Cliff Simon Factoid: In 2000, Cliff played a character named Austin in a movie called Operation Delta Force 5: Random Fire
JACK
Last night I held my wife as she grieved for what has happened here. She was shaken up a little bit, too. She is right about one thing. If she had been here during this war, we may never have seen her again. Jannelle speaks of destiny. I still don't know that I believe in that mumbo jumbo. But I wonder now if there is some truth to it.
On Earth I have seen war up close and personal. We use explosive or projectile devices to do our destruction or our killing. Here, they use energy. A lot of the destruction is hidden unless you know what to look for. A staff weapon makes more of a thumbprint in its wake than these weapons do.
I arrange to have Daniel, Teal'c, Matta, a medical team, and Doctor Lee and his team all beam down to Rivan's headquarters in Leknos. Sam and I, along with Janelle, Carilyn, Mardi, and two others from the village of Markham beam over to the HQ as well. The two other people with us are history teachers who want to help with Itsak's team.
When we assemble in Leknos, Jannelle, Dr. Lee, Daniel, and the historians go off with Carter. Carilyn, Mardi, and the medical team stay with me and Teal'c to sit in on the diplomatic discussions. The medical teams will disperse as needed with direction from Rivan and his people.
Itsak and Mara moved to Leknos after the war to help her father and others who needed help. Mara was helping with the medical teams in the beginning of the recovery. She learned a lot on the job and she seems to really have a heart to help with this sort of thing. I will ask about their medical training on the planet. Perhaps that is another area we can assist with.
Itsak is the resident historian. He knows or suspects things about this planet. He has for a long time, but was afraid to talk about it out of fear of being killed by the Aschen. He helped put everything into what they call the beneath for the day when they'd be free from the Aschen. They could not afford to have any of that information found. Now we know why.
We are told that many of the Aschen fled through the Stargate. The ones who didn't make it out barely fought back. They were all killed. There are no prisoners. Some speculate that there are some Aschen hiding in houses with people that are still loyal to them. But we are also told that once they are found, well, let's just say again that there are no prisoners.
I've seen and done some crazy shit in my life. I've killed. I've stolen. I've conspired. I've been captured and tortured. Hell, I've been dead before. So if anyone can understand what the Odeni are going through right now, it's me.
My job here is to try to broker a treaty with the Odeni. I'm not here to fix their government. I'm not here to try to set up a constitutional monarchy or republic. I'm not sending in our own armed forces to help with the leftover infighting.
What Earth can offer is medicine, water, clothing, and building supplies. Rivan understands his role is for all of the Odeni people, not just the ones who resisted against the Aschen. He wants to unite them all, even those who were on the side of the Aschen. So far, it's been working. There are still skirmishes. But the deaths have been declining and it seems as if peace may finally be within reach.
You know, it's like humans haven't learned a thing. Earth is not immune to war. Since the beginning of time man has been fighting. We know almost for certain now that any humanoids we come across out here were once taken from Earth millennia ago. You can take the people out of the Earth, but you can't take the Earth out of the people.
I have to figure out if there is anything beyond the energy weapon technology that we would want in return. We don't need seeds or livestock. Maybe we can do a history exchange with them. Maybe we can find where on Earth they were plucked from and give them Earth history in exchange for making a database for their history for us to keep. I don't know. I'm thinking out loud and I need to be paying attention to Rivan.
SAM
We split the Earth teams up. Jack and Teal'c will be part of the diplomatic meetings with the Odeni leadership. Rivan has a team of ten people on his board. They represent many of the regions on the planet. Not all of the regions are able to send representatives. Some areas were hit harder than others. We offered to beam people to Leknos. But some are just not ready yet.
The Odeni are trying to keep the old system of government in place that they had prior to the Aschen taking over. They have the records and their manifesto in the documents found in the beneath. This is something that may take time to fully implement again. But if I learned anything from being here with the Odeni, it is that they are strong and determined.
Daniel and Matta join me with Jannelle and other scientists who want to be involved in finding out who they were before the Aschen, and what technologies they once had. Before the guys on the Prometheus beamed down, I asked Daniel to make sure to grab two computers, one for me and one for him. We'd split up our time among all the scientists and historians, helping or learning from each of them.
We spend the next two days going over everything we can. Itsak let us have access to all that was once kept locked in the beneath. Documents, statues, books, plaques, and even cookware. It is amazing what they have found down there. It's all linked to their heritage.
We are able to link Schrodinger to Odeni. Itsak suspected something like this, but he could not connect the dots until Daniel showed him what he found on Schrodinger. Now that they have this connection, it gives Itsak and his people a focus area for more research.
