Author's note: I apologize for the long delay, but this chapter simply didn't want to come out right. Well, it is here now. Hope you'll enjoy it. I'm also hoping the final two chapters of this second story will be easier to write and get out faster, but no promises.
Reviews:
Guest (the first one): The Traveler are currently merging with the Rivans, which will take time, and the Genii are not too fond of their union. They are still very set on believing they are the one who should be on top in the Pegasus galaxy. Therefore, an alliance with the Travelers and Rivans is unlikely, at least until they are ready to change.
Guest (the second one): EPDM - Exotic particles dumping module. It is responsible for collecting particles and to send them into a subspace pocket. Sold, If I use the ambassador again I'll use N'shiri.
Hope I've answered to all reviews. I think I did, but can't be sure after a month. Sorry if I skipped some.
"… put the Galarans on the last table in the third row. It should be distant enough to prevent any altercations between them and the Jaffa," Sam said to Walter.
"Yes, ma'am. What about the Nox? We still don't know how many of them are coming, if any," Walter replied.
Sam felt frustration rising, fast. This wasn't supposed to be her job. This should have been Jack's, but he was nowhere to be found. So typical of him. "How many seats are still free on the main table?"
Walter was checking his datapad. "From Liam we have received reservations for four seats and another five from the Asgard. We still have three more seats still available on the main table."
"It will have to be enough – don't think more than three Nox are coming anyway," she replied, thoughtfully. She then focused on Walter, staring at him. "Where is he, Walter?"
"Don't know, ma'am," Walter replied, sheepishly. Everybody knew it was his job to keep track of Jack's whereabouts.
"Walter, you always know where he is. He once told me you've placed a tracking device on him. So, where is he? Did he tell you not to tell anyone?" She was slowly losing the little patience she still had left.
"Those are only unfounded rumors, ma'am. I would never place a tracker on our High Councilor, and he didn't tell me anything of where he was going. He never does." It was apparent that Walter didn't like the situation either. After all, he was failing in his personal prime directive, which was to keep an eye on their High Councilor at all times.
"Great! Just great!" Daniel wasn't feeling too well, thus most tasks involving the final preparations had fallen on Jack, who had conveniently disappeared into thin air. This was too much even for him. Or maybe this was exactly why he had accepted Daniel's responsibilities so easily, because he was already planning on bailing out at the last moment.
A day! He was missing for almost an entire day! "All right, when are the Galarans and Optricans coming through the gate?"
"They are not, ma'am. When they were late we sent a message and they replied stating that they have changed their minds and their ambassadors are currently traveling through hyperspace with their respective ships."
"Oh, that's just awesome! You have an instantaneous way of traveling, so why not use a different one that takes days or even weeks instead," Sam replied sarcastically. "Do we at least know if they will be here in time? Or why they changed their minds in the first place?"
"I believe they changed their minds when they heard the Langarans are coming with their ship and therefore they wanted to come with theirs. I cannot say when will they be here, since I don't know when they have departed from their respective planets and at which speed they're traveling. They didn't give that information in their reply."
"Which means they could very easily be late. Oh, that's just phenomenal," Sam said, at the same time as she heard the low warning tone blasting through the compound, indicative of Terrania's dome shield raising. It was nothing to be worried about, since it was standard protocol for the shield to be raised whenever a foreign ship was on final approach for the Solar system. It was also standard protocol to keep it raised during the entire time a foreign ship would remain in the system, no matter who the owner of the ship was. It only meant that somebody was coming. Who exactly that somebody was, she didn't have a clue. "Well, it appears somebody is coming. How are we going to transfer people from the ships to the island?"
"Puddle Jumpers or, if needed, Hammerhead drop-ships, ma'am. Terrania's shield will synchronize with theirs when they need to pass through. No other method is possible."
"Why the Hammerheads?"
"Some delegations have up to twelve members, ma'am. We would have to use several Puddle Jumpers to transport them or make more than one trip. In such case, it is easier to use the larger Hammerheads."
"All right, that's good thinking. What about the representatives from Earth?" There were a lot of those that needed transport. The 216 representatives, each with their own escort and guests, were a nightmare to bring on Terrania, especially now that the shield was up and running.
"We are using the security protocol councilor O'Neill had devised before he … um… disappeared. In fifteen minutes, Hammerheads will start collecting them from their respective countries. All Hammerheads will have four F-302s Vipers as their escort, and both assault frigates and Daedalus class cruisers will be watching them from above. The entire process will last one hour if there are no delays on the representatives' part."
"Which means that we can be almost one hundred percent certain there will be delays. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, with the arrival time of the Galarans and Optricans still being a mystery," Sam said, hearing the gate beginning to spin. She turned form the observation room, watching as chevron after chevron locked until the event horizon burst into existence. The gate's shield sprang to life, only to disappear the next instant. From the puddle of water, Teal'c and Bra'tac exited, trailed closely behind by the rest of the Jaffa Council and several high ranking officers. "Well, at least somebody is on time, or even early."
Moving out of the observation room, she quickly made her way into the gate room where the newly arrived guests were waiting. She proceeded in greeting the rest of the Jaffa Council before stopping in front of Teal'c and Bra'tac. "Teal'c, Bra'tac, nice to see you again. It has been months, at least."
"It has, CouncilorCarter," Teal'c replied with a slight bow. "If it were not for this special occasion, it could have been many more months before we saw each other again. Now that the various wars in the galaxy are at a conclusion, the Jaffa Council has been even harder at work."
"Oh, I thought that with the war with the Aschen having ended, your council would have a much easier time?"
