I have been rather busy the last few weeks and have fallen behind a bit, but this chapter will conclude the last two. At the moment I am only one chapter ahead of here, with outlines for the next four...I think Destiny and her crew might be in for a rough ride heading toward the end of the series. Will try post e12 in a couple of weeks, thanks to everyone for your awesome comments...it really does keep me inspried.

Cheers

SGU s03 e11

Lesson

Professor Neb and Deed La'tell were given a tour of Destiny's main areas over several hours. Aside from being on the bridge, the area that most impressed them was the ship's life support system inside the dome. The fact that light rain was constantly falling inside a space ship garden was the hardest thing for Krystal to get her head around. Nick and Adam spent time on the CI showing her some of the science behind it, but even to them it was still an amazing scene to behold. While on the bridge Eli had opened a link to Krystal's computer mainframe with her help; they downloaded a lot of data about the universe and mathematical equations, along with information on ancient glyphs. There was enough information to crash the entire system, so Math boy came up with another solution.

Krystal was carrying a data chip similar to a flash drive; Eli and Nick took their guests to the 3D printer and with the help of some inbuilt alien tech, "printed" a newer and larger version with capacity measured in Exabyte's. Eli handed the "full" drive to Krystal saying;

"That will give you some reading to get through...for about a thousand years" in reality, it was but a mere slither of data available to the crew.

It was finally time to leave, with both Krystal and Deed at a loss on how they could thank the crew of Destiny for what had given them. Everett had asked for something simple in return; some fresh food, clothes and basic personal items. Even though they could now make these things onboard, having them given avoided the drain on the ships limited material resources. They entered the shuttle after receiving a message that the supplies Krystal had organized, were ready for when they returned. Matt had one more treat for Professor Neb she wasn't expecting; on the way down he took a detour past the planets other moon and again found the original landing site and set down. The baron surface was littered with a grey coloured dust, small rocks, and craters everywhere; Nick and Matt helped Krystal get into a full suit along with Everett. Matt lowered the shields enough to get through and holding Everett's hand, Professor Krystal Neb stepped out of the shuttle living her childhood dream:

And walked on the moon

There was now a buzz on Destiny as people came for everywhere to pick out new wardrobes. They now had supplies of meat and other fresh foods that would last for weeks, maybe even months; also, little luxury items like razers, makeup, towels, and even bed sheets. The Terestay people had an excellent sense of fashion and practical clothing virtually identical to Earth. Krystal had also been sure to include some "feminine night wear" clothing for the women onboard; they got snapped up very fast along with new underwear. At long last, the crew were really starting to enjoytheirjourney.

Everett and Te'arly finally had some time to talk to Amanda; he called Mandy to his room for privacy, as there were things yet to be made general knowledge amongst the crew.

Everett started "Hi Amanda, Eli said you needed to talk to us both?"

Mandy's face gave nothing away to Te'arly; "I have some news for you both" she put her hand on Te'arly's: "Um...Te'arly, you're pregnant" Amanda was staying diplomatic.

"What? I'm pregnant?" Te'arly's face went white with fear, "When?"

Seeing her reaction Mandy's composure changed to doctor "It was in the first sample of blood we took when you arrived some weeks ago." This didn't seem to ease Te'arly's hardened expression;

Te'arly looked at Everett who had a surprised but concerned look forming on his face, saying "So this was before...Everett made love with me?"

"Yes, you're nearly 10 weeks now" it was no longer "Amanda" they were talking to, but Dr Perry.

A tear began to weep from Te'arly's eye; followed by another, and another: until she broke down. "I can't go through this again, not again!" Everett pulled her to his chest and wrapped his strong arms around his distraught beloved, as her warm tears fell silently against his neck.

Everett spoke for her "Will the baby have the genetic defect too?" looking straight at Amanda.

"Unfortunately...yes; there is a 98% probability of it" Amanda went quiet allowing them to absorb the news.

