Brotherhood (26/27)
Title: Brotherhood ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen
Chapter1 Chapter2a-- 2b Chapter3 Chapter4 Chapter5 Chapter6 Chapter7 Chapter8 Chapter9 Chapter10a-- 10b Chapter11 Chapter12 Chapter13a-- 13b Chapter14 Chapter15 Chapter16a-- 16b Chapter17a-- 17b Chapter18 Chapter19a-- 19b Chapter20 Chapter21a-- 21b Chapter22a-- 22b Chapter23 Chapter24 Chapter25 Chapter26
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The O'Neill
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6 July 2000; Major Carter's Lab, SGC; 0900 hrs
Jack paused in the door of the lab, watching Carter explain a small collection of metal to Daniel.
"They melted down the rest," she said as Daniel leaned in to peer at a few Replicator blocks, "but I asked them to save a couple."
"These won't...replicate, will they?" Daniel said absently, picking up one of them with his bare fingers and flicking a nail against it. Jack winced reflexively, part of him almost expecting to see it jump to life and bite their fingers off. Carter started to answer, but before she could, Daniel continued, "What is this made of?"
"The Biliskner, quite literally," she said, handling her own block with a small clamp, which she held up pointedly until he stopped touching his block with his fingers. "Look, this one was retrieved from the ocean," she added, pointing to one of the other blocks on the table.
He squinted at it, leaning forward even more until he winced and sat back. "It looks the same as the others," he said, looking at her questioningly. "If was in the water, how...?"
"Exactly," she agreed. "Remember, Thor said the metal can withstand corrosion under the relatively mild conditions of ocean water."
"Oh. I wasn't really listening then," Daniel admitted, then perked up. "Hey, it's naquadah, right? At least, partly. Maybe that's why there's no corrosion--I mean, you never see corroded Stargates, do you, even though they're usually standing outside in the open air?"
Carter considered, then said, "That's true--I've never tested that property of metal naquadah before...but that's such an easy test to set up that I bet someone already has studied it. We can check if you're curious."
"Wait a minute," Daniel said more warily. "All the Replicators were all destroyed, right?"
That was something Jack would rather not have to think about, but Carter said, "As far as we can tell, yes. In fact, the team they sent out there took Thor's warning very seriously and combed the region with naquadah detectors. They found one Replicator yesterday that did survive and destroyed it--that's where these blocks came from."
Daniel frowned. "But then, we can't be sure?"
"It's the best we can do," she said. "Besides, it's been over a week--I'm pretty sure we'd have heard reports of mechanical spiders by now if there'd been another survivor. We secured the area and we're keeping people stationed out there to keep watch for...probably another week or so, until we can be more or less sure that they're really all gone."
Deciding that this was a good point to make his entrance, Jack strode in behind them and said, "Well, I'm off."
"Fishing, Jack?" Daniel said, turning around in his seat. "Really, this time?"
"Yep," he said, because he wouldn't say 'no' to a few days of real relaxation, especially since everyone was safe and healthy now. "Still staying here?" he asked both of them.
"Yes, sir," Carter said. "I want to take a closer look at these things--"
"Ah..." Jack said as he took a closer look at the Replicator blocks. "Is that...wise?"
She looked back down, then shrugged. "Well, there's no discernible energy being emitted. I think it's pretty safe to say they're dead."
Daniel picked up one of the blocks and held it up close to Jack's nose. Jack recoiled without thinking, scowling when Daniel looked amused. "Yeesh," he muttered. "You can be such a little kid, sometimes. All right, you two--"
"Unscheduled off-world activation!"
"Uh-oh," Daniel spoke up. "No one's off-world."
The lights went out.
Jack threw up his hands in frustration, clenching one hand into a fist. "So close."
...x...
"That's Thor!" Jack said, running down the stairs ahead of the rest of them. "Stand down!" he ordered as he entered the 'gate room. He stepped up to the ramp with a welcoming grin just as Thor reached the bottom. "Thor, buddy! What's up?"
"I have come here to seek your help," Thor said.
