A/N: It's slow going now, but do hang on. It'll pick up a bit more in the later chapters. Thanks for reading.
Chapter 2 – Progression
SGC
Colorado Springs
April 11, 2001
It felt different today, Jack thought as he slowly climbed the steps to the briefing room behind Daniel's excited skip.
When the Stargate program was first kicked into operation by an academically-sidelined archaeologist several years ago, he had been pulled into it as an unwilling participant who saw his chance to meet his end in a hostile world far from Earth. But somehow, he returned from Abydos alive, buoyed in particular by the memory of the lively exuberance and courage of an enslaved, longhaired teenager who strove to make his harsh desert homeworld free.
It was mortifying, at first, to really see how willing he was to die when everyone else wanted to live when Daniel had called him on it. At that pivotal moment, the vise-like grip around his chest had loosened, allowing Abydos to carve its signature onto his heart, an invisible but permanent tattoo of inspiration inked as a reminder to keep on keeping on.
And it had only gotten better after that. In the course of the past few years, this same job that had first given him purpose light years away from home later gave him a team whom he called family. And a brilliant, beautiful second IC for whom he felt and thought more about then he was supposed to. Now it looked as though even that was going to be taken away and he was going to be powerless to stop it all.
If there was anything Jack O'Neill hated, it was the helplessness, the powerlessness that dictated he couldn't do a thing to stop what he thought was a significant mistake.
In the past three-and-a-half years, the SGC's existence never failed to be a contentious issue. But they'd prevailed somehow, thanks to Hammond's good sense and the untiring work of the SGC's personnel. This coming alliance with the Aschen…it shook him deep. This alliance was set for a collision course, the end of which he really couldn't imagine but nevertheless worried about.
Unbidden, Jack forced himself to take a good look around in muted apprehension, wondering absently just how much longer he was going to be here.
Changes – momentous and unprecedented changes – were coming. Changes that he didn't like one bit. Because these changes stemmed, in large part, from sources gleaned from a corner of the known universe that had never before dictated how society functioned, how people thought and how services were rendered.
The first of these paradigm-altering changes being the Stargate going public.
It would be long after that Earth's alliance would be unveiled and their new Aschen saviours hailed in another official ceremony highlighting the Confederation's beneficiaries of their supposed goodwill.
He could see it already; a show of pomp and circumstance that many would celebrate without thinking twice. Jack frowned to himself, still disturbed by the speed at which it all went down with a relative lack of further digging.
SG-1 had returned to Aschen Prime several times in the course of the past six months. He'd taken the grand tour himself, gone walkabout in Aschen chambers meant for heads of state from their Confederation planets. He'd personally seen the bio-weapons they fashioned, the kind that were designed to attack and destroy only the specific DNA of their potential enemies. He'd even visited some other worlds in the Eol cluster of the Confederation, quite embarrassingly, as part of the security detail for a top-secret diplomatic team from Earth, and walked on the peaceful South Continent's golden beaches, which had briefly made him think of retirement off-world.
But these visits, instead of having allayed his fears, merely increased the deep-seated suspicion that he was having of their new allies.
It hadn't taken him too long to figure it out why it all felt wrong. The Aschen, Jack realised, didn't seem to have any enemies. They purported themselves to be a peaceful race with no taste for hostile conquest despite their civilisation being leaps and bounds ahead of the agrarian worlds with which they were allied. They'd given the farmers harvesters and numerous vaccines that lengthened lifespans, yet those societies lived in a blissful, disease-free medieval farming world that never looked beyond the usefulness of the wheel.
Jack had pretended enough not to have heard Daniel's constant sociological expositions on the rise and fall of civilisations each time they encounter an alien culture that has greatly influenced Earth's beliefs. But he knew that Daniel's theories, an amalgam of sources on ancient cultures, had made sense, the advancement of technology, the growth of social development and a collective identity being basic tenets of growing civilisations at a particular stage in time.
It took a fool not to see that the allied planets in the Confederation showed no such change. There were no cities, no transport systems worthy of a subsidiary of an advanced civilisation, no strategic defences on any of these planets. Hadn't the provisions from the Aschen opened their eyes to what could be more? Hadn't their aspirations included the progression of their own societies?
There was an incredibly low rate of population growth despite the long lives the inhabitants led as the farming communities remained fully dependent on the Aschen's provisions of electricity and aqueducts. Where was the freedom to innovate? The impetus to break out of that cycle of dependence? Or did that just not exist?
