A/N: just a 'talking' chapter. I'll keep updating every day.
Copyrights (I forgot them in the last chapters): see chapter 1. Goest for the rest of the story too.
Reviews are always welcome!
Chapter 4 - Debriefing
"Welcome back, Sg-1. Debrief in 10." Said General Hammond, who waited for the SG team in the Gate room.
"Thank you, sir" answered Jack O'Neill.
The team headed for the infirmary to get a check-up from doctor Frasier. After they had been declared for duty, they headed for the locker rooms to switch to their BDU's. Then they headed for the conference room that overlooked the Stargate, where General Hammond was already waiting.
"Sir." They greeted General Hammond.
"At ease, people." He answered. "Now, what can you tell me about the willingness of the people of P3X-408 to form an alliance?"
"Well, sir," O'Neill started, "their king would be happy to form an alliance, without there being anything obligatory in the alliance. He said that an alliance was to form a bridge of friendship between our two planets. And he said that it would make it easier to discuss trading relationships or issues of protection."
"Do they need protection from the Goa'uld?" asked Hammond.
"From what we have seen, no. Well, they appear to have no weapons more advanced than crossbows, but we have seen that their king could spot a cloaked Ashrak with the naked eye."
"How is that possible? We can only detect an Ashrak assassin through our devices."
"We don't know, sir. We saw him fight one in hand-to-hand combat and apparently he could see the Ashrak coming. He managed to dodge almost all his blows."
"Almost?"
"Well, the Ashrak had a blade and when the Ashrak had pinned king Minos down, Teal'c shot the Ashrak."
"King Minos?"
"It's their leader, sir." Explained Sam. "He looks like a kid, about fifteen or so years old. But he managed to outrun all of us, and he fought the Ashrak in hand-to-hand combat."
"I see." Hammond said. "But what about their people. How advanced are they?"
"Their culture is based on the Roman/Greek culture from about two thousand years ago, but their technology is more of the middle-aged kind." Answered Daniel.
"Technology being...?"
"weapons. They have crossbows, daggers and swords for as far as we could tell, but their medicine is quite advanced and they told us that they have very little problems to safeguard their harvests. King Minos seems to have a hand in that, although I cannot quite understand what hand exactly." Said O'Neill.
"What can you tell us about their soldiers. Do they have Jaffa or other soldiers?"
"Their soldiers are normal humans, but they are well trained and appear to be very organised." Answered Teal'c.
"And what about their culture, Dr. Jackson. You seem eager to tell us."
"Ah, Yes. Their architecture corresponds with the Ancient Romans and Greeks here on Earth, but we did not see any slaves. They have a large library filled with old myths and legends. The part that I have seen corresponds with Arthurian legends here on Earth. The texts that I read were written in a very old form of Latin, which we have rarely encountered before. But Teal'c found some texts written in Goa'uld, and we saw several stone tablets with other languages on them."
"Do they write on stone tablets?" Hammond interrupted Daniel.
"No, they seem to write on a parchment-like substance. But they have many different kinds of writings in their Library. There were large rolls of parchment, or perhaps papyrus, but there were also books that looked a bit like our own, and of course stone tablets. They appeared to have assembled a large collection of written manuscripts from various locations. I have discovered that their legends around king Arthur match for a great deal with our own. But they date further back than most of our own manuscripts, so they might provide better details around the actual king Arthur. And that was only one small part of their large library. The building is huge, and the King gave us permission to access it without hesitation."
"Ok, doctor Jackson. I understand. So these people seem to be several hundreds of years behind us in technological aspects. So how do they protect themselves from attacks by ship, or a large scale invasion through the gate?"
"We asked king Minos that, and he only said that they would take the objects they could use from the Goa'uld, and then send them back through the gate." Answered Jack.
"So you have no idea regarding their defensive capabilities?"
"Other than what we have seen, no sir."
"But they were friendly, and king Minos practically offered an alliance."
"Very well. I will discuss it with the president. Dismissed."
The team left the conference room and headed for the mess hall. In the mess hall, they got in line for their food. When they got it, they walked together to their usual table in the corner of the mess hall in the SGC.
"What did you think of the alliance with the people from P3X-408?" asked O'Neill.
"Well, I think that there is not much in my league. They don't seem advanced enough to learn really much from them. I think that it's more of Daniels work." Answered Carter.
"I do believe that we can both our peoples can learn something from the other in regards to tactics or fighting style. But I too believe that most of it is in Daniel Jacksons league." Answered Teal'c.
"I'm dying to visit that library again." Answered Daniel shortly. "Next time I'll bring some more archaeologists, to speed up the discovery process. The language on the scrolls I have studied was a very ancient form of Latin, and it seemed as if there were some ancient words in there too. If I can get a translation program running over their texts, then maybe we can discover long-lost languages. But that's not all. I believe that their library may be the key to unlock many secrets from our own history."
