The Sentinels: Chapter Twelve
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
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Words: 3,842
Chapter Twelve
"Jack, get your ass up," Daniel said annoyed as he walked into their bedroom to find Jack still lying face down under the covers, seemingly asleep.
Jack just lifted his ass up and turned his head so that Daniel could see the wide grin on his face.
Daniel scowled, "Now Jack, or we're going to be late."
Jack groaned and lowered his ass, "So what, I'm the General. We can be late."
"Jack!"
Jack sat up, "Sir, yes Sir. I'll get my sorry ass moving."
Daniel groaned and walked away, back into the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. He sat in his usual spot at the table and resumed reading the paper. Almost fifteen minutes later Jack joined him and stole the comics.
It had been three months since that screwed up week that nearly cost their relationship forever. Everything had gone back to normal with relative ease - though for a month the government had been really pissed off at Jack - but they still had a few issues to work out. They were mainly trust issues, but some had to do with love. However they worked them out and their relationship had become stronger for it.
"What do you usually do for Christmas?" Daniel asked suddenly. "I mean the Sentinels. Is there something special you do?"
Jack leaned back, "Christmas is such a human concept and tradition. We never celebrate it among ourselves, only with our human family if we have any. We don't have specific holidays, never have because over time they lose their meaning. For ourselves we find them pointless, however we do understand them."
"Can I....meet more of your family?" Daniel asked hesitantly.
Jack smiled brightly, "You think you're up to it? I mean, they're all kind of....crazy."
Daniel laughed, "Of course they're crazy, they're your children. But I don't want to meet all of them at once, just a few at a time."
Jack nodded, mentally pushing Daniel forward so that he could lean in and steal a kiss. Daniel glared at him but he was smiling. "So, who would you like to meet? Do you want me to name off some, go from oldest to youngest or randomly pick names out of a hat?"
Daniel shrugged, "Randomly?"
"Sure, you just might get all the major nutcases at once though."
Daniel rolled his eyes, "whatever Jack."
Jack chuckled, "We can't have them here though, too many complications. We can go anywhere, there are estates in almost every country."
Daniel looked into his empty coffee cup, "I don't mind. Whichever is the most convenient really."
Jack's eyes narrowed at him, "Hoyt or Cian it is, since they're walking universal history books." He glanced at the clock, "oh shit, we have to go."
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
“Jack," Daniel asked, a little annoyed. ''Where are we going again?
"Saskatchewan," Jack answered happily as he lounged on the couch.
Daniel stood before him, hands on hips, "And when are we suppose to be there?”
"In two hours." Jack said casually, stretching so he could see around Daniel where he had a Simpsons DVD playing on the TV.
“Two hours? How are we suppose to get there in two hours?" Daniel asked surprised. "You're not even dressed to go."
Jack sighed, "Daniel, Kalim is picking us up in a Gateship in half an hour which will get us there five minutes early or so. Something like that, it's all taken care of."
Daniel sighed and plopped down beside Jack. "You could have at least told me.”
"I did. I said I'd arrange the transportation."
"Yeah, but I assumed we'd be flying." Jack looked at him. "In a plane.”
“We could have done that, but I hate commercial flights and none of the private jets were in the area."
"You have private jets?"
"I don’t, but, ''Jack frowned.
“What? "Daniel asked slightly worried.
“You’ve heard of the private corporation called Paradox right?" Daniel nodded. “My oldest own and run it. They also own several smaller companies around the world, each of which is managed by a Sentinel. Caius use to run it with Kalas, but he's working on the Andromeda at the moment. I don t know who's taken his place maybe no one. Anyway, yes I have jets but they're not exactly mine.”
Daniel nodded and leaned into Jack. Jack looked at him and frowned when he saw the worried look on his face. "You're nervous, You don't need to be."
"They're your family Jack, what if they don't like me?"
Jack shifted to wrap his arms around Daniel, ''How could they not like you? You are so perfect, so amazing, you are understanding kind, curious, loyal and accepting. They know I wouldn't be with you or even told you about us if you weren't anything but how I described you.
Daniel looked up at him, ''Yeah?"
Jack smirked “Hell yeah."
Daniel chuckled, pushed up and softly kissed him. Then he settled back down and together they silently watched the TV and waited for Kalim to arrive. When Kalim did arrive, a good half an hour later, Jack was alerted by a swift mental nudge. Startled he nudged back, a little viciously.
“Time to go,'' he said, getting up, stretching and turning the tv off.
"How do you know that?" Daniel asked, standing as well. "Where is he?”
"Outside on the road,'' Jack grumbled pulling on his coat and shoes.
Daniel turned Jack around to face him, "There's a spaceship parked in the middle of the street?!"
"It's invisible." Jack protested indignantly.
