"Gonna introduce me to your sister?" Jack asked as he kept his weapon trained on the new arrival.
"Antandre."
All eyes turned to Anya who just shrugged. "What? You don't think Vengeance Demons know the legend of the Amazons and those ancient ones that came before us?"
Giles turned to Anya, "but how did you know this was Antandre when you didn't recognize Penthesilea?"
Anya smirked before she answered, "oh, we had a picture of Antandre. Hallie and I were very interested in her past especially as we were vengeance demons for scorned women. She was very inventive when it came to harming the Greeks at Troy. I remember this one time…"
Xander cut her off when he saw how the Amazons were looking at her. "Not now, honey."
The Amazons focused their attention on Anya. "You are a demon?" They were surprised that their armbands didn't signal that this one was a demon.
Anya shot Giles a disgruntled look, "former demon."
Xander slipped an arm around her waist and drew her a little behind him.
"All very interesting but you still haven't answered my question."
Anya turned to Jack, "Sure she did. Well, I did. You asked about the new Amazon and I answered."
Jack just ignored her but kept his weapon trained on the newcomer. Antandre turned her attention from Anya over to the Tau'ri. "Do you really think, Tau'ri that your weapon can harm me?"
"Ra didn't think too much of our weapons either. Maybe you should ask him… oh that's right you can't. He's dead. Gee, and how did that happen? Inferior Tau'ri weapons maybe?"
Dawn leaned over to whisper in Buffy's ear, "Issues, much?"
"Enough, we have no time for these tiresome games." Penthesilea concentrated briefly and all weapons in the back room disappeared.
"HEY!" Buffy yelled as Mr. Pointy disappeared with the others.
"They will be returned." The redheaded Furling reassured Buffy and Giles.
Jack debated whether to push the issue. Lack of weapons had never been a problem for him, especially with his Black Ops training. But he also knew when to choose his battles. The ultimate goal still in mind, he let this battle go.
"So you were saying something about a new System Lord rising?"
The Furlings didn't have much association with the Tau'ri. What they knew of them were through others such as the Knox or Asgard. But Penthesilea DID know warriors and she recognized this Jack O'Neill for the fighter he was. A warrior wouldn't have given up their weapons without a fight if they didn't have another plan in place. Yes, she would keep a close eye on this rival.
Antandre turned to the others and indicated that they should resume sitting. "The rising Goa'uld is known as Sekhmet." She paused to see if anyone recognized the name.
"Oh bloody hell."
All eyes turned to Giles.
Giles' took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He could feel a tension headache coming on and he REALLY wanted a glass of scotch. All right a bottle of scotch.
"Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian goddess also known as the Destroyer. She represented the destructive force of the sun."
Jack's mind was whirling with what he remembered of Daniel's blathering about the myth and the reality of the Goa'uld. Could the destructive force of the sun be the firing from a space ship?
"According to legend she came into being when Ra sent her to take vengeance on those that didn't worship him. Sekhmet slaughtered mankind and drank their blood. Besides the Destroyer she is known to give eternal life."
Just when Jack wished Daniel were there with all his mythological knowledge there was Rupert Giles to fill in the blanks. Ra. Even dead he seemed to be a pain in his ass.
"A vampire?" Buffy asked.
"Doubtful from what we know of these Goa'ulds but possibly the mother of the first vampire. The books tell the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected with the demon's soul. He bit another, and so on."
Willow could barely take all of the information in. Dawn seemed to be a Slayer now. Which kind of made sense since the monks made her out of Summers' blood and obviously Summers' blood had Slayer DNA. Tara was called as a mage just like she was. Goddess, she missed Tara. Even though it had been months since their breakup and they were tentative friends again, she missed being able to call Tara at all hours just to talk. Her eyes roamed over to Jack. She knew he must be missing his old life. Willow inwardly sighed; it didn't look like she was going to be able to help him with his de-aging thing. At least not until this Sekhmet was defeated.
Her eyes narrowed a bit as she watched Jack. She concentrated on what the Furlings, SGC and Giles had told her. There was something…
"Ra!"
Jack raised an eyebrow at Willow, "Ra?"
"Yeah, when you were arguing with Antandre you said that you had defeated Ra with your weapons. Maybe we can use the same weapons to defeat Sekhmet."
Jack shook his head, "I'm sorry, Willow. It wasn't the type of weapon that was easy to get." He wouldn't rule out the use of an atomic bomb when it came to defeating a Goa'uld though.
Giles' spoke suddenly, "Hathor."
Jack's eyebrows rose when he turned to look at Giles, "Hathor?"
"Hathor and Sekhmet were believed to be the same deity. If we research Hathor we should be able to find a way to defeat Sekhmet."
A satisfied smirk flitted across Jack's face as he interrupted Giles, "She's dead."
Jack raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck. Hathor was still a sore subject. He HATED that he'd fallen under her spell and he HATED that she'd turned him into a Jaffa, even briefly.
"Hathor's dead? Are you quite certain?"
Visions of pushing Hathor into the vat floated in Jack's mind, "Trust me when I say… oh yeah, she's dead."
He turned to the Amazons. "Are you sure the new Goa'uld is Sekhmet? If Jack and the others defeated Hathor wouldn't that mean that Sekhmet was also defeated?"
Antandre answered Giles, "Sekhmet is indeed the new threat. It was believed that Hathor and she were the same but they were actually sisters, daughters of Ra."
"How was she defeated the first time? In Egypt?"
"She wasn't. She wasn't as powerful as the other System Lords, however she did align herself with those on the rise. We believe she was waiting until the right time to make her move. She is a calculating killer. She has yet to make a false move."