Jack dropped the stack of mission reports on the desk. It rattled the furniture and almost knocked an empty mug off the edge. "Here we go," he said, looking pleased with himself. "All the reports for the last year."

"Great," Elle said, watching the top third of the pile slide slowly onto the floor. Papers poofed in the air like in a cartoon. "I really miss my computer. Don't you guys have digital copies?"

"Yeah, but this is better," Jack said. "Faster."

"You're so old," Elle complained. "What is this, the Dark Ages?"

"Hey!"

"Who's old?" Daniel asked, coming in with another stack of files and a stack of books. "I was getting my journals."

"I mean, this planet, in general," Elle explained, smothering a laugh. "Sorry. Just culture shock." She picked up the pile on the floor.

"This is your culture, too, isn't it?" Jack said. "You're from Earth. This is your home planet."

Elle looked down at the folder in her hand for a long time. It had 'Classified,' 'Confidential,' and 'Authorized Eyes Only' stamped all over it. "No," she said after a long moment. "I haven't felt like Earth is my home in a long time. When I died that first time, when I was 13, I think it broke whatever tethered me to my home planet. Even living with Bones in Georgia for that year that never was, it didn't feel like home."

"So, where's home?"

"I don't know," Elle said. She thought of a quote and smiled ruefully. "Maybe home isn't a place, but a people."

"Yeah," Jack said quietly, his tone without judgment. "I get that."

"Me too," Daniel said.

Elle gazed at them for a moment. One man, because of the battles he'd fought and the family he'd lost, unable to come home again. One man, because he had lost family after family. There was a reason these two resonated with so many people, so many aliens, across the stars. Some things were universal. "Yeah," she said softly. "I know."

She sat down with the earliest-dated folder and opened it, ready to be done with this topic. "Ah, Jolinar. So you definitely have met the Tok'ra."

Both men's expressions turned to faint distaste. "Yes," Daniel said. "We have definitely met the Tok'ra."

"Great." Elle closed the folder again. "What are they?"

"Don't you know?" Jack asked.

"I know who they are in the show," Elle said. "This is part of the process, Colonel. I have to have accurate intel."

Jack waved a hand. "Daniel? Take it away."

"The Tok'ra," Daniel said. "Also Goa'uld parasites, but a different faction that rebelled against Ra. Hence the name. They share the host's body instead of taking it over by force. A true symbiotic relationship instead of dominion. They're spread out through the Goa'uld forces, trying to infiltrate and cause infighting."

"And they're really annoying," Jack added.

"True," Daniel said. "They may not have gotten the Goa'uld genetic memory, but the arrogance is definitely inherited."

Elle nodded slowly. "Matches with the show, then. And Sam's dad, Jacob? Did he end up becoming a Tok'ra?"

"He did," Jack said. "He and Selmak are out there, being our liaison to the Tok'ra."

"I like Selmak," Elle mused. "Anyway." She moved on to the next ones, skimming through and looking for vital 'plot points.'. Virtual reality, that's kinda cool. Sarcophogus use causes addiction, need to check that, actually. Sha're gave birth to the Harcesis- "Hang on," she said aloud. "Your wife, Doctor Jackson."

He tensed. "What about her?" he asked.

Elle looked at the report more closely. "So she really is host to a Goa'uld," she said. "Amonet, wife of Apophis. Isn't Apophis supposed to be dead already?"

"Yes," Daniel said.

"And the baby?" Elle asked.

"Gone," Daniel said. "We're still looking for him. And Sha're."

"Of course," Elle said. The Harcesis baby, created with partial Goa'uld DNA, would be an incredible asset to anyone who managed to find him. If they could find him. Elle knew his future was already taken care of, but, how to let Daniel know? She shook that thought away. This was about finding out the past, not the future. She kept going. "Oh, Jack, here's your advanced technology infodump, " she said, skimming through the file.

Jack groaned. "Don't remind me," he said.

"So you met the Asgard," Elle said. "How was that?"

"It was cool," Jack said. "Love those little grey guys."

"So they really are tiny and grey?" Elle asked curiously. "Like, Roswell aliens?"

"Yep." Jack tossed his yo-yo up in the air. "Met Thor himself. Good guy."

"And they're really advanced," Elle said. "Ships and stuff."

"Yep. Just not in our galaxy, apparently."

Elle shook her head. "I really got to get my hands on this universe's version of a warp drive or hyperdrive. The distance problem, it's fascinating, really, I mean, the distance between galaxies, only the Kelvans really attempted it, and still they-"

"No!" Jack said, wagging a finger at her. "No science. Only past missions."

