Chapter 24.
A/N: Wow, I think I got a harsher reaction to making the council poor than I did trying to humanize Walsh. If anyone wants to show me something from the show that said they're rich, ok. But otherwise, everything I saw in the show said to me that they were monetarily poor. Sure, they have a lot of ancient texts, some land, and maybe some treasures that might be worth some money, but... not much actual cash to spare.
I don't write just to entertain. I write to make people think. So, I'm perfectly fine with you disagreeing with me vehemently as long as it makes you think. (Are you sure Maggie was evil? Are you sure the council was rich?)
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Stargate SG1.
Please review! Compliments make me write faster; criticisms make me write better. Both are needed if you wish this fic to continue.
/Xander's thoughts/
%Jolinar's thoughts%
#"Tok'ra or Goa'uld voice"#
Willow woke to find Xander slumped in a chair next to her, asleep but still holding her hand. It was very sweet, she thought. Up until the headache hit. "Oww." she moaned and grabbed her head with her free hand.
Xander sat up and came awake. "You ok, Wills?" he asked anxiously, not letting go of her hand.
Willow looked down at that hand, swallowed and chewed on her lower lip nervously. "Fine. Head hurts a little." she said without making a complete sentence or meeting Xander's eyes.
Xander turned over the hand he held and put his other hand on her wrist. "Your pulse seems a little fast. You sure your ok?"
Willow turned as red as her hair. Xander was holding her hand in that special way like she'd been dreaming since forever. Of course her heart was about to explode out of her chest! She wasn't sure whether she should laugh, cry, or slap him for asking such a stupid question. Then she met his eyes looking at her like that and she just melted and forgot whatever it was she'd just been thinking about. "Huh?"
Xander frowned. Irregular heartbeat and confusion. The effects of the concussion she'd suffered last night seemed to be lingering despite his and Jolinar's best efforts. "That's it. We're calling you in sick today. We'll take you to the doctor to get a cat scan."
Willow reluctantly let go of his hand as Xander stood up and went to get Miss Calendar. Xander made the arrangements for Miss Calendar to call them both in sick to school that day and drive them first to Giles' apartment and then to the hospital. Willow was a little disappointed. They were going to miss the first day of Career Week at school. She'd been looking forward to that.
Willow climbed out of the car very disappointed. She'd sat in the back seat with Xander and had left her hand in the middle for him to grab again. But he never did. Even when a convenient bump in the road let her mover her hand slightly past the middle, he still didn't take the hint. What did a girl have to do to grab a boy's attention? She wondered.
Xander was also in a subdued mood. He'd wanted to go straight to the hospital, but Jolinar had insisted that they stop by Giles' place to call Selmak first. Jolinar assured him that Willow would be fine with the short stop and they could pick up Ford to get tested as well. Xander knew the call to Selmak would be important to future Tok'ra/Earth relations so he gave in.
"Martouf and I talked for some time last night." Jacob began. "He explained to me that you are no longer able to impersonate a Goa'uld. And he told me of the work you're doing against creatures not seen since the time of Nun."
#"We have spoken with the Tok'ra high council and they have agreed that your place, for now, is on Earth."# Selmak continued, #"They have named you as the Tok'ra ambassador to Earth."#
"And they're naming me as the Earth's ambassador to the Tok'ra." Jacob finished. "It's going to be a little complicated. You're not going to be getting an official Embassy since the Tok'ra can't provide one either and doing so would effectively make the Stargate program public."
"Which they should probably do." Xander stated.
"Maybe." Jacob offered diplomatically. "Most of the council agrees with you on that position, but they've agreed not to press the issue so long as the current system is working out for both parties." Jacob outlined. "But let's get to what the rights and responsibilities of being ambassador are. First off is the big one, Diplomatic immunity. It means that you could walk into the NID base and try to kick them out and they couldn't prosecute you. Though, I'm not sure I'd trust the NID not to shoot you on sight from what I heard of them. Also, if you go overboard in whatever you do, the government can expel you from the planet. So keep that in mind. Similarly, your staff will also receive immunity, but the same conditions apply."
"Whoa. Staff? How am I supposed to hire a staff? I live in my parents' basement." Xander pointed out.
"The Tok'ra and the US government have come to an agreement of mutual support of each other's ambassadors. Due to the great distances and difficulties involved in directly supporting our own ambassador, the US government will be supplying you with a salary as well as housing and staff allowances." Jacob answered. "You'll also have Martouf's ship, which will be treated as a mobile Embassy. Meaning that it is sovereign Tok'ra territory."
