Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG1 or Stargate the movie, or anything else you lawyers can think of! But I do, however, own the heroine of this story, Aster! Yay!
"…Speech…"
'…Thought…'
'…Quote…'
''…Foreign language…''
oOoOoOo
"Oh no! Carrie? Pete?" Aster pressed her face up against the dirty green glass of her fish tank, "…Little Bob?" the teen pouted, "I knew I should have got the neighbours to look after you while I was away."
Aster left the tank and approached the small mountain of letters piled up behind her apartment door, "Okay, let's see here…"
She knelt on the floor and began to pick her way through the pile, tossing junk mail and catalogues on one side and bank notices in the other, "I'm away for a whole year and all I get is junk mail, bank statements and five… wait… six letters."
The seven turned out to be four Christmas cards, one birthday, a nicely-disguised piece of junk mail and a letter from Daniel, "Wow, Dad, you finally remembered my birthday," Aster murmured, reading over the hastily scribbled card, "Kudos to your new secretary."
"Dear Aster," the girl read out, "Happy Birthday honey, hope you're doing well, please call me.
Your Father, General West. Hmm, better call Dad then, right?" Aster turned to the tank, as she normally talked to her fish when things weren't going well, and sighed deeply.
oOoOoOo
"Hello, General West's office," the secretary spoke at the other end of the phone.
"Hey Rachel, how's things? Is Dad around? I just got his birthday card and it said to call him."
"Aw, hi Aster! Glad to hear you calling, your Dad was worried after you didn't reply to the letter. Did it get to the right address?"
"It got to the right address, I've just been away for a while."
"Really? On holiday?"
"Oh no, work related. The trip took longer than suspected."
"Alright, dear, I'll just put you through, hang on."
Aster leaned against the kitchen wall, holding the phone to her ear and waiting for her father to answer, 'I should get a cat… or some kind of pet that can take care of itself if I'm away… the ones Ra had were nice…'
"Hello?" General West's gruff voice spoke through the phone.
"Hey, Dad, it's me," Aster smiled, snapping out of her daydream.
"Aster? Hi honey, did you get the card okay?"
"Yeah, just opened it then."
"Then? It didn't go to the wrong address, did it?"
"No, Dad, I've just been away for a while. More than a year, I'd say… I'll have to check the calendar."
"A year? Where on Earth…?"
"Work related. The same work that I did with O'Neill and Dr Jackson, actually," Aster smirked, waiting for her father's reaction.
"What? It's still going? …You were there for a year?"
"Not actually there for a year, I was abroad for a year. It's hard to tell if they are calling it an MIA or a POW… We found out that there are more baddies out there and one of them kidnapped me," Aster explained without saying anything that she wouldn't want other ears to overhear.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Nope, all true. But O'Neill, Danny and these other people, uh, rescued me. And now I'm fine. How have you been?"
"Good, yourself?"
"Pretty good. Not mentally scarred or anything, you know," Aster played with the phone cord, entwining her fingers in it, "Hmm… I should probably go now. I've got to sort all these bank letters to see if I still have an account and then there's this debriefing that I have to go to… Gawd that's gonna be terrible!"
"Alright then, I'll see you later. Take care,"
"Bye," Aster replied quietly, and hung up the phone.
oOoOoOo
"Smith, nice to see you again. Please, take a seat," General Hammond indicated to one of the seats surrounding the table. Aster sat down without a word, knowing that all of SG1 were watching her. General Hammond cleared his throat, "We are very glad to have you back, Miss Smith, we were very worried about you when you were…"
"Knocked out, taken to another planet, gifted to a Goa'uld as a servant and having to serve Klorel for over a year, sir?" Aster inquired lightly, "You shouldn't have worried, I was fine. The worst that happened while I was away, apart from having molten gold stuck on my forehead, was being thrown against a wall a few times by one of those ribbon devices. But I'm fine now."
"That's… great to hear," Hammond nodded, not having a clue to how to approach this debriefing.
"So," O'Neill started nonchalantly, "What did ya learn…?"
"That Apophis doesn't trust Klorel one bit, and he thinks I slept with Klorel, which I didn't," Aster frowned, "Not much else of use… cooking skills, manners, rituals… things that Danny would be interested with but nothing that you guys could use. They didn't trust me with any good stuff…" Aster wondered if she should tell them about Erebus or not. Erebus wasn't a threat to Earth, for now.
"Were you trained to operate any Goa'uld technology?" Teal'c inquired calmly.
"Oh yeah! Bra'tac taught me how to fly one of those… glider thingies. That was cool. Not sure if Klorel ever found out about that," Aster cackled to herself.
