Unproofed - I need a volunteer to do so for these chapters and future ones.

Saturday

Willow and Xander walked up to the Summers home. As neither believed that it would be a good idea to have Buffy interrupt their discussion with Mrs. Summers, Willow had agreed to cast a sleep spell on Buffy and silence spells around her bedroom, which she did as she arrived.

Joyce answered the door and invited the young couple into the living room.

Xander started the difficult conversation to come, "Thanks for seeing us Mrs. Summers. There's a few things that we wanted to talk with you about, most of them Buffy doesn't want you to know, but we felt that you need to know."

Joyce responded, "I know she's hiding things from me, and she goes out after she thinks everyone is a sleep. This has to do with that?"

Xander nodded and continued, "Well, it's a little difficult to prove in the light of day, but I assure you that everything we talk about is the truth. There are no drugs or alcohol involved, so that at least should set some of your worries to rest. Truth is often stranger than fiction, and in this case, scarier as well.

"To tell it the way it was explained to me, after I had already seen the proof, the world is older than any of us really knows, and it started not in paradise as is commonly believed but in nightmares of brutality, pain and suffering. The Earth was over run with creatures that we today call demons. Demons are creatures that revel in debauchery and the debasement of life. They are things that were not gifted from the creator with a soul. They ruled the earth for untold eons until mankind rose up and drove them out. They did not leave all together unfortunately, and as the last True Demon left, it mixed its blood with a mortal human's and created the first vampire. It was to fight these creatures that the First Slayer was called and empowered with strength and speed beyond that which normal humans possess. These gifts allowed the Slayer the edge she needs to kill vampires and other lesser demons that still inhabit our planet to this day. There is only ever one Slayer, and it is always a teenaged girl, usually called sometime between 14 and 16 years of age. When one Slayer is killed, the next is called. We don't know why a girl so young is called, nor do we know who does the choosing, but we do know that they aren't mortal humans."

Joyce interrupted Xander at this point, "The current Slayer I take it is supposedly Buffy? That would be the only reason you'd be telling me this all now."

Willow entered the conversation at this point, "Yes ma'am. The problem is that the Slayer is guided by a group of people called, uncreatively, The Watchers. They are, as a group, stuffy shirted Brits who insist that the slayer fights alone, and maintain the secrecy that they have kept for untold years. Giles though is a real decent sort, he's her watcher, and doesn't force Buffy to fight alone, but he does try to encourage the whole secrecy thing. We were forced by circumstances to get involved, but when given the opportunity to get out, found that we couldn't. We couldn't just walk away and leave Buffy to fight by herself. So now, Buffy, Xander, and I each dedicate out talents and abilities to keeping the Vampire population in check."

Joyce weighed back in now, "You don't expect me to just take your word for this do you?"

"Well, it would be nice, but no. While we can't really prove the existence of Vampires in the daytime, as they do have decent survival instincts. We can prove that the supernatural does exist. Willow is a very powerful Mage who could shoot the hairs off a gnat's ass at a thousand yards, and I'm a Psionicist and a fair to decent fighter," Xander answered.

Willow interrupted, "Xander I doubt that there is anyone in the multi-verse more skilled and has more sheer power than you do. I'd put even money between you and Superman."

Joyce looked a bit nervous at this, and Xander decided to skip the argument with Willow over his self-depreciation. "Mrs. Summers, I don't think I'm quite as powerful as Willow thinks, but I am quite powerful, and multi-talented." He floated some drinks in from the kitchen for them all, turned the radio on and changed the stations a few times before turning it off. "What we haven't told you yet is that we weren't born this way, we have altered ourselves using a bit of technology that I discovered a couple of days ago. We like you, and your daughters, and want to see you around for a great many years to come. This is why we are here this morning we want to protect you. I feel that we, each of us individually, are our own best, last line of defense. We want to offer you and Dawn the chance to use the device we found to protect yourselves, your family, and when the need comes, to protect others if you so choose. You don't have to get involved with the fight against the darkness, but we would welcome the assistance."

Joyce sat there for a few minutes thinking. They could be pulling an elaborate prank, but she didn't think so, everything seemed to fit together, and the kids did seem to be telling her the truth, even what she didn't want to believe. After all, who wants to believe that the boogieman is real, and while he may not be in your closet tonight, he might just move in tomorrow night. Xander proved that at least some part of what he said was true with his telekinesis demonstration, but that didn't necessarily prove anything else, just that he had some special ability. "You do realize that I'm going to want proof, right?" She finally asked.

Xander answered with his normal smirk, "I would have been disappointed otherwise, Mrs. Summers."

"Ok, for now, I'll accept what you've been telling me, although that may be due to shock. Tell me about this device you found. What all can it do, what are its limitations?" Joyce asked.

