I do not own Stargate or Sanctuary.
Please enjoy and review often!
I have about 18 Chapters already written, and the story will have weekly updates. It is a story that was posted several years ago, but I have had the chance to pull it down and make several changes to the writing. For everyone that was already reading, I took your suggestions and reviews into account to really flush out the story more.
I have a whole lot more to write, so please review to tell me how you like it and feel free to make suggestions for where you would like to see the story go.
It is very much going to be Sam/Jack, in the long run, but it will take them some time to get there. So don't worry!
As we all know, there are multiple realities in Stargate, this one diverges at towards the middle of season 7, so while some things will be similar at the start, it will be drastically different very quickly. The characters will feel familiar, because regardless of the reality, their basic personalities will not be different.
Chapter 1
**********Somewhere in the Ida Galaxy**********
Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard fleet was sitting aboard the newest O'Neill class battleship, ensuring that all systems were ready for its first flight the following day. The sizeable open command area was currently empty as he sat going over the details of the flight tomorrow. As the Commander of the fleet, he would just be going as an observer to see how the members of the crew interacted so he could make any adjustments to assignments if they were needed. He didn't normally involve himself with the test flight, but this one held special meaning to him. It was also the first in series of ships he had pushed the High Council to make, so he was on the line to ensure a successful trip. He was the commander of the fleet as it were, and any failings would ultimately result in his censure from the High Council.
You would think that it would be crawling with everyone attempting to make last-minute adjustments, but the bridge of the ship was off limits to everyone. He always took the last day before a flight to check everything for himself, but never to this degree. There was a lot riding on this test flight.
He reflected for a minute on the first ship that they had built with the same name and how it had to be destroyed. One of Maj. Carters stupid ideas that had saved his planet and caused a crippling blow to the Replicators. That ship had been hastily constructed during the war and at the time Maj. Carter suggested blowing it up was not even completed. They had taken a huge leap of faith in agreeing to her plan, but it had worked just as she said it would. The war with the Replicators was far from over, but they had backed off to regroup and well…replicate themselves as it were. That meant there was a shot window where they could rebuild but do it right this time.
What the High Council was not aware of, was that some of the ideas for the new construction came from Col. O'Neill and Maj. Carter. As he told them once, they were able to think on a level that the Asgard were no longer capable of. Some of the Asgard still felt that they should leave the Tauri alone to fend for themselves as they were not technologically advanced enough to be of aid. Thankfully, O'Neill and his team had "saved their little grey butts" more than once, and most of the Asgard now believed that they were a valuable ally. It was not their technology that was needed, but their ability to think in a way the Asgard had not been able to for as long as he could remember.
He had finally convinced the High Council that they had been absent from the galaxy for too long. Unfortunately, it took several of the protected planets being attacked and many losses on their side attempting to defend against an enemy that they had underestimated. With the vast majority of the fleet still unavailable to enforce the treaty with the Goa'uld, the Goa'uld now felt confident enough to not only attack a protected planet and abduct him. His final argument was that they had directly attacked the planet where the Asgard scientist was conducting research into their cloning problems. If it had not been for the efforts of SG1, all would have been lost, again!
But like O'Neill once said, it was all a huge bluff, and their ability to enforce the treaty was now in jeopardy as the reputation of the Asgard was no longer enough. The Tauri stepping out into the galaxy had a larger impact then they could possibly be aware of for many races. Thor shook his head; but those were thoughts for a different time and place.
Taking a deep breath to clear his mind, Thor pulled up the design for the ship and gave it a once over in an effort to concentrate on the upcoming mission. The ship he was sitting on was more advanced than the original from a few years ago. Without the immediate threat of the Replicators, they could take their time in designing and building the new ship. The schematics for the ship were relatively the same as the previous one, but zwith some upgrades. This one included a section of the ship designed specifically for scientific research. Up until recently, the science vessels were separate from the war ships and while they could defend themselves, if necessary, that was not their primary function.
This ship, however, was equipped with the most advanced weapons and shields that they had at their disposal. The cloaking technology was a new development pulled from the Ancient repository and still in the testing stages. A new key feature, at the suggestion of Maj. Carter, was that the scientific section be an actual ship that could be separated from the main body of the battlecruiser if it became necessary, it was an idea that she got from a TV show that the team had forced her to watch.
The science ship was not designed to be separated for more than a few weeks at a time with its limited resources. It was equipped with a homing beacon which would automatically activate when it was separated from the main ship. The most unique feature was that the ship was always cloaked even when attached, giving the illusion that there was nothing there, assuming the cloaking technology worked correctly. While some of the other ships also had their "Science Ships" as Maj. Carter referred to them, the cloaking technology was unique to this ship for now because of what it would be carrying. This ship would also never travel alone once it was fully staffed and operational.
