Friday Morning, Sunnydale Motorlodge, Sunrise.

Half an hour after their morning run, Sam was sitting at the diner with the rest of SG1 with her laptop open in front of her. Her assistant, Crysta, at the SGC had forwarded to her a collection of IP Addresses to servers that housed most of the city's databases, as well as their logons and passwords. She was almost certain that the network administrators for those systems were unaware of those particular accounts, given the nature of the names, such as "plokta," "theanykey," and her favorite "id10t." Sam had already finished most of her breakfast, and was just nibbling on her muffin with her coffee while Jack and Teal'c were on their second helpings.

"General Hammond had Crysta send me the police report on the bank robbery. There isn't much here, other than a list of suspects. The primary suspects at the moment are a group of high school students, and the other primary suspects, gang members on PCP, seem to have been eliminated because it was daylight. From what Admiral Harris put in his report, which was a lot more complete and thorough by the way, the police are calling them the primary suspects, and ignoring the reports about the person in armor actually being the one to rob the bank."

"What I want to know is how you rate an assistant?"

"Well sir, Daniel and I both rate assistants because we are geeks."

"I see."

"And we filled out the paperwork."

Daniel chuckled quietly before getting kicked under the table, "Ow. Was that really necessary Jack?"

"What?" was his only reply.

"Anyway, sir, you could likely get an entire staff of your own, if you just filled out the paperwork. I mean, you are a Colonel and second in command of the SGC," Sam continued.

"Yeah, but I don't know that I'd really want a whole office full of Walters running around."

"Walter is very efficient, and you might always get lucky and get someone like Crysta instead."

"She is a cute little thing, isn't she?" Jack looked over at Sam before asking, "So tell me, every time you see her, do you have the urge to give her a pat on the head and a cookie?"

"Um, no sir, and I wouldn't recommend it. I know she can kick my butt, and I'm fairly certain that she could take Teal'c."

"No way. Never happen."

"Sir, you do know that she teaches Kung Fu?"

"That little girl knows kung fu? She's what, four foot ten and eighty five pounds soaking wet?"

"She told me when she first arrived that she's been studying Kung Fu since she was four, so going on twenty years now. She is also getting ready to take her First Dan rating in Aikido, so yes, I think she could take the four of us. The only reason she didn't qualify for Off World missions is because she just can't pass her marksmanship tests. Put anything that could even pretend to be medieval in her hands and she'll go to town on you, but she just can't shoot straight. She did pass the armory qualification, and she beat my field-striping and reassembly time."

"She's really that good?" Sam nodded. "Damn. Guess that'll teach me not to judge a book by its cover." Jack seemed to think about it for a few moments, "Ok, Daniel and I are going to walk around town, see what there is to see around here. Sam you play with your computer some more, see if you can't find out more about our friendly neighborhood Fleet Admiral. Teal'c, watch her back. I don't know why, but this town gives me the creeps."

As Jack and Daniel walked out of the motel room, Daniel asked, "So Jack, how's the shoulder holding up?"

"Good, little annoying this morning, but it works again, thanks to the doc."


Other side of town

"Well, that's the last of the witnesses from the police reports, all we have left are the suspects."

"Gangs on PCP aren't exactly easily identified, and if they were, I don't know that they would be much use. Other than them, we just have a few High School students and the school's Librarian. According to the school's schedule, he should be arriving shortly, and then we could probably catch the kids before class. It's not like we've never had an under aged user before."

"We did a pretty good sweep of the town yesterday, and I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't see any indications of gang activity. The city itself is nothing like LA. There are no cultural factors that would lead to gang activity, no widespread poverty, very few areas of decreased property value and the few that are there are industrial."

"It is an interesting contradiction, but not one that we need to worry about at the moment. What I want to know is can I shoot Zed when we get back? He picked 'Ben Dover' as my cover name this time."

B chuckled. "No you can't shoot the boss, although, I've been the butt of his humor myself. Everyone has, so it's a bit like a rite of initiation. You're one of us now, and this is his way of saying 'ok, maybe you aren't as worthless as I thought' as it were. Heaven forbid he ever actually says anything nice about anyone."

"Fine, take all my fun out of it. Then I guess we had better go see what we can dig up about those kids."


Sunnydale High School Library

"I mean, like, some of them. Like parts." Angel corrected Giles.

Of course, this lead Cordelia to complain, "It was horrible. Angel saved me from an arm. God, there were so many parts, they were everywhere. Why are these terrible things always happening to me?"

Giles continued to ignore her whining, "So much for all our theories. Why go to all the trouble to dig up three girls only to chop them up and throw them away? It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, what I saw didn't add up to three whole girls. I think they kept some parts." Angel offered, hoping it would help. "And this was no hatchet job. Whoever made those incisions really knew what they were doing, like they had practice doing it."

"I see. Well, I don't see what else we can do right at the moment. We will of course continue to investigate, however, Xander asked that I give you each one of these, and should you see Amy, that you send her to see either Buffy or myself." Giles removed from his desk two com-badges and handed one to Angel and the other to Cordelia.

