Day3, one hour before sunrise
Everyone stood on the dock, as Xander hugged them all goodbye. Gavin patted him on the back, "Give 'em hell, Boss!"
Xander grinned back. "Believe me, they're gonna find out just how ticked I am!"
Xander looked at them again, before he started to walk off. "I think I'm supposed to say something inspirational, right about now. But unfortunately, I can't think of a damn thing to say...so I'll just see you all on the other side." With that, he went for the helicopter.
Major Carter and Daniel Jackson watched the scene from a distance. Sam turned to Daniel, "Is it me, or does he remind you of someone?"
Daniel thought for a moment. "God help us, yes – but I don't think we could survive two of them..."
****
Watchers Council Headquarters
As before, everyone was watching the screen; but this time it was Buffy's image that was on it.
"None of us here have ever heard of this Assembly. But our experience with other dimensions is somewhat limited," Emma told the blonde Slayer.
Buffy nodded. "We figured as much. Sounds like it's gonna be a large-scale attack, unlike anything we've ever dealt with. From the sounds of it, it almost seems like a military operation."
Giles spoke up, "I, uh, don't see how. From what we've heard, there's been a massive buildup on the outskirts of Sunnydale. No portals we've ever come across could let in a force, big enough to face all those U.S. military forces."
"I know, Giles. But you didn't hear Graham. He was very concerned about these Assembly assholes getting a foothold on American soil. So these guys have gotta be big."
"Slayer Summers," Another member of the Inner Council spoke. "Do you believe that Slayerette Harris will be more forthcoming with information, after the battle is over?"
Her reaction to that was miniscule, but Giles knew the woman who was his daughter in every way but blood. He knew how to read her..."Buffy, what is it?"
Buffy looked back down again. "Giles...Xander is, uh, apparently fated to die during all this..."
Buffy could see, even in that dark room, the faces of all the Slayers-in-waiting as she said those words. She saw how hard the news hit.
"Buffy, a-are you sure?" Giles asked slipping from Watcher mode to a concerned father.
"Yeah Giles, way sure. Angel's demon friend Lorne, he read Xander's future the last time he was here. Plus the guy who Cordelia talked to, said the exact same thing. We're going to lose another one," she lowered her head.
"I'll be on the next flight out to LA," Giles told her.
"Mr. Giles!"
Everyone in the room looked to the Slayers-in-waiting, as Nika stood up. "I hereby request permission to join you."
"As do I!" Lori called as she stood up.
The rest stood as well. "So do I." "Me too." "I wish to join." Within moments, all the Slayers-in-waiting were standing.
Emma just gave Giles a nod, as he turned to the girls. "Ladies, get ready then – we leave in less than an hour."
He then turned back to the screen, "We're on our way, Buffy."
Buffy nodded. "We'll be waiting, Giles. I mean heck, it's not like we have anything else to do," she said bitterly as the screen went black.
****
Buffy logged off the connection to the Council. Too bad they're gonna take this computer back after... she couldn't bear to finish the thought. Willow then came running from the stairs, so she asked, "What's the rush, Will?"
"Buffyyouhavetoseethis!" Willow babbled very fast.
"Slow down, Willow. What's going on?"
Willow went behind the counter, and grabbed a very high-powered digital camera. Buffy's eyes went wide when she saw it, "How the hell does Angel have one of those? Wasn't it worth like $500?"
Willow shook her head. "This isn't the one I showed you online last week. This one is worth $4000! Fred said they got it as a gift from some Nabbit guy, it's to help them with their cases..."
"Okay, then why do you need it now?"
"It's got incredible resolution, and this is just so cute..."
"What is?"
"Just come on." Willow motioned for the blonde to follow her up the stairs, and was adjusting the camera as she went. Buffy ran with her to a room on the second floor – the one Cordelia was using.
Fred, Amanda and Dawn were grinning to each other, as they came running. "Stop running. You're making too much noise!" Fred whispered to them.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Buffy whispered back, annoyed.
