Chapter 41: Crusade

June 2006

Dressed in green BDUs and obviously 8 months pregnant, Buffy walked down a corridor of the SGC. She nodded to those passing her, who don't seem to take special notice of her. She nodded at Siler as he passed.

"Morning," Siler said.

"Have you seen Dawn Carter?" Buffy asked.

"Her lab," Siler replied.

Buffy nodded as she turned and walked away.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Dawn," Buffy said as she walked into the lab.

"Daniel," Dawn replied. She did not see Buffy but instead Daniel Jackson standing before her.

"It's not Daniel," Buffy said. "It's me, Buffy."

"You know that's not funny," Dawn said with a sigh. "You know what both mama Joyce and mom have been going through."

Buffy sighed. "Dawn Marie Summers," she said as Dawn's eyes went wide. No one, except Joyce or Buffy would have ever called her that name. Even now after she and Buffy had gotten their memories back they still answered to the Carter name and always would. She was sure Daniel didn't even know what her name had been in the other reality.

"Please let this not be a joke," Dawn said wistfully. "Please."

"It's not, I promise," Buffy said.

Dawn walked over to a phone on her desk and dialed. "Mom, you should come to my office. It worked."

"What worked?" Buffy wondered.

"I will let mom fill you in when she and mama Joyce get here," Dawn said.

"Mama Joyce?" Buffy asked.

Dawn smiled. "She isn't Aunt Joyce, she is after all our mom from our original reality," she said as Mitchell, Sam and Joyce walked into her office.

"Buffy?" Sam asked as Buffy nodded. "We didn't think we were ever going to make this work."

"Make what work?" Mitchell asked.

Sam looked at Joyce and Mitchell deciding to explain. "Well since you disintegrated the Alteran communication stones and the base terminal in the kawoosh—"

"I'm sorry, the what?" Joyce asked. "You have to remember I don't remember a lot of when I was ascended."

Sam nodded. "The unstable vortex of a forming wormhole. Kawoosh," she explained.

"Hello," Buffy said, "remember me, your daughter?".

"Sorry, Buffy," Sam said. "Anyway, we've been working on a way of artificially emulating the Alteran technology. Doctor Lee was able to collect quite a bit of data from the time that you, Vala and Daniel were unconscious and communicating with the people from the Ori galaxy. So, using that and a Tok'ra subspace communicator, we've been trying to mimic the frequencies sent and received by the stones. We just didn't think we were having any luck."

"I'm really glad you are. Vala and I were desperately hoping in fact—" Buffy answered.

"So you both are in the Ori galaxy," Mitchell interrupted.

"Yes," Buffy said.

"Are you able to communicate with Daniel?" Sam asked.

"Just like when we visited the Ori home galaxy, I am seeing through Daniel's eyes and speaking through his mouth and everything but other wise I have no contact with him. I expect he pretty much is asleep."

"You see, we've been using the data from the stone that Daniel connected on this end, which is why you're connected to his body," Sam said. "You, Vala and Daniel were the only persons on this end to touch a stone, so…

"So Vala or I were the only ones that could connect to Daniel," Buffy said.

"You know, last time we couldn't break the connection," Mitchell interrupted.

"Well that should be easy this time. We just shut down the computer," Sam answered.

"Before we do that. Vala and I have information I need to relay," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Twenty minutes later they along with Faith, Willow, Teal'c and Landry sat at the table in the briefing room as they listen to Buffy.

"I remember staggering into the rings with Vala," Buffy said. "There were bolts of energy everywhere."

"We suspected that the matter stream was sucked into the black hole," Sam said.

"We all appreciate the part you and Vala played in destroying the enemy beachhead," Landry said. "And I have been in contact with the President."

"It was a beautiful ceremony," Joyce said. "Even though Sam and I held out hope you were still alive. They had to declare you missing in action."

"The President also posthumously promoted you to Major," Sam added. "Congratulations.

"That said though," Landry said. "We're glad both of you are okay."

Buffy sighed. "Vala is better than I am. I would say I on the other hand am a little ways off from being okay,"

"Actually, the timing of this is a little awkward," Landry said.

"Sir, if we disconnect now, there's no guarantee that we can reestablish the link," Sam said.

Landry looked down at his watch. "Doctor Jackson is supposed to join me to meet with the Russian and Chinese representatives of the IOA in about a half an hour. They requested that he be there. Said it was a matter of great importance."

