Lightning
Part IX
Daniel groggily opened his eyes. As he turned his head 'round, he saw something he'd never thought he would once see in his life: Jack in rocket-PJ's.
"Ja-aaaack…" Daniel murmured, suppressing a yawn, "Is that really you, or am I seeing things?"
"Don't even start," came the reply, "I'm going to kill the guy who lend me these."
"I don't think he'd appreciate that really much, Jack," Daniel said, getting out of bed. It was then that Jack noticed Daniel's… outfit.
"Geez, Daniel," Jack said with a big grin on his face, "I never knew you liked Pokémon?"
"What? Oh, well, yeah," came Daniel's reply, his cheeks turning red, "Eh, I got PJ's from… Alan, I thought was his name. And, well, he obviously likes… Pokémon." The archeologist stared at his shirt, which was about four sizes too small for him. "And he's also not as tall as me, unfortunately."
Jack smirked, "Ya think?"
Half an hour later, the two men had taken a shower, put on some fresh clothes (fortunately for them, the right size this time), met up with Sam – and were now heading towards the kitchen for – what they thought would be – a peaceful and quiet breakfast. Boy, were they wrong…
As Jack, Sam and Daniel entered the kitchen, they were not surprised to see three of the – what they thought – four Tracy brothers already sitting there, ready for some questions and answers.
"Look, guys…" Jack started, but was interrupted by the oldest Tracy-brother sitting there.
"We know, breakfast first, answers later," John smiled, holding up his bowl of Cheerios, "And besides, I haven't finished mine either."
"But John-"
"No buts, Alan," John interrupted, "It's not like they're going anywhere, right?"
"I guess," Alan sighed. "Hey, Gordo, shouldn't we get Brains up here? He said he wanted to talk to them, right?"
"Right," Gordon answered, "See you soon, folks!"
As the two pranksters of the Tracy family walked away, John finished eating his Cheerios, excused himself and headed towards his father's office. Of course, that was the opportunity for the three SGC-employees to review their current situation – while eating their breakfast.
"Okay, Carter, status?" Jack immediately took the lead, also grabbing some Cheerios.
"One word: wow. This place has like, the most advanced technology I've seen in years, excluding everything… off-world of course – and I don't just think it's the fact that we've traveled several years into the future. Titanium locking mechanisms, stale plate doors practically everywhere… if I didn't know any better, I'd say we're in some sort of futuristic SGC," Sam immediately answered.
"Alright, so… state-of-the-art electronic equipment – what have you got, Daniel?"
"Eh, I don't have that much to mention, honestly. Four Tracy-brothers, Scott, John, Gordon and Alan. They all seem pretty close, eh, John seems to me like he's the wise guy, Gordon is a big fan of Independence Day and Back To The Future, Alan has a knack for Pokémon – and both him and Gordon look like the troublemakers of the family to me – and Scott obviously loves rockets. Jeff… well, we've met him, that's not something I can say of at least five or six other people… Something about a Tin-Tin, Onaha, Kyrano…"
"Nice names," Jack muttered under his breath.
"Don't forget the guy on the business trip," Sam added, "I thought his name was… Virgil?"
"Virgil, right, thanks," Daniel continued, "And… then we've got this 'Brains'-person-"
"What is it with those names around here?" Jack now said aloud.
Daniel counted on his fingers, "Anyway, I think we've covered them all, right?"
"No, wait," Sam suddenly said, "Fermat. That's the last one."
"Right! Thanks, Sam!"
"Don't mention it."
"Okay, folks – so, what's up next?" Jack continued.
"Well, we've got this big cross-exam coming up," Sam answered, "And I quote John; 'It's not like we're going anywhere, right?' But to be honest, I think we're running out of options. They've treated us good so far, I don't see why they can't be of any help…"
"Aw, come on, Sam!" Jack exclaimed, "You don't think they've got some time-traveling machine standing in their back yard, do you?"
"Unless…" Daniel interrupted, thinking out aloud, "Well, from what I could gather, Sam – you were 'saved' by this Lady… Penelope?" As Sam nodded, he continued, "Don't you think it's a coincidence that they just 'happened' to be looking for that bald guy? And that they also just happened to know Jeff Tracy?"
Sam nodded, "I know, I've been thinking about that too – come to think of it, how did they know in the first place we worked in a mountain in Colorado?"
