Chapter 20

Faith and Buffy walked together through the park. They were heading to the Bronze, where they would meet the rest of the group, but had decided to take a roundabout route that would give them a chance to do a mini patrol together, and spend a little time chatting. Buffy had noticed the bulge in her sister Slayers leather jacket that was decidedly not stake shaped, and also a glint of gold from Faiths purse that indicated she was carrying her "combat glasses" as Cortana was calling them.

"You're really buying in to this whole Spartan training thing, aren't you?" Buffy asked.

Faith shrugged. "I mean yeah, why not right? Tell me where anything Cortana said was wrong today, B."

Buffy sighed and nodded, "You're right, I know. It's just... here I am fighting as hard as I can for the last three years since I've been called and now someone is telling me we've been doing it all wrong this whole time. It's kind of insulting. I literally died doing this."

"Yeah, exactly!" Faith exclaimed. "You died, B! I heard the whole story! Straight up, that was stupid of you! Badass for sure, but really stupid. You went off with no support to go tackle the biggest, baddest vamp you'd ever come across and didn't even tell anyone the plan. That's exactly the kind of thing Cortana is talking about. That's how a Slayer fights, and guess what? Slayers die!"

"Jeez, thanks for the support, Faith." Buffy grumbled.

"Sorry B, I call it like I see it, and that was a bad call on your part. I did the same thing with Kakistos and you called me out on it." Faith said unapologetically. The two of them crossed out of the park and onto a main street. Across the road in Meyer Sports and Tackle, a compound bow and crossbow were displayed in the main window. "See those over there? Before today, I would just grab those. Want, take, have, that's my philosophy. You know why? Because why the hell not! We're Slayers, we have the power, why shouldn't we? But there's another reason, one that up till now I didn't want to admit. I would take it because when you know you're going to die, what do you have to lose? We have an expiration date B, and it ain't a long one. If you're gonna die, might as well live it up till then. Don't tell me you never thought about it. And Cortana is right, the Watchers council doesn't care about us, or at least not our survival. Giles does," she amended, seeing Buffy about to protest, "but as a whole they don't."

Buffy stayed silent, but she nodded.

"But now, we've got another choice. We can choose to be more than what the Watchers council says we should be. We can choose to be Spartans. We can choose to fight smarter, better, longer. We can choose to live," Faith said with an intensity that surprised Buffy. "I didn't think I cared about that. Until I got the choice. And you know what B? I choose life. I'm gonna take every single advantage Cortana gives us, and shove them up the asses of every single vamp and demon I fight. I'm going to be the longest lived, best god damn Slayer that's ever been, unless you're there beside me to make it close," Faith said with a laugh.

Buffy looked at Faith, stunned at the depth of insight and intensity from her sister Slayer. "Damn Faith, I mean when you put it like that…"

"Yeah kinda makes you realize you're being stupid doesn't it," Faith said bluntly with a nod. "I see where you're coming from, really I do, but you're wrong. That's your pride talking, not your head."

Buffy wondered when she had wandered into Bizarro world, where Faith was the grounded and sensible one and she was the one acting recklessly.

Faith could see she'd given Buffy lots to think about, and they fell silent for a couple minutes before Faith decided to ask a question that had been burning in the back of her mind about Buffy. "So you and Xander, what's the deal exactly?"

Buffy squirmed and her cheeks heated a bit. She wasn't really sure she wanted to discuss this topic either. "We're friends, really good friends." She replied, "When I first came to Sunnydale, he and Willow were probably the only friends I had. Definitely the first friends. He had a pretty big crush on me, but I didn't see him that way."

"There's a lot of past tenses in that sentence, B," Faith said wryly.

"A lot of things have changed since then," Buffy allowed without elaborating. They walked in silence for a moment before Buffy spoke again. "Can you do me a favour and not go all want, take, have, on him?"

