Buffy woke up, her head aching and her heart feeling like it was going to burst. The images from her dream kept flashing through her head. Soldiers fighting. Gunfire and explosions. Strange creatures using long sticks that shot fire. And Sam and her team right in the middle of it. She tried to calm her breathing and block out the images but the last scene in the dream kept coming back - Janet getting hit by one of those blasts of fire and not getting back up.

She crawled out of bed, her entire body tingling from an adrenaline rush, like she'd just run across Sunnydale at full speed, naked. Reaching into her nightstand, she grabbed a pad of paper and started scribbling down the dream, trying to catch every detail before they disappeared into that place all dreams went after waking up.

Buffy pounded on Dawn's door. "Dawn! Get up! We need to get going," she shouted.

"What? Go where?" Dawn asked, poking her head blearily out of her room. "What's going on?"

"Here!" Buffy said, shoving her dream notes at Dawn. "Get dressed!" Rushing back into her own room, Buffy grabbed the first clean clothes she could find and started pulling them on. She'd change into her combat suit on the way.

"How much time do we have?" Dawn asked, appearing in her doorway already dressed. She scribbled a note on the pad while she waited for an answer.

"I don't know," Buffy said, buttoning her jeans. "You know I only get those kinds of dreams if there's just barely enough time to stop them."

"What do you need?" she asked, heading to the kitchen.

"My team," Buffy said, following her. "And Tomoe. And we'll need the fastest non-magical transport possible. Satsu if she can get here in time. She's been to the Mountain before."

"Portal?"

"No, let's keep that in reserve," Buffy said. "Might need a quick extract if we can't stop this completely."

"Vi?" Dawn asked.

"She's in Perth with her team," Buffy said. "No time to pull them out."

"You'll need Giles to pull some serious strings to get you into that mountain," Dawn said. "I'll get him working on it while I call Satsu."

"Good, I'll go wake the twins and Tomoe up," Buffy said.

"Do you want me to call Sam and Janet?" Dawn asked, picking up her phone.

"No reason to panic them yet," Buffy said.

"Janet isn't going to be happy about the surprise visit," Dawn warned her.

"My responsibility," Buffy told her.

"Okay, Boss," Dawn said, tossing her a sloppy salute.

Rushing back into her room, Buffy finished getting dressed, pulling her hair back into a ponytail even as she heard the door to their apartment closing behind Dawn.

"Yes, Mr. President, we do feel it is important enough to send an entire team. They are getting ready as we speak." Giles looked at Dawn and shook his head.

Frowning, she held up her pad with the word "Vision" and "Buffy" written in big letters across it.

"Mr. President, this is one case where I must insist you give our team access. Yes, your Colorado people normally deal with those kinds of threats very efficiently, from what I hear. No, nothing apocalyptic. One of our slayers has had a vision involving one of the teams based there."

"Which one? Buffy Summers, Mr. President."

"Yes, she'd be going herself," Giles said, sighing. "And her team, of course. Who?" He shook his head at the new paper Dawn was holding up that said 'Buffy + team + medic + watcher + helicopter'. "No, just clearance for five and landing clearance for their transport. Yes, Mr. President. I'll pass that information along. Thank you."

"Well?" Dawn asked.

Giles paused for a minute as Buffy entered the room. "He said yes. But we owe him another favor. Buffy and her team will have clearance to enter the Mountain and take any necessary action. And he would prefer that all facility personnel are still intact when you leave."

"Good," Buffy said. "Cassidy and Caroline are waiting out in the Rover. Tomoe should be there in a minute. Satsu and her group will be waiting at the airport when we get there. And who's the fifth?"

"Me," Dawn said. "You aren't going to go rescue Sam and Janet by yourself."

"I won't be by myself," Buffy said. "I have my team and Tomoe."

"And what if you need some watcherly assistance? Or a distraction?"

"You can't go through the portal," Buffy said firmly, knowing she couldn't stop Dawn anyway. She waited for Dawn's disappointed nod before turning to Giles. "Satsu knows where to take us. Who do we talk to when we get there?"

"A Major Davis will meet you there," Giles said. "He'll take you in to meet the base commander, General Hammond."

"And the General isn't going to be happy with us showing up on his doorstep," Buffy said, feeling the need to state the obvious.

"No," Giles said. "And apparently there is an outside film crew underfoot."

"Oh joy, added chaos," Dawn murmured. "Sam says their General is a good commander but a film crew, us, and whatever emergency we need to be there for? We'll be lucky if we don't end up in a cell for crashing the party."

"Maybe they'll let Sam and Janet visit us," Buffy said, winking at Giles.

