DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy are the creation and property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions, and so forth. All things non-Buffy are the creation and property of many other individuals and corporate entities.

This particular story is the creation of Robert A. Black (that's me). Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think of my work. Good or bad, I'd like to hear it.

TIME CONTEXT: This story takes place between the Buffy episodes, "Nightmares" and "Invisible Girl."

Confused? Refer to the Readers' Guide at the end of the chapter for hints and explanations.

"Match and Rematch"

The elevator - or turbolift, as Bashir called it - arrived at the Bridge just as Mulder was getting used to the way it moved. The doors opened onto a large room with a giant viewscreen at the front. Uniformed men, women and other beings were hard at work at their various posts.

Bashir strode confidently through the doors and onto the Bridge. Mulder and Marcus followed a bit more hesitantly.

A bald older man sat in a chair at the center of the room's activity, barking orders in a proper British accent. As Mulder approached, he could hear the man saying, "Keep us steady, Ensign. Don't make any moves that appear threatening."

"Captain Picard!" Bashir said. The bald man was on his feet instantly, as were several others on the Bridge. One of them, a large and horrifying alien who stood directly behind the command chair, drew a weapon of some sort and aimed it at them.

"Who are you?" Picard demanded. "What do you want?"

"He would have to ask those questions, wouldn't he?" Marcus muttered under his breath. Mulder had no idea what the Ranger meant.

"Don't be alarmed, Captain," Bashir said as reassuringly as he could. "We're not hostile. In fact, I'm a Starfleet officer."

"You do not look like a Starfleet officer," growled the large alien.

Bashir gave the beast a curious look. "You don't know me, Mister Worf?"

Worf simply glared back at the doctor. "Should I?" he asked.

Bashir considered the question. "No, if you're here, then I suppose you wouldn't." Turning back to Picard, he said, "Captain, I'm Doctor Julian Bashir. I'm the Chief Medical Officer for space station Deep Space Nine, located near Bajor."

"Bajor?" said Picard. "You do realize that planet is under Cardassian occupation."

"We're that far back, are we?" said Bashir. "Listen, this may be difficult to believe, but my companions and I have been affected by large amounts of spatial and temporal displacement. I believe this ship may have been affected, too." He looked around the room, then apparently saw what he had been searching for. "You're missing someone, aren't you?" he asked. "Commander Riker's not here."

A brunette woman who wore a snug one-piece outfit instead of the crew's uniform turned toward them. "You know where Commander Riker is?" she asked.

"The last time we saw him, he was in a nightclub in twentieth century California," Mulder replied.

The woman smiled, despite the gravity of the situation.

"You find that amusing, Counselor Troi?" Bashir asked, apparently still trying to convince the crew that he knew them - or would know them. Mulder began to think time travel was a confusing business.

"That sounds like just the place Will would end up," Troi replied.

A young woman at one of the forward consoles turned around to face the group. "Lefler's Law number sixty-two," she said. "Some people get all the breaks."

The man at the other forward console turned to face the woman. Mulder saw the man's white skin, yellow eyes and slightly mechanical mannerisms and guessed that he was another robot, similar to Thelma but much more sophisticated.

"Ensign Lefler," the robot man said, "I have noticed that you seem most fond of quoting these aphorisms during a crisis. Are they an attempt to distract those around you from stressful situations?"

"If that's the case, Mister Data, let's not allow her to succeed," Picard remarked. "What's your opinion of our three visitors?"

"I have run a complete bioscan on Doctor Bashir," Data reported. "It is almost identical to the record of a Starfleet Medical student with the same name. I believe we can conclude that he is the same person, displaced in time. The existence of a temporal displacement anomaly would also explain some of our recent sensor readings, as well as the appearance of the alien ships in this sector."

"What alien ships?" asked Marcus.

Data looked to Picard for instructions. The Captain nodded, and Data replied, "We have detected a large number of vessels approaching this position. Almost all of them have unfamiliar configurations."

"Captain," said Worf, "the closest ship is hailing us."

Mulder looked to the viewscreen. As far as he could tell, the closest ship was one that looked like an enormous clamshell. It was nothing like the spaceships he had ever expected to encounter.

"On screen," Picard ordered.

The viewscreen promptly changed to display an alien command center of some kind. In the center of the frame, an older man sat on a throne-sized command chair. A robe-clad robot stood next to him, its computerized brain flashing in a chaotic sequence of lights that were visible through its transparent skull casing. Mulder could see other robots working in the background. They looked like large metallic soldiers, each with a single red eye that moved back and forth across a mask-like face.

The robed robot began to speak. At least Mulder guessed it was speaking. It had no mouth, but a mouth-shaped set of lights began flashing in time with the voice they heard. "By order of the Imperious Leader through his Commander Baltar, you will surrender your vessel to the Cylon Empire. If you do not comply within ten centons, we will attack and destroy you."