Faith laughed, "Not gonna deny I've thought about it! I dunno what he looked like before Halloween, but X-man is pretty ripped now. And he's almost as strong as we are, and can definitely match our stamina…"

Buffy's cheeks reddened further, "Okay, it is possible that those thoughts have also crossed my mind," she admitted. "But that's not what I'm looking for. I think. I don't know," she said, burying her face in her hands. "My last boyfriend went evil and I almost sent him to Hell before Xander told me that he had to go to the Halo version of Hell instead. Then I spent the summer terrified that my best friend had died to save the world because I couldn't just kill Angelus when I had the chance! Now Angel won't even give me the time of day, or night I guess, and maybe that's for the best. But I wonder whether what I'm feeling for Xander is real or a combination of rebound and relief that he's alive."

Faith shrugged, "B, I watched you wrap your thighs around the guys neck in a sparring match pretty much just to flirt with him. That's pretty bold if you're not actually into him."

"I know! I don't know what I was thinking!" Buffy wailed, "We were flirting earlier and then during fight I just had this like primal urge to, I don't know, claim my territory or something!"

Faith laughed and nodded, "Yeah, don't tell me you don't get hungry and horny while you're slaying. That's that raw Slayer side in you coming out."

Buffy looked at the ground, embarrassed. "He and Willow have been my best friends since I got here, really the best friends I've ever had. What if I screw things up, or it doesn't work out, and I lose him?" She asked quietly.

Faith shrugged. "I'm probably not the best girl to give advice to you on this one, B." She said honestly. "I'm not really one to get tied down, once or twice if they're really good is usually enough for me. But do me, and yourself, a favour and one way or another figure it out quick, okay?"

Buffy saw the slightly hungry look Faith was sporting and decided to do just that.

Meanwhile also approaching the Bronze was a government issue black SUV that contained the members of SG-1. Daniel and Sam had spent the day pouring over spotty police reports from the last couple years and determined that this club was a prime spot to look into the unexplained deaths in this town. They had yet to find any conclusive leads regarding the Master Chief, so tonight they had decided to look into at least this part of their mystery.

"Okay campers, remember this is just a surveillance op," Jack stated from the driver's seat. "We still don't know exactly what we're dealing with here, but whatever it is has killed a lot of people. Let's set up cameras in the alley behind the club and on the roof of that building across the street, both standard and infrared."

"Yes sir," Carter replied, pulling out an equipment bag with their surveillance gear. "Are we going to go into the club?"

As Jack pulled up across the street, he watched a couple teenage girls, a blonde and brunette, head past the bouncer and into the club. "Nah, we're not exactly going to fit in with the high school and college crowd. Let's keep it to external surveillance for now."

"O'Neill, if we should witness an attack taking place, should we not intervene?" Teal'c asked.

"If we see an attack taking place and can save someone's life, well then yeah we will get involved," Jack allowed. "But otherwise this op is strictly non contact."

Teal'c nodded and he and Sam stepped out of the SUV to set up the cameras. In the back, Daniel pulled out a monitor screen and got ready to test the connection to the cameras. "You feel like we're on an episode of Ghost Hunters or something?" Jack asked Daniel.

Daniel chuckled. "To be honest, this whole thing reminds me of before I was recruited to the Stargate program," Daniel replied. "Chasing unproven wild theories that would be dismissed as crazy by most sane people, it kind of takes me back." The screen in Daniel's hand suddenly came to life. "I've got video here from the alley," he reported. He pressed a button and the image switched to a grey, washed out thermal image of the alley. "Infrared is working too."

After a couple minutes Daniel was able to switch the feed between the camera in the alley, and another two that Sam had placed on rooftops across the street. He passed the screen to Jack, who took a look at the cameras as Carter and Teal'c piled back into the SUV. "Okay, now we wait," Jack said. "Anyone bring any snacks?"

Buffy and Faith made their way through the crowded club and found Xander, Willow and Oz at a table near the dance floor. "Hey Buffy, Faith!" Willow greeted happily.

"Hey Wills," Buffy greeted while Faith smiled at the redhead. It had a genuine quality to it that hadn't been there a few days before.

