AN: I realized recently that it's been years since I last updated this story. Partly, that's because I haven't really had any ideas on how to get from where the story last left off to where I wanted it to go. Partly, it's because it seems as though my muse has either abandoned me, or moved on to other topics and subjects. Partly, it's because I'm a lazy writer who got out of the habit of "it doesn't matter what you write, just write something every day." The final major part is that I have thus far in my writing career been reasonable with beginnings and middles, but getting to the end of something is, shall we say, somewhat problematic.
So, in the spirit of "STFU and write SOMETHING" I've produced the following segment. I hope you will forgive any lack of previous quality as I figure out where this is going anew. I'm fortunate to still have all my old notes as they've been saved in multiple places and even on the cloud (aka: Someone else's computer), so I've still got the major plot points, which puts me ahead of other long abandoned project writers.
I don't know if I'm going to stick with weeks in each chapter, or if there will be partial weeks or larger time chunks going forward. I kinda got off that one day per chapter thing with the last chapter, and I realized that I really didn't have enough to do at this point to make each day its own chapter anymore. While this chapter mostly covers School Hard, Secrets is taking place outside the Scoobies knowledge, so the events aren't covered here, but are happening.
AN2: This one got a little long. #SorryNotSorry.
Enjoy
Sunday, NID HQ, Director's Office, Just after the Morning Briefing
The Director sat behind his desk, looking at Agents B and D. To say that he was disappointed would be an understatement. D was one of his most promising Agents before this little public embarrassment, it's why he had given the Agent his own old letter when he was promoted to Director and took on the moniker Delta. Agent B should have had sufficient experience to help turn D into the best Agent of their generation.
Instead, they had to have a tattoo of the word "Slaver" removed from their backs and a tracking implant removed after being rescued from county lockup for public indecency.
Delta had read the medical file and the attached technical file. The tracker that they pulled from each man was the size of a grain of wheat and ran off the body's own heat to transmit regular tracking pulses. It was highly advanced and they were lucky to have found it. Of course, they also had to have the tattoos removed as well.
"All right, B, let's hear it. What went wrong?"
"Essentially, sir, everything went wrong. We found the newly purchased mansion and estate through normal investigative means, but on arrival we were surrounded very rapidly by several destroyer droids from the Star Wars film that's due out soon. They had visible energy shields like in the leaks, and had the drop on us. We were then confronted by a protocol droid, again from Star Wars, though I'm not familiar with the specific model, who demanded our credentials, which we provided, including the standard cover story of working for Fish and Game per protocol. The droid must have had a connection to some kind of federal database because it immediately told us that it knew we were lying about what department we worked for. That's when I made the decision to inform the droid that we worked for a classified branch of the federal intelligence community, which the droid accepted and we were escorted to the office of Alexander Harris, who insisted that he be styled 'Fleet Admiral' and also revealed that he was aware that we worked for the NID.
"We informed him of our mission and inquired after the device which he called the MAU, or Morphic Adaptation Unit, Mark Five. He admitted to being in possession of more than four hundred thousand of the devices, even admitting that he was collecting them globally, and refused to hand any of them over to us. He appears to be rather strongly anti-government.
"We inquired after the creation of the droids. He admitted that he was aware of how they were constructed and named Dawn Summers and Jana Calderash as being his resident experts, and as per orders, we informed him that the three of them were, effective immediately, drafted into service. He refused, leveled threats against us and the department; specifically, he threatened to use megaton level weapons in response to any further attempts at drafting those he claims as his people.
"There was a complete breakdown in civil discourse at that point, and he ordered us off his property. As he had made credible threats against federal agents, we attempted to take him into lawful custody. He resisted arrest, had his droids stun us, and the next thing we know we're waking up nearly naked in the park, and shortly thereafter, being arrested for public indecency."
Delta asked, "Were you at any time aware that he was in control of at least the two spacecraft that appeared in nearby space?"
"No sir, as far as we could tell at the time, everything that we had seen was very small scale, hand weapons and the droids, nothing any of the other users had done included anything large scale. I don't think anyone believed it to be possible," B answered.
"Well, we still don't know how he got all that stuff from the devices, but it's now known that his group did acquire starships and even a giant space station, somehow, from those devices.
"Given your failure on this mission, and their apparent good relations with the SGC to the point that they are conducting an off-world joint operation currently, the President has informed me that the NID is to have no further contact with the Sunnydale group, and let the SGC deal with them. Your mission to California never happened. No charges will be filed against Harris or his people."
"Yes, sir. Sorry sir."
Delta nodded, acknowledging the apology. "D, I'm going to pair you back up with C; Q will be a short term partner for that assignment, and will be your backup. They are currently cleaning up after a sci-fi convention in Chicago. A bunch of convention goers apparently used one of the devices to become various characters from quite a few different IPs. You and C made a good team, so I was likely wrong to try to split you two up.
"B, I'm going to have to find an agent to partner you with, so we can get you back into the field. In the meantime, head down and assist with the armory. It'll help familiarize you with some of our more exotic equipment. Rookies aren't allowed into the field without a partner, so don't take this as punishment."
"Yes sir."
Monday, Chulak Orbit, SDF-Skysaber, Admiral's Briefing Room
Around the conference table sat all the Scoobies, SG-1, and several Jaffa Masters from Chulak.
"So, in summation, you will be provided with a VDA, under your direct control and tied into the control system in Apophis's former citadel. We will leave all four surviving Ha'tak under your control, once we have copied their databases, so that you may repair them and use them in your own defense, however you see fit. We will provide you with a Subspace transceiver so that you may communicate with us easily, should you choose to do so. We will provide repairs and resupply for the VDA when needed. You agree that you will not rejoin the Goa'uld. You will form your own government, and endeavor to become self-sufficient. Any shortfalls you experience in food and medical needs during the next five years will be remediated by us. We will leave three dozen tutorial droids in your care to cover education needs to bring you up to the standards of your own technology until adequate numbers of your own people are sufficiently educated to take over the task yourselves," Xander stated in a very tired manner. They had only been at this meeting for six hours, trying to wrap up their involvement with the planet. He had already decided that things like this were the reason why there was a Prime Directive for Starfleet. Then again, they HAD asked for assistance, in the form of Master Bra'tac.
Master Bra'tac replied, "And we are grateful for your assistance. We understand that it will take some time to get the array built and online, but it will also take some time to repair the Ha'tak left in our control, especially with the damage to the weapons arrays. We only ask that in addition, you station a couple of ships here until either the array is completed or the repairs to the Ha'tak are completed, and we can defend ourselves. I am told that it might be as much as six months before the first Ha'tak is fully repaired, and two years before we can complete repairs on all four vessels."
Xander understood why he was making the request, and it was a reasonable one. "Very well, Master Bra'tac, I'll send a few ships to look after you, but I need to get back to Earth to find out what ships are currently available to be dispatched that can do the job. The sooner we leave, the sooner you get your ships, and the sooner that gets done the better, I think. The window of opportunity should be quite small, and none of the other Goa'uld should be considering attacking Chulak at the moment, being unaware of your vulnerable status. And even if they do attack before I can send ships to you, you will still have the subspace transceiver to contact us for assistance."
"As you said earlier, once we are standing on our own again, trade will be welcome between our Free Jaffa and your Federation," Bra'tac said as he shook Xander's hand to end the negotiations.
"A day that we will look forward to, but now, we must be getting back to our own planet; we still have much work to finish ourselves." Xander turned to the nearest protocol droid. "Please see Master Bra'tac and his party to the transporters and contact me on the bridge when they have departed."
As Master Bra'tac and the Jaffa Council made their way to the transporter room, the Scoobies and SG-1 made their way back to the bridge. One of the security droids called out "Admiral on the Bridge!" as soon as he was spotted.
"As you were. Captain, make ready to break orbit and fold back to Earth."
Sunnydale City Limits
A classic Dodge Desoto crashed through the Welcome to Sunnydale sign. A peroxide blond vampire got out, lit a cigarette as he strolled over to the sign he had just run over. "Home, sweet home."
The peroxide blond walked a little further and entered a warehouse where he heard someone say, "It'll be the greatest event since the Crucifixion, and I should know. I was there."
Blondie chuckled at the all too common lie, "Oh, please! If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock."
"I oughta rip your throat out."
"I was actually at Woodstock. That was a weird gig. I fed off a flower person, and I spent the next six hours watchin' my hand move."
Having enough of being called a liar and then being ignored, the vampire rushed the blond from behind, only to receive a fist to the face, which knocked him out.
"So. Who do you kill for fun around here?"
The vampire in a child's body known as Collin asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Spike. You're that Anointed guy. I read about you. You've got Slayer problems. That's a bad piece of luck. Do you know what I find works real good with Slayers? Killing them."
