A/N: I hope you like it!
Reviews are always welcome
Chapter 5 – Problems at home
"Daniel, we're just here to tell them the news and escort the delegation to the SGC. So no, you can't stay here." Said Jack O'Neill.
"Why not? You'll be back to bring their delegation back, won't you?" answered Daniel.
"Daniel, ask Hammond about an archaeological-geek mission to explore when we're back, ok? So stop whining about it now. The scrolls have been lying there for thousands of years, so they can easily wait another day."
"Hmpf." Mumbled Daniel, who was still not convinced as to why he couldn't stay in Avalon to study in the library.
"Daniel. Stop being angry, please."
Daniel was silent for the rest of the trip to the palace in Avalon. SG-1 entered the large palace of white marble, and walked the hall that led them to the throne room. There they found king Minos.
"Greetings." King Minos said when he saw that SG-1 had come in. "Do you have any news regarding our alliance?"
"We certainly have." Answered O'Neill. "We have prepared a treaty, to seal the alliance. We only need someone to sign it, before it can be considered valid. Do you want to send out a delegation of some sorts, or do you want to come yourself? We're here to provide escort to the SGC."
"the SGC?" asked King Minos.
"Stargate Command. It's our headquarters, the base from where we operate."
"I will not send out a delegation, I will come with you myself. But first I must tell my people that I will be temporarily unavailable. TARIN!" he shouted.
"Yes, my lord?" said Tarin, who came walking into the throne room fast.
"I will go with the Tauri to their home planet, Earth. I will remain there not for long, I'm guessing..." he looked questioningly at O'Neill.
"A day? Two, at most, but probably less." He said.
"I'll be gone for two days maximum. You know how to contact me if there is anything of great urgency. You will have command over the people of Avalon. Keep them safe, Tarin."
"Yes, My lord. I will."
"Then it is settled. I will come with the Tauri to Earth to forge the alliance."
Sg-1 and King Minos left the palace, and they headed for the Stargate.
"So, Colonel O'Neill. How did you find my acting?"
"Your acting?"
"Yes, the way I talked and behaved myself in the palace. Did you really think I usually talk that way?"
"Well, yes. Most kings do. Well, most kings are older than you, but they all talk with a certain sense of superiority."
"Tell me, do you like that I don't talk to everybody like I'm better than them?"
"Yes, I do. We've encountered many Goa'uld, and their 'I am god and you must obey me or die'-speech was boring after the first time."
"What Goa'uld did you encounter, and are the rumours true that you have killed many Goa'uld already?"
"We've encountered most of the system lords, because we once sent a spy to their meeting. We've met Ba'al, Yu, Sokar, Apophis, Seth, Hathor, Osiris, Ra, Cronus, Heru'ur and a lot more of those bastards that I have forgotten."
"And how many did you kill?"
"A lot. Well, we did not personally kill them all, but we usually set them up against the other, or we raided their strongholds and placed bombs everywhere. With the help of the Tok'ra of course."
"The Tok'ra? Are they still alive? I have always believed that all of them were defeated by Ra a long time ago."
"No, they're a hiding race nowadays. They became our allies after we'd encountered them a few times."
"But tell me, which Goa'ulds did you kill?"
"Apophis, Cronus, Hathor, Heru'ur, Nirrti, Ra, Seth, Sokar and a lot of minor Goa'uld and a lot of jaffa too."
"OK. That's a lot of Goa'uld I can get off my list."
"Your list?"
"List of goa'ulds to kill because they were annoying."
"And how many are exactly on there?"
"Well... All of them, I guess."
"That must be one heck of a list."
"It is, but I usually only add the Goa'uld that attack me. That's still a long list, but it's not a list of all the Goa'uld out there."
"Do the Goa'uld attack a lot?" asked O'Neill.
"Well, they do send a few Jaffa through the Astria Porta every couple of years. They're a great source of weapons and armour."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I said that I usually send them back without anything that is useful to me, did I? Basically, when there is an attack, I keep all their weapons, armour and goods they have with them. Then I send the Jaffa back to where they came from."
"So you have huge amounts of armour and weapons that you have stolen from the Goa'uld?"
"Yes, but they're mostly those ugly staffs they always carry, and of course those snake-like weapons that stun on the first shot, kill with the second and disintegrate with the third."
"A zat'nik'tel?" asked Teal'c, who had ignored King Minos's first comment about the staffs being ugly.
"We call them Zats," added O'Neill.
"I think I'll go with Zats. But I do have a large collection of those weapons stored away."
"Do you steal other things from the Goa'uld, too?" asked Carter.
"Sometimes, yes. If a specific Goa'uld has been severely annoying, I usually sneak to their stronghold and steal a few things."
"A few things being...?" O'Neill asked.
"weapons, naquadah, sometimes some a few fighters and occasionally an Al'kesh. Oh, and armour of course."
"Aren't the Goa'uld going to bombard Avalon if you do that?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes, they usually do. Makes great light shows. They always stop after a few days."
"The system lords don't seem the kind of people that would stop an attack for no reason, so why would they stop attacking Avalon after a few days of bombardment?"
"Because their bombs have no effect, and probably because I like to destroy a ha'tak when I get bored."
"How are you going to destroy a ha'tak, then? The only technology we've encountered that can destroy a ha'tak from the outside is a ship, or at least some kind of advanced space-gun." Asked Carter.