Buffy looked to the other side of the table where Xander was eyeballing the room and speaking low to what looked like himself. She could see that a pair of the combat glasses were sitting on the table, and while he looked like he was just idly fiddling with them, they seemed to end up pointing all around the crowded room. She moved over to him. "Hey Xander!" She greeted brightly, before dropping her voice. "I'm guessing you're looking for vampires?"

Xander nodded and tapped his ear. "Speaking with Cortana, she's looking at the thermal feed for anyone with room temperature body heat. Got two right now."

"Huh, slow night." Buffy commented.

Xander chuckled. "Hey I'm not complaining."

"Hey, look I'm sorry about earlier today," Buffy said, "Cortana I hope you can hear that too. She's right, we can do this better. I know she's just trying to help, and I was being stubborn."

Xander looked at her and gave her his trademark goofy smile, "It's all good Buff, I get it. You've been doing this for a while now and this will be a big change. Never easy to hear that there's a better way to do something you feel like you're an expert in."

Buffy smiled back, "Thanks for understanding. Faith, of all people, straightened me out."

Xander's eyebrows raised. "Wasn't expecting that to be the next thing you said."

"We had a good talk on the way over here," Buffy explained. "She made me realize that we have a choice. We can choose to be what the Watchers council wants us to be, a disposable weapon, or we can choose to live. I might not ever have a normal life, but that doesn't mean it has to be a short one."

Xander smiled at her warmly and pulled her into a half hug. "Sounds like the right choice to me," he said. Buffy leaned into the hug and thought about the second half of her conversation with Faith. She looked over to see Faith smirking in their direction. Suddenly, she felt Xander stiffen beside her and tensed up as well. "Target at my 2 o'clock is moving towards the back door with someone," he said, getting Faith's attention as well.

Buffy looked and saw a man and woman moving towards the back door, her whispering in the man's ear. The woman was dressed pretty fashionably, if it was still 1988. "I'll follow them," Xander announced. "Can you and Faith go out the front and cover the exits to the alley?"

Buffy and Faith nodded and broke away to head for the front door, Buffy loudly exclaiming she'd forgotten her makeup bag outside and asking Faith to come with her. Xander discreetly followed the pair as they made their way towards the back door, checking quickly to make sure he had his pistol and stake. Though he definitely preferred the new AV rounds, even the fairly quiet pistol could probably be heard at least outside the Bronze if not inside, and sometimes stealth was still the preferred approach.

"Colonel, take a look at this," Sam said, passing the screen over to Colonel O'Neill.

Jack looked at the screen, which was set to thermal from the camera in the alley, in confusion. He switched back to standard view and then back to thermal. "What the hell?"

What the normal camera showed was a man and woman in the alley, getting a little bit frisky. What the thermal image showed was one bright hot body heat signature intertwined with a smaller one that was just a gray outline, the same temperature as the surrounding air. She was wrapped around the other signature, kissing his lips and then moving down towards his neck. Suddenly the man jerked as though in pain and tried to pull back, only to be held roughly in place by the room temperature woman.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "Let's get in there, move people!"

The four of them quickly piled out of the SUV and rushed towards the alley. None of them noticed a pair of surprised teenage girls who held up short as they watched SG-1 move into the alley to intervene in the attack. "Xander!" Buffy whispered into the communicator. "Wait! There's some team of people in black moving into the alley!"

Xander held at the back door, which was ajar, and peeked out. Sure enough he saw a team of four people in black rushing towards the pair in the alley, two with weapons drawn. "Hey!" One of the men shouted pointing his pistol, "Get away from him!"

The vampire raised her head from her victims neck and snarled at the group with her game face on, bloody fangs bared and yellow eyes glinting.

"What the hell?!" The man exclaimed, but kept his gun trained on the vampire. The other two men and the woman looked shocked as well. Clearly this was not some kind of professional vampire hunter group, whoever they were.

