Chapter 6 – Aliens and a prophecy
Cheyenne mountain, gate room,
As the group made it's way to the gate room Hammond asked "Do we know who it is?"
"No sir and something is overriding the systems like the Asgard sometimes do. We can't shut it down. We can't even close the Iris." Carter told him.
"What's the Iris?" Buffy asked
"It's like a metal shield that prevents anyone who we don't want coming to Earth from reaching it. They go splat against the metal." Colonel O'Neill told her.
"Ok, Haley can you put up a barrier against the stargate. Should have the same effect." She told the others.
"Ok, but I'm no Willow." Haley told her and began chanting softly in a foreign language.
"Is that ancient Latin?" Daniel asked Buffy intrigued.
"Beats me, I was never really research girl." Buffy told him and went silent and a sad look passed her face.
Jack put a hand on her shoulder and without looking she whispered softly so only he would hear her "Dawn would know."
Jack squeezed her shoulder then looked up and raised his gun with both hands as the stargate activated,
The active wormhole opened and Buffy frowned and said "It looks like a toilet flush." She commented causing everyone to look at her and either trying to contain their laughter or with shock that she would compare such a brilliant piece of technology to a toilet.
A splat sound was heard and everyone looked up to see the barrier flicker and a small hairy alien standing there.
"An Ewok?" Jack asked looking at it shocked.
"No not an Ewok a Furling." Buffy said causing everyone to look at her and wonder if that was true and how she knew. 'Ok how did I know that…wait mom said something before, something about a part of Dawn Keynes being in me. And the Key is way old so it would know of the Furlings. It is still disturbing to have this information just pop up like that.' Buffy thought and walked forwards towards the small alien.
Jack tried to hold her back but Buffy dodged his hand and walked on towards the alien "Welcome to Earth, you are a Furling, right?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, I am called" the Furling made some sounds then said "but you may call me Weaver." He studied Buffy before adding "Long have my people waited for this day. The day the Tarth'na would come to free our galaxy from the Goa'uld threat."
"Is that why you left? And where did you go?" Major Carter asked him stepping forwards and walked towards them as Daniel did the same also intrigued with the small alien.
"And what's the Tarith'na?" Daniel asked.
The Furling looked sad as he looked at Major Carter "Yes, the Goa'uld were becoming a too big a threat to us, many left like I did, to another dimension. Those who stayed died." He looked at Daniel and said "The Tarith'na is the warrior of the Tau'ri."
"So who are these Tau'ri?" Buffy asked Carter.
"We are, that is how we are known to the other species out there." Carter replied.
"Huh" Buffy said to that then looked at the Furling "So you expect me to free our galaxy from the Goa'uld? How did you learn it was me you're looking for or how do you know I'll succeed?" she asked.
"It was prophesized long ago." Was the Furlings' reply.
"Great, another prophecy." Buffy muttered.
"Perhaps we should move this discussion somewhere more private." General Hammond told them. "If you'll follow me." He said turning to head back to the briefing room. To a soldier he said "Contact the Tok'ra and the Asgard, hell even try to reach the Nox and inform them that we might have a Furling here."
Buffy sighed as she fished out her cell phone and began dialling "Those don't work down here." Daniel told her.
"Yours won't mine will." Buffy told him as she held the phone to her ear when she finished dialling.
Daniel looked puzzled and Haley smiled hooking her arm around his as she walked him towards the briefing room "Magic, Willow put a spell on all the council members cell phone so they will be able to call from anywhere anytime." She explained smiling at the cute Dr. Daniel Jackson which caused him to blush and her to be even more amused.
"Will, yeah it's Buffy." "No everything is fine." "Yeah, it's going ok." "Listen we just had a alien being called a Furling visit to tell me I'm their savoir, the Tart'na or something like that." Buffy said over the phone.
"That's classified" Carter told her but Buffy waved her off.
"Willow already knows everything. She went with her watcher Giles to speak with the president." O'Neill told her "And the line is probably secure by magic as well." He added.
"Yeah apparently it's from their prophecy." "Yeah, I know." "Yeah, I figured you want to come. Bring Giles as well" Buffy continued to tell her best friend over the phone.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Cheyenne mountain, briefing room,
As they entered the briefing room General Hammond and SG-1 froze as a red light shined inside as two humans form. They raised their arms at it.
"Relax, it's just my team." Buffy told them walking over and as the light was gone and Willow, Faith, Xander and Giles were standing inside the briefing room.
"Decided to bring all the scoobies instead of just Giles?" Buffy asked before hugging Willow "I missed you guys." She told them.
