16406/Shi'ar - The War of Queens: Prodigal Son

Shi'ar - The War of Queens: Prodigal Son
Date of Scene:	10 December 2023
Location:	Hyperspace
Synopsis:	The X-Men intervene in the Shi'ar Civil War, and it's also something of a Summers reunion tour. Hope averts some mass casualties, Izzy gets the dubious honor of a promotion and some quality time with her boss, Alex gets offered some space conquests, and Rogue defeats her ancient nemesis... eventually.
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Summers, Hope Summers, Tabitha Smith, Emma Frost, Rogue, Isabel Kane, Cable, Alex Summers
Tinyplot:	Pax Imperium: the Shi'ar

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Gabriel Summers has posed:
Shi'ar Space - Near Chr'Yllalisa

Far from Sol, the Shi'ar Civil War has been playing out much unnoticed by most. But the X-Men are not like most of the people of Earth, nor are they uninvolved in the conflict. Cosmic oddities - Xavier's telepathic link with Lilandra, Jean's possession by the Phoenix - brought them to the Empire's attention (although not for the first time, as they've recently learned). Their subsequent actions helped dethrone one Neramani only to raise up another, and the heir to that very Empire now calls Xavier's School her home. Now it is sister against sister instead, and Earth has again been in the cross-hairs: Deathbird has long courted the Brood as an ally, and only recently attemptied their genetic resurrection on Earth.

And still, for most, it is a very far away-seeming war.

The maneuverings of both sides, and the whims of fate itself, have chosen the Chr'Yll system as their battleground. Earth was invaded by three Shi'ar cruisers. Here? A dozen of them under the treacherous Admiral Samedar form the backbone of the rebel force, with various smaller ships in their entourage, and various guardsmen who have likewise thrown in with Deathbird. The loyalist forces are twice their number.

"Members of the Guard, this your Praetor. Our foe has appeared, and here, we will strike the decisive blow and end this rebellion. For the Empire!"

The Imperial Guard is here too, in numbers. This is to be the decisive battle. Gladiator flies at the front of a formation, alongside other heavyweights - his second in command, Smasher, and the gravity-manipulating Neutron. It is a show of force meant to demonstrate the focused might of the Empire.

---

Chr'Yllalisa means nothing to Earth, but it means something to the crew of the Starjammer, who count a Chr'yllite among their crew. Corsair, in his habit of nick-naming his alien entourage, calls him Sikorsky. He looks a bit like a cross between a dragonfly and a hellicopter. Not so distant a war for him.

The X-Men are not here, strictly, to defend his planet, but for one of their own. Long before he came for Lilandra or Jean, Majestor D'Ken visited Earth once before. Then, his soldiers abducted an off-duty Air Force officer flying over the Alaskan wilderness with his family: Major Christopher Summers. The man who would become Corsair threw his two young sons from the plane to save them, not knowing that his wife carried a third child. Raised by the Shi'ar, he was inducted into the Imperial Guard. When Davan Shakari led the more recent attack on Earth, he used this lost mutant child as a weapon, defeating Jean to provoke the Phoenix. The X-Men stopped D'Ken's plot to have that power for himself. Yet in the aftermath, while the Majestor was taken into custody, no one could account for the young man.

Which brings us to the present. The SR-X is aboard the Starjammer, as it races to join the battle already unfolding. The goal here, for the X-Men, is Gabriel Summers. Maybe to reach him, understand what he's doing, and get him to stop. Maybe just to stop him.

"We are coming out of hyperspace!" calls Hepzibah, on the comms.

Space fractures, and the Starjammer - itself an older model of cruiser on par with those making the main battle lines - crashes back into reality. For those on the viewports, scanners, or otherwise paying attention, one thing immediately becomes apparent: the battle goes poorly, and not for the rebels. Alarms immediatley start blaring, red lights flashing, as the Starjammer goes into maneuvers, a technicolor fireworks show of weaponsfire and unchecked superpowers blooming all around them.

Hope Summers has posed:
"Now this is something," Hope announces largely to herself, looking around the spacecraft with the sort of youthful enthusiasm she often tries to mask beneath grit and stoicism, "I bet they've got all sorts of cool stuff out here."

Guns and weaponry. She's talking about guns and weaponry. Especially since Rogue so politely offered her a place to store it at the Mansion and she could now hoard is without having to bury it in the woods like a covetous pup.

There were still some stashes out there, though. Sorry, Rogue.

She turns her attention to the plasma launcher in her lap. An 'antique' from several hundred years in the future and from a universe that isn't this one. If something was old when she got it but then she takes it to a time and place where it doesn't exist yet (and may never exist), is it still an antique.

The bridge of her nose wrinkles. Cable School never covered zen koans.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabby had busted out the full body uniform for maximum coverage and the whole actually being able to use it as a spacesuit is handy. Plus it helps the black and yellow clings really nicely to that figure of hers and helmets don't make it difficult to wear the yellow tinted Ray Ban style glasses on her nose. She had to put that wild mane of blonde into a bun though which she isn't a fan of. A bit too schoolmarm when she only lives there.

Teacher Tabby might just be the scariest thing ever. And she's flown the regular Blackbird on Earth. And the X-Men have faced Brood.

The blonde can't even pronounce the name of the planet they're coming in on. But the lightshow going on on the surface does get her looking with both eyebrows arched. "Umm, we can breath down there right? No need for the fishbowls?" she asks and hmms as she ponders whether it's save to let her hair down along with any possible bombs made of volatile plasma.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma is in her combat uniform - or the skimpy outfit that normally counts for it. She's sitting over from the rest and tapping her fingers. "So will we be able to coordinate all amonst ourselves in the normal way or be having backups present?" If they couldn't use telepathy, would radio work? Because Shi'Ar technology trumped almost all communications from Earth. Even the more exotic ones. And if plenty of humans had meta-being countermeasures, so would the hostiles that they were going to run into. So much fun.

"Just hold your breath for as long as you can, and remember to not take the opportunity to heckle someone when you have the chance. Because in space, everyone will hear you when you scream."

Rogue has posed:
Once the SR-X Blackbird makes the transition from hyperspace back in to normal space, Rogue scans the boards of the ship's controls. Her eyes take in the sight of the situation taking place here, and a lump starts to form in her gut. "We really gotta ask some'a these space people if they got better defenses for our metal hide in situations like this..." She quietly mutters as she brings the X-Men space jet around and in closer with the Star Jammers ship, using its well armed self to help defend the Blackbird.

"Everyone hang tight, this is a bit more combat than I've ever put this bird through before!" Rogue calls out as she has to cut the ship around a burning piece of debris that zips past the Blackbird on its starboard side! The Jet makes a full spin on its axis, while maintaining a forward flight path, its hull being lit up by the light coming off of the Star Jammers weapon systems.

"I can make for the planet, it might make tracking us harder, but I don't wanna abandon our allies out here..."

Isabel Kane has posed:
Isabel Kane, aka Smasher, was called to the front by the Empire. She, of course, answered the call without hesitation. There may even have been a note dropped to Jean Grey to let her know what information she could share before taking an intergalactic gate to the nearest Shi'ar battle cruiser and off they go!

At the battlefront, Smasher has been granted a squadron of Subguardians to take into the fight with her, calling out formations and tactics as they leave the cruiser to engage the enemy forces hand to hand. Her goal is a simple, but important one.. open a line to Vulcan, and hold that line. There are others that will be dealing with the man directly, her job is to make sure they get the chance.

"Black Two, pull up, you're leaving the flank exposed! Black Six! Hit 'em hard an' fast!" Barrel-rolling through space, Isabel lets loose a blast of of Flash vision aimed at a small cluster of the rebel guard that are moving to engage with a different squadron. She twists suddenly to avoid a similar blast from one of the rebels and grins, "Gotta do better'n that, ya traitors!" Someone is having entirely too much fun.

Cable has posed:
Families can be difficult.

And it only gets that much more difficult when you start throwing time travel and alternate realities into the mix. Which is one of the reasons that Nathan Summers, better known as Cable, is not a frequent visitor to Westchester or the mansion that so many of his 'relatives' call home.

For one, he doesn't see any great need to make people uncomfortable. And certainly not everyone is comfortable with a living embodiment of their future that they might not have all that much interest in pursuing. It's pretty reasonable really.

And it's not like Cable doesn't have plenty of other things on his plate.

