[User]
<image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image>
Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Five Miles South of the Universe, part 1
A lush landscape - green grass, plenty of trees and busy and a clear blue lake. Several exotic alien animals frolic about, when suddenly, there is a flash of light and three mutants - Remy “Gambit” LeBeau, Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill and Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, fall from the sky and land on the grass below. ‘Okay, is this some kind of a joke? What did she do to us?’ Frenzy demands to know. Gambit explains that Rogue said she was doing a retrieval run - Havok, Polaris and Marvel Girl. ‘But she didn’t say from where’ Gambit adds. Looking up to the sky, and suggests that, in that case, they should ask “him”. Remy and Joanna look up and see what Magneto sees - a massive robot-like being standing over them, which says something in an alien language.
Meanwhile, at vector Spinward 30-175, a distance of 3.2 standard units. ‘I’m going to say this slowly, mammal, because I know that you’re listening. ‘Who - sent - you? And - how - did - you - find - us?’ a Shi’ar alien asks Rogue as he points a weapon at her. He is flanked by three others inside a space station. Rogue knows who the aliens are, and address the captain of the quartet as Sovel Redhand, telling him that she was not even looking for them. Looking at Rachel “Marvel Girl” Summers, who lies motionless on a slab, Rogue explains that she came for Rachel, and warns Sovel that for his sake, she better just be sleeping.
Sovel is surprised that Rogue knows him. ‘Sharra’s teeth! Glitter, this little animal knows me!’ he tells his female companion. His bald companion, Jat, announces that her name is Rogue, from Earth, the cycle before last. ‘Sentient holo-suite. Humiliating debacle. It’ll come back to you’ he tells Sovel. ‘Jat is right, Sovel. It’s her. Should I shoot her?’ Glitter asks. ‘Ah’d advise against it’ Rogue announces, before asking what is wrong with Marvel Girl and where the rest of the Starjammers are. ‘Wasn’t it the other one who wiped the floor with us? The one with the cards and the Louche charm?’ Sovel asks. ‘Mostly, yes’ Jat tells him. ‘In that case, I’m going to carry on using my steely voice’ Sovel remarks.
Sovel turns to Rogue and, calling her “mammal”, tells her to listen, and declares that he doesn’t have to explain himself to people who are further down the evolutionary tree than he. That’s the law of the spaceway’.He continues, announcing that there is no particular reason to kill Rogue, and that as long as she is alive, they can always use her as a decoy, or a live shield or some such. Sovel informs Rogue that for now she will stay with them, and he tells Glitter to point a gun at her in a threatening way. ‘Like this?’ Glitter asks as she aims the gun at Rogue’s head. ‘Exactly like that. Thank you’ Sovel replies, while Jat informs Sovel that he thinks they need to move on, as he has detected suspect energy readings two levels down and one click over.
‘Damn, They won’t give us a moment’s peace’ Sovel mutters, before asking someone to wake up Horse. Glitter announces that he is away, but in tertiary withdrawal. ‘We ran out of happy pills five cycles ago’ she explains. Glitter goes over to the multi-limbed alien and tells him to get up and that they are going to steal a ship. ‘Can’t’ Horse responds. Glitter tells him that he can, that he needs to just think about moving his arms and legs and that they will move. Jat puts some items into a sack and tells Rogue that she fell on her feet, that teleporting blind into a place like this, she is lucky it was them who found her. Rogue replies that it was not a blind jump, explaining that she zeroed in on Rachel across a couple of thousand light years. ‘Impressive telemetry. But the point stands. Compared to most of the locals…we’re all kinds of cute and cuddly’ Jat tells her.
At that moment, the large robot-like creature unleashes a blast from its head - a blast that strikes Frenzy. Magneto and Gambit are knocked aside, and Remy calls out to Magneto, who knows what he is going to say, and announces that it is non-ferrous, that there is not a single gram of iron in its construction, or in the blood of the pilot. Magneto announces that he is looking further a field, while Frenzy rushes past them after gathering herself, and calls out ‘Yeah, you do that. And in the meantime, LeBeau…why don’t you…deal a couple of poker hands into here?’ she calls out as she leaps up at the robot’s knee, and rips apart some of the armor casing. Gambit does as requested and fires several kinetically-charged playing cards at the armor, while pointing out that this will not shut down the shoulder cannon.
The cards explode upon impact and the robot falls to the ground, while Frenzy replies ‘No. It won’t. Just brings it down where I can get at it!’ she exclaims angrily. She dodges as the armor crashes down near her. Gambit remarks that it is out cold and announces that he thinks he is Shi’ar. ‘He’s a what?’ Frenzy asks, looking at the man inside the control-pod of the large armor. Gambit explains to Frenzy that the Shi’ar rule a large part of their galaxy - a large and distant part. Magneto announces that the metal he detected is very close by. ‘You need to see it’ he adds. Frenzy asks if they should wake the Shi’ar pilot up first and shake some answers out of him. ‘If you speak his language, by all means do so’ Magneto tells her.
Looking around, Gambit remarks that this is not wild woodland, that it is maintained. He points out that there are no weeds or moss, and no fallen trees. ‘That vibration -’ he begins. ‘Like engines?’ Magneto suggests. Gambit agrees, and Magneto declares that pushes them towards some interesting conclusions. Joanna reminds Magneto that he said he had something to show them. ‘Please, Ms Cargill. Have a little patience’ Magneto replies, before suggesting that, if they prefer, they could just look up. Gambit and Frenzy do so, and they discover a large glass rooftop over the woodland. In truth, they are aboard a large space station - which is moving towards a nearby massive, flaring sun.
Elsewhere, ‘Clear’ Jat calls out. ‘Let’s go!’ Sovel orders, as he, Glitter, Jat, Rogue and Horse, carrying Marvel Girl, make their way through an abandoned area. Rogue asks Jat where they are, and Jat reveals that they are aboard Gul Damar Station, the clammy, mottled underbelly of the Shi’ar Empire. ‘You heard they had a war, right?’ he asks. ‘Who did?’ Rogue enquires. Jat explains that the Shi’ar fought the Kree Imperium and got their feathers plucked. ‘Now everyone wants a piece of them. What price loyalty, huh?’ Jat adds, while Glitter tells him not to talk to the prisoner. ‘Is she a prisoner, Glitler? I didn’t get the data-burst’ Jat replies. Glitter informs him that anything Rogue needs to know Sovel will tell her. ‘And if she asks too many questions, I’ll zip her mouth up with flesh-seal’ Glitter warns.
‘Wow. Sounds more like she’s a full member of the crew’ Jat deadpans, before they come to another blockage in the abandoned area, and cannot continue. ‘What do you want to do?’ Glitter asks. Sovel orders Horse to go in and clear it and asks him not to raise too much dust, as this is his last clean uniform. Glitter suggests that this was set up as an ambush. ‘Probably Grad Non Holt workmanship’ she announces, and tells Horse to watch out for booby traps. Horse begins to reply that he is not stupid, when suddenly, an electrical charge surges through him. ‘Yeah, Grad Nan Holt. This is one of their ion grenades’ Horse mutters, holding up the small grenade. ‘I knew it! Vile little anthropods!’ Sovel exclaims, before telling Horse to throw it away from him.
‘Grad Nan Holt?’ Rogue asks. Jat explains that they are an insectoid race, vat-grown and used to do most of the scut work around here. He reveals that they have risen up against the Shi’ar and throw off the yolk of oppression. ‘So there’s some kind of rebellion going on? Is that why the Starjammers -’ Rogue begins, before there is a loud FWAASHH, and Horse shouts ‘OW! Pyro-bomb!’ as flames engulf him. Jat reminds Rogue that he just pilots the ship and explains that Sovel thought they could hit the mother lode here. ‘Defenses down. Plenty of tech to salvage. And everybody too busy killing each other to worry about us. Could have been sweet’
‘Could have been?’ Rogue asks. Jat explains that the local gravity went crazy as they were coming in, and they lost control. Glittler suddenly shouts something in Shi’ar and smacks Rogue over the head with a piece of scrap metal. ‘I said - no vrassing bedtime stories!’ Glitter reminds Jat. ‘You think she can help us?’ Glitter asks. ‘No’ Jat replies, top which Glitter asks him if he wants to get a little inter-species romance going. ‘I just -’ Jat begins, but Glitter interrupts him and shouts ‘Tell her nothing. You understand me? Nothing!’ Jat replies ‘Right’, before Horse calls out to Glitter and tells her to come and look. ‘It’s happening again!’ he announces, a brilliant light reflecting through a window of the space station.
‘Which one is it this time?’ someone asks as they gather at the large opening. ‘Xanthimi. Fifth from the sun’ someone else replies. ‘I mean, under normal circumstances’ they add. Glitter asks if it is uninhabited, and Jat replies that it has a population of one, he thinks - some crazy anaphract from the Do Sha sect. They stand and watch as the planet falls into the sun. ‘Well, I hope he’s up to date with his prayers. Because he just drifted into the solar corona’ Glitter exclaims. ‘This really is the last amen’ she adds, while Rogue stares in horror. ‘This is what happens when you mess with gravity, hatchlings. And in case you forgot, that’s us if we don’t move fast. So pick it up!’ Glitter orders.
Elsewhere, ‘So this is an orbital station of some kind’ Gambit remarks. ‘Exactly. And built on a truly heroic scale’ Magneto replies, before pointing out that the question is what brought his daughter and the others here, and why they were unable to leave again. ‘Probably couldn’t tear themselves away. I mean, look at the picturesque battle damage’ Frenzy mutters, before asking Magneto if he has a theory about that. Magneto replies that they have no facts on which to base a theory. A large hole in the floor enables Gambit to see the level below them, and he sees a number of insectoid aliens. He tells his companions that if they stay here, they may be able to acquire some facts.
The Grad Nan Holt warriors begin climbing the walls to get to the hole in the level above them, while speaking in their native alien language. Suddenly though, a Shi’ar vessel moves into the area. The Grad Nan Holt see the Shi’ar, and their attention turns from getting up to the level above them to the newly arrived Shi’ar. All of the aliens begin firing their weapons, and the Shi’ar vessel explodes. ‘Are we just going to watch this?’ Gambit asks. Frenzy tells him that if he can figure out who the good guys are, she would be more than happy to weigh in. ‘That’s what us X-Men do, right?’ she asks. The Grad Nan Holt move in and battle the Shi’ar warriors in close-combat now. One of the Grad Nan Holt yells something, and a Shi’ar warrior replies ‘No! Please! You don’t understand! I’m trying to save the -’, but he doesn’t get to finish his sentence.
‘This is turning into a massacre!’ Gambit exclaims, and announces that he is going in. But Frenzy tells him to “hold his horses”, and looking up at Magneto, suggests Gambit give him room to work. ‘Whatever this attach was meant to achieve, it’s over. Leave. Now’ Magneto commands as he uses his power to separate the two waring factions. One of the Grad Nan Holt walks over to him as he drops down to their level, and speaks to him in its native tongue. ‘You’re wasting your time. I don’t speak your language’ Magneto replies, adding that he is happy to speak again in his language. The alien mutters something, before it, and its fellows, walk away. ‘Now that, right there…that’s why I became an Acolyte!’ Frenzy announces.
