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 28]

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

"Dr. Jackson?"

Daniel looked up from the messy sprawl of translated documents in front of him, blinking several times before he realized who was actually in front of him. "Colonel Jones."

The blond looked around the room, whistling at the not small piles he had around. "This all the stuff from the pyramid?"

"It is," The archaeologist nodded, smiling as he recalled how lucky they'd been that Ra hadn't felt the need to gather up or worry about the papers and equipment left strewn around the back rooms, thus allowing them all to be gathered up before they returned.

(Of course, they'd had to go through mild sterilization just to be safe, but compared to what he'd heard all the other soldiers and scientists going through, he felt infinitely lucky he'd managed to keep his mask through the entire situation.)

"How far are you with translations now?" Jones asked, looking back to him.

"Almost a third of the way through all of them, and it completely rewrites everything we've ever known about the stories of the Egyptian gods." Daniel shook his head. "From the sounds of things, Ra wasn't the only one like himself, only the leader. I'm still not sure about this one part though - it uses 'gone', but I can't say if that means they all died or if they're just far away from us now."

He looked up just to see the colonel pale, gaze far away for a minute. "Shit, I knew I forgot something."

"Sir?" The brunet's fingers twitched. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just - something I forgot in the report. I'll have to stop by really fast to let the generals and them know." Jones shook his head, grimacing for a moment before allowing himself to relax and smile again. "That wasn't exactly what I was planning on asking you before I came in here, by the way - when do you think you'll be done with your translation work for the day?"

Daniel blinked. "Maybe an hour before one of the others tries to get me to eat dinner, I think. Why?"

"Well," The colonel grinned, looking both embarrassed and conspiratory. "I was actually planning on going out to town for dinner and checking in on Catherine and her fiance while I was out there anyways, so I thought, since she really seemed to take a shine to you, if you might wanna come along and say hi or something."

The idea didn't sound too bad, especially since he hadn't really seen grass or trees or anything of the sort in… wow, had it been a month now? Even the Egypt digs had had a few trees and plants to break up the sand - Abydos had barely had a few shrubs, though to be fair they had only seen a small part of the entire planet, and the people had to get their fruits and animals somewhere.

"I think that's alright," Daniel decided, smiling as he set down the paper he was holding. "But I thought she wasn't part of the program anymore. Won't you get in trouble with command if you tell her anything?"

Jones raised an eyebrow, grin not dropping. "She was one of the founders of the program, and she's known about the ring for longer than any of the rest of us, so I say it's fair she at least gets to know exactly what was on the other side of the tablet address. It's not like we're gonna be telling her anything about what went down, just about the people and stuff, so I'm pretty sure they won't be too angry…"

"If you say so," Daniel replied doubtfully, hoping that the man, as friendly and open to his work as he was, wouldn't end up in a heap of trouble for this. Actually, that reminded him-

"I'll see you in about an hour by the elevator then?" Jones asked, already making his way out the door again.

"Yes, sir," Daniel sighed, figuring he could just ask about the oracle woman later, since he hadn't had much of a chance to speak with her while the Colonel had managed several conversations. Only after the door clicked shut did he go back to his translations, momentarily distracting himself again as he double checked the next strip against his books.

~0~0~

Just over an hour later, Daniel blinked as he watched the sun set over something that wasn't sand from his seat in the Colonel's car (actually his friend's car, but those were apparently semantics). His body had just begun the slow process of adapting to the absurdly long days on Abydos before they'd returned, meaning that while his inner clock said it was still mid afternoon, his brain was convinced by the darkening sky that it was far later than that, especially accounting for it being winter.

(What season had it been on that other world anyways? Did it even have seasons?)

"Nice to be home, isn't it?" Jones asked, drawing him from his thoughts sharply.

"I lived my life out on various digs with my parents, so I can't really say I've ever had much of a home."

"Yeah, I guess that can make it a bit trickier," The soldier sympathized, sending a glance and a smile his way. "Still, I missed it here, even though I really enjoyed the mission, asides from, y'know, that last day."

Daniel smiled back despite himself. "I guess having access to showers and non rationed food again is nice, though it's weird seeing snow patches around."

