Sunnydale Airport, Sunnydale, 1440 hours.
Willow and Faith had taken a flight all the way from Colorado Springs to Sunnydale to tell Buffy and the other Scoobies about what could be the most significant moment in history for the Slayers. She was seated next to Faith who still had to learn why the redhead insisted that only she and Faith be allowed to head for Sunnydale, especially since what she wanted to discuss concerned the Slayer line. As Willow sat looking out the window, Faith just seated on her seat with her eyes closed as she tried to think about what it could be that concerned her, Buffy, Kennedy and the other potential. Sensing that her wife was having trouble in trying to make sense of some brand new memories, Faith simply reached for Willows hand which rested on the armrest and laced her fingers through the redhead's hand.
Shaking her head with a jerk, Willow realized that she was just daydreaming when Faith held her hand. Looking back at the brunette Slayer, Willow just wished that it was only them on the flight… that everyone else was gone. As she looked at the woman she loved, she could see the part that she played in her suffering and in her gift. That scared her.
'What would she say when she finds out?' thought Willow to herself, 'would she be angry for my part in all this? Would Buffy be angry at the suffering she had to go through as a Slayer? How about Giles? What would he do when I tell him that those men took Sineya and basically forced her into a fate she didn't want?'
"Red?" said Faith as she noticed Willow simply at her, 'no, she's looking through me. Red, what did you see? Why won't you tell me?'
Faith looked on as Willow held her hand tight and put her head on the brunette Slayer's shoulder and looked straight ahead. The both of them had a real long day, especially with Willow's physical examinations… and then the briefings with SG1, General's Landry, O'Neill and Hammond; as well as the IOA's Woolsey.
"Major Rosenberg" Faith recalled Woolsey saying as they sat in the briefing room, "are you saying that you really are this Athena?"
"Yes" said Willow as she nodded her head, "my genetic profile has been locked out of the Atlantis database; partly because of the things I've done, and the experiments I conducted to get rid of the Wraith."
Faith recalled how excited Woolsey, in particular seemed at the knowledge that there could be a weapon that would solve their Wraith problem. She saw Willow look at her with sadness in her eyes, and the Slayer knew immediately that something was wrong; as did the military members of SG1.
"Willow" said Colonel Carter who had changed her clothes after making sure that Debra was safe with Eileen Davis, "why was your profile locked out?"
"To combat the Wraith" said Willow as she looked down, "I created biological weapons."
"Such as?" asked Woolsey.
"A device that emits genetically programmed radioactive particles that would gather between the lungs of any organic being" said Willow softly, "it would then gather the required materials to form a volatile explosive tumour."
"Are you serious?" asked General O'Neill as he looked at Willow.
"Yes, sir" replied Willow, "I conducted a test of the device by giving it to some Wraith worshippers who took it to their cloning facility. Told them it contained command codes for Atlantis. But it didn't."
"And then?" asked Colonel Mitchell.
"I went back a week later with some members of the Council" said Willow, "the facility was completely destroyed."
"Amazing" said Woolsey as he looked at the three General's who were looking at Willow.
"Willow" said General Hammond, "something happened, didn't it? It must have, or else the Ancients would have used this weapon against the Wraith."
"Ten humans died" said Willow as she took a deep breath, "ten innocents, not including the five Wraith worshippers, died. The Worshippers had the tumours in their bodies. They went to some meal hall where they exploded. I remember one of the Councillors telling me as we headed back to Atlantis that four of those who died were men, three were women and the rest children."
"I see" said General Hammond as he looked at the other General's and at Woolsey who suddenly had a downcast face, "I assume that the Council took action?"
"Yes" replied Willow as everyone looked at her, "all my research, data crystals… everything has been destroyed as per the orders of the Council. Every bit of data deleted from the database."
"I thought Atlantis has system redundancies?" asked Colonel Carter.
"The Council had full authorization to delete all data from the database" said Willow, "no matter what the redundancies were, they are all gone."
"It's good" said Vala as everyone looked at her, "look I don't know what these Wraith are like, I haven't seen them personally. But if getting rid of them means you get rid of the human's too… then that's just wrong no matter how you put it."
"I agree" said Faith as she held Willow's hand under the table.
"I was angry" said Willow, "I would have destroyed every living thing in Pegasus if given the chance, and then do a galactic version of 'salting the Earth' so that life never grows again. To destroy one species in my anger and hatred for murdering my sister, I was prepared to commit an act of genocide."
"But you didn't" said Colonel Mitchell, "and that's the main thing here. You didn't do it."
"I was lucky, Colonel" said Willow as she looked at Colonel Mitchell, "I would have tried something if we didn't have to leave for Earth. I got an idea based on an experiment another team carried out on nanites."
"Replicators" said Colonel Carter as she leaned forward, "Willow?"
"Did you know that we programmed them to be hyper-aggressive?" said Willow, "they took human form, and that was when the experiment failed."
"We read the report that the expedition sent us, Major" said Woolsey as he interrupted Willow.
"It's one thing to hear, Mr. Woolsey" said Willow as she looked at the man, "It's different to experience it. I was there when the Council ordered their destruction, I was there when we destroyed a life form that we created because it didn't go exactly as we thought it would. But, I didn't care. Like how I didn't care about collateral damage when the explosive tumour device killed innocents. So I set about what I thought would be my greatest accomplishment."
"Which is?" asked General Landry.
"Living weapons" said Willow as she looked at Faith, "you remember that vision I had."
"Living weapons that would destroy the Wraith" said Faith as she nodded her head.
"Yeah" said Willow, "but the Council rejected the plan. I proposed to put in a genetic self destruct so that once they killed the Wraith, once they destroyed every single iota of their existence in Pegasus; I made it so that any Lantean would kill all the clones."
"So that they don't battle against the Ancients" said Colonel Mitchell as he looked at Willow and then at the others who seemed equally shocked, "so that they don't turn against their creators."
"I took away their free will" said Willow, "they would follow their orders. Kill the Wraith, and then die on command. I wanted to play God… and I paid for it."
"Willow" said General Hammond, "all your research… everything you created as Athena, are they still in the Atlantis Database?"
"All the biological weapon designs, everything related to the research has been permanently deleted" said Willow, "even I won't be able to get them back."
"But you remember how to make it?" asked Woolsey.
