Part One


Jack put on his sunglasses as soon as he stepped through the gate, to ward off the harsh glare of the sun. The gate platform rested in the middle of a circular clearing, about twenty feet across, surrounded by thick jungle vegetation on all sides.

"Well," he said, as soon as Carter and Teal'c had followed him through and the gate closed behind them. "At least it's a different kind of tree."

"Glad you're pleased, sir," Carter said, coming up beside him and staring with undisguised unhappiness at the muggy tangle of greenery. "See any sign of him yet?"

"Our instructions were to come through and wait for contact, Major Carter," Teal'c put in, from Jack's other side. "Considering our unfamiliarity with this location, and the denseness of the vegetation, it would be foolish to attempt to penetrate it without a guide."

"If he ever shows," Carter muttered. She was just bitchy 'cause she'd been pulled away from playing with her bike. Not like he'd interrupted anything important.

"I trust Skaara," he said. "If he said he was gonna be here, he'll be here with bells on."

"With bells on, O'Neill?" Teal'c inquired, one eyebrow raised. "That seems impractical."

"It's just a saying," Jack muttered, even though he knew perfectly well that Teal'c was messing with him. Just because Teal'c talked the same as always, didn't mean that he hadn't picked up a thing or two about American slang.

Teal'c never got a chance to reply, because just then there was a slight rustling in the undergrowth that preceded the arrival of seven tanned young men, all dressed in Abydonian robes and carrying staff weapons that were pointed right at them. Skaara, in the lead, lowered his weapon when he spotted Jack, and a smile spread across his face. "Oneel!" he shouted, waving one slim, tattooed hand in greeting. "You have come!"

"You know it, Skaara," Jack said. Skaara came up to the foot of the steps, his wave turning into a crisp salute. Jack saluted back, and as they both dropped their hands he felt a matching smile spread across his own face.

God, he loved this kid.

Skaara turned around and called something to his men in his native language which caused them to lower their weapons and come forward, though caution was written across every line of their bodies. Skaara turned back to Jack for introductions. "Oneel, these are my men. Abasi and Amsu," he said, pointing to two similar-looking boys who were probably brothers, "Gyasi," a slender boy with a tattoo of a paw print on his cheek and vines curling away from the corner of his left eye, "Jahi," who stood quietly, at attention, a good soldier to the bone, "Madu," who had dreadlocks like Skaara's and a glint in his eye that said he was trouble, and finally, "Thabit," a hulking giant by Abydonian standards, with scars on his neck that looked like something with fangs had tried, and failed, to rip his throat out. Jack didn't want to tangle with him, but really, he didn't want to tangle with any of them. They were an able lot, that's for damn sure.

"Major Carter, Teal'c," Jack said, gesturing to his companions. "You've met before."

"So we have," Skaara said, and saluted them too, holding the position until Carter returned the gesture and Teal'c inclined his head in recognition. "It is good to be seeing you again, all of you."

"It's good to see you, too, Skaara," Jack said. "But- no offense- we kinda want to know why we're here."

"The message did not say?" Skaara said, with some surprise.

"You didn't write it?"

"No, the commander wrote it, I only deliver it through the chaappa'ai. I speak Tau'ri, but my written? Not so good."

Interesting. A mysterious commander who could not only speak English, but could write it as well. Rarer than hen's teeth in this galaxy, which wasn't a surprise considering the relative rarity of English in the world at the time most of these people had been taken. That's what Daniel had always said, anyway.

"Well, the commander neglected to mention why he wanted us here, only that our presence was required to negotiate a potential alliance between our world and this one."

"Oh, of course," Skaara said. He smiled peacefully. "It is not with me that you must discuss such matters, Oneel. It is the commander."

"Right," Jack said. "In that case… Lead the way?"


It turned out to be not all that much of a walk. Skaara led them to another clearing, about half a mile away, that had a ring transporter. Skaara took two of his men, Gyasi and Thabit, and left the others to guard the transporter until their return. Jack applauded his choice- Thabit looked to be a mean bastard, right enough, and Gyasi, well, there was a look about him, like a wolf who'd found his chosen person, and wouldn't ever hesitate to bite on command. In Jack's experience, true loyalty was often more dangerous than Thabit's brand of toughness, and he was impressed as hell that Skaara inspired it in his men.

The rings took them into a courtyard, cool and shadowed by the high walls that surrounded it. Skaara went immediately to the ornately carved doorway to their left, jerking his head impatiently at them. Jack followed meekly enough, Carter and Teal'c flanking him, with Gyasi and Thabit on their heels.

