— Thor's Slayers —
Chapter Four
Supermassive Black Hole
Nedy Rahn: I think I went to Cave of the Winds once (and oh my god I can't even believe I remember that) when I was a wee lad. You were right about the National Guard unit but something you said got me thinking. You mentioned Army units within Stargate Command and I can't for the life of me remember there being any actual Army personnel there. I just remember them referring to the redshirts as "Airman" with the occasional "Technical Sergeant." The local Air Force base (Peterson AFB next to the Colorado Springs Airport) boasts the 21st Space Wing but I figured the SGC was bringing in personnel only after vetting them one at a time (like on a submarine for the navy). Please someone correct me if I'm wrong about the Army bit.
Guest #1: My comment regarding "self-proclaimed gods" was directed towards the Goa'uld. As for Illyria... Her status as a god is debatable in my mind. Back then, she was a multi-dimensional being capable of altering time and communicating with the local greenery. Godlike powers, no doubt. So even if one is willing to accept that Illyria was a god, is she a god now? It's a pretty good question without a firm answer. She now has no followers or worshipers, she has but a fragment of her former strength, and pretty much all the things that made her godlike are gone other than her ego, (I.e. remember her fight with Hamilton?) and she doesn't even have her original form. Any firm answer will depend on what a god truly is, and that's something that humanity has been working on for itself for a long, long, time.
My original comment was directed towards the fact that Illyria has a habit of referring to herself as a God-King. Whether or not she is a god was superfluous to my overall meaning; it was the fact that the SGC was, even at that time, fighting aliens who called themselves Gods. From the SGC's point of view, I don't think its hard to see them drawing the parallels there whether they were accurate or not. And I just wrote way more than I intended to, but it was a comment that had me thinking.
Guest #2: Truthfully, I have no idea. I really wish I could add an additional fandom to it. Since the story started with SG1 and has endured to this point and beyond, I'll probably keep it as part of the SG-1 fandom tag even if the story evolves outside of that. Haven't given it too much thought, honestly.
Author's Notes: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm releasing this chapter a little earlier cause I've been writing a whole lot lately and I already have a couple chapters just about ready to pop after this one.
I'm going to be playing hell with SG canon here. Some of this chapter will include dialog that is straight from season 8, but that is mostly to serve as a foundation for when I take it all to crazy town. Also, HowlnMadHowie mentioned before that I hadn't introduced or really spoke of Xander at all. Part of it is because I've never really liked his character while the other part is that I really just forgot all about him. At some point he'll come around.
#
October 22nd, 2005
Samantha Carter was worried. That wasn't exactly a new thing; she'd been worried ever since she'd watched Jack enter that stasis pod. But she was more worried about the looming black hole that had taken the place of Hala's sun. Yeah, the worrying dial had gone straight to 11.
Teal'c's reaction, the bastard, had been a slight widening of the eyes and an urgent, urgent for Teal'c anyway, "we're experiencing the effects of an extremely powerful gravitational force."
With that incredibly unhelpful and obvious conclusion, Teal'c had then revealed that both the hyperspace generator as well as the sublight engines had failed. They had been getting sucked into the black hole, slowly but inevitably, and would continue to do so unless they were able to generate enough power to the engines.
Diverting power from the shields had helped the Tel'tak finally find the power needed to escape the black hole, only for the weakened shields to subsequently fail. Moments later there had been a hole breech.
Sam remembered looking behind her and seeing not the rear hull of the ship, but shattered remnants of the Tel'tak's stern and the maw of the black hole instead. Teal'c had just reached for her hand when there had been a bright flash.
Sam stumbled into Teal'c both quickly righting themselves as they looked at their unfamiliar surroundings.
Their confusion became understanding when they heard a familiar and very welcome voice. "Greetings!"
"Thor," Sam said in a breathy voice, still shaken by her exposure to the vacuum of space.
#
"The Replicators are destroyed then?" Sam asked, torn between disbelief and hope. The full destruction of the Asgard's most dangerous enemy would have consequences on a galactic level.
"To the best of our knowledge, they are indeed destroyed," Thor confirmed. "The time dilation field was only a temporary measure. We knew the time it would take for the replicator-humans to reach the machine would translate to less than two years outside the field. Therefore a more permanent solution was devised."
"So you collapsed the sun?" Sam inferred.
"By artificially increasing its gravitation field, yes," Thor affirmed.
Sam's mind raced with the implications of possessing such technology. She couldn't help the momentary geek-out reaction; it was who she was. "That's...pretty cool."
