Chapter 4: A New Ally/Problem

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Stargate characters belong to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to AshDawnSoulmates and zigpal for checking this out for me.

Outside the compound

When she sensed the symbiotes in Jacob and Teal’c, Buffy glared at the others. “What’s this? I thought you wanted the demons dead? How come there are two of them in your group?”

Daniel rushed to explain, kicking himself for not thinking of it earlier, “Teal’c is a Jaffa; he knows that Apophis is a false god and wants to destroy them all.”

Buffy nodded warily, then turned her glare on Jacob. “And the other one?”

“My name is Jacob Carter; I’m the host of the Tok’ra, Selmak,” he introduced himself formally, sensing that whatever happened in the compound made this woman either a potential ally or a possible threat if not handled properly.

The resistance name caused her to smile brightly. “So you went against dear ol’ dad, huh?” she smirked.

Stunned by her abrupt change in attitude, Jacob stuttered out, “Who are you?”

“If you mean the Goa’uld that was in me, that was Bastet. She’s dead now, but I’m using her memories to get rid of the others. You’re lucky that she remembers the Tok’ra, and her hatred of you is real, not just the usual Goa’uld politics,” Buffy said pointedly.

Giles touched her arm to get her attention. He was still a little disoriented from her transporting him to the tent unexpectedly. “Anne, what is going on here?” he asked, being sure to use her new identity.

“We’re taking a little trip to be sure I’m not Bastet,” she informed her former Watcher and current friend.

Fighting the urge to polish his glasses in front of these people, Giles murmured, “Is that wise?”

“Yeah. Bast will keep us safe. If they try anything, she’ll help us get out of there,” Buffy whispered back. Then she spoke in a louder voice, “So, are you ready to go? Everybody who’s going needs to hold hands then. I’d prefer blondie hold Giles’ other hand and Daniel holds mine,” she said, looking at Carter. She looked at Teal’c and Jacob to explain, “No offense, you may be Tok’ra and Jaffa, but I don’t know if I can trust you yet. At least she doesn’t still have her symbiote.”

Cheyenne Mountain

Taking in the concrete walls of the facility, Buffy commented, “So this is where you learn to fight the fake gods. A little drab for my taste, but that’s the military for you.”

Jack was annoyed that she transported them directly into the secure base. They decided to leave Teal’c and Jacob behind to wait for their people to get there to clean up the situation. “Let’s just get you down to the doc. Make sure you aren’t a snake,” he said, almost as a warning.

But Buffy wasn’t the slightest bit concerned – at least about the demon part. “Fine. You know that if you try to do any experiments on me or Giles, we’ll take off,” she warned right back.

After the physical…

Dr. Fraiser came to the observation room to give her report. “As far as I can tell, she’s a healthy human woman. She has the protein marker and naquadah in her blood, indicating she was once a host, but that is all.”

General Hammond nodded, dismissing the doctor before turning to Buffy to ask, “What are your plans, young lady?”

“Find the Goa’uld and kill them,” Buffy replied straightforwardly.

Despite his earlier reluctance to like her, this comment made Jack grin. “Nice. Simple. Do you know how you’re going to accomplish that?” he inquired.

The Slayer-turned-goddess shrugged, “Nah. I usually just wing it.”

“Oh no, she’s another Colonel,” Sam muttered under her breath, but was smiling when she did so.

They were interrupted by the klaxons sounding. “Offworld activation!” the PA system announced loudly.

“Is there an IDC?” Hammond demanded of the gate technician.

Sgt. Harriman responded, “No, sir.”

Narrowing his eyes, Hammond ordered, “Close the iris.”

Even thought the iris engaged, it didn’t stop their visitors from getting through. Jack smiled when he saw who they were and called to the guards, “Stand down! They’re friends!” Then he ran down to the gateroom to greet them.

Anteaus quickly demanded, “Where is she?”

Jack shook his head in confusion. “Pardon me? Who? And by the way, nice to see you too,” he added snarkily.

Bowing her head, Lya replied, “Our apologies. It is just that we felt an Ancestor on your planet and near your gate. We are most anxious to see her.”

“Who is it you’re looking for?” Daniel inquired, trying to figure out who or what an Ancestor could be – aside from the obvious human connotation..

Anteaus and Lya exchanged what appeared to be embarrassed expressions. “We are unsure; we only know it is an Ancestor,” she admitted. “Now that we are here, we feel that it is a she.”

Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise as the pieces came together. “You don’t think they could be talking about…” he glanced up at the observation room, where Buffy and Giles were watching the scene with curiosity, “…do you, Jack?”

Feeling the need to pound his head against a wall or some other solid object, Jack declared, “Oh for crying out loud! Alright, follow us; we may have your Ancestor upstairs.” Their lives just had to keep getting weirder!

When the Nox entered the room, Buffy leaned over and whispered in Giles’ ear, “Is it just me, or is it a little creepy how much that guy resembles Snyder?”

“No, the similarity is disturbing,” Giles whispered back.

The Snyder-lookalike beamed at Buffy and proclaimed, “Ancestor, it is wonderful that you have returned!”

Carefully returning his greeting, Buffy replied apologetically, “I’m sorry. Who are you and who do you think I am?”

Hiding her dismay at the lack of understanding, Lya tried to explain, “We are the Nox; this is Anteaus, and I am Lya. We feel your power. You are an Ancestor.”

After some puzzling explanations were given, Bast spoke in Buffy’s mind, “I think they are referring to me.”

Buffy nodded in understanding, “Ah, I get it now.” The rest of the room looked at her in surprise – mostly because she seemed to be talking to herself. “Your Ancestor just told me what you’re talking about.”

