Ship of the Line: An Unlikely Hope

By Oxnate

I do not own Star Wars, SG-1, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Most of the technical specs come from their respective Wikia sites.

Challenge response: on TTH. Challenge Summary: On Halloween Xander Harris, chosen favorite of Janus the God of Chaos, wears a costume of a an important scifi character, one inexorably linked in the psyches of millions to a specific ship. When Ethan Rayne casts his spell on Halloween night he gets more than he bargained for, as Janus's favor upon Xander brings forth his Ship of the Line, anchoring it to his reality. With memories of another life, skills not his own, and a powerful vessel at his disposal, Xander must take hold of his destiny.

A/N: Post 9/11 world. Also, YAHF. I'm skipping most of the usual Halloween scenes.

Chapter 1.

Darth Lord Vader looked around at the backwater planet he found himself on, his black mask showing no hint of surprise at suddenly finding himself on another planet instead of a dying Death Star. Ignoring the chaos around him, he activated the computer in his left arm to tell him the coordinates of the planet he was on.

A few seconds later the computer replied that he was nowhere in the known galaxy. The computer also supplied some additional information in that his personal flagship, the Executor, was in orbit above this planet and hadn't crashed into the Death Star. He looked up, but the clouds obscured the outline of his capital ship. He immediately radioed the bridge, but received no response. Growling in frustration, if anyone is up there, they had better have a good excuse for not answering my summons, he thought. He sent a request through his computer for a shuttle to be launched on auto-pilot to pick him up. A few moments later and the computer spit out a new bit of info. It seemed there were a number of storm troopers in the immediate vicinity. He sent orders for them to converge on his position.

A nearby scream pulled him from his musings. Two aliens he did not recognized were attacking two human women, one of whom was already unconscious. He sent out a bolt of Force-lightning that hit both aliens and drove them away.

"Thank y-" the girl thanking him devolved into a gurgling sound. "Vader!" she said in awe that quickly turned to fear. "Oh god. Please don't hurt us!"

"Lawful citizens of the empire need not fear me." He tried to reassure her. Though he knew he had a an intimidating presence and a fearsome reputation. "Unless you are rebels. Are you rebels?" he put a little Force into his last words to encourage her to tell the truth.

"No!" She immediately shook her head. "No rebels here."

"Very well then. Do you have someplace nearby you can take shelter from the attacking aliens?" he said as the first storm trooper arrived. He checked his computer, the shuttle was almost ready to launch. It would be about 10 minutes until it landed. "Accompany these women for the next 5 minutes as they make their way to their shelter. Warning shots first. We don't wish to become embroiled in a war outside of the empire. Shoot to kill only if they get within 10 meters. Understood?"

"Understood Lord Vader." the soldier saluted. "Come along." he told the women, helping the now awake woman to her feet. The three of them headed off with the redhead in the lead. She stopped 30 meters away and looked back on him, a thoughtful look on her face before continuing.

The shelter must have been fairly close, Vader thought. The trooper made it back in only 8 minutes. "They made it to shelter safely?"

"Yes Lord Vader. They also picked up another female and brought her with them after I scared away the alien chasing her."

"Well done." Vader complimented then looked up to see his shuttle landing. He and his troops embarked and Anakin took the helm. The act of piloting calmed his turbulent thoughts as they broke through the atmosphere. The path to his ship was actually a welcome challenge as this particular planet's atmosphere was almost choked with satellites and space junk. A capital ship would have to clear most of these blockages before being able to land here. Only something the size of his shuttle would be able to make it through unscathed. Once he was docked, he and the six storm troopers marched to the bridge.

The troopers checked every nook and cranny before reporting that it was completely free of lifeforms. "Very well. Split into three teams. Take the first team and find the security office. Cameras will allow you to check the rest of the ship more efficiently than you could on foot. Report back when you've found the office or if you contact any life forms on this ship." he ordered and the troops headed off to do as he ordered. He looked to the other three. "The next group is to run a quick inventory on this ship. Food, weapons, ammunition, and fuel. I want a quick estimate of the supplies. Understood? The last group is to scan the planet we left and see if you can find where the hostile forces landed. See if we can support the humans from orbit without causing undue collateral damage." the soldiers marched away to complete his orders. Vader sat down in the command chair and stared out at the stars to contemplate his situation. Stranded in an unknown galaxy with a ghost ship. A powerful ship, yes, but without a crew to run her, she would be almost helpless against any real attack. And then their was the planet itself. Even from orbit, he could feel that the planet was strong with the Force. And it wasn't the people. The planet itself was strong both to the light and the dark side of the Force; with where he and his men had found themselves the strongest area under the dark side. It was something to consider once they knew where they were. He typed into the command console to have the more powerful computer and sensors of the ship scan the stars both to record their position and to compare to any known star systems.

After that, he ran a diagnostic on himself and his life support suit. All in working order, he also did another test of his Force powers by levitating his lightsaber to his hand and activating it for a moment. Satisfied, he sat back down to wait for the troopers' reports. In the mean time, he checked what the computer listed as the supplies that ought to be aboard.

If he could have, he would have whistled. The ship was listed as being fully outfitted. In all her time in the service of the empire, she never been fully outfitted. The cost to build her and all the associated weapons was enormous and the cost to fully outfit her had simply been more than was needed as her mere presence had been enough to quell unrest wherever she appeared. The number of star fighters and ground fighting machines were incredible. Enough to conquer half the galaxy if he had the manpower. And the amount of food on board would feed a full crew of 300,000 for at least six years.

A wave of nausea crashed over Xander Harris as he regained control of his body.

A/N: That Vader would help an ordinary citizen in distress is not AU. Every ruler needs people to rule and he can't do that if aliens or monsters eat them.

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