Disclaimer - as before, I own nothing, try though I might. Some dialogue is taken directly from the Stargate SG-1 Season 2 episode, "The Serpent's Lair", which I do not own either.
Aboard Klorel's Ha'tak
Jack led his team down the corridors of the vast mothership, evading Jaffa patrols with the skillful guidance of Master Bra'tac leading the way. He was rather put out with the gruff treatment he had received so far from the venerable Jaffa Master, but the fact that the old Jaffa was in charge and knew the ship better than anyone here, save perhaps Skaara, kept him from saying anything really rude and permitted him to witness firsthand the superior manner in which Bra'tac subdued the occasional Serpent Guard as they went along back to the pel'tak. Klorel had just returned from Apophis's ship and had taken charge. It was not long before they would encounter the Goa'uld parasite within Jack O'Neill's old buddy from Abydos again.
They reached the pel'tak sooner than Jack would have thought possible, and he started to formulate a plan to take the bridge when Bra'tac interrupted him with a wave of his hand.
"No, human, you will wait. You will know when it is time. Even now our two Ha'taks approach your world, and we must strike soon before it is too late."
Jack was understandably put out. Bra'tac was going in there alone without any backup or any way to cover his advance on Klorel. "What are you going to do?"
The old Jaffa merely looked him in the eye and said "I am Klorel's loyal servant."
The four fighters of SG-1 looked at each other in only momentary confusion before they began to understand, each of them, what Bra'tac had planned. Jack acknowledged his team's mutual assent and waited while the old Jaffa walked straight in, and then they formed up on the door ready to charge in at a moment's notice.
Pel'tak, Klorel's Ha'tak
The doors parted and the Serpent Guards made way for the venerable Jaffa Master. Klorel was pleased to see his First Prime; hopefully he had carried out his orders, and the Tau'ri would trouble neither him nor his father any longer. He turned to Bra'tac and gestured him forward.
"Come," he said. "Witness the power of your god."
But Bra'tac had other plans. He regarded Klorel's host, the young Abydan boy that was familiar to O'Neill, and he let out the breath he had been holding since he had entered the control room.
"I cannot," he finally said.
At that, Klorel slowly turned to face the old Jaffa, his expression registering mild surprise and extreme disappointment bordering on insult and anger. In a voice that belied his emotional state, he asked, "Why do you defy me?"
Bra'tac's initial trepidation finally gave way to pure disgust. "Because you are not a god, any more than that construct out there is a moon," and he indicated the entirely-too-spherical body just beyond the Moon's horizon.
"The construct…" Klorel stated in barely-contained rage, "is no longer any concern of yours. You will die first before I turn my attentions to it."
Bra'tac stood firm in the face of Klorel's fury. "You are a parasite inside a child's body, and I despise you…" He raised his staff weapon to aim at the body of Skaara, to kill the child and the Goa'uld within, but it was Klorel who struck first.
"I am your god!" he finally shouted as he raised his hand device and activated it, aiming it at the old Jaffa Master's head and beginning to soften the bones in his skull, "and you will feel my wrath!"
"I….die….free!" Bra'tac managed to utter through the blinding agony. Just then an alarm rang out through the pel'tak. Klorel turned and looked at the screen to see the construct turn on its vertical axis relative to their plane of reference, its circular dish a poisonous eye staring the parasite straight into its soul. He disengaged his hand device just as O'Neill and SG-1 poured into the pel'tak and slaughtered the Jaffa that dared to stand against them. Teal'c subdued Klorel just as Apophis managed to enter the pel'tak.
"Kree tal, Jaffa!" intoned the leader of the Serpent Guards as he saw his own son being held hostage, waving them off with a gesture. He witnessed Bra'tac attempting to leave with SG-1 and their prisoner, and he barked at the old Jaffa. "Bra'tac! How dare you betray me?!"
Bra'tac's answer was simple. "I have spent 133 years worshiping false gods – no more. Besides, there is a new power among the Tau'ri. If you don't believe me, look out there," he said, tilting his head at the viewscreen, at the image of the spherical construct beyond.
"What's he talking about, Teal—" Jack asked as he followed the Jaffa Master's gaze. The Jaffa and their Goa'uld masters would not have any inkling of what they had seen just beyond the moon's orbit, but to O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 it was instantly recognizable. "Oh, fuck me…."
