Disclaimer: 'Stargate' and 'Harry Potter' both belong to their respective creators, so I don't own them; I'm just borrowing them for the immediate moment in time and space
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Truth and Revelations
As Daniel sat in the briefing room opposite the IOA representatives- the rest of his two teams were taking advantage of the stand-down to attend to other business; Sam was talking about some of the practical applications for magic with his old friends while Teal'c attended a conference being held on Dakara regarding the possible transition to democracy, leaving Mitchell to take advantage of the team's temporary stand-down period to visit an old friend who'd been injured during a training accident a few years back-, he was once again reminded of just why he hated bureaucracy so much. It might help keep the day-to-day operations involved in running countries, but it also made everything that much more complicated by giving some people a possible motive to not do the right thing as it might not benefit their long-term personal goals and ambitions. If there was one thing about leaving the wizarding world that he hadn't missed, it was having to try and clean up the Ministry of Magic after everything that Scrimogeur, Fudge and Umbridge had done to it; Hermione had done an excellent job with fairly limited political experience, he wasn't denying that, but he strongly doubted he could have had the patience to accomplish anything like what she had achieved.
In the end, that was probably one of the reasons he'd gone into archaeology after he'd first arrived in America and applied for a university, beyond just finding Egyptian history interesting; politics might still be an issue when it came to getting permission to dig in some parts of the world, but at least nobody would refuse him the right to excavate anything because they had their own agenda to accomplish by not letting him look around the sites in question. It had almost been refreshing to know that, if he was refused the right to excavate certain locations, it would have only been because the people involved had a legitimate reason for their objection rather than just wanting to protect themselves for some reason or another.
"Doctor Jackson," Woolsey said, nodding briefly at the archaeologist as he indicated the seat before the assorted IOA representatives, "a pleasure to see you again; please, take a seat."
Given that the last time the two men had met alone for any length of time had been during that whole incident with Khalek that had nearly resulted in a highly evolved being with access to powers that had in some ways made Daniel's magic look useless- he could do most of Khalek's tricks but he had always required a wand to accomplish them, even if he could still use it to do some things that Khalek couldn't-, Daniel wasn't exactly enthusiastic about having to talk with this man in particular (The other two members of the IOA had done even less to endear themselves to him; at least Woolsey actually apologised for his actions after Khalek had nearly escaped, even if he'd have done better to simply have Khalek killed in the first place).
He'd always particularly hated this part of work in the SGC- every time he had been called upon for a hearing by the likes of Kinsey, Simmons or Woolsey he felt like he was back in the Wizengamot courtroom on trial for trying to save his and Dudley's lives; forced to justify doing the wrong thing for the right reasons to a group of people who'd happily see him hang if it meant they got what they wanted-, but at the same time he knew that it was necessary if he was ever going to convince the IOA to allow him to continue the search for Voldemort. He couldn't be confined to the SGC for long; the more time he spent here, the more time Voldemort had to establish himself as a figure of authority in the galaxy, and the more chances he had to run into a Prior and possibly get convinced to follow Origin…
Even if Daniel felt fairly certain that the odds of Voldemort ever following the Ori were low, it was still possible that he might pretend to convert to Origin to try and gain the extra powers he'd possess as a Prior. There was really no way of knowing if the Ori's followers could determine whether somebody genuinely believed in Origin or just believed in following the Ori's will, and he had no way of knowing whether the Priors were any better at determining whether someone was telling the truth. If they simply made someone a Prior based on their actions, if it meant gaining power Daniel had little doubt Voldemort could enforce the Ori's rule for as long as he had to; he certainly wouldn't find it that difficult to torture people simply for not apparently believing in a religion he himself might not totally accept.
He couldn't let that happen; Voldemort had been dangerous enough when he was just a wizard, and now he possessed access to the genetic knowledge and technology of the Goa'uld. If he managed to gain access to the powers of a Prior, there was no telling whathe'd be capable of; he had to be found as soon as possible.
Forty-five minutes later, after going over Daniel's last assortment of mission reports since officially rejoining SG-1, along with some of the other offworld incidents that had taken place since the Ori had first sent their forces to Earth, the IOA representatives finally got around to the matter that he'd been expecting since this meeting began.
"Doctor Jackson," Woolsey said, looking solemnly at Daniel, "you are, of course, aware of why we have called you here."
"Fred and George gave me the essential details, yes," Daniel replied; if he was going to be questioned, he was going to give them what they asked for.
"Then you understand our concerns about our recent… discoveries?" Shen put in, raising an eyebrow as she sat forward to look critically at the archaeologist.
"I don't," Daniel replied, staring pointedly at her.
"You don't?" the English ambassador- his name was Hendricks, if Daniel recalled correctly- asked, looking inquiringly at him.
