Chapter Three

'Faith, Hope and Snakeheads'

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AN: The SGC has finally come to town. Now, I again swear, I originally intended the upcoming adventure to be just a single chapter. At first I was very much into the SG-1 aspect of the story. Then came the time to work on the Buffy parts and now I like those even better.

For the SG-1 part I borrowed some characters from another story I liked. Ash Fenton and SG-13 may come from the actual series but I borrowed them from a kick ass story called Far Beyond Normal.

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Trafalar D Water Law: Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately this story was written long ago so I can't use it. Or maybe I did use it? Muhahahahaha!

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"I don't understand how you all can get so exciting watching a tape of two guys beating each other up," Joyce said as the Scoobies were watching

the tape of the Goku/Vegeta fight.

"Yeah, but Joyce," Xander said and pointed at the TV, "this is like a work of art! These guys are like The Rock vs. the Undertaker. Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan. The Thrilla in Manilla. Only for real. Plus we get to see it on multi angle video."

As if to illustrate his point he pressed on his remote and the angle changed.

"I can't see anything," Willow said peering intently, "it's just blurred half of the time,"

"And this just half speed, Will," Xander grinned as he fumbled the remote to illustrate his point, "these guys fight really fast!"

"But you can see it?" Willow asked looking at Xander.

"I can see most," Xander nodded, "but maybe we should slow it down further."

"Good idea," Oz said, "quarter speed is better."

"I think you guys should fast forward to the next part," Buffy said, "there's some good fighting there."

"You think so?" Xander asked looking at the blonde Slayer..

"Absolutely," Buffy nodded, "they had this thing going for a while which will blow your socks off."

"Endorsement by the Buffster," Xander grinned as he punched the remote, "good enough for me. You know what would be perfect though..."

Xander looked hopeful at Joyce

"Cheesy chips!"

"You get your own cheesy chips, young man," Belmovekk said, and hugged the woman next him, "she is busy."

"Isn't this the part where you start to fall asleep?" Xander asked hopeful.

"I have all the entertainment I need, young man," the Saiyan replied, his hands on Joyce's stomach feeling as one of the twins kicked inside her.

"Another one," Joyce smiled at the Saiyan.

"They will have fantastic technique," Belmovekk said proudly.

"I'll make a snack run," Buffy volunteered, it getting a bit to weird for her taste, "I've seen most of this part anyway."

"You're a life saver, Buff," Xander smiled while fast forwarding to the juicy part.

"And don't you forget it," she said over her shoulder as she walked to the kitchen, "anyone else wants something?"

"Some soda would be nice," Willow asked and then looks at Oz, holding her in his arms while looking intently at the fight, "you want something to?"

"No thanks," Oz replied absorbed by the on screen action..

"Do you have anything light?" Cordelia asked without looking up from her Cosmo. Unlike Xander and Oz, and even Willow up to a point, she didn't care one bit about the fight. But she liked being part of the company, to rest against Xander.

"Cheesy chips, soda, something light, last chance," Buffy said as she went into the kitchen. With no more takers she got the requested items, then took out something for herself as well and returned to the living room.

Isn't it strange, she thought as she re-entered the living room, how everything can feel so normal again after so much upheaval? Seeing her friends happy, including her mother feels good. Then again, seeing her friends all paired up and her being the odd girl out reminded her more then ever of what she has lost. Angel.

Still, there was still one other lonely soul out at the moment, Giles. Although not technically. She had been told that after the defeat of Angelus Belmovekk had gathered the Dragonballs together with some of Goku's friends and summoned that dragon in order to revive Jenny Calendar. It didn't got Giles his girlfriend back though. Being killed by Angelus had severely traumatized her and she had left Sunnydale in order to, as she put it, come to terms with things. She had said she would come back for him one day. Things had gotten progressively worse after that with her now being in a mental institute. Some things were apparently even too much for the eternal dragon to fix.

Willow told her that occasionally when she was still lucid she did keep in contact with Giles. So in that sense, even Giles had somebody. How Giles kept functioning was a wonder to Buffy. She had offered for him to talk about it but Giles had politely but sternly declined. Even now he had preferred to stay at home and work. At least she hoped, for one drunk was quite enough, thank you very much.

"Ahh. Buffy and food," Xander sighed contently as he saw her and gratefully accepted the cheesy chips.

"Sorry Cordelia, this is about the only light stuff we have left," Buffy said as she gave the girl a packet of low fat chocolate chip cookies."

"But chocolate gives me zits," she complained, yet still accepted the packet.

"You can have some of my cheesy chips," Xander said as he offered her the opened bag.

"Quickly, take his offer before he changes his mind," Willow said.

Before Cordelia can reply the doorbell rang.

"I'll go," Buffy said, "I'm still standing anyway. It's probably Giles."

"Wasn't he busy working?" Willow asked surprised.

"I hope he remembered to bring some more food," Xander said, eyes glued to the TV, "I think I have a wicked case of the munchies!"

"Should I beware of Brits bearing gifts," Buffy said as she opened the door.

It wasn't Giles however who stood there.

It was a man in a blue uniform, an officer's cap in his hand.

"Good evening, miss," he said politely, "I'm looking for a man. And I have good reason to believe he is in here."

Buffy looked him up. Middle aged but still trim, with black hair. And doing his best to hide his nervousness.

"Oh, and who might you be?" she asked wearily.

"Davis is the name, miss," he said, "major Paul Davis, US Air Force. And I am really looking for that man."

Buffy folded her arms across her chest and gave him her best 'what do you want look?'.

"And how would you know he's here to start with?" she asked snippy.

"Because I happen to have been following him for half a day, miss, and I saw you and him come in here together."

OK, busted! Try denying that! So she switched to the offense instead.

"Look, you can't just come in here, mister Air Force and demand to see people," she said, her tone upgraded from snippy to hostile.

Major Davis despite his nervousness didn't bat an eye.

"When national security is concerned you'll find I can do pretty much anything, miss," he said.

That didn't go down so well with the Buffster. If there was one thing she hated its people appealing to authority. Especially authority that wasn't earned but which came from socalled laminated plastic cards.

"Do I look like I care?" she said unimpressed, bringing to bear one of her sterner glares.

"Look, miss," the major said unflinching, "I really need to find this man."

He held up a picture that she immediately recognized. It was Belmovekk standing together with a high ranking portly officer, obviously a general. Damn Belmovekk and his damned secrets, Buffy thought immediately, but still she refused to sell him out. He may be a lying bastard, he was still their lying bastard. And this Air Force asshole did come to her house. Even the local vamps and demons knew better then to do that. And that was before she got 'tuned up'.

I think you should leave," she said coldly.

Before the major could reply they got interrupted by the man in question.

"Is there a problem, young lady," Belmovekk asked as he joined her in the hallway.

The major's eyes got bigger for a second as he recognized his target.

"You!" he said, "I've been looking for you."

"Smart move, mister," Buffy scoffed at Belmovekk, "Captain Obnoxious here was trying to weasel himself in to no avail and then you have to show up!"

"I'm a major, miss, not a captain," Davis objected.

"Major Obnoxious then," Buffy snorted unimpressed, "covers it even better."

"Something's going on here?" Xander asked, as he also entered the fray, flanked by Oz and Willow, "Hey look, the Men in Blue are here. Or should I say man in blue."

"Everybody quiet," Belmovekk said, and then looked at the major, "are you being sent here by Warleader Hammond?"

To everyone's surprise Major Davis nodded.

"The general asked me to look for you, Belmovekk," he said.

"I do not take it lightly that he has sent for me," Belmovekk said annoyed, "especially here."

Major Davis swallowed.

"The general knows that," he said, "but if he didn't have need for you he would not have gone to all this trouble. He did try to contact you through the agreed means as requested. Plus I'm instructed to say, you owe him."

Belmovekk closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Alright," he said, "can you wait outside for a few minutes, then I will come with you."

"Alright," said the major. Then Belmovekk closed the door and sighed again.

"What's going on here?" Buffy asked suspiciously, "are you involved with the Air Force now as well? New secrets you've been keeping from us?"

The look of accusation on Buffy's face hurt the Saiyan deeply and he felt that whatever bridge might have been rebuilt between the two of them, just had its foundations ripped out from underneath it.

"No new secrets, young lady," he said, still not turning around to face the others, "more like, old secrets."

"That's just as bad," she said disapproving.

It was like he could hear the building site collapse. He turned around and faced her angry scowl

"Look," he said in a last ditch attempt, "where I am from it is natural for us to seek the aid of governments. I was heavily involved in the great war and the coalition of the West against Kal Torak. So it seemed only natural to seek out the aid of government agencies on this world when I was looking for Doctor Gero. This particular agency came highly recommended. And before you ask, these people know nothing about you as far as I know."

"Then why do we have Captain Obnoxious outside of our door?" she spat out and pointed to the door, "That is your problem, Belmovekk, you are so used to secrets you don't know anything else."

"It's not like he's the o..." Xander tried to say but Belmovekk gave him an angry look and pointed a finger at him that told him to shut up before you made things worse. So he did.

"I did not lie, young lady," Belmovekk said, "I never said I was not involved with the government."

"You also never said you were," Buffy countered, "an omission is still a lie! In fact it's even worse!"