"I lived for a long time before I ascended," Willow said, "there's a lot of things that I don't remember." Willow knew what she had just said was a lie. She glanced at Faith, who glanced back at her. 'Faith knows its a lie,' Willow thought to herself before her eyes shifted towards Woolsey, 'I remember everything. I remember everything before my ascension. I remember how to create the Explosive Tumour Device, I remember what chains of DNA I manipulated to create the Living Weapons. I have that knowledge in my head. But the ones from my Ascension...' Willow could recall in stunning clarity what she had seen and done when she was ascended. She remembered the technology she had seen on distants planets in distant galaxies, she remembered the devastation she had seen from high advanced alien weaponry; there was so much chaos she had seen all through her long life. However, she only had the memories stuck in her head of when she was ascended. Now, she didn't know how those weapons worked, and neither could she rebuild what she had seen with the SGC's current levels of technology. Frowning, Willow remembered a world where one race from a distant planet handing over advanced technology to another less advanced race - there were many such peoples on many different worlds - and the results were the same; complete annihilation. That is some of what she remembered of when she was ascended, and there was no way she was letting that happen to Earth.
'We've already come far,' Willow thought to herself as she glanced at Faith again. The redhead's mind extended out towards the dark haired Slayer and the two spoke, several minutes lasting for a single heartbeat, and then Willow looked away from her beloved with a wry smile on her face and said, "I don't recall how I created the tumor device or the living weapons. BUt I do remember the results of what I did, that is something that'll stay in my mind forever."
"Is that the truth?" asked Woolsey as he put down the pen he was taking notes with, "you don't know if you..."
"There's no way for you to tell if I'm lying.. or if I'm not" said Willow as she looked at the bald man. She then sighed and leaned forward, "the Wraith are bad, they're positively evil… but you haven't committed an act of genocide. You don't know what it does to you, until you actually do it."
"We have destroyed all the replicators" said Teal'c.
"Only one part of a larger segment" said Willow, her eyes trained on the Jaffa, "the replicators were created in Pegasus, then recreated here."
"Reese" said Colonel Carter.
"Yea" replied Willow, "she was created by one of the Ancients, and she in turn created the replicators for the Milky Way."
"Then the Asgard found a few blocks" said Colonel Carter, "took it back to their home galaxy where the blocks started to replicate again. "
"Yep" said Willow nodding her head, "we haven't killed them all, others remain…. In fact the originals are occupying Pegasus. So no, they're not extinct….. and like it or not, neither are the Goa'uld." Willow then took in a deep breath before revealing one of the most shameful parts of her past, "I know what it's like to be responsible for the deaths of an entire race of genetically engineered clones that I created. The LIving Weapons I told you about."
"Willow?" said Colonel Carter as everyone looked on in shock.
"You said you didn't remember..."
Willow hsook her head while saying, "I don't remember how I created them. But I did. And I regret that act until the day I die again."
"When… when I came back to Earth" said Willow, "I settled in an area near Nairobi; close to the outpost in that region. I encountered my first vampire a little over six months later. I almost died but they were killed."
"How?" asked Woolsey.
"Handheld plasma weapon" said Willow as she looked at Woolsey, and then her eyes shifted towards Colonel Carter, "I can get you the specifications, ma'am. It.. it saved my life."
"No Slayers?" asked Faith.
"This was before Slayers, Faith" said Willow as she closed her eyes and repeated, "it was before the existence of Slayers."
Willow knew she had to be careful in what she said now; she wanted to leave the Slayer parts for the BPRI, instead she mentioned the clones and how a group of people approached her to create the weapons she had wanted to make in Atlantis.
"So you did?" asked Woolsey.
"Yes" replied Willow as she shook her head, "my greatest mistake. They wanted thirty thousand clones, they told me that they'll use them to fight creatures of the night. But, I told these people that they would have to convince the clones to fight… I wanted to give the clones the freedom to choose. I gave them what I didn't want to, I gave them free will."
"Did any of them refuse?" asked Colonel Mitchell.
"Yes" said Willow, "at least from what I heard. I never knew what became of them after they were sent away. I thought that…. Anyway, I later found that they were all killed. Even the ones that refused to fight were killed for a ritual… a magic ritual. I gave those people weapons that would fight a war, and then were all needlessly killed."
"Dear lord" said General Hammond wiping his forehead as he leaned back on his chair while everyone looked at Willow.
"Red?" said Faith, "what happened then?"
"I told the Council what I did" said Willow, "even though I was Mer… Moros' daughter, I still had to face punishment for going against the Council. So I was exiled from Earth for ten years."
"Oh" said General Hammond, "where did you go?"
"Kheb" said Willow, "I went to Kheb, where Oma thought me to ascend."
"Neat" said Colonel O'Neill.
"I have memories of my Ascension" said Willow, "but I don't have any knowledge of how things work, or anything like that. I know I haven't been able to tell you guys a lot but…"
"I'm sorry" said Woolsey, "your story was good, if everything you created was destroyed… then…."
"I said all my research on biological weapons was deleted" said Willow, "but when Hera was alive, I promised her that I'd do everything I could to look for a cure for the Wraith. I remember hitting a roadblock every time I thought I was getting close. The people over at Atlantis can take a look at it and see if they can improve on it - I know I did the best I could."
When it came to the reason she descended, Willow told them that she knew that the Hellmouth was acting up, and that she wanted to try and help fight since she couldn't interfere when she was ascended. Willow was glad that they didn't ask too many questions, especially Faith. That was a story that she wanted to tell the Scoobies together.
"Willow Rosenberg" said Teal'c, "has Hera descended as well?"
"She has" said Willow with a smile, "but I can't tell you who she is."
"Why not?" asked Woolsey, "if she's an Ancient then…."
"I haven't told her" said Willow, "I don't know if I should… anyway, she's protected by the best. She'll be kept safe and sound."
"Willow" said General Hammond, "I'll be informing the President about this, particularly your status as… well, as an Ancient. Also, do we call you Athena… or Willow."
"I'm Willow, Sir" said the redhead with a smile, "and I have one request."
"Name it" said General O'Neill.
"I'd like to make a trip to Atlantis."
"Why?" asked Woolsey.
"To visit my mother's grave" said Willow, "and to find out how, and why she died."
