Unity
Disclaimer: Golly gee whiz, I own them? Wow. I'd like to thank my parents, God, my pet poodle, Fu Fu. My little kitten, Tuss. And I can't forget my pet guinea pig, Papa New…… For those of you who don't understand sarcasm – that all means that I don't actually own them. And if you don't understand sarcasm, what the hell are you doing reading a story from Jack's POV?!
Rating: And we're still G, Ladies and Gentlemen
Authors Note: Apologies for the delay – work's been hell the last few months…. I'm trying to make up for it.
Chapter 6 – Big Bada Boom.
I recovered quickly, taking a deep gulp of the Riop juice, and letting it sit on my tongue for a second while I figured out what the hell to say to that. Daniel, bless him, was one step ahead of me.
"That's a bit of a difficult position for Thor, isn't it?" He said with an ironic lilt. "Who's backing Loki up?"
"A few of the minor council members. The others are staying neutral at the moment. Loki's got a huge warrior base in his home region. And Thor's been stepping on a few very sensitive feet lately."
"Like?" I finally got to ask.
"Well, rumour has it that he's been in contact with the Tau'ri in the last few years, and has been assisting them beyond what was decreed in the Tau'rok Papers. Odin wasn't exactly happy when he found out."
"So Thor's been in the dog house, huh?"
"What's a dog house?" Arwew asked, leaning forward. "Where the Thewi are you guys from, anyway?"
"A place called Alderan. It's in a galaxy far far away." Daniel told them. The name sounded familiar. I had a feeling it was a Star Wars reference, given the line Daniel gave afterwards.
"Never heard of it." Borlius grunted, still looking suspicious.
"Few people have. It's a very small planet, keeps to itself. But back to the original question, I mean, Thor got into a little bit of trouble for helping out these… Tau'ri, you said?"
"Yeah. I mean, to actually reveal himself to the Tau'ri in the first place was..... huge. Then to actually cultivate a relationship with these people." Serien grabbed something edible from the table and munched it as he talked, the mulched food showing as his mouth moved. Manners galore, this one.
"Who are the Tau'ri, exactly?" Daniel asked, showing his usual signs of curiosity. Although why he was asking about us, I have no idea.
"They're the original's. The Tau'ri are the people of the planet us 'noid's originally evolved on. They're supposed to be really backward, and their technological advances are so far behind anyone else's that the Asgard decided to leave them alone for a few thousand years." Serien took another piece of food, nibbling and slurping at the obviously juicy ..thing. Nyuil picked up the story when Serien looked at him from above the fruit he was eating.
"But then Thor goes and destroys all that by contacting some kind of spearhead group that was journeying through the Aqualin. Turns out they'd found an old buried Aqualin and had begun to use it to explore the galaxy. Thor and Freyr spoke to them, and helped them out in some places." Nyuil gloated. "But that's not the best part. Thor SECRETLY brought a Tau'ri aboard one of their ships a few cycles ago, when one of the Asgard homeworld's was in jeopardy, and used it's knowledge to destroy the replicators threatening them! And didn't even tell the Council."
"So how did they find out about it?" I asked, leaning forward to try some of the juicy food-stuff on the table.
"Thor had to make some kind of rushed journey to the Tau'ri planet for some reason, and didn't have time to hide his vapor-trail. Loki followed the trail, and figured out what happened." Arwew picked up the story.
"Bad luck for Thor, huh?" Daniel sat back, nursing his juice.
"Just a little bit. So for the last few cycles, there's been in-fighting between Thor's faction and Loki's… It's made for good trading. In all sorts of things." Arwew grinned slyly. I could just guess what kind of trading. Tense political positioning always made for good insider information trading. So Thor had been having a few harsh words with the other Asgard. It went a long way to explain the veiled hostility we'd gotten when we'd been presented to the Council, and why Thor hadn't really told us anything about why he'd brought us here. From what Serien and his team had told us, and what we already knew about Thor, he needed us to one, protect him and two, find out why this Loki guy was so hell-bent on killing him. Nice to know our job before we get into any trouble. I heard Daniel making small talk with the other military team, because a dime will get you a dollar, that's what they were. Any information was good information, as the saying went. And these guys were after info on us. Pity everything we were giving them was completely false.
