A Legacy of Chaos

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and concepts that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Stargate, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Charmed and EVE Online characters and concepts remain the property of MGM, Mutant Enemy Productions, Spelling Productions and CCP Games respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Authors Notes: Allow me to give you my most humble of apologies for not doing anything with this fic for nearly nine months despite leaving the previous chapter on such a cliffhanger. I did not mean to leave it so long but not only did the story go and get itself, again, caught in the quagmire of writer's block but my Robotech muse was most insistent and wouldn't go away.

Finally, a quick reminder that conversation in italic is Xander thought speaking when he is in his capsule, after all since his lungs are full of liquid he cannot speak aloud when inside, so he just thinks what he wants to say, and the system translates it into a copy of his voice. Conversation in bold represents a Goa'uld talking.

Chapter Sixteen

Observation Lounge

Xander's Frigate

Alongside everyone else who wasn't called Buffy, who was still out cold though now laid out on a comfortable looking couch instead of being carried by Joyce, Rupert Giles watched in shock and awe through the viewport as what looked like an enormous purple bruise appeared in space. What on Earth is that he wondered for a moment, he guessed that this is what Xander had meant when he meant something like a cynosural field – whatever that was – forming nearby, before the phenomenon suddenly rapidly pulsed. And four large pyramid-shaped ships came charging into normal space.

"Holy crap its first contact," Tor exclaimed in shock.

"I hope they're friendly imagine what we could learn," Willow exclaimed excitedly, all thoughts of wanting to find a way to turn Xander back to normal being forgotten at least for now. Like many people she believed that any race advanced enough to have interstellar spaceships – well any species that wasn't human beings as from what Aura had told them before New Eden was a nest of vipers with various human-based groups constantly vying for power and dominance among themselves with capsuleers, like Xander currently but hopefully wouldn't be for too long was, being a powerful faction in their own right – would be advanced beyond the need for violence.

"Unfortunately, they are not friendly, Willow," Xander abruptly said from behind them, and they all spun around to see his holographic form was back. "All four ships have raised energy shields – fairly primitive ones by New Eden standards but still fairly powerful – and our powering up their weapons systems. Sensors indicate focused plasma blasters similar to Gallentean particle blasters though far more primitive."

"They're going to attack! B… b… but why would they do that it's not necessary," Willow exclaimed in a mixture of shock, horror and the usual desperate denial she would exhibit when something didn't fit in with her particular worldview. "They should be advanced beyond the need for violence."

Xander rolled his eyes at her again, once again making her inwardly scowl in annoyance, and actually appeared somewhat irritated. "Don't be so naive Willow," he said, "those ships belong to a species called the Goa'uld," surprised recognition flashed across Giles and Jenny's faces at that, "you know of them?"

"Yes, I do. They're a legend. The kind that you would use to frighten small children," Giles admitted, "thousands of years ago a group of possession demons called the Goa'uld dominated large parts of the planet but especially Egypt, the Middle East and most of Eurasia. They came from something called a chappa'ai, a dimensional gate of some kind and needed to possess a human host to become powerful as their natural form was serpentine, aquatic and quite vulnerable. They were driven away long ago through the efforts of the Slayer at the time and a powerful coalition of magic users and peaceful demons. The chappa'ai was then sealed and buried beneath the sands of the Giza plateau never to see the light of day again so they could never return to our dimension."

"Well, they're real though they are not demons though I can see why primitive humans would see them as such," Xander answered, "they're a parasitic race that invades a body and wraps themselves around the spinal cord at which point through neural override they take control of the host body. As for the chappa'ai – or Stargate as they call it now – it doesn't lead to another dimension but other planets through the generation of an artificial wormhole in both this and other nearby galaxies. It is also no longer buried at Giza but is currently in the possession of the United States Air Force and is located beneath the Cheyenne Mountain complex."

"How do you know all this," Giles asked even as he realized that it was perfectly reasonable for their ancestors, not knowing otherwise, to have considered the Goa'uld to be demons.

The hologram shrugged. "It is a long story and we do not have time for it now," he replied, before looking slightly distracted and with a jolt Giles realized that he was reading sensor data as it came in, "three of the Goa'uld warships are heading for the Asgard ship that is in orbit. The other is moving into bombardment position over the eastern seaboard of North America."

"But why would they attack," Willow exclaimed looking like she wanted to cry at having the dream of peaceful coexistence with aliens that she had long treasured being so thoroughly wrecked.

