TITLE: A New Guard
AUTHOR: Methos
DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognise belongs to somebody else, Buffy, Superman, West Wing, Stargate, Spin City… If you recognise it from TV, then it ain't mine... I'm just borrowing them for a spin :)
New York City: Sunset
Running was amazing, the speed, the ability to duck between moving cars and trucks, people standing around frozen like they were statues to him. Running from the Air Force base to the city had been the most exhilarating thing he'd ever done, second only to stepping off the building and floating down to the ground.
Had been, those were the operative words there. Now he was finding that he would have to readjust his scale every day or so if things continued like this. Running was fun, moving at super speed through the city was simply amazing. But it didn't compare to this.
Half an hour ago he'd simply been doing his Flash thing, running around trying to find City Hall, when he'd decided to cut across the park and look on the other side of the city, running across four lanes of traffic was easy when they were frozen like statues compared to him, but then he'd come to a wall with a drop down the other side into the park and he'd jumped without thinking, only he hadn't come back down, at all.
He'd jumped and just pushed up with his legs, clearing the park wall with ease, and then just continued up and up, over the park with his momentum from running carrying him, until he'd simply soared through the air, a gleeful grin on his face as he broke hold on gravity and hung in the air like a gliding bird.
Half an hour's practice later and he vaguely had a hang on it, it wasn't scientific or anything, and he was sure the blonde scientist woman back at the Air Force base was going to try and explain it to him in words he had no hope of understanding, or even pronouncing, but it worked for him.
Flying was odd, it wasn't exactly a muscle for movement, like walking or using his legs, but it wasn't an act of will either. It was somewhere in the middle and neither at the same time, like a 'pull' in the centre of his torso, he could feel it, concentrate on it, and move himself around. If he needed to go up, he just concentrated on moving the 'pull' upwards, or forwards, down, or any direction he needed really.
He was pretty sure anyone watching him from ground level for the past half hour must have thought he was crazy, or was chasing pigeons or something, from the way he'd been practicing drifting left and right, rotating himself, floating around and generally goofing around mid-air and laughing to himself.
But now he was swooping down towards the trees, moving faster and faster, arcing upwards to level off as he reached the tree line and soaring over them, reaching down to run his hands through the top leaves as he flew past, the leaves and branches whipping around in his wake as he arced up again, a wide grin on his face as he soared into the sky, looking around at the city that was stretched out before him with the sun going down past the buildings in the sunset, casting a silhouette on the entire city.
"This... is... amazing!" He exclaimed, his grin growing wider as he flew upwards, enjoying the feeling of the warm rays of the setting sun hitting his body as he hung there in the air. The wind blowing his cape and hair around, simply enjoying the exhilarating feeling of freedom, freedom like nothing he'd ever felt before.
The Antarctic Ice Shelf
"This vessel is indeed impressive." Teal'c announced as the shuttle moved around the ship, giving Jenny her first real glimpse at the crash she'd actually survived, and how much damage the Enterprise itself had taken.
"This Starfleet of yours does have some pretty nice tech, I'll admit that." Major Ferretti nodded in agreement with Teal'c. He hadn't even felt any thrust during take-off, no g-force whatsoever, even as Commander Calendar piloted them through the shuttle bay doors and out onto the ice shelf itself.
"Thanks, I think," Jenny smiled up at him, still half surprised at how easy the shuttle was to pilot. She knew she was running entirely on Doctor Crusher's memories here, but the system itself was surprisingly intuitive and simple to use. "I'm just running a scan to…"
"Scan?" Major Ferretti asked curiously, looking down at the futuristic control panel that Commander Calendar was using so proficiently. "Can you find out where Sands and Casey are?"
"Two human life signs," Jenny nodded. "On the bridge, no Borg life signs anywhere in range." She explained, breathing out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god," Major Warren exclaimed, slumping against the side of the shuttle and allowing himself to un-tense for the first time since he'd seen the black assimilated corridor with the sickly green lights shining through. "Nothing?"
"I'm getting something…" Jenny trailed off, double checking the sensor read outs. "A third life sign, it's pretty faint though. It's buried deep in the ice down there."
"Someone's down there in the ice?" Major Ferretti asked curiously. "You sure?"
"It's the only other life sign within forty miles," Jenny nodded, surprising herself at how easy she had been able to manipulate the computers LCARS system. "Two human life signs aboard the Enterprise, one unknown life sign about fifteen miles out and over two miles down."
"That's pretty deep," Major Warren said after letting out a whistle. "Could anyone survive down there in that?" He asked, gesturing over Commander Calendar's shoulder to the snow and ice outside below them.
"I'd have to run a full spectral scan to be sure," Jenny admitted with a nod. "But the sensors are saying whoever's down there is alive, faint, but alive. I'd expect these readings from someone in stasis or something similar." She paused, checking the readings. "And a positronic reading from a dozen miles or so to the east!" She exclaimed finally.
