[FFML] [FIC][BtVS][SG-1][MAU] Repost: Worthless 6/?

[Gandalf The Green]

Tuesday Morning - Cheyenne Mountain

"Good Morning General Pierce," the general's aide greeted the older
gentleman as he came to attention.

"Major Thompson, anything interesting happen last night?"

"Yes Sir. NASA sent over an image from the Hubble you've got to see to
believe, and even then, you'll swear that someone's playing a joke." The
major handed over a Top Secret file that the general opened and examined the
image within.

"And this isn't supposed to be some kind of joke Major?"

"No Sir. Not unless someone has altered the Hubble's software. I
re-downloaded the morning batch of images myself."

"In my office major, and close the door." The General turned and walked into
his office, tapping the folder against his leg absently.

The major of course, followed his general and dutifully closed the door
before standing in front of the general's desk at attention.

"If this is a joke, I had better learn that it's being played on this whole
command, and not just on me, clear Major?"

"Sir, Yes Sir! I have been unable to prove it as a hoax so far General, and
I've got some people checking the Hubble's software right now Sir."

General Pierce gave a lengthy sigh. His Commandant told him there would be
days like this. When no matter how badly you wanted something to be a prank,
it wouldn't be, and you'd be the one who had to deal with the outright
insane. "At Ease, Major. Can you offer any possible explanations as to how
what appear to be a Star Destroyer and The Enterprise from the latest movie,
can show up in a Hubble Image without it being a prank?"

Before the Major was given a chance to answer however, there was a knock at
the general's door. General Pierce closed the Top Secret folder and called,
"Enter."

A young Lieutenant opened the door and entered the room, closing the door
behind him. The Lieutenant walked to Pierce's desk and handed another Top
Secret folder to the General. 

General Pierce commanded, "Report Lieutenant."

"Sir, this just came in from the Mauna Kea Observatory over the encrypted
connection. It was taken with the Keck II Telescope after they confirmed
that it could not have been a hoax on their end. They have been observing
the two vessels since they spotted them, but they are about to loose Line of
Sight. They have handed observational duties off to the McDonald Observatory
in Texas. Texas says that they will be able to observe them for the next 7
hours, so long as they don't move. After that, they will also loose LOS and
have to hand it over to one of our overseas Observatories."

"Anything else Lieutenant?"

"Not at this time General."

"Dismissed Lieutenant." Pierce saluted the Lieutenant without paying any
attention to him as he was already staring at the pictures that the junior
officer had just delivered.

Once the door was closed he acknowledged the Major again. "I guess that this
confirms it then, take a look." The general showed a series of six images
that all appeared the same except for the time stamp in the bottom right
corner, all containing the Enterprise-E. The next six images were at an even
greater magnification, showing the Hull Markings bearing the legend "U.S.S.
Enterprise NCC-1701-E" in gold letters between two red stripes on what
appeared to be a bare metal hull, amongst other significant hull details.
The next 24 pictures were all of the Star Destroyer, again with the first
six showing just the ship with very little space around it. The remaining 18
were all close ups of hull details, including phaser strips, the impulse
manifolds, the Launch Bay, and the two large domes that contained the Solar
Ionization Reactors, which was a fancy way of saying that they contained two
tiny stars. One close-up detailed what may have been its hull registry in
black on a white hull. Unfortunately it was written in Basic, so neither
officer could determine what it actually said.

"Well?"

"Sir, I really don't know what to say. I can only suggest forwarding it to
the SGC and Dr. Jackson. I doubt that he'll already know this script, but if
anyone can figure it out, he can. I just hope they aren't hostile."

"Alright. I'll pass the buck to General Hammond, start forwarding everything
to him. I'll take these down there myself, it's been a while since I've seen
him."

"Yes Sir."

 

***

Newly Christened Scooby Mansion

Xander crawled out of bed, and after visiting the bathroom to take care of
his morning duties. He stumbled down the stairs to the still mostly empty
kitchen, and ordered a large breakfast from the replicator he had left there
in lieu of shopping for groceries. He already had it plugged into the wall
outlet so that it would continuously recharge slowly.

