Ship of the Line: Far Traveler

by Worldmaker

My response to Zaion's Ship of the Line challenge on Twisting the Hellmouth. The Scoobies wake up after Halloween to find themselves in orbit, at the controls of a powerful warship from a thousand years in the future. How will their new circumstances affect a 21st Century Earth that is already embroiled in a secret interstellar war? Rated M for mature language and situations.

6. Agreements

Chapter Six: Agreements

xxxXXxxx

"When you feel lost and about to give up 'cause your best just ain't good enough"
"And you feel the world has grown cold, and you're drifting out all on your own"
"And you need a hand to hold. Darlin' reach out!"

"Come on girl, reach out for me. Reach out for me!"
"'Cause I'll be there with a love that will shelter you!"
"And I'll be there with a love that will see you through!"
– Levi Stubbs, (lead singer of the Four Tops), "Reach Out (I'll Be There)"

xxxXXxxx

So the cat was out of the bag. The whole world now knew about the Goa'uld threat, as well as the Stargate and its history. Most of the diplomats wore shocked expressions. Al Gore's face was passive, as were most of the SG-1 team. Robert Kinsey looked like he was chewing ground glass.

"You had no right to reveal that information. It was classified."

Xander crossed his arms overt his chest and drew in a breath through his nose. He glared at the Senator silently for a long moment before speaking. "Senator, you seem to be under the mistaken belief that this ship and my crew are somehow under the control and authority of the United States government. We are not, and I do not give a damn what you think is or is not a secret. The existence of the Goa'uld and the Stargate were facts they needed to hear, so I told them. If there is other information that I believe planet earth needs to know, I will tell them, too. And not only do you or any of your colleagues," Xander waved his hand to encompass all the sitting diplomats, American and otherwise, "not have anything to say about it, there is nothing you can do to stop me."

Kinsey fumed, then muttered, "We'll see about that."

"No, Robert, we won't. The Captain is right. Shut up and be quiet." Al Gore's voice was calm but resigned, as if he expected this all to happen.

The various ambassadors and foreign ministers were staring at Xander open-mouthed. It was clear they were having problems processing what he just said. Of course, he couldn't tell if they were still in shock about the Goa'uld or his declaration of independence. Or both.

The Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister cleared his voice, before asking, "So this alien species is dedicated to conquering Earth because of America and its endless thirst for military adventurism?"

Xander stared at the man. The silence hung in the air for a couple of minutes, before he spoke again. "We do not need your political grandstanding. I do not care for your ideological differences. The Goa'uld are a species of blood-minded predatory conquerors They are interested in only two things, personal power, and acquiring more slaves to take as hosts. And ever since they stumbled across the Earth 12,000 years ago, they've liked humans for that paused, letting it sink in. "These alien parasites conquered the ancient earth, and ruled this planet for thousands of years. I'm not sure on why they left, but they did. But them leaving didn't mean they forgot about Earth."

More silence.

"How do you know all this?" the Russian delegate asked.

"We told them." Al Gore admitted. "This is all information that we learned after a Goa'uld warlord calling himself Apophis went looking for new slaves and sent an assault force through the Stargate. These invaders attacked an American air force base, killed several people, and kidnapped more." Gore paused for a moment. "The attack we suffered was unprovoked and unexpected. That needs to be clear. We didn't start this war. The Goa'uld did! And unfortunately, we've been losing."

Xander nodded. "Which is understandable, given the fact that you are out-manned and outgunned and fighting a defensive war on an unfamiliar battlefield. When we found all this out, my crew and I sat down, talked over our options, and in the end, decided that while we might not be in our own time, the Earth is still the capital of the ICS."
"Not to mention," Buffy interrupted, "a bunch of us were born there. Its our home." There were confused looks all around at her words. Buffy rolled her eyes and huffed. "In our time Earth has a population of around 40 billion people. Not all of those people are human. I was born in the San Angeles metroplex. I'm a California girl through and though"

"Anyway..." Xander said. "Just... rest assured. The safety of Planet Earth is of paramount importance to us. We will help defend the Earth from the Goa'uld".

"How?" The Australian foreign secretary broke the silence and caught Xander's attention. "I mean, I get that you're committed and all, but just what are you planning on doing to defend Earth."

