Disclaimer: Own it, I do not. Agata and Jaresh and Tellis, yes, I own.
Thanks to Starway Man, my beta-reader
Please note this is the penultimate chapter of Old Friends: A New Direction
Old Friends: A New Directions
By Alkeni
Chapter 9
May 11th, 2002
Briefing Room, Stargate Command
"Now then, Daniel told me that he'd enlightened you about the Slayer, correct?" Wesley asked SG-1 and General Hammond, as they all sat around the briefing room table.
"Yea, he told us about that. What he knew, which wasn't all that much." Jack replied, an odd glint appearing in his eye. "But hey; now that you're bringing it up, Wesley, let's talk about the Slayer-"
Wesley held up a hand, interrupting Colonel O'Neill with a cold look on his face. "If you're planning to offer moral outrage at the concept and nature of the Slayer, please spare me the upcoming posturing and theatrics. The Council didn't create the Slayer, and I certainly didn't either. Truth be told, I'm not especially thrilled at the idea of a teenage girl being thrust into the fight against her will – and then being all that stands between the world and apocalypse." Especially not being all that stands between the world and apocalypse. "And it's not my job to sit here and defend everything the Council does, especially when it comes to Slayers. Truthfully, I have neither the interest nor the ability to do so."
Nonetheless, Jack glared at Wes heatedly. "You're – alright, you were – sending kids to fight against these monsters!"
"Must we do this? Very well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything different. But the fact is, Colonel, fifteen year-olds are considered 'children' by modern standards – because modern human society decided, somewhat arbitrarily, to set eighteen as the age of maturity. For much of human history, though, fifteen was old enough to be considered an adult, to marry and have children of your own, even take up arms for your community. Well, depending on exactly where and when you lived, of course." Wesley pointed out.
"This isn't 'much of human history', Wesley!" Jack countered, "This is now! Not the Dark Ages, not the Middle Ages, not even the Stone Age for cryin' out loud! I don't care what happened back then, that's irrelevant-"
"No. You are one hundred percent wrong there, Colonel. Because the magic that powers the Slayer line is so old that no one knows when exactly it was created." Wesley interrupted, glaring right back at the military man. "The best estimate is before human civilization ever began. Long before the Stone Age you just mentioned even ended. And it might interest you to know that over the years, the Council has in fact tried to meddle with that magic in various ways. Hardly for 'noble' reasons, of course. However, nothing ever worked and they've long since stopped, for fear of damaging the spell and eliminating the Slayer altogether." Wesley paused a moment for a quick breath.
Before either Wesley or Jack could say anything further, Sam interrupted.
"Colonel, I'm not exactly thrilled about this either, you know that. But it isn't Wesley's fault, so berating him isn't going to help anyone. And if there's nothing we can do about it-"
"Maybe nothing we can do about it." Jack cut her off, frowning, then looked to Hammond. "Sir, why isn't the U.S. military helping her? You said the NID has those demon-hunting teams..."
"Yes, it does." Hammond agreed. "But...well, I don't know all the details, granted. But the current Slayer, a Miss Summers, had a series of bad experiences with the Initiative. It's been the estimate of the United States Government that she'd not react well to further involvement by the military in her operations within Sunnydale."
"Lovely. The NID finds new ways to fuck things up every way you turn." Jack muttered.
"From what little I myself have heard about it," Wesley offered, "'Fuck things up', may well be quite the understatement." He took another breath, "But then, Buffy Summers is not the only current Slayer."
Jack, Sam and Daniel all did double-takes.
"Buffy?" Sam was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, the Slayer's name is Buffy? That's her actual name, and – and not a nickname?"
"Her mother really did name her that, yes." Wesley nodded, shrugging slightly. "Well, I suppose that's southern California for you. And Miss Summers rather does look like the name would suggest – short, unassuming, blonde, has a tendency to act unserious and unconcerned. Imagine the stereotypical valley girl on television, and you get the gist – or at least, that's the persona she usually uses." He frowned, "She's a difficult girl to manage, as I learned during my brief stint as her Watcher."
"You were Bu-Buf-" Jack couldn't help but laugh a little, and then started again, "Sorry. You were this girl's Watcher?" Jack asked.
"For a few months, yes. Well, in theory. In practice, she ignored me and remained responsive to her previous Watcher, Rupert Giles." Wesley frowned. "But that's not the issue on hand. Because I was the Watcher to another Slayer at the same time."
"I was under the impression that there could only be one Slayer at a time." Teal'c offered, raising an eyebrow.
