Translations (2/19)
Title: Translations ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.
Chapter1 Chapter2
XXXXX
Chapter 2: Stargate Command
XXXXX
13 October 1997; SGC, Earth; 0130 hrs
Sam Carter tumbled through the Stargate to the cacophony of alarms and yelling. The security team was stationed at the foot of the ramp, as expected, and she pushed herself quickly to her feet, raising her hands.
"Hold your fire! There are a lot more coming through, sir!" she called, spotting General Hammond through the control room window. "They're refugees--hold your fire!" she repeated urgently as the first two people stumbled through behind her and the security team's guns held steady.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Captain," the general said in warning as he entered the embarkation room.
So do I, Sam thought apprehensively, watching aliens step through a stone circle into the underground base.
And she'd thought her life was weird when they'd pulled her in for research on using Stargates for time travel.
No time for that now. Another group of people fell through, and Sam quickly moved to pull them forward, away from the wormhole, to make room for the rest. Eleven, she counted as four more staggered through, twelve, thirteen, fourteen...
Then she stopped, because she didn't actually know how many there had been to begin with, or how many were left after their run through the forest and the firefight at the 'gate. Counting was a way to take comfort in familiar numbers, not really a practical exercise.
The trickle of people gradually slowed before the entrance of the Jaffa--he'd introduced himself to the colonel as something that sounded like Teal--still dressed in full armor and carrying his staff weapon. Clattering sounds at the base of the ramp made Sam whirl and call, "Whoa! Don't shoot, don't shoot! He's with us!"
Seeing that the security team wasn't about to let up any time soon, she walked deliberately toward the admittedly formidable-looking warrior, who spotted her immediately and bowed, handing the staff weapon off to her with a quiet but stiff, "Captain Carter."
She awkwardly accepted and hefted the weapon...wow. It looked lighter than it was, but still, for something that emitted so much energy, she would have thought it would at least have some massive power source, and some form of insulation...and what was the power source, anyway? She wondered what the Jaffa would say if she asked to take it apart and study it, since they hadn't let her touch the ones sitting around in the labs, and really, what use was it to have things sitting around in a lab if they weren't going to do research on them?
But later. Research later. Now...
"Are they behind you?" she asked, looking up to meet his gaze.
"Indeed," the Jaffa answered emotionlessly. "We should relocate, Captain Carter. O'Neill and the others will follow shortly."
"Yes, of course," she agreed, a little unsettled by...well, him, in general, as she led the way down the ramp. Maybe it was a cultural thing. It was too bad they didn't have any anthropologists working at the SGC at the moment--or translators, she thought, remembering how frustrating it had been to blunder around an alien world without a clue what anyone was saying. If it hadn't been for accidentally meeting up with Daniel and Skaara...
Where was the boy, anyway? They'd gotten separated early on, but surely he should have made it through by now...
Suddenly, a bolt of energy shot through the 'gate, and she ducked, flinging herself over the railing as the security team tensed. A man came through next--Kawalsky, it looked like, followed by the rest of the team, one of them being half-dragged out.
Finally, Colonel O'Neill all but rolled through the wormhole, clutching someone in his arms and yelling, "Get down! Close the iris! Lock it up now!"
"Close the iris!" Hammond ordered.
A final staff blast made it through the closing hole, sizzling on the concrete wall, before the titanium shield finally formed fully. A series of thumps sounded against the iris, and Sam winced, imagining what--or, more likely, who--had just splattered against their shield.
Well, not splattered, exactly, since they wouldn't have rematerialized yet, so it was more of a...
No. Not now. Think about that later.
The wormhole disengaged, and complete silence reigned for a few seconds. Then Colonel O'Neill, still sprawled nearly flat on the ramp, lifted his head and called, "Everyone all right?"
At the same time, Kawalsky suddenly yelled, "Medic! I got a man down here!"
The colonel was getting to his feet, and now Sam saw Daniel Jackson's figure, sitting just where the colonel had released him after coming through. A medical team rushed into the room and past her to the downed Captain Casey. "Colonel," Sam said, deciding from the way he was standing that he was likely uninjured. She nodded to Daniel. "Is he okay?"
Daniel didn't move from his position, so she dropped to one knee beside him. "Daniel," Colonel O'Neill hissed, sounding furious, "what part of 'follow Captain Carter' didn't you understand?" When no answer, came, he frowned and started to bend down to take a closer look. "Daniel?"
General Hammond's voice had them both whipping their heads around. "Colonel O'Neill, care to explain?"
Sam looked up into the colonel's face. "Sir, I've got him," she assured him. O'Neill glanced again at Daniel, then nodded back at her and stepped down to brief the general.
"Daniel?" Sam said, touching the back of her hand to his face. His skin was freezing, and he was shivering violently--she could feel thawing frost on his cheeks and was reminded that 'gate travel was disorienting the first few times, especially to someone more than likely in shock, and dressed only in a ragged tunic suited for desert heat, besides. "Are you hurt?" she asked gently.
Daniel lifted his head to face her, his eyes darting nervously around the unfamiliar embarkation room, then shook his head 'no.' He didn't uncurl himself, though, and was still shaking. In the safety of the base, now, exhaustion was plain in his expression.
"Come on, let's get you to the infirmary with everyone else," she urged, tugging gently on his arm. He let himself be pulled halfway to his feet, almost docile, so she was surprised when he suddenly jerked away, stumbling unsteadily past the flustered security team at the bottom of the ramp and looking around at the heavily guarded exits. "It's okay, you're safe here--"
"Where is this?" Daniel asked suspiciously.