"Yeah but it's on the road!" Daniel argued as they exited the house. “Someone could crash into it."
Jack gave him one of those 'I know something you don't' looks. “Nope. Dimensional phase technology, kinda like what you experienced when we met the Tartar."
Daniel frowned as Jack stopped him in the middle of the road. He looked around before gesturing him to walk down the road. Daniel just looked at him like he was crazy. Jack sighed, grabbed his arm and dragged him forward. Daniel jumped as they were suddenly inside a small cylindrical ship. As the hatch behind them closed, Jack pulled him forward into the cockpit.
"Good morning Kalim,” Jack said to the light brown haired man sitting in the pilot's chair.
"Morning Grandfather." Kalim answered as he directed the ship up and out of Colorado.
Jack sat in the chair behind the copilot's seat and pointedly indicated for Daniel to take the forward chair. Daniel immediately started looking over the controls, running his hands over them without fear of messing anything up because he knew he didn't have the gene.
"Why is there a built in DHD?” Daniel asked.
"These are Gateships, named so because they are small enough to travel through the Gate," Kalim answered, sending him a smile. "The DHD is just an added perk. It's inconvenient to have to get out and use the stationary device, especially if we're in trouble.”
Daniel smiled and continued to look over the controls. He stole a better look at Kalim and was surprised to find that his features were not entirely human. He blinked and began to stare. Behind him Jack started chuckling which prompted Kalim to look around.
“I'm Atoniek." he explained.
Daniel jumped and looked away. "Atoniek? Why does that sound familiar Jack?”
“Those damn armbands Anise brought for us to test." Jack grumbled.
“Hey" Kalim protested. “They were only a prototype, it is not my fault they were never finished."
“What happened?" Daniel asked curiously.
A dark look crossed over Kalim's face and he pursed his lips. Daniel turned around to look at Jack, who was looking at Kalim with sorrow and compassion. He knew that the Atoniek had become extinct, but he hadn't known how. He thought maybe they'd just died out, but by the look on Jack's and Kalim's faces, it was worse.
''You know the bare bones history of the Ancients in this Galaxy," Jack explained. "But most of what you know is from after the Great Plague and our return to the Milky Way. Several hundred years before the plague we were in a war - it seems to be all we ever do - with an enemy far more powerful than the Goa’uld. It was during these wars that the Ancients embraced their military side and began concentrating on military advancements. We weren't fast enough. Our enemy wiped out many of our allies before we defeated them. The Atoniek were one of them. The Tartar almost got it too."
"Tartar, you mentioned them before."
"Our oldest allies," Jack said with a rueful smile. “Though I'm pretty sure they hate us. They're a race of humans as old as us though they developed at a completely different level. They're from Babylon, same as us and were driven out by the Ori as well. We may have, accidentally displaced them a couple of times since then,” he added sheepishly.
"You said I'd met them."
Jack nodded, "They're the one's your Grandfather is staying with."
"Oh" Daniel's eyes widened. ''Um, if they're that old, how come they didn't seem to be as advanced as you?"
Jack chuckled, “That pyramid is merely a tool to deceive their enemies and disguise their level of technology. There is, in fact, an entire city on that planet existing in another dimension,"
"Would they attack you?'' Daniel asked curiously,
“They may hate us but we're not enemies."
Daniel nodded and turned back to watch the earth move below them. Jack sat back and watched him and in due time Kalim had them descending at a sharp angle.
"Whoa," Daniel exclaimed softly as they leveled out. "I didn't feel a thing."
“That would be the inertial dampeners," Kalim told him but Daniel was only partially listening as he had caught sight of Hoyt's gothic styled mansion. Jack guessed it was the biggest house Daniel had ever laid eyes on, so the awe struck look wasn't a surprise. His children had a thing for living in massive buildings because their previous homes - the Ancient cities - were massive. The problem was that some of the mansions were abandoned for long periods of time because of how empty they were.
Hoyt's mansion, though black and looming, was beautiful; at three stories high and 100 square feet with no area that didn't add to it's beauty. Kalim flew around the mansion for Daniel's benefit then entered through the roof of the building that made up
the west end.
The room took up all three stories and was where the ships were stored. Along the walls were three levels of docks for the Gateships and in the center of the room was a two story hollow cylindrical 'tower' that also served as a set of docking stations. Kalim parked his Gateship in an empty spot in the tower. Then he powered the jumper down and lowered the hatch.
“How many Gateships do you have?" Daniel asked surprised as he followed Jack, Kalim behind him, along the walkway between ships and to a door.
“We all have a facility like this to dock the ships since it is often a preferred mode of transportation, but this is more than any of us actually own. Hoyt's son Steven is one of the ones tasked to build Gateships for the Andromeda," Kalim answered.