"That is unfortunately not the case," Bra'tac replied. "As you know, time of peace is the most stressful for the Jaffa. When there are wars to be fought, we focus on those. When those are over, we tend to fret on what to do. Many ideas are cast in the council with very few solutions I am afraid, and there is still much more that needs to be done in the Free Jaffa Nation."
"May I inquire where O'Neill is? We need to speak with him, and I believe a better time to do so is before the main event," Teal'c added.
"It certainly would be, but unfortunately I have no idea where he is, the same as anyone else on the entire island, and the other O'Neill is doing maneuvers with the First Fleet," Sam answered.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "That is most unfortunate, and strange. I would have believed O'Neill very busy at a time such as this and unable to leave."
"I believed that too, but apparently he has absconded at the worst possible moment and left me to deal with his duties." Again, Sam felt frustration rising. It wasn't as if she didn't have her own chores to be doing.
"Absconded?" Teal'c asked, puzzled. "I am aware of O'Neill's proficiency in evading undesirable tasks – he could almost be regarded as a legend in that particular area - but this seems out of character, even for him."
For the first time it crossed Sam's mind that this was too much to have been deliberate, even for Jack. For the first time she realized that, maybe, something else had happened. But what else could it be that wasn't him simply going AWOL? As far as she knew, he hadn't left the island – there would have been logs of him beaming elsewhere – and with the current tech on Terrania, there was no rock he could hide under. "Now that you mentioned it, it is strange for him to have disappeared like this without leaving any trace."
Sam watched as Teal'c head suddenly jerked, looking intently at something behind her. "Is not that O'Neill?"
Sam spun around to look in the same direction as Teal'c was. And there he was. She had immediately noticed a few things out of the ordinary too. The first was that he was covered in dirt from head to toe, and the second was the pissed off expression she could see plastered all over his face, even from fifty feet away. Well, the second wasn't such an anomaly, often seen after a prolonged session in his office after he had to deal with a mountain of paperwork, but the dirt on him was telling a completely different story. He definitely hadn't spent the last day doing paperwork. "Jack! Where have you been?"
Jack was slowly dragging himself toward her. He looked tired too. As he reached her, he took a deep breath before answering. "Oh, I spent the last day in the countryside, chasing some stupid followers."
"Countryside? Followers?" Sam had no clue what he was talking. "If this is some new scheme of yours to evade you duties, I swear—"
"Carter, I was tossed seven years into the past. It isn't as if I can decide when or if I can go, is it?" Jack replied, angry at the whole situation.
"You went back into the past again?"
"I did, and for no good reason either. If the Shrike was there, he was gone long before I came. I chased down those damn Followers of the Shrike for no good reason, and I wasn't even able to prevent the death of Simon Westwood."
"Simon Westwood? Never heard of him," Sam replied. "Who was he?"
"Of course you never heard of him. He's dead in this timeline, and consequently he has never become a member of this little organization of ours on this island, but I remember him having worked here. I think he worked under Paul in the Resources Department."
"Why would they want to kill him? Was he someone important?"
"Don't think so, but that doesn't mean anything either. The Shrike is trying to change his present, and who knows what impact to the timeline Simon's death has hundreds of years into the future. Or maybe not his death directly, but his children never even having been born," Jack explained, tossing his hands in the air. "Anyway, my little trip was a complete loss of time, and I'm really starting to hate this bracelet. I woke up in the cold in the middle of some god forsaken forest. Not the way I like to wake up, Carter, I can tell you that much."
"I bet," Sam replied, unable not to smirk. Knowing that he had had a crappy day, the same as she did, somehow comforted her. "Well, the important thing is that you're back and that you can now take the responsibilities you said you would."
"Carter, which part of me having spent an entire day chasing some stupid followers didn't you understand?" He really looked pissed.
"Oh, I did understand everything, but that doesn't change that the main event is only two hours ahead of us and that there's a lot that needs to be done before that." If he thought he was going to spend the next two hours chilling in his quarters, he was sadly mistaken.
Jack shrugged. "What about Daniel? Couldn't he have done those things?"
"He's still in his room," Carter replied. "And you are the one who has taken his responsibilities."
"I did, but I thought he would have stopped brooding by now. If I knew he wouldn't, I would have never have taken charge of this show."
Sam was always stricken by how Jack could say something so stupid with a straight face. "He's not brooding, and you know it. And taking responsibilities only if you thought you wouldn't have to do them, isn't taking responsibilities at all!"
"DanielJackson is brooding?" Teal'c asked.
"He isn't brooding. He just… doesn't like to be around people at the moment, that's all," Sam explained, more or less.
"Why would DanielJackson not want to be around people?" Teal'c was clearly struggling to understand what was going on.
"Because of the Genesis Project," Sam replied with a sigh. "He is… starting to sense others' emotions." She was sad for Daniel, but she was also glad that the Genesis Project hadn't caused her any unforeseen side effects.
"And instead of being happy about it, he rather stays in his room feeling depressed." Jack clearly didn't think what the Genesis Project had done to him was a bad thing.
"Jack, he deals with ambassadors from all over the galaxy on a daily basis, and their emotions, especially the negative ones, are influencing him greatly," Sam replied.
"And I told him that, one, he should use that to his advantage and, two, that there is a way for him to block others' emotions, but that it will take time. He's not the first who had such abilities. It was very common among the Alterrans, and with the proper training he can learn how to block others' emotions or how to block others from reading his. I learned to do the latter in less than two months, which means he can learn how to do it too. He just needs to get his ass out of bed first."
"It is very strange that you are the one saying that, since it took Liam practically a stick to force you to start training," Sam replied, suddenly feeling protective of Daniel.
"Well, then maybe I should use a stick of my own and force him to train too. I just need to find the right stick."
