Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG1. If you recognize a character it belongs to the Franchise. All that belongs to me is this specific plot and my characterization of the Furlings.

Author's Note #1: Thank you to all my readers who have reviewed. In response to Anthropos Agnostos who wondered if I draw on the works of David Brin for inspiration in my story, the answer is no: I had not even heard of the man before.

Author's Note #2: I am sorry for the long delay since the last chapter was posted. I had high hopes for getting a lot of writing done this summer, but my summer class went a lot long and took up a lot more time then I ever expected it too. Posting will still be slow, especially when I start my next semester of college, but I am not giving up on this story. I am still working on it, even when posting is slow.


When the bright light faded, Daniel, Lya, and Ruarc were in an entirely new place. The room in which they had been deposited was small, possibly an alcove of sorts, as Daniel could see a much larger room through an archway and hear the murmur of nearby voices. The architecture in the High Council Building, from what Daniel could see, was somewhat different than the other buildings he had seen. Polished, carefully-cut blocks of stone, bearing a vague resemblance to sandstone, made up the lower part of the wall up to a few feet above his head. The soaring ceiling above the stone and the partition between the alcove and the next room were both made of a dark colored wood.

"Come," said Ruarc, motioning them to follow.

Outside the alcove was a much larger room which seemed to serve as the entrance hall of the building. On the far side of the room was another alcove. To their right were doors that led outside, just swinging shut. To their left were two hallways that led further into the High Council Building and two massive wooden doors, beautifully carved and set into a stone archway, that Ruarc murmured softly led to the Great Hall where the High Council met.

Waiting in the entrance hall were Ohper and Omoc and another person, who appeared human. Daniel wondered if this person was Asik, Lady Sujanha's aid, who Ruarc had said would make sure Ohper and Omoc reached the High Council Building in time for Daniel's hearing.

As Lya walked across the room to join Ohper, Ruarc turned to Daniel and asked, "What do you know of the High Council?"

Daniel blinked, surprised at the question. He readjusted his glasses on his nose to give himself a moment to think and then replied, "Very little. I know that Lady Sujanha sits on the High Council and that the High Council determines matters of asylum. Ohper made a few inconsequential references to it last night when we were talking after Lady Sujanha departed, but that's about all I know."

Ruarc nodded, "Come then. Let's go up the hall. We still have little time left, and events will make more sense if I explain a few things."

Ruarc led Daniel out of the hall and up the left passageway a short distance to a small room, except for a round, wooden table and half-a-dozen chairs. Ruarc motioned for Daniel to sit but stayed standing himself. As Daniel took a seat, Ruarc waved his arm through the air above the table. Another holographic screen appeared in the air: not a keypad like the ones he had already seen, but a screen with vague similarities to a computer interface. Ruarc started speaking as he quickly made his way through various screens.

"The High Council of the Furlings is the main governing body of our realm. Its power in most cases is below that of our King but above that of the courts. There are eight High Councilors and one High Chancellor who governs the High Council and serves as tiebreaker when there is no clear majority."

Ruarc paused long enough to tap another spot on the screen and bring up a new screen with nine small pictures on it. Then he continued, "Each High Councilor plays a specific role in the government or in the military."

Tapping one of the pictures made it enlarge to fill most of the medium-sized holographic screen. "This is Kadar, the High Chancellor. He is one of the elders of our race and greatly revered for his wisdom and experience." Kadar appeared to have the form of a lion but with fur that was more bronze than gold.

Tapping the screen twice brought up two pictures. Daniel instantly recognized one as Sujanha. The other one looked exactly like a ram except that its fur was black and it had barely visible ears. "You know Lady Sujanha of course. She is the Supreme Commander of the Furling Fleet." Gesturing to the ram, Ruarc said, "That is Anarr, the Supreme Commander of the Furling Army and the lady's brother."

Daniel was not sure whether he was surprised or not that Lady Sujanha was a military commander or not. Some of her behavior made her seem like the type; some not so much. "Their titles sound like Thor's," he noted.

