Lord Drenghul: I'll take amusement.
Major Simi: Well since you asked nicely.
The Sirian Imperial Fleet had spent several days making preparations; stocking food, water and medical supplies, scanning all systems, test firing weapons, making minor repairs and cleaning both the inside and outside of their ships. The ships' bodies were grey, sleek and shiny. The horns on the Dragons' heads, as well as the claws on paw-shaped landing gear, gleamed like polished ivory. The paws of the landing gear were currently balled like fists, the legs tucked against the body, while the horns were tilted backward to lie flat against the skull. In place of eyes was a large one-way picture window. They looked less like ships and more like wingless grey missiles, designed to bring swift death to anyone who crossed them. As the Dragons entered formations of five, DS Nyx dropped out of hyperspace with the other five in tow. Fantasy broke away to join a group of four while Nyx and the other swung around to face the approaching armada.
Not built for such extreme methods of travel, 100 V ships tumbled out of hyperspace, crashing into each other and spinning off course. From their perspective, defeat was inevitable. Their Queen had assured them their numbers would lead them to victory. The truth of the matter was a bitter immolation pill to swallow. Numbers meant nothing when your foes had the advantage of superior technology.
Each Dragon Ship had two ships on radar, the pilots barking orders they'd waited years to give:
"Raise shields to full power."
"Shields at full power."
"Charge primary weapons."
"Charging primary weapons."
"Lock on the targets."
"Locking on targets."
The Visitor pilots could only watch in horror as the mouths of the dragons opened, a cannon extending from within.
"Bring secondary weapons online."
"Secondary weapons online."
"FIRE!"
"Firing primary weapons!"
A beam issued forth from the cannons, eerily reminiscent of the Ori warship's primary beam weapon, incinerating half of the V armada.
"Shields at 70%."
"They're fleeing."
"Scatter and pursue."
The Dragon Ships locked onto their predetermined targets and ran them down.
"Charging secondary weapons."
"Quit running so I can crush you like the bugs you are!" Nyx shrieked, Erebus and the others backing her up.
"Fire!"
"Firing secondary weapons!"
The V ship stood no chance, exploding into a blue fireball. Forty-eight other blue fireballs had ignited across a large area, making Hobbes' Planet look like a world being orbited by blue stars.
Only one V ship remained, attempting to flee the area. One Dragon, looking noticeably older than the others, lurched forward and gathered speed. The jaws of the dragon closed on the back of the retreating V ship, canine fangs piercing the hull. Teal lightning danced across it, disabling the craft and leaving it defenseless. The old Dragon drifted back before blasting the last breeding ship into oblivion.
When the smoke cleared and the blue fires burned themselves out, there was complete silence. Then one of them roared. The roaring increased in volume as others joined in, vocalizing their victory.
DS Nyx immediately jumped into hyperspace, barreling towards Earth.
Dropping out of hyperspace, Nyx shouted for the emergency break. Flashing with barely constrained energy, an aurora spiraled over the city where Rasi's mother lived, specifically over that pathetic excuse for a mothership. The center of the aurora was spinning like a hurricane's eye, releasing a multi-colored beam of light that slammed into the ship's hull, sucking the rest of the energy with it like water down a drain.
Nyx hesitantly contacted May after the colored light faded. An unfamiliar mind reached out to her.
Hello?
Sayrin Rasi Adria? Where is Rasi May?
She's very upset right now, but if you don't hurry this will all have been for naught! You have forty seconds.
Nyx turned to her Sic, "Get ready."
Training their sensors on the large group of Visitors gathered in one place, they took aim and waited. Finally, Anna entered the room. Nyx flipped the switch and sent down the spiral.
"Remember we need her alive." She said over the intercom. The response was a dull thwacking sound.
"We got her."
For the second time in less than a month, the Evans were preparing for a funeral. Erica was an emotional train wreck as she sorted through her son's possessions. May could do it faster with telekinesis but chose not to. She'd spent a couple days alone up in Canada, thinking things through. Though she had claimed Blood Price for Tyler's death, she wasn't as upset as she thought she should be. Of course she hadn't seen him in a decade or so, during which time they'd grown up and apart. Their interests were too different even in spite of Tyler's attempts to spend time with her. As she'd met relatively few aliens that could be trusted, she was extremely wary of the Visitors. She couldn't tell Tyler about all the things she'd seen at SGC because he would have blabbed to Lisa and the whole thing would have snowballed from there. Mom nearly went off the deep end trying to bring Anna down; as in willing to sacrifice innocent lives to do so.
