"Demons? You're serious?" McKay demanded.
"Whatever the Ancients meant by their use of the word, it came to refer to creatures from an area inhospitable to human life, that prey on humans, McKay. So yes, demons. My counterpart from the other reality, he had an expression. The words change, the reality doesn't. "
"Our orders are, when Faith arrives we're to go to the coordinates listed in the database. We're to determine if there's a rift. If there is, then we close it. A rift is closed by overwhelming it with energy. In other words, we make a very, very big boom."
"How have they managed to keep this quiet?" Elizabeth asked.
"Incursions only happen around the rifts. Civilian groups, like the one we're apart of, patrol on a nightly basis to deal with anything that comes thru. The military maintains a presence in areas where they can go. We manage to stop things before they get to the point were their feeding on people, most of the time. The rest of the time, the world dismisses an attack as an animal attack or a serial killer or an accident. The world finds a way to ignore it. Sometimes even when it happens right in front of their face. Some who persist get labeled crazy. People don't want to know, so they don't know. And until every leader in the world goes on live TV and says it and presents proof, people aren't going to believe it."
"Why do you do it?" Sheppard asked.
"They took my best friend when we were sixteen, beyond that, children and teenagers are the favorite prey. Our hometown had one of the highest death rates in the world before we formed our group. The local government would claim gangs and run aways and animal attacks were responsible. We saw those things for ourselves and refused to look away. You're safer knowing, because then you can take precautions."
"This reminds me of the stories I mentioned, Elizabeth. Of the Ancestors fighting a war against the Dark Ones." Teyla said.
"The Dark Ones or the Shadow creatures are just some of the ways they're refered too." Xander said. "Anyway, Faith will be here in a couple of days. Then we check the coordinates. May the gods hear me when I say, I hope it's not in a populated area. Or near a volcano."
"Why?" Elizabeth asked. "I get why you wouldn't want it near people, but why a volcano?"
"Pompeii had a rift. They closed it. It set off the dormant volcano that city was built by."
"Oh."
They were left with a lot to think about.
Faith arrived two days later, bouncing with excitement.
"Damn, that Stargate thing is a Hell of a ride. So, I hear ya got yourself a monster problem. Sign me up, I'm here to play."
Xander took her to Elizabeth's office and introduced her to everyone.
"Okay, this is Faith Lehane, the specialist I mentioned. Faith, this is Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Colonel Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Dr. Rodney McKay and Ronan Dex. All except Dr. Weir, will be going with us to check out the rift."
Faith was eyeing Ronan. "Damn, he's a big one. Anyway, thanks for inviting me to your party. When do we leave?"
"You'll head out to the coordinates in the morning. In the meantime, we've prepared some quarters next to Xander and Cordelia." Elizabeth told her.
"Great, I've missed my little Jesse, not to mention, Queenie. So lead the way, X."
An amused Xander showed her to her quarters leaving a rather stunned group behind. Faith was a force of nature and few could handle her. After dropping her stuff off she was reunited with the best friend she hadn't seen in a couple of weeks and her adored honorary nephew. Soon they were regaling her with their adventures since arriving in Atlantis.
"Damn X, a brothel. Naughty boy."
The evening passed all too quickly and Faith retired to her quarters to get some rest before setting out to the coordinates from the database.
The next morning came all too quickly and soon they were all assembled in the gate room. Ronan, Xander and Faith were all carrying swords. Faith refused a gun. "Do you know many bullets it takes to take one of these things down? Too many. A sword can take their heads off, it's quicker and cleaner and you move on to the next. Plus, you don't have to worry about running out of bullets." She told them.
Xander and Ronan were nodding in agreement. Elizabeth told Chuck to dial the coordinates and the group went thru.
Following the directions from the database they set out for an area where the rift was indicated. The found it. Fortunately for them, there were no people anywhere around it. But there were some creatures. They attacked the group and they had to defend themselves.
"Colonel, you've been a soldier a long time, you have instincts. Remember what it felt like in the first facility. The feeling that you were being watched? Feel that feeling again." Xander told him.
Ronan and Teyla were already looking uneasy, they could feel it. After a moment, so could Sheppard.
"Let's blow this thing and get out of here." He said.
They planted charges all around. Alot of charges. And then moved to a safe distance and blew them. Once the debris had settled down, they cautiously approached again. They sighed in relief as they couldn't feel it anymore.
"That is a nasty feeling." Sheppard said as they headed back to the Stargate. "Whatever it actually is, I know it doesn't feel right."
"It's so far away from normal for us, that it feels like it's wrong. And for us, it is wrong." Xander said.
So very true.