FIC: Terra Australis Incognito 4/?

[CDRERamius@xxxxxxx]

TITLE: Terra Australis Incognito 4/?
AUTHOR: Tony McD
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy, WB and 
others. This is for fun, not profit.
SUMMARY: A stranger with many connections to the Scooby Gang arrives changing 
their lives forever.
SPOILERS: Season 4
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere is fine, just email me first at CDRERamius@xxxxxxx
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Season 4 kind of happened with a few changes here and there. 
Buffy ended up fighting the First Evil, not ADAM.<> indicate thoughts.


"Who are you?" Buffy demanded. "What are you doing here?"
The man ignored her. "Rupert Giles? I'm David McWray, Albert Nameria told 
me to come and see you." Giles was surprised, thinking back to his old friend 
and the last time they spoke. Albert was one of the few on the Council who 
had defended him and still spoke to him.
"Who the hell are ..." the man cut off Buffy's tirade.
"Chill out Slayer Barbie, all will be explained in good time." he said in 
a calm, even voice. He reached into his pocket and threw something to Giles.
"Albert said you might be interested in that."
Giles looked at the object. It was a set of dog tags on a metal chain and 
a ring with a snake pattern on the outside. Giles' eyes went wide.
"Where did you get this? Giles gasped.
"We'll talk about that another time." the man said.
Buffy was by now quite angry at being ignored like that. "Giles! What in 
God's name is.." Giles cut her off.
"Buffy! For heavens sake! Sit down and be quiet!" Giles snapped. Buffy 
reluctantly sat down. Xander looked surprised.
"Hey, you're that Aussie that got me drunk last night!"
Giles shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Uh.. please come in and sit 
down Mr.."
The Aussie laughed "Please call me David." he said.
"OK. David. Would you like a cup of tea?" Giles asked David.
"Yes thanks, I'd love a cuppa." David said as he sat beside Xander. Giles 
went back into the kitchen.
"OK, you've got some explaining to do. First off I saw you playing some 
kind of game with Riley, acting all buddy-buddy with him. Then this morning I 
saw both of you at the war cemetery doing some kind of magic ritual. Now I 
find out that you got Xander very drunk last night and you got told to see 
Giles by someone. What is going on?" Buffy hissed at David.
"That game you saw us playing was called Aussie Rules and..."
"Didn't look like there were too many rules out there." Willow chipped 
in. David continued.
"...and I was playing with Riley and some of his friends and some 
backpackers from Melbourne.
"That so called magic ritual you saw this morning; today is April 25, 
which in Australia is ANZAC Day. We remember those that have fallen in war, 
kind of like your Memorial Day. It is traditional to hold the service at 
dawn..." Buffy cut him off.
"What about that incantation thing?" she asked.
"What incantation thing?" David asked, some what annoyed at being cut off 
continually.
"You know. Not growing old, condemning, going down of the sun?"
David looked at Buffy with an expression remarkably similar to the one 
that Giles gave her when she really began to annoy Giles.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not 
weary them, nor the years condemn." At this point Xander joined in with 
David. "At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember 
them." There was a sombre pause. "Lest we forget."
"Xander, how did you know that?" Willow asked.
"I remembered it from when I was army guy." he said. Something clicked in 
his head.
"Hey. On that chain you gave to Giles. There was a set of dog tags on it. 
You in the army?" Xander asked.
" What's this?" Giles asked as he returned with David's tea.
"Thanks mate." David said as he took the cup. " Suppose I had better 
start from the beginning.
"Albert is a member of the Watchers Council and old friend of Rupert's 
during his young and wild days in London. Albert is also an Aboriginal tribal 
elder and practitioner of powerful ancient Aboriginal magic. He looked after 
me since I was a baby. Taught me the ways of the ancestors and of the 
Watchers. Of course there never having been an Australian Slayer he couldn't 
teach me everything."
"Never an Aussie Slayer?" Spike asked.
"No need. Until recently there were no vampires in Australia." David told 
him.
"No vampires?" Buffy asked sceptically.
"No vampires? Paradise here we come!" Xander whooped, only to be cut down 
by his blinding hangover.
"You're telling me that until recently there were no vampires in 
Australia?" Spike asked, not quite believing what he heard.
David sighed. "For tens of thousands of years Australia was a vampire 
free continent. The reasons behind it are a bit complicated but here goes.
"For 100 000 years the Aboriginals wandered Australia in small nomadic 
tribes. They were isolated from the rest of the world, they never built 
permeant houses or buildings, and they never developed metal technology. They 
lived in the driest, flattest, sunniest place on earth. They had an intimate 
knowledge of the land, and had powerful connections to the spirit world. 
Vampires never stood a chance."
David saw that none of them got what he was trying to say.
"Look, imagine you are a vampire 500 years ago. Even if you knew that 
Australia existed, which almost everyone didn't, who are you going to get 
there? Jumbo jet? No ship went anywhere near there. Even if you did, the trip 
would have taken almost two years and a vampire would have eaten the whole 
crew long before then.
"Say you got there? The sun is a huge problem. Australia is the sunniest 
place on earth. Hell, the sun kills thousands of people a year with skin 
cancer each year. Where are you going to stay? Book into a motel? Jump down a 
sewer? There was nothing there."
"What about caves?" Spike asked, not believing there was a place too 
dangerous for him to be in.
"Australia is the flattest place on earth which means not too many caves. 
Those caves that were around had underground water in them."
"I don't mind getting wet to avoid the sun." Spike shot back smugly.
David smiled. "You know how I said that Australia was the driest place on 
earth? Well because water was so scarce the Aboriginals believed it to be the 
blood of the Great Creation Spirit, The Rainbow Serpent. To them it was 
sacred, holy. Any water you came across was holy water. Now do you mind 
getting wet?" David asked Spike. Spike shut up.
"Even if you found somewhere dry and out of the sun you still had huge 
problems to overcome. The very nature of your food source was a problem. 
There was only about 300 000 people living in Australia, a land that covers 
nearly 3 million square miles. They lived in small nomadic tribes. Your food 
was hard to come by. Even if you found them they were far from helpless.
"The Aboriginals never developed metal technology, so if they were going 
to attack you they wouldn't use guns or swords. They would use big wooded 
spears and spear you through the heart with them. They had an intimate 
knowledge of the land, they could detect you, track you and hunt you down 
very easily. Aborigines had a deep connection with the spirit world and had 
powerful magic to do all sorts of things."
"A place with no vampires. Sounds like heaven." Buffy said quietly.
"Not quite. Because they had no metal technology meant no silver, so 
were-creatures had pretty much free reign." David informed them.
"So there was werewolves?" Willow asked.
"No wolves in Australia. Mostly were-dingoes." David chuckled. "Dingoes 
ate my baby!" he said thinking of the infamous Lindy Chamberlain case <she 
was almost right>. David looked up and saw the discomfort on everyone's face. 
Willow looked like she was about to cry. <Why is everyone so up set? There is 
a story behind this and I want to know.> David thought.
"Thanks for the history lesson, but why are there vampires there now." 
Spike asked.
"British settlement in 1788. They built towns and cities, tunnels and 
sewers. The British nearly wiped out the Aboriginals with disease and 
slaughtered them like cattle. Water lost its holy status. The British had 
silver bullets to deal with the were-creatures. With the advent of the jumbo 
jet, the trip to Australia now takes 20 hours, depending on where you left 
from. Australia is like any other place now." David said with great sadness 
in his grey eyes.
"OK, what has that got to do with us and Riley?" Buffy asked
"Not long ago I got an assignment. Vampires were becoming a real problem. 
My government wanted to see how the Initiative dealt with vamps. You know, 
tactics, weapons, that sort of thing. The difference is that we don't want to 
capture and study them. We want to kill them. So they sent me here to check 
out the Initiative. Riley is the liaison between me and his mob. When I told 
Albert that I was headed for Sunnydale he told me to see you guys. I'm here 
to learn from the Initiative, a Watcher, and the Slayer." David told them. 
There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke. Finally it was Xander who 
broke the silence.
"I don't remember too much about last night, but I remember you said 
something about growing up on a station. What's the story with that?"
David smiled and told them about his childhood, growing up on a massive 
cattle station in Western Australia, seeing the ocean for the first time when 
he was twelve, some of the experiences he had had. He didn't mention anything 
about Giles being his father. That was something that he would tell him later.
"Extraordinary." Giles said. His stomach growled, reminding him that 
lunch time had come and gone. "Would anyone like some sandwiches?" Giles 
asked. Everyone said yes and he went into the kitchen. When Giles returned 
with a plate piled with sandwiches David turned to Buffy.
"So you've heard my story, what's the story with you guys? I bet is 
interesting to say the least."
"My friend you have no idea just how interesting." Xander responded.