Colonel O'Neill--finished reporting to the general or torn away by the commotion, Sam wasn't sure--took two slow, even steps toward the boy, who flinched and tripped on the edge of the ramp, edging away.
"Daniel, this is Stargate Command, our base," the colonel said, his tone something Sam didn't really recognize. Not his casual tone, which he used more often than he strictly should, but not his sharper commanding one, either. It was more the way one might talk to a scared animal. Daniel had sunk back to the ground and was pressed against the side of the ramp. Sam hesitated a few feet away, wanting to do something but unsure of whether she should stay away to avoid crowding him. She took a step closer but stayed there, hovering uncertainly.
Daniel took a quick look around the room and fixed his stare on General Hammond, instantly identifying him as the man in charge. 'Was it the clothing?' Sam wondered, distantly interested; Hammond was the only one not in BDUs, but then, she hadn't been able to tell at first glance which Abydonian robes were casual and which denoted some sort of rank. 'Or body language?' The boy was the son of two renowned anthropologists, after all.
"What are you going to do with us?" Daniel asked Hammond.
"No one's gonna do anything to anyone," O'Neill said firmly, drawing Daniel's attention back. "We'll make sure everyone's not hurt, and then help them get home. You need to go get checked out, too. It's a rule."
"They have guns," the boy insisted. Sam followed his gaze to the security team, who still seemed to be partially on alert. "I know what guns are."
"Oh, for cryin' out loud," O'Neill muttered, then barked, "Put the guns down. There are no hostiles here, and you're scarin' the kid."
"I am not a kid," Daniel protested immediately, though he inched closer to O'Neill and visibly relaxed once the weapons were lowered. Hammond said something quietly to Major Samuels, who looked unhappy but nodded and began attempting to round up the nonessential personnel, who were dealing with similar situations with the other frightened and bewildered refugees.
"It's like how Skaara and...and the others guarded the Stargate on Abydos," the colonel explained. "We keep a guard around here, too, that's all, in case something bad tries to come through. But no one's gonna hurt you--you're home, now."
Daniel's eyebrows shot upward. "Home? But..." He trailed off, and then, in a small voice, "You mean Earth."
Colonel O'Neill set a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "That's right. This is where your parents were from. They stood in this exact room once."
Daniel looked down and ran a cautious hand over the metal of the ramp. "Not Abydos? And what about Skaara and Sha'uri?"
Sam stepped in to say, "Right now, this is the safest place for you." She didn't mention that going back to Abydos now wasn't even physically possible, and that when they'd told him 'home' while escaping Chulak, they'd meant 'Earth.' "We'll take good care of you here, okay?"
The shivering restarted, and this time the colonel wrapped a single arm around Daniel's shoulders. "C'mon. You're exhausted. We'll talk later."
Daniel didn't unwrap his own arms from around himself, but he didn't shrug out of the colonel's grasp, either. A few seconds later, Daniel was on his feet, looking half-asleep and swaying against the colonel. General Hammond's expression was cycling between concerned, impatient, and confused.
"I'll take these people to the infirmary, sir," was all the colonel said, before nodding to the general, pulling Daniel with him out of the embarkation room and toward the infirmary among the crowd of other military personnel and the people from Chulak.
Sam looked nervously back at the general, who glared at her and asked, "Captain?"
"That's, uh... That was Daniel Jackson, sir," she said. "All of the people here are a little disoriented. They've been in a dungeon for a couple of days, at least."
"Yes, I managed to pick that up," the general said dryly. "Report to the infirmary for your post-mission checkup, and tell the colonel and Major Kawalsky I want to see you all in the briefing room at 0900 tomorrow--rather, later today. You have a lot of explaining to do." His eyes drifted up the ramp, where, Sam realized with a start, the Jaffa warrior was still standing. For such an imposing man, he could be incredibly quiet.
"Yes, sir," she said, moving to stand beside their alien ally, although she knew how useless her show of protection would be if someone starting firing on him. Still, he'd helped them escape--a show of solidarity was the least she could do. "General, this is the man who saved our lives."
The general's eyes narrowed, still filled with suspicion. "Like I said, Captain. A lot of explaining."
XXXXX
13 October 1997; SGC, Earth; 0900 hrs
To General Hammond's credit, Jack thought, the first thing he said when he walked into the briefing room was not a question or accusation about the hostiles or mission objectives or even security. "How's the Jackson boy?" Hammond asked.
"Out like a light, sir," Jack answered. "The doc said he'll probably keep sleeping for a while." Captain Carter and Charlie Kawalsky were already at the table, so he took a seat by Carter.
"And our other...guests?"
"No serious injuries. They've all been sent back to their homes; those who didn't know their planets' addresses were sent with someone who did. Except Daniel Jackson, obviously, who's from Abydos, and Teal'c, who...won't be going back."
"Yes--I've spoken briefly with Teal'c," Hammond said, and questions about security were back on the table. "About him..."
Jack held up a finger. "General, I know what you're going to say, but I would trust him with my life. And with the lives of my team," he added, which they both knew ultimately meant more. "I wouldn't say that lightly."
"That's all very well, Colonel," Hammond said, frowning. "But you'll understand that I can't afford to place trust in him like that."
"Sir," Jack pushed, "he saved all our lives."
"He switched sides," Hammond countered, "all of two minutes after seeing you for the first time. He's carrying around the infant of a hostile alien in his gut. I've seen what his kind can do."
"His kind, sir?"
"Yes, Colonel, his kind! Even if he does mean well, his circumstances do not exactly inspire confidence in his allegiances."
"Well, then," Jack said, "I guess you're not going to grant my request that he join SG-1."