"Within ten what?" Bashir exclaimed.

Picard walked forward to address the screen. "Commander Baltar," he said as diplomatically as possible. "I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise. Perhaps we can come to some sort of understanding before we begin shooting at each other."

The man on the Cylon ship - Baltar, Mulder presumed - stood up from his chair. "The only thing I want you to understand, Captain," he said in a sinister tone, "is that the Cylon Empire opposes all human activity outside of their control. As you can see from my own situation, cooperation can be rewarded. But resistance will prove deadly."

"Captain," said Data, "the Cylon ship is launching small fighter craft. They are taking up an attack formation."

"Shields up," Picard ordered. Turning around, he asked, "Mister Worf, can their weapons penetrate our defenses?"

"Unknown, Captain," Worf reported. "But sir, there is something else. That man, Baltar. I am certain I know him from somewhere."

"Where is that?" asked Picard.

"I do not know where," Worf admitted. "But he is definitely familiar to me."

"We'll explore that mystery later," said Picard. "Right now, we need to..."

Worf's console beeped. He checked it, then said, "Another message coming in, Captain! This one is from a ship off the port quarter."

"Don't you hate it when people break in on your private conversations?" Mulder said under his breath to Marcus and Bashir.

"Put the signal through," Picard ordered.

The viewscreen split into two views. The new participants were a severe-looking Cardassian and another alien that Mulder didn't recognize.

"I am Gul Dukat of the Cardassian Empire," the Cardassian announced.

"And I am Weyoun, representative of the Dominion," the other alien chimed in.

"Both of your ships will now surrender to our forces or be destroyed," Dukat finished.

"Gul Dukat?" said Picard. "I wasn't aware that there were hostile relations between our worlds, let alone with something called the Dominion..."

"This is preposterous!" Baltar shouted, cutting Picard off. "I have no intention of surrendering to you or to anyone else."

At that point, Worf's console beeped again, several times. "Captain," he reported, "a number of other vessels are now approaching. All of them are hailing us and each other."

As Worf spoke, various images began flashing across the viewscreen. Mulder couldn't resist inching his way forward, almost to where the Captain was standing. Here was what he had always dreamed of, a universe full of many different life forms. The fact that they were all bent on destroying each other didn't seem important for the moment.

Dukat, Weyoun, Baltar and the Cylons were all promptly replaced by a sinister looking reptile-man with a large scar slashing down half his face. "This is Warlord Shank of the Spung Empire!" he bellowed. "You will ssssurrender to me or my Killcruisers will atomize you!"

"Warlord Shank, is it?" said Picard. "As I've explained to the others here, my position..."

"I know all about your Federation delaying tacticssss, Captain!" Warlord Shank bellowed. "They won't work on me!"

Before Picard could reply, the screen changed again, revealing a group of approaching ships that looked to Mulder like giant disco balls. After a moment, another alien signaled from the newly arrived squadron. He was a bulky creature with an oversized dome-shaped head and no neck.

"This is Group Marshal Stike of the Ninth Sontaran Battle Group," the alien announced.

"Let me guess," Bashir muttered. "They have us surrounded and we must surrender immediately."

"We have you surrounded," said Stike, "and you must surrender immediately."

Before anyone could reply, still another voice rang across the Bridge. "You have all made a most foo-lish mis-take!" it squawked. The viewscreen changed one more time and revealed an ancient and withered alien being sitting in what Mulder guessed was a high-tech wheelchair. "The Daleks are the su-preme beings in the u-ni-verse!" the alien continued. "And I, Dav-ros, am their cre-a-tor and Su-preme Com-man-der! You will sur-rend-er to us or be ex-ter-mi-nated!"

By now, Mulder had come far enough forward to be standing next to Picard. "I'll bet you never knew you were so popular," he said to the Captain.

Picard gave Mulder a brief grim smile, then turned to his crew. "What's our tactical situation?" he asked.

"The surrounding ships are all powering their weapons, Captain," Worf reported. "However, they seem uncertain of where to target them."

"I sense great confusion among them all," Counselor Troi added. "I don't think any of them expected to find the others here."

"Ensign Lefler, stand by to engage the impulse engines," Picard continued. "If they all continue to hesitate, we may be able to slip away."

"Provided nothing else happens to get their attention," Marcus offered.

As if on cue, Worf's console beeped again. "Captain, I think you should hear this," he said.

Picard nodded. A new and menacing voice boomed across the Bridge. "We are the Borg," it said. "Resistance is futile. You will all be assimilated."

Mulder had no idea what the message meant, but he didn't like the sound of it. He could tell that the Enterprise crew didn't like it, either.

"Lefler's Law number thirty-three," said Lefler. "If you think things can't get any worse, they will."

