BPRI, Sunnydale; a month later. 0900 hours.
The flashes of images ran through Buffy's mind as she moaned in her sleep while turning her head from one side to the other on the pillow. Her movements caused Xander to stir while her chest was heaving up and down while the rest of her body winced slightly. Xander slowly opened his eyes when Buffy whispered out "where am I?" and immediately raised himself onto his elbow while his other hand rested on her extended abdomen.
"Buffy?" Xander whispered with a look of concern as the hand resting on her abdomen went up to her cheek, "Buffy?" He was worried for both his wife and their twins; a girl and boy whose names were still being discussed with any different suggestions coming in from the staff at the BPRI. Xander suspected this was one of Buffy's prophetic dreams since it was so much like the previous ones she has had over the years. Called her name once again, "Buffy", Xander still didn't receive a response. Placing a couple of fingers on the side of her neck, Xander could fee her pulse racing.
Worried about the babies, Xander was about to roll off the bed and rush to the speaker panel next to the side of the door to the single room. However, before Xander could even get off the bed and rush over to her side, Buffy snapped her eyes open and gasped.
"AHHHH!"
Xander quickly turned back towards his wife who was now placing her hands on her belly while her eyes closed as tears ran down her cheeks. She was breathing in and out rapidly as Xander rose and got onto his knees on the bed before placing both hands on her cheeks.
"Buffy? What happened?"
Ignoring Xander's question over the flash of visions that had been flashing through her mind, Buffy shook her head while whispering "no... no... no."
"Buffy?" Xander pleaded in worry as stopped whispering at stared up at him. Xander asked gently, "what happened? Was it another psychic dream?" After asking, Xander saw Buffy's face scrunch up as if she was going to sob. "Buffy, what happened?" Xander repeated gently as Buffy closed her eyes once again while speaking in a cracked voice as if she was about to sob.
"Get Angel, Cordelia, Tara... Xand... we... we need to talk..."
Buffy opened her eyes and then raised both arms before placing her hands on both of Xander's cheeks. What she had seen in her vision was seared into the forefront of her mind as she said, "it's about our babies."
At the mention of their children, Xander's face took on more of a worried expression. However, he also knew he needed to be strong. He couldn't afford to panic Buffy more than she already was, 'and the source of her panic has something to do with our kids.' So he took a deep breath before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead. Xander then whispered that he will help her up. Getting off the bed, Xander turned on the overhead lights before rushing to the panel on the left side of the door and pressed the red button which connected to the Control Room in the BPRI complex.
"Have Angel, Cordelia, and Tara sent to Buffy's room," Xander said after there was a soft BEEP, "she needs to talk to them now." After letting go of the button, Xander turned around to see Buffy resting on one elbow while wiping her eyes with the other hand. He rushed around the bed after Buffy returned to resting on both her elbows before Xander helped her to turn her body and then sit at the edge of her bed. He watched as Buffy wiped the streaks of tears on her cheeks before holding her left hand and then, with another hand on her back, helped her to stand off the bed. Usually she would say that Xander didn't need to do anything; that she could get up off the bed by herself or move around by herself. Still, when Xander was on missions for the BPRI, he would have someone always by her side. It was something that Buffy found endearing and annoying at the same time.
But this time, Xander didn't hear any complaints from Buffy. Silently, he had one hand on her lower back while holding her hand with his other free hand. They slowly walked over to the attached living room and the three-seater couch where Xander helped Buffy to take a seat. Sitting down next to her, Xander wanted to ask once again what was it about her vision that had her so terrified.
And that was another thing; Xander had rarely seen Buffy so terrified. Her hands were trembling – something her could feel while holding her hand.
"Honey," Xander whispered before leaning forward to kiss the left side of her temple, "whatever vision you had, we'll get through it together." He was about to let go of her hand so that he could get her some water. But when he was about to released his hold on her hand, Buffy turned her head towards Xander while using her other hand to rest on top of his.
She then shook her head.
Xander then whispered, "I'm just going over to the kitchen and getting you some..."