The more she thought about it the angrier she got. She understood why nobody would believe the Fifth Column, because they were civilians – later labeled terrorists. And Project Aries, a cabal of military and government leaders from around the world, also had advanced knowledge and chose to do nothing to stop it. Hell even Stargate Command sat and twiddled their thumbs. She cursed the humans who were able to do something and did nothing, cursed the Vs for screwing with the planet, the threvast for living, and the Ancients for their thrice-damned non-interference policy! This train of thought began a long list of 'what-ifs' and wondering if there was anything she could have done to change things.
Adria's arms slid around May's waist and pulled her close, murmuring, "Stop tormenting yourself."
"I thought you couldn't read my mind." May replied, leaning back.
"I don't need to; your expression and body language make your thoughts painfully clear." Adria turned May around and forced her to meet her eyes, "Listen to me. There was nothing you could have done. Anyone who knew anything was prepared to wait for the 11th hour before responding to an obvious global threat. The only reason Homeworld Command absorbed Project Aries was to keep humans from becoming aware of Stargate Command. Project Aries had years of intelligence but chose not to use it. They were willing to abandon this world with the best and brightest minds the Tau'ri have to offer and settle elsewhere. Whether it would be permanent or temporary I cannot be sure."
May hid her face against Adria's neck, drawing comfort from her presence, "Maybe if I asked Grandma to send me back in time . . ."
Adria blinked. Time travel caused no end of hell at Stargate Command, what with them trying not to alter their own future too much. That fact she was even considering it revealed May's desperation.
"Don't." Adria again forced eye contact. "How would it help? If you stayed with the Evans you could stop Tyler from crashing his bike, thus preventing your father from leaving. With his family whole, the Vs would hold no draw for him, and without Lisa's presence the Fifth Column would be denied a source of information. Without ship access, Anna's soldiers would have hatched and scattered to eradicate the Fifth Column, leaving trails of destruction in their wake. Or, supposing Tyler and Lisa got together anyway, without you to contact help, the hybrid would have killed Ryan and then Blissed the majority of humanity." Seeing she was getting through, Adria continued more softly, "If you hadn't come to live with Daniel, there wouldn't be an agreement with the Sirians. And that future you saw, where I Ascended and entered eternal combat with Morgan Le Faye, would have come true."
May's huge turquoise eyes filled with tears, "No."
Adria nodded, "Yes. Anna is in Sirian custody. That she will be executed is a foregone conclusion, all that's left to decide is how. Mounting pressure from both humans and Sirians will force Diana to gather the rest of the Vs and leave this world. Would you give that up? Would you abandon everyone here who loves you in order to try and change things? Would you leave me?"
That was low and they both knew it. No, May wasn't able to leave Adria, nor could Adria come with her as it would really screw things up. She looked into Adria's flickering orange eyes, allowing their warmth to soothe her.
"I just want this to be over." She sobbed, resting her head against Adria's shoulder. The half-Ori's grip tightened and she whispered, "Me too."
Vala discreetly observed the funeral goers, consisting of teachers and students from Tyler's school, as well as family members, and let out a soft sigh. Vala did not like funerals, finding them depressing, and took to glancing around. Adria had May in her arms, her glare at Daniel daring him to challenge her. Daniel's mouth was set in a thin line, but as they were in public he couldn't say anything. Casually glancing over her shoulder, Vala spotted two people in the back of the church that had no reason to be there. Discreetly nudging Daniel, she flicked her eyes towards the back of the church. His eyes narrowed when he glanced back, nudging Teal'c in the side. The Jaffa looked around, saw both Kendrick and Bolling sitting in the back pew, and made a soft angry sound in his throat.
Jack Landry, presiding over the funeral on Erica's request (and, he suspected, Diana pulling a few strings) was the only one to notice a brief flash in Adria's eyes. Puzzled, he shook it off and glanced at poor Erica, red-faced and crying, and noticed the bags under her eyes. He wondered when she'd slept last. When the funeral was over, the casket laid to rest, and the last of the food eaten, a tired Erica was led to the car by May. The Ilva felt rather than saw SG-1 block off Kendrick and Bolling, but she did hear Uncle Teal'c crack his knuckles and actually growl at them. Father Jack raced to catch up with them, "Are you alright Erica?"
The blonde shook her head, "I tried to get him to come home Jack, but he wanted to hear it from Lisa instead. May's all I have left." A glance toward her daughter caused her brow to furrow in confusion. May and Adria appeared to be conversing by expression alone, appearing to reach some agreement before mouthing I love you to each other.
"Adria wants to come over later. Is that okay?"
"Of course it is honey."
"Let's go home."
The next few days were stressful. For Erica anyway. May flat out refused to let her wallow in self pity, insisting she take care of herself. When the 'what-ifs' began, May shot each of them down mercilessly.
"You can't change the past. So look ahead . . . or risk being left behind."
May had gone to get something from upstairs while Erica stared after her in stunned disbelief. She wondered in a detached manner if she could handle a tequila right now.
Like May could read her mind, she shouted downstairs, "No alcohol."
