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
"So, you're telling us that you were wearing this amulet when you… died?" Sam said, staring incredulously at Spike as he stood in the middle of her lab, her equipment continuing to scan him as Daniel sat off in the corner, the amulet in his lap as he looked at Spike in equal curiosity.
So far, neither of their lines of research had managed to turn up anything useful about the amulet; Daniel had thought about taking it home with him to study his own books for further information, but the sudden appearance of Spike in his car had prompted him to return and bring a couple of books with him. Admittedly, the occurrence did seem to indicate that Spike was still 'tied' to the amulet somehow- he evidently couldn't go very far from it, or have it be taken some distance away from him, without him being pulled towards its current location- but, that aside, neither of the two scientists had discovered anything useful yet.
"Once again, yes; how often do I have to bloody say it before you get the picture?" Spike retorted, glaring briefly at Sam before looking back in Daniel's direction. "And have you got anything more from that thing yet, by the way?"
"Spike," Daniel sighed, standing up and slipping the amulet into his pocket as he stared critically at the 'ghost', "if I'd found anything between now and the ten minutes since you last asked me that question, wouldn't I have told you about it already?"
Spike shrugged.
"Who can say?" he said nonchalantly, a grin momentarily appearing on his face before he sighed and experimentally jabbed a finger at a nearby beaker, once again failing to make any impression on the object.
"Are you sure I might be able to make contact with stuff?" he asked Sam, looking critically over at the scientist as he jerked an irritated thumb at the beaker. "I've been doing that for ages and it hasn't so much as shifted."
"Spike," Sam said, sighing in frustration as she looked up from the screen she was studying to look at their strange guest, "as I've told you before, every scan I've taken of your body suggests that you should be able to make contact with other objects if you're focusing enough; you just aren't maintaining the concentration necessary to make contact with anything."
"Well, in case you hadn't sodding noticed, I've got a lot on my mind right now!" Spike retorted, glaring angrily at the scientist. "I mean, here I am, stuck on a base because Captain Cornfed decided to send you that sodding amulet, for reasons we still don't know about, and-"
"Captain Finn sent the amulet to us because you used it to defeat a being that shares many features with the enemies we face at the present moment," a voice said from off to the side.
"Teal'c?" Daniel said, turning to look at the door with a smile on his face as he saw the other three members of SG-1 come walking into the room. "Good to see…"
His voice suddenly trailed off as he took in what Teal'c had just said.
"Hold on; this amulet was used to defeat an Ascended being?" he said, staring incredulously at the large gem he held in his hand. "How is that even possible?"
"And what were you even doing facing something like that?" Sam interjected, staring incredulously at Spike. "No offence, but how could you know about the presence of an Ascended being on Earth when we didn't?"
"Hold on; can we back up a bit for the confused… whatever I am nowadays?" Spike protested, raising his hands defensively as he looked over at Teal'c. "What's all this about me taking out an… 'Ascended' being? What does that even mean, 'Ascended'?"
"The being you knew as the First shares many similarities with the danger we currently face," Teal'c explained, as he looked at Spike. "Like them, the First is a being that lacks a physical form, and thus cannot be hurt or killed by conventional means, but nevertheless retains the ability to communicate with the world. Captain Finn sent us the amulet that you used against the First because he believed that it might help us develop a defence against our current opponents-"
"Wait a minute; you suckers face stuff like the First?" Spike interrupted, looking incredulously over at Daniel.
"Well, not directly…" Daniel said, nodding uncertainly for a moment before his expression became more focused as he looked at Spike. "And come to that, how could you have encountered some kind of Ascended being on Earth? They're not allowed to interfere!"
"Actually, that's where it gets interesting," Mitchell said, smiling slightly over at his friends as he turned to look at Spike. "See, it turns out that Spike here met Captain Finn when Finn was assigned to a team to investigate demon activity in a town called Sunnydale."
"Demons?" Sam said, looking at Mitchell as though he'd grown a new head. "Excuse me, but are you saying there was a government organisation created to confront actual demons?"
