A/N: As usual, Buffy and Star Trek are not mine.

3

U.S.S. Serenity NCC-1687

Pike followed Buffy into her quarters. They were similar to his but where he had his kitchen she has a workout area with what appeared to be enhanced grav plating. "I see you like to work out," he said as he nodded to the punching bags and weights along with the row of practice knives and swords. "Yeah," Buffy said nonchalantly, "Slayers store more energy and we have to let it out or we get twitchy. Plus two point five times earth gravity gets the blood pumping." She moved over to the seating area and sat in her favorite chair. It was an old earth style recliner that just seemed to ooze comfort. Pike took the sofa, "Captain…"

"Just Buffy," she countered, "We're not on the bridge, and all the protocol gets tiresome."

"Ok," Pike said unsure how to respond, "In that case you can just call me Chris. So… Buffy, how are we going to handle this situation?" Buffy seemed to think for a minute, "Demons rarely kidnap people just to kill them. If that were the goal you would have found your officers by now or at least pieces of them. I have my science teams and the watchers on board going over the data from the planet and the displacement wave. When we figure out what they want we can figure out where your crew members are and how to get them back." She noticed Pike frowning over the hurry up and wait news he had just received, "Don't worry too much," Buffy said is a reassuring voice, "This isn't my first rodeo. There was once a time that I matched the day of the week upon which of my friends had been kidnapped. It happened to Dawn and Willow a lot."

"I assume you mean Admiral Rosenberg. How long have you known her?"

Buffy did some quick math in her head, "Somewhere around two hundred and sixty-three years give or take a few months."

Pike was a little shocked, "Is she a Lanthanite like you?" Buffy chuckled, "No, She's as human as you are. She's a witch and commands a scary amount of power. It's kept her alive for a long time, but she doesn't have the genetic benefit like me and Dawn which is why she looks older. We decided that since she looked older people would take her more seriously than me so she became the admiral and I the lowly captain. People see me and I still look twenty-five so I get dismissed a lot by people not in the know."

Pike nodded, "So your grandmother has quite a reputation amongst engineers, "Are your parents in Starfleet?" Buffy chuckled a bit, "Not to sound like Pelia, but you're getting a bit personal there." Pike shrugged noncommittally, "It's a question, not an order." Buffy smiled brightly and pointed to the fleet captain badge on her tunic, "Technically I outrank you captain. You couldn't order me. Seriously though, no. My mom died in 2001 and I hadn't spoken to my father since he decided to start a new family a year or two earlier. He was human, and I got word he died sometime in the 2030's. His funeral is the only time I ever saw my half-brother and sister who both looked older than Dawn and I by that time. Looking back I should have stayed in touch." Pike took in what she had shared, "You know what they say. Hindsight is 20/20, but you can't spend your whole life looking backwards."

"Bridge to Captain Summers."

Buffy rolled her eyes and hit the comm panel on the coffee table, "Go ahead Brit."

"Captain we've picked up a message from the planet, and we've found a stowaway."

Buffy chuckled about the stowaway news. This wasn't the first time it had happened and she was sure it wouldn't be the last, "I'm on my way and have Captain Pratt escorted to the bridge."

Pike stood when Buffy did, "I'm sure Dawn's already heard since she and Brit are like a couple gossiping schoolgirls, so shall we?" Buffy asked motioning towards the door. As they made their way to the turbolift Dawn caught up to them with Chapel and Pelia in tow. Buffy looked over at Pike, "I told you, Gossiping schoolgirls."

Dawn rolled her eyes and motioned the group into the lift. "Bridge," Buffy called out, "Be prepared when you meet Spike. He's a bit much." Pelia perked up, "William is here. He's such a lovely boy." Dawn laughed, "And you're the only one who can get away with calling him a boy."

In a matter of moments they emerged on a bridge that looked very similar to his own but with blue accents instead of red. Pike watched as Buffy walked up to a shockingly blonde man with a leather coat on over his uniform, cocked back a fist, and hit him right in the nose. The blonde man hit the deck with a thud, but when he got to his feet his face had changed like the vampires she had described in her original it's all real speech. "Bloody hell Slayer, You didn't need to do that." He reset is nose and his face morphed back into a normal human face.

"Really Spike?" Buffy asked with her hands on her hips, "Stowing away. Are you twelve?"

(Location unknown)

With a splitting pain in her head La'an regained consciousness. She tried to move only to discover that her hands were manacled above her head to a stone wall. "Where am I?" , she asked. Spock who was chained next to her looked around. He couldn't see much but noticed they were in a cave that was different than the one they were attacked in. "I do not know," he said. La'an groaned, "Now he gets it."

Spock continued to build a frame of reference, "You attempt to lighten spirits with a joke," he said flatly, "That being said I have figured out several things. Do to the temperature we are in a sub-tropical climate, and the occasional noise I hear from above tells me wherever we are, is populated. Logic would dictate that if we could escape our bonds we may be able to get help or contact the Enterprise."

Their captors would walk by every few minutes talking in a strange guttural language that neither officer could understand. One who looked Andorian walked up to a human wearing a similar dark cloak and muttered something that ended with, "La boca del Infierno." Which made Spock take notice, "The Mouth of Hell" he said quietly. La'an remembered some of the conversations she had at the Citadel when the Enterprise had given Captain Summers and her crew a ride home after the vampire ship incident, "A hellmouth?" she asked, "Wherever we are, it's a dimensional nexus."

U.S.S. Serenity NCC-1687

Buffy turned her attention away from the offended vampire and took her chair, "Report." Leutenant Watson moved her hand over the communications console, "We're decoding it now. It's a message, but I can't make heads or tails of it." A screech filled the bridge and everyone but Buffy and Britany covered their ears. Once it stopped Buffy looked at her first officer who nodded in return. "It was a message coded to slayers," Buffy said, "A god of time was contacted to alter history to eliminate the slayer. In an effort we were given the option to try and stop them as a method of keeping balance."

Pike decided to speak up, "Is this a job for temporal mechanics?" Buffy shook her head, "They don't have clearance for this. We're doing this unless you want to head back to the Enterprise?" Pike shook his head, "You said we could help, we're here."

Buffy looked around to her crew. Most of them were hardened and they would all follow her to the pits of Hell without question, and all nodded at her. "Fine," she said as she stood, "Pandite portus temporis. Quod mutatum est, reficamus." The ship shuttered and the light flickered. Buffy went to speak again, but this time Britany joined her, "Pandite portus temporis. Quod mutatum est, reficamus." Again the ship shuttered, but a bit more violently. Eberyone on the bridge stood and all as one, "Pandite portus temporis. Quod mutatum est, reficamus."

The ship was plunged into darkness as it shuttered violently. Sounds of groaning metal echoed through the chaos of the crew being thrown about as the spaceframe itself protested what was happening to it. After and eternal few seconds the ship stilled and the lights slowly became to blink back to life. The crew all began picking themselves off the deck when Watson gasped out, "They're gone!"

Britany Evans looked around the bridge to count the heads. Pelia check, Watson check, Zh'Ritrith check, Bahl check. That's when she realized what was missing. Buffy, Dawn, Spike, Pike, and Chapel were missing.

(Unknown)

The missing officers picked themselves off the floor and Pike groaned out, "What was that… Wait… Where are we?" Buffy, Dawn, and Spike looked around. The bed, Striped wallpaper, and a familiar stuffed pig hanging over the foot of the bed. There was only one place this could be and none of the three could believe it. "Home," Dawn whispered. " Looking around Buffy said the only thing that came to mind, "Oh Shit."