Disclaimer: I have no claim on either Buffy: The Vampire Slayer or Stargate SG-1. They belong to their respective creators.

Chapter 2

After finding the general's office empty, Xander asked around and was redirected to the usual briefing room. Usual because, while he'd only been there once, the room looked the part. Once he arrived at his destination, he found Hammond sitting at the head of a long table, addressing three men. They were distinctly un-soldier-ish. Added together, they looked to be about as strong as one Daniel. Hardly reassuring in a fight against alien… whatevers. That meant they were scientists. Or janitors or clerks or something. Probably scientists, though.

After Hammond nodded met Xander's eye and nodded towards a chair, Xander took a seat. Then Hammond said, "Mr Harris, I trust the evaluation went well?"

"Xander," Xander corrected weakly as he handed over the signed release.

Hammond barely glanced at the paper. Then he nodded and declared, "Then we can get on with the briefing." He stopped and appeared to think about something for a second. Then he turned to Xander again and added, "Sorry if this seems sudden, son, but this mission is time sensitive and looked like the perfect opportunity to get you some experience. Get your space legs, as it were."

"No problem at all!" Xander almost shouted, waving his heads quickly. Catching himself, he recovered and leaned back into his chair as he finished, "I'm excited for the opportunity."

Hammond gave a smile and said, "After three weeks on base, I bet." Then he turned to look around the group as his voice took on a more official capacity. "As I was saying before, a tok'ra by the name of Sha-Wujing recently uncovered a strange data storage device on the planet he rules. After his attempts to decrypt the data failed, he reached out to the Tok'ra who reached out to us. Apparently it's different from normal Goa'uld tech. Since we're more familiar with non-Goa'uld species, they thought we'd have more luck with it."

Xander determinedly kept a blank face. He didn't entirely understand most of what was being said, but he'd seen enough sci-fi to know data was one of the most important things out there.

After looking over Xander's face and seeing none of the confusion hidden underneath, Hammond waved at the three men across the table from Xander and said, "Xander, these are doctors Felger, Coombs, and Meyers. They will be in charge of interfacing our hard drives with the alien data cache. Once they've pulled all the data off, bring it back so our computers can work on it."

Hammond then turned to the scientists and continued, "Gentlemen, this is Alexander Harris. He's new but should be reliable. He'll be your-"

"Sole escort?" Xander asked. He felt like that would hardly be protocol for a military expedition to anywhere. Even going out to get doughnuts… or whatever the military equivalent of doughnuts is.

"Your luggage carrier," Hammond finished, cutting through Xander's expectations.

"What?!" Xander asked, his face freezing in a stiff grin.

"This work requires a lot of heavy electronics to make work. These three won't be able to transport it on their own," Hammond answered with a friendly smile that looked vile to Xander's eye.

"My first adventure through the stars is as a pack mule?!" Xander started to ask, but stopped himself at the last moment. Whatever the job, leaving the base was leaving the base. No matter how much he loved Star Wars, every man has his limit. Variety spices life and all that.

As Xander resolutely held his tongue, the scientist with the uncomfortably eager face stood up and held out a hand. "No matter the circumstances, I have to say I'm excited to be working with you, sir!"

Xander recoiled unconsciously. As far as he could remember, he'd never been respected once. By anyone. Okay, maybe by Dawn and a few of the slayerlings for a little bit, but that was different because it was different.

Xander cleared his throat and tried responding, "I-I'm younger than you. Just Xander is fine."

"You're embarrassing us, Felger," the grouchy man with glasses berated the standing scientist, Dr. Felger. "See, you're even making him uncomfortable and he's a soldier."

"I'm not a soldier," Xander corrected immediately.

"I'm embarrassing you?!" Felger rounded on his still seated companion. "Do you remember the last time I did you a favor, Coombs? Making me wear those fake ears and trapes around the convention center. I don't even know the first thing about Klingons."

"It's Vulcans!" Coombs stood up to point a berating finger at Felger. "I told you we were Vulcans! Why do you keep getting it wrong!?"

"Everyone making color jokes I don't understand," Felger muttered to himself, not even paying attention to his friend's rebuttal. "Who cares if I'm wearing red? It's not like I was gonna go bull fighting after."

Xander could only stare at the two and allow their conversation to wash over him. Like a storm passing above a submarine. It was a strange feeling. He wondered if this is what it felt like to be an outsider among the scoobies. Then he stopped thinking at all and waited for it to end.