"Positronic?" Major Warren asked. "Data?"
"Data?" Major Ferretti asked with a raised eyebrow. "Care to fill us in here on the posi-whatsit stuff?"
"Is he alive?" Major Warren asked, looking at the sensor readouts in a vain hope that he could actually make sense of them before turning back to Major Ferretti. "Another crew member of the Enterprise, Data was… is, is an android."
"A robot?" Major Ferretti asked, impressed now. "They had those?" He asked curiously, mentally making a note to hunt down Major Warren's video collection of all this Trek stuff and familiarise himself with it as much as possible.
"Data is far more than a robot," Jenny smiled, Doctor Crusher's memories of Commander Data flooding to the surface. Memories of teaching him how to dance, of the first time he had his emotion chip installed, his friendship and need to become something more than what he was. "I can't tell if he's alive or not, the signal is too weak." She explained.
"Well let's go get him then," Major Warren suggested urgently. "He could be damaged or something." He explained to Major Ferretti.
"You don't have to sell me on it," Major Ferretti shrugged. "If we grab Sands and Casey then head out." He nodded, waiting for Commander Calendar to nod in agreement before continuing. "Does this shuttle have communications?" Major Ferretti asked curiously, looking around at all the fancy technology that was surrounding them.
"Of course," Jenny nodded, reaching over to the side panel where Major Ferretti was sat next to her in the pilot's area and bringing up the communications array.
"Ok, bit too complex for me," Major Ferretti admitted, looking at the LCARS system with no small amount of trepidation. "I have enough problems with that Windows Ninety Five thing at home." He said with a grin, looking back at Major Warren. "Your geek knowhow cover this sort of stuff?"
"Still a bit beyond me sir," Major Warren grinned back. "We've got satellites in orbit right, the phones, Verizon and all that right?" He asked, looking at Commander Calendar. "Can you patch in to one of those and route the signal through here?"
"Patch in to the phone company?" Major Ferretti grinned over. "I like the way you think Major." He nodded appreciatively at him.
"A narrow band EM signal," Jenny nodded in agreement, drawing on Doctor Crusher's familiarity with Starfleet technology to put it into terms she could work with. "No problem."
"What about radio frequencies?" Major Ferretti asked curiously.
"RF broadcast?" Jenny asked, racking Doctor Crusher's memories. "Geordie or Data would probably know, but I'm not…"
"Ok," Major Ferretti shrugged. It had been a long shot anyway, it was understandable that technology this far advanced wouldn't be able to be used in tandem with their twentieth century technology anyway. "If we grab Sands and Casey from the bridge, we can radio in from there and then check out this posi-whatsit signal, I think we've left them alone for long enough down there." He grinned over at Major Warren.
"I don't think they'd be bored down there Sir," Major Warren grinned back, but nodded in agreement with Major Ferretti's plan anyway.
"They're not geeks like you," Major Ferretti shot back. "That sound good to you Commander?" He asked hopefully.
"Happy to oblige," Jenny nodded, keeping her eye on the life form readout that was registering as positronic as she brought the thrusters back up and set the shuttle to descend back down to the Enterprise hull, arcing around in the snow the bring them in to land on the top of the saucer section itself.
Toby raised his eyebrow as he fished his cellphone out of his jacket pocket, not recognising the number immediately didn't mean much, as a lot of the people that would call him could use a dozen of different numbers to do so, so caller ID was never something he really relied on.
"Excuse me," He said politely, nodding back when Doctor Giles nodded to him from across the table where they had been talking. "Toby Ziegler?" He announced after flipping open the phone to talk.
"Mr Ziegler, this is James Acheson, we spoke earlier this afternoon?" The voice came over clearly. "You left your card if I wanted to talk further."
"Mr Acheson, yes." Toby nodded, rubbing his temples with his free hand. The meeting with DC comics that had left him wishing vengeance on Leo for settling him with in the first place. "What can I do for you?"
"There's not many ways of saying this Mr Zeigler, so I'll come right out with it." Mr Acheson's voice came over the line.
"That would be appreciated." Toby nodded to himself, rather sick of all the dancing around and half-truths that he'd heard so far today.
"We saw the rescue on the news this afternoon, did you see…"
"I think the whole world saw Mr Acheson," Toby frowned to himself, rubbing his temples with more vigour, knowing full well that DC Comics still owned the copyright to the Superman name that the press had happily attached to Mr Harris and was spreading like wildfire around the world. Catching Doctor Giles eye he tapped down to one of the Superman comics that they'd been going through, comparing Harris' feats to the comic character, tapping the DC logo on the cover he nodded at Dr Giles when he saw that he had his attention.