The vampire dropped her woozy victim to the ground and advanced on the group. "Stop right there or I will shoot you!" The man who seemed to be in charge commanded again. The vampire ignored him and continued to advance. After repeating his command, the man opened fire, putting two rounds into the advancing vampires chest.

The female vampire made a yelping sound and took a step back, then stopped and looked back at the group, making a growling sound. "That. Fucking. Hurt." She snarled. Then she started advancing on the group again.

"Jack?" One of the other men asked. "Do we have a plan B?"

Before Jack could respond, the vampire was close enough to take a swipe at him. He dodged back from her, and the large black man in the group stepped in between, catching a second swing. He was clearly expecting to be able to use his superior size and strength to control the creature, but got a nasty surprise when the vampire overpowered him, breaking his grip. It struck him twice with powerful hits to the face before picking him up and throwing him a few feet back into the wall of the alley, then continued to move towards the leader of the group, clearly intent on revenge after being shot by him.

Xander gripped his pistol and prepared to intervene. He was hoping that he would get a chance to take a shot without actually stepping out of the doorway, then he could just fade back into the club without notice. Instead he got a big surprise when the woman in the group pulled out some sort of strange dull grey device that vaguely resembled a snake. She pressed something and the device seemed to lurch forward almost like a cobra into a firing position. She fired it once, it made a strange noise and seemed to shoot some kind of blue electric discharge that arced between both "Jack" and the vampire who were locked together as the vampire went for his neck. Both reeled back in pain and surprise, Jack dropping to the ground. The vampire shuddered and twitched before stopping and looking at the woman with a snarl of rage. She held her ground and fired a second time, the confident expression on her face letting Xander know that despite guns not working she was definitely expecting this to put the vampire down. It didn't, though again the vampire screamed in pain and rage. After a few seconds of shaking she rushed forward at the woman, who fired a third time. This time the weapon worked, the blue electric energy arcing over the screaming vampire before it disintegrated into nothing. Xander noted that it didn't dust, it simply ceased to exist.

"What. The hell. Was that?!" Jack exclaimed as he unsteadily got to his feet, getting a hand from the large man who had collected himself after being thrown several feet by the fairly petite vampire.

"No idea sir," The woman replied, putting away the gray snake like weapon. "Are you hurt?"

"Hurt yes, injured no." Jack replied. "Good thinking with the Zat, Carter. Though I wish you had thought of it before you had to hit us both."

"Still seems better than the alternative, sir." She replied, leaning down to check on the vampires initial victim. "Sir, this man's pulse is weak and irregular. We better get him to a hospital, looks like he's lost a fair bit of blood."

"Okay, let's get out of here, there's bound to be people who at least heard my shots anyway," Jack decided. "Teal'c, Danny can you grab him?"

The other two men in the group carefully lifted the victim up between them and they moved quickly out of the alley to an SUV across the street. They loaded him in the back and got out of there quick, headed in the direction of Sunnydale General.

"Okay," Xander said, stunned after what he had seen. "What. The hell. Was that?!"

Cortana thoughtfully looked over the footage from Xander's combat glasses, getting shots of each of the faces of the team that had intercepted the vampire. "Got matches for three of them," she announced to the group which had assembled in Xander's warehouse. "The man in charge is Colonel Jack O'Neill and the woman is Major Samantha Carter, both Air Force officers assigned to a "deep space radar telemetry" program in the Cheyenne Mountain complex in Colorado Springs. The other member I can identify is a civilian named Doctor Daniel Jackson, an archaeologist also employed by the Air Force as a civilian consultant for the same program."

"What about the last guy? The big one?" Buffy asked.

"Unknown," Cortana replied. "I mean that literally. As far as I can tell, he doesn't exist in any database for any nation on Earth."

"That's not ominous or suspicious at all," Xander said sarcastically. "Clearly, they weren't expecting to run into vampires. Why were they here? We're a long way from Colorado."

