X-Men: Trek Wars
by Ben Church
Everyone belongs to someone else but Cybo and Anhalla.
Chapter 11
Jubilee groaned as she awakened slowly from her involuntary
sleep. "Jeez, what hit me?"
"A rock," a voice said. "I regret that it had to come to that
child." Jubilee jerked her head around, immediately regretting it.
Her head throbbed where the blow had been struck. There was a
tall foreboding man standing behind her.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked angrily.
"I am Brakiss." he said simply. "I am your new teacher."
"Captain," Data said from his station. "We have arrived at
Endor."
"Excellent, assume standard orbit."
"An unidentified vessel is entering our sector." Worf's
replacement at Tactical spoke up. "They're hailing us."
"On screen Ensign."
The image of an attractive brown haired woman appeared on the
screen. Picard's breath froze for a second at the moment. He was
about to start a new era for the Federation. And he was talking to
a _human_! A human who had evolved, possibly independently on
another side of the Galaxy!
"This is Captain Jean Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Starship
Enterprise, representing the United Federation of Planets."
"I am Princess Leia Organa Solo, of the New Republic. I bid
you welcome to Republic space Enterprise. I trust your journey was
uneventful?"
"I'm, afraid not your Highness." Picard said. "I regret to
inform you that on our way here, our ambassador, Lawaxanna Troi was
abducted."
Leia started at the unexpected and unpleasant news. "Who was
it abducted her?" she asked. "Could the empire be plotting to
destroy this alliance before it forms?" she thought.
"It was a race that I doubt you have heard of Your Highness,
but a race that the Federation has had numerous dealings with in
the past. They are called Romulans."
"You're right captain, I have not heard of them. But," on a
sudden inspiration she added. "What do their ships look like?"
"Mr. Data," Picard ordered. "Transmit our sensor readings of
the Romulan ship to the Republic ship."
"Aye sir."
Leia looked with dread at the picture on the screen. It was
the same ship that had attacked her and Admiral Ackbar.
"Captain Picard, I have reason to believe that these Romulans
are trying to undermine these negotiations before they even begin.
I too was attacked by Romulans. I was saved by the timely
intervention of the Supership."
"The Supership?"
"The ship upon which I now stand. It has yet to be
christened. The command crew is still debating what to name her."
"Your highness," Doma said behind her. "Two more ships are
entering the area. It is the Falcon, and another of unknown
configuration."
Leia, still taken aback by the fact that Boba Fett had a son
looked out the main port at the unknown ship. It was almost a
sphere, and had many bright lights all around the circumference.
"They say they are here for the conference." Cindel reported.
"It's Ambassador Melnik."
"Your highness," Picard said. "It might be a good idea to get
word to anyone else who will be coming to be prepared for
anything."
Bishop awoke slowly, but lay still, silently taking in his
surroundings. He was being held in a small cell, with one doorway
to his right. He rose cautiously to his feet and approached the
portal.
Reaching out his hand, he soon discovered that there was a
force field blocking his path. But not for long. He smiled,
"Looks like they've never encountered a man who can absorb energy
before."
The security officer on duty jumped to his feet when he
heard the unmistakable sound of a force field meeting resistance.
He watched, horrified as the prisoner held his hand against the
field, apparently absorbing the energy, weakening the field enough
to-
Bishop stepped through as the field deactivated.
The astonished ensign slapped his communicator. "Security
to-" One low power blast from Bishop's fist silenced him.
Cyclops regained consciousness in a strange room. At first he
did not remember where he was. Then he remembered what had
happened. He sat up with a start, only to be restrained by some
sort of force field.
"Doctor he's awake!" a voice called.
Cyclops looked around at his surroundings. He was in what
looked like an infirmary. A red-haired woman approached him.
"Hello," Dr. Crusher greeted the visored man.
"Where am I?" Cyclops demanded. "Why was I attacked?"
"Easy," Dr. Crusher reassured him. "You're in no danger.
You're on the Starship Enterprise. Do you know how you got here?"
"My guess would be that Q was behind that. He appeared on my
father's ship and when I asked him what he wanted, he mentioned
something about meeting someone named Riker. Next thing I know I'm
in a corridor on your ship with the others."
"Commander Riker is the first officer of the Enterprise. Q
must have thought it would be amusing to transport you here. As
for why you were attacked, Q manipulated the minds of our security
guards. I know it sounds far fetched but-"
"I'm afraid it doesn't Dr." Cyclops said. "It happens to my family all
the time." He looked around the room. "What happened
to the others?" he asked warily.
The Doctor sighed. "I'm afraid they're being held in the
brig. From the description given by our officers, we pegged you as
the leader and brought you here to a more friendly environment. We
needed to find out what's what before we decided anything else."
"The other's won't take kindly to that."
Just as Bishop knocked out the guard, the wall of Rogue's
cell was knocked apart. Rogue strode out, extremely peeved.
"Let's get Bobby out o' there and go find Cyke and
Wolverine." she said.
"Captain I'm receiving a response from the Shi'ar." the
communications officer said.
"Excellent. On screen."
An old man appeared on the screen. "This is the Grand Vizier
of the Shi'ar Imperium. I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"Bad news?" Picard had a distinct sinking feeling.
"Yes, I'm afraid Empress Lillandra has been abducted."
"Damn! By who?"
"We are unsure Enterprise. Both races were unknown to us."
"Both?" Picard murmured.
"Your Highness," Cindel said, concerned. "I can't raise the
Lady Luck."