Hammond pressed his lips together. "You're damn right about that."
Jack leaned forward in his seat. "Sir, just give him a chance."
"For all I know, Teal'c could be an asset to our side. But even if I were willing to 'give him a chance,' it's not entirely in my hands."
"Meaning...what, exactly?" Jack asked warily.
"Meaning the Pentagon would like to ask him some questions," Hammond said. "Possibly run a few tests."
Hell, no. "With all due respect, sir," Jack said, forcibly keeping his voice calm, "Teal'c did not risk his life to save us--and all those people back there--so he could come here and be some kind of damn guinea pig for the US military."
"Colonel Kennedy is already en route from the Pentagon." Hammond's expression remained firm. "I promise you, Colonel, that Teal'c will be treated with dignity and respect as long as he remains a guest of this facility. Beyond that, I can't promise a thing."
Jack clenched his fists under the table but dropped the challenging gaze. "Yes, sir." Someone shifted uncomfortably in the seat next to his, and he turned slightly to see Sam Carter looking down at the table, her lips pursed and the set of her shoulders broadcasting her displeasure. Well, at least someone agreed with him. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all, scientist or not. Kawalsky only looked a bit uneasy with the situation, but then, he hadn't been there when Teal'c had turned.
"In the meantime," Hammond was saying, "we need to talk about one of our guests in the infirmary." He paused. "I think it would be wise to assume," he went on carefully, "that Daniel Jackson could, technically, also be considered an alien. With Colonel Kennedy coming here..."
Jack had leapt to his feet before he could fully register his action. "No way! You're not going to let the Pentagon screw around with a kid!"
"Sit down, Colonel!" Hammond snapped. "And you, Captain."
Jack sat and turned, surprised to see Carter standing. She sank immediately back into her chair but spoke quickly, "General, please. If nothing else, his parents were national heroes of...of historical importance. We owe it to them not to let their son be subjected to interrogation or worse, right after he lost his home."
"Captain Carter!" Hammond glared at them. "If you two would let me finish..." Carter's ears turned red. Jack had been retired until a week ago and didn't bother pretending to be repentant. "I agree wholeheartedly with you. I was going to say that the Pentagon is aware that the son of Drs. Claire and Melburn Jackson is currently on this base. They also know he is human and, biologically, from Earth. They have no particular interest in him at this time."
Carter let out a quiet sigh of relief, though her blush hadn't yet faded, and Kawalsky nodded in approval. "Fine by me, sir," Jack said, "though I'd suggest that he be kept out of the way while they're here, so they don't gain any particular interest in him."
"That seems like a good idea, Colonel," Hammond agreed immediately. Jack's opinion of him went up a small notch. "The very fact that he's not from this planet would be enough reason for certain people to want to use or question him."
"So, General," Kawalsky spoke up for the first time, "what are we gonna do with him?"
"He's already asked to go back to Abydos," Carter spoke up. "I don't think anyone's told him yet that their Stargate's buried."
"This is a...highly irregular situation," Hammond said, ignoring Jack's snort. "Because of how suddenly all of this has come up, we're still very much understaffed here, and even when we do have all the personnel we need, we're not looking to employ the sort of people who normally deal with situations involving children, much less alien teenagers."
"Y'think?" Jack couldn't resist saying.
"So, for the moment, I will defer to the medical professionals on this base concerning how to deal with him," Hammond finished, eyeing Jack. "Barring objections, it seems prudent to keep him here for the moment."
"When you say 'here,'" Jack said, "do you mean here on Earth, or here in Cheyenne Mountain?"
"Until we have everything sorted out, including a cover story, he should remain within the SGC," Hammond clarified. "He does speak our language, correct?" At the answering nods, Hammond exhaled, rubbing his brow. "Well, at least that's one thing less to think about."
Not for the first time now, Jack wished there were someone like Claire or Melburn Jackson available. These kinds of issues hadn't been his biggest concern when he'd gone through the Stargate the first time. A little reluctantly, he said, "Speaking of the Jacksons, sir...our original orders were to bring them home to Earth. I have to admit, we could really use someone with their kind of expertise."
Hammond looked vaguely amused. "You're saying we need to bring in more scientists," he said.
Jack stopped himself from rolling his eyes, ignoring a fake cough from Kawalsky's side of the table. "Some people with linguistic skills and...cultural expertise could come in handy," he allowed. "That's all I'm saying, sir."
"No need to worry," Hammond said. "Some of the personnel here are qualified translators. Experts in the fields of linguistics, anthropology, physics, and a variety of other sciences are being approached as we speak. I expect we'll have plenty of scientists around here before too long. Now, if that's all, you're dismissed. I'll speak with you all later about your teams."
They rose automatically as Hammond left the room. Jack caught Kawalsky's smirk and Carter's poorly hidden smile. "I didn't mean I was looking for a base full of geeks," he muttered, then winced at Carter's affronted expression. "No offense, Carter."
...x...
Carter was already sitting in the infirmary when Jack walked in, after the whirlwind of the last two days finally calmed for the moment. "Colonel," she greeted quietly, starting to stand.
Jack stopped by an empty bed. "As you were, Captain-Doctor," he answered absently, staring at the newly changed sheets.
"I wish you wouldn't call me that, sir," she said, though without heat, and she sat back down. She saw where he was looking and added, "Oh, Major Ferretti was transferred to the Academy hospital just a couple of hours ago, but they say he'll make a full recovery."
"Huh." He wished he'd known, so he could have gotten a chance to see the man off.
"Major Kawalsky was here for a bit, but he's crashing in his quarters now," she said.
