[FFML] [FIC][BtVS][SG-1][MAU] NEW: Worthless 9/?

[Gandalf The Green]

***

Friday Morning, Sunnydale Motorlodge, Sunrise.

Half an hour after their morning run, Sam was sitting at the diner with the
rest of SG1 with her laptop open in front of her. Her assistant, Crysta, at
the SGC had forwarded to her a collection of IP Addresses to servers that
housed most of the city's databases, as well as their logons and passwords.
She was almost certain that the network administrators for those systems
were unaware of those particular accounts, given the nature of the names,
such as "plokta," "theanykey," and her favorite "id10t." Sam had already
finished most of her breakfast, and was just nibbling on her muffin with her
coffee while Jack and Teal'c were on their second helpings.

"General Hammond had Crysta send me the police report on the bank robbery.
There isn't much here, other than a list of suspects. The primary suspects
at the moment are a group of high school students, and the other primary
suspects, gang members on PCP, seem to have been eliminated because it was
daylight. From what Admiral Harris put in his report, which was a lot more
complete and thorough by the way, the police are calling them the primary
suspects, and ignoring the reports about the person in armor actually being
the one to rob the bank."

"What I want to know is how you rate an assistant?"

"Well sir, Daniel and I both rate assistants because we are geeks."

"I see."

"And we filled out the paperwork."

Daniel chuckled quietly before getting kicked under the table, "Ow. Was that
really necessary Jack?"

"What?" was his only reply.

"Anyway, sir, you could likely get an entire staff of your own, if you just
filled out the paperwork. I mean, you are a Colonel and second in command of
the SGC," Sam continued.

"Yeah, but I don't know that I'd really want a whole office full of Walters
running around."

"Walter is very efficient, and you might always get lucky and get someone
like Crysta instead."

"She is a cute little thing, isn't she?" Jack looked over at Sam before
asking, "So tell me, every time you see her, do you have the urge to give
her a pat on the head and a cookie?"

"Um, no sir, and I wouldn't recommend it. I know she can kick my butt, and
I'm fairly certain that she could take Teal'c."

"No way. Never happen."

"Sir, you do know that she teaches Kung Fu?"

"That little girl knows kung fu? She's what, four foot ten and eighty five
pounds soaking wet?"

"She told me when she first arrived that she's been studying Kung Fu since
she was four, so going on twenty years now. She is also getting ready to
take her First Dan rating in Aikido, so yes, I think she could take the four
of us. The only reason she didn't qualify for Off World missions is because
she just can't pass her marksmanship tests. Put anything that could even
pretend to be medieval in her hands and she'll go to town on you, but she
just can't shoot straight. She did pass the armory qualification, and she
beat my field-striping and reassembly time."

"She's really that good?" Sam nodded. "Damn. Guess that'll teach me not to
judge a book by its cover." Jack seemed to think about it for a few moments,
"Ok, Daniel and I are going to walk around town, see what there is to see
around here. Sam you play with your computer some more, see if you can't
find out more about our friendly neighborhood Fleet Admiral. Teal'c, watch
her back. I don't know why, but this town gives me the creeps."

As Jack and Daniel walked out of the motel room, Daniel asked, "So Jack,
how's the shoulder holding up?"

"Good, little annoying this morning, but it works again, thanks to the doc."

 

***

Other side of town

"Well, that's the last of the witnesses from the police reports, all we have
left are the suspects."

"Gangs on PCP aren't exactly easily identified, and if they were, I don't
know that they would be much use. Other than them, we just have a few High
School students and the school's Librarian. According to the school's
schedule, he should be arriving shortly, and then we could probably catch
the kids before class. It's not like we've never had an under aged user
before."

"We did a pretty good sweep of the town yesterday, and I don't know about
you, but I certainly didn't see any indications of gang activity. The city
itself is nothing like LA. There are no cultural factors that would lead to
gang activity, no widespread poverty, very few areas of decreased property
value and the few that are there are industrial."

"It is an interesting contradiction, but not one that we need to worry about
at the moment. What I want to know is can I shoot Zed when we get back? He
picked 'Ben Dover' as my cover name this time."

B chuckled. "No you can't shoot the boss, although, I've been the butt of
his humor myself. Everyone has, so it's a bit like a rite of initiation.
You're one of us now, and this is his way of saying 'ok, maybe you aren't as
worthless as I thought' as it were. Heaven forbid he ever actually says
anything nice about anyone."

"Fine, take all my fun out of it. Then I guess we had better go see what we
can dig up about those kids."

 

***

Sunnydale High School Library

"I mean, like, some of them. Like parts." Angel corrected Giles.

Of course, this lead Cordelia to complain, "It was horrible. Angel saved me
from an arm. God, there were so many parts, they were everywhere. Why are
these terrible things always happening to me?"

Giles continued to ignore her whining, "So much for all our theories. Why go
to all the trouble to dig up three girls only to chop them up and throw them
away? It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, what I saw didn't add up to three whole girls. I think they kept some
parts." Angel offered, hoping it would help. "And this was no hatchet job.
Whoever made those incisions really knew what they were doing, like they had
practice doing it."

