Chapter Nineteen: Downstairs Upstairs
"These people are not Jaffa and they are not working for the Goa'uld," said Teal'c. "They have captured a Stargate from some people who were working for the Goa'uld. That does not make them our enemies. General Hammond tells me they might become our friends and allies."
Teal'c was briefing the SGC security team which had been sent to Sunnydale to take possession of the Stargate that the NID had reported was probably there. Although Colonel Maybourne had tried his best to ensure that the SGC went in hard and maybe upset Willow and her fellow witches, General Hammond knew from Leo that he was probably not dealing with enemies.
The General had thought about contacting Leo to tell him they knew where the Stargate was and to try once again to persuade him to co-operate or at least to try to persuade the people holding the Gate to co-operate.
The General had realised that he could not do it. It could result in the Gate being moved. That might have disastrous consequences if the Goa'uld used the Gate again or some other unknown force used the Gate to come to Earth. Anyway if the NID found out that the General had done such a thing they would undoubtedly represent it as treachery and use it to have him removed as commander of the SGC. It might enable them to get their wish and take control of the SGC altogether.
Teal'c, having briefed his team, now waited for everybody to get into position before making a move. He was under no illusions. If the people in the building in front of him had anything like the magic power of the Halliwell sisters it would be very difficult, if not impossible to take possession of anything without their consent.
The clocked ticked round to the designated time. Since all signals had been received indicating everybody was in position Teal'c got out of his car. Accompanied by three uniformed members of the SGC including Major Larkham he walked up the drive and rang the bell.
The door was opened by a young blonde woman.
"Miss Summers?" asked Major Larkham.
"Who wants to know?" replied the woman.
"Major Larkham," said the major, "US Air Force."
The major held out her ID and a search warrant.
"I have been authorised to search these premises as a matter of National Security in order to take possession of secret equipment which we have reason to believe is here," she explained.
The woman took the search warrant and pointedly kept them waiting while she took time to read it. She then handed it back. "You'd better come in," she said opening the door wide and standing aside.
"If you'll take us to the Stargate we'll try to be out of here as soon as possible," said the major.
The woman ignored the major. "You know that hat does nothing for you," she said to Teal'c. "You still look like a Jaffa. So how come a Jaffa is working for the Air Force? If this really is an Air Force operation."
"If you know of the Jaffa then you should know that not all Jaffa work for the Goa'uld," said Teal'c. "I am one who does not. I have worked against them now for some years."
"Says you," replied the woman. "Anyway if you expect me to help you you're wasting your time. Go ahead, search away but you won't find anything. Have fun but don't damage anything and don't use any weapons. You'll regret it if you do."
Teal'c nodded to the corporal standing behind him. The corporal waved his right arm and four more uniformed members of the security team walked up the drive.
As seen from the outside there were two floors to the large building with more space above in the roof as well as probably a basement area. There were also garages and other outbuildings at the rear. As previously arranged two of the men went to the garages and outbuildings to search and two others were detailed off to search the back of the house. Major Larkham took one soldier with her upstairs and Teal'c, with Corporal Carew went to where he thought the Gate was most likely to be located; the basement.
The blonde woman did not accompany any of the search parties. After shutting the front door she went into the lounge and picked up a book. "Enjoy yourselves," said Amy with a smile and a wave of her hand. She began to read with every indication of complete unconcern.
Going down into the basement was via a long flight of steps. As he reached the landing at the bottom Teal'c found that the steps turned back down an equally long second flight of steps. The basement was clearly quite a long way below ground level and Teal'c began to wonder whether there was an intermediate level that was being hidden from them. Maybe a more shallow basement that could be reached from another flight of stairs elsewhere in the building or perhaps from an outbuilding.
Teal'c and the corporal reached the bottom of the second flight of steps but they were not yet in the basement because there was another long flight leading downwards.
"This is a pretty deep basement sir," said the corporal. "Wonder why they made it so deep."
Teal'c did not answer. He continued down the third flight of stairs and was not surprised to find himself at the top of a fourth flight. Something was clearly going on, maybe something magical. Were the stairs literally never ending? Apparently not because sounds became audible from below. Somebody was climbing the stairs.
