Disclaimer: 'Stargate' and 'Harry Potter' both belong to their respective creators, so I don't own them; I'm just borrowing them for the immediate moment in time and space
Feedback: I'd like it, believe me
Truth and Revelations
As Mitchell sat on the bench near the hospital entrance, idly scanning the pamphlet Ferguson had given him earlier- something about how to cope with the knowledge of your imminent death- without ever actually taking any of it in, he tried not to think too much about the presence of the Minister of Magic for the whole of the British wizarding population as she sat beside him, casually perusing a book she'd pulled out of her pocket at some point. At any other time, Mitchell would have been impressed that the book she'd produced could fit so comfortably inside a pocket- the damn thing seemed to be about as thick as the last Matthew Reilly book he'd read, at least-, but right now he was more occupied with the more personal concerns currently dominating his mind.
Specifically, the fact that he'd started thinking of someone Jackson had known since the wizarding equivalent of high school- Hell, according to the stories he'd heard, Jackson practically thought of this woman as the sister he'd never had- and had gone on to become essentially the leader of the entire wizarding community in Britain, as a 'hottie'…
Actually, he almost wished it was just that; as attractive as the woman before him was physically, it was her mind that really fascinated him. From what Jackson had mentioned in his old explanations about elements of his wizarding past, combined with what they'd learned from his friends after they'd arrived here, the wizarding world's political system had been a corrupted mess that would have made the Nixon administration at its worst look practically squeaky-clean by comparison, and yet Hermione had taken it upon herself to practically single-handedly rebuild her society's politics from the ground upwards, and, according to all information, had done a fairly good job of it...
So what the Hell was he- a simple Lieutenant Colonel from the United States, who'd only gotten his dream assignment because somebody had owed him a few favours- doing thinking about having anything beyond friendship with her? It was ridiculous, pointless, and would only result in him making an ass of himself; it would be better to just get over it before he made things awkward or worse.
"Cameron?" a voice said, prompting him to turn and look up at the newly-arrived Sam, a wheeled case behind her as she looked at him.
"That's it?" Hermione asked, Mitchell simply nodding in response at the other woman as the witch looked at the case that apparently contained the 'technology' Mitchell had been so secretive about bringing here. "I was expecting something... bigger, I guess."
"Miniaturising is a common feature of the advanced technology we've found out there; the more advanced a civilisation, the smaller things get," Sam replied briefly, her voice low as she sat down beside the other two to limit the potential likelihood of somebody overhearing her. "We've found the gate address for the mothership where Teal'c's being held; we're briefing in an hour."
"We'll be there," Mitchell said, nodding at her with a brief gesture of his head, as though he didn't trust himself to do more.
"Do you... need some help with this?" Sam asked after a momentary silence, indicating the equipment beside her; Hermione briefly looked as though she was about to ask what it was, but seemingly decided against it.
"No, I got it," Mitchell said, sitting in silence for a moment before he spoke again, his voice slightly lower. "Does this make me a hypocrite?"
"I told my dad," Sam said with an uncertain shake of her head.
"He was getting a Tok'ra symbiote," Mitchell countered.
"A what?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"Basically a benevolent Goa'uld that shares control with the host rather than totally dominating it; we'll fill you in on the specifics later, and we don't tend to see them that much anyway," Mitchell said, before he shook his head in frustration. "Look, this really isn't the point right now; it's just... after what happened to me when I used that thing, I was opposed to anyone having anything to do with that technology... but now I'm going out of my way to make use of it."
"Is showing your friend the truth going to make you feel any better?" Sam asked, leaving Hermione increasingly confused about the current topic of discussion; what had actually happened involving the equipment in the box to make Mitchell so ambiguous about it?
"...to know that I'm not going to be burdened with guilt ... what with the fact that he died because of me," Mitchell said, his voice drawing Hermione's attention back to the present.
"But that's not going to help you, is it?" she said, looking solemnly at her new friend, unsurprised when he simply nodded in response to her statement.
She knew how it felt all too well; just because Ron had died knowing that he was saving her by taking that last curse didn't mean that she felt any less guilty about his death (She sometimes wondered if it would have been better if she'd been able to attend the funeral rather than it happening while she was still in her coma, but it didn't make her feel any better; what was done was done, and that was the end of that).
