Seeds of Time Chapter 4, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer + Robotech/Macross Crossover fanfic

Seeds of Time

Author Note: I just want to let everyone know that I won't be recreating faithfully every single episode of Robotech: The New Generation's story, while the next few chapters will be almost the same, with only a couple of differences here and there, this is mostly just to get all the members of Scott's cell – with the exception of Marlene/Ariel – together. After that I will only rewrite some of the episodes, with appropriate tweaks to fit the fused Buffy/Robotech reality, as they'll be important for the greater story arc.

Disclaimer: Still don't own these characters.

Chapter Four

Xander clung as tight as he dared to Rand as the other man guided his bike across a seemingly endless, nigh on featureless expanse of scorching desert. He wasn't really paying attention to the scenery, or the searing heat of the sun beating down on them from a heat bleached sky, instead he was preoccupied with mentally going over everything that the wisecracking Argentinean had told him last night.

They'd talked for hours in that cave, Rand sharing some salted fish he didn't recognise that he'd traded with some of the coastal towns with him over a small fire. Well mostly Rand had talked filling him in on everything that had happened over the last forty-three years, all the horrors that mankind had been put through over the last thirty odd especially. He kept lingering on the Rain of Death and the inconceivable scale of devastation that a race of bioengineered literal giants called the Zentraedi had wrought with that one bombardment. When Rand had first told him about it he hadn't known whether to scream in denial or be sick from the absolute horror of it.

At least I know now what likely killed off the Slayer potentials, he thought guessing that most of the girls with the potential to become The Slayer had been killed in the bombardment as the vast majority of humankind lived in large towns and cities and had done for centuries. Towns and cities which had been utterly obliterated when reflex cannon blasts landed in them with forces greater than any nuclear bomb they'd ever set off during the Cold War years. He didn't know what he was supposed to do about it though; what could one man do against a fleet of four point eight million warships and a few billion fifty to sixty foot tall humanoids?

"You're still thinking about it aren't you," Rand abruptly said from in front of him, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," Xander admitted, "it's not every day you hear about a genocide on that scale. Especially as it likely killed all the potentials."

"Potentials" Rand asked hearing the capital letter in that name "potentials for what?"

"Have you ever heard of the Slayer, Rand," Xander asked guessing that his saviour turned travelling companion/guide to this time had not really heard of the Vampire Slayer.

"I've heard the odd fang face mention the Slayer from time to time," Rand admitted frowning slightly, but knowing Xander currently couldn't see it, as he wondered just where this was going. "I just assumed it was a legend, some demonic bogeyman that vampires use to frighten unruly members of their undead clique into behaving."

"I suppose that's all she is now," Xander admitted. "But the Slayer is, or was, real, Rand. The spiel goes that 'into every generation there is a Chosen One; she alone will have the strength to fight against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer'. They're usually girls between fourteen and twenty-one years of age when they're called by some higher power to be the new Slayer. In the four years I've been fighting vampires and demons I've known three of them."

"They have that short a lifespan," Rand asked horrified at the implications and wondering what higher being or whatever could chose such young girls for such a horrible mission.

"Most don't live more than a year. Though I've known one that's lived for five years thanks to me, my friends and the fact that I revived her with CPR after a particularly nasty master vampire – called unimaginatively The Master – drowned her to fulfil a prophecy. As a result the one girl in all the world thing became two girls in all the world as Buffy retained her Slayer powers after being revived."

"That's a weird name, Buffy."

"It is a bit," Xander admitted, he remembered wondering just what Joyce had been thinking when she'd named her daughter that. At least until he'd asked her once and found out that it was a nickname Buffy had gotten in kindergarten that had stuck ever since, just like how everyone knew him as Xander when his actual name was Alexander. "It's a nickname she picked up in kindergarten Buffy's real first name is Elizabeth. But as I was saying there is a whole network of girls out there – at least there were in my time – that have the potential to be become the Slayer upon the death of the previous Slayer. They likely all died in the rain so when Buffy or Faith – the two current Slayers in my time – died there would be nobody to inherit that heaviest of mantles thus no one to stop the Old Ones when they return."

"So you now know what probably caused the end of the Slayers," Rand summarised. "The question now is what causes this Hellmouth you told me about to rupture a year or so from now? Any idea how were going to figure that one out?"

