2. 1Shadows within a God Emperor's mind
Title: As The Pieces Fall
Author name: Kunglou
Author email: AU
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The millennia old game played by the older powers have been interrupted and Harry Potter has finally returned from the Hell dimensions to reform his power base from the shattered pieces, but even with his newly reformed powerbase, things are never that simple.
Disclaimer: I do not own either BTVS or Harry Potter and claim no rights to the copyrighted material. I am making no money off this story.
Author notes: Massively AU, OC, HP: A matter or Perception/BtVS/SG1
If you are unfamiliar with the perception series I really recommend that you read the first four pieces for this one to make sense. Keep in mind that Xander was possessed, his memories merged with the more dominant personality of Harry's.
Oh and for those that noticed - I have intentionally messed with the timelines. If Buffy was shown in 2001 instead of 1996 the dates would have matched. From this perspective I hardly think I am messing with the continuity too much. Besides, there are technological and social reasons for this.
Ch2 – Shadows within a God Emperor's mind
"The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans."
Benjamin Disraeli quotes (British Prime Minister and Novelist. 1804-1881)
October 2003
Faith burst through the solid wooden library doors, caring little as they crashed noisily open at such an early hour of the morning. The thudding echo through the empty school corridors only served as a warning to the denizens of the hell mouth that one of the Slayer's had returned to her base of operations.
The irony of the local high school's library being stationed over the mouth of hell was not lost on anybody, least of all her. When she had first arrived at Sunnydale, fleeing for her life and full of memories of her defeat at Kakistos hands and her watchers death, that irony had almost made her smile, almost.
It was the first of many surprises she had found on the hell mouth. Nothing was what it seemed in Sunnydale.
Hastily and carelessly sweeping clear one of the library desks of books to create room for the injured and bleeding stranger she had stabbed, she carefully placed the limp figure on the its surface. She ignored the blood she smeared on the old tombs as they tumbled onto the floor. She cared little for what her new watcher would say.
He had completely lost her respect not long after he arrived – 'seasoned watcher my ass,' she thought. 'More likely they see me as an excuse to season the daddy's boy – aggghhh.'
Her feelings of his incompetence had only grown since she had arrived. The man couldn't even provide basic combat training effectively, let alone field support. He was useless. She had been tempted more than once to dig him a quit grave, or feed him to one of the nastier beasts in order to get better watcher support. But even she knew that would be one step to far.
Shaking her head of such thoughts, she refocused on the task at hand, double checking her rough field dressings to reassure herself that the bleeding had stopped and checking his pulse – strong, Good. The stab wound didn't seem bad, but the trail of blood leading to the library attested that he had lost a lot of blood. More than he safely should have, at least for a normal human. Buffy losing that much blood would have worried her less – but then she was a slayer.
Fumbling with her mobile phone, the one that the resident techno-pagan had given to her so they could better co-ordinate their movements, and to provide ease of communication in the case of emergencies, she hit speed dial.
"Oh my god, Jenny." She exclaimed in relief at the worried and sleepy response on the other end. "You have to meet me in the school library, bring your medical supplies."
"…."
"No, no, I am fine. Dusted meself a fine catch. Nah, I bagged a civvie, messed him up pretty bad."
"…."
"Uh ha. Yeah, I stopped the bleeding, though he lost a lot on his way here – strong pulse too, but I'm getting blood all over Wesley's precious books."
"…."
"Right, you'll let the rest of the gang know? Ok, see you in a bit."
Faith, sagged onto a chair in relief, taking the opportunity to rethink events and study the guy she had stabbed with a little more detail now that the immediate crisis had been averted. She didn't think she had struck anything vital, but she didn't know how long the guy had been messed up before he had stumbled across her, and he had lost a lot of blood as the trail they had left behind could testify.
He was medium height, with sandy brown hair, in fact only his heavily, and incredibly densely, muscled physique belied his average appearance. In fact, it was lost on her in her adrenaline fueled flight to the library, but the guy was packing some serious weight. The old solid oak table was probably barely carrying his weight.
