Author: Bobby Cox smeghead_76@dodo.com.au
Disclaimer: Some of the characters are mine. Some aren't. The 'verse in which this is set, however, belongs to Peter F. Hamilton (the 'Night's Dawn' trilogy 'verse). There may or may not be characters and situations belonging to ME productions and the team that writes Buffy. I'm just covering my arse there. No money will be made from this, but if someone *thinks* it's good enough to make money, I'd be flattered :)
Summary: This is a parallel story to 'In Their Shadow' by rei_ite (and later on, myself), and provides back-story for Xander's activities on Earth. Basically, vampires and the Light Bringer sect - a Satanic cult (no, really!) - are starting to bump heads with each other in the Downtown section of the Los Angeles arcology. Normally, the authorities wouldn't pay too much attention to something like this.
However, when the fighting spills over to the Uptown sections...
AN: The follwing text formats will be used for datavises and affinity:
Affinity will be represented as such: AffinityDatavises will be represented as such:{Datavise}
'Due to the nature of the threat posed by the vampires active within the Sunnydale Dome, it is feared that the current equipment and tactics used by the Los Angeles Police Department may prove to be inadequate.
'Unless the Assault Tactical teams can be provided with the appropriate equipment (See Annex A for a detailed list of requested equipment), which would constitute a radical shift in focus, it is requested that aid from either Govcentral or the Confederation - preferably both - be requested.
'Until such aid is forthcoming, another possible line of assistance is the "Slayer" mentioned in the Harris File.
'Unfortunately, finding her would seem to be next to impossible, given the population base that a search would entail.'
- 'Report on the events in the Downtown districts of Dome Thirteen of the Los Angeles arcology on the night of June 2nd 2614' (2614) Captain Matthew Henderson, LAPD
Confederation Assembly, Regina
Avon, Avon system
4th June, 2614
Samual Aleksandrovich, First Admiral of the Confederation Navy, took his seat at the table at which the Policy Council of the Confederation gathered and formally logged in to the desktop processor at his station.
As the commander-in-chief of the Confederation's military, he was granted an automatic and permanent membership of the Policy Council. The other four permanent positions were filled by the President of the Confederation, the ambassador from Earth - given Earth's sheer population and the fact that it was the cradle of humanity - the Edenist ambassador - reflecting the fact that Edenist-supplied Helium-3 was the backbone of the Confederation's economy and industry - and a representative from one of the two xenoc races that held observer status in the Confederation.
Given that the Tyrathca had abruptly broken off relations during the possession crisis, this seat was taken by the Kiint ambassador, Roulor, whose eight-metre length required special equipment to take her place. There was even talk of making the Kiint's seat a permanent one, in gratitude for the massive medical and material aid extended after the possession crisis.
The other seven seats on the Policy Council were filled by random selection from the ambassadors from the other inhabited systems. Currently, they were occupied by the ambassadors from the Kulu Kingdom, New California, New Washington, Oshanko, Petersburg, Nova Barcelona and Guyana.
All around them, in tiers of seating that resembled a sporting arena, sat the ambassadors from the other member systems of the Confederation. Each location was lavishly equipped with AV equipment, so the actual location of each ambassador didn't really matter, but since all of those present were politicians - with the exception of the First Admiral and his staff - seating arrangements were considered to be a barometer of each ambassador's influence within the Assembly, not to mention an indication of which informal alliance he or she was a member of.
Once the First Admiral was ready, the President rose to his feet. Formerly the ambassador from Kulu, Sir Maurice Hall had been elected to the post after the previous incumbent, Olton Haaker, had been toppled in a no-confidence motion following the possession crisis.
Even Sir Maurice had not escaped unscathed, after Kulu's suggestion to other industrialised worlds to form a 'core-Confederation' - essentially withdrawing and starting their own pseudo-Confederation - near the end of the possession crisis. Since a large part of the plan was essentially abandoning all asteroid settlements and any colony world below stage three, it was hardly surprising that there had been a devastating backlash within the Assembly, as witnessed by the fact that the motion of no confidence against Haaker had been passed unanimously.