"Stay," Buffy's whispered. Her voice begging him not to leave. And Xander was feeling ice gripping his heart at the abject terror in her voice. Buffy stared at him as she repeated, "stay." She then took her hand off Xander's and placed in on her abdomen before saying, "I saw... I saw the end... the end, Xander."
"Honey, we will deal with it. We always have dealt with things that try to destroy the world since High School," Xander reassured her. But Xander could tell from her expression that she wasn't reassured; in fact, the unease he felt... the terror he sensed... was simply unsettling to him. They had prevented one apocalypse after another and always came through in the end, 'so whatever she saw... can it really be that bad?'
It was what Buffy said next that had Xander's heart drop just after the icy grip around it strengthened its hold.
"Our girl..." Buffy whispered, turning her head towards Xander as renewed tears travelled down her cheeks, "Xander, our baby girl destroys the world."
About twenty minutes later.
Buffy didn't tell Xander about her nightmare... in a quacking voice she said "I don't want to repeat it, Xand." And then Buffy looked away from her husband before closing her eyes. Seeing Xander brought up the sight of his body eviscerated by demons while being tied to a stake. The nightmare was so vivid. Everything she had seen was burned into her mind – from bodies lying all around her to blood flowing down the streets of Sunnydale while the sky above was covered in clouds of dark grey, blue, and red. Buildings were toppled over, cars were burning and overturned; people... at least those she had seen alive were screaming in the distance.
Buffy opened her eyes almost immediately, and took a deep shaky breath upon seeing Xander alive in front of her. She then looked around the room – there was nothing but rubble in her nightmare. Shaking her head, Buffy turned her head towards the door in the living room when there were soft knocks.
"I'll open the door, Buffy," Xander whispered before leaning forward to kiss her cheek. Buffy nodded her head as she stared at the beige carpeting in the living room, her mind went back to her nightmare. She had seen armies slaughtered by demons led by a blue-blonde haired woman who was laughing as she killed. The woman wore purplish armour and she had abilities Buffy never encountered before – Buffy swore she had seen the woman teleport and stop time among other fantastical abilities.
She was shaken out of 'reviewing' her nightmare by Xander who tapped her shoulder. Looking up, Buffy stared at the concern on the faces of both Anger, Cordelia and Tara.
"Buffy," Cordelia said as she sat to the Slayer's left side while both Tara and Angel pulled the other seats in the living room so that they could sit closer to Buffy. As they did so, Cordelia asked, "what happened? The Control Room tech said Xander sounded worried, that you needed to see us."
Buffy then took a deep breath before telling Angel, Cordelia, Xander, and Tara about her nightmare. Buffy said that it started with herself walking through a large gathering of demons in what looked like a devastated Sunnydale. She spoke of seeing bodies of hundreds of humans, including Xander and many others from the BPRI, tied to stakes and all dead.
"They were chanting one word," Buffy whispered as she looked at Tara, "they were saying Illyria."
Buffy felt a chill up and down her spine as she turned her head towards Xander and held his hand. She then explained, "they were cheering on this woman... she had long dark blue hair that was blonde at the roots... I was so close to her I could see the blonde colouring turning to blue gradually down strands of her hair."
Buffy placed her hands on her abdomen and then continued, "she was looking down at a body... if was completely bloody and messed up and... and then..."
"Whose body was it?" Angel asked.
"I didn't know... not until the woman... the blue haired woman with blues eyes, blue tint to her face, and bluish purple armour grabbed my shoulder."
"Wait, what?" Xander asked surprised.
"Have you ever have an interruption like this when you have a psychic dream?" Tara asked. And Buffy shook her head.
"Only a few times with Sineya," Buffy answered, "never like this."
"Buffy, you told me..."
"She called me mother," Buffy whispered, her eyes locked on a stunned Xander, "Xand, she... she reached into my mind... in my dream... and..."
"Can't be," Angel whispered. Buffy turned towards him and said that she was saying the truth. She then turned towards Tara who had a look of shock before saying that Buffy was telling the truth.
