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The following is a fan written story. Stargate or any of the associated properties mentioned in this story are all owned by their respective companies, authors and/or corporations. This is purely a work of fiction written for pleasure and nonprofit. Please support the official release.

Chapter 7: Back in the Game

I finished cooking my steak and quickly put it onto my plate. I grabbed the silverware and quickly walked back to my living room where my paused game was waiting for me. As it turned out, Hideo Kojima had done a bit better for himself in this universe. The second Metal Gear game was better received and earned him a better contract to create his third game much sooner than in my original universe. Fortunately, the tech was a bit more advanced than I remember it being during my own 90's, so gaming technology was up to the task of handling 'Snake Eater' just as well as I remembered.

Strangely, it wasn't even the year 2000 yet, but cellphones also seemed like they'd soon become a thing as all technology seemed to be advancing faster than I remembered it. At first, I had thought it was just faulty memory on my part since this had all been happening during my childhood and it wasn't like I'd have been paying attention to the dates, but I had taken the time since my return from Abydos to watch the news and really go over my own notes as well as the things I'd remembered, but didn't dare keep hard copies of written down anywhere.

The world seemed to be moving slightly…quicker than before. I know that sounds weird, but it was my first conclusion as I started crunching numbers and comparing events to dates I was fiercely certain of. I'd wondered how that was possible since I knew it couldn't have been caused by me in the short time I had been here. It really bugged me for awhile until I remembered how shows would seemingly make leaps forward in time.

The reason for that was always how the show would have seasons and need time to film more episodes for the next season. The writers would generally disregard the date unless it was important to the story and we, the audience, would just accept it. However, from an in-universe perspective, it looked like there was always a low-level technological renaissance going on behind the scenes. Characters would suddenly have cell phones even though it didn't match with the year the show was taking place in. From that perspective, I wondered what other changes I could expect other than a seemingly slightly accelerated timeline. The 90's were already an economic and cultural booming period, but how much more of a boost could I expect when we started bringing back more stuff from off world missions?

And speaking of off world; after fabricating the semi-false report of what happened on the Abydos mission with Kawalsky and the rest of the team, I had retired from the Air Force and had settled down at my new home in Colorado Springs, just like O'Neill did the first time around. The staff weapons and the helmet we brought back were immediately handed over to the scientists on base to drool over and study. We were asked a few questions on how they worked before they were shipped off for detailed study elsewhere. From there, I had decided to focus on getting my mind used to my new knowledge, my new body and the timeline I was in.

But I couldn't stand the idea of just sitting around and not doing anything until I was recalled. I had a new body and a new lease on life and I intended to do something with it. So, I started by going on a little vacation overseas, which had been one of the things I had been thinking about while I was waiting to die in that hospital. Nowhere crazy, just a little resort I picked out in Malaysia. I spent a month at a seaside resort right on the beach and enjoyed the seafood and company of the locals. It was a great time and I enjoyed myself and all the great things that Langkawi had to offer.

After having my fun, I returned to the US and Colorado Springs. I had used the rest of my surprisingly considerable funds to purchase a home, have it furnished and a car. I thought about taking some classes at the community college that may help me later down the line but thought better of it. I already had the memories and qualifications floating around my head for several courses my benefactors had decided to leave me with. Nothing too spectacular, but I was glad to know that I was no one's idiot.

So, I decided instead to pass the time between reading and planning for the next few years by occasionally volunteering with the community on local projects. Among my qualifications was a teaching certification and all I had to do to be allowed to teach in the state of Colorado was to pass a certification test and an interview.

I certainly wasn't looking for anything permanent, but I was upfront and honest with them about my situation. I was just a retired Air Force officer with a lot of free time on his hands and wasn't looking for a new career path but wanted to stay active. I left the interview feeling alright but didn't care much if I was turned down or not. I was certain there were other ways to pass the time if this didn't pan out.

However, I had gotten a surprisingly good response from the school district just a few days later. Apparently, they could really use some help with their ROTC programs and not many parents had the experience or time to contribute much to the program. They wanted me to teach and mentor a couple of their kids at different schools and help the ones that were considering a career in the military.

