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
"You say that these Ori are possessed of god-like abilities, and yet they are not gods?" Osric asked as they continued their walk, the group having settled into a brisk walking pace that allowed them to keep up a good rate of progress without wearing out their guide.
"No," Daniel replied, his tone a familiar lecturing one that Spike had heard variations of from the Watcher back in Sunnydale on a fairly regular basis. "They're very powerful beings who would have their followers believe as much because faith is the source of their power."
"Faith is something that cannot be won through intimidation and fear," Osric said, in a surprisingly reflective tone considering that they were talking about the people who had arranged for the attack on his village. "If their followers have faith, then they must truly believe."
"Nice view, but I'm not buying it," Spike interjected, looking over scathingly at Osric. "In my book, you've only got faith when you believe in something while recognising that there are bits of your faith that don't fit what others think; how can you actually believe in something when you don't know there's anything else to believe in?"
He might never have had much interest in faith or religion himself when he was originally turned- his status as a technical member of the Order of Aurelius was something he'd only ever used as far as it had managed to help him kill things-, but he'd been fairly Christian back when he'd been alive, so he liked to think he had a few good ideas about religion.
"Exactly," Daniel said, nodding in agreement at Spike. "They only believe because they've been mislead; true faith in something can only come when you're aware of all the facts of the situation, rather than being limited to the facts that you're 'allowed' to know. To many less developed civilisations, certain advanced technologies would strike them as supernatural in nature, but that's only because they don't know how it's done..."
Ain't that the truth, Spike thought to himself as Osric scoffed; even after learning about his history, Sam still 'insisted' in thinking of the world he represented in terms of demons originating from some other dimension and magic just being a method of manipulating the world around them similar to the powers that the Ancient had apparently developed in the 'run-up' to Ascension, mentioning some stuff about a guy who'd used to work on SG-1 who'd developed the ability to see the future because of some weird brain tumour...
He didn't think it was the case himself, but he didn't care enough about the issue either way to argue about it; it worked with what Sam thought she'd known about the world, so he was content to ignore it unless it became a bigger issue.
"Ridiculous!" Osric said, his vehement denial bringing Spike's mind back to the current topic.
"They simply used their advanced abilities to fashion seemingly magical creations, like the Sangraal or that time dilation field we encountered," Daniel said, clearly continuing his original debate (That bit at least Spike could agree with; no way could any ritual cause the kind of effect he'd seen in that time dilation thingy after being abandoned for that long).
"So you would have me believe that you are possessed of a complete understanding of these amazing feats?" Osric countered
"No," Daniel admitted- to his credit, the guy only looked flustered for a moment before he continued talking-, "but just because I don't know how the trick is done doesn't make it magic."
"And I would argue that your inability to comprehend such feats does in fact prove their supernatural nature," Osric said, pausing for rest against a nearby tree as he spoke.
"Their army just ran roughshod over your village, forced you into hiding, and now you're defending 'em?" Mitchell asked, looking sceptically at their guide.
"Hardly!" Osric said, waving his hand dismissively. "I condemn the actions of their soldiers, but am in no position to judge the Ori or their message-"
"In other words, you're still willing to give them a shot despite the fact that they're trying to enforce that 'message' by killing anyone who disagrees with it?" Spike practically spat in disgust, ignoring the warning look from Mitchell; Spike liked the guy as a friend, but that didn't mean that he had to take orders from anyone, and he was going to say his piece about this particular mess. "Anything that people need to kill to enforce doesn't work, you stupid sod; the bastards are practically admitting that they know they're in the wrong by making the alternatives look too sodding bleak for anyone to risk defying them!"
"Truth is elusive to those who refuse to see with both eyes, young-" Osric began, only for Mitchell to suddenly hold his hand in a 'halt' gesture. Spike was about to ask what had happened when a faint muttering sound reached his ears, Teal'c swiftly leading the way towards the sound once he had confirmed that everyone else had heard it.
As the group approached the source of the voice through a relatively dense collection of trees, Spike was puzzled at the sight of what seemed to be another man, dressed in a long black leather coat and a similarly-styled outfit, sitting on the ground in a slightly open area, beside a small chest made of a deep reddish-brown wood of some sort positioned on a small pile of rocks. From what he heard as he approached, the man appeared to be complaining to himself about something before he looked up at the sound of the approaching footsteps, revealing that he had a square-ish face with a prominent goatee.
