Make What You Will of It
Author:
June Elf
It has been thirty-five years since the inception of the Stargate program, since that time the SGC had still remained a secret to the outside world, this however did not stop progress. Twenty-one years ago the United States Military had begun to colonise nearby planets, discreetly of course. Most of these colonies were built on Naquada and Trinium rich planets, working with the locals to mine the valuable minerals from the ground.
The project had gain many allies and this had bought new technology from all over the galaxy that solved many of the problems we were facing here on Earth. Recently we have gained a device that allows us to harvest clean energy from hydrogen atoms, however much of the credit for solving this problem went to my mother, Colonel Samantha Carter. Even now, thirty-five years on she has not ceased her work on the program. She currently lives off world, operating with the Tok'ra, for part of the year spending the rest of the year with my father; he too is part of the SGC, working as a civilian botanist. She along with the rest of SG-1 have become a living legends at the SGC and its colonies.
They were among the first who stepped through the doorway and of the original team members of SG-1 only three remain alive; my mother, Dr Jackson and the Jaffa, Teal'c. Colonel Jack O'Neill was killed sixteen years ago in a struggle against the Goa'uld System Lord Nirrti, I still think they miss him very much. Now Dr. Daniel Jackson works as a linguist and diplomatic relations between planets. Like mother he has changed much over the years. Teal'c on the other hand has barely changed, he remains as Stoic and monosyllabic as ever. I distinctly remember trying to make the huge Jaffa laugh when I was eleven years old with little success. He, his master Bra'tac and his son Rya'c oversee the training of the Jaffas who wish to join the fight against the Goa'ulds. They are trained either to become part of the growing army of Jaffa rebels, or they are used as infiltrators in the various courts of the Goa'uld. Only a few choose to become a part of the SG Teams.
I myself am part of SG-1, having taken the place of Dr Jackson as team linguist and anthropologist; this was six years ago when he took a bad injury. Mother had stepped down after him and Teal'c was the last to leave SG-1. The rest of the new SG-1 consists of three air force personnel, all male. My commanding officer is Lt Col. Ian Harding; his second in command Captain Liam Whyte and our team technician is Lt Kevin Daehn. All of them were specially picked to be part of the infamous SG-1 because they excelled in a certain field. Harding specialised in munitions, Liam was our team doctor and Daehn was the local genius when it came to technology. He was my mother's protege.
Recollecting, I remember that for the first part of my life I was an ordinary child. I didn't know I was named after the host of my mother's dead symbiote and I did not know the secret of the SGC program. I was only seven when my mother noticed I was different, and only that because I was able to translate a seal that was covered in hieroglyphs. I was then bought to Daniel, Colonel Jack and Teal'c. My grandfather confirmed that I had inherited the memories of the Tok'ra Jolinar through my mother. I became a valuable asset (and a liability) to the SGC overnight. From then on it was decided that in addition to the normal eduction of a child I would have extra lessons from Dr Jackson in the Ancient languages and anthropology and that my grandfather would teach me the hierarchy and politics involved with the Goa'ulds and the Tok'ra. I had to wait till I matured further before they taught me how to use their technology and allow me to accompany them on various missions. My future was set in stone.
From an early age I was influenced by Jolinar, I could access most of her memories without the help of a Tok'ra memory device and on a day to day basis general choices were made with a strong feeling of right or wrong. Not that she was always right. As I grew older it really put a strain on my dating life, every guy I went out with was met with heavy resentment and that damned feeling of wrongness. This I could blame on her unconditional love for her mate, Martouf. In the end I decided it was easier not to trouble myself with relationships. One perk that came with being a Harcesis child was the fact that I learnt faster than most of the kids my age. Science, maths, languages, ancient history and Goa'uld politics was very much like revision. The only things I had to wade through were modern history and English, but even then it was augmented slightly by the dim memories Jolinar gained from my mother. Life passed smoothly with only the occasional life-threatening situation.
Today was going to be a normal day, we would travel to the planet PX2-397, the Tok'ra home world and by chance a tropical paradise. My team and I would then be briefed about the latest happenings on the galaxy. We were going to be concentrating on the System Lords Sokar and Cronus. Those two were on the verge of war as Sokar had conquered part of his territory, because of this incursion Yu would be supporting Cronus in this war as part of his territory was also threatened by Sokhar.