"Conjugal visits?" Dawn said. "I think that's what Faith called them."

Giles shook his head at their antics. "When do you expect to return?"

"If we're not back in a week, you'll need to reschedule that meeting with Betty and Jenny," Buffy said.

"Paul, why are you here?" General Hammond asked, staring at the man his secretary had just announced. The Major appearing in the Mountain on his own was never a good sign.

"The President has authorized a visit by one of our affiliated NGO's, sir."

"Who?"

"I can't say," he said. "But they were visited by Majors Carter and Fraiser several months ago in Cleveland, and have been informed of the purpose of this facility."

The General grimaced. He already knew he wasn't going to like this. Carter's report on their trip to Cleveland had disappeared into the maw of the Joint Chiefs before he could get his hands on it. On top of which he had that damned film crew running around and getting in the way. "When?"

"They should be arriving within the next several hours."

"What does he expect me to do with them?" he asked.

"They wish to see one of the teams in action, and their medical specialist has expressed an interest in the medical facilities."

"We don't have any training exercises planned for this week," the General said. He also wasn't going to tell Major Fraiser that someone wanted a tour of her Sick Bay.

"They're cleared to go through the Gate," Major Davis added, visibly bracing himself.

"Cleared by who?"

"The President," the Major said.

"He doesn't have the authority," the General said, firmly. "We have procedures that everyone, including the President, must follow."

"Yes, sir," Major Davis said. "I'll inform our guests."

The General took only small satisfaction from the Major's discomfort.

"Anything else I should know?" the General asked, grimly holding onto his temper.

"They are not to be filmed," Major Davis said. "Any film or videotape in which they appear will be turned over to them or must be immediately destroyed in their presence."

"What kind of circus does the President think I'm running here," the General growled.

Before the Major could answer him, the General's aide interrupted them.

"Sir? There's someone at the Main gate asking for Major Davis," she said.

"He'll be right up," the General said, shaking his head.

"General?"

"Yes?" he asked, wondering why she was still standing there.

"They're requesting backup at the Gate, sir."

"Backup? How did our guests arrive?" the General looked at Major Davis but he just shrugged.

"Helicopter."

General Hammond shook his head. "Get me Colonel O'Neill."

"Yes, sir."

"They aren't going to try to shoot you down?" Buffy asked Satsu, glancing nervously at the flashing lights scattered around the cockpit. Most of them didn't make any sense to her but she remembered at least one from a previous trip with her that was supposed to go off if someone was pointing missiles at them.

"No, ma'am," Satsu said, grinning at her. "We have clearance to drop you off at the Main gate."

"They seem a bit nervous," Buffy said, referring to the guards pointing guns at Satsu's helicopter. Satsu just winked at her. "So, the usual when we need a ride back?"

"Yes, ma'am," Satsu said. "Good luck, ma'am."

"Thanks," Buffy said before removing the flight helmet and letting Satsu's Global Justice co-pilot have her seat back. Returning to the main cabin, she nodded at Dawn, Caroline, Cassidy, and Tomoe. "Let's go." Picking up her kit bag, she motioned to the flight crew to open the hatch.

Normally, Jack scoffed at escort duty, but any excuse to dodge Bregman and his camera crew was welcome. Even if the General had been extremely vague about who these people were and why they were showing up now.

"So, Paul," he said, joining him in the elevator, "guests?"

"Classified," Davis said.

"Not even a hint?"

"No."

"Sweet ride," Jack said, watching the unmarked helo, in Global Justice covert ops colors, hovering several hundred feet from the main gate. "Who are they again?"

"Classified," he repeated, again.

"Bull!" 

"If they want you to know they'll tell you," Davis said. 

Jack frowned at him. Hammond had just told him to make sure no accidents happened at the gate with their guests and to escort them down to his conference room. 

"Welcome to munchkin land," he said under his breath, watching several short people drop out, two of them taking up protective positions. He revised his opinion when one of the others helped a taller person exit from the chopper, while the remaining person grabbed the large duffles being handed to them from inside. "Now we're giving tours to midgets?"

"No!" Paul said in a low tone. "And don't let her hear you say that!"

"Her?" Looking closer, he noticed in surprise that all five of them were women. As they moved towards the gate, Jack was momentarily distracted as the chopper rose silently and headed away from the mountain.

Jack felt a slight chill run across his skin as the lead figure, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, glanced at him briefly before dismissing him and focusing on Davis. Frowning, Jack tried to figure out their roles.

The blonde, apparently their leader, was wearing an unobtrusive insignia that looked vaguely British on her uniform. One of the others, an Asian looking woman, wore a small silver badge that looked like a snake wrapped around a pointed stick. The other three wore nothing to indicate any obvious rank, though he did notice that the taller woman appeared to be wearing a business suit in the same navy color as the uniforms of the others.

