The Star Gate Program (Hetalia/Stargate SG1 X-Over)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: It was the discovery of the century. A devise older than human civilization, capable of transporting people across the galaxy in an instant. But things have a way of quickly becoming complicated, pushing America and others to their limits as they find themselves embroiled in galactic politics and intrigue throughout the stars.

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine. Stargate isn't mine.

Warning: Alterations of the Stargate timeline/canon and Hetalia canon

[Inspired by Stargate Reopened; I recommend reading it if you have the time.]

[Chapter 20]

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Skaara almost - almost - turned back the moment he and his friends crested the dune, only to see Ra's ship looming over the desert. He'd been raised like every other child to fear and respect Ra's power, and to never go near the chappa'ai. Aside from a few rebellious ventures as a younger boy, he'd mostly settled into the idea that that was just how things were.

Then the strangers had come.

Their outfits had been so bizarre, and the masks had sent a shiver of fear through him and the others at the mines before the strangers had spoke. Well, sort of, anyways - it was clear only one of them even knew the basics of the language, and even that was fumbling, like a small child.

It was that, more than anything, which first convinced him that whoever these newcomers were, they were not of Ra - no servants of his would ever demean themselves in such a way. Several of the others obviously felt the same, because they started crowding around the masked strangers and their landships with a buzz of interest.

Mahu, the leader of the workers at the mine, shouted them all away, stepping forward himself to examine the newcomers. The newcomers in turn examined him, their own leader stepping forward and bowing his head slightly in respect before offering his hand. After a brief moment of confusion as their leader mimed what he wanted, the two had clasped hands in what seemed to be their own form of greeting.

Skaara, while watching all this, had snuck to the side so as to get a better look at the strangers. Once he was close enough to one of the ones still seated, he realized that, past the glare of the sun, he could see part of the stranger's face through the clear material over the eyes.

The man's eyes were dark, but the skin around them was pale, like he'd grown someplace dark. The stranger's gaze had moved over to him, examining him back before nodding his head slightly and going back to examining the crowd.

Skaara released a breath once the other man's gaze left him, leaving him jittery with what he realized after a few moments was not fear, but excitement. That excitement only grew when one of the other strangers went to the back of one of their ships, cracking open the odd round box to reveal pure, clear water inside. After pulling two cups out from another container, he filled them both and carried them over to Mahu and their leader, another stranger closing the container of water behind them.

Mahu accepted the cup carefully, though he glanced between the two cup leerily, likely worrying this was some sort of trick. When their leader took a breath and pulled up his mask long enough to down the whole cup, Mahu's eyes widened, either at the gesture of comfort or at the pale skin Skaara had only noticed a few moments ago, before glancing back down to his cup and lifting it to his lips.

After the first sip, Mahu finished it off quickly, loudly wondering at how clean it tasted. That sent a ripple of wonder through the crowd, as everyone realized no servant of Ra would ever be so generous to mere slaves.

Their leader laughed, gesturing for the opened water container (only one of what looked to be four of them - and they were giving it away so easily?) to be brought over and placed before them, the leader making gestures and asking something before turning to the child-speaker expectantly.

Slowly, the man asked them what, after a moment of puzzling from the crowd, was determined to be directions to the city in exchange for the barrel. It looked to have enough in it to give almost everyone at the mines a sip, a generous trade when they didn't even have to offer it.

Mahu nodded, turning to Skaara and barking at him and his friends to lead the strangers to the city and not come back until the chief dismissed them. He jumped, ready to run over to the mastadges before he realized their leader was waving the four of them over. The other strangers had already gotten back into their ships, and were… offering them places to sit as well?

Nabeh inhaled sharply when he caught on, though all four of them exchanged wondering looks before moving.

They clambered up into the spots on the landships made available for them, almost bouncing in place as Ahmose and Seti leaned forward to point out the path to the people who seemed to be controlling the ships. The controllers nodded, shifting their leg and pressing on something, and suddenly they were off, the dust behind them billowing up as they quickly made their way down the trail.

Skaara whooped, his friends doing the same as they watched the world go past far faster than even the quickest mastadge could manage for long. He knew the strangers were enjoying their amusement, based on the fragments of soft laughter he was catching, but it was hard to mind when he was riding something so wondrous and new.

It felt like no time had passed before they were at the gates, the four boys stumbling off of the ships with the dazed wonder of the experience. Seeing the chief approach, Ra's Gaze already uncovered, he quickly stepped forward to explain that these strangers were incredible and brought gifts of water and didn't quite speak properly but that was okay because they were amazing-

Kasuf waved him away with a nod of thanks as he turned to the strangers, Skaara and his friends stepping back with the crowd to let the chief lead them past. Most of the crowd drifted after, though a few stayed to look more closely at the landships under the masked watch of the same stranger he'd examined up close earlier. It was amazingly nice of him to allow them to clamber into the seats and feel the soft fabrics and hard materials of it, though he barked at them when they tried examining the barrels.

Clearly, they wanted to present the gifts to the chief first. Skaara grudgingly approved, though he had yet to taste it himself.

