Chapter 7.
Mars, an ancient world shrouded in mystery. Since time immemorial mankind has wondered about the red world. Did she ever have life, did alien life forms live and die there much like we do on Earth. The time was quickly approaching to the day when those questions and more would be answered but until that day is upon us, Mars and her secrets lie in an eternal slumber waiting for the fulfillment of prophecy.
The galaxy of Ida, home galaxy to the Asgard, was burning with the fires of war. Thousands of worlds fell to the replicator advance; cities, planets, peoples and civilizations were destroyed for the raw materials to eternally perpetuate the replicator species. Millions of sentient beings died everyday, Asgard warships attempted to save as many as they could with their advanced transporter technology but even they could not stop the advancing swarm.
Othala homeworld of the Asgard and site of the Asgard High Council. The room was mostly empty save for a mere half dozen Asgard sitting at the main table within the meeting hall. These beings were discussing the fate of the Asgard race, with the war progressing badly for them on all fronts and the gradually escalating cloning problem of their race things were not going well for them. The only good thing, at least in Thor's mind was the appearance of the Tau'ri on the galactic stage of life.
Thor's mind was brought back to the discussion at hand when Tyr, one of his warship commanders, jumped in with. "We should begin considering evacuating a portion of our civilian and military population to an area outside of Ida. This will insure the continuation of our species in the event that we fail in our war."
"And send them where?" asked Freyr. It was not an unreasonable question. With the replicators having captured and adapted quickly to Asgard technology they had the ability to go anywhere within three galactic radius' within minutes. Eventually they would find the Asgard no matter where they hid.
"Send them to the homeworld of the Humans. Their world has the space to accommodate many thousands of the Asgard. And it is also the abandoned homeworld of the Ancients. Perhaps there are some forgotten defenses that can assist us in the defense of Ida." Tyr rebutted the argument with.
Thor who had remained silent to this point spoke. "The Humans of Earth are not ready for full contact with the Asgard. If we were to appear in large numbers there would be much panic and destruction on their world. We should send a small delegation to Earth to discuss a possible treaty for space on one of the uninhabited worlds of their solar system."
Freyr looked a little nervous as he activated a massive holographic representation of the Human solar system. It showed the orbits of all worlds, moons, and even the asteroid belt with the human names for each displayed with their translations in Asgard above them. "There is one problem with that Commander Thor. The Ancients entrusted us with a prophecy before they left. It stated that one of the 'Fifth' race would eventually bring about the return of the Ancients and that he would reside on the warriors world. We have for millennia searched the galaxy looking for worlds of warriors but with your recent contact with Earth I believe a portion of the prophecy has come true."
Thor looked extremely interested as he leaned forward slightly in his throne like chair. He manipulated the controls of his chair to alter the hologram to show a closer image of the interior of the solar system. "Yes I know of the human Jack O'Neill using the Stargate to come to Othala and his being subsequently named as a member of the 'Fifth' race but I do not understand why we cannot establish a colony in their home system."
Freyr zoomed the hologram into a close-up of the 4th planet of the solar system. "This world is called Mars by the humans. As many of you do not know Mars was a god in ancient human culture. He was supposed to be the God of War, hence Mars coming to be known amongst many of our scholars as the Warriors World. If that is the correct interpretation of the prophecy then the Ancients will have insured that no one will interfere with that world until the prophecy has been fulfilled. Her defenses though millennia old by this point will still be active and very much deadly even to our ships."
"That is unfortunate. The limited data we have on Mars indicates that this world would be the most easily altered to fit with our biological requirements. Though the world Venus can also be altered to meet those same standards, though with a slightly longer delay. It could be ready to receive a small stable population of Asgard within a year compared to the six months that Mars would take."
"Yes it is unfortunate but we must abide by the wishes of the Ancients. This prophecy was entrusted to us and we shall not interfere with it in anyway. Though your idea does have merit. We shall send you to discuss a possible treaty with the humans of Earth for the planet Venus as they call it." Freyr addressed Thor as he ended the holographic program and allowed the lights of the High Council Hall to resume their normal level.
