Once again, sorry for taking so long, like chapters before, I've had it done weeks before; I just took forever to post it.
Dark Lords
Chapter 12: Ghost Ship
At first she couldn't explain what was happening, she was seeing this ship that was free flowing threw space, but soon Buffy realizes she is having a dream. The ship was a brown color, half circle shape with two big blaster guns out on each side, and the cock pit sticking out the middle.
In a flash, Buffy suddenly found herself in the ship. She was standing in a corridor that leads to the cock pit and from what Buffy could tell, there was someone sitting in the pilot seat. Buffy slowly began walking into the cockpit, she couldn't get a good look at this person considering all she could see was the back of his head, but she could tell that this was a male, and he had short light brown hair and was wearing a Jedi robe. There was also something oddly familiar about this person, she just couldn't figure out what. Buffy was standing right behind him and about to turn him around, when suddenly the whole she jerked and the sound of something grabbing on to it nearly made Buffy jump out of her shoes.
Buffy awoke from her dream and slowly sat up, she rubs the sleepiness out of her eyes, and then looks over, to the other side of the room, at her friend and roommate, Max. Even though it was dark in the room, Buffy could tell she was still sound asleep in her bed. Buffy decides that she also needs to be sound asleep and lays back down.
Few seconds later, Buffy sits back up, she didn't know how she knew it, but she did. Buffy quietly gets out of bed and changes clothes. She slowly opens the door, as not to wake Max, but after she steps out and closes the door behind her, Max wakes up.
Max's rubs her eyes and says "Buffy?" Getting no answer, Max turns on the light next to her bed and sees Buffy's bed empty. Max doesn't think too much of it, Buffy could have just taken a step out for some fresh air, gone to the restroom, or perhaps went to a secret late night encounter with Xander. Max turns off the light and goes back to sleep.
About fifteen minutes later, there is a knock at the door that reawakes Max.
"Who is it?" Max calls out
"It's Mace and Xander" Xander replied
Max turns on the lamp and notices that Buffy still isn't in her bed. With Xander and Mace at the door, this couldn't be good. Max sits up in her bed and says "Come in"
Xander and Mace enter the room neither of the them dressed for bed, they both had their jedi outfits on.
"What's wrong?" Max asked
"Max, would you have any idea why Buffy would be going to Khoonda this late?" Mace asked
"What?" Max was surprised "I didn't even know she'd left"
"Since she doesn't know" Xander says to Mace "Can we go after Buffy"
Mace nods and the two are about to leave when Max says "Wait, I'm coming with you"
"Okay" Mace says "We'll wait outside while you change, but make it quick"
Minutes later, Max comes out of her room dressed in her jedi outfit. She then follows Mace and Xander and asked "So, what happen?"
Xander tells her "Well, Padme and I were still in the garden talking" Earlier this morning, Padme had arrived and since then they had been together catching up and having fun. Buffy and Max, as well as Padme's personal bodyguard, Britannia, was with them, but when it started getting late, Buffy and Max excused themselves and went to bed. Britannia was going to stay, but Padme told her to get some sleep. "And that's when Padme saw Buffy on the other side, at first we didn't know where she was heading and we called out to her, but she didn't answer, so we decided to follow her"
"Where was she going?" Max asked
"I was just getting to that; we caught up with her in the speeder garage just as she took off in one"
"You mean she just took a speeder without permission?"
"Yep" Xander answered
"Didn't the sentry on duty stop her? Who was the sentry on duty?"
"Biff"
"You mean Piff" Max corrected him
"Yeah, Piff, I wonder why I keep getting his name wrong, anyways according to him he was going to stop her, but she gave him a 'I'm going to hurt you if you try' look, so he backed off, but can you really blame him"
"Considering it was Buffy, no I can't, so how do you know she's heading to Khoonda?" Max asked
"Apparently, she told Biff, I mean Piff where she was going and to tell me when I asked" Xander answered
Piff was a jedi padiwan himself. At times, padiwans would be assigned sentry duty and tonight Piff was assigned to the garage.
"So, I went and got Mace here, and we decided to check with you first before going after her"
The three of them made it to the speeder garage and Padme was waiting for them in the driver seat of one of the speeders "What took you guys so long?"
