SG1 in Atlantis
Disclaimer: they don't belong to me, though I really wish they did. Neither does the whole concept of Atlantis or a city control mentally, I'm just playing with it.
AN: ok, this is a future fic, only three years but still in the future. As any of you who have read any of my fics know, I'm a shipper. So, here I'm making a couple of assumption that should really come as no surprise to anyone that has read my other fic: Sam and Jack are together and so are Tayla and John. Ok, that's it for author's note.
A/N2: Sorry for the long wait but I wasn't really sure where to go with this story and then I got inspired to write some new ones. But I've had some request to continue with it so here it is. Hope you like it! Please review; it does inspire one to keep writing. Oh, one thing, I am making some assumptions in this chapter about a historical event. I'm not sure if it's true or not. I sort of remember reading something along the lines of what I've written but I'm not a hundred percent sure. I'm just mentioning this here so that you guys know that these are my assumptions and not necessarily based on facts. Don't get all upset if I'm wrong! It's fiction!
Chapter 9: Final Revelations
While Sam pondered all the ways she was going to be using her new abilities, Teyla had something else in mind. "Will having their gene jumpstarted," she began to ask, and everyone turned to look at her since it was the first time she'd spoken up. "mean that John and Caron will also be capable of developing telepathic connections?"
Melia looked over at her and with a soft smile considered her and then decided she had as much a right to the answer as the others. "To some extent, yes. It would also depend on whether the other party had the potential for telepathic contact. And of course, they're already in telepathic contact with each other."
"But lass," Carson chimed in. "our connection is limited to when we're using the city link, right?" He did not like the idea that his mind would be permanently link to other people.
"You're right, Carson," Melia answered to the good doctor's relief.
Relief that John quickly took away, "But, since we're always link to the city unless we're off-world, I guess you'll just have to get use to me wondering in whenever I have a question, eh Carson?" He asked with a smirk and earned himself a slight punch from Teyla.
"It doesn't work like that, John" Melia admonished him. "You know that. Carson's, and anyone else's mind, is completely safe. The only thing you can do is knock on the 'portal' to his mind. He is perfectly capable and able to ignore you if he so chooses."
"Aye," Carson nodded with a smirk of his own. "And I've certainly got enough practice doing that."
"Don't we all?" Snorted Rodney.
"Will having their gene jumpstarted give them any other abilities, aside from this increased sensitivity to the city?" Teyla wanted to know.
"No," Melia denied. "Aside from sensing the city and the increase potential for telepathic contact, the only thing jumpstarting their gene will do is make their interactions with the city easier."
"Easier?" Rodney couldn't help snorting again. "What?" He asked when Elizabeth glared at him. "Using the city's technology has never been a chore to him." He pointed at John.
"He's right," John confirmed, looking at Melia. "Interacting with Atlantis and all of it technology has always been . . . well, as easy as breathing, really. It has never taken any special effort, except thinking about it."
"It hasn't?" Melia asked as she stepped closer and examined John minutely. John felt like she was looking into his soul and finding everything there was to know about him. "No, of course it hasn't," she muttered. "I'm sorry. I was mistaken." She admitted with a small smile.
"Mistaken? I didn't think Ancient could make mistakes." Vala said in an aside to Daniel who just shushed her.
"Mistaken? How?" Teyla asked as John seemed to be unable to break the spell Melia's eyes had cast over him.
"About his lineage," Melia answered as she turned to look at her.
"His lineage?" Rodney asked, he just knew where this was going. "Don't tell me he's your heir too?"
"No," Melia answered with a smile Rodney's way. "There's only one heir. But," she continued, halting Rodney's smile. "John is the direct descendant of Laril." She paused and with a charming smile added, "My cousin and a member of one of the oldest houses of Atlantis."
"So, what?" Asked Rodney. "Are you telling us he's royalty?" He ignored the smirk John was throwing his way.
Melia inclined her head in assent. "Laril's family has always been next in line to take over if for some reason we couldn't." She paused for a minute and then added, "In fact, they've done just that a few times when the last of our line was too young to take over."
A few moments of silence followed that announcement, before Daniel commented, "I guess that would make John the Duke to Jack's King."
"I am no king," Jack protested.
"No, you are not," Melia agreed. "But you are a leader. So, Daniel's analogy is not that far off."
"So," John couldn't resist saying. "I guess we're family, uh, sir?"
"Guess so," Jack answered, knowing that the levity was John's way of getting a little time to deal with all the revelations.
"Wait a minute," Rodney said putting his hands up as if to halt traffic. "If he's the descendant of one of the ruling families, does that mean he would have gotten the same information from the depository as General O'Neill? And why didn't he wake the city further?"
