Summary: On that fateful Halloween night. Buffy, Xander, Willow and Joyce would be given a new destiny. Along with that destiny they would be given a starship and a space station in which to help fight the Goa'uld.

A/U: A/U BTVS Season 2 Ep: Episode Halloween and Stargate Season 2: Episode Serpent's Lair

Pairings: Buffy/Willow

Disclaimer: BTVS owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Stargate owned by MGM. I own Neri Enye, Carra Rin, Alec Kade, Juliana (Irani) Enye, and the Srrkarran race.

Note: This is my response to the TTH challenge Ship of the Line. Since very few SotL challenges deal with a space station. I decided to give Buffy and gang DS9 as well as the Defiant.

Chapter 1: Halloween

October 31st, 1997

The halls of Sunnydale High were decorated for Halloween as students moved to and from class passed a long table that had been set up with signs that announced VOLUNTEERS ARE WINNERS and SAFE AND SANE HALLOWEEN.

Principal Snyder grabbed an unsuspecting young girl.

"Hey!"

"You're volunteering." Snyder said.

"But I have to get to class-"

Snyder steered the reluctant girl to the sign up table as Buffy, Willow and Xander wander past.

"Snyder must be in charge of the volunteer safety program for Halloween this year." Willow said.

Xander nodded. "Note his interesting take on the volunteer concept."

"What's the deal?" Buffy asked.

"A bunch of little kids need people to take them trick-or-treating. Sign up and you get your very own pack of sugar hyped runts for the night." Xander explained.

"Yikes. I'll stick to vampires." Buffy said as Snyder walked up behind her placing a hand on her shoulder as she spun to look at him.

"Ms. Summers. Just the juvenile delinquent I've been looking for." Snyder said.

"Principal Snyder." Buffy said.

Snyder smiled. "Halloween must be a big night for you, huh? Tossing eggs. Keying cars. Bobbing for apples. One pathetic cry for help after another. Well, Not this year, missy." He walked Buffy to the table as Willow and Xander followed.

"Gosh, I'd love to volunteer, but I recently developed... carpal tunnel syndrome and, tragically, I can no longer hold a flash light." Buffy said trying to get away from Snyder.

Snyder smirked as he handed her a pen. "The program starts at four and the children have to be home by six thirty," he said as he turned his attention to Xander and Willow and handed them each a pen as well. "Also there is a Star Trek theme this year."

Hours later Buffy, Willow and Xander enter Ethan's Costume shop. "Wow Snyder really can pick them can't he? Star Trek theme? I haven't done anything Star Trek related since I was 9." Buffy said.

"You were interested in Star Trek?" Willow asked, shocked at her best friend's revelation. Of everyone she would never have pictured Buffy being a closet Trekkie.

Buffy nodded. "I started watching it during the later seasons of the Next Generation when my mom and dad started arguing a lot," she said. "At first it was a way to take my mind of their fights. Later I was just hooked. I had even come up with a character and would pretend I was a member of the crew."

"Who did you pretend to be?" Xander asked, curious.

"Neri Enye." Buffy replied. "She was Srrkaran, it's a race I made up. She was the only one in Starfleet as her people were isolationists and they had no contact with anyone for hundreds of years. Neri grew up on Earth after being orphaned there. She was adopted by the Vulcan ambassador and raised as his daughter. She was telepathic; I always thought it would be cool if you could read other people's minds."

"Wow, Buffy." Willow said. "You put a lot of thought into it. And you said you did that when you were 9?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. Like I said it was a distraction from the real world," she said as they moved through the store and towards the back as Buffy let out a small smile as she saw the Next Generation movie uniforms. "Guys!" She led them over to the uniforms. Buffy picked up the command uniform and with a big grin. "These I believe are from the Next Generation, movies."

Xander and Willow picked one up each and looked them over nodding in agreement. "I believe your right," Xander said. "Probably First Contact since it was released just last year."

"At least it's not the jumpsuits they wore in the beginning of the show," Willow said. "I remember reading that Jonathon Frakes had to be cut out of his."

Buffy smiled and nodded as she picked up a fourth uniform in her mother's size. "I wonder if I could get mom to dress up in the fourth one."

"There's four tricorders here," Willow said as she picked them up. "Three standard and one medical."

"I'll give the medical one to mom," said Buffy as Willow handed it to her.

Later that evening in the back room of Ethan's Costume Shop, Ethan Rayne lit several black candles that circled an altar. He knelt before it, speaking as he squeezed his hands tightly closed. He reopened them, revealing bleeding stigmata-like wounds in each palm. "The world that denies thee, thou inhabit. The peace that ignores thee, thou corrupt." Ethan dabbed his blood on his eyelids. And then dabbed blood on his forehead in the shape of a cross. "Chaos. As ever, I am your faithful, degenerate son."

At that same moment Xander knocked on the door of the Summers home.

Buffy opened the door and smiled at Xander. "You are quite handsome, Xander. Let's see red uniform. Command track. Lieutenant Commander rank pips. You got a Bajoran earring and the nose."

Xander shook his head. "It still amazes me how much you actually know about Star Trek. Lieutenant Commander Alec Kade, Chief of Operations, reporting for duty, Captain," he said.

"At ease, Commander." Buffy said with a laugh. "So why Alec Kade?"

"You're not the only one that used to pretend they were on a starship. Jesse, Willow and I used to get together every Saturday where we would roleplay being on a Star Trek starship. So where's Will?" Xander said.

