A/N: Real life has been really hectic lately and I'm no longer as far ahead on this fic as I would like. Therefore, I'm going to skip the next update to try and catch myself up. Meaning, this fic will be updated in one month. Sorry.
Chapter Six
"Buffy, Faith, and Dawn, I'd like to thank you for your assistance during the alien incursion," General Hammond said to begin the meeting in the briefing room. "Without you, the casualties would have been much higher and we could have lost the base."
"That's what we do every day where we come from," Faith said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Still, I'm curious as to how you knew the correct manner in which to dispatch the aliens," Hammond said, clasping his hands together on top of the table.
"Because they weren't aliens, they were demons," Dawn explained.
"Excuse me? I thought you said they didn't exist in our dimension."
"We could be wrong," Dawn said defensively. "We were assuming that based upon the fact that the Watcher's organization doesn't exist here, but the fact that they came through the gate is pretty interesting. Oh! Maybe your aliens are all just demons. Wouldn't that be cool? Course, it means they had to leave Earth somehow at some point, 'cause you guys do have legends similar to ours which suggests some sort of split at some time…"
"Dawn!" Buffy interrupted. "Think on that later. It might lead you to a way home. But I'm sure the General has more than one question."
"I do, like how you knew silver was the only way to stop them."
"Back during my freshman year of college, Giles, my watcher, was turned into one by an 'old friend' of his. What I know comes from the research we did then," Buffy said.
"So you knew silver would kill him?" Then Jack said in confusion, "I thought you liked him."
"I did, I mean, I do. We just didn't know it was Giles at the time. We thought the demon had eaten him."
"Ah," Jack said, a look of slight confusion still on his face. He decided he'd ask for the full story later on.
"Should we anticpate a retalitory strike?" Hammond asked.
"I'm not sure," Buffy said, scrunching her nose. "Fyarl's are usually foot soldier types and they aren't the brightest. I think someone put them up to this."
"Apophis?" Jack suggested.
"It's possible," Daniel said before elaborating. "They're technically not part of his forces so that wouldn't be breaching the treaty with the Asgard. It's underhanded, but not surprising."
"I concur," Teal'c said. "Apophis would be seeking retribution for our actions on Ne'tu, but is currently busy consolidating his troops. This would provide him with the results he was seeking yet the evidence would not point to him."
"Do you know how they got through the gate in the first place?" Faith asked. "I thought you guys had a way to prevent that."
"We do," Sam said, shifting slightly in the large chair. "We think they waited until the returning team sent the signal before paralyzing them and coming through themselves. At least, that's our guess since we haven't figured out how to get the hardened mucous off the team."
"Someone is definitely behind this then," Buffy said firmly. "That's way too complicated for a typical Fyarl. Even with how many came through the gate, they tend to just get dumber in packs."
"Any suggestions on how to prevent this in the future?"
Buffy looked over at Dawn and Faith. Both of them shook their heads. "Nope, sorry."
"Then I suggest everyone gets some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."
"One more thing," Faith said, causing everyone to sit back down. "I think it's pretty clear that B, Little D, and I are gonna be here for a while. So B has a suggestion."
Buffy sent Faith a scathing look. "Thanks."
"Hey, you're the de facto leader girl, so go for it."
"You did get us a night out," Dawn said cheekily.
"And we saw how well that turned out."
"Ladies," Jack said, clearing his throat.
"Right, the suggestion," Buffy said a bit sheepishly before turning serious. "We'd like to offer our services while we're here."
"Meaning?" Hammond curiously asked.
"We're skilled fighters, as you've seen, and we need to do something to earn our way here. Plus, and most importantly, we're really bored," Buffy finished.
Hammond smiled. He had wondered how long it would take for them to ask. It had to be killing them to just sit around and do nothing while the people around them were fighting the good fight. "I'll start the paperwork today."
Buffy and Faith visibly brightened.
"General, are you sure about this?" Jack asked.
"Positive. I look to you to start on their weapons training," Hammond said as he stood.
Jack looked at him in horror. "Sir!"
"Can I just do translations for now?" Dawn asked. "I'm not really a fighter. I usually only fight during apocalypses."
"Talk to Dr. Jackson. I'm sure he'd appreciate the help."
"It would be great," Daniel said with a grin. "I've got a tablet in my office. Do you want to take a look?"
"Yeah," Dawn said as the two got up to leave.
"Hey, Hammond said to get some rest," Jack pointed out.
"We will, right after I show her the tablet," Daniel said, never stopping.