The future is a shitshow, in large part because of what went on during this period of time. He has a chance to set it right, even if this is not truly his timeline. So while he is most concerned about dealing with threats a little closer to home -- home being the entirety of the planet Earth in his case -- fixing problems there won't help if a bunch of alien bird-people show up and trash the place.

So here he is, out in space.

He might have a certain degree of family-interest. He is riding in a space ship commanded by his 'grandfather' afterall, out to try and reason with his 'uncle'. But first, foremost and always with Cable one thing is pretty much true; the mission comes first.

Seated with some of the others, Cable is his typical loquacious self, silent as he does a last check of the always formidab le arsenal that he carries around with him, going over each weapon in turn. Sure, they might be here to talk. But the future solider is a big believer in being prepared.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
As the Blackbird navigates out of the Starjammer hangar and through the battlefield of open space, they gain a better view of the conflict. At the fringes of the sprawling battle, the loyalist Shi'ar had gained initial positional advantage, and press it hard. They came with numbers, firepower. A couple of rebel cruisers float burning in space, the first casualties. From there, the loyalist fleet executed acts according to Shi'ar military doctrine, right out of the manual: 'the talon closes.' In plain English, it's old fashioned encirclement. The more numerous ships close in from every side. Firing. Firing.

It was a trap.

At some point, they get too close. Even powerful mutants have limits, when it comes to distances measured on the kind of scales that SPACE can involve. And perhaps, Vulcan is still learning. But when they cross the line, the invisible threshold marked in the void? Suddenly, a half dozen of the loyalist cruisers, firing non-stop with banks of their ridiculously destructive energy weapons? Suddenly, that energy output is halted, forced backward into the systems creating it. And with little more than a thought, a half-dozen of the loyalist cruisers start to explode from within, the terrible output of their weaponry shoved right back toward its source.

At the center of the formation blockading Chr'Yllalisa, the rebel flagship is the goal of the Imperial Guard, who, far more maneuverable, fly through empty space without anything but their personal powers (or gravity belts), weaving through the carnage toward their goal. They're met by stiff resistance. Astras fight Black Lights, Impulses duel Electrons, and around Izzy, the Smasher-corps cycle through their powers quickly, trying to find a solution.

And Vril-Rokk finds it. "I've got a lock on him, boss! Spotted the guy on my ultra-sight! He's down there, on the big sh-"

Unfortunately, with his power choice focused on intel, there's nothing to protect him when a stray blast catches the man in the chest, tearing him apart.

Gladiator spits a curse. "Subguardian, you are hereby awarded the rank of Superguardian. Now cover us." Gladiator turns, and with Neutron beside him, hurtles toward the area they've identified. The anger the powerful Strontian feels isn't expressed externally, but in his work. He aims an eye-blast for the ship, but the beams bend sideways, one in each direction. So he does the next best thing: he flies straight into it, barreling through the hull like, well... like Superman might.

Meanwhile, on the Blackbird, it's all they can do, at first, to stay alive. They have a mission objective, but it's vague. At least until they get a little closer. Several of them start feeling different things at once: Emma, a touch of the angry mind directing this horrible battle, like the eye of a hurricane. Hope, a sense of his mutant ability itself. Nathan can probably figure out quite a bit with the ship sensors, being one of the few people for whom all this technology isn't totally obscure: he'll get scans of the huge dreadnought at the center of the formation, the many defenses, the layers of shield, hulls...

... that Gladiator is presently tearing his way through, like the layers of an onion.

Isabel Kane has posed:
"Understood! Black Team, converge on Alpha Team, keep them covered! No blasts or beings get through!"

Smasher (Isabel) takes up a flanking position to Gladiator and has each of her squadron take up an equal flanking position to each of the Superguardians. "This is a turn and deflect, squad! No shots taken that will jeopardize coverage or you'll deal with me! IF you survive!" She lets out a small curse when the eye beams are deflected from the main ship. "Fuckin' beefed up shields.."

Then Gladiator is tearing ass through the ship and Smasher is rushing to keep up! She'll pull the extra resistance from the exospex download, acting as a living shield to Gladiator's sword, making sure any blasts aimed his way are deflected, absorbed or caught.

She keeps a weather eye out for the main target as well. Not because she intends to engage him directly, but because he is the biggest threat on the field and she's watching Gladiator's back.

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope opens her mouth to say something, but is silenced after a moment. She was used to feeling the unique 'thrum' of mutant abilities all around her. Since she'd come to live at the Mansion, they'd been all around her. Some rang louder than others - the Professor and Doctor Grey most notably - but this was something different.

"Who is that?" Hope asks, speaking aloud as she tries to sit further up in her jump seat and look past Rogue out through the cockpit window.

"That's a power like ... " she looks to Cable, "Like you ... but not ... but ... more ... "

She can't quite grasp at it, being so far away, so instead she checks the straps and charge coil on her weapon and climbs to her feet.

Emma Frost has posed:
It's time for the fun to start. And seeing Gladiator cutting loose is a thing of terror. He's the alien that went toe to toe wtih Superman going all out and held his own. This time, Emma is very glad that he's on their side. But now as they rush in her hand goes to brace over on the side of her seat, anchoring herself. She murmurs, "Here comes the fun.." Even as she goes to pickup mental energy, and goes to track it down, her nails digging into her palm.

"SO.. Much power. So little control. So much rage.." She narrows her mind, blocking out much of the overload. "I hope we hav a way to stop him that doesn't involve piling bodies up. Because they'll be our's." Fighting a high end psionic going berserk under someone else's pressure is a very, very nasty thing. Emma goes to switch to diamond form as they go to rush in, going to calm herself.

"Nathan, just to confirm, his powers are psionic based, correct?" Rather than warping reality to some degree as too many other evne more terrifying beings are. Emma's tone is hard, even as when she's diamond her emotions are according to her completely shut down..

Rogue has posed:
Rogue keeps using what cover she can in the space flight. this takes the Blackbird toward some of those burning hulks, spewing super heated gasses in to the vacuum of space. The Blackbird zips through it, around it, and keeps close up against the burning wreckages, until it sweeps out past, and beyond, their fiery (and gassy) debris fields.

Rogue is rather zoned-in on her flight controls, and figuring out where exactly they need to go.

The Blackbird is rocked by a hard hit to its starboard engine, and an alarm begins to sound out. Rogue grits her teeth, curses under her breath, and flips a switch to begin a engine deactivation. Spewing their own stream of trailing gasses now, the Blackbird begins a wild dive down toward that Dreadnought, with the Belle knowing they have to find a spot to land before they take any further damage on.

"We're going in!" She calls out, the nose of the X-Bird coming around to take the jet right in toward one of the visible hangar bays.

Whether they want them in it or not, the X-Men's space vehicle roars through the yawning maw of the Dreadnoght's hangar, and within moments there-after it skids down in to an emergency landing, a wall of smoke rolling over the vessel as it settles down!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
If they really need to take the SR-X on the offensive. It'll probably mean having to fishbowl it and then strap herself to the roof racks on top of the fancy space plane Rogue is flying.

Which can be fun for a bombing run. She can only send so many decently damaging blasts out at a time. Let alone lead her shots ahead far and fast enough to be of any use. Everything so fast.

There's also the whole being shot at and tabitha while able to withstands plasma blasts. There are other things that she can't tank and her spacesuit bits probably won't. It's not armor.

At least with a hole being made in the big ship Gladiator is tearing up that seems like an opening.

"Guess we might as well jump out and board that thing." she suggests. Not the greatest tactician our Tabby. "Rogue, think we're gonna have to just jump out an airlock. While we're out, you wanna grab us some Space Drive Thru? I need grease and bacon." she jokes but is clearly nervous while the fishbowl and other spacesuit style seals are locked in.

She'll jump out when it's time. At least for the boarding party she can keep the telepathic mind link up. <<In space no one can smell your farts. But we'll all know!>>

Alex Summers has posed:
Space is great for Havok. He's quicker to charge and it offers a greater charge. However, it also requires him to discharge more frequently than every 16 hours. Instead, it's more along the lines of every 10 hours. Or else, meltdown. Not to be confused with the Meltdown of Boom-Shakka-Boom.

Today he needs it more than ever. Needs the sweet release of blasting something. And that something will be whatever target presents itself within range and qualifies on Havok's scale of hate or annoyance. Xavier thinks of everything, and if he didn't, then space has better options. An unstable molecule space suit that allows Havok to blast through without burning off his body and exposing himself to the lack of elements and vacuum of space. Nobody likes being space sick. Plus, flying. He can fly... it's about as bad as Cannonball once flew back in the day, but he can fly.