"Well, maybe you should!" For some reason she was angry at Jack, and Jack was apparently angry back at her. If she could understand why they were angry at each other, it would probably make things much easier, and Teal'c would probably stop staring at the two of them with his eyebrow raised. By now he was probably thinking how it hadn't been such a good idea to come here in the first place.
"I'm going to shower, and then I'm going to kick his ass out of bed!" Jack said, spinning around and leaving the gate room.
"Fine! You do that! But if he stays in bed, you still need to do his job!"
"Fine!" Jack said, as he exited the room.
Sam turned to look at Teal'c. "Sorry, Teal'c. You probably think by now that it would have been better if you stayed back on Dakara."
"I have to admit, there is not much difference from this and how a usual Jaffa Council's meeting sounds, except that here I am not the one doing the shouting. I also believe that now is not the best time to talk to O'Neill."
"Oh, give him half an hour and he'll be fine. You'll have plenty of time to talk to him before the main event, and he'll probably be happier to talk to you than to think about his other responsibilities. Just promise me you won't keep him busy for too long." Sam watched as Teal'c replied with a small bow. "Come on, let me show you your delegation's accommodations."
Jack stormed into his living quarters and immediately proceeded to take his dirty clothes off and take a shower. Not only had he had a crappy day, comprised mostly of chasing down some stupid followers in the attempt to find the Shrike, but when he had finally returned home, in the present, the reception had been such that he almost wished he'd stayed in the past for at least a few more hours. It was true that he had taken Daniel's obligations as his, but he had also thought that Daniel would have jumped out of bed at some point, and especially once they'd noticed he was missing. But apparently that hadn't been the case. He could even understand how Daniel felt. It couldn't be easy feeling what others are feeling all the time, and the looks he was getting from others wasn't helping either. Nobody liked having somebody prying into their head, and people had started evading him, or at the very least not being too happy to be in his presence, which was exactly the thing that bothered Daniel the most - others' feelings when he was around them.
However, if Daniel remained in his room and continued evading people, he would never learn to deal with his new ability. Besides, he was convinced that this new ability was the best thing that could happen to a diplomat, except maybe to become a telepath. He could use his newfound ability to great advantage, especially if he stopped telling everyone he had it. For weeks Jack had been able to hear 'whispers', from the day he and Liam had gone through that strange gate that didn't work like a usual gate – the gate that had talked to them telepathically. Liam had also been puzzled that Jack could hear the device whispering to him, which he knew was a precursor of having telepathic abilities. They were not fully developed yet, but it was like the device had unlocked some latent ability in him he always had but didn't know how to use. He also understood one other thing that day. Liam was a full blown telepath, the only explanation on how he could hear the device speaking to him. He'd probably been one for a very long time, and he hadn't told anyone. The weasel.
Jack had decided he would follow Liam's example and tell no one.
All this meant that he knew exactly what Daniel was going through, more than anyone else ever could. It was disconcerting to hear others' 'whispers', whispers he couldn't even understand properly. However, he had also been able to learn how to shut them out if he really wanted to, which meant that Daniel could learn to do the same, but only if he stopped feeling sorry for himself and got out of bed. He had given Daniel access to the training program he was using, at least the portion of it that would help him control his newly found ability, but he was certain Daniel hadn't even taken a look at it.
As he was finishing with the short, but still highly restoring shower, Jack thought how he would have to push Daniel much harder. Maybe they could train together. However, that was also a long term plan that would give results only months from now or maybe even longer, and not something that would help Daniel in the next hour or so. He needed to get him out of bed now.
Jack got out of the bathroom and took some clean clothes from his wardrobe. He would have to change again before the main event started, but it was too early to dress properly. Dressing quickly in jeans and a t-shirt, he was on his way to leave his quarters in less than five minutes. He should have known that the moment he opened the door, Walter would be there, waiting.
Startled, Jack almost jumped back inside his room. "Walter! Don't sneak like this on me!"
"I apologize, sir. It wasn't my intention," Walter replied.
Jack sighed and began moving down the corridor. "Walk with me, Walter."
"Yes, sir," Walter replied, already glued on his left side.
Jack had the feeling Walter would remain glued on him for the rest of the day. Not the best of prospects. "So, how are the preparations proceeding?"
"There are a few problems with some of the guests. More specifically with their arrival schedule. Apparently, the Galarans and Optricans have decided to come here by ship, which means that we have no idea when they will reach Earth. Except for that, there were more problems but they have all been solved, sir."
Jack stopped suddenly. "So, why then is Sam so pissed off at me if almost everything has been solved?"
"Probably because she was the one who had to do the solving, sir."
Jack thought about it, starting to walk again. "Good point. So, is there anything that I need to do now?"
"Since you've taken Councilor Daniel's responsibilities, you need to greet our new guests as they arrive. For the most part it means that you have to wait until someone gates to Terrania and then greet them."
"Oy, no wonder Daniel doesn't want to get out of his room. I too am suddenly feeling the urge to return to my room and sleep."
"Yes, sir. Still, someone has to greet the various ambassadors as they arrive. There is also the little matter of Councilor Teal'c and Bra'tac having asked for a private meeting, if at all possible before this evening's event starts."
Jack was entering into the corridor where Daniel's quarters were, thinking about what to do. "Okay, tell Teal'c and Bra'tac I will be in the conference room - the one near the control room - in fifteen minutes. This way I can talk to them and if some new guest arrives I'm close enough to greet them. Are we expecting more of them to come so soon?"
"No, sir. It is still too soon for the guests to arrive, but it is not impossible. There could be more like the Jaffa Council that decided to come sooner. Maybe others would like a private audience with you as well, sir."
"Ugh, let's hope not," Jack said as he stepped in front of Daniel's quarters. "Go now, I'll be in the conference room in fifteen minutes - hopefully with Daniel in tow."