Now, Jack considered himself a reasonably open-minded guy. In fact, he thought Thor was great, and the Asgard as a whole seemed like pretty good bunch of people. But getting distress calls from friends who were much more advanced than Earth? That was never a good sign. "Our help?" he echoed, looking up as Carter hurried in behind him with the general, Teal'c, and Daniel trailing.
"I have come by your Stargate because there are no ships to spare," Thor continued. "My homeworld is being threatened by the Replicators."
The wormhole disengaged, plunging them into complete darkness until the lights began to come back on again. "We're back online, sir," the technician called from behind them.
A little apprehensively, Jack asked Thor, "So how can we help you?"
"Your projectile weapons proved effective in fatally damaging the Replicators," Thor pointed out. Jack imagined an SG team trying to take back a planet infested by mechanical spiders--it wasn't a good image. "Your technology and strategy for destroying the Biliskner was successful."
"Yeah," Jack said cautiously, "but you guys..."
"The Asgard have tried to stop them," Thor interrupted. "You have demonstrated their weakness may be found from a less sophisticated approach. We are no longer capable of such thinking."
At that, Daniel spoke up. "Wait, wait a minute," he said, "you're saying...you need someone dumber than you are?"
Jack raised his eyebrows. "You may have come to the right place." Daniel gave him a startled look, then shrugged, looking torn between insult and amusement.
"What exactly is it that you need us to do?" Hammond said.
Thor turned to him. "Five Asgard ships are currently engaging three ships controlled by Replicators, which are on their way to the homeworld. I will join the battle, and, with your help, we will stop them. Thus far, all of our attempts to stop them have failed."
"I doubt we could take on three ships the way we did the Biliskner, sir," Carter said, "but we could certainly help think up some ideas for a strategy that might help."
Jack nodded. "Sir, permission to take my team to give Thor a hand?" He glanced back toward the rest of the team. Teal'c looked amenable; Carter looked absolutely bursting with questions she wanted to ask, and Daniel seemed just a step behind her.
"Permission granted, Colonel," the general said. He tilted his head slightly toward Daniel, who didn't miss the motion and stood a little taller than he had been doing most of the time since his surgery, his eyes wide as he looked at Jack.
"This isn't strictly a hostile environment...thing," Daniel said. "It's a stupid-thinking thing. Besides, if we succeed, we all live; if you fail, the Replicators will get here eventually and we're all dead, anyway."
Cheery. Jack shrugged. "He's got a point, sir."
"Good luck, then," Hammond told all four of them as Thor activated a device to open the wormhole to his homeworld.
"Yeah, sure, you betcha," Jack said, heading up the ramp, more slowly than usual to allow Thor to keep up. "Sir," he added, saluting as he stepped through.
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6 July 2000; Asgard Homeworld; 1000 hrs
"Oh, wow," Carter said as she stepped out of the 'gate, looking around the Asgard homeworld. "This is incredible."
Behind them, Daniel stepped through, wincing a little as he exited and catching himself on Teal'c's arm. "Oh, wow," he breathed. "This is incredible."
"Oh, geez," Jack muttered, looking at the two of them askance. Still, they weren't wrong--the vague shimmer of energy fields appeared around half the things here when an Asgard pedestrian brushed by and touched it, and there were ships floating around the skies casually like something out of Star Wars, so he had to pay attention to make sure he didn't say anything that would make him look like a geek, too. "So, Thor," he started--
The light of an Asgard beam surrounded them, and when Jack's eyes adjusted again, they were inside a ship.
"I was...just going to ask that," Jack said, looking around quickly to make sure the rest of the team had been transported with them. A few other Asgard appeared, walking through the corridors. "This is your new ship? It's nice," he offered. Mostly, he liked that there weren't any bugs around. "New model?"
"No," Thor said. "It is, in fact, a ship slightly less advanced than the Biliskner was. I have not had enough time to acquire another."
"Wow," Carter said again, looking out at another ship moored in the air in front of them. Jack moved to join her at the window, where she was gawking at some monster aircraft that looked like it was currently under maintenance. "Now, that is an impressive-looking ship."
