All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Everything else belongs to me.
"Humans are remarkable creatures. They don't see until they accept. They don't accept until they understand. But when they see, they see it all.
Leto II
From the Stolen Journals
"You're kidding me, right?" Surayya said as she looked over the engineering reports. Being the captain of a ship full of Slayers was not always fun. Aside from hours of meditation and physical training there were endless staff meetings and stacks of reports that people actually expected her to read. "You're kidding me, right?" Surayya said again to the image that occupied a comer of the view screen. Most of the screen was occupied by the hyperlinked engineering report for the week. It had bar graphs and charts and page after page of techno babble. Surayya usually read only the executive statement.
"We're running out of gas?" Surayya said in disbelief. "Leto designed these ships to operate in deep space for years without refueling. How can we be running out of gas?"
The chief engineer took great pains to remove any trace of condescension from her voice. She'd heard about what happened Swanson.
"We burned a huge amount of fuel operating the Holtzman shields for extended periods during Tailos three; we've been jumping from one end of the galaxy to the other. Captain, with all due respect we need to refuel soon or we can just park the ship and walk to our painful fiery deaths." Chief Engineer Amorita said.
Surayya smiled. It was great that everyone onboard had the same Slayer dreams. It meant they were synchronized. It kept her from explaining herself a lot. Surayya noted that sometimes they were synchronized too much. It was nice to occasionally encounter some unexpected individualism.
"Well, Chief…" Surayya was about to say when the proximity alarm went off again for the second time in as many days. Surayya rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me it's that Fish woman again? She said to herself. Surayya taped her throat mike. "Captain to Bridge, is she back?"
"Yes ma'am." Came a voice from bridge.
"Alright, I'll be right up, Captain out" Surayya got up to make her way to the bridge when a thought occurred to her.
Maybe she could kill two birds with one stone.
The "Sietch Tabar" entered normal space ten kilometers outside the weapons range of the "Memories of Dawn." Sub-Commander Beth ordered weapons hot and shields up.
"That bitch is gonna to pay for getting my daughter killed." She thought.
The "Sietch Tabar" was no match against a dreadnaught class battlecruiser but Beth had a few tricks up her sleeve. She fired several missiles at the "Memories of Dawn" then made the jump into hyperspace long enough for her ship to appear instantaneously on the other side of "Dawn." Dreadnaught class battleships could not fire on both sides simultaneously. Beth then accelerated and fired several pulse laser charges across the "Dawn's" bow. She could see violent decompressions along the front of the huge ship. Instruments aboard the "Sietch Tabar" signaled that her missiles were within striking range.
"You can't be in two places at once." Beth though to herself.
The "Memories of Dawn" made the wrong choice. Her missile defense system kicked in and obliterated Beth's missiles.
"Gotcha!" Beth said with a low hiss. She knew their weapons system had a three second recharge time. "Fire control…" She said with blood in her eyes. "Kill them all!"
The bridge of the "Sietch Tabar" glowed with an other worldly light. It felt to Beth as if fire was passing within inches of her skin. She felt something grab her hard and yank. Beth coughed then opened her eyes. She was aboard the "Memories of Dawn" As the spots cleared from her eyes Beth could see a young girl of sixteen years with eyes as black as the grave and hair that swayed to a wind that no one else could feel. Reverend Mother Motorria Swati glowed with a green white energy that illuminated the entire bridge. Beth's skin ran cold. Motorria was a terrible sight. Under her breath Motorria chanted ancient Latin as tendrils of light coiled their way back into her body.
"She's not the one you should be afraid of." Surayya growled from behind Beth. Beth turned and saw the maniac that got her daughter killed.
"You!" Beth shouted as she reached for her sidearm.
Surayya was unimpressed.
"Commander, I suggest you focus on those thirty seven missiles your ship just fired at us. Unless we come to an understanding quickly we are all dead." Surayya said in measured tones. "Motorria has managed to speed up time here on the bridge using ancient magics but we have a lot to discuss. You are operating under a false assumption about who we are and why we exist." Surayya said as she slowly approached Beth.
"I don't care who you are!" Beth said speaking through her grief.
Surayya tried not to be sarcastic but she couldn't help it.
"I'll talk slow because you're stupid. " Surayya said in measured tones. "We are the last Holy thing created by Leto. He created the Golden Path to save Humanity and we are the guardians of that path. Because of our sacrifices, because of your daughters sacrifice Leto's Holy work continues through us. "
"Captain, damage control teams have suppressed fires on decks two, three and five." said the watch commander. "and ma'am, we've received three hails."
"Tell them to approach." Surayya said as she made her way to the main view screen.
In the dark, the "Xander Harris", the "Rupert Giles" and the "Anya Jenkins" approached. The three battle cruisers surrounded the "Sietch Tabar" with gun ports open.
"Beth," Surayya said with a slight twinge of the Voice. "We are going to make a deal. In exchange for logistical support and to get you people off our backs I am going to give you a full a debriefing on the origin, purpose and power of the Slayers. When I am finished, you will see that we are your best and only defense against forces you can't even imagine.
Six hours later it was done. Surayya had a deal with the Fish Speakers.
