Adventures

Title: Adventures 9/?
Author: Spikewil
Site: http://home.wanadoo.nl/spikewil
E-mail: spikewil@wanadoo.nl
Pairing: S/X
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All characters related to ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’, ‘Angel’ and ‘Stargate SG-1’ do not belong to me. I just like to play with the boys and make them happy.

Summary: Spike’s friendship with Xander is destroyed by Buffy, but after a spell, they start all over again. And what does a strange man want with Angel?

A/N 1: Please read the details in chapter 0.


***Alien planet, 15 minutes later***


Aris Boch was making his way through the forest. He had been injured in his shoulder, the wound covered with yellow blood.


******


The SG-1 team heard the sound of Aris Boch returning to his ship. Teal’c stood to one side of the door, ready to ambush the bounty hunter.

Aris Boch keyed open the door and pointed his gun straight at Teal’c, apparently anticipating the move.

“Back up with the others. Now!” Aris ordered.

Teal’c reluctantly rejoined his team mates.

“All I have to do is just flinch a little bit and this will spray enough toxic gas to kill everybody in one breath,” Aris warned as he sat down. He removed his helmet, finally revealing his face.

“Dr. Jackson, if you don’t mind…treating my wound,” Aris said, looking at Daniel.

“I’m an archaeologist,” Daniel replied, telling the other man he wasn’t a medical doctor.

“I know, but you’re also a doctor,” Aris replied. He didn’t understand why Daniel was making it difficult.

“Of archaeology,” Daniel stated it again.

“Never mind. Captain? You must have some medical training,” Aris questioned Sam.

“Actually, I’m a…Major now,” Sam said softly.

“Oh, well how very important. I’ll inform the galaxy. Can you get over here now and help me, Major?” Aris said irritated.

Sam waited until Jack gave his permission, and then walked over to Aris, who pointed out the various items in his medical kit.

“This with this and then this,” Aris explained to Sam.

Sam took the items, then poked at his wound, hurting him. “Sorry,” she apologized.

“Yeah,” Aris said, laughing softly.

“So who shot you?” Xander asked curiously.

“I wouldn’t step closer,” Aris warned as he saw Jack coming closer.

“Just…showing my concern,” Jack replied.

“Well, like I said before, capturing you was unintentional. The real reason I’m here is to catch a Goa’uld,” Aris explained.

“You hunt Goa’uld?” Spike asked stunned. He had been unusually quiet since they had been captured. He couldn’t help but wondering why this man looked so familiar.

“I hunt anyone of value,” Aris replied while staring at Spike’s face. He still had trouble remembering. But he knew for sure it had to do with the man from his dreams.

“Which Goa’uld are you hunting?” Daniel asked curiously.

“His name is Keltar,” Aris said, focusing his attention on Daniel.

“I haven’t heard of him before,” Jack said, more to himself than to Aris.

“Well, contrary to popular human belief, the Earth is not the centre of the galaxy,” Aris replied sarcastically.

“I have not heard of him either,” Teal’c said also.

“Have you met every Goa’uld? I haven’t. The only thing I know is that Sokar has discovered Keltar is plotting against him,” Aris mentioned.

“So you work for Sokar?” Jack asked.

“No!” Aris stated vehemently, offended by the idea that he would work for Sokar.

“Self-employed then? Independent contractor? Rogue warrior?” Jack continued asking to irritate Aris.

“I give to the Goa’uld what they want and they give back to me what I want in return,” Aris answered, getting angry with the way Jack was acting.

“How d’ya keep from getting killed?” Spike asked.

“Takes talent,” Aris said sarcastically while turning his attention from the annoying Colonel back to the man who seemed oddly familiar. He took in his appearance and lean frame but it was his accent and the shade of his blue eyes that were most intriguing. He had the impression he had met the man before but couldn’t pinpoint where or when.

Xander frowned, concerned. The hunter seemed to be strangely interested in his vampire and he didn’t like it one bit.

“So, how do you keep from getting killed?” Jack repeated the question, hoping he would get an answer this time.

Jack’s voice brought Aris back to the present. Whoever the stranger was, his memory wasn’t forthcoming any clues about his identity. Aris drew his gaze away from him and looked back at the Colonel, refraining himself from answering Jack’s question by just raising his eyebrow.

“So what do you expect to get for us?” Daniel asked suddenly. He was very curious to know what they were worth.

“Daniel?” Jack questioned incredulously.

“Just curious!” Daniel replied.

“Well, Teal’c is worth the most. The System Lords would love to make a good example of him. And Carter here…well, she had the memories of the Tok’ra Jolinar. And you O’Neill, you’re considered, well, you’re a pain in the mik’ta,” Aris explained, making the others think he wholeheartedly agreed with it.