When she finished saying hello to everyone she turned to the others "Guys this is General Hammond, Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Frasier, Teal'c who's Jaffa, Weaver who no Xander is not an Ewok but a Furling, which is a race that disappeared a long time ago. Oh and this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, my father and Haley Christen who most of you already know. Everyone these are my friends the other scoobs: my watcher Giles, mighty Wicca Willow, my sister slayer, the last one to be called like me Faith and Xander who is basically kinda the heart of the group."
"Slayer?" Weaver asked intrigued as he studied Faith.
"Yeah, that prophecy you were talking about, about me being the Tart'na-" Buffy was cut off.
"Tarith'na" Daniel supplied.
"Right the Tarthy'na, anyways you said it meant being the warrior of the Tau'ri who we have established are us humans." She explained to her friends "I'm a vampire slayer one girl in all the worlds, blah blah blah. I died briefly and another vampire slayer was called, when she died Faith was called. Then Willow here did a spell a few years back calling all potential slayers as slayer so there isn't one or well two slayers anymore but a couple of hundred. So this Tarthy'na prophecy of yours does is mention me or all slayers? What exactly does your prophecy say and can it be trusted."
The Furling looked at her and said "The army of the false gods will rise and conquer. Death or defeat will be certain unless the army of the Tarith'na is assembled and aided by three of the four old races and only together will the false gods be defeated. You shall know the Tarith'na 5 days after The Key ascends. A warrior, a general and the last Chosen she shall be for the Tau'ri. She will lead the others into battle and her army will restore the galaxy to its former glory."
A white light appeared and suddenly they were joined by a grey small alien with big black eyes.
"Rosswell alien!" Xander said excitedly.
Jack blinked to make sure he was actually seeing this, he hadn't even see her dray a weapon, or the brunette Faith for that matter.
Buffy and Faith both held stakes in their hands looking at the alien, calculating its next move and if it appeared to threatening to eliminate the alien. Willow was the same but only she didn't have a weapon in her hand but rather her hand raised at the alien.
"Stand down, these are our allies, the Asgard. Hi Thor." Jack said to him and the scoobie group.
"Those are the Asgard?" Buffy asked then added after a nod from her father she had put her stake away, as had Faith and willow had lowered her arm.
"They are so cute." Everyone but Willow looked at her strangely. Faith rolled her eyes.
"Cute?" Giles and General Hammond asked her at the same time.
"They are cute." Willow stated smiling at Thor.
Thor looked at Buffy "It is true, the Tarith'na has returned. I had feared the old prophecy was wrong when you died." Thor told her then looked at O'Neill "O'Neill, how did you revive her? Have you captured a sarcophagus?" the grey alien asked him.
"I am right here you know." Buffy told him causing the alien to look at her.
"I know. But I also know that when I came before to see what disturbance there was on Earth that threatened us all, that you died." Thor told her. "We discovered too late that you were the Tarith'na. Your death caused no other to be called as was written there would, we waited for months but no new Tarith'na was called so we left. You were and are the last chosen and therefore the Tarith'na."
"Anyways after hearing the prophecy from Weaver the Furling over there I figured out it's not me. Faith is the Tarith'na." Buffy said and smiled at Faith "You get to save the galaxy from alien parasites and probably other nasties."
"Crap." Faith stated.
"How do you figure that?" Carter asked.
"Well Buffy died when she was 16 causing a slayer named Kendra to be called. She died and Faith was called. When Buffy died again no new slayer was called cause there already was one, Faith. She was in jail so that's why the Asgard didn't find her. The other slayer out there were magically activated." Giles told them.
"Buffy? What disturbance? You died a second time?" Daniel asked her.
"A few years back something happened that caused the dimensions to bleed into each other. A cast out Hell Goddess was trying to use it to return to her dimension where she had been banished from." Willow told them.
"In order to stop Glory, or Glorificus as she was really called, and the end of this dimension and all other dimensions from being destroyed Buffy jumped into the, I guess you could call it a disturbance and was killed by the mystical energies. A few months later Willow here revived her using her magic." Xander continued to explain leaving Dawn and the Key out of it.
"Magic?" Thor asked.
"Magic." Buffy replied then asked "Now what's the Tarith'na you are talking about?"
Buffy then realized something "Stupid powers, I just knew they wouldn't let us keep this advantage over the demons for long." Buffy muttered as she realized the powers used the alien threat to balance good and evil against Willow activating all slayers.
Haley and Faith caught her mutter and the information clicked in their head as well "fuck." They both cursed.
O'Neill looked at the two, "Fuck?" he asked.
Faith looked the Colonel from top to toe but before she said anything Buffy elbowed her in her stomach "No checking out my father." She paused then added "That's Carter's job."
Again the two in question blushed deeply and were saved by Haley.
