AN: CHAPTER THREE HERE, SORRY FOR THE DELAY.

DISCLAIMER: ONCE AGAIN, I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS INVOLVED HERE.

Chapter Three

'History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.' Abba Eban

Colonel Jack O'Neill was sitting at the table in the briefing room, listening to Senator Kinsey make his usual diatribe about the impropriety of the conduct of all the personnel. He was tempted to either start banging his head against the briefing table, or to painfully murder the good Senator. Seeing as the second option would result in a prompt transferral to Leavenworth and the first would confirm the Senator's suggestion that he wad insane, he settled for merely making insulting comments about Kinsey's ancestry and sexual practices under his breath in a long extinct Sumerian dialect.

Then Teal'c began looking at him in a manner that suggested the Jaffa shared Kinsey's doubts concerning his sanity. Thankfully, Daniel, who could have a) recognised the dialect and b) translated it, was sitting on the other side of the table, conversing quietly with Major Carter. The questions that would have been raised if Daniel had heard him speaking that particular Sumerian dialect were not ones he particularly wanted to answer, now or ever.

He had once thought about telling the other members of SG1 about his history, but had dismissed the idea after Daniel had started sneezing the first time he tried to explain. He did not particularly want to entertain any conversation starting with an explanation about how he was over three thousand years old and used to be a Goa'uld host, but used magics to hide himself from other symbiotes.

Thus, not wanting to arouse suspicion, Jack switched from cursing in Sumerian under his breath to cursing in an obscure Ugaritic dialect, but this time in his head, he wasn't going to take the chance to see if it was one of Daniel's twenty-three languages. He was just mentally expounding the complex relationships one of Kinsey's ancestors had had with a three-headed goat, when the phone rang.

General Hammond, looking more than a little bit grateful for the interruption, apologised to the Senator and turned the phone onto speaker-phone,

"Hammond here."

The voice that answered was that of the sergeant at the checkpoint outside Cheyenne mountain.

"General, there is a group here, demanding to see you and Colonel O'Neill. Most of them are teenagers and refuse to identify themselves. Two of them gave their names as… Sekhmet and Methos. What should we do?"

Jack started to curse, loudly and in the same Ugaritic dialect he had been using earlier. From the look on Daniel's face, it was one of his twenty-three. He spoke to the sergeant,

"Try to keep them contained, but try not to do anything to aggravate either of them, it's bad for your health, very bad. Tell them that I'll be up their shortly."

And with that, Jack turned to Hammond, ignoring utterly the sputtering Senator Kinsey.

"The two visitors are former Goa'uld hosts."

If Jack had declared himself there and then to be deeply in love with Colonel Maybourne, he wouldn't have been met with more surprise. Teal'c spoke, finally breaking the silence.

"O'Neill. It is said that both of these Goa'uld died during the rebellion against Ra."

Jack nodded,

"They did, Teal'c. Their symbiotes did, at least. But the hosts survived."

Daniel frowned,

"But they must have died millennia ago."

Jack shook his head,

"No such luck, space-monkey. They're immortal. We go back a long way."

Hammond interrupted then, well as much as a commanding officer can interrupt his subordinates,

"Dr Jackson, what can you tell us about these people, Sekhmet and Methos."

Daniel frowned,

"I know of Sekhmet, she was an Egyptian goddess. But I've never heard of Methos."

The others turned to Jack, who sighed, knowing that his secret was now thoroughly about to be busted,

"I'll let Danny tell you about Sekhmet, but Methos was Death."

Seeing the confused looks on their faces. He explained further,

"You know, Revelations 6:8. 'and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death and Hades was following close behind him'. The Biblical horsemen of the apocalypse. They were real and they wreaked havoc over the world for almost two thousand years. And Methos was Death."

Hammond frowned,

"These riders were all Goa'uld?"

Jack shook his head,

"No. Kronos, Silas and Caspian weren't Goa'uld and neither was Methos, when he rode as Death."