"The Replicators appeared to have adapted to the field and were preparing to escape the black hole just before your arrival. Their attempt was utilizing an unknown technology however their ships ultimately failed to escape the gravitational pull of the black hole.
"They're strategy was not entirely unsuccessful, however. Aegir of the Valhalla reported that a single ship had managed to escape the system and was likely en route to Orilla, the new planet from which we're attempting to rebuild our civilization. Aegir was able to destroy the Replicator ship the moment it exited hyperspace and the ship's fragments don't appear to have been protected against atmospheric reentry.
"It is impossible to say for certain, Major Carter, but yes, we believe the Replicators to be destroyed."
If there was an Asgard facial expression that indicated triumph, Sam thought as she looked at the Asgard Supreme Commander, then it would look like this."
"It is good to see you again Major Carter, Teal'c. I am sorry I did not reach you sooner, I was not expecting you."
"Your timing is impeccable," Teal'c assured the Asgard.
"We were here hoping to ask for your assistance—," Carter began, but stopped when Thor raised a hand.
"Major Carter, though the Replicators may have been destroyed, they were still able to cause a great deal of damage to my people. We will help you in your fight against the Goa'uld, but much of my people's efforts will be spent on rebuilding our civilization. But know that, even with our efforts to rebuild, the Asgard's assistance to the Tau'ri is likely to be more reliable than it has been in the past."
Sam looked at Teal'c, unsure of how to phrase what they needed.
Teal'c stepped forward. "Thor, your aid will always be welcome to the Tau'ri, however we have come here not on their behalf, but on behalf of Colonel O'Neill."
Thor's hand movements over his ship's console stilled and he seemed to straighten slightly. "What is it that Colonel O'Neill requires?"
"He's...sick. Though, it's not a disease," Sam clarified, "more like a side effect caused by interfacing with Ancient technology."
Thor tilted his head and blinked.
Sam sighed. Sometimes the Asgard's lack of understand of human social niceties could be grating. Sam elaborated for him. "Stargate Command sent several teams, SG-1 among them, to a planet we believed to have held a Repository of Knowledge left by the Ancients. We were able to find the repository but Anubis's men were right behind us. We were forced to destroy the repository to prevent it from falling into his hands, but before it was destroyed, Jack managed to have the whole repository downloaded into his brain."
"The knowledge that gave us our recent victory over Anubis was the knowledge that is slowly killing Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c added.
"After Anubis was destroyed, he put himself into an Ancient stasis pod until we could find a way to fix him. There has to be a way!" Sam insisted.
Thor was silent for a time, occasionally blinking or tilting his head in thought. "There may be a way to save Colonel O'Neill, however I cannot promise success."
"Anything you can do, Thor, would be appreciated," Sam said in a heartfelt tone.
"The Asgard are in debt to Colonel O'Neill and the Tau'ri, Major Carter; this is a chance to repay a small part of it." Thor moved his hand over several crystals and Sam felt the spaceship beneath her begin to stir.
"The last time we had time to converse with one another, I was preoccupied with O'Neill's clone and apprehending Loki. The ongoing conflict with the Replicators meant that I had little time to inquire about the Slayer, Faith Lehane, and whether there were further interactions with her."
Sam frowned. "It's been two years since you...introduced us, Thor, a lot has happened."
Thor seemed pleased. "Then your association is ongoing?"
Sam smiled for the first time that day as she thought of the young brunette that had been inserted into their lives. "Faith is a very interesting character."
"Her loyalty to her friends is as impressive as her ferocity as a warrior," Teal'c agreed.
"I have met and interacted with two Slayers in my lifetime," Thor said, "though only one ever spoke to me, I feel sure that Slayers are fierce in everything they do. Slayers die young and so they seem to live as much as they can in the time they have."
Sam blinked. That was surprisingly insightful for Thor, for most humans even. "You said you've met two Slayers but only one spoke to you; what happened when you met the other Slayer?"
"She believed me to be something I am not. She attempted to fulfill her purpose, Major Carter, and came very close to succeeding."
Teal'c raised a brow at that.
"We have some time before we arrive, I would like to hear more about your time with her."
She didn't know why Thor was so interested in Faith or the Slayers, but she was willing to bet a pretty penny that Faith would be getting a visit from her 'besty' in the near future.
The God-King listened.
