Continuity: Takes place in season 4 of Buffy. Everything remains the same, with the following exceptions; after the death of Maggie Walsh, Riley is made head of the Initiative and given the task of hunting down and eliminating Adam. For a back story reason I have yet to decide, the Scoobys' are aware of Tara as a witch and friend of Willow, but not of their growing relationship.


Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the vampire slayer, any associated characters, places, events and any other materials related to it. They are the creation of Joss Whedon. I thank him for creating this marvellous universe, which we can all enjoy. I also do not own StarTrek The Next Generation, including characters, places, objects, institutions and other materials related to it. It is the property of Paramount Pictures. I thank Gene Roddenberry for creating such a fantastic playground for the mind. I suppose I own Lt. Jimmy Matzo, but that's it so far.


Spoilers: Anything up to the end of "The I in Team" of season four of Buffy.



Chapter 3: Of Time and Television.


With an almost imperceptible sound, the great doors of the shuttle bay began to open, revealing to Riker the naked beauty of space. He never tired of this. In a shuttlecraft, he felt an element of control and wonder he had never truly managed to experience in the safe and secure confines of a star ship. This was seat - of - your - pants space travel, space travel as it had being during the days of Captain Archer and that first interstellar vessel to bear the name Enterprise.
"Phoenix to Ops. Data, are we cleared for departure?" He asked, somewhat pointlessly he thought to himself. After all, what other space traffic was there going to be in this high an Earth orbit? Still, regulations were regulations.
"Ops to Phoenix." the implacable android answered, "You are cleared for launch."
Riker glanced over at Geordi in the co-pilot seat as the shuttle gently lifted off of the deck and edged towards the invisible barrier that kept the ships atmosphere contained,
"Shall we take a sweeping course in, so as to gain as much sensor information as possible?"
"Sounds good to me, Commander." the engineer replied, then grinned "And I suppose it has nothing to do with wanting a look at the scenery?"
"Oh of course, nothing to do with the scenery" Riker replied with a grin of his own. As the shuttle swept past the massive port nacelle of Enterprise, he turned to face Matzo seated behind Geordi.
"Have you ever visited California, Jimmy?" He asked.
"No Will, but Paul used to live there before he moved to London with me."
"You mean you never visited his home?" Geordi asked.
"Nope. We met at the academy, went through our courses together and even ended up on our first assignment together, the Intrepid."
Riker grunted, "Some people get all the luck, eh Geordi? Meet their true love at the academy, go through classes together AND get their first assignment together!"
Geordi smiled "Disgusting, sir!"
The North American continent loomed large in the view port, slowly vanishing as the shuttle rotated to present its strong atmospheric entry shields to the planets atmosphere. As flames began to pass in front of the view port, the craft shuddered slightly then steadied again. They passed through a high cloud base and then the Californian coastline stretched out before them,
"Approaching the Captains flight path now, Commander." Geordi said, glancing at his instruments.
"Alright, coming about to follow his trajectory." The shuttle swung round and followed the previous crafts course. In the distance they could see a small coastal town. As they neared it, a small patch of woodland appeared. And right through the centre was carved a trail of destruction. As Riker brought the shuttle around for another pass, Geordi scanned the area.
"No doubt about it Commander. That's where they came down. I'm detecting trace elements of duranium alloy, which doesn't exist in this time, along with a small warp residue. It looks like one of their nacelles was damaged during the crash."
"We're going to have to land, I'll set us down in that clearing, it's only a few hundred yards from the crash site." Gently, the tiny vessel touched down, sinking a couple of inches in the now-soft earth. With a hiss and gentle thunk, the rear hatch swung down. Riker stepped onto the soft ground and looked at the carnage that surrounded him in astonishment. Decapitated and mutilated bodies lay all around, the blood from the corpses mingling with the soil to create the mud that the shuttle had settled in.
He bent down to examine one of the corpses and rolled it over. Looking down into the bodies' face, he saw that it wasn't human. The skin was leathery, the colour of old oak furniture and two small horns protruded from its' head. A dagger was imbedded in the creature's forehead. He stood and turned to face the rest of the away team.
"Whatever happened here, we missed it." He gestured to the corpse "And this poor gent wasn't even human. Just another little mystery to solve." He sighed, "I am really starting to dislike this world. All it needs is Q to round things off!"

