Legends of the Knight, the Witch and the Slayer

Author: Jedi Knight aka Vampyr64 aka Socrates

Category: Story/Action/Adventure/Drama/Romance

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and ME own Buffy, George Lucas owns Star Wars, I own the rest of the universe. IT'S MINE I TELL YA, ALL MINE, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Summary: Hmm… It's actually a bit complicated and it would give the story away. Let's just say that Buffy, Willow and Xander take a little trip…

Rating: PG-13, to R, for violence and graphic nudity, hehe, just kidding!

Spoilers: This story takes place at the beginning of say season 2 so up till then.

Feedback: I DEMAND IT!…. Pwease?

Authors notes: I love these little things. Okay, well I decided to change the entire approach for my Star Wars/Buffy crossover. Those of you who read the first part of A New Hope, just forget about it cause that story is gone the way of the dodo. I think this concept works much better and will hopefully be more enjoyable. Who knows, I might even finish this one!

Chapter III, An old foe, and new friends…

The Kathol system

The Imperial Lambda shuttle shuttered and dropped out of hyperspace. It spun on its axis and rotated toward Kelai IV.

Aboard the craft, Lord Drakiss S'vnth felt the disturbance in the flow of the force. It was relatively small as disturbances went, but yet it seemed to pulse with a kind of power that belied its true nature. He quickly looked over at his pupil, Karn Ovex, to see if he had felt it as well.

The apprentice Dark Jedi at the other side of the passenger area, his face betraying no indication that he had picked up on the pulse.

It didn't surprise him of course, Karn had not long been exposed to the power of the force so it was small wonder that he was not yet attuned to the various eddy's and currents. It would take the young man some time before he became aware.

Drakiss contemplated the curious occurrence. It had to have meant something. Force disturbances weren't exactly rare happenings but there was just something about this one… No matter. When he was done with his current assignments he would be his way back to the Imperial capital and he would meet with the Emperor and inform him of this, that is if the overlord had not yet felt the disturbance himself, which was of course rather preposterous a thought. The emperor was one of if not the most force attuned individuals alive, if he hadn't felt it then no one had.

Drakiss felt the telltale hum as the shuttle dropped through the upper atmosphere and the repulse jets kicked in. The shuttle would head down to the Imperial depot on the highest mountain range. There he would perform another monotonous inspection tour of the facility. One of many in the empires possession, and he had seen so many.

The Dark lord sighed, sometimes he longed for the days when there were still Jedi to hunt. The great purge had wiped out most of their number, and even though Jedi still managed to escape the extermination squads, there were so few and they were so well hidden that it was more a matter of chance then anything else to stumble upon them.

There were still battles to be fought of course. The rebellion had managed to gain some steam as of late, pulling new worlds into its push for galactic justice. It was occasionally entertaining to hunt some of them down and slaughter them, but it just didn't hold the same appeal as meeting a fellow Jedi on the field of battle, light sabers locked, sparking energy…. Ah, but such things were of the past now.

His deliberations were cut short as the ships intercom sparked to life, with the pilots voice.

"My lord, I'm sorry to disturb you but we are receiving a communiqué from The Imperial Palace on Coruscant."

Drakiss nodded to himself So the Emperor has felt it… "Put it through captain."

"Aye sir."

The dark Jedi turned to his side and flicked on the ships personal comm unit. A holographic image of the Emperor, clad in dark robes, his face hidden by a cloak, sparked to life. Drakiss lowered his head in respect "My lord."

"Drakiss." The old mans voice crackled through the comm. "I assume you have felt the disturbance in the force?"

"I have my lord."

"Good. It centers on three young people, particularly a boy."

Drakiss was immediately intrigued, "A boy?"

"Yes. He and the other two are currently being held on the Imperial Cruiser Revengeance . I am ordering the boy transferred to your next scheduled inspection point."

"How can I serve my Emperor?"

"I want you to pull any information you can find on how he and the others got here from his mind."

"My lord, I mean no disrespect but aren't the interrogator droids or mind probes capable of doing that?"

"Conventional methods have proven, ineffective. But nothing can resist the power of the dark side."

"Yes my lord."

"You will be interested also to learn that there will be a Jedi sent along with the boy."

The dark lord was instantly excited at the prospect of meeting another of his kind. "A Jedi ?"

"Indeed. A man by the name of Malkon Cross."

The name sparked a surge of memories within Drakiss, of long ago rivalries and vows that had yet to be kept.

"I know of him my lord."

"I thought you might. Do with him what you will. Consider him a gift."

"Thank you my lord."