The muck about her irritated her with their mockery and ignorance. They had no true understanding of the world around them, limited by the capabilities of their minds and bodies. Yet here she stood amongst them because she had nowhere else to go after the destruction of the LA branch of the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart and had nothing else to do. The Slayers may have been preferable to the even less impressive muck that infested this world, but that meant little in the scheme of things. Their mockery should have been a killing offense. Indeed, normally she might have ripped their spines from their fragile bodies and danced upon their entrails. Instead, she listened.
It was so close she almost grasped it. She lost it again.
She closed her eyes briefly in frustration. She hated this weak existence she clung to. She hated this place, this world that was nothing compared to the worlds she'd visited and the cities she'd built as God-King in the many dimensions she'd inhabited.
She had lost so much when her fool of a Qwa'ha Xahn had coaxed her essence into the shell she now inhabited. This pathetic form of a human did not suit her at all and her weakness grated on her endlessly. She had lost even more when Wesley had stripped most of her powers with the Mutari generator. But sometimes when she was still, when she was quiet and listened, she could almost hear...
"Why is she staring at the ficus?"
"Shut up, Rowena!"
"She's been staring at the ficus for three hours!"
"Rowena, Leah, we have a major vamp next in Oban to clear out!"
Angel came around the corner and took in the scene. Two freaked out looking Slayers and an ex-God-King motionless and staring at the local flora.
"Wanna go do some violence, Illyria?" he asked, ignoring the intense glares the junior Slayers sent his way.
Illyria didn't respond.
Great, she was in one of those moods.
"Come on girls, I've got some tricks to teach you," Angel said, waggling his eyebrows and tapping the sword at his hip. The girls actually squealed and darted towards him in delight, God-King forgotten. Angel inwardly rolled his eyes. Slayers.
#
Illyria ignored them all, hoping to hear the Song she'd not heard in so long.
There!
She had it, it was...it was...
She lost it.
She hated it here. There were few things that made her existence remotely bearable. The brooding one and the bleached one who had both managed to rise above the cesspool that was their kind were enough to keep her interested to some extent, but there were few such muck that had her respect.
"What's up with the smurf?" another voice called out.
She hated it here.
October 22nd, 2005
"Buffy, I'd like you to meet Major Henry Boyd, Captain Roger Watts, and Lieutenant Jessica McLeod."
"Boyd, minions, this is Buffy Summers." Faith paused. "Watts, if you intend to keep your limbs intact, I would swallow that laugh."
Roger was struggling.
"Henry Boyd stepped forward and extended a hand, "any friend of Faith's is a friend of ours. Pleased to meet you, Buffy, call me Henry."
Roger coughed and received an elbow from McLeod.
The brunette woman of SG-10 smiled at Buffy and waved. "What he said. Call me Jessica, good to meet you."
Roger finally held out his own hand. "Hello..." he coughed and croaked, "Buffy."
Buffy sighed when the man finally failed holding in his laughter. "You get this one free, Roger Watts. But laugh at my name again and I will shove my arm up your ass and work your mouth like a puppet."
Watts paled slightly at her tone and the fierce look in her eyes. "Alright, sorry B...Buffy. It is good to meet you, though." The man paused for a second. "You know, you're pretty scary for your siz-"
Buffy interrupted with a glare. "That applies to comments about my height, too."
Jessica grinned. "You, I like."
Buffy smiled brightly then. "So, where we goin'?"
They were currently parked in the Visitors Center's parking lot at the Garden of the Gods. They had an array of items to carry with them. Among them was a cooler full of "definitely not alcohol, officer" courtesy of Watts. Buffy liked him better when the absence of beer was revealed. Henry's long-suffering wife had sent Henry with some prepared food along with a few packs of hot dogs and buns. Buffy was ready to get a move on.
"We're gonna hump it to the park and set it up at one of the picnic areas. They have some standing grills we can use for the dogs," Henry stated.
"Hump what?" Buffy asked.
The question had been asked someone absently so it took a few seconds for Buffy to realize everyone had stopped to stare at her.
Faith sighed. That shade of red on Buffy's face really was quite appealing. "Alright team, let's go hump."
Boyd gave Buffy a sympathetic smile as the others snickered.
#
It wasn't all that long of a walk, maybe a mile and even that was mostly on a paved road. The dirt paths didn't really start until you were well and truly in the Garden of the Gods park. But even though it wasn't a long walk and it was a cool 65 degrees out, it was still a walk carrying a lot of gear. Charcoal, booze, food, the horseshoe equipment, no it wasn't an easy walk.
But Henry Boyd and his team were military and they'd trained for this sort of thing. Walking about with a lot of heavy gear was business as usual for them. And Faith was...
