Chapter 10
"They're Ancients!" Daniel exclaimed as he ran into the briefing room. "Well, not the same ones who seeded Earth," he continued, not looking up. "They're a different sect. They–"
"Daniel!" Jack snapped, making Daniel finally look up and realize there was a room full of people looking at him like he'd grown an extra head.
"Dr. Jackson," Hammond gestured to one of the chairs. "Mr. Woolsey is here to present the IOA's plan to deal with the Kisqua threat. You will present your findings first. Are you prepared?"
"Yes, I believe I am," he cast a hesitant glance at Sam and Jack as he approached the table. He didn't exactly have a plan, more like important information; however, he was hoping they would come up with something on the fly. That was SG-1's MO after all.
"Proceed."
"As I was saying," Daniel shifted in his seat nervously and passed out a copy of a still photograph he'd extracted from the video. "The Kisqua are, for all intents and purposes, Ancients."
"Come again?" Jack's eyebrows arched up.
"We've already suspected their culture was similar, which is why we agreed when they requested someone with the ATA gene join us on the planet," he nodded at Jack. "What we didn't fully understand is why."
"They had Ancient artifacts," Sam interjected. "They couldn't make them work and had isolated the cause to a single genetic marker—what we call the ATA gene."
"Precisely," Daniel nodded.
"General," Woolsey bristled, having read all about the reasons for the failed mission in the report on the plane ride here, "this doesn't change anything."
"Oh, but it does," Daniel continued. "According to this," he tapped the picture he'd handed out, "there was a great war in this galaxy around two hundred million years ago between two factions of Ancients. There were the Alterans, which Jack is descended from."
Jack looked around self-consciously before shrugging.
"And the Kisqua," Daniel explained, drawing shocked looks from Sam, Jack, and Teal'c.
"Why haven't we heard about this before?" Hammond asked.
"Well, we know Alterans were the primary sect that traveled to this galaxy aboard massive spaceships. They seeded Earth, among others, to restart their civilization. Now this says the Kisqua were originally among those Alterans, but this tablet paints the Alterans in a very negative light. They were considered rigid and unyielding in their beliefs about science, reason, and logic."
"They're not wrong," Sam interjected. "Even you said they are refusing to take a stand against Anubis to refrain from infringing upon free will."
"Yes, well, I have always wondered where that particular belief came from, but now I think I know. There's talk of a massive genetic purge," Daniel shuffled his papers and pointed to the picture of a stone tablet. "Here, the writings talk about how the Alterans attacked a faction of their own people and removed the key to our legacy ."
"You think the Alterans removed the ATA gene from some of their own people?" Sam sounded shocked. "That's a pretty big ethical violation, given what we know about their beliefs."
"Not only that," Daniel looked around the room. "I think they removed all of their advanced knowledge as well. What if this action, this enforcement of Alteran belief onto those who identified as Kisqua, was viewed as such a heinous act after the fact that they vowed to never do it again?"
"It is plausible," Teal'c said. "There is a legend on Chulak of a once great race called the Punished. It speaks of powerful beings who were stripped of their wisdom and ability to wield unfathomable power."
"But, Dr. Jackson," Hammond asked, "if all of their knowledge was removed, why are they so advanced now?"
"If Daniel is right, sir," Sam inferred, "then the Kisqua have had well over two-hundred million years to evolve. They have likely developed their own advanced technology."
"Correct, but the knowledge of the Ancients still eludes them," Daniel explained. "Even the Asgard have spent thousands of years studying it and have only scratched the surface."
"If all this is true," Jack asked, "why didn't they just climb into their vastly superior spaceship and go find someone with the ATA gene before now?"
"Think about it Jack," Daniel answered, "the Ancients left this galaxy millions of years ago and took most of their civilization with them. A handful chose to stay here on Earth and interbreed with humans, hence your ATA gene," he continued. "But those with the gene are few and far between. You and Colonel Shepherd are the only two people we know of who have enough of the gene to easily operate Ancient technology. And that's out of the billions of people on Earth."
"Plus," Sam added, "I doubt they even knew about us before we arrived on their planet if their knowledge was stripped before Earth was seeded. They were genuinely surprised that our world existed and equally surprised we knew of the gene."
"But even then," Daniel picked back up, "I don't think they still had all the pieces they needed until you Sam. If they could have simply extracted what they needed from Jack," Daniel said with a frown, "and impregnated one of their own people. They would have."
"But why do they think this child's genetics will be of any use to them if General O'Neill's was not?" Woolsey asked, realizing Dr. Jackson's hypothesis made a lot of sense. This situation was a lot more complex than he'd originally thought.
"The Naquadah in my blood," Sam gasped, remembering how they'd referred to her womb as 'sacred.' "It alters my DNA a minuscule amount. What if," she took a breath, "whatever the Alterans did to the Kisqua made it impossible for them to reacquire the gene. Now we know the Ancients were more advanced with gene technology than any other species, well ever. Could they have created some sort of mechanism to block the reintegration of the ATA gene among the Kisqua? Something that is also genetically passed to their offspring?" She looked to Dr. Brightman.
"It's possible," the doctor nodded, still not meeting Sam's gaze. "There are genetic diseases here on Earth similar to what you describe."
"And if I'm right," Sam narrowed her eyes in thought, "the alterations in my DNA, combined with General O'Neill's ATA gene, might be enough to create a type of immunity to whatever was done to the Kisqua."
"And that might be their missing link to re-insert the ATA gene into their own population so they can access the Ancient repository," Daniel finished.
"Are you telling me," Woolsey finally broke his silence, "these people have essentially decided to grow their own superior Ancient-hybrid using General O'Neill and Colonel Carter?"
"Yes, more or less," Daniel confirmed as the room grew quiet.
"So to sum up," Woolsey huffed, "we have a technologically superior, morally questionable form of Gate Builders out there that won't stop until they've acquired the one thing they need to reassert their access to all of the Ancient's knowledge. Oh yeah, and they have the means to destroy us in the process if we don't give them what they want?"
Daniel glanced at the others. "Um, yah," he shifted uncomfortably.
"My god," Woolsey gasped, "is it any wonder why the IOA should be in charge of Stargate operations?"
"Yes, well, you're not," Jack retorted.
"Actually," Woolsey nodded to one of his associates, who pulled out a manila folder, "with regards to negotiations with the Kisqua we are." The associate slid the folder to General Hammond.
"Negotiations?" Jack asked, his tone deathly still. "You want to negotiate with these people?"
"The IOA is in a rare unanimous agreement that your personal objectivity, General O'Neill, has been compromised," he pinned Jack with a stare and dared him to deny it.
"I'll request a temporary transfer back to the SGC until this matter is resolved," Hammond bit out and handed the folder to Jack.
"Your expertise is required in Washington, General Hammond, the Vice President is recalling you," Woolsey told him coolly, trying not to let his own unease show as both Generals continued to glare at him. "The President's hands are tied gentlemen," he added the final nail in the coffin. "If he does not allow the IOA to take the lead in dealing with the Kisqua, he runs the risk of setting off an international incident that could lead to an all-out war over control of the Stargate."
"You better believe we're going to fight this," Jack snapped at him.
"Damn right," General Hammond agreed.
"Fight it all you want," Woolsey said smoothly, dismissing both officers' intentions. "While you do, I'm going to see if I can get Earth out of this mess without causing an intergalactic incident or worse."