Chapter Forty Two: Strange Alliance
Since arriving by orb from Kallistien Tara had tried to orb back but without success. Something had brought her back from the other world or perhaps expelled her from it. Leo agreed that orbing between worlds should not be possible and it remained impossible for her to orb back again. With the Stargate network shut down as well, the most obvious means of return were not available.
Before trying to return, Tara had brought everybody up to date with how things were going on Kallistien, and was given the latest news from the people who had remained on Earth. But Tara was anxious to return to Kallistien as quickly as possible so when orbing failed she decided to use the magic portal spell that she and Willow had used previously. To make sure that there was no shortage of magic power she asked Amy to help.
To her great disappointment Tara found that the spell didn't work. Everybody, including General Hammond, was also disappointed because they had hoped to be able to re-establish contact with Kallistien.
"Whatever sent you back and shut down the Stargates is probably responsible for blocking the spell," said Amy, "because there's nothing wrong with that spell. Since everything started, or rather stopped, happening when Dawn went through the Gate my guess is it's all because of the Key. I think it's caused some sort of cosmic disruption."
"So what exactly is this Key?" asked General Hammond. "And how does it work?"
"Nobody really knows much about it," explained Tara. "All we know is, it's an ancient mystic power source than can sometimes be used to open doorways between different worlds. Magic or mystic doorways that is, not Stargate doorways. We don't know where it comes from or what else if anything it can do but it's very old and it's very powerful."
"But you've been keeping it here in Sunnydale?" asked Hammond. "Don't you think something like that should have been better protected?"
"Hey! Enough of the military mindset already," said Gunn. "The Key was here and it was properly protected. It's just that Wolfram and Hart put some sort of whammy on it. They could have done the same thing even if it was locked up in Ford Knox. They're the people who've caused the trouble. It's not like we lost the Key or had it stolen or anything."
"It's a magical artefact General," said Leo. "It has to remain with those who understand magic."
"We all thought it couldn't be used any more," said Tara. "Not after the last time."
"The last time?" asked the General. "What happened the last time?"
"That was all taken care of years ago," said Fred. "I don't think we should argue over what's happened in the past. We've got to decide what to do now."
"Wolfram and Hart," said Gunn. "We need to find Lilah Morgan and find out what she's really up to. Her people seem to know some things about the Key that we don't. They're the ones to blame for shutting down the Stargates. They're the ones who should know how to open them up again."
At that moment Tara and Leo both received a call, the same call. "We've got to go," said Leo. "Duty calls." With no further comment the two Whitelighters orbed away.
The discussion continued between the General, Gunn, Fred and Amy. The General had already issued orders for a team to take action against Wolfram and Hart. It was agreed that Gunn would meet the SGC team in LA and help them in view of his local knowledge and previous experience of Wolfram and Hart.
Meanwhile Fred and Amy would go to the SGC to talk with the scientists there about exactly how the Stargate network worked to see if there was anything they could do, magically or scientifically or some combination of both, to help get the network up and running again.
The General would be taking Fred and Amy back to the SGC with him and introducing them to the experts there. After that the General himself intended to have a further talk with Colonel Maybourne and the other NID personnel who had been taken into custody to see what, if anything they could say about what had happened and how.
"I'll leave the team here to protect this Gate," said Hammond. "The Gate's not working at the moment but we don't want to leave it unprotected for somebody to steal."
"All the time the Gate is in this building, it's well protected General," said Amy. "It would be very dangerous to leave some of your people here without any of us present. If they did the wrong thing they could do themselves a lot of damage."
"Well if you'll show them..." began Hammond.
"...all the defences. I don't think so," said Gunn.
"It doesn't matter what we show them," said Amy. "Most of it wouldn't mean anything to them. Unless the General has got a strong witch on his staff?"
"I'm not leaving this place empty," said Hammond. "I can't afford for this Gate to fall into the wrong hands. I'm officially responsible for it."
"It won't be empty," said Fred. "I can arrange for some friends to stop by for a few days. I'll have somebody here to look after the place before we leave. That way your guys can stay here as well."
In fact the 'some friends' was one particular friend. In response to a call from Fred, Lorne arrived the next day causing much consternation amongst the SGC personnel, despite their experience of dealing with non-human aliens.
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The demons were taken by surprise. With the local witches otherwise occupied they had become used to the lack of organised opposition from the local population so when they were suddenly attacked by two vampires and a witch they were at first easy prey.
Both Angel and Drusilla used the fighting methods typical of experienced vampires. They moved fast and silently and attacked from the shadows and from behind whenever possible. Neither vampire was armed at first but all of the demons carried weapons so Angel was soon in possession of a large axe and Drusilla got hold of a broadsword.
Following behind the vampires, Cordelia and Giles quickly armed themselves with a couple of the lighter swords but did not look to join the vampires in close combat with the large demons. Cordelia used the sword that she had picked up to channel her power in the same way as she had previously used her magic wand. Giles kept close to Cordelia to make sure that she was not taken by surprise while she was working her magic.