However, with some fancy political footwork, Sir Maurice had managed to cast off blame for the idea, landing on his feet in the President's position. To his credit, though, he was tireless in pressing for ways to advance the colony worlds to the point where they were not only self-sufficient, but trading with other worlds. Given the fact that the entire Confederation now formed its own stellar cluster thousands of light-years from the galaxy that was originally its home, he really had no choice.
Once Aleksandrovich was ready, Sir Maurice rose to his feet. "This is a special sitting of the Assembly," he said, "called by the ambassador from Earth in response to what he calls 'dangerous circumstances'. I now invite Earth's ambassador to take the floor to present his case."
Michael Benton, a thin, distinguished-looking man from the Govcentral State of Australia, rose to his feet. "Thank you, Mister President.
"Fellow ambassadors, I come before you bringing the gravest of news, news of events that may prove to be as troubling, if not more so, than the possession crisis that gripped the entire Confederation three years ago." He paused to scan the room, noting expressions that ran from worried to extreme interest to scepticism. He couldn't be sure ass to how much of the emotion he saw was genuine, however, since all present were seasoned diplomats, skilled at showing only the emotion they wanted to, even without the aid of neural nanonics.
"I have entered a file into the storage systems of the Assembly that will provide evidence for what I say. If you would care to access it..."
It was a slightly edited version of the Harris File, comprising mainly of the fights against vampires and demons - particularly the battles against the Judge and the Mayor - and the meetings of the Slayerettes in between. More than one gasp indicated that there were ambassadors who had been sceptical and now believed. After all, the information taken from debrief nanonics were the memories of the subject, and generally true, being more effort than it was worth to fake.
As long as the source was accepted, that is...
Aleksandrovich was the first to shake off the shock. "Where did this information come from?" he asked, somewhat shaken.
"This information was obtained from Tranquillity and Ione Saldana," Benton said. "Tranquillity assures me that the information is genuine." That seemed to convince the last of the holdouts, since it was well-known that habitats could not lie. The closest they could manage was simply not to tell something.
"I also have a report from the Los Angeles Police Department on the same subject," he continued. "I should warm you, though, that it does not make for pleasant viewing. You may wish to have either nausea-suppression or tranquiliser programs in primary mode when you access this file."
The next file was the Henderson Report, complete with the AV footage of the battle that had taken place in the Sunnydale Dome.
Roulor was the first to break the silence. The processor block next to her sparkled, then spoke in a neutral tone. "This is disturbing information, Ambassador Benton. Not even we have encountered anything like this. You are correct in saying that the creatures mentioned here are possibly worse than the possessed."
This was a startling revelation, since the Kiint had been a civilised species for far longer than humanity. Two hundred thousand years was the time span agreed on by most xenohistorians, since the Kiint were notoriously reticent about details from their past. The fact that their technology base was considerably more advanced than humanity's was evidenced by the reports of the two people - Joshua Calvert and Jay Hilton - who had been to Riynine, the true homeworld of the Kiint. Industrial-level molecular replicators, a ring of planets around their primary, flying cities, aircraft capable of accelerating at seventy gravities and travelling at speeds of Mach thirty-five plus, and a personal teleport ability were among the areas they left humanity in the dust.
It was not only in the technical arts that the Kiint surpassed humanity, though. They were also a very spiritual species, having faced and survived their own possession crisis thousands of years ago. Given that all of their material needs were supplied by 'providers' - machines capable of creating just about anything from virtually any available molecules - most of their time was spent on philosophical pursuits and the search for pure knowledge.
It was generally assumed within the Confederation that the Kiint knew everything that was worth knowing, and to hear a Kiint admit ignorance on any subject was deeply jarring.
"I request leave to pass this knowledge on to Corpus," Roulor continued. "Perhaps some more light can be shed on the subject." Corpus was the Kiint version of the Edenist Consensus, if more advanced, and possessed of an almost frightening intelligence. Corpus was also more than Consensus, also being the information storage of the Kiint species. Given the length of existence of the Kiint civilisation, there should be something relevant to deal with vampires and demons.
