Author's note: This is the second chapter of the story — just a short one explaining what happened after Ba'al attacked Earth.
Thank you for the helpful reviews. Knowing that people like the story, it makes writing that much easier.
The chapter was cleaned of grammar errors (10/24/18)
Earth
O'Neill watched from the command center as the gate opened and one of his teams came through. He was still getting used to all the changes that had followed the attack on Earth. The first few weeks had been the worst. Leaders were trying to explain to their people what had happened, not only during the attack but also in the last ten years since the Stargate had been unearthed. People, on the other hand, were scared, angry, and even hurt by how their leaders had hidden the truth from them for so long. It wasn't unexpected though. Everybody knew the release of such a revelation wouldn't go smoothly, but the fact that it came out in such a terrible event, it made all the explaining much more difficult. People wanted answers and more importantly somebody to blame for what had happened.
They also wanted revenge.
The attack took more than twenty million souls, and it was just too much for the people of Earth to keep going with their lives as if nothing had happened. There was almost no one on the planet that didn't lose a loved one, a friend, or at least an acquaintance. As a direct result, in most countries, the government had to impose martial law as the only measure to quell the massive civil unrest. The economy took a massive hit as well, with the markets crashing and investors pulling their money out fearing investments were too risky since nobody could even try to hint at what tomorrow would bring. The worse was that millions of people had died in the attack and the public blamed their leaders for it. Countries that weren't informed of the existence of the Stargate program were making things even worse by threatening sanctions in one way or another. The leaders of the countries that did know about the program - and especially the US - were in an awkward position, they the ones the rest of the world blamed the most. Their biggest problem was that even they weren't a united front. China was asking for more control over the program, saying the US did a crappy job at protecting the planet, while Russia played the neutrality card, without committing to anything or anyone. Europe was mostly on the side of the US, even though they didn't like having their military running the show. The I.O.A, as most bureaucratic entities mainly went silent, not wanting to take responsibilities for what had happened, while also accusing the military of screwing up without them knowing.
They had to do something, or things would escalate even more.
The first thing they had to do was to calm the people down. They didn't know how, though. So, instead, they'd decided to redirect the public's anger toward somebody else. Ba'al soon became the poster boy on every most wanted list on the planet. Ba'al was responsible for what had happened to Earth, so why not redirect so much anger towards him then? They also needed to show the people all the good the Stargate program did in these ten years. And to do so, they needed a hero. So they created one, but he wasn't too happy about it.
Truthfully, he was horrified by the idea.
The former special ops Colonel, with his entire professional life hidden from the public, really didn't like having his whole life put onto public display. Of course, the by now two-star general was being described as a true hero who had saved the planet countless times and as a man who made many friends with other races in the Milky Way galaxy and beyond. General O'Neill had been praised so much that Kinsey got himself a stroke, ending up in the hospital barely surviving. O'Neill was also the person supposed to take down the most hated being on Earth, if not the entire Milky Way galaxy. Something he gratefully accepted as one of the few duties he liked to be in charge. If Ba'al had known what kind of monster he would create by attacking Earth, he most definitely would have decided that it was a terrible idea.
One thing the leaders didn't count on when they'd chosen O'Neill as their designated hero was on how popular or influential he would eventually become. The public loved him, the Asgard loved him, the Nox, the Jaffa, and the many other races all loved him. He was becoming the most powerful man on the planet and the galaxy at large, and the leaders didn't like it. Politics had always been and always will be about power and having such an influential person, meant others had less influence to wield. But the biggest problem was that they didn't have a clue about what to do. They still needed the hero image to sell to the public, and it was too late to back down.
Another person didn't like all the attention, and that was Jack. He didn't like being popular, going around the planet on conferences or talk shows. He wanted to do his job of catching the bad guys, explore the galaxy and nothing more. O'Neill wanted things to change, but he as well didn't know how to accomplish that.
After months of struggle, the public had started to slowly come to their senses, as life had to go on, no matter if they wanted it or not. With less civil unrest and more support for the fight against Ba'al, the situation started to stabilize, but there were still many problems that needed to be solved. Many countries demanded changes in how the Stargate program was being run. Most countries believed such a program should be international, while others thought they should run it. Some thought it should be a civilian operation, while others still thought they should run it. In the end, no two countries were on the same page on what should and shouldn't be done and, as a result, tensions were rising fast.
Thankfully, the answer came one morning on Jack's doorsteps.
