Chapter 16
Later after a meeting in the meeting room
General Hammond was baffled by the things the visitors wanted, seeds of different types of tomatoes and Durham wheat, which is the kind that pasta is made of, Apple seeds, orange seeds, chocolate cakes and lots of chocolate candy, as well as books and movies, especially the Star Wars and Star Trek books and movies.
Apparently part of Xander's crew and Xander himself had been born on yet another version of Earth and missed tomatoes, which didn't exist in the universe they now called home. They only had what little Xander himself had managed to grow and cocoa beans for chocolate were a rare thing, growing only on a small number of planets.
Those things were easy to find though.
Their demand for time to visit Earth towns, for all of them, with the crew in the Dagger corvette switching places with the crew down on Earth, was harder to accommodate.
Ring transporter from a Goa'uld ship, sure they had some, not that well working, but still.
Some staff weapons, Riley had said that if they gave some to them, he would show the SG Command personnel how to make more effective use of the weapons and he did. Arranging 3-5 of them together as a Gatling gun and mounting those up on a tripod gave you a weapon with superior speed of fire and an ability to aim, compared to the normal staff weapon.
Just that idea alone was worth loosing nine staff weapons.
Then there were the stranger things they wanted.
Xander wanted a chance to hang out with dolphins. That could be arranged. The medic said that he was an amphibian and if he came from an alternate version of Earth, then perhaps he... George fell silent. All Xander said was that he wanted to talk to them.
All of them wanted a chance to see and show of things to George Lucas and if possible, some of the actors, poor guys, and they wanted a place where Xander could train his students.
It was there that George's mind felt numb. Apparently Jack O'Neill had a great talent in the Force and Xander was giving him a crash course on how to use it. When asked how that was possible, Xander said that the Force existed everywhere. A mind trauma where artificial memories or skills were downloaded by force into the brain sometimes caused an increased sensitivity, but for that to have happened O'Neill would have had to have been Force sensitive from the beginning, just unable to use it.
That was the theory Hammond held onto. The other theory was that Jack was a Force sensitive genius. No, mind downloading aliens were the only answer. Poor Jack suffered so much damage to his mind that he gained sensitivity to the Force.
No wait, for that to be true Jack would have been Force sensitive from the start, just unaware of it.
It was time to double check Colonel O'Neill. He asked the good doctor to bring out the big needles. He had NO idea how Jack had done it, to manage to get Star Wars come alive, but he was sure it was his fault somehow and punished he would be.
-KNM-
A short talk to the doctor later
George Hammond looked at the object of his fear. There wasn't much a General should fear, but after taking on the job of running Star Gate command, he had come to fear one object. Every time he had to lift it and report something strange, weird or impossible to the White House, it was the phone he had to use.
How could he report this without ending up in the insane asylum?
Perhaps he should demand that the vice president would come and visit? NO, he was a simple General and he couldn't demand something like that from his superiors.
He remained silent for a while and then a slow smile appeared on his face. Yes, the last time they spoke, the President said that he was grateful and owed them a favor. It was time to ask a return on that favor. Then it would be the vice president and the advisors who'd have to make the report and explain to the President what was happening and why.
A perfect plot against the White House, he smirked to himself as he lifted the phone of the cradle.
-KNM-
23 hours later
Hammond shook the hand of his guest. "Mr. Vice President, it's an honor to see you. Senator Kinsey, Senator Bridgeby," he smirked.
The vice president did not look all that happy, "Do hurry up. We have more important things to do." Such as a late night date with his new blond secretary and her 19 year old twin daughters, the 60 year old man thought to himself. It was good to be the vice president.
Kinsey was not amused. He had worked so hard to make sure the NID would get pictures of the vice president having sex with his secretary and her so called twin daughters. All three agents of the NID where in place and waiting and now that plan might have to be scrapped. At least his agent with Bridgeby wasn't compromised.
Senator Bridgeby was amused. He would finally be able to see the top secret Stargate and even better, he got away from his wife, who always wanted sex. He almost shivered. Not that he disliked her or wasn't slightly attracted to her. It was just that he wasn't that interested in sex. Male or female, it did not interest him, period. If anything his interest was asexual. No sex was the best sex, as far as he was concerned and that new secretary who constantly dropped her pencil and talked with a soft deep voice coming on to him was just annoying. Why did he have to be a sexual magnet? The girls had no idea how hard it was to fake it when you were a man.
General Hammond was amused as he walked them down, showing them the Star Gate and also explaining about one of their stranger missions, concerning a dimensional mirror. Then he showed them their guests.
He had no idea if the Jedi Master could read minds or if he was just lucky.
The vice president dropped his briefs case.
Inside the gym they saw a man fighting two females using lightsabers.
General Hammond said, "And here are a group of new guests who arrived after a cross dimensional journey. They offered to trade some high advance technology and even give us a starship, if we honor the trade. They have an extra ship they have to leave behind in any case when they return to their own home dimension."
The senators and vice president just watched in awe.
Xander was deep inside the Force, as he trained Danni and Buffy in lightsaber combat, both at the same time.
Buffy, being a Force Guardian, was stronger than any normal human. Her strength seemed to be around five times faster and stronger, a bit stronger and faster than Rona, but not as strong as Amanda was. Buffy seemed to have slightly stronger Guardian skills all around, but she had no real special abilities.