"Sometimes..." she said, taking a deep breath as she tried to think of the best way to say what she was about to say before she continued, "all you can do is try to help others feel better... do what you can to make sure that tomorrow's better for them than today was... because you know for a fact that there's absolutely nothing you can do that will make you feel better."
The brief glances from Sam and Mitchell were all Hermione needed to know that they understood what she was saying; she might have worked to practically rebuild her entire society after she'd lost so many people during her last war, but it still didn't make up for all the people she'd lost during that conflict in the first place.
"Well," Mitchell said, standing up and clasping his hands together as he looked at Hermione, "let's get this over with; we've still got a rescue to carry out, and I think Ferguson would appreciate seeing what we've got for him sooner rather than later."
As he walked up to Fergusons' room, the memory device- now programmed with his recent memories- behind him and Hermione beside him- why the witch had decided to stick around Mitchell wasn't sure, but he wasn't complaining-, he glanced uncertainly at Hermione as a brief thought occurred to him.
"Uh... just to check, this isn't going to be a problem, is it?" he asked, indicating the machine as he looked at her. "I mean, this thing has all of my memories about up until I came here..."
"Which means Ferguson will learn about magic?" Hermione finished for Mitchell, smiling reassuringly at him for a brief moment before the smile faded as she continued talking. "Trust me; even if he wasn't... in his current condition... at this stage, after everything we've done for our world, I think my friends and have all earned a bit of leeway in dealing with our secret."
"Good," Mitchell said, smiling briefly at her in gratitude before he turned back to the door before him, opening it to reveal Ferguson lying on the bed reading a magazine.
"Hey," Mitchell said, nodding at his old friend.
"Hey," Ferguson replied, smiling briefly back at his visitors. "Are you finally getting the hell out of here?"
"Stuff's come up back in at work with a current project," Hermione said, nodding apologetically at him as she pulled the door behind her and Mitchell; they might be about to tell Ferguson the truth, but there was no point giving him too much detail when he was about to receive a more detailed background briefing than anything they could tell him. "We'll be back later-"
"Don't bother," Ferguson said, shaking his head. "I won't be here later."
"What?" Hermione said, looking at the captain in disappointment as Mitchell began to open the case, evidently uncomfortable with the recent turn of conversation. "You can't just give up-"
"I'm not giving up, I'm just... checking out," Ferguson replied, shrugging nonchalantly at the two before him. "There's nothing more they can do for me here; why waste everyone's time?"
"It hasn't been a waste," Hermione said, shaking her head as she walked over to sit on the bed beside Ferguson, placing her hand on his as she smiled briefly at him. "It's been... good to meet you, really; it's actually been a long time since I interacted with someone just on a social setting, what with my job and all..."
"And... what's your job?" Ferguson asked, looking curiously at her. "I mean, since I'm dying anyway..."
"I'm a member of a secret government in Britain which keeps an eye on the secret society of magical users that exists in British society," Hermione replied.
Ferguson blinked.
"Uh... magic?" he repeated, clearly latching on to one part of that sentence to avoid focusing on the implications of everything she'd just said (Not that Hermione could blame him; she'd dropped a lot on him at once, but there were times when she just wanted to give an honest answer when people asked her what she did when she was in the muggle world).
"Wands, spells, potions, the works," Hermione smiled at him, her expression fading to a more solemn gaze as she looked at him. "And before you ask, I can't do anything for you either; given the nature of your injury, anything I might try could take a part of your brain out in the process..."
"But, on a more encouraging note, I am able to give you a look at what my life's been like by the use of this little something I picked up on another planet," Mitchell added, opening the case to reveal a black rectangular box with a silver centre, a black half-oval on the silver part of the box displaying circular green and blue buttons in a triangular pattern, six smaller curved rectangular buttons framing the top of the oval, and five yellow-illuminated holes on the bottom, various cables stretching out from the holes to terminate with a series of electrode-like devices at their ends.
"We've made some modifications since we got our hands on this," Mitchell continued, as he picked a couple of electrodes out of the box, "but basically, here's how it works; some of my memories from the last year have been downloaded into this device. Attach these leads to your head and you get to experience some of the things I've gone through."
"You're serious?" Ferguson said.