"Wait!" he called, standing up and holding out a hand in a halting gesture, just before a yellow flash leapt up from the ground around them as they crossed over a line created by the trees, spreading upwards in a dome-like shape before any of them could react.
"Well," the bearded man sighed, indicating the area around them with a frustrated wave, "make yourselves comfortable. We're gonna be here a while."
Then his gaze fell on Spike, and he raised a curious eyebrow. "The old man, I recognise, but who are you?"
"Might ask you the same question," Spike replied, his arms folded as he glared back at the other man.
"Spike," Mitchell said, shrugging slightly as he indicated the two men, "this is Ba'al, last of the Goa'uld System Lords- though it's probably one of his clones, given how often we've been running into 'em lately-; Ba'al, this is Spike, the new guy."
"'New guy'?" Ba'al repeated, looking the vampire over with a slight incredulity. "Your people actually allowed... this... on your team?"
"Big words from a sucker who's probably a clone of the real deal," Spike countered, folding his arms as he stared back at Ba'al. "I might not exactly be professional, but at least I'm original-"
"OK, as fascinating as it is to see someone else putting Ba'al down, any chance we can see about getting out of here?" Mitchell asked, indicating the force field with a quick 'tap' of his P-90 against the energy shield in question, producing a brief yellow spark.
"Won't do you any good," Ba'al said dismissively. "Believe me, I've tried. It's a one-way door."
"How long have you been trapped in here?" Sam asked.
"Three agonizingly tedious days," Ba'al responded. "Which reminds me, I don't suppose you have any food?"
"What's that?" Vala asked, indicating the chest that sat in what appeared to be the centre of the circular area that was now surrounded by the force field.
"That's bait," Ba'al replied dismissively. "When I approached to investigate, I unwittingly triggered the trap."
"You've had the Ancient database for months," Sam put in, looking curiously at him. "Why did it take you so long to get here?
"I can't think clearly on an empty stomach-" Ba'al began.
"And what makes you think we give a crap about your sodding comfort?" Spike asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Ba'al. "Only just met you after reading about what your template did and I can't sodding stand you; you really think the people who experienced what you're capable of are going to be nice to you?"
For a moment, Ba'al simply stared at Spike, and then he smiled.
"You have an... interesting attitude, Spike of the Tau'ri," he said with a brief nod, before he turned to look at the rest of SG-1 in slightly exasperated resignation. "I only possessed two of the three addresses needed to complete the puzzle. As a result, I had significantly more possibilities to investigate. By a process of elimination, I was left with one prospect, and when I went in search of the planet, it wasn't there."
"Huh?" Spike said, looking in confusion at the Goa'uld. "What are you talking about? We're standing on the damn planet; seems like a pretty sodding good indicating that it's here to me!"
"When I came here via the Stargate, yes, but when I sent my ships to these coordinates, I found nothing," Ba'al countered, shooting a brief, bitter gaze at Spike before he continued his explanation while addressing the rest of the team, clearly having decided that he'd get more done by ignoring Spike than he would accomplish by registering his presence. "In the end, my only recourse was to access it via the Stargate, and secure the device with a handful of my Jaffa, and when I became trapped in here, they set off in search of a means of freeing me. They have yet to return."
Glancing around at his teammates as Ba'al continued to talk- he wasn't in the mood to hear another guy griping about the loss of his minions-, Spike noted that Daniel and Vala had opened the chest to take a better look at its contents, but the thing was totally empty; evidently, finding the Sangraal wasn't going to be that easy...
"You're wasting your time," Ba'al said, looking over at the archaeologist and Vala as they studied the chest's interior. "I've had three days to search for a way out of here. There's nothing inside."
"Well, that's the point, isn't it?" Daniel said, looking up from the chest with a thoughtful expression. "The Parchment of Virtues told us that we'd have to rely on five things in order to reach the Sangraal; prudence, wisdom, charity, kindness, and faith."
"You're saying the parchment was intended to be interpreted literally?" Sam asked, walking over to stand beside the archaeologist as she looked at the chest's interior herself.
"Why not?" Daniel replied, his face still contemplative as he turned over this new idea in his mind. "We were able to make our way through the time dilation field by patiently and carefully negotiating the maze. In other words, we demonstrated prudence as opposed to recklessness, which would have stranded us. So ask yourselves, what does this trap exploit?"
"Curiosity," Ba'al said dismissively.