"…Tatooine. But the Sand-People wouldn't…." I heard Daniel saying, and frowned briefly. What the hell was that man talking about? Where was Tatooine? And Sand-people? I looked around the square, trying to spot Teal'c and Carter, and finally caught sight of them coming our way. It wasn't difficult to find them. Teal'c towered above most of the alien's in the square, and his shiny black head gleamed in the alien sun. I looked at Carter, walking next to him, and thought about what Serien had said. A human, secreted in to help the Asgard defeat the Replicators. That had been her. A few years ago, the Asgard was on the brink of all out war with the Replicators, having found no way to stop their advance. Thor had come to us, begging help. Needing our 'stupid idea's' to help them. So Carter had gone with him, back to one of their homeworlds, and had come up with a plan to lure the Replicators into light-speed, then destroy them with a timed self-destruct on their latest and greatest new space-ship, the O'Neill.
"Your team's coming back." Nyuil said, pointing them out of the crowd.
"I know." I replied, standing up and waving them over. Carter acknowledged me with a nod, then changed direction. I sat back down, and looked over at Daniel. He was still only half way through his first glass of Riop Juice, and was sipping very small quantities each time he raised his glass. Not that I blamed him. We'd all had bad experiences with alien food and drink. It tended to make a person very cautious with new stuff. Well, it made Daniel cautious. I still hadn't learnt my lesson. Carter and Teal'c walked over and appropriated some seats from another table-thing, and sat down. There were now eight of us around one small table. All of us military, in one way or another. This should be interesting.
"Carter, Teal'c, this is Serien, Nyuil, Arwew and Burlios. Guys, these are the rest of my team, Carter and Teal'c."
"My." Arwew murmured, gazing up at Teal'c, her mouth slightly open. The rest just nodded at Carter and Teal'c, studying them closely.
"So, where did you say you were from, again?" Serien asked Teal'c. Teal'c raised the obligatory eyebrow. I just smiled and took a drink from my glass
"Has not O'Neill already informed you of our place of origin?" He said blandly.
"Yes, O'Neill has." Serien responded, looking slightly annoyed at not catching us out in a lie. Good luck to him. "We were just telling O'Neill and Doctor Daniel Jacskon about the problems Thor and Loki have been having. They seemed most interested in them."
"That's probably because it's the Asgard, Serien." Carter said, taking my glass from the table and drinking from it. "This is nice. What is it?" She changed the subject very smoothly.
"It's Riop Juice. Perhaps you wanted some Watniop?" Arwew smiled blandly. All innocence. Like we believed it.
"No thank you. This is fine. So, what do you four do?"
"We're traders." Burlios replied, taking his eyes away from Teal'c. The two of them had been playing 'you first'. They'd been staring at each other intently, almost glaring. Neither had looked away from the other since they'd been introduced. It was like watching the battle of the silent titans. It looked like Teal'c had won that round.
"In what?" Carter pressed. Burlios was about to answer, but a loud explosion from behind me drove all eight of us for cover. We huddled under the table, waiting out the fall of debris, then I peeked out to have a look, and promptly swore.
"Carter, get over here." I felt her shimmy over to me, and look out over my shoulder. I shot her a look, then made my decision. Within seconds, I was running across the square, my team on my heels. The other four humans were close behind me, all of us heading towards the damage-torn area. There were silent Asgard staring at us, some of them walking or running quickly away from the Square. There was a quality of surrealism to the square, but I couldn't place why.
