Hello to Everyone...there are some answers in this one to earlier questions some very dedicated people pick up on through the series (although some of you may have thought of as mistakes). Over the next few episodes, the answers will probably lead to more questions...That is one thing I have learned from watching Stargate, events can take time to conclude...
Enjoy!
SGU s03 e12
Knowing
Destiny had been in FTL for the last week; it had taken twenty six hours to finally cool down enough and perform minor repairs to reinstate the drive. Both the crew and ship had learned a valuable lesson from the encounter with the Terestay race; knowledge is power and it can be dangerous, but wisdom is the ability to understand the difference. Everett was now sitting in Jack O'Neil's office again, having just explained for the last three hours what had taken place.
Jack didn't give much away with his straight face "So, do you think Professor Neb would make a good ambassador for her planet eventually?"
Everett smiled back "If they have control, and all is well...don't see why not..."
The subject matter turned to more local events; "Everett, there is something else we need to discuss...that will be happening here...soonish..." reflected Jack.
"What...is the IOA going to take over SGC?" he replied with a grin.
"Not to my knowledge...but; anyway...there has been a lot of public speculation about our new "aircraft"...Information, photo's, and lots of internet chat has been happening about our F 302's and the new class of "Enterprise" ships being spotted by aircraft buffs and amateur astronomers with really high powered backyard telescopes." Jack waited for it to twig.
Everett didn't know about the new Tau'ri/Asgard design of cruisers called Enterprise class, but caught on quick;
"Enterprise class...what, did they finally let you call the shots Jack?"
Jack couldn't contain his smile "It was a trade off for not letting me retire...they let me name the class of our new hybrid ships, but they still wouldn't let me call one USS Enterprise; they said it may infringe copyright or something" again O'Neill waved his hand dismissively; disappointedly he continued.
"I guess it had to happen sooner or later, we couldn't keep it secret forever anyway; so we will be going into full disclosure to the general public about the stargate program. This is not just because things have been spotted, more for our own benefit of becoming the fifth race; one of the conditions is that the general public have to understand we are not alone in the galaxy."
"Holy shit!" was all Everett could come out with as he took in the news; "Full disclosure? Even us?"
"Not at first, but we will introduce the public to one of our good friends, of whom we only found out recently was still alive..." Jack loved being cryptic
He didn't fool Everett for long "Thor is still alive... except a small few; I thought all of the Asgard died?"
Jack smiled broadly as the flash of white light engulfed the room;
"Greetings General Young of Destiny..." as Thor stretched out his hand to Everett.
Shaking his hand; "It is wonderful to see you again Supreme Commander Thor, I felt a great sense of loss for your people's fate" Everett was humble in his reply.
"Thank-you General, I have been in touch with High Commander D.J and High Commander O'Neill...they are very impressed with your handling of the Terestay situation. They believe you showed great restraint and compassion for these people, even after Mr Wallace's mistake with the data transfer." Nothing escaped the Asgard; Everett figured they had to be following Destiny, but he would one day learn that wasn't the case.
General Young was somewhat stunned by how much Thor knew about what had transpired; but remained silent to the fact, instead asking:
"Commander Thor, may I ask how long your people have known the Ursini...they are a very unassuming race."
"Commander O'Neil had been in their galaxy for several years exploring ways to correct our declining clone predicament, and came across one of their ships by accident. He found the Ursini to be a warm and welcoming people, with surprisingly advanced technology; it was not apparent in their original ship design due to their humble life style. They immediately offered their assistance to O'Neill, asking for nothing in return; an intergalactic alliance was soon had, with the sharing and intertwining of technologies."
Everett thought for a moment the replied "Is that why the seed ships use wormhole technology rather than FTL drives?"
Thor wasn't ready to give too much away, however still answered Everett "Together we have designed a new type of wormhole travel technology; as we found out from the near collision with Destiny, there are some small technical issues but I must apologise that I cannot elaborate any further."
Thor turned to Jack and spoke "General O'Neill, the Tau'ri people need to be informed carefully about the existence of other races; their deep seeded beliefs maybe strongly challenged causing upheaval on a planetary scale."
