| X-Mansion: Storm and Cyclops are playing handball with their powers, and exhausted, finally call the game with it being tied - neither able to gain an advantage over the other. Just outside the solar system: A Shi'ar ship piloted by Corsair heads rapidly earthward, passing Voyager 2[1] during its long trip between Saturn and Uranus. Corsair is surprised by the sudden appearance of a Shi'ar warship. Magneto's Caribbean Base: The X-Men are appropriating the island base for their own use. Presently, Colossus is unloading crates of equipment and supplies. Carol Danvers is up above doing some soul searching[2] when Wolverine comes up to her. Wolverine tries to comfort her, but Kitty interrupts. Above Earth: Corsair speeds towards earth, only to be fired upon by Shi'ar ships that have arrived before him! He flies into the gauntlet... X-Mansion: Ororo and Scott are having lunch and reading the mail. Ororo's leadership of the team comes up, and she offers it to Scott if he wants it, but he turns it down. Suddenly Corsair's ship streaks overhead and crashes into the pond on Xavier's estate! Ororo and Scott dive in and rescue Corsair from the wreckage, and just as they pull him out the starship explodes! Corsair dreams. He dreams of the doomed flight during which he and his wife were taken after having pushed Scott and Alex out of the plane with the only parachute.[3] He dreams of his time with the Starjammers. And finally, he dreams of what prompted him to come to earth against such danger. He comes to - to be questioned by Cyclops about the locket he wears, a locket with Alex and Cyclops photos in it! Corsair reveals he is Cyclops father, which Storm confirms.[4] Suddenly a Sidrian Hunter smashes through the window! Cyclops, Storm, and Corsair battle their way out of the room and onto the lawn. However, the X-Men realize they need the rest of the team, so Cyclops goes to get the Blackbird ready and takes Corsair with him. Corsair objects to leaving Storm behind to fight a rear-guard action, so Cyke socks him. He gets the Blackbird started as Storm creates a monsoon, giving her time to flee down the passageway to the plane just before take-off. The X-Men look down to see Sidri swarming over a destroyed mansion, and then suddenly they merge into a large aircraft and pursue! The Sidri ship pursues them until it forces them into combat over New York City! The blackbird has a special glass that allows him to use his eye-beams through it, but it seems to have little effect on the Sidri ship. Storm leaves the Blackbird to apply her elemental talents to the Sidri ship as well. After an aerial dogfight, Storm and Cyclops overwhelm the Sidri's energy matrix and it breaks into its individual bodies, falling down amidst oil reserve tanks. Corsair tells cyclops to detonate the tanks and kill them while its vulnerable, but he refuses, so Corsair uses the open hatch that Storm used to return to the plane to blast a tank with his laser-pistol, igniting the tanks and incinerating the Sidri. The X-Men are appalled, but Corsair says it was necessary - he is trying to save the world. From what? The Shi'ar, their empress captured, have followed the trail of the kidnappers to earth, and they'll do anything to retrieve her, including leaving earth a burnt-out ruin! |
