Author's Note: I don't own Stargate, any of its characters, or plotlines. Wow, the response I got from the last chapter was amazing! In fact the response that I've gotten from this story has been fantastic. I started this story for me, but you guys are the reason I've continued and kept writing even through all the struggles and hardships the last year of my life has been. When I write, it's like I have an escape from reality and you've all made this journey an amazing adventure. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I've been wanting to explore how the ancient download affects people more. We know how it affects people from a third person perspective but I thought I would be really cool from a first person perspective. We know that the ancient download makes people exhibit the advanced abilities of the ancients in later stages so I'll be exploring that a little bit in this chapter. We now know that Erin has the ancient gene and I'm going to explore how having a younger brain affects the having the download.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Daniel was seated next to me at our oversized desk that took up most of the space in our office. My headache had leveled off to a barely bearable throbbing at the back of my head and I found that leaning my head against Dani's shoulder whilst we worked helped me concentrate. Across from the two of us sat Skaara who, while trying to help, was mostly there for moral support as we translated the alien inscriptions.
"Okay, I think we're getting hung up on the grammar." Daniel reached over the table and grabbed a book.
This movement jostled my head where it's been leaning against him and I groaned.
"I'm sorry." He apologized.
I patted his arm in forgiveness. "Skaara." I called out and pointed to my pad of paper that was lying near where he was sitting.
"Airen, do you want this?" He asked and held up my pad. I nodded and he handed it to me.
My handwriting was becoming messy from having to concentrate on writing English. I have to go through the Stargate. I wrote and passed it to Daniel.
He read it and furrowed his brows and looked down and over at me. "Okay, you have to go through the Stargate. Where? Where to?"
That was a good question. I knew I had to go through the gate to somewhere. But no gate address came to mind. In answer to Daniel's question I raised my hand that wasn't wrapped around his arm and let it drop in defeat.
Daniel sighed and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "The planet…back to the planet where this happened? You have to go back there?"
I was near tears as I shook my head "no" and slumped forwards to rest my forehead on the desk.
"Airen?" Skaara stood and came to my side. "Do you want to go back to the doctor?" He asked taking my hand.
"Minime." I told him and rose back to a sitting position.
"That means no." Daniel translated.
Across the room the device that I'd been working on off and on all day caught my eye. To get their attention I pounded my hands on the desk and pointed at it.
"You wish to work on that?" Skaara asked.
Without waiting for him to say anything more I stood and brushed past him to cross the room to the table where my device laid. He reached out to me but I stepped past him. Immediately I began picking apart the hard drive that I'd taken from Daniel's computer. It was out of my hands. My movements were zombie like and, much like it'd been when I'd been entering all the data in to the mainframe, I was in a sort of trance in which I could watch what I was doing but couldn't stop.
Janet walked in after I'd been working a little bit. How I knew it was her without glancing behind me I couldn't tell. Then to make things stranger, I could tell that she and Daniel had moved back into the corner opposite be to discuss something that they didn't want me to hear. In the back of my head I had the sense that it was just beyond me to reach out and take the information I wanted from their minds. I tried to reach out and brushed against three minds, one felt distinctly Daniel. Briefly I wondered if it was all the time we'd been together that allowed me to recognize him. Then just as quickly as this strain of though came to me it was gone and I was back to concentrating on my device.
I felt rather than saw Skaara come to a stop beside me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the hurt on his face from my dismissing him and not acknowledging his presence.
After a few moments of silence his shoulders slumped and he began to move away. "If you wish it I will leave."
My hand whipped out and grabbed his, stopping him in his tracks. He blinked repeatedly down at our joined hands and them up at me. I was still watching my creation intently and I was certain that, if not for my grabbing him, it would still appear that I was oblivious to his presence.
"You wish for me to remain?" Skaara asked hopefully. I squeezed his hand as an answer. "Then I will remain by your side."