The Saiyan sighed deeply.

"I can not tell you everything, young lady," he told her, "there are things going on that do not concern you. Also things any of us would rather forget."

"But your secrets have a bad habit to backfire, Belmovekk," Buffy said coolly, the fact that she didn't abbreviate his name said it all, "the last one got both Angel and Jenny killed!"

Belmovekk said nothing as he felt that anything he would say would only be taken wrong anyway.

"And now?" Oz asked.

"I must go with Davis to see Warleader Hammond," Belmovekk sighed, as Buffy snorted in obvious dislike again.

"Fine," she said, "go with Captain Obnoxious for all I care. Just don't wake us up when you come back in, sneaking in like a thief at night!"

And with that she turned her back on him and stomped upstairs to her room.

"Little miss sanctimonious," Xander said disapprovingly, "like she never kept any secrets. This is about Angel again. Just when you think the best thing he did for us was dying, he strikes back from Hell, souring it for us all again!"

"Maybe I should go and speak to Buffy," Willow suggested.

"You do that, sweet girl," Belmovekk said and kissed her on the forehead.

"I have to go, remember," he said as she looked surprised, "give my regards and love to Buffy when she has cooled down."

"Well?" Oz said.

"Well what?" Belmovekk asked the guitarist.

"Are you going to tell us?"

"Nope," the Saiyan said, "I'm going to say goodbye to Joyce. If you want answers talk to Master Giles and tell him case yellow."

"Case yellow?" Oz said surprised.

"It's obviously a codeword, you dummy," Xander said as he lightly smacked Oz on the back of his head, "don't you watch any spy movies?"

"I'm a guitarist," Oz objected, "you're the nerd. You worry about movies, I stick to chords and scales."

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"I am all yours," Belmovekk said as he left the Summers residence empty handed a few minutes later.

"Do you need to get some personal stuff?" Major Davis asked, leaning against his car.

"I have what I need," Belmovekk smiled to put the major at ease, "I prefer to travel light."

"OK," the major shrugged as he extinguished his cigarette, "I guess we can travel straight to the airport then. A C-12 is waiting for us."

Belmovekk had no clue what a C-12 was but he didn't care,

"Alright, lead on, major," he said and gestured for them to go. They got in the car and Major Davis wasted no time to get out of the city towards the airport.

"If I may ask, major," Belmovekk asked curious, "how did you find me?"

"Secrets of the trade, Belmovekk, secrets of the trade," the major said smiling. Belmovekk raised an eyebrow and looked around.

"Since this is an unmarked police car I could say that you solicited the aid of the Sunnydale police," he said, "which leads me to suspect that they pointed you towards the right places to find me?"

Major Davis said nothing but started to look slightly uncomfortable..

"Funny how silence sometimes says more then words," Belmovekk smiled, "could you perhaps give me the names of the individuals who pointed you towards me?"

"You know I can't do that," Davis said taking another corner, "besides, you assaulted several police officers. That doesn't exactly speak for you."

The Saiyan snorted in disgust and looked away.

"To quote a certain person of authority in this town, major, the police of Sunnydale are 'deeply' stupid. They have a history of criminal negligence and the one time they should have been negligent they chose to interfere. They are lucky somebody implored me not to kill them."

The casual spoken threat sent a shiver down Major Davis' spine.

"Be silent if you want, major, it is of no consequence to me," Belmovekk said as he looked at the major again, "now that you've confirmed my suspicions I will find out who and what they know when I get back."

"This town is truly complicated," Major Davis sighed.

"You have no idea," Belmovekk agreed.

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At the same time a black stretch-limousine pulled into the drive-through lane of Happy Burger and stopped next to the speaker. A window lowers so the car's occupants could place an order.

"Welcome to Happy Burger," came from the speaker, "may I take your order, please?"

"Diet soda. Medium," came from inside the car.

"That'll be eighty-nine cents at the window, sir."

The car window closed and the car started moving forward to the window. Inside the car a black man was talking.

"Sunnydale. Town's got quaint. And the people? He called me 'sir'. Don't you just miss that? I mean, admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers, you know, strictly the Caucasian Persuasion here in the Dale. But, you know, you just gotta stand up and salute their death rate. I ran a statistical analysis, and hello darkness. It makes... D.C. look... like Mayberry, and ain't nobody saying boo about it. We could fit right in here. Have us some fun."

In the shadows next to the black man came another voice.

"We're here for one thing."

An arm with a cloven hand was put on the black man's knee

"Kill the Slayer, yeah," the black man sighed, only just hiding his annoyance, "look, my research showed something else. The death rate dropped dramatically the last year. Rumor has it something strong has taken over. Something that even scared the order of Taraka. And they don't scare easily. If we can defeat that, we become de facto rulers over night."

The black man opened the window and handed out a dollar to the drive through operator and accepts his soda.

"Have a nice night, sir," the teen said.

"Right back at ya," the black man replied cheerfully.

"The Slayer. I'm going to rip her spine from her body, and I'm going to eat her heart and suck the marrow from her bones," the man in the shadows ranted.

The black man thought that over and then came to a conclusion.

"Now I'm hungry," he said and lunged out of the window and grabbed the drive through operator and dragged him into the car.

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The next day, Principal Snyder's office. The little troll leaned back as both Buffy and her mother sat opposite to him again.

"Here are the terms of your re-entry, Missy," Snyder said, "take 'em or leave 'em."

He tried to look smugly but after Giles' little chat he sort of lacked the casual air to pull it off. And both Joyce and Buffy knew it, as Buffy casually picked up a letter opener and began to play with it, looking somewhat bored. Snyder swallowed before continuing.

"One: that you pass a makeup test of every class you skipped out on last year."

Buffy continued to play with the letter opener unimpressed and Snyder's smile started to sour.

"Two: that you provide, in writing, one 'glowing' letter of recommendation from any member of our faculty who is not an English librarian."

For a flash Snyder's eyes glared pure hatred at Buffy as she continued to doodle around. He straightened his jacket and got up to walk towards her.

"Three: that you complete an interview with our school psychologist who must conclude that your violent tendencies...," Snyder almost hissed as he took away the letter opener from her, "...are under control."

"I'm not sure I like your attitude, Mr. Snyder," Joyce said, "I also spoke with the school board, and according to them..."

"I know," Snyder sighed as he walked back to his desk and put down the letter opener, "I'm required to educate every juvenile who is not in jail where she belongs. Still, I think I could have dragged it out until she turns 18. In which case I'm no longer obligated to educate her. Unfortunately your friends proved to be very..., persuasive."

Standing in front of the window, his back to Buffy and Joyce Snyder steeled himself for the next, painful, words.

"Welcome back," he said gruffly.

Joyce and Buffy give each other a smile. Then Buffy got up.

"So let me get this straight. I'm back in school because you got 'overruled?'

Wow. That's like having your whole ability to do this job called into question, when you think about it."

"I think what my daughter's trying to say is...Nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah, nyah," Joyce said.

"Laugh all you want," Snyder replied as he seats himself, "your friends cannot protect you forever. Not even your thuggish boyfriend."

Joyce gave Snyder a strange look and before she could respond Buffy quickly took her mother by the arm and dragged her out of Snyder's office.

"Come, mom, he's not worth it."

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An hour later Buffy and Willow walked into the library, as usual empty of anybody but the gang, minus Oz who was rehearsing with his band.

"It's so great that you're a schoolgirl again," Willow said all bubbly.

Xander looked up from the homework he's been doing with Cordelia.

"So the rumors are true," Xander smiled mildly, "his Trollness did cave in?"

"Not without a fight," Buffy sighed, "he still wants me to jump through some hoops."

"That's Snyder for ya," Xander shrugged, "sorry for the casual welcome back party but unfortunately I have some hoops to jump through of my own."

And with that Xander returned his attention to his homework.

"Like this stupid science test," Cordelia complained, "why do they make us do these stupid courses? It's not as if I'll ever need it. If my car or TV breaks down I just call a repairman! Oh, hi Buffy."

"There's a touch of the frostness," Buffy said softly towards Willow.

"I guess Xander is still a bit upset over what happened last night," Willow replied.

"Why? I was totally in the right," Buffy can't help but snort, "I don't want to sound like a broken record. And I did agree that I would work with the man. But that Saiyan drives me up the wall with his secrets. Just when you think you know them all, another one pops up."

From the main table came a derisive snort, followed by some murmuring from Cordelia towards Xander.

"Maybe," Willow said slightly uncomfortably, "but there ways of saying it and there ways of saying it."

Buffy looked over her shoulder to the table where Cordelia has put her arm on Xander's shoulder.

"OK," she said, "I might have overdone it a little."

"A little," Xander said looking up at her, then he shook his head, "I guess the Buffster just apologized, that's got to count for something."

"I didn't apologize," Buffy objected, "I wasn't wrong!"

"Oh, our nice kind green God forbid that you are ever wrong," Xander snorted.

"God is green?" Cordelia asked surprised.

"Green as in chlorophyll, George Washington and hot Orion slave girls," Xander said.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it," Buffy said as she threw her hands in the air, "not now, not today, right?"

"Suit yourself," Xander shrugged, then he looked at Cordelia who nodded towards Buffy, then he looks at Buffy again and smiled, "wanna go to the Bronze tonight after training? Celebrate your return in some appropriate style?"