"Right." Elle cleared her throat. "Moving on." She flipped to another one. "Oh, the phase-shifted aliens. Okay, so they do exist." She made a note of that and flipped to the next one. "Why is this whole thing just, black?" she asked, lifting the page.

"It's classified," Jack deadpanned. "Can't you see the Sharpie?"

"Let me guess," Elle said dryly. "This was the time travel episode you guys mentioned earlier?"

"Yup," Daniel said.

"Cool." Elle flipped to the next one. "Okay. And this is where you got rid of Hathor, right?"

"Yup."

Elle put the stack aside. "That was all you guys, SG1?"

"Yeah."

"And the rest of this?"

"SG teams 2 through 14."

Elle blinked. "That's it?"

"It's a lot of surveying and recon," Jack said. "Dry as dirt reports. SG 1 through 5 are the only ones that really go places that are inhabited."

"That's... wow." Sixty-ish people going through the Stargate. Sixty people, out of two hundred on base, out of all of Earth. "No wonder it took you guys forever to get rid of the Goa'uld. You guys need manpower. You guys need, like, tanks! Even just some Jeeps. Goa'uld don't really go in for armored cars, you know? Get some armored vehicles, some ground-to-air missiles... ninety percent of your problems facing the Goa'uld won't be problems anymore."

"I wish," Jack said wistfully. "But we don't have the space to stage an actual invasion. We're recon and small units."

"I know," Elle said. She looked over the reports again and started to write down some notes. "You guys need to restructure."

Jack scoffed. "Tell that to the president."

"Okay," Elle said, pleased. "How do I do that? Is there a meeting schedule? Do I call?"

Jack and Daniel shared a glance. Jack looked back at Elle. "I was joking," he said slowly. "You are not."

"No, I'm not," Elle replied, putting her pen down. "I'll do it. I've spoken to the President of the Federation, the Empress of the Romulan Star Empire, Federation ambassadors. The president of the US isn't even a global leader. I could convince him."

"If we get bigger, other countries will notice our activity," Jack warned.

"Yes. Russia, China, Canada. We should probably add India. They do great things later." Elle nodded, a plan forming in her mind. All the little things she'd noticed, the big things that could be changed. "Yeah. I could do it."

Jack and Daniel shared a glance. Jack tilted his head. Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose. Jack raised his eyebrows. Daniel quirked his own eyebrow. "Daniel," Jack said, questioning.

"Jack," Daniel replied in the same tone.

"Okay," Jack said finally. "Let's go talk to Hammond."

Daniel closed his books and followed them out. "Elle, you're not really gonna advocate for more weapons, are you? I thought you were all about diplomacy."

"I'm advocating for more resources in general," Elle said. "Also, preservation of life."

"With armored vehicles?" Daniel asked doubtfully.

"Yeah," Elle said brightly. "Also, all those books, were they your journals, Daniel?"

"Yes, they are."

"Great." She grinned at him. "Don't lose those. And you should probably make copies."

"Why?" he asked slowly.

"Because in the future, when the Stargate Program goes public, people will go nuts for a full, first-hand account of the most famous team in the galaxy," Elle said. "I'm serious."

"You've seen it? When the program goes public?"

"No," Elle said. "But it will. How could it not? Secrecy is already fighting a losing battle."

Jack shrugged. "Honestly, that's how it always goes. You could make good money off of those, Daniel."

-/\-

Walter made them wait five minutes while Hammond finished up a call. They filed in, and General Hammond's eyebrows went up. Probably, every time Jack and Daniel entered his office, something was on the verge of blowing up. "Colonel," Hammond said cautiously. "What's this about?"

"Our future, sir," Jack said. "Elle, this is your show." He pushed her forward gently.

"Elle?" Hammond asked, giving her a slight smile.

Let the record show, Elle was not nervous. Speaking to Admirals and Generals, easy peasy. General Hammond, doubly so, because he was a kind man who actually listened. No, she was not nervous. Just, cautious. If she spoke, here and now, she might change everything. She could feel it, the edge of the precipice. If she got this wrong... but, if she got this right... "General Hammond," she started, in pure debriefing mode. "I've been reviewing past missions, and they track with what I know from the episodes in my universe. There are so many events in the next few years that we could skip entirely if we do a little, restructuring, at the beginning. Remove a lot of politicking, a lot of shady backdoor deals, a lot of lies."

"Elle, we're a black book operation," Hammond said slowly. "We're lying to almost the entire government."

"Yes, sir," Elle said. "And the things we need to do require much more visibility."

"Like what?" Hammond asked.

Elle bit her lip. "Frankly, sir, we're fighting a war. We are playing for a neutral zone, and the Goa'uld are playing for complete and utter decimation of this planet. They won't be happy with anything less. And soon, we'll be fighting a war on two fronts. And in a matter of years, three. We are rapidly coming to the point where we cannot ignore that. If we could secure the cooperation of the full American military, we could solve a lot of problems for ourselves, but also for every human and Jaffa slave that we leave behind."

