The Scooby Gang Book 4 - Another Draft

by rocky-griffin-az

The 4th book of the Scooby Gang. The group has found a ship in the yellow space; this leads them to a space station named Babylon 5, the last best hope for peace. Multi-Ships: m/f/f/f/f f/f/f f/f m/f

10. Chapter 10

The Scooby Gang

The Scooby Gang - Book 4 Babylon 5

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 fourth book of the Scooby Gang. The group has found a ship in the yellow space; this leads them to a space station named Babylon 5, the last best hope for peace. How will the chaos that seems to thrive around Xander survive on Babylon 5, how will the manor reaction to space travel in normal space?

Sequel to 'The Scooby Gang Book 1, 2, & 3'

Multi-Ships: m/f/f/f/f f/f/f f/f m/f

Crossovers: Harry Potter, Stargate, Honor Harrington, Highlander, and Babylon 5

Beta by cj_cold

Chapter 10: Escape, Evade, Build

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Harry Potter was in bed. Beside him, exhausted with a smile on her face, was Rebecca Horne. She was a professor at his school these last two terms, not that he spent any time as a student in her class, no the only thing she instructed him on at Hogwarts this last year was swords and martial arts. Though it could be argued that she instructed him on art of subtle flirting as well but not argued well after all, he did have three plus girlfriends prior to being introduced to her flirting.

This first summer of adulthood was something he would always treasure, and it was almost over. He now realized that he'd been played by Ginny a month ago, a month ago at Alexander's baby shower slash birthing day. Baby showers were female only events so it was more of a zero years-old birthday. He pondered the idea of being a father as that was what he was meant to be trying to become with the enormous amount of sex but that was impossible using traditional methods due to Rebecca being immortal. That was how Ginny had set him up, sex without any risk of pregnancy and with someone old enough to have been parents to the founding four meant that Harry's education in the sack had just been boosted to near godhood when it came to skill. It could be argued that every woman was different but there are some things that were the same on every woman.

He smiled at the sleeping form and moved his hand under the covers. Rebecca's eyes shot open in surprised shock as she felt what he was doing.

Her voice was throaty with need, "Oh darling don't stop that."

"I don't know, maybe we should stick with what could get you pregnant?"

She moaned with need and he grinned viciously as he leaned in for a kiss.

Rebecca had many young lovers in her time. When you reached several hundred years old you stopped worrying over the nuances of age measured in years. There was a fine line between adult and child and it was there in both the physical and emotional. Harry had crossed that line early in life for the majority of his personality, even if he crossed back over a time or two over the years since. Physically, he was as mature as he was going to get for a while. With Prolong Harry would slowly mature over the next half a decade, it was the final two years of growth that slowed with the latest generation of Prolong by her understanding. It was also a side effect of making the Prolong the most productive. It amazed her when she thought of it. She had hoped before she met those from LeVelle Manor to one day fly a space ship. It had been a recent hope when she realized how quickly the mortals were advancing in that field. She never even thought of jumping to another realm to do it.

Suddenly she was thoughtless as her mind blanked with a surprise orgasm. That was the funny thing about Harry Potter. She was sure she had never had a lover that was quite so inventive in bed.

She moved and pushed him down on his back before she maneuvered herself overtop of him. "Love, I think it's time I return the favor."

She sunk down around him and using a technique she'd mastered year previous. Rebecca flexes her muscles in her legs and vulva to add to the pressure and suction in order to ensure a lasting orgasm, well more lasting and deeper feeling than normal.

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Albus sat in his office at Hogwarts a smile adorned his face. He had been surprised by Professor Horne's current relationship with a student. He had verified that the relationship had not developed inside the classroom, for the sake of satisfying the letter of the bylaws for Hogwarts. He had no idea they were remotely interested in one another before and even now he suspected that if the immortal had not been so board physically it may not have occurred.

He chucked at that.

Minerva asks. "What is it Albus?"

"I was thinking of the young ones and Rebecca."

By her face's expression Albus thought Minerva didn't approve, "She is old enough that she ought to know better."

Albus shrugged, "Perhaps she's old enough to understand as well as has a willingness to pay the cost of a relationship with the young man."

Minerva sighs, "She isn't directly one of his teachers so it isn't like she used her position to her advantage. I think young Ginevra pushed the issue just a bit."

Albus was surprised, "Truly? I didn't know that."

Minerva nodded, "Oh yes, I spoke with Ginevra and Miss Granger about it; Ginevra more so than Hermione."