"Agreed. The Humans will want something in return for allowing us to use the world within their territory. What shall we offer them in exchange?" Freyr mused the question over for a few minutes. The Humans of Earth were technologically backward compared to them but they were advancing quite rapidly. Though of course they were currently involved in a war against the Goa'uld System Lords so they would probably want weapons technology which was one of the few things the Asgard were loathe to hand out. "We cannot offer weapons technology but perhaps they would agree to artificial gravity and hyperspace technology that is within their industrial capacity to produce. That should aid them greatly in their struggle against the Goa'uld."
"Agreed. Now to the other pressing matter, the replicators continue to advance and we are so far unable to do more than slow them down. I propose the shutdown of the Stargate Network with the galaxy of Ida save for a few Stargates on the older worlds. This should enable us to prevent the replicators from using the Stargates to move from world to world with relative ease." Thor said as he activated another hologram showing the current territory overrun by the replicators. The portion of the galaxy overrun by the replicators was shown in red, it was close to 57 percent of the whole Ida galaxy; many thousands of primitive species and even some of the more advanced allies of the Asgard had perished in this war.
"The war does not go well for us does it my old friend." Asked Freyr as he gazed upon the hologram with a measure of fear. The Asgard had for thousands of years been one of the most advanced and powerful races in known space. And now they were on the verge of extinction by a creature that was eating their race and the materials their civilization was based on, all because of their error of reactivating one of those creatures to study it. It was most discomforting to know that you stood on the twilight of your race.
"If we can get the new ship class online before the replicators reach Othala then we stand a chance to defeat them. If not then we will not succeed. It is nearly as simple as that. Hopefully with the prototype we will be able to slow them down until more come online and we can finally end this war." Thor stated as he watched the hologram shift again to show another few dozen systems that had just fallen. The hologram was directly tied into the hyperspace sensor arrays throughout Asgard space. Those sensors had just witnessed the death knell of yet another species and a few more Asgard worlds.
"And we are running out of time." "Then it is time for you to pay a visit to Earth. It would be in our best interest to not waste much time in gaining that treaty. Good luck my friend." Freyr said as he called an end to the meeting of the High Council.
Thor nodded and activated his beacon to transport himself back up to his flagship the Beliskner. It would take approximately fifteen minutes to arrive at Earth from Othala. Thor could have made the trip faster but decided that he shouldn't push the engines past their tolerances. The Beliskner might have to return to Ida unexpectedly and it would not do for her to be unable to do so because of an engine malfunction brought upon by overstressing the engines.
101010101010101010
Over at the SGC things were proceeding as normal, meaning that once again the world had a crisis that the Goa'uld had caused and it was once again SG-1's turn to haul Earth's ass out of the fire. The Tok'ra had just sent Jacob Carter, host to Selmak, to Earth to gain their assistance in tracking down a wayward Goa'uld System Lord known as Setesh who had gone missing a few millennia ago.
"So Jacob if this snakehead is here he could be hiding in any one of 6 and a half billion people. We haven't got a snowballs chance in hell of finding him." Colonel O'Neill said with his usual sarcastic flair. Though inwardly in was trying to think of reasonable ways to begin searching for the snake. They couldn't allow a Goa'uld to remain free on Earth; the opportunities for disaster were unthinkable.
"Jack I know it's a long shot but its all we got." Jacob responded not really wanting to have come on this mission. But Selmak had insisted and she had more sway with the Tok'ra council than he did and it also gave him a chance to see Sam again, even if only for a short time while the mission lasted.
Daniel who was jotting down notes said. "Well he is a Goa'uld so that gives us a pretty good starting point on how to look for him."
Jack looked at him like he was nuts as he asked. "Oh really? Then how do we find him?"
Teal'c responded. "As a Goa'uld he will never lose his thirst for power."
"And they have a pretty common theme for acquiring said power." Daniel said.
"False religion." Responded Teal'c
"Which narrows the proverbial haystack considerably. At least let me do a search to see if I come up with anything, we don't really have anything to lose at this point." This last part was said at General Hammond who nodded his assent after thinking it over for a few seconds.