"As a general rule, yes. But death can be...fuzzier than it might seem, at first glance. People can be 'technically dead' and still brought back to life, correct?" He looked to Sam, who had to nod. "Well, that's what happened to Buffy Summers. When she was sixteen years old a vampire bested her and then threw her into a pool of water, and she drowned. She was technically dead for at least a minute, apparently, before one of her friends performed CPR on her and brought that girl back to life. Thus, two Slayers in the world at the same time. "
Wesley paused, frowning. "In the past, it's happened at least once or twice to other Slayers. During the last days of ancient Greece, if I recall correctly, a fisherman diver did the exact same thing, resurrecting the Chosen One of that time."
"Okay, putting all that aside for the moment, Mr. Wyndam-Pryce – where is this 'other' Slayer? What's her name?" Hammond asked, trying to keep the topic of the conversation on track.
"With regards to the 'where', she's currently serving a prison sentence for second degree murder in the Northern California Women's Facility." Wesley replied. "Her name is Faith Lehane, and under normal circumstances, I'd be quite content to let her stay where she is. But...well, your government does want to get its hands on this Trinium, no?"
"Not by letting a murderer roam free!" Jack countered automatically, raising his voice, "We're the good guys here."
"An interesting point, Colonel. Because despite my extreme distaste for her – Faith is, most likely, one of the 'good guys' as well." Wesley offered, much as he didn't like saying that. "She committed her crimes, yes. But in the end she turned herself in, and the circumstances leading up to her felony offenses are...complicated." He frowned, "She was a very troubled young woman at the time, and much as I dislike to admit it, my poor showing as a Watcher did aggravate matters." Wesley raised a hand before anyone could object further.
"Believe me, I'm not exactly fond of the idea of letting Faith out of her cage. You should all be aware that she constituted much of the reason why I was fired from the Council...and moreover, she spent the better part of two hours torturing me one night, before giving up and surrendering herself to the Los Angeles police." His voice went softer. "But be that as it may, I do believe she was genuine in her remorse, and likewise genuinely interested in paying her debt to society. What I'm proposing is letting her do exactly that – if Faith accepts that choice. Just through an option more productive than merely rotting in prison. And not as part of the general population here on Earth." Wesley shrugged, "It struck me as the best idea under the circumstances."
After a few moments, Daniel spoke, "I can't say I like this idea." The archeologist frowned, "I'm not happy about Slayers being 'activated' as young as they are, even if that's the way it is and there's nothing we can do about it. But we shouldn't expose a teenage girl to vampires and demons voluntarily, magical strength or not."
"Among the Jaffa, DanielJackson, age is less of a concern than skill in battle." Teal'c pointed out. "Nor does this 'FaithLehane' sound as if she is as a normal female of the Tau'ri, if she has committed murder and practiced torture." The Jaffa continued. "I would need to meet her, to look into her heart for myself in order to be certain, but – if she is genuine in her remorse over her past actions, I would advocate allowing her to help."
Jack frowned. "I hate to say it...but I guess Teal'c has a point. If she's old enough to commit murder and go to prison, then teenager or not, she's old enough to fight." The idea of sending a kid into battle, and battle against vampires at that, was repulsive to him. Very much so. But Jack had spent enough time in Special Forces to know that there comes a point where someone stops being a 'kid' – and there was also an old saying about how a child becomes an adult, the first moment he wields a weapon in battle...
General Hammond didn't say anything for a moment, then looked to Wesley. "Do you really think this Miss Lehane would actually be interested in some sort of...arrangement...with the United States Air Force?"
Wesley shrugged, "I don't know, to be honest. Nor am I sure she's fit to be allowed into any sort of general population, either here on Earth or – elsewhere. I just thought that assuming you were receptive to the idea, and assuming some sort of parole could be arranged should she agree to help on P5X-194...well, the best option would probably be to speak with Faith directly, inform her of the situation, and see what happens from there."
"I'll speak to the President and the Joint Chiefs." Hammond said, noddling once. "Assuming there's approval for this...rather unorthodox proposal of yours, you can go visit her at that prison facility. But I want you to take Colonel O'Neill with you."
"May I ask why, General?" Wesley raised an eyebrow.
"I want the Colonel on hand. I want his judgment on Miss Lehane as well."
"Alright." Wesley shrugged. "Reasonable enough."
May 12th, 2002
Visiting Room, Northern California Women's Facility
Wesley sat on his side of the bulletproof glass, watching as Faith was let into the room on the other side and as she approached the prison-issue chair. After a moment, she sat down and picked up the intercom phone.