"I guess so," Mr Acheson's voice came back with a touch of laughter, causing Toby to give a puzzled expression for a moment. "Look, the board of director's is still talking this over, it's going to get pretty complicated I guess. But they asked me to speak to you to set up a meeting."
"A meeting?" Toby repeated in disbelief. "With…"
"Superman," Mr Acheson finished off. "It's alright, the way things are going, I think we can call him that now."
"Well, I…" Toby trailed off, running his hand through his receding hair. "Mr Acheson, I didn't expect that to be the case so soon."
"To be frank, neither did I." Mr Acheson confirmed. "The way the media are running with this, and… hell, the way he did that rescue, half of them would be happy for him to take the name." Mr Acheson continued after a pause. "I won't say there isn't going to be a lot of discussion here, probably some compromises on both sides. But if he's willing, we're ready to talk."
"That would be good news," Toby admitted after a pause of his own. "Compromises?" He asked after a beat, preparing to wince at what sort of things the big corporation would demand. Almost expecting them to want to slap a DC Comics logo on his uniform somewhere as an endorsement.
"I'll leave that to the bigger boys to hammer out," Mr Acheson's voice came back. "There's a few things that are being talked about already, some costume designs they'd like to run through with him, get a proper suit made, something to bring to the real world if you know what I mean. Not that there's anything wrong with the classic, it just… it made a few of the senior members take a second look at the design when they saw it on the news."
"I… I see," Toby nodded to himself, scribbling down this information on the bottom of a pad of paper where he'd been writing down notes on the Superman comics with Doctor Giles. "Anything else?" He asked hesitantly.
"One thing," Mr Acheson's voice came back after a moment's pause. "Guess you can imagine there's been a lot of talk here, I mean a LOT of talk." He emphasised. "The licensing guys are working fast track on a lot of things here, but one of them they'd like to talk to him about directly."
"Oh?" Toby asked, wondering what exactly this stipulation could be.
"We can go over it properly with the big boys once they've hammered out the details," Mr Acheson's voice came back. "Cut short, they're pushing through to make a new movie." He explained then continued after breathing out sharply. "And they'd like him to come on and help out."
"Help out… on a movie?" Toby asked, a bit bewildered at the idea, glancing across to Doctor Giles who seemed equally bemused by the prospect.
"The guys in licensing and media can hammer out the details," Mr Acheson's voice continued over the line. "Helping out with special effects, make it more realistic, hammer out costume designs with the movie people, launch a new movie to really bring the character out to a new generation." He continued, explaining his thoughts. "Look, all of this we can talk about more when we hammer out the details ok? I'm just here to open negotiations."
"I see," Toby nodded, jotting all of this information down. "I… I will have someone get in touch with you later on."
"Good to hear," Mr Acheson replied over the line. "Gotta go anyway, think you can guess how hectic things have got around here this weekend." He laughed over the phone. "Have him call back on this number and we can talk about some things ok?"
"Sure," Toby replied, a bit bewildered at actually seemingly playing receptionist for a superhero.
"Good speaking to you again Mr Ziegler." Mr Acheson's voice came back over the line before it clicked and a dial tone came over the cell phone speaker.
"That was… unexpected," Toby frowned to himself as he flipped the phone shut and put it down on the table for now, turning back to look at Doctor Giles properly.
"The people from DC Comics?" Giles asked curiously, while Toby had mentioned that he had spoken to them earlier on behalf of the White House, he hadn't actually understood why it had been an important meeting or what repercussions there were from it.
"They want to speak to… Superman," Toby nodded, still having trouble calling Mr Harris by the name. "From what I understand, they are going to license him to use the name in exchange for some… considerations."
"Ahh," Giles nodded, not having thought of that himself. While he knew that the Superman character and comics were owned by a company, he hadn't actually put that into context of Xander flying around using the name, which the White House people apparently had. "Considerations?" He asked dubiously.
"A costume re-design," Toby frowned, thinking about it and looking at one of the Superman comics on the table, while the design was iconic, he could understand how it would look good in the comics, but seem a little off in the real world. "They want to speak to Mr Harris, have his opinion, and go through some ideas with him."
"Nothing too… insidious for such a big company," Giles nodded thoughtfully. "I'd have pictured advertising brands and such on his cape."
"I thought the same," Toby nodded with a frown. "And they want him to… help out… when they start a new Superman movie."
This one caught Giles' attention, he stared at Toby for a minute or two before shaking his head in bemusement and rubbing his face with his hands. "Xander working with a movie company on a movie, I'm sure the idea would appeal to him somewhat."
"Those are the only stipulations so far," Toby frowned thoughtfully, trying to understand why the company were being so lenient with their requests. "Will Mr Harris be amenable to a meeting to discuss this further?"
"I can't see why not," Giles nodded thoughtfully, he didn't know Xander's comic preferences off by heart, Ethan might be able to shed some understanding on them, but he could imagine visiting the headquarters of a large comic company like DC Comics would appeal to Xander if nothing else of the meeting.