Chloe's paranormal ability seemed to be super powered compared to other Force Guardians, but her physical strength was weaker. Rona's ability to learn physical skills was out this world and she didn't have any special weaknesses that they had discovered so far. Her powers seemed to be average in the other areas compared to the other the Guardians.
Amanda had super strength and speed. Her normal level was 6 times as strong and fast as a normal human, and like all Guardians, she could double it for a short period of time. A normal Force Guardian could double their speed and strength for around 10 minutes before they becoming drained. Amanda could double her power and stay in that state up to 60 minutes. On the other hand, her abilities in the paranormal area were weak, extremely weak.
Buffy seemed to be slightly above in all areas. He suspected that having been an active Slayer once and then being turned into a Force Guardian had made Buffy slightly stronger than the other Guardians had.
Xander himself had to use the Force to move faster than a normal human did. He could move almost six times faster than the normal speed a human his size should be able to move at and use the Force to predict what Buffy and Danni were going to do. It was hard to do though. Especially, as he had said that he could NOT use the Force telekinesis or Force push to win this particular fight.
It was lucky that Danni's skill with a lightsaber was weak. She had a strong defense, no, to be honest she had an acceptable defense, not a strong one, but her skill in empathy mind manipulation and illusion more than made up for her lacking physical skills.
Forcing the girls to back down, Xander wondered how long it would take for them to realize that he had said that he couldn't use those powers.
He was rather disappointed in both of them at the moment.
Danni swallowed. Sweat was dripping from her face as she backed away. "Buffy, are we doing something wrong?" she asked.
Buffy just nodded. "Yeah, but what?" she asked, looking at Xander who just stood there, waiting for them to attack. "It looks like he's disappointed in us."
"You have no right to feel that. It's not easy fighting against you," Danni started to smile.
Buffy remembered what Xander had said at the beginning of the fight.
Buffy frowned and then started to smile, "I got it. He can't use Force push and telekinesis, only his lightsaber."
Danni nodded as she started to smile. "You are so going down, Xander," she said in an evil voice.
Xander just shrugged. "Are you sure about that? If you break the rules, you forfeit this training fight."
Buffy looked nervous, she didn't wanted to lose the fight. Xander always rewarded them if they were winners. One look at Danni and she nodded. "We're sure."
Xander put his lightdagger in a low position, pointing at the floor and the lightsaber at breast height, pointing at the roof. "Then try out your theory."
The two girls looked at each other and then moved. Dummies, footballs and training equipment started to fly against Xander, as Buffy and Danni attacked.
Xander dodged the equipment and parried Buffy and Danni, then fell down on his back, still keeping their lightsabers locked with his own as he gave both girls a hard kick in the gut and rolled up on his shoulder, then back to his feet.
Danni fell with an oomph, but aimed a Force push at Xander even as she went down.
For a short moment Jedi Master Xander wished he could dodge it, but innocent spectators like the soldiers watching the fight could be hurt, so he blocked it with his own Force push and lost the fight.
"I just used Force push, I lost," Xander said smiling. "I'm very impressed with both of you. I tried to trick you with a word game, but you discovered it and used it against me. Danni, your skill in telekinesis is improving fast, but I still believe areas such as illusion are your special strength. That does not mean that you lack talent in other areas, such as telekinesis. It's a good area to be strong in."
Danni smiled from her place on the floor. "It's comfortable here," she smiled. "Want to snuggle?"
Xander blushed. "We should keep that in the ship."
"O phooee," she whined. Xander helped her up and gave her a deep mind blowing kiss, leaving her smiling silly.
Buffy rolled up, "Hey, who are those old geezers next to the General?" she asked in basic.
Xander looked over and shrugged. "Some VIP's, I guess. Remember, be polite when you talk in English."
He put the lightsaber away as he turned to the visitors. "General Hammond, it's an honor to see you again. Who are your visitors?"
The General smiled, as he walked forward, presenting his trouble for both Xander and the visiting group.
The vice president groaned. Now he would never have the chance to have that late night meeting with the three wonderful girls.
Senator Bridgeby smiled to himself, as on the inside he was having a party complete with fireworks. He had an excuse to work late, who-ho, no sex for him.
Some days you have all the luck.
Senator Kinsey was frozen on the inside, as his mind contemplated the power the USA would have if they could copy the power of those so called Jedi. Hell, the power he would have, if that happened. He had to contact his agents within the NID and see if they could arrange things. Perhaps kidnap one of the younger strangers or see if they could steal the ship.
He froze in his pondering, seeing that both the red skinned female Jedi and the male Jedi had their eyes focused on him. It felt like they were judging him and not in a positive way.
Xander turned away. "General, why don't we show them a bit of our abilities? Then you can show those gentlemen what we can give them in exchange for a trade. That is the carrot, but I'll also take the time to show that we also have a rod, if you plan to betray us." He looked directly at Kinsey.
The man started to sweat.
"It's not good for your life to even consider the idea of kidnapping or hurting those under my protection. Colonel O'Neill had lots of fun stories about you Kinsey and of the NID. I don't find traitors amusing in any form," Xander said, as he held out his hand in a fist.