"Because Earth has been at war with them for nine months after a Goa'uld named Apophis attacked the facility under Cheyenne Mountain via the Stargate – or what they call Stargates anyway I look forward to showing them what Gallenteans and indeed anyone from New Eden call a Stargate – and abducted some people," Xander exclaimed, "and this is not the first time the Goa'uld have tried to attack with ships I detected debris consistent with two ships in orbit two days ago. Both showed signs of having been destroyed by sabotage."

"How could you tell," Kyle asked, "and can you do anything to stop them? This ship is armed, isn't it?"

"I detected traces of C4 plastic explosive in the debris field along with indications of basic fission based nuclear impacts likely a missile attack though no missile currently available on Earth is capable of even scratching those energy shields. And yes, this ship is armed but only lightly, it's only a frigate. I have four light lasers that can fire in either beam or pulse mode, but they aren't powerful enough to damage those shields, nor are those on the load of light combat drones I have in the other hold, while their weapons would rip right through my shields like they weren't there and destroy this ship.

"Now while dying would not be more than an inconvenience for me," Xander continued in a calm, matter-of-fact tone that told everyone who knew him, including Willow as much as she wanted to deny it, how comfortable he was with his new existence as a capsuleer, "as I would simply wake up in another body on the Fortizar it would be kind of permanent for you."

"So, you're not going to do anything?" Willow asked accusation in her tone. "You're going to let them slaughter and murder. Don't you care about us poor normal people?"

"Mind your tongue Willow you are already on a short fuse with me considering your behaviour during the conversation you had with Aura. She showed me the recordings of it afterwards," Xander snapped back making Willow reel back slightly as though she had been slapped as she wasn't used to Xander talking back to her and certainly not like that, "but I am going to do something to stop them but not with this ship."

"Then what?" Giles asked as Willow, recovering from her shock bristled and prepared to launch into a diatribe. "Willow enough."

"But…"

"I said enough," Giles repeated, "you will sit down and shut up or I won't let you have any more access to my magic tomes."

"Nor will I," Jenny added. Looking horrified at being cut off from her main sources of magical knowledge, as Kawalski only ever gave her little bits of information and a lot of lecturing on the responsibility that came with having magic, Willow sat down defeated and cowed into silence for now. The sight of Rosenberg put in her place making both Cordelia and the other former members of the pack smirk. Jenny looked pleased at Willow's compliance, shot Cordelia and the others a warning look telling them without words not to say anything, then she looked at Xander. "What are you going to do Xander?"

"We're going to rendezvous with another of my ships that Aura is sending this way on automatic pilot," Xander answered, "it will arrive behind the moon in another few minutes. When it does, we will dock with it, and I will transfer my capsule to the vessel. I will then move to engage the Goa'uld if the Asgard don't drive them away first."

"What kind of ship are we going to rendezvous with," Joyce asked speaking for the first time.

Xander simply smiled. "You'll find out," he said before his hologram shimmered and he disappeared. Through the viewports they could see that the ship was moving again, heading rapidly towards the moon…

…and what would be their first introduction to a New Eden battleship.

Goa'uld Flagship

A Few Moments Earlier

Sitting proudly on his pel'tac throne Apophis watched as the shimmering purple and blue tunnel of a Goa'uld hyperdrive generated conduit through subspace evaporated. After a few seconds of optical distortion caused by the sublight engines engaging and countering the phenomenon of hyperspace inertia Earth came into view ahead of him. It had taken a lot of creative shuffling of his fleets around to gather another fleet together – this time twice the size of his original force as he had underestimated the Tau'ri the last time, he would not make that mistake again, plus he had the ships thoroughly searched there was no SG-1 aboard this time to cause mischief and turn more of his Jaffa against him – so soon but he had managed it.

And now the world of the Tau'ri was at his mercy. Mercy that he would take a long time to extend to them, after all the trouble they had caused him, he would take great pleasure in razing every city, town and village on their planet to the ground. Then and only then would he consider extending the survivors the mercy of returning to what was the human species rightful place in the universe. As slaves to the gods. He found himself hoping that O'Neill survived the attack to come as he would take great pleasure in breaking him and maybe – after appropriate reconditioning – making him a new lotaur. It would be a most welcome triumph over that particular adversary.

"My Lord," Ber'el his new First Prime, who had been thoroughly checked for loyalty after his predecessors both turned out to be blasphemous shol'vah, reported from the main console. His tone of voice breaking Apophis out of his fantasies of the destruction he would soon unleash upon his enemies.