"The IOA will….." said Woolsey when he was interrupted by General O'Neill.
"You have authorization" said the General as Willow gave him a smile.
"General" said Woolsey, "the IOA needs to make the decision on whether to allow Major Rosenberg on Atlantis."
"Mr. Woolsey" said Willow, "like it or not, Atlantis is my home; I was born there…"
"By your word" said Woolsey as he sighed, "look at it from my viewpoint, Major. You say that you are an Ancient named Athena, but you can't give us any weapons…. Or any knowledge on how to beat the Wraith. The IOA will want more."
"The IOA can't force her" said Faith as she looked at Woolsey, "even if she knows anything else, I know that she has a good reason not to tell us. It's not like every single thing that the Ancients left behind hasn't left a mess for us to clean up. No offence, Red."
"None taken" said Willow with a smiled, "but the fact of the matter is, I don't have the knowledge of how and why something works as far as my Ascended knowledge goes. My memories before my ascesnion are slowly coming back, but I don't know if I'll remember everything. I can't tell you information on things that the other scientists created because I wasn't involved. I was obsessed with creating biological weapons, which were all deemed hazardous by the Lantean Council and destroyed. Even my research on the clones in the Sunnydale outposts, and the other outposts were destroyed."
"To be clear to everyone at this table, we will not use biological weapons" said General Landry, "Major Rosenberg has already stated that she, as Athena, was working on a cure for the Wraith. I propose, as the Major suggested, that we have the scientists in Atlantis go through that research and build on it."
"Red" said General O'Neill, "find out about your mother, go home."
"Thank you, sir" said Willow, "and in return, I'll give you the best gift of all."
"Which is?" said Vala excitedly as she leaned forward, "is it expensive?"
"No.. well, depends…" smiled Willow as she looked at Vala, and then at General O'Neill, "It's a fully charged ZPM. I know where one is; I'm the one who kept it there."
"Sweet" said General O'Neill with a grin as he sat back.
It was after the briefing that Willow talked to General Landry and General O'Neill in private. She told them that while everything she told them was true, she had some things omitted. She told them that what she omitted was relevant for the BPRI and that she'd like to travel to Sunnydale with Faith to brief them. It was a very confused General Landry who said yes to the redhead in return for a debrief on the omitted sections.
As the plane landed on the runway at the Sunnydale Airport, Willow woke up on Faith's shoulder and brought her head up before turning to look at her wife.
"You're so beautiful" said Willow as she smiled at Faith, "what I have to say, I just hope you won't hate me."
"Red" said Faith, "whatever happened, happened. Remember what Teal'c told you after the briefing? What happened wasn't your fault… you were fighting a war against a scary enemy. You saw Hera, your sister die right in front of your eyes; Red, I know what it's like… I know what it's like to see someone you love die right in front of you."
"I know" said Willow, "with these memories, it like I'm running through a gamut of emotions Faith. I… I mean…."
"Promise me one thing" said Faith, "after you tell us what the great mystery is, I want you to show me. Promise me."
"I promise." Said Willow softly.
BPRI Conference Room One, Sunnydale, 1515 hours.
Buffy and Xander were the first to arrive at the conference room where Agent Garret of the NID was briefing a very stunned looking Vi, Rona and Amanda at one corner of the fairly large room. Standing at the round table in the middle of the room with Xander, Buffy looked at the dark haired man and smiled.
"Any idea about what's going on?" asked Buffy softly as she leaned into Xander.
"Captain dead didn't give the mystery away" said Xander, "all he said was that he needed the senior staff to be in the Conference Room as soon as possible."
Just then Giles, Kennedy, Angel and Cordelia walked in through the doors and stood next to Buffy and Xander while they watched Agent Garret briefing the Potential Slayers.
"Angel?" asked Buffy as she nodded at the senior Potentials direction.
"Disclosure" said Angel, "I got a call from General Landry two hours ago, he wanted one of the Senior Potentials to participate in this briefing."
"What's this about?" asked Giles as he leaned forwards and looked at Angel.
"No clue" said Angel, "all I know is that Willow and Faith is coming here about something really important. I was talking to Faith, even she doesn't know exactly why."
"But she knows something" said Kennedy, "why else insist on this meeting."
"Angel" said Rona as she and the others ran to the vampire with a soul after they were finished with their briefing, "it's true? Alien life? Seriously?"
"You don't know the half of it" said Faith who came in through the doors, followed by Willow. The Scoobies hugged Willow and Faith before the redhead asked everyone to take a seat at the table.
"Potential guys" said Faith before she sat down, "I know you have a lot of questions, but I really recommend you wait until we're done. I take it Agent Garret briefed you?"
"Yea" said Amanda.
"Alright" said Faith, "then you know about the Ancients? The race that built the Stargates?"
"Uh huh" said Rona in disbelief, "I still find it hard to believe that…. Yeah…. You know…. Damn."
"Red" said a smiling Faith as she looked at her wife, "this is your show."
"Thanks" said Willow as she caressed Faith's lower back before the brunette Slayer too her seat, "I wont bore you with all the details, just know that we found Merlin… but his physical body died after he transferred his consciousness into Daniel; who was taken my one of our enemies."
Willow saw that many of them were starting to speak up when she interrupted them.
"As far as we know" said Willow, "this enemy won't kill Daniel because he has information on building a weapon that destroys ascended beings."
"Like the Ori?" asked Xander.
"Yea" replied Willow, "but he's protected. Merlin said that he'll be protecting Daniel's mind… they have some kind of a plan that we're not aware of… but I know he's safe. Anya and Tara will be staying at the SGC helping out as much as possible. Hopefully, we'll be getting Daniel back soon."
"Before he passed his consciousness" said Faith, "he…. Well, he thought Red was his daughter."
"What?" said Angel as he looked around the table and then at Willow, "Willow?"
"I've been having visions and dreams for a long time of a girl called Athena" said Willow as she closed her eyes, "Faith and I have a permanent psychic bond, so she's been able to see some of these dreams as well."
"It's true" said Faith, "at first we thought that Red was Athena's descendent but…"
"Wait" said Giles, "you said 'at first'….. are you saying?"
"I was born more than ten thousand years ago in Atlantis" said Willow to a completely stunned room, "and my name was Athena Ren."
"You're serious?" said Buffy as she looked at her best friend, "this isn't like a got'cha kind of thing?"
