War Council

The conference room was crowded, in addition to General Hammond, the SG-1 team and the entire senior staff from the Andromeda, there were the team leaders of each of the other Stargate teams, Bratac, Lt Hailey, and a new member of the Andromeda's crew. The crewman had been introduced as Second Signifer Tran, commanding officer of the Andromeda's Lancer unit. The creases in his black uniform were knife-edges, and his boots were shined to perfection. His entire bearing screamed Marine to Colonel O'Neill, and he had to suppress the urge to shout 'U-Rah!'

Bratac was speaking. "Three days ago, one of our spies in Anubis' camp reported that Anubis has been contacted by a previously unknown race, who call themselves the Magog. In exchange for populated planets that they can use for breeding and feeding grounds, they are offering to supply Anubis with additional troops, millions of them. Anubis has agreed to meet with them on the planet your people have designated P-X-666. The meeting is scheduled to take place in two days."

General Hammond had Captain Dylan explain the dietary and reproductive habits of the Magog. By the time he was finished, several members of the audience were looking ill. Discussion on how the Magog arrived in this universe was tabled in order to discus how to remove the ones that were meeting with Anubis. As Dylan explained, the Magog psychology expected treachery as the norm, so if they could somehow eliminate the Magog meeting with Anubis, the Magog leaders back at wherever they came from would believe that Anubis had betrayed them. And, since Anubis apparently had no way of contacting the Magog, he would not be able to explain what really happened.

Discussions were revolving around tactics when Harper interrupted the proceedings. "You know, if I was Anubis, and someone stopped me from acquiring a few million more troops, I'd be pretty pissed."

"He's already pissed at us, Harper," replied O'Neill "What's your point"

"Well, what if it wasn't us, but one of those other system lord guys who spoiled the negotiations?"

It was Carter who first saw where Harper was coming from. "I hate to admit it, Harper, but that's brilliant. We go in disguised as Jaffa troops from another system lord. As long as none of our troops are captured, we ruin the negotiations, and stir up trouble between the system lords." Rommie had explained the situation between her and Harper, so Carter was no longer considering separating him from his privates, but she still didn't approve of him. "Bratac, can you supply us with Jaffa armor and some staff weapons?"

"In limited numbers yes."

Another problem was communications. The Lancers couldn't speak English, nor could the Stargate teams speak Common. While it was a simple task to program translation nanobots to translate English to Common, and vice versa, it took several days for the human body to adjust to the nanobots, days they didn't have. While Harper's translation devices could theoretically be used, they required that the speaker speak clearly, unhurriedly, and in an environment with a minimum of background noise, something that was generally difficult to achieve when the speaker was in the middle of a firefight. Trance had the solution to this problem. During the time she and Dr Jackson had spent aboard the Andromeda, she had injected him with translation nanobots. "The translator kept getting in the way," was her explanation. Dr Jackson could now understand Common and she could understand English. She and Dr Jackson could work together as translators - liaisons , while Rommie, who could both speak and understand English would be another.

"Like Hell you're coming with us," shouted Dr Jackson. "You're going to stay right here."

"I'm not just a translator, Daniel." argued Trance. "I'm a medic. You're going to need my services."

Dr Jackson reluctantly agreed. He and Trance were assigned to Signifer Tran's team, which meant that Rommie would accompany Colonel O'Neill's Stargate teams. O'Neill's protests were as loud as Dr Jackson's had been, even more profane, and ultimately just as futile. Rommie would be his liaison with Andromeda's forces.

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It was the evening before the strike was to be launched, Dr Jackson and Trance were lying on a blanket spread out on the grass in a meadow near the Command. There were two glasses and a half empty bottle of wine on the grass beside the blanket. They were both lying on their backs gazing up at the stars. Dr Jackson had been pointing out the constellations to Trance, and telling her the stories behind them. She in turn had been amusing him by pointing out individual stars and giving them personal characteristics. The red giant Betelgeuse was a grumpy old man, while the brilliant Vega was a young woman with the philosophy of 'live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse'

There was a pause in their conversation and Trance turned to Dr Jackson.

"Are you frightened, Daniel; about tomorrow I mean, and what could happen."

He propped his head up on an elbow and gazed into her eyes. Thinking that she might need reassurance about her own fear he replied, "I'm always frightened before a battle."

"You'll never have to be frightened as long as you're with me," she whispered. Then, she pulled his head down towards hers, and Dr Jackson turned his back to the watching stars.