Skaara led them through a maze of corridors, all made from an alien black stone that seemed to absorb light, rather than reflect it. There were no markings or art on the walls, not even a signpost for an unwary traveler, but Skaara didn't hesitate once, just navigated the twists and turns as if he'd lived here all his life. Jack admired his confidence, and hoped like hell that things didn't go very, very wrong, because if they did, he'd never be able to find his way back.

They finally came to a small room, decorated with only a long, low table and two plain wooden chairs where a man and a woman were sitting, waiting for them. They were both tall and thin, dressed in severe uniforms with a gun on each hip and swords slung across their backs. Both wore a medallion fastened at the center of their chests, a symbol of their rank, Jack guessed. The woman's was a horse, rearing against the pristine white of her uniform; the man wore black and a hawk in full flight, wings spread wide.

Both of them stood when they entered the room. "Greetings," the man said, his voice low and pleasant if slightly roughened, as if he had spent most of his life with his voice raised to carry across a battlefield. "I am Commander Sarth Attyn of Sinope; this is Commander Antiope of Paphos. Welcome to Themiscyra, honored guests." He pinned Jack with a startlingly intense look from soft-seeming brown eyes. "You are Colonel Jack O'Neill, representative of the Tau'ri?"

"Yep, that's me," Jack said amiably. The man spoke excellent English, absolutely unaccented. He also looked like an average Joe, the kind of brown-hair brown-eyes guy you'd never notice on the street, except for his grave air and abstract sense of command. His very ordinariness made him dangerous. "This is Major Carter, and Teal'c. You're the one who sent us the invitation?"

The Commander inclined his head. "I was the one," he said. "I trust it was well-received?"

"Uh, yeah," Jack said. "About that. See, my superiors, they were pretty thrilled to receive it, yeah, but… We're not really sure why we're here."

"You have friends on this world, Colonel O'Neill," Commander Antiope said. Her voice was even rougher than Attyn's, but unlike her counterpart, she was absolutely stunning, with long blonde hair pulled away from her face in a tight braid and intelligent blue eyes in a fine-boned face. Jack had no doubt that she was every bit as competent with the weapons she carried as the man standing next to her.

Jack cast a grateful smile over his shoulder at Skaara. "Yeah, I know," he said, catching the white flash of Skaara's returning grin. "But that doesn't really tell me why you want Earth, of all the worlds out there, as an ally."

"As much as we value Captain Skaara's counsel, he was not the friend I was speaking of," Antiope said.

Captain, huh? Way cool, Skaara. "If ya don't mind me asking, then- who were you talking about?"

"You will see," Antiope said, and he could have sworn that the pair of them seemed amused. "We will take you to him now."

They turned and exited the room through another door, moving perfectly in step with one another. Jack didn't really have much of a choice but to follow, Teal'c and Carter behind him, Skaara and his men now bringing up the rear.

The trip was yet another long, twisty, convoluted path, and Jack was even more lost than before, which he hadn't previously believed possible. Carter stared suspiciously at the walls for a few blocks, and then got out her handheld scanner. There were a few positive-sounding beeps, and then she gave an excited yelp, hastily stifled when Attyn cast a curious glance over his shoulder at her.

"What is it?" Jack hissed at her, once the Commander was safely face-forward once more.

"Trinium!" she whispered back fiercely. "The metal in the walls? I though it looked odd, so I wanted to get a reading on it."

"And?" Jack demanded, impatient, barely remembering to keep his voice down.

"Pure, refined trinium!" she said.

"Whoa," he said. "There's got to be one hell of a mine on this planet, then?"

"Yes, sir," he said, and then they were at their destination, and couldn't talk anymore.

This room was as luxurious as the former had been empty. Flowers bloomed in all corners and thick green vines grew along carefully maintained trellises surrounding wide windows with a view of a wide, placid lake; there were window seats in every window, all filled with embroidered cushions. Bookshelves lined the walls and a large table dominated the room, surrounded by chairs and an ornately carved wooden throne at the head.

In the throne sat the most beautiful woman Jack had ever seen- and in his years, he'd seen quite a few. Long black curls tumbled over pale shoulders, brushed against spiral armbands made of the same black metal as the walls, teased across a mostly bared bodice and the most amazing breasts Jack had ever had the fortune to encounter. Her face was a perfect oval, with deep golden eyes made mysterious by thin lines of black and perfect red lips. She didn't wear a dress, just something that resembled a very tight corset and leggings made of some sort of animal hide, tucked into knee-high boots, all the same perfect white as Commander Antiope's much more modest uniform. She wore the same rearing-horse medallion as the commander as a pendant on a fine golden chain around her neck. She carried a gun on each hip as well, and her clothing was less than royal, but Jack had not a single doubt in his heart that he was meeting the ruler of this world.

