-1Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords - Volume 2: Telos
Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.
The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.
Bao-Dur moved quickly up the incline and dropped to his stomach as he neared the top, Atton was right behind him and did the same, the two of them crawled the last few feet to peer over the ledge at the next valley beyond.
Atton felt someone grab his boot, looking back he smiled at the sight of Dawn also laying on her stomach.
"Mind moving over?" she asked.
He just smiled and shifted over a foot to let her slide up between the two of them, Bao-Dur handed a pair of binoculars to her, or what she called binoculars anyway.
"Damn, five mercs" she said as she scanned the opposite side of the valley.
Boa-Dur nodded "Right were we need to go, they also have a sentry droid, we move into the valley and they'll know we're coming".
Atton sighed "Just great".
"They were probably looking for me when they spotted your shuttle going down" the Zabrak said quietly.
"We could try handing the Zabrak here over, you know, a bargaining chip?" he smiled wryly.
Dawn glared at him for a second before realizing that he was joking, she shook her head and scanned the valley again.
"Don't forget who shot you down in the first place" Bao-Dur shot back.
Atton smiled "Good point, Forget I said anything".
"Guys, we got a problem, several more speeders coming down the valley, six men, all heavily armed" Dawn added and passed the device to Atton.
Bao-Dur growled "I find it strange that so many would be out looking for me".
Dawn patted his shoulder "Take it as a sign of respect, that they need so many dangerous killers to find you" she smiled and then slid back down the embankment.
Dawn moved carefully down the thirty foot slope, to where Faith, Shayla, Kreia and Xander awaited, thankfully her favourite carpenter had awoken during the last hour but he was still in no condition to fight, even though he insisted he was fine.
"Eleven mercs, one sentry droid, right were Bao-Dur says we need to go" she said to the group as she drew closer.
"Shouldn't be too difficult" Faith winked as she checked on Xanders bandages.
Shayla smiled "We need to be careful, Eleven mercs would be able to cut us down before we reached them".
Xander winced from Faith's tender touch "Ack!" he glared at her.
Kreia ignored the man's outburst "Regardless of what we do, we should do it.." the woman stopped speaking suddenly, and looked around cautiously.
Faith hesitated as she checked Xanders last bandage, she in turn glanced to Kreia.
Dawn had caught the whole exchange "Okay guys, what's up?".
Kreia spoke first "Twice now I have felt a powerful presence in the force, a consciousness if you will, I believe we are not alone on this world".
Shayla stood quickly "Is this presence dangerous?. Maybe a Sith Lord?".
Kreia shook her head "I do not know" she looked down as if lost in thought "Whoever it is, has a strong understanding of the force, they were capable of feeling the life energies on the station".
Shayla's face lost several shades of colour "How is that possible?".
"I know not" the old woman said quietly.
Dawn meanwhile hadn't taken her eyes off of Faith, who was trying to remain innocuous to everyone's attention, she thought about it for a moment and realized that the dark haired Slayer knew exactly what was going on, she also knew that Faith would have mentioned something sooner if she felt it was a threat, the only person who could have that much power..
"Willow" she said out loud.
Faith paused again, except a small smile flashed at the corners of her mouth.
"What?" Shayla asked.
Dawn had to think quickly, if it was willow, then she likely contacted Faith, now assuming that was the case, Faith would have come forward, unless she had a damn good reason not too.
"Only one person I can think of with that much power" she deliberately smiled at Xander instead of Faith, hoping to draw the attention away from her, she would talk to her later.
Xander smiled briefly "It makes sense".
Faith nodded "Damn girl is pretty freaky with the magic".
Shayla stepped forward, Kreia right next to her "Who is this Willow?".
Dawn smiled "One of our closest friends, damn powerful Wicca, almost destroyed our world, till Xander saved her from herself".
Kreia frowned "This does not bode well, such power is sure to attract our enemies".
"Still, if it's Willow, you can bet she's not alone" Dawn added.
"Buffy, maybe even Giles and a few Slayers" Xander nodded.
Faith actually looked towards the younger Summers, smiling with a silent 'Thank you'.