Dawn grabbed the doorknob. "You ready, Willow?"
Willow nodded, and Dawn slowly opened the door. Only the lamp next to the bed was on, but it gave more than enough light to see.
On the bed lay Cordelia in a pair of small shorts, and an old T-shirt. Next to her were the two baby girls, and Cordy had her left arm wrapped protectively around both of them. All three of them were sound asleep.
Willow zoomed in to take several shots. Then she whispered to Fred, "Let's go. We still have two hours till she wanted us to wake her."
With that, all five women crept quietly out of the room and closed the door.
****
Demon Command
Rebecca and Melissa watched as the helicopter that carried Gavin, Major Carter, and Teal'c fly off into the distance. "This is really happening, isn't it?" Melissa asked, as she leaned against the railing.
Rebecca looked at her. "Not the kind of thing you thought you'd be doing with your life right about now, huh?"
"That's a big understatement," Melissa answered, as she looked over the water. "Getting superpowers, fighting vampires, almost getting kidnapped. All that I can deal with, but fighting a bunch of Star Wars storm trooper rejects who want to take over the planet? To top it all off, we have to help Xander kill himself! I don't know if I'm even remotely ready for this..."
"I know what you mean..."
"How could you? You told me the majority of your family has been in the military, for as long as you can remember. You went through a damn Academy for this crap," Melissa said, narrowing her eyes.
Rebecca sat on a deck chair. "It's one thing to be told, and even taught how to fight, but to really go out and risk your neck like we do...I gotta admit, I was definitely not ready. I was taught the best way to win a fight...was to never to let it start in the first place. But that doesn't work, fighting the stuff that we do. I just keep going over the first fight we had, back in the other base."
"What about it?"
"I was trained to be a pro, even a killer if I had to be. But all I'd been doing before that, was sitting at a computer terminal. The only real fighting I got was from martial arts instructors, and I wore padding when I fought them..."
She sighed, "I just keep thinking of how Xander handled it. Before we got the powers and were going to go in, he just accepted it. No second thoughts at all. Then when those two vamps had us with that M-16, I thought that we were dead. And the guy throws his body on top of mine! It was like a damn reflex for him. The civilian protecting the big Air Force officer..."
"And you really minded when he threw his arms around you to protect you?" Melissa asked with a smirk.
"We had a damn M-16 pointed at us! No way was I thinking that..." Rebecca stopped, when she saw Melissa still smirking. "You're not believing me, are you?"
"Nope."
****
Xander looked out the window of the helicopter, but all he could see was blue water. The sun had only recently come up. He was trying to collect his thoughts, when he saw it.
An aircraft carrier.
"Always wanted to go on a carrier," he said to himself. The former Zeppo was going back to his thoughts, when he saw something painted on the conning tower of the ship.
"Holy crap!" Xander turned to Major Davis next to him. "Number 65? You can't be serious!"
Davis laughed. "Thought you'd get a kick out of it being a surprise..."
"The goddamn Enterprise!"
****
Stargate Command
General Hammond met the group, at the elevator checkpoint. It was the first thing any visitor to the SGC saw, as they came to the base. Well, any visitor from Earth anyway...
He saluted. "Mr. President. Welcome to the SGC."
President George W. Bush smiled. "I finally get to see the damn thing in action then, General?"
Hammond smiled back. "Yes, sir. Dr. Jackson and Jonas Quinn are scheduled to depart in less than an hour..."
****
"You can't be serious," Gavin said as he drank his coffee.
Major Carter looked at him. "You used to have an underground base."
"Yeah, but it kind of blew up around us! And that was after the huge fight with those vampires," he told her, as they got in the featureless elevator.
Carter and Teal'c gave each other a smile, as they watched Gavin walk out last from the elevator. He looked ahead, then up, then he dropped his coffee cup on the floor.
"That's the Prometheus?" he asked, awestruck.
"Indeed," Teal'c answered in his solemn trademark way.
