Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 and all related concepts are the property of MGM, while the character of Spike belongs to Joss Whedon and James Marsters, among other people (Also, the original idea for this story came from Jedi Buttercup's 'An Unexpected Gift', so I don't own it either, although I have put my own spin on things, and have been given his full permission to use his idea)
Feedback: I'd appreciate it, of course
The Ghost in the Team
A couple of days later- it would have taken him only a day to arrange the meeting normally, but he'd needed another day to convince his superiors to grant SG-1 the clearance to know more about what the Initiative had been set up to do in the first place; he wasn't going to lie to people he respected this much- Riley Finn sat in a café in the heart of Colorado Springs, anxiously studying his surroundings as he sipped at his coffee and tried not to think too much about what he was about to do.
He was sitting here, waiting to meet people who had actually helped to save the planet- and, if what he'd heard was right, they'd sometimes even helped to save the entire galaxy itself- on several occasions…
Working with Buffy and her friends had been one thing; at least he'd learnt about the 'saving-the-world' side of their lives after he'd had the chance to know them as people. It was kind of hard to think of people as superheroes when you knew that one of them had a fondness for cheese and sometimes dropped her books while another one was prone to babbling when she got too excited.
The members of SG-1… after all he'd read about them over the years, they'd acquired an almost legendary status in his mind. The general who turned his initial pain at the loss of his family and channelled it into defending his world… the astrophysicist who'd become one of the leading experts in alien technology… the archaeologist whose theories were rejected had been proven correct… the alien who had defied his 'god' to save a roomful of strangers… the new member who led the team against a threat like nothing they could have once imagined… the former space thief who'd been abducted and impregnated by a race of pan-dimensional beings…
From everything Riley had heard, the members of SG-1, as far as he was concerned, could easily be called the stuff of legend, and here he was, about to meet them and reveal that there was a whole other world out there that had been kept secret from humanity for centuries, a world where good and evil had waged a war since time unmemorable…
"Are you Captain Riley Finn?" a voice said from off to the side, breaking through his train of thought.
Shaking off his thoughts, Riley glanced in the direction of the voice, but was slightly disappointed to see that there were only three people standing there; judging by what he remembered of the description of the team in the files, the dark-skinned man in the black hat, dark trousers and short-sleeved green shirt was Teal'c, the other man in the dark blue jeans and shirt was definitely Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, and the dark-haired woman in the tight-fitting leather trousers and tight dark red top was most likely the infamous ex-space-thief Vala Mal Doran.
All in all, Riley supposed he should be grateful that he didn't have Daniel Jackson or Samantha Carter here at present; these people may be impressive, but at least Mitchell and Doran didn't have so significant a reputation that he'd be left feeling like a boy chatting to a major celebrity, and with Teal'c…
Well, it might be a kind of 'species-ist' attitude, but with Teal'c being an alien, his achievements weren't quite on the same scale of 'impressive' as those of a human being were. After all, most of the things Teal'c had done were things that no human could have ever actually done in the first place- the fact that his actions resulted in the formation of the Free Jaffa Nation itself were incredible enough- so, in some ways, the fact that he was an alien made it a bit easier to feel less awed by him, as you were left feeling that you couldn't be as good as him no matter how much you tried.
The other members of the team, being human, could almost serve as 'inspirations' or 'goals' for Riley to aspire to, but Teal'c being a… well, an alien, though Riley hated using terms like that these days; he'd learned long ago that species wasn't as important as what was within… it was somewhat unrealistic for any human to try and aspire to his standards. After all, he was something like a hundred years old with significantly above-average strength and several years of experience with the Goa'uld and their technology; it would be hard for any human to come anything close to equalling that kind of experience…
Realizing that he'd allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts at an inappropriate moment, Riley shook his head to force himself back on track, smiled apologetically at SG-1, and stood up to shake Mitchell's hand.
"Yeah, that's me; Riley Finn, formerly of the Demon Research Initiative, currently in… well, if I told you that, I'd have to kill you" he said, smiling slightly to assure the SG-1 members that he was joking before indicating the other chairs before him. "Please, feel free to sit down."
"Thank you," Vala said, smiling broadly at him as she sat down in the nearest chair, giving him an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder as she leaned over (Displaying, a part of Riley noted with no slight degree of guilt, a rather attractive view of her cleavage). "Good to see a new face, by the way; it's been a while since I had the opportunity to meet new people."