"Well, as far as Xander has been able to reprogram the MAU, that's what it's called, it really doesn't have any limitations other than the user's imagination. Whatever you can think of, you can become. I first started off becoming a comic book character called Yuri. I still have all her implants, including the computers and the battle drugs. I also have her Pulse Pistol which has proven quite effective against Vampires. Of course, bladed weapons are good against vampires as well. Last night I added in two different, but related, schools of magic, or rather two different ways of approaching the same kind of magic. I know Xander became a Neo Human, and he's got Wolverine's claws and regeneration, and he told me that he added in Son Goku's fighting skills." Noticing Joyce's blank look, she clarified, "A Neo Human is a genetically modified race of super-humans created by C.J. Carella for the Rifts RPG. Son Goku is the hero of the Dragon Ball cartoon, he was a martial artist that was taught an extremely potent form of martial arts."

"So, if I wanted a Green Lantern Corps. Power Ring?" Joyce asked unsteadily.

"I'd be welcoming you to the Corps! Of course, I might suggest adding something a bit more directly damaging against vampires, like pyrokinesis," Xander answered.

Willow added, "You may want to increase your natural healing as well."

"Ok then, how do we do this?" Joyce asked after making up her mind to get involved, not just in her eldest daughter's life, but the fight itself.

Xander opened his backpack and pulled out the MAU in its storage form and moved some furniture out of the way telekinetically. As he expanded it to full size, he explained further, "The MAU, or Morphic Adaptation Unit, has a few safeguards and limitations. First, it cannot create life. Second, it will not alter a body into a less fit state. Third, you've got to be able to get it either into or out of the MAU for it to do something." After thinking for a few moments he continued, "To operate the MAU, you normally place your hand on the red palm print, and think of what you want to become. So to start, let's think of the standard Green Lantern Uniform."

What appeared on screen was Joyce, similar to how she currently looked, except a fair few years younger, well into her twenties as Xander was the one operating the MAU. She had also lost a bit of weight and picked up a toned appearance in the Green Lantern Bodysuit. The uniform itself was black overall as is tradition, with green gauntlets, a green mask that covered her eyes and nose, green boots with a 3" heel. The chest bore the Green Lantern symbol in a black sphere, which was in turn resting on a green mantle that covered the shoulders. She looked good, but without revealing more than necessary. Willow noticed that Xander had again, unintentionally used his mental image of the woman, rather than what she really looked like. Well, at least she thought it was unintentional anyway, Xander had never shown any real interest in Joyce in spite of all his flirting. Willow got up quietly and went to go get Dawn for the next stage in their plans.

"Next we add in the regeneration and resistance to disease and illness, and remove the need to recharge the ring or repeat the Oath every 24 hours, as they really can be a liability. If you wish for other things, we can add them now, or you can add them in later, Lady's choice?"

Joyce decided to go for everything now, just to see if it really could do all she wanted. "Go ahead and add in the pyrokinesis and heightened reflexes."

Xander made the modifications he was bade, then added in a waist belt with the Green Lantern logo and attached a pair of low-slung holsters. The right holster contained a modified DL-44, similar to what Han Solo carried. The left holster contained a lightsaber with a blade the same color green as her costume. Before finalizing the changes, he also added into the left gauntlet the function of a Starfleet Tricorder, a subspace communicator into the right gauntlet, and the skills to use each of the devices as well as the Green Lantern powers.

Joyce exited the MAU in the Green Lantern Uniform and gave Xander a Hug and whispered quietly, "Thanks."

Xander replied in kind, "Always happy to help the women in my life to live out their dreams."

Willow re-entered the living room with Dawn who froze seeing the Female Green Lantern standing there hugging her Xander. It was just a bit unreal.

Joyce, noticing her youngest daughter frozen on the stairs, "Dawn?"

Things started processing for her again as she recognized the voice, "Mom?"

Joyce moved over to where Dawn stood on the stairs, "You ok honey?"

Dawn nodded, still just slightly out of it, "Mom? You're a Green Lantern?"

Xander chuckled, "She is now Morning Light."

Dawn turned to him, "What do you mean Xander?"

"I mean that she wasn't a Green Lantern before I arranged for the creation of her Power Ring. Of course, we added a few things that most Green Lanterns don't get."

"How? Why?" Dawn asked.

"Because Sunnydale is dangerous for those who don't know what's going on."

"Oh, you mean like Vampires and Demons."

Joyce looked sharply at her daughter and asked, "How do you know about that stuff?"

