Disclaimer: Please see chapter one for full disclaimer.
Another Trip into Wonderland
Chapter Five
"So…" the General said looking around the room. "Where would you like us to start?" he asked looking at Jack.
"How about we start with the Goa'uld attack and take it from there?" the Colonel answered leaning forward to allow his elbows to rest on the table.
"Right" the General replied, clearly uncomfortable with the entire situation. 'Recounting this tale is bad enough' he grumbled to himself 'but to have to sit across the table from yourself and your dead friend and recount everything is about as bad as it gets.'
"It started nearly six months ago. We had been receiving reports from the Tokra that there was a new Goa'uld alliance forming that was much more ruthless and dangerous than the system lords had ever thought of being on their own. Unfortunately, the Tokra never did discover which Goa'uld was pushing for the alliance" Samantha said.
"You make it sound as if the Tokra are no longer around," Sam stated picking up the note of pain in the other woman's voice as she spoke of their allies.
"Most of them aren't" she replied. "The Goa'uld have managed to all but wipe out the Tokra along with several other races that offered resistance. There are still a few Tokra factions remaining but their numbers are very small and most of their leaders were killed during an attack that took place shortly before the attack on Earth began."
"Dad?" Sam questioned hesitantly, not certain if she was ready for the answer she feared was coming.
Sam knew the answer before she heard the words as she saw Samantha cast her eyes downward and inhale sharply. "He was killed also" she replied as the General reached over to cover her hand with his own. Giving him a small smile and a nod she silently assured him she was all right.
"Okay" the Colonel said, trying to deflect the attention from Samantha to give her time to compose herself. "We know the Goa'uld attacked in a mother ship and outright violated the treaty of protected planets and how the Asgard came to the rescue and destroyed the ship. Couldn't they do anything to fix the damage?"
"You'd think so wouldn't ya?" the General said, displeasure clearly written on the features of his face as he thought about the 'help' they had received from the Asgard. "Unfortunately, they now have their own problems. Between the replicators and the Goa'uld, the Asgard are finding things a bit hectic. They said they were low on resources and did not have the time or the means to help with the toxin. But… and this is a biggie… they're really sorry for the Tauri's destruction and wish us the best in our new home."
"Well, that was big of them" the Colonel muttered. 'I bet they talked to Freyer' he thought to himself. 'That little gray guy is way harder to deal with than Thor.'
"Wasn't it though?" the General responded sarcastically.
"So the toxin was released and it took forty-eight hours to detect it?" Sam asked. "Why so long? Why didn't anyone notice anything at the time of the attack?"
"Probably because we were kind of busy at the time trying to save our cities, contact our allies, yada yada yada. You know the drill" the General responded.
"Actually, there was no way anyone could have detected it at the time it was released" Samantha said. "You see the toxin was released in the form of an inert gas. Basically, it was designed to be neutral until enough moisture gathered in the upper atmosphere. Once a certain amount of moisture mixed with the gas, it became active and poisoned the atmosphere. By that time there wasn't anything anyone could do to counter the effect."
"So by introducing the gas into the atmosphere in an inert or innocuous form, it gave the gas time to spread undetected throughout the atmosphere thereby affecting the entire planet rather than merely the cities that were attacked. That way when enough moisture had mixed with the gas it would expose everyone on a world wide scale rather than a mere fraction of the Earth's population" Sam said.
"Very sneaky" Daniel commented as he mused over the deviousness of it all.
"Indeed. The Goa'uld knew that an outright attack against the Tauri would take too long and consume too many resources. This method allowed minimal loss to the Goa'uld alliance while effectively eliminating the Tauri threat" Teal'c said.
"Oh, it was effective alright," the General agreed. "Most people started getting sick within a day or two of the gas going lethal. At first the doctors thought they were looking at a bad flu epidemic but then the symptoms started getting worse and they began to realize there was a lot more than flu involved."
"Also, atmospheric readings had begun to filter in by that time and it wasn't long before we realized there was a correlation between the sickness and the toxin in the air. But before we could mobilize and try to start doing anything we found that people were dying. Most people died within a week of inhaling the toxin. They were the lucky ones. Some lasted as long as two weeks but in the end they were all dead. Even if we could have found an antidote, there wasn't enough time to synthesize and distribute it" Samantha concluded, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.
"That's one of the reasons we came back," General O'Neill said looking around at the stunned group that sat before him. "Samantha and Janet are trying to find an anecdote in case the Goa'uld find the Alpha site and attempt this little trick of theirs again."
"You need access to data and equipment to continue your research. Things you wouldn't have at the Alpha site" Sam concluded.
"Exactly" Samantha answered.
"Have you had any success so far?" Daniel questioned.
"Janet has managed to isolate some of the variables but we still have a long way to go. Once inhaled, this stuff basically manages to rapidly break down every system within the body. We think we've managed to isolate one part of it and several other factors jump into play" Samantha finished.
