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The talk among the crew as the Long Voyager jumped out from Terra was dominated by talk about Galactus and his Herald. What were their powers, what were their known weaknesses? What could the Custodes do against them, how could they plan for them? For some people, this was simply a mental exercise. For example, Ben knew he and his girlfriend were along to help deal with the Herald. They would have next to nothing to contribute in a fight against Galactus himself.
Several others seriously felt they might have something to provide like Amara, or Banshee, who had been a last-minute addition to the group. Reed had been unable to tell Harry if sonar-based attacks would have an impact on Galactus or his Herald, so he felt it was worth a try.
For Reed and Forge, the two of them were hip-deep in discussions on what kind of devices and technology they could use against Galactus. They were leaning heavily towards a sort of energy siphon or energy conversion-based weapon as well as fighting off longing thoughts on how to infiltrate Galactus' ship. Which, according to Reed, existed almost like in a pocket dimension connected to but not entirely part of Galactus himself. Bits and pieces of it would become apparent in the physical firmament as Galactus required them to build the energy siphon that he used to dine on his chosen worlds.
But most, like Morph and Betsy, were naturally anxious at the size of this challenge. They were going over the first battle against Galactus on Earth with Ben and Reed and Johnny as a way to allay those fears.
To the surprise of many, Harry did not take part in these discussions. Harry had learned by this point that making specific tactical-level plans for an unknown scenario was a waste of energy. How could you put create a plan for someone like Galactus when you weren't entirely sure your allies had seen all his abilities? No, better to make a general plan, based on what you knew of his mentality. Plan for the brain, rather than the power. And arrogant people - and Galactus was still a person regardless of his power - were the same the universe over.
Planning for the Shi'ar was more difficult, and that was what dominated Harry's mind. There just wasn't enough known about the Emperor himself that could really be trusted. Everything they had from the Shi'ar people themselves was secondhand, except for Gladiator and Mar'vel, and Una had been no help. But Gladiator was not a good source of information on this point. Emma and Charles and even Betsy had delved into his mind, to get a feel for the Emperor. But the man had been so uninterested in politics or decision-making that he didn't know anything except for when they pertained to the Imperial Guard.
He was a wealth of information on them, and Emma had made numerous portfolios that everyone in the Long Voyager had access to. But next to nothing outside. No policymaking, no nothing personal, except for the fact that the Emperor had apparently taken to bedding some of the female members of the Imperial Guard and had a hareem. Needless to say, the girls had been somewhat amused and annoyed by that, but since it hadn't seemed to slow them down in their duties, even that was but a side note to Gladiator.
"I find it highly ironic, given how straight we are in most of our own dealings, that we are taking such delight in planning for the trail that we inevitably see here," Hela said, leaning back in an immensely comfortable chair across from Harry. He sat in a similar chair, though somewhat larger.
Harry shrugged. "It's the story of the scorpion and the duck or whatever it was that tried to get the scorpion over the river," he said with a shrug.
At Hela's look of mild confusion, Ororo chuckled quietly from where she was leaning back against Jean, who was brushing her hair. Harry had done the same to Hela that morning before they had left Earth, and the woman had apparently found it quite pleasing judging by the humming noise that she had made throughout. "The punchline goes 'Why did you sting me! We were nearly across, and our agreement was that we would go our separate ways once there, asked the duck. I am a scorpion, it is what I do, the scorpion replied. And so they both drowned.'"
"Right. But in this instance, we're going to be planning for that betrayal from the get-go. Information is what I want most, both taking from the Shi'ar as much information as we can, and hiding everything to do with Earth and us. If the Shi'ar people don't have any kind of inbuilt defense against magic, I will erase from their minds everything to deal with us and how we dealt with Galactus. In fact, I'll go further and implant the idea that they dealt with it on their own, doing the same with all of their computer systems. It's not as if we want more notoriety. If the Shi'ar people are more willing to simply forget Earth exists entirely, it's more than fine by me. Until we're done with them though, shock and awe will serve us better."
The journey to the Shi'ar Empire would take about a week. And of course, their time aboard the Long Voyager could not be dominated entirely for planning what they would do when they got to Chandilar, the home system of the Shi'ar. In this, the ship proved itself well worth the time that it'd taken to create it. The rec room the sitting room, the commissary stuffed with food and the three house-elves aboard the ship, all made the time go by faster while keeping the crew in fighting trim.
