The Gathering Storm

• Writer - Chris Claremont
• Penciler - Sean Chen
• Inker - Sandu Florea
• Colorist - Avalon Studios
• Colorist - Ian Hannin
• Lettering - Dave Sharpe
• Ass't Editor - Andy Schmidt
• Ass't Editor - Nicole Wiley
• Editor - Tom Brevoort
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  Destiny's Diary (Libris Veritatus) extract 117/G3: "The stars shall be her home / And Earth her destination / Mothered by War / Her father's her salvation. / The price of Xavier's dream / Shall be this ancient Aerie's fall." (X-Treme X-Men 10)

  Aliyah jogs around the grounds at Xavier's; she's the subject of the prophecy, but what she cares about is the father she never met.

  The Shi'ar now dominate the galaxy, and a few others. When Lilandra fell in love with Xavier (UXM 105), Shi'ar history and the X-Men became entwined; they saved the universe, and later the X-Men saved the empire from the Skrulls (UXM 370), back when they were friends.

  Lilandra's older sister Deathbird was content to let her rule while she had adventures, including a fling with Lucas (UXM 358); she never thought she'd fall in love. She told her daughter Aliyah about him and wanted to reunite with him, but her sister went mad, and she had to save the empire.

  Aliyah hears an alarm; the hologram of Xavier's disappears. Her ship's computer tells her a Kree command dreadnought is approaching; they watch, hidden, and then land. A Kree ship passes threateningly overhead and lands as well. Aliyah isn't sure she's made the right decision and asks the computer if she can make it; the computer says it's her life.

  Kree emerge; they once dominated nearby space, till the Shi'ar conquered them; now that the empire is in chaos, they're reasserting themselves.

  A portal opens, and Slipstream emerges, followed by Slavers (of the race of Tullamore Voge, UXM 383) and their Hounds: Multiple Man and Siryn; they like to use X-Men as Hounds. The Kree turn over a fortune to the Slavers, in exchange for something in a large, shielded cocoon.

  Nocturne is also a Hound; she sneaks up and attacks Aliyah, who uses a rocket pack to fly away. Siryn screams at her, but nobody nails a Shi'ar in the air, even if she was born without wings. She shoots Siryn, but then Nocturne attacks again.

  They're distracted by explosions in space: the dreadnought is under attack. The Slavers and the Kree all run for it, but Aliyah is caught in the Kree's tractor beam, along with the cocoon. One of the Kree turns out to be a shape-shifting Warskrull, who shoots down the ship; Aliyah and the cocoon drop; she attacks the Warskrull, remembering that her mother fell in battle against them. She's easily defeated and can only spit in his face, but then he's blasted in the back by a woman emerging from the cocoon.

  Pods drop out of the sky; Brood emerge from them. Aliyah grabs the woman and starts to fly off; the woman makes her pause to rescue Nocturne. The Brood are the most feared species in the galaxy, but they remember Aliyah's ship, the Starjammer, which defeated and almost annihilated them (UXM 166). The Brood hesitate, and Aliyah takes the chance to order her ship to go to warp. The ship warns her they're on a planet in an atmosphere, but Aliyah knows the Brood will destroy the planet anyway. They warp; quantum disruptions devastate the planet and nearby space.

  Danvers is the Starjammer's computer; she warns the sun is going nova, and they're too close to outrun the shockwave. They're rescued by the woman from the pod, who absorbs the exploding star as someone nearly dead from thirst; she is Phoenix, and the moment is sensed by those closest to her:

  Scott is with Emma at the Institute. Rachel is with Kitty, who's running for office in Chicago. Xavier is on Genosha, teaching class. Sinister is surprised the "prodigal daughter" has reemerged. Cable is in the Hindu Kush; "they" swore to him the threat was over, and he wonders if he betrayed everything he held of value, for nothing. Ororo, paralyzed, is in the Kimanu Highlands, East Africa, with Logan, who cares for her and says Jean can fend for herself.

  Aliyah and Danvers can hardly believe it; Jean is said to be "the end of all that is"; Jean hopes not, today or ever. She asks for a bath and some clothes.

  An alarm goes off; Jean apologizes: she knows Nocturne is in pain and deep down still fighting to be free, so she brought the one person who can help her, Kurt. He's shocked.