General Hammond looked at the report that the man had given him. The man was mysterious, having no credentials except the fact that the President and the Secretary of Defence had ordered Hammond to listen to him and use his team. Hammond looked at the report again in disbelief.
'Something like this is a serious threat.' He thought.
"My team can handle the job. That one suicided." The man said indicating to the report. "My team took out two of them, killed them outright. They have no more interest in us, because of my team. We will handle this situation of yours."
The man turned and left the office and a nervous General behind him.
"No way Dutch gets credited with the Kill." Faith said.
Faith, Xander, Buffy and a driver were in a jeep with Faith and Xander arguing in the back and Buffy watching them from the front seat.
"Come on. Why not?" Xander said.
"It suicided. He might get an assist, but not a Kill." Faith retorted.
"Then you don't get credit for the one last week. It fell over a cliff." Xander declared.
"No way. I kicked it over that cliff. That Kill is totally mine." Faith said outraged.
"Cut it out you two. We're here." Buffy said.
They piled out of the jeep and met up with Giles, Willow and Oz, who were travelling in the other jeep, and headed into the mountain complex, each carrying large duffle bags. They were escorted into an elevator and quickly shuttled deep into the mountain.
Colonel Jack O'Neil, Major Samantha 'Sam' Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, the members of SG1, flagship team of the SGC, sat waiting in the briefing room waiting for General Hammond and the outside team that would accompany them on the rescue mission.
Two days ago, on a mission on P4X-812, SG1, SG2 and SG3 were ambushed by several Jaffa patrols wherein SG2 and SG3 were captured and taken for interrogation in a highly fortified Goa'uld base. General Hammond walked in with the other team following behind.
The team consisted of six members who despite their youth, or maturity, looked in shape and capable of being deadly. Funnily the two most dangerous members, to the trained eye, would be dismissed first by armatures.
One was a petite little blond woman, about twenty-five in age, who carried herself like she knew how to fight well, a similar motion to the brunette, who was slim but with good muscle tone. The brunette was younger, probably twenty-three but her movements were, while no less potentially deadly, more loose and semi-wild than the blond. These two instantly went on edge the moment they saw Teal'c.
Next came a tall, dark haired man, also about twenty-five, who had a more military attitude in his movements but still seemed part of the unorthodox group. Behind him came a redheaded woman and a short blond man whose hair was 'spiky', walking arm in arm. Bringing up the rear was a dark haired man with glasses and dark hair who looked in his late forties, or early fifties, and he reminded Jack of himself and Daniel, almost a bookworm warrior.
They all carried at least one large duffle bag and were dressed in civilian clothing. General Hammond introduced them in order as Buffy Summers, Faith Wilson, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Daniel 'Oz' Osborne and Rupert Giles and then he introduced SG1.
"Two Questions. One, why do you need us inside a mountain? And two, what is he?" The blond, called Buffy, asked.
"Let me guess. Something to do with the Stargate and a Jaffa. Am I right?" Xander said, chuckling when he received startled glances from the SGC members. "You got to keep up with the classified projects, Buff."
"Nah. Too much like homework. Isn't that what Giles is for?" Buffy responded with a laugh, quickly joined by the others in the group.
"Hey. Do you want me to go Ripper on your ass, cause I will." Giles threatened, causing the team to stop laughing, before he turned to General Hammond. "General, we will require four rooms, three doubles and a singe for myself, we will also require adequate work facilities and access to a gym. We will be able to begin the operation in three days. We also require all information available about the engagements zone."
"Now who the hell do you think you are? No one talks to a General like that. And why can't we go now?" Jack fumed.
"Colonel O'Neil. You are acting under the misconception that we are regular military. We are a completely independent unit answering directly to the Sectary of Defence and the President. Also we were just flown halfway around the world, straight off a mission to help you. If anyone can get this job done, it will be us but not if you interfere with our methods.
"If you would prefer, we can leave and go on the vacation we were planing before you and your friends go into trouble, but I guarantee that they will not be rescued by conventional units, or we would not have been called in." Giles said, fairly calmly.
The team turned and began to leave the briefing room, heading for the mess hall. Just before he left, Giles turned and addressed the SGC personnel.
