The Sentinels Chapter Seventeen
Summary: SG-1 has learned that not all the Ancients died out. Jack O'Neill is one of them. As enemies rise and fall the Sentinels are forced to come out of the shadows and take the stand as the Greatest Race impacting the course of history like never before. Slash
Chapter Seventeen
Words: 2,497
The Tok’ra tracking feed had been wired into his laptop so he could watch the steady decline of the Goa’uld controlled ships. He found himself wishing that all the Hataks were as advanced as Anubis’ mothership so that at least they would be standing a chance. For once in his life he wanted the Goa’uld to survive.
He had to plan out what Earth was going to do to defend itself. The Ancient Chair was out of the question since it didn’t have a power source, Prometheus was still recovering from the Vala Incident, the Daedalus was still in production and ... that was all they really had. If the replicators came by ship they would be in trouble, however he was pretty sure Caius would be keeping an eye and intersect any ship that got too close to the solar system.
That left the mountain and he remembered the last time the Replicators invaded. He wasn’t going to let things get so dire again. He didn’t want to go into self destruct, though all the men and woman knew that it was a distinct possibility if it was their only hope. He wasn’t sacrificing them, ever, especially not for a battle his people should have taken care of a long time ago.
The klaxon sounded an unscheduled off world activation so he got up and headed down to the control room. He got down there as the iris closed and went to stand behind Walter.
“Anything?”
“No Sir,” Walter replied.
Jack pursed his lips and waited, but nothing came though and the Stargate shut down.
“Do a detailed check of the scans,” he ordered, “and Walter?”
“Yes Sir?”
“Inform all the team leaders they’re to meet me in the briefing room at 1700 hours. Off World and Security teams.”
Walter nodded and because Jack knew he was the best at this job, left him to it and went back up to his office. Five more Goa’uld ships had been destroyed and he growled in annoyance, his power flaring around him and making his eyes glow white. His soldier instincts were itching to get out there and defeat this enemy, both of them if he could manage it but the damn laws here holding him back. He would just have to wait.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
Riki ordered the door open and stepped into the holding cell of Daniel Jackson. The human was still unconscious, or maybe he was sleeping because he had curled into the fetal position. He observed the human, wondering what made Samantha so obsessed with them. She kept much of her namesake’s emotions and memories in a closed off part of her mind allowing only her plans to be known to the collective.
They were meant to be like humans, Riki knew. He was much deeper into Mother’s programming than Samantha was aware, having his own, closed off part in his mind. Mother was supposed to be human in all aspects with the added bonus of being able to create and control the perfect weapon.
He could comprehend what Mother’s Creator wanted, even admired it because his race was the perfect weapon and their human forms were even more perfect. Mother was not prefect and he’d figured out why. Her programming and circuitry could not handle the control needed for their numbers. It wasn’t an easily caught flaw either, nor was it a foreseeable one and Mother’s Creator had shut her down before even attempting to right the problem.
Riki wished that he could repair Mother, if only so that Samantha could be controlled. He shut that thought away immediately, hoping Samantha hadn’t caught it. He didn’t want her to think he opposed her and he was observed in case he did. He knew she would destroy him if she ever suspected.
He didn’t oppose Samantha per say, he was just created more like Mother and Fifth than she anticipated. He was compassionate towards the other races and he wasn’t hell bent on being the only race in the galaxy. What was the point in that for sooner or later one galaxy wouldn’t be enough and they would begin spreading out into even more worlds until one day there would be just nothing left. He didn’t think that it was what they should do but he had no say in what Samantha decided to do so he followed her orders and stayed quiet.
Riki stayed in Daniel’s cell until he woke up, but he didn’t alert Samantha right away like he was supposed to. He wanted to know more about this human. He wanted to know why he was so important and why she didn’t treat him like the other humans they had come across.
Daniel’s eyes blinked open as he took in his surroundings and Riki watched this with interest. He used his eyes as his only means of awareness. It was so flawed. He looked up at Riki and his face changed though a different range of emotions too fast for Riki to understand.
“Martouf?”
Riki frowned and tilted his head, curious, “Who is Martouf?”