"Commanders," he said, making sure that his voice was perfectly even. "I could have sworn you said 'him.'"

The woman laughed, a low musical sound that rolled through the room like a fog. Carter was already smiling approvingly, which she did every single time she met a female leader, especially one who wore a weapon, but even Teal'c was enchanted by the sound, and it took a hell of a lot to impress the former First Prime of Apophis.

"I am not the one you are to meet," she said, her voice just as lovely as her laugh and the rest of her. "I have merely borrowed his seat while I wait for him. He is late for dinner."

"Ah," Jack said. Whatever. "You know, I still don't know who we're supposed to be meeting."

She blinked, her lovely lashes sweeping in a perfect semi-circle of confusion against her alabaster cheek. "Commander Attyn did not tell you?"

"I'm supposed to leave it a surprise for the Colonel," Attyn said, that same trace of amusement audible in his voice. The woman smiled in sudden understanding.

"Ah, that man," she said, waving one ringless hand. "Always his games. It is one of the things we love about him, is it not?"

"No," Jack said bluntly. "I have no idea who he is, but I'm not exactly having fun with this one." He returned the woman's measured stare without a flinch. "I'm not really a fan of surprises."

"No, you wouldn't be," she said thoughtfully, then shook her head. "Ah well, it is no matter. Soon he will be here, and all shall be revealed."

"Hopefully he'll get here sooner than later," Jack said.

"You always were impatient," came a voice from behind him. Jack froze, feeling his heart stop for a second in his chest, and when he could breathe again, he slowly pivoted on one foot to face the doorway.

Daniel stood there, dressed simply but richly in a short, sleeveless, tight-fitting tunic with a high round collar and leggings and boots in the same style as the mystery woman's, though his were pitch black. He wore the same spiral armbands, and the medallion around his neck was a hawk in full flight. He carried only one gun, but there was a long, wickedly curved dagger dangling from a sheath on his other hip, and Jack had always counted his brain as one of the greatest hidden weapons of the United States government, so he was probably just about as well-armed as anyone they'd met so far.

"Hello, Jack," he said, a beautiful smile spreading across his face. "It's been a while."

"Two years," Jack said, though lips that felt almost numb with shock. "Give or take."

"Oh my god, Daniel," Carter said apparently coming out of her own paralysis, and Daniel turned his smile to her, apparently still unaware of the power that smile held, how it stunned and awed everyone around him.

"Sam," he said gently, and she broke away from her place at Jack's side, flying across the distance between them, enveloping him in a bear hug. He laughed and hugged her back, and a glance sideways showed that both Skaara and the Commanders were grinning, but Jack didn't miss the way Skaara's two warriors had their hands on their staff weapons. Not everyone was comfortable with SG-1's presence- that or they were just that naturally protective of Daniel. Either option was equally likely, considering Daniel's ability to charm total strangers into friendship and loyalty- and their own ability to piss off the universe.

Teal'c was waiting when Carter finally released Daniel, inclining his head to a degree usually reserved for visiting dignitaries of very high rank. "Daniel Jackson," he said, his voice low and grave. "It is indeed good to see you again."

"Likewise," Daniel said. He nodded and stepped past them, brushing against the sleeve of Jack's uniform as he went.

The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood straight up.

Daniel made his way around the table to the woman's side. "Lyta," he said affectionately, kissing her cheek like she was any other woman instead of some untouchable goddess. She laughed and kissed him in return, winding her arm around his waist, and Daniel wrapped his around her shoulders before turning to face them again.

"Queen Hippolyta," he said, "May I present Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, and Teal'c."

"I am honored to meet you all," she said, bestowing a smile on them like a gift. "Daniel has told me many tales of your exploits together. I am looking forward to meeting with your further, once your negotiations with Daniel have begun."

Jack arched an eyebrow at Daniel, trying to quell the frantic thumping of his heart at seeing him, here, alive, after two years of nothing. "Negotiations with you?" he asked. "There something you wanna tell us, Danny-boy?" Not that he hadn't already guessed it himself. The uniform had pretty much given him away, but he wasn't sure that Carter had kept up with his line of thought, and it was possible that he was wrong.

Daniel cast a reproachful glance at Attyn, who was looked like he was trying very hard not to smile. "I'd think you could have warned them, Sarth."

"You wanted it to be a surprise," Attyn said, sounding for all the world as if he were as innocent as a newborn babe.

"Yes, but I'd think you could have at least- Oh, never mind, why the hell do I bother with you, anyway," Daniel cut himself off. Attyn's not-grin grew in force.

