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
Joyce Summers looked up at the Youth Boarding House and sighed to herself, wondering how she had gotten into this position. No, wait; she knew exactly how she had gotten into this position. Her daughter was not just The Slayer, capitals included, though there was now another Slayer in the form of Kendra, but she was also Anla'Shok. With a shake of her head, the former Gallery owner took a deep breath and walked up the stairs, ringing the bell.
This was not the first place she had visited since accepting her Daughter's friends offer several weeks before, but it was still new to her. How could she have turned it down though, a chance to be a positive influence on so many young lives, not only making sure they had a shoulder to cry on, but also to make sure that they would know how to make the right decision when the time came.
The door opened to reveal a woman in ill-fitting pants and blouse; who was overweight; had long, limp brown hair and a distinct moustache on her upper lip. Joyce, on the other hand, was dressed in a smart pinstripe skirt suit and her wavy honey blonde hair perfectly framing her face.
"What do you want? We've already had our inspection." The woman replied with a slight wheezing rasp to her voice.
"I'm not here for an inspection, Miss Volus. I am Misses Summers, I represent the Sheridan Academy, an extremely exclusive private school in California. Our records indicate that you have two girls here who may qualify for admittance." Joyce began her speech. Of the half dozen places Joyce had visited in her role as Recruiter for the Sheridan Academy, this was by far the worst. Out of those six visits, there were three confirmed recruits, one who said no, one who had failed the tests and one where follow up investigations were being made due to a non-serious but potentially degenerative medical condition. This was also the first place with multiple candidates. Joyce knew that they had been lucky getting the three, possibly four, they had so far, but then again they had started with the best possible candidates, and she did not expect the strike rate to stay that high.
Miss Volus showed Joyce to a dingy and dirty living/dining room where Joyce chose to sit on one of the hard wooden chairs at the table over one of the dirty couches, gently placing her Attaché Case on the floor next to her.
"We ain't got no funds to be sending any folk to some fancy Academy." Miss Volus said defensively as she slumped into a chair.
"We understand your situation, but that will not be an issue." Joyce calmly replied. "While the entrance qualifications are extremely rigorous, all of the places at the Academy are full scholarships paid for by our benefactor."
"Who ya be wanting then?" Miss Volus asked.
"I would like to talk to Miss Hailey and Miss… I believe your records have her as Jones but her birth surname was Lehane." Joyce said.
"The know-it-all and the troublemaker? What ya want them for?" Miss Volus said, then after a pause. "Will ya be taken them today?"
"If you would please call them." Joyce said patiently. "I have some final testing that needs to be done before the decision can be made."
Miss Volus grumbled for a second before hauling herself out of the chair and moving to the bottom of the stairs.
"Hailey. Faith. Down here now." She practically bellowed, before moving back into the room and making to sit down again.
"I will need to talk to the girls alone." Joyce said, before Miss Volus could sit.
Miss Volus looked like she was about to object, until Joyce put her hand on the Attaché Case casually. Miss Volus grumbled as she left the room, with just an 'in there' half growled at the two girls who had come down the stairs. Both girls were in their mid-teens but there the resemblance ended. Jennifer Hailey was a small girl, almost fully grown at five foot, with blondish hair held back in a loose ponytail, a simple if well suited outfit of jeans and a plain white t-shirt and an intelligent glint in her eyes. Faith Lehane on the other hand looked more wild, with an arrogant stance. She was dressed in tight black jeans, a black tank-top and boots. Her hair was almost pitch black and she had a barbed-wire tattoo around her bicep.
"Miss Hailey, Miss Lehane. Please take a seat." Joyce said, getting a look of surprise from Faith at the use of her real Surname. "Neither of you are in trouble."
Jennifer and Faith sat down across the table from Joyce, a seat separating the pair, with looks of confusion.
"I represent a private boarding school called Sheridan Academy. It is an exclusive school which only admits students on Scholarships, and you are both second stage candidates." Joyce explained.
"I can see why she's being considered." Faith said, indicating to Jennifer. "But why the hell do you want me? My school grades are nothing special."
"It is not an academic scholarship. We are looking for a very specific kind of student, not just academically brilliant." Joyce explained. "To that end, I have a test that you need to take. This is not the kind of test that has specific answers. Take as long as you need, and answer as fully and honestly as you can."
Joyce passed them both the test and pens, then sat back and watched their reactions to the questions. A lot of the test was decision making and visual analysis, but there were a few questions that were really designed to both get a feel for the person's psyche and weed out unsuitable candidates. She noted when each of them got to the first of these 'special' questions when first Jennifer then Faith frowned slightly. The question seemed deceptively simple, in that it was a picture, but the question was 'What is missing?". Without any further frame of reference it was designed to help map the candidate's associative connections, what they expected to be there, because there was nothing missing from the picture. But that was not the tough question.