It was clear that Walter was hesitant in leaving his side, almost like, if he did so, Jack would disappear again. "Yes, sir, fifteen minutes."
Jack watched as Walter spun around and left. He was sure Walter would sound an alarm if he wasn't there in fifteen minutes. He turned and pressed the admittance button to Daniel's room, waiting. Nothing happened. He pressed the button once more. Again nothing. He pressed once, twice, thrice…
He finally heard a sound coming from inside the room. The door opened, with a disgruntled Daniel standing on the other side of the door. "What?"
"How many times do I have to ring before you open? Didn't you hear or what?" Jack said.
"I heard, and I sensed you being behind the door, annoyed," Daniels was already moving back all the way to his room and dropping in his bed."
Jack entered the room, immediately noticing chaos in it, even more than usual. Daniel's room was never tidy, but usually it was books that would be lying everywhere and making most of the mess. Now it was books, and everything else, mostly clothes, on the floor, shelves, TV… everywhere except on the bed where he was lying. "Okay this is bad, really bad. This is messy even for you, and you're not reading any book that has been written more than a thousand years ago, which I have to say is even more worrying."
"I don't feel like reading," Daniel replied.
Jack took a sharp breath. "You don't feel like reading? Okay, what's next? The apocalypse?"
Daniel said nothing.
"You do know we have less than two hours before it starts? And you are going to be there, right?"
"Don't know, maybe."
"Maybe? What does that mean?"
"Jack, there will be hundreds of people there, and I don't feel like being among hundreds of people. Feeling you being annoyed right now is pretty much all I can take. When there are more people it is much worse. I start losing track of which emotion is whose, mine included."
Jack looked around the room, not sure how to proceed. On one of the shelves he saw the data chip he gave Daniel, the one containing the training he should have started doing days ago. "And what about that?"
Daniel glanced at where Jack had pointed with his chin. "I tried it once a few days ago, but it didn't help. I don't even see how those exercises even could."
"Once? You tried it once and that's it?" Jack was starting to get angry. Usually he was the one making a fuss when Daniel would give him something to watch that wasn't the Simpsons. Now it appeared the roles were reversed, and Daniel was being the difficult one.
"And now you're angry. Great!" Daniel looked at him, sad.
"To know that, you definitely don't need to be emphatic. You just need to look at my face." Jack was shaking his head. "Look, I promise you those exercises will help, but it takes time and you are the one who needs to start doing them. No one else can do them for you."
"How can possibly those—" Daniel stopped in mid-sentence, glaring suspiciously at Jack. "Wait, what did just happen?"
Jack grinned. "You can't sense anything from me anymore, can you?"
"No, I can't. How did you do that?"
"The exercises, dummy. I told you that if you did them they would help. If I can block you from sensing anything, the exercises can teach you how to block everybody else's emotions in the same way."
"That's great, Jack, but that doesn't help me in the near future. I don't think I can learn whatever you're doing in two hours."
"No, but you can use this until you learn," Jack replied, tossing Daniel a small pendant he took out of his right pocket.
Daniel caught the small pendant in midflight, apparently having been aimed straight at his head. He looked at it curiously. "What's that?"
"The Alterran had been dealing with… umm… telempathic abilities for a long time. They developed this device for their precocious children. Too young to learn how to block their abilities, too talented in that area to function normally. I found it yesterday in the Alterran database and replicated one for you."
Daniel looked at Jack, for the first time in a week, with a big smile on his face. "Thanks, Jack, I mean it."
"Don't mention it. I'm glad I could help." Actually, the idea to look for a solution came to Jack when he'd learned that he would have to do Daniel's chores, but Daniel didn't need to know that.
"Wait! Why didn't you give me this yesterday if you made it then?"
"Daniel, if you got out of this room more often, you'd know that I spent the last twenty-four hours in the past, but that's irrelevant right now. Two things aren't. First, there's an expiration date on that pendant, and I won't recharge it if I see you're not doing the exercises I gave you, and second, get out of bed!"
"Why do I need to learn how to block others' emotions if I have this?"
"Because there's a chance that in time you could develop a sort of resistance to the pendant. Also, wouldn't you want to, as a diplomat, be able to sense the emotions of others? It could be of great help to you when you meet other people," Jack said with a mischievous look.
"Well, if a can learn to control it, yeah it would be useful. Very useful, I suppose. Although, I have some ethical dilemmas about using such ability."
"Why?"
"Because it is an unfair advantage and because nobody likes to know that you can pry in their head."
"You're not really prying in their thoughts, you're just sensing their mood and you could probably sense if somebody is deceiving you or outright lying to you, which is a good thing. Put it like this. Do you think that it is unfair for someone to be able to read others' micro expressions?"
"No, not really."
"Then it's settled. No ethical dilemmas in using your empathic abilities. You should also stop telling others what you can do."
"Okay that's dishonest."
"Maybe, but not much different from hiding some vital information the other party thinks you are not aware of, and that you have done on many occasions in order to get the upper hand in negotiations." Jack replied, glancing at his watch. "Okay, I need to get to the control room now. I have a meeting with Teal'c and Bra'tac in a few minutes. You take a fast shower and you can join us there if you want."
And maybe be in time to greet the guests as they arrive instead of him too, Jack ended the sentence in his head.
"Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes."
Jack nodded and spun around, quickly leaving Daniel's room on his way to the control room. He liked solving more than one problem with one stone. Daniel would finally be able to function properly, and he wouldn't have to deal with the various off world ambassadors and the annoying representatives from Earth. A third problem had also been solved. After today, after the Terran Federation has officially been formed, the role of the High Councilor of the Terran Federation would fall onto Daniel. As most wars were now over, under their law the High Councilor would change based on what the Terran Federation needed the most at the moment. With so many wars ending, the importance of Jack's job would also diminish, while time of diplomacy, foreign and domestic, would need to take precedence. Jack knew that the next High Councilor, the first true Head of the Terran Federation could not be spending all of his time in his room brooding and feeling sorry for himself.