"Carter, over there!" I yelled, pointing to where several grey Asgard lay, blinking up at the orange sun, open wounds on their bodies. Daniel followed Carter silently, already ripping his shirt for bandages and tourniquet's. Teal'c and I continued into the central area of destruction. A part of my brain that wasn't dealing in more possible explosions was taking note of the Asgard pieces all over the ground. A hand there, a leg here. There were other bits that even my brain didn't want to identify, and I quickly turned my eyes from those. I stopped just short of the massive indentation in the ground, staring at the damage the explosion had done to the building that had stood to one side of the square. There was a hole the size of a small van in the front of the building, and a large hole in the floor of the square. It looked to be about half a man deep, and at least 12 foot across. I looked over to see an equally stunned Serien looking at the damage, his team minus Nyuil, looking on with him.
"What the hell happened just then?" I asked him, immediately suspicious.
"Truth, O'Neill. I have no idea."
"Could it be an accident?" Burlois asked, walking slowly around the crater.
"What could have made an indentation this large?" It looked like something from Israel or the West Bank. Actually, this reminded me a hell of a lot of that. Except for the screaming and yelling.
"Why aren't they screaming?" I asked Serien, indicating the almost silent Asgard.
"They don't. I've yet to see one of them get excited. It's like a culture thing. They just don't seem to do anything above a very deliberate speaking tone. Although this is decidedly unreal."
"Isn't it just?" I agreed. I studied the crater, then made a decision and jumped in.
"O'Neill!" Teal'c barked a warning, but far too late. I was already in. If anything was going to happen, it would be now. I squatted down and had a look at the dirt and shattered concrete-like material in the crater, but couldn't see anything to indicate whether this had been deliberate or an accident. Carter strode up to the edge and looked down.
"We have at least 6 Asgard who look pretty critical, Sir." She reported, her hands covered in blue gook. Asgard blood, at a guess. "Of course, I don't know a lot about Asgard physiology, so I have no way of knowing how bad they are. Nyuil has some kind of medical device which seems to be helping with pain control, but it's almost out of charge. We need some kind of medical help, and fast." I looked to Serien, who had listened in quite openly to her report.
"Well?" I asked him, using the lip of the crater to pull myself up.
"The Asgard have a MEPU, but I don't know why they haven't arrived as yet." He pulled a device from inside his jacket and handed it over to Carter. "Use this. You should be able to keep them stable until help arrives with this. Burlios!" He yelled over to the large man who was examining the building. Burlios looked over with a snap of his head.
"Yes?"
"Go with this woman and assist. You know Asgard physiology better than Nyuil." Burlios nodded and left the holy building to Arwew's study, walking away with Carter. I walked over to Arwew, leaving Teal'c and Serien to study the area around the crater.
"So, Arwew. Any idea's?" I asked in my most commanding voice. As I thought, she answered without even thinking about who was asking.
"It looks like this was a hit, Ashiyiu." I translated that to be another word for Sir. "See here?" She pointed towards a crease in the building's outer hull. "That looks distinctly like a fold from a Suniwe Device. We use them a lot on… Ahh, I've heard they're used a lot in warfare."
"Would a Sunny Device cause damage like this?" I asked, looking at the interior of the building.
"If it was enhanced with Naquadah, you bet it would. Even a tiny amount of naquadah could create this kind of damage." She looked up as Serien came over to stand behind and above me. I stood up, not liking the feeling of being looked own on. Superiority complex, who me?
"Suniwe Device, Arwew?" He asked, in confirmation.
"Yes, Ashiyiu. See, here's the fold, here. And look." She pointed at something else. It looked like just another piece of building to me, but Serien saw something that I obviously didn't.
"Damn." He muttered, then looked at me. He seemed to be thinking for a while, then his head shot around to look at the other side of the square.
"Call your woman, Carter and Doctor Daniel Jackson over." He ordered me.
"I beg your pardon?" I looked at him in amazement. Yeah, I'm going to do what you say, Serien.