"Okay, so they attacked, tricked and killed everyone and… was that it?" the Colonel questioned.
"Wasn't that enough?" his counterpart asked bitterly.
"No, I think what Jack is trying to ask is if you've heard any more from the Goa'uld since they did this? Any attacks on the Alpha site… that sort of thing" Daniel explained jumping in before an already tense situation became explosive between the two men. Although he didn't know General O'Neill, Daniel was very familiar with Colonel O'Neill's reactions to bad situations. Especially when they involved the Goa'uld. And the General had not only lost friends in the attack but an entire planetary population. Jack's reaction would be one of sarcasm and bitterness to cover up his feelings and he was pretty sure the General's psyche pretty much followed the same pattern.
"If the Goa'uld are aware of our existence then they're keeping it to themselves right now. So far, we've maintained a pretty low profile while we organize and strengthen our position at the Alpha site but we do have plans to join up with the remaining Tokra as well as continue our own program to pay the Goa'uld back in full" the General said with a steel-like quality in both his eyes and voice.
"I hesitate to ask, but how many people made it to the Alpha site?" Sam questioned quietly.
Looking toward Samantha and then back at SG-1, Jack shook his head and quietly replied "364 people including the eight teams we had off-world at the time, the class of students taking the field trip of the upper levels when the attack began, and Cassie and Jayden" the General finished, momentarily closing his eyes as he spoke the last name on the list. This time it was Samantha that placed her hand on his shoulder to lend support.
"Uh, Jayden?" Daniel questioned.
"Our son, Jayden Daniel O'Neill" Samantha quietly responded.
"Son?" Daniel and Teal'c echoed in surprise. Looking at Sam and Jack, Daniel realized they didn't seem overly surprised by the information they had just heard. Which meant they had left a few things out of their narration back in Sam's, or rather Samantha's, lab.
"Yes. Jayden was ill the day of the attack. We couldn't leave him at the Daycare facility so we brought him to work with us and Janet offered to call Cassie to come to the SGC and baby-sit for a while. It was probably the best thing that could have happened otherwise we would have lost them both" the General replied, the pain of almost losing a second son evident in his eyes.
It was then that Daniel noticed the simple gold wedding bands on each of their counterpart's hands and realized they were not only colleagues but husband and wife as well.
"So, you're not military in this reality?" Daniel questioned, directing his gaze on Samantha.
"Retired military" she replied. "I retired from the military nearly three years ago after I was injured on a mission. I had broken my leg in several places and while the breaks healed, they left me with a noticeable limp. At that point, retirement was not an option. However, I didn't want to leave the Stargate program so when General Hammond offered me the position of heading up Research and Development, I accepted."
"Which left the two of you free to pursue a relationship without the fear of fraternization regulations hanging over your heads" Daniel finished.
"Yes" they both replied in unison
"Speaking of Hammond" the Colonel began "why wasn't he here at the time of attack?"
"Any other day he would have been" the General confirmed "but on that particular morning he had attended a school function for his granddaughters. The base went to immediate lock down when the attack began. You know the drill, no one gets in and no one gets out. It wasn't long after he fell ill that I was promoted to the rank of General and command of the SGC fell to me"
"Which would explain why a classroom of children ended up at the Alpha site," Sam said.
"Yes, a class of 22 fourth graders were touring the upper levels and discovering the wonders of deep space radar telemetry when the base went on lockdown. Unfortunately, the lock down never ended," the General concluded.
"So it was the Goa'uld Alliance that was responsible for the attack on the Tauri and not one Goa'uld in particular?" Teal'c asked.
"Our sources say the attack was implemented by the Alliance but that Osiris is boasting himself to be the brains behind the operation. If we had known two years ago what those damned jars held…" he stopped momentarily as he sighed and rubbed his eyes. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have let Daniel try to play the mediator and just shot them as soon as I saw them" the General muttered, his voice filled with self-recrimination.
"You couldn't have known what would happen" Samantha assured him knowing he still blamed himself for the situation. "And if you had known, you still couldn't have prevented the final outcome."
"Wait a minute" Daniel interrupted the pair as their words began to sink in. "You encountered Osiris two years ago? And why do you keep saying 'he'?"
"Because 'he' is the one who is responsible for all of this as well as Daniel's death," the General snapped. Or maybe I should say 'they' are the ones responsible" he amended.
"But we just found Osiris earlier this year. Our last encounter with her showed she had begun to form an army but didn't have the resources to destroy a planet full of people," Daniel explained remembering their previous encounter with Osiris.
"Well, WE found them two years ago and believe me they've had plenty of time to amass more than enough resources to cause all of this" he indicated the current condition of the SGC with a wave of his hands.
"You continue to say 'they' O'Neill" Teal'c said to the General. "To which 'they' are you referring?"
"To Osiris and Isis of course" he said looking at each of the members of SG-1 carefully as he heard the gasps and saw the shocked expressions on their faces. Seeing their confused expressions as they looked back and forth between one another he asked, "Whom did you think I was referring to?"