As usual we stepped off the ramp and through the gate, when we stepped out the other end we were greeted by three Tok'ra standing underneath the leaves of a palm like tree. One of them stepped forward from underneath the shade and out into the sunlight.
"Hey Pumpkin." He greeted with a smile.
"Hello Jacob," I said, he gave me a hard stare before wrapping me in a bear hug.
"I wish you would stop calling me that, you're becoming more of a friend than a grand-daughter."
"I'll start calling you Pop, when you stop calling me pumpkin. Besides don't you like being my friend? You have enough grand-daughters already."
A small wrinkle appeared on his forehead "I know, but I'm not allowed to see them. How are they doing? I hear that Kate's pregnant."
"You're a bit behind with the news," I opened one of my vest pockets, pulled out a picture of a tiny baby and handed it over to him. "Congratulations, you're a great-granddaddy now. This one kept cousin Kate up till 1 am in the morning trying to come out. You should be proud, they named him Jacob."
He grinned, "Did they really? I do feel proud, a namesake. When did this happen?"
"A week ago."
"That's great." From behind we heard a muted cough it was Harding. "Hey Ian, How's your wife?"
"Bugging the hell out of me actually. She feels that I'm the one responsible for breaking her arm."
"Really? What happened?"
"I took her horseriding and the horse ran away with her."
Jacob laughed and slapped Harding on his back. "You have to tell me all about it on the trip."
I stepped in; "You never mentioned anything about a trip Jacob."
"Oh, didn't I tell you? We moved house; Nirrti gatecrashed the last one. Get it? Gatecrashed? Ha!!"
"Still not funny Pop."
"Don't tease the old man. We have to make this short, a Jaffa patrol usually comes around about this time of the day."
"Back in a sec." With that Harding turned back and started to dial back home to report the sudden change in plan to the general, while Jacob, the rest of the team and I moved towards the hidden ship. He stopped mid-stride and bowed his head. When he raised his head, eyes glowing. He turned towards me and immediately he changed into a different person. Though he still looked like Jacob Carter, his entire disposition was altered.
"Greetings Rosha."
"Selmak." I nodded, Selmak was rather quiet for a Tok'ra, but on occasion he has been known for his good sense of humour. "Any news on Sokar's attack on the Cronus?"
"Martouf and Lantash have just returned from their mission, they would have Sokar's final decision. From afar it looks like Sokhar is mobilising his troops, but this may just be another routine conquering mission. He has been eyeing a remote planet that was reported to have a rich supply of Naquada. However the dominant species of the planet are quite aggressive."
"Interesting..." I said, I was going to inquire further but apparently that was all Selmak had to say, he bowed his head and once again Jacob gained control. "So, Jacob where's this new planet?"
"It's a pretty place, great view. For once we aren't living underground, we've moved up in the world pumpkin. We're living inside a mountain." Once again Jacob was laughing as he heard Daehn groan beside me. "It's about an hour's drive that way." He waved his arm, pointing to the sky above him.
I heard Daehn mutter, "Great, from one mountain to another. I swear, once we get some leave I'm going to a place where there is not a hill in sight, a flat plain with lots of sunlight. I think I'm becoming a vampire."
Whyte pointed out "You also burn well in the sun."
"Shut up, you can't say much. Your colouring matches a fish's underbelly."
Whyte shifted his attention from Daehn to Jacob. "Anything on this planet that we should know about? Lusty Amazons perhaps? I think Daehn needs something to cheer him up, he's a bit cranky this morning."
Jacob laughed again, "Sorry buddy, no such luck. Just mountain, lots and lots of mountains." He stopped and muttered a word in Ancient Egyptian. There was a hiss as the door of the cloaked Teltac opened. He grinned and stepped inside, one by one the rest of us followed. As I stepped through the doorway I caught a glimpse of Jolinar's past. Dull flashes of pain and torment tagged those memories, images of Delmak and Sokar's torture. I shook the pain away and turned towards my grandfather, I said to him, "This is Jolinar's ship isn't it? You've still kept it around after all these years?"
Jacob shrugged "You never know when you need one," he grinned, "we finally got it upgraded."
"Where did you get all the spare parts?"
He shrugged, "Someone crashed a ship, we salvaged the parts. It took us three months to put this ship back together again after we put in the new parts."
"Since when were you mechanical?"