"No" said Willow as she hung her head down and felt everyone's eyes looking at her. She then felt Faith's hand squeezing hers gently, giving her some comfort. Willow then looked up and told her story to the completely stunned room as they listened intently on how the death of Melina, the love she had for Hera, Hera's death right in front of her eyes which was when Buffy got up quickly form her seat and gave Willow a hug; she told them about her quest for vengeance being one failure after another, she told then about the genetically engineered clones, and about her and the other Lanteans leaving Atlantis for Earth.
"Holy crap" said Vi, "you actually wanted to…."
"I was angry" said Willow softly when she looked up, "anyway, about six month after I returned to Earth…."
"Where did you settle" asked Cordelia.
"Outside Nairobi" said Willow, "there's an outpost there I used for my research. Everything's destroyed now, but back then…. I continued what I did in Atlantis."
Willow then closed her eyes because this was the part that she never even told Faith, and she feared what her wife would say.
"Giles" said Willow as she looked up at the elderly watcher, "what do you know about how the Slayer was created?"
"The Slayer?" said Giles as the three Slayers in the room, as well as the three potentials perked up and looked at Willow. Faith looked at Buffy and Kennedy confused before looking at Willow again.
Faith: "Red?"
Willow: "I… please, don't be angry. All I ask is you listen."
Faith: "Al.. alright."
"Please, Giles" said Willow, "what do you know?"
"The Shadow Men put a demon into a girl to create the Slayer" said Giles, "Faith, Kennedy, Buffy and the others already know this. Buffy had to see it through a mystical portal to find a way to face off against a great enemy."
"Yeah, Will" said Buffy as she looked at Willow, "they chained the girl to the floor and…."
"They didn't tell you everything, did they?" asked Willow as she looked up at Buffy, "they never revealed everything," she whispered with an eyeroll before continuing, "why am I not surprised. Bastards."
"Willow?" asked Angel, who was still in shock that the redhead in front of him was much, much more older than him or even Anya, as he leaned forward, "what are you saying?"
"Faith?" said Willow as she looked at her wife, "did you see too?"
"No" said Faith, "this was before I came back to Sunnydale… before the Slayer Council was formed. I only heard from B later."
"This is all written down, Willow" said Giles, "in the Watchers diaries."
"What do you know about the First Slayer?" asked Willow turning towards Giles.
"She lost her humanity" said Giles, "she became animalistic, with a bloodlust for vampires and demons. The diaries say that she was a pitiful creature who teetered in the middle of sanity. But she was the strongest Slayer of them all since her connection to the demon was the closest."
"She wasn't always like that" said Willow as she leaned back, "she wasn't always like that."
"I'm sure she wasn't" said Giles, "but the diaries never said what she used to be….. wait." Giles then looked at the look on Willow's face, he sensed a note of familiarity in how Willow just spoke. And then he made a connection that a part of him thought could not be true, 'it's a statement. She didn't ask a question; it was a statement.'
"Six months after I arrived on Earth" said Willow, "I helped a ten year old girl fend off vampires… it was the first time I saw vampires, few shots from the plasma weapon I had and they were dust. But the girl survived."
"Red?" said Faith.
"The girl's name was Sineya" said Willow as she looked at everyone on the table and settled on Giles whose eyes were opened wide.
"That… that's the first Slayer's name" said Giles shocked as everyone, including Faith, looked at Willow, "Willow….. are you saying that you knew her?"
"She was smart, did you know that? She was highly intelligent" said Willow with a small smile on her face as she stared at the table, "the first time I met her we had to use hand signals to communicate. But in the space of a few months, she learnt how to speak the Lantean language; and then she taught me hers. We would sometimes just look up at the stars… she'd tell me stories about her people, and I'd tell her about life on Atlantis…. The adventures I had with Hera. She taught me the proper way to do things like how to trap my own food other than fish, she showed me which nuts, and berries to eat so that I don't get sick. I took care of her. I cared for her, and she cared for me."
"None of this is in the diaries" said Giles as he walked up to one of the phones on the wall and dialled a number. He waited a few seconds before the other line was picked up, "Fred, I need you to bring me the first volume of the Watchers Codex.. yes, I know… please… It's urgent. Thank you."
Giles then got back to his seat and sat down while rubbing his forehead in disbelief.
"I was there Giles" said Willow as she looked at Giles and then looked at Faith, "my greatest accomplishment, became my greatest sin."
"Red" said Faith as she saw Willow close her eyes as she hung her head in shame. Faith then leaned forward and whispered into Willow's ear, "the clones?"
"Yea" said Willow softly as she heard the door behind her open and Fred rushed in with a brown leather bound book and handed it to Giles before smiling at Willow and rushing off again. Willow saw Giles gingerly flip through the book as he continuously shook his head.
"Willow" said Giles as he scoured the book, "there is no mention of any Athena."
"Would you want to tell the world that you had outside help for creating a weapon to save the planet?" said Willow, "would you tell the world or take the credit, as it were, for yourself?"
"Willow" said Giles, "are you saying that the oldest known diary, the same diary that gives us what little we know about Sineya is wrong?"
"I'll leave it to you to decide" said Willow as she leaned back, "I was there….. they betrayed the both of us….."
"Who?" asked Buffy, "who, Willow?"
"Your Shadow Men" said Willow as she looked at Giles, "they were the mystic sect of the Furling race."
"Wait… what?" said Kennedy shaking her head in disbelief, "what are you…."
"They came to my home looking for Sineya" said Willow, "they said that she had a destiny to fight the creatures of the night. They told me about a prophesy from the Powers that Be.. I take it you know of them?"
"Yea" said Angel.
"These Furlings wanted to groom Sineya for that prophesy" said Willow, "at that time I still didn't know her language, but I knew fear. I knew that Sineya didn't want to go with them, that she was afraid of them. They tried to force the issue, but I told them no. I basically told them that Sineya was under my protection. That there was no way that they'll harm her."
"But…." Said Giles.
"Do you know that the Alterra were tricked?" said Willow as she looked at Giles, "they needed to find a cure for the plague, so they listened to the mystic sect of Furlings and opened the gateway." Willow then pointed downwards as everone stared in surprise at the stunning information, "the very first one was opened where Sunnydale is now."