"The O'Neill was to be our last great hope," Thor said.
Daniel made an odd sort of muffled snorting sound. Jack whirled to see Daniel standing with his back toward them, scratching his head, while Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Carter stared at Jack, then ducked her head. Thor's expression was unchanged.
"The O'Neill?" Jack repeated. He glared at his team over the top of Thor's head. It was flattering. It was certainly nothing to be laughing about.
"Yes," Thor said. "It is the most advanced technological Asgard creation yet. It is the first Asgard vessel designed solely to fight in the war against the Replicators."
"So why don't we take the...O'Neill?" Jack said, almost stumbling over the name. For crying out loud--the most advanced Asgard creation ever! This was no joking matter. Daniel turned back around and met Jack's eyes, only to turn partially away again, his lips twitching.
"It is not ready," Thor explained, oblivious to the rudeness of some of his human guests. "We must begin immediately." The ship jerked gently under their feet and began to rise. "Come," Thor added, turning down one of the hallways, "I will explain further in here."
Jack gave his namesake a final, fond look and followed Thor down the corridor. Carter was close behind as well, and Teal'c stopped only to look up and down the hallway before joining them. Daniel seemed to have decided that it would be best not to look at Jack at all, so he was staring at the ceiling as he walked.
They stopped in a chamber similar to the one where they'd stayed briefly while on the Biliskner. Thor walked toward the chair in the center. Jack had to restrain himself from giving him a boost onto the seat once it became obvious Thor was too short--and too lacking in any apparent muscles--to climb onto it. But it wasn't necessary; instead, Thor beamed himself into the chair.
"Asgard ships are now attempting to hold the Replicator-controlled ships for as long as they can," he said. Jack glanced out the window and, this time, all he could see was black space and stars in the distance. "They do not expect to win, but they are hoping to delay the Replicators' arrival to the planet."
Carter raked a hand through her hair. "Well, first, it might help if you can tell us a little more about the nature of the Replicators," she said. "I understand very little about the technology controlling them. You wouldn't happen to have a Replicator on the ship to study, would you?"
"It is too dangerous," Thor replied. "Even when disassembled, the blocks are able to create new blocks and reassemble into large-form Replicators."
Jack raised his eyebrows, thinking of the bits of metal Carter and Daniel had been fooling around with just that morning. The two of them exchanged a quick, alarmed glance. "Of course," Carter said with a weak smile. "How...stupid. Just out of curiosity, could, say...oh, I don't know, two or three of the individual blocks replicate?"
"It requires several blocks working together to make new blocks," Thor said.
Carter looked at Jack, saying, "That's good to know." She grimaced apologetically. Jack hoped the ones in her lab didn't count as 'several.'
On the table behind them, a brief whirring sound could be heard, and they turned to see a Replicator standing immobile on a platform.
"It's virtual?" Carter said, and the four of them crept closer. "Wow--it looks real."
Daniel reached it first and extended a hand to touch it. The Replicator struck violently at him. "Yi shay!" he exclaimed, snatching his fingers away. He turned his undamaged hand over and looked questioningly at Thor.
"It will simulate any behavior we have observed," Thor explained.
Now that he knew it wasn't real, Daniel turned back to look at it more closely, not flinching this time when it leapt at him and froze in the air before skittering back to strike out toward Teal'c, the next closest target. "How closely does it mimic the Replicators?" Daniel said, looking like he was trying to pet the thing. "I mean, is it just individual behaviors, or...?"
"Its memory is also similar to that which we have observed from the Replicators," Thor told him. Daniel nodded without looking up.
Carter turned back to Thor. "Can you explain to me how they work, on a more fundamental level? I can see the mechanical result, and we know they make themselves out of the surrounding material, but how are they assembled?"
Lights flickering on a screen caught Jack's attention. Carter took a step forward, narrowing her eyes at the schematics shown. "Each individual building block is capable of exerting a reactive modulating monopolar energy field on other blocks..." Thor started.
