13Aug22 - Another Way
Title: Another Way
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Start Trek: Into The Darkness
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word Count: 1900
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of Star Trek belong to Gene Rodenberry, etc. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: “Admiral Marcus had one set of plans; we disagreed with them.”
Another Way
by Beriaearwen
It was the explosion in London that gave them their clue, but they were just a little too slow to catch him before he attacked Star Fleet. What was worse, Kahn managed to kill Christopher Pike, costing them one of their best sources of intelligence.
“Do we know where he teleported?” Buffy asked, standing in the operations center as they tried to sort through the footage and determine what had happened and work to anticipate the next move.
“Not exactly, but Admiral Marcus has put Enterprise on rapid prep. They have something very hush-hush they’re loading,” Dawn relayed.
“Probably a weapon,” Willow said suddenly.
Buffy nodded slowly thinking about that. She mentally ran through all of the information, all of the reports and rumors they had collected. “The new torpedoes.”
Willow nodded toward Nala. “Seventy two,” she announced.
“You don’t think…?” Dawn started asking.
“Of course he did,” Buffy replied. “We don’t need to figure out Kahn, we need to worry about Admiral Marcus.”
“Matthew, what’s your take the Admiral?”
The young man thought for a few moments before speaking. “This is something he’s been planing. He’s obsessed with war and the glory of war.” He ignored the snorts and grumbles around the room. “We just got access to some of his secret files.”
“We did?” Buffy asked, suspicion lacing her voice.
Matthew nodded. “Some from our person, who was able to get some of the more obscure things, but one file in particular from an unknown source.”
“Kahn,” Dawn murmured almost to herself.
“Of course,” Buffy agreed. “Even if he is destroyed, he would want to take his tormentor down with him. What did he send.”
Reaching over to hit a few keys, a file appeared on the large screen and he quickly maneuvered to the schematics. “A warship called Vengeance.”
“D’Hoffryn must love it,” Willow sighed. “What sort of weaponry are we looking at?”
The payload on the warship popped up on screen.
Buffy whistled at the list. A plan was forming in her mind, she just needed a few more pieces of infomraiton.
“K’tal, what’s your take on Kirk? Will he fire the torpedoes or give Khan a chance to surrender? If given that chance Khan will surrender, he values his people too much,” Buffy asked.
“What do the torpedoes have to do with his people?” Dawn asked, having missed a step somewhere.
Looking around the room, Buffy announced, “There are seventy two of them frozen in cryotubes. There are seventy two torpedoes. Marcus had to be controlling him somehow.”
“Well, crap,” Willow observed. “That means Khan’s playing a long game too.”
Buffy nodded slowly, working through it in her mind. “If he can get Kirk to let him live, he’ll find a way to either take over the Enterprise or the Vengeance. If it’s the Vengeance, Admiral Marcus is as good as dead and Khan will have a warship and all of space.”
“Not if we can help it,” Dawn stated, determination ringing in her voice.
“And we can,” Buffy stated. “We need to take the Vengeance and Marcus before he can get anywhere. We talk to Kirk and get him to give us Khan and the others. Matthew, send the Vengeance files to all of our pads. Willow, we’ll need another cryo unit for Khan.”
“You think he’ll go in peaceably?” Willow asked.
Buffy shot her a look. “Peaceably or otherwise, he will go in. We aren’t his judge, jury or executioner, but we are the only ones who will be around next time as well.”
“Buffy,” K’tal interrupted, “it just came through that Montgomery Scott resigned his post on the Enterprise.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise and her eyes shot over toward the final person in the room, “Ruan -”
“I’ll go retrieve and recruit him,” Ruan replied already rising and calling up current location information.
“See if he can find out exactly where Marcus is keeping the Vengeance. We’ll need to get Auten up to date, we’ll need a helmsman.”
“I’ll make the call,” Dawn assured, turning back toward her console.
“All right. Let’s do this,” Buffy encouraged, retreating to the conference table where they would be able to lay out and detail their plans more fully.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Buffy heard him coming long before he made it into the room. She couldn’t help but smile at the sound.
Montgomery Scott’s mother had worked for the ISC for many years. Over the centuries, and wars their role had changed slightly. They had managed to change and adapt, keeping to their mandate as much as they could and they were successful at it. They had to be. Once the Augments were made public, they couldn’t afford to be mistaken for them.
The supernatural world still existed, but after the wars, it too had changed, adapted to the new world, or it died at the hands of the Slayers.
It was fortunate that they had a good handle on the Supernatural before the first aliens appeared on the scene. It helped more that most beings with a demonic lineage were unable to leave the planet unless they were an eighth or less demonic. By that point, most of them were out of touch with demonic culture.
The aliens made it more challenging for the ISC since some demons had evolved similar looks to some aliens, but there was usually a language or behavioral difference that made it easier to tell them apart.