Daniel turned back to them, a rueful smile on his face. "Right, so, um, I'm kind of, well, in charge, around here. A little."

Jack stared at him. Oh yeah, Daniel sounded real in-charge, right there. It was difficult to believe, uniform and apparent deference of high-ranking military aside.

Queen Hippolyta laughed and slapped Daniel's chest playfully. "Ah, Daniel, you are such a trial, sometimes. So modest. He is Minister," she explained to Jack. "To the Freedom Coalition, residing on this planet."

Jack looked back at Daniel. "Freedom Coalition?" he echoed.

"Don't blame me, I didn't name it," Daniel said irritably. "It's so… pretentious."

"Blame your charming partner, Daniel my love, she is the one who named it, as you well know. Though I think it perfectly fitting."

Daniel obviously didn't' agree with her. "Lyta," he said, gritting his teeth. "Go away."

She didn't seem offended, just smiled angelically at him and pressed another kiss to his cheek, sliding away and collecting her Commander Antiope before sauntering out of the room, tipping a wink at Jack as she went. Jack sort of wondered about Daniel, because if he had a women like that pressed up against him, he'd never, ever tell her to go away. Especially not if she was kissing on him and calling him "my love."

Then again, from the sound of things, Daniel already had someone. A partner sure as hell sounded like another word for "wife" to him. What was it with Daniel and alien women, anyway?

"I'll take my leave too, sir," Attyn said, his eyes already on the doorway.

Daniel waved a hand, resigned. "Go, bother your wife," he said, and Attyn shot him a grin before leaving. Jack assumed it was Commander Antiope he was married to, since that Queen didn't look like the sort to bow to any man. Then again, neither did her Commander.

Skaara turned to look at Daniel with equal eagerness, and Daniel sighed. "Yes, I know. Myrine is training the new recruits. Try not to annoy her too much- I'd hate to attend your funeral at such a young age."

Skaara grinned shamelessly at him. "She will see my charms yet, brother."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Daniel said. But he was grinning back. "Go on, get out of here."

Skaara bowed to him, and then turned and repeated the gesture to them. He said, "It is good seeing you again, Oneel," and took off, Gyasi and Thabit thoughtful enough to shut the door behind them as they followed him out.

It was good to know that Skaara was still the irresistible charmer he'd always been, even with his new responsibilities. Then again, it sounded as if this Myrine woman was resisting him pretty good. Well, he had faith in Skaara.

"So," Daniel said, sounding much more relaxed now that everyone else was gone and the door was closed. "How have you been?"

"Oh, so and so," Jack said, casually. "Bad days with the Goa'uld, good days without the Goa'uld, you know how it goes."

"I think I remember," Daniel said. "That's actually why I asked you here."

"What, straight to business, no hug? I'm hurt, Daniel. Really hurt."

"I got a hug, sir," Carter pointed out. Unnecessarily, in Jack's opinion.

"Noticed that," Jack said. "Not what I meant."

"I know what you meant," Daniel said, neatly cutting short what promised to be another famous O'Neill-Carter squabble. "And no, I didn't ask you here for old time's sake. We decided that Pontus was ready to enter into an alliance with another Goa'uld-resistant military force, and since we'd heard that Earth was still fighting back pretty hard, you were naturally the first choice."

"Oh, naturally," Jack muttered, and then said, loud enough for Daniel to hear, "Who's we?"

"Queen Hippolyta, Commanders Attyn and Antiope, the Council of Ten in Sinope, and myself," Daniel said.

"And Pontus is?"

"This world," Daniels said. "Well, technically just this island, but the tribes on the mainland have deliberately kept themselves primitive and isolated from extreme xenophobia, so we're pretty much the representative body on the planet."

"And you… serve that Queen?"

This was supposed to be Daniel's job, Jack thought with an all-too-familiar flash of irritation. Feeling out the opposition, trying to figure out the politics of a new world- it was what Daniel was supposed to do. It wasn't supposed to be Jack, with Daniel on the other side of that invisible line.

"Oh, no," Daniel said, startled. "She rules the Antianeira."

"Which are?"

"The word means 'those who fight like men,' so I guess you can figure out that all of her people are warriors. Er, well, the women are warriors- the men tend to be sort of house-husbands. They can fight, but they tend to stay at home while their wives and daughters are off hunting."

"My kind of world," Sam said with a big grin. When Jack shot her a Look, she rolled her eyes at him. "Sorry, sir, but we've landed in one too many worlds where women are oppressed for me not to enjoy it this time around."