"That's what Captain Finn told us," Mitchell said, turning to look at Sam as he spoke. "I admit, I don't totally buy it any more than you do, but, according to Finn, demons have been walking the Earth for centuries, Finn used to be part of an organisation that examined demons, and Spike…"
He sighed slightly as he glanced over at the 'ghost', who was looking uncertainly at SG-1's commanding officer. "Don't suppose you'd care to provide me with some evidence that the guy was telling the truth about… well, what you are, would you?"
For a moment, Spike remained silent, his arms folded as he stared critically at Mitchell, until, finally, he spoke.
"If I tell you what you want to know about the situation, any chance you'll be answering my questions about this place?" he asked, indicating the base with a wave of his hand.
Mitchell shrugged slightly. "Finn said we could trust you to keep it a secret; I'm hoping you'll respect that," he said by way of explanation. "In any case, we checked with Landry about the situation, and he's willing to let us tell you about what we're dealing with here so long as you answer our questions and don't go anywhere without telling us."
For a moment, Spike was silent, clearly turning over the proposal in his mind, until he spoke again.
"Fair enough; it could be a lot harsher," he said in a casual manner. Stepping back slightly so that he could be seen by all five members of SG-1, he lowered his hands and stared directly at them before his gaze settled on the two scientists.
"You wanted to know what I am?" he said, looking over at Sam and Daniel. "Here you are."
With that said, right before their eyes, Spike's forehead bulged out, his eyes became a glowing gold, and his teeth elonogated to the point of being better described as 'fangs' than 'teeth'.
"Oh my God…" Sam whispered, staring incredulously at the man before her. "What… what are you?"
"Vampire, to put it simply," Spike replied, shrugging casually as his face returned to normal. "Don't worry; got a soul over a year ago, and haven't even really fed on humans- apart from these incidents when I was under somebody else's control- for the past four years anyway-"
"I'm sorry; you're a vampire?" Daniel asked, looking incredulously at Spike. "They actually exist? I mean, I knew that variations on the vampire myth can be found in pretty much any culture in the world, but… actual vampires? The walking dead, drinking blood, turning into bats vampires?"
"Well, the bat thing's actually a load of dingo's kidneys- indeed, anything you've heard about vamps changing our shape's based on a load of crap- but, that aside, you're pretty much right," Spike said, as he raised his hands in a calming gesture. "Look, if you're worried about me trying to kill you when I've got my body back, don't; I've pretty much gone off humans the last few years, ever since I got my soul back."
"Finn can vouch for that, apparently," Vala put in, a slight smile on her face as she looked at her two friends. "It turns out that Spike's been spending the last few years working with a group of independent demon hunters to deal with demon-related problems in their home town, to the extent that… well, as we already know, he did die using the amulet to stop an Ascended being- sort of- that regarded itself as basically being evil personified; I think it's pretty clear that he's on our side-"
"Sorry to interrupt, but can I just clarify something here?" Sam interjected, looking in confusion at Spike. "You said you… got your soul back? What does your soul have to do with anything?"
"Well, according to the admittedly rather hunky-looking- if you like that sort of thing- Captain Finn," Vala put in, grinning slightly at Spike as she spoke, "vampires are normally a demon who's set up a new 'home' for themselves in a human corpse, but with Spike's soul restored to him, he keeps all the fine details such as a conscience and the ability to feel guilty over what he's done before."
"Tell me about it; spent three weeks raving mad in a basement after I got the sodding thing back…" Spike sighed, as he looked over at Vala before raising a hand to stop Sam as she opened her mouth. "And don't ask why I got it back in the first place; long story going nowhere, quite frankly, and it's about time for you guys to answer my questions about this place and what you do here anyway. If you're not connected to the Initiative, why'd you take this-" he emphasised his words by waving one hand through a nearby desk as he continued to stare at them, "as though it's something that happens all the time?"
After exchanging glances with their teammates, Sam and Daniel sighed and looked at Spike.