"Uh… where are Doctor Jackson and Colonel Carter?" Riley asked, trying to drive the image of Vala's chest out of his head as he looked inquiringly over at Teal'c, the Jaffa and Colonel Mitchell having already sat down in the remaining two chairs.
"They have chosen to remain at Stargate Command in an attempt to learn more about the process that has transformed 'Spike' into his current condition," Teal'c replied, staring at Riley with the neutral expression that the former Initiative member had heard so much about. "Colonel Carter hopes that further study of Spike will provide her with an explanation as to how he has become intangible, and Daniel Jackson is endeavouring to find further information about the amulet that was sent to him."
"Of course," Mitchell said, folding his arms to look critically at Riley, "as long as we're on the topic of that amulet, you could save us a lot of time if you'd care to explain how you know our spectral friend- or, for that matter, why you sent us that amulet in the first place?"
Riley sighed slightly as he leaned forward, looking down at the table for a brief moment before he nodded grimly to himself and directed his gaze back up at the three people before him.
"Yeah… I'll tell you," he said, looking anxiously over at Teal'c in particular as he continued to speak. "But before I begin, I should make it clear that what I'm about to tell you is traditionally classified information restricted to anybody who was involved in the project I was part of at the time I knew Spike; I had to go to a lot of effort to convince my superiors just to let you and your teammates know what I'm about to tell you."
"Hold on; we're authorised to know about aliens, but we weren't authorised to know what you guys were doing?" Mitchell asked, looking at Riley as though the other man had grown a new head and didn't even seem to have noticed. "What could be that major-?"
"Demons- vampires, werewolves, all the rest of it- and magic exist," Riley responded, staring at the group of three before him, a small smile on his face as he observed their reactions; Mitchell was looking at him incredulously, Vala looked slightly puzzled, and Teal'c had raised both eyebrows in surprise at what he'd just heard.
"Demons exist?" Teal'c said at last, staring at Riley with an expression that was probably as close to 'surprised' as the Jaffa was ever likely to get. "How is such a thing possible?"
"I've never been entirely clear on that myself, to be perfectly honest," Riley replied, shrugging apologetically at the Jaffa, wishing he'd paid more attention to Giles' explanation about the origin of the demon species, before he looked back at Mitchell. "All I know for sure is that they do; I spent the better part of two years of my life stationed in Sunnydale, a small town in California stationed over something that was essentially a portal down to Hell itself, and there we encountered a surprising amount of demons, vampires, werewolves, and things that generally go 'bump' in the night."
"Ah," Mitchell said, as he looked at Riley, a blank, almost diplomatic expression on his face; clearly, he didn't entirely believe Riley, but, at the same time, he was prepared to let it go for the moment. "So, what's Spike's connection to that group? I doubt he was employed by it, given his attitude, and I don't see him being a friend you made down there- you two don't seem like you'd get along- so how'd you meet him?"
"Well…" Riley said, looking uncertainly at the three members of SG-1 before him before he finally sighed and came to a decision. "Spike was one of our test subjects; his official designation in the Initiative files is 'Hostile Seventeen', and he's a vampire aged around a hundred and forty years old."
For a moment, all three SG-1 members stared incredulously at Riley, taking in what he'd just said about Spike, before a confused-looking Vala broke the silence.
"Vampire?" she said, looking in confusion between Mitchell and Teal'c. "Sorry, but I think I've lost the plot somewhere here; what's a vampire?"
"A creature from Earth fiction," Teal'c explained, glancing over in her direction with a solemn glare on his face. "According to the tales of Earth, a vampire is a human being, formerly dead, who is now condemned to suck the blood of the living in order that it might survive, simultaneously seeking to create more of its kind by forcibly transforming its victims into creatures like itself."
Vala blinked in surprise.
"Spike's something like that?" she said, looking incredulously at Riley. "Why didn't you just kill him when you found him?"
"Well, the supervisor of the group I was a member of at the time- Professor Maggie Walsh, posing as a psychology professor in the local university- was more interested in… well, 'experimenting' on Spike and the various other demons we… 'acquired' during our time in Sunnydale than just killing them outright," Riley explained; he wished that his discomfort about this new direction the conversation was taking wasn't so obvious to everybody else. "Spike was one of our earlier 'subjects' in demon behaviour control experiments; seeking to find out if demons could be used as 'living weapons' for the government, Professor Walsh planted a chip in his head that caused Spike extreme pain if he tried to attack or bite a human being. I think she was hoping that she'd be able to use the chip to blackmail various vampires to become 'soldiers' for the government in war time- you know, they do what she wanted, or she wouldn't feed them."