Collin, having had enough of vampires so full of themselves, making claims that they couldn't fulfill, asked Spike the same question he had just asked the unconscious one on the floor, "Can you?"
"A lot faster than Nancy-boy there. Yeah, I did a couple Slayers in my time. I don't like to brag, (can't keep a straight face) who am I kidding? I love to brag!"
"Enough, I'll give you your shot, Spike, but you should know we recently got a much bigger problem than a Slayer. We haven't figured out yet what it is, but nothing survives it so far. Vampires go out to feed and just disappear."
Collin didn't say more when Drusilla walked in, since Spike had been gone so long. "Look at all the people. Are these nice people?" she asked Spike.
"We're getting along."
She told Spike, while looking at Collin, "This one has power. I could feel it from the outside."
"Yeah. He's the big noise in these parts. Anointed, and all that."
She got a far off look in her eyes, as though she was off in her own little world.
Spike said, "Me and Dru, we're movin' in. Any of you want to test who's got the biggest wrinklies 'round here, step on up." He looked specifically at Collin, "I'll do your Slayer for you. You keep your flunkies from tryin' anything behind my back. Deal?"
Collin nodded while he continued to observe the strange pair.
"I can't see her. The Slayer. I can't see. It's too bright where she is. Prague is coming soon."
Spike didn't know what to make of it since he thought it a bit too vague; which part of what they went through in Prague was coming to the Hellmouth soon? Was it the mob? Was it the burning church? Was it the Blood Orgy? Dru hadn't looked concerned, so it shouldn't be a bad thing, but she hadn't looked happy, so it wasn't going to be another Blood Orgy. He would have to think on it and consider it with whatever else she said later. He turned to Collin again, "So. How 'bout this Slayer? Is she tough?"
"We haven't been able to kill her yet, so she's tough enough. The real problem is that she is not alone."
"Slayers are never alone, they always have their tweedy watchers."
"I don't mean them," he sneered disdainfully. "I mean the Hunters she's friends with. While they may be nothing more than normal humans, they make her stronger than she should be."
"Interesting. I'm going to take Nancy Boy there, and he can show me around; where they hang out, the important parts of town. It's been a long time since I've been here."
Sunnydale High School, Administration Office
Ms Howe walked into the office and stepped to the counter. "I'm here for my 4pm appointment with Mr Snyder. You may inform him that Ms Howe has arrived from the Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe Law Firm."
The secretary looked at Mr Snyder's appointment book and didn't see anything listed. "I'm sorry, Ms Howe, but there doesn't seem to be an appointment for you. Perhaps you'd like to schedule one?"
"I do not appreciate being played with. I suggest you contact him immediately before I am forced to contact the Sheriff to witness the Service of Legal Instruments."
The secretary didn't really understand most of that, except for 'Just call your boss already,' which she did. They could both hear his office phone ring several times, before she hung up. "I'm sorry, but it doesn't appear he is in his office at the moment. Maybe if you had scheduled an appointment we could have made sure that he would be available for you when you arrived. Is there anything else Sunnydale High can do for you today?"
"It's unfortunate that Mr Snyder has chosen to adopt this strategy in this matter. Please inform him that I have little choice but to file suit with the courts since he has refused to meet with me as he scheduled. Please also inform him that I have recordings of our conversation, and so can confirm that he's playing games rather than dealing with this legal situation seriously. I doubt that the courts will look on this pattern of behavior favorably."
"I can pass that message along. However, since you are threatening legal action, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises and not return or the Sheriff will be called and charges filed."
Tuesday Morning, Sunnydale High School, Snyder's office
"Welcome back, Miss Summers. I'm tempted to expel you for your missed day yesterday. Unfortunately, I'm prevented from doing so since you have a note from your mother. I could hardly believe it, so I had to call and confirm. To continue my misfortune, I still need someone to assist with the decorations and other organization for the Parent Teacher Association Conference that will be held this Thursday. Your mother, assuming that she survives until then, will meet your teachers, assuming there are any left. I have decided that you will assist Sheila, another delinquent like yourself, finish those preparations. If you had been here yesterday, you would have had three days to prepare the refreshments, make the decorations, and transform the student lounge into an area suitable for adults. As it is, you have two days remaining. Succeed, and it will incur my good will and may even affect what I tell your mother when I finally meet her. Are we clear?"
"You were quite clear, Mr. Snyder, however, my mother has informed me that my free time is no longer mine to control, and as such, you will have to take up such an assignment with her. Once she confirms that I need to assist you with this task, I'll be happy to comply. However, given her previous instructions, I don't think that will be happening.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't decorating for the PTA conferences a responsibility of the Student Body Government? I'm pretty sure that was in the Student Handbook. Isn't the Student Body Government something that you specifically prohibited me from participating in?
"No, I really don't think that this is appropriate. I think I'm going to have to take this up with my mother, especially considering the legal issues you're currently having with my friend. I suspect you're retaliating against me because you can't currently retaliate against her. I'm certainly going to have to share this meeting with Willow and see if her attorney wants to know about it."
Snyder sputtered as she seemed to think about it for a minute. "Yes, I think that in order to prevent any further appearance of impropriety, I should leave now. Please do, however, have a nice day, Mr Snyder."
Buffy got up and left his office as he sputtered impotently. It would be several minutes before he regained his equilibrium enough to get angry at being put off in such a manner. He would have his revenge by expelling the girl, a process that he immediately began.
Afternoon, Snyder's Office
After closing his office door, Snyder sat down behind his desk. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mrs. Summers. We really need to speak about your daughter's behavioral issues."
"I see, and what behavioral issues would those be?" she asked politely.
"I'm afraid that there are quite a few, actually. She's quite the troublemaker. Cutting classes, starting fights, and exceedingly poor grades are just the start of her issues."
"It's very interesting that you say that, because I've heard very different stories from some of her teachers, her classmates, and others. What I'm seeing is a petty little tin pot dictator of a man who didn't make it big in life and has wound up miserable and wants only to spread that misery to as many other people as he possibly can. Do you have any evidence of my daughter starting fights? Medical reports? Incident reports? Anything at all?"
"You mean like the case of arson? That's more than enough for me."
"You mean the case of arson which was never actually tied to my daughter? My daughter was interviewed as a person of interest in the case because she helped evacuate several hundred panicked people from the building while it was on fire in spite of the doors having become blocked or stuck. Given that the main and rear doors were chained shut from the outside, and Buffy was inside, the police immediately eliminated her as a potential culprit, instead thanking her for her heroism. I have her commendation at home in the safe."
"Then how do you explain her poor grades and her malingering around the library?" he sneered.
"Really? It's the school library. You know, the place with books that contain information? Information that a struggling student might use to improve their grades and be tutored by their classmates? Does none of this make sense to you?"
"Please, they aren't tutoring Buffy. I don't know what's going on in that library, but it isn't school work. Xander Harris is the biggest slacker in the school, and Willow Rosenberg is a hacker. I expect she will wind up in federal prison within five years, and he will wind up a drunkard, just like his father."
Joyce laughed in his face and pulled a PADD from her purse. She pulled up Xander and Willow's school records and showed them to Snyder. "The library is the best place to study. It has the resources, lacks significant distractions, and it had Xander and Willow there to tutor her while they themselves study. As you can see from their class standings, both are within the top ten students in their year. Not the top ten percentile, the top ten students. The two classes Willow is weaker than Xander in, and the one class Buffy shares with Xander and not Willow, make them the perfect tutors for her. Xander appears to be a slacker because he's utterly bored with schoolwork that is so far beneath him. That's why he is withdrawing from school; you and your teaching staff failed utterly to challenge him scholastically. Willow may be a hacker, but in reality what that means is that she is already far in advance of many university graduates in the computer field. She has already demonstrated substantially more computer knowledge than anyone else in this county. She could choose to go to work, right now, for any of the major computer companies and pull in at least six figures. She might even choose to start her own company and be the next Microsoft.
"Two of your best students, with the most promising futures, and you've chased them away from your school. Without Xander and Willow still being students here, your class GPA drops two points. That alone should have told you something."
Joyce reached into her purse again and pulled out a Starfleet issue bug jammer that Willow had enchanted to also work against magical means of eavesdropping, and turned it on. "This is a bug jammer. Works on all magical and technological methods of listening or observing. Tell me, Principal Snyder, are you aware of what's really going on in this town? The so-called Night Life around here?
"And if I said I was?"
"Then I'd consider you a damned fool for treating Buffy, Willow, and Xander the way that you do, rather than treating them like the heroes they are. Since the start of school last year, those three kids were the only ones in town trying to hold back the night life around town, and they still manage to maintain all that they have. Well, at least until recently anyway, they've acquired additional assistance in that regard, myself being one of the people new to the night life and helping as best as I'm able."
