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