"Nope," Xander sighed. "We have to figure it out but how we go about doing that…I haven't the foggiest. Of course these Invid you told me about are probably going to make finding answers even harder than it would have otherwise been."

"I don't doubt they will, they do have a knack for making people's lives difficult" Rand agreed as he guided the bike up a steep incline onto a more rocky area of the desert and blinked at what he saw a few hundred feet away from their current location. "Whoa," he said bringing the bike to a stop as he examined the find.

Sitting there on the desert floor, rock and sand piled up around it from where it had ploughed through, was a Robotech transport ship. Eyes experienced in the art of salvage told Rand that the wreck was relatively new the fact that it hadn't already been buried was proof of that as large sandstorms were quite common in this area at this time of year and would certainly have buried the vessel if it had been here more than a few months. It also didn't appear to have been disturbed.

"What is that," Xander asked looking over Rand's shoulder and seeing what was clearly a downed spacecraft whose design somewhat reminded him somewhat of a Klingon battlecruiser from Star Trek, though it was more angular and lacked warp nacelles.

"A golden salvage opportunity; it's a Robotech military transport ship, the Invid must have shot it down," Rand replied as he started up the bike again and headed right for the downed vessel. "We should find some interesting things here to barter when we reach Lake Town." We might even find some protoculture energy cells, he thought knowing from experience that finding those intact were rare but they were always extremely valuable when you did find them, especially given how stingy the Invid could sometimes be with their energy cell rations. Somebody in Lake Town – or any other town they came across in their travels – would certainly want them and be willing to offer valuable supplies or even gold in exchange. Plus, since there were now two of them, it might be an idea to raid its emergency lockers for things like tents, medical packs and emergency rations as they'd be a useful, if not the most palatable, supplement to their food supplies.

In moments he was pulling up next to one of the downed crafts wings. "Come on," he said to his travelling companion as he hopped off the bike and extended the pedal so it wouldn't fall over. Xander nodded and climbed off the bike himself before following Rand as he advanced cautiously but optimistically towards the side of the downed ship.

"Here," Rand called back to him as the shorter man came upon a hatch that looked like it had sprung open when the ship had crashed. The metal pins that would normally have held it shut having the characteristic crumpled and torn apart look of impact damage, as opposed to the smooth edged look of energy weapons fire inflicted damage.

"Let's head in," Rand said as Xander joined him. Xander nodded and watched as Rand took a small windup flashlight from a pouch on his belt wound it a few times before switching it on, then leading the way inside the crashed vessel.

Xander couldn't help the slight sigh of relief that escaped his lips as they stepped into the interior of the vessel as it was noticeably cooler than the desert outside, the insulation lining the hull preventing the ships internal temperature rising to any appreciable degree. "Cooler in here," he said needlessly and blinked as he noticed that some lights inside the vessel still seemed to be on, turning what would have been a completely black interior into a dimly lit interior. "There's still power."

"They're emergency lights, running of built in power cells," Rand explained as he turned off his torch, "they certainly activated when the ship crashed and lost main power. I've salvaged from ships like this before and seen it before."

"Okay so which way?"

"This way," Rand said pointing off to the right "if I remember correctly one of the cargo bays should be that way. We're more likely to find something worth salvaging in there."

"Alright lead on."

Rand nodded and led the way deeper into the ship, their footsteps echoing in the dead and silent corridors. It was kind of creepy moving through the twilight filled corridors like this, corridors that once would have probably been filled with life as the crew moved about their duties. Almost like walking through a graveyard at night, Xander thought infinitely familiar with the creepy feeling of the dead and silent ship. It really was like walking through the many cemeteries of Sunnydale; patrolling for newly rising vampires and very rarely said fledgling's sire. He wondered briefly what that said about his life that he was so used to skulking about in graveyards. He put aside those thoughts as they came upon an open door leading into one of the ship's cargo bays.

Now to see if there is anything of value left intact inside this junk heap, Rand thought as he led the way into the bay which, like the rest of the ships interior, was still being palely illuminated by the emergency battery lights. He gasped at what he saw, then smiled as he realised he'd kind of hit the jackpot.

"What is it," Xander asked hearing the gasp and looking curiously over the other man's shoulder, and frowning at what he saw "motorbikes? Why would a military transport ship be carrying so many motorbikes?"