Apophis was not amused by O'Neill's anatomical suggestion. To Bra'tac's second, who was still loyal to his gods, he shouted, "LAUNCH GLIDERS!"
"You cannot prevail against that, Apophis," said Teal'c with an uncharacteristic display of glee. "That is the Death Star, and now the Goa'uld will be brought down from their high places among the stars. When it fires its primary weapon, this ship and the one beside it will be vaporized instantly. You and the other System Lords have lost."
Sunnydale
The Lambda-class shuttle streaked down to the coordinates supplied by a quick download of the town map. Xander had zeroed in on the Rosenberg house as soon as he could find it on the display, and he altered his course to ride on a tight beam down to the road just in front of the house, turning the shuttle at the last possible seconds before making touchdown so the shuttle's ramp faced the house. Upon opening the ramp, Xander stepped out with Dawn, Giles and Cordelia, and then he took his comlink from his belt and switched it on.
"Harris to Vigilant Watcher, do you read?"
"Watcher here. You might want to make this quick, I just picked up two signals close aboard, they're on the other side of the Moon from this position. What do you wish me to do?"
"Nothing yet, Buffy," Xander replied. "Turn the station so the superlaser dish points at them, but do nothing else until and unless I say. How are your scans of the town coming?"
After a moment, Buffy's voice came back over the link. "I'm making progress, but it's still slow going; if I could master this alphabet and this console at once I would have better results for you. But from what it looks like, you're right where you need to be, so make haste and get Willow and anyone else aboard and get them up here so we can deal with more immediate concerns."
"Just as I thought. Wills is probably home by now, so it'll be good timing. I just hope she managed to find the kid I wounded and get him here too. Harris out." After clicking off his comlink, Xander turned to Giles and, when Giles nodded, nodded back and said to the assembled party, "Let's go."
The Rosenberg Residence
Kit had come by later to check on Carlos and see how he was. She was confused and more than alarmed at the condition of his leg when she saw what had happened, and when she asked Willow what had happened, Willow was at a loss to explain. To date, Kit and Carlos had not known about magicks, the supernatural, nor the Scoobies' ongoing war against the darkness, so Willow knew that the phrase "blaster wound" simply would not do for an explanation.
She was still in the middle of mulling over an acceptable response when all of a sudden the living room was flooded with brilliant white light. She had just enough time to shield her eyes from the intense illumination when there was a knock at the door.
"Willow! Willow, are you there? It's me, Xander!" came an all-too-familiar voice.
Not Tarkin? she wondered at once in amazement. She had not seen Xander nor Cordelia or Dawn since the spell broke, but seeing as the Death Star was still in orbit over Sunnydale, she had to assume that Xander's personality could have been completely subsumed by that of the Imperial Grand Moff. To hear Xander's voice and confirmation that indeed, it was Xander, was a welcome relief.
"Xander?" Willow rushed to the door and opened it, and there in standard Imperial officer uniforms were the other Scoobies minus Buffy. "Those aren't costumes, are they?" she asked at once.
"No they aren't," admitted Xander. "You find that kid that got wounded?"
"He's right here. Carlos?" she called over her shoulder.
Before he could answer, though, Xander interjected, "There's no time; get him on his feet and let's get him on the shuttle. I'll explain on the way to the station."
"Whoa, wait a sec!" Kit retorted as Xander made his way in to help. "What's going on here? What's this about a shuttle and a station?"
"She doesn't know?" asked Xander almost in disbelief, then quickly dismissed the thought. "Never mind, she soon will." Turning to Kit he ordered, "You and Willow get him up and out of the house, it's time to go."
"Hey!" Kit protested, "since when did you get to be in charge here?"
Xander looked at Kit in annoyance and said, "Since we ran out of time to argue about it! Now help Willow get your buddy on his feet, we're gonna get him someplace where we don't have to explain to Sunnydale General Hospital how he got that big hole in his leg! That good enough for you?!"
"Yeah, alright," conceded Kit, "but you owe us an explanation, Mr. Harris," she said as Willow stepped over, and then they each took an arm over their shoulders and hefted Carlos onto his feet. Xander then led the way onto the porch, where Kit and Carlos saw something they'd swear to the end of their days they never thought was possible until this night.
"What the cheese sticks is that?" said Carlos, his voice less hoarse now from having rested since tonight's ordeal.
