DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything from Stargate! I own Ahmes, but I do not own her as a species from the Stargate franchise…if that makes sense. This is set when the SG-1 series starts 3 years after the movie rather than the canon 1 year and some months. Ahmes is 12 years old, almost 13.
FAR FROM ABYDOS
! ~ SG1 ~ !
CHILDREN OF THE GODS
As far as Jack O'Neill was concerned, it had been a very pleasant day. The thought that there was an alien incursion from an ancient object and an abduction of an airman, never once crossed his mind. The sale of tackle, however, was very much dominating his brain most of the day, along with the extra-terrestrial fishing enthusiast that brought along the promotion magazines so they wouldn't get swindled.
Ahmes was good at a lot of things but numbers were not one of them. Highly amusing to Jack because math and music were the only two subjects at school that she almost failed in, everything else she excelled in were several years higher than what others in her year level were taught. One student who was absolutely brilliant in math was the only reason Ahmes made it into the next grade. He was a shy boy with brains, but a boy with brains, so Jack didn't like him no matter how sweet Ahmes advocated him to be. He had his eye on Eli Wallace; his contact in the investigating profession refused to go along with his protective dad duties.
Aside from the one boy, there were few other kids that Ahmes hung around with. They came from military families and having one or both parents away from a few months to a couple of years was something Ahmes understood, having been protected on Abydos and only being visited by Ra once a year. Having gone from this situation to having Jack around all the time, once his retirement was approved, was an adjustment period for both of them, which is where fishing came in handy. Not that they caught anything.
Ahmes always said that she didn't mind whenever the subject came up, telling him her heart remains with Abydos. They had worshipped her as a daughter of their God and respected her as their friend. And just like every other night the past three years, Jack and Ahmes were on his roof with the telescope trying to find Abydos, or at least one of the Al'kesh Ra had placed around the planet. Earth was one of his Protected Independent planets from the deal He and Jack made some time ago, or rather something the decorative parasite had added in before leaving Ahmes on Earth in Jack's care.
They never found either planet or ship.
So, when it came to well after dark that same day Airmen knocking at his door while he stared up into space through his telescope it wasn't a good sign. One climbed up the ladder that lead to his roof and asked for him.
"Colonel Jack O'Neill?" One asked.
"Retired," Jack corrected him.
"I'm Agent Samuels," he introduced.
"Air force?" Jack adjusted his telescope.
"Yes sir," Samuels said. "I'm the Generals Executive Officer." Jack kept looking out and told him to consider getting reassigned to NASA. A lot of action was going to come from that area soon. Samuels said that he was supposed to bring Jack in to see General Hammond, who replaced General West. Jack's focus continued on the sky until Samuels gave him one sentence,
"It has to do with the Stargate." Jack knew this could not be good. The pentagon had all but buried that thing after the Abydos mission after returning with a mission complete and without one Daniel Jackson. A small ball of dread started to grow in his chest at the sound of the device he hadn't seen for three years.
"Give me a few minutes," he asked Samuels. The two men made their way down the ladder, Jack after the uniformed airman, and Jack went around the house to go inside. He didn't need to actively know the layout of the house to get to his destination, which was usually one place this time of night.
The door to his study was ajar, a habit Ahmes had developed when she was introduced to the object. He had never been so amused of a door until he saw her reaction to it. Abydos only had the big gate to block out sandstorms and Ra's ship didn't have many which had surprised Jack when he got the grand tour three years back before Ahmes was formally placed in his care. Ra's words, not Jack's. Apparently anyway. Daniel had paraphrased during that last visit when the treaty between Earth and Ra was finalized.
Ahmes was asleep on the floor surrounded with papers and equations on Astrophysics. Jack pretended to listen to her whenever he was in a good mood; otherwise he took the science monstrosities and hid them in one of his very secret places. The princess still wasn't too sure about the layout of the house so he managed to stay a few steps ahead of her. She was annoyingly smart when she wanted to be.
He bent down and shook her shoulder to wake her up, careful to avoid the paper she was planning to send in to some university professor. Her golden-flecked eyes blinked open to see the blurry outline of her Tau'ri guardian.
