Chapter 3
SG-1 and Janet were then flown to a remote area in the desert. They disembarked the white helicopter and waited for the show to begin. Teal'c decided he would like to know Marella a little better. He kept his head and emblem covered with a knit hat in an effort to blend in better with the population.
The Jaffa stood near the white clad beauty. He spoke simple and clear. "Do you have family?" he wondered.
Marella found Teal'c to have the cutest features. He had a baby like face to her but she found his mannerisms rather odd. She asked, "I have extended family. I'm not married if that is what you are asking." She then cocked an eyebrow, "You married, Teal'c?" She found he had a very odd name. She was familiar with languages and could not place Teal'c or his accent.
"My wife died." he solemnly replied. "I have a son. He lives with his mentor." He divulged more information than he normally would to a stranger.
Jack stood by listening. He glanced at Teal'c as he figured he liked Marella and was attempting conversation with her.
She sympathized, "I'm very sorry you lost her."
"As am I." he simply stated with a nod.
Jack decided to help his friend for it was not the common response. He spoke up, "T. You say 'thank you for your condolences'."
He replied, "I see." He then addressed Marella, "Thank you for your condolences."
Even Archangel found the Jaffa strange. He figured the man was a foreigner but in most all Earth cultures one would understand how to say thank you. He looked to Jack curiously.
Jack explained, "He's not from around here."
Over the horizon appeared a chopper coming in low and fast. It was slick in appearance and flew at Mach One. It buzzed over their heads as Airwolf arrived on the scene for a demonstration.
Jack kept his eye on the bird. He stated, "That looks slick. Our choppers are clunky but that…" he squinted to get a better look.
"That is Airwolf." Michael beamed. He smiled to himself, "Just watch what she can do, Colonel."
Airwolf circled around and flew a bit off in the distance. Hawke, opened fire with the guns onto the desert floor. He then released a small missile from the bird as well.
Archangel gloated, "Airwolf has the most state-of-the art computer system to date. She can jam radar, connect with satellites, and her sensors can identity other craft."
Sam stated, "I would like to look at the computers."
Michael gave permission, "You can look, Major. But with supervision."
"Supervision?" she rebutted. "I perfectly capable of operating a computer system."
Jack soothed her, "Carter! That's why he wants to watch you. They think we might want to do something to their toy."
He become defensive, "I assure you, Colonel. Airwolf is not a toy. It's the most state-of-the art attack chopper to date. Unless the military cares to disclose something that we don't know about."
Jack shook his head, "We don't care to disclose." He watched as Hawke landed the chopper and three crewmen emerged. The flight suits were certainly different from military with a light blue shiny material. The helmet appeared to be computerized as well. Jack had to admit, it was rather cool looking. 80's cool!
Hawke removed the helmet and made his way to his audience. He stood before the team. "Is that what you are looking for, Colonel?"
Jack gave a slow nod as he pondered the bird. He walked over and peeked inside. He looked back, "I suppose it will do." He knew his options were limited and for the time, Airwolf was the most advanced chopper.
Archangel grew irritated, "Will do, Colonel." He was about to pull the plug on the operation as Jack seemed to put down the advanced chopper.
Jack held up a hand, "Alright! It's pretty cool. Not as cool as me but it will do in a pinch."
The engineer, Dom could see Jack had a knack for stepping Michael's nerves. He never trusted the Firm and often wondered if String was being used. He began to like Jack and his team. He grinned amused as Jack made wise cracks. He could tell Jack was a fighter pilot and had seen combat by the way the man held himself. A combat pilot always gave off a certain feel for Dom and Jack had that feel.
Archangel sneered, "You are lucky to have her assistance, Colonel. Don't ever forget that."
Sam had crawled into the engineer's station of the bird. She began to dive into the computer systems. Hawke crawled in to see what she was doing. He found she knew how to navigate the computer system with ease.
"What are doing, Major?" he asked.
"Looking for how much space you have in the computer. I will need to install some upgrades." she figured.
"What kind of upgrades?" he asked.
"Upgraded jamming system, linking system to orbital craft." she replied.