"Well, by throwing cookies at it until it gets an allergic reaction, then wait until it sneezes and then give it an uppercut to the face, duh." Said king Minos jokingly.
"No, seriously. How do you destroy them?" asked Carter again.
"Tickle them until they faint? No?" he said, still with a grin. "Or perhaps throw rock at them until their shields break?"
"Are you going to answer that question seriously or not?" O'Neill asked.
"Nope."
"Argh." O'Neill said dramatically.
"Sir, we're at the gate. Shall I dial home?"
"Yes, do that, Carter." O'Neill said.
They waited in silence as Carter dialled the gate. When the usual 'kawoosh' had subsided, she entered her IDC and waited for confirmation.
"All clear, sir. General Hammond is expecting us."
They walked through the gate, and when they appeared on the other side, Hammond was standing there to greet them.
"Welcome to the SGC. My name is General Hammond, Commanding officer of this base." He greeted King Minos.
"Thank you, General Hammond. My name is King Minos, I'm the king of Avalon. I believe you have made a treaty concerning our alliance?"
"We certainly have, king Minos."
"Please, call me Minos. Drop the 'king' part. It sounds too formal."
"Ok, Minos. We have the treaty ready in our conference room."
King Minos, General Hammond and SG-1 went to the conference room, where a large stack of papers was lying on the table.
"Is that the treaty?" King Minos asked in amazement.
"Yes." Answered Hammond. "Is there something wrong?"
"It seems a bit... long... don't you think?"
"Most of our treaties are about this long, and the more complicated ones are even longer."
"Aha. I see. I was expecting a piece of paper with 'This treaty seals the alliance between the Tauri of Earth, and the people of Avalon. Let there be friendship between our two peoples as long as this treaty lasts.' Well, that is how long my self-written treaties usually are."
"If the length of the treaty is a problem, I can have it rewritten, if you'd like." Said General Hammond.
"No. It doesn't really matter." Said King Minos. "This treaty will suffice, after I've read it, of course."
"Of course."
Over the course of the next five hours, King Minos read together with General Hammond and Sg-1 through the treaty. At the end of the five hours, the treaty was signed.
"Well, General Hammond, I look forward to our continuous friendship." Said King Minos.
"I do too. But first, I must give you something that will enable you to contact us. We have installed a barrier in front of our gate that prevents anyone from going through without our authorization."
"That is an ingenious idea. It is very uncommon to do that, but I assume you have a countermeasure against the 'kawoosh' from the wormhole?"
"Yes, we do. The barrier, or the iris as we call it, stops matter from reintegrating, but it doesn't hinder radio signals. The device I gave you is called an IDC. It stands for Identification Device Code. If you enter the correct code, we will open the iris and you can safely pass through the gate. The Code is in the package. I trust that you will keep it safe?"
"I will."
"If you'd like, you can stay here for a meal. We've been at this treaty for a long time, so you must be hungry."
"Yes, General. I am. I will stay for a meal."
They walked together with SG-1 to the mess hall. General Hammond excused himself for not eating together, because he was called away to other business. So SG-1 and King Minos ate together in the mess hall.
"Colonel O'Neill, what is this called?" king Minos asked while pointing at a sandwich.
"That's a sandwich."
"They smell good."
Minos loaded his plate with a few sandwiches. When they all got their food, they walked to SG-1's usual table in the corner. They got an extra chair for King Minos, and they started eating.
"Mmm. I guess they taste good too." King Minos said.
"Colonel O'Neill, does your world have an outside too?" asked King Minos.
"An outside?" O'Neill asked, not understanding the question.
"Yes, an outside, in the open air. For what I've seen your entire planet is underground. I've not one time seen the air and the sky."
"Well, we do have an outside, like any other planet, but this base where we are now is far underground. It was built quite some time ago, when there were a lot of wars. They built it underground for protection. And now this base houses Stargate Command, because this was the best location."
"Completely underground? And how do you counter the vibrations the gate gives when it is powered up?"
"We installed a lot of dampeners in the gate room, partially to hold the gate in place and partially to ease the vibrations." Answered Carter.
"But..." began King Minos, when he suddenly stopped and started staring into nothingness.
"What? What's the matter?" asked Daniel.
"I must leave, now!" king Minos said hastily
"What's the matter?" Jack asked.
"Avalon is under attack."
"I'm coming." Said O'Neill.
King Minos ran to the gate room as fast as he could.
"You must dial Avalon. I must return home immediately!" he almost screamed to the sergeant in control of the dialling mechanism.
"But I must ask general Hammond first." Said the sergeant, who looked a bit surprised by the sight of the impatient fifteen year-old kid that was ordering him around.
"What's the problem?" General Hammond asked, who came walking down the stairs to see who was making all the sound downstairs.
"I must return to Avalon immediately, General. Avalon is under siege."
"Sergeant, dial the gate. Can I offer any assistance? Medical teams, Marines?" asked Hammond.
"I don't know. I don't know the exact situation, only that it is dire."
"General..." O'Neill panted, when he entered the control room. "Request permission to bring a team of marines and assist king Minos."
"Colonel, you'll have to wait. I will send out a larger team as soon as I have an indication of the situation in Avalon. Now as..." he started as he turned around to face King Minos, who wasn't there anymore.
King Minos hadn't waited for General Hammond to finish, but he started running to the gate room as soon as he saw the gate dialling. Only a split second after the 'kawoosh' had subsided, he dove through.