"Please, just do it. I don't have time to explain." He looked at me, noticed my 'no way in hell' face, and then yelled to Burlios in another language. Burlios looked up, then nodded and next thing you knew, he'd drawn a weapon on Carter and Danny. I went for my Asgard weapon, but Serien had gotten the drop on me, and I was staring 'down the barrel' at some kind of weapon. I sighed, then handed over the Asgard weapon, silently instructing Teal'c to do the same. Carter and Daniel joined us, and we were a nice little group of captured SGC personnel.
"Follow me." Serien ordered, then ran at a quick jog away from the square. I got prodded between my shoulders, and instructed tersely to get moving. I obeyed. For now.
Serien led us out of the square and into a back area. He palmed open a door and slipped inside. His team silently indicated that we should follow. I was a tad reluctant – who wouldn't be – but the weapons aimed at us were very eloquent in their argument. The corridor we'd slipped into was dark and low, making all of us crouch over as we walked towards the far end. The end of the corridor opened up into another square, this one less populated than the first we'd just walked away from. Serien led us around the outside of this one, and down another of the long street-like walkways that the city seemed to have. The further we walked, the less 'people' we saw. Finally, Serien led us into a room that was pretty bare, except for some sort of equipment on a table in the far corner. He put up his weapon and dropped ours onto the table, then turned back to face us, leaning against the table, arms crossed over his chest.
"Want to give us an explanation?" I asked him when the door had closed behind Nyuil, the last one to enter the room.
"Funny, I was going to ask you the same question." Serien said in reply, an eyebrow raised sardonically. "Arwew." He said briefly, and the woman nodded and left the room.
"You drew the weapons on us, not the other way round." I pointed out. A ghost of a smile touched his mouth, then he frowned again.
"What are you really up to?" He jerked his chin, an unconscious movement, by the look of it.
"Not a hell of a lot right now, considering we're being held against our will by armed traders." I smiled at him, challenging him.
"So, do you want to tell me who planted that Suniwe?" Serien turned his attention to Daniel.
"No." Daniel blinked up at him, all innocence.
"How did you get an Asgard Re-locater?" Serien asked Carter, leaning in close.
"It was a birthday present." She replied, tilting her head to the side and batting her eyelids. Serien stepped back, slightly annoyed. Good. I looked at Teal'c, asking a silent question. He moved his head in acknowledgement, the movement barely noticable. Daniel had noticed our look and he moved slightly to the right, closer to Nyuil, the smaller of the three holding us.
"You guys seem pretty well armed, for traders." I observed, getting Serien's attention back to me, and away from my team.
"Come, O'Neill. We both know that we're not traders." Serien was derisive.
"What?!" I feigned shock. "I don't believe it. You lied to us?" I put a hand at my chest, playing the ham. That was the signal Teal'c and the others were waiting for. There was an explosion of movement, Teal'c erupting towards Burlios and grabbing the weapon before the movement had even registered in Burlios' eyes. Then I looked away, intent on my own fight for Serien's weapon. He didn't look particularly shocked to see us fighting back, and the kick he landed on my knee lent fact to that. I groaned, muttered a curse, then swiped at him with my left hand. My right hand was wrapped tight around his, and the weapon that we were scrambling to take control of. We wrestled around a bit, then I caught him in a headlock, bent over to give my knee a break from the throbbing torture of holding my weight. An elbow to his nose caused him to grunt in pain, which I then echoed when he elbowed my gut. I finally twisted around and then flipped him onto his back, using a karati technique I'd learned years ago. He lay there, the breath gone out of him, looking up at me. I smiled behind the pointed weapon, graceful in victory.
"Daniel?" I called.
"We're all clear. Teal'c's on the door waiting for Arwew." The arcaheologist reported. I risked a micro-glance and saw him sitting on Nyuil, who was scowling and moving in protest. I almost laughed at the sight. I turned back to see Carter walking in front of me. She grabbed one of our borrowed weapons from the table and then walked calmly back to Daniel, who finally got up off of Nyuil.