It was decided that the research into the genetic history of the Asgard was too important to leave in a static location that could be discovered as it had been before. So Heimdall and several others would be joining this crew to continue the research that would hopefully save the Asgard race. In case of a confrontation the science ship would simply disengage and move to a safe location completely undetectable. Once the conflict was over, the science ship would rejoin the ship, or if that was not an option, then the subspace beacon could be located by any Asgard ship and towed back to the home world. It really was an ingenuous design.
Thor was brought out of his thoughts when the view screen activated and one of the Asgard scientists appeared. "Commander Thor, I have been looking into Loki's experiments like you asked; I found the file regarding O'Neill." Kvasir informed him.
"Did you find anything other than what we already know?" The Asgard counsel had been extremely interested in Loki's research about O'Neill. They had asked Thor if he would take charge of the scientists working on the project. Thor had agreed but only because he wanted to be informed at once if Loki had gone farther then they knew. He was looking for more experiments that Loki may have conducted before his arrest. They had him in custody but thus far he had refused to give them any information. He arrogantly believed they would be unable to break the encryption on his files. It took almost half a year, but they were finally in.
"We did. There was one more file on O'Neill which was like the first. Loki laid out a plan to abduct O'Neill several times in an attempt to further advance O'Neill's genetics. While we are still reading the files, there was something else." Kvasir hesitated. "There was a rather extensive file regarding Samantha Carter. You are going to want to see this." He moved a crystal on the control panel on his left to transfer the files directly to Thor.
Thor's mind began to race. What possible situation would involve both Maj. Carter and O'Neill. The most logical would be the two of them procreating, given the direction of Loki's research. It was something that had been brought up by the High Council shortly after SG1 had saved his life. He had made an indirect query to Teal'c he explained the implications that type of decision would have on the lives of the two people in question, it was a topic that Thor had refused to bring up and was never considered again.
The consol in front him beeped forcing him out of his thoughts. "Transmission received. I will read it when I get back from the test flight tomorrow."
"I would suggest not waiting Commander. You may want to make sure your test flight takes you near earth, with a full complement of scientists." Thor stopped what he was doing and looked up at the screen. Kvasir was one of the Asgard that was rather fond of the Tauri, and Maj. Carter specifically. He had been onboard one of the ships that the Replicators had been attacking when Maj. Carter came up with her crazy idea, effectively saving his life. He had been working long hours on Loki's files because he felt like the only way that he would be able to repay her was by helping O'Neill.
"Thank you Kvasir." With a nod from Kvasir, the viewing screen went dark.
Thor stepped down from his seat and went to one of the rear consoles to access the information. He moved one of the controls and a plate of food appeared next to him. Picking up one of the yellow ones he took a bite. If he had been able to smile, he would have at the memory of Samantha Carter tasting Asgard food for the first and last time. Moving a second crystal he pulled up the necessary files and began to read. After a few minutes he reached to his right and used a different panel causing a chair to materialize and he took a seat. The file was rather extensive and after just a few paragraphs, he knew he would be in for a long night.
Several hours later and not even halfway done Thor stopped reading and began planning to head to Earth the next day. He also needed to weigh his options on how to handle the situation. The Asgard and the Tauri had a good relationship and worked well together. What he didn't want was for this situation to put that in peril. He could go to the High Council with the information, but he ran the risk of them not allowing him to tell Maj. Carter just for that reason alone. On the other hand, he could make the decision himself and handle any fallout if the situation became unmanageable. He knew which he was going to choose. He was ashamed of the actions of Loki and refused to compound that by not telling her as soon as possible.
Knowing that she was a scientist herself and she was going to want as much as he could give her in regard to the experiments done, he began putting together a condensed version of what he had read so far. Kvasir was correct in his assessment, he needed to get to earth as quickly as possible, because while Samantha Carter was in no danger this information was going to change the course of her life forever.
**********Stargate Command**********
Samantha Carter was a work-acholic, there really was no other way to describe her primary personality trait. Sure, she knew that she was smart, kind and sometimes funny, but what made her a work-acholic was that all of the things that she enjoyed doing for fun she got to do for work every day. Which meant that she was at work a lot! She even had side projects with some of the staff on base that they would work on during their free time, like during quarantine or lock downs, which seemed to happen every few months. So, it was no surprise, that she found herself still working just after two am when she had a mission brief first thing the next morning followed by a trip back to the planet where they had found the device she was presently working on.
