A/N: Well, I've had this sitting on my hard drive gathering dust for quite a few months now and I thought I'd just put it up and see what happened, since I've received so many reviews asking for more of Aria of the Crystal (Which just might be dead as a doornail). If you don't know the Stargate show, relax, because our favorite little green friends will arrive soon. 8D
Story takes place around the third season of TMNT, except it's a little AU because Traximus and his buddies managed to oust Zanramon before he got to Earth. Since SG-1's earth is oblivious to the existence of aliens, this is crucial. Also takes place around the 3rd season of SG-1.
"Did I already mention how bad a feeling I'm getting about this 'Blanque' fellow?"
"Indeed you have, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied, raising his eyebrows as he turned to look at the speaker. "Many times."
Daniel Jackson furrowed his brow and adjusted his round glasses. "Well I mean…He seemed to take in the fact that the Stargate goes other places a little too calmly. Most world leaders we've come across at least act a little surprised. Most world leaders with technology like that act a little surprised. And call me crazy but he was giving the MALP a weird look." The archeologist looked up as the thick side door to the Embarkation Room slid back into the wall.
Colonel Jack O'Neill stepped through at a relaxed jaunt, followed closely by Major Samantha Carter. Both wore identical gear to Teal'c and Daniel's: green fatigues with black vests and combat boots "Wellboy, all set for our little chat with the big cheese?" He fitted his green baseball cap snugly to his head and threw a suggestive look at Daniel.
"Um, no, actually, I'm not," Daniel muttered, shifting his stance.
"So what else is new?"
The speaker in the corner of the room crackled. "Chevron one engaged," one of the Gate personnel called out as the Stargate's inner ring began to circle around.
"I mean, since when has any world we visited which had an army official as its leader ever turned out well for our collective person?" Daniel continued, oblivious to O'Neill's frequent exasperated expressions. "The last few times we wound up as pawns in a war between two countries or locked in cages."
Major Carter looked at him. "Yeah, well, technically we're being led by military officials too."
"…Point," the archeologist conceded. Not willing to give up the battle yet, he started again. "But that look in his eyes didn't seem like the 'goodwill towards all life' kind."
"Chevron two engaged."
"Oh come on, Daniel, stop being so paranoid. You're acting like a little old lady," O'Neill said dismissively, pulling his fingerless black gloves on further. Teal'c raised one eyebrow but said nothing. Which wasn't really a surprise, considering that the Jaffa rarely said more than ten words in a day. "If Teal'c's not worried, I'm not worried."
"…When is he ever worried?"
O'Neill held up his index finger with a smile. "Exactly."
"Chevron three engaged."
Major Carter adjusted her P-90 and gave Daniel a warm smile. "I don't think we have much to be concerned about, Daniel; General Blanque seemed completely at ease when we first contacted," she said.
The archeologist pursed his lips. "And that doesn't have you the slightest bit concerned?" he persisted.
She paused and glanced at the spinning inner ring of the Stargate. "…No?"
"Chevron four engaged."
"Come on Daniel," O'Neill said with a wave of his hand. "The man said his planet was an inter-galactic trade center. That's too juicy a thing to leave untouched for the people running this place." The archeologist sighed. "Besides. Carter's just itching to get a look at their 'highly advanced pieces of technology'," he quipped in the woman's direction.
Carter gave him a long-suffering look and shifted. "But it's true. If what Blanque says is correct – " Daniel coughed suggestively. " – then D'Hoonib could offer us plenty of weapons and resources to keep the Goa'uld at the edge of the fence. Maybe even bring the fight to them for once."
"Chevron five engaged."
"Look, all I'm saying is maybe that we should exercise more caution on this one," Daniel said with a twitch of his eyebrows.
O'Neill gave him a weird look. "More than we usually do? Daniel, is that even possible?"
"It is indeed possible, O'Neill," Teal'c interjected in all seriousness. O'Neill turned to him and gave him the very driest of smiles.
"Chevron six engaged."
Daniel sighed. "Well I suppose there's no getting out of this one."
O'Neill now set his sarcasm on the archeologist. "Did you figure that out before or after General Hammond gave us the 'Okay'?"
"Chevron seven locked." The group turned to watch the unstable wormhole spring out of the 'gate like a horse out of the starting gate and withdraw to form the rippling puddle they had come to know so well. The 'gate room filled with dancing light.
"Time to go, kids," O'Neill said cheerfully, walking jauntily up the ramp. Teal'c inclined his head as he passed by. Then the Jaffa hefted his staff-weapon and the two disappeared into the shimmering wall, leaving nothing but ripples to show their passage. Carter looked at Daniel and shrugged slightly before following the colonel and the alien.
Daniel heaved a sigh. "And here we go." He entered the 'gate.
