Daniel's first thought upon entering the living room was how normal everyone seemed. Sgt. Miller was standing next to the door leaning against the wall. He straightened up as they came in and the SG team fell in next to him, taking up positions near the exit. Willow went straight over to Oz and the two began whispering again, their heads low and intimate. Giles - and what the hell kind of name was that? - was on the speakerphone and they could hear the end of a strange conversation, one that Buffy seemed to pick up on immediately.

"...and then Andrew started talking about some demony-type protection..."

Giles rubbed his forehead.

"I sincerely hope someone put a stop to that."

"Of course I did." The voice on the other end was indignant.

"Dawn..." Buffy had a warning tone in her voice.

"OK..."The voice backed off, "Faith did, anyway. And Wood. But I helped!"

"Don't help." Buffy looked at Giles and rolled her eyes. He smiled at her. "We'll call you later, Dawnie. "

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Xander said.

"But don't date any demons, either." Willow added.

"Thanks, Will."

"Sorry."

Buffy swung around to face the military men standing near the doorway.

"So," she said, folding her arms, "talk."

"I'm Col. Jack O'Neill." the grey-haired guy was obviously vibrating with impatience. "I command an Air Force exploration team. We're known as SG-1. This is Dr. Daniel Jackson," Giles Junior gave a little head nod, "and this is Teal'c." Teal'c bowed gracefully.

Giles looked startled.

"Dr. Daniel Jackson? The archeologist?"

Daniel looked equally startled. And a little wary.

"Um. Yes?"

"Giles. Share."

Giles shook his head. "There was quite a debate over you on the Watcher's council. Some of us wanted to recruit you, quite badly I must say. We believed you would be an excellent Watcher."

Daniel blinked. "Should I be flattered?"

Giles, looking a little rueful, began, "Well..."

"No." Buffy tone was short. "They were pains in my ass and now they're dead. Giles. Can we live in the now, now?"

"I second that." Jack seconded.

Buffy continued. "Now, tell me about this demon."

Graham Miller started telling his story.

"We were hunting a pair of demons in Belize. Several villages had been hit, totally destroyed. We tracked them back to a nest, which is where we first saw them."

Graham looked at Giles. "They were Kilhari."

"Kilhari don't nest." Giles said sharply.

"Right." Graham nodded sharply. "So Lt. Finn Riley figured there had to be some kind of super-supernatural situation, or...something. We neutralized the pair and destroyed most of the nest." He shook his head, looking sick. "Giles, whatever was in there...? They looked like Kilhari...but they were obviously carnivorous."

"Are you sure? Giles pulled his glasses off, narrowing his eyes.

"Giles." Buffy broke in. "Translation?"

Giles shook his head. "That should be impossible. Kilhari are strict herbivores. They're sort of the demonic equivalent to...kangaroos, I guess."

"You were hunting Roo?" Willow sounded horrified. "What's next? Piglet? Eyore?"

"It was a demon, Will."

"Still."

"Can we get back to the thing that's got my Major?" Jack said irritably.

Graham was a little flushed, and his voice was a bit defensive. "It was supposed to be a capture, not a kill. Once they started trying to eat us, it got a little complicated. Anyway, the Kilhari said that a new mystic power was rising, changing the balance of nature."

"Wait a minute." Daniel interrupted. "It 'said'? These things can talk?"

"A new power?" Buffy ignored Daniel. "And where is this power located?"

"We were told that it would surface in a dry lakebed in the Utah desert. We went there and sure enough there was a mystic hot spot. With the help of a sorcerer we were able to create a trans-dimensional portal that led us into an underground series of caves. We were a seven-man unit, Lt. Finn commanding. We entered the caves and began a systematic search. Lt. Finn - Sam - the other Lt. Finn..." he looked vaguely apologetic, "...radioed in and said she'd found something and we should all convene at her location. So we followed her tracking beacon."

He fell silent.

"And?" Buffy demanded.

"There were all these people...they were caught in some sort of power web, pure energy as far as we could tell. Or at least, that's what Lt. Finn Riley that's what he called it. A 'mystic power web.' It looked like...like a honeycomb." Graham lost the military curtness and horror came through in his voice. "This thing is harvesting people, Buffy. It's got all these people down there, trapped in these little boxes, like a giant spider web."

"Alive?"

Graham nodded. "As far as we can tell, the people don't seem to be dead, but they don't seem...it's like, inside the individual boxes, they're just frozen."

Daniel, Jack and Teal'c exchanged relieved looks.

"She's all right, Jack." Daniel murmured in a low tone. Jack closed his eyes for a half-second, then refocused on the scene in front of him.

"'Frozen' as in cold? Giles was asking. He'd put his glasses back on and had begun pulling various books out of crates, discarding some and piling others on the desk in the corner of the room.

Graham shook his head. "No, sir. 'Frozen' as if...time just kinda stopped for them. He shook his head. "Anyway, we were all trying to get into the web stuff, trying to get the people out, when the hostile showed." He looked at Buffy. "Remember the Polgara?"

Buffy's mouth twisted. "How could I forget?"

"This thing was worse." Graham's eyes were haunted. "This was worse than any demon I've seen."

"Worse than Adam?" Xander asked, shocked.

Graham nodded soberly.

"I need you to describe this demon." Giles asked. He didn't raise his voice, but the young soldier replied immediately, as if given a direct order.

"Approximately two meters high, a deep red color, skin scaly, clawed. Six fingers on each hand. Horns...and they looked functional. Thick scales. Bullets bounced off of this thing. Graham rubbed his face, tired. "It had blue eyes, entirely blue, and black scales along its back and arms. It also had retractable spikes that fanned out along its forearms like quills, and it could launch those like projectiles."

"That's impossible." Giles was leafing through a book furiously.

"I assure you, " Teal'c's voice was courteous, but firm, "Sergeant Miller is completely accurate in his description."

Giles found a page in the book he was looking at and brought it over to the young Marine.

"Is this the demon?"

Sgt. Miller looked at the page, then at Giles in astonishment. "Yeah! That's it!"

"Wow. That's a personal best." Buffy looked at Giles. "So how do I kill it?"

Giles took the book back, looking at it with a faintly bewildered air. "You shouldn't have to." He tossed the book down and pulled off his glasses. "That demon's been extinct for a thousand years."