Chapter 3

March 4th

14:00

For the majority of LA their day started early, some time around six or Seven AM. Others worked the usual Nine to Five and found themselves up an hour or so before work. There was a very select few who worked the hours they wanted when they wanted and to hell with anyone who said differently. Unfortunately for an even more select group their reasons for their hours was more for the 'health' of one of their number than anything else.

Xander was awoken from his dozing state on the office's uncomfortable but serviceable sofa by the opening of the main door with a crash. Snatching his blaster from under his pillow he brought the barrel around and pressed it against the left lens of a pair of glasses sitting on an unfamiliar face. Both men stopped moving as soldier faced unknown (and in his mind a threat) while the other stopped, knowing he could be a trigger pull from oblivion even if he had never seen this kind of weapon before.

Cordelia stepped up and slapped the weapon away from the face of the other man. "What the hell are you doing?"

Only the superb reflexes of a seasoned warrior and pilot stopped a bolt of plasma from slamming into the wall or out of the window. A moment later Xander recovered his weapon and kept it to hand as Cordelia fussed around the fact he'd pulled a weapon in this person, some guy called, Wes.

"Cordelia, please. The other man spoke quickly calming her down somewhat before her legendary temper fully engaged. "It's quite alright, nothing happened and we're all safe." He turned to Xander and said, "Wesley Wyndham Pryce at your service, I believe you must be an acquaintance of Miss Chase and Angel?"

"Yeah, something like that. Alexander Harris, nice to meet you."

"Alexander Harris?" Wesley's brain started ticking over, "As in the Alexander Harris from Rupert Giles' Watcher Diaries?"

"I guess so."

"Well it's nice to put a face and voice to the name." Wes replied smiling. "My time in Sunnydale as a watcher left me privy to some of the background of those that fought at the Hellmouth. Your name came up several times although I was left to believe that you disappeared during an unfortunate incident with a chaos mage a few years ago?"

"Umm, look Wesley?" Xander waited for confirmation to use the man's name. "You guys just woke me up and right now I'm standing in a t-shirt and shorts that apparently belonged to some guy that used to work here. I'm not in any condition to answer any questions right now, so is there any chance you could give me time to get cleaned up and dressed before we go any further?"

"Oh of course, do go on I apologise for my actions."

"Nah it's cool, just give me a few minutes."

Xander grabbed the blanket and toddled into the back room where he's left most of his stuff and got cleaned up using the office's conveniences before dressing. Scratching his face he realised how much he needed to shave. He should have thought about bringing some of the things from his kit with him; but, then again considering the technology, it made the kit's contents look slightly less like Earth built tech. He had to be careful about using it. Maybe he'd grow a beard, now he didn't have to care about keeping it behind an oxygen mask on a regular basis.

"Ahh, Mr Harris. Feeling better?" Wesley asked as Xander stepped out of the room.

"A lot better, thanks." Xander approached the man. "Let's try this again. Xander Harris, Scooby Gang member and vampire pisser-offer."

Wes chuckled at the weak joke. "Wesley Wyndham Pryce, rogue demon Hunter."

"What's a rogue demon?" Xander deadpanned to a groan from Cordelia and a grimace from Wesley. "Let me guess, used already?"

"Indeed, several times."

"Better find something better." Xander said as he drew another cup of coffee. "I think I've been drinking too much of this since I got back."

"I've found Miss Chase's coffee to be an acquired taste." Wesley gestured to his tea service. "I have tea if you would prefer."

"Nah, I'm good. Never could get a taste for it even when the boss tried to force it down me. Although to be honest, this coffee is more like the stuff I drank with the guys, strong enough to keep you awake for long hours and clean the engine housing of a fighter." He slugged back a good amount of the crew. "You'd think I'd be used to this kind of thing by now."

Surreptitiously he looked over the other man; clean cut, well dressed, pretty much what he expected when he thought of a watcher. But there seemed to be slightly more to the man beneath the surface than he let people see. Maybe it was something that was squashed by this training and very probably the actions of his family and position much as it had done to Giles. If he'd been sent to replace or supplement Giles by the Council, he wasn't surprised that he was probably now in LA having been driven out for one reason or another.

Still, if he was trusted enough to work alongside two people who had fought and almost died with on a regular basis in Sunnydale, then there was probably far more to him. Much as he still wasn't too fond of the vampire, even though they had come to an understanding and a possible beginning of an alliance, he could trust some of what Angel told him even if with a pinch of salt. Their conversation earlier that morning had in no uncertain terms, allowed him to at least see below the surface of anybody that was willing to work with the others. If Wesley was willing to fight to make up for any wrongs he'd made then maybe he was what he seemed.

"If you don't mind me asking, you did disappear from Sunnydale correct?" Wesley interrupted his musing.

"Yep. As far as I know, one minute I was walking through hellmouth central and next I'm… somewhere else."

"And are the others aware of your return?"

"Nope, not been home yet; had some stuff to do before I went back. Angel and Cordelia are helping me with that."

"Well, at least you are looking at going home. I do believe they still miss you. During my time there you were mentioned frequently although I made a very stupid mistake in denigrating what possibility a normal untrained human could have done to help them out. I apologise for anything you may hear in advance. I found myself to be wrong about a great number of things during my time there."

"No harm, no foul." Xander shrugged. "I wasn't there, never heard anything and you said sorry before I heard anything. As far as I care you didn't do anything wrong, besides considering some of the stupid stuff I did back then, I'd have been surprised if you thought anything else."

"Indeed. Well given Miss Chase's capacity in helping Angel as well as the emotional support others such as Mrs Summers has given to Miss Summers, Mr Giles, and the rest of your friends in Sunnydale, I doubt that you were as much of a problem as you claim to have been. Indeed, if I had been more willing to break out of my hidebound persona, then I would have realised that I did not know as much as I thought I did. Fortunately both Miss Chase and Angel have seen fit to allow me to make up for any problems I was responsible for."

"So if Giles is still alive, why were you in Sunnydale?"

"With the arrival of Miss Lehane after the death of her predecessor it was decided by the Council that a second watcher was needed…"

"Wait, what… who died?"

"Oh, forgive me. I thought you were aware." Wesley adjusted his glasses. "Miss Lehane was the replacement slayer for Miss Young, the second slayer."

"I thought there was only one slayer at a time."

