Title:The Zeppo and Orion

Author: Nodakskip

E-mail:

Disclaimer: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, Fox, WB and UPN. Anything to do with Star Trek belongs to Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Paramount, and CBS. All other references you can recognize belong to their various owners. Some of the text is from the various TV episodes, and so does not belong to me of course. No profit will be made from this work, like that actually needed to be said.

Beta by: Theo

Category: Super AU

Rating: R

Classification: Action-Adventure, Angst, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Romance

Summary: What if the Buffyverse had just been a part of the larger Star Trek-verse?

---

Sunnydale, California, North America, Earth, Sol Sector

May 29th, 2354

"Excuse me, hello?"

Xander Harris – Slayerette and recent graduate of the now-demolished Sunnydale High School, along with his girlfriend of almost two years, Cordelia Chase – looked out of the old shuttle he'd been working on within his Uncle Rory's salvage lot. Only to see a man a little older than himself standing outside. "Hey, sorry…it's a little hard to hear when you're under the deck like that."

The man looked over the old, beat-up shuttle as Xander came out. "An old class F, right? From the 2260's?"

"Class E, actually," Xander informed him. "You can tell by the shape of the stern section, it's more boxy."

The man sighed. "Right. Well, I really hope you can help me out. Your uncle said you might have a baffle plate for a Type 2 warp shuttle?"

Xander nodded. "Those things only go up to warp 2.4, right? Planning a long trip?"

The man laughed. "No, short one actually. My sister has a place on Mars now, she wants something to commute back and forth with."

Xander motioned for him to follow him over to another area. "Well, for that you don't really even need to use your warp drive. It's intersystem."

"True," was the answer he got back from the man who'd yet to identify himself. "But you never know when something might come up."

"Yeah, I guess so," Harris replied as they arrived at a small shed. He entered the code to get in, and then turned back. "Okay, I think I can help. Just give me a sec to grab it; I'm pretty sure we just got one with a shipment from the Utopia Planitia shipyards."

"Well, guess I came on the right day then," the man said to him with a smile.

As Xander vanished into the shed, the man named Luther Sloan changed his facial expression slightly. He had known full well what this salvage yard had gotten in its re-supply the day before. The real reason he was here was that Sloan wanted the chance to meet his companion face-to-face.

On account of Xander Harris had recently submitted his application to join Starfleet Academy. And despite the fact that the 18-year-old boy doubted that he'd get in, that most likely he'd have to advance in rank as best he could as a noncom, Sloan's bosses had already earmarked him as a possible agent for the clandestine organization known as Section 31. And so, even though he didn't know it, Harris was undergoing his final exam right at this moment on whether or not Section 31 would sponsor his entry into the Academy.

Xander reemerged with the part in question. "Here you go, old but still good."

"Thank you," Sloan replied as he inspected the part, there were no stress fractures at all. Honest and efficient, good. The secret agent was pleased with how things were going so far. "This is exactly what I needed."

"Glad to help," Xander said simply.

As they started to walk back to the main entrance, Sloan looked to the young man. "If you don't mind me asking, what's a young man like you doing working here with all these old fogies?"

Xander shrugged expressionlessly. "It's a job." Then he smiled with a somewhat more expressive look, "And I put an application into Starfleet academy, but I'm not getting my hopes up."

"Really?" Sloan said to that. He had just decided what he would be recommending to his superiors. "Myself, I bet Starfleet would be glad to have you."

"Well, just as long as they don't look at my grades during high school," Xander smirked.

----

Residence of Rupert Giles, Sunnydale, California North America, Earth

The next day

"Hey, Giles!" Willow said as she and Buffy came into his home.

"Ah, is it morning already?" the Englishman asked as he looked up from his PADD.

Buffy just smiled at her (former) Watcher's question as she went over to the replicator. "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." After the drink was replicated, she brought it over to him.

"Ah, thank you Buffy," Giles said absently as he took a big gulp of the stuff. "I'm afraid I've been up all night, and I'm definitely not as young as I used to be."

The Slayer looked at one of the PADDs on the table. "Martel's Demon Guide During The 21st Century?"

"Yes, well," Giles said as he sat back. "Ever since you quit the Council, it's been hard to get the extant demonology texts. I can't get what I need officially anymore."

"We can't just log onto the Council's network, huh?" Willow figured.

Giles nodded. "It almost makes me want to go back to the old ways of actual books, having things written down on paper. Granted, I would have nowhere to put a library that massive, but still. Well, as it is, we have to download all the texts and books possible before Quentin Travers realizes we still have access to the Council library."

Buffy looked around. "I thought you were going to have Cordelia to help you today?"

"Ah, yes, true enough," Giles said. "I mean, she was going to, but then she got called away for a meeting at the last minute. She wanted to make sure she got her beauty sleep for it."

"A meeting?" Willow asked. "For what? And with who? I mean, I thought she wasn't talking to her mother right now…"

"I've been sworn to secrecy on that matter, so please don't ask me anything more about it," Giles told her firmly. "Cordelia said to me that she had come to a decision about her future, and that's all I can say about it."

"Come on, Giles!" Buffy pouted, she hated it when someone kept a secret from her on general principles. "You can tell us!"

"No, I can't," the Englishman replied in annoyance as he went over to another pile of PADDs. "Not unless Cordelia gives me permission to do so."

---

Starfleet Academy Student Affairs Office, San Francisco, North America, Earth

The same time

"Hi," the beautiful brunette said as she came to the desk. "I'm Cordelia Chase, I have an appointment with Ensign Mathews?"

The male Academy senior staffer got the surprise of his young life when he looked up. There staring right back at him was an incredibly desirable teenage Orion girl. "Ah, hi!" he said awkwardly.

The green-skinned female didn't comment on the squeak in the young man's voice. After all, it was not uncommon for young men to be a little surprised upon seeing an Orion woman in the course of their normal lives. "Chase with a C."

"Oh yes!" the young man said after a moment. He quickly looked around to find his appointment calendar. "Ah, here we go." He stood up to be face to face with her, and then tried but failed miserably not to look down her blouse. "Just go down the left corridor there and it's the last door."

"Thank you," Cordelia said, trying to hide her annoyance. Normally she would be angrier when a guy was that obvious, but right now her nervous state was causing her to broadcast a few more pheromones than she normally would - and so, Cordy had to admit it probably wasn't all his fault.

The young woman left the front area and was headed down the corridor when her name was called out. She looked back to find a female lieutenant staring at her. "Yes?"

The lieutenant nodded towards the side corridor. "I've been asked to escort you to your meeting."

Cordelia got confused. "But I was told the ensign's office was…"

"You're no longer seeing him, that meeting's been cancelled," she was told. "Right this way."

"Okay…" Cordelia said, unsure. To her way of thinking, this was not a good sign.

Soon they reached a small ground car, they got inside and the officer told her, "You should know, your application has piqued the interest of quite a few higher-up Starfleet officers."

Cordy watched the grounds of the Academy go by as they headed towards their new destination. Starfleet Command. "Is that good?"

The woman shrugged. "Don't know, they didn't fill me in on that."

They quickly reached the target office building and went inside. Cordelia noted a few odd looks from the officers scattered around. She'd known she was pretty much asking for trouble by applying to get into Starfleet Academy, but she hadn't expected it to be this public. After a very short turbolift ride they got off on the seventh floor.

Cordelia was ushered into a very large office. "Just take a seat and she'll be right with you," the female officer told her.

"She?" Cordelia asked in confusion, but the lieutenant had already closed the door and left.

"Well, this is…strange," Cordelia said to herself as she went over and examined a model of a variant type Excelsior starship. The name 'USS Crazy Horse' could be seen on the saucer section of the model. Miss Chase jumped when she heard a new voice.

"Cordelia Chase, of Orion descent, born January 9th 2336 according to official record," a voice said from the doorway. "Family came to Earth when you were less than a year old, they subsequently took human names and then took up residence in Sunnydale, California."

Cordelia looked back to see a short older blond human woman in a Starfleet admiral's uniform. "That's right…ah, sir?"

"Sir would be quite correct as of this moment in time, Cadet Chase," the woman said as she came over. "I'm Rear Admiral Alynna Nechayev."

Cordelia watched in surprise as the Starfleet official went over and sat behind the desk. "Ah, right…wait, Cadet Chase? But I just put in the application two days ago!"

"I like to get on top of things straightaway," Nechayev told her as she motioned for Cordelia to sit down in the chair in front of her desk. "Now take a seat, cadet, we have a lot to talk about."

As she sat down, Cordelia asked, "Sir, I can't help wondering why I'm seeing a rear admiral in Starfleet Command rather than an ensign down in the Academy office?"

"Well, as you may have guessed, the first Orion in history to apply to enter the Academy does raise a few eyebrows," Nechayev told her. "Let alone a…" the admiral made air quotations with her fingers, "slave girl."

"I'm no one's slave," Cordelia replied to that quickly, the ire in her tone obvious.

"You think I don't know that? Cadet Chase, quite a few people in Starfleet know that the whole 'slave girl' thing is just a stereotype that your people like to put out there, and that Orion women are not slaves in any sense of the word."

"True," Cordelia admitted. She knew full well that her gender could control their 'owners' easily with their pheromones.

The admiral sat back in her plush chair. "Now I'm going to ask you some questions, cadet, and I want you to answer them honestly. And that's something you do very often, or so I hear." After a nod from the teen, the older woman said, "I want to know the real reasons why an Orion woman - with a father on the run from the authorities, no less - wants to get into Starfleet."

Cordelia easily ignored the comment about her father, she could care less about him nowadays. "You said it yourself, people see me and automatically think Orion slave girl, like I should be performing in some strip club or something. But there is no way in hell I'M going to end up like that!"

Nechayev nodded to that. "Is that the only reason?"

"No," Cordelia stated without hesitation. "My boyfriend also applied to get into the Academy, and I want to be able to stay with him."

"Ah yes, the human boyfriend. That would be Mr. Alexander Harris," the admiral said. "Or Xander, as he prefers to go by."

"You know more about me than I thought you would," the teenage girl said, suddenly a bit unsure.

"You could definitely say that," Nechayev told her as she activated the small monitor and turned it to face Cordelia. "This is you, along with Mr. Harris, breaking into the Denver museum of ancient weaponry last year. You stole a M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon from the 20th century display."

