Thank you to those who have read and reviewed. I can tell that there's interest. That said, here's the next chapter and that the gate dial-out in chapter one is explained there, it was a remote signal that called it (see the 2nd paragraph of chapter 1). But on with the story.
"Where am I, who are you?" The person asked, standing up from the chair, looking at the alien female standing on board Destiny. This is when the person looked down at herself and noticed, she was not in a human body, but the aliens as well. Wow, 4 arms, light green skin, a female body and about the same height as she was back on Earth. She noticed as well, that the female alien was armed and instead of the light green skin colour of the body she inhabited, the other alien's was almost ruby in tone.
"I am Lt. Ger and who are you?" the Lt asked back.
"I am Lt. Samantha Park." Park replied. "Am I a prisoner? Have you taken the ship's crew of ours hostage?"
"No, we are explorers and noticed your ship coming into our solar system about 5 months ago, we knew of the porta astra aboard and were able to dial it and have been on the ship for about 5h. Your crew are still in stasis though and seem to be fine." Ger replied.
Meanwhile on Earth.
"Where am I, who are you and oh, I'm in another person's body." the Commander said. Noticing that the language wasn't a Hi'Ak language; but due to the body she was in, she could now understand.
"Sit right there and don't move." A SF Sergeant said, pulling out his side-arm and then with his free hand, dialing the Control Room.
"Hi, this is Sergeant Chuong down in the Asgard Comms room, we have contact with Destiny; but it's not the Icarus crew. Send down the Colonel immediately... Okay, take the person upstairs, understood sir." the Sergeant said, hanging up the receiver.
"Please come with me." He continued.
Up two flights of stairs and into the boardroom of the SGC, Commander Gerani was escorted by now two SFs.
"Sam, sorry to ask; but I know you're in the lab, can you take this, Aza isn't going to be in any shape to do it." Dr. Sheila Tam radioed through to her friend, knowing that Aza was presently half undressed, having an exam and also looking very green. Colonel Aza Somo was down seeing Dr. Tam in the infirmary, having had really bad morning sickness and being on base now as opposed to out in the field. That said, General Carter-O'Neill-O'Neill was on base, as a recent find had only just come in the day before and there were concerns that taking it off base to Area 60 wasn't yet determined to be wise. So, the Tau'ri head of R&D had come to the base instead and was the senior officer on base when the stones were active.
So, dressed in a BDUs and looking no where near the stereotype of a general, Sam quickly found herself upstairs in the boardroom, just as the guest and the two SFs came up. Muscle memory and long familiarity with the SGC meant she knew where to go to get around the base fast.
"Sergeant, who do we have here?" Asked Major General Samantha Carter-O'Neill-O'Neill.
"I am, that sounds odd, your language I mean, to my ears. Sorry, I am Commander Far'na Gerani of the Hi'Ak Expeditionary team aboard your ship, the Destiny." Commander Gerani said, going to reach out her hand to General Carter-O'Neill when she, Gerani looked down to realize, she didn't have two pairs of arms; but only one.
"Okay, so you're aboard the Destiny, how are the crew and why aren't one of them here, as that is what we'd have generally expected?" Carter-O'Neill asked.
"We gated aboard the ship, General, about 5h ago and saw the ship wasn't in great shape, we didn't want to wake your crew as we are running the majority of systems aboard her via generators we brought aboard with us. The ship's power is critically low and we didn't want to stress it anymore than needed until we knew more. I was in a room with a box with what looked like carved stones, when I touched one and here I was." Gerani replied.
"Okay, please stay here for a moment and I have to contact some people before we go any further." Carter-O'Neill responded, getting up and heading into her office.
"General O'Neill please, this is Carter-O'Neill for him." Carter-O'Neill spoke into the phone, the call being routed to the Tau'ri Command Centre on St. Helena Island in the Atlantic.
"Sir, he's busy and..." The person on the other end said.
"Sorry, let me restate, I am Major General Carter-O'Neill-O'Neill, I have to speak to Jack O'Neill immediately, this is not something that can wait. Understand?" Carter-O'Neill said.
"Right sir. Putting you through to the General now."
"Hi Sam, what's up?" Jack asked his wife.
"Sir... Sorry Jack, but we have a situation here that I know you and Telford will want to be present." Sam said.
"Okay, I'll be there in a moment. You sound on edge though, what happened?" Jack asked.
"Beyond why I need you here, it was just the person who picked up the call didn't know who I was and didn't think it was important to connect me through to you. It is nothing though really." Sam said. "See you in a moment though. Love you." and with that, Carter-O'Neill hung up the phone.
Walking back into the boardroom, Carter-O'Neill was joined moments later, as she was going to re-seat herself, by the sudden appearance via Asgard beam technology, by her husband, General Jack O'Neill and Brigadier General David Telford. All were looking good for their ages, but still they were older.
Commander Gerani, stood to attention as O'Neill and Telford materialized and Carter-O'Neill stood up and shook hands.
"Generals, may I introduce you to Commander Gerani of the Hi'Ak, a race that has recently boarded the Destiny." Carter-O'Neill said, as first Jack O'Neill and then David Telford reached over and shook Commander Gerani's hand.
"A pleasure to meet you three, you're all human, I assume?" Gerani asked of the three.
