Author's Notes: Sorry about the amount of time between updates. I'll try to write them faster but I just wanted to give you all fair warning that I do start my schooling again in september so it comes first before writing for fun. I'll try to continue writing through the school year for recreation if I have time but I make no promises.
Now as to the Poker Night chapter that preceded this one. Those of you who didn't bother to read the note that I left and then sent me a nasty email saying that it didn't go with canon should go back and read the note explaining that it was merely an interlude of a possible element that might be included as canon later on down the road but it wasn't a part of the Zeppo Halo universe yet.
Reread that note before commenting please, hell read all my author notes before making comments. It might save you and me some grief, thank you. Now as always I'll read every single review and take them all seriously but please can you say something other than Update Now! that doesn't give me any hints as to how to improve the story or my writing. Now on with the story since I'm sure you're all sick of reading this note if you even read it in the first place.
Chapter 11.
Supreme Commander Thor sat in his chair at stargate command and watched the reactions of the few humans that he had chosen to observe more closely since their planets emergence on the galactic and intergalactic stage. These humans were a very interesting study; they seemed to accept all races as equals not as inferiors or superiors but equals who were merely different in appearance. A most refreshing change from the other humans who had reached the point where they were able to defend themselves from Goa'uld oppression, while they had advanced technologically it had stunted their open-mindedness to new or different things.
Of course now those same humans were being exposed to a horror that had roamed their homeworld before their species had even achieved sentience and to the idea that there were humans who spent their entire existence dedicated to fighting those same horrors.
Turning his attention back towards the self professed demon hunters of the group Thor wondered how they had become aware of who he was and also how they came to be within the SGC. From their reactions the last few times he had visited the facility it was supposed to be the most secure of their facilities on their homeworld.
Activating a control on the arm of his chair Thor accessed the powerful sensors on his flagship the Beliskner to scan the SGC. Almost as soon as he entered the command the information flowed over a small data readout built into the other armrest. The artificial life form that he had detected on one of his previous visits to Earth was present in the very same room as himself. Most intriguing, he thought as he casually observed the occupants of the room. The most likely to be the artificial life form was the young human looking male in the advanced black armor. At first glance he appeared human, but he could just as likely be a human form construct to mimic the outer appearance of a human. Deciding to keep the information to himself for the time being Thor sat back to watch the interactions between the two groups, it would be helpful in his quest to better understand humanity as a whole to observe them.
General Hammond was busy explaining the current situation to the President and the Joint Chiefs via video teleconferencing from his office adjacent to the main briefing room. The dedicated video link being part of the new series upgrades that were still continuing to happen throughout the base.
Colonel O'Neill sat back in his chair and let his gaze slowly move down the table taking in all of the demon hunters and civilians that had he had brought back to the base. "So, why did you start your little crusade against demons?" He asked not really expecting an honest answer but hoping for something to shed some light on this Harris character. So far he seemed to be the most open and honest about who and what he was.
"Nearly two years ago I learned about demons and vampires, on that same night they killed a friend of mine who I considered a brother in all ways save blood. Ever since that night I have fought them everywhere I could find them." Xander replied honestly. Even today it pained him to think of that night when he had seen Jessie die on the end of the stake he held in his hands. His mind quickly flashed back to that fateful night where he had confronted the demon inhabited body of his friend for the briefest of moments he was sure he saw gratitude shining out the eyes of his dead friend before the vampire that inhabited his body turned to dust.
Carolyn and Joseph McNally both looked sadly down at their friend at the mention of Jessie.
O'Neill tilted his head in their direction and looked expectedly at Xander.
"His name was Jessie McNally, her brother and his son." Xander offered in reply.
O'Neill merely nodded in reply. He knew what it felt like to lose those close to you, even more so what it felt like to lose a son. Once again the room fell into silence, neither side really looking like it felt ready to talk to the other. The boredom of the room was broken when an airman came in to talk to Colonel O'Neill.
"Colonel, the next group is ready to head out to the Alpha Site. Just need your orders for them to disembark, sir." Airman Stirling stated as he kept himself from starting at the unmistakable form of the Asgard sitting at one end of the table.
"Good, tell them to prepare to leave within the next five minutes. I'll get Hammond up to speed. Dismissed." O'Neill replied as he walked over to Hammond's office and rapped sharply on the door.
"What's the Alpha site?" Jacob asked as he too stood and walked over.
"For now that's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know."
"Come!" Entering the office he found General Hammond sitting at his desk facing the video hookup.
"Sir, sorry to interrupt but the next group is ready to deploy to the Alpha site. Also Jacob was curious to what the Alpha site is; we may have a problem down the road with that."
Before General Hammond could respond to that one of the Joint Chiefs spoke up. "As of right now, the information that we pass onto the Tok'ra is going to be heavily edited. While we do appreciate their assistance in taking care of the Seth problem we as yet do not fully trust them. Also Jacob Carter's rank and access codes are hereby rescinded; he will no longer have access to classified information until such time as that he can prove he has not been compromised by the Tok'ra symbiote that he now carries."