"That's...good. Good." After twenty-four hours standing vigil off-world, and who knew how many hours of vigil at Ferretti's bedside before that, Jack was relieved Kawalsky was taking the time to sleep.
He made his way to where she was standing and looked down at the sleeping figure she was watching curiously. He suddenly wondered again just how old Daniel Jackson was, because it was even harder to tell a person's age when he was sleeping. Then he wondered why there was an IV line going into his arm. Out loud, he only said, "I can't believe he's still sleeping."
"The doctors gave him a mild sedative at some point during the night. They said a lot of the people we brought back from Chulak were pretty dehydrated"--Jack reflexively glanced up at the IV bag and saw that it contained only saline--"but Daniel became agitated after falling asleep. Tried to pull out the needle and everything. They thought it better to let him rest."
"'Agitated in his sleep'?" he repeated softly. "Most people call them nightmares, Captain, and they don't drug kids for having them."
"Yes, sir, I know, but it was pretty chaotic in here after we got back--some of the others needed more serious medical attention," she said reasonably. "At least this way he got to rest until it was determined who he was and what should be done with him."
Still a little disgruntled but unable to come up with a good argument--they really weren't staffed at full operating capacity yet--he only grunted in answer.
Daniel's Abydonian clothing had been replaced with standard scrubs, blue fabric peeking out over the top of the blankets. One arm was tucked under the blankets; the other sported a thin bracelet that Jack hadn't noticed before, made of something that looked like braided strips of hide. Daniel admittedly did look pretty calm, which Jack realized with a start that he'd never seen in the boy's expression before, between the excitement of strangers on Abydos and the stress of their prison break.
Jack's first thought was that his son used to curl up the same way while sleeping, but facing the other way. His second was that this boy here looked nothing like his son. It was just that, asleep, he looked younger than he must actually be, and...
"Sir?" Carter said.
He looked up, feeling oddly embarrassed, though there was no way she could have known what he was thinking and didn't even seem to have noticed his distraction. "What?"
She smoothed the sheets unnecessarily on Daniel's bed. "It's not important, but I was wondering...if you don't mind me asking, sir..."
"Carter, if you're gonna be on my team, I don't need you tiptoeing around anything," he said. "I do need to know what you're thinking."
Startled eyes met his. "Yes, sir." She cleared her throat. "Did you know Claire and Melburn Jackson well?"
Jack had to stop and think about that one to decide on the answer. "Not really," he admitted finally. "We didn't spend a lot of time together, and there wasn't a lot of time to muck around on that mission."
"Really? I mean, you seemed pretty comfortable with them when we were on Abydos." Her eyes flicked down for a moment. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't mean to pry into..."
"Eh," he said, waving off the apology and considering her for a moment. "You've seen combat before this week, Captain. You know what it's like--time in hostile territory, everyone trying to pull everyone else's ass out of the fire... Melburn jumped in front of a hot staff weapon for me once. I never imagined he had it in him. The Jacksons didn't think too much of us 'military types' at first, but I think they came to respect us. I know I respected them, sneezes notwithstanding."
Carter raised an eyebrow. "Sneezes, sir?"
"It... Allergies." He shook his head, a dull ache settling gently in his chest. He hadn't known them well, not even enough to grieve them properly, but the few quirks and jokes they'd shared were a reminder of their absence, nonetheless. "The point is, they didn't deserve..." He looked down at the son of the two late archaeologists they were discussing. "You know what, Carter, this might not be the best place to talk about... You wanna take this outside?"
She stood quickly. "Of course, sir, you're right." As they stepped out and began walking down the hallway, she remarked, "I've been thinking that maybe we should've brought their...brought them back with us to give them a proper service. This program owes everything to them."
Jack shook his head, though. "The Abydons will give them a hero's funeral. That place was home to them. I think it's what they would've wanted."
She walked in silence for a while. "They were brilliant," she said finally, sounding genuinely regretful about their loss, too. "I would've loved the chance to talk to them more. What an incredible couple of people."
"Yeah," he agreed. "You probably would've gotten along pretty well with them, actually." Jack thought the average IQ of the base probably dropped noticeably whenever Carter left; she and the Jacksons would have made one hell of a team.
"Daniel, too," she said. "When I think of how far he could go, with the right education...it'll be almost a shame to send him back, where he won't be able to get that."
"It's his home, Carter," he said.
"Oh, of course, sir," she said quickly. "I'm just saying... I talked to him on Abydos, and later when we were running back to the Stargate. Obviously, he's absorbed a lot of mythology and some languages from what his parents taught him, but he was picking out some basic conversation with one of the other prisoners, too, using a few words he'd picked up from the language the Jaffa and Goa'uld speak. A little charades to fill in the blanks, but he's very quick."
Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "You were chatting with Daniel while running for your lives?"
"He was pretty shaken up, sir. It seemed to calm him down a lot."
He conceded the point, remembering how Daniel had acted while in the prison. "His folks are...were like that, too--completely forgot about life-threatening sandstorms and armies as soon as they found an interesting rock."
She smiled faintly, then glanced backward as they walked, as if trying to see inside the infirmary from meters away. "I've been worried--I thought he'd be awake by now."
"He's tired and drugged," Jack pointed out. "We got back after midnight, and he's been in a prison for couple of days. Besides, days are longer on Abydos. Twelve hours of sleep a night is pretty average for them, and it's only been, what, ten?"
Carter turned down a corridor, her brow wrinkled in thought. "Days are longer?" She shook her head. "I don't know why that surprises me--it shouldn't. It's still just bizarre--we leave Chulak in broad daylight and step through a wormhole to here, where it's the middle of the night. Days aren't twenty-four hours long on Abydos... It makes perfect sense, but it's hard to get used to."