I didn't know if he could tell from the way I was standing, but I hoped he could see my smile.
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The trance that'd I'd been in had finally broken after a good three hours of tinkering on my device. It was ready. What it was ready for I couldn't tell you. The state of concentration that I'd been locked in left me exhausted.
The second I snapped out of it I nearly collapsed to the ground. If it hadn't been for Skaara who hadn't left me through the entire ordeal I would have fallen pretty hard to the cement floor like I'd done earlier. But as soon as I'd begun to slump down he'd caught me and guided me to sit on the edge of the large desk in the center or the room. Once he was sure I wasn't going to come tumbling off he hopped up to sit next to me. I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder and closed my weary eyes. He wrapped his arm around my waist and leaned his head on mine. I could sense he was smiling to even through I couldn't see it. I'd missed this, just two of us just being together. He'd been back for a few weeks and yet regardless of how messed of the current situation was, this was the closest we'd felt since he was taken.
That was how Daniel found us when he exploded into the room, a flurry of paper falling to the floor in his wake. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you this before because I thought you had enough on your mind." He took out the tape of a recent archeological dig from the planet P4X-616 from that VCR and popped in a new tape. "Jack, and the rest of SG-1 are in trouble; the DHD on P9Q-281 isn't working and they can't get home. To make matters worse there's a very hot sun rising. They don't have much time." He pressed play.
Sam appeared on the screen. Her face was heavily sunburned and she wore a hood over face similar to the ones we'd wear home on Abydos when the sun was highest in the sky. "…the rest of the symbols won't engage." She said on the tape. "The DHD is locking the Gate in place, so we can't dial out manually. I've tried everything I know about these things."
Daniel paused the video. Sam's face was frozen on the screen, panic showing in her eyes. For Sam to visibly panic it meant that the situation had to be very serious indeed. "Look, no one else believes that you have the knowledge of the original Gate builders in your head right now except me."
I could fix this! The knowledge was right there and I had to get it down on paper. Now! I hopped off the desk and sprinted to the bookcase where I had to climb up the bottom shelves to reach to blueprint paper we kept on top to draw out the schematics of the ruins we came across in our gate travel. In in blink of the eye I was back at the desk where thankfully Skaara had jumped off to allow me more room to work. I snatched up a ruler and began pulling down the information from my brain to the paper.
"What is she doing?" Skaara asked Daniel, attempting to be quite as he did so.
"I don't know." Daniel answered.
"What should we do?"
"I…I don't…I really don't…know. Maybe…" Daniel said.
They were being as quite as humanly possible while still talking but every word they said felt like a snap to the back of the head. Along with every word came the echoes of the emotions tied to the words. It was maddening and too much information.
I reached for my pad of paper that I used to write messages but it was just out of my reach. So I jumped onto the table so I was laying partially on my stomach and my fingertips brushed my pad and I pulled it towards me. In a hurry I wrote my message and shoved it at Daniel.
"Please do shut up." He read. "Not a problem. Um… Shutting up now" And he and Skaara pulled the swivel chairs back to the bookcase and sat down to watch me work on what would hopefully save our teammates.
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I was done. I grabbed up my papers and ran out of the room. Daniel and Skaara followed me, not once slowing the entire way up to the briefing room.
The scientists and technician's heads snapped up when the three of us burst into the room and the conversations that had been going on about how to save our team stopped midsentence. I slapped my papers down on the briefing table and tapped them emphatically making eye contact with the scientists sitting around the table.
"I think we need to dial the gate." Daniel spoke up for me as I continued to tap on the table. Annoyingly the scientists just started up at me blank-faced.
The commotion had caught the attention of the General who had come out of his office to see what the confusion was about. "What is that?" He gestured at my plans.
"Erin has found a solution." Daniel explained.
The guy sitting next to where I was leaning over the table shook his head incredulously. "She did?"
I took out the main diagram of the gate and spread it out in front of me so they could all see.
