Gazing at the stars through the window, Angel realized that he was grinning. Again. Really, he should be more nervous about going down with a group of shape-shifting octopus people and an actor to fight vampires, more octopus people, and maybe another one of those two legged pig things in the sewers and tunnels, but… Part of him just though the whole thing would be fun.
Violent, nasty, lethal fun, just like he'd always loved as Angelus.
He'd been trying to feel guilty about that as well. He shouldn't be looking forward to this. Fighting was supposed to be bad. The idea of Jason Nesmith getting his neck snapped was supposed to be bad… nah, he couldn't quite keep a straight face at that one. He'd never particularly cared for the actor that Cordelia was dating, and couldn't make himself worry as much. He could feel guilty about what he… Angelus had done, but the upcoming fight still sounded like fun.
Maybe Jason would get himself hurt, some nice bruises, maybe a concussion. It had been annoying when he'd freaked out and accused Cordelia and Willow of being nuts. The bad guys would be more than happy to hurt him, he wouldn't have to do anything personally.
"Angel?" Willow's voice, slightly uncertain. "I think… I had an idea for something to try. Against the blaster fire."
"Will it work?" He asked, looking at her. She seemed to be dealing well with this, or perhaps it was finally a benefit of living over the Hellmouth. Although to be fair, Cordelia had been dealing pretty well until another vision had flattened her, leaving her pale and shivering in the med lab.
"Maybe. I'm almost completely certain that it would if everyone was staying here, but you're going to be pretty far away from me, because I can't see them sending me to the tunnels to fight, and the distance…" She paused, taking a deep breath. "It should work."
"What do you need to do?" He hoped it didn't have burning sage or feathers, both smells lurked in the air for hours and made his eyes itch.
"I'm trying something a little bit different this time." Willow smiled, and stepped closer, her expression determined.
"What are you planning?" Angel didn't like that smile. It spoke of plots and ideas and it reminded him strongly of an expression that Darla had used. One that had always led to him getting in trouble. "Willow?"
She reached out, and tugged sharply on his hair, pulling a few strands away. "Got it. Sympathetic magic. If I have a little bit of everybody here and put the shield on that, it might work from farther away than if the shield's over you and I'm trying to hold it from orbit."
Part of him wanted to protest the whole sympathetic magic voodoo thing, and another part of his mind stuck on what she'd said. To hold a spell from orbit. "That would be pretty far."
"Yeah. And while I'm strong, that's…" She shook her head, and sighed. "The whole idea screams arrogance, you know?"
He waited in the shuttle, smirking just a little as Willow plucked a couple hairs from everybody, amused at the way Jason glared at her for it. He barely managed not to laugh as she stuck her tongue out at his back.
Angel tried to pay attention to the briefing. He knew that it would be important to know how many they could expect to run into, and what weapons they might have, but… He kept listening to Willow chanting over her collected hairs, and imagining the violence that would follow. Minions to dust, a giant bug man to squish… Would the Thermian's taste like calamari?
He'd really best get something to eat when they got back. He probably should have done it earlier. Picturing the effort to explain to the doctors why he needed to drink some human blood… Angel shuddered. Awkward and embarrassing. His stomach tensed, and hunger stirred. Jason was starting to look tasty, he'd really best get something safe to eat soon.
There was a ripple of sensation over his skin, a faint haze that danced just over his arm, flickering at the edges of his vision. Nobody else seemed to notice anything. Wait, one of the security men was looking at his hand, and then at the person next to him, rubbing at his eye as if trying to get something out. Maybe he'd best talk to Willow about that security guard learning magic when this was over with.
Guiltily, Angel fastened the seat belt as the shuttle prepared for departure, hoping that he hadn't missed too much while his mind had wandered. One bug man, three evil Thermians, and an unknown number of vampires in the tunnels. How hard could it be?
End 32.
Cordelia leaned back, closing her eyes as the nurses and doctors spoke over her. Some of the words were in Thermian, and she decided not to worry too much as they spoke to each other. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine that she was being pampered in a luxurious spa.
"Princess Mirabanna?" The soft voice sounded faintly worried. "We have looked over your scan results, and the readings of your last vision."