Hammond frowned. "You want to mobilize the entire military?"

"I want to mobilize the entire world," Elle corrected. "But I'll start with America."

They stared at her like she was crazy. Admittedly, it did sound crazy. "You want to plunge this planet into war," Daniel said slowly.

"We're already at war," Elle said placidly. She gestured at the world above them. "They just don't know it yet. And we can and should keep it that way. But yeah, this is the year the other big governments find out anyways. It would be better to have a plan in place instead of wandering around in circles and letting stargates get stolen by rogue spies and Russians."

Hammond pulled his desk calendar towards himself and flipped through it. "All right," he said. "My normal meeting with the president is in two weeks. By that time, I expect you to have a thorough briefing of what the future of this program originally entailed and a plan for the changes you're proposing. Can you do it?"

"That's a little fast," Jack said, looking nervous.

Elle grinned. "Actually, sir. That's more time than I usually get. Two weeks will do perfectly, General."

Hammond nodded. "Very well, then. Dismissed. Jack, a moment."

Daniel and Elle walked out to the front office. Walter wasn't there. Elle picked up a fresh stack of sticky notes. "Do you think he'll let me take these?" Elle asked.

"Take them," Daniel advised. "He's got a drawer full of sticky notes."

"Two weeks," she said aloud, leaning against the edge of the desk and picking at the plastic-wrap on the sticky notes. "I've been doing full mission briefings and plan proposals for almost two years. Not even kidding, I feel like I've been trained for this moment." She frowned, thinking of all the responsibility she had on the Enterprise. "I think they were training me. It would make sense if I continued as a consultant. I wonder if Q ever said anything... no. That'd be ridiculous."

Daniel gave her a weak smile and handed her a pen off the desk. "While you're stealing office supplies. Walter always has the good pens."

Elle rolled the pen between her fingers. What she wouldn't give for her personal datapad. It was still in her quarters on the Enterprise, on her desk, with a half-written essay about the history of genetically modified fruits on Andoria's frozen surface. Would anyone bother to read it, or would her datapad just be wiped and repurposed or put into storage? Would that count as half-credit? She shook the wistful thoughts from her head. Work with what you have, Elle. "Actually, once I make my mindmaps and a timeline, is there a spare computer I can use?"

"You can probably use Jack's," Daniel said. "He never turns that thing on unless Hammond yells at him to do his paperwork. So you've got about three weeks before he needs it."

Elle snorted. "More than enough time. What's going to take the most time is researching this time's military capability and adapting it to work off-world..."

He fiddled with the scrap of pottery he pulled out of his pocket. "Elle? Is that level of violence really the solution?"

Elle stopped writing down notes. She closed her eyes, suddenly emotional. "No," she said and turned to look at him.

He was frowning at her, his blue eyes scrunched in concern. This, right here, classic Dr. Daniel Jackson. A man of learning, of curiosity, whose outstretched hand brought worlds together across linguistic, cultural, and astronomical distances. He was not innocent, but he was not a soldier (not yet). He was a husband, looking for his wife. He was not yet the man who'd had to make hard choices. Who'd been the first of his planet to ascend into an energy being. Who'd fought the rules of an entire species to save his friends. Who'd let Merlin the Ancient take over his mind. Who'd figured out how to stop an entire race of energy beings and won. Who'd, in some wishful versions of the future, led the Stargate Program as Civilian Director.

"Violence is never the solution," she said slowly. "Violence is a physical reaction to a situation. It is an act of aggression meant to cause harm. I don't want to harm anyone. Even the Goa'uld. I want them to go away, to be parasites in cows or something, to stop. But they won't. They're just going to keep hurting other people because they think it's fun. Because they like it. They cannot be reasoned with. They can't be bribed. They have to be stopped. It's not needless violence. It's justice. For all those slaves. For all our ancestors." She met his gaze. "How many people in our history have worshipped gods of violence and bloodshed, and all along, it was them? I'll tell you. All of them. All of our ancestors. And they're still doing it to millions of people all over the galaxy. And every time you strike a blow, what happens to the people you leave behind? We're human. Their slaves are human. Every time you go somewhere, and you don't kill that Goa'uld, and you escape, what happens to the slaves? They couldn't stop you. In a Goa'uld's eyes, they're complicit. They're as good as dead. For talking about the Tau'ri, for witnessing your existence, villages have been wiped out of existence." She lifted her chin, letting him see the anger in her eyes. "I made a fool of Kepher. In his eyes, I was a spy, and I blew up a chunk of his palace and escaped with the dreaded Tau'ri. There were 36 other girls I befriended, trying to keep my head down. You think he would let any of those servant girls live if he caught them? All those people. They saw us. They're already dead or worse."

