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Chapter 2: The Only Solution
Three weeks later, Dr. Kovach had finally found the missing pieces that had been so carefully hidden and Daniel had still not succeeded in translating the tablets completely. It was quite rare for him to take so long to finish a translation; normally he would solve enigmas quite quickly but he would eventually wind up finding the solution. This time was different. The texts were much more complex added to which there was not much time to translate them as he would like, given that things with the Jaffa were starting to heat up because, like all free peoples, they were having problems getting themselves organised politically, their misunderstandings leading to conflicts at the very core of their society. They had still not managed to agree on the election of a leader for the newly and tenuously united people. Daniel and Teal'c had had to make several trips to the Jaffa High Council to calm matters, as General O'Neill and foreign affairs were not the best of friends. This was history in the making, he was looking forward to the time when the Jaffa would no longer bother his planet and leave them in peace. With the translation partly finished, Daniel asked O'Neill to take him off mission duty for the time being so that he could spend more time on the content of the fragments. O'Neill had asked Daniel to get results fast because he had no desire to waste his time looking for the Ancients. After a week, he called SG1 together and asked Daniel to make his report. Daniel was unhappy at not having completely finished transcribing everything, but he at least understood enough. He listed some gate addresses which he pointed out on a space chart, the planets they referred to marked by tiny dots. Daniel was interested in one planet in particular, located outside the Milky Way and a neighbouring galaxy, the Dragon, not far from Pegasus in galactic terms. Carter explained the importance of this as she had been the one to help him with placing the planets on star charts aided by a new software which allowed them to place planets based on their coordinates. She began to explain her theories:
"Altogether, Daniel was able to extract 19 gate addresses from his translations, according to the Dan der Walls theory..."
"Carter, cut to the chase," the General cut her off in midsentence, not understanding a thing about the scientific law and backed by Teal'c whose head motions gave away that he also had no idea what Carter was talking about.
"Put simply, some of these planets no longer exist and..." she continued.
"How can they have disappeared? How can a planet disappear?" Teal'c asked, clearly disturbed by this phenomenon. He, like Jack, had never understood the laws of physics and Jack was glad that for once it was not him asking the question.
"When the kinetic reaction of the planetary core reaches its optimal value ..." Carter began to explain.
"To cut a long story short, after several billion years, the planet simply loses its energy and activity which cause it to explode," Daniel summed up the explanation in brief.
"There, you see? Now that was clear and simple," O'Neill said sarcastically.
"I agree with him," Mitchell remarked, having been silent up until that point.
"Well, I wanted to say that, according to my calculations, these planets disappeared several billion years ago and as such we can eliminate nine of them. Also, we've already visited four others over the last five years and we know there was no trace of the Ancients left on any of them, which leaves us with ..." Sam continued.
"Six. Thank you, but even I know how to count," Jack responded.
"Yes, so," not happy at being interrupted, "we were wondering if we could try the addresses we have left to see if they still work and start to visit the planets they lead to."
"Yeah, why not, we can always try. You can start after the briefing. Send a MALP through to recon the ground and then after we discuss it at length, maybe I'll authorise a go to see what's out there."
"But it's essential that we go there as soon as we can so we can find any new discovery that might help us fight the Ori," Daniel said.
The Ori were their new enemy, an enemy with funny powers like controlling fire or spreading diseases. The team had unfortunately divulged their existence to the Ori, who themselves were passing off as gods. Obviously the whole magical powers thing was nothing new to the team, but this time those powers were real. When they learned that the humans of Earth were not willing to venerate them, the Ori had declared war on Earth, but it was strange how these beings had been unaware of their existence for such a long time. The truth of the matter was that the Ancients had been protecting the humans in the Milky Way against this new threat by hiding them from the Ori. Now that the cover was blown, they had found an enemy much worse than the Goa'uld. They were vastly superior technologically to all other known races and despite the great distance between their galaxy and the Milky Way, they were no doubt already on their way to Earth. They still had a few months before their arrival. Despite how fast their ships may be, it would be a month at the very least before they would need to deal with this new threat head-on. That was why it was urgent that they come up with a means to defend themselves. The SGC had only two warships in its arsenal, the Prometheus and the Daedalus, and a few smaller fighters. If that wasn't enough, the Prometheus was currently under repair; she had sustained severe damage to her shields and engines and Daedalus had left for Atlantis to help the city fend off the Wraith invasion. Because of this, they did not have enough weapons to fight the Ori with. The US had made the other member states of the committee aware of this fact, which had not been received with great enthusiasm as they believed that the Americans ought to share all their discoveries with the other members, as well as keep them updated on any advances. However, the Americans had convinced the others to adopt a laissez-faire attitude towards their actions by inviting the other nations to take part in an important international committee. Thor, representing the Asgard, had come to offer his advice, his people favouring the Americans as leaders of the Stargate program. The other countries had then agreed to bow to the will of the United States. This time however, they were not so content to sit back and wait; they wanted to be kept up to date of everything that was going on and to take part in the offworld missions to find new weapons to use against their common enemy. It was for that reason that the Pentagon had put pressure on General O'Neill to find a solution, and fast. But the fact was that he had bigger fish to fry. The Asgards were nowhere to be seen and the Jaffa problems were troubling him. Therefore, he was pretty much willing to accept any idea, even the most surprising ones. He had decided today to listen to what suggestions Daniel had to save Earth.