“Neck?” Jack asked Teal’c

“No,” Teal’c said while shaking his head lightly.

“What about, what about the three of us?” Xander asked when it appeared that Aris had said all that he was going to say.

“You three? Probably happy to get a day’s rations for you,” Aris replied nonchalantly.

“Oh, a day’s rations,” Daniel repeated softly.

“Trade you,” Jack replied, raising his eyebrow.

“I’m just saying that if we know what we’re worth, maybe there’s something we can offer for our freedom,” Daniel explained his question.

Sam was finally finished patching up Aris and walked back to sit next to Daniel. “Done.”

“Good,” Aris said, before turning to look at the team. “Dr. Jackson is right. There is something you can do.”

“Let’s hear it,” Jack replied.

“Well, you help me capture the Goa’uld and I’ll let you go,” Aris offered.

“He’s worth that much?” Spike asked curiously.

“Twice as much as all of you put together,” Aris replied.

“Twice?” Jack asked.

“Twice!” Daniel stated sarcastically.

“What, you’re gonna argue?” Aris asked irritated.

“Why do you need our help anyway?” Xander questioned for the first time after being quiet for so long.

“Hey, I take help whenever I can get it. You see, this injury is going to take time to heal and I don’t have the luxury. Sokar can figure out everything I can figure out and if I want to trade Keltar back to Sokar, I’ve got to get to him first,” Aris explained.

“And how do we know we can trust you?” Spike asked, while watching the wound.

“Well, my word is good on over two thousand planets,” Aris answered curtly.

“There are billions,” Teal’c responded. “It would appear we have no choice.”

“Yes. Choiceless. I mean, guys come on! What’s the big deal? It’s a Goa’uld. I hate Goa’uld, you hate them. Everybody hates Goa’ulds,” Aris argued.

Jack took a moment to think it over. “Yeah, ok, we’ll do it.”

“Good. You and you, come with me,” Aris said to Jack and Spike. “You four stay here,” he said to the remaining group.

“Oh no, wait a minute,” Jack objected.

“Uh, uh. Uh, uh, uh,” Aris tutted.

“Choiceless?” Spike deadpanned.

“You see, that’s why I like you. You’re quick. Let’s go,” Aris instructed, a sneer flitting over his face.

“Oh yeah,” Spike answered ironically to the hunter’s insult.

Spike and Jack followed Aris out of the room, reluctant to leave their friends and mates behind.


*****


Spike, Jack and Aris were making their way through the forest when Aris stopped and pocketed his weapon.

“You trust me, I trust you,” Aris suddenly said. He took out a bottle of water, then a vial containing a blue liquid. He squirted the contents of the vial into the bottle and drank the mixture.

“What’s that?” Spike asked curiously.

“Drink,” Aris responded shortly.

“So what exactly did you have in mind regarding the capture of this Goa’uld. What’s his name? Kevlar?” Jack asked.

“Keltar. You two are going to surrender to him,” Aris instructed.

“That’s a bad plan,” Jack said sarcastically.

“What if he’s in the mind to shoot first and take prisoners later?” Spike questioned.

“That’s your problem. Let’s go,” Aris ordered.

As they began to walk further, Jack couldn’t help but comment. “You know, if you really were the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, you’d grab that Goa’uld yourself and turn us all in.”

“What, and miss the chance of watching the great Jack O’Neill in action? Look, do you want to know how I became the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy?” Aris questioned.

“More than life itself,” Jack whispered, his tone deadpan.

“I’m the greatest because I’m alive. That’s it. Period. I’m not greedy. If I can catch a Goa’uld equipped with all kinds of fancy toys without risking my neck, that’s a damn good compromise,” Aris explained.

“Fancy toys?” Spike asked curiously.

“All you’ve got to do is get close enough to shoot him with a zat’nikatel,” Aris explained.

Jack stopped and turned to face Aris. “Ok. Found a flaw in your plan.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, we’re exactly one zat gun short of actually having a zat gun,” Jack answered.

“Zat gun?”

“Drop the ‘nikatel.”

“I guess it does save a bit of effort,” Aris said as he pulled out a zat gun and tossed it to Jack, who checked the weapon.

“You’re giving him a working zat gun?” Spike asked stunned.

“Well, if it didn’t work, it wouldn’t do you any good. I’m trusting you,” Aris replied.

Jack looked at Spike before looking back at Aris and casually shot him with the zat. Aris collapsed on the forest floor.

“Jack, he disabled the DHD and Sam said we can’t fly back to Earth,” Spike objected.

“So we’ll fly it to a closer planet with a Stargate,” Jack replied.

“Good thinking,” Spike said surprised.

“It happens,” Jack retorted.