But he waits. Waits for the 'landing' and he'll do what Havok's do best. Leap out of the blackbird as it touches down, roll, and blast, blast, FOOOOM the f out of whatever targets present themselves as being targets.

Cable has posed:
Aren't family reunions just the best?

The drama, the anger, the fights. Really, it's not that different from the time period he grew up in, with the constant barrage of high-energy weapons flaring all around, the brutal explosions and the tremendous loss of life. It does not however fill Cable with a tremendous sense of nostalgia.

War is war. Whether it happens in the black void of space, or in the mud of a terran battlefield. It might seem a little more distant, a little more antiseptic up here, but people are still dying, are still terrified and even with the distances involved, even with the strict reins he keeps on his telepathic abilities at all times, he can still feel that fear pressing in.

And ignores it.

The technology of the Blackbird might be primitive to what he is used to, but that isn't really much of an obstacle to him -- if anything it makes it that much easier to grasp, to put to use, and he focus on that array of sensor information coming in, studying it with a certain disipassion. "Watch for the incoming fire at mark twenty-seven," he says sharply but calmly. He can deflect weapons fire with an application of his telekinetic force back home, but nothing like the power signatures given off by a full Shi'ar crusier.

Looking up briefly towards Hope he simply dips his head slightly. "That would be who we're here for," he says simply.

No doubt to talk first. Because that always goes well.

Cable resists rolling his eyes and turns back to the sensors in front of him. "I doubt he warps reality. But at some point does it really matter," he says flatly. "I'd be careful about taking anything for certain, but it's likely you're on the right track," he confirms with Emma.

Then the entire ship shudders as it is hit, the flight becoming rocky indeed as they plummet towards the gapping hole ripped into the Dreadnought. "Brace for impact," he growls out, one hand on the console in front of him, one on his pack of weapons.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
Gladiator is frighteningly powerful, and fast. And, even if his manner doesn't admit to it: angry. He outruns his escort, shooting into the center of the ship like a bullet.

Neutron and the other guards follow in behind him, as Izzy takes command of some of the broader numbers. With his own powers, he lands at the edge of the damaged ship and rends the hole in the hull open further, bending back metal with terrible force. Enemy crewmen go flying out into space as deck after deck is breached. Some die. Some get their helmets on and fight on in space. There are enemy Guardmsen here too, to the point where it is difficult to tell friend from foe at points.

A patch of blackness opens beside Izzy, somehow even darker than the empty void of space, and a hand reaches from it toward her!

As the Blackbird comes in, Rogue passes a few of those breached decks around where Gladiator and Neutron have done their work, offering a less traditional entry, before finding an open hangar. There are a lot of hangars on a ship this big, and fortunately, with the structural damage to the section around it, the forcefield on this one is down! That means they can land! It also means no atmosphere when they hit the deck there, but at least there's a surface for boots to mag-lock onto for the people who have to walk where they're going.

Also, not shockingly, they're met by several squadrons of Shi'ar troopers, in their little triangular metal helmets and bearing rifles. They do the predictable thing that all Imperial Troopers do, and open fire! This itself is probably not all that intimidating, and indeed one of the first squadrons of them meets its end almost immediately with a blast from Havok. It doesn't seem so bad until a set of doors opens to reveal a big mech-suit looking thing (with a little one on top of it). Rogue has actually met these guys before - or a version of them, anyway. Warstar. He's quickly joined by other rebel Guard: an Electron and a Hypernova (who somehow dresses in even less for space battle than Emma at her Emma-est!).

<< Try and get Hope close to him. Alex, Nathan, if you can't... talk him down, reach him as family, maybe she can turn his powers back on him. >>

Oh right. Jean is here too. But, for once, she's not eager to take to the front of the field, observing and communicating telepathically from the bridge of the Starjammer. The last time she met Vulcan, he ripped a bunch of Phoenix power out of her. It's not something she wants to -give- him, or to risk having to turn to herself, unless no better option presents itself.

Rogue has posed:
Seconds after touching down, Rogue accessed the damage report. It began blurting out a series of statuses for her, along with instructions on what needs to be repaired to get the engine at least serviceable until they could get back to a safer port.

The lights from the weapons fire outside draw Rogue's eyes up, and as others move to disembark the Jet, she finally stands up last and walks past where Jean is, giving her HUGE eyes, and a wordless message of 'I hate this so much.'

Space battles. Star Wars stuff. This is Kurt's thing, or Kitty's thing. Not hers!

Grabbing a helmet, Rogue pops it on over her head, and snatches up a toolbox. She flies out of the back hatch of the Jet, allowing the others to deal with the enemy weapons being fired their way, as she streaks across the top of the Jet to begin a series of rapid repairs that will keep the damaged engine from blowing up when the Jet has to be powered up again. She's quick about it, crawling around on the back of the ship like a monkey with the ability to control her own gravitational influence, even when in space!

Hope Summers has posed:
"Not close enough yet," Hope tells her father and grand-uncle (weird) both, feeling the strange motions in the emperium that are the foundation of her mutant ability, "Don't have to be able to see him, but still ... "

She lets herself trail off. Cable knows how it works. She doesn't need to repeat it.

She doesn't put herself at the vanguard of the breach - that wouldn't be the right choice tactically - but she doesn't hang back, either. Her rifle clutched in hand, her eyes steely and focused. Someone her age shouldn't be so calm and collected in a situation like this.

Emma Frost has posed:
The group is going for a landing and deployment. "We don't have time to waste with them. Separate the wheat from the chaff." Emma ignores most of the fire and weaponry that would come her way as she just stalks forwards. Haughtily. Arrogantly. Weapons fire pinging off her, energy blasts striking and ricocheting. She's not bothering to charge in, to rush them, or to make some kind of attack.

In this melee, with the sheer amount of firepower going back and forth, a telepath is rather useless if they're not in a position to focus. So being able to take damage makes things far, far more effective. If not for this secondary mutation, she would likeliest have been staying on the Blackbird to play backup telepath to Jean.

Her tone is silent, her posture arrogant. Her intent rather subtle - she's going in first to take as much of the attention and shots at herself as she can. Her power walk a taunt to try and draw as many of the attackers at her as possible to leave them int he open for the others to counterattack.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha isn't the type of blaster than can also fly. She tries though. At least when there is not gravity to worry about she can fake it. A little blast for thrust here and their to change directions. Not so much energy expended since she doesn't have to lift that hundred and twenty pounds and hold it up.

So hopefully when she gets into the ship through Gladiator's hull breach, she can catch up with everyone. Or possibly sneak around to join them in the middle and between her and Havok make a hell of a toasted sandwich.

Hypernovas tend to look pretty tasty after all.

Either way. Boom-Boom is going to make any minions in her path have a very bad day.

One trick she has with her plasma is pretty awesome.

She can change the direction of her blasts. Which really sucks for anyone thinking cover is going to help them. Streams of plasma from her fingers leaving a glowing trail of bright light swarming the opposition like a missile swarm in an anime. Or possibly just like outside in the space battle. "You guys look a little short to be storm troopers!" she yells, hopefully she isn't drowned out by her own powers.

Alex Summers has posed:
<< Talk? We're gonna fucking talk to him? I think the time for talking is over, right? I mean... >> exclaims Havok mentally seconds before he rolls to the side and spots the mech suit. He mutters to himself, "Oh this is gonna be good." then he calls out loudly, but over the coms, "I've got the metal man and his little friend!"

Havok braces himself, fencer stance, bent at the waist, leaning forward. He focuses, arms outstretched, and FOOOOM he'll blast toward Warstar.

Cable has posed:
At the end of the day Cable is a big believer in using whatever weapon will get the job done.

Most of the time that weapon happens to be a really big gun. Probably one that is going to make really big explosions and tear really big holes in really big walls. But if that means using words this time, he will grudgingly give it a try.

<< I suspect you might over-estimate the ties of family that he doesn't know and probably doesn't care about, but we'll get up there one way or another >> comes Nathan's mental reply, rising up from his seat and hefting his pack 'o' weapons over one shoulder, casually resting an immense plasma cannon against the other as he starts for the ramp of the Blackbird.

Hope gets a nod as he falls in at her side. "We'll get you there," he says quietly. One way or another. Probably by following the trail of destruction wrecked by the Gladiator and the Imperial Guardsmen. And blowing apart anything else that stands in their way.