"As Buffy explained before The Powers That Be keep balance in the universe. That balance used to be one slayer against a lot of demons. Once the slayer died, usually within a year, the next one was called. Then Buffy died and caused Kendra to be called. Buffy however was revived by Xander here. So there were two slayer. But since there were so many demons on the planet The Powers That Be allowed it. Kendra died causing Faith to be called. Faith went bad but has paid for her mistakes and continuous the fight to make amends. When Buffy died in the…disturbance no new slayer was called because the slayer called by Buffy's death had already been activated. Faith was the active slayer but she was in jail at the time. When Buffy came back, evil got a strong upper hand, especially since SGC here were fighting against the Goa'uld by that time. Needing more to defeat the bad here on Earth Willow used a spell to activate all potential slayers. The Powers That Be allowed this because it was needed to win the battle." Haley explained then fell silent for a moment.
"Everyone with me so far?" Haley asked them. At their nod and the Asgard impassive expression Haley continued "After the new slayers won the battle they were allowed to remain slayers only because of the alien threat to Earth. We only now realise that this is another balance planned and executed by The Powers That Be."
"We finally had the upper hand here on Earth against the demon threat and are now informed that we are supposed to eliminate the alien threat as well and again have no choice but a life full of fighting for your life. Those poor girls deserve better then this." Buffy told them suppressing her anger at the PtB's, well the PtB's not including Dawn.
"Fuck" Daniel said causing his team members to look at him surprised. "Don't you see, these Powers That Be are forcing these girls to fight another dangerous battle just when their own battle isn't as dangerous as it was because there are many more of them now here. Out there however…"
"They are more likely to die." Carter said getting it.
"We already had a plan of them helping out every now and then, how has that changed simply because these Powers That Be also want the slayers to fight the aliens?" O'Neill asked.
"Colonel O'Neill is right, we are in charge of the stargate project and we are not sending teenage girls out to die." General Hammond said.
"But dad, General you don't understand what it is to be a slayer. As much as some may try we can not escape our destiny. I have tried that many times, in the end it will be the slayers killing these things out there because they are the only ones that can do so. This prophecy about Faith leading an army, that army isn't made up largely of the US military's army but the slayers. I mean these Goa'uld are tough, a slayer is the only one who can take them. A Jaffa can't." she looked at Teal'C "No offence, you fight well but a slayer is stronger, faster and basically better then a Jaffa." Buffy tried to explain.
"Dad? I was not aware you had a daughter O'Neill." Thor asked interested.
"Neither did I or Buffy until recently." O'Neill informed him.
Thor studied Buffy "You are also a slayer, would you mind if I tested you to see if you have the Ancient gene that will save my race."
"What are they talking about?" Buffy asked "why is it important that I am Jack's daughter?"
"Jack has part of a gene the ancients had. The Asgard clone themselves instead of reproducing like we do. They are asexual and they didn't realize until too late that cloning themselves messed their genetic structure up so badly that they are unable to clone themselves successfully now. They need the Ancient gene in order to succeed in the cloning."
"Sir one of the Nox has arrived." A voice reported over the speakerphone on a phone.
"Thank you, send them in." General Hammond said while he pushed a button.
Willow felt woozy as the Nox entered the room and frowned at the Nox before she tried to read the Nox's aura but it was all blurry. The Nox looked at her and Willow felt as if it was studying her. "What out people said before That you know nothing was wrong." The Nox said to Hammond. "Your people know something." The Nox female told him.
"What does that mean?" Hammond asked.
"It means she knows now we know magic as they do." Willow told him.
"Of course." Daniel said "The Nox use magic to make themselves invisible and to revive their dead just like Willow can. It is also probably how they were able to talk to the Furlings who are, that we now know in another dimension."
The Nox looked at Willow "You raised the dead?" she asked Willow nodded nervously "You are a strong one, for your barbaric species."
"Uh, thank. I think." Willow said.
"Barbaric?" Xander asked offended.
"The Nox are pacifists. They are against any kind of violence, regardless if it is noble or evil." Carter explained.
"That makes sense, to prevent any of your people trying to destroy the world with their power like I…." Willow stopped talking and looked helplessly at Buffy.
"We all went crazy at one point or another." Buffy said. "Xander with the hyena spirit, Giles with Angelus, Faith with the mayor, me with demon poison and Willow with grief."
"Willow tried to destroy the world?" Carter asked.
"She got better, it is no wonder it happened. We were a top of a Hellmouth after all." Giles told her.
"Think of losing someone very close to you. It hurts a lot and the anger you feel over it, especially is the person was killed by another is increased by the dark energies surrounding the hellmouth." Haley tried to explain. "Even Faith here went bad because she after an accident she couldn't deal with the pain so she chose the easier path and went evil. If she hadn't been on the hellmouth it could have had a different outcome. But like Willow she must carry the burden of her wrongdoings on her mind and try to live with it, while helping to save others." Haley paused then added "if it weren't for her you wouldn't be here."