"You wanted to know the truth; I'm going to show it to you," Mitchell replied, smiling at his friend as he held up the leads. "So, let's get started, shall we?"
The eager smile Ferguson gave them was all the response Mitchell and Hermione needed, the captain lying back and allowing the electrodes to be placed onto his head, Mitchell subsequently tapping the relevant buttons to activate the machine.
As Ferguson lay on the bed, his face twitching slightly as the memories flashed through his mind, Mitchell allowed himself a slight smile as he glanced over at Hermione.
"Really going against that 'Statute of Secrecy' thing Jackson told us about, aren't you?" he asked, indicating where Hermione had been sitting when she'd told Ferguson about herself.
"Well, if you can't break the rules when you're the one responsible for upholding them, when can you break them?" Hermione replied nonchalantly. "At least I'm experienced enough to know when it's OK to do it."
"Interesting philosophy," Mitchell responded with a brief smile. "Sounds very 'SG-1'-ish, really."
"They break the rules a lot?" Hermione asked.
"Starting with the time Jackson took a trip to another reality and came back with a warning about an imminent Goa'uld attack just when the politicians were planning to shut down the Stargate," Mitchell replied.
Hermione blinked.
"Uh... another reality?" she repeated uncertainly.
"What; you haven't heard about that theory?" Mitchell said, looking at her in surprise.
"What theory?" Hermione asked.
"The theory that there are multiple different universes out there where history took a different turn from our own at some point in the past?" Mitchell asked, waving a hand promptingly at her. "You know, like a universe where Hitler won World War Two, or a reality where America lost the War for Independence, or... a reality where Ron and Ginny didn't die?"
Hermione could stare at Mitchell's last statement, the implications for what he'd just revealed being turned over in her mind as she thought them through.
Now that he mentioned it, she did recall hearing something about a theory like that before she went to Hogwarts- she'd been becoming more interested in some science-fiction stories at the time before she learned that she could do magic, and had been contemplating what area of science she'd prefer to focus her studies on when she moved on to higher education-, but the idea that Harry had been to one of those other realities...
"What was it like?" she asked. "The reality he visited, I mean; where did it... diverge... from our history?"
"Well, he didn't really discuss it in depth- given that when he last saw it Earth had been conquered by the Goa'uld it's not exactly a cheery subject-, but the main point of divergence seems to be that Jackson never joined the SGC in that reality in the first place, although there were a few other minor tweaks like Sam not being in the military to take into account..." Mitchell replied, shrugging briefly as he looked apologetically at her. "Sorry I don't really remember much about the specifics of that whole mess, it's been a long time since I read that file..."
Glancing at his watch, a thought suddenly occurred to him. "We'd better get moving; the mission briefing on the plan to rescue Teal'c's starting soon."
"Before you go..." Hermione said, indicating Ferguson with a pointed stare at her new friend.
"Oh, right..." Mitchell said, nodding briefly at her with a slightly uncomfortable stare before he reached over to remove the electrodes from his friend's head.
"Huh?" Ferguson said, looking at Mitchell in surprise as he realised what had just happened. "What are you doing; why'd you stop?"
"Teal'c's in trouble," Mitchell replied; no matter how much he'd picked up so far, Teal'c had been present in his memories for so long that it was practically guaranteed that Ferguson would know who he was. "There's a rescue op that's about to leave; Hermione and I have to go."
"Then go save him-" Ferguson began.
"Just so long as you hang in there until we get back-" Mitchell began.
"Just... get out of here!" Ferguson retorted, indicating the door with an impatient wave of his hand.
"Before I go, I have to say something," Mitchell said, looking earnestly at his old friend. "You may not like it, but I'm going to have to live with it no matter what I say or do..."
He paused for a moment, clearly still trying to give himself a last moment to say what he'd had trouble saying from the moment he first arrived here, before he finally continued.
"I'm sorry," he said, staring regretfully at his friend. "I'm doing what I'm doing and you're not... because I acted rashly. I'm a hothead, and you're suffering because of it."
"No," Ferguson replied with a firm shake of his head. "You're doing what you're doing because of who you are."
"Yeah; I'm impatient, I lose control," Mitchell said bluntly. "I'm not particularly fond of that side of myself."