I had accepted the offer and had a new job three or four days out of the week. I'd helped train and shape some of these kids as well as I could for an extracurricular program. It was just good fun for the most of them, but I made sure that if they were going to wear a uniform and participate in certain activities, they were going to do it right. I had given a few lectures and classes on different aspects of the military to them and they had seemed mostly receptive to what I said.

Apparently, word was getting passed around since I was being asked to 'spread the love' as it were. I had started just talking to one group of high school kids, but soon I was being asked to attend competitions as a chaperone and visit other schools in the area to provide some basic training to their students as well. I felt a little peeved at times that they were clearly trying to get as much fulltime work out of me as they were able to without the pay, but I didn't mind so much. I actually had a bit of fun since some of those kids were really interested in what I had to say and were eager to ask me for recommendations for enlisted career paths or letters of recommendation to officer academies. They were a mostly good bunch of kids and I was happy to help. Besides, the school district really didn't seem to have much help in this area and I had nothing better going on right now.

But summer had started about a week ago and I was back to sitting around my home, passing the time. Just as I sat down to enjoy a nice meal and get ready to begin my playthrough of my new Metal Gear Solid game, a knock sounded at the door.

'Who the hell knocks on a door at this hour?' I thought as I picked up the plates. "Just a moment!" I called, placing my plate and silverware on the table.

I opened the door to see two men in Air Force dress uniforms standing at my door; an officer and his enlisted aide standing behind him. I recognized the officer in front as Major Samuels. This must mean it was showtime.

"Evening," I greeted amicably. "What brings you out here?"

"Colonel Lennex MacDuff?" Samuels asked.

"Retired, actually," I replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm Major Samuels," he introduced. "I'm under orders to bring you with me to Cheyanne Mountain to see General Hammond, sir."

"Who's that?"

"He replaced General West, sir," Samuels replied.

"That's nice. I was just about to sit down to dinner though, so can this wait until tomorrow?" I asked.

"I'm sorry sir, but I have to insist on now. He says it's important. It has to do with the stargate."

I paused and just looked at Samuels before I let out a long sigh. "Alright, Samuels. Whatever this is, you've convinced me it's serious. Can you give me five minutes to put my dinner in the fridge and throw on some different clothes?" I asked.

Samuels hesitated before nodding.

"Thank you for your consideration," I replied sarcastically before I shut the door a bit and went to put my dinner away and turn off the TV. Looks like I'll have to rescue Sokolov some other night.

A few minutes later, I had thrown on a new shirt and jeans and was putting on my leather jacket as I walked out to where Samuels and the airman were still waiting for me.

"Alright, let's get going."

~SG-WOLF~

A little less than two hours later, I found myself riding an elevator after having been escorted through the security at Cheyenne Mountain, past the NORAD section and deep into the facility. I could tell this whole place was on high alert by all of the extra attention the security guards were giving me and even Samuels as we came in, although Samuels got through a bit quicker and left me with his aide as he went to inform General Hammond that I had arrived.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened at sublevel-11 and we walked over to a sign-in desk where I placed my signature on the paper and presented my identification to yet another security guard.

"We'll have to take a second elevator the rest of the way, sir. It's a long way down," my escort said.

"I know. Been here before," I replied.

"Oh, of course sir," he nodded.

The rest of the trip down was spent in silence. Then we were out and down a hallway where Samuels was waiting at the end. My escort was relieved by the Major and we continued on to where the General's office was. Samuels knocked on the door.

"Come," came a muffled voice from inside.

Samuels quickly opened the door and we entered. "General Hammond, this is Colonel Lennex MacDuff, retired," he introduced me to the guy I was going to become well acquainted over the next several years.

General Hammond was an older man who had to be nearing retirement age. He was completely bald with a stern look on his face. He was also clearly several pounds heavier than the military liked to allow for their members, but always turned a blind eye towards if you were high enough on the food chain or were just excellent at your job and hard to replace. I was guessing it was a case of a skilled officer being too valued and respected to be let go over something like a weigh in. That certainly matched the memories of the man I had from the show. He was wearing his full dress uniform with all the require ribbons displayed, indicating a long and successful career.