"Hey, I'm driving" Xander said
"No, you not" Padme responded
"Oh come on" Xander pleaded
"Xander, the longer you take, the longer it takes to caught up with Buffy" Padme said
Xander sighs and is about to take the front passenger seat, but then he sees it was already taken by Mace. Xander sighs again and get in the backseat with Max.
Xander looks over at Max and see her giving him an amused smirk "You really wanted to drive, didn't you"
"Yeah" Xander responded
After the speeder left the garage and got onto the road, Padme suddenly picks up the speed, faster then need be.
"Uh, maybe you should slow down a little, senator" Max said
"The faster we go, the sooner we catch up with Buffy" Padme said, but that was only half the reason she was speeding, the other half was because she was driving. Practically all her life, she has had someone drive, or fly her places, she rarely gets to do it herself, so when she gets the chance; she takes it, and goes fast. To her, it was a freedom she doesn't get to often. All the power she has does come with a price.
"So, does anyone have any idea why Buffy ran off" Max asked
"No, idea" Xander answered
"We find out soon enough" Mace added
It was morning for Spike as he and Fixer walked down a near by town. Spike forgot the name, but it reminded him of Vietnam. It also reminded of something out of the Vietnam movie 'Full Metal Jacket'. It looked like the scene with the hooker walking down the street and up to the soldiers.
"Blade, I was thinking" Fixer says, using Spike's code name "of what you said before and I think I know mystery behind those temporary force powers"
"Tell me then" Spike said
"You said Master Windu talked about how you use to have a connection with the force before you got turned into a vampire, and being turned is what took it away"
"Yeah, and I think I know where you're going with this"
"Exactly, drinking the blood of a force wielder temporally reconnected that connection, so I have to disagree with your earlier theory, I don't think just any vampire would get force abilities from drinking blood from a force wielder"
The two of them turned into an alleyway.
"But they were sith powers, does that mean I'm a sith" Spike said
"Well since you drank sith blood, it gave you dark side powers, his powers, plus the knowledge to use it. I'm guessing if you drank the blood of a jedi, you would gain light side powers" Fixer said
That was Fixer, always able to figure things out in his head. Sure the Commando Squad all looked alike, in fact, they all looked like any other clone trooper, but they didn't act like any other trooper. They all had their own distinct personalities.
They came up to a sewer entrance and stopped.
"Are we on time?" Spike asked, ready to remove the cover and head in.
Fixer checks the time "No, we're a little earlier"
"What's a little earlier" Spike said
"Hey, this whole operation is based on timing"
After a minute, Fixer gave the okay and Spike removed the cover.
Right before Spike jumps in, Fixer jokingly says "Try not to get separated this time"
It was a good thing Spike was wearing a helmet because it hid the scowling look he was giving Fixer as he jumps down the hole.
The sunlight was just peeking over the horizon as Padme, Mace, Xander, and Max drove into Khoonda. All academy speeders have a tracking device installed in them, so they were able to track Buffy to the spaceport.
They parked the speeder and entered the port. Xander, Mace, and Max were able to sense the direction Buffy went by using the force. It brought them to a hanger being used by a salvaging company.
As they walked up to it, a guard at the entrance stops them "Hold on, this is a private hanger, off limits to anyone but company personal"
"Have you seen a young blonde woman?" Xander asked
"No" The guard answered; then something came to him "Wait, there was a blonde woman…and I let her in for some reason"
"Well if you let us in" Mace says "We'll retrieve her and be out of your way"
"No, hold on!" The guard suddenly got upset "I'm no weak minded person!"
"No one said you were" Mace responded
"You didn't have to, you're a jedi, so is she, and she used that mind manipulation trick that only works on weak minded people, but I'm no weak minded person, I have a strong mind…I've just been working long hours and I'm tired"
"Sir, if you would just calm down" Padme said
"No, I'm calling for help and having all of you escorted out"
Before he could call anyone, Max waves her hand at him and says "You're not calling anyone"
The guard's face went blank and he repeats "I'm not calling anyone"
Max adds "You need to open up that door for us and then go home"
The guard walks to the hanger door starts punching in the door code "I need to open this door" after entering the code and the door pops open "I need to go home" he then walks away
"Max" Mace said disappointed
"What?!" Max said "It's not my fault he's so weak minded, besides he would have gotten extra security, and that would have made things more complicated"
"Yes, but you know you should only use that ability as a last resort"
Max sighs "Yes, master"
As they enter the private hanger, they spot an old rusted ship in the middle and Buffy standing in front of it.
