Fic: Undertow Rated R 24/30
Aug. 31st, 2008 08:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polgara_5Title: Undertow
By: Polgara
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.
Distribution: My site – Worlds of Possibilities, ff.net, Wormhole Crossing, and TtH.
Spoilers: Everything for Buffy is fair game. Everything up to and including season seven of Stargate SG-1. There will be very specific spoilers for season seven. You have been warned.
Setting: Takes place right after Homecoming of Stargate and three years after Chosen.
Summary: When someone close to Buffy dies, she finds herself on Jack’s doorstep. Before long, events and emotions pull them into something greater than they ever imagined.
A/N: My author notes are here for a reason, please read. If you still ask questions that are answered here, I will not answer them again. Do not beg for updates.
A/N2: I’ve only altered canon slightly. Ignore the whole Jack/Sam thing, it doesn’t exist here. And I’ve created a previous relationship between Buffy and Jack. It will get explained eventually, just be patient.
A/N: Just a heads up, this chapter jumps ahead several months. I thought long and hard about this decision, cause I could have written more scenes and adventures that flowed with season seven. However, they really would have amounted to filler. You've met everyone you really need to, relationships are established, and to be perfectly honest to have written everything that would happen would have made this a ridiculously long and boring fic. And yes, we're coming up on that episode and I've made my decision (seeing as how I wrote that chapter in June) but I'm gonna let you find out for yourselves...
Chapter Twenty-Four
Buffy chewed on her lower lip as she and Jack stood outside of General Hammond’s office door. They hadn’t been given reason for the summons, only that he wanted to see the two of them. She worried that perhaps he discovered that the nature of their relationship had changed and was going to reprimand them.
Even though she had been there for seven months and more than proven her abilities, some of the rumors that had started when she arrived were still floating around. The General had ignored them before, but perhaps someone had offered proof.
It wasn’t as if they had actively tried to hide their nearly four-month relationship, but they didn’t exactly advertise it either. They knew that they were treading on shaky ground work-wise when they decided to take the next step and they acted accordingly whenever they were on base, but perhaps that wasn’t good enough for Hammond.
Jack gave her a reassuring smile before opening the door and gesturing for her to enter. General Hammond’s regarded them with a serious expression that did nothing to ease her butterflies.
“Have a seat,” he said, and waited until they were comfortable before continuing. “I just got off of the phone with the President and I wanted to give the both of you a head’s up.”
He handed Jack a folder. “In two days a documentary film crew will arrive to ostensibly chronicle the 1,000 trip through the gate, but they’re also going to be conducting interviews with several of the employees here.”
Buffy’s eyes widened. “But – “
Hammond smiled gently at her and raised one hand to silence her. “I’ve discussed this with the President and he agreed. You are not to be interviewed. Although you are a member of my command, you are in a unique situation. The crew is here to document the SGC only, not slayers. We are more than aware of the need to keep you and the others’ identities a secret. Any of your mission files that he’ll have access to will have no mention of your extraordinary abilities.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, her stomach finally settling.
“As an added precaution, I’ll be using your team to replace SG-10 on the mission to P3X-666. I know you just returned from a four-day mission yesterday, but this is a simple survey only. One day.”
Jack looked at him hopefully. “What about SG-1, sir?”
“I’m afraid as our frontline team you will need to cooperate with the film crew. I’m sorry, Jack.” The General looked sincerely apologetic about having to give the order.
XXXXXXXX
The familiar sound of the wormhole disengaging fizzled behind them as SG-13 went down the stargate’s steps. Dave barely glanced at the MALP sitting next to the DHD as he scanned their surroundings. “Okay, Balinsky, which way?”
The redhead took a moment to get his bearings from the compass before pointing slightly to the right. “That way.”
Dave nodded. “I’ll take point. Wells, Summers you’re rear guard, five meter spread. Keep your eyes open.”
“The MALP showed no indication of any recent Goa’uld activity,” Jeff said absently before holding up his notebook. “Taking bets.”
“Uh, abandoned naquadah mine,” Simon said.
“Boring, but good odds. Summers?” Dave asked, his eyes still searching.
“I’m going with a six foot flower,” Buffy said cheerfully, earning strange looks from all three of her teammates.
“Highly doubtful. I’ll go with two-headed aliens,” Dave said.
“Hostile or friendly, sir?” Simon asked, his gear jingling slightly as he adjusted the way his pack rested on his shoulders.
“One head good, one head bad.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “And you doubt my six-foot flower.”