"What about those things around your neck and wrists? Did you get them off?" Sam asked after a long period of silence.
"Oh, those," Aster was wearing a turtleneck top, so it was quite hard to tell if she still had them. She hooked one finger over the turtleneck and pulled it down just enough for them to see the gold-naquadah necklace still around her neck, "They're still there. There are anklets as well, but they're made out of a naquadah and gold alloy, the only way to get them off was for Klorel to use his hand device on them…" Aster looked saddened, fiddling with the bracelets.
"It's alright, we'll find a way to get them off," Daniel smiled comfortingly.
"I very much doubt that," Aster replied moodily, "I've just missed out a whole year of my life. My savings account flopped because I wasn't there to keep it going, my goldfish died…"
"Carrie, Pete and Bob?" Daniel asked sadly.
Aster nodded, "Yeah… I'll get a cat next time."
"We shall sort out your finances later," Hammond told her calmly, "Along with compensation and a little word to the bank."
"Do I still work here?"
Everyone looked from Aster to Hammond. Hammond sighed, "We're not sure, yet. We could definitely use your expertise and knowledge of the Goa'uld on base, since Dr Jackson is part of SG1…"
"But you're not letting me through the gate, is that it?" Aster interrupted the cacophony of excuses that followed, raising her hand, "I'm gone."
Aster left the room, jogging down the hallway towards her locker.
"Oh great," Daniel sighed.
"So… what do we do?" O'Neill looked about the group.
"Nothing," Daniel swivelled about on his chair, "She'll be fine in a few days."
"What will she be doing at SGC?" Sam asked.
"Paperwork, translation, etc."
"Ooh, fun," Daniel huffed sarcastically.
"Well I'm sorry but there's nothing else we can do. She's too much of a liability to this command centre as it is…" Hammond explained defensively.
Aster walked past the door without stopping, a bag of her belongings slung over her shoulder, "Heard that."
oOoOoOo
Ding-dong
"What?" Aster yelled, leaning back in her computer chair with her feet resting on the edge of the desk. She was in a bad mood. She didn't really care about whoever had rung her doorbell. She didn't really care if the door was locked and they spent half an hour banging on her door to get her to open it. She was in a bad mood and she couldn't give a flying rat's ass. She was always in a bad mood.
She heard her door click open and someone enter her apartment, calling her name. Aster simply leaned back; eyes closed and fingers in a steeple, "What is it, Danny?"
Daniel walked into her mini-office, "Just checking to see if you're alright…"
"I'm not done with the video SG-5 sent be back yet, the lighting and contrast is murder, I can berley see any of the symbols on the wall. The only reason I am still looking it over is because it's something about Ra," Aster sighed.
"No, no. I didn't come to talk about work… I was just worried that you've been a little… odd since you got back," Daniel stated, taking a seat.
Aster sat up, "Since I got back, eh? That was a long time ago. I have my job, and everything is good. Translation, research… the stuff you would have done if they had kept you from going through the Stargate."
"I'm sorry that they're not letting you through the Stargate. There are just restrictions on who can be part of the teams and—" Aster cut him off.
"Danny, I don't want to be on a team, I just want to be out there. I…" her voice hitched, "…I miss Skaara. Ye Gods, I even miss Klorel for all his whining and moaning. And Earth just really sucks, too…" she looked towards Daniel, "You understand, right?"
"Oh Aster…" Daniel sighed deeply, looking at the ground. He wondered what he could say to her, or if there really was anything to say. No, too late, Aster exploded.
"Don't 'Oh Aster' me, Daniel!" Aster snarled, "I've had enough crap from everyone else at the SGC. There is a suitcase on my bed in the other room that I've been packing since I got home. All I want to do is get that suitcase and hurl myself through the Stargate to Chulak…" the girl sighed, "I'll deliver the translated texts tomorrow, okay?"
Aster ignored Daniel's departure, her mind in turmoil, 'What's the point? Klorel will never forgive me…'
oOoOoOo
Sorry guys! I have to cut it short there because of holidays. Promises that the next chapter will be super long! :)
Blanc: :) thanks for the on-going support! It really means a lot to me. Muse's stories just rule so much!
Isha: Yeah, SO much fun with the DVD. After watching Skaara/Klorel again and again and again we watched it in German! LOL! hugs DVD my prescious...
Kat:Nah, I like the Stargate universe the way it is, except for the fact that there is no Ra :'( Klorel and Aster will meet again, don't worry :D still haven't figured out how it's going to end yet. Hmm... to screw the universe, or not to screw the universe... that is the question.
Apocalyptic Muse: :D thankee! Can't wait to get back from the holidays and keep writing. Have many devious ideas for the next chapter. Hehehe... plotting