Kinsey swallowed some. "Air!" he gasped as something was pushing his throat together. He crashed down on to his knees, holding his throat, hands scratching against the invisible hand squeezing around his throat.
General Hammond cleared his own throat. "Xander, release him now." He couldn't believe he'd phrased it like that.
Xander seem to nod. "Yes Sir," he said, glaring at the guy and then he looked slowly up at the General. "It was only a demonstration. I simply know that this person would try foolish things and pushing my patience in his game of power. I can feel it in the Force."
He walked forward, looking at the pale man.
"I'm going to leave Earth after doing the trade. If Earth's human's act honorably, they will be given a 200 meter long starship."
General Hammond said, "Kinsey, are you aware that they have a 200 meter long warship in orbit around Mars? If we attack them, they have promised to make sand out of the USA and believe me. They have the power to do that," he sighed. "They have also promised to trade us military equipment such as energy weapons, droids, computer tech, high tech batteries, fusion energy and hyper-drive technology that would revolutionize our world. All they want in return are some simple wishes. Seeds of Earth plants, they wish to grow, some books and movies and a few other things, like visiting places in the USA they'd like to see. Also, after hearing about Star Wars, they are quite eager to talk to George Lucas."
He grabbed the senator by his shoulder and lifted him up, not too gently at all. "What you do not seem to understand is that these young people have proven to be empaths with limited telepathic abilities. If he attacked you, I believe that he had a damn good reason to do so, and if you and the NID mess up this trade because of foolish greed for things they're going to give us anyway, I'm personally going to have you shot as a traitor."
The two stared at each other before George stated, "Do you understand, Senator?"
The man nodded. "Yes sir. But this is not the end of this."
The Vice President said, "Show me what they are offering."
Xander grinned. "I can do more than that." He lifted a tiny holo recorder and started to show pictures of the objects in question. Blaster weapons, lightsabers, holo tech, hyperdrive, droid tech, super-computers, simple books about computer and droid programming, proton torpedoes, energy-torpedoes, concussion missiles and armor tech.
"Some of this is tech that will be too advanced for you at this moment, but I have a simpler solution for some areas and the armor tech can be built as of now, only with some difficulties in the beginning. The blasters and lightsabers will be a bit difficult at this moment, but I also have blueprints of a lightning gun that you could build right now, and with the explanation I have in the blueprints, I expect you to have a working blaster or power cell in around four or five years time."
The Vice president looked at Hammond. "Is this real?"
Hammond nodded, "One of the things they want in the trade is chocolate. I had my men buy lots of high quality chocolates of different brands and types. Our guys are at this moment working hard to understand an anti-gravity engine, a repulsor engine. It is surprisingly easy to repair and copy even if they have yet to fully understand it."
Xander grinned, "With the tools and things you have here, I expect them to have built a working repulsor from scratch using my instruction within the week."
The vice president looked at Senator Kinsey and then pulled up his phone. "NSA, I want you to make a full investigation on Senator Kinsey, any deals and black ops he may or may not been involved with, especially with the NID. I want this by the end of the week," he looked at the Jedi. "If the engine works as Hammond said, you have the backing of the President. We'll hold our part of the bargain, you just keep yours."
Xander smiled, "Will do, sir, will do indeed," he said as he watched the three men walk out.
Standing near the wall Kinsey was looking both morose and shocked.
Xander swallowed his smile. "I understand that you believe in what you do. Anything to make the USA more powerful, you are a patriot, a man that believes in protecting his country by giving it the best of everything."
Kinsey looked shocked. Xander shrugged as he sat down beside the man. "You have to understand our point of view though. We do not belong here. We dislike the idea of being forced, enslaved or dissected. We really dislike being dissected, since it most likely hurts," he said looking up at the senator.
The man pulled a crooked smile at that.
Xander continued. "What we have offered is whatever we can survive without and more. Most of it is information, but some of it is hardware. Blaster weapons, tools and even small engines. When we leave, the big Dagger corvette will be left behind regardless. We're unable to use it in our journey. So, either we destroy it or we give it to you." He saw that he had captured not only the Senators ears, but also many of the watching soldiers were listening, so he continued.
"I for one would like to leave it to you. I grew up in a world which was a parallel version of Earth with its own version of the USA. We had our differences. Then I ended up in the Star Wars universe and learned under Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. I ended up marrying Jaina Organa Solo, his niece, and Leia Organa Solo's daughter."
"Really? You know, I always liked Leia, she is a fox," Kinsey smiled, sitting down.
Xander snorted out in laughter, "She could be my mother and she's still a fox." He focused his powers into a small crystal, creating a holo picture of Leia. "That's how she looks now, with her husband Han Solo."
Kinsey nodded, "They don't look like the ones in the movie," he complained.
Xander nodded, "Yes, I know, but there are similarities."
Kinsey could see that. Han Solo wasn't Harrison Ford's twin, but he could have been a brother.
The image switched, "And that's Jaina Solo, my wife."
The soldiers whistled.
Kinsey blinked, "And you kissed that red skinned alien with a wife like that?" he asked, smirking.
Xander rolled his eyes. "That's Danni, she is a Zeltron, a near-human, and she's married to me and Jaina. Most Zeltrons are bi-sexual. Jaina and me failed to escape and ended up being happily married to her."
