Thanks to Ruth, Destiny's Dragon, jennzabell, Bunny-Butler, Shawn Pickett
and Johan for their reviews, I have now reached over 100 reviews and I
never dreamt I'd have that kind of feedback. Thanks to everyone for their
feedback and please keep it up!
Ruth: Yes I have plans for that, should be fun.
Jennzabell: Yeah, I was thinking of something along those lines.
Johan: Nice to hear from you again, glad you like the story
For anyone who hasn't seen it, there is a tiny spoiler for Kill Bill vol 2 (this isn't a crossover I just reveal The Bride's first name as part of something else). I am writing a kind of action scene in this chapter I haven't really tried to any length before so let me know what you think. Anyways, I think that's it so on with the story!
Chapter 15
"That's amazing!" Willow exclaimed as Tonk's blue hair shimmered into a platinum blonde colour. "That's not a glamour?"
Tonks shook her head. "No, it's entirely natural and takes no effort on my part to keep it this way."
"And you can do this to any part of your body?" Willow pressed.
"Within limits." Tonks replied. "I didn't even need to study for my deception and camouflage tests. Barely passed stealth though, I'm dead clumsy I'm afraid."
"Wow, that's an amazing skill. I've never seen anything like it, and trust me, I've seen a lot, living in Sunnydale and all." Willow appraised.
"You lived on the Hellmouth?" Tonks asked in awe. "For how long?"
"My whole life up until a few weeks ago when we destroyed it." Willow replied.
"That was you?" Tonks asked. "I was under the impression it had been levelled by the Goa'uld."
Willow shook her head. "They got here at the same time in pure coincidence. It just happened to be a convenient cover story."
"Yes, very." Tonks nodded. "I can't imagine how the Ministry here would have tried to cover it up. Not often whole towns just disappear."
"Well, I want to hear more but I have to go now." Willow said, standing up. "I'm going to Reno to try and recruit a Slayer tomorrow, I have to get ready for that."
Tonks nodded. "I'll go back to help Mr. Giles. Nice meeting you Willow. I hope I get a chance to meet your other friends soon."
"Me too." Willow said. "I wonder how they're doing?"
~~~~~~~
"Let's move it recruits!" Lt. Haley shouted at the panting group of Slayers and Scoobies. "I don't have any powers and I can still run farther than any of you!"
Kennedy snorted. "In your dreams."
Haley raised an eyebrow. "Up front recruit. Now!"
Kennedy casually walked to the front of the now stopped line and stood loosely in front of Lt. Haley.
Haley gestured to the large mountain behind her. "You see that big mountain with the trail running up it? It's three miles up the trail, three miles back."
"What's your point?" Kennedy replied rebelliously.
"My best time is 34 minutes." Haley said. "You have 21. Should you miss the time, you will wash out and be sent home."
"You wouldn't." Kennedy replied.
"Try me." Haley replied sternly. "Get running, you have 21 minutes up and down. Clock starts now. MOVE!"
Kennedy gave Haley a cold stare then took off at a dead run, or what would be a dead run for a normal human. It was really more of a fast jog for the Slayer, but a pace that would still be taxing nonetheless.
Buffy smirked inwardly. Not that she held any resentment for Willow's girlfriend, but she did have a real problem with authority. Maybe she could learn a little respect here.
Haley walked back and forth in front of the group, Daniel and Teal'c standing solemnly at either side of her path. "While we're waiting, let me make one thing clear." Haley said loudly. "Most of you may be super strong or super fast, but here we are in charge. I said this was going to be a boot camp, and I meant in every way. If Teal'c, Doctor Jackson or I give you an order, no matter what, you smile and say 'yes sir'. If we tell you to jump, you say 'how high sir?' If you give any of us lip, talk back, or refuse an order you will be told to get the hell off our planet. Am I clear?"
A murmur of consent went through the group, but Haley shook her head. "The correct answer is, sir yes sir! Now let's try that again, am I clear?"
"SIR YES SIR!" The group chanted loudly.
"Good!" Haley said with a nod.
Daniel looked at the group and said. "Recruits Harris, Wilkins (the name Faith had supplied on her sign in), and Summers Senior please step forward."
They did so, and Teal'c moved forward, pinning a small silver badge on the vest of each. "These badges signify you as team leaders." Daniel explained. "You will each be responsible for taking care of your own platoon. Since there are exactly thirty of you, each of you will be the leader of a platoon of ten."
"As platoon leaders you will be held responsible for the actions of your platoon, be they good or bad." Haley explained. "Should you fail to provide responsible leadership you will be stripped of your rank and another will be chosen to lead the platoon, any questions?"
Xander raised his hand. "Yeah, uhh, why did you choose me? I don't have Slayer strength or speed like Buffy or Faith."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Have you not proven yourself time and again in battle XanderHarris?"
"Uhh, I guess." Xander said.
Haley gave him an encouraging smile. "You may lack the strength and speed of a Slayer, but you have more than enough experience to make up for it and you have a cool head under pressure to boot. I'm sure you'll do fine."
Xander gave an embarrassed smile and nodded.
"Now, for platoon assignments." Haley continued, extracting a small pad from one of the pockets of her jacket.
~~~~~~~
Jack walked down the stair from the main entrance to meet the group of marines standing there, carrying some staff weapons and crates with more weapons and various supplies. "Hey guys, welcome to Hogwarts the Magic School."
"Sir is this some sort of elaborate joke?" one of the marines asked.