Gavin looked around to both of them. "Please tell me I get to fly it."
"If you're good..." Carter teased him.
****
Colonel O'Neill and General Andrews watched the troops as they worked. Beth and April were working the main screen. The large screen changed to show several small sections in a row, and the rest went to the Air Force logo. One small section at a time came to life.
"The Joint Chiefs and the Pentagon are online," Beth called out. April and her then took turns calling out the others.
"The White House is online."
"NASA is online."
"The SGC is online."
"USS Enterprise is online."
"NORAD is online."
"Pacific Command is online."
"Satellite feeds are online."
"The AWAC is online."
O'Neill smirked, "If this isn't the conference call from Hell? I don't know what is..."
****
USS Enterprise
Briefing room
Xander noticed a set of eyes on them, as they came in the room. Major Davis knew the man, "Lieutenant D'Amata, I wasn't aware you were still activated for this..."
D'Amata, a 5'7 man with short black hair saluted Davis. "It was kind of last minute, sir. They said they wanted someone who was, uh, used to the strange stuff."
Xander turned to Davis. "He's got experience in this type of battle?"
Davis looked around, to make sure no one else was too close to hear. "Lieutenant D'Amata was part of SG-2 for awhile," he whispered.
"Oh."
D'Amata looked Xander over. "You're the guy that we have to cover?"
"Yup," Xander answered. "I'm the big shot, I guess."
"Ten-hut! Captain on deck!"
All the Marines that were in the room moved to their seats in a split second, and stood at attention. A man in a Navy uniform came into the room, and the door was closed.
"Be seated," Captain Neidlinger said. They all took their seats, as Xander, Davis, and D'Amata took three seats in front.
The ship's captain continued, "You've all been told that we're expecting an attack, but what you have not been told is from where. I must remind you now that this is not a war game, or drill. Everything said in here is top level security. Major Davis?"
Davis got up and went to the front of the room. "Good morning. Most of you have been fighting the ongoing war on terrorism, and are used to human soldiers. Unfortunately for this operation, that does not apply here. If our information is accurate, we're, uh, going up against a group of demons from another dimension." He paused to see the very surprised reactions from the Marines.
One Marine looked like he was going to laugh. The captain saw it and snapped, "Something you want to say, Marine?"
"No, sir!" the man called out.
Davis continued, "You will be deploying near the evacuated town of Sunnydale, California. The town is surrounded by desert, with a small forest to the south. During this op, we'll be focusing on the desert area where we believe the enemy is going to 'portal' in. For the basic background, I'm turning this over to Captain Alexander Harris. Captain, if you would?"
Xander got up and faced the Marines, somewhat nervously. "I can see by some of your faces, you don't believe that you're hearing this. Well, it's all true. Permit me to demonstrate..."
Now, Xander had never had good luck with magic. The Valentine's Day fiasco with Cordelia, was an excellent example! But in his time with the Council, he had picked up a few tricks that the young man knew would be needed now to convince the troops.
Muttering in Latin, Xander quickly made himself appear nine feet tall.
There was a great deal of confusion, with babbling voices as the Marines could not believe their eyes. Even Davis and D'Amata, used to strange stuff by now, had a moment of disbelief as they stepped away.
"Any of you can touch me if you want, to prove it's not a trick," Xander's head said from the ceiling. When no one came forward, he quickly reversed the glamour.
"Okay. Listen up. All the stuff you thought was the project of fantasy writers? It's real. You will not be hearing the Twilight Zone theme at any time here. As Major Davis said, the enemy will portal in from another dimension. What this means is, that it will be a magic portal."
Seeing some fragments of doubt still, Xander reiterated, "Yes, I said magic. Look, it'll appear out of thin air, and make it seem as if the sky has just opened up. We believe that this portal will be several miles in size, to allow an effective foothold force to get onto American soil. And from what I've heard, they will be hard as hell to stop if they get set up..."
