Vampires In the Senate 3

The scream of the high-pitched alarms emanating from the Senate Chamber sounded throughout the building. High up in the public gallery that overlooked the rotunda, the Jedi knights Kenobi, Jinn, Vos, and Master Tholme watched the scene below them with growing unease. Buffy's plan of pushing the newly made vampire to breaking point had worked out a little too well. The Sith Lord had lost complete control, not only transforming into a vampire in front of the entire Senate but leaping from his own platform and tackling Buffy to the ground.

Close-ups of the scene were playing on the viewscreens all around the public gallery. No doubt, they were also being transmitted into palaces, homes, offices, and bars everywhere in the civilised galaxy. The images of Darth Sidious's lined and ridged Sith vampire face as he struggled with Lord Vader would be gossip for years to come. Those Senators who'd not already left the chamber at the first signs of trouble stood in stunned silence. Watching the man they'd recently voted to become Supreme Chancellor turn into a vicious monster. They knew that this act of violence would have a huge effect not only on the dynamics of galactic politics but also on the galaxy as a whole.

Qui-Gon Jinn was the first to notice when the four blue-clad Senate guards inside the viewing gallery turned their eyes from the viewscreens and began to eye those around them hungrily.

"Obi-Wan," he said quietly.

The younger Jedi didn't hear him. His focus remained on the struggle going on inside the Senate Chamber. Buffy lay trapped beneath Sheev Palpatine. Through their bond, he could sense her mounting panic and felt her cold shock the moment the wily Sith Lord drove his fangs down into her neck. The images and sensations were all so strong. He could smell the foul odour of the Sith's breath, see his lust-filled eyes, and felt her desperation as she failed to fling him away. He caught a glimpse of a past memory running through her mind, she'd fought another vampire who'd drunk her blood and gone on to kill her – The Master.

"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said again. He placed a gentle hand firmly on the younger man's shoulder, falling back on the familiar gesture that he'd often used when they were master and padawan. Obi-Wan turned troubled eyes on him, and he asked, "Remember, the here and the now?" At the younger Jedi nod and he continued, "Trust in the Force. Buffy and Dooku will handle Palpatine, I am certain of it. We have a more immediate problem on our hands."

Obi-Wan's azure gaze went to the guards and then to Vos and Tholme, who stood at the opposite end of the viewing window. The pair turned slightly, caught his eye over the heads of the other spectators, and nodded. They'd noticed the guards eyeing those in the room like starving men outside a barbecued Nerf shop.

"They're armed with blaster rifles," Qui-Gon said casually, stroking his greying beard thoughtfully, "and pistols. Below their official robes they wear an armour that will easily deflect wooden stakes."

"We need our lightsabers," Obi-Wan responded tersely. Knowing that all weapons were impounded before entry to the viewing gallery they'd each handed in a fake lightsaber at the security desk. They'd left their real weapons with Master Windu who was entering the building by a very different path.

"Weapons which we do not have," remarked Qui-Gon placidly, although Obi-Wan thought there was a slight scolding note for his stating the obvious. The hint of censure no longer bothered Obi-Wan as it would have when he'd been a padawan. Qui-Gon had never worked with Buffy and Andrew, you needed to state the obvious to them as their brains worked differently to a Jedi's.

"What we do have, my young Jedi," Qui-Gon continued with a small smile, "is the Force."

Obi-Wan nodded and took another look through the viewing window. To his great relief, he saw that Dooku had used the Force to push Palpatine away from Buffy. The Supreme Chancellor sprawled against the raised edge of the Serenno repulsor pod. Palpatine rose angrily to his feet, somersaulted over the edge, and began jumping down from one platform to another. From the direction he was taking, Obi-Wan suspected that he was heading for the elevator located at the bottom of the chamber.

One of the vampire guards snarled, catching his attention. Realising that he was wasting valuable time and still needed to contact Master Windu, Obi-Wan raised the master via his com-link. "Captain Picard, are you in position? This is Captain Kirk."