Sitting in the back area of the shuttle craft that Commander Calendar had landed on the saucer section hull, Major Ferretti had to admit it was quite a surreal mission. The commander had gone to head inside the main ship, taking Major Warren and Teal'c with her to retrace their original route up to the bridge to retrieve Casey and Sands, leaving him to radio in with General Hammond.
Surrounded by Trek technology he was half afraid to touch, he was simply sat on the back ramp leading into the shuttle, his arctic gear pulled around him to keep him warm as he contemplated everything that had happened since they'd arrived in the Antarctic so he could put it into words to report in.
As his radio crackled into life from where it was sat in his lap he grabbed it, bringing it up to head level so he could hear it better over the wind. "SG-Two, this is McMurdo Station, come in please."
"Read you loud and clear McMurdo." Major Ferretti said aloud as he stood up from where he'd been sat on the ramp, moving into the shuttle further to shield himself from the elements outside.
"We have General Hammond on the line, patching through now." The voice came back over the radio. "Go ahead General." The voice finished before a loud crackle indicated the repeater signal at McMurdo had taken over and whoever had patched them through had closed their end of the line.
"General Hammond, SG-Two reporting in." Major Ferretti smiled as he made his way back to the cockpit area, swivelling around one of the four chairs that arranged at various computer terminals and sitting down comfortably, making sure not to touch any of the high tech touch screen computers as he did.
"Good to hear from you Major Ferretti." General Hammond's voice came over the radio with a slight crackle of static from the repeater. "How are things progressing with Commander Calendar?"
"Good sir," Major Ferretti replied, dusting some of the snow out of his hair that had accumulated while he'd been waiting for McMurdo to connect him to the SGC. "There's been one or two complications, but other than that Commander Calendar has been the perfect host General."
"Complications Major?" General Hammond's voice came back wearily. "I can have SG-Six and Seven on route down to you within the hour Major."
"Nothing like that General," Major Ferretti smiled. "Actually, it might be good news, depending how you look at it."
"That would be a welcome change this weekend Major," General Hammond's voice came back. "Admiral Fitzwallace has returned to Washington to speak with The President, they've managed to convince the Russian's to hold back sending one of their own team's down there, but word is the Chinese and British recorded the crash on their own."
"No sign of anyone else here yet General," Major Ferretti reported over the radio, standing up from his chair and looking out the cockpit windows at the snow covered landscape outside. "Without Major Warren, I doubt we'd have even made it inside sir, unless they've got a geek of his calibre with them for this, I don't see them getting anywhere near breaching this ship sir."
"Very well Major," General Hammond's voice came back. "You had something to report?"
"Yes sir," Major Ferretti nodded to himself. "I'm in one of the auxiliary shuttle craft at the moment General, Commander Calendar initiated something called a 'life signs scan', I couldn't tell you how it works or what makes it tick sir, but it gave some pretty interesting information."
"What sort of information Major?" General Hammond asked over the radio link.
"Life signs sir, two more than we knew about so far, or one more, I'm not sure how to even classify the other General." Major Ferretti explained. "We've got two life signs here according to the computer, one buried deep in the ice, a few miles down if Commander Calendar is right, another she believes is a member of her crew that survived the crash."
"Another member of the crew?" General Hammond asked, latching on to this subject for the moment.
"Something called a positronic reading General," Major Ferretti explained. "Major Warren could explain it better than I could, but he thinks it's a crew member called Commander Data sir."
"I'll have someone put a paper together for me," General Hammond's voice came back. "I take it you're investigating this reading first Major?"
"Yes sir," Major Ferretti explained as he sat back down in the chair. "Major Warren and Teal'c are meeting up with Casey and Sands, they were keeping an eye on the ships bridge in case any of the other crew members made it there."
"Good thinking Major," General Hammond's voice came back. "What about this reading you say was buried in the ice?"
"No clue sir," Major Ferretti explained honestly. "It's pretty deep down, Commander Calendar might have a better idea on how to retrieve it, for all I know she's just going to beam it right out of the ice on to the ship." He said with a shrug.
"I see," General Hammond's voice came back thoughtfully. "Keep me informed Major." General Hammond said after a moment's pause. "Have you spoken to Commander Calendar about her future plans yet?"
"Not yet sir," Major Ferretti said, frowning to himself. "She seems friendly and willing to help, she didn't have any knowledge about the Stargate or the Goa'uld, but I'd say she'd be willing to assist us if we ask."
"Very well Major," General Hammond's voice came over the radio link. "I'm authorising you for diplomatic negotiation, if you can convince Commander Calendar to join our fight against the Goa'uld, it'd be a great weight off our shoulders."