"I suggest that before entering the rooms of the rest of my team that you knock if the door is closed. While Xander and Buffy are a couple and Willow and Oz are a couple, let's just say they sometimes act like they are seventeen and have very open relationships."
"What is an open relationship?" Teal'c asked.
"Ask the General or the Colonel. And think Sixties." Giles replied with a grin.
"What about the Regs?" Colonel O'Neil asked.
"Not regular Military, remember. No Regs. See you later." Giles said before he left.
Willow entered the workroom set aside for the demon hunting team and saw Faith was there checking all the equipment. At the moment Faith was stripping down the M82 Barrett, a fifty calibre Sniper rifle designed to take out enemy equipment and fixed emplacements. Willow walked over and began checking out the explosives.
"Where is everyone?" Faith asked, not stoping her work.
"Well, Xand is still in the Mess Hall, I think he's trying to get Twinkies. Oz is outside in the forest, I think he's letting the wolf out for a bit. Buffy is talking to Teal'c and Colonel O'Neil and Giles is talking languages with Dr. Jackson." Willow replied.
"Cool." Faith said as she snapped the last piece in place, reassembling the rifle, before moving on to her mini-gun.
"Oh yah. Buffy and Giles want us in the training room in about two hours to show SG1 what we can do." Willow said with a slight smile.
"Oh good. They are in for a shock." Faith said with a huge grin.
SG1 were certainly shocked by the display that the demon hunting team had put on. As Jack had predicted, Buffy and Faith were amazing fighters, using mostly kicks but putting together punch/kick combinations with devastating accuracy. Buffy had a flowing, ever adapting style that could be utilised in almost any situation while Faith's style was much more aggressive, often using similar combinations of attacks over and over to weaken her enemy's defences.
Xander's style of fighting intrigued Jack immensely. It appeared that the young man had been trained by every single military unit on the planet, and a few off the planet. Jack recognised moves from US, Canadian, British, Australian, Japanese, Russian, French and a dozen other countries' Special Forces or elite units. He even recognised some of the moves that Teal'c had taught him.
Giles' fighting style was quite unique as well. It seemed to be a mix of fencing, Queensbury Boxing and rough street fighting. There was definitely a wild and aggressive man under the cultured and sophisticated exterior that did not seem to be superficial. Jack respected this, paralleling it to his own slightly wilder youth.
The greatest surprise came from the other two members of the team, Willow and Oz. Oz came off as a very stoic person, a man a few words who was slow to anger, but when he fought, it was with the ferocity of a wild animal but with skill, that reflected the training he had received from the other members of the team.
At first, the members of SG1 thought that Willow was a technical support member who would stay back at base, mostly due to her amazing ability with computers, as demonstrated by her software upgrade of the dialling computer that gave them the ability to dial out twice as fast and her apparent shyness. When the display was underway they saw just how dangerous the shy redhead could be.
Using several soft styles of martial arts, Willow had managed to fight off a coordinated attack by Buffy, Xander and Faith, the two slayers pulling their punches. She managed to stop the attacks by Xander and Faith, by using their strength and momentum against them as well as using hard style attacks a moments when they would be brutally effective, and fight Buffy to a standstill, meaning not being able to touch Buffy but not allowing Buffy to touch her.
Needless to say, after that demonstration there were no more complaints from anyone about the team's suitability for the rescue mission.
SG1 and the Demon Hunting team from Sunnydale lined up in front of the Stargate, awaiting the go. It was easy to tell the difference between the two teams. SG1 was relaxed but disciplined, holding their P90's casually by their slings, with Zatguns holstered at their hips. They were dressed in their standard mission fatigues, with moderate backpacks and a single FRED to transport their extra gear.
The Demon Hunting team was quite different. While no more tense than SG1, they certainly were much better armed. They were dressed in black fatigues that fitted their sombre mood. Giles, Buffy and Willow carried M16A2 rifles with under barrel M203 Grande Launchers as their primary guns, while Xander, Oz and Faith had the P90's favoured by SG1.
They all had Desert Eagle's as their sidearm and each had other secondary guns, some even having multiple secondary guns, the most noticeable of which included Xander's AWP Sniper Rifle, Buffy's box fed M249 SAW machine gun and Faith's Backpack fed Mini Gun. They also carried, much to SG1 and General Hammond's surprise, swords, an axe and archery equipment, coincidently the three who used P90's carried Longbows while the three who carried the M16A2's preferred Crossbows.