"Damn." Erica muttered to herself.
May was deep in meditation, her room illuminated by the soft light of her ring. Allowing her breathing to slow, she considered what needed to be done. According to Visitor law, a Queen was not considered Queen until she had Blissed her subjects. With Anna in Sirian custody, Diana's Blissing of the Vs would have to be delayed as long as possible, and she already had a couple ideas. Lisa wasn't receiving the care she required, particularly in her current mental state. If she didn't get up there soon, Lisa would turn feral. Because May did not trust Diana, getting Lisa off the ship removed something the old Queen could bargain with. Rescue mission moved to the top of her mental to-do list, right behind reveal Stargate Command to her mother. SGC had been hidden for too long and their silence had cost her personally, but she'd have to play her cards just right. And if she played her cards right, say get Erica curious and point her at Daniel, it would give her and Adria some time alone.
Alone time, she thought with a grin. Yes, that will do very nicely.
Downstairs, Erica was glancing at some of Tyler's old drawings. She remembered Tyler and May sitting at the kitchen table, scrap paper and bits of crayon everywhere. That was where the similarity ended. Her son loved crayons, sometimes eating them when they got too short. Her daughter preferred colored pencils, saying they weren't as messy. Tyler's drawings were simple, scribbles of people, animals, cars, and airplanes. Everything most boys were interested in, in other words. May's drawings on the other hand, were neither simplistic nor mostly scribbles. It was one of these drawings that Erica was looking at now, of a device called a Stargate. She usually pulled it out when she felt down, idly entertaining the idea of living on another planet. After a minute May came downstairs and grabbed the car keys. Getting a look of confusion from her mother she explained, "You need to get out of the house."
Fed up with the constant noise, Adria locked everyone out of the house and sent them across the street.
"Meditation requires solitude and silence, until you leave I have neither!" she explained through the window before shutting and locking it. Daniel grumbled angrily but allowed Sam to drag him across the street, where Erica's car was parked in their driveway. He glanced at Sam in confusion and was answered with a shrug.
"Maybe she wants to talk."
"Maybe."
After Daniel fixed a week's worth of coffee for everyone, Erica began, "I was looking at some of Tyler's old drawings, at how simple they were, and comparing them to May's." She pulled out an old file folder and placed it on the table. She continued after a drink of coffee, "May drew these when she was little. This one," and here she removed the oldest, the Stargate, and slid it to the middle of the table, "After having a vivid dream about a flying armored pyramid getting blown up via nuclear weapon. I knew she'd never seen either of those things on TV, because her viewing habits were restricted to Nick Jr. She described it as an interstellar portal and said you could visit other planets with the right combination of seven glyphs."
Daniel carefully reached for the drawing as the implications hit him like a ton of bricks. The Gate had already been dialed, and out to the side was Earth's address, a date, and a trio of titles. Two had been erased, and Daniel asked if she'd called it anything before "Stargate".
"She had a couple names in mind. I liked Astria Porta, then she said something I couldn't pronounce."
"Chappa'ai?" Vala offered, impressed with the attention to detail. From a four-year-old who hadn't seen a Stargate yet no less.
An odd expression crossed Erica's face, "I think so."
Oh great . . . Daniel thought.
Cameron whistled, "Well, that's . . . impressive."
Jack stared at the drawing and felt his stomach drop. This one drawing, dated from before Daniel adopted May, could get a lot of people fired. Given the times they'd been screwed over, this one took the cake.
Hoping to steer the conversation out of dangerous territory, Janet inquired, "Are all of her drawings this detailed?"
Erica didn't answer, observing Daniel with narrowed eyes. He looked like a suspect on the verge of cracking. Come to think of it, all of them looked like that. Except Teal'c, whose expression never changed much, and Vala, who was difficult to get a read on anyway.
Assuming her interrogation mode, Erica asked the room in general, "So, have you seen something like this before?"
Daniel groaned. With Erica aware their cover story was just that (and he was honestly surprised it had lasted this long), they really should have seen this coming. That, and the FBI Agent had pulled together a small group that did more damage to Anna in a few weeks than the military forces of the world combined, a fact Vala was quick to remind them of at every opportunity. He could already hear the reaction of the Sirian High Council, something else Vala was quick to remind them of at every opportunity.
Vala's voice startled him, "Well don't just sit there Daniel, tell her!"
"Tell me what?"
Ignoring Erica for the time being, Daniel looked at Vala and snapped, "Why?"
Vala sighed and answered in a condescending tone, as though talking to a child, "Well for starters, she and I are practically in-laws." She continued louder before Daniel could protest, "And Erica's under the protection of Stargate Command."
"She wasn't supposed to know that!" Daniel hissed. Vala just stared at him before shaking her head, "I agree with May; you can't keep it a secret forever. That and everybody knows that other races exist anyway, there's no better way to get a planet's attention than placing ships over large important cities . . ."