His injuries on a more detailed look were extensive, it seemed whatever fight he had been in was either tough in the extreme or he had been curb-stomped by something a lot bigger and tougher than him.
Though if he had been curb stomped, she didn't know how he had escaped to her in the graveyard, when he had stumbled across her, she hadn't sensed so much as a stray vamp. Hell, that's how she ended up staking him in the first place, she did not like the fact that some civvie had been able to sneak up on her.
Then again, perhaps not a civvie. Taking a better look at his injuries, clothes – or what remained of them, combined with his build and weight. She would have to re-classify him as definitely not a civilian.
'in fact,' Faith looked him over and smirked to herself slightly, 'she probably wouldn't have minded meeting under different circumstances.'
He had second and third degree burns trailing in thin lines from head to toe, something she had never before seen. It was almost as if someone had dragged a poker down the length of his body, but she didn't imagine someone staying still for something like that. Either that or he had been whipped with whip made of molten metal, or….She shrugged her shoulders, 'got nothing,' she thought.
Though from the amount of charred flesh, it must have been painful.
The amount of bruising and lacerations that came very close to vitals and downright disfigurement was further evidence of a deadly hard fought fight, combined with the burns she almost had him pegged as a torture victim but for the extensive defensive wounds on his inner forearms and knuckles.
Even the heavy duty equipment and the remains of his body amour, tattered though it was, belied the tortured theory. Any torturer would have stripped him down first. And even without evidence of any weaponry, she was leaning toward a fighter of some kind. He kinda looked like she felt after a round with Kokistos and his little buddies.
Which made her doubly guilty for punching a hole through his shoulder like that. Still, the fact that even as high on the slayer spirit as she was, she had not sensed him or whoever had been slapping the guy around bugged the hell out of her.
"Good lord girl, what have you done to my books." Faith rolled her eyes at Wesley's entrance. She was covered in the stranger's blood and whoever it was that she had dragged in and dumped on the library desk was looking like a piece of baked and carved ham.
Didn't even ask after her own welfare – 'figures, shows where his and the councils priorities lie,' she thought about to bite back before Jenny interrupted. She would have been far happier if the Techno-pagan had have been her new Watcher.
"Priorities Mr. Wesley. Let's first see to your Slayer and the wounded before we reprimand her about her treatment of a few, obsolete moldy old tombs.
Faith smirked with Jenny as Wesley spluttered, furiously dabbing at the blood stains she had left smeared across the books as she had cleared the table.
"You did well Faith," Jenny glanced at the dark haired girl as she started stripping the man out of the remains of his clothes. "While the Hospital would have been better, we don't need any question this would have raised. Willow and Buffy will be here momentarily with supplies and we can go over what happened while is still fresh in everyone's mind.
Faith nodded uncertainly as Jenny finished stripping the man down to his underclothes and started cleaning his wounds. While she may have been disappointed with Buffy's performance and was unclear about Willows position in their secretive demon hunting club. She was still the new girl on the block and none to keen to make mistakes or have them aired around everyone. Sides', disappointed she may be, Buffy still kicked major demon ass. Something she was VERY glad for.
Literally saved her neck on more than one occasion. Hellmouth demons were the toughest anywhere, though she had been told that had not always been the case.
Besides, when she feared that the demons of her past would come charging into town any day now – literally – it was good to stay on your allies good sides.
"Blood….Library…naked guy in the library, why is there a naked guy in the library?" 'ahhh Willow had arrived,' Faith thought with amusement as she elegantly and stutteringly summed up what the scene must have looked like. With Jenny cleaning the now near naked strangers wounds and Wesley fretting over his blood stained books, she would not have improved anything by remaining in her blood drenched clothing either.
Jenny ignoring the still unnerved witch in training and just retrieved the medical supplies from the frozen redhead to continue cleaning the man's wounds.
"Another day in Sunnyhell," Buffy murmured as she followed the red head in, passing the rest of the bandages and dressings to the Technopagan. "So….Patrol?" She asked as she pulled up a chair near the back book stacks.