Spike walked towards Aris and took the man’s gun as they head back to the ship. As they entered the clearing, they noticed that the ship was invisible again.

“Well, this is the place,” Spike said, looking around.

“Yeah, how do you open the door?” Jack said while thinking how.

“Uh, it opened when he said that word.”

“Voice-activated. What was that word?”

“Uh, bark something.”

“Um, almond bark, barka lounger. Beetlejuice!” Jack continued calling names.

“Barkna. It was barkna.”

Nothing happened.

“Well, if it was barkna, the door would be opening, wouldn’t it?”

“This was your idea.”

“You’re the smart ass.”

“Well, I don’t remember!” Spike shouted irritated.

“Well try!”

“Ok, well Daniel said, ‘Can we talk about this? Aris said inside.”

“I said, ‘Inside what? He said…”

“He said barokna.”

The door to the ship slid open.

“Gesundheit,” Jack joked.

They quickly headed into the ship and over to the room where the others were still held prisoner.

“Ok, he opened the door by pressing a combination of…” Spike muttered. As he started to key in some numbers on the door panel, a console lit up near the front of the ship.

“Teal’c!” Jack shouted through the door.

“O’Neill!” Teal’c shouted back.

“Yeah! How do you open this thing?” the colonel asked.

“There are six symbols on the pad. You must enter the correct combination of five,” Teal’c answered.

“How many combinations could there be?” Jack asked to Spike.

“Oh boy,” Spike mumbled quietly and started pressing several combinations.

“Listen, in the meantime, tell me how to fly this thing,” Jack instructed Teal’c.

“First you must locate the main steering console,” Teal’c instructed.

Jack moved over to the front of the ship and noticed a panel with five flashing digits. A computer voice announced what sounded like a number in an alien language and the first digit remained permanently lit.

“Spike, would you come here a moment,” Jack quietly ordered the vampire.

Spike stopped what he was doing and walked towards his lover. He looked at the device Jack was staring at. “Oh, oh.”

“That’s not what I wanted hear. Teal’c! Could it be that this ship has a self-destruct mechanism?” Jack asked.

“It is possible,” Teal’c replied stoically from the other side of the door. “Do you see four chrystals?”

“No, only three,” Jack answered.

“Then there is nothing that can be done,” Teal’c responded bluntly.


*****


Aris had faked his collapse, just to see what the two men would do. When the men were at a distance, he stood up again and followed them. He had watched them from the bushes to see them argueing how to open the door of the ship.

When he saw them enter, he noticed that they hadn’t closed the door. He slowly made his way into the ship before they finally closed the door. He watched Spike trying to enter the right combination as he saw Jack noticing the destruct-mechanism. He heard the slight panic in the man’s voice but didn’t come out from his hiding place until the very last second possible.

Aris took the crystal from his pocket and revealed himself. “What are you doing?” Aris demanded. He grinned when he saw the two SG-1 soldiers jump. They hadn’t heard him coming in. Aris placed the crystal on the console to disable the self-destruct mechanism. Not too soon, either.


*****


After the team found out that Aris was immune to the zat blasts, they realised that they couldn’t anything do but help the hunter.

“So, you don’t seem to have much of problem trading human lives like commodities,” Xander mentioned grimly.

“Oh you Earthlings and your morality. Does it ever occur to you that someone outside your solar system might not see things the way you do?” Aris replied.

“Why don’t the Goa’uld just take what they want from you and kill you?” Sam asked curiously.

“They don’t kill me because I deliver. As along as I’m alive, there’ll always be a next time,” Aris stated.

“Why don’t they just make you a host?” Daniel questioned.

“Because they can’t. They tried a long time ago when they first came to my home planet. But there’s something about my race’s physical makeup that rejected a Goa’uld blending. I don’t know why,” Aris answered.

“That’s incredible,” Sam said awed.

“Oh yeah, so incredible they wiped out most of my people because of it,” Aris said angrily.

“But not you,” Sam said quietly.

“I managed to impress them. My people have always been strong and skilled. That’s why the Goa’uld kept the youngest as slaves…and killed the rest,” Aris explained.

Well, you could have your freedom. I mean, there must be lots of planets where the Goa’uld wouldn’t find you,” Spike suggested.

“What freedom? They killed my wife and son. One day I hope to capture a prize valuable enough to trade for my freedom. Let’s keep moving,” Aris ordered.


*****


“These are cool,” Jack said after trying out Aris’ helmet, zooming in on a section of the forest.

“At the end of that riverbed is the cave where I last encountered Keltar,” Aris said, accepting back his helmet.

“You said he had some fancy toys?” Jack asked curiously.

“At the very least, a small hand device. Plus, when I approached the cave, energy blasts fired at me from several directions,” Aris explained.