It's a peace offering and even though she doesn't feel like going out she accepted.

"I'd love to," Buffy replied.

"Isn't this cool," Willow chirped, "all of us going out to the Bronze like we used to do."

"Only this time tall, dark and broody isn't wi...," Cordelia said before clasping her mouth.

Before anyone can say anything, especially Buffy, Giles came out of his office.

"Hi Giles," Willow said in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

Seeing Buffy carry her schoolbooks again Giles can't help but feel that all is as it should be again. Well, almost. In order to stop him from gushing he piled on the stiff upper lip.

"Ah Buffy, good timing. So good of you to come by again. I could use your help in a small matter."

"Giles, contain yourself," Buffy replied trying to look as seriously as possible, "yes, I'm back in school, but you know how it embarrasses me when you gush so. Let's just skip all that and get straight to work."

Feeling awkward Giles started to blush and reached for his glasses.

"Oh, ahhhh... Well, I, um... Well-w... O-o-of course, it's wonderful to have you back, i-i-it goes without saying," Giles stammers until he notices her raised eyebrows and smile, "you enjoy making me say it, don't you?"

As the tension in the room lightened up Buffy grinned and picked up a bowl of powder from the assorted bowls and jars of various dried herbs arrayed on the counter.

"You're making demon pizza?" she asked as she took a sniff, then held out the bowl to let Willow have a sniff.

"These are for Acathla," Giles said as he put his glasses back on.

"You're serving him demon pizza?" she asked.

"I-I need to perform a binding spell," Giles said as he took the bowl from Buffy, "to make sure that wherever he now is, he stays dormant. And since neither you nor Belmovekk ever told us what exactly happened I'm asking you."

The atmosphere in the library changed instantly as everybody's attention switched towards Buffy. Xander looked up sideways from his homework, as did Cordelia. With everybody watching her Buffy felt more then uncomfortable. The events of that night still haunt her, Angel's shadow hanging around her in everything she sees. Luckily Willow again came to the rescue.

"Oh, a spell? Can I help?"

Giles looked at her as if not knowing what to say.

"Possibly," he finally said, "with the research. It's very sensitive and..."

"Oh! Who's more sensitive than me," Willow pouted looking all hurt.

"It's also a difficult spell," Giles said desperately, "it involves creating a-

a-a protective circle around... Well, I don't want to bore you with the details, but, uh, well, there's a litany th-that one has to recite in Aramaic, and it's very specific. So I need to get a few details about your experience of defeating Acathla and Angel."

Again all eyes turned to Buffy who put on her bravest casual face.

"What's there to say," she said, "Angel awoke Acathla and broke my sword. I gathered in a Kamehameha and shot them both straight to hell. End of story."

"Well, I need a little more information then that," Giles said as he took out a pen and small notepad.

"I've put the time at about, um, 6:17, around, about half an hour after Xander rescued me.

"Could be," Buffy shrugged, "I wasn't keeping any time. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I carried a watch."

"Oh, was the vortex already open," Giles asked, writing down something on his notepad.

"Barely," Buffy answered. She can see that both Xander and Cordelia had stopped working their homework and looked on with full interest.

"I see," Giles said writing, "and Angel?"

"Big fight," Buffy said, "he stabbed me, was about to kill me when Belmo intervenes. They fight, Belmo loses, I step in with a Kamehameha and both Angel and Acathla are blown into the big shiny thing. It closes, the end."

As to illustrate her point Buffy accompanies it with the Kamehameha movements.

"OK," Giles nodded taking more notes, "that, um... should be very helpful."

Xander raised an eyebrow as he gave Buffy a strange look, then he looked at Cordelia and resumed working on his homework. Buffy meanwhile checked her watch.

"Oh, no, I have to go take an English makeup exam," she said as she grabbed her books, then stops to look at Giles, "they give you credit just for speaking it, right?"

The looks she got from both Willow and Giles tell her everything she needed. Moaning a big oh she left.

As she left Giles went back into his office. Picking up a bundle of sage Willow followed him inside while she takes a sniff.

"Mm, sage," she said as she closed the door behind them, "I love that smell. Or that marnox root you had lying there. You know, a smidge of this mixed with a virgin's saliva... "

Giles began to look at her oddly.

"...does something I know nothing about.

Giles took of his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"These forces are not something that one plays around with, Willow. What have you been conjuring?"

"Nothing... much," Willow said as she put down the sage on the desk, "well, you know, I tried this spell to cure Angel, and I guess that was a bust. But since then, you know, small stuff: floating bottles, fire out of ice, which next time I won't do on the bedspread. Are you mad at me?"

"I'm not," Giles said as he put his glasses back on, "it's just that this magic and sorcery isn't to be trifled with. Couldn't you just wait until Belmovekk and I had the proper time to teach you these things?"

Willow started to pout again.

"But it's just that you guys never have time for me. You're always busy, Belmo was more drunk then sober these last months and now he's with the air force. And what is that all about?"

"I know," Giles said as he sat down in his chair, looking outside of the window, "it has me worried as well. However, his absence is no excuse to wildly experiment yourself, Willow."

"I'm sorry," Willow said guiltily.

"Good," Giles said, "I can't help you much with the sorcery except to keep on doing what Belmovekk told you. I'll see if I can find some basic spells that will help you with some simple magic."

"Oh thank you Giles," Willow said as she starts hugging the librarian, "I won't let you down!"

"As for what Belmovekk is up with the air force, I will be telling all I know during training this evening. As you know in Belmovekk's absence I'm to oversee things and since Joyce will be coming as well I will only have to tell it once."

x

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Sitting on the bed in one of the guest quarters of the SGC, Belmovekk mused over the events of the past day. The US Air Force C-12, a small plane as it turned out, had brought him to Colorado Springs. Next a heavily armed column of armored vehicles called Humvees had delivered him to the Mountain.

Inside he had been brought to an interrogation room with heavily armed guards posted both in- and outside the room. And there they let him stew for a while. So Belmovekk had done what he always did in such cases. He sat down in a chair, put his feet on the table and made himself comfortable while taking a nap.

After an hour, maybe more, the door opened and an Air Force technician awoke Belmovekk by rolling in a rig containing a computer and projection set and hooked things up. When he was finished he left again. After a few more minutes the door opened again and Major Davis came in, together with a portly bald man.

"Warleader Hammond," Belmovekk said as he stood up to greet the SGC commander, "it has been a long time since we met."

"Sometimes I wish we'd never met, Belmovekk," General Hammond said and then ordered the armed guards to leave the room.

"Have I somehow displeased you, Warleader Hammond?" the Saiyan said in mock surprise as the guards closed the door behind them.

"You can drop the innocent act, Belmovekk," General Hammond said looking not very amused, "you have been holding out on us."

"I did?" Belmovekk said, again feigning innocence, "By the Gods, you are the second person this week to accuse me of that."

"Maybe because you have?" Hammond said as he seated himself opposite from Belmovekk by the table.

"Well, who does not keep secrets, warleader," Belmovekk shrugged as he sat down and put his feet back on the table, "after all, you and your government keep this place and the existence of a lot of things secret from the general public. You are secrecy. And yet I get accused of holding something back myself?"

"Don't you play smart with me, Belmovekk," Hammond said, again not very amused, "we didn't seek your help, you came to us seeking ours, remember?"

The Saiyan looked away as if his pride had been insulted.

"Well, pardon me for thinking that the coming of two killer androids would be something of potential interest to you," he huffed with mock indignation.

"It does," Hammond said, his tone a little more relaxed, "and you did say at the time that you would keep secret the identities of certain people. And you did clarify to us certain events that took place in the desert of Turkmenistan, more then a year ago. But we don't take kindly that you kept the identity of this man a secret."

Major Davis who sat next to Hammond punched something in the computer and a set of images were projected on the wall. Images of Belmovekk, Goku, the Scoobies and Vegeta outside his place. A series that culminated with Vegeta's lift off.

The Saiyan didn't seem particular surprised. He'd suspected that the good major had seen more then he'd let on.

"So I know that individual," Belmovekk said casually, "and I kept his identity a secret. Is that such a problem?"

"The subject known to us as Vegeta was first brought to our attention by certain allies off planet," Major Davis said and clicked something with his mouse. A film started to play.

"This film has never left the SGC," the major continued, "it shows the subjugation of a planet by forces of the warlord Freeza in the hired service of a Goa'uld warlord."

"Looks like Baal by the looks of it," Belmovekk said, looking seemingly disinterested but secretly absorbing every detail of it.

"You know this Goa'uld?" General Hammond said surprised, "So far we have not yet encountered him."

"As part of a mission for my king in this galaxy I kept tabs on all the major Goa'uld, Warleader Hammond," Belmovekk said as he pointed to the Goa'uld, "our king entertained the notion of forming an alliance with a certain Goa'uld called Ra. Ra however kept off all overtures. So we tried to find another. Baal seemed like a good candidate but I ruled him out. Most Goa'uld are brutish louts full of themselves. Baal however is a smart brutish lout full of himself. Smart ones are always more dangerous. When dealing with potentially dangerous allies I prefer them to be stupid instead of smart."