Jack made the last turn and entered the control room. He glanced around, seeing that everybody was busy with their duties. Even better. No one would bother him. He quickly strolled into the adjacent conference room before somebody could notice him. As he stepped inside the small conference room, mostly used for unscheduled visitors, he immediately noticed Teal'c and Bra'tac already seated around the table, drinking some refreshments somebody had brought and put on the table in front of them. They were already discussing something.
"Teal'c, Bra'tac, what's up?" Jack asked, as he strolled to his chair at the head of the table and slumped into it.
They both stopped talking, with Teal'c the first to speak. "O'Neill, how is DanielJackson doing?"
"Oh, he's fine! He'll be here in ten minutes actually." Jack looked to Teal'c and then to Bra'tac, both not saying anything. "Okay, let me ask again. What's up?"
"O'Neill, we have a problem," Teal'c replied.
"Oh, let me guess. Now that the war with the Aschen and Ori are over, you don't know what to do," Jack said smiling.
"How did you know?" Teal'c asked.
"Wow! I said that just to say something. I didn't really think that's what you wanted to tell me," Jack was slightly taken aback. He also wasn't sure why they thought he could help them in that department. It was true the Jaffa always had trouble when there was nobody to shoot at, but no matter how much he wanted to help his friends, he wasn't about to invent new enemies just because they didn't know what to do in time of peace.
"Then you have guessed correctly, O'Neill," Bra'tac said. "Indeed, the Free Jaffa Nation is now in doubt on how to proceed. The Council is constantly bickering and there is fear among the military officers that many will lose their job and be forced to learn some new trade for a living."
"Even reforms the Jaffa Council has already agreed upon are now met with distrust and are being reevaluated. The old phobias about the Jaffa turning into a society of peasants are reemerging, mostly through the propaganda the Traditionalists in the Free Jaffa Nation are doing."
"That was fast. I mean, the war with the Aschen has barely ended. How is it possible that the Traditionalists are already making such a fuss?" Jack asked.
"We believe they have been preparing for when the war would end for a long time. I must admit, we were not prepared for it, or expected it," Bra'tac answered, not too pleased.
Jack remained thoughtful. It was apparent to him that, as problems are solved, people liked adding new ones just to be busy doing something. "All right, I see the problem. Still, I'm not seeing what you think I can do to help."
"The Milky Way galaxy is at peace now, with no major wars threatening the safety of its inhabitants. However, that does not mean the safety of its people is guaranteed. The galaxy still needs policing," Bra'tac explained.
Jack finally understood. The Jaffa wanted to become the galactic police, which would guarantee their people retaining a job in their military. If they became the galactic police in the Milky Way galaxy, no downsizing would be needed. Of course that was true only if they got paid for doing it and that was where the real problem was and why they were here. He was certain that many less developed worlds would agree to even pay the Jaffa to keep both planets and space free and clear of pirates and other threats, but not if the Terran Federation did the same job for free. "Now I get it. The Free Jaffa Nation has the largest Fleet in the galaxy, and you would probably be perfect for the job, but not if the Terran Federation does it for free."
"Exactly," Teal'c replied. "There are many worlds that would hire the Jaffa to protect them against, both, extra planetary and domestic threats, but if they have the choice to simply call you, knowing you would come without any compensation needed, there is no possibility for the Jaffa to do the same job."
Jack smiled. It was true the Terran Federation was becoming a problem in that regard, since their technology was allowing them to do the job for free. The Terran Federation would probably do it just to keep Fleet personnel busy doing something in time of peace. "Okay, I think we can work something out, but first I would like to ask you one question. How far are you planning to go?"
"How far?" Bra'tac asked, puzzled. "I do not understand."
"Bra'tac, I understand policing the galaxy, but that I predict will be just a stepping stone, because I know that by simply keeping space free of pirates you won't be paid enough for the entire upkeep of your vast Fleet and Army. No matter how many worlds decide to pay you, it won't be enough, which means that your job description will need to be expanded to what I would call mercenaries for hire, and this is where the real money is. God knows we have enough such companies on Earth. Less now, but there are still enough of them."
Bra'tac and Teal'c looked at each other, before looking back at Jack. Bra'tac was the one to answer. "We did not think about it, but I do not really see the difference."
"Okay, let me put it like this. A planet hires you because they need to stop pirates from another world from coming to theirs, probably as a way to stop contraband or by stopping pirates from stealing something from them. If they hire you to police their space to prevent such things from happening, I have no problems with that. However, if two neighboring countries on a planet are at war and the wealthier one hires you to help them win it, well, that's where I have to draw the line. The Jaffa nation cannot be embroiled into wars between nations and be paid for it. I know that this is where the big bucks are, but we can't have external nations like the FJN, or any other human race out there for that matter, join wars for monetary gain."
"Does that mean that you are not against the policing, but just against the second part?" Teal'c asked.
"Yes, especially since the Terran Federation wasn't planning on policing anything," Jack replied.
"How so?" Teal'c asked.
"You do not know that yet, but the Terran Federation is planning to retreat from involving itself in others' matters in this galaxy, just the same as we are already doing it in the Pegasus galaxy. We are retreating to Asura in Pegasus, and we will have very little contact with the natives there except for the Travelers. We plan to do something similar here, which means you're free to police the galaxy as much as you like."