Dawn nodded to her but covered it up quickly "Trust me, if any big bad comes after willow, she won't be easy to take down, with Wills and Buffy watching our backs I pity anyone looking for trouble".
"What's a Wicca?" Shayla asked.
Dawn thought about how to explain it "Wicca, well, it's a religion, the worship of mother earth, the practise of magic, rituals, spells, the ability to manipulate the energies around you…kind of like the force" she started to babble, then smiled "Actually, it just might be the force, we call it magic, but it just might be the same thing".
Kreia nodded slowly "If your friend is as powerful as you say, I highly recommend we reach her, before she tries to extend her awareness again, it may very well lead our enemies to us, regardless of her power, I dread the thought of us being caught unaware, and unprepared".
Dawn caught a look on Faith's face that she found puzzling, she didn't dwell on it though, there would be time later to question the Slayer, for she was almost sure now that Faith had known what was going on "Then, we need to come up with a plan".
Xander raised an eyebrow "The mercs would have communications and uniforms, right?".
Everyone looked at him slightly confused, the sound of their newest ally pierced the silence "Now that just might work".
Everyone turned to see Bao-Dur and Atton sliding down the slope, the Zabrak slung his blaster rifle under his shoulder "With the com unit, and access to their speeders, we could bypass most of the patrols and maybe, just maybe slip inside the compound before anyone realized what was happening".
"Then what?" Shayla asked.
Xander piped up again "With the com unit, we could declare a medical emergency, then rip into the compound, if we do it right, most, if not a good portion of the mercs would be deployed out to where their 'Patrol'" he emphasized "Encountered an unknown enemy, only thing is, what kind of enemy are they going to encounter?".
Dawn smiled as a thought hit her "How about us?".
Faith laughed maniacally "Now that's just too sweet!".
Even Shayla smiled "It could work".
"This seems like a risky plan to me" Atton said as he sat down "On the other hand, it's a plan, something we didn't have a few minutes ago".
Shayla nodded "Very true, so then I guess the next thing we need to figure out, is how we're going to take out those mercs, without them setting off an alarm, or calling for reinforcements".
Kreia stepped forward "Maybe we should let them call for reinforcements".
Shayla looked to her mentor for a few seconds and then nodded "I believe that might work" she looked to the rest of the group "Atton and Bao-Dur can act as fire support from the ridge here, while the rest of us move along the edge of the valley, at a specific signal you two begin the attack, then we'll hit their flank".
Faith shook her head "Xander should stay here".
"No way" he said quickly "Slap another few bandages on me, I'll be fine, we kick some ass and then take any medpacks they have".
"Xander your seriously freakin hurt, you had a freakin light saber shoved through your back!" Faith exclaimed.
"Guys, bad guys right over the hill!" Dawn said quietly, though the tone of her voice was anything but calm.
"Sorry" they both said in unison.
Shayla nodded "Faith, I know Xander is in bad shape, but he's a Guardian, his ability to force jump would be an asset, if this plan is going to work".
"Just cause he can jump a few meters, don't mean shit to me if he get's killed" she hissed.
Kreia touched Faith lightly on the shoulder "I have witnessed apprentice Guardians jump the length of a hangar bay, I would not be surprised if Xander could jump fifty meters with no difficulty".
Faith was truly shocked by her description "Fifty..?".
Kreia nodded then stepped back a few feet.
Xander gently gripped Faiths chin with his finger and thumb "Hey, I can do this".
Faith nodded slowly, causing him to let go "All right, but if you get killed, I'm desecrating your grave".
Dawn frowned "I don't like it either, but Shayla and Kreia are right, we'll need every edge we can get to pull this off".
Faith looked up at the tiny JedI "Damn D, you sounded like your sister for a second there".
Xander chuckled "Kinda creepy, but I'm not surprised".
Atton cleared his throat "Okay, so that's covered, now I think we need to figure out what we're going to do, once we're inside the base".
Bao-Dur nodded "No question there, I make my way to the nearest terminal and access the facilities defences, if we move fast enough, and if my access codes are still working I can turn the defence turrets against the remaining mercs".