The quickest way between two points is a straight line afterall. And Cable does appreciate straight lines. Especially when it involves blowing holes in things to get there.

Tapping at one of his shoulder pads, a clear dome of force envelops Cable's head, providing a breathable atmosphere and steps off the ship. The lack of gravity doesn't seem to bother him in the least, that telekinetic force simply sweeping himself up and propelling him forward and he levels that big gun, casually bracing it against his shoulder.

The scene in the hangar might be one of chaos as loyalist and rebel forces fight furiously, now joined by Earth-based allies, and while the tactician that is Cable might take it all in, he keeps his gaze centered on the objective. The squad of soldiers between them doesn't even slow him down and bright green streaks of plasma energy tear into them, scattering them from their immediate path even as a little hatch in his shoulder pad suddenly springs free, a quartet of mini-missiles lashing out, slamming into the bulkhead ahead and blowing yet another hole in the ship, giving them access to the passages beyond.

Isabel Kane has posed:
Smasher is trying to catch up to Gladiator, because she's pretty sure he's headed straight for Vulcan, and that is likely to be... explosive. With a side of body parts. She's pulled up short by the hand that's reaching for her from.. the inkier blackness of space? "Th' fuck??"

Shifting from the super resilience to the super strength even as she reaches out.. Izzy grabs hold of the hand and YANKS. "This ain't a horror movie, pal, an' I ain't some big-boobed blonde bimbo! Y'all wanna fight, ya do it face t' face!" And now it's time to see just who it is that's making a grab at her... and without buying her dinner first!

Keeping hold of the hand, Isabel continues on her flight path towards Gladiator, dragging... Nightside out and along with her! Flinging the other woman aside, Izzy shakes her head, "I ain't got time fer ya, Nightie. Do yerself a favor an' reswear t' th' Empress.. yer on th' losin' side of this conflict."

Then she's shifting from the super strength to the super spped in order to catch up to Gladiator. ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Gabriel Summers has posed:
Certainly, when Emma simply walks forward like she owns the place (she doesn't... yet), many of the rebel Shi'ar open fire on her. They have no clue about her resilient form, and so her distraction plays out just as she hopes! A lot of pew-pewing goes for nothing, with the beams richoeting harmlessly off her faceted form. Well, harmlessly for her. The bounces can make for some dangerous friendly-fire!

And the gap in attention helps the other X-Men do work. Because eventually, she draws a shot from a bigger gun: with Warstar turning his plasma cannons on her. Bzoom! These could actually be dangerous, even to that form.

Yet much like his brother, Havok proves a menance in this free-for-all of high energy space weaponry. When Emma comes under assault, he can step in and draw some of that power for his own counter attack. And as much as it is an actual walking Tank, the huge mech-thing gets blasted backward, hitting the wall behind it with a THUNK. Down? Who knows. Also, where'd the little one go?

Meanwhile, Cable leads the charge, showing off all his military hardware, with the micro-missiles especially doing a good job suppressing or routing the lesser troops. He gets to the far end-

-but not before that slinky, underdressed assassin makes a leaping attack, not directly at him, but sailing overhead, a bit of ballet among the bullets, before giving her whip a CRACK toward Hope!

Rogue is fixing the ship.

<< That can wait! >> Jean chides her, before chiming back to Alex. << Alex... he's never had any kind of family aside from these people. They took him from your mother, and trained him to fight. All he knows is death and hate. But family? He's never had it. Maybe we- I don't know. >>

Izzy and Tabitha make their way down the alternate Gladiator route, with the former quickly catching up with the latter as she switches powers. This one is largely mook-free, with the violent decrompression and all. However, as they zoom ahead (maybe Tabi can get a ride), they'll realize they have a pusuer from behind. Evidently, no one remembered Electron, so he's come after them!

Hope Summers has posed:
A whip? Who uses a whip?!

Oh, right. They're in space and everyone is a crazy nerd in space. At least, that's how Rogue described it.

As it cracks towards her, Hope turns her face away in time to avoid being struck in the eye. All the same, it catches her across the cheek and leaves a spider-thin line of crimson there. Maybe a cool scar? Oooh.

She doesn't recoil much, though, instead turning around to shoulder her plasma caster and level it in the direction of the leapy, skimpy assassin. A ball of hot, green ouch hurtles through the air. She's not making kill-shots (she's an X-Man for the purposes of this mission, after all) but legs and arms don't function well with big scorch marks or holes in them.

She uses Cable as a human shield of sorts, though in a more affectionate way. He's a fridge-o-morph and she is but wee, making it easy to hide behind him. All the while, she's grasping out at that distant power signature and trying to wrap her mental tendrils around it.

Emma Frost has posed:
They're engaging with the Rebel Guardians and being stalled. All this group has to do is delay them while thousands upon thousands of other lies swirl about in the void. This si warfare on a scale that dwarfs things on Earth. A ship this size could have a crew of the tens of thousands. Along with dozens and others of other ships spread out for however many thousands of kilometers in every direction. Lives all at risk of being snuffed out. That normally even Emma might be hesitant on doing something to put them at risk, to urge the others to go faster..

Here? Here it's far from a pressing priority. As the attack goes towards her from Warstar she's quickly ducking underneath it. The small one with him has vanished - there's no way for her to sweep telepathically. She speaks to the comm <<They're just delaying us and stringing us out.>> She goes to stomp her foot hard into the paneling of the hangar floor, ripping up a heavy piece of metal to use over as a shield a bit more effectively, bracing with it.. And then she's just pushing all of her weight onto it and is charging over like a tank towards the space harlot. The joys of having minimized to nonexistant gravity to use Warstar as a launchpoint.. There, all fifty or so tons of strength she has in this form is used to propel herself forwards and hopefully through the remaining defensive troops to hopefully smash through them! And leaving some heel marks down on Warstar's face, probably. Hopefully her act will scatter the remaining defenders in this section even if she doesn't strike them. And the improvised shield will save her if she smashes into the far wall from being embedded init.

Rogue has posed:
"I'm not letting my way home get completely screwed over by space nerds!" Rogue shouts back over the chaos at Jean, as she continues to shunt the power flows to keep the damaged ship parts from causing any further overloads that could chain their way through the X-Men's vehicle, trapping them here. Her priorities might be a little out of whack on this one, but she really doesn't like space stuff!

With a angry grunt, the Belle tosses a smoldering piece of engine away after finally getting it detached. She turns then toward the fight, and zooms off to catch up with Cable leading the charge. Swirling through the air, Rogue grabs up a chunk of hull that fell off of the Dreadnoght's broken surface, and she raises it up over her head!

She's just about to throw it at the Shi'ar remaining troops, when a mini-robot mech slams in to her from the side!

Together, the two go tumbling to the ground, Rogue on Mech action as she begins slamming her fists at its central housing!

"You done picked a fight with the wrong Earthling, Jackass!" Rogue bellows as she pummels, kicks at the mini-mech, trying her best to rip it to shreds before it can do the same to her and her very important space suit!

With one solid fist punch to its face, she sends it head-over-heels sliding away from her across the damaged deck plating of the Dreadnought's ruined hangar!

Isabel Kane has posed:
Izzy is *flying* towards Gladiator at super speed! WHOOSH! But along the way, she manages to catch up with a Tabby that's moving at a much slower pace while heading in the same direction. Now, she hasn't met a TON of people... but she recognizes the X-Men costume when she sees it!

"Hey, girl! Heard ya could use a lift!"

Yep, that's pure country girl twang coming from that Shi'ar Imperial Guard! Izzy will get an arm around Tabby and flash a quick grin, "I'll keep hold an' get us inside, ya watch our backs an' take care of anythin' comin' up behind?"

With permission granted, Izzy will loop an arm around Tabby and anchor the X-Man to her before taking off again. Looping and spinning, barrel-rolling to avoid the various blasts and potshots still pinging off in the space battle, Smasher lets out a laugh and calls out, "Just let me know if y'all need a hand with somethin' comin' up behind! Otherwise, we're goin' straight t' th' big battle!"

Alex Summers has posed:
Havok is the cannon that Nathan brings to the battle. When he sees that he blasted Warstar, he also realizes that the smaller version is somewhere on the loose. He scans around for the little one.