"Gentlemen," Hammond's calm, yet reprimanding, voice cut in shortly after. Once the two scientists had embarrassedly comported themselves, he continued. "I trust we wont have any problems completing this mission?"

"N-no sir!" both scientists answered in unison. All the while the third, with the painfully forgettable face, remained silent. As Xander puzzled over the almost non-existent man, he tried to remember the last name Hammond had listed. His brain kept throwing out "Mayo," but that certainly wasn't right. In the end, he resolved to wait until he heard it again. Calling a human being a condiment wasn't the best first impression. Xander understood that much from first-hand experience.

As Xander worried over the last scientist, Hammond took in the team as a whole. Then he declared, "I don't think I need to tell you this mission has some diplomatic implications. I hope I can trust you boys not to cause some inter-planetary incident. Am I right there?"

"Yes, sir!" The three scientists answered, as stiffly as they could.

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure," Xander added, a half beat late.

Hammond made a mildly skeptical face, then he said, "You three, go collect anything you think might be useful for this mission. We don't know much about the tech we're dealing with and there won't be a second trip. Once you're ready, meet in the gate room in an hour."

The three scientists quickly accepted that order and shuffled out of the room. As Xander was moving to follow them, he felt a hand perch on his shoulder and stopped.

As Xander turned to look at Hammond, who was lightly restraining him, Hammond was watching the scientists' retreat. Once the three men were gone and the door had closed, Hammond motioned for Xander to lean in closer. Then he started to speak, "You need to know, this mission is a little more complicated than it seems."

"How so?" Xander asked, recovering some of the excitement he'd lost from the luggage carrier comment.

"Sha-Wujin isn't exactly a Tok'ra," Hammond answered with an uncomfortable expression.

"What does that mean?" Xander asked, furrowing his brow. After a few seconds of contemplation, he resolved that he'd have to stop faking it eventually and added, "Also, what's a Toque Ra?"

"Didn't you read the briefing materials?" Hammond asked, giving Xander a disapproving frown.

"I skimmed them," Xander declared, doing his best to not meet the general's gaze.

Hammond let off a sigh, then he answered, "The Tok'ra are a dissident faction of the Goa'uld. They disagree with the Goa'uld fundamentally and don't want to enslave humanity. They fight the Goa'uld using insurgent and guerrilla tactics. That's what you need to understand for now."

"Makes sense, I guess," Xander responded with an unenergetic nod.

"It's enough for now, but you'll thoroughly read the briefings when you get back."

"So, what's up with this Wang guy?" Xander attempted a refreshing smile as he didn't respond to the General's order.

Hammond gave Xander a disapproving frown before correcting, "It's Sha-Wujin. He'll get offended if you say it wrong."

"Yeah, something, something, something. I got it."

"If he gets offended, he'll probably kill you."

"…I'll let the eggheads do the talking," Xander responded after a few seconds of thought. "No reason for the pack mule to butt in, is there?"

Hammond pinched the bridge of his nose n silent anxiety. Then he continued with the explanation. "As I was saying, Sha-Wujin isn't a Tok'ra. He's an ally of the Tok'ra. He refuses to officially join them, but he absolutely hates the System Lords."

"Who are the System Lords?"

"The de-facto leaders of the Goa'uld."

"Okay… So, where does that leave us?"

"In a complicated position," Hammond let out another sigh. "Since he's not a real Tok'ra, we can't trust him. The Tok'ra assure us that he means us no harm, but it's not like they have any control over him if he does. To make matters worse, the ma- snake is opposed to letting anyone onto his planet. He seems to have a bit of a paranoid streak."

"Don't they all," Xander observed. As he did, he remembered The Mayor's final form. Germophobia and Xenophobia seemed related enough. At least, they shared a few syllables.

General Hammond gave a nod. Then he stared into the corner of the room, looking as if he was recalling some long-past war. "At first he wanted us to do everything remotely. When we convinced him we'd need at least three of our scientists present to get anything done, he refused to allow them any escorts. Took another day of negotiation for him to accept one extra hand to help transport and set up equipment."

"…Sounds tough," Xander said, trying his best to sound sympathetic.

"That wasn't even the worst part," Hammond declared as a resolute frown threatened to cave more wrinkles into his face. "He refused to meet with anyone from Earth at all. Everything had to be done through a Tok'ra messenger. She kept going back and forth through the gate. Probably cost us hundreds of thousands in electricity. Wormhole travel isn't cheap."

"So that's why no actual soldiers are coming along?" Xander asked after ensuring that the General had completed his rant.