"And what would an art dealer know about dealing with vampires and demons?" he snidely challenged again.
Joyce simply transformed into her Green Lantern costume. "Not much, but I do know that they don't last long against me. I do wield one of the most powerful weapons in the universe ever devised by human creativity."
Snyder sat stunned. Of course he knew what a Green Lantern was, but like nearly everyone else on the planet believed they, like all the other heroes, were works of fiction. "Not possible. I must be hallucinating," he mumbled.
"Things are changing in this town. The Darkness is being pushed back. Those three kids, and others who have joined them, have been and will continue to be on the front lines of that fight. While you do not need to be on those front lines yourself, and frankly your behavior thus far means that they have no reason to trust you, the best thing you can do is to support them quietly, stop getting in their way, and leave them alone."
Seeing that Snyder was no longer really listening, appearing shocked beyond reason, Joyce allowed her costume to fade back into her normal clothes, turned off her bug jammer, put it and her PADD back into her purse, and made her way out of the office. If things didn't change, she would come back and continue their discussion later.
Earth Orbit, Defiant's Ready Room
Xander sat at his desk, going through the list of ships and other resources currently available. It was not yet as extensive as he would like. It wasn't that they didn't have the ships available to send to Chulak, it was that all they really had was droids for crew. Third types were still growing, as were the near-clones. It would still be weeks before they were ready for deployment.
They did gain quite a few recruits from the seized MAU units that Data found while SG1 and the Scoobies had been away. Data was even helping return the changed people to their original forms, even if most of them did have a few enhancements. Some of those recruits were ready for Ensign positions, but it would take days to finish their training in the chairs since none of them had any previous military experience, but like him, once they found out what was going on in the shadows, they wouldn't be able to turn their backs on it.
As part of the scan, Data had discovered quite a few other interesting points: someone had taken one of the MAUs to a sci-fi convention and there were now actual Klingons and Vulcans running around the various areas, though the Klingons at least tended to occupy a large ranch in Wyoming. The Vulcans who didn't change back went back to their normal lives, just slightly altered. He'd sent the Vulcans and Klingons all invitations to join his Starfleet, but there were few takers so far. Data had even detected one Borg drone, but it appeared to be Seven of Nine. He would have to deal with that MAU personally, since her nano-probes had already set in far enough that establishing a transporter lock without her permission was impossible, and her MAU was similarly protected. It was a problem, and an important one to look after, but it could wait at least a few days as long as she didn't assimilate anyone. There were micronized Zentrandi and Meltrandi, several different kinds of Elves, Chiss and Twi'lek, all having spread out from that one convention.
The next problem he had to deal with was of an entirely different nature. Apparently, Humanity wasn't alone on planet Earth, and probably hadn't ever been. There were several herds of Centaurs living in Western and Central Asia and Europe, and as far south as Egypt. What appeared to be Goblins were living in downtown London, Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Vienna, and Sofia. Dwarves were living in the Urals, Carpathians, Balkans, and Alps. Gnomes lived in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Finland, and Iceland. In the Americas, Goblins seem to have inhabited the Appalachians, while the Dwarves chose the Rockies and Cascades, and the Gnomes settled every mountain range in South America.
And Dragons. Honest to gods Dragons. Flying, fire breathing lizards as big as houses; some of them anyway. Some species were only as big as trucks and busses. Big enough in his opinion. He had no idea how anyone had managed to keep that quiet. What really shocked him though was that there seemed to be lots of them, often in isolated mountain ranges, all over the world.
That whole situation seemed to be well in hand for the moment, since it looked like they were all in hiding and seemed quite happy to stay that way for now. He would send envoys when he had the manpower to do so.
Then there were the billion or so demons living on the planet amongst the humans. Some that he knew of, like the Brachens, you could take on an individual basis. They were basically humans, but originated from a hell dimension. They had been here so long that nobody knew anymore how they had gotten here. Others, like the Mohra demons, had no redeeming values or traits and existed only to kill humans. And the vampires. Can't forget the vampires. Unfortunately, there were more than one hundred thousand vampires on the planet, and for some reason, nobody had been able to get a transporter lock on any of the demons. They couldn't even get a sensor lock on most demons while they were within the influence of a Hellmouth. They might be able to use pattern enhancers if they had a friendly that they could arrange to beam up, but that was hardly ideal. Sadly, the hundred thousand vampires was more of an estimate than a confirmed number, the sensors were having a difficult time resolving fine enough to pinpoint individual vampires. Willow seemed to think it was something to do with the fact that they were possessing corpses rather than having bodies of their own like normal demons.
That was another nightmare he had discovered, there wasn't just one Hellmouth, there were Hellmouths, as in several of them. Fortunately, most were dormant. Twenty Six in total, all around the world. North America had four, Sunnydale California, Cleveland Ohio, Jersey City New Jersey, and Mexico City Mexico. South America had six, though few were in populated areas. While Europe only had the three, two of them were located in Germany. The third in France. There was only one in Australia, in Logan Queensland, but it was another active hotspot, though not as active as Sunnydale.
Xander set the reports aside, as he had an idea on how to solve at least the Chulak situation. "Computer, I want to initiate promotions for the following individuals. Captain Data is to be promoted to Commodore and given command of a new fleet I will put together shortly, call it 'Third Fleet.' Lt Commander Rosenberg is being promoted to Captain, and we'll assign a ship for her later. Lt Commander Dawn Summers is being promoted to Captain, list her as Commanding Aurora's Forge, since it's already her ship. Lt. Commander Buffy Summers is being promoted to Captain, and I don't think we'll be giving her a ship. On the other hand, let's assign her one of the new Sydney class Light Landing Craft as soon as it's fully loaded. That way she has plenty of ground troops to call for backup if she runs into something nasty. Lt Commander Chase is being promoted to Captain, because god knows if I promote the others and not her, I'll never get a moment's peace. Besides, she does deserve it since she saved a lot of lives. Find an unassigned Olympus-class Medical Frigate and assign it to her. Preferably one without a name, so she can name it herself. Close promotion file and execute. Open file Third Fleet and transfer Enterprise to it as the flagship. Add the Akira-class cruisers Kaneda and Tetsuo, add four Saber-class scouts and four Defiant-class escorts." He thought about it for a moment, wanting another ship but not such a big one, "Add the Intrepid-class Bellerophon to finish out the permanent fleet. Temporarily attach three Hercules-class tugs and issue sufficient construction materials to build a commerce and defense station, let's make it an Invictus-class station, should be sufficient and take about a month to get it built." Xander thought for a few moments, knowing that he had forgotten something before realizing what it was. "Also, dispatch with Third Fleet a New Orleans-class cargo frigate with parts and materials for a Very Dangerous Array. That should be everything. Close Third Fleet and send the orders out.
"Open a channel to Enterprise."
Moments later the bridge of Enterprise appeared on his display with Data in the Captain's chair. "Good Afternoon, Admiral. How can Enterprise be of assistance?"
"I wanted to thank you for your recent assistance, Commodore Data, you found a lot of MAUs while we were gone, and even managed to recruit some of the people you rescued. Excellent work.
"Have you read the report on Chulak yet?"
"Yes, Admiral. Thank you, Admiral. I must say that I am most impressed that there were no casualties in spite of such heavy fighting."
"Well, Captain Chase is still working on resurrecting the temporarily deceased Jaffa, but the number of patients she has is low enough that it should work out that way.
"As I'm sure you're aware, great success is often punished by ever greater challenges, and I'm going to do the same to you now. You are my senior-most officer, and since I can't be in two star systems at once, and I need to remain here for the time being, I'm assigning Third Fleet to you, and you should have the file shortly if not already. Primarily, I want you to do four things. First, protect the planet and the system while you complete tasks two, three, and four. Second, I'm sending a small starbase with you and sufficient tugs to build it. Find a good spot for it and see to its construction. Third, I'm sending a cargo frigate with you that will contain components for a VDA. See to their assembly and deployment. Fourth, make sure we get copies of the Goa'uld data cores, then assist, where possible, the Jaffa of Chulak in repairing their motherships. Questions?"
Data looked to the side; one of his droids informed him that they had received written orders to that effect, including his promotion. "No, Admiral. We will leave as soon as the fleet assembles."
"Excellent. Again, good work, and congratulations. Harris out." Xander closed the channel. Now that the major problem had been solved, he could go meet the others and see what plans they had for the evening. Maybe some Bronze time?
Defiant Conference Room, just after school lets out
Xander gathered everyone together as an excuse to hand out the promotions.
Xander began the meeting, "All right, I've got some news for everyone, then we're going to go party at the Bronze, my treat."
This pronouncement was met with enthusiasm by nearly everyone.