Shortly after, the rest of the residents also began making their way
downstairs, with Dawn being the last with a disgruntled look upon her face,
blue lips, shivering, and glaring at Buffy at every opportunity. 

Eventually, Xander noticed and asked the predictable question, "Dawn, what
did Buffy do that you're trying to glare holes in the back of her head?"

Dawn crossed her arms, "Some how, she managed to use up all the hot water.
Don't ask me how, but she's managed to do it to me again."

"Um, you know we've got a 200 gallon hot water heater, right?"

"Yeah, but she's the only one here with pink and prunie skin, while my teeth
are chattering away."

Willow had also noticed that Dawns nipples were still harder than erasers
from the cold water, and were making their presence known through her
blouse. Xander had also noticed, but was trying to maintain eye contact with
the angry girl.

Xander walked over to the replicator and ordered a mug of Hot Cocoa and
delivered it to Dawn who smiled at him, "Thanks."

"Well, I'm sure we can do something to make sure that the hot water doesn't
run out."

After swallowing a bite of toast, Joyce mentioned, "I know a guy who does
remodeling. He did our house before we moved in. He told me about a kind of
heating element that is basically installed at each faucet so that you never
run out of hot water. It's usually used in up scale places like this where
the hot water heater is a long way from a given bathroom that the water is
cold by the time that it gets to that bathroom."

Xander asked, "Can you speak to him today? See if he has one of those that
he can install for Dawn?"

"Sure, I only need to be at the Gallery for a few minutes today. I need to
clean up some space for an Incan display coming in next week. We're doing a
sale in conjunction with the Sunnydale Museum's Incan Exhibit in two weeks."

"Just make sure to invite Giles over to make sure that none of it is
magical. Don't want anyone walking away with something that's going to suck
out their soul or unleash a plague of something nasty," Xander warned.

"That's a good idea Xander, I'll call him when I get to the gallery."

Joyce, having the smallest breakfast, finished first, and wished everyone a
good day and left for the gallery.

"So, what's everyone else got planned for today?" Xander asked.

"Um, it's Tuesday, don't you three have school?" Willow asked in return.

"Not unless it's to Tar and Feather the Troll. We should find a lawyer. We
might be able to get him fired if we sic the lawyer on the school board."

Dawn suggested, "You know, we could take our G.E.D.s and not have to worry
about school any more."

Buffy was concerned, "But what about the other school things, like, Prom,
and Homecoming?"

"We don't all need to get G.E.D.s, and it might help to have someone more
responsible than Cordelia there to keep an eye on things," Dawn commented.
"I would like to, especially with everything that I've learned thanks to the
MAU. I spent several hours going over the material on my computer, and it is
very detailed. We're not just talking the technical schematics for the
various technologies, but all of the supporting technologies and entire
branches of scientific study. Today, I could prove Quantum and String
theories and explain how transporters work and how to fold space around a
space craft allowing it to transition from one end of the galaxy to the
other instantaneously."

"That's a lot of reading Dawn. Did you get any sleep?" Buffy asked.

"Of course, I could only do that stuff in the most general of terms, but the
math behind it is established, and already on the computer. I tried to
upload it to the Defiant, but it didn't have the room for it. I had to store
it at Utopia Planetia as they have the only other computer with enough
secondary storage to hold it all. If or when we deploy Spacedock, we're
going to want to make sure that it has enough storage capacity."

"Well, I'm going to head off to school. Keep an eye on the Hellmouth,
Snider, and Cordelia. That sort of thing." Buffy said as she excused herself
from the conversation and the table.

Xander bid her good bye with a "Have fun Buffster" and turned back to Willow
and Dawn. "Ok, so anyone got any ideas as to where the best place to put
Capsule Corp would be?"

Dawn pulled up a holographic terminal and had it display a map of the
property. "Just how big is it Xander?"

"Most of the factory stuff is sub-surface. It has a foot print of about two
acres, pretty much in a square. Has 5 floors up at its tallest point, and
150 down at its deepest, so around here it'll be well under water."

