One Last Hope
By Paradox761
Summary: When a demonic plot in the past changes the future, there's only one Federation timeship that remains unaffected. Alone against an army of starship-sized demons, the ship uses its time machine to retrieve a hero from the past to save the future. The galaxy's one last hope, is Xander Harris. But first, he's going to need some…upgrades.
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UFP Timeship USS Chronos, Paradox-class scout ship
Sector 001
Year: 2886
Captain Sepp Jenga sat in the command chair on the bridge, anxiously looking ahead and waiting. Around him his crew was a flurry of activity. They were only going to have one chance at this, and it had to work. The fate of every sentient being for five sectors was at stake and they were the only ship that could do it. After a while, things on the bridge seemed to quiet down, but there was still a tension in the air as each man and woman made their station ready for what was about to happen. Finally, Commander Walker approached and sat in the First Officer's position next to the captain's chair. In his hand he held a wooden staff, nearly black in color and intricately carved with different designs all along its six foot length, with a glowing purple stone at the top.
"We're ready, Sir," the First Officer reported.
Jenga nodded. "Helm, set a course out of the asteroid belt…for Earth. Put us in geosynchronous orbit above the proper coordinates."
"Aye, Sir," the helmsman answered. His hands flew over the helm controls and the ship moved through the asteroid field and toward Earth.
"Continuous sensor sweeps," Jenga said. "If a cosmozoan comes within one hundred thousand kilometers I want to know about it."
"Aye, Sir," the officer at the Ops station replied.
After a few tense minutes the Earth grew steadily larger on the viewscreen until they were in position. "Bring temporal sensors online and start scanning the coordinates, Mr. TrYsee," Jenga said to the officer at the temporal operations station. "Let me know as soon as you're locked in."
"Aye, Sir," TrYsee answered. The tall red-skinned officer's four arms flew across the large console in front of him, almost as if they each had a mind of their own. Operating sensors in four dimensions was a complicated process and required a specialized brain and set of skills, few species were capable of it.
Walker gripped his staff tighter. "If what we've seen before is any indication, the temporal sensors are going to attract those creatures. We should go to yellow alert." Jenga nodded. Walker stood. "Yellow alert," Walker said as he walked over to the tactical station. Standing next to the tactical officer he watched the displays with nervous anticipation.
"Mr. TrYsee, progress?" Jenga asked.
"I've narrowed down the dimensional frequency, scanning for bio-signs now."
"Contact!" the tactical officer called out. "Captain, we have a sensor contact. Seventy thousand kilometers and closing."
The captain stood and turned to face the tactical console behind him. He could see the purple stone on Walker's staff glowing brighter. "What is it?" Jenga asked.
Commander Walker accessed the sensors from the tactical station and responded. "It's about twice the size of the Chronos. We're not reading a warp signature or any kind of conventional power signature for a starship. It has to be a cosmozoan."
"ETA?"
"At its current speed, six minutes," the tactical officer answered.
"TrYsee?" the Captain asked anxiously.
"Almost got it, Sir. Just need a little more time."
"We don't have much more time Mr. TrYsee, we still need time for the extraction." TrYsee chose to work faster rather than respond. His hands moved like a blur across the console. "Bridge to Portal Room, away team stand by. We're almost ready, you need to be in and out in three minutes, our window is shrinking."
"Understood Captain, you can count on us."
"Got him!" TrYsee called out. "Activating the portal now."
"Portal Room to Bridge, the away team is away," the portal technician on duty replied through the channel.
Jenga breathed a sigh of relief. The first part of this crazy plan was done, now they just had to stay in one piece long enough for the away team to come back with their target, then warp away from the cosmozoan they had attracted or any others that might show up, then if everything went to plan, they'd have to do it all again sometime in the next month before their power reserves ran out, evading enemies during that time as well. Piece of cake. He looked back at Walker who had a similar look of partial relief on his face. "I hope this works," he said.