Riley shook his head sadly as he recalled that time of his life. "God, what was I thinking, condoning something like that…?"
"What's the problem?" Vala asked, looking quizzically at Riley. "I mean, you were experimenting on demons; from what I've gathered in my time out in the galaxy- Qetesh was compared to one often enough, trust me- aren't they meant to be a bad thing?"
"Some people believed the same of the Jaffa when I first came to Earth," Teal'c put in, looking critically over at Vala before he turned to glare at Riley. "Simply because most demons would indeed be opposed to humanity, that is not to say that all of them would be. This Professor Walsh was making the fatal mistake of judging an entire species on the actions of a few; her actions should not have been condoned."
"Trust me, I realised that pretty soon after I started to work with… well, an independent group of demon hunters," Riley explained, looking somewhat apologetically at Teal'c. Mitchell opened his mouth to speak, but Riley held up his hand. "No, I'm not keeping this secret from you because of clearance issues; I'm keeping it secret because I promised a friend I wouldn't tell it to anyone unless it was absolutely necessary."
"And you don't think it might be necessary now?" Mitchell asked, looking inquiringly at Riley. "For all you know, these people could hold the key to working out what the hell happened to Spike-"
"He knows them as well; if he thinks they'll be able to tell you something useful, he'll probably tell you who they are himself," Riley interrupted, looking in a focused manner at Mitchell. "He knows them better than I did, anyway; if he does think they can help him out at the moment, he'll tell you who they are, but otherwise, it's his decision."
Secretly, Riley acknowledged that Mitchell made a valid point- the Scooby Gang might be able to cure Spike's currently 'intangible' condition- but he was pretty sure that Spike would prefer to make that kind of decision himself, rather than have it made for him by somebody he undoubtedly didn't like that much already.
Despite the seriousness of his current situation, Riley allowed himself a small smile at the thought of him actually respecting Spike's potential feelings about something before he began to speak once more.
"Anyway," he said, continuing to look at Mitchell, "Spike broke out of our facility after the chip was installed, and took refuge with that group of independent demon hunters- I'll just call them 'the Renegades' for ease of identification- to escape us. He soon learned that his chip didn't stop him from hurting other vampires and demons, so he began to fight alongside the 'Renegades' to vent some of his frustration about his current situation."
"Oh; he couldn't go after humans, so he beat up on everything that he could hit?" Vala said, smiling broadly at him. "Well, that makes sense…"
"Yeah, but it's hardly a reliable reason for trusting him," Mitchell interjected, looking grimly at Riley. "He may not be able to hurt anybody at the moment, but what happens if we give him his body back and he finds some way of getting that thing out of himself?"
Riley shook his head. "Fortunately, that's not an issue; about a year ago- I'm not sure exactly how- Spike went to a demonic shaman of some kind, and…"
Riley shrugged apologetically. "I'm not sure how or why, but the guy restored Spike's soul."
"His soul?" Mitchell said, looking incredulously at Riley. "We're getting into theology now? Askin' me to accept that demons exist was bad enough…"
"Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said, looking inquiringly over at his commanding officer, "are you saying that you are capable of accepting the idea that the human body can transcend its physical limitations to exist as pure energy, and yet you are unable to accept the idea that there is a part of the human body that is capable of surviving after the demise of the physical body?"
Mitchell opened his mouth as though he was about to reply, but then he paused, as though considering what his friend had just said, and nodded slightly after a few moment's pause.
"Good… point there, T.," he said, before looking back at Riley, the earlier uncertainty gone from his face. "Existence of the soul aside, what does Spike getting his back have to do with anything?"
"Well," Riley began, as he tried to recall how Buffy had explained the situation to him, back when he'd first asked about Angel, "essentially, when the human corpse becomes a vampire, the soul is replaced by a vampire demon. The demon, lacking a conscience, is driven solely by the need to drink and hunt, regardless of the consequences to its victims, and generally acts like the worst kind of psychopath."
Riley paused for a moment, looking around to make sure that the three SG-1 members sitting before him had taken in what he'd just said to them, before he continued to speak. "With a soul, however, the vampire retains his memories of what he's done… but he actually has a conscience, and is able to feel guilt over what he's done to all the people he's killed."