The lighting on the stairs was poor. Although there was a light halfway down each flight of stairs it was never possible to see more than a few steps up or down at any one time. Teal'c and the corporal were not able to see who it was approaching as they waited on the landing between the third and fourth flight.
Major Larkham stepped out of the gloom and saw Teal'c and Corporal Carew standing on the landing a few steps above her. "How did you get up here?" she asked. "I thought you were going down to the basement?"
"We have indeed been travelling down to the basement," replied Teal'c. "We have done nothing but go downstairs towards the basement."
"Well we've done nothing but go upstairs," said the major. "And it seems to be taking forever."
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The train pulled into the station after dark so thankfully there were no complications with the vampires Angel and Drusilla. On the journey Buffy had asked Willow if she could make something that would allow the vampires to move about in the daytime, something like the Ring of Amara. Willow's response was she would look into it but Tara had objected.
"The trouble with making something like that is, it might someday get into the wrong hands," explained Tara. "And it might qualify as black magic anyway, letting vampires move around in daylight. I don't think Willow should try anything like that."
So that was that. Buffy wasn't even sure Angel would wear something like that anyway since he had destroyed the original Ring of Amara so she didn't press the point. She certainly didn't want to risk Willow going black again.
As Buffy and the gang left the train she could see a welcome committee waiting at the end of the track. They were nearly all Kallistians but there was one familiar face amongst the half dozen people stood waiting; Cordelia.
After the greetings between Cordelia and the others, including in Buffy's opinion an over affectionate hug between Angel and Cordy the gang were introduced to the waiting Kallistians. The Kallistians included two witches and a General.
The Kallistian witches already knew about Buffy, or rather they thought they did. They knew Buffy wasn't a witch so their main interest was in Willow, Tara and Jenny. They had been told about the orbing ability used to rescue the Kallistien captives from Marduk's spaceship and were interested in how this ability might be used to attack the Goa'uld.
Neither Tara nor Jenny were happy with the attention they were getting. Tara drew Jenny aside. "We've got to talk about all this," she said to the other Whitelighter. "Before everything gets out of hand. We can't do what they want."
"No we can't," said Jenny. "And we can't stay here forever either, we've got other responsibilities back on Earth."
Cordy stepped in to calm the hubbub. "Look, we can't talk about all this on a railroad station. There's a big reception planned for tomorrow after everybody's got some rest. There's a hotel prepared with rooms for everybody. Let's go there and I can tell you all about what's been happening with everybody at this end."
"Any news of Giles?" asked Jenny.
"Giles is fine," said Cordelia. "He's waiting at the hotel."
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The mist cleared and the five time travellers found themselves standing on a grassy hillside next to a castle. It was dark and chilly and it was raining.
"Now remember everybody," said Prue. "We're here as observers, just as observers. We mustn't do anything to compromise the time line, even if it looks like a good idea at the time. If we change things then everything changes in the future, maybe for the worse."
"Can we really change the timeline?" asked Faith. "Surely anything we do has already been done so it won't make any difference?"
"We know it's possible because we did change things a little the first time we travelled back in time," explained Piper.
"If that's the case then logically the further back in time you travel the bigger the differences you can cause," said Daniel. "And I think we've just made a very big jump."
"Avoid using your powers as far as possible," said Prue to her sisters. "At least where anybody can see you."
"That'll be a change won't it," said Piper sarcastically. "Anyway have we still got our powers? We'd better check."
"OK," said Paige holding out her hand. "I'll see what I can do. Stone!" A stone on the ground nearby disappeared and reappeared in her hand. Paige then disappeared as she orbed away thus proving that she still had that power. She returned a few minutes later.
"Yup," said Paige. "It still works the same. I can still orb to the places I got to know back in the future but I still can't orb all over the planet like I do back on Earth."
Whilst Paige had been gone the other sisters had tested their own powers. Prue had thrown a few stones into the nearby woods with her power and Piper had frozen and exploded some of them in mid flight. They had then taken an interest in their immediate surroundings.
