Begin Chapter 5
Re-materialising back in the Gate room on Earth Jack and Teal'c were met not by General Hammond but by a woman of whom neither of them recognised.
It was slightly disconcerting, Jack was a little bit worried that the gate had broken and sent him to the wrong reality.
"Colonel O'Neill, Teal'c, welcome home." Elizabeth Weir was nervous; all gate travel had been suspended barring emergencies until further notice so this was the first time she'd had to greet a team coming home. "Where is the rest of your team?"
"George!" Jack exclaimed trying to cover his shock "You've dyed your hair!" at least the woman had the good grace to blush.
"My apologies, General Hammond has been reassigned to Home World Security, I'm Dr Elizabeth Weir I've taken over command of the SGC."
Jack looked her up and down, wondering if this was some plot of the NID's to take over the SGC again or if something else was going on.
"Ok then, Carter and Daniel are still with Thor. If you're The Man then we need to talk."
He watched as she pinned him with a measuring look. The same look Carter and Doc Fraiser got when trying to decided if some poor soul was worth the effort of eviscerating or not. He knew then that Elizabeth Weir was a dangerous woman, whether she was a danger to him and his team or not remained to be seen.
"Once you've cleared medical, come to my office and we'll talk."
She turned and walked away heading back to the control room and her office.
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The relief on Doc Fraiser's face was palpable as she spied Jack and Teal'c striding through the infirmary doors only to be replaced with worry when she realised that Sam and Daniel weren't with them.
"They're fine Doc." Jack reassured her quickly as she ushered them towards the back of the infirmary.
"What going on around here?" he muttered quietly as she started his physical.
"No-one is really sure, scuttlebutt say that the President is preparing to go public before his second term is over and he's worried about the appearances, wants a friendlier face running things here so that it doesn't look like the Military is trying to keep all the goodies to themselves."
He winced as she pushed a needle into his posterior.
"So what's this Dr Weir like?"
He turned to look at her after doing up his pants.
"I'll let you find that out for yourself" She smirked.
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Elizabeth Weir was evil, Jack decided in that first meeting, but she was the good kind of evil, the same kind of evil as Carter and Fraiser.
After explaining the basics of the Colonials situation as well as Thor's involvement and giving her an overview of the last two weeks Jack sat back and waited.
"Ok, here's what we'll do" Elizabeth leaned forward on both of her elbows "I want you two to head back to the fleet, do whatever you need to do, I really don't care what as long as you stay alive. Once they've decided where they want to settle let me know and I'll gate over to start formalising a relationship with their President. I trust your team to inform me of anything I need to know in regards to these people, their culture and history especially the last few years."
Jack looked at her steadily trying to gauge whether she had a hidden agenda or not. From what Doc Fraiser had told him, Elizabeth Weir was a top notch negotiator, and while that meant she would be able to lie quite easily and convincingly Jack's bull shit detector was seldom if ever wrong. Despite sensing nothing duplicitous about her demeanour he was still wary, he didn't know this woman like General Hammond but he really didn't have much of a choice.
"Not a problem" he nodded "We'll be on our way then shall we!"
"Not so fast" She held one hand up to stop them, as they got halfway out of their seats.
"There's just one more thing we need to discuss." Jack and Teal'c re-took their seats with a little bit of trepidation.
"Now I am under no illusions as to what you're thinking about my taking over command here at the SGC. I didn't go out looking for this, up until a week ago I had no idea that the program existed. The President approached me, although to be honest with you I'm not exactly sure why but that's neither here nor there and not the point of this conversation. You need to know that I have no hidden agenda, I have been assigned a job to do and I will do it to the best of my ability although I am also completely aware that there are others who do have hidden agenda's." Elizabeth took a deep breath and plowed on knowing that there was no turning back now. "I've heard stories about you Colonel O'Neill and not all of them are flattering, in fact most are downright alarming but you need to know that I've been in politics long enough to be able to read between the lines and decide for myself." Jack relaxed back against his chair knowing now was not the time to interrupt "I would ask that you give me the same courtesy" a well-shaped eyebrow rose as silence descended over the office.