"Helping my mom with her spots," Buffy said.

"Spots?" Xander asked.

"She's going as a joined Trill," Buffy said as she turned toward the stairs. "Willow are you done?"

"Yeah just finished the last of her spots," Willow said. "Coming down." She walked down the stairs and stopped in front of Xander. "Commander Juliana Irani, Chief Engineer and I'm a Betazoid," she replied.

Xander smiled. "I see you remembered your old character," he said. "From when you, Jesse and I got together every Saturday."

"Yeah," said Willow as she looked a little sad at the reminder of Jesse who had been turned into a vampire a year before.

Joyce came down the stairs, wearing the second uniform Buffy had purchased.

"Hey Mrs. S looking snappy," Xander said.

Joyce smiled and shook her head. "Buffy's idea," she said. "How I got roped into it I don't know. Besides having Willow add these spots. Buffy even came up with details for me. Commander Carra Rin, Chief Medical Officer."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Neri Enye blinked in surprise when she suddenly found herself standing in the middle of a road. She looked around wondering how she had gotten into a holosuite. She turned her attention toward the sky as she spoke. "Computer end program."

Nothing happened.

Why was the computer not responding to her order to end the program?

"Enye to Operations, I seem to be locked into a holosuite. Can someone override please?" she asked but got no response.

Several creatures walked past her and as she looked at them she frowned. She had never seen such creatures before. One of them leaped at her, biting her on the thigh. "Hey, ow," Neri said realizing that if she was truly in a holosuite the safety protocols were disengaged. She swatted the creature off her.

"Neri!" A familiar and yet unfamiliar voice called.

Neri turned and smiled as her telepathic senses told her who was approaching, Juliana Enye—her wife. "Juliana! Good you're here. It seems were locked into the holosuite."

"I noticed that also," Juliana said. She wanted to kiss Neri to reassure herself that everything was alright but there would be time for that later. Right now they needed to figure out what was going on.

Just then an antiquated automobile passed them.

"Was that an internal combustion engine?" Neri asked. "Who would program in such a thing?"

"Alec would," Juliana said.

Neri nodded, Juliana was right. Alec Kade her Chief Operations officer for Deep Space Nine would have programmed in such a thing. He had an interest in twentieth century history. "Let's see if were alone?"

"Good thinking," Juliana said as she grabbed for her tricorder. "I'm picking up two other commbadge signals. Commander Rin and Commander Kade."

"Let's go," Neri said as they set off in the direction of Alec Kade and Carra Rin.

Juliana touched her hand to Neri's arm as they walked. "You know I've been thinking it would be nice to have a daughter."

Neri stopped and looked at Juliana. "What? Where did this come from?"

"Well, we've been married for over a year, Neri. And since were both women …" Juliana said.

"You want to use my people's cloning technology," Neri finished.

"Of course. Sure we could use artificial insemination but then it wouldn't be our child. Using the Srrkarran cloning technology would allow the baby to be ours," Juliana said. "Besides I love you that much that I would like to raise a child with you."

Neri smiled as the resumed their walk toward the others. "I'd like that. We'll talk more about it after we get out of our current predicament."

"Agreed," Juliana replied.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain General George Hammond sat in his office going over reports when the intercom buzzed. He set down the reports and hit the button to the intercom. "Yes?"

"General." Master Sergeant Walter Harriman said. "We have a situation. NASA detected a ship in orbit."

"On my way," Hammond said as he made his way out of his office and down to the control room. "Do we have a satellite trained on it yet?"

"Yes sir. Bringing up the NASA feed now," Walter said as the object appeared on the monitors.

"Is this a joke?" asked Hammond as he looked at the ship on the monitors.

"No sir," Walter said. "That is the NASA feed."

"But that looks like something from Star Trek," Hammond said.

"That is indeed what it looks like," agreed Walter.

"Try contacting them. See if we can get a response." Hammond said.

"Aye, sir," said Walter.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Neri and Juliana had finally rendezvoused with Alec and Carra. "Any guesses where we are?" Neri asked.

"I would hazard to say, Earth," said Carra. "Based on tricorder scans I believe somewhere in California. North of Los Angeles."

"How could we have gotten here?" asked Neri.

"If we are in California something is wrong with the people here." Carra told her captain showing them a cut on her arm. "I ran into some sort of creature who scratched at me with razor sharp claws and cut me."

Neri nodded as she showed her Chief Medical Officer her thigh, "I was bitten by some creature myself."

Carra examined the wound and nodded. "We should probably get that looked at the moment we get out of her. Which now that I think about it has anyone tried contacting Dawnara directly to confirm our location?"

Dawnara was a recent upgrade to DS9's computer core, a fully self-aware non-biological intelligence. That was able to transfer her program much like the EMH between locations. It made Dawnara useful when they needed her to be on the Defiant.

"I figured if we were locked into a holosuite program," said Neri. "She probably would not respond. And if we are on Earth as you suggest Commander Rin then she would be out of communication range."

"It could be worthwhile to try though," said Alec as he tapped his commbadge. "Kade to Dawnara."

"Yes, Lieutenant Commander Kade," came Dawnara's response.

"What is the current location of myself, the Captain, Commander Enye and Commander Rin?" Alec asked in response.

"You are currently located in a town north of Los Angeles, California." Dawnara replied.

"Whow did we get here?" Neri asked.

"While my records do not show you beaming down or how my program was transferred to the Defiant. It is apparent that you have beamed down to your current location. And that the Defiant is in orbit above Earth. I am detecting no subspace communications from Starfleet Command either." Dawnara replied.