"What about those who leave the base?. It won't take them long to figure out they were tricked" Dawn said.
Shayla shook her head "We'll have to figure that out once we're inside, and we've secured the base".
Xander nodded and forced himself to stand, Faith instantly moved to help him, since she was the closest, he didn't object "All right, we should do this before we loose the advantage of daylight".
"Shouldn't we do this after nightfall?" Atton asked.
Shayla moved next the her apprentice "Xander is right, this needs to be done now, before we're discovered, besides, only you have the advantage of seeing in the dark with that Targeting visor".
"Point taken" he shrugged.
Faith sighed "All right, if we're going to do this, let's do this".
Dawn nodded "Lead the way Slayer" she winked.
Not Far Away…
Willow listened to the various conversations around her, as she meditated, she found it strangely difficult to center herself in this Galaxy, or maybe it was just this world, it felt broken here, like the planet's energies had been completely shattered and the pieces were just recently being put back together.
When she reached out to sense Faith the first time she had used her own reserves, her own life's essence, the second time she actually opened herself up to the planet, and almost threw up from the feel of the energy she tapped into.
That wasn't the only thing that bothered her, she could have sworn that on both occasions a foreign presence had detected her attempt to locate Faith, that could only mean there was a very powerful Witch nearby, she could only hope that they were friendly.
"Hey Wills" Buffy whispered "You okay?".
Willow opened her eyes, "yeah, I'm just trying to get a feel for the planets energies, I've never thought about the possibility of using magic on another world before".
"Oh" her best friend said "So how's it going?".
Willow sighed "Not so good, this planet is not healthy".
Buffy looked around in confusion "With all these tree's and stuff, I thought the planet was kinda nice".
"Yeah, it's kind of strange, the trees, and, well everything, have a different feel to them, like they were moved here, from another world" she explained.
Buffy frowned "Is this going to affect magicky willow?".
The red head smiled "I don't think so, but just in case, I'm going to go easy on the magic".
Buffy smiled "You're the expert, if you think that's best, I won't argue".
At that moment O'Neill moved into the small clearing "Summers, the comm unit we took from our friend, we're getting something".
Buffy moved over to make room, O'Neill dropped to one knee, his chosen weapon still clasped to his webvest, he called it an Intar, which was strange since it looked more like a Submachine gun.
He held up the small hand held comm device "..This is Samek, I repeat, we are taking fire…4628 by 241, we need immediate support over!".
Buffy raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"..Copy that, Kaymin and Zeyral are being dispatched, ETA is four minutes" Another voice replied.
Everyone heard Riley's voice echo through their headsets "Heads up, twenty hostiles are leaving the base, I repeat, twenty hostiles are leaving the base".
Buffy touched her headset "Copy that, hold position, I think our Boy is making his move".
Willow smirked at her friends different speech, she lightly punched her in the shoulder "Look at you, all army Buffy now".
The blonde slayer opened her mouth to speak when the mercenary communicator echoed again.
"..We can't hold our position, we're pulling back…prepare for wounded..".
Everyone noticed that the voice seemed different.
"..Negative Samek, hold your position!…Reinforcements are on their way!".
"..Negative, Damn JedI are everywhere, I've lost half my men.., prep for wounded, we're coming in hot!".
Buffy smiled "Sounds like our people are kicking some ass, if we hit the base now we'll only have twenty mercs and a few wounded to deal with, then we can lend a hand to Xander, Dawn and Faith".
O'Neill nodded "Sounds good to me, we've got the high ground, we can at least pin down the remaining forces, give your people out there a chance to break through those reinforcements".
Riley's voice echoed over the headset's again "Looks like four of those bikes are coming in, two men per bike, fourth has one rider, looks like wounded….five are heading for one of the buildings, two are being carried, other two are heading for the landing pad".
Buffy frowned "They said that reinforcements were four minutes away right?".
O'Neill nodded "Those wounded sure made good time".
"Coincidence?" she asked.
"Maybe, maybe not" he smiled.