Faith just nodded to the one word question, before walking towards the change of clothing she knew was stashed in the weapons cage. Patrol was not usually this exciting but she regularly ruined clothing, and blood stained clothing was always hard to explain in daylight. Even in Sunnydale.
"So why bring us all here? Sure he is wounded, but why expose us all to some potential threat, I have lectured you about operational security Faith. As your Watcher…"
Faith rolled her eyes and tuned him out as he started another "As your watcher," speech. 'Sides, the way she figured it, if he was evil, better to deal with him now, together, when he was wounded. Not much could stand up to two slayers and two magic users, 'even if Wesley was likely to get in the way.'
If the guy wasn't evil, what better way to introduce him to the gang. She did not overlook the backup she would receive when explaining to the guy the circumstances around her stabbing him.
A small but important ulterior motive.
Walking back into the library, with some fresh non blood stained gear on, she looked on with interest as Willow still stood frozen at the libraries entrance, still staring at the stranger, and Buffy remained slumped in her chair. Wesley had for once, shut up as it became clear that no one was listening to him.
"So fill me in, who'd I stab," she quipped, only to be interrupted as a small army of heavily armed soldiers jumped from every hidden corner and from behind every possible obscuring object on both floors of the library in what appeared to be a well executed ambush.
And once again, she did not even sense there approach. Neither had the older slayer from the way the blond jumped at their appearance. 'It was friggin' pissing her off!!' But slayers where notoriously hard to get the jump on, it was in their genetic makeup.
She had only just come down from a fight, but at the first sight of the enemy, in such numbers, particularly in the library, a supposed safe place – her heart thudded heavily in her chest. The adrenaline flooded her body and her slayer spirit again jumped to the surface of her consciousness.
She only took half a heartbeat to take in both the bladed and blunted weapons, the classic projectile and modern firearms, all wielded by demons. She only recognized a few of the demonic species, but for her, the non human features and their aggressive bearing were enough.
Even as she and Buffy burst into motion, the witches all started chanting and Wesley typically withdrew to the weapons locker, Faith suspected that this fight would not end well.
For the time she had been in the 'dale, the demons had progressively been becoming older, more powerful. More cunning. They also outnumbered them by at least two to one. Still, they would sell their lives dearly – it had always been a risk on the Hellmouth, a matter of time. She was no longer the powerless little girl, she would make sure she kicked ass.
She did not even have time to wonder where the enemy had appeared from, or how they got within ambush distance in such numbers. The injured figure within their back to back formation was completely forgotten.
Faith leapt at a particularly bulky blue skinned demon with large spikes protruding from his face while she saw Buffy go in low against some multi-armed sticky looking demon wielding long trench knives in each of its hand.
Her attention was abruptly refocused by the big guy moving way faster than someone that bulky had a right to. His fist landed a powerfully left hook, bouncing her off the floor, and teaching her a little caution. Damn it if she couldn't hear Buffy being carved up just as easily, a loud curse let her now that they had magic users of their own.
Her heart thudded painfully as throughout the brief sortie, they seemed to remain checked by further demons, holding the upper floor of the library, covering them with projectile and modern weaponry. They were all going to die here, she would not get a chance to face her past demons.
Then, crossbow bolts were whistling through the air and blades started being summoned across the room, Faith grabbed one as it flew past. Fighting these demons bare handed made her feel like she was being played with.
That feeling brought back painful and best forgotten memories, but it did make her furious.
To her disappointment, even armed, she felt grossly overmatched – and that made her mad. She was not helpless, she was a slayer and she was MADE to make others feel helpless. SHE was the hunter not the hunted.
Submerging herself even more deeply into the slayer spirit, she went berserker. Grabbing another blade, she let go. Biting, kicking, stabling, tearing, screaming. She did not notice when Wesley was buried beneath a bookcase, or Buffy was knocked through a wall. Or when the Magic users were forcibly restrained and she started accumulating injuries of her own, she paid no mind. She REFUSED to be weak again.
