Found - part 3
This chapter is dedicated to the briliiant and talented actor, the late Don S. Davis.
Tally walked with the four newcomers to the arms hut, Kennedy skulking ten feet behind them moodily.
"So, Tally, what have your parents told you about Earth?" Daniel asked conversationally.
"Origin of the human race, 70 covered with water, population of 6 billion, seven continents, one of them being North America, which has the United States of America, in which the SGC is located in the state of Colorado. The USA also has Minnesota where Dad's cabin is, as well as California where Mom grew up, and 'the windy city' of Chicago where Dad grew up. And then there's Russia where the second Stargate is, and where Mom's worst enemy works –"
"Who?" Daniel cut her off.
"Rodney McKay. Mom's also taught me a lot about the technology: computers, cars, televisions, microwave ovens . . ." Daniel grinned. "And she's taught me everything she knows about the F-302, and that's the one thing she could actually show me instead of just describing it."
"Are you a scientist too, then?" Haley asked. Tally smiled slightly.
"I guess. I help her maintain and work on our power system here, which she designed and built as I was growing up."
"You also seem to be a skilled warrior." Teal'c commented.
"Damn right. When Mom and Dad got here 18 years ago this planet was unbelievably sexist. The women weren't allowed to work on anything but cooking, sewing, cleaning and looking after the kids, and they weren't even allowed to speak their minds without the men's approval. Mom said Earth was once like that. But she changed it here. She showed them that women can work and fight just as well as men can, and she and I are living proof. We have to be; things may have improved here but it's still not up to Earth's current standards. We still come up against sexism way too often and women still don't have equal rights. I learnt to fight so I could prove that women can be just as skilled as warriors as men can."
"You demonstrate your cause exceptionally." Teal'c complimented her with a smile. Tally grinned.
"I can't believe I didn't see the resemblance between you and Sam before." Daniel said in disbelief. "You have exactly the same smile."
Tally gave him a soft smile. "I never thought I'd actually get to meet you. Mom and Dad talk about you and what you did for us with the same reverence as some of the folks round here talk about Amdra. To be honest, we assumed you were dead."
Daniel frowned, reminded suddenly of the similar comment Jack had made. "What do you mean, 'what I did for you'?"
Tally opened her mouth, then closed it again. It suddenly occurred to her that maybe he didn't remember. "Maybe you should ask Mom and Dad. I don't remember it, since I was only about an hour old at the time."
She stopped outside a small brick building, and opened the door, leading them inside, and leaving Daniel with his confusion. Kennedy jogged to catch up.
"Whoa." He let out a low whistle. The entire building was jam-packed with goa'uld weapons. Haley and Daniel were staring in shock, and Teal'c was walking round admiring the array of staff weapons and zats.
"You know, for a quiet, peaceful village, you sure have a lot of weapons." Kennedy commented.
"Nearly a year ago now, the goa'uld Gal'Tak came with his jaffa in ships, and attempted to enslave us. They failed. They were caught in the electro-magnetic field, and were forced to make an emergency landing. Still, they demanded our surrender, but the eighteen villages of this world united as one and fought against them, led by my parents, with only bows and arrows for weapons. We took the weapons of every Jaffa we knocked down, until we had the majority of their staff weapons and zats. We told them that if they did not leave, we would use them. Mom turned off the electro-magnetic field so that the ships could fly, and they left." She told them. She closed her eyes for a moment, to gather her composure. Daniel exchanged a concerned look with Teal'c at Tally's shift in demeanor. Keep it together, Tally thought to herself. He wouldn't want you falling apart over him.
Tally took a deep breath and continued. "Of course, Mom rigged the ships' main computers first, so that they would be flown in a straight line on autopilot for the next hundred or so years. They probably managed to hack in and correct that eventually, but we haven't had any trouble since then."
"You're saying you didn't use the weapons against them? You just let them go?" Haley checked.
"We only killed where absolutely necessary, but those circumstances were rare, and there was little jaffa blood shed." Teal'c nodded his approval. Kennedy looked skeptical.
"Oh please. You're telling me you gained the upper hand against an army that was planning on wiping you out – and then you just let them go?"
"We are not savage, Major. We do not value death, no matter what the intentions of the enemy."
"And yet you enjoy being a strong warrior."
"We train so that we do not have to take life. I never killed a single jaffa during the invasion, but I claimed the weapons of many."
"You can't have been old enough to be fighting then."
"I was sixteen. I have been training since I was eleven." She stared at him defiantly.
