Kobol,
There were more coming.
The Vampires that had surrounded the Raptor were enraged that they couldn't get into the ship to feed on the humans that were trapped inside. They had tried to get in through the broken canopy, but the field pushed them back. They couldn't even punch through the hull of the ship, and that enraged them even more. The creatures growled at Starbuck, Major Neely, and the others before they looked at each other, sniffed the air, and then howled. Starbuck, who had been trying unsuccessfully, to activate the Raptor's weapons systems didn't know whether it was over when the vampires started to run past them. She looked back at the Major and shouted in Colonial Standard while pointing at the vampires that were running past them on the grass, and over the ship.
Major Neely slowly stood up and looked on with his eyes wide open in shock when he realized what was happening. He and the others weren't being spared since twenty vampires were gathered near the wing section of the ship. They stood still while growling at them from outside on the grass, instead.. the vast majority of the vampires were heading for Colonel Ferretti and Colonel Dixon's teams.
As well as Willow's team.
Major Neely and the others were trying to count exactly how many were heading towards them, but they lost count at two hundred. To the Major, it was a small miracle that the creatures hadn't rolled the wreckage of the raptor end over end, as that may have shaken some of them out of the ship. But the Major didn't want to complain, he didn't want to jinx it.
Instead, the man went on his subspace radio and reported to the two Colonels that the vampires were heading out; most of them.
"We're still in danger," said the Major through the subspace radio, "if there wasn't a ship coming to get us, then I don't know what we'd do. Getting from the Gate to this location took us a day, and if we had to get through the forest to the cave? Then we'd be spending at least a night with the vamps, and we'd be goners. Sirs, are you all secured?"
"Not really,," said Colonel Dixon as he and his large group cautiously walked through the foliage with Dawn and the others scanning the surrounding area with their eyes, "at least as far as shelters go. We're pretty much in the open, but a few hours away from meeting with Major Rosenberg and her team, and then we'll head for the Stargate. Any luck with the weapons on the Raptor?"
Major Neely told the Colonel that he'll hand the radio over to Starbuck. While continuing to talk on the radio, the man then tapped Starbuck's shoulder as she was checking the damage to the ECO console wiring, and handed her the radio. In the meantime, Colonel Ferretti asked Dawn to translate.
"Captain Thrace," said Dawn, "do you have weapons activated on the ship?"
"No" was the reply as Dawn nodded her head before translating the reply for Major Neely and the others, "although I hate to say it, the toaster was right. The system's fried. We have missile and ammo, but we cannot fire."
"Understood," said Dawn after repeating what Colonel Ferretti wanted her to translate, "Colonel Ferretti and Dixon wanted me to tell all of you, and Major Neely knows this, that you need to stay in the ship for protection. We know that the Blood Demons are heading for us and… and we will be at the Gate to the Stars before that, hopefully. A ship will come by to beam all of you on board and take you to New Kobol and Eden."
"Understood," said Starbuck, "be careful."
"We will," came the reply, "Dawn, out."
"Told you the weapon systems were fried," said Tessa while Starbuck glared at her and frowned. She then handed the radio to Major Neely before closing the panel on the side of the ECO console. She then sighed, and sat next to Major Neely while looking at the vampires still licking their lips while staring at them from the outside.
They then growled once again at the survivors. Just hoping that one of them would do something stupid and come out of the ship. And then the vampires would feed.
Kobol, a few hours later.
Willow was standing still, her hair flowing in the light breeze, as she stood with eyes closed and concentrated. She had been using her ability to remote view every ten minutes, which eventually became every thirty minutes when they realized that they hadn't encountered anything. The redhead stood next to Xander who had brought his hands up and was ready to fire the wrist mounted plasma repeaters on the Kull armour, as were the Slayers taking up the rear, and the ones holding the flame throwers who were standing along the flanks. They were scanning the area while Willow felt as if she was flying through the trees from three hundred meters in every direction, including behind them.
She wanted to be sure that they weren't being followed.