General Hammond was just standing to dismiss everyone from the meeting when a low pitched hum and white light surrounded Colonel O'Neill before he vanished. "Code 9, seal the base!"
Everyone else in the room stood in shock. The last time that they had seen anything remotely close to that was when the Asgard had visited Earth to begin the negotiations for their Entry into the Protected Planets Treaty. Hopefully if it was them returning then it wouldn't be that bad this time around.
Onboard the Beliskner Colonel O'Neill once again took in the view of his homeworld after being transported to the ship without his permission, again! "Thor you there? We gotta have a little talk about you just deciding to beam me away whenever you feel like it. Thor!"
A flash of white light and Thor appeared at the opposite end of the room seated in his throne like chair. "Greetings O'Neill. It is good to see you once again."
"Hey Thor. What's the situation this time? Some Goa'uld coming after us calling your bluff or something?" Jack asked, trying to look clam but inside he was worried that it was just that. Some snakehead was calling the Asgard's bluff and Thor was here to give him a heads up before the snake got to Earth.
"I have been sent on behalf of the Asgard High Council to negotiate with you leaders for permission to construct a permanent installation on the planet you call Venus." Thor stated as he observed the human, trying to predict what his reaction would be. Most of the humans that he had interacted with over the centuries had just blubbered or begged for mercy not understanding him in the slightest. This one however was different. He showed no fear of the Asgard, as a matter of fact he seemed to regard them as he would any other being as an equal. It was most refreshing to meet one like him.
"Ok buddy … but the bill ain't gonna be cheap." Jack said as he tried to keep standing upright. The Asgard wanted to build and live in a base in the solar system. That pretty much guaranteed Earth's safety from damn near anything. No one would be dumb enough to violate the treaty with the Asgard in the same damn system.
"Uh Thor you do realize that its not up to me right?"
"Yes O'Neill that is why I have come. Please inform your superiors that I wish to discuss this with them. Though it would be preferred if you hurry, my time here is short. The war with the replicators still progress's back in the Asgard home galaxy and I shall need to return there soon." Once again a low pitched hum and white light surrounded O'Neill before he was transported back to the surface. Jack had time for one last shouted. "Talk to ya later buddy!" before he vanished.
It had been barely five minutes since O'Neill had been transported off the planet but that was more than enough time for Cheyenne Mountain to be sealed and locked down ready for damn near anything. The amount of troops that were stationed in the facility had slowly been increasing over the past few days and now nearly an entire regiment of troops was on hand, most to help with the continuing expansion but also for base security.
General Hammond looked up when a bright flash of light appeared near where Colonel O'Neill had vanished. Hopefully it was just the Asgard taking him for a small chat and now was returning him but he couldn't take the chance. "Security!" He bellowed causing half a dozen Special Forces soldiers to charge into the briefing room searching for possible threats to their commanding officer.
It did in fact turn out to be Colonel O'Neill being sent back. He had one of his goofy grins on his face that just promised to cause a massive headache for him he just knew it. "Welcome back Colonel. What did the Asgard want to talk to you about this time?"
The goofy grin didn't fade in the slightest but the quick glance around the room made General Hammond give the next order. Something about his subordinates face told him that this was big and those without clearance shouldn't hear it just yet. "Everyone dismissed!"
The security guards quickly vacated the room. Once everyone was gone save for the two senior officers both of them walked into Hammonds office. "Alright Colonel, out with it."
"Its good news sir! The Asgard want to open negotiations for permission to build a base or colony on Venus!" O'Neill practically gushed in his hurry to rely the news. This would be one of the turning points in human history. Jack could feel that in his very soul, with the Asgard sitting next door then Earth's security was damn near iron clad at least where the Goa'uld were concerned. Though any other threats out there were still valid but this could buy Earth the time she needed to prepare for them.
"Did they say what they would offer in exchange for Venus. I mean they want the rights to a whole planet and I'm not sure we even have the authority to sign away a planet." Hammond asked as he went over it in his mind. When the Stargate program finally went public there could be some major backlashes when the general population found out that the United States had signed away an entire planet.
