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. Season 1 for Stargate SG1

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Babylon 5 or SG1. 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

"The Death Gliders have launched." Jasmine Thomas reported. "They are manoeuvring for entry interface."

"Acknowledged." Cordy replied. "Take us back into Hyperspace. Se a course for Io."

The two White Stars entered into the Jump Point, leaving the Death Gliders in Earth Orbit. The trip between Earth and Io in Hyperspace only took half an hour. It took almost as long to travel in real space between Io and where the single remaining pyramid ship was floating dead in space half way to Saturn.

"Life signs?" Cordelia asked.

"A few." Xander replied. "Scattered and mostly isolated. There is Atmosphere in most sections. From what I can tell, Engineering and the Bridge are intact."

"White Star 19 to White Star 22." Cordelia said into the intercom. "Take up station, we are going to board."

"Board?" one of the crew said.

"There is information on that ship that we need." Xander informed.

"Thomas, Lehane, you will both be with Shok'na Harris. Your target is the bridge." Cordelia ordered. "Hailey, you'll be with me. We're going for Engineering."

"Primary targets are any information on their Hyperspace Engines and Navigation Systems." Xander continued. "Secondary targets are their data core, general history, military information. You know the drill."

"Let's move people." Cordelia finished.

Xander and Faith took the lead the team through the hallway. They had only come across a few bodies of the enemy. They looked human but the one they had quickly examined had a tattoo on his forehead and some kind of pouch in its abdomen, which they only discovered because his armour had been blown away by shrapnel damage. Next to the body had been a broken staff that had some kind of bulbous protrusions at each end.

The door to the bridge was jammed, slightly open. Faith stepped forward and used her pike as a lever to prise the door open. Xander was the first one in, with Faith right on his heels and Jasmine Thomas directly behind her. The last two members of the team took up station at the door to cover it.

"Thomas, get on the console." Xander ordered. "Lehane, with me."

Xander and faith began to patrol the bridge. There were a number of corpses scattered around, big men with the same armour and forehead tattoos. One was different. He was dressed in robes instead of armour with dark skin and golden jewellery around his arms.

"I think this was their leader, that Goa'uld maybe." Faith said.

The pair kept walking and, acting before she realised it, Faith spun and her Fighting Pike flashed. The snake like… thing was intercepted in mid leap. The wet sound of the pike striking flesh was also accompanied by the sharp snap of breaking bone.

"Nice reflexes." One of the two by the door said.

"Eyes open." Xander ordered. "Good work, Lehane."

"I'm into their system." Jasmine reported.

"Keep in comms with Hailey, see if you can identify what, if anything, they should salvage from Engineering." Xander ordered.

"Yep." Jack said. "Those are the ships we saw."

Various shots of the White Stars were showing up on the monitor in the briefing room.

"Where did you get these images, Captain?" Hammond asked.

"Um…" Sam hesitated. "Seasons three, four and five of Babylon 5. It's a Science Fiction TV Series."

"You are saying that a Goa'uld Mothership was destroyed by… fictional Starships?" Hammond urged.

"Maybe they are only fictional in our reality." Daniel said. "When I went to the parallel reality things were different. Maybe the ships and their Captains come from a reality where this… Babylon 5 is real."

"Did not Captain Chase say that most of the crew were recently graduated?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes, and I believe I know where from." Sam said, pressing the remote for the projector.

The images of White Stars disappeared and what appeared instead was a website for what looked like an exclusive boarding school.

"I give you Sheridan Academy." Sam said. "Located in a converted gated community on the outskirts of Sunnydale California. It is a private Boarding School that only opened a few years ago. Almost all of its students seem to have been recruited from the foster carer, halfway house or orphanage systems. According to their website the five buildings are called Sheridan Hall, Ivanova Hall, Delenn Hall, Sinclair Hall and Cole Hall."

Another click and the website was replaced with five figures dressed in futuristic clothing. There were three men and two women, and one of the women seemed to have a bone circlet around the back of her head that fused into her temples, while still allowing her hair to flow through it somehow.

"These are the Characters the Halls are named after. Captain John Sheridan; Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova; Delenn, a Minbari Ambassador; Commander Jeffery Sinclair and Marcus Cole." Sam continued. "Our rescuers identified themselves as Anla'Shok, which is a Minbari word which translates roughly to Rangers in English. In Babylon 5, Marcus Cole was an important Ranger character, while the other four, at different times were the Head of the Rangers. Called Entil'Zha, or Ranger One."

"So, what do we do about it?" Jack asked. "Don't get me wrong, they saved our asses and I am grateful, but those were bloody powerful ships."

"There were two missions for the Rangers in the show. To Fight the Shadows, an ancient and chaotic race who believed that only through war could civilisations grow stronger provided they survived, and then later to keep the peace between the worlds of the Interstellar Alliance." Sam summarised. "Given their actions, they will fight to the death for Earth, but they won't take interference well."

"Perhaps an alliance." Teal'c suggested. "They could provide some defence to the Tau'ri while you develop your own technology to fight the Goa'uld."

"Maybe even give us a step up to certain technologies." Daniel said. "Probably nothing as advanced as their ships, but maybe propulsion technology."

"Or even Earth Alliance Technology." Same added. "That was the Earth's military in the show. There were Destroyers, Heavy Cruisers and even space-based fighters. Earth was not the most technologically advanced race in the show, one of the few that did not have Artificial Gravity for example, but were able to become a major player on the galactic scene."

"We don't want to get on their bad side." Hammond said. "I want each of you to propose a contact strategy and possible technology to negotiate for and what we may be able to offer them in trade. You can review any relevant material together but I want your reports to be done independently. I expect the reports in two weeks."

With that Hammond stood and left the briefing room.

"So… Movie Marathon?" Jack asked.

"It's a TV show, Jack." Daniel said. "I believe the proper term is Binge Watching."

"Whatever." Jack said waving a dismissive hand. "Carter, you bring the show. Danny, T, you get the snacks and we'll meet at my place at eight."

"Sir, you know with five seasons and about three relevant movies this is going to take quite a while to watch." Sam said. "Probably a week if we want to get proper sleep."

"Pack some toiletries and changes of clothes." Jack grinned. "Hammond has been bugging us to get out of the Mountain. I have two spare bedrooms at my place. Carter can take one and Danny and Teal'c can take the other."

"All I require is a quiet place to Kel'no'reem." Teal'c said.

"See. Settled." Jack said.

Daniel rolled his eyes and Sam shook her head in mild disbelief.

TBC….