"There was, but apparently Miss Summers' short death at the hands of a vampire called 'The Master' activated the next slayer potential in the line. She was sent to Sunnydale at some point in early 1998 due to the actions of Spike and Drusilla in an attempt to repower Drusilla. Unfortunately, Miss Young did not last as long as her predecessor or successor I'm afraid and Miss Lehane arrived at Sunnydale shortly after. I was to replace her watcher and rather stupidly, as a spy to watch over Mr Giles' actions in regards to Miss Summers and her allies." Wesley shook his head. "There are few days that go by where I don't fervently believe that I should have done better than I did. Be that as it may, Miss Summers and Miss Lehane came under my purview for a few months where I learnt about the people that fought the good fight."

"He was a pain in the ass," Cordelia piped up as she poured a second cup. "But he's all better now."

"Thank you, Miss Chase. I do believe however that since the unfortunate loss of Miss Young that none of your friends have been lost to the forces of darkness." Wesley fidgeted somewhat.

"Ok, there's something you guys aren't telling me." Xander scowled, "What is it?"

"One of your comrades in arms was killed a few months after your disappearance. It isn't really my place to talk about it," Wesley prevaricated. "No offence intended Mr Harris."

"Angel told me about Angelus this morning. We've come to an arrangement."

"Oh, I see." Wesley blinked behind his glasses before taking them off to polish them, something Xander had begun to wonder if they taught at the Watcher's Academy, or it was just something English people used to prevaricate as they tried to find something to say. "You apparently created the second slayer line although we are unsure at the moment if it has split the slayer line or had created an anomaly. There have never been two slayers active at the same time and even though both Miss Summers and Miss Lehane are currently active, we don't know if one or the other's death with activate another. But it's more likely that Miss Lehane as Miss Young's successor will…"

"Wesley, will you please just call them by their names? It's Buffy, Kendra and Faith." Cordelia threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Do you know how annoying that is?"

"Indeed." Wesley said po-faced, but a tinge of humour in his eyes. He was teasing Cordelia and impressively considering the target. "However as I was saying, it is unlikely that another slayer will be called at any time soon considering the skills and partnership that two slayers and their allies can bring to the fore."

"I'm guessing I missed a lot more than I've been told; big bads and the rest."

"Fortunately, the greatest enemy that the Sunnydale group had to face was Angelus and the Mayor. Both were removed from the playing field before they could be a real threat. However several dozen of your classmates were unfortunately involved in the fight against the Mayor and several were lost. It was just fortunate that several of the less savoury members of your generation were capable of helping before Mr Wilkins could cause that much damage."

"That psycho O'Toole built a huge bomb and tried to kill us with it." Cordelia interrupted with a big smile. "His zombie ass was kicked into touch before he could try it. We just used it against Wilkins instead."

Angel walked into the room as they continued talking before interrupting with a slight cough. "My contacts have agreed to help you out with a few necessities. You need a driver's licence, GED and a few other odds and ends you need to prove who you are. The problem is the fence I've used before. He wants to see your valuables before he makes a decision about helping you."

"Can we trust him?"

"She owes me more than a few favours plus she's a good one, doesn't rip people off too much." Angel shook his head.

Pulling the second gold bar from his pack he added half of the stones that he'd brought with him putting them all in a small bag he'd swiped from Angel's desk, Cordelia's mouth dropped as Wesley's eyebrows raised. They both had known of the small bar he's already handed over to the company but this more than tripled the amount they thought he had even after watching him put a few of the stones back in his pocket.

"That should do it. We'll head out to see him at sundown." Angel picked up the bag and slipped the small bar he had before into it. Wrapping it up he slipped it into the inner pocket of the jacket hanging up behind him, Xander watched him and realised it was the same jacket that he had before Xander and wound up missing. He just stood there shaking his head.

*Some things never change*

Sammy's Come N'Buy

19:00

The night had fallen relatively quickly and within a few minutes of dusk Angel and Xander were on their way to meet with one of the vampire's more savoury contacts. The night was slightly colder than when he had been on the walkabout the day before but nothing that he couldn't easily handle. For the first time in a while he found himself relaxing completely even in the company he was keeping, Even when asleep he rarely found true rest but at this one moment he wasn't being cased, searched for or even having to keep up a façade.

All too soon the car pulled off the main strip and down into a less well kept area of the city, the kind of areas that were best left alone by the more 'normal' of the world's denizens. They passed houses, apartments, shops and restaurants where more people were sitting around talking and laughing, a far cry from the upmarket places he'd noticed earlier that day. However, the deeper they went the slightly stranger the surroundings got, some of the people looked 'off' as if they were trying not to be seen and succeeding.

About an hour of winding streets later they came to a small very out of the way store on the outskirts of the LA slums, barely lit outside the windows were barred and reinforced with wire making it a very difficult and dangerous prospect to assault. The door to the side was reinforced with metal plating bolted to the wood and overlaid with the same wire covering the windows. It looked seedy and very safe at the same time, something that the man inside obviously needed.

Inside, it was a very different story. It was well lit and clean with the bare minimum of mess that Xander had expected in a downtown pawn shop. The usual types of things were evident on the walls, from jewellery, to electronics, to weapons of all kinds. He looked around recognising a few things here and there while others were beyond him, although he thought he recognised what looked like some kind of advanced CD player.

"Angel, it's been a while." The woman behind the counted said in greeting. "This the guy?"

"Sammy, Alexander Harris. Xander, this is Samantha Gardener." Angel introduced them. "He knows."

"Really, that'll make this shit easier." She shook her head slightly letting the pile of hair on top of her head fall away revealing a pair of ornate horns reaching around the back of her head to the front while her pupils turned somewhat cat-like at the same time. Rather than repulsing him she reminded him of a taller and curvier cross between a Devaronian and a Minbari and far more attractive than her dowdier human persona. He shook the proffered hand. "Oh, and it's Sammy please."

He nodded back. "Xander."

"You got the goods?"

Angel handed over the bag with the valuables in it allowing the demon to look over the contents, slipping them out she whistled slightly before running her tongue over it and biting it slightly. Xander's face twisted slightly at her actions but held his comment in. Angel seemed to take it in stride however and watched as the woman then took one of the gems and popped it in her mouth taking it out again.

"The gold is real damned pure, at least ninety nine and a half probably more. The gems, I've no idea where you got them, but they are some of the best I've ever tasted," Sammy informed them before laughing at Xander's reaction. "One of my races' abilities includes the fact that we can taste the purity of any metal or precious stone. I've never tasted these kinds before. Where did you get them?"