"I didn't mean that," Ferguson replied, shaking his head briefly. "When you see an opportunity, you take it. The kind of things that you and me were asked to do, that you're doing now... you've got to be a little angry, you've got to be out of control; you think too much, you're just gonna freeze up..."
"He has a point," Hermione confirmed with a brief nod. "Trust me; in my experience, the greatest, bravest men I've ever met were also at least slightly mad, and they needed that insanity in order to do what made them great."
"Exactly," Ferguson said, nodding briefly at Hermione in gratitude for reinforcing his point before he turned back to Mitchell. "As she said, doing what you guys do? You'd have to be a bit nuts."
"Yeah..." Mitchell said, smiling a brief, grim smile at his friend. "I just... I don't want to screw this up again."
"You'd better not," Ferguson commented with a brief smile. "Teal'c seems like a pretty decent guy... or alien... whatever he is-"
"Jaffa," Hermione put in.
"Jaffa," Ferguson said, nodding briefly at Hermione in thanks before he looked back at Mitchell. "Just be yourself, Cam. Trust me; it's pretty damn good."
For a moment, the two men simply looked silently at each other, evidently lost in their memories of the times they'd shared together, before Mitchell spoke.
"Thanks," he said quietly.
"I would have done it for anyone, you know that," Ferguson said, in the same casual manner that Hermione recognised from Hogwarts as the same tone Harry had used whenever he was dismissing praise for something he'd accomplished. "It's part of the job."
"Quite," Hermione said simply, before she indicated the device with a smile. "Feel free to keep this until we get back; just push that button and the memories begin again."
"That simple, huh?" Ferguson said, smiling briefly at her. "Thanks."
After a brief handshake of farewell with the man in the bed from both parties, the witch and the colonel left the room, Mitchell pausing just as Hermione had walked out to turn back and say something to his old friend- Hermione caught something about an air stewardess, but the door and Mitchell's low voice prevented her from hearing it in depth- before he turned around to face her once again.
"Let's go," he said simply.
As Hermione dived through the Stargate, now dressed in dark combat fatigues- auror's robes might look imposing, but in an unfamiliar environment she'd agreed that the wizards should adopt the SGC's chosen attire-, her wand out and aiming silent Stunning spells at every Jaffa she could see- none of whom seemed prepared for what she was doing; evidently word about the Death Eaters and what they could do had yet to make a particular impact beyond Voldemort's immediate 'allies' (If you could call a Goa'uld an 'ally' when everything Harry had told her about them made it clear that they'd stab each other in the back at the first opportunity)-, she had barely registered Mitchell run past her towards the pyramid-like structure in the distance before she had turned around to hurry after him.
Gunfire might be blazing around her, Tonks and Lupin might be launching spells at a rate she hadn't seen them display since the last battle with Voldemort- the twins had become fixated with trying to add magical enhancements to some of the alien technology they'd been shown in the SGC, and it had been decided that the current mission required more speed and long-range attack power than Hagrid was capable of (Even without the difficulties involved in getting fatigues in his size)-, and she might have little to no real idea what she was doing, but one thing Hermione was sure of right now was that she was not going to sit by and allow another friend to dive into a dangerous situation on his own when she could help him.
Right now, thought, she was mainly hoping that those reports about what Teal'c might be like if he'd been brainwashed were either exaggerated or unnecessary; the last thing she wanted to do was have to engage in a fight with a new friend when she was still trying to adjust to the idea of the dark wizard who'd terrorised her and her closest friends when she was still a child being back once again...
Ignoring the sight of Jaffa falling to the ground as Mitchell fired his gun at them while he advanced towards the pyramid-and trying not to think too much about the sounds of bombs falling behind them near the Stargate; based on the earlier briefing before the mission began, Hermione could at least be assured that the bomber was one of their allies-, Hermione simply tried to stick close to the colonel and launch a few Stunners when she could to catch a few of the stragglers that Mitchell himself; she had no problem with Mitchell using his gun, but stunning spells still attended to the essential problem of putting the other guy down for the count before he could do anything to you, which was all that really mattered in this situation.