It was a journey Buffy, Dawn and Willow had witnessed and managed. The spell to activate the potential Slayers had extended both Buffy and Willow’s lives. It was possible they were immortal, but they weren’t exactly about to test it, nor was Dawn.
They had thought that Dawn no longer carried the power of the key, but they had been wrong. It was merely dormant within her. Once she hit her mid-twenties, she, like Willow and Buffy, stopped aging. Despite being younger than either Buffy or Willow, dawn looked a few years older. It hadn’t always been easy, but they had found their stride and learned to look at as much information as they could. They allowed their people to stay on or do something else.
They also worked hard to keep ties with all members of families that either currently or had in the past worked for the ISC. It had ended up creating a phenomenal information network even if most of them didn’t work directly for the ISC.
“I told you, lass, I have to get going, there’s places I need to be,” Scotty said, stepping into the room, following a smiling Ruan. “Buffy!” he cried, seeing her. He came over placed his hands on her arms and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I was just tellin’ Ruan here -”
“That you have some coordinates to check. And you’re here so we can tell you what you’ll find and ask your help in taking it away from a maniac who wants to start a war by sacrificing the Enterprise.”
“They what?!” Scotty asked, completely outrages.
“Our feelings exactly,” Dawn cut in, placing a tablet in Scotty’s hands. “Here’s a brief summary, we can give you more details on our way.”
Scotty didn’t respond, taking a moment to sit so Keenser could see the information as well. “Right,” he said after a few minutes, completely serious. “We’ve got some work to do.”
“That we do,” Buffy agreed.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
The Enterprise was dead in the water, floating in space, and not in a good place. Buffy wondered what was going on inside of it, what sort of mind games Khan was playing. If they were fortunate, they would have reached the other ship before Khan started a war inside or freed his people.
“How’s the tractor beam coming, Scotty?” Buffy asked via com.
“We’ve been able to increase the pull on it in a way that shouldn’t overload the engines,” he commed back. “I wouldn’t want to test it for too long and, of course, Warp isn’t an option.”
“We shouldn’t need it to be,” Buffy assured. “We need to get the Enterprise safely within our space and then we’ll worry about fixing it enough to get them home on their own.” She took a breath, it was time. “Hail the enterprise, please,” she requested.
Matthew complied. “Enterprise, this is the Vengeance, please respond.”
A moment later they had visual up with the Enterprise. “Vengeance this is Captain Kirk. May I ask to whom I am speaking.”
“Buffy summers of the ISC here, Captain. It looks like you’re having a bit of trouble. Our Engineer has assured me that we would be able to tow you via tractor beam into safer space and may be able to assist with repairs.” She kept a pleasant look on her face as she saw Kirk’s mind spinning and couldn’t help but wonder what he knew and what he’d deduced. The many was as brilliant in certain areas and, apparently, a master at getting the best from his people.
“We were expecting Admiral Marcus to be on the Vengeance,” he finally admitted.
“Admiral Marcus had one set of plans; we disagreed with them,” Buffy informed.
“What is the ISC and why should we trust you?” he asked, obviously stalling for time even as he sought information.
“We’re a very old, very private organization with the sole goal of keeping the Earth safe. We work quietly and behind the scenes.”
“Section 31?” he inquired.
Buffy blinked. “I don’t know what that is. We do a lot of research and, as I said, do our best to keep the Earth safe. All out war with the Klingon Empire is not going to keep Earth safe,” she stated boldly.
It was apparently the right thing to say as Kirk relaxed fractionally. “We would appreciate a tow into safe space,” he assured.
“Good. We’ll latch on and start towing. We want to get as far in as we can before we stop. So, perhaps twelve hours,” she informed. “Vengeance out.”
Twelve hours later, they were near an M-class planet safe within Federation space. Kirk had been surprised and relieved when Scotty and Keenser showed up to help with repairs. He instantly offered Scotty his job back along with an apology and Scotty accepted with a smile.
The meeting between Buffy and Kirk was brief with Buffy presenting paperwork authorizing her to take Khan and the people in the torpedoes into custody on the Vengeance. Kirk was happy to get Khan off his ship.
“We’ve prepared a new cryo tube for you,” Buffy informed Khan. She didn’t like the man, though she could, to a certain extent, sympathize with him, she and her people had found another way and Buffy felt he could have too.
“And my people?” he asked.
“We’ve checked over their status. A few of them will need to be woken and new tubes provided when we return to Earth, but all are doing well,” she answered.
“Thank you,” he said, the honesty and appreciation ringing in his voice. “You will -”
“When the time is right,” Buffy assured him, knowing what he was really asking.
With that answer, he took a deep breath and released it before slipping into the tube that would be his resting place for who knew how many years before the ISC woke them to live in a world that would accept their kind.