His mental conversation with Jean and Hope continues. He hears what Jean says and he replies in his mind, << Jean. WWCD? AKA: What Would Cyclops Do? Blast first, talk later when we've blasted him into unconsciousness. Or wait, that's me. Either way.... I'll follow your lead. You want to talk, then let's take out these collateral goons, and we'll talk. >>

Scanning, looking for other targets and Warstar's mini-me. Oh, there's a random target. Havok blasts again at anybody who needs blasting. FOOOOM! Sadly, he didn't see the little mech hit Rogue. At least not yet.

Cable has posed:
There are indeed times that Cable might seem more metal than man. Implacable hardly does him justice.

The hangar is immense, and with all of the fighting going on all around them it seems even more so. Even propelled forward under the future soldier's telekinetic abilities there is only so far, so fast they can travel without undue risk. Each time the rebel guardsmen try to muster up once more to stand in their way, Cable is right there with another salvo of plasma bursts and missile explosions to send them scattering across the deck, clearing the path to their objective.

When Hypernova shoots past him he spares no more then a quick glance back in her direction before leaving the assassin to Hope. He has little doubt that she's bitten off more then she can chew, and the only further attention he gives is the occasional judicious flick of his telekinetic abilities to deflect and tangle the last of that whip, otherwise continuing to propel the Summer's Family grouping towards the hangar's exit and the inevitable confrontation with the lost Summer's brother.

"Don't play with your food Hope," he says flatly, the recoil of that plasma cannon casually absorbed by the mental force wrapping up him and the rest of the team, bright green bolts of highly charged energy tearing through the armored soldiers and opening up a gap that he doesn't hesitate to plunge through.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Catching up with Izzy, Tabby gives an easy going salute as the blonde is really not used to maneuvering in three dimensions. "Howdy. Boom-Boom, X-Man, Bombshell, Awesomesauce!" she introduces over the comms.

Could do to grab a lift. I kinda suck as self propelled flight." she accepts and grins while hanging on.

When the asshole with electric powers is pinged and Tabby hmms. She grins to Izzy. The glow of way too many bombs filling the space behind the women as they zoom. "I got this. There's still plenty of stuff I can make booms with. Just maybe wanna step on it." Izzy already is and tabby is setting the timer right for when Electron is going to be in the middle of it all. "If I time this right. Well I always do. He's gonna be... balls deep, when it's too late!" she chuckles knowing how bad a joke that is.

It's probably going to be worse for the poor man about to catch so much plasma in the face.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
Hypernova's whip carries more than that sting. These ARE all crazy space nerds, so no one has a normal weapon! It is, in fact, an energy disintegrator whip! Fortunately, the thing isn't so much like a lightsaber as it is a much more lethal taser: normally, she wraps you up in it, and then you, well, probably die at her mild leisure. But this also means the destructive pulse of energy takes a moment to travel. The glancing blow slash near miss is just enough that Hope feels the sizzle of the energy as it races down the cord, a breath away from her skin.

"Aren't you a cute little thing. What are you doing out here, little-" Unfortunately for her, Hope is less interested in exchanging suggestive banter. It's a slight inversion of the classic Indy scene, but... close enough. "Ow! You bitch!" Yeah, she really LIKED that arm.

And then she gets run over by Emma afterward, on her way to another target. The heels aren't bad... but still. Bad day.

After taking a womp from that chunk of metal, Warstar stays down. Or, rather, C'cil does. They have names!

The little one, that ends up hugging Rogue, is B'nee. "This for the last time!" Do these two have history? Maybe not all of these are recycled names. Anyway, the little menace jabs at her with some kind of shock prod thing as they wrestle around. She's too durable for it to work, BUT, in all that scrabbling, it does the one thing she fears: Somewhere, from a tear, her suit starts to hiss with escaping air!

With all of that done, the group seems to have their way through. They might encounter more troopers as they charge through the halls, but they're as likely to turn and run as fight, facing the power of the team and their ship starting to come apart around them.

Jean keeps up the chat with Alex: << I'm not telling you to put yourself at any extra risk. If we can subdue him first, by all means. I just- be careful. Think. >>

Meanwhile, the other pair on the other approach vector traces a very speedy, very explosive path through the ship, causing probably untold destruction as they go. It's a good combo. Tabitha can blow everything up, and Izzy is fast enough to keep them ahead of the consequences of that reckless destruction. Electron is pretty fast too, flying through the exploding passageway, twisting and dodging, like he's trying to make some kind of human Death Star run of his own. Unfortunately, he's on the badguy side, so it's only inevitable that he finally catches an explosion he can't dodge.

Sped by Izzy, they arrive first, following Gladiator's wake. And when they reach their goal, a command deck deep in the center of the ship, the scene may be... reassuring?

Gladiator holds Vulcan up by the neck. One of the young man's eyes is damaged, maybe even gone, bleeding plasma. And not the kind of plasma that's supposed to be in blood. As he holds him there, the Stronian pulls back and hand, and then shoves it through Vulcan's chest.

And Vulcan starts to laugh, as the hole bleeds more of the same energetic fluid.

Hope Summers has posed:
"Send me the bill," Hope shouts back over her shoulder at Hypernova as she curses and her arm is plasma'd off. She's been watching action movies, as her father's method of stoic silence just doesn't work for her. Well, not yet. Maybe when she, too, is an old prune.

Oh, right, he can hear her thoughts. Sorry, dad.

The gun is lowered, barrel pointed at the deck so it doesn't discharge by accident and hit anyone. She's learned her firearms discipline from the best. The cavernous space is confusing and alien, but she's got that internal compass leading her in the direction of the lost relation they're here to rescue. She follows it, and bursts in after the others.

She doesn't wait, doing what Jean sent her here to do. She reaches out, seeking to wrap her consciousness around that power source and copy it for herself. The act leaves the plasma caster hanging limply to one side, focused entirely upon the task.

At once, her eyes begin to glow an eerie yellow. Flames of that same energy flickering out of her sockets as her real eyes are masked by it entirely. The air around her crackles with that very same energy.

<I ... got ... it ... > she broadcasts over the telepathic link, sensing something familiar ...

Rogue has posed:
After delivering that seismic punch to the Little Mech, sending it tumbling away, Rogue took a moment to pant inside of her space helmet. An alert came up upon her HUD inside the center of her vision, showing a breach in her suit's atmosphere right down on her stomach on the left side. "Shit." She quietly utters as her eyes drop down to her own bodysuit, the textured black material being felt with her gloved hands. She can see the little venting ding to her suit, and taps a finger over it a few times. "God damnit. I need to start just usin' guns like everyone else..." She states to herself, as she's prone to talking to herself.

Her eyes raise up to stare at the others as she sees them advancing off in the distance. She, instead, flies back toward the Blackbird!

Once inside, she dashes over to a storage area, where she begins frantically rooting around inside cabinets, drawers and storage units until she finally finds the molecular sealant. With her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, illuminated by the lights inside her helmet, Rogue bends herself to look down at her torn suit, and begins to smear the sealant over her venting tear!

Humming a little song to herself as she drags the sealant gun's nozzle across the tear, she quietly taps her right foot while it bubbles and hardens across the material wound.

A second later and her HUD shows the seal to be solid once more, and with a huff the sealant gun is tossed back in to a cabinet, and the Belle rushes toward the exit of the ship again.

"I'm comin!" She says over comms. "Don't finish the fight without m---"

She's tackled from behind by the little mech again, and the two once more go tumbling across the hangar floor, crashing in to a pile of debris and detritus.

Isabel Kane has posed:
As soon as they get in the ship, Isabel is quick-dodging and zipping them around the wreckage and leaking fluids/gasses of the dmaged ship, carrying Tabby to probably the last place that Tabby should be going. Yay for hidden projects that don't make it onto databases!

As soon as they arrive, Izzy will set Tabby down and rush forward to try and get between Gladiator and Vulcan. It won't be soon enough to halt the hit to his chest, however. Shifting from speed to strength, she'll move to grapple with Gladiator.

"Sir! We don't have time for this, sir! He's done for, we gotta get back out there an' rally our troops, chase off what's left of th' rebels!" Not trying to appeal to his 'better nature' but to his loyalty to the Shi'ar. They still have ships and troops out there, after all! Even if the main bad guy is down (or appears to be), there's still fighting going on! "Let th' X-Men finish him off or haul him away for burial or whatever they're gonna do! We need t' finish this battle an' start gatherin' survivors!"

Because Gladiator is so damned tall and broad, Izzy is flying just to get hold of him from behind, trying to pull his fist from Vulcan's chest and get him back on track.

