Collateral Damage – Chapter 1

The building, set in the very back of a similar group of buildings in the business complex, looked exactly like what it was, a storage warehouse. About the length of a football field and as wide as a 747's wingspan, it stood just over three stories tall. Along its sides were small rectangular windows set horizontally a couple of feet down on the walls from the roof, evenly spaced fifteen feet from each other. Originally painted a bright yellow, the color had faded over the years, leaving it a dingy tan.

The pea gravel crunched under the security guard's feet as he walked around the corner, checking the door set in the side, grabbing the handle and giving it a shake to ensure it was locked, juggling his flashlight as he did. Satisfied, he moved to the large set of double doors in which the single door was set. When they were open the doors would allow anything up to the size of a Greyhound bus to enter the building with room to spare. Checking the locks on the doors the guard grunted in satisfaction, then touched his wand to the box set next to the door. A ping emitted from it as it recognized the wand and recorded the time in its database. Glad to be finished with his rounds for the moment, the guard headed down the road toward the front of the complex and his nice warm shack, his mind already on the pot of coffee he'd started perking before beginning his rounds. He rubbed his hands briskly in the cool evening air, flashlight tucked under his arm, already tasting the brew. In moments he'd disappeared into the dimly lit shadows surrounding the buildings.

The evening progressed quietly, the security guard making his rounds every two hours. He was a tad late for the 3 a.m. round, as he'd fallen asleep at his desk, only waking up when his wand buzzed ten minutes after 3. He hated making the rounds at this time of the morning, and wouldn't have taken this job under normal circumstances, but things weren't normal now. He'd just moved into the area, money was tight, and jobs were hard to come by. Strangely, though, there were a lot of openings for security guards. Grumbling the entire time he quickly made his rounds, returning to his shack by 3:30. He sat down at his desk, kicked his feet up, and was quickly asleep again.

The interior of the warehouse was pitch black. Very little light came in from the windows set high in the two long walls, and what did make its way in was quickly blocked by the tall free-standing shelves that ran three quarters of the length of the building. Over two stories high themselves, they were loaded with boxes, crates, and all sorts of other storage containers. They didn't reach to the end of the building, though. They stopped about fifty feet before the end wall, leaving a large area that was used for storage of the more bulky items that couldn't be put on the shelves. There wasn't much here at the moment, and what was here seemed to have been stored haphazardly. Drop cloths covered everything, turning sharp edges soft.

Suddenly a low hum filled the air. A rat, startled by the unusual noise, dived back under a pile of goods in the corner of the building, emitting a small squeak of its own as it did so. The noise increased tenfold as, off in the corner, a drop cloth that had covered a tall thin object disintegrated as the vortex of a newly formed wormhole slammed out across the warehouse floor, then snapped back into the now exposed stargate, pieces of the destroyed drop cloth fluttering to the floor. The wormhole's surface settled down into quiet ripples as the rumbles settled down into the near subsonic.

For several long moments nothing else happened. The rats, becoming quickly accustomed to the rumble of the gate, stuck their quivering noses out from behind the crates to see what new things had invaded their territory. They quickly scurried back under cover as first one body flew out from the surface of the wormhole to land on the floor in a heap, then another, until four bodies littered the floor. Then as suddenly as it had started the wormhole stopped, collapsing in on itself until it was gone. The room plunged into darkness, covering the bodies with inky blackness.

Xander frowned. "I sense a disturbance in the force." Giles looked at him with a raised brow, while Buffy just looked at him blankly. "Boy, do I need some guy friends. I thought I felt an earthquake." Giles simply shook his head.

Perhaps he was just tired. After all, they had just come in from patrolling. They got out about 9:30 that night, and looking at the clock now it was just at 3 AM. Perhaps it was just his imagination but he didn't think so.

"Hey, we live in California!" Xander protested, looking over toward Willow, hoping his friend would throw behind him in support. "What do you say, Will..." he stopped, then sprang forward and grabbed her as she started to collapse. "Gotcha!" he shouted as he prevented her fall, then settled her down on the couch. Even as he did Willow's eyes fluttered open.

"What happened?" she asked as she straightened herself up on the couch and looked at her friends, who were now gathered around in front of her. "Wait, I fainted?" She grimaced as Buffy's nod confirmed it. "I hate it when I do that!" She rose to her unsteadily to her feet, then noticed, now that she seemed to be okay, there was the mixed look of concern and impatience on Buffy's face.

"Actually Xander was closer to right than he knows," she said. "There was a disturbance in the force. " She grinned at her friend, showing that you didn't have to be a guy to be a geek. "Or at least the magical force. Something has happened to shake the foundations of the magics around here, Buffy. At least, that is the only thing that I can think of that would have caused me to feel it like I did. It was like an explosion on the left side of my head... but it wasn't. I can't explain it any better." She shrugged.