"Yes." Martouf put in. "Your leaders were less than pleased that the Tok'ra had engaged a mission 'in their own backyard' to find you."
#"Yes, but they had to be sure."# Selmak reasoned.
"As part of the comprise, the SGC will be allowed to call you when they have need of a ship for a rescue mission or for other needs, which will likely mean getting to planets without a Stargate." Jacob went on. "It will be up to your discretion to use the ship as you see fit to defend the interests of Earth and the Tok'ra."
"Ok, this is really great. But we had a hard night last night and I have some people to take to the hospital. Is there anything else I need to know?"
In the end, Martouf agreed to leave via the Stargate and leave his ship behind, which made Xander ecstatic. The ship had a small stash a weapons, supplies, a ring device and all sorts of technology that he and Jolinar would be hard pressed to rebuild with out some serious money. Finally they were in business. Martouf would be catching a plane from LA that day to Colorado Springs. Jenny had already called in sick that day to take Willow to the hospital and volunteered to drive him to the airport after she dropped the other's off at the hospital. Xander slipped her a $20 and asked her to pick up some Twinkies for Martouf's ride home.
Ford, Willow, and Xander went into the hospital together. Ford presented his insurance and requested a cat scan, saying that his headaches had mysteriously vanished the other day. Willow presented her insurance and asked for the same because she got hit in the head last night. The scans were over in 5 minutes each. Then they waited for the results.
A couple hours later the radiologist came out looking very flustered. He put up a CT scan on one side of those light things. It looked a bit like a spider crawling on a brain. "This is your last scan in LA. As you can see, the cancer had spread all over your brain making surgery impossible." He put up another picture. It looked like a normal brain. "This is your brain today. Completely healthy. This doesn't happen. Cancer doesn't go away like this. At best, it goes into remission. But yours is gone."
Ford tried not to react. He'd known since his headaches went away that he was cured. But seeing concrete evidence of it was something else. He swallowed hard before asking, "Could you send these to my dad? He'd like to know. And could I use your phone to call LA?"
They were shown a room and Ford placed his call. "Dad? It worked." Ford had been calm up to that point, but the emotion on the other side of the phone obviously affected him greatly. "Yeah, my scans are clean." His voice broke and tears flowed freely down his face. He made no effort to wipe them away. "I'd love to see you guys too. But I'd really like to stay here for now. The work they're doing here... it's really important. They're saving a lot of lives." He choked out a laugh at what his father said, "actually, the pay is crap. For everyone. But I think I can make difference here." Ford assured his father as his voice got stronger again. "Hi mom," his voice broke all over again and the tears flowed freely. He laughed at whatever she said. "I'll be home soon. I love you too."
Willow took Ford into her arms and allowed him to cry on her shoulder for a few minutes. Xander definitely felt jealousy seeing that. When they came back out, the radiologist was still waiting. "Miss Rosenberg, your scans were also perfectly clean. Looks like there might have been a slight concussion. But based on the healing, it looks like it was weeks ago, not last night. I'd be more careful until that's fully healed, but it looks like the blow last night didn't do any new damage."
The day was not over and Willow insisted on going to school to finish out the day. Ford too seemed eager, even happy at the thought of going to school. Apparently you appreciate school a lot more when you think you might be dying. Xander and Willow dropped Ford off to register for classes for real this time, then went to go find Buffy.
"Willow!" Buffy jumped up at the sight of them. I'm so sorry. I should have been watching your back last night. But..."
"Buffy. It wasn't your fault and I'm ok. Xander healed me and I'm going to be fine." Willow assured her best friend.
"But it was my fault. I could have cut through those guys, but I was trying to mug them." Buffy admitted.
"You were what?" Xander asked darkly.
"I got the idea from you. After you got all that money selling their car." Buffy defended herself then handed Willow a small wad of cash. "$32.82. It's everything I got from them. I hope you can forgive me."
Willow tried to give the money back while Xander took some deep, calming breaths. "It's not your fault, Buffy." he finally admitted. "I never should have let her go out there. And no one untrained is going on patrol again. That includes her and Ford." Xander informed them.
"What includes me?" Ford walked up behind Xander.
"Oh, Xander's blaming himself for Willow getting hurt." Buffy answered. "He decided that you two can't go patrolling any more."
"Not until you're trained." Xander added.
"If you say so." Ford agreed easily. "For now, I'm registered for classes next semester. For real this time. Got a class list and everything. And they said I can participate in Career Week if I want to too."