"No, Colonel Morrison it isn't." Jack replied. "This really is a magic school, and our task is now to act as a defense from both magical and Goa'uld attack. Normal weapons don't work here, which is why we all have to use staffs and zats."
"We're babysitting a bunch of soon to be witches?" another asked.
"Well you could put it like that, but then it doesn't sound nearly as important." Jack replied sardonically. "First of all this is part of an exchange program, you're only one of several groups now guarding important locations throughout the magic world. Besides, there are good reasons for guarding this school. Now let's get this crap stored people." Jack said, grabbing the nearest box and heading back towards the open doors of the main entrance.
~~~~~~~
By days end all of the stuff was stowed, the group of twenty marines was fully briefed, and the towers of the castle now had fixed staff emplacements on them, which Dumbledore had charmed so that they could only be approached by a marine or Colonel O'Neill. The plans had been laid out in the event of an attack, and in fact O'Neill and Dumbledore had moved on to a different type of planning.
"Colonel Harry has been forced to live with, shall we say some rather unsavoury individuals for most of his life." Dumbledore explained. "They're almost racist in action to him because of what he is. As a result I don't think he has ever had a really happy birthday, which is coming up in two days. I'd like to throw him a really nice one."
"Okay." Jack said, "Where do I come in?"
"I need you to keep him distracted." Dumbledore said, "I would like to throw him a surprise party if possible. I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind when you came to this school, but I would appreciate the help regardless."
Jack waved off the comment. "Don't worry about it, I like Harry and his friends anyways. How distracted do you need him?"
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, I could take him out of the great hall, out of the castle, off the grounds, out of town, out of the country, or off the planet." Jack said with a chuckle.
"I'll leave that decision up to you, though I seriously doubt that taking him off the planet would be necessary." Dumbledore replied.
"I'll figure something out." Jack assured him.
~~~~~~~
Major Carter looked grimly at the viewscreen in front of her. Standing out against the black starry background were many small objects, which could just barely be identified as Al'kesh bombers. The bombers were on the edge of the Prometheus' sensor range, but the sensors had identified at least fifteen separate bombers.
"Order a fleet-wide scramble." Admiral Malthus, commander of the Prometheus said sternly. "Major Carter, any idea on why all the bombers and no Ha'taks?"
"Well sir, I have two theories on that one." Carter replied. "Given our previous contact we can assume that Anubis is arrogant enough to consider us no threat, and as such sent only Al'kesh bombers to attack us."
"And your other theory?" Malthus asked
"Well, my other theory is that they are only using Al'kesh because they don't want to go through us, they want to go past us." Carter said darkly.
"An attack on Earth." Malthus finished.
"Probably on a set target." Carter added. "From the looks of this these bombers have all set the same course. The problem is, we have no idea where that is. This many bombers could decimate a small city in a matter of seconds."
"Can we shoot them all down?" Malthus asked.
Carter shook her head. "Not if they're just running. I suggest we alert our forces across the globe."
"Agreed." Malthus said nodding. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them anxiously. "All hands, prepare for battle."
~~~~~~~
Fifty Al'kesh bombers and their death glider escorts approached the fleet, not slowing or bothering to change course. When the scrambled fighters of all 20 Prometheus class ships finally engaged them, the bombers simply kept flying for Earth while the gliders broke off to engage the attacking human forces. The roiling sea of fighters zipped in and out between the larger carriers dodging missiles and energy blasts as they struggled to destroy the bombers and each other.
Despite the combined attack of both the carriers and the fighters, the Al'Kesh bombers made it through the swarm with more than thirty bombers intact. And as the fighters were still engaged with the gliders, they continued relatively unencumbered by attack. The bombers began to enter the atmosphere, appearing to the observers below as red tailed streaks across Asia and the Pacific ocean.
~~~~~~~
Willow, who had ringed down in a secluded outside area, looking up as an extremely modified World War 2 era fighter blazed overhead at what had to be close to six hundred miles per hour, fifty feet up. Willow covered her ears against the ear-shattering roar of an eight thousand horsepower engine being pushed to the limits. Seconds later several more planes streaked along behind it. Willow watched the low flying racers as she let her senses guide her. Giles had gone with her to retrieve the first Slayer, Alex, they had gone to find but with the new search for the Dark Dragon Blade and the sheer number of Slayers around the world, Willow and Giles had decided to split up. This was the first Slayer Willow had gone to retrieve by herself, and she was feeling decidedly nervous about it.
Willow followed her magical senses to a hangar near the pit area, the huge double doors open to reveal a large well lit shop. Inside was what used to be a P-51 Mustang, though it no longer even close to resembled the famed war bird. It's wings were swept back like a jet, the large underbody scoop was gone, replaced by two very low profile ones along the sides of the body. The nose had been extended by a foot or two to accommodate what looked like a massively powerful engine spinning two contra-rotation propellors. The racer was painted a blazingly bright yellow, with a sloppily painted black streak down the length of it and splotches of a very dark red over the nose. The words, 'Beatrix The Bride' were painted on the nose in fancy calligraphy, underlined by a katana. Willow decided this plane looked as dangerous to the pilot as the competition.
Walking further into the hangar to see a mechanic arguing with what Willow determined was the Slayer she was looking for.
"Dad I'm telling you we can squeeze a little more boost out of the turbo. Just increase the pressure a few more PSI." The redhead Slayer whose flight suit red 'Rachel.'
"And I'm telling you if you try the engine could explode, then you'd be scattered all over the Nevada desert! It's way too dangerous Rachel." The mechanic replied heatedly. "I'm not doing it, just fly it as is, you'll still beat them by a mile. Now get ready, you only have two more heats until you're up." The mechanic walked out of the hangar and towards a trailer of the same colour as the plane.
