Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Stargate Universe or those of the Highlander universe those belong to other entities whom I would beseech to look favorably on this humble work of mine. The concepts involved in these two separate television shows do not belong to me either. The story I have written however does. This story may not be posted on any pay site or in any way shape or form make any profit for anyone (I know I'm not making a thing from it)
Authors Note:
Review Response:
kinghenrythev …. Sorry I lost you so quickly perhaps you will at least read till section 7? Also thank you for your thoughts. I did find them more critical that constructive. Any ideas on some of the specifics I might look at improving? Suggestions in general for better characterization would be much appreciated.
On a side note if you are this disheartened by my humble attempt at a story then I feel you may have to write and then read your own to actually be satisfied.
Village Mystic… Thank You! I really did need to hear that you do like the story and were getting something out of it. Giggles are always good. Also rest assured that I have indeed taken all you have sent my way in the spirit of genuine constructive criticism. I dearly love reviews that simply tell me people like the story and what they like about it. Your reviews give me something equally as valuable. You point out mistakes and obstacles in my work that I can learn form to make sure my thoughts are transferred as smoothly and exactly through the medium of written language to you my readers. You have given me quite a bit to chew on though and so far all of your points have been valid so it has taken me a bit to catch up on the editing part past chapters part to bring them up to date.
On a side note your advice about more character background and point of view is something I have been kicking around in my head trying to find a way to do it and keep the story moving. I think you will find the next two sections filling in some of those holes in the story. And I will let everybody know up front that Duncan is just not going to be a happy camper throughout the entire thing. But when is Duncan ever happy?
Oh and before I forget My Punctuation really sucks. I was horrible at English grammar and writing in school. This story just has to come out though. I will do my best to figure a way to differentiate thought speak from regular speech and the like but as to the proper use of the comma? I'm doomed.
SG1-Fanfic…..Well I am going to say it before someone else does the whole Teal'c and Daniel thing was just plain silly. Good silly but nonetheless. I am glad however it was well received. I am glad the sparring match went over well I did try to add in more of Teal'c's perspective on things. After all he is a Jaffa general (god I am so going to hell for this. Glad I'm Wiccan.)
Jaffa General where you can get all your go'uld needs we have fine new hatac battle cruisers and excellent Zat Nicatels all at bargain prices. So come on down today we guarantee Yu will be happy and maybe you will be too.
I'm sorry I just had to do that. And of course let you in on the part of the sparring match that had me laughing to tears. When Teal'c throws Sam the Rattan Staff. It's courtesy of ' Teal'c's Toss.' So for the next fifteen minuets all I could do was visualize SG-1 and SG-2 with Catapults like the one used in robin hood prince of thieves (ya know the one that tosses Kevin costner over the castle wall? And will scarlet says ##$ me he made it) tossing Teal'c from one end of a field to another trying to get him to land in scoring circles. Teal'c Toss Coming to a toy store near you! Needless to say T' was NOT Happy.
Cattibrie393 … Thank you. I was hoping I could keep things somewhat in the present Stargate universe but as we all know that is somewhat impossible with Sam being an immortal.
AC/DC … your wish is my command. Here ya go !
Wordling … I think you and village mystic are on the same page. I am working towards that goal even now hope this chapter fills in a few gaps. Thank you for your review keep it up please.
Ruth … thank you so much for your kind words. I still see room for improvement on my part but I am glad the story is liked at present .
MsJonyReb….Again Thank You. I would like to warn you though that as light and happy this last section has been there are dark times ahead for all. And we all know what happens when you put Duncan and Ritchie together…. Parenting Issues.
Anonymous Shadow … don't worry the action is coming soon! Not too long now. At the risk of sounding clich'e Watcher Immortals and Jaffa OH MY! What ever will the evil go'uld do?
And now…. Da da da dum……
Stargate
Secrets
Section Eight
"Oh sorry I dropped the phone damned clutter on my desk today. Say how does 8pm sound to you?"