Jack waved his hand over the door and it opened to a small, almost circular space. As they stepped in a panel on the wall opened up revealing a schematic layout of the mansion.
Daniel watched curiously as Jack started tapping it, bringing up the area he wanted, With a final tap the door closed and Jack turned away from the panel.
"Elevator?” Daniel guessed
“Even better.” Jack answered. "Elevators go up and down, these transporters can take you to any one of the specified locations.”
''That's convenient."
Jack and Kalim chuckled. The door opened, revealing a long hallway with a blue eyed blond man who looked remarkably like Jack standing and waiting for them. He wore an expensive, tailored black suit, a pink dress shirt, no tie and was about four inches shorter than Jack. He looked around thirty-five.
"Daniel, I'd like you to meet my 65th child Hoyt,” Jack introduced. "Hoyt meet Daniel. Please do not keep him all day”
Hoyt chuckled as they shook hands, "It would be your own fault If that happened father."
Jack stuck his tongue out. Hoyt laughed and led them down the hall into a large gathering room where everyone Jack had invited had already arrived. It was brightly lit by lights that were in the walls, soft but all over so that no area was left darkened. There was a bar and snack area to the left and out amongst the space were tables and chairs. Some were tall four seater square tables with tall stools while others were coffee tables with leather couches and chairs. It was stylish and welcoming and it eased some of the nervousness that had been building up in Daniel since they'd left home.
Kalim immediately wandered off to the bar to get a drink where he started talking to a man with wild red-brown hair wearing jeans and a form fitting long sleeved green shirt. Hoyt also took his leave, but instead of mingling he went down the hall to another room.
"Steven usually does the cooking but apparently he's not here," Jack explained with a chuckle. "Hoyt hates cooking. He's good at it but he just hates it so you're in for quite a rare treat."
Daniel nodded and looked around again. He had no idea where to start or go. Jack seemed to read his thoughts, directing his gaze to one of the couches where there was an empty seat. "They're expecting you," was all he said. He gave Daniel a nudge and went to get them some drinks.
Daniel's eyes widened, “Jack!"
Jack just waved and pointed to the couch. Some people chuckled and he flushed, making his way to sit at the end of the leather couch beside a woman with thick shoulder length sandy blond hair and brown eyes wearing a pale blue V-neck dress covered in faint tracings of flowers. Daniel guessed she was about his age, possibly older. Beside her, a man with short black hair and bright green eyes wearing black slacks and a burgundy button down dress shirt was leaning casually, legs crossed and his right elbow on the rest with his hand holding his head. Perpendicular to him was a younger woman with very long golden blond hair, sky blue eyes set in a heart shaped face wearing a long black skirt and a low cut silver shirt.
He gave them a tentative smile, ''Hello.”
The blond woman laughed, amused at his discomfort, ''You have no need to be nervous around any of us Daniel."
“Oh now that's not true," the man countered, ''What if he met Loki?''
The three of them shuddered. ''You have a point,"
The woman beside Daniel rolled her eyes, ''Please, Loki is not the worst among us."
"Oh really?” the man asked. "Who's worse than Loki?"
"I am," Jack answered startling them all. He handed Daniel a drink and small plate of food and sat on the arm of the couch, smirking, "And I am appalled that you have yet to introduce yourselves. Daniel, beside you is my daughter Minerva Quinn, my son Marius Caine and my granddaughter Lyra Star.”
Daniel blinked, "Isn't there a star called Lyra?"
“A constellation, but close enough. My mother's name is Vega, which is a star hence our last name," Lyra answered with a smile.
Daniel nodded and turned to Minerva," Quinn? As in….”
Minerva nodded, "Yes, Jonas is my wayward son."
Marius sat forward, ''And you've never heard of me, so we're all good, Right?"
"It's a flaw of his Daniel," Minerva said. "You'll get use to it."
''After a while you’ll get use to all of us," Lyra added. “Except may be Loki, since he is the reason the Norse call him the god of mischief.”
"It wasn't because of," he glanced up at Jack, ''well, the Asgard Loki?”
"In part,” Lyra explained. "But our Loki is worse. He takes great pleasure in pissing every single one of us off.”
Daniel looked at Jack, ''Can we build up to meeting him? I'm not sure I can handle meeting the wildest of your children early on.”
They all laughed and Jack leaned down to give him a quick kiss.
“I'm curious Daniel,” Marius said. They all turned to him. “What possessed you to investigate the pyramids? You had to have known that presenting your findings would cost you everything and yet you still did it."
Daniel was quiet for a moment, "When my parents were still I alive I remember a side project they had. Over the course of their careers they'd uncovered and studied tablets and artefacts with hieroglyphs older than what was believed to be the oldest. l would sit with them as they studied what I now know to be Goa’uld and listen to their theories. Once I was able to continue their research, I put it out there because it was obvious to me. Those writings weren't of human origin, and some of it was written in the pyramids which made them older than what we previously believed. I got it out there because I felt it had to be told even if I was blowing everything for it."