Dave just glared at her before turning to their archaeologist. “Balinsky?”
Jeff looked at him like he had gone mad. “Ruins of an Ancient city.”
“Big surprise,” Dave muttered before heading in the direction that Jeff had indicated, the others falling into position. “Summers, I want to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For getting us out of the interviews. Sharon wasn’t particularly happy about me leaving again so soon, but I’d rather deal with her wrath than be interviewed.”
“Same here,” Simon added. “Marci was in near tears, but she understood.”
Buffy instantly felt guilty for being the indirect cause of her teammates family strife.
“It’s okay, Summers. We understand why Hammond did this and we support it,” Dave said, not even turning around to look at her.
“Gotcha,” Buffy said. Knowing Dave would push it, she opted for a subject change and turned to Simon. “Are you and Marci ready for the baby?”
“Just about,” Simon said with a smile. “The baby room is decorated and we’ve already received several gifts. Her baby shower is in two weeks. She’d love to have you there.”
“I’d be happy to,” Buffy grinned back. “Are you ready to deal with a baby though?”
“I think so. We’ve taken some classes – “
“That won’t really prepare you,” Dave interrupted. “They don’t tell you about all night screaming, projectile vomiting, nuclear diapers. You have no idea. The reason they make them so damn cute is so you don’t suffocate them in their sleep.”
Buffy laughed. “Dave, you have four wonderful kids.”
“Yeah, why do you think I enjoy my job so much? Don’t get me wrong, I love the buggers to death but trust me, having four kids makes going through the stargate and facing off against alien bad guys look like nothing. This is relaxing,” he informed them, wading through the waist high grass as they passed several trees.
Simon snorted. “They why’d you have four?”
“Well, one’s pretty bad, but you figure you got to have two so the little guy can have a brother or sister, right? Then you have two boys and Sharon says she wants a girl, so you figure – hell, three can’t be much worse than two. But you don’t realize your brain is fried because you haven’t slept and after three, four is no big deal. Then you’re so deep in that nothing seems to matter anymore. It’s chaos. You just try to make it through each day alive. In the end you spend all the energy you have left trying to get them into bed, only to lie awake praying they don’t get hooked on drugs, hurt, or worse, wind up dead in an alley somewhere.”
“Can’t wait,” Simon said with a grin.
“So when can we expect the fifth?” Buffy teased.
“What are you getting on about, Summers?” Dave growled.
“You’re already ‘deep into the chaos’. Five can’t be much worse than four,” she said with a giggle.
“Hell, no. I put my foot down with four.”
“And if Sharon wants another?” Jeff asked.
Dave looked at him in horror. “Don’t even joke about that.”
They all laughed and Buffy leaned into Simon to whisper in a conspiratorial tone, “We should be hearing about the fifth one any day now.”
“Summers! I heard that!”
“I’m going to tell Sharon you’re thinking of having a fifth child,” Buffy said cheerfully.
“You do and I’ll… be damned,” Dave trailed off as they stepped into a clearing. The ground dropped slightly in front of them and the ruins of a city were laid out before them.
“I win,” Jeff said, his mouth gaping slightly. “I really won this time.”
“First time for everything,” Dave uttered softly.
XXXXXXXXX
Daniel looked up as Jack sauntered into his office then went back to perusing the footage SG-6 had brought back from their mission.
“Done your interview yet?” Jack asked, sitting down.
“Not yet. You?”
“Sort of,” Jack said slowly, picking up a nearby book and thumbing through it.
Daniel pulled his gaze from the screen to give him a disapproving look. “Jack.”
“I provided them with very important information about myself,” Jack said, his face serious.
“Mary Steenburgen again?” Daniel shrewdly asked.
Jack shrugged. “She’s hot.”
Daniel sighed and returned to the screen. “You know Hammond will probably force you to sit through an actual interview eventually.”
“Yeah, but I can have my fun until then,” Jack said with a smirk.
The next few minutes were filled only with the sound of Daniel randomly pressing keys on his keyboard. Jack busied himself with picking up every object within easy reach, giving it a cursory look, and setting it back down. Eventually Daniel gave up trying to concentrate and said, “Was there anything in particular you needed or did you come in here for the express purpose of annoying me?”
Jack looked up. “Sorry. I just needed a place to think.”
“And you chose my office?”
“I think better in here,” Jack replied.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, just things,” Jack said, lightly jabbing his finger into the arm of the chair.
“Work things? This documentary crew thing? Buffy things?” Daniel carefully watched Jack’s reactions and knew he hit the nail on the head when he mentioned Buffy. “Did you do something to upset her again?”