“He’s uh...” Daniel paused, gathering his thoughts. “Were you created by the Replicator version of Samantha Carter?”
“Samantha, yes.”
“Right, um her human counterpart had a former lover named Martouf. He died a few years ago and you look remarkably like him. Why she
chose him and not Pete...” Daniel fell silent, pensive and Riki kind of liked that look on him. It was strangely attractive.
“You’re in Mother’s memories,” Riki realized. “She liked you.”
Daniel looked up at him surprised, “You mean Reece?”
Riki nodded, “Samantha is too. Is that how she knows so much about you? Were you lovers?”
“No,” Daniel said shaking his head. “We are friends. Why did Sam create you?”
“Samantha,” Riki corrected him automatically, “created me to go though Mother’s programming so that we can understand everything there is to know about her. She does not have the time, especially now, to do so herself.”
“Yes, I imagine taking over the galaxy takes up all her time,” Daniel said sarcastically.
Riki shrugged, not really getting the tone of his voice, “She does what she does. She’ll be here soon.”
“Yippie.”
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
It was a wall full of Ancient and she had to translate the stupid thing. She was a scientist, knew only English and a few Goa’uld phrases left over from being Jolinar’s host. She wasn’t Daniel, didn’t have his gift for knowing over thirty languages even if she was brilliant in her field.
“At least Daniel keeps detailed notes,” she grumbled looking between the wall and Daniel’s journal on the Ancient Script. There was a second Journal, which her father had dedicated to the grammar and word translations.
“And that this is the only wall,” her father agreed.
It was the only wall they had to work on, but Sam had seen the Ancient script all over the temple as she’d searched for an energy signature. This was the only wall in the large room with writing on it so she hoped that whatever it was hiding would be the thing they needed to defeat the replicators with.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jack and the hits he had given her. There was definitely something important here but she had to wonder at exactly what it was. His laws were very clear so maybe the answer she’d gotten wasn’t what she wanted. What if there was no weapon here. What then would they do.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
“The Replicators managed to apprehend Daniel Jackson,” Jeremiah informed Vaclus over the city wide com unit. He smiled at the various responses he got that all centered around the word “typical”. It was typical, not only because Daniel was prone to being captured but because Jonathan tended to love people who were prone to getting captured.
“What are we going to do about it?” Aziza asked. “Earth doesn’t have the necessary capabilities and Andromeda is coming here.”
“River, I need you to go though the data Jonathan sent up on Daniel’s last known location and track the ship that took him,” Jeremiah ordered.
“It’s most likely the flagship,” Mitch mused. He was in the drone chair and was preparing to immerse himself into the city, make himself part of it. It made his body vulnerable and his reaction time ten times slower but it also made controlling the drones and following the sensor readings easier. “Only the human form replicator would have a reason to take him.”
“Or it’s using a secondary ship and sent the flagship to the head of it’s battalion against’ the Goa’uld,” Mitch’s father Ammiel countered. “Don’t assume things.”
“I said ‘most likely,’” Mitch’s reply was a snarl. He and Ammiel had had a fall out about a decade ago and were still trying to repair the damage. It was slow going to say the least.
“Children,” Jeremiah said warningly. He hated seeing their relationship fall apart and though he knew how it could be healed it wasn’t possible at the moment. Shawn had chosen to live like a human and had siphoned those memories away. He wouldn’t ruin that life.
“Whether it’s the flagship or not, I need it tracked and any ship it interacts with as well, just incase.” Jeremiah ordered.
“Replicator ships are 90 minutes out,” Jaden announced. “Andromeda is 60 minutes out.”
Jeremiah sighed. That would only stay true if the Replicators believed they had the time it took to get to Vaclus and start using the neutronium to replicate. If they picked up speed then the Andromeda wouldn’t be able to compensate, already running at full capacity as it was. They were cutting it close.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
The Stargate kicked into gear, the klaxon sounded and Walter announced another off world activation. Jack was getting tired of these but he went down to the control room anyways to see if it was another false alarm.
