SG-1 were gathered in the briefing room with George. Only a few days had passed since the birth, but Major Carter was already back on her feet. She and Jack had agreed to come for a briefing regarding their daughter Grace, her abilities, and her safety. The infant in question was cradled in her mother, the Major's arms where she sat next to Colonel O'Neill in the briefing room.
"Well SG-1, what abilities have you observed from your newest team member?" George asked, fondly. He considered every member on this base to be family, that was especially the case with SG-1 who consisted of his goddaughter, her now husband and their best friends. The entire SGC had spent the last few days doing everything they could think of to help the two tired parents from handling changings to watching the baby so Sam and Jack could both get some much needed rest, and George couldn't be more proud.
"Honestly, sir, aside from the first day when Nurse Rowling attempted to kidnap her, she hasn't done anything out of the ordinary." Sam said, shrugging. Her father had given a full account to General Hammond as soon as Jack returned to the infermy with Grace so there was no reason to rehash the events of that day.
O'Neill snorted. "Well I wouldn't say nothing. Didn't Janet say you've been healing way faster than should be possible Carter?"
Sam shrugged uncomfortably. "Okay, that's true. She does apparently… heal me when I feed her." Not a situation Sam would complain about honestly.
"Well that sounds awfully convenient Major. But you've noticed nothing else out of the ordinary?"
The pair looked at one another and had a silent conversation only they could follow. George waited, as he knew the two would share what they deemed necessary with the table.
"Well, Sir…" Carter began, looking uncertain she believed what she was about to say.
"It appears she's able to communicate with us, Sir." O'Neill finished for her.
"And what exactly does that mean?" George asked, his face perplexed.
"It's difficult to explain, Sir." Carter said, "It's almost as though she can place an image in your head. At first we thought it was a side effect of the cuffs, but as you know, we were able to remove those with no issues twelve hours after Grace was born."
"And she is still able to communicate with you mentally?" George asked in surprise.
The pair nodded. "But it seems to only be images." Major Carter continued. "When we still wore the cuffs, she appeared as a young girl, about five or so?" She asked of Jack who nodded in agreement, "But even then she only spoke to us once. Now, however, when she wants something she puts an image of it into our minds."
"When Sam was hemorrhaging she appeared then too. When I asked who she was she laughed and the mental room between us started to glow." Jack told Hammond.
George nodded. That particular ability sounded like the answer to every parents wish. It certainly takes some guesswork out of parenting. "That description is consistent with Dr. Friser's account. And you say the abilities Jacob observed during the attempted kidnapping have not resurfaced?"
"No sir," Colonel O'Neill answered. "Carter thinks it may be some sort of… defensive mechanism." He shrugged. It was as good a description as any.
George looked pensive. "Well, I'm not sure we can risk her safely leaving the base with those kinds of abilities." The General stated.
"Well, sir." O'Neill replied, his eyes darkening and his anger barely concealed. "At the moment I don't think we can take her off base anyways. What with the Trust out there hunting her." he said in a furious tone that they would even try to harm his little girl.
George sighed. That particular issue was certainly a problem no one was quite sure how to solve. When they had interrogated Nurse Rowling she admitted she'd been approached by the trust not long after they had caught Harold. She had been threatened in a similar way; a family member held hostage who would be released once the job was finished. It was simple luck that they had Thor in the area and could just easily beam the hostage out once tracked.
Unfortunately, that meant no one in the SGC was safe from that kind of coercion. Thor has begun monitoring the immediate families of all SGC personnel, but that wasn't by any means a preventative measure. Fortunately the remaining personnel seemed to understand that should they be approached by a member of the Trust, they could count on Thor to keep their families safe.
Suddenly the Klaxons blared, and Walter Harriman announced "Unscheduled off-world activation" over the PA system.
"We'll continue this discussion." George said, rising from his chair. "Thor was hoping to join us later."
By the time they reached the control room, Soteria had already emerged from the wormhole, and was proceeding through the blast doors to join the group.