Both General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill while not totally agreeing with the stance on Jacob Carter, they did understand the sense in limiting his ability to access information from classified sources here on Earth. Both nodded their agreement with the orders being issued. "As to the other matter about your little encounter with the demon hunters. This administration has been well aware of the existence of demons and the hunters for quite some time, you are hereby ordered to release them from the SGC at the earliest possible time. Under no circumstances are you to detain them or attempt to follow them after they have left the complex."
"Sir, I'm not sure I'm following you here. You want us to just let them waltz on out of here? What about the security breaches over at the NID, one of them has detailed information on the Gate itself for crying out loud!" Jack protested.
"The Spartan's activities are well known and documented. Right now it's better to have him as an arm's length ally than to try and interfere in his operations. Not to mention he's doing a damn fine job of keeping the people in his area safe from demon kind. We're looking over the possibility of sending troops to his hometown to set up a permanent demon eradication force that could take over for him at a later date if something should happen to him in the future. But for right now those plans are still on the drawing board."
"Now as I said before you are to let them leave and not hamper them in anyway." While the joint Chiefs were merely an advisory board to the President on the state of affairs happening within the military since he could be seen nodding his agreement in the background it made the suggestions by the Joint Chiefs into actual orders.
"Understood sir. Is there anything else we should know about? Do we pass along the information that we could help set up a Special Forces unit in his hometown?" Colonel O'Neill asked before he could stop himself. While he was still having a bit of trouble understanding that the existence of demons he was firmly in the camp that the ones that were hostile to mankind should be wiped out as quickly as possible.
"Let him know that's it's a possibility and that if he requires help he can always count on us to back him up. While they're will most likely be strings attached to whatever offers we send him his way there will be none attached to our granting him backup if it's needed." "Understood sir." "Good, now to the Alpha site team. We're going to be increasing the amount of equipment being funneled through the SGC by nearly two hundred percent over the next few weeks. It is imperative that the Alpha site become fully operational as soon as humanely possible."
General Hammond was startled. "Sir, I don't know if we're going to be able to accommodate that much material being moved with our current operations under weigh. It would force us to dedicate the gate itself to being used primarily for the Alpha site for approximately eight hours out of everyday, which will place a heavy strain on the power grid of the base."
"Unavoidable George, Alpha must become fully independent of Earth as soon as possible. While we do understand that the Asgard presence within the solar system will pretty much guarantee the safety of Earth for the time being we don't know for certain how long the Goa'uld will refrain from attacking directly in spite of the Asgard. Especially considering that the Asgard are facing a threat in their own galaxy that from what you've told me makes the vast majority of their military forces most likely unavailable to respond to a threat to Earth."
"We'll do our best, though I did want clarification on one point of the orders you sent me regarding Alpha. Are we to transfer day to day normal operations to Alpha and leave Earth as merely another way point for returning teams to avoid letting the Goa'uld from knowing of the stargate address to the alpha site?"
"Primary research and construction of all new technologies will be handled at the alpha site along with the housing of all new teams. Also it will be the primary training facility for those teams as well, we want to reduce the risk to Earth as much as possible and this seems the most likely way to do so. This time tomorrow there will be supplies transferred from Area 51 arriving along with the research teams of the Prometheus project, they are to have priority clearance to be sent to the Alpha site as soon as possible."
"Understood sir." General Hammond responded already thinking of all the changes that would need to take place within the SGC to facilitate the transfer of all the equipment and raw materials that would soon be arriving. Not to mention that a sizeable portion of the staff would have to begin working on their cover stories for their families who hadn't been cleared to accompany them to the alpha site yet.
"If there's nothing more gentlemen I think we'll wrap this up. Since we were unable to actually find a negotiator with the necessary security clearances we're going to let Dr Jackson conduct the negotiations with the Asgard based on his previous experiences with them. Tell him that we would like a formalized treaty up here in Washington as soon as possible and to take into account the need for the Asgard presence within the solar system to remain as secretive as possible."
"Yes sir, I'll make sure he understands that." Almost as soon as General Hammond had finished answering the video link was shutoff showing the presidential seal on the screen for a few seconds before fading to black.
"Well that should make Danny boy's day." Jack commented.
"True. Tell Airman Stirling to let the next wave deploy. What's in this wave anyway?" General Hammond asked. With nearly a full regiment deployed to Alpha Site already and with all the day-to-day operations of the SGC he hadn't been able to see the TOE for this group yet.
"This should be the first group of families and a few dozen armored vehicles sir. Not to mention basic supplies, construction material for prefab buildings, and a few hundred tons of munitions."
"Good."
