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
Faith, dressed in a spare tracksuit, was rubbing her hair dry with a towel as she walked through the dorm corridors back to her room, with her sweaty uniform in a bag slung over her shoulder. The dorms were mostly deserted with the other Cadets in their various classes. Technically Faith should be in a lesson with Colonel Watson on close combat techniques in confined spaces, this lesson on counter boarding operations on a White Star, but Watson had released her early when she had soundly defeated all of the opposing team solo after her team had been taken out in an ambush.
Faith took to the Fighting Pike like a duck to water. She was the best by a clear margin of the recruits, even more proficient than the Cadet who had been training with Quarterstaffs since he was seven. Only The Slayer and the four Shok'Na were better than Faith, and she had been able to fight Shok'Na Rosenberg and Shok'Na Chase to a standstill on occasion. She now had twenty minutes before her next lesson began, a moral philosophy class with Lecturer Summers and Sister Li.
One of the doors to a dorm room was open and the Cadet inside was shoving her clothes into her bags. The Cadet was one of the latest intake, who had been there a few months, and was from a disadvantaged background, only a step above living on the streets, with a shaved head, multiple piercings and several tattoos.
"Going somewhere, Beckett?" Faith asked, leaning against the door frame in a non-threatening way with her towel draped over her shoulders.
"Lehane. What are you doing here?" The younger Cadet asked.
"That's my line." Faith replied. "If you want to leave, just let the Shok'Na know and you can be on your way. Hell, they'll probably get you transport and some seed money to set up anywhere in the country. So, the question is, why the fuck are you running?"
"Back off, Lehane." Beckett said. "I know how this shit goes. Things are going to go south so I'm getting while the getting's good."
"You talk to Lecturer Summers?" Faith asked, getting an eye roll from Beckett. "You don't get it, do you? There are hundreds of kids that would sell a kidney for a chance just to take the test to get admitted into this place. You were selected because they saw something in you."
"Yeah, an easy mark." Beckett replied bitterly. "Someone they can kick around."
"No. They saw potential." Faith countered. "They are giving you chance to do something worthwhile with your life. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, it will be dangerous. But it will be important and will change your life. So, if you want to leave, I'll help carry your bags when you go see the Shok'Na, but if you want to be more than a runaway street punk or a directionless mooch, then give this place a real chance."
"I got nothing to prove to them." Beckett said.
"Then prove it to yourself." Faith insisted, before turning to leave.
She paused briefly at the door, but Beckett let her leave without speaking. Faith closed the door behind her and turned towards her room to find Shok'Na Harris standing a few feet further down the hallway. Harris simply nodded and left. For a moment, Faith felt a swell of pride knowing that the Shok'Na approved of her actions.
Cordelia sat in the command chair of White Star 19 as it emerged from the dark side of the Moon, heading back towards Sunnydale. This was the first actual flight for the Cadets, with the most proficient of the Cadets at the consoles and Xander acting as First Officer. Naturally that meant Faith at Weapons and Jennifer Hailey as Chief of Engineering. So far everything had been normal and they were just about re-enter the Atmosphere. Avoiding NASA was almost too easy.
"Command to White Star 19." Willow's voice came over the radio.
"White Star 19 receiving." Cordelia replied.
"There is an incident at Sunnydale High. Kendra has confirmed that the Mayor has Ascended to a Pure Demon. Nothing is making a dent in it." Willow reported. "Transmitting live images."
"Sensors, put incoming transmission on main screen." Cordelia ordered.
The forward view on the main screen was replaced with an image of Sunnydale High, taken from a distance, which showed children and parents running from a giant snakelike Demon. On the outer perimeter of the campus Buffy, Kendra, Giles and a pair of more senior Cadets were trying to contain the Vampire minions while a few other Cadets were helping evacuating the students and parents.
"Xander, take over Helm." Cordelia ordered. "Bring us in for a controlled, low strafing run. Weapons, you are going to have one shot. Hit it with everything we got. Try to minimise collateral damage, but destroying the target is the priority. If it escapes thousands, if not more, will die."
"Understood, Shok'Na." Faith said, her voice tense but controlled.
Cordelia hit a switch on her console that connected her to every Anla'Shok's communicator, Shok'Na or Cadet.
"White Star 19. Strafing run on Sunnydale High. ETA 20 seconds." Shok'Na Chase announced.
Buffy blocked the attack from the vampire and drove her Fighting Pike directly through his heart, turning the vampire to dust. She took a look around and checked that Beckett was helping evacuate the Students like she had been ordered. The four Shok'Na had been keeping a covert eye on Beckett since Xander had overheard the conversation between her and Faith a few weeks earlier.
Buffy had come to the Sunnydale High Graduation Ceremony because Kendra was graduating and had a few friends there. The two original Cadets present, the ones Cody had recruited prior to the Academy's opening, had come as they also had friends who were graduating, while the six newer Cadets, including Beckett, had been assigned to attend as part of their training to blend into general populations.
"White Star 19. Strafing run on Sunnydale High. ETA 20 seconds." Cordy's voice came through the earbud in Buffy's ear.
"Clear the area!" Buffy called out. "Fire's rolling in."
Buffy, Kendra and the two fighting Cadets broke off and ran away from the building, making sure the younger Cadets, and as many civilians as possible, got clear ahead of them.
"Take cover!" Buffy ordered, ducking behind a bus that was parked on the opposite side of the road to the front of the school.
Taking a glance back she saw the front of the giant snakelike Demon that the Mayor had turned into rearing up from the central courtyard of the school. When it approached, White Star 19 was going slow, for a White Star. That being said it was still going as fast at a fighter jet, shattering the windows on the bus. Firing with weapons designed to take on Capital Ships in Space Combat, any Demonic resistance to weapons was quickly overcome by almost pinpoint fire from the speeding White Star. The first shot missed, hitting the School Building behind the Mayor, but the next three hit dead on. One to the centre of the rearing underbelly, one to just below the mouth and the last between the mouth and the eyes. Four shots was all the White Star was able to get off before it passed the school and began a long, banking turn.
"White Star 19, Ground." Buffy reported. "Target eliminated. Good shooting."
And the target was. The front half of the Demon Mayor was just chunks of charred meat, while the back end was weakly wriggling from the echoes of the last nerve impulses from the now destroyed brain. The school itself was in no better condition, with all of the rear buildings completely levelled, and a few fires had broken out. Luckily, thanks in part to the elevated angle that the shots had been fired from, there was very little damage outside of the school grounds.
Buffy took a look around and was proud to see all of the Cadets, including Beckett, were busy either administering first aid or helping the survivors, which was most of the civilians present, to gather themselves up and assist those in shock until emergency services arrived.
TBC…