"No, he would not get everything Jack received but he would have gotten most of it. As for the city, well, it's the same as the depository, they were both set to activate to a specific set of genes."
"Yes, yes. I know." Rodney interrupted. "But if they are family, aren't they genes very close to identical? Shouldn't the city have reacted? Especially if the city was programmed to accept John's family as the ruling one if yours wasn't around?"
"Yes, and don't forget that the city did react," Melia explained patiently. When she saw the skeptical looks she turned to John and asked, "Were you among the first to come through?"
"Yes." He admitted.
"As I thought," Melia nodded and then turned to look at the rest of the group. "It was because of him that the city reacted at all. Without him in your expedition, you wouldn't have had as much access as you do. But the city was waiting for Jack; given time John would have awaken it more and more. He, however, wouldn't have awakened it completely until the city received proof that Jack didn't exist and John was therefore the next in line. The same was true for the download, without prove that Jack was no more, John wouldn't have acquired everything."
Another silence followed that explanation, and then Carson asked something that had been bothering him for a while. "Is everyone with the gene your direct descent, lass?"
Melia smiled at Carson and nodded. "Yes."
"But we're all descendants from different families?" At Melia's nod, he continued with his line of thinking. "Is it a coincidence that the two people with the strongest gene are the descendants of two ruling houses? Or was there something in your families' lineage that has survived time and ensured that strength?"
"No, it isn't really a coincidence." She began to answer. "When we went back to Earth, we knew that we really couldn't interfere with the development of human nature. To that end, most of us settled on remote on remote edges of the planet. Some of us, however, mingled with the most advanced society of the era: the Greeks, Romans, Brits, Aztecs and Incas. It just happened that most of those that mixed with them were of the ruling families, with a few exceptions here and there.
But we were all very conscious of the need to keep at the edge of the development and kept any intimate contact to a minimum. That isolationist attitude was maintained for years, so that even later generations kept themselves out of the mainstream. There were some that intermingle more than others and the gene was thus diffused but for the most part, especially for the ruling families, the gene has come down through time relatively pure."
Carson nodded at the answer and it was Elizabeth that asked the next question. "You said that the gene was responsible for the General's stronger than average physical and mental state. Can we assume that the same is true for John and Carson?"
"Yes," Melia answered.
Elizabeth nodded and shared a glance with Teyla and Rodney said, "Well, I guess that explains how John's survived this long."
"Ha, ha," said John to Rodney, but privately he had to agree that the gene might be a good explanation for why he's beaten the odds so many times when so many others had not.
"Tell me," Elizabeth continued, ignoring John and Rodney and drawing a smile from Sam, who knew how that was like. "Can the gene also be responsible for others characteristics?"
"What do you mean?" Melia asked, though she had a good idea where Elizabeth was going with this line of thinking.
"Well, it just seemed to me that John and General O'Neill have a lot in common. I was just wondering if maybe that was due to the gene and not their cantankerous nature."
Identical "Hey!" could be heard from two.
"Well, it's true," Elizabeth said as she looked at the two men in question with an innocent smile. "You can't deny that you two are a lot alike."
"Elizabeth is right," Teyla said. "I don't know General O'Neill very well, but from what I've heard and seen, he shares the same weird sense of humor as John."
"If you mean a somewhat childish view of what's funny, then you're right," was Sam's contribution to the conversation.
Another round of "Heys" could be heard, this time both men directed at the women in their lives.
"Is John a sarcastic, stubborn soldier-type personality with a penchant for blowing everything up?"
At Rodney's "Hell, yes!" Everyone but the two being discussed laughed.
As the laughter died down, Elizabeth said, "Seriously, those two have a lot in common."
Teyla nodded again and said, "They're both courageous and extremely protective of those they consider their responsibility. Neither is afraid to risk their life in a just cause."
Sam nodded and continued, "They're also both loyal and honest men with great leadership and who inspire others to follow them to the ends of the Earth."
Daniel, Cam and even Rodney, nodded at that; they've all experience that first hand. And Daniel added, "They're also incredibly resourceful and will not admit defeat no matter how hopeless the situation looks. Some might call it optimism but I think it's just their stubbornness that won't let them accept any outcome but the one they want."
By this time both Jack and John looked incredibly uncomfortable and Elizabeth couldn't resist adding, "They're also extremely modest and will not accept credit for the incredible feats they've accomplished."
Rodney looked from John and Jack, considered them for a minute and after a slight hesitation added, "And if the General here is anything like John, then they both like to downplay their intelligence and play the dumb-ass soldier when in reality they understand much more than they'll ever admit."
That was a quite an admission from the guy who considered himself the smartest person in any galaxy. It drew shocked expressions from everyone present except John, Teyla and Elizabeth who knew deep inside (really, really deep to be sure), Rodney was a sensitive guy.