Teal'c's left eyebrow shot up. "I was not expecting this. I thought we would be able to come to a way of sharing the policing of the Milky Way galaxy together, not that the Terrans would completely retreat. Why are you doing this?"
"It's complicated, but the gist of it is that we are planning on focusing more on our own colonization of other planets and the increase of the Peace Corps, which as you know is a non-military organization. We already have two colonies in this galaxy, Tollana and Terra Nova and we are planning on colonizing the Haven system next and possibly another one near Earth. This, combined with the expansion of Terrania and the building of the first Terran Fleet Base orbiting above it, will take a lot of time and resources. We are also planning for the Peace Corps to have what we have nicknamed moving hospitals, which are massive spaceships looking more like platforms than ships. They will be sent to planets in the Milky Way galaxy, usually those that have been hit by some plague in order to thwart possible epidemics. With the gate network, and without the Goa'uld who previously dealt with epidemics by simply blasting the area from orbit in order to prevent spreading, we think it is very important that we build those moving hospitals as soon as possible. In addition to this, we are planning to keep diplomatic relations with other worlds, but with only a minimal involvement on our part. In short, except for helping others through the Peace Corps, we plan to leave other nations to live freely, for better or worse. The third part is exploring other nearby galaxies in our cluster, but that is a long term goal."
"All this means that we are not against the Jaffa policing the galaxy. On the contrary. I think it would be a very good thing for the galaxy if the Jaffa did some policing, but, as I said before, there must be limits to the Jaffa involvement. Protection is fine. Joining wars for monetary gain, not so much. If you can pass this limitation in your Council, we will have no objections."
"We will try, but what I am certain of even now is that the Jaffa Council does not like having any limitations in what it can and cannot do," Bra'tac answered.
"I know, I know, nobody does. But the ramifications of involving yourselves into others' disputes could possibly lead to even bigger trouble. Your involvement could trigger other races in the galaxy to possibly join the other side, and that's something we need to prevent. A small dispute can escalate very easily and at the moment you know as well as I do that the Jaffa and some other human races, like the Galarans and Optricans, are not at the best of terms. The point is that, finally, after eons, the Milky Way galaxy is at peace and we must work hard to keep it that way for as long as possible, which sometimes means sacrifices. A century of peace would be nice, I think."
"Agreed," Teal'c replied. "I only wish I knew how the Traditionalists will react."
"Indeed," Bra'tac added, pensively. "They are not known for accepting limitations from others, and especially not the Terrans."
"Well, the Terrans can't force the Jaffa Council to decide either way, but put the situation to them like this. The Terrans agree to leave the job of policing the galaxy to the Jaffa, with our complete support, but only under the stipulated limitations. If not, we the Terrans will have to do the policing thingy ourselves, which for the Jaffa would be a bad thing, since we'd do it for free. I think this is a simple 'you give some, you get some' situation, and I still think that, if the Traditionalists leave their ego aside for a minute, they will realize how advantageous for the Jaffa this deal really is."
"I agree, but the 'leave their ego aside' part is what worries me. Not something they are known for either. A month ago the Traditionalists were in clear minority, and we would not have to worry about the Council's decision if the situation had not changed," Bra'tac replied. "Nonetheless, we must try. If we succeed, we will be able to continue with the planned reforms without having an unsustainable military budget. I still do not understand why the Terrans are retreating now that the situation is finally stabilizing. We the Jaffa were planning to do exactly the opposite now that all wars have ended. Make new alliances, solidify diplomatic relations with other humans in the galaxy and start various trade agreements. The Jaffa have much to offer to many human worlds. The Terrans have even more to offer, so why retreat?"
"The 'having a lot to offer' is actually the reason why we are doing it. We have already written a sort of prime directive that prohibits us from interfering with other races with a too low societal and technological level. In short, we will be prohibited to interfere with races unable to travel through space. Believe it or not, we took the idea from a TV show."
"But why? Those are the races you could offer the most," Teal'c asked.
"Offering something can quickly turn into exploitation. It is a very slippery slope, and you must take into account that, with the formation of the Terran Federation, private companies will be allowed to conduct businesses outside the Terran Federation, which means those same companies could exploit other worlds very easily. A world could sell their resources cheaply, because they don't know how much those are really worth, for something we can easily build but they have no means of doing it on their own. There are many worlds that would be ready to sell their most precious materials, like Trinium or Neutronium for a refrigerator, simply because they now have no use for those materials, but they could see a benefit from having a refrigerator. Besides, we think that there's something in discovering things by yourself and not just buying stuff from others. Such worlds could easily become completely dependent on other races for everything. If you think about it, it could almost be called a different form of slavery. You wouldn't have a tyrant above you who's enslaving you, but you would be obligated to pay another race for everything they've given you and that you don't want to lose. It only needs for another race to come to an undeveloped world that doesn't even have electricity and offer them to provide such service for a fee, and from that point on they would be indebted to them forever, month after month having to pay the fee if they don't want to suddenly return into the stone age," Jack said, suddenly thinking if he weren't maybe giving some strange ideas to the Jaffa by talking about this. It would be easy for them to offer other worlds to build a few Naquadah reactors the natives wouldn't even know how to operate, much less maintain or build.
He hoped not.
From the gateroom, the familiar sound of the gate turning reached Jack's ears. Daniel was still nowhere to be seen, which meant he was the one who needed to greet whoever was coming. "Well, I think you now have all the information you need, and the gate is spinning so, I need to go now and see who's knocking."
They all rose from the table.
"We will speak to the rest of the Council," Bra'tac said. "Hopefully, they will agree."
"I'm hoping that too, Bra'tac," Jack said, giving a small nod before storming out of the conference room.
