Episode 5. Return of the Jolinar
This one's a little shorter, but on the plus side Jolinar is back.
/ Xander's thoughts /
% Jolinar's thoughts %
Another note in my world, the laws of conservation of energy apply here. So the Zats work like Tasers on steroids. One shot disables, two may kill, three or more will almost certainly kill, but additional shocks after death can sometimes revive dead people (like shock paddles). Three never, ever disintegrates.
To quote Wormhole X-treme itself MARTIN: "So, three shots disintegrates them!" DIRECTOR: "Okay, you know what? I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, because that is quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say."
Please review! Compliments make me write faster; criticisms make me write better.
Xander's heart had never beat so hard. SG-1 and SG-2 here in Sunnydale. Right in front of the school. Already? It was only two days since Halloween and only a day since he had checked the SGC website. He had known it was a little risky, but knowing the truth had been worth the risk. Or so he thought. Seeing SG-1 here now, he wasn't so sure any more. His knees felt like jelly and he collapsed on the grass of the park. But where was Samantha Carter? Jolinar had given his life to ensure that she would live. Had he failed? Had both of them died after all? He suddenly felt very nauseous. He turned on his side and dry-heaved, despite his large breakfast, into the grass.
He took some deep breaths. Now that he was safe-ish he could look back on the meeting with SG-1. Calling it a blackout would be too strong. He had froze. He was completely aware that he had froze. He was also aware that words had come out of his mouth anyway. That wasn't new. Saying stupid things without thinking about them was almost a trademark for him. But this had been different. Like someone else had been speaking through him. It was almost like... no. Jolinar was gone. He had felt the alien leave. Sure he left behind some memories, but nothing more, Xander assured himself.
Then he sighed. / Jolinar? /
% Yes, Xander Harris? % came the reply in his mind.
/ So you are still here. / Xander confirmed.
% Back would be more correct. When whatever transported me into your body took me away again, I was already beginning to slowly meld with you. A small part of me was left behind when the rest was transported away. I have been re-building myself since then. % Jolinar explained.
/ Which explains why I'm so hungry. / Xander observed.
% Yes, unfortunately the laws of conservation of energy apply to Tok'ra as well. I cannot rebuild myself magically. % the Tok'ra admitted.
/ So, you've been controlling me? /
% Not at all. Search my memories. Tok'ra do not 'control' their hosts. And besides, I'm far too weak to control anything thing right now. I have been able to influence your hormone levels to make you slightly hungrier than you would normally be. And I was only able to speak to Colonel O'Neill because you had given up control of your body. Essentially, you weren't using it at the time, so I was able to. And it was a good thing too. Especially with Samantha Carter not being here. You and I both know that I did everything in my power to save her. But if she died while I was in her body, I don't think the military is going to look favorably on my return. % Jolinar explained.
/ No, and I don't want to be caught up in that either. Just answer me one thing. Why do you sound like Sam in my head? / Xander asked.
% She was my last host. Also since we both have memories of her at this time, it was an easy vocal pattern to copy. If you wish, there are other vocal patterns I could copy. % Jolinar explained.
/ Nah. So now what? /
% Well, as you would say, first things first. There is a spy among the Tok'ra. That is the only way I could have been betrayed to the Goa'uld. I must warn them somehow. Then, I've seen enough in Samantha's and your memories to indicate that Earth would make a good ally for the Tok'ra. We have to get them in touch with each other. Preferably we must do this without alerting the SGC to our presence any more than we already have. And thirdly, we must find adequate weaponry to defend ourselves from the aliens in this 'Hellmouth'. % Jolinar thought.
/ They're not aliens. / Xander thought. / You're going to want to go to the part of my memory marked, 'this world is older than you think' and read that. /
% It's not that easy, though I have browsed your memories quite extensively. Everything that evolved on this world has red blood. Red from iron. The iron is due to the iron-rich seas in which the first life evolved on this planet. You have seen that the blood of the so called 'demons' is other colors. That indicates that they evolved on other planets and then immigrated here. % Jolinar explained.
Xander was speechless. Demons weren't here first. Human's were and demons were invading. It was a small change in perspective, but it really helped Xander's mood right now. He was a freedom fighter. "How do you explain Vampires and the Hellmouth?" Xander accidentally asked aloud. A woman walking by gave him a strange look and Xander blushed horribly.
% There are other portals besides the Stargate. It could be a dimensional portal like you believe. It could be a portal to planets in this or even other galaxies. As for vampires, I do not know. I would need to study them more in order to be sure. % Jolinar was silent for a moment. % There. Your ribs are done healing. If you could be so kind as to find more to eat though, I am quite tired now. It took all the energy from dinner, breakfast, and then some to finish healing your ribs. %
/ You healed me? I thought you were still weak? /
% You are my host. % Jolinar was confused by Xander's confusion
/ I thought you needed that energy to make yourself stronger? / Xander was still confused.