Jack addressed Commander Thor "We intend to make several statements with the aid of many leaders from various Eastern and Western countries at the UN, that will be publicly televised around the world at the same time; a date has yet to be set but the time will be zero hundred hours GMT. For now we are "not denying" any of the rumours, but not elaborating on any facts either; we believe this will give the population some time to adjust."
Jack returned his attention to Everett "Basically we're letting what people are seeing in the media be seen; many of the worlds renowned Astrophysicist and Astronomers, that don't work for Uncle Sam have all seen our ships and F302's in space with their own telescopes...taken photo's and...Well, really we got busted" Jack finally had a sly grin on his face.
Everett began to laugh gently, smiling at Jack's matter of fact comment "I guess we did huh?"
Commander Thor watched on as Jack started to smile and discretely laugh with Everett, finally interrupting them "General O'Neill, there is another matter that requires your attention; it is concerning Commander O'Neill's findings from his research. He has proposed to the Asgard High Council that a meeting with the Tau'ri be convened on your planet in the coming future, and has requested both yourself and General Young to be present. He has indicated General Young will be collected from Destiny to attend the meeting in person."
Jack looked at his good friend Thor; the Tau'ri were very close to taking their place as the fifth race, and he didn't want to do anything that would impede his own people now but he still had to ask:
"Commander Thor, with all due respect, why can't they bring the other people home from Destiny at the same time?"
Humbly he replied "I understand your asking: the Asgard High Council has been requested to keep a non interference policy of the Tau'ri journey; the most we were allowed to do was repair the ship. As my friend I can only tell you the reason is leading toward your acceptance as the fifth race."
Both men wanted to ask the same question "who requested it?" but they knew better of it, not wanting to put Thor in an awkward position.
Back on Destiny, Camille Wray was guiding Richard Woolsey around the new areas they had found. For once, Telford had been on a mission "out of town" in the Pegasus Galaxy, and the IOA had wanted one of their members to board Destiny for some time. Richard was surprised to see Camille dressed in a short blood red skirt, with a matching white blouse that had faint red alien floral arrangements in random patterns; all completed with a pair of short heeled matching red shoes. He was impressed at how attractive she looked, but knew Camille well;
"That is a lovely outfit you're wearing Camille, was it one of the donated apparel form the Terestay planet?"
Camille smiled broadly at Richard "Yes, and I don't think I will ever complain about having nothing to wear...ever again" she laughed. "So, why is it that you're here...shouldn't you be on Atlantis?"
Richard shook his head, "I am still in charge, but I needed a holiday so I came back home for a few weeks. The directors decided that I might make a good exchange for Everett, and here I am."
Camille smelled a rat, but kept quiet "So what does the IOA want with Destiny...or is it the people this time?"
Woolsey had learnt a lot on Atlantis about how things operate in a closed community, and could understand her concerns; but he had his orders about the Terestay incident.
"Honestly, they just want to know how everyone is coping with what happened on the planet; they really just have your welfare as a top concern. How did Everett handle the situation...do you believe he made the right choices bringing the ship so close in as too scare the people?" His tone changed on the last part of his question, becoming more cynical;
Camille instantly fired up at Woolsey; in an unusual show of defiance she quickly ripped open her blouse, revealing a small scar about half an inch in diameter in the right quadrant of her abdomen where a bullet had passed through the lower section of her liver.
"And you have the nerve to ask me that! I was there being shot and dragged by the hair; those monsters would have raped and murdered me had Sergeant Greer not killed them!" Her rage grew even as Richard felt only 2 feet high; "If you want the truth, it was Chloe who parked the ship that close, Young was already in the shuttle at the time...how dare you!"
Woolsey backed right down as Camille started crying; by now someone had heard the commotion and called for help. Answering that call was MSgt. Greer, who again ran to her aid this time with Woolsey in his sights.
A very upset Camille turned to Ron for comfort as he gently pulled her behind him in a protective manner. She now trusted the Sergeant implicitly after his actions for her, and had come to understand the hidden gentleness inside his heart after their conversations from the Corporal Reynolds incident.