Harry and his ladies, on the other hand, were more enamored of the time to themselves. They all missed Emma dearly, but one of them had to stay behind to lead the group left in charge of everything back on Earth, and there was no use crying over spilled milk. Jean was her usual lovingly tactile self, making up for lost time every night with Ororo and Harry, while she spent her days pushing Hela in terms of what the Asgardian goddess felt appropriate while courting.
Yet despite her sometimes-protests to the contrary, it was Hela who really pushed that line quite a bit further than she ever had before. To do so, she took advantage of the amenities of the ship one evening.
Part of the suite of rooms that Harry and his ladies - minus Hela, who had her own private quarters nearby - included a sizeable Roman-style bath like the one that was in Camelot. Only instead of being shared with everyone who could be very loosely termed an adult, this one was solely theirs, a bit of luxury that Harry had been unable to stop himself from including. So when Harry had come back from a workout with James, Ben, and Mr. Fantastic and heard the sounds of splashing within, he naturally supposed that either Jean or Ororo were using the bath.
Entering the steaming room with his towel tied around his waist, Harry instead saw through the steam a familiar black-haired woman lying back in the bath. Her head was above the water, as were her bared shoulders, her arms out along the sides of the pool to either side, propping her body up against the side of the bath, with one languid leg sticking out, visible above the bubble-covered water from the knee down.
It was a very pretty leg Harry reflected, staring at it, any words he might have said disappearing. White as the driven snow that leg was, with dainty little feet at the end, the toes wiggling at him alluringly. Harry was in no way enamored of feet overmuch, but suddenly that sight grabbed his attention because it led to that leg, and then to the body within that pool.
Nothing could be seen of that body, no matter how hard Harry strained his eyes such was the thickness of the bubbles on the surface of the water. But there was still the hint of her chest bobbing on the water, glorious mounds covered by suds. After that, Hela's skin was visible from her neck up, a neck so well- curved and so perfect that painters the world over would have given their eyeteeth to paint her neck alone, to say nothing of the rest of her. Powerful shoulders and arms that showed her training with her sword yet were distinctly feminine. Above them a face, that even here was covered with the mask, her lips painted the dark crimson Hela favored at times.
The smirk on that face broke Harry out of his stupor, as Hela intoned, "I take it you like what you see, Harry?"
Gulping, Harry tried to tear his eyes away, succeeding only after an extreme effort of will. "…This is a dangerous game you're playing, Milady. You set very distinct limits to what you would allow while we were courting, and this jumps well past that."
"Not as much as you might think, actually." With that, Hela's leg slowly retreated underneath the water. Water and bubbles that did not ripple at all, still blocking Harry's view of anything more. With a giggle, Hela stood up, seemingly putting the lie to that word, but Harry blinked as the bubbles which had previously hidden her body from view in the water came with her as she stepped out of the tub inset into the floor. They covered her from midthigh up to where they had previously been covering her chest, ending just at the top of the curve of her breasts.
At Harry's flummoxed, amused, and above all disappointed gaze, Hela let out a wicked laugh and held out a hand. "I don't suppose you could toss me one of those towels?"
Harry growled, shaking his head as he moved over and grabbed a towel. Then instead of simply handing it to her, he moved around her outstretched arm, draping it around her shoulders with a whispered, "Allow me." Two could play at this game, and it would not do to let Hela have everything her own way.
Hela tensed, but then Harry moved away back to the doorway, keeping his eyes on her face as she slowly pulled the towel around her. The spell on the bubbles dissipated as she did, the bubbles then flowing down those magnificent thighs of hers, to gently pool around her feet before slithering back towards the water to join their fellows. The two of them retained that stare until she finally allowed a nod.
At that sign of approval, Harry's eyes instantly swept up and down her form, taking her entire body in now that she had the towel in place. The raw desire and appreciation she saw there, set Hela's pulse to race, and she laughed throatily, moving forward towards Harry. She made to lean forward to kiss him, then paused. Instead, she bused his cheek as she walked past him. She was happy with kissing while in private most of the time, but Hela felt too close to giving in, to relaxing her rules of courtship right now. Instead, she let her hand settle on his shoulder, then slide down his arm and side, taking in the bulge in his own towel with desire and appreciation of her own.