"That is an excellent question, Mister Ambassador." Xander paused, gathering his thoughts. "Beyond the obvious – which is being an active military force in space – the plan my crew settled on is this: we're going to share our advanced technology and future knowledge with the nations of Earth until you are on an equal footing with us. This will eventually make you more than capable of defending yourself on your own, and will allow you to expand safely into space. The best defense against the Goa'uld is to make humanity an interstellar species. Keeping all of humanity's eggs in one basket, if you'll excuse the phrase, is suicidal."

"Okay," the Australian said slowly. "But again, how? I can't see how it would be feasible for you to just infodump all your future knowledge on us all at once. I'm guessing its going to be gradual advances over time." At Xander's nod, the Australian ambassador continued. "And I also take it you're not going to just hand over laser guns and space battleships." Another nod from Xander. "So what specifically are you planning to do, Captain Samson."

"We're going to start with technology you can manufacture in the here and now. Basically, things that are years or maybe decades away from being here on earth anyway... we'll just be giving it to you early. New advanced imaging technology, some new drugs. Like I said, we wanted to start with basic technology that might be outdated for us, but that your technological base is capable of dealing with."

Xander was about to continue when he was interrupted by Senator Kinsey. "So you're giving us your leftovers, your trash – the tech so old to you that you don't even use it anymore." The scorn was evident on his face and in his tone. "You're keeping the advanced tech for yourself and giving us nothing. How do we know you aren't setting us up so that you could conquer us."

The crew of the Far Traveler visibly bristled. Everyone was silent for a long stretch of seconds. This douche is set to see everything we do in the worst light unless we present just what he wants on a silver plate. The thought rose in Xander's mind and stuck. He'd have to deal with Kinsey sooner or later, so why not sooner?

"Dawn." Xander's voice was harsh. "Display a map of the United States." Above everyone's heads, a holographic projection sprung into existence. "Now, display the current locations of all military based within the continental United States." Th e map was suddenly swarming with red dots... easily a thousand of them. "Now, remove all American military bases that would be utterly destroyed in our initial volley of fire if we decided to attack." All the red dots vanished, except one. Somewhere in Colorado.
"Oh, look at that." Xander sounded sarcastic. "Looks like if I wanted to conquer the Earth, I could do it in... Dawn?"

The map vanished, replaced by the face of the ship's AI. "On the off chance that you go crazy and order an attack on the United States, total destruction of all American military assets in the continental United States would take an estimated minimum of four minutes, eighteen seconds." Dawn paused. "An estimated maximum of six minutes, two second."

"Cool," Xander grinned. "And what's with the lone survivor?"

"Stargate Command, being located as it is under Cheyenne Mountain and NORAD's primary operational facility, would survive our first volley, Captain."

Xander nodded. "Right. Recommendations?"

The AI's expression didn't shift or pause at all. "Hit them twice in quick succession. It would increase the estimates for total destruction of US military assets to between four minutes twenty two seconds and six minutes nine seconds."

"And mop-up of US forces world-wide, Dawn? Ships at sea and so on?" Xander asked.

"Add another twenty-four hours or so, Captain. We could achieve global domination in about twenty-four hours."
Buffy interrupted, realizing what Xander was doing. "Dawn, what about earth-bound responses. Counter-attacks."
"They would be irrelevant, Commander Summer. There is no weapon system on earth capable of penetrating our defenses. There would be no response that we would need to be concerned about, ma'am."

Senator Kinsey looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel. "You can't threaten..." He shouted, but was cut off by Xander.
"Sit down, Senator, and shut up. The point of all this is that If I wanted to conquer Earth, I'd have already done it. Do you get it yet, moron? If I was to attack the entire planet, I could glass it in hours. But I haven't. So what does that tell you? I don't need to 'trick' you to conquer you. I just have to want to. Which I don't."

Xander took a deep breath through his nose. Breath in three, four, five, six. Breath out eight nine ten. On the other size of the aisle, Al Gore was having a whispered conversation with the Senator.

"Were there any other questions?" Xander asked.

"Yes." The German ambassador spoke up for the first time. One of our telecommunications companies reported that they lost contact with one of their satellites, and when it came back online it was in a higher orbit. Was that you?"

"Umm.. I'm not sure. Dawn?"