Mitchell's eyes widened slightly in shock as she looked at Riley.
"Are you saying this guy spent a hundred years killing people, and now he's suddenly able to feel guilty about it?" he asked, looking critically at Riley. Riley nodded, and Mitchell slumped back into his chair, staring up at the sky. "God… I don't know whether to be sceptical or shocked…"
"I'd go with shocked; he's definitely not the same person who committed his crimes," Riley said, as he finally found himself getting on to the query that had brought him to this point in the first place; what did the amulet do?
"Anyway," he continued, as he looked over at Mitchell once more, " a few weeks back, Spike and the 'Renegades' were dealing with a non-corporeal entity- much like what I've read about the Ori- that called itself 'the First'."
"The First?" Vala said, looking inquiringly at Riley. "The First what?"
"The First Evil, if you can believe its claims," Riley continued, ignoring the inquiring look on Mitchell's face as he continued to speak; there was no point responding to questions that Riley knew he wouldn't be able to answer. "Anyway, the First had set itself up on top of a dimensional rift, and was drawing on the energy from that rift to call upon an army of 'uber-vampires', in an attempt to increase its power."
"Much like the Ori seek worshippers to increase their own power," Teal'c noted.
"Exactly," Riley said, before continuing. "Anyway, although ancient, the First could only plan and talk at the moment- something about the current balance between good and evil prevented it from becoming solid- but it had used a recent imbalance in the scales of good and evil- I'm not entirely sure what- to gather the energy to create its current army, intending to use that power to let itself manifest on our plan as a corporeal entity. Using that amulet I sent you, Spike managed to access the energy of the sun, channelling that power against the First, who tried to use the energy of the dimensional rift to oppose him, and…"
Riley shrugged. "I don't know how, but the First was banished from our plane and its army was destroyed."
For a moment, Riley just sat back as SG-1 stared incredulously at the former Initiative member before them, clearly unsure whether he was actually telling the truth, before Vala finally broke the silence.
"Are you saying that Spike used that amulet to destroy something that doesn't even technically have a body?" she said, looking at Riley as though she was trying to decide whether or not he'd grown a second head. "But… but the power involved…"
"From what I've gathered, the amulet already possessed power on its own; Spike exposing himself to the sunlight just gave that power a greater boost," Riley continued. "With the destruction of the First's army, the resulting energy released by the amulet apparently sealed the dimensional rift it had been tapping into, and, according to my contacts in the 'Renegades', banished the First from our plane of existence, if not for good, than for a considerable while. When I found the amulet, I remembered what I'd read about it and thought you could find a use for it in the current conflict against the Ori, so I had it sent to you, and…"
He shrugged awkwardly. "Well, you know the rest. I didn't know about Spike being in the amulet, I assure you; I just thought that, if it had defeated one noncorporeal entity, you might be able to use it to figure out some kind of defence against the Ori."
"Indeed," Teal'c said, nodding slightly as he looked at Riley in a thoughtful manner. "Your intentions are much appreciated, Captain Finn."
"Yeah, thanks for trying to help out," Mitchell continued, smiling gratefully at the young man before them. "Not entirely sure how we're going to use a potentially explosive amulet against the Ori- and Spike adds a whole other factor to the equation, of course- but it's worth thinking about, anyway."
"No need to thank me; all I wanted to do was help out," Riley assured him. "Oh, and you don't need to worry about the amulet; from what I gathered from Bu- my contacts-, it only activates when it's actually exposed to energy while already in close proximity to a noncorporeal being, so it should be safe to take it through the Stargate without experiencing any… you know, negative side effects…"
"Yeah, like the mountain blowing up because the Stargate didn't like the amulet? Gotcha; always good to know," Mitchell continued, looking in a very pointed manner at Riley. "Well, with that straightened out, there's only one more thing that I think we need to know; can we trust Spike enough to let him stick around at the SGC without defecting to the other guys, or should we see about… I dunno, calling in the exorcist to banish him?"
For a moment, Riley paused, uncertain how he should reply to this latest query. On the one hand, he'd never quite been able to bring himself to trust Spike in all the time they'd worked together, and even after the vampire had regained his soul, he'd have been perfectly happy to have him staked…
But that was before he'd given his life to save the world.
The fact that the vampire once known as William the Bloody had somehow survived being exposed to sunlight and being at the centre of the explosion that destroyed the Hellmouth didn't matter; Spike couldn't have known that was going to happen, so it did nothing to diminish his original sacrifice.
