The SGC's staff worked on, preparing another team for deployment while Jack and Carter shared a meal. Chief had been in his barracks for most of the last few days, probably acclimatizing himself to the new reality of life in Stargate Command. He was still not going to be walking around without his armor or his equipment, but at least the US Air Force was going to let him operate as he pleased with in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex's dedicated SGC levels.
After a thorough cleaning of the MA5 he had landed in this universe with, as well as of his Magnum M6, the Spartan had set himself to reassembling the equipment for future use. Slamming the top cover of the firearm back into place with his fist, the Spartan then reassembled the electronics of the ammunition counter, his thoughts wandering in various directions. Namely, what he was going to do if and when he undoubtedly discovered more Forerunner artifacts.
That and what these Tok'ra meant by 'the others' when speaking about and to him. Chief had a mission, though. Right now, he needed to return home. The UNSC was probably scouring the wreck of the Didact's ship trying to find him and Cortana as they sat here, in the room, waiting on a call to arms or a further approval of planets to visit from that Cartographer they found.
Cortana was parsing through some of the Gate Addresses they found in order to better understand where it was they were going. She hummed, then said, "I've extrapolated some of the Gate Addresses we saw and compared them to various stars and systems our version of humanity has explored. There are some matches, but uh... Nothing conclusive so far."
"Keep at it," John said, hefting his Assault Rifle and looking down its length. He kept it pointed away from the door, at a wall, in case anyone decided to enter through the door. The SGC was still running ops beside his and SG1's out there, including cooperation with the Tok'ra and other various allies they may have had beyond the Home World. He was lucky that it was SG1 that found them. He kept telling himself that.
And from the files he was given on the Goa'uld, their overall enemy, he couldn't help but draw some parallels between them and the Covenant. Admittedly, the theocratic empire he had fought back in his own world was far less about portraying themselves as gods, but rather hoping to ascend alongside the Forerunners. This group was already portraying themselves as Gods to an unwitting number of human peoples across a multitude of planets and they were far more fractured than the Covenant, with each of the System Lords apparently vying for the throne of 'Emperor' if that term could even be used properly on them.
They were also the basis for the Egyptians, apparently, if doctor Jackson's own reports were to be believed. John did see the resemblance, but wondered just how much these snake-like creatures had inspired humanity's own Nile-based empire. He hadn't fully read the files written by Jackson, or by his superiors, like O'Neill and Carter, yet. He, so he assumed that influence must've been at a hundred percent.
Putting two and two together and realizing that mankind on Earth might've been slaves to the Goa'uld as well wasn't too hard for a Spartan. It was an eerie feeling, realizing that this humanity might've been in a worse predicament than even them. If the Goa'uld ever properly unified their efforts and attempted to strike at Earth while it was politically and militarily divided and without colonies to flee to, then the free humans of the Galaxy would be wiped out or enslaved...
He was there to help Stargate Command and ensure that didn't happen. He'd find his way home in the meantime, but he needed to assist them. He'd sworn to defend humanity, no matter where or when it would be required. He just didn't take the where and when to be an alternate universe and in the past, near the start of the twenty-first century, honestly. He hummed, then said, "Anything?"
"Well, one system in particular is familiar to us. Epsilon Eridani apparently has a Gate on one of its worlds," She stated, bringing up the specific system on the Chief's HUD. He nodded, to which Cortana added, "Guessing that's where you wanna go first... Same here," as the Spartan slid his weapon onto his back and walked out. Down the expansive, if somewhat tight concrete corridors of Stargate Command, the Spartan proceeded toward the Briefing Area and General Hammond's office, to inquire about their next target.
On the way, he was met by Daniel. The doctor greeted him, "Chief! Just the man I was looking for."
"Doctor," He replied with a nod.
"Sorry, but I didn't get to ask you much beforehand. I wanted to know more about your version of Earth and Humanity if that's alright," He stated while being led by the Chief toward the General's office. The Spartan understood the curiosity of a Scientist, taking into account his own knowledge of how scientists acted when presented with a new, strange discovery, especially for something as impossible to guess as the very future of mankind as a whole.
"I'll answer anything I can, but I need to talk to the General," Chief replied firmly, but calmly.
"Take it we have another target," Daniel added promptly, with Chief giving him a hum and tilting his head slightly forward. Daniel smiled, adding, "I would like to find some more of this Forerunner technology. I read the report you gave to general Hammond and... It's terrifying, yet amazing that they were able to do such things. I don't even think the Ancients, another supposed species of precursor aliens, could've built this kind of technology. I mean... Shell worlds? Ringworld superweapons?"