Rachel sighed and turned, noticing Willow. "This area is off limits to spectators." She said, turning and running her hand along to trailing edge of the wing.
"Actually I came to talk to you." Willow said. "My name is Willow Rosenberg."
"Rachel Cross." The Slayer replied distractedly. "What can I do for you?"
"Have you been experiencing anything weird over the last couple of weeks?" Willow asked. "Extra energy, better balance, unnatural strength?"
Rachel gave her a confused look. "Yeah, actually. How did you know?"
"Well, I was sorta responsible." Willow confessed. "I mean, I didn't really have a choice, we needed more Slayers."
"Slayers?" Rachel asked. "What are you talking about?"
"In every generation there is one girl in all the world with the strength to stand against the vampires. She alone will fight to stop the spread of evil." Willow explained. "Or at least that's how it used to be. A couple of weeks ago, we changed the rules. Now every girl who could be a Slayer is. There are hundreds around the world."
"Vampires." Rachel stated sceptically, "Right."
"Just humour me." Willow said. She picked up a large wrench from the table separating the two and held it to Rachel. "Take this and try as hard as you can to bend it."
"That wrench is inch thick stainless steel." Rachel scoffed. But Willow remained with the wrench outstretched and her resolve face on. Rachel sighed. "Fine, fine." She took the wrench and placed a hand at either end. She applied force, and quickly bent the wrench 90 degrees. "Whoa!" She exclaimed examining the wrench. "How did I do that?
"I told you." Willow said. "You're a Slayer now. I'd like to give you more proof but it's day."
"You know," Rachel commented offhandedly, "that was a really expensive wrench."
"Oops." Willow replied, suddenly realizing that all the tools on the table looked pretty hefty in price. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay, I never thought I'd be..." Rachel trailed off and looked outside. "You hear that?"
Willow listened and heard the low whistling sound of a jet. Actually, it sounded like there were several jets. The sound slowly grew louder until it was drowning out the other racers. Willow and Rachel walked to the door of the hangar and looked out to see more than a few Al'Kesh bombers approaching the airport.
"We have to get out of here, now." Willow stated, watching as the bombers drew ever closer.
As Willow finished her sentence blasts of orange energy began to rain down over the field, exploding powerfully on impact. One of the blasts hit the trailer the mechanic had walked to, turning it into a fireball that flew fifty feet before crashing back down to Earth.
"NO!" Rachel screamed. "Dad! Oh god, oh god! My Dad was in that trailer!"
Willow grabbed her arm and pressed the button on the radio she had been given by the transport pilot. "Hello? This is Willow, I need to be picked up, preferably now. Like, right now!" Willow said nervously.
The response was a burst of static. "BZZZT – fighters all over – BZZZT –tearing us apart! – BZZZT – Mayday!"
"Uh oh." Willow said. She turned to Rachel. "We need another way out of here."
Rachel, tears still streaming down her face as she looked at the wreckage of the trailer, did not reply.
"Rachel!" Willow said shaking her. "We need to go now!" As if to accentuate her point, another volley of energy bombs rained down on the field, tearing apart the field and shredding the booths and bleachers that had been set up to accommodate the now fleeing masses. Rachel whimpered, then turned to look at the airplane behind her.
"We can take the plane." She said, her voice beginning to return to volume. "It's our only way out."
Rachel and Willow ran to the plane. With Help from Rachel, Willow stepped up onto the wing and swung herself into the back seat of the two- man racer. She quickly sat down and started to put on the five-point harness while Rachel clambered into the front seat. Once the harness was secure, Willow looked in front of her. There were no controls, simply screens and keyboards. "Why does this racer need two people?" Willow asked suddenly.
"Because this plane flies at the absolute maximum stress levels it can take." Rachel replied. She flipped the master switch, and the screens in front of Willow came to life, showing digital gauges of some kind. "All that stuff is telemetry." Rachel explained. "If any of the bars go past the red line on the gauges, we break up. I need you to keep watching, tell me when something gets close to the breaking point. There's a set of headphones under your seat, just plug them into the little holes labelled intercom."
"I'm starting to think this wasn't the best idea." Willow said, reaching for the headphones and plugging them in.
Rachel flipped the ignition, and with a whine similar to a jet the engine built up in volume as the propellers began to come up to speed. Willow put on her headphones and was surprised to find that they blocked a significant amount of the noise. "Are you there Willow?" Came Rachel's tinny voice over the intercom.
"Yeah, I'm here." Willow replied.
"Normally we need ten to fifteen minutes to get this engine warmed up, but something tells me we don't have time for that, so I need you to watch the stress levels on the engine, I'll bring them up to speed slowly." Rachel explained. "Hopefully it'll be okay." Slowly, she began to apply power and the engine came up to speed.
Willow watched as the stress levels on the cold started engine began to spike a little, but remained well within the limits. The whine of the engine grew louder and Beatrix The Bride began to move out of the hangar. As the plane emerged into the sunlight, Willow surveyed the airfield. Al'kesh bombers swarmed over the field, still dropping bombs on anything still intact or any people they could find while trying to avoid the response fighters that were chasing them. Charred bodies and flaming debris littered the now cratered and pockmarked grounds. "My Goddess." Willowed whimpered.