Apart from a brief diversion to take out a cannon that had been firing at their airborne ally- Mitchell took out the operator while Hermione knocked out a Jaffa who tried to sneak up on Mitchell from behind-, the subsequent 'race' through an area that looked almost disappointingly like a typical gravel quarry back on Earth- would it be asking too much to go a planet where, for example, the rocks were blue rather than grey?-, Mitchell arrived at the pyramid that had been mentioned in the briefing, the large form of a Goa'uld mothership resting on top of the pyramid.
Hermione almost couldn't believe the sight in front of her- she wondered briefly what was more insane; that something like this existed in the first place or that she was attempting to break into it with only one ally-, but then she heard something start to hum around her as she followed Mitchell towards a door in the stone pyramid- Hermione launching a couple of quick Stunners to knock out the Jaffa inside the small room.
"Stand there!" Mitchell said, indicating a circle in the middle of the room's floor, Hermione taking up position facing the door as Mitchell began to frantically tap at a control panel on the wall opposite the door.
"Uh... what are you doing?" Hermione asked, risking a brief glance behind herself as she kept her wand trained on the door in case any more Jaffa arrived.
"Trying to activate this thing's ring transporters," Mitchell replied, slight frustration clear in his voice as he continued to tap away at the buttons before him. "If we can turn them on, we can get up to the mothership and hopefully find Teal'c before Ba'al does anything else to him; it's just been a long time since I had to-"
"Hold that thought," Hermione said, turning her attention back to the door and firing a couple of quick Stunners as two Jaffa appeared at the sides of the door before turning back to Mitchell. "Explanations later; right now, if you can get us onto the ship, do it."
Nodding in agreement, Mitchell turned around and continued working away at the control panel, turning back to smile at Hermione just before Sam, Harry, Lupin and Tonks appeared at the door to the room, looking inquiringly at their allies.
"All set for boarding," Mitchell replied with a brief smile. "What's it like out there?"
"The rest of the Jaffa guard are retreating this way," Sam replied grimly. "We can hold the line here, but somebody needs to go up and get Teal'c out of the mothership before Ba'al takes him away..."
"Into an alien ship?" Hermione replied with a smile as she exchanged glances with Mitchell. "Count me in for that."
Mitchell didn't answer verbally; he simply nodded as he stepped into the circle with Hermione, Sam moving over to activate the last few switches on the control panel. Just as a series of five large rings suddenly erupted from the ground to surround her and Mitchell, Hermione caught a brief glimpse of weapons fire coming from the door to the chamber, only for a bright light to temporarily immobilise her vision...
Followed swiftly by her opening her eyes to find herself standing in a chamber with walls that seemed to be at the very least lined with gold, decorated with what looked like hieroglyphics at a cursory glance which Hermione wouldn't have minded studying in greater depth if Mitchell hadn't started running as soon as the rings around them had vanished, leaving her to chase after him with her wand out, Stunning guards as she ran while he shot at them with that 'Zat gun' thing she'd been shown earlier.
It was only when Hermione founded a corner to find Mitchell staring at Teal'c and a kneeling Bra'tac, along with a dark-haired man with a neatly-trimmed goatee dressed in a coat and shirt that almost looked like current muggle styles back on Earth apart from the colour (A yellowish-brown pattern that reminded Hermione of the stereotypical image of camouflage gear) and around three other Jaffa, Hermione rapidly moving to stun the guard immediately closest to Bra'tac while Mitchell stunned the other two, leaving Teal'c to shoot the bearded man with his staff weapon before turning back to look at Mitchell.
"I take it this means I don't have to shoot you?" Mitchell asked hopefully.
"You do not," Teal'c replied with a brief nod.
"Good to know," Hermione replied, before moving over to help Bra'tac to his feet. "Are you all right?"
"I will live, Hermione Granger," Bra'tac replied with a brief smile.
"Well then," Mitchell put in, indicating the ship around them with an anxious wave of his hand, "if we're all well now, what say we evacuate this place before whoever's driving this thing makes the jump to hyperspace?"
"Indeed," Teal'c replied with a brief nod as they headed back towards the ring transporter thing, Hermione making a mental note to ask for the identity of the bearded man when she had the time to do so back on Earth.
Right now, though, she'd prefer to focus on the fact that she had just completed a successful mission against an unfamiliar enemy during her first confrontation with them- her previous trips through the Stargate had also dealt with Voldemort's followers rather than the exclusively Jaffa adversaries she'd faced here- and leave issues like that until later.