At that moment, Rogue and the others have come to a lift tube, but Jat announces that it is dead. Glitter finds another, which is also damaged, and remarks that there is no damage to the induction circuitry, so she will see if she can divert some power into it. With Glitter busy, Rogue calls out to Jat, who turns to her and reminds her that he is not supposed to talk to her. Rogue replies that she knows, but that she wants to make sure she is getting this right. ‘We just watched a whole planet fall into the sun and get swallowed up. What could do that?’ Rogue asks. Jat explains that Gul Damar is powered by gravitic flux, so if the generator took some damage, this is what you would likely see. He adds that the sun’s gravity field is spiking and pulling everything in.
‘What about the Starjammers?’ Rogue asks. Jat replies that he doesn’t know, and explains that they picked up Marvel Girl because she measures a 9-tau-9 on the Kitna Psi-Scale. ‘No idea what she’s doing here, or where her friends are’ Jat adds. Rogue asks what the plan is now, and Jat explains that they are heading for the docking bays. ‘We got to steal a ship and get out of here before the whole system tanks into the sun’ he tells her. ‘Too day, really. Kind of a nasty way to -’ he begins, but Rogue begins to walk away. He calls out to her, asking her where she is going. ‘Something Ah got to do. Won’t take but a moment’ Rogue replies. Glitter announces that the power-divert that she made up should hold, and Sovel tells Horse to go up in the lift first. ‘Take out any guards and then give us a -’ Sovel begins, before Rogue punches him over. Rogue stands over Sovel, while Glitter holds her weapon to Rogue’s head. ‘That Shi’ar battle to the death thing y’all do. The Rite of Arin’nn Haelar. How’s it work exactly? Because Ah’m calling you out’ Rogue announces.
The Shi’ar approach Magneto and speak to him in their native language. ‘Yes. We understand you’ Magneto replies. ‘Excellent. Thank you for your assistance. You are loyal to the Shi’ar Imperium, and to the Majestor?’ one of the Shi’ar asks. Magneto explains that they are non-aligned in this struggle, and reveals that they are from Earth, Terra, and that any business they have here is unrelated to their conflict. ‘From Earth. I said as much, did I not?’ another Shi’ar officer remarks as he approaches them. He adds that Magneto’s origin might be the same as the others given that he has the same body plan and skin coloration. ‘The others? What others?’ Magneto asks.
The first Shi’ar officer replies that they saw some in the ranks of the Grad Nan Holt who were like Magneto. ‘Force wielders, most formidable, who have done terrible damage to this station and killed many’. Magneto remains calm asks he asks the Shi’ar to describe them.
Elsewhere in the space station, the Grad Nan Holt surround several Shi’ar warriors. ‘Please! You have to listen to me! I can repair the gravity modulator! I can save the station and -’ one of the Shi’ar calls out. Three figures stand before the Shi’ar and one of them tells the Shi’ar to pick themselves up. ‘You’re probably feeling really sorry for yourselves right about now’ Alex “Havok” Summers remarks. Plasma surges around his fists, and he is flanked by Korvus and Lorna “Polaris” Dane. ‘But believe me, sons and daughters of the Shi’ar…your troubles have barely started!’


[User]
<image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image>
Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Five Miles South of the Universe, part 2
‘Are you insane, woman? You hit me! Glitter, she hit me! Shoot her repeatedly!’ the intergalactic pirate called Sovel Redhand shouts as he stares up at the X-Woman known as Rogue. Sovel’s crew, Glitter, Jat and Horse stand nearby, while the unconscious Rachel Summers a.k.a. Marvel Girl lies on the ground. Glitter tells Sovel that she would like to shoot Rogue repeatedly, but that she cannot. ‘What do you mean? Just do it!’ Sovel tells her. ‘She challenged you for leadership - in the name of Arin’nn Haelar, you have to answer’ Glitter replies. ‘Or else y’all could take me to find mah friends, instead of running for the exit’ Rogue declares, adding that she is not leaving Havok and Polaris on a hunk of metal that is falling into its own sun.
Sovel gets up and remarks that they are bandits, scofflaws, that they make their own rules. ‘Not this one. This one binds us all’ Glitter tells him, to which Sovel tells Glitter that if she feels so strongly about it, why doesn’t she fight her. Glitter tells Sovel that if he nominates her as his champion, that she will. ‘In fact, I was kind of hoping you’d ask’ she adds. ‘I can name a champion? Oh, well, that’s different’ Sovel remarks, adding that he intends to uphold the warrior traditions of their noble race. ‘Yeah. Of course’ Glitter mutters. Sovel tells Rogue that he has offered him insult, and announces that as a Shia’r warrior, he will be satisfied. ‘You’ll be fighting Horse’ Sovel declares, motioning to the multi-limbed alien.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the space station, specifically vector counter-spin 40-720, distance of 3.2 standard units. Remy “Gambit” LeBeau, Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill and Magneto, the Master of Magnetism follow several Shi’ar officers down a platform. ‘Commander, we’ve found them’ one of the Shi’ar calls out. ‘Excellent, give me the imager’ the commander replies. The commander looks at the imager and remarks ‘Ah, yes! Grad Nan Holt, definitely. The same clan and sept that attacked us’ the Shi’ar commander remarks, adding that the cargo bay in the imager must be their man beachhead in ochre radial. He points out that there is some anomalous readings in there though, probably a race that is not in the imaging database. ‘Could they be human, like us?’ Gambit enquires.
‘Perhaps’ the commander replies, adding that it is impossible to say. He calls out to his lieutenant and asks him to bring up the semi-portables. Magneto approaches the commander and asks him what his plan is. ‘The plan writes itself, alien. We’re going to blast those rebel scum into loose atoms’ the commander announces. Gambit grabs the commander by his arm and asks him if he is mad. ‘That’s your strategy? Seriously?’ The commander looks at Gambit and replies that he is a commissioned officer in the armies of the Majestor Shi’ar. ‘And I’ll thank you to remove that hand’ the commander adds.
Gambit points out that the Grad Nan Holt took prisoners when they attacked the Shi’ar. ‘We saw them. What you’re doing makes no sense. You’ll be killing your own people’ Gambit declares. The commander replies that the service of the empire demands sacrifices. ‘When necessary. But a futile sacrifice only aids the enemy’ Magneto remarks. The commander asks him what his point is, to which Magneto suggests that they could go in first and negotiate on their behalf. ‘G-gods!’ the commander utters, shocked as Magneto uses his powerful abilities to lift one of the semi-portables overhead and crush it. ‘You’ve seen the power we wield. It’s yours, if you’ll work with us to avoid pointless bloodshed. I we fail to secure the release of your prisoners, the option of brute force is still open to you’ Magneto states.
The commander remarks that there is some merit in what Magneto suggests, and announces that he will confer with his superiors and bring an answer shortly. ‘Man, you’ve changed your tune’ Frenzy mutters. ‘Have I, Ms Cargill?’ Magneto asks. ‘Looks like it from here’ Frenzy tells him, declaring that the Magneto she knew would not have lost any sleep about collateral damage. ‘Perhaps not. But if my daughter is in the midst of a civil war, I intend to find her’ Magneto replies. He announces that the Grad Nan Holt seem to represent their best hope, and admits that his failings as a father have been extreme, so it is past time that he began to atone for at least some of them. ‘So our word for today is “atonement”’ Frenzy states. Gambit informs Frenzy that Magneto has his own way of defining it, and Frenzy watches her former leader as he walks away, assuring Gambit that she totally gets Magento’s definition. ‘Strap yourself to the mouth of a cannon…and say you come in peace’.
Meantime, ‘Ah don’t want to hurt you, Horse’ Rogue tells the alien, who stands over her. ‘Thanks. Then I’ll do the hurting’ Horse replies. Sovel tells Rogue and Horse that he wants a good fight, but that it doesn’t have to be a clean one. ‘May Sharra and K’ythri bless and favor you both’ Sovel adds. ‘But mostly him’ he remarks, motioning to Horse, who slams his three left arms down towards the ground, knocking Rogue backwards. Jat slaps a hand against his head and announces that this is grotesque, for it Horse lands a punch, Rogue will be blood and pulp. ‘You’re missing the point, as usual’ Sovel replies. Jat asks what the point is, to which Sovel smiles and replies ‘Better her than me’. Horse slams his fists into a wall as Rogue dodges him. ‘Running out of road’ Horse calls out. ‘No. Just getting you into position’ Rogue responds as she gets behind Horse and smacks him in the back of the head. Horse goes wide-eyed, and falls to the ground.
Sovel, Jat and Glitter gather around their fallen comrade, and Rogue announces’ So, Ah guess Ah’m running the show now’. ‘No! No no no no!’ Sovel repeats. ‘Yes’ Rogue tells him. ‘But how? How is it yet? It should be no!’ Sovel exclaims. Rogue stands nearby and reminds Sovel that it was he whom she called out, and tells him that since he went ahead and picked himself a champion, she decided to get herself one, too. ‘All in the game, right? My name’s Rachel’ remarks the Rachel Summers as she stands up, warning Sovel that if he wants to experience firsthand what she just did to Horse, then by all means he should reach for a weapon. ‘I need another champion!’ Sovel shouts, to which Jat remarks ‘Sorry, fearless former leader. The king is dead. Long live the queen’.
Glitter tells Sovel that he should have picked her the first time, as she doesn’t do rear-guard. Rogue walks towards Marvel Girl and tells her that it is good to have her back. Rachel replies that it is good to be back, and notices Sovel reaching for  pistol. She tells him that if he draws it, she will make him shoot himself through the foot. Rachel turns her attention back to Rogue and asks her if she is the rescue party. ‘Ah guess Ah am’ Rogue replies, explaining that she got herself a teleport power for a while at least, and some powerful back-up, before asking Rachel what she is even doing in this lunatic asylum. Rachel replies that they answered a distress signal and walked into a civil war, before revealing that it is worse than that - a lot worse. She explains that there is something out there that packs a mind-punch hard enough to knock her out for a week. ‘We’ve got to find the others. The don’t know the odds they’re facing. Or even who the real enemy is’ Rachel declares.
At that moment, Alex “Havok” Summers and Lorna “Polaris” Dane enter a room where several Shi’ar officers are sitting on the floor. Lorna orders them all on to their feet. The Shi’ar officers have their hands bound, and they emerge single file from the room. ‘You’re not Grad Nan Holt. Why would you side with them?’ one of the officers calls out. ‘Because you Shi’ar enslaved them, and treated them like dirt. They’re fighting for their freedom. It’s a cause we don’t mind getting behind’ Havok explains. One of the officers turns to Lorna and introduces himself as Imstari, explaining that he is a scientist. ‘So?’ Polaris asks him. Imstari reveals that the gravitic flux array is damaged, and pulling them into the sun. He claims that he can repair it, if she takes him there, he can recalibrate the grid and save them all.
‘Tell the tribunal, when you go before them. They’ll give you a fair hearing!’ Havok tells Imstari, dragging him along. Lorna tells the Shi’ar that when they get to the arch, to go right on through. Several Grad Nan Holt stand guard around the arch, and through the arch sit several of the Grad Nan Holt, in the middle of a an amphitheater, surrounded by hundreds more Grad Nan Holt. One of the seated Grad Nan Holt announces ‘The Janissaries of the Grad Nan Holt sit in judgment. Where is the reader / sender? Where is Friendless?’ One of the Grad Nan Holt crouching nearby announces that he stands ready. ‘Then do yout job, filth. Tell us the prisoners’ ranks and their offences’ another orders, while Havok and Polaris‘ teammate, Korvus, stands nearby. The Grad Nan Holt crouched on the ground replies that all but one are soldiers of the Majestor Shi’ar. ‘They killed our brethren in great numbers. The last is…different’.