Great. Vala had doomed them all, and May had thrown them to the wolves - well, wolf.
May was quiet when she entered the house, knowing Adria was trying to meditate. Rather than disturb her, she pulled a book off the shelf and began to read, barely noticing the rising temperature. Upstairs, Adria opened one eye, scanning the room for the cause of the sudden chill. Observing wisps of turquoise energy floating through the open doorway, she calmed herself and closed her eye. Solitude and silence were good; May's presence downstairs, though optional, was better.
Half an hour later, May closed the book and headed upstairs. Peering into Adria's bedroom, she found her kneeling on a large pillow next to the window. May leaned against the doorframe and observed, noting how the sunlight played across her hair, her slow, even breathing, . . . why was her face flushed?
"Why are you staring?" Adria retorted, opening one eye and giving May a half-smile. She leaned to the left and pulled another large pillow next to hers. "Sit."
Grinning, the Ilva joined her, leaning into her side. Not exactly a productive meditation atmosphere, but perfect for cuddling.
"When was the last time we were alone?" Adria murmured, threading her fingers through May's red hair.
"When you taught me how to use my powers." Was her reply, a breeze tousling the curtains. "Of course, everybody knew where to find you in case there was an emergency or they found a planet full of unbelievers."
Adria winced. Leading an army on a cross-galactic religious crusade did no favors for her social life. And while May quickly mastered her abilities, hoping to use the rest of the time to talk, it wasn't long before a soldier showed up, or a Prior, or the ship landed . . . or Daniel came looking for now, if they were alone for more than ten minutes Daniel came looking. Everyone else was getting fed up with it.
May nipped at Adria's neck, the which she retaliated with a soft hiss and a gentle shove to the side. Rocking backward, May pulled Adria down with her and continued to nibble her neck. She whined when Adria pulled away, only to be silenced by the feeling Adria's lips against her own, impatient, insistent, demanding. She responded eagerly, nibbling her bottom lip. Adria growled and, with a hitherto unknown dexterity, flipped them both onto the bed, she on top and a squirming May beneath her. Their faces were flushed, eyes dark, not that anyone would see through the curtain of Adria's hair. Her dark curls now fell to mid back, and May loved running her fingers through it.
"Why are you on top?" she whined while Adria's nose skimmed down her neck and over her collar bone.
Adria chose not to reply, preferring instead to stare at May with smoldering eyes.
"Cheater." May grumbled, attempting to throw her off. Unfortunately her slight build worked against her, allowing Adria to hold her down with relative ease until her weak attempt at struggling ceased. May seemed perfectly content to let Adria have her way with her, lying limp and still until she felt Adria's teeth pierce the skin on her shoulder.
Maybe I shouldn't have worn a tank top today. She thought, hissing in pain. Adria's tongue soothed the bite somewhat, but to the amusement of the Orici, May asked her to kiss it better. The request was intentionally misinterpreted, and it was a while before either came up for air. Sometime later, clothing became a hassle.
"You wanna run that by me again?" a pissed off Erica demanded, crossing her arms and pretending not to see Vala nearly doubled over in laughter. The former thief was very familiar with this expression having seen it used many times, most of them against Hobbes, and this expression was followed with, "So you're telling me that my daughter's been in almost constant danger since Daniel became her legal guardian?"
At this point Vala lost her battle against gravity and hit the floor laughing. Alternating between glaring at her, the rest of his team, Janet, and upward in general (in case Orlithe was watching), Daniel stepped forward and began, again, "All humans can trace their origins back to a race called the Alterans. Like any young race, the Alterans coexisted peacefully at first, working and living together without conflict. Now at some point a large group of Alterans called the Ori turned to religion, presumably to find answers to, and I cannot believe I'm about to say this, life, the universe, and everything."
Somewhere above them, Orlithe snorted in amusment. Giving the ceiling a dark glare, Daniel kept going, "Attempting to answer the same questions, a small group of Alterans called the Ancients turned to science, while a middle group called the Ilvar turned to nature, living apart from the other two groups. Over time, the conflict between the Ancients and the Ori worsened until the Ori tried to kill them. The Ancients left for the Milky Way and settled on a planet called Dakara. When the Ilvar heard about what happened, they wondered if it was their fault, if the absence of a neutral party had allowed the conflict to escalate. So half of them followed the Ancients and the other half stayed with the Ori. Sometime later, the Ancients moved from Dakara to Earth, which they called Terra, and used it as a reference for Stargates. They used the constellations that can be viewed from Earth as the basis for the Dialing devices' coordinate system. Sometime after that they formed an alliance with the three most advanced races of the time, the Asgard, the Furlings and the Nox."