"The Hellmouth" whispered a stunned Cordelia as Willow nodded her head.
"The Furlings knew it would be unsuccessful" said Willow, "all the Furlings wanted was a way to get a better power source to augment their abilities, their magics. They used the technology of my people to do that… something that they would never have agreed to if they knew the real reason why the Furlings brought it up."
"What happened to Sineya?" asked Vi.
Willow sighed as she leaned back in her seat.
"Once of the Furlings asked me if there was something I could do to help them" said Willow, "so I told them about the genetically engineered clones. They wanted thirty thousand to fight the war… and all I wanted to do was protect Sineya. So I gave them that… I gave them the clones over five years. In the final batch however, there were genetic flaws in a thousand of them so those were never sent."
"No" said Faith as she looked at Willow, "don't tell me…."
"The cloning process leaves a marker in the body for a few hours" said Willow, "I wanted to make sure that they reached their destination… and they did. Suddenly, the signal cut out."
"Cut out?" asked Rona, "wait… you mean they died?"
"I only found out later" said Willow as she looked at the Potential, "I had a bad feeling so I went to Sineya's village. Her grandmother told me that the Furlings took her away, she said she had a destiny… that it will happen… can you imagine? If you were there, can you imagine…. How… I mean…"
"You went after her?" said Faith as she held on tightly to Willow's hand as the redhead nodded.
"I came to a cave" said Willow shaking her head, "and I walked in. After some time, I walked onto a ledge; and looking down, I saw dead bodies piled high. One on top of another."
"Oh dear lord" said Giles as he took of his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "the clones?"
"Yea" said Willow, "one of the Furlings, a man named Zan knocked me out and killed the final batch of the clones with me watching; all the while another man was thanking me for helping them to create destiny. Then later, they brought me to Sineya."
Everyone looked on stunned as they saw Willow take in a sharp breath before she closed her eyes and shook her head.
"The memory's so fresh" said Willow, "I saw Sineya chained to the ground, but I couldn't do anything. I was chained to the wall."
"What?" said Buffy as she looked at Willow and then at Giles who was shaking his head, "Willow? Why?"
"They were proud of what they were doing" said Willow, "they wanted me to see the weapon I had a hand in creating. They used the demon to suck out the life energy from all the clones, including their enhanced abilities, healing and genetic memory…. The demon had all of those qualities now. They said it was more powerful than they could ever dream. And all I could do was look on… I was helpless as the girl I thought of as a daughter was looking straight at me. I was supposed to protect her… I promised to protect her… but she was still chained to the ground. I am partly responsible for causing so much pain to my best friend, to my wife; I'm partly responsible for putting the Potentials in danger."
"Willow" said Buffy as she ran over to the redhead, "no you're not."
"She's right, Red" said Faith as she took Willow into her arms and hugged her, "it's not your fault."
"You wanted to protect her" said Kennedy as she looked at the hurt on Willow's face, "in the end, you couldn't do anything… fact of the matter is that you're right; you were betrayed."
"I heard the screams" said Willow as she closed her eyes again and relived the bloodcurdling screams from Sineya as the demon darted through her, "they were so loud, she suffered so much as the demon took her body. The last thing I remember was hitting the wall after an energy surge from Sineya pushed me back, and the men ran away. When I woke up, I was in my father's arms as Sineya was running away from me. I told her to come back.. but I lost consciousness again."
"What happened then?" asked Giles.
"I admitted what I did to the Lantean Council" said Willow, "I broke one of their laws… I went against their orders. So I was exiled for ten years from Earth."
"But you weren't responsible" said Kennedy, "you did what you did to protect an innocent."
"Their orders were clear" said Willow, "do not make any clones. That's what they told me, but I did… and without permission. So I went to a planet called Kheb where I met Hera. She ascended.. I couldn't believe it. Ever since she died, all I saw was darkness… and here she was again; my light. Eventually I learned to ascend, but not before creating two weapons for Sineya.. the last weapons that I would ever make. She died using those weapons… one of them was destroyed.. I buried her with that. And the other one I gave it to a group that called itself the Guardians of the Ones for its protection. I ascended after that, after I completed my last task in this plain of existence. I travelled the galaxy with Hera, met occasionally with my parents… but we sisters spent eons just exploring the galaxy…. Multiple galaxies. We saw civilizations rise and fall, I saw humans from Earth taken away to other planets… I saw wars… I saw peace. I even saw Wilkins while I was in disguise; he made his deals with the demons to gain immortality. He's partly the reason I descended. He wanted to ascend on the Hellmouth, I knew I couldn't stand by…."
"So you were literally reborn" said Angel as Willow nodded her head.
"My mother locked my memories into the deepest recesses of my mind" said Willow, "but she stripped all my knowledge and my powers away. I gained the Furling gene from my mom, Sheila Rosenberg, and it took precedence over my Ancient gene since it lay dormant. That's why magic came so easy to me, why I could do the complex spells so easily. But when I flat lined the first time after joining the SGC, my Ancient gene became active and slowly took precedence over my Furling half."
"This… I mean…. the history of the Slayer line needs to be rewritten... I…. damn" said Giles as he looked at Buffy and the other Slayers, as well as the potentials, "Willow, what else can you tell us?"
"I saw the line being created" said Willow, "the Slayer line… or lines. Hera and I were there. Hera promised Sineya that she would ascend her for her sacrifice, but she refused. Sineya said that she wanted to help her successors…. To guide them; something she couldn't do if she was ascended. She died holding my hand, she died a hero after singlehandedly killing demons and a large winged dragon; I'm guessing it could have been an Old One. Then after she died, her body rose into the air and rays of light shot out towards every direction in a compass. Hera could sense that it was going around and through the Earth itself. Her death created the lines… and the next Slayer was activated."
"Did you help the next one?" asked Kennedy.
"No" said Willow, "I was tired, tired of fighting… tired of war… I just wanted peace. I travelled with the weapon for years after I buried Sineya. Then when I was in my eighties, I heard rumours of a group in Ancient Egypt. This was years after Ra came to this planet. So I went there, and gave the weapon to these Guardians. I told them that I didn't want my name attached to the weapon, that it was for the Slayer to use and that the worthy will claim it one day. Then I ascended."
"Can you tell me about this weapon?" asked Giles as he took out a pen and opened a notepad.
