August 14: A Cascade of Echoes: Stargate Command
Title: A Cascade of Echoes, Chapter 04: Stargate Command
Author: 3am_moonlight (MirroredIllusions on TtH)
Crossover: BtVS / Stargate SG-1: Continuum
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2,053
Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & Post-Stargate SG-1: Continuum
Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Summary: In which a delegation from the Tok'ra visit Stargate Command.
Author's Note: Written for Day 14 of the 2022 August Fic-A-Day.
Previous: Back To Start . Try Again . Tok'ra .
Buffy's estimate of 'a few days' had turned out to be quite optimistic, as they ended up staying with the Tok'ra for close to three Earth months where they went over various historical events which had occurred between Egeria's imprisonment and the present day. She and Egeria added what they had learned from the alternate Cam, and, of course, gave them an overview of their own operations since being blended.
They had brought in a delegation from their own faction after two weeks. However, at that point, the Tok'ra had decided to move the meetings to a more neutral ground. It allowed for more people to gather without exposing anyone's location.
Once there was a break in the negotiations, because that's what it felt like to Buffy, they had kind of snuck off the planet so Buffy could go for a run and do some physical fighting. The Tok'ra had panicked each time they had done that, but her own children had been entirely unsurprised. Which showed how well they knew Buffy, and they had calmed everyone down. The offer and later assistance of bringing guards had been swiftly rejected. It would've ruined the whole point.
Now they were back in more hostile negotiations, except this time they were back on Earth. The SGC had invited them to Stargate Command a few days after the Extraction Ceremony for the Goa'uld System Lord Ba'al. They had accepted, but informed them that they needed time to reacquaint themselves with the Tok'ra before they visited anyone, and that they would get back to them when they were available. Egeria had been the one talking so it had naturally been said in a much nicer and more polite way.
But they were here now and sitting at the opposite end of a long table with a direct line of vision to General O'Neill. SG-1 was sitting on each side of him, then it was pretty much a bunch of arrogant-looking politicians. Buffy and Egeria had an escort of two Tok'ra, two of their children, and six Jaffa who had insisted on being their personal guard while on the Tau'ri homeworld. The Jaffa were standing behind each of them, except for Buffy/Egeria who had two.
Their Jaffa worked with them and was valued members of their organization, rather than the slave soldiers they had been for the Goa'uld. They were living and working with the human population of their worlds.
"So," General O'Neill began after all the pleasantries and the fake politeness was over, "Why don't one of you, and by one of you I mean Egeria, explain again what happened during the original extraction ceremony."
Buffy bowed her head and gave Egeria control. "Explained shortly, Ba'al had a failsafe should the last of his clones be captured. Once activated, he would use a time machine to return to the past where one of his objectives was to sink the ship which was transporting the Tau'ri's Chappa'ai from one continent to another. By doing so, he ensured there would not be a Stargate Program, and subsequently, no one from this planet would become an obstacle to his quest to dominate this galaxy.
"The merge between the new and the old timeline was not immediate and as such the first hint given was when people began simply vanishing. The first was Vala Mal Doran, who became host to the Goa'uld queen Qetesh in the new timeline, then Teal'c. They became Ba'al's queen and First Prime respectively. After that, the Tok'ra began disappearing at a must faster rate along with the buildings they had made on their planet.
"General O'Neill was killed by Ba'al after he was able to partially get loose from his bindings. The three remaining members of SG-1 killed him before fleeing to the Chappa'ai and attempting to return to the Tau'ri homeworld."
She surveyed her audience and the military personnel stationed around the room at intervals. "We believe the shift between the timelines was completed while they were transmitted between the two Chappa'ai's. They exited on an ocean freighter called Achilles. The same ship which had transported the device across an ocean in the original timeline. Except in the new timeline it was frozen in ice at the Arctic pole.
"After some time they were rescued by the alternate version of General O'Neill, who held the rank of Colonel. They were questioned for many hours where they explained the Stargate Program, about the Goa'uld, and much more." She took a short break to drink a sip of water.
