Title: Ship of The Line – Effect 31
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Star Trek or Mass Effect... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Bored with how things are going to play out, Janus interferes more directly in Halloween, making things more interesting and changing the course of the entire Galaxy. (Buffy/Star Trek/Mass Effect)
A/N: For the purposes of this story, the Sunnydale Hellmouth is the only Hellmouth on Earth. If there was another then it would have been detected by Section 31 on Halloween and Kendra would have been stationed there by the Watchers Council instead of back in her home of Jamaica.
Faith crouched in her observation post across from the 'Outreach Centre'. She adjusted the machete that was hidden on the inside of her left pant leg. She also had a pistol in a shoulder holster under her jacket.
"How does it look?" Kimmy asked over the radio.
"Two security on the door." Faith replied. "but they move like Soldiers, like the Major, more than rent-a-cops. Looks like two recruiters inside. There is definitely more to these guys than meets the eye but my instinct says they are on the level. Not telling everything, but not outright lying."
"Think they can get us beyond the reach of the Cops?" T-Dog asked.
Faith winced internally at that. It was an insult to the twenty people they lost. Fucking save Boston and still the Cops are after them and blame them for the 'murder' of their own friends and mentor. These guys promised a new start for those who could work hard or had specific skills. Most of those specific skills seemed to be combat related.
"I'm going to go in." Faith declared.
There were protests from the others but Faith cut them off quickly.
"Enough. Someone has to go in and I am not risking the whole group."
Since the Major had passed, leadership had seemed to pass to Faith more by default than anything else.
"You want me on overwatch?" Helen asked.
Helen was deadly with a rifle or a bow and probably their best shot, but these people were very much on the lookout and she did not want them to think Faith and her group were a threat.
Faith walked out of her observation post and across the street to the Outreach Centre. The two guards looked her over and she could tell they were aware of her weapons. Their outfits were black, with red highlights that were not visible at a distance. She walked past them and into the centre where one of the two recruiters approached.
"Welcome to S31, how can I help you?" The woman asked.
"Looking to join up. Me and some friends."
Her outfit looked more like a suit than the guards' uniforms, but it was also black with blue highlights. The recruiter led Faith to a desk and sat behind it and motioned Faith to the chair in front of the desk. There must have been some kind of computer embedded in the bed as the recruiter tapped away for a few moments.
"Ok, I assume it will be combat skill path, rather than the manual labour path?" the recruiter said, and noticed the look of surprise on Faith's face. "Our sensors detected your Machete, the pistol and your silver bullets. So, was it primarily Demons or Vampires?"
Faith took a moment to gather herself, glad she had put the throat mic to Vox, so the others could hear everything said.
"Both. Some Demons and vampires under a Master Vampire in Boston." Faith replied, deciding that it was best to give the whole story. "We were mostly a mixture of homeless, gangs and those who survived an attack, lead by a former marine Major. We fought them for two years and, in the end, they laid a trap for us. We killed almost all of them, including the Master, but most of us were killed too. There are nine of us left, but the Cops blamed us for the deaths."
"So, I assume it was your group watching us for the last two days from the van down the street?" the recruiter asked, getting a nod. "You will all need to go through physical and psychological evaluations. Have them drive in to the underground garage."
"They can hear you." Faith said, pulling the collar of her shirt away from her neck to show the throat mic.
"We know." The recruiter replied with a grin.
Faith went out the front and joined the rest of the group as the grate to the underground garage opened. The van was quite packed. Kimmy, a former cheerleader, was in the front next to Marcus, a former basketball star and Kimmy's boyfriend. In the back, besides Faith were T-Dog, real name Terrance, a former ganger; Helen, who was such a good shot because her father had taken her hunting from a young age; Nikki, a suburban housewife who lost her whole family; Bobby, a homeless former army private; Kate, a teen who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time; and Nathan, a meat packing worker who had almost been killed by desperate Vampires looking for blood.
The recruiter met them in the garage as they all piled out of the van.
"Your assessments will start in the morning, in the meantime let me show you to your rooms." The recruiter said.
The rooms were nothing special, a bed; a chair; a small bathroom and a door that locked from the inside, but each got a room to themselves. Faith set the machete, in its sheath, beside the locked door and tucked the pistol, with the safety on, under her pillow. For the first time in a few weeks, Faith finally got to sleep in a real bed.
Commodore Xander Harris stood in the briefing room of Tycho with two Quarian Admirals, the Admirals of the Heavy Fleet and the Patrol Fleet, and six senior Captains, four from the Heavy Fleet and two from the Patrol Fleet. The six Captains would lead the various elements of the Quarian military fleet.
"We have received confirmation that the Citadel Council had been informed and approved the use of the two Mass Relays in Council Space." Xander informed. "We expect they will be observing those Relays but won't interfere. Fully brief all your Captains of the plan before the Jump and limit transmissions when in those systems."
"What can you tell us about the enemy?" one of the Heavy Fleet Captains asked. "Section 31 ships can take any known force in the galaxy."
Xander nodded to an aide and they pulled up an image on the holographic display. It was, in a word, horrifying. None of the Quarians could really describe it but even still a low-quality visual representation still chilled them to the bone.
"This is based on Long Ranged Scanners." Xander explained. "That is what is known as a Nightmare Construct. It is a Demonic warship that is large, tough and heavily armed. We have no specifications on it as every Construct is unique, often part technological and part Demonic biomatter. It is on course for a small isolationist Asari Colony, which is not in Council Space. The Heavy Fleet's job will be to hold the Nightmare Construct until Section 31 can get there, while the Patrol Fleet is to engage the smaller ships and the spaceborne Demonic entities."
"Section 31 ships are way faster than Mass Relay Travel." The Heavy Fleet Admiral said. "Why will we be holding for you to arrive?"
"The Nightmare Constructs do not come from this Universe, they come from a Demonic Dimension through a rift in space-time." Xander responded. "The Ares, The Athena and The Artemis will all be going to these co-ordinates to try and seal the rift, alongside dealing with any Demonic vessels or entities that were left to guard it or fell by the wayside after transition."
The co-ordinates displayed were well away from any Mass Relays, making it obvious only Section 31 could deal with the rift.
"Do not underestimate this foe." Xander warned. "It may have almost no defences but I have seen one of these wipe out an entire fleet of ships, with Technology similar to Section 31. I have also seen the horror of what happens when a Nightmare Construct encounters an inhabited world. We let this thing feed and it will make every war in the last ten thousand years seem like a shouting match. The Rachni War, the Krogan Rebellions, the Morning War, all will pale in comparison. We won't just be fighting for the Quarians, or Humans but for very existence of life in the entire Galaxy, maybe the Universe."
All the Quarians nodded solemnly. Saving the Galaxy is all well and good, but it was their families that they would be fighting for.
TBC….