"Ok, we don't have to worry about cave instability then. The place where it
would have the least impact on us living here, and still allow business
access would be over here on the south side. Basically, it's just a huge
lawn with no real purpose other than to be big and green. It's on the
opposite side of the house from our bedrooms, but Buffy will have a really
good view of it." Dawn pointed on the map as she commented, and Xander
considered it for half a second before agreeing. "After my shower this
morning, I think she can put up with a change of view."

"Sounds good, shall we go find out if this capsule works properly, or if we
have Sunnydale's first Sky Scraper?"

With both girls agreement, Xander linked arm and arm with Willow and Dawn
and went off to see the Wizard, er, future site of Capsule Corp & Rebellion
Technologies.

 

***

The three teens arrived a few minutes later at the site indicated on Dawn's
holo-map.

"Anyone else nervous, or is it just me?" Xander asked.

"Just you Xander. The MAU hasn't let us down yet, I don't think it'll start
now."

Xander tried to shake off his feeling of disquiet, hauled out the tiny
capsule, hit the button and tossed it a few feet away. Seconds later, the
smoke had cleared, and the entire Capsule Corp building was sitting exactly
as it should. Several feet away sat the main entrance to the massive
complex.

Dawn, still using her computer, and Xander with his tricorder, began
scanning the building and the surrounding area.

"It looks like the building just phased out all the materials that got in
its way. Other things got pushed around until it was safe, then the building
materialized. Over here, on the east side, there's 6 gophers all trying to
sort themselves out of a gopher pile. The rock and dirt look like they were
cut to fit the building perfectly. There is literally no gap between the
building and the natural rock formations, it's almost as if they are fused
together at the molecular level," Dawn commented.

"Interesting. I guess it's not moving much then. How's its position look
otherwise?" Willow asked.

"It's in about as perfect a position as it can get. My computer certainly
can't find a better position for it."

"Good. It looks like everything is here as well. The Gravity Room is that
building over there, and the computer core and basic assembly lines appear
to be intact and functional. The computer core is even online. Looks like
the building also has its own fusion reactor providing power to the whole
thing," Xander reported.

"Xander, that Fusion reactor is producing 32,000 KWh more than the factory
and computer need. Where's the rest of the energy going?" Dawn asked.

"Well, if I remember Dragonball Z correctly, you should find that a portion
of it is headed towards the Gravity Room, another portion should be headed
towards medical, and the rest should be headed towards Bulma's lab. Speaking
of which, we should go check it out. Make sure that there aren't any
experiments left running. Bulma usually had anywhere between a half-dozen
and two dozen experiments running at any one point in time, so we should
make sure that they get shut down safely."

Dawn looked sheepish, as she was embarrassed that she hadn't thought of
that. Willow now had a similar feeling of trepidation to match Xander's
earlier gut reactions. "Lead the way Xander."

Xander nodded and led the two girls off towards Bulma's lab, following the
tricorder readings for what he assumed to be the lab.

When they arrived, they did indeed find most of the equipment on and doing,
well, doing something. " Well, you know more about this equipment than
either of us Dawn, can you shut it down safely?" Willow asked.

"Sure, it'll just take me a few seconds," Dawn told Willow. She turned back
to the central control panel and began examining the status display. After a
few moments of intense scrutiny, Dawn spoke again, "Computer, Initiate safe
shutdown of all experiments, and step down the reactor."

 

***

Jenny sat at her computer in class. She had dismissed everyone early, as she
had been most distracted. In a few minutes, she would be using a piece of
alien technology to give herself anything that she wanted. That was a good
thing, but it was also problematic in that she didn't know what she wanted
right at that moment.

She was a Gypsy, and as such, knew a good bit of magic, more, certainly,
than Willow had before the girl had used the MAU. Yes, she would most likely
improve her magic, but in what ways, and to what degree? There were a number
of different schools of magic that she knew of. There was the Techno Mages
of Babylon 5. They were certainly powerful, but hardly manipulated arcane
forces. Instead, they manipulated technological forces in order to emulate
arcane effects, such as demons, trolls, and fire balls.