"No," Daniel replied, as he looked back at the man. "I may have lied about the name I was born with and the life I lived prior to when I was seventeen years old, but the degrees I obtained and the academic research and discoveries I have made since then are all legitimately my own. I have never once claimed another's discoveries for my own, I have never claimed to have skills I did not legitimately earn a degree for, and I have never deceived anyone about my motivations or reasons for staying with the Stargate program. There is no reason for any concern that you might possess about my ability to do the job that I was hired for based simply on the fact that I have omitted some details about my past life prior to beginning college; the degrees that I was hired for were earned legitimately, I assure you."
"True," Hendricks admitted, looking somewhat critically at the archaeologist. "However, you did fail to let us know that you were not a naturally born American citizen; do you even possess the appropriate citizenship to work here?"
"That was one of the first things I applied for when I arrived in America," Daniel replied, forcing himself not to lose his temper; as much as he had often been tempted to do so, he hadn't lost his temper with authority figures who were allegedly 'on his side'- even if he disagreed with their methods and motives for taking action against the bad guys on more than one occasion- since he was Harry, and he wasn't about to start breaking that 'streak' now. "I assure you, I am legally an American citizen in every manner other than the country of my birth; I acquired official citizenship before I even started attending university in Chicago and UCLA, and I've kept up with all the necessary requirements such as taxes ever since."
"I see," Woolsey said simply, consulting the reports before him briefly before he looked back at the man before him. "On the topic of moving to America, why does your file fail to include any information about your change of name or nationality?"
Daniel simply shrugged. "The wizarding world generally operates under a strict Statute of Secrecy, Mr Woolsey; when I was in school, I was forbidden to tell anyone about my wizarding status unless they were already aware of it to preserve the secrecy of the wizarding world," he said by way of explanation. "It would have attracted too much attention to my past if I had simply left the seven or so years I spent in the wizarding world the blank that they were on my original paperwork. Creating a new background seemed the most prudent way to avoid drawing attention to that period of my life, and hence my involvement in the wizarding world, while helping to ensure that I wouldn't be discovered by anyone looking for me."
"On the topic of people looking for you, the fact that you had angered a ruthless cult like these 'Death Eaters' wasn't something you felt we should be aware of?" Hendricks put in, looking critically at the linguist.
"At the time I came here, as far as I knew the Death Eaters had disbanded due to the lack of any coherent leadership following Voldemort's demise; I was mainly eager to leave the wizarding world to avoid becoming a symbol or figurehead of some kind," Daniel replied. "Since the Death Eaters couldn't organise together as a group after their leader was killed, I saw no need to worry about them any more. Besides, by the time I became a member of SG-1 they had left me alone for the last decade or so; I concluded that, if they hadn't come after me by that point, there was no reason to assume that they were going to try and find me any time soon, so there was no reason to mention it."
"A fair point," Woolsey admitted, nodding briefly at the man before him before his expression became more critical once again. "And how do you defend the fact that that you have deprived the SGC of the use of a potentially valuable asset for the duration of your time as a member of SG-1?"
Daniel blinked.
"Excuse me?" he said, looking in confusion at Woolsey.
"Your ability to use magic," Woolsey clarified, looking pointedly at Daniel as he spoke. "Can you honestly deny that you have possessed the ability to perform magic since the day you were approached by Catherine Langford regarding your aid in translating the capstone?"
"I can't," Daniel replied, choosing his words carefully as he looked pointedly at Woolsey. "However, saying that I deprived the SGC of an asset is not strictly speaking an accurate description of my actions; 'deprived' would imply that the SGC had been expecting me to bring by magical abilities to my job, and I was hired purely for my archaeological expertise."
"And you never felt that the war against the Goa'uld might have meant that your use of magic could have provided us with a vital edge in the conflict at some point?" Shen countered, looking critically at the archaeologist.
"To what end?" Daniel replied, turning to look at her. "When I left the wizarding world I stopped carrying my wand about with me on a regular basis, and I never really bothered to practice how to use my magic without it, so it's hardly like I was ever in a position to use offensive measures against the Goa'uld whenever we encountered them off-world. Even when we were captured, we always managed to escape or resolve the crisis before we ran out of time or faced execution; I'd always promised myself that I'd resort to magic if it was the last resort, but since we never reached a point where things were desperate enough I never saw the need to use it."