"I'm never going to make it to a runway." Rachel stated matter of factly, "We're going to just go from right here, I have enough room I think." Rachel applied the brakes and the plane came to a stop. As soon as the plane was stopped, Rachel started to apply power, taking one last look at the burning trailer that contained the body of her father.
In the backseat, Willow watched the levels of stress on the engine gradually start to climb. Looking out the bubble canopy at the wings, she watched as the flaps dropped a little and the air surfaces moved back and forth as Rachel tested for control. With the engine now screaming, Rachel released the brakes and Willow was thrown back in her seat as the plane accelerated as though it were being fired from a huge slingshot.
In only a few seconds the plane was at 90 miles per hour and Rachel let the tail come up before pulling back on the still and lifting the racer from the tarmac. She quickly brought the wheels up and gained a little bit of altitude. Turning around, Willow looked back to see that they had missed a barrage of energy bombs by mere seconds. With the plane now airborne and gaining speed, Rachel took a moment to look around for an exit. She turned the plane north and started to gain a little altitude.
"Rachel!" Willow warned.
Reacting on instinct, the Slayer wrenched the joystick and yanked the plane into a hard break, narrowly missing two energy blasts from the death glider that was now chasing them. "Shit!" Rachel cursed. She kept twisting the racer through the air to keep the glider from getting a good shot. Unbeknownst to Rachel, Willow was in the back with her eyes closed and the microphone pulled away from her mouth, her murmured words entirely blocked out by the roar of the engine.
When a second glider joined the chase, Rachel though for sure she was done. Pulling away from the fire of one, she noticed she had made a critical mistake. By avoiding the fire from the first glider she had flown right into the line of fire from the other. Rachel watched as the twin blasts approached, but meters before slamming into the plane they hit an invisible barrier and seemed to simply dissipate. Rachel swung her head around to stare at Willow, who had a look on intense concentration on her face and black beginning to seep slowly down her hair from the roots.
"Get us out of here!" Willow shouted over the intercom in a strained voice.
"Roger!" Rachel replied emphatically. Flipping the racer upside down, she pulled back on the stick and drove the yellow beast into a dive. Flipping back over, Rachel watched as her speed increased steadily through her 5000 foot dive. Only a few hundred feet from impact, Rachel pulled back on the stick and levelled out at a speed of 600 miles per hour and an altitude of a mere 30 feet. Focusing entirely on avoiding whatever may reach 30 feet up from the dusty ground below, Rachel ignored the gliders chasing her and started flipping radio frequencies with her free hand, looking for the band the military response fighters were using. Noticing a deep canyon to her left, Rachel pulled the fighter into a steep bank and started to turn towards it.
In the back seat, Willow was focused on the shield, but on of the screens caught her eye as the stress levels spiked. "Rachel keep this up and you're going to tear the wings off!" Willow shouted over the intercom in a voice that was now strained both from maintaining her shield and the eight G turn that she was now in.
Rachel took heed and back off the throttle a bit, slowing the plane down to just under 500 miles per hour. With the turn completed, Rachel again increased the throttle and dove towards the narrow canyon. In the back of her mind she noted that this all seemed to be happening a little slower, or maybe she was reacting faster.
The plane dropped into the narrow canyon and the gliders followed still firing but having no effect due to Willow's shield. Rachel began to slow the plane down, their speed dropping from close to 600 miles per hour to just under 300 very quickly thanks to the speed brakes installed. Looking ahead from what she could see, Willow made a nervous comment. "Rachel, the canyon's about to turn."
"I know, just trust me okay?" Rachel replied calmly. The plane approached the steep turn, and slowed further to about 250 miles per hour. At the last second, Rachel swung the plane around the tight left turn which she had obscured from view of the gliders. The lead glider, with literally not time to react, smashed into the canyon wall and blew apart. His wingman just barely managed to get high enough to escape over the lip of the canyon, but quickly turned to resume his chase.
Meanwhile in the backseat of Beatrix The Bride, Willow finally lost it. The combined strain of the spell and the heavy Gs got to her and she collapsed into her seat. The shield dropped and Willow fluttered back and forth from consciousness. Rachel had focused all her attention on the radio, and was rewarded with the chatter of fighter pilots on mop up duty. Though the airfield in Reno had been levelled, it appeared few or none of the bombers had remained intact. Of course, that didn't make up for the fact that thousands of innocent people had likely been massacred.
"This is bravo four six eight kilo bravo." Rachel said over the radio. "Can anyone out there give me a hand, I'm being chased down by a Goa'uld fighter!"
"Roger kilo bravo, just hold on." Came a reassuring voice over the radio. "We have your position, an escort should be there in under a minute. Just keep moving."
Rachel returned her attention to the approaching death glider. She winced as the twin blasts from the glider missed her wing by what seemed like inches. Again Rachel began her aerial ballet with the glider, twisting and weaving not to lose him, simply to make sure he couldn't get a shot. Rachel pulled the racer into a loose barrel roll and avoided the first shot, but a second never came. Rachel looked back to see the glider exploding as a missile pierced its underbelly. From behind the fireball a X- 302 emerged and moved into formation on Rachel's wing. The pilot gave her a casual salute.
"Nice flying." Came a voice over the radio. "Nice plane too. I'm Major Lewis, follow me and I'll take you to a safe landing facility."
"Roger Major, thanks for the help." Rachel replied.
"I need to find a new hobby." Willow murmured from the back seat.
End chap 15
Sorry I've taken so long to get this up. Combine a bit of writer's block with a search for my car (I'm getting a Honda Prelude!) and a full time job and you get a bit of a wait, plus this is my longest chapter so far. Anyways hope you liked the chapter, I know it didn't really advance the story too much but I figured it was high time for a bit of action. I hoped you enjoyed it, please leave a review!
