Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia Axis Powers or Stargate SG-1. They belong to their respective owners. I am making no money off of this fanfiction. It is for entertainment purposes only.
Into the Wild Blue Yonder
Part the Seventh
SG-1 walked into the debriefing room again, closely followed by an equally exhausted SG-3. They dropped into their chairs heavily (with the exception of Teal'c, who, to Jack's chagrin, still managed to seat himself with grace). General Hammond walked in a moment later and sat down at the head of the table, appearing almost as stressed as Jack felt. "I just got off of the phone with the President," he announced. "I have more news concerning the tapes of the battle earlier today, but first I would like to hear if we know anything more about our mysterious System Lord." He turned to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel nodded, passing his flash drive over to General Hammond. General Hammond passed the device to an airman, who plugged it into the computer in the corner of the room. As the projector turned on, General Hammond passed the remote to Daniel before signaling to the guards in the corner to turn off the lights.
Daniel navigated the computer remotely until he found the file that he needed. Pushing himself tiredly out of his chair, he proceeded to the front of the room and said, "As we all remember, the Goa'uld in the video alluded to a 'King of Mictlan'. Well, in my research, I found one such mythological King of Mictlan." He gestured to the colored image. "This is Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of the underworld."
Jack rubbed his eyes. "Micty-who?"
Daniel sighed. "Honestly, Jack. It's Mictlantecuhtli. If you can't say his name, then say the Goa'uld of Mictlan, or something."
"I like Micty better."
"Jack…"
"I mean, how do his underworld residents remember his name?"
"I'm sure that, if you had lived in the Empire and spoke nahuatl, Jack, then it would be very easier to remember."
"Say his name five times fast."
Daniel rolled his eyes. Gesturing back to the computer screen, he said, "Anyway, Mictlantecuhtli is the Aztec god of the underworld. He is one of the most prominent death gods, and he ruled the underworld with his wife, Mictecacihuatl. Their region was cold and icy. Although the Spanish Codex identified him with Satan, Mictlantecuhtli was the king of the souls of the dead, not necessarily the souls of the evil."
Sam leaned on the table to get a better look at the picture. "I wish that there was a way to tell from the image what kind of System Lord we could—or might have been, as Colonel O'Neill pointed out in our last session—be dealing with. I'd hate for him to be another Sokar."
"I don't think so, Sam," Daniel replied. "I mean, he had his usual sacrifices, but one source I read claimed that the Aztec death gods were easily fooled."
"Fighting Ba'al certainly wasn't his brightest idea," Jack muttered.
Ignoring the colonel, Sam said, "I didn't have the opportunity to ask this during the last meeting, but are you sure that this System Lord is using the persona of an Aztec god? I know that the names match up, but aren't the 1500s A.D. a little late in our history for a Goa'uld System Lord?"
"Not really," Daniel said, bouncing on his feet a little, "because when you say 1500s A.D., you're not referring to their actual date of existence—you're referring to their date of conquest. The Aztecs were around as a tribe for a while before that, and they received many of their gods from the Mayans before them and even some from the tribes that they conquered, although they were usually lesser gods. In their absorption of conquered gods, one source compared them to the Roman Empire." Daniel shrugged. "Supposedly, Mictlantecuhtli parallels the Mayan god of the underworld, and the Mayans in addition to the Aztecs left pyramids. As the Goa'uld used the Egyptian pyramids to hide ships, it's equally possible that some Goa'uld used pyramids in the Americas for the same purpose. Simply because we haven't searched for evidence of the Goa'uld outside of Egypt and Ancient technology outside of Antarctica actually doesn't limit them to those areas. There might in fact be Goa'uld or Ancient technology or even a Stargate buried somewhere on the American continents. After all, we only found the Stargate in Antarctica by accident, not to mention that Hathor was discovered in Mexico City. That has to mean something."
"That's true."
"However, back to your original question, the Aztec Empire was around for about one hundred years prior to the conquest by Cortez and his allies, but the tribes that made up the allied empire were around for longer. The term Aztec, however, was a name that derived from the alliance that formed the basis of their Empire, for they were really called the Nahua—"
"Wait, did you just say, 'Cortez and his allies'?" Colonel Reynolds interrupted.
"Of course," Daniel said, turning to him. "Do you honestly believe that a couple of hundred of Spanish soldiers, regardless that they brought horses, guns, armor, and smallpox, could wipe out an entire empire on their own? Especially given that the label 'empire' means that there are other peoples under the titled ruler? The Aztec religion was based upon ritual sacrifice, which meant that most of their conquests were focused on acquiring sacrifices through the peoples that they conquered. Like xochipilli, the 'flower wars.' It just so happened that the conquered who didn't like being used as the sacrifices joined forces with Cortez to topple the Empire, even if that tidbit is often left out."
"Huh. And here I'd thought that they'd just had superpowers or something," joked Jack.
"Returning to the actual topic," interjected Major Carter. "So, it's not a farfetched idea that this 'King of Mictlan' is the other System Lord?"