"It will," he said. This was Walker's plan after all. No one else on the ship, and very few others in all of Starfleet knew what they were up against, or had the wherewithal or the fortitude to fight against it. They needed to use the time portal to go back and try to stop what happened, but first they needed to recruit someone special for the job. A man whose history Walker had studied all of his life, a man that he greatly admired. If anyone could save the fate of humanity, along with the fates of hundreds of other worlds, it was him. Walker believed in him. "It has to work."
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Kalahari Desert
Southern tip of Botswana
Year: 2004
A small campfire burned, warming a lone figure against the cold desert night. Xander Harris sat on a rock by the fire, eating an MRE out of a bag. The glamourous life of a watcher, he thought to himself. After the activation spell and the destruction of Sunnydale, there was so much to do. Giles quickly established a new Watchers Council, and he along with the others had set about the work of looking for slayers. To help them, to let them know what they are, and possibly to recruit them. Africa seemed ideal at the time Xander had chosen the assignment, it was far away from everything and no one else wanted to go. At the time, Xander just wanted to disappear. After nearly two years on the Dark Continent Xander had learned a lot. For one thing, his idea of what constituted civilization had greatly changed. Any place that had a roof and clean water was a five star hotel as far as he was concerned. But more than that, his concept of human suffering had changed as well. Forced labor, enslavement, military coups, children killing children, poverty, starvation, violence that made growing up in Sunnydale look like a walk in the park. Any slayer that grew up in this part of the world would see a life fighting demons as a luxury vacation. And from what Xander had heard from Giles, the slayers that he recruited had the lowest dropout rate. Two years ago, Africa was a place to run away to. Now, all he cared about was saving as many girls as he could. He gave them the pitch, but he didn't care about recruiting so much. Over half of them stayed to help the people and places that they cared about in their home country, and Xander was fine with that.
Xander was getting ready to settle in for another night under the stars before another long day of travel ahead of him, when a strange wind started to pick up around him. It seemed to be swirling about twenty feet from his campsite, like a dust devil was forming. But there was something else in the air as well, electricity crackled between the forming dust clouds until suddenly it formed a giant ball of blue energy, around ten feet in diameter. Xander stood, his hand instinctively reached around to the back of his pants and rested on the butt of his pistol. He didn't think that what he was looking at was any kind of natural phenomenon, and he didn't think that it was a coincidence that it appeared near his campsite. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but what he wasn't expecting was five men dressed in some kind of uniforms, with helmets and body armor and brandishing weapons. Xander took a step back, but otherwise did nothing. The men stopped and looked around, like they weren't sure where they were. Finally they spotted Xander and started making their way toward him. Their posture wasn't aggressive and they held their weapons down. Xander kept his hand on his gun but otherwise did nothing.
"Xander Harris?" the one in the lead spoke.
Xander's eyebrows went up. They knew his name. Probably not good. "Is this about those parking tickets?" he asked, his voice deceptively casual as his grip tightened on the pistol's handle. "Because I was going to pay them, really. Time just sort of got away from me, and then I moved halfway around the world. So, you see…"
"We need you to come with us," he said. "It's a matter of great importance, the fate of the galaxy is at stake, we don't have time to explain we must leave now!"
"I see. Well, that's a mighty flattering offer gents, really it is, but my dance card is pretty full at the moment. Maybe try back next month, I should have some free time then…"
"I'm sorry Mr. Harris, you don't have a choice. One way or another, you're coming with us."
"I see," Xander said. "Well, when you put it that way…"
Xander drew his pistol and fired three quick shots. He could tell that the armor they were wearing was designed mostly to protect their vitals, chest and head, and their legs were mostly free to give them greater mobility, so he aimed for their knees. He was hoping to disable them long enough to get away. He also had the element of surprise, as they clearly weren't expecting him to have a weapon, at least not one that could hurt them. Two of them went down immediately, the third shot struck the leader in the thigh. His leg buckled and he winced in pain but he didn't go down. Xander turned and ran, hoping the darkness would give him enough cover until he could get to higher ground. As he ran he heard from the group a few cries of pain, and the leader loudly barking orders. Something about 'no time' and 'set to stun'. After that, he heard a noise and then he felt something hit him in the back, right between his shoulder blades. It felt like someone hit him with a baseball bat made out of electricity. He went down hard, planting his face in the sand. Just before consciousness left him, he muttered simply, "You dick…" And then he passed out.