Ruth: Yes I have plans for that, should be fun.
Jennzabell: Yeah, I was thinking of something along those lines.
Johan: Nice to hear from you again, glad you like the story
For anyone who hasn't seen it, there is a tiny spoiler for Kill Bill vol 2 (this isn't a crossover I just reveal The Bride's first name as part of something else). I am writing a kind of action scene in this chapter I haven't really tried to any length before so let me know what you think. Anyways, I think that's it so on with the story!
Chapter 15
"That's amazing!" Willow exclaimed as Tonk's blue hair shimmered into a platinum blonde colour. "That's not a glamour?"
Tonks shook her head. "No, it's entirely natural and takes no effort on my part to keep it this way."
"And you can do this to any part of your body?" Willow pressed.
"Within limits." Tonks replied. "I didn't even need to study for my deception and camouflage tests. Barely passed stealth though, I'm dead clumsy I'm afraid."
"Wow, that's an amazing skill. I've never seen anything like it, and trust me, I've seen a lot, living in Sunnydale and all." Willow appraised.
"You lived on the Hellmouth?" Tonks asked in awe. "For how long?"
"My whole life up until a few weeks ago when we destroyed it." Willow replied.
"That was you?" Tonks asked. "I was under the impression it had been levelled by the Goa'uld."
Willow shook her head. "They got here at the same time in pure coincidence. It just happened to be a convenient cover story."
"Yes, very." Tonks nodded. "I can't imagine how the Ministry here would have tried to cover it up. Not often whole towns just disappear."
"Well, I want to hear more but I have to go now." Willow said, standing up. "I'm going to Reno to try and recruit a Slayer tomorrow, I have to get ready for that."
Tonks nodded. "I'll go back to help Mr. Giles. Nice meeting you Willow. I hope I get a chance to meet your other friends soon."
"Me too." Willow said. "I wonder how they're doing?"
~~~~~~~
"Let's move it recruits!" Lt. Haley shouted at the panting group of Slayers and Scoobies. "I don't have any powers and I can still run farther than any of you!"
Kennedy snorted. "In your dreams."
Haley raised an eyebrow. "Up front recruit. Now!"
Kennedy casually walked to the front of the now stopped line and stood loosely in front of Lt. Haley.
Haley gestured to the large mountain behind her. "You see that big mountain with the trail running up it? It's three miles up the trail, three miles back."
"What's your point?" Kennedy replied rebelliously.
"My best time is 34 minutes." Haley said. "You have 21. Should you miss the time, you will wash out and be sent home."
"You wouldn't." Kennedy replied.
"Try me." Haley replied sternly. "Get running, you have 21 minutes up and down. Clock starts now. MOVE!"
Kennedy gave Haley a cold stare then took off at a dead run, or what would be a dead run for a normal human. It was really more of a fast jog for the Slayer, but a pace that would still be taxing nonetheless.
Buffy smirked inwardly. Not that she held any resentment for Willow's girlfriend, but she did have a real problem with authority. Maybe she could learn a little respect here.
Haley walked back and forth in front of the group, Daniel and Teal'c standing solemnly at either side of her path. "While we're waiting, let me make one thing clear." Haley said loudly. "Most of you may be super strong or super fast, but here we are in charge. I said this was going to be a boot camp, and I meant in every way. If Teal'c, Doctor Jackson or I give you an order, no matter what, you smile and say 'yes sir'. If we tell you to jump, you say 'how high sir?' If you give any of us lip, talk back, or refuse an order you will be told to get the hell off our planet. Am I clear?"
A murmur of consent went through the group, but Haley shook her head. "The correct answer is, sir yes sir! Now let's try that again, am I clear?"
"SIR YES SIR!" The group chanted loudly.
"Good!" Haley said with a nod.
Daniel looked at the group and said. "Recruits Harris, Wilkins (the name Faith had supplied on her sign in), and Summers Senior please step forward."
They did so, and Teal'c moved forward, pinning a small silver badge on the vest of each. "These badges signify you as team leaders." Daniel explained. "You will each be responsible for taking care of your own platoon. Since there are exactly thirty of you, each of you will be the leader of a platoon of ten."
"As platoon leaders you will be held responsible for the actions of your platoon, be they good or bad." Haley explained. "Should you fail to provide responsible leadership you will be stripped of your rank and another will be chosen to lead the platoon, any questions?"
Xander raised his hand. "Yeah, uhh, why did you choose me? I don't have Slayer strength or speed like Buffy or Faith."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Have you not proven yourself time and again in battle XanderHarris?"
"Uhh, I guess." Xander said.
Haley gave him an encouraging smile. "You may lack the strength and speed of a Slayer, but you have more than enough experience to make up for it and you have a cool head under pressure to boot. I'm sure you'll do fine."
Xander gave an embarrassed smile and nodded.
"Now, for platoon assignments." Haley continued, extracting a small pad from one of the pockets of her jacket.
~~~~~~~
Jack walked down the stair from the main entrance to meet the group of marines standing there, carrying some staff weapons and crates with more weapons and various supplies. "Hey guys, welcome to Hogwarts the Magic School."
"Sir is this some sort of elaborate joke?" one of the marines asked.
"No, Colonel Morrison it isn't." Jack replied. "This really is a magic school, and our task is now to act as a defense from both magical and Goa'uld attack. Normal weapons don't work here, which is why we all have to use staffs and zats."