Hammond frowned harder and Jack knew he would have to start explaining, fast.

"Methos lost his symbiote with the rebellion against Ra. The process killed him, but because he was immortal, he came back. A millennium or so later, he got bored and took up with Kronos, Silas and Caspian, and thus the horsemen were born. But he was perfectly human, aside from being immortal that is."

Daniel paled,

"He became Death because he was bored?"

Jack nodded,

"He was the brains and the leadership behind the horsemen. But, that was the way the world worked. He was bored of people killing him, so he started killing them instead, and he started enjoying it, and the people he killed couldn't come back like he could."

With that comment, Jack rose from his seat and crossed to the door,

"I have to go and get something from my office, but I'll be back. Danny, tell them about Sekhmet, if you would. And the thing about immortality and losing her symbiote applies to her the same as Methos."

For a moment, Daniel looked totally shocked, then he managed to ask,

"You know where your office is?"

Jack smirked,

"Of course I do. Where did you think I went to do paperwork?"

And with that, Jack left the room. Daniel gazed round at the others,

"Jack does paperwork?"

Hammond frowned,

"Sekhmet, if you please, Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel nodded,

"Oh yes, Sekhmet. She was a character from Ancient Egyptian religion. She was the lioness goddess. In contrast to the other feline goddess, Bastet, Sekhmet ("The Powerful") was a terrifying deity and often the agent of divine retribution. For example, she was sent by Ra to punish the rebellious human race but had to be restrained from wiping out humanity entirely. Infectious disease was believed to be the goddess's messenger, and criminals were occasionally sacrificed in her honour. She was traditionally depicted in human form with the head of a lioness. Some translations also give her the role of the goddess of war, though vengeance and retribution were her traditional domains."

Hammond turned to Teal'c then,

"You have heard of these Goa'uld?"

Teal'c nodded,

"Indeed. Methos was known as the companion of Sekhmet, who herself was known and feared by all the system lords. DanielJackson's explanation was thorough, but it is known that even Anubis feared and respected Sekhmet. She was said to be the consort of Ra for many generations and her torture is said to be unspeakable."

Hammond was just about to enquire further when Colonel O'Neill re-entered the briefing room, with a sword strapped at his hip. Aside from the sword, there was something very different about the Colonel and Major Carter soon identified it,

"You're a host."

Jack shook his head,

"Was a host, emphasis on was. It was a long time ago."

Carter frowned,

"How long?"

Jack sighed and shrugged,

"About three and a half millennia ago. Don't worry, I got over it."

Daniel gaped,

"Three and a half millennia."

Jack nodded,

"One of that bitch Hathor's. She was calling herself Inanna at the time, the whore of Babylon. Methos and Sekhmet got the damn thing out of me by about 1300 BC, by modern reckoning. I turned out to be immortal, so I hung around until I found out the Stargate had been uncovered. Then I came over here and kept an eye on the damn thing, until I found out the military were trying to open it.

Daniel frowned,

"But, three and a half millennia…"

Jack shrugged,

"Immortality, Danny. I don't die, permanently, and I don't age."

Daniel wanted to ask more questions, a whole lot more questions, but Jack shook his head,

"Later, Daniel. First we have to go upstairs before Sekhmet decides to stop waiting and come down and find me herself."

Major Carter spoke then,

"This is something we don't want to happen?"

Jack shook his head,

"Most definitely not. Making Sekhmet wait makes her angry and an angry Sekhmet is not something you ever want to see."

Senator Kinsey was fuming, a sight that would have been a lot more impressive if he weren't the shortest person in the room.

"Colonel O'Neill, this is utterly unacceptable…"

Before Kinsey could say anything more, Jack crossed the room and stood towering over the little politician. When he spoke, his voice was little above a whisper,

"Senator Kinsey. Allow me to offer you a piece of very good advice, Do shut up. Sekhmet is waiting for us and she is by no means as patient as I am, and is much more inventive. I would most sincerely recommend not pissing her off. Most people who did, never did anything else ever again."