"First, I've promoted Data to Commodore and given him a fleet that will be leaving as soon as they are ready to go. They'll be going to Chulak to build a space station, deploy the VDA, repair those Ha'tak, and protect the planet while the other stuff is going on. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring him back within a few months.
"Next up, Cordelia Chase, Lieutenant Commander, Starfleet, you are hereby promoted to captain due to your exemplary work to save lives in the recent events on and near Chulak. Congratulations." He then handed her the small jewelry box that contained her captain's pips.
Once everyone had finished congratulating the cheerleader, Xander continued, "Willow Rosenberg, Lieutenant Commander, Starfleet, you are hereby promoted to captain due to your exemplary work in capturing the war criminal Apophis. Congratulations." He handed her the next jewelry box that again contained her new captain's pips.
Just to show that there were more promotions coming, he put the next two boxes, identical to the previous boxes, on the conference table. "Buffy Summers, Lieutenant Commander, Starfleet, you are promoted to captain for your exemplary work helping to liberate and secure the planet Chulak. Congratulations." As Dawn and Joyce congratulated her with hugs, Xander passed her new captain's pips down to her.
"Last but not least, Dawn Summers, Lieutenant Commander, Starfleet, you are promoted to captain for your efforts in securing space around Chulkc and the superb search and rescue operations for enemy combatants. Without your efforts, many of the enemy pilots may have died unnecessarily. Congratulations." With the final round of congratulations out of the way, Xander passed Dawn her own new captain's pips.
"Each of you who don't already have command of your own starship will shortly be assigned one, assuming the computer hasn't done so already. Captain Chase, I have arranged for you to command an Olympus-class medical frigate. Your frigate doesn't yet have a name, so you may name it as you choose. All of its resources will be at your disposal, including security teams, medical teams, and everything else, all you have to do is call upon them and they will be there to help you with whatever you need. We actually do like you when you aren't around others from Sunnydale and can let your perfectly maintained image relax enough to let your real self out. It is my hope that this ship will allow you to ignore the fact that certain other people may not appreciate you not being such a horrible person and allow the real Cordy Chase out more often."
Cordelia was amazed by the fact that Xander gave her a freaking starship! If it was anyone else that had offered her so much as a cup of coffee, she would have assumed that they were trying to buy her affections. She had known him for a very long time though, as long as Willow had, in fact. She did actually know, even though she wouldn't have otherwise acknowledged it, that when he said things like he just had, he was being straight with you. Oh, he might have other reasons as well, but he was being honest with her. Which meant that she had a lot to think about later.
"Buffy, I'm assigning you a Sydney-class light landing craft. It carries an entire company of 368 destroids and veritches. There's also a battalion of combat droids aboard; that's nearly one thousand, five hundred battle droids plus your normal ship's crew. If Charlie decides to dance a Foxtrot on the Hellmouth, you have at your disposal enough firepower to deal with it. Then again, if you wanted to try conquering the US or Europe, that probably wouldn't be hard with that load-out, either.
"Dawn, you already have ships of your own, but if you want one of my redesigns, pick one out and I'll assign it to you.
"Willow, I have no idea what you might like for a starship, other than maybe Lovely Angel, so if you want to pick something out, feel free and I'll assign it to you. If either you or Dawn wants to command Defiant with me on board being an admiral, I have no problem with that either.
"With the business out of the way, unless anyone else has anything they wish to add, I'd say it's time to go party at the Bronze. Change into appropriate party clothes and meet up in 30 minutes in transporter room one."
The Bronze, Evening
Xander arrived at the Bronze before the others and secured a trio of tables for their use by bribing the manager. He also put down a thousand dollars ahead of time to make sure that whatever their party wanted would be covered.
The teens were all out on the dance floor; they had been dancing among themselves for some time. Xander was nearly constantly dancing with someone, as he was the only male in the group. He didn't really mind, but began thinking about other guys to possibly bring in so that the girls he wasn't dating would have a safer pool of boys to choose from. Buffy had consistently proven that it was very difficult to have dates with boys who were unaware of the nightlife around town. He was certain that if Cordy continued following her new path, she would likewise have dating difficulties. Xander didn't know of anyone who actually met Cordy's standards, or could with a little bit of help. He certainly didn't see her lowering her standards, as in, ever.
Each of them had taken turns shadowing vampires as they left The Bronze with a victim, only to escort the victim back a short time later.
As Giles observed his students partying and almost negligently destroying vampires, he realized that he should not have been quite so against the teens spending time here. It was a good place to stop vampires from gathering victims, either for feeding or turning. It might even be better than the random patrols. This strategy was certainly going into his Watcher's Diary for future generations.
With five teens and three adults, all of whom were capable of killing vampires quite easily, The Bronze would soon be one of the safest places in Sunnydale after dark. Vampires would have to go elsewhere for their hunting ground, just as a practical matter. A vampire going to The Bronze would never be seen again. He would raise the issue with the teens later; no need to interrupt the party.
Jenny and Joyce were talking about the teens, gossiping about Xander's general cluelessness and how all the girls seemed to be attracted to him, though Buffy less so. The two women decided in the end that if it weren't for Angel being on her radar first, she too would be chasing after the boy.
That of course led to them talking about the girls deciding to share him, at least between themselves, and looked to be allowing Cordelia to join Willow and Dawn. They really didn't think it was "Only Boy Available" syndrome. He was turning into a good leader who helped others to excel as well. While Xander didn't have a traditional form of wealth, he was certainly capable of providing substantially what each girl seemed to be looking for. Neither woman expected any of the teens to make it to eighteen as virgins, let alone graduating that way. Joyce figured that as soon as Dawn managed to get him to pop her cherry, Willow would likely be a few days later, and then Cordy shortly after, assuming that they didn't just go for a foursome. With his current Sayajin-enhanced stamina, he might still wear out the girls. It was almost enough for Joyce to throw her hat into that ring, but decided that they were not rednecked enough for that.
They then naturally drifted to gossiping about Buffy and Angel. Joyce wasn't happy with her daughter dating someone that much older; Buffy was a lot younger than half his age plus seven that Joyce had learned years ago; the further outside that age range someone dated, the more of a creep the older person was. Of course, that was sometimes viewed as "Ideal" and sometimes as "Not younger than," and she favored the "Not Younger Than" interpretation. Joyce did lament Buffy not chasing after Xander as well, and after Jana told her about Buffy giving Xander a lapdance to make Angel jealous, had to wonder if she really was as brain damaged as Cordelia had insinuated. She would have to have the EMH do a checkup later. Maybe it was the peroxide getting to her?
Spike interrupted a couple of dancers to ask, "Where's the phone, I need to call the cops. There's a big guy out there trying to bite someone."
Xander, Buffy, and Willow all heard it, but Xander claimed it with "Yay, my turn!" and gently pushed Buffy towards Willow as he headed out to deal with the vampire.
It took only a few seconds for Xander to get to the alleyway where he did,indeed, see a rather large man trying to bite a pretty girl in clubwear. "Ya know, we generally take a rather dim view of that kind of behavior around here."
The vampire dropped the girl, whose head bounced on the concrete, and he turned to the voice, "Get out of here, kid, before I kick your ass, too," only to meet with a glowing ball of ki to the chest which quickly dusted him.
Xander walked over to the girl, who was trying to shake off the head injury. "Come on, miss, let's get you back inside where it's safe. We'll call you a cab to get you home." He could see that she was still terrified out of her mind and in complete "flee from everything" mode. Xander hit her with a Mind-Wave which put her into a euphoric state, allowing him to pick her up bridal style and carry her back inside.
Xander brought her over to the table the adults were at, "Can you guys look after her until she wakes up? She totally freaked out and I had to use Mind-Wave on her. She'll be blissed out of her gourd for ten to twenty minutes."
Xander went over and sat with Cordelia for a minute. "So, I've been meaning to ask, what did you get from the MAU?"
Cordelia thought about how to answer his question for a moment, and cast a privacy spell on their table so they could speak a little bit more freely than would be warranted by being in a dance club. "You know I'm not the geek you guys are, but I'm not so out of touch that I don't know any of those things, so while I would never be allowed to play D&D, Rifts, or other games, I do know what they are and even some details about them. I've seen Star Wars and Star Trek, but it's not like I watch them religiously or with baited breath to eagerly study each episode. I mean, it's Americana, you have to be completely deficient to not know anything about those things. You just can't know too much, or you're just as deficient."