"Picard here," responded Mace Windu. "We have entered the area and moving into position."

In the background, behind Windu, came the sound of blaster fire followed by Tenacious's complaining muffled voice. A moment later, Obi-Wan heard Mother Ta'la scolding him, saying that he wasn't allowed to kill everyone, he had to target vampires only.

"Everything is... secure here," said Master Windu. The Jedi Council master sounded exasperated. It seemed he'd known what Obi-Wan's next question was to be as the Jedi Master added, "Janeway stunned the human guards. We'll be with you shortly."

Before he cut the call, Obi-Wan quickly explained, "The Emperor has broken cover and attacked Seven of Nine. Seven of Nine is back on her feet but the Emperor has escaped and heading towards the elevator at the bottom of the chamber."

"Are there any hostiles in your vicinity?"

Obi-Wan glanced towards the four vampires who'd been masquerading as guards. "There are and we're about to deal with them."

"On our way."

…...

As soon as the weight of the Sith Lord was off her, Buffy climbed unsteadily to her feet. Count Dooku's eyes met hers and she nodded, to reassure him she was alright before looking over at Palpatine. There was a strong smell of blood in the air - her blood. Buffy glared at him and touched the dripping wounds in her neck.

The gesture flared a flash of red-hot lust in Palpatine's Sith yellow eyes.

"Later," he whispered, his tongue protruding to lick at the blood on his lips. She could see his mouth was full of her blood and a trickle stained his chin. "We'll finish this more privately, I promise."

Before either she'd a chance to speak or act he backflipped off their platform. Dropping down onto one repulsor pod to the next; scaring the occupants who screamed, honked, or grunted in fright when they saw his face.

"Buffy." At the sound of her name she turned, to find Count Dooku holding a handkerchief between his fingertips.

At any other time, his gesture would have made her smile. Here she was in a Sci-Fi dimension and she'd find the one guy who carried an old-fashioned pocket-handkerchief around with him. She took the Serenno monogrammed fabric and mopped at the blood that still ran down her neck, her eyes tracking Palpatine. She was about to dive from their platform to follow him when Dooku grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"We need to stop the bleeding." He pulled a pack of bacta-powder from out of his pocket. Dooku didn't add that he'd feel better knowing the wound was disinfected after Palpatine's nasty, yellow teeth had sunk into her flesh, he didn't think she'd like reminding of it.

"I haven't time for this!" Buffy tried to push his hands away, but the Count ignored her protest.

"A Jedi always finds time to do what is necessary," he answered smoothly and pressing a sequence on the control of their pod. The platform shuddered and then to descend rapidly for the chamber floor. As they dropped through the levels, he ripped open the bacta-pack and doused the two puncture wounds liberally with the healing powder.

They were still a long way from the floor when, all around them, the main chamber lighting and the individual platform lights went out simultaneously. The chamber was plunged into darkness. On various levels above them, Buffy heard doors being banged and cries to be let out. It seemed that any Senator who'd not already left the chamber had just been locked in.

"It's an emergency procedure," Dooku explained. "Should a major incident occur inside the chamber all exists are closed by the Senate guard."

"So only the Senate guard can open them?" They'd docked and after stepping from the platform, Buffy ran to the elevator she'd just seen Sid enter. Its shiny metallic doors were closed, and above it, the level indicator showed that the turbo-lift was rising upwards. "Palpatine got away," she said, sourly.

"The Supreme Chancellor must have the code to override any stop put on the elevator," Dooku muttered darkly. "It most likely will take him directly to his offices."

The glow of red emergency lighting ignited around the chamber and at the same time, Buffy's Slaydar screamed in warning.

"We've got vampires incoming," she said, swinging around to peer at the doors set in the wall not far from the elevator.