"What happen?" she slurred in English. She usually woke up in bed when she fell asleep no matter where she had been. Several times, her last memories involved scattered papers in the office or living room, even the telescope on the roof, but every time she woke the next morning to the alarm clock while wrapped in her sheets.
"We gotta go somewhere," he whispered. Ahmes groaned and said something in Abydonian. She didn't have as many velar fricative* whenever she spoke in the goa'uld tongue, it was a harsher language he wasn't fond of.
Jack shook his head with a smirk and picked her up from the floor, the slightly larger body of her childhood almost limp in his grasp.
"I'm sorry sir, she can't come with us," Samuels told Jack.
"She's almost asleep," Jack said, pointing as Ahmes leaned against him and started falling to the ground. "She'll be on her best behaviour. Scouts honour." The two officers looked at each other as Jack took the girl into his arms and headed for the car. His chauffer's just shook their heads, following the civilian their commanding officer called for. Ahmes was well and truly asleep again when they reached Cheyenne Mountain, her open mouth threatening to drool on Jack. He called their neighbour from the phone in the car and left a message on their answering machine to pick up Ahmes' dog from the vet when it opens. Jack was pretty sure they wouldn't be out of the facility by that then.
Their drive in was silence and once the car passed the entrance gate Jack started reminiscing about his last visit to Cheyenne Mountain and her deep secret.
The ex-military man got out of the car, his side door held open by one of the airmen, and gently pulled the tween out with him. The civilian duet earned a few extra looks from the in-service men before they passed, the surface elevator taking them down to sub-level 11.
With Ahmes still asleep at sub-level 3 Jack decided to wake her up. He only gave a quick warning to their escort before the usual alarm he gave the girl.
"Amaurobius ferox," Jack whispered into Ahmes' ear. Her eyes shot open instantly, black pupils becoming very small very quickly. She leapt away from her guardian and began swatting at herself, moving around in a circle at the same time while vocally displaying her fear of the arachnid. Ahmes continued in this fashion for five more levels before the realisation came to her that Jack wasn't helping like a usually did when a spider crawled up on her body.
The girl shot him a dirty look and quickly followed after him before the elevator doors opened, Jack smirking and the other human present managing to keep his own amused grin off his face. Jack took Ahmes' hand when they stepped out of the elevator, her curious eyes taking in everything about the facility he had told her about. Her only thoughts of the location involved it being the place that reconnected their two worlds, gifting her not only with a new father but becoming an ambassador of peace and trust. Those last two are more restricted to just Jack O'Neill.
"Hey," Jack said to bring Ahmes back to the present. She snapped her gaze back to him when he clicked his fingers in front of her. "Let's go." Catching the man at the desk checking a clipboard the girl followed. Then again because Jack still held her hand Ahmes was pretty much dragged into the second elevator their escort told them about.
"I've been here before," Jack told him. The girl with him smiled at the airman as he pushed the button to descend, earning a smile and nod returned to her. Her own grew as the elevator began to move again. She loved this contraption, hoping that Ra would invite it to the worlds whose technology matches what Earth currently uses. The spider comment evaded her joy from the previous ride.
The trio stopped on the lower sub-level and were handed off to another man, Samuels having not been properly introduced to Ahmes beforehand. This one Ahmes sensed some tension from and wasn't sure how to handle easing it. It was easy with classmates and some of the adults she knew. But this time she let him ignore her and followed Jack to a door he knocked on.
"Why is the door closed?" Ahmes asked. She was used to a rule that all or most doors remain open.
"So top secret stuff stays top secret," Jack whispered with a wink. Ahmes copied him getting the gist of the real reason. Both civilians entered the room at a Texan accented voice that gave permission to enter. Samuels introduced the civilian duet to his commanding officer, both reminding the military duo that Jack was in fact retired. The man behind the desk raised one of his thinning eyebrows at the distinct differences between the accents of who he presumed were father and daughter.
"Me, I'm on my last tour. Time to start getting my thoughts together, maybe write a book," Hammond prattled on trying to get his two guests comfortable. "You ever thought about writing about your exploits in the line of duty?" Jack replied rather relaxed and made a tired joke that even Ahmes didn't find funny. Both military men also remained silent at the shooting people joke.
"Most of my work the past ten years has been classified." Jack explained.