"Children shouldn't have to fight. If this place had the morals and ethics you claim it has, you'd have been tucked away with the other kids." Kennedy half sneered at her triumphantly. Tally snapped. She'd hated this man since the moment he'd started talking to her parents and displaying his prejudices. He was a certifiable jerk. And now he'd gone too far.
She lunged forward and hit him in the face with lightening movement and precision, so he didn't have time to react. He stumbled backwards, and put a hand to his face in shock and pain. Tally wasn't as tall as her mother, but she stood with the solid and balanced poise of a warrior, which made her seem much taller.
"Insult me or my people again and you'll regret the day you were born." She spoke with the quiet, dangerous voice her father had used earlier.
Kennedy flexed his jaw painfully, but didn't respond. Tally laughed quietly to herself. He really was all talk.
She turned back to Daniel, Haley and Teal'c, who had watched the scene with amazement, and were considerably impressed.
"This way. Dinner must be ready by now." She walked straight past Kennedy, who glared at her back. The other three exchanged looks, and then followed her. Kennedy fell back into step ten feet behind, sulking.
By the time they reached the long trestle tables in the courtyard, they were already packed with all of the men and a few women. Women still moved between the tables serving food, as it had been when Sam and Jack had first arrived. Tally found her parents sitting with Karelle. She led the four newcomers over to them.
Jack introduced the visitors from Earth to the Karelle, who was now very elderly, and a widow. They sat and ate with her, while Sam and Jack caught up with the affairs of Earth over the last eighteen years.
When Jack got bored of listening to Sam talk to them about technological advances made on Earth, he cut in.
"So, who's President now?"
"Robert Kinsey." Kennedy replied. Sam and Jack looked disgusted.
"You're kidding."
"He's the best President we've had in a very long time." Kennedy said defiantly.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"He always did have talent for worming his way into power." Sam observed. "How old is he now? I'm surprised he's still fit for that kind of work."
"Healthcare has come a long way since you left." Haley told her. "And people as powerful as Kinsey get to take full advantage of it."
"Wonder who he blackmailed to get the big chair this time." Jack pondered. Kennedy disliked this family more and more by the second.
"He was voted for legitimately." He said evenly.
"Ha! He never did anything legitimately!"
"You'd do well not to criticize him so openly when you come back to Earth, Colonel. It might not go down too well with your commander-in-chief."
Jack groaned. "I thought we'd already told you. We're not going back. Sure, we'll visit. But we live here now."
"And I thought I'd already explained to you, it isn't an option."
"Is your face bruised?" Sam said suddenly. Tally smirked. Jack smiled at his daughter proudly.
"Atta girl." He murmured.
Kennedy decided it was best not to push the subject, in case the seventeen year old decided to tell her father publicly exactly how he'd got that bruise.
"So, how did you get here?" Sam asked. "New versions of the 302's?"
"Ah! You're gonna love this!" Daniel told her smiling.
"The X-307." Haley said, proudly. Sam and Jack's mouths dropped open.
"Three-O-Seven?"
"Also known as the Gemini. A much advanced version of the X-303." Teal'c explained.
"The Prometheus?" Sam asked.
"Oh, she is so much more than the Prometheus." Haley said with gusto.
"More like the Starship Enterprise, actually." Kennedy commented.
"We've established an alliance with the Furlings. They don't give us much, but they have shared some of their engine and deep space sensors technology with us."
"With which Jennifer Haley was able to detect the electro-magnetic field before we got caught in it like you did."
Jack was still open-mouthed. "You met the Furlings? Without me?"
"What kind of engine technology?" Sam asked.
"I'll show you if you like. The ship's in orbit around this planet." Haley offered. Sam opened her mouth to accept, but Jack intervened.
"Oh no you don't! If you go up now you'll be there all night, and we could all do with some sleep."
"I'm afraid we don't have enough room for you all to sleep together. You will have to be split between families with beds available." Karelle apologized.
"That's OK, we have quarters on the ship. We can go back there easily."
"How?" Sam asked. She knew they didn't know about the rings yet, and they couldn't be assuming it was easy for her to turn off the electro-magnetic field.
"The Furlings also shared with us their transporter technology, and Jennifer Haley discovered a 'blind spot' in the electro-magnetic field." Teal'c smiled at Sam's widening eyes.
Boy, I gotta see that . . . Sam thought longingly.
As always, please review!
Also, I kinda guessed about where Sam grew up, as I didn't actually know. I chose California because I think Sam said at some point in the first season that she had a brother in San Diego, which if memory serves is in California (please correct me if that's wrong). I figured maybe Mark might have stayed in the state he grew up in, while Sam moved around with her job.
Beka