Albus nods, "Did she give a reason? I mean if it wasn't told to you in confidence…"

Minerva smiled a tad, "She said that it might speed things up a bit. She'd also heard that bad habits in bed are often learned from bad lovers. With Rebecca she didn't think Harry would pick up any."

Albus blinked and laughed, "She's using her to train him up?"

"I gather that Rebecca wishes to have Harry father a child and sex will not propitiate conception. Ginevra suggested they try anyway. They are going to be working with Dawn at LeVelle Manor just prior to September to ensure a child is conceived."

Albus grins, "An immortal and a wizard's genetics. I will endeavor to insure the name is in the book of names."

Minerva looked disturbed, "I do wonder how long they will humor us with their attending Hogwarts."

"Minerva?"

"Oh I know they will not stop teaching their children and children's children magic but they have attended EDC High a number of times and I have heard that even Mr. Weasley is going to plan on attending a university on Manticore after Hogwarts. I just wonder if they will see our curriculum outdated eventually."

Albus winced, "They may, but I somehow don't think it is the curriculum that pulls them in. Tell me are you planning on using the Dargol Serum and the Prolong?"

She looked at him questioningly. Albus shrugs, "Xander has offered and I have been seriously considering it. Nicolas stone never regressed age. It might have frozen the aging process or slowed it down severely but it never reversed it. There are some healing spells that can be used like that but they aren't quite as effective and Nicolas eventually became quite fragile physically. I can understand his and his wife's desire rest in peace quite easily. In fact their physical hardship was one of the reasons I never became tempted to use the stone myself, it just wasn't worth if for any amount of time."

Minerva nodded, "I have thought of it and I think I will." She smiles, "To be a young kit again."

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Hermione sighs with affection. Ron and Luna were in her bed and cuddling. She was in the muggle world but with the last year the two had learned more about the muggle world than most magicals from her world ever do, mostly while at LeVelle Manor. Not that Rebecca was a professor to spare them an ounce of leeway, not in her role as Muggle Studies Professor anyway.

Hermione was at her parents' home for most of this holiday. She was debating telling them or not about the other realms. Xander had approved but said it would need to be her choice.

The Grangers understood her sharing her bed with the girl and boy. She still recalled the words, "You're and adult now and it's your choice who you share your body with."

'I wonder how far I could push them and allow them to maintain that 'it's acceptable' veneer they always maintain. Will they reject me for stepping over the line or failing?' Hermione's parents had never rejected her so it was not a logical fear but then fear usually wasn't logical.

It was the last week of summer vacation perhaps Hogwarts would distract her some.

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The escape plan Xander and John had formed with General Hague was delayed on implementation. With the escape of Dr. Jacobs and the presenting evidence that could see the President charged with treason, conspiracy to commit murder, and attempted murder, it was obvious to Clark's people where the good doctor was or at least who had Dr. Jacobs. It was for this reason Clark pushed up his time table and declared Martial Law on all Earth Alliance territory or 'perceived domain'.

The blatantly obvious attempt to trap the command staff and crew of the ships who opposed Dictator Clark's rule was already prepared for, as well as the charges of treason when the ships and crew refused to surrender or any order.

The ships refused the order to bombard Mars population centers; however they unexpectedly did so through a public transmission. This public transmission allowed Mars' population to discover Clark's plans and to prepare for the next batch of ships, the new ships would not hold back due to some moral objection.

With the task done the ships crew set their self destruct on all three ships. When the ships are fired upon they'll respond under computer control while the crew abandons the soon to be destroyed ships. The last Iris would relay the transmission of what exactly was going on to Narn recording and relaying exactly what the ships scanners were reading and the outcome. The signal was converging with the information relayed from Mars's surface and bunkers to Michael on Babylon 5.

The plan worked like a well maintained machine. They took a small portion of the fleet loyal to Clark with the three ships around Mars while another portion was after the Alexander. The Alexander was a tough nut, they had a skeleton crew manning the stations but when they slept they did so at the Narn base camp and those crews were altered out and kept refreshed. The crews from EAS Georgia, EAS Nottingham, and EAS Churchill were also on Narn at the base camp, their own boredom led to their assisting the crew of the Alexander whenever they could.

The Alexander really shouldn't have been that much more difficult of a target but they were. They didn't go to Babylon 5 space for protection, that might have actually worked, but the best part of this plan was that they could deprive the enemy of the kill. There was no doubt the enemy may be working with Clark, but the real enemy was the Shadows.