“You aren’t the Ancestor?” Anteaus inquired, unsure how to take this new twist.

“Nope. We’re just kinda sharing my body.” When the others raised eyebrows at her explanation, she continued, “They’ve moved on from having a physical form, but can – under the right circumstances – join with certain humans for various tasks. Bast and I get along, so she’s gonna hang with me for a while.”

“Wait! Back at Seth’s compound, you said Bastet was dead,” Daniel interrupted. Bast and Bastet were names the same way Set and Seth were; both referring to the same person/being.

“The demon that went by the name Bastet died. I do, however, retain her memories and abilities. Bast is the real goddess of protection. They’re both in my mind.” Buffy leaned over to whisper to her friend, “By the way, Giles, she was responsible for what I was before. I just figured that out now. Sorry. That’s how she was able to help get rid of Bastet.”

Giles’ eyes lit up, intrigued at the possibility. “We’ll talk about that later…in private.”

“It is from you that we get our ability to conceal ourselves from danger,” Lya explained, attempting to get their Ancestor’s attention back.

But she was startled by the flash of anger her words caused. “You avoid danger?” Buffy ground out.

“B-- Anne…remember, we know nothing of these people. You shouldn’t make judgments about their culture,” Giles reminded his former Slayer.

However, it wasn’t Buffy at the helm currently, it was Bast. “Sorry, Scholar, but they are misusing the gifts I bestowed on their people many millennia ago. The power to blend into your surroundings is to better defend yourselves and those you are bound to protect, not to hide,” the goddess reprimanded the gentle pacifists.

Anteaus tried to justify their actions, “We just thought it was better to remove ourselves from the violence.”

Bast refused to accept that excuse though. “All you did was force somebody else to fight your battles for you. How many died needlessly because you didn’t stop the evil from spreading?” Buffy turned to Giles and remarked in her normal tone, “Wow, that sounds frighteningly familiar.”

Lya spoke, tears in her eyes for disappointing her, “We apologize, Ancestor. We meant no disrespect. This is how it has been for generations,” she explained.

With those words, Bast’s anger left her and shame replaced it. “I guess it was not only Janus that fell down on the job then. I am sorry that I failed to keep better track of what was happening to your people,” she returned the apology.

The scene shocked the members of the SGC. They were used to the callous disregard and outright violence of the Goa’uld towards their followers. To see the Nox’s goddess treat them kindly and actually apologize to them…well, it floored them.

“Can you teach us? It has been too long since we have used our abilities as weapons,” Lya pleaded for her people.

With only the slightly more confident and regal tone to set her apart from Buffy, Bast replied, “I will help, but you must understand that I also have the responsibility to rid this dimension of the demon Goa’uld.” Buffy turned to the General and asked, “Will it be a problem if I use the gate here to visit my friends and family?”

Hammond was grateful that she asked. Given that the Nox could get through their iris, he had no doubts that she could as well. “I’m not sure we could stop you, but I will ask the President anyway.”

“I don’t want bad relations with you, so forcing my way past your shieldy thing every time I wanted to come home would probably be a bad thing,” Buffy explained honestly. “If it’s a problem, I’d just have to think of something else,” she added, thinking that maybe she should get one of Bastet’s spaceships to fly around in.

Hammond stood and made his way to the red phone in his office.

Several minutes later…

“I’ve spoken with the President, and he’s requested that I ask you for an alliance,” Hammond said to Buffy, using the respectful tone he saved for interplanetary diplomacy with a powerful ally like the Asgard.

Jack was startled by the speed of the President’s response. “Sir?”

Hammond explained, “She’s shown no hostility towards anyone, other than the Goa’uld. Since she isn’t currently a host, he feels we should coordinate our efforts. And the fact that the Nox vouch for her goes a long way with him.”

Buffy looked at her mentor. “Giles?” He nodded his agreement. “Alright, I’m in. When Bast isn’t teaching the Nox how to use their abilities, we’ll be taking out the baddies.”

“This should be fun,” Jack shook his head. In actuality, now that he knew for sure she wasn’t a snakehead, he found her to be very interesting and amusing. The Goa’uld wouldn’t know what hit them.

Sunnydale

A week later…

“So Buffy is going to be helping out the Air Force fight those Goa’uld demons?” Willow asked the former Watcher, since Buffy was on the Nox homeworld, getting to know Bast’s people.

Giles polished his glasses as he confirmed Buffy’s plans, “Yes. It appears that they are even more widespread than she knew. I’m sorry to do this to you and Xander, but I need to join her. Neither of us fully trust these people yet. Besides, it turns out they could use my skills in translating and such. And she has to teach a race of beings that Bast gave certain powers to how to use those powers again.”

Willow smiled at him, trying to reassure him, “Don’t worry about us. As soon as we graduate, we plan to leave Sunnydale. Buffy’s mom is already getting ready to move back to LA.”

“Just hope the new Slayer can handle things here. She doesn’t seem as good as Buffy. We’ve caught her in action a couple times, and she’s too--” Xander cut off, unsure of how to put it.

But Willow didn’t have the same problem, so she filled in, “Robotic. She doesn’t show any imagination.”

Dismayed at the blindness of the Watchers Council in how they treated these girls – especially now that he knew they were created by Bast to protect mankind from the demon scourge – Giles sighed, “Well, we will be keeping an eye on things, and if necessary, we’ll come back to help out – whether they want our assistance or not.”

A/N: There! Hope that makes y’all happy now. Actually, now I’m going to work on the alternative: Buffy taking care of Seth before SG-1 shows up.