Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.
This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.
And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.
Thank you to all those who have recommended this story,
Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.
Chapter 31
Fred woke up, feeling someone next to her. At first she started to panic, then remembered. She wasn't alone: Doyle had shown up yesterday. And he had food, real food. Beef Enchiladas. And she wasn't cold because he had a sleeping bag. Fred giggled, "Wow," she said. "I wonder what's going to happen next?"
"Ah, let me have five more minutes," Doyle mumbled.
Fred looked at him, He's not bad looking. And he's certainly better looking than any of the humans I've seen around here. And he's from Earth. I just hope we can get home.
Fred got out of the sleeping bag and stirred her fire. It had taken a lot of work to make sure the smoke would dissipate through the caves, instead of giving her position away, but it was so worth it. She sat down and started reading Portals for Dummies from where she had stopped. She read for almost an hour until Doyle finally woke up.
"Morning Fred," Doyle said.
"Hi Doyle," Fred said. "So I thought that today I'd try and get a bath. And I was hoping you'd be a look out for me?"
"You want me to watch you take a bath?" Doyle asked. "Really, I'm flattered but… "
"No," Fred said. "Keep a look out. Pylea can be dangerous, and being alone means I don't get many chances to really get clean. So keep a lookout for any of the demons. If you see them coming towards us we can hide, or since we now have weapons shoot them!"
"Not that I'm not for killing evil demons," Doyle said. "But we don't have a whole lot of bullets."
Fred laughed at Doyle, "You're funny."
"What's so funny?" Doyle asked.
Fred picked up one of the 'bullets'. "This is a round. The bullet is the little part on the end. The part that goes into whatever you're shooting. Then there's the casing and the propellant. I can tell you've never really been around guns before."
"Bullet, round what's the difference?" Doyle complained.
"Well," Fred said explaining it simply. "If you just have 'bullets' without the other parts to make the round, you really have small metal rocks to throw at people."
"Alright," Doyle admitted. "I guess there is a difference. But still, we don't have a lot of them."
"We shouldn't need that many," Fred said. "These are nine-millimeter hollow point rounds. We have one thousand rounds, in these boxes and then there are ten clips attached to the belt that holds seventeen each plus the two in the guns. So that gives us twelve-hundred and four rounds of ammunition. And the largest hunting party I've seen was only sixty of the demons. So we should be good for a while."
"So Fred, just out of curiosity," Doyle said. "Do you hate all demons? Or just the ones that are trying to enslave or kill you?"
"Well," Fred said, pausing to think. "I really haven't met any good demons. But I suppose if I did, I'd like to think I'd judge them based on themselves, not on their species. Why? Are there good demons?"
"Yeah," Doyle admitted. He really didn't want to admit he was half demon but after Cordelia, he didn't want to leave it up to chance. "Quite a few of um just want to live and let live. Fact is that me own Da, he's what you call a Brachen demon."
"So you're a demon too," Fred asked.
"Hey, I'm human," Doyle protested. "On me Mother's side."
Fred laughed, "OK but you look human. Do Bracken look human?"
"Well human-like," Doyle said. "Same general shape, the same number of fingers and toes. But we do have a few things that humans don't."
"Like what?" Fred asked.
"Well Bracken are green," Doyle said. "And we have spikes."
"Spikes," Fred said. "Where are you hiding them? And you don't look very green to me!"
"Just don't freak out on me, Ok?" Doyle said. He shook his head, bringing out the Bracken in himself.
"Are you sure you're OK?" Fred asked.
"'Course I am," Doyle said. Looking down at his hands he saw they still looked human. "What the Bloody Hell?"
"Just calm down," Fred said. "I know being alone so much I sort of got a little crazy too. It's ok if you imagined you were some kind of a demon."
"I wasn't imagining anything," Doyle said. "I've been a half demon me whole life."
"Well what happened then?" Fred asked.
"Do I look like I know?" Doyle said. "Last thing I remember was dying. Then waking up here. So what happened to me demon half?"
"Um could it be because you died?" Fred suggested. "Or maybe because we're on Pylea?"
"I s'pose it could be that," Doyle admitted. "But I don't feel any weaker than I did."
"Maybe you should read your book," Fred suggested. "It might tell you what's going on."
"Sure," Doyle said. "I could do that. After we get the chance to get cleaned up. So how about we go to wherever it is you have that we can get a bath, then I'll read it later."
Jonathan was pretty sure he was in hell. Sure having sex had been great. But Harmony was still incredibly stupid. She would babble on and on, about everything. Right now he was stuck shopping with her. The weird thing was not one person had made any comments on how she looked. Even for Sunnydale, it was extreme.