"Correct," replied Ruarc, "we borrowed the title from the Asgard long ago."

Ruarc tapped the screen twice again and brought up two new pictures. The figure on the left looked like an eagle with grey feathers, but the one on the right looked entirely human. "This is Ari," said Ruarc, motioning to the eagle, "the Chief Judge of our judicial system. He is one of the oldest of our race," motioning to the other figure, "that is Kari, our Chief Ambassador. She manages relations between the many different races that inhabit this galaxy."

"Are they related?" Daniel asked. "Their names are extremely similar."

"I don't believe so, although if you go back far enough we are all related," Ruarc replied.

Two more pictures appeared on screen: one an owl, the other a canine of some sort. "The one on the left is Inga, the Chief Scholar. The other is Ilaris, the Chief Healer." Ruarc was obviously speeding up and shortening his commentary. Time was growing short before the meeting.

The last set of pictures came up: one a polar bear, the other some variety of monkey, possibly a chimpanzee or an orangutan. "The one on the left is Ibûn, our Chief Engineer, and the other is his sister, Almiel, our Chief Armorer."

Ruarc swiped his hand through the screen, instead of tapping on it, and the screen disappeared. He motioned for Daniel to follow as he led him back to the entrance hall but kept talking as he walked. "You will likely be asked similar question what the lady would have asked you yesterday. Lya and Omoc will also be questioned. All in all it will be very similar to your meeting with the lady yesterday."

As Ruarc and Daniel joined Omoc, Ohper, and Lya, the massive carved doors, leading into the Great Hall, which were wide enough for four men to walk abreast, began to swing open. What moved the doors was unclear. Perhaps internal mechanisms hidden to the eye.

Ruarc patted Daniel gently on the shoulder, "Farewell until we meet again."

The room into which the four visitors entered was large. Quite large. Daniel, eyeballing the distance, guessed it was about 30 feet square. Stone walls soared up into a stone roof, made similarly to cathedrals on Earth. Lamps glowing with a bluish flame and held up by intricate metal holders were set into the walls all around the Hall at an even distance. In the shadows not illuminated by the lamps, Daniel could just make out at least a dozen guards in armor more like Marvel's Iron Man than medieval knights. In the center of the Great Hall stood a large platform in the shape of an upside-down U on which the members of the High Council sat behind a dark table.

The low murmur of their voices continued unabated, and they, as a body, did not yet acknowledge the entrance of the newcomers. Sujanha, however, looked up, her golden eyes scanning the chamber until they landed on Daniel and the others. Daniel met her eyes and was given a slight nod of greeting in return before she returned her attention to the ongoing discussion.

A few more minute's passed, and the matter, preceding Daniel's application for asylum, wound to an end. When there was a pause altogether in speech, Sujanha rose slowly and began to speak.

Ohper began to translate her words, careful to keep his voice low, "Before this meeting of the High Council ends, I have another matter which I wish to bring to the body's attention."

Kadar, the High Chancellor, spoke when she had finished, "Speak, and we will listen." His bronze fur was thrown into strange relief by the blue flames that illuminated the room.

"Yesterday, I was summoned without warning by the Nox to Gaia. Ohper, one of the eldest of their race who is known both to me and this body, met me at the Stargate. With him was a young human from Midgard who was recently forced into exile by his people. At Ohper's recommendation, he wishes to request asylum among us. I have heard his testimony and the testimony of two witnesses and count his request worthy of merit. I now recommend his case to the High Council so that it might make its own decision and then that we might vote on whether he might take shelter among us. With him our two witnesses—Omoc of the Tollan and Lya of the Nox—who can speak to the truth of his account."

Kadar's eyes swept across the Great Hall until they rested upon the small group standing by the doors. "Are these they of whom you speak, Commander?"

"They are," she replied, "Ohper came, also, as translator."

"Approach," the High Chancellor commanded.

When Daniel and his companions were standing by the bottom of the U-shaped platform, Kadar spoke again, "Tell us your name and any titles for the record."