Looking intently to intimidate Woolsey he drilled "What the hell is going on here, do we have a problem?" Greer's strong military tone took Richard down a notch.
"Um...I am very sorry Camille, obviously this issue is still very raw with all of you...please forgive my asking" Woolsey made a sincere apology for his questioning of their judgment.
Sometime later, Eli and Nick were on the bridge as usual along with their highly intelligent partners, and Adam. This time Amanda was in Kirks chair assisting both Nick and Eli with a small problem they had not worked out yet; after several minutes of small talk between all of them Eli suddenly stopped in excitement:
"Holy crap, I found it..." he said turning to the others. "The sub space channel was hidden behind the ships internal com systems..." with that Eli brought the program up on the main CI screens across the bridge.
In a blasé voice Nick congratulated Eli "Thanks Eli...but have you worked out how to use it yet?"
"Um...no, but we will" said Eli, still elated at the find.
Back on Earth it was around 3.00am when Dr Jackson whom had fallen asleep at his desk again, was suddenly awoken by a strange noise coming form an ancient device sitting in his room. He left his chair to collect the device, only to get another shock as he touched it; a picture message suddenly appeared in his mind from the tingling sensations in his fingers. Now moving back to place the device on the table, he cleared his mind allowing the image to focus into a readable message:
"This is Destiny calling Earth...please respond"
"Cool...this must be some type of sub space receiving device..." he thought to himself, but next after a short delay he got another shock;
"Daniel? Is that Daniel Jackson? It's Eli Wallace from Destiny..." Eli was stunned he had heard Daniels voice on the bridge com.
"Um...Eli, yes...this is Dr Jackson...how you guys doing?" Daniel didn't speak a word out aloud, only in his mind.
"Yeah, Dr Jackson...were doing ok...we were looking for our subspace link and I guess we found it...but it seems to read my mind."
"Must be the way it works...I haven't spoken a word out loud yet. So this means we have a real time link with you guys now..."
"Um I guess so...hey, what time is it there?" asked Eli
"It's just after 3.00am...that wouldn't really matter to you guys out there too much would it?"
Eli laughed, but then had an idea...remembering an old trick with keyless car doors he asked Daniel for his cell phone number;
"I'll try and call you..." within a few seconds Daniels phone rang and he answered, leaving one hand on the device.
This time Dr Jackson spoke into the phone "Hello?"
"Oh my God...it works!" Eli couldn't believe it "Dr Jackson it seems that we can now make calls back home..."
Speaking into his phone Daniel smiled at Eli's jubilation "It appears so Eli... hey would you guys be in FTL by any chance?"
"Actually we are, so this kinda makes sense...real time link with the home world...I would hate to know what the call rate would be..." Dr Jackson smiled at Eli's comment.
"Look...um Eli...I'll get this device to General O'Neill later in the morning and we can work out the best way to use it; I mean it doesn't appear to have a power source so will have to work out how it operates, and set your watch too 03.20 to stay on our time zone." With that Daniel ended the call, and removed his hand from the device.
Dr Jackson thought to himself for a while about how he had handled the device before without activating it, and now he had an idea why; it needed to know who to call...
Everett had been back for a couple of hours; having been briefed all about Woolsey's questioning of the encounter, and informed of their subspace transmitter. He and Te'arly now had a system worked out, of using a special phrase to signal he was himself; one was by calling her "Te'". Everett was now completely in love with Te'arly and couldn't imagine life without her, and there was no way she wanted to leave either.
Everett sat on the side of the bed explaining about the Asgard meeting; Te'arly was sitting on his lap with her toned smooth legs wrapped around his back facing him, and just looked lovingly at him with her hands around his neck saying;
"Take me with you...I want to meet your people."
He clamped his hands together around the small of her back "There is nothing more I would like to do, but I don't think the Asgard will let me..." he replied.
"Have you asked them baby?" Amanda's lessons in Tau'ri culture was starting to show in Te's language.
"Um...I would have to wait until they were here before I could, but they may just beam me out without notice" Everett knew how the Asgard did just that, usually while you were in the middle of something.