“Again? What do you mean, again?” Jack asked defensively.
“You have a history,” Daniel pointed out.
“No, I didn’t upset her,” Jack said with a frown.
“Then what’s wrong?”
Jack didn’t reply and Daniel patiently waited until his friend was ready to admit to whatever was bugging him. With Jack it was always a delicate balance of pushing and waiting. It was obvious he was ready to talk since he had come to him; it was just a matter of time until he got it out.
“I love her,” he softly admitted.
“That’s great, Jack, but I don’t see how that’s a problem,” Daniel said, his brows furrowing.
“It’s complicated.”
“Then explain it to me.”
Jack stood and began moving restlessly about the office. Picking up objects and sitting them back down without really looking at them. “I’m afraid she’ll run if I tell her.”
“There’s a switch.”
“Daniel, her track record with relationships is as bad, if not worse, than yours.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
The older man stopped and looked at him. “At sixteen she fell in love with a 240 year old vampire cursed with a soul. They made love on her seventeenth birthday triggering a clause in his curse causing him to lose his soul.”
“Wait a minute,” Daniel interrupted him. “She dated a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“Cursed with a soul?”
“That’s what I said. And you say I don’t listen,” Jack said with a roll of his eyes.
Daniel pushed his glasses back up his nose from where they had slipped. “Sorry. Continue.”
“Right, for months she had to watch a monster wearing the face of the man she loved terrorize, injure, and kill her friends. She finally was able to face him during an apocalypse. He had activated this hell-dimension demon and only his blood, his death would close it."
“Hell-dimension demon?” Daniel interrupted again.
“I don’t know, something like that. It had been dormant or something. I didn’t really understand that part,” Jack said irritably.
“Right,” Daniel said, not the least bit surprised by that fact. “Continue.”
Jack rubbed his eyes before speaking again. “Problem was, seconds before she struck, his soul was returned to him. A soul with no memories of the previous months. But to save the world she sacrificed the man she loved. Sent him to hell, literally. And that was after her mom kicked her out the house. The relationships didn’t get much better from there.”
Daniel’s mind reeled at the horror Buffy had to endure at such a young age. He’d had his own problems dealing with Sha’re and Sarah. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Jack seemed to deflate and he sank back down into the chair. “Not your fault. She doesn’t exactly go around telling everyone. But I know how badly it had messed her up. I met her two months later while she was living on her own in L.A.”
“I can understand your fear, and definitely hers, but she has a right to know.”
Jack sighed. “I know.”
XXXXXXXXX
Simon and Buffy took a break while Jeff eagerly examined the ruins. The stone they were sitting on wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was better than standing.
“Marci had a sonogram yesterday,” Simon said with a grin.
“Please tell me you have a picture,” Buffy nearly squealed as he pulled one out of his vest pocket. “Do you know the sex yet?” She asked, looking at the fuzzy picture.
“A boy,” Simon said proudly.
“Aww. Look how cute,” She gushed.
“Let me see that,” Dave said, pulling the picture from her fingers. “That’s pretty scary.”
“It’s my unborn son, sir.”
“How can you tell?” Dave asked, sitting next to Simon. The airman pointed at a spot on the image and Dave squinted at it. “I don’t know, Wells. Hope you didn’t paint the room blue because of this.”
“How much longer are we going to let Jeff explore?” Buffy asked as Dave handed the sonogram picture back to Simon.
“Probably a while. Balinsky’s all excited. He says they’re ruins of an Ancient city.”
”Ancient as in Ancient ancient?” Buffy asked.
Hurried footsteps grabbed their attention and they all stood to see Jeff running towards the group. “Take cover!” Just behind him Buffy could make out a metal object with tentacle-like things hanging below it hovering over the ground.
They all dashed for the cover provided by the short walls of the ruins. All but Jeff raised their guns and began firing at it, but their bullets bounced uselessly off of a shield. Energy blasts came shooting out of it as it returned fire.
Jeff peeked out and noticed how close it was to one of the standing walls. “Colonel!”
Dave immediately saw what he was meaning and fired a round from the M-203 grenade launcher attached to his M-16. It hit the base of the wall, causing it to collapse onto the machine. It broke apart in a shower of sparks.
Cautiously they stepped closer to it and Dave shot it a couple more times to be sure.
“What is it?” Simon asked.
“Is it me, or did it look like one of those probes from the original Star Wars movies?” Buffy asked before frowning and adding, “And did I just enter geekhood by uttering that statement?”