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As consciousness slowly returned to him, the first thing that Xander was aware of were voices. And they were talking about him.
"This caveman is supposed to save the galaxy? Is this some kind of a joke? What the hell is Walker thinking, wasting what power we have left to retrieve this?"
"That's *Commander* Walker, to you Lieutenant. And if it weren't for him, we all would have been temporally erased when that incursion wave hit, so you think you would be a little more grateful and give him the benefit of the doubt. If he says that this man can help us, then we should trust him. After all, it's not as though we have a lot of other options."
"Doesn't any of this bother you, Doctor? I mean, demons, magic, hell dimensions. You're a man of medicine, a scientist. Are you so ready to put your faith in a bunch of…hocus pocus?"
"You're right, I am a scientist. I believe it what I can see, and what can be proven. And from what I've seen, Commander Walker has more than proven that what he says is the truth. I'm also old enough to know that science will never have all of the answers, no matter how advanced we become. What we understand is such a small part of the universe, and to be a true scientist means being humble. As soon as you start thinking you have all the answers, you start closing yourself off to the great unknown possibilities. I would think that a little humility would help in your vocation as well."
The other man didn't respond, he just grumbled under his breath. Xander couldn't see his face but he imagined that he wore a look of contempt.
"He's awake," the Doctor said. Xander opened his eye, squinting against the light in the room. He eventually saw two figures leaning over him, standing out against the light above. "How are we feeling, Mr. Harris," the Doctor asked. He was an older looking man, with white hair and a green tinge to his skin. Xander thought maybe the light was playing tricks on his eye.
"You're the doctor, I'm assuming, so why don't you tell me," Xander replied. He tried to sit up and realized that he was being restrained.
"Those restraints are for your own protection, Mr. Harris. You're not a prisoner here, I assure you. As for how you're feeling, you had a phaser burn on your back which has been treated. It may itch a little for a few days, but you shouldn't experience any other ill effects. The phaser was set to stun, which overloads your nervous system and causes unconsciousness but no permanent damage. Other than that, you're in perfect health for a man of your age, and from your era. Any other questions for me?"
"Just one. What the hell are you talking about?!" Xander shouted and pulled against his restraints again.
"Settle down, Eye-patch," the other man said. Xander turned his head and focused on him for the first time. He was younger than the other man, but older than Xander. He appeared to be wearing the same uniform as the doctor but with gold trim instead of blue. He has close cropped hair and a steely look in his eye, like he wanted nothing more than to break Xander in half.
"Let me guess, you're the motherfucker that shot me in the back."
"You shot me and two of my men!"
"You were trying to abduct me! No scratch that, you *did* abduct me! What did you expect me to do, bake you a casserole!?"
"You little…"
"Lieutenant! You're upsetting my patient. Why don't you notify the Captain and Commander Walker that our guest is awake." The roughneck just glared at the Doctor and then turned and walked away. The Doctor looked back to Xander. "Don't mind Lieutenant Roth, he's just a little grouchy today. I think that the wound you inflected to his leg was nothing compared to the wound you dealt to his pride. He'll get over it. I'm Dr. Grot, pleasure to meet you."
"I'd shake your hand Doc, but I can't move," Xander said.
Grot offered an apologetic smile. "I know it may seem hard to believe right now, but we really don't mean you any harm. We are in quite a…unique situation, and well, desperate times call for desperate measures I'm afraid. Captain Jenga and Commander Walker will fill you in on the specifics. I hope that you can help us. There's…a lot at stake."
Xander wasn't sure how to respond. He still didn't understand much about what was going on around him, but he could tell that these people were genuinely worried about something. His instincts told him that these weren't demons, that whatever they wanted from him wasn't evil. He decided that he needed to let things play out and get more information before he did anything rash. Even if he did manage to escape from this bed or this room, he had no idea where he was. After a few minutes he heard a hissing noise and footsteps, more people had entered the room. The Doctor looked up.
"Captain, Commander," he greeted. "I would like to introduce you both you Alexander Harris. Mr. Harris, this is Captain Jenga and Commander Walker."