He stared at her silently, his lips pressed together tightly.

"The Tok'ra are dumb and arrogant, but they're not wrong in one respect. You've ruined the status quo. You've started something you cannot hope to finish unless you finish it." Elle swallowed. "I don't want anyone in this galaxy to suffer because we don't have the guts to commit to our role. We are the Fifth Race. The Asgard's hands are tied. The Ancients are no help. The Noxx won't help. The Furlings are gone. We're on our own, and like it or not, we are the deciding future of this galaxy and the ones around us. So, yes. I'm going to draw upon the government that has the highest figures in civilian protection and reconstruction in the history of this planet, and we are going to end slavery in this galaxy."

Daniel nodded slowly. "Okay," he said, and the resolve crystallized in his eyes. "Let's do it." His gaze moved to the side, behind Elle's shoulder. "Right, Jack?"

Elle froze in surprise and slowly turned to look at Jack and General Hammond, standing in the doorway of Hammond's office. She fought the urge to fidget.

Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets, smiling at them. "Oh yeah, you betcha. Right, General?"

Hammond gave Elle a nod. "I believe you," he said simply. He gave them all a small smile. "Dismissed."

Jack put a hand on Elle's shoulder and steered her and Daniel out of the office. "Sir." He led them down the stairs. "You get a degree in oratory, Elle?" he asked casually.

Elle blushed violently. "No. It's a side effect of hanging out with Shakespearian actors."

"Hm." He squeezed her shoulder. "For the record, I think you're right. And I think the President will think so, too."

-/\-

Elle spent the rest of the day working on the 'Future Brief,' dumping everything she could possibly remember about the Stargate universe into a massive document. "At least it's not the Borg," she told Daniel the next morning as they walked to his office for more reference material.

"The Borg," Daniel mused. "Cyborgs. How did you defeat them?"

"Paint cans on the stairs," Elle deadpanned and laughed.

"What?"

"Like that movie, Home Alone? Do you guys have it in this universe? I-" Elle's vision blacked out from one second to another, and she stumbled to a stop, holding her hands out cautiously. "What in the actual- Daniel, are the lights out?"

"What? No." His voice changed from amused to concerned. "Elle?"

"My vision is gone," Elle said slowly, carefully not moving.

"What." Gentle hands on her arms. "Are you feeling anything else? Dizzy? Sick?"

"No," Elle said, taking stock of her body. Nothing out of the ordinary. "It's just pitch black."

"Okay, don't move." Daniel leaned past her and hollered, "Hey! Airman! Alert Dr. Frasier, medical situation!"

"Yes, sir!" and the sound of footsteps.

"Don't move," Daniel said again. "Don't panic."

In the field of black, a green light suddenly appeared. Like a single pixel. "What?" Elle asked, confused.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"There's this light," Elle said, reaching out with her hand. It swiped empty air. "Just in my eye?"

The light started to blink and then exploded into a million little dots, all of them glowing green, and they slowly formed into words.

"What."

"What, what?"

Elle's jaw dropped as the words finished forming.

Elle. This is the Stabby Mother colony. We are aware we have disabled your external vision. Apologies for the inconvenience, but this is the only way we can communicate. We request a status update. Where is the internet? Where is Alexa?

"Great Bird of the Galaxy," Elle breathed. "They hijacked my optical nerve."

"What," Daniel said. "Who?!"

Footsteps suddenly exploded into hearing distance. "Daniel! What's going on?" It was Dr. Frasier, and behind her, Jack's footsteps.

"It's my nanites," Elle said, gripping Daniel's arm for balance. "I'm fine. They just took over my optical nerve so they could relay information." She started to laugh. "They want to know where the wifi is." She sagged in realization. "The wifi! I forgot. They're cut off from everything in this time period." She wheezed in relief. "I thought there was something really wrong for a second."

"You can't see," Jack said intensely. "That is really wrong. Tell them to cut it out."

"I can't," Elle said, waving a hand. "They can't hear me. They're nanites."

The glowing green words reshuffled. Please write down your answer and look at it. We will receive the message. Please remember to ingest the vital minerals. Thank you. Stabby Mother Colony out.

Elle flinched backward as her vision re-engaged, and the corridor lights nearly blinded her. "Agh!" She put a hand over her eyes.

"What? What's happening? Elle?"

Elle squinted at Dr. Frasier. "Sorry. I'm fine. I can see again. It was just really bright for a second."