"That's a difficult thing to do," Minerva commented. "Very rarely are there people such as you Daniel."
"Humans are not ready for such a change at the moment." Marius said. ''I don't think the Tau’ri, on a whole, will be ready for several more decades. Unless you're invaded I don't think the program should be de-classified,"
Daniel frowned, ''Why?"
"If the Astria Porta was de-classified, every country not a part of it will be in an uproar, every citizen will freak out; riot; become greedy little fucks."
“Marius,” Jack warned.
Marius looked away for a moment. Daniel wondered if he'd had a similar experience with humans on another planet. It would explain things.
“This planet isn't ready. How can you be expected to get along with other cultures in the galaxy when you can't even get along with the ones on your own planet? De-classify the Gate and you'll have World War Three, and if that happens I’m off this planet."
Daniel looked at Jack. It wasn't his place to question what Jack's children felt or did. They were far older and had more experience in situations like that but he'd be damned if he said he didn't like it.
"What would you do?"
Jack looked away, "It depends. We can’t get involved, it's against our laws. However if the use of alien technology was included in the hypothetical W.W.III we would either remove it all or leave and take the Stargate with us.”
Daniel nodded, "That's what any advanced civilization would do, sit it?”
The man Kalim had been talking to bounded over and stood before them with a big smile, ''Grandfather, so nice of you to grace us with your presence after fifty years,"
Jack smiled, “I didn't realize you were feeling deprived Phyrrus. Daniel this is Phyrrus Jessick, his father Lucian is my seventh child yet he is absolutely nothing like his father."
"Only because I prefer doing everything the dangerous way," Phyrrus told them.
“Excuse me,'' Marius said as he got up and glided away.
Kalim and four others joined their group, Kalim taking Marius' place. One was a man who almost looked exactly like Hoyt save that he was two inches taller, had sandy blond hair and hazel eyes. Daniel assumed he was Cian. With Cian were three woman. The tallest had short and spiked red hair and ice blue eyes. She was more masculine than the other two with broad shoulders and visible, but not prominent muscle. She looked to be in her mid thirties and was wearing wide legged dress pants with a low cut oriental styled top. The woman beside her looked to be about twenty fire with thick red streaked brown hair parted to the left and layered to about chin length with piercing hazel eyes. She wore a spaghetti strapped knee length black sparkling dress, silver healed sandals and on her left ankle Daniel saw a small, non descript tattoo. The smallest of the three, standing about 5' 5, looked to be in her mid thirties. Her eyes were a dark hazel Daniel hadn't seen before and she had shoulder length curly medium-brown hair with blond streaks. She wore dress parts with a green low cut 3/4 length sleeved top that, along the collar had small emerald gems.
"Daniel these are Cian, Cyril, Tana and Vali." Jack introduced them. ''Cian as I've told you before, is a historian. Cyril's specialization is in tactics and assassination. She can get into any facility easily, without the use of our abilities .Tana is a weapon's designer and she also builds most of them. Drones mainly, since they're small and easy to make.”
"They're not small, and humans wouldn't think they're easy," Tana said. "They're complicated little buggers, I'm just so adept at making them."
"Vali is a doctor, the no nonsense kind of doctor. Napoleonic-power-monger."
Vali laughed, "Don't listen to him Daniel, he just doesn't like having to be poked with things or healed by anyone/thing but himself."
Daniel nodded. He'd seen Jack complain about it before, almost every time he was in the infirmary. He was a bit disturbed by Jack's job description of Cyril though. He hadn't realized the Ancients had supported and employed such a profession. He did not think they needed assassins, not with the amount of power they had.
“Cyril doesn't practice her art anymore,” Cian said. He was looking at Daniel as if he knew what he was thinking. It was possible he did. "She does teach self-defense classes. Assassins of her caliber are, thankfully, not needed."
Cyril gave Cian a look that told Daniel all he needed to know about her. She was dangerous, probably born during a war so that war was all she knew. He doubted she liked war, but no war was probably boring. Daniel knew he'd never be able to see eye-to-eye with her but he did hope that they could at least get along.
All the Sentinels spaced out for a moment, Daniel looked up at Jack.
"Hoyt says it's time to eat,” Jack told him. ''He's also called sitting beside you.
"Which is absolutely no fair," Phyrrus mocked whined. He smiled and they all filed out of the room.
"I’ll show him no fair,” he heard Kalim mutter.
Lyra snickered, "That’ll be fun to watch."
Minerva snorted. "And Marius thought Loki was the worse. You two are just as bad."