"I have heard legends of tribes such as these in Tau'ri history," Teal'c interrupted. Poor guy had way too much practice at heading off their fights at the pass. "I believe most call them 'Amazons.'"

Jack was about to scoff- weren't those the chicks that cut off their breasts or something?- but Daniel was nodding. "The Goa'uld posing as the goddess Aphrodite took them from ancient Greece," he said. "Several hundred years ago, Queen Hippolyta- they're always called Hippolyta, it's a tradition thing- discovered that their goddess wasn't so divine after all, and staged and uprising. They won handily, not only kicked the goddess out but killed her and most of her army, and the remaining Jaffa were kept as bed-slaves until their symbiotes reached maturity, and then they were killed." Daniel shrugged. "They've been a free people ever since."

Jack turned to Teal'c, who looked like he was hard-pressed to hide a wince at the fate of Aphrodite's Jaffa. "Is any of this ringing a bell for you?" he asked.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "Everyone knows the fate of Aphrodite, though none have been able to find the planet where she met her destruction. She was only a minor lord, but what land she did have was rich, and many more powerful Goa'uld wished to take her territory. Other planets were absorbed, but this one was never located."

"That's because there's a shield," Daniel said. "It covers the entire island. The System Lords would never know that anyone lives here."

"B-but that's amazing!" Carter stuttered. "My god, the power necessary to run a shield that size, it's just… well, amazing! Did the Antianeira develop this technology?" she asked Daniel. "Because if they did, that would be-"

"We get it, amazing," Jack muttered. God, he hated her technology-inspired mental orgasms.

"They didn't," Daniel said. "This city was here before Aphrodite ever discovered it. The people who built it moved somewhere else and seemed to take everything they could carry, but they left everything otherwise intact. When the Antianeira stumbled over it a century ago, the shield device was protecting the city alone; it was only by accident that they expanded it to cover the rest of the island."

"Of course!" Carter said. "I wondered how anyone could refine this much trinium; it seems like the entire city is made of it. Even the Goa'uld don't have that kind of ability. But the same alien race that created the shield could have easily developed mining to this degree."

"Yes," Daniel said. "The refineries have been dismantled, but the mines still exist, on the mainland. One or two of them seem to be tapped out, but there are three that are still viable. I figured it was something else you'd be happy to deal for."

"Oh, yeah," Carter said, before Jack could respond. "With that much trinium, we could-"

"Do all manner of exciting things, I'm sure," Jack said. All this idle chit-chat, like they were just anyone here to trade with the might Minister Jackson, was pissing him off royally. "But you know, at the moment, that's just not my most pressing question." He glared at Daniel, the coldest Colonel Fuck You Very Much look he had. "What I want to know is what the hell Daniel is doing here, two years after he deserted his unit offworld."

Carter's sharp "Sir!" and Teal'c's equally reproving "O'Neill," didn't make him feel guilty in the slightest, but the shocked widening of Daniel's eyes went a long way towards shaming him. "Is that what you really think, Jack?" Daniel said. He sounded hurt, the bastard, as if he had any right. "Do you really think I could have done that?"

"Well, you've got yourself a pretty sweet setup here," Jack snarled, tramping down on the part of him that still cared what Daniel thought of him. "Leaving us in the lurch, that really worked out for you, huh?"

Daniel sighed and sat down for the first time since entering in the room, slumping down into the throne Hippolyta had been sitting in before. She'd made it clear that it wasn't hers, and the easy way Daniel settled into it made it equally clear just whose it was. Bastard.

"I was taken," he said conversationally. "While you were setting up camp and scouting the area, I went back for one last look at those ruins, you remember the ones. Got beamed right up into a UFO straight out of bad late-night TV, only guess what? This one was real."

"Uh," Jack said. He didn't say anything else.

"Turns out, they're the exploratory ships of a race called the Tsh'nra," Daniel said. "They don't really like going off their world, see, so to find out what's happening around the galaxy they send these ships out and scoop people up, and bring them back to their world for interrogation." He smiled tightly. "That's how I met Sarth, and Hippolyta. They'd both been taken. Sarth was military back on his world- the only survivor of a mission gone wrong, when they picked him up. Lyta had gotten separated from her hunting party on the mainland, so the shields didn't cover her. They only take the people that are alone, you see. The ones that they think no one else would want."

"Danny, I-" he said, but Daniel kept going, wouldn't let him apologize.

"We got lucky," he continued. "Sarth and I, we were chosen for the king's daughter. They can read minds, sort of- they call it Tasting- and we were to be her Tasted. When she delved into my memories, she realized that her ships had been seen on my world before, though no people had ever been brought back to be Tasted. She didn't have the same fear of the Outside that everyone else did, you see. She'd always wanted to go out and explore, and because of me, she found out that others had done it before her."

