Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part One. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

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Title: Chaos Theory : Day Zero
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.
Genre: Crossover
Author: PitViper
Date (Part One): 2006-09-17
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Author's Note: I'm altering the timeline a bit here. SG-1 is somewhere in season 3. BtVS is the Halloween Ep. For the purposes of this story in the BtVS universe, the X-Box had been released around Christmas the previous year and Halo had been released about three months before "Halloween". I don't know as much as I'd like about BtVS, but I'm hoping to get the characterizations right. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. For Wars and Trek - the characters are being pulled from random points in each time line (usually right after the character has died) While there are hints at parings in this story – there will not be any blatant (or permanent) matchmaking. Please Note that this has not been Beta'ed.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future).

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"So Carter..." Jack O'Neill (two l's) started, his face almost near a smile, "Wha'cha going as?"

Samantha Carter blinked as she perused the store's inventory. "Don't know just yet... but I think we ought to let the FBI know about some of this..." She indicated the items here, "They're too good to be simple replicas..."

"Now, now Carter..." Jack said, closing his eyes, "Where would the fun in that be? After all, this is Halloween. The night everyone gets to go out and pretend that they're something or someone else for a while. Besides, this guy is dirt cheap and he's got good stuff." He was looking at a pair of Mjolnir Armor costumes from the game Halo. "In fact... I think that I see what I'm wearing tonight!"

Carter grumbled, "Well... I guess I could go as Data..." She looked at the tan uniform and the excellent replica (or actual prop) phaser and tricorder.

Jack looked over his shoulder, "Data, eh? Somehow I always figured you for a Spock-type or something like that. After all, that nerve-pinch-thingy is pretty cool."

"Well..." Carter started, "His uniform is closer to my size... and I never liked pointy ears."

Jack seemed to deflate, "Then I guess getting you to dress in that wood-nymph or elf costume over there where Danny-boy's at would be out of the question?"

Carter looked over at the apparel in question, noticing the leather, and thin fabrics and such... and general lack of coverage, "Not likely sir."

"Gah!" Jack exclaimed, "Kill the sir, its Jack. J A C K." He said, emphasizing each and every letter. "Is that so hard to remember? Four lousy letters, that's all I ask when we're off duty: Jack."

"Theoretically, we're not off duty..." Carter said in a low tone.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Ok, so it's a bit of a working vacation, but still - come on Carter - do you think anything is going to happen? Honestly? I have a hard time with you buying into the mumbo-jumbo about this little slice of heaven."

Daniel, having a bunch of white robes and a plastic staff in hand, approached the small group. "Technically, according to my research, this town was built on the site or area known as 'Boca del Inferno' or 'Mouth of Hell'. Most maps created before 1870 refer to the region as a 'no-mans land where creatures of the night stalk the weary and unprepared travelers.' They warn clearly and quite vehemently that: Firstly, one should never travel alone here, and secondly that one should bring along a priest trained in expelling 'darkness', or at least very good at blessing water."

Jack sighed, "In other words, space monkey?"

"In other words, if even a fraction of a percent of what I've read is true about this place, this is as far from heaven as is possible to get on Earth." Daniel looked at his selection, "So, what do you think, Gandalf the White good enough for me?"

"I thought you would go after Saroun or Salmon or whoever the bad-guy was in that book..." Jack teased. "Heck, you could go as good ole Darth over there in the corner." He pointed out three dozen flashy Vader costumes of various sizes. "I know I've seen several of them walk out of here in the past fifteen minutes."

Daniel shuddered, "Please, Jack, this whole area gives me the creeps. I think it would be very, very bad karma to go as something that evil around here. Especially considering the reason why we're here in the first place."

"Not you too!" Jack groaned, half tempted to get the Vader costume just to prove his team wrong, "We're here to look for you-know-what's creeping around. I figured that this was the one night a year that those snakes could mope around without really hiding what they were. I didn't think you'd buy into that hogwash about vampires, demons, ghosts and other sundry things that go bump in the night!"

At this point Janet Frasier came around the clothing rack, "Daniel, Jack... am I interrupting something?" Her eyebrow was twitching slightly as she stared down the two men.