Although it was dark somebody was still awake in the castle judging from the lights showing in various places. On the other side of the castle was a small town, well small by later standards. It was presumably the nucleus of the later capital city Demantine.
"I suggest we try the town first," said Daniel. "If we're really back in the time when the Goa'uld ruled then the castle is probably full of Jaffa and maybe a Goa'uld or two."
"Why don't we try both," said Prue. "Can you orb into the castle Paige?"
"Yeah," said Paige. "I had a quick look. It was very quiet although there was a sort of humming, as if there were machines of some sort throbbing away. It looks like a medieval castle but they've got electric lights inside."
"OK," said Prue. "Piper and Faith, you go with Daniel into the town. Paige and I'll have a look around the castle."
"The town gate is locked up for the night," said Paige to Piper, Faith and Daniel. "And it's guarded. But the taverns still seem to be open. I'll orb you into the town and then come back to pick up Prue for our jump into the castle."
"We need a rendezvous point," said Piper. "How about we all meet back here same time tomorrow?"
"We'd better rendezvous before that," said Prue. "You guys hire a couple of rooms in one of the taverns. When we're done in the castle we'll come and find you."
As Paige put her arms around Piper, Daniel and Faith, Daniel muttered quietly to Piper. "Is she usually this bossy?"
"Have you got a big sister?" replied Piper equally quietly.
"I see what you mean," replied Daniel.
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Teal'c, Major Larkham and the two soldiers went all the way to the bottom of the stairs and back out the door at the bottom. They found themselves in what looked like a woodland glade. The door through which they had come now looked like a tree. The Major tried to open the door again but it felt like a tree as well. She was even able to walk all the way round it. There seemed to be no way to open a tree.
A bird started singing somewhere up in the branches of the tree, sounding for all the world like somebody chanting 'hurry, hurry, hurry', over and over again in a high pitched voice. Corporal Jenkins pointed his gun upwards trying to find the bird but his gun suddenly turned into a live snake. He dropped the gun and the snake slithered away.
"What's going on sir?" asked the corporal to Teal'c. "This is all getting on my nerves."
"I think that's the general idea," said Major Larkham. "Why don't we just wait here? We won't get anywhere until they stop playing games."
Suddenly a large white kangaroo jumped out from behind another tree. A second tree that did not seem to be there a moment before. The kangaroo was human sized and behind it could now be seen the entrance to a cave.
"You're late you know," said the Kangaroo with the voice of a young woman, turning to go into the cave.
"Cordelia Chase," said Teal'c. "Faith, The Halliwell Sisters, Rupert Giles."
The kangaroo stopped. "What?" it said. "How do you know those names?"
"We're not your enemies," said Teal'c. "Can we stop the magic games please? I mention those names because they are people I met recently. I have been working with them. I see you know who they are."
The woodland glade disappeared and they found themselves standing in the entrance hall of the house. The image of the kangaroo dissolved to reveal a dark haired young woman, Dawn in fact. She turned to look at another woman who until then had not been noticed by the SGC people. A blonde haired woman but not the same woman who had let them into the building.
"Does this mean we can't play any more tricks on them?" asked Dawn.
"We'd better talk with them," said Anya. "If they know what happened to Cordy, Faith and Giles they might know about Buffy as well. But they'd better not be lying."
"Are you connected to those SGC people who Leo told us about?" asked Dawn.
"Indeed," said Teal'c. "We are from the SGC. I presume you refer to Leo Wyatt."
"Well if you'd told us that in the first place you could have avoided all that going up and down stairs," said Anya.
"Can't we talk to them after we've finished the game?" pleaded Dawn. "The next bit with all the alligators, that's the best bit."
"Just think yourselves lucky you don't have to meet all the bunnies," said Anya to the SGC people as she led the way into the lounge. "You'd better go and get Amy and Fred and the others," she added to Dawn.
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"It's a different dragon," said Sam quietly, "I think."