Now what, he thought in annoyance. "What is it," he demanded the tone of his voice, which promised severe pain if he had been disturbed from his plotting for something trivial, sending a wave of terror through the mighty Jaffa warrior.

"My lord our sensors are detecting an Asgard ship in orbit of the Tau'ri homeworld."

"What!" Apophis thundered coming to his feet even as he felt more than a small twinge of terror at the prospect of facing an Asgard vessel in combat. The diminutive grey aliens were far more powerful than his species was and even with four Ha'tak he could not be confident of victory against them. It would depend on what class of Asgard warship was in orbit as something like a cruiser he could deal with but if it was one of their motherships. Well then, his only choice would be to run away and do it right now since a Beliskner-class ship could easily wipe out his entire fleet with its ion weapons while his own plasma cannons sleeted ineffectively off its shields. "Show me."

"Yes, my lord."

The viewport shimmered, shifting from window to display screen mode, and brought in an image of the Asgard vessel in question. Immediately Apophis relaxed somewhat as he recognised the vessel as an Asgard Chariot-class cruiser, a lighter warship that had a far more limited armament compared to other vessels in the Asgard Fleet. While still a very formidable combatant unless the Asgard had seriously upgraded the weapons systems, for some reason, then it was no threat to his fleet. Oh, it could still take on a Ha'tak one on one but he had no intention of meeting whoever the Asgard commander was on those terms.

"Detach the other three ships to surround the Asgard vessel," he ordered, "once they are in position, they are to order the Asgard vessel to stand down and surrender. If it does not, then they are to fire on the vessel until its disabled then board and seize it."

"Yes, my lord. What are your orders for this ship my lord?"

"Take us into bombardment position over the planet. Have all cannons properly configured for orbital bombardment. Inform me when we are in position."

"As you wish my lord. My lord the Asgard vessel is hailing us."

Apophis raised an eyebrow at that before guessing that whoever the Asgard commander was he was going to attempt to bluff him into leaving this planet alone. Something that he had absolutely no intention of doing especially as this planet was not covered by the Protected Planets Treaty, thus the Asgard had no authority here. "Put it through."

The screen shimmered again and changed from showing the image of the Asgard vessel to the face of an Asgard backdropped by a glowing column of energy. "Greetings," the Asgard said, "I am Baldur commander of the Asgard cruiser Surtur. This planet is under our protection you will leave immediately."

"I think not," Apophis replied, "this world is not included in the Protected Planets Treaty and as such you have no authority here Commander Baldur. However, since I am feeling merciful today, I will allow you to leave peacefully."

"I must insist you leave," Baldur replied, "if you do not comply, I will be forced to open fire."

"You can if you wish but you have to realize that you are outnumbered and outgunned. If you engage us, we will simply destroy your ship."

"That is only a temporary arrangement I have already sent a message to the Asgard Fleet. They will be coming," Baldur answered, bluffing somewhat as due to the war with the technological terror that was the Replicators the Asgard Fleet had no vessels available to come to his rescue. It was why he had been only given a cruiser with which to investigate the disturbance that had led to the appearance of the space station in the outer system. Of course, the Goa'uld did not know that.

"I doubt that and even if they come, I will simply tell them what I told you. This world is not covered by the Protected Planets Treaty and thus you have to rite to deny me unleashing justice upon them for their actions against the Goa'uld. Now I tire of this conversation; if you leave orbit now, I will let you leave unharmed. If you do not, I will destroy you. The choice is yours."

Apophis made a hand gesture silently telling Ber'el to close the communications link down before the Asgard commander could reply. The communications screen disappeared, and a tactical display replaced it showing the three ships he had sent to surround the Asgard warship were in position.

"Any movement from the Asgard ship?"

"No, my lord, though our sensors confirm that it is powering up its weapons systems."

"Then Commander Baldur has made his choice and a very foolish choice at that. Instruct our other ships to proceed with my prior orders regarding the Asgard vessel."

"Yes, my lord."

"And how long until we reach bombardment position?"

"We will be in position momentarily my lord. We are beginning to target a large coastal city," Ber'el answered a moment before his readings changed. "We are in bombardment position now my lord. We await your command."

Apophis smirked he had waited so long for this. "Fire."

From the ventral heavy plasma cannons of Apophis new flagship bolts of whitish-gold plasma energy – enveloped in an electromagnetic bubble that shaped the bolt – shot forth towards the planet and the unsuspecting metropolis of New York. The bolts crossed the distance between the Ha'tak and the atmosphere nearly instantly and plummeted downward at ever increasing speed as the planet's gravity began to affect the four-meter-thick bolts of superheated naquada-generated plasma.