"Doc..." Jack started, realizing that he was getting too flustered about the whole thing, "what are you going as?"

"Oh," She smiled, as she showed off the blue-green Star Trek uniform and the rather large case that went with it. "I'm going as Doctor Crusher. It's the only... only one that fits me." She shrugged slightly embarrassed. After all, she wasn't very tall, but she made up for it in attitude.

"That makes my decision easy," Sam said, picking up Data's uniform, "Like you said, it's the only one close to my size."

Jack got a twinkle in his eye, "Are you sure that you don't want to try the wood-nymph costume over there?"

"No," came the annoyed and slightly exasperated comment from both women.

"But those uniforms... they're so... sweater-ry." Jack complained.

"Jack, hate to break it to you, but sweater-ry isn't a word." Daniel said, making sure that he hadn't missed any of his costume.

"Besides," Janet started, "we want to blend in, not attract attention. I mean, imagine us in those skimpy outfits? Everyone would be paying attention."

"And given the things I've heard about this place," Sam sighed, "Too much attention isn't a good thing. This place has a murder rate ten times that of New York City."

"And from the few Autopsy reports I've scrounged up, the usual cause of death is exsanguination." Janet shuddered. 'And the coroner cannot be serious - Death by barbecue fork?' She thought to herself.

Jack shook his head, "Come again?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Blood loss."

"Riiiigght." Jack exaggerated. He glanced over toward Teal'c's direction. "Big guy looks like he's having a hard time."

"At least he's kept the manager busy enough." Janet muttered. "Wouldn't due to have him overhearing our conversation. Murray was very interested in the Jedi costumes they had. Evidently some 'props' fell off the truck heading out to the Skywalker ranch. And he has info on the new trilogy... and evidently costumes too. He said he even had robes from Mace Windu - who will be played by Samuel L Jackson."

"It would be a good look for T... I mean Murray." Jack said, almost forgetting to use his pseudonym. "Samuel L is about his size... Well... maybe not but at least the robes could be.

"Anyway," Jack started, picking up the Mjolnir armor in his size, "Lets go see if Murray needs some help with Ethan over there..."

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Alexander 'Xander' Harris looked at the suit of Mjolnir armor. "Hum... Master Chief?" He mumbled quietly. He had been hoping for a small plastic gun to go along with his fatigues... But this... Halo was an excellent game. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford an X-box to play it at his leisure. And he most certainly couldn't afford to rent such a high quality replica. Although if he could, it would go a long way to helping to heal some of the emasculation suffered when Buffy had stood up for him. After all, what's more manly than being the Master Chief?

"Can I help you?" Asked the store's owner/manager.

Xander chuckled, "Only if you can manage to drop the price on this to something I can afford." He took a good look at the man before him... His first reaction upon hearing the English accent was to think of Giles... however it was obvious from his dress and general demeanor that he was far from being a card-carrying member of the 'Tweed Brigade (tm)'.

The man smiled, "Name's Ethan by the way. So interested in this little nick-knack for the evening, eh?"

"This has got to be the coolest copy of the Master Chief's armor I've ever seen." Xander noted honestly. Seeing this armor in real life made him really want an X-Box...

Ethan seemed to be pondering the Armor, "Got a friend who managed to grab me all sorts of unique and specialized costumes. This one, in fact, was used at the E-3 when Halo was introduced. The other one I had was a bit less... used." He seemed to crack a smile, "You look like an honest boy, I'll tell you what... Twenty and it's yours for the evening."

Xander was looking a bit suspicious. Twenty dollars was way too cheap for a costume of this complexity. Despite that small fact, however, the suit was still firmly out of his limited budget's reach. "Maybe I should look around a bit more."

Ethan frowned, "No. If you want the costume, then it must be yours. Fifteen?"

He did the mental inventory of his available cash. "Fourteen seventy three?" Xander asked hopefully.

The frown became a smile, "We'll make it fourteen even. Don't feel like dealing with the change. Just don't let anyone know I let this costume go for so cheap... it might get back to the bloke who bought the other one." Ethan suppressed a shudder, "And he had that military look about him without the costume."

