Disclaimer: I don't own the concepts, I don't own the characters, I make no money, I make no sense and I get no sleep, though on a positive note I absolutely love feedback (in other words, please review).
Warning: this story is a sequel to Under Alien Skies - Propagation, if you've read that story you know what this is about, if you haven't this probably won't make much sense. You should also be warned that this story deals with adult issues up to and including rape.
Timeline: this takes place roughly three weeks after Propagation and makes reference to the episode 'Enigma'.
Note about the series: while this is the sixth story in this universe, the only one that is pretty much a must read in order to follow this one is Propagation.
Under Alien Skies - What Passes for Normal
Chapter 1: A Milk Run Gone Sour
(Jack's POV)
Could someone please tell me how on earth a mission that was supposed to be nothing but a damned milk run to help us get back in the rhythm of things turned into such a freaking mess? I mean, there are some missions we all know can easily lead to a court martial, of course, but the bottom line is that this wasn't supposed to be one of them and yet here we are, praying that the Nox will contact us in time to get the Tollan out of here in one piece, hiding behind Daniel's civilian status and hoping that the whole thing won't blow up in all our faces. The good news, however, is that --if this whole mess is anything to go by-- then SG-1 is really back.
That is definitely reassuring, especially after the hell of these past few weeks, though I can't deny that I'm still more than a little worried.
Sure, Carter has handled this whole thing like a trooper up until now and I'm really proud of her, but the fact that this 'Narim' character has taken such a liking to her is making me more than a little nervous. As far as I'm concerned she doesn't need any of this crap right now and more than once I've been tempted to tell him to stay the hell away from my 2IC. Unfortunately I don't think Carter would have appreciated it if I had done just that, not to mention that, even before the NID got involved, the general had already been ordered by the higher ups to use whatever means he had at his disposal to get as much information out of the Tollans as he possibly could and in that regard Carter was his most valuable resource so he probably would have skinned me alive.
I mean, Narim seems like an okay guy --even if he is a little uptight-- but that doesn't matter. Right now I'm more than a little wary of any alien who expresses an interest in Carter and --even though the Tollan are pretty much the opposite of the Shavadai-- I will feel a lot better once their alien butts are far, far from our planet... preferably on the other side of the galaxy kind of far. Sure, going by what we know about these people chances are he won't hurt her, at least not deliberately, but I'm not stupid enough not to realize that, even though she seems to be holding herself together just fine, right now this guy could easily do a number on her and --to make matters worse-- he is totally unaware of that fact.
That is not a good place to be and for the past few days I have been unable to do anything but watch as this potential train-wreck played out right in front of my eyes. Of course, the fact that Narim seems to be appealing to Carter's not-so-inner geek has enabled her to feel reasonably safe with him but I still don't like it, not one bit.
In addition to that, the fact that we got caught between the alien and the NID is not exactly helping matters here. I mean, of all the stupid things our beloved 'intelligence' division could possibly have come up with, trying to enslave the Tollan in a gilded cage is probably a new record, but then again they are stuck with their big fish mentality and there is no way we are going to get them to understand that we've been transferred to a new pond, one in which we barely qualify as small fry, one in which there are plenty of fish who are perfectly capable of swallowing us whole... starting with the Tollan.
I can't help but shake my head at that. Sometimes I wonder what it would take for some of these people to learn but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I really don't want to know... especially because I get the funny feeling that the whole world could easily end up paying for their stupidity. We already had one close call courtesy of the Secretary of Defense when we first ran into the Nox and the truth is that I'm not looking forward to a repeat performance.
Of course, there is no denying that this whole thing is more than a little funny. I mean, we told the Nox to bury their stargate, thinking that they would be unable to defend themselves, and yet here we are, hoping that they will make it in time like the cavalry to rescue the Tollan from the clutches of our own government, thus proving once and for all that they were absolutely right not to trust us.
I mean, I'm no diplomat --that's for sure-- but even I can tell that we were given a wonderful opportunity here to help the Tollan, an opportunity to prove that we could actually be trusted and thus establish some sort of contact with them. Unfortunately the moment the higher ups got involved that opportunity was lost thanks to their unbelievable shortsightedness. Sure, keeping the Tollan under lock and key probably sounded like an option to them, a bird in hand kind of deal and all that jazz, but that theory held only until you realized that they were unlikely to cooperate and that sooner or later their people were bound to come looking for them... and that when that happened we would really, really be in trouble.
I'm still thinking about that, and feeling utterly powerless as I watch Daniel doing everything in his power to get these people out of here, when suddenly the stargate engages and I can barely contain a sigh of relief when Lya steps through it... especially because Lya is not Anteaus. Sure, I know we are still not home free but at least we are on the home stretch, Maybourne is furious and Narim is hopefully on his way home. In other words, everything is just like it should be.
Now if only all of our problems could be solved this easily.