"I…I don't know what you're talking about," Cordelia stammered, shocked as she watched video footage of her and Xander stealing the ancient rocket launcher using her father's illegal transporter. "That's not me-"

"You need to work on your lying skills," Nechayev told her bluntly. "That's you and Alexander Harris stealing a weapon in order to destroy a demon called the Judge. A demon that could…burn the humanity out of a person, if I recall correctly."

"Excuse me?"

"Cadet Chase, I would strongly advise you to quit playing games with me. You worked with a Vampire Slayer in a town built upon the Hellmouth, well - one of them anyway," Nechayev told the stunned teen. "You think Starfleet didn't know about demons and the supernatural? It's the main reason you're here in this room, cadet."

Cordelia was at a loss for words for once in her life, so the older woman kept going. "Just so you know, we've known about the Council and the underworld since before Starfleet was ever officially founded. Though only the higher-ups in the admiralty are briefed on it these days."

"If…if what you're saying is true," Cordelia demanded, deciding to go for broke here. "Then I've got a question I'd like answered. Why the hell was the only thing standing between a bunch of asshole demons and the end of the world less than half a dozen teenagers, and one or two Watchers?"

Nechayev didn't miss a beat. "Oh, that. Well, there are lots of groups other than just the Watchers Council we need to keep an eye on. And the fact is we've been trying to get a task force into Sunnydale for over a year, but we had a little trouble with the Mayor. But I'm betting that that won't be a problem anymore."

"So you want me to join you just because I've fought demons?" Ms. Chase asked. "In that case, what about the Slayer - since you obviously know all about her?"

Nechayev leaned forward. "Buffy Summers would never last her first semester in the Academy. That girl would never tolerate the necessary discipline from her instructors, without rebelling against it almost instantly. And we don't need someone whose fighting abilities exist thanks to supernatural powers, which can be taken away with the right drugs. What Starfleet needs is people who have no super-powers, but can still put their lives on the line to safeguard Earth as well as the rest of the Federation. You and your boyfriend are good for your age and experience, but the Academy can make you even better."

"Does that mean you're accepting Xander this way too?"

"No," Nechayev replied. "There's no need. Apparently he's already been accepted through normal channels, after the Academy processed his application." It was a pity the Starfleet official had no idea just how dirty her 'normal channels' really were, but such was life.

"Really?" Cordy said joyously. "He'll be happy to hear that."

"I would assume so," Nechayev told her, but not looking as if she cared one way or the other. "Now here's the deal, cadet. In your first year, you can pick whatever electives you want from the syllabus – but you must also take several Command level classes."

"Command?" Cordelia asked. "I wasn't thinking of that…"

"I'll be honest with you, Cadet Chase," Nechayev said, leaning back and eyeing Cordelia shrewdly. "Every once in a while I find someone who I see hidden potential in, and I try to make sure they go through the Academy so that they can end up being the best officer they can be. Starfleet can train you for it…so you should ask yourself this. Are you up to the challenge of commanding your own ship one day?"

---

1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California

Later that night

"Okay, we're all here Xander," Buffy said, half-amused and half-concerned. "Now what's the big news?"

Xander took the PADD out of his bag and handed it to the Slayer. Buffy saw the large Starfleet logo and began to read aloud, "Congratulations Alexander Harris, you have been accepted into Starfleet Academy...to graduate in the class of 2358?!"

"OH! I knew you could do it!" the 13-year-old Dawn Summers said happily, as she went over and hugged her childhood crush. "You are going to look so hot in your Starfleet uniform, Xander!"

"Dawn!" Joyce scolded her before she said to the young man, "Congratulations, dear."

"Thanks, Mrs. S.," Xander replied with a big smile.

Giles got up and shook his hand. "I knew you could do it, boy. Well done."

"Not that I place all that much stock in it. But logic would indicate that you'll be a great asset to Starfleet, Xander," Oz the young Vulcan said from his seat. His parents were immigrants to Earth who had rejected the logical upbringing of their forebears, and who had arrived in Sunnydale at roughly the same time Cordelia's parents did. "Live long and prosper, my friend."

Xander smiled and gave his male buddy the Vulcan salute, knowing how the green-blooded contact telepath didn't like to be touched by anyone except Willow. A moment later, Xander looked at his two best friends in confusion. Neither had said anything so far. "Will, Buff? Come on, guys!"

Buffy and Willow shared a look of disbelief. "Ah, Xander…" Buffy found herself at a loss for words. "Wow."

"I can't believe you got in!" Willow blurted out. When she saw Harris's face after she'd said that the witch quickly back-tracked, "No, no, that came out wrong – uh, so not what I meant! It's just that, the Academy…" Willow looked to Buffy. "Help?"

The Slayer nodded. "I'm sorry Xander, you're one of my best friends and all, but honestly – Willow and I didn't think you'd get in!"

"Why the hell not?" Dawn demanded.

"Not now, Dawn," her older sister told her in annoyance.

"No, no, I'm thinking we should hash this out now that the subject's come up. Because this is about that thing a few months ago, isn't it?" Xander asked unhappily.

"What thing?" Joyce asked, confused.

Dawn looked to her mother, she knew her crush was too loyal to her big sister and would never be able to say it out loud. "Cordy told me that Buffy and Willow thought Xander was too incompetent to help anymore, so they tried to force him out of the Slayage."

"DAWN!" Buffy hissed at her little sister.

"What?" Joyce demanded, noting how Giles and Oz visibly drew back after hearing this. "Buffy, why would you do that?"

The Slayer really hated being put on the spot like this. "Look, like I said back then, it's nothing personal against you Xander…it's just, I, I, I don't think you're the fighting type, exactly."

Harris looked right in her face. "Then it's funny how I did just fine last summer when you were…how should I put it? Unavailable, yeah. And when you said I should be fray-adjacent 'for my own good'-"

"Stop it!" Willow yelled to both of them. "Look, Xander, we all promised not fight about this anymore, remember? Buffy and I, we love you and we just want to see you safe. And how safe can you be when you're off fighting the Romulans or the Klingons?"

Xander exhaled in annoyance. "First off, Will, the Klingons have laid low with us since the Khitomer Accords over 50 years ago. Secondly, the Romulans haven't done hardly anything since the Tomed Incident…and this is my life we're talking about, people. I don't care what you two think of my abilities, I am not going to end up like my father. I'm not going to just sit on my ass here in Sunnydale anymore either, high school's over and done with now. I want to be part of something bigger than me, and that means heading for the stars; 'cause you can't get any bigger than that."

"But what if you get killed in the line of duty? I mean we all know how life in Starfleet isn't exactly a walk in the park, Xander," Miss Summers demanded stubbornly. "Why can't you just find something safer here on Earth?"

Oz looked at the stone-faced Harris and said, "If he didn't want to hurt your feelings, I believe Xander's reply to that would be something along the lines of, 'why can't YOU just give up being a Slayer'?"

"OZ!" Willow looked shocked at hearing her boyfriend utter those words.

After sharing a look with Joyce Giles spoke up, "Really, everyone, this argument is getting more than a little tiresome. Buffy, Willow, one thing Starfleet Academy will do is help mold Xander into a very capable young man, even more than he is now. So while your concern is laudable, it is in fact more than a little misplaced in my opinion."

Buffy looked uncomfortable at the looks her mother and her sister were sending her. "I know, I know. I'm sorry Xander, I hate it how this always happens. How about we try to grow up, if you promise me not to get yourself killed out there?"

Xander shook his head. "I can't promise you something like that, if I did I could never enter the Academy with a clear conscience. But the growing up thing…well, I'm cool with that part of it."

Buffy and Willow rushed to hug their male friend, hating the fact that they would lose contact with him on a day-to-day basis within a very short amount of time.

After a few moments the comm unit on Xander's belt chirped. He picked it up, flipped it open and smiled at the signal ID number. "Hey, Cordy…I've been trying to contact you all day."

"Sorry Xander," his girlfriend's voice came through the device. "I've kind of been busy. Can you meet me somewhere soon?"

"Sure," Harris replied. "Where?"

"I'm transferring the coordinates to your comm now."

Xander looked at the small screen as the numbers came up. "Got them. I'll be there in a few minutes."

---

Remote Beach, Lanai Island, Hawaii

A few minutes later

Xander materialized out of nowhere via a public transporter. He looked around and saw he was on a deserted beach at night. Turning around, he saw a small fire going as his girlfriend stood up wearing a brand-new blue bikini. One that complemented her green skin perfectly.

"Don't tell me you've been here on the beach all day," Xander joked with her before Cordelia came over and kissed him.

"No," she replied, after their lips finally and reluctantly parted. "I had a rather unexpected meeting, and boy - have I got some big news to tell you."

"Well, same here sweetheart," Xander told her told her with a charming grin. "Major news happening with the Xan-man too."

The Orion girl took her human boyfriend's hand. "Let's take a walk and you can fill me in."

The young couple started walking down the beach, hearing only the waves washing up on shore. "I got accepted into the Academy!" Xander suddenly blurted out

Cordelia stopped, started at him in sudden joy and hugged him. "I knew you'd do it! I mean please, how could they resist you?"

"Yeah, well, my manliness is kinda hard to resist," Harris joked, which immediately earned him a snort and a slap on the back of his head from his girlfriend. "But hey, are you okay with this? I mean me being off at the Academy, maybe being off on a starship after that?"

"To be honest with you," Cordelia said as they started walking again. "When you first suggested it, I was kinda worried. I didn't want to be one of those girls who only sees their guy via a subspace link every once in a blue moon." She was silent for a moment before she stopped them again. "That's why I applied to enter the Academy as well."

"You did what?" Xander asked, shocked. "You…you actually applied to get into a system where you had to take orders from a guy? And wear the same uniform day after day?"

"Don't remind me about the uniforms," Miss Chase cringed. "At least they don't use those stiff maroon jackets anymore. But as for the rest of it, well - I didn't know what else to do with my life."

"I thought you wanted to move to LA and become an actress in the holo-movies entertainment business?"

Cordelia nodded, and then sent her significant other a Look. "Yeah, but think about it. As an Orion…what kind of roles do you think I would get?"

Xander instantly didn't want to think about that. "You're a lot more than that, Cor. A LOT more."

"I know," she told him as if it was obvious. "But it's not as if a lot of people outside Sunnydale know that. Now look, dorkhead, I also have to tell you this. I went to the Academy interview today, and ended up having a meeting with an Admiral Nechayev-"

"An admiral?" Xander interrupted, very surprised. "What would a Fleet admiral want with a possible cadet applicant?"