"Dawnara can you pinpoint the year," asked Juliana receiving odd looks from her fellow crew.

"Accessing astronomical data," Dawnara's reply came. "October 31st, 1997."

Neri frowned, how was that possible? Not only had they been beamed down but they and the ship had been transported back in time. "Location of the crew?" she asked.

"I am picking up only the four of you. No one else is currently beamed down. Also no one else is currently on board either," said Dawnara.

"Acknowledged," said Neri. "Beam us up." The four of them disappeared in a transporter beam.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

George Hammond paced nervously as he looked towards Walter. "Anything?"

"No reply. They either are not listening on this frequency or they're not receiving." Walter replied.

Hammond sighed. "Keep trying."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the conference room of the Defiant; Neri addressed Juliana, Alec and Carra. "Okay here is what we know. The four of us and the Defiant have been transported back in time two hundred and three years. We were all beamed down at one point to a town north of Los Angeles. All this was done for unknown reasons. We are currently in Earth orbit. Dawnara is the cloaking device activated?"

"Negative," Dawnara said as her avatar appeared. "I am initializing it now. It was offline along with most systems. I have slowly been bringing them all online. We are now cloaked."

"What town were we in?" Alec asked, curious.

"According to information I have gleaned from the planet below. You were in a town that should not exist," Dawnara said.

"What do you mean?" Juliana asked.

"According to the information you were in the town of Sunnydale," Dawnara replied.

"You're sure?" Alec asked.

"Yes," Dawnara replied.

Neri looked to her chief operations officer. "Commander?"

"I have a holosuite program that is based upon an old Earth television show from the late 1990s and early 2000s called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It takes place in a fictional town called Sunnydale," Alec said.

"So are you saying we have somehow not only been transported in time but also to a parallel dimension where fiction is reality?" Carra asked.

"I'm not a scientist so I can't say for sure what happened. But with the fact the town we were in was the fictional Sunnydale I would assume it is possible, yes," Alec replied.

"I now have long range sensors online," Dawnara said. "Captain, I think you will want to see this." Everyone turned their attention toward the monitor as an image appeared on the screen. "Enhance grid delta three four."

They saw there in Jupiter orbit was Deep Space Nine.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In Ethan's Costume Shop, Ethan Rayne and Rupert Giles are squared off.

"What, no hug? Aren't you happy to see your old mate?" Ethan asked.

"I'm surprised I didn't guess it was you," replied Giles. "This Halloween stunt stinks of Ethan Rayne."

"It does, doesn't it? Not to blow my own horn, but–its genius," said Ethan, proudly. "The very embodiment of be careful what you wish for."

Giles frowned. "It's sick," he said. "And brutal. It harms the innocent—"

"Oh, and we all know that you are the champion of innocence and all things pure and good, Rupert," Ethan said, wryly. "This is quite an act you've got going here, old man."

"It's no act. It's who I am," Giles said with a shake of his head.

"It's who you are? The Watcher? Sniveling tweed-clad guardian of the Slayer and her kin? I think not. I know who you are. And I know what you're capable of," Ethan said. "But they don't do they? They have no idea where you come from."

Giles is clearly threatened by Ethan's attack, but responds with anger instead of bluster. "Break the spell, Ethan. Then leave this place and never come back."

"Why should I? What do I get in the bargain?" Ethan asked.

"You get to live," Giles said.

"Ooooh. You're scaring—" Ethan started as Giles hit him hard.

Moments later Ethan's face is plastered to the floor and badly bloodied. He smiled at Giles. "And you said 'Rupert the Ripper' was long gone..."

"How do I stop the spell?" Giles asked standing over Ethan.

"Say pretty ple-" Ethan started as Giles kicked him hard. "Janus. Break the statue."

Giles grabbed the statue and threw it against the wall where it shattered. He turned back to Ethan and found the man gone having run out the back door.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy blinked as she looked around the conference room. For a moment she wondered where she was before the memories of the last hour came back to her. She looked to her friends and mother. "Mom, Xander, Willow. You guys alright?" she asked.

Joyce, Xander and Willow all nod. "How come we're still here?" Willow asked as she looked around the conference room.

"I don't know." Buffy said.

"I have something else," Joyce said as lowered the neck of her uniform. "Willow only painted my spots to the top of the shirt." They could all see that the spots now traveled much father than that. "I can feel the symbiote's mind. His memories and all the memories of his previous hosts are floating around in my head.

"I—I," Buffy started unsure how to respond. Luckily she didn't have to as Dawnara interrupted.

"Captain, I have picked up a transmission being broadcast from a facility in Colorado Springs. Should I put it on speakers?" Dawnara said as Buffy, Joyce, Xander and Willow looked at each other.

"Willow, Xander can you fill Mom in on everything please," Buffy asked.

"You're sure?" Willow asked as Buffy nodded.

"I'm sure. After the events of today she should know. I'll be on the bridge." Buffy said as she walked out of the conference room and toward a turbolift. "Bridge," she said as she stepped inside and moments later she stepped out onto the bridge of the Defiant. "Dawnara open the channel."

"It is audio only." said Dawnara.

"Let's hear it," said Buffy.

"This is Stargate Command to unidentified ship in orbit, please identify yourself."

"It is an old Terran radio signal. I didn't detect it till sensors came online." said Dawnara.

"Can we reply on their frequency?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Dawnara replied.

"Open a channel."