Alex Summers has posed:
Havok sees that his 'half-brother' is grabbed by Gladiator... and he realizes that what Jean said is contingent on Vulcan being alive. He also sees the rest of the carnage on the field. He sees what Smasher is trying to do. He knows that it's probably going to go badly for everyone involved - except Gladiator. So Havok shouts, "GLADIATOR, HE'S OURS TO DEAL WITH!" and he doesn't bother to wait for Gladiator to react. Instead, he releases another full blast toward Gladiator's chest, in hopes that it'll knock him away and make him drop Vulcan. Also, hoping that Smasher doesn't get in the way.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The explosions she trails behind look like what happens when the big ships fire their guns outside. Just inside and slightly smaller. Going off in front of, behind, above, below, and yes even diagonally from the pursuer!

If Electron gets through that he won't be having a good day.

Smasher gets a big grin as the leave their chaser behind. "You're gonna hear me say how awesome and hot you are and other awkward disaster flirting so I figure just I'll say that that's going to happen and skip to more ass kicking together!"

At least when they get to Gladiator and his quarry it initially looks like things are going okay. <<"Guys, we're there. and Gladiator has.... Oh snap. Like put his fist in Vulcan. The unfun way!">> it's as much over comms as it is the mind link she live blogs and eventually nudges an offer to Smasher and Gladiator while the others start to catch up. <<"Why is Vulcan laughi... crap crap crap!">> the man can take a punch and that's actually pretty scary.

Boom-Boom probably is in a world of danger but somehow she might have skipped any knowledge of what Vulcan's powers can do as she waits for Izzy to try and extricate Gladiator. Tabby's hands reach out and with a pair of finger gun gestures starts streaming very densely concentrated plasma to the ceiling right above everyone to start circle cutting a hole and bring a heap of debris down atop Vulcan. Hopefully he's not as strong as he is durable.

Cable has posed:
Never underestimate the effectiveness of a judicious application of firepower. Or just sheer, overwhelming explosions. They tend to work wonders too.

Before that gap can close once more, before the scattered guardsmen can group up for another effort to hold them at bay a little longer, the Summers trio is through, past the primary line of defense and free to pick their way through the passages of the Dreadnought crusier, the trail of destruction leaving a clear trail better then any map could.

It surely helps as well that the sheer power signature radiating from the wayward member of the family that they have come seeking here only grows that much more oppressive as they near, as he battles the champion of the Shi'ar throne and all the unearthly might that he possesses.

The scattered resistance that they meet along the way is neither much of a threat, nor much of a distraction really and Cable unleashes a few more blasts of that wicked green energy that crackle and sear, clearing the path ahead.

And then they're there, at the heart of the ship. The heart of the confrontation. Too late? Or just in time? Outwardly at least it certainly looks like things have been settled rather decisively by the Shi'ar champion. Somehow Cable doesn't think it will be quite so simple.

"Stand ready..." he says to Hope. Right before his uncle chooses to intervene in his own way. "Or I guess that's the other way to go," he says drily, the big plasma cannon snapping back up, braced against his shoulder.

Emma Frost has posed:
And Emma is going to charge in a few moments after right as they catch up with Vulcan and Gladiator. Telling the Strontian to -not- do something when he stalemated the most powerful being on Earth in a fight doesn't strike her as a good idea. But the way that Vulcan is /laughing/ here.. Tabitha put it rather well. The man should less have a hole in his chset and more be vaporized at the molecular level and detonating in plasma from sheer friction. So something isn't right here.

Emma goes to brace herself, shifting back over to her human form and getting ready to give the rest of the team telepathic support. Not sure what the game plan is here. And she's very much on /the/ side of Gladiator here if push came to shove. Best to cut off these sorts of irritants when they come with carnage on a galactic scale. Emma's seen Deathbird inflict enough pain on Earth to want to take away one more asset from the alien usurper.

But that isn't the way the X-Men do things. It isn't the way the Summers do things. So Emma stands ready to support the rest of the team in whatever direction they go in. Readying a mindlink to take quick advantage of the situation.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
Izzy's spirit is certainly a contrast to the scene she walks in on. She comes in with urgency and straight-forward thinking. Help her boss. Save their troops! It's a bit naive... but it is her first day, in a sense. And still, pulling on Gladiator, even with her Spex set to STRONK, feels like pulling on a rock.

"He's not done, he won't die-" the large, purple man snarls.

And then another laugh, from the 'dead' man, and then a wet cough. "You think you've won? Your fleet is burning. And I- do you think any of you can kill me? Hah. Oh. Wait. Who's- you again."

Indeed, as Tabitha also arrives via Izzy's speedy entrance, the maybe not-so mortally-wounded figure looks over and smiles, faintly at first, and then with more confidence: "I don't know what you're doing here but... I should thank you."

Gladiator still holds him, even pushes his fist around in the man's chest cavity, but he seems increasingly stymied by the lack of dying that follows. Normally that works. Of course, the Guard has all kinds of strange aliens, so it's not foolproof, but there's a certain frustration in trying to rip out a man's heart and only getting a fist full of energy goo.

And then, all at once, a LOT of things happen. Some of it is only really felt as a buzzs in the air, more obvious to Hope than the rest. Other stuff is, well, blasting.

"Hnnnh." Gladiator's grip starts to weaken, and Izzy can feel that lapse in strength before Alex can process it himself. He's a hotheaded Summers through and through, and he rips loose. Maybe, normally, Kallark could be among those who might actually shrug off an attack like that, but whatever has just happened seems to weaken him further. The blast, combined with Izzy's backward force... well, it sends them BOTH hurtling backward into the nearest wall. Too fast for the woman to swap powers, letting her catch the brunt of her Praetor's weight as it piles them both into the wall.

Also: rocks fall. Well, sci fi junk. The two are blasted clear, but Vulcan isn't. And, among all things, he's not immune to rocks, and is focusing on healing himself too much to put up a shield. The pile forces him down for a moment. But even Tabitha has to feel it: that bomb was weak. She's weak. And weaker by the moment.

A second later, the pile of debris explodes and Vulcan bursts free of it. The hole is gone. Even the hole in his fancy red uniform is gone. "We really don't need to fight," he tells Tabitha. "D'Ken tried to hurt you too. And your friends. We can do this together. I will rule- and then I will KILL HIM."

Meanwhile, Hope doesn't even have to make it inside to grab a touch of that power. And as she does, she's met with proof of just what a terrible situation they're dealing with. In this gigantic space battle, surrounded by ships running on matter-antimatter annihilation and blasting each other with unimaginable energies, she can feel... every bit of it, every where around them. And feel how Vulcan shapes it all to his whim. Ships explode, Guardsmen try to use their powers and melt on the spot.

She can feel all of them as little points of light in it, too, the powers of her own teamates. It really doesn't discriminate. Laser blasts. Plasma. Psionic energy. Is there a magician on deck 37? ALL of it.

Hope Summers has posed:
"Wow," Hope whispers to herself, barely audible over the commotion around her, "He can control ... all of it ... "

Her attention drifts from the immediate scene around her. Beyond the powers of those in her immediate area. She focuses on those bright points in the web, the roaring infernos that are the energy-producing powerhouses of the opposing fleets of space vessels. The power that flows through their hulls, feeding weapons of unspeakable destruction.

No.

Hope's first act, as wielder of the Power Vulcan, is to reach out and deactivate the weapons of the battling space fleets. Not to destroy them, not to pick a side. Instead, their cannons and blasters go dark and cold. The two warring factions now hanging ponderously in space, unable to lash out at one another.

"There. Now we can talk."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Sure it dropped a bunch of crap on the man as the Izzy yanks Gladiator aside. The power normally pulsing like mad through her nerves, that keep her eyes glowing while she blasts is fading. But was it the bombing back on the way in or something else since it's draining still.

Normally she can control where it goes, but this feels like her life is being yanked on.

And it seems to go right to the debris pile.

That soon explodes and even tabby has to dive out of the way of some of it. "Crap crap crap!" she yells while trying to at least stay on her feet.

By now she might as well be wearing an inhibitor collar after running a marathon. It won't stop her trying to fight though. "Yeah, he did. And what now. Fucker is not on the throne. We helped make that happen. You got no reason to keep the bullshit going." she yells.

And maybe with one last ditch effort of bravado any last energy she has is wound up along with a running kick aimed between the man's legs. If anything the last draining vestiges of energy might make the moving foot faster.