"For some work I did, they paid me in these."

"The diamond is basically flawless, the emeralds as well." She smiled as she tasted one of the red stones. "Mmmm, the ruby is extremely tasteful." She nodded, "As much as I'd like to take you for a ride, these things are worth every dollar I'll give you for them. Seven thousand dollars the lot and I'll be willing to take on as much as you bring me at premium rates. You'll not find a better offer anywhere in the state let alone the city."

Looking at Angel, Xander saw an almost imperceptible nod. Without pause he reached into his pocked at extracted the rest of the stones and the single bar of platinum he'd had hidden amongst his clothing. Dropping them onto the countertop he watched the demon's eyes almost glaze over before looking at him in shock, her hands trembling as she picked up the gems putting them to the side and picking up the platinum bar. He fidgeted slightly uncomfortable as she all but caressed the slab of metal petting it and rubbing it as she looked it over. Still shaking slightly she put it down and looked at Xander.

"Twenty thousand for the entire lot and you bring me all the platinum you have to sell once you're ready to." Sammy got control of herself. "I'll also take the rest as and when you need the cash as I said for the best prices you'll find. Deal?"

"Deal," Xander replied. The demon scooped up everything before slipping behind a closed door only to appear a minute later with several large bundles of multiple denominations. Everything from one to hundreds were scattered as she piled them into a heavy duty rucksack, tying it up she slid it over the counter.

She smiled again. "Anything else I can do for you gents?"

"Nothing today Sammy, thanks," Xander replied.

"Come back anytime. We'll be waiting."

Saying their farewells the two men stepped outside into the cool night air causing Xander to shudder slightly. Everything he just witnessed couple with the change between the warm comfortable interior and the dilapidated exterior of the shop front came together in his mind. He only knew a little about demons as a while from his nightly patrols and research from Giles' books so he had no idea what the woman had been doing.

"She's a H'ara'k demon," Angel said walking towards the car

"Huh?" Xander asked as he followed him.

"The gems are usually ground down and used to help create medical treatments for the worst illnesses and injuries that their own bodies can't repair; you've probably just saved a dozen lives with those stones possibly more considering how much she thought they were worth. The gold and platinum are for something else entirely."

"Do I want to know?" Xander asked, getting into the passenger seat.

"The gold is used to help line their nests, their children will absorb some of it through their cocoons." Angel pulled the car into the road while talking. "The platinum is the most important. It allows them to actually breed. Don't ask me how but as well as saving lives you've made sure that most of their clan can have at least one more generation of families."

"Shit… these demons."

"The entire race is peaceful enough, the antithesis of vampire and a few others." Angel continued. "They keep to themselves around humans but some like Sammy are willing to trade outside their race for whatever they need. She's one of the best at what she does and she's good to her word. No-one will know where your stuff came from especially not considering the infamy of some of the Sunnydale denizens around here."

"Infamy?"

"Buffy and your friends have been fighting off attempted apocalypses on a regular basis including taking down some of the most powerful master vampires and a full demon. Every one of you is well known across the country for your defence of the Hellmouth. Word of mouth spreads fast in the underworld and right now the reputation of your friends stop a lot of demons making an attempt to take the town over, even with Wilkins, The Master and the rest long gone."

"Chinese whispers huh?"

"Something like that."

"So you come down this way often?"

"Not that often but I've known Sammy for about forty years. If I find a decent horde or anything I usually fence it through her." Angel turned back down onto the regular roads towards their next port of call. "She means what she said. She'll pay good prices for whatever you bring her."

"I'll remember that." Xander said out loud before going quiet. "Yeah, I'll remember that."

Nondescript Apartment Block

22:00

"Angel Dude."

"Hampton."

"Dude…" The guy shook his head.

"Friar Tuck."

The man grinned back. "That's better."

"Tuck, this is Xander, the guy who needs your help." He introduced Xander to the forger. He rarely ever needed the help but figured he was another of those contacts that he could use from time to time. He'd used the man a few years before to get his car and name into the DMV after a close call with a police car as he headed into Sunnydale from Los Angeles. It had cost him both before and after being caught but in the end he found it was worth it. Unfortunately, the man was completely oblivious to the underworld so Angel used his abilities sparingly.

"Shit, that's cool. So, what do ya need?"

"Drivers licence, GED certificate, up to date ID."

"You in the system?"

"City Hall says I never even disappeared."

"Well in that case." Tuck answered "This will be a piece of pissshit."

Blinking at the man's words, Xander looked towards Angel who merely shrugged a little. The man was one of the best so they gave him the benefit of the doubt as well as the time to do so. Both watched the man as he ripped through the security of the DMV, the City Hall records and even the major police databases in LA and Sunnydale. It was only a matter of minutes before the man swung around in his chair with his hands splayed and a massive grin on his face.

"And done, mes amigos. You were right that no-one even knew you'd been anywhere. I'm gonna need a new photo to go in; I've used your picture from your school records, although those things were a bitch to get to. They musta backed em up to a different system when the school went boom."

"Excuse me?" Xander goggled before turning to Angel. "The school went… boom?"

"Hell yeah, big ass explosion dude." Tuck smirked as he continued, "whole place went up, too the Mayor and Principal with it. Major, major gas leak, and BLAM."

"I've been away, I didn't know about it."

"I went there to look dude, place was wrecked."

"Wow." Xander said. *That's what Cordelia meant.*

"Yeah, so sit up there and I'll snap a pic and we'll get you your stuff."

"Sure." Xander shook his head. "Whatever you say man."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me about the school?" Xander snapped two hours later as they left the basement apartment of Friar Tuck. It had taken a good chunk of his cash but he was now legally a high school graduate, a driver and with an 'almost' spotless record. He'd been told there was no way that the government could trace him or the hack that had been inserted but he knew the sooner he got back to Sunnydale the better. Sometimes the blindness that the people of the town had about the unusual came in useful.

"It didn't come up."

"It didn't come up? My high school was blown up!" Xander whined, "and I didn't get to see it."

"If it helps, it was a spectacular explosion."

"Cordy said something about a bomb earlier but, I didn't know that's what she meant," Xander said as they kept walking, the vampire keeping step next to him. "I guess it was pretty bad, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty bad." Angel shook his head. "Solar eclipse meant I could help out but it was the students that really fought back."