Kit's expression registered a range of emotions from confusion, to disbelief, to amazement as she added, "Yeah, that looks like an Imperial Shuttle from Star Wars."
"That's right, campers, that is exactly what that is, and that's what we're riding out of here; now get on board!" Xander just said. They complied without a word, with the lone exception of Carlos, who whispered to himself, "Fuckin' cool…."
Willow, for her part, was filled with confusion and worry as the thought kept flitting through her mind, This was just supposed to be a regular Halloween night…" October the 31st would never be the same for any of them again.
Imperial Shuttle over Sunnydale
"I thought when we got our wounded we would head straight back to the Watcher, Xander. Why are we then making for the art gallery?"
Xander answered Giles' question thusly: "When I picked up Buffy, Dawn and Willow for trick-or-treater escort duty as required on pain of expulsion by our favorite homunculus Snyder, Joyce" and he mentioned the name with a sudden, fleeting wish that she would turn her affections to him, if only for a brief moment, "had indicated that she was due at the Mayor's office. Since the Death Star, as everyone else still assumes it is, appeared tonight and became a physical reality, the Mayor's office would have declared a state of emergency, and all non-essential personnel would have been required to leave and go about their own business. Joyce should then be at the art gallery, since she's not home at the moment."
"Well reasoned, Xander. I do believe the Moff's influence has improved your manners as well as your deductive skills…though we should still contact Buffy and inform her that we shall be bringing her mother on board the station as well as Carlos and Kit."
"That's no surprise there, Rupert," Xander replied, which got a raised eyebrow from Giles at the use of his given name, "given that Buffy was enchanted by the spell and her mother will doubtless wonder where she is by now. We can attend to two mission priorities with but one stroke." He looked down at the instrument panel of the pilot's console and reported, "We're approaching the museum, Giles. I'm going to set us down in front, since everyone's seen the battle station anyway. No sense hiding what everyone already knows is there, yes?"
"I'm going to open a channel to the Watcher so you can tell her before we land. Use your comlink to talk to her; she'll want to be able to tell her mother personally what's going on. Here she is…"
Buffy's voice then appeared over the 'link. "Xander, Giles? You'd better get done and back up here within ten minutes. I just got another voice message from Hammond. He says they're tracking two signals since they first picked them up around the orbit of Saturn, and they're worried that they might be some sort of hostile alien species coming to take us over. They're also concerned about a squad of theirs that went missing about a day or so ago, and they want to know if we've found any traces of them."
"Thanks, Buffy. Please tell the General that we'll let him know anything we find about those two contacts, and do pass along whatever you find to me as well. On another note, we're soon be landing at the museum and we'll be picking up your mom to bring her aboard the station."
"You are?" Xander nodded his assent as he responded in the affirmative. "Oh, I had hoped you would; I so long to see her and tell her everything that's been happening. The present circumstances and my ongoing absence have doubtless left her in a worrisome mood."
"More and more aristocratic by the hour, Buffy. Is this the same Buffy I knew before the spell?" commented Xander.
"I fear not; more and more of the Lady Elizabeth's manners and speech have intertwined themselves into my thought patterns. I fear I shall no longer be the Southern Californian girl who used to quip before a good dusting."
"Regardless, Buffster, when we land, you'll be explaining all this to your mom in person over my comlink. Will that work, or shall I bring her onto the Overbridge and have you explain it to her there?"
"The point is conceded, Xander. I shall speak to her over your comlink, then. When do you land?"
Xander looked at his panel and said, "Within seconds, prepare yourself."
"Be quick, Xander; I don't have time to stall the General, and he will want answers soon."
Alright, then, Xander mused as the shuttle touched down in front of the museum,let's make this happen…
Sunnydale Museum of Art
Joyce looked around at the patrons that had come to view the newest display. None knew what it was as yet, but there was something of a supernatural theme to it, as most art that found its way to Sunnydale usually did. She had wondered sometimes as to the meaning of it all, but her thoughts were presently occupied by the constant murmuring of the museum patrons about the sudden appearance in the night sky of what looked like the very same Death Star of the Star Wars films, and how close it was to the planet. So very close, in fact, that it had caused rumblings in the Earth almost instantly upon its appearance, before it unexplainably moved far enough away from the planet to cause the rumblings to stop. And suddenly she worried for her daughter. Buffy had been out there escorting young trick-or-treaters from Sunnydale Elementary School when the earthquake started, and there had not been word of her since then.