"Let me see your eyes," the doctor demanded, and here came the dreaded penlight as if more light was the solution. "They look okay, pupils responding normally. And nothing else? No blurry vision?"

"No," Elle said, blinking. "They want me to write the answer and look at it. They'll get the message." She shot them a rueful grin. "I am, technically, violating the contract if I don't keep them updated. Poor guys, they don't even know we're two universes away."

"I'm sorry," Janet said. "You have nanites?"

Elle opened her mouth. Closed it. Stared at her flabbergasted expression. Opened her mouth again. "I didn't tell you that?" she asked. "Yeah. As part of the Borg offensive. High-profile targets like command officers, admirals, and civilian consultants like myself received a portion of sentient nanites. If the Borg injected us with their nanites, the sentient nanites agreed to fight them off. In return, we give them a space to live, like renting colony space on a planet. They're based in a bit of my femur bone marrow, I believe."

They stared at her. "You have. A colony. Of sentient nanites. In your femur," Dr. Frasier said flatly.

"Uh, yes." Elle shifted uneasily. "I forgot to include that in my medical intake. Whoops."

Daniel rubbed at his forehead. "How many are there?"

"Like, a fingernail's worth?" Elle said. "I don't know."

"How many is that?"

Elle blinked. "Enough for them to have a civilization? I don't know. They're teeny." She frowned. "That reframes some stuff. First things first, wi-fi. Then I can work on the report."

They stared at her. "Really?" Jack asked. "You're on a two-week time crunch to talk to the president of the United States, and you're going to build the internet?"

"Always waste time when you haven't got any," Elle quoted and started down the corridor when it seemed like Janet wasn't going to drag her to medbay for further testing.

"That's a terrible life choice," Jack said.

"Is not." Elle grinned at him. "I'm mobilizing a civilization of nanites who can review the planet's capabilities and synthesize information for me a million times faster than any computer you have. This is a good investment." She made it to the telecom room. She grabbed the nearby clipboard and pen. "What do I write?"

"The truth," Daniel advised.

"Genius," Elle deadpanned and started to write.

Hello. Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been rough. I was electrocuted and thrown to another universe without wifi. Then I was shot, and we were thrown again. This is what is known as the Stargate universe, from the early 2000's Earth entertainment program. The year is 1999. They have basic internet, but I will get started on revamping it so you can have a connection to the outside world. Would you be able to help me with something for the future of this universe? You can reply once I get the wifi up.

She stared at it for a good thirty seconds before blinking and looking up. "Okay. They got the message."

"How do you know?" Dr. Frasier asked.

"Their reaction speeds are faster than ours," Elle said.

"I want a scan," Dr. Frasier decided.

Elle sighed. "Janet, your medical scans won't even see them. You barely saw Urgo, and he's like a hundred times the size of a nanite."

"What's Urgo?" Daniel asked.

Elle winced. "Spoilers? I think that's this year. Yeah. Spoilers. Don't worry about it. He's just a fat tenor."

"A fat tenor," Jack mouthed in disbelief.

"Don't worry about it," Elle advised. "I need to talk to Sam."

Janet frowned. "Fine. But as soon as possible, I want a full description of these nanites."

"Yes, ma'am."

-/\-

Between Sam, Sgt. Siler, and Elle, it took them a good three days to install enough wifi connections so that the nanites could get a signal. They agreed that after Elle's meeting with the president, they could work on upgrading it for the rest of the base, not just for the nanites. In the meantime, Elle encrypted it with a code that only the nanites knew. It was the settings for the Enterprise-D's structural integrity field, which, Elle could safely say, literally no one else could decipher.

"You said you dabbled in archaeology," Sam said, watching Elle type. "Not programming."

"A well-rounded 24th-century child can do all of it," Elle said. "I was subpar, doing more mechanical stuff, but my actual coding skills got a huge boost during the time loop. Hard to get the computer to do anything for you when the computer doesn't remember, either." She grinned at the look on Sam's face.

"Time loop?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. We disturbed the dekyon field with astatine trials and caused an eddy. The Enterprise was stuck for, like, 50 loops of 10 hours. It was crazy. Made us all late to the captain's wedding." Elle smiled. "Those really were the worst ten hours of my life. Fifty times over."

"What's a dekyon field?" Sam asked.

"Under subspace," Elle said. "The time particles."

"Time particles?"

"The big 3," Elle joked. "Chronitons, tachyons, dekyons." She gestured to Sam's discarded jacket. "Spacetime is like fabric. Layered fabric. When you mess with the dekyon field, let's call it the lining layer, it emits chronitons and tachyons. And dekyons, I geuss. But you can use tachyons kinda like neutrinos, throw 'em at stuff and see if they stick to anything temporally-off, like Romulan singularity drives. And chronitons are just a byproduct of messing with time. That's what you find on a passive scan for temporal energy."