"General," Buffy said. "He'll make it, I promise. But I have information that I need to relay of great importance to the safety of Earth and the Milky Way Galaxy as a whole." Landry motioned for her to continue. "Anyways the next thing I remember was waking up in a bed, in a village like Ver Ager. That's the one that Adria, Harrid and Sallis lived in. They're the people that Daniel, Vala and I inhabited for a while.

"Vala?" Mitchell asked.

"I didn't see her at first," Buffy answered. "She was in a neighboring village. We met up a couple days later. Anyways it wasn't the same village as this one was called Ver Isca." She took a sip of water before continuing. "A man named Tomin had apparently found me lying unconscious in the rings and had thought the gods had sent me to him. Which I let him continue to believe."

"I assume to gather information?" Willow wondered.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I had realized he was a devout Ori follower and probably would have been standing on the front-line cheering while they burnt me to death if he knew the truth about me, but he was very sweet in his own way. I think Tomin had been on his own before I came along mostly due to a limp that had left him crippled since childhood. He didn't like to talk about it much, but I could see that the other villagers looked down on him because of it."

"I can see why," Dawn said as they looked at her. "For the same reason people here on Earth look down on handicapped people."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Anyways in their minds, the Ori must have deemed him unfit for normalcy, so that's how they chose to see him. I did my best to blend in. At first, according to Tomin and therefore as far as the villagers were concerned, I was the woman who fell from the sky. Which made me feel kind of special. I later learned that they always suspected I'd escaped from another village as a result of some scandal, which was helped along by my reunion with Vala.

"Since she came from the other village?" Landry asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yep. Anyways what worried me most were the Ori. While no one had actually seen me, Vala or Daniel in person, that didn't mean that Ascended Beings couldn't recognize me… After a while, Vala and I started to think and hope that maybe things were going to be okay. Ultimately our goal was to try and find a way back here, or at the very least try and communicate with you, to let you know what was going on."

"Vala figured our best bet was to root out any of Fannis's gang from the anti-Ori underground. See if they had any technology or any information about an Ori Stargate we might possibly get access to," Buffy continued. "But we had to be very careful. The village was run by this man named Seevis, who was both barkeep and administrator. He claimed to be the most pious man in the village. If anyone strayed from the path of righteousness, it was Seevis who made sure you were severely punished for it. I soon realized Seevis was doing the work of the gods by making sure this village had every reason in the world to prostrate. Making him a very rich and very powerful man in the process."

"Believe me, I usually applaud the colorful details of a good story, especially when told with such interesting intergalactic and body-snatching means. But Daniel and I are late to meet with the Russian and Chinese representatives," Landry reminded Buffy.

"You stated you had information of great importance," Teal'c added.

"I do," Buffy said. "Maybe I should skip ahead. Tomin and I got married."

"What?" Sam, Joyce, Dawn, Faith and Willow all said simultaneously.

"I literally had no choice," Buffy said. "Tomin is very devout, and there's no way he would have slept with me out of wedlock."

"Elizabeth Samantha Carter," Sam said, "explain now."

"I'm pregnant, mom," Buffy said with a sigh.

"Oh," Sam said. "How?"

"I don't know," Buffy answered. "I expect the Ori had a hand in it. And with the fact that these people are …"

"You had to get married so they would not burn you like the last time," Dawn said with a nod.

"Exactly," Buffy said.

"Is Vala?" Landry asked.

"No, it's just me that is pregnant," Buffy said. "As far as these people know she's my aunt."

Landry looked at his watch again. "I have to go," he said. "Make it quick, Major, I'll try and stall."

"I will," Buffy said.

"Once again, I am glad that you and Vala are alive," Landry said.

"General, a moment more and you can have Daniel back," Buffy said. "My pregnancy is not the biggest problem we have. And believe me a child born of both a Slayer and Ori is a big problem. They are building ships and armies by the tens of thousands. The village Vala and I are living in is one of many, on a world among dozens like it. As Daniel and I feared the day we met the Ori, they have been preparing their followers for a crusade."

"General Landry to level 23 briefing room," Walter said over the intercom. "General Landry, please report to level 23 briefing room."

"I'd better get up there. Go ahead," Landry said as he left.