***

Buffy was having trouble telling her Lieutenants apart. Probably because all three of the gold-shirted vampires were equally determined to kill her.

Once she knew Adric was a vampire, Buffy's first thought had been to take him out quickly before he could do any more damage and before the rest of the battle could gather any momentum. The three Lieutenants had other ideas. Some vampiric sense told them she was the Slayer, and they quickly converged on her in a murderous frenzy.

That left Ace to fight Adric alone, which appeared to be just fine with her. She stepped over Harry's unconscious form and swung at the Alzarian with her sharpened cricket bat handle, apparently intending to club him into submission before staking him. Unfortunately, Adric had a stake of his own, and he fought back with equal determination.

Buffy didn't have time to see how the rest of the group was doing. Stopping to look for Xander, Kimberly or anyone else while busy with three vampires would be a fatal mistake, even for a Slayer. Hard as it was, she pushed the thoughts of the others to the back of her mind and concentrated on hitting whatever gold shirt was coming at her next.

***

"Seska," said Garak, "if any part of your former self is left, I just want you to know that I won't enjoy what I have to do."

"That makes one of us," snarled Seska. Her face shifted into its full vampiric state as she launched herself at him. Garak blocked her as best as he could, even using some of the more underhanded techniques he had learned over the years. His efforts met with only limited success.

After several rounds of blows, Seska lunged forward and knocked Garak to the ground. She landed on top of him, and Garak felt one of his ribs give way with a sharp crack. His head hit the floor and just barely missed being kicked by one of the Lieutenants who were fighting Buffy.

Garak was dazed and in pain, but he still had enough wits about him to know when Seska began clawing for his neck. Her teeth were less than an inch away from finding their target when Garak heaved with his last bits of strength and pushed her away. She rolled directly into the path of Lieutenant Lang, who tripped and fell over her.

Buffy took advantage of the distraction immediately. A quick punch momentarily knocked Lieutenant Latimer senseless. While he was recovering, she turned her full attention to Lieutenant Galloway. The gold-shirted vampire didn't have a chance. By the time Lang and Latimer returned to the fight, they were missing one of their comrades.

Well, at least that counts as an assist, thought Garak. He didn't have time for self-congratulation, though, as Seska was already back on her feet. He got himself back up as best he could, but all he could manage was a kneeling position on one knee.

"How many times must I knock you down before you stay down?" Seska shouted. Garak knew the answer to her question, and it was no longer a very large number. His only remaining chance was that Seska's rage and bloodlust would make her careless.

Garak offered no resistance as Seska fell upon him again. As he had hoped, she left her midsection completely unguarded. With his last remaining strength, Garak pulled a stake from the ruin of his tuxedo sleeve and rammed it into Seska's chest. She disintegrated with a howl of rage, showering dust all over him.

Garak gave himself a mental pat on the back. The force of the blow was enough to knock him unconscious.

***

When Tasha Yar was alive, Will Riker had spent a lot of time sparring with her during their off-duty time on the Enterprise. Since he was the First Officer and she was the Security Chief, they both needed to keep their skills in top condition. Each was also among the few individuals who could provide a good contest for the other.

Now that Tasha Yar was an undead vampire, things were different. As a vampire, Tasha had gained superhuman strength and lost her concern for Riker's safety. A match Riker used to regard as enjoyable competition was now a life-and-death struggle.

Just as they had done in the Bronze, Riker and Tasha were battling to a standstill. Riker knew it wouldn't last, though. A night full of fighting was finally taking its toll. He had no idea how long vampires could fight before they wore out, but he guessed that Tasha would probably outlast him.

Riker was so intent on surviving Tasha's onslaught that he didn't notice the other battle that was about to collide with him. Ace and Adric were locked in a fierce struggle, weaving their way around the chamber as they dodged each other's blows. As they approached, Ace was backing up against Adric's advance, but she took one step too many and landed on Riker's ankle. Riker felt a sharp pain through his leg as he collapsed with Ace on top of him.

Tasha seized the advantage and lunged in to deliver a killing blow. At the same time, though, Adric was still swinging his stake at the spot where Ace had been. The blow flew through empty air instead, and Adric's follow-through carried the stake directly into Tasha's chest. She disintegrated instantly.

Adric howled in rage and turned on Riker and Ace, who were both still on the ground. Riker reached for his stake to defend himself, but it had flown out of his hand in the collision and was now beyond his grasp. He pushed Ace aside to protect her from Adric's impending attack, and the remains of the cricket bat dropped from her hand. In desperation, Riker grabbed the bat and held it upright just as Adric charged. The vampire boy neatly impaled himself and vanished in another cloud of dust.

With the immediate danger past, the pain in Riker's ankle began to assert itself. There would be no way for him to fight if more vampires showed up. Riker looked over at Ace, who was just regaining her bearings. The expression on his face was all she needed to know what had happened.