"Yeah, well – I tried to asked the same thing, but all the response I got was, 'Let's just say I've got my resources'," Jack said, and added a few seconds later, "I think this is going to turn in to one hell of an interrogation, guys…"
Another fifteen minutes later, the three members of SG-1 had met up with Brains and Fermat ("Love the glasses," Jack had said with a smirk), but little did they know that they'd actually also met up with a third new person… Virgil Tracy, who had joined the 'conversation' held in Jeff's office by audio link.
"Alright," Jeff started, "Let's do it this way; your question, our question. It's the most effective way of a two-way interrogation, and that way you can avoid a shouting match, much like yesterday's."
"Don't tell me you've done this before," Jack grunted.
"Yeah, well – we have. Our turn," Gordon said with a mischievous grin on his face.
"What?" Jack exclaimed, "Wait, wait, wait a minute – we haven't asked anything yet!"
Still, the mischievous grin didn't leave Gordon's face, and Jack somehow got the suspicion that the Tracy-family knew more about interrogations (and possible other extra-curricular activities?) than they told. "Oh, yes, you have," the second youngest Tracy-son said, "I think it was, 'Don't tell me you've done this before', if I remember correctly…"
"Gordon," Jeff said warningly, "Don't push it. Jack, if you'd be so please to tell us your side of the story…"
"Eh – Sam?"
"Me?" Carter said, quite surprised she had to honor to tell the adventures the trio had been in the last four days, "Well – here goes."
It took the Captain a whole forty-five minutes to tell the miraculous story from her point of view. Sam, Jack and Daniel had agreed in their short private conversation during breakfast, that they would reveal the secrets of the SGC – but within limits. No need to go into detail, Sam thought, as she told the crowd a slightly edited version of how the trio had ended up in 2020. No Apophis, no Serpent Guards… and no Teal'c. Sam felt sorry for her friend, but still… there had to be a way to get him back, there just had to be… After that, she explained how they'd arrived in Colorado Springs, watched a real Thunderbirds-rescue on TV (all four of the Tracy-boys actually got a little jumpy at hearing that, but fortunately for them, neither one of the SG-1 members noticed), then decided to try and contact the Thunderbirds… but considerably failing at that, the minute they'd decided to follow the big bloke. She finished her side of the story, at the point they were sedated by the ugly red fellow, since the next thing she knew was waking up, and hearing the pink lady and her friend.
Daniel continued, telling their side of the story – they'd woken up, got to see Sam at a TV, tied to a chair. The bald guy had told him and Jack to plant a bomb under the World Nation Tower in New York, and after that, they'd met Jeff and the rest of the story didn't need a further explanation.
"So… our turn," Jack said, after Daniel had finished the story, "Yesterday, you told us you knew the bald guy… how come? And do you have anything to do with the fact we had to blow up the building you had a meeting at?"
Jeff sighed. This was the question he had been expecting. This morning, he had a brief conversation with each one of his five sons – whether or not it was okay to tell the newcomers about the Thunderbirds. Alan and Gordon had said in unison, 'That's okay with me', Scott had just shrugged – not that he didn't care, but the trio seemed okay to him, however – both John and Virgil had their doubts. Virgil because he hadn't met the 'not-aliens' yet, but if the majority agreed, he'd agree too – and John… well, John just didn't know for sure yet. Not that wasn't natural… John was usually the one who thought things through as thoroughly possibly, but still – Jeff usually relied on John a lot. And if John didn't know for sure, then Jeff didn't know for sure either. However, four out of six was still a majority and Jeff decided to go with that. If it were to become a problem, they would deal with it eventually.
"That's another story… a rather long one, actually."
"Take your time," Jack said sarcastically, "We've got all the time in the world."
At that, Jeff had to smile a little, but continued anyway. "The reason why that bald guy, his name's The Hood, by the way, wanted to blow up the World Nation Tower… is probably because he knew I'd be there."
Jack had to blink twice. Did he just hear that correctly? The bald guy had been after Jeff TRACY?