He really did hope they would be able to convince the rest of the Council. A stable, and more importantly, peaceful FJN was in the best interest of the galaxy. A lot was happening in the Milky Way and it was happening very fast. Now, with many races capable of space travel, conflicts between them were always possible, the same as the exploitation of races that were at a much lower technological and societal level. That was why the Terrans were planning to increase the Peace Corps, not just to fight diseases, but also to build schools on those less developed worlds. Still, no matter how much effort they put into such a program, he knew it would still take decades to pass any concrete knowledge to races that were still in the Middle Age or worse Bronze Age, in which time other races could decide to exploit those worlds by selling them cheap products for mining rights and by doing so slowly depleting their natural resources – resources they would eventually need as they reach a certain technological level.
Jack entered the gateroom, noticing Daniel already standing in front of the gate and talking to some dignitaries he believed to have come from Pangara. He put brakes on his feet, quickly spinning around and leaving the gateroom before someone could notice his presence. There was still a little over an hour before the grand event. Just enough time to chill for a while in his room before getting ready for the evening.
Jack was seated somewhere near the middle of the semicircular table located on a slightly raised podium inside the massive hall the Terrans had built just for the occasion. The twelve seats were all occupied by members of the future Council, with the middle seat on his left occupied by Daniel and the seat to his right occupied by Rodney McKay, the next R&D Councilor of the Terran Federation. Jack glanced at him, not liking Rodney was sitting there instead of Sam. He understood why Sam wasn't at the table, but he still didn't like it. The new Council could not have active members from the military, which meant that Sam had to decide if she wanted to retain her rank in the military or give it up in order to remain on the Council. She had decided for the former and she was taking the job as the Third Admiral of the Terran Fleet, responsible for the Fleet's R&D. The job of the First Admiral had of course fallen on his double, while he had decided to relinquish his rank in the military and remain the Defense Councilor in the Council. The idea of having Rodney in the council and to have to deal with him on a daily basis wasn't very high on his wish list, but with the discovery of the Arcturus reactor, in their meritocratic system Rodney was the next in line to become a council member.
Their new system was a strange one and Jack really hoped it would work. In their new meritocratic system, people were eligible to become members of their to-be-formed parliament only if the newly dedicated Artificial Intelligence had deemed them capable, which meant that it had given them a merit-score higher than 90 percent. He didn't know exactly how the AI core gave points, the only thing he knew was that it was a complicated algorithm that took into account a person's knowledge, experience, successes and probably a ton of other factors he didn't know. From the eligible pool of people, those willing to take a seat in their parliament would become candidates the Terran citizens would vote for. Not all Terran citizens could vote, but only those who paid federal taxes, which weren't obligatory like planetary taxes were, but if they wanted to vote, they were obligated to pay those too and for no less than a year before they could vote. Each voter would initially be given a coefficient of .5, which would be multiplied with their vote, which meant their vote was worth only half. Each voter of course has the ability to take a test, which would determine how much they understood about running a society and what the job of a member of the parliament entailed, as well a bunch of other factors Jack didn't really knew anything about. Depending on their score in the test, their voting coefficient would be increased or decreased accordingly, which meant that those who scored better on the test would have more voting power than those who scored less. Jack called this, minimizing the damage done by the electorate who voted because of a candidates' hairstyle.
Jack also didn't know how the whole 'not having to pay federal taxes' thingy would really turn out, but since if citizens wanted to vote or if they wanted to register what they were calling a federal company they needed to pay them, he thought that many would decide to do so. A federal company was also the only way to do business outside of the planet a citizen was living on. If a citizen didn't care about trade with other planets in the Terran Federation or other planets in the galaxy, a planetary company would suffice for all of their needs and they wouldn't be obligated to pay any federal taxes, just the planetary ones. They still could decide to pay them as private citizens, but it wasn't obligatory, and there was also no age limit.
Voters would vote for one candidate in each of the different branches, like economy, science, education, jurisprudence, military and so on, again their vote diminished by how much they knew in any of these branches, which meant someone with higher knowledge in education would have more voting power for the candidate in that specific branch than in others. Once the new parliament was formed with the voted-in candidates in it, from it, twelve council members would be selected based on the highest merit-score in their respective branches. After that, there would be no more elections until some candidate would fall, what Jack called, out of grace.
Each vote a member of the parliament would cast, or each executive decision a member of the council would make, would be recorded and subsequently examined to determine if it positively or negatively contributed to the betterment of the Terran Federation and its people. If a member of the parliament voted for a certain legislation, and it later turned out that that legislation had a negative effect on the Terran Federation and its people - the same as if they voted against a legislation that turned out to have a positive result - the member of the parliament would get negative points. Enough such negative points and he would be kicked out of the parliament, as well as from the council if they were a member. In short, enough bad decisions and a member of the parliament would get kicked out, and only then new elections for those freed seats would be formed and people would vote for new members of the parliament. In theory, if the AI Core calculated that a member of the parliament or the council had greatly contributed to the betterment of the Terran Federation and its people, he or she could remain in the parliament or council indefinitely. On the other hand, if he or she made a lot of bad decisions, he could get kicked even after the first year, and he wouldn't be eligible to retake the seat in the parliament for at least a decade. In addition, not each member of the parliament had the same voting power. Again, his or her vote would be multiplied by their merit score, specific for the branch the new legislation was for. It meant that those with a higher score in economy, would have a higher voting power for legislation related for that specific branch than in others in which their merit-score was lower.
Jack also knew that many voters would not like not having the same voting power as those who scored higher on the test, but in the end, he knew that the idea behind the developed system wasn't to protect the fragile ego of some of the voters, but to end up with the best possible people who would know how to lead the Terran Federation to greatness, which in the end would benefit everyone, even those disgruntled voters. He also knew that many in the parliament wouldn't like the fact that making deals – deals as in 'I vote positively for this legislation if you do the same for the other one I'm interested in' – are ground for immediate expulsion from the parliament. He also knew that many also wouldn't like the fact that everything that is said in the council and parliament is public knowledge, him included. He would have to think before saying something inside a Council's session, since it was all recorded and available to the public.