"I'm not, Selmak took control for most of the part. I was the coffee maker."
Once again I laughed. I loved the time I spent with my grandfather and the Tok'ra. When the time came for a Tok'ra to blend with a new host, I would be one of the first to volunteer, but for now I would remain a part of SG-1.
The cloaked ship started up with a hum, as it exited the atmosphere of the planet, the rest of my team took their places on the various chests and boxes that also served as seats. There was a brief jolt when the ship entered hyperspace.
Jacob sat down next to me. "We have a lot of catching up to do, anything happen to you recently?"
"Nothing much, but we did stumble onto an interesting planet last week. The locals there took after the Celtic culture. I think the Asgaards placed the people there about a thousand years ago.
"Another Sumeria?"
"No, they didn't have a Hammer." Whyte apparently had been listening in on the conversation. He crossed the room and placed himself in front of Jacob, on the floor. "But they did have this one plant that was able to reduce the effects of the drug Roshna."
This perked the interest of Selmak; he took control of Jacob and began an earnest conversation with Whyte. "Do you have any in your possession right now? With time I think we would be able to develop the antidote."
I moved next to Daehn since those two were stuck in their own world, "C'mon, let's see what Harding is up to."
"He's in the bridge talking to the other Tok'ra about the situation with the System Lords. We don't really need to be there, do we?"
"We'd better, besides what else are we supposed to do?"
"Pass time," he heaved a sigh and stood up, "Oh ok, let's go."
Time passed quickly as we talked, we had reached the orbit of the Tok'ra home world by the time we had been briefed on the events in the past weeks. Looking outside the window I could see that the planet by far was one of the most beautiful. The majority of the terrain was mountainous and many of the peaks were capped in snow. The Teltac landed in the valley near a frozen river, the wind had begun to pick up and there was the smell of snow on the breeze.
Once the ship became invisible again Jacob announced "Well, this is it; home sweet home."
"It's pretty." Said Daehn. "Once you get past the damn frostbite."
I laughed, "Always the pessimistic aren't you?"
As we grouped together, one of the Tok'ra touched a device on his wrist. When we heard the familiar mechanisms of the transport rings the world blurred into the crystal tunnels of the Tok'ra home.
The first person that greeted us was very familiar to me, her short blonde hair was mixed with silver and her face was sparsely lined with wrinkles. Standing next to Jacob, it was hard to imagine them being father and daughter. To the casual observer one would think that she would be the same age as him. She stepped forward and hugged me.
"Hey sweetie, how are you?"
"I'm fine Mom." It was good to see her again.
"How's your father?"
"Sam...Sam...wake up." Major Carter felt someone gently shaking her. "Wake up...you've been here since 2 o'clock last night."
She opened her eyes and saw the grinning face of Daniel.
"God, what time is it?"
Daniel shrugged and said, "Around 6am. Jack wants us ready to go by nine. But Janet wanted us to meet someone first. He was called up when we found that plant on PQ6 499."
"The one that aid in the development of antibodies. Janet thought that it could be a cure for AIDS."
"Yes, that one. He's the botanist Hammond assigned to us; we're going back today to collect more of it. He's going to survey the land and see if there's a similar plant on earth that would mimic it's affect."
"Is he civilian?"
"Yeah, his name is Alexander Emerson. Have you heard of him?"
"No, never heard of him."
"Me neither. I wonder if Jack will like him." When she gave him a confused look "You know him and scientists."
At that point Doctor Fraiser walked in, she was followed by a man who was looking around at the lab in awe.
"Dr Emerson, I'd like you to meet Dr Jackson and Major Carter. They'll be escorting you to through the Stargate."
He gave them a warm smile and extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
Sam shook his hand "Likewise. How are you liking the SGC so far?"
"I haven't seen much of it so far, but I like what I see so far."
"I could give the tour after we get back, if you like."
"I would." He smiled. "Thank you."
"Sorry people," interrupted Janet. "General Hammond would like to debrief all of you right now. He wants you in the conference room."
"Daniel can you go ahead with Dr Emerson and Janet? I have a few things to finish here, I'll just be a few seconds behind you."
"Fine by me...I'll see you there."
She nodded, as they left she started shutting off all the machines. She looked at the empty doorway. "A botanist, a civilian botanist, funny. Deja vu." With that she shook her head and laughed, and followed them out into the hallway.
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