By: Polgara
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.
Distribution: My site – Worlds of Possibilities, ff.net, Wormhole Crossing, and TtH.
Spoilers: Everything for Buffy is fair game. Everything up to and including season seven of Stargate SG-1. There will be very specific spoilers for season seven. You have been warned.
Setting: Takes place right after Homecoming of Stargate and three years after Chosen.
Summary: When someone close to Buffy dies, she finds herself on Jack’s doorstep. Before long, events and emotions pull them into something greater than they ever imagined.
A/N: My author notes are here for a reason, please read. If you still ask questions that are answered here, I will not answer them again. Do not beg for updates.
A/N2: I’ve only altered canon slightly. Ignore the whole Jack/Sam thing, it doesn’t exist here. And I’ve created a previous relationship between Buffy and Jack. It will get explained eventually, just be patient.
A/N: Just a heads up, this chapter jumps ahead several months. I thought long and hard about this decision, cause I could have written more scenes and adventures that flowed with season seven. However, they really would have amounted to filler. You've met everyone you really need to, relationships are established, and to be perfectly honest to have written everything that would happen would have made this a ridiculously long and boring fic. And yes, we're coming up on that episode and I've made my decision (seeing as how I wrote that chapter in June) but I'm gonna let you find out for yourselves...
Chapter Twenty-Four
Buffy chewed on her lower lip as she and Jack stood outside of General Hammond’s office door. They hadn’t been given reason for the summons, only that he wanted to see the two of them. She worried that perhaps he discovered that the nature of their relationship had changed and was going to reprimand them.
Even though she had been there for seven months and more than proven her abilities, some of the rumors that had started when she arrived were still floating around. The General had ignored them before, but perhaps someone had offered proof.
It wasn’t as if they had actively tried to hide their nearly four-month relationship, but they didn’t exactly advertise it either. They knew that they were treading on shaky ground work-wise when they decided to take the next step and they acted accordingly whenever they were on base, but perhaps that wasn’t good enough for Hammond.
Jack gave her a reassuring smile before opening the door and gesturing for her to enter. General Hammond’s regarded them with a serious expression that did nothing to ease her butterflies.
“Have a seat,” he said, and waited until they were comfortable before continuing. “I just got off of the phone with the President and I wanted to give the both of you a head’s up.”
He handed Jack a folder. “In two days a documentary film crew will arrive to ostensibly chronicle the 1,000 trip through the gate, but they’re also going to be conducting interviews with several of the employees here.”
Buffy’s eyes widened. “But – “
Hammond smiled gently at her and raised one hand to silence her. “I’ve discussed this with the President and he agreed. You are not to be interviewed. Although you are a member of my command, you are in a unique situation. The crew is here to document the SGC only, not slayers. We are more than aware of the need to keep you and the others’ identities a secret. Any of your mission files that he’ll have access to will have no mention of your extraordinary abilities.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, her stomach finally settling.
“As an added precaution, I’ll be using your team to replace SG-10 on the mission to P3X-666. I know you just returned from a four-day mission yesterday, but this is a simple survey only. One day.”
Jack looked at him hopefully. “What about SG-1, sir?”
“I’m afraid as our frontline team you will need to cooperate with the film crew. I’m sorry, Jack.” The General looked sincerely apologetic about having to give the order.
XXXXXXXX
The familiar sound of the wormhole disengaging fizzled behind them as SG-13 went down the stargate’s steps. Dave barely glanced at the MALP sitting next to the DHD as he scanned their surroundings. “Okay, Balinsky, which way?”
The redhead took a moment to get his bearings from the compass before pointing slightly to the right. “That way.”
Dave nodded. “I’ll take point. Wells, Summers you’re rear guard, five meter spread. Keep your eyes open.”
“The MALP showed no indication of any recent Goa’uld activity,” Jeff said absently before holding up his notebook. “Taking bets.”
“Uh, abandoned naquadah mine,” Simon said.
“Boring, but good odds. Summers?” Dave asked, his eyes still searching.
“I’m going with a six foot flower,” Buffy said cheerfully, earning strange looks from all three of her teammates.
“Highly doubtful. I’ll go with two-headed aliens,” Dave said.
“Hostile or friendly, sir?” Simon asked, his gear jingling slightly as he adjusted the way his pack rested on his shoulders.
“One head good, one head bad.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “And you doubt my six-foot flower.”
Dave just glared at her before turning to their archaeologist. “Balinsky?”