"We're babysitting a bunch of soon to be witches?" another asked.
"Well you could put it like that, but then it doesn't sound nearly as important." Jack replied sardonically. "First of all this is part of an exchange program, you're only one of several groups now guarding important locations throughout the magic world. Besides, there are good reasons for guarding this school. Now let's get this crap stored people." Jack said, grabbing the nearest box and heading back towards the open doors of the main entrance.
~~~~~~~
By days end all of the stuff was stowed, the group of twenty marines was fully briefed, and the towers of the castle now had fixed staff emplacements on them, which Dumbledore had charmed so that they could only be approached by a marine or Colonel O'Neill. The plans had been laid out in the event of an attack, and in fact O'Neill and Dumbledore had moved on to a different type of planning.
"Colonel Harry has been forced to live with, shall we say some rather unsavoury individuals for most of his life." Dumbledore explained. "They're almost racist in action to him because of what he is. As a result I don't think he has ever had a really happy birthday, which is coming up in two days. I'd like to throw him a really nice one."
"Okay." Jack said, "Where do I come in?"
"I need you to keep him distracted." Dumbledore said, "I would like to throw him a surprise party if possible. I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind when you came to this school, but I would appreciate the help regardless."
Jack waved off the comment. "Don't worry about it, I like Harry and his friends anyways. How distracted do you need him?"
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, I could take him out of the great hall, out of the castle, off the grounds, out of town, out of the country, or off the planet." Jack said with a chuckle.
"I'll leave that decision up to you, though I seriously doubt that taking him off the planet would be necessary." Dumbledore replied.
"I'll figure something out." Jack assured him.
~~~~~~~
Major Carter looked grimly at the viewscreen in front of her. Standing out against the black starry background were many small objects, which could just barely be identified as Al'kesh bombers. The bombers were on the edge of the Prometheus' sensor range, but the sensors had identified at least fifteen separate bombers.
"Order a fleet-wide scramble." Admiral Malthus, commander of the Prometheus said sternly. "Major Carter, any idea on why all the bombers and no Ha'taks?"
"Well sir, I have two theories on that one." Carter replied. "Given our previous contact we can assume that Anubis is arrogant enough to consider us no threat, and as such sent only Al'kesh bombers to attack us."
"And your other theory?" Malthus asked
"Well, my other theory is that they are only using Al'kesh because they don't want to go through us, they want to go past us." Carter said darkly.
"An attack on Earth." Malthus finished.
"Probably on a set target." Carter added. "From the looks of this these bombers have all set the same course. The problem is, we have no idea where that is. This many bombers could decimate a small city in a matter of seconds."
"Can we shoot them all down?" Malthus asked.
Carter shook her head. "Not if they're just running. I suggest we alert our forces across the globe."
"Agreed." Malthus said nodding. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them anxiously. "All hands, prepare for battle."
~~~~~~~
Fifty Al'kesh bombers and their death glider escorts approached the fleet, not slowing or bothering to change course. When the scrambled fighters of all 20 Prometheus class ships finally engaged them, the bombers simply kept flying for Earth while the gliders broke off to engage the attacking human forces. The roiling sea of fighters zipped in and out between the larger carriers dodging missiles and energy blasts as they struggled to destroy the bombers and each other.
Despite the combined attack of both the carriers and the fighters, the Al'Kesh bombers made it through the swarm with more than thirty bombers intact. And as the fighters were still engaged with the gliders, they continued relatively unencumbered by attack. The bombers began to enter the atmosphere, appearing to the observers below as red tailed streaks across Asia and the Pacific ocean.
~~~~~~~
Willow, who had ringed down in a secluded outside area, looking up as an extremely modified World War 2 era fighter blazed overhead at what had to be close to six hundred miles per hour, fifty feet up. Willow covered her ears against the ear-shattering roar of an eight thousand horsepower engine being pushed to the limits. Seconds later several more planes streaked along behind it. Willow watched the low flying racers as she let her senses guide her. Giles had gone with her to retrieve the first Slayer, Alex, they had gone to find but with the new search for the Dark Dragon Blade and the sheer number of Slayers around the world, Willow and Giles had decided to split up. This was the first Slayer Willow had gone to retrieve by herself, and she was feeling decidedly nervous about it.
Willow followed her magical senses to a hangar near the pit area, the huge double doors open to reveal a large well lit shop. Inside was what used to be a P-51 Mustang, though it no longer even close to resembled the famed war bird. It's wings were swept back like a jet, the large underbody scoop was gone, replaced by two very low profile ones along the sides of the body. The nose had been extended by a foot or two to accommodate what looked like a massively powerful engine spinning two contra-rotation propellors. The racer was painted a blazingly bright yellow, with a sloppily painted black streak down the length of it and splotches of a very dark red over the nose. The words, 'Beatrix The Bride' were painted on the nose in fancy calligraphy, underlined by a katana. Willow decided this plane looked as dangerous to the pilot as the competition.
Walking further into the hangar to see a mechanic arguing with what Willow determined was the Slayer she was looking for.
"Dad I'm telling you we can squeeze a little more boost out of the turbo. Just increase the pressure a few more PSI." The redhead Slayer whose flight suit red 'Rachel.'
"And I'm telling you if you try the engine could explode, then you'd be scattered all over the Nevada desert! It's way too dangerous Rachel." The mechanic replied heatedly. "I'm not doing it, just fly it as is, you'll still beat them by a mile. Now get ready, you only have two more heats until you're up." The mechanic walked out of the hangar and towards a trailer of the same colour as the plane.