"A lot, actually," Cordelia said. "She wanted to know what would compel the first Orion in history to apply to enter Starfleet Academy. And…she told me she knows about us."

"Us?" her boyfriend asked in surprise. "What, you and me? Come on, an interspecies couple isn't exactly unusual in this day and age…"

"No," Miss Chase said, stopping him. "I meant us, as in all of us. Buffy, Giles, Willow…everyone involved in the Slayer thing."

"What?" Xander demanded, his face falling. "How-?"

"Remember when we broke into that museum to steal the rocket launcher last year?" she asked. At his nod Cordy continued, "She showed me a security video of us stealing it."

Xander swore. "Damn it! Willow promised me she'd shut down all the cameras! By the Great Bird of the Galaxy, now we're gonna get in trouble with the authorities-"

"No! It's okay," Cordelia told him quickly. "Think about it - if they were gonna do something to us about that, it would have happened a long time ago, dummy. Besides, it seems Starfleet has been trying to get a team into Sunnydale for awhile now."

"A team?" Xander wondered. "To do what?"

"What we've been doing," the Orion woman told him. "They didn't know why, but the Mayor was stopping them from just barging into the town like that. I mean those people couldn't operate a planet-side team like that without the town officials giving it their blessing…not even on Earth. But now that the Mayor's been deep-fried, it's a whole new ball game."

"Right. Well, I already know that this is going to go over just great with Buffy," Harris grimaced. "Especially the first time some inexperienced ensign decides to start barking orders at her."

"Well, she'll just have to deal," Xander's girlfriend replied with a shrug. "There's more."

"What more?" Harris asked.

"Well, you know how normally freshmen cadets are separated by gender? Well, Admiral Nechayev is granting us special permission to room together because of my…needs."

"Together?" Xander asked, his brain slowly doing the math. "Wait a minute, that means that you… you got in?" Cordelia nodded and squealed as he picked her up and whirled her around. "This is so great! We're both going to Starfleet Academy!"

Miss Chase looked down on him from where Harris was holding her up. "Damn right we are. You think I was gonna let you just go off flying amongst the stars on your own, after all that time and effort I invested into training you to be a good boyfriend?"

"Hey, now-" Xander started to protest. But he didn't get very far before Cordelia leaned down and kissed him deeply, sliding down into his arms as they furiously started sucking face.

----

Residence of Rupert Giles, Sunnydale, California

The same time

Giles placed his tea down on the table as he heard someone at his front door. It was very late for visitors. And when he answered the doorbell, to say he was surprised when he saw who was there was quite the understatement. "Ah...yes?"

Two people in Starfleet uniforms stood at the threshold, and the shorter older woman spoke first. "Good evening, Rupert Giles, I'm Rear Admiral Nechayev. The young man behind me is Lieutenant Commander Riley Finn, and you two will be working together."

"We will?" Giles asked, clearly confused. "Er, w-what would a Starfleet officer want with a retired high school librarian like myself?"

"Nothing," Nechayev replied bluntly as she entered his home, knowing she wouldn't be offered an invitation. "But as the Watcher to the Slayer Buffy Summers…well, that's another matter altogether isn't it?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're referring to," Giles lied easily. "With regard to Buffy Summers, I consider her and her family friends, but I have no knowledge of what a Slayer is."

"You can lie better than Cadet Chase. Good for you," the admiral told him. She then motioned for Finn to enter, he did so thus proving him as not a vampire either. As he closed the door closed Nechayevsaid,"Mr. Giles, Starfleet Command knows about you, and the Watchers, and the Hellmouth, and what you and your group have done in this town for the last three years. And since Mayor Wilkins has finally been dealt with…we now have unrestricted access to this town. To patrol against the hostiles, and protect the sentient citizens from all the dangers they don't know they're facing."

"We would like to work with you, sir, I for one would greatly value your expertise," Finn said to Giles, who was doing an excellent imitation of a fish. "I know this is all very sudden, but my men and I have been training for months to operate here. And we will be operating here, with or without your cooperation. Though I would definitely prefer the former, with your input I'm sure we would do a lot better as a team."

"My input?" Giles could barely force the words out.

"You'd be replacing someone that recently resigned from Starfleet R&D, a Dr. Maggie Walsh. I can only curse the idiot who originally thought her ideas had any merit whatsoever," the real admiral grimaced in disgust. "Well, Mr. Giles? The team will be moving into town within the next few days. Are you in or out?"

"I…I..." Giles stammered, trying to decide what to say. Nothing in his life so far had ever prepared him for this sort of bombshell.

"Habit is one thing, and I'm willing to make a small allowance for it here and now. But understand this - there is no point trying to cover anything up any longer, Mr. Giles," Nechayev said frostily. "And if we'd wanted to arrest you, we would have done so a long time ago. I know that the Watchers Council doesn't like to work with others, but since you are now unemployed as well as the first Watcher to ever let his Slayer have outside help…frankly, I figured you would see the advantages of this kind of partnership."

"You've done your homework on me," Giles said simply, still trying to decide if all this was on the up-and-up. If it was, it certainly provided quite a unique opportunity for him – and to be honest, he was tempted by the idea of being something other than a gentleman of leisure for the foreseeable future.

"I always do," the Admiral replied in response to his comment. "I'm sure Cadet Chase would have informed you of this herself, but I gather she wanted to let her boyfriend know everything first."

"Cadet Chase?" Giles asked, startled. "Does that mean…?"

"Yes," Nechayev replied. "Both Miss Chase and Mr. Harris have both now been accepted into the Academy."

Giles walked over to face her, a hint of steel appearing in his voice. "And would my…cooperation be a requirement of their continued acceptance?"

"Not at all, Mr. Giles," Nechayev replied, unfazed by his bluntness. "That's why I wanted to talk to you before she did. So you wouldn't think that there were any conditions or strings attached to those two being accepted into the Academy."

"I see."

Riley came over and held up a PADD. "Also, sir, we've prepared this. It's a listing of the locations of a few of the adversaries you've faced here over the past few years."

Giles took the PADD and read it, surprised.

Vampires:

Angelus, now known as Angel, currently located in basement apartment within Los Angeles, Earth.

Spike, a.k.a. William the Bloody, currently located on planet Pacifica.

Drusilla, currently located on planet Pacifica.

Humans:

Ethan Rayne, currently in custody on Klingon prison planet Rura Penthe.

Faith Lehane (active Vampire Slayer) currently in custody in the coma ward of Starfleet Medical, San Francisco, Earth.

Giles looked up, "Ethan is in the hands of the Klingons?"

"Do you recommend that we should try to get him released into Federation custody?" Finn asked.

"No, no," Giles said with a nasty grin. "I'm sure they're taking very good care of the man in that particular facility."

Nechayev nodded, knowing full well the history between the two Englishmen. "Now then, shall we talk about our new arrangement? And in case you were wondering, I don't think that we will be requiring Cadets Harris and Chase for this. I have reason to believe they're both otherwise…occupied…at the moment."

---

Remote Beach, Lanai Island, Hawaii

A few minutes later

The small bonfire was the only light visible for miles around, as the young couple began to make love on the night-time sandy beach.

Their shadows were their only companions, cast onto the rock outcropping that was shielding them from the view of any passer-by. They were kissing with Cordelia lying on top of her boyfriend, when Xander's hands wandered upwards and untied her bikini top. The former cheerleader did not object as the garment was cast away, and she started to unbutton her boyfriend's shirt.

Cordelia quickly finished opening the shirt and then she released an extremely high level of pheromones, overcoming even Xander's tolerance to her physiology. The shirt went flying away like the bikini top, as the naked pair of teenagers got down to the serious business of enjoying each other's bodies.

It was times like this that Miss Chase loved being a member of her species. The chemicals she could release got Xander's body even more turned on than normal, and caused the sex to be a lot better and last a lot longer. Granted it was hard to control at times, and too many pheromones would turn Xander's brain into a blubbering mess...

But then this was what Orion women naturally used to make their men more easily controllable, something Willow had accused Cordelia of doing many times. Oddly, though, the female teen had never wanted that where her boyfriend was concerned; Cordelia was atypical in that she had always wanted Xander to desire her of his own free will, which he certainly had done.

Granted, tonight was not the first time this particular pair had made love, not by any means. The first time had been way back during 2352, when she'd gotten her 'Rush' or second stage of puberty for an Orion girl. The first stage around age fourteen started the gradual release of pheromones that only the Orion girl's father and brothers could resist; evolution was quite logical that way, after all, given that incest is almost always bad for a species' genetic diversity.

But when the Rush hits an Orion girl, it's like pon farr for a Vulcan. There is only need, desire, and the mindless reaching out for a mate. The sex act had to be done then and there, and to hell with the consequences; because as far as an Orion woman is concerned, the situation can almost always be taken care of later.

When Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase had been trapped in the Summers residence by a member of the Order of Taraka during their junior year of high school, the Rush had hit Cordelia like an ancient Earth freight train. Norman the Bug Man had eventually grown uneasy and left the premises during the teenage couple's first frantic, lust-crazed coupling. And because of the superior strength and more animalistic nature of Orion women…Xander had to be treated for a broken arm afterwards at the hospital.

Xander had lied to Buffy and Willow about how it had happened later on at the school, though, saying it was because of the demon assassin trying to kill him and Cordelia at Buffy's house. Xander had been too confused and disoriented after losing his virginity to his childhood nemesis to be able to admit the truth to anyone. But that certainly hadn't stopped Harris from continuing to get laid on a regular basis in the weeks and months that had followed, as the average 17-year-old boy thinks about little other than sex on a regular basis.

It was a good thing Orion women had such tight control over their bodies that they could actually regulate their reproductive cycle, though. As these two had done it so often over the last eighteen months that the odds were Xander would have gotten Cordelia pregnant a long time ago, if she'd been a human girl.

But she wasn't, even though that mattered little to these two young people right now. They had the rest of their lives to plan the rest of their lives, including having children one day. And as the flesh of two worlds finally became one yet again, the screams of ecstasy and orgasmic delight could be heard bouncing off the outcropping of rock that shielded their heaving, undulating bodies from sight.

---

A place where nothing is as what it seems

A few minutes later

Buffy woke from her slumber slowly. Something felt off, very off. She got up out of bed, walked to her window and pulled open the curtains to see a shocking sight. Namely, the planet Earth was floating outside her window. Looking around, she could see nothing else but stars off in the distance.