"Opened," Dawnara replied.

"USS Defiant to Stargate Command, we are receiving you," said Buffy.

"This is General George Hammond of Stargate Command, to whom am I speaking?"

"Greetings General Hammond, I am Captain Neri Enye, commanding officer of the USS Defiant and Deep Space Nine. What can I do for you?"

"Deep Space Nine?" Hammond asked.

"That's the name of our space station currently moored near Jupiter." Buffy said. "As far as we can tell we're from an alternate reality."

"I see," Hammond said. "Captain, we would like to know your intentions. Especially since we noticed that your ship has a cloaking device. Your ship disappeared from our satellite's view approximately fifteen minutes ago."

"Our intentions are peaceful," said Buffy. "We're still trying to determine how we managed to arrive here and if there is a way to return to our reality."

"I see," said Hammond. "In the meantime I would like to open a dialogue with you if I can."

"Of course," Buffy said. "How about an hour from now?"

"That sounds reasonable," said Hammond. "I assume you are familiar with our realities planet?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "You are currently … Dawnara where is he?"

"The transmission is originating from level 28 of the NORAD facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado near a device of unknown origin," Dawnara said.

"How did you …" Hammond started.

"We scanned your location to determine where your signal originated from." Buffy replied. "I and a small away team could beam down to your location in an hour."

"For security reasons we would ask that you beam down outside the gates to the base," said Hammond.

"Of course," said Buffy. "That sounds reasonable."

"Then we will be waiting," Hammond replied as the communication ended.

A moment later Joyce walked out of the turbolift followed by Xander and Willow. "So it's true what you said when your dad had you institutionalized?" She asked.

"Institutionalized?" Willow asked.

Buffy looked at Willow and sighed as Neri's feelings for Juliana resurfaced.

"What?" Willow asked noticing the way Buffy was looking at her. "Oh. Right, our alter ego's were married."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Which brings up a question. Of why. The character I created when I was nine wasn't married nor was she the commanding officer of Deep Space Nine. So why am I now?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Joyce said. "But I think whatever gave us this ship and DS9 may have taken what we created and then expanded on it."

"That is a possibility," Buffy said. Looking at Willow she wondered. "Will, do you?"

"Have feelings for you?" Willow asked as Buffy nodded. "Yes. I—I." She looked at Xander and gulped. "I used to have romantic feelings for Xander. I remember that. But now that I look at Xander I can tell the romantic feelings are no longer there."

"We are still friends though, right?" Xander asked.

"Of course," Willow said. "You're my best friend."

Buffy nodded as she thought about Angel and nothing stirred within her like it did when she looked at Willow. "I'm sure this will make your day, Xander. I no longer have feelings for Angel either. I do have feelings for you, Will." She looked at her mother as she tried to distract herself from her thoughts, thoughts of Willow—naked. "So mom, how are you taking all this?"

"It's a little bit to take in." Joyce said. "But I think my symbiote Rin is helping a little. He was used to bizarre occurances from decades of deep space travel. Each of his previous host's led rather unique lives."

"How about we beam you back to Sunnydale and you go see Giles?" Buffy suggested.

"Your high school librarian?" Joyce asked.

"He's my Watcher. It's his job to help me deal with the monsters I fight everyday." Buffy said.

Joyce nodded. "Vampires?" she asked as Buffy nodded.

"Yeah, he can explain everything better than we can and put to rest any questions you might have," Buffy said as Joyce nodded. "Willow, Xander and I have a meeting to attend to in the meantime."

"A meeting?" Willow asked.

"We've been contacted by a group identifying themselves as Stargate Command. We are going to see what they want," Buffy said.

For the next hour they discussed what they would tell General Hammond and his people. Finally they agreed that it might be best to continue with the alternate reality lie. After beaming Joyce back to Sunnydale they beamed down outside the Cheyenne Mountain complex to find General Hammond waiting. "Greetings I am General Hammond," Hammond said.

"On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, greetings. I am Captain Neri Enye. This is my Chief of Operations, Alec Kade and my Chief Engineer Juliana Enye," Buffy said as she shook the General's hand.

"Enye?" Hammond asked as he noticed that Buffy gave the same last name to both herself and Willow.

"My wife," Buffy said. "We married a year ago."

"Ah," Hammond said. "If you will follow me I will take you to the briefing room." He led them into the base and past several checkpoints.

Willow hesitated wanting to take Buffy's hand in her own.

~It's okay, Will,~ Buffy thought. ~You can hold my hand if you want.~

~We should be diplomatic though, Imzadi,~ Willow thought back.

Buffy sighed. ~I guess your right. By the way did you realized you called me Imzadi.~

~I know, Buffy,~" Willow thought. ~I am a Betazoid now, just as you are Srrkarran. Imzadi is the Betazoid word for beloved. Just as Sendara is the Srrkarran word for beloved. I know the memories have influenced both of us. I love you Buffy Summers.~

Buffy smiled. ~And I you.~

As they passed the last of the checkpoints the trio was glad they had not brought their phasers as they likely would have been confiscated. And until they knew these people they did not want to give them any future technology.

"If you all will please have a seat," Hammond said as they entered the briefing room. "Now have you all come up with a possible explanation for your appearance?"

Buffy glanced at Xander and Willow for only a split second. "I am afraid we have not. We have theories of course with no real way to prove them. For the time being we are stuck in your reality with no way home."

"So you all are from an alternate Earth?" Hammond asked.

"No," Xander said. "I'm Bajoran."