"I see. Well, I don't see what else we can do right at the moment. We will
of course continue to investigate, however, Xander asked that I give you
each one of these, and should you see Amy, that you send her to see either
Buffy or myself." Giles removed from his desk two com-badges and handed one
to Angel and the other to Cordelia.

"A bit simple for jewelry," Cordelia complained before picking it up. "Too
heavy to be plated, Giles, how did the Geek afford real gold? And is this
platinum? Why the hell is he giving me real jewelry?"

"And I don't know what you've been telling that boy Giles, but I don't swing
that way. How did he managed to get his hands on what appears to be rather
expensive jewelry though?" 

Giles gave a brief sigh at the comments made by the two, "Yes, Cordelia,
that is made from Gold and Platinum. And I have one as well." Giles took a
moment to pull his from his pocket, briefly showing it off, before replacing
it. "It is not however, jewelry. It is a communications device, and once the
sun has gone down tonight, and Cordelia has finished her responsibilities
towards the school for the football game, we would like to fill the two of
you in on a number of changes that have occurred since last Thursday. A good
deal has happened since we have last seen you two, and they are things you
need to know about. However, it will have to wait until later, I will be
meeting someone from the government this morning, and think it best if you
weren't here when they arrived. They appeared to be government agents when
we spoke on the phone. They claimed to be investigating the bank robbery on
Wednesday."

Angel nodded, "Alright, I'll meet you here after the game."

Cordelia, once more centered upon herself, said "You know, I think I've got
some earrings at home that could go with this."

Giles once more released a sigh, "To use the communications features of the,
um, of the com-badge I believe it's called, you simply tap it and speak the
name of the person you wish to talk to. Xander, Willow, Mrs. Calendar,
myself, Buffy, Dawn, Mrs. Summers, and now you two, all have these devices,
and they can be used to talk to any of us or to summon assistance, should
you need it. Yes, Mrs. Summers has been introduced to the darkness, and has
resources that may be helpful, that we did not previously know about."

Angel nodded and stashed it in his inside jacket pocket before leaving
through the sewers.

Cordelia however, was barely paying any attention to them and as Angel left,
she left through the front door.

 

***

Agents B and D entered the library shortly after Cordelia had left.

"Dr. Giles?"

Coming from his office, he replied "Yes?"

"I'm Agent Barker, and this is Agent Dover. As we stated over the phone, we
are investigating Wednesday's bank robbery."

"Yes, of course. May I see your identification please?" he asked politely.

After examining the offered documents and handing them back, "Well, as I
said on the phone, I'm not sure how much help I can be for you. I was
nowhere near the event, and not a witness."

Agent Dover countered, "Yes, we are aware of that, however, what we wish to
know is the current location of several persons who were spotted in the
vicinity, namely 'Alexander Harris,' 'Buffy Summers,' and 'Willow
Rosenberg.' Each is listed in the police report as possible suspects, and by
reviewing their police files, it was discovered that you are apparently a
good friend of theirs, and thus should know of their whereabouts."

Giles took a moment to examine the two men, and made a decision. "While I
may have some ideas as to where they may currently be, I am not currently at
liberty to divulge that information to you. You may well be government
agents, but I do not know what your security clearance might be, nor have I
been informed that I have permission to speak to you about those children.
Children who fall under the British Official Secrets Act, and with the
permission of your State Department, any and all information about them,
beyond what is already in their police reports, is classified. That is all I
have to say on the subject.

"Was there anything else you wished to discuss?"

Agent Baker took the hint that he had stumbled upon something above his pay
grade, but decided to try a different tactic. "What do you know about the
meteor shower last week?"

"Quite a bit, and very little. What do you wish to know?"

"Please sir, start with the basics, and we can go from there?"

"Very well. As far as other astronomers have been able to determine, the
rogue shower came from the direction of the Pleiades, and as such, not
entirely unusual. The likely cause for the shower is several large
collisions in the main asteroid belt. Given the size of the objects when
they entered the atmosphere, the subsequent detonations into smaller
fragments, it is unlikely that many, if any, fragments survived to impact.
The most likely composition of the shower, given previous showers from that
vicinity, was mostly rock and minerals. Ice is a possibility, but far less
likely."

Agent Dover interrupted at this point, recognizing that the report was
nothing more than educated guesses, "So you believe that it was a completely
natural phenomenon?"

"I have no data to suggest otherwise. The only slightly unusual aspect of
the shower was that nobody knew it was going to happen ahead of time, and
that it came from a rather highly observed portion of the sky. Someone
should have seen these asteroids coming, but apparently nobody did. It is
unusual, but not unheard of, we get one or two of these a year.
Unfortunately, as the most advanced telescope I have access to at the moment
is a 254mm f/5 Schmidt-Newtonian on an equatorial mount, I was unable to see
much of the shower itself. I was able to see a few nice fireballs however."