"Honey, can you use Eli's new message communicator to talk to them?" she leaned forward and softly kissed his neck, using her tongue as she worked her way up to Everett's earlobe.
Trying to stay focused on the conversation was now impossible as she pushed him back flat on the bed; "Ok...I'll give it a try, but we don't really know how...it...works...yet..." Everett's words trailed off as Te'arly ground herself against his hardness; her passionate kisses stopped any further conversation.
Te'arly wasn't the only woman showing her love; Chloe had a surprise for Matt's Birthday that he himself had forgotten about. Making him sit on the end of the bed and keep his eyes closed, she sensually stepped out of the small bathroom; wearing only a royal blue satin and lace teddy, that did very little to hide anything underneath.
"Open your eyes baby..." she cooed
Matt nearly fell off the bed "Ohh...Chloe...you look...wow, stunning!"
"Happy Birthday baby, I'm your present..." Chloe moved gracefully toward Matt and turned around teasing him, holding up her now very long dark hair lustfully.
Matt looked at this vision of beauty in front of him;
"Marry me..." he said in a stunned voice
Chloe spun around to face him in shock "What?"
"I said marry me, I mean..." Matt got down on one knee "Will you marry me?"
Tears ran down Chloe's face...she was still stunned by his proposal;
"I...I..." she stammered the words, unable to put them together; her mind was spinning:
Matt took her hand and asked in a more traditional sense;
"Please,Miss Chloe Armstrong; will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
On the bridge, Amanda had everybody watching her in shock from the expressions on her face, as she stood there with baited breath; she broke her silence and said out loud: "Come on Chloe, say yes girl!"
Chloe's tears streamed down her beautiful rosy cheeks as she looked at the man who had become her soulmate;
"Yes...yes I will!" she leapt on Matt wrapping herself around him kissing him wildly.
Amanda nearly jumped through the roof of the bridge with happiness as she screamed "YEEEEESSSSS!"
Eli looked on stunned "What the f...?"
Amanda suddenly lost whatever was left of her normal composure; still smiling she looked at the others staring "Um...sorry..."
Nick quickly came to her aid: "Um...there are some things we um...haven't disclosed to everyone for good reason; so what I'm about to tell you all doesn't leave the bridge...understood?"
They all agreed still perplexed by Mandy's actions;
"Tell them what's going on Mandy..." said Nick.
Amanda wasn't usually scared of a crowd, but now she was nervous;
"Um...I...I am able to...um...talk with Destiny..."
Eli looked on with confused face "But we all can, I mean...we just speak and she answers..."
Rush interrupted him politely "Give her a chance Eli...go on Mandy, tell them what you told me."
"Ok...I can hear her thoughts, access her memories and data...and know what she knows. I seemed to have retained a very strong neuro link from my consciousness being stored for so long; it's like she is a part of me, but I can't foretell what Destiny will say or do next no more than any of us. I only know things as they happen, not before; you have to remember she knows everything that happens to all of us while we're here. I was happy because Matt just asked Chloe to marry him..." she looked at Ginn;
"And she said yes!" Everyone started to smile now; "But please don't spoil it for her, let Chloe and Matt announce it for themselves."
Eli suddenly realized the power Mandy had access too; and the secrets, all the secrets. "So, you know what everyone is up to...and what they do?"
"Yes, but you must understand; Destiny has allowed this connection to remain, so there is a real reason for it. I have access to incredible amounts of medical and engineering knowledge that I have used to help all of us when we needed it. I would never use what I know privately about the people here; the same as Destiny doesn't interfere in our lives."
Now Eli was getting agitated "Well then, I guess we truly have no privacy...even on the other side of the known universe. That's just fucking great..." his words now coming out sarcastically;
Nick turned to him "Eli, this isn't the way it is..." before he was cut off again
"Oh no?" he spat it out "So, if Amanda knows it, I guess you know it too then!" He was now furious at both of them, and stormed out of the bridge; Ginn followed a moment later in an attempt to calm him down.
Nick held Mandy as she cried gently; Adam just sat there and said "Cool...must be fun knowing everyone's business...lucky you're not one to gossip" he chuckled quietly trying to lighten the mood...
