Alexander didn't recognize his surroundings and pulled out his scanner. His touch activated it and with a thought, it began scanning. It showed a number of unknown life forms. "Am I on a planet we've yet to catalogue?' he thought. But then the scanner registered humans as well 'That doesn't make any sense, if there are humans here, then we must have catalogued this world.' He switched the scan mode and found the signature of an energy wave. He ordered the scanner to analyze it. The answer was surprising. 'The scanner doesn't recognize it? Something new.' A girl wearing something unusual ran up to him.
"Xander!" She yelled. "Something happened. We need to find Buffy!"
"Are you speaking to me, Miss? I am Alexander, Captain of the Congeria."
"Xander, stop joking around! This is serious!"
"I am not joking, Miss. Who are you?"
"Xander!" She reached to touch him and her hand went thru his arm. He lifted the scanner and scanned her. "Interesting, an incorporeal life form."
"Xander! I went as a ghost and I turned into an ghost. You went as a soldier and I guess you turned into a soldier. You're name tag says Colonel Mitchell. Colonel, we need to find Buffy, we need her help."
"My name isn't Mitchell and my rank isn't Colonel." He glanced down. "And while this scanner is something I am familiar with, the rest of this equipment isn't of Alteran design and this is not my uniform. In fact, I wasn't wearing a uniform a few minutes ago. I was wearing a healing stasis suit. I'd been injured and was about to enter a healing stasis pod. I don't know where I am or how I got here, but I intend to find out."
"Never mind all that, Xander, we need to find Buffy! She went as a noblewoman and might not be able to take care of herself right now."
If someone was in trouble, then he needed to help, simple as that. He'd keep an eye out and hopefully figure out what was going on.
"Please call me Captain or Alexander, Miss. I'll help you find your friend and hopefully figure out what is going on. Give me a moment to determine if this weapon works, we may need it." He aimed it at a nearby stop sign and pulled the trigger. A pulse of energy hit the sign and left it a blackened ruin. "Good, it works, but it is poorly designed, it should have multiple settings. Where should we look for this friend of yours, Miss?"
She was staring at him with large eyes. "Um, she was a block over from me, escorting her kids, we should start there."
"Her kids?"
"We were on kiddie escort duty, all of us, taking kids around to the neighbors houses to celebrate Halloween."
"Ah, a cultural celebration. I understand. We have celebrations of our own. I met my wife at one such celebration, many years ago."
"You're married?!" Why did she sound horrified by that revelation?
"Is marriage taboo on your world?" He asked.
"No, but you're too young to be married! And other things."
"How old do you believe I am, Miss?"
"Sixteen, you'll be seventeen in two months."
"I'm just pass five hundred, middle years for my people."
"Five hundred! How long do your people live?!"
"Baring any injury that can not be healed by the healing touch or healing stasis pod or illness that can not be cured, 1000 years."
She was really staring now. 'If this world has humans on it, how do they not know of Alterans, we seeded the worlds of this galaxy with humans upon our arrival here.' He looked up at the night sky and then frowned, he didn't recognize any of the star configurations. "What is your world known as, Miss?" He asked the girl.
"Earth." His translator, translated that as Terra. "But Terra was abandoned over a million years ago, after the plague nearly destroyed our entire population. We seeded Terra, yes. But how did I get here? Terra is in the Avalon galaxy, more then 3 million light years from where I last was. Nevermind, we need to find your friend, I will figure it out later." He followed the incorporeal girl and the two made their way past several dwellings. She hurried forward when she saw another oddly dressed woman. 'They do not dress as Alterans or any of the human societies I am familiar with and so differently from each other. Perhaps because of this celebration, the girl mentioned?'
"Buffy! Are you alright?" The second girl screamed and fainted. "Is there somewhere we can take her, where she will be comfortable, while we determine what is going on?" Alexander asked.
"Yes, Buffy's home is close, this way." He picked up the girl who had fainted and followed the other one. She led him to one of the dwellings and he found the door easy to open. The three entered and he laid the unconscious girl on one of the couches.
"I should see if this dwelling is secure, someone else may have entered." Alexander raised the scanner and studied the screen for a moment. "We are the only life forms within this dwelling." He set it to alert if anyone or anything alive entered. Then he heard the sound of an energy discharge from outside, it sounded like the discharge from his own weapon. 'Perhaps someone with answers, but most certainly someone in need of assistance.' He headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" The incorporeal girl asked.
"Someone is in need of assistance, I will return as soon as I can." He opened the door and across the way, he could see a woman wearing a uniform similar to the one he was wearing, firing an energy pistol at a large hairy creature that was advancing on her. The energy pulse hit it and knocked it back several feet and it lay where it had landed.
"You will find sanctuary here!" He called out to her. She turned to look at him and he was astonished at what he saw. "Corda!" She hurried across the way to him.
"Alexander? What is going on? Where are we? How did we get here? Why am I dressed like this?"
"All excellent questions that I hope to find an answer to myself. Come in quickly, before another of those creatures attacks."
The incorporeal girl began to babble as soon as she saw Corda.
"Okay, you're not a soldier, you're a classmate of ours, your name is Cordelia."
"My name is Corda, Miss. I am the first officer of the Congeria, an Alteran warship."
"My wife." Alexander said.