The Spartan was on his feet, watching with the others as the footage from the camera that Doctor Jackson had utilized was playing on in the background. He had managed to record everything, from the starmap up to and including the appearance of the Forerunner security and repair drones that had come out to greet the Goa'uld. He hummed as he watched the firefight, more the one-sided slaughter, unfold once again, before the footage was cut and light came back in the briefing room.
The General hummed, then asked "Have we ever encountered such technology before?" watching as both scientifically-inclined members of the squad shook their heads. He then looked over to Teal'c and asked "What about you, Teal'c? Have you ever seen technology like this?"
"No... Although rumors have been circulating among Jaffa about the technology employed by the more powerful Goa'uld, these types of weapons were never seen... I can presume it is due to their hostility toward creatures such as Apophis." Teal'c responded calmly, looking back to the Chief and saying "However, the Master Chief seems to know this technology... And it, him."
"It called him 'Reclaimer'." Daniel observed, turning back to face the man as well.
"Yeah. That was a thing..." O'Neill murmured, rubbing his temples. General Hammond eyed the Chief curiously.
"Anything you want to tell us, son?" He asked.
While Cortana was busy parsing through the new Galaxy Map coordinates, the Chief had begun explaining, "What we met on the ground were ruins and automatons belonging to another faction from my world, surprisingly... The Forerunners." and he gauged the continuation of his little speech on their reactions. Almost all showed interest, so he continued, disregarding the Colonel for a moment, "They're a precursor to humanity and all other alien races whose ruins and devices still litter the Galaxy, both known and unknown, among which Superweapons... I've had several run-ins with their technology. As have most of the people I know."
"Well, that's..." Jack paused, looking around the table before nodding to himself, "Concerning. Very much so. Uhm, you said they're from your side of space, right?" and, upon getting a nod, the consciously frightened O'Neill responded with "Well, what the hell are they doing in ours? I mean..." and he was right. The more the Chief sat there, the more he thought of it. Why were Forerunner ruins around?
"I have no definitive answer to that, sir." Chief retorted, "The Forerunners aren't exactly easy to decipher, even from what pieces of tech we've recovered and adapted to our own use in our world. Humanity, or, at least, our variation thereof was linked to the Forerunners in many ways. I can have a briefing report ready in a few hours if you want information regarding that."
"Sounds good to me." Jack nodded, then he looked to the General.
The man leaned back into his cushioned seat, before saying "I think we'd all do well with a bit of a brief on what to expect. Major Carter? Any theories as to what these Gate coordinates may be?"
"Well, sir, considering we've discovered what amounts to a Cartographer, I'd say that the planets pointed out by it are a string of worlds that these Forerunners may have visited, perhaps even established bases of operation on. We did not venture too deep into the ruins on 991, we only found the Cartographer. If there was more to it..." Sam shrugged, looking at the Chief "We wouldn't know."
"We weren't really able to examine the place before Apophis came storming in and got his people shot." Daniel remarked snidely.
"We will send a pair of UAVs to P3X-991 within the week, then, to see if the Goa'uld have evacuated. I don't think they'd stick around to fight something they couldn't kill." The General answered, leaning forward, "Until then, if you wish to, we can explore these locations as we go on with our mission, Master Chief." before adding "There's also the matter of the Drones. How do we know they won't attack our own without you around?"
"Sir, if they wanted to, they would have shot at SG1." Chief answered, "I think both versions of humanity share at least something that makes the Forerunner combat drones non-hostile toward us."
"Very well." Hammond hummed, then said "SG1, you're dismissed. Please, by all means, one of you give the Chief a proper tour of the base while I make some calls." as he stood up. Chief reminded himself to thank Cortana when they had a break, while the others left the room with the general. Sam had volunteered to take him on a tour of the Cheyenne sublevels that the SGC was spread out across.
Going from the Gate Room all the way up and down, to the officers' mess, Doctor Jackson's labs, the medical ward and the VIP and guest rooms, the Spartan got a pretty clear overview of their base. Following up was the armory and the barracks where Chief had officially been given his own room. He recalled stories and jokes about the Air Forces having, usually, the easiest training and cosiest arrangements.
The Spartan was shown to the room in the Barracks, instead of a VIP area. Of course, most of the titanium furniture had been moved into it, as well as a personal terminal and a wardrobe with an Air Force uniform, provided he ever wanted to leave the armor. Carter had left him to his own devices, allowing him time to review his items, his ammo and such, while she left to meet Daniel.
She entered his lab and said "Hey."
"Hey, Sam." Daniel greeted her, his eyes locked onto a computer screen.
"Trying to translate Forerunner?" She asked, approaching the man's side and leaning toward the computer. On it, danced the images of the camcorder, showing the holographic data pertaining to the coordinates. She smirked, noticing a few of the planets also had specific data regarding their chemical makeup. She hummed, watching as the archaeologist wrote down the codes, before noting "Some of these worlds match the Abydos Cartouche's own, but with the included calculations for the drift..."
"Whoever these Forerunners were, they were clearly aware of how the Gate works..." Daniel murmured, then said "If they aren't the creators..."