Within seconds the bolts pierced through the atmosphere and slammed into the great urban sprawl that was the city of New York. The first bolt striking the four hundred- and forty-three-meter-tall skyscraper that was the Empire State Building. Immediately the sixty plus-year old tower, much like it had in the recent Independence Day movie, shattered and erupted, dissolving into a wall of flames and flying burning debris. Additional bolts landed nearby demolishing towering skyscrapers and entire blocks of lower rise structures with devastating ease. Even as terror and panic began to grip New Yorkers more plasma bolts rained down steadily turning the city from a thriving metropolis – one of the largest in North America – into an inferno.

Nox Mothership

"NOOO!"

President Marcel's scream of rage and horror hung pregnant in the air of the room on the Nox mothership where he and General Hammond had been having an increasingly constructive – as they worked out the plan to reveal the Stargates existence to their world as demanded by the Nox and how they were going to get the capsuleer Alexander's assistance with the plan – conversation with Elder Ohper. A conversation that had been rudely interrupted by the arrival of four Goa'uld motherships.

Now the two Americans sat staring in a combination of horror, rage and utter helplessness as on a waterfall-like holographic screen they watched the Goa'uld flagship fire upon Earth. The massive bolts of plasma from its heavy ventral cannons – designed as they were with planetary bombardment in mind – slamming into New York again and again steadily razing the city to the ground. And they were here and could do nothing about it, nothing to stop the Goa'uld – who they now knew to ounce again be that bastard Apophis having watched the conversation between Apophis and Baldur – from annihilating New York. They knew Apophis would not stop there, once he had finished turning the Big Apple into a charnel house, he would do the same to another city, and another and another for hours and hours until there was nothing left on Earth.

"You have to do something," Hammond said turning to look at the Nox his eyes filled with the fires of anger and grief.

"There is nothing we can do General Hammond," Ohper answered honestly. "We have no weapons."

"Can you not make the Goa'uld weapons go away like you have done ours in the past?"

"Unfortunately, no General Hammond," Lya answered sadly, "when we do that all we do is use a variation of our transportation beam technology to dematerialize the weapons. Reducing them back to the very basic elements that all matter in the universe is made from. That ability however is relatively short range and even if we were close enough to the Goa'uld mothership to remove their weapons we would not be able to do so. There shields would prevent it."

"I see," Hammond answered realizing that that was something that Star Trek had actually gotten right, that a transporter beam could not penetrate an energy shield. He looked over at his commander and chief who nodded back. "If you cannot do anything else, please transport us back. With our world under attack, we need to be there, to do whatever we can to try and stop Apophis."

Ohper didn't respond immediately instead he looked at the two Americans closely. He could tell that both men knew that they were likely going back to die with everyone else on the planet, unless of course more Asgard ships showed up and blew Apophis out of the sky or Alexander did, and that they were comfortable with that decision. There is a lot more of the Alterans in them than we thought, he thought before finally nodding in agreement.

A gesture summoned up a holographic keyboard and he accessed the transport system and returned both Americans to the places they had taken them from.

"You do know that they will die down there," Antaeus said softly, watching the holographic screen as Apophis began firing at another city somewhere north of the firestorm that New York had become. Another screen showed the Surtur engaged in battle with the other three Goa'uld motherships its ion cannon and laser cannons lighting up the shields of the motherships but lacking the power needed to penetrate them. Though it was obvious that they were causing considerable damage from the way the glow of Cherenkov radiation against the Goa'uld shields was steadily growing brighter. Though the same could be said for the Surtur as the Asgard cruisers shields were glowing like a nova under heavy bombardment.

"I know but it is their choice," Ohper replied prompting the younger Nox to nod in understanding and acceptance. One of the major beliefs that the Nox had long shared with the now long since ascended Ancients was the importance of free will and the fact that every being in the universe had the rite to choose their own fate.

"They might not," Lya pointed out as another holographic screen powered up showing a vaguely H-shaped ship – that according to their sensors was over a kilometre long, heavily armed and had a weaker version of the same extremely advanced fusion power sources they'd detected on Alexander's Citadel – trailing streams of ion exhaust as it headed straight as an arrow towards Apophis ship. "Alexander is moving in to assist in defeating Apophis."

The three Nox exchanged a look before settling down to watch what happened next. Having seen the technology that Alexander had access to they didn't doubt that had what he needed to stand up to and defeat Apophis. The question was how quickly he could do it; they didn't have to wait for long as it was at that moment that Alexander opened fire.