‘That one!’ the Grad Nan Holt declares, pointing at one of the Shi’ar. ‘My name is -’ the Shi’ar begins, but the Grad Nan Holt interrupts: ‘N’ket Imstari. Technician cadre. High in rank. And in esteem’ the Grad Nan Holt declares, adding that he ran Gul Damar’s power grid, and commanded many. The Janissaries turn to each other and speak in their native tongue. One of the senior Grad Nan Holt then points to the Shi’ar and shouts ‘A quick and honorable death for the soldiers. A slow and shameful one for the scientists. The tribunal has spoken!’ Korvus unsheathes his large sword and moves towards the Shi’ar, one of whom shouts ‘We’ve done nothing!’ another adds that they are serving soldiers, and demand their rights under the treaty of - but he doesn’t get to finish his sentence as Korvus slices him apart, making his way through the Shi’ar soldiers.
‘Your will is done, noble masters’ Korvus declares as he stands over the dead soldiers. ‘Half-done, Korvus. The scientist yet remains’ one of the Grad Nan Holt points out. Another shouts ‘Bring the torture instruments’. Imstari turns to a cart that is being pushed into the ampitheater. Blood stained weapons are laid on the cart. ‘Oh Gods! Oh sweet Gods!’ he utters, before turning back to the Grad Nan Holt leaders and telling them that he is Shi’ar, that if they want him to break and weep they will be disappointed. He asks where his torturer is, so he can look him in the eye and curse him. ‘You misunderstand’ one of the Grad Nan Holt replies, while another informs him that he will wield the blades and screws himself. ‘Reader / Sender, be about your work, lest you be punished yourself’ the third tells the Grad Nan Holt on the ground.
The alien replies ‘As you direct, masters, Friendless obeys’ and remarks that a mind-sending of the third order should suffice for the Shi’ar wretch. ‘I - I - I will not!’ Imstari replies. ‘You can’t make me -’ he declares as he walks towards the instruments, trying to resist the mental thrall, he raises a jagged curved blade to his face. ‘This seems cruel’ Lorna tells Alex, hanging her head. ‘You know what the Shi’ar did to these people, Lorna. The torture of an enemy isn’t just a right. It’s a sacrament’ Alex replies. Suddenly, ‘I hope we’re not interrupting anything’ a voice from above calls out. ‘We come in peace. For the most part’ Magneto announces as he drops down beside Alex and Lorna, with Gambit and Frenzy behind him.
‘Gambit! And - Magneto? Hold your fire!’ Havok exclaims. ‘These are friends! I - I think’ Polaris declares. Alex approaches Gambit and tells him that he is a sight for sore eyes, while Polaris faces Magneto, asking if he came here with the X-Men to find them. ‘You made a truce with the X-Men for our sake?’ Lorna enquires. Magneto replies that the details can be left until later. ‘I’m delighted to see you, my daughter’ he adds. ‘That goes for all of us’ Gambit adds, before telling Havok that whatever play he was about to make, they have his back. ‘Play? We were just enforcing the judgments’ Alex replies. ‘Enforcing?’ Remy asks, confused. ‘Come and watch. We’ll talk later’ Alex tells him.
The Janissaries get to their feet: ‘Who are these entities?’ one of them asks. The Friendless one replies that they are super-normal indigenes of the planet Tellus, and that they are in league with the Shi’ar. ‘It stands clear in their minds’ he states. Magneto tells the alien to read a little deeper, and points out that a Shi’ar battalion stands ready to destroy this base. ‘Oh God! Magnus -’ Lorna begins, to which Magneto explains that the Shi’ar allowed them to approach first and broker a truce. One of the Janissaries states that they desire no truce, as Magneto approaches them. Imstari continues to cut himself, while Korvus stands with his head hanging. ‘Then say no, by all means. But they’re watching us now’ Magneto informs the Grad Nan Holt. Magneto tells them that if they send him back empty-handed, the Shi’ar will pour enough firepower into this bay to melt it into slag.
Nearby, the free Shi’ar are watching the scene play out below. ‘Well now. Look at that’ the commander remarks. ‘He’s got them talking, at least’. ‘Yes, sir’ one of the officers replies. The commander wonders what they are talking about. ‘That’s the question he tells his officer. ‘Permission to make an observation, sir’ the officer requests, announcing that the walls of the cargo bay are already damaged. ‘You can see they’ve taken some heavy hits, a while back. Very heavy’ the officer points out, suggesting that a full salvo would probably breach what is left of the shielding. ‘Punch through the vacuum you mean? Empty us all right out into space?’ the commander asks. ‘Exactly, sir’ the officer confirms. ‘Duly noted, lieutenant. Tell the gunners to stand ready’ the commander orders.
Back down in the cargo bay, one of the Janissaries announces that they have learned from experience that the Shi’ar not to be trusted. ‘We’re not suggesting you trust them’ Gambit points out, asking the Grad Nan Holt to move out and leave the prisoners until the last moment. ‘They’re you’re guarantee’ he remarks. One of the Janissaries announces that there is only one prisoner still alive and that they will not - and cannot - release him. ’His rank is high, and his sins are therefore great’. ’This guy?’ Frenzy asks, looking at Imstari, who calls out for help as he holds a knife to his chest. ’What did he do? Insult your mother? He’s older than dirt’ Frenzy mutters. ’Yes. Also…he’s dead’ the Friendless one states as he commands Imstari to kill himself - ‘NO!’ Frenzy shouts. But Imstari plunges the knife into his own chest.
The commander sees this from up above, and orders ‘Fire all guns. Maximum aperture’. A massive blast is fired down into the cargo bay, knocking everyone backwards. ‘Those idiots! We’re hard against the hull! Can’t they see they’re committing suicide?’ Frenzy asks. Magneto asks Gambit and Frenzy to watch his back, when suddenly, ‘You’ll do nothing, murderer!’ Polaris exclaims as she fires a blast of magnetic energy at Magneto. She hovers over him as she attacks him. Magneto turns to her, while Korvus leaps towards Gambit and Havok confronts Frenzy. ‘You’re my father, Magnus, and I revere you. But you’ve hurt the Grad Nan Holt. And that means you die!’


[User]
<image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image>
Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Five Miles South of the Universe, part 3
Gul Damar Space Station, Ochre Radial, freight platform Ni’thurr, where right now, several X-Men are engaged in battle - with their friends the Starjammers, and countless members of the alien race the Grad Nan Holt are gathered in the freight platform. ‘It doesn’t have to be like this! Swear fealty to the Grad Nan Holt!’ Alexander “Alex” Summers, better known as Havok, declares as he blasts Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill with a surge of energy. ‘Accept their mercy!’ Alex shouts. ‘Man, you’re gonna hate yourself in the morning’ Frenzy mutters as she resists Havok’s awesome power. Frenzy manages to move closer to Havok, forcing through his power, until she reaches him. ‘Then again…you’re probably gonna be sleeping in late’ she tells him as she punches him in the face.
Nearby, Remy “Gambit” LeBeau is under attack by the Shi’ar warrior Korvus, and throws several kinetically-charged playing cards at him. Korvus falls backwards, and Gambit goes over to him, holding his staff at Korvus’s neck. ‘You think you can defeat us?’ Korvus shouts out. ‘On the best day of your life, homme’ Remy replies. Korvus tells Gambit to think again. ‘We are the armies of the righteous!’ he boasts. ‘You could exhaust yourself with slaughter…and still we would be more’ Korvus boasts, and suddenly, the countles Grad Nan Holt insect-like aliens pour from the arena-like seating they have been observing. Several of them knock Frenzy back, while Gambit is soon attacked also.
In the air above everyone else, the Master of Magnetism is doing battle with the Mistress of Magnetism. Magneto tells Lorna “Polaris” Dane - his daughter - that this is futile. ‘It’s my duty to the nest!’ Lorna calls back as their magnetic powers clash. Magneto tells Polaris that thousands will die on both sides if they go on fighting, and announces that he will lower his guard and asks that she does the same. Lorna does so, and Magneto tells her that they have to spike the Shi’ar guns, otherwise, the bulkhead wall will fall and this bay will be open to space. ‘Do you understand?’ he asks her. ‘Y-yes, father. I understand’ Lorna replies. But suddenly, she raises her magnetic power once more: ‘I understand you take me for a fool!’ Polaris exclaims as she blasts Magneto back across the freight dock.
Up above the dock, ‘Cease fire, sir?’ a Shi’ar officer asks his commander. ‘By no means, Lieutenant H’ral. We have that filth trapped down there!’ the commander replies. ‘And by the Holy Marriage, intend to finish the job!’ he boasts as he charges up the weapons, ready to fire on the Grad Nan Holt. The officer tells the commander to look at the walls, pointing out that the force shields are already down. ‘If we keep hitting them, they’re going to -’ he begins, before the commander informs his officer that he is relieved of his duty immediately, and fires a weapon at him, which strikes the lieutenant in the chest, knocking him back and leaving a smouldering wound. ‘Carry on, sir?’ another officer asks, barley looking at his fallen comrade. ‘Carry on’ the commander tells his gunner, before turning from the fallen lieutenant and ordering someone to clear up the mess.
More weapons fire blasts down from above, striking the Grad Nan Holt. ‘Hull breach!’ one of the aliens calls out. ‘We’re all going to die!’ another declares, when, suddenly, a voice cries out ‘No. You’re not. Not from this, anyway’. Rachel Summers declares as she appears with Rogue, and the crew of the Boneyard Dog - Sovel, Glitter, Horse and Jat. ‘All good, Rachel?’ Rogue calls out. ‘I wish’ Rachel replies, explaining that she can hold the hull together, but they have got to stop the guns. Glitter points out that they are Shi’ar, and that they are close. Rogue asks Glitter if she is sure, to which Glitter replies that they are using R’thil particle cannons, full aperture, and that revers means they are not properly anchored. ‘My boyfriend was a bombardier, and he let me play with him -’ Glitter begins, before Rogue interrupts her: ‘Ah guess you’re sure’ she remarks.
Rachel announces that Gambit and Magneto are both here, and that they are in the thick of fighting. ‘Havok and Lorna, too. But they’re under mind-control. Handle with care’ Rachel reveals. Rogue orders Glitter to find the guns and shut them down, to which Glitter asks her what she will be doing. Rogue announces that she is going to rendezvous with the X-Men. She points out that the clock is ticking on her teleport power that she borrowed. ‘Ah can’t hold on to it forever’. Glitter leads the crew of the Boneyard Dog down a corridor, and announces that the freight platform will give them some height, so they can find the Shi’ar. She asks Horse if he can work the hoist, but looking at the large red up arrow and the large blue down arrow, Horse asks ‘Which button means up?’ Glitter drowns and announces that she will work the hoist.
Rogue runs across the battle-torn dock and passes a Shi’ar officer lying on the ground, who calls out to her: ‘Wait! Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me here!’ Rogue goes over to him and tells him to take it easy, as they are going to stop the fighting, then his people can get him some help. ‘No! Listen to me! Please!’ the officer begs, blood covered, he tells Rogue that the gravity is wrong, that is why they are falling. He explains that the generator needs to be reset. ‘Field fluctuation should be within six-six-four…’ his voice trails off. Rogue looks around and asks if there is a medic here, or a healer, someone who knows field medicine. ‘Guess not’ she mutters as she turns back to the officer and points out that he is in a bad way, before asking his name. ‘Imstari. B’ket Imstarti. Am…am I dying?’ he replies. ‘Might could be’ Rogue tells him, before removing one of her gloves and mutters that she doesn’t know how to make room for him right now, but that he is going to leave a legacy.