End
Author: Beriaearwen
Crossover: Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Start Trek: Into The Darkness
Rating: Suitable for people over 13
Word Count: 1900
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy, etc. The characters of Star Trek belong to Gene Rodenberry, etc. All are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: “Admiral Marcus had one set of plans; we disagreed with them.”
Another Way
by Beriaearwen
It was the explosion in London that gave them their clue, but they were just a little too slow to catch him before he attacked Star Fleet. What was worse, Kahn managed to kill Christopher Pike, costing them one of their best sources of intelligence.
“Do we know where he teleported?” Buffy asked, standing in the operations center as they tried to sort through the footage and determine what had happened and work to anticipate the next move.
“Not exactly, but Admiral Marcus has put Enterprise on rapid prep. They have something very hush-hush they’re loading,” Dawn relayed.
“Probably a weapon,” Willow said suddenly.
Buffy nodded slowly thinking about that. She mentally ran through all of the information, all of the reports and rumors they had collected. “The new torpedoes.”
Willow nodded toward Nala. “Seventy two,” she announced.
“You don’t think…?” Dawn started asking.
“Of course he did,” Buffy replied. “We don’t need to figure out Kahn, we need to worry about Admiral Marcus.”
“Matthew, what’s your take the Admiral?”
The young man thought for a few moments before speaking. “This is something he’s been planing. He’s obsessed with war and the glory of war.” He ignored the snorts and grumbles around the room. “We just got access to some of his secret files.”
“We did?” Buffy asked, suspicion lacing her voice.
Matthew nodded. “Some from our person, who was able to get some of the more obscure things, but one file in particular from an unknown source.”
“Kahn,” Dawn murmured almost to herself.
“Of course,” Buffy agreed. “Even if he is destroyed, he would want to take his tormentor down with him. What did he send.”
Reaching over to hit a few keys, a file appeared on the large screen and he quickly maneuvered to the schematics. “A warship called Vengeance.”
“D’Hoffryn must love it,” Willow sighed. “What sort of weaponry are we looking at?”
The payload on the warship popped up on screen.
Buffy whistled at the list. A plan was forming in her mind, she just needed a few more pieces of infomraiton.
“K’tal, what’s your take on Kirk? Will he fire the torpedoes or give Khan a chance to surrender? If given that chance Khan will surrender, he values his people too much,” Buffy asked.
“What do the torpedoes have to do with his people?” Dawn asked, having missed a step somewhere.
Looking around the room, Buffy announced, “There are seventy two of them frozen in cryotubes. There are seventy two torpedoes. Marcus had to be controlling him somehow.”
“Well, crap,” Willow observed. “That means Khan’s playing a long game too.”
Buffy nodded slowly, working through it in her mind. “If he can get Kirk to let him live, he’ll find a way to either take over the Enterprise or the Vengeance. If it’s the Vengeance, Admiral Marcus is as good as dead and Khan will have a warship and all of space.”
“Not if we can help it,” Dawn stated, determination ringing in her voice.
“And we can,” Buffy stated. “We need to take the Vengeance and Marcus before he can get anywhere. We talk to Kirk and get him to give us Khan and the others. Matthew, send the Vengeance files to all of our pads. Willow, we’ll need another cryo unit for Khan.”
“You think he’ll go in peaceably?” Willow asked.
Buffy shot her a look. “Peaceably or otherwise, he will go in. We aren’t his judge, jury or executioner, but we are the only ones who will be around next time as well.”
“Buffy,” K’tal interrupted, “it just came through that Montgomery Scott resigned his post on the Enterprise.”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise and her eyes shot over toward the final person in the room, “Ruan -”
“I’ll go retrieve and recruit him,” Ruan replied already rising and calling up current location information.
“See if he can find out exactly where Marcus is keeping the Vengeance. We’ll need to get Auten up to date, we’ll need a helmsman.”
“I’ll make the call,” Dawn assured, turning back toward her console.
“All right. Let’s do this,” Buffy encouraged, retreating to the conference table where they would be able to lay out and detail their plans more fully.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Buffy heard him coming long before he made it into the room. She couldn’t help but smile at the sound.
Montgomery Scott’s mother had worked for the ISC for many years. Over the centuries, and wars their role had changed slightly. They had managed to change and adapt, keeping to their mandate as much as they could and they were successful at it. They had to be. Once the Augments were made public, they couldn’t afford to be mistaken for them.
The supernatural world still existed, but after the wars, it too had changed, adapted to the new world, or it died at the hands of the Slayers.
It was fortunate that they had a good handle on the Supernatural before the first aliens appeared on the scene. It helped more that most beings with a demonic lineage were unable to leave the planet unless they were an eighth or less demonic. By that point, most of them were out of touch with demonic culture.
The aliens made it more challenging for the ISC since some demons had evolved similar looks to some aliens, but there was usually a language or behavioral difference that made it easier to tell them apart.