Jack was lost before the sentence was finished.
He patted Carter encouragingly on the shoulder and turned back to where Daniel and Teal'c were still playing with the Replicator hologram. Or, rather, Teal'c was watching while Daniel played with it. As the metal spider inched closer to Daniel's fingers, Jack was reminded of nothing more than someone holding a hand out for a dog to sniff.
"You know, even if it follows you home, we can't keep it," Jack said quietly while Carter listened to Thor's lecture.
"What?" Daniel said absently, pulling his hand back an inch. "Why would it follow me home?"
"Never mind," Jack said. "Exactly what are you doing?"
He'd expected an embarrassed shrug and a return to their actual task--the one where they were supposed to save a planet--but instead, Daniel moved his hand closer to the spider again and said, "It learns, Jack. I knew it was a...technological 'life form,' as Thor said, but I didn't realize that its behavior was so analogous to more...you know, normal life forms."
Jack raised his eyebrows at Teal'c over Daniel's hunched head, but Teal'c, rather than commiserating with him, said, "Daniel Jackson appears to be correct. Observe."
As Jack watched, Daniel moved his hand back into range of the Replicator and managed to get close enough to touch it--or, at least, he would have been touching it if it hadn't been a hologram. The Replicator didn't so much as twitch this time. "Now you, Jack," Daniel said.
With a shrug, Jack repeated what Daniel had just done, and it pounced at him. "Whoa!" he said, reflexively snatching his hand away. "Okay. They like you more than me. So?"
"So I've been waving my hand at it," Daniel said. "At first, it attacks anything that gets close enough. After several times, it recognized that I'm just...waving my hand, not even trying to do anything. It learned, see? But then Teal'c did it--or, this time, you did--and it responded with an attack again because it didn't recognize you."
Jack contemplated going back to join Carter. Then he heard her say "...I don't even know what a kiron is, much less..." and reflected that Daniel and Teal'c were at least using words he understood.
"Okay," he repeated. "And this helps us...how?"
"The Replicators do not attack what they do not perceive to be a threat," Teal'c explained. "Perhaps that is the reason why this ship has not yet been attacked."
"Yeah," Jack said, "I remember that from the Biliskner--they were crawling on me and didn't do anything until we tried to attack first."
Daniel nodded, but this didn't seem to be his main concern. "The point I'm trying to make is that they might not be 'alive' in the traditional sense, but they have certain characteristics that make them very much like other living beings."
"But what you guys are saying is that if something sits still, the Replicators won't see it as a threat and try to attack it," Jack said. "Then why are they attacking the Asgard homeworld?"
"Well, they must have more than just that one goal," Daniel said, looking past Jack, where Carter was now walking toward them, rubbing her temples. Apparently, some technologies were beyond even her. "If we think of them as living things, then what are the basic instincts that drive it?"
"Self-defense," Teal'c said. "The desire to defend and to expand their territory."
"And they'd only need more territory because they're also focusing on propagation of the species, like any other organism," Daniel said.
"Which is, in their case, Replication," Carter said, joining them around the holographic bug. "That seems to be the bulk of what they do. But they're not as simple as that--they seem to seek advancement as much as humans do, and probably even more so."
"Each Replication cycle is like...a chance for them to take a step forward in evolution as they find better materials," Daniel said.
"And if there are more of them, they need more space, as well as--"
"More food," Jack put in.
Daniel frowned, bending as if to see if there was a stomach somewhere on the Replicator, but Carter nodded. "Yes, sir--they can't do anything without energy. I'm sure that's the same across all beings, mechanical or not."
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure they don't get energy from chewing things up," Jack said, feeling like there was something important about that that they had to grasp. And then he realized he didn't know the first thing about what these things did with the things they ate, except that new bugs came out the other end. "Do they?"
Carter glanced at Teal'c and received only a raised eyebrow in return, so she turned and said, "Actually, sir, chewing things up must expend energy. They have to be getting it another way. Thor, do the Replicators need a...a power source of some sort, or do they absorb the necessary energy from what they...what they eat?"