"OK, we'll tell you; just remember, what we're about to tell you is meant to be secret, so you can't tell anyone else about it," Sam said, looking critically at Spike.
"Lips are sealed; I won't tell a soul anything they're not meant to know," Spike promised, miming a zipping motion over his lips as he looked at them.
"'Sides," he added dismissively, shrugging in a nonchalant manner as he looked around the room at the various SG-1 members, "why would I tick you guys off when you're the only people who can actually help me get out of this mess?"
"Fair point," Daniel admitted, as he and Sam exchanged glances before turning back to Spike. "OK, to begin at the beginning, over five thousand years ago, Earth was visited by a race of parasitic aliens known as the Goa'uld, who took several human beings to use as hosts and subsequently used the advanced technology at their disposal to pose as gods and convince the rest of humanity to serve them as slaves."
Despite his internal promise not to be surprised by anything they had to tell him- after all, after spending over a century as a vampire, what could humans know that would surprise him?- Spike blinked in surprise.
"Aliens?" he said, looking at Daniel incredulously. "You mean actual aliens? As in little green men from outer space, flying around in spaceships, zapping each other with laser weapons, honest-to-sodding-whoever's-up-there aliens?"
"Well, in their natural state the Goa'uld resemble eyeless, scaleless snakes- we haven't actually encountered a single green race in all our travels- but that's essentially accurate," Daniel replied. "However, they do have spaceships- as a matter of fact, the pyramids were actually originally built as landing platforms for their spaceships, and various aspects of Egyptian culture were based on their technology- the Egyptian tradition of burying pharaohs in a sarcophagus was inspired by the Goa'uld technology they used to heal their host's injuries-"
"Jackson, can we stick to the relevant facts?" Mitchell interjected, albeit with a slight grin on his face at his friend's evident enthusiasm for the subject they were discussing.
"Oh, right," Daniel said, shaking his head apologetically- Sam briefly smiling slightly at the sight of Daniel in his classic 'research/explanation' mode- before he turned back to look at Spike. "Anyway, at some point in the past- we're not entirely sure when- there was a mass uprising on Earth, and the Goa'uld were driven away, with pretty much all reference to them in our history being as good as lost."
"The only thing they left behind was the Stargate," Sam put in, taking up the story for her friend. "Composed of a non-terrestrial mineral known as naquadah, and constructed by a race called the Ancients millennia ago, when the correct address is 'dialled' into the Stargate- thanks to another component we call the 'Dial Home Device', or DHD- the Stargate is capable of creating wormholes that allow us to travel to other planets, so long as there's already a Stargate at the planet in question and we've dialled an accurate address. The Stargate was eventually rediscovered at the Giza plateau in 1928 on an archaeological dig, and, after several decades of intermittent research- depending on whether anybody thought something useful would come of it, among other things- we managed to use it to dial an Egyptian-style planet known as Abydos almost ten years ago."
"The team that was sent through encountered the Goa'uld known as Ra- the de jure 'Supreme Ruler' of the Goa'uld, and apparently the first Goa'uld who came to Earth- but we managed to defeat him by transporting a nuclear bomb onto his ship while he was in orbit," Daniel continued. "Unfortunately, this meant that we attracted the attention of the other Goa'uld, who now knew that we were in a position to pose a threat to their rule. Various teams were created to explore the Stargates and acquire advanced technology to fight the Goa'uld. Over the years, we acquired several examples of prominent technology- we've even managed to develop a small fleet of our very own spaceships- until, a couple of years ago, we managed to finally defeat them, exposing them as false gods to the Jaffa, a race of humans who'd been genetically engineered to serve as incubators for larval symbiotes."
"Actually, T. here's one of the Jaffa in question," Mitchell put in, jerking a thumb over at the tall man standing in the corner. "Guy defected to our side on pretty much the first official mission against the Goa'uld, and he's been a loyal member of the team ever since."
"Ah," Spike said, looking back at the Jaffa for a moment before he shrugged slightly. "Well, that explains the itch; got a kind of 'sense' for when people ain't exactly human, you see, and you've been setting it off pretty much since I got here."