Up above, Polaris and Magneto continue to battle, while on the freight deck, the Grad Nan Holt Janissaries are attempting to escape. ‘The Shi’ar guns are decimating our forces. Retreat to -’ one of them begins, only for another to telepathically command ‘Advance on the emery’. ‘Advance on the enemy’ the other Janissary announces, while the second telepathically asks to be sent to inspect the damage to the outer wall. One of the senior Grad Nan Holt calls out to the one called Friendless, and orders him to go an inspect the damage. ‘Yes, my lord. At once’ Friendless replies, while sprouting large claws from his back, he announces that he believes another alien may be among them, and he knows her mind, for he thought he had extinguished it. ‘This time I’ll melt her brain like hot wax. Then set it alight!’ he boasts.
Friendless lunges at Rachel, who tells him that she is holding the walls up. ‘That’s hard vacuum out there!’ she points out. But Friendless tosses Rachel about, and smacks her head against the wall. ‘I am Friendless. Of Ten-Red-Seed Nest. What are you?’ he asks her, looming over her. ‘Rachel Summers of Earth’ comes the reply. ‘A primitive. An animal, almost. And yet you stand after my mind-spear. That’s grotesque’ Friendless declares. Rachel replies that she will do more than stand, and reminds him that last time, he took her out before she even knew he was there. ‘This time…this time is different’ Rachel exclaims as she attacks Friendless with a psychic blast.
Shown in flashback images:
A female Grad Nan Holt is held down, a weapon aimed at her head, and another Grad Nan Holt stands over her, ‘…to rut with. And be fertilized by, a worker of the spindle nests, you are foulness, Iratha Zto. Your eggs will be smashed - except for this one. The reader/sender believes the embryo may be psi-capable’ the Grad Nan Holt announces.
Later, the same Grad Nan Holt enters a classroom with a young alien cowering behind him. He calls out to the teacher/assessor and announces that this hatchling was born outside of clan and sept. ‘Call him Friendless, and heap scorn upon him wherever possible’ ‘I will, enforcer/punisher’ the teacher replied. Soon, some of Friendless’s classmates hold him down, ‘Let it wear its old molted skin. Can’t make it smell any worse’ one of them remarks. ‘I’ve got the drippings from the bile-put. Let’s anoint him!’ another declares, bringing the bile towards Friendless.
Later still, two scientists inform the enforcer/punisher that Friendless has astonishing strength and range, and that the psi-meters don’t calibrate highly enough to measure him. Friendless taps away at a console, while the enforcer/punisher replies that Friendless is still an abomination, and orders him sent to one of the deep stations, Gul Damar, perhaps, as they need a reader/sender there.
En route to Gul Damar Station, a soldier tells Friendless that he won’t see the home-nest again. ‘Or does an abortion like you even care about your home-nest?’ the soldier asks.
Upon arrival at Gul Damar Station, Friendless was called a thing without a clan, and it was decided he would not be their reader/sender. He was to report to the message vaults, when suddenly, Friendless screamed ‘ENOUGH’. Fire surrounded him and he declares ‘You spit on me! Use me! Destroy my family, and cast me into servitude. Feed me poison. And expect me to thank you! Well, here are my thanks, worshipful masters!’ Friendless boasted, before the Grad Nan Holt informed him he can have access to the mainframes, and advise them when they sit in judgment. ‘The command space is open to you at all times’ another informed him.
Present:
‘It - it’s you! You made your own people wage war on the Shi’ar! Knowing it would destroy them!’ Rachel gasps. ‘Hoping it would destroy them’ Friendless corrects her, declaring that they deserve to be destroyed, but the Shi’ar were weaker and less organized than he expected. Friendless reveals that he has had to control the officers on both sides, and that it has been a little tiring, which is why Rachel survived the first time they met. ‘Okay. If you’re so damn smart…you hold up the wall!’ Rachel declares, releasing her hold on the hull. The vacuum sucks debris from the ship through the large hole, and Friendless soon follows. ‘Paltry, stick-limbed thing! I’ll rip you apart. I’ll spit in your brain you -’ he declares, before he is unable to speak in space.
Suddenly, ‘Magneto! What am I - what are we doing?’ Polaris asks. ‘We’re - on a battlefield’ Havok announces. Magneto tells Alex and Lorna that it doesn’t matter now, and asks Polaris to come with him while they seal that breach in the wall. He adds that Havok will watch their backs. ‘I don’t take orders from -’ Havok begins, but Magneto states that Havok will watch their backs, or else practice breathing without oxygen.
On the platform above the freight dock, the Boneyard Dog crew approach the Shi’ar officers. ‘Feel like making a fight of this?’ Horse asks. ‘In an internal freight bay? That would be insane’ the commander declares, before ordering all gunners to stand down at once, and motioning at Polaris and Magneto, he declares that he thinks those aliens are saving their lives.
Polaris hovers alongside Magneto, both drawing scrap metals towards the hull. Magneto tells his daughter to try to manipulate the iron at a molecular level, then to relax the atomic lattices to make it more malleable, as they need an airtight seal. Polaris replies that she thinks she can do that, and a short time later, the hull breach is sealed. ‘Enough. You did very well’ Magneto tells Lorna, who points out that he could have done it alone. She adds that she cannot believe through fought. ‘There was so much I wanted to say to you’ Lorna tells him. ‘In a calmer place and time, Lorna. And soon. I promise’ Magneto assures her, before they drop down to where Havok, Korvus, Gambit, Frenzy, Rogue, Rachel and the Boneyard Dog crew have gathered.
Gambit is pleased to see Rogue, before realizing that she is with the Shi’ar scrap metal merchants. ‘Rachel, you’re alive!’ Alex exclaims. ‘Of course she’s alive. That’s how we got our minds back’ Korvus points out. He goes over to Rachel and tells her that her soul is his shelter. Rachel replies that she clobbered the telepath who was sock-pupating him, butthat they are not free and clear yet. Frenzy watches Rachel and Korvus, while Korvus replies ‘You mean this war? It’s nor ours. It never was’, to which Rachel explains that it is not anybody’s war, that Friendless was simply playing both ends off against the middle. She adds that it is something she was reading from Rogue, so she should let her explain.
Everyone turns to Rogue, who announces that she is real happy to see them all again, and that this is the moment she has been working towards, getting them all together in one place, but the only trouble is, they are about ten minutes too late. Gambit asks Rogue what she means, and declares that they can leave the same way they came. Rogue apologizes and reveals that she took some memories on board, alien memories, and that it was not easy, as she had to let go of Legion’s teleportation powers to make room for them. ‘So, what, we’re trapped here? In the armpit of the universe?’ Frenzy demands, shaking a fist at Rogue, who replies ‘Pretty much’.
‘Why in hell would you do that? Are you functionally insane?’ Frenzy shouts. Rachel intervenes, and explains that Rogue did it to save lives. ‘Let her speak. If you threaten her - Frenzy? - you threaten me’ Rachel warns Joanna, who replies ‘Golly. That’s a terrifying prospect! And whose lives do we even care about here?’, to which Rogue explains that there are close to a billion people on this station, that it is as big as a planet, and it is falling into the sun. She adds that the station is being pulled by its own gravity generators after they got damaged in the fighting. ‘And the man whose mind you touched -’ Magneto asks, to which Rogue explains that he was a Shi’ar scientist, and that if she can get to those generators, she can reconfigure them and stop this from happening.
Rogue announces that the trouble is, the generators are about ten thousand miles from here, right at the top of the station, and they have an hour before they hit the sun’s corona and their shield’s fail. ‘Tragic, truly. If only there were something we could do’ Sovel exclaims, before pointing out that they cannot, so they should liberate a ship and bear witness to this terrible tragedy from the other side of the sky. ‘Gets my vote. Bo point crying over non-viable habitats’ Jat declares, before Rogue states that she thinks there is something they can do, but that she has to show them, as it is hard to describe. Everyone begins to follow Rogue, while Havok looks around at the bodies strewn throughout the deck and tells Gambit that he cannot believe they did this. ‘Your hands, someone else’s mind. Keep hold of that’ Gambit tells Havok.
Everyone soon arrives at another part of the station, and Rachel tells Rogue that she is not prying, but that there is some leakage from her mind. ‘Not surprising. It’s a bit crowded in there right now’ Rogue replies, to which Rachel remarks that Rogue cannot do what she is planning, for even if it works, it will kill her. ‘Might now. Ah just need a volunteer from the audience’ Rogue replies, motioning into the chamber, she explains that it is called Kythri’s Highway, and that everyone best keep their distance, as it is deadly. Standing around the edge of the chamber, everyone sees a bright orange energy which flows through the chamber. ‘Very impressive. But what is it?’ Sovel asks.
Rogue explains that it is a flux array, that it is basically an accumulator, that gravity in the shaft fluctuates from fifty to twenty thousand times Earth normal, and dynamos in the walls convert those variations into raw energy to power the station. Rogue announces that they could step into that stream and fall - straight up - at about a hundred times the speed of sound, right the generator itself. ‘But you’d be dead when you got there. Even the lower end of that scale is beyond human tolerance’ Magneto points out. ‘Ah know it’ Rogue replies, admitting that she wouldn’t last a second. ‘It would need someone -’ she begins. Before Frenzy interrupts, muttering that she thought they were short on time here, and that the answer is yes. ‘Tell me what needs doing’ she says to Rogue.
Rogue tells Joanna that it needs both of them, as the controls are configured for two operators. Rogue explains that she is hoping she can borrow some of Frenzy’s power, and leave her enough so they both survive, only, there is no way of knowing until they are in there. Gambit tells Rogue that there has got to be a better way around this, so Rogue replies that she is open to suggestions, but that they have got so little time. ‘Maybe you’ll think of something else once we’re in the pipe. But Ah think we’ve got to try this’ she states. Polaris and Gambit watch as Magneto touches Rogue’s face, assuring her that they will find a way to join her, and remarking that he wishes there were some way he could take this on himself.
‘Yeah, that’d be swell. But this is how it lies. Come and find us, Magnus. This elevator is one-way only’ Rogue replies. Suddenly, Sovel steps towards Rogue. ‘What is it?’ Rogue asks him. Sovel hands her a stun baton, in case there is someone up there who knows she is coming. ‘I have to look out for my captain’s welfare’ Sovel declares. Rogue takes Frenzy’s hand and tells her that it seems they are doing this a lot lately. ‘Don’t kid yourself. You’re not my type’ Frenzy replies, before asking if they jump, or what. ‘We just step into the flow…and let it take us’ Rogue replies as she and Frenzy step off the platform, and get sucked up in the flow of energy.
Vector spin ward 120/70. Distance of 14.8 standard units. Several Shi’ar officers are in a control room, when suddenly an alarm sounds. ‘What’s happening?’ one of the officer enquires. ‘Sir, that’s the vacuum alarm. Something’s opened the airlock from the outside’ an officer replies. ‘Impossible. Check the fail-safes and reengage the-’ the commanding officer begins, before stoping himself. ‘As you were, operator. It’s fine. It’s all fine’ he orders. ‘Yes, Sir’ the officer replies, while the commander tells him to seal the outer doors, and then cycle and open the lock. ‘Of course, Sir’ the officer replies. Suddenly, the door to the control room opens, and Friendless enters, telepathically declaring ‘Good day to you all. I am Friendless, your new master. This is what happens now…’.