As Willow continued her scouting, Xander looked back at Buffy who was gripping tightly to her crossbow. The both of them looked at each other, and smiled. It was almost immediately that the smile vanished from Buffy's lips as Willow stumbled backwards panting. Xander quickly turned to his best friend and held her straight while Buffy was asking if everything was alright.
"I saw movement," said Willow as she looked at Buffy while she held tight to her staff weapon, "I can't make sure but… but I think I saw maybe thirty… or forty figures coming towards us."
"Maybe it is Dawn and her people?" asked Satsu.
"No," Willow shook her head as she answered the young Potential Slayer while she looked out into the trees, "get ready. I think they'll be trying to surround us."
"If they're anything like Earth vampires," said Angel as he held up his Zat and scanned the immediate area with his eyes, and listened hard to the surrounding, "they'll probably be very strong. Of course considering the fact that they haven't fed in nearly… what… two thousand years?"
"Give or take," said Willow as she activated her subspace radio. She then nodded at Angel, who continued to warn the others that they needed to make the first strike against them count, while Willow was talking to Colonel Ferretti, Colonel Dixon, and Major Neely about the fact that they were about to be attacked at any time.
"Angel's right," said Buffy, as the Slayers took position next to the ones with the armour, and the flamethrowers; Buffy stood just behind Willow and Xander as she looked out in the darkness.
"Take off the night vision goggles," said Willow as she raised hers to her forehead, "we'll be lighting up this place, and we don't need anyone blinded."
"I hear them," said Angel as he vamped out and growled while raising his weapon while the others raised their goggles.
"I see movement up front," said Xander as he saw shadows moving against the trees in the distance, while at the same time hearing the sound of feet smashing through branches and dried leaves, and undergrowth.
"This is Major Rosenberg to all units," said Willow as she spoke into the radio while she too saw shadows moving in the distance, "we're going radio silent. If you haven't heard anything from us in say… thirty minutes? Then we're pretty much goners."
"Thirty minutes?" asked Faith as she shouted over her shoulder before snapping her head to the left when she noticed movement, "come on Red, I give it five minutes… ten minutes max before these things are dust."
"Fine, Faith" sighed Willow, who looked back at her wife, who gave her a huge grin. The redhead then went back on the radio as Dawn and the others had nervous smiles on their faces, "twenty minutes, give or take. Rosenberg out."
"Good luck, Major," said Colonel Dixon over the radio.
"Willow, Buffy," said Dawn over the subspace radio, "good luck."
Willow put away the subspace radio, and then raised her staff weapon. She pressed the trigger down, activating the device just as she, and the others, heard the sounds of growls coming from a few meters out. The team was nervous, that was something that Willow felt through her empathic abilities; everyone was nervous, and slightly afraid.
For the vast majority of them, they were coming face to face with vampires on a new world. Vampires that existed since before even Kakistos, vampires that haven't fed for thousands of years. They were dealing with vampires who were hungry… so hungry that despite all their preparedness, it was still possible that this team was going to die.
Willow looked around, and then smiled. She turned to Buffy and asked her and the others to throw their Solaris bombs into the air. Buffy just looked at Willow for a few seconds before realizing what the redhead wanted to do. She turned back and ordered her Slayers and Potentials to throw ten of the bombs into the air. Buffy took out one, while the others took out the spheres before saying the code word that activated the bombs.
"Solaris," said Buffy as the liquid inside the glass spheres turned red. She then threw the sphere into the air, as did Kennedy, Satsu, Rona, Molly, and Violet. The spheres rose into the air, and just stayed there while Willow looked up at them. The redhead then turned around and looked out into the moon lit forest in front of them. The redhead mentally threw the spheres all around them before Buffy and Kennedy screamed at everyone.
"Close your eyes!" The both of them yelled.
Willow closed her eyes as the spheres shattered, spilling the contents of the glass cases on the tree trunks, and the ground. The liquid started to glow red, and then there was a bright burst of yellow and white light that lit up the entire general area. The group kept their eyes closed shut for several seconds, waiting for the light that they could see through their eyelids to vanish.