"A bit simple for jewelry," Cordelia complained before picking it up. "Too heavy to be plated, Giles, how did the Geek afford real gold? And is this platinum? Why the hell is he giving me real jewelry?"

"And I don't know what you've been telling that boy Giles, but I don't swing that way. How did he managed to get his hands on what appears to be rather expensive jewelry though?"

Giles gave a brief sigh at the comments made by the two, "Yes, Cordelia, that is made from Gold and Platinum. And I have one as well." Giles took a moment to pull his from his pocket, briefly showing it off, before replacing it. "It is not however, jewelry. It is a communications device, and once the sun has gone down tonight, and Cordelia has finished her responsibilities towards the school for the football game, we would like to fill the two of you in on a number of changes that have occurred since last Thursday. A good deal has happened since we have last seen you two, and they are things you need to know about. However, it will have to wait until later, I will be meeting someone from the government this morning, and think it best if you weren't here when they arrived. They appeared to be government agents when we spoke on the phone. They claimed to be investigating the bank robbery on Wednesday."

Angel nodded, "Alright, I'll meet you here after the game."

Cordelia, once more centered upon herself, said "You know, I think I've got some earrings at home that could go with this."

Giles once more released a sigh, "To use the communications features of the, um, of the com-badge I believe it's called, you simply tap it and speak the name of the person you wish to talk to. Xander, Willow, Mrs. Calendar, myself, Buffy, Dawn, Mrs. Summers, and now you two, all have these devices, and they can be used to talk to any of us or to summon assistance, should you need it. Yes, Mrs. Summers has been introduced to the darkness, and has resources that may be helpful, that we did not previously know about."

Angel nodded and stashed it in his inside jacket pocket before leaving through the sewers.

Cordelia however, was barely paying any attention to them and as Angel left, she left through the front door.


Agents B and D entered the library shortly after Cordelia had left.

"Dr. Giles?"

Coming from his office, he replied "Yes?"

"I'm Agent Barker, and this is Agent Dover. As we stated over the phone, we are investigating Wednesday's bank robbery."

"Yes, of course. May I see your identification please?" he asked politely.

After examining the offered documents and handing them back, "Well, as I said on the phone, I'm not sure how much help I can be for you. I was nowhere near the event, and not a witness."

Agent Dover countered, "Yes, we are aware of that, however, what we wish to know is the current location of several persons who were spotted in the vicinity, namely 'Alexander Harris,' 'Buffy Summers,' and 'Willow Rosenberg.' Each is listed in the police report as possible suspects, and by reviewing their police files, it was discovered that you are apparently a good friend of theirs, and thus should know of their whereabouts."

Giles took a moment to examine the two men, and made a decision. "While I may have some ideas as to where they may currently be, I am not currently at liberty to divulge that information to you. You may well be government agents, but I do not know what your security clearance might be, nor have I been informed that I have permission to speak to you about those children. Children who fall under the British Official Secrets Act, and with the permission of your State Department, any and all information about them, beyond what is already in their police reports, is classified. That is all I have to say on the subject.

"Was there anything else you wished to discuss?"

Agent Baker took the hint that he had stumbled upon something above his pay grade, but decided to try a different tactic. "What do you know about the meteor shower last week?"

"Quite a bit, and very little. What do you wish to know?"

"Please sir, start with the basics, and we can go from there?"

"Very well. As far as other astronomers have been able to determine, the rogue shower came from the direction of the Pleiades, and as such, not entirely unusual. The likely cause for the shower is several large collisions in the main asteroid belt. Given the size of the objects when they entered the atmosphere, the subsequent detonations into smaller fragments, it is unlikely that many, if any, fragments survived to impact. The most likely composition of the shower, given previous showers from that vicinity, was mostly rock and minerals. Ice is a possibility, but far less likely."

Agent Dover interrupted at this point, recognizing that the report was nothing more than educated guesses, "So you believe that it was a completely natural phenomenon?"

"I have no data to suggest otherwise. The only slightly unusual aspect of the shower was that nobody knew it was going to happen ahead of time, and that it came from a rather highly observed portion of the sky. Someone should have seen these asteroids coming, but apparently nobody did. It is unusual, but not unheard of, we get one or two of these a year. Unfortunately, as the most advanced telescope I have access to at the moment is a 254mm f/5 Schmidt-Newtonian on an equatorial mount, I was unable to see much of the shower itself. I was able to see a few nice fireballs however."

"I see. Just how does an astronomer and linguist wind up caring for the library of a high school in a foreign country?"

"Why, in the usual way, I'm sure. One answers the call of their Queen." Giles looked rather annoyed at the question, and its implications, and continued, "Now gentlemen, as you have mentioned, I do have a Library to look after, so if you would show yourselves out."


Defiant, Sickbay

Dawn was starting to become annoyed. The doctor wouldn't let her off the bio-bed.

"You are still recovering from your injury. You're not leaving my sickbay." He stated again.

"And I'm done telling you that once I leave, I'll be done recovering. If you do not remove yourself from my path, I'll deactivate you. I have alternate means of accelerating my recovery and I intend to use them."

"And I don't know what these means are, so I will not allow one of my patients to expose themselves to unknown technology, especially when they are already injured."