It was a journey Buffy, Dawn and Willow had witnessed and managed. The spell to activate the potential Slayers had extended both Buffy and Willow’s lives. It was possible they were immortal, but they weren’t exactly about to test it, nor was Dawn.
They had thought that Dawn no longer carried the power of the key, but they had been wrong. It was merely dormant within her. Once she hit her mid-twenties, she, like Willow and Buffy, stopped aging. Despite being younger than either Buffy or Willow, dawn looked a few years older. It hadn’t always been easy, but they had found their stride and learned to look at as much information as they could. They allowed their people to stay on or do something else.
They also worked hard to keep ties with all members of families that either currently or had in the past worked for the ISC. It had ended up creating a phenomenal information network even if most of them didn’t work directly for the ISC.
“I told you, lass, I have to get going, there’s places I need to be,” Scotty said, stepping into the room, following a smiling Ruan. “Buffy!” he cried, seeing her. He came over placed his hands on her arms and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I was just tellin’ Ruan here -”
“That you have some coordinates to check. And you’re here so we can tell you what you’ll find and ask your help in taking it away from a maniac who wants to start a war by sacrificing the Enterprise.”
“They what?!” Scotty asked, completely outrages.
“Our feelings exactly,” Dawn cut in, placing a tablet in Scotty’s hands. “Here’s a brief summary, we can give you more details on our way.”
Scotty didn’t respond, taking a moment to sit so Keenser could see the information as well. “Right,” he said after a few minutes, completely serious. “We’ve got some work to do.”
“That we do,” Buffy agreed.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
The Enterprise was dead in the water, floating in space, and not in a good place. Buffy wondered what was going on inside of it, what sort of mind games Khan was playing. If they were fortunate, they would have reached the other ship before Khan started a war inside or freed his people.
“How’s the tractor beam coming, Scotty?” Buffy asked via com.
“We’ve been able to increase the pull on it in a way that shouldn’t overload the engines,” he commed back. “I wouldn’t want to test it for too long and, of course, Warp isn’t an option.”
“We shouldn’t need it to be,” Buffy assured. “We need to get the Enterprise safely within our space and then we’ll worry about fixing it enough to get them home on their own.” She took a breath, it was time. “Hail the enterprise, please,” she requested.
Matthew complied. “Enterprise, this is the Vengeance, please respond.”
A moment later they had visual up with the Enterprise. “Vengeance this is Captain Kirk. May I ask to whom I am speaking.”
“Buffy summers of the ISC here, Captain. It looks like you’re having a bit of trouble. Our Engineer has assured me that we would be able to tow you via tractor beam into safer space and may be able to assist with repairs.” She kept a pleasant look on her face as she saw Kirk’s mind spinning and couldn’t help but wonder what he knew and what he’d deduced. The many was as brilliant in certain areas and, apparently, a master at getting the best from his people.
“We were expecting Admiral Marcus to be on the Vengeance,” he finally admitted.
“Admiral Marcus had one set of plans; we disagreed with them,” Buffy informed.
“What is the ISC and why should we trust you?” he asked, obviously stalling for time even as he sought information.
“We’re a very old, very private organization with the sole goal of keeping the Earth safe. We work quietly and behind the scenes.”
“Section 31?” he inquired.
Buffy blinked. “I don’t know what that is. We do a lot of research and, as I said, do our best to keep the Earth safe. All out war with the Klingon Empire is not going to keep Earth safe,” she stated boldly.
It was apparently the right thing to say as Kirk relaxed fractionally. “We would appreciate a tow into safe space,” he assured.
“Good. We’ll latch on and start towing. We want to get as far in as we can before we stop. So, perhaps twelve hours,” she informed. “Vengeance out.”
Twelve hours later, they were near an M-class planet safe within Federation space. Kirk had been surprised and relieved when Scotty and Keenser showed up to help with repairs. He instantly offered Scotty his job back along with an apology and Scotty accepted with a smile.
The meeting between Buffy and Kirk was brief with Buffy presenting paperwork authorizing her to take Khan and the people in the torpedoes into custody on the Vengeance. Kirk was happy to get Khan off his ship.
“We’ve prepared a new cryo tube for you,” Buffy informed Khan. She didn’t like the man, though she could, to a certain extent, sympathize with him, she and her people had found another way and Buffy felt he could have too.
“And my people?” he asked.
“We’ve checked over their status. A few of them will need to be woken and new tubes provided when we return to Earth, but all are doing well,” she answered.
“Thank you,” he said, the honesty and appreciation ringing in his voice. “You will -”
“When the time is right,” Buffy assured him, knowing what he was really asking.
With that answer, he took a deep breath and released it before slipping into the tube that would be his resting place for who knew how many years before the ISC woke them to live in a world that would accept their kind.
End