"Yes, of course," Hammond replied. Ahmes looked up at the edges of the room, looking around for any spiders that may move on their large, human prey. Samuels kept her movements in his sight. She hadn't been mentioned in any part of O'Neill's personal files and appeared only as he retired. Her own documents said she was an orphan from Egypt O'Neill adopted but there was so much scarce that he doubted it was all the information about her.
"Major Samuels mentioned something about the Stargate," Jack directed to Hammond. He caught both Ahmes and Samuels attention back to what was going on right now.
"Down to business," Hammond confirmed. "I can do that." He stood and had them follow him out of his office. Ahmes blinked and began rubbing the corner of her mouth between her teeth. Jack wanted to do something similar too. If what Hammond has to say instead has to be shown, then the Stargate has brought bad news recently.
That little presumption was solidly confirmed when they were taken to the facility infirmary. Both assumed their soldiers had fought well but the sight of bodies covered in sheets proved otherwise. The doctor nodded as he was introduced and bared one of the deceased foes to the civilian visitors.
"They're not human," he told them.
"You think," Jack remarked sarcastically. Ahmes swallowed as her throat quickly dried and took a step back. The men in suits thought it was because she had not seen a dead body, and an alien one at that, but Jack could see she knew what this person was and why they had come through the Stargate.
The doctor further explained what he had found out from the alien corpses' pouch, something Ahmes did know about but had not seen so close before. Jack put an arm around Ahmes as she took shallow breaths, watching the corpse closely while the men continued speaking. Hammond revealed that several more had come through killing four of their people and kidnapping another.
At the mention of advanced weapons, a soldier brought forth a staff weapon both Jack and Ahmes were very familiar with. Samuels confessed that they hadn't been able to figure out how they worked, which Jack responded to by demonstrating. His experience with it on Abydos returning along with the subtle reminder of the one he had 'hidden' beside his wardrobe chest.
"Seen one before, I take it," Hammond commented suspiciously, eyeing Jack as he handed the staff weapon back to the five star General.
"There were no creatures like this on Abydos, those people were human. They were from Earth. Ra brought them there thousands of years ago." Jack explained, remembering the ruins none-too-fondly.
"I know all about that," Hammond said softly, mindful of the girl with Jack. "But your report said this Ra was some kind of alien that lived inside a human body."
"Yeah. His eyes glowed. That was our first clue." Ahmes didn't remember her Lord Father losing composure to that extent when she was there during his talk with Daniel and Jack. Hammond stepped closer and asked Jack if he was sure that Ra was dead, responded to by another sarcastic comment about the falsified mission report. The General told them that another man who retreated through the Stargate had glowing eyes.
Ahmes stiffened in Jack's arm and he remained silent, unsure about what to say or do next. He made a deal with Ra and the alien knew the consequences of betraying them would cost a great deal of pain to the girl he held. And Ra had arrived to Earth by ship last time, not through the Stargate, assuring that the handoff would be completed secretly. Neither had seen him for nearly three years.
Hammond guided the two back to his office, Samuels holding the rear for security, and asked Jack what he felt about the Stargate since he last went through. Ahmes, who had already been tense upon seeing the Jaffa, felt her heart begin beating faster when they came across the old team, speaking softly in the Abydonian tongue. Jack went from answering the General's question to asking the questions himself, doubting only slightly that they would reveal the truth behind their last mission through the Earth Stargate.
Ahmes was dragged along and all the English she had learned since her arrival on the planet flew out of her head. She couldn't understand what the men were saying until faced with the gate itself and a weapon similar to the one Ra had disabled the last time they were all on Abydos.
"My God," Jack gasped.
"Dad," Ahmes whimpered, "what they doing?" They both had widened eyes and open mouths, their grips on each other becoming tighter.
"You're sending another bomb?" Jack asked.
"Mark-5 this time," Hammond confirmed. "If these creatures did reopen the Abydos gate, we intend to reseal it for good."
"General, you can't do that," Jack protested against Hammond's plan. Hammond told him that unless there was something to add the countdown would continue. Jack and Ahmes knew that the General, and most likely several others, caught onto the fictions of the submitted mission report.
