The scream reverberated throughout the Andromeda Anscendant. The tortured sound streamed through the corridors, waking everyone on the large ship.
***
The Neitzscheans wake first. Traed crying out in fear; Olga moving to protect her grandson. The guards burst into her room and take up defense positions, weapons drawn. Ready for battle. Charlemange rushes to the source of the noise, gripping a phazor gun and wearing only a pair of sleep pants. Likewise, Tyr jumps out of bed, automatically on the alert. Their heightened senses acclimating themselves to any danger.
***
Dylan awakens, immediately reaching for his clothes.
"Andromeda," he rasps.
"It's Buffy sir, she…" she doesn't get to finish; he's already out the door.
***
Harper falls out of bed with a bang in a hopeless tangle, surprised and panting. Wondering what the hell is going on now.
***
Beka pops up disoriented, trying to remember if it was her screaming.
***
Trance jolts out of her bed, running to Buffy's room before she even registers what is happening.
She finds her in the middle of the bed. Huddled in a pool of white sheets, hugging her knees to her chest. Trance moves to her side.
"It's okay, sh, sh. Everything's okay," Trance soothes her, putting Buffy back to sleep.
Dylan rushes in followed by Rommie, Tyr, Charlemange, and Beka, a weary Harper lagging behind.
"What," Dylan said.
"Shh," Trance silences him, placing Buffy down and tucking her in. The Neitzschean's are scanning the room as Rommie reprimands Dylan.
"As I was saying, that was Buffy screaming, I think she had a bad dream."
Trance bundles them out of the room, Charlemange throwing a last lingering look at the young girl.
"Rommie's right, she just had a bad dream. Everything's fine, go back to sleep."
The group grumbles as they stumble back to bed. Charlemange first making his way to the Matriarch's room, to assure her that all was well, his thoughts still on Buffy. Feeling…worried for her.
Buffy awoke early, fully aware of what happened to her last night. She lay there and mentally cursed the powers that be that put her into this situation.
Ugh, I hate Slayer dreams. Why can't they just straight out tell me what they want to tell me. But no, they gotta be all cryptic. If…the whatever out there really wanted me to save the world, then there should be graphs and charts and really explicit instructions.
She gave a groan forcing herself up and out of bed.
If I tell them about it…no, I can't tell them, I won't. They'll just think that the portal has driven me off the deep end. God, I wish Giles was here.
A knock sounded at her door.
"Buffy," Trance called softly, "are you up?"
"Yeah, I'm up."
"Well come on, Harper and I've got some stuff for you to look through, and maybe we can take another rifle in storage for more clothes before breakfast."
"Coming."
After breakfast…or what passed for breakfast on the Andromeda…After helping Buffy pick out some non-heinous clothing, Beka and Trance had gone back on board the Orca ship to check on the wounded. Likewise, Harper and Tyr returned to the Sabra-Jaguar ships for more repairs. Their Sabra-Jaguar guests were checking on their ships, ensuring the security of their Pride. All would return in a few hours.
It had been decided that when the rest of the Orca fleet reached them, the unified convoy would withdraw to another, safer sector of space. Then steadily make their way to Tarazed, the last refuge of the Commonwealth.
Dylan accompanied Beka and Trance to the Orca fleet, to conduct last minute negotiations with Guderian. Rommie and Buffy were the only ones left on board.
"Are you sure that you'll be fine by yourself? I just need to perform some last minute maintenance inspections and I doubt that it would be terribly riveting for you," said Rommie.
"Oh, I'll be fine. Trance and Harper assembled some 'vintage' earth memorabilia for me to go through from the old crews' personal items and your records. They wanted me to have some things from my time…even if this isn't my reality," Buffy reflects. She smiles, "But your history is pretty close to my world's, so I figure you gotta have some things I'll recognize. I'm sure I can amuse myself for the next couple of hours. I hope. This is the first free time I've had in a long while. I'll probably be on the Observation Deck when I finish."
"All right, if you need me for anything just call out. My sensors can monitor you if there is a problem." Rommie walks away leaving Buffy to her own devices.
Left to her own devices in her quarters, Buffy begins to sort through her paraphernalia. She grins, "Just like shopping, only without the spending of the cash, a definite happy."