Kinsey snorted out, "You lucky bastard. Show me Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca."
Xander grinned as the picture changed to Luke and then Chewbacca.
Kinsey said, "Chewbacca looks far bigger and furrier than he does in the movie."
Xander nodded, "Yea. You can see it was only a human in a costume in the movie. Wookiees are among the strongest sentient beings in the galaxy. They have around 9-10 times the strength of a human that size." The picture switched and Lowbacka came up. "That's Lowbacka, a fellow Jedi. He's related to Chewie. I have seen him grab a Dark Jedi and use him as a club." He showed the picture of Lowbacka swinging the darksider around as a weapon against two other darksiders he was fighting.
Impressed and awed sounds came from the soldiers all around the room.
Xander pulled himself up. "I'm going to see if I can talk to the vice president and get him to save your job, even if Jack says less than polite things about you. I believe, no, I feel that the USA will need somebody sneaky to integrate this technology among the civilians," he said, leaving the crystal on the ground.
"You forgot this," Kinsey said.
Xander looked down. "No, I did not. It's just a piece of glass I used as projector." He walked out. The feeling he had from the Senator was different now. He had the feeling that he had made an ally who would remain loyal for a long time and he wasn't lying. The USA would need him, Jack and his team too of course, but mostly Jack, and for some reason Xander also saw an older man, who was a friend and teacher to Teal'c.
What they would do and why, he had no idea, but it was important to this planet.
Whistling, he walked right in and interrupted the meeting. "Hi guys. Sorry to interrupted you, but I bring information that you need, information that is going to make you hate me."
"What?" General Hammond asked, afraid.
Xander shrugged. "I got a future flash. For some reason, in the near future, Jack, his team, an older man, who Teal'c sees as a master and teacher and Senator Kinsey are needed to protect Earth. From what or when exactly, I have no idea, just that they are needed and Kinsey needs to keep some or all of his political powers, if he's to do what he needs to do."
They stared at him.
Xander shrugged. "That's all I could sense. The future is difficult to see and understand. That's one reason many find Jedi irritating. See you," he said, walking out.
There was silence.
"I hate him," the vice president said in an amused voice. Well, he could save Kinsey's job and use the material to keep him under control.
All of them nodded and then they started to laugh.
Eventually Hammond sighed, "I pity whichever fool who takes my place."
17. Chapter 17
Chapter 17
In another place, nearby
Daniel smiled as he played babysitter for Dawn and Lexa, driving them around town. It was fun actually, but Dawn was scary when she was shopping in the mall.
"So, what are we going to do next?" Dawn asked.
Lexa shrugged. "No idea. It is somewhat nice. In my reality I would've to have a PSI tag on and nobody would have trusted me." She looked around, "I hate bigots and racist."
Daniel looked over at the girl. "You were exposed to racism?"
The girl nodded, "I'm not Force sensitive like my brother. I'm a PSIONIC, a PSI-kinetic." She smirked, putting her foot against his leg. "Try to stand up or move."
Daniel blinked, and then tried to move his hand and his arm only to find that it was impossible. He tried to stand up, but his body was frozen, as if something was pushing it down. "What are you doing?"
Lexa grinned, "Using my Kinetic-Hold ability. As long as I'm in physical contact with your body, I can hold you still." She let him go. "It's one of my more powerful PSI-skills."
Daniel smiled. "That's incredible." he said, making the two children or teenagers smile. In his opinion the two were just that, children. Then he started asking questions, some about her ability, but mostly about the social differences between her birth reality and the Star Wars reality.
-KNM-
Later
Riley walked out of their sleeping quarters near the Enterprise. Xander and Jaina stayed on the ship and the others had guest quarters in a trailer each. Not that he minded sleeping in the Enterprise, but it was a bit cramped during long journeys. Now he saw his mission objective walking around. He quickly patted himself on the back as he walked up to her. "I am a brave fighter and I trained in many different combat methods. I survived having sex with two Twi'lek girls. I can do this," he said to himself.
With a quick walk he was at his target. She suspected nothing. The time to strike was now. "Hi Buffy," he said and then froze. 'Now what? ' he thought to himself.
Buffy blinked, looking up at him before she answered,"Yeah, hi." she said, looking at him. Was he sweating and did he look a little nervous?
'I have to say something, come on' Riley said to himself. He was as tough as nails, a Special Forces soldier and nothing scared him, time to ask Buffy out for a date. Open mouth, ask question. "Nice weather, don't you think?" Riley blinked. D'oh. That was the wrong question.
Buffy nodded, "Yes, we have nice weather, the weather fine." What was he doing? She knew from talking to Rona that she and Riley had become friends with like, a big brother sister thing going on, and that she was having feelings for one of the doctors that worked with Xander's father.
Now what was that man trying to do? Whatever it was, it was amusing. It looked like he was trying to ask her out or something.
Riley sighed, "I'll...see you later." Damn it. Why did he freeze like that? With a hanging head he walked away.
Buffy blinked. He was actually walking away. "Riley. Wait!" she said, running up to him. "Why don't the two of us catch some breakfast together?" she smiled up at him, testing her theory.