"What about the alternate versions of Colonel Carter, Colonel Mitchell, and Dr. Jackson? Would these travelers not be victims of Entropic Cascade Failure?"
"The Colonel Carter of that timeline had been an astronaut who had been killed four years previously. Dr. Jackson was an archaeologist who had ruined his academic reputation by continuously attempting for many years to prove the ancient pyramids in Egpyt were landing platforms for spaceships. Colonel Mitchell did not exist on account of his grandfather being the Captain of the Achilles, and as such had been killed by Ba'al's Jaffa."
Egeria went on to explain more or less the same as she and Buffy had done while they were with the Tok'ra, including going much more into detail about Ba'al's attack on Earth, and how Earth's government had handled it (or rather not handled it). Then went on about what little they knew of the alliance Ba'al had created to attack Earth with a number of other Goa'uld, and of course, what had happened on the time machine planet. They had refused to give any specific information about the planet or the machine itself, other than it worked on solar flares as they had already let that slip during the last meeting.
Then Buffy took over. "Basically, Earth had three people with more than a decade's worth of experience with the Stargate, tonnes of information about the situation in the galaxy, they gave a clear warning that Earth was going to get attacked, they had one of Earth's foremost experts on alien technology, and your government decided to strand them in suburbia."
Seven decades later and that reaction still made no sense. Yes, she understood that they were afraid SG-1 would try to change the timeline back, but there were ways they could've tried to prevent that and still taken advantage of what had essentially been handed to them on a silver platter.
"I do not understand how you came to be involved with the Stargate Program, Miss?" Buffy looked at the man who had introduced himself as James Coolidge and completely ignored his attempt to get her last name.
"As Egeria already said, Cam and I were friends." She didn't get any further before she was interrupted.
"You mean you were lovers."
"No, Mr. Coolidge, I mean we were friends. No naked activities involved." The man cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Men and women can be friends without wanting to have sex, you know. Truthfully, it happens frequently."
O'Neill decided to play savior for the awkwardness and tried to move things along. "You and Mitchell became friends. How did that lead to you working for us?"
"It didn't," Buffy replied simply. "I have never worked for Stargate Command."
"Then how...?"
"We went on a road trip. It ended abruptly when Ba'al attacked. In the confusion, I ended up tagging along. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the president along with Cam, Colonel Carter, and Dr. Jackson. The four of them had a conversation that made little sense to me at the time. Soon after we were in modified aircraft, then in Russia, followed by the time machine planet, and then Cam and I were in the past AND in a third timeline."
"About that," Carter interjected. "How did the Air Force allow you to tag along? I'm assuming you had no certification or other documentation that would allow for something like that."
She smiled, "The first rule of being somewhere you're not supposed to be is to act as if you are supposed to be there. If you're convincing, people will believe you. If there's chaos, let's say an alien invasion, then the people in question are even less likely to question your presence."
"You snuck around a lot in high school, didn't you?"
"Yes, Dr. Jackson, I did." Not for the reasons he thought, mostly, but she had definitely been sneaking around to kill the undead and other monsters. There had been some sneaking around to get smoochies though.
"That still doesn't explain why Daniel and I didn't object. We had to know you weren't supposed to be there."
"That I don't know the answer to, Colonel. But I'm guessing you trusted that Cam had a reason for letting me go with you."
"Moving on," Coolidge interrupted. "Why did Colonel Mitchell tell a Tok'ra about classified Earth projects and missions?"
"He didn't. Cam told me about the Stargate Program after we arrived in Egypt. As I'm sure you can imagine I had a lot of burning questions about what had happened in the last few hours. There were several years between then and my becoming host to Egeria. The program didn't exist back then, at least not in an effective form, and wouldn't for many decades. The chance of us being alive when time caught up with the present was slim."
If she had been a normal human she might've been a very old lady in 2008, but since she was a Slayer her life expectancy had been a few years at the most. Neither of them had seen it as likely that any of this would be known to their present counterparts, much less anyone at the SGC.