"I see. Just how does an astronomer and linguist wind up caring for the
library of a high school in a foreign country?"

"Why, in the usual way, I'm sure. One answers the call of their Queen."
Giles looked rather annoyed at the question, and its implications, and
continued, "Now gentlemen, as you have mentioned, I do have a Library to
look after, so if you would show yourselves out."

 

***

Defiant, Sickbay

Dawn was starting to become annoyed. The doctor wouldn't let her off the
bio-bed. 

"You are still recovering from your injury. You're not leaving my sickbay."
He stated again.

"And I'm done telling you that once I leave, I'll be done recovering. If you
do not remove yourself from my path, I'll deactivate you. I have alternate
means of accelerating my recovery and I intend to use them."

"And I don't know what these means are, so I will not allow one of my
patients to expose themselves to unknown technology, especially when they
are already injured."

"It's not unknown, and it made you." Dawn attempted to get up again, but
there was a force field restraining her. "Doctor. Remove this force field
immediately. I have the right to refuse any further treatment, and I am
doing so. Release me."

"I am sorry that I can't do that at this time. You are clearly too
emotionally distraught from this incident to be making reasoned decisions,
as evidenced by your desire to put yourself at further risk for injury
before you've even partially recovered, and I can not in good conscience
allow my patient to do that. Therefore you will remain here, under
observation and in restraints until I decide that you are no longer a danger
to yourself or others. Please do not make me sedate you."

"Enough. Computer, Deactivate Emergency Medical Hologram."

"Now wait just a da." he managed to get out before he fully shut down.

"Computer, release bio-bed force field."

The computer responded, "Unable to comply. Bio-bed controls are not part of
the voice control interface for security purposes."

Dawn sighed in frustration before taking a deep calming breath and entered a
brief meditation to center her emotions. Once more calm and in control, she
embraced the force and used it to manipulate the controls for the bio-bed,
deactivating the restraining force fields, and releasing herself.

Dawn then made her escape from the sickbay, and headed for, well damn. She
didn't know where the MAU was at the moment. Walking to a com-panel, she
activated it. "Dawn to Xander, where is the MAU right now?"

"Main Engineering, the Engineering and Command Holograms are still searching
for a way to scan for deactivated MAUs. What's up?"

"I am. I am not sitting around sickbay for two weeks recuperating, when I
can use the MAU and be fully healed inside ten minutes. I was too tired last
night to think of this with everyone crowding me."

"Dawn, where are you? I'll come help you down to Engineering so you actually
make it there, ok?"

"Sure, I'd appreciate that. I'm just outside Sickbay."

"Ok, see you in a minute. Xander out."

As soon as the channel was closed, Dawn mumbled "I am definitely adding some
healing after this."

 

***

Sunnydale Memorial Hospital

Ms. Howe entered the hospital room where Bob was recovering from surgery to
put his arm back together. She checked the boy's chart before speaking to
him. "Broken Ulna, fractured Radius, dislocated Radius, dislocated
trapezium, compound fracture of the Humerus, dislocated Humerus, dislocated
and broken clavicle. My, my Mr. Wiley, when you get the crap beat out of
you, you certainly don't mess around.

"I should inform you that I am recording our conversation, in order to
protect us both from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous persons.

"My name is Ms. Howe, I am an attorney. I am here to interview you. I have
already spoken with Mr. Blaisdell, and have his statement. He was most
cooperative. I hope that you will also choose to be cooperative." Sitting
down, she pulled a laptop from her bag, and opened it. "I would like to help
resolve this situation Mr. Wiley, but to do so, I'm going to need your
assistance. I already know everything that happened, so what I need from you
is your perspective on the events. I know that you've broken several laws,
and this was confirmed by Mr. Blaisdell, so the only thing that you can do
by denying the events, is make my job, my job being to help, more difficult.
You don't want to make my job more difficult, do you Mr. Wiley?"

Bob, being the future brain surgeon that he was, replied rather dully with a
polite, "No ma'am."

"No, I didn't think so. Now, I want you to tell me what happened, in your
own words. Let's start with where you were when Mr. Blaisdell approached
you?"

"Uh, I picked him up at his house cause his da wouldn't let 'em drive on the
pain killers 'e was taking, on accounta his busted hand. 'E told me dat we
was gonna get some payback, maybe have a little fun with 'is girl, dunno her
name really, just that she's a redhead. Never noticed her before, but she's
got a nice bod. 

"Uh, lesse, we was lookin fer her round the school 'fore homeroom, and saw
her leave da basement, by th' time we got near her, she was too far away to
drag back, so we waited till she was alone, den dragged her inna storage
closet. Bitch bit me onna hand, er, sorry miss, um, well, like I says, she
bit my hand, and I popped her a goodun inna face. She fell over, and Larry
yelled at me some, then told her how it was gonna be, how she was gonna sex
us good or we'd beat her some more."

Ms. Howe interrupted Bob, "You told her that you intended to have sex with
her, by force if necessary?"