"I see," General Hammond said, perfectly understanding the sentiment. It was always the smart ones that gave the most trouble. The film meanwhile showed the arrival of Freeza's strike force with Baal's welcoming party down on the cleansed planet.

"Ah," Belmovekk said as the camera zoomed in on Vegeta's familiar face, "I can see why you feel a certain apprehension towards Vegeta."

"A certain apprehension?" Hammond said not believing his ears, "That man is a mass murderer!"

"Well, technically so am I, Warleader Hammond," Belmovekk shrugged, "I have made no secrets of my past."

"True, but as you said, you had a long time to think things over," Hammond countered, "in his case we know next to nothing. And what makes it worse is this next footage."

Major Davis clicked on the computer mouse and another film was projected.

"These images came to us from a defector in North-Korea recently," the major said, "he thought it might indebt us to him. And he was more right then he could ever imagine in his wildest dreams. The North-Korean regime keeps a tight reign on its people through secret police and closed camera TV systems. We now know that three years ago, in 1996, two spherical ships landed in the city of Chŏngju. The crash caused major damage at the landing site but enough of the closed camera systems continued working to film this."

So far the film had shown the crash of the two ships, then they opened and two men came out, a large bald brute and a short guy with weird hair. The POV shifted to another camera that gave a closeup of their faces. It was Vegeta's face wearing a scouter. Vegeta spoke to the other guy who smirked back. Then the large brute help up his hand with two fingers pointing upwards and the film ended in one big flash. Then as the footage ended Vegeta's and Nappa's faces re-appeared.

"That was the last of the footage," Major Davis said, "our defector told us that one of the ships took off on its own power later that day. The North-Koreans later claimed to the world that an earthquake destroyed Chŏngju and we had no reason to doubt them back then. The other ship was taken to P'yŏngyang where it mysteriously self-destructed weeks later."

"Now can you see why we are so worried that this Vegeta is here on Earth," General Hammond said anxious, "we have a known mass murderer walking freely on this planet. And we have no idea where his two associates are."

"Well, the large one was called Nappa," Belmovekk said and pointed to the bald man's face, "and he died that same day. By the very hands of Vegeta I might add. The other one, from that Goa'uld video, he was called Radditz and he died a year before that. Here on Earth not even that very far from here. Vegeta and Nappa came here for reasons which I will not tell. Suffice to say that this planet has other defenders besides the SGC, Warleader Hammond. I mentioned them once before. Private individuals who without thinking are willing to sacrifice their lives for this planet. Which is why I will not name them. It was they who defeated Vegeta. At great cost to themselves I might add. Vegeta came this close to dying that day, but he claimed many a good man that day."

"As for Vegeta, I can say for 100% that he, like me, has undergone a change of heart. I am not saying he is a good guy these days, more of an independent operator. He was instrumental in defeating Freeza and will probably be instrumental again if we fail to find Dr. Gero and his androids. And if he were ever to turn against this world I will kill him without hesitation. That goes without saying. And If I can not, then so will the other defenders of this world."

"I'd like to learn more of these people," General Hammond said, "it was all and nice before, but with this man on Earth I feel the need for more information.

"You cannot, Warleader Hammond," the Saiyan said on a tone that was final, "they are preparing to fight these androids as we speak. You learning of them could hinder them as much as knowledge of the SGC to the general public would hinder your work. They are good people, Warleader Hammond. Please accept my word for it."

Hammond leaned back unconvinced.

"The problem is that your word has been slightly compromised by what transpired in Mongolia, half a year ago," he said, "Washington doesn't like it when they have to explain things that they themselves find it hard to understand."

The Saiyan shook his head and muttered something to himself. Then he looked Hammond right in the eyes.

"I have apologized many times for that mistake, warleader," he said, "it was stupid of me to lose control. It was inexcusable. There was no justification for what I did. But you have not gone through all this trouble to chew me out over what happened in Mongolia half a year ago. Nor to learn about Vegeta. Who, according to those pictures, you only learned of my connection to him about yesterday. Your man said you tried contacting me before that. You want something else from me. What is it?"

"Your actions in Mongolia have caused doubts in Washington, Belmovekk," Hammond said, "and you knowing and keeping quiet of Vegeta doesn't help your case."

Then Hammond's tone and stance softened.

"But there is the chance for you to earn some credit. Eight days ago a SG team went to a world we thought to be safe. We believed the world contained naquadah. Since a certain powerful US senator who is on the SGC oversight committee had been demanding he be let on a mission we thought this would be a good opportunity. Unfortunately we were wrong."

As Hammond continued Major Davis brought up data and images through his computer to illustrate Hammond's exposition.

"Instead of it being a milk run, P3X-583 turned out to be the place of a Goa'uld strip mining operation. Most of the team got captured including the senator. We twice tried mounting a rescue operation but they were repulsed with heavy losses each time. And we are a bit stretched thin at the moment thanks to a major ongoing operation on K'Tau."

"So you want me to rescue your elder?" Belmovekk said leaning back with a big grin. Causing Hammond to sigh inward. He immediately knew the balance of power between them had shifted.

"Yes, and any of our personnel that got captured if possible," he said.

"Hmm," the Saiyan said as he leaned forward to study some of the imagery, "can you show me more your tactical data?"

x

x

That evening Buffy, Willow and Oz were sitting on the love couch in the Bronze as Cordelia and Xander walked up and sat opposite to them on a similar couch.

"Check out Slut-O-Rama and her Disco Dave," Cordelia said and pointed to the dance floor. There a girl dressed to impress, the male libido that is, was dancing with a guy. Or maybe barely riding up his legs like a dog in heat was a better term. Now while she showed the proper moves, his style looked a bit more out of date. By a couple of decades.

"Disco Stu," Xander grinned.

"What was the last thing that guy danced too," Cordelia said, shaking her head at such outdated behavior, "K.C. and the Sunshine Band?"

"Vamp," Oz shrugged as he leaned back disinterested. Xander stared at the guy intently and then confirmed it.

"He feels wrong," he said.

"Told ya," Oz said and tapped his nose.

"Shouldn't you be doing something?" Cordelia asked, looking at her boyfriend and then back to Disco Vamp.

"As long as he's not biting he's not breaking the Edict and he can do as he wishes," Xander said, then his face soured, "and I can't believe I just said that."

"Yeah," Willow said, "didn't you use to worship at the church of 'kill, vampires, kill'?"

"How the mighty have fallen," Xander said and buried his head in Cordelia's lap in shame, "you still love me right?"

"Sure," Cordelia smiled, then she looked at the dancing couple again, "do you think she knows?"

"Could be," Buffy said, "Giles and Belmo said there seems to be a growing number of Vamp groupies. They say that if you let a Vamp bite you during sex and drink a little the sex is incredible. Which I of course wouldn't know anything about."

"Sure Buff," Xander grinned and smacked his hand on her leg and gave it a comforting squeeze. Then he leaned back on Cordelia's lap again and looked her in the eyes and smiled. Willow looked at Oz and he smiled at her. Then she looked at Buffy, the odd one out.

"Sorry we're all so clingy," Willow said as she made an apologetic gesture.

"It's OK," Buffy said, "don't be miserable on my account."

"If you want I could 'mosey' over to Scott and hook you up?" Oz volunteered," he seemed quit anxious for you two to go to dateville."

"Scott's after Buffy?" Xander asked surprised.

"Didn't you know?" Oz replied and nodded towards a boy standing near the bar, "He already almost came by earlier. I think she scared him off."

"I did not," Buffy objected, "I just gave him a look that says not interested."

"No," Oz said, "there's looking disinterested and there is looking 'come any closer and I rip your head off'."

Xander raised his head to look at Scott.

"I'm not sure I like any competition moving…."

"…the correct word is mosey," Oz interrupted.

"Fine," Xander continued, "mosey in on my girl."

WHACK!

"Auw!" Xander moans as he started to rub his head.

"What am I, your cushion?" Cordelia asked angrily after having hit him on the head.

"I mean girl as in very close and dear friend, baby," Xander said apologetic while rubbing his injured spot, "you know you are the one for me, right?"

"Hmpff," Cordelia snorted, but she didn't push Xander away so he felt safe enough to remain where he rested and looked at Oz.

"OK, maybe she can date Scott," he said. Then he mouths something inaudible, but which looked suspiciously much like 'at least he's human'.

"I don't believe you guys," Buffy said, "you're deciding my love life like a bunch of Third World patriarchs as if I'm not even there!"

"Women's Lib is overrated," Xander grinned, only to be rudely interrupted as Cordelia pushed him off, sending him crashing on the floor.

"If I wanted to date a Neanderthal I could have chosen a football jock," she said outraged.

"Ah, come on, baby?" Xander whined but Cordelia was now unrelenting.

"Be careful to meddle in the affairs of Slayers because they aren't subtle and prone to anger," Buffy grinned at Xander's misfortune, only to earn weird looks from Willow and Oz, "What? I passed my English test, remember?"

Oz looked at Willow, then they both shrug. It's only then that Oz noticed something.

"They're leaving," he said and nodded to Disco Vamp and the Slutster.

"I think I'll have a word with him," Buffy said as she got up.

"Why," Oz asked, "there hasn't been a vamp attack since forever?"