Major Ed Ryan asks the General with some humor, "Do you think they'll catch us this time, sir?"

"You know when I agreed to this plan I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to get the incompetent asses that work for Clark to actually do their damn job. I'm beginning to think that the Rebel Faction forming could use an added Omega Class Destroyer."

Major Ryan laughs. Lieutenant Trainor spoke up, "It looks like there are several ships ahead, sir. They just appeared and they match the configuration Babylon 5 gave us for Shadow ships, sir."

"Shit" William growled. "This is General Hague, report to your Irises, NOW!"

"We aren't going to fight them?"

"No," he smiled. "Those damned ships might slip away if they run or if we fight. They want to know what we know, so they'll approach if we do nothing that's overtly hostile."

Major Ryan mumbles, "I really hope that device works."

The General nods, "I'm sure it will. Did you launch the relay drone to watch and record? I want to ensure there is nothing left here and I'm curious as to who might show up after."

William nods "Yes sir, it was launched automatically when you gave the order for the Irises."

"Thank you Bill, you go ahead." He turned to Ed. "I really hope the Iris on the drone outlasts the explosion. Xander assured me it would but they've never tested it so there is a chance…"

Major Ryan reassures the General, "I'm sure it will work, sir."

"I'll be along in a moment. I need to say goodbye."

William was half temped to stay for a front row seat, he loved his ship but with a sigh he summoned the Irises to his position. One at a time they appeared, shrinking as they did and he tossed them through, counting them off as he did. Then he turned to the screen and with a low growl not easily heard he conveys his last comment, "So long mother fuckers!"

It wasn't long, the watch Iris was small and the protective runic shield worked as Xander had hoped it would against the blast. The hidden drone relayed the information as it occurred and Alpha Narn recorded it. Narn would celebrate the destruction of four Shadow vessels with recordings to cheer on. The fact that two more Shadows and a destroyer class vessel not registered to any of the known Earth Alliance military was also recorded. The information meant more to their intelligence analysts than anything else.

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Michael entered the Captain's quarters. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

John gestures to table and Michael who smiled at the Italian food sitting on the table. "Sit with me, eat some food, and share what you know; how are the Mars refuges coming along?"

With a smile Garibaldi did just that, "I set up two Irises; Narn and Centauri are seeing to shelter for several Martian families. Xander has set up an estate on Earth between Blasedale and San Vale. He said it could be used as a third location but we must be cautious about what goes there and who, they're real sticklers for any kind of firearms, even non-lethal ones."

"I know about Blasedale and San Vale. They have quite a bit of technology there that humans developed on their own. It's intriguing what humanity achieved there without outside assistance or interference."

Michael takes a bite of the pasta with a smiling nod. John couldn't tell if the chief's smile was at the observation or at the food. It was authentic Italian take out that Dawnie had just dropped off a few minutes before Michael showed up, with warming charms on the plates.

Swallowing his food Michael shares, "I talked with Carlos Ramirez, he's aware of some of the technology they have at LeVelle Manor. They healed up from radiation poisoning after we rescued you from the Streib. He's visited Narn and set up flight simulators for the Starfuries then did the same on the Blasedale Site. It isn't exactly by the book but it should help alleviate some of the stress and help their pilots keep their skills from atrophying."

John could help but shake his head while thinking of the vast size of the two locations. With a touch of humor he had to ask, "Is there anyone left on Mars?"

Michael took the question seriously, "Oh they have underground bunkers, a number of Irises and replicators for Oxygen and food. The normal power supplies they have there would run out in a couple of weeks if they didn't have a re-supply."

While trying to politely gulp down a rather large meatball without spilling sauce, John takes a guess at what was to come next, "And they've been stockpiling weapons of course for when EarthForce realizes the bombardment isn't doing a thing."

Michael smiles, "I'm just glad the Churchill replied publicly to the orders, it bought the civilians enough time to scramble and scatter to the underground bunkers. Do you think General Hague will be content to sit on his hands at the Narn base camp?"

John half shrugs, "I'm not sure. The General has always been a doer. Last I heard he was working with Narn and Centauri to help build a joint command. His crew seems to be as helpful in building a ship as they would be running one."

Michael nods; he thought, 'The idea of a joint command is quite intriguing, I wonder if that would have worked for human and Minbari when they started the Babylon Project.'

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John Sheridan's door buzzes, "Come in."