Rachel sighed and turned, noticing Willow. "This area is off limits to spectators." She said, turning and running her hand along to trailing edge of the wing.
"Actually I came to talk to you." Willow said. "My name is Willow Rosenberg."
"Rachel Cross." The Slayer replied distractedly. "What can I do for you?"
"Have you been experiencing anything weird over the last couple of weeks?" Willow asked. "Extra energy, better balance, unnatural strength?"
Rachel gave her a confused look. "Yeah, actually. How did you know?"
"Well, I was sorta responsible." Willow confessed. "I mean, I didn't really have a choice, we needed more Slayers."
"Slayers?" Rachel asked. "What are you talking about?"
"In every generation there is one girl in all the world with the strength to stand against the vampires. She alone will fight to stop the spread of evil." Willow explained. "Or at least that's how it used to be. A couple of weeks ago, we changed the rules. Now every girl who could be a Slayer is. There are hundreds around the world."
"Vampires." Rachel stated sceptically, "Right."
"Just humour me." Willow said. She picked up a large wrench from the table separating the two and held it to Rachel. "Take this and try as hard as you can to bend it."
"That wrench is inch thick stainless steel." Rachel scoffed. But Willow remained with the wrench outstretched and her resolve face on. Rachel sighed. "Fine, fine." She took the wrench and placed a hand at either end. She applied force, and quickly bent the wrench 90 degrees. "Whoa!" She exclaimed examining the wrench. "How did I do that?
"I told you." Willow said. "You're a Slayer now. I'd like to give you more proof but it's day."
"You know," Rachel commented offhandedly, "that was a really expensive wrench."
"Oops." Willow replied, suddenly realizing that all the tools on the table looked pretty hefty in price. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay, I never thought I'd be..." Rachel trailed off and looked outside. "You hear that?"
Willow listened and heard the low whistling sound of a jet. Actually, it sounded like there were several jets. The sound slowly grew louder until it was drowning out the other racers. Willow and Rachel walked to the door of the hangar and looked out to see more than a few Al'Kesh bombers approaching the airport.
"We have to get out of here, now." Willow stated, watching as the bombers drew ever closer.
As Willow finished her sentence blasts of orange energy began to rain down over the field, exploding powerfully on impact. One of the blasts hit the trailer the mechanic had walked to, turning it into a fireball that flew fifty feet before crashing back down to Earth.
"NO!" Rachel screamed. "Dad! Oh god, oh god! My Dad was in that trailer!"
Willow grabbed her arm and pressed the button on the radio she had been given by the transport pilot. "Hello? This is Willow, I need to be picked up, preferably now. Like, right now!" Willow said nervously.
The response was a burst of static. "BZZZT – fighters all over – BZZZT –tearing us apart! – BZZZT – Mayday!"
"Uh oh." Willow said. She turned to Rachel. "We need another way out of here."
Rachel, tears still streaming down her face as she looked at the wreckage of the trailer, did not reply.
"Rachel!" Willow said shaking her. "We need to go now!" As if to accentuate her point, another volley of energy bombs rained down on the field, tearing apart the field and shredding the booths and bleachers that had been set up to accommodate the now fleeing masses. Rachel whimpered, then turned to look at the airplane behind her.
"We can take the plane." She said, her voice beginning to return to volume. "It's our only way out."
Rachel and Willow ran to the plane. With Help from Rachel, Willow stepped up onto the wing and swung herself into the back seat of the two- man racer. She quickly sat down and started to put on the five-point harness while Rachel clambered into the front seat. Once the harness was secure, Willow looked in front of her. There were no controls, simply screens and keyboards. "Why does this racer need two people?" Willow asked suddenly.
"Because this plane flies at the absolute maximum stress levels it can take." Rachel replied. She flipped the master switch, and the screens in front of Willow came to life, showing digital gauges of some kind. "All that stuff is telemetry." Rachel explained. "If any of the bars go past the red line on the gauges, we break up. I need you to keep watching, tell me when something gets close to the breaking point. There's a set of headphones under your seat, just plug them into the little holes labelled intercom."
"I'm starting to think this wasn't the best idea." Willow said, reaching for the headphones and plugging them in.
Rachel flipped the ignition, and with a whine similar to a jet the engine built up in volume as the propellers began to come up to speed. Willow put on her headphones and was surprised to find that they blocked a significant amount of the noise. "Are you there Willow?" Came Rachel's tinny voice over the intercom.
"Yeah, I'm here." Willow replied.
"Normally we need ten to fifteen minutes to get this engine warmed up, but something tells me we don't have time for that, so I need you to watch the stress levels on the engine, I'll bring them up to speed slowly." Rachel explained. "Hopefully it'll be okay." Slowly, she began to apply power and the engine came up to speed.
Willow watched as the stress levels on the cold started engine began to spike a little, but remained well within the limits. The whine of the engine grew louder and Beatrix The Bride began to move out of the hangar. As the plane emerged into the sunlight, Willow surveyed the airfield. Al'kesh bombers swarmed over the field, still dropping bombs on anything still intact or any people they could find while trying to avoid the response fighters that were chasing them. Charred bodies and flaming debris littered the now cratered and pockmarked grounds. "My Goddess." Willowed whimpered.
"I'm never going to make it to a runway." Rachel stated matter of factly, "We're going to just go from right here, I have enough room I think." Rachel applied the brakes and the plane came to a stop. As soon as the plane was stopped, Rachel started to apply power, taking one last look at the burning trailer that contained the body of her father.