"Hafta admit you're the last person I was expecting to see, Wes. I figured you'd forgotten about me. Just like everyone else." There was nothing of complaint in her voice. Not even a sour note.
"You're rather difficult to forget, Faith." Wesley replied calmly enough. He couldn't say it was easy seeing her again, not after what she'd done to him...but it had been quite a lot of time since that night, when she'd tortured him. And he'd been through the wringer more than once since. "Though yes, it has been a while."
"I'll say. You've changed." She gestured to his neck. "I didn't give you that."
Wesley unconsciously brought his hand up to the scar on his neck. "No, you didn't." Wesley lowered his hand. "How has life been for you, in here?"
Faith shrugged, "Prison. Not like much happens here." She passed it off as if she was discussing something no more noteworthy than the weather. "How have things been going in L.A. and Sunnydale? Been a while since I've heard from Angel."
"I couldn't tell you how things are going, really. Not on the Hellmouth, nor in Los Angeles." Wesley replied. "And as for the other part, Angel and I have recently parted ways permanently. Likewise with Cordelia and the others."
Faith laughed, then stopped when she saw the flat expression on his face. "Holy shit. You're serious." Her own expression grew more serious than Wesley had ever seen so far. "What the hell happened? I thought you'd never get out of Angel's pocket!"
"It's a long story." Wesley replied. "But in a nutshell, Angel tried to kill me, even if I rather deserved it. And his friends are likewise dead to me in all the ways that matter." He kept going, "But that's not why I'm here."
"Then why?" Faith asked, puzzled. "Pretty sure you didn't come by to just talk." She laughed somewhat bitterly, "Even Angel gave up on that, eventually."
"How would you like to get out of here?"
Faith laughed again, this time with real amusement in her voice. "I'd love to, but I'm currently serving a twenty-five to life sentence here, Wes. Want to check back in a few decades when my parole comes up?"
"No. And as for the rest of it, under normal circumstances, that's the way it should be. On the other hand, Faith, allowing yourself to be locked away from society in order to pay recompense for what you did – in one sense it's commendable, but from a certain point of view, it's also a waste of your talents." Wesley looked back a moment at Colonel O'Neill, who was wearing civilian clothing and listening to Wesley's half of the conversation.
"And these aren't normal circumstances? The apocalypse is here, and Buffy can't help? What?" Faith rolled her eyes. "If things are that bad, last thing you need is me in the mix."
"This isn't about an upcoming apocalypse, Faith. It's merely an opportunity for you to use your Slayer powers productively – and serve out the rest of your sentence through community service, as it were."
"You've gotten better at the deliberately vague thing, Wes." Faith replied, her eyes narrowing. "So what kind of community service did ya have in mind?"
"Obviously, I can't exactly go into specific details here." Wesley answered. "That, and you'd need to sign a nondisclosure agreement first – promising you won't tell anyone anything about the military's secrets."
"The military?" Faith cocked her head. "You're working for the G-Men now?"
"More or less, I suppose." Wesley gestured to the Colonel. "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force."
"I'm not killing people for the government." Faith replied immediately, staring at the approaching military officer in civilian clothing. "If that's what you guys are after-"
"No. Not people." Wesley saw the Colonel out of the corner of his eye. "Colonel O'Neill would like to talk to you now, I believe." Wesley stood up and handed the phone to the man. Jack covered the mouthpiece with one hand.
"So what's your verdict?" he asked the ex-Watcher.
Wesley shrugged, "I think she's interested, and my recommendation right now would be a tentative yes to offering her the chance to leave here for you-know-where."
"I'll keep that in mind." Jack sat down and held the phone up to his face, staring at the prison convict. "So. You're a Slayer."
"That's me." Faith replied. "So what's the Air Force want with me?"
"Pretty much what Wesley said." Jack answered. "But I want to talk about you first. Kid, I'm not letting a murderer near my people just on his say-so."
"I'm no kid, old man. And you wanna get to know me? I'm game." Faith told him, looking him in the eyes. "But first off, I want to know – how did a guy like Wes end up with the U.S. military?"
"Long story short? A member of my team is an old friend of his. Something in...his line of work came up unexpectedly, and Daniel referred us to him. And now, he's referred us to you." Jack rested his free hand on the table. "So. Three homicides and, what, a half-dozen counts of aggravated assault?"
"Something like that." Faith nodded without blinking,
"Tell me about them. Why did you kill and hurt those people, and why should we just ignore all that and let you go?"