"She said she was now Illyria," Buffy whispered as tears gathered in her eyes, "she reached into my mind and... and showed me nothing but death and destruction. She will kill David, our son." Buffy held ono both Xander's hands as she continued, "she showed me Sunnydale's destruction, how she led the slaughter of millions around the US. She showed me the slaughter of armies around the world... armies she killed herself while the demons following her hunted humans, the seas boiled... literally boiled and there were rivers of blood everywhere."
Buffy then closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. She sniffed before saying, "she looking like me, Xander. She looked like me with your eyes... it was her. Our baby girl. Somehow... she... she was possessed... I felt it in my heart... she was possessed by something we've never encountered."
"We need to find out what this Illyria is, Angel, Cordy," Xander said, "this... this thing... it is not getting my kids."
"We'll find out everything we can about this Illyria... Buffy, Xander," Angel promised as he patted Xander on the shoulder while Cordelia placed a hand on Buffy's back.
Tara then said, while placing a hand on Buffy's arm, "I'll strengthen the security and protection wards around the complex. I think we find out everything we can about Illyria and then go from there."
"Yea," Buffy whispered as she wiped her tears while Xander hugged her closed. Buffy felt warmth and a feeling of protection with his arms around her before saying, "I... I'll help with research. I want to find out about Illyria, and a way to kill whatever it is."
"Let's get to work then," Cordelia said as she nodded at Angel and Tara.
Battlestar Galactica; 1300 hours.
Lee was still unable to sleep while lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Not that he had to sleep given his status as a vampire but there was a very large part of him that wanted to just fall asleep and dream. He wanted to dream about anything, he would even give anything to settle for a nightmare. But he wasn't able to... ever since becoming a vampire, he discovered dreaming and nightmares were something he took for granted.
Hell, he didn't even need to breathe but his chest would still expand and deflate as if he was breathing since it was something that came instinctively. It was something that helped when milling around with the rest of the crew who still were not aware of his current situation that he was dead.
With all the lights in his quarters turned off, Lee turned his head towards the calendar on the other side of the room. His eyes, now able to see clearly in the dark as if daylight was present, noted the circled date before he slowly got up to a sitting position. Sitting on the bed in the dark, Lee mentally prepared himself for the start of the day on the Galactica. He rubbed his face with both hands as he recalled Starbuck's week long trial for the murder of Gaius Baltar. The trial room, the larger of the four meeting rooms on the Galactica was the venue for the trial and it was packed with ordinary folk, reporters, the President and her aides, Commander Adama, the members of the Quorum of Twelve, as well as many other VIPs.
On the last day of the trial, Lee found himself leaning back against the wall at the back of the room close to the groups of reporters from the Colonial press Corps. From his vantage point, he could see the stoic expression on Starbuck's face when she was found guilty of murdering Baltar. When the verdict was read, parts of the room were cheering while another part of the room was outraged. Lee guessed one side supported Baltar and didn't believe the charges of treason while the other part of the room supported Kara in the execution of a traitor to the Twelve Colonies. Lee still remembered Kara's heart beating slightly faster than usual but her outward expression didn't show she was fearful of the verdict.
Then again, the verdict was something that he already suspected was going to happen. The outcome was basically decided during an internal deliberation between Roslin, Commander Adama, the Vice-President and anyone who remained behind in Colonial One following that fateful Election day when Baltar made his stunning admission. It was a few days before the trial that they privately discussed Starbuck's desire to lie when, and if, her lawyer asked if the Commander and the higher ups heard anything about Baltar's alleged betrayal of the Twelve Colonies.
That day, a week before the start of trial, it was Lee who whispered "It's not right". It was back then, in the Commander's quarters, Lee was leaning on the wall closest to the door and furthest from President Roslin. His mind still reeled from the memory of nearly killing her after turning into a vampire – or rather a blood demon in Colonial collequllary. Even though outwardly Roslin seemed to be unfazed at his presence, Lee could hear her heartbeat quicken and he could see the glances directed towards him when she thought he wasn't looking. He knew it was doing to take some time to get back to the professional and personal relation they shared. And since he could not age, Lee had a long time to wait.