"Yea, you mentioned when we walked towards the gate. But I meant to ask how you felt about an alliance with the people from P3X-408." Said Jack.
"Well, they were friendly as far as I could tell, although their king Minos seemed a bit strange. It certainly wasn't normal that he could jump from three stories up and land as smooth as a cat. And before that, he hoisted me up to the roof with one hand. One hand only, and he didn't even seem to have trouble doing it."
"So you're having doubts about the alliance?" asked Jack for clarification.
"No, they were friendly but it just seemed a bit strange. The other guards couldn't do all of that, so it was only king Minos."
"OK, I understand. He seemed a bit strange to me too."
"What makes you say that, sir?" asked Carter.
"Well, most kings we have met either tried to convince us of their divine might and right to rule, or they saw us as gods. That is Goa'uld not included," Jack added when he saw Daniel about to make a argument against him.
"So? King Minos is by far the youngest king we have met until now." Said Carter.
"I'm not complaining, or anything, but it just seemed a little bit... off... you know?" he said after searching for the right word.
"Well, you could call hardly any standards for gate travel. Every mission is different altogether." Said Daniel Jackson.
"I do not believe O'Neill is referring to standards, Daniel Jackson. For I sensed a strange power too. It was very vague, but it was very persistent. And it seemed to correspond with king Minos being near." Said Teal'c
"Well, I did not notice anything. So if he was a Goa'uld in disguise I should have sensed him too. But I didn't, so he can't be a Goa'Uld." Said Sam.
"The only thing I'm sensing right now is that this sandwich is delicious." Said O'Neill, bringing the conversation back to more casual topics.
"I think you're right, Sir. These sandwiches are better than usual." Said Carter.
They continued their conversation until everyone had eaten their meals.
"Sir, I'd better get to work. I still have to run some tests on the device that SG-2 uncovered last week." Said Carter.
"The old box-thingy?"asked O'Neill.
"Exactly that one sir. It gives off some very faint energy readings I've never seen before. It seems to react to the presence of people, but I couldn't figure out to exactly what. The energy readings change constantly."
"Well, Carter, I suggest that you start immediately with running some tests on the device, then." O'Neill said dryly.
"Will do, Sir." Said Carter, not understanding the hidden joke in O'Neill's words. "Bye, Sir." She stood up and started walking away.
"Bye, Carter." The rest of the team said.
"I'm going too, sir. I'll do some more research on the ancient form of Latin, and the mysteries surrounding both king Arthur and King Minos." Said Daniel.
"Our King Minos or their?" asked O'Neill.
"If I'm lucky, then both." Answered Daniel before he walked away.
"Well, T, that leaves us two."
"I'm afraid that I also must leave, O'Neill." Said Teal'c. "I have an appointment with several new recruits in the gym. They must be taught the ways of a warrior. And General Hammond requested me to be the one to teach them hand-to-hand combat."
"Well. Then I guess I should finding something to do too..." said O'Neill, as he grabbed his plate to dump the remaining contents into the large storage cart waiting.
After wandering pointlessly throughout the base for ten minutes, O'Neill decided that he was desperate enough to start doing paperwork. He walked to his office, and sighed in desperation at the sight of the large piles of papers that filled his desk.
"Well, forms, it's just me and you. And coffee, for the next five hours." He said.
Three hours into his endless stacks of forms-to-be-filled and reports-to-be-written O'Neill was awakened from his unpleasant concentration by the phone.
"O'Neill's office," he answered, "The place where endless amounts of paper are dwelling through the ever-growing piles of reports and memo's."
"Colonel, As much as I like the way you've named your office, I need you in the conference room in five." Said general Hammond, not amused by the way O'Neill had named his own office.
"I'll be right there, Sir." O'Neill answered.
Two minutes later there was a slightly panting O'Neill in the conference room.
"Colonel," Hammond started, "The president has agreed with the alliance between us and the people from P3X-408."
"Avalon, Sir." Jack interrupted. "They call their planet Avalon."
"Very well. He has agreed to the forming of an alliance between our two worlds, without there being anything obligatory in the relationship. I want to send you and the rest of SG-1 to Avalon as soon as possible to inform them of the treaty. Then I want you to invite their leader, or a delegation, over to sign it here."
"I will do, sir. Shall I go and get the rest of the team?" he asked.
"That won't be necessary. They have already been called for. They should arrive here momentarily."
And indeed, Mayor Carter was the first to enter just after General Hammond had said that. She was followed moments later by Daniel Jackson and a slightly sweaty Teal'c.
"People, I'm sending you to P3X-408, or Avalon, as the Colonel told me, to inform them of the treaty. You can then invite their leaders to come over here to sign the contract."
"Very well, Sir." They all said. They walked down to the locker rooms to get a quick shower before they went off-world for the second time that day. Half an hour later the team was standing in the gate room again, and they waited for the gate to dial.
After the usual blue and white 'kawoosh' from the gate, they stepped through, and appeared on the other side.