"Have a pleasant night, my Seidr man," Hela whispered. Then she was gone, leaving the room the only evidence she had been there the spell still on the bubbles, and the lingering scent of Jasmine and elderflower in the air.
Moments later, Jean and Ororo entered, looking over their shoulders quizzically, both of them in towels as well from their own workout. That confusion disappeared as Harry caught them both in his arms, kissing each in turn before using magic to dissolve their towels. Before the ladies could realize what was happening, the three of them were falling back into the bath, where any thought faded quickly from all of their minds.
The next morning, Ororo sat down opposite Hela in the commissary for breakfast, propping her head on one fist, as she looked at the other woman. For a time, Hela pretended not to notice her presence, then looked up, a mock-questioning smirk visible on her lips and lower face. "Yes, Ororo, was there something?"
"You are an evil witch, my dear," Ororo replied, shaking her head. "Just realize that you are building up a certain level of karma."
"Oh, do tell?" Hela asked, leaning back and crossing her arms under her chest as she stared at the woman who had become closer to her than any other woman had throughout her entire life. Or as much as she could honestly remember of it thanks to the machinations of Those Who Watch Above In Shadow.
Ororo chuckled lightly. "Oh yes, very much building up a certain level of karma. I realize that you wish to go to your wedding nuptials a virgin, and we are all happy to go along with that idea. It is simply that well, there is experience, and then there is experience. Being the sole object of Harry's attention is quite like being at the center of a solar flare at times. And you are stoking the fire quite nicely."
Hela licked her lips. "Ahem, I hmm, fail to see how this is a problem. Unless you object to my stoking Harry's ardor when you seem so eager to take advantage of it?"
The two women laughed gaily at that, although the Ororo had been honest in her warning. She rather doubted that a week-long honeymoon would be enough for Harry to entirely show his desires for Hela after having been strung along for so long. And I very much doubt she'll be walking straight for a good while. Still, that's her problem, Ororo thought complacently. Until then, as Hela had pointed out, I will simply reap the benefits. Along with having Jean once more able to enjoy our more acrobatic lovemaking sessions.
Of course, not everything could be so fun. There was Harry's decision to talk to Alex to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering him. To do so, he invited the younger man to spar with him the third day out from Sol.
Alex frowned as he stared across the training mat from Harry, his hands cocked up in a traditional boxer's stance. It was a proper stance, and his footwork looked good too, Harry idly noticed. "I want to be clear on the rules of this match. No superpowers, no magic, just hands and feet, right? You not going to suddenly magic me into a toad?"
"Nothing of the sort," Harry chuckled, getting into his own martial arts stance, crouched low, one foot forward of the other, one hand behind his back, raised like a striking snake with the other palm forward. It was a stance that he had learned from Chiang Shi and had perfected fighting Steve and others in similar situations. "After all, there might be times when magic isn't applicable or even your own power."
Alex nodded, and then without warning, he took two steps forward and thrust out a punch. Harry redirected it, his other hand flashing forward in a return strike. Alex blocked that, although he was astonished by Harry's speed. "I thought you said no magic," he growled, even as he began his own attack once more.
Harry blocked and redirected his blows, twisting this way and that as he replied. "I'm not using magic. My reaction time is my own, I only heighten it with my Magia Erebea spell since the spell reinforces all my physical abilities."
The blonde Summers brother grunted at that, as if he didn't quite believe Harry, then grunted again as a kick caught him in the solar plexus, almost doubling him over. Still, he had seen it coming just enough to tense his muscles against it and twist to the side. He thrust out both hands, in attempts to hammer Harry in the face, but found one arm slapped into the other, and then another hand flicking out to catch his own in a twist that landed him on his ass. He fell with an "OOOPH" but rolled, coming up again with his fists still raised.
Harry did not press the advantage, having taken two steps back. He now smirked, doing something that had always annoyed him when sparring with Steve or Chiang Shi. He thrust out one hand and making a come hither gesture.
How long they fought, Alex couldn't tell. But at some point, he finally began to lose his temper and the control of his power that came with it.
He landed a punch on Harry, then as Harry rolled with that punch, coming up with another strike to the chest and chin, ducking backward just enough to thrust out his other hand. A blast of kinetic energy flashing out, the circles appearing around his forearm. Harry grunted as the blow hurling him across the room.