Jack turned round from his position sitting in front of Sam on the dragon's back and gave her a 'so what' sort of look but he said nothing. He had no intention of upsetting another dragon and being thrown off into space again. Yes Phoebe was with them again but he didn't want to rely on her ability to fly a second time for his survival.
The meeting with the dragons had gone well, or as well as could be expected. Dragons were long lived, had good memories and could bear a grudge for a very long time. They remembered the Goa'uld and had a few scores to settle with them. They had therefore agreed to join the humans in a major assault on Marduk's forces.
When the time was right they would attack some of Marduk's bases. They were also confident that in certain circumstances they would be able to deal with some of the Goa'uld flying machines. As part of the agreement two of the witches had stayed behind with the dragons as liaison. Jack had left his radio with them and shown them how to use it. This would help to ensure that everything could be synchronised properly when the time came.
The major disagreement had not been with the dragons but with Phoebe. Phoebe was attending the meeting as the representative of the Earth or Tau'ri witches and magic users. She had explained that the Earth witches were happy to seek the help of the dragons in the struggle but felt that this should stop short of encouraging them to kill humans. Transport and destruction of weapons and machines yes, killing no.
Jack appreciated Phoebe's point of view but sided with the Kallistians and the dragons in pointing out that you couldn't fight a war without killing people. The people they would be killing had done plenty of killing themselves. They might be nice people in other circumstances but sweet reason would not be enough to stop the Goa'uld or persuade all the Jaffa to put down their weapons.
The dragon who had carried Jack, Sam and Phoebe to the meeting had spread the word about her conversation with Phoebe and about Phoebe's previous experience with dragons. It seemed that Phoebe's involvement in the killing of some other dragons had earned her a great deal of respect amongst these dragons so they listened when she spoke to them.
"OK," said Phoebe, "I realise that sometimes it's a case of kill or be killed but I don't want any dragon to do any killing of humans that is not strictly necessary. If I hear of any unnecessary killing at all I won't be happy and nor will my sisters or any of the other Tau'ri witches."
That had reduced everybody to silence and the meeting had then broken up. Now they were being taken back to Demantine by another dragon. Just as Jack was silent to avoid upsetting another dragon Phoebe was silent and lost in her own thoughts.
"Bandits at two O'clock," called Sam who had spotted two aircraft above them. Since all aircraft on Kallistien were Goa'uld craft they automatically qualified as bandits. As Sam spoke the dragon banked left and dived. Phoebe began chanting.
As the dragon continued its steep dive, heading for a large wooded area, Phoebe continued to chant. Jack and Sam just concentrated on holding tight to whatever they could to avoid being thrown off the back of the dragon.
The two aircraft dived towards the dragon. Jack knew that they must be in range and in the sights of the pilots but to his surprise neither fired. They dived straight past the dragon before turning and climbing to regain altitude. They can't believe what they're seeing thought Jack.
Meanwhile the dragon entered the wood and landed amongst the trees beside a narrow path. "You'd better get off here," said the Dragon. "I've got to head back. I can't risk meeting any more of those things. You'll have to make your own way from here."
"I can keep you safe," said Phoebe to the dragon. "That spell I did made us disappear from their sight and their instruments."
"Yes, but after I've dropped you off in the city you won't be with me on the way back," replied the dragon. "Anyway I've got to get back now to tell the others about these things. I've heard of them but they've not been seen around here before."
The three travellers climbed off the dragon. Jack started to grumble. "Great, right in the middle of nowhere..."
Sam interrupted Jack and addressed the dragon. "We're not from this world. Could you please tell us exactly where we are and how we get back to the city?"
The dragon, who had started to glare at Jack, turned his head towards Sam. "Head south-eastward. You'll soon find a road. All roads lead to Demantine." Saying no more the dragon leapt into the air and flew away north.
"OK," said Sam taking out her compass. "South east."
"What are you doing," asked Jack, addressing Phoebe.
Phoebe had stepped off the path and was picking up pieces of wood, examining them and discarding some whilst putting others carefully into a pile. She looked up. "What does it look like I'm doing?" she said. "I'm making a broomstick."