**********

"Q!" Picard shot to his feet, "What is the meaning of this? Did you bring us here?"
The new arrival looked sternly at Picard from his spot on the table,
"Now, now Jean-Luc. Is that any way to great an old friend?" he said, sliding off of the table to stand before them.
"We were never friends, Q! What have you done? Why are we here?" Picard shot back.
"Never friends?" Q asked, placing a hand on his chest, "Jean-Luc, you break my heart!"
"Q!"
"Temper, temper, mon kapitan. As it happens, I am not responsible for your presence here; it is entirely your own doing. I am merely here to point you in the right direction."
Picard fixed him with a cold stare,
"My own doing? Q, this isn't another trial is it? Like the anti-time anomaly?"
"No, no, nothing so mundane. What you do here will affect all life. Everywhere. Even myself."
"Yourself? Then why don't you solve the problem?" Picard asked.
"Because, Jean-Luc, it is not my place to do so. This is for you and the girl to resolve."
Buffy stepped forward, looking straight at Q,
"What did you mean, both our worlds are real?" she asked him.
Q laughed, "I'm surprised no-one has figured it out yet, especially you Jean-Luc. You've had experience with this kind of thing before." Picard glared at him and Q sighed "Oh, very well, if I have to spell it out for you, then I will. You remember when your stout Klingon was slipping through dimensions?" Picard nodded, then snapped his fingers,
"Of course!" The people gathered in the room stared at him, Q with a look of anticipation on his face, the others looking puzzled, "Quantum physics says that for every decision a person makes, in another dimension the opposite choice is made. So there are an infinite number of dimensions and within those infinite dimensions, it would be entirely possible for one world to feature a fictional world that identically matched a *real* dimension elsewhere!" Q began to clap slowly,
"Well done, Jean-Luc! You show more promise each time we meet. Congratulations, you shouldn't get too happy though - you may have just figured out how you are both real, but now the real challenge begins, you have to discover what you must do"
"Aren't you going to tell us?" asked Xander.
"Why, of course not, little boy." Q fixed Xander with a dismissive stare, "As I said, it is not my place to do so, I am merely a stepping stone on your path of discovery." He turned to face Picard again "Farewell, Captain. Until we meet again..." Then, in a flash of light, he was gone.
As they stood there, staring at the now empty spot where Q had stood only moments earlier, Giles pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and mused quietly,
"I wonder what he meant, 'our own doing'?" Picard looked to him and spoke with great certainty,
"It is best not to take everything Q says at face value. On every occasion that I have had dealings with him, his words have always been at best cryptic, at worst downright deceitful."

**********

The old wooden door swung open and a cloak-shrouded form entered the dark room. A faint odour of mildew hung in the air and the shutters over the window were closed. The visitor approached the antique oak desk and placed a sheet of crystal on it. Within the crystal was an image, shrouded in mist, of a large vessel in space, the Earth sparkling like a jewel behind it.
"The sacrifice was disrupted and now the visitors have arrived, what shall we do? Their presence can only make things harder for us." The figure behind the desk was lost in shadow, and then the strong lines of his cheekbones were highlighted from beneath as he brought a cigarette to his lips. He inhaled deeply and then blew out three smoke rings, each smaller than the last. Finally, he spoke in a clipped British accent,
"It is of no consequence. The ritual was at least partially successful; even now the dark one is being drawn to this place. They will not be able to stop us, only hinder us. All that matters is that our lord arises, not how difficult that arising is." With that, he dismissed the messenger with a wave of his hand.

**********

The away team slowly made their way through the clearing, being careful to avoid the dead forms littering the ground, towards the town that lay only a mile or so away. Geordi walked awkwardly in his period costume, a T-shirt bearing the slogan 'No Fear' and a pair of jeans,
"What's wrong?" Riker asked, glancing at his old friend.
"Just these, jeans, was it?" Riker nodded "Anyway, why are we wearing these clothes when the captain and the others got to wear their uniforms?"
"Simple," Riker answered, "the Captain was only expecting to do an initial flyover and then return to orbit to collate his findings before he actually went on the ground"
"Oh. Still, you could have gotten me something more comfortable."
"Oh stop whining!" Riker checked his tricorder, "That way." he said, pointing and leading the small group through the trees. They emerged from the trees onto a scene of devastation, a gouge in the earth that lasted for almost a quarter mile. Riker glanced at his tricorder again, then he turned to his left and led the others along. Soon they came to the end of the trail and were faced with...nothing.
"Where's the shuttle?"