"Wait" said Cordelia, "who's Hera? I mean yeah she's your sister, but did she descend?"
"Yes" said Willow, "I don't know why… but if I could guess, she did it to protect everyone."
"Who is she?" asked Buffy.
"I can't tell you" said Willow, "I haven't even told her… I mean.. she has her own family now, I don't know if it's right to tell her that I'm her sister."
"That's ridiculous" said Cordelia, "you have a sister, I think she deserves to know… you can always read her into the Stargate program. You deserve your sister too, Willow."
"She's right" said Buffy, "you should tell her."
'Hera is Dawn, Buffy' thought Willow to herself as she gave the blonde slayer a small smile, 'how do I tell her, you and Joyce that Dawn's my sister… my birth sister.'
Earth Ship Avalon; 1600 hours.
Dawn was sitting in the Avalon's mess hall looking out at the blue and white of hyperspace. She was beamed up to the ship, along with her teammates in SG2 just after Willow was released from isolation at the SGC. As she looked out the window, the brunette remembered how relieved Willow was when seeing her; how tightly Willow held on to Dawn as if she never wanted to let her go. Knowing that she had to go, Dawn gave the redhead a quick kiss on the cheek as she held on much tighter. She got even more confused when a few tears fell on her neck, and then she looked at Willow; red eyes.
"Hey" said Dawn with a smile, "you had me worried you know, heard you just collapsed… or something."
"Yea" said Willow as she tenderly caressed Dawn's face, "I missed you too… I missed you a lot."
"I was only gone a day" said Dawn laughing.
"I know" said Willow quietly, "I heard you have a mission?"
"Yeah" said Dawn, "Caprica… now…"
"Be careful" said Willow as she gave Dawn a quick peck on the tip of her nose, just as she used to do to Hera on Atlantis, "and.. I love you."
Unknown to Dawn, Willow had a flash memory of them sleeping on adjacent beds in their shared room on Atlantis during a particularly bad thunderstorm on Lantea. After a really loud thunderclap, Willow remembered that Hera had woken up and ran over to her bed,
"Athena" said a five year old Hera as she stood at the side of the redhead's bed while poking the redhead's shoulder, "Athena, wake up."
"Hera" said a groggy Athena as she slowly opened her eyes to look at her frightened sister, "go to sleep… it is only a storm. The city shields will protect us. I have school in the morning."
"I am scared" said Hera as she held on to the soft toy that Melina had given Athena, which the redhead had given to Hera, "can I sleep alongside you?"
"Fine" sighed Athena as she lifted her blanket and Hera climbed onto the redhead's bed with a smile. After she lay with her back to Athena, the red head placed the blanket over Hera's body. Hera then reached back and grabbed a hold of Athena's hand which she then put over her body so that the redhead could hold on to her before closing her eyes with a smile.
"I love you Athena" said Hera as she felt Athena pulling the younger girl closer.
"I love you too" said Athena as she kissed the top of Hera's head, "sleep well, my dear sister."
"Love you too, Willow" said Dawn as she hugged Willow again, bringing her out of that memory and into the present, before heading off to the Gateroom, "trust me, I won't need saving again."
"Better not" said Willow as the doors closed behind Dawn, 'be careful, Hera.'
Dawn was brought out of her thoughts when an announcement came over the speaker system that they were almost at Caprica's coordinates. Smiling to herself, Dawn quickly got up and straightened out her vest before running to the bridge where Satterfield, Grogan and Lewis were already standing next to Colonel Ferretti.
"Hey, Summers" said the Colonel as he smiled at the younger brunette woman who waved back at the Colonel before she stood next to Satterfield as they looked out into hyperspace.
Few seconds before dropping out, Colonel Ronsen pressed a button on his chair and connected his subspace radio to the Excalibur that was right behind them.
"Avalon to Excalibur" said the Colonel, "dropping out of hyperspace in ten seconds."
"Roger" said Captain Lewis, commander of the Excalibur, "dropping out in three…. Two… one."
Two green clouds just appeared in space as both the Avalon and the Excalibur dropped out of hyperspace and entered normal space in orbit of Caprica. Looking back at Satterfield and Dawn, Colonel Rosen asked them if there was another planet close by.
"According to that tourist guide?" said Satterfield as she recalled the name of the closest planet to Caprica, "I think it's known as Gemenon. It's about four hundred and thirty nine thousand kilometres away from Caprica."
"Alright" said Colonel Ronsen as he looked at the Captain who was manning one of the consoles, "Initiate full life sign scans of the planet. I want to know how many people there are down there. Notify the Excalibur that…."
"Sir" said the Major to his left, "sensors are reading ships that just appeared in the planet's atmosphere….. looks like small vessels. Transports of some kind."
"How many?" asked Colonel Ronsen.
"About eighteen" said the Major, "they just appeared out of nowhere, sir. No hyperspace windows were formed."
"Interesting" said Colonel Ronsen as he turned back to Colonel Feretti, "Lou, you know your new orders?"
"Find the Gate" said Colonel Ferretti, "and secure it if possible. Then blow up whatever's blocking the connection, and then come back."
Colonel Ronsen nodded his head before Colonel Ferretti turned around and directed his team to move out.
"SG2, move out" said Colonel Ferretti as he nodded at Dawn and the others.
As SG2 were running towards one of the storage bay where a Puddle Jumper was being kept, the Colonel turned back around on his chair before asking Captain Lewis to start scanning the surface of Gemennon for any survivors.
"Copy" said Captain Lewis just before he entered hyperspace.
Surface of Caprica, site of the destroyed Delphi Museum of the Colonies, five minutes later.
Ever since Dawn found out that she carried the Ancient gene, she's always wanted to fly the Puddle Jumper. She would bug Willow and Faith to teach her how to fly the machine, and eventually after some begging with General Landry and Colonel Ferretti, they relented. Willow had been the one training Dawn in flying the ship until the young brunette could do it in her sleep. That was the reason why she was sulking in the co-pilot's seat while Airman Lewis flew the cloaked ship into the city. Since the two of them had the gene, they left it to a coin flip to decide who would fly… and Airman Lewis was the one who won. Grinning at the young brunette, Lewis gleefully took his seat and flew the ship down to the surface of the planet.
As he flew through the clouds, the holographic HUD popped up when he thought about where those ships that entered the atmosphere earlier were.