It took Alex a second to realize what had happened, and he stared down at his forearm in consternation.
A second later, Alex found himself flung backward into the opposite wall as Harry pointed to fingers at him. "Did you really want to play this game?" he asked lightly, pinning the other man young man there.
Alex growled, but slowly regained control of himself, shaking his head. "No, sir. Sorry about that."
Harry nodded and released the young man to fall lightly to his feet, where he slumped to his rear.
"Was it so hard to keep control of yourself?" Harry asked, waving the young man to stay where he was, as he moved to the side of the training area, grabbing up a bottle of water. This he hurled through the air towards Alex. Alex fielded it, using both hands to catch the heavy bottle which Harry had thrown like a football.
"No," Alex admitted. "Well, not at first. It's just, I couldn't land a hit on you. And I got frustrated, and then it just came out!"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I've always believed that it's better to dodge than to get hit."
Moving back to Alex, he crouched down next to him, breathing easily despite their recent exertions. "I can understand being frustrated like that, believe me. I got frustrated all the time when we were trying to hunt down Mr. Sinister. I just wanted a god damn target!" he yelled out aloud, winking at Alex, who surprised himself with a chuckle.
Then Harry went on, and he stiffened involuntarily. "But that's not the only thing angering you these days. It seems to me that your little uncomfortable a lot of the time, Alex. And I don't think it has everything to do with your big brother being your commander. If it was, you would have long since asked for a transfer to the Custodes itself rather than remained with the X-Men. And you would have worked better with Thunderbird than you apparently did."
Thinking how to answer that, Alex fell silent. Harry interrupted the process by saying, "Whatever you say here, I'll treat as if I was a priest in the confessional. I don't share what my men tell me in confidence. Not unless it pertains to the rest of the team, and I am given permission to do so. Understood?"
Alex nodded and admitted that it was indeed a bit of that. "It's just, Scott is so so freaking gung-ho! He's taken to this whole hero thing, to this soldier thing, to its discipline, so much better than I have. Did you know before I was picked up by Shaw that I was planning to make a living out of being a surfboarder? That's about as far from a regimented lifestyle is you get."
"Okay, but there's got to be a reason why you stay with the X-Men despite Scott's attitude getting up your nose, boyo."
"I wanted to connect with my big brother, is that so hard to imagine?" Alex said with a shrug, not looking at Harry.
Harry flicked him on the ear whole, shaking his head. "Pull the other one Alex, it's got bells on. It's Lorna, isn't it?"
Alex twitched, looking away. "Not entirely," he admitted. "I realize that a lot of what was done to us while we were with the hellions was indoctrination, I fully understand that, and I've you know had my eyes opened and everything else and went through all the psych profiling with Prof. Xavier. I know that Lorna and me, our relationship wasn't entirely natural. It was just two people of similar personalities reaching out to one another and having that connection amplified by the circumstances we found ourselves in. But that doesn't mean that it was all fake!"
The blonde threw his hands in the air thumping his head against the wall of the training area. "And she just turned me off! Like I was a switch and walked away from everything. And now, Lorna and Betsy are competing for Steve! Captain freaking America! How am I supposed to compete with that? How am I supposed to compete with that at all, when Lorna doesn't even give me the time of day? When she spends all of her time up on fortress Mars when the very idea of being up there like that most of the time makes me want to puke."
"You're adapting to the ship well enough," Harry interrupted mildly while internally grimacing. He hadn't realized that Lorna had ended her relationship with Alex so harshly. I knew they'd ended it, and that she had moved on quickly, but to just cut it off that harshly, that was not the right way to do this. Although I suppose Lorna might have thought it would stop his stalkerish tendencies, and I am just getting this from his perspective at the moment. I'm not blind to the fact he was far too clingy, yet she still could have handled it better.
"I guess I am. It's just if I tried to move into Fortress Mars, it would be because I was there to try to get back with Lorna. And that it'd be pathetic. But if I remained with the X-Men where Lorna stays to take lessons at the local college when she's on-planet, that would be different."
Harry slowly began. "I've talked about this with Lorna, and though she didn't tell me how harshly she broke up with you, Lorna's said she wants to everything that happened with the Hellions and Shaw behind her. I don't know everything that the two of you spoke about with Professor Xavier. Again, that was in confidence, and I'm not going to pry. Part of being a leader is knowing there are areas where you just don't want to get involved. And that is one of them."