101010
Xander stood from his place at the table. He was getting quite bored just sitting around doing nothing while politicians were deciding his fate. He understood the need to one day include the United States military forces in the fight against demon kind, he just hadn't planed on bringing them in so soon and not in this way. Especially if they just used the regular joe grunt instead of the SF then they wouldn't stand a chance against demons. Reaching down he picked up his helmet and doffed it so he could speak to Cortana in private. While the neural link that he shared with her was great for private conversations he still wanted to be able to see the information that she could display on his helmets HUD.
The other members of SG-1 who were still in the room looked a little uneasy as he reconnected the helmet to his armor, especially since once it was connected for a split second there was a sharp crack as an visible energy field surrounded his body.
"Cortana, any ideas or suggestions. By the way, where the hell is my hummer? You didn't leave it back in Seattle did you?" Xander demanded.
"It's sitting in the parking lot of the nearest mall where it won't be noticed. If its needed it can be here within twelve minutes, more than enough time since it'll take at least that long to get to the surface and that's assuming we're allowed to leave in peace." Cortana replied. Annoyed at the sheer thought that she would forget to bring the hummer with them to Colorado.
"Good, I want it ready if we have to get out of here in a hurry. Also remind me to have a few more of those built as soon as possible. It looks like we might be expanding our operations far beyond what I had planned for the moment. Is there anyone back home that's in the know about demons that we could tap for extra manpower without grabbing anyone from Buffy's group?" Xander asked. Though he refused to admit, even to himself, it hurt to know that two of the people that he once counted as his closest friends were now in a group that he would barely acknowledge the existence of.
Cortana began running the names of all the known people in Sunnydale who knew about demons through simulations to determine who was the best candidate to tap. "We have a few choices, there seem to be quite a few people in your class who know about demons but not all of them are suitable for our needs or wouldn't crack under the pressure. I suggest Amy Madison; she is a natural witch with a sufficient understanding of magic. Not to mention she most likely has access to a small library of books that we could add to our database. The next logical choice would be Jonathan Levinson, while he doesn't seem to be on the outside very strong or a capable fighter the files that I can access at the moment from here indicate that he does know about the demon underworld, his skills would be an asset that we could use."
"Hmm, I'll ask Amy we could always use another witch to add another layer to the magical defenses on Alpha Base. Does she have any other skills beside that? Also how far along are we on production of Helljumper armor and equipment?"
"As I said it takes time to build the necessary infrastructure to produce that equipment, probably another two weeks before I can begin actually production." "Two weeks is too long, especially if I'm about to start recruiting people." Xander said frustrated with the inherent delays in getting the needed weapons and armor that were required to keep people alive in this war.
"Deal with it, I can't change the laws of physics anymore than you can. Now if you're finished ranting like a loon about things well outside your ability to control are you prepared to listen to what I found in the SGC mainframe?"
"I could have sworn I told you to stay out of their mainframe, we're not exactly in the position to be caught doing anything wrong right now."
"Ya you told me to, I just didn't listen. Besides its not like there is a single human on this planet with the ability to actually track me, you worry too much. Now are you ready to listen to what I found or not?"
"Fine." Xander sighed. "Apparently the Goa'uld pose enough of a threat that the administration is taking steps to ensure the continued survival of the species quite seriously. Construction of an off-world colony is already under weigh with over two thousand military personnel already on sight, families of those same soldiers are slated to join them along with another detachment of soldiers."
"Well that is interesting." Xander thought. His musings were cut short when Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond rejoined the meeting.
"Mr. Harris, I wanted to inform you that you and your group are free to leave at anytime. The President and Joint Chiefs already know about the demonic threat and are currently taking steps to curtail it. They also wanted me to pass along a message, if at anytime in the future you require assistance you can summon it from the United States military, there will be no strings attached. In the future they will most likely be approaching you with an offer, which will contain strings, but there will be none on requests for manpower by you if it's truly needed. I gathered from their tone that they're not willing to risk the security of the world by irritating you when you need help the most." Hammond said as if he were addressing a soldier under his command.
"Call me Xander, and tell them thanks for the offer. I'll probably take them up on that at some point down the road."
"I'll pass that along to the Joint Chiefs." General Hammond responded. It seemed that the Joint Chiefs were correct in their assessment of the Spartan.
"Uh, I was wondering if my 'group' could have a few minutes to discuss things privately before we continue this meeting?" Xander questioned, privately amused over the assumption that he was the one in charge of this motley bunch. He noticed that he was getting some not so subtle glares from the two who were definitely not under his command.
"As you wish, we also have a few things that need to be taken care of. Airman! Escort them to one of the VIP lounges." Hammond barked. Airman Stirling popped into the briefing room and snapped off a salute before leading the group out of the room and down the hall toward one of the least used rooms on the base. It was a rare occurrence when a foreign dignitary remained on base for more than a few hours. Once inside the room the Airman said that he would be outside if they needed anything.
Before anyone could speak Xander held up a single figure to where they assumed his mouth would be behind the faceshield. "Cortana, disable any bugs they have in here."
