Chapter 18: The Repercussions

Outside the Solar System, August 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"...and the riots are spreading as a growing crowd is gathering at the foot of the Washington Monument and demands answers from our government…"

"...Bundeskanzler hat erneut versichert, dass die Bundesregierung über das Stargate-Programm nicht informiert war, und…"

"...Her Majesty's Government can neither confirm nor deny this at this point, though…"

"...rumours of the armed forces shooting at protesters with lethal ammunition…"

"...dozens of buildings are burning, and the police struggle to clear the lanes for emergency vehicles as the crowd refuses to budge, and…"

"...Paris est sûre, la France est sûre, mais…"

"...the death count from the Alien Revelation is rising. Dozens of deaths have been confirmed already in the United States alone, and…"

Adora shook her head at the rapidly changing sights of burning buildings and masses of people throwing rocks at soldiers. Rocks and burning bottles and… "Why are they doing this? This makes no sense!" she exclaimed. This was insane!

"They're angry and scared," Glimmer said. "And they feel betrayed."

"But this doesn't help anyone!" Adora protested. "How does attacking a… a market help you or anyone else feel safer? Or solve anything?" It wasn't even a government building!

"This never happened in the Horde," Hordak commented.

"Because anyone doing it would have been shot," Catra pointed out.

"Yes. Such a lack of discipline cannot be tolerated."

"They're not soldiers," Glimmer told him through clenched teeth.

"Then they should be treated as bandits or marauders." Hordak shook his head. "This is a disgraceful display."

"People are dying!" Adora snapped. "And they are dying because they are afraid of us!" This was their fault. Her fault!

"Or because others are afraid of us." Entrapta pulled her mask off. "People also died in accidents trying to flee the cities." She looked… disturbed.

"Yes." Either way, they had caused this. "We shouldn't have insisted on revealing the Stargates and us," Adora said. "SG-1 told us that this would happen. We should have listened to them. This is our fault. My fault."

"No, it isn't!" Catra snarled. Adora looked at her with a gasp - her friend was showing her teeth. "You didn't lie to them and kept an entire war a secret! They did that, even though they knew what would happen once the secret was revealed!" She stepped up to Adora, glaring at her. "Don't you dare let anyone blame you for this! You didn't do this! They did this to themselves!"

"Yes. They lied to their own people." Glimmer nodded, but Adora couldn't help feeling that her friend sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.

So she shook her head. "But we could've kept this secret."

"No, we couldn't," Catra retorted. "We need Earth in the war. Earth, not some tiny group of soldiers, no matter how good they are."

"Yes," Hordak agreed. "The more resources and troops we can muster, the better the war will go. And that won't be possible as long as Earth as a whole remains unaware of the war against the Goa'uld. Although given their reaction to the revelation, I do think we should reevaluate their suitability as allies."

Adora took a deep breath. Catra was probably right. Yes, Adora hadn't been the one who hid such a secret from Earth. And Hordak wasn't completely wrong - they did need Earth to fight this war. Yet… "I can't help feeling guilty," she whispered.

And felt arms embrace her as Catra pressed herself against her. Adora took another deep breath, suppressing a shudder she was sure Catra would feel anyway, and hugged her back.

"It's not your fault," Catra whispered. "Don't blame yourself for this."

"I know," Adora whispered back. But knowing wasn't feeling.

"Uh…"

"Yes?" Gimmer turned to Entrapta.

"I think Bow might be in trouble." Entrapta pushed a button, and the screen changed again, showing a reporter looking in the camera with a crowd behind him… in the desert?

Adora gasped as she released Catra.

"...crowd outside famous Area-51 is chanting while facing soldiers securing the road to the famous base. And the crowd is growing as people keep arriving. The mood so far is not violent, but this might change at any moment!"

"Show us the aliens! Show us the truth! Show us the aliens! Show us the truth!"

"That's where Bow is!" Glimmer blurted out. "Bow! Darla, put Bow on the screen!"

A moment later, Bow appeared on the screen. He was smiling in that forced way he did when he was feeling guilty, Adora noticed. But this wasn't his fault!

"Bow! There's a crowd outside your ship, and you didn't tell us?" Glimmer glared at him.

"Uh… they're outside the base. Way outside. The soldiers keep them back," Bow replied.

"You still should have told us!" Glimmer shook her head. "This is too dangerous! You should return at once!"