Buffy tapped the ear piece "Riley, what are the two on the landing pad doing?".
"Not sure..wait one…four mercs are heading towards them, holy shit, one of the new arrivals just pulled out two swords…made of …something like fire!" he exclaimed.
The distant sound of blaster fire echoed throughout the air, "The merc's have opened fire, and, and.. Can't explain it…the guy with the fire swords is deflecting everything back at them!".
Buffy looked to Willow and then O'Neill, they all began to run towards the ridgeline where everyone else was waiting.
"Everyone with ranged weapons give those two cover fire, anyone else with similar swords are also friendly!" she said into her mic as she ran.
The sound of Blaster fire and Zat blasts could be heard only a few meters ahead of them, they all reached the top in time to see the tiny figure on the landing pad deflecting everything shot towards them away, half the blasts were heading back towards the mercs, the second figure appeared to be working at a computer terminal.
The impressive part of the display, was that the dual sword wielding figure was even deflecting the turret fire away.
That was when they all noticed five individuals burst from a building on the far side of the base, three were armed with the same fire swords as the warrior on the landing pad, one began to fire from the building entrance, obviously using the doorway for cover, the last wielding a standard sword.
Buffy noticed that one of the fire swords was purple, not red, she then spotted the same warrior leap nearly thirty feet, his or her blade slashed through a mercenary like he wasn't even their, he/she then proceeded to tear his way into an approaching group of six mercenaries.
Right behind him, she was almost sure it was a him from the way he moved, was a warrior with a different red fire sword, it looked like a double blade, and she moved slightly to the man's right to engage a smaller group of five mercenaries, she however wasn't attacking with the same deadly intent, her strikes were meant to disarm and incapacitate.
"Cover her" she ordered "That's gotta be Faith".
Riley and Graham both swung their Blasters towards the brunette slayer and began to fire at any merc around her.
Buffy pulled her own Vibro Swords and smiled "Cari, Shannon, join those two!" she said as she leaped off the ravine edge, her destination being the landing pad.
The next few seconds were the most terrifying of her life, as energy blasts streaked by her, at first from behind her, but within seconds from the base as well, she easily avoided them however as she ran down the steep slope, then jumped towards a single story building as she neared the bottom, performing a perfect flip before landing.
She didn't stop however, rolling back onto her feet she took another leap, this time towards the landing pad, landing low, she automatically rolled with the momentum she had gained, and joined the fight with her two swords leading the way.
She had just flanked the mercenaries that were shooting at the two near the computer terminal, her swords cutting through their weapons easily, she followed up every attack with kicks and elbows, she didn't want to kill these guys, not yet at least.
Within a few seconds the fight on the landing pad was over, she quickly looked around and confirmed that every merc, the original four and the four who joined them, were dead or unconscious.
The two defence turrets spun to face her, she felt her blood run cold, but then she realized they didn't fire, she sighed in relief as the figure with the two swords moved closer.
"Buffy?" she heard over her shoulder.
Spinning she spotted the face of her little sister, smiling at her as she held the two crimson red blades like they were an extension of herself, Buffy smiled wide and said the only thing she could think of "Sorry we're late".
The expression on Dawn's face changed, from the smile of the sister she remembered, to a look that sent a chill down her spine "Buffy down!".
Buffy dropped and rolled before she could even think about it, covering several meters, she rolled back to her feet, blades at the ready and stopped at the sight of her little sister cleaving through two mercs, who had somehow appeared behind her, those two crimson blades cut through their armour like nothing, they both fell over, very dead.
Buffy couldn't speak, she didn't know what to think, the sight of her little sister, her little Dawnie killing two men so quickly, so efficiently, scared her more than anything she had ever experienced, even facing the First Evil didn't compare.
Dawn's shoulders slumped slightly a second later, she slowly turned back towards her, Dawn's eyes closed for a second as she took a deep breath, when she opened her eyes, she saw her sister again.
"Better late than never" Dawn said hesitantly.
Buffy shook off the shock, the fear, and simply rushed forward to embrace her sister, her swords dropped to the landing pad, clanging from the impact.