Jack heard the doorbell ring several times. Today was his first day back home after almost a month of traveling around the globe, and he didn't want to answer the door, no matter who it was. After another minute or so of constant ringing, Jack gave up, deciding to see who was so persistent. He opened the door and saw a man in his forties with short black hair and brown eyes standing in front of him in some strange white robes. The man's demeanor and clothing told Jack that this man was very different from the average earthling.
Liam sighed at O'Neill, "Finally, I almost gave up."
"That was the point!" Jack snapped back.
"Sorry; too important. I'm Liam by the way, can I come in?"
Jack measured the man up and down, "Why?"
"To discuss the future of this planet," Liam answered simply.
"Oy," Jack grumbled. He was becoming used to strange visits, usually involving some crisis or, if not that, then at least something that would put his life in jeopardy, but that didn't mean he liked it. Jack waved to the man, signaling to come inside.
They sat in the living room looking at each other for a long time before Jack broke the silence, "Let me guess, you are not from Earth."
"Correct," Liam answered.
"And you have something to do with the data we have received with all the upgrades, and also warning us of Ba'al's ships coming to Earth."
"Correct again. I'm also responsible for helping Atlantis on a few occasions, as well as in the final battle on Dakara," Liam continued.
Jack was very curious to find out who this man was. He also didn't know what he wanted or why he was here. "Who are you exactly?"
Liam smiled, "I'll tell you but under one condition. It has to stay between us."
"Why?"
"Because I want my identity to stay secret in this galaxy and I know that it would be impossible if you tell your leaders about me. You have more security breaches on this planet than Swiss cheese has holes. Did you find out how Ba'al knew where your ZPM was before the attack on your planet?" It was a rhetorical question.
Jack knew it was true. Ba'al had access to classified information at the highest level. "Alright, let's hear it."
Liam took a deep breath, preparing to tell his story. "As you already know my name is Liam, and I am the one that helped you on many occasions. What you don't know is that I'm Alterra." Liam paused before continuing, "More than ten thousand years ago…"
In the next fifteen minutes, Liam told Jack everything he thought necessary. He wasn't sure if Jack believed him, but he felt it wasn't imperative that he did anyway. The important part was for Jack to accept his proposal.
Jack had listened to the story, and now the only question he had was- "So, why are you here now?"
Liam gave a data pad to Jack, "Read it."
Jack took the data pad that contained the document. The small number at the bottom was showing the document had more than thirty pages, "Do you have a shorter version?"
Liam grinned, "This is the shorter version."
Jack frowned and reluctantly began reading the document from top to bottom. From time to time, he would stop reading, glancing at Liam with a puzzling expression, only to continue shortly after without saying anything. Forty minutes later, and Jack finished reading the entire document. "Are you nuts? How the hell do you think I can pull this off?"
Liam sighed, "I didn't say it will be easy."
"Ya think?" Jack was pissed for many reasons. "For crying out loud, they will charge me with treason if I try to pull something like this off!"
Liam shook his head, "Now-now, let's not be so dramatic. First of all, this is only a proposal; they won't charge you for that. And second, you don't give yourself enough credit."
"Credit… credit for what?"
"You are a two-star General, a public hero and the man who made a lot of friends out there. You are underestimating your strength. I can also guarantee that you'll have the support of the Asgard and Nox in this… and mine of course."
Jack frowned, "But you still don't want me to tell anyone about you. How the hell am I supposed to explain this without involving you?"
"Well, I thought you could say that you and Daniel worked on this. You can say that you two found some reference in Atlantis on how my race did things."
"Is there a reference in Atlantis' database?"
Liam nodded, "Yes, I can even tell you exactly where you can find the relevant documents."
Jack was pacing up and down while thinking about what to do. The worst part was that he liked the idea and thought most countries would sign on it. The problem was that his country wouldn't be too happy about it. Jack asked several more questions, which Liam answered calmly. The proposal was more and more sound as more answers were received. After half an hour of discussion, Liam departed, leaving Jack to pace a little more before deciding to call Daniel and see what he thinks.
Daniel came half an hour later, wanting to know what was more important than the work he had to leave so abruptly. He knew Jack didn't think much of his work, so it could have been anything. Jack gave Daniel the data pad with the document and Daniel began reading it. Daniel soon noted it was short for what it contained, so Jack gave him the three hundred pages full version. Jack still didn't know how Liam knew about his aversion toward long documents or reports.
It was a long afternoon, and Jack was already preparing something to eat for dinner when Daniel finished reading it.
Daniel took his glasses off. "Wow, this is big."