He paused, and Alex nodded gravely, understanding Harry's point.
With that, Harry went on. "I will, however, ask her to speak with you when we get back. One way or the other okay? But that's all I can do there. But that can't be all that's bothering you to get in the way of your fieldwork. You didn't just respond poorly to Scott being put over you, you responded poorly to Thunderbird ordering you around too. There needs to be more to your anger and annoyance than just Lorna and your issues with Scott."
"I, I'm not certain I'm cut out for this at all," Alex admitted, looking down at his hands. "I don't even know what I want to do otherwise. Before my powers awakened, I thought my future could be found on a surfboard, like I said. I mean, I was good at it! But even after the whole pro-mutant, 'powers are what you make you strong, and strength is all that matters' thing was removed from my brain thanks to Professor Xavier, I still want to define myself by them. I still want to do something with this power I was given. But, if I can't be at least a commander, I'm not certain I want to be a simple soldier either. I know I could do the job, I know I could! If Scott can do it, I can too! I did it for the hellions, after all!"
"But you haven't done it for me," Harry said firmly, shaking his head. "And you won't." He held up a hand when Alex made to object. "This isn't honestly a mark against you, but have you noted that there aren't exactly all that many openings for leadership slots? And before you came along, Thunderbird had already made his mark. Colossus was my chief non-com. Dani and Amara both proved they had what it took to be team leaders. I can't just raise you into place alongside them, not when you don't have the training from my perspective and not when you don't have the time in grade with me and mine. It wouldn't be fair."
"I realize that intellectually," Alex admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "But when I'm in a fight, well, if I don't agree with an order, I can't stop myself from well arguing. One time turns to a few, then we start shouting, and it just goes downhill from there."
"Then I think you know what you have to do, don't you?" Harry said, standing up and moving to where the bottles of water lay, pulling out a bottle of something else entirely. A quick gesture and he was holding two shot glasses as he moved back to Alex. "It's whiskey."
"Er, I'm not old enough to drink, you know," Alex said, not objecting but wondering where Harry was going with this.
"Meh, old enough to fight old enough to drink. Besides, look me in the eye surfer boy and tell me you've never had a bit of the devil's drink?" Harry asked, to which Alex had to concede. "Anyway, the difference between an adult or a child isn't just age. And the difference between an amateur soldier or hell an amateur anything, and a professional, can be put down to a lot of things, right? But one of them is the ability to go along, to work with people you don't like, to even take orders when you think you might do a better job. You put on that uniform for the Hellions as an amateur. You wear a suit from me as a Custodes, you become a professional. That means yes, following orders from those above you."
Alex grimaced, but Harry went on unhurriedly, thrusting one of the filled shot glasses into Alex's unresisting hands. "And that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to permanently transfer you into the Custodes. Amara, me, Steve, we'll all start teaching you to see if you really do have what it takes to be a leader. And then if you do, I'll transfer you to the retrieval teams, to take over from Wendy while she goes back to school for real. She's been doing a bang-up job, but even Wendy knows that's because the teams don't do all that much fighting. That might change though has we start to move into the Middle East and India more."
"That's to the good. But I expect you to toe the line. To follow Amara's, Ororo's, or my orders on this mission." Hela wasn't the type to give out orders to the rest of the team, she would simply go her own way. Jean, too, wasn't really a leader. "If you don't, you're out. I will bloody well bench you completely, not just from the Custodes but from the X-men. And as a Custodes, whatever happens when I force the two of you to sit down and talk, you'll be in more contact with Lorna. Do you think you can handle that? Do you think you're ready to stop acting like an amateur and be a professional?"
Alex looked at the whiskey, then up at Harry silent for a few minutes. Then he lifted the shot glass to his lips and downed it like a champion. The instant Alex finished the shot, he coughed and dropped the cup to bounce on mats underneath them, slapping his chest hard with one hand, gasping. Harry reached over and thumped him on the back several times until he regained control of himself, straightening up. Then he gave Harry a somewhat crisp salute. "Yes, sir."
The next day as plans were made to find a hydrogen-rich gas giant to refuel with, Harry saw Alex sitting next to Amara in the commissary. Listening in, Harry heard him asking about her experiences after joining the Custodes, how it had shifted from a very fly by the seat of your pants, unofficial kind of organization into a more regimented type while still retaining a lot of the original's flexibility. What she had learned and why she had been able to step forward and become a leader. Her strengths and weaknesses.
