Stargazing - REVIEW THIS STORY

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

Chapter 9

Remy reached the door of the conference room, and removing the micro-chip that had all the information he had gathered on it, turned to Carol. He grinned at the blonde Kree mutant.

"Ready, chere?" He asked.

Raising her hands and uncrossing them in a 'no-way' fashion, she shook her head. "Sorry," she told him. "This was your mission, and its up to you to yammer out the debriefing." Straightening his collar and fastening his shoulder clip, she then stepped back and saluted him.

"It was an honour working with you, sir!" She said, as she flipped her hand neatly back down to her side. Then she grinned and winked at him. "And if you see Rogue, tell her Carol says..."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure what Carol has t' say f' Rogue isn't f' kiddies!" Remy pointed out, with a wit in his voice that his 'pretty boy' appearance didn't let on he had.

"Au contraire... just tell her she's an idiot. That'll do!" She laughed, then waved at him as she walked away, leaving Gambit alone with the conference room door. As soon as she disappeared, he took a deep breath, checked his uniform wasn't too shabby, and entered the room. As he did, he stopped, slack-jawed, as he saw the number of people in the room. The thought it would just him and Lilandra, maybe some of her advisors... not 30+ people of all different races that Remy had never even seen before! Gazing over at Lilandra, her desperate look sobered him up, and he went to empty seat at the foot of the table beside her.

"Ladies an' gentlemen," he glanced around at his audience, then quickly added, "An' others... t'ank y' for waitin' so long f' me. If I'da known I was going to have an audience, I'da left out the ractajeno!"

Lilandra let the breath she had been holding out thru her teeth. Thankfully, his little quip about coffee broke the tension in the room, and some of the ambassadors were smiling. Offering a prayer of thanks up to her gods, Lilandra introduced him.

"My good citizens, this is Commander Remy LeBeau. If he'd like to show us what his troopers learnt...?"

Nodded, Gambit inserted the microchip into the image inducer. It brought up, with a bit of fiddling with the keyboard, a schematic of the Kythrida.

"We b'lieve dis is d' main ship. It's certainly th' biggest, and de most formidably weaponed. Also, as y' can see from dis close-up," he tapped a few keys, which zoomed in on a section of the side, "De ship is an old Shi'ar Hawker, with implants and upgrades from various cultures 'n' planets."

He started walking around the room, talking of what he had discovered, bringing pictures up occasionally to emphasise his points.

"...an' what it comes down t', mes amis, is dat we could be in alotta trouble."

With that, he sat down, and let Lilandra take over from there. All she did for a few minutes was sit quietly and let the information sink in. The fleet was bigger than she thought. The weapons, thankfully, were less than she thought, but more than she hoped for. Pursing her lips, she stood, slowly, and gazed around the people in the room.

"Has anyone any suggestions?" She asked, hoping someone could think of something other than the two which sprung to her mind -- war or surrender, the last of which was not feasible.

One by one, the ambassadors looked at each other, the counsellors exchanged glances. Not surprisingly, the first to stand up and say what all of them were thinking was the Saurenall ambassador, diplomat for the warrior race of the solar system Dentauc.

"I believe, Majestrix, that regrettably, the only option is war."

Nodding, Lilandra asked, "Are there any more ideas?" Not surprisingly, no more hands were raised, no voices spoke out. "We'll vote. For?"

Most of the hands in the room went up, with the exception of a few pacifist culture ambassadors, and, surprisingly, Remy's.

Taking a deep breath, Lilandra started giving out her orders. "All right. Start to gather your troops -- _quietly_, I don't want panic on our hands... Kythri knows we're bad enough off as it is... Get all the weapons you have, all the working ships you have, and report to me in two days, before the mid-sky of Chandilar's first sun."

The ambassadors shot glances at one another -- two days was an awfully short time to gather an army together; the situation must be difficult. No-one argued, however, and at Lilandra's dismissal, started to file out. As they got to the door, Remy stood, and quietly, but audible enough for everyone to hear, remarked;

"If de border outpost'd see any, _any_ sign of Deathbird, contact the Majestrix immediately. But be sure it's Deathbird. We'll try t' get someone out dere as soon aspossible."

The ambassadors nodded, and continued to leave. Soon, the grey-walled room was empty except for the ex-X-Man and the Shi'ar empress. They stared into space in silence. Lilandra didn't reprimand Remy for what he had added because she was going to say it herself, she just hadn't had the time before Remy piped up. Again, she was stalled in her effort to speak by Gambit.

"You 'fraid, chere?" he asked quietly. Alone in the room with what had become a close friend, Lilandra nodded.

"Yes. Yes I am." She answered truthfully.

"Good," he murmured. "Den I not de only one." He looked up, dark eyes flashing as he did so. "What d' y' want me t' do, Lil?"

"Hmmm?" She asked, not really listening to anything but her own, troubled thoughts.

"Me," Remy said, laying a hand on her arm. "Commander LeBeau. I might not want a war, but I'd like t' help if dere's gonna be one."

At that, Lilandra looked at him, frowning delicately. "Yes, Remy, why _did_ you not want a war?"

He smiled weakly, gave a laugh that was even weaker. "What can I say? I seen enough death in m' time t' not want t' see another. But, it happens. T' ev'one." His lips twisted into a bitter smile. "'cept dose y' hate most, dose dat are de most evil. Dose... dey nev' die, do they?"

"It seems that way," she answered, her smile as weak as his. then, remembering the real subject of his question, asked him if he felt qualified to command a small star-ship.

He looked up at her, red-on-black eyes wide with surprise, both that she asked, and that she would trust him with lives. He wasn't sure if he trusted himself with them, though, and told her as much. Lilandra shook her head and smiled.

"I'm afraid I can't agree with you there, Remy; you've proven yourself to be trustworthy, over and over. I think it is time I gave you something to thank you for your efforts."

"Non, chere," he told her, with a tenuous smile. "It's I dat need t' thank you." With that, he kissed her forehead, and left the room.