The brilliant smile and scream of "YES Buffy," confirmed her theory. He liked her. As in liked her, liked her. The two walked together to the breakfast table.
-KNM-
Meanwhile in a different part of the USA.
The Space and Naval Warfare System Center in San Diego
The military dolphin research center
D4-D4, the protocol droid Xander had found on the Dagger and adopted, was walking nervously with his master alongside the dolphins playing in the pool. Beside him R3, Xander's trusted old friend, was standing firm, waiting for whatever the order was.
Xander leaned down, listening to the playing mammals. Ever since he watched Flipper as a child he'd wanted to swim with dolphins. Now, being on Earth and having gills on him, the urge had grown almost too great. "D4-D4, listen to the recordings and help translate them. They have a language and are intelligent. R3, help him create a translation program that their computers can handle. I know, they are primitive, extremely primitive, computers." He could feel it. Their thoughts were alien, but friendly.
Xander jumped into the water and soon the dolphins surrounded him. Most of them had trackers mounted on their flippers, but that didn't seem to bother them.
He waved with his hand as he dived further down towards the exit hatch. The dolphins followed, joyfully joining in the game with the strange human diver. He could sense that they were worried that he would drown.
On the bridge Jaina smiled, while beside her Willow looked with awe at the playing dolphins. It was Chloe and Danni's turn to sit guard in the big old Dagger corvette. They had used the A-Wing and X-Wing to switch personnel. With the two fighters starting from the Enterprise and then switching the personnel on the Dagger, the humans of Earth couldn't do anything foolish.
"Ma'm, is he going to be alright?" one of the soldiers asked.
Jaina giggled. "He's fine. Didn't you notice the gills on his neck? Xander has amphibian abilities. He's a near-human as we call them. In Xander's case, he was genetically adapted and improved to create a super soldier." It was true in a way. During Xander's journey to her universe the beings bringing him there had improved him to a super warrior level.
One of the soldier grinned, "Jedi and Captain America in one. Jedis so rule!" he said.
One of them snorted. "Luke would SO kick Captain-A's butt."
The first guy leaned forward. "Yeah? What if Captain America was also trained as a Jedi?" The second guy fell silent and then said, "He would SO rule."
Jaina sighed, looking at Captain Carter. "Could you translate?" she asked.
Carter snorted, "Not in a million years. Let's see what your bucket of bolts can do with the language."
D4-D4 looked insulted. "I am not a bucket of bolts. I'm D4-D4, fluent in over four million forms of communications and..." he was interrupted by Jaina's hand and voice. "Then show them. Help them translate the language. Create an English to dolphin translation program."
The droid was silent as he followed them inside the computer room. "I do not know why they call this machine a computer. I feel insulted that they even compare them to real computers," he said, irritated by the low tech level.
R3 agreed with D4 on that they were primitive computers. Those computers were just incredibly primitive, but unlike D4, he felt almost awe. In a way he has being given the chance to work with the original, the first primitive tool that was a computer. It was like seeing an archaeologist or an anthropologist having a chance to have a sincere discussion with a cave man. R3 felt respect for the humans who were doing so much work with computers this primitive and he hoped that whoever created 'Windows' would stop using drugs.
Carter, more used to the droid, giggled, "Why, you are not a computer," she said.
D4-D4 nodded. "Indeed I'm not, but all droids and sentient computer systems acknowledge the fact that we are related. By the Maker, these cans you call computers are as closely related to me as a horse or an ape is to you. It is an insult."
Jaina sighed, "They're a long way from real computers." She looked at the 'Windows Vista' program running on the screen. "Even longer than I suspected" Shivers fell down her back.
Outside Willow had splashed into the pool and was playing with a friendly dolphin. A scientist kept an eye out on her. That dolphin was a bit of a joker. He loved to surprise humans by splashing them, even going as far as throwing a football at unsuspecting visitors.
Willow could feel its emotions. It was strange, alien even. More alien than she had ever felt before, but even with as little training as she had, she could feel that it was intelligent and playful.
"What are you up to?" she whispered then squealed as the dolphin suddenly swam under her legs and she was taken on a wild ride around the pool.
The scientist snorted at the surprised red-head who now was riding on Joker around the pool.
Deeper down the dolphins following Xander had tried to save him before he could drown, but he had talked to them, mind to mind. That was a bit difficult because the mind of the dolphin was alien and strange compared to humans. Their intelligence wasn't dependent on tool use and their culture didn't create technology. So they had different priorities in life and as a culture. That was one of the many difficulties in talking to them.
He found that dolphins had a well equipped sense of time. Day or night was not that important, but they all knew how long it was until the ebb and flood of the tides would start. Time was far more important to them than to the human mind. And yet they ignored most of the time difference.
An alien mind, a predator by nature, a hunter of fish and smaller mammals, yet friendly and playful.
Xander smiled. The dolphins were truly worthy beings to talk to.
As they learned of his amphibian abilities the game changed, now that they were no longer worried about him. Now they wanted to show him around. They almost argued over and a fight almost started about what they would show him.
The old alpha dolphin, a female, interrupted the two young trouble makers. She told them what they could show their new friend and she would swim with him.
Xander was grateful. He had to use the Force to keep up with them and the things they showed him were impressive, if you were a dolphin. Xander was amused by the experience. They showed him different places to swim and play and a reef that had extra tasty fish in it.