"Yes ma'am. Dunno what happened den really. Alla sudden she was standin
again, and she was scary too. Never been 'fraida much, coach says it's what
makes me such a good wrestler; guess I may not be doin that no more. Doc
says it'll be about a year before I'm cleared fer sports again."

"That's a shame. I understand you were quite good. You were saying how Miss
Rosenberg scared you? Was it something she said, or did?"

"Well, like I said, not too sure what it was, just that I was scared of her,
too scared really to think, till she moved, and when she did, she moved real
fas', and kicked Larry inna nutz, then busted 'im inna chops. I made a grab
fer her, ta get 'er offa him, an dat's when she hurt my hand. Den she broke
my arm a whole bunch and when she left, she tol me ta get Larry to da Nurse,
den call a lawyer cause she was gonna call da cops. I know she muttered
somethin as she left, but I couldn make it out. I woke Larry up an we gots
are selves to da Nurse, like she said. 

"We tol da Nurse we was inna fight, but coach tol us lotsa times not ta give
details, so we didn't. Nurse noticed my arm was bleedin, and musta figured I
needed da hospital, cause she called the ambulance. 

"I been here since, and dey been takin good care a me.

"I s'pose I should say dat Snyder came by da next day, find out if da cops
had been by, if I'd talked to anyone 'bout what happen. Tol him 'course not,
I listen to da coach. Snyder tol me da he'd suspended da girl, and expected
to be able to expel her fer what she done. Tol me that he'd have someone
come git a statement from me. Um guessin dat's you doin it."

"Alright. I think I've got enough to work with for now. I'll have my
assistant make a transcription of this interview, so if you would sign this
document for me, I'll let you get back to recovering."

"Whasit say?"

"Basically, the document states that everything you've said to me, that was
recorded for transcription, was the truth to the best of your knowledge."

Bob nods and signs the form.

Picking up the form and putting all her things away, she stopped as she was
leaving the room. "I'd like to thank you Mr. Wiley. I'm sure that Miss
Rosenberg will thank you for your honesty as well. You've certainly made my
proving her case a lot easier."

"Wait, I thought you said you worked fer Snyder?"

"No, you said I worked for Snyder. I only stated I was an attorney. It is
not my duty to educate you as to the great many things you do not know. It
is my duty however to do the best job for my clients I am capable of.
Educating you would have been contrary to providing the best legal services
to my client.

"I do believe that I'll be seeing you in court Mr. Wiley."

Bob really didn't know what to say to that, and as the pain was starting to
get through the drugs again, he pushed the button for another dose of
painkillers. Shortly thereafter he was asleep again.

Ms. Howe however, was smiling quite widely as she walked into Mr.
Blaisdell's room and repeated the performance, again walking out with what
was tantamount to a signed confession from both boys.

 

***

Law Office of Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe

Xander, dressed in what Cordelia might have called 'casual business' style,
walked into Willow's lawyer's office. Stopping at the receptionist's desk,
"My name is Xander Harris, I am told that Ms. Howe wanted to speak with me?"

The receptionist replied, "I'm afraid she's not in the office at the moment,
however, she is due back presently. If you'd like, I can schedule an
appointment, or you can have a seat."

"I can wait a little while." Xander then took a seat to wait.

Ten minutes later a grinning Ms. Howe walked into the office and picked up
her messages from the receptionist, who also pointed to Xander who was
waiting for her.

"Why don't you follow me back into my office Mr. Harris? And Anita, please
have Daren see me immediately?"

Xander followed the lawyer to her office, where he asked. "By the size of
that grin, I presume that you have good news?"

"Very good news, but you'll have to get that from Miss Rosenberg. I'll be
calling her right after we are done here, so there shouldn't be much delay
for you finding it out."

"Fair enough. Willow told me that you wanted to ask me some questions?"

"I'm looking for background information. The history between you and Willow,
how Larry and Bob fit into things, what the problems with Vice Principal
Snyder are and may be, that sort of thing."

"Alright. Well, I met Willow on the first day of kindergarten. We shared a
box of crayons, and have been friends ever since. We even recently started
dating fairly seriously." 

Xander continued to tell the attorney of various encounters with Larry over
the years since they had met in first grade. They were only interrupted
briefly when Daren came in. Ms. Howe handed him the cassette tape from her
recorder, told him to make three copies and get the original into the safe
before making a transcript of the two conversations.

Xander explained how Larry tried very hard to be such a big shot. Bob was
just one of Larry's many lackeys and was probably the only one that was
convenient or he likely would have had at least one more person there to
watch his back, probably two or three since his own hand had been broken
Friday when he had hit Xander.

"Thank you Mr. Harris. Do you have a phone number I can reach you at should
I have any additional questions?" Ms Howe asked.

"Sure." Xander scribbled down the number for the Mansion. 

"In that case, I had better let you get out of here, so I can call your
girlfriend and tell her about my morning."

"Thank you ma'am, and have a good afternoon."