Daniel waved at the paper and then brushed his hand through his hair excitedly. "We weren't sure what she was drawing at first but…"
"That's the dial home device." The same guy from before said.
"And the instructions on how to fix it. There isn't much time."
"Send it through." Hammond ordered. There was a blur of movement from all the scientists scooping up their work and racing down to the control room to carry out his order.
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Daniel, Hammond, Skaara and I waited at the bottom or the ramp in the gate room. It was less than an hour from the time the plans were sent through to when the gate activated and SG-1's IDC code came through.
Jack and Sam came through first followed shortly after by Teal'c and Kalen. While all were badly sunburnt, Teal'c and Kalen were considerably less so which I guess was one of the perk of being a Jaffa.
Hammond uncrossed his arms and his face broke into the closest to a grin he typically allowed himself to show as he met the returning team halfway up the ramp. "Glad to have you back."
Sam smiled and immediately winced when the expression irritated her sunburn. "Thought our goose was quite literally cooked this time, Sir. These plans were perfect, who came up with them?"
Hammond looked behind at me and then back at Sam as his answer.
Jack walked past where Sam stood frozen on the ramp and came to a stop at the end of the ramp. "Erin?" He questioned.
I nodded, regretting the movement instantly when it jostled my head.
Teal'c was the next to come down the ramp, passing the now frozen Jack, and placing a hand on my shoulder. "I am sorry, Erin Clark. We could not find a way to help you."
I reached up and took his hand, squeezing it gently.
Kalen cape down the ramp took my free hand. "I wish we could have done more."
And I was nearly knocked over by a wave of anger and jealousy emanating from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Skaara clenching his fists and staring to the floor.
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That moment in the gate room opened a floodgate and I was pummeled by wave after wave emotions and what I guessed may have been thoughts. It was so overwhelming that there was nothing coherent. I would go from feeling extremely happy to anger and then frustration. Soon the emotions were stacking on top of each other to the point I couldn't recognize what they were or where they came from.
I was lying with my head buried in my arms at the desk were I'd been working on my device. It was useless to try to explain my current condition. People were talking around me but I found I could no longer understand what they said. And I didn't care. That's what scared me the most.
I could still recognize my name and whenever I heard it I shook my head "no" to answer any question that may or may not have been sent my way.
Then I nearly screamed out in agony when the base alarms went off. The lights went off and when I opened my eyes it was like quenching my thirst after being lost in a desert. I hadn't noticed how much the bright lights had been hurting me until they were gone.
I heard my name but I didn't respond. My device glowed softly in the darkness.
It was time.
I lunged and scooped up my device and all of its cords and made for the door.
Once I was out in the hall I found a fenced off power station located in a secluded corner off the main hallway. There was a keypad and I knew the code through I'd never been in this section of the base before.
The door swung open. I went to the third power relay and ripped the panel open to stuff my device in. Somehow I knew where each and every one of the cords needed to go in to connect my device to the main server.
Jack, Teal'c, Daniel, and Skaara's bright warm presences were behind me making me feel safe though I sensed their worry.
"Euge." I said to assuage their concern.
Jack spoke a strange language and Daniel answered in the same alien language.
"Euge." I repeated. The last thing to do was pull the blue lever down. My device kicked on and emanated a low hum. It was ready.
It was done. I turned to leave only to find Skaara blocking my path. He was speaking to me but I didn't understand. He felt… sad. But why was he sad? This was a good thing. He took my face in his hands and spoke again. I don't understand! "Euge!" I gently pried his hands off and pushed past him and the rest of the boys and out into the hallway.
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In the gate room the Stargate was already dialing. This was good. A voice shouted at me over the loudspeaker.
I whirled around and stared up at the control room. Hammond was speaking into the mic. I raised my arm and pointed at the gate. It was important. I had to go through.
The gate finished dialing and the event horizon whooshed out and back. There was a collective gasp, both from the mic and my team who had made it into the gate room behind me.