The team's backpacks, Faith not wearing one due to her wearing the Mini Gun ammo pack, were much larger than SG1's and they had three FRED's to carry their extra equipment, and Faith's backpack. It was obvious from their preparations that the demon hunting team were used to long duration missions in hostile territory, basically what they now were about to face.
The final chevron locked into place and the wormhole was established. Xander and Faith were the first ones through the Stargate, Giles delaying SG1 for several seconds before allowing Major Carter, Teal'c, Oz and Buffy through the gate. When they arrived on the other side, quickly followed by Colonel O'Neil, Daniel Jackson, Willow, Giles and the FRED's, they saw Faith covering the clearing with her Mini Gun, the other members of the demon hunting team falling into defensive positions around the gate.
After a few seconds they heard a birdcall from somewhere behind the gate and the Sunnydale team relaxed slightly, Buffy whistling out a different birdcall. Ten seconds later, Xander came out of the trees behind the gate, slinging his sniper rifle over his shoulder and gripping his P90. Faith put her Mini Gun into the holster built into the side of her ammo pack and reclaimed her P90 from the strap.
At a nod from Giles, Oz took the lead, switching his P90 for his UMP45, fully equipped with sight and silencer. Faith took the right flank while Buffy, gripping her M16A2 firmly, covered the left. Xander went drag while Willow, Giles and SG1 were in the centre, covering everyone. The area they were travelling through was light forest, and they avoided any major trails. They knew that the Goa'uld Stronghold was about a day and a half's march from the Gate.
After marching for several hours they made camp, with daylight fading. Tomorrow they would move to a new campsite much closer to the Stronghold that would become their base camp. SG1, used to short duration missions where they usually slept rough or were put up by locals, did not have any tents, however the Demon Hunting team had five.
They were two person tents that were extremely lightweight. They were small domes that had originally been designed by NASA, which had been camouflaged for the team's purposes. They had no metal supports; instead they used dual layers of pressure hardening material separated by a layer of slightly compressed air, which not only provided support but also acted as insulation. The sleeping arrangements were quickly sorted out. The two couples, Buffy and Xander, Willow and Oz, would share tents; Major Carter would share with Faith, while Dr. Jackson would bunk with Giles, allowing them to discuss languages and such without disturbing the others quite as much, which left Colonel O'Neil and Teal'c in the fifth tent.
The two teams sat around the camp fire, being far enough away from the Goa'uld Stronghold that an attack or a patrol was unlikely. Even the initial ambush that captures SG2 and SG3 was a significant distance away so the campsite was considered safe. The two groups were sharing stories, the Sunnydale team having high enough clearance to know everything about the SGC if they wanted and SG1 having been given special clearance just to know that the other team existed, it was decided that they could swap stories and basically, officially forget about them later.
"So I got Giles outside and made sure he was safe before heading back to check on Buffy." Xander related to SG1, telling the story of the encounter with Acathla, his face lit by the firelight. "I had snuck around the back and looked over the wall down into the courtyard garden. There I saw Angelus waiving a sword lazily at Buffy, who was on the ground against the wall. He was saying something I could not hear then he swings at Buffy and she catches the flat of the sword between her palms and smashes the hilt into his forehead."
"He had said 'No friends, no weapons, no hope. Take all that away and what have you got left.'" Buffy interjected. "To which I responded, while better acquainting him with his weapon, 'Me'."
Xander saw Buffy rise to her feet after stopping the sword. Running like a madman, Xander tried to go down the garden stairs but he found the gate at the top locked. Silently cursing, Xander ran around the side of the mansion and got in through the large hole in the garage door. Running through the mansion, Xander slid to a stop in the main room, seeing Buffy, armed with a sword, looking at Angel, who slumped to his knees as Xander entered. Xander kept to the shadows as Buffy and Angel talk, somehow knowing that it was Angel, not Angelus, who was with Buffy. Xander saw Buffy drop the sword and talk tenderly to Angel, he saw the portal begin the open and noticed that Buffy saw it as well. He could almost feel Buffy's pain as she kissed Angel, took a step back and plunged the sword through Angel's chest.