"Your conferral hasn't left you happy." For a moment, she just wanted to rail at the universe. But there would be time for that later, she had to be composed for now. "What did you conclude?"
"The actual vision experience causes a neural overload, which is the source of the initial pain." He paused, glancing at one of the other doctors before he continued. "You are left with an assortment of free floating neuro-transmitters, and chemical imbalances, which are the cause of the lingering headache. Our guess is that your body does not succeed in restoring the levels to their proper balance before the next vision, leaving your neuro-transmitters increasingly out of balance."
"We are concerned for your long term health." One of the nurses added.
"I'm concerned for my long term health as well." She tried not to snap at them. It wasn't their fault, and Doyle couldn't have known about this. "Is there something that you can do about this? Or am I just doomed to slowly… what, will I die? Go crazy?"
"There is still speculation about what would happen if the imbalances remained untreated." The doctor spoke again, with a slight frown. "However, we feel that there is no reason that we could not develop a long term form of treatment. While you are aboard the Protector, we can easily adjust these levels. Our hope is to have something for you to keep with you when our mission in this quadrant had been completed."
"Good." The word was a bit faint, but Cordelia really wasn't certain how else to react. They'd just said that the visions were killing her, or close enough to it. They hoped that they could have a treatment to help her. She'd known that they hurt, and that it had been getting worse lately, but to have it confirmed like that was just chilling.
"You might wish to rest in one of the lounges for a time. We will inform you when we have a solution, and many people do not care to hear the technical discussions." The nurse suggested gently.
"I suppose so." Cordelia slowly sat up, her head still throbbing. But her vision wasn't blurred anymore, and the lights no longer hurt her eyes, so she supposed that it was an improvement. "I think I'll get something to eat first. Toast or something."
Cordelia returned to the place where she'd tried to drink what passed for coffee. This time, she ordered toast and orange juice. When it came out, the juice was closer to yellow than orange, but it smelled and tasted right. Once she'd managed to sip and nibble that down, she felt much better.
She wandered through the halls, feeling oddly restless. What was she forgetting? She'd been to the doctors, talked to Guy Ingersol about the security questions, and had something to eat. There were better fighters to send down to take care of the vampires and the Thermian aspiring conquerors. Malthesar… Had anyone warned Malthesar?
Cordelia frowned and headed for the nearest elevator, or lift, or whatever name they used for them. To her dismay, all of the buttons were marked with funny squiggles, which were probably really self-explanatory if you read Thermian. Taking a deep breath, she decided to try something, and spoke aloud. "Computer, this is the Princess Mirabanna, and I need to get to the bridge to speak with Malthesar. It is of vital importance."
For a long, silent moment, Cordelia thought that nothing was happening. Then, the voice of the computer systems spoke. "Please take hold of the security bar, and hold tightly. Wait until the lift comes to a complete halt and the doors are fully open before exiting."
Cordelia's held the bar, her mind comparing the computer's words to the safety warning at roller coasters. That lasted until the lift zoomed into motion, a row of red lights flickering over the buttons. Her knuckles went white and she tried to keep from hyperventilating. It jerked to a halt, and the doors opened with a squeak, revealing the bridge, multiple Thermians busily bent over panels of blinking lights, toggles and dials. Malthesar was standing near the chair, in what she'd come to think of as Jason's spot.
Hoping that her stomach didn't rebel from the elevator trip, Cordelia stepped onto the bridge. "Malthesar? There's something that we need to talk about. Is there somewhere more private?"
"Of course, Princess. Right this way." He had that Thermian smile, too wide and not really reaching the eyes, or maybe his face wasn't quite moving right, she wasn't certain quite which.
She waited until they were in his little office, a computer screen glowing softly green, before she spoke. "I had a vision earlier. You were in part of it, and I wanted to warn you."
"You believe that I will be in danger? I am remaining on the ship, where would the danger come from?" He sounded faintly curious and a little worried. Perhaps he was remembering her comments about the pig-monster, or the way that 'Princess Mirabanna' was supposed to have access to great wisdom or however the script had explained it.