She is not the Iron Fist alas. Just a young woman very much in way over her head.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue and the Little Mech continue their fight cloud! Punches, and stunning prods being exchanged as the Mech tries to punch a hole in her suit enough to finish the Mutant enemy off!

But Rogue deflects the stabbing prod, the electrical blasts lighting up her form as she grapples with the metal man.

Finally, she bends the prod until it snaps, and bashes the series of saw blades mounted on another arm until they crumble in to bent metal bits...

A few moments later, and Rogue is trying to catch up with the rest of her team, dragging the Mech behind her by its bent metal arms. She slings it full power under handed toward one of the ship's bulkheads, smashing the mech against the wall before rushing on past it to regroup with the others.

Emma Frost has posed:
Gabriel Summers, aka Vulcan. What minimal information his file contained stated that he was a high degree energy manipulator, that could absorb and redirect it to extremes. Siphoning virtually any form and rebroadcasting it. Also to some degree this went for tleepathic efforts, which at times could crest over him like a wave. So evne if she went at him full power Emma couldn't guarantee that it would work.. Unless he was spread thin. So if they were going to hit him from several directions.. But also having to fight off parts of the Imperial Guard admidst the chaos.. That might count as a way to distract him enough for her to get her needles in.

Emma would grin in a twisted way. Never let it be said that she would back off from a challenge. Half of them were jumping on Gladiator to try and stop the Strontian, the other half were trying to alternatively take down Vulcan or talk down Vulcan. It made for a messy battlefield as Emma had to fine tune to not have her attempts put the others at risk in her meddling.. Or do something that would have more risks attached.

Emma goes for a more brute force attempt on things. All innate powers had some degree of connection to the mind. Elemental abilities, bio-mechanics were often based on psionics to some level. A subconscious way to control said powers and manage them automatically. Not having to think made it all easier when it was an automatic reaction. Just instinct.

So Emma goes for the brute force option of trying to shut him down without risking an overload. Nothing in the minimal experience the X-Men have is that he has issues with overload of his powers.. But she has to wait for the right moment. That sort of thing takes focus, and he's powerful enough even if she can do it it will only work for a moment before his automatic defenses kick in.

She goes to speak along the comms <<I have a possible option if we need it>>

Isabel Kane has posed:
Izzy lets out a cry as she is suddenly able to YOINK Gladiator backwards... that should NOT be possible! She'll worry about it even as she slams into the wall, caught between The Rock and a Hard Space. Thankfully, even without the extra boost from the Exopex, she's pretty durable in her uniform. It knocks the wind from her lungs, leaves her gasping for a few brief moments... but it also means they're saved from the crumble of the ceiling.

Still, when Vulcan emerges from the rubble looking hale and whole, Isabel mutters a quick "Aw fuck.." She looks from Gladiator to Vulcan, then over to Tabby, back to Vulcan. This is.. not good. He's draining power from people, somehow. Using it to fuel himself.

Getting up under Gladiator, she looks to the incoming X-Men, "Should get him away from anyone that he can drain fer power! Isolate him an' do what ya gotta do!" Then she's hefting up the Stronian and flying him the fuck up out of that ship at top speed! Getting him outside that ring of influence where the ships started exploding and people started melting. Because it isn't just the weapons or the ships. It's the POWERS. And Kallark has a LOT of power to drain.

Gabriel Summers has posed:
While the on-going explosions had probably become so constant as to blend into the background noise, their presence is suddenly highlighted in their absence: it all stops. Just like that, there is silence around them, the battle brought to a halt in a single moment.

This is not an easy feat, for Hope. Quickly enough she realizes that feeling and controlling are not the same thing. There is so much of it, everywhere. She can touch it all. But the vastness overwhelms the senses. And she can feel the fraying of not just her control, but her own self, as she pushes to the greatest extents, or to the highest magnitudes.

Tabitha's plan goes about as well as one would imagine. She charges him. If being impaled through the chest didn't stop him, then a kick to the family jewels isn't going to do much better. And so it is more insult that he denies her the opportunity, lifting a hand to errect a small barrier between them at the last second.

He doesn't want to fight her, he wants to MONOLOGUE. "D'Ken was dethroned, but he still lives. Jailed and humiliated, but alive. And you know the games these bird 'people' play." The scare quotes are audible, a clear vitriol placed on the word. "Constant machinations and civil wars. One minute D'Ken. And then Lillandra. And next her sister. Who I serve only because she has promised me her brother's head."

Does it feel like maaaybe he's not totally loyal to the spirit of that partnership?

"So why should I think he will not rule again? NO! For what he did..." and here, the fury almost makes him tremble, the psychic anguish of it likewise obvious to those more sensitive in the group, "I will give him a death unimaginable even by his own cruel standards. And then perhaps I will burn his Empire down and rule the ashes."

Meanwhile, Izzy makes the strategic retreat with her weakened Praetor. And again, Vulcan seems to pay them no mind. To the telepaths, even here, the case is obvious: the Guard, like him, are all alien slaves to their Shi'ar masters.

Emma looks for an off-switch, and finds one. It's not THAT complicated, for telepaths. It's just a question if she could KEEP him off. So that switch stays unflipped, for the moment!

Alex Summers has posed:
Havok watched as the ceiling came down and the rising of Vulcan from the clutter. He's annoyed. Havok calls forward in a loud voice, "It's NONE of our concern, Brother. Let them fight their civil wars. As long as they don't bring it to Earth. Earth is our home. Somewhere you should be, with the rest of us. Stand down, let's get the fuck out of here and we can talk. We can leave this bullshit behind and you can put it your rear view mirror."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope collapses to her knees on the deck, her eyes still flaring wildly with the connection to the power she's currently manipulating. It's difficult work to control it, and as she must take a portion of it into herself to do so it can be seen glowing within the very arteries and veins beneath her skin. She's warmer than she should be, and the air steams around her.

"Talk ... fast ... " she growls, turning her face to look up at Cable for a moment, almost pleadingly.

She topples forward, catching herself on her hands as her red hair cascades down over her pale features. Keeping the ships from attacking one another like this, holding them rather than simply causing the energy source to flare up and destroy itself, is difficult. Especially when she's making a point of not touching the power sources generated by people.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Boom-Boom's encounter with the barrier has her bouncing pretty hrd. Not so much to knock her backward on her behind but enough to make her have to wave her arms and steady herself before she rights herself. "That's the whole point. Everyone knows D'Ken is a shifty asshole. That's why he's staying in jail. You think Deathbird, hot as she is, is gonna be any better? Bitch dropped Brood gunk on our planet." she's not gonna mention that all Lilandra did was drop a bundle in a cooler in her now long busted van.

"Bet ya a case of space booze the bitch tries to do you in or puts a leash on ya like her brother. Lilandra's the pony to back. And really. If ya do. We can probably let you have fun with D'Ken. Get ya some mileage out of vengeance." she suggests as a possibility.

You can shear a sheep all it's life. But you can only skin it once.

She does go and try to help Hope stay steady. Or possibly keep herself on her feet. Tabby isn't exactly running on a full tank of gas now.

"So yeah, why kill and end up a slave, when you can torture and be like free to come and go and let the space birds do their thing?" she asks suggestively.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would take a step back to watch the others. Lovely, this is all talking now. Emma goes to watch him, speaking casually. "And why are you defined by someone else's war, by someone else's choices for you? What's the reason to have you spend the remainder of your life on a crusade?" She doesn't trust Vulcan. At all.

<<He is not a stand up negotiating partner. He is quite capable of planning as is evidenced by this game here.. And he's also quite content to kill extremely large numbers of beings. We cannot talk him down indefinitely.>> That's sent telepathically to the rest of the team. But Emma stays silent, just watching things.

Isabel Kane has posed:
Flying at nearly the speed of light means that Isabel can get Kallark very far very fast. She takes him outside the ring of Vulcan's influence, then farther, taking him to the lead ship still intact and making sure he's in the medbay. She alerts the Shi'ar to keep EVERYONE with powers outside that ring of influcen, then turns around and zoomies herself right back into the middle of the spacey Hell Hole!