"Buffy, what's going on? Are you alright? Why did you come here?" Xander asked question after question but all with concern. Xander was ahead of all of them as they quickly headed over to Buffy
Buffy didn't look away from the rusty freighter as she says "It's the ship from my dream"
"Your dream?" Mace asked
"Yes, I dreamed about it last night" Buffy said "And now here it is"
Mace asked another question "Did you dream about it being brought here?"
"No, I just had a feeling it would be here"
Just then a tall man with long black hair, wearing a gray jump suite, walks down the ships landing ramp. Upon seeing everyone, he says "Who are you people, where did you come from; you do know this is a private hanger?"
"Which question do you want answered first?" Xander joked and then mutters to himself "Hey, maybe I didn't loose my sense of humor"
Mace gives Xander an annoyed look and then says to the tall man "We're sorry about being here, we'll leave"
"Wait!" Buffy quickly jumps in "I have a few questions, like where did this ship come from? Who owns it? What's its name?"
"Now which question would you like me to answer first" The tall man said sarcastically, mocking Xander, then got serious "or perhaps you can answer my questions first"
"I'm Buffy, and these are my friends, we're from the Jedi academy and we did know this was a private hanger and sorry about trespassing. Now please tell me where did this ship come from?"
The tall man looks back at the freight and wonders if he should tell her. What if this was her ship, in which she had lost. She would have claim to it and the salvaging of the ship would be for nothing. He then realizes that she asked about the name, so she couldn't be the owner. Perhaps she's interested in buying it. After going threw it and seeing how out of date it was, most of the systems so old it would take some time to figure out how old, he was afraid he wasn't going to be able to sell a single part. Now, here was a lady interested in the whole ship, perhaps, his luck has changed.
The tall man looks back at Buffy who was still waiting for an answer "May I ask why? Are you interested in purchasing it?"
Buffy's face lit up "You mean I can buy it? Who do I talk to?!"
"Well, that would be me, little lady, I'm Timulus, and I'm the owner of the salvaging company that found the ship, 'Mere United'"
"Great, how much do you want for it?"
"Lets say…15,000 credits" Timulus answered
Upon hearing the price, Buffy remembered she doesn't have a credit to her name and she went from excited to sad
"15,000 credits!" Max said "We could buy a much better ship then this for that amount"
"True, True" Timulus said "So, I'll knock it down to 8,000, and I'll let you use my hanger for a day for free"
Buffy looks towards Mace with a begging look. She was like a teenager begging her dad for a new car, but in this case the car was replaced with an old busted looking space freighter.
Mace returned the look of an apprehensive father. He was trying to figure out how to tell Buffy that he could never justify the purchase of this ship to the council.
Before Mace could tell Buffy he couldn't, Padme says "I'll pay for it"
Everyone looks at her shockingly.
"Are you sure?" Buffy asked
Padme answers "Yes, think of it as a 'thank you' for protecting me and then going after my attempted assassin"
Buffy rubs the back of her neck awkwardly and says to Padme "As much as I would love to let you think that and get this ship…I only did those things because at the time, I thought it might lead to a way home. And I mean no offence by that! Because if you were in trouble now, I would so help just because you need help and no other reason"
Padme wasn't offended, in fact she was smiling at Buffy "I know, but the fact remains you help me and my friend and I haven't properly thanked you"
"Are you really sure?"
"Yes, I'm really sure"
"Oh thank you so much" Buffy had a huge smile
"Excuse me" Timulus said "Is anyone going to buy this ship?"
