The Star Gate Program (Hetalia/Stargate SG1 X-Over)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: It was the discovery of the century. A devise older than human civilization, capable of transporting people across the galaxy in an instant. But things have a way of quickly becoming complicated, pushing America and others to their limits as they find themselves embroiled in galactic politics and intrigue throughout the stars.

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine. Stargate isn't mine.

Warning: Alterations of the Stargate timeline/canon and Hetalia canon

[Inspired by Stargate Reopened; I recommend reading it if you have the time.]

[Chapter 37]

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"Dr. Carter?"

Sam jumped in her seat, having been lost in thought while her fingers rubbed holes in the curled ribbon of her friend's final gift. "Yes, Dr. Jackson?"

The man offered a sympathetic smile, food tray at hand. "Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is sort of full right now."

The lie was fairly obvious after a fast glance around the cafeteria, more than half the tables empty at this point in the afternoon, but she offered her own halfhearted smile and replied, "Sure, go ahead."

Though news of what exactly had happened to the late Teryl Rothery was mostly being kept quiet until high command had some idea of how to deal with the newly discovered threat to their operations and operatives, enough people had known she was at least friendly with the woman, offering condolences that, for all their sincerity, only made the ache worse. And sure, Sam had lost friends before in combat situations, but none had involved such a horrific ending before.

At least the others had died as themselves.

Glancing back up from her barely touched meal, Sam noticed that Dr. Jackson was twisting his lips, torn about whether to speak up or remain quiet. Any moment now, he'd offer the same awkward apology, and she'd fake another smile and accept it as if it'd make up for not being able to save her friend in time-

"I'm sorry about shooting your friend."

...well that hadn't been quite what she'd been expecting from him. Sam looked back up from her tray, brow raised in surprise as he ducked his head. "Were you aiming for her specifically?"

"Well, no, but-" He stammered, looking back up to her. "I was trying to just get the guard to move, and I can't help but wonder if she might have been able to dodge the rubble if she hadn't been dealing with the shock."

Sam had wondered that as well- Private Danson's report on his chase after her, concluding in her death from falling rubble caving in half her head and the last minute scramble for the gate with Doctors Fraiser and McKay on his heels. The fact that they'd even brought the body back at all with the time crunch had been unexpected by command after the news of the imminent collapse had gone through the gate. But as much as a small, bitter part of her was tempted to blame Jackson for it, she knew he'd just been trying to defend himself with only the mandatory self-defense courses he'd gone through with the rest of the non-military scientists under his belt.

"It's not your fault," She offered instead. "If anything, I should have realized something was wrong with her earlier, before she'd broken out the guards and nearly killed everyone in Heliopolis."

Maybe if she'd actually paid attention, they wouldn't have lost such a valuable off-world base, its massive alien computer, and the five scientists who hadn't been found by the guards and thus hadn't been able to reach the gate in time to escape.

"But didn't your report say she was acting perfectly normal?" Dr. Jackson asked, now looking at her again with a frown. "If that- thing in her was able to read her memories, then there would be no way to tell before she started acting out of character, which didn't happen until afterwards."

Sam huffed out a laugh, remembering how the colonel had informed her that sadly, he couldn't tell her anything about the snake-like parasite that had woven part of its nervous system throughout her brain like a fungus, body wrapped around her brain stem until they'd finally managed to remove it for autopsy. Command's orders, of course. She barely knew the man, but she'd found herself smiling thinly even as she'd acknowledged the order, because it'd been far more than she'd been expecting to get for a long while, if ever.

"I still could have used my staff sooner, knocked her out before the place started falling to pieces."

Dr. Jackson had no counter to that, so he remained quiet for a moment before shifting the topic slightly, lowering his voice in the process. "I'm going to request a transfer out to Abydos soon."

Sam's brow rose again. "Oh?"

"Well, I'm still the best of the archaeologists at speaking the local language, and I'm hoping that I might be able to see if the locals know anything about how to deal with the possession."

Both her brows were raised now, because she had never really put thought to the fact that the humans there had been dealing with similar beings for who knew how many generations at this point. Then again, she hadn't been on the mission there, so she guessed she could forgive herself for not thinking of it first. "Are you sure they'll have anything?"

"No, but it's the best shot we have unless we find something in the parts of the database we managed to download," Dr. Jackson admitted. "I'm hoping either the chief or the oracle will have the information, but they might also have something in those catacombs of theirs if nothing else."

"If you do find anything, Command'll be tripping over themselves to give you a medal for services to the country," A new voice joined them, startling them both in their seats.

"Colonel!" Sam resisted the urge to bite her lip, hoping their discussion hadn't been leaning towards classified territory.

The older man snorted, claiming a seat next to hers without asking and taking a bite out of his apple. "Good tip for private conversations - don't lower your voice, it makes you more suspicious."

Jackson rubbed at his cheek in embarrassment. "I only really just thought of it while I was talking to Dr. Carter - I would have brought it up in my transfer request."

"I'm not angry at you, Jackson - heck, General Hammond will probably be glad to have something to report to General West and the President about damage control next week. Not to mention that we'll need someone in the city to keep fostering the nice fuzzy feeling the people have towards us right now, and for some reason they seem to like you best."

Jackson flushed more. "Well, I mean, they've just been so welcoming, and I've been doing my best to learn about them so I don't insult anyone while my team is learning more about them and their history."

The colonel grinned. "Exactly my point. You're already our unofficial ambassador to them, and since you know so much about them already, it probably won't even take you long to reach official ambassador status."

The archaeologist choked on his food. "I'm- no, that's not exactly the best at dealing with- there have to be more qualified people to-"

"Relax, it'll only be for a few years at most, until you can train someone more politically savvy with enough of the language and culture to take over."

Jackson looked torn between dismay and contemplation, glancing back to his meal, and O'Neill turned to her thoughtfully.

"And what're you planning on doing next?"

"Me, sir?" Sam frowned thoughtfully. "Well, after the team I'm with finishes taking apart the surviving staves and figures out how they work to a replicable point, I'm probably going to be going back to working out the dialing systems - Dr. McKay claims to have some ideas of additional feedback systems in the ring we can access with our current setup, and Command apparently liked them enough to have them tested while we're still searching for other accessible worlds."

"Sounds fun," the Colonel replied. "Anything in particular you think might work?"

"...well, there's a good chance we might be able to access the internal diagnostics, which would give us an idea of conditions around the other gate without having to send a MALP through first. It might be a long while before we find that system, though - even with the information on the ring we got from Heliopolis, it'll be years before we have the computational and engine power to run even a fraction of the full capabilities of the system."

"Well, at least you'll always be busy, right?"

Sam found herself smiling despite herself - it was true that the ring would be the world of more than just her lifetime, and that it wouldn't be that bad a way to make her name. Still, there were other scientists (like Dr. McKay) who would more than likely be able to take over the project eventually, which would give her a chance to explore all the other new developments that would be coming along over the following months and years.

Not to mention the fact that, one day, she really hoped to be on one of the teams sent in to explore a newly-rediscovered world. Now that would be the adventure of a lifetime.

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AN: A bit shorter than I hoped, and maybe not the best, but right now I've fallen into a creative slump and really just want to get this fic at least done. There's only a handful of chapters left, taking us back to Alfred and what he's been up to, as well as a few spoilery things that, should I ever get around to the sequel, will play a lot into things. Maybe. Hopefully.