The demons were of the same type as the one they had already killed at the local offices of Wolfram and Hart. As there were about a dozen of them in the group being attacked the smell was almost overpowering. "At least this isn't good old Sunnydale," said Cordelia. "We don't have to hide the bodies. I'm sure everybody around here knows that demons are real."
By now Angel and Drusilla had taken down two opponents each and were engaged in fighting two of those remaining. Cordelia directed short but strong bursts of power at two of the remaining demons in turn. This had the effect of causing each demon to freeze in place and shake all over before keeling over dead.
The demons, who had at first been encouraged by their superior numbers, now found those numbers much reduced. So much so that the last few survivors decided to flee to safety. But it was now too late. They were not fast enough to outpace the vampires who soon overtook them and finished them off.
"Still no trace of the demon master or demon lord or whatever," said Angel as he walked back along the road towards Cordelia and Giles. "Just the front line demon fighters."
"It's possible we won't actually meet him before we put him back into a book," said Giles. "We don't have to be in the close vicinity of the demon to make that spell work. Being in the same town is probably enough. It was when we did the spell to imprison Moloch back in Sunnydale."
"Ooh, pretty, look at that," said Drusilla pointing along the road in the direction in which they had been travelling. They all looked up to see a bright blue glow coming from a few blocks away and lighting up the sky.
"That's about where the witch HQ is located," said Giles.
"Doesn't that mean it's under attack?" asked Cordelia. "Magic attack?"
"Yes it does," agreed Giles. "That might be what the demon lord is up to. We'd better hurry, they might need us."
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Wesley and Eve were on a ride but they had no idea where they were going. The pulses that had shaken their world had kept on coming, so much so that Wesley had decided he had no hope of being able to carry out the lengthy spell that he had prepared.
Instead Wesley had decided to use an old general purpose magical protection spell that he remembered. Their priority now was simple survival. If they did survive they would see about getting home later. For the moment they had to concentrate on getting through whatever it was that was happening.
Wesley had Eve had already carried out one spell successfully so they did what they had done before to amplify the power of the spell. Without removing their magical amulets, the amulets made and powered by Willow and Tara, they held the two amulets together and clasped hands. That way they were both in touch with both amulets and were able to combine all of the available power.
The latest pulse passed through the room and this time it had a permanent affect. The floor tipped down at one end of the room. Now it sloped steeply and the furniture began to slide towards the lower end of the room. Wesley was by now chanting the spell. It was a short chant and after hearing a couple of repetitions Eve joined in.
Wesley didn't know if the spell would protect them or if they had enough power to make it work but he was pretty sure that the world itself was a magical construct. Their success in producing the desk and the PC showed that there was some truth in his theories about what sort of world they were in and how it was created.
That world was now being destroyed. It might be falling apart on its own or it might be under attack from outside forces. Something might have disturbed the flow of whatever power had been sustaining the world but whatever the reason, if things went on like this the world would not exist for much longer.
As they continued the chant Wesley noticed the first encouraging sign. Although the floor now sloped steeply and the contents of the room had slid down-slope, he and Eve were still sitting in the middle of the room. Not only that, but Wesley felt no tug towards the lower part of the room. It was as if the gravity of the room had changed for everything but them. They had not been affected.
The next pulse passed through the room. Eve and Wesley were now looking at each other and both realised that the pulses were not passing through them. The spell and the amulets must be protecting them. They were becoming increasingly disconnected from the world or at least they were not yet being destroyed with it.
Wesley glanced down and saw that he was no longer sat on the floor. He seemed to be floating upright in approximately the same position as the floor, but the floor, the whole room really, had started to fade. At that moment Wesley flinched. As he looked up a bird flew into the room. If flew straight through the wall, through Eve and at Wesley's head, but it passed through Wesley as well.
Eve was startled enough to stop chanting but Wesley continued. He raised his voice to emphasise the need for the protection spell to continue. After swallowing deeply Eve once again joined in.
By now the room had faded to a point where the walls had become transparent and they continued to fade away. What will happen when this world has completely gone wondered Wesley. Where will we be then? In the middle of nowhere? In some sort of limbo?
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"That's... ridiculous," said Tara. "How can we possibly believe that? And if it's true how can we possibly tell everybody else?"
"You doubt the Elders?" asked Jenny. "You shouldn't, they don't lie."
"No, but they can be deceived," said Leo. "It's happened before. We've got to think this through."
Tara, Leo and Jenny had just attended a meeting of Elders and Whitelighters. The meeting had been called in response to recent happenings. Not only had the Stargate network been shut down but other means of travel between worlds and dimensions had been shut down or were becoming increasingly difficult to open and maintain.
It had been the Elders who had brought Tara back from Kallistien, something that they had only just been able to manage before it became impossible. The Elders had refused Tara's request that she be sent back. They explained that it was now impossible anyway.