Dawn addressed the politician directly. "Ambassador, if you are referring to SATCOMBw-1, then yes, it was us. I am under orders to clear the orbitals to make way for automated defense platforms. My orders specifically were to "clean up the trash", sir. So I've been scooping up all the non-functional machinery and bits and bobs of metal floating around in orbit. The higher orbit will allow the satellite to operate more efficiently without getting in the way of the defense platforms."

"Oh." The ambassador said. "In that case, thank you."

"You're welcome,sir. I will not be recycling any functional satellite, but occasionally will be moving them. Hopefully my actions will not interfere with their functions.

"We will be constructing four manned stations in Earth orbit, and another on the Moon within the next five to ten years." Xander said. "Eventually there will also be installations on Vesta, Titan, Europa, and Triton."

"Manned by who?" Kinsey asked. "You said it yourself, you've got fewer than ten people."
"The four stations in Earth orbit will be turned over to the United Nations. Who mans them will be up to you. As for the others," Xander paused, expecting a bad reaction to the rest. "We're going to recruit a replacement crew from the Earth's population. Volunteers, of course."

"I'm sure our various nations could supply volunteers from the Armed Services. They..." Al Gore trailed off as Samson and a few of his officers were already shaking their heads. "Okay, why not?"

"I'm not going to crew a Staunch-Defender class battleship with soldiers whose first loyalty is to their home nation rather than to this ship, and I am not going to demand they give up their allegiances to those nation; if I did, I'd be looking over my shoulder the entire time for a mutiny. What I wants are people willing to place the well-being of the entire Planet Earth above such petty notion as national pride or patriotism."

Kinsey stiffened in his seat next to the Vice-President. "Petty..." the Senator muttered, but the audio setup in the room, run by the ship's AI, picked it up anyway.

"Yes, Senator. Petty. The welfare of the entire planet is much more important than the trivial quibbles between nations. Which brings us to another issue. You – the assembled nations of the Earth, must put a unified international military command in place. A single planetary authority whose purpose is to defend the planet and represent everyone. My ship, my crew, and I will not put ourselves under the authority of any one nation, and we're not going to put orbital weapons under a single nation either. We will not become the big stick with which you beat your neighbors into submission."

"You want to impose a one-world government?" Kinsey started. "Some global pie-in-the-sly communist utopia where everyone's needs are met and we're all just best buddies. Captain, that guff sounds good when coming out of the mouth of Jim Kirk but in reality its just a pipe-dream?"

"I didn't say government, I said a unified command."

"And I suppose you will demand to be the commander of such a thing?"

Captain Samson chuckled. "Me? Oh hell no. I'll just stay where I am on this ship, thanks."

"And what if we say no?" The Senator looked smug.

Xander shrugged. "If you say no, we'll still give you humanitarian aid. You know, medical technology, advanced pharmaceuticals, terraforming to fertilize deserts. But you'll never get so much as a slingshot from us when it comes to weapons. No improved space tech to build your own starships. No help getting off the planet or colonizing the stars. Nothing."

Buffy took the time to add, "No advanced farming techniques, no matter replication technology, no cheap desalination. You'll lose the means to solve homelessness, starvation, and chronic illness overnight." The Pelkon officer shrugged. "Not to mention losing access to the accumulated wealth of the solar system by using the Far Traveler and its subordinate vessels as lifting bodies." Xander watched as Al Gore nodded at her words. As a science fiction fan, Gore knew precisely what the value of the asteroid belt was. Not to mention rare ores from Mercury, radioactives from Venus, unlimited hydrogen fuel from the gas giants, petrochemicals on Titan...

"Let us assume that we agree and institute a unified military command." The Chinese ambassador began, turning to look at the American Vice president with a nod. Gore returned the nod. "What else other than a volunteer crew would you want in return for your largess?"

Xander sighed in relief. This was the right direction for the discussion to take. "We'd like access to earth. Travel privileges, shore leave, if you prefer. Some place to go and relax during our down time. I don't know if its obvious, Mister Ambassador, but no matter how used to living on a starship you are, even one as large as the Traveler, time under a wide open sky in a natural environment is always beneficial to morale and health."

"Not to mention associating with people who aren't among the ten of us. No offense to my fellow crew, but Pelkons are more socially inclined than Humans, and we need to interact with people."

Senator Kinsey puffed his chest up. "And what if we just decide to take your ship? There's nine of you and plenty of armed agents here who could..." There was a sound, a low hum, that interrupted the bluster, and with a flash of light the Senator was gone.