"General," I nodded to him.

"Colonel, thank you for coming so quickly," he said. "I heard you'd retired. I envy you for that," he replied. At his words, I could detect nothing but honesty. I remembered that this assignment was supposed to be one last easy posting before he could retire himself and spend time with his grandkids. Not much excitement could be expected for a facility that was due to me mothballed in a few years, but he had no idea the trouble that would land in his lap. Thankfully, he was just the right kind of man for this job and would certainly rise to the occasion.

"I hear you teach ROTC kids these days," Hammond continued. "You ever consider writing a book about your experiences in the service?"

I could tell he was just making small talk to put me at ease, but I was happy to play along. "Unfortunately," I started. "most of my activities were classified over the last couple of years. I can't imagine the headache I'd be giving someone if I tried to publish my whole story and they had to make the choice between just shooting me or going through the thing line by line and redacting 80% of what I wrote. And that's a conservative estimate."

The general gave a good-natured smile at that, understanding the nature of the job and how not all of us could talk openly about the work we'd done. With that bit of chitchat out of the way, I decided to move things along a bit. "Samuels mentioned something about the Stargate?" I asked.

"Yes. There's been an incident and I want your experienced opinion on the matter," he said shortly as he stood up. "This way."

We walked out of his office and over to a secure holding room located near the infirmary. Inside were three dead jaffa lying on examination tables with varying levels of gunfire damage to their bodies.

"Anyone you know, Commander?" Hammond asked.

I looked over at the body lying closest to me and winced a bit as I saw the 'X' shaped pouch over his gut.

"They're not human," the doctor noted.

"No kidding?" I responded sarcastically.

The doctor just gave me a look before he continued. "Best as we can tell, these slits are actually a pouch, similar to that found in a marsupial."

"Like a kangaroo?" Samuels asked.

"That's right. Except…" here the doc moved to the second bed that had a sheet over it and pulled it away to reveal a woman with short black hair. "in both sexes."

I examined the second corpse as he said that and noted the different garb she had on compared to the first guy, who was wearing plate armor and a chainmail shirt. I figured that she was a priestess brought along by the jaffa or maybe Apophis to help with the selection of slaves, based on the medieval style robes she was wearing. I remembered that jaffa women could be warriors too but were traditionally kept in defensive positions by their goa'uld masters. It was rarely depicted in the show, but I was certain jaffa women did exist and would be encountered more frequently in the future.

"These people, or aliens, whatever you want to call them, came through that gate, killed four of my people and kidnaped another using advanced weapons," the General explained.

Samuels then gestured to an airman to fetch one of the advanced weapons, which turned out to be a staff weapon. The General handed it to me. I took it from him, located the activator switch and activated the weapon, amber energy sparking along the tip. I then deactivated it and held it upright next to me.

"Seen one before, I take it?" Hammond asked.

"Definitely. It's just like the ones we brought back from Abydos after we escaped. But none of the guys there had snake helmets," I said, pointing to a Serpent Guard helmet left fully deployed on the other side of the room along with the rest of the armor that had been laid out.

"I've seen the reports and I know all about that. But your report also said that this Ra was in fact some kind of alien that lived inside of a human body," said the General.

"Yeah, somehow. His voice was really deep and echoey and his eyes tended to glow at times," I replied.

The General paused, searching my expression and asked, "Are you sure he's dead, colonel?"

"Unless he could somehow survive a Mark-III nuke going off in his face, yeah. No doubt. Why are you asking?" I asked, keeping a straight face, but had the feeling Hammond already knew I was hiding something.

"Because, colonel, these people… or whatever they are, were guarding another man in gold armor who retreated back through the stargate. I got a good look at his eyes before he left, colonel. They glowed."

~SG-WOLF~

We then began to walk back to his office. "How do you feel about the Stargate mission after all this time, colonel?" Hammond asked.

"I don't get what you're getting at, General."