"Any lasting effects, Willow?" The concern in Giles' voice was unmistakable. He had seen her go through a lot lately. Her breakup with Tara was not too far behind her, and he was a bit concerned with her overall outlook about magics, and her seeming indifference to the possible consequences of her actions. But that was a discussion for another time.

"I seem to be fine," Willow replied. And she was. The pressure in her head had been intense, but luckily very brief. "Whatever it was, it is gone now."

"Any idea where this might have come from, Will?" Buffy's voice, although quiet, was forceful. Things had been quiet, relatively speaking, in Sunnydale for the past week, and that was never a good thing. Calm before the storm and all that.

Willow did not answer immediately, but rather turned her thoughts inward, trying to recall the feeling that had overcome her. Her brow furrowed as she put effort into searching her memory. Unconsciously, though her eyes were closed, she turned her head slowly from side to side as if she could actually see the location. Finally she sighed, opened her eyes, and looked over at her friend.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I can't get a definite feel for the location. It appears to be north of us, and not that far away, but that's all I'm getting." Willow looked a bit frustrated. "I would try a locator spell, but I don't have the physical component I need to do that." The look on her face said it all. She didn't like to admit that there was something that she couldn't solve with magic.

"That's okay, Wills," Buffy replied. She had been thinking about what Willow had said. North of their location were a few blocks of residential housing, and then, beyond those, was the warehouse district. It looks like circumstances have chosen where she'll go patrolling tonight. It might as well be the warehouse district as any other place, she thought to herself as she sat down at the table

"I'll head back out on patrol and cover the warehouse district. Willow, check and see if Xander's earthquake actually happened." Buffy stifled a yawn that had come suddenly upon her.

"Cup of tea, Buffy?" Giles asked as he rose and headed for the kitchen. "Nothing like a good cup of tea to put you back at the top of your game." His eyebrows rose as he looked over to Buffy.

"No thanks, Giles," Buffy said as she rose. "I should go ahead and head back out. I need to be done with the sweep before dawn."

Col. O'Neill groaned as he opened his eyes and found himself in a prone position. Worse, he did not remember how he got there. The last thing he remembered, they were talking to the natives on PX 479 Alpha about possibly trading some of their natural medicines for some low technology items. It had taken a couple of hours, but he and his team had managed to secure the medicines they were looking for.They had packed up the samples that Dr. Jackson had requested, putting everything in piles next to the stargate until it was time for them to leave. They had been carrying the last load from the small village to the gate when they were attacked by Goa'uld fighters. They followed the plan they always use in situations like this. Dr. Jackson headed to the DHD to key the sequence to take them home, while the rest of them protected his back.

For the most part it went as planned. Daniel had activated the gate while he and Teal'c shot at the fighters with their weapons while Carter tossed the supplies through the gate as fast as she could. She was almost finished when the three fighters that had been harassing them coordinated a strafing attack against them. They were on the small group before they knew it, and the only escape was through the gate. Jack had ordered them to charge through the gate and then followed quickly himself. Teal'c, Daniel, and Sam jumped through pretty much simultaneously, and Jack was only half a second behind. But in that half second Jack saw the plasma bolts blast against the gate and watched as a surge of energy struck the control devices of the gate itself.

He sat up, leaning against a nearby box to allow his head to clear, then winced in pain as his left hand contacted the ground. Looking down he could see blood spotting his uniform sleeve. It hurt like the devil, but he didn't think it was broken. He looked around and spotted the rest of his team on the floor, scattered around the front of the stargate. Even as he looked he saw them begin to stir and sit up.

"What happened to us, sir?" Samantha Carter said as she got groggily to her feet. She leaned over to help Daniel sit up as he stirred on the floor. Teal'c, already on his feet, started to explore the warehouse behind him.

As she neared the Colonel she noticed the blood on his sleeve. "You're wounded!" She grabbed the med kit from her belt and went over to Jack, pulling out her knife as she did. "I'll have to cut that sleeve open, Colonel," she said as she approached him.

Jack winced as he held out his arm. Sam gently held the arm, taking care not to move it more than necessary while cutting open the sleeve.

"I'm not sure what happened, Sam," Jack replied as she worked. "That's your department. There is the gate," he gestured to the gate behind him leaning up on the wall, "but I don't see the DHD. I suggest you make that your first priority while Teal'c, Daniel, and I try to figure out where we are."

"Yes sir," Sam replied. "As soon as I'm done patching you up." With quiet efficiency she proceeded to do just that. Shortly she had his wound clean and bandaged. She closed the medical kit, clipping it on her belt as she stood up.

"I'll get right on the DHD, Colonel," she said as she made her way toward the gate. She began to look around to see if she could find the DHD. Jack watched her for a moment, then moved over to help Daniel to his feet, then looked over as Teal'c returned from his walk around the warehouse interior.