I looked over my shoulder, my lips turning up in a faint smile. Everything would be okay, they would see.
Then I started up the ramp. Teal'c and Jack's footsteps on the ramp echoed as they followed me.
No. They couldn't come. I stopped and faced them. Putting a hand on each of their chests, I gently pushed them away.
Daniel called out and they went to stand next to him at the end of the ramp. They would be safe here, that made me happy.
I faced the gate again and began my assent. Right before from event horizon I looked back at my team and raised my hand in farewell.
But before I could make it through Skaara raced up the ramp. There was no use trying to get him to stay.
He spoke glancing up at the activate gate fearfully then at me. Then he took my hand and we stepped through.
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The travel took longer than it normally did and when we came through on the other side we flew out a good five feet until gravity pulled us hard to the ground.
Skaara was on his feet first and he began to pull me up from my sprawled position. However soft, light voices caught his attention and his head snapped up.
I followed his line of sight. There were dozens or them. Small, under three feet tall, grey and without clothes. Skaara pushed me behind him. But these being were no threat. The second one came fully into sight and relief inexplicably flooded through me.
"Ego…deserdi…asordo…." I pleaded instinctively knowing that they could help.
The two closest to Skaara and I conversed with each other.
"Comdo…asordo…."
One raised its hand and the opal like jewel imbedded in its hand glowed and I felt it pull all the pain away. I fell to the floor.
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When I awoke I found myself in a large room with a silver arched ceiling and red pillars that stretched down a corridor as far as the eye could see. My head was silent, I felt no emotions emanating around me. The pain was gone.
Next I noticed someone was holding me where I was lying on the floor. "Skaara?" I groaned and sat up.
"Airen?" He asked, not letting go of where he had a hold of me.
And I tackled him in a hug. "I'm okay." I mumbled into his shoulder. He crushed me tighter
Then I noticed our audience and blushed scarlet and pulled away so the two of us were in a more proper position, given this was first contact with a new race of beings. I gulped. "Ah, hello." The two that had helped me cocked their heads and I wondered if they could understand English, which thank God I was speaking again. I wondered if Skaara and I should stand to greet the aliens, but given their height I thought staying knelt on the ground would put us on a more equal footing. This was an entirely new experience. "Thank you." My voice still wavered weakly in places.
"You are welcome." The one with the jewel in its hand spoke absolutely perfectly.
My jaw dropped but given all the negotiations I'd been a part of over the last few years I pulled myself together quickly. "You understand me?"
Skaara was still wary as I scouted closer to the two speakers. All around the corridor dozens of small grey aliens were gathering around to witness our exchange.
"We speak many languages." The other alien answered.
"You're the Asgard. Thor's race, right?" They looked just like the alien that we'd seen in the Hall of Thor's Might on Cimmeria.
The first Asgardian raised his eyebrows, well he didn't exactly have eyebrows but it he did he would have been raising them. "You have heard of us?"
"Yes. We met Thor a little bit back. He saved my life and the lives of many others."
"You looked into the archive that stores all the Ancients' knowledge." The second Asgardian noted.
"I did. It happened so fast." I explained hoping they weren't angry that I had done that. They seemed peaceful enough and their race protected planets of humans so they couldn't be all that bad. I hoped.
"It was not meant for you." The Asgardian said matter of factly.
"So all of this was an accident?" I asked.
"Human physiology has not advanced to the point where your brain could handle all that knowledge." The first cocked his head and studied me carefully which unnerved me slightly.
"Where are we?" Skaara asked pulling me closer.
The two conversed in a light and quick language. The one who saved me answered. "This is the Asgard planet Othala in the galaxy of Ida."
We were in another galaxy! That was insane to think about. The device I built must have been power source to boost the Stargate to get us all the way here.
As if knowing what our next question would be the Asgardian continued talking. "The Ancients moved on from our region of space long ago, but your sub-conscious mind used their knowledge to find us here, where you could get help."