"I don't know you" Jack started "before today I had never even heard your name, you've got a big pair of shoes to fill. George Hammond is well respected and loved here at the SGC for the last seven years he has run this command well and is by far one of the best commanding officers I have ever had the privilege to work under. The only question I have is how far are you willing to go to protect the men and women of this command? What lengths will you go to, to protect Earth?" He held a hand up to forestall her inevitable interruption "We don't need to hear your answer, we need to see it." He got up and walked out of the office without letting Elizabeth answer.
"The Tau'ri are a formidable people" Teal'c stood "I hope you are worthy of the trust that has been put in you to continue to uphold the legacy that General Hammond has left you."
Elizabeth was speechless.
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As promised Sam and Daniel were waiting for them when Jack and Teal'c returned to the planet they had gated back to Earth from 24 hour earlier. Jack immediately dragged his team off for a private conference to inform them of the developments back on Earth.
As expected they were floored by the news that General Hammond had been replaced, but also as expected Carter took it as part of life in the Military. Assignments changed, people moved on, you dealt with it and continued with your orders, but that didn't mean she wouldn't miss the General on a more personal level.
Daniel's reaction was slightly different though, he knew the name Elizabeth Weir, in fact he was able to shed a little more light on what she did, apparently Daniel had used a lot of her previous work as a starting point when he drafted the treaty with the Tok'ra.
That's the kind of qualification you can't fake.
Jack simply nodded and added this new information to the profile of Elizabeth Weir he was building in his head.
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Kara wondered if Thor had better things to do. He was the Supreme Commander of what was supposedly a very powerful fleet, if his ship was anything to go by, so why was he hanging around protecting their sorry arses.
After the monster Quorum session in which Laura had dragged the Admiral and Sam into and informed them all of what had happened with Thor and SG1 from all reports the three of them and the Vice-President had sequestered themselves in the Admirals quarters, there had been a lot of yelling and large amounts of the Knuckle draggers brew consumed. Kara had showed up about two hours into their 'debriefing' to talk to the Admiral about the latest batch of Nuggets and suffice it to say there was no discussion about the Nuggets and she had joined them. Another hour later Apollo and Saul Tigh had dragged a worried Daniel Jackson inside and things had only gotten more raucous from there.
Kara was impressed; Sam and Daniel could hold their alcohol.
Apparently Colonel O'Neill was quite upset when he found out about the impromptu party, although Kara suspected it was because he didn't get to join in. As it turned out Sam and Daniel had been faking them out all night and had only actually had one drink each.
That impressed Kara even more.
The Quorum was willing to settle on a planet, but they weren't ready to choose one just yet. Apparently they wanted to see each planet personally first before making their decision. After the farce that was New Caprica none of them were willing to settle somewhere that was less than perfect, Sam had pointed out that she had been to every single one of the planets they were showing and could easily answer any questions in regards to natural resources, weather patterns but apparently they didn't trust her judgment and wanted to see it all with there own two eyes and only once they had seen all the planets would they make a decision as to which one to settle on.
Many hours had been spent trying to talk them out of this course of action but they were adamant.
6 Weeks and four planets later Thor had been recalled by the Asgard High Council and when SG1 checked in with Stargate Command Dr Weir advised them that the IOA was pushing to start formalising a relationship and she would be joining them within the hour.
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Despite having dealt with both President Roslin and Dr Weir previously – though never at the same time - Jack had never quite managed to put the similarities together, not that they could pass off as twins or even sisters but there was just something there. When he saw the two of the standing next to each other he couldn't suppress the "crap" that managed escape his lips. When the two of them turned and glared at him at the same time he had to really fight the urge to take a step back and he wasn't the only one disquieted by the sight. Starbuck stepped through the door just as he was being glared at and she had the same issue as he did.
