Tor woke up with a headache and the knowledge that something was very, very wrong. He reviewed his memoires. The last thing he remembered was patrolling with Heidi. Things had been going well. They'd dusted several vampires. But then they'd scented several humans, their scent had been a little odd and then they'd been surrounded by them. The humans had been wearing fatigues and had shot them with blasters. And now he was in some sort of cell and Heidi was no where to be seen. Things had just gone from bad to worse.

Captain Riley Finn was puzzled when he saw the other squad out fighting the HST's dressed in suits and the smaller ones in straight jackets. What was another squad doing here? His was the only one assigned to deal with this group of HST's. Then he saw one of them, a dark haired young woman, pick one of them up, with one hand mind you, and through it more than twenty feet toward another member of the squad, also dark haired, who cut its head off with an axe! Obviously, they were HST's somehow pretending to be human. He reported them to his Commanding Officer, Dr. Maggie Walsh, as soon as they got back with the one they'd managed to secure.

"And you're certain they're not human, Captain?" Dr. Walsh asked.

"I'm certain humans can't do what I saw them do, ma'am." He answered.

"Very well, capture some if you can, Captain. Let's find out how they're managing to pretend to be human, shall we?"

Last night they'd managed to capture two of them, both blond, the girl was hot. Too bad she wasn't human, he'd have loved to have some fun with her.

Dr. Walsh ordered Riley to accompany her to attempt to talk to the male HST. The results of the initial tests were confusing, both of them appeared to be human, so how could they do what Riley had reported that they had done?

"My name is Dr. Walsh, can you understand me?"

"Of course, I can understand you, you're speaking English. It's not hard. Why have you kidnapped us? We've broken no laws and harmed no one."

"How did you come to speak English?"

"I learned it in school. Where everyone else learns it."

"How are you able to pretend to be human?"

"I'm not pretending anything, I am human. My name is Torrance Hauer, I'm known as Tor. I just turned 19. I'm a student at the University of California, Sunnydale. Where is my girlfriend, Heidi Barrie? We were together when your tin soldiers kidnapped us."

"We haven't kidnapped anyone. We're doing our job." Riley told him.

"Who are you?"

"Captain Riley Finn, U. S. Army."

"No, you're not. You're too young to be a Captain, unless you've seen extensive military action. Most likely you're a green 1st lieutenant who's been breveted to Captain. If you are actually with the military, then you're violating Posse Comitatus, breveted Captain Riley Finn." Tor told him.

Riley glared at him.

"We saw you with a group fighting those things last week. Why were fighting them?" Riley asked.

"It's my job to fight them. I am a member of the Sunnydale Protectors Pack, civilian militia assigned to protect Sunnydale."

That news rocked Riley back on his heels, a civilian militia? And HST's serving in it? How?

"How can HST's serve in a militia?"

"HST's?"

"The creatures you were fighting, we call them Hostile Sub Terrestrials."

"Ah. First off, I'm not hostile, second, I'm not sub anything. I'm human and if anything, I'm more advanced then you. Where is my girlfriend?"

"Bring her here, Captain Finn." Dr. Walsh ordered.

Riley brought the girl to them. Tor was startled to see a collar around her neck. "What's that?" He asked.

"A control collar. Answer my questions or I will shock her." Dr. Walsh answered. "How are you pretending to be human?"

"I am not pretending anything, I am human."

Heidi screamed as the collar shocked her. It continued for several minutes. Tor insisting he was human and Dr. Walsh shocking Heidi.

Finally, Dr. Walsh said. "Do you care nothing for her? Why keep lying?"

"I'm not lying. You're refusing to accept the truth. As for how much I care about Heidi? I met her in kindergarten. I kissed her for the first time when we were ten. I asked her to marry me when we were twelve. I first made love to her when we were fifteen. I've held her when she cried and laughed with her when she's happy. I've let her hold me when I was scared. We've planned our future together. We are human. And you are committing treason, along with kidnapping and illegal experimentation. Obviously, breveted Captain Riley Finn, you didn't do your due diligence when you were assigned here. If you had, you'd know that what is happening here is very illegal. And you'd know who we are. You have one chance to avoid the death penalty for treason and it's a slim one at that. Do your due diligence."

Dr. Walsh ordered the blond female HST back to her cell and went to see if more tests had been completed. Riley returned to his squad to fill them in. They were all puzzled by the HST's. Obviously they weren't human, so why pretend and why claim the people in this command were committing treason?

Forrest spoke up and said. "Maybe they're just trying to play mind games. Make us doubt ourselves. Maybe it's just to buy time in the hopes others of their kind can rescue them. There's nothing wrong with what we're doing here, we know that, we have our orders. Let's just get back to work." The others agreed and went about their business, secure in the belief, they were right and the HST's wrong.