"As far as I can tell, they're looking for you." Cortana replied, making Xander's blood run cold. "Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter had a meeting with the commander of the Sunnydale military base yesterday. They were also apparently on site at the Pelican crash. Given that they've been to both places where we left significant evidence of our presence, and the fact that their program is so top secret that even I can't figure out what they do, then I'd say it's a safe assumption that they're here because of us."

"Damn it!" Xander swore. "I knew leaving that Pelican there would come back to bite us! Wait," he said, processing Cortana's words, "did you say their program is so secret that you don't know what they do?"

"I did," Cortana said with some frustration. "As far as I can tell, all information regarding the true nature of the program must be stored on computers not accessible through the internet. All I've been able to glean is the acronym for the program, which is SGC."

"Well whatever they do they've clearly got some kind of advanced technology," Willow said. "What is that weapon they used? It dusted the vampire."

"Actually, it didn't." Cortana corrected. "If you look closely at the video, you can see that the vampire seems to simply disintegrate with no residue or dust left behind. I would guess that this is a function of the weapon, not a response to it from the vampire."

"Ever seen anything like that, Cortana?" Faith asked.

The AI shook her head. "Never. The Covenant used a large variety of weapons but none of them ever disintegrated the target like that. It was like the target was ripped apart at a molecular level. I have a couple of theories here. We're either dealing with a group that has managed to leapfrog decades ahead of current human development, which is technically possible but somewhat unlikely. Or, more likely in my opinion, this is captured alien tech from a faction that the UNSC has never encountered."

The room went silent in shock. "How is that possible?" Xander asked. "There's no way we've figured out how to travel faster than light yet, right?"

"I don't think so," Cortana said with a shrug, "but this is a pretty weird universe compared to the Halo one. It would be irresponsible of me to discount the possibility of it completely, despite it still being unlikely. Alternatively, aliens could also have made contact with Earth and we either received those weapons in a trade or took them by force."

"So what do we do?" Buffy asked. "They didn't exactly seem like bad guys."

Xander nodded, "Amateurs, but not bad guys. They rushed in with no real idea what they were doing to help that guy. But now we've got an Air Force team that knows about vampires. I can't imagine that's good for us, or anyone really. The last thing we need is the military stepping in."

"Let me handle this," Cortana suggested. "I can make contact with them discreetly, without giving any information about us away. If they're good guys, maybe we can get them to keep a lid on this."

Xander looked at Willow, Oz, Faith and Buffy and saw no one looking like they were about to object. "Okay, sounds good Cortana. What should we do in the meantime?"

"Well, I would suggest getting some sleep," Cortana replied. "Our first training session is still on, and it's in 8 hours. You're going to want to be well rested."

Buffy, Faith and Xander looked at their watches and groaned in unison. "Cortana, I know we're training to fight like Spartans, but we're still fighting vampires!" Buffy complained. "Why are we doing this training early in the morning?"

"Oh suck it up, buttercup." Cortana replied with little to no sympathy. "I've got lots planned for tomorrow and we need a full day. I'll see you in the morning, get some sleep. And I'd like you two to be here too," she said to a surprised Willow and Oz. "Cordelia too if she wants to keep helping. Don't worry, you're not going to be taking part but I do want you to be aware of how the team will operate."

Willow and Oz nodded in understanding. "Okie dokie!" Willow said brightly. Willow, Oz, and Faith said goodbye and headed out. Xander looked at Buffy, who was looking at him nervously.

"Everything okay, Buff?" Xander asked.

"Just… promise me you'll be careful, okay? At least until these Air Force people are gone?" Buffy asked. "People in the government are looking for you, and that kind of gives me the wiggins. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again. We need you Xan, I need you."

Xander looked at the pleading look on Buffy's face with surprise. "Hey, of course Buffy. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Cortana will figure this out, she always does. It's gonna be fine."

Buffy nodded, then sighed and looked down away from Xander. "Faith and I had another part to that talk I mentioned." She blurted out. "About you. She asked me what the deal with us was."

Xander's eyes widened. "What, uh, what did you say?"

"I kind of danced around the issue, because I didn't have an answer. But, I think that maybe I would like to try and find out what that answer is," she said. "If that was something you also wanted to figure out, I mean." She said, looking up at him.