"I know," Jack replied simply.
"And you say you got this from…" Daniel was fishing.
"I didn't."
"Jack."
"Daniel."
"Jack, come on. You can't…"
"Daniel, I've told you that I can't tell you… I promised." Jack was frustrated. He saw the puppy expression Daniel had put on and decided to give him a bone, "Let's just say that a very old man came here and gave it to me."
Daniel was frustrated by the cryptic answer, "A very old man?"
"Yes, Daniel! A very old man. We can safely say that he was ancient."
"Oh… OH!" Daniel's eyes grew larger, realizing what he meant.
"Exactly. Don't ask me anything else alright," Jack paused while bringing the two plates in the living room. "So, what do you think? Can we pull this off?"
Daniel nodded uncertain, "Yeah, if we manage to gate to Atlantis and accidentally find those documents you mentioned."
Jack sighed, "And you think this is a good thing right?"
"Of that I'm sure. I don't know how others will feel about it, though."
Jack nodded, sharing the same concern, "Ok, let's find a reason for us, or at least for you, to gate to Atlantis."
In the end, it hadn't been that difficult to find a reason for the trip. Daniel had been asking to go there for some time now, and Jack was in command of the SGC anyway, and with two ZPMs in their possession, traveling wouldn't be a problem. They went to Atlantis and among other things, Daniel 'accidentally' found documents pertinent to the matter. Afterword, they gated back a few days later and pretended to work on the proposal for the next three weeks. They wanted to make sure everything looked plausible before coming out with the proposal. The proposal was given the next day, signed by Daniel and with O'Neill fully supporting the idea.
The document made quite the stir among the leaders of the countries that were involved. Most nations agreed to it, at least in principle, except for the US and China, both wanting to have full control over the Stargate. The idea was simple. A new organization would be formed and, instead of being under someone's direct control, it would be independent and comprised of a Council made of people directly involved in the program. The idea was that this organization would represent Earth for all matters concerning the planet as a whole. They would serve Earth in the galaxy and beyond.
On the other hand, this organization would have no say in the internal affairs on the planet. Disputes, politics and even wars between countries were outside the scope of the organization and they could not interfere even if they wanted to. There would also be representatives from all countries, but they wouldn't be involved in everyday decisions. The representatives and the Council would have a vote on regulations regarding the new organization, but the representatives could not outvote the entire Council. The representatives would be there more as a gap between the organization and the rest of the planet. All the acquired or developed new technologies would be under their control and the Council and representatives would decide what kind of technology they should or shouldn't 'sell' to the various countries on the planet that would sign the treaty. This is how the organization would finance itself and how technology would slowly spread to the entire planet. They would have their own military assets like ships and troops that in no circumstances can be used in conflicts between nations on Earth. One of the most critical parts of the proposal was where this organization would be located. It had to be somewhere neutral. For that reason, it was proposed to place it somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
The decision-making process was slow and took almost a month. In that time, the Asgard and the Nox came to speak to Earth's leaders as Liam had promised. They fully supported the idea of such an entity that would represent Earth as a whole instead of dealing with separate countries. The Asgard even promised to help construct the artificial island as a token of their friendship and appreciation for everything Earth had done for them in the past. In the end, the leaders came to an agreement and the Terran Alliance was officially formed.
The Asgard came with a dozen ships and started building the island. It took a lot of material to build such a place, but the beaming technology the Asgard had, made things easier. The island was almost twenty miles in diameter and it took more than six months to build, even with their help. In the meantime, the council had been chosen based on the responsibilities the members would have inside the organization. Jack wasn't happy to be taken as the presiding council member as well as in charge of the Terran military forces. The only positive aspect was that he wasn't going to be alone in there. Sam was the council member responsible for Research & Development and Daniel was there as the Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. They thought it would have been Weir, but she was adamant on staying on Atlantis. Other countries got their members in the Council as well even though they didn't have any prior experience working with the Stargate program. It was a small concession they had to concede because the other countries wanted their own people there, but they were chosen by Jack, Sam, and Daniel and they made sure the right people got the job. The only thing Jack didn't particularly like was the representatives being mostly comprised of prior members of the IOA, but it was out of his hands to decide who would be elected as a representative of a certain country.
