Kara O'Neill, With Two L's
by
Nomad-117, Archer83, and Vergil1989 the Crossover King
Summary: After drifting through the void for countless years, a ship containing a young girl lands on a primitive planet that is just as strange and unfamiliar to her as the powers she begins to develop there.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately none of us own Stargate SG-1, or DC Comics or any of its variations which are not limited to the movie universe.
Authors Notes: Nomad-117: Another one of my Ideas that was brought to live by those awesome authors. These two did most of the work, and if I may say so did pretty damn good :).
Archer83: UPDATE: Re-posted 3/10/14
Seriously FF Admin, removing an entire story because of one small announcement / error apology AND locking my account so I can't re-post the work you deleted? You'd think the Admin staff on a site this big would have far more important things to worry about than that.
Chapter One: Waking Up Far From Home
Major Samantha Carter tiredly blinked as she glanced at her alarm clock with blurry blue eyes before quickly answering her phone. Great, if someone is calling me at one thirty in the morning, it's gotta be bad news. She couldn't count the number of times the phone rang and things went down the drain shortly afterward. With the Goa'uld on the march and the Replicators starting their own war, that was to be expected. So it came as no surprise she picked up her bedside phone with some trepidation. "Samantha Carter here, let me guess, the galaxy is ending or someth-"
The irritated voice on the other end was very familiar to her, and whatever grogginess she felt disappeared as Colonel Jack O'Neill spoke in rushed, clipped sentences. "Carter get your ass over to my cabin pronto. No questions, I'll explain later. If I haven't gone completely nuts that is. The jury is probably still out on that one."
Sitting up in bed, Carter had to switch the phone to the other side of her head as she fumbled for a light switch. "Sir...Jack, you're scaring me. What's going-"
"Ah ah ah! No questions, remember? Just get down here. Daniel and Teal'c are already on their way. See you soon Carter." Before Samantha could even open her mouth to respond, she heard a distinctive CLICK as O'Neill hung up on her.
"Duty calls..." Carter grumbled as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and quickly got dressed. Five minutes later, she had already left her quiet neighborhood far behind as her bike raced at twice the legal speed towards the closest airport. What the hell has Jack gotten himself into this time? Just under three hours later, of a horrible red eye flight, desolate highway driving and then bumpy back roads found Carter pulling her rental car in front of O'Neill's cabin. "Jack! Jack are you alright?!" Carter started pounding on the front door a half second later, tempted to throw a rock through a nearby window if Jack didn't open up in five seconds or less.
Spinning on her heel when a hand fell on her shoulder, Carter breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the puzzled look on Jack's face. "Carter, what exactly are you doing?" O'Neill gestured towards the heavily wooded area around them in mock exasperation. "You're gonna wake the neighbors. And the weirdness is in back anyway." O'Neill said as he quickly walked around the corner of his cabin, a small grin on his face despite the very odd situation he found himself in. "Nice timing, by the way. You beat Tweedle Dee Serious Face and Tweedle Not So Dumb here. Come on, I know you wanna see it." Jack waggled his eyebrows at Carter before quickly ducking back around the corner.
Samantha hesitantly walked around the far corner of the cabin, her mind already coming up with several reasons for what was happening, and besides this being some kind of weird surprise party, none of them were good. "Jack...should I call a doctor? There's no shame in admitting you need hel-" She nearly jumped as O'Neill appeared behind her, her hand already on the pistol grip behind her back.
Holding his hands up in a placating gesture when he saw her hand fly to the pistol at her back, Jack took a step back while making a mental note not to surprise her, ever. "Nice reflexes. I'm pretty sure you aren't going to have to shoot anyone. Although, getting Frasier down might not be a bad idea, but it's not me I'm worried about Carter. It's whoever dropped in my backyard I'm worried about. On the plus side, you're gonna love this, trust me."
Relaxing slightly, Samantha slowly followed behind O'Neill as he led her past the edge of the lake behind his house and into the woods surrounding his home. Oh boy...I knew that PTSD he never admits to would manifest itself somehow. Maybe when Teal'c and Daniel get here, if he actually called them that is, we can talk some- Oh...that is very...odd. It took Carter several seconds to realize she was staring at what could only be described as some kind of impact crater, which was currently occupied. "Um sir….why is there what looks to be a stasis tube laying in the middle of your 'backyard'?"
"Typical Wednesday?" Jack deadpanned, earning an annoyed scoff from the brilliant blonde scientist. He pointed with mild annoyance at his newest lawn decoration before turning to stare at Carter. "You tell me Ms. Spock, I'm a grunt, not an astrophysicist. I'd personally, simpleton that I am mind you, take a wild guess and say this thing crashed, like most of your usual, cliche UFO landings. Roswell, Groom Lake, and my house. You'd think they could have found a better parking spot for this thing." O'Neill wasn't quite fast enough to grab Carter's arm as she walked right up to the object. "Um, Carter, this thing could be giving us a real bad sunburn if you get my drift."
"I don't see any signs of high level radiation damage on the vegetation around the crash site, I think we're alright. But sir...this is incredible. It looks like they somehow managed to use some kind of crystalline base for the pod itself. The design looks even more advanced than Goa'uld or Asgard technology. That's just an educated guess of course, I'll have to take a closer look." Climbing onto the silvery tube itself, Carter jumped back in shock when she saw something, or rather someone, inside. "Sir! There's a girl in here!"
"You wanna know the funny thing Carter, took me half the time to figure out that mildly interesting fact. I wasn't going to chance screwing around with this thing until you guys got here, but we aren't leaving her in that thing if I have anything to say about it. And since we're, you know, on my property I kind of do." Pulling out a flashlight before Carter could come up with a proper response to his usual sarcasm, Jack turned and pointed it towards his driveway, having heard a car pull up.
Less than a minute later, Daniel loudly announced Teal'c and his arrival as he desperately attempted to keep up with the running Jaffa, noticing the flashlight Jack was waving to get their attention. The yelling really wasn't required, his loud stumbling through the woods was all the notice Jack and Sam needed. "We're here, we're here! Teal'c apparently doesn't understand that speed limit signs don't apply in an emergency! So what's the big- Oh. That. Why am I not surprised? I mean, I really should be right?"
