The Scooby Gang
Book III: Settling Inn
Disclaimer: I have no property rights to any published or copyrighted material that is reserved to those that make money from ideas which I do not.
Summery: The third book on the now dimensionally stranded Scoobies. With the manor stuck in Yellow Space they utilize the doors to have a life outside the manor as the group grows closer to finding their personal place in multiverse..
Sequel to 'The Scooby Gang Book 1' and 'The Scooby Gang Book 2'
Warning: Multi Ship M/FFF ahead!
Crossovers: Harry Potter, Stargate, Honor Harrington, and Highlander
CHAPTER 9: Manticore and Beyond
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Taking a Cutter from the docking port down to the surface of Manticore was a very exasperating affair. It made him think of the Iris Doorways and that for some reason triggered a memory of what he saw through the viewing portal when they rescued Egeria. The ship to surface drops with those ring transports might come in handy. It made a bit more sense as the reason the magical effect were so much better were more aligned with science then magic. 'Of course Clarke claimed any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' He smirked adding his own take on that quote, 'Maybe it's just that any significantly advanced understanding can understand magic to the point that it's just another branch of science?'
Giles let Willard know that they were incoming and Willard set the appointment with the Admiralty for BuShips. "I'm here for a meeting with Lucy Danvers, she's an admiral, I think."
He scratched his head as he was unsure if she was an admiral or not. After all he only got a second hand instruction on where to go and who to meet.
The woman seemed to blink for a moment and Xander felt the humorous emotion bubbling up inside her as she kept her barring.
"She's in her office right through there. I'll announce you," she told him kindly.
He sighs with relief and tells her who he is, "Xander LeVelle with LeVelle Industries." He added with smooth humor, "It seems that my financial wizard is hell bent on insuring I'm surprised by whatever they want." He shivered, "I can only hope, with his sense of humor, it's a good surprise."
She giggles a moment and then blushes as she reasserted her barring. It wouldn't be good to lead him into the office laughing.
She led him into the office announcing their entry before actually entering and saw the Admiral sigh with relief.
"Mr. LeVelle, it's good to see you again. I haven't seen you since the presentation at the Weapons Development Board for the BuShips and BuWeaps."
The secretary made her exit regardless of her curiosity.
"Yes." Xander smiles pleasantly at her and adds, "I've been working on acquiring more Naquadah; it isn't exactly an easy process."
Lucy nods, she'd read the report on the safe harvesting methodology for the rare valuable material. She understood that he'd been busy. She'd been tempted to find out where he was but had held off even though she was unsure that ONI, Office of Navel Intelligence, would know where he was.
"I contacted Mr. Neufsteiler because BuShips has found a method of utilizing aspects of the technology you gave us access to."
Xander raised an eyebrow and waved at the chair and she nodded. "Sorry, sit, please. Would you like a drink?"
He shook his head.
"Very well," the admiral continues professionally, "the utilization is different but many of the aspects of those globes you had are utilized in the design."
"I don't see a problem with that. I mean some of the tech is similar, but it isn't the same thing then?"
She winces before shaking her head negative, "By rights everything you presented to the board is your property or the property of the LeVelle Cartel."
Xander gave an uncomfortable cringe, "Industries, where I'm from usually the word 'cartel', is reserved for criminal organizations. LeVelle Industries has offices in other locations that are still that way."
She raises an eyebrow and shrugs. "The issue is that we need to test it. You own the rights to it, and the only way to successfully test it is to install it on the ships we build. And that means that at least the Hauptman Cartel will need to be shown the tech base. This normally wouldn't be an issue because they have a stake in most technology development originations, so keeping it in-house is marginally easy to do. That isn't the case with this, because they have no stake in your c… industry. I have Vice Admiral Adcock, Admiral Courvoisier, Admiral Hemphill, Admiral Sarnow, and Vice Admiral Givens, who are aware either because they were at the weapons board or were briefed on it. All six of us have had our people look over the designs and we want to give the rights to put them into action to the Hauptman Cartel but without your consent we're stuck."
Xander exhaled giving her a nod and asking, "Will I need to meet with anyone or…?"
