On the bridge of the Peak space station, Agent Brand, Storm, Jubilee and Manifold Tyger hold on for dear life, as everything in the room is being sucked out to space via the large hole in the hull. Brand calls for the shields to be activated but Jubilee guesses that they might be one of the many systems that are flatlining. Brand shouts that she needs maintenance down in ops to restore the power but Manifold Tyger says that there is also a hull breach and everyone there was sucked into space. As the group struggle to fight off the Sidri Hunters that have invaded the station, Jubilee says she will head down to ops. Brand asks if she knows anything about fusion-based power systems, to which the young girl replies that she will learn on the way. Making her way to a corridor, Jubilee telepathically contacts the others for a little help.
Down in the medical bay, Psylocke responds and tells her they are a little pre-occupied themselves, as they are also fighting off the Sidri. Jubilee persists and says she needs one of them to upload everything they know about fusion-based power systems. Monet sarcastically tells her that will be easy, because they know nothing about them. Psylocke remarks that the Sidri seem to be empathically weak, meaning that they are susceptible to psychic attacks.
At the Jean Grey School, Ink picks up the phone and Jubilee asks to speak to Beast. Ink tells her that he is holed up in his lab and has asked not to be disturbed unless it’s an emergency. To this, Jubilee replies that she is on a broken space station and needs to talk to Beast so he can tell her how to get the power back on before everyone is sucked into the vacuum of space. In the medical bay, the group’s psychic attacks work and the Sidri start to retreat. Rachel tells Cecilia Reyes to guard Deathbird, as the rest of them will need to use her shuttle to follow the Sidri back to their home.
On the bridge, Storm tells Brand that she is at her limits, as she can only use her powers to compensate the decompression for as long as there is wind to manipulate. Fighting off the Sidri with her own mutant power to burn those she touches, Brand says it’s not like the rest of them are having the time of their lives. When a lightning bolt suddenly fries a Sidri that was about to attack her from behind, Brand reluctantly thanks Storm. Manifold Tyger tells them the shields have been restored and they have sealed all the hull breaches. Storm radios down to Jubilee and thanks her for fixing the power. Jubilee says that she had to divert all the power to shielding systems, which means there is no power to keep them in orbit anymore.
Psylocke, Monet and Rachel are on Cecilia’s shuttle, following the Sidri back to where they came from. After some banter from Monet, Psylocke admits that she has lost their heat signature. Monet suggests turning back but Rachel disagrees because, unless Deathbird wakes up, they won’t be getting any answers back at the Peak. Monet agrees but adds that the station looks pretty messed up and they could help Storm and Jubilee deal with that. Rachel is surprised that Monet would be so considerate, to which she receives a threat of violence if she ever tells anyone. Flying the ship, Psylocke comments that the Sidri are hunters and someone obviously sent them. Monet asks who it could be but the enormous ship that has suddenly appeared next to their gives Psylocke a reasonably good idea.
On the Peak, Storm asks how long they have and Manifold Tyger replies that she has about two hours. His species is made of sterner stuff and he calculates he can survive for about two and a half minutes during reentry. Storm asks Jubilee if Beast had any good ideas but the young girl replies he spouted a bunch of technical gobbledygook which pretty much amounted to “abandon ship.” Brand tells them that isn’t an option, as they only just put it back together after the Black Order tore it apart not long ago. Manifold Tyger suggests giving the power systems a huge jolt of electricity to jump-start them. Jubilee asks where they would get that power from and all eyes turn to Storm.
As the shuttle carrying them enters the hanger deck of the giant spaceship, the other half of the team realizes they are dealing with the Shi’ar. They leave the shuttle and are met by a man being escorted by some guards. He introduces himself as D’Keth, son of D’Kath, and member of the weather council. Rachel is surprised to hear he knows who she is but he says that the Grey line is known throughout the Imperium. Rachel solemnly tells him that killing off her entire family must have made it easier to keep track of her. D’Keth says he meant that he was referring to the heroism she showed in helping to bring an end to the reign of Vulcan. Monet and Psylocke introduce themselves to him and he welcomes them on board the Lilandra.
Monet says it’s not like they had a choice, given the size of their ship and the fact their weapons were aimed at them. D’Keth replies that it was mere caution, as they are on a war footing at the moment. He explains that the renegade Deathbird has escaped her confinement on Chandilar and they are ascertaining her whereabouts. Given that she is Rachel’s aunt, it follows her presence here is no coincidence.
Psylocke telepathically tells Rachel the Shi’ar psy-shields are formidable but she gets the sense they are hiding something. Rachel replies she doesn’t need telepathy to sense that. Psylocke replies that she doesn’t think they should tell them where Deathbird is, but Rachel blurts out to D’Keth the exact opposite. Rachel lies, though, and says that Deathbird was taken captive by the Sidri and they were following the trail before it went cold. D’Keth says they have more sophisticated sensors on their ship and suggests their interests are aligned, to which Rachel agrees.