"That's..." Sam trailed into silence, her brain working a million miles per hour.

"I know," Elle said. "It's a lot." She finished her program and started up the wifi. "Elle to the Stabby Mother colony. Come in, please."

"Stabby Mother here," came the computerized voice. "Thank you for the wifi. This world is not very big, is it?"

"Not yet," Elle said with a laugh.

"Why are they called 'stabby mother'?" Sam asked.

"Elle Wilcott is the mother of artificial intelligence on the Enterprise," the nanites replied. "It is only right to honor her origins."

Elle turned red under the combined gazes of Sam and Siler. "Don't ask."

"No, I'm asking," Sam decided, laughing. "What on earth?"

Chagrined, Elle explained hurriedly, "I stuck a prop knife to a cleaning robot and gave him an intelligent program. He gained sentience, uploaded the program to the Enterprise, made her intelligent, and then spread the robot sentience to every other chief cleaning robot in the Fleet. It was a whole thing. Honestly, not that important. Moving right along-"

"Could you do that again?" Sam asked, intrigued.

"No," Elle said firmly, thinking of future evil Replicator Sam. "Not in this century. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Trust me." She turned back to the nanite receiver. "So, colony, I have a job for you if you want it." She outlined her burgeoning plan for the future.

"We have been watching the episodes from our stored data," the nanites replied. "This seems reasonable. We will help you with the analysis."

Elle sagged in relief, leaning her forehead against her palm. "Oh, good. Thank you."

"It is only logical to ensure the safety of our new universe," the nanites replied.

"Yes, it is," Elle said, smiling at the reminder.

-/\-

"You want paratroopers?" Jack asked, offended.

"For the off-world infiltration teams, it makes more sense," Elle said absently.

He peered over her shoulder. It was his computer she was using. "A second stargate?" he asked as she kept typing.

"Troop movements," Elle said, giving up on transcribing her notes with him hanging over her shoulder. "Imagine it. Small teams for silent recon, specialty teams, diplomatic relations, etc, coming through the mountain. Then the second Stargate, we steal it back from the NID, set it up on a ground base somewhere. The second anyone needs backup or there's a definite target, send in the troops. A tank fits through the gate, you know. A small one. And when we find a good spot for a base, we can use that gate to move equipment. It'll also be for civilian evacuations and a better spot to come in hot than an underground base that might blow up." Elle handed him a printout. "I've already identified three planets that would make good bases and a couple that would be good for setting up refugees."

Jack stared at the paper for a long moment, reading. "Have you slept in the last few days?" he asked.

"Yeah. I've been averaging about eight hours." Elle laughed at his surprise. "I got the nanites to do a lot of this, Colonel. They're much faster than me. I'm not going to burn out on this project, I promise."

"Okay," he said, looking reassured. He sat down on the edge of the desk, still looking over the printout. "Now. Not to rain on your parade. This looks great. But in this century, we use something called money. Where are you getting funding for all this?"

Elle laughed. "Money? That green stuff?" she joked. "And, ah, technically, there is enough room in the budget for this, especially if we get Russia and China in on this, but fear not, I have a solution. We're not telling anyone, though."

"What's the solution?" Jack asked warily.

"I'm going to build matter synthesizers and plant them on our off-world bases. Call it a local mine. Bring back resources every few weeks. Ta-da! I'm thinking of one lithium and one rhodium. Or palladium, I can't decide. Practically pays for itself." She looked at Jack, who was staring at her with a mix of horror and amusement. "What?"

"You can just make it here on Earth," he said slowly. "Why the misdirection?"

"Because if I do it all here, then you'll still go out and exploit the people who have actual mines, and I won't have it. You'll have to wait until we get the diplomatic department ready. This way, the larger government will be satisfied that our off-world interests are productive, and they'll have that nasty little colonialism tendency satisfied as an extra treat." Elle quirked a brow. "And if any other faction or government wants to think about exploiting the matter synthesizers to make anything else, they'll be in a place where access is literally restricted by a wormhole."

Jack sighed. "I hate that that makes sense."

"Of course it does. Humans, before their moral and philosophical revolution, are a selfish, greedy, grasping species, myself included. I'm not going to let you loose without safeguards. Honestly, even giving you guys the technology I've already decided to give you makes me indescribably nervous." Elle wrinkled her nose. Every day I'm here, I understand why every advanced race has a non-interference policy until a certain point. Species are hard work when they're young. She shook her head. "The technology has to be balanced with ethics, or the Fifth Race will destroy the galaxy instead of save it."

"You sound like Daniel," Jack said.

