Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

Kendra was in a mild state of shock when she entered the Library behind the boy claiming to be Anla'Shok. There were eight other people in the room. Behind the counter was an older man dressed in a tweed suit, who she presumed was the Watcher. Around the table in the middle of the room were four students, two male and two female, all dressed in simple black pants and tops, who were repeating a series of strange words that a blonde, in an outfit the same as the Anla'Shok, was reading out from a blackboard. A redhead, again in what Kendra presumed was the Anla'Shok uniform, was sitting and typing at the solitary computer in the entire room while a long haired brunette Anla'Shok sat on one of the sets of stairs leading up to the book stacks with a large tome in her hands.

"Giles, we have a guest." The male Anla'Shok said.

The blond said something to the four students, who all stood, bowed and then left, while the others congregated around the now vacated table.

"And who are you?" the Watcher, Giles apparently, asked.

"My name is Kendra, the Vampire Slayer." Kendra replied.

"She was following me on my patrol of West Glades." The male Anla'Shok said. "She thought I might have been a Vamp."

"Really?" Giles said, surprised. "May I ask why you thought that Xander was a Vampire?"

"It was the way he moved, sir. The only other time I have seen something move like that it was a Master Vampire."

"Yes, I must admit the four of have quite… fluid gaits, when you want." Giles said.

"Of course we do." The brunette said. "We're Rangers."

"Perhaps introductions are in order." Giles said. "Firstly, this is Xander Harris."

"Hey." Xander said, casually.

"Next is Willow Rosenberg." The Watcher continued.

The redhead, Willow, simply smiled and waved.

"Cordelia Chase." Giles said, indicating to the brunette. "And Buffy Summers, who is also a Vampire Slayer."

"Welcome to the club." Buffy, the blond, said with a smile.

"I mean no disrespect, but should you not be…?" Kendra asked.

"Dead? Yeah, well I got better, with a little help from my friends." Buffy replied.

"They all want to be called Rangers, or Shok'na, or Anla'Shok, or something." Giles said with a confused tone.

"Really simple, G-man." Xander said, grinning as Giles rolled his eyes. "Our order is called Rangers in English and Anla'Shok in Minbari. Our rank is Shok'na, which roughly translates to Captain."

"And you fight Vampires? Like a Slayer does?" Kendra asked.

"We fight the Darkness, whatever form it may take." Buffy replied.

"As our Order has done for a thousand years." Cordelia added.

"Then it would be an honour to fight by your side." Kendra said, solemnly.

"Welcome to Sunnyhell." Xander said with a grin.

Cordelia rolled her eyes before reaching over and smacking him on the back of the head.

"She's not a puppy. You can't keep her." Cordelia said.

"Come on, Cordy." Xander said with 'puppy dog eyes'. "She's house trained and trained to fight Vampires, and…."

Xander was cut off by Willow putting her hand over his mouth.

"Ignore him." Buffy said. "Most of the time his training stops him from being a complete idiot. Unfortunately this was not one of those times."

"Ewww." Willow said, removing her hand from Xander's mouth and rubbing it on her pants. "That was gross Xander. Next time I'll let you get killed by an irate Slayer."

"I do not understand." Kendra said.

"Xander just licked Willow's hand." Buffy said, and then noted Kendra's still confused expression. "Never mind. So… you prefer staking or decapitation?"

"Mum. I'm home." Buffy called as she walked in. "And I brought a friend."

Kendra followed close behind Buffy as the senior Slayer gave her a quick tour.

"Lounge Room. Kitchen and Dining Room." Buffy said, dropping her collapsed Pike on the table and sat in one of the chairs.

"Buffy, how many times do I have to tell you, no weapons on the table." Joyce said, and Buffy removed the Pike and clipped it to her belt. "Hello, my name is Joyce."

"Hello, Mrs Summers. My name is Kendra." Kendra said.

"She's a Slayer, Mum. Like me." Buffy said.

"You told your Mother?" Kendra asked, surprised. "It is supposed to be a secret."

"Yeah. So what, it's Sunnydale. You know what's out there or you die." Buffy replied. "So, mum, is it cool if Kendra stays here? It's that or a motel."

"Of course." Joyce replied. "You're welcome to stay in the spare room, Kendra."

"Sweet." Buffy said. "Let's get you settled. We'll get you some new clothes at the mall tomorrow."

Buffy led Kendra up to the spare bedroom and showed her around.

"This is amazing." Kendra said. "I have never had this much room to myself before."

"Good night, Kendra." Buffy said as she left.