"Would you care to explain why you didn't start taking your… wand… with you
"SG-1's primary goal is peaceful first contact, not assassination missions," Daniel pointed out, looking coldly at Hendricks as he spoke. "I didn't join the team to get into fights, but to translate and provide cultural insight; I wasn't going to start carrying around extra weapons that I might not even need, particularly given how difficult it would have been to keep the wand somewhere safe and secret. Besides, when I first learned about the existence of other Goa'uld besides Ra, at the time I had no means of testing the effectiveness of spells against their technology; powerful magic might tend to 'short-circuit' technology on Earth if there's a large enough amount of it in one place, but alien technology didn't exactly work the same way as what we've developed here. For all I knew, I would have accomplished nothing by attempting to use spells in combat- their personal shields might have protected from anything I tried to use- and may have even made myself a more interesting target as a host by demonstrating abilities that no other human they'd encountered possessed."
"'No other human they had encountered'?" Shen repeated, continuing to look critically at him. "Do you mean that there are no other… wizards… on the planets that you have visited since you first became a member of the Stargate program?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I have no way of knowing for certain if there are any wizards on other planets, but given the Goa'uld's desire for the most powerful hosts available to them, I find it unlikely that there are," he replied. "If there were wizards on other worlds, it would only be logical for the Goa'uld to use them as hosts; given that we have never encountered a Goa'uld whose powers originated from anything other than technological means, it can only mean that there aren't any wizards on other planets for them to use in the first place."
"I… see," Shen replied, nodding briefly at the man before her before her eyes returned to the report before her for a moment before looking back up at him. "And you now wish us to permit your attempt to track down this 'Voldemort' person, despite the continued threat posed by the Priors?"
"I'm not suggesting that we cease our efforts to neutralise the danger posed by the Priors; I just feel that the threat posed by Voldemort needs to be eliminated as soon as possible," Daniel countered, looking pointedly at the Chinese woman as he spoke. "He created a fairly significant body count back when he was active the first time around, and then he was just a normal human being restricting himself to a small part of the world; now he has access to the genetic knowledge of the Goa'uld his spirit has acquired as a host, to say nothing of what technological or historical secrets he might manage to find now that he has access to the Stargate network. Also, we cannot rule out the danger of Voldemort making contact with a Prior; while I find it unlikely that he would genuinely convert to Origin, if he at least manages to make the Priors think that he has, it's possible that he'll manage to trick them to convert him into a Prior himself. If he acquires the powers of a Prior on top of his own abilities as a wizard, there's no way to know what he might be capable of; his natural magical abilities were significantly above the norm for wizards already, but if the Prior's powers enhance his magic as well as everything else he could present a very serious threat."
"Possibly," Woolsey said, nodding slightly before he looked pointedly at Daniel. "Could he not be aware of that possibility already via your 'link' to him? You have mentioned that you and he are able to read each other's minds…"
"I can read his mind; he feels incredible pain whenever he tries to enter mine," Daniel replied, returning Woolsey's look with his own. "As I made clear in my report, Voldemort cannot possess me; his corrupted soul renders him extremely vulnerable to any intense emotion I feel or recall while he is trying to use me."
"I… see," Woolsey said, his tone clearly portraying his scepticism about Daniel's reasoning even as he accepted the final results before he continued to study his report. "However, while I do not deny that what information you and your associates have provided us with suggests that this 'Voldemort' could indeed be dangerous under the right circumstances, are you certain that your… personal feelings… on this matter are not clouding your judgement?"
Daniel blinked.
"Excuse me?" he repeated.
"As I understand it, this 'Lord Voldemort' killed your parents when you were a child and subsequently went to cause the death of at least two of your schoolfriends, your godfather, your headmaster- who also served as your mentor figure-, and your fiancé, all within your teenage years," Woolsey said, looking in an evaluating manner at Daniel as he spoke. "Can you honestly inform me that any confrontation with him is not significantly personal for you?"
"Naturally," Daniel replied, looking critically at him. "Just as it was personal whenever I was forced to confront Apophis, Amaunet, Osiris or Anubis. In case you've forgotten, Apophis and Anubis both, in their own way, did just as much damage to my life as Voldemort did, and Osiris and Amaunet both used the bodies of women I… cared for… as hosts. In all that time, the only occasion where I was ever accused of having a personal interest in the struggle was when Colonel Simmons attempted to claim that I was sympathetic towards the Goa'uld, and given that he was later revealed to be actually working with one himself it was fairly obvious that his own opinion on that matter was questionable."
"Your point being?" Woolsey asked, looking inquiringly at the archaeologist.
"My point," Daniel replied, staring directly at the man before him, "is that Voldemort's return is hardly the first occasion since I became a member of SG-1 where I have been in a position where I face an enemy who has taken action against me personally, and I have never before allowed my personal feelings to get in the way of my judgement when dealing with such opponents on previous occasions. I am not suggesting that the SGC go after Voldemort solely because he killed people close to me when I was a child; I am suggesting that we go after him because he poses a clear and present threat to the galaxy that will only grow greater unless he is stopped as soon as possible."