"Indeed?" Teal'c stated, looking neutrally back at Spike. "I presume such a talent is another 'perk' of being a vampire?"
"Oh, it's one of 'em," Spike replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "Enhanced strength, senses, speed, healing, ability to sense other people who aren't totally human… it all comes together, really."
After a moment in which Spike seemed to be waiting for Teal'c to elaborate on that 'indeed', the vampire sighed and glanced back in Daniel's direction. "So, where does the First tie into these 'Goa'uld' guys you were talking about? Don't sound that similar to me."
"They don't," Sam explained, taking up the story once more. "About a year ago, we accidentally activated an Ancient communication device that caused us to unintentionally make contact with a race of Ascended beings known as the Ori- we'd already encountered Ascended beings in the form of the Ancients, who long ago evolved into a state of pure energy to escape a plague that was sweeping our galaxy."
"Not bad," Spike muttered, nodding slightly in grudging approval as he looked curiously at Sam. "So, what's the big deal about these 'Ori' if they're in another universe?"
"They learned that humanoid life exists in this galaxy," Daniel explained, taking up the story once more. "With this knowledge, the Ori subsequently sent armies of their followers through to our galaxy in an attempt to convert us all to a religion where we worship them as gods; anyone who resists them is destroyed. As to why they want us to worship them…"
"Put simply," Vala added, deciding to make her own little contribution to the tale they were telling Spike, "the Ori discovered long ago that they acquire greater power when they're worshipped by humans; the more people who genuinely think they're gods, the more power they acquire, until, finally, they have the strength to confront the Ancients in our galaxy- a head-to-head battle in the Ascended planes of reality- and wipe them out once and for all."
"Ah," Spike said, nodding briefly as he looked around at the team before sighing and looking back at them. "So, basically, you're up against a bunch of would-be gods who want to enslave/destroy everybody else in the galaxy?"
"Pretty much," Vala replied, shrugging as though such a career was totally unremarkable.
"All right then," Spike said, clasping his hands together as he looked purposefully around at the rest of SG-1, "where do I sign up?"
The team blinked in surprise.
"Sorry; you want to join up?" Mitchell asked, looking in surprise at Spike.
"Well, why not?" Spike retorted, shrugging casually as he looked at his new friend. "I mean, I'm here, I'm unlikely to be going anywhere until I've got my body back, and I've got a fair amount of combat experience; no offence, bout you'd be idiots to pass up the kind of combat experience I'd bring to this party."
Exchanging uncertain glances with each other, the rest of SG-1 finally turned to look inquiringly at Mitchell, who sighed in frustration.
"Up to me to make the final call, eh?" he said, sighing slightly as he looked back at Spike, arms folded as he uncertainly studied the vampire before nodding in agreement. "OK; we'll give it a shot. I'll have Landry attend to the paperwork once the next mission's over."
"Next mission?" Spike asked, looking curiously at Daniel. "You mean, your next mission through that… Stargate thing?"
"Yeah, but don't get excited; it's just a recon mission of an apparently uninhabited planet," Daniel said, shrugging slightly as he looked over at his teammates. "Anyway, we'd better get going; might as well let Landry know about your request before we have to leave."
"No need, Doctor Jackson," a voice said from the door of the lab. "I already heard it."
Glancing back at the door, SG-1 were only slightly surprised to see General Landry standing the door, looking at the 'ghost' in the middle of the room in a slightly uncertain manner.
"So," Landry said as he walked into the room, keeping his gaze fixed on Spike as he walked, "you're a vampire who stopped eating humans and started fighting against a bunch of demons?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Spike replied, casually folding his arms as he looked at the General. "Got a problem with that?"
For a moment, the two men just stared at each other, and then Landry sighed and shrugged.
"Well, given that I've already given a former space thief a position here after she tried to nick our flagship, and we've had Teal'c employed here for almost a decade without any problems, I suppose I can't really say 'no' to an intangible vampire," the general said, looking critically at Spike. "You'll have to pass a psychological evaluation before you become a permanent team member, I hope you realise; I'm not sending you through that Stargate- assuming it's safe to do that, I might add- until I'm sure you're psychologically capable of dealing with what you'd face out there."