"Good," Buffy said as Ford sat down with them. "You can help me decide if I like shrubs or not."
"Oh, I'm liking everything that's alive right now." Ford smiled.
Buffy shrugged. "Ok, I'll put yes for shrubs then." Then she threw down her pencil in frustration, "Uhhh! I shouldn't even be bothering with this. It's all mootville for me. No matter what my aptitude test says, we already know my deal."
"I don't know about that. A month ago I would have agreed with you. But today? I just can't help being excited about the future. And it's all thanks to Xander." Ford grinned at his savior. "Maybe he can pull another miracle out of his bag for you?"
Xander thought for a second. "He's not so wrong. I just found out this morning..." then he looked at Ford.
Ford threw up his hands. "Hey. I can leave if you guys need to talk about something."
"No!" Buffy exclaimed and delivered a pointed look at Xander.
Xander sighed, but decided that if they were going to trust him with one thing it would be hard to keep him out of the other. "Fine, you can explain it to him after school. Alone. Anyway, I'm apparently going to be the new Tok'ra Ambassador to Earth. And that also means I'll get to hire a staff. Don't know how many or how much I could pay you. But, if you or Willow want a job, you've got it." After a pause, "and maybe Ford too."
"Attaché," Willow added.
"There you go Buff, you can carry my suitcase." Xander joked.
"No, Attaché is an Ambassador's assistant." Willow clarified.
Jolinar knew that, so Xander knew it. But the joke was funnier if he pretended that he didn't. So he just smiled.
The acerbic tones of Cordelia Chase floated over the air, "I aspire to help my fellow man. Check. As long as he's not smelly, dirty or something gross."
Xander looked at Cordy and smiled, "And speaking of smelly and gross, maybe we'll hire Cordy as the janitor."
"Eww. Gross. Like I would ever work for you period. Like you would ever have a job to offer." Cordelia laughed.
Xander just smiled calmly. "I'll hold you to that Cordy." he said as she walked away.
"Anyway, Jo and I were thinking about how you protect Sunnydale. Maybe you should join the police? Get paid to patrol. Instant authority and it would help you cover up the nastier side of town. Not to mention being allowed to be armed all the time. Big plus for a Slayer." Xander reasoned.
"Eww, Xander. I'm beginning to think you lost your sense of reason after Halloween." Buffy countered. "Can you see me wearing that uniform?"
"Then go undercover." Xander shrugged. "You can infiltrate all the gangs on PCP around here."
Xander's arm handed a note to Willow without looking at her. 'Make your move. -J' "Oh," Willow said softly.
"What was that Will?" Xander turned towards her.
"Oh! Umm... nothing. I was just thinking that that sounded like a good idea." Willow said supportively.
Buffy just gave her a confused look, shook her head, and went back to her test.
When they were all done, Willow took the tests, a deep breath, and then grabbed Xander's hand and walked with him to the test drop-off table. And Xander didn't pull away or yell at her or anything. In fact he looked both as happy and as nervous as she felt. And they walked to their next class hand in hand for the first time.
Buffy keyed her radio. "Angel, you in the area?" she asked.
"Pretty close, you need backup?" Angel asked.
"Kinda. A vamp just ran away from me after stealing something from a mausoleum. Short, mostly bald, glasses. Stake him if you see him." Buffy ordered.
"Which way did he go?" Angel asked for directions.
"If I knew that, I'd be chasing him instead of calling you." Buffy said exasperated.
Willow was walking on air when she got into her house. Xander had walked her home, holding her hand the whole way and then on the porch, they had kissed. It was just a quick kiss, interrupted by Buffy's call for help. But Willow didn't even mind that. This time. It was just so wonderful to get her first kiss from Xander since 5th grade, when he had sworn off girls (and cooties) forever. It was amazing. She was sure she'd never felt this happy and might never feel this happy again. For now, she'd just bask in the glow she was currently experiencing.
Samantha Carter was taking that down time General Hammond had ordered. She was working on her Harley right now. But working on her bikes always made her think of her father. This time the image that came up was the last one she had of him. Him in the SGC Gateroom explaining to Martouf the wonders of the Twinkies and other snack cakes Martouf had brought with him. The thought made her smile as her eyes went unfocused for a minute. She sighed and shook her head to bring herself back to the here and now. And began working on the bike again.