"Just fine sir and thank you Mr. President." Jack felt a little high from the sudden rush of fresh oxygen to his brain. He almost giggled in relief. They covered a few trivial things while they had each other on the phone and then Jack began to get things ready so he could leave the base for about 12-18 hours.
Day 5 1430hrs
"Right this way everybody and we will get you settled in to your quarters." Sergeant Rogers said as he led the newcomers through the SGC. They had been given security passes and a special permit to carry their weapons upon them at all times.
Duncan was impressed, he would never have guessed all this was buried under Cheyenne Mountain. He was beginning to have a good feeling about the situation. It was not often that an immortal was treated with respect and dignity when at the hands of any government. He watched as they were lead down several corridors and stopped suddenly.
"Mr. Mac loud?" Rogers half asked half announced "you will be in here for now." He opened the door to a well furnished room. It was set up similar to a studio apartment with the bedroom kitchen and living area all in one large space. " You will find the bathroom down the hall to your left. Your key card will open the door, otherwise only a security override will do so."
"Thank you Sergeant this will do nicely. What do I have to do to have some personal items shipped here?" Duncan asked.
"That can me arranged through the mail room. We will be covering that on the tour scheduled for tomorrow morning." Came the quick reply.
"Thank you." Duncan tossed his coat in the room and closed the door. He rejoined them in the hall.
"Miss Deveroux, You will be in this room." Again the Sergeant indicated a door and opened it. "The women's restroom is on the right, across from the men's." He added.
Amanda simply looked in then rejoined the group.
When Sergeant Rogers finished explaining to Joe about his room he turned to face them all.
"You have access to the main sections of the SGC if you wander in to a restricted area you will be notified immediately as those areas are never left unattended." He looked at Amanda "I have been instructed to inform you that if you wander into a restricted area more than once you will be placed in a holding cell." He looked at her levelly.
"I wouldn't dream of it Sergeant." Amanda said sweetly.
"I'm sure you all must be hungry. I would be glad to escort you to the chow hall at this time." He offered.
"I think I will just take a rest in my quarters for now if nobody minds." Joe was beginning to get a bit tired.
No one objected and the group continued on saying they would meet up later to talk.
Day 5 1500hrs
General Hammond was in the chow hall taking a break. He had covered most of the initial 'inspection' already and wanted a soda and sandwich. As he ate various people he had knew and had worked with in his time at the mountain stopped by to say hello.
"Thank you airman I will most certainly let my granddaughter know you asked about her and thank you." George was saying as he sat there. The airman excused himself politely and George took a bite of his sandwich. It was at this point that he looked up to see Duncan Mac loud enter the Chow hall. He coughed but managed to cover up his surprise by taking a sip of soda.
George wiped his mouth and was about to take another sip out of the glass when he noticed another face he recognized enter and sit down next to Duncan. 'Good God! That's The Amanda. Shit I've got to warn jack. No wait a minuet we may have bigger problems than that if there are two immortals here.' He was beginning to fidget and stopped himself. Just then both immortals turned to look at the door and in walked 'Adam Pierson? The watcher? Is IMMORTAL? That's it I'm getting to the bottom of this.' George got up and hurried out of the chow hall leaving his dirty plate and glass where it sat.
Day 5 1530
"Jack!' George hurried in to Jacks office.
"What's up?" Jack jumped. He had never seen his former CO so upset. 'Well maybe that one time…'
"We need to talk now" George Quickly closed the office door. "Did you authorize some new people to be on base? Tall guy dark hair slight Scottish accent?" George asked hurriedly
"Well I just got off the phone with the president I am going to explain it to him personally tonight. I guess I can go ahead and tell you." Jack began
"Do you know who those people are?" George was getting near panic.
" Well duh yeah there immortals." Jack said
George made a fish imitation for a few seconds before he nearly fell in to the chair behind him. " General that is damn well not funny!" all the tension in George was turning to agitation. "I know what they are and they are a security risk to this base even if they don't mean to be.
"Yes I know about the swords." Jack replied with a little agitation of his own.
" No you don't understand right now there are probably three people putting this base under surveillance. If they haven't already they are going to contact the Watcher Headquarters and we really don't want them snooping or the whole Stargate program could get out." George explained.