Seeing that Xander was following and seemed to understand what she was saying, she continued. "So, in D&D healing magic is really about channeling positive and negative energy, an ability that a given deity grants their followers, but the worship of deities is not really necessary. Druids are a thing and don't worship deities but still cast all the same spells as a Cleric. Add to that, in this universe, those deities don't exist, or at least, none of the books mentioned any of them, so being a Cleric to get the power to channel those energies isn't going to work, but the MAU can give me the ability to channel those energies on my own, and those energies do exist here. So, what I got was the basic ability to channel positive and negative energy, and all the healing spells that go with them from D&D and Palladium, and then figured, why stop there? So I took the ability to channel the elemental energies as well. That got me a nice little collection of spells and abilities. Branching out a little from there, I picked up Planeswalker. I can't be seen playing the game or god forbid collecting the cards, and the books are not viewed as the highest quality literature, but I like them and they are a guilty pleasure. Maybe it's just that I shouldn't like them, and that's why I do, but the idea of the Planeswalker, a mage drawing their power from the places that they visit, and the more places they visit, the more powerful they become, it's appealing. And since you've given me a starship, I can visit a whole lot of different places. I can visit whole planets that nobody has ever visited before, so it'll be mana that nobody has ever used before. Sunnydale produces Black mana by the way, probably because of the hellmouth, the deserts outside of town to the East are colorless, and the hills on the North side of town are of course red mana."
Xander was nearly speechless. He hadn't even thought of becoming a Planeswalker, but it would fit Cordelia quite well. Channeling mana from the land would only be slightly different than channeling energy from the elemental planes, and she might even be able to substitute one for the other once she had a little bit more experience with them. "I never thought of going the Planeswalker route, but I am impressed, being a mana channeling Planeswalker and a planar-energy channeling mage should mix well. What have you tried so far?"
"I found out that vampires respond nicely to healing spells, minions dust immediately to the D&D spell Heal." This caused Xander to grin widely. "There are dozens of artifacts that I know how to make, and I'll be making several of them for us to use from the Planeswalker stuff."
"Willow and Dawn are both busy tomorrow, or I'm sure they'd want to go as well, but what do you say that I go with you to some of the nature sites around here and see how much more mana we can help you bind?"
Cordelia was touched by Xander offering to accompany her to the middle of several nowheres in order to help her, if nothing else, so that she wasn't alone while doing so. She nodded her agreement and asked, "When would you like to start?"
"Why not seven AM? You would normally be heading for school at that time anyway, so you can drive over to the Scooby Mansion and we can use the transporters to hit up different nature reserves. How long does it take to bind a new area as a mana source?"
"The others took like five seconds, but a good solid connection takes a bit more time. Since I don't have practice tomorrow, I won't have to be home until nine PM. Assuming we go all day, I might be able to get a hold of nearly all the mana I'll need for quite some time, especially with the artifacts."
"We may have to end at sundown, since most parks close then, but we may be able to visit other places then instead. We'll see how things go and do what we can. I have no idea what Thursday's Parent-Teacher meeting is going to be like for you; will your parents even show up?"
Cordelia thought about it for a minute, "I doubt it. Mom tries to only make one a year, and it's usually the Christmas one. As long as my grades remain fine, nobody really cares if I miss a few days in a row, and even the new help knows better than to mention my not being home to my parents."
Xander nodded his understanding; the only decent parents any of them had growing up had been Jesse, but now they also had Giles, Jana, and Joyce who were all good role models, even if most of them had already pretty much finished growing up.
Rooftop above the Bronze's alleyway, later that evening
Spike looked down upon the alley where another vampire was easily dusted by yet another person. With the six that he had finally seen being dusted, none of them had been killed by staking.
There was the woman who appeared to be an actual Green Lantern. He couldn't even figure out how that was possible. They were supposed to be strictly fictional, so how had they come to life?
There was the older man who just had to be a Watcher, who used a bloody lightsaber to cut the arms and legs off a vampire, lifting its wallet and other belongings, before finally taking its head to dust it.
There was the woman who damn near killed him accidentally from twenty feet away when she pulled out a rod of some kind and the thing lit up like the cursed noon-day sun!
One of the three girls who could have been the Slayer threw a bloody card of all things at the vampire which took his head off, dusting him, before returning to the girl.
The second candidate for Slayer was his odds on favorite for actually being the Slayer. No real special powers demonstrated, but she too used a lightsaber, clearly not the same one the Watcher used. The Watcher's blade glowed a rich green color, while the girl's blade seemed to have a dark green core surrounded by cyan. He thought it looked pretty cool, so he would have to make sure that he took it from her at some point. Slayers just about always got up close and personal with their slaying; they really liked to hit things with their own hands. Weapons were acceptable, once they found something that was special to them, but a Slayer would quite happily beat a demon to a pulp with her dainty little fists before finally killing it off by whatever means was necessary to kill that particular demon while it was helpless. She was the only one that got physical with the vampire, and that she too looted it as the Watcher had done, nearly had him convinced.
The one that really scared his demon though was the rich girl who walked up to a vampire feeding on a party boy, and dusted the vampire by saying the word "Heal." He didn't even know that was possible, but the boy seemed fine after being fed on, so it had to be some kind of healing magic. Which of those idiotic goodie-goodie gods would be stupid enough to grant one of their followers such powerful magic? It broke the ancient compact between the Higher Powers and the Infernal Powers! Surely someone was going to get screwed for that cockup.
He had been told that the Slayer was a bottle blonde, but the only blonde in the group had never even tried to leave the club to deal with the obvious vampire problems! Sure, the others clearly didn't need the help, but still, it was built into the Calling, the need to kill vampires and other demons. If she wasn't going after obvious vampires when confronted by them, he believed she couldn't possibly be the Slayer.
Spike left his rooftop to return to the Anointed's warehouse. This whole situation required some thinking on. It was a sad world they lived in when even the Hellmouth wasn't safe for vampires and demons.
Wednesday, evening, Library
Angel stood in the stacks, having snuck in. He had been waiting for the others to discuss important topics, but they appeared to actually be studying rather than discussing any of the local and upcoming supernatural events. Since they weren't going to be giving him an opening any time soon, he stepped from the stacks and said, "You should know that there are new master vampires in town. They're here for the Feast of St. Vigeous on Saturday."
Giles responded first, "New master vampires, you say? New as in new to town, or new as in new to being master vampires? And do you happen to know their names?"
"New in town, well, the only one I can confirm is Spike, but Spike goes nowhere without Drusilla. The chances of her not being here are slim at best."
"Spike? That's a little unorthodox, isn't it?" Giles asked.
"Maybe he's reformed." Buffy quipped.
"What can you tell us about Spike and Drusilla?" Xander asked.
"Once he starts something, he doesn't stop until everything in his path is dead. Drusilla is insane, completely unpredictable."
"So, he's thorough, goal-oriented." Xander said thinking aloud. "Do we have any indications as to what his goals are or might be?"
Angel shook his head, "The only thing happening here any time soon is St Vigeous. Vampires who participate in the St Vigeous activities will see a boost in their power. Away from the Hellmouth, it's a good enough boost that many vampires will participate at least a few times in their lives. Doing so on the Hellmouth, though, should give a substantial boost, enough to give some minions enough of a boost to become masters themselves. For a master vampire like Spike to take part in the St Vigeous revels, it could grant him power equal to some of the not so minor demons."
"This Night of St. Vigeous deal; if Spike, Drusilla, and the Anointed are going to attack in force, I think we should prepare some party favors for them. Do we have any clue where we should prepare such party favors?"
"I haven't heard any hints yet, so at this point, I'd suspect the usual targets. Here, the Bronze, the mall, that sort of thing. Spike will have some interest in targeting Buffy, depending on what his actual goals are for being here. Rumor has it he's killed two Slayers this century, and he may be looking for number three. A successful St Vigeous Revel on the Hellmouth could put him well above Buffy's ability to defeat. On the other hand, St Vigeous is not really his style. If he's here for St Vigeous, then it's because he has to be for some other reason than honoring Vigeous' crusade through the Middle East; he wouldn't be doing it just for the boost as he thinks it's unearned. If he were to be found worshiping the vampire goddesses Lamashtu or Selene Gallio, then it would be because he needed to be seen doing so in order to get something from someone else or he needed to appear to be a worshiper in order to get whatever it is he's after."
Giles asked, "So, no rumors as to why he's in Sunnydale then?"
"None, and since he's only just arrived in the past few days, it'll take a while for his activities to hit the grapevine enough for me to figure out what he's after, assuming that whatever it is that does make it to the grapevine isn't smoke and mirrors for something else he's after. He is crafty enough to do that, if the prize is big enough."
Xander turned and faced Angel directly, "Please try to find out when and where they will attack. We have a literal army of droids we can use to protect the town, but if we know where to send them ahead of time, it would be helpful. And do remember to keep your com badge on you, and use it. You don't have to report in person, call us on the com badge as soon as you have something, even if it's minor.
"You probably already know, but tomorrow night is a PTA conference here at the school. We'll have people nearby just to make sure it goes safely. We aren't expecting anything, but better to waste the time than to regret."