"Oh god Dawnie, I'm never letting you go again!" she growled.
Surprisingly Dawnie didn't pull back, even from the amount of force the Slayer was using, in fact Dawn pulled her older sister close and hugged her with a strength she never expected to feel.
"Don't ever let go" she heard her whisper.
The embrace seemed to drag on forever, a Familiar voice cut through the two of them however "Aww, it's a Kodak moment, quick, someone get me a tissue".
Both women turned and stared at Faith through tear filled eyes, rather surprised to see the dark haired Slayer just as teary eyed.
"Shut up and get over here!" Buffy ordered.
Faith surprised them both by doing as she was told, wrapping her arms around both women.
"Look, I don't want to ruin such a touching moment, but any minute now we're gonna have another twenty, very pissed off mercs tearing through that pass, looking for something to rip apart" Buffy heard someone say.
Both Faith and Dawn pulled back, both looked towards a rather attractive looking man holding two blaster pistols, and wearing a strange visor that seemed way to large for his face.
"Atton's right" Faith said.
"I managed to take control of the facilities Defence Turrets, that should help" she heard another voice say, she wasn't prepared for the face that stood only a few feet from her.
The tall rather large man with spikes protruding from his skull smiled "Bao-Dur".
Buffy smiled weakly, at least he didn't set off her slayer senses "Buffy".
"A pleasure" he nodded, then hefted a blaster rifle and turned to another woman who had just joined the group "We should take defensive positions General".
Buffy looked to the woman, sizing up the tall blonde woman, her presence was definitely noticeable "Bao-Dur's right, we should save the introductions for later".
Buffy nodded, "We can help with that" she touched her ear piece "Guys, move along the ridge to cover the pass, we've got incoming".
She then turned to the tall blonde, the feeling she got from the woman was unmistakable, she had control here "Where do you want us?" she asked as both Caridad and Shannon moved to join her.
She barely noticed the looks of shock on Dawn and Faith's faces at the sight of their two friends, she was paying more attention to the woman Bao-Dur called General.
"Dawn, Xander and I will take the pass, we'll intercept them as they come through, it's narrow, I figure only two speeders at most will come through, I assume you moved your people over there?" she asked as she pointed towards the ridge that overlooked the pass.
Buffy just nodded.
"Good" she turned to Atton and Bao-Dur "Give us cover fire, use the building for cover".
Buffy smiled "Faith and I will join you on the frontline" she turned to Cari and Shannon "Join Atton and Bao-Dur, use your Zat's".
Both Slayers nodded, the looks on their faces showed how much they wanted to be up front with her but they both knew better than to argue.
"If you don't mind?" she quickly asked the General.
"Shayla Kracek, and no, I don't mind at all" she smiled.
Then she spotted Xander limp slowly up the ramp "Guys, heart warming moment later, kick bad guy butt's now" the pain in his voice was unmistakable.
Buffy stepped forward only to find two set's of hands stop her, she looked to find both Faith and Dawn shaking their head, she glanced back to Xander, only to see him limping back down the ramp, his purple sword still lighting the area.
"I hope you guys know what your doing" she stated, not asked.
Faith nodded "Trust me B, you've just witnessed X-man's Resolve face".
Buffy gave both her sister's one last smile before heading down the ramp, intending to stay right next to Xander the entire time, she looked over to faith, catching her eye, then motioning towards Dawn with her eyes, her sister Slayer smiled in understanding.
Upon reaching the mouth of the pass, she noticed another woman join them, a robed older woman, wielding only a sword, her other hand was tucked into the long sleeve, no one seemed to object to her presence though.
Something about the woman nagged the back of her mind though, something was just off about her, but the sound of several engines growing closer brought her back to the task at hand.
Kicking some mercenary ass.
Thirty seconds later, the sound of blasters and Zat's firing, echoed from above, a few seconds later two speeders sped around the narrow rock face, two mercs on each.
She watched as Xander somehow leaped towards them, his legs pulled tight against his chest, and purple blade stretched above him, he was nearly five feet in the air when he twisted his weapon, and brought it straight down, and through the front of the speeder to their right, it began to spin towards the ground but stopped as it ploughed into the earth, with the two mercs under it.