[User]
<image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image>
Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Five Miles South of the Universe, part 4
Gul Damar Station, forty thousand light years from Earth. Inside K’ythri’s Highway, a conduct a hundred thousand miles long, with massive fluctuating local gravity fields. The X-Woman called Rogue and her companion Frenzy a.k.a. Joanna Cargill are being sucked upwards through the energy field. Rogue tells Frenzy that she cant take this, not unless she borrows some more of her power. ‘More?’ Joanna exclaims. ‘You mean…you took some already? I didn’t even notice’ she mutters, before frowning and telling Rogue to help herself, as the way things are going, they probably wont have time for a rest stop.
Elsewhere on the massive station, which is being pulled towards the sun, ‘My God! Look at it!’ Alex “Havok” Summers exclaims as he and the others stand in a loading bay and look out at the sun. ‘How come we’re not already burning up?’ Lorna “Polaris” Dane asks. Rachel Summers stands with the Shi’ar called Korcus, while Remy “Gambit” LeBeau stands on his own. Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, stands near the crew of the Boneyard Dog - Sovel Redhand, Glitter, Horse and Jat. Jat explains that with a station like this, the birdies - Shi’ar - build the shield generators first - and they are as big as a city. Glitter tells everyone not to kid themselves, for in aught point eight of a cycle, they will hit the solar corona, only, they won’t burn, they will sublime straight into superheated vapor.
Magneto declares that they must assume that Rogue will have reset the gravity array by that time, reversing their trajectory. ‘Oh yes. Let’s assume, by all means’ Korvus mutters, while Magneto states that the priority is to find a ship for the journey home. Turning to Havok, Magneto asks him about their vessel. Alex explains that they pancaked against the hull, as local gravity was already going haywire. ‘Look, I hate to get hung up on the details, Magneto, but who the hell made you an X-Man?’ Alex enquires. ‘Your brother. He saw fit to trust me’ Magneto replies, referring to Cyclops. This causes Havok to frown and tells Rachel to read Magneto, to see whether if that is true.
Rachel steps forward and tells Havok that so long as Magneto has his helmet on, she cannot get a clear reading. Lorna announces that she trusts Magneto, and asks why shouldn’t they, as he saved them. ‘Can I say something, about ships, I mean?’ Jat calls out, explaining that they are in Gul Damar’s freight station, so it stands to reason that their dockyard has to be nearby. He adds that it probably has a couple of hundred ships, real close to here. Gambit asks Jat if he knows the way, to which Jat replies that he used Dermware to download a map of the station, so he can find his way around. ‘Then lead. We’ll follow’ Gambit tells him. ‘So you’re fraternizing with mammals now’ Sovel declares as he approaches Jat. Jat asks ‘Why not? They’ve got warm blood. Four-chambered hearts. Lots to admire’, he adds that he wants to live, and calls Sovel his ex-captain. ‘It’s a cherished ambition of mine’ he declares. Sovel smiles and tells Jat that he is disappointed, and boasts that he sets his own sights a little higher.
Anti-spin ward 80/130. Distance of 17 standard units. Several Shi’ar commanders are meeting with the Janissaries of the Grad Nan Holt. ‘Such an auspicious day! Let the poets sing of it, and the sculptors set it in stone!’ one of the Shi’ar announces, before proclaiming peace between the Shi’ar and the Grad Nan Holt. He shakes the hand of one of the Grad Nan Holt, who replies ‘With honor on both sides, Commander Gemet. I salute you. And all your brave cohorts’. The Grad Nan Holt known as Friendless skulks around the room, while the Janissary tells the Commander that it is shaming they fought at all, some madness overtook them, blinding them to their own best interests.
‘And to the enemies that work against us both’ Friendless telepathically speaks into the mind of the Janissary, who then speaks those exact words to the Shi’ar. ’The terrans’ the Shi’ar announces. ’Aye, the terrans. Whatever may have passed between us, let’s agree to find and destroy those demons’ the Janissary suggests, and the Shi’ar commander agrees, before offering to show the Grad Nan Holt something which nobody outside the Imperium has ever seen before.  Friendless stands behind the commander, and strokes the commander’s face, before the commander motions to the Anathema Vault, explaining that this is where they store the weapons banned from use in normal conflicts, but still available in times of direct emergency.
A Shi’ar officer races towards the commander, excusing himself, he points out that there is still the matter of their decaying orbit. ‘What?’ the commander asks. ‘We - we’re falling into the sun, Sir!’ The station’s very survival is threatened. We must act now!’ the officer declares, to which Friendless takes telepathic control of the commander, ‘Killing the terrans will save the station’ he states. The commander repeats that, and at Friendless’s order, adds that no loyal Shi’ar would question that. The commander decides that it follows then that the officer is not loyal, and orders others to take him into custody. ‘But, commander! Please!’ the officer pleads. ‘Kill him if he speaks again’ the commander orders. The door to the Anathema Vault opens, and the commander declares that they must not flinch from their duty, wherever it may take them.
‘Well, I guess this is the dockyard’ Jat mutters as he and the others arrive in the dock, to find several spaceships, all on fire. Jat adds that they are not the first to find it, while Gambit remarks that this is insane. ‘Why would they destroy their own ships? It’s mass suicide!’ he declares. Lorna looks around and points out that they were not responsible for their actions, any more than the Starjammers were. ‘They had a monkey on their backs. A high-functioning Grad Nan Holt telepath named -’ Lorna begins, before she is interrupted by Rachel who exclaims ‘Friendless?’ Havok asks if anything here is salvageable, to which Glitter tells him the only way to find out is to check them one by one.
Magneto raises a fist and releases a surge of magnetic power. ‘What are you doing?’ Glitter asks him, while Lorna also calls out to him. Magneto explains that a fluctuating magnetic field will induce a current in any circuitry still capable of operating. Magneto turns to Sovel Redhand and asks him if he has sensor equipment. Jat declares that Sovel doesn’t, be he does, and examining the equipment, announces that he is getting multiple pings, and motions in the direction. ‘Then let’s go. Every second counts!’ Gambit exclaims.
Jat and Glitter go and check out the ships, and they pass a Sylvari Freighter. Glitter announces that the hull is holes, but one of the engines looks to be intact], while Jat locates a Shi’ar scout ship, which is intact except for the wing assembly. ‘If Rogue fails? Maybe aught four of a cycle. Not long enough’ Glitter declares. Jat tells her to wash her mouth out, and remarks that he is Kree, that he is obsessive compulsive and has got so much Dermware he cannot scratch his armpit without blacking out major cities. ‘Watch me work’ he smiles as he touches one of the ships.
Vector 20/20 spin ward. Elevation 187,000 levels, inside K’ythi’s Highway. Rogue and Frenzy are pushed onwards, level after level, through the orange energy, until finally, they come to a sudden halt. Both women land on the floor, and Frenzy utters ‘Okay. Got you through the door. Your turn to -’, before she passes out. Rogue says nothing, just lies alongside her associate.
Back in the dockyard, Jat continues to manipulate the ship, ‘Talk to me, sweet thing. You know you want to’ he mutters. ‘Oh yeah! There it is! You tease! You want the full works, don’t you?’ he says to the spaceship, before informing Glitter that they are on here. ‘Give me a wing, I’ll give you a ship!’ he calls out, while Havok approaches the duo. ‘What’s he doing…does that count as engineering foreplay?’ Havok asks Glitter, who replies that she never asked, and is not about to start. ‘Listen, this housing, could you -?’ Glitter begins, to which Havok declares ‘Yeah. I could’ and releases a blast of plasma energy, tearing the housing open. ‘Nice’ Glitter tells him. ‘Thanks’ Alex replies. ‘Speaking of foreplay -’ Glitter begins. ‘Different species’ Havok quickly tells her. Glitter replies that she has broad tastes.
‘So are there still Sentinels on the lawn?’ Polaris asks Gambit. Remy tells Gambit that there are no more Sentinels, and no more lawn, for that matter. ‘Brin Helat, my love. What’s the matter?’ Korvus asks Rachel. Rachel looks up at him and replies that she doesn’t know. ‘I think…maybe I felt something back there. When we first came in here’ she explains. ‘“Something”?’ Korvus asks. ‘Someone, then. Another telepath. Him’ Rachel reveals. ‘Friendless?’ Korvus asks. ‘Maybe’ Rachel tells Korvus, but explains that it was just a stray thought, and when she homed in on it, there was nothing. ‘That could mean he sensed you too…and closed the door on you’ Korvus points out.
‘Yeah, it could’ Rachel agrees. Korvus grits his teeth and declares that Friendless is the scum who knocked Rachel out with a single-mind blast, hard enough so she didn’t wake up for days. ‘And turned the rest of us into brainwashed drones. If he’s out there -’ Korvus declares, before Rachel announces that if Friendless is out there, they need to know. ‘Okay. Watch my back, swordsman. I’ll go take a look-see’ Rachel announces as her astral form exits her body.
Inside the Anathema Vault, a massive tank-like vehicle resides. ‘Here! Set a three-quarter perimeter, Janissaries. Open to the front. No man is to pass spin ward of this machine!’ the commander announces. ‘You’re sure they’re here, commander?’ the Grad Nan Holt Janissary asks. The commander explains that their life readings are very different, so they are not hard to spot. ‘We have them in the shipyards, ten units spin ward’ the commander adds. ‘Ten units? Your weapon is effective at such a range?’ the Janissary enquires. The commander explains that it is a null cascade, a factory for anti-matter, and that it is effective at any range, including interplanetary. Rachel’s astral form enters the Anathema Vault, and hovers over the Shi’ar and Grad Nan Holt.
The commander announces that once it is activated, its own operation will provide all the power it needs. Standing before the tank-like vehicle, he adds that the more matter it encounters, the faster it will propagate, and by the time they see it coming, it will be upon them. Suddenly, ‘NO!’ Friendless shouts as he releases a psychic form of himself which attacks Rachel’s astral form. ‘You’d eavesdrop on my thoughts, human thing? The thoughts of a reader / sender!’ Rachel casually replies that the idea had crossed her mind. ‘Really? It will be the last idea to do so’ Friendless warns her.
Back in the dock, Korvus senses something wrong with Rachel. ‘Is it him?’ Korvus calls out, receiving no response. ‘Rachel?’ Korvus asks, while Rachel’s eyes roll back into her head.
Inside the Vault, the commander holds his hand to a scanner, and announces ‘Recognize hand, retina and voice’. ‘Recognized’ a computer states, while the commander boasts that he has rank and station enough to command, and he does. ‘Activate’ he orders. ‘Activated’ the computer replies, making a loud noise, as a glowing ball of energy appears, and an instant later, is a powerful stream of energy is released, bursting through the inner wall. ‘By the home nest!’ one of the Grad Nan Holt gasps. ‘Sharra have mercy on them. They’ll need it’ the commander declares, nervously.
Meantime, Frenzy has woken and attempts to rouse Rogue. ‘Come. Snap out of it!’ Frenzy declares. Rogue sits up and asks ‘We’re here? We made it?’ as she looks at a large computer system before her. ‘Yeah, we made it. And the sooner we make a start, the sooner we’re -’ Frenzy begins.