She was currently sitting in her lab running tests on an artifact that would be shipped to Area 51 in less than forty-eight hours. Her BDU jacket was thrown over the back of the chair and she was sitting comfortably in her lab coat. Her blond hair was messier than usual since she kept running her fingers through it. She was trying to let it grow out a bit but was more of a pain then it was worth.
On her workstation to her right sat a flat triangle shaped device that had small wires attached to it connecting it to her computer. The back, or what she assumed was the back, was a glossy black surface that almost looked like obsidian. They had done a test to establish the composition and the alloy grade identification came back as unidentifiable, which considering where it was found was not really much of a surprise. The top was currently cycling between several different colors, and she was trying to determine what each color meant based on the readings on her computer. But it wasn't just that the device was switching between colors that indicated it was doing something. Each color, except for purple, would fluctuate at different speeds.
The energy was so different than what she had encountered before that the computer program she wrote was having a difficult time deciphering what it was doing. They had retrieved it from an abandoned planet, but the energy that it was giving off was so strong that the MALP was able to detect it when they had first sent it through the gate for recon, and that was before she had gotten it back to her lab and 'turned it on.'
The planet had been in runes and they found the artifact buried about three miles from the gate and 15ft down. There were no structures surrounding the area and no matter how much Daniel had begged they had not been allowed to stay and explore the area. That was what their mission was for the next day in fact. Daniel had apparently made a compelling argument to go back and do more recon of the planet to learn about a culture that they had not previously encountered. The front had what appeared to be words written on it but it was not a language that they had come across before, at least according to Daniel.
She loved going out with the team and exploring new planets, but it was the new technologies that really held her attention, and if she was being honest, in this case she would much rather have stayed right here in her lab while the rest of the team went back to do more exploring. It was the edge of the seat feeling every time she was on the cusp of a new discovery that she loved, and sometimes the planets that they went to held that excitement for her, but this upcoming mission was more Daniels speed then hers.
She loved the challenge of seeing if she could reverse engineer technologies and adapt it to their systems in some way, especially since all of the advanced societies refused to trade anything that could be adapted and used as a weapon.
Every shelf of her lab had some type of alien technology on it. Each gizmo, doohickey, and doodad (as Col. O'Neill referred to them) had a file number that corresponded with one on her laptop, allowing her easy access to work on them when she had the time. Which more often than not, she didn't have. Most of the items had been examined by the scientists at Area 51 and sent back to her when they were unable to make heads or tails of it. It was happening less and less as they became more familiar with specific technologies brought back through the gate.
Her most successful experiment recently was to modify a laptop with the Tok'Ra crystal technology. It had taken her almost a year and five destroyed laptops before she was able to successfully integrate the technology. While in the end General Hammond was thrilled with the advancement, having to requisition that many laptops really took some explaining. The crystals were able to store infinite amounts of information without difficulty and given the scope of most of her projects she had needed a supercomputer to store everything, which obviously was not exactly compact. So now, she could use her souped up computer no not only store unlimited information on, but had no issues running congruent programs and tests at the same time.
She would have had an easier time of it if the Tok'Ra had agreed to help her with the technology. They told her that their willingness to share technology at that level was still prohibited despite the treaty. The crystals she was using had been recovered from several Goa'uld ships during various missions over the years and it was not until recently that she was able to finally make it work. As much as it made her angry that most civilizations refused to share technology, she could on some level, understand the policy.
She wasn't always like this. Looking back at her childhood she was always a good student, but she had friends and would often spend time with them instead of studying, all of her school subjects just came naturally to her. Most of the kids that she spent her time with were several years older than her, but she always had more in common with them than people her own age. It wasn't until her mother's death that she started keeping people at arm's length, afraid to loose anyone else. Unfortunately, that stuck with her through the academy and most of her first duty assignments, and she had no lasting friendships from those early years in her career. It worked to her advantage after learning of the stargate, she spent countless hours working to get the program up and running. When she was denied going through the stargate on the first mission, it made her want to work that much harder to prove herself, friends would have gotten in the way of what she wanted. Or at least that's what she told herself.
This past seven years had allowed her to make friends that she would die for if needed. She had been asked to go to Area 51 and oversee the scientist there on several occasions. Each time she turned it down. Deciding to continue to go through the gate with her team. Unfortunately, that meant that she was using every available hour to conduct research.
"Carter, whatcha doin'?" Colonel O'Neill was leaning on the work bench in Carters office. "We were told to leave the base hours ago." At 6'2" the Col. could be a rather imposing figure when he wanted to, especially when she was seated and hunched over a computer. He was in civilian clothes, his Simpsons tee shirt a direct contrast to what was normally worn on base. He had his jacket tossed over his arm, clearly just getting ready to leave the base to make the thirty minute drive home. He didn't know what caused him to come to her lab before leaving the base, it was not on his way out. But he just had a feeling and over the years he learned to listen to them.