"Because they're much more than that," Rand replied, "they're veritech Cyclones."

"Veri-what?"

Rand blinked then mentally kicked himself, given the time he came from it was understandable that Xander wouldn't recognise the term veritech. Indeed the term hadn't even been invented in his time, not coming about until the mid-two thousands when the first veritech fighters – the Valkyrie if he remembered the name correctly – entered service.

"Veritech it's a product of robotechnology," he explained, "one specially applied to mecha like these Cyclones. It means they can change form and function, for example veritech fighters can change between a fighter plane and a giant battle robot called a battloid."

"Really?" Xander asked trying to wrap his head around the very idea that there were machines that could do that in existence now. How the hell was that possible? He wondered if it could be a form of techno-magic like some of the magic's Ms Calendar had practiced before her death at the hands of Angelus. He'd certainly seen conventional magic change one thing into another often enough, Amy had been especially good at transformation magic's well before she'd somehow gotten herself stuck as a black rat after a panicked spell cast during the MOO incident. If normal magic could perform those kinds of transformations then why couldn't techno-magic?

"Yes really."

"Whoa. It's not techno-magic is it?" Xander asked "the reason I ask is me and magic don't tend to get on very well."

"Nah it's not magic," Rand replied, "it can seem like it though but as that old saying goes 'any sufficiently advanced technology…'"

"…is indistinguishable from magic," Xander finished knowing the quote well. It had been one of Jesse's favourites to quote, especially when they'd gotten into geek fuelled debates/arguments with the likes of Andrew, Jonathan and Warren. "So now what?"

"We take at least one of them with us," Rand replied, "It will give you something to ride as my bike is not really designed for two people. Hell I'll probably take one for myself. As for the rest well we can take the protoculture energy cells out, they're worth a lot on the black market given how stingy the Invid can be with them. Come on let's put some of these back out in the corridor and start checking some of the other bays."

"Alright," Xander agreed with a nod, trusting Rand knew what he was doing and that this wouldn't ultimately turn around and bite them in the ass, before moving towards the rank of Cyclones. He carefully began looking them over, eyes drinking in the sleek lines that spoke of a perfect marriage of aesthetic elegance, functionality and power.

He noticed that the bikes seemed to come in three different types with the front wheel hubcaps being the biggest difference between two of them. One had what looked like some kind of cannon mounted on one side, the other on each side appeared to have two small tubes that – to his soldier memories – looked like either some kind of grenade or missile launchers. The third was slightly bigger and the front hubcaps had three of the grenade or missile launchers on each side, it was also a dark blue in colour in comparison to the olive grey and white colouration of the others with an orange tinted windshield.

It was also the one that seemed to call to him.

Trusting his instincts, they'd never steered him wrong yet, he walked right up to the closest of that type and looked it over more thoroughly before smiling. "I'll take this one," he said prompting Rand to look over at him from where he was checking out one of the others.

"Nice," the other man replied with a whistle "come on let's get these out in the corridor and carry on looking there is bound to be more to this bay than some stored Cyclones."

Xander nodded back and carefully began manoeuvring the bike, to his surprise it freewheeled quite easily, first to the entrance to the bay and then out into the corridor. Rand followed a few paces behind him with one of the others, his being one of the ones with a small cannon mounted on the front right hubcap.

They had just deployed the legs so the bikes wouldn't fall over and were turning to return to the bay when the deck beneath them suddenly shook. "What the hell," Xander exclaimed stumbling.

"Earthquake?" Rand suggested.

"That was no earthquake. Trust me I'm Californian we're used to them and that was like no quake I've ever felt," Xander replied as the deck shook again this time there was a distinct shriek of tearing metal.

"We're being attacked," Rand said in sudden realisation as the deck shook again and there came additional sounds of metal tearing, sounding to Xander almost like something was clawing at the metal skin of the ship and steadily ripping the already compromised hull apart. "Shit it must be an Invid patrol. They must have picked up the power emissions of the lights. Get on your bike we need to get out of here before they literally rip the ship apart."

Xander nodded and hurriedly climbed aboard the Cyclone he'd chosen for himself. Now how do you start this thing, he thought scanning the controls, hoping he didn't have to basically hotwire it to get the engine to start as he wouldn't have the faintest idea where to begin doing that as he doubted it was as easy as they made it look on TV. Somewhat to his own surprise he quickly found a button to start the machine which, after mentally crossing his fingers, he quickly pressed.