Angel nodded and stepped back into the shadows and seemed to disappear, even with others looking right at him.
Cordelia drew Jana and Willow aside as the group's major magic wielders. "I have an idea, but I want to run it by the two of you before I get anyone's hopes up."
Seeing that she had their attention, she continued, "I think I may have a way to return Angel to life. Angelus was cursed with the soul of Liam to create Angel, and since Liam has control, the demon is supposedly suffering. I don't think that's what is actually happening, I think it's the soul of Liam that is suffering and the demon is just getting the spill over from that.
"There are three ways this might work, the way I'd prefer to do this, and if some disaster happens during that, there's the second way. If those two don't work, there's a wild card I can try.
"The first way, I start with the Planeswalker spell, Circle of Protection: Black which will prevent any damage to the person protected by the circle from demonic sources. This should keep him from disintegrating. Then, Exorcism from Palladium will expel the demon from the body and prevent it from returning to this plane for between one hundred and a thousand years. The final step in this process is to cast the D&D version of Resurrection. The only real problem here is I don't know what will happen to him once the demon is exorcised, since it's the demon's presence that is holding the body together at this point; it's possible that he disintegrates. If he does disintegrate, then we can still try the Resurrection spell, just in case it works. If not, then we go to plan B. I use the Planeswalker spell Regrowth to return Liam to my list of available summons and then simply resummon him. This will require getting his agreement before we attempt the ritual. It may just summon him back as a vampire, but if that happens, we'll just be where we are now, and no worse off."
Willow was deep in thought about the magic involved, but couldn't immediately see why it wouldn't work. "We'll have to run the numbers to make sure, but it sounds doable."
Jana asked, "Why magic from three different systems?"
"Each system works slightly differently than the others. Regenerate does something in D&D and something slightly different in Palladium, and something else in Planeswalker's Magic. This means that each spell, even when called the same thing, and in general does exactly the same thing, each performs that thing in slightly different ways.
"The magic of each system, by itself, does not offer the capability we need, but if we play with the differences between each spell and get them to work together, we can get effects greater than the writers intended. We use the differences to our advantage."
Jana looked at her student with pride and respect, while Willow hugged Cordelia, nearly shouting, "That's brilliant, Cordy!"
Cordelia tensed, but remembered that she was trying to not be so unpleasant, and just returned the hug awkwardly. Once Willow let go, Cordelia said, "Is there any way to know ahead of time if the Exorcism is going to dust Angel?"
Jana and Willow thought about it for a minute before Jana replied "I think, just about the only way I know of to find out would be a Woe or Weal spell my Aunt taught me years ago. It won't tell us the results of a given course of action, but will give us a general indicator if it's generally a good thing or a bad thing. It's not perfect, but it can be useful and I think it's our best bet at this point, without having to rip the spells apart and study the arithmancy behind them."
"What is the third way?" Willow asked.
"That's the one that I think is the most random, and I'm not certain how exactly it will work. The Planeswalker spell Divine Transformation can turn him from a vampire into something akin to an actual angel, some kind of divine being rather than an infernal one. While an improvement, I don't know if that means he'll grow wings that he can't hide, I don't know if he'll gain 'Life' as I don't know if angels are actually alive or if they're like demons, they exist, but not really living. A different kind of immortality is certainly a possibility, but then, so is becoming neuter or female. Quite a few sources indicate that heavenly beings are neuter, and quite a few others indicate that all higher beings are feminine. The art for the card features a female with white feathery wings. Whatever happens, he won't be a vampire anymore. I list it as the third choice, because the exact results could be chaotic, but generally very positive, since Angel would gain a substantial amount of strength and durability, possibly close to double. I'm also certain he would no longer have any of the vampiric vulnerabilities; he'd be able to go out in the sun, no more allergy to wood or holy water, hell, he may even be able to bless holy water. It's the number of questions around the side effects of the spell that makes me want to try it last."
Jana replied, "Well, if it goes right, that could be very powerful, but if it goes wrong, it would probably destroy their relationship. I don't think Buffy is into girls."
Willow nodded, and, thinking that the topic was exhausted for the moment until they cast the 'Woe or Weal' spell Jana mentioned, asked Cordelia, "Xander said he was going to help you bind a bunch of mana. How many lands did you guys get through today?"
"We did five of each primary land type, and had lunch at the La Brea Tar Pits, which is also black mana, so I've got 6 colorless, seven black, six red, and five each of green, blue, and white. Apparently mines don't produce mana as they're artifacts. We tried binding the Modoc and Sunshine mines in Northern California, expecting colorless or dual colored mana, but got a boost to effects from black or negative mana and white or positive mana channeling. At this point, there are no Planeswalker spells I can't cast, though more mana is always better. I also need to make some artifacts, like the Moxes, the Lotuses, the mana batteries, and the life gain artifacts. There are others that I know how to make, but I'm not sure how exactly they'll work since the game aspects don't play out that way. We don't have a handful of cards, so any artifact based on that is going to work differently for me than it does in the game. While all the spells I know will work fine because I know how they all work, that's not true for the artifacts. I know how to make them, and since I'm familiar with the game, I know which artifacts are generally most desirable, but some of them, like Black Vise, I'm just going to have to build in order to figure out how it works."
Thursday evening, Sunnydale High School
Giles and Jana were heading to their cars after helping the rest of the faculty tidy up after the Parent-Teacher Conference. The others were all listening in on the open comms channel.
"Well, I believe we can officially state that they didn't attack the school this evening. Saturday, however, might be a different story."
Jana asked, "Did they maybe use us being distracted by protecting the school to attack somewhere else?"
Xander replied, "No, and that gives me some concern. This was their best opportunity to acquire sacrifices for Saturday. We had most of the droids in Sunnydale at the school tonight, and very few covering other locations. Angel, any further information on Spike?"
"I can confirm that Drucilla is here as well. Spike has been asking all kinds of questions about the group, especially about The Slayer. From what I can tell, he doesn't know who The Slayer is yet, but thinks it might be Dawn. He - and the rest of the local color - knows the group's most commonly used powers, including the Green Lantern, the lightsabers, Jana's technomagery, has some concern over Willow's bladed card, and is terrified of getting anywhere near "The Rich Girl," for some reason."
That last bit of information had most of the younger scoobies laughing loudly into their combadges.
Xander replied, and you could practically hear the devious grin on his face, "That is interesting news, Angel. It's a little concerning that they know about our new powers, but realistically, we haven't exactly been keeping them secret. We've been using them fairly blatantly for the last two weeks. I love the fact that he's terrified of the current least combat capable member of our group. How would Spike respond, in your opinion, to that fact? I mean, the fact that she's a cheerleader, with the implication being that she's just a cheerleader, even if we know better?"
"He might kill a few minions who are stupid enough to try to tease him about being afraid of a cheerleader, but he won't be fooled by such a simple deception. Just because she's a cheerleader doesn't mean she doesn't also have the powers that he's afraid of, though I don't yet know what he thinks her powers are."
"Well, I guess you can't win them all, such a shame. Anyway, very good job, Angel, and please keep digging for what his angle is. Buffy, I want you to spend some time getting to know your droids better and them to get to know you. Get to know their combat capability, and get to know your bridge droids as well. The more you know them, and they know you, the better you'll be able to use them when you need them. Maybe run them through a couple of combat simulations, I think you'll find something amusing in the archives.
"Cordy, since he's afraid of you, I'd like you and Dawn to do the normal patrol tonight. Might help them keep their heads down if you're out there. Willow and I will be on Overwatch, with Joyce as backup. Giles and Jana will have the rest of the night off, unless there's an emergency.
"As a reminder, the first academy class graduates next week, and once they do, we'll have a lot more backup. Until then, we've still got the droids on call at need. Destroyers, war droids, even astromechs with shields and blasters, same as we've had all along.
"Anyone have any questions?" Not getting any replies, "Alright then, call out if anyone needs help."
Friday Morning, Earth Standard Orbit
"So what was the big idea with keeping me fray-adjacent last night, Xander? I was almost bored sitting up here making the droids play video games with me," Buffy nearly whined. Starship captains don't whine.
"Information control, Buffy. Spike still doesn't know who you are, and you may have noticed that Angel and I didn't use names, not really. Angel did that because he knew he might be overheard by someone who might report back to Spike. The longer you can keep information from the enemy, in general, the better off you are when you finally use that information. If the first chance he gets to learn that you're The Slayer is when you're dusting him, you can see how that might be to your advantage, right?"
"Well, okay, but you have to understand that it's been two days now, and I haven't killed anything. I'm getting really restless."
"Have you tried the holodeck? There are plenty of combat programs on the computer. I'm sure one of them will let you get your kill on. Try something in the Klingon Calisthenics section, I believe that's what Worf called his combat programs."