"Buffy O'Neill would you mind if I scanned you to see if you have the gene that could save my people." Thor asked.
Buffy frowned 'Buffy O'Neill, doesn't sound too bad. But mom and Dawn wore the Summers name, as well as I have my entire life. No matter how much of a asshole Hank was. Maybe she should change it to Buffy O'Neill Summers or Buffy Summers O'Neill, but for now' "It's Buffy Summers actually" she told the Asgard. "And I don't know if I should. I mean you're trying to prevent death instead of reproducing like you should. All living things die. You shouldn't cheat death. I've died twice."
"Three time actually, remember you flat lined when Warren shot you." Faith told her.
Buffy flared at her sister slayer before turning back to the Asgard "Point is I will die some day and not come back. We aren't meant to be immortal. Maybe you could try to ascent like these Ancient guys did."
A flash of green light appeared and then turned in a glowing green teenage boy. "She's right." Connor told them.
"Connor? Where is Dawn?" Buffy asked.
"She felt it was still too soon for her to appear to you. So she sent me." Connor said to her then turned to the Asgard "The Furlings and the Nox will help you and when the time comes, which is a few thousands years from now so don't worry about Earth Colonel, you will ascent, should you chose to. I know you don't have that long and yes Buffy's gene would solve your cloning problem but the Gene will reject you and any other Asgard. Willow has the key to that problem. She will use her magic to allow the Asgard race to once again reproduce. Cloning technology isn't meant to live forever. It had great medical capabilities, like replacing an eye." He said looking at Xander. "Or a heart, or another organ. It will help the human race. But the Human race isn't ready for it. Too much violence, sure it's not Quor'toth and there are many who will not misuse the technology, but there are also many who will. Governments who will. Vice President Kinsey for one." Connor explained.
"But Connor, the Asgard younglings are rebellious, they do not listen." Thor told him.
Connor smiled "Well I didn't listen to my father much either. That's part of parentage. But to see that small child that you brought into the world grow as a person and make you proud. Is that not a few years of trouble." Connor told him then asked "When you were a child yourself did you not wanted your parents to be proud at some point? I know you Asgard aren't big with the emotions but they are there, even if you do not show them."
"There is truth in what you say, although I doubt many Asgard will like this solution." Thor told him.
Connor smiled "The will accept in time. You must show them the way, and eventually they will follow you." Connor then snapped his fingers and suddenly Buffy, Faith, Willow, Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill, Dr. Jackson and Giles were in some sort of cave. They looked around. "You are in Antarctica, underground. This used to be an old Ancients site. It will show you the way to the lost city of Atlantis, where Buffy must go to. The other PtB's really don't want me or Dawn to show you this. Them with their cryptic crap. Dawn tries to meet them halfway by sending Faith dreams. I'm more for the direct approach. Oh and don't worry about the others, they're fine, just still at the base." Connor looked up "Dawn is calling. I got to go. Willow will get you back when you want to." Connor said and then vanished in a green light.
Buffy and the others looked around there was a huge chair in the room they were. "Huh, ok. Cool. Now what is this place exactly?" She asked looked at Willow who shrugged then turned to gaze to Dr. Jackson and Major Carter who appeared as if they were in heaven. Rolling her eyes she took out her cell phone then realized she didn't knew the number of the Cheyenne complex. She handed the phone to her father deciding to let him report in while she walked over to Faith.
"Atlantis? I'm going to get wet aren't I?" she asked her sister slayer pouting.
Faith grinned "Well if you want to trade for leading an army against evil snakeheads?" she asked.
Buffy pretended to think for a moment then shook her head "Tempting but I'd rather be wet then be in another damn prophecy."
Carter squealed and Buffy and Faith looked in her way "Surrounded by Ancient technology and knowledge, they must really be in heaven." Faith told her then Willow squealed as well.
"I'd ask Willow to teleport us back but she seemed to have joined in on the boring research stuff." Buffy told her then looked around "You think there may be some Ancient leftover weapons around?" she asked with a glint in her eyes.
Faith smirked "Now that's a good question B. Let's go see."
Jack hung up the phone and looked around, Daniel, Giles, Willow and Carter with Ancient technology alone, in the same room. He saw his daughter walk away with Faith and sprinted after them "Hey wait up."
Review please, oh and I think I'm putting some SGA characters in the next chapter which I hope to finish either Thursday or Friday.
Meanwhile I would appreciate it if you tell me if I should let Buffy change her name to either Buffy O'Neill Summers, Buffy Summers O'Neill or just let it remain Buffy Summers.