"I heard a few were lost."

"A few, some idiot turned a blonde girl from your class during the fight. Harmony something."

"Wait." Xander stopped and laughed. "Some vamp turned Harmony Kendell?"

"Yeah."

"Guy musta been desperate. That girl had less brains than the end of a zombie film."

"Someone staked her a while ago. Cordelia was a bit upset but not too much." Angel shrugged, "I didn't know her but they had been friends."

"I think I need to sit down and go through this stuff with you guys. I keep getting blindsided."

"Come on, we need to get you some transport."

"At this time of night?"

"Sammy's got a contact she gave me." Angel tapped a card in his hand, "Apparently a cousin of hers. You have any more gold or anything on you?"

"No that was it." Xander thought for a moment. "Well I've still got these."

He pulled a trio of stones from his trouser pocket, one yellow, one red and one green. Angel was no expert, so simply let it be.

"Fair enough, if that's not enough we'll have to use some more of the money Sammy gave you."

"Great." Xander sighed.

It only took an hour or so but at the end of it Xander was trailing behind Angel's car on a dark grey and black motorbike. Having been sent by Sammy, in conjunction with the fact that the female demon had already been in contact with her cousin, meant that the powerful vehicle was sold to him at a bare minimum compared to what it could have been, meaning that Xander still held a substantial amount of cash. Xander's experience on the bike was minimal but he was able to hold well enough without crashing. He guessed his experience using different vehicles and ships over the years held him in good stead although he couldn't remotely guess how.

The two headed back towards the office where they knew Cordelia and Wesley were still awaiting them. Xander was already thinking about the fact that he would have to head back to Sunnydale within the next day. He knew that it would be simpler to stay in LA for a few days and relax but even with that in mind he knew he had to go back. The others would be fighting as usual while he'd been gone and he couldn't in good conscience allow them to go on without him.

His thoughts continued to writhe about in his head as they approached the offices. Climbing off his bike he followed the vampire in. Taking off his helmet he walked into the offices before collapsing into a chair. Cordelia and Wes looked up as they walked in before looking back at their work. Business may have been slow but the gold bar that they had would give them a chance to relax a little while they looked for more work. Xander had already promised another one of the slips to them as it was meaning that both would be paid this month fully.

"You ok, dork-boy?" Cordelia asked as he sat there. "He's the broody, one not you."

"Hey, I'm not brooding. I'm thinking heavily."

"You shouldn't it doesn't suit you."

Not rising to the bait he shook his head. "I need to get back to Sunnydale. I should have headed there first. I'll head out that way before dawn; it'll take me an hour or two to get to the ship. That gives me a few hours to find the cave and park."

"You should possibly rest for a few days, Mr Harris. From your own testimony you have been in combat with minimal rest for several years. Combined with the exhaustion that you are evidently showing, a few days to a week of rest would be prudent," Wesley pointed out. "Even if it's staying aboard your ship and sleeping for a day or two, then you can find your way back to Sunnydale when you are suitably rested."

"Xander, it's been two years. They can do without you for a few more days," Angel spoke up to his new ally and nascent friend. "At least think about it, even if you take that time to figure out whatever it is you have in here."

Nodding, he thought about it. "I guess it'll take me a few days to dig a tunnel even with help from Scythe. I'll rest then. Guess I'm just a little impatient to see everyone again."

"That I understand," Angel replied. "Don't you think it'll be a better idea to contact the others, let them know you're coming, that you're alive?"

"Not yet, if they know and I don't appear straight away they'll worry themselves or blame you guys for a sick joke or something. I'll head into Sunnydale when I'm ready…" He looked at the three others. "You guys wanna see my ship?

Road between LA and Sunnydale

03:00

Accelerating to the full speed the powerful motorcycle was capable of, Xander felt the inertia pull at him unlike anything else he'd felt in a long time. The X-Wings had been fast but their compensators had just meant that they could feel the bare minimum unless dialled down which, of course, had its own risks. A few tries on speeder bikes while on deployment had had the majority of the other pilots threaten him with superglue and the underside of an S-Foil if he ever tried that again Fortunately though a motorbike was far simpler and slower than a speeder.

A few hundred meters behind him the members of Angel investigation were following along in Angel's Plymouth speeding along and at least keeping up with him. Passing a familiar landmark he pulled over to the side of the road causing the other vehicle to pull up behind him. Raising his hand to placate the trio he pulled his comlink from a pocket and spoke into it quietly.

"Scythe, come in."

*Tweep*

"Good, I'm incoming with three more people. Two humans and one other, when you hear us pull up outside the warehouse drop the loading ramp and light up the doors but keep one of the auto blasters armed just in case." Xander ordered the astromech. A quick blast of binary across the link acknowledged said order and Xander put the link away. Raising his arm again he kicked the bike into gear and followed a dark almost invisible side road off of the highway, as the four of them continued on the abandoned factory came into view.

Coming back in the dark of night was about the same as when he left two days before, the place was completely deserted and very, very dark. Their approach was sensed long before they got there by the on board sensors of the R2 unit and with a quick command the landing light came on illuminating the inside of the building and shining through the edges of the doors and a few cracks in the wall surrounding them. Using the light as a beacon Xander pulled his new vehicle up against the wall kicked the stand down, pulling off his helmet and gloves he waited for the others to pull in.

"Hey." Xander greeted them before pulling the magnetic lock off of the entrance. Pulling open one of the massive metal doors the four of them were blinded for a second by the bright forward landing lights of the freighter, causing each of them to throw their arms up over their eye. "Dammit Scythe, shut the forward lights off."

A tweet came down the ramp from the inside as the lights clicked off leaving the underside the only part still lit, however as ordered one of the rotary barrelled auto-blasters was deployed and locked on the four of them. Walking into the room the members of Angel Investigation could only stare at the craft. While it was slightly odd looking it was obviously not built for any form of travel that they knew of. The story of Xander's travels through space and fighting a war began looking even more possible, there was no way that he could have fake all this. Not unless he had backing from somebody seriously rich and powerful.

"What a rust bucket," Cordelia snarked. "I thought it would be bright and shiny not this thing."

"She's over fifty years old, Cordelia. She's seen more action than the cordettes during football season."

"Hey!"

"Space travel isn't all bright lights and clean hulls. The majority of ships have burns, pits and craters from impacts of all kinds. There isn't a ship in service that is completely pristine, the Alliance least of all." Xander walked towards the battered vessel. "She got me home, she's not pretty but she's armed, fast and there's nothing on this planet that can catch it."