"Alright, I'll give it a shot, but if it doesn't work, we're going to have to beam me somewhere I can kill a few demons. There's no way I can sleep like this.
"In other news, are you and Cordy going out again today" she left a pause of half a heartbeat before continuing, "to get her more mana?"
"Har Har, it is to laugh. Yes, Buffy, I am escorting Cordy to get more mana, in fact I need to leave in a few minutes to do that. There are no single person away teams. She isn't having any romantic or carnal thoughts about me."
"Does that mean you are having those thoughts about her?"
Xander glared at the view screen Buffy was currently occupying. "I haven't even really had much of a chance for significant dates with Willow and Dawn yet. I do NOT need to be adding Cordy to that mix, especially with Willow's history with her. That way lies Badness."
"Okay, no need to be defensive, just looking out for my baby sister."
"Yeah? I'm sure she'll be happy to hear about that. I'll be sure to remind her that she's got such a great big sister looking out for her."
"Oh, come on, there's no need to be nasty about it."
"So you admit that you know she wouldn't like you butting in?"
"Alright, I get the message, I'll leave it alone."
"Good. Go work off your restlessness, I'll go keep the princess from getting cranky with us. Xander Out."
As soon as Buffy was off the screen, he hailed Willow and Dawn. As soon as they were both on the line, "Hey, we've got a bit of time this afternoon, before we need to deal with the latest emergency, so I'd like to take both of you out for dinner at least, maybe some dancing at the bronze before we have to get together with the others for patrols and stuff. How does Vinnie's sound to you?"
Willow thought about it for a minute, "Four maybe five o'clock?"
Dawn replied "Four. We'll have a light meal, some early dancing, plenty of time before sunset and the vamps coming out to play."
"All right, I'll pick you up at the mansion at four then. I look forward to it until then. Xander out."
Xander quickly scheduled the reservation at the nicest Italian restaurant in Sunnydale before rushing off to meet up with Cordelia and get her more mana.
Friday, Sunset, Scooby Mansion Library
Xander walked in with Willow and Dawn still dressed up from their date, in stockings, heels, slinky dresses, tasteful jewelry; the works. The girls were looking quite pleased with themselves, while Xander had a goofy expression on his face. The adults were already present, and dressed for comfort.
Eventually, Buffy dragged Angel into the meeting, and that, in turn, pulled Xander out of his good mood. Cordy was just arriving, after changing out of her cheer outfit, dressed more for the expected nocturnal activities than as nicely dressed as Willow and Dawn were for their date with Xander.
"Buffy, did you have to invite Captain Hairgel into the mansion?" Xander asked.
Buffy smiled at him innocently, "Nope!"
Angel rolled his eyes, "And by that she means that she didn't actually invite me in. I came in through the cave network and when I got to the shields, she lowered one, I walked through, and then it was raised again. Then up through the basement into the lower levels and finally here."
"Oh dear." Giles muttered. "That could be a problem we'll have to look into."
Jana offered, "I would have thought that lowering force fields would have been more like opening a door. Vampires would still need an invitation to enter."
"Could it have been something between Buffy and Angel?" Xander asked. "Their relationship, I mean. Could their honest relationship have weakened the normal vampire invitation wards? Could it also be possible that there's a weakened ward around the mansion due to most of us having multiple places that we now call home?"
It took Giles and Jana several minutes to think through both potential scenarios, looking for holes. Eventually, Jana deferred to Giles's expertise, "Either is theoretically possible. I don't think such a relationship has ever actually happened before; however, I would believe that his existence as a vampire would still be the operative factor. The Invitation Ward may be weakened by so many of you considering this a part time home, rather like the weakness in a motel's Invitation Ward. It could also be that the weakening of the Invitation Ward coupled with the existing relationship between them is what allowed Angel to pass unhindered. If that's the case, then he is the only one who could do so, while other vampires would have to fight their way in and only masters would be able to do so and remain for any length of time. Weaker vampires would still be unable to enter."
"All right, for now, we'll leave it, though we'll have to have someone besides Buffy or Angel nab a dust bunny for testing. Joyce, you'd probably have the easiest time of containing our test subject, so if you happen to have an opportunity for a capture, go ahead and take it."
"I can do that easily, Xander."
"Dawn, if she does manage to nab a mister dusty, she's going to need somewhere to store him until we can do a series of tests to weed out all the weaknesses we may have here. Can you see to that?" At Dawn's nod, Xander continued.
"Giles, since you've the most knowledge about these Invitation Wards, can you devise a series of tests we can run with whatever vamps Joyce nabs?"
"Certainly. I should have a few ideas by the time we gather after patrols."
Xander nodded. "Good. Cordy, how much mana do you have now?"
"After two days of transporting all over the place, mostly in California, but a few other places as well, I have a total of sixty-seven mana available, with eight of that number being dual-colored lands from the Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks. Eleven red, ten green, ten blue, six colorless, twelve black, ten white, and the eight multi-colored lands. Still not as powerful as I could be, but I'm way ahead of every other week-old Planeswalker. While I would like to continue spending my days gathering more mana, my biggest weakness as a Planeswalker right now is a lack of summons. I've got a few good maids, the family's cook, a butler, a driver, and a few other servant types. I can also summon several of the droids, including combat droids, and all of you. Other than the Scoobies and the droids, I don't have a whole lot of combat capable summons right now. Summoning can get kind of complicated and not really all that relevant right now.
"I plan on spending some time this evening making a few artifacts that will help with that. I should be able to make a Dancing Scimitar, Clay Statue, and a Primal Clay tonight, maybe even a Ring of Immortals and an Aladdin's Ring."
Giles interrupted, "I'm sure I'm going to regret the asking, but I really don't understand any of that."
Cordelia thought about it briefly. "Okay, the basics. Planeswalkers like myself can establish links to any area we physically occupy that isn't claimed by another Planeswalker. Since no Planeswalkers have ever actually visited this planet before, I can grab as much of that area as I like as quickly as I can get there. Your average Planeswalker is Awakened through some kind of traumatic experience, and as part of that Awakening, usually opens a portal to the space between realities they call the Blind Eternities, in order to flee whatever traumatic experience caused their Awakening. From the Blind Eternities, a Planeswalker can go to any reality. Since this first episode of traveling is random and instinctual, most Planeswalkers don't have anything but the clothes on their backs, and are forced to walk everywhere. This allows them to gather some mana, but they generally do so quite slowly because they have to walk everywhere. For most, since most of the stories are about quite primitive realities no better than the dark ages, the best they can do is summon a favorite horse for travel.
"The five basic land types are plains that give white mana, forests that give green mana, mountains that make red mana, islands that produce blue mana, and swamps that make black mana. If you have a plateau, a plain on top of a mountain, you might get red and white, or you might get some special effect. Other places will do other things. Some deserts, for example, grant colorless mana, and other deserts provide effects. The more special a place is, the less it's like every other of its kind, the more likely it is to include some kind of special ability. For example, Yellowstone National Park itself doesn't give me any mana, but it does allow me to cause earthquakes, which destroys enemy Planeswalkers' connections to their lands. Several of the places inside the park, however, are multicolor lands, mostly involving blue mana and something else.
"After mana comes things to spend mana on, spells. Spells are magical effects, just as the name implies. The first type of spell is enchantments, which means that I can enchant creatures or artifacts with some special ability, either permanently or for a day. Obviously, one prefers permanent enchantments for your most stalwart allies, and you can hand out temporary enchantments for those you aren't so sure about. The second kind of spells are instants; they are cast, they do something and are gone in an instant. Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Stream of Life, and so on.
"Then there's summon magic. Depending on my intentions at the time of casting, let's say I'm on Chulak, and I need Giles and Buffy because of something demonic going on. I could summon both of you to my side, or I could summon someone that's not quite you. If I summoned Giles, but not specifically our Giles, it would likely look like his brother or sister, depending on what I preferred at the moment that I summoned them. This new person would share a lot in common with our Giles, have nearly identical skills, but if Giles played the guitar, the new person might be a drummer or keyboardist. I could summon up to three more of him on this plane of existence, and they could start your classic 4-man band. On any other plane, I could summon the full four of any one person, and they'd all be slightly different from one another, and only one of them would be our Giles, and only if I wanted to pull him from wherever he was to the new plane of existence.
"Then I need to cover power levels, and that'll probably do for now. Your average unpowered human is a one power, one toughness being. The very best martial artists in the world might make a two power or two toughness, or two for both. How they are then equipped, machine guns and body armor for example, will improve those numbers. A fledgling vampire is a two power, two toughness being. Angel is a four power, four toughness being costing two black mana and two mana of any color.