The diplomats and security types all shouted in surprise. None of the starship's crew even so much as twitched.

"Well first, we have a fully-functional AI whose primary purpose – other than operating the ship's electronic warfare package, is to defend against hostile boarding parties." Xander said with a smirk

"We also have functional teleportation technology." Buffy added, also smirking.

"What the fuck was that?" The American Vice-President demanded of the Far Traveler's commanding officer.

"Like Commander Summer, functional teleportation technology. Sight to sight matter stream transport. Its one of our standard responses to piracy threats. If someone threatens to take over the ship without authorization, we remove them from the ship", the grin Xander gave Gore was an evil one. "Usually we drop them right outside the ship in naked space.

"Oh, God," Gore cried, "please tell me you didn't..."

Samson shook his head. "Of course not. We're not monsters."

"Then where did you send him?"

xxxXXxxx

With a flash of light, the intruder appeared out of thin air atop the Resolute desk just in front of where President Bill Clinton sat. The president was so surprised by the intruder's sudden appearance that he dropped the telephone receiver he'd been holding.
"... take you all down in a heartbeat," the intruder said.

In that heartbeat, one agent had pulled the president away from his desk while two more tackled the intruder bodily from the desk. Their target hit the floor of the oval office with the sound of a snapping bone and a short scream of pain.

It took a moment for anyone to realize the intruder was Senator Robert Kinsey. From under the two agents detaining him, the Senator shouted, "You stupid motherfuckers! You broke my arm!"

"Shut the hell up. A third agent put a knee in Kinsey's back and drew his service weapon. The agent pressed the muzzle of his pistol to the back of the Senator's head while the two who had knocked him down stood. He held it there while a second agent cuffed the intruder. The agent then looked around, hurriedly. "Clear!' he announced, the call was echoed by three other agents.

As the members of the presidential bodyguard hauled Kinsey to his feet, the Senator looked up into the president's eyes. Clinton was laughing. "What happened, Bob? Piss off the wrong person?"

xxxXXxxx

"Then where did you send him?"

"To be honest, I have no idea. I'm sure he's safe on Earth, somewhere."

"Somewhere?" The question came from Vice-President Gore.

Xander spoke into the air "Dawn?"

The translucent blue girl appeared out of nowhere. "We are currently over the East Coast of the United States. As such, I decided to return the Senator to Washington DC."

"There, you see? All safe and sound. Now, I think we should all take a break. Maybe get a snack or a drink?" Xander's grin was of the "shit-eating" variety, as everyone around him could tell.

"Dawn..." the Vice President spoke into the air. "You didn't happen to drop Senator Kinsey into the Washington Municipal jail or some place similar, I suppose?"

"No sir. Imprisoning the Senator without his being convicted of a crime would violate his rights. So I transported him to the Oval office." Dawn replied before winking out.

Gore stared at the spot where the AI's hologram avatar once stood. "Vicious." Gore's secret service detail chuckled.

XxxXXxxx

Forty-Eight Hours Later

"So we hammered out a rough deal. I'm sure the folks over at State will have a grand time smoothing out the rough spots and turning it into something with can go to Congress with." It was two days later. The Vice-President had been back on Earth for all of three hours. He was surprised he wasn't more tired, but the truth was, the guest quarters he had been assigned aboard the starship were superb. Better then any hotel room he could remember staying in.

"And it all finished up with a tour of the solar system." The president whistled. "I bet that was fun."
"Bill, I'll tell you." Gore's eyes unfocused as he remembered what he'd seen. "It was magical. Seeing the Moon up close – that would have been spectacular enough, but then we saw Jupiter, brighter and more colorful than I've ever seen it. And Saturn... Samson told me they're going to construct an anchorage for us in orbit of Saturn, and a colony station on Titan. I'm telling you, when we get our own ships, the crews will be fighting to be assigned out there, its so beautiful."
"Sounds fantastic." Clinton nodded. "Can't wait to go myself. So what were their demands?"

"Well, in a nutshell, they're going to help us against the aliens and provide us with some helpful technologies. That said, Captain Samson said that the Earth has to develop a unified command of all its military forces in order to better defend the planet. And he said he's not going to allow his ship to become the weapon of any one nation. All or nothing."