Alternately, she could go with Slayers Magic. It was an interesting anime
about a 16 year old sorceress by the name of Lina Inverse, and her
adventures in committing banditry against bandits, pirates, and other groups
of bad guys. Slayers magic was certainly quite powerful, and would either
work well on the Hellmouth, or not work at all. That had to do with the
nature of the magic that Lina practiced. Lina had very little magic of her
own, but she knew enough other Powerful Entities that she drew upon to cast
some of the most powerful spells in existence, including one that was the
equivalent of a tactical thermo-nuclear warhead, and another that made
nuclear weapons look like firecrackers. That was what Slayers referred to as
Black Magic, magic powered by outside forces. The two alternates, according
to Slayers mythology, is White Magic, which is powered by the user's own
life force, which is dangerous, but extremely powerful, and Shamanistic
Magic, which is powered by manipulating and altering the natural forces of
the world around the mage.

Then again, there was magic from the various role playing games that she
knew of, or at least had heard of. Dungeons and Dragons, Rifts, War Craft,
the White Wolf games of Mage and Vampire. Heck, even Everquest had a decent
selection of magic to play with. There were probably about 300 other RPGs
out there that she could draw inspiration from.

And that was where her problem came in, what to choose?

Then there was the problem with the other side of things. There was so much
fictional technology out there she wanted to learn, and didn't know which to
choose. She realized that she could learn many of them, if not all of them,
but she didn't want to wind up suffering from Information Overload.

She wasn't getting anywhere just sitting here and thinking about it. Dawn
and Willow had already used it to learn about various forms of Technology
and Magic respectively, maybe they could offer some insight into her
decision. She packed up her things as she decided to talk to the two girls
about what influenced their decisions, and how they narrowed down their
choices.

After finishing collecting her things, she pulled a small golden pin from
her purse and placed it on her chest, then tapped it. "Calderash to Defiant,
One for transport. Engage when ready."

Moments later, the classroom was empty.

 

***

Cheyenne Mountain

General Pierce sat in General Hammond's office, still discussing the
ramifications of the two starships existence, when Dr. Jackson burst in with
an excited mien. Without looking up at the man, Daniel avoided the visiting
general and started placing documents on the desk in front of Hammond,
"General, the writing appears to be in English, just with a different
script. As speculated, the writing is in deed the name and registry numbers
for the ship. It appears that the ship is called Aurora's Forge. Although
what significance that might have is beyond me at this point, most likely
means something in a context we are unfamiliar with at this point." Daniel
looked up and noticed a bemused Gen. Pierce and a flustered Gen. Hammond.
"Oh, sorry sir, I didn't know you had company."

"One of these days Dr. Jackson, oh never mind. Good work on the
translation." He looked over the brief report that Daniel had placed in
front of him, then handed it to Gen. Pierce, who also looked it over. "Dr.
Jackson, please have the rest of SG-1 and the leaders of the rest of the
on-base SG Teams meet me in the briefing room in 20 minutes."

"Yes General. It was good seeing you again General Pierce." Daniel said as
he hurried out of the room, still appearing inexplicably excited to the two
Generals.

"Now I understand the sergeants around base when they refer to Hurricane
Daniel." General Pierce chuckled.

"It wouldn't be so funny if it was happening to you," Hammond smiled,
realizing that, yes, it was amusing, and Daniel would most likely never
change. It was how he did his best work, totally absorbed in something so
esoteric that few others would understand.

"Oh, I don't know, I was able to fix my version."

"How did you manage that?"

"I married her." Gen. Pierce smirked.

"Somehow, I don't think that solution will work in this instance."

"No, I don't think so either." Gen. Pierce looked pensive for a moment.
"Well, I'd best leave you to it George, I'd love to sit in on that
conference, but I've got my own people to organize over this mess."

"I think you're just running away before any more paperwork can land on your
desk David. Personally, I wonder what else Daniel has for us before I make
my report to the President."

"Good luck George, and have fun." With that, Gen. Pierce left Hammond's
office.

Pierce was the only other general that Hammond knew that had a similar sense
of humor to his own. And Jack O'Neill's. His last gift to George had been a
21 year old bottle of Glenlivet. It had come in a fire extinguisher case
with the words 'In Case of SG-1 Break Glass' stenciled on the glass. They
had been friends a long time. Many minutes of thinking about how they had
met and become friends later, He himself decided it was time to head towards
the briefing.