"We have observed that replication requires a large amount of energy," Thor said, watching them. "For example, the Replicators controlling those three Asgard ships currently require power that is drawn from the ship itself."
"Does this not hinder the ship's normal capabilities?" Teal'c asked.
"Yes," Thor said.
"Well, there you go!" Jack said.
"However," Thor said, because there was always a however, "they are partitioning the ships' power usage carefully so that weapons and shields remain at full capacity. Only the hyperdrive is being hampered."
"All right, so we've got to find a way to get them to drop their shields," Jack summarized. "Then we can hit them with whatever you've got on these ships."
"You said their power supplies are being tied up so that they can't use the hyperdrive. Then they can't enter hyperspeed and still hold onto their shields at the same time," Carter said.
"That is correct," Thor said, "and your analogy to organic life is apt. They are, however, still mechanical beings that do not feel the constraints of time in the same way that we do. They are in no hurry to reach the Asgard homeworld; it is we who must match their pace."
"Then we bait them," Jack said. "Give them a reason to use their hyperdrive. Look, they won't attack this ship if we sit around doing nothing, right?" He waited for Thor to nod, then said, "So what if we make them chase us into hyperspeed?"
"They will not," Thor said. "This ship is less advanced than theirs; their only interest in us is to ensure that we do not stop their progress. They will not pursue us unprovoked."
"What if we provoke them?" Jack said.
Thor gave him an expressionless look that somehow still managed to look chastising. "Then, being more advanced, they will easily defeat us. I am willing to send this ship into battle, but only as a last resort in order to buy more time for the people on my homeworld to escape. If we reach a point at which we have no choice but to attack them using the usual Asgard tactics, then we will have lost this battle already."
Which meant, of course, that they'd all die on a ship infested with Replicators. Jack was...well, not okay with that, but he accepted that it was a possibility. It wasn't one he'd considered at the start, but a glance around at the rest of the team showed that they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. It wasn't a surprise for Carter or Teal'c, and Jack supposed he'd have to get used to the idea of Daniel's risking his life with them on purpose eventually.
Besides, failure wasn't a viable option, even if they forgot about the potential loss of the Asgard homeworld. If the Asgard had records of Earth, the Replicators would figure out pretty quickly that Earth technology had defeated them on the Biliskner and would make their way over sooner or later.
"Well, wait a minute," Carter said. "They won't pursue us because this ship is less advanced. What about a more advanced ship?"
"The only Asgard starship more advanced than the Replicator-controlled ships is the O'Neill," Thor said.
"Ooh," Daniel said, sounding interested. "The O'Neill?"
"Can the O'Neill reach hyperspeed?" Carter said.
"Yes," Thor said.
"Does it have a...an autopilot--I mean, can it be flown automatically or by some sort of remote control?" she said. "And does it have a self-destruct mechanism?"
"Oh, wait a minute here," Jack said, catching on.
"Sir..." she said, turning to him.
"Carter..."
"If the O'Neill is launched and sent into hyperspace," Teal'c said, "then the Replicators would believe that you are attempting to keep its technology from them. They will be forced to relinquish their weapons and shields in order to pursue the ship into hyperspace, hoping to gain that technology before it is lost to them."
"And then you blow up the O'Neill!" Daniel said gleefully.
"...taking the bugs out with it, of course," Carter finished.
There was a brief silence in which Thor looked as puzzled as Jack had ever seen him. Apparently, their stupidity had reached beyond the bounds of his indulgent understanding. "You are suggesting that we destroy the most advanced Asgard attack vessel ever created before it is even finished."
Carter gave Jack an apprehensive look but said, "Yes, I know."
Jack sighed. "It's a stupid plan," he started, with a mental apology to the gleaming ship they'd named for him.
"Jack..." Daniel said, shooting him an apprehensive look.
"But that's why we're here, isn't it?" Jack said to Thor. "Look, you destroyed your ship to save Earth; now we're saying you might need to destroy another ship to save your planet. Isn't it a small price to pay?"