"You don't have to tell me," Major Ferretti muttered to himself, leaning forward in the chair and looking through to the rear of the shuttle where Commander Calendar and Teal'c had stored an assortment of Trek style weapons and devices. "Once we've ascertained the status of the other crew member, I'll speak to her about it, but my gut says she'd be willing."
"Good to hear Major," General Hammond replied.
"Another thing General," Major Ferretti said quickly. "I'd have some researchers pull up some information about something called 'Borg' while you're there." He suggested before continuing. "We were working our way through the ship when we found some technology that wasn't supposed to be there according to Warren." He explained, pausing and running his hand through his hair. "Whatever it was General, it spooked him pretty bad."
"Borg?" General Hammond repeated, noting down the name to pass on to someone to research for him.
"Yes sir," Major Ferretti nodded to himself. "I'm no expert, but from what Warren and Commander Calendar were saying, sounds like these guys are the Goa'uld of the Trek universe."
"I see," General Hammond's voice came back tinged with worry. "Have any of these Borg survived the crash like Commander Calendar?"
"Not according to the life signs scan she did General," Major Ferretti responded, smiling to himself when he heard a breath being let out on the other side of the radio. "That was what pushed her to perform the scan in the first place sir."
"I see," General Hammond's voice came back. "But you saw some of their technology on board the ship itself."
"Yes sir," Major Ferretti responded. "I know it might sound crazy sir, might have been a trick of the light or something, but I'd swear I saw some of it repairing itself on its own." He explained. "I don't know if Warren or Teal'c saw it, but I'd put money on seeing some cables moving on their own and connecting to panels down there sir."
"I'll take that under advisement Major," General Hammond's voice came back over the line. "Keep my apprised if you have any other experiences with this technology, and see what Commander Calendar has to say about it. I'll have someone put together some information as soon as I can."
"That'd be appreciated sir," Major Ferretti replied. "I'll radio back in once we've located the other crew member General."
"I should have something for you then," General Hammond nodded. "Stay safe SG-Two, SGC out."
"Thank you General." Major Ferretti nodded to himself as the line went dead with just the hiss of static returning for a moment before he turned the radio back to standby mode.
Flying was like nothing else Xander decided as he swooped down through the city, pulling his arms forward and using them as mental 'steering wheel' to corner and turn as he arced around a building and pushed himself further, bringing his arms out and stretching them wide as he swooped down, diving through the streets of the city far above the cars and pedestrians below, grinning to himself as he heard shouts of astonishment and encouragement as he flew on.
Pushing himself faster he arced himself up, grinning wildly to himself as he rose above the buildings and ran his hand across a skyscraper in lower Manhattan as he angled himself up the side, his cape whipping around his torso and legs in the wind as he pushed higher, darting above the skyscraper itself and into the sky. The sense of freedom was incredible, indescribable, the city itself looked so different from this angle, an angle that was only his, well, his and the birds, he thought to himself, grinning at a flock of pigeons that flew past above him, seemingly ignoring him as he flew on. "Yeah yeah, nothing to see here birdies, no leaving little presents for me to fly through please." He grimaced to himself as the mental image of flying through a pile of falling pigeon poop would hardly be a fun time before arcing away from the birds and further up into the evening sky.
"Always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty," He said with a smile, looking out to the distance where the giant green statue stood alone in the bay before speeding up again as he flew over the buildings and dock area and in to lower bay off the coast, smiling at the bridge in the distance before he angled up and over it.
Liberty Island was off in the distance as he slowed down over the water, the soft green statue easily visible even from this distance in the bay. He let himself indulge in the moment, oddly wishing he'd done this during the day as he brought himself down to the water, flying above it with the waves splashing and being pulled up in a fine spray behind him in his wake. Reaching down he let his hand trail through the water, feeling it splash up against his skin, the cold liquid feeling fresh and new, like everything really today.
As he reached Liberty Island he arced himself back up, bringing his arms forward again as he dove around the island, coming a full circle around the Statue of Liberty as he flew and smiling as he brought himself up in the air to face height with it, smiling and nodding at the giant statue that was synonymous in his mind with New York, simply hanging there in the air, staring at the statue that dwarfed him in the evening sky, the last rays of the sun vanishing behind the city in the distance.
"Best feeling ever." He grinned to himself, noticing the people in the crown of the statue that were pointing at him and waving, camera flashes going off randomly throughout and lighting up the inside of the statue. He waved back for a moment before angling his off, looking up at the clouds above before moving himself upwards, stretching his arms past his head as he pushed upwards, moving faster and faster into the clouds themselves before taking a deep breath and pushing himself past them and out into the night sky.
As he broke through the clouds and pushed higher he looked around, slowing himself down as the view struck him, America stretched out beneath him to one side, and a vast ocean to the other, the sun just starting to crawl down behind the horizon in the distance, with the cities below lighting up against the darkness.