"The people in Sunnydale think the Stargate shutdown has something to do with the Key, something to do with the spells cast by the Wolfram and Hart people and Dawn going through the Gate to Kallistien," said Tara. "Maybe they're right and that's the real reason for what's happening and not what the Elders think. Maybe the other side are using what's happened as an excuse to get what they want."
"It's probably a good thing the Elders don't think this is due to Dawn and the Key," said Leo. "At least nobody's talking about destroying the Key to put things right."
"They wouldn't do that," said Tara. "Not if they knew all about Dawn."
"I'd be surprised if the Elders didn't know all about Dawn," said Jenny. "And yes, they'd do that if they thought there was no other way. You heard them. They think the alternative is for this world and many others to be destroyed. You heard them. They're not just going by what the other side say. They've carried out their own investigation."
Tara looked at Leo who nodded. "Look at what the Elders are prepared to do to put things right," he said. "Or rather what they want us to do. They wouldn't have agreed to that if there was any other way."
Tara took a deep breath. "OK, we'd better get on with it," she said.
The three Whitelighters now orbed away from the meeting place and reappeared a few moments later in a large office. The woman in the room turned towards them as they arrived. "Well at last," said Lilah Morgan. "It's about time."
Before any of the Whitelighters could respond one of the telephones on Lilah's desk rang. She turned and picked it up. After listening for a moment she replied; "I'll be right out."
Lilah put the phone down and turned back to the Whitelighters. "I've got some military and security people downstairs who want to talk to me," she said. "Since I won't be able to work with you if I spend the next hundred years in a security cell you'd better orb me away to somewhere safe."
The Whitelighters exchanged glances. None of them spoke but Leo shrugged before going over to Lilah and taking her hand. He orbed away, followed a moment later by Tara and Jenny.
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"I should have thought of this before," said Jack. "Invisibility, invisible spaceships. You get them in all the best stories, cloaking devices and all that."
"Do you?" asked Sam. "When was the last time you saw an invisible spaceship?"
"Very funny, Carter," replied Jack. "Now we're invisible, sneaking back through Apophis's fleet should be easy."
"Don't celebrate too soon," said Sam. "We're not through Apophis's fleet yet, and he does have witches of his own on board. They might still be able to detect us."
Before reversing course Jack had spoken to the witches now working with them. At his request they had carried out spells to make the ship invisible to both vision and the instruments of the Goa'uld fleet. At the same time some of the witches did a spell to produce a phantom image of their ship. This image continued to flee from Apophis thus hiding the fact that they had now reversed course.
They were now approaching Apophis's ships, none of which had yet reversed course themselves. They were therefore approaching at a very high relative speed as they were travelling in the opposite direction to the Goa'uld ships. So long as they passed through the fleet without mishap they would arrive back at Kallistien several hours before Apophis, maybe longer if he kept pursuing the phantom they had sent into space.
"Now if we can just shoot off a few missiles as we go by," said Jack. "No more Goa'uld fleet, no more Apophis."
"And maybe no more Teal'c and the others," said Sam. "Anyway you know the witches don't want their magic to be used to help us kill. They won't be happy if we hide behind their invisibility while we wipe out the people on the other ships."
"Yeah, I know, but I can wish can't I?" said Jack who paused before continuing. "Perhaps I should do it anyway. The death of a few people compared to the death of many more, maybe a whole planet. Sounds like a good deal."
"And maybe our death too when the witches find out. Don't forget, one of the sisters is on one of those ships. And I wouldn't want to explain things to Tara if anything happened to Willow," said Sam.
"Tara?" she seems to be so quiet most of the time," said Jack.
"It's the..." began Sam.
"... quiet ones you've got to look out for," finished Jack.
"You might also be risking a war between Earth and the Kallistien witches. Do you want to do that?" asked Sam.
"You really don't want me to do this do you?" asked Jack.
"No, I... it would be wrong," said Sam. "We'd be betraying people who trust us. And it might not work anyway. Apophis's ships have got automatic defences. As soon as our missiles leave the ship they'll be able to pick them up. And it won't take much effort to track them back to our position. Don't forget, we aren't protected by the witch magic while we're moving."
"OK, you convinced me," said Jack. Jack was relieved to get Sam's input. He didn't want to blow up an enemy ship with Teal'c and the others aboard but he hadn't wanted to miss a trick simply because of his personal feelings. "Any closer to working out what's going to happen when we get back to the planet?"
"I'm hoping we'll be able to manoeuvre normally," said Sam. "Whatever force is coming from Kallistien it stopped working on us as soon as we turned back. At the moment we're moving under our own power and nothing else."
"So somebody switched it off?" said Jack.
"Not exactly," said Sam. "It's still pulling at Apophis's ships. It only seems to act on ships that are leaving the planet, which is crazy from a scientific point of view."