"Like Belmo likes to say, it never hurts to remind them who's Boss here," Buffy said over her shoulder. No sooner has she made her way across the dance floor when she found Scott standing in her way.

"Hi," he said.

Of all the timings in the world she sighed mentally.

"Out of my way," she said offhand and just pushed the guy aside.

"That went well," Scott said dejected as Buffy stormed past him.

Leaving a very confused and humiliated Scott behind her Buffy finally made for the exit. The others follow her closely.

"Poor kid," Xander said, "all he wanted was for you to give him a chance."

"Then he should have worked on his timing instead," Buffy said unsympathetic, "I'm busy."

"Why are you so intent on this vamp?" Xander asked, "while I find vampire groupies to be utterly incomprehensible, if she wants it...ugh, I just can't believe I said it again!"

"I have a hunch," Buffy said as she opened the backdoor and stepped into the alley, "where'd she go?"

"I bet it's nothing," Cordelia said as she and the others followed Buffy outside, "they're probably just making out."

"Then he better keep his teeth inside," Buffy said looking around..

The alley however seemed deserted. That seemed suspicious enough for the others to also start looking. Since Xander had been trained by Kame Senin and Krillin to sense chi without a scouter Buffy turned to him. Xander concentrates for a moment and pointed to around the corner.

No sooner as he started pointing a girl called out in a complaining tone.

"Hey!"

A loud breaking noise could be heard next.

"That's not what making out sounds like," Willow said, "unless I'm doing it wrong."

The three chi trained fighters raced around the corner, with Willow and Cordelia taking a little longer to cross the distance. What they see next however was not the girl under attack, but Disco-Vamp being kicked around like a training dummy. As he got smacked against a chain link fence he saw Buffy and the Scoobies standing there, looking on in bewilderment.

"Slayer! I...," he tried to say but the girl grabbed him and threw him around some more. As he staggered around she kicked him in the back, sending him in a pile of crates. The girl then grabbed his head from behind and started to pound it on the ground. While she's making him eat dirt she turned her head and noticed Buffy.

"It's okay," she said confidently, "I got it. You're, uh, Buffy, right?"

Before Buffy could answer the vampire managed to get his head loose and back elbowed the girl in the face. It sent her back a few steps and she noticed that blood started to trickle from the corner of her mouth. She wiped it off with her hand and looked at it.

Seeing that he has hurt the girl underneath the very nose of the Slayer sends the vampire in a babbling frenzy.

"Look! I didn't mean...I-I-I thought...She attacked me...the Edict..."

The girl attacked again and grabbed the vampire's arm, twists it behind his back and she slammed him face first into the chain fence.

"I'm Faith," the girl said, glancing briefly over her shoulder before pummeling the vampire some more.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town," Oz said towards Willow.

"Slayer, please...?" the vampire moaned towards Buffy as Faith used his kidneys for a punching bag.

"It's not my place to save vamps," Buffy said casually and folded her arms in front of her chest.

Having finally had enough, Faith picked up the vampire and threw him next to the broken crates. There she picked up a shard of wood to her liking and staked the vamp.

"Slayer...," are his last words as he crumbled to dust.

Faith looked up at Buffy and dropped the impromptu stake.

"Thanks B. Couldn't have done it without you," she said and walked past the group to go back inside.

x

x

"Do you believe her story that she skipped town when her Watcher went back to England just to see me?" Buffy snorted the next day.

Giles stopped to think it over for a moment and started to fumble with his glasses without taking them off. For the past half hour Faith had flattered him outrageously when she explained as to why she had came to Sunnydale. And to be honest, it felt nice for a change to be something else then the butt end of teenage guff all the time. She had taken in everyone except it would appear Buffy.

"Well, judging from your past behavior, and considering she's even more 'spirited' then you, I wouldn't be surprised if..." Giles notices the growing angry scowl on Buffy's face,"...i-i-if you are right."

Sensing that discretion is the better part of valor Giles decided to quickly change the subject.

"I-I-I've been having a little problem with the, uh, binding spell for Acathla," he said as he whipped out his little notebook again, "I-I-I'm lacking the, the requisite details to perform it correctly. Now, physical location. Acathla was facing south?"

"Mm-hm," Buffy replied and started to point, "Acathla, Belmo, Angel, me, mother of all Kamehameha's, boom!"

"Now, see, that's what I thought," Giles said without looking up, "but I..."

Buffy interrupted him as she started to pack her books into her bag.

"Giles, look, I've got makeup tests to pass and a zesty new Slayer to keep track off. Next time I kill Angel, I'll video it."

She was about to leave the library when the doors opened and a very nervous looking rapper wannabe, with his sweatshirt hood drawn over his head, came in and bumped into her hard. The collision only caused Buffy to drop her bag, yet the rapper wannabe fell down yelping in pain. As his hood fell off a very wrinkled and decidedly non-human face was suddenly revealed.

"Clem?" Buffy exclaimed surprised, "What are you..."

x

x

"And over here, we have the cafeteria," Willow said as she and Xander were giving Faith the guided tour of Sunnydale high, "where we were mauled by snakes."

"And this is the spot where Spike tried to kill Buffy," Xander said as he pointed to a spot on the ground.

"Oh, that reminds me," Willow added smiling, "over there in the lounge is where Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on Parent-Teacher night."

Although most of it meant nothing to Faith she was however loving all the attention.

"Oh," Willow said and pointed to a set of stairs, "a-and up those stairs, I was sucked into a muddy grave."

"And they say young people don't learn anything in high school nowadays," Xander grinned, "but, um, I've learned to be afraid."

Willow nodded in agreement.

"You guys are a hoot and a half," Faith said laughing, "If I'd had friends like you in high school, I... probably still would've dropped out. But I might've been sad about it, you know?"

Xander and Willow nodded in understanding.

"Hey, so what's up with B," Faith suddenly asked, "I mean, she seems wound kinda tight. Needs to find the fun a little? Like you two."

"Well, um, she...," Willow tried to say but Faith got distracted by a drinking fountain of all things.

"Oh. Water," she said and made for the fountain to drink.

As Willow and Xander turn to watch her go to the fountain Cordelia managed to sneak up to them unnoticed.

"Oh, and then the alligator story," Xander said enthusiastically to Willow, "she's got something, doesn't she?

"What is it with you and Slayers?" Cordelia said suddenly, causing Xander to jerk around violently, "Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake to your throat."

"Please, God, don't let that be sarcasm," Xander said as he took Cordelia's arm and smiled at her.

Before Cordelia could say anything Buffy came running down the stairs as fast as she can get away with and joined them.

"We have to go back to the Library," Buffy said urgently.

"Trouble?" Xander asked weary. Buffy nodded.

"Big time," she said.

"How big?" Xander asked, getting a familiar sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Edict big," Buffy replied seriously.

"I'll go and get Oz," Willow said and left.

"Where's Faith," Buffy asked and looked around. Before Xander can reply she spots Faith at the drinking fountain chatting with Scott. Mouthing a silent 'why me?' she stepped in to intervene.

"Hey," Buffy said as she joins the two.

"Hey, Buffy," Scott greets her with a smile, "uh, Faith has been telling me tall tales."

"She's funny," Buffy said with a big smile and put her arm around Faith's, "and she's leaving. We have to go."

"We do?" Faith asked disappointed.

"Oh...," Scott said also disappointed as Buffy dragged Faith away.

"Bye," Faith said smiling over her shoulder. Then she turned to Buffy.

"What is your problem, B.?"

"Firstly, I don't like how you are putting the moves on a potential Buffy wannabe boyfriend.

"I don't see property of Buffy stamped on him," Faith grinneds.

"Secondly," Buffy added with a growing smile, "you lied to us."

x

x

"His name is Kakistos," Giles said to the re-assembled and seated Scoobies plus a nervous looking Faith in the library, "which is Greek for worst of the worst."

"Of course, it's always something like that, why not best of the best? Or Mister Sun...," Xander tried to say, then he saw the mother of all frowns on Giles' face, "I'll shut up!"

"Kakistos is also a name for a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven. And according to my latest council reports he happens to reside in Boston."

All eyes turn to Faith.

"Aren't you from Boston, Faith?" Willow asked curious.

"I, uh, I, um...," Faiths stammered very uncomfortably.

"Two days ago an employee of the local Happy Burger disappeared during the night shift," Giles said, "our local demon populace keeps a nervous eye to any missing persons report coming up. They investigated the disappearance as soon as they learned of it. They learned that a black limousine was seen leaving the place. One carrying a Massachusetts license plate."

Again all eyes turned towards Faith.

"You think he and Faith are connected?" Willow asked.

"This guy showed up two days ago," Buffy said looking at Faith, "right around the same time my bestest newest little sister makes the scene. Coincidence?"

"Look," Faith said as she got up nervously, "you guys don't understand. I can deal with this! Maybe I should go."

She tried to quickly leave the library but Buffy slammed her right back in her chair.

"Stay!"

"I can't," Faith said, "this is not your problem!"

"He killed in my town, missy," Buffy said as she leaned over until her face is close to Faith's, "that makes it my problem."

"You don't understand," Faith said desperately, "you don't know me. You don't know what I've been through. I'll take care of this, all right?"

"Like you did your Watcher?" Buffy asked.