"Crap. I'm gonna have to drag him out of the office in an hour," Jack grumbled as Sam and Teal'c left as well.
"Guess we're all yours," Buffy said with a grin.
"D'oh."
XXXXXXXXX
Jack scowled as he pressed the button to bring the paper targets back. Buffy and Faith's weapon training was turning out to be a colossal waste of time. Both of the current targets had one hole each in the heart range despite the fact that the girls had hit it with all fifteen shots.
"Could you at least spread them apart a little," he grumbled as he unhooked the targets.
"Sorry?" Buffy said, with a little smile on her lips.
"No, you're not," he shot back.
"Honestly, Jack, it's not that hard to hit a still target," Buffy said. "There might have been a spread if it had actually been moving."
"Yeah, this isn't exactly challenging. Please tell me the other training is tougher than this," Faith nearly begged.
"It gets tougher," he assured her. "You might break a sweat, or even a nail."
"I think he's talkin' about you, B," Faith teased.
"I'll have you know that I rarely break a nail," Buffy sniffed. "Or a sweat."
A wicked look appeared on Faith's face as she slyly said, "Only when you're…"
"Faith," Buffy said warningly.
"Shutting up." Faith said with a smirk directed at her sister slayer. The dark haired slayer looked at Jack. "So, want us to shoot at a farther target?"
"No, 'cause that's as far as the range goes." He gave them a piercing look. "Are you sure you've never used a gun before today?"
"Yeah, but in all fairness, we've shot a crossbow. It's more useful to us than guns," Faith said.
"I didn't even carry one when I was with the Initiative," Buffy added. "I did carry one of their nifty tazers one time, although it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be."
"Why?" Faith asked, having never heard the story before since she was in a coma for a big part of Buffy's stint with the military group.
"It blew up in my hands 'cause of psycho Walsh," Buffy said darkly.
Jack looked at her in confusion. "What did she have to do with it?"
"She rigged it to explode. I was asking too many questions and was making Riley think, so she tried to eliminate me. God forbid the soldiers should start thinking for themselves," she said with a roll of her eyes.
He frowned. No wonder she had held some resentment towards them in the beginning. The more he learned about this Initiative project she and her ex had been involved with, the more he was disgusted about it. Imagine purposely trying to kill one of your own men.
Changing the subject, Jack said, "Let's move on to the next phase." He led them out of the shooting range and to another room that had pairs of weapons laid out on a long table.
"Prezzies? For us? Really, Jack, you shouldn't have," Buffy teased.
He ignored her and said, "We'll start with the 9 mil that you were just shooting. I want you to break it down like you were going to clean it."
The two slayers stepped up to the table and picked up the handgun. As one, they closed their eyes for a moment and then opened them. Their hands moved in a blur and less than thirty seconds later the guns laid in pieces.
Jack blinked a few times and then said, "Put them back together."
They grinned and quickly reassembled them.
"Fine, smarty pants. Do the MP-5 next."
Once again they briefly closed their eyes when they picked the weapon up. Less than a minute later they were also in pieces.
"Is this supposed to be hard?" Faith asked Buffy.
"I think so," she replied, taking in Jack's shocked expression.
"Okay, wait just a minute. I can see you knowing how to take the Beretta apart because of TV and movies, plus you have the speed thing. But how in the hell did you know how to do that to an MP-5?" He asked, his face slightly flushed.
"It's part of the slayer package," Faith said.
"What good would the Powers weapon be if she didn't have the instincts to use every weapon put in her hands?" Buffy added.
"You mean you've been humoring me through all of this?" He asked.
"Pretty much," Faith said.
"Besides, we need written proof that we can use the weapons," Buffy said with a shrug. "Would you have believed us if we had just told you?"
"Probably not," he grudgingly admitted. He gave them a wicked grin. "Just means we get to move to the scenario training."
"Do we get to hit things?" Faith asked brightly.
"If you're lucky."
"Kick ass."
XXXXXXXX
Dawn looked up from the Sumerian tablet she was translating. Daniel had another desk moved into his office until they could clean out an area for her. "How many languages do you speak?" She asked suddenly.
Daniel pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose from where they had slid down. "Umm, twenty-three. No, it's twenty-five now since I've learned Goa'uld and Ancient. Why?"
"Just wondering. Wow, twenty-four. I thought it was impressive that Willow knows fifteen. Granted half of those are demonic and her Latin sucks but wow."
"How many do you speak?" He asked.
"Twelve."
"That's impressive for someone as young as you."