Xander left the office, and drove back to the mansion. He was, oddly enough,
needing to get ready for a double date with Dawn and Willow. They were going
to the football game later, and he had yet to figure out who Dawn was going
with so he would know how growly he needed to be with the other guy. Willow
had refused to say when she had told him about it.

 

***

The two agents walked up to the Rosenberg home and rang the doorbell. After
waiting a minute without response, they tried again, only to still receive
no response. They left to see if they could find one of the other two.

Fifteen minutes later, Jack and Daniel repeated the exercise only to get the
same results.

 

***

Agents B and D were starting to become annoyed. They could only find one of
the students, and the short man known as Principal Snyder had informed them
that she was in class at the moment, and he would not allow her to be
disturbed. They would have to wait for her after school. However, Snyder had
offered to summon the girl just before the dismissal bell. 

Mr. Harris had withdrawn from school, and they had tried his house, only to
find it too empty. 

 

***

Jack and Daniel arrived at the address listed in Alexander Harris's School
file. Ringing the doorbell, they were surprised to have it answered by a
very hung over Anthony Harris. "Whatever you want, just keep it down."

"My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force. My associate is Dr. Daniel
Jackson. We are looking for a Mr. Xander Harris. Could you direct us to him
please?"

Tony winced at Jack's false quiet, "The boy? What's he done now?"

"He's done nothing that we are aware of. We are here to see if he might be
interested in joining the Air Force, once he's done with High School of
course. His grades are pretty good, and he came highly recommended to us. Is
there something that we should be considering in regards to his
recruitment?" Daniel asked, while not quite sympathetic to the man's plight,
he wasn't one to cause pain to others needlessly, and was keeping it down.

"Boy's run away from home. We haven't seen him in a week. Around here, that
means he's probably dead, or worse. Before that, he was always getting into
trouble of one sort or another, you can ask, what's his name, the vice
principal at his school all about that. If you'll excuse me, I'm going back
to bed." Before giving either member of SG-1 a chance to reply, he closed
and locked the door.

Daniel commented, "With a father figure like that, I can see why he may well
have left home."

Jack, deep in thought, nodded before commenting, "Since we can't find Harris
or Rosenberg, let's try The Summers house this evening."

"In the mean time, there's a gallery in town with an Egyptian display we
should examine. There are supposed to be several interesting pieces for
sale."

Jack sighed as he let himself be dragged along on what promised to be
another boring excursion for him to put up with. He was quite sure that he
could find something more interesting to do with a few hours.

 

***

Xander and Willow meet Dawn at the front door of the Summer's home, and
Xander tries his luck at getting an answer again, "So Dawn, who's the date?"

Willow answered for her, "Well, he just got here."

Xander turned around and didn't see anyone behind him, " Huh?"

"Well, I'm going with you, and you're going with Willow, and Willow's going
with me, so we are all going together, and if anyone doesn't like that, too
bad." Dawn stated rather emphatically.

Xander kept quiet on the subject and instead asked, "So, we ready to go
then?"

"Phaser, lightsaber, tricorder, comm-badge, box of wooden toothpicks,
Starfleet first aid kit, yeah, I think I'm good to go, Willow?" Dawn asked.

"I'm good. I've got most of the same, except for the first aid kit."

"Then, shall we ladies?" Xander held out his arms for the two women to take.

Each took an arm, and allowed themselves to be escorted to Xander's car.

With no further fuss, Xander and his two dates, his two very hot dates in
his opinion, made their way to the football game.

Things were going well for the three. They had given Giles and Jana a small
amount of grief, simply to let them know that the three teens still cared.
They had purchased and consumed copious amounts of food and drink, and were
very happily enjoying themselves when Buffy came over.

"Um, have you guys seen Cordelia?"

Willow asked, "Why, isn't she down there with the other cheerleaders?"

"I haven't seen her since just before Half Time. And apparently they even
had to sub someone for her, cause she's supposed to be the apex of that
Pyramid." Buffy pointed to the ten person pyramid down on the field that was
just breaking up.

Xander asked "Did you see when she left, or where she was going?"

Buffy shook her head and replied, "One minute she was there on the
sidelines, the  next she was gone. Nobody seems to know where she went."

"Do you know if someone managed to give her a com-badge yet?" Dawn asked.

Buffy nodded, "Giles told me earlier that he managed to give her one."

Xander tapped his com-badge, "Xander to Cordelia, where are you?"

Cordelia responded immediately, "Xander? Help! I'm being kidnapped!" 

"Where are you Cordy? We'll come get you."

"Hey! That's mine! Give it ba..." 

Unfortunately, that was all that was heard as the signal was cut off. 

Dawn pulled out her tricorder and began scanning for one or more life signs
moving away from the game or in otherwise unused areas. "I have several
possibles, most are not moving very much and are in small spaces, likely
nothing more than heavy petting and serious kissing. Almost all of them are
in pairs. I have one trio in the old science building."

"Nobody uses the science building. It's not structurally sound." Willow
pointed out.