"I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson of Earth, uh, Midgard. Doctor means I'm a scholar." As soon as Daniel stopped speaking, Ohper translated his words carefully into the tongue of the Furlings. Kadar's reply was then translated from Furling back into English. The slow but necessary process had to be repeated every time someone spoke.

"Why do you seek asylum among us?"

"Because I was forced into exile by the actions of my government."

"Tell us with as many details as possible how this came to be."

Daniel took a deep, fortifying breath and then, with an encouraging nod from Ohper, began to tell his story for the second time in as many days. "I come from Midgard. Once our world was controlled by the Goa'uld. Eventually they were driven from our planet during a rebellion, and the Stargate was buried for thousands of years. Then eighty of our years ago, the Stargate was rediscovered. Mostly by chance, we managed to open the gate once 53 years ago, but we only truly discovered how to use the gate two years ago. After learning of the Goa'uld and the great dangers they posed, we began using the gate regularly last year. We began sending small teams—3 to 5 men each—out into the galaxy to make allies and hopefully find technology which we could defend ourselves with." At a signal from Ohper, Daniel paused there to let Ohper translate.

Within a couple minutes Daniel was able to continue. "About ten days ago, my team and I traveled to the planet we called P3X-7763. We had sent a probe through the gate earlier and found it habitable, but when we actually went through the gate, we found the planet on the brink of total destruction because of volcanic activity. Temperatures were rising. The air was choked with ash and thick smoke. Lava runs were opening up nearby. It was clear that the planet was soon going to be totally uninhabitable. As we were about to dial home, we found a number of survivors from the local population dying near the gate. We dialed Earth for extra manpower and evacuated the survivors back to our world."

Daniel paused again to catch his breath and let Ohper translate and then continued. "We treated the survivors at our base the best we could but quickly found out that they were from a civilization much more advanced than ours. The Tollan, as they were called, were mostly a very arrogant people as a result of their advanced culture and technology. Finding that their new homeworld to which the rest of their people had already been evacuated was not in the gate network, we tried to find them a temporary home for them among our allies until they could somehow travel to their new homeworld. Unfortunately, the Tollan were displeased with our allies because they were deemed to be too primitive, so we were unable to find a place for them."

"In the meantime, word about the Tollan's advanced technology spread outside the SGC, our base. Colonel Maybourne was sent from the National Intelligence Department, known as the NID, to get information from the Tollan about their technology. Colonel Maybourne also brought orders from the President of the United States, the country in which the SGC is located, that released the Tollan to the custody of his Department, an act that would make them prisoners of our government in all but name. The NID was willing to hold the Tollan by force and make them cooperate by force if necessary, even though the Tollan had clearly stated, repeatedly, that they did not want to stay on our world and were not willing for any reason to share their technology."

"General Hammond, the commander of the SGC, tried to stop Colonel Maybourne from relocating the Tollan but failed. The best he could do was stall for time. In the meantime, my teammates and I came up with a plan to help the Tollan escape. None of the military personal could help for fear of court-martial—military discipline for disobeying orders. I wasn't in the military so we thought I would be safe. I told the Tollan leader Omoc about the Nox and their world. With their technology the Tollan were able to get a message to the Nox who were willing to reopen their Stargate and receive them.

"I led the Tollan back to the gateroom to see them off. When Lya came through the gate to get the Tollan, Maybourne did all he could to stop them, even authorizing the guards to open fire on the Tollan. He threatened me first with a court-martial for helping them, but, when he had learned that I was not in the military, he promised to have me charged with treason for disobeying a presidential order. With the influence Maybourne had over the president, I knew I was in trouble. Lya motioned for me to come with her, and I took a chance. Yesterday, Ohper told me of your people and advised me to seek asylum among you. And here I am"

Struggling to keep his voice level, Daniel finished his story. Retelling it again made him miss his home more. He missed earth, the SGC, and his teammates greatly, but at the same time he was thrilled at the possibilities for a new life and for a chance to rescue Sha're that were starting to unfold before him.