He landed easily, and brought his weapon up for the next two, she watched the tall blonde, Shayla, perform a similar leap, except she twirled in the air, before striking out with her two crimson blades, beheading the pilot and severing the weapon arm of the mercenary behind him.
The speeder arced into the air slightly, and sailed past the defenders into the base behind them, she ignored it and forced herself to focus on the pass, knowing more speeders were coming.
The next two sped forward a second later, both Xander and Shayla rolled clear, just as Dawn and Faith surged forward, her sister twirled between the two speeders, bringing one of her shorter red blades down across the front of the speeder, while the other swung upwards through the rear, sparks showered across the area as the speeder also began to spin, like the first, only this time it too joined the second speeder as it flew over her head into the base behind them.
Faith however, leaped straight up, forsaking the dual crimson blade, she simply drop kicked the pilot, her kick combined with the speed the vehicle was traveling at, was enough to literally stop the pilot and his passenger in mid air, the speeder kept going, dropping to the ground just enough to skip slightly, it continued on passed her as it slowly skidded to a stop.
Buffy knew somehow that she and the old woman were next, it was an instinctual feeling, she heard the next two speeders, she rushed forward, barely aware of Faith and Dawn moving clear, the old woman to her right.
The two vehicles, and four mercenaries were as unprepared for the type of defence they were flying towards.
She leaped straight up and flipped, twisting in the air right above the speeder, and landed right behind the passenger, she locked her legs down but still felt the strain from such a sudden change of direction, without hesitating she grabbed both the passenger and pilot, and proceeded to smash their heads together before pushing them off, she then reached out and gripped the controls, surprised to see they were actually handle bars.
Sliding forward, she somehow found the brake as she cranked the steering to the right, the speeder literally spun on a dime, and hovered a few feet off the ground.
She saw the second speeder crash into a building to her right, no pilot or passenger however, whatever the old woman had done was effective.
She looked towards the pass and knew another two speeders would be rounding the corner any second, she smiled slightly as she gunned the engine, feeling the speeder pick up speed, her slayer senses kicked in, and the world around her slowed down.
She somehow maintained control of the vehicle as she raced towards the narrow pass, racing right over Xander and Shayla as they moved to take the next two speeders, Buffy had an idea and she really wanted to try it out.
Turning slightly she sped down the pass, two speeders only a few meters ahead of her, she did have a slightly higher position thanks to the speed she was travelling at, so she didn't think she'd collide with them, she did however performed a scissor kick, catching both pilots right in the face.
She then focused on the last two speeders ahead of her, knowing the two she just passed were likely ploughing into the rock face behind her.
Blaster fire and Zat blasts rained down from above, but they seemed to keep missing the speeders and their occupants, they were just moving too fast.
The last two however, reacted fast enough to apply their brakes, it was the worst move they could have made as the fire from above managed to hit them, without speed or a conscious pilot they simply dropped to the earth.
Buffy applied the brakes to her own speeder and looked up, She spotted a few dark shapes wave down at her, she waved back and then turned the speeder around, returning to the former mercenary base at a much more leisurely pace.
Upon turning the last bend, she spotted both Xander and Dawn smiling at her, she slowed the speeder down and managed to find the off switch, the vehicle dropped the last two feet with a thud, it was jarring, but it wasn't as bad as some of the mercs had experienced.
"She can't drive a car, but a speeder she can handle just fine, who'da thunk it" Xander said as he leaned on Faith.
Buffy smiled "Can I keep it?".
Shayla stepped forward, the old woman right next to her "You are a Slayer, like Faith?".
Faith laughed, effectively interrupting Buffy's response "B here is the Original Slayer, I got nothing on her".
That caught Buffy off guard, she'd never heard Faith admit that anything like that before "Don't sell yourself short Faith, I've just got a few more years on you".
Xander punched Faith in the arm "Yeah, listen to the girl".
Faith blushed slightly, bringing a smile to Buffy's face, at least the girl still didn't know how to take a compliment.