"Then that's likely where our assailants are headed." Xander turned to
Buffy, "Will you fetch Giles and Ms. C, and meet us there?"

Buffy nodded and took off running towards the last place she knew they were.

Dawn grabbed onto Xander and said, "Let's fly!"

Willow nodded and floated up off the bleachers and rose a good distance
above the crowd to wait for Xander and Dawn who were only moments behind.
Xander took the lead as he was the one with the passenger, with willow
keeping up.

It did not take long to reach the condemned building.

Xander asked, "Where to Dawn?" after they had set down not far from the
building.

After consulting her tricorder briefly, "Second floor, north side. I'm
reading lots of chemicals in the room they're in. Formaldehyde is the
largest in quantity."

"Right then, phasers and blasters are out. Guns are out because Cordy's in
there," Xander said as they entered the building. "Looks like its down to
melee."

Willow offered, "I know a paralysis spell. It should incapacitate everyone
in the room for twenty minutes or so."

Xander replied, "Go for it. Anything that'll make our lives easier is of the
good."

The trio had just reached the second floor when the universe decided to
complicate their lives further by having Data hail Xander. "Data to Fleet
Admiral Harris."

Xander tapped his com-badge to respond, "Now is really not such a good time,
Data. We're a little busy. Can this wait ten minutes?"

"I do not believe so. I have just picked up a very high energy hyperspace
distortion on a direct course to Earth."

"Goa'uld?"

"I do not believe so. According to the information the SGC has, it is
traveling several orders of magnitude faster than the Goa'uld are capable of
achieving."

"All right, um, calculate their exit point, if possible, and try to get
behind them when they come out of hyperspace. Challenge them, but make no
hostile actions. If they aren't Goa'uld, get as detailed sensor scans as
possible. The Defiant and I will join you as soon as possible."

"Yes Admiral, Data out."

"Ok Willow, let's do this as quickly as possible. Cast your paralysis spell,
and let us know when it's safe for us to enter."

Willow nodded and cast her spell and four blue spheres flew from her hand
and disappeared through the door. "There may be a vampire or a zombie in
there, and it may or may not be affected by the spell, but we can enter at
any time."

Xander and Dawn nodded. Xander Closed his hand and a glowing blue sword
formed in his grip made from nothing but psychic energy. Dawn and Willow
both pulled, but did not activate their Lightsabers. Xander opened the door
and the three teens entered the room to see two boys lying on the floor,
Cordelia lying on one of the tables, and a fourth person, wearing a SHS
Letterman's Jacket, standing over one of the boys on the floor.

"Come on, you lazy excuse for a brother, get your ass up, Chris!" he said as
he kicked the prone body none too gently. Then he noticed the new arrivals.
"Ah, the second stringers. Forget to bring your Slayer?"

"I should hardly think we need a being as weak as the slayer to deal with
the likes of a simple zombie. Now, step away from the humans, and we can do
this the easy way. Fight, and we do it the hard way."

"You think you can stop me? In life I was unstoppable, and now I'm even
stronger, even faster, even harder to put on the ground! You can't stop me!"

"Puleeze, I'm going to go through you like snot through a Kleenex." 

At that, the zombie that used to be the High School's star quarterback,
Daryl, charged, and leapt through the air over the interposing table at
Xander, only to be met by the glowing edge of Xander's Psi-Sword as it
sliced effortlessly through his necrotic flesh. Willow and Dawn activated
their lightsabers the instant Daryl began his charge, and when the two
halves landed at their feet, each girl took a few swipes with their
lightsabers and finished dismembering the undead football player.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Xander commented dryly. "Willow, can you
bag him up? I want to get Cordelia to The Defiant, and these two jokers into
the brig. Grab Giles and Miss C and come on up once you've got them all. I
don't know that we'll still be in orbit, so you'll likely need to be careful
with your teleport."

Willow agreed and quickly conjured a large canvas bag to carry Daryl in.

"Come on Dawn, I need you at the Helm. Xander to Defiant, five to beam
directly to the bridge."

Moments later, only Willow was left in the room, and a moment later, the
room was empty once more.

 

***

Enterprise, Near Earth

Data sat in the Captain's Chair, surrounded by a crew of droids, all of whom
were re-programmed to operate as Starfleet crew. Data was satisfied with his
crew's performance thus far. While it was true that he had had them only for
a few days, nearly all their drill scores had been phenomenal. In fact,
their only true failing was the one Admiral Harris had warned him of, and
that was their near total lack of creative problem solving capabilities.

They had proven this during a simulated engineering crisis. The warp core
had failed and the droids needed to devise a way to make it work again in
the unusual simulated environment.

Their solution had been an iterative process of elimination and combination.
They had taken six times the allotted time permitted by Starfleet, but they
did eventually solve the problem. As a bonus, their process did identify
several significant improvements that could be made. Unfortunately, as the
improvements had not solved their problem, they were dismissed, and never
brought up again, as a biological crewmember would have. 

Data had considered the issue for several seconds and issued an order to the
entire crew that any potential improvement discovered should be recorded and
examined again later for possible implementation.