We discover that the Odeni planet did, at one point in time, have a Stargate. Itsak finds the documents and the stories about how people came here in a hurry. The stories tell of a great storm that displaced their people. They had a ruler with eyes like gold. The ruler was obviously Goa'uld, and we find Ba'al's symbol here in the documents in the beneath. The Jaffa kept them enslaved in the mine up on the moon. The valley below the palace used to be farm and livestock fields.
When their rulers left, they took the animals with them. The storms kept coming. Food could not be grown because every few weeks it would get uprooted by the storms. The people were dying. They decided to use the puddle ring to leave Schrodinger and start all over. That was about five hundred years ago.
We tell Itsak about what we found on Schrodinger, and how that all tied together into me coming to Odeni. We explain about the Ancient Technology Activation gene. It is a rather emotional time for both me and Itsak, as well as a few Odeni scientists in the room with us. So much information is being shared. I'm glad they are finding out who they are and where they came from.
The Prometheus sensors do pick up a large deposit of naquadah. We find the Stargate. It is buried here on the planet. They must have buried the Gate when they got here. The documents don't say why the puddle ring was buried. This will be another mystery for the Odeni to discover. We also have no way of knowing if a DHD is buried with it.
Right now we decide not to tell them about the Stargate. Sort of like a Prime Directive thing from Star Trek. They have been through so much and they need time to recover. The discovery of a Stargate might lead to another encounter with the Aschen or Goa'uld. They'd never survive that right now. So we will not tell them. We will let them find it on their own accord.
No one knows or understands why regions have specific hair color. That might remain a mystery. But, with the end of the war, people are moving out of their regions into other regions to live. Perhaps those that can have children will start new lines of genetic diversity in the population. Perhaps blonde and brunette will live together.
Ceti, meanwhile, is working on finding a way to reverse the damage done by the sterilization. He has seen fertility treatments in the past that helped these issues in other humanoids. But he says he's never seen damage quite like this before.
Then my mind switches to the work that Doctor Carson Beckett was doing, and his identification of the ATA.
"Ceti. What about Carson Beckett's work, and the identification of the ATA gene? Can we test the people here for that?"
"I'm sure we can test for anything, Samantha," I hear his gravely toned voice. "What are you thinking?" he asks.
"I'm not really sure right now, and genetics is not really my thing. But maybe the ATA can help somehow?" I offer.
"I can definitely look into that. Thank you, Samantha," he says.
I walk into another room in this building to find Daniel and Itsak laughing. It's good to see them both laughing. I don't interrupt them, and move off to the side to sit down and read up on some more of the energy beam technology they are using here.
I hear the chair move next to me, and I look up. A big smile covers my face and I stand to embrace the person before they sit down.
"Mara! How are you?" I ask.
She and I have a wonderful time getting to know each other a little better. I share stories about Jacob with her, and she shares stories about being pregnant. I mean not "how" she got pregnant. Just that she was able to and now is. They plan on telling Carilyn tonight after the meetings are over.
"What does he look like?" she asks about Jacob. I smile at her.
"He has his father's hair, but my eyes. He has grown so fast. He was only three months old when I had to leave to go to Schrodinger for six of our months. It was so hard to be away from my family. But, it doesn't come close to what you went through before and after the war. How are you? Really?" I ask.
She spends some time telling me the horrors of what they went through. She was back in Markham when the fighting started. She was part of the team that protected the beneath. Her position was attacked by three of her own people who were on the side of the Aschen. She had to kill all three to survive. She still has nightmares and deep regret, but Itsak is helping her through all of it. It sounds very familiar to me and someone else in my life.
Our two days turned into 4 days. Jack is working wonders on the diplomatic front. We will help the Odeni with medicine, medical supplies, and doctors and scientists to help them recover physically.
It is decided that Ceti and Matta will stay for a while to continue his work to try to reverse the sterilization. Back on Earth, his mom and dad understand that he sometimes has to be deployed for long periods of time and cannot communicate often. He has no wife or significant other. He really is a great fit for SG-1.
In return for our help, we get to take the technology of the weapons, and we get copies of all of the Aschen databases. I have a huge misgiving about taking anything from the Aschen at all, but they are advanced. There may be something we can use.
We verify that the Gate address that we have locked out of our system on Earth does correspond to the planet where the Aschen were sending crops from this planet. We urge Hammond to keep that locked and never let anyone have access to it.
JACK
Everyone but Carter and I beam back up to the Prometheus. It is time to return to Schrodinger, then return to Earth. The teams that would be coming to the Odeni world are already on Schrodinger waiting for the ship to ferry them back here. Ceti will be staying here for a while.