Jack O'Neill, despite being Mid-Western born and bred, had never discovered the allure of ice fishing. He liked to be able to cast his lures and quite frankly, the idea of sitting on a few feet of ice in the freezing cold to catch fish just seemed a bit insane. Fishing was supposed to be relaxing and ice fishing seemed like anything but. Which, when he was given down time during the winter months left him with less to do. At least there was football. The nice thing about your team playing in the NFC Central division was that your team was never in last place. Unless your team happened to be the Lions, luckily his was not. And the Vikings weren't doing so bad this year. If the Packers didn't repeat, the Vikings might even get to lose the Superbowl this year. He sat down on his couch, popped a beer and turned on the game.
Xander watched from a distance as Buffy and Angel walked and talked. They weren't kissing and were at least paying fairly close attention to their surroundings, even if they didn't see him. He was just kind of annoyed at them for interrupting his kiss with Willow.
%Calm yourself.% Jolinar ordered. %They're not doing anything wrong and Buffy was right to call in that vamp. Don't take your frustrations at not making a move on Willow until now out on them.%
Xander took a calming breath. He was getting better at managing anger. /I know./ He offered. /It was just really bad timing./
%She likes you. There will be other kisses. I'm sure of it.% Jolinar assured him.
/But that one was perfect./ Xander sighed. He got up and made his way back home.
They met up with a vamp on the way home and Xander got to take his frustrations out on it. It looked very confused when Xander explained that this was 'for interrupting his kiss with Willow'. Right before he dusted it.
Colonel Maybourne threw down the briefing papers. It had all happened so fast. Even though he was here so they could respond quickly, they just didn't get the information from the SGC quickly enough to allow them to act on it. And those darn kids had practically stopped using their radios as soon as that snake had landed. And now, according to the reports from the SGC there was a Goa'uld calling itself a Tok'ra actually LIVING in Sunnydale. And worse than that, they had given the snake diplomatic immunity and named its ship as an Embassy making stealing the ship an act of war. He knew he'd never get clearance for an op that would result in war when they were still so poorly armed.
Maybe it was time for some more direct surveillance.
Cordelia paged through the list posted on the bulletin board outside. "Oh, here I am. 'Personal shopper or motivational speaker.' Neato!"
Xander bit his tongue. "Right." he said sarcastically.
Cordy kept searching until she found the result she wanted. "Oh, what about you? You're..." she laughed and left.
%Prison Guard.% Jolinar read the result.
/Does that make you my prisoner?/ Xander quipped.
%Or you mine?% Jolinar joked back.
/Oh well. I think we have a career already planned out for us./ Xander noticed the girls and Ford coming across the lawn and headed their way.
"Good Morning, ladies." Jolinar took control. Bowed and kissed Willow's hand.
"Morning Jo." replied Buffy.
"You knew me?" Jolinar asked. "I thought that was sufficiently Xander enough to go unnoticed."
"It was the kiss." Buffy explained. "Xander would never..." but her words trailed off and her mouth hung open as Xander and Willow did just that.
Jolinar broke them apart. "That will be enough of that for now. We are still in school after all."
Xander tried to take back control. Their body twitched a little bit as they fought.
"Enough. I will give you the right arm. Ok?" Jolinar offered. "I just have to talk with Buffy for a bit."
Xander's right hand snapped and formed a thumbs up in answer then immediately snaked around Willow's waist and pulled her close.
"Well, it seems that your test confirms what we thought." Jolinar said to Buffy. "You have an aptitude for police work."
Buffy gave a sad moan. "Ungg. Well, I guess I'll just jump off that bridge when I come to it."
Jolinar shook his head at what he hoped was a bad joke. "Xander and I talked about this last night. Perhaps you have not had the best role models when it comes to the police? We checked this morning and there are some towns within a few hours drive where you could get a more accurate idea of what a real police officer does. All we have to do is call ahead for a 'ride-along' and you can, well, ride along and see a typical night for a typical police officer not having to deal with the supernatural."
"Yeah," Ford agreed. "LA isn't exactly a paragon of police work."
Xander's right hand, meanwhile had released Willow's waist and now had her hand and was rubbing it against their cheek.
"Xander, please." Jolinar said, sounding not unlike Giles.
"But the hellmouth?" Buffy wondered.
"Angel and I can handle it for one night." Jolinar assured her.
"Does this mean I'm not going to be your suitcase?" Buffy asked.
"Attaché." Willow corrected distractedly.
"No, but I have no idea what that might pay. And there's no reason you can't do both jobs." Jolinar explained. "So, you'll do the ride along tonight?"
"Can't tonight. Angel and I have plans." Buffy decided. "Maybe Wednesday?" Then she spotted Giles. "I have to go report in to Giles. And I blame Xander for the extra work I have to do; explaining what I do every night now." she slapped his right hand.