"The O'Neill is our last chance of successfully attacking Replicator-infested ships," Thor protested.
"Then," Jack said, "it'll go down with...honor." Daniel raised his eyebrows. "In battle," Jack clarified. "Serving its intended purpose."
"Perhaps you do not understand," Thor said. "Rebuilding a ship such as the O'Neill is no easy task."
"When will the Replicator ships reach your planet?" Teal'c said.
Thor studied the screen, then said, "In approximately four and one half hours. More, perhaps, if our forces can hold them."
"Then you have four hours, Thor," Jack said. "If we don't act now, the O'Neill and everything else on your planet will be destroyed."
"And," Carter added, "if they reach your planet, they'll infest all of the Asgard technology there, including the O'Neill. They'll be the most advanced version of the bugs yet, and they'll be all over your planet."
Still looking doubtful, Thor said, "If the Replicators do not follow the O'Neill..."
"They will," Jack said confidently. When they turned to him in question, he said, "Everyone wants the O'Neill." Carter caught Daniel's gaze and rolled her eyes.
"If the Replicators infest the O'Neill and disable the self-destruct--" Thor tried.
"Thor, in a battle of technology," Teal'c interrupted, "the Replicators will defeat even your people. You must fight them with superior tactics, not with superior weapons."
"In other words," Jack summed up, "you guys are too smart for your own good. You've gotta trick them. The Replicators would never think you'd do something as stupid as blowing up your best ship...so you've gotta blow up your best ship."
"You said O'Neill was your last great hope," Daniel said leadingly, jerking his head toward Jack. "You should listen to him."
Thor sat still for another moment. Finally, he nodded. "We should try it. I will tell the High Council to recall the Asgard ships currently engaging the Replicators."
Light enveloped him, and he disappeared, leaving them all standing aboard the ship.
"I think it'll work, sir," Carter said.
"It'd better," Jack muttered.
"The O'Neill," Daniel said, drawing out the word. Jack scowled at him. Daniel returned an innocent look and shrugged. "I'm just saying the name. It has...a nice ring..." This seemed to be as much as he could say with a straight face, and he stopped, biting his lips and looking up at the ceiling.
"You watch," Jack said. "The O'Neill is going to be the savior of the Asgard people." Daniel grinned. "Don't bust a gut again laughing, smartass," Jack said sourly as Daniel winced, bending slightly over his appendix scar as he tried to keep from snickering.
"Daniel Jackson, we have not yet ensured victory," Teal'c reminded him sternly.
That sobered him, and Daniel took a deep breath, nodding. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be laughing--"
The screen flickered again, and the image of Replicator blocks Carter had just been looking at disappeared to show the face of another Asgard. Jack turned expectantly, but this language wasn't one he'd ever heard before. "Daniel?" he said hopefully when the image disappeared.
"Uh..." Daniel said, frowning in concentration. "They've lost contact with two--three--no, two of the Asgard...uh, ships, I guess--"
"Could it be a communication problem?" Carter said.
"N--I don't know. Sorry--I've never actually heard this language spoken aloud before. I think he realized Thor wasn't here and left."
"It is possible that some of the Asgard ships have fallen to the Replicators," Teal'c said grimly.
"I...I think that's what he was saying," Daniel said. Any trace of amusement that might have remained in him dissipated.
Thor reappeared in his usual flash of light. "The O'Neill has been launched."
Carter moved toward the screen to watch. Something like a computerized map was showing ships flying toward a point that had to represent the planet. Three of the ships looked like they were moving in the other direction--they must be retreating Asgard ships, although Jack knew it was a bad sign that there were three rather than the five that had started the battle. The three still moving toward the planet had to be the Replicator-controlled ships, while the one making its way toward them--
"Is that the O'Neill?" Daniel asked, pointing.
"Yes," Thor told him. "It will be within range of the Replicator-controlled ships' sensors in less than five minutes."
Jack glanced at his watch and said, "Thor, we just got a message--"
"Two Asgard ships have been lost," Thor said. "The remaining three are badly damaged but have not yet been infested; they will retreat and return to the planet if we are successful."