What remains of Faith's defiance melted away as she turned away and avoided everyone's gaze.

"He killed her, didn't he?" Giles said as he moved up to Faith, "I called England and they say she never checked in for the Watcher's gathering."

"They don't have a word for what he did to her," Faith hissed softly as the memory of what happened refueled her both her anger and her depression.

Buffy's stance softened as she put her hand on Faith's shoulder.

"We can help," she said, her cold tone gone.

"No you can't," Faith said back softly, "he's too strong. The best I could do was take out his eye."

"So that is why he's after you?" Xander said as he got up and went into the cage.

"You can't run forever, Faith," Buffy said.

"Oh, you'll be surprised how far a head start can get you," Faith said as she wiped away a tear.

"I used to agree on that," Xander said as he re-emerged from the cage and started to throw out scouters to Buffy and Oz. Then he put on his and held out the remaining one to Faith.

"Want one?"

x

x

In one of the anterooms of the gate chamber SG-13 was preparing for a mission. SG-13's CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Fenton, Ash for intimates, was going over last minute details with General Hammond and his squad leaders. SG-13 differed from other SG teams in both size and mission. Where others had exploration, science or diplomacy as their main objective, SG-13 existed purely as a larger combat unit, a blunt force instrument, to be broken out in case of emergency. Henceforth the fire axe as its symbol. And now was such a case.

This was going to be SG-13's second rescue attempt to free the captured senator and they didn't relish going back. The previous time they had received a thorough licking. Granted, they had been somewhat cocky, but that came with the territory of being an elite special force with a good success rate. In general, despite Teal'c talking a lot of trash about the Jaffa being fine warriors, the snakeheads didn't really impress SG-13 when it came to combined arms tactics. Fine warriors individually, maybe, good solders, questionable.

But whoever was commanding this Jaffa force knew his stuff. And a lot of theirs as well as it would seem. SG-13 had transitioned to P3X-583 without problems, but soon ran into a well prepared ambush. One with plenty of firepower. SG-13 had taken casualties, could have overcome the ambush but when a squadron of deathgliders also intervened, Lieutenant-Colonel Fenton decided that it was better to fight to live another day. It also being a very bad sign that when the going gets tough, the enemy called in for air support.

This time he was ready though. SG-13 normally carried a few stinger missiles and this time Fenton had gotten himself a full Stinger platoon from an air defense battalion from the nearby Fort Carson, and made sure every squad carried one team. He had also borrowed a couple of mortar teams from another Fort Carson unit and distributed an old favorite from the Vietnam war, 40mm grenade launchers, in ample numbers amongst the troops. And of course, enough ammo to invade a small country. Fortune favored the prepared and Fenton preferred being over prepared. Ridiculously over prepared.

Fenton signaled his men that the operation would commence as Hammond went back to the gate control room. Fenton together with this first squad went into the gate room.. The gate dialing mechanism swung into action as P3X-583 was dialed in and the other squads of SG-13 assembled themselves into sticks in the anteroom.

First to go however was a reconnaissance remote controlled robot. It transitioned through the event horizon and upon arrival started to send back imagery. Imagery that was however cut short immediately, as several Goa'uld staff weapons hit the robot. It was as expected. This time their enemy was guarding the gate itself.

"LZ is hot, colonel," General Hammond said through the speaker. Fenton nodded, he hadn't expected anything less. This enemy commander seemed to know his business and keeping the gate closely covered would have been exactly what he would have done this time. Making any attempt to get through into a re-enactment of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.

Fenton nodded to the engineers controlling a large drone launcher set up in the middle of the gate room.

"Let's do it," he said. The technicians grinned. They didn't get to do this often so they looked forward to launching their baby. In this case a remote controlled airplane of considerable size. The SGC employed several kinds of remote controlled drones on a regular basis. This was a new model though, the largest that could be launched through the gate and its wings just barely made it through the gate as a JATO rocket helped it take off.

No sooner had it gotten through as the gate was shut down. For this was no ordinary drone. Its sole purpose being to carry 500 pounds of fuel air explosive through the gate and explode as soon as it got high enough. That, and because chances were some trigger happy Jaffa would shoot as soon as it got through, was why the connection was cut.

Immediately the gate control team started redialing. Fenton hoped to hit the LZ running while the Jaffa close to gate had been killed and the survivors still disorientated. The doors to the anteroom opened to give the rest of the SG-13 strike force the follow up.

Normally the gate dialed pretty quickly but this time it seemed like an eternity before the event horizon erupted and stabilized. Leading the first squad himself Fenton was one of the first through. No sooner did they got through as they started firing, this is why the first squad mostly carried SAW's instead of the normal P90 assault weapons. On the other side the drone had done its job and the area around the gate was heavily blasted, with lots of vegetation burning.

"Don't you just love the smell of napalm in the morning," one guy joked as they didn't encounter any living resistance. There were numerous dead and very charred Jaffa and two heavily damaged staff cannons, their dead gunners cooking inside.

As more members of SG-13 came through the gate and assumed their positions, Fenton couldn't help but think it was going textbook. So far so good. Perversely the only things that stood undamaged was the actual gate itself and the DHD controller. Whatever the Ancients built, they clearly built to last.. Using his radio set Fenton gave the news to Hammond.

"We're here," he said, "moving to secure the LZ."

The sound of incidental staff weapons fire signaled that some Jaffa elsewhere were rallying to their incursion. A staff cannon started firing from the edge of the perimeter. And one of his squads answered using a Dragon missile launcher to silence the offending weapon. As his teams moved to the edge of the clearing that marked the open spot around the Stargate they quickly dispatched the few surviving Jaffa.

"Deathgliders at seven," a sudden cry yelled.

Whoever had spotted them was right as Fenton saw 4 deathgliders coming in formation from the north. The good part of having a well coordinated team as SG-13 was that he rarely had to give orders. His people knew their jobs and didn't need him to tell him everything. As soon as they were in range several stinger missiles launched and streaked towards their targets. Three went down in flames, the fourth was lucky but knew better then to come back in alone. He started circling outside of their range, probably to give the enemy commander an oversight as to what was happening. Until the SGC could come up with a way to deploy a Patriot battery through the Stargate it probably couldn't be helped. Luckily the area was heavily forested so it could cover most of their approach.

"Perimeter secured, sir," Major Morelli, his second in command announced cheerfully.

Fenton nodded. Behind them came the sound of another remote controlled plane launching through the gate to act as a scout.

"Don't you think this is going to easy, Morelli?" Fenton replied without giving the scout's take off even a look.

"They didn't know what hit them, Ash," his second smiled," that which does not kill you has made a tactical error!"

"Well, let's not be afraid to be the first to resort to violence," Fenton agreed, "You know the plan."

In this case the plan consisted of keeping two 6 man squads near the gate, together with two stinger teams and the mortar crews. Most of SG-13's 8 squads, five of them, would force march out to the compound that was believed to house the senator and possible other captives. The remaining eight squad was to be kept near the gate with the support group, forming the tactical reserve.

"Let's move it, people," Fenton yelled, "time to earn your mortgage!"

x

x

In a low lit warehouse Kakistos and his minions awaited sunset. Meanwhile Trick was busy working on his laptop computer.

"Mr. Trick, talk to me," Kakistos said both impatiently and very bored.

"Check this out," Trick said proudly as he gestured to his laptop, "this town, this very street, is wired for fiber optics. See, we jack in a T-3, um, twenty-five hundred megs per, we have the whole 'world' at our fingertips."

He might as well have been speaking in ancient Chinese tongues considering the vacant look in Kakistos eyes. Trick sighed. How could a vampire of Kakistos' age last so long without adapting to the changing times around him?

"What I'm saying is," Trick said, as if explaining to a child, "we stay local, where the humans are jumpin' and the cotton is high, but we live global. I mean, you know, you get the hankering for the blood of a fifteen-year-old Filipina, and I'm on the 'Net and she's here the next day, express air."

It's the perfect setup. Yet again it failed to impress the age old master vampire.

"I want the blood of the Slayer," he said getting more impatient.

Tricks sighed again. Maybe he should have stayed independent.

"On that note, there's good news and bad," he said, "rumor has it that this

town already has a Slayer, which makes two. I'm not really sure how that happened, although somebody rumored that another master vampire called The Master had something to do with it.

"The Master was an asshole," Kakistos shouted as he jumped up from his chair, "he was an upstart when I was already old! I don't care if there are a 'hundred' Slayers! I'll kill them all!"

Kakistos pointed to his scarred and blinded eye.

"She's going to pay for what she did to me!"

Trick nodded.

"Yeah, she will," he said as somebody knocked at the door and he went to open the door, "I'm running a computer check on every hotel, rooming house and youth hostel in town. Meanwhile, as soon as the sun goes down..."

Trick donned a welders glove on his hand and made ready to open the door.

"Food's here, boys," he grinned and opened the door. .

"You guys order a piz...," a pizza carrying delivery boy asked.

Before the kid could finish his sentence Trick lunged with his gloved hand and tried to grab him inside. To his surprise it's like trying to pull in a massive concrete block and he has to let go as his arm started to smoke.

