Stargazing - REVIEW THIS STORY

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

Chapter 6

Remy lounged lazily on one of the benches of Chandilar's docking port. The new uniform fitted like a glove -- the dark blue body suit and black jacket, he thought, made him look like a male model, and the fact he was currently pouting didn't help. Everyone who passed him treated him like a high-ranking official -- which, he supposed, he now was -- as they bowed or saluted him, then got the hell out of his way as fast as they could.

His eyes wondering lazily around the hanger, they came to rest on the ship which would take him on the scouting mission he had dreamed up. The ship looked fast enough, reminding him of a X-Wing from Star Wars, but he couldn't see any weaponry -- a troublesome thought, as he knew that Deathbird wouldn't hesitate to fire on them. He just hoped the pilot was as good as Lil had promised, maybe a Luke Skywalker for this X-Wing.

The enchanting sound of Shi'ar laughter made Remy turn. Lilandra was walking towards him, in full battle regalia, laughing at a joke the woman beside her told. A itch of recognition bugged Remy about the woman who was assumably going to be his pilot. Mulling her apperence over in his mind, he tried to place her. Long, blond, wavy hair, alert blue eyes, and a slim, curvy figure. Frowning, he tried awfully to place her... she had something to do with Earth, with the X-Men... he closed his eyes in real pain as the unwanted flow of memories rushed over him. Memories of a beautiful green eyed brunette, locks of her signiture skunk-streak falling in front of her face as she grinned at him, a flash of green and yellow as she streaked past him in battle, the beautiful dress she'd worn on their first, interrupted date... Bowing his head and clenching his teeth against the pain, Remy did what he had since Rogue had left him in Antarctica, pushed every thought of her from his mind. With a deep breath, he looked up at the two ladies.

He bowed slightly, and smiled at them. "Bonjour, Magestrix, Carol."

The blond loooked him up and down, smiling appreciativly at his attractive figure and face. She started slightly at his red-on-black eyes, then the smile returned to her face.

"Mutant?"

Remy grinned back at her. "Oui. Always nice t' meet a fellow half-terran mongrel." Biting back his laughter at the look on her face, he offered a hand.

"Remy LeBeau. Nice t' finally meet, y', Carol."

Taking his hand, she shook it firmly, and gazed at him in surprise. "Is my reputation that good on Earth?"

Biting his lip, he stared at her, wondering what to tell her. He finally decided on the truth -- after all, lies only get you into trouble -- that lesson had been the hardest one he'd ever learnt. "Act'ly, from de source I heard from, you were'n' such a nice person. 'Course, dat source was just a teensy," he indicated about a centimetre btween his finger and thunb, "biased."

"Charming!" Carol's pink-stained lips pulled unto a smile, obviously taking this discussion none too seriously. "And who's going round spoiling my rep?"

Remy was pouting again, and Lilandra had turned away from them, not wanting to see what would happen -- she knew exactly who Remy meant, and about both of their short fuses when talking about the lady in question. Taking a deep breath, Remy looked up at Carol. "De same person who's a hypocritical little..." *Stop bein' childish, bo'. Jus' say it.* Before his anger could flare up again, his mouth blurted out the word at the same time as his mind shut out every thought of her. "Rogue."

Carol stared at him. Lilandra turned around to look at them both. The next few moments were taken up by a very uncomfortable silence as the two terrans stared at each other. Then Carol grabbed his hand and dragged him off toward the ship.

"Come on... Remy, wasn't it? Let's go look at the ship." Around the back of the ship, where they couldn't be seen, hidden by the wings and other componants that Remy wasn't quite sure what they were. Carol folded her arms, and glared at him. "How do you know her?" As Remy gazed at her, he felt that emotional whirlwind pick up pace. How did he feel about Rogue? Angry and bitter, but, still...

"I love her." He answered with a shrug. Noticing Carol looking at him as though he was crazy, he rubbed his eyes and guestured helplessly with his hands. "We... I..." He stopped a moment, sorting out what he was going to say. "I wouldn't tell her de truth about working fo' a bad guy in m' past. So when de truth came out... she lef' me." He looked up at her, a little anxiously, hoping that Rogue's temper had nothing to do with Carol, as Rogue had a tendancy to throw things like beds around when she got mad. He winced as he saw the tiny flame of anger flickering deep in her blue eyes.

"Did you perhaps mention Mystique to her? Or me?" She asked, barely controling her anger.

"Like I had de time. She just flew off an' left me alone in Antarctica."

"If I ever see her again, I'm going to slap her." She muttered, then took several deep, soothing breaths. That seemed to calm her down alot. She looked at him with her crystal blue eyes. "She did all that to you and you _still_ love her?"

Remy smiled slightly and shrugged, breaking the tension between the two. "I can't help it. I guess it just true love," he made a quasi-pathetic hand-on-heart guesture, the sighed. "On my part, an'way."

Without a word, just the barest of nods, she grabbed hold of the ladder up to the cockpit and hauled herself into the pilot's seat. Gazing appreciativly at the many controls and readouts on the dash, she looked over the side at a Shi'ar technician, who was rummaging thru a tool box.

"Is this ready to fly?" She asked him. He looked up at her, then down to a data-recording device on the floor. As he studied the readings, Remy pulled himself up on to the ladder, but didn't climb into the cockpit.

The technician looked over at one of his companions, who nodded. He then looked back up at Carol. "Yeah, you're ready to go as soon as the Majestrix gives the word." Climbing up the opposite side to Remy, he handed a helmet to her. She grinned at him, as she saw the word 'Ace' painted on it, with a fan of playing cards. Looking expectantly at Remy, he waited until he sat down, his back to Carol, then handed him his own helmet, with an identical set of playing cards set on a black feather.

"The Empress had this made especially for you. Gambit." he added, as he read the name off the helmet. He then turned, and pointed at the overwhelming plethora of controls in front of Gambit. He ponted several of them out. "Okay, these'll record most of the events, but with these," he indicated another group of gadgets, "you'll have to zoom in on the weaponry. Oh, and try and get a scan of the basic skeleton of at least one of the ships, that way we'll kow where to hit to hurt most." Noticing the lost look on Remy's face, he grinned at him. "Don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of it, commander."

Looking disbelievingly at him, Remy grinned wryly. "An' are dere any buttons I should _NOT_ touch? Y' know, de 'self destruct' or 'open cockpit' buttons?"

The technicion nodded. "Yeah, most of them'll do something like that. Just make sure you read the message screens before you click 'okay'." With that, he closed the cockpit and waved 'bye' to them before going down the ladder.

Remy looked over his shoulder at Carol. "He was jus' jokin' dere, right?"

Carol raised an eyebrow at him, smiling. "Was he? Like he said, just make sure you read the message screens..." Remy turned back, scowling, as the communications screen lit up, with Lilandra on it.

She smiled warmly. "The countdown will begin in a few moments. Kythri grant you both luck..."

Remy buckled the seatbelt, and heard a 'click' which announced Carol was doing the same. She looked back at him.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ev' be."

With that, the countdown ended, and Carol Danvers took the two of them hurtling into the darkness of space.