"Languages just speak to me – pardon the pun. I mean, it's like I start to study one and suddenly it opens up to me. Willow thinks it has something to do with my keyne – keen abilities," she said, giving him a covert look to see if he caught her slip.
"What does being a witch have to do with linguistic ability?" He asked with a small frown.
She relaxed slightly when she realized he didn't, but now she was forced to create an answer. "She said it's different for everyone. My abilities aren't the greatest with spells, but I'm just good with languages."
"Oh," he said in a tone that said he wasn't completely sure he understood.
"Tara had been very good with defensive spells because of her personality. Willow's were more offensive because of a dark streak she has running through her…"
"And languages, too?" He interrupted.
"Actually, no. Willow's just smart. She learned several before she even started dabbling in magic. So that's au naturel."
"It's still pretty interesting," he said, returning to his own tablet.
The two worked in silence for fifteen minutes before Dawn spoke up again. "What do you know about the people who built the stargates?"
"Not much, I'm afraid," Daniel replied, looking up once again. "The Ancients were part of an Alliance with three other races – the Asgard, the Nox, and the Furlings. Like any other ancient civilization they left behind remnants besides just the stargates. Ruins scattered over planets, odd devices here and there. Jack had a repository of all of their knowledge downloaded into his brain once."
"Sounds like fun," Dawn said with a grimace.
"Nearly killed him actually. I got to hear their native language as the knowledge seeped into his brain and caused him to speak it. It started as just a word here and there but eventually it was all he could speak."
Dawn's eyes widened. "How much did you learn?"
"A bit. It's very similar to Latin."
"I'm really good at Latin. Do you think I could give it a try?" She asked, hoping that her keyness would help her unlock the language.
"Why?" He asked, looking curiously at her.
"I've got a hunch that maybe your Ancients were responsible for getting the demons off Earth." She stood and began pacing as she worked the theory out. "Which would be why there is no slayer line here – because there was no need. Maybe our Ancients couldn't do that so they created the slayer line – they could've been the Shadow Men that Buffy saw in that vision thing. Either way…"
"They could have knowledge written somewhere about how to get you back home," he said, catching on.
"It could be a false lead, but it's worth a shot don't you think?" She was taken slightly aback by his brilliant smile.
"I'll gather up all of my work on it for you," he replied.
"Whoo hoo!"
XXXXXXX
Buffy set her tray on the table before taking a seat. "Taking a break from the physics?" She asked.
Sam smiled at her. "If I don't surface occasionally the Colonel hunts me down and drags me here. I've learned that it's just easier to take breaks on my own and make sure the people see me so he'll leave me be. Although sometimes I forget."
"Xander always brought us doughnuts and would enforce the breaks," Buffy said, her eyes wistful.
"You must miss them."
"Yeah, but we'll get back eventually."
"How is your training going?" Sam asked, seeing Buffy retreating mentally.
"Not bad," the blonde slayer said. "We've passed the weapons section and most of the scenario stuff. I think Jack said there was only one more. Then he said you get to give us a crash course in alien technology. That will be our hardest part to pass."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked before taking a bite of her blue Jell-O.
Buffy shrugged. "The fighting, tactics, and weapons stuff comes naturally to us because we're slayers. But technology isn't really our strong suit."
"You'll be fine," Sam assured her. She smiled at Buffy's dubious look. "Trust me. It's mostly how to dial the gate, how to open doors – the easy stuff. The Colonel can even pass the test."
"Really? Cool," Buffy replied, brightening slightly. "We should have another night out after Faith and I get cleared. Only this time we'll leave the boys home."
"A girl's night?"
"Yeah. I mean I know you're used to hangin' with the guys and all. Which, by the way, has to be rough."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked, her spoon halfway to her mouth.
"Well, you essentially live in a man's world. I mean it's probably better than it was but I remember what it was like at the Initiative, the old beliefs are there under the surface. Worried that if you show any sign of weakness that they'll pounce, prove that you're not worthy of…" Buffy trailed off. She shook herself and looked at Sam. "Sorry, didn't mean to… sorry."
"It's okay," Sam said, putting her spoon down. "It must be hard being different."
"Sometimes," Buffy said with a sigh. "It's kind of nice to not be the Champion here. I almost feel normal… So girl's night?"
"Sounds like fun," Sam said with a grin. "Would it be alright to invite a friend?"
"As long as she's a… well, a she."
Sam grinned. "She is. It's Janet Fraiser."
"The doctor?" Buffy asked a little skeptically.
"Sure, she's fun. Plus, she needs a night out, too."
"Bring her along then. But no needles allowed."