"It's state-of-the art." he told her for he knew of no further upgrades.
She smiled, "I can upgrade it. You helped design this?"
"I did." he nodded.
She shook her head, "Where the hell were you?"
"I beg your pardon, Major?" he asked.
She stated, "I could have used you in my department. You would blow Felger right out of the water. Only one who might have a leg up on you is Rodney."
"I still don't follow." he admitted.
She frankly replied, "You should have been recruited for a much bigger project."
He asked, "And what would this project entail?"
She couldn't say and then smiled at him, "You would have a team of men under your command. You would go to places you can only dream off and do things you would never imagine."
He became intrigued, "Such as?"
She frankly stated, "It would make landing on the moon look like a walk in the park." She then climbed out of the craft and stated to Jack, "Sir…I can do the upgrades. It should only take a few hours or so."
"Get to it, Carter." he replied.
"Upgrades!" Archangel huffed. "There are no further upgrades at this time. Airwolf is state-of-the art. What could you possibly upgrade, Major?"
She smiled, "Jamming, radar, navigation, communications." She looked to Jack, "Maybe we could install shields. We could get something from…" she looked up to motioned towards Thor and his ship.
"Shield would be cool." Jack grinned.
Teal'c agreed, "Asgard shields would be recommended." He too had been looking over the bird.
Marella asked herself, "Asgard? As in folklore."
Daniel asked, "You are familiar with Germanic folklore?"
"I have studied it." she informed. "I'm an anthropologist."
He became intrigued, "Really! Are you poly lingual by any change?"
"I speak Russian, German and I'm learning French now." she informed. "I'm usually in some kind of class." she confessed.
Daniel admitted, "I speak 28 languages."
She looked at him wide-eyed, "That's impressive, Dr. Jackson."
"So is someone who takes it upon themselves to learn a new language." he assured. He liked Marella for seemed rather bright and was willing to learn new things.
Archangel stood annoyed and asked, "You know of upgrades for Airwolf that I do not know of, Colonel?"
He admitted, "More of a custom kind of thing."
Hawke asked, "What are Asgard shields? Some kind of military computer program?"
"Kind of." he agreed.
Few Hours Later
Upon completion of the upgraded Sam gave Stringfellow Hawke a run down of Airwolf's new capabilities. She stated, "This is an upgraded communications link. It connects directly to a…support vessel…called the O'Neill. The commander of the vessel goes by Thor."
Hawke stated, "Thor as in Asgard god?"
"He's not a god." she smiled at him. In a way Stringfellow Hawke reminded her of Jack on many levels but he didn't play dumb like Jack and thus she didn't have to repeat herself or dumb down an explanation. "Thor can provide intel to Airwolf and your crew." She opened the link, "Airwolf to the O'Neill. Can you hear me, Thor?"
A mild mannered voice replied, "I can hear you clearly, Major Carter."
She grinned at Hawke, "Say hi! Introduce yourself."
He spoke into the mic, "This is Airwolf. I'm Stringfellow Hawke. Can you hear me…" he pondered, "What's his rank?"
"Supreme Leader." she replied.
"Supreme Leader?" he asked unsure. "How do you read me…Supreme Leader Thor?" He felt odd using such a strange title and rank.
"I read you loud and clear, Mr. Hawke. It is an honor to meet you and I would like to personally thank you for your service to our mission." Thor replied very diplomatically.
Hawke had no idea he was speaking to the leader of an entire alien civilization. He found the transmission pleasant and yet odd at the same time. He felt awkward, "Um…your welcome." He winced wondering if his reply sounded as bizarre as the words of the Supreme Leader.
Sam assured him, "Thor thanking you in person is like getting the Medal of H
Honor from the President."
"Ah," he gave a nod still feeling weird about the transmission. He wondered just who or what Thor was. "What other upgrades you got here, Major?"
She went over the list, "Jamming, radar and this…energy based shield."
"Energy based?" he asked befuddled. "You mean that thing you installed."
"Yes." she turned the shield generator on. "This gives you a readout of percentage of shields. More hits it takes the more it can drain. It deflect both projectile and energy based weapons."