She gives him an affirmative gesture quickly. "Admiral Courvoisier, Sarnow, and Hemphill wish to go over the designs with you and I think the former wants to meet you." She smiled a bit.
Xander raises an eyebrow so Admiral Danvers explains, "You made quite an impression your last visit and you should be aware that many of those on the board have differing views on battle strategy."
"You're all admirals. I'd be worried if you all had a fixated view and shared it."
She blinked and smiled slightly. She resisted the urge to ask the wise young man how old he was.
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Xander decided he liked the short man; Raoul Courvosier was a reminder of Buffy for some reason. Perhaps it was his height, maybe the presence he exuded, or maybe it the twinkling mischievous eyes. If it wasn't Buffy then maybe the twin brother's of Ron and Ginny, but Xander hadn't spent much time with the twins. The vitality of life that made him like Buffy in other than sexual ways was fully present in Raoul.
Xander smiles widely and turning to Raoul, "You know, I'm glad they brought you into this, but I don't quite understand why."
Raoul nods, "My job before this was to teach advanced tactics at Saganami Island. They wanted my tactical thoughts on these sited limitations. They wanted to know if it was worth it to revamp the entire fleet. You see they can't use any of the old systems which are used to communicate with our adversaries when they surrender or merchants when they require assistance, both ours and other star nations'. This means twice the systems; twice the training needed for the tech, twice the number of places you can screw up and more people will need to man those systems."
Xander gave him a half nod; he wasn't familiar enough with space travel to understand the nuances of their needs first hand and had never served in the chaos of a ship full of crew like these.
"I was called in to see what protocols we can come up with that would be tactically sound and would increase onboard efficiency. We also have to worry about maintaining the tactical advantage if our hardware is taken by the enemy. My job is to poke holes in as many issues that could arise as possible so they can fix them before we use the tech base in the field."
Xander understood that, and tells him, "Glad I don't have your job. I have enough trouble finding issues in my own life with them plastered across my face, to do that to others…?" he shrugged and shivered.
Raoul laughs. "It takes time and experience. If you don't mind my asking, exactly how old are you?"
Xander shrugs his left shoulder and answers honestly, "I'll be eighteen T years old in about a week."
Courvoisier goggles at that. "With Prolong so widely available and its effect on halting the aging process so effectively, I'd have thought you were at least in the late twenties, for T years."
Xander shrugs amusingly. "I didn't get Prolong until a week before the BuWeaps meeting. It wasn't available where I was from, completely isolated tech base; some things are more advanced but others." He shrugged shaking his head negative.
It made a very unusual sense to Raoul and he asked, "Are all your people as intelligent as you seem to be?"
Xander gawked at that, he wasn't what most would think of as intelligent by his own opinion. "I'm not that smart. I had all this explained to me and I have a gift of easily understanding what people mean when they talk to me, but that doesn't mean I invented any of this."
Raoul smiled at the humble protest, it reminded him startlingly of Honor Harrington and math, and gave him the shivers at comparing someone new to her.
"Intelligence isn't just inventiveness, even if that's an aspect of it. You already said you understand it easily when people tell you things. That is the mark of a strong intellect. Have you ever come up with something yourself utilizing basic understanding of the aspects of what others came up with? Taken something and made something else?"
Xander shrugs then nods admitting, "A few times."
Xander was thinking of the Doorways and Irises as they were the last thing he did that with, but then again he was the one to recommend utilizing the aspects of tech-base in missiles to downsize their technology.
"That means you have imagination to add to understanding. All you really need Xander is an education. You're slightly ignorant which can be corrected with time and experience and with you I think that those facets of education will come to you. What are your plans for the future?"
Xander shrugs, "I'm harvesting Naquadah right now, it's a full time job but I'm getting tons of it so it isn't a problem that will continue on indefinitely."
Raoul nods, he'd have to inquire what this Naquadah is later. He recalled it was on the brief he'd read but he couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly.
"I meant to say; what are your plans for the future as to furthering your education? You've spent, what, almost a year doing the same job? I bet that you've pretty much perfected your education in that regard. You need to cross train as much as you can to round out your education. With Prolong you are going to live a much longer life."