Jeff looked at him like he had gone mad. “Ruins of an Ancient city.”
“Big surprise,” Dave muttered before heading in the direction that Jeff had indicated, the others falling into position. “Summers, I want to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For getting us out of the interviews. Sharon wasn’t particularly happy about me leaving again so soon, but I’d rather deal with her wrath than be interviewed.”
“Same here,” Simon added. “Marci was in near tears, but she understood.”
Buffy instantly felt guilty for being the indirect cause of her teammates family strife.
“It’s okay, Summers. We understand why Hammond did this and we support it,” Dave said, not even turning around to look at her.
“Gotcha,” Buffy said. Knowing Dave would push it, she opted for a subject change and turned to Simon. “Are you and Marci ready for the baby?”
“Just about,” Simon said with a smile. “The baby room is decorated and we’ve already received several gifts. Her baby shower is in two weeks. She’d love to have you there.”
“I’d be happy to,” Buffy grinned back. “Are you ready to deal with a baby though?”
“I think so. We’ve taken some classes – “
“That won’t really prepare you,” Dave interrupted. “They don’t tell you about all night screaming, projectile vomiting, nuclear diapers. You have no idea. The reason they make them so damn cute is so you don’t suffocate them in their sleep.”
Buffy laughed. “Dave, you have four wonderful kids.”
“Yeah, why do you think I enjoy my job so much? Don’t get me wrong, I love the buggers to death but trust me, having four kids makes going through the stargate and facing off against alien bad guys look like nothing. This is relaxing,” he informed them, wading through the waist high grass as they passed several trees.
Simon snorted. “They why’d you have four?”
“Well, one’s pretty bad, but you figure you got to have two so the little guy can have a brother or sister, right? Then you have two boys and Sharon says she wants a girl, so you figure – hell, three can’t be much worse than two. But you don’t realize your brain is fried because you haven’t slept and after three, four is no big deal. Then you’re so deep in that nothing seems to matter anymore. It’s chaos. You just try to make it through each day alive. In the end you spend all the energy you have left trying to get them into bed, only to lie awake praying they don’t get hooked on drugs, hurt, or worse, wind up dead in an alley somewhere.”
“Can’t wait,” Simon said with a grin.
“So when can we expect the fifth?” Buffy teased.
“What are you getting on about, Summers?” Dave growled.
“You’re already ‘deep into the chaos’. Five can’t be much worse than four,” she said with a giggle.
“Hell, no. I put my foot down with four.”
“And if Sharon wants another?” Jeff asked.
Dave looked at him in horror. “Don’t even joke about that.”
They all laughed and Buffy leaned into Simon to whisper in a conspiratorial tone, “We should be hearing about the fifth one any day now.”
“Summers! I heard that!”
“I’m going to tell Sharon you’re thinking of having a fifth child,” Buffy said cheerfully.
“You do and I’ll… be damned,” Dave trailed off as they stepped into a clearing. The ground dropped slightly in front of them and the ruins of a city were laid out before them.
“I win,” Jeff said, his mouth gaping slightly. “I really won this time.”
“First time for everything,” Dave uttered softly.
XXXXXXXXX
Daniel looked up as Jack sauntered into his office then went back to perusing the footage SG-6 had brought back from their mission.
“Done your interview yet?” Jack asked, sitting down.
“Not yet. You?”
“Sort of,” Jack said slowly, picking up a nearby book and thumbing through it.
Daniel pulled his gaze from the screen to give him a disapproving look. “Jack.”
“I provided them with very important information about myself,” Jack said, his face serious.
“Mary Steenburgen again?” Daniel shrewdly asked.
Jack shrugged. “She’s hot.”
Daniel sighed and returned to the screen. “You know Hammond will probably force you to sit through an actual interview eventually.”
“Yeah, but I can have my fun until then,” Jack said with a smirk.
The next few minutes were filled only with the sound of Daniel randomly pressing keys on his keyboard. Jack busied himself with picking up every object within easy reach, giving it a cursory look, and setting it back down. Eventually Daniel gave up trying to concentrate and said, “Was there anything in particular you needed or did you come in here for the express purpose of annoying me?”
Jack looked up. “Sorry. I just needed a place to think.”
“And you chose my office?”
“I think better in here,” Jack replied.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, just things,” Jack said, lightly jabbing his finger into the arm of the chair.
“Work things? This documentary crew thing? Buffy things?” Daniel carefully watched Jack’s reactions and knew he hit the nail on the head when he mentioned Buffy. “Did you do something to upset her again?”