After Ohper finished translating the rest of Daniel's story, the High Council spoke quietly among itself for several minutes. Then Kadar turned towards Omoc. Ohper, paraphrasing, not translating, related what the High Chancellor had said. "The High Chancellor wishes you tell your experiences during these events, starting as far back as you feel necessary to give context to your story."

"I am Omoc. Our world was called Tollan. Not long ago my people made contact with a world called Sarita, which was in the same solar system as ours. Our peoples became allies, and in time we gave them technology to produce unlimited energy. The Saritans used the device to make war. Within a year, they had destroyed their planet. The shockwave from its destruction shifted the orbital alignment of Tollan and set off a chain of seismic disturbances as well. Our planet quickly became uninhabitable. We evacuated our people by ship. My team and I remained behind to close the gate so that no one could stumble upon our world and be harmed.

"While waiting for our rescue transport to arrive, Dr. Jackson and his companions came through the gate. Thinking they were helping us, they evacuated us back through the gate to their world. Because our new homeworld is not in the network of Stargate at this time and also due the fact the SGC could find no suitable planet for my people and I to go to in the meantime, we had no choice but to remain at the SGC for a time. One night shortly after we had arrived on earth, we left the base to examine the stars so that we could judge the distance to our new homeworld."

"The means we used to leave the base … which harmed none … attracted the attention of a Colonel Maybourne." The half-sneer on Omoc's face as he said Maybourne's name made clear what he truly thought of that man. "His goal was to acquire our advanced technology for Earth's use by whatever means necessary. We were to be released to his custody where we would have lived as prisoners. But with the secret support of General Hammond, the commander of the SGC and the support of Dr. Jackson and his teammates we were put in contact of the Nox who were willing to receive us. When we escaped from our holding rooms where we were under guard and made our way to the Stargate, Maybourne threatened to harm us if we attempted to escape and threatened Dr. Jackson with treason for disobeying the orders of the leader of his government. Lya led us through the Stargate to her world and offered him the chance to come with us."

The High Council spoke quietly among themselves for nearly ten minutes before asking Lya to give her side of the story. Speaking in Furling without the aid of Ohper as translator, she told her tale at length. Daniel, not knowing Furling, could not understand what she was saying but still thought she might have started all the way back at SG1's first meeting with the Nox, given the length of her story. Yet, finally, she finished. The High Council spoke among themselves for many minutes, before Kadar spoke again directly to Doctor Jackson.

Translating the High Chancellor's words, Ohper said, "The High Council has two questions for you, and then they will make their decisions."

"Of course," Daniel replied. He would have been surprised if they had had no questions at all.

"Can you elaborate on what the fate of the Tollan on earth would have likely been if they had been forced to go with Colonel Maybourne?"

"Life imprisonment in, as one of my teammates put it, a 'nice little community with high walls, guards, maybe a little barbed wire.' They would have been treated well, but they would not have been allowed to leave their compound and would have been forced to share their knowledge of Tollan's technology which could aid us in our fight against the Goa'uld."[1]

"What is treason, and what is the common punishment for committing treason?"

"As defined by the laws of my country, in which the Stargate is currently housed, treason 'against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.' The common punishments for treason are either life in prison or death … Even if I had not been able to be charged with treason, I almost certainly would have been banned from the Stargate Program which would have prevented me from searching for my wife who is host to a Goa'uld."[2]

Kadar thanked Daniel for his answers, and then the High Council began to deliberate on their decision. They spoke together, one last time, for many minutes. Then one by one they were called on by Kadar, and each spoke one word in answer. Daniel did not know what they said but could tell that they seemed to all have given the same answer.

Finally, the waiting was over. Kadar rose. "Daniel Jackson, the High Council of the Furlings has spoken. You are granted asylum among our people for as long as you live with all the rights and privileges of one of our own people. We welcome you to Uslisgas."


[1] Quote and references from transcript of "Engima": /wiki/1.17_%22Enigma%22_Transcript.

[2] Quoted from United States Constitution, Article III, Section 3.