Back in the Commander's quarters a week before the trial, it was Roslin who turned her head towards him and said, "you're correct, Major. It's not right. But..." she then turned towards the Commander sitting across from her, "... Kara's right. If we reveal to the public that the topmost leadership in government and the military knew Baltar was a traitor and didn't do anything about it, then we lose all credibility."
"And right now our government and... and this whole situation we find ourselves in with the Cylons is still too raw," the Vice President said as he leaned on the back of the couch. All of them in the Commander's quarters just stared at the floor to take in what had already been said from the moment they entered the room.
"It's what we need to do," the Commander whispered.
Everyone in the room knew that Kara had killed the person responsible for the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. They knew that she was justified in doing what she had done. Hell, they blamed themselves for not telling her about the traitor's confession in the first place. If they did, then they wouldn't be in this mess.
During sentencing, it was Commander Adama who made a personal plea to the tribunal; he reminded the judges, as well as the others in the room and those listening to the trial on the wireless, that a war was still ongoing. He reminded them that the rogue Cylons were still out there somewhere, that the Ori were still out there, that the traitor Helena Cain was still somewhere out there with a desire to eliminate the Colonial Remnant as well.
"She is guilty of murder, Commander," one of the members of the Tribunal said while whispers could be heard throughout the room from observers and the Press. "Are you petitioning for a lighter sentence?"
Lee saw the Commander turn his head towards Kara and saying, "yes." There were more muffled gasps and whispers around the room. And Lee was sure that the others on New Kobol and on the ships in orbit had similar reactions. The Commander then turned his head towards the members of the Tribunal and continued, "Captain Thrace is one of the best pilots we have in the fleet. Make no mistake, Your Honours, the war against the Ori and Cain is just beginning. We need her and Major Adama to help train the next generation of Viper and Raptor pilot for it."
The Commander then turned around the room, his eyes meeting the eyes of everyone present; there were looks of approval, anger, confusion, and some having looks of disbelief staring back at him. He knew that this intervention wasn't going to be popular, especially among the civilians among them since it would seem as if he was using his privileged position to ask for leniency on behalf of Starbuck, but it was something that needed to be done. As far as he was concerned, Kara was a hero.
His eyes met with Apollo who was in the back of the room before he turned towards Kara and her lawyer staring back at him in confusion. Adama then turned back towards the Tribunal and stood with his hands behind his back, "all I ask your Honours is that consideration be given for our current situation."
Back in his room in the present day, Lee pulled the blanket away, turned around on the bed and then hopped off onto the cold floor. After he rubbed the back of his head, he then raised his arms over his head and stretched his body. As he did so, Lee recalled the sentence handed down to Starbuck. 'She'll be confined to Galactica's brig for the next five years with four hour training sessions every day with new pilots.' Hearing a crack from his back, Apollo then lowered his arms. He was already getting hungry.
Apollo walked straight for the refrigerator, the room lit up from the light in the fridge after opening the door, and then pulled out a bag of cow's blood. He had to admit it tasted disgusting compared to the blood he drank from the woman he killed back on Kobol. Despite the taste, there was no way he could bring himself to killing another human for food. He stared at the bag and read the message written by the ensouled vampire from Earth called Angel, 'the blood has been spiced with cinnamon.' Lee closed the door of the fridge and was covered in darkness once again before he extended his fangs and then bit into the blood pack.
Closing his eyes as he sucked the viscous and slightly spiced blood into his mouth, Lee's thoughts turned to the finally completed shielding system. There was the final test due in a week and if that test was successful, then the Earthers would be assisting in the installation of the energy based weapons.
'And to think plasma weapons were only possible in science fiction shows and books,' Apollo thought as he sucked the last drop of blood from the bag before he threw it into a canister marked with a symbol signifying everything in it was a hazardous material. He then headed for the shower before the meeting with the Commander, the President and Vice-President, along with the leaders of two expeditions to the world known as Argos. It was a world the Earthers offered as one of many 'safe' addresses. The expedition to Argos was delayed for weeks, but now the Colonials were finally ready to ready two teams of four people to explore and establish diplomatic relations.
The only thing was that Lee wished he were on the team as well. However, he was also aware that being unable to accompany the teams off-world was another 'sacrifice' due to his current condition.