"What about all the Tok'ra you've made? The Goa'uld are finally no longer a threat and you tell us you've made a whole lot more? Don't you understand how many problems you've caused for us?"
This time Buffy glared at the annoying man. "The Tok'ra are not Goa'uld, Mr. Coolidge, and I'll thank you to never refer to us that way ever again!"
"Mr. Coolidge does have a point," Dr. Jackson tried to soothe, "Even if he did express it poorly. We know that your symbiote originally started out as a Goa'uld but at some point changed her perception of humans and began working against the Goa'uld. It isn't unthinkable that it can work the other way."
*He has a point,* Egeria commented. *We encourage individuality, and we must admit it is likely one or more will join their cousins and begin to work against us. It is, after all, one of the reasons why we have chosen to safeguard our children by raising them on different planets.*
*I know, but he doesn't have to be so rude about it.*
"Tell us, Mr. Coolidge, do you have children?"
He looked startled but answered regardless. "I do."
"Can you guarantee that your children will grow up and share your opinions? That they will have your political views, your taste in certain things, and that they will never cause you or anyone else physical harm?"
The room had gone completely silent, and the only thing that could be heard was the regular inhaling and exhaling as they waited for a reply.
"No, Queen Buffy, I can not."
"It's just Buffy." She ignored the odd look. "No one can guarantee how their children turn out, but many of us still choose to reproduce, and just hope we can raise them to become good and respectable adults.
"Not to mention, before I met and became Egeria's host, the Tok'ra were a dying people. By spawning, they are once again a thriving people. While I agree that the Goa'uld deserve to die, we are not them."
General O'Neill gave the room a look. They had been in there for several hours at that point. "Maybe we should break for some food, and stretch our legs a little." He rose from his chair. "Take a one-hour break and then come back here. I'm sure our guess has more to tell us once they've gotten some substance."
He gave Buffy a smile, which she returned. "Cake? Or maybe coffee?"
Egeria wasn't very fond of the bitter beverage, but Buffy definitely was. "I'll take the coffee, please."
Author: 3am_moonlight (MirroredIllusions on TtH)
Crossover: BtVS / Stargate SG-1: Continuum
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2,053
Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & Post-Stargate SG-1: Continuum
Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Summary: In which a delegation from the Tok'ra visit Stargate Command.
Author's Note: Written for Day 14 of the 2022 August Fic-A-Day.
Previous: Back To Start . Try Again . Tok'ra .
Buffy's estimate of 'a few days' had turned out to be quite optimistic, as they ended up staying with the Tok'ra for close to three Earth months where they went over various historical events which had occurred between Egeria's imprisonment and the present day. She and Egeria added what they had learned from the alternate Cam, and, of course, gave them an overview of their own operations since being blended.
They had brought in a delegation from their own faction after two weeks. However, at that point, the Tok'ra had decided to move the meetings to a more neutral ground. It allowed for more people to gather without exposing anyone's location.
Once there was a break in the negotiations, because that's what it felt like to Buffy, they had kind of snuck off the planet so Buffy could go for a run and do some physical fighting. The Tok'ra had panicked each time they had done that, but her own children had been entirely unsurprised. Which showed how well they knew Buffy, and they had calmed everyone down. The offer and later assistance of bringing guards had been swiftly rejected. It would've ruined the whole point.
Now they were back in more hostile negotiations, except this time they were back on Earth. The SGC had invited them to Stargate Command a few days after the Extraction Ceremony for the Goa'uld System Lord Ba'al. They had accepted, but informed them that they needed time to reacquaint themselves with the Tok'ra before they visited anyone, and that they would get back to them when they were available. Egeria had been the one talking so it had naturally been said in a much nicer and more polite way.
But they were here now and sitting at the opposite end of a long table with a direct line of vision to General O'Neill. SG-1 was sitting on each side of him, then it was pretty much a bunch of arrogant-looking politicians. Buffy and Egeria had an escort of two Tok'ra, two of their children, and six Jaffa who had insisted on being their personal guard while on the Tau'ri homeworld. The Jaffa were standing behind each of them, except for Buffy/Egeria who had two.