"But we'd lose access to the television broadcasts!" Entrapta protested, then cringed at Glimmer's glare. "Can he stay in orbit at least?" she added with a weak smile.

"If I lift off, they'll notice - and that would cause even more trouble," Bow said. "They might storm the area."

And that would cause even more deaths, Adora realised. "We should've called you back right away," she said.

"Yes, come back, Bow!" Glimmer said.

But Bow shook his head. "No. Even if they break through and reach the base, they cant break into the shuttle. And I can always lift off then." He smiled. "We need to trust the people here."

"Bow!" Glimmer shook her head.

"Please."

Both of them looked at each other so… Adora looked away and hugged Catra again. This was such a mess!

And no matter what her friends told her, no matter what she told herself, she couldn't help feeling bad about it.

Washington D.C., United States of America, August 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"...and seven hours after the riots started, Los Angeles is deadly quiet, with a curfew enforced by the National Guard after the Alien Riots, as they have been christened, have been finally brought under control. The final death toll remains unclear but is reported to be in the dozens."

Samantha Carter tried to ignore the television running in the corner of the Situation Room and focus on her work. She had a report to write, after all. At least an aide had brought a chair with a small desk built-in - probably taken from the press room - so she didn't have to type with the computer resting on her knees.

"Can someone switch the channel?" the Secretary of Defense asked. "They've been repeating themselves for the last half an hour."

"Sure we can," the Secretary of Education replied. "Do you want to listen to 'alien experts' or to military analysts being stupid for a lot of money?"

The Colonel, sitting next to Sam, snorted while the two secretaries glared at each other. "It's like winning the lottery for the crazies," he said in a low voice.

"They called me crazy as well," Daniel said. "And we do know that there was contact with aliens in the past."

"And we also looked at their theories. If any of them had known anything important, we'd have recruited them. Hell, it was you who debunked most of their theories."

Daniel frowned, Sam saw, in that pouty way of his. "Yes, but they're not exactly crazy. The Goa'uld did influence ancient cultures, just not in the way most of them thought."

Sam still couldn't really believe that the likes of Erich von Däniken and Giorgio A. Tsoukalos had been hired by the Swiss government as advisors.

"Yep." The Colonel nodded. "'Aliens posed as gods and enslaved humans' wasn't a very popular theory back then." he shook his head. "And that little tidbit got the people riled up the most."

"Well, I would say that the fact that the Goa'uld still want to enslave us was the important part," Daniel retorted. "And that they tried it twice in the last few years."

Sam nodded in agreement.

"And we beat them both times," the Colonel said. He held up a hand before Sam or Daniel could object. "I know, I know - we were very lucky. But they don't know that."

"Not yet," Daniel said. "It'll get out sooner or later."

"And we can deny that we were just lucky," the Colonel said. "Also, as soon as the Etherians land and make official contact, people will forget about the snakes for a while."

Sam would agree with him, but she really had to finish this report - the Cabinet needed to know what kind of advanced technology the United States could hope to develop without alien help, and in what time frame, if they wanted to make an informed decision about how to approach the upcoming negotiations with the Etherians. And Daniel needed to finish his addendums to his report about the Etherian culture.

"Alright, folks!"

She looked up again - the President had just entered. And he was smiling rather tiredly.

"I've just finished talking to our NATO allies. The good news is that while officially, they're all very annoyed with us for not telling them about our war with the Goa'uld, unofficially, they were more accommodating. Not even the French are talking about leaving NATO, though everyone wants to discuss how this will affect the treaty." He sighed. "The bad news is that they're talking about strengthening NATO structures and leadership to address this unprecedented development."

"Why is that bad news?" Daniel whispered.

"That's Diplomatic for 'we don't want you to call the shots any more'," the Colonel replied. "Not that it will succeed - we're just too big and too powerful. Or were."

And indeed, most Cabinet members sighed, and the Secretary of Defense hung his head.

Then the President turned to SG-1. "So… what's your take on this? Will the Etherians build an Alliance with NATO?"

Sam drew a sharp breath and pressed her lips together. This wasn't her speciality. This was Daniel's. And the Colonel's.

"Daniel?" The Colonel looked at their friend. "What do you think, based upon their culture, the Etherians will do?"

"If we approach them honestly, I think so," Daniel replied without hesitation - he must have anticipated this. "NATO would likely remind them of their own Alliance on Etheria."

"And will they associate the Russians with the Horde?" the Secretary of State asked.