"I think now is a good time to draw your magical sword," Dooku suggested in his rich, deep voice. He had no way of knowing, but thought it likely the vampires would have taken over the Senate guard. It was something he'd have done if he'd been a Sith. "I trust you'll be able to recognise a sentient from a vampire, Miss Summers? Now is not a good time to make a mistake."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Demons set off my Slaydar more than the weird species do," Buffy replied. Without further prompting, she slid the magical sword from out of its sheath and held the shining blade out in front of her. The spell Willow had cast so long ago to make it invisible until drawn was still holding up. It was the only weapon they'd been able to smuggle inside the Senate Chamber.

Buffy gave the sword a quick practice swipe. It had been a while since she'd used it and the previous day she'd gone to one of the training rooms to re-familiarise herself with its weight and scope and have a few practise bouts with the Count. It felt strange after using a lightsaber to go back to a metal blade once again. Still, she thought, the blade had killed more than its fair share of demons over the years.

"Any vamp coming in here looking for a ready meal is going to find me waiting to serve them," she promised the Count brightly.

…...

Up above Buffy and the Count inside the viewing gallery, the four Senate guards tore off their plumed helmets revealing their true vampire faces to those inside the room. A woman spotted them and screamed. Chaos ensued. People blindly stampeded from the threat only to find there was only one exit and the vampires were stood in front of it. Others, braver souls, took their chance to ran past them to get to the exit while the vampires leaped and dived at their chosen victims. Those at the door found themselves being crushed under the weight of those behind them as they found that, no matter how many times they hit the controls, the door's power had been cut and they were trapped.

Quinlan Vos pushed his way through the crowd, to stand in front of the door. Holding his ground amongst the press of people, he flung up a hand summoning the Force, and with a swift flick of his fingers from right to left, opened the door. The effect was immediate, people surged past, half-stumbling, some falling in their haste to escape. Quin found himself being dragged forwards with the crowd and had to elbow his way sideways to reach the wall. He pushed and shoved his way back in, through the sea of people and heading for the nearest vampire who'd grabbed a young Hapan female. He grabbed the creature by the shoulders, tearing him off her, and knocking him to the ground.

The vampire's hand went to his blasters, realised they were missing he looked up to see Quinlan pointing his own blaster pistol at him. The vampire laughed, knowing that the Jedi were pacifists. "Would you shoot an unarmed man, Jedi?" he sneered.

A second later, the blaster shot hit the centre of his neck. Another two shots and his head bounced to the ground before it and his body dissolved in a maelstrom of ash.

Quinlan immediately tossed the second blaster rifle to Obi-Wan, who caught it with a grimace. Despite the Jedi's distaste for the weapon, he showed no hesitation using it - aiming for a vampire grappling with a fat man on the floor. The blaster shot hit the vampire directly in the buttocks and with a howl of pain and rage, he turned demonic yellow eyes onto the Jedi.

Obi-Wan shot again, this time one hitting the vampire squarely between the eyes and sending it to the floor where it lay with its limbs twitching. Obi-Wan wasn't certain if it would die from injuries, but felt certain that it could be left there safely until it could be dusted later.

He shot a look around him, finding that the other vampires had already been similarly disposed of and Qui-Gon was over at the door, beckoning to him. He gestured for his old master to go on, that he'd catch up, and turned back to the viewing window to stare into the red-lit chamber. Down on the chamber floor, he could just make out the tiny figure of Buffy brandishing her sword against a vampire as beside her Count Dooku deflected incoming blaster shots using a blue lightsaber he must have stolen.

~Buffy?~ Obi-Wan asked tentatively through their bond.

~ Busy fighting ~she replied. ~ Sid's gone. Dooku thinks to his offices. Need the power back on, get the doors open, and the Senators out.~

~I'll see to it~

Reassured that she was neither panicking nor injured, Obi-Wan left her to search for the main energy switches and to seek out Palpatine.

A/N; Thanks to those who have reviewed this story. Not far off the end