Later, the two of them paired off in a computer simulation, where Amara drubbed Alex. She then proceeded to give the younger Summers a lesson on what he had done wrong. The young man fumed, but kept control of himself, asking questions without blowing up at her.
It was a start, Harry supposed.
However, everyone on board the Long Voyager had forgotten one thing. That sometimes, the journey to a destination can be just as much of an adventure as the destination. This came into play when they stopped in what should have been an uninhabited system to let their Hydrogen converters pick up more fuel.
OOOOOOO
Corsair sighed, leaning back in his captain's chair and threading his hands above his head, scowling ferociously. "So you're saying, we don't have enough engine fuel for more than three more jumps? That just isn't acceptable, Hepzibah."
"Then perhaps thou wouldst like to come down and do the work myself oh crowing cockerel?" The woman in front of him said, crossing her arms angrily in front of her chest and glaring at him. Her skunk-like tail twitching behind her.
The woman was an albino… well, anyone looking at her would've thought her a cat girl crossed with a skunk woman. She stood lithely on her feet, her entire body and posture betraying the incredible turn of speed and agility that she could manage on command. Yet while her body was beautiful enough to stack against any stripper that could have been found in a high-end joy-boy establishment, it was the woman's mind who had made her the second-in-command of the pirate crew called the Starjammers, the crew of the pirate ship of the same name, the theft of which had made them one of the most wanted pirate bands in the Shi'ar Empire for a time.
"Now hold on," Corsair said, holding up his hands placatingly to his lover. "I didn't mean it like that love, it's just after that last run-in with the Shi'ar's local fleet we jumped out from what all with two jumps. That would only allow us one jump to look for prizes. You see the problem."
The woman sighed, and some of the anger leached out of her body language when she realized that Corsair was not questioning her abilities. "Rather, he was questioning the way of the universe right now."
"You're forgiven," she said, slumping into a nearby chair. "But I can't eke out more than three jobs. The Starjammers is fast in real-time and in hyperspace, but despite all the work that was put into making it possibly the most fuel-efficient ship in space, there's still an upper limit to what we can do. Nothing myself or Dr. insect have been able to find can cut down further on our fuel requirements."
Christopher sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I wish we had done more into looking into procuring our own hydrogen, I suppose, but that system's so damn bulky we'd lose half our armament and carrying capacity."
"You might have to think about it in the long term. Or else we'll be forced to start thieving just for fuel's sake."
"And why would that be a problem?" Said a nearby voice. It was something like an angry, sort of growling voice, but one that had just a hint of robotic tone to it.
Corsair turned a lazy eye in the speaker's direction, seeing his chief gunnery officer, only gunnery officer really, leaning back in his own chair to glare at the other two. Looking at the fellow, there was only a little bit visible of the internal cyborg workings, an eye that had been replaced by a robotic looking monocle, some faint lines of spidery like electronics underneath the skin. Otherwise, he looked almost like some kind of modern-day Mongolian warrior, complete with a saber at his side. And a rapier slung against the chair beside him. "It might not be as glamorous as attacking a diplomatic convoy, or governors you got on a daily lark, but it is still piracy against the Shi'ar people, still hurts them in some small fashion."
"Perhaps, but not in a working fashion Raza," Corsair shot back, shaking his head. "Any fuel we steal would be replaced easily. The only way to make that work would be to destroy the ships we attack, and even then, they would be replaced quickly enough."
He then turned to the fourth man in the room, a being who was far more alien-like in his appearance as Raza or Corsair, or even Hepzibah. For one thing, he could have made three of any of the largest wrestlers that Corsair had ever known back on Earth. But despite that, the soul inside that large lizard-like body was perhaps the gentlest of the foursome. He was also incredibly intelligent if in a varied matter. He didn't have the engineering knowledge that Hepzibah did, but he could beat her hollow when it came to common sense, societal knowledge, star charts, and anything else. "What do you think, Ch'od?"
And as always, when the alien gave his advice, it was well thought out and worth listening to.
"Since we must factor that we have three jumps available, It seems to me that we have three choices." With a gesture, Ch'od opened up a star chart of the area, enlarging significant portions as he spoke. His thick lizard-like claws showed a surprising amount of dexterity as he worked them through the hard-light image. "We are, however, well outside of where anyone trying to find us from our last attack could think to look. So we need only concern ourselves with the immediate future."