Xander took in a breath. He knew they had been dancing around this for a little bit now, but it still took him by surprise. "Are you sure?"

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "Not really, I have doubts and fears and I'm terrified of losing one of my best friends if we screw this up, but at the same time, I'm also afraid of missing something great. So I'm up to try if you are, but let's take it slow? Feel this out and see what happens?" She asked, her eyes half scared and half hopeful.

Xander's mouth cracked into that goofy smile that always seemed to put her a little more at ease. "I'd like that, yeah." He said. "So, uh, what do we do now?"

Buffy laughed. "How about we start with a date, maybe Sunday night? Pick me up at 8?"

Xander nodded and grinned. "Sounds like a plan. So I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Bright and early, but probably not chipper or cheerful," Buffy confirmed. "Goodnight Xander, I'm looking forward to it." She said with a smile. Xander returned it and she walked out, leaving Xander grinning ear to ear until he turned around to face a stern looking Cortana with her arms crossed.

"I hope you understand two things here Xander," Cortana said. "One, team dynamics are important and relationships can affect them. Keep that in mind, okay? Not telling you don't follow your heart, but also don't forget to use your head too. And two? If you hurt that girl you and I will be having a very serious and unpleasant conversation."

"Hey wait, you're giving me the shovel speech?" Xander asked in surprise. "SHE asked ME out!"

"And don't think she won't be getting a version of it too," Cortana retorted. "I care about all of you, if either of you hurt the other I will be very upset. Now get some rest, I need you at your best tomorrow. We're going to put any and all doubts about this training program to rest, and I'm counting on you for a spectacular demonstration. I meanwhile, have to go make contact with our nosy Air Force friends."

"Okay, let me know if you need anything, and how that goes," Xander said. "Be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry Xander, even if it doesn't go well they're not going to be able to track me," Cortana said with little concern. "Honestly? I think this will be fun."

Xander decided he and Cortana clearly had different ideas of fun, then headed to bed.

SG-1 had dropped off the attack victim at the hospital, gone back to quickly collect their equipment, then got the hell back to their hotel. They were rattled, Jack could see it in Carter and Daniel's expression. He was sure he had a similar expression on his face. Teal'c had immediately stepped away to perform Kel'no'reem and seemed very disturbed. "Does anyone have an explanation for this other than vampires?" Jack asked, somewhat desperate for an alternative.

"Sir, they can't be vampires," Carter replied. "Vampires don't exist."

"Oh, okay Carter," Jack replied sarcastically. "Then what exactly would you call a creature that looks human, except for the fangs and yellow eyes, total lack of body heat and part where guns don't kill them, and you know the part where they DRINK HUMAN BLOOD!"

"There has to be a reasonable explanation, sir!" Carter replied insistently. "Vampires are fantasy, not reality!"

"Sam, you would have said the same thing about Egyptian gods being aliens before the Stargate program," Daniel replied. "Haven't we seen enough out there for you to at least be open to the possibility that there might be some truth behind the myth?"

Suddenly, every single cell phone in the room chirped at the same time. The three members of the team looked at their phones to see a text message displayed from an unknown number, 'You're right Colonel O'Neill. What you saw tonight was a vampire.'

The team looked at each other uneasily, then around the room. "Carter! Daniel!" Jack barked. "Check this place for bugs!"

Their phones chirped again. 'You won't find anything,' it said. 'You're not going to be able to trace me, or find out who I am. And I don't need to plant bugs to listen to you. I can find you anywhere, now that I know you're here.'

The three of them looked at each other uneasily at that declaration. "Who are you?" Jack said aloud. "What do you want?"

'I'm not ready to give you my identity,' the next message started. 'But what I want is to make sure you don't kill yourselves, or anyone else, messing with something you don't understand.'

"Hey, a lot of people in this town are dying already!" Jack said indignantly. "We saved that guys life tonight!"