Faith was whatever she was that allowed her to carry a 45 pound cooler with one hand. 45 lbs wasn't a completely ridiculous weight to carry around, but for her to carry it with one hand and not even break a sweat?
Henry was pretty sure Faith didn't realize she was even doing it while she, Buffy, and Jessica continued their animated discussion. The discussion had started with Jessica talking about some science theory that no one understood but had somehow evolved into them discussing, loudly, their personal favorite bladed weapons. While the discussion itself raised a lot of questions about both Faith and Buffy, questions which Boyd felt certain Jessica was filing away for later, it was the cooler that had his attention.
It hadn't been intentional or some test he'd cooked up, Faith had simply grabbed the wrong cooler when she came back from the bathroom at the Visitor Center. At his side, Roger caught his eye and gave a surreptitious nod towards Faith and tapped the bag he carried. It wasn't just him then. His attention was diverted again when Faith asked Buffy to hold it while she got a drink out.
And Buffy held it. With one hand.
The exchange happened in a few brief seconds and he might've missed the significance of it had he not been watching and thinking about it at that very moment.
Whatever Faith was, Buffy was one too.
Faith absentmindedly chewed on the potato salad Heather had made. Boyd was a damn lucky man, she reflected, and he knew it. A laugh got her attention and she looked over to see Buffy showing Jessica some of the finer techniques of choking a man out. These techniques were tested on Watts, of course. Faith smiled, yeah Watts would be on her shit list for a while. Faith's smile softened. Then again, she was living proof of how forgiving Buffy could be; Watts would be in the clear soon enough.
"You like her an awful lot don't you, Faith?" Henry asked in a quiet voice.
Faith nearly jumped out of her skin as her thoughts were interrupted.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. It's not often that I manage to do that."
Boyd was a good man, but he wasn't stupid and Faith knew she wasn't exactly the most subtle person. He'd noticed things, enough things that his eyes held questions whenever they met hers. But he didn't ask and Faith liked him better for it. She didn't want to lie to him, but Boyd was a pretty religious guy. She didn't want the responsibility of shattering his preconceptions about the universe. He would suffer from the discovery of her world and she didn't think he was the type who'd recover, so the questions that lingered in his hazel eyes went unanswered.
"Well?" Boyd prompted.
"Yeah, sorry. What was that?" Faith asked coming back to the present.
"The blonde over there who looks like she's preparing to turn Watts into a human pretzel. You care for her. I've never seen that smile on your face before, not even in the morning after a particularly good lay. It's the kind of smile I get when I think about Heather and Lucy."
Faith gave Boyd a level look. "I don't kno-"
"Bullshit," Boyd declared.
"Fuck, Henry, leave it alone. She and I have a lot of history and most of it isn't good. I know what I want, but her? When it comes to Buffy and relationships..." Faith shrugged.
Boyd nodded. Then he put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, there's something I need to talk to you about for a moment."
Faith shot him a questioning look but followed his lead. Faith caught Buffy's eye and mouthed "BE RIGHT BACK" and received a thumbs up in return.
Faith followed Boyd up a small trail that ended with them on a small rise that overlooked their temporary campsite from perhaps 50 feet away.
"What gives, Boyd?"
"Daniel Jackson approached me at the SGC today and asked me to speak with you." Boyd gave her a meaningful look. "We have visitors at the SGC right now and he said it would be unwise to attract their attention. He asked that you stay away from Cheyenne Mountain until those visitors are gone."
"The visitors...Goa'uld?" Faith asked, smile tight.
"Several System Lords who are attempting to broker a truce with Earth," Boyd confirmed.
"Yeah right," Faith muttered. "Daniel's babysitting the snakes? What about Sam and the Great Haired One?"
Henry smiled. It was hard to tell with Teal'c, but he was pretty sure the man was irritated with Faith's new moniker for him. "Weir gave them authorization to look for outside help for Colonel O'Neill."
"Really?" Faith perked up, "Thor?"
That was interesting. Boyd hadn't been aware that Faith had even known of the Asgard, let alone Thor. At least some of the rumors were true then. "Okay, I'm obligated to ask this, feel free not to answer. Are you the result of experimentation conducted by Loki?" Boyd asked wincing even as he asked.
Both of Faith's eyebrows flew up at that. It had been the closest he'd come to outright asking about her abilities, but that conclusion... "How much and who with?" she asked, mouth curling into a smile.
"Watts, Jake Bosworth, and Jennifer Hailey. One Benjamin," Henry admitted with a guilty look.
"Hailey should've known better," Faith said with a disappointed shake of her head. "I want 25%."