Daniel shrugged. "Well, I couldn't find any other mythological beings with the name 'King of Mictlan,'" he said. "Besides, there's a much higher likelihood that this is the one due to a small something… here…" He reached up and pointed to the image, resting his finger finally beneath the figure's neck. "Do you see this necklace?"
"That's a necklace?" 1st Lt. Bosco said. "It just looks like circles and lines to me."
"I thought that it was a collar," said Major Peterson.
Carter focused her gaze on the image, narrowing her eyes a little in concentration. "Yeah, but I couldn't tell that it was a necklace. Why is it important?"
"The Aztec gods are mainly differentiated based on how they are colored and the clothing that they're wearing. According to the descriptions that I found, one of Mictlantecuhtli's symbols is a necklace of eyeballs—don't make that face, Jack. Skeletal imagery stood for health and fertility, among other things—"
"—but they're eyeballs—"
"—and the way the necklace is drawn here looks suspiciously like the symbol of our unknown System Lord, coincidentally the 'King of Mictlan,' which was one of this guy's titles," concluded Daniel.
Sam compared the two images in her head. If the necklace was turned to the side, and then overlaid… Her eyes widened. "You're right!"
Jack drawled, "So…" as he leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the armrests while linking his fingers together in front of him, "now that we've identified our unknown System Lord, where does that leave us?"
Daniel yawned, and he rubbed his eyes tiredly. When his vision focused again, he crossed his arms and then eyed the image contemplatively. "I don't know," he said finally. "We haven't dealt with Aztec System Lords before."
"I have never heard of a System Lord by the name of Mictlantecuhtli," Teal'c said, speaking for the first time at the meeting. He inclined his head. "Perhaps the better question is whether this System Lord was originally the ally or enemy of Ba'al, Daniel Jackson? Or the determination of whether or not this System Lord is still a danger to us?"
Daniel sighed and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes tiredly again before pinching the bridge of his nose. He inhaled deeply. Finally, he shook his head. "I don't know, Teal'c. I just don't know."
General Hammond, who had been quiet while Daniel explained, said, "It's all right, Dr. Jackson. I'm just glad that we have something to work with in the meantime. As soon as this meeting is over, I'll have Walter ask our allies whether they have any information on this new System Lord." He nodded at Daniel. "Thank you."
Daniel nodded tiredly and went back to sit down. By the time that he sat, the lights had been switched back on, and General Hammond was shutting down the projector and passing Daniel's flash drive back to him. He said, "While I can't say whether this System Lord began as an enemy or ally of Ba'al, I can say that we have evidence from the team reviewing the tapes that they were certainly enemies when they invaded our base."
"What makes you say that, General Hammond?" Colonel Reynolds asked.
"The Goa'uld that shot Alfred was a soldier of Ba'al. Immediately after shooting Alfred, he was in turn shot by one of the soldiers from this new System Lord."
"Well, that's definitely something."
"There is a catch to this," General Hammond continued slowly.
"Uh-oh," Jack drawled slowly.
"The Jaffa that shot Alfred wasn't shot fatally, and he escaped back through the Stargate. We don't know whether he reported back to Ba'al or not, or even what he would have been able to report. But the fact remains that one of Ba'al's Jaffa used the Stargate blip presumably to escape successfully."
Jack grimaced. "That's not good."
"No, it isn't." General Hammond frowned. "But we can't do anything about it now."
Sam raised her hand. "Sir, have you heard anything from the lab?"
General Hammond shook his head. "No, but they've assured me that the lab results will be ready by tomorrow."
Colonel O'Neill leaned forward with a tired sigh. "Well, if the lab results aren't in, then let's resume with the first thing that you mentioned earlier, sir," he said. "How'd the President take the news about Alfred?"
General Hammond sighed and rested his forehead in his palm. "About as well as could be expected, Colonel. The end result was that we are ordered to recover Alfred at all costs." He paused before releasing a rare chuckle, and, with a disbelieving shake of the head, said, "But before reaching that point, I had to hold the phone away from my ear for about two minutes while he shouted about how much trouble Alfred was in when he returned to Earth, how this was the reason why he and past presidents have never allowed him to come here before, how apparently Alfred is the largest trouble magnet this world has ever seen, how Alfred is apparently going to lose his hamburger rights 'for real' this time, and on and on." He moved his head out of his hand to gesture.
"Hamburger rights?" Daniel echoed.
"Apparently, our national avatar has a love of burgers that equates the love of our people for them," returned General Hammond. "Also, apparently, the last President gave him a special card that allows him to have the food billed to Washington if that's what he is eating."
"That's convenient, I guess."
Jack raised a hand. "Pardon my asking, General, but isn't he being a little harsh? I mean, it's not like Alfred got shot and fell through the Stargate on purpose. And if he's being held by a Goa'uld System Lord, it's not like he's having a party or something. Especially not if it's Ba'al." I know that all too well…
General Hammond sighed. "I tried that approach myself, but while the President maintains that it would have taken an armed task force to keep Alfred out of the fight—and he did admit that, even then, that might not have worked—he feels that Alfred should have been more careful. Most of his anger was his worry. After Alfred has returned, he'll probably keep the avatar close by for a while. The proverbial leash would speak for itself."