Chapter Thirteen
Sentinels Guide
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Words: 3,842
Chapter Twelve
"Jack, get your ass up," Daniel said annoyed as he walked into their bedroom to find Jack still lying face down under the covers, seemingly asleep.
Jack just lifted his ass up and turned his head so that Daniel could see the wide grin on his face.
Daniel scowled, "Now Jack, or we're going to be late."
Jack groaned and lowered his ass, "So what, I'm the General. We can be late."
"Jack!"
Jack sat up, "Sir, yes Sir. I'll get my sorry ass moving."
Daniel groaned and walked away, back into the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee. He sat in his usual spot at the table and resumed reading the paper. Almost fifteen minutes later Jack joined him and stole the comics.
It had been three months since that screwed up week that nearly cost their relationship forever. Everything had gone back to normal with relative ease - though for a month the government had been really pissed off at Jack - but they still had a few issues to work out. They were mainly trust issues, but some had to do with love. However they worked them out and their relationship had become stronger for it.
"What do you usually do for Christmas?" Daniel asked suddenly. "I mean the Sentinels. Is there something special you do?"
Jack leaned back, "Christmas is such a human concept and tradition. We never celebrate it among ourselves, only with our human family if we have any. We don't have specific holidays, never have because over time they lose their meaning. For ourselves we find them pointless, however we do understand them."
"Can I....meet more of your family?" Daniel asked hesitantly.
Jack smiled brightly, "You think you're up to it? I mean, they're all kind of....crazy."
Daniel laughed, "Of course they're crazy, they're your children. But I don't want to meet all of them at once, just a few at a time."
Jack nodded, mentally pushing Daniel forward so that he could lean in and steal a kiss. Daniel glared at him but he was smiling. "So, who would you like to meet? Do you want me to name off some, go from oldest to youngest or randomly pick names out of a hat?"
Daniel shrugged, "Randomly?"
"Sure, you just might get all the major nutcases at once though."
Daniel rolled his eyes, "whatever Jack."
Jack chuckled, "We can't have them here though, too many complications. We can go anywhere, there are estates in almost every country."
Daniel looked into his empty coffee cup, "I don't mind. Whichever is the most convenient really."
Jack's eyes narrowed at him, "Hoyt or Cian it is, since they're walking universal history books." He glanced at the clock, "oh shit, we have to go."
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
“Jack," Daniel asked, a little annoyed. ''Where are we going again?
"Saskatchewan," Jack answered happily as he lounged on the couch.
Daniel stood before him, hands on hips, "And when are we suppose to be there?”
"In two hours." Jack said casually, stretching so he could see around Daniel where he had a Simpsons DVD playing on the TV.
“Two hours? How are we suppose to get there in two hours?" Daniel asked surprised. "You're not even dressed to go."
Jack sighed, "Daniel, Kalim is picking us up in a Gateship in half an hour which will get us there five minutes early or so. Something like that, it's all taken care of."
Daniel sighed and plopped down beside Jack. "You could have at least told me.”
"I did. I said I'd arrange the transportation."
"Yeah, but I assumed we'd be flying." Jack looked at him. "In a plane.”
“We could have done that, but I hate commercial flights and none of the private jets were in the area."
"You have private jets?"
"I don’t, but, ''Jack frowned.
“What? "Daniel asked slightly worried.
“You’ve heard of the private corporation called Paradox right?" Daniel nodded. “My oldest own and run it. They also own several smaller companies around the world, each of which is managed by a Sentinel. Caius use to run it with Kalas, but he's working on the Andromeda at the moment. I don t know who's taken his place maybe no one. Anyway, yes I have jets but they're not exactly mine.”
Daniel nodded and leaned into Jack. Jack looked at him and frowned when he saw the worried look on his face. "You're nervous, You don't need to be."
"They're your family Jack, what if they don't like me?"
Jack shifted to wrap his arms around Daniel, ''How could they not like you? You are so perfect, so amazing, you are understanding kind, curious, loyal and accepting. They know I wouldn't be with you or even told you about us if you weren't anything but how I described you.
Daniel looked up at him, ''Yeah?"
Jack smirked “Hell yeah."
Daniel chuckled, pushed up and softly kissed him. Then he settled back down and together they silently watched the TV and waited for Kalim to arrive. When Kalim did arrive, a good half an hour later, Jack was alerted by a swift mental nudge. Startled he nudged back, a little viciously.
“Time to go,'' he said, getting up, stretching and turning the tv off.
"How do you know that?" Daniel asked, standing as well. "Where is he?”
"Outside on the road,'' Jack grumbled pulling on his coat and shoes.
Daniel turned Jack around to face him, "There's a spaceship parked in the middle of the street?!"
"It's invisible." Jack protested indignantly.
