Disclaimer: Just having fun with the characters for a little bit. Promise to give them back. Don't own them, never will. Sigh...
Author's note: Thanks to the following for their new reviews for this series...Desert Blossom-by-the-Sea (you so funny! lol!), Verb (the opening line for an episode? That would rock!), kittn (when is your next deadline? ;) lol!), StargateFan (a good chap to you, too!), feb04 (indeed!), Gwil (the best Teal'c stuff you've read? Can you say blushing?) and Lorettakay (I'm glad you weren't drinking at the time, either, my dear! I am given to understand that this fic may have already caused the untimely death of one keyboard by pepsi sprayage!). An apologetic nod to Sid about said keyboard. Sorry, sweetie! A big hey to all at As The Stargate Turns. Y'know I think you're mad, lubberly fun, every one of you. And hey to lostwlf who, despite being tired, was kind enough to review 'The Ideal Soldier', a ficlet I purely wrote to try and distract myself from the struggles I had writing this chappie. Cheered me up no end. Thank you all and bestest wishies.
The Assumption Of An Asgard
He had arrived in orbit some four Earth hours ago on board the 'Skadi', the vessel belonging to the High Council member Idun.
His own was currently undergoing repairs.
When Thor had spoken to O'Neill about the ongoing problems with his vessel, the human had chuckled. "Thor, buddy, you didn't think you could name it the 'Daniel Jackson' and have it actually stay out of the spaceship infirmary for more than five minutes, didja?"
His comment had been the source of some amusement. The ability of the archaeologist to sustain injuries was legendary, even amongst the Asgard. In fact, unbeknownst to his human friends, many of his race now spoke of receiving medical treatment as 'visiting Daniel Jackson'.
The Asgard were not without a sense of humor.
His business with General Hammond now complete,Thor carefully considered the two beings now standing in front of him. They had requested a private meeting with him and he had beamed them directly to his quarters aboard the 'Skadi'.
Daniel Jackson's voice had been halting as he had made their request. The Jaffa, Teal'c, did not choose to speak. Given the obviously uncomfortable state that the Doctor was in, Thor believed it to be a sign of the warrior's unnaturally advanced wisdom.
It was clear that this issue was one of great importance to them both, but it was very hard to understand why.
Interpersonal relationships between the Asgard had, for many centuries now, been almost purely intellectual. There were emotional ties to others, of course, but they had moved beyond the basic biological drive to form the close knit units that seemed to engender such powerful and sometimes destructive emotions in less advanced races.
It did not mean that each Asgard cared for all others equally. This would be impossible. For example, Thor himself did not care for Loki. As O'Neill had once said, Loki really had 'burned his bridges after burning Thor's house down too, with the cloning thing. Also, his village.'
That had been very astute of his human friend, despite the fact that no Asgard had been resident in a village for millenia. Thor did not think that he was serious about the village, though.
He was still, in truth, struggling to compehend the idiomatic expressions of O'Neill.
He found it an intriguing mental excersize.
Yet, as he watched the apprehension on the faces of his two guests, he still failed to comprehend the reasons for them being so concerned with the lack of physical intimacy between the two remaining members of their team. He had assumed that in a 3A/584 society, this was a matter purely for O'Neill and Major Carter themselves, but apparently not.
How curious.
He was almost sorry that he could not assist them. If there were laws preventing such a union, as he had just been told, it was impossible for him to intercede on their behalf. The Asgard had their own rules, too.
He said so.
Teal'c stepped forward and loomed over him.
Thor suddenly thought that perhaps the ultimate end of his people, which was being brought about by the prolonged use of cloning for reproductive purposes, was, in fact, one of the minor inconveniences of the process. It occurred to him, as he looked up towards the fierce visage of the Jaffa warrior, that the Asgard genetic engineers of old could have at least attempted not to lose the tall gene. It was quite a challenge to be respected as the Supreme Leader of the fleet of one of the most powerful races in existence, when the top of your head only reached as far as everybody else's elbows.
"We do not request that you attempt to change the laws of the Tauri, SupremeCommanderThor."
Thor listened and tried not to be intimidated by the huge Jaffa. Whilst the Asgard geneticists had eradicated the tall gene, the fight or flight response had unfortunately remained. This, combined with Teal'c's use of his formal title, had him worried.
He liked all of SG1, their status as primitives aside, very much. He may just end up helping them.
Teal'c continued.
"But we do ask for your intervention in this case. We believe that the President of the United States would be willing to offer a special dispensation in the case of O'Neill and MajorCarter if you were to come forward and offer your support of such a state of affairs." He raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, given your guardianship of Earth under the Protected Planets Treaty, I fail to see how his immediate approval would not be forthcoming."
Thor contemplated this.
He was most fond of both O'Neill and Samantha Carter.
O'Neill was interesting. He was clearly a being used to violence, yet he had managed to maintain a basic sense of morality. This was unusual in the extreme. And his turn of phrase was always unique, not to mention a puzzle of the highest order.
Major Samantha Carter was, for her race, brilliant. It was true that her understanding of the universe was extremely simple in comparison to that of the Asgard. To begin with, she had no concept of plaitrons, which was amusing, to say the least. And there were several potentially dangerous forms of radiation that she didn't realise even existed. The majority of this was common knowledge to all Asgard. But, her scant scientific knowledge notwithstanding, she was, in her own limited way, quite extraordinary. He had also been surprised when she had hugged him, after her stupid replicator idea. Despite her blue eyes, which were almost intolerably light and unnerving to him, he had found her spontaneous gesture of triumph and affection quite warming.
Even if she had tasted the yellow and deemed it unpalatable.
He had no idea if the two were compatible, as he had no recent familiarity with mating processes.
He hoped that, if they should procreate, he would be spared the vision of another pair of the blue eyes of Major Carter. Asgard eyes only turned blue when they were dead. He had seen the dead eyes of his own previous bodies enough times to make the color blue distinctly harrowing.
At this point, he realised he would be assisting Daniel Jackson and Teal'c.
He had been considering the case in far too much depth for it to be otherwise.
As the two beings stood, nervously waiting for his final answer, he speculated silently on the price he could extract from them. It was not standard Asgard procedure to do so, but he was, as O'Neill would say, 'Playing in their ballpark now.'
Any material wants were something he could fulfil. He had already, upon Teal'c's insistence, transferred the 'Star Wars Trilogy' onto crystals for his own entertainment. He had found them fascinating, yet confusing.
He was interested in the drives of humans. Although he could not induldge in some of their physical practices, he was extremely curious about the ability they seemed to have to thrive on risk. There were some activities on Earth which he had observed that seemed foolhardy, but ultimately rewarding to those who took part. The Asgard had moved beyond this centuries ago and he remembered it, but only vaguely.
He would like to understand how such risk taking could be a positive force, once more.
Yes. He knew what he wanted.
He looked towards Daniel Jackson. " I will assist you, but there is something that I would like in return."
The archaeologist and the Jaffa warrior both looked anxious for a moment.
"I would like to learn to rollerskate."
He watched, with his customary curious detachment, as both the human and his Jaffa counterpart gaped at him in what he could only interpret as shock.