"It's not unknown, and it made you." Dawn attempted to get up again, but there was a force field restraining her. "Doctor. Remove this force field immediately. I have the right to refuse any further treatment, and I am doing so. Release me."

"I am sorry that I can't do that at this time. You are clearly too emotionally distraught from this incident to be making reasoned decisions, as evidenced by your desire to put yourself at further risk for injury before you've even partially recovered, and I can not in good conscience allow my patient to do that. Therefore you will remain here, under observation and in restraints until I decide that you are no longer a danger to yourself or others. Please do not make me sedate you."

"Enough. Computer, Deactivate Emergency Medical Hologram."

"Now wait just a da…" he managed to get out before he fully shut down.

"Computer, release bio-bed force field."

The computer responded, "Unable to comply. Bio-bed controls are not part of the voice control interface for security purposes."

Dawn sighed in frustration before taking a deep calming breath and entered a brief meditation to center her emotions. Once more calm and in control, she embraced the force and used it to manipulate the controls for the bio-bed, deactivating the restraining force fields, and releasing herself.

Dawn then made her escape from the sickbay, and headed for, well damn. She didn't know where the MAU was at the moment. Walking to a com-panel, she activated it. "Dawn to Xander, where is the MAU right now?"

"Main Engineering, the Engineering and Command Holograms are still searching for a way to scan for deactivated MAUs. What's up?"

"I am. I am not sitting around sickbay for two weeks recuperating, when I can use the MAU and be fully healed inside ten minutes. I was too tired last night to think of this with everyone crowding me."

"Dawn, where are you? I'll come help you down to Engineering so you actually make it there, ok?"

"Sure, I'd appreciate that. I'm just outside Sickbay."

"Ok, see you in a minute. Xander out."

As soon as the channel was closed, Dawn mumbled "I am definitely adding some healing after this…"


Sunnydale Memorial Hospital

Ms. Howe entered the hospital room where Bob was recovering from surgery to put his arm back together. She checked the boy's chart before speaking to him. "Broken Ulna, fractured Radius, dislocated Radius, dislocated trapezium, compound fracture of the Humerus, dislocated Humerus, dislocated and broken clavicle. My, my Mr. Wiley, when you get the crap beat out of you, you certainly don't mess around.

"I should inform you that I am recording our conversation, in order to protect us both from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous persons.

"My name is Ms. Howe, I am an attorney. I am here to interview you. I have already spoken with Mr. Blaisdell, and have his statement. He was most cooperative. I hope that you will also choose to be cooperative." Sitting down, she pulled a laptop from her bag, and opened it. "I would like to help resolve this situation Mr. Wiley, but to do so, I'm going to need your assistance. I already know everything that happened, so what I need from you is your perspective on the events. I know that you've broken several laws, and this was confirmed by Mr. Blaisdell, so the only thing that you can do by denying the events, is make my job, my job being to help, more difficult. You don't want to make my job more difficult, do you Mr. Wiley?"

Bob, being the future brain surgeon that he was, replied rather dully with a polite, "No ma'am."

"No, I didn't think so. Now, I want you to tell me what happened, in your own words. Let's start with where you were when Mr. Blaisdell approached you?"

"Uh, I picked him up at his house cause his da wouldn't let 'em drive on the pain killers 'e was taking, on accounta his busted hand. 'E told me dat we was gonna get some payback, maybe have a little fun with 'is girl, dunno her name really, just that she's a redhead. Never noticed her before, but she's got a nice bod.

"Uh, lesse, we was lookin fer her round the school 'fore homeroom, and saw her leave da basement, by th' time we got near her, she was too far away to drag back, so we waited till she was alone, den dragged her inna storage closet. Bitch bit me onna hand, er, sorry miss, um, well, like I says, she bit my hand, and I popped her a goodun inna face. She fell over, and Larry yelled at me some, then told her how it was gonna be, how she was gonna sex us good or we'd beat her some more."

Ms. Howe interrupted Bob, "You told her that you intended to have sex with her, by force if necessary?"

"Yes ma'am. Dunno what happened den really. Alla sudden she was standin again, and she was scary too. Never been 'fraida much, coach says it's what makes me such a good wrestler; guess I may not be doin that no more. Doc says it'll be about a year before I'm cleared fer sports again."

"That's a shame. I understand you were quite good. You were saying how Miss Rosenberg scared you? Was it something she said, or did?"

"Well, like I said, not too sure what it was, just that I was scared of her, too scared really to think, till she moved, and when she did, she moved real fas', and kicked Larry inna nutz, then busted 'im inna chops. I made a grab fer her, ta get 'er offa him, an dat's when she hurt my hand. Den she broke my arm a whole bunch and when she left, she tol me ta get Larry to da Nurse, den call a lawyer cause she was gonna call da cops. I know she muttered somethin as she left, but I couldn make it out. I woke Larry up an we gots are selves to da Nurse, like she said.

"We tol da Nurse we was inna fight, but coach tol us lotsa times not ta give details, so we didn't. Nurse noticed my arm was bleedin, and musta figured I needed da hospital, cause she called the ambulance.

"I been here since, and dey been takin good care a me.