Xander nods thinking about it. "I've been working on the idea of a building a ship; you know with my own two hands, fabrication to product?"
Raoul smiles nodding at the young man, "You like working with your hands I take it?"
Xander blushes slightly but gives his ascent. "I like building things. I suppose I like blowing things up too." He admitted that last bit with a smirk.
Raoul laughs before changing the subject lightly, "What did you think of Klaus Hauptman?"
Raoul realized Xander was just a boy still working at being a man, even if he was doing a damn fine job of it.
Xander gave a gesture. "I'm not sure." Clarifying his 'non answer' he elucidates on what he is so unsure about, "I get this feeling that he's a short sighted rough-it rich boy that never grew up! Sorry…"
Raoul didn't laugh, though he found it funny. "That's about right. I've heard that he's very caring to his employees, considers them extended family. I don't know if I'd say he was a good man but he could be."
Xander nodded. "I wouldn't say he was a bad guy… no villain. And if I saw someone ready to beat the crap out of him, unless I knew what was going on, I'd help him out. There are quite a few I wouldn't."
Raoul nods with a grin, "Same for me. I know quite a few I would likely let them settle the balance before I stepped in."
"He seemed to be a bit fixated on the idea that he would be leasing the technology and wouldn't be able to reproduce it outside of military ships."
Raoul nods he wasn't surprised at Xander picking that up after all he was bright lad, he decided to explain what Xander was fishing for, "He has a merchant fleet that could make good use of the communications tech but he knew that was lost going in, there was far too much risk. We are going to put in the receivers for it so they can work without the encryption on civilian channels."
Xander understood. "I didn't see an issue with that, and really I didn't see that much of an issue with the other. Eventually you'll be able to set it up to tell when anyone is listening; the established contact protocols should be a leg up on it."
Raoul was not a technology expert so shrugged. "Don't know and they might but it would be better to ensure the system works before trying to negotiate into civilian use."
"I'm just glad they won't interfere with the orbs."
"Why is that?"
"Oh, I sold one to the captain at the BuWeaps development board. A couple of them actually; so she could stay in contact with her mother and father on Sphinx while she's gallivanting around the local verse. I'd hate have them unable to work on ship."
Raoul lifts an eyebrow. "Wasn't the only captain there Captain Harrington?"
Xander nods with a grin, he could tell the man knew her and was amused at their acquaintance, "She set me up with Willard, my financial wizard as partial payment. They don't really cost that much to make and unless you know how to operate them you'll think they are some kind of baseball or some adult toy and not think of it as advanced technology."
He smiled and nodded.
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Xander entered the Manor slightly intoxicated. He'd only had two beers, his personal limit, and he had plans on obtaining an inhaler that would remove the intoxicating effects just in case. The only people at the manor who really drink were Joyce, Giles, and Janna, and even then it wasn't enough to get drunk.
He sat with a thump and Giles looked up.
"Are you unwell?" he asked looking the young man over.
"Had two beers with Admiral Courvoisier… Raoul" He corrected, he'd been asked to call him that name instead of his military title. "I'm a bit tipsy."
Giles smiles slightly, "I see." He knew Xander's father had problems with alcohol. It was good to see the young lad didn't allow that to impede upon him.
"We signed contracts today. They have a communication system that is neigh instantaneous within the system and takes seconds lag time within twenty light years of the local system's gravitational well. They're having the Hauptman Cartel put them into the ships when they build them as an added secondary comm. system."
Giles nods at the younger man, "And they wished to have our authorization to inform this other organization?"
Xander was pleased his mentor had caught that. "Usually the cartel is at least partial owner of the systems they use which provides some leeway. This was something that had never really come up before. I'm going to rent an apartment here for the next five years and leave one of the Irises here."
Giles is supportive of the idea, "That might be a good thing; are you planning on informing Willard?"
Xander pauses giving Giles a tipsy shrug. "He's a good man. I have no qualms about informing him of the Iris."
"Wonderful."
He liked the other man, it was like some of the friends he had in London before he left to Sunnydale.
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Xander approaches Willard's office.