"I think we need to have a talk with our guests." Jack picked up the phone on his desk. " This is O'Niell escort our new guest and SG-1 to the briefing room." Jack hung up. "Lets find out what's going on then shall we?" Jack gave George a 'mind explaining to me how you know all this' look.
Day 5 1600hrs
SG-1 with the exception of Daniel, Jack, George and the immortals were all seated around the briefing room table. When Jack called the meeting to order.
"Sorry to interrupt your acclimation to your new surroundings, but something has been brought to my attention." Jack paused " uh I understand our last guest will be a few moments he said to start without him. Dr Jackson is busy at the moment. General Hammond would you like to explain your concerns?" Jack turned to George. Who intern looked at Jack. George then shifted his attention to the immortals.
"Can we continue here before this turns in to a Greek western?" Jack asked
"Jack its not that simple. I .. " George made his mind up. "You four " he indicated Sam, Amanda, Duncan and Adam. " are immortals. Don't worry Jack didn't say anything." He noticed the look of warning Duncan gave Jack. " I am a watcher. I am also a General in the USAF and responsible for the security of this planet and thus this base." George took a breath. " If your watchers who surely are watching the base at this moment report that all of you are here" he indicated all but Sam. " then this base is drawing undue attention from an organization not under the control of the United States. Given the nature of what we do here this causes me great concern. The last thing we need here is a nosey watcher council."
"I think I can assure you that wont happen George." Came Joseph Dawsons voice from the hall.
"And just how do you figure?" Jack asked Joe
Joe took his seat at the table "well as George here can tall you I am the head of the American Chapter of the Watchers. Nothing that happens here in North America gets further than me unless I send it along. Besides you only have to worry about one watcher at the moment." Joe finished
"Well I see four immortals Joe so there has to be three right?" George was way out of his element. His element being one of being in the know.
"You are Samantha Carters Watcher, I am Duncan Maclouds, and Adam doesn't have one courtesy of me. That leaves one. Amanda's watcher is Rachael Burk. I can have her reassigned." Joe explained.
"Wait a minuet here." Jack looked at George. " You know about immortals?" George nodded. "You know about Sam being one?" again with the nod. " You did not report this to the president or tell me?"
"Jack I have taken many oaths in my life some of them interfere with each other now and then so I compromised. I did not inform the us government about immortals that would have been a death sentence for them. Nor did I inform the watchers of what Samantha was really doing. As for telling you it was not my place to say."
"I thought immortals could not die? So what's up with the death sentence thing?" Jack asked
"General, " it was Duncan who spoke this time. " The term immortal is slightly misleading. We can indeed die permanently."
"Care to inform me as to how?" Jack dug a little deeper
The unspoken conversation between the immortals made Jack and Georges staring contest earlier look nonexistent. After several minuets and a few dead languages later the immortals collective attention was returned to the table.
"We can die if our heads are cut off from our bodies." Sam said. "Its why we carry swords sir. There has been for time immemorial something in existence known as The Game. Whether it is true or not I have no idea but many immortals are taught by their teachers that the very last immortal left alive will be granted the prize. We don't know what exactly this prize is but it is rumored to be enough power to rule this planet forever.
"I had wondered about the swords" Jack commented, " I was thinking that they were a comfort thing from an older time. Now what about the Watchers?" Jack turned his attention on Joe.
"We watch. Never interfere. And we record for history the lives of the immortals."
"It would seem some of us do interfere." George commented none to pleasantly to Joe.
"You can stop that right now George Hammond." Sam said to the utter shock of those present. "General or no I will not see you turn yourself in to a hypocrite. We have known of each other for years and had many a talk about the past present and future. I consider you a great friend and an excellent commanding officer." Samantha interjected.
"I believe I now see what you meant when you said you have your ways." Teal'c commented.
"George care to comment?" Joe asked with a smirk.
George was doing the fish thing again and had just pulled himself together when in walked Daniel Jackson.