She was worried, so very worried for her baby girls, Buffy and Dawn. Were they victims? Had they run afoul of a crumbling building or a downed power line? Or worse, had Buffy had a sudden mental relapse? Joyce knew in her heart of hearts that Buffy was a strong, resourceful girl, and she had managed her way through much since she and Hank had managed themselves to release her from Los Angeles County Hospital's psych ward, before the divorce and Hank's subsequent disappearance. It still did not prevent her from worrying for her daughter 's safety whenever an earthquake occurred. Buffy had always had a hidden sort of strength that couldn't be explained, but she was still Joyce's daughter.
And mothers always worried for their daughters.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bright light that suffused the entire wing. An instant later the light vanished, to be replaced by steam coming into the building from immediately outside. Joyce's senses went into overdrive when she regarded the source of the steam. It should not have been possible, but Joyce could have sworn she had seen Xander and that librarian, Rupert Giles, emerge from the Imperial Shuttle that had landed in the wash of light and make their way into the museum. Xander was speaking to someone on some sort of device in his hand, but what was the more unusual were the Imperial uniforms the two of them wore as though they were tailored specifically for them.
In the next instant, Joyce beheld Xander looking around the gallery just before his eyes locked onto hers. A wide, puppydog smile plastered itself onto his face upon seeing her, the expression of a young man taken at once with an older woman that he had admired almost like a second mother. What was the word for such a man? She hadn't known, but she had imagined if the roles were reversed, and it were she who was enamoured with him, that she would be referred to as a "cougar", one of those wealthy women who had an eye for younger men, for reasons that she refused to entertain at the moment. Xander strode directly toward her, with Mr. Giles in tow, still speaking to whoever was on the other end of the communication device. He had approached within three feet or so of her when the voice on the other end of the…comlink, she now remembered it being called in the films…became clear.
"Here she is," said Xander, and then he handed the comlink to her, saying to Joyce, "Hello, Ms. Summers…someone wants to talk to you."
"H-Hello?" said Joyce hesitantly.
"Mother? Is that you?" replied a voice that filled her heart with relief. "Are you alright?"
Joyce was confused. Buffy had always called her "Mom", never "Mommy" or "Mother"; this was an unusual voice for her, it was too cultured, too refined to be her daughter.
"Yes, I'm alright, Buffy, but where are you and Dawn, and why aren't you at home?"
There was a sudden brief pause, and then Buffy answered, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Mother. Have you looked in the sky lately? What's there now besides the moon?"
"Buffy?" Joyce asked slowly, fearful of her daughter's answer, "are you telling me that somehow you're in space? On board that thing?!"
Buffy's reply was simple and direct. "Yes, Mother, and I need you to come up here to me. I can't explain until you get here; just know that I need to get you off the planet as soon as possible, and I shall explain everything when you arrive. Now please follow Xander and board the shuttle that's waiting to take you up here. Don't delay, Mother, please go!"
"Please, Ms. Summers," said Xander then, "we have to go now."
"Joyce, please, Xander and Buffy are right, it's time to go," said Rupert at last. His face was that of one who was worried for a contemporary as well as a dear friend, all but pleading with her to heed her daughter's words.
If Buffy, Xander, and Rupert are all three worried equally about this, then I need to find out what's really going on here…
Suddenly Joyce looked around and regarded the museum patrons, more than half of whom were regarding the spectacle before them, and she decided that if something was going on and her daughter was genuinely worried for her mother's safety, then she should humor her and go with her friends, at least until she found out the truth.
If this was somehow affecting her daughters, then Heaven help those who would stand between a child and her enraged mother…
She turned to the patrons and spoke then, "My apologies, everyone. I know that you were expecting a grand event with the unveiling of the museum's latest collection, but I have to leave now and attend to a family emergency. I trust you all know the way around, and the museum staff will be more than happy to answer your questions and settle things in a satisfactory manner. Any buyers who wish to make a selection can speak with my assistant and make any arrangements you need. Thank you and goodbye."
She turned and left the museum with her uniform-clad friends amid more murmuring and consternation than she had ever had the misfortune to hear. To Xander and Giles, she said coldly, "This had better be good or heads will roll for this…"