Hours later he and the dolphins were all tired as they helped him back to the bridge.
"Xander, how are you?" Willow asked as she lifted him up on the bridge.
Xander snorted, forcing the water out of his lungs and mouth, and then snorted again, removing the water in his ears. "Tired, we had lots of fun today," he said, petting one of the dolphins on its head.
Jaina kissed him, "Yeah, we had fun too. D4-D4 managed to create a translation program for the dolphins. It is not perfect, but they can use it to talk to them." Snuggling in she could feel how cold Xander was. "You're freezing," she said. Xander said nothing, just snuggled in between the girls, shivering.
Sure Jaina, Xander and most likely Willow too knew that he could use the Force to absorb and dissipate energy to warm himself, but snuggling up side by side with his wife and his best friend was a so much nicer way to warm himself.
Then Samantha -Evil- Carter came and ruined it. "Here Sir, I brought you a blanket to warm yourself," she said with a friendly voice. The blanket had been sitting on a heating element so it was warm, just over body temperature, perfect for the cold and freezing Jedi Master to warm himself with.
She just couldn't understand why he glared at her or why the girls were frowning at her.
Swallowing his irritation Xander mustered a fake grateful, "Thanks. Now I'm warm again."
One of many scientists, Arnold Schwarz, came over. He was a scrawny man who was born in Austria. As a child he grew up only a short distance from Thal, only fifteen miles or so. Born 1958 he was 11 years younger than another man who also grew up in Thal.
The two people, with such similar names, never met each other and where Arnold Schwarz entered the world of science, the other Arnold became famous. Arnold Schwarz did not enjoy seeing Terminator or any other movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it. It didn't help that his dialect was similar to the one the actor still had.
"I have to say, the program your droid has created is impressive. I hope you can be back soon."
Some of the soldiers behind him snickered as he said 'be back'. He ignored it for the first time ever. He enjoyed seeing a robot walking around and unlike the other Arnold, this one was real.
D4-D4's voice was happy as he answered. "I'm so glad to see somebody who appreciates my skills."
They all ignored him.
The droid kept talking to the soldiers, as he had discovered that they had been ordered either to stand still or be silent or both, so he wanted to help them enjoy their work by talking to them.
A soldier groaned as he was forced to listen to the droid babbling on. If he only had a blaster...
Xander said: "Thanks, Arnold." He blinked. "Hey, did anybody ever tell you that you sound like the actor?"
Arnold sighed, "I know. We grew up near each other and no, I never met him or see him in my life."
Xander smiled, a bit crocked. "Get it. You suffer lots of Arnold jokes, lots of I bee back jokes."
Arnold sighed. "Yes, you would never image how much."
"O that's so sad." Willow said. "But your work is so much more important than his work is." she said, smiling. "It's not like he's or could be a governor or something."
Xander got a strange flash of the future. He had a feeling that Arnold wouldn't like to visit California.
Arnold smiled, "Thanks."
They followed the scientist inside where the primitive super-computers worked with the new translation program the droids had created. A program so advanced, that in two years the program would revolutionize the computer industry as a portable translator program which would be build into mobile phones. Nokia would manage to create the first successful version of a mobile translator telephone, right now though it was working to translate something simple. It was an English-Dolphin translation program, with the option to be used to translate other languages. It was after all a state of the art translation logarithm.
Arnold was fascinated. D4 had managed to translate and talk with the dolphins in hours, something they had spent years trying and failing to do. Sure, it was not a complete understanding between the dolphins and D4 because of the shortness of time, but the translation program he left the scientists should be able to do the rest.
"I never knew they were that smart," he said as they all drank coffee.
Xander looked at his cup. "They are and they are not. What you have to understand is that humans are tool using sentient beings who live in a world with 5 dimensions. Up, front, back, right and left. Down is not something we have to worry about as much as they do. The dolphins have up, down, front, back, left, right. Like the human brain, they are programmed to live in that environment. They also have a great sense of time, but like I said, their brain is not rigged for tools like ours are. Our brain has evolved towards problem solving and creating more new tools. The dolphins are smart enough that they can learn to use tools when given some, but it would take a miracle for a dolphin to create a new tool from scratch."
Arnold nodded. "I see. They have greater situational awareness than we have and a different way of handling problem solving." He smiled. "If we could adapt an airplane for a dolphin to pilot, he could become quite at it, I guess."
Xander nodded. "Absolutely, their body would handle G-powers better than ours would too, but it might take time for them to understand our way of looking at things. Like for instance, why should he pilot anything at all?" He grinned. "But we might be wrong about the pilot idea. I'm not an expert on analyzing abilities."
Willow blinked. She was trying to image the USA air force with dolphins as pilots and was failing.
Arnold nodded. "We have much to learn before we can figure out what they can learn and are good at."
-KNM-
One day later in LA
Riley smiled as he held Buffy's hand. "You know, I've wanted a chance to get to know you ever since you crashed down in the living room?"
Buffy blushed. "Really? You never said anything." She smiled. He was so dreamy.