"I think that depends on the Russians, Mr President," Daniel replied. "But as long as we're honest with the Etherians, I believe they'll be honest with us."

"We aren't about to lie to aliens who can glass a continent from outer space," the Secretary of Defense cut in.

"They wouldn't do that anyway," Daniel said. "But they will ask for assurances that whatever treaty they make with us won't be dissolved by your successor, Mr President."

"That means I can't just use Executive Orders to push through gay marriage." The President sighed and sat down. "I should never have signed the Defense of Marriage Act. This will be ugly. If we can't do this, the rest of NATO might just make their own deals. And we would need a bipartisan majority for this."

"That won't happen. If the conservatives agree to this, they'll lose the evangelicals," the Secretary of Education said. "And they'll get primaried."

"But we might get enough of them to let it pass. We just need enough to pass the bill; they can oppose it as long as we get enough votes," the Secretary of State said. "Kinsey might get enough of them to play ball."

The President shook his head. "Let's see first if Kinsey had success before we plan on him doing more. And there's the Supreme Court to be considered."

Before anyone else could voice their opinion, an aide entered the room. "Mr President! The crowd in front of Area-51 tried to force their way into the area. Security repulsed them, but… they weren't gentle about it."

"What?"

The aide started to repeat their news, but the President waved him off. "No, I got that. How many are dead?"

"Uh… we don't know yet if there were any deaths, but…"

In the background, someone had switched the channels.

"...and it's carnage as the army beats down people left and right! Bleeding protesters are arrested as dozens of people cry out for help!"

"Air Force," Sam heard the Colonel mutter under his breath. "It's an Air Force base."

Sam wasn't quite certain that the Air Force would want to be associated in the perception of the public with this particular incident.

"Well, that doesn't look so bad," the Secretary of State said - right before a young woman bleeding from the head and carrying a young child in her arms, both crying from tear gas, staggered through the scene behind the reporter.

"Who takes a child to such a protest?" Daniel wondered, shaking his head.

The reporter, meanwhile, kept talking. "Behind me, parts of the crowd keep chanting despite the tear gas deployed. They want to 'free the aliens', as they say."

"Christ!" the President cursed.

"Can we evacuate the alien? He looks human, so we could stuff him in a uniform and just walk him out," someone - the Secretary of Labour - asked.

"We should have brought him to Washington right away," the Secretary of Transportation added.

"I doubt that the Etherians would have let us," the Colonel spoke up. "Bow didn't come as a diplomat - he came with us to make sure we wouldn't do anything with the shuttle."

"And we can't order him around," Daniel reminded the others. "If you want to talk to him, you have to ask him."

"If he's just a guard and pilot, why didn't he leave as soon as you were dropped there?" the Secretary of Transportation asked.

"Because the Etherians probably used the opportunity to spy on us," the Colonel replied.

"What?" several voices exclaimed at once.

"They can't do that!"

"How dare they!"

"Shut up! We'd do the same!" the Secretary of Defense snapped. "They're doing SigInt most likely."

He was looking at SG-1, Sam realised. At her. "Yes, Sir." She nodded.

"They're probably watching TV," Daniel added. "They were very interested in Earth entertainment since they don't have such mass media on Etheria."

"Jesus Christ," the Secretary of Education muttered. "We will be lucky if they want to talk to us at all after this."

"We warned them what the consequences of this revelation would be," the Secretary of State pointed out.

"I don't mean that," the woman replied. "I meant after they watched our Daytime TV."

"Oh dear," someone else muttered.

"People, focus!" The President raised his voice. "We've got the boyfriend of the alien queen sitting in a shuttle in an airbase under attack by a mob. If anything happens to him, we'll get the blame from everyone."

"We need to ask him to go into protective custody - if the crowd manages to storm the base, we can't protect the spaceship," the Secretary of the Interior said. "And if the crowd keeps growing, we won't be able to protect the base. Not unless we start shooting people," he added before the Secretary of Defense could protest.

"And we don't want to shoot people," the President said. "Alright, call the base. Tell them to contact Bow. No, tell them to get us a line to Bow." He turned to SG-1. "You talk to him. Make him understand how critical this is."

"I doubt that he will leave the shuttle, Mr President," the Colonel replied. "I doubt that the mob can force their way into the shuttle there, either. Or even reach the actual base. They have to cross miles of desert."