And in the back of her mind was unending laughter. Then nothing – Once again, the injured stranger had snuck up behind her, this time rendering her unconscious by driving her into the floor so hard, the floorboards cracked.
"You know, the stuffy wet behind the ears Brit' was right."
Just as suddenly as the demons appeared to cover and check the self proclaimed Scooby gang they vanished. Some faded behind book stacks, or vanished behind desks. Some seemingly crumbled as if made of a poorly piled stack of rocks – which seemed to just diminish in size until they too had disappeared. Any that had been taken down by the berserker slayer simply vanished.
And in the middle of it all, eyes shining in amusement, and a amsued smirk painting his face, sat the figure that had stabbed earlier in the night with Faith's stake.
Buffy stumbled back through the hole in the wall and brought a hand to her swelling eye, no she had not imagined it all, and whatever they had been had really been there- so what?
She surveyed the mess the library had become, Faith lay crumpled on the floor, even with slayer healing she would be feeling it for days. Wesley still lay pinned beneath a bookcase, unconscious and the Willow and Jenny were slowly getting up, looking around in fright and confusion.
That fight had easily been the most difficult she had faced since…..
Buffy swallowed heavily at the painful memories of her previous watcher Giles and good friend Xander. Ever since they had died, she had felt, empty, purposeless, merely going through the routines until she died. Even reuniting with another slayer had not helped. The first had died in Sunnydale before even getting a chance to meet up wit the gang.
Even after seeing the Dark haired slayer go berserker earlier, she did not care for either of their survival in Sunnydale, on the mouth of Hell.
For now though, it seemed apparent that the immediate danger had passed, questions swirled through her mind. Why, who, how – her mind was swirling with answers, and it seemed that the guy that her fellow slayer had staked and then dragged in held the answers.
"You bring someone, or something, into the middle of your base of operations without adequately determining the extent of his injuries much less his abilities or intentions. Then, you summon the rest of your gang. To what may well have been a carefully laid ambush. None of you even questioned such an action – except for the Brit over there whom no one listed too."
Buffy slouched deceptively into a chair and stared at the heavily bandaged guy. She had long mastered the ability to look harmless in Sunnydale, when in fact you were armed to the teeth and ready to spring. It was a survival skill on the Hellmouth.
The stranger rolled off the table to face the conscious members the group, Buffy smiled grimly when she saw that they were more than ready for the fight that had been strangely interrupted. She had a feeling that that mere skirmish was far from the end of it. Mentally snapping her fingers, "Angel," she thought "Why does he remind me of angel."
"In fact," he continued, ignoring the angry and bordering on violent responses he was inviting " All of your individual combat ability, inter-unit combat tactics, even your use of weaponry is sub – par. Perhaps I should just put you out of your misery."
"Ok." Buffy heard Jenny murmur with intensity, she had had enough of this self righteous, arrogant thing. "Who the FUCK, do you think you are. I don't think you have any idea of the violent fury you are dealing with, or the extent of the righteous revenge that would rain down on you in retaliation for any harm that came to us."
The man began putting on the remains of his combat amour that had just been stripped from him, completely ignoring the enraged Techno-pagan. "You guys are even worse than I remember, and I have been gone for a long time."
"And Kalderash, the Council do not worry me in the least."
"I said.." Jenny snapped, this time stalking over to grab the stranger tightly on the arm that had stabbed, before stopping in confusion. What he had said about her clan and the council suddenly struck her.
Even more worrying was the fact that any evidence of wounds had completely healed. She seemed to be dealing with someone both very powerful and knowledgeable. A dangerous combination.
Buffy was as stunned as the Techno-Pagan. Ever since she had become a slayer, she had inherited certain abilities that had never once let her down. Super strength that allowed her to effortlessly bend steel bars, easily matching and sometimes even surpassing that of most demons she encountered, combat instincts that allowed her to be able to use most weapons as if she had trained for years, and a slayer sense that allowed her to recognize non-humans, and gauge somewhat their strength. All this was backed up with accelerated healing.
