At the end of issue 105, Phoenix powered up the
interdimensional stargate to allow the X-Men to follow Erik the Red. We now see
that they were deposited on a long-uninhabited world where another similarly
confused group of beings called the Imperial Guard stand between them and
rescuing Lilandra from Erik the Red. Cyclops attempts to communicate
peacefully, saying that they’re just there to get Lilandra and Erik. The
Imperial Guard’s leader, Gladiator, clarifies that Lilandra is a traitor to
their empire and that she will remain their prisoner. Cyclops responds by
blasting one of the Guard, igniting an all-out brawl between the two groups!
Storm and Banshee attempt to scatter the aliens, while Banshee notes that
they’ve barely had time to catch their breath, with everything moving so fast
ever since their encounter with Magneto. Wolverine notes that Jean seems worse
for wear, and Cyclops points out that she expended a lot of energy getting them
there, so she’s basically out on her feet.
One of the Guard, called Hobgoblin, uses his
shapeshifting abilities to turn into a huge, fearsome creature, easily swatting
Colossus away! Nightcrawler then has the clever idea to use his image inducer
to make himself look like an even bigger version of that same creature, hoping
that will startle Hobgoblin. Nightcrawler’s ploy has the desired effect, as
Hobgoblin reverts to his normal form, allowing Nightcrawler to take him out.
Meanwhile, Wolverine is tearing through the Imperial Guard before being on the
receiving end of an intense fire blast from one of them called Starbolt,
stunning him and completely burning up his costume. Wolverine fights through
the pain and takes his frustrations out on another Imperial Guard member
similar to himself, called Fang, later snagging Fang’s costume for himself.
Over on the dais, Lilandra’s evil brother, the emperor
DKen, is about to sacrifice her to a terrifying creature called the
Soul-Drinker! Nightcrawler teleports over to her and frees Lilandra from her
chains, but finds that she’s petrified by fear, rooted in place by the
Soul-Drinker. Surrounded on both sides by enemies, Nightcrawler tries something
he’s never done before and teleports himself and Lilandra at the same time, as
the Soul-Drinker ends up impaling one of their foes instead. When Nightcrawler
and Lilandra reappear, both are drained and weak, as the strain of teleporting
with another person has left both of them unable to even stand. Cyclops then
demands that Lilandra fill them in on exactly what’s been going on.
Lilandra tells of how the Emperor, her brother D’Ken,
was made aware of a source of ultimate power, wanting it for himself. When
Lilandra opposed him, she was forced to flee, eventually forming an
unintentional psychic rapport with Professor Xavier, causing her to seek him
out for assistance. D’Ken was made aware of this and contacted Erik the Red, a
Shi’ar agent already on earth and tasked him with either recapturing Lilandra
or killing Xavier before she could reach him. He then orchestrated most of the
events of the series so far, such as the battle at Kennedy airport, and the
X-Men’s brawls with Juggernaut and Magneto, all as ploys to silence Xavier.
Lilandra then reveals that D’Ken is planning to use the M’Kraan Crystal as a
gateway to the power he seeks, as soon as certain stars come into alignment. As
the battle continues, the X-Men start to get overwhelmed by force of numbers,
while Lilandra pleads with Gladiator to help her save the empire from her mad
brother.
It's then that the X-Men are saved by the arrival of
another group calling themselves the Starjammers, a group of spacefaring
pirates! With the Starjammers’ help, the X-Men are able to fight back and
defeat the remaining Imperial Guard. The Starjammers and X-Men make each
other’s acquaintance and their leader, Corsair, reveals to Cyclops that they
have the similar goal of stopping D’Ken. Jean finds it odd that Corsair is
clearly American and scans his mind, shocked at what she finds out about him!
Before we can learn what it is, however, D’Ken reveals that they’re too late,
the stars are in alignment, as their energy pours into the M’Kraan Crystal. The
energy then explodes out of the Crystal and everything in existence, just for a
second, goes…BLINK! Over at Starcore, Peter Corbeau confers with Reed Richards
about what just happened, revealing that for a fraction of a second, everything
ceased to exist! Corbeau then reveals that if these blinks continue, the
universe as they know it, could die! To be continued!