"Sorry to interrupt but Jack I ….." Daniel froze in his tracks "Amanda What are you doing here?!"
"Daniel I'm Sorry I … " Amanda began to apologize.
"NO Save it!. We have known each other 15 years and if you cant refrain from prying in to areas of my life that are off limits then our relationship is over." Daniel said. "Jack what's going on?"
Amanda got up quickly and left knocking her chair over in the process. All eyes turned to Daniel who suddenly wished he were not there anymore.
Day 5 1637hrs
Amanda ran down the hall in tears. For her crying was highly unusual in this case it was even more so as she could not stop. She reached the door to her quarters keyed the lock, entered and slammed the door behind her.
'Daniel was not always like this. He was kind and open and loving.' She thought as she crawled up on her bed and clutched a pillow….
FLASHBACK
15 Years in the past.
She sat at her campsite sipping her tea and watched as the man just across the way from her set up his tent. For the forth time in a row he had tied it off only to have it come crashing in on him the moment he stepped inside. He was in his twenties and not bad looking at that. A little wiry but that was ok with her. As she watched the tent fell in again and she could take it no more.
"Excuse me. Sir? " She helped him out of the pile of heavy fabric. "My name is water song I came over to offer my assistance with your tent. You seem to be having a bit of trouble." She offered.
"That" he said, " would be wonderful" He looked her up and down. "I'm Daniel Jackson and its good to meet you Water Song."
Working together they soon had the unruly tent tied down properly and securely. Afterwards Daniel commenced to setting up his campsite. This he did without incident. " Thank you for all your help. This is my first time to a gathering of this sort can you tell me more about it all I know is that it is a gathering of people who practice earth based religions."
"You know they don't allow reporters here Mr. Jackson." She said coldly
"I'm not a reporter" he said simply "I'm an archeologist and a linguist. "
" And you came here for?" she let the question hang
"Several reasons actually. One I am curios as to how the ancient cultures of the past have survived and mutated in to what is now modern paganism. Two I am interested if any of the older practicing pagans have any knowledge of ancient cultures and lastly I'm lost." He said the last with despair.
"Then Mr. Jackson you have come to the right place. Merry met." She offered in greeting.
"Merry met," he returned after a pause. " So do you know anyone I might speak with to point me in the right direction?" he asked.
"Yes actually, me" she smiled at him.
"Well I was looking for and elder and you are much to beautiful for that right?" he was walking on eggshells and he knew it. Last thing he wanted was for her to dislike him.
"Ha ha ha" she laughed heartily. "Age does not make an elder here. Mr. Jackson."
"Daniel, Please." He insisted.
"Daniel then." She smiled warmly at him.
Just then a conch horn sounded three times.
"That is the call to opening ceremony Daniel. Would you care to walk together?"
As they walked she began to take a good look at this man. Not his feature so much as his soul. He was stronger than he knew and he had a great heart. That much she could tell by standing near him.
So much attention was she paying to the study of him that she forgot to look where she was going and tripped. H e stooped to help her up and when she grasped his hand she gasped out loud and went immediately in to a trance like state. There she saw two roads. Down one road she said goodbye to the man beside her shortly after they met. She saw hurt, rage and blood flowing in rivers. The other road she befriended him and mentored him and there was still darkness but there was the light of hope.
Then she came to. " Sorry must have tripped." She said shakily
"Are you sure you are ok?" he asked and held her hand tighter.
" I think I will be." She said and they continued on their way to the ceremony.
ENDFLASHBACK
'Hope' she thought. She went to the bathroom and touched up her markup and headed back to the briefing room.
Day 5 1632
"Is it just me or am I the only one on the planet who does not know an immortal?" Jack asked in exasperation.
"What's an immortal?" Daniel asked trying to calm his anger. He stepped fully in to the room and took a seat. His usually one was taken by a dark haired man with an if looks could kill expression on his face.
"I think it would be best Daniel since you know Amanda that you ask her about it" Sam said coldly.