"I'm a Betazoid," Willow said.

"And I am Srrkarran," Buffy said. "That said we all went through Starfleet Academy on an alternate Earth."

Hammond looked at the trio. "If I may inquire how is it someone so young is in command of a space station?"

Buffy smiled. "Don't let my appearance fool you. I am thirty-six. While Srrkarran's mature at the same rate as most humanoids, they live longer. The longest living Srrkarran in his original body was two hundred and fifty years old. But with cloning the oldest Srrkarran was well over a thousand. But one bodies lifetime is around two hundred and fifty years. Juliana here is 24 and Alec is 26."

"What year is it in your reality?" Hammond asked.

"Twenty-four hundred," Willow said.

"I take it your reality never encountered the Goa'uld?"

"The who?" Buffy asked.

"The Goa'uld," Hammond repeated.

"What are these goold?" Buffy asked.

"Goa'uld," Hammond corrected as he motioned toward the window. They got up and looked down at a ring shaped device. "That is the Stargate. With it we are able to travel to other worlds through an artificially created wormhole. A year ago we encountered the Goa'uld. They are a parasitic race that takes humans as hosts. They have set themselves up as gods and have enslaved humans all across the galaxy. We have recently learned that they are on their way here. It would be a great help if you were to assist us in repelling there ships. Also since you have sensors that are more advanced than ours we would appreciate if you could locate our team that was taken hostage. If you can bring them home it would I would be personally grateful to you.

"That shouldn't be a problem, General." Buffy replied.

"If there is anything you need from us please don't hesitate to ask," Hammond said as Buffy handed him a small device.

"This is a commbadge, tap it and we will be able to communicate with you while we are in orbit of 'll get your people back, General." Buffy said giving him a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, Captain Enye," said Hammond.

"Enye to Defiant," said Buffy as she tapped her own commbadge. "Three to beam up."

Buffy, Willow and Xander disappeared in a transporter beam as Hammond shook his head. He was not sure he believed what they said about being from an alternate reality. But how else could he explain their ships appearance.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Willow and Xander exited the turbolift onto the bridge. "Dawnara," Buffy said as the AI's avatar snapped into existence. "Go to red alert. We may have incoming hostiles."

"Enye to Rin," said Buffy as she tapped her commbadge. "Mom I need you back up here."

"Is something wrong Buffy?" Joyce replied.

"We may have incoming ships of a hostile nature. We have been asked to help. Is Giles there?" Buffy said as she, Willow and Xander entered the turbolift.

"I am here Buffy. I just finished telling your mother about the Slayer and the supernatural. She has been taking things rather well considering what happened today. She also told me about what happened to you four tonight. You have an actual spaceship?" Giles said.

"Yes Giles and maybe a space station according to the Defiant's sensors. Why don't you come up and see it all for yourself," Buffy said.

"Of course," Giles replied.

"Standby for transport," said Buffy. "Dawnara, transport Commander Rin and her guest straight to the bridge."

Joyce and Giles materialized seconds later in front of Xander, Willow and Buffy. Buffy went over to hug her mother.

Giles looked around the bridge and shook his head. "How a simple spell could create all this is astounding," he said.

"Yes it is. The question is how did it?" Buffy asked.

"I do not know," said Giles. "Something else is at play here besides a simple Chaos spell."

"I have something else to discuss," Dawnara stated.

"Who's she?" Giles asked.

Willow smiled. "Giles meet Dawnara she is a non-biological intelligence. She is self-aware, which is what makes her different than an artificial intelligence."

"Why is she called Dawnara?" Giles asked.

"I named her; or rather my alter ego did, after a holodeck program based on …" Xander said as he drew out his response for dramatic effect. "… Wait for it … Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the universe the Defiant and DS9 are from. Our lives were a television program."

"That makes sense actually," said Giles. "Just as in our reality Star Trek is a television show. It makes sense in others we would be fictional. So why did you name her Dawnara?"

"The name is a combination of two words. Dawn and Nara," Xander said.

"Nara is a Srrkaran word for new," said Buffy.

"And Dawn for Buffy's sister, which she obviously doesn't have," said Xander

"That's because my counterpart of this reality has not been created yet," Dawnara said.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked the A.I.

Dawnara smiled. "In the television show it states my counterpart was created to hide this magical key and was sent to you to protect as your sister, three years from now," she said. "And that she was created from your blood and DNA."

"Wow," said Willow. "So she is a clone?"

"Not exactly," said Dawnara. "My avatar is the visual representation of Dawn copied exactly from the program. As you can see I am not a mirror image of Buffy. There is something else I wanted to discuss. Commander Rin according to the television show you were diagnosed three years from now with a brain tumor. You had surgery to remove it and died from complications."

"Oh," Joyce said.

"Oh," Willow repeated. "It would give us a way to test if things are going the way the television series went. If Mrs. Summers has a tumor then…"

"Quite right," Giles said. "But we must be cautious with such information. Who knows what kind of ramifications knowing ones fate might entail. We could change something drastically."

"Giles believe me we know what messing with the timeline can entail. Dawnara take us out of orbit, drop the cloak once were far enough away that no one on Earth will spot us. Go to Red alert and start scanning for any approaching ships," Buffy said as they proceeded down to the sickbay.

"Activate EMH program." Willow stated.

"State the nature of the medical emergency." The EMH stated.

Joyce walked over to the EMH. "I need you to run a scan, looking for a cancerous growth in my brain."