"Yeah but it's on the road!" Daniel argued as they exited the house. “Someone could crash into it."
Jack gave him one of those 'I know something you don't' looks. “Nope. Dimensional phase technology, kinda like what you experienced when we met the Tartar."
Daniel frowned as Jack stopped him in the middle of the road. He looked around before gesturing him to walk down the road. Daniel just looked at him like he was crazy. Jack sighed, grabbed his arm and dragged him forward. Daniel jumped as they were suddenly inside a small cylindrical ship. As the hatch behind them closed, Jack pulled him forward into the cockpit.
"Good morning Kalim,” Jack said to the light brown haired man sitting in the pilot's chair.
"Morning Grandfather." Kalim answered as he directed the ship up and out of Colorado.
Jack sat in the chair behind the copilot's seat and pointedly indicated for Daniel to take the forward chair. Daniel immediately started looking over the controls, running his hands over them without fear of messing anything up because he knew he didn't have the gene.
"Why is there a built in DHD?” Daniel asked.
"These are Gateships, named so because they are small enough to travel through the Gate," Kalim answered, sending him a smile. "The DHD is just an added perk. It's inconvenient to have to get out and use the stationary device, especially if we're in trouble.”
Daniel smiled and continued to look over the controls. He stole a better look at Kalim and was surprised to find that his features were not entirely human. He blinked and began to stare. Behind him Jack started chuckling which prompted Kalim to look around.
“I'm Atoniek." he explained.
Daniel jumped and looked away. "Atoniek? Why does that sound familiar Jack?”
“Those damn armbands Anise brought for us to test." Jack grumbled.
“Hey" Kalim protested. “They were only a prototype, it is not my fault they were never finished."
“What happened?" Daniel asked curiously.
A dark look crossed over Kalim's face and he pursed his lips. Daniel turned around to look at Jack, who was looking at Kalim with sorrow and compassion. He knew that the Atoniek had become extinct, but he hadn't known how. He thought maybe they'd just died out, but by the look on Jack's and Kalim's faces, it was worse.
''You know the bare bones history of the Ancients in this Galaxy," Jack explained. "But most of what you know is from after the Great Plague and our return to the Milky Way. Several hundred years before the plague we were in a war - it seems to be all we ever do - with an enemy far more powerful than the Goa’uld. It was during these wars that the Ancients embraced their military side and began concentrating on military advancements. We weren't fast enough. Our enemy wiped out many of our allies before we defeated them. The Atoniek were one of them. The Tartar almost got it too."
"Tartar, you mentioned them before."
"Our oldest allies," Jack said with a rueful smile. “Though I'm pretty sure they hate us. They're a race of humans as old as us though they developed at a completely different level. They're from Babylon, same as us and were driven out by the Ori as well. We may have, accidentally displaced them a couple of times since then,” he added sheepishly.
"You said I'd met them."
Jack nodded, "They're the one's your Grandfather is staying with."
"Oh" Daniel's eyes widened. ''Um, if they're that old, how come they didn't seem to be as advanced as you?"
Jack chuckled, “That pyramid is merely a tool to deceive their enemies and disguise their level of technology. There is, in fact, an entire city on that planet existing in another dimension,"
"Would they attack you?'' Daniel asked curiously,
“They may hate us but we're not enemies."
Daniel nodded and turned back to watch the earth move below them. Jack sat back and watched him and in due time Kalim had them descending at a sharp angle.
"Whoa," Daniel exclaimed softly as they leveled out. "I didn't feel a thing."
“That would be the inertial dampeners," Kalim told him but Daniel was only partially listening as he had caught sight of Hoyt's gothic styled mansion. Jack guessed it was the biggest house Daniel had ever laid eyes on, so the awe struck look wasn't a surprise. His children had a thing for living in massive buildings because their previous homes - the Ancient cities - were massive. The problem was that some of the mansions were abandoned for long periods of time because of how empty they were.
Hoyt's mansion, though black and looming, was beautiful; at three stories high and 100 square feet with no area that didn't add to it's beauty. Kalim flew around the mansion for Daniel's benefit then entered through the roof of the building that made up
the west end.
The room took up all three stories and was where the ships were stored. Along the walls were three levels of docks for the Gateships and in the center of the room was a two story hollow cylindrical 'tower' that also served as a set of docking stations. Kalim parked his Gateship in an empty spot in the tower. Then he powered the jumper down and lowered the hatch.
“How many Gateships do you have?" Daniel asked surprised as he followed Jack, Kalim behind him, along the walkway between ships and to a door.
“We all have a facility like this to dock the ships since it is often a preferred mode of transportation, but this is more than any of us actually own. Hoyt's son Steven is one of the ones tasked to build Gateships for the Andromeda," Kalim answered.