Coming in for a landing, she touches down. Not coming in swinging, not even powered up, beyond the speed that got her here. Getting herself caught up by catching the tail end of Tabby's response. "Also, as th' sole nonpowered human in th' room... th' Shi'ar an' th' Earth have a treaty. We worked out differences an' are tryin' t' move forward peacefully. Together. Th' Shi'ar ain't always right, man. But Lilandra's tryin' t' do better'n her siblin's. She don't always get it right th' first time, but she gets there. It's a process, man. Ya got kin on Earth. They want ya with 'em. We can work somethin' out, yeah?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue follows the chaotic sounds to find her way toward her teammates. Navigating the ruins of the ship's battered corridors, she makes her way toward them. When the sounds die off, she can hear shouting up ahead, the sound of Alex's voice dropping some F-bombs of his own, as well as several of the others calling out as well.

Finally, she stumbles around a corner, and places her right hand on a dented bulkhead, her eyes peering out at the situation that the rest of the team is embroiled in. She tries to figure out what is happening, she sees Hope on her knees, and begins to stumble toward her. "Ya'll need a bit of hel--"

A clattering noise streaks past, spewing sparks, oil and discarded servos, as the Little Mech flies out of no where, once more tackling Rogue, and sending them both rolling across the deck toward a corner. Pinning the Belle down now, the nearly-ruined mechanical monster starts smacking at the glass covering her face, trying to smash it open, as Rogue reaches her hands up to deflect the attacks!

It is the battle of the ages, some might some day say!

Gabriel Summers has posed:
"Lilandra's position is weak. D'Ken still has followers, they will never-" Vulcan argues with Tabitha, until they're interrupted.

'Brother.'

Keen observers may have noted, with some oddity, Gabriel's sole focus on Tabitha, of all people, to this point. Not that she isn't super amazing and cool! But it may seem odd, that with so many distant family come to face him, he seems disinterested in them. Well, the reason becomes obvious enough:

He didn't know.

From his floating position, he sinks down slightly, turning toward Alex. "W-what did you just-?" The realization of it seems to hit him hard, a cold shock in the middle of a very fiery rant. At first, the reflex seems to be to rebuff the idea, the psychic churn of it audible to Emma.

And to Jean, who's still 'with them.' << He's telling you the truth. I don't know, what records they even have, what lies they told you, but... you have a family. Many of the people here in front of you. Brothers, nephews, nieces. A father, waiting on that cruiser with no transponder. >>

There's no psychic attack from Jean, though Emma might still take her shot. But between her distant words, and Alex standing there in front of him, the man... for a moment finally seems uncertain.

Reality will creep its way back in, slowly. Izzy returns, and her words are what one would expect of a Guardwoman, reasoned but legalistic. He lifts a hand to his head, shaking it slightly. "I won't trust them and you shouldn't either, I-"

Hope Summers has posed:
At the mention of family, Hope lifts her head slightly to look towards Vulcan. She doesn't really have the strength to speak right now, and besides she's not a blood relative so the connection may not be readily apparent with her.

Instead, she keeps her focus on the fleet. Burning up from the inside, it's too much power for her to just grab and start hurling around without the catalyst of the Phoenix Force or at least some instruction. She remains on the deck, squeezing her fists and focusing as best she can.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
When Vulcan's attention shifts briefly to the family he didn't know he had, Tabitha hmms and ponders trying the same kick she failed at before. She'd have a better shot going at it telepathically and the idea is sent over the mind link.

It does get Tabitha grinning when that little factor sinks in. "Totally all true. It was your family that freed you, over threw D'Ken and like locked his ass up. And if you come with us. Have fun being HIS Jailer, no Geneva out here. No one gonna try spring D'Ken knowing you're in his cell. And if they try. Well. That's their asses getting scorched. But doing so, you can keep your family safe. Actual family." Tabby keeps doing the talking thing. How well can a street trained ex-conwoman negotiate an end to a civil war. She has no idea but she's not shutting up unless someone else shuts her up.

And so she goes on "Deathbird ain't gonna give a fuck about them. She'd just as soon kill your brothers, nieces, nephews, a frigging Dad who is actually pretty awesome. All that stuff. She'd scorch them all cause she just don't actually give a fuck about you. But if you don't join us. You get through, kill D'Ken, then what. You end up screwed for a few moments of justice endorphins when you can make that last ages with us."

She's trying at least.

Emma Frost has posed:
All right, at the very least they have a moment here to try and talk through. <<I'll defer to you, Alex, but if you do want to mention the ways that dearest Deathbird has tried ever so a great many times to kill everyone along with the emotional resonance to let him understand it's truthful..>> Emma leaves the judgement over to Alex as they go about it. Ultimately.. To Alex. It's his family here.

So that gives him the right to make the call, as far as Emma is concerned. She's not about to interrupt things. Merely lending her support over to the rest of them.

Alex Summers has posed:
Nodding mentally to Emma; and since Havok has some of Vulcan's attention, he follows through, "Come on man. Let's go. Deathbird has tried to kill everyone in your family, multiple times. She's not to be trusted. We're not going to lie to you, try to kill you, or anything fucked up. We're blood. So, get in the fucking ship and let's go before they show up with reinforcements."

Rogue has posed:
Another mechanical limb is ripped from the Little Mech's armory of weaponry. But this one Rogue turns around on its owner. She jams the prod in to the Mech's interior, and watches with delight as a surge of electrical power sizzles through the mech suit, only stopping when the machine goes limp over her.

With a clang she tosses it aside, and just lays on her back taking a moment to breathe.

Eventually, she rises up on to her elbows, with her head turning right, then left. She stares at the others off in the distance, letting one more heavy sigh escape from behind her mask before she rises up to her feet with a groaning grunt.

Hobbling forward again, Rogue moves to join the others, her masked face looking from one of them to the other before she finally regards the one called Vulcan. Quietly, as quiet as possible anyway, Rogue starts creeping her way around behind him as the conversation continues to unfold. Carefully she works her way around some of the discarded debris, and sci fi stuff, as she tries to get herself behind the man that the others are attempting to talk down. She keeps her breathing even as possible as she moves with a even stride.

Isabel Kane has posed:
Isabel moves forward, using one of the lesser known functions of her uniform to fade out the headpiece of it, letting her face show. Keeping her hands carefully in view so she can show no malicious intent, just looking at Vulcan. "I met yer other brother. Scott. Actually accused him of bein' you. But I didn't do nothin' to him, an' we talked. He's a good guy. Ya should meet him. Meet th' rest of yer kin." She glances towards Alex, then back to Vulcan, "I lost my family recently. All of 'em. I know how much it sucks t' feel like yer alone. An' I only been dealin' with it fer a few years. I can't imagine how much worse it's been for ya. But.. I do know I'd give *anythin'* t' know I still had kin out there. Ya got family, man. Ya don't need all this civil war bullshit. Take some time.. meet yer kin. I'll recommend t' th' Empire we give ya time. Leave ya alone. Let yer family work with ya."

Gabriel Summers has posed:
"Please. If Lilandra could deliver that justice, she would have done it herself. Shi'ar politics would be nothing if anything could ever END. They clone bureaucrats just to keep at it..." Vulcan's rejection of some of what is offered is harsh. Harsh but accurate, one might say. "Enough with that talk. Even if I have lived in a house of lies for my entire life, I am no fool. You simper and bow to a weak ruler, but know this: OUR species would do better to know them for what they are."

Needless to say, with that remark, he lets his gaze finally fall on Isabel. He snorts. "And you. You serve them willingly. Why? Why do you debase yourself-" He looks angered by it, but also disarmed at the same time. More talk of family. Brothers he doesn't truly know, described by a woman he doesn't trust. "I will hear no more from you."

All this vitriol might start to make Emma think that pulling that trigger is a good idea, yet at long last, the man lifts a hand as if to silence all the chatter, everything ringing in his ears and in his head. His floating finally ends, bringing his feet to the ground, so that he can walk to Alex, face to face. He seems to judge the other man by his features, measure him.

"I do not know you.... but I never -chose- to fight my own blood. To make me do so by deceit is just another perversion heaped upon us by these people, and for that, she will pay as well. But understand me: if you are truely your mother's sons, then you would not stand before me in my quest. You would stand BESIDE me. You would join me in this, and the galaxy would tremble before us. Tell our brother, our father, whatever other kin we have... tell them THAT."

And then, just like that, he turns away, sharply, his own elaborate guard uniform's cape flaring behind him. His gaze passes by Hope, simply... meeting her eyes, for a brief but seemingly significant moment, and then he starts striding forward, past where Rogue is lurking. "I see you there."

His destination is the side of the ship already torn open. "I suggest the rest of you flee before the birds resume killing each other for sport."

And then, if no one does anything about it he flies off into space!