"Please mother, it's rather obvious around Sunnydale, although most people ignore the bad stuff they don't want to see. Besides, Buffy's the Slayer that dates a Vampire, Xander and Willow have been in love since forever, and my mother's the new Green Lantern. Being the 'Nosy Little Sister' has its advantages. Perfectly reasonable." Dawn smirked, "Besides, I got my brains from somewhere, it certainly wasn't from Dad, it's just too bad Buffy is more like Dad than you."

Now Joyce was worried, but chose to overlook the sibling insults, "What's this about Buffy dating a Vampire? I thought she was seeing that college boy, Angel?"

Xander explained, "Angel is a vampire ma'am, and he's about 300 years old, if I remember right. The difference between Angel and the average Vampire is that the demon Angelus was cursed about 200 years ago. That curse gave the original soul back control of the body. Personally, I think he's a broody, cowardly, bastard, but that's just me apparently." Xander said morosely, "The girls all think he's this dreamy romantic pretty boy."

"Yes, well, if I have anything to say about it, she won't be dating the Undead any more, regardless of how dreamy and romantic she thinks he is." Joyce said.

Xander spoke to Willow, "Will, could you and Mrs. Summers make a lunch run for the five of us, while I explain a few of the most recent changes to Dawn?"

They both agreed and departed while Xander and Dawn sat down. Xander explained about the things that had happened during the week, ending up with helping her mother become the first real Green Lantern. As they had been friends for what seemed longer than the time they had actually known each other, the explanation went quickly.

Dawn took a moment to assimilate everything, but responded, "And you're going to let me use the MAU as well, right?"

"Yes, so long as I have your word that you won't try anything that might get me in trouble with your mom."

"I promise that you won't get in trouble for anything I do Xander. You only ever get in trouble for the things that you've done."

"Yeah, but it usually involved you this past summer."

"Not my fault mom needed a sense of humor transplant, but she seems better now that Buffy's home and school started again." Dawn looked at the MAU. "I just put my hand on the print and think what I want?"

"Yep, simple as that. I don't need to, but that's just because I gave myself that ability."

"Cool." Dawn put her hand on the palm print and thought of herself, and she appeared on the display. Dawn added in all the standard Jedi abilities, all the special Jedi Talents that she could remember from the comics and novels she had read since getting to know Xander, and she figured most importantly, she added in all the training that the Old Jedi Order provided. This included all the various lightsaber forms. It also included the teachings on the Jedi Code, but ignored the nonsense about suppressing one's emotions as though feeling them would invariably lead one down the path of the dark side. Humans were inherently emotional creatures, and need to learn to not necessarily act on their emotions, but to recognize the emotions and understand them, and in so doing, analyze why they feel the way they do and what appropriate actions might be based upon those emotions, if there are any.

She thought of what else she might like, and the image on screen aged several years to about 17. Thinking that, yes, she might like to be a little older, she kept the change. She added in the abilities of the Washu character from Tenchi Muyo. She also added in everything that Gina Diggers and Bulma Briefs knew. On her utility belt she created a Sorosuub S5 Security Blaster and a lightsaber that would have a Cyan blade edge, but an emerald green core. She attached a complete Starfleet medical kit as a backpack and put an advanced Tricorder on her belt as well.

Before she finished Dawn decided to get some really big things from the MAU, more as a test to see if it would actually work than a true desire for them, so she added a series of Capsule Corp Capsules. Inside the first capsule she placed a custom built Imperial II Star Destroyer with a manufacturing plant in its holds. This Star Destroyer was capable of building anything, including other starships so long as it had access to the raw materials it would need. It was also carried all the most advanced Star Trek technologies, all powered by two miniature stars. Instead of Turbo Laser Batteries, it carried the same Type 12 phaser banks that the latest Enterprise did. It had Quantum Torpedoes instead of proton torpedoes. It had Federation Shields, transporters, replicators, sick bays, science labs, and sensors.

The second capsule held a customized TIE-Defender with the Federation Phased Cloaking device and a small living area behind the cockpit that wasn't much more than a bathroom, a bed, and a few cupboards. It wound up making the Defender about 20 larger, but with the pylons moving the maneuvering thrusters further from the central core, it wound up increased its maneuverability substantially. Using a Federation impulse reactor also provided more power for shields, weapons, the cloaking device, and greater sub-light speed and the oversized impulse driver coils should allow it to hit 85 PSL as well as being able to enter hyperspace on its own.

The third capsule contained several droids. She had an R6 series astromech droid, which was similar to the R2 that most people would be familiar with but was significantly more advanced. This particular R6 droid was modified with a powerful shield generator, a DL-44 blaster pistol, a short-range remote processor, a vocabulator, it's own built in Starfleet communicator, and a built in tricorder. She thought it was too bad that nobody had ever thought to create a man portable Starfleet shield generator. Dawn then realized that it didn't matter and replace the regular Star Wars droid shield with a Federation shield generator. Dawn added a pair of Droidekas that would be slaved to the R6 along with 6 pit droids and 4 LE series repair droids, all of which had remote receivers installed so that they too would be slaved to the R6.