"I s'pose I should say dat Snyder came by da next day, find out if da cops had been by, if I'd talked to anyone 'bout what happen. Tol him 'course not, I listen to da coach. Snyder tol me da he'd suspended da girl, and expected to be able to expel her fer what she done. Tol me that he'd have someone come git a statement from me. Um guessin dat's you doin it."

"Alright. I think I've got enough to work with for now. I'll have my assistant make a transcription of this interview, so if you would sign this document for me, I'll let you get back to recovering."

"Whasit say?"

"Basically, the document states that everything you've said to me, that was recorded for transcription, was the truth to the best of your knowledge."

Bob nods and signs the form.

Picking up the form and putting all her things away, she stopped as she was leaving the room. "I'd like to thank you Mr. Wiley. I'm sure that Miss Rosenberg will thank you for your honesty as well. You've certainly made my proving her case a lot easier."

"Wait, I thought you said you worked fer Snyder?"

"No, you said I worked for Snyder. I only stated I was an attorney. It is not my duty to educate you as to the great many things you do not know. It is my duty however to do the best job for my clients I am capable of. Educating you would have been contrary to providing the best legal services to my client.

"I do believe that I'll be seeing you in court Mr. Wiley."

Bob really didn't know what to say to that, and as the pain was starting to get through the drugs again, he pushed the button for another dose of painkillers. Shortly thereafter he was asleep again.

Ms. Howe however, was smiling quite widely as she walked into Mr. Blaisdell's room and repeated the performance, again walking out with what was tantamount to a signed confession from both boys.


Law Office of Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe

Xander, dressed in what Cordelia might have called 'casual business' style, walked into Willow's lawyer's office. Stopping at the receptionist's desk, "My name is Xander Harris, I am told that Ms. Howe wanted to speak with me?"

The receptionist replied, "I'm afraid she's not in the office at the moment, however, she is due back presently. If you'd like, I can schedule an appointment, or you can have a seat."

"I can wait a little while." Xander then took a seat to wait.

Ten minutes later a grinning Ms. Howe walked into the office and picked up her messages from the receptionist, who also pointed to Xander who was waiting for her.

"Why don't you follow me back into my office Mr. Harris? And Anita, please have Daren see me immediately?"

Xander followed the lawyer to her office, where he asked. "By the size of that grin, I presume that you have good news?"

"Very good news, but you'll have to get that from Miss Rosenberg. I'll be calling her right after we are done here, so there shouldn't be much delay for you finding it out."

"Fair enough. Willow told me that you wanted to ask me some questions?"

"I'm looking for background information. The history between you and Willow, how Larry and Bob fit into things, what the problems with Vice Principal Snyder are and may be, that sort of thing."

"Alright. Well, I met Willow on the first day of kindergarten. We shared a box of crayons, and have been friends ever since. We even recently started dating fairly seriously."

Xander continued to tell the attorney of various encounters with Larry over the years since they had met in first grade. They were only interrupted briefly when Daren came in. Ms. Howe handed him the cassette tape from her recorder, told him to make three copies and get the original into the safe before making a transcript of the two conversations.

Xander explained how Larry tried very hard to be such a big shot. Bob was just one of Larry's many lackeys and was probably the only one that was convenient or he likely would have had at least one more person there to watch his back, probably two or three since his own hand had been broken Friday when he had hit Xander.

"Thank you Mr. Harris. Do you have a phone number I can reach you at should I have any additional questions?" Ms Howe asked.

"Sure." Xander scribbled down the number for the Mansion.

"In that case, I had better let you get out of here, so I can call your girlfriend and tell her about my morning."

"Thank you ma'am, and have a good afternoon."

Xander left the office, and drove back to the mansion. He was, oddly enough, needing to get ready for a double date with Dawn and Willow. They were going to the football game later, and he had yet to figure out who Dawn was going with so he would know how growly he needed to be with the other guy. Willow had refused to say when she had told him about it.


The two agents walked up to the Rosenberg home and rang the doorbell. After waiting a minute without response, they tried again, only to still receive no response. They left to see if they could find one of the other two.

Fifteen minutes later, Jack and Daniel repeated the exercise only to get the same results.


Agents B and D were starting to become annoyed. They could only find one of the students, and the short man known as Principal Snyder had informed them that she was in class at the moment, and he would not allow her to be disturbed. They would have to wait for her after school. However, Snyder had offered to summon the girl just before the dismissal bell.

Mr. Harris had withdrawn from school, and they had tried his house, only to find it too empty.


Jack and Daniel arrived at the address listed in Alexander Harris's School file. Ringing the doorbell, they were surprised to have it answered by a very hung over Anthony Harris. "Whatever you want, just keep it down."

"My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force. My associate is Dr. Daniel Jackson. We are looking for a Mr. Xander Harris. Could you direct us to him please?"

Tony winced at Jack's false quiet, "The boy? What's he done now?"

"He's done nothing that we are aware of. We are here to see if he might be interested in joining the Air Force, once he's done with High School of course. His grades are pretty good, and he came highly recommended to us. Is there something that we should be considering in regards to his recruitment?" Daniel asked, while not quite sympathetic to the man's plight, he wasn't one to cause pain to others needlessly, and was keeping it down.