"People in the interest of time I agree. Daniel what have you got?" Jack said
"The Space Station Colony Jack I completed the translation. Dr. Pierson still needs to go over it for errors but I think I have it." Daniel said. He was once more all business.
"So Daniel what have you got?" Jack repeated himself.
"Apparently the Wall was left there by the ancients as a marker or waypoint to those who wished to find the station. I was wrong in my initial assessment that only space fairing races could access the station anyone who could gate to the moon of the worshipers of the elements could. If that is their intention were not hostile. According to the wall the station was the second of four meeting places of the alliance. We know of one on earnest planet and we can no longer access that gate. They may have a book of knowledge there as well." Daniel was excited.
" What about weapons Daniel did it say anything about any big honking space guns?" Jack waited
"No but I would think that a station the size this one would need to be to host so many would have several ZPM"s " Daniel supplied hopefully.
"Ok people it's been a long day let's sleep on this and in the morning after the tour we meet here again. I'm considering placing an immortal on each team. And sending 4 teams. Joe after tomorrow's briefing you can meet tup with technician Tyler and get to work on the computers." Jack stood " Dismissed."
They all filtered out going there separate ways. Daniel decided to wander aimlessly with his thoughts for a bit. He knew he had overreacted and there was more going on here than he knew. He would just have to find Amanda and work things out. He walked towards the guest quarters lost in his own thoughts.
FLASHBACK(A/N yes Daniel gets to have flash backs.)
15 years ago
"Hello welcome to the Silver Moon Beltane festival" said a cheery teenager in beautifully handmade summer dress. "Did you want to register?"
"Yes please." Daniel Jackson Egyptologist answered.
"Just sign your name here and print here, you can use your pseudonym if you like for privacy." Came the registration assistant voice once more. "We do have a few rules here you will have to abide by if you wish to join us. They are quite simple and I don't think you will have any problem with them." She smiled. 'Damn he's so cute, ah maybe later' " the first and highest rule here is if it harm none do what thou wilt. Thought this may sound easy its not harm means any harm to anything including yourself. Next rule is very straightforward. No Weapons of any type this excludes ceremonial knives and swords. Oh and staves. All others are prohibited. No Drugs allowed period no exceptions. We do allow alcohol but drunkenness to the point of violence will not be tolerated. No cameras No recording devices we and others like us are a very private group as I think you will understand. And lastly No Reporters of any type."
" That sounds simple enough" Daniel pondered the first rule. 'That does make quite a bit of sense.' "How much is the camping fee?"
"$7.00. You can buy food from the concessions or you can bring food items to the kitchen tent and share the communal meals. Of course you can always cook your own food at your campsite." She took the proffered bills and gave him a receipt "very well Mr. Daniel Jackson my name is moon dancer and I hope to see you around. Just follow the road back to the large clearing you can set up pretty much anywhere you want."
He thanked her and continued up the road over a rise and in to a sheltered valley. Once there he picked a decent campsite and began to unpack his truck. It was a sunny day and the ground was firm and dry. 'This should not be too much trouble' he thought. He soon learned differently as. He was about to give up and sleep in the truck if it rained after the 4th time the tent fell in on him. The fifth time he was going to give up. Then he heard her voice. Like water bubbling in a brook.
"Excuse me…."
ENDFLASHBACK
Daniel tuned a corner just then to come face to face with Amanda.
"I'm Sorry" they both said at once.
"I" again they were in sinc.
Daniel reached out to her and when she grasped his hand he pulled her in to a hug. "I am sorry my Lady Water Song. I should have known there was more to it. Thought I am a little upset you were spying on the base just to find out what was distressing me so." Daniel pulled back from her but held on to her arms. " can we go somewhere and talk?"
She nodded and they walked back to her quarters.
Day 5 1700hrs
"Yes Sir Mr. Presidend I understand. Sure I would love to reschedual, no, no its not that important well it was but it worked itself out in time. Yes sir thank you." Jack had never been so relived in his life. He hung up the phone and went to find Teal'c for a boxing match. He needed to just forget about things for a while. Maybe Teal'c would even be kind enough to knock him out.
End Day 5 1800hrs