"Would this be a bad time to say I told you so?" Daniel asked as he watched O'Neill bounce a button from his SGC jacket off the wall and back.
"Why yes, Daniel, it would. Thanks ever so for asking." The colonel continued to bounce his button, looking extremely bored.
Blanque had double-crossed them, as the archeologist suspected he would. As soon as he and Major Carter emerged from the gate into D'Hoonib, they found numerous, bristling weapons pointed at them. O'Neill and Teal'c were on the ground, out cold. The two had immediately shown hostile intentions and were dealt with faster than they could blink. Carter and Daniel were herded into a cargo vessel (O'Neill and Teal'c dragged, of course) and locked inside cells in a prison complex of sorts. The cells were divided by clear walls and surrounded by the same material, excluding two solid walls on either side of the quad of cells. So when O'Neill woke up, Daniel and Carter knew right away that he was conscious by the undeniably miffed groan and the muttered curses. Teal'c, predictably, was more silent.
Carter leaned against her cell divider. "In the colonel's defense, it wasn't as if we really could've known Blanque would betray our trust," she said.
"Ahem."
"Sorry, Daniel."
"And yet, here we are," O'Neill deadpanned. The button clicked.
"Should we not be finding a means of escape, Major Carter?" Carter glanced toward Teal'c, who stood stoic in his usual position with his arms behind his back and legs at shoulder width. The Jaffa raised one eyebrow. "If General Blanque wants information on how to use the Stargate, he will be back very soon."
"What makes you think the traitorous bastard doesn't know how to use it already?" O'Neill asked bitterly. "He's already got cool gizmos coming out his ears. And the scientists who made them."
Daniel raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips. "Well, I mean, what other reason would we be rotting in cells for?"
O'Neill looked exasperated. "Entertainment? A sick prank? Some little friendly 'get-to-know-you-before-we-ally' crap? Breaking the ice?" Teal'c inclined his head curiously at all these terms but remained silent.
"You remember how long it took us to figure out the 'gate, sir," Carter said with a shrug. "It wouldn't be any different for a civilization who unearthed the 'gate barely five days ago. I mean, despite all their advanced technology, the 'gate system is very new to them. Without help it could take them almost as long as it did us."
"So much for superior brain power," the colonel scoffed, bouncing his button. "So what about an out?"
Carter bit her lip apprehensively. "These walls appear to be made of roughly the same technology as Goa'uld shields…only without the painful shock on contact. I'm not sure how to get them down, much less where to start."
"I fail to see how this helps us, Carter," O'Neill said with his usual tact. 'Clack clack' went the button.
"…Right, and we've escaped Goa'uld cells how many times now?"
"Oh shut up, Daniel."
Footsteps came from down the hall and O'Neill stopped bouncing his button. Three soldiers in D'Hoonibian gear walked past, arms behind their backs and spines ramrod straight. O'Neill guessed that they were putting on a show for somebody important. The three stopped at the corner of Daniel's cell and turned to face the four prisoners. Their faces might as well have been stone. He was nearly ready to mock their posture but held himself back. There were bigger fish to insult coming down the hall.
If the colonel could count the number of times that a megalomaniac had chosen to make his entrance with a small show of force, he'd be out of fingers. The Goa'uld and various evildoers performed evil things using such a tactic oh-so-many times when they desired to taunt SG-1 outside the bars (Or force field, depending who it was.). The said megalomaniac appeared next, significantly less concerned with looking disciplined than his officers. He stopped in front of the divider between Daniel and O'Neill's cells and gave them all a wicked grin. O'Neill was very unimpressed. This guy could learn about fifty things on how to make an entrance from the Goa'uld.
"And to what do we owe the honor of being visited in our dingy cells?" The colonel motioned with one hand to his surroundings. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Daniel stand and adjust his glasses.
The General sneered. "You should know well enough, Colonel O'Neill. I want that circular device activated for the Federation's use!" O'Neill was partly distracted by the jagged scar running up the right side of his face and through his eye that bulged when Blanque made any sort of expression. He blinked, looked back to the man's craggy face, and made a note to later mock him on the subject.
"Ah yes. Universal domination," he said, giving the man a hearty dose of his best 'bored' voice. "You know, I've heard that about a dozen times and let me tell you – "
"What even makes you think we'd tell you how?" Daniel cut in. O'Neill gave him a mournful look. The archeologist had a habit of interrupting his 'mocking the world leader' rants like clockwork. Oh, but such a question could never stump the General.
He scratched his chin. "Well, I was considering doing experiments on that symbiote of your friend's," he said, eyeing Teal'c. The Jaffa stiffened. O'Neill rolled his eyes in an attempt to keep from getting baited. In reality experimentation would probably kill the larval Goa'uld, taking Teal'c with it. He had to get the subject away from Junior somehow.