"Frak me!"
Jack was very grateful when the glares moved from him to Starbuck and then it seemed that the two of them got bored of glaring at the hapless members of their respective militaries and went back to discussing whatever it was they were discussing when Jack had inelegantly put his foot in it.
He heard Starbuck's mouth close with an audible snap as her eyes darted between the two women. Stepping forward so she was standing shoulder to shoulder with Jack, Kara turned her head speaking so that hopefully only Jack could hear her.
"Do they…" she started.
"Oh yeah…" he replied just as quietly.
"So I'm not…"
"Nope, you're not."
"Ok"
Obviously Jack and Kara weren't talking quietly enough because the two women in question had both cocked their heads slightly towards them when Kara had spoken.
"Teacher hearing?" This time it was Jacks turn to voice the question that neither of them really wanted to voice.
"Teacher hearing." Kara agreed.
Neither Jack nor Kara had been present at the first meeting of President Roslin and Dr Weir; rumour had it that once the all of the official business had been taken care of the two women had retreated to a corner for some 'un-official' chatting. Daniel had reported that it got quite heated at one stage; apparently the topic of human rights had come up, and although they had agreed in theory on both the Earth and Colonial's ideas of what human rights should entail it seemed there had been some vehement disagreeing on the situational and practical applications.
Jack is scared to ask exactly who, had said what, but it looked like they had gotten past that and were now in a rather intense discussion on woman's rights. Apparently Earth was a good 50 or 60 years behind the Colonies in this respect, along with many other aspects, apparently the IOA was salivating over getting their hands on the FTL technology and had actually had the gall to see if was possible to get their hands on a human model Cylon.
Elizabeth had already informed him that she wouldn't even be presenting that particular request to President Roslin and that she was perfectly capable of lying to the IOA and telling them their request had been denied by the Colonials.
In the background Daniel had to suppress an audible groan at Jack and Starbuck's obvious inability to be subtle and diplomatic. Although deep down Daniel knew it wasn't so much an inability as unwillingness, especially on Jacks part.
Several days past and the talks continued, Daniel suspected that President Roslin and Dr Weir could have had everything sensibly dealt with in the first day if they had just been left alone, but unfortunately every single Quorum member had to have their say and there were a few other Earth representatives who were making things difficult for all involved.
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Elizabeth sat down in what had been deemed as their office, the talks had been cancelled for the afternoon due to emergency on the Gemenon Traveller that required Laura's immediate attention. Elizabeth strongly suspected that the Gemenese Quorum representative was playing games and trying to stall the talks, Sarah Porter had made no bones about the fact that she wanted nothing to do with the people from Earth since finding out that the 13th tribe had never actually made it there.
The table was covered in various bit of paper, ranging from her notes taken during the talks to reports on the Colonial Military structure submitted by Admiral Adama. Daniel was attempting to help her but mostly he was reading through the scrolls of Pythia answering whatever random question Elizabeth asked.
Several had hours passed much like this with the rest of the team coming and going from various places throughout the ship, but there was one question Elizabeth asked that Daniel had been puzzling on for many weeks now.
"Have you looked at their Pantheon of Deities?"
He looked up at her and squinted slightly "Yes, and no I have no idea why they are so similar."
"But you have a theory?" Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest waiting for him to speak.
"Sort of, yes the Colonial Pantheon is similar to our Greek Mythology and the Gods of Olympus, there are some vast differences which can be explained by evolution as a culture but there are also startling similarities. That's not really what I'm having trouble working out, it's the timing."
"What do you mean the timing?"
"It doesn't work, from what Thor told us the 13th Colony entered this area of space just over 3000 years ago and they never actually made it to Earth. Even if they had the Olympians were already an established Pantheon of Gods here on Earth so it's impossible that we were influenced by them. The same holds true for the opposite according to all Admiral Adama's history books, the only reference I have for them at the moment, they've been worshiping the Olympians for well over 4000 years which means even if a group managed to make it through to Earth and leave to return to the Colonies it's to late for them to have been influenced by us."
