Chapter 5

Ba'al stood looking over the patrons of his popular nightclub, Club Nebula. He liked Earth! He found it rich with opportunity for any budding god. He spent the last three years blending in with the population and starting his own cult following and expanded his power on Earth. The mother ship tore apart in the space wave, costing him his crew but he managed to escape along with the alien warp device. He had a single Death Glider as his only escape but after finding he had arrived on Earth prior to SG-1 being established, he decided to infiltrate from the inside. He would make a new empire on his new home. Instead of forcing Jaffa to serve out of fear he found many of the people of Earth were rather gullible and embraced him as a god with hardly any effort on his part. Those in his cult would lavish him with money, gold jewelry and jewels. He established a chain of businesses and used it as cover for his illicit activities. He found humans were weak in regard to drugs and addiction. He used that weakness to his advantage and provided drugs to his cult members and customers.

Ba'al leaned against the corner, wearing parachute pants, black leather shoes and a matching red and black leather jacket, watching the scantly clad girls dance on the dance floor before him. Had Ba'al known of Earth's nightclubs he would have come to the planet long before. He rather enjoyed watching the young women dance all while consuming cocktails.

A big burly bouncer came and whispered in his ear. "My lord. A delivery has arrived." He wore jeans and a white t-shirt that exposed his muscles.

Ba'al gave a nod and followed the man to the back door. There he found a deliver truck unloading boxes of what was labeled coffee. A young man of Mexican origin opened a crate and retrieved a bag filled with a white substance. He poked a pocket knife into it and removed a small amount. He smiled, "Finest shit on the planet, Lord Ba'al."

Ba'al took the knife and licked the drugs off. He slowly nodded, "It will do."

"It's grad A shit." he insisted.

Ba'al snapped his finger, "Pay same as last."

The drug runner insisted, "Come on. It's worth more than that. Double the pay or no delivery."

Ba'al became irritated. His eyes flashed yellow and he raised his hand. He let out an energy weapon on the young man that captured his mind for just a moment. Ba'al pulled him closer, "Never make demands to me. I am your god. You will do as I say." He released him and turned sharply on his heels. "No pay for this delivery."

The boy begged, "I can't go back to Mexico empty handed. They will kill me."

"You should have thought of that before crossing me." he replied and walked away.

The men started to unload the truck. The young man cried, "Wait. Please, don't do this. Lord Ba'al. I will do anything." He began to sob as he realized his actions would cost him in blood.

Meanwhile

Thor had beamed the prisoners of war that he rescued back down to Earth after tending to their needs. Colonel Hammond had the men under custody in a military hospital as the men had no memory of being on Thor's ship and were unconscious during the time.

Jack and Sam decided to go alone to gather Stringfellow Hawke for the reunion with his brother, Saint John Hawke at the hospital. They borrowed Mary Hammond's car to drove to Santini Air to facilitate the reunion. Jack sat behind the wheel of the tan four door coup. He wore civilian clothing of jeans and a brown leather jacket and glanced at Sam who wore jeans, sneakers and a denim jack and sat staring out the window.

"What ya thinking, Carter?" he asked her.

She pondered, "Why didn't we recruit Stringfellow Hawke the first time?"

He shrugged, "I have no idea."

"Exactly," she agreed. "Something must have happened that prevented us from reaching out to him. General Hammond knew of Airwolf. Why didn't he personally bring String in?"

"First name bases, Carter?" he asked a bit worried. He could tell Sam liked the man.

She rolled her eyes, "He's not my C.O." she reminded him.

"He could have been." he shot back.

"What happened that would make it so General Hammond would not bring him in?" she repeated. "I can't help but wonder if we have altered the timeline by having Thor find his brother."

"Probably," he shrugged it off.

"You don't seem all that concerned." she noticed.

He admitted, "Ba'al has been here for three years. Timeline has already been altered. If we can kind of keep it similar…close enough."

She asked, "Am I over thinking this?"

He nodded, "Probably."

She let out a sigh, "I just hope whatever we changed it's for the better."

"Me too, Carter." he agreed. He pulled into the airfield and parked the car. They climbed out and made their way into the main hangar.

Jack spotted Stringfellow working on a camera for Dom. He finished the repair, "Should be good as new." he mentioned.

"Thanks String." he grinned. He spied Sam and Jack walk in. "Hey! It's Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter." He waited for the pair to come closer, "Any word on Sinjin?"

Jack gave a soft smile and a nod, "We found him."

String asked, "Is he alive?" He expect bad news for his life seemed to filled with nothing but tragedy. He lost his parents, his brother and anyone he ever cared about.

"We found your brother and a dozen POW's in Laos. They were rescued and taken to the hospital. Your brother is recovering at the local VA. We thought you might like to see him before the press release." Jack stated the cover with a pleased look upon his face.

String paused a moment, "My brother is alive?"

Jack grinned, "Fit as a fiddle."

"Your friend Thor located him?" he asked unbelieving.

Sam nodded, "Thor found the camp and notified Special Forces."

Dom stood beside himself, "Your alien friend found Sinjin?"

String winced at the statement for he didn't want Jack and Sam to know that he thought Thor might be an alien.

Jack corrected, "Asgard! Asgard friend." He looked at Stringfellow, "Come on…Colonel."

He replied, "I haven't actually joined your program."

Jack smiled, "You will." He patted the man's shoulder, "We got him back. No joke. You brother is waiting to see you. Let's go!"