"I think he'd crack all your bones in half with his bare hands if you tried," the colonel replied cheerfully. He caught a glimpse of Carter trying to keep a straight face.
"Is that so?" Blanque smirked.
"Yes, it is terribly so," he said just as cheerfully as before.
The General leaned forward. "If not him, then I'm sure I could find laboratory use for you other three. My scientists are always eager to experiment on alien life forms."
"Oh, I dunno, we're pretty average, the three of us. Except for Daniel, he's got that rash – " The archeologist gave him an exasperated look. O'Neill shrugged. Daniel knew he was joking of course. But the General would be none the wiser. "And besides that, you don't really want all the weapons fire of Earth shot up your miserable ass, do you? Because old Hammond won't hesitate to blow you to smithereens if he finds you're not the friendly aliens we've been told you are."
Blanque sneered. "Your wretched planet is far too inferior to even scratch the Federation," he said with a wicked grin. He was very right (Which was of course a blow to the colonel's sense of Earthly pride) but O'Neill wasn't about to let him get ground in this petty discussion.
"As far as you know," he replied childishly, starting up the button once more. If he had learned anything when having been a captive of various alien races it was that the leaders hated nothing more than being partially ignored.
The General scratched his chin. "Well, if you four won't cooperate, I'm sure the other four green aliens from your miserable water-logged planet will."
Carter straightened, Daniel gave Blanque a weird look, and O'Neill raised his eyebrows.
"…Green…aliens?" Carter asked, puzzled. "What green aliens?"
"We um…we don't have any aliens on our planet," Daniel put in with his usual pointed-ness. "Besides Teal'c, that is."
"Martians maybe? Did they come from a red planet nearby and were they wearing broomstick tops on their helmets?" O'Neill asked, keeping a perfectly serious face. "Were they trying to blow Earth out of the way so they could see Venus better?"
"Oh, don't try to play stupid with me," he growled venomously, ruining the colonel's good mood for the moment. "They foiled my plans to get the Fugitoid's Teleportal device and my enemies took the opportunity to jail me with that idiot of a Triceraton Prime Leader!" He smacked his fist against the force field wall and sent shock waves rolling across it.
The team was silent for a few moments. That outburst had meant business. It would seem the aliens he talked of had stepped on a few toes the last time they had encountered the good General. But of course, O'Neill couldn't let him get away with that little tantrum.
"And that time in the big house taught you nothing of temper control," O'Neill said airily. Blanque pressed a button on a badge in his belt. There was a zap as a bolt of electricity shot out of the wall and O'Neill was down on the floor groaning.
"Colonel!" "Jack!" Carter and Daniel cried simultaneously, pressing against the force field. Teal'c's stone mask gave way to concern as his superior screwed his face up in pain.
Blanque turned to one of the three men on his right. "Take one of the green Tau'ri aliens to the lab on Level 8. We'll see if he's got information on the Fugitoid's whereabouts. If he's unwilling to cooperate, you have my permission to experiment on the symbiote until the other three are ready to tell us how to use this…Stargate." O'Neill emitted a weak growl.
The General looked down at the colonel. "I will get the means to destroy my enemies and conquer the galaxy one way or another, make no mistake," he said venomously. His and the soldiers' footsteps faded down the hall until they were gone.
Carter sighed and watched the colonel regain control of his limbs. "Oh, god…" He sat upright and rubbed his face. "Why do they always feel the need to do that?"
Daniel crossed his arms and leaned against the force field. "Well, you don't exactly put them in a good mood," he pointed out.
"It's what I do, Daniel."
"Are you alright, O'Neill?"
"Annoyed as hell but otherwise fine, thank you Teal'c."
Carter stood up and looked around her cell more thoroughly than before, peering closely at certain sections of the wall and standing on tip toes at points. Teal'c spoke up again, a rare feat. "General Blanque claimed he had found alien life forms among the Tau'ri. Were we not aware of this?" he asked, cocking his head.
Daniel glanced at him. "That's just the thing, though, Teal'c; we would know about it. Green aliens especially. They don't exactly blend like the Goa'uld." He stopped. "No, scratch that, the Goa'uld don't blend either with that superiority complex…"
"Oh, we'd have known about it unless those dogs at the NID got there first," O'Neill grunted. His dislike of the civilian organization and their inability to fight fair was well known amongst the SGC. In the past, a number of their very unsavory characters had tried many times to shut down the 'gate program, thankfully without success.
"I don't think so, Jack. If the NID had aliens, how would Blanque get a hold of them? I sincerely doubt they have technology like Asgard beams."
O'Neill looked up and gave Daniel an exasperated look. "Blanque and his smarmy squad of goons probably bribed them, I dunno."