"By the force what could have happened?" Leia thought.
Lando looked up at the sound of a door opening. He had been
transported somehow from the Lady Luck to this cell. The
technology that these, Romulans, possessed astounded him. Not only
did they have matter transporters, but instead of doors,
force-fields blocked his escape. Though the New republic had the
technology to do the same with their brigs, it hadn't occurred to
them to do so.
The door to the detention block opened, admitting a woman with
blond hair. At first he wasn't sure she was a Romulan, for every
other Romulan he'd seen had black hair. But when she got closer,
he saw that she had the same pointed ears and slanted brows that
the others had had.
That was another thing about them that amazed him. Despite
the ears and eyebrows, they looked exactly like any human. He
wondered if they were simply a mutated race that had fled to the
unexplored regions of space.
"Who are you?" Lando asked. "I demand to know why you have
detained us! Where are the others?"
"My name is Sela, you're in no position to demand anything,
and they are safe." she smiled. "The Melmacian is being
interrogated as we speak. As for you, you will be next."
Sela was quite pleased at the success they had met so far.
She had just gotten word that Tomaluk had lost the leader of the
New Republic but it was a small loss. Better than that, now that
she had captured all of the targets assigned her and he had not,
that was all the more power she would have once the plan had been
completed.
"Commander Sela?" the voice of her second in command said
from her communicator. "We're approaching the rendezvous."
"Excellent." Sela gloated. She took one last look and her
comatose prisoners and left for the bridge.
Unseen by anyone, a small lump in Jacen's shirt moved. Gizmo
peeked out from Jacen's collar and looked around the room. Seeing
no guards, he slipped out, and climbed into a ventilation shaft.
He knew what he had to do. Now if only he could find some water.
"All you have to do Jubilee," Brakiss instructed her. "Is get
to the other end of this maze."
"That's it? No traps or anything?" Jubilee asked.
"No, no traps. Simply opponents that have been programmed to
try to stop you."
"This is gonna be a piece of cake." Jubilee smiled, and
looked around her at her choices. She could either go ahead, left
or right. Behind her was a dead end. "All right, she thought.
I'll play along for now but when I get out of here, I'm gone."
Glancing around once more, she thought back to something that
Hotshot had always said. "If you're ever lost, or in a maze,
always turn right." He'd never explained the logic behind it, but
just thinking it made her feel as if he was there with her, helping
her along. "All right then Will," she muttered. "Right it is."
Gambit awoke in what looked like a maze of some sort. He had
no memory of how he had gotten here, last he remembered he was
fighting the acolytes. "Oh well," he thought. "Nothing to do now
but get out of here."
Elsewhere in the maze, ArcAngel and Psylocke awoke as well,
and came to the same conclusion. Little did any of them know that
their every action and thought was being monitored. Not even
Psylocke detected Brakiss' presence.
*Now then Jubilee,* Brakiss' voice sounded in her head.
Jubilee jumped, startled. *Sorry about that.*
*No prob. What's up teach?*
*I have to make you aware of one important thing. The
programmed assailants have been fashioned to look and act like your
friends in the X-Men.*
*What?!*
*They even have identical powers.*
*What the hell's the point of that?* Jubilee demanded.
*All will become clear in time Jubilee.*
In the control booth, Brakiss reconfigured the maze, so that
Jubilee would eventually meet her friends. In order to increase
her anger, he subtly influenced her emotions, and raised the
temperature.
"Jeez it's hot in here." Jubilee thought. "When the hell do I
meet one of these `programmed assailants'? I can't wait to blast
something." As she turned the next corner, she suddenly found
herself face to face with Gambit. Or rather, a robot made to look
like him. Before it could attack her, she blasted it with fire
works.
Gambit was too surprised to dodge. He was thrown against the
wall of the maze by the blast. "What the hell you doin' Petite?"
he shouted. He charged up a card and threw it at her
instinctively, but she blasted it out of the air.
*That's it Jubilee!* Brakiss encouraged her. *Use the anger,
it makes you strong! Think of everything that has ever made you
angry.*
"My parents were killed." Jubilee thought. With each
succeeding thought, she felt her power grow. "Wolvie left me and
never wrote. People ridiculed me and tried to kill me just because
I'm different from them. Will was killed. Will is alive and let
me think he was dead!" With this she blew up the molecules in
Gambit's trenchcoat.
"Jubilee?" an astonished voice murmured behind her. Jubilee
turned and found ArcAngel and Psylocke behind her, gaping in
dismayed astonishment.
"Good holo technology they got here." Jubilee sneered. "You
two look exactly like my friends. Too bad for you two that I know
you're not."
"A ship has just exited hyper space." Doma said. A quick
glance at the sensor readings startled him. "It's the Lady Luck
but, it appears to have arrived on auto pilot. There are no
life-signs."
"Get that ship into the docking bay immediately!" Namok
ordered.
Jubilee stood among the comatose bodies of her fallen
comrades. Her anger had faded somewhat, but she still felt strong.
"Excellent Jubilee." Brakiss said over the intercom. "You surely
must now know your true potential. You have shown yourself to be
more powerful than your friends here."
"What are you talking about?" Jubilee asked, suddenly fearful.
"You said that these were holograms of my friends."
"I lied."
Jubilee felt the rush of power and fury simultaneously. "You
fucking son of a bitch!"
The room was suddenly enveloped in an immense explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Jubilee was gone.
"Perhaps I miscalculated." Brakiss thought.
To be continued...