"I did not want to draw unnecessary attention upon ourselves, Daniel Jackson." Answered the stoic Jaffa warrior. Unable to find a logical fallacy, Daniel let the matter drop. Teal'c glanced at the strange tube that had caught Jackson's eye. "I believe our many adventures have desensitized us to rather incredible situations."
The genius archaeologist and SGC team member cocked his head to the side as he leaned closer towards the strange silvery object. "Indeed." Teal'c looked at Daniel, one eyebrow raised in an inquisitorial manner, but the Jaffa said nothing as he looked away from his friend a moment later.
"Guys, not important! We have a crashed pod with a possibly wounded passenger here!" Sam shouted at the two of them. She regretted that she had to raise her voice but she knew that if she didn't, those two would go on forever.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Indeed?" She would probably never figure out how he managed to make it sound like a question.
Standing next to him, Daniel blinked owlishly and pushed his glasses up. "Okay...weird cryo pod in a giant crater in Jack's backyard. Anybody know where this thing come from? I'm sure somebody had to see the massive fireball before this thing augered in. Last I checked, the SGC has a ton of sensors and alarms that should warn us if something like this was gonna happen. Right? Guys? What are you doing?"
"How about we first try to figure out how to get this girl out of there before we think about something else, that alright with you Daniel?" Drawled O'Neill in his unique way.
"Oh right. Of course there's a girl in it." Daniel said as he climbed up next to Samantha, who had since discovered several symbols on the side where the 'glass' met the hull. "At a glance, it looks like a message. It'll take some time, but I think I can work this out, hopefully. Teal'c, you have my bag handy? See if you can't find my camera, I want to take some pictures and upload the images to my computer term….what?" Daniel asked when he met Jack's gaze, which all but shouted he didn't like that particular idea at all.
"You don't want to tell anyone about her or the ship?" Samantha asked, having a feeling it was far more the former than the latter.
"Gee... How'd you guess?" Jack deadpanned again, earning another annoyed scoff from Carter.
Daniel sighed heavily as he hopped down from the pod. He and the rest of them understood why Jack was hesitant to say anything to anyone. The NID had been giving them trouble, the SGC had a serious mole problem, and besides General Hammond and Dr. Frasier, the SG-1 team didn't know who they could trust. "Hammond isn't going to like this, but I'm in. As long as we tell him at least, eventually."
Teal'c merely gave a solemn nod to show his approval of O'Neill's course of action. "Indeed. I will gladly take part in this clearly illegal endeavor as well, if only to keep this young girl out of less than scrupulous hands."
"And ours are any better?" Carter asked, a smirk on her face at the self deprecating humor as she tried to find a way to open the pod. Her smirk faltered however when she considered something rather unpleasant. While unlikely, it was still a possibility. "Did it occur to anyone that she might not even breathe oxygen? We could kill her by just taking her out of this thing."
O'Neill raised a hand to get the flustered woman's attention. "Hey Carter? Would it help if I said that her pod got awfully chatty upon making itself at home in my backyard?" Jack asked, earning an inquisitive look from his chief scientist. "Didn't catch the whole thing, and it was in some weird alien language of course, but it sounded like it found our little patch of dirt to be acceptable for her."
"And how would you know that Colonel?" Carter asked as she climbed over to the other side of the pod, shining a flashlight of her own over the pod's seam before stopping at some kind of indentation.
"A little green light blinked on and off a few times when it started ranting for a couple minutes." O'Neill replied, shrugging his shoulders since it made sense to him that was what it had been.
He didn't mention that a holographic image of an older gentleman had appeared next to the pod, dressed in some weird black and red fringed robes. And that said robed gentleman had apparently asked him to help the young girl in the pod. At least, that was what Jack figured the jist of it must have been. But that would just seem nuts, even to his friends. Probably. What hadn't seemed so crazy was the way the older man had ran his hand across the pod's edge, as if saying goodbye to its sole occupant. That had told Jack all he needed to know about the girl and her possible intentions however. Only a truly benevolent person would send one of their own to safety as this particular girl had been. Why else would you stick someone into a pod to crash on some backwater rock in the middle of nowhere?
"Oh, well that's good enough for me. Want me to get a crowbar for you, Sam?" Daniel asked, his words dripping with sarcasm, having completely missed Jack's contemplative visage.
"No...I think we need a key of some kind." She had apparently missed the joke as she stood to her full height before jumping back down to the ground by her friends. "There's some kind of indentation on the side of the pod. It looks like something fits into it. Look around for fragments, anything that might be-"
"You mean this?" Jack grinned as he held up a thin, silvery metallic object. "This thing got spit out when it finished its 'checklist', or whatever. I wonder what it does..." Before Samantha could take it away for a closer look, Jack approached the ship and quickly climbed next to where she had spotted the slot. "What's the worst that could happen? Right?" He asked when everyone below glared at him in a mixture of unease and wary curiosity.
"Do you want me to go through the list?" Daniel asked, remembering their track record when it came to strange and unusual artifacts of alien origin. "With our luck...my money's on weird space succubus ...thing."
"Wouldn't that be a nice change? Feel free to take a few steps back if it makes you feel better." Jack noticed that he was the only person standing anywhere near the pod before he had even finished. "Real nice, guys. I can feel the burning camaraderie from here." O'Neill only hesitated for the briefest of moments as he turned back to stare at the unconscious girl's expressionless face. "Screw it. Here goes nothing." With that, he slid the small metallic 'key' into its lock and raised an eyebrow as the window, as well as most of the top half of the tube, simply disappeared as if it had phased out of existence. There was no blast of cold air, no sign to say she had been frozen, which only proved Carter's stasis theory.
Sam knew Jack wasn't about to change his mind now, but that didn't stop the twisting feeling in her gut. "Be careful sir."