He shrugged, then suddenly realized they were in the elevator. "Wait, where are we going?" He'd been following her without any real reason.
Carter looked surprised, then said, "I'm going to my lab. We're working on the coordinates from Abydos, sir. Also, I got some footage of other walls that have what I suspect is more than just Stargate symbols. Until we get a translator or an Egyptologist, we can't even guess whether or not it's something important, and we're just hoping something in the Jacksons' journals will help us." She stopped to take a breath. "Do you need to be somewhere, sir?"
Damn. He was not hanging out in the physics lab. He searched for something to say but had to admit, "We're waiting for the Goa'ulds to stop dialing us before doing anything. Teal'c thinks they'll keep sending Jaffa through until they figure out we've got an iris."
Carter winced. "How is Teal'c, sir?"
"They're being very nice to him, for a prisoner of war," Jack replied caustically.
"A prisoner of war?" she repeated.
"Well, that's not what they're calling him, officially. But they keep him locked in a room, they interrogate him, and then they lock him up again."
The elevator doors opened, and, for lack of anything better to do, Jack stepped off with her. "There's nothing you can do?" she said, still looking unhappy.
Jack shrugged tightly. "I've talked to him a couple of times. Sat in while the Pentagon lackey questioned him. He's not being tortured; don't worry too much yet. I'll keep at them, see if I can get them to ease up."
"Yes, sir."
The reached the door to a lab where Carter walked in. Jack lingered at the door. "Uh, I'm gonna go do...stuff," he said.
"No one would mind if you wanted to stay while you wait for something else to do. Or help us catalogue the 'gate addresses," she hinted hopefully.
Jack took a look around at the benches, where computers, microscopes, and some much less easily recognizable equipment perched. "I think I'd mind," he said. "Have fun with your...cataloguing, Captain."
XXXXX
13 October 1997; SGC, Earth; 1400 hrs
The next time Jack walked past the infirmary, intending to pass by on his way to the elevator, he heard raised voices and noticed that the security personnel normally outside the infirmary were no longer at their post. Alarmed, he ran inside to find Dr. Warner and two young nurses all standing around Daniel Jackson, who was yelling something incomprehensible and twisting in the grip of an airman.
"Hey, hey!" he said, even though he realized he was only adding to the din. "What do you think you're doing!"
Warner turned to him with far too much relief for someone who was supposed to be calm in crises. "Colonel O'Neill," he greeted, striding over, only to be pushed back as Jack stormed through, grabbing him by the lab coat as he passed. "Wh...all right! He woke up, and as soon as he saw Nurse Johnson, he started having a panic attack. We're trying to keep him from running, and we can't understand what he's saying, but I think he was talking about ghouls or..."
"Oh, for cryin' out loud," Jack muttered disgustedly, releasing the man's lapel and pushing the nurses back. "Let him go, you moron. That's an order!"
The minute Daniel was released, he darted forward, but Jack was ready and caught him and pinned his arms against his body, maneuvering so that the boy had no choice but to face him. "Daniel," he said loudly, bending a little to bring his head closer to Daniel's height. "Listen to me. We're not Goa'ulds!"
"Na nay!"
"Kid, I'm starting to think that's the only word you ever say," Jack managed as he struggled to hang onto the surprisingly strong boy squirming in his arms. "Hey, hey. Look at me, Daniel. You know me. We are not Goa'ulds. We got out of there, remember?"
"I don't think he's even hearing us anymore, Colonel," Dr. Warner said in a helpful tone.
"Daniel, we can't understand you. Ne...uh. Crap." Wishing he'd learned more Abydonian, Jack fished through his memory and tried a different language that Daniel definitely knew, more forcefully, "Ana mish fahim!" He hoped that one was right.
The abruptness of the language change seemed to be enough to startle Daniel into shutting up and lifting his head, so that he was staring into Jack's eyes. He stilled, though his arms remained stiff and were trembling with adrenaline.
Slowly, softly, Jack repeated, "I don't understand Abydonian, okay, so... But you're safe. We're not Goa'ulds. You're safe." When Daniel didn't move, he prompted, "You remember me?"
Daniel bit his lower lip, eyes darting restlessly around the room, then said, "O'Neill. Colonel," he added, an afterthought.
"That's right. We escaped from the Goa'ulds. You remember that?"
He nodded tentatively. "Yes." He glanced distrustfully around, then said through gritted teeth, "Ma tilmisni."
"Ah...I've kinda reached the limits of what I can say in Arabic," Jack said, "so if you don't mind sticking with Engli--"
"Let me go!" Daniel snapped.
Very deliberately, Jack took his hands away and held them out unthreateningly. "All right, then. All right. Look, why don't you sit down on the bed." As if to demonstrate, Jack sat on the gurney next to the mussed bed where Daniel had been sleeping, watching the boy carefully to see if he would follow. After another long hesitation, he did, lowering himself to perch nervously at the edge of the bed, his eyes flicking continuously over Jack's shoulder toward the men and women still standing some distance away.
"Now that's settl--"
"What's going on?" a familiar voice sounded from the doorway.
Jack rose. "General Hammond, sir." Daniel was immediately on his feet, too, and Jack quickly dropped his hand back on Daniel's shoulder, partially to reassure but mostly to make sure he wouldn't bolt. "Actually, I was just about to ask the same thing."
Hammond took in the medical staff, the security, and Jack's protective stance. "Doctor?"
Warner stepped forward. "As I already told the colonel, the boy--"
"Whose name is Daniel," Jack put in.