"Yes," Sam added. "They would need specialised gear or explosives to breach the doors of the craft." She blinked. But…

"But we don't know who is hiding inside that mob," the Colonel said. "If there are operatives of other groups present… We'll need to tell him to evacuate with the shuttle if the situation grows worse. With the crowd drawing attention, a small group of operatives could slip through the perimeter."

"What?"

"Fly away on TV? Everyone will think that we have been hiding aliens!" the Secretary of State protested. "They will think that we've already made contact on US soil!"

"It's better than letting a mob charge the shuttle on live TV," the President retorted. "Or have some foreign spies get access to the aliens. Do it! Get that shuttle away. We can always claim it had an automated pilot or was remote controlled or something."

"Yes, Sir."

"Get me the commander of Area-51 on the line!"

"I need to talk to the NATO General Secretary!"

"Mr President! The United Nations Secretary-General wants to talk to you!"

Outside the Solar System, August 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"They want to attack you?" Glimmer was… well, not hysterical, in Catra's impression. More like ready to blow up a few Earth people. "Bow!"

"Well, they are screaming about 'freeing the aliens', so they probably don't want to attack me…" Bow, smiling weakly on the big screen, told them. Then he glanced over his shoulder. "The soldiers are fighting them, but… there are so many."

"They seem to have limited weapons," Hordak commented. "SG-1 used firearms to great effect, but those soldiers are using clubs and rather ineffective gas."

"I think they are trying to avoid killing the people there," Entrapta said.

"But they are losing the battle."

"Ah…" Bow coughed. "It's more a protest than a battle. I think so, at least."

"It looks like an attack on a military base to me," Hordak said.

"These people aren't soldiers!" Glimmer protested.

"Why would that matter?"

Hordak didn't seem to understand. Well, Catra didn't quite get it either. If you didn't want to be a soldier, you didn't attack soldiers, period.

"Oh… another call's coming in. Earth frequency. SG-1's," Bow said.

A moment later, O'Neill's voice was heard. "Bow?"

"Yes?"

"I'm with the President here. Things are getting a little dicey out there, which you might have noticed."

"Yes, I noticed." Bow laughed more than a little forcedly.

"Good. Can you fly without being seen on TV?"

"The stealth system is aimed at sensors, mostly. We didn't quite get the optical camouflage working past prototypes. Yet," Entrapta cut in.

"Ah. You're on the line as well. Anyway - unless you want to take shelter in a bunker on the base, it would be better if you lifted off."

"Yes!" Adora spoke up. "If they see that the shuttle left, they might stop trying to storm the base!"

"Or they think that their prey's getting away," Catra commented. She knew the thrill of a chase, after all. And the frustration when you failed.

Adora pouted at her. "But that makes no sense!"

"This whole thing doesn't make any sense," Catra retorted.

"Yes," Hordak agreed. "It's a bandit attack on a base, and the soldiers aren't defending the base."

"It's not a bandit attack," O'Neill protested. "Those people aren't bandits. They think they are doing the right thing - well, most of them."

"The Horde soldiers thought the same," Adora retorted.

Catra bit her lower lip. She had known that the Horde was evil, after all.

"Anyway, the base security forces aren't going to massacre a bunch of rioters or protesters. That's not how we do things. So, if those people break through the perimeter and might get to you, lift off. Would be nice if you could wait until it's too dark to see the shuttle lift off, but… there might be other elements out there as well."

Catra nodded. Yes, she didn't think that would work out - it was a few hours until it was dark enough for that, after all.

"We're not going to risk Bow!" Glimmer protested at once.

"We won't," Adora said.

"Of course not," Bow added. "But I'll hold out as long as I can."

Glimmer stared at him, her lips moving without a sound, and Catra sighed and looked away. This was getting a bit too… too much. Then she felt Adora's hand on her shoulder. "It'll be OK! They said things are calming down," her lover said in a soft voice.

"So…" O'Neill's voice sounded through the speakers again. "Have you decided what will be your next step? So we can avoid another set of riots?"

Catra scoffed, then gritted her teeth when she saw Adora flinch. It wasn't her fault. "You should have thought about that before keeping the whole affair a secret," Catra spat. "Don't blame us for that!"

"Well, keeping it a secret was a sort of thing, back in the day," O'Neill replied. "But we need to deal with how things are now."

"We will approach and address Earth in a day or two," Glimmer said. "Waiting any longer would only cause more rumours and hysteria."