"Carter...again I ask, what's the worst that could happen? It's just a sleeping kid for Christ sake- Huh." Jack said as the young girl opened her hazy blue eyes, only to jolt out of the pod, gasping for breath. "Okay, that went better than I ex-" His words were cut short by an agonized, blood curdling scream of fear and pain as the young blonde girl slammed her eyes shut and jammed her hands over her ears. "Carter help me out here!" Jack immediately regretted shouting when the girl curled up tighter into herself. As crazy as it seemed, Jack was able to figure out that she obviously didn't like loud noises. "Hey...hey, it's alright." He said far more quietly as Sam hopped up next to him, just as the girl started to relax . She immediately tensed up again after O'Neill made the mistake of slowly reaching out to her. "Easy kid... we're not gonna hurt you. Promise. See Carter, nothin' to worry about."
"Lai'ral nar mel'eck!" Before anyone could stop her, the girl grabbed O'Neill's extended arm by the wrist in one hand and the front of his jacket with the other. Jack soon found himself flung from the pod. He slammed back first into the nearest tree a good twenty feet away a split second later, much to everyone's shock. Even Teal'c was stunned at the raw power displayed by the small girl as he looked between his friend and the pod's occupant. "Vos't drey mel'eck!"
"Hey Daniel, time for you to do your translation thing." Jack said, upside down against the tree, before he rolled to the ground and slowly staggered back to his feet with no small amount of help from Teal'c
"Right…." Daniel said, still slack jawed from seeing one of his closest friends tossed from the impact crater like a rag doll. "Ah...hi there. Clearly you don't speak English so... Parlez-vous français? ¿Hablas español?" When all he got was a puzzled look from the young blonde, he sighed. "Okay….should have figured that wouldn't get through. I'm gonna need more to work with apparently."
"Give it a rest Daniel. She's obviously scared out of her mind." Sam grumbled as she looked over her shoulder before turning back to the petrified girl in the pod. It was like talking with Cassandra all over again when they had first found her. Just like before, Carter made it a point to speak softly to her, starting with their names as she gestured to herself, Daniel and Teal'c, as well as a still wheezing Jack. "Hi, I'm Sam, and those guys over there are Daniel and Teal'c. Jack's the one you introduced to that maple." She doubted the actual words made sense anyway since the girl was barely listening to her and was no doubt in shock, but the tone seemed to properly convey Sam's intent as she held out her hands to the girl, hoping she was making it clear she didn't intend to harm her. "We aren't going to hurt you, no one's mad at you." Carter gestured once again to O'Neill, who by now was having a hard time trying to not grimace, but still managed to have a small smile plastered on his face. "There, all better now, see. No harm done."
"Except to my backside." Jack groaned as he made his way back to the pod, rubbing at his cracked wrist with his good hand.
The blonde slowly calmed down after a few minutes, muttering what they hoped was an apology as she fell against her pod when she tried to climb out of it, as if overtaken by a wave of dizziness. If not for Sam and Jack catching her on the way down, she might have fallen to the dirt. "Kara Zor-El." She finally said, pointing at herself before looking to Jack first.
"I think she wants your name since you were the one that got her out." Daniel said, pondering the strange girl before them as he placed a finger on his chin.
"What ever gave you that idea Daniel?" Jack asked, holding up a hand before the good doctor could try to come up with a witty comeback. Turning to Kara, who looked a little green around the gills, most likely from who knew how long in stasis, the oldest of their group sat down next to her. "Jack O'Neill, two Ls, in case you're wondering. Nice to meetcha Kara." As much as his broken wrist hurt, he kept his discomfort from his face as he held out his good hand to her. Hesitantly taking the offered limb, Jack couldn't help the small smile on his face as the girl shook it far more gently than he expected. "Good to know you aren't always superhuman-ish."
Carter had managed to overcome her astonishment long enough to realize the girl was shivering for a very obvious reason. Namely, she was entirely nude in the middle of a Colorado forest in January. "Um...guys? Maybe we should get her some clothes?" Jack had already removed his jacket and had draped it around the blonde's shoulders, and from the appreciative smile on her face, she was thankful for even that much, but Carter's attention was elsewhere. Mainly, the absence of their tight lipped Jaffa friend. "Wait...where did Teal'c go? Teal'c?!" Sam flinched when Kara covered her ears again, a pained expression forming on her face from her shout. "Sorry Kara. Sir? Is it possible she has extremely sensitive hearing?"
"And you're only figuring that out now? You get a D minus for observational skills Carter." Jack deadpanned, earning a shake of Sam's head for his trouble while Kara merely stared at the ground at her feet.
"You called for me Major Carter?" Sam nearly jumped at the Jaffa's serene voice as Teal'c appeared behind her, carrying several articles of clothing he had clearly raided from O'Neill's bedroom.
"Excellent timing. Thank you for proving my point Teal'c. Now how about we take this little party inside so she doesn't have to dress in front of everyone eh?" Jack asked, rolling his eyes at Teal'c's good intentions, but even he was smart enough to figure that out. Before anyone could move, the girl simply shrugged and walked over to Teal'c, who lightly bowed his head to her in acknowledgment. Apparently, Kara didn't seem to mind much. She seemed to have a hard time with the clothing she had taken from his outstretched arms though as she struggled with the shirt and pants.
"Oh honey, no, that hole is for your arm not your head. Here, let me help you." Carter barely kept herself from laughing as she walked over to the naive, surprisingly vulnerable, blonde, who had gotten herself hopelessly tangled in one of Jack's flannel shirts. "Guys, turn around." Sam glared at the three men around her. "I better not catch any of you peeking."
"I'm going to take a guess and say that whoever her people are or were, they don't wear clothes like us. Probably something simple yet functional, like robes or wraps of some kind." Daniel commented as he and Teal'c quickly spun around before Samantha could utter another word. Jack chuckled and spread out on the pod, his hands behind his head, content to stare up at the night sky while Sam took care of their newest 'guest'.
Getting her untangled from the flannel shirt, Sam quickly picked out a pair of pants, not particularly caring if it matched or not. So long as she was warm, that was all that mattered. All the while, Samantha tried to make small talk in an effort to keep Kara calm. "So, first time in Colorado huh? Earth's got plenty of warmer places you could have landed, I can tell you that."