Jack waved his hand over the door and it opened to a small, almost circular space. As they stepped in a panel on the wall opened up revealing a schematic layout of the mansion.
Daniel watched curiously as Jack started tapping it, bringing up the area he wanted, With a final tap the door closed and Jack turned away from the panel.
"Elevator?” Daniel guessed
“Even better.” Jack answered. "Elevators go up and down, these transporters can take you to any one of the specified locations.”
''That's convenient."
Jack and Kalim chuckled. The door opened, revealing a long hallway with a blue eyed blond man who looked remarkably like Jack standing and waiting for them. He wore an expensive, tailored black suit, a pink dress shirt, no tie and was about four inches shorter than Jack. He looked around thirty-five.
"Daniel, I'd like you to meet my 65th child Hoyt,” Jack introduced. "Hoyt meet Daniel. Please do not keep him all day”
Hoyt chuckled as they shook hands, "It would be your own fault If that happened father."
Jack stuck his tongue out. Hoyt laughed and led them down the hall into a large gathering room where everyone Jack had invited had already arrived. It was brightly lit by lights that were in the walls, soft but all over so that no area was left darkened. There was a bar and snack area to the left and out amongst the space were tables and chairs. Some were tall four seater square tables with tall stools while others were coffee tables with leather couches and chairs. It was stylish and welcoming and it eased some of the nervousness that had been building up in Daniel since they'd left home.
Kalim immediately wandered off to the bar to get a drink where he started talking to a man with wild red-brown hair wearing jeans and a form fitting long sleeved green shirt. Hoyt also took his leave, but instead of mingling he went down the hall to another room.
"Steven usually does the cooking but apparently he's not here," Jack explained with a chuckle. "Hoyt hates cooking. He's good at it but he just hates it so you're in for quite a rare treat."
Daniel nodded and looked around again. He had no idea where to start or go. Jack seemed to read his thoughts, directing his gaze to one of the couches where there was an empty seat. "They're expecting you," was all he said. He gave Daniel a nudge and went to get them some drinks.
Daniel's eyes widened, “Jack!"
Jack just waved and pointed to the couch. Some people chuckled and he flushed, making his way to sit at the end of the leather couch beside a woman with thick shoulder length sandy blond hair and brown eyes wearing a pale blue V-neck dress covered in faint tracings of flowers. Daniel guessed she was about his age, possibly older. Beside her, a man with short black hair and bright green eyes wearing black slacks and a burgundy button down dress shirt was leaning casually, legs crossed and his right elbow on the rest with his hand holding his head. Perpendicular to him was a younger woman with very long golden blond hair, sky blue eyes set in a heart shaped face wearing a long black skirt and a low cut silver shirt.
He gave them a tentative smile, ''Hello.”
The blond woman laughed, amused at his discomfort, ''You have no need to be nervous around any of us Daniel."
“Oh now that's not true," the man countered, ''What if he met Loki?''
The three of them shuddered. ''You have a point,"
The woman beside Daniel rolled her eyes, ''Please, Loki is not the worst among us."
"Oh really?” the man asked. "Who's worse than Loki?"
"I am," Jack answered startling them all. He handed Daniel a drink and small plate of food and sat on the arm of the couch, smirking, "And I am appalled that you have yet to introduce yourselves. Daniel, beside you is my daughter Minerva Quinn, my son Marius Caine and my granddaughter Lyra Star.”
Daniel blinked, "Isn't there a star called Lyra?"
“A constellation, but close enough. My mother's name is Vega, which is a star hence our last name," Lyra answered with a smile.
Daniel nodded and turned to Minerva," Quinn? As in….”
Minerva nodded, "Yes, Jonas is my wayward son."
Marius sat forward, ''And you've never heard of me, so we're all good, Right?"
"It's a flaw of his Daniel," Minerva said. "You'll get use to it."
''After a while you’ll get use to all of us," Lyra added. “Except may be Loki, since he is the reason the Norse call him the god of mischief.”
"It wasn't because of," he glanced up at Jack, ''well, the Asgard Loki?”
"In part,” Lyra explained. "But our Loki is worse. He takes great pleasure in pissing every single one of us off.”
Daniel looked at Jack, ''Can we build up to meeting him? I'm not sure I can handle meeting the wildest of your children early on.”
They all laughed and Jack leaned down to give him a quick kiss.
“I'm curious Daniel,” Marius said. They all turned to him. “What possessed you to investigate the pyramids? You had to have known that presenting your findings would cost you everything and yet you still did it."
Daniel was quiet for a moment, "When my parents were still I alive I remember a side project they had. Over the course of their careers they'd uncovered and studied tablets and artefacts with hieroglyphs older than what was believed to be the oldest. l would sit with them as they studied what I now know to be Goa’uld and listen to their theories. Once I was able to continue their research, I put it out there because it was obvious to me. Those writings weren't of human origin, and some of it was written in the pyramids which made them older than what we previously believed. I got it out there because I felt it had to be told even if I was blowing everything for it."