"Dom," he looked to his friend.

"I'll hold the fort, String. You go see Sinjin." he assured him.

"Thanks," he smiled grateful.

VA Hospital

Saint John Hawke sat up in his hospital bed pondering just what happened to him. He recalled being in a prisoner of war labor camp and then he was in the hospital. He didn't recall being rescued. He didn't recall any transport. He did have a slight recollection that made no sense to him. He ran his finger through his brown hair as he recalled waking briefly on some kind of strange ship. He recalled being in a pod and looking through glass. He turned his head to the left and saw a row of men in similar pods and then to the right and spotted a small alien creature with a small body and large head at the controls. He debated if it was a dream or if perhaps something very strange happened to him. He glanced up as Jack and Sam escorted his brother into the room. His eyes settled on Stringfellow.

"String!" he called out from the bed.

A look of relief graced String's face. He came to the bedside and wrapped his arms around him. "Sinjin." he referred to his childhood nickname.

Saint John hugged him hard. "I can't believe it. I'm home and you are here."

"You are home." he assured him. He figured his brother could tell him about the liberation of the camp. "Special Forces got you out."

He gave a confused look, "Apparently…That's what I was told."

Jack and Sam traded glances for the cover story Thor was to embed in their minds of the liberation didn't seem to stick for Saint John Hawke.

String asked, "You don't remember them getting you guys out?"

"All the other guys do but I don't remember it." he admitted. He spoke to Sam and Jack, "You are?"

"I'm Colonel O'Neill and this is Major Carter." Jack stated.

"Nice to meet you." he replied.

String asked, "What do you remember?"

His brother replied, "I think I was on some kind of ship. I'm not sure what it was. I woke up and saw this…" he tailed off figuring it sounded to strange to speak of.

"What?" String pushed.

"I'm not sure what it was." he admitted. "I was some kind of pod and there was this little man. He was thin, short, no hair, big eyes and kind of gray…maybe more brown in color."

String stated, "I'm sure it was just a dream, Sinjin. You've been through a lot. Get some rest."

"Right." he agreed.

Jack stated, "Carter and I will step outside so you two can have some time." He led Sam out the door. They stood in the hall looking a bit worried. "His brother saw Thor and remembers it." he spoke in a low voice.

"Appears so." Sam agreed. "The implanted memory took on the others but not his brother. Must be both brothers are more cognitive than most. It's much harder to implant memories into someone like that."

Jack asked, "What do we do if he starts to remember?"

She pondered, "I don't know. Maybe recruit both brothers?"

He gasped, "Are you serious? How many hard asses do you want at the Star Gate Command, Carter?"

"One is enough." she smirked back at him amused.

As Jack and Sam spoke outside String had snuck up to the door. He listened to what they said. He figured his brother remembered something he was not supposed to. He noted the name Star Gate Command and then came back to his brother's side.

Saint John asked, "What's that all about?"

"Not sure yet." String replied. "For now, let focus on you being home."

Later - Santini Air

Jack dropped Stringfellow Hawke off at the private airfield and then he and Sam headed back to Hammond's home. String found a familiar white limo parked outside. He stepped into the hangar to find Michael Coldsmith-Briggs the Third waiting for him.

"Michael." he greeted his friend.

"How did it go, Hawke?" he asked him. "Did you see your brother?"

"I did." he nodded.

Dom asked, "How is he?"

"He's fine," he assured him. "Will be released tomorrow. He will stay with me at the cabin for a while." He looked to Archangel and debated what he should tell his friend.

The old spy stated, "I had the Firm run a background check on Colonel O'Neill and his friends."

String asked, "What did you find?"

"Colonel Jonathan O'Neill is a Major in the Air Force, is married and has a newborn baby." he started.

Dom suggested, "Maybe you got the wrong guy."

"No," he shook his head. "There's more: Major Samantha Carter is actually a cadet in the Air Force Academy. Dr. Daniel Jackson is a student in college in New York City, Janet Frasier is a medical student and I cannot find anything on Teal'c. Their ages are also off. The Colonel looks like he's in his fifties but he's in his thirties. Dr. Jackson is eighteen, Major Carter is seventeen years old and so is Major Frasier."

Dom waved it off, "That's impossible. The Colonel is in his fifties and Dr. Jackson and Major Carter are both adults and Janet Frasier is a real medical doctor."

He agreed, "I realize that. I'm just telling you what I have found. I cannot rectify it."

String asked, "What do you know about a program called Star Gate Command?"

He shrugged, "I have never heard of it. What is it?"

"I'm not sure but I think it's a top secret space program the US Air Force has going." he figured.

Archangel stated, "I have access to all top secret military programs and there is no Star Gate Command."

"There is something going on." String stated.

"I agree." Archangel nodded. "There was a program called the Star Gate Project that dealt with remote viewing. It's been shut down. Could that be it?"

He shook his head, "No…this deals with…" he glanced at Dom, "aliens."

Archangel paused for a moment as one of the brightest minds he ever knew suggested an alien involvement. "String…this sounds insane."

"I know how it sounds!" he snapped. "Singin saw something. Those men were not rescued by Special Forces. That memory was implanted. It didn't take on Sinjin. I heard the Colonel talking about it with Major Carter. What Sinjin described is alien…even to me."

Dom wondered, "What did he see?"

"He said he saw this little gray or brown man with a big head and large eyes." he told him.

"You think that could be Thor?" Dom asked concerned.

He confessed, "I have no idea."