Jack was starting to realise that the deal that the Aschen had cut with the other worlds just didn't looked all that rosy, no matter how much he'd tried convincing himself to see it from his teammates' optimistic and eager perspectives.
A risk analysis he'd quietly done hadn't churned out very good outcomes, borne out of a simple question that Jack frequently asked himself: what would Earth be like at the end of it all, in ten years down the road? Or a century? A transformed Earth, a long-lived population, readily-dispensed medical treatment. Perhaps an end to all wars. Which might put an end to the need for a military service.
But it would force Earth's complete dependence on the Aschen's providence. Peace at the price of liberty.
Having had his life early on bound to duty, structure and routine, this series of changes freewheeled into an inconceivable future that was more upsetting than exciting.
Yet it could finally mean a life where no regulations and obligations stood between-
The thought was quashed before it was even completed. Jack knew that he stood in this alone.
On one of the Confederation planets one day, he'd dropped a wayward hint about the Aschen's less-than-stellar motives, in a rash and perhaps unwise moment of concern. In return, he'd received a look of wordless horror in return from the Aschen representative and waves of disapproval that came from the rest of his team. But what exactly could he do to convince them of exercising a little more caution when they hadn't been willing to listen from the start?
And being the sole voice of dissent on the opposite side of the overwhelming votes was like swimming to shore against a backwash that dragged everything in its path out to the open sea. It hadn't endeared him to anyone, least of all Carter, whose infatuation with the ambassador had given her bigger cause to fight for the Aschen alliance. Daniel was ready to kick him to the curb, and he'd faced down Teal'c intimidating stare more times than he'd cared to count.
There had been talks and more talks in the early stages of diplomatic negotiations. Talks about wide expanses of demilitarised zones in all countries, of Aschen-regulated medicine, of crops modified to yield dramatic increases in order to feed the hungry. A sudden, miraculous solution had been presented to these pressing issues…it wasn't a wonder that world governments were ready to lay everything down at the feet of their new saviours who in turn promised utopia.
In the course of the past few weeks, talks have gotten somewhere. To a place that he never – in his wildest dreams – hoped would have materialised. And not in a good way.
As the ambassadorial team got closer each day to a resolution, the team dynamics had gotten more strained as the weeks wore on. He'd fought his case with Hammond, and then he'd done it again with his team, his attempts having gotten nowhere.
At that moment, Hammond's quiet voice drifted over the stairwell, derailing the train of his thoughts.
The General and Faxon were already sitting at the table, wrapping up their prior conversation upon SG-1's entrance.
Without conscious thought, Jack brought his body into the ingrained position of military attention. At the corner of his eye, he saw Carter do the same.
"At ease, people. The purpose of the meeting today is to consolidate the various progress reports on the ongoing negotiation with the Aschen. Dr. Jackson, I believe that you have a progress report for us."
Daniel stood and handed out folders to everyone on the table.
"Seeing as the Aschen alliance is well underway, we're now expected to fulfil our part of the treaty before being given full membership and admittance into the Aschen Confederation of planets. What you have in front of you is the beta copy of the USAF press release on the Stargate Program, the personnel files and highlights of significant missions that have been carried out in the course of the past five to six years. It will be officially released when the negotiations have formally ended, and will hopefully go a way to quell all the rumours that will be circulating once the necessary protocols are put in place. Some time following the disclosure of the program, the Stargate will officially be moved to the newly constructed J.R. Reed Space Terminal in Washington, D.C., where its operations will now be under the joint jurisdiction of the official Aschen's Earth delegation and the US government."
"Thank you, Dr. Jackson. Ambassador, is there something that you'd like to add?"
Faxon shifted in his chair, studying his notes for a few seconds, then looked up, first at Sam, then at the rest of his waiting audience. "Negotiations at present concern the development or rather, the enlargement of wide expanses of demilitarised zones will be created in all major continents. The Aschen will also not stand for weapons of any sort; any sort of firearm must be strictly reserved for ceremonial purposes by the time the program is disclosed."
Silence greeted Faxon's statement, a troubled look immediately appearing on Hammond's face, as though the staggering implication of this particular tactical manoeuvring hit him as a blow to the gut.
Not only were they giving up control of the Stargate, the ability to defend themselves was going to be stripped from them.
The resigned mix of disbelief and anger that was gone as soon as it had flashed in Hammond's sharp blue eyes.
Jack couldn't help himself. "Now, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?"