"Yes, and that's the way we'd like to remain." Jack said, with a smile on his lips, thinking back to when early on, his old team, SG1, had been on mission and some had been affected and regressed to Neanderthal like states. He looked sideways at Sam and saw her smile a little too at the comment, knowing exactly what he was referring too.
"Sorry, I didn't catch the meaning; but it matters not." Commander Gerani said.
"Commander, so, how are the crew of the Destiny and why haven't you awoken them?" Telford asked, matter-of-factly.
"As I explained to General Carter-O'Neill and O'Neill, we only just came aboard the ship, as you call it Destiny, a couple of hours ago and though we found your crew in stasis, we haven't woken them up, as the ship's power is very low and we didn't want to stress the systems more then we already have by using our generators to bring up needed systems. We also don't have much additional power, maybe enough to awake 2-3 people and seek their help with the ship." Gerani replied.
Over the next hour, Jack, Sam and David tried to get as much out of Gerani as possible about the ship's status, crew, etc., as well as her race and where the ship was. At the same time, it was obvious to Gerani that as she asked questions of them and gained knowledge, that Earth was farther away then she'd ever or any report on Hi'Ak had surmised, ever thought the Destiny was from. Also, she learned that the year, by human dating, was 2020 and that the Destiny was 5-6 years (as humans called it) overdue for contact and waking up. She had given them also the location of where her solar system was and where, in comparison to the two galaxies that is was between, in relation to Earth, once Sam had done some work on it. It turned out the ship was over 4.6 billion light-years from Earth, in a straight line. If taken as actually travelled, it was over 8.1 billion light years away.
"Well, we should let you get back to your crew and the Destiny's as well, I think." Carter-O'Neill said, with O'Neill nodding approval and Telford as well, though reluctantly, as the crew would be at a disadvantage. Though, he knew what that was like, thinking back to the time he spent with the Ursini.
Back on the Destiny, Sergeant Park had been able to talk with and started to get to know information about the Hi'Ak, their reason for being on the ship and how the Icarus team were doing, in stasis.
Suddenly, Lt. Samantha Park and Commander Far'na Gerani returned to their bodies.
"Lt. Park?" General Telford asked.
"Yes sir, I'm back." Lt. Park replied.
Over the next hour, being debriefed by Generals O'Neill, Carter-O'Neill-O'Neill and Telford, it became fairly clear the Hi'Ak were not an issue as far as could be determined. Once Park was dismissed, Sam was able to give back the SGC command to David Telford. He reported to her, thence to Jack O'Neill; though where Telford headed the SGC, Sam was head of Tau'ri R&D on and off-world, with Jack being the overall head of Tau'ri Military Forces on and off-world. The only missing part was Brigadier General John Sheppard, who was head of PEGCOM and the likeliest successor to General O'Neill as head of the TMF. But it was also known that that would mean relocating to Earth and John was very happy at home in Atlantis.
"David, sorry to take first contact away from you when you were seeing Jack." Sam said, a smile just starting. It was known that though Telford was a strict military man and initially wasn't the best at first contact; that though, had changed having been heightened really by his time with the Ursini and the broadening of his outlook through it.
"Sam, that's fine. But why didn't Colonel Somo deal with this, I thought you were only coming in to look at SG24's find?" Telford said.
"Sorry sir, I was down seeing Dr. Tam. Looks like my maternity leave is going to have to start sooner then we thought." Colonel Somo said, as a wave to nausea washed over her and she barely kept it in.
"Okay, Aza, you're on leave now. I hope you delivery is quick and happy. Do you need help to get home?" Telford asked as Jack walked over and leaning into Aza's ear, asking her address.
"Luna base, beam Colonel Somo home and please inform the Hebridean Ambassador that his wife is going home for maternity leave." O'Neill said, speaking into his comm device. In a flash of light, Somo was gone and arrived at home moments later.
After a quick chat, the three generals headed their own ways; Telford to his office, Sam to her old lab room, to work on the recent finding, Jack tagging along to chat with his wife.
As the two of them came down the stairs into the Control Room, old colleagues said hellos, as many new arrivals and SG teams awaiting departure were treated to two of the most highly decorated heroes in all Earth and Tau'ri history, being more then just names and faces on TV. Chatter in the gate room as funny, as newly arrived rookies to the Stargate Program looked up at legends.
"Walter, dial up the gate for these fine teams getting ready for their trips." Jack said, patting the stalwart of the SGC on the shoulder.
"SG teams, get ready to head out. And cut the chit-chat, we're only here to observe... Not like this is an official visit." Jack said, Sam's chuckle audible over the PA which Walter had switched over from just the gate room to the entire base, just to prank his former CO.
Having watched the teams head out, Jack and Sam ambled down the hallways to her old lab, familiar corridors that they could navigate blind.
"See you in a couple of hours?" Jack asked, able to let down his guard for a moment. Though looking nowhere near his 67 years (medical advances, don't you know), he was suddenly tired and wanting to actually relax.
"Yes, and go home, take an actual nap. I'll see you at home." Sam replied. She was just about to turn 52 and had a hunch that Jack was going to throw her a birthday to remember. They'd finally married 8 years ago and though they both wished they were younger and were able to have kids of their own, it was like they had, with Jon and Cassie and their kids. Jon was now a Colonel in his own right and Cassie a Doctor, both stationed in Atlantis.
With that, Jack hailed Luna base and in a flash was gone, back in his office on St. Helena. He looked at his desk and the mountain of paper and admitted defeat, he'd have to sit down and do it.