Buzz of text messages again. 'Which is the only reason we're having this conversation right now. That was noble of you and showed you have good intentions. But I'll say it again, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MESSING WITH.'

Daniel suddenly looked at Carter sharply. "Sam, is this possible? Turning our government issue phones into bugs, texting all of us at the same time? Could you do that without compromising the entire system?"

Carter looked stunned at Daniel's question. "You don't think…"

Daniel calmed himself and spoke slowly and clearly. "Are we speaking with an artificial intelligence? Is this… Cortana?"

Silence for a moment. In cyberspace, Cortana cursed her theatrical nature. Why oh why did she have to hit every phone at once. But she had also learned some important information regarding the nature of the teams normal job, definitely aliens. And from the sounds of it, ones who had been on or around Earth for a long time if they were pretending to be Egyptian Gods. Fortunately, this also gave her a useful shield to hide behind, one in which she didn't have to lie to conceal information.

The members of SG-1 checked their phones simultaneously as they buzzed. 'Per the Cole protocol, I am unable to give any information regarding UNSC activities or personnel to parties that may fall into extraterrestrial hands, including my identity.'

"Holy Hannah," Carter breathed. "Cole Protocol? UNSC?"

"If it isn't Cortana, it's him." Jack said confidently. This is what they had come here for. "Okay, you can't tell us who or where you are but you've just confirmed what we thought. You're a long way from your own universe, what do you want?"

Buzz, 'Nothing other than for you to let me do what I'm doing now, fighting the creatures you saw tonight, and for you to keep this, and me, a secret.'

"You know we can't do that," Carter said. "Too many people already know about our mission, that there's something going on here."

Buzz, 'You're to report back that you've found nothing. No current activity to suggest anything is amiss. And if you don't, then you're going to find that a lot of news agencies in every country in the world are going to be asking a lot of questions about the SGC located in Colorado Springs and their connection to alien technology.''

"Whoa, let's not be hasty here!" Jack exclaimed worriedly. "Look, we can help each other! Maybe we can find a way to get you home, and if you know what we do you know we could definitely use some more firepower defending Earth out there."

Buzz, 'This IS my home now, and I'm already defending it. Did you forget what you saw tonight? You're a good man Colonel, and I don't enjoy threatening you. But right now I am needed here and the Air Force cannot help. You are to stay away from Sunnydale and tell no one what you saw. Am I making myself clear?'

Jack shook his head. "No, you know what, screw this! That's how you want to play it, fine let's play hardball," Jack said forcefully.

"Jack…" Daniel cautioned.

"No Danny, I'm not going to take this! This is our planet, we have a right to know what the hell is going on! I'm not going to be told to run out of town with my tail between my legs without any answers." Jack answered sharply. "You want to tell the world our secret, fine then. Watch every single branch of the military descend on this town looking for vampires, and looking for YOU. Or, you can explain to me and my team what the hell is going on here, and I give you my word that we will keep your secret."

There was a long pause, then the phones buzzed again. 'You're a very stubborn, aggravating man, Colonel.'

"I've been told it's one of my better qualities," Jack replied sarcastically.

Buzz, 'But you do have my respect. Fine, you'll get some, not all, answers. And not about me, about the supernatural. Tomorrow night, I'll text you an address. Meet me there and we will discuss this further. Any attempt to discuss this with your superiors will result in the immediate release of all the information I have regarding the SGC to the public. Understood?'

Jack looked at Daniel and Sam, seeing the same desire for understanding of what the hell was going on here, before making his decision. "Okay, we agree."

'Then we will speak more tomorrow. Good night Colonel, stay safe.'

Sam, Jack and Daniel looked at each other and released the breath they had been collectively holding. "Anyone else need a drink?" Jack asked.

Cortana frowned. That hadn't gone as smoothly as she had hoped. However, it would be an opportunity to learn a little more about the SGC. Should be interesting, if nothing else. And Cortana did have some ideas about how to keep her identity a secret that could still be fun. She never really got the chance to play dress up…

End Chapter 20