"Xander!" Came Willow Rosenberg's shrill voice. "Lookie!" She said, shoving a pile of robes into his face. "I'm going to combine a ghost costume with Yoda's Mask and lightsaber! Isn't that cool!"

Ethan almost frowned at this, "Oh... are you sure you want to hire both?"

The red-headed girl nodded emphatically, "I mean I always go as a ghost. Every year the same thing, blah blah blah, white ghost moving down the street y'know? But I figured this year I'd be different. Instead of the white sheet, I'd be something more original. Yoda's Ghost! I mean maybe it's not that original being a ghost, but its Yoda's Ghost, y'know? With the movies coming out again and all the hype I just figure that going as Yoda would be so cool. And..."

"Wills. Babble." Xander interrupted before the store owner decided to raise the price on the costumes. He watched Willow turn three shades of red.

Just then Buffy approached the group, holding both her and Angel's robes and lightsabers. "Willow, you sure you want to do this Jedi thing-a-mcbob?" Buffy asked, "Because if you don't I can always go and choose that 18th century outfit that I had before..." She was thinking seriously about it, but these Jedi robes were a bit better for the slayage, should the need arise. Despite Giles' argument to the contrary, she wasn't quite willing to accept that nothing would happen on Halloween. Besides, the robes would let her and Angel hide some better weapons.

"No no! It's so cool, we'll be like Jedi, you're that Siri Tachi gal, Angel can be Obi-wan Kenobi, and I'll be wise Master Yoda!" Willow bubbled out, "And Xander can be the good Anakin Skywalker!"

Suddenly Xander got a panicked look on his face, "Uh, no. No way. Not touching Anakin or Darth. Uh-no. Going as good 'ole Master Chief here, Xan-man is not going to go Sith-like around SunnyD. Too much bad karma. No way."

"But it's good Anakin, Right Mr. Rayne?" Willow pouted, "Although I wonder who got Padme's outfit? I mean I so would have liked to done Padme and had Xander as Anakin. I mean she's supposed to be Luke and Leia's mother according to the websites and such..."

Ethan smiled, suppressing the urge to pet the girl like some hyper-active puppy, "My dear, I think 'Xander' here has made his choice... it's a good one too." He looked at Buffy, "You sure you got the right size for this 'Angel' of yours?"

Buffy nodded, "Yep. Should fit him just fine."

"Can't believe that we're going to be hauling around Deadboy for Halloween." Xander mumbled. He suddenly remembered Ethan being there and noticed his confusion... not to mention Buffy's death-ray stare. "I mean he's just so... you know? Broody."

Willow piped in, "Yeah, if broodiness was an Olympic sport, he'd be team USA's champion." She turned to Buffy, "No offense there, Buff, but he's right about that."

Buffy narrowed her eyes, "Well, Willow, this was your idea. I could always get that nice seductive 18th century dress and seduce him out of his broodiness."

Willow smiled happily, "No, no. We'll just have to deal with our Xander here being an armored soldier, while we get to be graceful Jedi warriors."

"Yoda is like Nine Hundred years old, Wills. Nothing graceful about that. Green and wrinkly yes, graceful... somehow that I doubt." Buffy said then sighed, "Oh well... We should check out anyways. Before I change my mind."

Ethan frowned slightly watching Willow with her selections. 'The spells are set for one costume... how will the magic work with two?' He shook his head and smiled finally, 'Why am I worried. I'm feeding Janus. The crazier the better!'

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Author's Notes:
It's been a while. For those who know me, and are curious, no – I have not abandoned my other stories. I've decided not to post new stories to the net until all parts of that story are nearly complete. My muse has shifted gears and brought me here for a while. And I assure you that this story – At least the Day Zero part of it – is nearly completed. Of course, if everyone hates it, I'll simply stop with this installment. I'm simultaneously posting the second part of this story, after that, I will post a part every two weeks.

Day Zero is just the first story in what will be a whole series (Hopefully) about this particular crossing.

As always, all reviews are appreciated.

Later,
P.V.