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* * *

"Hey, Vampire, you hear about the Nail?"

Xander looked up, wishing he could wipe away the sweat through the faceplate. He'd acquired the nickname telling the rest of his barracks about the Hellmouth one night, when they were playing a game to pass the time.

"Don't call me that, Eos. And no I didn't, what happened?"

The red-black hardsuited figure grimaced at Xander.

"The guards say he contracted the Plague," Eos said. She gave the word 'contracted' a special twist.

Xander sighed, then continued his work.

"You mean he isn't going on a trip to the Bahamas? No, no. Really bad joke, sorry."

"I'm going to miss his singing. Even if he did get depressed, and bring us down too," Eos said.

"Amen," one of their shift said over the intercom.

"I heard that he didn't get sick, that the Ultor docs are experimenting on him," another miner said.

"Careful what you say," Xander muttered under his breath.

Xander was working for Ultor as a miner on Mars. After he had graduated high school, he wanted to get some perspective and make cash. Ultor promised 'High Risk, High Adventure, High Pay!' in their advertising campaigns. He had been kicking himself ever since -- six months, now.

On the trip over, the other newbies on the shuttle had vomited on blast-off, unused to the sensations. Xander Harris hadn't, but it had floated around in the zero-gee environment in space. Once they were landing on Mars, the putrid liquid had fallen to the ground -- and the people between it and the ground. And it didn't get much better from there on in.

The miners were in appalling conditions. The bunks were timeshared with two other shifts of workers, the guards showed little to no consideration for the well being of the miners, and rebelliousness of any sort was not tolerated. Recently, the Plague had appeared. Your workmates could drop dead where they stood, not having shown a symptom beforehand. The bodies were cremated, the hardsuits reused with the new shipments of workers.

The only outlet the miners really had was the occasional ration of liquor, and the athletic events that Eos had managed to wrangle from Gryphon, Ultor's Deputy Administrator. Xander's barracks was fielding the Red Faction team, of which Eos was the leader. While not a jock, Xander had joined the team. It was a somewhat prestigious placing; participating in the athletics was the only real method to achieve fame in the miners' world.

The Red Faction was a front for Eos' band of rebels. So far, there were 23 of them and a few possible recruits. A lot of planning for the future took place couched in sporting terms.

"I still recall the taste of your tears," Eos softly said. "Echoing your voice just like the ringing in my ears..."

The rest of the shift proceeded in silent work in the red tunnels as they followed the vein of moachite.

* * *

As the airlock cycled from barely anything to full atmosphere, Xander popped his helmet. Around him, the rest of his work-crew did likewise.

"Another day, another dollar," Xander said. "Can't wait to get out of here."

"I heard that almost no one gets back to Earth," Storey said. "Apart from Ultor management and guards."

"We're going to beat this," Eos sighed. "Tell the others -- Red Faction meeting in half an hour. We have to discuss the shot put event."

The shot put was a code for the automated missile defenses.

"Sure thing," Xander said. "When are the Games happening?"

Eos gave him a look sideways. "In a few days. Tanner only needs a few more baseball bats, then we're set."

The Games was the uprising, and the baseball bats were assault rifles. Cricket bats were shotguns.

"Need any help taking your 'suit off, Eos?," a thickly built white miner asked the tough female. She paused as she took off the left leg of her hardsuit.

"If I do, I'll be sure not to ask for it," she cooly replied.

"Hey, I'm just being friendly," the miner said.

"She said she wasn't interested," Xander interrupted, putting his arm inbetween the two.

"It's cool," the miner replied quickly. "I'm moving, I'm moving."

Eos gave Xander a look. "I can handle my own battles, Vampire."

Xander winced. "Don't call me that. I don't like assholes like that, that's all."

Storey grinned. "Hey, Vampire, That's why we call you that."

Lyss, another female member of their team, smirked. "After an epic story like yours, would anything else fit?"

The ex-Sunnydalian groaned, inwardly smiling as he cheered up his teammates.

* * *

"Okay, Orion, have you sorted out the play with the baseball team?"

The thin miner looked up from the floor. "Sure, I've told them the strategy, and I've made sure that they set up the field right."

Eos nodded, satisfied. "Okay, we can beat the other barracks in the Games, people. How're our cheerleader's progressing?"

The cheerleaders were in actuality in charge of distributing leaflets and spraypainting "Ultor Sux!" on walls.

"They'll make us proud," Storey said. Before he'd decided to take up mining, he'd been in newspapers.

"There's a slight problem with the basketballs," Xander said. "The M9 barracks don't have any."

Basketballs were not orange bouncy things, but submachine guns.

"Okay, we can work around that," Eos said. "No problems?"

All present members of the Red Faction shook their heads.

"Okay, let's knock 'em dead, people!"

* * *

Xander, aka Vampire, grinned behind the faceplate of his red and black hardsuit. They'd taken out the guards in their section easily, and were now moving to the other sections. The bomb in the security barracks went off without a hitch, as Eos hit the Alert button outside the cafeteria. They'd killed six guards with the initial blast, with ten more injured.

Xander was in charge of directing the miners in M9 to hook up with Red Faction members from M4, Xander's own barracks. He had had an easy time of it so far.

Buffy's White Knight still wished he was back in Sunnydale, only having to deal with demons and vampires. It was better than having to kill humans, far away from those you loved. He reloaded the assault rifle, and checked the heavy machine gun he had slung on his back.

He spun as he noticed something move in the rocky tunnels, then relaxed as a red-suited miner appeared.

"Hi. I'm part of the Red Faction," Xander said. "Your friendly neighbourhood watch."

"Parker," the miner said. "Who're you?"