And when it did, the air seemed still around the group of humans, Slayers, Potential Slayers, and a vampire. Willow looked over her shoulder while trying to blink away the spots of light she kept on seeing, while she asked Angel if he still heard anything.
"Up!" yelled Angel as he looked up into the tall trees.
"Fire!" yelled Willow as dark figures fell from the tall trees around them. The redhead fired her weapon, as did the others. The redhead could hear grunts behind her followed by growls and then animalistic whimpers, she could hear the sounds of the flamethrowers, the hiss of the arrows being fired through the air, the sounds of the plasma repeaters, and the screaming of the Staff Weapon she was holding in her hands. The vampires were incredibly agile, missing some of the blasts while getting hit by a few straw bursts. Although the redhead could see that they were hurt, the vampires still got up and ran after them.
There was one that was coming after her that she mentally slammed against a tree trunk, and then fired at another that was going after Diane, who was concentrating on burning down of the Kobol vampires. The Vampire was blasted back before Diane thanked Willow and turned the flamethrower on him after the one she was attacking earlier turned to dust. Willow looked around and heard fighting taking place all around them, and after doing a quick count.. she found that there were eleven vampires.
It was ten vampires a few seconds later, after Angel dusted one that had jumped over Caridad and then grabbed the canister containing the fuel on her back. The Potential Slayer was already down on the ground when Angel fired his Zat twice at the creature. Willow saw that there wasn't an effect, and was about to intervene when she was slammed into the ground by another vampire. The redhead mentally shoved it off her while firing a burst of white energy through it's chest, just in time to see Angel pounce on the vampire that had attacked Caridad. Willow quickly got up to her feet, and looked at her fallen staff weapon. She then saw Buffy and the others taking care of the vampires that were attacking them, while Faith managing to dust two vampires. The redhead then swung around, and smashed the side of the Staff weapon into the side of the vampire that she had fired the energy blast just a few seconds ago. She saw the hole in its chest, the redhead just having missed the heart, as she aimed her weapon and fired. The vampire howled in pain as the burst hit it on it's face, and then Willow ducked as Xander, from behind her, fired his repeaters at the vampire.
That vampire was the second last to turn to dust, with Amanda being the last Potential Slayer to kill one of the Kobolian vampires.
"Everyone okay?" asked Faith panting as she and Kara kept their arms raised, plasma repeaters aimed into the distance as they swept their surroundings.
"A bit pissed that I got jumped on," said Caridad as Angel helped her secure the canister on her back while she rubbed the back of her head nervously with one hand, "sorry."
"Don't be," said Angel gently as Buffy nodded her head, "this is a whole different situation. You did good."
Angel then looked at Willow and told her that he couldn't hear any other movement coming their way, "I'm guessing that the ones on the ground were dusted by the Solaris bombs, but there were a few in the trees. It was just bad luck that they were away from the bomb's range… these trees are tall enough and… and they could have sensed danger when they cracked open."
"Could be," said Willow as she looked at the way they needed to go, and then back at Angel and the others, "which is not good news."
Dawn's Group, Kobol, a few minutes later.
It had been nearly five minutes since Dawn and the group had last heard from Willow and the others. It would be a few seconds later, as the group continued to cautiously move forward, that the Subspace Radio's hissed on, and Willow's voice came through saying that they were still alive. Dawn was jumping up and down internally while Willow was informing them that everyone was alive, that the only injuries were a scratch or two on a few of their group. However, Dawn and the others grew concerned when Willow said that there were vampires that were using the trees for cover. She spoke of using the Solaris bombs to dust the vampires so that they didn't have to fight, but there were at most fourteen vampires that still made it through after using the trees as cover.
"Listen, Colonels," said Willow while they continued to move as fast as possible through the trees, "Zats don't work against these things… or at least I don't think they do. Angel shot at them twice, but had to finish them off the old fashion way."
"What's the old fashioned way?" asked Colonel Dixon.
"Wooden stake through the heart, sir," said Willow as Colonel Dixon nodded his head, "but… I mean the vampire was about to hurt a Potential Slayer and.. well sir, he didn't have a lot of time to think. He acted and killed the vampire."
