3

Daniel

It took two more hours for the expert to arrive and by that time he had a lot of work to do, but as with any specialist he could see at a glance certain things that a generalist cannot.

His report stated that all six babies were siblings, and not genetically identical per sex, in other words they did not have two sets of triplets, they had six brothers and sisters. He determined to an 'almost absolute probability' (the phrase annoyed the hell out of Daniel) that Jack was the father and Sam was the mother of all six children, none of them showed any 'markers' on their tests as Jon's had, though all did have a certain 'anomaly' which Dr. Lam was able to identify as the protein marker left by Jolinar (she had finally managed to read Sams file while the SG13 team-mates and a couple more people who were parents were looking after the children and the specialist was doing the DNA sequencing)

There had been no more children as yet, though as Daniel pointed out, Jack already had his ice hockey team, and no sign of either of his friends. The Daedalus was due back, in the next day or so, for refitting ready to head to Atlantis the trip that Daniel was hoping to go on, he knew he had a fortnight, but there was no way in Netu he was leaving if his friends had not been returned by then. However the ship WAS equipped to scan for other ships, even for the energy signature that Sam had noticed the cloaked ship that the trust had used, had emitted. Hopefully they would be able to find out who had Jack and Sam and was beaming babies into the SGC and WHY!

In the mean time SG7 had been dispatched to Cimmeria to get in touch with the Asgard and tell them of events. A message was sent to Teal'c on Dakara and a Goa'uld communication device with a recording on it was sent to the Tok'ra contact point.

The large isolation room, the one in which Daniel died a couple of years ago, was converted to a nursery for the babies and a paediatrician and three nurses specialising in neonatal care were brought into the facility, though they were restricted to levels above 22 where the commissary was, and Walters' PA announcements were muted (on 21 so they did not wake any sleeping infants) or changed to reflect people without clearance being in the facility.

The suggestion of Dr. Lam to have the children moved to the local Air Force Academy Hospital was shot down in flames, especially as they could not guarantee that the children wouldn't disappear again. She almost had a stand up fight with the General about it in front of everyone, pointing out that this was a front line base and not the place for babies. He tried to silence her by saying that if she did not like the management she could leave, after all she was not a military member, she had been appointed by the very man they were looking for, the one whose children she was looking to foist off on someone else.

"Where is your loyalty?" he asked "You cannot leave these babies with no one who really cares about them. Their parents are missing" he almost shouted

Dixon and his crew were watching from the side of the infirmary, even after the doctor and nurses arrived they seemed to think that they had full responsibility of the kids

"$10 they had an affair" whispered Bosworth, always a smart ass

"Done" Dixon replied

"I'll take that bet as well" Wells said. Bosworth got a nod off Balinsky as well and Daniel tapped him on the shoulder

"Put me down too" he said surprising all the Airmen

"I never suggested leaving them alone there! SG13 can be with them and I'm sure Dr. Jackson will be willing" he was glad she was sure, because he didn't know if it came to a choice if he wanted to be there for the children or find his friends so THEY could be!

"What will it look like if we send a squad of Airmen in to look after six babies?" he asked her. "Carolyn be sensible, I know it isn't ideal but it is better than the alternative"

Bosworth looked smug and winked at everyone when the General called the doctor by her given name.

"The ship will be scanning and hopefully will find the parents by tomorrow. There is also the fact of that protein marker" he pointed out "we just cannot risk the leaks that can occur at the Academy Hospital, not everyone there is military, and you KNOW what would happen, it would be a media circus as soon as they found out that sextuplets had been born, they will want to see the mother at lest!"

"I want to see the mother" Daniel said quietly and sat down on a chair.

"It's settled" the General said "they stay here"

"Make sure the NID are kept away while you are at it Sir, you wouldn't be able to out there" he waved vaguely upwards.

He received a nod, and stood and turned and walked away. He went into the nursery and heard one of the baby girls start to wind herself up to crying and he picked her up immediately, she looked him straight in the eye and he could see Sam there. He walked to one of the boys who was awake and the he saw chocolate brown eyes there, if he had not been assured that these children were products of their parents he would have been confident that they WERE clones of them!

He sang an old Egyptian lullaby until the angel in his arms fell asleep again and he places her in the plastic cot and went to his base quarters, he felt so damn helpless!

The message that the Daedalus was in orbit came through at 02:35 and Daniel was called to the control room. He wanted to be on the ship, but he could do no more there than he could where he was. The scan was negative.

However just as he was turning to go back to sleep the offworld activation lights started flashing and the 'gate started spinning. It was SG7!

They were rushed through the post mission medical and the General and Daniel and Dave Dixon were all in the infirmary questioning them rather than wait until they were free.

"Thor and Heimdall were not best pleased to hear of the loss of General O'Neill and Colonel Carter, they are dispatching the 'Samantha Carter'" he gave a small grin "To help look for them. They assure me that Loki is still locked up and is not responsible for it this time"

"When will they arrive?" the General asked

"Now" said a strange voice behind him, everyone turned to face the hologram of the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet.

"Thor" Daniel said and walked slightly forward "any news?"

"I am afraid not" the small alien hung his head "I am to request samples from the children so we can determine if Asgard technology has been used in any way" he said and another hologram appeared right next to his.

"A small sample of blood and some hair or skin will be sufficient" the second alien said.

"I can get those for you" Dr. Lam said and went to her office, leaving the door ajar so she could still hear what was going on.

"There does not seem to be any sign of a ship in orbit, the children arrived in sets of two and it resembled an Asgard beam?" he asked for clarification from Daniel.

"I can show you the security tapes of the incidents if you wish" Landry said, looking from one to the other

"Oh sorry" Daniel said "Let me introduce you, Thor, Heimdall, this is General Landry, he is in charge of the SGC now"

"I do hope this does not mean 'Kinsey'" and the large amount of contempt the little mannequin put into that word was astounding "has had O'Neill removed, the Asgard High Council will not be pleased to hear that"

"No indeed Thor" the General was quick to assure him, "General O'Neill has been promoted to be in charge of all things to do with Earth Security, he is MY superior officer"

"O'Neill is superior" Thor said, and did not expand on the cryptic phrase.

A nurse arrived carrying a rack with test tubes in and Dr. Lam came out and took them off her, "these are the samples you requested, they are labelled according to sex and in order of arrival, we haven't named any of the children, that is for the parents to do" she held out her hand, maybe not realising that the aliens were holograms and a beam of light took the rack and its contents away.

Heimdall stepped off the holographic generator up in orbit and disappeared from view.

"I will contact you when I have some news" Thor said, looking directly at Daniel, he inclined his head and disappeared as well.

"And so we wait, again" Daniel said