The fourth capsule contained a handheld computer that had all the data on all the Sci-fi technologies that she knew of. Included were the sciences and knowledge from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Transformers, Macross, Macross II, Macross Plus, Macross 7, Genesis Chamber Mospeda, Sol Bianca, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, Megazone 21, Armitage III, Bubblegum Crisis, and Patlabor. Dawn also included the specifications on the MAU. Ok, she had to admit it to herself. She was an anime addict, but that was Xander's fault and she was fine with that. Then again, if you want really advanced technology, as a sci-fi junkie, that was the place to find it. The fifth capsule held a collection of speeders and swoops, again, some of which were modified from their basic configuration.

Finally satisfied that she had added in everything that she wanted right now, she pressed the little red button and hopped in.

Coming out of the MAU, she realized that she didn't just get an older body, but her poorly thought instructions to the MAU early on had given her the realization that she wasn't just Dawn Summers, but that she was also The Key of Dagon, a mystical artifact that could create passageways between dimensions. The Gina Diggers in her now thought it was hardly a surprise that they had barely survived not just the Hell Goddess herself, but the casting of the spell that protected the Key of Dagon as well. Not to mention the fact that they Created Life in giving her a body.

"Very cool Xander." She said grinning a mile wide.

Xander noticed the body that Dawn had exited the MAU in, thinking she was hotter than Buffy, which was saying something in his mind. He realized the thought was going to get him into trouble if anyone else heard it and dragged it kicking and screaming back into his subconscious. "Um, Dawn, I think this qualifies as something that your mom is going to try to skin me over. You're supposed to be 12."

"Actually, I haven't been created yet. You can blame some Monks in Outer Mongolia or something for that. The MAU just made it so that I knew myself, and even that was a bit of an accident."

"Huh?" was his ever intelligent reply.

"Ok, Let me start with when I was telling the MAU what I wanted. I was actually wondering what I wanted, and the MAU showed me in this body. I thought it was kind of cool so I kept it, not knowing what else went on between the ears. When I got out, I discovered that one of the basic wants and desires of all humans is to know ourselves. In order to fulfill that desire, I had to know that I'm the Key of Dagon, given human form and sent here to Sunnydale in order to protect it from a Hell Goddess who will come looking for it in several years. She will try to use the Key to get home, and in so doing, destroy our planet. Dawn Summers is a temporal artifact of a spell not yet cast. Of course, before they cast the spell that gave me human form, they couldn't get my input on the subject. As such, I think I should be able to choose to have an older body if I want one. From one perspective, I'm as old as existence itself. From another perspective, I am a 12 years old girl. From a third perspective, I don't yet exist. From a fourth perspective, I am as old as I choose to be. Which one is more correct when all four are Truth?"

"You know, I used to love watching all those time travel shows on Star Trek, but you're giving me a headache. Is this going to cause a paradox?"

"Nope. Already done. Can't be done again. Can't be Undone. Ergo, no paradox."

"Big word there, what all did you do?"

"Well, I always loved Star Wars, and lately you've gotten me hooked on anime and manga, so I added in Washu, Gold Digger, and Bulma. I also added a few other bits from Dragonball Z, like the capsules."

"I'll let you off that hook for now, but you explain it to your mother," who took that as her cue to walk back into the house with their lunches courtesy of Subway.

"Explain what to her mother?" Joyce asked.

"Food first mom, I'm starving!"

"Dawn! What did you do to yourself young lady?" Joyce exclaimed once she noticed the slightly different Dawn standing in the living room. Willow was gaping at the girl as well, and she was busy having an argument with herself about how Dawn was supposed to be 12, and Good Willows do not have dirty thoughts about other girls. Besides, I have Xander now. I don't need a hottie girlfriend… Stop that! That's Dawn you're drooling over! She kept telling herself this. Just as she had every other time she had those thoughts about other girls.

"Turns out I'm older than we thought. I would prefer to explain further after food. Growing girl here!"

"I can see the growing part, what I want to know is why."

"Short answer is that I goofed with the MAU and was thinking about what I really wanted, and it showed me myself at 17. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to keep it. Long answer after food!"

"You sure?" Joyce thought to herself well, we can let her play teenager for now, and we can always turn her back later.

"Yes. Sandwich?"

Joyce caved in and she and Willow began unpacking everyone's favorites from the bag.

After lunch, Dawn suggested that they get Buffy up so she only had to explain it once more, and Buffy was likely to be more problematic than her mother.