When the others nodded in reply, Ch'od continued. "One, we can as our good Raza advises, attack for the sake of getting more fuel. There are six places we could do that, yet each of them come with commensurate risk."
"Define risk?" Raza asked, leaning forward.
"Recall that when we launched ourselves on this latest foray, I warned you that we might be going to deep into true Shi'ar territory rather than their absorbed races. Every planet in this sector has a system defense fleet. None of those ships can face us alone, or even ten to one."
The Starjammers had better shields than a Shi'ar battleship in a far smaller package, although their offensive weaponry wasn't all that much. They relied on speed more than anything else.
"But they will have enough ships to perhaps, if their local commanders are any good at all, to pin us in place. I would not recommend this option I'm afraid," Ch'od finished, sending Raza an apologetic look.
Raza frowned, looked at the map, then leaned back, his method of showing that while he didn't exactly agree, he didn't know enough to disagree with the larger alien.
"What about hitting a convoy or single ship somewhere?"
"We could do that. But how much fuel would we get?" Rejoined the lizard-like alien to Hepzibah's question. "There is, after all, a limit to how often we can, what is that phrase you used Corsair, robbed Peter to pay Paul?"
"Truth. There's only so often we can steal just to get fuel before we get unlucky or become too predictable," Corsair agreed. "Next?"
The giant alien nodded his head in thanks and moved on. "Two. We are not alone sailing these waters. There are other pirate bands, even operating here in Shi'ar space. Our ship and our own abilities would garner us a great deal of respect. Most decidedly a seat at the table of whatever pirate Lord we reach out to. We join up for a set amount of attacks, pray on larger groups of ships, Haul away enough loot to satisfy everyone for a given value. Then, once we have our fill of fuel and whatever else we desire, the agreement is finished, and we make our own way away.
"I like that idea not at all," the only woman on the crew said flatly. "For one, those pirates would no doubt be Shi'ar themselves. For another, you well know what depravity most pirates enjoy. I would be a prime target for such as they. They should be fed into the fires like the rest of their cursed race. Praise be that the World Eater is here to finally make them pay for their evils."
Corsair winced, sharing a look with Ch'od. All of them had reason to hate the Shi'ar. But Raza and Hepzibah hated the entire race. Corsair only hated one individual among that race, the Emperor himself. And as far as he could tell, the giant lizard-like aliens while loathing the Shi'ar people didn't hate them with the passion of Raza, whose race had been wiped out in a war of conquest, or Hepzibah, whose race had been literally eaten into extinction.
"I agree," the green-skinned alien said to Hepzibah's point, after looking back at her. "However, it is either that, the first option I opined, or a third option."
"Which is?"
"We reach out to a more settled criminal element," the alien said bluntly. "You know that we have contacts among several criminal groups. All of whom might be willing to supply us with more hydrogen in return for selling them goods and services in turn."
"But that is no different than working with pirates!" Hepzibah objected.
"We are pirates," Raza said bluntly, cutting the Mephitisoid off. "There is a certain level of dishonor we all must agree to abide by. Not every alien that fights for the Shi'ar does so against their will. Most have been indoctrinated since before their own birth to believe that the Shi'ar people and their Empire is the way forward for their own race. And you have never shirked from killing such. So long as we can find someone whose word we can rely on, and who will not make onerous demands upon us, I believe that third option sounds best."
Corsair nodded. "I agree. The first one, on the surface seems better, but when you look at it, Ch'od's right, if we run into even a marginally competent local bullyboy, we'll find ourselves pin in place, and eventually over well. The only way to get out of that would be to take hostages. Specifically, to take and board the local commanding officer's ship itself."
"Now, that would be a laugh!" Said Hepzibah with a giggle, shaking her head. "I agree. Unless we could figure out a way to do that and without any prior scouting runs, the third option seems the best. Good thinking Ch'od."
Ch'od bowed from the waist to indicate his thanks for her kind words before saying drolly, "Of course, there is a problem with that."
"Coming to them empty-handed is not exactly going to look good," Corsair said with a nod. "We'll get a much better deal if we can already show our skills in some fashion."