Only Daniel, Jack thought, could get into these sorts of situations. Only he could get kidnapped by curious aliens, and then befriend the only one in the place that would help him. It was like Fate loved Daniel as her personal game piece.

"She broke us out," Daniel said. "Sarth and I, and Hippolyta, who was her father's Tasted. She took one of their ships and brought Lyta here, first. Sarth didn't have anything to go home to, so he was glad to stay here."

"And what about you?" Carter said. Jack, for once, was glad to hear her talking. She asked the question that Jack hadn't been able to.

"Once I heard about the shield, I said that Pontus would make a perfect refugee camp," Daniel said. "I explained about the Goa'uld, how there's hundreds of them out there, still subjugating thousands of worlds. Hippolyta was sympathetic, but she didn't really know anything about it, and told me she wouldn't know where to start." Daniel shrugged. "So I agreed to stay."

"Why you, Daniel?" Jack asked. "There's a hundred other people who could have done it."

"Better than me, you mean?" Daniel asked bitterly.

"That wasn't what I meant," Jack said. He had no doubts that Daniel was a great leader. He respected people, and genuinely cared about them, and people followed him like little lost puppies as it was. The refugees probably fell at his feet to worship.

"No, I guess not," Daniel said. "It's true, though. I wasn't suited for this job, but Lyta trusted me, and Sarth was here, and someone had to do it, and while there may be hundreds of other people, there was no one else here. So the job fell to me."

"You could have let us know," Carter said quietly. "Even if you weren't going to come home, you could have at least found a way to tell us that you were alive and well. And- and happy."

"I couldn't," Daniel said helplessly. "You don't understand. When it first started- God, Pontus was such a mess. Not everyone agreed with Hippolyta about the refugees, and there was such a huge culture clash, since most worlds we run into are male-dominated, not to mention nobody spoke Greek, and there was so much bickering and squabbling and problems. We finally realized that the only way to work things out was to separate everyone, so we built a second city way on the other side of the island, up on a remote plain, for the refugees, and the Antianeira stayed in the coastal city. By then everyone was sort of following me by default, so I couldn't really ask anyone else to lead because I was the only one that everyone knew, and if I'd contacted Earth, well, you know what would have happened."

Jack would have liked to say that no, he didn't have an idea, but he couldn't. He knew how the government worked. "They would have stepped in," he said. "Taken it over."

"And I couldn't have that happen, don't you see?" Daniel appealed to both of them with big blue eyes. He always had been able to sucker anyone in with those eyes, even the most hard-bitten soldier. Even Jack. "It's only these last two months that everyone's agreed that we're a cohesive force, that even if Earth decides that they just have to step in, they won't be able to force the issue." He grinned fiercely, and Jack felt a little blinded. "We have an honest-to-God army here, Jack, and the most amazing blend of technologies. Unless the Stargate program has gone public since I've left, Earth is never going to take 'benevolent' control of my home."

It hit Jack then, just how completely they'd lost Daniel. Before today, the majority of the base had assumed that he'd deserted his unit, though he was officially listed as being missing in action. Jack had gotten pissed enough, over two years of no word, to start to agree with them, though he'd always said, out loud, that Daniel had probably been taken. Just like Daniel with Sha're, every single time he'd gone through the gate he'd looked for one particular face in the crowd. He'd never found him, but he'd never lost hope of finding him and bringing him home.

Now, though. Now it was crystal clear that Daniel wasn't ever going to be going home, because he already was home, had said it himself with the kind of fierce pride Jack always used to use when he was talking about SG-1, back when Daniel was there and they were an actual team and not just three people working together. Jack was never going to be able to bring him back to Earth, was never going to go through the gate with him again, because not only had Daniel found his own unit, he was the freaking Minister, and Jack didn't care what Daniel said or thought, it was pretty freaking clear that he was King to those people, or something like it. A kind-hearted, near-sighted, extremely moralistic king, but still king.

Carter, of course, techno-whore that she was, completely missed the important part of Daniel's speech, and focused on the topic nearest and dearest to her mechanical little heart. "What sort of technologies, Daniel?"

"Well, Goa'uld, of course. We have a lot of their stuff, taken from various raids over the last six to eight months. We've picked up a few things from various different allies and grateful refugees. Healing chambers, stasis pods, repair drones, ultra-efficient fuel cells, a couple naquadah-powered cannons. We still have the original Tsh'nra ship, and we've been able to build two more using indigenous materials, but we haven't been able to engineer them to interface with human minds, since we don't have the telepathic capabilities of the Tsh'nra."

