Title: Rebuilding
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Stargate. I wish I did. All characters will be returned the their proper owners when I finish playing with them.
Spoilers: All of Buffy through Chosen; Stargate through end of season 7; I've reassigned Gen. Hammond back at SGC
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Thank you to all the wonderful folks who have taken the time to leave a review (or two or more!).
"Hello Catherine. Do you mind if we come in?"
"Of course not Daniel. Please come in." Dr. Langford opened the door wider. "Sam, Teal'c. It's good to see you."
"It's good to you see again as well DoctorLangford," Teal'c said as they followed her into the living room.
"Please make yourselves comfortable. This isn't a social call is it" she asked looking at their faces. She sat down on the couch next to Sam.
"No its not," Sam said. "We need to ask you some questions about the Travers Foundation. It provided most of the original funding for the Giza dig didn't it?"
"Yes it did. Why?"
"A woman supposedly representing the Foundation contacted Daniel this morning. She said that the Foundation wanted to hire him and she left several photographs for him to look at. One photograph was a picture of the coverstone at Giza, another was a tablet written in Goa'uld."
Dr. Langford rose from the couch and walked over to the window. She stared out blindly at the front yard.
"Catherine?
"Were those the only photographs?"
"No, why?"
"What were the others of?"
"A tablet in Sumerian and an Aztec wallpainting."
"Did you translate them Daniel?"
"Yes, but..."
"What did they say?"
"The Goa'uld tablet referred to Sineya the Destroyer, Ra, and the Stargate. The Sumerian tablet told of a daughter of the Destroyer. I don't know what the wallpainting means. Catherine, do you know what this is about?"
She turned around to look directly at Daniel. "Does the representative know that you have translated the tablets?"
"No. I didn't open the envelope until after she left."
"Good." Catherine continued, "the Travers Foundation is a cover for another, much older group, one that has roots reaching back to the beginning of recorded history. They are the Council. They guard their secrets well and Sineya is among the greatest of those secrets. I don't know why they would allow an outsider to see those photographs. Please don't take this the wrong way Daniel but you are not Council material."
"Miss Summers, the young woman who came to see me, said there had there had been a shake-up at the board level and there were a number of openings for researchers. They were also hiring people who were less 'hard' than before."
"A shake-up? Not with that bunch of old men. They are ruled by tradition. There must be something else going on."
Sam nodded. "From what we have learned there was an explosion at their headquarters two years ago. A gas leak was the official reason."
"Were there any survivors?"
"Not at the headquarters but some staff that were in the field did survive."
"Only some?"
"A number of people connected with the Foundation who were murdered in the months leading up to the explosion."
"It is possible that someone who didn't realize the significance of the artifacts authorized Miss Summers to show you those photographs," Catherine said quietly. "It is also possible that they are so desperate to refill their ranks that they knowingly showed you those pictures. They are quite capable of killing you if you chose not to join them. As I said, they carefully guard their secrets."
"DoctorLangford, you appear to have great knowledge of those secrets. Are you not also a threat?"
"Not really, Teal'c. My adoptive father was a member of the Council. As far as they are concerned, I am family, a part of the Council, inactive for decades but still one of them. And unlike my father, my information was limited to need-to-know. Besides, at my age I can be easily dismissed as a foolish old woman if I decided to talk. Dr. Jackson, while a discredited academic, just might be listened to."
Catherine returned to couch and sat back down next to Sam.
"Catherine, we are not sure that the young woman who contacted Daniel was from the Foundation or the Council. She gave her name as Buffy Summers but as far as we know Buffy Summers is living in Rome and hasn't returned the U.S. in nearly a year. "
"The Council excels in subterfuge Sam. They are quite capable of getting someone into this country without anyone knowing, even post 9/11. Daniel, how young was she?"
"Early twenties."
"Actually she is twenty-three if she really is Miss Summers," Sam added.
"Do you have any other information about Miss Summers? A police record of gang violence perhaps?"
"Nothing that was ever proved. She was also a suspect in several murders and a bombing. In college she was linked to a top secret Army project. She and her sister lived in Sunnydale, California, until last year. After the town was destroyed they traveled to England with a Rupert Giles. She is currently living in Rome and is listed as security consultant with the Foundation."
"She is almost certainly who she claims to be although it is highly unusual that the Council would have anything to do with the military. But with that record, she could be the Slayer although it is more likely that she is a former Potential. The Giles family is one of the old Council families."
"Slayer, Potential?"
"The daughters of Sineya. The Slayer is a Potential who has been chosen. There is only one slayer but many potentials. Slayers are called between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Most only last one or two years, especially the younger ones. To make it to twenty-three Miss Summers would have to be most extraordinary if she is the Slayer."
"What do you mean most only last a year or two? What happens to them?"
"They die. Daniel, the Slayer is a warrior. She fights against the evil that most do not see. How many cultures have stories of monsters, demons, vampires?"
"Almost all but that's all they are, stories."
"No, they are not. They are real. As real as the Goa'uld. The Slayer has the strength to fight them but with each battle there is a chance she will fall. In the end, she will fall and the next slayer is called."
"And their relationship with the Council?"
"The Council identifies the Potentials. Since they don't control which Potential is called they try to prepare all of them. They provide each girl with a Watcher who trains them. Mr. Giles was probably her Watcher."
"And you think that Miss Summers is either a Slayer or a Potential?"
"A former Potential. She is too old to be a Potential. I hope that she is the Slayer."
"You hope she is the Slayer?" Daniel asked.
"Slayers don't kill humans, a former Potential might, especially one that is employed as a security consultant. The Council has resorted to extreme measures from time to time."
Sam's cell phone rang.
"Carter here." A concerned look crossed her face. She turned to Catherine. "A woman matching Miss Summers' description has been spotted in the neighborhood. Catherine, do you know why she might try to contact you?"
"No. I haven't had direct contact with the Council since my father died in 1957."
"Is she headed this way? Airman?"
Sam looked at her teammates. "I've lost contact with the survelliance unit."