At this point Jack interrupted, "The Nox are peaceful short people with Troll hair. No we've never met the Furlings. The Asgard look like little grey aliens with all this cool technology. They started cloning themselves so they could live longer. Didn't work out so well."
"The Ori still had a bone to pick with the Ancients, so they sent a plague to our galaxy, and the Ancients left for the Pegasus galaxy in a city-ship called Atlantis." Daniel continued.
The snort they heard this time was one of derision. Daniel pretended not to hear that, "Before the Ancients left for Pegasus, they restarted human life in this galaxy, and that second evolution, us, evolved here. When the Ancients got to Pegasus they seeded that galaxy with human life too, built a Stargate network there, and settled down for a few million years. Then the Wraith showed up, overwhelmed most of Pegasus, and the Ancients, known by this point as the Lanteans, returned to the Milky Way. Years of evolution later, the three groups Ascended-"
"They what?" Erica interrupted and Daniel once again reminded himself that Erica was for all intents and purposes a civilian.
"Ascension is a point in evolution where the consciousness becomes pure energy and rises to a higher plane of existence. Once the Ori had Ascended, they created a race of humans to follow Origin, a religion which depicted them as gods, and they tried to destroy anything threatening that image; writings, pieces of technology, anything the Ancients left behind. The followers of Origin were required to give up their free will, and the Ori used that faith-based power to get stronger. Now the Ancients didn't agree with that so they adopted a strict non-interference policy with regards to the lower plains. The Ilvar didn't agree with either policy and interfered as needed, like keeping the Ori from becoming too powerful, or preventing the Goa'uld from dominating the galaxy. Which brings up to our next topic." He concluded, indicating somebody else should start talking so Erica's glare would focus on somebody else.
Jack took pity on Daniel and began, "Goa'ulds are snakes that need host bodies and have this crazy belief that they're gods. They formed the High Council of System Lords and ruled the galaxy for thousands of years, using different hosts. They started off using the Unas, tried and failed to use the Sirians as hosts, and then Ra shows up here, decides humans make great hosts, and let other snakeheads have access to us. They used the Stargate to take humans to other planets to use as slaves. Some of these humans were turned into Jaffa," here he gestured to Tealc, "who were basically incubators for little snakes. About 3000 BC, we rebel against Ra, send him and his servants packing, and bury the Stargate."
Sam took over for him, explaining the mission to Abydos, Ra's death, and the formation of various teams in response to the threat of Apophis and other Goa'uld, compressing eight years of fighting the System Lords into about half an hour. After finishing his second cup of coffee, Daniel began again, "Now in 2006, thanks to a Long Distance Communication Device and, as May so nicely puts it, Vala's greed and my inability to shut up, we alerted the Ori to the existence of humans in the Milky Way. So they sent Priors, evolved humans with near-Ascended abilities, which I will get to later," this was said in response to Erica tilting her head in confusion. "Where was I?"
"The Priors." Sam replied.
"Right, the Priors. The Priors were sent to our galaxy to spread Origin, starting with agrarian-level societies and the Jaffa, who had just overthrown the Goa'uld and weren't at all willing to bow to another set of false gods. Then the Ori attempted to have a Supergate, a giant Stargate, built here, which Vala managed to destroy by taking a ship and ramming it into the Gate during the dialing sequence. She was transported to the Ori galaxy and around nine months later she contacts us and tells us she's pregnant, has no idea how that happened, and to make things worse the Ori have another working Supergate and they're ready to send ships through. We gathered our allies and went to confront them, and lost. I managed to ring aboard an Ori ship where Vala told me that the Ori had impregnated her and were going to use the child to lead their armies."
Erica's expression became one of understanding, "Adria."
Daniel nodded, "Adria. She was an adult within days and had full mastery of her powers."
"What powers?"
"Uh, well, she could read minds, use telekinesis, heal people-"
"Bring back the dead if they hadn't been dead very long." Vala interjected.
"Pyrokenesis, and some form of genetic memory." Daniel finished.
Erica whistled, "Impressive pedigree. What about my daughter?"
Daniel was thrown by the change in subject, "Um, what about her?"
"During Red Sky she was so sick she couldn't get out of bed. Whenever I went to check on her I could see her changing before my eyes and there was nothing I could do to help. Her complexion paled, her ears turned pointed, she lost weight . . . After Red Sky I managed to get a blood sample to Sid for analysis. He said she was evolving, that, most of her DNA resembled her mother's."
That's what Janet was afraid of. She'd noticed May's DNA advancing over a span of years, to the point she was more Ilvar than human. A second possibility struck her then. What if May's power was too much for her physical body? What if she was aware of this on some level and subconsciously preparing to Ascend?
"What was Cassidy? She wasn't human but was genetically close enough to have a child with one." Erica demanded.
Daniel swallowed audibly and strove to ignore Orlithe's chuckling. Outside the wind picked up.