"I could take a look at it, if you want." That was Carter, ever helpful. And ever eager to get her hot little hands on some new toys.

Jack was more interested in some of the other things Daniel had mentioned. "Naquadah-powered cannons?" he asked. "Those'd be mighty damn useful if the Goa'uld ever came knocking on our door."

"We can discuss it later," Daniel said. "Though I can say with some assurance that if Sam can get the Tsh'nra ships working for us, we'll be willing to offer a hell of a lot."

"If you show me the hangar-" Carter started, but Daniel just held up a hand, laughing.

"Not so fast, Sam. Time enough for that later. Right now, everyone's waiting for us down in the dining hall."

"Dinner?" Jack said. The Queen had said something about it. And that was the kind of conversation he could get behind. "I could eat."

"I as well," Teal'c said, probably to prevent Carter from whining about not getting to look at fancy new spaceships. She could get a little… over-enthusiastic.

"Alright then," Daniel said. "We'll just-"

He was interrupted by a slight beep. Jack looked around, trying to see where it had come from, but Daniel didn't look surprised, just reached down to tap the tightly-coiled end of the spiral armband on his left bicep. "Jackson."

"Daniel, dearest." Hippolyta's voice came out, clear as crystal, from somewhere in the coil of metal. "It looks like your lovely partner is home once again. Her ship was just spotted coming into orbit."

Daniel closed his eyes, and a quietly happy smile spread across his face. "Xyn," he said. He pronounced the name with an extended, buzzed "z" and a rolled long "i," Zzzzine. His voice, though, when he said it- partly shy, partly proud, and all the way happy, just like when he'd introduced Sha're as his wife for the very first time. This was a Daniel that Jack had only seen once before- this was Daniel In Love.

"Thank you, Lyta," he said. "We'll be right down."

He tapped off his communicator and turned to Sam, still quietly glowing. "Looks like you're going to see the hangar after all, Sam," he said. "And you can meet my partner, Xyn. She just got back from her latest scouting expedition."

"Xyn would be one of those… tushy people, the ones that kidnapped you? She's the one who got you out?"

"Yes," Daniel said. He stood up and walked over to them, stepping into a painted circle on the floor. "C'mere," he said, grabbing Jack's sleeve and pulling him in. Jack, out of surprise, stumbled straight into him, and was left shivering from the feel of Daniel's body pressed up against his for half a second before Daniel steadied him and he was standing on his own again.

Teal'c and Carter followed him into the circle, and Daniel pressed the knob of the coil on the right armband, activating the ring transporter and beaming them out.

The hangar was echoingly huge, though well-lit. The nearest three bays were filled by three disc-like ships that definitely looked like classic UFOs, and the next five were filled by Goa'uld Tel'taks, all of them looking like they were in perfect working order, with twelve Death Gliders stacked two deep in the next six bays, followed by an oversized one filled by a slightly scarred-looking Al'kesh bomber.

Daniel had been a very busy boy indeed. He hadn't mentioned that he'd stolen Goa'uld ships along with ring transporters and staff weapons. Looked like their ragtag little refugee army wasn't so ragtag after all, if they'd managed to accomplish all this.

Daniel wasn't paying much attention to them, anyway. The moment the rings settled, he was running out of the circle and towards the nearest UFO, shouting a hello even as a door opened in the hull and a ladder descended to the ground.

Onto the ladder stepped a woman that was as beautiful as any that Jack had seen today, but definitely alien. She was tall, as tall as Daniel maybe, and reed-thin, with short-cropped black hair that bristled from her scalp and perfectly round eyes that were deep pools of black with tiny white pinpricks for pupils. Her skin was a delicate white-gray, and since she was dressed only in a band wrapped around her breasts and loose trousers with the usual knee-high boots, all made of the same died-black hide of Daniel's outfit, Jack could see faint lines of a darker gray radiating out from three points on her body, one between her eyes, one just above her breasts, and one where her navel would be, if she had one. The lines were pulsing slightly, like veins did if you watched them very closely- not that Jack had any great desire to look too closely at her vein-things. If they were actually veins. There was no guarantee she actually had blood. She did look kinda like a vampire, now that he thought about it.

"Xyn!" Daniel called, and she laughed delightedly before flinging herself down the ladder and into his arms.

"Daniel!" she said, with a slight emphasis on the last syllable, like a less accented version of how the Abydonians had always pronounced it. She hugged him back just as tightly as he was hugging her, and then, when he was letting her breathe again (did her kind even need to breathe? Vampires didn't, after all) she pulled back just enough to kiss him on the mouth.