Cordelia, Xander and Willow walked into the massive warehouse. It had been a branch of an aircraft manufacturer who thought a plant not to far from LA would be profitable. It would have been, had they not chosen Sunnydale. Since it was designed for aircraft manufacture, it was a single large open space some seven hundred feet long, five hundred feet wide and three hundred feet high, with faint lines on the floor that marked the different assembly stations. One entire wall of the warehouse was a single roller door. Filling the space was White Star 19. The White Star was an organic looking ship, with a low, sleek profile, that for all its size had a definite air of speed about it.

"Alright, let's do a systems check." Cordy ordered. "I'll take bridge systems. Xander, you take the engine room. Wills, check out the fighters."

"Got it." Xander replied.

The three split up and checked over the different systems. While Cordy was on the bridge, she downloaded the sensor data from the other three White Stars stationed out in the Solar System. For three experienced Captains, it did not take long for them to complete the systems and then shut the ship back down again. When they were done hey gathered back outside the ship.

"Engines check." Xander reported.

"Fighters and Shuttles are good." Willow added.

"Comms and navigation are sound." Cordy reported. "The other White Starts have had some sensor contacts with vessels in proximity of the Solar System, but they all seemed to be just passing through."

"Any idea which beacon they were headed to?" Willow asked.

"They were not standard Hyperspace signals, so we can't even be sure if they even use the standard beacon and Jump Gate system or another tech entirely." Cordelia responded.

The four Shok'na were sitting around the table in the Library, for once without the presence of Giles, who was currently patrolling with Kendra to evaluate her skills.

"This sensor data is concerning." Xander said. "The signatures do not belong to any known race and it looks like they are using a different kind of FTL drive. If the FTL tech is different, then they could have other kinds of tech that we are unaware of. In combat that could be fatal."

"I agree." Cordelia added. "It underlines the need to fully crew the White Stars and probably a force of Anla'Shok to patrol the Hellmouth when the White Stars are deployed. Unfortunately I can only see another three possible recruits in Sunnydale High, and I don't think any of the adults would make suitable recruits. Possibly four if Kendra proves to have what an Anla'Shok needs."

"A hundred and fifty plus recruits are going to need a dedicated training cadre." Willow pointed out. "I mean I could most certainly write a program to scan student and psychological records to find candidates, but then we will also need a contact team and a cover story for any family for any recruits."

"I would start with candidates in the System. Foster kids, orphanages and such. It would make it easier as far as the families are concerned." Xander replied. "Perhaps even purchase one of those big mansions on the outskirts and use a private school as a cover."

"Not a bad idea." Buffy said. "We could even fund it by selling advanced computer programs. Not 2260's level, but we have archives on the White Stars of stuff from the early 2000's that would be revolutionary now. Security protocols, search functions, that kind of thing. Nothing military."

"We still have the training Cadre problem." Willow pointed out.

"With a private school, we could rotate teaching some of the classes, until we get some more advanced students. But I think Giles would make a good staff combat instructor and he is quickly picking up Minbari, so he could be at least an introductory Minbari instructor." Cordy said.

"I suggest Mrs S as an instructor and maybe on the recruit contact team." Xander put forward.

"You want Mum involved?" Buffy asked.

"Of course. She would be a friendly face for the recruits and their families. She would also be a good mother figure for the newest recruits to help them adjust." Xander replied.

"But as an instructor? What would she teach?" Buffy insisted.

"Ethics." Xander said, with a shrug. "Negotiation tactics, maybe. Spotting a lie at a hundred paces."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at Xander for that comment.

"I agree in principal." Willow said. "But we would need to talk to her fist."

"Do we need the White Stars to be fully staffed by Anla'Shok?" Cordy asked. "Remember the first few White Stars were mostly crewed by the Religious Caste."

"That's because they were the only trained and available crews." Buffy pointed out. "We have no pool of trained personnel to pull from, so if we have to train up a crew anyway, they may as well be Anla'Shok."

"Agreed." Both Xander and Willow said, and Cordy just nodded.

"Any other items?" Xander asked, and all the girls shook their heads no. "Right. Wills, your job is to get that search up and running. Buffy, you and I will start selecting the programs to sell and set up a company to sell them under. Cordy, start scouting the mansions for one we can use as a school."

"I'll also come up with a name, uniform and all that for the school." Cordy said.

"At least the recruits will be well dressed." Buffy said. "But no high fashion on the PT uniforms."

Cordelia just rolled her eyes at this. At that point the meeting was officially concluded when both Giles and Kendra walked into the Library.

"I must say, Kendra, you technique is as close to perfect as I have ever seen." Giles said as he pushed opened the door.

"Thank you, Sir." Kendra replied.

TBC…