‘- finished! This circuitry is ready to dance! How’s the wing, Glitter?’ Jat exclaims, standing alongside the console. Glitter replies that the wing is disgusting, but will hold - for a parsec or two, if nobody leans on it. Havok announces that it is time to move, but Korvus picks up Rachel and explains that they can’t, as she is still in trance. ‘In trance? But what - what. The. Hell. Is. That?’ Havok gasps as he sees a blue energy pour through the dock pulsing towards he and the others. Sovel announces that it is an anti-matter cascade. ‘Which is?’ Havok enquires. ‘Which is as nasty as it sounds. I lost my first ship to one’ Sovel reveals, before declaring that is a long story. ‘And alas, I have no time to tell it. Goodbye…and good luck!’ Sovel exclaims as he suddenly vanishes. ‘Sovel!’ Glitter shouts, punching his disappearing form.
‘Bring the dials down to zero’ Rogue tells Frenzy as they tap away at the console. ‘There isn’t any zero. It’s written in alien’ Frenzy retorts. ‘Clockwise. All the way’ Rogue explains, before announcing that they have to recalibrate everything. ‘Different orbit, different set of equations’ Rogue declares, adding that if she is right, they can make themselves fall away from the sun at the same speed they are currently at. Suddenly, ‘No. You can’t!’ Sovel declares as he materializes in the room. ‘Redhand! What are you doing here?’ Rogue gasps. ‘Protecting my investment’ Sovel replies as he reaches for a weapon, and tells Rogue that he appreciates what she is doing, the hero thing, saving all those lives.
‘But business is business’ Sovel declares as he fires two bullets, one at Rogue and one at Frenzy, knocking both women backwards. Sovel takes the controls and declares that it is an amazing thing about the Da’atha class stations. ‘No! Don’t!’ Rogue calls out. ‘The entire gravity array can be floated free in an emergency’ Sovel reveals. He smiles and announces that it is worth about seven hundred million credits. ‘That’s amazing, too. It’s just like my sainted mother always used to say…if at first you don’t succeed…change the rules!’ Sovel declares as the gravity array section where he, Rogue and Frenzy are released from the rest of the space station!
At that moment, Havok, Polaris, Magneto, Gambit and the others run for their lives as the anti-matter cascade sweeps over them….


[User]
<image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image>
Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Five Miles South of the Universe, part 5, conclusion
‘YEAAARH!’ screams Rachel Summers a.k.a. Marvel Girl, as the diabolical Grad Nan Holt alien known as Friendless shoves his astral hand through her astral head. ‘Does it hurt, little animal? Does it sting?’ Friendless asks as their astral forms hover in a warehouse on the Gul Damar space station, where a deadly anti-matter weapon has been fired. ‘This is what happens when you mind-duel with a reader/sender. This is what becomes of you’ Friendless declares, while various mind-controlled Shi’ar officers and Grad Nan Holt Janissaries stand nearby. Friendless tells Rachel that she is dying quickly, but that it will seem slow, for in their thoughts, all is as they make it. ‘And your friends, they’re dying, too. ‘
Indeed, at that moment, Rachel’s teammates from the Starjammers, Havok, Polaris and Korvus, her lover, who is carrying her lifeless body, flee from the anti-matter weapon, along with two of their X-Men rescuers, Magneto and Gambit, and the remainder of the crew of the Boneyard Dog ship, Glitter, Jat and Horse. Friendless tells Rachel that they seek to protect her physical body, but that they will fall to the null cascade. ‘A torrent of anti-matter that eats and eats and can never be satisfied’ Friendless calls it. He adds that those who sought to save Gul Damar by repairing its gravity generators, well, it is safe to say their mission has miscarried.
Friendless is of course referring to Rogue and Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill, the other two X-Men rescuers who lie motionless at the space station’s control room. Frenzy rouses, and gets to her feet, where she sees Sovel Redhand, the traitorous leader of the Boneyard Dog crew tinkering with the control panels of the gravity equipment. ‘You. Redhand. What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Frenzy demands. Sovel replies that he is stealing the gravity generator, as it is worth a vast amount of money. ‘And I like money. I like it very much indeed’. ‘Yeah? How do you feel about compound fractures?’ Joanna asks as she rushes towards her opponent, fists ready.
Sovel smirks, and tells Frenzy to be careful, reminding her that she used up most of her strength in getting to this location, and loaned Rogue the rest. ‘So you really shouldn’t be touching -’ he begins, before Frenzy is knocked backwards by a surge of energy that radiates from Sovel. ‘- my personal force field’ Sovel concludes as he turns around, and sees Frenzy once again lying motionless on the ground, near Rogue.
‘Oh God, Frenzy!’ Rachel utters. Friendless asks ‘Is that her name? It suits her’, adding that it suits all of the half-formed, half-civilized creatures. ‘But don’t despair, little animal. Not quite yet. I’ve saved the best for last. Look. See’ Friendless tells Rogue, urging her to look ahead, where she sees a blinding yellow light. Various Shi’ar officers turn their head from the brilliance of the light, and Friendless explains that across the station, the shields are starting to fall, that heat and hard radiation are pouring in like water through a broken dam, and now the Shi’ar and the Grad Nan Holt are staring into the Death-God’s single eye. ‘Gul Damar is falling into the sun. And there isn’t a thing that you or anyone can do to stop it!’ Friendless boasts. And as the massive space station falls ever closer to certain doom, a shocked Rachel hangs her head and closes her eyes.
Back in the gravity control bay, ‘Rogue. Can you hear me?’ a voice resonates through Rogue’s mind. ‘Please. Say you can hear me. It’s Rachel’ the voice exclaims. Rogue stirs, and sits up. Redhand sees her and tells her to do herself a favor and stay down, and he will pilot them out of here. ‘Sovel! This is insane!’ Rogue exclaims, pointing out that without the generator, Gul Damar has no power. ‘He won’t listen to you. And you can’t fight him’ Rachel tells Rogue telepathically, before revealing to Rogue that she may not have to fight him, as Sovel keeps thinking about the weapon that he gave to her. ‘This thing? Why?’ Rogue asks, looking down at the small object. Rachel replies that she thinks it is not a weapon, that it is something else. ‘Well, I’ll be…’ Rogue whispers as she opens a small panel on the small object.
Rogue gets to her feet: ‘Cute, Sovel. You gave me a “stun baton” to protect myself, because it’s a big, wicked old world’ Rogue calls out. Sovel turns to her and tells her that it won’t work against him, to which Rogue replies that she is sure it won’t, but that she knows that is not why he gave it to her. ‘You just wanted me to be holding one end of a short-range teleport shunt’ Rogue declares as she presses a button on the device, adding that it is pretty primitive, and that it just has two sets of coordinates in the memory - one of them is right here, and she is sure the other one is wherever Sovel just came from.
At that moment, Magneto, Havok and Polaris do their best to hold the anti-matter wave back, but it moves ever closer to them. Suddenly, there is a brief noise, and Havok, Polaris and the others all glow, before vanishing. ‘Ah! I know how this looks’ Sovel remarks, eyes wide, as Havok and the others, including Sovel’s crew members, materialize before him. ‘It looks like you’re gonna get your brains beaten out, Sovel’ Glitter exclaims. Jat tells Glitter that their former leader his shields up, before using his abilities, he corrects himself, announcing that the shields are now down. Glitter moves closer to Sovel and thanks Jat, explaining that he just introduced her to a new experience. ‘This is the first time I ever felt warm and fuzzy towards a Kree’ she explains as she punches Sovel, knocking him out.
‘Where are we, Rogue?’ Magneto asks, turning to her. Rogue explains that they are out in space, but close to Gul Damar, as Sovel shot the whole generator array free of the station. ‘Ah’ve got to bring us back in’ Rogue announces. ‘What about Rachel? She’s not moving. She’s not even breathing!’ Korvus calls out as he lays Rachel on the ground. Rogue reveals that Friendless got his hooks into Rachel good, and explains that right now, Rachel is fighting him, but Friendless is winning. Removing his helmet, Magneto points out that Rachel is the only one of them who has any mind powers, so no one can go to her assistance. ‘We’ll have to improvise’ he remarks as he places his helmet on Rachel’s head. ‘What good will that do?’ Korvus demands, and Magneto explains to him that it is resistant to telepathic scanning. ‘If we’re lucky, it will break the contact between the two of them…and allow her to pull free’ Magneto fears.
At that moment, ‘NO!’ shrieks Friendless as Rachel pulls free of his astral grasp. Suddenly, Rachel opens her eyes and moans. ‘By the marriage! She’s alive! She’s waking up!’ Korvus exclaims as he helps Rachel sit up, wrapping his arms around her. Rogue remarks that she is glad to hear it, but that it might not last. Rogue announces that they have to get themselves, and all of Gul Damar out of the solar corona, or else they are likely to be pourable inside of five minutes. Standing at one of the consoles, Rogue asks Jat to take the other console, and they both get to work. Jat declares that this is not going to work, as Gul Damar’s mass is too big. ‘We have to save ourselves. That’s all we can -’ he begins, but Rogue interrupts: ‘Not gonna happen’ she says.
Turning to Rachel, who is standing up alongside Korvus, Rogue tells her that she saw something in her mind when they were linked, something like a cannon. ‘The null cascade. It’s an anti-matter particle gun’ Rachel explains as she hands Magneto his helmet back. ‘Ah need it. And Gul Damar’s a big place. Think you can get us a fix on it?’ Rogue asks. ‘To a millimeter’ Rachel replies, but points out that the trouble is, Friendless is right there with it. ‘If he attacks me again, all bets are off’ Rachel remarks. ‘Ah think he might have other things to worry about’ Rogue replies, before turning to Magneto and telling him that this thing weighs tons, and that he will have to rip through possibly a hundred bulkhead walls to get to it. ‘Alone, that might be difficult. But if Polaris will assist me-’ Magneto replies as he puts his helmet back on. ‘Yes! Of course!’ Lorna “Polaris” Dane exclaims as she and Alex “Havok” Summers stand nearby.
As the gravity control center continues to hover close to Gul Damar, Rachel telepathically sends Magneto and Polaris a route map, and asks if it is coming through clear. ‘As crystal’ Lorna replies, while Magneto asks Marvel Girl how delicate the device is. Rachel reveals that it is built to withstand earthquakes. ‘Excellent. That’s what I hoped you’d say’ Magneto tells her as he and Polaris concentrate hard, using their combined magnetic powers, they rip the weapon from where it is in the warehouse, carrying it towards their floating control room. Holding it in space, Lorna reports that they have got it. ‘Now what?’ she asks. Rogue asks them to hold it in place while she adjusts the sun. ‘While you -?’ Lorna enquires. Rogue replies that there is no time to explain, and that she could only do it in Shi’ar anyway.
‘Vrasi! This isn’t good!’ Jat exclaims as he and Rogue continue to tap away at the control panels. Jat announces that these gauges are up to critical, and are still climbing. ‘Yeah, that’d be me’ Rogue explains, telling everyone that the final stage of a star’s development depends on the strength of the local gravity fields, and that she is trying to push this system’s sun all the way to collapse in one go. ‘What? A black hole will kill us just as dead as a live sun!’ Jat exclaims as he grabs Rogue’s arm. ‘Ah know what Ah’m doing’ Rogue assures him. ‘No, you don’t. And that Arin’nn Haelar thing doesn’t buy you any slack from a Kree, so just step away from -’ Jat tells her, before he is suddenly grabbed by Remy “Gambit” LeBeau. ‘You’re looking to save your life, homme? Start by taking your hands off her’ Gambit suggests to Jat.