"I see," Woolsey replied, his tone as frustratingly neutral as ever as he studied the archaeologist silently sitting before him before he spoke once again. "You will, of course, forgive me if I remain somewhat sceptical; Voldemort did have a remarkably profound effect on your life-"
"Egyptian capstones were meant to have a significant impact on his life back when we thought he'd been Daniel Jackson from day one; didn't stop us putting him in a position where he'd have to deal with them a lot," a voice suddenly said from behind Daniel.
The archaeologist's eyes widened.
"Jack?" he said, spinning around to stare incredulously as the head of Homeworld Security walked into the conference room, smiling briefly at the archaeologist before he turned his attention back to the IOA representatives before him.
"Gentlemen," he said, nodding briefly at them before he continued. "Anyway, just to throw in my own two cents on this particular matter- thought I should drop by after I got the latest report on things here-, I've known Daniel for the last decade or so, and I can safely say that, if he says this 'Voldemort' sucker's dangerous, he's dangerous. I mean, heck, we've never doubted him when it comes to translating stuff or coming up with wild theories about who really built the pyramids; why should we doubt him when he says that the guy who killed his parents could be a really serious threat?"
"The personal factor-" Shen began.
"He's spent years working with the guy who handed his wife over to become essentially some alien sex toy; I think it's safe to say that Daniel's made it clear he knows when to make something personal and when to just be professional," Jack interjected, looking critically at the man before him. "Or are you guys all forgetting who Teal'c was after all the unnecessary fuss some people made back then?"
"Of course not," Woolsey replied coolly. "We are all well aware of the role Teal'c has played in defending Earth-"
"And, since I'm the guy who brought him to us based on not much more than a hunch and a gut feeling, I'd like to think I'm a pretty reliable judge of character," Jack said, returning Woolsey's expression with a cool stare of his own. "Simple question, Woolsey; the last time Daniel told you to do something that you didn't do, what happened?"
For a moment Woolsey simply looked uncomfortably back at the commander of Homeworld Security, clearly unwilling to actually put into words what had taken place during the situation Jack had described, but eventually he sighed and accepted the general's point.
"An individual possessing powerful mental abilities nearly mastered the ability to ascend and caused potentially serious damage and injury to the base and personnel before Doctor Jackson and Colonel Mitchell managed to stop him," he said, his eyes slightly lowered as he spoke.
"Bingo," Jack said, nodding at the man before him. "And how did Daniel know what that sucker might be capable of?"
"The individual in question was created by Anubis."
"Again, bingo. Would you say that Daniel's judgement was affected by his own personal issues with the bad guy in question that time around?"
"Well, no…"
"Precisely!" Jack concluded, clapping his hands together as he looked around at the IOA representatives with a slight smile on his face. "On the contrary, Daniel's personal experience with Anubis meant that he knew exactly what Caleb-"
"Khalek," Daniel corrected with a slight smile; after all that had changed and come back over the last few days, it was good to know that Jack, at least, remained consistent.
"Right, Khalek," Jack said, nodding briefly at Daniel before continuing. "As I was saying, it was Daniel's personal experience with Anubis that confirmed that let him know just how much of a threat the guy could be if he was given the chance; you ignored him then, and we nearly had the guy Ascending on us before Daniel managed to stop him. Do you really want to make that same kind of mistake again?"
After a moment of silence as Jack and Woolsey stared pointedly at each other, the IOA representative finally sighed and nodded.
"Very well," he said, as he turned to look back at Daniel. "Doctor Jackson, as soon as you and your team are back to full health, you have permission to continue to search for 'Voldemort'; however, rest assured that any news we receive of further action on the part of the Ori and their followers will take automatic precedence over this current crisis. We know what the Ori would be capable of if we allow them free reign in this galaxy; Voldemort's final plans are still uncertain."
"Fair enough," Daniel replied as he stood up himself; in all honesty, with the remnants to his old link to Voldemort still intact, he doubted it would take them that long to find his old enemy if he concentrated enough, but there was still a large enough margin for error that he didn't feel comfortable mentioning that they were going to use it. "I'll see you around."
"Well, now that that's all settled," Jack said, clapping his hands together as he looked over at Daniel. "Doctor Jackson, if you'd care to join me in my old office; I'd just like to clarify a few things with you before I have to go."
"Of course," Daniel replied simply; he had a feeling that his old friend had a lot about recent revelations that he wanted to clear up, so he should most likely begin the conversation as soon as possible.
With that resolution in mind, he turned and headed for General Landry's currently-empty office, followed closely by Jack, leaving the three IOA representatives to pack up their papers and depart the conference room themselves.