"One baggage carrier was the best we could get," Hammond answered with a nod. "You're not even allowed any weapons. I had a hell of a time coming up with who to send. That's when I remembered you."

"Who is expendable," Xander completed cynically.

"Who, by Jack's account, may be our foremost expert on primitive combat," Hammond corrected with a reprimanding glare.

"Primitive?"

"Sticks and stones were his exact word," Hammond answered with an unbendingly straight face.

Xander stared into the general's unwavering eyes for a moment. Then it was his turn to sigh. "Is whatever we're getting even worth the risk?"

"Haven't any idea," Hammond answered frankly. Catching Xander's visibly flagging motivation, he quickly added, "But the Tok'ra were very motivated to make this deal. They know something about this that they aren't telling us. This data is worth something. If not to us, then in trade."

Xander frowned. He still wasn't convinced. Mostly because the situation was starting to sound complicated. Xander didn't do complicated as a rule. Sure, the rituals needed to slay a demon may seem complicated to the outside observer, but they were straight forward when you got used to it. Like baking a cake, but with complicated ingredients and blood way too much of the time… a blood cake.

As Xander considered the less fun parts of interplanetary relations, he asked, "Can we know he isn't going to turn us over to the Goa'uld. Can we trust him hating the bad guys? More than he hates us or loves money or whatever."

"From what I've heard, that's unlikely. Supposedly he once dropped a plate, and as punishment, they tortured him for a thousand years."

"That… doesn't sound like the type of thing you get over."

"No," Hammond declared, pursing his lips at the thought. "It does not."

"So, my job is to pretend to be a pack mule while acting as the lone bodyguard for three scientists against a horde of aliens."

"My hope is that it doesn't come to that."

Xander narrowed his eye at that political answer. Then he turned to the door leading out of the briefing room. "So, why the secrecy on this? Wouldn't it be easier to protect them if they knew to follow my orders when things went down?"

Hammond looked to the ceiling as he collected his thoughts. Then he carefully answered, "Those gentlemen are great at their jobs… and their jobs do not involve handling classified information."

"Other than the fact that you have a space door in your basement."

"Any more than they need to know."

Xander nodded at that. He didn't know what other answer he expected to hear.

As Xander contemplated the potential mess he'd gotten himself in, Hammond gave him a sympathetic look. Then he said, "Everything should be fine as long as you don't do anything to excite him. If you've worked with Captain Finn, you must have some experience in these matters."

"In espionage?" Xander asked, closing his eye and drudging through the minor ruses he'd used to fight various demons. "Not really, but I've seen all the bond films."

"God help me," Hammond whispered to himself as he turned to leave the briefing room.

"Hey!" Xander called after him excitedly. "If I do really well, will a sexy assassin come to seduce me? General?! This is important!"

Around forty minutes after he'd fled his briefing with Jack's new hire, General Hammond was watching the boy and the three scientists step through the gate. As he witnessed the boy pretend to drop a piece of government equipment worth tens of thousands, he sighed. Sometimes it felt like Jack alone accounted for half the paperwork that crossed his desk. Just thinking about how much that'd be increasing with a second Jack around was giving him an ulcer.

After the underwhelming team had disappeared beyond the beautiful, blue flow of the wormhole, Hammond returned to his office. Once he'd arrived, he was greeted by a familiar face. "Doctor," He said with a nod as he moved to sit behind his cluttered desk.

"I just stopped by to deliver my report," the stoic psychologist answered with a half-smile. As he spoke, he purposefully laid a file on top of a stack of paperwork.

"How was it?" Hammond asked, picking up the file and pretending to leaf through it before putting it down again.

"More informative than previous. The kid has some issues. A lot of secrets… maybe some girl troubles?"

"Can you pick him out of a line up? A line up of other hims."

The psychologist shrugged. It was a tough question given all the different types of possession and mind viruses they'd seen over the years. After a few seconds of consideration, however, he gave a devious grin. Then he said, "I did learn one thing."

"What?" Hammond asked after it became clear he wouldn't continue without provocation.

"No matter what's happening, he'll always to take the time to correct me about his name."

Author's note:

I know everyone wants to see Xander and Jack together. It's what you came for. However, I can't bring myself to have Xander join along with SG-1 right out of the gate. It crushes the verisimilitude a bit for me. So, for the next couple chapters I hope you can bear with me. After this mission I should be able to make a justification for SG-1 to team up with a one-eyed carpenter from California.