"We will?" Adora mouthed.

"Ah. And have you decided on where you'll land?"

Catra frowned. O'Neill was too… accommodating. She'd expected him to suggest some landing sites.

"Yes," Glimmer replied. "We'll ask to land at Geneva to address the United Nations."

"The Swiss will need some time to prepare for that," O'Neill replied. "As will the rest of the world. So… best wait a day after asking for permission to land there."

"Then we will approach Earth tomorrow," Glimmer told him. "We don't want to delay this any further. Your people need to see that we come in peace and as friends."

"That's what we've been telling them. But not everyone is listening to us."

Well, that was no surprise, in Catra's opinion - not after they had been lied to for years. She clenched her teeth when she remembered what Shadow Weaver had done to her and Adora.

"They'll listen to us," Glimmer told him.

"We'll see. Some might find that a bit intimidating."

"What?" Adora shook her head. "We're not intimidating! We're honest. We're here to help you!"

Catra sighed. She loved Adora, but sometimes… Well, Catra wasn't entirely sure that Glimmer hadnt meant to sound so threatening just now. Not with Bow in sort of danger.

After a bit of more back and forth talk, O'Neill ended the call.

"Uh oh!"

"Bow?" Glimmer gasped. "What's going on?"

"The crowd's breaking through!" Entrapta announced. The screen switched, and they saw a mass of people surging past and over a thin line of soldiers.

"Bow! Lift off!"

"They're still miles away, and they have to walk through the desert to reach us," Bow said.

"Lift off!"

Washington D.C., United States of America, August 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)

On the screen in the Situation Room, the scene changed once more to show a huge tent lifting into the air, picking up speed, before being ripped away and apart by the air resistance, revealing the back of the Etherian shuttle as it climbed into the sky. As before, the scene froze right at the moment where one could see most of the craft.

Then came another set of 'experts' to point at vague features of the shuttle and try to make sense of them. If the situation wasn't so serious, Jack O'Neill would have laughed at some of their ideas.

"How did they break into the base?" the Secretary of Agriculture asked, shaking his head. "The base is supposed to be guarded!"

"They didn't," the Secretary of State told him. "They breached the perimeter of the restricted area. They're still miles away from anything important, like the actual base and runways. Miles of desert."

"Yes," Jack spoke up - perhaps out of turn, but this was about the Air Force getting maligned. "This isn't like a helicopter lifting off the roof from the embassy in Saigon."

"And a lot of our best troops are busy protecting the cities from riots," someone else added.

"But they went through the soldiers!"

"Should the soldiers have shot them? In front of the press? In front of the Etherians? While they were in the middle of the desert, miles from reaching anything actually important? They still are in the middle of the desert, by the way," the Secretary of Defense said.

"So, the Etherians overreacted?" Secretary of Agriculture asked.

"Everyone overreacted," the Vice President grumbled. "Half the Senate thinks the aliens were almost caught by a mob. No thanks to the press coverage."

"The Etherians probably didn't want to take any risks," Daniel suggested. "I think they're pretty spooked by what's been going on all around the world. And there was the risk of foreign spies approaching the shuttle."

"Well, that's their own damned fault," the Secretary of Defense muttered. "We told them what would happen, and they didn't listen."

"That's not quite true, Sir," Daniel objected at once. "They insisted on contacting Earth, yes - but they didn't force us to keep the existence of aliens and the Stargate a secret in the first place and for so long."

"We could've handled this if we had been given more time," the man insisted.

Jack disagreed with that. Not out loud, of course.

Daniel, of course, did so out loud. "Perhaps the consequences could have been mitigated to some degree," he said. "But the information that we're at war with aliens who want to destroy and enslave us and that the United States government has kept this a secret from everyone would have caused riots anyway." He weathered the glare from the Secretary of Defense without flinching.

Jack cleared his throat. "What's done is done. We need to focus on what has to be done next."

After a moment, the Secretary of State spoke up. "We know that the Etherians overreacted to this. Do you think that they panicked? Or do you think they had the wrong information to make their decision?"

Jack tilted his head. "Probably a bit of both. Bow probably wouldn't have lifted off so early. But Glimmer's back outside the Solar system, and she struck me as quite protective of him." It wouldn't hurt to emphasise this before someone got a stupid idea about leverage.

"Are you sure?"

"No, Sir. But this is my best bet. I doubt that Bow would have panicked," Jack said.