"Wow," He whispered out, looking down and feeling his cape pull against him as the wind rushed around him. Pulling it closer he wrapped it around himself to keep it from being pulled in the wind, idly he noted that he wasn't feeling particularly cold or bothered by the altitude in the least, altitude that he was pretty sure was only really visited by high flying planes so far.
"Willow is so going to freak," He grinned to himself, looking around and marvelling at the way the clouds below looked from this angle, like he could walk on them and scoop them up like candy floss. "Buffy." He whispered, remembering his friends and life back in Sunnydale that had been pushed to the back of his mind during the crazy weekend, but now, now without anyone holding him back, he could go where he wanted. Taking one last look down at the city to orientate himself before following the skyline across America to the horizon where his admittedly bad geography told him Sunnydale was.
Without saying another word he pushed himself forward, arcing upwards slightly as he let go of his cape, bringing his arms up slowly as he enjoyed the warmth of the sun playing over them before setting his eyes on the horizon once again and pushing forward with a burst of speed towards home.
20:34 - Andrews Air Base
It hadn't exactly been the most comfortable flight in the world for Doctor Weir, she'd flown with military before of course, but that had generally been short trips through disputed airspace or trips with military escort, but a single trip from Baghdad to Washington DC on a high speed Air Force convoy, hadn't exactly been the most relaxing way to be brought back to American soil.
"Doctor Weir?"
She turned her head as she walked across the tarmac at the air force base, knowing someone was here to meet her but intrigued as ever who the Air Force was sending to brief her after being recalled with such urgency. Iraq and Iran were the hotspots for international dispute currently, which was why she had been there working with Iranian diplomats on Afghanistan soil, hopefully negotiating a ceasefire between the factions, but when she'd received word they were shipping her back home immediately, without even a days' notice, barely an hour to pack her bags before being escorted back to the military base, she was torn between intrigued, and horrified at what sort of conflict could warrant the United States leaving the Iranian diplomatic meetings so early in the process.
"Yes?" She asked, turning to the side to see an Air Force Colonel stood by the side of a large towncar waiting for her.
"This way ma'am," The Air Force Major said with a nod, standing to the side as Doctor Weir approached and opening the door for her.
"Thank you," Doctor Weir nodded with a smile, thankful for at least some small comfort the Air Force was providing after the eight hour convoy trip home. "Can you tell me…"
"You'll be briefed inside ma'am." The Major nodded simply, waiting for her to get inside the car before climbing in after her and closing the door behind them. "I'm Major Samuels, and this is Senator Kinsey." Major Samuels introduced himself before gesturing to the older man in suit and tie sitting opposite them so he was facing them in the spacious car. "We're here…"
"We're here to bring you up to speed on current events Doctor." Senator Kinsey said simply, tapping on a pile of papers that was next to him on the seat. "I'm aware you've been in Iraq for the past three weeks, over the past twenty four hours have there been any signs of unusual activity there?"
"Activity?" Doctor Weir asked, forcing the urge to raise her eyebrow at the question down. "Between Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq, the conflicts between Sipah-e-Sahaba… The entire area is filled with unusual activity if that's what you mean."
"It's not." Senator Kinsey frowned over. "We're here to brief you on an ongoing military project, a project I believe is the most dangerous endeavour this country has ever placed on its shoulders." Senator Kinsey continued.
"I was told I was being flown back for a meeting tomorrow." Doctor Weir asked, looking over at Major Samuels in confusion.
"You are," Major Samuels nodded. "This is to prepare you for the meeting." He explained. "There's the lot to digest here Doctor, and we only have a short time to cover it all."
"Fine," Doctor Weir nodded back. "This military project has baring's on the meeting tomorrow?"
"Peripherally, yes." Major Samuels nodded in answer to her question. "Starting on Halloween night, the world changed around us Doctor, with two major incidents that we know of."
"Two?" Doctor Weir asked, widening her eyes, wondering what sort of major incidents around the world could have forced the Air Force into action this quickly.
"There's no way of breaking this lightly Doctor," Senator Kinsey interrupted. "On October Thirty First, alien life made open contact with the people of the United States. On November first, an alien craft of somewhat known origins, through unexplained circumstances, crashed on the Antarctic ice shelf." He watched as Doctor Weir's eyes grew wide at this news, her face going from amazement, through to disbelief.
"If this is some sort of joke…" Doctor Weir started, looking around to Major Samuels.
"It isn't." Major Samuels said with a frown, reaching over and picking up the top paper from the pile next to Senator Kinsey. "Incident one, an inflight malfunction caused the failure of three out of four engines on a carrier flight over New York. The carrier somehow righted itself in air, and landed some thirty eight miles west of the original mayday call. These photos were taken during the landing." He explained, handing over more papers for Doctor Weir to look at wordlessly.
"These… this… is this?" Doctor Weir stammered out, looking at what was undeniably photos of Superman righting a plane in mid-air and carrying it in to land. "This is a…"
"Not a joke Doctor." Senator Kinsey said with a frown, motioning for Major Samuels to continue.