"Boy's run away from home. We haven't seen him in a week. Around here, that means he's probably dead, or worse. Before that, he was always getting into trouble of one sort or another, you can ask, what's his name, the vice principal at his school all about that. If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed." Before giving either member of SG-1 a chance to reply, he closed and locked the door.

Daniel commented, "With a father figure like that, I can see why he may well have left home."

Jack, deep in thought, nodded before commenting, "Since we can't find Harris or Rosenberg, let's try The Summers house this evening."

"In the mean time, there's a gallery in town with an Egyptian display we should examine. There are supposed to be several interesting pieces for sale."

Jack sighed as he let himself be dragged along on what promised to be another boring excursion for him to put up with. He was quite sure that he could find something more interesting to do with a few hours.


Later that evening

Xander and Willow meet Dawn at the front door of the Summer's home, and Xander tries his luck at getting an answer again, "So Dawn, who's the date?"

Willow answered for her, "Well, he just got here."

Xander turned around and didn't see anyone behind him, " Huh?"

"Well, I'm going with you, and you're going with Willow, and Willow's going with me, so we are all going together, and if anyone doesn't like that, too bad." Dawn stated rather emphatically.

Xander kept quiet on the subject and instead asked, "So, we ready to go then?"

"Phaser, lightsaber, tricorder, comm-badge, box of wooden toothpicks, Starfleet first aid kit, yeah, I think I'm good to go, Willow?" Dawn asked.

"I'm good. I've got most of the same, except for the first aid kit."

"Then, shall we ladies?" Xander held out his arms for the two women to take.

Each took an arm, and allowed themselves to be escorted to Xander's car.

With no further fuss, Xander and his two dates, his two very hot dates in his opinion, made their way to the football game.

Things were going well for the three. They had given Giles and Jana a small amount of grief, simply to let them know that the three teens still cared. They had purchased and consumed copious amounts of food and drink, and were very happily enjoying themselves when Buffy came over.

"Um, have you guys seen Cordelia?"

Willow asked, "Why, isn't she down there with the other cheerleaders?"

"I haven't seen her since just before Half Time. And apparently they even had to sub someone for her, cause she's supposed to be the apex of that Pyramid." Buffy pointed to the ten person pyramid down on the field that was just breaking up.

Xander asked "Did you see when she left, or where she was going?"

Buffy shook her head and replied, "One minute she was there on the sidelines, the next she was gone. Nobody seems to know where she went."

"Do you know if someone managed to give her a com-badge yet?" Dawn asked.

Buffy nodded, "Giles told me earlier that he managed to give her one."

Xander tapped his com-badge, "Xander to Cordelia, where are you?"

Cordelia responded immediately, "Xander? Help! I'm being kidnapped!"

"Where are you Cordy? We'll come get you."

"Hey! That's mine! Give it ba..."

Unfortunately, that was all that was heard as the signal was cut off.

Dawn pulled out her tricorder and began scanning for one or more life signs moving away from the game or in otherwise unused areas. "I have several possibles, most are not moving very much and are in small spaces, likely nothing more than heavy petting and serious kissing. Almost all of them are in pairs. I have one trio in the old science building."

"Nobody uses the science building. It's not structurally sound." Willow pointed out.

"Then that's likely where our assailants are headed." Xander turned to Buffy, "Will you fetch Giles and Ms. C, and meet us there?"

Buffy nodded and took off running towards the last place she knew they were.

Dawn grabbed onto Xander and said, "Let's fly!"

Willow nodded and floated up off the bleachers and rose a good distance above the crowd to wait for Xander and Dawn who were only moments behind. Xander took the lead as he was the one with the passenger, with willow keeping up.

It did not take long to reach the condemned building.

Xander asked, "Where to Dawn?" after they had set down not far from the building.

After consulting her tricorder briefly, "Second floor, north side. I'm reading lots of chemicals in the room they're in. Formaldehyde is the largest in quantity."

"Right then, phasers and blasters are out. Guns are out because Cordy's in there," Xander said as they entered the building. "Looks like its down to melee."

Willow offered, "I know a paralysis spell. It should incapacitate everyone in the room for twenty minutes or so."

Xander replied, "Go for it. Anything that'll make our lives easier is of the good."

The trio had just reached the second floor when the universe decided to complicate their lives further by having Data hail Xander. "Data to Fleet Admiral Harris."

Xander tapped his com-badge to respond, "Now is really not such a good time, Data. We're a little busy. Can this wait ten minutes?"

"I do not believe so. I have just picked up a very high energy hyperspace distortion on a direct course to Earth."

"Goa'uld?"

"I do not believe so. According to the information the SGC has, it is traveling several orders of magnitude faster than the Goa'uld are capable of achieving."

"All right, um, calculate their exit point, if possible, and try to get behind them when they come out of hyperspace. Challenge them, but make no hostile actions. If they aren't Goa'uld, get as detailed sensor scans as possible. The Defiant and I will join you as soon as possible."

"Yes Admiral, Data out."