**********

Dusk had fallen and Buffy was out patrolling, pondering what Q had told them. She turned to Willow,
"What do you think Q meant, this problem is of our making?"
"I don't know, Buffy." Willow said, taking her hand. "But you heard what Picard said, Q's a prankster."
"I know, Will. We both do. We used to watch StarTrek at Xanders' together, remember?"
Willow smiled at the memories. Memories of easier times. Oh, they had fought any number of foul, stinking demons and averted at least a half-dozen apocalypses, but even so, things had been simpler then. Perhaps it was just growing up, she thought. Things were so much more simplistic when they had been younger. No bills. No jobs. A life structured for you, do this now, do that then.
"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" she said, her voice distant.
"What's up Will? You don't seem with it tonight" Buffy looked at her, a hint of concern in her voice.
"It's nothing." Willow said, smiling at Buffy, "Just thinking about other times. You know, school and stuff."
"Yeah, I get like that sometimes." Buffy said tenderly, gently squeezing Willows' hand and giving her a reassuring look. "I miss the library." She said softly. She stopped at the pained look that crossed Willows' face. "Oh, god Will, I'm sorry. I forgot about Oz for a moment."
Willow stopped looked into Buffys' eyes,
"It's okay. We got that bounty hunter in the end. Oz would be happy that we stopped him."
"You're right." Buffy said, smiling gently. "That scumbag isn't getting his hands on anymore werewolf pelts." She folded Willow into a tight embrace. Willow looked into her face,
"Buffy. There's something I have to tell you." Buffy smiled slightly,
"I thi..."
"Buffy, please" Willow said, pulling back and taking the slayers hands gently in her own, "I'm...I've started seeing...someone...from college...from the group." She stopped and took a deep breath, a soft shiver running over her body. Buffy stayed silent, realising her friend had to do this herself. Willow took another deep, shuddering breath. "Buffy, I've...I mean, I'm seeing Tara."
Buffy smiled softly. "I know. I mean I didn't, I sort of guessed. Your comment at the Initiative clued me in, I'm not daft you know!" She pulled her hand from the redheads and gently slapped her on the shoulder, then folded her into another hug.
"I'm so proud of you Will, that must have taken so much courage."
"You don't think Oz would be upset?"
"Of course not!" Willow looked doubtful.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure." Buffy smiled again, "Oz would be happy that you've moved on and are living your life." She looked Willow in the eyes and smiled slyly, "Shall we call it a night?" she asked.
At that moment the bushes around the couple erupted into life, five of the demons whose brethren they had fought earlier rushed them, each wielding a vicious metre and a half long sword, swinging them in great arcs over their heads.
"Duck!" Buffy cried and together she and Willow dropped to their knees, the blades flashing over their heads. As soon as the blades had passed over her, Buffy sprang forwards, her legs uncoiling like springs. Her arms outstretched, her fists connected with one of the demons' chest, throwing him backwards almost fifteen feet. Willow brought her hand up and another demon flew backwards, landing beside its' companion. Buffy rolled to her feet and snapped out a backwards kick that caught one of the demons, knocking him backwards. She spun on the spot to face her foes, and then back flipped away to get some space to think and move. They rushed towards her, their swords raised high. Quickly, she stepped forward, meeting the charge and causing their swings to miss wildly. She grabbed one of the demons head and twisted sharply, snapping its' neck. One of the dazed creatures staggered to its feet and took a step forwards only to be thrown back by an incredibly powerful blast from Willow, a charred hole in its chest. As her foe fell to the ground, Buffy plucked the sword from its hand and swung it in a tight arc that chopped one of her attackers hands off at the wrist, his hand and blade falling to the muddy ground. As the demon staggered away, grasping the bloody stump where its hand used to be in shock, Buffy snapped out a sidekick that sent one of her attackers sprawling. A third swung his sword at her head, but Buffy dropped her own weapon and sidestepped, grabbing the sword at the top of the hilt. Quickly, she twisted the weapon down and round, pulling it from her opponents grasp. She brought it back up, catching the demon under its' jaw with the hilt and snapping its' head back. As the demon staggered away from her, Buffy twirled the weapon in her hand and thrust forward with such force that the tip of the sword emerged from the creatures back. She turned to face her final opponent just in time to witness Willow whisper something and then the demon stopped in his tracks, a look of horror on his face. He grasped his midsection and then doubled over in pain. As he collapsed to his knees he let out a single, strangled cry and then burst into flames, consumed from the inside out. With a soft thud the charred corpse fell on its face.
Buffy walked towards Willow, who was glancing about herself nervously.
"Is that all of them?" she asked.
"No, there's one more somewhere." Buffy answered. She gave Willow a reassuring smile. "It's okay, I chopped one of it's hands off. I just want to see if I can get some answers from it."
"Oh, okay. Hang on" Willow closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she pointed to a building site a few hundred yards away.
"He's hiding in the foreman's office." Buffy looked at her.
"Way to go Will! When did you learn that trick?" Willow smiled, a soft gentle smile.

**********



To be continued in Chapter 4: A New Arrival