Willow canceled the sleep and silence spells and woke Buffy. Once Buffy was awake, the story was explained to Buffy, including the fact that her two best friends had gone behind the backs of both the Slayer and the Watcher, and told the Mother about the Night Job. Proceeding on to the discovery of the MAU and what the four of them had done with it. Dawn also explained the unintended consequences that the MAU had on her.

Dawn had noticed the extra attention Xander was receiving as both Willow and Xander kept sneaking peaks at her. It took her a little while to figure it out, but once she did, she grinned to herself and began slipping coy little smiles at both Willow and Xander.


Once back in the living room, Xander made an offer to Buffy. "Buffy, you've complained several times about having been called as a Slayer. I think that you are correct that it should have been a choice, so now I'm going to give you the opportunity that you've been complaining about. I'm going to let you retire from being the slayer."

Buffy, shocked at the possibility, asked, "You can do that?"

"Well, I can't, but the MAU can. You may be the Slayer right now, but that only makes you the weakest person currently in this house. Yes, I can use the MAU to make you more powerful as well, but what happens the next time you make a mistake? What happens the next time you decide that your way is the only way, and everyone who doesn't agree with you is wrong? You were called for a purpose, to kill vampires and demons. This purpose doesn't make you better than everyone else, only your own actions speak to that. My question for you, Buffy, is do you want to stay being the Slayer, or do you want to get out of the fight against the darkness?"

"I, I don't know. If I stay a slayer, what do you intend to do?"

"Well, first, we decide as a group who the new leader is going to be. I won't follow someone who won't listen to everyone's opinions as though they don't matter just because they think that might makes right. Since there isn't an apocalypse due for quite a while, I think we can put off making that decision a few days. Second, if you can manage to get your ego in check, I'll help you decide what other boosts you might find useful to the slayer package. Third, I'd like to see what else is out there, is it just this one tiny planet full of life, or are there others in the galaxy? I know what Dawn's capsules contain, and I would like to see if they work, and what can be done with them," Xander told the group. "Of course, if you choose not to stay a slayer, most of that remains the same, just whether or not you are included in the big stuff or if you choose to live a normal life, provided that you can do so in Sunnydale."

"Will you give me some time to think about it Xan?"

"Sure Buff, let me know when you've figured yourself out, k?"

Buffy nodded and walked out the back door to go think for a while, deciding on what she wanted, now that she had a choice.

The rest of the group stuck around the living room discussing options, what all they could do with the MAU and the things that they got from it. Xander confessed to setting up the deal with Marty, and thought that he should continue it, so long as Marty also helps give him information as to who's doing what in Sunnydale. Assuming that the capsule idea works, and they can get very big objects from them, they should maybe see about getting some more property and setting up some legitimate businesses that will allow these technologies to get out to the market, thereby making them all filthy rich. Xander figured that they could go to Vegas and win a few Slot Machine Jackpots on Sunday. That alone should earn them enough money to do as they please for a while, and as long as they waste some of it at the casino, they should be permitted to do it again in the future, should they need to.

With that as the next course of business, Xander hopped into the MAU and got a package of his own Capsule Corp Capsules, including his own lightsaber with a dark green blade, a tiny Type I phaser, and a Tricorder of his own. The capsules contained Utopia Planetia shipyards, the Enterprise-E from the most recent Trek movie, The Defiant, a brand new 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500, and the corporate headquarters for Capsule Corp. In the sixth capsule, he stored the SDF-2 Megaroad. The Megaroad was about 33 larger than the SDF-1 Macross, and supported a much larger weapons array as well as a much larger complement of starfighters and a higher colonist capacity. While she was only 1/3 larger, she had double the combat capability. Xander didn't know if the systems would be compatible with Federation Phaser strips, but he hoped so. He hoped that most of the systems would be compatible. Xander stopped and stared off into space for a moment. He was being stupid. He didn't have to leave it to chance, he could simply MAKE the Megaroad and related Macross systems compatible with Federation systems. Hell, he didn't even have to refit the Megaroad after producing it, he could refit it himself now. So, he did. Instead of rows upon rows of laser turrets, he replaced them with Class XII Phaser Strips. Instead of the Pinpoint Barrier System, he added metaphasic shields. He added vastly more effective inertial dampeners. And instead of the huge number of missile launchers, he replaced them with Quantum Torpedo Launchers. Then he swapped out the reactor that would no longer provide sufficient power with a pair of Warp Cores and a large number of Fusion reactors for back up power.

Upon Xander's exiting the MAU, everyone went out to the back yard to see if the capsules worked, and if there was a size limitation.

Xander tossed his first capsule, the Shelby Mustang into the driveway, and out popped the hot rod in an explosion of smoke. Satisfied, he invited Dawn to go next, and she tossed out the capsule containing the speeders and swoops. What popped out was exactly what she had programmed, several racing swoops, several combat speeders, and even one speeder truck outfitted as an APC.