Rogue reports that she is real close, but that the equations are too complicated. ‘Ah can’t solve them in real time, and Ah don’t have a model. Nobody’s ever done this!’ Rogue declares. Looking up, the handsome Havok announces that he hates to complicate things, but that he thinks they might have another problem. ‘No! That’s not possible!’ gasps Glitter, as the null cascade weapon begins firing once more. ‘It’s targeting us!’ Alex adds. ‘You think that’s an accident, or -?’ Gambit begins, before everyone sees Friendless, clinging to the edge of the weapon. ‘Carrying on fighting, little animals. Carrying on fighting to the last!’ Friendless snarls. ‘You are marvellous. You make this even sweeter than I imagined it would be!’ Friendless declares.
‘He can survive in hard vacuum?’ Korvus enquires. Rachel reports that Friendless did so once before, when the wall of the cargo bay was breached. Rachel turns to Rogue and reminds her that she said she needs processing power. ‘In the worst way. But even if Ah had a big enough computer -’ Rogue replies, as Rachel interrupts, announcing that she is not thinking about a computer. ‘Friendless has a genius-level intelligence. If we could slave his mind the way he slaved mine, we could force him to solve your equations’ Rachel suggests. ‘No, beloved! He’s stronger than you. He’s proved that twice!’ Korvus exclaims. ‘In a fair fight, he is. Way stronger. But I wonder what he’d be like in a tag match’ Rachel smiles.
‘Damn, girl, you like to play dirty, don’t you?’ Rogue asks. ‘I’m a Summers. Mostly I play to win’ Rachel replies as she takes Rogue’s gloveless hand. ‘Fifty-fifty, more or less, but you better take the lead’ Rachel suggests, remarking that Rachel knows the steps of this dance a lot better than she. Suddenly, on the edge of the null cascade, Friendless cries out ‘No! What are you -?’ as Rachel and Rogue enter his mind. Their astral forms attack his astral form, ‘Kind of a tough call, isn’t it, Friendless? Can’t attack either of us without lowering your guard to the other’ Marvel Girl tells him. ‘Ain’t exactly fair, when you put it like that. Then again…neither is genocide’ Rogue declares. Friendless screams in agony, while on the deck of the gravity control center, Rachel asks Rogue if she has what she needs. ‘Few - more - seconds’ Rogue reports.
Rogue asks Magneto to turn the null cascade so it fires into the sun. ‘Anti-matter and solar fusion, Rogue? That’s -’ Magneto begins. ‘Dangerous stuff to play around with. Ah know it’ Rogue replies. The weapon is turned to face the ever-approaching sun, and the worried expressions of the X-Men and their allies can be clearly seen on all. ‘Like lighting a cigarette in a room full of gasoline fumes’ Rogue remarks. ‘Except that this room is about a hundred million miles across’ she adds. As Rogue presses a large red button, she tells her friends and companions that if anyone feels inclined to pray, now would be a good time.
With that, Gul Damar space station and the gravity control room that is still separated from the station, falls into the sun in spectacular display. Magneto and Rogue embrace, while the others shield themselves from the immense solar heat. Suddenly, the anti-matter wave cascades around them - and an undermined amount of time later, the space station in its entirety, and gravity control room, appear floating in orbit around planet Earth. ‘Wait! Bluey-green planet with an atmosphere? More water than land? Isn’t that -’ Jat begins. ‘It’s Earth!’ Havok calls out. ‘You did it, Rogue! You did it!’ Rachel exclaims as everyone stares at Earth.
‘Hey, congratulations’ Frenzy calls out. Rogue turns to Joanna and thanks her for everything. ‘But what was it that you did, exactly? I seem to have been unconscious for most of it’ Frenzy remarks. ‘Imstari had the math, and Friendless had the smarts to solve the equation’ Rogue smiles, revealing that she collapsed Gul Damar’s sun into a wormhole and pointed the far end at Earth. ‘We’re home! We’re finally home!’ Polaris exclaims as she and Havok embrace. ‘Some of us are’ Korvus remarks, hanging his head as Rachel puts a hand on him. ‘Don’t try to spoil the moment, Korvus. It won’t work’ Havok tells him. However, Magneto points out that Korvus raises a valid point, as Gul Damar Station is now in Earth orbit, along with its billion displaced citizens.
Magneto adds that it is possible Friendless survived the stellar collapse. ‘Yeah, it is, Magnus, but sometimes you just have to win the fight you’re in, and leave it at that’ Rogue tells him. ‘What about us, Rogue? You’re still our captain’ Glitter calls out as she, Jat and Horse, who is holding up Sovel by his ankle. ‘I’d be happy to take the title back. I don’t hold grudges’ Sovel calls out. Glitter tells Horse to feel free to rip Sovel’s head off if he makes another sound. ‘Does that include breathing?’ Horse asks. Rogue informs Glitter that she still has the teleport shunt, and can put them back on Gul Damar for now. ‘But before long, Ah’ll find you a ship and a captain. You got mah word on that’ Rogue assures Glitter.
The gravity station is driven down towards Earth, and Havok asks Rogue if she thinks she can actually land it. Rogue replies that if she can’t, Magnus and Lorna can set them down just fine. ‘But…those coordinates. You’re taking us out over the West Coast’ Havok points out. Rogue replies that there are some briefing sessions that need to be had at that. ‘Lorna. Alex. Rachel. Welcome home’ Rogue calls out. ‘Now let’s see…where do Ah start?’ Rogue remarks, as they approach Utopia….


[User]
<image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image><image>
Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Half a Step, part one
Utopia, home of the X-Men…or at least some of them. Sitting on the steps of the ampitheater, Rogue is alone until Remy “Gambit” LeBeau walks over to her. Gambit tells Rogue that she cannot put this off, that she has to make a choice. ‘Ah know it, Remy. And Ah swear, Ah thought Ah’d already made it, a long time back’ Rogue replies. Remembering recent events, Rogue tells Gambit that the last few months have been as if they did not even get to breathe out between their disasters. ‘The Cooperstown attack. Sinister. Osborn. Necrosha. Bastion. And now this’. Rogue declares that without Cyclops, they would never have got through it all alive. ‘We all know that’ she declares. Sitting down, Gambit assures Rogue that none of this takes away from what Cyclops has done.
‘Yeah, it does. Because the biggest thing he did was to bring us together’ Rogue replies. ‘If we fall apart again, who’s to say it won’t be forever?’ she suggests. Gambit tells Rogue to take his advice and not think about it forever. ‘Just try to decide where you want to be right now’ he tells her. ‘That’s all any of us can do’.
Inside his office, Scott “Cyclops” Summers sits in his chair, several monitors active around him, but he stares out the window, until his brother Havok a.k.a. Alex Summers enters. ‘Scotty? I said, can I come in?’ Alex calls out. ‘Sorry, Alex. I was…preoccupied’ Cyclops replies, before asking his younger brother what is on his mind. ‘Mainly, I’d wishing I’d been here with you while all this was going down’ Alex explains, adding that he is wondering if it is not too late for he and Wolverine to go back to the table on this. ‘What for?’ Cyclops asks. ‘What for? To see if there’s any middle ground between -’ Alex begins, but Scott interrupts him, quickly announcing that there isn’t.
‘So it all falls apart?’ Alex asks, energy surging around him. ‘No. One thing becomes two things. For a time’ Scott explains. ‘We’re not walking out on each other’s lives, Alex’ Scott tells him, adding that they will have two different bases of operations, answering two different functions. ‘You could argue that it gives us the best of both worlds’ Scott points out. ‘Or you could argue that it weakens us fatally, when we really need to be strong’ Havok exclaims, too which Cyclops tells him that is the risk they are taking, obviously. He adds that if there is an alternative, he has not thought of it. ‘So everyone has to make a choice. And I’m betting most of us feel like we’re damned either way’ Alex declares. Turning from his brother, Scott tells him that he is wrong, as most people seem to have had a pretty strong instinct one way or the other. ‘There are only a few who are still on the fence’ Scott reveals.
Back outside, ‘You’re a hard man to find, Magnus’ Rogue calls out as she approaches Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, who stands on the edge of Utopia, looking out over the ocean, which laps at the island’s shore. ‘Rogue. I came up here to be alone with my thoughts’ Magneto replies. ‘That a polite brush-off?’ Rogue enquires. Turning to Rogue, Magneto asks her if she has ever known him to be polite, before telling her that he would never wish to exclude her from anything that concerns him. ‘I’ve been…reassembling myself. Finding a new orientation to my past, and to my future’ Magneto explains, telling Rogue that she has been instrumental in that - essential, even.
‘Ah’m glad to be of services’ Rogue replies as she looks at Magneto, who puts his hands on her shoulders. ‘You’d prefer a protestation of love? What I feel for you runs a great deal deeper than words’ Magneto tells Rogue, before asking her what she is troubled by. Rogue replies that it is the rift between Scott and Logan, that she doesn’t know which way to jump and it is starting to make her a little crazy. Magneto tells Rogue that he cannot make up her mind for her, to which Rogue tells him that is not what she is looking for. ‘But Ah know you never had a moment’s doubt. And Ah’m wondering why’ Rogue remarks. ‘You were here when I arrived. When I knelt to Cyclops. If you know me at all, you must know that it’s hard for me to acknowledge an equal. Therefore, you know my opinion of him’ Magneto explains.
Gazing back out over the ocean, Magneto declares that Wolverine means well, but that he flirts with ruin. ‘Goes with the territory’ Rogue points out. Magneto tells Rogue that right now, ruin is too easy to find, that it surrounds them. ‘Surely you see that?’ he asks her. Rogue tells Magnus that she sees a good man following his conscience for the very best of reasons. ‘Trouble is, Ah see that twice’ Rogue declares. ‘So you’re unable to decide between the two?’ Magneto asks. ‘So far, yes’ Rogue replies. ‘And yet, you refuse to avail yourself to the obvious solution’ Magneto tells Rogue, who asks ‘The obvious…?’. Magneto removes one of his gloves, and tells Rogue that her problem is one of perspective, and that her powers allow her the luxury of parallax, of seeing things from everyone’s point of view.
‘You think this is going to make a difference?’ Rogue asks as she, too, removes one of her gloves. ‘If you do it enough times, perhaps’ Magneto suggests, telling Rogue that each person on the island no doubt sees something the others miss. ‘It can’t hurt to use our eyes’ he adds, before they touch fingers. ‘Lord!’ Rogue calls out as she stumbles backwards. ‘Helpful?’ Magneto asks. ‘Actually, that’s not the word Ah’d use’ Rogue replies, before announcing that she thinks she has found where their next crisis is coming from.
‘A stowaway?’ Cyclops asks Rogue as they gather in a meeting room with Magneto, Gambit, Emma Frost a.k.a. the White Queen, Joanna “Cargill” Frenzy, the members of the X-Club - Dr Kavita Rao, Madison Jeffries and Doctor Nemesis, as well as the recently returned to Earth Starjammers - Havok, Lorna “Polaris” Dane, Rachel Summers a.k.a. Marvel Girl, and her Shi’ar lover, Korvus. ‘Best way Ah can put it, Scott. When Ah touched Magneto’s hand, Ah felt something in his mind that didn’t belong’ Rogue explains. She adds that it was very faint, but that it was there. Rogue adds that it was like that moment when you start hearing a noise that has been going on for a long time, because that same faint trace, that wrong note, is inside her own mind, too.