Carter and I say goodbye to Ceti and Matta, then we are beamed back to Markham with Jannelle, Mardi, and Carilyn. Once we get back to Carilyn's, I have an idea.
"Jannelle, would Joph be interested in talking to someone else who has lost a limb? There is someone on board our ship with a prosthetic leg. We have technology that could help him. We could replicate the portion of his leg that is missing. Your people could also do that for others here after we leave. We have shared how to do it with your medical teams," I say to her.
She looks at me and seems to get nervous.
"I don't know. He's gone inside himself for the most part. I can try to ask," she replies.
"Um, do you think maybe I could talk to him?" I ask.
I watch Jannelle look at Carter, and I watch Carter turn her head to me. She doesn't smile. But her entire body relaxes somewhat, and I see understanding pass in her eyes. She gives me a little nod of the head. She is proud of me. I slightly nod my head at her before turning my attention back to Jannelle.
"Jack, I think that would be OK," Jannelle says.
Jannelle and I walk to her home. Carter stays with Carilyn and Mardi. Jannelle tries to tell me what to expect when I see Joph, how he has changed, how he has pushed his son away. I just listen.
We get to Jannelle's and she brings me inside quietly. The house is dark. No lights are on except back in the kitchen, and all the windows have thick drapes just like at Carilyn's. There is a device playing music of some sort by a chair in the corner. Then I see a figure laying on the couch.
"Joph. My love. There is someone to see you. Jack, I'd like you to meet my Match. Joph, this is Jack. He is Samantha's Match."
As soon as she says the name Samantha, Joph's eyes seem to open. When it registers in his mind that another person is in the room, he sits up. He spreads a blanket over his legs as he sits to face me.
"I, uh. Um. I wasn't expecting anyone. I'm sorry for the mess. I'd offer to get you something, but," and he stops talking. He never makes eye contact with me.
"I will leave you two alone," Jannelle says, touching Joph's shoulder as she walks by.
We sit in a very uncomfortable silence. I look around the room and it doesn't look like a war has taken place. It is just dark.
"So. Hello. I'm Jack. I am Carter's...Samantha's Match."
"Ya, so why are you here? To rub it in? So you can still walk. Big deal. Good for Samantha."
I let him vent. I don't remember much of my recovery when I was tortured, but I'm sure I lashed out at those around me. I know I can be a pain in the ass. This is not his fault.
"Um. No. Not going to do that. I did come to tell you about something that might be able to help you and make it so that you can walk again," I say.
He eventually lifts his eyes to meet mine. I'm standing in his living room with my arms behind my back, not really at parade rest, but may as well have been. He looks me up and down, taking me in. He doesn't reply. He averts his eyes back down, or closes them. I can't really tell from where I stand due to the low light. I simply take a seat in the chair across from the couch.
We sit again in silence. I can hear Jannelle in the kitchen. Every now and then Jarred comes out to say hi or asks us if we need anything. But, Joph and I sit in the silence for what feels like an hour. I just have a gut feeling it is not time to leave yet. Then he speaks.
"What," he says.
"HHmm? What?" I ask back.
"What do you have that could help me?"
THE END
I cannot express enough the amount of thanks I have in my heart for what Ginger has done with this story. We have been working on this since 3 NOV 2020. She has been with me every step of the way. Every request for a review. Every "hey, what about this…." The chats. The I cannot express enough the amount of thanks I have in my heart for what Ginger has done with this story. We have been working on this since 3 NOV 2020. She has been with me every step of the way. Every request for a review. Every "hey, what about this…." The chats. The additions. Telling me NOT to do something because it detracts from the story. I have the boot print on my butt to prove it LOL But all of it. She has been there for me in more ways than I can count. She has been so very patient and gracious with me. She is part of this journey as much as I. Her fingerprints are all over this story. Thank you, Space Mom. This story is for you.. Telling me NOT to do something because it detracts from the story. I have the boot print on my butt to prove it LOL But all of it. She has been there for me in more ways than I can count. She has been so very patient and gracious with me. She is part of this journey as much as I am. Her fingerprints are all over this story. Thank you, Space Mom. This story is for you.
I have a huge, humble, squishy place in my heart for all of you who have read the story. My gratitude that you took the time to read what I have created is beyond measure. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have this creative outlet that my heart and soul needs right now. Writing is an outlet for my mind, and many of you know my mind is a pretty crazy and imaginative place. I'm forever thankful that you chose to spend your time reading my imaginations. Thank you for being on this journey with me. You forever have my thanks.