"Just be happy she didn't land in the arctic Carter." Jack chimed in, his tone sounding completely serious, except the small smirk on his face said otherwise.
"Or the Sahara for that matter." Daniel quietly observed.
"I, for one, am most grateful that she did not sink to the bottom of one of your planet's rather large oceans, Major Carter." Teal'c helpfully added, keeping his tone light for the girl's sake.
The inquisitive look on Kara's face as she got her head through the right hole in the flannel shirt said it all. "Yes, they are always like this." Carter replied as she exaggerated rolling her eyes in the men's direction, earning an amused chuckle from the girl at her side. "You get used to it after a while."
"Oh, I doubt anyone can get completely used to Jack, Sam. As long as I've known him, he still manages to surprise me on a biweekly basis." Daniel replied, just as Sam was finishing up with Kara, helping her pull on and buttoned up the jeans she had chosen out of the pile. Lastly, Carter helped her into a pair of boots that were far too big for the petite blonde.
"Daniel. Be quiet would you? You're probably scaring the kid with the super strength and weird hearing." Jack snarked as he sat up, once he saw that Kara was dressed. "You know what this momentous occasion calls for?"
Jackson sighed deeply and hung his head, already knowing Jack's less than refined taste in cuisine. "If you suggest a beer and a bucket of chicken wi-"
"I was going to say our guest here could use some hot chocolate Daniel. That's a good idea too though." Jack shrugged as he quickly caught up with his group of friends who had since started back towards his cabin.
Carter made it a point to gesture for the girl to follow her instead of touching her. "Good thinking sir, she needs some carbohydrates and-" Sam paused when O'Neill looked at her like she was nuts.
"I was thinking something warm to drink would help calm down the freaked out young alien girl, Carter." Jack cut in as they reached his back deck and Teal'c opened the door for them. "That, and women love chocolate. I'm hoping that's a universal thing."
"Smart man." Daniel gave a nod of agreement, along with an amused Teal'c, as Samantha tried not to blush in embarrassment.
"We have something quite similar to your world's cocoa bean, O'Neill. Jaffa women also favor it, so your theory may indeed be correct. The Goa'uld likely transported it from one of their conquered worlds, hence why it can be found on so many." Teal'c explained, much to Daniel and Carter's piqued curiosity. It made sense that the System Lords and their warriors would transport more than slaves and supplies across the universe, but they didn't get a chance to ask more about the possible ramifications.
"Oh. Good to know Teal'c. See Carter, might be onto something." Jack made a show of inviting 'Kara' to enter his cabin as he gestured inside. "Mi Casa es su Casa, Kara. Oh, you guys too." He added as an afterthought, before he shut the door with a casual back kick once he was inside his little slice of paradise.
"Va'shaun." Kara said, nodding her head in appreciation as she took in the simple quarters.
"That means 'thank you', I think." Daniel supplied, hoping he got the translation right. It seemed plausible, given the current context and situation at hand.
Jack rubbed his eyes and sighed as Teal'c bowed his head politely to Kara again before he motioned towards O'Neill's couch. "Daniel?"
"Yeah Jack?" Daniel replied, dropping into the nearby La-z-boy. He had a funny feeling he knew what was coming as he took his glasses off and polished them on his shirt.
Jack followed Daniel's example to plopped down into another chair, careful not to hit his injured right arm on the way down. "Please shut up. You're putting everyone to sleep, Captain Obvious." Quickly remembering his freaky space guest, Jack went to get up, only to put his weight on his injured right wrist. "Ahh! Son of a...I mean, right, hot choclate, be right back."
Throwing his hands up in frustration, Daniel glared at Jack across his cluttered living room. "Right. Well don't come crawling to me when I get those glyphs on her stasis tube, pod, whatever, translated. And you might wanna let us look your wrist Jack, you know the one you're cradling out of sight as I speak."
"Kesh'va vas geal'n te'arn?" After a moment of hesitation, Kara nervously looked towards Jack, having no doubt figured out this group deferred to him for guidance, despite his obviously strange mannerisms. "Hir'laz nelv lo'kan vek!" Before anyone could so much as blink, Kara had dashed out the back door into the early morning darkness.
"Daniel? Didn't I say not to scare her off?" Just as Jack and Teal'c were about to run after her, Kara reappeared at the door, a hesitant grin on her face and a small white metallic object in her hand. "Oh...hello. Welcome back, long time no see. Whatcha ya got there kiddo? Honestly, I kinda hope that's not a phaser or some nifty futuristic grenade." When Kara gently took his hand and laid it against the counter, Jack and the rest of his friends were only mildly surprised when the device she had in her hand started to glow pale white. The light itself felt warm, unthreatening, and Jack soon realized his wrist was whole once more moments later when the light died down. "Huh."
Kara nodded with satisfaction. "Dak'vel ves renl'in."
"Okay...I like her already. Thank you for that kid." Jack said as he flexed his fingers before rolling his wrist, nodding his approval when all he got back was a slight itch under his skin which quickly disappeared.
Daniel held up his hands at the sudden shift of mood from his friend. "Okay….what just happened? Is that their version of a Gao'uld healing device?"
"Pel'on vos hel'eck nich vek?" Quickly sitting back down in the seat on O'Neil's couch, Kara looked decidedly more cautious than she had been mere moments ago. "Va'shaun, nos gel'ein aer'est?" She stared at the floor for a moment after she had finished speaking, and it wasn't hard for Carter to notice how Kara nervously rubbed her hands together while she waited for their response.
"Translation please?" Jack asked, surprising Daniel at the almost concerned tone he had in his voice when he looked at the blonde. "I kind of got the impression she's wondering if we plan to eat her brain or something equally unpleasant."
"That did kind of sound like she was asking where she is and what we plan to do with her." Carter quickly supplied as she carefully sat near, but not too close, to the obviously worried young blonde. "Hey, we're not going to hurt you, I promise." Carter never took her eyes from Kara as she addressed Daniel. "So, what now Daniel? I think we can take it as a plus that she hasn't tried to run away or toss us across the room."