"Which was the right thing," said the Colonel as Angel patted Caridad on the shoulder, the Potential looking at the vampire and grinning, "so what should we do."
"Continue firing, sir," said Willow, "these are old… ancient vampires. They're powerful… even my Staff weapon didn't kill them in one or two shots which, by all rights, should have been the case. Fire your Zats repeatedly. Are you near anything that could be used as shelter?"
"We're in the open," said Colonel Ferretti, "we haven't come across any caves, or anything we could use as shelter. But we're holding tight while we move… that'll have to work."
"Be careful, sir," said Willow, "we'll see you soon. Rosenberg, out."
Once Willow had put the radio back in its pouch, she looked back at Angel and asked him if he could run ahead of them as fast as possible. Nodding his head, Willow saw that Buffy was about to say something and interrupted her, "I know it's risky; but we know from the briefing that the cave was full of vampires. It makes sense that vampires went after Dawn's group.. maybe the vampires caught their scents or something. If these vampires that attacked us was part of that group, then it's kinda logical to assume that the others are heading for Dawn and the others."
"And without any effective weapons…" Buffy trailed off her conversation, not wanting to finish what she wanted to say as Xander walked over to her and held her hand. She was worried about the two teams that were in danger, but she was the most worried about Dawn. Buffy looked at the redhead, and could see that she was worried about Dawn as well; the brunette was their sister after all. She looked back at Angel, and asked him to run as fast as he could.
Faith told the ensouled vampire that they'll be alright if they happened to be attacked again, that they had survived the previous attack. And they would survive the next one.
"But Dawn's out there with the teams defenceless," said Faith as Angel nodded his head while Kennedy and Buffy handed him two Solaris bombs, while he handed the Zat back to Willow.
"Don't die, deadboy," said Xander as Angel gave him a smirk before showing him the ring he was wearing.
"Can't die, remember," said Angel before he ran as fast as possible through the trees. In a few minutes, Angel was already out of their line of sight before Willow and Faith ordered everyone to move. While they were jogging through the forest, Willow radioed Colonel Dixon and Colonel Ferretti, telling the both of them.. and the other Earthers who were overhearing them, that Angel was already on the way to them.
"And please tell the Cylons and the Colonials not to wig out at Angel," said Willow with a smile while she imagined Colonel Dixon's confused look while Colonel Ferretti, who had only heard about Angel from Dawn, chuckled before telling Colonel Dixon that Dawn will explain everything.
"Understood, Major," said Colonel Dixon shaking his head, "Dixon, out."
It had been thirty minutes since the last time they had talked to Willow's team. SG-2 and SG-13 continued walking through the forest while surrounding their tired Cylons and Colonials in a tight circle. Dawn had already told a stunned Colonel Dixon about who, and what, Angel really was, and she could help but chuckle when he looked over at Colonel Ferretti, who said that he already knew about the ensouled vampire from Dawn's stories about Sunnydale. That was only twenty minutes ago, and now Dawn could only sigh as she looked at the Zat in her hand. She then looked over her shoulder at Jon who was right behind her, and chuckled when he shifted his eyes upwards.
"Eyes front," whispered Dawn as Jon winked at her, before a grin formed on his face. Dawn smiled as she turned her head back to the front, when Colonel Dixon and Colonel Ferretti signalled for the entire group to stop. Dawn looked around while the other officers raised their Zats, as did Dawn who started to hear the growls and howls of the vampires in the distance. Dawn looked behind her at the Cylons and Colonials, the greatest of enemies, huddled together in fear while they whispered to each other. The young brunette, then turned her head forward whole the two Colonels were giving out orders.
Dawn remembered what Willow said about the Zats possibly not working against these vampires, but she also remembered the redhead saying that they didn't have time to get off more than two shots before one of the Potentials in her team could have been killed. The young brunette guessed that they'd need more than two or three shots at the Vampires to immobilize them; but given the fact that they had no shelter was a danger.