Xander enters and smiles, "Captain?"

John returned his expression with relief. The last few days had been busy and the fear of Clark's forces showing up at any moment was not lost on the two.

"Xander, I didn't expect to see you today."

Xander shrugs, "I was doing some reflection and figured I'd sound you out on an idea."

John nodded and waved his hand to the chair.

Xander took the seat and faced the captain, "Do you still have that guy, Morden, in a cell?"

John winced, he'd wanted to turn him over to EarthForce but hadn't. Part of that reason had been the dead look in the man's eyes, but the real hesitation was because he didn't trust EarthForce after finding out more about the Shadows and their possible involvement with Clark's administration. It wasn't as if Morden was complaining or demanding legal representation so he'd not been in any real hurry to deal with, legally.

Finally nodding the captain told him, "I didn't feel comfortable sending him to Earth."

Xander half winces as he shares, "We know that he was a puppet for the Shadows, we know that he was likely wherever the Shadows have a base, and I'm sure that whatever the Shadows did to him physically could be undone."

John looked him over carefully and inquires, "You really didn't like him so why are you thinking of ways to help him?"

Xander shrugs casually, "I wasn't really, but I think Kosh might be able to gain some information from him and do whatever it is his people do with those that have aligned with the Shadows, and we can do it all legit like."

His California 90's accent was showing through just a bit there and John smirks at the words, "Legit like?"

Xander nods almost eagerly. "Morden's pet Shadows surely had some mental contact with Kosh's ship. How could they not? It wouldn't be proper to allow a malicious entity to desecrate someone's ship like that and not find out what he did."

John blinked, silent for a moment in surprise before he shook his head. "I'll talk to Kosh and I think we can fill out the proper paperwork for it due to the fact that the pets were maliciously telepathic."

Xander smiled and nodded. "I get the feeling that there might be a need for us to know exactly what changes Morden went through and if they needed to be willing to go through the changes beforehand."

John winced at the possible implications. "You don't think the changes were forced on…"

"Not on him, but Ambassador Kosh might know more about it and so long as we aren't trying to replicate Shadow technology they might be willing to help and then we can find a way to either stop it or reverse it."

John nods, "Speaking of telepathic issues, are you planning on checking Miss Winters soon. Susan isn't sure if she's picking up on things or not, even with the collar."

With a reluctant sigh of a boy who was told not to procrastinate and do his chores, Xander nods, "I'll head there now; I just finished a few upgrades on my runic collar that should make it easier."

John knew that was just an excuse as Xander had put the task off because of sheer procrastination only compounded by the fact that Talia Winters avoided him for some reason.

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Xander pushed out with his mind and focused in on anyone near Talia Winters. He couldn't help but smile, he'd felt the living ship who bonded to him give him a mental nudge when he pushed his mind out, all the way from the Manor. He'd named her Rose, he was going to name her Rover but that sounded like a male dog's name and the name Buffy was taken. He'd been firmly reminded of that fact by both Dawnie and Dawn when he'd only jokingly suggested it.

Xander's mind clearly understood from Rose that she was currently playing tag in the yard with Buckbeak and Eric. He picked up quite a few thoughts from the Manor but the gist of it was that there was no school today. General Hammond had announced a day off and that it had nothing to do with the current Crisis EDC was experiencing. Xander couldn't help but wonder what was going on aboard the Prometheus as he approached the dinning hall.

As if on queue, Talia paid for her food and left it half eaten almost as soon as she'd seen him. Xander winced at the almost oblivious and confused look Talia had on her face as she left. He followed her and then vanished with a pop and landed in front of her, he slammed into her shields with a solid push of mental force and she fell unconscious. He sighed and flamed with the telepath to Garibaldi's quarters.

'Dawn, could you bring me my Pensieve please?'

Dawn steps through the Iris with the large Pensieve. She notices the unconscious blond and frowns at Xander, "What did you do?"

"I shut her mental processing down completely; she'll be asleep for about two hours. That should be enough time to completely remove the second personality."

"So she has one?"

Xander nods, "Yes, and it's completely dominant over the acting surface persona."

It took more than two hours and Talia woke while he was removing a memory, luckily she was able to observe the memory he was removing and didn't fight it.

After vomiting in Michael's bin she hoarsely asks, "What did you do to me?"

"I removed the controlling triggers Psi Corp implanted in you. You're your own telepath now. I also set a trap; any telepath entering your mind will need you to give them permission mentally and even with that you'll have a full mental second that the invader will be completely at your mercy, this way you can evaluate their intentions and motives. After that if they are hostile you can burn their intrusion, it won't matter how powerful their telepathic ability is."