"Done. I'm using a ultrahigh frequency white noise broadcast beyond the reach of a human ear, even one augmented like yours and simultaneously real time filtering program within their mainframe. They won't get anything from those bugs though even so you better not talk about anything to important, simple recorders that aren't transmitting might still be able to pick up fragments." Cortana answered as she disabled all the bugs in the room. She would have to remember to leave a note in the SGC mainframe about the existence of said bugs; it wasn't nice to spy on your guests. Not to mention it was a violation of most agreements between the US and various nations around the world to bug a room specifically created for the use by foreign dignitaries, this was probably doubly true for those rooms used by people from off world.
"Ok we can talk freely." Xander said as he took his helmet off again. Before anyone could say anything Faith exploded. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, you actually think you're the one in charge here?"
"I am in command. You have no information that is relevant or noteworthy about this facility, I do, that alone makes me the most able to talk to them without revealing anything that they're not ready to know yet." Xander replied.
"Faith, calm down." Linda said soothingly. She knew that the only reason they were being allowed to leave was most likely because of him and she for one wasn't willing to jeopardize that. Not to mention he was the hunter who was currently the only thing keeping the hellmouth safe and when they all finally got there they would have to work with him, best not to make an enemy of him.
"No, I'm not going to let him dictate what I can and cannot do."
"You don't have a choice, until they let us out of this mountain you are under my command and you will follow my orders." Xander replied. He hadn't meant to let things escalate to this point but he wasn't willing to let the government know about the existence of Slayer's just yet. The sheer number of things that would happen to her if organizations like the NID found out about her were enough to give even him nightmares.
"Faith, he's right. Till we get out of here and to the hellmouth we should at least try to be civil." Linda consoled trying to keep her slayer from attacking the Spartan Faith snorted. "Fine, but I don't have to like it.'
"No one asked you to like it Slayer. Now down to business, what levels of information are you willing to give to the US government. They'll most likely already know about the hellmouth in Sunnydale so you'll have to expect at least a few intelligence operatives are already active in the town. If you want to keep the existence of the slayer hidden from them you might have a few problems operating in secrecy in Sunnydale." Xander explained. He didn't want them going into this situation in the dark about the consequences or hide any other information from them.
"I really don't know, the Council has never contemplated this level of cooperation before. We've always preferred to stay as far as we can outside the purview of governments."
"Fine, for now we won't reveal the fact of what a Slayer is but they will eventually catch on, you have to plan for that. You can work out of my base of operations in Sunnydale; the external defenses will keep it safer than any other facility in town. Since most of the homes are enspelled to remove most of the natural defenses that come with the soul barrier preventing vampires access you'll be safer there, not to mention you'll have access to my database which is growing quite quickly." Xander offered. He didn't have room for both of them in Alpha base immediately but he was the owner of all the surrounding warehouses in the block, it wouldn't be too difficult to expand into one of them and create the needed defenses. Cortana most likely had enough spare equipment around to get it up and running within a week.
"Thank you for the kind offer, but we already have a place to stay in Sunnydale." Linda replied not fully trusting his reasons for wanting them to be staying with him.
"Your choice but I'll set up a place for you in my area just the same in case you change your mind."
101010
After the demon hunters had left General Hammond motioned for everyone to remain behind. "Jacob, the President and Joint Chiefs wanted for me to be the one to inform you. As of this moment your access codes and rank of General are hereby rescinded."
"What! Why would they do that?" Jacob roared. To think that his own government would do this to him. The rest of SG-1 was equally as floored, Colonel O'Neill knew it was coming since he had been there when the orders came through but the rest of his team hadn't even considered the possibility of it happening.
"Their concerned about your split loyalties and frankly I agree with them."
"What split loyalties, I gave an oath to protect the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic and I've done nothing to violate that oath!"
O'Neill jumped in before Carter could go too much further with his rant defending himself. "Yes, you gave that oath but Selmac didn't. If anything he has his own oath to the Tok'ra and I'll ask you this if it came down to it who would you put first. The Tok'ra or Earth?"
Silence reigned in the room. Jack repeated his question slowly. "The Earth or the Tok'ra Jacob it's one or the other, who would you put first?"
"That's an impossible question for someone like me and you damn well know it." Jacob snarled in reply.
"That's exactly what were talking about, that's why your codes have been deleted."
"Jacob." Hammond interrupted. "The President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and myself have been over this several times. Effective immediately your commission is retired and your access codes have been locked out of every system in the United States. I'm sorry Jacob, I really am."
"So am I George, so I am." Jacob whispered as he sat back down in his seat only now fully understanding what it had cost him when he had agreed to become a host to a Tok'ra. Over the loudspeaker came a loud voice instantly commanding everyone's attention throughout the base.