"Amanda, can we do something about it...anything?" asked Everett

Dr Perry's eyes looked slightly up to the left for a moment while she openly communicated with Destiny; finally she replied "There may be a solution, but it will take some time to explore."

Te'arly turned to look at her with hope in her eyes "What? How is it that you can help us?"

Again Amanda went silent for a moment before speaking "We are getting closer to finding the gene responsible for the DNA mutation. When we do, there is a way we may be able to modify some stem cells from the umbilical blood to remove the defective DNA chain mutation. The cells would be replanted back into the cord as "master key cell", taking over and re-writing all the other chains removing any trace of the disorder."

Everett could see what Mandy was leading to "You mean that Te'arly's baby could also hold the key to their people's cure?"

Dr Perry finally smiled "I believe so..."

An hour later, Eli was with Ginn in their new quarters; he had found it in one of the searches and called "dibs". Compared to the other rooms it would have been the master suite, with its own fully equipped bathroom and study area complete with a full CI station. It was some distance away from the normal dorm area but with all the directional elevators working, getting to the bridge only took a few minutes. Ginn was laying on the bed with Eli beside her upside down running his fingers gently over her exposed belly.

"Baby, it's only been a few weeks...you're not really going to feel anything just yet" she cooed.

Eli gently let his fingers slide down further feeling her soft, smooth skin;

"Ohh...baby..." she purred as his fingers continued to slide down over her silky wetness; "Baby...that feels so good..."

Their beautiful moment was suddenly shattered "Eli, this is Dr Rush; please respond..."

"Damn it..." Eli said quietly; feeling the strain against the material of his pants "I'm a little busy right now, can it wait?"

Ginn giggled softly at the sight;

General Young got on the com "No, Eli it can't...bridge now!"

He got up, leant over and kissed Ginn passionately "We'll finish this later, sexy girl..." he raised his voice "Ok, I'm on my way"

At the bridge Nick was sitting in Kirks chair with Everett standing beside him looking at the screen.

"What is it General?" asked Eli arriving through the doorway;

Nick didn't look up from the screen "What data exactly did you give to the Professor?"

Eli looked a bit startled but unconcerned "Um...mainly things like star charts, history, basic stuff on other races, quantum equations, some language conversions...why?"

Dr Rush now looked up at him "Back up a second...history? What history exactly did you give them?"

Now sensing something wrong, Eli was becoming concerned "Um...just a general overview of history that Destiny has collected, and history of the ancie..." the mistake was realised as his voice stopped dead;

Eli shrieked "Oh God no!" he suddenly found himself weak at the knees as it hit him.

Nick's voice became riddled with anger and disdain; "You gave them Ancient knowledge, with a language converter! Eli, how fuckingstupid could you be?"

Everett stepped to Eli's defence "That's enough Rush, he made a mistake! There's no need to tear shreds off him! Ok...so where does this leave us?" he was just as pissed as Rush;

Rush was still angry, but held back "Ok Math-boy...why don't you explain to General Young just what this will mean..."

Eli stood silent trying to take it in; he looked at General Young as a tear rolled down his cheek "I am so sorry General..." was all the words he could manage.

Everett was now more concerned than annoyed, but he could feel Eli's genuine regret of his mistake and stayed calm "Eli...what are the consequences of this?"

Eli wiped the tear from his cheek "You remember when we discussed what information they could have...and Dr Rush talked about not giving them the keys to the universe?"

Everett looked at Rush remembering the conversation "Yeah, what about it?"

Eli looked down at the ground and sighed "Um...we kind of have..."

Rush looked at Everett "He gave them some of the knowledge of the Ancients from the database, that will easily covert into their language. When they work it out, they'll be able to advance their race by...I don't know...maybe several hundred years in a few months."

Everett mulled this over and looked at Eli "How long will it take them to work out what they have?"

Eli's brain was now over the shock and started to refocus "There is a lot they need to get through first; if they don't unravel the calculations, they won't be able to convert the Ancient language to understand the information until they do. It's taken us a long time to understand just a small amount of it, but look at what that's given our race."