"Can you do that for anyone?"

"No" he shook his head. "The tigers they had set up for your hidden personality set the groundwork and there is no way I would set the same groundwork for anyone."

She looked surprised and thankful. "Now here's this, it's a collar. Go talk to Ivanova and tell her I said you're cleared to know everything."

She felt she was missing something. "What is this strip of leather for?"

"Susan will explain." He smiled and shooed her out.

He would tare the memories apart and save the part of them that would no doubt have some value in the future. It was going to take some time. He also removed a memory of her being raped as part of the conditioning even if it wasn't real it was real enough.

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Egeria was thrilled. Harry had been oh so helpful with the shields and Ron had been helpful with the sex as a relief valve for her stress. She'd not realized how pent up she'd become and she'd avoided the idea of joining Xander's girls in bed, even is she was allowed she felt ill at ease with it. She couldn't understand why that was but she knew she was.

Harry asks, "Have you finished modulating the frequency for the node?"

Nodding Egeria reminds him, "Yes, but we still need to test it!"

Harry agrees, "Xander said we can use the docking extension arm and test it over Epsilon III."

"If it works we'll have a way to add this to the larger ships without it interfering with the wedges."

"The wedges are a bit heavier then the propulsion these ships use. I'm not sure it will work quite the same."

She nods. "But I'm not shielding the entire ship only side walls, down the throat, and up the kilt shots."

"I think it would be better to work on LACs for Grayson and then work up to adjusting larger ships. You'll need less material and if we screw it up, which I'm sure we will in the beginning, it won't have taken nearly the time."

She reluctantly nodded before changing the subject. "EDC High is still in session. I think Hermione and Luna are there now. Did you attend this summer too?"

Harry nods with some excitement, "I've checked over some of the curriculum, I think it's a good idea to help us catch up to speed. To most we're just human aliens."

He was grinning at that and she giggled before she frowned at him in thought. He was lifting the ship with a levitation spell over to the docking extension. "You do know how to fly this right?"

Harry smirks and confidently shares, "I can fly anything!"

Curiously she asks, "Really?"

"Yea, it's an affinity I guess. Simulations will help hone my skills but if I can get some real flight experience first the simulations will work a hell of a lot better."

She grinned. "There isn't much room in here but we're not going to fly the Skydancer too much."

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'Captain we have a problem' Michael sent to Captain Sheridan through the collars.

John sent back, 'Yes?'

'It seems that Clark has instigated the formation of a new security force called Night Watch.'

He pressed his communication pad. "Michael, why don't you and Talia come to my quarters, I'll be there in about ten minutes."

'Thank you, captain; Talia has been itching to help out now that she realized she'd avoided certain extremes because of the programming.'

"We're on our way."

'Talia, Michael here, the captain wants to talk about this new group forming. Do you have a feel for the names I gave you?'

'Yes, Michael. Do be a dear though and allow me to finish what I'm doing right now before you bug me.'

Michael couldn't help but shiver. Susan had taken off early that day and had a smile on her face that he was sure was anticipation. He really didn't want to pull her away from that right just then.

'John, I think ten minutes might be a bit short. Talia is with Susan right now and if we interrupt them we won't have to worry about Clark.'

There was some humor in the thought returned by the captain, 'Understood. I'm off for the night; would you like to join me and Delenn for drinks?'

'Sure, maybe we could ask Xander to look the Night Watch personnel over as well; Talia isn't as efficient on reading them without touching them as he is.'

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Frank Bartholomew Parker blinks with surprise. "You want me to what?"

Samantha Carter grinned at Frank's response; it was similar to how Jack would react. "We want you to join our program."

"What program?"

"I would normally say you have to see to believe but in this case I don't think you do. The fact that you've had prior contact with Alien artifacts is a point in your favor. The SGC is a sub division of the EDC, Earth Defense Command, you'd be on my team and we're a first contact team."

Almost incredulously, "You want me to play nice with a bunch of aliens?"

Dealing with Jack had prepared her for simple responses, "That and kill the bad ones."

"If I agree, do… do you have room for a Russian scientist?"

Sam blinked in confusion for a moment and then it hit her. She snapped her fingers, "That scientist Olga Vulcan or something from the Backstep program, but I thought she was dead?" The sadness in her tone told Frank he could trust her.