"Everything they built is dangerous," Chief replied, while Cortana let out a light giggle in his helmet, presumably at Jackson's curiosity.
"I'm aware, but you have to admit, the technological advances we'd see from this stuff alone would propel us forward several thousand years as far as technology goes. We'd be on some new level of the Kardashev scale," The man spoke rather quickly. John didn't say anything to challenge the Doctor's world view. He was right. If they had managed to study and adapt any kind of Forerunner weapon, they might've had an easier time against the Covenant, Flood and now the Didact, but that didn't matter right now.
"We'll see how the situation develops, doctor," The Chief replied. Before Jackson could say another thing, the man knocked on Hammond's door.
"Come in!" The General said.
"Guess you're asking for another deployment?" Daniel inquired. Chief nodded, then stepped inside, leaving the archaeologist outside, alone. Daniel let out a disappointed sigh, then said to himself, "Guess the other questions are gonna have to wait 'till later, then..." before turning around and heading for the mess hall. He marched through the halls, mulling over his own thoughts in regards to what the Chief said, although he had to wonder if the Spartan's encounters with Forerunner tech were that bad.
He entered the mess and found Jack and Sam talking. Sam was first to notice him and wave, stating, "Good to see you, Daniel. What's up?"
"Well, I just tried to have another talk with the Chief," He stated, sitting himself down next to his CO and the other smart one on the team. Noticing the huff with which Daniel had said that, Sam could easily assume how it went. She shrugged, to which Daniel elected to change the subject and say, "I've also been looking through some of the Gate coordinates we had and... Well, there's a fairly close Gate nearby."
"Oh?" Jack raised a brow, "How close?"
"Epsilon Eridani system," The man replied. Carter paused at that.
"That close to us?" The woman then inquired. She looked to the confused Jack and said, "Sir, that's galactic stone's throw away from Earth. We had a hunch that one of the closest stars to us may actually have a habitable world around it, but that it has a gate? It's almost incredible. How we've not found any references to it before the Forerunner Cartographer is somewhat astounding."
"Perhaps the Forerunners wanted to keep it hidden for one reason or another," Daniel supposed, then shrugged, "We'll probably find out if the General approves it. Speaking of, Chief's talking to him right now."
"Think he saw what you saw?" Jack inquired, taking a forkful of salad and eating it.
"Maybe he did..." Sam stated, "Maybe it's important to him and that's why he noticed it?"
"Probably," Daniel shrugged, then continued with his suppositions while Sam and Jack ate. He spoke to them, "We don't know how far his version of humanity has gone into the wider Galaxy, or how important certain systems are to people like him. Epsilon Eridani could, for all we know, be one of the most important systems to the United Nations Space Command, seeing as it's so close to home soil. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the first systems they colonized."
"So, you think he's talking to the general about visiting it, then?" Jack inquired more rhetorically than anything. The Chief was still an elusive mystery to the entire base, but he was part of his team. He could hazard a guess the Chief would want to get to the answers as fast as possible, taking into account the soldier type he seemed to be. By the books and no bull, just like any good trooper.
Sure, Jack liked a little off-the-books stuff, jokes and maybe some interaction, but he could at least respect the Chief in his approach to how he lived his life in the military. Jack also knew it was good to be serious in the professional setting. He heard Daniel answer his question, the man stating affirmatively, "It's very likely he wants the system checked."
Jack nodded, "Well, let's hope Hammond approves the trip. Gonna be interesting to see what's the closest to home soil."
"On that we can agree," Daniel noted, "And what the Forerunners left behind for us."
"Let's hope we get to date those structures so we have a better understanding of when they arrived in our Galaxy in the first place," Sam stated before finishing up a cup of pudding. She leaned back into her seat and added, "And that we meet more of those drones that kicked Apophis and his soldiers around. They seemed like a fairly interesting design, if nothing else..."
"I somewhat don't want to meet the things that pulverized a couple Jaffa right in front of me, Carter, but I'm sure Research and Development appreciates your enthusiasm," Jack quipped, garnering a chuckle out of the female officer. He continued by asking, "Has anyone seen Teal'c?" somewhat concerned over the fact that their Jaffa friend wasn't really around.
Daniel and Sam looked to one-another, before Sam answered, "I think Teal'c's still in his room, meditating as he usually does."
"He should be out for lunch," Jack stated, "Y'know, with the rest of us. We are a team after all."
"Gonna say the same thing to the Chief?" Carter raised a brow. The man paused, his lips turning razor-thin. He sighed, then shrugged and turned to finish his salad. Carter chuckled, then stood up, taking her tray with her toward the buffet to deposit it in the dirty tray bin. Daniel and Jack looked to one-another, then the good archaeologist stood to his feet and went to grab something to eat for himself.