"Incident two," Major Samuels started, handing over a satellite photo of the Antarctic ice shelf with the crash section visible. "An alien craft crash landed after several hours in orbit without communication, we have since determined there was one survivor aboard the 'saucer section.'" He explained, handing over a second satellite photo that showed the crashed saucer section in more detail.
"Is this…" Doctor Weir asked, eying the second photo carefully and turning it around so she could read the writing on the top of the craft. "The Enterprise?"
"We still have no explanation how this craft made its way into orbit, or how a craft from a fictional series crashed late yesterday afternoon." Major Samuels explained before continuing. "Incident thee, carried over from incident one really." He said, opening one of the larger papers and handing it over in A3 size for Doctor Weir to look at, waiting for the almost comical look of shock and awe on her face to subside before continuing. "This is the front page of tomorrows Washington Post." He explained, pointing to the date printed at the top above the headline.
The main front page was taken over entirely by a photo of Superman, flying down with a burning building in the background, a woman and small child in his arms while a scorched cape blew out behind him. The iconic red and blue costume seemed to float off the page with a presence of power that was at odds with a slight grin on Superman's face.
"Superman?" Doctor Weir asked in a small voice, reading the headline above the large colour photo. "New York's Man of Steel." She read aloud softly.
"As you can see Doctor, Major Samuels wasn't exaggerating when he said the world had changed." Senator Kinsey explained. "With this 'Superman'," Senator Kinsey managed to say the name with a small grimace. "And the alien craft, the entire world is watching now."
"I can imagine," Doctor Weir nodded in understanding. "The ambassadors…"
"Are who you'll be meeting with tomorrow," Senator Kinsey nodded. "President Bartlet is organising a joint operation with the British Naval Fleet to investigate and deal with the crashed alien craft."
"Is that why you've brought me back, to deal with the ambassadors?" Doctor Weir asked, she could well imagine how chaotic the world's ambassadors could be, and dealing with the undeniable proof of alien existence in the world now made the meetings even more precarious than they already could have been.
"In part," Major Samuels nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow morning you'll be meeting with the British, Chinese and Russian ambassadors and military liaisons." He waited to see if Doctor Weir would say anything to that before continuing. "The Russian delegates have already agreed to hold off an incursion onto the Antarctic shelf, the Chinese however have neither confirmed nor denied their presence."
"They're watching us." Senator Kinsey explained his view of what was going on. "Our people investigating the craft informed us that while the craft suffered severe damage on entry, it is mostly intact, with technology far beyond anything else on this planet."
"Which every country on earth will want a piece of." Doctor Weir nodded in understanding. "You said there was a survivor of the crash?"
"Commander Calendar." Major Samuels nodded, having memorised all the reports from SG2 before coming to this briefing.
"Her claim to the craft supersedes our own Major," Doctor Weir explained. "We can't just move in and strip down an alien space craft, regardless of where it's from, while a survivor still has claim. What about her… her own people, her race? Won't they be coming to assist her?"
"Given the nature of the craft, and it's… resemblance to the fictional craft, we find it unlikely." Major Samuels explained. "We have Doctor…" He paused, flicking through some of the notes he'd taken. "McKay, a Canadian theoretical physicist being flown down to answer some of the more theoretical questions."
"I'm not familiar with the name." Doctor Weir shook her head, leafing back through the papers Major Samuels had given her to the picture of the Enterprise saucer section on the ice shelf.
"There's no reason you should be," Major Samuels shook his head. "You'll be meeting a lot of new faces this week Doctor, most of who have never dealt with an international dispute of this magnitude before."
"So, the Ambassadors and military liaisons all want to… well, understand this alien craft?" Doctor Weir asked, trying to wrap her head around what was being asked of her here.
"They want to claim it Doctor," Senator Kinsey frowned. "Can you imagine the Russian's in control of the weapons that craft has in its arsenal? The Chinese?" He asked, leaning forward on his seat. "Energy weapons, energy shield technology, technology we're being told is nearly five hundred years more advanced than anything on this planet." He explained dramatically. "I for one don't believe the Russians have ceded their claim any more than the Chinese silence. That craft is a treasure trove of technology, and we're here to secure it for the American people."
"It's not as simple as that Senator." Doctor Weir frowned. "This craft and the survivor, Commander… Calendar?" She asked, continuing when Major Samuels nodded back. "The Antarctic shelf is international land, protected by UN treaties, we can't just…"
"Which is why you are here." Senator Kinsey nodded with a small smile. "We want you to negotiate with the ambassadors, and then with Commander Calendar, securing the advanced technology solely for this country."