"Wha...?" Buffy said as she stepped back in surprise. She had only been off Earth once in her life, and that was way back when her father had taken the family with him on a business trip to New Berlin, on the surface of Luna.

Hearing loud music Buffy cautiously went to her bedroom door, after a moment's hesitation she opened it… and found herself within the Bronze nightclub. At that point, she figured this was most likely a Slayer dream.

She had dreamed of the club before this way, it was right before Angel lost his soul. The music seemed to die down, and a spotlight hit the center of the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" boomed a voice through the speakers. "The Bronze is proud to present the lovely and erotic…Cordelia!"

The crowd went nuts as her Orion friend slithered onto the stage, almost naked in an outfit that simply could not be called clothes. The green-skinned girl started to dance to the music, and many of the guys in the club started to look like drooling idiots.

"Isn't she great, Buff?" the dream image of Xander Harris asked, as he came up from behind her. "Cordy's my number one girl, you know."

"Ah…sure, I guess," Buffy replied with a freaked look on her face. "But I thought she didn't want to do this kind of stuff?"

"Sometimes you have to go with what works," Xander replied as he watched his girlfriend come down from the stage and continue to dance in the crowd. She interacted with a few men, and even a Vulcan woman. Then she sauntered over to a table with a large group.

Buffy could tell that this was not a normal group of friends. Large Nausicaans stood behind a short alien with tan skin and very large ears. Attractive women in skimpy outfits sat around the alien, like a harem of some sort.

The short alien, of the species that Buffy would eventually know as the Ferengi, watched completely awestruck as Cordelia danced, she turned and shook her rear at him – causing the alien to drop his drink onto the floor and grin his big pointy teeth. Cordelia then sat on the alien's lap and started to stroke the Ferengi's large ears, whoo boy - it was obvious the guy loved it, every moment of it. The Orion woman draped her arm along the alien's tunic…and then grinned like a cat that had just eaten the canary.

The spell of the erotic dancer seemed to be broken instantly as the transporter beam whisked both Cordelia and the alien away to parts unknown. The Nausicaans were in shock as they drew their weapons, ready for a fight.

Xander spoke again. "I always told you she was good, Buff." Before he too beamed out of the club.

Buffy had no time to process this when an older man in a Starfleet uniform came up to her. "You're the Slayer?" he asked scornfully. "The Earth is as good as dead." Then he walked away in disgust, melting into the crowd.

"Well, that was rude," Buffy said to herself in annoyance. "At least he didn't say he thought I would be taller..." A hole through the crowd found her looking at a table to see Faith sitting there. "What the-?"

"Hey, Buffy!" the other Slayer said warmly, no trace of the hate and bitterness that the blonde had expected to see present on Faith's face. "I was wondering if I'd see you here tonight."

"I didn't really have any other plans," the blond said hesitantly as she sat across from her mystical sibling. "We've been here before, Faith. Shouldn't you be in a coma?"

"Who says I'm not?" Faith asked with a wink. "Always knew you had some kinky dreams about me, B."

"Don't flatter yourself, F," Buffy replied coldly.

"Ouch!" Faith said in mock hurt. "God, you act as if trying to off your honey with a slow and painful killer poison can't be forgiven."

"It can't," the other Slayer replied in annoyance.

"Well, that's the thing. Ain't none of us are gonna have clean hands by the time our little tour as the Chosen Two is over," Faith told her seriously. "You never know what's coming around the corner…like that."

Buffy looked where Faith indicated, and saw a sight she'd thought she would never see. Willow was sitting in a booth, making out big time with a busty blond girl. "Whoa…"

"Oh, like you never saw Red checking out your cleavage?" Faith told her with another wink. "I know she checked out mine."

"But, but Oz?"

Faith shook her head. "A Vulcan, granted one that's not totally into the repressed emotions thing…but a Vulcan with the primal urges of a werewolf? That dude's going to have issues."

"This is just too weird," the blonde said with one more glance towards her best friend in the booth. "Look, Faith…" she started but stopped. The other Slayer was gone, along with the club.

Buffy and her table were out in the middle of a field, it felt like noon on a summer's day. Suddenly the sun started to be blocked out, and a feeling of pure evil came over her. Buffy got up and asked, "Now what?"

A beam of blue energy came out of the sky and hit the city off in the distance. She watched, stunned, as an entire section of the city was lifted into the air. Another beam and another section easily started to rise. Buffy ran over to the edge of the city to find nothing but a huge crater. Even the sewers were gone. It was as if the hand of God had reached down and scooped up the entire metropolis.

Hearing a roar, Buffy looked up to see an utterly huge, black, cube-shaped vessel fly across the sky. Just the sight of it stuck a primal fear in her. "My God…"

Her Slayer hearing caught a sound like a transporter and she spun around to find herself surrounded by people with chalk-white skin, and black jumpsuits on. But the most horrifying thing about them was that they had computer parts all over their bodies. A few had huge things covering an entire side of their faces, others had what looked like saws and blades where their hands should be.

A hand grabbed her from behind and pushed her down onto the ground. Looking up quickly, Buffy saw her attacker; it was one of those… people. A small flash of sandy blond hair on its head caught her attention, as Buffy focused more closely on its face. "Oh my God…MOM?"

The cybernetic being leaned down to face her, and Buffy did indeed find herself staring into the dead-looking eyes of Joyce Summers. "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!"

Buffy crawled back along the ground. "Mom, what is this? What, what's going on?"

"YOU WILL BE ASSIMILA..." the Borg drone repeated the mantra before a fist punched through its chest. As Borg-Joyce fell down to the ground, a young blond woman in a tight red dress looked down at the Chosen One.

Then she morphed into a cute dark-haired guy that said, "Parents, huh? Good thing I killed mine years ago."

Buffy bolted up in her bed with a loud yell, the Slayer dream suddenly over and leaving her shocked and trembling.

---

"The Launching Pad" Bar and Grill, San Francisco, Earth

May 30th, 2354

"Alright, Will," Cadet Geordi La Forge as he sat down at the booth, joining the others already present. "What's so important we had to meet up so quickly like this?"

The soon to be sophomore Cadet William Thomas Riker looked at all his friends. "You know that girl I dated in Registration a few months ago?"

"The Tyran chick?" Cadet Bratislav asked from his chair. "With the two forehead ridges?"

"That's her," Riker replied. "Well, she told me in a vid message that an Orion slave girl has applied to be a freshman cadet this year."

His friends looked at him with shocked faces. "What?!" Cadet Hasan demanded. "Why in Allah's name would a slave girl want to go into the Academy?"

"Don't know, don't care," Riker replied. "But thing is…"

"Oh, here we go," La Forge smirked. "Haven't even met her yet, and already you're planning your moves on how to get intimate with her?"

"Wait, wait," Cadet Bratislav said. "Don't Orions have a vow of celibacy amongst humans?"

Cadet Hasan shook his head. "No, that's the Deltans. The people whose women have bald heads, remember?"

"Someone must be sponsoring her then," Cadet La Forge mused, ignoring that. "Because Orion isn't a member world of the Federation, not by a long shot."

"Well, they couldn't exactly have slave girls if they were," Riker admitted. "But here's where it gets stranger. According to my source, Admiral Nechayev is sponsoring our first ever Orion freshman."

"Nechayev?" La Forge asked, surprised. "The former skipper of the Crazy Horse?"

"The very same," Riker replied. "Doesn't matter why, though. I need your guys' help to learn anything and everything about this girl. How long she's been on Earth, why she wants to join Starfleet. Hell, even what her favorite color is."

"Guessing green for that one," La Forge said before he took a sip of his drink.

---

Residence of Rupert Giles, Sunnydale, California

The next afternoon

"I'm telling you Giles, it was way freaky!" Buffy said from her spot on the couch.

Giles set down his PADD. "I'm sure it was, Buffy, seeing one's mother as some sort of cybernetic creature-"

"No, not that!" Buffy stopped him. "I meant Willow making out with a girl!"

"Buffy, please. This is not the 20th century," Giles reminded her. "It's not exactly strange for a female to…"

"No," Buffy interrupted again. "WILLOW was making out with a girl, a blond girl! The same Willow who had a crush on Xander ever since they were toddlers?"

"Ah, I see. Well, I don't know what that part of the dream could mean, then," Giles told her with a sigh. "Dissecting Slayer dreams isn't an exact science, after all. Willow could just represent something of your-"

"I don't like girls that way," his Slayer replied succinctly.

"Well, given your history with Angel, I think I figured that out quite a while ago," Giles said to that dryly. "But you did see Cordelia dancing in flimsy clothing and Willow was kissing a BLOND girl-"

"Do not even suggest that!" Buffy said firmly. "Giles, I do not have a thing for Willow!"

"One can never tell where Slayer dreams are concerned," Giles said with a grin at his Slayer's expense.

"Very funny, old Watcher guy," Miss Summers told him in a huff. "I swear, I'm going back to my natural hair color if that's gonna be your attitude!"

They both looked up as the front door chimed. Since sunlight was still coming through the windows, Giles called out, "The door's open."

The old wood door opened and most of the other Slayerette gang came in. "Oz had a band practice," Willow said, as she came in with Xander and Cordelia.

Xander jumped over the couch and sat down. "So, G-man, what's the big emergency?"

The Watcher waited till all were seated before he started to speak. "Well, first off, I must offer my congratulations to Cordelia."

"Thank you Giles," the dark-haired teenager said to that with a smile.

"For what?" Willow wondered.

Cordelia linked hands with her boyfriend. "I'm going to Starfleet Academy with Xander."

"You're WHAT?" the redhead demanded in surprise, seeing that Buffy was equally as stunned as she was by this latest news. First Xander, now her? "I thought you were going to LA?"

"I was, but I decided I couldn't let Xander go off alone and have all the fun," Cordelia replied. "Besides, I would so rock those new uniforms."

"Uh…okay," Willow said with an unsure look to Buffy. The Slayer for her part didn't want a replay of the last talk like this, so she kept her silence. "Ah, then congratulations, Cordy."

"Ditto," Buffy added. Somewhat tellingly though, the big hug scene like with Xander was conspicuously absent here and now.

After a few moments, Giles called attention back to himself. "Now the reason I know of Cordelia's appointment is that an Admiral Nechayev came here the other night."