"I know where Olga Vukavitch is staying. If you want I could call her, she's… she's safe for now and I really don't know how long she'll be safe in the future."

"Oh the NID think she's dead. If we move fast enough we'll cut them off at the knees."

He smiled at the thought of depriving them of anything, "Not one of their fans either?"

Sam shook her head. "They were willing to threaten my former CO's grandchildren to force him into early retirement."

Frank winces, thinking of the families of his dead friends. "They slaughtered my coworkers and friends, everyone, anyone aware of anything about the project except for me. I killed the seven men they sent after me and then let the last one go with a promise of a dead man switch, my high tolerance for pain ensures they won't break me, and I have a talent for slipping the leash easily."

Samantha gives him a grin as she nods, "One of the reason we picked up on your profile."

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Gibbs entered NCIS Director Tom Morrow's office.

"Jethro, please sit."

Gibbs kept his baring but asks, "What's going on Tom." You don't enter the conversation with a sit and a first name without wanting something.

"I've been informed that I'm not to sway you and those working for me away from a position that I've officially not been informed of. However the man in the large oval office said he owed me a favor and shared something. I would recommend that you take seriously whatever offer you receive from the representative coming in about five minutes. I'm of the mind that I'm actually a tad jealous. You, Dr. Mallard, and Abigail are all going to be offered the position and as of five minutes ago all three of you are on paid time off so you can actually see what the offer is. The other two are on their way."

Gibbs blinked in shock, the smiling face and twinkling eyes told him it was a joke but the respectful tone and actual jealousy, he could almost taste that, meant it was for real, whatever it was.

"I'll take it under advisement sir."

The two Tom mentioned enter the director's office just right on time, "Gibbs!" Abby shouts, then with a whining child tone asks, "Why are they demanding I leave my lab!?"

Gibbs smiled and puts an arm halfway around her in comfort, "I don't know Abby, but we'll find out."

Ducky smiled widely, "Indeed, I was told it would be most informative."

Tom Morrow asks, "What did you find out from your contact?"

"Oh, I'm sure my contact isn't anymore informed than yours."

Tom almost groaned aloud at the normally prattling M.E. The President would only go so far as to share that it involved alien technology and if they chose to they'd 'live the dream'. It was enough to inspire his curiosity even more and leave nothing answered. Even his connects in the CIA had been unable to tell him anything.

Samantha Carter knocked on the door.

Tom calls out, "Enter!"

"All three are here, good." Sam turned to face Thomas, "I was told by the President that you would be allowed to come along for the initial tour but only if you sign an NDA and only the initial tour."

Director Morrow blinked in surprise and grinned widely.

Abby whines, "What's going on Gibbs?"

Sam locked the door and said, "This way" as she pulled out what looked like some kind of tire. Sam tossed the enlarging circle against the wall. "Five coming through we need a standby."

Gibbs, staring at the hole in the wall asks, "Standby?"

A man came through dressed in air force regulation uniform and saluted, "I'm your standby ma'am."

"Can't just leave the hole here without a standby; he has a radio in case you're needed in an emergency Director Morrow."

The man nodded.

Abby was whispering as she babbled, "You can't just walk through a wall! What is that? It doesn't even leave…"

Gibbs pulled her along and she widened her eyes as she took in everything while walking into a new environment.

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Gibbs had a fairly good idea of what his future included, and it had never really included further military service. He was worried that they were going to ask him to reenlist. He really didn't want to but he would if asked, for this.

The Director had left two hours ago and the tour had become much more a pitch and now he was waiting for the hook.

"So what we really want to have is a completely civilian team with some military discipline who'll be able to work with SG Op teams. The program would be called OWI, Off World Investigations. You'd have the full backing of the different military legal agencies. I believe they are looking for a few JAG officers to help head it up. Our Doctor in charge of medical treatment is a good doctor and has dealt quite a bit with investigating health issues and what causes them but already has her hands full and their only getting fuller. We're trying to delegate a good portion of the tasks she'd normally do."

She was looking at Dr. Mallard.

Ducky nods his understanding, "I'm used to dealing with things that were from criminal intent and have a certain way of examining things that she would pass over. I can understand what you mean. I will only need to adjust my perception to include things caused by…" he blinked and smiled, "Alien sources."

Jethro Gibbs smiled at Ducky's last two words. "I bet you never thought you'd say that seriously."

Abby was quite excited. "Do you have any idea…" she stated to babble and Jethro smiles at the child like vigor of the girl he thought of as a daughter at times.