"Tricky, but it makes sense. I bet the Russians and Chinese just loved that part."

"You know it. I think Malakov was going to stroke out. And then Samson demanded free and fair elections from the less democratic of our fellow countries." Gore watched as Clinton's jaw dropped. "We're all free to refuse, of course, but if we do, they're not going to share the neat tech, and that nation will be left behind. Oh, and any country that tries to keep humanitarian tech reserved for a special elite class will be punished."

There was a moment of silence, then Clinton asked, "Punished how?"

Gore just shook his head. "They were non-specific when it came to the details, but were clear: the humanitarian aid was meant for everyone, no exceptions."
At this Clinton nodded. "I can agree with that. We'll make sure this aid gets distributed fairly."

Gore took a deep breath. "Lastly, they plan on recruiting and training a replacement crew from the general population. Won't accept active duty military due to conflicting loyalties."

This time Clinton was shaking his head. "That's brilliant. Utterly brilliant. It has no hope of working, but its brilliant. When do they plan on starting?"

"This is the sticky part, Bill." Al Gore took a deep breath. "They already have started."

xxxXXxxx

"Wait... what are you saying?" The truth was, James Cooper hadn't been paying attention. He was hovering over his wife's hospital bed, trying not to cry about the fact that hope for her was gone. Hannah had been fighting pancreatic cancer for two years, and it had finally passed into Stage Four. It had been eating her away from the inside, to the point that she looked like a zombie. The doctors hadn't said it outright, but they'd made it clear she was at the "any moment now" part of cancer, and he had a hard decision. Does he pull the plug, or leave her on life support?

Then this strange man approached, James ignored him. The man tried to talk to him, but James Ignored him. Hannah was the only thing he cared about right now.

Which was when the words "... help your wife... " penetrated his consciousness.

"Wait... what are you saying?" James finally paid attention to the stranger. He was short, and wearing a vaguely military outfit. "Help my..." James couldn't finish the question.

The man nodded. "Sir, I am Lieutenant Jonathan Brandenberger. I've come to make your family and offer." James blinked. There was something wrong with the man's voice. It didn't match the movement of his lips. "We want to help your wife. And perhaps five you a job."

"She's at the terminal stage, there's..." James broke into tears at his own words. "The doctors said there's nothing that anyone can do for her."

"Sir, if you'll excuse me for saying so, our doctors have a different opinion."

James took in the man's uniform and the tablet the device the man was holding. It looked like a computer screen, but no one made computer's that small. "Your doctors?"

"I'm from the Far Traveler. You might have heard about us in the news? The alien starship? We're from the future, Mister Cooper, and we can help your wife." James felt – for the first time in months – a ray of hope. "If you let us, that is."

"Anything. Please, help her. I'll do anything."

"We can talk about that later. In the meantime, let's get your wife some help." The lieutenant tapped his own neck, just under his ear. "It's a go."

There was a bright flash of light, and the room was empty. James and Hannah Cooper, along with the hospital equipment she was attached to and the alien lieutenant, had vanished into thin air.

xxxXXxxx

Faith stared at the phone for a long, long time, not sure what to do. She'd returned home to find the apartment filled with fucking vampires and Diane... Faith blinked at the memory and swallowed. Diane had been literally nailed to a wall and disemboweled. The woman's intestines had been looped around her neck like a rope.

Faith stared at the phone for a long, long time.

She ran. There was no way a normal girl like her could take on a dozen vampires and live, so she ran. Diane was dead already, there was nothing she could have done to save Diane because Diane was dead already so there was no shame in running for her life, right? So she ran for her life and never looked back. Not more than two or three times, anyway.

And the vampires chased her because of course they did. But it had been weird, like they were playing with her. Even half-trained, Faith could tell they were playing with her. They even taunted her while they did so. Eventually Faith began to tire, so she found a house and broke in. Any house would do, of course, but Faith had been lucky enough to find one that was empty. No idea where the owners were but their driveway was empty. A light was on, though, which was good.

Faith kicked the front door in, just as she'd been taught, planting the full force of the kick to the right of the lock, and as expected the lock stayed secure and the door broke open. She dove inside just in time to watch the vamp who had been about to tackle her bounce off the threshold like a rubber ball thrown against cement floor.