And now here he was being dragged all over the Sunnydale mall. Harmony had been at this for three hours. He just wanted to leave, but she was keeping too close of an eye on him. It was weird how she had fixated on him. If only Andrew were still around. He could try to get her interested in Andrew and save himself.
"Come on Mr." Harmony said. "Time to hit Victoria's Secret. You can tell me which outfits you like best." Jonathan followed Harmony, not sure if this was Heaven or Hell.
Ira was perturbed. He had often wondered about who his Father was. But to actually meet the man, and find out that he wasn't Jewish, and he was a ghost was too much. Yes, the Torah said that you must honor your Father and Mother. But usually, you only had to put up with them until they died.
And 'Hawkeye' as his father insisted he call him, had been a far different kind of man than Ira. Both were Doctors, but Hawkeye had been a MASH surgeon. On looking up the records for the 4077 MASH unit Ira had been impressed. Hawkeye had been the longest serving Doctor in the unit. And he had saved thousands of lives with his skills. But he had also been irreverent and in many cases drunk, too often to count.
Ira had also confirmed that the Army had mistakenly informed Hawkeye's Father of his death when his mother had attempted to contact him. Ira wondered why she hadn't told the man that his son had had a son. You would think that the man would have rejoiced to find out that even though he had lost his son, his son had left progeny behind.
"So Ira," Hawkeye said. "Are you happy with your life?"
"Of course I'm happy," Ira said. "Why would you even have to ask such a question?"
"Because you don't seem happy to me," Hawkeye said. "You're constantly leaving the place you call home. For years you've neglected Willow and blinded yourself to the truth about Sunnydale. I understand taking pride in your work. But after you're dead, who's going to remember you? Some other Doctors? A few people who read your work? Will Willow have fond memories of her Father and how important he was in her life? Will she tell stories to her kids about the crazy, wonderful things her Dad did?"
"And you did so much better as a Father," Ira said.
"Ira," Hawkeye said. "If I had known about you sooner I would have done those things with you. I wasn't a perfect Father, but you can ask your Brothers and Sister, I think they'll say I was a good Dad."
Ira really couldn't argue with what Hawkeye said. He hadn't contacted his newfound family yet. He still wasn't sure what he would say. How he would explain that he was their half-brother and only now found out about them. "Easy for you to say," Ira retorted.
"Yes, it is," Hawkeye said. "I've had years stuck as a ghost unable to do anything but watch you and Willow. To think over my life and what I did wrong. What I could have done better. But we both have some time now. I'm just trying to help you, Ira. Don't make a mistake that you'll regret after you run out of time."
Ira couldn't think of a good reply to Hawkeye's words so instead he just tried to ignore him.
Hodgins was still unsure of what he should do. For the most part, his gut said he couldn't kill the symbiote inside of him. He was in a way literally giving it life. Or at the least a personality. And he couldn't deny the benefits of being a host. He was stronger and healthier than ever before. He had tested himself in the gym the Initiative had. Right now he could lift five times his own body weight. True he couldn't do it for long but the fact that he could do it at all was amazing.
His reflexes and hand-eye coordination had improved as well. And sometimes when he was trying to remember something he could almost hear himself telling him the answer that he was trying to find.
Hodgins knew he was being watched. No way was Gibbs or Colonel O'Neill going to let him walk around with a symbiote without keeping tabs on him. But they also were showing a high level of trust. After all, he wasn't sitting in one of the cells like Zack.
The door to his lab opened and Hodgins saw Kelmaa entering with a box in his hands. "Kelmaa," Hodgins said. "What brings you to see me?"
"Hodgins," Kelmaa said. "Anise finished the construction of the devices. This will show who is speaking at all times, yourself or the symbiote."
Hodgins opened up the box. Inside was a metal collar with two sets of lights. Kelmaa helped him put it on. Once in place, it gave a slight humming sound as Kelmaa turned it on. "So how's this thing actually work?" Hodgins asked.
"When you are speaking the lights will be golden. If the Symbiote is speaking they will be red," Kelmaa explained.
As Hodgins watched the collar maintained its golden glow. "Thank you," Hodgins said. "I know this should help everyone be a lot more comfortable around us. Have you already given Agent Todd hers?" After Kelmaa said that she had not done that yet, Jack said. "I'll take it to her and explain it. You can give Zack his." Kelmaa nodded and gave Hodgins the box for Agent Todd.