"Very impressive." The second commented and there was mummer of agreement from the gathered Asgardians.
"Indeed." Indeed the first agreed. "We did not think your brains had advanced even that far. Such a feat would have been impossible for your race even one generation ago."
"How do you know so much about us?" It couldn't have been a coincidence that talk of the Roswell greys had circled Earth for decades, perhaps there was some truth to those rumors after all.
"We have studied your race closely." The second Asgardian said.
"What did you learn from us?"
"That your species has great potential." It continued. "Understand this, there was once an alliance of four great races in the galaxy; the Asgard, the Nox…"
"We've met them." I interjected happily before I could stop myself.
"…the Furlings…and the Ancients, the builders of the Stargates."
"Daniel was right."
"The alliance was built over many millennia. Your race has much to prove before we may interact on that level. You are still far too young."
I struggled to stand and Skaara stood and helped me to my feet. I leaned on him heavily as we approached to two Asgardians that we'd been talking to.
They moved to meet us halfway, their movements we fluid and graceful for such small little things. We stopped about three feet apart.
I knelt down again to be eye level. "I want to thank you again for what you did for me. And not to sound ungrateful, but you should know that we're out there, right now. The power in our galaxy is shifting and thousands of people's lives are on the line. You say we're too young, and maybe we are. But this is about saving people's lives. It's about giving my people and many others like us the chance to grow up because we will never get that chance if the Goa'uld continue to enslave and wipe us out. So please, we may not be ready for a lot of this stuff, but we will try the best we can."
"I have seen firsthand what the Goa'uld are capable of." Skaara spoke up, pain dripping from his voice. He had to compose himself before he continue. "The things they do… As of now her world is only one of a few out there fighting them. The Goa'uld are so many are we are so few. Please, help us, if you can."
The two of them seemed moved by what we said and the whispers around us grew louder. The Asgardian who healed me leaned forward and raised his hand for me to take. Its hand looked so delicate. I took it in mine softly and I felt that its bone structure was even more fragile that it seemed just looking at it.
The other reached out to Skaara and he took its hand.
It wasn't hard to believe that these gentle creatures has become the protectors of mankind from evil not just on Earth, but on countless planets across our galaxy.
Both Asgardians moved their heads up and down in approval. "You have already taken the first steps towards becoming the fifth race." My savior said.
All around those that had gathered to watch us began to speak louder and louder to each other, some even coming up to Skaara and I to gently touch our arms or shoulders in curiosity. Perhaps, hopefully something had been started here today that would one day reach our galaxy and free all peoples from the Goa'uld once and for all.
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Skaara and I walked hand in hand through the gate back to Earth. When we came through on the other side it was still dark but as soon as the gate shut off the lights came back on to normal level.
My team, who'd been in the control room when we first came through, disappeared for a moment and reappeared as the gate room's blast doors parted to the left.
"You're back?" Jack asked, but his question had two meanings.
"I'm back." I answered running and jumping Jack in a surprise hug.
He grunted when he caught me and held me for a second until he sat me back on the ground. "Hey Skaara." He patted Skaara on the shoulder affectionately.
Next was Daniel. "Don't ever do that to me again." He said while crushing me quickly and then pulling back to kiss my forehead.
"I'm fine Dani." I smiled and… gasped in surprise when a wall of Jaffa picked me straight off the floor. "Teal'c!" Normally he was more subdued when he expressed emotion.
The seemingly remembering himself he sat me down and bowed his head like he usually did. "A momentary lapse." He grinned.
"You should do it more often." Jack half joked- half said seriously.
Teal'c raised his eyebrow as he considered this.
"Where did you go?" Sam asked during her hug.
"To the Asgardian's."
Daniel's eyebrows shot to the roof. "Thor's race."
"They saved me. And you know what?"
"What?" Jack asked.