 

***

Deep Space, 30LY above the elliptic plane, Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy
(approximately 250,000LY from Earth)

A large being in black robes who's face is hidden by a strange, watery mask,
walks in review of his troops, one hundred thousand strong, all standing in
formation, awaiting their God's blessings.

The troops themselves all wore a metallic gray armor, and stood with their
large, oddly shaped, staves by their sides. These were his newest
conscripts, the last survivors of a planet called Birhat. 

"You have done well, my warriors. Soon, I will once again have sufficient
strength to return amongst my brothers and take my rightful place amongst
them as their lord and master. You," he broke off his brief speech and
looked away from them, back towards the Milky Way proper.

"Something has changed." He considered the sensations he was feeling. There
was a new source of power he was feeling, something he had never felt
before, like the fundamental constants in the universe had shifted ever so
slightly.

As the figure in black contemplated his senses, one of his warriors hurried
towards him from the hallway. "My Lord, we have arrived at the Planet
Narhani."

Shaken from his thoughts, "Reduce the planet to rubble. You have 12 hours to
harvest the remains before we leave. Something has changed, and I must
discover what." He then walked away from the troops and retired to his
throne room where he could think, and examine this change in further detail.

 

***

USS Defiant, in synchronous orbit, 300km over Sunnydale, California

Jana was just getting her stomach back under control when Buffy made the
request to beam up as well. Standing up and getting out of the way, Buffy
beamed in, and Jana welcomed her, "Hello Buffy, here to use the MAU as
well?"

The two women walked off towards the captain's ready room. "Yeah, I'm just
not sure what I should ask it for. A lot more training seems to be the best
I can come up with, and I'll admit to a little bit of jealousy to everyone
being able to move stuff with their minds or a simple little spell. I've
never been all that much into the Fantasy scene, more of an Action kind of
girl."

"Then maybe that's what you should start with, Telekinesis and several forms
of unarmed combat. It does sound like a good place to start anyway. Maybe
you should ask the computer for a demonstration of the various Martial Arts
forms in the Holodeck. That way, you know what forms interest you. Or, you
could simply ask the computer for a stylistic comparison between them, in
which case, you should be able to get it to include the fictitious styles as
well. Me on the other hand, I have a whole lot of things I want to do, but I
don't want to do them all because other people are already doing them. I
don't want to make myself or others superfluous. I'm doing this because I
want to make a difference, and I want to try to find a way to do that
without stepping on Dawn and Willow's toes."

"So what is it that you are thinking about?" Buffy inquired.

"Well, it would be nice to add another form of magic, one that none of the
others already know. I also want to work on robotics and androids, see if I
can't incorporate the good aspects of each of the different designs into
something that works in the real world without the help of the MAU. Then
again, technology as magic was always an amusing concept for me, so I might
try for something in that direction as well."

Buffy appeared in thought for a moment, "What was that show Dawn was talking
about a few days ago, she said that they did a little bit of that, making a
gun that shot magical spells and other stuff like that. I think she said it
was on Japanese TV right now."

"Interesting, I'll ask her about it."

They arrived at the bridge, and spotted Xander sitting in the captain's
chair, working with a PADD, and Dawn at the science officer's station.

Jana went over to Dawn to talk about the show Buffy mentioned, and Buffy
went to speak with Xander to see what he could do to help her research the
martial arts like Jenny mentioned.

"Hey Dawn, Buffy mentioned a TV show you were talking about a few days ago,
something about a gun that shot magical spells?"

Dawn looked up, "Huh? Oh, um, Outlaw Star I think it was. It finished its TV
run in Japan over the summer. What did you want to know about it?"

"What can you tell me about the magic used on the show, or the manga that
most likely preceded it?"

"Well, from what I've heard, it's mostly just Gene's Caster Gun that has a
lot of various special purpose caster shells. Caster shells are basically
shotgun shell sized and produce a specific effect when fired. The shells
themselves mimic various Chinese Magic spells and other special effects,
like a shield breaker. Of course, there are other, non-magical, standard
shells, like explosives or slugs. Don't really know much more than that as I
haven't seen the show yet."