"Well, it's been just over a year. Has your perspective changed?"

"Well, as you…" I broke off as I saw Kawalsky, Brown and Ferretti sitting at a table in a small room across from the General's office. I saw Kawalsky look my way and recognize me, but the door was shut before anything more could be done about it. I followed the General back into his office with Samuels.

"Was that…" I began.

"Kawalsky, Ferretti and Brown? Yes," he confirmed. "They all served under your command on the Abydos mission. However, Freeman is deployed overseas at the moment and Riley left the Air Force for a job opportunity in the civilian sector according to my report. We'll be questioning them as well once we track them down, but those three were currently stationed in San Diego and the easiest to bring here." The general sat behind his desk "Have a seat, colonel."

I walked over to one of the seats in front of the general's desk and sat down, feeling a shift in tone from earlier. The General looked at Samuels before beginning, "Tell me about Daniel Jackson, colonel."

"Why are you questioning the rest of my team?" I deflected.

"They're not your team anymore, colonel. You're retired, remember? Daniel Jackson?" Hammond pressed.

I turned to him. "You said you've read the report. You know everything I know."

"Do we?" Samuels asked.

I paused, pretending to be slightly confused. "Unless there's something you haven't told me?" I hedged.

"You rather liked Daniel Jackson, is that right?" he asked.

"He was alright. Bit of a nerd, but that was about it," I replied.

"Didn't have a lot of time for him then?" Samuels asked.

"It's not as though we had a lot of time to get to know each other before the mission. He also saved all of our lives and was able to reactivate the Stargate so my men and I could get home," I replied with a bit of an edge creeping into my response. I was starting to remember why Samuels was regarded as something of an ass on the show.

"According to the mission brief given by General West, your orders were to go through the stargate, to scout out any possible threat to Earth and if found, to detonate a nuclear device to destroy the gate on the other side," he said.

"That's right," I replied.

"But that's not what you did, is it?" Samuels accused.

"Not at the time. Ra's forces overpowered my team and took the nuke before I could arm it," I explained.

"But, with Dr. Jackson's help, you were able to manage an escape and did, in fact, detonate the weapon?"

"Yes."

"What about the items you brought back with you?"

"The staff weapons were stolen from Ra's ship and we used them to make our escape," I supplied, keeping to the cover story. "The helmet came from the guard we killed who was guarding the stargate. I activated the nuke, grabbed the guard's fancy helmet in case it was useful and went through the stargate. We turned the items over the minute we came back."

"So to the best of your knowledge, Daniel Jackson and everyone else you knew on Abydos is dead, correct?" the General asked.

"That's right," I replied.

"Good," Hammond said as he stood up. "Then you won't mind if I authorize a go-ahead on our plan."

He exited the room and I followed after him and Samuels a moment later.

"This quartz material the stargates are made of, it must be pretty tough stuff if it can withstand a Mark-III," the General said.

"Well, as you know general, we sent a probe through after we got back. It was flattened instantly on the other end," I replied. "Even if the nuke didn't pulverize the gate, it's certainly been buried beneath several tons of radioactive rubble."

"But somehow it got unburied," the general said as we arrived in the gate room. At the base of the ramp and sitting on a small platform was a nuclear bomb, bigger than any I had ever seen in person. Several technicians were working on it and as I watched, a timer was inserted at the top of the cylinder, displaying a 24-hour countdown, already in progress.

"Damn," I muttered. "You're sending another one?"

"A Mark-V this time. This stuff may be tough, but anyone making use of the gate certainly won't survive the blast, even if the stargate somehow managed to." The General paused. "Countdown's already started. Unless you have something you'd like to add."

I paused, then sighed. "Well, this is awkward."

"You didn't detonate the bomb," Hammond stated, as though he already knew the truth.

"No sir, I did. The nuke detonated and it was on Ra's ship when it went off. So it did kill Ra and thereby eliminate the risk to Earth," I stated.

"However…?" Samuels asked leadingly.