Sufficiently impressed, Xander and Dawn talked briefly about the other capsules and how best to deploy them as they were quickly running out of room. Xander had the Defiant that certain fit their needs, but was larger than the amount of space they currently had available. Dawn had her Tie Defender, but it lacked transporters necessary to deploy anything larger. It was the major hole in her otherwise solid plan.

While Xander and Dawn were discussing the merits and flaws of various methods of getting into space, Willow went back inside to use the MAU again, having had the idea to add D&D Wizard magic to her repertoire. She included a rather large set of spell ingredients and a complete set of spell books, including several empty books. And just for the fun of it, and because she didn't want to be left out, she included a Jedi package as well, getting a lightsaber with a purple blade, a tricorder, and a BlasTech DT-12 all on a utility belt. As capsules, Willow added a Merr-Sonn Underslung Rotary Blaster Carbine, a Tenlos Disrupter Rifle, a SoroSuub Firelance blaster rifle, a case of power packs, and a Type 3c Phaser rifle.

The four decided to take a drive out to the desert in Xander's brand new Mustang and deploy the Defiant. He would enter through the use of one of Dawn's speeders and take command of the vessel then bring everyone else up so that they could collectively deploy the rest of their assets, assuming of course that they worked. Dawn stored the speeders, and they all took off for the desert.


Xander stepped off the speeder and onto the deck of the Defiant Class Warship. Knowing everything he did about the operations of starships as imparted to him by the MAU, he spoke with authority. "Computer, Identify Harris, Alexander LaVelle, Fleet Admiral. As of now, I am assuming command of this vessel."

The computer responded in the predicted voice of the dead writer's wife, "Identity Acknowledged. Fleet Admiral Harris has command."

Xander walked to the transporter room, and operated the console to transport the three women onto the ship.

Dawn, very excited by the experience, "That was so cool, Xan!"

Willow was looking a little green from being cut off momentarily from everything and then reconnecting to it. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Joyce was impressed, but not as over awed as Dawn was. She realized that the technology to make transporters work was very advanced, but didn't care as much as her youngest did, that and she was concerned about Willow's reaction. Joyce conjured a green bucket for Willow and handed it to her, "Here sweetie, are you going to be ok?"

Willow nodded, "So long as I don't have to do that again. Next time, I think I'll do it the magical way."

Once Willow was feeling better, Xander led them all to the bridge, and said to his friends, "Ok, everyone Identify yourselves to the computer. Just say 'Computer, identify' followed by your name."

Joyce started, "Computer, identify Summers, Joyce."

"Identity Acknowledged."

Willow was next, "Computer, identify Rosenberg, Willow."

"Identity Acknowledged."

Finally Dawn said, "Computer, identify Summers, Dawn."

"Identity Acknowledged."

Xander spoke to the computer again, "Computer, Register Dawn Summers as the Chief Science Officer Rank: Lieutenant Commander. Register Willow Rosenberg as Chief Magical Officer with the same rank. Register Joyce Summers as Ship's Councilor Rank: Commander."

"Acknowledged, Ranks and positions registered," the computer responded.

"Dawn, would you care to take the helm?" Xander asked as he sat in the Captain's Chair.

Dawn offered him a sloppy salute and a big smile saying, "Yes Sir!" and hurried to the position directly in front of the captain.

"Willow, if you would care to, the normal science station is here, with everything you know about computers, I'm sure you'll pick up the LCARS system quickly." He gestured to the station directly to his left and continued, "Mrs. Summers, feel free to sit where ever you'd like, The Defiant was built as a warship, unlike most other Federation designs. If you sit with Willow though, I'm sure that she can help you get used to the computer system, if you need it."

"Thank you, Xander," she offered him a small but warm smile.

Xander turned back to Dawn again, who had just finished re-configuring her station to include most of the critical functions, including tactical, navigations, and operations.

Dawn beat him to the punch however, and reported, "All systems operational, and in stand by mode. Shields, Phasers, Quantum Torpedoes, Romulan Cloaking Device, Thrusters, Impulse Drive, Warp Drive, Standing by on your orders."

"Thanks Dawn, in that case, I think I'll make history by saying, Engage Cloak and take us up. Oh, and before I forget completely, transport my car to cargo bay one please?"

"Transport Complete. Cloaking Device activating. Engaging course for high orbit, Thrusters at full." Dawn looked over at Xander, "You do realize, that even remaining on thrusters, we have just broken every human speed record in existence?"

"Yeah, not bad for an afternoon's work." Xander quipped back at her.

"The question is what do we play with next, and what do we do with it all?"

"How about your Star Destroyer?"