'The architecture of the buildings there are supposedly similar to the buildings which exist on Earth,' Lee thought to himself as he stood underneath the shower, 'and if I did not have this issue, I would join the expedition.'
Lee could only pretend to sigh as he wondered what Argos could look like, 'I suppose the next best thing would be looking forward to the pictures and movie reels.' But then again, he could be looking through those pictures the Colonial teams would be bringing back, and watch the movie reels, with Cally. So that was something to look forward to for the Colonial vampire.
It would be nearly an hour and a half later after his shower and the briefing with the Commander that Lee found himself in the cockpit of his Viper. Ordinarily he knew vampires would turn to dust under a sun... at least that was something he knew instinctively... but it was different when being under the light of the sun in this solar system. He didn't turn to dust, and the light didn't hurt him. However, he was still not allowed to travel to the surface of the planet.
After completing all the flight checks, Apollo's viper was catapulted out into space. He fired the boosters and then flew away from Galactica and towards open space. In the meantime, the sensors in his viper were showing several of the orbiting civilian ships moving away from the Galactica.
"Galactica, Apollo; I am ten minutes out from Alpha test." Apollo checked the status of the four nukes attached to his viper before arming them with the flick of a switch, "nukes armed and ready to be fired on your mark."
"Copy that Apollo, turn hard to port and perform strafing exercise," Helo's voice spoke through the speakers. The current executive officer of the Galactica was staring up at the DRADIS monitors while the Commander was at the topmost section of the CIC where the tests on the shield were being monitored by Cally.
"Raise the shields," the Commander ordered.
Cally then tapped the screen in front of her and replied, "shields have been raised, Commander."
Cally stared at the screen which showed an outline of the forward, aft, ventral, and dorsal sections of the Galactica along with a layer of blue a few inches off the orange outlines. "The blue line represents the shields, sir," Cally told the Commander who nodded his head while Helo asked Gaeta if the civilian ships were out of range of the tests that were about to begin.
"Yes, sir," Gaeta replied.
"Power efficiency at ninety percent," Cally said before the Commander patted her shoulder and then walked down the stairs to stand across from Helo. Cally glanced up from the screen as the Commander walked down the stairs before her eyes shifted back down to the screen. Power efficiency was much improved from two weeks ago when they only managed sixty-five percent resulting in power-fluctuations throughout the ship and the shield charging at a slower rate than Commander Adama would have liked.
Cally looked up from the screen when Apollo's voice crackled through the speakers. She then looked back down at the screen when the sensors streaming information to her computer spit out data showing that his Viper was firing weapons and the shield was protecting the ship.
"No shield degradation," Cally exclaimed while staring at the data showing the shield remaining steady at full charge.
"All civilian vessels are clear," Gaeta said from his station.
"Apollo," Commander Adama then said through his headset, "fire the first nuke!"
Cally felt her heart racing from the moment Apollo replied saying that the first nuclear missile was away. She listened as Gaeta counted down while she braced herself for impact, her eyes remaining on the screen in front of her. And then, a few seconds later, the entire ship shook. Cally held on tight while staring at the screen which indicated that the shield strength was down to eighty percent and immediately rising up by a percentage point.
"Shields are holding!" Cally yelled while her eyes were locked on the green lines representing the shields. A few seconds later, the ship shook again and again as one missile after another impacted the shields around the ship. "Shields at fifty percent and rising!" Cally yelled after the last terrible groan that went throughout the ship after the final missile, "there have been some power surges but no explosions. Shield strength is rising, no hull breaches, radiation is normal."
They did it. Cally was glad... they now had a working shield system. She smiled as everyone cheered. She stood up from her seat and caught a glimpse at the expression on the Commander's face. He was smiling, but he was still concerned. Cally had a guess as to why – she heard the rumours... the rumours that Cain would adopting Ori technology for the Pegasus and any other ships from the Colonies that convert to the Ori's side. They still had to test the shields against comparable energy based weapons; and that was the final test next week.
'An exercise with the Earth ship known as the Daedelus.'
For now though, the test was successful, and that was all that mattered.
TBC.