"So you're wondering if there was a third party involved in this, interfering by setting themselves up to be worshipped as Gods?" Elizabeth asked.
Daniel nodded "Then the question really becomes, who?"
They dropped back into silence.
Not long later both Elizabeth and Daniel jumped in shock when the emergency alarm sounded throughout the ship.
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The alert Vipers had been launched and the fleet started to jump to the emergency co-ordinates.
Bill kept his eyes on DRADIS watching as the various ships in the Fleet disappeared; through the com he could hear the chatter of the pilots as they engaged the Raiders.
Though he was listening to them one particular voice caught his attention.
"This is Starbuck in Raptor 161, I have the President on board, we'll meet you on the other side."
He kept his eyes on DRADIS this time focussing on the dot that was Raptor 161 as Dee confirmed receipt of the message, 25 seconds later it disappeared.
Several minutes passed before Dee's voice rang out over the general cacophony.
"All Civilian ships are away, Vipers are on their way home."
The Vipers landed and Galactica jumped.
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Laura sat in the back of the Raptor in silence, it wasn't the first time she had between ships when the Cylons appeared and she doubted it would be the last so she simply sat there and let the pilot – in this case Starbuck – do their job.
Laura heard Starbuck advise Galactica who was on the Raptor and Galactica's confirmation.
She could feel the change of vibrations on the ship as the FTL drive spun up. Then there was heat and shaking she recognised as the craft was hit by something. Starbuck yelled but Laura could not make out the words. Then the world became disjointed and they jumped.
And jumped.
And jumped.
And jumped.
And jumped.
And jumped.
And jumped.
And jumped.
Then everything went black.
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"Sir" Dee called out as the Universe was put back into its proper place "All Colonial ships except…" she trailed off unable to continue.
"Except who Lieutenant" Saul growled from his left, Bills stomach sank. They had lost someone and he dreaded to think who it was.
"Raptor 161, is not answering any hails" Everyone's eyes shot up to DRADIS.
Raptor 161 was no where to be seen.
"I want every ship in the fleet checked" Bill barked without hesitation "Triple check to see if the Presidents Raptor has docked with anyone." His fists clenched.
This was not happening.
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She could vaguely make out someone moaning. It was far off in the distance though, either that or her ears had been stuffed with cotton without her permission.
Laura cracked her eyes open, from her angle she could just make out the view port and Starbucks left leg. Pushing herself off the floor she made her way to the front of the ship and was met by the terrifying sight of empty space.
Where was the fleet?
Reaching out a shaky hand Laura grasped Kara's shoulder and shook her. A light moan was the only response she received. Turning around she saw that her security team were lying in various places throughout the small ship. One by one she checked them all, two were dead the third seemed to be simply unconscious.
Another moan from the pilots seat turned her attention back to Starbuck, making her way back up to the front of the ship this time she was greeted by wide yet groggy brown eyes.
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"I don't care!" Bill didn't care how desperate he sounded. The President of the Colonies was not going to be lost on his watch. "We check them all. Let me know when you have more information."
He left Lieutenant Gaeta standing there knowing that the task was impossible but he had seen impossible beaten more than once in his time. His people were phenomenally good at achieving whatever goal was set before them.
Even the impossible, but in the meantime he needed to inform the Vice-President that the President was missing.
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They were screwed, both of them remembered the Raptor jumping multiple times before they had lost consciousness and they had no idea if they had kept jumping afterwards or how many times they'd jumped all together. DRADIS was not showing anything at all, no Colonial or Cylon transponders and Starbuck had no idea where they had ended up. To top is all off their FTL drive was completely blown; it wasn't even hiccupping let alone spinning up.
DRADIS beeped.
A gasp escaped Starbucks mouth as a strange looking ship loomed into their view.
They were so very very screwed.
End Chapter 5