Spike rolled his eyes slightly at that, but gave a consenting nod nevertheless.
"So, what are you doing here anyway, sir?" Mitchell asked, looking inquiringly at their commanding officer. "Time for us to be on our way through the 'gate?"
"Sorry, Colonel Mitchell," Landry said, looking apologetically at SG-1's commander, "but something else has come up that takes more immediate priority than the mission; General O'Neill put in a request for SG-1 to have a meeting with, and I quote, 'an old if geeky friend' about something he's working on."
"What?" Daniel said, looking incredulously at Landry. "Jack wants us to have a meeting with somebody instead of a gate trip?"
"Uh… 'Jack' being…?" Spike asked, raising a confused hand.
"The old commander of SG-1 and the SGC before he was transferred to the Pentagon," Landry answered briefly before looking back at Daniel. "To answer your question, Doctor Jackson, he doesn't want you to do it, per se, it's mainly a case of somebody has to do it, and you're all the best qualified for the job."
Sighing slightly, Landry glanced over at Daniel, Sam and Teal'c, shrugging in an offhand manner as he looked at the SGC's three longest-standing members. "Look, you remember that Wormhole X-Treme show that was aired a few years back?"
"Oh, that old thing?" Spike interjected from where he was currently slouched against the wall, looking slightly sulkily in Landry's direction. "Checked that out once when it was on; thought it was the greatest load of tripe I'd ever seen… and I'm including 'Les Mis' in that."
"Les what?" Vala asked, looking in confusion at Spike.
"Something that is not relevant to the current topic," Sam said before Spike could reply, looking slightly critically at the vampire before looking back at Landry. "What does Wormhole have to do with anything, sir?"
"Well, there's talk of preparing a TV movie based on the series- apparently it attracted a lot of public interest despite its originally poor ratings- so General O'Neill wants you all to check over the script and make sure that everyone's being portrayed in a favourable light," Landry explained as he looked over at his staff. "Don't worry, the gate's not totally prepped yet- some kind of problem with the last dial in, apparently- so you don't need to worry about being late for the mission; I'll let you know when the gate's back up and working."
"Hold on a minute; you're telling me that the dumbest thing I've ever seen- and I'm including Passions in that; at least that was so bad it was actually good- was based on this whole set-up?" Spike interjected, waving his hand at the walls around him. "What the hell happened to the whole 'secrecy' thing you were telling me about? How did a bloody TV studio even find out about all this?"
"Long story short, an alien refuge on Earth gave the original idea to the studio, and the government decided to just leave it alone because it would probably help keep the program secret," Mitchell explained as he glanced over at Spike. "I mean, who'd actually take something seriously when it sounds like a TV show?"
Spike nodded.
"Good point," he said simply, before looking back at Daniel, Sam and Landry. "Any chance I could tag along for this bit? I mean, sounds like you'll just be staying here for this thing, so it's not like it's a 'hazard' having me hanging around for something like this, right?"
For a moment, SG-1 just exchanged uncertain glances with each other and General Landry, each of them clearly weighing up the pros and cons of the suggestion, before Mitchell shrugged and looked back at Landry.
"Well, you gotta admit, he can't exactly do any harm in this kind of meeting, can he?" he pointed out to his superior. "I mean, he makes any suggestions that don't work, we can just ignore him, and since he's still working on the whole 'touch' aspect of his new situation, there's no way he can make us do anything."
"Oh, real fair; rub in the fact that I'm practically useless…" Spike muttered, as Landry nodded in agreement and glanced over at Spike.
"OK, you can come along," he said as he looked at the 'former' vampire.
"Just… try not to be too annoying, OK?" Mitchell put in, as the seven of them left the laboratory and began to head back to the briefing room.
"I'll try," Spike shrugged, smiling slightly at the people who he was already beginning to consider to be his new friends. "Can't promise anything, though."