"Like laser weapons?" he wondered. "As far as I know that's all experimental."
"Ba'al has energy based weapons." she informed. "Without this shield generator Airwolf wouldn't stand a change against Ba'al." She turned, "I'll demonstrate." She climbed out of the bird and walked with String behind her a distance. She reported to Jack, "Shields are up and running, sir. Time to test them."
"Ok," he agreed.
She added, "Airwolf has armor plating. I need a Jaffa staff weapon to test for energy weapons." She looked up again for Thor was on standby to beam such a weapon down for the test.
Jack opened the mic of his hand held radio, "Thor ole buddy."
"Colonel O'Neill." he replied.
"Can we get a test weapon for the shields?" he requested.
"I have deposited such a weapon behind the other white helicopter, Colonel." Thor reported for he already beamed down the weapon into the area.
"Great," he replied as Teal'c retrieved the weapon. "Thanks Thor."
Teal'c emerged from around the white chopper with staff weapon in hand. He pushed the lever on the side this activating the weapon. He stood before the audience waiting for Jack's command.
"Okay T." Jack instructed. "Let's test Carter's shield."
He released a bolt. It was a direct hit and quickly dissipated leaving no damage to Airwolf.
Marella looked on surprised at Archangel and then Hawke. She gasped, "We have direct energy weapons?"
Jack admitted, "Well…not us."
Sam went back to Airwolf with Hawke behind her. She looked at the readouts, "Still 100 percent." she grinned. "Airwolf can take on enemy fire from Ba'al."
Hawke asked, "When do we engage these energy shields you guys gave us?"
"I would save it for Ba'al." she suggested. "Airwolf's armor can take projectiles. You may need it for a missile but save it for Ba'al."
He asked feeling a pit form in his stomach, "Will Ba'al's weapon look like that one?"
She nodded, "Yes."
"What are we dealing with here, Major?" he asked afraid she would say aliens from space. It was absurd and yet there seemed to be something very strange going on around him.
She tried to explain, "We're dealing with a lot of threats right now and on many different levels. If we help you find your brother, do you think you might want to join us?"
"Doing what?" he asked.
She chose her words carefully. "Protect Earth from hostile forces, make new friends, make new treaties, explore the unknown and make new discoveries."
He smirked, "Like joining the army…be all that you can be…" he mentioned the slogan.
"I was thinking Air Force." she confessed. "Colonel Hammond is a good friend and you will like working with him. You will go places, see things and do things you can't imagine doing right now."
He had been studying her body language for any signs of deceit and found none. She was telling the truth and was rather genuine. "Can you really find my brother?"
She nodded, "We can! If he's alive, we can find him." She then confessed, "Well, Thor can find him." She knew Thor could find the missing brother by scanning for genetic signatures from space.
"If you find my brother and bring him home safe and sound, I'll join anything you want me too." he told her.
She countered, "We will find him and bring him home. I don't want you to feel indebted. That's not what we are about. I want you to want to join us and be a part of it. We will find your brother regardless. Thor is already working on it as gratitude for helping us and letting us do these upgrades."
He replied, "I'll think about it, Major."
Jack came to the door of the bird, "How's the shields holding, Carter?"
"Holding sir." she reported.
He asked, "What are you two talking about?"
She smiled, "Recruiting. How about SG-2?" She glanced at Hawke as she suggested he take lead of the backup team.
He pondered, "Could use him."
"SG-2?" Hawke asked.
"If you join up, that will be your command." Jack stated.
"And I have to join the army again." he rolled his eyes.
Jack corrected, "Air Force and you would be given a commission and rank of Major."
Hawke paused, "Are you serious?"
Sam corrected, "I think he could get Colonel."
Jack gave her a look and countered, "Lieutenant Colonel."
She grinned, "Possibly!"
Hawke stood beside himself as he never imagine he would ever be offered such a high rank. He wasn't sure what SG-2 even was nor what they did. But he found the Colonel and the Major both seemed genuine and did offer to help find his brother with no strings attached. He began to think seriously about the offer.