"Attention all personnel, Alpha Site departure group Delta Six please prepare to depart." The blast door immediately began to drop over the briefing room windows to prevent anyone in the room, namely Jacob, since he was the only party in the facility aside from the demon hunters who wasn't cleared to see the address being dialed by the gate.
"George, what's going on here? What's this Alpha site?"
"I'm sorry Jacob, its classified."
Down in the gate room the doors were opening to admit a veritable flood of soldiers and civilians loaded down with packs full of personal effects that they would have to carry with themselves to the Alpha site. Once the wormhole had established itself the blast door receded upwards to let those in the control room and briefing room upstairs watch as through a side door in the newly lengthened embarkation room a armored personnel carrier carefully nudged its way into the room before trudging up the ramp into the gate. All in all nearly two dozen APC's transited through the gate before the assembled soldiers began to march, four abreast, up the ramp following them.
From the recess' of former General Jacob Carter's mind Selmac watched as a continual stream of people marched into the gate room and up through the stargate to an unknown destination. It was a terrifying experience to see so many armed soldiers, hundreds of them, were marching in virtual lockstep carrying a variety of ordnance with them as they moved. From their mutual vantage point Carter was able to see into the room off to the left side of the gate room many more vehicles waited to enter, his mind easily cataloging them as he identified them as various tanks, APC's, munitions trucks, hummer's, backhoe's, tractors and others that he wasn't able to get a clear look at. The United States was finally mobilizing its military might to use against the System Lords and he knew in the back of his mind that it wouldn't be enough, Earth was just too primitive to pose a serious threat to the System Lords, only the Tok'ra could ever succeed in taking down the System Lords and it would take many centuries of destabilizing them before they were ready to do so.
1010
Sunnydale.
Jenny Calendar was fuming; her rental car had just died on her as she was driving into the warehouse district of Sunnydale on her way back to Alpha base. Carefully putting all of her stuff into her small carryon Jenny got out of the car and gave it a swift kick for good measure. 'First thing I do when Xander gets back is demand a new car. It's not fair that he gets to ride around in a armored hummer while I have to keep that piece of junk oldsmobile.' She had decided to leave the car at Alpha base when she flew out to visit her relatives over in Europe. Her reasoning had been that she didn't want to pay the outrageous fees that airports charged for keeping your car in the parking lots for extended periods of time, not to mention that a lot of thieves stole cars from those same lots simply because the owner wasn't going to be around for a few days at the least to file a police report.
"Oh well might as well hoof it, only two blocks." Jenny muttered to herself as she began walking down the pitch-black streets towards her home. It had been a strange couple months living with Xander, at times he could be so sweet and at other times she wanted to kill him for the stunts he pulled.
A sound from a nearby alley shattered her thoughts and brought her back to the present and made her realize just how dark it was outside. The lights along the street should have been lit up but they were all out. Her keen eyes quickly sought out the reasons why and she saw that they had all be broken.
Fumbling in her pocket for the remote that Xander had given her before she left for Europe she found it and pressed the button on it. Immediately dozens of lights slammed on from the area surrounding Alpha flooding the immediate vicinity around the base with enough light to drive away all the shadows, giving an illusion of an island of safety sitting in the middle of the shadows.
Walking quickly down the street she wanted to get to that island of safety as soon as she could. Another noise from behind alerted her to the fact that she was being followed. Not stopping Jenny just upped her pace a bit while turning to look over her shoulder. The sight that she saw nearly made her trip in shock. Angelus stood there flanked by two of his childer Spike and Drusilla, behind them was a veritable army of vampires.
Angelus kept moving forward a slow pace as he followed Jenny towards what he assumed to be the whelp's base. It would be a pleasure to rip that arrogant child's neck apart with his two hands. As Jenny broke into a run he followed at a simple ground-eating trot with his followers keeping pace behind him. Calling out in an attempt to put Jenny off her guard. "Jenny, don't run. It makes all the meat too rough."
Desperately reaching for the remote in her pocket again Jenny tried to keep ahead of the pack of Vampires racing after her. She knew that they weren't really trying to catch her since a normal fledgling vampire would be able to outrun her any day of the week and a master of Angelus's caliber should have been able to grab her before she even knew he was there but since Angelus was so arrogant he had alerted her to his presence merely to frighten her. Grabbing the remote she pressed the panic button.
Inside Alpha a clone copy of Cortana was happily working away in the dark recesses of the base. Equipment and technology was being upgraded as quickly as she could fabricate the needed equipment and process the raw materials that were off loaded almost weekly by the group of truckers that were employed by Xander and Cortana for just that reason. Most of them were unaware of what exactly was being built with the stuff they hauled to the base but a few of them had been brought into the know simply because it was easier to keep a secret with a few people understanding the ramifications of what was happening inside the facility.
Not to mention the truckers themselves that had been granted this knowledge were happy as clams since along with being brought into the know Cortana had set up a small upgrade facility for them where she would overhaul their trucks to armor and make them more capable of hauling some of the more delicate pieces of technology out of Alpha to the other locations spread across the country.