"She came here?" Cordelia asked with a look to Xander. "Boy, she doesn't waste time."

"No she doesn't," Giles replied. "But as you know, she's putting a team together to patrol the Hellmouth-"

"What?" Buffy asked in surprise, sharing another look with Willow. It was obvious Miss Rosenberg hadn't known about this either, despite Giles' words to the contrary. "But that's my job! So you told her to get lost, right Giles?"

"Well, actually, I didn't tell her any such thing. One, because I have no authority to do so, and two, they have incriminating evidence regarding Xander and Cordelia's theft of that rocket launcher to destroy the Judge," the Watcher admitted, even as Willow blanched in shock. "We talked, and the Starfleet liaisons are going to pick us up to tour their facility and meet their command team."

"They can do that?" Willow asked. "I mean, just come to town and take over?"

"They're not exactly 'taking over' as you put it," Giles informed her. "But they are coming, and if their operatives are as well trained as they say they are, then depending on their trustworthiness it would be foolish to not work with them. Especially now that we no longer have any backing from the Council."

"No," Buffy said firmly, doggedly refusing to budge from her established position. "What would a bunch of people trained for stuff in outer space know about demon fighting?"

"Hey!" Xander chided her. "Cordy and I are going to be those people soon enough, Buff."

"You know what I mean, Xander," the Slayer told him dismissively. "I quit the Council because I didn't like having to deal people barking orders at me like I was just some kinda mindless robot. Now these guys are coming to take over Sunnydale, and will probably do the exact same thing? No way…"

"Granted, there are some major concerns till we know more about who it is we'll actually be dealing with. But I think we should at least hear them out, Buffy. One can go wrong from not being trusting enough as well as being too trusting, you know," Giles chided her gently.

Xander agreed with Giles. "And on the plus side, the Council wouldn't be dumb enough to try anything like having us all killed to bring in a new Slayer if Starfleet's in town."

"What?" Willow asked, more than a little shocked. "But they wouldn't do that! Uh, would they Giles?"

"From what I know and what I've heard, it's...hard to say," the Englishman said slowly. "Travers lost a lot of standing and respect after Buffy departed the Council's sphere of influence. And as for Faith…I don't think they would have let Wesley return into the fold if his father was not part of the inner cabinet of the Council itself."

"And if he wasn't the Council's version of a 'good company man', of course," Xander added with a snort.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door chimed again. Nechayev came in right away. "I believe your group has one more?"

"Yes sir," Cordelia said as she stood up and pulled Xander up with her, both of them coming to attention in the face of a Starfleet superior.

"Oz won't be joining us today, Admiral," Giles told her. "Band practice."

Nechayev raised an eyebrow. "Well, good to know his priorities are in the right place."

"Hey!" Willow said in annoyance to that.

Nechayev ignored her. "You've informed them?" When Giles silently nodded his head, the admiral activated her comm badge. "Six to beam up."

"What, right now?" Buffy said even as the transporter effect started to take everyone in the room.

---

Underneath Lowell House, UC Sunnydale college campus, Sunnydale, California

A moment later

A decent-sized transporter room came into focus a moment after they materialized. "Where are we?!" Buffy demanded.

Nechayev stepped off the platform right away. "This, Ms. Summers, is our base located underneath a 400-year-old fraternity house at UC Sunnydale."

"Exactly just how far underground are we?" Giles asked as they left the transporter room.

"The top floor is about a hundred feet down," Nechayev told him. "We had to go deeper than expected because of the way the tunnels underneath this town are laid out."

"Yes," Giles nodded. "Angel did say he used the tunnels to get around the town during the day, I gather it's almost like a private roadway for all the vampires around here."

"You must have built this place very quickly," Xander said before he was nudged by his girlfriend. "Ah, sir."

"The basic structure was already in place because of local cave formations, cadet," Nechayev told him. "With industrial replicators and transporters, it was fairly easy to set up shop down here."

"All right. So what is it you plan on doing here in my town, exactly?" Buffy asked, trying to sound in charge.

Nechayev refused to answer immediately, she just walked through a door and the rest followed her. They found themselves on a ledge looking down over a two level area. They could see computer stations, and Starfleet officers working on setting up other systems.

"What we plan to do here, Ms. Summers, is to help protect this town and planet from demonic and supernatural threats." The female admiral motioned to a metal stairway of to the side. They walked down to the next level to an area with many computer banks. "This is the control room, we're placing sensors all around the town to monitor threats as they happen. This way, we're more proactive than your team has been in the past."

"More proactive?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

Nechayev pointed to a large lighted computer table. After entering a few commands, a full sized map of Sunnydale came up. She moved the image to zoom in on the dock area. "Our watch officers can spot things almost before they occur." She looked to Buffy. "From the information I have on you, your standard modus operandi is after a creature has already killed you then patrol in that area to stop it." She zoomed in a little more and they could see real-time shots of people along the docks.

"Talk about Big Brother," Willow said, a little unnerved.

"Not at all, ma'am," a male voice said from behind her. "That's not what we're on about here at all."

The group looked back, and Buffy kind of lost her voice for a moment. "Ah, hi."

The young Starfleet officer smiled at her. "Hello, you must be Ms. Summers."

"You...you can call me Buffy," the Slayer told him hesitantly.

Cordelia rolled her eyes at that. But the young Iowan nodded, "Well in that case, you can call me Riley."

Admiral Nechayev came around the table. "Ms. Summers, this is Lieutenant Commander Riley Finn. He's going to be our field leader."

"Field leader?" Buffy wondered vaguely, still checking out the new arrival. Not that she was fickle enough to just forget Angel at the sight of a pretty face, but HE had left HER in order for Buffy to find someone else, and there was no time like the present to move on.

After seeing the look from his commanding officer, Finn quickly got his mind back on work. "Yes, I'll be the Alpha team leader and second-in-command of the base. But I want to make sure you understand this is not a Big Brother type of situation. While we do have the ability to monitor all of Sunnydale's public areas, we do not have any access to any private homes or businesses."

"Sounds reasonable, I guess," Willow replied to that, still frowning a little.

Finn nodded. "And it'll help us deal with more than one threat at a time. Such as that incident a few months ago when the Sisterhood of Jhe tried to open the Hellmouth."

Buffy looked confused. "Uh, kinda confused here. How is that more than one thing at a time? We took care of those demons just fine."

The admiral looked to her. "Yes but while your focus was on the Sisterhood, you completely missed that gang of zombies trying to blow up the high school."

"What?" Buffy asked, looking at Willow. "What zombies?" The redhead just shook her head, she didn't have a clue either.

Xander stepped forward. "Ah, yeah, see, that was me and Cordy," he told them. "Basically Jack O'Toole and his group of dead men walking had this funny idea of 'baking a cake', and uh, I had to make with the slice-and-dice-age after my girlfriend used her feminine wiles to distract 'em."

"What?" Willow demanded. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, you guys were busy with your own problem at the time," he replied. "Plus the next day, you all had this big "we saved the world" high going on." Xander left unmentioned the fact that the celebratory sex in the Chase pool house – after he and Cordelia had seen the Hellmouth demon vanquished in the library – had been so intense that he'd completely forgotten to say anything about his actions the next day.

"And what he won't mention is that Xander thought you two would yell at him for not cowering underneath his bed, like you wanted him to," Cordelia told the other girls bluntly.

"Cordy!"

"It's the truth, you dork!" Cordelia replied, uncaring of the looks being directed towards her. "And it's long past time these people knew you saved their asses back then."

"You promised me you wouldn't ever say anything!" Xander said, upset.

The Orion girl shrugged. "No, I said I wouldn't be the one to tell them. And I didn't."

"I don't believe this," Buffy said with a sigh. She got ready to say something she most likely would have regretted later when she saw Riley staring at her, and luckily shut her mouth before she alienated Xander forever.

Nechayev faced the Chosen One. "This brings up a relevant point, Ms. Summers. I know you were trained to think that the Slayer is the ultimate lone wolf authority in such matters. But that's not how we do things in Starfleet. We work as a team, and we do not keep other members of the team out of the loop. If you have a problem with that, then I suggest you say so right now."

Buffy looked at the officers and newly-minted cadets. "Fine!" she huffed. "No one listens to me anyway."

"I thought that was my line," Giles said to himself.

"Shall we continue, Admiral?" Finn asked, shaking his head.

"Yes Commander, we shall," Nechayev agreed. "Now all of you, follow me and I'll show you our field equipment room."

---

Chase Manor, Sunnydale, California

Later that day

Cordelia came into her family's home quietly. She didn't want to have to deal with her…

"And where have you been for the last three days, young lady?"

Miss Chase stopped and sighed, looking back into the living room she saw her mother sitting in a plush chair. "I was out."

"With that human boy, that Alexander Harris again?" her mother demanded as she got up. "Cordelia, I will not go to all the trouble of inviting decent suitors for you into our home just for you to decide not to bother showing up!"

The female teen just growled a little, her animalistic side always rose to the surface in these sorts of fights. "Mother, don't even pretend you invite such people around here for ME. Every male you've tried to parade me in front of has a father who can get YOU into more gold-pressed latinum than even you can ever possibly count!"

"So instead, you spend your time with that…that pauper?" her mother demanded. "Cordelia, he's a human. They're nice enough people in their own limited way, but way too naïve."

Cordelia crossed her arms. "This from the woman who came to this planet with Father, and changed her name to be more acceptable to human society?"

"We did not come here to get close to the humans, dear."

"You think I don't know that, Mother?" her daughter replied, upset. "Our family moved here because the Syndicate wanted someone on Earth to pose as a normal businessman. And look what happened…Father is gods know where on the run right now, and you're looking for the next wealthy male to come along just to get in good with the Syndicate again."

"If you were a true Orion woman, you would know that we don't have relationships like humans!" Mrs. Chase said to that in exasperation. "I swear, you've been contaminated by their cultural values far too much. We control our males, take what we want and then move on." The older woman sighed. "Times like this make me think I should just take you to one of the auctions…"

"For what?" Cordelia demanded. "So you can sell me off to some idiot?"

"Yes, you've grown far too used to this alien culture," her mother replied, the exasperation visible again. "When I was your age, I had been sold twice-"

"-and had a very large fortune that you used to buy your way into the Syndicate," Cordelia replied from memory. "I know this story, Mother, you've told it to me often enough I can recite it in my sleep. I mean, how could I possibly ever forget that great love story concerning my parents? My father buying my mother at a slave auction a year before I was born?"

