Travels in the Multiverse Part 12 (Patreon)

"Go to ground, an Alliance hitman is on his way to kill you because you have the ability to broadcast to the whole system. P.S. Wash is still the best pilot, don't die." Myst sent the wave to Mr. Universe, hoping it would give the hacker enough time to avoid the Alliance. 'If you don't have enough time to bug out, flying there wouldn't have helped anyway.'

"Should we be running for the hills?" Buffy asked as she looked at the damaged systems on display. "This ship isn't exactly working at full capacity."

Mist shook his head. "I doubt any of the leaders of the Alliance want one of their ships anywhere near Miranda, so we should be fine. Besides, we have shields, they don't. Not to mention magic and repair charms are awesome. Of course doing everything myself would take a chunk of time."

"Does that mean you're collecting the rest of the gang?" Buffy asked.

"I don't think they'd forgive me if I didn't," Mist admitted.

"Probably not," Buffy agreed as she looked at Myst. "If we hadn't shown up, would things have worked out?"

"Maybe?" Myst offered, not sure what else to say.

"Maybe?" Buffy asked, fairly sure that was a no from his tone of voice.

"The crew flew through a nightmare of a battle that probably should have killed them, lost their pilot to a Reaver harpoon once they’d landed then fought a bunch of Reavers to buy the captain time to get the recording to a transmitter so they could expose the Alliance's secrets. That crew is beyond merely good at what they do, but there's no telling if this was a world where everything worked or one of probably countless timelines where the stars didn't align and the entire crew died. If I had to guess, they'd be dead."

"What makes you think that?" Buffy asked.

"I haven't jumped anywhere I haven't at least heard about. The odds of that happening by chance are nearly impossible or at least so unlikely it might as well be impossible, which means I'd like to think that I wouldn't jump to the one timeline where things worked out without my help. Of course, even in the movie Wash died, so screw that."

Buffy nodded. "In other words, no one dies?"

"Not if we can help it. Are you ready to jump back to the base and grab people?" he asked, wanting to actually give her a bit of warning now that they weren't trying to dodge other Travelers.

"As long as we can get back," Buffy said, looking forward to playing with the holodeck.

"I saved the coordinates," Myst assured her then jumped back to the base with her after checking his precog and making sure they wouldn't land somewhere they shouldn't.

Dawn looked up from her when Myst and Buffy appeared out of thin air a couple feet in front of her. "Are you trying to scare people?"

"No, I just didn't want to scare the werewolves, they tend to flip out if anything surprises them," Myst replied with a grin as he glanced around the room at the magic users, happy to see Ivy looking more relaxed and happy than he'd left her. Of course the fact that she was sitting between Hermione and Harry reading books on magic rituals might have something to do with it, from the way she was leaning into them.

"Did you lose the red eyed guy chasing you?" Dawn asked, curious if they were going to have to dash off again.

Buffy grinned at her sister. "He got eaten by a giant lion."

Dawn raised her eyebrows, not sure if her sister was telling the truth. "Honest...?" she trailed off as she noticed Buffy's necklace. "Where did you get that?!" she blurted out, her eyes glued to her sister's over-the-top necklace.

"Get what?" Buffy teased as she leaned forward a little bit to show it off.

"Your necklace," Dawn replied.

"Myst made it for me." Buffy smirked. "It's a bit extravagant but I like it."

"A bit?" Dawn asked. "You could buy a small country with it."

Myst shrugged. "At least an island. As for the lion, it just disemboweled him then bit his head off and spat it out."

"That we saw," Buffy added helpfully.

"Fair point," Myst admitted.

Ivy glanced between Myst and Buffy. "Where else did you go?"

"We went to a diner in a world where a dark fey version of Angel and a shape changing shaman version of Xander were in some sort of unholy love triangle with a younger Buffy," Myst offered.

"Dark fey?" Dawn asked.

"I refuse to call those sparkly things vampires even if they drink blood," Myst grumbled.

"We also went to a hidden magic town where we bought a magic broom and some interesting potions," Buffy added. "Star Trek was less fun, the captain we ran into was insane."

"Which captain?" Hermione asked, having watched a fair bit of the Next Generation with her father.

"Captain Ransom of the Equinox. He was basically pulled through space to the far side of the galaxy and had to make his way home in a ship that wasn't designed for battle, nor to go for so long without servicing. Rather than just hideout in a section of space that was actually friendly and work on improving the ship they decided to press on towards home which left the ship more than a little damaged. Thankfully I was able to make a human sized portal they could use to walk home."

"You stole the ship, didn't you?" Dawn asked with a smirk, thinking of what she would do in that situation.

"Pretty much," Myst admitted with a grin then looked at Hermione. "Before you give me a lecture about stealing things, the ship was a couple of weeks away from being destroyed by the sentient aliens they'd been harvesting to boost their warp drive."