Immediately the Cyclone came to life with an odd rumbling humming instead of the throaty roar he had half expected it to have. Oh yeah different type of engine, he thought as he kicked up the leg and balanced as well as he could as the ship was shaking nearly constantly now – the sounds of metal tearing and snapping as it was being ripped apart by some immensely powerful force getting louder and louder.

"Okay let's get out of here," Rand said gunning his own Cyclones engine to life before shooting off down the corridor. Xander followed close behind. In seconds they were shooting back out the broken hatch into the open air.

Directly ahead of them Rand's original bike lay smashed and broken as though something massive had crushed, thin lines of grey smoke rose from the bike as its electronics burned within the crumpled remains.

"Oh man I liked that bike," Rand moaned as he saw the wreckage before the familiar sound of Invid thrusters firing caught his attention. He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened as he saw three Invid troopers. Despite having expected to see them the sight still sent a shiver of fear down his spine as he was well aware what would happen to them if the Invid caught them. "Xander go," he yelled to his new friend.

Xander nodded and gunned his engine for more power shooting away across the rocky surface of the desert plateau. Rand appeared next to him and the two of them drove hard across the desert the sound of engines above and behind them letting them both know they were being chased. Risking a glance over his shoulder Xander's eyes widened when he saw there pursuers, which could only be Invid.

They were like nothing he had ever seen before. Three large purple coloured machines that looked vaguely like someone had crossed a crab with a gorilla and then clad them both in a metallic armour whose opalescent sheen made it look more like the hard carapace of some kind of insect than any metallic alloy he knew of. Ugly as hell I've known demons with a better sense of aesthetics than these Invid, he thought as the three machines chased them, the thrusters on their backs spewing purple tinted jet exhaust as they powered through the air after them. He honestly didn't understand how the damned things could fly as they didn't appear to have any aerodynamic properties whatsoever.

He pushed aside those thoughts and looked towards the horizon, concentrating on his driving as the rocky plateau gave to sandy hills. He could faintly hear Rand taunting the Invid machines – something about them letting him know if they were getting tired – that brought an amused smirk to his face. After a few moments he spotted a dust plume coming towards them, clearly being produced by another machine.

"Rand look," he called out nodding into the distance.

"Oh no these goons are coming from everywhere," Rand exclaimed following Xander's eye line to see the approaching dust plume. He began frantically searching for a way out of this apparent trap for both of them as he had no intention of becoming an unpaid tenant on an Invid protoculture farm. He knew that Xander wouldn't want that fate either, as it would kind of put an end to his own mission of finding out what causes the world to end.

It was at that moment that the approaching vehicle revealed itself to not be a converging group of Invid troopers or enforcers. Instead it was another Cyclone and there was somebody riding it. No sooner than he realised that than the Cyclone pulled its front wheel off the ground and with a flash of thrusters shot into the air, before breaking apart and reforming around its now standing rider transforming from a high powered Robotech motorcycle into a battle armour that made the wearer look like a vastly scaled down, but still extremely well-armed and thus very dangerous, version of a battloid. Despite having read about it this was the first time he had ever actually seen the near miraculous robotechnology process called mechamorphosis happen.

It was as incredible as he'd imagined it would be.

He was so shocked by actually seeing it for the first time that he neglected to pay attention to precisely where he was going. As he result he didn't notice the large rock sticking out of the sandy ground until his Cyclones front wheel struck it and sent him spinning across the ground out of control. Ow, ow, ow, he thought as he came to a dazed stop his wounded pride at getting knocked flying like that hurting more than the bruises and scrapes he'd certainly picked up would.

"Rand are you alright," Xander asked coming to a stop beside him even as the transformed Cyclone and its rider landed between them and the Invid.

"It's okay friends I'll take it from here," a strangely accented male voice as the newcomer raised an arm, trained it on one of the landing Invid troopers and unleashed a single small missile.

The targeted Invid trooper took the Scorpion micro-missile right on its most vulnerable point… the sensor eye. The missile punching right through to the pilots compartment killing the Stage-II Invid pilot instantly even before the 4kg plasma explosive warhead detonated ripping the Invid mecha apart and sending smoke and shrapnel flying in all directions.