"Greed," Daniel corrected. "A person approaches a chest expecting to find treasure inside, but instead finds nothing and gets trapped for his trouble."
"So... in order to reverse the trap, you have to reverse the impetus?" Vala asked.
"Right," Daniel confirmed. "The opposite of greed is charity, one of the virtues mentioned in the parchment."
"Instead of taking something, something must be sacrificed," Teal'c concluded.
Nodding in confirmation, Daniel pulled a pen out of his pocket, dropped it into the box, and closed it, only for Mitchell's second experimental tap against the force field to be met with the same results as before after nothing around them showed signs of changing.
"Well," Ba'al said, laughing slightly as he continued to chew on his power bar, "that was an interesting theory."
"Well," Daniel pointed out, "we're all trapped, so we all have to... contribute... something..."
For a moment, Spike wondered what had prompted Daniel to trail off like that, but then he realised that the rest of his team were all looking at him and realised what they'd just registered; in his current physical condition, it wasn't actually possible for him to contribute anything to the chest.
"Aw, crap..." Mitchell groaned, rolling his eyes as he pulled his hat out and tossed it into the chest. "That's annoying..."
"Maybe not..." Sam said, nodding thoughtfully as she tossed a voice recorder over to Daniel to put it in the chest as she looked at Spike. "I doubt the shield was designed with something like you in mind; maybe you could..."
She waved a hand uncertainly at the energy barrier around them as Osric and Teal'c placed a couple of small objects into the chest (Spike thought that he saw Daniel look curiously at what had been added to the chest, but decided it wasn't worth thinking about; Sam's suggestion was what mattered right now). "Well, you're not exactly existing on this plane; maybe it... won't affect you?"
"Pardon?" Ba'al asked, looking inquiringly at Spike. "What does she mean, you're 'not exactly existing on this plane'?"
"Long story, Bally-boy," Spike replied, turning his attention back to the shield in front of him before he shrugged. "Well, no time like the present..."
Closing his eyes so that he could focus better on the goal rather than how it might feel if this guess turned out to be wrong, Spike took a couple of steps back, and then charged towards the shield, wincing as he felt- the first time he'd felt any real sensation since he'd 'woken up' in Danny's office; even when he was concentrating he couldn't really 'feel' something for longer than a few seconds these days- what had to be the energy of the force field crackling around his body; damn thing felt like a combination of being caught in the sun and that freaky shield thing that 'Axtius' bugger had used when he was trying to kill Angel...
Finally, the sensation of something burning him ceased, and he opened his eyes to find himself on the other side of the force field, turning around to look back at his friends with a casual smile.
"Huh," he said, smiling at the incredulous expression on Ba'al's face. "How about that; a situation where the problem's also the solution?
"How the-?" Ba'al began.
"Long story that you wouldn't believe even if you heard it, and given that Spike nearly died to end up like that you couldn't work out a way to do it to yourself even if you wanted to," Mitchell said simply, before he folded his arms as he looked at Ba'al (Spike noted a large hairdryer in the chest that was probably Vala's 'donation', even if he had to wonder what his new girlfriend- for lack of a better term- was doing with one of those offworld...). "Anyway, now that that's out of the way...?"
"As much as I would appreciate being able to... accommodate your request, I have nothing to donate," Ba'al said; judging by the smug little glance he sent in Spike's direction, Spike wondered if the berk expected him to be able to 'share his secret' or something like that (Not that Spike would if he could; this prat could give up something like everybody else).
Evidently, the rest of the team agreed with that view; without a word, Teal'c walked over to pin Ba'al's arms behind his back while Mitchell walked over to search the new arrival, his examination quickly revealing a dagger in Ba'al's boot.
"That particular item holds great... sentimental value," Ba'al said, in a tone of voice that put Spike in mind of the tone a couple of the more sadistic vampires he'd encountered used when discussing the weapons or tools they'd used to kill their families.
Spike was almost grateful when nobody bothered to ask Ba'al why the dagger was particularly sentimentally valuable to him- although a slight expression of distaste on Sam and Teal'c's faces suggested that they might have an idea-; Mitchell just passed the dagger to Daniel, who then placed it in the chest and closed the lid, causing the force field to lower back down around them.
"Well done," Ba'al said, as the team began to move. "Another day in there, I would have gone mad."
"Guess that makes this time to say goodbye," Mitchell said, turning to aim his weapon at Ba'al.