Kinsey bristled visibly,

"Are you threatening me?"

Jack shrugged,

"No, I'm just giving you some good advice."

The Senator spluttered further, but couldn't seem to think of anything further to say, so descended into silent sputtering. Jack smirked slightly and turned back around to the others, now thoroughly ignoring the pompous windbag. Nodding at the general he spoke,

"Permission to go and collect our guests, sir?"

This return to protocol returned some order to the confusion of the briefing room. Hammond nodded,

"Bring them and any of those accompanying them down here. And, Colonel, we will be discussing this further."

O'Neill nodded, and pressed a button on the speakerphone. He then ordered the NORAD sergeant to bring the group 'upstairs' down, and to provide them with all appropriate security passes. Silence descended on the small group in the briefing room, until Daniel spoke,

"Jack, what's the…"

Jack shook his head,

"I am not playing the greatest invention in history game with you, Daniel."

Daniel scowled,

"Why not, the historical knowledge you and the other immortals must possess…"

Jack shook his head,

"If you want to bug anyone about history, ask Sekhmet or Methos, they've seen more of it than I have. You'd be safer with Methos, probably, he doesn't have Slayer strength."

Daniel frowned,

"What's a Slayer?"

Jack groaned,

"I knew I shouldn't have told you about that."

"Telling more secrets out of school are we kid?"

Jack whirled around, as did the others in the briefing room, apart from Teal'c, who was a Jaffa and what he did could not exactly be described as whirling. Jack groaned when he saw the petite blond standing in the doorway, with a youngish looking man with a very memorable nose standing behind her.

"How many times have I told you not to call me kid?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders and quipped,

"I don't know, I lost count after that argument with Socrates."

The other stranger groaned,

"Don't start talking about Socrates, Buffy. He was such a terrible bore."

'Buffy' smirked and said,

"Why do you think I was arguing with him?"

Buffy rolled her eyes,

"Knowing you, kid. You'd argue with anything."

Jack scowled in a mock-offended fashion,

"I would not. But do I even want to know what you're doing here?"

Buffy smiled dangerously,

"Well, kid. I have this friend and she has this computer, And she accidentally found her way into some files at the Pentagon, and we found out that you had helped the military open the Chappa'ai!"

As Buffy spoke, her voice got louder and Jack paled,

"Would it help if I said I was sorry?"

Buffy frowned and crossed the room, where she proceeded to punch Jack solidly in the face, causing his neck to snap back slightly. The Colonel groaned,

"Damn it, Sekhmet. Was that necessary? Anyway, I didn't open the Stargate, Daniel did. I didn't even help dig the damn thing up. All I did was come here when I found out they were trying to and helped in the fight against the Goa'uld when they did."

Buffy scowled,

"You always spoil my fun. How's it going?"

Jack rolled his eyes,

"Same as always."

Buffy rolled her eyes,

"That bad, huh?"

Jack groaned,

"You've been watching too many movies."

Buffy smirked,

"And you haven't?"

Jack sighed,

"When I quote Star Wars and you get the quote, it tells us that we've both been undercover for too long."

Buffy quirked her lips into a half smile,

"At least I haven't been working with the military, Jack."

Jack rolled his eyes,

"At least I'm not calling myself Buffy."

Buffy grimaced,

"I didn't chose the name, but it kind of stuck."

Jack smiled slightly,

"So, I take it you're slaying again?"

Buffy nodded and slid into a chair at the briefing table,

"Yep, I'm guarding the Hellmouth. The current Slayer is here as well."

Jack paled,

"You brought a Slayer to a military operation?"

Buffy nodded,

"I also brought a four hundred year old boy scout and Methos, not to mention my friends from the Hellmouth, including my watcher. What are you going to do about it, Ramesses?"

Daniel stared at Jack and asked,

"Ramesses?"

Jack groaned,

"Now you've done it, Sekhmet."

Buffy rolled her eyes,

"You hadn't told them?"

