A/N: Welcome to the third story in my Lanthanite Buffy Series. If you have not read them, I recommend reading Longing and Do Over before this one as there will be some things mentioned that make little sense without the context. I try to catch all the errors I can, but I do not have a beta and I am dyslexic so I can't catch everything.
Hidden Fleet
By: NightWatcher666
Prologue
The Citadel – Location Classified
2260
Buffy sighed as she watched her ship in its docking bay with several worker bees and D.O.T.s buzzing around it. The ship took more damage jumping back to the present from the past than any of them had anticipated, and they wound up basically limping home. While the U.S.S. Serenity was being repaired, she was stuck at home base. Still the longer trip did give her and Dawn time to reconnect with their mother and she was thrilled that her mom and grandmother had begun patching things up.
Right now though as thrilled as Willow was to see Joyce, her arrival and in Willow's own words, "Caused an absolute shit storm on a cosmic scale." She was in her office with the heads of the Department of Temporal Affairs. Buffy didn't care if they threw the book at her, Dawn was right. The universe did owe them one for the centuries long horror show.
Over the last few days since returning Joyce had been questioned intensely, and their temporal protected database had been checked multiple times. Once they had been satisfied that the timeline was intact; they were finishing up.
The door to Willow's office opened and the pair of "Time cops," as Buffy had dubbed them made their way out and towards the lift. Then she saw Willow standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She sighed as she stood up from her chair and dragged herself into the office. Once there Willow motioned for her to sit and a moment later Dawn entered the office also wearing a grim face. The sisters knew they were in trouble, now the only question was how much.
"That could have gone better," Willow said as she sat down behind her desk, "But it could have gone worse too."
Buffy nodded and began to speak before being cut off by her redheaded friend, "They're not happy with you, and they have some serious pull. It was all and I mean all I could do to make sure you and Dawnie weren't drummed out of Starfleet with dishonorable discharges."
This time Buffy did speak up, "For what? Doing something one time that was for us? Willow we've been in Starfleet since before there was a federation. Hell we were in Montana when Cochrane made his damn flight. We've been in this literally since First Contact."
Willow put a calming hand out to quit her friend, "Yes. Look Buffy, I agree we were owed one, but this is a big one. There has to be some consequences or someone with less standing could try to do worse. There has to be some punishment regarding your mother."
Buffy stood angrily, "They can do whatever they want to me, but they had better leave my mother the hell out of this!"
Willow sighed, "Buffy, Joyce is already in this. The fact that she's a Lanthanite, and a daughter to one of the best engineers in the fleet helped some. But the council was able to agree to be somewhat lenient based upon your mostly stellar records."
"So," Dawn said speaking up for the first time in this ordeal, and with a small voice, "What's going to happen to us?"
Willow sighed and looked at the Summers sisters with sadness, "Demotions to start. Buffy you are being reduced in rank to captain, Dawn you to Lieutenant Commander."
"That's not so bad," Buffy commented as Willow silenced her with a glare, "That's not all. They have also decreed that Joyce has to be reintegrated into our society, and her education brought up to modern standards. The two of you are on indefinite leave until that happens. Britany will take over as the new captain of the U.S.S. Serenity and the two of you and your mother are going to relocate to Earth until your punishment comes to an end. You are officially barred from traveling off world without advanced permission."
Buffy sat there stunned. Besides their recent time trip she hadn't even set foot on Earth in decades. She didn't really even consider it her home anymore.
"There's one more thing though," Willow added, "The Hellmouth in Cleveland had been actin up again so you're going to be guarding it. Dawn do you still have your house there?"
Dawn nodded, "Yes, but it's being used by the current slayer assigned to Earth. A Trill named Yazri and her watcher Simon Hart."
Buffy smirked. Over the years more and more non-human girls were waking up as slayers and it was good to have so many.
"We'll have them moved to new accommodations and make sure the house is updated to current requirements." Willow finished, "Dismissed."
The next three weeks flew by as Buffy and Dawn packed up their apartments and got their lives ready to be shipped back to Earth. Buffy felt a mix of pride and sadness as she officially turned over command of the Serenity to the newly minted Captain Britany Evans, and before any of they knew it they were standing in front of the house that Dawn had bought in the early twenty-first century.
"It's nice," Joyce said with a hint of confusion in her voice, "Not as futuristic as I would imagine."
Dawn chuckled a bit, "On the outside sure, but on the inside it has all the latest amenities."
Joyce nodded as they made their way up the porch steps and Dawn opened the two hundred and fifty year old front door, "Welcome home Mom."