"Thor didn't say but its probably going to be something big, they want an entire world so it could be some tech or ships. Though I really doubt its ships cause he said they were all needed in their war with the replicators in their home galaxy." Jack responded.
"I'll have to contact the president. He's the only one who can make a deal like this. Did you tell Thor that it would probably be awhile before he gets an answer on this?" Hammond asked.
"Ya, Thor said that he would wait for us to discuss it but he wants us to hurry, he might be recalled at anytime so we should try and hurry this along a bit." Hammond nodded and picked up the phone. Immediately on the other side of the country a presidential aide picked up the phone. "This is General Hammond, get me the President."
Colonel O'Neill left the office at this point. He had other things to attend to and Hammond was going to be busy for the next little bit trying to convince the President of what the Asgard wanted and what they could possibly get in return. Now with some luck the cafeteria probably still had some Jell-O left, damn well better in his mind.
He quickly changed directions after remembering that Daniel was going to be doing some research into seeing if he could find that Setesh character. If he could find him then the SGC would have to figure out away of making him quietly disappear. O'Neill walked into Daniel's office to find him fast at work on his computer, Teal'c was just standing stoically near him. Just as he was about to ask if Danny had had any luck Major Carter and Jacob walked into the room. Might as well let them ask it he thought.
"So any luck Daniel?" Jacob asked. He looked a little tense but he seemed to be keeping whatever was bothering him under control.
Daniel looked up. "Good news. I did a time line search on the archaeology website. It seems that throughout history there has been a cult of Setesh in one form or another. Now after the rebellion in ancient Egypt and when Ra fled Earth a new god appeared near Athens. Similar backstory and factious domains and even animal representations. I thought I lost him there but in a few centuries a cult of Seth arose in the 1800's. They were constantly hunted and despised by the Christians of the era, now here's the really disturbing part. All of Seth's followers were found dead, having slit their own throats but Seth's body was never found."
Major Carter was looking a little green around the gills at the tales of the trail of death that this Goa'uld had left in his wake throughout history. "Did you lose the trail there?"
"On a whim I decided to run a search through the government classified net to see if the CIA had anything on him for whatever reason. And looked what popped up on the ATF page. A cult who's leader is a man named Seth. The ATF is investigating them cause they've become so heavily armed and fortified."
Jacob looked shocked. "Daniel do you mean that you actually might have found him?" He was stunned, inwardly he had assumed that this mission had just been an excuse on Selmak's part to get him back to Earth to get him to reconcile with his son Mark. Now he had a real mission, to find out why Seth was still alive and what he was doing. Though of course the SGC would want to kill him and take whatever technology they could find.
"How do you know that its really him?"
"Deprogrammed followers of Seth say that he has magical powers and has killed several members in front of them. Also reports indicate that Seth has the ability to make his own eyes glow." That last part kind of sealed the question on whether or not it was a Goa'uld.
Jack looked at the picture of the leader of the cult of Seth on Daniel's computer for a few seconds longer before picking up a nearby phone. "Get me General Hammond."
"Yes Jack?" came the reply a few seconds later. "Daniel found him sir, he's holed up in a town a few miles north of Seattle. Permission to take SG-1 and grab him?" Jack asked, already thinking of the logistics of what would be needed and maybe a possible cover story for why they were taking this guy.
"Granted, take along SG two and three with you for backup. Try and keep this low key and avoid alerting the public in anyway. See if you can contact Thor. The President is conferring with his cabinet on the possible treaty dealing with Venus but it will be at least 24 hours before a decision is made. Also we would like time to bring in a diplomatic specialist to negotiate the treaty instead of leaving it open to misinterpretation." Hammond said before he hung up the phone. He was still waiting for the President to finish up his midday briefing before he got a chance to talk to him again to see if they had come to a decision on what possible requests they would make of the Asgard in exchange for the use of Venus.
Jack turned to his team, and Jacob. "We're good to go. Load up all gear and meet me at the elevator in twenty minutes. I have to see if I can get Thor's attention or something to tell him what's going on."