"I'm sorry," Jack told him quietly. Thor closed his eyes for a moment, then turned to the screen to watch their plan's progress as well. Daniel looked guilty now for having been giggling a minute ago and turned back determinedly to the screen as well.
Suddenly, Teal'c pointed to the screen and said, "They are in pursuit." The Replicators ships were curving from their original path and gave chase as the O'Neill flew as if it were trying to get past them.
"The O'Neill will now enter hyperspeed," Thor intoned.
They held silent, watching as the three Replicator ships began to close in on the O'Neill...and then a flash appeared over the image, and all four ships disappeared at once.
"They're gone," Jack said. "They're gone?"
"It worked!" Carter said excitedly. To Jack's--and perhaps everyone else's--surprise, she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around Thor's tiny body. Jack winced as Thor stiffened. "God, I'm sorry!" she said, pulling back and looking mortified. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"I am fine," Thor told her.
"It seems our plan was successful," Teal'c said, wearing a smile as well.
"Look," Daniel said, pointing to the other three ships in the distance. "They're on their way back to the planet, too."
Jack watched the last surviving Asgard ships' slow progress across the map and said, "I wish we could've saved them all, Thor."
"Thanks to you and your team, O'Neill," Thor said, "we have saved much more than we had hoped possible. All five of those ships were deployed knowing they were unlikely to return."
Carter stood, looking sheepish at her show of exuberance. Jack nodded. "We'll take what we can get," he said.
Thor returned to his seat in the chair. "It was your stupid idea," he said. Jack smirked, looking around at his team. "The Asgard are most grateful. One day, we shall repay you by helping to fight the Goa'uld."
Jack frowned. "One day?" he repeated.
"Saving one Asgard planet was a small victory," Thor said. "The conflict with the Replicators stretches across my galaxy, and they are very intelligent. Your strategy may not work again."
Disappointed, but not really surprised now that they'd seen first-hand how badly stretched the Asgard forces were, Jack said, "I get it. But if you need any more dumb ideas..." He gestured around at the four of them. "Well, you know where to find us."
"This counts as a successful mission, right?" Daniel said abruptly.
"I believe it does, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c told him.
"Yes," Daniel said. "Finally."
"Thor," Jack said as he looked out the window at the blackness of space, "anytime you're in the neighborhood...you should swing by Earth for a visit. We'd love to have you. Hey, we could go fishing. There's the place I know--land of sky-blue waters. Loofahs. Mosquitoes. Home of the loons--"
The transportation beam surrounded them and dropped them back in front of the Stargate. Jack decided that meant 'no.'
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6 July 2000; Briefing Room, SGC; 1800 hrs
"We work fast, sir," Jack explained with a shrug. There was something exhilarating about having been in two galaxies within a few hours, flying around in a ship and saving planets.
"The Asgard have offered to provide us with aid in the future when they have resources available to do so," Teal'c added.
"Speaking of victories..." Jack said with an apprehensive glance at Major Paul Davis, who sat near the general at the end of the table. "What's going on?"
"Nothing yet," Davis said, though he looked a little too harried for that to sound reassuring, "but people around the world are starting to ask more questions about what's going on around here."
"Let them wonder," Jack said dismissively. "In fact, I believe that's our official policy."
"For now, that's what we want to do," Davis admitted, "but they're getting more insistent. We've tried to allay concerns of international hostilities--"
"What?"
"Sir, without other information, the incident a week ago must look to them like we were testing something in international waters," Davis pointed out. "We've assured them that it was an accidental spill, but there was a Foxtrot class attack submarine in the area just yesterday. Their commander has reported that he saw men from our Navy shooting a mechanical spider."
Carter's eyebrows shot up. "You're saying that they saw a Replicator before it was destroyed."
"I'm sorry," Daniel said, looking uncertain as he leaned forward, "a Foxtrot...what?"
"A Russian...ship that goes underwater," Jack told him, then turned back to Davis. "But the bug was definitely destroyed?"