"Well, as I said to Buffy, Interesting. It does sound like a fun read when
it does come to America."

"So, do you know what you want to do with the MAU yet?"

"Sort of, I was thinking Engineering and Robotics, some other form of magic,
maybe Slayers magic, then finally some Technomagic."

"What's Technomagic?"

"You know about the Technomages from Babylon 5? Technomagic is what they do,
using technology to imitate magical effects."

"Sounds like fun, assuming that you know what spells you want to start
with."

"Well, I figure that I'll start with a bunch of spells that are good for
fighting demons and vampires, and of course, some of the other basics. I do
agree with Buffy though, I think I'd get jealous very quickly if I didn't
get at least a little bit of telekinesis like everyone else." Jana said with
a smirk.

"You might want to pick up a basic Jedi package in that case. So far, Xander
is the only one who doesn't at least have Force Sensitivity, but he's got
that whole Neo Human thing going for him, so he might be better off. Well, I
guess Mom doesn't have it either, but she does have the lightsaber as part
of her costume."

"That does sound like a good idea, got any others?"

"Not really, I'm sorry I don't know you very well, or I'm sure I could offer
other suggestions."

"It's ok Dawn. I was just curious as to how you might expand my list of
possibilities."

"Well, let's go visit the MAU and see what you've got already?"

"Sounds like a plan then." The two women left the bridge and visited the MAU
in the small executive office off the bridge, otherwise known as the
Captain's Ready Room.

Meanwhile, Xander and Buffy are having a similar conversation revolving
around Buffy. 

"Hey Xander, can you give me some help choosing what to get from the MAU?
I've got a few ideas, but don't know how to take advantage of them."

"Sure Buff." He said as he put his PADD away for the time being and turned
to face her. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, Jana suggested some formal training in the martial arts, and I could
hardly argue the idea, but I know so little about them, I wouldn't know what
to ask for from the MAU. Given the martial arts is the general direction I
want to go in, what other suggestions do you have for me?"

"Well, given the way you like to fight vampires, I would suggest some of the
harder styles of martial arts. I would also suggest keeping them well
rounded to prevent over-specialization. Given that most demons are difficult
to kill without a weapon, and usually a stake won't do it, I suggest some
sword proficiency as well."

Buffy thought about this answer for a while and asked Xander to elaborate on
which styles he would suggest.

"Well, I suppose you should start with something hard and brutal to deal
with the vampires, Krav Maga, an Israeli martial art. Kenpo Karate and
Shaolin Kung Fu would certainly form a very strong base from which to base
other, more exotic and specialized arts on. Tai Chi Chuan has a lot of
really good sword forms, and Hiten Mitsurugi has many special techniques. If
we also give you Ryoko's Energy Swords, you'll be able to create a sword at
will, and even be able to throw that energy, so you'll have a ranged attack
as well."

"Wait, who's Ryoko?"

"Ryoko's a Space Pirate, from the anime Tenchi Muyo! She can fly on her own,
and phase through solid matter, but I didn't think you'd be interested in
those, considering your lack of interest in Sci-Fi and Fantasy in general."

"I don't know, the flying might be interesting. I don't suppose she's got
Telekinesis?"

"Nope, but if your interested in it, it's easy enough to add separately."

"Yeah, it's the one thing Jana and I agreed on earlier, we are starting to
get a little jealous of the rest of you with your own forms of telekinesis."

Xander chuckled, "Happened completely by accident, and I don't think Giles
has figured out that he can do it as well, or there would be books floating
around him nearly constantly, soon as he could do it without having to
concentrate. Can you imagine his reaction if he accidentally dropped a
book?"

Buffy giggled at the image that Xander had conjured, agreeing that causing
harm to a book was anathema to the watcher. "Come on, lets go do this thing,
and go get some food before going out on a patrol. While we do that, you can
explain what Herr Troll did yesterday that has the three of you dropping out
of school, and talking about lawyers and school boards?"