"You didn't check to see which seminar I was assigned to, did you?" Willow asked.
"I did, but you weren't on the list." Jolinar explained before giving up control.
"What do you-" Was all Willow got out before her mouth was covered by Xander's and she forgot what she had ever been upset about. They didn't stop kissing until Principal Snyder came by and yelled at them.
Xander, Willow, and Ford were walking down the hall.
"You know, you don't have to be here just for me, Will." Xander said as they walked down the hall holding hands. "I have to be here. But you could be anywhere."
"Anywhere in Sunnydale?" Willow wondered.
"Ok, good point." he said and brought her hand up to kiss it.
"Principal Snyder!" Willow Squeaked.
Snyder looked to be in his usual bad mood. "Where is she?"
Willow tried to look as confused as possible, "Who?"
"You know who." Snyder frowned even more deeply.
Willow faked recent understanding, "You mean Buffy? I just saw her..."
Snyder interrupts, "And don't feed me that 'I just saw her a minute ago, she's around here somewhere' story."
Willow gripped Xander's hand for support and tried to sound confident, "But I did... just see her a minute ago, and she is... behind you!" she points.
"Principal Snyder." Buffy intoned as she came down the stairs. "What do you want?"
"Just making sure you really were attending per our agreement." Snyder sneered. "So long as you're here, I have no more desire to be with you children." and he stalked off.
"Gosh that was fun." Buffy said sarcastically.
"So, where were you?" Willow wondered.
"There was a break in at a mausoleum last night. I was showing Giles which one on the map so he could check it out." Buffy explained.
"Sounds like fun." Xander joked then turned back to Willow. "You want to come with me for a seminar on standard riot procedures?"
"Sounds like fun." Willow agreed.
"And I'm going to go this way." Buffy said, not wanting to be near the new couple for too long.
"I think I'll go with her." Ford indicated. It was tough being the 3rd wheel with two new lovers.
Before they left though, two men in dark suits approached Xander and Willow. "Willow Rosenberg?" the shorter one asked.
Xander dropped Willow's hand and instead took her arm and pulled her behind him. Buffy also tensed and changed direction, placing herself behind the taller man. Even though she didn't come up to his armpits, Xander knew she would take him down easily if it came to it. She loved taking down people taller than her. (Which was almost everyone.) Ford stepped off to the side, but edged closer to Willow.
"Who are you?" Xander snapped.
"We're here for Miss Rosenberg." the dark suit answered cryptically.
Xander assessed the situation. There was a cop not 6 feet behind him and a Naval ensign 15 feet to the left. Both could be assets if he let the gentlemen make an aggressive first move. But they could be liabilities if they happened to identify themselves as authorities. The gentlemen also didn't seem particularly well trained. The tall one didn't seem to be aware that he'd been flanked.
"No one's going anywhere." Xander stated then motioned behind him with his head. "There's a cop right behind me. So don't try anything." Xander decided to show Buffy that cops could be the good guys.
"Is there a problem here?" a red-haired, female officer stepped up next to Xander.
"No problem." the shorter man reached into his coat.
Xander was happy to see the officer unsnap her gun at that motion. "Slowly now," she ordered. The Naval ensign also excused herself from her group and was making her way closer. Traffic through the intersection had stopped as kids stopped and stared.
The man wisely opened his jacket to show that he carried no weapon there before reaching into an inside pocket and pulling out a card. He handed it slowly to Xander.
"Microhard?" Xander exclaimed, "Why the hell didn't you just say so instead of acting like you were trying to kidnap her?"
Everyone seemed to relax at that. Xander straightened and gave a nod to the ensign, thanking her for her support. The two recruiters for Microhard were besieged by kids asking for jobs. They tried to make their way back to their sanctuary but the kids followed them in.
Xander watched them go then turned to the cop who had backed them up. "Thanks." he offered his hand and smiled.
"You're welcome." she smiled back. "Glad it turned out to be nothing. But you were right. They were definitely acting suspiciously." she paused. "Officer Patrice Jung. Santa Barbara PD." she said as she took the offered hand.
"You're a little ways away from home." Xander observed. "Xander Harris. This is Willow Rosenberg and Billy Fordham. And that's one of your new recruits." he motioned to Buffy.
Buffy stepped up and took her hand, "Buffy Summers."