Now Everett just looked concerned "So we have to hope that they don't corrupt themselves in the process?"

Nick had calmed down and began contemplating the outcome "General, they seem like decent people from what we know; but it will only take a freak like Math-boy over here to crack the code, and you can bet there looking for one now."

Eli spoke up again "The one thing that wasn't in there, was our mission; they won't know anything about the order behind the chaos, but it won't take them long to figure out about opening the gate. I mean, maybe a few weeks."

Everett finally smiled "That's how it started for us, why should it be any different for them? Their technology is around the same as Earth, give or take a few years. We can now only hope that they use this the right way; and we have to heed the lesson for next time."

Eli asked Everett a question "General, can we contact Professor Neb again, I'd like to talk with her about it."

Rush answered before him "What's that going to achieve Eli?" Everett would have asked the same question anyway, but added;

"We're not going down to the planet again; we have caused enough interference already..."

"No General, I can call her from here like a long distance call and scramble the signal to keep it private. We're still connected to their communication satellite, and I can video chat with her."

"Ok...but Eli, please don't make things worse for these people or us."

Eli took out his phone and linked the signal through Destiny's language converter system. He dialled the number that the president had used to contact Krystal the first time, which was her direct line.

She answered "Good day, Professor Neb speaking"

"Hello Professor...it's Eli from Destiny...please don't let anyone know who it is...I need to speak with you in private."

She gasped at the sound of his recognisable voice translation, which no one else on the planet would have known "Oh, um...hello...now's not a good time, but if you give me your number...can I...call you back?"

Eli got the hint "Yeah, you'll be able to for about 5 more hours, or send me a message..." and he gave her his number.

"I'll call you soon...thank you, good day" not giving anything away in her now crowded lab crawling with government officials.

One of them asked "Who was that?"

Krystal dismissed the call; "Oh just an old friend I haven't spoken with in a while, I've been getting a lot of that lately..." using a sexy smile to get her way out of more questions.

She knew not to make a move immediately and waited a half hour before heading out for lunch. Unbeknown to Krystal, her phone had been tapped and the scrambled call had alarm bells ringing in secret high places; her every move was now being tracked. Eli's phone received the first text message in a long time.

"I'm alone, call me on this number"

He was still on the bridge, but they had now been joined by Adam and Chloe, who we're quickly briefed on the situation; he called Krystal on video chat.

"Eli, I'm glad you called; something is not right..."

"Yeah, I know, we um...well me actually...may have given you too much information on the drive"

"The data on the drive...yes, I thought so; they already have a team of mathematicians working on it. Some of them are very gifted and have started to understand the calculations behind it; this is happening too fast Eli."

"Krystal, we need to erase some of that; it's not that we don't trust your race, but it is way too much data at this stage. Is the drive linked to any outside line?"

"No, it's in my lab connected to an isolated internal mainframe, you would have to do it from there."

Everett stepped into the picture "Professor, how secure is the room holding this mainframe?"

"There are government men everywhere, and the army is standing guard; I don't know any other way in; they won't even let me near it."

Everett could sense the fear in her voice; Krystal understood why they were so concerned, and she knew the extra data was going to be exploited by some very corrupt people.

Everett asked "Who's in charge there...is it a person or organization?"

"It's a government body called the SSPA; Security Secrets Protection Authority. They override the military and basically have a free run over the planet; the director is nasty piece of work called Dooghan Jay. I had trouble with him during the moon landing project, but the President at the time stepped up and called him off."

"How long ago was that?" asked Everett.

"Five years ago, although Bisha is too weak to stand up to him, and has become more of a puppet for the SSPA."

"What happened to the other president, does he still have any sway?" Everett was forming a plan.

"He retired a year after the moon landings nearly four years ago, and has since become a recluse in the hills near a town called Treyes, 1200 km away."

"What was his name?" asked Eli innocently

"Banbang Neb..." they could hear the pain in Krystal's voice.

"Is he your father...?" Eli was gentle with his words.

Krystal replied with a tear running down her face "Yes..."