They were out in the open as Dawn aimed her Zat at figures moving in the distance. They were already dead if the young brunette couldn't think of anything. And then a thought came into her mind. She remembered her self-training as she looked back over her shoulder and shouted at everyone to pack in tighter, that she had no idea how long she could 'hold it up'.
"Hold what up?" asked Colonel Ferretti as he looked over his shoulder while Satterfield, Grogan, Hailey, Lewis, Jon, and others from the SG teams shouted that the vampires were getting closer.
"I need to concentrate," said Dawn as she put away her Zat, and held her arms by her side, "this will give us some breathing room while I try something."
"Try?" asked Colonel Ferretti.
"I mean.. I know it'll work, and…"
"No time," yelled Colonel Dixon as the horrific sounds were almost upon them, "pick your targets and fire."
The circle of SG teams around the Colonials and Cylons started to fire their blue hued weapons. Electronic sounds went off as blasts of blue energy flew into the night, hitting vampires that shrugged off the blast. While they were shooting, Dawn could see that the vampires were about a minute away… at best.
Dawn concentrated while Jon reached into her holster and grabbed the Zat. He then fired a Zat from each hand while glancing over at his girlfriend. He saw that her eyes were closed when he heard mumbling from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that a few of the Colonials and Cylons were praying, while a few others were looking down at Dawn's hands. He followed their gaze, and saw a baseball sized sphere of yellow light being formed in each hand. Jon saw that the ball's surface was fluctuating as Dawn took in a deep breath, and the spheres steadied themselves.
Jon then saw Dawn pull back her arm after she opened her eyes, and… as if she was throwing a baseball… swung her hand and released the yellow sphere.
"Fire in the hole!" yelled Dawn, as she and the others covered their bodies from the debris resulting from the medium sized explosion that occurred a few meters away. She then swung her arm towards the direction of the two Colonel's from where the vampires were surging forward. Everyone ducked and covered themselves from the debris as another explosion erupted a few meters in front of them.
It dusted numerous vampires, but not all of them.
As the dust started to settle, Colonel Ferretti was about to look back over his shoulder and ask Dawn what it was that she did. Before he could, however, they heard growls coming towards them again. Dawn already felt exhausted as she created another ball of energy; she remembered having only created smaller spheres the size of marbles, and those were just dissipated. What she knew she had to do now was fire off one after another, but she wasn't used to it. The young brunette fired off another ball, which resulted in an explosion that dusted some vampires while sending others flying every which way.
But it did stop the vampires as more surged forward.
'Crap,' thought Dawn as she steadied herself while Jon held on to her.
"Make sure I don't fall," whispered Dawn before she closed her eyes.
"Dawn?" asked Jon as he looked at the brunette, who he was holding on to, "Dawn?"
"Guys!" yelled Satterfield, as did the others, when the growling vampires leapt towards them.
It had been nearly an hour as Angel ran as fast as he could through the trees and the undergrowth. Without a need to breathe, Angel didn't have to worry about stopping for a break. He ran so fast that he may as well have been flying, the only thought in his mind being that there were people in danger and one of them was Buffy and Willow's sister. However, it didn't mean that Angel didn't feel any pain.. he felt his legs burning from al the continuous running, but he wasn't going to stop.
And it didn't take too long to get the scent of people, and hear growls and whimpers, combined with sounds of people crying and other shouting. Angel continued to run as fast as possible when he was suddenly slammed to the ground from his left. Activating his vampire face, he quickly got up and growled at the two vampires who had pushed him down. They were getting up off the ground before they attacked him. He punched and kicked them, but they were much stronger. They threw Angel into a tree trunk, and then they slammed him into the ground a few times before one of them held him still from behind while the other one grabbed a branch, broke it, and then stabbed Angel in the heart.
Angel could only smile as the Kobolian vampire's eyes went side in surprise. He head-butted the vampire behind him while taking the sharp branch out of his chest. He then turned around at the confused vampire who was growling while rubbing his forehead, and then stabbed the branch into its heart.
