ISSUE #77

It was still late in space, and Ian and Rachel were still laying together, their sweaty bodies clung tightly to one another. They were still quiet, neither one of them knew what to say at the moment. They were still quite stunned by what had just transpired between them.

But neither really cared. They were just basking in the after glow of their great sex.

Ian rubbed Rachel's back as she nestled into his chest, and although he was at peace, he couldn't help but notice how every now and then she would flinch just a little bit when he rubbed her back, where her tattoo was.

Rachel herself, began to notice how often his gaze would drift down to her mark of shame.

Eventually, Ian decided to just ask.

" What happened here?" Ian asked as his hand roamed over her back. " If you don't mind sharing."

" A bit too late to ask that, don't you think?" Rachel asked the young man.

" Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know for sure." Ian replied.

" I guess we never did make it public what happened. Last year I went to see my family. You know, Jean's family in this timeline. And when I did, the Shi'ar sent their assassins after me and killed them all. Then they branded me with the mark of the phoenix, just so the rest of the galaxy would know how cursed I am." Rachel explained.

" I see." Ian replied. Though he didn't show it, he was furious. His blood felt like it was going to boil over any moment. " Then this is more personal for you than anyone else."

" Yes... It is." Rachel replied.

" I want you to know, that I am sorry for your loss, Rachel. I really am. If I can help you in any way, then just ask me." Ian told the girl.

" Thank you." Rachel replied.

It was quiet once again. The awkwardness from before had returned and plagued their moment. It wasn't until Rachel spoke once more that the silence was broken.

" Ian.... What was... What is this?" Rachel asked.

" What is what?" Ian asked the woman.

She sat up on his chest and pulled the covers with her to cover herself up and looked the young man in his eyes.

" This. All of this." Rachel asked.

Ian could tell the woman was confused and wanted clarity. But honestly even he didn't know what they were now.

" This can be whatever it is we want it to be. I'm not sure how you feel or how I feel, but I do know that I enjoyed being with you. I enjoyed feeling your skin on mine. It could just stay that way if you wanted or..." Ian spoke.

" Or?" Rachel asked.

Ian sat up and pulled Rachel's hands away from the covers, exposing her body once more, and held them tightly in his.

" Or we could give this a shot. See if things work out for us. I know it might seem weird at first-" Ian spoke.

" Aren't you the king of weird?" Rachel asked with a please smile on her face. Her attitude and sarcasm impressed Ian. They were almost as good as his own.

" Aye, I am." Ian replied. " And that's funny coming from the woman with a giant space chicken inside of her." Ian joked.

Rachel socked him in the chest and Ian feigned hurt.

" Yeah, see. That's what you get." Rachel said to the man.

" You're right. I'm sorry, Mega Ultra Chicken! My lord and savior! Please! Forgive me almighty Chicken!" Ian clapped his hands together in prayer and bowed to the woman.

Rachel placed her hands on her hips and looked at Ian with a smug look on her face. Her eyes started glowing and Ian realized he might have taken it too far.

" Oh, I'm a chicken? How about I make you think you're a chicken for the rest of this trip. I'll get you a nice cage to sleep in and everything." Rachel told the young man.

Ian, not wanting to be outdone, leaned into the joke.

" As long as you feed me, I'll be anything you want me to be." Ian told the girl.

" Anything?" Rachel asked. Her smile vanishing and her breath shallow once again.

" Anything." Ian replied. He leaned in to kiss Rachel and the woman allowed the man to insert his tongue into her mouth. After a few moments he leaned back once again. " So, you wanna give this a shot?" Ian asked.

" Honestly, I'm still not sure what I want to do. I think I'd like to give it a try. But for now, can you just hold me? I want to just sit here like this." Rachel replied.

" Then, come my lady. Let's get some rest." Ian pulled Rachel back into his chest and the two ended up slipping off into sleep together.

After what felt like a night of rest, the time finally came for the team to go forward with their plan of creating their own star gate.

' Rachel, are we still linked?" Lorna asked the woman as she struggled to keep the engine from falling apart.

' Yeah, how are we holding up, Lorna?' Rachel asked the woman telepathically.

' Getting Shaky... Engine manifold really want to burst open.' Lorna explained.

' You can do it. You're stronger than anyone I know Lorna.' Alex told the woman.

' I'm trying, Alex.' Lorna replied.

' Is it almost over, Korvus? I don't think the engine can take much more of this. I didn't really have a chance to do test run this thing.' Ian told the man.

' We should be done. We should be coming out of jump drive any moment now.' Korvus replied.

' Seriously? Why'd you even ask that question?' Lorna asked Ian. ' I didn't want to know that.'

The ship began to rattle and shake violently. It was clear that the ship was moments from being torn apart by the force of the energy.

' Alex! What the hell is going on down there?' Warpath asked up from the captain's seat.

' We're doing our best... Just be ready to send the message when we hit open space...' Alex told the man. " I don't have much left to give." Alex now spoke verbally to the others in the room. " Did you just get us killed... Korvus?" Alex asked as he continued to strain himself.

" I pray I didn't... But the blade is nearly depleted, as well." Korvus told the man.

" I swear to god if you killed us, Korvus, I will kill you." Ian told the man. He could feel his space sickness beginning to come back once again and was struggling to keep his lunch in.