The EMH walked over to a nearby table and picked up a medical tricorder and ran the scans. "There is a cancerous growth. With current Federation medical procedures I can remove it and there be no lasting repercussions."

"How long do we have to do that?" Buffy asked.

"My calculations state the tumor will not become inoperable for at least four years." The EMH stated.

"It's up to you Mom." Buffy said.

Joyce nodded as she looked at her daughter. "After were done with the current crisis. I'll have it removed. I will stay down here and prepare sickbay and hope we don't need it."

"Ok, Mom," Buffy said as she, Giles, Willow and Xander left and headed back towards the bridge.

"Captain, I have detected on long range sensors two ships approaching at speeds I am unable to match. They should be here momentarily," said Dawnara as soon as Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander stepped onto the bridge.

"Dawnara I need you at tactical. Giles I would like you to stand right behind the command chair. Willow…" Buffy said.

"I'll be monitoring Engineering from the engineering console here on the bridge," Willow said.

Buffy nodded. "And of course Xander you're at the conn," she said as Xander moved to the console at the front of the bridge.

"The ships are dropping out of FTL flight," Dawnara said.

"Xander move us to intercept. Three quarter impulse," Buffy said as she and Giles sat down in command. "Dawnara, bring ablative armor online."

"Ablative armor is online. Phasers and torpedoes on standby," Dawnara said.

"Open a hailing frequency," Buffy said as Dawnara nodded.

"Frequency open," Dawnara replied.

"To incoming craft. This is the Federation Starship Defiant, Captain Neri Enye commanding. This system is under the protection of the United Federation of Planets. You will return the people of Earth that you are currently holding and leave. Failure to do so will be considered an act of war," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

On Korel's ship Samantha Carter stood at a window watching the approach of the Defiant as they listened to Buffy's message being broadcast over the Ha'tak's internal speakers. "Colonel you have to see this."

Jack walked over to Sam and looked out the window. "Isn't that?"

"The USS Defiant from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," Sam said. "Yes, sir."

"Wow," Jack said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

On Apophis' ship, Apophis smirked. "You will bow before your God," he said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

On the Defiant, Buffy smiled. "Very well. Dawnara fire a warning shot off their port bow. Also bring up the frequency of SG-1's radios and hail them."

"Firing phasers." Dawnara said as the ship.

It wasn't long before the two Goa'uld Ha'tak's were returning fire.

"Report?" asked Buffy.

"Ablative armor holding." Willow replied.

"Dawnara return fire. Full spread Quantum torpedoes." Buffy said. "Xander, evasive maneuvers."

"Aye, Captain," said Xander as his fingers flew across his console.

"I have the frequency the SGC used to contact us. I am opening a channel on that frequency," said Dawnara.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill this is Captain Neri Enye of the USS Defiant. Please respond," Buffy said.

"This is Colonel O'Neil." they heard a voice say. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

"We'll explain who we are later. How many are on your team?" Buffy said.

"Five including myself. How do you plan on getting us out of here?" Jack said.

"Firing Quantum torpedoes," Dawnara stated and Klorel's ship was rocked as it was hit. "Port enemy ship's shield is down to fifty percent and I'm reading a hull breach. Starboard enemy ship shields are down to seventy-five percent. Our ablative armor is down to 90 percent."

"We're going to beam you off." Buffy said. "Standby. Willow lock onto their location. There should be only five of them. Beam them directly to Sickbay. Dawnara another spread of Quantum torpedoes. Try and take prisoners if you can. I want to know more about these Goa'uld."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"My Lord their shields are holding we are doing little damage. They also have some kind of armor that dissipates our energy weapons. They have managed to do significant damage to us though. Our forward shields are gone and we have several hull breaches," Klorel's First Prime said.

Klorel frowned and decided the best course of action was to leave his Jaffa and the ship to its fate and join his father. "Continue the attack," he said as he left the bridge and headed for the ring transporter.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Five people, four men and one woman, materialized in a transporter beam in Sickbay as Joyce waited.

"Wow," the woman said. "Matter teleportation. Whoever these people are they have managed to solve the problems of matter teleportation to transport people instantaneously."

"Hello." Joyce said as they turned to face her. "I'm Commander Charra Rin, Chief Medical Officer of the Federation Starship Defiant and Deep Space Nine. If you will let me I will give you a quick checkup."

One of the men glared at Joyce.

Another of the men couldn't help but laugh. "Got any needles?" he asked.

"No," Joyce said as she held up her medical tricorder. "I'm going to scan you with this. I'll run some scans and then as soon as we're done with the Goa'uld out there we'll see about sending you home."

"Where did you all come from?" the man who had glared at Joyce asked. "And how did you get a ship that looks like it came straight out of Star Trek?"

"I'm sure the captain will answer whatever questions you have later." Joyce said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

On the bridge Buffy leaned forward. "Report?"

"Ablative armor down to 70 percent. Both ships destroyed," Dawnara said. "We were unable to take prisoners."

"Amazing, Buffy," Giles said. "The memories you now have, have made you a capable strategist."

Buffy smiled, "Thank you for the compliment, Giles. Dawnara open a channel to Stargate Command."

"Channel opened." Dawnara replied.

"Stargate Command this is Captain Enye. Both ships have been destroyed; we were unable to take any prisoners. We have your missing team onboard and are returning to Earth orbit."

"Thank you, Captain." Hammond said. "I would like to speak with you later about further collaborations between our people."

"We would be happy to general" Buffy replied. "We will contact you when were ready to beam down your people."