"Sure, if we deploy it inside the main asteroid belt, then it should have sufficient resources to build whatever we want it to. The only real question will be staffing concerns. The Defiant didn't have an Industrial Replicator on board, so we can't just replicate some droids. Wish I had thought about that."

"Don't worry about it Dawn, I can deploy the Sovereign class Enterprise, and we can use the industrial replicators aboard her to make as many droids as we need. And don't forget we still have the MAU to get any other models of droids we need in the short term."

Joyce looked to Xander, "How intelligent are these droids Xander?"

"Well, almost all of them have human level intelligence. Of course, that in its self is a significant range of intelligence. They are all capable of following at least simple commands based on what they were designed to do. Most can communicate in binary, though some models speak English, they all understand it."

"Aren't we risking creating a slave race?"

"I don't think so. Very few droids ever develop sentience. It is possible for the higher order droids, like protocol droids and some astromech droids like R2D2. All of their reactions and responses are, for the most part, programmed. I suppose it would be better to say that they simulate intelligence. For the most part, for a droid to develop sentience would require certain flexibility in their programming and a capacity to learn. It also requires that they be treated like people, so that they internalize that anthropomorphism. At least, that's the theory."

"What other options do we have right now?" Willow asked.

"A few, but I don't think any of them are any good." Joyce replied. "We could hire people, but that would require larger amounts of money than we have right now, and I don't know that I would really trust most people not to abuse the level of technology that we have available, not counting the MAU. We could also turn most of this over to the government and let them worry about it, though they haven't proven themselves worthy of this kind of technology either. Of course, we can also create the droids you were talking about. That gets awfully close to slavery in my book."

Xander thought for a moment or two before responding. "I think that the only option we have right now is the Droid option. If sentience becomes an issue, we simply offer any droid who wants it its freedom, after a term of service."

"Sounds reasonable for now Xander." Joyce said with Willow and Dawns agreement.

"Good, Dawn, take us to the asteroid belt, but take it slow, I want to check out the rest of the ship."

"Sure Xan, half hour enough?"

"Should be. I'm just going to go claim the Captain's Stateroom, and check the armory. See how complete a job the MAU did. Dawn, you have the bridge."

As Xander left the bridge, he began communicating with the main computer, memorizing the layout of the ship, and setting a few features, such as making sure that the ship's clock was set to the twentieth century, not the twenty-fourth. Xander quickly claimed the Captain's stateroom, and ordered the computer to seal it if he wasn't inside. He expanded the MAU and had it make him another capsule with Commander Data inside it. From the replicators, he took a Fleet Admiral's uniform, circa 2375, with 5 silver pips that he immediately donned, keeping his weapons belt. Data might question the rank and uniform due to his apparent age, or the lack of it, but would likely accept the rank for the time being. Hopefully it would give him enough time to just get Data going along, and once he had achieved that, momentum would carry them through.

Xander took Data's capsule down to the armory and picked up a case of communicators, a case of the small type I phasers, and an additional Tricorder for Willow, not having noticed what all was on her utility belt. Proceeding from there to main engineering where he planned on using the capsule.

"Computer, I want you to recognize this object. It is called a Capsule Corp Capsule, or simply just a Capsule. For now, we will identify this as a Type I capsule, meaning that it has no upper limit on storage capacity. I am going to activate it shortly. Associated with its activation sensors will detect a subspace event. This is the normal function of this device, and no alerts are required, other than to the bridge duty officer and the standard entry into the ships log."

"Standing by," the computer responded dutifully.

"Activating Capsule," Xander informed the computer as he pressed the plunger on the cylinder and placed it on the worktable. Five seconds, and one cloud of smoke later, Commander Data laid on the table.

"Capsule activation Sequence identified."

"Good. Computer, should you ever detect the activation of a Type I capsule again, you are to immediately transport it to one hundred thousand kilometers directly to port. This is a general order to be spread throughout the fleet. A command officer or department head can over ride this order."

"General Order Acknowledged and will be transmitted to any Starbases and Starships that come within range."

"Thank you. Now to wake sleeping beauty." Xander sat Data up on the table and hit the activation switch in his lower back.

As Data powered up and began to move on his own, Xander release him.

"Excuse me sir, but where am I?" Data asked.

"Name, Rank, Status."

The android responded immediately, "Data, Commander, Second Officer of the USS Enterprise. I appear to be fully functional."

"Good. My name is Fleet Admiral Xander Harris. You are currently in Main Engineering of the USS Defiant, my Flagship, on route from Earth to its main asteroid belt. This ship's current mission is to deploy two strategic assets and secure their operation before returning to Earth under stealth. The current year is 1998, and we have not traveled back in time. The Defiant is currently the most powerful, and only, starship in known space. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes Sir. How is it that a human who has yet to reach his majority has earned the rank of Fleet Admiral?"