"Ok Willow, let's do this as quickly as possible. Cast your paralysis spell, and let us know when it's safe for us to enter."

Willow nodded and cast her spell and four blue spheres flew from her hand and disappeared through the door. "There may be a vampire or a zombie in there, and it may or may not be affected by the spell, but we can enter at any time."

Xander and Dawn nodded. Xander Closed his hand and a glowing blue sword formed in his grip made from nothing but psychic energy. Dawn and Willow both pulled, but did not activate their Lightsabers. Xander opened the door and the three teens entered the room to see two boys lying on the floor, Cordelia lying on one of the tables, and a fourth person, wearing a SHS Letterman's Jacket, standing over one of the boys on the floor.

"Come on, you lazy excuse for a brother, get your ass up, Chris!" he said as he kicked the prone body none too gently. Then he noticed the new arrivals. "Ah, the second stringers. Forget to bring your Slayer?"

"I should hardly think we need a being as weak as the slayer to deal with the likes of a simple zombie. Now, step away from the humans, and we can do this the easy way. Fight, and we do it the hard way."

"You think you can stop me? In life I was unstoppable, and now I'm even stronger, even faster, even harder to put on the ground! You can't stop me!"

"Puleeze, I'm going to go through you like snot through a Kleenex."

At that, the zombie that used to be the High School's star quarterback, Daryl, charged, and leapt through the air over the interposing table at Xander, only to be met by the glowing edge of Xander's Psi-Sword as it sliced effortlessly through his necrotic flesh. Willow and Dawn activated their lightsabers the instant Daryl began his charge, and when the two halves landed at their feet, each girl took a few swipes with their lightsabers and finished dismembering the undead football player.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Xander commented dryly. "Willow, can you bag him up? I want to get Cordelia to The Defiant, and these two jokers into the brig. Grab Giles and Miss C and come on up once you've got them all. I don't know that we'll still be in orbit, so you'll likely need to be careful with your teleport."

Willow agreed and quickly conjured a large canvas bag to carry Daryl in.

"Come on Dawn, I need you at the Helm. Xander to Defiant, five to beam directly to the bridge."

Moments later, only Willow was left in the room, and a moment later, the room was empty once more.


Enterprise, Near Earth

Data sat in the Captain's Chair, surrounded by a crew of droids, all of whom were re-programmed to operate as Starfleet crew. Data was satisfied with his crew's performance thus far. While it was true that he had had them only for a few days, nearly all their drill scores had been phenomenal. In fact, their only true failing was the one Admiral Harris had warned him of, and that was their near total lack of creative problem solving capabilities.

They had proven this during a simulated engineering crisis. The warp core had failed and the droids needed to devise a way to make it work again in the unusual simulated environment.

Their solution had been an iterative process of elimination and combination. They had taken six times the allotted time permitted by Starfleet, but they did eventually solve the problem. As a bonus, their process did identify several significant improvements that could be made. Unfortunately, as the improvements had not solved their problem, they were dismissed, and never brought up again, as a biological crewmember would have.

Data had considered the issue for several seconds and issued an order to the entire crew that any potential improvement discovered should be recorded and examined again later for possible implementation.

Data was pondering another similar drill when his science officer called for his attention, "Captain?"

"Yes, LA-214D?" Data was unsure of these designations. He would prefer that they had names, as he did, but if they were satisfied with designations, who was he to force names upon them? He had informed them that any droid who wanted a name, only had to choose one and inform him, and it would be used from then on.

"Sir, I have a hyperspace distortion on sensors, and it appears to be on a direct course to Earth."

"Estimated time to arrival?"

"Between four and six minutes, sir."

"Thank you. Please plot its course as accurately as possible, and likely exit points."

"Aye, Sir, plotting course and exit points."

Data then called up the sensor data to his own terminal, before he tapped his com-badge, "Data to Fleet Admiral Harris."

Xander responded, "Now is really not such a good time, Data. We're a little busy. Can this wait ten minutes?"

"I do not believe so. I have just picked up a very high energy hyperspace distortion on a direct course to Earth."

"Goa'uld?"

"I do not believe so. According to the information the SGC has, it is traveling several orders of magnitude faster than the Goa'uld are capable of achieving."

"All right, um, calculate their exit point, if possible, and try to get behind them when they come out of hyperspace. Challenge them, but make no hostile actions. If they aren't Goa'uld, get as detailed sensor scans as possible. The Defiant and I will join you as soon as possible."

"Yes Admiral, Data out."

Data considered the order, and while he would of course obey it, he didn't necessarily agree with it. It showed a lack of understanding of starship combat tactics. While Starships did have 'Fronts' and 'Backs,' a Starship could see in all directions, three hundred and sixty degrees by three hundred and sixty degrees. There would be little tactical advantage, and several disadvantages in appearing behind a potential adversary, while they would have a clear run on their target, the Earth itself.

He hoped that The Admiral had a reason for the strategy that was not yet apparent to him.

"LA-214D, do you have exit coordinates yet?"

"Yes, sir. I have two hundred thirty one distinct exit probabilities."

"Feed the highest probability to Navigation."

"Aye sir, sending highest probability coordinates to Navigation."