Leading them up the ramp he passed by his quarters only stopping to drop the bag full of money and necessities he'd managed to get hold of. With the stuff he'd already fenced he was sorted for a while but sooner or later he'd have to think about buying a place or having Scythe hack a rental agreement and move in somewhere in town. Closing the hatch he took the trio into the small crew gallery in the centre gesturing for them to sit down, Cordelia dropped into the single seat while Angel stood to the side. However Wesley was far more interested in the construction of the ship and it's technology than paying attention."

"Uhh, Wes?"

"Hmm?" He noticed that they were watching him and waiting." Oh sorry, do go on."

"The Reaper's not much even compared to other ships of her class but she was available, needed some repairs and a little paint but she got me back." He sobered up. "The problem is now that I'm back I'll be heading to the 'dale and setting up shop. I'll be able to help when and if necessary but this ship won't be going anywhere for a while after she's been landed. I don't want any of you to contact Sunnydale before I get back. It's gonna be bad enough trying to persuade them that I'm not a demon and I'm on their side before they try to kill me. But no matter what if you guys need my help I'll be willing to, once I've found a place to nest in I'll let you guys know."

"So what is this thing exactly?" Angel asked.

"The Reaper is a modified light freighter capable of a small percentage of light speed using her realspace engines while her hyperdrive can get it up to a few million times that, what we call a Class One Hyperdrive. She's also armed enough to break through a light blockade or in this case blast a city from the landscape."

"She's that powerful?" Wesley asked shocked.

"Well maybe not quite that powerful, but she's capable of destroying anything on Earth if she was in the wrong hands. At the moment I'm the only one with the access codes to the start up sequence and I doubt there's anyone on this planet who can crack the codes." Xander took a box from under Cordelia's feet before she could kick it again "And you really don't want to do that."

"Why?" She asked, "What is it."

"This is a box of proton grenades."

"GRENADES!" She shrieked.

"Four of these could blow a hole the size of a city block in anything you can name, so I'm being very careful with them."

"Extraordinary, it would take far more explosive using common technology to do such a thing. Much more if we wished to vaporise whatever was destroyed." Wesley mused. "In this case at least we know where to go if we need some heavy firepower as reinforcements."

A whistle came from the side as a red and silver coloured droid trundled into the room bleeping furiously at his owner. Xander may not have been able to speak the binary tweeting of the Astromech but two years of working together let him get the gist of it.

"I wasn't ignoring you; I just hadn't got to you yet," Xander argued back. "Guys this is Scythe my Astromech unit, Scythe this is Angel, Wesley and Cordelia."

"You weren't wrong. He does look like a dustbin on wheels." Angel looked the droid over.

The Astromech began rocking side to side bleeping angrily at the human beside him before threatening Xander's backside with his arc welder. Jumping back the young man almost fell over the box he'd just put down before righting himself. He knew he shouldn't have said anything but then considering he didn't expect the formerly broody and angst ridden vamp to reiterate the joke he wasn't prepared.

"Yeah, thanks for that Angel."

Standing up from her perch Cordelia walked across to the droid and looked it over before petting it gently on the dome, Scythe preened slightly at her actions.

"He's not a dustbin, he's cute. Can I have one?"

Scythe bleeped the affirmative before butting the woman in the leg lightly. It was nice to know that someone around there appreciated him.

"Sorry, I kinda need him to help me keep this thing running right now." The R2 unit bleeped sadly as the human reminded him of his duties but perked up at Xander's next rejoinder. "But there's nothing stopping a visit now and then."

The Astromech bleeped a response before heading back into the rear of the ship. Shaking his head at his droid's antics Xander shrugged at the young woman.

"Yeah you've made a friend for life."

"What, he is cute," Cordelia shot back. "He's the one you brought back?"

"Yeah, he's got me out of a few scrapes on the battlefield. Star fighter pilot's best friend."

"With these weapons and this ship, I believe that you have the best set armoury that we could hope for if you are willing to part with some of it?" Wes asked.

"Yeah, I'll do what I can," Xander shrugged. "I've not had much of a chance to go through anything in here. I've pretty much just been winging it for the last couple days."

"Winging it?" The Englishman nodded his head. "Well considering your story I'm not surprised Four days of constant travel would cause strain on any person; more so considering the distance and strain that you must have been under since your return to this universe. If I may ask, what will you do when you return to Sunnydale? It will be difficult if not impossible to hide what you have here."

"Angel's given me some information about a cave on the coast that no-one uses. I'll park the ship there and seal it down. If I have to I can blow the cave out to escape. It might take a few days but I'll be able to cave a tunnel out. There's got to be a laser bore or something around here I can blast my way out with, then I'll seal it down and that'll be that."

"That's it?" Cordelia felt like face palming. "No other plan than hide the ship in a cave?"

"It worked for Doc Brown."

"Doc Brown?" Wesley asked.

"Back to the Future, Doc Brown boarded up a cave and left the time machine in it for eighty years."

"Well, that might be possible in the films Mr Harris, but it is far more likely that someone will come along and look in the cave and find this vessel. It may be prudent to stay hidden for a few days until you can confirm that this vessel and its contents won't be found. You have the human aspect of this as well as the demon. People can be curious even in Sunnydale and sooner or later someone will find the entrance way and then you will have problems. Although perhaps Miss Rosenberg or Mr Giles could help with a glamour of some sort. It would keep people from finding any entrance you carve until you can fit some kind of hatch?"

Xander nodded as he moved another few boxes allowing himself and Angel to sit down on a chair or in his case a crate of stormtrooper rifles. He'd known of the dangers of building the entranceway but had no clue how to hide it until Wesley had pointed out the magic users in the Sunnydale group.

Angel looked to the side and picked up what seemed to be a very large hammer before shaking his head and putting it down. Whatever his squadron mates had put in here would probably take time to catalogue and put away before Xander could use them. He barely noticed as Xander pulled his weapons out from his holsters and paid them on a worktable to the side, opening a draw he put them in and secured it before pulling on a larger leg holster and larger weapons in its place.

As Xander finished tying the holster on he stood up straight. "I'll keep low for a week then head into town as I promised but I don't trust this location right now. Once I can get some repairs done and security up I'll use it as a fallback in case I have to move the Reaper or Sunnydale as a whole. I'll leave a cache here as well in case you need supplies or back up, but I'm going tonight."