"Sir, do you still have the Asgard communications stone that he gave you during the Protected Planets Treaty summit? You could use that to contact him if it still works." Major Carter suggested.
"Good idea Carter." O'Neill left Daniels office and half walked jogged down to his office to get the stone. He had been using it as a paperweight refusing to allow the research and development team over at area 51 to touch it. Jack had told them they could have it when hell froze over or when Thor said they could have it, whichever came first. Picking up the stone he spoke into it hoping it was still functional. "Thor, buddy you there?"
A flash of light later Thor was standing in his office. "Yes O'Neill I am here. Have you discussed my proposal with your superiors?"
"Ya that's the thing I wanted to talk to you about. The President needs more time to go over all the angles and possible problems with the treaty. We really appreciate the offer but we can't make a decision that big this quickly. We were wondering if you could stick around for a few days or so till we make up our minds?" Jack asked, or pleaded as he personally thought of it in his mind. He couldn't believe the sheer stupidity that was coming out of D.C. The Asgard were willing to make a treaty with Earth and the goddamn blood sucking politicians wanted to think about it.
"My time here is short O'Neill. I do not know when I will be able to return. I shall leave you with this." A smaller flash of light and when it left in his hand another stone that looked very much like the first communication stone though the markings on the side were different. "This will enable you to contact me on the Beliskner wherever I am. Only use it when you truly have need of me. I shall return when you call for me."
With that Thor disappeared in another flash of light. More than likely his ship was already on its way back to his home galaxy but there was no way of knowing whether or not thanks to the advanced cloaking abilities that made Asgard ships invisible to Earth based sensor arrays.
Jack looked at the two stones that he held in his hands, a matched set of paperweights until he had to call Thor. Cool he thought. Jack put the stones back onto his desk and carefully locked the door behind him as he went to grab the commanders of the other teams assigned to go with him on the hunt to find Seth. After a quick briefing session with them, in reality just five minutes of telling them the basics, and telling them to get their asses in gear he headed for the elevator to find all three teams lugging weapons cases waiting for him.
After a quick drive over to the airfield adjacent to Cheyenne Mountain they took off on a C-130 Hercules troop transport heading for Seattle. It would take about ten hours to get there so O'Neill and his people settled in for a nap if they could manage it or to study the notes that Daniel and Jacob had provided on Seth. This was a lousy way to spend Christmas Eve but when you were assigned to defend the planet you did what you had to no matter how it affected your personal life. Though it still sucked big time.
10101010101010
Over in Boston Faith and Linda were sitting around the fireplace, Faith was just staring at the large Christmas tree sitting in the corner. She was trying extremely hard to keep from crying. It had been nearly three years since she had last celebrated Christmas and that had been with her mom. Though her mom was a hooker she still loved her very much, Gwen Lehane, Faith's mother, had done the best that she could over the years to raise her daughter right. She didn't always do the best or in the normal way but she at least tried to do the right thing.
Linda took a long sip of her hot cocoa and went back to sitting in the comfortable silence that filled the room. It had been a tough two months since she had met Faith but most things had turned out for the better. She had kept every promise that she made to Faith, which went a long way towards forging the bond that now existed between them. She knew that Christmas would be a tough day for Faith to whether it being so close to her birthday and after that close to the day of her mother's death.
"Its getting pretty close to midnight. I don't know if you ever celebrated this tradition but I was wondering if you wanted to open a gift now before you went to bed?" Linda asked. She as a child had done that with her own parents both deceased now thanks to random demon attacks but she hoped to revive it with Faith. Faith was brought out of her memories of her mother by Linda's question.
"Uh sure, I mean I never did that with mom but I guess it can't hurt." She said as she wiped her eyes trying to avoid looking like she was doing that.
Linda ignored Faith as she wiped her eyes; it wouldn't hurt to let the child have her illusions of being a tough street kid. Linda knew better that there was a sweet young woman underneath that hard exterior who was just jumping for joy to be finally let out even for such short times. Linda walked over to the tree and picked up a brightly wrapped package out from underneath the tree.