After doing something like that, how could Riley not trust Spike to do the right thing?
Besides, given the current threat being faced by the SGC, having someone with Spike's experience with the strange and unusual on their side- even if it wasn't exactly the strange and unusual the SGC were used to facing- couldn't fail to be a good thing, as far as he could see…
"Yes," he said at last, looking Mitchell directly in the eyes. "Spike's attitude can be… aggravating… at times, but, if you're in a combat situation, he's as loyal a fighter as you could wish for. He doesn't want to destroy the world- even before he got his soul, he actually fought to save it on one occasion- and I doubt he'd be interested in following the Ori. His past may not be perfect, but after what he did before he… well, ended up in his current state… I'd say it's pretty certain that he's fighting for the right side nowadays."
"So, can we tell him about the Stargate, or would you recommend keeping that secret?" Vala interjected.
"Overall?" Riley said, looking over at Vala as he spoke, a briefly thoughtful expression on his face before he finally came to a decision.
"I'd say you can," he said, looking back at Mitchell once again; as the commander SG-1, he was the logical person to direct his statements to. "After all, Spike's lived among humans for a hundred years or so and managed to keep his existence quiet to all those who didn't already know about him. He knows the importance of secrets- admittedly, some of his secrets relate to his past as a vampire, but he's still pretty good at keeping them quiet unless he has to tell anyone about them- so I doubt he'd give away the truth about the Stargate program.
"Besides," Riley continued, shrugging nonchalantly as he looked at the three SG-1 members, "he's not the type to tell people about his life unless he already knows them well, so even if he did tell anybody about, it he'd probably only tell people who could keep it secret anyway."
"Gotcha," Mitchell said, nodding gratefully at Riley. "His own secrets aren't pretty, but if he's kept them, he can keep this one, huh?"
Riley nodded in confirmation. A part of himself still couldn't believe he was actually approving Spike of all people for clearance to one of the biggest secrets on the face of the planet…
But, everything he'd said had been accurate; even intangible, Spike's combat experience could prove useful to the team, and he was certainly capable of keeping secrets if he had to keep them.
"Just don't ask him to change his attitude if he's staying there on a long-term basis," he added, a slight smile on his face as he recalled Spike's attitude back when they'd both 'worked together' back in Sunnydale; looking back, with the ability to be objective about Spike's attitude towards him, he had to admit that, in some ways, the vampire had been kind of amusing in his own way. "The guy's pretty much made a living out of getting on people's nerves, but he's dependable if you can put up with him; trust me, it's better to have him as annoying but on your side than it is to have him against you because you protested too much about his attitude."
"I can assure you, Captain Finn," Teal'c put in, smiling slightly at Riley, "after what the SGC has endured due to the presence of such individuals as General O'Neill or Vala Mal Doran, there is little that Spike could do that would annoy the personnel of the base more than they have already done so."
"Quite," Vala said, smiling reassuringly at Riley before she seemed to realise what had just been said and spun around to glare at Teal'c. "Hey!"
"Face facts, Val; you can be a bit of a pain in the neck sometimes," Mitchell said, smiling casually over at the former space thief before looking back at Riley. "Thanks for your time, Captain Finn; we appreciate what you've had to tell us."
"You're welcome," Riley said, nodding back at the colonel as the two men stood up and shook hands, Riley subsequently shaking Vala and Teal'c's as well. "Just… remember what I told you about Spike, OK? He can be frustrating, but, if you can get past his attitude, he's a good fighter to have on your side in a tight spot."
"We shall bear that in mind, Captain Finn," Teal'c said, nodding slightly at Riley as the three SG-1 members walked away from the table, Vala giving Riley one last wave before they'd vanished into the crowd outside the café.
Well, Riley thought to himself, as he stood up and stretched slightly himself, that went as well as I could have expected.
Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised that SG-1 would be so willing to accept the existence of demons even on a provisional basis; after al, if the SGC could accept the existence of beings who existed as pure energy, than demons and magic wasn't entirely that much of a stretch.
Either way, he'd done what he came here to do; he'd told them what the amulet did, he'd told them about Spike, and he'd given his honest opinion on whether or not Spike could be trusted.
Everything after that was up to them and Spike.
Satisfied, Riley placed a tip down on the table and walked out of the café, heading back towards his hotel.