He took a sip from his water bottle, and continued. "Sunnydale was built on a Hellmouth. What this means is, a slight tear in the fabric of reality between different dimensions. As its name will tell you, it's an entrance to Hell, or at least what we think is Hell..."
Xander looked grim as he then said, "From the stuff I saw growing up there, I have to say that I think it's Hell alright. It attracts many kinds of demons to it, most notably vampires. Yeah, Dracula and all that 'I vant to suck your blooood' type stuff. Vampires tend to be the garden-variety demons in Sunnydale. We, however, will be on the outskirts during daylight, so we shouldn't have to worry about them. But you will be told how to fight them, just in case."
Davis nodded to an officer by the door, and the lights went off. He turned on the projector, and it showed a satellite image of the desert with a cave opening circled.
"This," Xander said, pointing to it, "is our target. We will deploy here, and move into the cave. From our scans, we've determined the cavern is quite large, nearly the size of three football fields. People, what we're after is the portal magnifier..."
Xander saw the Marines' confusion and sighed, "Normal magic users can only open small human-sized portals to go through, but the magnifier will give them the power to open the huge one they're using. It'll most likely be heavily guarded by what we've nicknamed, the Stormtroopers..."
Captain Harris hesitated a moment. "My...source said they use a body armor that seems to be made to deflect energy weapons, rather than gunfire. Look, bottom line is, you'll have full authority to take out as many as you can. We are not taking prisoners here. Your main objective will be to get me to the magnifier, so I can shut it down. If we can take it out, then the portal will close and our other forces can take care of their personnel that are stranded on our side."
The lights came on, and Xander opened a case that was on the desk. He held up the white wristbands for the Marines to see.
"These are devices that were captured from the enemy," he said. "They lock on to your home dimension, and allow you to open a portal to get back home. You will be issued these, because with all the energy the magnifier is going to be pumping out, several portals might open up in that cavern. If it happens and you get caught up in it, just activate the band to get home – like this."
He demonstrated how to work it. "Now, a word of warning. If you are sent to another dimension? Avoid contact with the people of it, if possible. Open a portal as soon as you can, and return home. We don't know the enemy numbers already here in our dimension, so we have to assume..."
****
Flight deck
Two hours later
Xander looked around, as several aircraft were getting ready. He watched, as the jet aircraft prepared for take-off.
"Thinking of joining the Navy?" He turned to see Davis and D'Amata coming up to him.
"No, just normal guy drool at seeing all the jets," he laughed.
"You ready for this?" Davis asked him.
"I guess. But I'm still wondering why I have to take a different helicopter in..."
"Better odds," Davis told him. "You're the guy who we have to get to the magnifier. The Marines will land first and secure the area, and then you come in after. We don't know when the attack is supposed to happen, or how much the enemy knows..."
Xander looked at him. "What if the attack doesn't come? I mean I would love not having to go out fighting again, but..."
"We've got a cover story in place if that should happen, that this was all a drill of the Homeland Security department to test our readiness for an attack."
"Guess you got a lot of practice with that line, what with the attacks from the..." Xander pointed his finger up towards the sky.
"Too many times," Davis said grimly.
****
Hyperion Hotel
"So, have you thought of names yet?"
Cordelia looked up, and saw Fred standing over her. "I've thought of a few, but it seems wrong with Xander not being here to do it with me..."
The seer started to cry, as she looked at the middle of the lobby where Dawn and Willow were laying on a blanket – playing with the girls. "It's just not fair! Those two will never know their own father! And how am I supposed to raise them by myself? I'm barely holding my own, these days. Now with two kids?"
Fred sat next to her, "One: you're not alone, just look around this place. You really think we wouldn't help out? I mean, we do have experience with babies around here. And two: couldn't you use that trust fund you said you have coming?"
Cordelia wiped a tear away. "It's only five grand. I don't think my grandma was thinking I'd have kids by now, when she set the fund up."
"What about the inheritance from your uncle? Still no word?"
