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 39]

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"You can't do that!"

The High Council, which Alfred was rapidly losing patience with at this point, remained unphased by his outburst. To his side, Tony remained totally silent, apparently fully willing to accept the punishment being put upon him.

"The fact remains that Torny-"

"Was busy on some secret mission for you guys and so couldn't have known about the program! Blaming him for it would be completely stupid!"

The Chief Archon leaned over his seat, frowning down at the human challenging their decision. "That is not the issue, although it signifies the failure of his duties over a longer term than expected. What do you know of the Protected Planets Treaty?"

Alfred only paused for a moment to recall everything he'd been told in the recent crash course lesson before speaking up again. "Basically you guys and the goa'uld were at war for a few years, you guys were winning before the goa'uld started burning planets to keep them away from you, and you agreed to leave their territories alone as long as they stayed away from the planets under your control."

"That was the basic outline of it, yes," The Asgardian next to him replied. "But the goa'uld were wary of us, and thought we might use our worlds to build up armies to invade them, since that would technically not break the treaty due to us not being directly involved in combat."

A third spoke up, "So we agreed that, in addition to staying away from their territory, we would also avoid any sort of contact with any of the species under our protection while preventing them from reaching a technological level that could threaten the goa'uld."

"Prevent them from…" Alfred's mouth went dry, trying to unjar his mind from the idea of deliberately suppressing the natural development of civilizations and failing miserably. "Why would you agree to that?"

"It was our only choice," The Chief Archon gave out a sigh. "We could not tie up a large amount of our number just to keep the goa'uld in check, and it was the only way we could get them to agree to hold back from firebombing unprotected worlds the moment we turned our focus elsewhere. We conceded that, should any of those under our care find out, they would not be pleased, but we would rather take on the displeasure and hatred of a thousand worlds than see them dead because one made the mistake of posing a threat to the system lords."

What Alfred hated most was that he could understand, in a twisted sort of way, that is was the best of some rather shitty options. It wasn't one he was sure he'd be able to make, either, because there were humans out there being subjected to generations of inescapable slavery with no way out, and the idea of abandoning them to protect them left his gut roiling and bile on his tongue.

"And we fucked it up by discovering the gate, activating it, and proceeding to kill one of the guys keeping everything in check. Thereby making us a bit of a threat."

"In a way, you're lucky you got away with what you did," The Chief Archon continued. "They will not be able to pinpoint exactly who dealt the final blow to Ra, and so the Treaty is still active for the moment. So long as the gate and any related information is removed from the planet-"

"No," Alfred stared up at the council with grit teeth. "That's not an option. Try again."

"You have no right to-"

"Your own treaty says you can't actually do anything about the fact that we have a Stargate program. Not only are two countries fully backing it already, with government involvement all the way up, but more are being brought in so as to expand operations as we get in contact with more worlds."

The American put on a smirk he wasn't feeling as he continued. "By removing the gate, you don't solve the problem of all the data from Heliopolis - your own meeting place - that has already been copied and recopied and distributed across the continent. Even if you could scrub all the data from every server, you'd still have to track down all the hard copies made, and then all the papers that are based off of those copies, and the papers based off of those.

"At that point, you'd then have to deal with all the scientists and government workers who would at that point be alerted to something attacking and deliberately censoring the information they spent months collecting and studying, who probably have between them most of the information memorized and capable of putting it back down on paper the moment you guys give up and leave. And I figure, as advanced as you guys are, you can't exactly read minds to figure out who knows what, so you'd probably have to start kidnapping and brainwashing every last American and Canadian-"

"You would claim-"

"I know Tony has the technology to alter memories," Alfred cut back into the council's protests. "He's used it, with my permission, to keep his presence on Earth secret, because as my friend I don't want to see him get hurt or kidnapped by some crazies looking to get at his DNA or tech or whatever else they'd try to bargain for. Hell, I've stood up to my own bosses when they tried to demand information or equipment in exchange for his ongoing residence, which believe you me, does not make my job easier when they don't like or trust me.

"All I'm saying is, the cat's already out of the bag. Unless you guys took extreme measures, there's no way you'll ever be able to make us degrade enough to stop being a threat to the goa'uld, and I can't imagine that'll solve the issue once those guys finally figure out it wasn't one of them that killed the head honcho. At that point, you guys are going to have another war on your hand, whether you want it or not, unless something happens to keep their focus on each other."

The Council remained silent for a long while, before one of the Asgard who hadn't spoken until then stood. "You have an alternative idea."

"My people - almost all modernized countries, really - have branches of our military specializing in espionage and under the table missions. We aren't up to the task of infiltrating goa'uld worlds, but with more time to explore through the gate and collect information, we could build up a smokescreen that would let us operate safely enough to avoid directly violating your treaty."

"You would risk the safety of thousands of worlds on this plan?"

"It's the only way Earth will stand a chance of surviving on its own," Alfred replied. "Unless you guys have a better idea, in which case I'm all ears."

The Chief Archon lifted a hand, silencing the protests of two of the council. "We will… deliberate on your words, and give you our answer shortly."

WIth that, the holographic images of the council faded away, leaving just a tense American and a slumped Asgardian in the small holochamber.

"Alfred…"

"Tony, don't," Alfred exhaled slowly, closing his eyes as he slowly allowed himself to relax from his near-military stance. "I'm not angry with you for lying about that part of your mission - hell knows I'd avoid that conversation as long as I could if I were in your shoes - but for the love of god, if I have to bluff a bunch of super-advanced aliens again for your sake, I'm taking away your coffee privileges for a month at least."

Tony couldn't help but snort at the underwhelming threat, dissolving some of the tension in the room. "I was going to say thank you for defending me."

The blond stared at his friend for a moment before sighing and lightly smacking him in the shoulder. "Dude, that's what friends are for."

The alien just offered a smile in reply.

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AN: I have to admit, I struggled over this scene for a while, because while I wanted to provide some more development on the Treaty and stuff, I didn't wanna just write a bunch of infodumping, and absolutely nothing was working for a while. This still isn't perfect, but to be honest, I need a break from writing my more serious works, and having this done is more important than it being perfect.

There's stuff I want to cover in the eventual sequel that provides better tie-ins for my reasoning for crossing over Hetalia besides 'for the sake of it'. Some of it involves the nature of Nations, and some imvolves the reason the Alliance of Four broke up as it did. Some of it involves how I might handle Atlantis differently than the series did. And a lot of it will, I think, just simply allow me to explore the politics of this mess without having to come up with a bunch of OCs or looking up specific politicians.