The seventh chevron locked, the wormhole engaged and the iris closed. Jack stood behind Walter and just waited. In all the other incidences the gate shut down after two minutes. They still hadn’t yet figured out the significance of those two minutes, or what purpose the signals the sensors were picking up were meant for, but for whatever reason it wasn’t good. That Jack knew for sure.
“We’re receiving something Sir,” Walter said. “Oh.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, “Oh is right.”
A hologram of Ba’al had formed just beyond the gate at the end of the ramp. Every man in the gate room had their weapons raised, but since Ba’al wasn’t doing anything, neither were they.
“This is going to be fun,” Jack mumbled as he left Walter and headed down to talk with Ba’al.
“Hey pal,” Jack greeted with false cheer. “your ass is on fire. Or is that the sweet smell of your defeat?”
Ba’al crossed his arms and scowled, and Jack had never thought the Goa’uld could look so much like a pissed off girl. “I do not have time for your impudence O’Neill.”
Jack grinned. The SOB was gonna have to make time. “And I don’t have time for your ‘holier than thou’ crap so you can go scurry back to the corner of the universe in which you’re meant to die.”
“You are obviously aware of the battle my fleet is engaged in with the Replicators,” Ba’al said, lips pursed.
Jack smirked, “I’m not complaining.”
Ba’al looked heavenward in annoyance, “That is even more obvious.”
Jack continued to smirk but decided to cut to the chase because he didn’t really have the time to play games. “What do you want Ba’al?”
“The Asgard have had success dealing with the Replicators in the past, I wish to know the technology with which they used.”
Jack blinked, “I think I’ll need this in writing so I can frame it, cause it sounds like you’re asking for help.”
“I might be.”
Jack grinned. His joy knew no bounds at seeing the Goa’uld, especially Ba’al in such a state. He hated the SOB more than any other Goa’uld out there, and not just because the bastard tortured and killed him over and over again for days. His hate for Ba’al ran much deeper than that.
“Well, we can’t actually help you there,” Jack told him. “And even if we could, we wouldn’t so like I said before, go crawl into a corner and die.”
He looked at Ba’al expectantly, just waiting for him to leave. But Ba’al only sighed in exasperation.
“The you leave us no choice. My army will begin pulling back and retreating to take a stand a Dakara. There we will not only defeat the Jaffa but the replicators as well.”
Jack frowned, “We?”
Ba’al ignored him. “There is a weapon on Dakara capable of destroying all life in the galaxy, including the replicators.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. How the hell had he known? “And you’re telling me why?”
“There is one who could use the device and not be destroyed by it.”
Jack groaned, “Ahh, please don’t tell me.”
“Anubis.”
Jack glared at him, “I said don’t tell me.”
This made things worse. If they used the weapon to destroy the Replicators then Anubis could swoop in and use it to destroy all life. He could reseed all life and no one would stop him because that would mean breaking the interference laws.
“Fuck,” Jack mumbled. “How about you not destroy my people, let us stop the Replicators and then let us deal with Anubis later.”
“Why not destroy the weapon?” Ba’al suggested.
“Right,” Jack said sarcastically, “and while we’re at that we’ll just doom the universe to ‘death by replicators’. What a good idea. Get the hell out of here but know this: if you in anyway harm my people I’ll rain a storm of fire down on you so powerful you’ll have no way to escape. And believe me, even Anubis would be afraid.”
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
For some reason it almost felt like he’d been here before, weightless in his own mind and surrounded by darkness. It didn’t stay dark for long though. There was a light behind him and when he spun around he shielded his eyes to keep from being blinded.
“Hello Daniel.”
Daniel frowned, “Hello Oma.”
He may not know where he was, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t dead. The last thing he remembered was Replicator-Sam sticking her hand in his forehead. He paled, had she gotten what she needed then killed him?
“You’re not dead Daniel,” Oma told him. “Not yet.”
“Oh. That’s nice,” Daniel deadpanned.
He looked around again but nothing had changed. They weren’t anywhere, they just were and it didn’t coincide with his previous experiences.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“To prepare you for Ascension.”
“Yeah,” Daniel said slowly. “But you don’t have that authority anymore. If I die The Others will come for me. We both know this and that’s why your plan won’t work Samantha."
Chapter Eighteen
Sentinel's Guide