"Yes, we are" Padme said "But perhaps we can negotiate on the price"
"I don't think so; I've already gone as low as I'm going"
Xander walks up to Timulus and waves at him "You will go lower"
Timulus looks at him funny "No, I won't"
Xander looks at his hand and then tries again "Yes, you will" But Timulus still looks at him funny
Xander shakes his hand like he trying to get the juices flowing and was going to try again, but Timulus stops him by saying "Look, kid, I know what you're trying to do, but it's not going to work on me"
"Oh" Xander said with embarrassment
"Xander" Mace said annoyingly, and Xander turns to see a not to happy Mace
"Sorry" Xander said with his head hung low and then walks to the back of the group
"Well, if you're not going to go lower in price" Padme said "Then give us at least four days use of your hanger"
Timulus sighs "Alright, but if any point after the third day, I need the hanger for another ship, you're going to have to move it"
"Agreed" Padme said and he and she shake hands, she then adds "I'll have credits transfer to your account by noon"
"You have yourself a deal, madam…I didn't catch you name"
"Padme"
"Padme?"
"Just Padme" Padme didn't want to reveal she was a senator just yet, no until the purchase was made official. Sure the hand shake was an unofficial agreement and, by honor, it would be the final agreement. But she didn't know this guy and didn't know if he would up the price if he found out she was a senator.
"Well, I'll go get the 'transfer of ownership' ready" Timulus says "But feel free to start enjoying your new old ship" He then walks away, heading towards his office
Before Padme knew what happen, Buffy envelopes her in a hug "Thank you so very much" Buffy said
"Your welcome" Padme responded
"Buffy, you said you dreamed about this ship" Mace said
"Yep" Buffy said as she lets go of Padme
"Tell me about it" Mace says "The dream that is"
Buffy begins tell everyone about her dream.
Darth Nihilus sat in his command room on the CIS flagship 'Taurus', trying to figure out a way to find that woman that his master is looking for. Perhaps if he found her, then whatever he had planned for his three best warriors would be unnecessary, because whatever he had planned couldn't be good for them.
He started to think what he did know about this woman, she wasn't a jedi, but a jedi in training and so was that male friend of hers. This of course, made it hard to track her because they had no spies in the Jedi Order; having spies in the other parts of the Republic was easy, but not the Jedi Order, they could sense a spy in their ranks. So tracking a student of theirs was hard…however, in time of war, tracing a full knight or master wasn't. She had to have a master, a strong one, since she was so strong herself. He just needs find out the location of all the top Jedi and find out which ones have the unusual locations for a time of war. That master would be in a spot away from the war, considering they are trying to hide her.
Later that morning, Tifa and Britannia had joined everyone else at the private hanger. The ship was now theirs and surprisingly Tim wasn't upset when he found out about Padme being a senator.
At the moment, Britannia was with Padme outside the ship. Padme was looking over a data pad that contained the towing cost to have this ship transfer from this hanger to the academy hanger. While Padme was doing this, Britannia was trying to make her point clear "You just left the safety of the academy without me; how am I supposes to protect you if you just leave without notifying me?"
"I was in no danger, plus I had a Jedi Master and students with me" Padme said
"That's all well and good, but it's my job to protect you"
"Yes, and you do a very good job doing it"
"How can I do my job, if you always keep running off like this!" Britannia yells at her, and then realizes that she yelled "I'm sorry, my lady, I over step my bounds"
"It's alright" Padme said "I hired you for two reasons, one, you're good at your job, and two you speak your mind. But understand, I'm not going to live a close and over protected life, okay, there will be times I do things that weren't on the agenda"
"Yes, my lady" Britannia said as if she was scolded
Padme says with a gentle smile "I'm not mad with you…I'll be sure to let you know when there is a change of plans"
Britannia answered back with a nod.
Buffy was in the freighter's com room with R6-D2, Mace's personal astro droid. R6-D2 looks just like R2, expect it had dark purple markings instead of blue. The ship had no power, so there were no lights and both Buffy and R6 was using personal flash lights to see.
Buffy was watching R6 hooking up an independent power cell to the com room's computer.
Just outside the room, Xander turns off his light in a playful attempt to sneak up on her, he quietly enters the room, slowly and quietly takes steps up to her, but as he gets just behind her, Buffy says "Hi, Xander" without turning around.
"How do you always know it's me?" Xander said
"I just do" Buffy says as she turns to him with a smile "Can I ask you a question?"
"You're asking me a question about asking me a question?"
"Well, can I?"
"You don't have to ask…just ask"
"When did you think your sense of humor was gone?" Buffy asked
"Did Tifa talk to you?"