Lt. Scott had come back from a mission to one of the other planets in range of the gate; this time nothing exciting happened, the planet was mainly rock and desert with only a few signs of animal life forms. They had managed to retrieve some more raw elements for the stockpile, and also collected a few plant species for further study. He ventured into the bridge were all the action was unfolding.

Everett had told Krystal to get out of town and start heading to her father's place, but had a bad feeling they would again have to intervene.

Eli said to them "Damn it, if only we had Asgard beaming technology; just beam in, change it and beam out."

"It would make it easier...but alas, we don't; but if you hadn't screwed up in the first place..." replied Nick before Everett again cut in raising his voice.

"This is not helping Rush, we need to deal with the situation; not criticize people for their mistakes!"

Matt assessed the situation "General, if we track her phone and get her location we should be able to cover her from here for now, until we get a team on the ground. We still have the stun guns that we haven't tried out yet" he said smiling.

Brody came up with a simple solution "Why don't we just send a subspace message to the Asgard and ask for them to bring their ship, so we can just beam in and out?"

Everett immediately disagreed sounding angry "What, and have them clean up our mess again?" he settled down composing himself "Dr Brody, it's a good idea...but we created this, and we need to fix it...somehow, without causing a war."

Eli broke the uneasy tension "General I have got Krystal's phone signal and I'm using several scanners to create a picture." On the bridge screen appeared a picture similar to night vision from military videos.

They could clearly see the plane the professor was now on heading in the direction of her father's town. Everett knew they could jam any detection signal in the shuttle, but wished he had a cloaking device for it too. Eli's message tone went off again. Opening the message he found it to be a set of global co-ordinates; after uploading them, they found her father's house nestled on the edge of a picturesque wooded valley near a flowing stream.

Lt. Scott noticed the terrain ran from the ocean a few hundred miles away, with empty valleys all the way through "We could come in from the ocean here under darkness and fly under water to the valley."

Eli looked surprised "Fly under water...the shuttle can do that?"

Everett answered "Yeah, same as the Go'uld death gliders; the new versions of the 302's are suppose to as well, but I don't know if anyone has tried it." He turned his attention to Scott "Get an armed team for the shuttle ready; the rest of you, we need a way to disrupt the data transfer without intruding into the room, any suggestions?"

Everyone went silent thinking for a few minutes until Nick spoke up;

"What about Destiny...we know she has neuro links with people, what if we manipulate someone close to the system to erase that data?"

Everett responded "I don't know that she would let us do that, even if it was possible from here..."he didn't bother to ask believing the answer to be no anyway; he was right.

Chloe made a suggestion "What about the stones? Could we use them to get our way in?"

Everett smiled, remembering last time "It didn't work out too well before, besides they would have passwords and other security measures to get past; and of course, there's the language barrier."

Nick looked at Everett "General, I think we have seriously screwed up; if we try by force, we loose...if we try by diplomacy; they'll stall until they understand it. The SSPA obviously control the government and won't let this go easily; I don't know if they understand that we made a mistake, but if we try to interfere now, they will."

Everett looked at everyone's reaction to what Dr Rush said "So we just let them go and watch how it all unfolds...is that what you're saying Dr Rush?"

"In all honesty General; it took earth about fifteen years to get to this level so I suspect with their current history on par with ours, it would take about the same. We need to find out if there are any other "players" who may even the odds against the SSPA." Rush had made a good point.

Eli remembered Krystal and checked on her progress "Krystal has just landed at Treyes airport; she should arrive at her father's in half an hour.

Lt. Scott had the shuttle ready to go and notified Everett on the com; General Young left Chloe and Adam at the bridge and took Eli and Rush with him to the shuttle. They left Destiny and headed to the dark side of the planet, making the shuttle invisible to any technology around them. Matt flew in very low over the ocean and dove underwater when they had contact with any ocean vessels. Eventually they got close to the shore, finishing the journey underwater until they reached the valley. Knowing that they couldn't be seen by technology, Everett had the thought that the odd person or camper may spot them; it was a risk they had to take as they continued through the valley.