I took Skaara and Daniel's hands and looked to each of my team members. "I think we're going to be alright."
Author's Note. So that's the end of the Fifth Race. I've got a few more episodes to do in season two, but a forewarning I'm going to be changing things up quite a bit during the season finale. I have my story outlined all the way to the end of the series, oh wow, and it's going to involve quite a few changes and unfortunately I can't do it all. I hope you all can stick with my story as it goes through these changes because I promise really good things are coming. If you can't wait that long feel free to private message me about it and I'll tell you what I've got planned. I would love to have your input.
Now for responses. Nitia: I loved your review and all your questions. First off about Klorel, it's kind of implied though not outright said that he was left along with Cordesh on the Tok'ra planet that was being evacuated. I think that from the Tok'ra's perspective Klorel's crimes of torturing and imprisoning his host as well as the countless crimes he committed against the peoples of the galaxy more than justified his punishment. Though I purposefully left his fate unknown so it could be decided by the reader. Personally I thought that he was left to die, but he could have been taken by the Tok'ra and left on a Goa'uld planet. It's up to you for what you want his fate to be.
In" Thor's Hammer" Erin was transported into the chamber with Teal'c and Jack. I made a little mention of it way back in a chapter but would've been hard to catch. When it came time to destroy Thor's hammer to save Teal'c she was definitely conflicted about it and she couldn't bring herself to destroy the device that could save Skaara and Sha're. Daniel decided he would do it. Erin eventually came to grips with the fact that they may not ever see Skaara or Sha're again, but Teal'c was right there and then and he could be saved by destroying the device.
In "The Gamekeeper" Erin was split up with Teal'c. You asked if she was forced to watch her parents die with Daniel. In that episode those were actually Daniel's biological parents he watched die. The way I laid my universe out, instead of Daniel going into the foster system after his parents died and being tossed around from one house to another as he was in the tv show, instead I had him remain with a family. This family kept him and eventually had a baby girl who was raised as Daniel's sister, Erin. In this episode I would've had Erin forced to watch over and over the moment on Chul'ack when she and Jack ran towards Skaara just before he was about to go through the gate, only for him to be revealed as a Goa'uld and attacked them. Erin would have to relive the heartbreak of thinking she came so close to Skaara, only to realize what had been done. Teal'c would have to go through this knowing that it was his fault because he was the one who captured both Erin and Skaara on Abydos and then allowed Sha're and Skaara to be chosen as hosts.
The episode "Secrets" didn't happen in the universe my story takes place and neither did the events in that episode. I mentioned it at the end of my "Family" chapter. So there isn't going to be a Harcesis child. I did this in part because it didn't make sense at the time given the fact they had just recaptured Skaara and in the long run plan of my story that episode and the events that occurred in it just didn't fit. Also I have something planned that is sort of an homage to that episode coming very, very soon. Opps, did I leave a spoiler?
Machala: Oh the Fire and Water episode was never an episode I never even considered writing. This is really making me think, I love that. I think that in that episode Daniel would still be the one that was taken and made to be believed dead. Remember that this has occurred very soon after losing Skaara, Sha're and Kawalsky. The trauma of Kawalsky's death made Erin catatonic for several hours. Daniel's supposed death would send her out of it. She would come back and absolutely, positively refuse to believe it and she would come up with all these insane theories for how he could still be alive regardless of the memories implanted in her mind. Out of all the outbursts, flashbacks, and reactions her's would be the worst and most violent to the point she'd have to be sedated. Erin would insist they go back to the planet. Once Daniel was found to be alive she wouldn't let him out of her sight for a long time. While the other members of SG-1 would understand why the alien did what did, Erin could not forgive him. This experience would lend itself to her distrust of aliens that use humans for their own gain, especially the Goa'uld and by extension the Tok'ra.
Finally, if there are any episodes or story lines that I haven't done and you want to know what happened just leave it in a review and I'll answer them at the end of my chapters. Till next time.