"ND-17K, do you have those coordinates?"

"Yes sir."

"Set course for one hundred thousand kilometers on the opposite side to those coordinates, then spin to face the coordinates listed. Engage when ready."

"Aye sir, engaging course for one hundred thousand kilometers the far side of the Science Officer's coordinates and coming about, ETA, thirty seconds."

Data knew that it was tradition, but unnecessary with an all droid crew. Droids didn't get nervous, so had no reason to be comforted by a rousing speech, however, he did feel the need to follow tradition. Perhaps this would do, "All hands, this is your Captain speaking. We are about to challenge an unknown contact as it exits hyperspace in close proximity to Earth. Red Alert, man your battle stations, prepare to repel borders, and boarding parties to the ready. Data out."

It wasn't long after Data's speech ended that a very large hammer shaped ship re-entered normal space from a disturbance, not too far from where the science officer had predicted.

"Scan the Vessel." Seconds later he added, "Hail the vessel."

"Scanning, Aye. Channel open, sir." Replied the droid at the tactical station.

"This is Captain Data, of The Federation Starship Enterprise. You have entered a restricted area. Please identify yourself and state your intentions."

Moments later, a hologram appeared front and center. It appeared to be a gray, asexual, being about four feet tall. It spoke in English, "I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet aboard the Cruiser Beliskner. My intention is to investigate your presence in this system as it has been very important to my people for a very long time. What is the source of your authority to restrict access to this planet?"

"By virtue of it being the home planet of those who created this ship and all who serve aboard her, as well as the other assets your sensors have no doubt detected by now. Why is this planet important to your people?"

Data observed the alien as he pondered the question, or more likely, how much to tell Data. "There is a parasitic species within this galaxy that uses the human body as their preferred host. They are quite malevolent. We believe that preventing them from acquiring six billion new hosts along with the vastly different technological base that has developed on the planet below to be of great importance. If the Goa'uld were to develop based upon your technological base, they would be far less limited than they are with their current technology base. That is something that the wider universe can not permit. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Great Races Alliance to ensure that it does not come to pass. How is it that the people of your planet have come to have access to subspace technology? And in such a curious collection of technologies as well."

"Curious? How so?"

"Most species, when they first develop a new branch of technology will apply it to the greatest use to society. Rarely does that mean Starships as the first construction, or space stations of impressive size. Also curious is the manner of their construction, as though you decided to build the space station, and it was completed, or you acquired it from somewhere else in the galaxy, but we are unfamiliar with any race with sufficient skills to develop such a station. My people likely could, but we wouldn't have done so. None of the races that we are aware of that are advanced enough to have built such a thing would have, as we prefer smaller, more easily managed structures. Even the Alteran's grand City Ships are only a fraction of your station's size, capable of holding at most a million beings the same general size, shape, and requirements as the humans of the Tau'ri."

"I see. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge the manner in which our ships and other resources were acquired, however, my commanding officer, Fleet Admiral Alexander Harris may be willing to answer that question for you. He was in the midst of another crisis when my ship detected your approach, or he would have met you himself."

Thor replied, "I see. Is it something I would be able to help with?"

"I do not believe so. It was my impression that The Admiral wanted to handle this personally, and nearly had the situation resolved in any case."

Data noticed one of his control PADDs blinking for his attention and read its display. "It appears that he will be with us shortly, and that he was successful in retrieving his kidnapped crewmember. Apparently, two perpetrators are in custody, and one zombie destroyed."

Thor looked, well, he didn't look perplexed, but he did exhibit the Asgard symptoms. "If I may, what is a zombie?"

"I had not believed they existed, and I am unsure if I believe now, but they are a form of undead. If the data I am reading is accurate, a zombie is a macabre being, constructed from one or more deceased humans and reanimated through a magical process."

"This, magic, is it synonymous with a specific subspace technological process, or is it a broader term for your field of subspace technologies?"

"To the best of my current understanding of magic, it is neither. It is an entirely separate and personal ability to manipulate many energy formats for varied purposes. I would believe it to have been all just illusion and misdirection with an underlying technological aspect, were it not for Lieutenant Commander Rosenberg's ongoing desires to attempt to quantify the energies involved and the biological processes that allow her to manipulate them."

At this, Thor did look shocked. That was an ability only the extinct Alterans had ever exhibited! Had the humans discovered an Alteran who was unaware of her heritage? Or had the humans finally evolved to the point where they were capable, as a species, of wielding those great and terrible powers many Epoch earlier than the Alteran themselves had? The Asgard had long revered the Alterans, trying to live up to what they had been taught when the Asgard had been the infant race, and the Alterans had been the wise elders. Then came the discovery of their great tragedy, that the combination of the many things that the Asgard had done to their species to enable them to live long enough to follow their friends in ascension, had forever denied them that opportunity. Several Asgard had died of grief that day, unable to maintain the mental coherence to survive the transference process into a new body. Odin, Thor's father, had been one of them, and Thor had almost been one of them himself.

If Data had been human, he may well have missed Thor's muttered comment, "An Alteran? After all this time? What would she be doing on this plane of existence?"