"I think I speak for both these two when I say that we're interested."

Sam smiled "Good. Even with the added pay, I can't say for the stress that it is cost effective; but we do have a good set of perks."

Abby blinks. "Perks?"

"There are things that we can't make public for reasons of national if not world security. Just for example, as soon as you signed the NDA Dr. Frasier started to help Mrs. Mallard with a treatment that includes nanotechnology we borrowed from a friend and ally."

Ducky's voice broke, "My mother?"

"She'd already passed the background check. We're trying to keep things in-family for those who are in the know and her history as a teacher will be, if she wishes to continue, a wonderful asset. I'm sure if you want to head through those doors, you can go see her now."

Ducky was on his feet and through the doors.

Almost coldly Gibbs observed, "That was well played."

"She has Alzheimer's. The nanotech treatment will eliminate it completely and she'll live another couple of decades if she doesn't want to teach, if she does there's the Elixir, a serum she'll be given that will make her about twenty years old on a physical level and she'll live another several hundred."

Gibbs blinked and she nodded.

"Not everyone is taking the Prolong option, but those who take the Dargol Serum are. Once her mind is clear, they'll ask her about teaching before they'll ask her about her age. We don't want to blackmail people into it… if you know what I mean?"

He did and he noted personally that Ducky wasn't told until they accepted it, not that it would have mattered if he turned it down, he would still have his mother's health and they likely wouldn't ask her to teach. It was a small risk it seemed and the perks of longevity were something he would have considered worth it. He wasn't a spring chicken anymore.

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Moving onto the Prometheus had been a short thing for Gibbs. He'd had very large quarters and was able to put his boat into an area that he could work on it. How they knew he would have it, he'd have to guess at for now, but he was thrilled with the arrangements. Abby's quarters were next door and Ducky's was four doors down. After moving in, before they got to work on setting up the OWI, they were all to take a few classes.

As they sat Gibbs noted a young dark haired woman asks another girl, "So who's teaching the class today, I noticed that it was all adults today?"

"I'm not sure but the Tok'ra has been really good about giving lectures."

"Excuse me" Gibbs spoke up. "We're new, but Tok'ra?"

Ducky spoke up, "The symbiote species similar in make up to the Goa'uld, I believe?"

The elder girl nodded. "I just call them Goa'uld. Egeria never minds but they get really tetchy about it here. Sorry, I'm Cordelia Chase LeVelle of Kalderash; this is Dawn Summers LeVelle of Kalderash."

"Jethro Gibbs, this is Abigail Scutio." He gestures to Abby.

"Call me Abby."

He continued as if he'd not been interrupted, "… and this is Dr. Donald Mallard, we call him Ducky."

Dawn blinks and smiles, "As in quacks?"

Ducky grinned back at her and nods.

Dawn looks him up and down, almost sexually but not quite, "Maybe after the class we can get together so I can pick your brain?"

"Oh behave Dawn."

Dawn stuck her tongue out at Cordelia. "It's good to get as much understanding from the medical standpoint of different doctors who're trained in different ways as you can."

With a put upon expression Cordelia sighs, "Yes, I know."

"Oh look! It's Martouf and Lantash."

Abby asks, "Who?" she was looking and only saw one person.

Cordelia gestures, "The man dressed strangely is Martouf and he's host to Lantash."

"Egeria said that they are too separated emotionally to use just one name. She and her host merged when she was very young and as a slave her host didn't have much of a self identity, which isn't the case for most of the Tok'ra."

"Her host was a slave before…?" Abby started to ask.

Dawn nods, "Yea, she took her as a host to stop the Jaffa from raping her. The Jaffa race sees the Goa'uld as a god so they wouldn't dare risk the wrath of one to get…"

"Don't be vulgar Dawn." Cordy chastised lightly and then turned to Abby, "She's right though, but that didn't stop a bastard Goa'uld from taking her captive and doing the same."

Jethro winced, but stayed silent. He would have to look into some of the alien practices.

Lantash's reverberating voice sounded out as his eyes glowed, "Thank you all for coming today."

Abby couldn't help it. "Whoa" she whispered and Ducky was nodding it was almost like some kind of supernatural possession he'd read horror stories about as a child.

"The first thing we are going to cover today is the use of crystalline storage of information…" he started to talk about the uses of crystals, how to determine what types of crystals could be used and identifying the differences. It was interesting while being short and to the point. The pictures he had of where they were located on the ship and such meant that Gibbs could see their importance.