"There was another Thermian, in the command uniform. He came onto the bridge, and you came in here to confer. He pulled a little hand weapon, and shot you with a yellow light, about the same color as the orange juice on the ship. You…" Cordelia paused, trying to keep her voice steady and remember all the details. "You turned into a red octopus before disintegrating into red sparks."
His jaw dropped, and Malthesar sat down in his chair. Apparently, he was going to give her warning a lot more weight than Jason had. "I shall be careful."
"Good." She really wasn't certain what else to say. "So, have they launched the shuttle yet?"
end 33.
Gwen sat in the chair, her eyes directed towards the screen displaying Los Angeles. She wanted to be able to help somehow, to be able to make it more likely that everybody would come back to the ship alive and safe. Or at least, as much as they were to begin with. Angel wasn't alive, he was a vampire. She shivered as she thought about that, about the words he'd spoken earlier. About vampires being real, and the chance that if they became too close, if he became too happy, he would become evil, become an enemy.
Her fingers touched her lips, where she could still taste his kiss, and she smiled. Angel was so many of the things that she'd always wanted, and it was hard to try to resist him and his charm. At the same time, what he'd said was frightening, not just because if vampires were real, and magic was real, how much else? Willow had said that many things from horror stories were fact, at least in Sunnydale, but how many? She should walk away, avoid any further entanglements with Angel. That would be the safe and sensible thing to do.
She didn't want to be sensible. She wanted to have the breathtaking, intense passion that could change worlds, or at least her world. But not if it resulted in him killing her and everyone around her.
The computer beeped, and Gwen blinked, her eyes focusing once more on the map. The landing party would be leaving any moment now to try to fight the pirates. There would be communicators in case they had to pass a message. Maybe she could find something… "Computer, scan for subterranean openings in the area on the screen. Also, indicate the location of the Sigma class engine."
"Scanning." Colorful marks appeared to the side, things that she was starting to recognize as Thermian letters. The buildings faded to gray, and shapes began to form underneath in greens and blues, indicating a myriad of tunnels and some larger openings. A single mass glowed orange, something that could only be the Sigma engine of their ship.
"Computer, can you determine if the Sigma engine is in a functional ship?" Gwen asked, fear sending a rush of focus into her. If the ship was operational, if they could fly it, what would stop them from coming up here, attacking the Protector?
"The ship appears to have significant structural damage. There is leakage of electrons and Paellin particles, and it is sixty three percent unlikely to be able to hold atmosphere against vacuum. Sigma class ships contain three shuttlecraft." The computers calm voice replied.
"So they're going to want a better ship, one that isn't broken." She mused, and then glanced at the wall. "They're going to want another ship, and this is the only one in the area. Computer, can you locate the shuttlecraft that should be with the sigma engine's ship?"
"The shuttlecraft from that ship would have the same scan signatures as the shuttles on this ship. Do you wish to access navigation systems to get ship identification signals as well as engine type analysis?" The ship's computer remained calm.
For a moment, she debated with herself. How likely was it that accessing the navigation computers would cause a problem? With a sigh, she decided that she was being paranoid – they were in orbit, not navigating an asteroid field. Laredo wasn't likely to need a lot of navigation processing right now. "Yes. Locate and identify every shuttle in the solar system, and display on a screen."
The screen blanked, and then a diagram of the solar system blinked on, and the focus zoomed in on Earth. There was a glowing yellow light that was the Protector, and four orange dots inside, which would be their shuttles in the proper shuttle bays, and an orange dot moving away from them towards the planet below. Two orange dots glowed on Earth, underneath Los Angeles, and there was another dot moving upwards.
"She was right." Gwen breathed, remembering Cordelia's explanation of the enemy's tactics. "She was right that they'd send up a shuttle and try to get in."
"Guy?" She spoke into the communicator, trying to remain calm. "Guy, are you listening?"
"I hear you, lieutenant. What's the situation?" His voice came back, slightly tinny from the communicator.
"We have an incoming shuttle. Ours just left, so it can't be them coming back. Make sure your people are ready." She could hear the tremor in her voice. "I think they might have a hostile boarding party."
"I've briefed them, and we should be ready." His voice came back, sounding far more confident.
Gwen just hoped that he was right.
End 34.