Data was pondering another similar drill when his science officer called for
his attention, "Captain?"

"Yes, LA-214D?" Data was unsure of these designations. He would prefer that
they had names, as he did, but if they were satisfied with designations, who
was he to force names upon them? He had informed them that any droid who
wanted a name, only had to choose one and inform him, and it would be used
from then on.

"Sir, I have a hyperspace distortion on sensors, and it appears to be on a
direct course to Earth."

"Estimated time to arrival?"

"Between four and six minutes, sir."

"Thank you. Please plot its course as accurately as possible, and likely
exit points." 

"Aye, Sir, plotting course and exit points."

Data then called up the sensor data to his own terminal, before he tapped
his com-badge, "Data to Fleet Admiral Harris."

Xander responded, "Now is really not such a good time, Data. We're a little
busy. Can this wait ten minutes?"

"I do not believe so. I have just picked up a very high energy hyperspace
distortion on a direct course to Earth."

"Goa'uld?"

"I do not believe so. According to the information the SGC has, it is
traveling several orders of magnitude faster than the Goa'uld are capable of
achieving."

"All right, um, calculate their exit point, if possible, and try to get
behind them when they come out of hyperspace. Challenge them, but make no
hostile actions. If they aren't Goa'uld, get as detailed sensor scans as
possible. The Defiant and I will join you as soon as possible."

"Yes Admiral, Data out."

Data considered the order, and while he would of course obey it, he didn't
necessarily agree with it. It showed a lack of understanding of starship
combat tactics. While Starships did have 'Fronts' and 'Backs,' a Starship
could see in all directions, three hundred and sixty degrees by three
hundred and sixty degrees. There would be little tactical advantage, and
several disadvantages in appearing behind a potential adversary, while they
would have a clear run on their target, the Earth itself.

He hoped that The Admiral had a reason for the strategy that was not yet
apparent to him.

"LA-214D, do you have exit coordinates yet?"

"Yes, sir. I have two hundred thirty one distinct exit probabilities."

"Feed the highest probability to Navigation."

"Aye sir, sending highest probability coordinates to Navigation."

"ND-17K, do you have those coordinates?"

"Yes sir."

"Set course for one hundred thousand kilometers on the opposite side to
those coordinates, then spin to face the coordinates listed. Engage when
ready."

"Aye sir, engaging course for one hundred thousand kilometers the far side
of the Science Officer's coordinates and coming about, ETA, thirty seconds."

Data knew that it was tradition, but unnecessary with an all droid crew.
Droids didn't get nervous, so had no reason to be comforted by a rousing
speech, however, he did feel the need to follow tradition. Perhaps this
would do, "All hands, this is your Captain speaking. We are about to
challenge an unknown contact as it exits hyperspace in close proximity to
Earth. Red Alert, man your battle stations, prepare to repel borders, and
boarding parties to the ready. Data out."

It wasn't long after Data's speech ended that a very large hammer shaped
ship re-entered normal space from a disturbance, not too far from where the
science officer had predicted.

"Scan the Vessel." Seconds later he added, "Hail the vessel."

"Scanning, Aye. Channel open, sir." Replied the droid at the tactical
station.

"This is Captain Data, of The Federation Starship Enterprise. You have
entered a restricted area. Please identify yourself and state your
intentions."

Moments later, a hologram appeared front and center. It appeared to be a
gray, asexual, being about four feet tall. It spoke in English, "I am Thor,
Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet aboard the Cruiser Beliskner. My
intention is to investigate your presence in this system as it has been very
important to my people for a very long time. What is the source of your
authority to restrict access to this planet?"

"By virtue of it being the home planet of those who created this ship and
all who serve aboard her, as well as the other assets your sensors have no
doubt detected by now. Why is this planet important to your people?"

Data observed the alien as he pondered the question, or more likely, how
much to tell Data. "There is a parasitic species within this galaxy that
uses the human body as their preferred host. They are quite malevolent. We
believe that preventing them from acquiring six billion new hosts along with
the vastly different technological base that has developed on the planet
below to be of great importance. If the Goa'uld were to develop based upon
your technological base, they would be far less limited than they are with
their current technology base. That is something that the wider universe can
not permit. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Great Races Alliance
to ensure that it does not come to pass. How is it that the people of your
planet have come to have access to subspace technology? And in such a
curious collection of technologies as well."

"Curious? How so?"

"Most species, when they first develop a new branch of technology will apply
it to the greatest use to society. Rarely does that mean Starships as the
first construction, or space stations of impressive size. Also curious is
the manner of their construction, as though you decided to build the space
station, and it was completed, or you acquired it from somewhere else in the
galaxy, but we are unfamiliar with any race with sufficient skills to
develop such a station. My people likely could, but we wouldn't have done
so. None of the races that we are aware of that are advanced enough to have
built such a thing would have, as we prefer smaller, more easily managed
structures. Even the Alteran's grand City Ships are only a fraction of your
station's size, capable of holding at most a million beings the same general
size, shape, and requirements as the humans of the Tau'ri."