All these enhancements were enhanced again many times over when she was pressed and allowed the dark passenger within her out to play. Just like Faith had done so violently in her berserker state, to little effect.
Now, whoever this guy was, had caused those gifts to look like mere tricks. He had played with them as if they were little more than ants beneath his feet. It burned her with shame, and at the same time enraged her by stoking what was left of her tattered pride, and that made her feel like nothing more than letting out her dark passenger and beating his skull in.
But like Jenny, his comments about her clan and the council worried her.
And yet, looking at Jenny let lose the strangers arm, and stumble back as if she had seen a ghost. One that would probably demand the first born child of the next three generations, caused her to look more closely, to think about what he had said in more depth.
'You guys are even worse than I remember, and I have been gone for a long time.' He had said.
"Xander," Willow whispered, and the Buffy remembered the slightly clumsy brown haired geek with a goofy sense of humor. He was a hero who had died fighting the good fight. Or so it had been assumed. They had never found the body, nor remains like they had found off Giles.
Now here stood someone that could be him. Bulk Xander up a bit, die his hair a little blond. But the confident stand, the way he had taken a Berserker slayer down like it was barely worth his notice, his earlier laughter had left her chilled and desperately wanting for the old Xander, the one she felt safety with. No, Willow seemed to have readily accepted him back, but she would like a few questions answered first.
"Xander!!" Willow screamed rushing forward to hug her assumed dead best friend. She however glanced over at the still shaking Techno-Pagan who if it were possible had lost even more color.
"So Jana, have you been up holding our bargain?"
Eric sat quietly at a street side cafe. Its name didn't matter, nor the bitterness of the drink he was consuming. No, what held his attention was the herd of people that constantly swept past his table. Always busy, occupied with their business.
Without a hint off what was to come, or even who sat in their midst, unnoticed, almost unseen.
Sure his form and name was currently not his own, he had stolen that from the real Eric, the one that sat transfigured into a key at his belt, waiting for his part in the play that was to come. Even the police uniform that he wore worked to better disguise him and his motives in plain sight, after all who suspected the policeman taking time to suck down some coffee.
Still, he still had time before his lord's plan came into play, to sit, and absorb the differences between his home and this strange reality. A reality where the people were so soft, so ignorant to the threats that surrounded them. None of them would have lasted a second in even the highest of the hell dimensions.
San Francisco was a city of a mere 600,000 and even the architecture of the buildings stank of decadence and a casual disregard to the dangers that surrounded each and every one of the cattle that populated this place.
Even the best-defended and secured domains form the strongest houses where not as peaceful, the people who lived there new that that peace came of constant struggle.
Oh, even he could smell the limited history of this place, the number of visitors gawking at the sites…So ignorant.
Gazing at the faces of those who passed him, he snorted. How he would enjoy what was to come. Weak the lot of them, but after today, they would awaken to the threats, and be-aware of fear. His lord had already tried playing nice.
He would bring about his Emperors plans.
Look at his watch, and struggling to restrain his grin. Putting down his half finished and rapidly cooling coffee, he stood up and started to cross the plaza to the large building in over looked the cafe he had been sitting in. From all directions, other officers could be seen approaching, each with a large key hanging from their belt.
While each of them would have been willing to die for their lord, this mission did not require their deaths. They would become shadows within their lord's mind, living to further serve. Eric greeted the other offices with a smile, and what joy that services was too he thought as they entered the foyer of the building only to pull out his pistol and open fire on the weak cattle that lacked even the wit to run.
Some offices joined him in culling the weak heard while the other secured the building, after all, the slaughter had just begun and there was plenty enough to share around.
Lance sat behind the presidential desk, looking at General George Hammond and his new secretary of Defense, Kinsey stood silently in the corner. Absently, he ran his fingers over the warning, and perhaps threat, engraved into his desk. It would now be a permanent reminder to all future presidents, off the US vulnerabilities, and a constant guard against hegemony hubris. Before the attack, they had remained the world's only superpower, militarily, economically, and technologically. Now…
Lance shook his head as he wondered how it had come to this, how his dream run as president had crashed around his ears. What had he done in his past lives to disserve such cursed karma. Not that he had believed in karma, or god, but with what he had seen….