In the backseat, Willow watched the levels of stress on the engine gradually start to climb. Looking out the bubble canopy at the wings, she watched as the flaps dropped a little and the air surfaces moved back and forth as Rachel tested for control. With the engine now screaming, Rachel released the brakes and Willow was thrown back in her seat as the plane accelerated as though it were being fired from a huge slingshot.
In only a few seconds the plane was at 90 miles per hour and Rachel let the tail come up before pulling back on the still and lifting the racer from the tarmac. She quickly brought the wheels up and gained a little bit of altitude. Turning around, Willow looked back to see that they had missed a barrage of energy bombs by mere seconds. With the plane now airborne and gaining speed, Rachel took a moment to look around for an exit. She turned the plane north and started to gain a little altitude.
"Rachel!" Willow warned.
Reacting on instinct, the Slayer wrenched the joystick and yanked the plane into a hard break, narrowly missing two energy blasts from the death glider that was now chasing them. "Shit!" Rachel cursed. She kept twisting the racer through the air to keep the glider from getting a good shot. Unbeknownst to Rachel, Willow was in the back with her eyes closed and the microphone pulled away from her mouth, her murmured words entirely blocked out by the roar of the engine.
When a second glider joined the chase, Rachel though for sure she was done. Pulling away from the fire of one, she noticed she had made a critical mistake. By avoiding the fire from the first glider she had flown right into the line of fire from the other. Rachel watched as the twin blasts approached, but meters before slamming into the plane they hit an invisible barrier and seemed to simply dissipate. Rachel swung her head around to stare at Willow, who had a look on intense concentration on her face and black beginning to seep slowly down her hair from the roots.
"Get us out of here!" Willow shouted over the intercom in a strained voice.
"Roger!" Rachel replied emphatically. Flipping the racer upside down, she pulled back on the stick and drove the yellow beast into a dive. Flipping back over, Rachel watched as her speed increased steadily through her 5000 foot dive. Only a few hundred feet from impact, Rachel pulled back on the stick and levelled out at a speed of 600 miles per hour and an altitude of a mere 30 feet. Focusing entirely on avoiding whatever may reach 30 feet up from the dusty ground below, Rachel ignored the gliders chasing her and started flipping radio frequencies with her free hand, looking for the band the military response fighters were using. Noticing a deep canyon to her left, Rachel pulled the fighter into a steep bank and started to turn towards it.
In the back seat, Willow was focused on the shield, but on of the screens caught her eye as the stress levels spiked. "Rachel keep this up and you're going to tear the wings off!" Willow shouted over the intercom in a voice that was now strained both from maintaining her shield and the eight G turn that she was now in.
Rachel took heed and back off the throttle a bit, slowing the plane down to just under 500 miles per hour. With the turn completed, Rachel again increased the throttle and dove towards the narrow canyon. In the back of her mind she noted that this all seemed to be happening a little slower, or maybe she was reacting faster.
The plane dropped into the narrow canyon and the gliders followed still firing but having no effect due to Willow's shield. Rachel began to slow the plane down, their speed dropping from close to 600 miles per hour to just under 300 very quickly thanks to the speed brakes installed. Looking ahead from what she could see, Willow made a nervous comment. "Rachel, the canyon's about to turn."
"I know, just trust me okay?" Rachel replied calmly. The plane approached the steep turn, and slowed further to about 250 miles per hour. At the last second, Rachel swung the plane around the tight left turn which she had obscured from view of the gliders. The lead glider, with literally not time to react, smashed into the canyon wall and blew apart. His wingman just barely managed to get high enough to escape over the lip of the canyon, but quickly turned to resume his chase.
Meanwhile in the backseat of Beatrix The Bride, Willow finally lost it. The combined strain of the spell and the heavy Gs got to her and she collapsed into her seat. The shield dropped and Willow fluttered back and forth from consciousness. Rachel had focused all her attention on the radio, and was rewarded with the chatter of fighter pilots on mop up duty. Though the airfield in Reno had been levelled, it appeared few or none of the bombers had remained intact. Of course, that didn't make up for the fact that thousands of innocent people had likely been massacred.
"This is bravo four six eight kilo bravo." Rachel said over the radio. "Can anyone out there give me a hand, I'm being chased down by a Goa'uld fighter!"
"Roger kilo bravo, just hold on." Came a reassuring voice over the radio. "We have your position, an escort should be there in under a minute. Just keep moving."
Rachel returned her attention to the approaching death glider. She winced as the twin blasts from the glider missed her wing by what seemed like inches. Again Rachel began her aerial ballet with the glider, twisting and weaving not to lose him, simply to make sure he couldn't get a shot. Rachel pulled the racer into a loose barrel roll and avoided the first shot, but a second never came. Rachel looked back to see the glider exploding as a missile pierced its underbelly. From behind the fireball a X- 302 emerged and moved into formation on Rachel's wing. The pilot gave her a casual salute.
"Nice flying." Came a voice over the radio. "Nice plane too. I'm Major Lewis, follow me and I'll take you to a safe landing facility."
"Roger Major, thanks for the help." Rachel replied.
"I need to find a new hobby." Willow murmured from the back seat.
End chap 15
Sorry I've taken so long to get this up. Combine a bit of writer's block with a search for my car (I'm getting a Honda Prelude!) and a full time job and you get a bit of a wait, plus this is my longest chapter so far. Anyways hope you liked the chapter, I know it didn't really advance the story too much but I figured it was high time for a bit of action. I hoped you enjoyed it, please leave a review!