“Okay, how about another zat?” Jack asked, hoping to have at least one weapon.

“You shoot that Goa’uld the first chance you get and I’ll stay here and set a shield trap,” Aris said as he handed a zat to Teal’c.

“I thought you’d want to watch us work?” Jack mentioned.

“I trust you!” Aris stated quietly.

“You do?” Jack questioned surprised.

“Sure. But Spike and Mr. Harris are staying with me,” Aris replied grinning.

“Unacceptable,” Jack objected.

“It’s non-negotiable. If you don’t return, I will hand them to Sokar,” Aris replied.


*****


“Spike, what’s wrong?” Xander asked worried when his mate couldn’t stop staring at Aris.

“I’ve finally remembered. Aris Boch, I met him many years ago, but I don’t understand how he ended up here,” Spike replied softly.

“Really? Maybe we can find out,” Xander whispered in a hushed tone. “Hey, Aris. How did you become an intergalactic Goau’ld hunter?” Xander questioned, while taking his shocked lover into his arms.

“I used to live in London,” Aris suddenly spoke, surprising the two men with his English accent. “ I found a Stargate near the mines and played with the DHD. I ended up in a military base in Colorado. After staying there for what felt like weeks, Ernest Littlefield, the man in charge, sent me back using an address they thought that would bring me home, but it placed me on a different planet. The Air Force didn’t believe me when I told them I was from Earth. I met my wife there and she helped me. I became one of them,” Aris reminisced.

“Now I remember where I saw your face before. You’re William, aren’t you?” Aris said, finally recalling where he had met Spike. “You were my landlady’s son, the young lad who used to follow me around until you suddenly disappeared. You weren’t the only one, you know; I also remember a dark haired Irishman named Angelus suddenly disappearing. My Angel,” Aris muttered to himself.

“Your Angel?” Xander asked curiously.

“Yes, I fell in love with him, admiring him from afar whenever I came across him in the pub. He was beautiful. My heart told me I should be with this man, but being with a man was a sin, then. But I never stopped dreaming about you two, wondering what had happened to you both,” Aris explained.

“Angel,” Spike whispered. “I was gone, because one of his childer turned me.”

“You do know that he’s a vampire like Spike, don’t you?”, Xander questioned.

“Yes, I do, but I don’t care. I always trust my instinct and my dreams. And this man is mine, I only have to find him,” Aris explained.

“If you come home with us, we can bring you to him,” Xander suggested.

“You know where he is?” Aris asked excitedly.

“Yes, but you have to quit this ‘job’ so to speak. I will convince Jack to let you come with us. So, can we stop hiding and go after them?” Xander offered.

“But the Goa’uld made me use this fluid to stay alive all this time. How am I going to survive back on Earth?” Aris asked worriedly. He wanted to come with them very badly.

“Thor will work something out. I know he will,” Xander said, very confident that the small alien would help their friend.

“Very well. But you must promise me you will bring Angel to me!” Aris ordered. He knew the young man spoke the truth, but he wanted to make sure.

“You have our word!” Spike answered instead.


***5 hours later, after Keltar’s capture***


“Well, Sokar’s on his way!” Aris announced. Spike and Xander had accompanied him towards the group and he had watched them convincing Jack O’Neill to let him return to Earth with them.

“You’re having…second thoughts?” Jack asked curiously, when he saw Aris staring at Spike. Xander and Spike had talked to him for an hour until he agreed to take Aris home with them. Who could resist their puppy eyes? This Angel guy must be really something...

“No, I’m ready to be with my Angel,” Aris mumbled happily.

Keltar couldn’t believe his ears. Aris Boch had captured the SG-1 team, tricked them into trying to kill him, lied to them about his name and his intentions and was now going back to Earth with them. On top of that, the hunter had told him he was free to go. And all that because of a man? These humans were too strange to comprehend.


***Cheyenne Mountains – 11.00 a.m.***

“Colonel, who’s this?” General Hammond ordered when he noticed a strange blond man behind Xander and Spike.

“This, sir, is the man that they will be taking home,” Jack explained, making sure the General understood the hint.

General Hammond understood that this was what Thor had warned him about. Xander and Spike would return to Sunnydale without Jack and Daniel, who would eventually return to Edora. “Very well, Xander, Spike, prepare yourselves to go home. Thor will be here at fifteen hundred sharp,” General Hammond commanded.


***Sunnydale***

Giles was beginning to get suspicious. The seconds were going very slowly as he looked at his watch. Only 90 seconds had passed since the two men had disappeared.

Willow was still sitting on the couch being lectured by Tara. Buffy was still stuck to the wall and he hadn’t moved from his spot. Something was very wrong.