"Surprise," the delivery boy grinned as he pulled off his pizza courier hat from his shaggy black hair and put a weird looking device on his left ear. Then all hell suddenly broke lose. The kid lunged out and swatted Trick aside as if he were a wet piece of paper. As Trick crashed into a wall, before his light go out he noticed that two more kids, one a blond girl, jumped in after the delivery boy.

x

x

SG-13 hit trouble after about 6 minutes of forced march. Massed volleys of Jaffa staff weapons suddenly opened fire on them and pinned them down. And they even had two staff cannons to back them up. Because Fenton had expected another ambush nobody got killed or injured as his men dove for cover at the first sounds of fire. He ordered some of his men to throw smoke grenades and then called in the mortars. The mortars used a new tracking system that could track SG-13 and then direct their fire to any position relative to SG-13. So all Fenton had to do was state distance and direction from his position and watch the fireworks come down.

Which came in the shape of tree burst shrapnel rounds. The mortar team started dropping them as fast as possible on the Jaffa lines and soon the shooting turned into screaming. The cannons were of sturdier stuff but without infantry support they were more vulnerable and a few well aimed Dragon missiles took care of them.

Ordering the mortars to cease fire Fenton gave the order to storm the Jaffa and SG-13 quickly turned mincemeat out of the survivors.

"We got the tools, we got the talent," one of the men yelled victorious. Many shared his sentiment. A few however said otherwise, not wanting to jinx the mission before it was over.

"This goes way too easy," Fenton said, shaking his head. But he had no choice and ordered SG-13 to move on.

Kakistos minions were few and proved little challenge to the Scoobies. Within five seconds they were all dust, leaving only Kakistos. To say he was pissed at the recent turn of events was an understatement.

"What is this?" he shouted angrily.

"Khaki Trousers," the blond girl said as she positioned herself in front of him, "this is your wake up call!"

Kakistos looked surprised at the insolent girl.

"What do you mean," he said, "it's three o'clock in the afternoon?"

"Isn't that when you vamps rise?" the blonde said with an big airheaded smile, as a short red haired kid positioned himself to the girl's left.

"Who are you people?" Kakistos asked.

"The last thing you'll ever see," the shaggy haired delivery boy said as he positioned himself to the girl's right.

"I'm the Slayer," the blonde girl said. Kakistos sized her up. Even though she and the others made mincemeat out of his minions he was not impressed

"No you're not," he said dismissively, "Faith is. Where is she? Is she hiding outside? Faith, get in here!"

"News update, Satan wannabe," the blonde said, "I'm the original Slayer. Faith? She's the understudy."

"It doesn't matter," Kakistos growled, anger rising quickly, "if I must kill you all to get Faith I will!"

"God, they're all like card board villains," the shaggy haired delivery boy said shaking his head in disapproval, "always with the threatening. I've seen better bad guys in Jerry Bruckheimer movies!"

"Now that's stretching it," the third red haired kid said.

"Hey, I happen to think Ed Harris was a well rounded three dimensional character in The Rock," shaggy haired delivery boy protested.

"Yeah, but Ed's good and well rounded in any movie he does," the red haired kid remarked, "so he doesn't count."

"Does that asteroid from Armageddon count?" shaggy haired delivery boy asked, to which the red haired kid shook his head.

"A: Lame that you have to bring in a rock as a well rounded bad guy and B.: no it doesn't."

Kakistos listened to their banter in shock, unable to believe that these kids don't take him serious as to actually talk about movies while he's still present.

"AAAAAHHH!," he yelled angrily, "Where is Faith! FAITH!"

"You wanted me?" a new voice said. Kakistos turned around. It's Faith and she's standing in the door, carrying a strange device on her face, similar as to the ones the other three kids are carrying. A big grin appeared on his face.

"Ah, finally. Faith," he grinned, "we meet again. So you ran to hide behind the shoulders of another Slayer? It won't matter. I'll rip out your heart after I rip out theirs."

"Yo, Goatboy," the blonde whistled, "we're still here."

"One Slayer, two Slayers, a hundred, it doesn't matter," Kakistos snorted.

"Well, guess again," the blonde said as she and the two boys stretched out their right arms and glowing spheres appears in front of each hand.

"Magicks," Kakistos snorted in disgust, "please, I eat magicians for breakfast."

"Eat this!" the blonde said and grinned viciously. Then three energy beams hit Kakistos head on. The resulting explosion is so large it caused Faith to seek cover from the blastwave. Kakistos got blasted into smithereens and his remnants turn into dust before they can hit the floor.

As Faith looked back smoke clouded her view. What the hell just happened? Then a strong wind started to blow through the warehouse and drove away the smoke until Faith could see again. Buffy and Xander are like on fire. White fire that enveloped them yet doesn't consume them. Their flames are causing the very strong winds that blew away the smoke. The device on her face has numbers going haywire. Every time she looked at Buffy, Xander or Oz a different number comes up, with Buffy having the highest, near the 600 and the Oz kid the lowest, around 100.

"It's Miller time!" Xander said as he highfived both Buffy and Oz simultaneously, "We came, we saw, we kicked his ass!"

"Did you hear him huff and puff?" Buffy snorted and proceeded to talk like Kakistos, "I'm going to kill you all. Mister so called barely a 100, big mighty uber vamp! Even Oz could have handled him. Pathetic much!"

"That he was," Xander agreed and looked at Buffy, "God that was fun, Buff! Just like old times! I missed us working together."

"So did I," Buffy smiled as she took off her scouter. Xander looked her up and realized this is the happiest she's looked since returning to Sunnydale.

Clearly, if he wants to re-connect with her, it has to be through training and kicking demon ass. Well, that can be arranged.

"Now, where did that pizza go?" Oz asked as he looked around, "I'm feeling suddenly rather peckish."

"It's over there next to the door," Xander said as they walked towards Faith still standing flabbergasted near the door opening.

"See?" he said as he picked up and opened the box, "Most of the toppings hasn't even fallen off. Hey!"

"Hey what?" Oz asked as both he and Buffy reached into the box to grab a slice.

"Where the hell did that black vamp go?"

x

x

Another ambush had been defeated and two more deathgliders had been shot from the sky when SG-13 finally reached the compound believed to hold the senator. Fenton ordered his signals soldier, carrying a state of the art communication rig on his back, to come to him. One of the gizmo's he carried was a real time connection with the small UAV circling the area. This way Fenton could get an idea of what was in store. It didn't look like anything had changed since their last attempt. His assault force by now had dwindled to three squads, two squads had suffered casualties and in order to guard his retreat he had decided to leave these squads behind along the way. Fenton signaled his other two squad commanders by hand signals his plan of attack. They signaled back and the final attack could commence.

Under cover of the opening fire of his two other squads Fenton took his single assault squad and assaulted the compound. There was some resistance but nothing heavy firepower coupled with extensive use of flashbangs couldn't overcome. In no time the compound was secured. But inside there was no sign of the senator, nor of the captured SG team. Or even a sign that they had there.

"There is just nobody here, sir," the soldier carrying the signals rig said.

"It doesn't make sense," Fenton said, "why go through all the trouble of defending this place when there are no prisoners?"

"Unless...," said one of the men.

"….it's a trap!" Fenton finished and already signaled his men to go, "Everybody, back to the gate!"

No sooner were they exiting the compound when the sound of ring transporters could be heard nearby. And the sound of lots of deathgliders entering the area, coming in low.

"I knew it was too easy," Fenton muttered as he dove for cover. Whole squadrons of deathgliders could now be seen coming in. No way the stinger teams could cope with this.

"All squads, this is team leader, case orange, I repeat, case orange," Fenton said in his radio set.

It spoke for the professionalism of his men that nobody objected or panicked. Case orange basically came down that those who could should bolt through the gate, and those that couldn't should make themselves scare through whatever means necessary.

Already behind them teleported Jaffa came firing out of the woods. A stinger missile streaked towards a deathglider and shot it down. But there were too many and in such numbers the odd missile didn't scare them. Because his men wouldn't stand a chance caught in the open, Fenton ordered his other two squads to join him inside the compound. At least it served as a defensible position.

As they scrambled inside the compound, Major Morelli's voice came over the radio.

"Squads 3 and 7 just made it in, sir. Most of us will make it. Godspeed!"

"Don't get used to my command in my absence, captain," Fenton replied, "we WILL make it back!"

"Counting on it, sir," Morelli replied.

Then the radio was silent, except for the occasional remarks by his remaining three squads. They gave out as good as they got. The stinger teams still managed to bag four more deathgliders before running out of ammo. After that the deathgliders became even bolder and their position even more hopeless as the Jaffa could now advance under full air cover.

Suddenly the shooting stopped.

"Tau'ri commander!" a voice called from the woods.

"That's a first," a sergeant remarked. Usually the Jaffa preferred to overrun their enemy, only then start talking.

"Tau'ri commander!" the voice called again.

"What do you want?" Fenton yelled back.

"Resistance is futile," the voice said, "spare the lives of your men and surrender!"

Fenton didn't reply and looked at the faces of his men. So far none of them had been killed, although some were wounded by now. Casualty wise they had really lucked out. But that could change soon if the assault resumed.

"Don't do it sir," one soldier said shaking his head, "I'd rather go down fighting!"

"Death before dishonor," said another. Most of his men seemed in agreement.