When the panic button was pushed on the remote access system that Jenny was given when she moved into Alpha activated in her systems she immediately shunted all her processing power to investigating the situation. Since the remote also came with a miniature GPS locater she was able to locate it rather quickly and what she found when she brought the base's sensors online shocked her. Jenny Calendar was only about fifty meters away from the base and closing rapidly but behind her was approximately thirty-two vampires. They showed up quite nicely on infrared scanners since they had a body temperature only slight elevated above room temperature. Activating the door controls she opened the main door directly in front of Jenny's path to allow her easier access to the base and then she switched on the primary anti-vampire defenses that Xander had insisted on building.
Jenny raced down the road. She was so close to the base and she could see the door opening for her.
Angelus and his gang of vampires were now running trying to catch her before she could make it into the base. But what they didn't realize was that those lights that had activated were now being supplemented by high intensity ultraviolet bulbs that were now activating, making the area around the base a virtual sun light zone preventing any vampire from entering. Sprinklers that were attached to the lamp poles that were spaced throughout the large lot surrounding the warehouse snapped on flooding the vicinity with holy water spraying in all directions.
The master vampires in the group were old enough to be able to withstand the effects of holy water long enough to get themselves clear. But the minions and other younger vamps were incapacitated by the holy water and were easy targets for the automatic defenses that tore into them from various hard points on the roof of Alpha. Shredder rounds tore the vampires apart and a few dozen auto loader crossbows fired bolts directly through the vampires who were writhing on the ground in agony. The lamp poles themselves had all been inlayed with crosses and other holy symbols blessed by the local clergy, well those who weren't corrupt had blessed them, giving off an aura that prevented the vampires from trying to hide behind the poles in an attempt to get away from the defenses that were ripping through them.
Making it into the safety of the base Jenny felt the rumble of the heavy doors as they began to close sealing her inside away from the demons that had been chasing her. The clone copy immediately projected itself in the holographic chamber built into the main control console. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine just out of breath." Jenny gasped as she tried to catch her breath. She wasn't as in shape as she thought she was. 'Maybe its time to take Xander up on his offer of training.'
From outside Jenny could still hear the screams and curses coming from the dying vampires as they lay on the pavement outside the base. Over those same screams she heard Angelus yell. "I'll get you yet you Kalderash bitch, don't think you can hide in there forever from me."
"Give me an uplink to Xander immediately, he needs to know that Angelus has returned." Jenny ordered as she moved towards the central computer station in the base.
101010
Xander stood still in the VIP room that had been set aside for his group to talk in. They hadn't really had that much to discuss but it was a nice way for him to get out of the briefing room so he could figure out a few plans and talk to Cortana about setting up an dialogue with the United States government and the possible involvement of their troops in Sunnydale. "What are your thoughts on this Cortana?"
"If we let troops into Sunnydale it could greatly increase our chances of wiping out the remaining populations of demons infesting the town but it also presents the problem of what do you do if a team or even just a single special forces operative is turned by a vampire. Combining their level of skill and training with the inherent abilities of a vampire paints a very grim picture."
"True, but that's the same problem with any hunter group that we could contact or set up. At least this way we have teams that are already fully trained and familiar with working in groups, something that we would have to do before we could commit any people we tap for extra manpower."
"Also true. Do you still plan to increase our unit to include others?" Cortana asked as she kept researching methods to increase armor production. She knew Xander well enough that he would agree to recruit a few others simply for the extra eyes and ears around town. Also she was experimenting in her spare time with ideas of how to recreate the Orion Program while limiting the amount of disastrous side effects generated by Orion. So far the results weren't too pleasing, Dr Halsey had spent years looking for ways to prevent those same results and was unable to come up with a viable solution before the program went active.
"How many should we recruit right off, I think we should just limit ourselves to two or three but leave room for more later on down the road if we find someone that we could slot in easily enough." Xander suggested as he watched Faith and Linda talking to Carolyn and Joseph. It seemed like they were getting along at the surface but he was willing to bet that Faith didn't trust them from the way she stood outside the little group.
"Two or three, wait one. Incoming transmission from Alpha Base. Jenny activated her panic button. I'm attempting to find out what's happening. Cortana relayed as she tried to boost her signal power through the hummer that was waiting nearby. Xander tried to wait patiently but he feared for the life of his friend. Jenny wouldn't set off her panic button unless she was really in danger. "Uplink established. Base defenses successfully repelled an attack by twenty-seven vampires, all confirmed fatalities. Jenny made it inside safely and is now online wishing to talk to us."
"Put her on." Almost before he had even finished speaking a small vidscreen popped up on his HUD displaying Jenny sitting in a chair at Alpha Base. "Jenny, are you alright, what happened?"
"I'm fine. Just a little out of breath; remind me to take you up on that offer of some training when you get back here. Which by the way should be as soon as possible. We have some serious problems now. Angelus is back and he's hooked up with Spike and Drusilla."