Xander manager to tilt his head up enough to see the new arrivals. A man with dark hair and dull gray skin, with strange ridges on his face and neck. The other man had a vague feline appearance with short powder blue fur. He carried a tall staff with a glowing purple stone at the top. They both wore the same uniform as the others, only trimmed with red.
"I think we can release the restraint field now, Doctor," the blue one said.
"I wouldn't recommend that, Captain," Roth said. "We don't know…"
"Lieutenant!" the blue one, Commander Walker, interrupted, clearly annoyed. "You ignored my recommendation on how to proceed with the extraction, causing yourself and two of your men to be injured. Your threat assessment in this matter is to say the least, flawed. Your recommendation is neither requested nor needed. You are dismissed."
Roth looked angry. His gaze moved from Walker to Jenga as he started to speak again. "Captain, I…"
Walker took a step toward him, standing between him and the Captain. "Do you have a hearing problem, Lieutenant?! The next time you ignore a direct order and try to go over my head you're going on report, is that understood?!"
Roth looked like he was biting the inside of his mouth to keep from lashing out. "Yes, Sir," he finally said after a moment, unable to keep the contempt from his voice.
"Dismissed!" Walker repeated. Roth turned on his heel and walked briskly out of the room.
Walker composed himself and turned back toward Xander. "Doctor, if you would please."
"Computer, remove restraint field on biobed one, authorization Grot-Omega-7-7," Grot said.
A moment later Xander could feel the pressure on his limbs release. He slowly sat up and took in his surroundings for the first time from a vertical position. The other three people in the room seemed to be staring at him, like they were waiting for him to bolt for the door or take a swing at one of them. Xander just stared back for a few seconds before he finally spoke. "Hi."
"I'm sorry that you had to see that," Walker said. "This is a good crew, they're just under a lot of stress right now."
"I'm sure they are," Xander said very calmly. "And I don't want to seem ungrateful, it seems like you've all gone to a lot of trouble to bring me here. But if it's not too much trouble, could someone please tell me where here is?"
"You're aboard a starship, the USS Chronos," Walker answered. "But more important than where you are is when. You see, the portal that we brought you through was a time portal, and this is the year 2886. The Chronos is also a time ship, and our mission is to patrol and protect the timeline from those that would corrupt it, or change it for their own ends. We're part of an organization called Starfleet, which is a part of the United Federation of Planets."
"So, I've been abducted by aliens…from the future, is that what you're telling me?" Xander asked. "Oh boy, just when you think you've seen it all."
"Actually, I'm mostly human, and the Captain here is part human as well. The Federation has existed for over 700 years, and in that time the species from the member planets have interbred to the point where almost none of us can trace our roots back to a single planet. Our ideas of race and species have evolved and we no longer separate ourselves by those distinctions."
"Fascinating, really, and as fun as this little history lesson of the future is, what does it have to do with me?"
Captain Jenga spoke up. "Forty-one days ago, someone from our time period travelled back in time to your time period and changed the past. When that happens, the alterations to the time line travel in a wave that we call a temporal incursion wave. Normally, starships like ours have temporal shielding, that can protect us from being erased or changed by such a wave, but this wave was different. All of the starships, starbases, and the surface populations of every planet that we've found so far has been erased. Everything is gone, except for us. Every planet that we've encountered in the last month and a half is overrun with creatures the likes of which we've never seen before."
"Demons," Walker said. "After the wave hit and we couldn't contact anyone, we traveled back to Earth. Our sensors picked up no signs of technology, and very strange life signs. We sent an away team to the surface, and they were killed almost immediately. The visual feed that we received back from the surface was…horrifying, to say the least. Whoever or whatever traveled back in time, they caused some sort of…demon apocalypse, opening large portals to various hell dimensions. All of humanity was wiped out, along with life on every other planet that we've been able to detect so far. We actually have no idea how far it's spread, since there is no longer a Starfleet or a Federation any more for us to contact, no sensor network, no communications network, nothing. Just us and the demons."