"It would be foolish of you to kill me," Ba'al said, turning back around to face SG-1's leader.
"How so?" Teal'c asked, voicing Spike's own thoughts on the man's last statement; the damn bluff was so pathetic he'd have laughed if the stakes weren't this high...
"Amongst the information I obtained regarding the Sangreal is the name of the protector," Ba'al clarified.
"Protector?" Vala asked Daniel.
"The dragon," Ba'al clarified.
"You see," Osric said to Sam in an almost condescending manner, "I told you there was a dragon."
"I'm sure there's something guarding the device," Sam countered. "Maybe it's a hologram."
"Holograms can be dangerous, you know," Mitchell pointed out, with a tone that suggested he knew what he was talking about from some prior experience that Spike made a note to ask about; he didn't want to miss out on any 'team jokes' just because he was new.
"It could be a ship," Daniel added. "Flies, breathes fire, has armoured skin... it's a mistake a mediaeval storyteller could easily make."
Spike briefly wondered if he should be offended at the fact that nobody had asked him if dragons could be real, but concluded that it didn't matter; he wasn't even sure if any had ever existed on Earth in the past, even if he was pretty sure they didn't live there nowadays unless someone sent them there from another dimension of some sort, so he wouldn't have been able to tell anyone much about them even if they had asked him.
"...name is no doubt a password or a command code," Spike heard Ba'al saying as his thoughts returned to the current situation. "And either way, if you want it, you'll have to take me with you."
For a moment, Spike wished that he could feel comfortable suggesting that he resort to his 'old methods' to get the information from Ba'al, but quickly pushed that aside; even if he was the kind of person who did that anymore, his teammates wouldn't like it.
Besides, he'd never been very good at the torture aspect anyone. Angelus had been the real master at getting information from people who didn't want to talk, but the only thing he'd really learned how to do torture-wise was make people scream; he just hadn't had Angelus's ability to feel such a sheer sadistic thrill from the whole damn thing...
As they walked off towards a large mountain off in the distance- most likely the location of the Sangraal; in Spike's experience, an obvious landmark like that was just asking for people to hide important stuff in it on quests like this-, Spike could only hope that this sod lived up to the reasons why they were bothering to keep him around; he really didn't want to have too many people out there knowing that he could walk through energy shields like that, even if the prat didn't know how he'd done it...
As he walked towards a particular part of the mountain that Osric's map apparently identified as the location of the cave of the Sangraal, Spike had to admit that he'd actually enjoyed that last bit of walking; it didn't make up for not being able to actually touch anything for real, but it was nice to be able to walk around without worrying about the sunlight turning him to dust...
"This is it!" Osric said, walking over a fallen tree to excitedly point at a hole in the rock face in front of them partly concealed from view by moss and branches, Ba'al close behind him. "The cave entrance. The Sangraal is located within."
"Too bad you won't be coming with us," Mitchell said, raising his weapon to aim it at the two men.
"I thought I made it clear-" Ba'al began.
"We're not talking about you, Bally," Spike said, rolling his eyes as he indicated Osric.
"Ah," Ba'al said, smiling slightly as he glanced at Osric before pointing at an area off to the side. "Well, uh, allow me to get out of your line of fire."
"Have you lost your senses?" Osric asked, raising his hands defensively as the Goa'uld moved off to the side.
"'Truth eludes he who does not seek it with both eyes wide'," Daniel said. "That's a quote from the Book of Origin. You paraphrased it earlier today. Now, I might not have noticed, but I spent the past year studying the good book, so..."
"Surely you're not basing your suspicions on this mere coincidence?" Osric asked indignantly.
"And when it came time to give up a possession to free ourselves from the forcefield trap, I noticed the designs on your ring," Daniel continued. "Not Celtic as one might expect given the cultural background of this planet, but distinctly Ori."
"The ring was a gift from a travelling merchant!" Osric protested, although even to Spike he sounded desperate (He was just grateful that the main reason he'd missed most of the clues was that he hadn't done much reading about the Ori; he'd spent most of the last few days on Earth with Vala, and they'd generally tried to avoid talking about the war). "You're making a mistake!"
"You're the one who screwed up; now drop the act!" Mitchell said, staring neutrally at the old man.
For a moment, Osric looked as though he was about to continue his protestations of innocence, but, after a brief glance confirmed that everyone around him had realised that Daniel's assessment of the situation had been accurate, he seemed to relax.