"Whoa," Xander breathed surprised by the fact that such a small projectile could trigger such a large explosion. Must be some descendant of the rocket launcher I swiped off the army so Buffy could blow the Atomic Smurf into a million steaming bits, he thought the firepower though damn. What the hell kind of warhead are those micro-missiles packing? Somehow he doubted it was C4 or any other kind of explosive that he was familiar with. He watched with interest to see what happened next.

The sudden destruction of their compatriot seemed to have caught the Invid off guard. Now the remaining two machines and the battle armoured man were staring at each other. "Well you sure are ugly," the man said again speaking with an accent unlike anything Xander had ever heard in his life before though its clipped, professional cadence reminded him somewhat of Giles when he was in full on 'stuffy Brit' mode. "Now it's time to see if you can fight."

The Invid obviously did not appreciate the taunting any more than the vamps in Sunnydale appreciated it when Buffy taunted them. One of them swiped at the armoured stranger with one huge three clawed metal hand only for the stranger to effortlessly dodge and shoot straight up into the air with a burst of thruster power remaining airborne long enough to lose another pair of missiles – which rapidly sent another of the Invid machines to its doom in a massive, fiery explosion. The stranger landed and immediately rolled to avoid a swipe from the claws of the last of the Invid machines.

Getting back to his feet the stranger leaped upwards and landing on top of the machine with an agility that was as impressive as it was seemingly completely effortless. "Here I am, you really need glasses," the man said in a very taunting tone of voice as he leaped down just avoiding another claw swipe as the Invid pilot continued its attempts to hit him. Xander couldn't help but chuckle at the taunting. This guy would so get on with Buffy, he thought as the stranger apparently decided to stop toying with the last Invid and launched a final missile turning the last machine into flames and debris.

The Invid defeated, for the time being at least, the armoured stranger advanced took a few steps towards them – his armoured feet producing a metallic clanking noise that immediately put Xander in mind of the Jaffa from Stargate, especially how columns would make a loud metallic clanking as they approached – before coming to a halt and seemingly regarding both of them for a minute. Looking up Xander tried to guess what the stranger was thinking or feeling from looking at his face, only to find that the blue translucent visor of the helmet made his features to indistinct to make out the fine details he needed to read his expressions.

For a few moments a strange semi-standoff occurred and both Xander and Rand got the distinct impression that the armoured mad was studying them. Then the man spoke, again speaking with that odd clipped accent. "Not so tough are they partners," the stranger said.

As the words registered Xander couldn't help but laugh.

A Few Moments Earlier

Lieutenant Commander Scott Bernard smiled grimly as the last of his immediate supply of Scorpion micro-missiles claimed the last of the Invid patrol, reducing the mecha – and the protoplasmic slug-like alien within it – to a pile of scorched and smouldering debris. Killing these three Invid wasn't much of a vengeance against the Invid for killing his beloved Marlene and the rest of the Mars Division but it was a start at least. The greater debt, owed not just to him for his fiancée's death but to all of humanity for annexing their homeworld, was still to be paid and paid in full by the Regis and her Invid hoard. And he would do his best to carry out Admiral Hunter's orders and take out the Regis and Reflex Point so the rest of the expeditionary force, when it came as it surely would, could boot the extremely unwelcome Invid squatters off their home.

He just had to find his way to Reflex Point first. Something that was, quite frankly, easier said than done. Terran geography – and indeed geography in general – had never been his strongest subject. That combined with the fact that the Invid had shot down all the navigation satellites put up to replace the old GPS – lost during the Rain of Death as particle beams, lasers and satellites didn't tend to get on that well – network meant he was quite frankly somewhat… well… lost.

Maybe these people I just saved will be able to give me some directions, he thought turning to the two Cyclone riders whom he'd just rescued. It was immediately obvious to him that neither of them was a soldier, though the solidly built black-haired man had an odd almost quasi-military air to him, but were in fact civilians. Civilians who'd presumably salvaged the Cyclones they were riding either from a downed ship or from an old RDF or ASC supply base that had somehow escaped being immolated by the Invid. From the models – a Battler like his own but mounting a EM-40 proton cannon instead of Scorpions and a Devastator – and the fact that they gleamed as if brand new he was willing to bet the Cyclones origins were the former rather than the latter.