Xander could barely wrap his head around what he was hearing. It was his worst nightmare. Finally, an apocalypse that he and his friends couldn't stop. And these were the consequences, all of humanity wiped out, demons overrunning not only the entire Earth, but space as well. How could this have happened? How could they have failed so spectacularly? "I think I'm going to be sick." Walker and Jenga just nodded. They understood the feeling perfectly. "How did the demons spread from Earth if they don't have any technology?"
"We're not sure, but we've encountered some cosmozoan lifeforms that we believe could be how they spread," Walker said.
"Cosmo-what-now?"
"Space-faring lifeforms, the size of starships. Starfleet has encountered several species of cosmozoans before, but nothing like this. Our first encounter with them nearly drained our power reserves. They have giant tentacles that they can use to draw in energy, to feed. They attached to our shields and were somehow able to pull power from all of our systems. We've been able to avoid them by hiding in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but any time we try to use any of our temporal systems they appear. They can somehow sense the energy, and they're attracted to it. That's why the extraction team that grabbed you was in such a hurry, one of them was coming for us."
Xander just shook his head. "Giant flying space demons, sure why not," he muttered to himself. "So, why wasn't your ship erased along with everything else? I mean, if all the other ships temporal shields failed, why didn't yours?"
"Our temporal shields aren't what protected us, this is," Walker said, indicating his staff. "You see, whoever or whatever did this didn't use technology to travel through time, they used magic. Our shields couldn't protect against the effect. But this stone is a powerful talisman, it's been passed down through my family from generation to generation for centuries. You see, on my human side, I'm also part demon."
"What?" Xander asked, surprised.
"Knowledge of demons and magic hasn't survived well over the centuries between your time and ours, but there are some people who remember. You see, after first contact when Earth discovered that we weren't alone in the universe, demons found themselves unable to adapt to the new world. Many of them died off, some of the more peaceful ones interbred with humans and continued their existence that way. For some, first contact was a wonderful thing. It meant that they didn't have to stay hidden anymore, they could pass for aliens. My ancestors were from a tribe called Z'ntali, more commonly known as time demons. They had a specific sensitivity and aptitude for temporal magic. This stone allows the wielder to detect and protect against temporal magic. I was able to use it to protect the entire ship."
"So, if magic isn't as common anymore, that should make the list of suspects who could have done this extremely short," Xander said.
"Too short," Walker said. "As in, nonexistent. Other than my own family, I have never known another who knew anything about magic or demons. For most of my life I thought it was all just a lot of superstition. Theoretically, the stone could detect the magics that caused this, but only at short range."
"So, what exactly do you need me for?" Xander asked. "I mean, assuming that whatever caused this traveled back in time to the 21st Century, why not just travel back their yourselves and deal with it. With all of your technology, you have to be better equipped to deal with it than anyone from my time."
"We don't have enough power to time shift the entire ship," Captain Jenga answered. "We can open localized time portals but we have to be within range of the portal's terminus, which thanks to the cosmozoans is becoming more and more difficult."
"And you risked your ship to get me?" Xander asked, confused. "Why? Why not Buffy or Willow, someone with power who could help you. What can I do?"
Jenga cast a nervous look at Walker. Walker smiled meekly at Xander. "Ever since I was a kid, I was taught what was called the history of the old world. A forgotten history of life on Earth before first contact, when magic and demons were common, but still hidden. When a select group of people fought against the darkness that threatened to overtake the planet at any moment, with courage, and heart, and skill. Those people were the thin line that separated the civilized world from, well from this, the end of everything. And among the select few, your group is known as the best. I grew up hearing bedtime stories about your adventures. You were my hero Xander, and if there's anyone that can help us now I know that it's you."
Xander just stared for a moment, not sure how to respond. "I'm…flattered, but I think that you've made a mistake. I don't know what I can do to help you. I'm not strong, I can barely fight, I can't do magic, I wouldn't even know where to start to try and stop this."
"You're stronger than you know, Xander," Walker answered. "And I know that you can do this, even if you don't. As for your physical strength and fighting ability, we can help you with that. There are certain…upgrades that we can make."
"Upgrades? Like what?"
"Well for starters," Dr. Grot spoke up. "I can give you a new eye."
TBC…