Their Jaffa worked with them and was valued members of their organization, rather than the slave soldiers they had been for the Goa'uld. They were living and working with the human population of their worlds.
"So," General O'Neill began after all the pleasantries and the fake politeness was over, "Why don't one of you, and by one of you I mean Egeria, explain again what happened during the original extraction ceremony."
Buffy bowed her head and gave Egeria control. "Explained shortly, Ba'al had a failsafe should the last of his clones be captured. Once activated, he would use a time machine to return to the past where one of his objectives was to sink the ship which was transporting the Tau'ri's Chappa'ai from one continent to another. By doing so, he ensured there would not be a Stargate Program, and subsequently, no one from this planet would become an obstacle to his quest to dominate this galaxy.
"The merge between the new and the old timeline was not immediate and as such the first hint given was when people began simply vanishing. The first was Vala Mal Doran, who became host to the Goa'uld queen Qetesh in the new timeline, then Teal'c. They became Ba'al's queen and First Prime respectively. After that, the Tok'ra began disappearing at a must faster rate along with the buildings they had made on their planet.
"General O'Neill was killed by Ba'al after he was able to partially get loose from his bindings. The three remaining members of SG-1 killed him before fleeing to the Chappa'ai and attempting to return to the Tau'ri homeworld."
She surveyed her audience and the military personnel stationed around the room at intervals. "We believe the shift between the timelines was completed while they were transmitted between the two Chappa'ai's. They exited on an ocean freighter called Achilles. The same ship which had transported the device across an ocean in the original timeline. Except in the new timeline it was frozen in ice at the Arctic pole.
"After some time they were rescued by the alternate version of General O'Neill, who held the rank of Colonel. They were questioned for many hours where they explained the Stargate Program, about the Goa'uld, and much more." She took a short break to drink a sip of water.
"What about the alternate versions of Colonel Carter, Colonel Mitchell, and Dr. Jackson? Would these travelers not be victims of Entropic Cascade Failure?"
"The Colonel Carter of that timeline had been an astronaut who had been killed four years previously. Dr. Jackson was an archaeologist who had ruined his academic reputation by continuously attempting for many years to prove the ancient pyramids in Egpyt were landing platforms for spaceships. Colonel Mitchell did not exist on account of his grandfather being the Captain of the Achilles, and as such had been killed by Ba'al's Jaffa."
Egeria went on to explain more or less the same as she and Buffy had done while they were with the Tok'ra, including going much more into detail about Ba'al's attack on Earth, and how Earth's government had handled it (or rather not handled it). Then went on about what little they knew of the alliance Ba'al had created to attack Earth with a number of other Goa'uld, and of course, what had happened on the time machine planet. They had refused to give any specific information about the planet or the machine itself, other than it worked on solar flares as they had already let that slip during the last meeting.
Then Buffy took over. "Basically, Earth had three people with more than a decade's worth of experience with the Stargate, tonnes of information about the situation in the galaxy, they gave a clear warning that Earth was going to get attacked, they had one of Earth's foremost experts on alien technology, and your government decided to strand them in suburbia."
Seven decades later and that reaction still made no sense. Yes, she understood that they were afraid SG-1 would try to change the timeline back, but there were ways they could've tried to prevent that and still taken advantage of what had essentially been handed to them on a silver platter.
"I do not understand how you came to be involved with the Stargate Program, Miss?" Buffy looked at the man who had introduced himself as James Coolidge and completely ignored his attempt to get her last name.
"As Egeria already said, Cam and I were friends." She didn't get any further before she was interrupted.
"You mean you were lovers."
"No, Mr. Coolidge, I mean we were friends. No naked activities involved." The man cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Men and women can be friends without wanting to have sex, you know. Truthfully, it happens frequently."
O'Neill decided to play savior for the awkwardness and tried to move things along. "You and Mitchell became friends. How did that lead to you working for us?"