Beside him, the screens continued to stream info, economic data, defense data, news headlines and intelligence reports. One screen had a classified status report on the star gate program, along with the progress of there off world bases. Upon another, a constantly cycling feed of the initiatives latest finds and classifications.
It was a scary and horrifying time to be in charge. It was strange to think that it had only been a year since the last horrifying and life changing attack upon the Whitehouse.
Jones, the new Secretary of Defense looked distinctly uncomfortable, both with the company and the subject of discussion. Not that he was completely unprepared for his position, he held a wealth of experience in military and appointed positions after all, but he had recently been told the truth regarding some extra and sub terrestrial threats that the US and the world faced. No training or previous career experience prepared you for something like that.
No amounts of near death experiences or weirdness made it easier to handle either.
"How is the program going George? Our off world bases self-sufficient yet? With the money and personnel we have been funneling, surely some off them have made that tipping point?"
George blinked in surprise that the meeting started with a review of the SGC, a subject they had all been briefed upon.
"Events are very much running to schedule Mr. President, ever since we found the second gate in Antarctica, we have been able to accelerate the speed of developing our off world assets and even increase our mining operations for net gains in resource allocation. All but the latest to be established have become self sufficient and the military buildup off world continues apace."
Lance looked at the general as he was briefed; it was clear to him that the old soldier did not quiet know WHY he had been summoned to Washington, particularly in the presence of the new Sec. Def and Sen. Kinsey. Still, he suspected that the recent visit by the alien ambassador was foremost in the Generals mind. He had told no one yet the contents of their discussion.
"As you know, we are substantially outmatched both in terms of technology and resources to any of the space fairing races we have encountered. In particular, were the xenophobic and extremely hostile Gou'ld force an escalation into open conflict, we would be massacred and perhaps all enslaved. As per their known historical modos operandi. But sir, you know all this. It is in all my briefing papers and has been amply covered in my previous reports."
Lance nodded for the General to continue anyway, reading a report and hearing it, yielded different subtleties.
"The majority off Gou'ld seeded splinter human settlements are barely agrarian level technology and have been stagnant in their development for millennia, most physiologically devastated by generations of enslavement, and the few advanced settlements we have found have refused to trade weapons technology to such a backward culture."
"There have been rumors of other advanced alien races, and perhaps hidden technological caches, but our mission has been the capture and control of territory and resources, and so far – we have barely found evidence of their presence."
"As it stands," George suddenly slumped tiredly in his chair "we have been lucky to remain only a minor irritant to the Gou'ld by avoiding conflict and yielding territory. If that were to change…."
George Hammond briefly allowed the strain to show on his face, "if you were to change our mandate more towards technological advancement, maybe share our discovery with the Aussies or even the Brits, perhaps more could be done in that area. Additional industrial and material technology and certainly greater man power would boost our chances enormously and accelerate our progress."
"At our current rate of progress, it would probably be a generation before we could challenge them in open warfare, even if we were build a coalition among the splinter colonies and advance their technological development to industrial age. They would retain space superiority for the foreseeable future."
A strained silence hung in the room until the president interrupted it.
"What I am about to tell you must for now be kept within this room. You have heard of the alien visit?"
Lance continued not even waiting for their acknowledgment, "the visitor proclaimed to be an ambassador of an previously unknown, advanced, space fairing empire led by a mysterious God emperor. In exchange for the state of California to set up an embassy, he has agreed to open full diplomatic channels. This includes trading weapons tech and indications that they would offer temporary protections from attacks from space."
Lance smiled at the surprised looks he was receiving. Surprised and skeptical. It almost seemed to good to be true, but their situation WAS dire. Or at least had the potential to be.
He distributed some folders filled with briefs that he had prepared earlier and waited for them to flick through them before he continued. Those briefs would be burnt before they left the room.