Colonel Reynolds held up a hand this time. "Excuse me, General Hammond? What did you mean when you said, 'national avatar'?"
"The President has agreed to make an allowance and raise security clearances on a need-to-know basis, so that will be explained after I have given SG-1 their new assignment, Colonel Reynolds," General Hammond replied. "I'm sorry that I have to ask you and your team to wait another moment."
Reynolds nodded.
"Thank you." General Hammond returned his focus to both teams. "The President has issued orders that, given the fact that we have no idea where Alfred or SG-21 is, we are to put in a line to our allies and ask for aid. Walter is currently working on this, despite the busy signals that we've been receiving."
"Could this be related to the connection problems that we had with P9X-534?" Major Carter asked.
General Hammond shook his head. "It is possible, but when I asked Walter, he claimed that it was just a busy signal. The previous diagnostics turned up negative for connection problems, even after I finally agreed to allow him to randomly make connections with uninhabited worlds. He is currently running some additional diagnostics on the Stargate, just in case, but there do not appear to be any problems."
There was a brief pause, and then Colonel O'Neill raised his hand. "How soon can we send the drone then, General?"
General Hammond shook his head. "Not yet."
"Not yet?" Jack echoed. "Why not, sir?"
"Our connection problems began after connecting to that planet. I've ordered Walter to finish the diagnostics before we attempt another connection."
"But General—"
"Colonel O'Neill, I don't like sitting around and waiting while they are out still there any more than you do," General Hammond cut him off shortly. "But until we know for sure that there are no problems with the Stargate or the Stargate on that planet, I can't jeopardize this base again. We took casualties, today, and a lot more than I'm comfortable with. Thankfully, those of you in front of me are not, but many of our men are injured, and we lost many besides. I would like to hope that we're just as lucky when we send the drone as we were earlier today, but I can't take that chance until this base is prepared for a second attempt."
General Hammond took a deep breath, and then he said, "Colonel O'Neill, we've walked into a battle between two System Lords. I agree that it's possible that they moved elsewhere on the planet or have even probably left the planet, but it's equally possible that, in the time since y'all returned, they have moved back into the area where P9X-534's Stargate is located, especially if they're expecting us to return for Alfred and SG-21. If that is the case, I cannot jeopardize this base until it's ready for a second battle, especially since the reports you and Colonel Reynolds just submitted say that the likeliest outcome for the remaining members of SG-21 and Alfred was that they were captured. We don't even know by whom. What would you suggest—knock on each System Lord's mothership's doors and ask who has them?"
He took a deep breath, and then he said calmer, "Colonel O'Neill, I'm sorry, but at the present, what is necessary to rescue Alfred and SG-21 might be nothing short of an army large enough to face two System Lords, which we don't have and would not be able to convince Congress to allow without telling them information they can't afford to know right now. And even if we did have a large enough force on standby, if they were required and didn't face those armies at the same time, they would most likely have to be able to face one and then the other. We don't have that manpower right now, and the President is looking into other options."
Colonel O'Neill leaned forward. "Well, then what would you suggest that we can do in the meantime, General?"
"Rest."
"Rest?! General, I—"
"Because you're flying out early in the morning to Alfred's house in Texas," General Hammond finished. "The President is having a copy made of the key to Alfred's house. It will be flown over as soon as it is finished, and you're leaving shortly afterwards."
Colonel O'Neill gestured frustratedly with his hands. "And just what are we supposed to find at Alfred's house that will be better than the kid himself?" he asked sarcastically.
"The President hopes that his Asgard friend Tony will be able to help you," Hammond replied, before adding, "if you can find him."
"If we can find him?"
The General sighed. "Supposedly, although Tony lives with Alfred on his property in Texas, the alien came and went as he pleased. He may be unfriendly to intruders. The President wanted to send guards with you all as a form of identification, but none of the current staff are familiar with Tony, and it would take too long to dig through their files to determine if any of the older staffs knew who and what Tony was, or if Tony would even remember them. The President himself only knows him by name, never having met Tony in person, either. Apparently, he prefers to stay by himself or with Alfred, so for the protection of his guards and his own privacy, only Alfred has had access to his Texas property."
Sam asked, "General Hammond, what does the President believe will be accomplished? If this is only to help Tony find his way back, surely that can be done after we've recovered Alfred and SG-21, which would be accomplished better if that drone was sent to the planet sooner rather than later?"
General Hammond shook his head. "As per Tony, the President believes that, since they spent so much time together, he may be of some aid in finding Alfred. As per the drone, that matter is closed."
"So, in other words, what the President really means to say is that this is a long-shot attempt to pretend that we're doing something because we can't actually do anything right now?" clarified Jack darkly.
"Pretty much."
"Swell," Jack bit out. Then he sighed, grumbling, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but until that drone is sent out, I guess that it's something. When is the key arriving?"
"Sometime in the early morning, Colonel," General Hammond repeated tiredly. "You'll leave right afterwards."
"Let's hope we don't get vaporized."