"Yes sir, however I started this experiment right after we were told to leave and I really didn't expect it to…" Carter never took her eyes off the readings on her computer, not even to ensure that the colonel didn't touch something he shouldn't.
"Ack! Carter, I don't want to hear it." He picked a paper clip up from her worktable and started to fiddle with it. He had learned long ago not to touch things that were brought back from other planets. "We have a mission in just over eight hours, and you need your rest." He straightened the paper clip out and was wrapping it around his finger.
Sam sighed, knowing exactly where this was going. It was not like she had disobeyed a direct order or anything, but she knew better then to stay on base this late with a mission the next day even if it was to a planet they had been too before. "Sir, this program only has fifteen minutes left, but I have to be here to regulate the power variations, or at least I think that's what I'm doing." She looked up for a second and met his eyes. She went back to watching the readings on the screen, occasionally typing something into the computer until she was satisfied with the changes to the output readings.
"Can't you finish it when we get back tomorrow?" He whined. He really was tired and wanted to get some sleep. However, he knew from prior experience that if left on her own she would work on the project until it was time to leave for the mission. The mission was just because of Daniel wanting to explore some ruins and so in theory, a cake walk. But they had been ambushed on simple missions before. He didn't want her too tired to protect herself or come up with the last-minute brilliant plan that would ultimately prove to save their lives.
"Well, I could sir, but I have been sitting here for the last six hours looking at a computer screen. I really don't want to have to start over." She stopped talking long enough to type a few more commands into the computer. "I would have to start the whole experiment over, and any data collected up until now would be inconclusive. Not to mention I only have it for 48 hours before it is shipped off to Area 51, and Daniel is dying to get his hands on it and start the translations when we get back tomorrow." She continued to watch the readings on the computer while watching her commanding officer out of the corner of her eye. If he was content to play with the paper clips all was good, but sometimes he didn't even realize that he had picked something up to fiddle with. He was known for touching things out of boredom. "Why are you still here?" She glanced at him with a smile. "Sir."
"Paperwork Carter. Paperwork." He scowled at the paperclip as it broke in half. "Wait…you have been sitting here for six hours without a break?" He looked at her in disbelief.
"Well…" She looked at him sheepishly. "Yes sir. I didn't expect to be here for the whole test…" She started to explain. "I thought that I would be able to start it and then come back to it later, I also expected the test to go faster than it has. Making the adjustments to the power output has slowed things down considerably and was unexpected."
He stopped playing with the paperclip and gave her his full attention, "and there wasn't anyone that could have relieved you?" He was starting to look pissed. "There are a whole room full of scientists upstairs that pretty much work for you Carter. You're telling me not one of them would come down and let you go grab something to eat or use the bathroom?" He looked at her in disbelief.
She started to explain that she just didn't trust anyone else not do get distracted, but before she could explain her reasoning, he turned and left the room. He probably would have slammed the door to make a point if he could have, but since it was a blast door it wasn't an option. It was rare for the Colonel to get angry with her. Annoyed, irritated, and frustrated sure, but she really hated to disappoint him. Sam slumped in her seat and put her chin in her hand as she watched the fluctuations on the screen, knowing that she really had no choice but to pay attention to what she was doing.
Several minutes later O'Neill walked back into her office and put a plate of food in front of her.
"Eat!" He ordered. She glanced down at the food. It was meat loaf, mashed potatoes, corn and of course, blue Jell-O.
"Sir! You raided the mess?" She knew of course that for the most part food was always readily available, many of the people that worked in the mountain worked around the clock shifts, but at night, especially this early, it was all food that could be self-served. This was not something that was generally left out.
"Yes Carter, I did. At the very least, you could have called one of us to bring you up some food." He scolded her. "I am just going to sit over here and wait until you are done." O'Neill glanced at his watch. "You have exactly twenty minutes to finish up here and then I am dragging you out of the mountain." He smiled at her. "And instructing the guards that you are not allowed back on base until 0800 unless the fate of the world depends on you coming back. Got it?" He added that last part for good measure. He had kicked her out of the mountain a few times before only to have it bite him in the ass when she was needed for a malfunction with the gate or something that only she could take care of. The guards at the gate called him one morning at 0300 to get permission for her to enter the base much to her amusement.
"Yes Sir!" Carter smiled to herself. It was always nice when one of the team had her back, otherwise she could get so caught up in what she was doing that she forgot to do the basics. "However, since it is so late, I was actually planning on crashing in my base quarters sir seeing as we only have a few hours until the mission."