"They're from Chief's reality, Daniel." She retorted, sitting herself down, "Doubt they would be. You saw the Chief, he looked just as confused as the rest of us when he saw their Drones."
"Well, you can't really see much behind the visor of his armor..." Shrugged the good doctor, garnering a chuckle out of Sam before he continued "But yeah, I agree. I doubt he was any more aware of the Forerunner presence here than we were. Also, Sam, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he say the Forerunners left behind superweapons of some kind?" he then asked, with a more worried expression on his face.
Sam nodded, "He did. Why, you afraid we're going to find some of these weapons out there?"
"Maybe, maybe not, since this is our reality," Daniel pointed out, "But if we do?"
"Bonus weapons for killing Goa'uld." O'Neill quipped from the door, watching as both turned around to look at him. He smirked, then raised a brow "Am I interrupting something, kids?"
"No, sir." The major shook her head, "Daniel was just jotting down the Gate coords for those planets in the Cartographer."
"Aha." Jack nodded, "So what're we looking at?"
Daniel told Jack "Well, some of them match the Abydos Cartouche, with calculus included for drift, but we never visited them. Not yet, at least. Forerunners were clearly aware of how the Gates worked, if nothing else."
"Well, for real then. Anything else?" Jack asked, "Because I'm pretty sure we would've realized if alien tech other than the Goa'ulds' was around if we visited these worlds." and he walked up to them. He leaned onto the desk and looked at the holographic dance of the galaxy's many lights on the screen while Daniel was perusing the footage. Both of the doctors in the place shook their heads, to which Jack hummed and said "Well... Keep us posted, okay? Maybe the General'll want us to pop by one of them."
"Will do." Daniel nodded.
Alarms blared and spinning, flashing scarlet lights lit the hallways just as Jack was exiting the room. He rolled his eyes, then looked to the other two. They stood up and followed him just as the Sergeant announced "Unscheduled Off-World activation!" over the Intercom. A short trip later and the group was in the Gate Room with General Hammond just as the gate itself opened.
Hammond looked to them and said "A Tok'ra delegate group. We sent a report pertaining to our newest arrival and they immediately wanted to meet him."
"Something tells me that we are gonna have a helluva meeting..." Jack remarked, crossing his arms to his chest. The group then saw Teal'c and Chief marching in. The Gate's familiar Event Horizon formed and from it, a group of three humans marched out, clad in strange tan clothing that resembled what one would see local peasantry wear during the Medieval times.
The first of the three humans, the Tok'ra as far as John had been briefed, eyed him immediately. She stared with fear at the man encased in Titanium as if he was some kind of new war machine. She looked between the General and the others, before stepping up to the Chief and saying "Greetings to you, soldier. I never thought we would see you up close..."
"Uhm..." Chief looked to the others, who seemed just as confused.
"Lok'rai, please... The armor." The second of the three, a male, noted.
The woman gave him a once-over, before her cheeks grew red and she realized, only saying "Ah... Then you must be of their kind... Forgive me."
"Uhm... 'Their kind'?" John asked. The woman smiled, before taking a step back to her comrades' side.
"Forgive Lok'rai, warrior." The second delegate spoke again, "We've had a few encounters where people in similar combat armor to yours saved our lives. Major Carter's father can corroborate that story, but right now, he is currently on assignment. We merely came to see if the reports the Tau'ri sent to us were true before we changed the location of our base of operations."
"Uh..." The Colonel noted, "You kids mind telling us more? For context's sake?"
"We would love to, but we merely came to confirm what you told us. We need to leave fast, lest we miss the relocation. We will contact you with details as soon as we are done relocating, however." The woman replied, promptly. The Chief and the others looked to Hammond, who simply offered a curt nod to the sergeant in the command room as the Gate's last incoming was dialed. The Spartan and the others filed out of the command room. A few hours later, the team was still mulling over what had just happened...
"So... Chief." Jack looked to the Spartan as they sat in the mess, "'Others'?"
"I don't know, sir..." John responded, leaning forward, hands intertwined in a thinker's pose. Cortana had started running sims. He'd seen the suit's processing power be drawn for that, in regards to what the woman had meant. Sam and Daniel were also clearly focused on thinking, having completely ignored the now-cold food on their plastic plates as they mulled it over.
Teal'c broke the mould, however, by stating "Perhaps it has to do with how the Master Chief was transported here... Some of his fellow soldiers may have travelled with him."
"None of them were near me when I was aboard that alien ship." Chief answered, leaning back and causing the seat to let out a slight groan. Some folks wondered how much Titanium furniture the Air Force had hanging around, but the Chief ignored the looks of two or three staff members that were there for their morning coffee. The Spartan shut off his external mic once more, than asked "Any clues?"
"... Well, examining the data your suit managed to gather from our fight with the Didact..." Cortana murmured, "And the subsequent nuclear detonation... Whatever we did had the strange side-effect of acting as a transporting conduit between our two universes... I think. It probably has to do something with the Composer itself." And she pulled up schematics of the weapon that had probably decimated the population of an entire city.