Hearing his men made Fenton feel proud. Fuck SG-1 and their elite status. He would serve with none other then his own SG-13. But because he was proud of his men, he didn't relish getting them killed in a needless last stand.

"I know how you feel, men," he said, "but I don't wish to see you all killed. Besides, if those SG-1 clowns can escape capture every time, surely we can do better! Dale, erase the codes and destroy the rig. Destroy anything that can be of value. Gentlemen, it has been an honor."

Fenton called from behind his cover.

"Will my wounded receive treatment?" he yelled.

"My word as First Prime," came the answer.

"Then we are coming out," Fenton replied and was the first to emerge. Soon the others also emerged. From the tree line came scores of armed Jaffa and soon the captured SG-13 members were huddled together on their knees, hands in their necks and surrounded by nervous and very trigger happy armed guards. A single Jaffa with a jackal helmet came forth and approached Fenton.

"I am First Prime to Amūn. I have studied everything there is about the Tau'ri," the Jaffa said as his helmet morphed back into his suit, "and from your insignia you must be the First Prime of this warband."

"I am," Fenton replied.

"You fought well," the First Prime said respectfully, "you made your people proud."

"I aim to please," Fenton said, "you didn't do so badly yourself. Although I suspected it was a trap when we got here so easily."

"Of course," the First Prime said, "I feared as such. I just didn't want to sacrifice too many of my men. So why did you press on?"

"I was under orders to rescue the prisoners at all cost," Fenton replied, "We don't leave our own behind."

"And admirable policy," the First Prime nodded, "though it can be used against you in battle."

"So where were the prisoners?" Fenton asked.

"On the Ha'tak of course," the First Prime said, "where you will join them. It is good that you fought so well, Tau'ri First Prime. My God and master Amūn respects strength in battle above else and treats captured warriors who fought well with respect. He may even offer you a place in his own ranks. He did not come looking for a fight with the Tau'ri, as he respected their skill in battle. But when you started sending teams to his worlds you forced his hands."

x

x

In the Sunnydale high library Buffy and Willow sat together by the table when Giles came from his office.

"The council has approved our request," Giles said relieved, "Faith is to stay here indefinitely. I'm to look after you both until a new Watcher is assigned to her."

"Good," Buffy said, "she had so much stuff to deal with. And she's so far behind us. Even if she can be a pain in the butt."

"I'm sure she will catch up," Giles said confidently, shuffling some papers on the table, "once Belmovekk comes back. I guess in the meanwhile we will have to train her ourselves. It is good that I made many notes of Belmovekk's training methods."

"Forever the scholar," Buffy smiled, then she looked down at the table and said nothing for a while. Giles can sense she wants to say something so he stayed and gave her the time needed.

"Angel was cured," she suddenly said.

"I'm sorry," Giles said surprised, as is Willow, who suddenly looked very shocked.

"When I killed him, Angel was cured," Buffy said, "your spell worked at the last minute, Will. I was about to take him out with this big attack, and, um... something went through him... and he was Angel again. He..., he didn't remember anything that he'd done at first. Then Belmo told him what happened and that Acathla had been awakened. He looked at Acathla and just knew what had to be done. We said our goodbyes, I kissed him... and I killed him."

Both Giles and Willow don't know what to say.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Buffy," Giles says, I didn't know. Belmovekk never told..."

"I know," Buffy said slightly sad, "he saw how hard it was for me. I guess together with all the guilt he felt he thought it should be me who should tell you this. At least one small thing I'm still grateful for."

"I'm sorry," Willow said, who only now started to realize what torment her spell had caused for her friend.

"It's okay," Buffy smiled weakly, "I've been holding on to that for so long. Felt good to get it out. I'll see you guys later.

Buffy got up and left the library, leaving Giles and Willow to come to terms with this bomb shell.

"Giles, I'm sorry," Willow said, "I didn't mean..."

"Look Willow," Giles said as he took off his glasses, "you meant well. We all meant well. Sometimes it just comes back in your face no matter what. What's done is done. But if anything this illustrates you shouldn't just muck around with things you do not understand. Let this be a lesson."

"Yeah, Giles," Willow said, "I know you don't like me playing with mystical forces but nobody teaches me anything. I just want to help like everybody else."

"I know, Willow," Giles said as he put his glasses back on and patted her on her shoulder, "it's just that there never seems to be enough time, and now we have Faith to contend with. And Belmovekk gone with the US military to God knows where. We'll do what we can, when we can."

x

x

Deep underneath Sunnydale, a black vampire stumbled through a tunnel, seemingly looking for something. Even this deep underground he came across the occasional demon. Mostly they are harmless tunnel dwellers. He hates being this deep underground. It is prehistoric, not of this modern age. But he has no choice. The Sunnydale Slayer and her friends have driven him this deep underground.

He had thought himself da shit. A vampire for the new age. Mr Trick. Even if he had to put up with that caveman relic Kakistos as his boss. But Kakistos could be manipulated with the right means. It wasn't even that hard most of them. Give him what he wanted and he was like putty in Tricks' hands. Like having Faith the Vampire Slayer as a toy to play and torture with. And then suddenly came the Sunnydale Slayer. And in seconds he learned why the Sunnydale deathrate had dropped from extremely high to below average. He should have known better and paid more interest to that strange anomaly. Slayers were bad enough normally, but having them move at even faster speed, even greater strength and spouting deadly energy beams was bad. He was lucky indeed to have escaped with the clothes on his back.

Deep underground he had learned the awful truth from other demons. Of the Edict that said: kill a human and many demons die. Unless you rat the perp out. So the Sunnydale demons had probably ratted him and Kakistos out faster then it took to say aw crap. Mr. Trick could understand that. Survival always trumps loyalty. And unlike Kakistos vengeance wasn't his thing. If he could survive the Sunnydale Slayer there would be no hard feelings.

But it paid to be prepared. Deep underground he learned that there were demons these days who were preparing to face the Sunnydale Slayer. Who were training themselves to do the kind of things she did. That somewhere there was someone who knew these things. Someone who could teach.

And by now he was close.

Trick passed a corner and came upon a canvas cover shielding off another tunnel. He opened it and behind it sat a man. A fellow vampire by the looks of it. He was crippled and by the looks of it severely malnourished. The vampire looked up to him, then stared back in front of him

"I hear you know things," Trick said.

"That depends," the vampire said without looking up, "who wants to know?"

"Somebody who wants to learn the sorts of Wire Fu the Sunnydale Slayer seems able to do."

The vampire snorted.

"I'm just a broken soul in a broken body," he said as he started to cough.

"You are a vampire like me," Trick replied, "you don't have a soul."

"I was talking figuratively," the vampire retorted and started coughing again.

"Well, are you the man I seek," Trick said as he hunched next to the vampire, "or should I leave you here to rot? I can do that, y'know. I have an elsewhere to go too."

"I wasn't always like this," the vampire said, seemingly some pride left in him, "once I was a trusted lieutenant of the Master, then one under that upstart Spike and his crazy bitch. Then came that madman Angelus."

He spat out most of those names as if each were a vile curse.

"I heard some interesting stories of Spike's crazy bitch and Angelus," Trick said, "that they could do the same Wire Fu stuff the Sunnydale Slayer can do. That they taught their underlings that stuff."

"They did," the vampire coughed again, "Where do you think I learned it?"

"So you are the man I'm looking for?" Trick asked smiling.

The vampire looked him in the eyes.

"Once I drank human blood every night, then I ascended to levels of power undreamed of. Now I am a crippled husk that teaches dumb demons stuff in exchange for just enough rats blood not to die."

Mr. Trick smiled and took something out of his coat. It was plastic with something dark red inside.

"Is that what I think it is?" the vampire said with greedy eyes as big as saucers.

"Teach me and I will not only get you more of this stuff," Trick said as he dangled the blood packet, "I will get you fixed up."

Trick then tossed the blood packet to the vampire who grabbed it and started drinking of it greedily. When it's finished he smacked his lips and immediately started to look slightly better.

"It will not be enough," the vampire said content, his nasty cough gone, "even what I can teach will not be enough to defeat her. Even Angelus, who knew the most, was no match for her in the end. Let alone the Big Scary."

"Who's that?" asked Trick curiously.

"He comes and he goes," the vampire shrugged, "Angelus said he was the one who taught the Slayer in the first place. That he was not of this world, an alien of another world, a warrior race of incredible power. He is infinitely more powerful then the Slayer, but he dotes on her. If only she knew what he would do for her she could rule the world, that's what Angelus once said."

"Those fools whom I teach think that what little I can teach will help them defeat the Slayer and the Big Scary. Idiots! I was one of the few to survive seeing him when Spike confronted the Slayer over that crazy bitch of his. When he turned to gold. He can't be stopped."

"That's OK," Trick said softly as he pats the vampire, "I'm not interested in vengeance, or confronting the Slayer. Or that scary guy. I just want to improve my chances and then get as far away from here as possible."

"Best plan I've ever heard," the vampire agreed, "take me with you and I will even tell you of the spell of that chaos mage."

"What spell?" Trick asked interested.

The vampire grabbed Trick by the arm.

"The one that can increase your power tenfold," he said softly

A big grin appeared on Trick's face.

"Buddy, I feel this could be the start of a long and fruitful relationship."