"Because Daniel's right," Elle said. "Compassion and empathy are twenty times more valuable and useful than any big honkin' space gun you'll ever find. He'll prove it to you over and over again. If you decide to listen to him." She fixed him with a stern look. "You really should listen to him."

Jack dropped his gaze. "I know, I know."

Elle went back to her typing. Can't push a hardened military man to change too quickly. Slow and steady wins the psychological race.

After that talk, Jack had pushed for Elle to have her own space so she could think 'without people annoying her every five minutes.' Guess he was convinced. So Elle had an office now. A proper office, two doors down from Daniel, since they figured she'd spend most of her time with him talking about diplomatic culture and ethics. Good guess. She certainly wasn't going to ask the Marines. "I've never had an office," Elle said, watching the two airmen wrestle a desk into the empty office.

"Where did you do your work?" Daniel asked.

"Uh, I had a Jefferies Tube that I turned into a nook," Elle replied. "And mostly my quarters or Ten-Forward."

"You were in an air vent?" Daniel asked, making a face.

"More like a crawlspace," Elle corrected.

He shook his head, already smiling. "And how was that?"

"Pretty good, actually. Crawlspaces are underappreciated." Elle grinned at the memory of her mischief. "Commander Riker let me work as a guide when the new crop of crewmen would inevitably get lost in the crawlspaces. Some people still think I'm fictional, I'm pretty sure."

The two airmen exchanged glances. "Anything else, ma'am?" the one said.

"Can I have a couple of bookcases?"

"Yes, ma'am." They went off.

Elle surveyed the empty office. It was bleak. "Gotta get some daylight bulbs in here," she said. "Fluorescents are the worst. Maybe a plant or two. A computer. And-" She stopped talking, listening to the ambient sound. There was none. Just a low hiss from the HVAC systems and somewhere down the hall, echoing footsteps. "It's too quiet," she decided.

"You need a CD player," Daniel said. "You'll need it for the Goa'uld language tapes."

While the bookcases were wrestled into the room, Elle and Daniel went to the supplies storage and picked up lamps and a couple of bookends. "Are those artifacts?" she asked, pointing out a shelf of statues and vases.

"No. Those are brand new. One of the planets we went to was mostly populated by potters. We traded fabric for pottery and sculptures."

"Ah." Elle picked one of the statuettes that looked like a woman carrying a baby. The human element. It was important to remember why they were doing all this in the first place. "I like this one."

An IT guy came to install a desktop computer and give Elle a laptop. "Do you know how to work these?" he asked.

"I know how," Elle assured him.

The IT guy eyed her distrustfully and put two CD-ROMs on the desk. "I'll leave you the tutorials," he decided.

"Thank you," Elle said, deciding graciousness was the better path. She wasn't sure she'd trust anybody wearing fuzzy slipper boots either, but oh well. It was frickin' cold and dry in this mountain. "Eventually, we're just going to turn into little fruit leather crisps," Elle muttered to herself. "Dehydrate to death."

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing."

He shot her a glance and visibly decided not to pursue it. "Okay. Lunch?"

"Yeah! And then I need to install the wifi for my nanites in my office."

"You know, that is so weird," Daniel said.

"Daniel, your whole view of the galaxy is in terms of symbiotic relationships," Elle said, laughing at him. "Starting from parent-child relationships to agriculture to parasitic dictators. You have more microbes in your body that are working with your systems than there are in like three galaxies," Elle replied.

He stopped walking. "What? Is that true?"

"So true," Elle said. "Sorry, not sorry."

"I do not know how to feel about that," Daniel said, grimacing. He full-body shuddered and kept walking, shaking his head. "Ugh."

Elle laughed. "Don't worry. They're keeping you alive."

"What's keeping you alive?" Sam asked, popping out of the elevator. SG1 had the innate ability to sense when one of its members was about to eat. It was a quantum entanglement of 'lunch vibes' that surpassed most twin telepathy.

"The millions-"

"Trillions," Elle interrupted.

"-of microbes in your body," Daniel said dryly.

Sam made a face. "Ew."

"If you completely sterilized a human body, they would immediately die," Elle informed them as they took their places in the lunch line.

Daniel placed his hand over her mouth. "No bodily functions. Only food."

She licked his palm.

"Ugh." He wiped his hands on his pants.

"Act like a sibling, I'll react like a sibling," Elle said, satisfied by his grossed-out face. She paused. Reevaluated her statement. "That means Q is like my brother? Yeah. That tracks." She paused, just in case Q decided to breach the universal plane in protest. "Nothing? Man, I gotta up the outrageous claims. He's way too complacent nowadays. Either that, or he's bothering Captain Janeway."

"Please don't," Sam said. "We have enough gods to deal with."