Two hours later Colonel O'Neill and his people had been beamed down to Stargate Command after giving them the alternate reality explanation for their arrival.

"We have several things to discuss," Buffy said once she, Giles, Joyce, Willow and Xander were seated in the conference room on the Defiant. "The first is the Hellmouth."

"Someone needs to continue to protect the town," Giles said.

"I may have a solution to that," Dawnara said. "After we confirmed Mom's tumor was real. I looked into the holodeck program and found that according to the old television show that when Buffy drowned when she went to face the Master. Another Slayer was called."

"You drowned?" Joyce asked, shocked at that revelation.

Buffy nodded as she looked at Xander. "And my best bud brought me back," she said as she looked back at Joyce. "Xander performed CPR, he saved my life. I owe him more than I could probably ever repay."

"The new Slayer's name is Kendra Young. Her watcher is Sam Zabuto," Dawnara said.

Giles nodded. "I know of Mr. Zabuto," he said. "I will contact him to see if he is a Watcher for a Slayer. If it's true then I will see about getting him to send her to Sunnydale on a permanent loan. Your place at the moment is here Buffy. I believe I understand why now that this space station and that starship came into being. You are now destined to fight this Goa'uld."

"I think your right on that," Buffy said in agreement. "Okay assuming we can get this Kendra to guard the Hellmouth. What do we do? I know Mom has expressed the interest I finish school. But we have a problem. Both mom and Xander can't go back home. They'd both be instantly recognized as aliens."

"Well as far as Xander is concerned," Joyce said. "I can surgically alter him to look human and I might be able to cover my spots with make up."

"That would work," Willow said. "And allow us to return to our lives if we all want."

Joyce smiled and nodded. "That answers the problem of our disappearances. The mother in me wants you all to finish high school but that seems unnecessary at this point. We have each been left with the memories of starfleet officers which means we have not only attended starfleet academy but also had advanced placement in university. If I employed you all at the gallery as buyers then no one would question why you are gone for long periods of time. This way no one will question our absences as we help with the Goa'uld."

"I think that's a good idea," Willow said.

"Agreed," Xander and Buffy added.

"Which now leaves Stargate Command," Buffy said. "Should we give them access to the Defiant or DS9? Or any of the technology at our disposal?"

"To foster good will between you and Stargate Command I think it would be prudent you give them something in exchange for keeping your secret," Giles said. "That said. We should be wary on what they are given. There should be stipulations on the technology they are given. Such as it being used only against the Goa'uld."

"Of course," Buffy said. "Lastly the holodeck program. Do we want to delete it or…"

"I think we should leave it. It will give us insight into how to kill some of the demons that research in various books don't reveal solutions to," Giles said. "That said we should not look at it for personal gain. In another words we should not know what our future might have entailed without this ships appearance."

"Agreed," Buffy said. "Dawnara, I want the program locked and two command level officers will be required to unlock it. One of them being myself."

Dawnara nodded as she tilted her head before looking back at Buffy. "Done, Buffy. Holodeck program Buffy the Vampire Slayer is locked and requires two command level codes to unlock it. One of them having to be your own," she said. "I will do the same once we return to DS9."

"Well I guess it's time we talked to Stargate Command," Buffy said as they made their way to Operations. "Open a hailing frequency."

"Opened," Dawnara replied.

"Federation Starship Defiant to Stargate Command. Please respond," Buffy said.

"Captain Enye this is General Hammond. I was just going to contact you and thank you once again for the return of our people," Hammond said.

"We accept your thanks," Buffy said. "Now we wished to talk to you about a few things. Would it be alright to beam you up here so we can discuss this face to face?"

"Of course Captain. Whenever you're ready." Hammond said. "I would like to bring Colonel O'Neill with me if that is alright."

"That is fine. Standby for transport in five minutes," Buffy said. "Defiant out."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawnara stood in the transporter room as General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill materialized on the transporter pad.

"Welcome to USS Defiant," Dawnara said. "I am Dawnara. If you will follow me I will take you to Captain Enye." She turned and led them out of the transporter room.

"This place is empty. I didn't notice when my team was here earlier." Jack said.

"Currently there are only four members of the crew. When this vessel came through the rift, only Captain and Commander Enye, Lieutenant Commander Kade and Commander Rin came along," Dawnara said.

"Is that typical for a ship of this class?" Jack asked.

"Not by far," Dawnara said. "The Defiant is currently running with a skeleton crew. Normal crew complement is fifty for a Defiant Class Escort. Currently Emergency Command Holograms or ECH for short have been activated to try and make up some of the shortfall." They stepped into the turbolift. "Operations."

"You haven't mentioned yourself," Hammond said as the turbolift began to rise.

"I am a Non-Biological Intelligence," Dawnara said. "I am a sentient program stored inside the computer core. What you are seeing is my avatar created by holographic technology."

Dawnara led Hammond and Jack out of the turbolift seconds later to find Buffy and Xander waiting. "Captain, Commander," Dawnara said. "May I present General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill."

"Woah," Jack said as he looked around the bridge. He recognized some items from the Star Trek television show and movies. "Wow."

"Xander," Buffy said. "I think the Colonel would like a demonstration. Take a shuttle and take him out to Mars and back?"

Xander smiled. "If you will follow me, Colonel," he said as they turned and walked into the turbolift.

"If you will follow Dawnara and I, General," Buffy said as she led Hammond into her ready room.