"A couple of years ago… a mineshaft collapsed in South-Africa. We were there to save them… but unfortunately, we couldn't save them all… you just can't save them all…" Jeff stopped for a moment, remembering all those terrible events in his past, "We thought he was dead. The Hood was one of the few we couldn't save. But somehow, he survived. And he blamed me for not saving him. So… several months ago, he turned up again. Intended to kill all of us, especially me. And… to reveal all of our secrets."
"Secrets, what secrets?" Jack asked, but Sam's eyes grew wide, as she realized what Jeff Tracy just told them. "You mean… no. No, that's- that's not possible!"
"Sam? What? What's not possible?"
"Eh, Sam?" Daniel added, "You know, we'd appreciate it if you'd tell us what this is all about!"
"They're… they're…" Sam stuttered, "They're the- the-"
"The what, Sam?"
"The THUNDERBIRDS!"
Jack's jaw fell wide open. Daniel raised an eyebrow à la Teal'c. Sam still couldn't believe she just said that aloud. After at least five minutes of total silence, Jack was the first to speak up. "Is that – true?"
"Yes," Jeff answered, "And I do hope, that you will understand now, that there was no way I could've answered your questions before I knew you were completely safe, out of the grasps of the Hood."
"Oh, I hate that guy," Alan muttered.
"Okay, so the next obvious question," Daniel said, "Can you help us get us back to the past?"
"We kinda figured," Sam added, "That you guys have these very powerful computers… am I right?"
"Yes, we have," Jeff answered, "Please continue."
"Well, I was – we were actually hoping you could hack into the back-up system of the SGC, since it's completely abandoned now, and figure out where the second Stargate is located…"
"Eh," John interrupted, "To be honest, we already did that."
"Really?" Sam exclaimed, "And?"
"Eh… it's in Russia."
"Okay, great!" Jack said happily, hoping this was the way for them to get back to 1999, "You fly us there, we do a little break-and-entering, and voilà-"
"No."
"What? What do you mean, no?"
"No, we won't fly you to Russia," Jeff repeated, "Since the second… Stargate is under military control, I'm afraid we can't interfere."
"What?"
"You see, Jack – that's what we are all about. International Rescue has been able to operate throughout all these years, because we maintain complete secrecy and because we are a stand-alone organization, not related to any government at all. That's also why we can't interfere in any governmental operations. It would undo the IR-policy we've kept and maintained all these years," Jeff explained.
"Alright, we get it," Jack answered, "But now what? We can't stay here, I won't stay here, I-"
"That's what we've been thinking about this morning, when you guys were still asleep," this time it was John who replied, "Dad, Virgil and me-"
"Virgil?" Daniel interrupted, "I thought he was on… a business trip?"
"Well, I was – sort of," a new voice suddenly said, "Could someone please switch video on?"
What the hell- Jack thought, when he heard the voice, although he didn't see any new faces in the room. Jeff, however, didn't freak out at all, and just turned a monitor on. "Jack, Daniel, Sam – I'd like you to meet my third son, Virgil," he said proudly.
"Eh, nice to meet you," Daniel said to the monitor, still astonished by the sudden appearance of yet another son of Jeff Tracy, "What exactly do you mean by 'sort of'?"
"I am on a business trip right now, just not for Tracy Enterprises, but International Rescue. You see, I've been told that you thought there were only two Thunderbirds. In fact, there are five. You've seen One and Two, and they're the ones usually used at land rescues. One's the supersonic jet…"
"Fifteen thousandkilometersper hour," Scott proudly said, "Fastest plane on Earth's surface."
"Fifteen thousand?" Sam exclaimed, "No way!"
"… Two's our rescue freighter, then there's Three, our space craft-"
"Space craft?" Sam exclaimed excitedly – again, "Wow!"
"Thanks," Alan said with a big grin on his face, "I think it's 'wow' too."
"-and there's Four, our submarine…"
"You have a submarine?" – Sam again.
Virgil, however, continued to ignore the Captain's comments, and continued, "-and of course Five, most of the time inhabited by our lovely pilot John Tracy-"
"Thank you, Virgil," John said sarcastically.
"Five is our very own space station, 24hours a day, 7 hours a week fully operational, and always manned by at least one member of International Rescue, in this case that's me."
"You have your own SPACE STATION? I think I'm gonna faint…"
"Don't do that yet," Scott said with a gracious smile – he liked that woman already, "You can always do that later on the tour."
"We get a tour?" – Jack, this time. "Cool."