Rascals II - Chapter 16


[ Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 ]

-----

The children ended up staying with the Tok'ra for quite a long time, while O'Neill was in stasis. Use of the Stargate at the SGC was almost completely closed off, while a treaty was being agreed on. Several countries on Earth wanted to have influence on the Stargate program now, after the discovery of the Ancient outpost on Antarctica.

The Asgard still could not be contacted through the usual channels, and eventually Teal'c - and Hailey - had been given permission to undertake a slightly desperate plan. They would be using a teltac which O'Neill had modified the engines of. He had done so on the way back from an Ancient outpost, to Earth, then under attack from Anubis. He had been under the influence of the knowledge from the Ancient database, then, which was why he had been able to do it. This modification meant the teltac ould fly faster than anything else they had access to, and Teal'c and Hailey hoped it would be enough to get them far enough out to be able to transmit a message directly to the Asgard, before the engines burned out. It was a risky plan, but it might just work.

If they succeeded, they hoped to be able to get the Asgard to remove the Ancient knowledge from O'Neill's mind, as they had done before, enabling him to survive being removed from stasis.

They had barely left, when the Goa'uld System Lords had sent Yu, Camulus, and Amaterasu to Earth. They came to negotiate a treaty, since they and Earth had a common enemy - Ba'al. He had taken over much of Anubis's fleet, and were a threat to everyone. The Goa'uld knew about Earth's Ancient weapon on Antarctica, and thus considered them strong. he System Lords hoped the Tau'ri would be able to stand up against Ba'al - and that they would be willing to fight him. 

The current leader in charge of the SGC, Doctor Elizabeth Weir, would be heading the negotiations. Normally, Daniel would have advised her, and assisted with the negotiations, because of his experience with the Goa'uld, their culture, and their language. Also, since SG-1 was the primary Earth team, a member of their group would be expected to take part in any case. 

Of course, Soltof/Gimbad now held Daniel's position, and they were also the only members of SG-1 available. As Tok'ra, they had a lot of information about the Goa'uld, which would be very useful for Weir in a negotiation, but they also were more than a little hostile to the Goa'uld, even more so than the Tau'ri were.

To say nothing of how the Goa'uld would probably react to having to deal with a joint Tok'ra-Tau'ri negotiation team.

-----
Unsurprisingly, the Goa'uld had been less than pleased to realise the welcoming committee at Stargate command contained a Tok'ra, and they had complained loudly for quite some time, before finally - unexpectedly - accepting it.

This, more than anything else, told Weir that the Goa'uld were terrified of Ba'al - and that they were more afraid of the Ancient weapon, and thought it more powerful - than people on Earth had expected. That could be a very good  and useful thing. Of course, if the Goa'uld were ever to learn the weapon not only could not be moved - and was nearly out of power - but that it could only be used by someone with the Ancient gene, of which they currently only knew of O'Neill - they might not be so respectful.

Regardless, in the end, the Goa'uld had decided they did not trust Earth had the ability to use the weapon, and they had sent a ship as a test. However, the ship was intercepted by Ba'al, and he had destroyed it. Meanwhile, Teal'c and Hailey had succeeded in contacting the Asgard, and with the help of O'Neill - who had now had the Ancient database removed from his mind - they had eventually destroyed the Replicators that had infested Thor's ship and several Asgard planets. Hopefully, that was the last they would see of this plague, but that remained to be seen.

Back again on Earth - and with the Stargate program re-opened - Jack O'Neill had been promoted to Brigadier General and put in command of Stargate Command, after General Hammond had been promoted. Hammond would be overseeing all things relating to Earth's defense on behalf of the Pentagon and Washington -- the S.G.C., the 303 program, the Antarctic site. Unofficially it was called Homeworld Security.

SG-1 was now again a man short. Hailey was the only one on the team who was an Earth citizen - and the only one who was officially part of the US Air Force. Unfortunately, she had no where near the seniority to be appointed leader of the team, so a three (or four, counting Soltof and Gimbad both) man team was not an option either. They needed to find someone for that position, and until then, SG-1 was on stand-down.

-----
It was now mid-July, and the children had returned from the Tok'ra. While they were happy to be back, they also missed the tunnels, having learned to appreciate them - or re-appreciate them, as was the case for the Tok'ra children. Regrettably, they had not been allowed to bring their pets to the SGC, but Phovol had promised he would take good care of them, and that they could visit.

"Wauw, you're a General now, Jack!" Daniel said, sounding very impressed.

"And in charge of the whooole base!" Freya added.

"That means were allowed to play in the mess hall now, right?" Lantash asked, hopefully.

"And roller-skate in the corridors?" Sam added. "You'll remove all those stupid, silly rules, won't you?"

O'Neill smiled at them. "Yes, I'm in command of the base - something I'm sure I'm going to regret ever agreeing to." He sighed. "I'm sorry, kids, but I don't think I can remove those laws...though, perhaps we can bend them a little, sometimes." He winked at them. "It's soon your birthdays - perhaps we'll think of something then."

"Yeeah, birthday!" Freya squealed, followed by happy cries from the other children as well.

In just over a week, it would be one year since they had all been turned into children. When it had been clear it would not be possible to undo it, that date had been chosen as their birthday. It was now entered into the official databases, where they had all been registered, The children had been shown these record - making them accept the date as their birthday, though all of them had attempted to claim they should have gifts on their 'real' birthday as well. O'Neill smiled a little to himself at the thought.

"I want some more LEGO!" Daniel said excitedly. "And some dinosaurs!"

"Ooh, gifts! I want a Playstation!" Lantash said. "Martouf says he would like some transformers...and a puppy. I want a puppy too!"

"Playstation! Yeah, that's a great idea!" Sam agreed. "I would love to get that 'Grand Theft Auto' game - or 'Medal of Honor'!"

"Um, I'm not sure those games are a good choice, but we'll see." O'Neill tousled her hair. "Dinosaurs, eh, Daniel? I hope you don't mean life-size ones!" He grinned. "Don't worry, kids, I'm sure we'll find some great gifts for you."



<< Previous | Next >>

Review/comments