"Sorry," she said. "Nobody's perfect, Commander."

***

"Principal Flutie, can't we discuss this like two human beings?"

Xander circled around the chamber, holding a cross in front of him. Once he had faced a vampire who used to be his best friend. That was nothing compared to facing a vampire who used to be his High School Principal.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Flutie replied. "As you can plainly see, I'm not a human being any more. And you - well, I think the way I met my death says it all. You teenagers aren't human beings, either. The Master showed me what your new Principal thinks of you kids. If you ask me, he's got the right idea."

"Whatever happened to all that touchy-feely relating nonsense?" Xander asked.

"Put that cross down," said Flutie, "and I'll give you plenty to touch, feel and relate to."

Xander was running out of both room and ideas. He looked over at Kimberly and saw she wasn't having any more luck. Morden had grabbed one of the chamber's tall candle stands and was using it to fend off her attempts to behead him with her sword.

"I've already been beheaded once," Xander heard Morden say. "I have no desire to let you do it again."

A sudden inspiration flashed through Xander's mind. He began circling around toward Morden, with Flutie following him all the way. Xander looked at Kimberly intently, hoping she would catch on to his idea. If she didn't, he would be in serious trouble.

At the last second, Kimberly finally looked over and saw what Xander was doing. Xander felt a surge of hope and - well, other things - when she nodded to show her understanding. It was still going to be a close call, though.

Xander continued to move away from Flutie until Morden was at his back, then he quickly turned and rammed his cross into Morden's face. Smoke burst from the vampire's skin as the cross did its work. Morden roared in pain and fell back. At the same time, Flutie rushed directly at Xander - and was met by the sharp edge of Kimberly's sword. He dissolved instantly.

What a woman, thought Xander. He couldn't help noticing what a great team they made. No doubt about it - he would definitely have to find out what Kimberly was doing after this night was over.

***

Buffy kicked dust into the air as she leaped over Lieutenant Latimer's head and landed behind him. The dust was all that remained of Lieutenant Lang, who had fallen to the Slayer in a single careless moment.

As she prepared to attack, Buffy heard the clank of a falling candle stand and the scream of a vampire who had gotten too close to a cross. She glanced over just in time to see Kimberly return Principal Flutie to the realm of the dead. She would definitely owe Kimberly for that one.

Lieutenant Latimer had heard the noises, too, and instead of turning to face the Slayer, he had stopped to watch. Buffy's opportunity was almost too easy. A sharp thrust into the vampire's back was all Buffy needed to vanquish the last of the three Lieutenants.

That left Morden as the only one of the Master's vampires still alive. He staggered back to the Master's side, hoping to make another escape. Buffy moved to cut him off, but before she could take a step, the Master himself drew out a small weapon and fired it. Morden screamed as a ball of light enveloped him. When the light faded, there was nothing left of the vampire but a doll-sized shriveled body.

Buffy looked at the Master, aghast. "You had that thing the whole time, and you let your stooges fight us instead?"

"The Tissue Compression Eliminator is an effective tool," the Master replied, "but it can interfere with the needs of my new lifestyle."

"Right," said Buffy. "I guess there's not much blood in Barbie and Ken dolls."

"Fortunately," the Master said, "I've found other uses for my technical expertise."

At the Master's cue, another man entered the chamber. He had yellow eyes and white skin that had a strange metallic sheen to it.

Buffy had never seen anything like the man before, but Riker obviously had. "Data!" he cried from his position on the floor. "What are you doing here?"

"I really wish you'd stop doing that, Commander," said the man. "Being mistaken for my brother every time I run into you is really getting tiresome."

"Lore?" said Riker. "What are you doing here?"

"The Master found my parts after you disassembled me," Lore replied. "You probably don't remember that, since for you it hasn't happened yet. But I remember, and I'm grateful to the Master for putting me back together. Not to mention the various improvements he gave me."

With that, Lore shifted his face into its demonic appearance. Buffy readied her stake and prepared to attack. Behind her, she heard Riker call out a warning.

"Buffy!" Riker cried, "That's no ordinary vampire! He's an android!"

Buffy had no idea what Riker was talking about, and she didn't really care. It was her job to slay vampires, no matter what kind they were. She launched herself at Lore, who seemed to be offering no resistance.

Like the last of the Lieutenants, this was almost too easy. Her stake found its mark, rammed right into Lore's chest - and bounced off. The ricochet spun Buffy around, and she landed in an undignified heap on the floor.

"What the...?" said Buffy. Her stake was a mass of splinters in her hand. Lore appeared completely undamaged.

"You should have listened to Riker," said Lore. "For once, he knew what he was talking about."

Buffy could hear the Master laughing behind her. She looked up in terror as Lore bore down on her, his metallic fangs poised for the kill.

End of Chapter 13

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