"You are all here to advise me, and answer this question. What do you think about this mysterious God emperor and his offer? Do you think it genuine or even possible? Is it worth the risk?"
Hammond glanced at the new Sec Def. "Even if they were sincere, Steven, what do you think the domestic and international response would be to the public disclosure of the gate program?"
"That is what we are talking about if we accepted this offer."
Steven Jones, the recently promoted Secretary of Defense coughed nervously as he flicked through the document a second time.
"Well, err, the Sec of State would be more qualified to answer that question in detail, however broadly, I suspect nothing short of World War three. Even as powerful as we are now relative to the other earth powers - since the end of the cold war, a status quo has existed. If we were to announce that we not only had the resources and technology to completely dominate that status quo, but have had such for a while."
The sec def shook his head, "I would be manning our missile shield defense, possibly even bulking it up, and that is not even considering the domestic response. Would this God emperor be willing to defend us from other earth nations were we to proceed? Why did he even pick the US, and not say the EU or China."
"How familiar is this God Emperor with the current geo-political climate on earth? Was he aware of the SG program before he contacted us? If so, that raises serious questions off itself."
Lance pinched his nose and sighed in frustration, "I guess it is one more question to ask his ambassador, next time he feels the need to drop by unannounced. It does worry me that he has not even hinted at a potential meeting between heads of state."
"Kinsey, do you think it a coincidence that his request covers the largest hotspot of sub terrestrial activity? We have not seen any evidence to suggest that is the cases but it would be naive to ignore it as a possibility."
Kinsey straitened from where he slouched over the brief, emerging from the corner that he had claimed for this meeting.
"Mr President, all the evidence we have gathered so far, has only deepened our concerns about this sub-terrestrial threat. I can tell you that I feel these Hostiles have the potential to be just as much of a threat to us as the Go'uld. Could it be a co-incidence? Certainly, yes. However, if it is a coincidence, such knowledge will not stay from them for long once, IF, we grant their request. Particularly if they are as advanced as they claim."
Kinsey stepped out of the shadows of the corner and locked eyes with Lance to show just how serious he was with his next statement, "However, the politician and conspiracy theorist in me assumes the worst, that not only is this mysterious figure aware, perhaps more so than we are. But has made such a big claim in an attempt to mask his intentions."
"Despite that, is the chance to claim such technology to great to allow to pass by? And as powerful as they appear to be, how could we refuse it?"
Lance sat back, deep in thought, ultimately it was his decision and although the men in the room were the best minds to canvas his thinking with, he would be ultimately accountable for the biggest decision in human history.
He had no need to make the decision today but he did not have long, and certainly if he was seriously thinking about accepting the necessity of giving up California, the cabinet would have to be brought in, and then the full senate.
"So what…" He started, only to be interrupted by the Sec of defense matching across the room and enlarging a feed on one of his screens and he could only stare in disbelief as Steven flipped open his phone and hit speed dial.
Hitting the sound, it was his turn to pale, his only thought was "WHAT THE HELL - IN AMARICA?"
"We are broad casting live from San Francisco, California, where what witnesses say is the site of a police massacre in progress. In a city, more well known for its tourist sights and diverse, cosmopolitan population, such an event is even more shocking."
"In a scene more at home in a foreign warzone than here in the US, We can report from eye witness accounts from among the growing crowd that at about 2:30pm, a group of men wearing police uniforms and heavily armed walked into the large corporate HQ, of Spantzo, blockaded the exits and then opened fire."
Lance looked up at his sectary of defense as he spoke furiously in the phone. From memory, the nearest National Guard squad was barely an hour away, the nearest army base, a bit longer. Looking back at the news feed, Lance just shook his heads in disbelief. How could his intelligence have missed the chatter planning such an event would have generated.
Again
His country was under attack again, and he was powerless to stop it.
"The sound of gunfire picked up briefly and then started dying down, we can only pray that this means that this tragedy is drawing to a close though we fear that it juts means that they have moved deeply into the building. We are hearing sirens now. Clearly the police are arriving to……"
"OH MY GOD" And then Lance desperately wanted to close his eyes and block his ears as the sounds of screams, explosions and running feet filled the room.