"Uh . . . Cassidy was an Ascended Ilvar who retook human form and married my second cousin Richard. So May's a hybrid too."
Sam excused herself to grab a snack. She casually glanced out the window on her way to the cabinet and stopped, retracing her steps. The yard across the street was a bright healthy green, and there was a weird light coming from one of the upstairs windows. "What the?"
Erica leaned against the back of the couch and considered what she'd learned. The subject of Adria was a troubling one; if she interpreted her daughter's feelings correctly then May was in love with a murderer. Disturbing as that was, Erica decided to come back to it later, tuning back in to the conversation long enough to hear Vala snap, "She did change Daniel, she's not the ultimate incarnation of evil. You're just mad that she was . . . interested, in May and there wasn't anything you could do about it."
Daniel's face turned an unattractive shade of red, and there was no doubt in Erica's mind that Vala had emphasized the word interested on purpose.
"Is he still going on about that?" Sam shouted from the kitchen. Daniel's sense of self-preservation kicked in when she entered the room looking pissed off. She took one look at his guilty face and roared, "Teal'c!"
"Yes ColonelCarter?" Teal'c asked, amused.
Sam wordlessly pointed to the team's archeologist. The Jaffa seized Daniel's upper arms and marched him into the kitchen. Erica swore she heard him say, "You are doomed DanielJackson."
Cameron and Jack started laughing until they caught sight of Janet. Deciding to end this once and for all, she gave them their marching orders, "Get in there. Now."
Jack bolted with Cam a close second.
"Coming Vala?"
Vala waved her off, "I'm going outside."
I'll come with you." Erica offered, barely getting the door shut behind her when the yelling started. The two walked down the sidewalk until Erica broke the silence, "Interested how?"
Vala grinned widely, "I think it began as curiosity," here she lowered her voice, "Since they have one human parent and one Alteran parent. Over time that curiosity changed into something . . . more. She doesn't really talk about it, but she holds a lot of affection for May. Of course with Daniel around they can't do much more than cuddle, and even that isn't enough these days." She sighed theatrically.
"How did they meet?" Erica continued. If what she'd been told was true, May likely wouldn't be allowed off-world often, if at all.
"I haven't known her as long as Daniel has, but from what I've heard it was hard being stuck on base for ten years. They were a bit overprotective. So when I show up, telling her about all these planets I've been to, Daniel starts worrying about May. He tries to head off a long-overdue escape attempt by letting her come with us on the Odyssey when we went to check out this planet that had been converted to Origin before the Dakara super-weapon took it out. And there we were, on an empty Ori warship, May invisible in a corner, and then some Jaffa came in and told us they'd taken the ship. Adria didn't agree with that, so she used her powers to kill them. And for the rest of the trip, she kept looking at May but May avoided eye contact and she couldn't stop blushing . . ."
Erica listened as Vala jabbered on, a fountain of uncensored information that she wouldn't be able to get out of Daniel.
Onboard the New York Mothership . . .
It had been a long rough week for Diana. She silently paced the Executive Suite, mentally running down a list of things which had to be done, and the progress on each. She wanted to Bliss the Vs, thus reassuring them and ensuring their loyalty to her and her alone. The reasons this was impossible were twofold. Some of her children had developed emotion and dropped off the grid in fear of their own survival. That and the Bliss chamber itself was broken. According to Marcus, there were cracks in the walls and the amplifiers around the room gave off sparks. Thankfully her own children seemed happy about her return to power; Anna's children seemed loyal for the time being. She had already met with the Captains of the other ships, ordered progress reports from all active sleeper agents, and brought her daughter's experiments to a halt. The humans were aware of the shift in power, so Diana released a statement, via Chad Decker, apologizing for the lack of introduction and promising a press conference as soon as possible.
"Send me Joshua." She ordered one of the guards standing just outside the room.
"Yes my Queen."
Joshua arrived five minutes later. "You wanted to see me my Queen?"
Diana was silent for a minute, contemplating the skyline. "I did Joshua. How strong is your grasp of human emotion?"
There was a long pause before he answered, "I, experience them."
"You misunderstand me Joshua. How strong are the bonds between parents and their children? Between siblings?"
Joshua looked rather uncomfortable. Diana turned to face him at last and explained, "The reason I ask is because of Erica Evans."
"Tyler's mother?"
She nodded, "A week ago her son died aboard my ship. I wish to contact Erica and offer my condolences as well as discuss where our two species go from here."
Joshua gave it some honest thought. After a few minutes of silence he began, "Each human experiences grief differently. They may feel disbelief, anger, or depression, but with enough love and support from those around them a grieving human can accept their loss and move on. Agent Evans has lost both her husband and her son in a short space of time, and such losses are devastating. Similarly, Miss Lamont has lost both father and brother and is possibly feeling the same."