Cordy suppressed a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, just heard from his attorney friend last week. The little gold-digging wife will most likely get all of it. I gave up on that hope, a long time ago."
"Ah, Cordy..."
They looked back to see Kristen, with a briefcase behind them. "I've done a lot of thinking in the last few hours, and since the Council is now not trying to kill me and paying for my school...I don't need this."
She opened the briefcase, and Cordelia and Fred nearly fainted when they saw the contents. Eighty-one thousand dollars.
"I...I...I can't take this!"
"Yes you can, Cordy," Kristen said firmly. "This is just one of the many accounts Xander set up for emergencies. The Council will never miss it – it was earmarked to go cover an addition to Travers' house, for God's sake! Besides, you know I'm gonna spoil those two girls rotten anyway," she said with a smile.
Before Cordelia could respond, Lorne called out. "Hey kids, you might want to come see this!"
He turned up the volume on the 25-inch TV, that was in one of the rooms resting on a large counter. It showed a helicopter shot, on CNN. In fact, it was a highly zoomed-in shot of Sunnydale. A line at the bottom read 'Live from KTLA News Chopper 5'.
The reporter said, "Ladies and gentlemen, what you are seeing is live coverage near the town of Sunnydale. We can see the many tanks, soldiers, and other vehicles in the area. Also, several fighter jets have been seeing patrolling the area. We have been alerted that the Pentagon has just restricted the airspace for another twenty miles around the town. We might have to..."
The reporter on the helicopter cut in, "I'm sorry Sandy, but we're seeing something happening here! The sky seems to be...warping, is the best way I can describe it. Something seems to be happening...all the military now seems to be in motion..."
Then it happened, on live TV.
Flashes of lighting came out of nowhere, and traveled sideways. A dark red line seemed to move high into the air, and off into the distance. Suddenly the clear blue sky was ripped open, and everyone could see the thing that awaited on the other side.
"My God," Dawn whispered.
****
Stargate Command
Main Conference Room
President Bush wasted no time. He turned to the screen that connected him to the Pentagon, "General. Go to DefCon One." He then turned to another screen, connected to General Andrews. "Did your man land yet?"
"No, sir. The Marines have landed, and have not encountered any resistance so far. Horsemen 2 and 4 are on-site as well. Harris is on his way," Andrews answered.
"Good, have them go in as soon as Horseman 1 arrives on-site." Bush turns to Hammond. "Any luck with the, uh, Asgard?"
"No contact as yet, sir."
They both looked up, when the large board of numbers on the wall went from 2 to 1. A loud alarm then went off.
****
Stargate Control Room
Sergeant Walter Davis didn't look at the DefCon One alarm with nervousness. He had been at the SGC since the beginning, so it was very old hat stuff to him.
He'd lived through attacks by space, crashed alien ships, Anubis using the Stargate as a bomb, hell even the 'gate being connected to a black hole.
The only thing Davis was ticked off about, was that this meant he'd lost the base betting pool. He had put his money down, for the next alert to go off in two weeks...
****
Two miles from Sunnydale
"This just went from War of the Worlds to Saving Private Ryan, didn't it?" Agent Robert Maxwell asked, as he saw what lay beyond the portal.
Graham smirked. "You're saying we can't handle this?"
"Sir?" Agent Juliet Parish shook her head. "Are you kidding? We've been trained for fighting vamps and demons. Not that!"
****
Demon Command
"They're just sitting there?" Xander's image asked through the video-link.
"Yeah, it's really weird; they're all lined up like in 'Attack of the Clones'. But they're not coming through – at all. We can see the Big Boy ship floating, just behind the main assault force," April said, as if it was just talk about what was on TV.
Andrews leaned in, "Captain, what is your ETA?"
Xander looked back to the pilot of the helicopter. "We should be there in..."
"Sir!" Beth called out. "The satellite's picking up some kind of energy buildup, from their side of the portal!"
"Can you identify it?"
"Not sure...it's building up to something, but nothing like this was reported by Alexis..." Beth told Andrews, as she watched the satellite data feed onto a side screen.