"However," I glared at him before pausing. "The ship might've been in low orbit above the planet. Neither the gate, nor anything else on the planet was destroyed. Daniel Jackson is alive and living with the people on Abydos."

"You violated direct orders. Why?" Hammond asked.

"Because I wasn't going to murder thousands of innocent people whose only crime was that they were all slaves to Ra. He was dead, so they could just live out their lives in peace. The people of Abydos are no threat to us. So, if you want to nitpick, I didn't violate my orders. I just followed them in spirit rather than by letter." I replied.

"That's not up to you…" Hammond replied, but he didn't seem too sure of himself as he said that.

"If I had come back here and reported the gate on the other side was still intact, West would've sent another bomb, just like you were about to now," I responded. "You know he would have. The man was adamant that we use the nuke at the first sign of any threat and damn the consequences. Those people represented no threat to us. They lived in tents and had no army and no technology to speak of. They welcomed us into their homes and when we asked, put it all on the line for us so that we could go home and they could be free. I'm sorry sir, but I refused to become a mass murderer that day. That's not what I signed on for," I replied seriously.

I could see that I was getting through to him, but he didn't like it. General George Hammond was a fundamentally good man and I appreciated the hell out of him for that. But today, he wasn't here as my ally. He had to be my antagonist, but I didn't resent him one bit for that.

"What about the probe we sent through? It was crushed instantly." Samuels asked.

"I told Daniel to bury their gate as soon as we left. Making my return, or anybody else's impossible," I replied.

"I've got three bodies lying in the infirmary say otherwise as well as four dead airmen," Hammond said. I didn't have anything to say anything in return.

The general turned to one of the SFs standing by in the gate room. "Take the colonel to the holding room with the others. Give him a little time to think about things while I decide what to do with him," the General ordered.

~SG-WOLF~

I was shoved none too gently through the entrance to the holding room by the SF. I walked into a dimly lit room with a small table, a pair of beds and a few chairs in it. A moment later, Kawalsky stood at attention in front of me. "Sir," he said, saluting me.

"Be at ease Kawalsky, it's just us trigger pullers in here," I replied as I stuck out my hand. I used the slang term, 'trigger pullers' meant for guys who spend their careers fighting rather than stacking boxes or sitting behind desks. He looked at it before he grinned and shook it. "Me, Brown and Ferretti didn't tell them anything," he assured me. "I don't think Riley or Freeman would say anything either."

"Nice going," I smiled in return. "They're a bit harder to reach these days or they'd be here too, but I agree."

"Hey, those kids on Abydos saved our lives too," Ferretti said as he walked over. I shook his hand as well.

"Damn straight," Brown supplied. I nodded as I sat down on a chair at the table in the middle of the room.

"I mean, they're the whole reason we kept it secret," Kawalsky added. "Right?" I nodded. "There was that one kid who idolized you. Remember him?"

"Skaara," I supplied, wondering how he was doing these days.

"Remember how he was always saluting you?" he asked, laughing and imitating rapid salutes like the ones the kids kept giving me before we'd left.

"Yeah," I shook my head, smiling. "And I remember he probably got that from you when he saw you do it." I of course, had to return their salutes every time they saluted me. I thought my arm was going to fall off, they kept doing it so much!

At that point the door opened and the General walked in. Kawalsky and Brown quickly stood at attention but I took my time getting up.

"That was quick," I said. "I'm guessing you've made a decision?"

"How many people did you say were on Abydos?" Hammond asked, looking tired.

"That we saw? A good ten thousand," I replied. The General hesitated.

"Does this mean you're reconsidering sending the bomb, sir?" I asked. Kawalsky and the others tensed at the mention of sending another bomb through the gate.

"It means I'm open to suggestions," he said.

"Well that's easy. We confirm that Daniel is still alive on Abydos and that their Stargate is unburied," I said.

"After that, we," I indicated the rest of my team standing in the room. "Go through to ask what's been happening on his end," I replied.

"Very well. I'll have the prototype probe shipped here from MIT," the General replied, looking relieved to have an alternative to nuking civilians.