"--Daniel woke up and Nurse Johnson went to check on him. He panicked upon waking. Colonel O'Neill seems to have calmed him down."
Daniel shifted under Jack's hand. "Don't talk about me as if I cannot hear you," he said.
Warner looked chastised. "We weren't sure you understood English, uh, Daniel."
"He does," Jack said. "He's pretty bright, Doc."
Daniel squirmed again and shrugged Jack's hand off, taking two steps back to fold his arms across his chest like a shield and glared at Jack this time, looking insulted and disgruntled and distrustful all at once. "And don't patronize me, either."
Hammond raised an eyebrow. Jack made an effort not to let his mental backpedaling show in his expression. "I'm not," he lied. "It's just what Carter told me. She's impressed by you, and my boss tells me she's much smarter than me." Daniel's glare lost a little heat but didn't let up completely. "And you did good back there, on Chulak. You tried to help the other prisoners to escape. Not everyone would've done that."
Daniel opened his mouth. Jack raised a warning finger. "Ah! I'm just telling it like it is." The mouth closed.
Daniel dropped his gaze, which Jack took as a sign that he wasn't being seen as the enemy anymore. "It did not--didn't make much difference," Daniel muttered despite the admonition. "It isn't as if they needed someone to tell them to run." He seemed fluent enough, Jack supposed, but he was clearly still trying to get used to using English all the time.
Jack shrugged. "You kept your head; that's not as easy as it sounds. That's not bad in my book."
The blue eyes came back up to him, then drifted over to the doorway.
"That's General Hammond," Jack said, following his gaze. "He's the man in charge around here. In fact, he's usually a very busy man, so you're lucky you're getting the chance to meet him."
Hammond seemed to take that as his cue, and he walked closer. "There's little I can do while the 'gate is being dialed every few minutes, and I have a meeting later with potential research scientists. So, Daniel, I have some time now, and I thought I'd come see how you're doing. I'm sorry for the confusion, son, but it's been a hectic few days."
Daniel lifted a foot halfway, as if about to step back, then put it back down again. "I'm not your son," he said, guardedly.
Jack winced. Hammond barely paused before responding smoothly, "No, of course not. It's just an expression, but I won't call you that if it bothers you."
Resentment still showed in Daniel's eyes, but he looked away again, almost visibly shrinking into himself. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Why don't you sit down," Jack suggested again. "No reason for us all to be standing around."
Hammond found himself a chair, while Jack reclaimed his seat on the gurney. Daniel started to, as well, then moved all the way to the head of his gurney, where he reached out a hand to touch his fingers to the wall behind it. As he finally started to sink down to sit on the padding, Jack remarked, "Everything around here probably seems...strange, huh. Different."
Daniel didn't answer immediately, and when he did, it was to ask, looking at the pillow, "When can I go home?"
Leaning forward in a surprisingly paternal way, Hammond said, "I'm afraid that won't be possible right away."
"Why not?" Daniel said, looking up through his bangs.
"Well," Jack explained, "the only way to get there is through the Stargate. And...do you remember how your...how the Stargate on Abydos used to be buried in rocks?"
"We already took the rocks away, almost half a year ago."
Jack nodded slowly. "Right. Here's the thing. Abydos has no way to defend against Apophis, you know that, right?"
Daniel snapped out of his slouch and widened his eyes. "You mean he will go back?"
"No," Jack said quickly. "No, Abydos is safe...because they've buried the Stargate again. Nothing can get through. Understand what I'm saying?" He waited a few moments and saw the moment it sank in.
"You mean...?"
"Nothing can get through, even us. For now. But," he added, as horror dawned on the young face, "Toby...uh, Tobay--you know him, right?" He waited for the wary nod, then continued, "He told us they'll unbury it again in one year, and then we can check to see if it's safe for you to go back."
"He...what?" Daniel said faintly. "Why?"
"They had to close it, to protect themselves," Jack said, "but they want to give you a chance to go back. They didn't want to give up hope that you'd get back to them again."
Daniel's fingers stopped their exploration of the hospital bed's railings. "Skaara and Sha'uri are still gone."
Hammond shot him a questioning look, and Jack realized they'd never actually mentioned those names to him. "The two Abydonian kids," he explained, then told Daniel, "We'll look for them."
"Colonel," Hammond warned.
"General, they were infected by Goa'ulds," Jack said. "We may be able to save them."
"I'd rather not make too many promises," the general said carefully, leaving unspoken the obvious implication that they might not be able to keep that promise. Who knew, after all, what happened to the host of those parasites?
"Sir, whatever the case may be, they're connected to the Goa'uld Apophis," Jack pointed out. "It makes sense to search for them--might not even be avoidable, if we're going after Apophis."
"We'll save them?" Daniel spoke up, the hope in his voice making him sound just the way Skaara had, moments before being dragged away.
It was Jack's turn to tread carefully this time. "We'll do our best to save whoever we find," he said.
There was no hesitation before the quick rejoinder. "That isn't what I asked."
Jack locked eyes with Hammond, then said, "I'm not going to lie to you, kid. We'll try. That's all I can say. We're pretty new at this."
Daniel tilted his head and stared at him in a way that made Jack feel bizarrely like he was being assessed and judged by a--how old was he, anyway? Thirteen, maybe? Fourteen? Finally, Daniel nodded, but reiterated, "I'm not a kid."
"Hey," Jack said. "You're a kid compared to me. By the way, how old are you?"
"Almost seventeen years," Daniel said. "Almost saé--of age."