"Unless he panicked about what Glimmer would do if she thought he was in immediate danger," Daniel added.

Right. Some of the stories they had heard during their trip made that a rather likely assumption.

"It's a theory, Sir," Carter said. "We don't know what the Etherians are thinking right now."

"They're probably thinking the worst of us after everything that's happened," Daniel said.

Which, honestly, wasn't a bad stance for them, Jack had to admit, if only to herself. And not an entirely bad thing for Earth either. If someone managed to take advantage of Adora's… idealism, for example, the consequences when the others, especially Catra and Glimmer, found out wouldn't be pretty. Still, they had lost a lot of trust today, Jack was sure of that.

The President entered again, looking exhausted. "So… NATO thinks we've been holding out on them again." He sank into his chair. "I've explained that this was just the shuttle that brought your team back, but now they want to talk to you."

"The General Secretary wants to talk to us?" Jack asked.

"He does. But our allies want a Defence Minister meeting to assess the situation."

"Did you tell them that the aliens want to land at Geneva to talk to the United Nations?" the Secretary of State asked.

"I did. That's what prompted this 'request'. And, as the French put it, since SG-1 will have to be present in Geneva anyway, you can stop in Brussels on the way over."

"Great." Jack sighed. "At least we can sleep on the plane."

"Yes. While I'll deal with the Russians and the Chinese. Again."

Somehow, Jack couldn't muster a lot of sympathy for the President right now. Not when his team and himself had to face a bunch of angry Defense Ministers, and everyone was looking for a scapegoat.

At least he would finally be able to sleep for more than an hour or two.

Outside the Solar System, August 14th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"Bow should return to us at once," Glimmer said, folding her arms over her chest.

"No!" Entrapta objected. "He needs to stay in Earth orbit so we can monitor the broadcasting of Earth! He's perfectly safe there!"

"Bow shouldn't be talked about as if he were not present," Bow commented with a slight frown on the screen.

Adora chuckled at that - her friend was right. And Glimmer was just worried too much about him. Although, Adora added to herself, her smile fading, the things they had seen happening on Earth were terrible. How could people do this? Most of it made absolutely no sense. And she still felt guilty about it.

At least, they could do something about it now. Something to comfort people and show them that they didn't need to be afraid any more. She nodded. Yes, they would make things better.

"You've got that expression again," Catra muttered. "I bet you just had a stupid idea."

"No!" Adora defended herself. "It's not a stupid idea," she added with a frown. Now everyone was looking at her. She raised her chin. "I just think we should help Earth recover from this - make up for all the chaos."

"That wasn't our fault!" Glimmer and Catra said in unison, then stared at each other.

"It wasn't," Adora said, even though she wasn't sure. "But we still can and should help."

"Oh, yes!" Entrapta beamed. "I've got some ideas about rebuilding!"

Adora suddenly had second thoughts about her idea.

Earth Orbit, Solar System, August 15th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"Bow!"

"Hey!"

Adora watched with a smile as Glimmer tackled Bow before he could clear the ramp of the shuttle.

Next to her, Catra snorted. "He wasn't really in danger," she muttered.

Adora sighed. She agreed with Catra's, but Glimmer had a different opinion. And Adora could understand that - to see the violence and panic their presence had caused… She looked through the window at the blue planet below them. And now the people on Earth were panicking again, even though they hadn't brought the whole Third Fleet, just an escort of half a dozen frigates - the minimum number that Priest had accepted.

Bow and Glimmer finished their kiss and pulled apart again. He coughed. "Don't you have to address Earth? To ask for permission to land in Geneva?"

Glimmer pouted at him. "I needed to make sure that you were safe first."

Catra snorted under her breath - Adora was sure she was the only one to hear it.

"And we can offer our help rebuilding what was destroyed because of our arrival," Entrapta chimed in.

"That wasn't our fault," Hordak said at the same moment Glimmer blurted out: "That's not our fault!"

Both looked at each other for a moment while Adora suppressed a smile at the sight.

"Anyway," Glimmer went on, "Let's address Earth."

"Right."

Two minutes later, Glimmer sat in the Captain's Chair, with Adora and the others standing at her side. It was quite a nice sight if Adora said so herself. Formal, but not too formal. It wasn't a throne, after all.

"So…" Entrapta stood from where she had been fiddling with the console. "We should be able to connect to the Earth communication networks. We tested the protocols for the television broadcasts."