"Ah, that's a little different than things in our reality" Daniel began trying to clear up the confusion and hoping to learn more about how both Osiris and Isis had managed to survive. "You see, it all started with the death of my mentor Dr. Jordan. I flew to Chicago to attend the funeral and ran into Sarah and Steven who were former colleagues of mine. They were working on cataloging some ancient Egyptian artifacts when a fire broke out killing Dr. Jordan. After the funeral, I stayed on for a few days to assist Sarah because the Egyptian government was pushing to have the artifacts returned. It was then that I discovered the canopic jars were inscribed with Goa'uld translations. I took the Isis jar back to the SGC where Sam examined it and found the dead Goa'uld larvae that had been stored in stasis. Upon my return to Chicago, I was unable to find the Osiris jar. When people started getting killed in unusual 'accidents' and based on Sam's examination of the Isis jar, I began to suspect that we might have a goa'uld on the loose. Only I mistakenly thought it was Steven because he had stolen an Egyptian amulet and flown to Egypt. Anyway, to make a long story short, Sam, Janet and I traveled to Egypt to stop Osiris who, in the end, escaped in a mother ship."
"The beginning of your story is very similar to the way things happened here in our reality" Samantha began as she looked to the General as if asking for permission to tell them of the events that took place. Upon seeing him nod, she continued, "Daniel's professor was killed in a fire here also and he went to Chicago to attend the funeral. It was then that he met Sarah and Steven again for the first time since joining the Stargate program. In the end it turned out that both Goa'uld had survived stasis and were now residing in their bodies. The only difference being that, in this reality, Osiris inhabits Steven's body and Isis is in Sarah's body. Anyway, Daniel figured out what was going on and Jack, Daniel, and Janet traveled to Egypt in an attempt to stop them from carrying out whatever plans they might have had. A struggle followed and Janet was rendered unconscious while Jack was injured. Osiris turned the ribbon device on Daniel in an attempt to obtain the location of the stargate and ended up killing him."
"He never told them the location of the gate," the General said brokenly as he recalled the events of that fateful day. "I tried to stop them but they were already in the transporter rings by the time I started firing. They transported to their ship and left the planet. They've been making a place for themselves amongst the system lords ever since and the rest, as they say, is history."
The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as each person sat lost in their own thoughts. Without warning, General O'Neill stood up and announced that he and Samantha needed to gather the information and supplies that she and Janet would need to continue their research. There had been reports of recent Goa'uld activity within the system and they shouldn't be away from the Alpha site for too long.
"I'm going to head on over to the armory and gather supplies," the General said giving Samantha a smile. "Will you be okay in your lab on your own?"
"Of course" she replied. "And don't forget to pick up that box of Daniel's books. We still need to try and have Lieutenant Michaels translate the inscriptions on the temple we found."
"Inscriptions?" Daniel asked suddenly looking like an excited child. "What type of inscriptions?"
"We found a small structure or temple that contains several sets of inscriptions on the door. So far we've been unable to gain access and Lieutenant Michaels hasn't had much luck deciphering the translations" Samantha replied.
"Wait a minute," the Colonel said in confusion. Looking at his counterpart he asked, "you picked an Alpha site that is already inhabited?"
"Was inhabited," the General quickly corrected. "And no, we didn't detect this temple when we did our preliminary surveys. The thing is located pretty far into the jungle and was covered by trees. The only reason we found it is because we established a couple of teams to scout for resources once we arrived."
"Do you have any idea what this temple was doing in the middle of the jungle or how long it has been there?" Daniel asked excitedly. "Are you sure that whoever built it isn't coming back?"
"All good questions Danny which is why we need the books to try and figure it out" the General answered, making ready to exit the room. "You have your radio Samantha, call me if you need anything," he said, leaving the room to begin gathering necessary supplies.
"If you'd like, you can come with me to my lab. I can give you copies of some of our research to take back with you. You could use it as a starting point to continue researching on your own. It might help save some time and some people in case the Goa'uld try the same thing in your reality" Samantha said as she turned to exit the briefing room.
"Actually, I think I'm going to follow me, I mean him, and see if he needs any help with the supplies" Jack said nodding to his 2IC. "Let me know when you're ready to head back."
"Yes sir," Sam said as she watched him leave the room.
"I think I'll go too. I want to take a look at some of those archeological books," Daniel said as he made his way toward the door.
"I shall accompany you Daniel Jackson" Teal'c said as he followed the archeologist out of the room, leaving the two women alone.
"Men" Samantha muttered with a small smile on her face. Turning to Sam she gestured for her to follow. "Come on, maybe you can take a quick look at our data and find something we may have missed. Or at the very least, give us some ideas on different directions we might be able to take with our research."
"Sure" Sam agreed following the woman into the corridor. "And I can show you the device that transported us here. It's really quite amazing…" she began as she started outlining some of the more interesting aspects of the alien device.
TBC