Janet was not happy. From the Initiative project, they had a total of thirty-nine men who had survived. And in the past week, every single one of them had ended up in her infirmary. All of them were showing signs that their immune system was collapsing. The rates of collapse were different from individual to individual, but the end point was obvious. Within the month none of the men would have an immune system left.
Janet had her suspicions that whatever was happening to them was a direct result of something that the Initiative had done to them. She had talked with Dr. Brennan and Dr. Mallard about possible causes. It had taken the forensic science team two days to find the records that showed what had been done. Every single soldier in the Initiative had been doped with Goa'uld hormones mixed with demonic biological extracts. And since they no longer were getting the drugs... just like when the Jaffa lose their symbiote, the removal of the prim'ta caused death so the lack of the drugs will kill them.
As soon as her findings had been confirmed Janet had set up a meeting with Colonel O'Neill. He had been very upset to hear what had been done to US Soldiers. That had led her to her current meeting. Arriving in the conference room, Janet could see Joyce Summers was already present, along with Anise and Freya of the Tok'ra, Dr. Brennan and Tre'ma of the Tok'ra. Everyone had read the reports.
"First I want to thank you all for meeting with me," Janet said. "I am hoping that between us we can find a way to save the men who were experimented on by Margaret Walsh. So please, any ideas will be welcome."
"Janet," Joyce began. "I've already tried to heal what's been done, but I'm afraid that the recent upgrade in knowledge has actually been detrimental to my healing abilities."
"How is that possible?" Bones asked.
"Before when I used my abilities," Joyce said. "I was operating mostly on instinct. But now I know too much and not enough. Relying on instinct is actually harder to do. If I have a clear understanding of the physical life form I am trying to heal it is very easy to do. If I have no understanding of the lifeform, it is something I can do. But if I have a partial understanding of what I am doing, it becomes very difficult to effectively heal someone. My own self-doubts cause me to be unable to heal effectively."
'So you're saying you question whether you are doing more harm than good," Ducky asked. "And this causes you to be unable to do what you are trying to accomplish?"
"Exactly," Joyce said. "And currently my knowledge of the minute details of the human endocrine system is lacking. Until I finish my studies I'm afraid I am less helpful as a healer. I can still heal anything I can truly understand but this becomes a problem when dealing with something I have limited knowledge of."
"Interesting," Anise said. "You're abilities are affected directly by your personal belief in them. Once you are confident in your own knowledge your abilities should be at a minimum as strong as they were, to begin with."
"Yes," Joyce said. "In fact when I know what I am doing and why it actually costs me less energy to heal someone or something. So there is a valid reason to learn, it's just unfortunate that while I'm learning there are some things that I just can't do."
"From the reports," Tre'ma said. "Your men are responding like Jaffa who have lost their symbiote. I would think the obvious solution would be implanting them with one. I am unsure if the Tok'ra would be able to assist. But the Goa'uld originally created the Jaffa out of the Tau'ri so perhaps they would be able to make the men into Jaffa."
"I am sorry," Anise said. "But it would require a queen to help convert the Tau'ri to Jaffa. And none of the Tok'ra are queens. However, if the men were willing they could offer themselves as hosts. Currently, there are not that many Tok'ra who are in need of a new partner. But some may be willing to blend with them to save them. And there are some who have been put into stasis because we lacked a suitable host for them."
"Currently," Tre'ma said. "We have managed to cause the queen that was found in the labs of the Initiative to breed. We have almost two hundred prim'ta available. But these prim'ta are different from normal Goa'uld. They are carrying the same abnormalities as the Queen. Kelmaa and Anise have studied them with us. We believe that they may actually represent a more primitive version of the Goa'uld."
"Do you mean that they are something similar to our own prehistoric ancestors?" Bones asked.
"I am unsure of what you mean," Tre'ma said. "Since humans actually were created by the Ancients and are descended from them, I do not think the comparison is valid. These creatures are obviously related to the Goa'uld. But their genetic codes have been altered. We already sent the first spawning back to Chulak. With the lack of prim'ta, we alway lose some of our children. If these work as normal Goa'uld work, we will be able to save all of our children. But our analysis of the creatures show they are actually more resilient than the Goa'uld. It is possible that they may be able to survive within a host that is not a Jaffa. Since they are immature, this should not put your men at risk, but it may save their lives."
"I believe most of the soldier would prefer that to becoming hosts to the Tok'ra," Janet said. "Anise I know that the Tok'ra have a different view of this, but I will present that as an option to the men. If any of them are willing to be a host for the Tok'ra I will let you know. I will also ask them if they would like to try Tre'ma's suggestion." Turning to Tre'ma, "If possible could you find out how the Jaffa who are using the new symbiotes are doing? We need to know if there were any complications or changes."