"Above four mana for a being or artifact, we start seeing a lot of variation. Sometimes we get powerful abilities, sometimes it's just a more powerful or tougher being. Willow, you cost three blue and two of any color to summon, putting you firmly into the supernatural category. From what I can feel of you, you're a three power, three toughness being. Of course, you've got ridiculous magic abilities and your weapons boosting your scores. Dawn, you would cost one white and four of any color, and are a two power, four toughness. Again, it's your gear that's boosting you comfortably into supernatural territory, partly because my ability sees you as an artificer, someone who makes artifacts for me to summon, making us both more powerful than we should otherwise be."
When Cordelia paused to take a drink, Xander's curiosity got the better of him and he had to ask, "And me?"
"You are a borderline demi-god, and are the second most powerful of our group currently. Get your ass kicked a few dozen times, and you might move up to number one. Currently, you would cost me five white plus two of any color, and you are five power, six toughness."
"Don't worry, Xan, I'll help you train up to my level," Buffy bragged.
Cordelia wasn't about to let that stand and replied, "Buffy, you're number three, behind Xander. Four white plus two of any color, and you're a five/five. I can summon a generic Slayer for two white plus two of any color and I'd get a three/three that gradually grows in power and toughness. You are getting most of your boosted scores from your ability to create an energy weapon and from being a demi-saijin."
Since he also expected Buffy to be their top fighter, Giles asked, "If Buffy is number three, who is currently ranked number one?"
"That would be Mrs Summers. Five green plus three gets her eight power and six toughness. Mrs Summers, you are getting quite close to god-like on your own. That's mostly from being a Green Lantern, and if you firm up your defenses a bit, you should be able to hit eight toughness pretty easily. It wouldn't make you a god yourself, but you'd be able to fight some of the higher-tier demons and lower-tier gods on an even level.
"Even though I control god-like power myself, it doesn't make me a god either. Godhood is an entirely different kind of spark or essence than the Planeswalker. Planeswalkers were created by the cosmos itself, much like the titans and gods were. It's my opinion that we are supposed to be kind of a check and balance against each other. The titans stopped doing what they were supposed to be doing, so the cosmos created the gods. The gods stopped doing what they were supposed to be doing, so Planeswalkers were created. The competing theory is that Planeswalkers are just the third iteration of powerful beings, with the titans being nearly entirely metaphysical, and the gods being less metaphysical and more material, and then us Planeswalkers being nearly entirely material. I have no idea if there were to be a fourth iteration, or what those beings might be like.
"And when I say god-like, there are a lot of demons and demon lords that fall into that category as well."
Everyone was stuck pondering those implications in their own way until Xander shook himself out of it in order to continue the meeting. "Okay, I think... We will have to think on that later. We can also talk about it on Sunday. Angel, have you found out anything new on Spike or Drusilla?"
"Nothing even remotely suggestive. If it were left to me to guess at what's going to happen, I'd guess that they are going to stay in hiding until after the rituals for St Vigeous are completed. I still don't know why he's doing the ritual, but without any other activity, that would be my guess. If I'm right, we aren't going to see a whole lot of activity from the vampires tonight. Just the risers and the know-nothing fledgelings. Other low level demons might make up for it though, so don't get complacent."
"I'm really starting to not like that broken record; I hate competent bad guys. Can't we get a ban on them for the hellmouth?"
"As if anyone would obey it if they were?" Cordelia snarked.
"Fair point. Bah, who wants everything to be easy anyway, right?" Xander asked irreverently. "Other than a mass vampiric empowerment ritual, what do we actually know about the event? Angel?"
"Angelus never took part in it, so I don't know the exact particulars, but I do know that it's a blood ritual, as nearly everything vampiric is. There's several days of fasting and chanting leading up to the actual ritual, and then the ritual itself, followed by the Feast, where the vampires eat all the victims they didn't eat during the fast. The deeper you gorge during the feast, the greater your power boost. Of course, if you get too greedy, your body won't be able to handle the power boost and you'll spontaneously combust, and supposedly it's not a proper Feast until some stupid fledge does go too far and pops."
Seeing that Angel had exhausted his knowledge, Giles offered "I was able to discover that unlike most blood rituals, it begins at the green flash rather than the middle-night."
"Okay, I get that middle-night is the actual middle of the night, the half-way point between sunset and sunrise rather than the time on the clock, but what is green flash?" Dawn asked. Looking around, she wasn't alone in not knowing.
"It's an optical illusion caused by the atmosphere and the setting of the sun. Just as rain causes the rainbow, the atmosphere itself also causes diffraction and the last ray of light before the sun slips below the horizon can turn a vibrant green. In theory, it always happens, but is not always strong enough to see. It basically means it's safe for vampires to leave their nests since the sun is no longer in the sky, and darkness begins to gather in earnest. For a vampiric empowerment ritual, it makes a fair amount of sense."
"Okay, so we know when it starts, do we know how long it takes?" Jana asked.
"Not as such, no. The one account that I found that indicated the start time did not have many other details." Giles replied.
"While Angelus never knew for certain, I'd hazard a few guesses, one hour is almost guaranteed, two hours very likely, three hours a possibility, but not likely. Then after they're finished with the ritual, is the feast, which can take a few hours more. If they go out to feed at all, it will be right after the ritual. If they don't go out, then they've got people kidnapped to feed on instead." Angel offered.
Joyce asked, "Is there any way we can use that? The Hellmouth is playing all kinds of havoc on my ring's ability to detect anything, but what about starship sensors and tricorders? They should all be able to detect the lifesigns of the intended victims, right?"
"That's a good point, Mrs. Summers. I'm going to take Overwatch tonight, and I think I'll take Dawn with me up to Defiant. Cordy, take the night off and make whatever artifacts you think you can make and will be useful for you. Giles, Jana, the patrol is yours tonight. Willow and Mrs. Summers on backup please. I still expect it to be a relatively quiet night, but be ready in case The Hellmouth decides to throw us a curveball." With that, the nightly meeting broke up.
Sunday Morning, Bridge, USS Defiant
Xander checked his sensor displays one last time. "Sensors, can you confirm that there has been no activity from the vampires in Sunnydale and that it is after sunrise in Sunnydale?"
The operations droid at the sensors console spent a minute re-confirming that there was no detectable vampire activity and cross checked the ship's chronometer before answering, "Confirmed, Admiral. It is after sunrise and there has been no significant vampire activity."
"Very well. Communications, put me on with the ground teams."
"Channel open, Admiral."
"Harris to ground teams. Okay, everyone, I'm calling it a night. Tonight's apocalypse is called on account of the enemy not showing up. Spike and his gang of fang freaks are no-shows as the sun has finished rising and we've seen nothing from them. I'm putting the droids on data analysis and catching a few hours of sleep. I suggest everyone else try to do the same. Reconvene in Defiant's briefing room two hours before sunset. Unless anyone has anything else?" Xander waited a few moments before closing, "All right, sleep well everyone. Xander out."
Anubis's Throne Room
Anubis absentmindedly noticed that his First Prime came in and kneeled before him waiting to be acknowledged. It seemed to be somewhat important, but not urgent. Whatever it was would wait until he had finished his current examination of the Milky Way Galaxy's higher spiritual realms. Not finding what he was looking for, he finally acknowledged his underling. "Report."
"My Lord, three of your scouts have returned. The only thing of consequence they all report is that Lord Ra has perished when his Chariot exploded over Abydos. Lord Ra's territory has been assumed by several of the System Lords. Lord Apophis has taken the most, but not enough to make him the clear leader. Most of the System Lords' positions are tenuous, but Lord Apophis has additionally suffered losses to small bands of humans rumored to be of the Tau'ri. Others believe that this is likely an excuse to cover for him spreading his forces too thin in order to take more territory than the others. None of the others admit to having suffered any attacks from similar humans, only the typical petty squabbles between the System Lords themselves. The scouts' full reports are of course available for your review at your pleasure, My Lord."
Anubis was deep in thought. He muttered "Ra's death would not have been an important enough event to cause The Others to change the very fabric of this reality."
Turning his attention back towards his minion, "Send the scouts back out once they are resupplied. Find the other actors on the galactic stage outside the Goa'uld domains. Perhaps they are responsible for the change. Tell the scouts to be polite."
"Yes, My Lord." Having survived several years under Anubis, he recognized his dismissal and promptly left as respectfully as ever. If he actually heard Anubis continue to mutter "The Infernal Powers would not have done so, and the Higher Powers are too corrupt. So who..." he certainly would not have been inclined to listen in.
Word count: 15324
Previous chapter published 2010 12 26
This chapter published 2023 07 04 (Happy Birthday USA)
Week IV is already in progress and I'm pretty sure I know where it's going, so it shouldn't take me a decade+ to write it out.