Krystal's phone rang; she screened the number and seeing it was from her office, willed herself into tears before answering. "Good day" she said with a sob;

The voice on the other end spoke "Good day Professor Neb, where are you?"

Having had some time to think she kept up the act "I'm on my way to my father's house, I had a call from his carer just before lunch...his condition is worsening quickly so they told me to come immediately" he sobbing voice had a real tone of worry as well.

"Why didn't you tell someone before you left...we could have organised a faster way there for you" that was the last thing she needed.

"I'm nearly there now, so that won't be required, what I do want is privacy for myself and my father!" she made her point angrily

"Ok Professor, how long will you be gone?

"Until I'm back!" she hung the phone up and began to laugh...

Krystal had rang her father from the airport on a strangers phone; being an attractive woman made things like that very easy around men. Her father had a phone system that was completely untraceable and scrambled any calls made or received; Dooghan knew about this, but he was still suspect of her and had his agents following anyway. The two agents would have to stop some distance from the house as being the ex-president; he still had a massive contingent of his own security with a shoot first policy allowable under Terestay law.

The shuttle came up the valley to find two Earth like helicopters already waiting in the back yard area; there was a large enclosed shed that had the door opened, with three uniformed men who directed the shuttle inside before closing the door behind them. Lt. Scott opened the door as his men ran out, taking up defensive position around the shuttle, with one of them carrying a translating device. A side door opened with a highly decorated Commander walking through; Everett exited the shuttle followed by Eli and Rush, and walked towards him.

"You must be General Everett Young...I am General Aldon Hayes, head of the Terestay World Army"

"It's a pleasure to meet you General Hayes" Everett noticed the five stars on his lapel and saluted the superior officer.

Hayes saluted back and offered his hand; Everett clasped it in his as they looked each other in the eye and smiled.

"You have caused quite a stir on our planet...but I must say it is a welcome one" The General motioned for them to follow.

They walked under a breezeway on the concrete ground; there were lots of gardens and small grassy areas lining each side of the breezeway, along with soldiers from the Terestay army.

Everett asked "Where is Professor Neb?"

Hayes answered "She is in with her father, arriving a few minutes before you" he again led the way into the huge stone brick house, where they entered a sitting room with Krystal and her father.

Hayes announced them "Mr President, this is General Everett Young of the Star Ship Destiny; General Young, this is President Banbang Neb."

Banbang and Krystal walked over to Everett; holding out his hand, Young took it and said "It is an Honour to meet you President Neb." Introducing Eli and Rush he continued; "This is Dr Nickolas Rush and Mr Eli Wallace, our two scientific officers." He wanted to make them sound more "official".

Banbang was surprisingly young, maybe only ten years older than himself, in his fifties perhaps though Everett. His head was completely shaved allowing the prominent bony ridges to really stand out through his white skin. He appeared to be in good physical shape, being about six foot high with broad shoulders and solid build.

"Believe me General Young the honour is all mine, would any of you care for some refreshments?"

Everett spoke for all of them "No...Thank-you"

Banbang got straight too it "Now down to business; Krystal tells me that you have concerns over the SSPA having the data that you have generously given us, is this correct?"

"Yes...but there is more to it than that" answered Nick

"Oh...how so Dr Rush?" Asked the President

He looked at Eli "You want to explain?"

Eli looked at the President, who smiled at his youth "Um...Mr President, I have accidently given you some extra data that...um..." Eli searched for the words "That I wasn't supposed too."

"Oh, I see young man...it sounds like you are asking for some help to retrieve it?" Banbang had a huge grin on his face realising that Eli had been made accountable for his mistake; respecting him for the courage to face up to it.

General Hayes's intrigue got the better of him "This extra data, what effects will it have on us?"

Rush continued from Eli, addressing both of them "There is information in there that may advance your society perhaps three of four hundred years into the future in a short time. We are not concerned so much that you have it, more about who has it and what is done with it; this was given to your people, not any organisation or elite few."