"Sure Buff." Xander led her into the Ready Room and Dawn and Jana were just
finishing with the MAU, Buffy programmed it with what Xander had suggested,
and Xander sneaked in the regeneration abilities of a Demi-Sayijin from
Dragonball Z.

 

***

As Buffy and Xander patrolled, Xander explained what happened to Willow on
Monday morning that had lead to her suspension and soon to be expulsion.
Willow had already visited the Police station and sworn out a complaint
against Larry and Bob. Willow didn't swear out a complaint against Snyder
because she wanted to wait and see if he really would expel her, or if he
was just trying to scare her. Her plan at this point was, if it was simple
scare tactics, to make a complaint to the school board, and see if they did
anything. If not, file suit against him for his actions, then file suit
against the school board for failing to do anything about him. If he did
expel her, she would skip the bit about giving the school board the
opportunity to fix their mistake in allowing the pig to continue in his
position and move straight to filing suit against both Snyder and the school
board.

For a little bit of fun, when they did encounter a small group of vampires,
Xander went in and fought them hand to hand, using his claws to carve them
to pieces, dust flying everywhere as body parts disintegrated as they were
separated from the body. Eventually, there was too little of Xander's three
vampires to be a threat to anyone, and he decapitated them easily. Buffy
went through her 3 vampires just as fast as Xander did, using an energy
sword to hack them to pieces before going for easy neck shots.

"So, telekinesis next time?" Xander asked.

"Sure, we've already done the ranged energy thing, and the melee thing, it's
really the only thing left."

"Cool. Limit it to two stakes, and who ever gets fewer vamps buys
breakfast?"

"You're on."

Twenty minutes and 7 piles of dust later, Xander had won their little
competition, and were on their way back to the mansion.

"Come on Xander, Double or nothing, you and me when we get back to the
mansion. I know we have at least one empty room to make into a sparring
room."

"Alright Buffy, you can have your chance to even the score between us. But I
have to tell you, I'm looking forward to lunch." Xander said with a smirk.

 

***

Buffy and Xander stood facing one another in fighting stances in the
mansion's gymnasium. After loosing to Xander in the Vamp competition, Buffy
had wanted a little bit of payback, not having to buy breakfast would have
been nice too, but now she owed him lunch as well. Xander had long ago won,
and instead was simply helping her integrate her various art forms into a
coherent fighting style, helping her to learn to switch quickly and
seamlessly between styles, between ranged and melee attacks, as even a
moments pause in a desperate fight could mean her death.

Buffy and Xander both reacted to an opening in the other and they both used
telekinesis to throw the other across the room. Xander was lucky to twist
himself to land against the wall feet first, and used it to control his
landing. Buffy wasn't so lucky, and bounced off the wall and landed on her
face.

"Good shot Buffy," Xander congratulated her.

"If it was so good, why am I on the floor? Again?" she retorted hotly.

"I got lucky, or I'd be on the floor as well."

"Well, that's a little comforting anyway," Buffy said as she got back to her
feet. She turned to look at the others who were watching and asked, "Well?
What do you think?"

Giles responded first, "I think you are doing a lot better than you were
last week. Your fighting skills have certainly improved, but then, that's
precisely what you picked up from the MAU. Your improvisation is still very
good, and you seem to have successfully integrated the five martial arts
styles you picked up into your fighting."

Joyce agreed, "I think you are doing wonderfully Buffy. Although, I am
surprised you two were fighting for nearly an hour."

Willow commented, "I think they both did really well, but I'm curious as to
what Jana finally decided on?"

Jana Calderash, aka Jenny Calendar, smirked, "Well, I didn't choose any of
those fighting styles, but I did learn a lot of things from the MAU. I
learned magic from several different perspectives, as well as some very
interesting science and technology concerning robotics and artificial
sentients. Although, without access to a decent laboratory, it would likely
take several decades in order to develop even the simplest of android."

"No worries, Jana, I'll have Data set you up with a large laboratory space,
and assign a few assistants to you. They may only be droids, but they should
be enough to carry out most tasks you would have for them, but you'll have
to find out how capable they are for yourself."

After a bit more playing around with their new found powers, everyone heads
for home and bed.

 

 

 

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