"I can save you a bunch of money on that," I said as I looked around and spotted what I was looking for. A box of tissues sitting on the table. I grabbed it and held it up for the general to see. "Something only Daniel would understand."

~SG-WOLF~

Back in the gate room, we waited in the control room as the stargate started dialing up Abydos. I smiled as I watched the gate spin as it dialed. I had missed this more than I had realized. The last year had been nice, even fun at times, but I was ready to get back to the real reason I was here.

"Care to explain this concept?" the General asked.

"Daniel has allergies," I explained. "Don't ask me how or why, but he sneezes when he travels. We all saw it before and on our mission to Abydos. He'll know the message came from me and not from someone like..." I paused and looked at Samuels. "Well, you."

"Why not just send a note?" Samuels asked.

"Anyone can send a note," I replied.

"Chevron six encoded!" Walter called out.

"Well, time to send our message off," I said as I left the control room. I entered the gate room just in time for the activation vortex. More than twenty heavily armed men stood guard in front of the gate, including the two .50 caliber machine guns on either side of the ramp. Hopefully, we could quickly clear up the notion that anything could come through an outgoing wormhole soon or these guys were going to burn out quick from scrambling every time we dialed the gate.

I noted that this activation was a lot more stable than the last time we were off to Abydos. No reverse whirlpool for instance and the splash effect created by the wormhole disappeared a lot more quickly. Maybe the gate was still recalibrating after being inactive for so long? It had only been activated a handful of times in the last year but had been inactive for ten thousand years before that.

I casually walked up to the gate and paused as I soaked up the feeling of being close to the Stargate again. But it was only for a moment until I snapped out of it and tossed the box through with little ceremony. I turned around and walked back down the ramp, past the security guys who all were standing by in case something happened.

I headed back up to the control room.

"Now what?" the General asked.

"Now we wait," I replied. "If Daniel's still around, he'll get the message and send back a reply."

"What if the aliens got it?" Samuels asked.

"It's a box of tissues Samuels, not the keys to the Pentagon," I responded, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my response. "Either they'll blow it up or blow their noses, but it's no skin off our back either way."

"They could be planning an attack!" he replied hotly.

"Yes, and we've now handed them the secrets of quilted bath products!" I replied, forgoing hiding my sarcasm this time.

"General, this could take some time. Probably best just to settle in and wait."

~SG-WOLF~

An hour later, I was seated in the briefing room located outside General Hammond's office. Samuels was speaking with some of his other officers that he had brought with him and all of them occasionally sent me looks while we waited. I didn't care much what they had to say, so I didn't even bother turning my head unless one of them asked me a direct question. They held all the smugness and self assurance of politicians rather than soldiers and I could hear the snide undertones whenever one came to ask me some inane question. Whatever. They weren't likely to be here for long, so I didn't really care.

The sound of the gate activating, indicating an incoming wormhole, reached us along with intense vibrations. I quickly got out of my chair and made my way down to the gate room. As Hammond, Samuels and I arrived in front of the gate, a small object was spat out of the wormhole and the gate deactivated.

I walked up to the object and picked it up. All of the tissues were gone and the box was covered in a fine layer of frost. I wiped some of it away and grinned as I saw the message scrawled on the side:

'THANKS SEND MORE'

"That's just the response we've been waiting for," I grinned as I tossed the box to Samuels, who caught it and showed the message to the General.

"Permission to take a team through the Stargate to Abydos, sir," I asked.

"Assuming I get the President's authorization, the mission briefing will be at 0800 hours tomorrow," Hammond replied. "Consider yourself reinstated, Colonel."

AN: Actually, I have been to Langkawi in the past and it's at the top of my list for dream vacation spots in the future. Beautiful beaches, nice people and so damn relaxing, I couldn't believe it. Not to mention a lot cheaper than Hawaii or Guam. Watching the sunset on the beach with a beer in hand will always be one of my fondest memories.

Like I said last time, I plan to have Children of the Gods be a multi-chapter story since it's such a big story arc. We'll be digging into the series itself now and over time, you'll start to notice the changes start to build up into what I hope will be a unique and interesting universe.