"I don't blame you." Angel responded, standing up. "I know we've had our differences Xander, but you need us and we'll be there."

"He's right you know," Cordelia nodded. "You might still be a doofus, but you're not the same person I used to know."

"Nor are you, Cordelia." Xander replied honestly. "But you're still a harpy."

"Good to know." The brunette hugged the young man. "We've missed you Xander. Please be careful."

"I will."

Two of the three left the ship the same way they came with only Angel hanging back to talk to Xander who gave him a small packet. A few moments later, the other two also appeared. Xander, with Angel's help, pushed his new bike up onto his ship before the ramp began to rise. They left the building as Wesley and Angel pushed the two massive doors apart allowing the light freighter to exit the warehouse slowly. Its repulsor-lifts buzzing slightly before the ship began to rise in front of them. With barely a whisper the ship pushed itself into the sky its antigravity engines sending it into the sky before a brief flash of the sublight engines threw it into a speed dozens of times the speed of sound.

"I do hope he will be alright," Wes said as he watched the ship disappear from view. "He's not anything like thought he'd be."

"He wasn't like that before Wes. He's older, wiser, maybe even more mature."

"I wouldn't go that far," Cordelia replied. "What's in the bag?"

"Just something he thought I could use." Angel hefted the pouch thinking about the contents. The comlink and two more bars of gold would come in very useful for the foreseeable future. But for now they had work to do. Angel turned back to the road and the car parked up by the fence, the others following him before looking back at the now clear sky.

"Good luck Xander," Cordelia whispered.

Sunnydale Beach

March 5th

05:00

With a whine of repulsor-lift engines, the Reaper settled down onto the rock floor and into the cave Angel had told him about. The location was a good sized cavern that he could have dropped a half dozen snub fighters in with space or far more simply a fully functional YT-1000. The location was as he said away from the main town itself and invisible from both sea and land approaches due to overhangs and the rising tide that made it all but impossible to reach from outside unless you were good, lucky, knew the layout… or had advanced technology.

Flipping on the running lights to their full intensity the Reaper lit up the dark cavern. While right on the sea the actual cave was dry and pristine compared to what he had expected. It was probably this reason why smugglers and bootleggers had used it for the last few hundred years. A scan of the area pointed to small holes that allowed the moisture to escape the enclosed spaces and out into the dry air of the surface. Some debris and an old boat were the only evidence that the cave had ever been in and their age pointed to the fact that the cavern hadn't been in use for a very long time, exactly as his vamperic cohort had told him.

"Guess this is it, Scythe." He called back to the R2 unit as he shut down everything in sequence; engines, life support, weapons, shields and scanners. That left the bare minimum running, including the emergency systems, the self-cycling batteries, passive scanners and the ship's external lights. He'd already figured out that until he managed to properly build up a decent shelter he'd have to use the ship instead. Flipping the last switch, the repulsor-lifts shut off and powered down leaving the cave silent except for the sounds of the ship's hull creaking as it settled.

Xander let himself simply sit in the darkened cockpit and stared out at the cave. The silence almost palpable as he allowed himself to relax fully. For the first time in years he realised that he had no real enemies, the demons he'd fought before didn't know he existed, the Imperial forces were far away through time and space and most of his inner doubts had long been silence after he found his worth with the Alliance. Sighing, he leaned back in his seat and smiled to himself. There was nothing that could really affect him right now and while it might be fleeting he grasped the peace with both hands.

Two and a half years of running, fighting and facing death on a regular basis on top of the year and a bit helping Buffy with her calling had left him on the edge. The short rests he'd had between deployments or on leave the one or twice he'd had the chance had rested his body but he had never quite mastered the ability to accept what he had to do. Right now he had no enemies to speak of and time to just rest. From time to time he felt guilty about it considering the rest of the wing would be back in combat within the next few days, less if they'd been called to action before they reached the Endor headquarters.

Right now more than anything he missed the camaraderie the Wampas and Rogues had had. Even before he'd been pulled through time and space he'd been part of a small group that people from the outside would find it difficult to fit into. His time spent with Wedge had endeared him to the Rogues as well as some of his non-squadron friends relatively quickly, his knowledge of those people colouring his view and usually for the better. He'd struck up a friendship of sorts with Angel and his team allowing his newer outlook at life to dissipate the anger and hatred that he'd once had for the vampire. They were more alike than he had realised before.

Putting his head in his hands he took a breath and released it. He'd never been as much of an extrovert as he'd made out to be during his teenage years and now he was totally alone for the first time in years. He really had no idea what to do. No one else knew he was alive and if he did just turn up in the state he was in, he would probably break down. He was home and even though he knew what that really meant in his mind, his heart and soul felt like crashing down around him. The knowledge that his friends were alive had been heartening allowing him to relax a little more after hearing so.

Silently, he let the emotions he'd been holding back unleash themselves. The worry and pain that he'd held back until he could be alone after finding out that most of the others had survived the last few years, the anguish he'd felt knowing that there was nothing he could have done to save Jenny or keep the others from getting hurt. The loss of everyone he had ever known not just once, but twice in as many years although regaining some of his old life in the process, overwhelmed him. For the first time, he let silent tears stream down his face.

A few loose tears turned into a silent flood before the sound of hiccupping and heavy breathing took its place, more and more tears flowed freely as the his emotions ran riot throughout his mind. Two years of loss, two years of uncertainty finally unleashed with the knowledge that he was home; that the people he loved the most would still be there waiting when he returned.

His sobbing slowed and then almost ceased altogether allowing him to regain his equilibrium quietly before leaning back in his chair. Dirty tracks were evident down his cheeks from where the tears had stained his face. His countenance was one of relief, exhaustion and anxiety. He had no idea what was going to happen from here on in but he had to see his friends and soon even if just to prove to himself that they were alive and well.

The next thing he knew he was waking up in the far too comfortable piloting chair more than five hours after landing. He stretched feeling the kinks throughout his body release allowing him to move. Unfortunately the angle he'd been asleep at precluded him from being able to lay straight, meaning his neck and arm were stiff and painful as he moved. The pain caused him to flinch as he moved his neck.

He looked around for the first-aid kit he'd made sure was in the cockpit at all times and pressed an air syringe into his neck and shoulder forcing the muscles and nerves to relax. Most star fighter pilots found themselves with these kinks on a regular basis and had a special mixture that some enterprising spacer in the dim distant past had come up with. It was almost standard issue to anyone heading out on a mission.