"You're telling me; going from summer to winter again is just crazy." Jones shook his head.

"I'm just glad I still have my antihistamines," Daniel replied. "Otherwise I'd be sneezing up a storm right now."

"You're just lucky you didn't have to go through all the blood tests and swabs and shit I did; I won't be able to look at a needle for weeks, man."

"I can't imagine the Abydonians are having it much better; they don't have anything like the medicine theories we do, and from what I've heard they're still trying to wrap their heads around the idea of tiny animals making you sick instead of bad spirits or curses."

"The only reason they trust us is because of what we did for them," Jones nodded. "Otherwise they wouldn't accept all the blood tests and vaccinations and everything else we've been giving them too, since we sort of accidentally exposed them at the end there."

"It was going to happen at some point," Daniel shrugged. "It's happened a lot in history when two cultures meet, only this time we actually know and care enough to try and stop it before it begins."

"Yeah, that's definitely a plus."

The archaeologist hummed in agreement, mind drifting to earlier as he frowned. Now seemed like as good a time as any to ask, since they were still a distance away along the backroad route the colonel was taking. "By the way, what did you speak with the oracle about?"

"Hmm?" The colonel asked, not glancing over to him. "You mean in the chamber, or after?"

"Well, both, I guess," Daniel shrugged. "I only spoke with her for a bit after you left, and she didn't really share much aside from the address and a bit on the story of Ra, so…"

"Well, the first time we spoke, she just wanted to know about us and where we came from and stuff, since we obviously weren't from around there. I explained about the gate and stuff, and she realized what I was talking about and decided to show me the address back since she knew Ra was coming soon. Ended up reading Ra's tale and having her explain it to be right before, well, I had to go."

Daniel remembered that, along with the odd behavior, but said nothing for the moment.

"As for that other time… I was really just explaining what we'd be able to offer in the near future for her and her people should they be interested, and what we'd want in return if everything goes well."

"Like?"

"Well, at least a small base of operations to hold the archaeology teams, medical teams, military teams, and whoever else is gonna be needed there to deal with our operations there. We'll want access to the mines for whatever substance is there, free exploration rights over the rest of the planet, and control over the Stargate since we'll be using it a lot."

Daniel frowned. "And what are they getting in return? Glass beads? Some water barrels?"

"We aren't in the seventeenth century anymore," Jones replied dryly. "Water and food is just a start - a school for them to learn to read and write their own language has been tossed around a lot, along with whatever else they wanna learn as long as it's not deemed too dangerous. In a few years command will probably decide whether to offer them positions in the SGC on missions and such."

"That's-" The brunet blinked, sitting back as he thought all that over. "Huh. That's actually a fair enough trade. What about after that?"

The colonel shrugged. "Depends on what happens between now and then and past that. If the program ever goes public - which I don't doubt it eventually will - we'll probably end up having to determine whether they're allowed a seat on the UN or if something else will have to be provided for them. Hard to say, though, because the case is sorta unprecedented for multiple reasons."

"I can imagine," Daniel noted, glancing to their side as they pulled over to the side of the road, stopped before a small house that seemed fairly similar to those around it. "We're here already?"

"They're still under watch due to potential health problems Dr. Littlefield might have now that he's back on Earth, so they live fairly close to the base." Jones explained as he turned the car off, pocketing the keys before leaving the car.

Daniel followed behind, eager to see his pseudo-mentor again, adjusting his glasses as he waited for her to answer the door. She didn't seem surprised to see them, instead smiling and waving them inside before closing the door behind them.

"It's nice to see you both again," She greeted as they followed her into the living room, waiting for them to sit before doing the same. Dr. Littlefield was already there, looking remarkably healthier and more energetic than he had back at Heliopolis. "I must say, I wasn't expecting to get another visit like this after my official retirement."

"Well, it's not exactly official business we're here on," Jones chuckled, kicking back with a smile. "How've you two been?"

"We've been getting used to living together again," She replied wistfully, smile on her face as she glanced to her fiance. "It's easy to forget the little things after so long, but so far there haven't been any large issues."