Lisa was sitting in the dome with Ron and for the first time after her injury, was able to make out the fruit from the leaves.
"I can see them now" she turned to Ron "You're still a bit fuzzy, but I can make out that your smiling..."
Ronald was indeed smiling; "How many fingers am I holding up" and kept his hands to his side.
Lisa put her hand in his lap grabbing him as she giggled "Only this one you bad boy..."
"You're lucky the healing bands work fast..." said Ron as he cuddled her to his shoulder.
The treatment made by T.J and Varro was working very well with Lisa's vision returning rapidly over the last week; at the rate it healed, T.J believed she would have her normal sight within 2 more weeks. Varro had made an eye chart to gauge the rate of improvement; he had removable letters and numbers allowing them to mix them around, for true results. Lisa could read down to the third line now, although it was still quite blurry. Varro had found a couple of spin off's from the solution they had made for her eyes, with one being a powerful anaesthetic; the other being a far more sinister compound, was a moderate hallucinogenic when mixed with a particular botanical nectar. Varro didn't know if this was to be of any value on the ship, but he recorded his findings before dissolving the compound.
Varro was with T.J working on the DNA chains from Te'arly's and Matá's blood samples. They were in a new part of the ship on the starboard side that was a full laboratory, with more equipment than they could have imagined. Adjoining the lab, were a row of eight, small but cosy cabins; Varro had earned the right to have his own space, and had chosen the largest cabin for himself. He had surprised himself about his new scientific calling; enjoying the challenge from being part of the Lucian Alliance, to settling down as a lab rat. He had another very good reason to be there too.
T.J ran her fingers through Varro's hair "You know, we're going to have to face everyone sooner or later..."she said.
"I know...I just hope General Young won't kill me" Varro was semi serious.
Tamara kissed him softly on the cheek as she hugged him around the neck "He's not a bad man, and besides...I think he is with Te'arly now anyway. We both knew that what we had was never going to work out; most of it was based on lies from the beginning." T.J tried to reassure him.
"We should front Everett first Tamara, and tell the truth about us before it gets out of control...I believe he should be reasonable about it" Varro wasn't sure though.
The next day Varro knocked on Everett's door; without invading his privacy he simply asked to see him in private at an arranged time. Everett agreed to meet him in the lab after breakfast, and had a feeling he knew what it was about; an hour later, they met.
"Ok, let me guess" started Everett "This is about you and T.J right?"
Varro wasn't one to shrink down under adversity and stood toe to toe with Everett, but in a respectful way "Yes...we have been seeing each other"
Everett dropped his guard and smiled, becoming more relaxed "I had a feeling..."
"Look, General; I do care for her deeply and I'm not about hurting Tamara, that is the last thing I want" Varro put his cards on the table; "We want to be together without the scrutiny of the other crew members, so I'm asking your permission; we don't want to hide in the shadows."
"Huh...mm...I see" he looked Varro over; still holding his smile "If you hurt her in anyway, I will kill you...slowly and painfully do you understand?"
"Yes General, I understand she is special to you as well...Oh, and how's Te'arly?" Replied Varro tongue in cheek;
"Yeah, she's fine; don't push it..." Everett kept up his fake smile before turning to leave.
On the way back to the directional elevator he found T.J who was headed back to the lab;
"Tamara, I..." Everett looked for the right words, "I'm sorry...I should have told you myself..."
T.J looked uncomfortable but managed to tell him "It's ok Everett; I understand...she is a very beautiful person"
Everett could see the pain T.J had in her eyes "I...I want you to be happy, Varro obviously loves you so..."
"I love him too General...and I trust him" she replied
Everett reached out and hugged her; T.J sniffled as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks saying;
"I don't regret anything that happened between us..." she broke the embrace and looked at him, wiping the tears away;
"You and Te'arly make a good match...I can understand why she fell for you"
Everett smiled at her, thinking about Te' "I think Varro is a decent person, and most of all I trust your judgment...but don't tell him I said that"
T.J smiled from her heart "Take care Sir..."