Jack looked straight in front of him. Just in front of the podium, rows of tables, packed with guests from Earth and other worlds, stood. Behind them, on tightly packed seats in constantly raising rows, one after the other, were full with the 216 representatives from Earth, all here today to sign the new charter that would unite Earth and form the new Terrans Federation, comprised of Earth, Terra Nova, Tollana, Asura and Haven, which colonization had barely started. Each world would also have their own representatives in the new Federal Parliament, in what they were calling the Upper Floor. Tollana, Terra Nova, Haven and Asura had all taken the same governmental model as the Terran Federation for their planetary government. All have chosen the same model, except for Earth, and Jack didn't like it, but he knew it would have never happened either. Instead Earth had chosen a system similar to that of the European Union, just less confusing. Ironically, the formation of the Earth's Union, based on the European Union's model, also meant the end of the European Union. What Jack thought as positive was that they had agreed to a single currency in the whole Terran Federation, which meant that in two years there would be only Terran credits floating around and no other currency. The second positive decision was that people would stop needing passports to travel from country to country, again in two years' time.
Apparently, nothing happens overnight.
The negative in Jack's mind was that Earth would still not be really united, not in the sense that people thought of themselves as Earthling or Terran first and above all, but still as a citizen of a specific country, and Earth's parliament would consequently be occupied by representatives elected by Earth's citizens on the basis of proportional representation, which meant the formation of various parties, almost certainly formed by groups of countries in which their citizen would exclusively vote for their countryman and not voting for the best candidate. He anticipated a lot of bickering and back deals (read back stabbings) among countries to get the upper hand in the parliament and other governmental institutions. He didn't like it, but he knew that Earth was changing too and that eventually people of Earth would think of themselves as earthlings first and foremost, especially with the ability to go and live whenever they want without the need for a passport or a visa. The Earth was also changing because of the technologies the Terrans had given, like the now fully operational fusion reactors active everywhere on Earth. That alone had resulted in the drop of the price of electric energy to an all-time low, now less than a cent per KWh. Other technologies were providing to Earth's citizens very low prices for their everyday needs, like food, energy, transportation and of course a place to live in and call home. With the current technologies, the cost of building houses and other buildings had dropped to a tenth of what it was five years ago, and the price of an acre of land was now a fifth of what it was, mostly because Terrans now had five planets to choose from. He knew that Earth would remain the most populated planet in the Terran Federation for decades to come, possibly even forever, but with the various incentives the Terran Federation was planning to give to knew colonists willing to spread to other worlds, he was certain that many would decide to do so. The plan was for Earth to have no more than five billion people living on it in the next decade, four billion in the next two decades. If they would be able to achieve those goals, he wasn't sure, but he hoped they would. Earth needed it, badly, in order to heal.
Jack turned to the central table straight in front of him, the one on which Liam, Aenea, Adria, and the Edenian Loran were seated, as well as Thor, Odin and three other Asgard he didn't recognize. The reason why he had turned to look at the table was Liam, who was currently looking upwards, like a lunatic. He was definitely behaving strangely, and Aenea was also looking at her husband puzzled. Then, suddenly, three glowing beings began descending from the high ceiling, and now everybody in the large hall was looking upwards like complete lunatics. The three entities slowly descended, formed into corporeal bodies, and sat on the three free chairs around the main table that had been planned for the Nox. Now that they had taken corporeal form, Jack could recognize them. One was Lya, the second, the one who sat next to Liam was Ilium and the third was Oma.
This was definitely a surprise, something Jack hadn't expected and he doubted anyone else in the hall did. From Liam's expression, he doubted even Liam knew anything about this.
"So, it seems we have a few party crushers?" Jack said, looking at Daniel.
"Apparently we do."
"What do you think it means?" Jack asked Daniel, before quickly glancing at Rodney who was sitting on his right. The man had gone pale, almost looking as if he wanted to become very small and utterly invisible. Understandable, since he had… umm… stolen some knowledge he shouldn't have. He was probably dreading retribution from the ascended beings for what he had done. Seeing them here now was probably making him extremely nervous.
"Don't have a clue. It could mean nothing, or it could mean something, but the way Lya is smiling, it makes me believe that she's behind it," Daniel replied.
"Huh, you think Lya has been making a few reforms after she ascended?" Jack replied.
"Everything is possible. I know the Nox and the Alterrans were great friends and allies, but that doesn't mean that they believe in the same things. It is possible that Lya has other ideas about how ascended beings should behave."
"It could be, but do you think that she could have made such an impact on the ascended Alterrans after she ascended? I mean, I'm almost a hundred percent sure the ascended Alterrans would have never come here before, but that still doesn't guarantee any big change upstairs."
"I think that too. Although, I think we shouldn't hastily come to the conclusion that Lya is the only Nox who has ascended. There could have been other Nox who followed her example and ascended. For all we know, the Alterrans could be in minority upstairs right now."
"Maybe we could ask them after we finish here. That is if they don't disappear the moment the charter is signed. It's not like they are here for the dinner scheduled for afterwards."
"Well, I think we will have to wait and see."
And they did. The 216 representatives from Earth had been called one by one, all walking to the podium in order to sign the charter that would finally unite Earth and form the Terran Federation. A great goal has been achieved this day, and it had taken only five years to do it.
Still, there was a lot that needed to be done, and only time would tell in which direction the Terran Federation would go, what it would achieve or what other troubles they would still have to face.
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