"Hey, old man, what I did is a matter of public record – and I'm sure you can read! Besides, I'm sure Wes has already told you everything that wasn't in those so-called 'trial' transcripts. And as for the rest of it? I'm fine with staying right here and doing my time. I turned myself in, in case nobody bothered to tell ya?" Faith replied coolly, unfazed. "I wouldn't say no to a chance to do my time in a place with more things to do than stare at my cell walls, but I'm not gonna ask you to forgive and forget what I did." She looked at the Colonel dead on, unflinching.
Jack had to admire the conviction in her words. "The murders. Tell me details."
She shrugged. "The first one was an accident. Me and B were in the middle of a fight...he showed up outta nowhere, and I staked him, thinkin' he was a vamp. After that...I screwed up. I made mistakes."
"Ya think? And FYI, that's not enough. Nowhere near! Hell, if the first one was an accident – or not premeditated, anyway – why'd you kill again?" Jack demanded.
"I was a killer. I was evil. That's what I decided." Faith replied. "And can't deny how the Mayor was the first person to really care about me. I was messed up, and I killed people for him."
"The Mayor?"
"You know about me, about what I do and what I did, but you don't know about the Mayor?"
Jack scowled, shooting a look at the nearby Englishman. "Guess Wesley hasn't told me everything."
"Yea. Guy likes to keep things to himself, sure as hell. Must be that stuff upper lip and that stick rammed up his English Channel." Faith took a deep breath. "Mayor of Sunnydale was evil, old man. Majorly evil. Had vamps and demons working for him type evil. Long story short, Buffy and her merry band of friends beat him, I ended up in a coma for almost a year, then I tried to kill Angel, tortured Wes and..."
"Turned yourself in." Jack finished. "Yea, see, that's where I'm getting confused. Why?"
"I finally came face to face with what I was." Faith laughed darkly, without humor. "Turned myself in. Spent the last couple of years in here."
"And what about now?"
"I already made my mistakes with killing people. I'm not crossing that line again."
Staring at her briefly, Jack set the phone down and nodded to Wesley. He got up and walked away.
"I think you impressed him." Wesley said after a moment, after picking up the phone.
"So what does that mean, then?" Faith shrugged.
"It means, Faith, that I'd wager you'll soon be coming on a trip with me to a – rather distant location."
May 16th, 2002
P5X-194
Wesley watched Faith step through the Stargate onto the surface of this alien world. She was dressed in the usual green fatigues SGC civilians wore, given that she'd been lacking anything but a prisoner's uniform when she'd quietly been paroled and shoved out the front doors of the facility by none other than the Warden himself. Wesley smirked to himself, imagining the looks on the faces of Wolfram & Hart's lawyers when they heard that piece of news. Lilah Morgan would no doubt be both infuriated and in fear of her life, now that Lee Mercer was dead and Lindsey MacDonald had long since resigned and left Los Angeles...
In any case, Faith had gotten into the unmarked van waiting for her outside the front gate, and they had driven to the nearest Air Force base for transport to Colorado. Major Davis had taken care of the nondisclosure agreement, before the brunette Chosen One had been taken down into the depths of NORAD and told the truth about what she'd signed up for...
SG-1 came out behind her, and Wesley could tell that Jack was ready to use his personal sidearm at a moment's notice. He had the pistol ready, without being obvious about it, or actually pointing it at her.
Faith looked around and laughed, "When you said the planet looked a lot like Earth, I didn't figure you'd be this right." She saw all five people staring at her after a moment. "What?"
"Usually, first time Gate travel comes with momentary nausea." Sam answered.
"Yes. Must be her Slayer healing, or something along those lines." Wesley suggested, then he looked at Faith. "Sense any vampires?"
Faith shook her head. "But then again," She gestured to the sky. "Daylight. And nothin' apart from woods for miles around, Watcher guy." She looked over at SG-1, "What do you guys call this planet again?"
"P5X-194." Sam replied.
Faith laughed in genuine humor. "Yea, that's not a name."
"Well, the locals don't have one either, even though they live here. And myself, I voted for Planet Dracula." Jack commented, earning another amused noise from Faith.
"We should head to Tellis." Daniel said after a moment. "I'm sure Jaresh and Sister Agata will want to meet you." He looked over to Wesley, who shrugged.
Wesley and Daniel had debated telling Faith the whole 'Sacred Warrior' thing that this people of this world had going, but eventually decided against it. If nothing else, it would be rather amusing to watch Faith discover that the locals believed she was effectively this planet's Messiah.
He very much doubted it would go to her head – even if she'd been 'evil', Faith wouldn't have wanted worship, Wesley was quite sure of that. Besides, nowadays, she just wanted a chance to make amends – and he suspected that here, so many light-years away from Earth, she would finally get it.