Over the next few hours David learnt about how the Scooby Gang came into 
being and some of the things they had done.
"Bugger me." David said in astonishment. "Only in America, hey?"
"Only on the Hellmouth." Buffy corrected him. They all laughed. Giles got 
up and stretched and saw the sun low on the horizon.
"Buffy, it's nearly sunset. Why don't you and Willow go back to the dorm 
and get ready for tonight's patrol." Giles told his Slayer. Buffy got up.
"Come on Will, evil waits for no Slayer." She said. As the two girls got 
up to leave David asked "Can I tag along tonight? You know, get some 
experience?"
"I don't want you going on patrol until you have the proper training." 
Giles told David.
"Yeah. I don't want to have to worry about looking after you while I'm 
out there." Buffy said. David became a little angry at this.
"I think that Buffy and I should have a little training season at my 
place tomorrow. I think that will change your mind. How about it Slayer 
Barbie? You game?" David challenged Buffy.
"Just tell me when and where so I can kick your sorry ass." Buffy 
replied, her eyes narrowing at the challenge.
"How about 10am. My place, 1610 Elm Avenue. Rupert can come and referee." 
David turned to address the rest of the group. "Hey everyone, come to my 
place at 10 and see the Chosen One verses the Thunder from Downunder. Free 
admission for pensioners and children under five." In spite of himself Xander 
couldn't help but give a little laugh. Giles stepped between them.
"Listen you two I..."
"No Giles, I think Crocodile Dundee here is right. Let's see how good 
this so called Thunder from Downunder is." Buffy stared into David's eyes, a 
hard determined look on her face. Giles saw that he wasn't going to be able 
to talk sense into the two.
"All right, save it for tomorrow." Giles said and turned to David. "You 
don't know what you are getting into, do you. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Fine 10am, 1610 Elm Avenue." Buffy said and walked out with Willow in 
tow. There was a silence which Xander broke.
"I had better get going. I start work in an hour." Xander said.
"Where do you work?" David asked.
"At the bar we met last night."
"Great! I'll call a couple of friends and we'll have out ANZAC Day get 
together there." David turned to Giles. "Thanks for the hospitality and I'll 
talk to you later about the ring." David said with some seriousness in his 
voice. He turned, grabbed Xander and nearly dragged him out of the door.
"Come on Xander, we've got a piss up to organise." David whooped as they 
left.
Spike raised an eyebrow as they left. " I like him. He's got spunk." 
turning to Giles he said "I think tomorrow will be very interesting."
Giles said nothing.