The only other thing they weren't allowed to touch was the object the stranger was carrying - after he demonstrated its use by firing it up, most didn't want to try, the noise enough of a deterrent without the sinking feeling that it was actually a weapon.

(They were still different from Ra, even in that respect; the God's followers would have demonstrated its use on the crowd.)

It was upsetting that the strangers did not eat at the feast later that evening; the people were enjoying the water gifted to them enthusiastically, Skaara and his friends all letting it roll in their mouths for a bit before swallowing, careful not to spill a drop.

(He'd seen the strangers take hasty bites of something earlier on, but he'd only been able to sneak away the wrapping it had been in.

The lingering taste of whatever had been in it had him wishing he could try the actual food.)

Even Daniel (the child-speaker - though getting better) revealing he carried the Eye of Ra did not dampen his belief in the strangers, because he'd seen the confusion at the reactions of everyone around them, and so had Sha're - they didn't know, and that was giving him hope that there were places out there Ra had not touched.

That was why, when the strangers left in a near hurry, he knew he had to follow them, just to be sure they would be okay. He was only thankful that his friends agreed to come along as well, because he didn't think he had the courage to approach the pyramid overlooked by Ra's ship on his own.

"Should we go in after them?" Seti asked, looked unenthused at the idea.

"Wait, look at the window over there!" Ahmose pointed to the side of the pyramid that had taken the brunt of the storm, leaving a huge dune covering a good third of it. And indeed, the dune was just the right height to peek through with, as it turned out, a small boost from the others.

Skaara held onto the ledge of the window as he peered in, eyes adjusting to the darker inside before he realized there were more people wearing the same strange outfits as the first strangers, the leader arguing with who might have been the leader of the new group if the raised voices meant anything.

As he couldn't understand anything they were saying, he focused more on the newcomers, their weapons looking far larger and more threatening than the ones the first group of strangers had. Their clothing also looked thicker, possibly enough to absorb the light from the staves of Ra's followers without issue. Maybe that's what it was for?

"What do you see?" Nabeh asked.

"There's a new group of strangers, and their leader is arguing with the leader of the first strangers." Skaara replied, looking down to his friends. "I think these ones are warriors; they've got thicker clothes and larger weapons."

"Warriors?" Seti's eyes widened. "Do you think they're going to fight Ra?"

"No one can fight Ra!" Ahmose automatically replied, before glancing around briefly, lowering his voice as he glanced up at the ship. "...can they?"

"I don't know," Skaara replied truthfully. "We'll find out if they try."

Just as he was about to be let down so that Nabeh could be held up to look, he heard a new noise from further inside the pyramid, drawing his attention back to the groups inside, who had both gone silent and turned to face the direction of the chappa'ai. The two leaders nodded to each other briefly, directing their people to hide behind the pillars before doing the same.

He flinched back and ducked away as he heard the feared footsteps approach the room, not wanting to see what happened next. "One of Ra's followers," He whispered to his friends, all of them shaking as they looked between each other.

Suddenly the pyramid rang with the loud noises of the stranger's weapons, causing all four boys to drop to the sand as they covered their heads. After too short a time the world grew quiet again, and they didn't need to look at each other to know they needed to see what had happened.

Ahmose was pushed up to the window this time, his eyes having to adjust before he gasped, almost falling back into the sand. "They killed the follower!"

"What?" The other three gasped, looking to each other with wide eyes.

"He's fallen to the ground and isn't moving, and the leader of the first strangers is going over to it…" He grew silent, his confused expression growing as he watched on. "They… pressed something, and the head went away. There's a man inside!"

Everyone knew Ra's followers were higher beings, something superior to the mere humans who worked for him. But if that were a lie…

"They're only men," Nabeh whispered. "And if the strangers can defeat them…"

The four exchanged quiet looks, a new blaze growing in them that their people had not fully realized yet. It was similar to the feeling of their childhood excursions, exploring the pyramid despite the lingering fear of being caught.

Rebellion.

The pyramid above them groaned, drawing all of their gazes upward as several plates slid away, two fast shapes shooting away - skyships. The four exchanged horrified looks before scrambling back down the dune, rushing for their mastadges before pushing them as quickly as possible towards the city.

They knew they would be too late for the attack, but they had to be sure their people would be okay, and to let the chief know about the new strangers and the revelation about Ra's followers.

(And, just possibly, the God himself.)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: So! This was meant to be up yesterday, but I got caught up and stuff and didn't finish in time. Not that that's bad, considering I was able to edit a few things this morning I didn't catch last night. And again, I sort of shoved part of the story into another chapter because I got caught up in Skaara's man-crush on the forward team, whoops.

Aha, I'm still trying to keep things semi-similar to the movie even as I differentiate in lots of other ways. I think this arc should be about... 10 more chapters at most? I'm sort of writing the script as I go along here, so I guess I'll know when you guys do. Hopefully you're all enjoying my character development so far, and I hope to do Sha're and others justice in future chapters.

(Next time: Infiltration)