% You are my host. I do not understand your confusion. Perhaps we could discuss this over a large meal somewhere? % Jolinar suggested.
Xander stood up. His legs were still rubbery and weak, but he did some twists and bends and found that his ribs were no longer sore at all. He headed back towards school by another path. Determined to avoid any SG teams.
A/N: I figure the 'big reveal' of Jolinar is good enough for it's own chapter. Even if it is a bit shorter than average. And yes, the last part of their conversation is a shout out to Mal from Firefly. A Tok'ra's first duty is to his host. There is no question of who he would heal first.
And one further note. A couple of people pointed out that red blood doesn't mean born on Earth. True. I'm not a biologist. I just made it up because it sounded good. For all I know, Jolinar made it up to make Xander feel better. (It worked)
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Chapter 6.
A/N: Mentions of Star Trek and characters from that which I don't own.
Please review! Compliments make me write faster; criticisms make me write better.
The pizza was eaten and the Colonel was now leading a briefing on what each of the teams had found. The east side of the town was mostly residential. The central portion contained Main street and most of the retail district of the small city as well as some bars that were currently closed. The northern area contained the schools, some clubs and more bars, as well as a brand new Box-Mart store. The west side contained the docks about a mile outside of the town proper. Between the docks and the town was a large area filled with warehouses and factories. Some were in use. Some were not. The most interesting thing was that SG-2 had found numerous signs of use in the empty warehouses and factories. Though they hadn't actually met anyone living there. The evidence pointed to an extremely high rate of homelessness for a town of this size.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing was the death rate in the town. Dr. Jackson had looked in the library for anything out of the ordinary and found it. Only the fact that almost all the death's were labeled as 'accidents' kept this town out of the most-dangerous places to live list. Animal attacks, out right disappearances and barbeque forks topped the list of accidental deaths. Either this was the unluckiest place to live or there was something else going on here. Jack had no choice. He had to call the General on this one. He stepped outside and dialed the number.
"Hammond."
"Sir, it's O'Neil."
"Good to hear from you, Colonel. How goes the investigation?" Hammond queried.
"Well sir, it goes strangely." Jack began.
"Care to elaborate?" the general asked.
"Yes sir. We've scouted the town and are planning on visiting the school tomorrow. However, Daniel found something strange." O'Neill elaborated.
"Good God. Tell me it's not an alien artifact on Earth?" The general begged.
"No sir. It has to do with the death rate in the town."
"I understood that the murder rate was normal for a town of that size?" George thought back to the briefings on Sunnydale.
"The murder rate is normal. The 'accidental death' rate however, is astronomical. This is either the unluckiest town ever or there's something else going on here. Daniel calculated the life expectancy here to be in the low 30's, sir."
General Hammond was silent for a moment while he contemplated that. "I'll start up an investigation on our end. I want you to keep your guard up while you're there and treat that city as a mixed hostile/civilian area without breaking cover if you can. Understood?"
"Yes sir!. O'Neill out." Though he waited for the general to hang up before he, himself did so as well. Then he went back inside to get some help carrying the sub-machine guns from the cars into their rooms.
Xander broke into the school kitchen for the second time this weekend. Another can of fruit and the juice was washed down by an entire gallon of milk. Xander was pretty sure that that wasn't humanly possible but decided to ignore that fact. In the library, everyone was digging into a pizza. He reached for a slice, but his hand was slapped away.
"Nah-uh. Pizza is for people who helped with the research."
"Aww, come on Buff. I'm here to help now. But I need some fuel to do so." Xander found himself slipping easily back into his role as a funny side-kick.
"And seeing as I bought the pizza." Giles put in. "Xander is welcome to share as long as he agrees to help us afterward."
Buffy stuck out her tongue but then gave a smile to show she was joking as he took a slice. Then her eyes narrowed, "Are you feeling okay?" Xander nodded and Buffy shrugged, "So, how did sparring with Angel go last night?"
"Tough." Xander answered. "I was pretty sure I had a cracked rib, but it's fine today. So I was wrong." He swallowed before allowing, "Angel did good. He pushed me just far enough." It was technically another lie. But he was about to expose his last lie and complimenting the vampire might buy him enough brownie points to not be pummeled to death when he explained things to them. The arrival of SG-1 had really thrown a wrench into his earlier plans to not tell his friends anything. Here it goes. Quick like a band-aid. "Oh and by the way, it turns out that the fictional alien I told you about wasn't so fictional. Aliens are real and I have the memories of one in my head." he blurted out. Only a little lie. He didn't want to tempt anyone into trying to dissect him.