Jack snorted. "Yeah, right." Granted, the elder Jacksons had mentioned that he was coming of age within the year, but seventeen was impossible. Someone would have noticed if a toddler had stowed away with them during the first Abydos mission.
Daniel's head snapped up in annoyance. "What? You think I'm lying?"
"Daniel, you can't--" Suddenly understanding, Jack said, "Ah. That's seventeen in Abydonian years." Hammond looked surprised again--it'd take a while for them all to get used to the idea of traveling to different planets with different rules than their own.
Curiosity lit Daniel's eyes. "Oh--your calendar must be different. Can you show me?"
"Uh...sure," he said. Over thirty-five hours in a day and who knew how many days in a year... "Next time you see Carter, ask her to do out the math for you, so you can know how old you are by our calendar. She'll know better than I do."
Daniel gave him another considering look, then nodded. "Colonel O'Neill?"
Being called Colonel by someone so young reminded him of those kids on Abydos, fighting and yelling and dying... "It's Jack," he said.
"What?"
"It's my name. You're not under my command; you can call me Jack," he clarified, eyeing the way Daniel was still perched lightly, as if ready to run away if need be. The anxiety from before seemed to have lessened, though, so he'd take that as a victory.
"...Jack," Daniel said, more carefully than such a simple name really deserved. "When you said I could go back in one year, is that one year on Abydos or one year on Earth?"
Jack opened his mouth, then closed it and sat back. "Huh. You know, I...never even thought about that." When alarm started to rise again in Daniel's eyes, he added, "But! I'd guess probably one year on Abydos. We'll check both days. We have a way to check, now, to see if the Stargate is open." Wow. He'd completely missed that. He wondered whether Carter had thought of it and made a note to tell her, just in case.
"You won't forget?" Daniel said, half-suspicious and half-demanding.
"We'll make sure of it," Hammond promised.
Daniel looked at him for a moment, then asked, "When will we start looking for my family?"
Jack really didn't want to have a discussion about the boy's late parents. "Your..."
"Skaara and Sha'uri. My family," Daniel said tightly. "They are as brother and sister to me. When will we start looking?"
"We're...still trying to figure things out here. We'll start as soon as we know where to start." The general didn't disagree, so he continued, "Skaara and Sha'uri. They're Kasuf's kids? You know their family well?"
"I grew up with them. Seshmit Kasuf was a friend to my parents, so..." He stopped talking abruptly, avoiding their gazes and starting to fiddle with the scrubs he was wearing. "What happened to my clothes?" he asked, his voice suddenly flat.
Jack studied the renewed tension in his form. "The doctor put them aside, and we'll give them back to you. Daniel, I want you to know that your parents--"
"Do I have to stay here?" Daniel interrupted, his voice steady but his eyes still directed downward. The questing hands were fisted in the cloth now.
"It would be best for you to stay on Earth for now," Hammond repeated.
"I know that. I mean this room. Can I go outside? I thought I wasn't a prisoner." The way he looked at them as he said the last part, wide-eyed and too innocent, made Jack certain that he knew what he was doing. Trying to guilt-trip us, are you?
"Of course you're not a prisoner," Hammond said calmly. "I'm afraid that, because of the work we do around here, I can't let you wander around just anywhere on base. But I can have someone show you to guest quarters where you can stay."
"So I will be kept in a different room," Daniel said.
"Oh, for... Tell you what," Jack said. "Carter was asking about you before. Why don't you go talk to her for a while, let her know you're okay. I hear you two hit it off back in Nagada." She could give a lecture on wormholes or something to someone who wanted to listen, and maybe he'd sit still and stop asking questions they couldn't answer for a couple of minutes at a time. "General, that wouldn't be a problem, would it?"
Hammond had pursed his lips and now was shooting a significant scowl at Jack. "Colonel, the project Captain Carter is currently working on is classified--"
"Sir, Daniel's classified. And if you're talking about the symbols from Abydos, I'm going to take a guess and say he's probably seen them before."
Daniel perked up at that. "The writing from the room with the cartouches? With the chaapa'ai... the Stargate...um, the places that the Stargate goes?"
Jack spread his hands. "See? He knows more about it than I do already. And we call them Stargate addresses," he added to Daniel.
"I can help translate things," Daniel said.
"Well, that's not what I--wait, really?" Jack said. Carter had said they'd been having trouble with some of the footage, but... "Are you just saying that, or can you actually read what it says?"
"Of course I'm not 'just saying that,'" Daniel said, giving him an affronted look. "They must be written in hieroglyphs, yes? It's how the Abydonian scribes write. Or used to write, at least."
"Seriously? Everyone on Abydos can read it?"
"No," he explained, sitting straighter and picking up steam. "They say Ra didn't like people to be literate, before I was born, but even now, not everyone learns. I grew up learning to read and to write. Some of the others have been learning with my parents, so..." He trailed off. "I could help," he repeated.
Hammond seemed reluctant still, but nodded. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you look around as long as you don't bother the scientists and you do as Captain Carter says. If you're sure you want to..."
"Yes."
"Then I'll have one of these men escort you up to her lab." Jack realized with a surprise that there were still five other people standing around. The man who'd been restraining Daniel earlier came forward. Daniel's eyes turned wary again.
"Don't worry," Jack said casually, "he'll answer to me if he tries anything. Right, Airman?"
The man looked uneasy, but snapped off a "Yes, sir." Daniel turned a considering look on Jack.
"Colonel..." Hammond started, then gave up and sighed. "All right. Daniel, let Captain Carter or any of the other personnel know if you need anything. Airman Thomas, if you will?"
Once Daniel had left the room, trailing carefully just out of reach of his escort, the general nodded at Jack. "Colonel--my office."