Thankfully the ship came to a sudden stop, and all was quiet once again. The engine finally came apart and everyone who was trying to keep the engine powered finally collapsed.

" Agh!" Rachel grunted. She fell towards the ground, but Ian caught her and eased her down slowly.

" Easy, pretty bird. Easy." Ian told the girl.

" Heh... Pretty bird? I thought I was a chicken?" Rachel asked the man, with a sly grin.

" A mega ULTRA chicken, actually. Much more impressive my dear." Ian told the girl. He kissed her softly on the cheek and helped her back to her feet. " Are you okay?" Ian asked the girl.

" Yeah, I'm okay." Rachel replied. She leaned up and kissed Ian on his cheek.

Ian smiled and helped the girl to her feet.

" So, did we, do it?" Ian asked.

" Yeah, we made it! We made the jump. Is everyone alright down there?" Kurt asked.

" Yeah, Kurt. We're fine." Ian replied.

" Good. Because we got company." Kurt stated.

" Is that good?" Ian asked.

" Yeah, get up here when you can." Kurt spoke. " I'll see you guys up top."

" All right looks like things are looking up for us. Do you guys need help?" Ian asked.

" Yeah, I... I think Alex is out." Lorna spoke. She herself could barely even stand up.

She looked like she was about to fall and that's when Ian caught her.

" I got ya." Ian stated as he caught the woman. He grabbed her in his arms and lifted her over his shoulder and then he reached down and grabbed Alex as well. " Rachel, Korvus, can you two walk?" Ian asked.

" Yeah, I'm good." Rachel replied.

" Me too. Just need a moment." Korvus told the man.

Ian waited until the two were ready to move and then, once they were, he walked up stairs with Alex and Lorna in his arms and was greeted by the timely arrival of the Starjammers.

" Hello, X-men. You all certainly know how to make an entrance. Especially at the worst God Damned time." Corsair stated.

" What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

Corsair sighed and rubbed his face in frustration.

" I'll fill you in soon. First let's get you guys off that dead ship." Corsair replied. " We'll bridge as soon as we can. Corsair out."

Soon...

" Raza and Ch'od should have your engines overhauled in a few hours... Apparently they got torn up pretty badly from the inside from your improvisational charge." Corsair explained to the few X-men who didn't need rest.

" Yeah, well thanks captain. But we really didn't have much of a choice. It was that or nothing." Ian told the man.

" I get it. Still, that was pretty damn dumb." Corsair replied.

" I cannot argue that." Ian told the man. " How are the others doing?" Ian asked.

" Fine. Sikorsky says they just need rest." Corsair told the man.

" That's good to hear. Now, you said something about everything falling apart? What's going on?" Ian asked the man; he looked around at the crew of the Starjammers and noticed that they looked like they were planning for war. " It looks like you guys are going to war."

" We are kid... Word leaked out that Lilandra has been taken captive by chancellor Araki. It's a coup." Corsair explained to the man

" Mein gott... Then we are too late." Kurt stated.

" Not yet." Corsair replied. " Rumor has it that Deathbird is back. And I refuse to let her take Lilandra down and turn this empire back into a nightmare." Corsair exclaimed.

" Yeah, now we're talking. So, what's the plan captain?" Ian asked.

" We going to blow little birdies right out of the stars." Hepzibah, one of Corsairs best warriors and often time lover, told the man.

" You guys got that kind of firepower?" Ian asked.

" Hepzibah's enthusiasm aside, we do have enough for what we've got planned. But the odds look better with your ship lending a hand." Corsair explained.

" Of course, whatever we can do." Kurt replied.

" Lilandra's being transported to the high council's armada, where she's to be tried for treason and executed. That's likely the same place they're holding Xavier. Our plan is to attack the weak point... The transport ship. We strike them in transit, get Lilandra out, and jump away before reinforcements arrive." Corsair explained.

" And get Navigation logs with locations of council armada. So, we know where next we hit them." Hepzibah explained.

" Ha! I like your style Hepzibah. Explosives always were my favorites." Ian stated.

" Okay, this will give us our best chance of rescuing the professor and Darwin?" Kurt asked.

" It will, Kurt... And Lilandra will be the key to saving them. She hasn't been herself since their marriage was annulled, but if the council made a move on her... It must mean that they can't control her anymore. And that means she's dangerous to them." Corsair explained.

" Especially if she knows they have Charles." Kurt spoke up.

" Yes... But why would he risk coming back?" Corsair asked. " I don't understand it. He knew it meant death, if he was captured."

" Yeah, I still haven't heard that story myself yet.' Ian stated. " Can I get some answers here?"

" I don't think this is something we can discuss right now. Not until-" Kurt was speaking.

" Dad." As Kurt was speaking to Corsair, Alex suddenly came stumbling into the room.

' Alex! You shouldn't be out of sick bay yet." Corsair told the man.

" Dad... We need to talk. In private." Alex told the man.

Corsair looked to Kurt and the man nodded.

" All right. We'll get back together in a moment." Corsair spoke. He got up from his seat and walked off with Alex to speak with his son.

" Looks like things are going to get a lot more explosive from here. I hope you guys are ready. Let's go get our people back." Ian stated.

" I can fight to that." Warpath stated.

" Ja, let's do this X-Men." Kurt exclaimed.