"Apart from that, do those tablets perhaps mention more interesting things say, oh I don't know, how to build big ships with big guns?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes they do, there are lots of things...," Daniel answered.
"Well then, why didn't you tell us about that before? That would've been a lot more juicy. And the President hasn't stopped harassing me for good news, but I haven't had any to give him," Jack replied.
"I didn't mention it because they speak about construction materials that don't exist on Earth. To be honest, we don't exactly know what they're talking about and I'll need more time to gather all the pieces together, which would make finding the Ancients much easier. I've compiled a report on everything and you can tell the President the truth that we're having trouble finding what we're looking for," Daniel said.
"Ah, well that's a shame. Okay, I'm gonna leave you, I got a report to read." Jack got up and headed for his office.
"We'll find what we're looking for, Jack, don't worry," Daniel shouted after him.
"We'll see."
Daniel and Sam got ready to get started studying the gate addresses and the rest of the translation. They made their way to the control room so they could input the new coordinates and check them. Unfortunately, only one of them still worked, so Sam called the General to ask his permission to send a MALP through to investigate.
"Why don't the other addresses work?" Jack asked.
"The gates must have been destroyed on those planets, General," Sam answered.
"We've eliminated the number of planets we need to visit, haven't we? That should make things simpler: one planet our only hope, go on, send the MALP," Jack said.
The loudspeaker confirmed the General's order.
The three of them watched as the MALP passed through the event horizon. Once it had completely rematerialised on the other side, Sam began to take her scans.
"If these readings are accurate, we'll be able to...suitable temperature and liveable atmosphere, General."
If the readings are accurate. Don't you have anything a little more concrete to tell me, like turning the camera on? Colonel Carter, evacuate the gate room just in case, I don't want anybody else here.
The same loudspeaker made the evac announcement, coupled with the blast doors closing behind the departing soldiers.
"Okay, General, activating camera."
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to the computer screen which would show the video feed. Everyone was eager to lay eyes on the planet inhabited by superior beings who might offer them a hope against the Ori.
"Okay, the camera is hooked up, we should be starting to see the images now," she said, pressing a button.
Everyone watched the image appear attentively, there was almost nothing to see apart from...
"It looks like an empty military complex but..." Daniel said.
"Uh, I think I know what that is," Jack went over to the window through which the gate was clearly visible.
"What is it?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, it's quite simple really. Carter, raise the camera a little," Jack responded.
Sam complied and lifted the camera a little bit higher so they could all see
"Peek-a-boo everyone."
"But that's Jack. Jack, we can see you," Daniel remarked, surprised, and then he saw the MALP.
"I think you'll find that's General O'Neill, and it's us you idiot, not another me," he said, amused, "I don't want to have fun with childish stuff. Can't you even recognise your own base?"
"But I don't understand how this could have happened. We've never encountered this phenomenon before, it's impossible. According to the readings, the probe passed through the wormhole," Sam added.
"Well, it's not me you should be asking that question, it should be our specialist on the Stargate," Jack made a bee line towards his office, where he always went when something troubled him.
From that point on, Sam began to search for the cause of the anomaly, studying the parameters on her computer screen and launching some simulations. After a few hours, she called Daniel and explained to him her theory. They then went to see O'Neill, along with Teal'c. The door was open, so they knocked and went in.
"We just wanted to say that we've found the reason for the problem. There is a stargate on the other side, as the power regulator would suggest. It picked up an increase when the wormhole opened, as usual, but there is an iris protecting the entrance on the other side," Sam explained.
"Wait a minute. If I understand this right, you're saying that their gate has an iris like ours, but unlike ours, the MALP wasn't crushed against it? Why did it just come back here as if it was meant to come to this gate?" Jack asked.
"Well that's the anomaly. They must be using some other type of iris than the one we use, one that's much more advanced. The readings clearly show that a connection was established between the two gates. We think they must have programmed the iris to only open for specific addresses and as we know that the Ancients were pretty peaceful people, we think they must have come up with this iris so as not to kill people who wanted to travel through. Daniel and I have studied the planet's distance from Earth and we think it would be possible to make the trip there in three days."