"It didn't," Buffy replied simply. "I have never worked for Stargate Command."
"Then how...?"
"We went on a road trip. It ended abruptly when Ba'al attacked. In the confusion, I ended up tagging along. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the president along with Cam, Colonel Carter, and Dr. Jackson. The four of them had a conversation that made little sense to me at the time. Soon after we were in modified aircraft, then in Russia, followed by the time machine planet, and then Cam and I were in the past AND in a third timeline."
"About that," Carter interjected. "How did the Air Force allow you to tag along? I'm assuming you had no certification or other documentation that would allow for something like that."
She smiled, "The first rule of being somewhere you're not supposed to be is to act as if you are supposed to be there. If you're convincing, people will believe you. If there's chaos, let's say an alien invasion, then the people in question are even less likely to question your presence."
"You snuck around a lot in high school, didn't you?"
"Yes, Dr. Jackson, I did." Not for the reasons he thought, mostly, but she had definitely been sneaking around to kill the undead and other monsters. There had been some sneaking around to get smoochies though.
"That still doesn't explain why Daniel and I didn't object. We had to know you weren't supposed to be there."
"That I don't know the answer to, Colonel. But I'm guessing you trusted that Cam had a reason for letting me go with you."
"Moving on," Coolidge interrupted. "Why did Colonel Mitchell tell a Tok'ra about classified Earth projects and missions?"
"He didn't. Cam told me about the Stargate Program after we arrived in Egypt. As I'm sure you can imagine I had a lot of burning questions about what had happened in the last few hours. There were several years between then and my becoming host to Egeria. The program didn't exist back then, at least not in an effective form, and wouldn't for many decades. The chance of us being alive when time caught up with the present was slim."
If she had been a normal human she might've been a very old lady in 2008, but since she was a Slayer her life expectancy had been a few years at the most. Neither of them had seen it as likely that any of this would be known to their present counterparts, much less anyone at the SGC.
"What about all the Tok'ra you've made? The Goa'uld are finally no longer a threat and you tell us you've made a whole lot more? Don't you understand how many problems you've caused for us?"
This time Buffy glared at the annoying man. "The Tok'ra are not Goa'uld, Mr. Coolidge, and I'll thank you to never refer to us that way ever again!"
"Mr. Coolidge does have a point," Dr. Jackson tried to soothe, "Even if he did express it poorly. We know that your symbiote originally started out as a Goa'uld but at some point changed her perception of humans and began working against the Goa'uld. It isn't unthinkable that it can work the other way."
*He has a point,* Egeria commented. *We encourage individuality, and we must admit it is likely one or more will join their cousins and begin to work against us. It is, after all, one of the reasons why we have chosen to safeguard our children by raising them on different planets.*
*I know, but he doesn't have to be so rude about it.*
"Tell us, Mr. Coolidge, do you have children?"
He looked startled but answered regardless. "I do."
"Can you guarantee that your children will grow up and share your opinions? That they will have your political views, your taste in certain things, and that they will never cause you or anyone else physical harm?"
The room had gone completely silent, and the only thing that could be heard was the regular inhaling and exhaling as they waited for a reply.
"No, Queen Buffy, I can not."
"It's just Buffy." She ignored the odd look. "No one can guarantee how their children turn out, but many of us still choose to reproduce, and just hope we can raise them to become good and respectable adults.
"Not to mention, before I met and became Egeria's host, the Tok'ra were a dying people. By spawning, they are once again a thriving people. While I agree that the Goa'uld deserve to die, we are not them."
General O'Neill gave the room a look. They had been in there for several hours at that point. "Maybe we should break for some food, and stretch our legs a little." He rose from his chair. "Take a one-hour break and then come back here. I'm sure our guess has more to tell us once they've gotten some substance."
He gave Buffy a smile, which she returned. "Cake? Or maybe coffee?"
Egeria wasn't very fond of the bitter beverage, but Buffy definitely was. "I'll take the coffee, please."