Chapter Nine

"But isn't that what got the Velonans in trouble?" Daniel asked when Elizabeth nodded at Janet's deduction. "Why would they do that again?"

"The fault was not in the Velonan." one of the beings said. "The fault was in the Ascended. He had the power, but not the knowledge of what he was doing. Innumerable things must be altered to successfully do as he wished. We understand that his reasons were noble, but the results of his actions would have caused damage far beyond what he could have conceived if it were not handled immediately. The destruction of the Velonan race was unfortunate, but however, it was not as complete as both you and they believe."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.

"As the Champion decreed, it is not just for the whole to suffer for the mistakes of the few." Another one answered. "We took a small group and placed them outside of the Ancients' reach. Now that the last has taken leave of the planet, we will release them and place them safely back so that they can rebuild their race. They will remember the outcome of the battle with the Goa'uld, but will think that it was the weapon itself that caused the destruction of their people."

Before Daniel could ask another question, Jack cut him off in irritation. "Daniel, how many times do we have to tell you that it's rude to hold conversations in languages that no one else understands?"

"Umm, sorry Jack." Daniel said sheepishly. "They said that not all of the Velonans were dead."

"As interesting as that is," General Hammond spoke up, "I think we should get back to why they have come here."

"Right!" Elizabeth jumped in. She turned to the members of the Protectorate. "They want to know what you have planned for us. We have all just found out the about our origins, and we are a little skittish."

"Understandable." The Protectorate spokeswoman said. "We will unlock your full potential that you were bequeathed upon your delivery into our dimension. Your physical abilities will be similar to that which you held as Slayers. You will have the power to stand against those that would cause others to falter."

"Why?" Sam demanded as Daniel translated for everyone else, including Jordan. "After everything that they went through before, why make them fight again?"

For the first time since arriving, the members of the Protectorate spoke in English. "They will fight regardless of our interference. It is in their nature. Their rebirths have not changed their hearts. They were Chosen to defend the human race, because it is not in their nature to allow an innocent to suffer if they can help. Even the Dark One protected those that she could when she was barely capable of taking care of herself."

Elizabeth hesitated to contradict the powerful being, but her memories of her life as Buffy, before becoming a Slayer, clearly showed a typical shallow, vain California cheerleader. Then she paused as a long forgotten memory suddenly surfaced. The one time she had known about one of her classmates in trouble, she had done something, hadn't she? She'd just made sure that no one could track it back to her. A girl she would have never been caught dead consorting with, but she had forgotten something in her gym locker and returned to the locker room after gym class where the girl had hung back to shower and change alone, and she'd seen the mottled bruises that had covered the entire length of her back. A little research and an anonymous phone call from the payphone at one of their hangouts had resulted in the police catching the girl's alcoholic father red-handed beating the daylights out of her as she'd tried to shield her mother.

She, as Buffy, had always thought that her being Called had been some sort of cosmic fluke, but maybe whatever it was that chose the next Slayer had seen something in her that she, herself, had never even suspected until she had been Called.

"It's okay, Sam." She reassured her sister. "I'd planned on trying to get into the program when I turned 18, anyway. I've already got a couple of ideas that I want to run by you that would help you and your teams."

Sam's shoulders dropped in defeat. When she had approached the General about possibly bringing Elizabeth into the Stargate program, she'd never intended on her baby sister being on the front lines. She didn't like knowing what Eli had been through before, past life or not, and now this.

"We'll be okay, Big Sis." Elizabeth said. Jordan snickered. That was usually what she called Janet. "With our old memories, we're a lot better prepared for what we're going to have to do. We've got the experience, and with their help, we'll have the abilities."

"Yeah, Blondie," Jordan finally spoke up. "We kick ass now. Can you imagine the damage we'll be able to do with super powers?"

"How long would they be gone?" Sam asked, resigning herself to the situation.

Before anyone could respond, the alarm klaxons went off again. *Unscheduled incoming wormhole.*

The SGC officers left the teens and the members of the Protectorate in the conference room and made their way quickly to the Control Room.

"Receiving IDC." Walter was stating as Hammond came up next to him. "It's the Tok'ra, sir."

"Open the iris." The General ordered.