Faith didn't relax. She still wasn't safe, just safer. After hitting the bathroom to take a quick piss and the kitchen to down two glasses of water, she took a look outside. The vampires were gathering.

Faith stared at the phone for a long, long time.

The boss vamp, a big ugly fucker named Kakistos, had started shouting at her. "Come out, Faith. Come out of we'll burn the house down around you!" She watched as Kakistos gestured at his followers, talking the entire time, pointing off into the distance here, there, and everywhere. The vamps ran off in the appointed directions obediently.

Faith could imagine what was happening. "You... Slappy... go fetch some gasoline... and you, Melvin, I am going to need some matches..."

Faith stared at the phone for a long, long time.

The commercial had been on during the late-late show. She and Diane had been watching "Beast Master" for about the tenth time. Faith had heard somewhere that this movie was always being broadcast. Literally, every hour of every day, somewhere in the US and Canada, "Beast Master" was being shown on television. Somewhere. She loved it. It was cheesy goodness and Marc Singer, playing the titular barbarian hero, was easy on the eyes, especially when dressed in a fur loincloth and nothing else.

But then there was the commercial. It was weird. A picture of Planet Earth from orbit, and a voice saying "People of earth, we are here to help. If you find yourself in a hopeless situation, or believe you are in danger, and there's no where else to turn, just pick up the phone. Don't bother dialling a number, just say "I need help, Traveler." intro it. Then sit back and wait."

Diane thought it was some sort of scam. Faith thought it was a joke. They both had a huge laugh over whoever might be stupid enough to try it.

The vampires outside were circling the house, pouring out jerry cans on the building's walls. She couldn't smell the gasoline, but there was no reason to think it was anything else. Faith stared at the phone for a long, long time, then lunged for it. There was the standard ready tone and she spoke over it. "I need help, Traveler. Help! Please help!" When you were desperate, you'd accept any offer of help.

Faith put the phone back on its cradle, not sure what was going to happen now, but hoping something would.

It took almost a minute, and when it did, Faith screamed like a little girl. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly a pale giant woman was standing in front of her.

"Who the fuck are you?" Faith demanded in a panic.

"Calm down, I'm Willow, and I'm here to help." The giant chick looked around quickly. "Are we in immediate danger?"

"Fucking right we are." Faith pointed out the window. "They're setting fire to the house."

The tall bitch looked out the window. "Ah. Vampires. We best be on our way, then. Here." She held her hand out to Faith, and when Faith didn't respond, shook it at her. "Come on. Grab my hand."

Faith did so. She was watching the vampire approach the house with an honest-to-Christ torch in its hand as she heard the tall women, Willow, say, "Jonathan, go."

"Who the fuck..." there was a bright flash of light, and suddenly Faith was no longer in the shadowy front room of the house, but a brightly lit... somewhere. It looked high-tech, like the inside of an Apple store. "... is Jonathan", she finished weakly.

"That would be me." A short man in a blue and black uniform came around a counter covered in buttons and screens. Faith goggled at him. "Welcome to the Far Travler, Miss..."

"Faith. My name is Faith." Her voice was a whisper.

"Welcome to the Far Traveler, Faith. Its okay, you're safe. Everything will be okay now." This Jonathan guy gave the pale chick a glance before turning back to her. "Are you injured? Do you need a doctor?"

xxxXXxxx

Author's Note: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the property of Warner Brothers in conjunction with Mutant Enemy Productions. Stargate SG-1 is the property of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in conjunction with Double-Secret Productions, the Gekko Film Group, Sony Pictures Television, and the Showtime Network. The Hundred Worlds novels and roleplaying setting are both the property of Passionate Worldmakers, Incorporated in association with Bard's Tower Media. All elements derived from The Hundred Worlds is used here with permission of the author.

Author's Note the Second: Faith was always going to join the cast of this story. And without spoiling it too badly, she's not the only character from the show who hasn't been seen so far I intend to bring in.

Author's Note the Third: About the page quote. I was in a discussion about love songs once and the opinion was raised that none of them were really accurate about what love was. They were all about desire and need and passion, sure, but they really didn't get the love part right. Without hesitation, I said, "I know one that gets it right", and I cited "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" by the Four Tops as one love song that is right on the money as to what true love is all about. Its about being there when people need you, and a willingness to put yourself into harm to save those you love.
This is the hill I am willing to die on.