Stargate: Genesis
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter IX: "The Zetharian"

In space over Earth, the bluish cloud created by a hyperspace window appears. Out of it shoots one of Earth's BC-303s. The markings on its hull name it the Daedalus.

On the bridge of the Daedalus, Colonel Steven Caldwell breathes a sigh of relief. It had been a tense, three-day journey back to Earth from Atlantis. The information they were carrying was so important that they had maxed out the engines trying to get to Earth sooner. It was the answer to everything that was happening in this galaxy right now.

"S.G.C.," Caldwell said into the comm, "this is the Daedalus. We have analyzed the data you sent and have found some disturbing answers."

"Understood, Daedalus," came the voice of an officer in the S.G.C. "I'll patch you through to General Landry." A few moments later, the deep, somewhat raspy voice of General Hank Landry was heard over the comm.

"What did you find out, Colonel?" Landry asked. Before Caldwell could reply, he was interrupted by one of the most annoying people on his ship.

"What's the status of Colonel Crawford?" Doctor Daniel Jackson asked, pushing his way past a sergeant and into the heart of the bridge.

"Excuse me?" Landry asked.

"What is the status of Colonel Crawford?" Daniel asked again. "Is she still unconscious?"

"When last I heard," Landry began, "yes, she..." Suddenly, an alarm is heard over the comm. "We have an incident going on in the infirmary," Landry said a few moments later. "I'll get back to you."

"General, we're coming down to assist," Daniel said before the transmission was cut.

"Colonel, I'm gonna grab McKay and the device," Daniel told Caldwell as he walked out of the room. "When I signal you, beam us directly to the S.G.C. infirmary!"

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In the infirmary, Leslie Crawford broke the neck of an airman, letting his body fall to the ground. Three other airmen stood at the door, guns raised.

"Stop right there, ma'am," one of them ordered. Leslie just smiled wickedly and raised her right hand. Out of each finger, long, silvery tendrils shot out and wrapped themselves around the necks of each airman, strangling them. When they were dead, she retracted the tendrils.

"Leslie," a voice said from behind her. Colonel Crawford turned around to see Daryl Reynolds, a 9mm in hand, on his feet once more. Leslie just chuckled and sent her tendrils in his direction. Daryl, however, was ready for her. He dived over a table out of the way, firing as he went. She got hit in the shoulder and the stomach, but it didn't faze her. The wounds barely even slowed her down.

"Leslie, don't do this!" Daryl pleaded.

"Leslie's gone," she said with a smile. As she said this, there was a flash of white light from the hallway. "I'm all that's left. And there's nothing that can stop me now!"

Suddenly, she was lifted into the air by an unseen force. Furious, she sent silvery tendrils in every direction. But, as if they were hitting some sort of invisible barrier, the tendrils couldn't go out far.

"I guess you're not unstoppable after all," a brown haired man said as he placed a device on a nearby table.

"Doctor Jackson?" Daryl said, very surprised to see him on Earth. "I thought you were on Atlantis?"

"I just got back," Daniel explained.

"Daryl," Leslie said s she floated in mid-air. "Daryl, what's going on?"

"Leslie?" Daryl asked cautiously.

"Daryl, why am I floating like this?" she asked him.

"Don't listen to her, captain," Daniel said urgently. "Whoever she was before is gone. She's a part of the Zetharian now." Daryl turned to face him, confusion etched on his face.

"What's a Zetharian?" he asked.

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"It's an AI," Daniel explained to General Landry. "Designed to..."

"It's designed to do something that's impossible!" Doctor Rodney McKay interrupted.

"Impossible or not, it does exist," Daniel argued. "The Ancient Database was very clear on that part."

"And the records we were looking at had been damaged during a Wraith attack!" McKay snapped. "And you said yourself that your translation was less than perfect." McKay turned to General Landry. "General, until we can run the proper tests on Miss Crawford, we cannot definitively say what this thing is."

"If it'll shed some light on what the hell is going on here," Landry said as he got up from his chair, "then perform all the tests you need."

"Thank you, sir," McKay replied as he turned to leave. Daniel followed him.

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In her quarters on the base, Major Jennifer Hailey propped up her wounded leg with a sigh. The doctors said it'd be at least a month before she could return to active duty, maybe more.

At least I'm not as bad as George, she thought sadly. Her teammate had taken a nasty shot in the back. He was currently getting treatment, and was expected to make a full recovery, thank god. But he wouldn't be able to walk for at least three months.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," Jennifer said. The door opened, and Donald O'Connor walked in.

"Major," he greeted. "I heard you wanted to see me?"