"If I may ask. Dawnara here said she is an non-biological intelligence, which I assume means she is actually an artificial intelligence. What's to keep her from harming you and your crew?" Hammond.

"What's to keep you from killing your friends?" Dawnara asked. "As I stated earlier I am a Non-Biological Intelligence, not an artificial intelligence. I am self-aware. That is the difference between artificial and non-biological. Like yourself I determine my actions. But to put your mind at ease. I can not override my commanding officer's orders without repercussions."

"Repercussions?" Hammond asked.

"What would happen, General if you disobeyed a direct order from your commanding officer?," Dawnara asked.

"There would be an inquiry and depending on the circumstances some form of punishment would be handed out," Hammond said.

"It is the same with me," Dawnara said. "My program would be reviewed and some form of punishment would be handed out. I like yourself would be held accountable for my actions."

"You understand that we have to build a level of trust before I give you complete access to Deep Space Nine or the Defiant." Buffy said.

"Deep Space Nine?" Hammond asked. "Is that your space station?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "It's currently in orbit of Jupiter. With your permission we would like to tow it to Lunar Lagrange 2. It would then be out of sight of Earth based observation but close enough for defense purposes."

"That sounds like a good solution," Hammond said.

"As a show of good faith we will offer you our services in our mutual goal of riding the galaxy of the Goa'uld," Buffy said. "And as I said with time the access to phasers and other technology."

"Thank you that is most welcomed," Hammond said as he turned to look out the window of the ready room.

"Remarkable isn't it," Buffy said.

Hammond turned to Buffy and smiled. "Quite. I never thought I would actually ever get out into space," he said.

Buffy walked around behind her desk and sat down.

Hammond smiled as he thought that this was definitely a change. Normally he was the one who sat behind a desk. He moved and sat opposite Buffy. "Shall we get started?"

"Pretty much the negotiations are over. We need very little from you. All we want is to help you in your defense against the Goa'uld." Buffy said.

Hammond nodded. "It will be a tough sell to my superiors since you want to help but are currently refusing to give us anything. Mind you though I understand your reasons for not giving us any technology. But my superiors may not. I will do what I can to convince them the arrangement is sound."

"Dawnara?" Buffy asked looking at the AI. "Anything you might want to comment on?"

"I have been monitoring his vital signs with my sensors. He is telling the truth. I believe for you and the rest of my crew the deal is a sound one. He will not back out of it later," Dawnara said as Xander led Jack into the room.

Jack had a big grin on his face. "General this ship is amazing. Alec here even let me pilot one of their shuttlecraft for a slingshot around Mars." he said.

"The Colonel is a natural," Xander said. "He took to the controls like he knew what he was doing."

"Well pitch and yew is pretty universal once you are shown how to use the controls." Jack said.

"Is there anything else General?" Buffy asked.

Hammond stood as did Buffy, Dawnara and Giles. "No I think for the moment that is everything," he said.

"Dawnara would you show the General and Colonel to transporter room 3," Buffy said.

"If you will follow me," Dawnara said and led them out of the room.

"Well?" Xander asked.

"Unless he was lying and able to fool Dawnara's sensors. We're going to be helping them," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the briefing room of Stargate Command. "Colonel, your thoughts on Captain Enye, her crew and their ship and the fact that they have access to Deep Space Nine?" Hammond asked. "If we could find a way to travel to Deep Space Nine, could we take it over?"

"It would be difficult. There is this thing in Star Trek, particularly the movie First Contact. Where they locked out the computer and only they could unlock it. If that ship is like its fictional counterpart..." Jack replied.

"They'd lock us out of the computer and without Captain Enye or her crew we couldn't get into the computer." Hammond said.

"Correct," Jack said. "I think it is best to give into their demands. Besides they have offered to help us with the Goa'uld and eventually to give us technology to use against the Goa'uld as well. Do we really want to aggravate our new allies?"

"No I don't think we want to aggravate them at all. So it looks like not only do we have a Space Station and starship at our disposal but it looks like we have a new team for gate travel if they should choose to go through the gate," Hammond said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy sighed as she walked down the streets of Sunnydale looking for Angel.

~Nervous?~ Willow thought as she walked alongside Buffy.

~Yes~ Buffy thought back. ~I just hope he takes it alright.~

"Buffy!" came a voice off to their left.

Buffy and Willow turned to face Angel who stopped when he noticed they were holding hands.

"Angel," Buffy said as she untangled her hand from Willow's and walked over to Angel. "I, uh."

Angel looked over Buffy's shoulder at Willow as he watched the red-head watch Buffy. "It's okay," he said. "You don't have to worry about hurting my feelings. I understand if you want to be with someone who can take you into the light."

"You do?" Buffy asked. She had been afraid he would take it badly. "Even if it's Willow?"

"Especially if it's, Willow," Angel said.

Buffy smiled and kissed Angel's cheek. "I may not be in love with you anymore. But I will always love you."

Angel nodded. "And I you," he said as he watched Willow and Buffy walk off together.

Author's Note: I had someone tell me they hated when fiction writers used the whole Snyder volunteering thing and Buffy, Xander and Willow not telling him where to shove it. Folks it happened that way in canon. Snyder forced Buffy, Xander and Willow to volunteer to take the kids trick or treating. It was also mandatory that everyone dress up also. If you have a problem with it, take it up with Joss Whedon, he approved the script for the Halloween episode in season 2 that this chapter is taken from. The difference between this chapter and the original episode is that there was no costume theme and Buffy and gang did not get DS9 and the Defiant in canon.