"It would have been so much easier if you had remained oblivious," he said, his voice reflecting a casual arrogance that Spike had heard used by the likes of Angelus and Adam in the past. "But now things will be much more difficult."
With that, Osric's entire appearance shimmered before he re-solidified in front of the team as Adria, now dressed in a form-fitting black leather dress with silver metal 'shoulder pads'.
"Especially for you," she said as she looked at Daniel with a more-than-slight sneer, seemingly unconcerned about the weapons now aimed at her as Daniel and Sam exchanged apprehensive glances about the implications of that last statement.
"You've done something new with your eyes," Mitchell commented (Now that someone pointed it out, Spike noted that Adria's eyes weren't the gold colour they'd been when he'd fought her during the whole Dakara mess, but a more natural shade of brown, although the subsequent brief 'flare' of golden fire in her pupils was slightly unnerving even for him).
"So," Mitchell continued inquiringly, "the troops in the village, the shootout in the tavern, that was all a set-up?"
"I had been planning to prompt you to come here on my own; I retain some awareness of your mind after all, Mother," Adria said, shrugging slightly as she looked at Vala before her eyes fixed on Spike with a slight smile. "But then your new 'associate' had his little 'epiphany' about how the various addresses you'd already found fitted together, and from there, it was simple to wait-"
"Hold on; you're saying that you've known about this planet from the word 'go'?" Spike asked, looking incredulously at the Orici (If Glory couldn't get him to talk, Adria damn well wasn't going ot make him be quiet either). "If you knew where the damn thing was, why didn't you just go and get it yourself; does your ego need that much pandering that we have to do everything for you?"
"Apparently," Adria replied, shooting him a hard stare that made Spike briefly feel uncomfortably warm despite his inability to actually feel anything in this state before she turned to address Daniel, "Morgan put safeguards in place to ensure the weapon could only be secured by, what was the term again? 'Those possessing truth of spirit'. I can't think of anyone more appropriate than a former Ascended. With your help, I'll secure the device."
"Hate to disappoint," Mitchell said pointedly, opening fire on Adria as she began to take a step towards him, only for his shots to be automatically halted by her personal shield, prompting Mitchell to abandon the obviously-flawed assault.
"You've seen a demonstration of my powers-" Adria began.
"Yeah, and in case you'd forgotten," Spike interjected, walking up to Adria with a resolute glare, "your power means absolutely jack to me."
Before Adria could retaliate, Spike lashed out with a powerful punch that sent her flying into the nearest rock wall, the Orici subsequently falling to the ground in an unconscious heap.
"Bint might go on a lot about those screwy 'powers' of hers'," Spike said, smirking slightly as he looked back at his teammates, "but she does not know how to take a punch."
"You are able to... punch her?" Ba'al said, looking at Spike with a slight edge of admiration that reminded the vampire uncomfortably of Angelus studying his next planned meal. "You are a very... unique being, Spike of the Tau'ri-"
"And, as Cameron already told you, there's no way for you to get the same 'benefits' as Spike without going through a complicated and elaborate mess involving a near-death experience and other details that it's probably impossible for you to duplicate exactly, so stop that, OK?" Vala said, glaring over at Ba'al before she turned back to look at Spike. "Uh... not meaning to sound excessively, cruel, but is there any way that you could...?"
"Do more?" Spike finished for her, shaking his head in response. "Nope, sorry; don't think I can do anything more serious to her with... things the way they are."
It wasn't the best description of his current 'inability' to act, but given that he was unable to actually say why he couldn't kill Adria without giving Ba'al more information about what he was now than he felt comfortable with, it was best to be vague and give the idea that her shield would stop him from actually causing fatal harm to her, rather than actually say that he didn't think he could maintain his focus long enough to break her neck or something similar.
"Well," Mitchell said, shrugging slightly as he indicated the cave in front of them, "if the only thing we've got to do now is keep on going, let's get moving before she wakes up, huh?"
"That is a reasonable course of action, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said, before the two of them turned to walk into the cave, Ba'al close behind them with Sam and Daniel's weapons trained on his back as Vala and Spike brought up the rear.
Still, even if they weren't even halfway through Morgan's trials yet- they'd only been tested on two of the five virtues-, Spike already felt like his personal presence here had been vindicated; if he hadn't been here, they'd have had to put with the risk that Adria would have managed to come along with them as they went looking for the Sangraal...