"Uh… we aren't taking over their television, are we?" Adora asked. That would cause more trouble, she was sure.

"No, no - we're using the radio frequencies. But we're also using one of the emergency channels to broadcast the video feed from Darla. So, since they're not using that channel, we're kinda taking it over and still not taking over television." Entrapta shrugged. "It should be fine. Anyway, we're ready to go!" She beamed and walked over to stand in front of Hordak, her hair twitching a little.

Glimmer cleared her throat. "Alright, start broadcasting."

Adora smiled as widely as she could. They had to make a good impression. They couldn't cause more panic.

"We're on!"

"People of Earth! We are representatives of the Princess Alliance of the planet Etheria. I am Glimmer, Queen of Bright Moon." She nodded to the side.

That was Adora's Cue. She straightened and raised her chin. "I am Adora. I'm also known as She-Ra, Princess of Power."

"And I'm Entrapta, Princess of Dryl!" Entrapta beamed at the Camera.

"Hordak." He didn't bother smiling, Adora noticed.

"My science buddy!"

That, apparently, made Hordak smile. It wasn't a good smile.

"Catra." Catra's smile was more of a smirk.

"And I am Bow." Bow, though, smiled widely. "Techmaster."

Melog opened its mouth, and Catra translated: "And this is Melog."

Glimmer spoke up again. "We've met a team of your soldiers when they were stranded on Etheria and brought them back to Earth. And we wish to speak to your United Nations to discuss an alliance against the Goa'uld. They are an enemy of every civilisation and will not rest until they have crushed everyone else. They hold entire planets in bondage, with countless people, mostly humans from Earth, having been enslaved.

"We will fight them as we fought Horde Prime, to save everyone, but we need your help to do this - everyone's help. So, we ask the rulers of Switzerland for permission to land in Geneva to address the United Nations there." After a moment, she added: "Please let us know on this frequency if we can land there tomorrow."

"And.. cut!" Entrapta smiled. "That went well!" She tilted her head. "I think so, at least."

Bow stepped forward and pushed a few buttons, splitting the big screen to display various television channels.

"...no comment yet from the Swiss government. They seem surprised at this declaration and request…"

"...the Secretary-General of the United Nations released a statement that he would be honoured to welcome the delegation from Etheria at the Palais des Nations in Geneva…"

"...French President stated that he would attend the meeting in Geneva…"

"...Bundeskanzler erklärte, der erste Kontakt mit einer ausserirdischen Zivilisation sei Sache der Vereinten Nationen, und daher…"

"...Russia voiced concerns about the fact that soldiers made contact with Etheria, not diplomats, and once more condemned the secrecy of the United States about their Stargate Program, which has been…"

"...protests are gathering in front of the United Nations Office in New York…"

"...the government of Geneva has formally asked for help from the Federal government and the other cantons to guarantee the security of the upcoming First Contact…"

"...and as dozens, hundreds of cars leave Geneva, even more try to enter, clogging the streets…"

Glimmer frowned. "Did we get permission to land there yet?"

"No," Bow said. "But it seems that everyone assumes that's merely a formality."

Adora stared at the pictures of vehicles filling the streets.

Catra snorted. "Looks like yesterday."

Adora winced. It did look like yesterday's panic. But… "More people want to see us than are afraid of us?"

Catra snorted again. "That's progress of sorts. Like Kyle only losing half the food he's fetching."

Adora had to laugh at the memories that brought up. But she sobered up almost instantly. "We need to convince them that we don't mean any harm to them."

"Good luck with that," Catra said.

NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, August 15th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"...and how much advanced technology is being fielded by Stargate Command at this point?" the Ministre de la Défense asked in his slight French accent.

Samantha Carter heard the Colonel mutter something about letting the French sit at the table even though they weren't a full member of NATO but she ignored that and smiled politely. "We regularly field several advanced small arms which have been recovered from the Goa'uld."

"And irregularly?"

"In times of emergency, we will use whatever is at hand, but alien technology isn't standard issue for Stargate Command," the Colonel cut in.

"And what is in development?" the German minister asked. "Surely you're working hard on developing advanced weapons for domestic production."

Of course they were. Sam tilted her head. "As far as I know, no project has reached the point of field testing, much less mass production."

The man leaned forward. "And what sorts of projects do you know of? And how fast could they enter mass production?"