A few moments later the pain in his neck slipped away as the muscles relaxed allowing him to move properly again. Thinking about it, he decided that it was more than possible that he could find a way to synthesise the cocktail for use by the military or anyone else that might want to. Hell, he could have used it more than once after falling asleep studying or researching in the past.

Stepping out, he walked towards the rear of the ship passing by the resting R2 unit and dropped into his quarters. Slipping the hatch shut he sat in the silence and lay down on one of the ship's two beds. He relaxed and began thinking about his return to Sunnydale in the next week. He had every intention of keeping his promise to relax and let the chips fall where they lie. But of course the next few days would be immensely boring if he just lay in bed or wandered around the cave. Thinking about it he slowly fell asleep again this time for a good long time.

The days had passed relatively comfortably for the first day or so he's caught up on sorely needed rest as well as exercise using the boxes and containers as weights, most of which were now scattered throughout the ship and into the cave itself. The down side had been the fresh food that someone (he suspected someone had sneaked a few of the provisions off of the Admiral's flagship considering its frequent use by the higher ups in the alliance) was finished and he was stuck with what looked to be a year and a half's worth of Imperial and Alliance ration packs and the ship's recycled water.

It was at that point he wished he'd thought about going back to the shop he bought the Twinkies and spend a bit of money on proper food instead of being forced to eat the dry rations or tasteless strips of something or other. He was fortunate that the Caf dispenser still had enough to last another month; otherwise he'd have given up and shut himself away forever. Three days in and he'd started to catalogue the equipment he had been 'gifted' by the Rogues and anybody else that they could pull into their schemes.

Xander now sat in the rear of his vessel a few hours after he had woken up on the third day. The ship had been and now would be kept shut down for a foreseeable future, allowing Scythe to go through the internal systems and rebuild them from the ground up and reprogram the computers for the same reasons. He'd found an old clone wars era engineering droid boxed up underneath a crate of blaster rifles and a trio of repair kits as he'd gone through them. The rogues had been right when they'd said they'd put just about everything in the bay.

He'd already begun hollowing out some of the smaller caves into makeshift armouries and supply caches to empty out the freighter. One of those caves had been already carved out by the former owners of the cave. This included one that could barely be seen unless you knew exactly where it. It was the perfect place for some of the more dangerous or unstable equipment to be hidden out of sight. As of now it held three boxes of grenades, at least two of which were the dangerous proton type while the third contained a series of other grenades that he still had to go through before he could figure out where to put them.

Alongside them he'd moved one of the three massive tanks of tibanna gas that was part of the ship's weapons system. He had a few canisters of the explosive material aboard so he decided that he'd put them in the other armoury so as to have a ready and accessible supply. While it wasn't much as compared to the rest he had on board, it made him feel a little better. Xander didn't have quite as much explosive aboard as he could have had. The problem however had been exacerbated when he uncovered a heavily armoured box with a danger signs on the top and sides. Opening it up he'd slammed it closed, before hefting it out of the freighter and moving it to a shallow hole at the far end of the cave where an old tunnel had long since collapsed.

"You said detonators Wes you bantha's ass not Thermal Detonators." He moaned to himself as he secured it behind a small number of heavy rocks. It wouldn't even remotely stop the explosive force of the weapons but still made him feel slightly better at the fact he had a small number of focused nuclear weapons on hand, the Proton torps, notwithstanding.

"What in the nine Corellian Hells were you thinking?"

Soon afterwards, he'd sat back down in the hold and begun cataloguing the rest of his supplies, separating them into piles for distribution throughout his new hideout. The majority were what he had expected; standard issue rebel alliance blaster pistols and enough power packs and spares to keep them running for several years of normal wear and tear. Shifting them to one pile of boxes he pulled out a larger crate, carefully checking the outside before unlocking it. Inside were a half dozen rebel modified stormtrooper rifles plus a pair of scopes. Putting it aside he found the accompanying rifle power packs and modification kits. Another box held a few more of the weapons and a handful of heavy blasters wrapped secured in the box. Considering the gear he had, Xander wouldn't have been surprised if Wes and Hobbie had literally thrown this stuff together as fast as they could.

Once the armoury cave was hollowed out he'd have to build a few racks and cupboards for the equipment to sit in. One of the engineering work tables could be uncoupled and dragged outside with a portable generator as well as some of the repair and construction tools the ship. The engineering droid was currently working under the auspices of the astromech allowing Xander to do the rest of the work he needed to do.

Shifting another box of heavy blasters to the side, he got up stretching again from his perch and moved it to the middle pile. He would leave a good amount of his supplies on the ship as he knew he was going to need it if he ever had to move the ship in a pinch. The rest would be scattered throughout the cave structure, a cache at the factory near LA, and once he was situated, at a place to be determined in Sunnydale. Whatever house or apartment he'd end up in, he'd have to build a secure room in the basement or something given that the equipment he had would be classified as illegal weaponry.

It had however occurred to him that he didn't know the American legal system's stance on the ownership of weapons that technically shouldn't exist, especially those using technology based on elements and compounds both natural and man made that Earth hadn't discovered yet if they ever would. Everything from the hull plating to the wiring used materials that no-one on Earth would be able to replicate without some seriously advanced technology. Worse yet some of the stuff he had could blast a large hole in the centre of California if he wasn't careful.

Silently he began to pick out weapons from the boxes and piled them gently on the table, worktops of the central gallery, or previously checked boxes. Inventory included a pair of modified E-11s specially rebuilt by rebel alliance technicians, a dozen assorted heavy blasters including replacements for his own, a few DL-44s, and a Thunderer, the only one of which he had and was not that fond of compared to his own pistol. A few boxes of power packs for each were boxed up and hidden along with the weapons in several of the secreted compartments throughout the ship. A number of grenades and normal high explosives were likewise secured.

He'd pulled a mix of the best and worst of the ration packs and completely stocked the kitchen and storeroom to the side with food and supplements. He'd left the coolers and freezer empty as well as one full cupboard for when he decided to add more common food to the stocks. The rest were ready and awaiting somewhere to put them in the main cave meaning that right now they took up a good percentage of one of the smaller cargo bays. The medical equipment and other med supplies were there as well where they would stay excepting the small amount going into his caches.

