Chapter 19 – Realization & Comparison

"So that was the shield," Daniel said to Alex as he pointed to it with the barrel of his plasma rifle. It glowed slightly in the gloomy night sky. She looked back just as it disconnected from the Karma's Spacegate, leaving GC-1 totally in the dark.

"Yep," she said. "Next time you're in the rift, look around. It's quite a sight, and quite the ride. Even after all this time, traveling between 'Gates has never left me without something to look at."

Smiling, he turned towards John. "Where is the ship?"

"Just over that ridge," the Colonel replied without looking over at him—he was looking at something in the distance. Daniel looked over. Just then, the sun rose over the crest and the whole world exploded in a view of reds, oranges, and golds. It was the most beautiful thing Daniel had ever seen since he had been reincarnated into The System.

"Whoa," Daniel said.

"Yeah. I always make Hoffman start missions here at this time. It never ceases to amaze me of the beauty of a single sunrise. That's the one bad thing about being on a ship all the time: you can't see any sunsets, or sunrises."

"Aye, ye can't…but fer the Christmas Ball an' New Year's Celebration, there be some mighty pretty ones. Daniel, ye need to see 'em…when ye've been deprived of 'em fer such a long time, they be the best things ye've ever seen." Dagón seemed to be enjoying it as much as everyone else.

"I can't wait," Daniel said, not sure what neither the Christmas Ball, nor the New Year's Celebration were. "What are they?"

"What? Sunrises?" John asked, clearly thinking they were still talking about the sun.

"No! The Christmas and New Years things."

"Oh! Well," said the Colonel as they trudged on to where the site was, "the Christmas Ball is held on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, though we usually only stay for the Christmas Eve one. It's, um, a ball. There's lots of dancing and eating and intoxicating drinks…"

"Oh, aye," Dagón interrupted. "Remember th' time where ye drank too much that ye passed out onto—"

"Yes, Dagón! I remember," John cut him off. "So does almost everyone else. Who wouldn't?" Smiling sheepishly, the man continued with what he had been talking about before.

"Anyway," John continued, "we stay there overnight in a bunch of hotel rooms, and we just take off for a day.

"As for the New Year's Celebration, we go back to Old Earth to watch the traditional fireworks at precisely the midnight hour and have another ball, though this time, masked. We party all through the night, though GC-6 and 7 usually stay back in The System because we need some people there at all times—they're all not partiers, anyway. They're too dedicated to their work to do much more than monitor and go after the Androidians. I always said they were too serious to know what fun was…"

"So every GC team has their own personal Spacegate?" Daniel interrupted, not wanting to hear the Colonel prattle on.

Alex nodded. "They do…we stole most of them from the Androidians. There are many of them, though all of the ones we possess have the same symbol of origin. Each one, however, has a different address, and that's why GC-3 doesn't travel to our 'Gate, or vice-versa. We have the most concentrated amount of Spacegates in the galaxy, probably the Universe. But, as we say, what the Androidians don't know can't hurt us."

"Whoa," Daniel muttered, saying the same thing he had been saying whenever he had taken in something particularly unexpected. He didn't even realize he said it before it was out. "We have seven Spacegates?"

Alexandra nodded again. "That is, unless you count the one back on Old Earth. We also came into possession of seven Stargates, which are also found in GC 'Gate Rooms. The President and others, who do not wish to have to stay in The System permanently, go through the Stargate back on Earth and end up in one of the seven here, though they cannot pass through the Spacegate after they arrive on-ship. They need to use the Stargates at all times in order to get to the other ships."

"How were the Stargates made?" Daniel asked, not familiar with that part of the legend.

"Dr. Daniel Jackson discovered how to use them, Daniel," John said. "He and Colonel Jack O'Neill went through to a planet, and after that, the government had made it a regular thing—having multiple four-man SG teams exploring new planets, meeting new people, making new alliances… After a while, however, they ran into the Goa'uld; a race, like the Androidians, who enslaved people and had higher-ranking 'gods.'"

"I'm familiar with that part," Daniel said, astounded that someone else knew of the supposed myth they had back on Old Earth. "Please continue!"

"Jackson and O'Neill were partnered up with astrophysicist Major Samantha Carter and a Goa'uld enslaved alien called Teal'c, who was of the Jaffa race. Together, they made SG-1, the leading team of the SGC and they defeated most of the Goa'uld…all except Nun—who had remained hidden and asleep for many years.

"Ever wonder how Old Earth digressed into the Dark Ages again, Daniel? Of course not…you knew the answer all along and were ridiculed for it: the Goa'uld. They started killing the most influential humans a few hundred years ago before the Androidians killed them all. The Androidians then took over the Goa'uld's place as enslavers of people and wanna-be rulers of the Universe. The SGC was closed down, as all of the team members had either been killed or taken captive, and the Stargates weren't used anymore. As they got older, the silver color the Stargates turned gold from oxidation and disuse, so that's how we distinguish them from the Spacegates, even though they have constellations as their dialing code and ours has ancient letters."

"I can't believe that that's what actually happened," Daniel said, shaking his head from left to right. "It's actually not a myth!" He knew right then he had made the right choice in coming here. However, he leaned over to the Major and whispered, "That didn't answer my initial question at all," causing her to giggle quietly.

Thinking back to what the Colonel had told him, he said, "You know…that seems uncannily familiar. I mean, we have a Colonel whose name resembles that of the previous one: Colonel Jack O'Neill—Colonel John O'Brien. Do you see it? There is a similarity between them.