"General, I'm not sure if that's-"
"General Hammond, would that not mean-"
"Jack, I don't think we're quite at that stage yet. So cut back on that paranoia a bit, would you?" Daniel snapped.
Jack had had enough. Enough of the benefits that Daniel had optimistically crowed about, enough of being shut down time and again.
"For cryin' out loud, Daniel! We're giving up the Stargate when it's first and only our frontline defence against the Goa'uld? Giving up the means to defend ourselves? I don't think so, not at this point in time, when we're at war. Not that good a deal."
"With the assistance of the Aschen, the Tau'ri and the Jaffa need not fear a prolonged war with the Goa'uld."
"So we give up everything, then wait for the Aschen to move their asses? How's that a good bargain, Daniel? How would you know they wouldn't leave us as fodder?"
But the archaeologist was pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing briefly in frustration, a hand already raised in objection to what his friend was saying. "Why wouldn't you lis-" he stopped abruptly, deciding to take a more belligerent approach. "Okay, Jack. Let's assume, for a minute that this…this vision of Earth is really too good to be true. And that the Aschen aren't as trustworthy as you say. Now prove it."
"And what would you do if I could?"
"Only if you've got something to show, then perhaps that would change everything. But you don't! Look, Jack, haven't we had this argument many times? If you can only see beyond your doubts that the peace-loving Aschen will provide us the means of defending ourselves successfully against-"
"Sir," Carter interrupted the building argument, "Unfortunately, you might be reading too much into what the Aschen is proposing. The whole point of this is to ensure that we leave Earth's defence in the hands of a more capable race. In fact, Ambassador Faxon has said that-"
"Oh, here we go again."
"Jack, why woul-"
"That's quite enough, people," Hammond interrupted smoothly, "I wouldn't worry unduly yet, people. Ambassador Faxon has spoken to me about this part of the negotiations before the briefing started."
The dulcet tones of Earth's official ambassador cut through the tension that had surfaced in the briefing room. "I assure you, General, that many of the clauses in the alliance treaty are examined and re-examined, and are vigorously debated. Our international negotiation team is fully aware of the repercussions of such a treaty, but will always try to mitigate these negative consequences. We ensure that each country is represented fairly and everyone will indeed receive equal benefits from this alliance."
Typical words, Jack thought, placating and politically correct in their stance towards the treaty.
He wanted to object, to bring the fight to the table, but how the hell could he do this without sounding like a bigoted moron?
"Has there been news of the SGC's future, Sir?" Carter asked.
Hammond sighed and clenched his right fist briefly in consternation. "It is still up for debate. The SGC will be a defunct military installation after the Stargate moves to Washington. In the meantime however, it's been proposed that the SGC will continue its mission to perform reconnaissance, determine threats and making peaceful contact with the alien cultures for at least until the treaty is finalised."
"And when would that be, General?" Daniel asked.
Faxon chose to answer before Hammond could. "We don't know, Dr. Jackson," he admitted. "The process is long and the international coordination quite arduous. But we have a projected deadline of several months to a year to complete these talks."
Months, Jack realised. Just months before Earth crossed the Rubicon. Or a year at maximum before the Stargate became public.
He blinked when Hammond ordered Carter to speak. "Maybe it is a good time to get to your report, Major."
"Yes, Sir."
Sam got up and dimmed the lights, wasting no time in pulling up a distribution chart on the screen.
"The Aschen are promising a rapid, worldwide distribution of their anti-ageing vaccine when the treaty is in place. It will be administered in three stages over the next seven years, each shot promising to reverse the aging process. I've also spoken at length with the Aschen scientific community and their understanding of physics, chemistry and engineering is so far advanced that I can't help but feel overwhelmed myself. They really do intend to share that knowledge and honestly, I think it's amazing."
Despite the tension that had formed over the past months, Jack couldn't help the slight thrill that ran through him as a look of excitement flashed briefly across her features as Carter continued her detailed explanation of some of their biogenetic weapons. He leaned back in his chair, listening carefully to what she was saying.
He didn't doubt her genius, but he questioned her unwavering acceptance of the Aschen.
In this situation, he needed another voice, another discerning pair of eyes to wade through the complications and the consequences. Jack had hoped that Carter would have been that voice, but she'd thrown in her lot with the Aschen early on – and maybe even with Faxon – as readily as the others had, and for that, it had disappointed him.
More than disappointed actually. Infuriated him, exasperated him, if their arguments over the Aschen in the past few months were evidence enough of their opposing opinions.
If only she could step back and just…see it. But she didn't.