Stargazing - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Cat Smith
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 8

Gambit and Carol sat in uncomfortable silence. Since her questions about his relationship with Rogue, they had both decided that, for now at least, silence was golden. That silence was broken, however, when a barely audible buzzer began to beep on Remy's control panel, accompanied by a flashing orange light.

"Damn," he muttered, then realised what it was. "Incoming!" He yelled, head snapping back to look at Carol. She wasted no time. She had been trained as a pilot on Earth, and as a Starjammer had flown all sorts of space-faring vehicles. She was one of the best, and this showed through as she managed to avoid most of the lethal laser that Deathbird had sent towards them.

Baring his teeth as the impact jarred his neck, he barked the order for Carol to get them out of there as he checked the status of the ship. They couldn't go faster than warp 4, which was much slower than the behemoth in front of them could manage, but he hoped Deathbird wouldn't risk that big ship for this little fish.

"We going back to Chandilar?" Asked Carol, while continuing to get them as far away as possible.

"Oui," answered Remy grimly. "We got bad news for the Majestrix."

On the massive bridge of the Kythrida, Deathbird wrenched her hands free from Bishop's massive paws, glaring at him with fire in his eyes. Barely containing her anger as she watched the damaged and decloaked ship go into warp, she growled.

"You idiot. They got away because of your idiocy!" Her voice raised to a shriek at the end of the sentence. "What in the name of Kythri did you think you were doing!?"

Bishop lay his hands by his side, and looked down at her, determined not to let her wear him down. "I couldn't let you kill those people..."

"They were spying on us!!!" She screamed, her face inches from Bishop's.

Keeping his breathing even, he tried hard not to smile -- this was exactly like the hundred's of yelling matches between his sister Shard and he. *So,* he realised. *I have an advantage here -- I am used to... discussions like this, while I doubt severely that Deathbird is accustomed to anyone undermining her authority. If I can win this match, perhaps I can win the next.*

"Not necessarily. We should have brought them in for questioning." He told her reasonably.

Baring her teeth, she balled her hands into fists and hit his biceps. "We can't now! And if they were working for Lilandra, we are doomed!!"

Bishop only raised an eyebrow slowly. "Indeed? Even if they had the very _blueprints_ to this ship, it is, as you told me, impenetrable."

Deathbird paused a moment then, as if thinking.

Taking this chance to continue, Bishop added, "There is no need to follow them."

Startled, she looked up, her head cocked, looking for all the world like an inquisitive starling. "How... how did you know I was thinking that?"

Bishop smiled, this time warmly. "When you... know someone well, you often understand how they think."

Nodding, anger abating, Deathbird looked at him and smiled, mouthing one of Bishop's favourite phrases, "Indeed."

Lilandra, tired as she could be, waited with bated breath for news from Remy and Carol. Her Empire needed all the help it could get -- she had no Imperial Guard, as they were away on Earth, and due to the damaged stargate, could not return easily. Nor could she find Lila Cheney, the woman who had teleported Gambit here, half-naked and half-dead in the waste-lands of Earth's most Southern regions, at his mothers request. She was stuck, and though she had started to gather her troops, she was fearing the worst. Her ships were few, even if her soldiers _were_ plentiful. Before she could sink into deeper brooding, a soft beeping told her she had an incoming message.

Hitting the "receive" button, she was relieved to see Gambit's face light up the screen.

"Remy!" She cried. "Thank goodness! I was afraid you had been captured, or worse. What's the news?" She winced as he paused, looking grim.

"Wish I could tell y' better, chere, but I've learned dat de truth's de way t' go." He looked back at Carol for a moment, who muttered something Lilandra couldn't hear, then Remy turned back. "We've jus' re-entered Chandialr's space. Can we report on de ground?"

Lilandra paused, then nodded.

"Of course." Gambit nodded, then clicked off his screen. After another short pause, Lilandra started to contact her counsellors.

As Carol started to land the ship, the technician looked at it in horror. It had taken him months to make sure that everything about the ship was perfect, every circuit board so clean you could see your face in it, and now look at it! The underbelly of the carriage was charred, with some of the metal burned away revealing equally charred wires. From what he could see, the tech would guess that the cloak, accelerator, and the navigation systems were ruined -- it was a wonder the officers had made it back to the right planet!

Fully landed now, the tech ran up to what he had termed his 'baby'. As the pilot and the commander got out of the ship, he started yelling at them.

"What the hell have you been playing at?! What do you think this is, recyke?! I spent months on this...!"

Remy glared at him, and thrust his helmet in the man's chest, winding him.

"Tell it t' someone who cares, mon ami. I got more on m' mind dan y' precious scouter."

Infuriated, the tech continued to yell at them as they left the building.

Lilandra and her counsellors, some for Chandilar, others for various planets from all over the Empire stood, waiting for Gambit and Carol to get to the conference room. Taking a deep breath, Lilandra started to explain why they were there.

"As you know, my sister Deathbird has an... an obsession, it seems, with ruling an Empire she has shown she is not fit to. Again, she is trying to make a conquest."

That stirred interest all around the room. From what mutters Lilandra could make out, the counsellors' reactions ranged from shocked, to dismayed, to afraid.

"But, Majestrix... Will we be able to fight her? How big is her fleet?" One of her own counsellors asked the question that Lilandra herself wanted to know. The latter, however, she was able to answer.

Pressing a button on the console in front of her, she brought up a 3D schematic of the radar she had earlier shown Gambit, she pointed out the fleet, and zoomed in on it.

"This is, we believe, most, if not all, of Deathbird's fleet. On the suggestion of Commander LeBeau of Terra, I have sent a surveillance team out, under cloak, to discover the weapons and defence capabilites of the ship. Hopefully, our party will have uncovered something that will be of use."

The twin ambassadors of Binar exchanged furtive glances. Looking up at Lilandra, they spoke in their unusual way; one twin first, for half the sentence, then the other would finish it.

"If Deathbird's fleet..."

"Is so impressive..."

"Is it not a good sign..."

"They made it out alive?"

Lilandra nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose it is. Though what, I feel, is more important than whatever we can speculate about _this_ fact is whatever Commander LeBeau, when he arrives, can tell us."

The Binar twins nodded, satisfied. Several more ambassadors and counsellors raised their hands.

"Yes?"