The man looked out at him and widened his smiled. "Xander" he opened the door for him. "How was the meeting with the Admiralty?"
"It was good, Willard. You feel up to a break? I set up an apartment and wanted to introduce you to the rest of my family."
He looks around and shrugs. "Julie can take care of the office for the rest of the day."
The woman, Xander assumed was named Julie, nodded pleasantly.
"Great!" he smiled.
Willard grabs his coat and Xander asks as they leave, "I'm going to need to add the Grayson's information to the financials you have, if that's alright?"
Willard nods, "That's fine, are you planning on me handling accounts there or moving money back and forth?"
Xander shrugs and tells him, "I'd like to keep a balance. So if you move money out of a semi enclosed economic system I'd like there to be a significant reason or balance, such as an import of products that will help their standard of living."
The man smiled, the young man wasn't an economist but he had some basic understanding and didn't want to hurt the Grayson economy.
"I'll make sure that anything I do will have a counter balance to ensure it doesn't harm their economy."
Xander smiles that Willard understood his desire. It was about twenty minutes before they got to the apartment parking and the air car slid into the slot for his apartment.
"When I leave, you'll have the keys to the apartment." He said getting out and Willard frowned not understanding.
With a smile at the frowning man he tells him, "You'll see in a moment."
They entered the apartment and the 'art' caught Willard's attention.
"What is that?" he asked.
"This is an Iris. I've just developed them. This one should allow transportation to Grayson once I set the other one up at the apartment there. Right now the other side is between places."
"Between…" he gawked as the man stepped through, and then waved Willard, from the other side, to follow.
Willard gulps before following him. There was no uneasy sensation as he'd expected.
Glancing back at the iris he can't help but say, "Wow!"
"Indeed." Xander smirked. "I wasn't born in your realm. When I say that I mean I was born in a different realm on Earth in the year 1980. That's 1980 Anno Domini."
Willard had to grab the wall to stop the world from spinning as he realized the boy was the truth, "Good god!" He muttered.
Xander smiles at him, "The world is older then people think. By world I mean our prime world, the world which we sprung from, Earth. My family was part of a group that fought against the darkness plaguing humanity. I don't mean the peeps, they're just humans. Not that all things not human are part of the darkness…" he enumerated.
He waved him out and they went outside. Willard just stared gawking at the yellowish red space that seemed almost unnatural in its vastness, or maybe a natural as a single ship on open sea.
He asks his host, "That's really there isn't it?"
Xander nods. "This is Giles, Janna, Joyce, Dawn, Egeria, Angel, and Dawnie." He pointed at the large bird-like creature that was coming in for a landing. "The hippogriff is Buckbeak." He walked over giving a half bow and then rubbing the creature's beak fondly.
Weakly he tastes the name, "Hippogriff?"
Xander nods, "Yea he's our resident guardian, aren't you little fella?"
Willard was at a loss for words.
"Come and say hi, just bow before you do."
He did and smiled as the feeling of the soft down of the feathers.
With fondness he utters, "Quite amazing!"
Xander nods and the rest of the meeting went very well. Willard realized why he had to start from scratch with Xander and the LeVelle industries.
They were leaving two Irises in the apartment, one to the Manor and one to Grayson. Xander had already went through and set it up from the manor's Iris. He'd sent one through the Doorway already but it was just in the middle of the room. He'd also given Willard a warning about eating the food or breathing the air on Grayson due to the heavy metals there. He'd been appalled but understood.
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The Joyce was ready to leave the docking bay. Everything had been seen to on Manticore and they were ready to head back to Grayson. Xander was there to observe Giles actions as the docking was something that he still needed to learn.
Dawnie comes rushing out of the Iris from the Manor and her voice is laden with excitement, "There's a ship in the yellow space!"
Dawnie doesn't wait for them she rushes back through the Iris her job done and she really didn't want to be on the ship, not when she could miss something happening in Yellow Space, why she says yellow instead of yellow-red, red-yellow, or even Manor's Space, he didn't know.
Giles gapes at the Iris Dawnie just left for almost a full minute before rushing after Xander who had already started for the Manor's Iris.
The Joyce would remain docked easily for a few moments longer at least.
The End