He laughed again, laughing into the kiss, joy distilled into that one sound, that one moment, and Jacked ached. This was the person that Daniel came home to, now, the person he talked to in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep. This was Daniel's partner, his wife, his best friend- and Jack had been all around replaced. It hurt, more than Jack had expected, and he'd been braced for a lot.

Daniel pulled away from the light press of lips on lips, grinning like a fool, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, turning her around to face them. "Guys, this is Xyn," he said. "My partner. Xyn, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, and Teal'c."

"I am so happy to meet you!" she said gaily. "I have seen much of you in Daniel, and heard so much of you in my travels." She smiled benevolently at Carter and Teal'c, though she seemed to be ignoring Jack. Fine by him; he didn't like her much anyway. "You are well-known in this galaxy, SG-1. The Tau'ri are called the Scourge of the Goa'uld by our shared enemy, and no names are cursed as yours are."

"Well, that's one kind of fame, I suppose," Jack said dubiously. "Scourge of the Goa'uld, though- I like that."

"You would," Carter muttered. Jack valiantly ignored her.

"We were just about to go down to dinner," Daniel told Xyn, ignoring the two of them. "You're coming with us, of course."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," she said, staring adoringly into his eyes. Jack made a fake-gagging motion, taking care to hide his face behind Teal'c broad shoulder, but those alien eyes must be faster than he thought. Either that or she had x-ray vision or something, because she turned her head minutely to escape detection by Daniel and her face shifted into what was obviously her species version of a glare- her eyes narrowed to horizontal slits and her tiny white pupils expanded into sharp vertical lines.

Despite himself, Jack took a step back, but by the time Daniel twisted to see what she was looking at, she was smilingly pleasant once again and Jack had managed to hide his shock.

Her water ran deep, alright. And God knew Jack never trusted alien women, even if they were members of the Daniel Jackson Fan Club. Especially then, really. Most of those women tended to be the craziest.

"Alright, that's settled then," Daniel said, still looking a little puzzled as to what going on, but not pushing, for once in his life. "Lyta's waiting for us with a sizeable dinner, and then you three can head back to the SGC for further orders." It rankled, the way Daniel said it, like he was some dog who couldn't move without a command from his master, he knew that was just the way Daniel saw it, and he'd never liked it much when he was on SG-1, either.

"Right," Jack said. "It sounds like fun." He probably could have sounded less enthusiastic if he'd really tried, but it wasn't a sure thing. Daniel didn't seem to notice, anyway; too wrapped up in his freaky gray girlfriend.

They all trooped back to the ring platform and ended up back in the transport room that had been their first view of the city, when Skaara had brought them here yesterday. Daniel led the way down several twisting hallways and then down a gently spiraling staircase that spilled out into a smallish banquet hall. The walls were a dark wood paneling, with gauzy forest green drapes billowing over the open windows. Queen Hippolyta was already seated at the head, in another ornate wooden throne-like chair. Commander Antiope was seated to her left, with Attyn next to her and Skaara next to him. There was an empty throne-chair directly next to her, and then four plainer ones on the other side of the table, obviously intended for Daniel and the rest of them.

"Xyn, love, it's so good to see you again," Hippolyta said, and Xyn let go of Daniel long enough to go over and give the Queen a kiss of greeting- on the cheek, Jack noticed. Nothing like her intimate hello to Daniel.

"Lyta," Xyn said happily. "It has been too long."

"Well, you have been away touring the galaxy, dear, it's what happens when you're gone for a month at a time," Hippolyta pointed out, and Xyn just gave her a cheeky grin before settling into the plain chair at what would be Daniel's right hand. Leaving Jack to sit next to her, and Carter and Teal'c stretched down the rest of the table. Of-fucking-course.

Daniel settled down into his chair, not even appearing to notice the oddity of the fact that he was sitting on a fucking throne to eat dinner, and gestured at the rest of them to sit as well. Jack did, reluctantly, since he didn't particularly want to sit next to Daniel's crazy alien girlfriend, but Carter settled next to him with alacrity, and Teal'c on her other side. Jack would rather have sat next to Teal'c, since Carter's inevitable technobabble was going to put him off his food, but this was a female-dominated society, half of it at least, so he didn't want to look like he was giving the only female on his team the shaft.

He looked up to see Xyn lean over the arm of her chair and steal a bite of food off Daniel's plate. Daniel smiled warmly at her in return, then turned to say something to Hippolyta. While he wasn't looking, Xyn sent him a smug look as she chewed her pilfered morsel.

On second thought, he wasn't very hungry after all.