"How the hell is he back? I thought the curse prevented him from taking control of the body?"
"I don't know, all I know is he was with the group chasing me and he was obviously in command. The curse must have been broken somehow. I'm uploading the curse to you now, get Cortana to translate it and then maybe we can figure out how it was countered." Jenny said as she typed away at a keyboard out of view of the camera.
"We got it." Cortana interjected as she effortlessly translated it. "The curse has a clause that allows it to be broken if Angel experienced a moment of perfect happiness."
"How the hell could he get perfect happiness, I mean happiness is subjective to the person, everyone has their own pleasures and ideas of what it would entail. Is tied to the original caster of the spell or is it tied to Angel himself?"
"Don't know, and right now its now important. I'm heading back to Sunnydale now, stay inside Alpha Base and don't leave for any reason. The defenses there will keep you safe until I arrive and when I get there we'll figure out a plan. Also contact the others and tell them that Angelus is loose, tell them to avoid going anywhere that he can get into easily, meaning public buildings or places where he got an invite." Xander ordered. Once he finished his little speech he turned and strode for the door having every expectation of telling General Hammond that he was leaving then and there.
Airman Stirling stood outside the VIP room waiting for the group that he escorted to it to come outside and ask for anything or to take them back to the briefing room when they were ready. He knew that he shouldn't ask questions and he was supposed to look the other way when classified events happened within the base but he was still human and curiosity was making him desperate to try and find something about these people.
All of a sudden the door was flung open at high speeds. If he had been standing on the other side he would have probably had his nose broken when the door slammed into him, as it was the door impacted with enough force to crack it nearly in two as the rooms occupants stormed out. The man in the armor was in the lead and the rest following him looking confused. One of the young girls was talking to him, or more accurately yelling at him. "Yo tin man, what's the rush?"
"We have to get back to Sunnydale now. One of my team is in danger and I'm not going to sit here doing nothing when I could be back there helping her.
"Wait, you can't go back there without General Hammond's permission." Stirling shouted as he tried to keep the group from leaving. The entire procession stopped to look at him for one short moment before continuing on. "If you want to stop us, I dare you to try." The armored man commented as he shoved Stirling gently off to the side and marched onward.
In the briefing room Colonel O'Neill was informing Daniel that he would be the one to hammer our a treaty with the Asgard over the assumption of ownership of the planet Venus and subsequent exchange of resources or technology in exchange for the planet in question when things went to hell. The demon hunter group burst back into the room with Airman Stirling at the front yelling at them that they couldn't go in there. Harris was merely just pushing him along to keep him moving. "As I said earlier if you wanted to keep me out of here I dare you to try and since we're now here why don't you shutup for thirty seconds. General Hammond, I didn't want to do this but I have to ask that me and my group be allowed to leave your facility now. I have a situation brewing back home that requires my presence immediately."
"You and your group are free to go at anytime. May I ask the nature of this problem? Is there anything we can do to help?" General Hammond offered.
"The problem is a two hundred and fifty year old vampire who has just been freed from a curse that restored his soul to him, now that he's free he's able to retake his title as the most vicious vampire in recent history. If you want to send soldiers into that that's your choice but I'm leaving now." Xander stated. While he wouldn't mind the extra manpower he was concerned about the potential body count that Angelus could create with Special Forces units who weren't prepared to fight against vampires.
Colonel O'Neill raised his hand. "I volunteer myself. We need to learn about this new threat sometime, and it may not be wholly contained on Earth. If we encounter demon races somewhere else in the galaxy then we're going to need to know how to fight them and this seems like the best time to find out how we measure up."
"You can go if Mr. Harris will allow it you can be a temporary liaison between the air force and his group until we can come up with something more permanent or determine if it is actually needed. Do you need any equipment or transportation back to wherever your home town is?" General Hammond asked.
"No I can arrange transportation, I have a private vehicle that can meet us at the tunnel entrance if you'll let it through the gates. Oh and for future reference, please don't call me Mr. Harris either Xander or Spartan"
"I can allow that. Who will be driving this vehicle and what's it look like so I can tell the gate guards to let it through."
"Military issue hummer, black, and no driver. Fully automated." Xander answered with a grin. Though no one could see it since he had slipped his helmet back on for his private conversations with Cortana back in the VIP room.
"Sir, we like to go too." Major Carter requested. Both Teal'c and Doctor Jackson nodding their heads in agreement with the major's request.
"I'll tag along too if its alright with you George, I want to see for myself these so called 'demons'" Jacob said as he came to stand with the group. Selmac had been keeping him busy the past few minutes asking for information on all of the military capabilities of the equipment that had been shipped out through the stargate.
"Don't let him come!" Cortana whispered quickly.
"Why not?"