"If the NID got in contact with Blanque somehow, there would've had to be a ship in or –"
"But there was," Carter interrupted, still probing her cell. "About 2 days ago."
Daniel and O'Neill looked up in surprise. Teal'c gave his usual eye brow raise.
"There was a ship in orbit?" Daniel asked, blinking.
"And how the hell did we not hear about this?" O'Neill demanded, giving Carter a sharp look.
She shrugged. "Well sir, it was only in orbit for maybe an hour. It came and left very quickly."
"Rather sloppy on your part."
"At first, telemetry didn't even place it as a ship. It was using too little energy; probably cloaked. We thought it was just some weird energy signature making its way through space. But then the energy readings spiked for a brief moment and the ship left Earth and made a hyperspace window. After that we lost it."
O'Neill grunted. "There's a new wrinkle."
Teal'c spoke up again. "Perhaps the energy burst was something akin to transport rings," he offered.
"It's not entirely impossible," Carter said with a nod.
O'Neill now noticed her inspecting the walls. "Carter, what are you doing?" he demanded.
She looked back. "I'm trying to find where that shock that knocked you down might have come from, sir. I'm assuming there's one in each cell."
"…Is that an intelligent thing to do?" he asked grumpily.
"Well sir, if I can find an access panel of some sort where the power is routed to let a shock leap from one point to another point, I may be able to disable the force field in my cell. Or possibly all four."
O'Neill squinted at her. "Alrighty then, carry on," he said dismissively, picking up the button he had been bouncing before Blanque had come to chat. He began to bounce it against the wall once more.
Daniel had himself glued to the hallway-facing force field in his cell, looking out at the prisoners across it. Most of them didn't even look like anything they had encountered before. One of them even resembled a triceratops. He had a zigzagging scar across his left eye. Scabs and lacerations covered his body. Daniel wondered if that was one of the Triceraton creatures Blanque had so acidly mentioned. The alien looked up tiredly and locked eyes with the archeologist for a brief moment. The man waved tentatively. The alien let his eyes droop again.
"Well I think I see one of those Triceraton things Blanque mentioned. He looks like he's in bad shape," he said to anyone who would listen.
"Wonderful, Daniel," O'Neill said unenthusiastically. 'Clack clack' went the button.
"Ow! Hold it down, Felms!" THUD. "FRACK! You're gonna regret that, you green midget!"
Daniel perked up. "And I think I see one of those green aliens he talked about." Two soldiers walked down the hallway toward SG-1 complex. Between them they held a green creature wearing a red strip of cloth around what appeared to be its head.
"Ugh…hold…still and I won't have to shoot you."
"When I get outta here, you're gonna wish you'd shot yourself, Igor! Oof!"
"Man, I hope they remove a limb or two in that lab…ACK! Why you – "CRACK. There went the butt of the blaster over the alien's head.
"Ow…yeah, nice shot, pansy. Might've knocked out your grandma – " Oh, and there went the fist into the gut again. The alien slumped with a grunt and the two soldiers dragged it by its shackled arms.
As they passed by, Daniel heard it list under its breath some unpleasant uses for a Sai that he (judging by voice timbre) would be happy to inflict on Blanque and his cronies, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Then they were past SG-1's cells but the noise still lingered as the alien struggled against the guards. The archeologist slash linguist turned to speak to the rest of the team.
"Well, he sounded Earth enough. I place the accent in Brooklyn, New York City," he said, adjusting his glasses. "And he even mademovie references."
"Yeah, but how would something like that be from Earth?" O'Neill asked. "Unless of course there was oh…say, a chemical spill in New York and the crocodiles we all know are down there mutated, but that's completely absurd."
"I guess the only way to find out would be to ask them, sir." Carter stepped back from the wall, a satisfied look on her face. There was a small access panel opening revealed near the ceiling, the door swung open.
Teal'c inclined his head. "And how do you intend to do that, Major Carter?" His answer came when the force fields for all four cells went down in a shimmering curtain. O'Neill stood up quickly and awarded her a grin.
"Nice work, Carter," he said happily. "I was wondering when that geek skill of yours would kick in."
She rolled her eyes. "Thank you, sir." Teal'c looked down his and Carter's hallway.
"There appear to be no guards stationed in this area for now," the Jaffa stated.
"Oh goodie. Now if only I had my P-90, zat, and C4s," O'Neill half lamented, peering around his corner as well. "No guards here either."
"I think we should head down that way. If we want answers to that E.T.'s on Earth thing, we're going to have to get them from the other three aliens," Daniel said, jerking his head down his and O'Neill's hallway.
Carter nodded. "We're going to have to be cautious, sir. We're unarmed and there's no telling where our weapons are or if a shift of guards will be coming soon." O'Neill nodded as well and gave the signal to move down the hallway.