"Anyway, I think we should do quick introductions, then you guys can fill us in on the what's what" Buffy said, noticing both Xander and Dawn's confused faces.
Dawn nodded "Just to be clear, we're not leaving, not yet anyway".
Buffy caught the look on Faith's face, 'She didn't tell them, why?' she thought "No problem" she smiled, still sitting on her new favourite toy "The magic that brought us here, well, let's just say this is gonna be my vacation".
Xander shook his head "Just when you have her figured" he trailed off, not bothering to finish the sentence.
"You..I mean, your not here to rescue us?" Dawn asked.
Buffy saw that look on Faith's face again, "Long story Dawnie, short version however, is we're kinda stuck here for a year".
Xander laughed, then grabbed his chest, he was in obvious pain "Oh..that sucked, no more laughing Xander, nope, not for a while".
"Serves ya right for getting skewered through the back" Faith smirked.
Buffy heard those words and literally froze, then she realized that everyone was looking at her "What?".
"You already said that B" Faith said "Though it was more of a high pitched wail".
Xander smiled, not laughing this time "We got jumped by some minions of the big bad, up on the station, I got my ass handed to me" he held up his purple flame sword "By this actually".
"And how are you still standing?" Buffy asked.
"Glue" Xander shot back "Lot's and lot's of glue".
At that moment a familiar squeal interrupted the group from behind them, most of the party, those not used to Willow that is had their weapons at the ready "Dawnie, Xander!".
Both turned to see Willow, with Giles a few feet behind her jogging across the base towards them, both were dressed in amour, obviously taken from fallen mercenaries.
Dawn moved quickly and found herself entangled in a Willow hug "Don't you ever go and get sucked into a mystic portal again, do you understand me!" the red head began babbling.
Dawn just held onto the nearly hyperventilating witch "Yes mom".
Willow nodded as if satisfied for the moment and raced up the short slope towards Xander and Faith, thankfully she noticed how bad the one eyed warrior looked and stopped herself from crushing him with a hug.
Xander saw the worry on her face and reached out, pulling the woman into his arms lightly, "It's okay Wills, I'll be fine, it's good to see ya".
Giles took the opportunity to hug Dawn "I'm glad to see your all alive" he said calmly.
"Glad you could make it" Dawn laughed.
Willow meanwhile had pulled from Xanders grasp, now helping Faith hold him up, Xander smiled to the old librarian "Hey, Gman".
Giles had long ago given up on the name, in fact, he realized only now how much he missed hearing it "Xander" was all he said as he gently embraced the closest man he had to a son.
The next two to intercept the three, were of course, Caridad and Shannon, the two Slayers literally swarmed over Dawn at first.
"Good to see you squirt" Shannon smiled, never having been one for emotional displays.
Dawn nodded "You two Shan, though how you convinced Buffy to let you come has me stumped".
"Long story, took a lot of sparring matches, and many visits to the infirmary" she smiled.
Caridad nodded "I just baked her cookies".
"Cheater" Shannon smiled.
Dawn laughed, she missed the two girls, "Glad to have you both here".
Xander nodded "Yes, many glad people all around, but is someone being forgotten?".
Both girls smiled at Dawn before moving to greet the only man most Slayers looked to as their big brother "Glad your in one piece" Shannon said as she lightly hugged him.
"Well, mostly in one piece" Cari giggled.
Buffy smiled at the reunion, then spotted three more people walking towards them through the base "Took you three long enough" she called out.
The looks on the three formerly missing Scoobies faces, at the sight of Riley Finn and Graham Miller were priceless.
Riley nodded to them as they neared "Hey guys".
Xander smiled "Riley, Graham, surprised to see you guys".
Graham smiled "And miss out on the chance to travel to another Galaxy?".
Dawn spotted the third man, dressed in a set of armour like everyone else, except for the green ball cap and definitely earth made submachine gun "And you'd be?".
The young man smiled, almost a Xander smile "Jonathan O'Neill, team specialist".
"Specialist in what?" Xander asked.