"Nice of you to join the party, ma'am." O'Neill said, shoving his hands into his pockets uncomfortably.
Soteria approached Major Carter who was cradling Grace in her arms. The alien woman smiled down at the infant and said "yes, I know child. You have done well."
She then turned to address the group as a whole. "I have been observing from my ship as much as I can. I am sorry it has taken me so long to return."
Just then there was a flash of bright white light and Thor was standing beside George. Soteria seemed to recognize the Asgard, and the two exchanged friendly greetings. This was getting comical, and George was sure it wouldn't be long before O'Neill began cracking jokes. He needed to take control of this situation.
"Why don't we take this conversation back to the briefing room?"
—
Once everyone was once again settled, Sortia addressed the room. "I am sorry I did not return sooner." Sorteria said from her seat at the briefing table. "I cannot observe at all times as I am not omnipotent, so I did not realize there was something unique about your child until she was born. I observed as your Nurse Rowling attempted to leave with her and rushed to the nearest Stargate as soon as I was able. After meeting Grace however, I now realize what has occurred."
"And what, exactly is it that occurred?" Jack asked curiously with an odd look on his face as though he was trying to see if he'd made sense to everyone else compared to the comment in his head.
"It seems due to the particular conditions of this pregnancy, Grace has achieved far more abilities than she should have at this particular point in her evolution chain. While it is very likely a child from the two of you would be more advanced, that advancement should have been no more than an increased ability to retain knowledge, and a high probability of controlled ability to heal."
"And what exactly are we supposed to do about these additional skills?" Jack was feeling more nervous with every moment that passed, and he could tell that even in silence, Sam felt the same. He brushed his fingers against hers reassuringly.
"Nothing. Grace is an extremely intelligent child as I'm certain you have ascertained yourselves, and she is well aware of what the people of your planet may think of these abilities. She has assured me she will not use her abilities unless it is absolutely necessary."
"Now, how is that even possible?" Jack asked dubiously, noting how General Hammond seemed to have been shocked into silence.
Soteria looked at him curiously for a moment before Sam spoke up, further explaining what he meant.
"She seems capable of communicating with us by placing images in our minds, but I don't see how she could have communicated such a detailed assurance to you."
"Oh, yes. I can see why you may be confused. The easiest way to explain this would be that I have the ability to communicate in the same way as your daughter. As such, I was able to have a conversation with her that was much more in depth than either of you would be capable of without the cuffs."
"Well, that is all well and good, but we still cannot allow the child to leave the base under the present circumstances." General Hammond finally said.
"As of this moment, I have already taken care of that particular issue." Soteria replied cheerfully.
"You have?" Sam asked, looking dubious.
"Yes. I have erased all knowledge and interest of your child from the minds of those who would steal her."
"What like that Neil Gaimen novel?" Jack asked, then looked around the table at the perplexed expressions. "You know, when the witch puts that curse on the other witch so she won't see the star?" More blank stares. "Oh fer cryin' out loud. Nevermind." He huffed, waving his hand dismissively. "So you're saying our kid is safe?"
"Yes."
"That's great! Thanks! So what's next?"Jack told her, his voice chipper.
Now it was Thor's turn to speak. "I have done the appropriate tests to the sample provided by your Doctor Fraiser. With your permission, I would like to begin experimental cloning and see if the resulting outcome will be capable of housing an Asgard consciousness."
"Uh, Thor." Daniel began tentatively. "I realize your goal is to fix the issue so that you can reproduce… naturally… but how do you expect to do that with the genetics of one female human child?"
"That is quite simple Doctor Jackson. We will combine the relevant genetics of each individual's current body when we begin the cloning process. While we may not have the capability for sexual reproduction, we do have the genetic code which differentiate between male and female genders. This combination is expected to give us sufficient variation as well as male and female clone bodies."
Jack looked at Sam who shrugged. He sighed, "okay."
"You can go forward with your experiment, Thor." Sam said when the Asgard looked at her.
"Thank you. I shall return when we have finished our experiment to tell you of its success or failure." Thor bowed his head and beamed away.