"Yes, sir," Davis confirmed. "And that's the only reason they don't have any hard evidence besides what they saw. They do, however, think we're hiding something."
"We've denied their sightings of the Replicator," Hammond added. "They don't believe us; only that fact that their own story sounds a bit absurd without the proper context has protected us so far. But they are looking into other incidents that might be connected to us, including the destruction of Apophis's motherships two years ago."
Jack leaned back in his chair in disgust, but Teal'c said, "Is this planet not too large to determine who was the cause of that fireball?"
"Yes," Davis confirmed, "so they're really grasping at straws to some extent--they've also picked up other happenings that have nothing to do with the Stargate at all. The problem is that they know something was definitely going on, since we were up to DEFCON 2, and the crew manning that sub is sure about what they saw, even if they don't have evidence."
"It seems more likely that they'd assume some sort of robotics program, then," Carter pointed out. "I don't think they'll guess anything about the Stargate from that."
"And why is this our problem again?" Jack asked.
"Because some people in this country are reconsidering the wisdom of keeping this program completely secret from all foreign governments," Davis said.
Oh, come on. "You're joking, right?" Jack said. He turned to Hammond. "General, if we want to go public with this, we're not going to start with the Russians."
"Well--" Daniel stated, then stopped, looking nervously at the general.
"What?" Jack snapped at him.
"Well, speaking as someone not from Earth, most aliens won't distinguish Americans from Russians," Daniel said. "International differences don't seem that significant in comparison to the bigger, interplanetary picture. Frankly, I don't...fully understand the ramifications of this discussion," he admitted, "and I'll be looking to correct that, but I doubt there are many out there who would be much better versed in Tau'ri international politics than Teal'c and I."
"The Goa'uld see all humans on this planet as Tau'ri," Teal'c added in agreement. "Replicators would make even less of a distinction. Ignorance of the Stargate would protect no one."
"As a matter of fact," Davis said, nodding to them, "that's an argument a few people have recently begun to voice, especially in light of the treaty negotiations currently in the plans with allies like the Tok'ra."
"With all due respect, sir," Carter said, "there are other reasons to keep the program secret, and we do have to deal with international politics before we can even get out there to deal with the rest."
"We understand the concerns, Major Davis," the general said, agreeing with Carter, "and we're not ignoring what Teal'c and Mr. Jackson have said. But we are not currently prepared for all the consequences of expanding this program any more than we already have."
Davis nodded. "Yes, sir. That is that opinion of most people in Washington, as well. I was just told to ask for your opinion and to give you the heads-up that more questions--and debate--could be coming your way. Especially for those of you less familiar with this planet and its politics, I'd suggest that you be prepared in the unlikely case that you're asked anything. You should pass the message along to Nyan from Bedrosia, too, and anyone else who might need a refresher."
Teal'c exchanged a glance with Daniel. "Horosho," Daniel quipped in agreement. "We'll study. But right now, the Russians don't know anything about the Stargate, yes?"
"If top secret information has leaked all the way to Russia," the general said, "then I'm afraid to ask where else it's leaked."
Daniel looked like he wasn't sure whether that was a yes or a no. Jack wasn't quite sure, either, remembering a reporter from almost two years ago who'd had far too much information than he should have had, not to mention the trouble they'd had with the NID and Makepeace's warning that there were others very high up who were both involved in the scheme and against the SGC.
"For the time being," Major Davis said, standing from the table, "the Pentagon thanks you for your service...and requests that you try to keep large explosions to a minimum in the future."
The rest of them stood, as well. Jack extended a hand to Davis, saying, "No promises."
"We'll try," Carter added.
General Hammond shook his head. "Good work, SG-1," he said dryly. "If you're going to take your leave, I suggest you leave quickly while you still can."
When the two left the room, Jack looked around at the rest of them. "You know you want to say 'yes,'" he said invitingly. "Come on, we saved two planets in the space of a week--only one planet for you," he said to Daniel, who rolled his eyes--"I say we all take a trip to Minnesota."
Next chapter: Epilogue ("SG-1")