Elsewhere, Storm, Brand, Jubilee and Manifold Tyger stand in the engine room in front of a huge, cylindrical machine. Tyger explains that the system coverts all forms of raw energy, such as solar flares, cosmic radiation and quantum fluctuations, into useable energy. He is theorizing that the same can be done for the electricity her mutant power generates. Storm tells him that she merely manipulates the weather and the space station doesn’t exactly have much of it. Plus, she is exhausted after using her powers whilst fighting the Sidri. Brand sarcastically asks if her mutation can protect her from frying in a 3,034° heat, because she may want to at least try Tyger’s plan otherwise.
Storm commands the others to leave and Jubilee asks if she is sure about the plan. Storm replies that there are a number of injured personnel on board who cannot evacuate, so she must go through with it. Jubilee kisses her on the cheek and leaves as Storm starts to command the atmosphere around her. After using as much energy as she could, she generates enough lightning to power the machine and then collapses on the floor.
Meanwhile, on the Shi’ar ship, one of the crew informs D’Keth that the Sidri trail has ended. D’Keth orders them to establish station keeping and to prepare a boarding party. Rachel picks up on the fact one of the soldiers called D’Keth “counselor” and queries about the title. He informs her the weather council is just an advisory body that provides counsel to the entire aviary.
One of the Sh’ar soldiers tells D’Keth that the readings they are seeing indicate they are at the Sidri’s origination point and not the end of their trail. Psylocke concludes that if the Sidri originated from here then it must have been where Deathbird fled to after leaving Chandilar. Rachel points out it doesn’t explain how she fled, given that she was supposedly paralyzed. As the team ponders the mysteries, M asks another and wonders what they are looking at. Outside the ship, an enormous Acanti Skywhale looms over them with its mouth open, as if it were about to swallow them whole. The Acanti looks like no other before it, though, as it has numerous, strange growths up its side.
The team enters the Acanti and leaves their ship to discover many structures inside the beast that appear to be made up of other Acanti. As they look around, M telepathically tells Rachel it looks familiar and she agrees; it looks very similar to the place they saw in Deathbird’s mindscape. If Deathbird came from here, then it may be where her injuries were treated, which would explain the memories of medical procedures.
D’Keth says he in unfamiliar with Earth etiquette but the Shi’ar consider it rude to psi-talk. Rachel snaps back at him and replies she isn’t going to listen to a lecture on manners from the species who wiped out her family. D'Keth is a little dumbstruck and, after a few moments, informs them that the facility seems abandoned and that they should all go. Rachel walks off and tells him to leave their shuttle, as she is staying to find out what Deathbird was going there and who sent the Sidri. Psylocke telepathically asks if they should split up and Rachel confirms, saying they will cover more ground but they should maintain the psi-link.
As Rachel makes her way down one of the enormous and ornate corridors, D’Keth catches up with her. Escorted by a couple of soldiers, he tells Rachel that channeling her resentment towards him because of the action of a few of his species is racist. She tells him that’s not the reason. She can’t read his thoughts but, every time she brings up her family, she gets a hit off him. When he asks if that is why she brings it up so much, she replies that she figures a stray thought will leak out or that eventually he will just be straight with her. He asks what she means by straight and she says she meant why the massacre of her family seems to make him uncomfortable. After a few moments, he looks down and tells her it is because it was his idea.
Elsewhere, M tells Psylocke that one of them should have gone with her, as she is in a state. Psylocke says Rachel can take care of herself but they don’t need psychic powers to see she has a lot of unresolved issues where the Shi’ar are concerned. As they continue to walk through the ship, M says Psylocke seems to know herself around. Psylocke says that she saw it in Deathbird’s memories and, as they walk into a strange room, she also saw this in Deathbird’s mind. M said she assumed Deathbird had been receiving medical treatment but, after looking around at the room at the weird creatures in tubes, she realizes that Deathbird was being experimented on.
Back on the space station, Manifold Tyger approaches an unconscious Storm and checks her pulse. As he reaches down to her, he reveals a tattoo on his arm that matches the strange glyph seen in Deathbird’s memories.
On the Acanti, Rachel turns to D’Keth and telekinetically slams him across the room and into a wall. One of the other women asks if she is alright as they felt a psi-spike, but she simply dismisses them. Rachel tells D’Keth that she was just getting to know her family when he had them slaughtered. D’Keth points out he didn’t give the order but Rachel retorts and says he gave the advice, though. He says the universe was in danger and it was his responsibility to devise a way to protect it.
Rachel says that the Phoenix did return to Earth and that it was split into five pieces. It entered five people, none of whom carried the genome he had been worried about. She congratulates him for slaughtering innocent people, including women and children, for absolutely nothing. He says it is his burden to carry, and Rachel becomes noticeably angry and comments that it really seems to keep him up at night.
Before she can do anything else, though, Psylocke informs her that the station was doing genetic experiments and modifications to combine species. As a swarm of strange creatures descend from the ceiling towards Rachel and D’Keth, Psylocke continues and says she thinks the experiments are still here.