Just then, there was a warbling sound, and all four of them turned to stare at a little creature that sat on the sensor suite beside Hepzibah. They then stared up at the now blinking red light of an unknown ship that had just appeared in the system. Bringing up more information, it was obviously a small ship, barely two-thirds the size of the Starjammers. It looked bulky, made of some unknown material, but was very fast, moving in-system quickly.
"Strange design, and material too," Ch'od mused as he stared at the readout. "Very strange. I've never seen the like. No weapons that I can detect either. None at all, which is odd."
"That fast it's got to be some kind of fast courier, a new design perhaps from an indentured species? If so, what they might be carrying is going to be far more valuable than the size of the ship itself might indicate," Raza replied.
"Agreed! And I vote we take it? All in favor?" Corsair asked.
There was no word against, and the four of them turned to their controls. The ship instantly began to power out from the asteroid it had been hiding beside, its shields flickering on, as it roared forward faster than any ship in space. The instant they came within range of the ship's communications equipment, Corsair bellowed into the receiver. "Unknown ship, this is not your lucky day to be passing through uninhabited space. This is the Starjammers, and you are our prey. Heave to and prepare to be boarded, or we will blow you out of space!"
OOOOOOO
As the alarms blared throughout the ship, Harry and the others looked at one another in confusion. Their route had been chosen from the Shi'ar star maps to take them only through systems that didn't have any local population after all. That confusion segued into something like astonishment when they reached the bridge and listened to the message the incoming pirate vessel was sending them. "Seriously? I knew that piracy, or rather commerce reading, was a big deal in the Kree and Skrull territories. But in the Shi'ar Empire as well?"
"Indeed. Moreover, recall that since reaching the borders of Shi'ar territory, we have gone out of our way to avoid the common hyperspace routes, and it's inhabited planets. Why would a pirate ship of any kind be out here like this?" Ororo asked, crossing her arms across her chest and leaning back in her chair, frowning.
"I'm more interested in the fact that that ship looks more like a fictional vessel from a certain sci-fi universe than anything we've seen previously. Not even the Shi'ar vessel that attacked Earth looked that much like a bird of prey. And look at how fast it's moving! I'd say judging by what our sensors are seeing that thing is even faster in real space than we are, and that's well above what anything a ship that size should be pulling with what we know of Shi'ar technology." Jean enthused.
None of them were taking the threat of a single pirate vessel seriously. If they had wanted to, Jean, Harry, or Dr. Strange could deal with the ship at range while the others could have dealt with a crew aboard. So the question became then how to handle this.
Thinking for a moment, Harry decided. "Reed, can you and Forge set up something that will look as if we've taken damage when they stop firing warning shots and start shooting us?"
"Certainly I can do that, although if you're thinking of acting as if we are wounded, the supposed damage should come from the engines. And we will lose some of our supplies of air and water," Reed warned, playing devil's advocate.
Harry nodded. "That's fine. I think this is an opportunity, and I mean for us to seize it. After all, successful pirates, and I think with a ship like that, we have to assume these are successful, have to have their ears to the wind. Their own information network and such. Which is precisely what we need most."
"I believe that I will help Reed with his portion of this plan," Stephen intoned. "He might need a little bit of illusion-type aid to pull it off. Successful pirates will also be paranoid ones. There can't be any discrepancy what their sensors are seeing, one moment to the next."
"Agreed. Hela and I will work on the internal illusions until we have these pirates right where we want them." Harry then looked at Hela, asking, "Do you think that they will keep anyone aboard their ship? Or will their entire crew board us?"
"In ancient times, being left behind on the ship would've been punishment detail meted out by the ship's captain. However, a ship of that size might not have all that much in the way of a crew. But we should perhaps do is not only trap them forward but behind as well. Wait until they are in a central area where we can surround them, keep them from heading back to their ship," Hela said, practically hopping in place with excitement. This kind of thing called out to an ancient part of her, the part which could remember the Vikings and their prayers to her and the rest of the Asgardian pantheon.
Jean let out a giggle at the black-haired woman's evident excitement, and Hela coughed in embarrassment, trying to get herself under control.
To one side of this, James Proudstar leaned over to Betsy, whispering, "Whatever those pirates might have believed when they attacked us, this is rather like a mouse jumping on a worm and suddenly realizing it was a dragon's whisker."
Betsy laughed at that, nodding in agreement.