Issue 1 Downtime

Altamira had a red rubber ball.

She threw it against the side of her room.

It bounced back into her hand.

She threw it against the side of her room.

It bounced back into her hand.

The ball took an odd bounce, and went through the doorway.

...The hell?

Mira left the hallway, and went to pick up the ball...when suddenly, her TK surged again, pushing the ball...a little further.

...am I turning into Peter Parker and not knowing it?\

She went, AGAIN, to go pick up the ball, and, again, it started rolling again, down another corridor.

Mira followed...and then stopped, when she heard some voices...

"...orget to feed the Skrull. I don't care if the prisoners on that deck do complain about how bad its food smell!" The raised voice carried through the door, though the arguement that ensued was a bit quieter and was effectively muffled by the door.

...well, hrm Altamira thought, reaching out with her telepathy to hear more.

The arguement was, honestly, dull to listen to, just a disgruntled low-level person complaining to his boss and being told to do his damn job. Which in this case, included taking care of the Skrull. Which was a prisoner. Two levels below her, in the middle of the section of the ship she hadn't been shown through.

...I'm fairly sure the Phoenix has access to everything.

...Fairly sure...

Mira crept along, trying to avoid running into people as she tried to find a way down, WITHOUT causing too much attention.

While the ways around hadn't been shown to her, with a little poking and looking it wasn't too hard for her to find where the corridors would give access to those places were. Getting down the lifts was another matter, but she WAS the Phoenix, and psychically screening her presence wasn't too terribly much of a problem.

Ok.... Altamira said, continuing to go, looking for...well, anything interesting.

And, eventually, as she looked around amongst the prisoners, both dangerous looking and not so dangerous looking, she would eventually find a cell that had a Skrull in it.

And if she looked closely at the Skrull, she would notice that it was Nerr'g, the Skrull that had brought her her food. Oddly, he was wearing an inhibitor collar.

With her telepathy unfettered, there was no trouble in Mira conversing with the Skrull this time. She could easily understand what his non-English words meant, under the overtone of regret and shame that covered his mind. "I... Can change my mass. Shrunk down in the explosion... Grabbed hold of your boot as they took you. They never expected one of us to disgrace our people by being captured, didn't find me until you had left the ship again."

"Detail about what?" the Skrull asked, rather dejectedly.

He shrugged. "I'm not a believer. I don't follow their creed or have faith in their power... I'm useless to them."

"You're the Phoenix... Primal force of life... They might be willing to make an exception for you."

Nerr'g just shook his head. "None of this was supposed to happen. Perhaps being here is just my pennance."

"Certain factions within the Imperial army and leadership felt... hoped that perhaps... if we could find the host of the Phoenix, they could be persuaded to help us... restore our worlds, any of them. And..." He hung his head, obviously not proud of what he said next. "...We did, as well."

"No, we thought that the best way was asking. But... we realized that wasn't an option when we found out that the host was an infant. We attempted to make contact anyway... it was found that you were orphaned, and... some parties decided that the best option would be to take you to be raised on one of our worlds." He shook his head. "We obviously did not agree, but it became clear that our disagreement was not going to stop it from happening. The best that we could find to do was to put our own people into the cohort in charge of gaining the Phoenix and to ensure that someone was on hand to make sure that you were safe."

He shook his head. "No... was that the first time that someone had tried to abduct you? It was us... always us. At first, we simply tried to take you to have you brought up... Skrull families were screened, evaluated for it, to find families that would raise you well, not as a tool of the state... that was insisted by my people, when our word actually carried weight in the matter. But the Phoenix wouldn't allow you to be taken off the planet easily... it had defenses in place, foiling these efforts. Later we tried to take you, to show you our plight... against your will at first if necessary, because many... if not all were so desperate that the chance you would refuse before seeing our need could not be risked. But... yes, it was always us."

He shook his head. "It was... never supposed to go as far as it did recently. No one was supposed to be hurt... we never wanted the children of the Teacher to be hurt, but they... stopped listening to us."

"The Children of the Teacher?" she asked, trying to ignore, for the moment, that these people ad been trying to kidnap her for her entire life.

Nerr'g sighed. "Forgotten... but we deserve no less now. My people are genetic deviants of the Skrulls... as your people are of the humans. We met your people decades ago, and your Teacher, the Xavier, came with us for a time to teach us, help us understand ourselves, and we have carried on since he returned to Earth. We... tried to contact him, when things began to go badly, to send some warning, perhaps find some other way, but... we've been unable to contact him for some time. So we've... done the best that we could do to keep some amount of control on the matter, to keep anything truly bad from happening."

He shook his head. "We did not know anyone else to contact. Our contact with your people before was very limited... It was not until later that we managed to learn your language, and none of your people spoke ours. The only one we knew to contact was the Teacher."

"Once we were on the planet and able to see who we should contact... it became clear that we needed to hide our presence within the group if we weren't going to be removed from it. Three of us tried to break away to warn you and yours... all were caught and punished and returned forcefully to our system before they could. Only I and my brother remained, and we decided that it was too vital that we remained hidden within the group. If those in charge went too far... we were the last who could try to prevent them from harming anyone, or trying to detain you indefinitely." He shook his head, slumping on the cot. "But... all folly. We... should have accepted. Our worlds are gone... we are not worthy of help, of having our worlds restored."

The Skrull nodded. "That exactly. Those of us who are... Mutants," she could tell that the word had almost been 'outcasts', "Did not approve of the methods... But there was nothing to do. And... Admittedly we wanted our home back just as desperately.". The Skrull seemed genuinely ashamed, but honest.

"I can't give you your home back, Skrull. I am sorry."

She meant it.

The Skrull nodded without looking up at her. "I... do not know if there was more that we could have done to... keep this matter from getting so horribly out of control. Even if there was not... I am sorry. We did not want to let them hurt you or your companions." He sighed. "You... should go. Before they find you speaking with me."

"I do not know," he admitted. "I just... do not want any further trouble for you because of me." She could tell that the Skrull had resigned himself to the fact that he was never leaving this ship.

"You are here, and not on Earth," the Skrull pointed out. "That is trouble enough."

"The Phoenix is not of a planet," she said, mechanically.

"Then why do you seek to return to one?"

"None of your business!" she snapped, uncharacteristically harsh, turning away abruptly.