“Again? What do you mean, again?” Jack asked defensively.
“You have a history,” Daniel pointed out.
“No, I didn’t upset her,” Jack said with a frown.
“Then what’s wrong?”
Jack didn’t reply and Daniel patiently waited until his friend was ready to admit to whatever was bugging him. With Jack it was always a delicate balance of pushing and waiting. It was obvious he was ready to talk since he had come to him; it was just a matter of time until he got it out.
“I love her,” he softly admitted.
“That’s great, Jack, but I don’t see how that’s a problem,” Daniel said, his brows furrowing.
“It’s complicated.”
“Then explain it to me.”
Jack stood and began moving restlessly about the office. Picking up objects and sitting them back down without really looking at them. “I’m afraid she’ll run if I tell her.”
“There’s a switch.”
“Daniel, her track record with relationships is as bad, if not worse, than yours.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
The older man stopped and looked at him. “At sixteen she fell in love with a 240 year old vampire cursed with a soul. They made love on her seventeenth birthday triggering a clause in his curse causing him to lose his soul.”
“Wait a minute,” Daniel interrupted him. “She dated a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“Cursed with a soul?”
“That’s what I said. And you say I don’t listen,” Jack said with a roll of his eyes.
Daniel pushed his glasses back up his nose from where they had slipped. “Sorry. Continue.”
“Right, for months she had to watch a monster wearing the face of the man she loved terrorize, injure, and kill her friends. She finally was able to face him during an apocalypse. He had activated this hell-dimension demon and only his blood, his death would close it."
“Hell-dimension demon?” Daniel interrupted again.
“I don’t know, something like that. It had been dormant or something. I didn’t really understand that part,” Jack said irritably.
“Right,” Daniel said, not the least bit surprised by that fact. “Continue.”
Jack rubbed his eyes before speaking again. “Problem was, seconds before she struck, his soul was returned to him. A soul with no memories of the previous months. But to save the world she sacrificed the man she loved. Sent him to hell, literally. And that was after her mom kicked her out the house. The relationships didn’t get much better from there.”
Daniel’s mind reeled at the horror Buffy had to endure at such a young age. He’d had his own problems dealing with Sha’re and Sarah. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Jack seemed to deflate and he sank back down into the chair. “Not your fault. She doesn’t exactly go around telling everyone. But I know how badly it had messed her up. I met her two months later while she was living on her own in L.A.”
“I can understand your fear, and definitely hers, but she has a right to know.”
Jack sighed. “I know.”
XXXXXXXXX
Simon and Buffy took a break while Jeff eagerly examined the ruins. The stone they were sitting on wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was better than standing.
“Marci had a sonogram yesterday,” Simon said with a grin.
“Please tell me you have a picture,” Buffy nearly squealed as he pulled one out of his vest pocket. “Do you know the sex yet?” She asked, looking at the fuzzy picture.
“A boy,” Simon said proudly.
“Aww. Look how cute,” She gushed.
“Let me see that,” Dave said, pulling the picture from her fingers. “That’s pretty scary.”
“It’s my unborn son, sir.”
“How can you tell?” Dave asked, sitting next to Simon. The airman pointed at a spot on the image and Dave squinted at it. “I don’t know, Wells. Hope you didn’t paint the room blue because of this.”
“How much longer are we going to let Jeff explore?” Buffy asked as Dave handed the sonogram picture back to Simon.
“Probably a while. Balinsky’s all excited. He says they’re ruins of an Ancient city.”
”Ancient as in Ancient ancient?” Buffy asked.
Hurried footsteps grabbed their attention and they all stood to see Jeff running towards the group. “Take cover!” Just behind him Buffy could make out a metal object with tentacle-like things hanging below it hovering over the ground.
They all dashed for the cover provided by the short walls of the ruins. All but Jeff raised their guns and began firing at it, but their bullets bounced uselessly off of a shield. Energy blasts came shooting out of it as it returned fire.
Jeff peeked out and noticed how close it was to one of the standing walls. “Colonel!”
Dave immediately saw what he was meaning and fired a round from the M-203 grenade launcher attached to his M-16. It hit the base of the wall, causing it to collapse onto the machine. It broke apart in a shower of sparks.
Cautiously they stepped closer to it and Dave shot it a couple more times to be sure.
“What is it?” Simon asked.
“Is it me, or did it look like one of those probes from the original Star Wars movies?” Buffy asked before frowning and adding, “And did I just enter geekhood by uttering that statement?”