John hummed, then asked cautiously "Any prevailing theory so far?"
"None, other than a freak Slipspace anomaly linked to a nuclear weapon detonating so close to the Forerunners' strangest weapon..." She replied, then let out a deep sigh, "I'm gonna need to look over the data a bit more. Even with all the data in the Didact's ship's systems, I can't determine what'd do something like this and P3X-991 may well be a dead-end, if we don't get to explore it again. It, or any other world pointed out by the Cartographer could give some kind of answer to both this question and... What that, uh, alien meant. I'll... Prep a report about the Forerunners in the meantime, if that's okay with you. General Hammond and the others may need it."
John nodded, before leaning forward again and saying "We may need to check the other planets if we want answers."
"And P3X-991, if it's safe?" Sam raised a brow. Chief nodded and Sam sighed, "Well, that means we'll just have to get back to looking through the codes."
"No problem." Daniel nodded, "Thankfully, your Forerunners are using the Gate symbols instead of their own for addresses, so..."
"Keep me appraised of that, would you?" Chief asked, "And of the situation with these... Tok'ra. Whatever they report, if it's about my people, I want to know." and he stood up. Sam and Jack nodded to him and the Spartan departed, probably going to his room to think. Sam and the others continued eating while the next scheduled SG Team departure took place.
Hammond sat in his chair, leaning back and calling through multiple avenues, including the President, to report the active status of the Chief and confirmation of his capabilities as per the report of Colonel O'Neill. As he finished the last call, that toward the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the man in question appeared, quickly giving a salute that Hammond reciprocated calmly. He had a millimeter-thick folder with the words 'TOP SECRET' written in bold red lettering and outlined by a box. He set the report down on the desk, before standing at attention.
Hammond nodded, picking up the report and opening it. From the few translated glyphs to pictures of the Forerunner technology taken in incredible detail, the Spartan had brought an archaeological report that looked decades old within one folder, neatly summarized and arranged and printed onto paper to look bog-standard military. He looked up at the Spartan, closing the report for a moment, before saying "I'll read it in a bit, Chief. I have some questions I'd like to ask you."
"Sir." The Spartan nodded.
"I've quickly requested you to join the SGC for your own safety. Area 51 would not have let an opportunity to study your armor and equipment go, had it not been for my intervention. I didn't get to ask you, however, if you felt like joining. Area 51 could have been as much, if not more of a boon to you in finding a way home, which I presume you're looking for, as us. Especially including the Quantum Mirror stored there." Hammond explained, looking the Chief dead in the visor, "So... Did you think joining was a good idea, son? I know it's a bit late now to question it, but-"
"Sir, yes sir." John nodded, "It was a good idea."
"Mind telling me why you think that?" Hammond asked, pouring himself water.
"Sir, after the last stage of my mission was finished, I was transported to an alien planet containing Forerunner technology, from which SG1 retrieved me. Following that, joining SG1 allowed me to operate with the team and utilize the Gate to return and find the possible source of that transportation. Add to that, if I had gone to Area 51, I would have been participating in what amounts to treason by potentially offering my armor to study to a national government." Chief explained thoroughly, "I worked for the Unified Earth Government and still do. I feel it's important to warn you my armor is more than just a suit, though. Details pertaining to that remain a matter of... Well, 'national security', I guess. Things I can only reveal if one of my superiors makes themselves known."
"I see..." The general nodded, "Do you think it's a good thing we discovered that Forerunner tech? Could it lead to more such discoveries in the future?"
"Sir, yes sir. If the Goa'uld are as much of a threat as your talk of them made me believe..." Chief paused a moment, before looking back up and noting "It could provide a boon to fighting them. As for finding more? Yeah, likely."
"Good to know, son." Hammond gave the man a half-smile, "One last thing... Regarding the Tok'ra... Do you think they meant that more of your people are around? Because if yes..."
"I don't know, sir." Chief shook his head, "I hope so."
"Would be one helluva set of reinforcements." Hammond laughed, curtly nodding to the Spartan and adding warmly, "Anyways, thanks, Chief. That's all for now. Dismissed."
The two saluted each-other once more, with the soldier stepping out of Hammond's office. The General then turned over the report and started parsing through it. General data including discoveries on multiple human Colonies? Colonies? The UNSC and UEG must've been way beyond them as far as tech went. Shaking off that little bit of enlightenment, Hammond continued to read and the more he did, the more surprised he got by the pieces that the Forerunners had, those they found, anyways. He expected Chief had omitted some stuff from the reports, like the Superweapons he mentioned, but was both pleasantly and horrifically surprised to find that not being the case. The damn things...
The Halos... By God, he hoped none lay anywhere in their galaxy...
He sighed, tapped a button on his intercom and said "Send major Carter and doctor Jackson to me, please. I have Chief's report in regards to the Forerunner technologies. I think they'll be quite interested." before he set it down on the desk and breathed in. He kept noticing a name common in several of the earliest remarks and readouts of the ruins on several human Colonies. One Doctor Catherine E. Halsey. He wondered.