Xander's Frigate

A Few Minutes Earlier

The moment that the Astero docked with the Megathron-class battleship that Aura had flown remotely to the dark side of the moon Xander lost all his data feeds leaving him back in his physical body gazing at the blue fluid-filled environment of the hydrostatic capsule around him. Oh, great now what's gone wrong, he thought as he had planned to just transfer the capsule between the frigate and the docking station on the battleship. There was a rapid transit tube built into the ship for just that purpose, especially as a frigate was meant to act as an emergency escape craft for the capsuleer and their crew should their battleship begin sustaining critical damage and be unable to retreat from whatever battle it was in.

A faint thrum that he felt more than heard, since his ears were full of fluid, he couldn't hear anything really outside the capsule, ran through the chamber around him and he saw light beginning to travel along the cables connecting him to the ship as they began powering back up. A moment later a by now familiar feeling of warmth began to suffuse his current body as his cybernetics began coming to life again. His eyes closed as awareness of his fragile flesh-and-blood self-faded away a moment before he was once again looking at the HUD-like command-and-control interface. He immediately noticed the differences from the one he had previously been looking at/manipulating just by thinking about it.

It was immediately obvious that it was the control interface for the battleship, the details on available weapons systems, shield strength and armour integrity were all consistent with those of a battleship, yet he knew that the capsule was still docked with the frigate sitting in a specialist bay on the underside. Clearly Aura had set the system up this way, as Alexander's memories were clear that this was not the normal procedure, likely so he would have a quicker response time. He made a mental note to speak with her about it later as he quickly set the navigational computer to work calculating a rapid course that would take him into Earth orbit.

The course plot appeared in his awareness almost immediately and with a thought he told the ship to follow it. Immediately the engines came to life and the battleship began moving along the course. While they accelerated, he reviewed the options that he had available to deal with the attacking Goa'uld ships. The battleship had a full load out with all eight heavy turrets fitted with heavy neutron cannons, his sixteen secondary medium turrets were all fitted out with standard neutron blaster cannons and all the point defence gatling railgun emplacements had full loads of ammunition.

Seeing they were beginning to crest the luna horizon a thought had a feed from the external camera and sensor drones being piped to Giles and the others in the observation lounge so they could see what was going on. It was not a pretty sight as the one Goa'uld ship was bombing the crap out of the Eastern Seaboard and if he remembered his geography right – which he would since one of the little perks that came with this whole capsuleer thing was a perfect memory – the huge fire he could see burning on the east coast was where New York city had been. The vessel was firing on what he believed to be Boston, clearly whichever Goa'uld was in charge was prioritising the biggest cities first on that coast first and would move on to others – including Washington DC itself – once he or she was done.

A scan of the wider area showed that the other three were still engaged with the Surtur, which was taking a right pounding as his sensors confirmed her shields were down to fifty percent but was dishing it right back out. Even as he watched one of the motherships lost shields and seconds later it dissolved into a massive fireball as Baldur pumped a salvo of ion bolts and some type of high-powered laser beams into it.

Deciding that the ship firing on Earth was the most immediate threat he began targeting it with his heaviest guns, while simultaneously launching a wave of Ogres heavy combat drones that he immediately sent to assist the Asgard vessel. Xander was sure his physical body raised an eyebrow when the ship he was targeting didn't react to being locked onto. Cocky aren't you, he thought a little incredulous that the Goa'uld wasn't reacting almost as if he wasn't concerned.

Giving the mental equivalent of a shrug he waited until the lock on was confirmed, which happened almost immediately though at the same time it seemed to take an agonizingly long time, and he was close enough to guarantee a hit – even if it didn't do much in the way of damage as one of the few drawbacks that there were with Gallentean particle weapons it was the fact that in comparison to Amarian lasers they were short ranged though that was generally offset by their greater damage output– he fired sending a quartet of yellow-green bolts of neutronic energy at the Goa'uld ship.

The bolts slammed into the alien warship almost immediately making its shields flare brilliantly and making the vessel visibly shudder with the force of the hits. Finally seeming to realize that it was under attack the Goa'uld ship ceased its bombardment of the planet and began moving up into a higher orbit and beginning to target him. Xander didn't let it instead he fired a second salvo, then a third. The Goa'uld shields stopped the second salvo, though from the brilliant glow of Cherenkov radiation around them it barely managed to do so. The third salvo pierced the shield and slammed into the hull with searing force.