"Healed my wrist too. That she broke...but still, it's the thought that counts." Jack said with a shrug, rotating his wrist a few more times just to be sure it still worked properly before heading into the kitchen.
Ignoring Jack, Daniel was quick to answer her, making sure the group understood what they were in for. "Actually guys, right now we could say almost anything and it wouldn't matter. Just worry about body language and tone. It's interesting actually, did you know that spoken language only makes up ten per-"
"While that's fascinating Daniel, I'm more worried about trying to get us to understand each other. I'd rather not accidentally say something that might set her off." Because they had no idea what she was capable of, Samantha didn't want to find out the hard way. "Hello, I'm Samantha." Carter pointed to her chest before slowly pointing towards the others, one at a time. "That's Daniel, Teal'c, and last but not least, Jack."
"Hot chocolate's almost ready, you're doing great Carter! Keep it up." Sam sighed as O'Neill gave her a thumbs up before walking back into his kitchen.
"N't L'est Ack?" Kara hesitantly said as she pointed towards the kitchen door.
"Yeah...we'll work on that." Daniel sighed, having a pretty good idea of what Kara had tried to say, given Jack's unique sense of humor. "Let's try that again." Daniel tried not to smirk at the obvious mistake Sam had made while trying to share something as simple as their names. She should have focused solely on their names without the usual conversational pieces attached. "Daniel." He quickly pointed at himself first, waiting for Kara to respond.
The slightly annoyed look on Kara's face suggested she wasn't as 'dumb' as he thought as she exaggerated his name, no doubt on purpose as she crossed her arms under her chest just to further emphasize her annoyance. "Dddaaannniiieeelll."
"I believe that Kara Zor-El has already proved that she is far more intelligent than we realize Dr. Jackson. I would suggest you speak to her as you might one of us" Teal'c replied, one eyebrow raised in what passed for amusement from the Jaffa warrior.
"Good point. Okay, here goes, that's Sam." He quickly pointed to Teal'c next. "And this is Teal'c." O'Neill came back out of the kitchen just as Daniel jabbed his finger towards the door. "Great timing, Jack. That's Jack, by the way. Call him Not Least Jack and you're going to give him a bigger ego than he already has."
"Sam, Teal'c, ves Jack. Ves Dddaanniiieeelll." Kara replied, shaking her head, recognizing a joke when she heard one. Not only that, but she was still purposely over exaggerating Daniel's name, much to the doctor's annoyance.
"Oh, I think she likes you Daniel." Carter snickered, unable to help herself since she had also picked up on the fact that she was annoyed with Daniel's earlier mistake of assuming she was simpler than she appeared. She wasn't one of the people from Abydos. From the ship outside in Jack's backyard and the healing device she had used on Jack's hand, he should have figured out that her people were intellectually superior if nothing else.
"Indeed, Major Carter. I too, also believe she is mildly annoyed with Dr. Jackson." Teal'c once again stated the obvious.
"I don't know about you Ddaanniieell, but I like this kid already. Here you go sweetheart, just be careful it's-" Jack winced as Kara took a large sip of the steaming hot chocolate, only to breath a small sigh of relief when she seemed fine. "-hot. Huh."
"She must have a higher tolerance to heat and cold than we do. Oh, you too Teal'c, unless you've been chugging coffee behind my back in the mess that is." Daniel's comment only got an inquisitive look from the Jaffa as he turned back to Kara. He wanted to ask a question and didn't know how to say it, and pantomiming would likely end up inviting trouble from Jack's sense of 'humor'. "Kara, the craft you arrived in, where did it come from?" He even resorted to the dreaded pantomimes to get his point across as he mimicked her pod crashing in the woods with his hands. "You know...whooshh...boom!"
From the look on Kara's face, she found his pantomime about as funny as she found his over exaggeration. Which was to say, she found them equally offensive to her intelligence. "Revkar sev'lek ja'cel, Daniel?"
"I don't think I need you to translate that Daniel. No Kara, he's not mentally impaired, although the thought has crossed my mind a couple times." Jack chimed in, earning an increasingly frustrated look from Daniel with every word out of the two. For all intents and purposes, Jack and Kara could have been cut from the same cloth.
"Please excuse me for a moment." Teal'c quickly left the room, only to return moments later to sit across from Kara and Sam, a note pad and marker in his hands. He set them on the small table between them after drawing a crude picture on the pad. "I believe this will be a more effective means of communication at the moment Daniel Jackson."
Kara smiled with obvious gratitude and relief, probably because someone around her finally showed a spark of common sense and good judgment. "Va'shaun, Teal'c." The muttered words that followed didn't need a translation either as she shot a glare at Daniel before putting the notebook on her lap.
"You are most welcome, Kara Zor-El." Teal'c replied, once again nodding his head to the young blonde.
After a few moments of figuring out how the marker worked, Kara rapidly drew an interesting image for them. Horrifying might have been a better word, as their jaws, save for Teal'c's, dropped on shock when she tapped at the picture she had drawn with the marker. "Krypton." From the way the planet's land masses were shattered and falling off of her homeworld, the group quickly realized she had survived her planet's destruction by being sent to another.
"She must have been sent off world to save her. They somehow predicted their world's destruction and took measures to preserve their way of life and their people." Carter said as Kara drew another picture, showing her asleep as she drifted through space. Hers wasn't the only pod as Carter took another look at the first picture, having mistaken several cylindrical images much like the tube outside for pieces of debris at first glance. When she realized her mistake, Carter's eyes opened wide in excitement. "Her people sent possibly dozens of pods like hers off to distant corners of the universe. Incredible, truly incredible."
"Here, can I see that for a sec?" Jack asked, as he gestured towards the notepad in Kara's hands. Kara nodded in understanding and leaned forward, handing the items off before leaning back, but not before picking up the cup of chocolate from the table she had been given earlier.
Taking a much slower and measured sip from her cup, Kara's enthusiastic response didn't need a translation. "Va'shuan, Jack. Gez'on rels nev'ek!" Her beaming smile said it all.