"There" said Dawn as she pointed at eighteen dots that landed at a nearby clearing, "a rescue party?"
"Could be" said Satterfield as she walked up behind Dawn, "my doppelganger did say that some survivors left the Colonies, so maybe these are part of those survivors here to rescue those people?"
"Maybe" said Colonel Ferretti, "we find the Stargate, blow up whatever's prevent the wormhole from forming.. and then we head back until the Avalon finishes her scans."
"You think there are more survivors, sir?" asked Lewis.
"Could be" said Colonel Ferretti, "the Odyssey found two thousand, and that was only after a few minutes of scanning the surface. But whatever it is, we should try help these people and the best way to do that is to free the Gate so that medical supplies could be sent over."
"Agreed, Sir" said Airman Lewis as he flew towards the City.
Orbit of Caprica, twenty minutes later.
Colonel Ronsen was on the bridge when he checked the progress of the scans. The Major had told him that so far they found six thousand scattered survivors and they were only seventy percent done. Frowning, he was hoping that SG2 would be able to free the Gate; recalling the last communication with the team… Colonel Rosen was told that the gate was still intact, but there were large chunks of debris that were blocking the formation of the wormhole. The Colonel told Colonel Ferretti to use any means possible to destroy the debris.
"Any signs of those robots?" asked Colonel Ronsen.
"None" said Colonel Ferretti over the radio, "we flew over the whole city, but there was nothing. If you ask me, it's simply too quiet."
"Understood" said Colonel Ronsen, "watch your backs."
"You too" said Colonel Ferretti, "Feretti, out."
After he finished talking to the Colonel, Colonel Ronsen connected to Captain Lewis on the Excalibur. He told Colonel Ronsen that there were no survivors; that even with deep ground penetrating scans, they found no one.
"Damn" said Colonel Ronsen, "head on back, Excalibur."
Once Captain Lewis acknowledged, Colonel Ronsen leaned back on his seat and looked at the number on the scanning console. Scanning was ninety percent done, and all the found were eight thousand survivors so for.
"Sir!" said the Major to his left, "six large ships just appeared out of nowhere to our port side."
"Open a channel" said Colonel Ronsen, "and inform the ground team that we have company."
"Yes, sir" said the Major as he opened a channel before informing Colonel Feretti and the others about what was going on.
"Hopefully this translation thing works" said the Colonel to himself when he recalled that Asgard engineers provided the SGC with near instant translation software after the last encounter the Odyssey had over Caprica. Pressing a button, the Colonel started to speak.
"Attention, unknown vessels" said Colonel Ronsen as he looked at the six Baseships when the Excalibur dropped out of hyperspace and stopped alongside the Avalon, "my name is Colonel William Ronsen, commander of the Earth ship Avalon. We are here to simply help the survivors of a nuclear war. We have no interest in fighting you… we come in peace."
Baseship One; Orbit over Caprica.
A Number Eight was looking at the screen next to her in shock at what she just heard. Turning to the other models in front of her, she wanted to know what kind of a sick joke this was as she stared at Number One.
"You said that Earth was a myth" said the Number Eight.
"It is a myth" said Cavil, "or else our creators would have put its location in our programming. This is just a Colonial trick."
"The two ships carry that mark of a triangle with the circle on top" said a Number Six as she looked at the Cylon version of a Colonial DRADIS system.
"The voice sounds robotic" said a D'Anna, "could be some form of a translation device… or they could be a form of Cylons we've never met before."
"This is a sign from God" said Leoben, "we chased off the one, and two more came over this planet. Maybe it's a sign… a sign that we hear them out."
"If they're from this so-called Earth" said Cavil, "you really think they'll be happy that we were responsible for humanity's destruction? I say we destroy them, and then find those strange grey vessels that have been taking our kind out a fleet at a time."
"Surface scans are showing Colonial signals on the surface of the planet" said a Number Four, "I suggest we take them out, while we discuss these two ships."
"Launch raiders" said Cavil, "destroy them all."
"On the surface, only" said Leoben, "we need to talk to these… beings."
"Fine" said Cavil in a huff, "launch raiders take out those humans who thought they could mount a rescue."
After they launched their raiders, the humanoid Cylons turned back to the two ships in front of them when an alarm went off.
"Oh dear God" shouted the Number Six, "another contact…. It's one of those grey ships."
"Unknown vessel" said the robotic voice over their speakers, "I recommend you charge your shields."
"Shields?" said Cavil as he looked at the models in front of him when all he suddenly saw was a bright yellow beam of light hitting them.
Avalon, Orbit of Caprica, a few seconds earlier.
Colonel Ronsen had sent his greetings to the Baseships but he didn't get any response. He, and Captain Lewis on the Excalibur, agreed that it would be better to wait for a few more seconds before sending another greeting. As he got off his chair and walked to the forward window. The Major suddenly called him back to his console where he notified the Colonel that one of the ships had sent fighters to the surface of the planet.
"Damn it" said the Colonel as he went back to his chair when suddenly another hyperspace window opened behind the Baseships and an Ori ship dropped out of hyperspace, "Unknown Vessels! I recommend charging your shields."
"One of them has been destroyed, Sir" said the Captain next to him.
"Charge shields, fire missiles and railguns" said Colonel Ronsen, "activate the Ancient weapons system."
"Sir" said the Major as another of the Baseships was destroyed, "those ships show no signs of any shield generators."
"Damn it" said Colonel Ronsen as a lieutenant behind him shouted that the Baseships had started to fire nuclear weapons at the Ori vessel, "Excalibur, watch our six."
"Roger that" said Captain Lewis as the lights on the bridges of both ships dimmed for battle while they engaged their sublight drives and flew into action, "we're ready to engage."
Former location of the Delphi Museum of the Colonies, Caprica.
The explosion from the Naquada generator, that had taken out much of the surrounding area of the museum, had resulted in a carter with the Stargate buried under tonnes of debris. SG2 already tried blowing up the debris with C4 without any success. They were heading back to the Puddle Jumper where Dawn and Grogan were keeping watch for any Cylons in the area. It was then that their radio's activated; it was Colonel Ronsen telling them that an Ori ship was in the area and that they had to get back immediately.