Diana raised an eyebrow, "Possibly?"
"According to Tyler, he and May weren't siblings by blood but by adoption. At the age of eight May's guardianship was transferred to a paternal third cousin. It's likely that as they grew up they grew apart, and as a result weren't as close when May returned despite Tyler's repeated attempts to include her in various activities."
"Perhaps our arrival drove a permanent wedge between them?"
"It is possible." Joshua admitted with a shrug.
Marcus reentered the room and Diana continued, "While on the subject of Tyler, I came across something unusual. The twenty-nine boys my daughter considered breeding candidates all had a strange gene." She pulled up the screen and highlighted the gene in question. "I am unsure of its function. Joshua do you have a sample for analysis?"
"I kept some of Rafael's blood in stasis my Queen, and a few of Tyler's hairs. Will that suffice?"
"That will do Joshua."
"Thank you my Queen."
"Anna also developed a disturbing fixation on Miss Lamont, to the point she was narrowing down a list of soldiers to breed with her."
Marcus actually looked concerned. Joshua looked faintly sick.
"What were your impressions of Miss Lamont?"
Ever the yes-V, Marcus replied first, "She behaves like a coiled viper; alert to her surroundings and ready to strike at any time."
Joshua could honestly say he hadn't interacted with her enough to form an opinion. He did however offer a short comment, "Lisa seems strongly attuned to her, especially when aided by her breeding skin."
Diana squeezed her eyes shut. Oh no.
"And, how is Lisa this morning?"
"She did not acknowledge my presence when I took her breakfast. I don't think she's spoken since Tyler's death . . . she just lays there."
Diana wondered if there was a stress ball on the ship somewhere. She honestly hadn't meant to forget about Lisa, but given her previous independence, well Diana didn't think she needed companionship. (The derisive snort from somewhere above her head was ignored.) Thoughts of her granddaughter were soon pushed aside in favor of more pressing concerns. One of Anna's children, whose name Diana couldn't recall at the moment, had just entered the room and handed something to Marcus, whose expression went from one of general apathy to one of concern to the V equivalent of "oh-god-oh-god-we're-all-gonna-die." Three expressions in as many seconds; a personal record for Marcus. Joshua grinned in amusement.
"My Queen, scroll 973 is missing."
A feeling of great unease stole through Diana, "What are the contents of scroll 973?"
"Scroll 973 details the Ring my Queen, of how we used it to exile rebels and its theft by the threvast."
Diana said nothing, merely felt around for a chair. "Is there any way to track the scroll?"
"No my Queen."
Not for the first time, Diana cursed the arrogance of her daughter. Anna assumed any species they encountered would be so filled with awe and respect they wouldn't dream of stealing such technology.
"Do either of you know the last V who had the scroll?"
Marcus shook his head, and it was all Diana could do not to kill him. If the information of scroll 973 fell into the wrong hands, it could be disastrous for all involved. The last thing they needed was humans learning of the threvast. And with her luck scroll 973 was already in human hands. With that not-so-comforting thought on her mind, she sent Joshua a desperate look. He was deep in thought, and after a minute remembered the last day of empathy tests.
"The day Lisa failed the empathy test, she borrowed the scroll."
Given Lisa's behavior since Tyler's death, Diana knew merely asking the question was a bad idea. Lisa was displaying unusual signs of aggression, like growling at those who brought her food, but if the scroll was in her possession, then it was likely in her room. Diana's relief was short lived when Joshua continued, "She gave it to Miss Lamont. I saw the end of it sticking out of her bag."
And now I must scream. This was probably the worst place for any piece of V tech to be, especially if Miss Lamont felt the Vs had either A) personally wronged her, or B) wronged her family. Honestly, Diana wasn't sure which option was worse.
Instead of dealing with that issue, she changed the subject, "Marcus, the threvast Supreme System Lord called himself Ra did he not? Is not Ra the Egyptian sun god?"
Marcus had no idea. He glanced at Joshua who merely shrugged.
"I don't know."
Sighing, Diana turned and pulled up a screen to double-check the information.
"In 3,000 B.C.E., a small group of humans rebelled against Ra, and buried their Ring to prevent his return by any means but ship travel. While such a display is heartening, it could also be dangerous." Diana faced Marcus and Joshua again before going on, "It was a small and isolated group of humans who overthrew Ra. Today's humans are more intelligent, more aware of their surroundings, and more connected to other humans. I don't know how they'll react to the knowledge my daughter is no longer in power, much less that she was deceiving them. It could turn all of humanity against us. We would be driven from this world like the threvast before us" Her voice had trailed off.
Curious, Joshua asked, "Is it possible the humans found their Ring and got it working again?"
"I'm sure it's possible Joshua. The Giza ship took scans from high orbit and found no trace of a Ring."