"Don't tell me, she likes the hot chocolate?" Jack smirked as he drew a rather simple picture for her, mainly because he wasn't exactly the best artist in the world, but he thought he got the point across at least. "Here. See, that's you, Kara, and these stickfigure guys watching your back, that's us." He waved towards the others for emphasis.
The giggle that escaped the young woman's mouth was preceded by a nod of understanding despite the horrible rendering.
Daniel blinked his eyes several times at how easily Jack had gotten through to the girl before shaking his head in defeat. "Let me get this straight. It turns out Jack is a better communicator than I am? Huh. So this is what going insane feels like."
"No offense Daniel, but it is pretty late for us, and we had a busy day yesterday. You're not at your best." Samantha was quick to say to sooth the doctor's understandably bruised ego. Like any accomplished scientist, he took pride in his work, and communication and translation was his bread and butter.
Jackson started rubbing at his temples as he watched the young girl continued sketching. "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not Sam."
A constant tapping caught their attention as they turned to see Kara using the marker to point something out in one of her pictures.
"Oh boy. I think I know what's she's asking." Carter frowned, the excitement having disappeared from her face at what Kara no doubt wanted to know.
"Uh huh. So, should we draw straws or something to see who gets to tell her the not so great news?" Jack deadpanned, but it was easy to see there was no humor in his pained expression.
"From the emphasis she is putting on the pods surrounding her own, I believe she wishes to know if more of her kind have arrived here." Teal'c stated calmly, as he leaned forward to take the pad from Kara. "I will inform her of the unfortunate truth of the situation."
Kara figured it out for herself long before Teal'c tried as she put a hand on his and shook her head. She had seen the truth on Jack's face. "Va'shaun….Jack, ves Teal'c." She pointed to herself with a now mildly shaking hand. "Lek vas'shal Kryptonian eshe?"
"Yes, just you sweetheart." Jack couldn't quite bring himself to look into the young girl's frightened blue eyes. "I'm sorry we don't have better news for you Kara." It was almost as bad as delivering the the terrible news of the deaths of men and women under his command to their grieving families. At least in those cases, he knew their fates, and could bring the families affected some closure. In Kara's case however, they didn't have a clue as to the fate of whoever might have gotten off her world before it went up in flames.
"Hey, it's alright, just let it out." O'Neill wasn't the only one in the room with a concerned look on his face as Kara spontaneously hugged Sam, who had since pulled the deep blue eyed girl closer out of a maternal or sisterly instinct. She was just as surprised by her actions as the three men were.
O'Neill was already waving Teal'c off as he moved to stand, quietly speaking to Sam as he edged slightly closer to the pair. "Carter...just slowly see if you can-"
"Like hell sir." Superhuman level of strength or not, Kara seemed aware she needed to be careful even in her current emotional state as she quietly sobbed into Samantha's shoulder. "You're going to be alright Kara. We'll figure something out."
"I'll go see if I have any food in the fridge, maybe a hot meal will cheer her up a little. Daniel...tissues and a couple blankets. Teal'c...just keep on being your calm, serene self around her, she seems to like that." Jack finally said before disappearing into the kitchen again.
"Indeed." It was amazing just how many different inflections the Jaffa warrior could give that one simple word. The current iteration was almost sorrowful compared to most. He understood what it was like not being able to return home.
Daniel practically shot out of his chair, hurriedly looking for the closest box of tissues before deciding on where to get the requested, some might say ordered, blankets. "You got it, um...should I just take the blankets off your bed or-"
"I don't care, just get the damn blankets!" Jack's terse whisper from the partially open kitchen door rapidly softened when he swore he saw Kara flinch ever so slightly next to Sam. "Surprise me Daniel."
"Please let me know if you are uncomfortable Major Carter, and I will endeavor to distract her for you." The Jaffa offered.
"She's fine Teal'c, but thank you." Carter replied, noticing that the quiet sobs had started to subside. Again, she was reminded of Cassandra's early days on Earth as Sam rubbed the young woman's back in slow, comforting circles.
"As you wish." Teal's bowed his head and returned to his ordered vigil. The morning light would find him unmoved unless O'Neill or Carter said otherwise. Out of everyone on Earth, Teal'c was the most reliable and dependable man you could ever meet.
"Okay, here we go, huh... with aloe, good taste Jack." Jackson mumbled nervously to himself, glancing at the box of tissues before handing it to Sam. With only a brief moment of hesitation, he ever so gently managed to get a warm blanket over the both of them without disturbing the distraught girl next to her.
"Va'shaun, Daniel." Kara said, slowly peeling herself away from Carter before pulling the blanket tightly over herself. The tissues she also seemed familiar with as she pulled one from the box and dabbed at her eyes.
"You're welcome Kara, but I think we need to expand your vocabulary a little." One glare from Carter at his innocent joke was enough to get Daniel to be quiet.
A tense fifteen minutes followed, only interrupted by a few loud bangs and quiet curses from the kitchen, as Jack triumphantly displayed his creation to them after cautiously entering the living room again.
"Um...what is that?" Daniel asked, having a feeling he didn't want to know what Jack had brought back from his kitchen.
"What is that?" Jack looked down at the large ceramic pot in his hands before giving Daniel an insulted expression. "That is my grandfather's secret recipe for baked bean chile. You turn your nose up to this, you're not only insulting me, you're insulting generations of O'Neill's."
"I'm not sure what's more surprising, that you can 'cook', or that you have a grandfather." Daniel muttered under his breath, unaware he received a strange look from Kara as he pushed his glasses further up on his nose.
"It smells terrible sir." Samantha stated flatly, unsure if she'd feed a starving dog the slop in the pot, let alone an alien girl that just found out she had been orphaned.
Of course, everyone had their opinion, and a surprised hint of a smile on Kara's face showed she didn't care how it smelled. It seemed a hot meal was all she cared about, and that was enough for her, regardless of what it looked like, or where it had come from for that matter.
Jack gave Kara his best charming smile and a nod of appreciation, as he started ladling out the chili into bowls for all of them. "I see someone appreciates my culinary efforts. I don't think she much cares Carter. For all we know, this is the first meal she's had in a few years...or centuries."