"Oh boy" said Dawn as she ran out of the ship as the others were running towards her. She could see Colonel Ferretti shouting at her to start the Jumper. Excitedly, Dawn ran to the pilots seat when the console immediately activated along with a HUD display that showed strange planes that were attacking an area to their north-east, in a forested area.
"Summers" said Colonel Ferretti, "take off, let's get out of here."
"Colonel" shouted Dawn as the ship slowly lifted off and she engaged the cloak, "we've got some weird planes that seem to be attacking something, maybe it's those rescuers we saw earlier?"
"SG2 leader to Avalon" said Colonel Feretti as he spoke into the subspace radio, "what's your status?"
"We lost railguns! All power's been transferred to the Ancient weapons" shouted the Colonel, "Shields at seventy percent… same with the Excalibur. Get back now."
"We've got what looks like a rescue team pinned down" said Colonel Ferretti as Dawn flew over the area unseen and saw eleven strange planes attacking an area near a clearing. SG2 saw them destroy seven out of the eighteen small ships on the clearing while the rescuers seemed to be pinned down at the edge of a forested area, "please advise."
"We can hold the Ori off for maybe another five minutes through some fancy maneuvering" said the Colonel, "but we cant beam up those rescuers because of the shields…. Get back if unsuccessful."
"Got it" said Colonel Ferretti as he nodded at Dawn.
"Woohooo!" shouted Dawn as she decloaked the Puddle Jumper and moved in.
Caprica Forestry Reserve, at the same time.
Starbuck and the others were taking cover from the Cylon raiders as they started to attack the Search and Rescue Raptors that were sent from both Galactica and Pegasus. The blonde knew that Admiral Cain was just playing them, that the only reason the Admiral agreed to this rescue mission was so that she could get the military personnel from Galactica on her side before an all out attack on the Cylons. Starbuck knew that Commander Adama and the President didn't agree with the plan which involved the use of both ships , but she also knew that the resistance on Caprica had to be rescued; so she played along with Admiral Cain's plans.
Starbuck looked behind her at the badly bruised Sharon who she had specifically requested for this operation since she was the expert with the Cylon jump drives and she could plot a jump faster than any human. The first time she, and Helo, had seen her was a shock for everyone.. but they didn't show it in front of the Admiral. Now, she saw Helo covering her, and their child, as another raider made a strafing run on their position while more destroyed another two raptors.
'Damn it' thought Starbuck to herself, 'we need… what the frak?"
Starbuck shouted for cover as she saw what looked like a grey cylindrical object fly past them before four yellow missiles fired from two small wings extended out from its sides. She and the others looked on as each of the missiles took out three raiders by going through one after another, until all the raiders were destroyed. The small group cautiously walked out of the tree line as the small ship slowly landed.
"Get as many people as you safely can onto the raptors that can still fly, then jump the frak out of here" shouted Starbuck as she ran towards the craft as it's rear door slowly opened , "looks like we don't have enough for everyone. I'll ask the rescuers of the rescuers if they can give us a lift. Now go!"
"Come on, Sharon" said Helo as he tried pulled the mother of his child away to another Raptor, but she wouldn't budge.
"Wait, Helo" said Sharon while she looked on as the door completely opened and she saw someone she thought she'd never see again. Then she noticed that Starbuck stopped moving before she brought up her weapon at the woman, leading to her and the others in the ship pointing their weapons at the Colonial Officer.
"NO!" shouted Sharon as she ran and stood between the woman she knew as Lauren Satterfield and Starbuck.
"You" said Satterfield as she looked in shock at her bruised doppelganger, "what the hell…."
"Sharon?" said Helo as he ran to the Asian brunette woman and stopped in shock when he saw Satterfield standing inside the ship.
"Lauren… Lauren, right?" said Sharon, "please tell me you're not another of my copies."
"Guys!" shouted Dawn, "the Avalon has only fifty percent shielding left… we need to go now!"
"Look, we have a ship in orbit… this place is lost right now" said Satterfield, "either you come with us, or you become Slaves… your choice."
"Starbuck" said Sharon as she looked at the shocked blonde, "trust me, she's human."
"You're a Cylon" said Starbuck as she looked at Sharon, "this could be a trick that you were in on from the beginning. And to think I felt sorry for you."
"Satterfield" shouted Colonel Ferretti, "translate what I'm telling them. Get into the fucking ship! NOW! And that's a fucking order!"
Satterfield translated exactly what the Colonel told them as fifteen people squeezed into the small ship before the ramp closed and Dawn accelerated the ship out of Caprica's atmosphere.
"By the gods" said Helo as he stood next to Sharon as they saw the Ori ship fire on the Excalibur as its shields flared before the smaller ship fired eight red coloured spherical energy rounds at the Ori vessel. They then watched the Avalon get hit by blue pulses of energy that shot out from behind the Ori ship and impacted the shields before the Avalon returned fire using the Ancient weapons, "this is like a science fiction show… how?"
"Avalon" said Colonel Feretti as they approached the ship, "open bay doors, we're coming in. We have some guest too so please have a security team waiting for us, and we need to have an ARG on stand-by, just in case."
"Copy" said Colonel Ronsen as she Jumper almost reached the bay.
"Slow down" said Sharon as she noticed how fast they were going, "slow down, slow down…. Frak!"
Sharon closed her eyes as the small ship entered the small bay so fast that she was sure that they would crash inside. However, she didn't hear the sounds, or the heat of a crash and she slowly opened her eyes, as did the other Colonial passengers.
"Colonel" said Dawn as she pressed her radio, "we're in."
"Got it" said Colonel Ronsen as both of the ships entered hyperspace while the Ori ship slowly made its way onto the surface of Caprica.
Dawn released her hold on the controls after she slowly lowered the ship onto the floor of the bay and leaned back breathing a sigh of relief while looking at Colonel Ferretti who was sitting on the Co-pilot's seat.
"That was fun" said Dawn with a smile, "can I do that again?"
"Yeah" said the Colonel sarcastically, "how about we leave the near misses and near deaths to SG1?"
"Awww" said Dawn as she slowly got up and turned around and was surprised when she saw the state Sharon, who was standing right behind her with Helo, was in, "hey, you alright?"
"I…. I…" said Sharon as she looked at Helo and then at Dawn again, "I'd like to request for asylum with the Thirteenth Tribe."
TBC.