"Will it be necessary to put a guard on the door to keep you from coming back here?" He seriously wanted to know.
"No sir, I really am tired." She turned and without taking her eyes off the computer began to eat. "Well Sam, if you are admitting that you are tired, then you must really be exhausted. Just don't get to distracted by the food, I am not in the mood for more paperwork if something with this little experiment goes wrong." He said.
Sam turned her full attention back to her computer, occasionally taking a bite of the meatloaf after making an adjustment to the program. "I'm pretty sure that it would be a small explosion if I screw it up, so you wouldn't need to worry about doing paperwork Sir." Given her comment and the fact that he was still in the room showed just how much faith he really did have in her. Before she knew it all the food was gone, and she pushed the plate off to the side reaching for the Jell-O and started digging in just as the test was finally ending.
**********Old City**********
"Well Magnus this mission was a major bust." Will Zimmerman was so tired he didn't think there was a word to describe exactly how he was feeling. "I am going to go take a hot shower and sleep for the next three days." The team walked in the front door of the sanctuary and headed to the elevator. Their feet echoing in the large entryway. It amazed him every time he walked in the front door that this was where he was working. There were many hallways that lead off of the main room, most leading to labs and the kitchen. Other rooms on this level were storage rooms, and some even housed a few of the abnormal resident that were deemed safe to roam.
"It was not a complete waste Will." Helen Magnus, head of the Global Sanctuary Network, glanced back at the newest member of her team. "Yes, I would have preferred to capture the creature alive, but at least the native population is safe, at least for now." She sighed heavily. "I still don't know what kind of abnormal it was though." She stopped talking and looked to be in deep thought. "Will I would like you to bag your cloths, I will use the DNA to see what is identifiable. Ash, I really wish you had not blown it up, there must have been a better way." When she got no response, she touched her daughter on her arm. "Ashley, are you listening to me?"
"Sorry Mom, but it was trying to eat Will; I made a snap decision. One dead bad guy, a small tribe that will no longer be terrorized and Will in one piece; slightly messy, but alive." She smiled back at Will remembering the terrified look he had when he was pinned down by the creature. She didn't blame him though, the abnormal was small, but it had two regular arms and four tentacles coming from the center of its back. Its weight was deceptive given its size. One would think that Will would have been able to just throw it off, but he had been unable to do so. Its beak like mouth was heading for Will's throat when Ashley saw no other option but to fire her weapon and destroy the abnormal.
"Slightly messy Ashley? I am covered in the bad guy. It's disgusting. Magnus mind explaining again why I couldn't shower or at least change before heading back? This stuff has dried, and my clothes are glued to my skin." The elevator stopped at the residential level, and they all stepped out with the exception of Helen.
"As I said Will, the weather was changing and if we didn't leave when we did it was likely it would have been another few days before we could head back and I for one was not willing to wait." She once again informed him. "I am headed to the lab to check on a few things I was working on before we left."
"Magnus, we have been on the move for 48 hours you need your rest as well." Will had been trying to get her to slow down since he agreed to work with her almost almost three years ago. She had never listened to him before, and he was sure she would not listen to him now either. He was proven correct a few seconds later.
"William I am just going to get the tests started and then I will be heading off to bed. They will take several hours to complete and if I don't do it now it will be up even later tomorrow." She glanced at her watch. "Or rather, later today." She leaned against the door of the elevator to keep it open.
Turning her attention to Ashley. "You're in for the night, correct?"
"Ya mom, even I'm beat after this one." She grinned at her mom while walking backwards. "I do have a meeting with Angelo tomorrow to check out some new weapons though. I'll let you know before I take off." Ashley continued walking down the hallway to her room. "Night everyone!" she called over her shoulder yawning as she went. "Don't forget 7am briefing." Helen stepped back into the elevator and pushed the button to take her down to the labs before she had to listen to any complaints. Contrary to what she told Will she had some paperwork to take care of after she got the DNA tests running. She had been gone from the Sanctuary for more than two days and since she had Will with her nothing had been done in the way of administrative duties. First thing in the morning she needed to contact Declan at the London Sanctuary for an update. Helen looked at the clock in the lab, it was just after one a.m., and she figured she would be up until three before she would be able to head to bed.
Helen sighed and shook her head as she retrieved some of the samples from the abnormal and transferred them into several test tubes. She added some saline to help liquefy it and placed it into the thermal cycler to start the DNA replication process. Placing the remaining samples into the freezer to maintain their integrity, she headed up to her office.
I made a quick change, updating the time frame for Sanctuary. It is set towards the end of season 3.