A part of him wasn't happy about it but thinking about it he honestly couldn't blame them for salvaging the Cyclones – though they obviously lacked CVR armour of any mark so they wouldn't be able to shift to armour mode – as life under Invid domination wasn't easy. As a dozen races across huge swathes of the galaxy could attest, as such you likely took whatever advantage you could to survive and retain some semblance of control over your own fate. If the Cyclones gave them that advantage then it was only fair that they use it. Maybe I can get them to tell me where they got them, he thought, go back there with them and help them find some CVR armour then show them how to use battle armour mode. In exchange they can point me roughly in the direction of Reflex Point.

Deciding he wasn't going to learn anything from them, or get them to trust him, if he continued doing the big silent type thing he spoke up. "Not so tough are they partners," he said a faint smirk on his lips though they naturally couldn't see it through his visor. To his surprise the black haired one, the one riding the Devastator, laughed.

It was an infectious sound and before he even realised it Scott found himself smiling back. His amusement only grew when the redhead looked at his companion like he was crazy for laughing at a time like this.

"You could say that, you certainly took care of them quickly enough," the dark haired civilian replied.

"He's right. You're something else in a battle man," the red haired one added as he pushed his own Cyclone back upright.

Scott was flattered by the praise but decided to set them straight a bit. After all he wasn't one for accepting praise when it wasn't due, between them his parents and Uncle Emil had made sure of that. He calmly flipped up the visor of his helmet. "It's really the Cyclone," he explained.

"They're quite a rig," the red haired civilian agreed squatting down and beginning to examine his Cyclone for damage. There wouldn't be Scott knew, the alloy that Cyclones were made out of was capable of withstanding far more pounding than a skid across the desert floor.

"They are quite impressive," he admitted in agreement as the Cyclone was almost as versatile as an Alpha fighter, though naturally seriously under gunned in comparison to an Alpha, and was a hell of a lot easier to use. "Maybe you can help me," he added getting down to business.

"If we can," Xander replied, "I'm Xander by the way and he's Rand."

"Hi," Rand said in greeting without looking up.

"Lieutenant Commander Scott Bernard," Scott answered.

"Nice to meet you, Commander Bernard," Xander replied "how can we help you?"

"Can you possibly tell me how to get to the Invid hive at Reflex Point," Scott asked.

"Reflex Point why the hell do you want to go there," Rand asked, even he had heard about the massive Invid hive complex at Reflex Point, itself built on top of the bulldozed ruins of New Macross City.

"I have to destroy it or at very least kill the Invid Queen the Regis before Admiral Hunter gets here with the rest of the Expeditionary |Force," Scott replied. "Then we'll be able to boot the Invid off our planet and send them back to that barren rock they came from."

"Sounds like a suicide mission," Rand commented frowning at the armour wearing man.

"If that's what it takes," Scott answered before kneeling down and giving the command for his Cyclone to disengage from armour mode. If was to have even a semi-serious conversation with Xander and Rand he would rather be able to look them in the eye than them having to look up at him. In seconds the Cyclone disengaged and he stood up, before pulling the Cyclone upright as a robotech motorcycle once again.

"Mars Division, the fleet I was attached to was assigned to attack and destroy Reflex Point by orbital bombardment allowing ground forces to be landed," he continued, "but the Invid orbital forces proved far more numerous and far more persistent than anything we've ever encountered from them before. It didn't seem to matter how many of their carriers and battle mecha we destroyed – and we destroyed dozens of the former and thousands of the latter – more came or launched. They overpowered us… as far as I know I'm the only one left alive.

"But our orders stand. I'm alive so I must continue with my mission, if doing so costs me my life… well so be it," he continued slipping off his helmet, only for it to catch on the lanyard around his neck and yank it – and the message trinket attached to it - free. The green and black heart shaped trinket landing on the floor and opening prompting a six-inch tall hologram of Marlene to appear in the air.

"Scott my darling I know this isn't much," the recorded image of Lieutenant Marlene Rush said naturally unaware that the sound of her voice drove like a knife into Scott's heart, "but I want you to know that I love you and that yes I will marry you. Take care my darling, I love you."

The recording ended and the hologram dissipated, the locket automatically closing. "Marlene," Scott said softly as he picked it up before turning away mind again seeing the Horizon-T dropship she was crew of breaking apart under the friction of an uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere, the dropship unable to pull out into a safe entry vector due to damage to its control surfaces. Feeling his eyes begin to burn with unshed tears he angrily tried to push the emotions away. He couldn't give into the grief, much as he wanted to just breakdown and cry he couldn't, not now, not yet. He had a mission to complete there would be time to grieve later.