"I see. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge the manner in which
our ships and other resources were acquired, however, my commanding officer,
Fleet Admiral Alexander Harris may be willing to answer that question for
you. He was in the midst of another crisis when my ship detected your
approach, or he would have met you himself."

Thor replied, "I see. Is it something I would be able to help with?"

"I do not believe so. It was my impression that The Admiral wanted to handle
this personally, and nearly had the situation resolved in any case."

Data noticed one of his control PADDs blinking for his attention and read
its display. "It appears that he will be with us shortly, and that he was
successful in retrieving his kidnapped crewmember. Apparently, two
perpetrators are in custody, and one zombie destroyed."

Thor looked, well, he didn't look perplexed, but he did exhibit the Asgard
symptoms. "If I may, what is a zombie?"

"I had not believed they existed, and I am unsure if I believe now, but they
are a form of undead. If the data I am reading is accurate, a zombie is a
macabre being, constructed from one or more deceased humans and reanimated
through a magical process."

"This, magic, is it synonymous with a specific subspace technological
process, or is it a broader term for your field of subspace technologies?"

"To the best of my current understanding of magic, it is neither. It is an
entirely separate and personal ability to manipulate many energy formats for
varied purposes. I would believe it to have been all just illusion and
misdirection with an underlying technological aspect, were it not for
Lieutenant Commander Rosenberg's ongoing desires to attempt to quantify the
energies involved and the biological processes that allow her to manipulate
them."

At this, Thor did look shocked. That was an ability only the extinct
Alterans had ever exhibited! Had the humans discovered an Alteran who was
unaware of her heritage? Or had the humans finally evolved to the point
where they were capable, as a species, of wielding those great and terrible
powers many Epoch earlier than the Alteran themselves had? The Asgard had
long revered the Alterans, trying to live up to what they had been taught
when the Asgard had been the infant race, and the Alterans had been the wise
elders. Then came the discovery of their great tragedy, that the combination
of the many things that the Asgard had done to their species to enable them
to live long enough to follow their friends in ascension, had forever denied
them that opportunity. Several Asgard had died of grief that day, unable to
maintain the mental coherence to survive the transference process into a new
body. Odin, Thor's father, had been one of them, and Thor had almost been
one of them himself. 

If Data had been human, he may well have missed Thor's muttered comment, "An
Alteran? After all this time? What would she be doing on this plane of
existence?"

It was then that the Defiant de-cloaked and came alongside the Enterprise.
"Xander to Data, I take it that we have new friends?"

"That is quite possible sir. I was about to stand down to yellow alert when
you hailed."

"Well then, don't let me stop you. Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted sir. Tactical, stand down to yellow alert." Returning his attention
to Thor, "Supreme Commander, I have just been contacted, Admiral Harris has
just come aboard, if you would care to, I would like to extend that
invitation to you as well."

Five minutes later saw everyone seated around the main conference table
aboard the Enterprise.

Data had introduced the entire Sunnydale contingent to the Supreme Commander
of The Asgard Fleet.

Xander had asked for Thor to give them some basic background information on
the Asgard, as they knew virtually nothing of the species. 

"The Asgard have been a space fairing race for nearly thirty million years,
and a member of The Great Races Alliance for all but the first million years
of that. We reside within the Ida galaxy, but have explored much of the
local group."

Jana asked, "What is The Great Races Alliance? How does one gain entry? Why
would a species wish to do so?"

Thor considered a moment how to answer, "The Great Races Alliance was formed
by four galaxy spanning species. They were The Alterans, The Asgard, The
Furlings, and The Nox. The Alterans ascended to a higher plane of existence
long ago. The Furlings have also moved on from this region of space, not
long after The Alterans ascended. The Nox and The Asgard have all but
removed ourselves from this galaxy to allow a younger race the room to grow
into The Fifth Race.

"One does not so much gain entry to the Alliance, as realize they already
are.

"As for why a species would grow and evolve far enough to become one of the
great races, we leave it to each individual race to determine what is in
their own best interests."

Giles took a moment to ask, "Would the, um, The Goa'uld ever be considered a
Great Race? They do overrun most of this galaxy at present, if our
information is correct."

"No. Their reliance on humans for every aspect of their civilization and
their other parasitical traits would preclude their admittance. Population
and territory have little to do with a race's inherent greatness. I believe
that you will find that it will happen quite naturally for your species,
though you have quite a ways to go before becoming The Fifth Race."

"Supreme Commander Thor," Data began, "earlier, you called Lieutenant
Commander Rosenberg an Alteran. Would you please explain the comment?"

Data was the only one in the room capable of detecting Thor's embarrassed
blush and cursing himself for his inability to keep his mouth shut.
Fortunately for the Asgard, it was far too low for the universal translator
to pick up, and neither it nor Data had sufficient experience with the
language to figure out what he had said. 

"Humans are not the first species in this galaxy to develop in that form.