"That's a difficult thing to do," Minerva commented. "Very rarely are there people such as you Daniel."
"Humans are not ready for such a change at the moment." Marius said. ''I don't think the Tau’ri, on a whole, will be ready for several more decades. Unless you're invaded I don't think the program should be de-classified,"
Daniel frowned, ''Why?"
"If the Astria Porta was de-classified, every country not a part of it will be in an uproar, every citizen will freak out; riot; become greedy little fucks."
“Marius,” Jack warned.
Marius looked away for a moment. Daniel wondered if he'd had a similar experience with humans on another planet. It would explain things.
“This planet isn't ready. How can you be expected to get along with other cultures in the galaxy when you can't even get along with the ones on your own planet? De-classify the Gate and you'll have World War Three, and if that happens I’m off this planet."
Daniel looked at Jack. It wasn't his place to question what Jack's children felt or did. They were far older and had more experience in situations like that but he'd be damned if he said he didn't like it.
"What would you do?"
Jack looked away, "It depends. We can’t get involved, it's against our laws. However if the use of alien technology was included in the hypothetical W.W.III we would either remove it all or leave and take the Stargate with us.”
Daniel nodded, "That's what any advanced civilization would do, sit it?”
The man Kalim had been talking to bounded over and stood before them with a big smile, ''Grandfather, so nice of you to grace us with your presence after fifty years,"
Jack smiled, “I didn't realize you were feeling deprived Phyrrus. Daniel this is Phyrrus Jessick, his father Lucian is my seventh child yet he is absolutely nothing like his father."
"Only because I prefer doing everything the dangerous way," Phyrrus told them.
“Excuse me,'' Marius said as he got up and glided away.
Kalim and four others joined their group, Kalim taking Marius' place. One was a man who almost looked exactly like Hoyt save that he was two inches taller, had sandy blond hair and hazel eyes. Daniel assumed he was Cian. With Cian were three woman. The tallest had short and spiked red hair and ice blue eyes. She was more masculine than the other two with broad shoulders and visible, but not prominent muscle. She looked to be in her mid thirties and was wearing wide legged dress pants with a low cut oriental styled top. The woman beside her looked to be about twenty fire with thick red streaked brown hair parted to the left and layered to about chin length with piercing hazel eyes. She wore a spaghetti strapped knee length black sparkling dress, silver healed sandals and on her left ankle Daniel saw a small, non descript tattoo. The smallest of the three, standing about 5' 5, looked to be in her mid thirties. Her eyes were a dark hazel Daniel hadn't seen before and she had shoulder length curly medium-brown hair with blond streaks. She wore dress parts with a green low cut 3/4 length sleeved top that, along the collar had small emerald gems.
"Daniel these are Cian, Cyril, Tana and Vali." Jack introduced them. ''Cian as I've told you before, is a historian. Cyril's specialization is in tactics and assassination. She can get into any facility easily, without the use of our abilities .Tana is a weapon's designer and she also builds most of them. Drones mainly, since they're small and easy to make.”
"They're not small, and humans wouldn't think they're easy," Tana said. "They're complicated little buggers, I'm just so adept at making them."
"Vali is a doctor, the no nonsense kind of doctor. Napoleonic-power-monger."
Vali laughed, "Don't listen to him Daniel, he just doesn't like having to be poked with things or healed by anyone/thing but himself."
Daniel nodded. He'd seen Jack complain about it before, almost every time he was in the infirmary. He was a bit disturbed by Jack's job description of Cyril though. He hadn't realized the Ancients had supported and employed such a profession. He did not think they needed assassins, not with the amount of power they had.
“Cyril doesn't practice her art anymore,” Cian said. He was looking at Daniel as if he knew what he was thinking. It was possible he did. "She does teach self-defense classes. Assassins of her caliber are, thankfully, not needed."
Cyril gave Cian a look that told Daniel all he needed to know about her. She was dangerous, probably born during a war so that war was all she knew. He doubted she liked war, but no war was probably boring. Daniel knew he'd never be able to see eye-to-eye with her but he did hope that they could at least get along.
All the Sentinels spaced out for a moment, Daniel looked up at Jack.
"Hoyt says it's time to eat,” Jack told him. ''He's also called sitting beside you.
"Which is absolutely no fair," Phyrrus mocked whined. He smiled and they all filed out of the room.
"I’ll show him no fair,” he heard Kalim mutter.
Lyra snickered, "That’ll be fun to watch."
Minerva snorted. "And Marius thought Loki was the worse. You two are just as bad."
Chapter Thirteen
Sentinels Guide