XXXXX
"Is everything going all right, sir?" Jack asked once they were seated in the general's office.
Hammond rubbed his temples. "The Goa'uld seem to have slowed in their assault of our iris, so that's something."
"Good," Jack said. "So, are we going to be visiting any planets any time soon? Besides Chulak, I mean, 'cause I've gotta tell you: not the friendliest place."
"The technicians have begun to work out the new coordinates," Hammond said.
"So..."
"However, I think it would be wise to wait until we're more fully staffed."
Damn. It was going to get boring here on base with a Stargate just taunting them in the embarkation room. "With all due respect, sir...why?"
"At the moment, SG-1 consists of yourself and Captain Carter," the general reminded him. "I'm not comfortable sending two people alone into a totally unknown situation."
"Well, if you'd let me take Teal'c with me..."
"Colonel."
Jack shrugged. It was worth a try. "What about that guy you were talking about? Captain, uh...whatshisface. Peace?" He winced. Okay, so not exactly the start of a great bond there.
"Captain Pierce," Hammond rebuked.
Whoops. "I was close," Jack offered.
"Your obvious lack of familiarity with a potential team member notwithstanding," Hammond said, "the device used to dial the Stargate on most planets is still not fully understood."
"We're calling it a DHD," Jack put in helpfully. "For Dial Home Device. Carter named it."
"Whatever name it has," Hammond said, patiently, "the fact is, you've had an opportunity to use the device on two different planets. The 1982 mission report states that the Drs. Jackson spent quite a long time trying to locate the seventh symbol, and that, even then, it was mostly accidental that they figured it out."
Jack admitted, "The Jacksons had been studying the one on Abydos. I'd been hoping they'd be able to explain it to us, but we did successfully use the one on Chulak."
"You went to Chulak on the hope that it was close enough to use the same point of origin as Abydos. That it did not work shows that, without the expertise of someone who can decipher the symbols, we don't have enough information to risk another off-world mission so soon."
"We did get back from Chulak eventually," Jack pointed out. "Just took a few tries. We didn't expect that the symbols might be different." Carter said it had something to do with constellations and probabilities and blah blah blah. Jack wanted to know what the little symbol thing was.
"What you don't expect is exactly the point," Hammond said. "You said at the briefing that it was Teal'c who identified the seventh symbol for you. You can't count on having a friendly on the other side who knows how to use the Stargate every time you go off-world."
"So you admit Teal'c is a friendly, sir," Jack had to say. "He could teach us about DHDs."
Hammond's glare came on full-force now. "Colonel, I've given you a lot of latitude so far. While I understand your feelings about Teal'c, I'll only tell you one more time to stop pushing me on the subject."
Jack did occasionally have an idea of when to shut up. "Yes, sir."
"In any case," the general said, "we need more information before we begin new missions, and enough time for the points of origin to be calculated mathematically. So unless you'd like to help Captain Carter in the lab..."
"I'm allergic to the labs around here," he commented.
"I'm sure," Hammond replied dryly. "Speaking of labs, I'm not sure it's wise to have the Jackson boy in there."
"General, he'll probably spend most of the time looking at textbooks," Jack said. "Besides, it might help Carter get a head start on those hieroglyphs they were having trouble with."
"I hope you're not suggesting we put a child to work around here."
"No, sir; I'm suggesting that it's a good, harmless distraction while we figure out what to do with him."
Though no one had said it, there was little doubt in Jack's mind that Daniel intended to help search for Skaara and Sha'uri, after that 'When will we start looking?' line minutes ago. Anything that would keep him busy, at this point, could only be a good thing.
"As a bit of good news," the general said, "a Dr. Janet Frasier, is arriving later today to serve as our Chief Medical Officer, along with a few other doctors and other staff. They might have a better idea of how to deal with a situation like his."
"By 'situation,' you mean finding someone with high security clearance who might be willing to foster a kid born light-years away, sir?" Jack said.
"It'll be tricky," Hammond conceded.
"And will surely involve lots of paperwork," Jack added.
"Colonel...the boy does know that his parents...?"
"That they were killed? Yes, sir. He knows. Probably saw it firsthand." Jack had noticed, of course, the way Daniel changed the subject when the elder Jacksons were mentioned, but that was denial, not ignorance.
Hammond sighed. "Well, like I said, I'll leave that to the medical professionals. For the moment...I'm going to take a guess and assume you haven't looked over the files I gave you."
"I looked at Captain Pierce's file."
"You barely remembered his name, and his was the first one on the pile," Hammond corrected. "Read through the files, talk to whomever you need, and get your team together, Colonel. Once we have a better grasp on the situation, SG-1 will be assigned its first mission."
"Can't Carter and I go it alone until Ferretti recovers?" Jack said hopefully.
"I'm afraid not. Besides you and Major Kawalsky, Major Ferretti is the highest-ranking officer in this facility who has any experience at all with off-world travel. I'll need him either on Kawalsky's team or leading his own when he returns."
If we could take Teal'c, Jack thought, we'd have someone else used to 'gate travel.
"Is that understood, Colonel?"
Jack sighed and stood. "Yes, sir. Off to do my homework, sir."
From the next chapter ("Arrangements"):
Daniel stood abruptly, making the textbook hit the floor with a clatter, photos and translations sliding after it.
"Well, I did not choose to be here on Earth!" he growled back, clenching his hands into fists. Jack was taken aback at the sudden movement but even more so at the tears now standing in the blue eyes. Daniel reached up a quick hand to dash them away on the BDU sleeve, and when he looked back up, the tears had disappeared into the angry frustration they'd seen earlier.