and still nothing. Somewhere on this god forsaken ship was a life form and he was unlucky enough to be amongst the group tasked with searching it out. Brand hated him, he was sure of it.
They could have dosed the damn ship with lethal radiation or at least gassed it, but Brand wanted the thing unharmed. With a sigh he continued on to the next door; this hallway stretched on for what seemed like miles. Did he really need to search every room? The ship was locked down; whoever was on here was trapped so they could starve them out.
He considered taking a nap in the next room he opened but decided against it. Brand would find out somehow. Besides, Agent Morgan was around her somewhere and it wasn’t fair leaving him here to do all the searching.
The next door slid open and he was startled to find agent Redmond unconscious upon the cold metal floor. Before he could even raise his rifle a white fist struck him like a hammer. He staggered backward as a white cat woman dropped from the roof and kicked him against the wall.
His rifle was only halfway up when she wrapped her clawed fingers around it, yanked it away and slammed the butt into his face. As the agent slumped down to the floor, Hepzibah dashed off down the hallway, rifle in hand.
Holding Cells
Even sitting cross legged on the floor the hulking Ch’od was still eye level with his crew mate Raza, who stood in the opposing cell. Whilst Ch’od sat perfectly still, keeping his muscles tensed and ready to strike as soon as the guard’s lowered his forcefield, Raza spent the time practicing various martial arts.
Z’Cann and the mutant boy Fallout were locked in cells beside the two men. Like Ch’od, the pair sat quietly, hoping Corsair would be able to straighten everything out. Z’Cann’s telepathic abilities had proven useless against the S.W.O.R.D. agents, who likely had psychic baffles installed within their helmets.
“Hepzibah?!” asked a surprised Raza, and Ch’od was on his feet in an instant.
The Mephistoid walked down the hall, directly past their cells, without acknowledging them whatsoever.
“Ummm mind letting us out?” asked Ch’od as she disappeared down the hall.
Interrogation Room A
Corsair had lost track of the number of times he described the battle above Earth or the events leading up to it, but Brand always seemed to have more questions. Something drove him to answer her…no, he was compelled to answer.
His tired eyes moved to the two way mirror behind Brand. He was almost certain there was a telepath behind that mirror, pushing him to tell the truth. Sure, nothing he was telling her would hurt him or his crew but it sure as hell pissed him off.
In one quick movement he jumped to his feet and hurled his aluminum chair at the mirror. He didn’t expect the chair to break the glass, and it didn’t, but boy did he enjoy it.
Brand sighed heavily, turned toward the mirror and gestured for whoever was behind there to come inside. A few seconds later a tall, brown reptilian figure stepped into the room.
“Well, Sydren?” asked Brand of the creature.
“He speaks only the truth,” replied Sydren.
“Thank you.” With a smile she rose to her feet and turned to Corsair. “I would have liked an easy answer to what destroyed those armadas. R&D tells us it punched a hole clear through to another universe before sealing back up again. Something like that happening above Earth warrants investigation.” She shrugged, showing there was nothing they could do about it at this time. “So, let’s talk more about this Galactic Alliance you’re proposing.”
Holding Cells
“I can’t believe she just ignored us like that?!” exclaimed Ch’od.
“She’s probably working on our escape,” replied Z’Cann.
“We have treated her rather coldly since her return. Perhaps she’s letting us stew in our own juices?” pondered Raza grimly.
Footsteps down the hall halted anymore discussion and the quartet waited in anticipation to see who arrived. All were pleased to see Hepzibah return and this time she acknowledged each of them. From her pocket she produced a silver security card and swiped it against each cell’s control panel. With a brief burst of static the energy shields subsided.
“Never doubted you for a second,” smiled Ch’od.
“Uh…thanks,” said Fallout awkwardly.
“Have you located Corsair?” asked Raza.
Hepzibah’s grinning face quickly turned cold. “They’rre keeping him underrr lock and key in the interrogation room. Too heavily fortified it is; we must leave without him.”
For Ch’od and Raza, who had known the woman for than twenty years, the thought of Hepzibah being willing to abandon Corsair seemed almost alien.
Z’Cann said it for all of them. “We are not leaving Chris behind.”
“You know he’d fight Gladiator himself to save you,” admonished Raza.
The Mephistoid raised her hands in defeat. “I meant we would leave and return with the X-Men…”
Heavy bootsteps drew their attention and Hepzibah raised her stolen laser rifle and fired as a pair of S.W.O.R.D agents came around the corner. Her first shot missed by inches and, as the agents raised their own weapons in defense, a familiar voice cried, “Stop!”
Corsair came around the corner waving his hands frantically and was soon followed by Agent Brand.
“Hepz! Drop the gun!” cried Christoper.
“Lower your weapons!” ordered Brand.
The agents complied and a moment later so did Hepzibah, albeit with more reluctance. Corsair ran to his Starjammers and asked, “Is everyone ok?”
“Yes, Captain, they treated us quite well considering the circumstances,” replied Z’Cann.
“What’s going on? Who are these people?” asked Fallout nervously.
“Right now we’re you’re new best friends,” answered Brand. She looked to Hepzibah, “We’re going to need that rifle back.”
“S.W.O.R.D. is going to help us in our plan to unify the Milky Way,” explained Corsair. “They have the resources and the diplomatic ties to really put some weight behind us. Brand’s also having her people create a portfolio of the best planets to approach and the most likely races to join our alliance.”
“That’ss great! Now how about some compensation for being locked up like a common criminal? We’re uncommon criminals,” said Ch’od dryly.
Corsair ignored Ch’od as he had become accustomed to over the years. “This is it, guys, this is actually happening. There’s just one thing I need to do first.”
Hours Later,
After seeing the Starjammer land for the first time, the students of Xavier’s school were much more restrained in their excitement. They were, however, extremely curious at its return after that very morning mysterious government agents had whisked the Starjammers away and questioned everyone at the school afterwards. How were they back so soon?
Cyclops waited anxiously as the ship landed and the gangplank descended. After regaining mobility he had rushed the mansion had spent the past several hours contacting everyone one he knew, from the Avengers to Nick Fury, trying the learn anything about this organization S.W.O.R.D, all to no avail.
He was pleased to see each member of the Starjammers alive and well, as well as the X-Men’s newest student, Sebastian Miller.
Corsair smiled at his son warmly. “How about we finish that talk?”
As father and son bonded, the Starjammers filled the remaining X-Men in on their encounter with S.W.O.R.D. Fallout hung back awkwardly until a pink skinned girl stepped forward and introduced herself as Clarice.
Hepzibah watched it all coldly; everything had gone exactly as she had hoped. With a self satisfied smirk, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a small data device. The information on this would prove vital to the plans of her masters. Secondly, she rested her hand reassuringly on a gun like device strapped to her hip, a Galadorian Neutralizer. Her masters would be delighted to hear she had found this.
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The End...
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