Xander saw Angel's eyes shoot open as the sword plunged through his chest, saw the anguish on Buffy's face as the portal brought about by her greatest enemy calmed the only man she had romantically loved. When she turned towards him, Xander got a good look at Buffy's eyes. He saw her shattered, a haunting look in her eyes that he would never forget. Xander moved out of the shadows and stood in Buffy's path, unknowingly knowing that she was going to try to run away. At first she tried to move around him but he kept stepping in front of her. The second time he did this, Buffy got mad and hit him. Xander just stood there, not raising a hand to defend himself as Buffy poured out all her pain and anguish upon him.
The two of them grew much closer over the next few months, as Xander healed physically and Buffy healed emotionally. By the time they had both healed, they relied on and trusted each other so much that dating seemed to be the next logical step.
Several hours were spent telling stories from Sunnydale, everything from Xander's run in with Jack's Gang, the subsequent saving Faith's life and having a long talk with her in her motel room to the final apocalyptic battle against the Mayor at Graduation.
"After Graduation, we were contacted by a man, who gave a rather strange speech. In the end he recruited us for this gig. Apparently there was an initial plan called the Initiative that involved groups of soldiers capturing and studying the demons, but once they found out about us and what the demons really wanted, they scraped that idea and let us do our work with some nifty little toys and such." Faith said, finishing the story telling.
A little while after the story was completed, the Scooby Gang and SG1 bunked down, except Xander who took the next watch. They all got plenty of sleep as the planet had an abnormally long night of pitch blackness.
Xander looked down on the small village that was located near the Goa'uld Stronghold from his hidden vantage point. Yesterday they had moved from their temporary camp site to their new permanent base camp located a few miles away. Most of the team was still back at base camp. Willow, the explosives expert, was setting up explosives and booby traps around the site, Giles, as medic, was establishing his field medical station. Faith was either checking on the equipment, something she was pedantic about, or was building defences with Buffy and SG1. Xander had come to investigate this village for signs of Goa'uld presence or any other hostile threat, while Oz was checking out some other small villages on the other side of the Stronghold.
Xander scanned the village through the scope of his AWP Sniper Rifle, noticing a commotion. Some of what where obviously Jaffa, were parading someone dressed like SG1 through the village, obviously one of the captured SG2 or SG3. Xander watched as the Jaffa addressed the villagers, probably using the SGC member as an example for what happens to those who disobey the Goa'uld. Xander watched as four Jaffa escorted the prisoner out of the village and along a path through the surrounding woodlands. Xander moved quickly to set up an ambush so he could rescue the prisoner.
Xander waited behind a tree, about ten feet from the path, as the Jaffa passed, two were in front of the prisoner and two were behind. Stepping out from behind the tree, Xander fired two arrows, one at the lead Jaffa and one at the tail Jaffa. As the arrows flew, he dropped his longbow and drew his Broadsword, charging the remaining Jaffa silently. The lead and tail Jaffa went down within seconds of each other, causing confusion among the two remaining Jaffa. Xander managed to get in quickly and run through the trailing Jaffa and place himself between the last Jaffa and the prisoner before he could react. Going on the offensive with his Broadsword, causing the Jaffa to use his Staff Weapon as a Staff, Xander had the advantage. The Jaffa was not used to this kind of combat and soon made a fatal mistake, dropping the staff to low as it attacked, allowing Xander to push aside the staff and kill the Jaffa.
Cleaning his blade on the dead Jaffa's cloak, Xander turned to face the prisoner.
"Are you mobile?" Xander asked, quickly looking the prisoner over for injuries.
"Yes. No serious injuries." The prisoner replied.
"Let's get u back to camp, SG1 should be pleased to see you. What's your name?" Xander asked, helping the prisoner to their feet and retrieving his longbow.
"Lt. Harding, SG3. Sarah Harding." She replied, her arm around Xander's shoulder for support.
"Xander Harris." Xander replied. "General Hammond sent us to get you."
They made their way carefully through the woods, Xander happy that there was at least one prisoner safe, and a valuable source of information handy. Sarah was just glad that she was free from that hell hole, and hoped that the others could hold on till they were rescued.