Standing on the streets of Sunnydale was actually the most relaxed he'd been in days now. Flying to Sunnydale had been exhilarating, until it had come to landing where he realised he still had no clue how to land properly, misjudging the ground and impacting nearly a foot worth of his legs into the soft soil of the Sunnydale park he'd picked for his arrival.
From there he'd gone back to doing his Flash impression as he'd started calling it, running home, changing into some comfortable clothes and hiding the Superman suit in a shoulder bag for the moment. He'd been tempted to try and wear the suit under his clothes, like he remembered from the comics, but couldn't figure out a way to effectively hide the cape without making him look like a hunchback, or figure out what to do with the bright red boots that stuck out from under his jeans. So for now, the entire costume was bundled up in his bag, with some clothes and bits from home tucked alongside.
"It's good to be home." He smiled to himself, looking around the street before walking off at a normal pace, intent on heading towards Buffy's house to find her and Willow to talk about everything that had happened this weekend.
Major Ferretti nodded with a smile as he noticed Teal'c, Warren, Sands and Casey alongside Commander Calendar heading back over the top of the Enterprise Saucer Section towards the small shuttle. "See you guys have met the Commander." He said with a nod, standing aside for the group to enter the shuttle where he'd been waiting.
"Yes sir," Captain Sands nodded in return as he got on board following Commander Calendar and Teal'c.
"Find anything interesting?" Major Ferretti asked, looking between Sands and Casey.
"Just a lot of damage sir," Major Warren explained. "A few of the turbolifts are out of alignment, I'd say it's a miracle they're not all out of order for good."
"The ship crashed Warren, I'd say it's a miracle anything on board still works." Major Ferretti smirked back as he slid aside to let Commander Calendar pass through to sit at the pilot's station.
"Starfleet builds ships to last Major," Jenny said with a smile, remembering Doctor Crusher's thoughts when she first saw the new Sovereign class ship Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards around Mars orbit. Back then it was still the USS Honoris before being re-designated the Enterprise before their shakedown tour. "But without the engineering corps, I don't think I have a prayer of getting the Enterprise back to the skies."
"Yeah, I don't think our tech's would have a clue where to…" Major Warren muttered, looking back out of the shuttlecraft at the saucer section and the trail of debris behind it that was slowly being covered with falling snow.
"What is it?" Major Ferretti asked, having followed Commander Calendar through to the pilot's area of the shuttle and watched her work on one of the side panels.
"Some weird readings," Jenny said with a frown. Doctor Crusher's memories of the interface aside, the couldn't tell if what the sensors readings were telling her were right, or were the result of damage caused to the sensors during the crash. "The Enterprise long range sensors were damaged in the crash, but I routed the short range sensors through to the shuttlecraft to help look for Data." She explained, turning to Major Ferretti.
"And?" Major Ferretti asked curiously, looking at the screens displaying data that he had no clue how to interpret.
"There's definitely a positronic signature out there, nearly half a mile from where the engineering section crashed." Jenny explained.
"And the other life sign?" Major Ferretti asked, prompting her to continue.
"Nearly two miles down," Jenny nodded, confirming the shuttle's earlier results. "But there's something else down there, some sort of structure."
"A structure? Under the ice?" Major Ferretti asked, looking from her to the readouts on the computer screens. "Warren, you make any sense of this?"
"I'd trust the sensors Sir," Major Warren nodded, moving past Teal'c, Casey and Sands to the forward area of the shuttle. "If they're saying something's down there, then there's something down there."
"Well, damn…" Major Ferretti frowned thoughtfully. "Alien or what?" He asked curiously, wondering how to report this in to General Hammond.
"I couldn't tell you," Jenny admitted. "The sensors are still trying to get a lock, something down there is interfering with the readouts."
"Something that can…" Major Ferretti shook his head in bemusement. "You think of anything that could do that to the sensors?"
"Not off the top of my head," Major Warren shook his head as he answered. "That's a long way down though, whatever's down there must be ancient, older than the pyramids sort of old."
"Figured," Major Ferretti nodded, making a mental note to get Doctor Jackson down here to investigate once they'd made sure the crash site was actually safe enough for civilians to approach. "Ok, let's find this posi-whatsit first, head over to the crash site and see what we can find. Whatever's under the ice has probably been there long enough, it can wait until we've sorted all this out first." He said, zipping up his arctic gear again and getting ready to brace the elements.
"Sir?" Major Warren asked, looking at him curiously as Commander Calendar moved from the sensor station over to the pilots chair and activated the engines before closing the rear hatch. "It's her crewmember, I think we should let the Commander take the lead on this one."
Major Ferretti turned around, looking from Major Warren to where Commander Calendar was already piloting the shuttle up and away from the saucer section where she'd landed, and was piloting through the falling snow towards the crashed engineering section in the distance. "Yeah, ok, that's quicker." He admitted with a grin, unzipping his arctic coat and feeling thankful he didn't have to head to the other crash site on foot.