"Stop right there. How do you know there are any people on that planet? For all we know, there might just be advanced technology. And what do you mean by saying we could make the trip in three days when we don't have any ships capable of going that far that fast?"
"We know there are people there, because there must be someone controlling that iris because a program couldn't do that by itself, there needs to be a human mind in control. And if you recall, General, we do have another ship that could make that journey."
"What are you talking about?"
"That gift the Asgard gave you on your promotion," Daniel answered.
"Ah, I take it you're referring to the gift that didn't work? You never even managed to get that thing off the ground because it needs to be flown by someone with a very strong Ancient gene."
"That's true, and we know how everything works and actually we have gotten it to fly several times but we didn't tell you about it because the project has been put on the back burner since we lost our pilot," Daniel added.
"Ah well, that's a shame."
"No, no, the pilot's not dead, it's just a long story," Daniel corrected, a little embarrassed.
"We'd like to recruit pilots so we can continue our trials. I think we're really on to something here," Sam said.
"Okay, I'll pick you some pilots and find you that diamond in the rough but are you really sure that this is the right answer?"
Sam and Daniel nodded in confirmation. Teal'c had stayed silent during practically the whole meeting, given how reserved he was. After a week, not one of the pilots the General had picked had managed to lift the fighter off the ground and the other countries were constantly pressing for news.
A month had gone by and no revolutionary discoveries had come of it. Jack was starting to lose his patience but he was sure he was on the right track and that his team were doing their best. He obviously just weren't going about it the right way.
"Twelve soldiers and we can't even find one who knows how to fly that hunk of bolts? Are you sure you made that thing fly before?
Carter, exasperated by his lack of confidence in her showed him the old video footage from the first project. He took himself off to his office, but Daniel decided to come and annoy him by placing a file on top of a pile of other reports. Teal'c looked at him in surprise when he made the gesture. Daniel clearly really wanted to visit this planet.
"Yeeees, what do you want of me now? I already read your report about the technology you mentioned, very interesting stuff."
"It's not another one of my late reports, Jack. It's one of the soldiers that I wanted to recommend to you."
"Thanks, but I don't think you're qualified to make that decision."
"This is the file of the Ancient pilot who was able to make the vessel fly?" Teal'c asked Daniel.
At that point Jack looked up from his reports and awaited Daniel's confirmation.
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"If you had given me the time to explain..."
"What's his name?" O'Neill asked Daniel while he finished reading his report before placing all his concentration on the file.
"Her name, Jack."
"I'm sorry?" he said, distracted by the conclusion.
"It's a she, not a he."
"What?!" Jack said, lifting his head up from his papers, surprised and not fully understanding what he was hearing.
"I believe that what Daniel Jackson is trying to say is that this pilot is a woman," Teal'c explained.
Jack took the file right away and opened it up to check that this wasn't some kind of joke, but it really was true. The pilot was a pretty girl and very young by the name of Angela. The file was empty, there was no sort of information about her.
"But there's nothing here."
"I know that. It was all I could find. She was a secret agent, so her identity is a secret but I know a little about her."
"Like her favourite drink, for example?"
"Amongst other things, yes, no, what I want to say is..." Daniel rambled, clearly caught off guard.
"O'Neill, what are you saying?" Teal'c asked.
"I'm surprised. The serious Daniel Jackson, of all people. What I'm saying Teal'c, is that Daniel here has succumbed to the charms of a woman, this woman right here. She's a knock-out, you dirty old dog you," O'Neill teased while having a good look at the photo.
Daniel started to get truly uneasy and Teal'c understood why. It was official policy that personal relationships were strictly forbidden on base. If it wasn't for that policy, Jack would have made a move on Sam a long time ago. "Please don't tell anyone," Daniel asked.
"How did you know?" Teal'c asked.
"Because Daniel's all nervous."
"Am not."
"Are too. And because just then he got all embarrassed when we were talking about her."
"Well, okay, maybe just a little."
"Since you started talking about her, you got all excited. I don't see the problem, you've been waiting for this moment a long time."
"There is no problem."
"Come now Daniel, you're among friends, there's no need to keep secrets."
"Alright, she was discharged."
"Why would a soldier be discharged?" Teal'c asked.
"Either for treason, disobedience or lack of discipline or maybe something else, Teal'c. So, which of the three did Angela commit, Daniel?" he said, looking at her name on the file.
"Angela. I do not believe this is a common name but it is pleasant," Teal'c thought.