Surprisingly Buffy spoke for him "Classified" she winked at O'Neill, who in turn simply nodded, still smiling.
Everyone noticed as a tall, very well built man with spikes on his head approach the group "General, I've managed to get access to the shield network, I think I've found the most likely place your ship was taken too".
Of the new arrivals, only Buffy, Cari, Shannon and O'Neill didn't stop to stare at the alien, the first three, because they had met him a few minutes before, O'Neill, well, no one had a clue.
Shayla nodded "Very good" she turned to Buffy and her family "I'll let you all get reacquainted, We'll see what Bao-Dur has found out".
Buffy nodded and turned back to Xander and Dawn "So, what's with the new abilities?".
Thirty minutes later…
Buffy watched as the group ran around the mercenary compound, Faith and Dawn leading the salvage efforts, they had apparently gotten a lot of practise in the last week.
Xander sat by one of the defence turrets, apparently meditating, the alien Bao-Dur was still busy accessing the only computer terminal in the base, Willow and Giles right next to him, watching him work.
It still seemed stupid to her for a military base to have one terminal, on top of a landing pad of all things.
The scruffy guy, Atton seemed to be doing his best to help out Dawn and Faith, she wasn't sure, but she thought she spotted him looking to Dawn more than a few times, not the kind of looks she wanted a man of nearly thirty to be sending to her little sister anyway, but she decided to leave that alone for the moment.
Shayla, the General, was off with the old woman, Kreia she introduced herself as, discussing some matter the old woman had said was important.
The rest of the team had broken off into groups, Riley, Graham and O'Neill designated first watch and were currently back up on the ridgeline, keeping an eye out for any additional trouble.
Cari and Shannon were just following Dawn and Faiths lead, since they knew nothing about the technology that was scattered around the camp.
That left Buffy with her thoughts, and her observations to ponder over, the veteran Slayer was definitely full of questions, why Faith hadn't told anyone about them coming could wait, she knew Faith would explain it, the really important questions however, was how had Xander and Dawn been granted these new abilities, and why she could see the energy that seemed to connect Xander, Dawn, Shayla and Kreia, what was that energy for that matter.
And why did that energy seem to reach out to others, especially when they fought, though she couldn't see it back during the fight, she knew she felt something, even now she could see slight traces around Atton, and to a lesser extent Bao-Dur, oddly Faith was unaffected.
Something to do with the Slayer essence maybe protected her from what ever it was, she sighed, the only thing she knew was she was out of her league here, this was a totally new game for her, she needed to learn the rules.
So she made a decision, Buffy the leader would be held back for the time being, Shayla was the obvious leader here, the way she moved, talked, even the look in her eyes, she had seen war, she knew how horrifying it could be.
For some strange reason, she found that she trusted the blonde woman, yup, Buffy Summers would let this woman make the choices that needed to be made, within reason anyway.
Dawn and Xander on the other hand, seemed to possess a nearly identical energy, people listened to them both, yet none of them gave orders to contradict each other, they worked as a team.
But the one thing that truly bothered her was how Kreia seemed to slide past her senses one second and set off her senses the next, she knew Faith could feel it consciously, and even Cari and Shannon at least tried to avoid her, they were likely too young to realize that they were doing it.
She would watch the old woman, something about her was just wrong, she was a mystery, and one thing she didn't like was a mystery, it always gave her a headache.
Next: The group delves into the research facility, slightly AU in the next chapter, the research facility in my story possesses a few surprises not in the game.
I really wanted to write in detail the fight at the base, I felt it would be a great practise for writing action scenes, I also tried to keep the reunion as realistic as I could, writing emotional encounters is difficult, I admit this, but I will keep trying. Again thanks for reading, and for those of you who have reviewed. Reviews are needed, good and bad, as long as their constructive or full of divine praise teehee :D.
AND!. I am more than willing to accept suggestions, if anyone has an idea on how certain characters should react to another, or a situation. Or anyone has an idea on a plot twist, by all means, let me know.
By the way, this story will not be ending at the end of the KOTOR II Game Story line, I have many long term plans for this series.