Hayes knew exactly where Rush was coming from "Dooghan is an asshole, and he will exploit it for his own gain; but what he doesn't know is that "we" are actually in control of the facility. Our men are already inside undercover. The problem we have is that the current president is a puppet for the SSPA, and our real President is standing in front of us." He motioned toward Banbang and continued; "It was a good choice to select Krystal to go aboard your ship, but not so good with that idiot Deed La'tell, who went straight to the SSPA with all the footage."

Everett made comment "We could hear what he was saying into the camera, our ships translator picks up everything, even whispers; we didn't get any warning that he was saying anything different." He paused for a moment thinking about what he was going to give away next; "Our ship has AI, Artificial Intelligence, and a very human personality...she will do anything to protect us and our mission; that included allowing us to break the rules and get here to save our exploration team."

Banbang looked at Everett with a surprised expression "The ship can think like a person?"

Eli explained "Destiny has a capability of cognitive intelligence; the more time we are onboard, the more she learns about us and our behaviour...although there is no judgment of our actions. We are free to make our own choices and live our lives, but as with any society there are certain rules we have to abide by; the main rule is to stay on our mission."

The President was very interested in this "So...the ship won't interfere with your lives as long as you stay on the mission...is that what you're saying?"

Rush picked it up from there "Our journey is the mission; some of the people wish to leave and will when the opportunity arises, but for most of the crew the mission has become our lives. Humans or Tau'ri as we're sometimes called, are natural explorers; it was our "ancestors" the Ancients who built Destiny well over a million years ago and she has already crossed the universe. We found a way to dial into the onboard stargate from a planet...and here we are."

Everett changed the subject, getting back on point "What we really need to know is; will the data we gave you be in good hands, or do we need to take drastic action to remove it?"

Hayes looked at his President for conformation before speaking; "We have been planning a full military takeover of the government that was due to happen just as you arrived. Not knowing your intentions, we held off until things had settled down. Dooghan may have some of the Government at his beck and call, but not the opposition who have been diplomatically fighting ever since President Neb stood down. Before you ask, he did it to save his daughter after being betrayed by Dooghan; although now we have the evidence and military power on our side."

Everett looked deep into General Hayes eyes and saw a reflection; not of himself, but of General Jack O'Neill. The man before him was standing beside someone who was truly worthy to lead his people; Everett had seen this before on his own planet:

"You believe you can pull this off...and win?" he asked

General Hayes had looked the same way at Everett and seen himself in his position; would he trust someone from another world with this kind of life changing information? Hayes then said something that struck a chord with Everett's very soul;

"Please General Young; I can help my people..."

Everett turned to one of his men in the background "Go get it..."

The Marine returned with a shiny gold case, around the size of a backpack. Everett placed the device down on the table to their right and pressed his fingers into the scanner locks, allowing the lid to open. Even Krystal came over to look at the device that had a small display with ancient language and several lit up buttons around the circular screen in the centre of the dome.

"This is a type of EMP device but far more powerful; it will destroy and corrupt any electronic or computerised equipment within the pulse radius. As far as we know, there is absolutely no know substance or element that will be protected from the blast; even underground it will penetrate through anything. The blast radius can be set up to 1000 Kilometres or as small as 10 km; whatever is within the radius will be fried, including the storage drive we gave you; I would suggest it as a last resort."

Looking at the device, Hayes said "We have EMP bombs; but nothing as powerful as this, or with the type of penetration you're referring to...very impressive" Everett showed Hayes how to use the device and enrolled his fingers in the security lock.

Everett looked at Banbang and Hayes "I am sorry we have caused so much intrusion in your lives, and bid you all the best with your plans; it has been a tough lesson for us too."

They turned to leave after bidding farewell, with Krystal coming up to Lt. Scott who had been standing in the back ground; giving him a big hug and kiss on the cheek;

"Thank you..." she said

"What was that for?" he asked a bit shocked but smiling;

She answered smiling at him;

"Walking on the moon..."