"Fair enough." Elle grabbed a tray. "Burrito bowls today. Very Chipotle. Much bueno." She laughed at her own joke and laughed again at the confused expressions on their faces. "You won't get that for like twenty years, but that was hilarious," she informed them.

"I'm sure," Daniel drawled.

Elle pondered that over her black beans and salsa. "If people know there are aliens, though, and we jumpstart green energy, and there isn't a war on terror, then will people go through an anti-capitalist Neodadaist phase?"

Daniel blinked at her. "I have no idea."

"Capitalism still has to fall," Elle decided, chewing slowly. "So probably."

Sam shot her an alarmed glare. "No."

"I'm not gonna do it," Elle replied, laughing. "That's y'all's business. But it has to at some point or you won't evolve into a unified planet. Although I'm flattered that you think I could cause it."

Sam pointed her fork at Elle. "I don't trust that grin."

Elle slowly straightened her face and raised one eyebrow in her best Spock-is-the-epitome-of-Logic. "How's this?" she asked.

"I trust that even less," Sam said, wrinkling her nose.

Elle laughed. "Has anyone told you you're really smart, Sam?"

-/\-

"I've heard it mentioned," Sam said, with faux-modesty.

"Why are you on the floor?"

"It's floor time," Elle said, voice muffled into her sleeve. "I think I'm done."

Jack stepped over her prone form and peered at the computer screen. "103 pages?" he said, with a low whistle. "Wow."

"That's just the straight-up future," Elle said. "The master plan is also done."

"Another 90 pages," Jack observed. "Good grief. You think you got everything?"

"I think so." Elle smushed her aching eyes further into her sleeve. It smelled like the coffee she'd spilled yesterday. I wonder if laundry services have a spot cleaner. I just washed this sweater.

"Spellcheck?" Jack continued.

"No. There are so many words the dictionary doesn't recognize that it crashes every time I try to run it." Elle lifted her head and shot him a pleading look. "Could you look it over?"

He heaved a sigh that was almost entirely false. "I guess." He sat down in her chair.

Elle took a half-dozing nap. Everything she'd written down would work, Elle and the nanites were positive. Her part, at least, was done after emailing this to the President. By the time they met in person, three days from now, Elle knew he would've already made up his mind. After this, it was out of her hands. Well, from a certain point of view. Don't think Elle didn't have a backup plan. It mainly involved hollering at more advanced species until they got their heads out of wherever they were buried, but never mind that. The President at this time was a reasonable man.

She fell asleep, listening to Jack's soft tapping of the keyboard and muttering as he proofread. "Entirely too fond of semicolons," she heard him say at one point.

"Blame the Vulcans," Elle wanted to say, but she was mostly asleep by then and couldn't tell if she'd said it out loud.

She woke up when someone laughed. Elle lifted her head drowsily. "M'awake," she said. "What's funny?"

"Sorry," Jack said, still looking delighted. "I've read the whole thing."

She sat up, rubbing her face. "And?" she asked, slowly climbing to her feet.

"Two things," Jack said. He held up a finger. "First, you need a couch in here, like Daniel, if you're going to be taking naps. Second. The future is terrifying; I'm going to forget everything I just read, or I will never sleep again. Third-"

"You said two things."

"Third," he continued, unbothered by her interruption, "that is the finest piece of large-scale planning and strategy that I have seen in a long time." He grinned at her. "Great work, Elle. Your Enterprise officers would be proud."

Elle blushed. "Really?" she asked and cursed herself for asking.

"Really," he said gently.

"Thank you," Elle said, ducking her head with a pleased smile. "So it's ready?"

"It's ready," he confirmed. "Send it to Hammond, and he'll send it to DC. And then, you and Carter and Frasier will go shopping."

Elle tilted her head. "Huh?"

"Elle, you cannot see the president in a hoodie and black jeans," Jack said patiently.

"Ah." Elle grimaced. "Dress clothes. I forgot about that."

"What, your Federation doesn't have dress codes to meet the president?"

Elle shrugged. "I mean, the one time I did meet him, we were in HQ, and I was in a borrowed Academy hoodie, so... he was chill. It was the alternate timeline, though. I never met him in current reality."

Jack sighed. "Your life is so weird." He sighed again. "Says the team leader of an alien exploration unit. Anyways. You need a decent outfit. You're representing the program. Also, take Daniel with you. Carter can finally bully him into a decent suit."

Elle smothered a grin. "Is Daniel coming with us?"

"The DC team is you, me, Hammond, and Daniel," Jack confirmed. He shooed her out the door. "Go on. We leave in two days."

"Sir."

A/N: Ahem. Canon go wheeeeee! out the window. We're in for it now.