"I will find out what has happened," Tre'ma said. "We can also ask if there are any of our young ones who will volunteer for the new symbiotes, instead of the normal Prim'ta."
"Please do so," Janet said. "We are working on a deadline. By the middle of March, none of these men will have an immune system anymore."
The morning after Xander's big show all of the women in Sunnydale had seen Xander in all his glory. Xander had never been more grateful for his ability to orb, and for Faith. Being with her just made everything so right.
And he had to admit, she had a great sense of humor. If anyone had asked him before this morning he wouldn't have believed she was capable of the joke she had played on him. Xander and Faith had both gone to bed last night. Xander had found that sleeping while holding Faith was something very special, although it was also a bit frustrating. Faith liked to talk before going to sleep, which was fine. But when she was feeling naughty, she would start talking dirty, and once she had him revved up, she would kiss him goodnight, roll over and go to sleep.
This morning though had been different. Xander had been dreaming, when he felt someone shaking him. Slowly waking up he opened his eyes to see Jack staring down at him.
"Want to tell me why you're sleeping with my daughter," Jack asked. Jack looked like he was about to beat the hell out of Xander. "And more importantly how long have you been sleeping with her?"
Looking at Jack's face, Xander could see the man who had been a black ops specialist, Xander knew he had several options available. He could orb out, no way Jack could follow him. Or he could just stay and play the cards he had been dealt. Looking at the clock on the night stand he said, "Well about six hours, Jack."
"What," Jack asked, Xander's answer bewildered him.
"We've been asleep for about six hours," Xander explained. Watching, Xander could almost see a twinkle in his eyes. "If you're asking about how long we've been having sex, apart from the one time a few years ago we're not. Not that I'm not looking forward to that. But right now we just sleep together."
Faith had been pretending to sleep ever since Jack entered the room. She was honestly surprised that Xander hadn't freaked out. And his answers to her Dad had her starting to giggle.
"Ah for crying out loud," Jack complained, as Faith started to giggle. "Damn it Faith, now you've given the whole show away."
Xander looked at Jack and Faith, "So you were trying to fake me out?"
Faith turned towards Xander smiling she kissed him, "Hey, Dad wanted to play overprotective Father. And he promised me a leather jacket. Besides, I knew that anyone who could face down Angelus wouldn't have any problem facing down my Dad!"
From outside of the room Teal'c called out, "I believe this means that I have won the Pool, O'Neill."
"You bet on how I would react?" Xander asked.
Faith shook her head, "Not me, I didn't even know they had a pool going." Faith glared at her Dad. "Alright everyone except Xander out! We'll be down in a few minutes, then I want to hear about the pool."
Ten minutes later Xander and Faith came downstairs. Jack and SG-1 were sitting at the table along with Joyce and Giles. "OK I want to hear about this pool," Faith said. "And why wasn't I let in on the action?"
"We didn't tell you, Faith," Jack said. "Because we didn't want you to throw off the betting. Plus you're already getting a jacket so I think that's fair." Jack handed Faith a box and kissed her forehead. "Still, I was sure I could scare him enough to make him orb away." Jack glared at Xander.
Joyce laughed, "I told you Faith was too important to Xander for him to run away."
"Mom," Faith exclaimed. "You knew about this?"
"Who do you think let him in the house," Joyce asked arching an eyebrow. "And I'm happy to say that both Teal'c and I will be splitting the winnings."
"Indeed," Teal'c said. "I had no doubts that Alexander would stay beside Faith. He is a warrior."
"Really Xander," Giles said. "You had to choose this morning to prove how much you have grown up?"
Xander sputtered, "Dad? You bet against me?"
"I simply played the odds, I was sure you would orb at least out of the room. The fact that you stood your ground, whilst impressive, did cost me."
"I told you dear," Joyce said with a smile. "Xander would never leave Faith to deal with Jack alone."
"So how much are we talking here?" Faith asked.
Daniel smiled, "Once all the betting was done, Joyce and Teal'c will each end up with a thousand. Most of the people on the base were sure Jack could get Xander to orb away. Myself included." Turning towards Jack, Daniel said, "You must be losing your touch, Jack."
"Hey," Jack protested.
Samantha started to laugh, "I don't know sir," she said. "I mean what's the world going to do if Colonel Jack O'Neill can no longer inspire mindless fear in young men?"
"I don't know," Daniel said. "At least he can still annoy them."
"Hey," Jack said again as everyone started to laugh. "A bunch of comedians you're not!"