"What?!" Hermione sputtered.

"How does that even work?" Panacea asked.

"In order to get home in a reasonable time they started killing a race of sentient high energy aliens and using their corpses to enhance the warp drive. The aliens, as you can imagine, didn't take it well. So yeah, I basically stole the ship to keep it from being destroyed then sent the crew back to their version of Earth via a portal," Myst explained.

Hermione shook her head. "I can't imagine Picard or Sisko going that nuts and the plot would fall apart if they tried to strand Kirk and Scotty."

"Yeah, I can't see Scotty putting up with that, all it would take is someone telling him that he's out of Scotch and he'd rig something to get them home in an afternoon," Myst said, not sure he was actually joking considering some of insane things the man had pulled off. "Either way, the ship is floating over a planet in a different universe and I could use some help repairing it, any takers?"

"Sure," Harry offered, wanting a break from reading journals written in Old English and looking forward to seeing what a spaceship was like.

"Sounds fun," Ivy said, having heard about Star Trek in school, but never actually having seen it on account of the Dursleys being… the Dursleys.

"Should we grab Willow and Xander?" Buffy asked as she glanced around, surprised that Willow wasn't helping with the research.

Dawn smiled as the door opened and she spotted Willow and Tara out of the corner of her eye. "Tara dragged her off to grab a shower."

"We were dirty," Tara said matter of factly as they walked into the room with Xander following behind them.

"Where did you get that necklace?" Xander asked when he noticed Buffy's necklace.

"I was playing with my crystal creation ability," Myst explained. "Not to rush things, but I have a Star Trek ship in need of repairs and the longer I'm gone the more chance of problems. Can I talk everyone into helping me repair it?"

"Yes!" Willow replied immediately. "Which ship?"

"The Equinox, it's a Nova class science ship." Myst glanced at Tara. "Do you want to come?"

"Sounds fun," Tara said, thinking about the old Star Trek shows she'd caught as a child.

Myst glanced at Xander. "Are you up for it?"

"Of course, it should take Anya a couple of hours to finish shopping with Vicky anyways," Xander said, looking forward to seeing an actual spaceship.

"In that case," Myst teleported the group to the Equinox after checking his precog to make sure they'd land safely, "welcome to the Equinox."

Willow giggled as she looked around the bridge. "Can I sit in the captain's chair?"

"Sure," Myst replied as he mentally brought up an image of the planet on the view screen. "We have a couple of hours to repair everything and make the ship look halfway presentable for the crew of the Serenity."

"Shouldn't we be floating?" Harry asked.

"That's what artificial gravity's for," Dawn said absently as she studied the image of the strange planet on the screen. "Does it have breathable air?"

"It's perfectly safe," Myst assured her, having scanned it twice to make sure all of the Pax was gone. "We'll have to transport some cows and things for meat, but it should be a decent place for various groups to settle."

"You're thinking about the werewolves?" Panacea asked, thinking about her alternate.

Myst glanced at Ivy. "And any magic users Ivy and Harry want to kidnap."

"I can think of a couple who wouldn’t mind resetling," Ivy said, thinking of Neville and Puck.

Harry nodded. "Remus would probably jump at the chance."

"Speaking of Remus, we can probably cure him by using a potion to change him into a fairy or genie, considering they're not compatible with being a werewolf or at least that world's version," Myst offered.

"What type of fairy?" Ivy asked, thinking of her favorite teacher.

"They can shrink and grow at will, fly and use magic so it's a pretty good deal." He sighed as he remembered what else genie's could do. "Screw it, I'll make another potion for Remus later, genies can snap their fingers and repair entire houses, they can probably do the same with the ship or at least sections of the ship." He looked over the group. "Does anyone want to be a freed genie and pick up some cleaning and repair powers along with the ability to conjure food? Oh and immunity to fire and levitation?"

"Magic powers, sign me up," Dawn said as she raised her hand.

"We're not even sure it's safe," Buffy complained.

"They've been using it for years and I have precog," Myst replied focusing on his precog and grinned when he saw a purple skinned Dawn in a rather cute, if revealing genie outfit. He pulled the potion bottle out of his inventory. "Anyone else?"

Amy shook her head. "I'm waiting to see what happens when you use it on a cape before using it myself."

"I'm more interested in the fairy potion," Ivy said, looking forward to flying around without a broom and sneaking into places that she shouldn't fit.

"Are you sure…" Tara trailed off as Dawn reached out and downed the potion before Buffy could stop her.

"Dawn!" Buffy snapped as her sister's skin turned a pale purple and her clothes shifted into a blue genie outfit, that left her midriff bare and showed off her legs nicely in sheer silk leggings.

"What?" Dawn replied with a grin as she looked down at herself, rather happy with the changes as she seemed to have gained at least half a cup size. "Normal is overrated and don't blow a gasket, you've worn less at the beach."