"Feel free, Ambassador," Benton said with a nod of his head that was almost a bow. "The more minds bent towards a solution of this problem, the sooner it is solved." Unspoken was a gentle criticism. During the possession crisis, the Kiint had revealed the fact that they had had to deal with their own possession crisis. Despite near-desperate requests - almost pleading, in fact - from human governments, they had refused to share the information, claiming that the solution that had worked for the Kiint would not work for humanity, and that humanity had to face it on their own.
In the end, the Kiint had proven to be right. That fact, combined with the massive amounts of aid provided when the crisis was resolved, had meant that the diplomatic strain had been minimised. Even so, there was still a small amount of lingering resentment remaining towards the Kiint. If they even noticed, they did not let on.
Roulor was proof of that. "We will do what we can, Ambassador," he said. "But we make no promises." With that, Roulor's processor block gave one last sparkle before falling silent.
No-one knew exactly how the Kiint communicated, although Edenists who had dealings with them reported detecting something similar to affinity between individual Kiint. Like everything else to do with the Kiint, it was considerably more advanced, capable of interfacing with neural nanonics, something which Edenist affinity was not capable of.
Sir Maurice spoke up, and it was evident that even his diplomatic aplomb had been badly shaken by the information that Benton had revealed. "Ambassador Benton, I presume that the reason you called this session of the Assembly was to request aid in dealing with this threat. Surely Earth's resources are adequate in themselves?"
"I am afraid not, Mister President," Benton said regretfully. "Los Angeles is not the only arcology that has a vampire population. Now that arcology law-enforcement officials know what to look for, they had discovered vampire populations in every arcology. Even my home arcology of Sydney is not exempted.
"As a result, law-enforcement officials are finding their resources barely adequate to deal with their own vampire problems. In fact, I suspect that they may prove to be inadequate.
"Given that the majority of Earth's defences are oriented on dealing with threats coming from outside the planet, comprising of Strategic Defence platforms and Govcentral Navy starships patrolling the Earth/Luna/O'Neill Halo area, it may even be that Earth's ground military may not be capable of dealing with the situation.
"Hereby, I formally request in the name of Govcentral that member states of the Confederation provide what support they can to assist," he concluded.
Cayeaux, the Edenist ambassador, spoke up for the first time since the session was called. "Copies of these files have been passed to the Jovian Consensus, and I am instructed to inform the Assembly that we will be providing what aid we can. A request has also been made to the Lord of Ruin for her support."
The sound of hushed conversations rippled around the assembly. The last time Ione Saldana had been asked to provide aid was during the possession crisis, when the law-enforcement servitors - serjeants - had been deployed to the Kulu Principality of Ombey to provide the bulk of the ground troops in the Mortonridge Liberation. They had proven effective in dealing with the situation there - barring a couple of surprises sprung by the possessed - and it was expected that they would do the same on Earth.
One of the ambassadors spoke up. "Assuming that the Lord of Ruin looks favourably on our request, it's my understanding that the serjeants require a human personality to operate independently. Will there be sufficient numbers of personalities forthcoming?"
"Volunteers will be sought from the Jovian and Saturnian habitats," Cayeaux replied. "However, Earth-based religions have still maintained their hostility towards affinity and bitek in general. If they persist with this attitude when our help arrives, problems may result."
Cayeaux's voice remained perfectly neutral, displaying no emotion whatsoever. After the transfer of Wing-Tsit Chong's memories and personality pattern to the habitat Eden's neural array in the late twenty-first century - the first, proving that it was possible - every major religion had denounced the act as 'an attempt to evade divine judgement', virtually as a chorus. Furthermore, they had also denounced all affinity, even the link with servitors, as an abomination.
Eden had recently acquired independence, and those who refused to give up affinity and bitek relocated there, and the newly germinated habitats Arrarat and Pallas. Forming their own society, they had taken control of the Helium-3 mining operations and become immensely wealthy. Although officially, all Adamist - humans without the affinity gene - governments had good relations with Edenism, religions still maintained official hostility towards affinity and bitek, even after over five centuries.
