"Spike?"
Buffy slowly lowered her arm, giving Bolivar a quick once over. "What…"
Snarls erupt from the corridor behind Bolivar, interrupting Buffy's question. "Shit." She grabs onto a stunned Bolivar, spinning him around and behind her. "What are you…" Bolivar sputtered indignantly. At the same time, she rushes forward, past the winded Trance, leaping into a flying kick and slamming down the first Magog.
The others snap into action, Trance and Harper moving to help the stranger. Bolivar and Tyr running forward to meet the Magog threat at the other end. The two guards setting up a defensive position before the Med lab doors.
Trance pulls out her double knives, slicing her way through the Magogs. Beside her, Harper shoots Magog down one by one, reluctant to get too close to the beasts. Memories of his infestation still too fresh in his mind. On the other hand, Tyr is unafraid of physical contact; rather he relishes it, using brute force and his high-powered force lance to clear a path before him. The guards mimic Tyr's stance, combining physical force with technological advantage.
The Sabra-Jaguar Alpha seems the more cool-headed of the bunch, yet is just as ruthless, if not more so. He shows no mercy, calmy firing round after round into the fray. Occasionally, surprising the Magog with his physical prowess. He moves with animal grace, slashing at them with a palmed knife or knocking them down with a quick and efficient flurry of blows.
But they are nothing compared to the Slayer. Had they looked her way at any time during the fight, they would have been struck dumb by the things she did. By her almost casual use of clearly superior strength and innovation on the fighting field.
What the hell is going on? She thinks, going on automatic, fight and kill, fight and kill. Part of her mind aware of her allies' progress and her own situation, another part paying absolutely no heed to the matter at hand. If I went through the portal, then why is Spike here too? And in color? Wait…almost everyone's got one of those laser weapons, like the guards…could I be…*snap* Buffy's head flies back as a Magog gets in a lucky punch. Damn it…fight now, bitch later. Buffy grasps the offender by the scruff of its neck, ramming him face first into the wall.
"That_wasn't_very_polite," she bit out, punctuating each word with a head slam into the wall. Another Magog charges at her from the right. "Wait your turn," Buffy snarled to him, whipping her arm out and swatting him away like a fly. The air borne body flew through the air to land onto two other Magog. Buffy slams her captive's face once more into the wall, smashing bone into brain. Or whatever they have. They kinda look like bats…except huge and without the wings.
She turns; ready to face her next opponent, only to find them taken care of. In her absorption with the battle, reinforcements had arrived. Robots, real robots, and a woman with short blue and black hair had come to the group's aide. See, now those are what robots are supposed to look like…it's just too freaky when they look so real. She thought of Warren and April, giving a shudder when she remembered her own features on one of Warren's creations. Spike…when I get my hands on him…
Spike and the others just stood there now, staring at her. At this tiny blonde girl, five feet nothing, dressed in innocuous white sleep clothes and no shoes. "What?"
Charlemange shook his head in disbelief before advancing on the Med bay entrance.
"Mother, Nevar, Sehket, is everyone alright," he called out, trying to open the doors.
"Charlemange," she responded.
"Yes, it's safe now, open the doors," he ordered.
Huh? Charlemange? What the hell is going on? Thought Buffy.
The doors crashed open, allowing Bolivar to enter into the room and check on Traed and his Pride.
"Are you alright," Trance asked Buffy.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto," Buffy replied, moving her hands to rub at her face. She pauses, noticing the filth on her hands and her clothes. "May not be Kansas, but it's just like home," she mumbled under her breath.
Tyr walks up to her, companionably clasping her on the shoulder. Happy to have survived another day on board the Andromeda. "I am Tyr Anasazi of the Kodiak Pride. You fight well and are brave and strong, for a human," Tyr says admiringly, a slight question in his voice.
"Yes, she does," said Trance, whisking Buffy out from underneath the Neitzschean's hand and giving Tyr a warning look. "For a human."
The ship gave a great jolt as the Magog ships disengage from the Andromeda and retreat.
As Buffy and the others had engaged the Magog face to face, Dylan, Andromeda, and Beka had waged a different war on the Command Deck. Blasting and maneuvering the Andromeda Ascendant around the battlefield of space, they endeavored to survive. Fighting a loosing battle until the arrival of the Sabra-Jaguar fleet. The Magog beat a hasty retreat after a devastating volley of canon fire from the approaching ships.
"Andromeda," a weary Dylan rasped, "Report."
Hologram Rommie appeared in front of Dylan. "I have sustained minimal damage. My drones are sealing the hull breaches from the Magog ships as we speak. The crew is fine and our Neitzschean guests report only one minor injury. A face full of Magog venom, he should be just fine by tomorrow."
A weight seems to lift from Dylan's shoulder. "And the Neitzschean ships?"
"The Neitzscheans have incurred minimal damage. One of the Orca and two of the Sabra-Jaguar ships were also penetrated by the Magog…incoming status report from all ships…14 injured, 0 dead from the Sabra-Jaguar…7 injured and 3 dead from the Orca."
"I think we did pretty well, as far as any of our other altercations with the Magog go," Beka said, rising from the slipstream controls and taking a good long stretch.
Dylan ruefully shook his head.
"What was that," I asked, not really sure I wanted an answer.
"That was the Magog turning tail and retreating," said the woman with the blue and black hair.
She looks remote, in the leather kind of way. That's never good. "Okay, and you are," I ask cautiously.
"Hello," she declared, "I am the Andromeda Ascendant, an XMC-10-284, a fighter class Commonwealth ship. And you are?"
"Umm, okay. So how long have you been a ship," oh god, what did I just say.
"Oh," Trance cut in, "no, this," indicating everything around her, "this is the ship. Rommie is an avatar, you know, a robot. Andromeda is actually an artificial intelligence, who is really quite well done. I mean, she's really nice and doesn't act like any old android. I mean, you didn't know she was a robot at first, did you?"
"No," I caution, stretching out my new senses and feeling the difference. Oh. Cool. "I remember you, you took care of me."
"Yes! My name is Trance Gemini and I'm…well I'm me," she said happily.
I smile, taking in her appearance. The dreads are iffy, but they suit her. Her color is interesting and the outfit is cool. She looks like something out of one of Xander's scifi fantasies. She's…nice, good, a little weird…but…she's, a friend. I reach out my hand. "Thank you," I whisper.
"Your most welcome," she gushed, "come, I'll get you cleaned up, into some new clothes, and then I'll introduce you to everyone."
"Hey," said a strange little man with a glowing thing on the side of his neck. Do Magog fire electricity, Buffy wondered, staring at his hair. "Introduce me first," he called to their retreating backs.
Tyr clapped him on the back and gazed after the women. "She is an extraordinary woman, is she not Mr. Harper."
"I concur Kodiak," said Charlemange, coming up beside them with Traed in his arms, "extraordinary indeed."