"That doesn't mean you're supposed to!" Buffy snapped.

"Nice," Ivy said as she studied Dawn. "She's got a point, she's got a halter top and bikini bottoms under her leggings so it's no worse than anything you'd see on a beach. Considerably less than some of the beaches Puck and I went to on vacation."

Hermione nodded, thinking of some of the French beaches she'd been to with her parents. "I'd be more worried about the fact that she's purple and floating."

"We can probably figure out a way to duplicate the notice-me-not ring and I can create a crystal that allows people to change their appearance," Myst pointed out before Buffy could freak out more than she already had.

Dawn focused on her magic and snapped her fingers, repairing the room and perfectly cleaning everything. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"And the floating bit?" Buffy asked, knowing they could always toss a witch potion at her if they couldn't cover it up.

"That's just Dawn having fun," Myst replied as Dawn dropped to the ground with a grin. "Just think of it this way, she's now almost as strong as you are, immune to fire, and she can snap her fingers and clean and repair an entire house in an instant."

"They grow up so fast," Xander teased, trying to wrap his brain around the idea of Dawn being almost as strong as Buffy.

"If I drank the potion, would I get stronger?" Buffy asked.

"It's possible." Myst considered the idea for a couple of seconds. "It's also possible it would snap your connection with the Slayer spirit, because genies aren't human."

"Where would we have to go to get some upgrades that don't cause problems?" Buffy asked, looking for a way to avoid an early grave and not so sure that getting rid of the slayer spirit wasn’t a good thing.

"There are a lot of games or stories where you can increase your strength or get magical items but how many of those are real or if we can find them, I don't know," Myst admitted. "There's a pair of demonic orbs in a demon nest in Sunnydale that gives the holder supernatural strength, but I'm not sure I'd trust them without a competent mage running some tests because they're demonic relics."

Buffy shook her head. "I'd rather get something that won't turn me into a demon."

"Don't worry, we're bound to find something eventually," Myst assured her as he pulled the fairy potion out of his inventory. "Any takes on the fairy potion?"

"Risks?" Ivy asked.

"Negligible," Myst replied, focusing on his precog and her testing magic after taking it, 'proving' that her magic was fine. "You'll get ethereal purple wings, flight, the ability to shrink down to a small fairy and a couple of new tricks which you should be able to expand on with enough practice."

Harry shook his head. "I'm fairly sure the Ministry would flip out."

"Good," Ivy said with a cold smile, looking forward to dismantling the Ministry of Magic once she had enough power. "The only reason I'd go back would be to pick up my friends and my gold and Myst's ring should cover the wings."

"If nothing else, we can go back to the shop and commission another ring," Myst assured her.

"In that case, I'll take it." Ivy held her hand out.

"Wait!" Amy ordered as Myst handed Ivy the potion. "We should probably head to Sickbay and let the computer scan you so we have a before and after."

"Sounds reasonable," Ivy agreed, not seeing a problem with running some noninvasive tests.

"On that note, let's get the ship repaired and cleaned up then we can work on boosting everyone's magic before the crew of Serenity shows up, I need to get rid of the dementors in my inventory." Mist brought up the ship's schematics showing all of the damaged sections on the view screen.

Hermione stared at the map filled with red sections. "What did they run into?"

"They basically got their teeth kicked in repeatedly trying to get back to Earth..." Myst trailed off as Dawn snapped her fingers and an entire section of red on the schematics vanished. "Or we could just let Dawn do it remotely."

"Your wish is my command." Dawn snickered and snapped her fingers cleaning and repairing another section of the ship.

"Take it easy," Willow warned, not wanting her to pass out or get a nose bleed from using too much magic.

Buffy grinned at Dawn. "You're cleaning the house when we get back."

Dawn stuck her tongue out at Buffy then went back to cleaning and repairing the ship.

Myst glanced between Amy and Ivy. "Do you want a lift to Sickbay or do you want to walk?"

"Lift?" Ivy asked as she glanced at Amy.

Amy nodded. "We can walk back."

"Feel free to walk around the station." Myst focused on Sickbay and teleported with Ivy and Amy. He focused on the Emergency Medical Hologram's backup file and copied it into the place then activated it, causing a familiar looking bald man in a Starfleet uniform to appear.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the hologram ordered.

"There's not an emergency," Myst replied as he gestured at Ivy. "We just need you to scan Ivy so that we can compare her genetics before and after she conducts an experiment."

"Where is the ship's doctor?" the EMH asked.

Myst gestured at Amy. "You're looking at her."

"Then why am I here?" the EMH asked.

"Because she doesn't know how to use the computer. Just follow Amy's orders." Myst teleported to the engineering section where samples of the crystals that were the remains of the dead aliens were kept, curious if he could create more with his power and wanting to check before something happened to the crystals and he lost the chance.