The terrible attack had happened almost a year ago and Jack was standing in the new control room that had a touch of Asgard and Alterran design in it. He thought about the last year and the events that had transpired not only on Earth but in the rest of the universe as well. The Milky Way galaxy changed, greatly. The Jaffa were finally a nation. They called themselves the Free Jaffa Nation (FJN) and they were led by Gerak, with Bra'tac and Teal'c members in their High Council. The past year had been difficult for the Jaffa, as they'd quickly realized how difficult it is to build a nation after so many years of slavery. In several areas, the Jaffa were lacking what the Goa'uld had purposely hidden from them. There were no Jaffa who fully knew how the technology they used worked or even how to learn more about it. There were no doctors, engineers or even simple workers in the new FJN because the workers on farms or mines had mostly been human slaves and the engineers and scientists had always been Goa'uld. Now they had to learn how to do all that by themselves and it wasn't easy. Teal'c and Jack were working hard to try and improve the situation, by sending experts and teachers, but their plan wasn't well received. The Jaffa wanted to be warriors and nothing else. Being a farmer or even an engineer or doctor would always be second to being a warrior. Jack regretfully realized that Gerak wasn't the right man to lead the newly formed Jaffa nation. He was a stubborn man, set in the old ways and without any real knowledge of how to run a nation. When Jack had found out that Teal'c or Bra'tac wouldn't be the ones to lead the Jaffa into a new era, he almost got a stroke. Initially, he couldn't understand why they hadn't been chosen to lead, but he soon found out that the number of ships a Jaffa has is more important than knowing how to lead. Gerak currently had the mightiest fleet and regretfully that meant he would be the one to lead the Jaffa.
Although not too happy with the changes, the Jaffa were primarily a warrior race and there was at least one good side to that. As warriors, they were doing a pretty good job at hunting down the remaining Goa'uld around the galaxy. After Ba'al's final defeat on Dakara, the Goa'uld had ended up in complete disarray, losing more Jaffa with each passing day and, although not yet defeated, their dominance of the Milky Way galaxy was coming to an abrupt end. Ba'al was still alive, scheming and plotting everywhere he could and he quickly managed to end his war with the System Lords and form an alliance in order to at least retain the power they still had. They were now a united front against the FJN and Earth, but even together they weren't strong enough to be a serious threat to them. The Asgard were also on the rise and with the replicators and their genetic disease gone, they were growing in number and strength. The System Lords couldn't compete with the three races, so the only thing they could do was to flee and try to hide somewhere in the galaxy where they could start to rebuild their empire again.
The Milky Way galaxy finally saw some peace after so long, completely opposite to the current state of the Pegasus galaxy. The Wraith were in full swing and no one had the strength to oppose them. Earth had only the Daedalus there, and the ship had to make a lot of trips back and forth to supply Atlantis with everything that couldn't fit through the gate. Atlantis had also grown considerably in the past year. There were almost five thousand people working there and the amount of knowledge they were learning with each passing day was staggering.
Sam walked toward Jack, "So, what do you think?"
"It looks great," Jack replied with a pensive expression on his face.
Sam picked up immediately, "What's wrong?"
Jack turned to face Sam, "Nothing is wrong, everything looks perfect."
"So what's with the look?"
O'Neill sighed, "I was planning on retiring you know and now I'm stuck here."
It was a known fact that Jack wanted to retire and the reasons behind that decision, but now he was a member of the Council and the way things looked now, it would stay that way for a very long time.
"I know," Sam replied, "but we are not in the military anymore, at least not the same way as before," Sam stopped for one moment, "Wait… what does it says about ranks and regulations in the proposal."
"How should I know?"
"You wrote the damn thing, that's how!"
Jack was pissed, "I've been accused of many things, but never of writing a three hundred pages long proposal."
"Fine, Daniel wrote it and you were there while he did it," Sam said, angrily, but immediately saw Jack turning to look elsewhere. "You did read it, didn't you?"
Jack fiddled with his fingers, "Just the short version."
"Jack, you proposed the damn thing. How could you do it without reading it?"
"Because it's THREE HUNDRED PAGES LONG!" Jack stated, angrily, as if that was a good explanation for not reading it.
While they were discussing things, Daniel walked toward them, "What's going on?"
Sam turned toward Daniel, "He didn't read the proposal!"
Daniel blinked twice before pushing his glasses back with his finger, "You thought he would?"
Sam thought about it for a moment before dropping her shoulders in resignation, "I hoped."
Jack looked at Sam, "Wait a minute. How is it that YOU don't know the ranking system? If you read the proposal, you should know that."
Sam's face turned into bright red, "I don't know. I must have missed it somehow."
