Forced diplomacy

[Melody Martens]

Melody stayed close to her teammates, remaining towards the back, her eyes peeled in all directions for Shi'ar, shaking her head at Tommy.

[Narrator]

The security checkpoints went smoothly, and soon they stood before the doorway to the bridge.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Showtime." Rachel said, quietly.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan nodded, then made a gesture for everyone to stand back and for Melody to step up. "Would you do the honors?" he asked.

[Melody Martens]

"Gladly," she said quietly, a grim smile on her face as her eyes started to glow and a bomb formed in her hands. She took a deep breath and chucked it forcefully at the door. If she'd done it right she had shaped the explosion to blow the door inward with minimal damage to her teammates.

[Narrator]

As the doors blew inward, the bridge security team spun about, aiming their weapons. Behind them, a purple-skinned Shi'ar woman curled a lip at the intrusion.

"X-Men... is there no end to your traitorous brood?"

[Taliyah Malik]

"From what I've seen? Not fucking likely. They fuck like rabbits," Taliyah says, two blazing red claymores in hand.

[Narrator]

"I don't know why you insist upon this. Don't you know what she can do? What she will do? Do you think talking about her feelings will solve this?"

[Rachel O'Brien]

"She's one of us, and we want her back." Rachel said, reaching towards the woman's mind.

[Melody Martens]

"All I know or care about is that you've fucked with one of our own, you have a history of this bullshit, and that shit does not fly with me." Melody said icily.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"And we're not in the habit of punishing people for what they might do," Ryan added. "I can totally understand why you want to react before something can happen... but you'd better understand why we aren't going to let you."

"Give her back to us, we leave, and no one else gets hurt."

[Narrator]

"She's already destroyed an entire solar system. We're making certain yours isn't next."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"What? That's insane," Ryan said. "Show me proof."

[Narrator]

"Bellerophon was a healthy star! Those don't simply go supernova on their own! And I'm sorry, your evidence is in the ashes of those inhabited worlds."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"So what you're saying is... you don't have any, it's just a guess," Ryan said skeptically. "Okay, I want you to take a really good guess at what my answer to that is going to be."

[Narrator]

"When the murder weapon is this specific, the suspect list is short."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"How long did you deliberate over what might have done it?" Ryan countered. "Or did you start looking for the newest Phoenix the minute you heard about it."

[Narrator]

"I suppose you've a better--"

"Sir! I've got alarms coming in from the brig and the engine room!"

"What? What did you do?!" She shouted accusingly to the X-Men.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"We figured you'd be just as rational and understanding as you were on Earth. So it's pretty simple. You're going to let us out, and your prisoner go with our friends that are there to get her, or my friends in your engine room are going to cripple your ship, possibly blow your engine core up if they're feeling frisky, and then we'll try to shoot our way out of here." He shrugged. "I know what the smart choice is for you here..."

[Narrator]

"An empty threat. Even without its crew, the engine room is more than capable of fending off tampering."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Yeah, and I'd put odds on the people I sent down there over any defenses you could have any day. Easily. If you want to think I'm bluffing and let them get creative with your ship's systems, though, be my guest. I'm sure they'll have a ball."

[Narrator]

"I've had enough of this. I ought to just--"

"Sir, engines are offline! We're adrift!"

"...listen to your demands."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Simple. You release her, you give her to us, and you send us back to the surface. If you find something that proves that the Phoenix did what you say, and I mean proof that will satisfy the tribunal at the galactic assembly, you come back, without the Imperial Guard, and try talking to us before you start sending hit squads."

[Melody Martens]

Melody smirked, crossing her arms over her chest, and keeping an eye on the rest of the aliens on the bridge.

[Narrator]

"Sir, we've got more xenobiological signs in the brig. Not the humans. Skrull!"

"Skrull? I thought you'd sweeped all prisoners!?"

[Narrator]

Another alarm would soon go off, indicating the unauthorized launch of a long-range scoutship. Sensors would pick up that it was inhabited solely by Skrulls... and one human.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Why am I getting the feeling that I'm about to get blamed for this since the cruiser is adrift...

[Narrator]

"It must have been the humans. Earth is infested with Skrulls often enough..."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Oh go to hell!" Ryan shot back. "Say it with me now: 'The Skrulls used us and we fell for it'."

[Tommy More]

"Um, fearless leader, the diplomacy..." Tommy whispered.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"They're a race whose way of life is to take over other cultures to 'make everyone stronger.' Got to throw your weight a little or they're going to try to walk all over you," Ryan whispered back.

[Rachel O'Brien]

"Do you have another shuttle?" Rachel asked "We can go after her."

[Narrator]

"Why should I trust any of you out of my sight?"

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Why should you... Oh for..."

"When your emperor... makes unfortunate decisions and threatens the universe, whose helped you fix it? When your empress gets deposed by extremists, who shelters her? When the Phalanx threaten to assimilate the whole next generation of your species, who helps you save them? When you come to us attacking us unprovoked, who doesn't just take what they want and set your ship to explode when we're gone? How do you say it? 'By the Marriage,' how the hell can you people not trust us!"

[Rachel O'Brien]

"And please don't take too long to think, because they'll be out of pursuit range soon."

[Narrator]

She gritted her teeth.

"...we can't let the Skrulls have the Phoenix. We have three more shuttles. We're going to have to hope that's good enough until we can get our engines back online from what you apes did, but they have limited capacity."

[Melody Martens]

"You know what, bitch, you're the ones who started flinging shit at us, in OUR house, so I'd watch who you're calling monkeys. And shouldn't some assholes who make a living flying through fucking space know how to find Skrulls among your crew and prisoners? Help us, or get the fuck out of our way," Melody snapped angrily.

Any hopes of this being a quick mission were quickly flying out of Melody's mind.

She was not pleased.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan shrugged a little. "What she said," he said with a smirk.