Almost 2 hours later…Buffy has been meditating on the Observation Deck for the last half hour, dressed in black sleep pants and a white top. She lets her breath out in a soft stream, rising from her lotus position and carefully stretching her muscles.
Meditation, who knew I'd find that doing so much nothing would feel so good, she thought ruefully.
She finished stretching and prepared herself to begin Eui-Am, a Tae Kwon Do pattern reserved for students of the first Dan. It was one of the directional exercises Giles had taught her before the trouble with Glory. She found she needed the serenity these motions brought her, and to expel her newfound excess Slayer energy.
She moved smoothly into the defensive and offensive patterns of the Eui-Am, fighting an invisible foe. All the while, her mind occupied with other thoughts.
So, I got a pretty good haul from all that stuff Trance and Harper found for me, the thoughtfulness of her new friends making her happy. Rommie's records had mostly history stuff and books, which was kind of interesting, she grinned, remembering how she had tossed the com-pad away after giving it only a fleeting look. But the rest of it was quality.
Some of the female crew had 'vintage' clothing from her era, the same cuts and styles, but obviously redone with that century's flare. A few of the lace and more plain dresses that were too short and made out of some weird material; they could be worn over her leather pants as long tunics. A couple pants and other tops were also salvageable.
Another plus was that one of the guys had had an exceptional collection of 'old' rock. Personally, Buffy only listened to whatever appealed to her at the moment, techno being a big part because she could exercise to it. But she found that a lot of the music the guy was into was cool, the heavy beats and lyrics pleasing her ear. Good fighting music, she thought with a savage gleam in her eye.
Everything else she had deposited back into the storage before heading off to the Observation Deck for her exercise.
Buffy finished the Eui-Am, and headed to a control panel. She programmed the panel to play a selection of the songs she had found. Retreating to the center of the room, Buffy primed herself for some of her own unique brand of 'fun.'
Linkin Parks' In the End started to blare from Rommie's audio system as Buffy erupted into her own improvised fight pattern. Her body a blur of movement, swiftly and efficiently moving from kicks to blocks to punches. Occasionally executing some intricate and seemingly impossible acrobatic feat to avoid an invisible foe.
And that is how the Orca and Sabra-Jaguar Alphas and top warriors found her upon entering the Observation Deck led by Dylan and the rest of the Andromeda crew.
Minutes before…"Well Bolivar," Guderian said as their group mad their way to the Observation Deck, "seeing as we are forced into these most trying of circumstances, why not make the most of it. As neutral territory, the Andromeda Ascendant could serve as an ideal location for physical combat, so that our eligible females can observe the prowess of our warriors."
"An excellent notion Guderian. Say we begin the festivities tomorrow," replied Bolivar, mindful of his Pride's needs and the opportunity to extend their gene pool.
"Sure," Dylan said sarcastically under his breath opening the doors to the Observation Deck. "I don't mind that you hold your mating rituals on…"
A blast of throbbing, pulsing music explodes out of the entrance, drowning out Dylan's protestations.
"What in the hell."
The Neitzschean's stream into the room, ready for battle. What they find shocks them into stillness.
They see a small blonde girl sparring in the middle of the Observation Deck, her body almost moving far too fast for them to follow. Her frenetic energy exudes the room, imperceptibly arousing the men.
"Who is that," asked Guderian, admiration clear in his voice.
"That is their new crew member," replies Charlemange, annoyed that Guderian has taken notice of the woman, but too engrossed by her to protest.
"A most extraordinary woman," Tyr absently repeats, intently scrutinizing her expert movements.
"Men," said Beka, exasperated with the Neitzscheans' preoccupation with Buffy.
Rommie mentally disabled the music streaming out of her audio systems.
Buffy stopped, barely sweating and only slightly breathless. "Oh hi guys. Everything go alright," she directed innocently to the dumbfounded males.
Beka took a look at the silent, staring group. Oh boy.
Glossary
Eui-Am: a very intricate pattern of defensive and offensive movements of the Tae Kwon Do discipline
Dan: black belt level student (basically, this means that Buffy is one bad ass fighter)