"It would make sense. We have no way of knowing how long she was out there before she crashed here." Carter quickly reached for the notepad and drew a simple model of the solar system, making a point of circling Earth's position, showing its orbit and then repeating the orbit several times. Kara made several small marks around the orbital line, apparently Krypton had a ten month cycle. "That's right, one solar orbit equals a year, or whatever you'd call it." Carter repeated the orbit once. "Year." Then ten times. "Decade." Next she quickly jotted out a grid made up of hundred small dots. "Century."
"I get the feeling she knows what you're trying to ask her." Jack deadpanned again, as Kara took a break from stuffing her face to take the offered pen and notebook back before marking out her home's orbital cycle. At Samantha's repeated inquiry however, Kara could only shrug.
"You don't know?" Carter asked, earning a solemn shake of Kara's head. "If she was in stasis the entire time, that would make sense sir."
"Like she just went to sleep on this 'Krypton' of hers and woke up with a bunch of curious primitive natives standing over her." Daniel smirked at his rather spot on analogy, used to being on the other side of that equation more often than not on most of the worlds they traveled to. "Gotta hand it to her, she took that a lot better than I would have."
"She...is...here." The haltingly spoken words were enough to make everyone else fall silent for several seconds.
"Holy sh-" Jack barely caught himself in time as he stared at Kara in shock. "Did you just pick up basic English from listening to us for, what, an hour?"
"Um….y-yes?" The sarcasm needed no translation, but the look on Kara's face was one of relief as she realized that she had gotten through the language barrier, at least to some small degree thus far.
"She's incredibly, brilliantly intelligent. It's astounding." Carter said in awe, before looking mildly embarrassed. "Sorry for talking down to you."
"No...sorry, Sam. Not...um..." Kara gave a frustrated huff as she still lacked a decent vocabulary to work from.
"I think she's trying to say she's had to do this before, learn a new language I mean." Daniel said as he tried to find a dictionary or a thesaurus book of some kind, until an idea hit him as he went to his bag and pulled out his portable laptop. "You probably don't have WiFi, do you Jack?"
"Hold that thought, I think I know where you're going with this Daniel." Jack practically ran out of the room with no explanation, although Carter already had a good idea what he was looking for.
Daniel also had a pretty good idea what Jack was looking for, but he decided to use the time he likely had to give Kara a leg up in basic English. "O...kay. I know we haven't exactly gotten off on a good foot Kara, but today I am going to teach you our ABC's. Let's get started shall we?"
"Have you ever done that before Daniel?" Carter didn't doubt the man's abilities when it came to understanding and translating different languages in any form after only a few hours of studying them, if not less, but understanding and teaching were two different things.
"Not recently. The people on Abydos were receptive to some degree. And I clearly have a gifted pupil this time." Daniel replied as he picked up the notebook and pen on his way to Kara's side on the couch. "Hi there, okay, these symbols..." Jackson quickly wrote out the alphabet in big, easy to read block letters for the girl. When she rolled his eyes at him, Daniel sighed and made them a bit smaller. "Happy?"
"Yes, Ddaanniieell." Sarcasm aside, the amused glint in her large blue eyes was all the response he needed.
"You two should get along just great, Daniel." Carter chuckled at the annoyed look on Daniel's face while Kara got the hint that she was poking fun at the man on her right. The amused smirk on her lips was proof of her understanding, as limited as it was.
"I believe that Kara Zor-El agrees with you Major Carter." Teal'c replied, having noted the smirk on the blonde's face from across the table.
"Alright, Kkaarraa, let's get started." Daniel tapped at the second, lowercase letter before going back to the upper case one he had written down, hoping to get her at least to G before Jack got back from noisily ripping his cabin apart for whatever he was looking for. Getting them back on track, he tapped at the first letter. "This is what we call an 'A'. The first letter of our twenty six symbol alphabet. Uppercase, lowercase….we'll get to that."
"Ah." Kara nodded, paying close attention to him now.
"No, A." Jackson sighed at the smirk on Kara's face, quicking getting that she had played him yet again. "...Oh, great. How do I tell you this will go faster without the sarcasm?"
"No...stark'casm?" Kara quickly nodded her head, grinning as Carter crossed her fingers before copying the odd gesture.
Carter was doing her best not to laugh at Daniel's deepening frown. It was a losing battle, but she tried as she bit her tongue and watched things progress between Kara and Dr. Jackson.
"Alright Caarrttteeer. You two are giving me a splitting headache. Let's speed things up. AEE, BEE, CEE, DEE, EEE, EPH, GEE, AECH, AYE, JAY, KAY, EL, EMM, ENN, OH, PEE, QUE, ARR, ESS, TEE, YEW, VEE, DUBELYEW, ECSSS , WHY, and ZEE."
"A, B , C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, ves Z" Kara replied, having clearly grasped the basics of their phonetic alphabet after only hearing and seeing it once.
"Now you know your ABC's, next time won't you tell me when I'm missing out on this stuff?" Jack sing songed as he walked back into the living room. "And sorry that took so long. My filing system seems to have gone slightly escue. As in, I don't have one." Jack grinned and proudly held up a large red book in his hands. "Thank you, Websters. Some light reading for you kid. Enjoy. Consider it the first of many awesome gifts."
"You call that light reading sir?" Carter asked, an amused smirk on her face despite the genius behind the simple gift as Jack called it. If she was half as smart as Carter suspected, Kara would likely read the book in a week. If she had been able to pick up basic English in an hour, as well as their alphabet in a matter of minutes, who knew how far her intelligence reached.
"Va'shaun Jack...it...awesome gift?" Kara replied as she opened the book on the table after moving her half completed plate of chile to the side, having forgotten about it during Daniel's lesson. Finding the first entry her eyes fell on, the girl's eyebrows shot up as she tried to sound out the word. "Aard'var'k?"
"An Earth based animal. You nearly got the pronunciation right on the first shot. Keep going..." Even Daniel was starting to catch to how smart she was as he beckoned her to keep going, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. She truly was astonishing in every sense of the word.