Emma steps forward and announces that Cerebra concurs. ‘The party that returned from Gul Damar Station should include seven x-gene positives, but in fact, there are eight’ Emma declares. Madison Jeffries asks if Korvus could be the eighth, but Emma points out that Korvus is not a mutant, and that in any case, it is not that simple. Emma reveals that the unidentified blip is not stable, and that it is strongest when the eight of them are together. ‘But even then, I can’t get a physical fix on it. It’s as though it’s hiding from us’ Emma adds. Always ready to speak her mind, the brash Frenzy steps forward and shouts ‘Or maybe you jut made a mistake, Frost. If we had a passenger, we’d know about it’.
‘Would you, Joanna?’ Emma asks calmly. ‘You’ve been in alien space. Dealing with entities from a hundred races of mostly unknown physiology. Cyclops orders Doctor Nemesis to undertake full physical scans on everyone who was on the station. ‘Dad! There’s no way I could miss something like -’ Rachel calls out, but Scott quickly interrupts her, telling her that it is for his peace of mind. ‘Any risk we can avoid, I believe we should’ Cyclops declares.
A short time later, Cyclops accompanies Doctor Nemesis into one of the laboratories, along with the eight who returned from space. Rogue, Magneto and Gambit all go through the scanner, each with a negative result. When it comes time for Frenzy to be scanned, Doctor Nemesis tells her to face the scanner, but Frenzy just tells him to get it over with or she will make him eat his damn scanner. With the results back, Doctor Nemesis tells Cyclops that he is reading nothing. ‘Perhaps this hypothetical mutant has no physical presence at all’ Doctor Nemesis suggests. Next up are Rachel, Havok and Polaris, all whose results come back negative. ‘Ah. Here we are’ Doctor Nemesis calls out when the scanner picks something up on Korvus. ‘Let me take a look at the sword’ Doctor Nemesis asks, motioning to Korvus’s large weapon. ‘You wouldn’t be able to lift it. It is the Phoenix Blade of my ancestor, Rook’Shir’ Korvus replies. ‘Is it, now?’ Doctor Nemesis replies.
Soon, Cyclops and the White Queen are in a meeting room with the three X-Club members. Korvus’s sword is laid out on a table in front of them. Doctor Nemesis announces that Korvus’s sword is the missing piece, that somehow, in passing through the wormhole, the physical structure of the sword has been profoundly altered. ‘Go on’ Cyclops orders. Doc Nemesis reveals that the sword is carrying the same energy signature that Cerebra detects in the minds of the eight who returned from space, but at a much higher concentration. ‘All right. But these are pieces of what, exactly?’ Cyclops asks. Emma remarks that she would like to say pieces of a mutant mind, but that she thinks it is something more complicated than that. ‘A model? A map? A snapshot? It leads to a mutant. It’s a conduit. That’s what we’re sensing’ Emma declares.
Frowning, Dr Rao says what everyone is thinking: ‘This sword once housed a piece of the Phoenix Force’, and asks if it is possible that the mutant presence that Cerebra senses is Jean Grey. Looking at the sword, Emma reports that even scrambled, Cerebra would know Jean’s pattern, and that so would she. ‘But…perhaps the sword is an anchor’ Emma suggests. ‘Perhaps it’s the key to this, in some way I’m not seeing’ she remarks. Doctor Nemesis declares that these words stick in his teeth a little, but that there is an option they haven’t tried yet. ‘And her speciality is exactly what sane people can’t see’ he adds.
‘Excuse me. No. There’s nobody. Nobody. Nowhere. Or at least…not here’ Ruth “Blindfold” Aldine announces a short time later as she stands in front of the sword. Cyclops and the White Queen are with her, as are the X-Club and those who returned from space. ‘Blindfold, I know this isn’t exactly playing to your strengths, but could you be more specific?’ Cyclops asks. ‘I can. Yes. Thank you’ Blindfold replies, before announcing ‘Specifically, it’s on fire’. The young mutant suddenly lurches backwards, ‘Hurting. Afraid. Right though here. As though this was a door Was this a door? A door is what she is looking for’ Blindfold remarks. The White Queen asks Ruth if she is reading a consciousness inside the sword, but Ruth replies ‘No. On the other side. A long way away’.
‘Then - may I?’ Emma asks, taking Ruth’s hands. ‘My mind is very hard to read, Miss Frost. It’s not spelt right’ Blindfold tells the White Queen, who replies ‘I know that, dear. But it’s not your mind I’m aiming for’. Searching beyond Blindfold’s mind, the White Queen witnesses a figure surrounded by flame. ‘Fire, falling into - into some kind of inferno’ Emma tells everyone. Rogue points out that Gul Damar almost fell into its sun, and supposes that Emma is seeing that. Emma announces that she is seeing death - death spat out of the sky. ‘Towards me. Why me? None of this was my idea’ Emma remarks. Cyclops asks his partner if she is getting a face or a voice, but Emma replies that she isn’t, and that she is just getting the emotions.
‘We’re too fast, now. Out of control. Ruin - going to ruin it!’ Emma declares. ‘Where is she?’ Doctor Nemesis asks. ‘In the dark. Burning in the dark’ Emma adds, before telling everyone that whoever this is started to die, but got confused and turned around - and only made it about halfway, and then she stopped. Emma opens her eyes, and Rogue tells Cyclops that she thinks she has the answer. ‘You mean you know who this is?’ Scott asks. ‘Not that. But Ah know how to find out’ Rogue tells him. Rogue continues, telling everyone that if Emma is right, then this mutant mind has somehow been broken into pieces, and the pieces are in all of them - everyone who was on Gul Damar. ‘So when Ah touched Magneto -’ Rogue begins, ‘You absorbed the piece that was in him’ Scott concludes.
‘Ah think so. And that was why mah sense of this other presence got much stronger’ Rogue adds, suggesting she could repeat that touch, everyone in turn, and try to put all the pieces together. Cyclops decides that it has to be worth a shot, but that they have to do it under controlled conditions. He tells Doc Nemesis and Jeffries to build some sort of barricade, for if this thing Rogue is about to reconstitute is dangerous, he wants it contained. ‘Given that we know nothing about its powers and potentialities, that’s going to be difficult’ Doctor Nemesis points out. ‘Cover as many basis as you can’ Cyclops tells him as he begins to leave the room, Emma at his side. ‘For the rest, I’ll make sure our heavy hitters are right on hand. You have an hour’ Scott tells Doctor Nemesis.
While Madison Jeffries and Doctor Nemesis begin constructing the barricade, those who returned from space are gathered in the same room. ‘So, Cyclops is your leader?’ Korvus asks Havok and Polaris. ‘Yes’ Polaris tells him. ‘Then why does he allow this Wolverine to defy him and leave?’ Korvus enquires. ‘Umm…this might take a while’ Lorna remarks, while Rogue approaches Joanna and asks her if she has figured out what she is going to do. ‘A school or a barracks. Where do you think I belong? Seriously?’ Frenzy replies, before announcing that she is going to Westchester. ‘What?’ Rogue asks, wide-eyed. Frenzy smiles, ‘You heard me. If I stay here, I’ll fall back into old habits. Guaranteed. I’m looking to pick up some new ones’ Frenzy reveals.
With seemingly genuine concern, Frenzy tells Rogue that it is tougher for her, though. ‘Your new boyfriend is staying. Your old boyfriend is going back to the school. ‘Whatever happens, your team’s breaking up before it fairly got going. And whatever you do will be a slap in the face for someone’ Joanna declares. ‘Yeah. You got that right’ Rogue mutters.
Later, ‘For the record, I advise against this. Just because something is possible, that doesn’t make it inevitable’ Doctor Nemesis announces. ‘Man, where have you been living?’ Frenzy snaps. Gathered are the eight who returned from space, the X-Club, Cyclops, the White Queen, Betsy “Psylocke” Braddock, Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar and Piotr “Colossus” Rasputin. Doctor Nemesis ignores Frenzy’s comment and reports that they have gone for a broad-spectrum approach. He explains that if the hypothetical mutant attacks them, it is likely to do so in one of three ways. Motioning to the constructs in the room, he reports that they are dampers and that they will place a heavy molecular impedance on all energy exchanges. He adds that Colossus, Magneto and Psylocke will be their safeguard against physical attacks, while Emma and Marvel Girl will shield them from a telepathic assault.
Doctor Nemesis tells those from space that they will approach Rogue and join hands with her, separately, while Emma monitors throughout. Motioning to Northstar, Doctor Nemesis reports that he will throw the switch on the dampers should they need them. Doctor Nemesis explains that Northstar’s super-speed gives him the quickest reaction time of all, and pico-seconds may count. ‘You may begin’ he states. Rogue turns to her space-companions, and Marvel Girl steps forward first, wishing Rogue luck, she touches her hand, and tells her that she is watching, too. ‘If this thing makes a move against you, I’ll punch it off planet’ Rachel boasts. Rogue thanks her, before proceeding to touch the hands of Havok, Polaris and the others.
Doctor Nemesis informs Rogue that the last step is to touch the sword, unless she can already discern who this mind-trace belongs to. ‘All Ah can say is it’s not a stranger’ Rogue replies as she crouches down beside the large sword. ‘It’s a fiend, Ah’m pretty sure. But Ah’m seeing her out of the corner of mah eye’ Rogue reports. Touching the sword, a flame flickers around it, and Rogue reports that she feels as if she is closing a circuit. ‘There’s power here, and Ah’m pretty sure it’s -’ Rogue begins, but she is unable to conclude her sentence, as beams of energy burst from the sword, and a brilliant, glowing door opens. ‘- it’s not a threat to us. It never was’ Rogue concludes.
With his jaw-dropped expression, Cyclops asks Doctor Nemesis what that thing is. ‘A dimensional gateway. Blindfold was right. The sword was a door’ Doctor Nemesis reports. ‘Or rather it acquired a door on its way through the wormhole’ Doc Nemesis adds. ‘Emma, are you getting -?’ Betsy calls out, and Emma replies ‘Fear. Pain. Both very strong’. Rachel adds that it is scrambled, broken up, which is why they cannot tell who this is. ‘Ah’m going in!’ Rogue announces as she approaches the doorway. ‘No. Your part is done, Rogue’ Cyclops calls out, adding that they need to gather more data before anyone goes through that thing.
Glancing back at Cyclops, Rogue asks ‘You mean you didn’t guess yet? Ah said it was a friend, Scott. A friend who died by fire’. As she steps into the luminouscent gateway, Rogue tells everyone that they should have figured it out as soon as Blindfold started talking about doors. ‘Rogue! Damn it’ Cyclops shouts as he tries to grab Rogue, but he is too late. Through the doorway, Rogue is finds herself in an orange-hued area, where a flaming figure convulses before her. ‘Ruin. Ruin. Going to ruin it’ the figure cries out. ‘Hold on tight, Ariel. Cavalry’s coming’ Rogue tells the tortured young woman, whose body, twisted with flaming fire, is sprawled out before her. All Ariel can shout back is ‘Going to ruin my hair!’