Jack was one of the first to recover from the shock and he cleared his throat before saying, "Ok, that's really nice you guys. But lots of persons have those same characteristics."
Melia nodded and finally answered them, "Jack is right. Most humans share those characteristics on different levels." But before John and Jack could relax, she went on. "However, it is also true that just as the gene strengthens the mental and physical attributes; it also strengthened those characteristics. People with the gene have generally been leaders or innovators that have furthered human development. But there are no guarantees when it comes to human nature and some of our descendants have committed some of the worst atrocities in the history of your planet."
Daniel looked at her with wide eyes and, as it was his wont, asked, "Like who?"
"Hitler for once," Melia started to answered only to be interrupted by Rodney.
"Hitler!" He spurted. "But he was short and . . . and looked nothing like these guys!"
Melia looked at Rodney and with an amused smile said, "Jack and John like somewhat alike not because they share the gene but because the families they descend from were related. We had as much differences in our appearance as you do and those that descendend from different houses do not necessarily look alike."
Daniel shook his head and said, "Whatever," waving away the whole matter of physical appearance. "What I would like to know is if he was your descendant why you didn't do something to stop him."
"You know that we can't interfere in your development," Melia started to answered but Daniel wasn't having that.
"Ordinarily, maybe. But if he was your descendant didn't you have some responsibility for his actions? Especially if he, as you're hinting, used your gifts to get as far as he did."
"Daniel, we can't interfere with your free will." She repeated.
"B--l-S--t!" He exclaimed. "You interfere all the time! Maybe not directly but you manage to stop things you don't want to happen when it suits you."
"And who said we didn't this time?" She asked tilting her head to the side.
"Uh?" Daniel asked, having effectively had the wind taken out of his sails. "What are you saying?"
"I'm not saying anything Daniel," She paused and then added, "Except to agree with you that we've been known to stop events when we deem appropriate."
"No one really knows what happened to him, you know?" Rodney said as he looked around at everyone. "It was always assumed that he died in one of the allies' bomb strikes. But his body was never really recovered."
That created another silence as they all tried to absorb the latest bombshell and while they would all have like some confirmation they could tell by Melia's face that she had said all she was going to said on the subject.
"Um," Daniel said as he suddenly thought of something, "How come you're telling us all of this? Won't you get into trouble? I mean, it's not like you guys are all that big on communication. Usually, getting you to tell us something is like pulling teeth form a rabid dog," he ignore the looks that expression got him. "And now, all of the sudden you're this big fountain of knowledge. Why? Couldn't this be considered interfering, too?"
Jack nodded his head as he looked at Daniel with a small smile of pride. He had started to gotten over the shock of everything he'd heard and had begun to wonder the same thing; he had not, however, expected Daniel to do so. He had always been the one to get lost in the wonder of discovery and missing the chance that the other side might have an ulterior motive.
"No, not really. I'm only telling things that concern you – especially Jack and John. It's family information that they're entitled to know."
"Oh, please!" Jack said with a sneer. "This is nothing knew. You've known all about it for years and you just now telling us?"
"We might have known about it," Melia said with the same calmness she'd had greeted each of Jack's previous explosions. "But this is the first you're hearing of it."
"Not everything is new," Sam countered. "We've known that Jack and John had the gene for a while now. We've also know, thanks to Thor, that Jack is considered to be the next step in our evolution."
"Yes, but you didn't know he could awake Atlantis or that he was our heir."
"You're splitting hairs again." Jack argued. "We didn't know those things because we hadn't come to Atlantis yet and there was no way we could have."
"Exactly," Melia said in a tone of voice that suggested Jack had proven the point for her.
Jack just shook his head and threw his hand into the air. He turned to Daniel and made a face as if to say 'you deal with her, because I can't.'
Daniel just looked at her, silently demanding a better explanation.
Melia just insisted, "Seriously, I haven't said anything that Jack and John wouldn't have discovered by themselves given a bit of time. I just hurried things along; making them somewhat easier. Just like I've also tried to do."
But no one was really buying it. They've come a long way and were no longer the naïve group of people that believe everything a 'more advance' being told them just because a 'more advance' being was the one telling it – not that Jack had ever done that, really.
At the closed faces confronting her, Melia sighed and after closing her eyes for a minute finally said in a voice that said she'd rather not said anything. "After recent events, it's been decided that it might be a better policy if we told you things that might help you in defending yourselves – when," she added when she saw Daniel opened his mouth to protest. "It won't drastically change your future and you're already on the path to discovering them for yourselves."