"I can make no promises, Ambassador Cayeaux, but I shall see what can be done," Benton said gravely.
"That is all I can ask, Ambassador Benton," Cayeaux replied formally.
A quick voice vote was taken, and it was formally decided to send military aid to Earth.
With that decided, the ball was in Aleksandrovich's court. He had used the preceding time to determine movement routes and timetables for the deployment of Marine units to Earth.
"Depending on the level of commitment from each member state, and assuming optimal deployment times, the first brigades should be arriving at the O'Neill Halo within a week from receipt of orders. There, the problem seems to be one of equipping the troops to deal with vampires," he said.
"According to the Harris File, a wooden stake through the heart, decapitation, fire and sunlight will prove fatal to a vampire. Holy water and religious symbols also prove damaging to a vampire, though not necessarily fatal. Research is under way on the design of a suitable weapon to fire wooden stakes - although this may be as simple as the provision of correct ammunition for weapons such as gaussguns and projectile weapons," Benton said. "And the production of incendiary rounds for gaussguns has also been stepped up. There is also speculation that sustained fire from small-arms grade energy weapons should prove sufficient to immolate a vampire, perhaps even to decapitate it.
"Efforts are also underway to lay in a supply of holy water and religious symbols. Given that a vampire's strength is far greater than a normal human's, it seems to be inadvisable to get into close-quarters combat with one."
Aleksandrovich nodded, accepting the information. "Orders will be cut to transport troops to Earth as soon as practical."
****
Slayerette Headquarters
Sunnydale Dome, Los Angeles arcology
6th June, 2614
Another night, another patrol.
That was the attitude of the Slayerettes as they returned to their home base, although the fact that there was obviously something building up put a slight damper on their normal post-patrol activities.
After their equipment was checked, cleaned and packed away, and showers taken to remove the sweat of several hours in chameleon suits, it was time to relax with a drink and talk about the just-completed patrol.
"An average night," Cat commented, to nods from everyone else, including Elizabeth, who was still coming to terms with the fact that her Watcher had seemingly abandoned her.
And it had been an average night, by Slayerette standards. Thirty vampires and two Polgara demons had been found and eliminated. Normally, this would be counted as good work, but the fact that Jonsson was up to something left everyone wondering what that could be.
"I think I'd better check for messages," Alex said, datavising a command to the desktop processor. Patrols were conducted with neural nanonics instructed to ignore messages, as the distraction of the neuroiconic symbol announcing a new message could prove fatal.
"Let's see... one for Will, and one for me. Mine's an official one from the Navy," he continued, opening his message and scanning the contents.
"That is interesting," Will commented as he accessed his message. "It seems that my efforts have paid off."
"What do you mean, William?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well, despite our estrangement from the Council of Watchers, informal avenues of communication exist. After all, we are working towards the same goal. To that end, I sent a message explaining your status to my contacts on the Council, asking for a meeting. It seems to have been accepted."
"WHAT?" Cat exploded. "Will, how could you?"
"Please rein your temper in, Catherine," Will said with a patience that came from much practice. "I do not intend to simply hand Elizabeth over to them and walk away. But they do deserve an opportunity to explain themselves."
"Fine," Catherine grumped. "But we're going along with her. Right, guys?"
Everyone except Alex nodded. "It's going to have to be without me," he announced. "My leave's been cut short, and I'm to report back to base as soon as possible, if not sooner."
"Did the message give any indication as to why, Alexander?" Will asked, ignoring the almost-reflexive wince from Alex.
"Nope, but I'm willing to bet that it's got something to do with the Harris file and the police report that Amanda rascalled for us."
"That is more than likely," Will conceded.
"Yep. I've got packing to do."
"Back to the main subject," Cat interrupted, turning to Elizabeth. "What do you think, 'Liz? Does Watcher-boy deserve a chance to explain himself, or do we just show up to give him a good kick in the nuts?"
All of the males in the room winced at that, but Elizabeth smiled. "Give him a chance to explain himself. If I don't like what he says, the groin kick is still an option."