"Right, up you get." I gestured for Serien to get up. He stared at me for a minute, then rolled onto his knees and stood up smoothly. His knee's were fine, damn him. He may be young, but I reassured myself that I had a lot more experience than he did. And I had the weapon. I wagged it at him, silently ordering him to join his team. He silently wiped the blood dripping from his nose and limped slightly over to them. Burlios was out cold on the floor and Nyuil was standing above him, watching Carter and Daniel through narrowed eyes. Good, they had a little bit more respect for us. Serien opened his mouth to speak, but I put a finger to my own, ordering him to stay silent.
"We're just going to stay here, nice and quiet, until your other member comes back. Then we'll have a nice little chat."
"How do you know she's coming back?" Daniel asked. I rolled my eyes slightly and looked at him.
"Please, Danny. Arwew was decoy. Sent out to distract whoever it was that these guys wanted us away from. She'll be back in a few minutes." I leant against the table, mirroring Serien's pose from just a few minutes ago. And no it wasn't because my knee was hurting. It wasn't, all right? Carter noticed my wince and looked at my knee. I shook my head in reply. I didn't need any medical help. Just new knee's. The door swooshing open distracted us all, except Teal'c. Arwew stepped through and the big Jaffa grabbed her and held her tight against him, one hand over her mouth, the other holding her torso tight to his. She fought like a cat for a few seconds, actually getting one arm free and managing to scratch Teal'c down one side of his face, kicking his shins at the same time. When she saw the rest of her team, however, the fight went out of her. Teal'c walked smoothly over to the others and put her down. He wasn't even straining, the show-off.
"So we'll start this little question time off again, shall we?" I smiled at the four laid out in front of me. Three of them looked back. Burlois was groaning, on his way back to consciousness, but still too far out to even hear me. "First question. What's with the sudden change in scenery?" The three of them looked at each other in puzzlement. I sighed.
"He means, why'd you bring us here." Daniel translated. Nyuil opened his mouth, but got a glare from his leader, and promptly snapped it shut again.
"Okay, let's pass question one. Go to number two. Who do you guys work for?" Again, my question was met with silence. This was going to get old, fast. "Do you speak English?" Nothing. "Are you related to Maybourne?" Even that mortal insult left me without answers.
"I give up." I told my team. I stood up, my knee having subdued to a dull throbbing instead of intense mind-numbing scream. "Carter, go out… No. Let's not do that again." I turned back to the table and picked up one of the Asgard weapons and pointed it at Burlios. I hesitated briefly, aware that we weren't sure if the weapon killed or not, then fired it.
"No!" Arwew yelled, high-pitched.
"What the cruvas was that for?" Serien yelled, getting to his feet. Nyuil was staring in shock at where his team-mate had just been. My team-mates were looking equally stunned.
"I don't like people who screw me around, Serien. You start answering questions, or your team-members go the way of Burlios." I pointed the weapon at Arwew and waited.
"Damn it!" Serien cursed. I could see him thinking, rapidly. Good. I wasn't going to inform him that the chances of Burlios being dead were pretty slim. Let him think I was ruthless. Let him think I would do anything for the mission. There was a reason they'd taken us out of that square so fast. A reason that had to do with the explosion and the crater.
"I'm running out of patience, Serien." I said evenly.
"Jack." Daniel said softly, questioningly.
"Ah!" I put one hand up to stop him, still staring at Serien. "You saw something in that crater. Something that I didn't."
"We…" Serien started, stopped. Looked at his remaining team-mates, then continued. "We'd been assigned a mission to find out about the political climate here on Valhalla by my government. We've been on Valhalla for the last ten-day. Within an hour of you arriving in Odin's Hall a suniwe was detonated causing tremendous damage and loss of Asgard life. It appeard to me that a Tau'ri infiltration team placed the suniwe." Serien stared at me through hard, green eyes. "Your infiltration team." He cocked his head to the side and somehow managed to look menacing, even when captured and outnumbered. "You are the Tau'ri team SG-1. And the Asgard will know you were the cause of that explosion in Odin's Hall."