"I checked the SGC and NID database. He's supposed to have one of those Goa'uld parasites sharing his brain, both organizations believe that he's a security risk and are unwilling to trust him. It's one of the few things that they both agree on, in fact the only two people who have written recommendations of further contact with the Tok'ra resistant group are his own daughter Major Carter, so she's naturally biased, and Doctor Jackson who doesn't have enough military experience to base a solid enough opinion on. I don't think letting him get a good look at our base or the technology that's in it is a good idea."
Considering it for a brief second Xander realized that the advice Cortana was giving him made sense. If both the NID and the SGC considered Jacob Carter to be a security risk then there was no way he was going to let him know of the location of Alpha Base or the importance of the town of Sunnydale. "General Hammond, I'll take the help of SG-1 and any other teams that you wish to send as long as they pass your normal security procedures but I request that General Carter not be allowed to come with us."
"Why don't you want me to come with you? Afraid I might figure out that this is all some bogus wild goose chase?" Carter argued.
"Alexander, I do have to ask the same question, why don't you want Jacob Carter to accompany you?"
"The information that I lifted from the NID database is extremely detailed and it mentioned in one section how both the SGC and the NID view the Tok'ra as security risks, and to be frank I don't trust any person who would willingly let himself be compromised in that way." Xander rebutted.
"Xander, the hummer is five minutes out. Better warn the General, don't want the paint job to be scratched now since I won't be building you a new one if you destroy this one."
"General Hammond, my hummer is about to approach the gate, I would appreciate it if you would warn the guards that it is about to arrive and me and my team are about to leave. Also I was wondering if I could ask for one other favor from you?"
Thinking that it might be a good idea to have Harris end up owing them one down the road or at the very least get on his good side for now like the Joint Chiefs were talking about Hammond replied. "What do you need?"
"I want Carolyn and Joseph to remain here at the SGC, I'll discuss my reasons with you about that later when I resolve the situation back home. More than likely we'll come to a deal and it'll probably involve more than a few concessions on both our parts, might even have to do with some advanced technology but I make no promises or guarantees right now about that."
"Done."
Carolyn and Joseph both walked up protesting that they shouldn't have to remain behind. "What about my mother, she's back there?
"Carolyn, you know me. Do you really think I would let anything happen to her? She practically raised me, hell half the time I think of her as my mother too. I swear to you I will get her out of town the second that I get back and send her here to join you two."
"You better." Carolyn whispered as she hugged him fiercely.
"Harris, whenever you're ready to move me and my team are ready to go with you. Daniel you stay here, don't argue with me! You have to get that treaty with the Asgard ironed out."
"But Jack, I can help."
"Daniel just do it!"
General Hammond looked around the room at the various people and noticed that most of them seemed to be slightly angry at how this day had turned out. Jacob carter being the most visible of them, probably still smarting over the perceived insult from the government that they no longer trust him and now Harris here said that the one thing that the SGC and the NID both agree on is that the Tok'ra aren't to be trusted meaning that the working relationship with the Tok'ra would probably become a bit more strained over the next little while. God only knew what Thor was making of this as he sat there observing all of us.
"Sg-1, you are clear to accompany Alexander back to his home town and assist in his operation till I receive orders otherwise." With that he turned to give the gate guards warning that an automated black military hummer was about to approach. As the whole group turned to walk out he heard Major Carter asking the question that he wanted to know. "How did you get the technology to build a fully automated hummer?"
"Tell you about it on the trip back, you guys got to make any stops to grab your gear or what?"
"We'll grab the gear from the upstairs armory at the entrance as head out. General Hammond will tell them to grab a few mission packs for us." Colonel O'Neill said as he followed the large group into the elevator and pressed the appropriate key to take them to the new surface entrance.
1010
Whitehouse, Washington D.C.
"Mr. President, his lordship Sir Anthony Howard Whitley to see you." Agent Johnson of the Secret Service announced as he preceded the man into the oval office.
"Send him in." The President replied getting up from behind his desk and came around from behind it to shake the ambassador's hand. "Mr. Ambassador, its nice to see you again. How are the kids?"
Ambassador Whitley from the United Kingdom to the United States was a little startled. He had only taken his post in the last few weeks after the previous ambassador stepped down for health reasons. "They're fine sir, thank you for asking. And how are you doing today if I may be so bold as to inquire and your children as well?"
"Both fine, just starting college, hellions the both of them. I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you here to see you."
"Yes I must admit I was quite surprised to see an invitation to the White House so soon after my appointment, I take it that its not merely a welcome to Washington discussion."
"I'm afraid not. We need to have a rather lengthy talk and what I'm going to discuss with you during this talk will be rather shocking. That's why I invited two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to sit in on this conversation, they're merely gathering the information in a secure format that I want you to look over as well."
"This all sounds rather ominous, do you have information or knowledge of a direct threat to the security of the United Kingdom that I need to know about?"
"In a way it does involve that, but I think we should start at the beginning. Have you ever heard of something called the Stargate?"