Seconds later, it hit her. The readings looked like...
"Call the jets off, now!" Beth yelled. "It's an EMP!"
But before anyone could react to her warning, an almost unseen wave pushed out from the portal.
****
The tanks were hit first. As their operators looked around in growing panic, the controls blew out in sparks. All the tanks, all 143 of them came to a dead stop at once.
"What do we do now?" one crewmember asked his tank commander.
"The only thing we can do," he responded, as the man grabbed his gun from the base of the chair.
****
"Pull up! Climb, climb!" came the shouts from many of the fighter pilots. A few in the rear managed to get high enough to get away, just barely. The helicopters, on the other hand, were not so lucky.
****
The President watched, horrified, as the indicators on the massive screen changed. Almost all fighter jet, tank, and helicopter status went from green to bright red.
"Get me the AWAC! We need to remobilize the reserves, now!"
Hammond tried to remain calm. "We can't raise it."
"Sir!" Beth's voice came through. "The satellite shows the AWAC just crashed!"
Bush tried to control his anger and shock, as he turned to the link with the Pentagon. "Damn it, Clinton signed the freaking order ten years ago! Why weren't we shielded from that?! We just lost a hell of a lot of good people!"
"Sir, they were mostly all shielded. Especially the AWAC! Whatever the enemy's using, it's a hell of a lot more advanced than anything we have," a three-star general told him.
"Do we know if Horseman 1 crashed?"
"We still show him inbound. The pulse was directed inland."
"Do we have any contact with the troops at all?"
"No, sir. We only have the satellites at the moment," Andrews answered.
"They're coming out of the portal!" April suddenly yelled.
****
Thousands of Marines, National Guard, and Army troops opened fire as soon as the stormtroopers started marching in. The Assembly troops started getting mowed down in nice even rows, as they advanced.
A Marine Lt. Colonel called to the radioman. "Any luck?"
"No sir, this thing is dead!"
Another Marine spoke up, "Sir, we're taking them down. This should be over quick..."
"Jeez, tell me you're not that stupid kid! Don't you see what's going on?"
The private shook his head.
"Son, it's just like Normandy. The first few lines will get slaughtered, but the rest of 'em will get through. They're sacrificing themselves!"
****
The Assembly's version of jet fighters came screaming out next. Several went after the few jets that the pulse missed, and most of the rest started to open fire on the front lines. Sometimes taking out some of their own troops, just to help the rest gain ground...
Five turned towards the ocean, and took off; they were the ones Beth was tracking from the satellites. Andrews saw what she did, "They're heading for Horseman 1's chopper. They know!" He turned to the screen.
"Captain Harris! Take evasive action! You have five hostiles coming at you!"
****
"-hostiles coming at you!"
Xander didn't look over to the screen. He was too busy looking ahead, as he saw the five weirdly shaped jets coming right at him. With only seconds to spare, the pilot nose-dived for the ground as the jets flew...right past them.
Xander ran back to the bay, to look out the side window. The jets kept going. Why would they just pass us? We're in a marked military transport helicopter, for cryin' out loud! What else could they want?
He ran back to screen. "They passed us. They just ignored us completely!"
"The other jets are hitting everything that's moving. Why not hit you?" Andrews asked.
"I think they're going after Enterprise!" O'Neill called out.
Xander murmured a silent prayer, that the Enterprise would survive. He recalled what Commander William Riker of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D had once said; 'Luck. It protects the stupid, small children, and ships named Enterprise.'
I just hope he was right...oh, damn!
Xander actually kicked himself, for not realizing it right away.
****
O'Neill noticed his face on the screen. "Captain, what is it?"
"They didn't hit us on the way, because it must already be taken care of," Xander said.
"What do you mean, Harris?"
Xander's answer was lost in the sound of gunshots.
Everyone in the control room looked on in shock, as the screen went to static. The last thing to be heard was Xander's voice, "You have got to be shitting me!"