Jack took a few moments and pulled Ahmes close to him, the dark girl clinging to him as he confessed to the General that the mission report was falsified by all men. Daniel Jackson was alive with the people on Abydos; the threat to Earth was eliminated; the bomb did detonate but not on the planet. Everything aside from the talk with Ra and the fact that he was alive or the deal he man with the alien. Both civilian and General raised their voices to each other, arguing about the fact of another world and people, Hammond getting the last word in.
"Take these two to the holding room," he commanded to the other soldiers. "Let's give Colonel O'Neill some time to think about things while I figure out what to do with him." Jack looked towards the gate, not sure about what to do now, and allowed the guards to escort him and Ahmes to the holding room.
Kawalsky stood in front of the two as soon as they entered the open door, saluting to O'Neill. Jack made another retort about his retirement to his friend and both shook hands. Whether or not Ahmes was from another planet, Kawalsky had his fun with her during the deep mocking bow she hated.
"Me and Freddie didn't tell them anything," Kawalsky assured Jack and Ahmes. Ahmes smirked and nodded, knowing he would never say anything.
"I appreciate that," Jack said, smacking his friend's arm.
"Hey, those kids on Abydos saved my life too," Kawalsky replied. "And I ain't too keen of Ra making a special visit." He made a pointed gaze to the girl who had taken his bed as her seat. She stuck her tongue out to him as a retort, earning a chuckle from both men at how 'Earth etiquette' it was. They sat at the table and Jack grunted in pain when Ahmes decided to sit on his lap, not wanting to be left out.
"They're the whole reason we kept the secret, right?" Kawalsky said, his words including Ahmes with the others. He smiled remembering kid who was with Ahmes a lot. "That one kid idolized you. Weird name. What was it?"
"Skaara," Jack told him, voice deep and soft at the reminder of both the boy and his son. Ahmes perked up at the name of her dearest friend.
"Remember how he always saluted you?" Ahmes smiled with Kawalsky, imagining how Skaara had been like with Jack. Skaara had seen him like that strong older brother you admire because he is always so cool.
"My kids used to do that when he was little," Jack confessed. "Skaara kind of reminded me of him." Ahmes started rubbing the corner of her mouth between her teeth again. The only time Jack had yelled at her in rage was when she pushed him too far after she found out about Charlie. She leaned her head against Jack's neck while Kawalsky was told the boy had died just before the Abydos mission.
Pain, pain, go away, Ahmes chanted in her head when she felt the hole in Jack start to grow again. Hammond entered the room and Kawalsky stood straight immediately, as expected from a man still in service. Jack nudged Ahmes to get off and stood slower than the other.
"How many people did you say you saw on Abydos?" Hammond asked.
"That we saw, maybe, five thousand," Jack answered.
"If rites and ways have changed it could be many more," Ahmes put in. She paled slightly after realising that her previous home was not recorded as the other world.
"And how would you know that?" Hammond eyed her. Ahmes swallowed when he asked again, reminding her and Jack that the mission had been confidential under the espionage and treason acts.
"Yeah," Jack said slowly. "Gotta tell you something else, sir." Kawalsky took Ahmes' hand, noting how warm it was considering it was cold both outside and inside the facility, and lead her out of the room.
"Wanna get something to eat?" Kawalsky asked, leading the girl to the mess.
"What about dad?" Ahmes replied, eyes wide. A clearly raised voice made her and looked back in the direction they had left Jack in.
"I think he'll be a while," Kawalsky sighed. "You kinda blew the 'adoption from Egypt' angle he had when you put your two cents in." Ahmes looked to the ground and whimpered slightly. She was so dead. In several ways here to the next century!
"I'm sure they got some jello around here," Kawalsky said trying to calm the princess. He let go of her hand and threw his arm over her shoulders; earning a huff from the force he slammed her with. Ahmes glared at him, the lights passing overhead making the yellow flecks of her iris' sparkle. Kawalsky smirked and dragged her to get some food, he was hungry too.
There wasn't much in the way of food for kids but Ahmes didn't complain. She got stuck into a few weapons magazines and her question for each kept both busy for the hours Hammond was with Jack. Both reappeared and Jack looked a little worse for wear. Ahmes noted how off the shade of red looked on his face.
"O'Neill tells me Ra disabled the connection between Earth and Abydos," Hammond directed to Ahmes.