"Major Davis? We appreciate you taking the time to meet us here," she said.

Jack coughed, hinting that he wanted to be introduced.

"And Colonel O'Neill, also," the tall woman, a slim brunette, added, winking at him.

"Don't flirt with the Colonel," the blonde said repressively.

"He's harmless," the brunette said, to Jack's consternation. Okay, he preferred tall blondes, but harmless? The other women, two of whom could have been twins, giggled. Jack sighed, he really didn't need this.

"Not the point, Dawn," the blonde said.

"Yes, mom," Dawn grumbled, to more giggles from the twins.

"Mom?" Jack said under his breath. They all looked to be in their twenties. He wondered if it was some kind of weird munchkin rank. Which thought he carefully kept to himself.

Jack watched them drop their duffles in a corner, wincing at the sound. Going through the checkpoint had revealed more than one surprise. The uniforms worn by four of the women had turned out to be something else, confusing the scanners. And the guards, when they'd refused to remove them. They'd also had to get Hammond's permission to bring everything in their duffles with them instead of locking them in the small armory next to the checkpoint.

The bag's contents had been unexpected. Besides a change of clothes, and the fancy med-kit carried by one of them, each of them had carried a half dozen knives of varying length that he was sure would have had Teal'c drooling. If he did that kind of thing. They'd also contained what looked like disassembled MP7-A1's, though he didn't recall seeing models exactly like them before. The women had been amused at the fuss.

Hammond stood in the doorway to his conference room for a minute, silently observing the new potential thorns in his side. Davis stood stiffly to one side, his stance telling the general that he, at least, knew exactly who these women were and would rather be somewhere else. The blonde was clearly the leader of their small group. O'Neill appeared baffled by them, which, given the uproar their equipment had caused at the SGC checkpoint wasn't surprising.

Hammond wanted to know why the President had sent them but he hadn't been very forthcoming in their brief phone conversation while the 'guests' were being escorted into the Mountain. Looking at them, four of the women were dangerous in a way even he could feel from the door. The other one reminded him of Daniel Jackson, dangerous only when threatened. They were not the usual political tourist. Whatever they were there for it wasn't a simple tour of the SGC.

"Major, Colonel, ladies," he said, stepping into the room. Sitting in his accustomed seat, he gave Major Davis and the blonde woman intent looks. "I believe introductions are in order, Major." He decided not to mention that Major Carter would be joining them shortly.

"Yes, sir," Davis said. "Lieutenant-Commander Summers and her team are from the Council of Watchers."

"Buffy Summers," the blonde said. "Dawn," she pointed at the tall brunette, "is one of our researchers."

"Hi," Dawn said, giving him a small wave.

"Tomoe is our medical specialist. Caroline and Cassidy are experts in a number of things," she said, pointing at them in turn.

"Murder," "Mayhem," the two redheads said at the same time, winking at him.

"The president did not explain in any detail what you expect to accomplish during your visit. Or anything else about your organization to give me a reason to break protocol for you." Hammond said.

"We wish to merely observe," Summers told him. "We've recently begun reorganizing our field agent teams, and your portal exploration teams were given as an example of the kind of structure we're interested in."

"Now is not the best time, as I'm sure the President told you," Hammond said.

"We won't get in your way," Summers told him.

"Dawn?"

At the sound of her voice, Hammond looked over to see Carter standing in the door, a shocked look on her face.

"Ooh, Janet was right," Dawn said, looking back at her.

Hammond wondered why the normally professional Carter was blushing. His thoughts were derailed in surprise when Dawn stood up and wrapped the Major in a hug. Out of the corner of one eye, he could see the surprise on O'Neill's face.

"Dawn!" Summers said.

"Oh, sorry," Dawn said, blushing and returning to her seat.

"General? You wanted to see me?" Carter asked, dragging her attention back to him.

"Yes." He frowned. Apparently, the Major's visit to Cleveland had resulted in more than a report he hadn't seen. "I believe you know Lieutenant-Commander Summers and her team?"

"Lieutenant-Commander?" Carter gave him a puzzled look for a moment before looking at their guests. "Oh. Right. Yes."

"Where's 'She Who Must Be Obeyed'?" Dawn asked in a loud whisper to Carter after she'd taken the seat next to her.

"Who?" Jack asked, wondering at the glare Summers sent the tall brunette.

"General, does Janet know we have guests?" Sam asked, ignoring both questions.

"She's currently being interviewed by Mr. Bregman," Hammond told her.