Ship (comics) - Wikipedia
Ship next appeared as Apocalypse's
cloaked mobile headquarters as he attacked New York with his
Four Horsemen. Defeated by
X-Factor, Apocalypse retreated, and was forced to leave Ship behind. During the battle, Ship's cloaking and navigation systems were damaged, X-Factor managed to get Ship to crash safely in the river. Ironically, the only building damaged in the crash was X-Factor's own headquarters. Conveniently, Ship also projected a
force field that prevented non-
mutants from entering, given these defences, X-Factor decided to adopt the Ship as their new home base.
When X-Factor tried to move in, they discovered that Ship was
booby-trapped, Ship's A.I. then revealed itself and assisted them, and Rusty Collins, in disabling Ship's security. Ship became a butler of sorts to the team. Ship "had complete control over every part of its structure and was could fashion rooms, weapons and vehicles as needed from various storehouses and parts it had. It was able to design and run training programs for X-Factor, as well as make living quarters and workshop areas for them." However, it could not shut off the field that repelled non-mutants from its interior.
An attempt by the mutant called
Infectia to steal the craft led to X-Factor ultimately moving Ship to a more mobile position over the Atlantic Ocean.
Ship played host to the
New Mutants and the
X-Terminators, as
Professor X's mansion had been destroyed. Unfortunately this did not prevent Ship's defensive systems from attacking them when they brought aboard the entity known as
Gosamyr. Ultimately, Ship was persuaded to generate a spacecraft that would remove Gosamyr from Earth.
In time, Ship took to space, responding to the call of the Celestials, with X-Factor unwittingly along for the ride, leaving them temporarily stranded on a planet undergoing its own mutant crisis. The Celestials collected the data Ship had gathered during its stay on Earth and Ship came to realize that Apocalypse had not created it. The Celestials showed it its true origin, when given the choice, Ship's A.I. decided to return to Earth with X-Factor. Upon Ship's return from space, it landed on-end as a building in Lower Manhattan.
Apocalypse later sent his
Dark Riders to kidnap the infant
Nathan Christopher Summers from within Ship. The Dark Riders infected Ship with a
techno-organic virus that damaged its systems. Explosion imminent, Ship launched itself into space to protect the city.
Ship's A.I. managed to salvage part of itself as a construct which was able to protect and ferry X-Factor to the
Blue Area of the Moon, where they joined the massive confrontation against Apocalypse. X-Factor found that baby Nathan had also been infected with the T-O virus, and that it threatened his life. A mysterious stranger named
Askani appeared and offered to take Nathan to the future, where technology would be capable of saving him. As Ship's remaining form lost cohesiveness, it spent the remainder of its energy protecting Nathan Christopher on the trip. Although Ship's energy was dissipated in this way, when Nathan arrived in the future, there was no trace or mention of Ship