"We do have a Katherine, though she's not in the military, technically," Daniel continued. "Major Alexandra Croft—Major Samantha Carter? They have the same amount of syllables, and their last names begin with the same letter. And that Teal'c character seems like Dagón to me—enslaved by the alien race, turned good guy by the Colonel… What were the General and doctor's names?"

"Major General George Hammond and Doctor Janet Fraser," Alex said breathlessly.

"Major General George Hammond—Major General Joseph Hoffman. See the resemblance? Doctor Janet Fraser—Doctor Katherine Fields. The doctor's names aren't as symmetrical as the others, but their last names start with the same letter. If there was a picture of them still preserved, I'd bet that we all somewhat resemble them…at least a bit."

The rest of the team stared at him with disbelief. No one previously had put two and two together. They all stood there, dumbfounded, not believing what the linguist had told them.

"I mean, it makes sense," Daniel continued, not really noticing the looks of awe around him. "We could just be SG-1 reincarnated here to stop the other alien race from rising to power. I mean I have the same qualifications and first name as the one before me…Dr. Daniel Jackson—Dr. Daniel Matthewson. Hell, I mean we have almost the same name, for crying out loud! Isn't that enough evidence?

"If you need more, I have more. The leader for both teams is a Colonel. The only female on it is a Major. There was also a linguist on the team who was not military, and an alien, who just so happened to be enslaved by the bad guys. The head doctor is also a female and the man in charge of the entire thing is a Major General. This all makes sense. Am I right?"

Daniel then noticed everyone's expressions. "What'd I say?"

"We need to get back to the Spacegate…now!" John ordered and they all left at a run.

"What's happening?" Daniel yelled as they all ran as fast as their legs would carry them back the way they had come. "What did I say?"

"There's a prophecy, Daniel, of the Preserver coming and linking the forgotten past with the present," Alex puffed as they slowed down a bit to compensate for their talking. "And, from the looks of things, you've just done that. Daniel, we all believed that you were special, that you were different from all of us because of your jewel…that you were the Preserver. The musing you did over there just now…well, that just confirmed it. We're taking you home to tell Hoffman what had just happened."

"Oh, great," Daniel muttered, and poured on the juice, running right through the shield of the Spacegate, just as the others had done.

"What is it?" General Hoffman asked as GC-1 ran down the ramp of the Spacegate on the Karma.

"It's Daniel, sir," the Colonel said. Hoffman turned towards the linguist. "Well, actually, sir," John amended, "he doesn't really know what happened. He fulfilled a part of the prophecy of The Preserver—he linked the forgotten past with the present…"

Hoffman, without another word, led Daniel to his chambers, with the others following right behind him, and commanded him to repeat what he had said. After the linguist had finished, the General sat there, pensive and quiet. The rest of GC-1 stood silent behind the linguist, thinking about it, as well.

Finally, Hoffman spoke.

"Well, Daniel, there is actually a picture that has survived the Dark Ages, and we just happen to have it here in storage. I completely forgot about it. You may have a look, if you wish. Be sure to bring it back to me so that I may look on it. If you all want to go with the linguist, be my guest. Report back when you have found it."

"Yes, sir!" they all called, and the Colonel led the way to the storage room for GC-1.

They sifted through old uniforms, old tools and such until they finally found it. Preserved in a transparent case, it looked as if it had been on display or something before being put into storage. Coming out of the room and into better light, the crew looked down at the picture and gasped.

The picture, though hundreds of years old, seemed as if they were looking back at themselves. They looked almost identical to the team that had fought against, and lost, the Goa'uld. They rushed to show the General.

"General!" Daniel yelled as GC-1 pounded down the hallway. "We found it! You've gotta see this!"

"What in—?" the General began as the linguist carefully laid the picture, perfectly preserved, onto Hoffman's desk. Staring back at him were the team members of SG-1, the SGC's most trusted team. But, instead of seeing a whole different team of people he didn't know, the General saw his own team, GC-1, staring back at him.

"Well, I'll be damned," Joseph said as he looked up from the picture and saw that everyone in the room, including Dr. Fields—who had come in to see what all the excitement was about—were standing exactly how their counterparts were standing in the picture.

Looking from one face to the other, the General could see slight differences: Alexandra's eye and hair color, Daniel's bluer eyes, John's slightly more muscular body, Dagón's longer hair and moustache, and the doctor's eyes and hair style. Looking at the other General, Hoffman saw that the other one was slightly heavier than he, with blue eyes instead of green, darker hair, and a light complexion compared to Hoffman's chocolate-brown skin. Other than that, GC-1 before him was almost identical to its past equivalent, SG-1.

"Daniel," the General said in awe, "you were right…we all do look almost identical to SG-1. My God, this is something to really think about!"

Daniel smiled and was going to say something to them all, but the sound of a siren pulled them back to the business at hand.

"GC-1, you're to go to planet P97-080and check out what Androidian activity you can find," the General said grimly, clearly bummed about not getting to talk to his team further about the discovery. "Be careful. I've heard that the god there is hidden in an almost human-like form…he could be anyone. You leave in ten minutes. Oh! And Damian has requested to go with you. You are to take him."

"Yes, sir, General, sir," Colonel O'Brien said, mad at about taking Damian with them. "You heard the General, kids. Let's get geared up and ready to go!"

The team scrambled to do as their COs ordered.