The Emperor then managed to some how fix Drakiss with a glare even though he could not see the other mans eyes. "Drakiss, I want that information. Do NOT fail me."

"No my lord."

Then the old man leaned forward in his seat just enough so that Drakiss could make out the hints of a smile on his mouth.

"Good."

And with that the transmission ended and the dark lord was once again left alone with his thoughts.

He could hear voices now, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything kept swirling in and out of focus, as if he had ridden one too many roller coasters. He didn't know which way was up or down, and the sensation was making him decidedly quesy. Still.. The pain from before seemed to have dissipated quite a bit, which was naturally a very good thing.

He didn't know how long he'd been out. In fact, he couldn't really remember much of what had happened since he got here. Which reminded him, he still didn't have the faintest idea where exactly here was, and that was surprisingly one of the more irritating things on a list that went on and on.

He wondered how the girls were doing. ..The girls! Yes! he thought with suddenly growing optimism That's it! Buffy will come and rescue me. As soon as she escapes herself that is. Now that was a rather sobering thought. He didn't even know if Buffy and Willow could figure out how to break out of their cell. And even if they did, they still had to find him somewhere on this… well, he didn't know what it was, but from the way some of the troopers had been talking during his brief bouts of consciousness, it was quite big.

Xander was scared, no doubt about it. He had been here, strapped to this slab for god knows how long, while some strange floating metallic sphere had been pricking him with long needle's that burned like fire. And then they had attached some device to his forehead, and it felt like someone was trying to suck his brains out of his skull. It was most definitely torture they were doing, but he couldn't understand why they hadn't been questioning him. Surely they thought he had some useful information, though the only thing he could think that might be is the details of how he got here, and even that he wasn't too sure on. The strange thing was that they hadn't asked him one question yet, just kept poking and prodding and using longs prods to shock him. It seemed almost like they were torturing him for the simple thrill and pleasue of it, and that frightened him a great deal.

Presently he found that he could make out the words being spoken around him and decided to listen and see if he could pick up anything that might be useful later on, if, when he escaped.

"It's not working." The man dressed in dark gray said. "His will is too strong or he doesn't have the information."

"Unacceptable" the man in brown, whom Xander assumed was the superior officer, responded. "Have you tried running the device at full power."

"Sir, the device wasn't designed to be used on humans at full power. It could very well fry his synapses!"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take corporal."

"Lieutenant, if you fry the boys brain then we'll never retrieve the information we want."

"What about the other too? They'll do well enough."

"The captain has plans for them. We've detected some unusual readings in them and they are to be moved to a research facility."

"Blast! Then how are we supposed to recover this information they high command is after?'

The man in Gray's reply was cut off by the sound of something beeping. The man in brown cursed softly and turned around, disappearing from his line of sight. Xander heard the sounds of some movement and a few moments later the Lieutenant's voice resumed, though this time from somewhere else in the room.

"Captain Rslye, to what do I owe the honor."

A new voice started speaking. "I have some news. It appears that high command has decided to move the male prisoner."

"But sir I… It… We just need some more time, we WILL break him!"

"It's too late for that. Command has decided to send one of the Dark Knights to retrieve the information they are after."

"Sir I just need more-"

"Silence! This matter is closed."

"…Yes… Captain."

"Good, now, the prisoner will be placed on a shuttle and transported to the Energy transfer facility on R'mos. Lord S'vnth was scheduled to tour the facility and will 'interrogate' the boy when he arrives."

"Yes sir…"

"Good. Our part in this matter is ended understand?"

"Yes captain."

"Very well, Rslye out."

The Comm. Xander guessed it was cut off and there was some more movement before Xander found himself face to face with the Lieutenant. The man stared hatefully into the boys eyes, clearly upset that his prize was being robbed him. He looked as if he wanted to strangle Xander just so that no one else could get a crack at him.

"Well now sonny." The Imperial spoke in a condescending tone with just a hint of bitterness and hate. "You're going to take a little trip." He pulled back a bit and stared at Xander with false sympathy. "Y'know, I don't envy you lad. Lord S'vnth is not exactly known for his… tenderness." He smiled, or at least it seemed to be an approximation of one, though the wicked gleam in his eyes belied a cruelty that made the young mans stomach churn. "You're going to wish you had stayed with me, I assure you."

With that, the Imp reared back and slammed his fist against Xander's face, and, for the third time that day, Xander found himself being slipping into unconsciousness.

This is really getting old…

Malkon Cross hid behind a set of containers in the main hallway of the cell block. He could hear voices coming from around the corner. Most likely a pair of Stormtroopers making their hourly rounds, but he couldn't be certain, and besides he didn't want to take the chance that one of the could activate his comm unit before he could be dealt with and then the entire ship would be alerted.