On the other side of the restaurant Danni was trying to keep herself amused, since Xander was in the Dagger Corvette, he somehow got Jack O'Neal and Willow up there with him. It was so unfair. She had wanted time alone with him and Jaina. At least she had Jaina to amuse herself with.
It was so funny seeing the earthlings shocked and surprised looks when they saw her kiss both of them. Samantha Carter was especially amusing. Her dislike of anything that looked like a harem was so strange. Right now she felt like she wasn't welcome at the military base. They had arranged for her to take some time out from the place.
All she did was to yell at General Hammond and that Vice President guy. She had discovered that a cruel injustice was being done to all the poor guys and girls working in the military or Air Force or whatever. First, the soldiers were not allowed to have sex if they served in the same line of command, if she'd understood it correctly, and secondly, homosexual and even bi-sexual relationships were disapproved off.
Naturally she had talked to them about how unfair the government was to their army and military. Now they were all angry with her. Life was just not fair. All she wanted was to help them. Was that so wrong? She lowered her head, looking down at the table. Life and humans were so hard to understand sometimes, even for an empath like her or any Zeltron. They had difficulties understanding how humans could be so afraid of pleasure and joy. Sitting beside her Jaina sighed as she hugged her Danni. Being a Zeltron among humans was not always easy.
A Zeltron knew automatically if their partner wanted to have sex or not. Rape was a crime no Zeltron ever committed. If his or her partner did not enjoy the sexual act, then half the pleasure was removed. And of course most Zeltrons found it difficult to understand just how confusing other humans found it trying to understand another person or even their own emotions. Never mind understanding why someone would rape or even torture another person. Killing and murder were easier to understand than rape or torture was for a Zeltron. Sex was as natural as air to any Zeltron, the idea that it could be scary or emotionally difficult was too alien for most Zeltrons to grasp.
-KNM-
About the same time near Mars, inside a Dagger Corvette
"I don't need this," Jack complained.
"Close your eyes. Follow your instincts." Xander said with glee. Jack was not the strongest Jedi he had ever seen, but his ability to learn Force skills was of the scale. Not even HE learned that fast and he had impressed Luke and generations of dead Jedi ghosts with his abilities.
The tiny remote floated up in the air over them as it started to fire its stingers. (Stinger = Tiny blaster that is unable to penetrate human skin, but sure stings and burns when it hits you.)
"Ouch," Jack said, holding his rump.
Xander said, "Feel it in the Force. Don't just react, let the Force guide you."
Jack muttered "Alex Guinness you are not." He complained, but focused just like the stupid Yoda wannabe asshole with gills wanted. His training lightsaber did it. He parried the first stinger bolt the second he felt where it would be before it was even fired. "Ouch" Ok, that one he missed.
"Focus," Xander said, his voiced deep with mind effect, helping his student keep his mind focused.
Beside them Willow was doing the same exercise, but unlike Jack, she didn't complain much. "Ouch. You meany!" Well, not too much.
Looking at the time Xander smiled to himself. "Alright put down the blades, both of you have done well. Willow, you improved rapidly, I'm impressed. Jack, the speed of your improvement is off the scale, but you have much to learn and I am not staying long, so we have to push you a bit more. Aren't you happy that I taught you the Jedi meditation which shortens the need of sleep?"
Jack muttered something about stupid fish aliens with gills enslaving and torturing him and if not him, then his wives, one of them or both. "Yeah, thanks, I enjoy that. Before we met I so never believed I could miss my 8 hours of sleep so much." Why was he always the butt end of the universe's joke?
Xander grinned. "Well, then you might not like my gift."
Jack did a 180. "Gift? I like gifts. Gifts are good, me nice boy. Obey master, yes I'm a good slave, gimme gift."
Willow giggled and said, "Student, not slave."
Jack shrugged. "Student, slave, same thing. Just a more political correct name, especially when he's concerned," he said in a fake whisper, pointing at Xander.
Xander held out three small packages.
Like a kid Jack opened them. "Sweet!" The first was his own lightsaber and an extra power cell. "Thanks," he said in awe, testing it. A green blade, that was so cool.
Xander smiled. "Sooner or later you have to build your own lightsaber. The extra power cell is a spare if anything happens. Otherwise I suggest you scavenge parts from the old blade I just gave you or just adapt that blade so it is attuned to you."
Jack nodded. Xander had explained how he could 'get to know' the blade, make it part of himself by meditating and focusing his own powers into the different components. Since all Jedi sooner or later had to build their own lightsabers and the power cell was so useful. It would take perhaps five years, counting optimistically, or more before Earth would be able to copy the technology used in a lightsaber even using the detailed drawings Xander had given them.
Willow squealed out, "The other package." She was curious, damn it.
Jack looked up. "Nah, I think I'm going to open them in private." he said, sniffing a bit. "I think I need a shower."
The pale look on Willow's face and the croaked, "No, I want to know," was its own reward.
Jack smiled, hiding his laugh. "Sure, I'll open them now." Besides he was so curios himself that he wouldn't be able to wait until the privacy of his room.
The second package was different. There was a big thick book inside with the title "Jedi for Dummies". "No, you did not," Jack said in awe.