Jack rubbed his eyes, then murmured, "Guess I'm gonna get Teal'c something to eat..."
Despite the early onset of calm within the confines of the SGC, there were still teams travelling through the Gate or returning home, due to the continuous operational nature of the facility. John regarded SG6 as they marched through the gate, loaded up with equipment for a long-distance patrol to the planet P7V-212. The MALP had sent telemetry some hours ago, giving the green light to go to the habitable, though desert-looking planet.
Chief looked through the MALP's scope on the Gate operator's console to see the vast, sprawling desert around it, dunes rising as high as mountains in the distance. Or perhaps those were, in fact, mountains and the Chief just couldn't tell due to the slight haze in the CRT monitor and coming off the camera itself. He then looked forward at the event horizon in the middle of the circular, ancient ring, watching the rippling, water-like cerulean wall fade out with a wink of light, the Gate having shut off.
"The power output required for the Gate to operate is immense and, somehow, the SGC can afford to operate it..." Cortana murmured in his ear, though more talking to herself as she ran calculations on things like power draw, the Stargate's age and utility beside travelling to other planets in the network and the exact coordinates of various planets. She added a calm, "I wonder just how many neighborhoods went dark when it was first activated..." as calculations ran through Chief's mind. He felt Cortana's calculus, of course, considering the fact they were still linked by the armor.
"They must've realized it took a lot to operate," John supposed as he crossed his arms to his chest. The short, stout, bald man with glasses and a blue SGC Jumpsuit beside him ran a Gate diagnostic which Chief looked at, while Cortana hummed, seemingly adding John's supposition to her repertoire of theories for the Gate's operation and the US Air Force's knowledge on the matter.
Cortana nodded, stopping the calculations for a moment, then said, "Yeah, probably. You'd assume the people in charge with both airspace and orbital defenses would have studied the alien artifact they stuck in the middle of an old missile silo before activating it, wouldn't you?" With a hint of her trademark snark sprinkled into the question. John was glad she was seemingly back to normal, though he still felt concern over her rampancy in the back of his mind.
He squelched the thought, then replied, "I think we can consider them professionals."
Cortana chuckled. John did know how to joke when it was necessary. These people were professionals, no joke about that, but there was a hint of something when John responded to one of her quips about other people. It was fun to goad him into a response at times, even though he didn't understand that's what she was doing, clearly. Else he wouldn't fall for it so often.
The two continued to watch the SGC's staff operate, tending to the Gate's necessities and to the necessities of the base itself. Chief almost had half a mind to inquire about the situation, but he was more mulling over the fact that they may see how Reach looked before humanity decided to colonize it. Epsilon Eridani remained one of the most familiar systems to John. He wondered just how different it'd be from his own galaxy. His own world.
He sighed. Hammond approved the deployment of SG1 to the area. That meant they were going to explore Epsilon Eridani II. What would have been Reach in his time and in his timeline. The Chief then asked her, "What do you think of this place?" before offering a nod to the gate operator(Walter, Chief remembered) and turning to leave for his room again.
"It's interesting," Cortana replied, "To see how humanity fared five hundred years prior to our existence, to the existence of the UNSC, is a rare opportunity. Usually, it'd take going to a museum or a simulation system of some kind. Maybe we'll get let off the base to see how the US of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century was like... I mean, if you'll take a girl out to dinner, that is."
John hummed, then nodded, "If Hammond ever approves..."
"Yes!" Cortana smirked, "Oh, maybe we can visit Yugoslavia, too... Err, maybe not. If it's the '90s, they're in the middle of some pretty bad wars."
"Hm," John nodded. He didn't take Cortana for the travelling type. Historian, sure, hacker, definitely...
The two continued talking, with the Chief silently thanking Doctor Halsey for adding the ability to mute the external speakers of the MJOLNIR armor so he could privately talk to Cortana. The two passed by medical, where doctor Fraiser was taking care of a few patients, one of whom was carrying some sort of eczema from the planet they'd visited. She had assured Hammond over the phone that the situation was under control and that the Sergeant would make a full recovery. His skin was just irritated by a fairly familiar plant on the planet.
That so much of the Galaxy seemed so similar to them worried him. It felt like a total universal impossibility for so much of the galaxy to be entirely made up of humans. The Goa'uld and Asgard were the only two other somewhat physically different races, although one used humans as hosts and the other was apparently a gathering of continuously-decaying types of clones that looked like the Little Grey Men in old Sci-Fi... This was several degrees of insane.
John sighed... Maybe some time on the ground could help him see things differently.