"Is that what this is about?" the older woman asked. "Love? Cordelia, do you think you have that with this human male you consort with? Do you think you two will have a nice little human wedding, and half a dozen children at some point in the future?" When Cordelia didn't say anything Mrs. Chase shook her head. "You're not human, little girl, and it's long past time you figured that out. You're not going to grow old with him. By the gods, you broke his arm the first time the Rush hit, and his leg another time not long after that. Do you honestly think he'll be able to handle you anymore in, say, fifty years?"

"Humans don't live such short lifespans any longer," Cordelia reminded her mother. "With the medical technology nowadays it's possible for a human to live for up to two centuries."

"And end up looking like a dried-up raisin," Mrs. Chase snorted. She sat back down in her chair, "Okay then, does young Alexander have any goals in his life? If you must persist in this lunacy, what are you planning to become – his Orion housewife?"

"As a matter of fact, Xander's going to enter Starfleet Academy in the fall," Cordelia informed her.

Her mother looked at her in surprise, the Orion woman's mental gears instantly shifting into overdrive. "He is? Ah, interesting. Then maybe you should stay with him…"

"Oh for the love of the gods, Mother!" Cordelia growled. "How did I know that that would be your reaction?"

"Cordelia," Mrs. Chase told her sternly. "Think for a moment! If Alexander, under your control and guidance, rose high enough in Starfleet…"

"We'd have a mole in the organization to do whatever we want?" Cordelia finished for her.

"Don't be so crude, dear," Mrs. Chase scolded her. "A mole in Starfleet is very hard to come by, if we can get one in place…that would instantly catapult us into the highest levels of the Syndicate!"

Cordelia came farther into the room. "I want to make something clear to you, Mother. One, I do not control Xander. I never have; he fell in love with me of his own free will, however impossible that may be for you to believe. And two, there is no way in hell that I would ever let you use him like that."

"You don't control him?" her mother asked, brushing aside Cordy's comments about not being allowed to 'use' Xander. "Dear, how can you not? After all these years of exposure to your pheromones, Alexander has to be completely under your thumb by now!"

"You really are that ignorant, aren't you Mother? Whatever doesn't fit into your stupid Orion preconceptions simply isn't possible, as far as you're concerned. Well, then I've got news for you. Xander's my boyfriend, not my slave," the younger girl replied. "Always has been, always will be."

"Are you going to keep that attitude when he's at Starfleet Academy?" her mother demanded petulantly.

"Yes," Cordelia told her with a feral grin. She had been eagerly waiting for this subject to come up. "Because I'm going to be attending the academy in the fall as well."

"You… you're what?!" her mother yelled aghast as she bolted up at once. "Cordelia, I forbid you to do anything of the sort!"

"This isn't the Orion homeworld. And I'm of legal age according to Federation law, Mother," Cordelia replied with a huge smile on her face. "Basically, I can do whatever I want."

"Orion is not a member world of the Federation, girl," her mother said furiously. "You may have been raised on this damned planet, but as an Orion you still need permission from-"

"No, I don't," the teen told her with a look of satisfaction. "I'm being sponsored by a Starfleet admiral I met recently. That means I'm already in, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it!"

Her mother looked to the ceiling in shock. "I don't believe this. Where did I go wrong with you?! You want to stay with a human, and join a group who goes around exploring the galaxy without even getting rich from it?"

"Damn right," Cordelia told her. "And like I said, there's nothing you can do about it."

"You'll be disowned by your family and the Syndicate. You'll never be welcome amongst your own people, ever again!" her mother said firmly.

"Big threat there, Mother!" Cordelia sneered. "Apart from biology the Orions aren't my people, at least not anymore. Xander is. Oh, and just so you know, one day I'm going to be someone and Xander's going to be someone as well. Our children are going to be born to parents who are Starfleet officers respected by the entire damn Federation!"

Her mother laughed even as she cringed at the thought of half-human grandchildren. "What makes you think Starfleet Command would ever put you in any position of power? An Orion commanding a Federation starship? The very idea!"

"You never know," Cordelia told her as she started to head up the stairs to her room, Admiral Nechayev's counsel about Command classes suddenly sounding a lot more attractive. "Stranger things have happened. And I should know, after living here in Sunnydale for the last seventeen years."

"You'll come crawling back here soon enough!" Mrs. Chase called to her furiously as she went up the stairs. "I'm telling you, you won't even make it through the first semester!"

Cordelia paid her mother no attention, already planning on what to bring with her to the Academy and what to sell to the local pawn shops so that she would never have to set foot in this house again.

---

1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California

June 16th, 2354

Dawn Summers answered the door and looked up at the man standing there. She noticed his red Starfleet uniform right away. "Yes?"

The man looked down at her and seemed a little uncomfortable. "I was told Alexander Harris and Cordelia Chase were living here?"

"Just Cordelia," Dawn corrected him. "Because her mom threw her out of their house, I mean."

"I see," the officer said to that. "Is she home now?"

"No," Dawn said, shaking her head. "She and Xander went to the park." She turned and yelled, "MOM!!" Dawn easily ignored how the man recoiled a little at the volume of her shout.

A moment later Joyce Summers came to the door. "Dawn, don't yell like that!" she scolded her daughter as she looked out. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, ma'am," the officer replied. "I'm Commander Edward Jellico. I was informed that Cordelia Chase and Alexander Harris were here, but your…daughter said they were at the park?"

"Yes," Joyce told him. "They didn't mention anything having to do with Starfleet till they got to the Academy, though."

"Yes, I know. But a...situation has come up," Jellico told her.

----

USS Fredrickson, NCC-42111, Low Earth Orbit

Not long afterwards

Commander Jellico was waiting for them as the couple materialized on the transporter pad. "Good to see you, finally."

"Sorry, sir," Xander relied as they stepped down. "But we weren't notified about any-"

"Yes, yes, understood," Jellico replied gruffly. "It's not often we ask help from Academy cadets before they even enter into their freshman year. But this is a special case." He gestured to an ensign next to him. "This is Ensign Tuvel, he'll show you to where you can change into something more appropriate."

Xander looked down at his shorts and Hawaiian shirt. "Yes sir."

Fifteen minutes later the two cadets were back in the transporter room wearing blue Starfleet jumpsuits. Jellico ushered them back onto the pad and had all three transported to another transporter room.

---

Starbase 1, a.k.a. Earth Spacedock, Low Earth Orbit

A few moments later

As they exited the new room, Jellico brought them to a large window looking out on the massive insides of the dock that parked starships. "That ship is the reason I brought you two here."

"That's an Orion cruiser," Cordelia said in surprise. "What's it doing in Spacedock?"

"It was captured a few days ago in Sector 34," Jellico told her grouchily. "Starfleet believes it might have sensitive information on the Orion Syndicate in that area."

Cordelia quickly turned to him. "Sir, despite my father's actions…I do not have any knowledge of the Syndicate that could or would be helpful to Starfleet."

Jellico ushered them to the airlock tunnel to the ship. "We don't think you do, Cadet Chase. But you do have one thing that no one else here does."

"And that would be?"

"Your Orion DNA," Jellico replied as they reached the airlock to find a Starfleet security officer, who moved aside to let them enter. "The ship's security is encoded to only allow access to Orion personnel."

They walked through the large ship for a few minutes before they reached the bridge. A few officers were already there. Two humans and a Vulcan.

"Ah, good," one of the human officers, a female said as they came in. "Wild guess, but I'd say you must be Cordelia Chase?"

"Yes sir," Cordelia answered as she saw the full lieutenant rank on her neck. "What can I do for you, sir?"

She was guided over to a console and told to sit. "We need you to activate the ship's systems. So far, only life support is working," the Vulcan said.

Cordelia sat and noticed that all the controls were in the Orion language. She easily found the right buttons. "What the hell?" she called out as a beam came out of the top of the screen and scanned her.

"It's probably just making sure you're Orion," the woman told her. The lack of certainty did not reassure either Cordelia or Xander.

After a moment, the scan stopped and the screen came to life. With a few more commands entered Cordy activated the rest of the key systems. Jellico looked up as the bridge lights fully came on. "Good! Now maybe we can get some work done."

"Ah, sir?" Xander asked from his spot. He was starting to wonder why he was present; so far, he didn't see what if anything he was supposed to do to contribute to around here. "If I may ask, how exactly did Starfleet get ahold of this ship?"

"It was found drifting near a known Syndicate patrol route," Jellico told him. "All the life pods had been jettisoned."

"We believe there was a problem with the engines," the female officer said also. "Several lower decks show signs of contamination."

NOW Xander understood why he might have been asked to come here. "And that's been cleaned up?"

"For the most part," the woman told him.

Jellico leaned over Cordelia's shoulder. "See if you can access the sensor logs. I want to know what the hell happened to the crew after they abandoned ship."

"Yes sir," the Orion girl replied as she went to work. Several parts of the screen started to flash red with Orion symbols. "I'm sorry, sir, but it looks like the logs of that timeframe are damaged."

"Maybe what caused the evacuation also messed up the computer?" Xander suggested.

"Perhaps," Jellico said with a frown. "Sanders."

"Sir?" the other human officer - an ensign - said as he came over.

"You and Mr. Harris here go down to the engineering level, and see if you can access the computers from there."

"Don't we have to be Orions to do that?" Xander wondered. Something about this whole thing was starting to bug him, but he couldn't get a clear idea as to what.

"No," the lieutenant said in reply to Xander's question. "That was just needed to activate the systems."

"Okay," Harris said simply as he and the ensign went into the turbolift. Before the doors closed, he shared a look with his girlfriend; one that did not go unnoticed by the others present.

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A few moments later

"So you're actually dating an Orion girl?" Sanders asked Xander casually as they came into the room.

"Yeah," Xander replied. "We grew up together. Kind of surprised me as well when we started dating at first, but now I know that she's the one for me." He stopped. "Oh, damn, what is that smell?"

"Must be from the coolant that was leaking," Sanders said as he smelled it as well. "Must have mixed with stuff it shouldn't have."

Xander sucked it up and went to the main terminal. "Let me see what I can find here." He checked several systems before looking back to Sanders. "Bad news. This thing has thrusters, but not much else."

"No impulse or warp engines?" the ensign asked, frowning.

Xander shook his head. "This thing isn't sectioned like a starship, Ensign Sanders. They have impulse and warp feeding from the same power supply. I don't think we should restart this ship until we know for sure that all the leaks are fixed."