A moment later, former Air Force General, now host to Tok'ra High Council member, Selmak, Jacob Carter stepped through the Stargate with a duffle bag. He looked to the officers like he was on leave. At Hammond's command, the guards lowered their weapons.

"Jacob?" Hammond called through the intercom. "Has something happened?"

"No, George, everything is fine." Jacob nodded up at him and the others. "I simply felt like coming for a visit. If that's all right with you, kiddo." The last was said to Sam.

She leaned over to speak into another microphone. "Sure, dad, but we're kind of in the middle of something right now. You might want to come up to the conference room."

Jacob frowned even as he nodded. There was something in her voice that he didn't like. He made his way to the conference room, and almost dropped his duffel in shock.

"What are you doing here, Elizabeth?" Jacob demanded, momentarily ignoring the reaction that Selmak was exhibiting towards the strangers in the room. He wanted to know what the hell his youngest was doing at the core of the most secret government program in the world. "If you're here because you hacked into their systems, young lade, we are going to have a serious discussion."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and ignored him. In her mind, he had no right to be acting all parental on her when he'd never actually been her parent. Jordan sneered at him in swiftly rising anger. She really didn't like her girlfriend's father.

One of the male members of the Protectorate studied the new arrival with his head cocked to the side. "I find that I must confess my confusion." He spoke in English. "You have made no attempt to be a part of the Champion's life since shortly after her birth, but you still feel that you have the right to make parental demands?"

"Who the hell are you?" Jacob demanded, flushing slightly at the blatant questioning of his parental abilities. No one had stated openly spoken about his admittedly poor treatment of his youngest daughter since Mark and George, and that had been years ago. "What do you know about me and my family? Samantha?"

"We have watched over the Champions since they were delivered to us, awaiting the time of Remembrance, so that we may aid them in their destiny." The woman answered. "We watched as you pulled away from her as an infant, because in your mind and heart, you felt that you could not bear to watch her die. We could understand such sentiments so soon after the loss of your mate; however, the continued withdrawal during her growing years was unacceptable. As such, we acknowledge only the concerns of those who have taken active part in the growth of the Champions."

There was complete and utter silence. Everyone, with the exception of the Teal'c and the Champions in question, were shocked and a little dumbstruck. While none of them had approved of Jacob's treatment of Elizabeth, no one had even thought to keep him out of the loop of anything concerning his daughter.

"What concerns?" Jacob asked. "What Champions? Who are you people?"

Sam quickly filled her father in on everything she had learned since SG-1 had retrieved Elizabeth from the Velonan homeworld. Then, of course, she had to backtrack and explain just what Elizabeth had been doing there in the first place. She told him what Elizabeth learned about the fate of the Velonans. How the Ancients had wiped them out in fear of what the Protectorate would do, and then told him that the beings currently in the room with them were members of that same Protectorate.

"If what Elizabeth had been saying was true, Jacob," Hammond interjected, "then she probably saved us all."

Jacob wanted to deny everything, from the unbelievable issue that his daughter had been a mystical warrior in a previous life and another dimension, to the fact that she was about to be taken away to be prepared to fight, in the near future, and against the Goa'uld or possibly something worse. He was about to make his denials fervent and verbal, when Selmak uncharacteristically told him to shut the hell up. And in those very words. Jacob's tongue froze in his mouth. In the time that they had been blended, Selmak had never made a flat out demand such as that one, especially when it came to Earth matters and his family.

Watching her father choke back more words, Elizabeth finally turned her attention back to the Protectorate. "What's going to happen to us?"

"You will be taken to our realm so that we might make the final adjustments." The leader said, still speaking in English for the benefit of the others. "Time has no meaning there, and your bodies will have the time that they need to adjust without damage. Then you will be delivered unto the Ancients to further your training and your education."

"How long with they have to be gone?" Janet finally spoke, asking a question that had been on all of their minds.

"Two of your years only." Was the answer. "We are not like their previous masters. They will have time to themselves before they are needed. During that time, however, you will have to prepare the way for them to enter into this battle that you wage. They will help you with the scourge that are the Goa'uld, but in return, you must help them fulfill their own duties."

"Don't worry about that." Jack spoke up. "We intended to anyway."