It was then that the Defiant de-cloaked and came alongside the Enterprise. "Xander to Data, I take it that we have new friends?"

"That is quite possible sir. I was about to stand down to yellow alert when you hailed."

"Well then, don't let me stop you. Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted sir. Tactical, stand down to yellow alert." Returning his attention to Thor, "Supreme Commander, I have just been contacted, Admiral Harris has just come aboard, if you would care to, I would like to extend that invitation to you as well."

Five minutes later saw everyone seated around the main conference table aboard the Enterprise.

Data had introduced the entire Sunnydale contingent to the Supreme Commander of The Asgard Fleet.

Xander had asked for Thor to give them some basic background information on the Asgard, as they knew virtually nothing of the species.

"The Asgard have been a space fairing race for nearly thirty million years, and a member of The Great Races Alliance for all but the first million years of that. We reside within the Ida galaxy, but have explored much of the local group."

Jana asked, "What is The Great Races Alliance? How does one gain entry? Why would a species wish to do so?"

Thor considered a moment how to answer, "The Great Races Alliance was formed by four galaxy spanning species. They were The Alterans, The Asgard, The Furlings, and The Nox. The Alterans ascended to a higher plane of existence long ago. The Furlings have also moved on from this region of space, not long after The Alterans ascended. The Nox and The Asgard have all but removed ourselves from this galaxy to allow a younger race the room to grow into The Fifth Race.

"One does not so much gain entry to the Alliance, as realize they already are.

"As for why a species would grow and evolve far enough to become one of the great races, we leave it to each individual race to determine what is in their own best interests."

Giles took a moment to ask, "Would the, um, The Goa'uld ever be considered a Great Race? They do overrun most of this galaxy at present, if our information is correct."

"No. Their reliance on humans for every aspect of their civilization and their other parasitical traits would preclude their admittance. Population and territory have little to do with a race's inherent greatness. I believe that you will find that it will happen quite naturally for your species, though you have quite a ways to go before becoming The Fifth Race."

"Supreme Commander Thor," Data began, "earlier, you called Lieutenant Commander Rosenberg an Alteran. Would you please explain the comment?"

Data was the only one in the room capable of detecting Thor's embarrassed blush and cursing himself for his inability to keep his mouth shut. Fortunately for the Asgard, it was far too low for the universal translator to pick up, and neither it nor Data had sufficient experience with the language to figure out what he had said.

"Humans are not the first species in this galaxy to develop in that form. From the History I was told as a child, you are the second evolution of the human, and the Alterans were the first. They grew up here, and created the Stargates, spreading across this vast galaxy, learning all that they could. As their knowledge of the cosmos expanded, eventually, so too did their own minds and bodies evolve into more and more advanced beings, eventually able to control abilities much like Lieutenant Commander Rosenberg has been reported to be capable of. Approximately ten million years ago, most of the Alterans fled this galaxy as it was being consumed by a terrible plague. The Alterans who remained behind wiped out all life in this galaxy to destroy the plague, and then reseeded the galaxy with life, so that it could grow and develop much as it had been doing all along, however, your planet was already abandoned by them. Shortly there after, the Asgard discovered it over run with vicious creatures, that while intelligent and powerful, had no moral compass, no drive to better themselves, only the acquisition of power. With no Alterans left in this galaxy, Terra was left to fend for herself.

"Ten thousand years ago, many of the Alterans returned to this galaxy, to see what had transpired in their absence, and helped to free Terra from those creatures. Unfortunately, this brought the attention of the Goa'uld to the planet, and it wasn't until roughly three thousand years ago that your people finally chased them off the planet. That essentially leads us to current events, and gives some idea as to the legacy that the Alterans have left in you."

Xander asked, "Thor, do you know of a race of beings called the 'Fwirthi?'"

Thor checked his link to his ship's database before responding, "It is not a species that the Asgard has come into contact with. Why do you ask?"

Xander nodded before continuing, "They are the reason that Earth is experiencing the rapid shifts in technology that we currently are. While most of the populous is still rather ignorant of the universe at large, it is apparent that The US Government is not, and many of the older nations are aware of the demonic presence still infesting our planet." Xander thought for a moment, "Let me try that explanation again.

"We do not know the Fwirthi, we only know of them because one of their freighters lost a good portion of its cargo in our star system. It is this cargo, which finally started making planetfall a little over a week ago, which has allowed me to construct this vessel, the others in our fleet, and the various space stations in this system. Originally, it was my intention to ensure the survival of Humanity in the face of unknown aliens who might not have our best interests at heart.

"Now that we know that there are hostile aliens out there, we are taking further steps to protect ourselves.

"Now that we also know that there are friendly aliens out there, well, we hope to make more friends than we do enemies."

With that, Xander and Thor exchanged communications protocols, as both had learned a great deal that night, and needed time to absorb it all before making changes to any plans they had.


AN: Ok, I seem to have misplaced two of my beta readers. I sent them this chapter a week and a half ago, but haven't heard from them. So, if you happen to be good at proof-reading, and are willing to beta, please let me know.

As always, thanks go to my Beta: CaptNemo for general proof reading and sounding board (even if I don't use most of the Ideas he gives me, it's a great help!)