"Alright, I'll inform the commander. Keep checking it out," Sanders ordered him. "I'll take a look at the computer access."

---

Orion Cruiser Bridge

A short while later

"Commander Jellico?" Cordelia called from her seat.

"You have something, Cadet Chase?" he asked as he came back over.

"I'm not sure what it is," Cordelia replied. "I think some sort of computer program was operating, but then it was interrupted. Whatever it is, I can't do anything till I either restart it or clear it."

The lieutenant came over and looked. "It looks like some subprogram in the command path." She tapped a few buttons but the program stopped her from advancing each time.

Jellico activated his comm badge. "Jellico to Sanders."

//Yes sir?// came the fast reply.

"There's a computer program in the command systems that's blocking our access any further," the commander told him. "Have you and Cadet Harris had any success down there?"

//One moment, sir.//

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A moment later

"Help me out with this, cadet?" Sanders said as they moved to the main computer panel by the main engine. Xander quickly came over, and together they were able to pry open the bent panels.

"Whoa!" Xander said when he saw the damage.

Sanders spoke into the comm badge. "Commander, we found something. It looks like someone fired a weapon multiple times into the computer access core."

//Why would they do that?// Jellico demanded.

"I don't know, sir," was Sanders' reply.

"Commander?" Xander said to his own comm. "This ship's systems aren't really laid out well. Many of the engines systems run through the same area…and they look just as shot up."

//What are you suggesting, Cadet?//

Xander looked at the damage. "My guess is that whoever shot up this area also hit some vital engine circuits. That could have been what caused the coolant leaks. But I can't say for sure without running a full diagnostic."

---

Orion Cruiser Bridge

The same time

"I don't get it. Why would they fire weapons into their own systems?" the female officer asked.

"Unknown," the Vulcan officer replied. "There is not enough information to form a theory."

Jellico shook his head with a snort. "They're criminals, not Rhode scholars. Well, I guess we have no other choice; we're going to have to finish out the stalled program."

"Is that wise, Commander?" the Vulcan asked. "We do not in fact know what it will do."

Jellico nodded. "True, but the orders are to figure out this ship's secrets as soon as possible." He looked to Cordelia. "Cadet, restart the program."

"Yes sir," Cordelia replied as she followed Jellico's order. Even though she thought it was a bad idea, just like the Vulcan.

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A moment later

Xander and Sanders looked up as the alarms started to sound throughout Engineering. All the screens started to flash red symbols. Sanders went for his comm badge, but stopped as a massive containment door came slamming down a few feet from them.

"Sanders to Jellico!" the young man said quickly. "Sir, we have alarms going off down here and we seem to be sealed in!"

---

Orion Cruiser Bridge

The same time

"What?!" Jellico demanded. He turned to the Vulcan. "Get those passageways open down there!"

"Aye, sir." The Starfleet officer went to follow the order. But as he was trying to do so, the main viewscreen flickered into life and showed an image of an Orion male.

//Sar, you pathetic miscreant. You have failed me for the last time,// the Orion male's image said nastily. //For your cowardice there is only one reward, death. I give you little time to ponder your upcoming demise. And I advise you to make your peace with the gods while you have it.//

"Sir!" Cordelia called out. "The ship's shields have activated!"

They checked the screen and saw a countdown start. "Guess we know what that program was now," the lieutenant said unhappily.

"Damn it!" Jellico swore. "Cadet Chase, how much time before whatever happens, happens?"

Cordelia read the screen. "Just over nine minutes to a warp core breach," she answered, very worried.

"Jellico to Starbase Operations!"

//Go ahead,// a male voice replied.

"Sir, we seemed to have tripped a booby trap on the Orion ship," the commander said quickly, a hint of nervousness now evident in his voice.

//I assume that's why its shields have been raised?//

"Yes sir," said Jellico. "Also, we seem to have less than nine minutes to deal with it."

//We are clearing the way for you to back out of entrance beta,// Ops replied. //Do you have any engine control?//

"Stand by," Jellico said. "Sanders, Harris, do we have any maneuverability options?"

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A moment later

"Just the thrusters, sir!" Xander replied, after Sanders nodded to him to reply. "I have no idea about the condition of the impulse engines without reactivating the warp core as well."

//That will have to do then,// Jellico's voice came back. //Prepare to engage thrusters.//

"Me?" Xander looked to Sanders in nervous surprise. "Uh, yes sir."

"Ever done this before?" Sanders asked him.

The male teen looked at him. "Maneuver an Orion cruiser while in Spacedock? That would be a big fat no! I've only flown a few shuttles."

"No pressure then," Sanders replied.

Xander shook his head. "Just my luck I'll screw up before I even get into the Academy..."

---

Orion Cruiser Bridge

The same time

Jellico went over to the sensor station. "Ops? Is the walkway retracted?"

//You could say that,// the Ops officer replied. //It was damaged when the shields went up.//

Jellico looked up. "What about the security officer?"

//He was able to jump off into the landing area before the walkway collapsed.//

"That's good news, right?" Cordelia said from her seat.

"Yes it is, Cadet Chase," Jellico told her. He checked the board and saw what he was waiting for. "Cadet Harris," he called out. "The beta entrance has been opened. Helm controls are still dark up here. It's up to you, son."

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A moment later

"Aye, sir," Xander said, very nervous.

"You can do this. I'll keep an eye on the power levels," Sanders told him as he went to another station.

"You sure you don't want to do it?"

"You wouldn't want me to, not if you saw my piloting class marks," the ensign replied. "Kind of why I'm not wearing Command red."

Xander activated the thruster controls and saw all of them turn active. "I'm ready to maneuver here, Bridge."

//About eight minutes left.//

"Great," Xander sighed. "A ticking clock." He typed in the last commands to get started. "Here goes nothing."

As he watched on the screen above the controls, the cadet could see the outside of the ship. He slowly edged the cruiser out from the bay. "Where are the sensors on this thing?" Xander demanded.

Sanders looked over and searched the controls. "I think this is…" he said as he pressed the control.

Harris freaked out when the screens went blank. "That's not it! That's not it!"

"Okay!" Sanders said as he quickly reactivated the screens. He saw another control. "Then this is the only thing it could be."

Both men sighed in relief as the sensors showed on the screen. "Good," Xander told him. "Now I'm not flying blind." After typing a few commands, he saw more bad news. "Bridge, this is Harris. I don't have enough room to turn the ship around. So I'm going to have to take this thing ass-backwards out of Spacedock."

//Understood,// came Jellico's voice.

"Okay," Xander said, clearing his throat. "Let's try not to die here."

---

Orion Cruiser Bridge

The same time

Jellico watched the main viewscreen as the cruiser pushed itself slowly to starboard. "Slowly, son."

"Come on, Xander," Cordelia whispered. "You can do it." She failed to notice Jellico and other Starfleet officers staring at her as she said that.

All of them watched as the rear port thruster on the engine pylon activated starting the ship to turn. After fifteen seconds they cut off and the starboard one fired for a moment to stop the spin. The tip of the command hull then pushed up a tad to line it up with the door.

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A moment later

He was sweating like crazy, but Xander was trying not to panic. "This sucks worse than a shopping trip with all three of my girls at the same time..."

"Halfway there," Sanders told him.

"Easy for you to say," Xander replied to him as he activated the fore thrusters to push the ship back through the massive doors. As the opening grew larger in the viewscreen, he smiled. "Might actually do this…"

His sentence was cut off by an alarm.

"Son of a bitch!" Harris called out as he saw the trouble. "Bridge! The port…fin or whatever that is, it's going to scrape the side."

//Compensate for it!// Jellico ordered him at once.

"I can't!" Xander told him firmly. "Not enough room in the entrance to maneuver either way."

//Well, you better do it anyway son,// the commander's voice ordered. //We're not going to damage Spacedock, you have no idea what the bureaucrats will do to us if that happens!//

"They can take it out of my pay, assuming we live through this," Harris called back. "Three…two…one."

The ship shook as it connected with the edge of the massive door. "Damn it," Xander whispered to himself.

After a second the offending part of the ship cleared the doorway. He could see the dark marks on the door on the screen, and he cringed a little. "Just a tiny little scratch. I figure about…400 gallons of paint and it'll be fine."

"Watch the command section," Sanders told him.

"I see it," Xander said as he activated the bottom thruster for two seconds.

---

Engineering Section, Orion Cruiser

A moment later

"Damn it!" Jellico swore.

"Cadet Harris was correct, sir," the Vulcan officer told him calmly. "There was no room to maneuver into a better position without reentering the dock fully."

"Sir, we're clear of Spacedock," the lieutenant called. She then hit her comm badge. "Cadet Harris. Get us as far away from the planet as you can."

//Roger that,// Xander's tired voice called out. //But even with thrusters at full power, there is no way we're even gonna clear lunar orbit in the time we have left.//

"He's right, sir," Cordelia told Jellico "We only have four and a half minutes."

//Ah, Bridge?// Xander said. //Now that we're clear…any idea how we're getting off this thing? You did say all the life pods were gone, right?//

Cordelia realized he was right. "Yeah, and we can't transport with the shields up."

Jellico looked her right in the eye, "That won't be a problem."

"Why not?" Cordelia demanded, that didn't make any sense to her.

The two senior officers on the bridge shared a look, and the lieutenant just nodded. Jellico walked back over to Cordelia. "Because none of this is actually real, Cadet Chase."

"Sir?" the Orion girl asked, confused.

Jellico looked up and called out, "Computer, end program."

Cordelia looked around in shock as the Orion bridge vanished all around her, leaving only a large room with black walls and yellow lines in it. She saw Xander and Sanders a few feet away from them. Xander looked just as confused as she was.

"A damn holodeck!?" Xander demanded as he came over to his girlfriend. He stared at Jellico, "Commander, what the heck is going on here?"

The large grey doors opened and they saw Admiral Nechayev walk in. "You're upset, Cadet Harris?"

"With all due respect, Admiral sir, yes!" Xander replied. "'Cause I don't see what the point of making us think we were probably gonna die is actually good for."

"This was all just a fake?" Cordelia demanded hotly. "Admiral? What the hell was all this for?!"

Xander quickly went over and put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. He knew from experience not to piss off an Orion woman too much. "Sir, I'd like to know the answer to that as well."