"He did in front of me after Tau'ri go back," she confirmed. "Lord Father wants me to learn of Stargate. I am to take his place when I grow."
"So the alien from before is definitely not Ra," Hammond asked.
"Most likely," Ahmes said. "Tau'ri are legend to us. Only Abydos know of truth. Lord Father control many worlds and has enemies that may have found this one."
"There are more?!" Hammond was turning the same red as O'Neill. Ahmes knew the biological process and reasoning but she was still nervous about it actually happening.
"I think only a few. But Lord Father make sure they dead when he take me. He promise I stay safe." Ahmes told the General. "Maybe we try to get to Abydos, just to be sure. Lord Father say they are sneaky bastards." Kawalsky snorted and Jack stared wide-eyed at the girl. He didn't mind her using that sort of speech at home but not in front of a FIVE STAR GENERAL!
"I'm open to suggestions," Hammond sighed after taking a few moments to calm down. Jack took the closest tissue box and told the soldiers to start the gate, everyone following after him.
"If this comes back we'll go through," Jack explained. Kawalsky and Ahmes understood after that but Hammond asked him for more details of the concept, suggesting they just send a probe.
"Jackson has allergies," Jack told him. "He'll know this came from me and not from someone," he paused for a moment, "with all due respect sir, like yourself."
"And it prove if Abydos gate is reconnected," Ahmes mumbled beside Kawalsky. He patted her head while watching the gate. The Lieutenant announced the seventh chevron was locked and Ahmes deflated a bit when the two worlds connected.
Why bring them together again, Ahmes wondered. She had seen him take the crystal out that allowed the gate to work. Had something happened on Abydos that they needed to have the gate for? Many similar thoughts began wandering into and around her mind causing a lot of concern for the world to rise up within.
Jack walked up to the gate and threw the tissue box in. The Lieutenant announced the object would reach the destination in five seconds. Ahmes barely heard him and watched the target pin move over to the location Abydos was locked in. It stopped and not long after the gate turned off, Jack returning.
"If Daniel's still around he'll know what the message means," he explained, flicking Ahmes hidden forehead through her fringe as he passed. She held her hands up to try and rub the sharp pain away.
"What if the aliens get it," Samuels asked. Ahmes kept the snide remark about aliens she thought of to herself.
"Well, they could be blowing their noses right now," Jack sighed out, somewhat sarcastically. Ahmes giggled at the image that appeared in her head.
"They could be planning an attack," Samuels retorted.
"They're miners in a desert who barely know how to read or write with civilisation thousands of years behind," Ahmes spoke, choosing to actually say something this time. "I thought military was supposed to be smart!" she aimed at Jack. He smirked at the girl he was raising and flicked her chin, earning the same reaction.
"Sir, this could take some time," Jack told Hammond. The military men left and the duo waited in the conference room in sight of the Stargate. Ahmes spent most of the time going through all written research on the Stargate that was in the facility, Jack having gotten annoyed at her questions and sent her to face the corner of the room several times. She had chosen to annoy Hammond after the last time-out when the Stargate was being dialed from off-world, the papers practically thrown without a care as she rushed to the active wormhole.
The box was sent back through, now empty Ahmes quickly found. She smiled at the message written on and dusted some of the sand off then handed it to Jack. He threw it to Samuels who showed it to Hammond, both men slightly disgusted by the girl when looking back up and seeing her rubbing the alien sand over her face.
"I miss Abydos. I take what I get!" she snipped at them.
"Permission to take a team through the Stargate sir," Jack requested happily, his head wiggling slightly.
"Assuming I get the president's authorization," Hammond confirmed. "The mission briefing will be at 0800 hours. Consider yourself recalled to active duty Colonel." Samuels walked away with Hammond looking a little less than happy about the situation.
Hope you enjoyed the first installment for Children of the Gods. As the episode is a movie-length episode I intend to keep episodes together in one setting and have the stories separated by the series, but let me know if it is better to have them as one episode per story or several installments for the one episode.
Let me know what you think and what you would like to see. As Ahmes is an OC in the fanfic, it is easier to adjust outcomes if she does something different from the original episodes. Have a little fun with me~!
Velar Fricative: a consonant sound in several languages, sounds like building phlegm in the back of your throat (look it up for better understanding).