What happened next stunned him as it was completely unlike anything he had, or Alexander who had seen a hell of a lot in his time as a capsuleer, ever seen before. The moment the neutron blasts hit the hull the Goa'uld ship immediately began to glow first at the points of impact, then the glow spread across the entire hull of the vessel getting brighter and brighter as it did so. Sensors recorded a phenomenal build up of energy coming from the vessel a moment before the ship detonated with almost unbelievable force.

"What on Earth happened there?" he thought spoke incredulous, even as he adjusted course and began to move to fire upon the next Goa'uld ship.

"I have no idea Xander," Aura responded immediately, "I am analysing the sensor data now. But I do not hold out much hope of coming up with an answer to this puzzle. The cannons shouldn't have destroyed a ship of that weight class like that."

"Might be something to ask the Asgard or the Nox later."

"Indeed, and I am sure that the answer will be fascinating."

"Agreed," Xander replied even as he locked onto the next Goa'uld ship and opened fire. It's shields already weakened by the Surtur's weapons fire the Goa'uld died almost immediately, the shield offering absolutely no protection to his cannon fire. Within moments the pattern repeated itself as the vessel glowed nova bright before detonating. "Sheesh what do the Goa'uld build their ships from explodium?"

"Unknown," Aura replied as the last Goa'uld ship, releasing it was now both outnumbered and outgunned decided that the time had come to exercise the better part of valour. It generated one of those strangely cynosural field like rifts that seemed to the normal method of faster than light travel in this reality and disappeared into it, the rift vanishing behind it.

The battle, well more a skirmish by New Eden standards, was over.

With a thought Xander began the process of powering down and securing the weapons systems. While with another part of his mind he generated a new holographic avatar to speak to Giles and the others with.

"Are you all alright," he asked them.

"We're fine Xander," Giles answered, "though why did the Goa'uld ships explode like that? Do your weapons normally do that?"

"No, they don't not unless you're firing something like fusion or antimatter rounds from a railgun. Certainly, particle weapons like lasers shouldn't cause such blasts. Normally when starship shields fail, armour can take a few hits giving it time to either disengage and either hide to let its shield generator recharge or if you've had enough to warp away."

"It almost looked like something in the hull reacted to the energy blasts," Dawn said clearly musing aloud. "And badly at that. Though without knowing more about what the Goa'uld ships were built from I wouldn't care to speculate on how or why it happened. Xander, do you mind if I have a look at the sensor data?"

"Not at all Dawn star here you go,"Xander replied, remembering what Giles had said about Dawn retaining the powers and intelligence of the Fantastic Four's Susan Storm, before making a new screen appear near her with the requested data. "The screen is interactive Dawn so you can scroll and manipulate the data however you want."

"Wow cool thanks Xander," Dawn replied before immediately getting to work, a look of absolute scientific fascination on her face. Xander made his holographic avatar smile in amusement at the sight of the previously very reluctant to do even do her homework Dawn diving into the scientific puzzle. After a few moments a slightly pensive, but at the same time very intrigued looking, Willow joined her and soon both girls were in science heaven.

"So now what," Cordelia asked speaking for the first time.

"Now we head back to the Fortizar," Xander answered even as he had the navigational computer begin plotting the best course back to the station, "if anyone on Earth wants to talk to me well the Asgard and the Nox both know how. And they should be able to finish translating the first contact package I sent them after they sent one to me soon. I already have guest quarters prepared for all of you."

"Oh, good I'm exhausted," Cordelia commented getting nods of agreement from all around. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Not long. We'll be docking in about fifteen minutes," Xander replied, "I'll speak with you again just before we dock. But now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and fly the ship."

Without waiting for a response, he discontinued the holographic projection of an avatar and focused on preparing the ship for warp flight. After a moment the navigational array confirmed that the course was plotted and thus, he gave the command.

"Warp drive activated," Aura reported a moment before the depleted vacuum bubble of the warp field formed around the ship and stabilized. Moments later they were shooting across the system at faster than light velocities on course for Neptune, bed and eventually a long and very overdue conversation.

Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. Before anyone says anything, Apophis is well and truly dead, he wasn't able to escape his ship before it exploded due to the violent interaction between the naquada in the hull amour and the disruptive effects of particle weapons. Though he has done considerable damage and there is no way in hell that the US Government will be able to cover up the fact that they have been attacked from space or that the attack only stopped because another party intervened and blew the attackers to bits. Which could make things quite interesting going forwards. Until next time.