"It's good that you're upset, Cadets," Nechayev told them. "If I were you, I would be upset as well. And to tell you the truth, when this happened to me I was just as upset as you are. Maybe even more so."

"When it happened to you?" Cordy asked, still seething and trying not to deck a Starfleet admiral.

The shorter woman looked to both of them as the other four officers stood back. "I went through a test similar to this, and so did every one of the officers behind you when they went through the Academy."

"When did it start? How long were we in this thing?" Harris wanted to know. He knew now what had been bugging him about this mission all along, and was furious with himself for not spotting it beforehand.

"Ever since you beamed out from the Fredrickson's transporter room," Nechayev told him. "It's Starfleet policy to see what could happen in a crisis, how you'd react, before we put you in that position in the real world."

"We've been in tough spots before," Cordelia reminded the older woman. "This wasn't necessary."

"Yes it was," Nechayev replied coldly. "You see, Cadet Chase, not all the service admirals are as welcome to the idea of an Orion in Starfleet as I am. This little test will prove to them that you, an Orion female, could take orders from a male. Plus in a stressful situation…you didn't lose control of your pheromones."

Xander didn't like the insinuation. "They thought Cordy would lose it and screw up the rest of the crew?"

"Some did."

"Who would those some be?" Cordelia wanted to know.

Nechayev grinned. "You're just containing your anger now, Cadet, telling you who thought you would wash out would not be a good idea."

"What about me?" Xander asked. "What was I being tested for?"

The admiral looked to him. "You've been in many battle situations before, Cadet Harris, but you were never leading the fight save for that event concerning Mr. Jack O'Toole. But that was on your home ground and there was always the presence of the possible backup. Here, piloting an unfamiliar ship, on thrusters, within Spacedock itself made it all rest on your shoulders entirely."

"So did I get points taken off for scratching the paint?" Harris asked, not amused.

"I think we can let it slide this time," Nechayev said. "Now, cadets, one last question. Can you two tell me what happened on that ship before Starfleet acquired it?"

The two teens looked at each other. Cordelia spoke first, "Whoever ran the ship failed someone higher up in the food chain…and they set the ship to self-destruct as punishment?"

Xander looked at her. "And the weapons fire into the computer and engine systems was to disable the self-destruct?"

"Correct," Jellico said as he came up. "The crew froze the program and departed in the escape pods."

Cordelia understood. "And when we restarted the program in the simulation, it restarted the self-destruct via a warp core breach."

Nechayev looked to Jellico. "Well, Edward, what do you think?"

Jellico looked at Xander carefully. "Aside from messing up Spacedock, they did alright I guess."

"Very well," Nechayev said as she turned back to the teens. "Both of you. Welcome to Starfleet."

They watched the admiral turn and leave without another word. "That's it?" Cordelia asked. "They make us think we were gonna die, and then we just get a pat on the back?"

The female lieutenant stopped near them. "Like she said, we all had to go through something like this. But look on the bright side, this will seem like a piece of cake when you have to eventually have to take the Kobayashi Maru test."

"Indeed," the Vulcan officer said to that.

"The what now?" Xander asked, as the officers suddenly decided to depart the holodeck without answering him. He looked back and saw his girlfriend still upset. "It's okay, Cordy…"

He didn't finish as Miss Chase jumped him and kissed him hard. After they separated Xander said, "Whoo boy. You are REALLY pissed off about all this!"

"Damn right I am," she told him. "I need to blow off some steam or else I'll get kicked out for assaulting a superior officer, and so you know what I have to do." Cordy grabbed Xander by his jumpsuit and started to pull him to the holodeck doors.

"Ah, Cordy?" Harris said as he was dragged along. "Not that I'm not game for it, you know I always am. It's just that the last time you were pissed off like this…you broke my leg?"

The Orion girl looked back. "Fine, you big baby, we'll find us some empty quarters near the sickbay," Cordelia told him as she dragged her boyfriend out into the corridor.

They had some serious sexual relations to get stuck into, to take the edge off Cordelia's passionate Orion fury about being tricked that way.

---

Admiral Nechayev's Office, Starfleet Command, San Francisco, Earth

Three days later

Alynna Nechayev looked up from her desk to see the blonde medical woman enter. "I hear you wanted to talk to me, doctor?"

"Indeed I did, Admiral," Doctor Katherine Pulaski told her as she strode into the office. "Well, I won't mince words here, there's no point. I think that admitting Cordelia Chase as a cadet in Starfleet Academy is a mistake."

"I see. I take it that you have a reason for this assessment?"

"Yes I do," the doctor replied as she sat across from the admiral and handed her a PADD. "After their holodeck test a few days ago, Cadet Chase went and broke Cadet Harris's shoulder blade and cracked three of his ribs!"

Nechayev sighed, "The sex thing, yes I know. Apparently, him getting injured during their sexual relations is not a one-time event."

"Exactly my point," Pulaski told her. "Such a relationship with a human partner should not involve breaking bones!"

"From what I understand, that only happens when Cadet Chase gets highly…emotional," the admiral stated. "According to the intel I have on them, they have been intimate that way in the past without either one getting injured."

"I'll take your word for it. But it shouldn't happen even once," the somewhat old-fashioned doctor replied. "Granted that I don't personally have much experience with Orions, but I thought sex with an Orion woman was supposed to be a very pleasurable experience?"

"Have you met many Klingons, doctor?" the woman behind the desk wanted to know.

"No," Pulaski replied. "But what does that have to do with it?"

Nechayev smiled. "Klingons consider a sexual encounter that ends with both partners having broken bones as a…how shall I put this, a very good time. Also when Cadet Harris was having his bones mended, was Cadet Chase present?"

"She was," Pulaski admitted. "I'm told she stayed with Cadet Harris through his entire stay in sickbay."

"Doesn't that tell you something about their relationship, then?" the admiral asked. "It's not Starfleet's job to force human morality on other species, doctor."

Pulaski nodded. "Yes, but Admiral, this is not like a Benzite needing a respiration device to serve on a Starfleet ship. She caused physical damage to another sentient being! I've seen her medical file and her psych profile; apparently, the Orion woman's only method of calming down is sex with her human boyfriend. What do you think will happen under a stressful situation in the future, if Cadet Harris is not assigned to the same command that Cadet Chase is?"

"Those two have been in many stressful situations before," Nechayev told her blandly.

The doctor frowned. "I take it those events would be in the classified parts of their files I was unable to access?"

"Yes they are," Nechayev replied. "And no, I cannot give you clearance for those records at this time."

Pulaski sighed. "Why a couple of 18-year-old kids would have such classified files is beyond me, I swear," she said as she stood. "But for the record I have stated my objection, and in the end I suppose that's all I can do."

"Understood, Doctor."

"Admiral," Pulaski said before she left the room.

Nechayev looked at the closing door. "Computer, stand by to begin recording."

"Standing by," the female voice of the computer replied.

"Begin recording. Admiral's log, stardate 31563.2. A classified note for entry into the files of Starfleet cadets Alexander Harris and Cordelia Chase, under my authority," she spoke musingly. "Note reads: Due to medical advice from Dr. Katherine Pulaski, Cadets Harris and Chase are to be stationed together for the first few assignments after graduation from the Academy, pending the order of Rear Admiral Alynna Nechayev. End recording."

"Acknowledged," the computer chirped in reply.

With that taken care of, the Starfleet admiral went back to the finalized list of names for the new Galaxy class ships that were in the pipeline. After a few touches on her console, the classified information came up.

USS GALAXY NCC-70637

USS ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-D

USS CHALLENGER NCC-71099

USS ODYSSEY NCC-71832

USS YAMATO NCC-71807

USS VENTURE NCC-71854

While the starships were currently classified, it was known that a large new class of ship was being built. Such a thing couldn't be hidden; and many captains had already tossed their names into the ring for a chance to command them. The list of command choices for the new Enterprise was growing by leaps and bounds. So far, the two top captains in the running were Jean-Luc Picard and Thomas Halloway.

Personally, though, Nechayev didn't think Picard would take the job since he was so attached to the Stargazer. And the Starfleet admiral had to admit that she knew how he must feel. She sometimes missed commanding the USS Crazy Horse out on the fringes of deep space.

----------

Admiral Robert Wesley Dormitory, Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth

August 25th, 2354

Xander looked around his assigned dorm room. It had two separate beds set bunk bed style into the wall, one bathroom, separate study areas, and a mini seating area. The closets were not much to speak of, since it was the custom to use the replicators to get new uniforms if needed. Only stuff brought from home, such as casual wear, was needed for any storage.

That thought troubled and saddened Xander a little. He and Cordelia had been given a farewell party in Sunnydale by the Scooby Gang not long ago, and it had suddenly hit home that he wouldn't be seeing Willow and Buffy every day from now on. There would be no more vid-calls to Willow every night to talk about everything they did all day; and there would be no more patrols with Buffy to guard her back against the things which went bump in the night.

But what the heck, Willow had Oz and if Cordelia wasn't reading too much into it (which she never did) Buffy would soon have Lt. Commander Finn to take his place in her life.

Putting such thoughts away, Xander pulled on his boots and got up from the chair as he tried them on. As with all their replicated clothing, they fit perfectly. All he had left to do was put the little dark grey pin on his neck to show he was a lowly first year, or freshman.

"Not bad, Harris," Xander heard his girlfriend say from the bathroom. "Way better than those god-awful Hawaiian shirts, anyway. Operations gold looks good on you."

"Well, I suppose," Xander said as he turned around. "But hey, Command red looks great on you."

"Of course it does," Cordelia told him simply as she did a little twirl in her short sleeve and short skirt version of the uniform. "Here, zip me up."

She turned around and he easily zipped up the back part of her uniform. "You ready for this?" he asked her.

"Damn right I am," Cordelia told him as she turned back around and kissed him. "And so are you, Cadet Harris." The next kiss grew hotter and more passionate before the green-skinned woman reluctantly pulled away, there was no time for that now. She nodded to the door, "Now let's go prove all of them wrong, that we can do this."

"Okay," he replied simply as the teenage couple left their quarters.

Less than an hour later, both former Slayerettes were standing at attention in a stadium filled with many, many other new Starfleet cadets from all over the Federation. Superintendent Rear Admiral Andrea Brand stood at the podium, just finishing her opening speech. "And so, may I be the first to welcome you, the Academy class of 2358!"

A loud roar went up from the crowd of Starfleet cadets in the stadium as each one thought of what the future held for them.

TBC...