Title: Star Trek: Slayer - Prologue/?
Rating: PG15
Author: Anthony Hawke
Category: Crossover
Pairings: B/X
Spoilers: After Buffy takes her swan dive.
Summary: AU. The hidden base of The Watchers Council is discovered in ruins by Section 31.
Disclaimer: Any characters whose names and descriptions are used are the property of their original owners, and no copyright infringement is intended or meant. No money can be made from this story. It can be distributed freely so long as it is kept in its entirety, with all notices and copyright information intact.
Author Notes: This will be a B/X, but it's gonna take awhile to happen. You'll just have to be patient I'm afraid.
Unknown Ice Planet
Unknown System
Main Base for Section 31
This was, according to those who had ever seen it, a planet where it was impossible to distinguish the grey sky from the equally grey icebergs.
There hardly existed a more desolate planet that could still support life. Yet nowhere else in Federation space were so many life or death decisions made.
Very little was to be seen above ground. Some low ranking Federation scientists lived in a few prefabricated buildings, belonging to a research base. Outside one of the buildings, some wit had erected a signpost pointing the imaginative directions of various planets. The small-scale base was supposedly researching some unimportant aspects of sub space communications. Which explained the presence of the large communications array dominating the base.
The scientists were in reality well-trained agents of Section 31 on leave. The leader of the scientists, a fatherly looking man, was a Lt.Commander.
The Rest of the installation was hidden under ice and rock. More than ninety-five percent of all the activities on the planet were carried out underground.
Walking along a dimly lit corridor, Bill Smith made his way to his office. Bill Smith wasn't his real name. In fact he'd have to think real hard to remember his real name, it had been so long since he'd even heard it. Stopping outside his office, he addressed the young guard stationed outside. "Time?" He asked.
Licking his lips nervously, the guard answered. "The time is 10 o'clock in the evening, sir."
Glancing at the antique watch on his wrist, Bill Smith nodded as he looked at it. The guard had correctly added 1 hour to his report. The right time was 9 o'clock in the morning. Removing his hand from the phaser attached to his waist, he nodded to the guard and entered his office.
The young guard slumped in relief as the base commander entered his office. He was convinced that he'd be shot as an impostor if he got both the answers wrong. In fact only the 1-hour difference in time was important. The switch between evening and morning in his answer was just Bill Smith's way of finding out if it was morning or evening. The underground base was in constant use and the base commander was frequently unaware as to the true time of day. He had considered reverting to the usual 24-hour clock, but he'd have no excuse for wearing his antique watch if he did that.
Grabbing a coffee from the replicator, Bill Smith sat behind his desk and began to read the half dozen reports awaiting him. He was in the middle of reading the report from an agent who had managed to 'arrange' a transporter accident for a Romulan senator, when the computer signalled to inform him that the Head of Section Four desired a meeting.
A few minutes later, he placed the final report to one side and looked up as the Head of Section Four entered. Noticing the way that the Andorian clutched the datapad in his hands, Bill Smith began to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. The last time Shaltar entered his office with such an expression, it was to tell him about the Borg attack on the Federation at Wolf 359. "What's the problem?" He asked.
Visibly pulling himself together, the Andorian presented a calm face as he answered. "I have the final report from an agent on the science vessel USS Berlin."
Placing the datapad that the Andorian had just handed him to one side, Bill Smith waved a hand at him. "Summarise for me." He ordered.
His antennae constantly twitching, Shaltar began to speak. "About a week ago, while enroute to Starbase 6 in sector 4, the Berlin picked up an automated distress call from the Obreathe system." Pausing at the Base Commander's creased forehead, Shaltar quickly explained. "The system has a G type sun with no planets. However it is not empty, it has a massive asteroid field. Scientist believe it contains the remains of several planets." At Bill Smith's nod of recognition, Shaltar continued. "Even though it only took them 3 hours to reach the system, they needed a further 4 hours to trace the distress call to its source."
Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Bill Smith asked. "Why so long?"
"The large asteroid that the signal was traced to, is constantly being orbited my smaller asteroids made of ???????, these kept masking the signal. (Anyone know the name of a mineral I could use?) The signal kept fading in and out of reception." Shaltar explained. "In fact the base the signal was coming from was so well hidden, that if not for the signal, they would never have found it." He explained further.
Bill Smith lent forward. "A base?" He asked. He had expected to hear about a ship that had crashed in the asteroid field. The system was clearing marked on most races star charts as a hazard to navigation and was avoided by nearly everyone. Though there were infrequent reports of fool hardy merchant captains coming to grief while attempting a short cut.
Shaltar nodded his head. "Yes, an extremely well hidden base. The asteroid containing the base has a diameter of about 20 klicks and is similar to thousands of others in the system." Visibly growing more nervous as he came to the main section of the report, Shaltar continued. "When they finally transported an away team into the base, they found the base had been practically ripped apart. Most of the equipment and furniture had been destroyed. Further investigation showed that no weapons had been used and that the equipment and personnel had been physically ripped apart." Taking a deep breathe, Shaltar came to the part of the report that seemed to have affected him so badly. "Closer examination of the bodies showed that prior to being ripped apart, all of them had been drained of their blood." Looking up at Bill Smith, Shaltar added. "No trace of the blood was found."
Hiding his own unease behind a frozen face, Bill Smith finally said. "This sounds to like the horror stories told by many of the races in the Federation. It sounds like they were attacked by Vampires in the stories from my own race."
Shaltar nodded his head. "In mine they are called Vashtue. Any investigation we mount will be hampered by the race memories of the agents involved." He said slowly.
The Base Commander was nodding his agreement, when a thought stuck him. "All races except one. The Vulcans can be relied upon to carry out a completely logical investigation." He stated. Smiling with satisfaction, he began to give out rapid orders. "First, classify any report submitted by the Berlin and then have them assigned to the triangle sector. After a couple of months arrange an 'accident' for them. Orion pirates perhaps? Second, assemble a team of Vulcans to run the investigation. And third, arrange for our agent to be reassigned off the Berlin. The Vulcans might want to interview him. Finally have the system posted as contaminated. Choose a particularly virulent disease. That should keep any visitors away from our investigation." He finished. Waving a hand at Shaltar, he said. "We'll leave it in the capable hands of the Vulcans for now. They'll probably report on some new race that feeds on blood." As Shaltar rose and began to make his way from the office, he asked an idle question. "Did the base personnel have a name for themselves?"
Looking over his shoulder as he left the office, Shaltar answered. "Yes, they called themselves the Watchers Council."
Bill Smith stared at the closed door and thought to himself. "The Watchers Council? I wonder what they watched?" Shaking his head, he dismissed the question from his mind and turned to read a new report that had just popped up on his terminal.