All sound in the library stopped. Buffy had stopped moving with a piece of pizza halfway to her open mouth. Xander took the opportunity to finish his slice and grab another one. It wasn't until he finished that one and started another that anyone made a sound.
"Aliens." Buffy said disbelievingly.
"Aliens." Willow said longingly.
If there was anyone who would believe him about aliens it would be his fellow Trekker. The only thing that he, Jesse and Willow had disagreed on was Kirk or Picard. He was adamant that Kirk was the greatest, Willow was firmly in Picard's camp, and Jesse was a huge Spock fanboy.
"Aliens?" Giles asked. Finally joining the group.
"Yeah." Xander answered all their inquiries at once. "It's all here in that book you loaned me." Xander pulled the book he had read yesterday out of his backpack.
"Dr. Jackson's book? He was right?"
"More or less. Now, what I found fascinating was the timing. The aliens arrived on Earth almost exactly when the demons were kicked off it." Xander began.
"Xander." Buffy interrupted.
"Huh?"
"You said fascinating. And you meant it." Buffy shook her head in amazement.
"Yeah. I have the memories of three people in my head right now. One is an alien and one is an astrophysicist. New vocabulary is part of the package." Xander explained. "But even before I got these memories, I always wondered how a bunch of spear throwing primitives had managed to drive some very powerful demons from our dimension. This actually explains a lot."
"Good lord. This could revolutionize demonology as we know it." Giles' eyes were glassy as he contemplated the possibilities.
"Then this might really blow your mind. Jolinar, that's the name of my alien, looked through my memories and saw that the blood of demons is different than the blood of anything that evolved on earth. Which, according to him, means that demons didn't evolve here. They are probably from another planet. Almost certainly not one in this galaxy. It could be one in another dimension or it could be one in another galaxy."
"Another galaxy?" Willow was practically drooling.
Xander smiled at her and quoted, "To boldly go where no man has gone before."
"Is Dr. Jackson aware that his theories are true?" Giles wondered half to himself.
"Yeah. He travels to other planets regularly." Xander paused just a moment before adding. "And he's in town if you'd like to meet him."
"What is he doing here?"Giles wondered.
"Looking for me, I'd expect." Xander answered glumly.
"Why would he be looking for you?" Buffy asked with a slight edge to her voice.
"Well, right after Halloween I couldn't be sure whether the memories I had were real or not. Remember, I went as a fictional character. Going as a Jedi might have given me the knowledge needed to build a light-saber, but it wouldn't make it possible in this world." Xander looked around. Willow nodded readily, Giles gave and acquiescing shrug and Buffy just stared at him. "So I went online and logged into the website of the Stargate Command.
Willow gave a sharp intake of breath. "Xander! You hacked the SGC?"
"No. I didn't hack. I just used a username and password I happened to remember." then he added, "You knew about the SGC?"
"Yeah! They're some really top-secret government program. As far as I know, no one has been able to hack them yet." Willow answered.
"And just how would you know something like that?" this time it was Giles with an edge to his voice.
"Oh! Umm..." Willow started to draw into herself and almost seemed to shrink. "I just know some people... online. Not bad people. They just like to test stuff, but not do any damage or... any... thing..." Willow trailed off.
"We'll discuss this more later." Giles assured her firmly.
"Yes, please. Because the first thing I'd like to do is make sure I don't get dissected." Xander moved the conversation forward.
"Dissected!" Buffy was suddenly on Xander's side again. "No one is dissecting you." she assured him.
"You either." he agreed.
"Me!?" - "Her?" - "Buffy?" came the replies all at once.
"The military is here with Dr. Jackson. They run the Stargate program." Xander explained.
"The military?" Buffy slouched. She didn't want to go up against the military. They used guns. She hated guns.
"The people here are good people. Including Daniel. I mean Dr. Jackson. But they aren't always in charge. And I don't want to end up in the hands of some of those who are." Xander paused and hoped that they would agree. "So, I have a mission for us tonight. Keep them alive while making sure that they leave first thing tomorrow; without taking us with them."
Xander tore a sheet of paper out of a notebook. On it he wrote the gate address for the Tok'ra along with a message. 'There is a spy among the Tok'ra. It is the only way that Jolinar could have been found by the Goa'uld. Go there quickly and explain the situation to them. If Jolinar was betrayed, it is only a matter of time before the Tok'ra base is as well. Explain to Martouf/Lantash that Jolinar is in a better place.' Xander smiled a bit at that last part. Daniel would assume that he meant the Tok'ra version of Heaven, but Lantash would understand that Jolinar was still alive and would be okay.