"Here you can open this one. We'll save the rest for tomorrow." Faith looked down at the present, the first one that she had received in nearly three years. It almost brought her to tears again, but she managed to keep herself in check. She quickly began shredding the wrapping paper to reveal a small wooden box. Opening the box she found what looked like a set of bracelets. "There beautiful."
Linda smiled at the look on Faith's face as she opened her gift. "There also magical. These are an ancient set of bracers known as 'Bracers of Binding' They have a few spells enchanting them that so only their proper wearer can use them. Also they will protect you from certain magical spells, they will absorb all magic that is based in fire and let you release it with the proper spell phrase at whatever target you wish."
"Cool! These babies should come in handy. I'll be able to char-boil any vamp that gets too close with these things." Faith exclaimed as she carefully handled them. Though she was still looking them over just tracing the engravings that seemed to be etched into them. They seemed to just sing with unbridled power.
It took a few minutes to realize that she should probably give Linda one of the gifts that she had picked up for her. Ever since Faith had started living her Linda had been giving her a small allowance so she could buy the things that she wanted, which she had used to buy a few small gifts for Linda.
Linda was surprised when Faith put the bracers back into the box and went over to the tree. But her shock was only increased when the dark slayer brought a small box over to her. Biting her lip Faith looked down at her feet as she handed over her gift to Linda. "Uh I saw this in a store and I thought you might like it."
Linda slowly peeled the wrapping paper off, though not the best wrapping job she have ever seen it had obviously been done with care so she took her time and removed the paper to see a book sized box. Opening it up she saw what looked like an old Celtic cross on a simple gold chain. It was beautiful. "Faith its exquisite, I love it. Thank you very much, help me put it on?"
Faith picked up the chain and latched it around Linda's neck. "Uh it also opens up like a locket. I didn't know if you wanted to put any pictures in or anything so I left it open for you to decide."
"Well we'll just have to go get some pictures taken of the two of us to put into it won't we." Linda said with a smile. Faith smiled in return and settled into to sit beside her on the couch. Linda just wrapped an arm around her adopted daughter, though Faith didn't know it at this point but she was hopeful that in time she could tell Faith and that she would accept it, to just watch the fire until it went out. Linda just sent a silent pray up to let all the years to come be this good to Faith, she deserved it after the years of pain she had had.
10101010101010
On the highway the hummer sped through the night as its lone human passenger slept in the backseat. Cortana controlled the vehicle letting Xander get some much-needed rest. She was still perusing the files that she had stolen from INGEN. Everything that she had read so far just created more questions to just how the hell INGEN had cloned all those species of dinosaurs.
With modern or even 26th century technology you could not clone or splice the genetic code of an animal that had been dead for 65 million years. The main sequence gaps in the genetic code that would be created after millions of years of genetic degradation would create a mutated creature that would be unable to survive in the drastically different environment of Earth. Splicing the DNA from a vastly different species to fill in the gaps only created more problems and human technology had not progressed far enough to do that yet. So where and how did INGEN find the technology to pull this off? She was determined to figure that out.
101010101010
Back in Sunnydale Giles continued to translate the prophecy that was coming to plague every waking moment. The seers that worked for the council told him that it was important to the future of mankind and that future evens were becoming more and more clouded to them. At the rate that the veils were closing it could only mean that all human life on Earth would be wiped out or destroyed in some manner and that this prophecy was the key, but it was so damn confounding.
The only part that he had managed to translate didn't make any sense no mater how he looked at it. He glanced down at the paper one last time before giving up and going to bed. Hopefully in the morning well rested and rejuvenated he would have better success with it.
10101010
The Prophecy.
"Immersed in Shadows, Yet Righteous as the Knights of Old"
"Shaped for loss, He will choose to become a Protector"
"The Hand of Chaos will mark him as a Soldier"
"The Warriors of Legend will walk this world once more"
"He will walk upon War's Honored Land and make it his refuge and home."
"Where Liberty was born,A Girl will answer the Call"
"Guided for the Women of many Arts, She will become a Scourge for that plagues that prey upon Mankind"
"Following the Trail of the Fallen God, she will find the Protector, and discover the other half of her Blood."