"What, no, I heard the comment you made earlier what does Tifa have to do with this?"
"Oh, nothing" Xander said "I just feel like I've become more serious and less humorous lately"
"You haven't been loosing your humor, you're just becoming more mature, but you're still a great and funny guy"
"That's what Tifa was telling me"
"So, you've talk to Tifa about it"
"Yeah, we kind of talked" Xander changes the subject "Hey, when did you learn to that jedi mind control ability?"
"Jedi what? What are you talking about?"
"The affect mind ability, or whatever it's called, it where you can get weak minded people to do almost anything. Tifa had mentioned it before, and I saw Max do it to the guard…and according to that same guard, you did it to him to get passed him"
"Xander, I don't know what you're talking about" Buffy was confused
"Well, then how did you get pass the guard at the hanger door?" Xander asked
"I" Buffy thinks "really wanted him to let me by and…told him to step aside…and he just did"
"See, you did do the…mind thingy"
"I guess I did, but Mace never taught it to me"
"Wow, you know this means, you were able to do an ability without even learning it" Xander said
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, it's just means you're a natural jedi"
R6 lets a few beeps and boops
"What did R6 say?" Buffy asked
"I don't know" Xander answered "I still haven't learned to speak 'beep'"
Suddenly the power comes on, but a second after there's a short circuit sound and everything goes back out. After R6 lets out some more beeps that sound as if he's annoyed
"I can tell that he doesn't sound happy" Xander said
Padme was still outside with Britannia and Max. All of them were looking over the outer hall. For the time being, the ship was registered in Padme's name. With Buffy still hiding, the last thing she needed was a ship in her name. Although it was in her name, Padme still considers it Buffy's ship. However, with it in Padme's name, it would make it easier to get repairs done and the rust bucket was going to cost a lot to repair.
"The cost of repairs is going to be more then what you paid for it" Max said
"I know" Padme replied
Buffy overheard them as she and Xander exited the ship "Don't worry, Padme, I plan to pay you back"
"No, its okay" Padme said back
"No, it's not, you bought this ship for me and now you're planning to fix it up. Hey I know, it's a freighter, so I can ship things for you"
"Yeah, I guess you could"
Not to far from them Mace and Tifa were talking about the situation.
"Why does Buffy need a freighter anyways" Tifa said
"Like I said, she seems to have a connection to it" Mace responded
"Why couldn't she have a connection to something…more new and not so…old?"
At that moment, R6 exits the ship while giving off some beeps and whistles.
"R6 was able to access the ship's computer" Tifa said
"Did he find anything out about it?" Buffy asked as she and the rest of them walk up to Mace and Tifa
R6 says a few more beeps.
"He's found the ship I.D." Mace said
"Huh?" Xander said
"He means the ship's name" Britannia explained
"Well, don't keep us waiting, what's it called!" Buffy said with excitement
R6 next beeps and whistles contain the name.
Upon hearing the name, Mace and Tifa were in a state of shock.
However, they weren't the only ones who could understand the droid. Padme, Britannia, and Max could also.
"Ebon Hawk" Max said "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"I don't think it sounds cool enough" Xander said "I think we should change it"
"No, if that's its name" Buffy said "Then that's what it will be"
"Okay" Xander responded
"So if he's got access to the ship's computer, does that mean he's been able to hook up the power cell?" Buffy asked
R6 beeps and Mace says "Yes it does"
Buffy turns to the others and says "Come on, lets take a full tour of the ship"
Everyone, expect for Tifa and Mace, enters the ship. Mace and Tifa needed to talk alone about the ship's name.
"Ebon Hawk, Mace" Tifa said "Do you know who had a ship by that name"
"Yes, I know, the exile" Mace answered "But that was so long ago, this could be another ship with the same name"
"Oh come on Mace, look at the signs, the sith that looks like Darth Sion, Buffy's growing force bond ability, and now this ship that happens to be named 'Ebon Hawk', a ship she had in a vision" Tifa said "Mace, I think more is going on then we know about"
"I'm afraid you might be right" Mace said
TBC
I know there wasn't any action in this chapter, things pick back up in the next as Spike makes his journey back and runs into a problem or two on the way.