When Jennifer got to that question she blinked a few times, then set about methodically re-reading the question, thinking she must have miss-read it. Faith simply dropped her pen in shock. The question detailed two equally horrible options, both of which resulted in numerous innocent casualties but they both also had minor positive effects as well, and then asked the candidate to pick one and explain why they chose that option. It did not really matter which option they chose, it was part that they were able to make the choice, and part the reason they made the choice they made. This was the question that had excluded the one candidate so far that had failed. He had failed because he had refused to make a choice.
By the time they were finished, both girls looked physically and emotionally drained, while Joyce calmly collected the tests.
"We will have these reviewed and shall inform you if you have been accepted in the next few days." Joyce said as she stood, leaving two drained but excited girls and a confused landlady behind.
Seventeen recruits stood in the foyer of the primary mansion of the new Sheridan Academy, including the original four recruits. The recruits were a diverse group. The original four, who had been learning for some time under the tutelage of the Anla'Shok, were standing at attention in the black clothes that had become their training uniforms. The rest were in whatever they had been wearing when they had arrived, with their baggage at their feet and their Academy briefing packs in their hands. Faith and Jennifer Hailey were standing next to each other in the rough ranks that they stood in, seemingly trying to take comfort in something familiar even though they had never gotten on. Most of the recruits were from disparate parts of the US, but there were two more from Sunnydale, two of the three candidates that Cordy had identified. One person who was not in the recruit intake was Kendra. The Jamaican Slayer had decided that her primary duty was to protect the Hellmouth, though she would work closely with the Anla'Shok in their protection of Sunnydale.
In the end the Anla'Shok had purchased not one but five mansions that had been a small gated community, or rather was going to be a small gated community until the developer had been eaten by some Vampires when the mansions were almost complete. The Academy had picked all five of them up for a steal from the bank that held the deeds. Only the mansion that was to be the main building was completed, the other four were still being remodelled to their exacting specifications. The completed mansion, now called Sheridan Hall, was designed as the main school building, with the classrooms, a training gym, dorms for the new recruits and administrative areas. The other four buildings, called Delenn Hall, Sinclair Hall, Ivanova Hall and Cole Hall, would become the dorms and training areas of the trained Rangers, with each Hall being assigned to the crew of a specific White Star.
The eight staff were standing in a line at the base of the grand staircase, watching the recruits. The four Shok'na stood in the middle of the row of teachers, with Buffy and Xander in the very centre, Willow next to Xander and Cordy next to Buffy. The other four teachers were 'civilians'. One was naturally Giles, who would be teaching basic research skills, English, basic Minbari and basic Staff fighting. There was also Joyce, who was part ethics teacher, part den mother and part disciplinarian. The third teacher was a retired Army Colonel called Watson who had settled down in Sunnydale after his retirement and had found out about the 'nocturnal residents' the hard way. His job was primarily to get the recruits into peak physical condition and to teach them how to think in combat situations, both in regards to the immediate problem and the larger strategic situation. The last member of staff was Buddhist Nun, a small Asian woman who seemed to radiate calm and serenity, but was also a master at several forms of martial arts. Her job was to teach the necessary spiritual balance as well as martial arts. The four Anla'Shok would teach all the other necessary areas, such as technical skills; the advanced maths needed for the navigation of the White Stars and a plethora of other skills.
Buffy stepped forward from the line of teachers, immediately gaining the attention of the recruits.
"Welcome to the Sheridan Academy. My name is Shok'na Summers. To my left are Shok'na Chase, Doctor Giles and Lecturer Summers. On my right are Shok'na Harris, Shok'na Rosenberg, Colonel Watson and Sister Li." Buffy said. "You have all been selected for attendance at this Academy as you posses a number of physical and psychological attributes that we are specifically looking for. While you are here, you will be expected to maintain a very high standard in your classes and will be prepared for what, for the moment at least, I can only describe as one of the most amazing adventures around."
Buffy paused and looked around at the recruits. Like her fellow Shok'na, Buffy had gone though the dossiers and test results of all of these recruits. Some were excited, some nervous and some down right worried. The worried ones were the ones who did not have stellar academic grades.
"I know some of you have not had good academic records at public schools." Buffy continued. "That does not matter here, though you will be provided all the assistance you need in those areas. Our classes have a different focus. We will accept it if you genuinely try and fail. What we won't accept is not trying. Your classes will begin tomorrow morning at zero seven hundred. I will now turn you over to Lecturer Summers who will show you to your dorms."
Buffy stepped back and Joyce lead the students up the sweeping main staircase to the dorm rooms above.
TBC…