"That's good," He smiled, leaning forward. "We've had an interesting month as well - Abydos was quite the place. Sorta like Egypt, actually, at least the parts we've seen so far."

"Is that the name of the place, then?" She asked, leaning forward in interest. "What were the people there like?"

"Surprisingly, human. Apparently they migrated there a long time ago, and just sorta maintained their culture up to now. Real friendly, all things told."

"Really now?" She pressed a finger to her lip in thought, glancing over to Daniel thoughtfully. "What do you think of them, Daniel?"

"Ah," He replied, trying not to bring up anything about the danger they faced. "Their food was interesting."

"You mean the huge lizards?" Jones grinned, shaking his head. "Things were as big as a komodo dragon; dunno where they got it from. Shame we couldn't try it, but that's command for ya."

"It sounds like quite the tale," She smiled. "Why don't you tell us more about it over dinner, if you're planning on staying that is?"

"I guess we can stay if you're down with that," The colonel replied, tapping his fingers on his lap thoughtfully. "Before you go do that, though, there's something I should be honest with you guys about ,since it'll probably make a few details of the story clearer."

Daniel raised an eyebrow, glancing to an equally concerned Catherine who in turn shared a look with her fiance. "Yes?"

He smiled, straightening himself up as he looked between all of them. "I've introduced myself to all of you as Alfred F. Jones, presidential aide and Air Force colonel. That's not entirely the truth. My actual name..."

His grin, if anything, grew a bit wider. "is the United States of America."

None of them responded for a long minute, trying to parse exactly what he said. "By that, you mean…"

"I'm the living, breathing embodiment of the country and its people, and have been since I was born way back in the mid 1600s."

Catherine sucked in a small breath. "Wait, that wasn't your grandfather at those digs, then."

He chucked and tipped an imaginary hat. "I've always had a passion for archaeology, but can only get away to do it every so often between meetings and paperwork. Same with space related stuff, and since the Stargate Program is basically both now, I've really gotten into it."

Daniel frowned as a thought struck him. "Does that make that oracle woman…"

"-The personification of Abydos, otherwise known as pre-Ancient Egypt. As in she was there when her people went through in the first place."

That was… incredibly strange to imagine. "And your brother…"

"Yeah, not hard to guess, right? Considering there's only two countries currently part of the program and I'm one of them."

"Why don't people know about this?" Daniel boggled, thinking of everything he could have learned from a being old enough to have actually been alive then. "Can you imagine how much help that'd be to archaeologists in my line of work?"

Jones smiled sadly, sighing. "Think about it - what do you think people would do if they knew the actual embodiments of countries like Germany, China, hell, any of the Soviet countries existed? There are still a lot of people who remember the second World War, and more who remember the Cold War, Vietnam, Korea…"

"I…" Daniel trialed off, exchanging looks with Catherine as they started to realize what that'd do.

"People who didn't hate us would see us as celebrities, and for all we burden the weights of our people we're also human, and none of us exactly want to live in the spotlight indefinitely or be forced out into the middle of nowhere just to get away from everything."

There was a stretch of silence as they mulled that over, Dr. Littlefield finally speaking up for the first time since they'd arrived. "Do you know what happened to my brother, then? No one I asked ever told me…"

Jones said nothing for a moment, seeming lost in his thoughts before he directed his attention back to the man with a small smile. "Yeah, I do - you wanna hear it?"

"Please."

(It was rather hard to doubt him after that. Still, it answered quite a few things he'd been wondering, and he was more than a bit touched - and surprised - to be trusted to know such a thing.

Hopefully he'd be able to live up to it.)

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

AN: Wow, this came out even longer than the last one, but I guess that's what happens when the characters keep on talking and you can't find a good stopping point that doesn't cut out stuff you actually want on-screen. I'm pretty happy Alfred was able to come clean to them, though – it'll hopefully let me do some interesting things in the future that otherwise might not be possible, but we'll see.

Next chapter starts the new arc, and though I haven't planned out any of it asides from vague ideas that have yet to solidify in any way, I really hope to make it just as awesome as Abydos, or at least just as long. We'll see, though...