Xander nodded. "I did. I used the droids in this ship and R3 helped me. It's a learning and teaching manual written by me, each and every skill and power a Jedi has to learn, with the easy and the hard way of learning them. The book is of a soft plastic material far more durable than paper. I also included a tiny 3D computer data base. The one I said I would give you. That one has almost all I know about the Force in it. It is a mix between English and Basic. So I included an English-Basic lexicon written by D4-D4."
Jack smiled as he looked into the book. The illustrations were SO bad that he simply loved them. "Who did the illustrations? Did you kidnap a five year old?"
Xander growled out, "HEY, I'm not that bad."
The snorting sound from Jack, Willow and R3 proved him wrong.
"What about the last gift?" Willow asked.
Xander smiled as Jack opened it and found a tiny scanner.
"Um what's this?" Jack asked.
Xander answered him, "That is what you need to test a possible student to see if he has the potential to learn the Force or not."
Jack paled "I... You want me to..?"
Xander held up his hand, "No. I give you the potential, if you want to in the future. From what I can see of the future, Jedi on Earth might be the greatest defense the planet could have. But if you do it wrong, they could become almost as dangerous." he said calmly.
Jack nodded, looking at the now dangerous seeming scanner. His power level was weak, but Xander had taught him many skills and the power was growing, it felt as if it was improving by the day or the hour as something missing in him had finally been found. He closed his eyes, meditating over this.
When life gave you lemons, you made lemonade, but what would you do, if life throws your life into a loop? Do a home run? And the future was a mess, millions of options rushing and screaming to show him what they considered the future to be. Xander did say it would be easier to focus on the most likely futures.
As Jack pondered the future he walked over to where Xander was teaching Willow. Now that looked sweet. Xander walked around Willow, pointing at the floor where a circle was painted. "That, Willow, is the core secret of form 3. Soretsu. The circle, a shield of protection. Try to see you and your lightsaber forming a bubble around you with the radius of that circle, the so called Soretsu shield. Inside that circle, you are protected against attacks. Soretsu is the defensive form and it gives you a superior defense, but the attack is weak. Jaina is a master of this form and of form 2 Makashi."
Willow nodded. They had tested and showed her the basic of Makashi. Xander believed they should learn the basics of all 6 forms, then improve each according to which they liked the most.
He raised his lightsaber. "Jack, jump into the second circle. I don't have much time teaching you, so we're going to start showing you Soretsu basic and form 6 Niman. I'm really going to push you in the Niman later."
Jack nodded, "What is so special about Niman?" he asked.
Xander looked at Willow, "Tell him."
Willow blushed then nodded, "Form 6 Niman has no weakness and no special advantage. Unlike Form 2 Makashi, it is strong against single enemies, weak against range attacks and superior numbers, but a master in Makashi can easily compensate and against powerful attacks, use form 3 Soretsu."
She was interrupted. "I get it," Jack said. "Niman is the golden middle road."
Xander nodded. "Yes, there are over 10 000 years of research in this. Personally, I believe that Makashi would suite you more than Niman, but I have given you enough 3D holo projection examples so you should be able to learn all of them by yourself and Niman is more useful for a student. Makashi demands a master. A true master in Makashi knows he is superior and refuses to be defeated in combat. You'll find a part of the victory in lightsaber combat is attitude. Makashi lies in trusting your own superiority during combat or simply put, thinking that my skills are superior to yours. Niman says nothing is too much."
Jack grinned. He started to like Niman.
"Um, what is Soretsu?" Willow asked.
Xander blinked. "I will protect."
They were silent as the lesson began.
An hour later a tired Willow walked away to rest. Xander said she had done well today and unlike Jack, she had plenty of time to learn. The two warriors stood side by side, moving together as Jack learned the moves of Niman and Soretsu.
The combat raged Willow considered what she had learned, standing in her room. She knew that Xander had given the form the new attitude description and it fitted. You had to have the right attitude to win the fight.
Form 2 Makashi was called the Way of the Ysalamari or the contention form.
Form 3 was Way of the Mynock or resilience form.
Both names were fitting, like a Ysalamari Makashi forced his victory against other Force users through subtlety and not by superior strength against the enemies weakness. And Soretsu was like a Mynock, one of the most resilient life forms in the galaxy that could survive almost anywhere. Soretsu was all about surviving.
The Niman she had not yet studied or tested. It was called the Way of the Rancor or the Moderation form. She guessed that to the attitude of a Rancor or a master in Niman, no enemy is too great.
She did wondered what form 1 the Sarlacc or the Determination form had for an attitude in the book of Xander. Finding a paper on her bed she read.
Form 1 -determination form- no surrender.
Form 4 Ataru -Aggression form- Surrender or die.
Form 5 Shien-Djem,So. -Perseverance form- I will endure any opposition.
She blinked as she read that note. How did he know she would wonder about that? Keeping reading she saw an explanation.
'The attitude is a focusing help for Jack. He often uses his attitude as a focus to improve his own force of will. This is not that different from your own way of acting and behaving. I also expected that you'd wonder about the others as you tend to over-analyze things.'
"Hey I do. Perhaps I do over-analyze sometimes," Willow defended herself before she kept reading.
'Using these attitudes as a focus in your understanding of the combat form might help you speed up your learning. Half, if not more, of the power in the fighting forms comes from your connection to the power of the Force and your will to win the fight.'
Willow read, then re-read the paper.