"The Police that just arrived have just tossed some explosives into the crowd and then opened fire. One of our cameramen was hit, oh my god, oh my god."
Despite the fear filled commentary and the sickening footage, the feed stayed on air.
"The crowd is out of all control now, some are stampeding in any direction, headless of those under feat. A few have used their American right to open fire on the attacking police. It is now a warzone in down town San Francisco. I cant… I cant believe this i9s happening.
"Are you getting this?"
"Incredible, but also very frightening." He could hear the stress and pain in the reporters voice as she struggled to be heard over the sounds of gunfire, sirens and painful and rage filled screams.
Lance looked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was George. "The army is ten minutes away. They have authorization to institute marshal law, there are birds already in the sky above the city. We will get to the bottom of this. We HAVE to get to the bottom of this.
"Still, we need a decision on this issue."
Lance closed his eyes and prayed to gods that he had long stopped believing in for strength and fortitude, " Yes. Call the cabinet. We have to close down the risks we can to deal with the threats that are closer to home, even if it means dealing with the devil. This may well end in the mother of all wars, if it hasn't already started."
"Use that time to brief the Aussies and the Brits, we will need all the allies we can in what is to come."
"What a mess, I spent so long building up this country only to see it torn down like this, its heartbreaking."
"We must start moving to full disclosure. When this God Emperors representative calls next, I'll have his answer. I'll also need your best scientist to start facilitating technology exchange. And let the governor of California now that he is to become our new ambassador to…something."
God help us all.
Deep in the depths of space, outside of the galactic plane, a blood red swirling vortex open up, creating an electromagnetic storm in the immediate vicinity so intense that it turned the surrounding space debris to streaks of plasma speeding from the even horizon. Out of this destructive galactic storm a fleet of five haulage freighters emerged, unharmed.
Accompanying them, barely visible against the background stellar radiation, were two detachments of partially organic heavy cruisers, blood red with deep violet trims, The color of the God Emperor Potter. Ten heavy cruisers in total, with their full deployment of fighters flying patrol.
Each hung in formation before slowly drifting apart, one freighter matched to two Heavy Cruisers flying escort.
It was not much, to seed a new reality, five small groups of ships, but with the massive invasion occurring throughout the realm from the uncivilized Hell Dimensions, and the massive coordinated counter attack underway, it was all that could be spared. Even knowing they flew into an unknown combat situation, the hardened crew lived and died on their god Emperor's will.
They had been given the barest information, a rough map of the location that they would be arriving, a couple of geological surveys of the nearest star systems. As expected from their Lord, He would not make his challenge too easy. It would make victory and triumph taste so many sweaters. It had been what they had been bred for after all.
Even the information on the likely enemy they would inevitably encounter was limited. Which was why they had arrived expecting a fight, and they would continue on such readiness footing until they had independently confirmed the safety of the space around them.
Ever member had been handpicked out of a large pool of volunteers for their strength, cunning and skill in the Praestantia. Each volunteer having been reared on tales of their Lord fighting the giants of the skies in Epic tales, now it was their turn to try their hands at such an accomplishment.
It did not bother them that this was a one way mission, or that they would not be involved in the glorious subjugation of the uncivilized Hell dimensions. They held faith in their Gods Power to succeed in this one, they would carry his mission with pride, even more so, one of His own Hands led their expedition.
Each freighter, upon landing on a suitable colony sight, would be completely stripped down. Its hull used for raw materials, and later transfigured into tools as needed, using the gifts granted by the Emperor himself. The quantum singularity at the center of each freighter, would be carefully removed and serve as power generation at the center of their new colony.
The few ships which flew escort would eventually serve as the core of a brand new fleet for the fledgling colony. There would be no going backwards only forward. It would take weeks to fully terraform the colonial planet that they selected, years to fully utilize the resources, rebuild a home fleet and link up their scattered colonies, but time was unimportant to immortals after all.