0o0o0

"I don't like it," Mal grumbled as Inara flew the shuttle into the cargo bay more than a little uneasy about the fact that they seemed to have a gorram force field keeping the air in the shuttle bay! He’d never even known force fields were possible!

"Relax Mal, it's just another job," Inara assured him as she landed the shuttle.

"What if it goes south?" Mal asked.

"You're worrying too much, Captain," Kaylee scolded him.

"Don't you think it's just a bit suspicious that they're willing to hire Inara at Companion rates for girl talk?" he asked.

"It's not actually that unusual," Inara pointed out as she shut down the shuttle's systems. "People hire us for a number of reasons."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of girl talk," Kaylee argued. "Just be polite Mal, we need the parts and coin."

"She’s speaking sense, Sir," Zoe spoke up.

"I can be polite and suspicious," Mal argued as he stepped out of the cockpit and looked at Simon and River who were standing near the door. "Do your best to keep an eye on your sister, we don't need any misunderstandings."

"You can stop worrying, we'll be fine, Captain," River said with a smile.

"I'll try," Simon promised, not sure what else to say as his sister had good days and bad at the best of times.

Mal opened the door and stepped out of the shuttle after checking the readings on the atmosphere sensors. His gaze skipped over the captain and the girl from before and settled on the purple skinned girl in work clothes. "Huh."

"Welcome to the Equinox," Myst said as Inara and Kaylee stepped out of the shuttle, followed by the rest of Serenity's crew, save Wash and Jayne.

"Thank you for the hospitality," Mal offered.

"You're purple!" Kaylee blurted out, staring at Dawn.

"I noticed," Dawn replied with a grin, enjoying being the center of attention.

Simson frowned as his brain started running through medical reasons why someone might have ended up being purple before deciding it was probably part of her costume considering how she was dressed.

"You're welcome." Myst focused on Kaylee. "I have everything set up for Kaylee in one of the science labs." He turned to look at Inara. "If you need anything just ask."

Inara smiled. "I brought my shuttle, but I'll let you know."

Myst nodded then turned to look at Simon. "The Doctor would love to talk to you about Alliance medical techniques, but you'll have to go to Sickbay, he's a bit mobility challenged."

"I’ve never seen forcefields in action, as the Alliance hasn’t quite worked them out even in theory, is your medical technology similarly advanced?" Simon asked hopefully.

"You'd have to talk to the Doctor,” Myst repeated. “I don’t doubt we can make the Alliance look like monkeys with sticks, but the Doc knows the details."

"Not a fan of the Alliance?" Mal asked.

"I'm sure the Alliance has some people in it that mean well, but the leadership are more than a little insane or maybe just delusional," Myst said, fairly sure no one with a basic understanding of humanity would think drugging an entire world was a good idea.

"Why is she purple?" Simon asked, as the doors at the end of the cargo bay opened and Ivy and Amy walked out.

"Magic," Dawn said as a purple mist surrounded her legs and she floated up into the air.

Mal opened his mouth to comment then noticed Ivy flying over, a pair of ethereal purple wings of light on her back. "Huh," he muttered, not sure how you'd duplicate the wings or the flight, as he didn't see a jet pack or wires and holograms weren’t that realistic.

"Ooh!" Kaylee squealed as Ivy flew over, leaving Amy to walk.

"That's different," Zoe muttered.

"Having fun?" Myst asked Ivy.

"They aren't nearly as fast as my firebolt, but they're a lot of fun," Ivy replied as she landed next to Dawn.

Dawn snickered. "Purple for the win."

Buffy smiled at Inara. "So, therapy?"

Inara laughed and gestured towards her shuttle. "Right this way."

Zoe watched the short blonde girl follow Inara into the shuttle then glanced at Ivy. "Wings?"

"They're useful," Ivy said as she wiggled her wings, causing them to shimmer.

"Where do we find the doctor?" River asked, a little hope leaking into her tone as what little she could read said these were people who had seen things that made her look normal.

Myst glanced at Amy as she walked over. "Do you want to take a look first?"

"Sure," Amy replied as she stopped in front of River and held out her hand. "Permission to take a look at your health?"

"What do you mean?" Simson asked.

"I'm a biokinetic, my power lets me understand and manipulate biology on contact," Amy explained.

"You expect us to believe that?" Simson asked, glancing around at the rest of the strangers, wondering if they were crazy or he was.

"Not really," Myst teleported five feet to the left, "but these are strange times and we're here to help."

Mal stared at Myst. "Zoe, please tell me I didn't just see that."

"I wish I could, Sir," Zoe admitted.

“I could order you to,” he halfheartedly pointed out.

“Well, if you wish me to lie to you… No you did not see that, Sir. You are no doubt asleep and dreaming all of this,” Zoe told him dryly.

Mal smiled. “Thanks, Zoe, you always know just what to say.”

0o0o0