"Deal." Boyd nodded and began the trek back to the others.
"Seriously, an experimental of Loki's?" Faith asked incredulously, "what the fuck?"
Major Henry Boyd laughed.
#
"So extend your leg," Jessica murmured, "aim at the joint on the side of the knee."
"Yeah, but watch your leg or you'll hyperextend it,"Buffy said, maneuvering Jessica's leg into a slightly different position. "Don't telegraph and you don't need to put your whole body behind it. Pull it off correctly and you'll be able to attack or defend yourself immediately after the follow through."
"Yeah, I think I see now. Alright Roger, hold still." Jessica smiled.
"I hate you both, daughters of Satan," Watts said in an unhappy tone.
Buffy gave him a bright smile. "Tell me I'm short again, I dare you."
Roger opened his mouth to respond but a loud laugh caught the group's attention.
Buffy looked over her shoulder to see Faith walking at Henry Boyd's side. It was the latter of the two who was laughing while the brunette at his side shook her head in disgust over something. Buffy let Roger go but not before issuing another warning in a low voice, "One more time, Watts, and my arm and your mouth..."
"I get it, I get it," Rogers exclaimed, holding his hands up in surrender.
"So," Jessica said loudly, "we got the grub, we got the booze, it's your game Faith, where are the horseshoes?"
Faith smiled a wicked smile. "Oh girly, don't get your panties in a bunch. You're in for a wild night."
The members of SG-10 collectively paused as they reconsidered their current course of action. The Stargate Command personnel that held the privilege of being Faith Lehane's friend had all gone through what Faith called a "wild night" at some point. There was a danger to life, limb, and dignity to any who participated. Dignity was often the victim when it came to such events.
Buffy, or "the little person" as Roger had unfortunately named her, took a shot glass from Faith and downed it in unison with Faith. Faith gave them that wicked smile again. "Well you gonna make us poor civvies drink alone?"
And so the night began.
#
"I like them," Buffy commented, a very slight slur as the only evidence of the night's activities. "You seem to be doing well here, Faith. With everything, I mean."
Faith herself had been pretty tolerant of the stuff even before she became a Slayer, but she was feeling the buzz too. Faith looked up from what she'd been doing. "I am doing well, B, never been any better in my life."
"Yeah?"
"Yep. It's been hard, don't get me wrong but the stuff they've been teaching me...to be honest I'm feeling a little pride for the first time in a long while," Faith said seriously. "Not just the fun shit like guns and blowing crap up, but the little things like first aid, survival training, and using a map and compass. I've even been learning another language. Never thought I'd be doing crap like that."
Buffy watched the other Slayer as she talked and thanked the Powers or whoever else that Faith had been brought to this place. "Pride looks good on you, F." Buffy swirled the nearly empty bottle of Sailor Jerry around. It really did mix well with cream soda. She peered at Faith, "what are you even doing?"
Faith smiled and continued tapping on the cell phone. "I'm texting Heather to let her know that Boyd is gonna be tied up for a while and that I'll send her pictures."
"Who's Heather? And pictures of what?" Buffy asked, perplexed.
"Heather is his wife and-"
"Wife! I thought you said he's been in a black hole for five years!"
"They were married before he was trapped on the edge of a black hole," Faith corrected.
"Damn, she stayed with him after that whole time?"
"Yeah, with a five year old to take care of on top."
Buffy whistled. Well, sort of, Buffy's ability to whistle had clearly been affected by the alcohol. "Wait, what pictures?"
Faith put the phone down and reached for her pack. She rooted through it for a moment before she answered Buffy's question by way of the objects in her hand.
Buffy smiled and finished the last of her tasty, alcohol, not-beer beverage and uncapped the sharpie Faith had given her. "Not that I'm complaining...but isn't this a little juvenile?"
Faith shrugged.
"Fair enough," Buffy said, "this has been fun, Faith, but don't think I've forgotten about you taking me shopping."
"Wouldn't think of it, B," Faith assured her and began her artistic masterpiece using the canvas of Lieutenant Jessica McLeod's face.
Author's Notes: So the little back and forth timing from the last chapter has matched up as of this chapter. Yes, the chapter title was inspired by the content as well as the song by Muse. The arm and mouth quote was from The Other Guys. This chapter is mostly catch-up, getting the SGC people to their starting positions and all. Things start picking up pretty quick from here.
The Garden of the Gods is a really cool place, I actually lived about 5 minutes from it. The sandstone formations are pretty legit, and I thought it'd be a nice place to play horseshoes. *shrug*