That took them aback for a while, this time Sam was the first to recover. "Recent events? Defend ourselves? What do you many by that?" She paused to look at her team and husband to see if they were thinking the same thing she was; but the look on their faces, they were. "We defeated the Ori" She stated and then in a hesitant voice, "didn't we?"
"The Ori can't ever really be defeated, not by you. They're ascended beings, you can't kill them." Melia stated in a clear voice to the horror of everyone present. When she saw the reaction her words had produced, she added, "But you have managed to stop them for the time being. They are, however, looking for ways to go back and finally conquer your galaxy." She stopped and turned to look at the Atlantis team. "And this one, if they were to find out about it."
Despite the worrisome news he had just heard, Rodney couldn't help but ask with a hint of disdain in his voice, "How is it that they don't know about it already, if they are such powerful, all-knowing beings?"
Melia turned to look at him with a smile and for the first time, Rodney could see the tremendous power she wielded. "They are not the only powerful, all-knowing beings in the universe and we're older than they." She then turned back to SG1 and Jack and continued, "You need to be prepared for when they make it back."
"Is it a sure thing that they'll make it back?" Cam asked; they had just fought a prolonged war and he really didn't want to believe that it wasn't over yet.
"Yes, it is." Melia answered firmly looking him in the eye. "Maybe not in your life time but they will be back. I thought you'd like to leave some sort of protection for your descendants."
That brought yet another silence as they digested that little gem. They weren't really sure how to feel about it; they were relieved that the threat wasn't imminent but they also didn't like the idea that their kids or grandkids would have to deal with the same threat they just dealt with. Most of the motivation for the fight for all of them was to leave a better world to their kids; to know they might not be able to do that was disquieting to say the least.
"So, you're saying that you're telling us all this because sooner or later the Ori are going to come back but Jack and John might find something here in Atlantis that will help us deal with them?" Daniel asked to clarify things.
Melia nodded and added, "Yes, but remember that they are not the only threat you face."
"You mean the Wraiths?" Teyla asked. "Now that the city is awake, we might find something that will help us in our fight with them?"
"Yes." Was the simple answer.
"But how can that be?" Rodney asked.
And John continued with the thought, "How can anything here help us when you yourselves, who knew the city inside and out, couldn't defeat them and had to go back to the Milky Way to escape?"
"Because you are not us."
"Well, we know that," Rodney snapped. "That doesn't answer the question."
"Rodney," Elizabeth admonished him but Melia didn't seem unduly disturbed.
"The fact of the matter is that in our arrogance we at first did not take the threat they represented seriously enough. And by the time we did, it was too late. They outnumbered us 20 to 1 by then and their technology rivaled our own." She paused to think on those days and then went on in a thoughtful tone. "It had been a long, long time since we had encountered an enemy that presented us with a challenge and by that time we no longer knew how to confront that situation. But you, you don't have that problem."
Rodney snorted and said, "I don't know whether you've noticed this or not, but we're outnumbered as bad as you were, if not worse."
Melia shook her head. "No, you're not. Not only has your expedition grown in the last three years and I have no doubt it'll keep growing, but you have also gone out there and made friends and allies thus increasing your numbers; that is something we never bother to do. Because while you consider the people you meet in other planets potential allies, we saw them as our children and did not conceive that they could help us. We tried to take care of the Wraith by ourselves, in an effort to protect those we saw as weaker than us." Seeing the reactions that statement brought, she admitted, "That might have been a mistake, but it was one of many. And in the end the people we tried to protect were the ones to suffer the most." She added with a sad smile, looking at Teyla.
"That spirit of cooperation is one of your greatest strengths. As is the fact that while you refuse to admit defeat, you know that it is a possible outcome. You know that there are no guarantees in life; that you have to fight for what you want." She paused and looked around the room before continuing, "And while you might share our curiosity and even our arrogance to some extent, you still know what it is to have to fight for survival. By the time we encountered the Wraith, we had forgotten how. The successes you have had have not erased that knowledge from your people yet, the arrogance you're acquired has not yet overcome that basic survival instinct as it had our own.
That is why you'll defeat the Wraith, because not only do you know that you have to fight them but because you know how to fight them. You know that it might mean some of you will have to sacrifice that which you hold most dear and you're willing to make that sacrifice. You know the fight will demand that you do your best and it'll push you beyond places you've ever been before."
She paused again and with a shake of her head admitted something she'd just realized. "As advanced as we were and as close to ascension as we were by that time, we were constrained by limits in a way you are not. Or maybe because we were so close to ascension, we placed limits on ourselves that you don't. I don't know; what I do know is that you now have all the tools that you'll need to accomplish what we couldn't and stop the Wraith and the Ori."
With one last look around and a lingering one at Jack, she smiled one last time, said, "Good luck, my children." And vanished from the room, leaving complete silence in her wake.