The officer's demeanor changed immediately. She reached for her gun and leveled it at Buffy, who quickly kicked it away. Xander spun and threw Willow into Ford's arms. With her safe, he kicked the officer in the back of the knees; as she fell Buffy aimed a kick for where her midsection used to be. Teeth went flying as her body flew into the cinder block wall. Whether she was unconscious before or after she hit the wall didn't really matter.
The ensign from earlier came up trying to sort our what had happened. "What happened?"
"Stand down, ensign." Xander ordered. The lady stopped advancing, but was clearly waiting for him to identify himself before obeying any orders. "Captain Sam Carter, US Air Force." It wasn't a lie. At least part of him was Sam. He belatedly remembered that Samantha was now a Major. "This is an undercover operation so I don't have any ID on me, but if you'll come with us while we secure this prisoner, I can let you talk to my superiors." Xander offered, his voice in full on soldier mode.
Buffy carried the disarmed cop. Xander gave the ensign the gun in the ankle holster before arming himself with the cop's side arm. He also took her radio, ring, and a belt knife. They took the weapons from the book cage, to the astonishment of the ensign, before tying up and locking the police officer in there.
Then Xander called Hammond. He had the ensign pick up another extension once it started ringing. "Hammond." came the answer.
"General. Xander here." Xander began. The ensign gave him a confused look. "And I'm with an ensign..."
"Ensign Lisa Foreman, sir." she stood at attention, even over the phone.
"This had better be good, Mr. Harris." Hammond warned.
"Rather bad actually. We were attacked by someone in broad daylight. Ensign Foreman witnessed the attack. And I apologize, but I had to use Major Carter's credentials to secure her co-operation." Xander explained.
Hammond sighed. "We'll come back to that. First, Ensign Foreman, are you still there?"
"Yes sir!" she answered.
"Name, rank, and serial number." Hammond barked. When he had that information and her Commanding Officer's name he went on, "Ok, while Mr. Harris doesn't currently hold any rank with the military, he does have many more years of knowledge and experience than you would think. And while that means that you don't have to salute him, he does have the full cooperation of the US Military and you do need to do anything he asks. We just haven't been able to get him his credentials yet. Is that clear?" Hammond implied that Xander had military experience, which wasn't exactly a lie.
"Yes sir!" she answered.
"Good. Now Mr. Harris and anything he's said or done is all classified Top Secret. You'll be receiving some non-disclosure documents to sign when you get back to base. You are not to repeat anything you see or hear there to anyone. Now put Mr. Harris back on." Hammond ordered.
Once the ensign hung up, Xander closed the door to Giles' office to give them a little privacy. "I believe we were attacked by an assassin, sir."
"Are you sure?" Hammond asked.
Jolinar took over. "No. But the style was very similar to that of a Zatarc. It's a type of Goa'uld assassin. However, we found no evidence of Goa'uld technology on her. Once Dr. Giles gets back, I'll have him look at the ring we found on her. It's the only piece of identification we found. I'll keep you in the loop. Did you want us to do anything with Ensign Foreman?"
"It would probably be best to send her home before she finds out too much." the general reasoned.
Xander heard the door to the library open and took over, "I think Giles is back. Talk to you later." and hung up.
"Xander, why is there a police officer in my book cage?" Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"One sec Giles." Xander addressed the young Naval officer. "Ensign Foreman, General Hammond agreed with me that secrets are easier to keep when you don't know much. So, thank you for your help. You're dismissed."
"Yes, sir." The ensign stiffened to attention but repressed the urge to salute before walking smartly out of the library.
Once she was gone he addressed the watcher. "Ok Giles, we think the cop might be an assassin. She was friendly but attacked Buffy as soon as she learned her name." Xander explained as he tossed Giles the ring she was wearing. "This is the only thing other than weapons she had on her."
"Oh dear." Giles said as he examined the ring.
Buffy made a face. "I hate it when you say that."
A/N: The NFC North division was still the Central division back then. All teams are copyrighted by the NFL and/or their respective owners. The Vikings have yet to win a Superbowl.
On the police. I believe this was around the time of the Rodney King beatings. (in canon, Xander mentioned brutality) Being from LA, Buffy would be very familiar with that and would probably have an opinion colored by that and the incompetence of the SunnyD squad. Not the best role models.
I didn't catch the actual rank of the recruiter, but she was wearing dark blue which I think means navy.
The logo for "the world's leading software concern" in the show looked suspiciously like the Window's logo. And like Microsoft, they were based out of Seattle. I just went ahead and made it official. But I don't own either the real company or the fake one.
Ensign Lisa Foreman: I'm sure there'll be a character named Eric Cuddy soon enough.