"You too Tamara...you too" Everett continued on his way.
Chloe was now on the bridge with a very happy expression, but had remained silent about her "big news". Adam knew but kept quiet as asked, besides he didn't want to be caught in the middle anything. Volker was also finally back on the bridge having been able to break himself away from Matá, long enough to do some real work. He couldn't stop talking about her, and was babbling on to a now absent minded Adam all about Matá's culture and planet.
A message appeared on Chloe's CI from Destiny "Unidentified signature detected"
She immediately called for quiet as she worked the CI; "Shut it!" she got their attention; "I'm honing in on that unidentified signature..." the bridge went quiet
Destiny did her best to lock onto the disruption signature, managing to hold it for several seconds even though it seemed to be moving away from them; then it was gone.
The message come on screen; "Sorry Miss Chloe Armstrong, we have lost the signal"
Chloe didn't want to give up, and had an idea "Destiny, run a comparison against the last recordings we have..." it didn't take her long;
A graph came on screen; compared to the first few they had encountered, this one had gone for three and a half seconds. Adam, Chloe, and Dale analysed the data;
Adam spoke first "The first part of all the signatures match up almost perfectly. Destiny run a comparison against the Nakai (blue aliens) ship; there the most likely to be following us."
Chloe looked at Adam and told him honestly "It's not them...I'd be able to feel it..."
Destiny's results confirmed Chloe's comment; this was something else.
Chloe opened the com "General Young, please come to the bridge urgently Sir"
Sensing something was wrong, Nick hearing the announcement also came running to the bridge and met Everett as he opened the door.
"General...we have picked up another signature; this time it was for about four seconds. We have run it against the blue alien ship, but it has come back negative" informed Chloe.
"Have Destiny run a full scans against every ship we have in the database; if nothing turns up, try other anomalies she has come across." Young was looking for a needle in a hay stack.
While the scans were running, the crew discussed possibilities; Dr Rush looked carefully at the matching patterns displayed on the CI screen.
"This looks somewhat familiar, but I can't remember where I last seen it" said Nick
Everett had another idea; "Rush, hook me into the subspace communicator; I need to make a call"
Nick showed him where to place his hand on the screen after opening up the communicator, and said "Just think of whom you need to contact General, and it will connect...at least I think it will"
Everett closed his eyes and concentrated on Asgard D.J; it wasn't long before he got a reply:
"Greetings General Young, I see you have mastered the subspace communicator; how may we assist you?"
It was strange to the crew watching Everett communicate with his mind, although his lips were sounding the words no vocal was produced; "Commander D.J; I am sorry to ask but are you following us several light-years behind?"
After a short delay the answer came back "No General Young, we are in orbit around the Ursini home world; Commander O'Neill is with Supreme Commander Thor on your home planet, is there a problem we can assist with?"
"We have picked up a signature of what is believed to be a vessel that has been following us for some time. The signal remained for around four seconds allowing a better trace, but the vessel seemed to be heading away from us. The recorded data appears to match our earlier encounters, but we have ruled out many possibilities including the Nakai"
Commander D.J responded after a short pause "Please send the data and we will analyse what you have through our systems"
Everett looked at Nick asking "How do I send the data?"
"The same way, just think about what to send..." Nick smiled at Everett
Before he could even think about it, Everett's subconscious mind had caused the data transfer through the open subspace link;
"Thank you General Young, I will contact you shortly...is there anything else?"
Everett thought for a minute then asked "Would it be allowable for Te'arly to come with me to Earth for the conference?"
He held his breath for the reply "She would not be allowed in the chamber, although as your companion it is permissible"
Commander D.J disconnected the link as usual without formality.
Destiny had narrowed the search down to ten definite signatures. All of them went over the data presented until they were left with only three probable choices; Everett felt a calling in his mind and answered the subspace link.
"General Young, I am transmitting the results from our search now" said the Asgard
"Thanks" replied Everett as the transmission disconnected;
An eerie quiet came over the bridge as they all looked at the message that confirmed Destiny's primary choice;
"Vessel type; Warship"
"Origin; Ori"