Now that was a tricky question. SG-1 had been ordered to be as open as possible without 'endangering national security'. That was a very flexible term. "I am not part of those research groups," Sam replied. "I am a member of a field unit and a specialist for gate technology, not a weapon developer." Fortunately, the Colonel didn't make any comment about sandbagging. "I couldn't say how far such projects are."

"Really?" The British Secretary of State for Defence frowned. "You are the foremost expert for advanced technology - you were involved in the recovery of most samples of alien weapons the United States currently research, weren't you?"

Sam managed not to wince. Someone must have talked to the Brits. That wasn't the kind of recognition she wanted. "Yes, Sir, but I am working at the front, so to speak, and mainly with the Stargate, not with applied weapon research. I'm a physicist."

"I see that the United States still keep their secrets," the French minister commented with a slight sneer at the Secretary of Defense, who returned it with interest.

"As do we all," the Secretary General interjected. "But we requested SG-1, not their research teams, because we wanted them to share their information about the Etherians. Questions about the state of the American weapons programs seem to be slightly beyond the purpose of this meeting."

Daniel nodded earnestly at that. Most ministers present didn't seem to share that view, though the Minister from Norway seemed to agree as well. "Indeed. Unless the United States are about to deploy spaceships in Earth's defence, knowing as much as possible about the aliens is of much more importance. So, Dr Jackson, you are Stargate's expert for alien cultures.

"Yes, Sir," Daniel replied as if the assembled ministers weren't already aware of that.

"And according to what we were told, you think that the Etherians are honest in their claims. They want an alliance, not subjugation."

"Yes, Minister." Daniel nodded again. "They are an alliance of multiple kingdoms, so they are used to working together against a common enemy without requiring closer ties or control."

"And yet," the French minister spoke up again, "you also said they were shocked about certain discriminatory policies common on Earth. You even called those policies the biggest hurdle for an alliance."

"Yes," Daniel replied without hesitation. "It's all in my report. Since on Etheria, politics is a highly personal affair, their rulers are much more concerned about such discrimination than we're used to on Earth."

"Do you think that they will be willing to ignore certain peculiarities in order to focus on our common enemy?"

Daniel's wince told them enough. And if that hadn't been a big clue, the Secretary of Defense's glare would have clinched it. "I am not certain, of course - they can be pragmatic - but I doubt that."

"I see." The French minister leaned back with a slight smirk.

"What about 'magic'? the British Secretary of State for Defence asked. "You mentioned that they are planning to 'restore magic to Earth'. Could you elaborate on this?"

Sam fought the urge to wince again. Another landmine that Daniel wouldn't hesitate to step on. Some generals would want SG-1 posted in Alaska after this.

Earth Orbit, Solar System, August 16th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"So… we're clear to land in Geneva. The Swiss government apologised for the delay in responding," Bow told them as Adora and Catra stepped on Darla's bridge. "Apparently, the airport was swamped with planes from all over the world, and it took a while to clear the airspace."

"I don't know why they would do that. Darla is perfectly capable of hovering until we can land. There was no need to reroute or delay any planes," Entrapta said.

"I think there were also security concerns," Hordak said.

"Darla's got shields," Entrapta retorted.

"Yes. We should be more concerned about an attack on the ground," Catra commented as she leaned against Adora's chair. She didn't quite trust everyone on Earth. For a supposedly neutral, peaceful country, the Swiss had a lot of soldiers.

"Yes," Glimmer agreed with a frown. "Entrapta, you need to keep an eye out for any threats."

"Will do!" Entrapta nodded. "I've adapted the Scanner to cover most weapons on Earth."

"'Most'?" Glimmer asked.

"I had to exclude swords and knives - there were too many in every plane, for example."

"I didn't think that they were using swords on Earth," Adora said. "They were surprised by mine."

"It was mostly knives. I could fine-tune the Scanners to ignore smaller blades, but according to that show we saw, even small blades can be deadly."

"I think we can handle an attacker using knives," Bow said. "Should the Swiss guards not be able to handle them."

"Yes! So, now let's land and show the people of Earth that we come to help them and that they don't have to fear us," Adora said with a smile.

"As long as they don't mean us any harm," Catra commented as she flexed her claws. At Adora's frown, she added: "I'm just saying I'm not going to let anyone hurt us." Especially not Adora.

Glimmer nodded in agreement as Darla started to descend into Earth's atmosphere.