"But are humans capable of understanding this technology my Queen? They have advanced since the days of Ra's rule, but not enough to have mastered interstellar travel." Joshua continued.
Diana sighed. Humans had come far since their rebellion, and their technology was impressive for a planet-bound species, but Diana wasn't sure if they were able to understand the intricate workings of the Ring. It was likely their military had stored it in a warehouse in hopes that it couldn't be reverse-engineered and used against them. It was probably better that way. After a moment Marcus spoke and Diana shook herself.
"I have the information you requested my Queen."
The screen displayed May Lamont's third grade school picture and a sense of doom fell upon Joshua. As Marcus had said, May was a viper, and only an absolute idiot provoked a viper.
Responding to the expression on Joshua's face – part horror and part disbelief – she explained, "Anna never acted without reason, save for the night she released Red Sky. She prides herself on her ability to find information on any human being, to learn their routines and predict their behavior based on them. The same cannot be said for Miss Lamont." She turned to Marcus and gestured for him to begin.
"We were able to find complete records for Richard Jackson, May's birth father, but her birth mother Cassidy Lamont was more difficult. The only lead we found was that she belonged to an extinct branch of Clan Lamont-"
"How long was this branch extinct?"
"About 20 years or so."
"Convenient."
Marcus continued undeterred, "After the death of her birth parents, the Evans family adopted her. Four years later her guardianship was transferred to one Dr. Daniel Jackson, an archeologist and a linguist."
That name sounded familiar. "Uncle?"
"Third cousin."
Diana blinked. Humans were such complicated creatures.
"Several of our sleeper agents had come across Dr. Jackson's theories on the pyramids. He believed they were much older than humans thought, and that it wasn't humans who built them at all. He cites similar structures in other parts of the world as proof of cross-pollination of ancient cultures and theorized that Egyptian pyramids were landing sites for alien spaceships."
Diana felt the blood drain from her face. Collapsing into a chair, she managed to croak, "What, what did we do?"
Joshua vanished in search of a glass of water and Marcus waited for him to return. When he eventually did, the Chief Medical Officer was pushing a cart not unlike one from the Medical Bay, but loaded with food instead. After a couple sandwiches (swallowed whole) and a large glass of ice water, Diana glanced at Marcus who picked up where he left off, "We didn't have to do anything. Human scholars laughed him out of academia since they felt he had no proof."
The old Queen breathed a sigh of relief. The humans could have discovered the threvast, but tended to put stock in whatever theory seemed most likely and ignore other possibilities. Crisis averted.
"It's a shame," she commented, sipping from the glass, "That such a brilliant mind went to waste. At least no one believed him."
Marcus shared a nervous glance with Joshua before going on, "After his grants ran out and he was evicted from his apartment, he was offered a job by the Air Force."
Diana snorted, then the comment sunk in. If Dr. Jackson had been hired by the Air Force, then someone must have believed him. Archeologists and linguists were certainly common enough.
"Why did they hire him?"
"The official reason was to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics."
Diana frowned. Ancient history wasn't the forte of human military. Deciding she would come back to that, she returned to the issue of Miss Lamont.
"I suppose Dr. Jackson had contingency plans in case he was no longer able to care for Miss Lamont? Who does he list as next of kin?"
Marcus had half a sandwich in his mouth so Joshua answered for him, "Lieutenant General Jonathan O'Neill, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, or a Mister Teal'c Murray. If none were available she would return to Agent Evans."
The old Queen nodded to herself and decided she could deal with Miss Lamont when she contacted Agent Evans. Speaking of, "Joshua, how should I contact Agent Evans?"
Marcus reached for another sandwich as Joshua replied, "Perhaps a letter."
"A what?"
As Joshua explained what letters meant to humans, specifically how a hand written letter could mean more than a phone call or an email, it dawned on him that Diana's penmanship was either horrible or nonexistent, and he wondered if he could get Marcus to teach her how. Sadly, Marcus couldn't write either, at least not very well, so Joshua decided to offer his assistance.
"Thank you Joshua." Diana managed to say before a crack of thunder caused her to drop the glass. Marcus started choking behind him and Joshua had to give him the Heimlich before asking if someone could come in and clean up the mess.
Diana checked the weather report, confused by the suddenness of the storm. Marcus drank straight from the pitcher to clear his throat before asking, "Odd weather isn't it?"
"A very sudden summer storm." Diana agreed, watching the lights of the city flicker. "Have someone monitor this in case we need to offer assistance. Joshua, if you have some spare time I'd like to start my writing lessons."
"Of course my Queen."
More of a filler than anything, sorry. Once I noticed that this chapter was nearing 40 pages I thought, "Geez that's long. I think I'll split it up." So I did. The next chapter will be the last one I think. Anna gets what's coming to her, and Erica actually goes through the Stargate!