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
All of the Staff of the Sheridan Academy and Kendra were sitting around the table in the staff conference room in Sheridan Hall, to debrief the engagement between Jupiter and Saturn.
"Initial assessments?" Colonel Weston asked.
"Either they had no one on sensors, or their sensors are worse than a garbage scow in desperate need of maintenance." Willow said. "We were able to get right in between them completely undetected."
"It seemed as if they expected their enemy to show up in front of them and then go at it face to face." Buffy added.
"Their tactics in the actual combat verify this." Cordelia added. "They had almost no defensive armament and the second ship was only able to predict our attack pattern as we used it several times on the first ship and on them as well."
"I think it is based on their technology." Xander said. "They have some kind of energy shield that is tough to breach, but once you do, they are like tissue paper, no armour at all. Their own weapons seem designed to counter the enemy's shields. I think they have spent a long time fighting each other."
"What is their psychological makeup and spiritual belief?" Sister Li asked.
"From what little we have translated, and from what the Airforce Team and the defecting Jaffa have said, they have a God Complex. They believe they are from one of the Ancient Pantheons. Mostly Egyptian and Greco-Roman. Feudal organisational system, so most are fiercely independent, though there is supposed to be a loosely affiliated ruling council." Willow explained.
A few papers were shuffled in the slight lull in the conversation as everyone either absorbed the information or were reviewing the reports in front of them.
"I walk to talk about the incident on the enemy bridge with Faith." Joyce said. "Are these reports correct? She intercepted a snakelike creature in mid strike?"
"Correct." Xander replied. "It was amazing reflexes. The strike was coming from behind and slightly to the right. The only person I know for a fact could do it is Buffy. Kendra could possibly do it if she had more experience with a Fighting Pike."
Kendra was a bit more of a traditional Slayer in her choice of weapons, favouring a European Longsword with stakes and a knife as backup.
"This Faith, she is very good with weapons, yes?" Kendra asked.
"She is a natural, both with the Pike and in the White Stars. Why?" Cordelia replied.
"She may be a Potential." Kendra informed.
"That never occurred to me, but it is a possibility." Giles mused.
"Giles, spill." Buffy commanded. "What's a Potential?"
"A Potential Slayer." Giles clarified. "Not any girl can be Called as a Slayer. There is a large but limited pool of what are called Potential Slayers. Most never realise that they are Potentials, but they do get slightly enhanced reaction times and strength, though it is within the upper limits of normal Human capabilities. They also often learn weapons faster than others, though I must admit even amongst Potentials, if she is one, Faith seems to be a prodigy. The Council has been able to, on occasion, locate Potential Slayers."
"I was discovered to be a Potential when I was five. In my village, every girl is tested for being a Potential when they are five." Kendra supplied.
"There are only a few places in the world where that kind of systematic testing is done. Quite a few of the Potentials that are located are discovered once they are Adults and therefore are too old to be Chosen. While not all go into physical pursuits, a significant number are either professional athletes or in the Military." Giles concluded.
"Is being a Potential genetic?" Buffy asked, glancing a Joyce.
"No." Giles replied. "We have no idea what makes a girl into a Potential but the Council have on a number of occasions tested both parents, siblings and in some cases daughters of Potentials and have only once found two members of the same family who were Potentials and they were cousins. There have even been cases with identical twins where one was a Potential and the other was not."
"How difficult is it to perform the test?" Xander asked.
"Not too difficult." Giles admitted. "But the Council never wastes resources when it does not have too, and it is far easier to locate a single Active Slayer than locating Potentials."
"Let's test all of the female Anla'Shok and recruits." Cordelia said. "Starting with myself and Faith."
"Me as well." Joyce said. "I know you said it had never happened by I would rather know."
"As would I." Sister Li added.
"Me too." Willow chimed in.
"Very well." Giles said, cleaning his glasses. "It will take me a few days to get together the ingredients to test that many candidates."
"We will include the Potential Test as part of the induction for all new female Recruits." Buffy decided.
"Any other observations or questions?" Colonel Weston asked and the meeting continued.
Willow and Jennifer Hailey were sitting in one of the Labs, which had been restricted to Jennifer and the Shok'na, working on the technology that had been recovered from the Goa'uld Mothership, as they had been for the last month. A fair amount of what they had recovered were either seeming inconsequential or were badly damaged.
They had recovered both a single Shield Generator, one of dozens the Goa'uld Mothership used and though it was mostly intact many of the internal components had burnt themselves out; and the majority of the Hyperdrive Generator, though half of the generator was slag thanks to the White Stars weapons fire. They did have some technical documentation to compare to the devices which, from what Jasmine Thomas had translated alongside the technical documents, was very unusual for a Goa'uld ship but this ship had been more advanced than other Goa'uld ships, but mostly in relation to the Hyperdrive and a minor improvement in the shields.
The work figuring out the tech was going slowly, but both Willow and Jennifer were geeking out a bit from the excitement of exploring new technology.
"How's it going?" Xander asked from the door.
Both Willow and Jennifer looked up from their work, both almost automatically pushing the magnifying visors up onto their foreheads.
"Slowly but we are making progress." Willow replied.
"Yes, well you may have to put it on the backburner for a time." Xander said. "We have received a letter from the Airforce Team we rescued. It was sent to the Academy's postal address from the website."
"So, they figured us out." Willow said. "What do they want?"
"A meet." Xander replied. "Apparently they want to discuss alliances or trade of tech. They are not asking for White Star Tech. Earth Force Tech maybe."
"What did Buffy say?" Willow asked.
"She's open to the possibility, but wants to see what they are offering first." Xander informed. "Joyce and Cordelia agree. Giles is hesitant. The Colonel and Sister Li are reserving judgement."
Willow nodded to Xander before glancing at Jennifer they both turned back their work.
TBC….