"Was that your girl," Rand asked softly from behind him.

"Yeah," Scott replied equally softly, his own voice shaking with the emotions that wanted to break through, "my girl. She died in the battle."

Finally succeeding in pushing the emotions down, locking them away behind iron self-control for now at least, Scott slipped the lanyard – and its precious cargo, his last link to Marlene at least till he got back to Tirol and could see young Marcus – back on making a mental note to make sure it was under his chest armour next time as he didn't want to lose it. Then he turned back around to face Xander and Rand.

"I'm sorry," Xander consoled softly, though the soldier was hiding it he could see the raw emotional pain in his blue eyes being only just kept in check by a combination of military discipline and a will of iron. He'd seen that look before, in his own eyes after Jesse was killed and turned forcing him to stake the demon wearing the face of he who had been his brother in everything but blood. "We'll do all we can to help you, won't we Rand? Though I honestly do not know the way to Reflex Point."

"Sure we will," Rand agreed throwing a slightly questioning look at Xander wondering why the other man was offering to help Commander Bernard with his mission. He had his own mission after all. He made a mental note to ask him later when they could get some time alone as he doubted the soldier from space knew about, and would accept that, the supernatural world was real. "I have no idea exactly how to get there but I do know Reflex Point is north of here," he continued looking back at Scott, "tens of thousands of miles to the north. You got a long way to go my friend."

"Tell me about it," Scott agreed knowing long way was an understatement as there were a lot of obstacles between him and Reflex Point no doubt ranging from natural barriers like the Amazon rainforest and the Caribbean to the obstacles of a world in chaos. "And thanks."

"Your welcome," Rand replied, "so now what?"

"Well first thing you tell me where'd you two get those Cyclones? They look brand new."

"Oh we salvaged them from one of the cargo holds of a downed transport ship a few miles back," Rand replied, "we didn't get a chance to salvage much else before that patrol of Invid troopers showed up and started ripping the ship up."

"Then we really need to head back there and recover what we can before more Invid show up," Scott replied, "I need more Scorpions and if you two are really going to use those Cyclones then you need a few things."

"Like?" Xander queried.

"Like CVR armour like this," Scott replied tapping the hard body armour he was wearing over his flight suit, "you can't operate armour mode without it. And don't worry I'll teach you how to use it it's not difficult. Spare power cells, hand weapons and general supplies would also do us well as I only have my emergency survival kit and that won't last very long. Any idea how long till more Invid show up?"

"Probably not for a while," Rand replied, "patrols over the desert regions tend to be very sporadic. It will be awhile before the Invid will be able to spare more troopers."

"Good we have a chance then. Which way's the ship?"

"We can lead you there can't we Xander," Rand replied climbing back onto his Cyclone and turning it back in the direction they'd just come from.

"Sure," Xander agreed as he turned his own machine around.

"Then let's go," Scott answered as he quickly picked up the side boxes that had automatically detached from his Cyclone when he switched to battle armour and re-secured them to the Cyclone before hopping on himself and turning the bike in the same direction as the other two. "Lead on then."

Rand and Xander both nodded and brought there Cyclones to life again. Scott did the same and with a rumble of engines that echoed off the dunes and rocky outcrops the unlikely trio set off, heading back to the transport and whatever salvage they could gain. And in the process taking their first steps on an adventure that would change all of them in ways they could not yet imagine.

Authors Note: Well another chapter bites the proverbial dust. I was originally going to put a scene with Buffy and the other Scoobies back in Sunnydale at the end of this chapter but as I started to write it, it felt a bit extraneous and tacked on so I removed it. I hope no one minds. I have also altered quite a bit of the dialogue from New Generation for this chapter as it wasn't the best to be honest, again I hope nobody minds.

Author Note (16/08/2015): It has been brought to my attention that Elizabeth being Buffy's real first name is purely fanon in origin. I was unaware of this but then it has been a few months since I watched any episodes of the TV show. While I acknowledge the fanon nature of the name Elizabeth I will be continuing to use it though its not likely to be mentioned openly by any of the story characters again. I hope nobody minds too much.