"Looks like there's a door over there," Jack said as he pointed to the door to the far end of the warehouse he had spotted while Sam was bandaging his arm. "I suggest we start there and see if we can figure out what's going on." It did not take them long to pick up the gear that they had dropped when they tumbled through the gate, even with Jack favoring his wounded arm. There was not much gear to collect, as they had sent almost everything back before going to the gate themselves. They still had their weapons, a long with a couple of clips of extra ammunition, some E – rations, and a chocolate bar here or there. In other words they were equipped for a day trip but not for any sort of heavy action.

"Found it!" Sam said excitedly as she finished pulling a tarp from atop the DHD. It didn't look to be in bad condition. At least there was no apparent damage to the unit.

"Excellent work Sam!" Jack replied as he moved toward the front of the warehouse. "Now do you think we could keep the noise down a bit? Never know who might be around the corner." He involuntarily winced as he bumped his left arm up against one of the shelves. Not for the first time was he thankful he had wounded his left arm and not his right. Things were bad enough without him fumbling everything.

Sam, looking a bit abashed, gave Jack and apologetic smile, then turned and started to look over the DHD.

Buffy walked silently between the rows of the buildings in the warehouse district, her practical flats barely making a whisper as she walked. So far it had been a rather uneventful evening. She had dusted a couple of vamps who could not have been more than a couple of days old. Their pathetic attempts to drain her blood almost had her laughing. She hadn't let it go to her head, and had made short work of them once she got down to business. Other than that though, there had not been much in the way of activity. Especially since she had entered the warehouse district. If in an intimate object could be called dead, then these warehouses were dead. Their long walls were hidden in the shadows of the night, their windows black against the lighter shades of pale black that colored the walls.

A sharp sound in the air drew her up short. Her head swiveled, zeroing in on the sound she had heard. She moved quickly to the end of the building, slowly turning her head around the corner. She saw three figures in what appeared to be military garb come out of one of the doors of the building across the street and began to sweep the area. They looked to be in good shape, and they definitely did not look dead. This was all she needed. Another bunch of would be heroes trying to save people who didn't need to be saved. Now she had to figure out how to deal with them. Because Sunnydale was hers. She made that deal with the government after dealing with the Collective, and she wasn't about to let them forget that. So, what better way than a direct approach?

With a bold stride she moved into the middle of the street and headed toward the three figures. "Morning boys!" She said loudly as she moved toward them. "Lovely night for a stroll isn't it?" The moon, hidden by the clouds, took this moment to find a break in the cloud cover, illuminating the street as Buffy walked across it.

Startled, as she had seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, they raised their weapons. They moved apart so as to make it harder for her to attack all of them simultaneously, if it came down to that. The man who appeared to be the leader of the group, an older gentleman, looked quizzically at her.

"It is, isn't it?" Col. O'Neill replied, even as he tried to grasp the fact that he was talking to what appeared to be a 16-year-old girl at 0400 hours in the morning. She didn't look dangerous, but he learned from experience that you could not judge a book by its cover. Daniel would be so proud of him, quoting like that. He looked over at Teal'c and Daniel, then nodded for them to lower the weapons. "I don't think were in any danger from the young lady. Do you?" He asked.

"Well," Buffy said, "not unless you start it," she said brightly. "So listen. I had a deal with you guys. You stay out of Sunnydale, and I don't kick your ass back to Washington. Now what I'd like to know is, why have you decided to ignore that deal?"

Just then a fourth emerged from the doorway. "Col. O'Neill?" Samantha said as she came across the street. "We have a problem." She headed toward the group, then stopped when she saw the stranger with them.

Great. Just what he needed, Jack thought as he looked between Carter and the young teenage girl. "Don't we though? So, I'm not sure what deal you are referring to. We are just passing through." Even that sounded lame to him, and he knew it was the truth. That was the absurd part of it.

"Really?" Buffy asked, not really believing them, and the look she shot him said the same thing. She had her fill of the military when she was dating Riley, and all of that had left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Really." Now Jack let some of the steel in his voice show he wasn't used to his word being question. A soldier he was, true, but he also had integrity.

Buffy quirked an eyebrow as she recognized the new tone of his voice. She imagined her father might have sounded something like that if he was trying to discipline her. But it would not work on her now. She knew better. Life had been hard here, and she had grown up quickly.

"Colonel?" The tone in Samantha's voice suggested to Jack that she really needed to talk to him.

"While this has been fun," Jack said to the teenager, "but we really have to go."

Buffy watched as the Colonel gathered his team together with his eyes, then withdrew back into the warehouse. She glanced up at the cross street signs, making careful note of the address and location so that Willow could keep an eye on the place. As she left the complex she made sure that she wasn't followed and headed home. It was time to get the Scooby Gang together.