"I did," she replied. Reaching over to a nearby table, she picked up remote and turned off the television. "Have a seat." Donald walked over to a nearby chair and sat down. Hailey studied him for a moment before beginning.

"Daryl told me about your performance in the battle yesterday," she said. "He told me that you fought very well."

"Thank you, ma'am," Donald replied. Hailey let out a small sigh.

"I just heard about Colonel Crawford's... condition," she told him, using the word condition as if it were a curse. "And while I hate to accept this, it's unlikely she'll ever be back on the team. At least, that's what those two doctors studying her say." She sighed once more. "So... there's an opening on S.G.-1. And I'd like to have you fill it." Donald's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Daryl Reynolds recommended you," she explained. "And if I've learned one thing from working with him for fifteen years, it's that he's usually right about this stuff."

"Thank you, ma'am," Donald said graciously.

"Just don't make me regret it," she told him jokingly. They both chuckled. "Now, if you'll excuse me," Jennifer said, indicating her leg, "I want to get some rest."

"Of course, ma'am," Donald replied as he got up and walked out of the room.

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Ever since the Orii were finally driven out of this galaxy, the dominant, interstellar power had been the Jaffa Nation. They possessed the fleet left behind by the Goa'uld, and their people lived on half the habitable worlds of the galaxy. And, through much struggle, the Jaffa High Council had become a truly democratic government. And now, it was making strives to turn the warrior Jaffa into a peaceful civilization.

On Dakara, the capital of the nation, Teal'c, a member of the High Council, strode forward purposefully towards the council chambers. Before he could reach them, however, a hand grabbed his shoulder. It was not a violent gesture, but a friendly greeting. Teal'c turned around to find Bra'tac standing behind him.

"Tek'ma'tae," Teal'c greeted.

"Old friend," Bra'tac said as the two clutched each other's forearms in the Jaffa version of a handshake. "I have heard what you plan to present to the Council."

"Then you, too, know of the danger we face from this Jeremy Spalding," Teal'c replied. "We must act now if we are to stop him."

"Beware, Teal'c," Bra'tac warned. "The other councilors will have heard of this too. And already the plan their reasons why not to get involved."

"Why would they do that?" Teal'c asked.

"Not all see things as you do, Teal'c," Bra'tac explained. "The councilors are trying so hard to create a peaceful society for all Jaffa that they are hesitant to commit to a new war."

"They must see that this enemy could prove to be a great threat. How could they..."

"Teal'c," Bra'tac said sharply, clutching the younger man's shoulders. "The councilors are facing a great deal of opposition to their policies from the Jaffa masses. They will consider this new war as a direct assault on their plans for the nation, and will fight against it."

"But the information came from the Tau'ri," Teal'c said.

"Not all trust the Tau'ri as you and I do, Teal'c," Bra'tac replied. "Their word will not carry much weight with the council."

"What can I do to convince them?" Teal'c asked.

"You cannot," Bra'tac told him. "At least, not to go to war. You can, however, convince them to investigate the threat that this Jeremy Spalding poses." Teal'c bows his head.

"I understand," he replied.

"Teal'c, in a few months, I will no longer be on the council," Bra'tac said. "I will retire, and live out my last few years in peace back on Chulak. When that happens, old friend, you will need to sharpen your political wit to keep the council going in the direction we carved out for them."

"I understand," Teal'c told him. They locked eyes for a moment, then the two friends turned and walked towards the council chambers.

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"Well," Daniel said as he began the briefing, "now that Doctor McKay has been satisfied, I think you all should know what we're up against." Daniel turned out the lights and turned on a monitor. Seated before him were S.G.-1, albeit some of them injured, as well as General Landry, General Carter, Director O'Neill, and Colonel Mitchell, who had just returned to Earth aboard the Prometheus. Also attending was Ry'ac, Teal'c's son, who had been in command of the Jaffa Ha'tak that had found the Prometheus and towed her back to Earth.

"Now, roughly eleven million years ago," Daniel continued, "The Great Alliance of races was the strongest force in the galaxy. It was made up of the Ancients, the Furlings, the Nox, and the Asgard. Now, we've learned a lot about the Ancients, the Asgard, and the Nox, but the Furlings are still a mystery. Daniel pressed a button, bringing up an image on the screen. "This," he explained, "is a Furling." The members of S.G.-1 gasped.

"Wow," Jack said. "They look much tougher than they're named."

"They also look like those creatures that attacked us on P4X-337," Daryl added. "Only a little less... metallic." It was true. The creature was identical to what had attacked them on the planet, only both arms ended in four-fingered hands, and it was covered in brown fur.

"I'm not surprised," Daniel told him. "The Zetharian based his... its foot soldiers on the race that created it."