Jack grimaced,

"I had only just told them that I was immortal. I don't suppose you went around giving out your identity either."

Buffy scowled,

"That's not important. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

Jack rolled his eyes,

"Aren't you going to introduce me to yours?"

Buffy sighed,

"If you insist, you insufferable bastard. You already know, Methos, but your friends don't, so he's the cocky bastard behind me. English is Giles, my Watcher. Brunette in leather is just as deadly as she looks, that's the Slayer, Faith. The short kid with red hair is Oz, our resident werewolf, and the shy looking red-head next to him is Willow, our favourite witch and resident genius. The two humans with dark hair are Xander and Cordelia, they help me out with slaying. And that's…"

"Angelus." Jack hissed,

Angel closed his eyes sadly and nodded. Jack made towards the vampire with his sword drawn, but Buffy stepped across his path with her own sword drawn.

"That's enough, Ramesses."

Jack growled,

"He's a murdering monster."

Angel flinched and Buffy glared at Jack,

"You're not exactly innocent yourself. Or do I have to remind you of what you did in Babylon, Sennacherib?"

Jack flinched,

"You're no saint, yourself, Sekhmet. Anyway, Babylon was a long time ago and it was a different world."

Buffy continued glaring at him,

"You still had your soul then. That makes what you and I did much worse than anything Angel ever did under the influence of the demon Angelus."

Jack frowned,

"I don't understand how you can defend this demon."

Buffy sighed,

"The same way I can live with myself when I think of what I did as a host. It wasn't me doing those things, it was the symbiote inside me. And Angel is no more responsible for the actions of the demon Angelus than I am for those of the Goa'uld who took control of my body."

Jack frowned,

"You keep talking about Angelus as Angel, what's the difference?"

Buffy smiled sadly,

"Angelus was cursed with his soul about one hundred years ago. He is unique, a vampire with a soul, and he's a good man. And he's called Angel now."

Jack looked closely at her,

"You're in love with him."

It was not a question, but Buffy answered anyway,

"Yes, I am. With all that remains of my heart and soul."

Jack sighed,

"You never exactly advocated falling in love, Sekhmet."

Buffy flinched slightly,

"It was a long time ago, Jack."

Willow frowned,

"You two were together?"

Buffy nodded,

"A few millennia ago."

Giles stared at her,

"Exactly how old are you, Buffy?"

Buffy flinched,

"I can't tell you exactly, because I don't know, but probably somewhere around twelve thousand."

Daniel gaped,

"Twelve thousand years old?"

Even MacLeod looked shocked at her calm stating of her age. He had thought that Methos was the oldest immortal and even when he had discovered that this woman was older he had not imagined how much older she was. Buffy sighed,

"Twelve or twelve thousand. It's all the same. People are born, they use up oxygen and then they die. Regimes rise and fall and nothing is sacred. Depressing but true. All that happens in history is humanity endlessly proving itself to be utterly flawed. Treaties are broken before the ink even dries and a man who is one day your enemy will most likely be your friend the next."

Daniel frowned,

"But you must have seen so much, so many great achievements."

Buffy rolled her eyes,

"The greatest thing that humanity ever did was to throw Ra off the planet. Their skills have gone steadily downhill from there."

Daniel scowled,

"Surely you can't mean to say that?"

Buffy sighed,

"I don't know you Dr Jackson. But let me tell you that the history of human-kind has been one long list of massacres and atrocities."

Daniel looked like he wanted to say something more, but Jack interrupted him,

"She's right, Space Monkey. Don't attribute some high value to the history of this world, all it teaches us is that humans are utterly flawed."

Daniel frowned, but subsided back into his chair. Buffy turned to General Hammond,

"You're the guy in charge here?"

Hammond nodded,

"Yes, I'm General George Hammond. I'm the commanding officer at Stargate Command."

Buffy smirked,

"I don't suppose you're looking for any new recruits?"

Jack groaned,

"She said it, she just had to say it."

TBC…..