"Since you've been gone, we've learned a few things about the Ori that their followers might be interested to know," Sam said.

"Mom," Buffy said. "They won't believe anything I tell them. They won't hear it."

"Obviously, some of them are suspicious enough to form a resistance," Mitchell said.

"A handful of people," Buffy said. "There is not enough of them to make an impact. As far as the masses are concerned it's all lies and propaganda. We're wrong, they're right. They're good, we're bad. We must worship the Ori or die, and they will fight until we are dead or they are. Period. I did manage though to make contact with the underground. In fact everything Seevis does is an act he is actually the leader of the underground. And from him I learned a few things."

"The ships have to be activated by the Priors, but Seevis said he'd found a way to rig enough of them to start off a massive chain reaction," Buffy continued. "From what I could tell, it looked like it might work. They were going to try and undermine the Ori's power by eliminating as many of their followers as they could in one fell swoop. Something I know we would not have done in their position. They trusted me and Vala. So we both agreed to take a chance on them. We told them exactly who we are. And they revealed to us a communication terminal, though the stones had been taken by the Prior to Celestis after Vala, Daniel and I had been caught using them."

"How did Seevis get his hands on it?" Mitchell asked.

"Apparently he has spies among the monks in the City of Celestis," Buffy said. "They're humans in training to become Priors. Every now and then, artifacts which pre-date the Ori ascension are found or dug up, deemed heretical, and then brought to the city to be burnt in the fires. When the communication terminal came through, Seevis's men recognized its significance, and they risked everything to save it and smuggle it out of the city."

"And the Ori didn't know?" Joyce asked. "They couldn't tell what was happening right underneath their noses?"

"There is no way of knowing for sure," Buffy said. "But Seevis didn't want me or Vala to try and contact you until after the sabotage plan had gone through."

"In case the Ori detected it," Willow said.

Buffy nodded. "Just to be safe. In fact Priors are going about the Ori galaxy warning of an impending doomsday."

"A day when all who have renounced the Ori will feel their wrath," Teal'c said.

"We knew the Priors were just the first wave," Buffy said. "The real Crusade is about to begin. The ships are planning to leave. Which means that the Ori have a working Supergate. Seevis's plans by the way failed. Whether the Ori had detected it or the Priors had managed to thwart it on their own, we don't know. All we know is that the ships came to life, and nothing happened, except the crowd cheered and began prostrating, praying for a swift victory over all unbelievers."

"Do you have any other intel we could use?" Mitchell asked. "You said this Seevis had access to the specs on the ships. What kind of weaponry do they have?"

"And shields, and anything on the power source they're using," Willow added.

"No," Buffy answered. "I—"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Suddenly Buffy found herself in a pub in Ver Isca. She took her hands away from the smoking communication terminal that had just been damaged. She looked around and saw Tomin standing next to the door, wielding a long weapon. He shot Seevis in the chest who died within moments.

"Tomin?" Vala asked confused as she looked back and forth between Buffy and Tomin.

"You said you did not think I could kill an unbeliever," Tomin said as he looked at Buffy. "The Prior told me Seevis was corrupt. That he tried to sabotage the ceremony and would have killed thousands. He sent me here to kill Seevis, and here I found you two with him, conspiring over that device!"

Vala pointed at Seevis. "He made us do it!" she said. "He told us he would kill us if we didn't help him. He thought this device was for communication, but he was too afraid to use it himself, so he kidnapped us and forced us to do it for him… Did the Prior tell you we were with him? Did he tell you to kill us?"

"No," Tomin answered.

"Well, there you go, then," Vala said.

"Were you able to communicate with the unbelievers far away?" Tomin asked.

"Yes," Buffy said. "And there is much we can tell you about them. If you just put that weapon down. Tomin, you have to believe me, please… I overheard your conversation with the Prior the other day. I know, I'm sorry, I should have told you I was there. But I was so afraid. What he said shocked me. That this child is the will of the Ori? Tomin, I swear, Neither Vala nor I have betrayed you. I have not been with anyone but you. So if you truly cannot father a child, then this baby is a miracle. It's our miracle, and this is a great burden which I cannot bear alone. So from this point on, we must walk the Path together."

"And Vala?" Tomin asked.

"I too will walk the Path for my niece," Vala answered.

Tomin lowers his weapon. "I must leave soon for war," he said.

"Then we must come with you," Vala said.