"Good question. What do you know of ancient Earth history, specifically how human culture came to be?"

"I am familiar with the historical accounts as well as several of the mythological accountings."

"Most of which state that humans began in a paradise?"

"Correct, there are several, such as the Babylonian accounting which suggest otherwise, but there are very few corroborating elements from other regional accountings."

"Do any of them also include the driving off of demons and the creation of vampires?"

"No Sir. May I ask why you are asking this line of question?"

"Because Commander Data, that is how humanity began, as slaves and cattle to creatures that we currently call demons." Xander continued to tell Data about the history of the world as told by the Watchers council. He continued on to tell the story about how he came to involve himself in the fight against the darkness, and how he had stumbled upon the MAU on Thursday night. He told the Commander what he and his friends had done with it, and what they had planned on doing with it. In the end, Data agreed to honor the ranks and roles that the young man had assigned, and to assist in the rebuilding of the Earth defensive network. Further projects would be determined at a later date, however, Data wanted to be in on any exploring that got done, as it was his primary motivation for joining Starfleet. While he had not been as fascinated as his previous captain had been at the early exploration of the Federation, it would be a worthwhile endeavor.

Dawn's voice came over the intercom, "Xander, you want to join us? We've reached the asteroid belt."

"Be right there Dawn. Xander out." Xander turned to Data, "With me Mr. Data."

"Aye Sir."

Xander and Data went back to the bridge. The women were surprised to see two people walk onto the bridge, when one had left.

Mrs. Summers looked at Xander and the new person, "Xander, I thought the MAU couldn't create life?"

"It can't. Mr. Data is not alive, but he is sentient. I have asked for his help, and he has granted it. He has agreed to follow my orders, and honor your ranks as well. I think I'm going to promote him to captain of the Enterprise and we should give him command of the Shipyard Star Destroyer, under the general mission of establishing the primary defensive line around earth."

Once the Star Destroyer and the Enterprise had been deployed, Xander and Data transported over to the Enterprise where Xander assumed command, promoted Commander Data to Captain, and then transferred command of the Enterprise to Data. Xander spent some time entering a few droid designs into the industrial replicators and left Data to secure the area, then to establish the Mars Line.

The Mars Line was supposed to be a series of satellites that orbited Sol at various angles, but all at about the same distance as Mars itself. The first generation of satellites was only designed to last for a year, but would carry Class VIII phasers, 25 photon torpedoes in an auto-launcher that could fire 5 torpedoes at a time, standard shields, and a respectable sensor grid. They would be relatively easy to build and would provide a minimum amount of protection rapidly. Not only that, but when sensor data was collated with satellites from all 3600 satellites, the resolution would be rather impressive, even by Star Trek standards.

The second generation of these satellites would include metaphasic shielding, type XII phasers, and 50 quantum torpedoes. Once that was completed, a second line of satellites would be built at the edge of the Oort Cloud. Then, Data had orders to build a small fleet of 10 Defiant class vessels that carried Federation phased cloaking devices.

Data had objected to the use of the technology, as the Treaty of Algernon banned it in 2311. Xander replied with "Why should we be subjected to a ban that hasn't come into effect yet? Especially when that ban should never have been signed in the first place. I could understand a hundred year moratorium on cloaking technology, but a permanent ban? No Way. Besides, there is no evidence to suggest that Romulans exist in this universe. Romulus, Vulcan, Qo'noS, Andoira, Cardassia, Ferrenginar, none of them exist here."

Once Data was settled in with a few droid assistants, Xander and the others returned to earth.

Before splitting up for the night, Xander suggested that they go to Vegas in the morning and have some fun and make a little money. Joyce objected at first on ethical grounds, but Xander convinced her that they didn't need a lot of money, just enough to get started, just enough to buy a few pieces of property for their Earth based business fronts.


Cheyenne Mountain

A Major walked up to a desk, came to attention and waited to be acknowledged.

The man behind the desk signed the form he was reading and noticed the Major, "Yes Major?"

"General, Tracking reports a hypersonic signature outbound from the Southwest united states. We had nothing on radar, nor on infrared. We lost the object completely once it left the atmosphere."

"I see. Was it one of the Starfall objects?"

"No sir. The object that left the atmosphere was much larger. According to the computer's estimates, the object that produced that shockwave had to be quite large, in the same range as an Arleigh Burke destroyer."

"You checked the computer for errors?"

"Yes sir. Self-Test showed clean. I've got a few of the physics guys from downstairs confirming the numbers."

"Alright, be ready for it to come back, and make sure that my briefing package for the president includes this new contact. It may not have been a Starfall object, but it is possibly related."

"Yes Sir."

"Dismissed."