"It was nothing like that, Angela was completely loyal," suddenly becoming upset, Jack could see something was wrong with Daniel, "but she was dangerous." Seeing the look of incomprehension on Jack's face, Daniel continued, "she was in the battle over Antarctica and she was protecting our cargo ship, she was the last fighter to be beaten back. She saved her three teammates with a forced emergency landing, very well executed according to General Hammond. He told me it was thanks to that fighter that we managed to penetrate the Ancient base alive and in one piece. Angela survived the crash and while she was in hospital, the doctors discovered that the physiology of her cells had changed. Her cells were abnormally charged. Basically she had electricity running through her and that made her recuperation very difficult because they weren't able to scan her with radiography or by an MRI for fear it might kill her. Quite simply, it's like what happens when you open the car door or touch a screen, except that with her it was much more powerful, it was a real electric charge and she had trouble controlling it."
"Are you saying she had 'powers'?"
"No, they're not powers, they were just accidental shocks that her body emits, it was beyond her control. at the start. Then she regained control over her body and the doctors were able to run full tests on her. They discovered she had a brain tumour. That was why she was so dangerous. She requested permission to return to duty but the United States decided otherwise. When they discovered her illness, she was forbidden from flying an aircraft, so she was welcomed by our unit working on the ship. At the start, she was only there for security. We soon found out that the moment she entered the base or was in contact with the ship, it activated instantly of its own accord. Sam later discovered that she had the Ancient gene and it was stronger in her than in any other individual we had previously encountered. The funny thing is that the tablets also spoke about people with this more advanced gene who would become the new generation of Ancients and one person in particular whose gene would be even more advanced than the others'. This person would be the chosen one, capable of re-establishing peace in the galaxies, but I haven't finished yet. That new generation would be you and the other carriers of the gene and the chosen one would be a person who possesses a stronger version of the gene than you, Jack, since you have the strongest gene of anyone I know. And despite that, even you haven't been able to make the ship work, not even a light, so all we can do is guess until we find someone with a stronger gene than you."
"Alright, enough bashing my inability already. Okay, well if she really is our only solution at this point, I'll ask the Defense Department to authorise her reactivation. Whether she's the chosen one or not, I guess we'll see soon enough."
"That's another issue. The Army has lost track of her and haven't been able to locate her. I got in touch with her a few months ago and she wouldn't respond to my calls, it went straight to voice mail."
"You didn't stress to her how important it was, didn't explain how Earth was in danger of disappearing? We know Angela was alive at this point, if that is really her name, of course."
"I don't know her last name, she never told me and she liked to keep certain things to herself. I think she liked being mysterious."
"Well, the President's arriving in a while with his entourage, so we'll see how things pan out when he gets here."
The loudspeakers announced their arrival. Once they were there, Jack told them about his proposal. The Army Chief of Staff remembered the affair very clearly.
"You do understand that she may be our only solution?"
"Yes, I do. You are authorised to go track her down using whatever means you deem necessary. You will also have the assistance of all secret agencies: FBI, NSA, CIA, you name it...I will warn you now that we have already attempted to track her. Angela does not intend to be found so this won't be an easy order. She has become a very talented hunter and she's an expert in the field. She was our best agent. One other thing: once you have trapped her, I doubt she'll agree to help and perhaps she may not even be able to help you. Getting her on side and flying again will be a big challenge, so I recommend you prepare some pretty convincing arguments to persuade her. Her illness was in the advanced stages the last time we saw her," the Chief of Staff finished as he rose and readied himself to leave.
"Wait. I don't want you to use force against her," Daniel said.
"She's in your hands now, so you can utilise whatever means are most effective for you, but I warn you now: imagine a lion facing off against a gazelle. The lion gives its prey not even the slightest hope or chance of escape. She is the lion and you are her prey. I don't want to say that she'll kill you, she's against the use of violence and killing unless it's absolutely necessary. She'll let you come so close that you'll feel her breath and then, she'll slip through your fingers like sand. She'll let you approach but then she will save herself. I don't know how she does it, but she always escapes. I'll arrange for you to be sent a full copy of her military file, it may speed up your efforts to locate her and dissuade her." With that, he left.
"Thanks for the words of encouragement," Jack remarked, "at least we've been warned, Daniel. Don't worry, we're not gonna let her get hurt. We need her. And you did the right thing telling me. You've done nothing wrong and remember to tell yourself one thing, she is our only solution."
Hardly reassured, Daniel decided to leave to get some time alone. Sam and Mitchell came to see if there was any news, not understanding why Daniel seemed so upset. Jack had explained to them and they soon understood the reason. Mitchell had no idea that Daniel had known her and hadn't known what they were talking about. Not yet anyway. She had completely changed Daniel's life and he had never forgotten her. For now they all consoled themselves in the knowledge that in order to save their world, ANGELA WAS THE ONLY SOLUTION.
End of Chapter
Tel choc nok : Thanks for your review