Jethro briefly wondered a touch worried, if he was always going to feel as if he was in over his head when dealing with the technology. Abby seemed to completely understand it, and Ducky wasn't quite oblivious either. By the end of the lecture Jethro couldn't tell you much but he could follow directions if he was told what to do and wouldn't me that much of a hindrance.

As the lecture ended Jethro realized it was meant to be a familiarization orientation. The class was about an hour long, a quarter of which was covering the different locations certain crystals would be found while on this ship or a ship of similar design.

"Do you have any idea why we needed to be familiar with this now?"

"Last week there was an incident," Cordelia said. "I gather that one of the kids, about five years old, thought the crystal was a magical wand and was attempting to channel magic through it."

Dawn snickered. "Eric didn't know any better."

Cordy frowns. "It wasn't Eric."

Dawn hisses, "It wasn't? That little twerp! He let me tease him and just smiled all the while. I'm going to tickle him until he pees his pants."

Cordelia shakes her head. "Oh no, you don't! You got pranked fair and square."

"I suppose…" she looked Cordelia up and down leeringly, "I know who put him up to it too."

"Anyway" Cordelia said to the newly formed OWI, "it was one of the friends little Eric made. Evidently they looked up the wand movements for the Alohomora and his friend was trying to cast it."

Gibbs smiled at the byplay. "So what was the problem?"

Cordelia blandly tells him, "The problem was it was working."

"They didn't tell me that!"

Cordy was having fun retelling this story, "They sent the kids home for the day to secure all the crystal that may have any effects that were not previous known or observed."

Being new to the EDC the trio just listened intensely to the somewhat humorous anecdote.

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Janet smiled. Donald may not have been up to date on the latest advances SGC hadn't published but that didn't indicate that he was by any means slow. The newest treatment of Dargol Serum and Prolong had made him look about five and half years younger than before but it wasn't that noticeable and she thought the man was quite handsome before taking it. The only reason he took it was because it set the right age for the latest Prolong treatment.

Turning to Dawn Janet smiles, "I'm pleased you made it, Dawn." That was when she noted that Dawn had two people with her that were obviously doctors.

"This is Doctor Stephen Franklin, and Doctor Everett Jacobs. They're collaborating on trying to fix a virus that's killing off the Markab race."

Janet winced, that sounded all too close to home. "Let's see what we can do."

Franklin shared, "I brought a sealed sample of the virus. We know the Drafa was engendered by some isolationist within their own race. They had the idea that if they couldn't have their way, they'd just kill off their own species."

"We'll look at it with our equipment. What have you determined so far?"

The process was not short by any means. Dawn had found that they could use nanotech to heal the symptoms but the virus was too elusive to actually be affected. The cure came from actually creating a virus that was related to the current virus, and then when the new virus took hold, they could easily cure it with antigen nanobots they'd made up. Ironically it was one of the techniques Janet had learned from Ke'ra after the poor woman had her memories restored.

What really made Janet's thoughts confused were the ways the two visiting doctors were so familiar around the lab with the modern tech but still uneasy with advanced tech. The way they were at the same time familiar with dealing in Exobiology? It was almost eerie. With the cure fast tracked using the medical bay including the Nanobots injections, they were done in about sixteen hours.

Franklin was tired as he smiled on his way from the MedLab in Babylon 5 to his quarters. The viral agent and nanobots would save the race, even if the Markab only had a few thousand people left. He had learned quite a bit and had brought with him a few things the Prometheus had fabricated. It sure was faster than the replicators. Then again it wasn't producing them out of energy. No it was produced from the raw materials. He could understand that.

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From Grayson, the Protector sent an invitation to the Joyce to Xander for his wives. It was for a baby shower, to celebrate the birth of Jeanette and Rachel Mayhew, the children of the Protector.

The birth of these two children made Dawn realize the need the general populations on Grayson had for modern medical care. The Mayhew family was already familiar with the prolong treatment, having schooled off Grayson but the rest of Grayson was only peripherally aware of the medical advancement. Without a modern medical center which included Prolong and ReGen Treatment, on Grayson she would see about possibly providing the wives with some medical care to help them get back on their feat as well as ensue their daughters received the latest generation of Prolong.

She would have to talk to them about it first and then make sure their doctors were aware of the modern medical practices, but she couldn't see how they wouldn't be, not with the Protector aware of the advanced.

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