I own none of the characters. All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Copyright 2009.
There is a tendency in Humans to avoid change. Humans gauge all actions against the possibility of loss or more accurately the pain caused by loss. Change is necessary. Without change we become stuck and our entire existence is placed in danger. History has shown time and time again that civilizations have been destroyed because Humans have refused to adapt to their new realities. It is instructive to study how civilizations struggle with the agony of change. All surviving civilizations come to the same conclusion. Without loss there is no growth.
Sonya Atreides
"The Physics of Revolution"
Introduction
Surayya Raisa sat in the war room. The main table of the war room was thick polished redwood trimmed in gold. The chairs were beige with gold trim as well. Surayya was surrounded by her council which consisted of her executive officer, two ship commanders, her best friend and hundreds of Slayers monitoring the meeting on conference call. So far, the meeting was a rehash of what everyone knew or thought they knew.
"The Tailos system consists of a pulsating neutron star, or pulsar, surrounded by three gas giants." said Lisa Mandrake who was Surayya's executive officer. "The system went nova about ten thousand years ago. Some Humans were still living in caves at that point. The Pulsar has twin jets of extremely intense radiation shooting from it's poles. The gas giants orbit the equator of the star which mean that they never cross the radiation from the poles.
"isn't that convenient." Spoke Wilma Styles who was one of the ship commanders. "Planets are usually destroyed during the supernova that creates the collapsed star. Now we have three planets tucked away in the only safe place this system can provide."
"Maybe not so safe after all." Lisa said, "Tailos is what they call a magnetar which is a neutron star with extremely strong magnetic fields.
"How strong?" Surayya asked.
"Water is diamagnetic. It is repelled by a magnetic charge. The Human body is 70% water. Tailos could rip the flesh from your bones at a range of two million kilometers." Lisa said.
"Damn" Surayya said.
"Yeah, Damn." One of the ship commanders said.
"I analyzed our initial jump into the system", Lisa continued. "You were right Surayya." Only the ships containing Slayers with magical abilities were destroyed. Whoever build this system wants it clear of magic users above a certain level."
"Meaning?" Surayya asked.
"Meaning we can still do magic, but only at a rudimentary level." said Lisa.
"Tell me about the trap." Surayya asked.
"Somehow, the evil cabal of death…" Lisa was saying.
The women in the room laughed. A few snickers could be heard over the room speakers.
"What else are we going to call them?" Lisa asked. "We don't have any real information on the people who moved the Deeper Well here. Might as well call them the evil cabal of death."
"Let's just call them the Cabal" said Wilma.
"Agreed." Everyone said.
"The Cabal has somehow managed to tap into the magnetic fields of the magnetar and trigger a localized flair. Think of it as lighting on a leash."
"I wish I had some lighting on a leash." muttered Motorria who was Surayya's best friend since she was five.
Surayya blushed. "Moto, you're always thinking about boys." She whispered back to her.
"I still don't see why we couldn't have bought some boys along." Motorria asked.
"Possibility because you would beat them all up?" Surayya said.
"That's how I show my love." Motorria said.
"Pay attention Moto! You may avoid a horrible death." Surayya said with a smile on her face. "As you were saying, Lisa?"
"The Cabal has found a way to control and focus the magnet fields of the pulsar. The fact that they were able to target ten ships in motion speaks to their precise control." Lisa said.
"What if we had non-magnetic ships or some sort of anti-magnetic cover?" One of the ship commanders asked.
"It won't matter" Lisa replied. "These magnetic fields are so strong they warp space-time like gravity. The shifting of these magnetic fields can release in a fraction of a second the energy of over seventy-thousand suns"
"Damn" Wilma said.
"Damn, indeed." said Lisa.
Surayya had an idea from her days on Arrakis. Lisa had used the word lightning. Surayya had often seen the thunderstorms of Dune. There was always a time delay between the flash of lightning and the thunder. She remembered that light has a finite speed.
"Lisa, what was the time delay between the arrival of the first ship with magical slayers and it's destruction?" Surayya asked.
"six point three five two minutes." She answered
"and the time till the destruction of the next ship" Surayya asked.
"six point seven nine minutes." Lisa said.
"and the next?"
"six point eight three minutes." Lisa finished, finally seeing a pattern. "It looks like it takes six minutes for the weapon to recharge, acquire and attack. That's damn impressive if you consider the fact that it takes light four minutes to reach us from Tailos."
Each of the girls in the war room along with rest of the Slayers on the conference call thought about the implications of the weapon's recharge time.
"We can use their weapon against them!" Motorria said, "We've got a six minute window to perform one powerful spell."
Immediately the slayers activated their data screens and reviewed the solar flare activity for Tailos. They made their way quickly through gigabytes of data. Some of the Slayers rolled their eyes upward as they focused inward preferring to do the calculations manually according to their mentat training.
"We need a powerful witch, not just any witch. We need her." Surayya said emphasizing the word "her".
"Our memories of that time are not that clear." Lisa said. "What we can access is vague and not precise enough for us to use. Unless…." She failed to finish.
Surayya Raisa finished the sentence knowing the suffering it would cause her friends.
"Unless we resurrect the memory of Willow Rosenberg" she said, completing Lisa's sentence. "We need a Reverend Mother."
Surayya Raisa, commander of Fish Speaker special forces reserve division, stood as she keyed the inter ship microphone for the benefit of anyone who was not on the conference call.
"Attention all hands, I am initiating the Omega Gamma One protocol. All hands are directed to undergo the Spice Agony immediately." Surayya commanded over the intercom.
Willow Rosenberg was the only person in her memories she, and quite a few of the other Slayers, were afraid of. Willow served as a cautionary tale about the power of magic. There was no guarantee that whoever had the clearest memories of her would not become an abomination. Surayya's throat was dry as she keyed the microphone one last time.
"That is all." She finished.