The ensouled vampire took it out just as the vampire turned to dust before he ducked a punch form the second vampire. He then punched on the Kobolian and pushed him to the ground while growling at him. Angel punched the creature repeatedly before the Kobolian vampire grabbed the sides of his head and flipped him over. With Angel below, the Kobolian vampire pressed the both sides of Angel's head inwards while howling at the ensouled vampire. Feeling the pressure growing in his head, Angel had no idea if the Ring of Amara could prevent him from dying if his head was crushed. Felling the branch in his hand, Angel turned the shard end up towards the Kobolian vampire's chest, and then pushed up.
Wiping the dust off his shirt and jacket as Angel got up, he shook his head before starting to run again. As he ran, Angel opened his hears and heard sounds above him, and behind him. He looked over his shoulders and saw three vampires landing onto the ground from the trees, and then immediately chasing him. The man kept on running through the trees with another four now chasing him, but Dawn's scent was getting closer and closer. Taking out the Solaris bombs as he neared the group, Angel could just make out over twenty vampires pushing down on a flaring energy field that surrounded the group.
"Close your eyes!" yelled Angel once he was only fifty meters away, and his hands were gripping tightly to the glass spheres, "Solaris!"
The Vampires that were growling and pushing, while some were standing on top of, the energy field that surrounded the group turned and howled at Angel. They saw the Earth vampire throw two Spheres onto the ground before jumping to one side. Everyone within the field closed their eyes as a bring yellow and white light shone, dusting the vampires who had just a second to give off a howl of pain. Once the light was gone, Angel got off the ground and ran to the group… he reached out and touched the field and looked on confused. It was then he saw Dawn who was lying in a young man's arms while her nose was bleeding.
"Dawn! Dawn!" yelled Angel just as he was slammed into the energy field. The man changed to his vampire visage just as some of the Colonial and Cylons opened their eyes, only to see a monster looking back at them.
And they screamed. Satterfield and the others were wiping their eyes before noticing that Angel was fighting with six vampires. They had surrounded him, and were snarling while Angel bared his fangs and growled back at them.
"Carl, Sirs," said Satterfield as she pointed at the vicious fight between Angel and the six vampires. The Colonels and the others saw that Angel was holding his own, even though he was smashed through the undergrowth and the trees. The watched as, one by one, Angel dusted the vampires until he changed to his human visage before turning around. The scratches on his face and body made by the vampires had already healed thanks to the Ring of Amara saw that Angel was wearing. He headed towards the group as the Colonials and the Cylons huddled together and started to get agitated.
"Please, I am not hearing to harm you," said Angel as Satterfield looked on in surprise at the man, since she wasn't aware that he spoke Ancient Greek, or at least Dawn hadn't said that he did, "we have another group of rescuers coming this way, and we're going to head out to meet them. I know you Colonials and Cylons are worried about what I am, and it's a bit complicated to explain everything right now. But I am on the side of good."
Angel then turned to the others and asked who were the two Colonels. Once introducing themselves, Angel told Colonel Dixon and Ferretti that Willow and the others were heading over, but it would be better if they had gotten a move on towards the cave. While Angel was talking to the Colonel from outside the field, Jon was gently shaking Dawn, who had used her burgeoning telekinesis to form an energy field around them, and whispered that Angel had arrived. The field flared, and then dissolved while the Cylons and Colonials mumbled amongst themselves had all the fascinating, and horrific, things they had seen so far.
"Angel?" rasped Dawn as she opened her eyes slowly. Hearing his name, Angel rushed to the young brunette, who smiled up at him.
"Come on up," said Angel as he carried Dawn in his arms. He saw that Jon was concerned, and told him that he didn't feel exhausted, unlike Jon and the others. He said that he'll carry Dawn while leading them to Willow and the others… and from there, they would be heading off towards the Stargate. The man turned to Jon and said, "she'll be safe, don't worry. Now we need to move out."
"You're right," said Colonel Ferretti.
"Alright, people," yelled Colonel Dixon as he waved his arm, "move out! Next stop, the Stargate."
TBC.