Jack grinned happy he wasn't the only one, but it didn't last very long. Daniel was the one to clarify things, "Sam, you didn't miss it. It isn't part of the proposal. Details such as this one were resolved later and put in a separate document." Daniel paused before continuing with a more critical tone, "Something the two of you, as members of the council, should very well know, even at this stage."
Jack and Sam looked like two kids caught stealing a pack of gums. Daniel thought about how things changed in the last year, but he also understood that some things always stayed the same. Sam and Jack promised they would read the damn documents and he knew Sam would.
He wasn't sure about Jack though.
The Terran Alliance was growing, with more and more people joining from all countries and the second stage was about to start soon. Colonization was one of the things they had to do and soon. Earth was overcrowded, everybody knew that, but that wasn't the only reason. The planet didn't have the precious materials like Naquadah or Trinium and colonizing a planet with such resources was paramount. It would also ensure that the new colony could finance itself in the long run. The process involved in the selection of people who were going to colonize other planets was long and tedious. Everyone who wanted to become a member needed to pass a detailed scrutiny. The greatest fear was that Ba'al or some country wanted to plant a spy or saboteur in their midst. They still didn't know how Ba'al knew where the ZPM was and that troubled them. Isolation from the rest of the world, as well as constant security checks, were the only thing they could do for now.
They hoped it would be enough.
Andromeda Galaxy – Eden Prime
Millions of light years away, the Guardian's Order had grown as well. After a year and a half, since Liam had woken up from his long sleep, there were almost a hundred thousand active members in the Order. Liam had worked very hard in the last six months, completing several projects he deemed important. What troubled Liam the most was the current situation in the Andromeda galaxy. The enemy race known as the Senari had reached the region of space where Liam had set base. The worst part was that he was still unable to communicate with them. A month ago, a Senari scout ship had traveled to a planet only five hundred light years from Eden Prime and Liam had a cruiser there patrolling the system. The scout ship was less than half the size of their cruiser, but that didn't stop them from firing at the larger ship. The commander repeatedly tried to contact the alien ship, but it had been to no avail. In the end, the captain had to open fire at the ship, and eventually destroying it. Even when the ship was losing its shields, they'd kept firing, something that told Liam peaceful contact would be almost impossible. He decided it was time to send a few ships on a mission to capture a Senari ship and his crew to learn more about them. What happened there troubled Liam even more. The Senari crew fought as he believed they would, but he didn't count on prisoners committing suicide rather than answering a few questions. Afterward, the autopsy on their corpses had shown each member of the crew had some kind of neural implant in their brain. Once captured, the implant would fry the subject's brain almost instantly. Why would a race use such a device was beyond Liam's ability to comprehend. Another problem was that he couldn't pinpoint their base or planet of origin. The few satellites Liam had in the Andromeda galaxy would pick up hyperspace events when they were close enough, but investigation of planets where Liam thought they could be coming from had been fruitless. All planets in their path were devoid of life and Liam was beginning to suspect this was the reason why the Andromeda galaxy didn't have any advanced races ten thousand years ago. It looked as if the cycle of destruction was beginning again and if things didn't change, history would most certainly repeat itself.
All this made Liam spend more and more of his limited time in the Andromeda galaxy, with consequences in the other two. If it wasn't for this new enemy, he would have sent more ships and troops in the Pegasus galaxy to fight the Wraith. At least the Milky Way galaxy was mostly at peace, with the Goa'uld hiding in some corner of the galaxy and the Jaffa and Terrans doing a pretty good job at making it stay that way. Still, there were a few things that troubled Liam even there. The biggest problem were the Jaffa with a very young and unstable nation. Liam knew they were warriors and that they valued being warriors more than anything else, but a nation cannot live with only warriors in it. He was pissed at them for thwarting most efforts made by the Terrans who were trying to help them learn and change into a modern and strong society. The Jaffa hardliners were adamant in keeping the Jaffa tradition as it was. Why would somebody want to keep something that helped enslave them for thousands of years, was beyond Liam's comprehension.
The Lucian Alliance was another problem that troubled Liam. A band of thieves with warships at their disposal was a recipe for disaster on a galactic scale. Even with his satellite grid, it was difficult to track them all and at all times. The subspace signature an opening hyperspace window would emit was the same for all Ha'tak ships, making it impossible to know whose ship it was. Furthermore, Liam had gaps in the satellite grid. A grid that was millions of years old. With many satellites damaged or disabled after so much time, he had to rely on the Terrans more and more to safeguard the galaxy and hope there would be peace, at least until he could grow stronger.
He wasn't certain if he would have the necessary time. He hoped he would.