"Well at least we still have our day jobs," Samantha quipped.
The next several months had all of the Scoobies working on utilizing their new knowledge. The work to combine Asgard, Tok'ra and human technology was exhilarating. When Willow learned about the Tok'ra method of building using formed crystals, she immediately saw how they could use that to create the infrastructure of their new cities.
Bragi had assigned all of them projects to help incorporate their new knowledge. Cordelia had actually created a new type of computer that could be built on Earth. It was much more advanced than anything currently available. When she showed it to Jack and the Ambassadors, everyone was blown away.
Tara's work with Satellite systems would revolutionize the internet. And Xander had managed to fully repair the Enterprise. Utilizing the crystal technology Tau'ri already had the city developing. Tok'ra was a city unlike any other in the Galaxy. It was entirely built utilizing modified Tok'ra building crystals. The building and streets were all made of crystal and when the light hit them, they would glow. The new city had a permanent population of almost a thousand beings, not counting the members of the allied armed forces. The Scoobies had managed to round up all of the girls from project Achilles. This combined with the potentials they had saved from the watchers meant that on average there were three women on the island for every male. Luckily the presence of the base brought in a higher number of men than women, although every soldier on base knew that they would be in deep shit if they took advantage of any of the beautiful young women who lived on the island.
The British, Americans and Furlings were building their first joint starship. The Charles Napier. The Napier was built along the ideas of a current Aircraft Carrier. It was designed to be a self-contained city. Currently, it would not contain families, but it was hoped that eventually, it would act as the center of a fleet of ships. Its own crew consisted of almost ten thousand men and women from The US, and their British allies. Everyone knew that the ship would eventually be called on to fight the Goa'uld but they also planned for the Napier to be used for exploration. That meant it had to have the ability to feed itself and to create anything it might need while away from Earth. The ship's AI was actually capable of running itself, which was a good thing. Without the AI there would be no way for the crew to actually learn enough, fast enough to effectively fly him. His personality was based on General Sir Charles Napier, and like his namesake, he was uncompromising when it came to what he knew was right. Of course the fact that Xander had programmed most of his code meant he was also created with a sense of humor.
Even the Asgard were amazed at how quickly the Furlings had assimilated the base technology and adapted it. The ship would take less than two months for the hull to be completed and then another month for the interior to be done. Its maiden voyage would see not only the return of the Furlings as a power but the presence of the Humans as a true fifth race.
On Earth, the technologies that the Furlings had introduced were rapidly being accepted as part of everyday life. Cordelia's Tablets had been a huge hit when they were shown at DragonCon. Their pre-orders already guaranteed that it would be a commercial success.
In Sunnydale, life was moving as normal, well not what used to be normal for Sunnydale. With the expansion of the Sunnydale Base, there were constant patrols utilizing Jaffa and military personnel who knew the truth about vampires and demons. While Buffy and Faith still patrolled, being the Slayer was no longer what it once was.
From the men who survived the Initiative, ten of them led by Riley Finn agreed to become hosts to Tok'ra symbiotes. The remaining men had been implanted with the prim'ta of the modified queen. The Jaffa had been amazed when the new prim'ta had healed the children they were placed in. Over the course of a month, the pouches had completely disappeared. Scans done by the medical personnel had revealed that the prim'ta had not only removed the pouch from the Jaffa children but what they did had also restored the children's immune system. The new symbiotes had taken up the same position a mature Goa'uld would take in a host. But currently, it looked like they were acting exactly like the symbiotes that had been found in Angleman's lab. They were connected to the host's brain but did not appear to be trying to take over. The new queen had been named Pandora by the Jaffa because she brought hope to their people. No longer would the Jaffa be forced to live hosting the Goa'uld. Pandora's children meant that they would be able to live without a symbiote. And once they confirmed that the changes were permanent any children born would no longer have the pouch. While many believed the words of Eir, there were other's who would not believe that until the first children were born without the pouch.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me with this story. The story is not over but this chapter is. I have several more chapters in SG-1 Comes to Sunnydale. Which will expand and complete this. After those are done, I will be picking everything up with the First flight of The Napier. For time frame, this will be when Joyce is about eight and a half months pregnant. We also have Doyle and Fred to go. But that will continue in SG-1 Comes to Sunnydale.
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If anyone is wondering why I chose the name Napier, here is one of my favorite stories from his life
A story for which Napier is often noted involved Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati by British authorities. This was the custom of burning a widow alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. As first recounted by his brother William, he replied:
"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall, therefore, erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.
You can read more about him at wiki/Charles_James_Napier