"Wait a minute," Carter interrupted. "You're saying that Jeremy Spalding was created by the Furlings?"

"No," Daniel told her. "He was just unlucky enough to stumble across one of their creations." He sighed. "Look, when the Furlings first began to develop advanced technology, they developed a biosynthetic alloy they called Sallium. It was the perfect substance for their technology."

"But it was unstable," McKay said, stepping to the forefront of the briefing. "The right elements needed to be constantly re-balanced in order for the substance to remain intact for more than a few seconds." Daniel nodded.

"That's why the Furlings created the Zetharian," he continued. "We're not sure how, but they managed to engineer an AI that could keep the Sallium stable."

"Somehow, each molecule of Sallium is connected to every other molecule across a distance of several thousand light years," McKay explained. "The Zetharian uses that connection to regulate every molecule within range. Technically speaking, it exists in every single molecule in the substance, but it's central hub right now is Jeremy Spalding."

"Basically, eleven million years ago, the Furlings first made this discovery," Daniel told the others. "Over the next two millennia they rose to be the most powerful race in the galaxy. The Zetharian existed in all their technology, and its purpose had expanded. Now, they no longer used it just to regulate the elements in the Sallium they used it for... everything."

"Cars, warships, computers," McKay said, picking up where Daniel left off. "This thing nearly ran their entire civilization. And, of course, there were some people who objected to this. There was an incident at a government building, and a Furling became infected with Sallium. The stuff went to his brain, reshaping it, which allowed for the Zetharian to take control of his body."

"In a human body," Daniel continued, "the Zetharian is more than just a command and control system. It's a living, sentient being. And when Furling doctors wanted to remove it from the body it was in, it fought back. Since it controlled the entire Furling military, the fight was relatively short-lived. In less than a year, the Furlings, the most powerful race in this galaxy, were wiped out. Then the Ancients stepped in. Clearly, the death of one of their closest allies didn't sit well with them, because they went after the Zetharian with everything they had. During this war, the Zetharian proved highly adaptable, suffering from the initial barrage of Ancient weapons fire, but eventually adapting to it and becoming immune."

"Explains why we can't touch them," Hailey commented. "If they've become so tough that Ancient weapons can't stop them, I don't know what can."

"Exactly," McKay said. "But this adaptability didn't stop the Ancients. In a desperate move, they attacked the former homeworld of the Furlings. In a daring raid, the Ancients managed to reach the infected Furling that was the heart of the Zetharian and capture him using the device we used on Colonel Crawford. Now, the Ancients managed to extract the Zetharian from the Furling, hoping they could save the last surviving member of that race. Unfortunately, they failed, and the Furling died. The Zetharian, however, was put in a containment vessel and stored underground in modern-day England. With the sentient core of the system removed, the Ancients were able to send an auto-destruct command to every Sallium creation in the galaxy."

"Yes, yes, yes," Daniel said impatiently, "but we also know that Jeremy Spalding was on vacation in England less than a month before the revelation of the Stargate Program. He supposedly fell into a chamber with strange writing and a broken container."

"You think he may have broken open the containment vessel and become infected?" General Landry asked. Daniel nodded.

"Exactly," he said. "Once he was infected, the Zetharian would've become sentient again."

"So, all we have to do is kill Spalding," George said, "and the threat's over, right?"

"Essentially, yeah," Daniel replied.

"Great," the lieutenant said sarcastically. "Why don't we just shoot ourselves now?"

"It's not as impossible as you may think," Daniel told him. "The Ancient database had a few notes on a device the Ancients were working on to destroy anything made out of Sallium. They never got it to work, but I think we may stand a shot. Well, McKay thinks we do."

"The basic principle is the same as a Replicator Disruptor, which isn't surprising," McKay said. "Only it's way more complex."

"Why isn't it surprising that it's similar to the Disruptor?" Carter asked. Daniel and McKay looked at each other for a moment.

"Because," Daniel finally said, "the former homeworld of the Furlings is the same planet where the android Reese was built. Because of that, we think that the Zetharian may be a predecessor to the Replicators."

End of Chapter IX

A/N: Despite its relationship to the Replicators, the Disruptor isn't the key to stopping the Zetharian. What is, you ask? You'll find out... eventually. I'll lay the building blocks towards the discovery as we go along.

I like the fact that I got so many reviews when I posted that ultimatum. I must say, I really hate doing that. So, if all you people who reviewed just then keep it up, I won't have to.

I think Kody Wright put it best when he/she said that the only reward us authors get is your feedback. When I stop getting as much, I start to wonder why I'm writing it. Even though I can see the hit stats, it isn't the same as a review. So, keep on reviewing, and I'll keep on writing.