"There you go kid, now don't stop until you get to zymurgy, that's one of my personal favorite subjects." Jack grinned at the look Carter gave him, and pretended she was irked for different reason. "Yes, I know that isn't the last word in the modern dictionary Carter. It's an old version, sue me."
Carter crossed her arms, already knowing Jack was going to do his very best to corrupt their naive young visitor. "Maybe we can skip that one sir."
"Now, let's not censor her brilliant young mind, or are you going to take that black marker to redact everything you'd rather not have her find in there? Tsk tsk Carter." O'Neill shook his finger with a look of mock disappointment.
"Kryptonians….not...afraid of...affection." Kara deadpanned without looking up from the page she was on.
"There you have it then. The kid's up to speed already. You gonna eat the rest of that? I don't want you anorexic young lady. Don't worry, you'll get to that one soon." Jack chuckled as Kara rolled her eyes at him, but set aside the giant dictionary in favor of his chile. "If you're going to be like that though, I can put it away for a bit, unless you like the occasional fly in your chile."
"I ate now, I um...?" It seemed her insatiable curiosity was only matched by her insatiable hunger.
"You promise. I got ya. And damn straight you'll ate now." Jack's grin widened as Kara laughed with a mouthful of chile. His grin faltered a little as he met Carter and Teal'c's respective gazes, knowing what they were thinking since it had crossed his mind already. "While I have your attention kid, remember that crappy picture I drew you? That was a promise too, also known as an affirmation, you know, if you don't want to wait until you get to P."
Jackson was quick to catch onto O'Neill's line of thought, even though he didn't come right out and say it. "The only problem is that not everyone on our world is….so accepting Kara. If you're going to trust anyone, it would probably be best if you stuck with us." Daniel hesitantly explained, hating to admit that much of the human race was so horribly divided that they couldn't see past their own skin color, or political and religious beliefs half the time. In their line of work, it was usually a combination of all three, except the Goa'uld didn't care what you looked like, only that you weren't one of them.
Kara confirmed that she understood all too well what Daniel was saying. "Your...people are still...adolescents. Your people not...alone in um... arrogant? Apart?"
"Close enough kid. Homo Arrogantis might as well be our second name. Galactic life in all of its wonderful strife eh?" Jack deadpanned once more, earning a reluctant nod from the young blonde. "So, we aren't the only uncivilized idiots out there, good to know. Makes me feel so much better about our violent little blue rock."
"Personally, I think it's time for someone to..." Carter paged ahead in the dictionary and stuck her finger under a certain definition. "Slumber? Is there a page missing from this thing? Where's sleep?"
"On the couch next to you Carter?" Jack said, the first to notice Kara had dozed off right there on the couch between her and Daniel. "A hot meal, a warm blanket and good company. Works like a charm, huh?"
"Indeed." Teal'c stated, the barest hint of a smile on his face as he visibly seemed to relax, reclining deeper in his chair and showing no signs of leaving anytime soon. On some unspoken command, it seemed that the Jaffa had taken it upon himself to guard the young Kryptonian while she slept, leaving Jack, Daniel, and Carter to clean up the table.
Jack quietly took in what could almost be called a comical scene, if it weren't for the fact that he was mildly concerned about men in black suits bursting into the room at any moment. "Well kids, looks like we're gonna need a few more blankets. You can have the bed Carter, I'm going to dig out my old sleeping bag. Hope you like that seat Daniel, it's your new home until she wakes up." It gave him an excuse to use the key he still had in his pocket to seal up Kara's pod while he was looking around for said sleeping bag.
Carter took one look at the sleeping girl and grabbed a couch pillow, placing it behind her head. "With all due respect sir, I think I'll stay out here. It's nice to see she's resting peacefully, I wouldn't want to wake her up."
Daniel looked up then and turned to a quickly departing Jack. The hopeful look on his face said it all. "Um...in that case, about the bed-"
"Nope." Jackson got a faceful of pillow and blanket as Jack offered another blanket to Teal'c, who, unsurprisingly, politely refused the offer.
"I had a feeling you'd say that." Was all Daniel said as he got comfortable. It wasn't the worst sleeping arrangement he had ever had at least.
It was hard to miss the concerned look in Jack's eyes as he stared at his new house guest for a moment. While he had no doubt she was a good kid at heart, who knew what she remembered of her home and what she had endured to get to where she was now. "You sure sleeping next to her on that couch is a good idea Carter? Kid might have a nightmare or something."
Carter understood Jack's concern, but she shook her head before quietly replying to him. "Possibly, but I don't believe we have anything to worry about sir."
"Carter. That couch is like my favorite. Ever. Of all time. And I'm desperately hoping it's still going to be in one piece in the morning." It didn't take a mind reader to know Jack was far more concerned for the people under his roof than some old piece of furniture.
"Uh huh. You could just say you care Jack." It seemed it was Daniel's turn to deliver a deadpan response, much to Jack's annoyance as he switched the lights off, save for a hall light.
Instead of admitting anything of the sort, Jack stopped by his bedroom door and shot Jackson a glare in the dark room. "Lights out, that means no talking."
A single word, laced with wry amusement, was just loud enough to be heard in the now dimly lit room. "Indeed."
Endnotes: Nomad-117: So this was the first chapter, hope you all liked it. I don't know how all of this will turn out but it will be one hell of a ride.
Vergil1989; Once again, we owe Nomad-117 a lot of thanks for this awesome idea. I don't know how he came up with this one, I just know that it's very good, and I'm quite exciting to continue this. It probably helps I'm a damn SG-1 nerd, almost as badly as Star Wars lol. Joking aside, we hope you've enjoyed the start to this unique spin on one of the best sci-fi shows ever conceived.
Archer83; What Vergil said. But seriously, this this been a blast to write and I find myself itching to continue this story as well. Nomad-117 seems to come up with crazy, awesome, exciting ideas everyday so don't be surprised if you happen to see another story inspired by his imagination on my profile or Vergil's. As always, we appreciate thoughtful feedback, so send in those PMs and reviews and tell us what you thought of this latest collaboration with Nomad!