Malkon never shied away from a fight but he didn't fancy going up against an entire ship full of Imperials with blasters in their hands and murder in their eyes.

After a few minutes, he heard footsteps moving away from his position and the sound of voices faded against the backdrop of the ships engine.

He emerged from his hiding place and began to make his way out of the block, when he felt something. A slight shift in the force around him. The presence of someone, and there was something about it that made him think there was something special about them. He decided to do a quick check of the block, to see if he could locate them, and at the very least he could free some prisoners and help them escape.

Not a bad deal at all for a Jedi.

Buffy Summers was becoming very incensed. No matter what she or Willow tried, nothing worked to shut off that blasted field. Heck, she had even tried hitting the thing a few times and the only thing that succeeded in was singing her hands.

This was certainly not shaping up to be a good day.

She sighed and turned to her friend who was crouched by the wall, her hands fiddling with a set of wirse they had uncovered from a panel in the wall.

"Anything Will."

The redhead turned to her slayer friend and offered her a small smile, but shook her head. "Nothing yet Buffy, but I'm working on it. Just be patient."

"Patient?" Buffy echoed incredulously, "I'm a slayer. We don't DO patience. We kill things, we kill more things, and when we get tied of that, we save the world a few times. There's no room in there anywhere for patience."

Willow shook her head reprovingly, "Well find some cause we might be here awhile. At least until I can figure out how to turn this stupid field off."

Buffy opened her mouth to argue, but thought better and shut it again. She settled for turning around and sulking back to the metal bench where she plopped down, with her arms crossed, and glared at the force field.

Willow saw this and had to hide the urge to chuckle. "Big baby."

"What was that?" The slayer demanded.

"Nothing, not a thing."

The slayer was all set to go off on her friend, when she heard a noise coming from outside the cell.

"Willow. Quick!" She whispered urgently, motioning to her friend to replace the circuit panel and move back to the bench. The young girl complied and then huddled next to her friend, their eyes both fixed intently on the faintly glowing opening….

A few seconds later, a figure appeared from outside the cell and peered in.

It was a man. He appeared to be in his late twenties to early thirties, rather handsome, with platinum blonde hair and a roguish look about him. He was dressed in dark gray, from his trousers to his shirt and leather jacket, with black ribbed padding on the shoulders, that hung to his waist. In his hands he gripped a long metal tube. His light gray eyes peered at them curiously.

"Who are you?" He queried.

This was just about the last straw for the slayer. "Who are we? Who the hell are you buddy and why dod you bring us here and lock us up!?!"

The man looked at her, confused, for a moment, then broke out into a little laugh. "I assure you young one that I had no part in your being brought here, though I take it from your words that you yourself do not know where you are or how you got here."

"That's right." The slayer confirmed. "So where are we and how did we get here?" She stared intently at the man, waiting for a response.

"Well I am afraid that I cannot tell you how you got here as I have no idea. However, I can tell you that you are on the Imperial Cruiser Revengeance, In detention block 11D."

The slayer and redhead stared at him uncomprehendingly. "Huh?" The blonde managed, after a moment.

The man looked at a loss as to what to say, but shook off the reply he had been about to make. "Listen, there will be plenty of time for this later. For now I suggest we make our escape."

Buffy glared at him. "And tell me just why should we trust you?"

"Because," He replied as he reached over with something in his hand and shut off the field, "I'm all you've got."

The slayer seemed to think about this for a moment, then nodded and motioned to her friend. Together, they exited the cell and joined the man in the hallway.

"By the way, " He offered his hand to Buffy, "My name is Malkon Cross."

The slayer looked at the hand suspiciously for a moment before she sighed and reached out her own hand, "Buffy, Buffy Summers."

The redhead head followed her lead, "Willow Rosenberg."

The Jedi smiled at them both, "Pleased to meet you."

"Listen, "The Slayer began, "A friend of hours was brought here with us. A boy. We need to find him before we can leave."

"Hmmm" Cross thought, "Well if he was taken from the cell then they most likely took him for interrogation. Not a very pleasant experience I must say."

He noticed that both girls looked sick at his statement, and cursed himself for scaring them. "I'm sorry" He said, "That was rather callous of me." He motioned with his hand, "The interrogation facility is this way. We'll rescue your friend in short order and then be off this cursed spaceship."

Both girls turned to stare at him, their mouths hanging open, eyes wide.

"Uh… was it something I said?"

End part 3

Next time, Cross and his new friends search for Xander, and attempt to escape the Imperial vessel.