Finishing with the weapons, he moved a few pilot jumpsuits and boots into his quarters closet while putting a few dozen datapads he'd found scattered around in a box under the bed. Dropping down he looked around the quarters. In the week or so since he'd acquired the ship from the Alliance he'd only slept in the bed twice. The rest of the time he'd fallen asleep in the pilot's chair, at Angel Investigations, or on a small ledge he'd found at low tide that allowed him to see the sun as it rose. But he'd not really looked the place over.

The ship had the scars on the outside of the vessel showing its long history of working outside the law as a smuggler, pirate or rebel infiltration ship. He hadn't realised just how much the inside also showed the passage of time. Grazes from heavy boxes, machinery or any other number of reasons were evident on the walls and deck plates of the ship. A few burns on the inside had him conclude that the ship was boarded at least once over the years, possibly when it was raided by the rebels or damaged by a pirate team trying to take over.

His quarters as the only ones on the ship were well used and he could see the dull shine where personal items had been moved off of tables, walls and hatches time and again. The twin mattresses had been replaced before he'd left and as such weren't quite broken in yet although the rest of the bedding was a little older and used. As a whole the quarters were comfortable enough but not really somewhere he wanted to spend that much time. He hadn't expected to spend as much time on the ship as he had. Oddly enough he had realised not long after landing that in the years he'd spent with the Alliance that he's not actually come up with a plan for what to do when he got home.

As he'd told the others, he'd been winging it from the get go. Now he was only a few miles from home and had no idea of what he was going to do when he got there. He knew that the Scoobies would be either surprised, angry, happy, or any other number of emotions when they saw him. He wouldn't be surprised if at least one tried to kill him before he could explain, meaning that he needed to be extremely careful when he met each of them.

He still had a few days to go before he'd be ready to leave the cave but at the moment he was more than happy enough to simply go through his gear. Obviously, the majority was military hardware as well as weaponry but he'd also noticed a good amount of aid and engineering supplies in amongst the boxes. Right now he needed all the help he could get to rebuild the cave into a decent enough base. The rock and earth that he'd be digging up he had already decided to use as a defensive barrier against the tidal current and around the entrance that he was about to start building.

"Scythe?" he called out before receiving a bleep from the bottom of the ramp. Following the sound down into the cave his eyes adjusted to the slightly brighter outside. The low tide meant that a large section of the cave was lit by the afternoon sun while the rest of the darker depths were exposed by larger spotlights put in place by the construction droid and the astromech while using the exterior lights of the freighter to see what they were doing. In all it was as well lit and comfortable as you could expect using an ocean-side cave.

"Wow."

*Blat-Blat-Beep-Tweep-Bloop *

I've been busy. A small screen on the Astromech's head flashed up, The protective lockers should fit in the left side gaps while the generator will fit on the right side.

"This is incredible Scythe, nice work."

*Bloop*

Thank you.

"Just keep away from the far end of the cave. I'm using that collapsed tunnel for stuff I don't want laying around."

Like those Thermal Detonators?

"Yeah like those…. Hey how did you know that?"

I saw them earlier when repairing the lower turret power transfer cables

"You could have warned me."

And miss your reaction?

"Wes was right. You need a memory flush and reprogramming with a hammer." The Astromech blatted a raspberry at his owner before Xander sniggered and patted Scythe on the top of his dome. "I'm going to start the exit tunnel tonight. I found a heavy tunnelling laser in the gear."

*Bloop-Bloop-Beep*

I saw it too; piece of junk will explode after an hour.

"It didn't look that bad."

Needless to say, the pilot took his astromech's recommendation and began stripping the laser down to check it over. As usual the droid had been right as within the hour it would have ruptured it's containment coils and blown a hole the size of a small car in the rock face. It could be repaired but he'd have to risk using the majority of one of the freighter's four cannons to do so, meaning he'd lose a percentage of his firepower/ Although he didn't need it much while on Earth he wouldn't put it past Murphy that he'd need it sooner or later.

What's more was the fact he knew he'd have to dig out a percentage the normal way in order to create the defensive cordon he wanted around the entranceway. Sighing he got to work on the laser, disassembling it with practiced ease before checking for the parts he was going to need. The far more modern Taim and Bak cannons had been stripped off of one or more X-Wings over the years. At least one set coming from a modified Y-wing if the score marks from the brackets were any indication.

The problem was that all four had been heavily modified by the Alliance spec ops team that had kept her running, meaning that some of the necessary parts he needed would have to be salvaged from elsewhere thanks to those same modifications. But, within an hour he had the necessary parts from the cannon and had cut and welded a few more pieces from a repeating blaster basically destroying it in the process.

Returning to the cave he noticed the construction droid had already begun the first leg of the tunnel out. Unlike his original idea of using the other collapsed tunnel, the droid had sparked him with a welder and none too gently threatened Xander with physical harm if he tried something that stupid. Apparently the tunnel was in bad enough shape to fall in and could do exactly the same even with the more modern technology he could use to repair it. Surrendering to the inevitable he decided on another section that came to mind, close to the small 'balcony' he'd found earlier.

The rock was heavy and solid but pliable enough that he would be able to break it up and put together the defences that he knew he was going to need. The fact it was almost on a level with the upper cannon turret meant that if anything did try to gain access then it would end up with several kilotons of coherent light and plasma scattering it's component atoms. That said he was going to make damn sure the entrance was hidden and almost impossible to find. Fortunately some of the equipment and with the help of both droids, he likely could hide the secret entrance easily enough.

Priming the blaster, he took a step back and activated the first stage of the drill. The sonic array blew a hole in the rock sending large heavy boulders to the sides and opening up enough of a hole to begin the slow wearing away of the rock inside. Stepping back, Xander checked the generator and the kill switches before heading back to the ship. While powerful, the blaster would take time to burn through and fuse the rock face. He'd left an alert and cut off when it hit its pre-programmed depth, then he'd move it again to cut at an angle to the right and up making sure it was more difficult for anybody to make their way down to the cave.

However as he turned away from the balcony, he found himself looking around. He took in the parked freighter, the assembled equipment that he would inevitably use, the generator powering the lights and weaponry, and the gear put to the side. All in all it had become a well rounded and comfortable base of operations. At that thought Xander's mouth dropped. Looking to the single winding entrance to the outside his eyes widened as his long occupied mind finally clicked.

"Holy shit…I've got a Bat-cave!"