When Harry had finally decided to come back to Earth, after seeing the wonders and terrors of the greater Galaxy, he hardly imagined he would find himself standing in the office of the 'most powerful man on the planet' also called the Oval office, in addition it was the first time he had ever worn a finely tailored silver gray Armani suit with all the trimmings; though it was rather constricting compared to what he usually wore.
Harry cast a curious cursory glance around the office of the President of the United States. The walls painted in warm colors, which the curtains matched. The elegant mahogany furniture pristinely placed around the room, which all rested on a large blue carpet into which the seal of the United States was etched. Harry stood in a solid posture just in front of the seal with his hands behind his back. Two soft couches facing each other and a coffee table between them completed the layout of the room.
Along the walls, various pictures in gilded frames were hung strategically, some containing artwork and one containing a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, and right behind the large desk of the President himself, hung the American flag and a solid blue flag showing the seal as well.
Harry fiddled with a leather folder that was in his hands as he waited for the President. He kept an eye on the famous 'hidden' door that led to the offices of the Presidential secretary and assistant. He had an inkling that was where the leader of the free world would eventually emerge.
His attention was drawn however to the portrait of Benjamin Franklin; the famous man was represented sitting in a cushy armchair within an elegant looking study and looking directly at the viewer. Harry walked over to the painting and brushed a hand along the frame of the portrait. At that point the 'hidden' door opened suddenly and Harry turned to face the man entering.
Harry immediately felt the charismatic and commanding presence of William Jefferson Clinton, though it had little effect on him. The President with elegantly presented gray hair entered his own office with a charming smile on his face, which didn't falter one moment as he caught sight of Harry.
"Ah, Mr Ambassador," said the President with an Arkansas lilt in his pronunciation. "It's good to finally meet you."
"It's an honor to meet you as well, Mr President," said Harry and they shook hands.
"Tell me, you wish something to drink?" said the President.
"Some water would be acceptable, thank you, Mr President," said Harry. The President headed over to a drinks decanter on the coffee table and poured water for both of them.
"Please, have a seat," gestured the President to the two couches. "Now," he said as both he and Harry sat across from each other, "the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs tells me you have something I should see."
"Yes, Sir," said Harry and opened the leather folder, handing the President a document. "This is an Abstract of a proposal which I believe, would go a long way toward securing Earth's and humanity's future."
The President took a drink of his water and started to read the document. Harry had to admit that the man was a master of his own emotions…the President's face had not shifted one bit as he read the proposal that would have others either laughing in incredulity or scowling in anger. Harry recalled the reactions of General Hammond and General Franks (the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs); the former who had shaken his head in astonishment while the latter looked impressed at the sheer audacity of it. The President finished reading and handed the paper back to Harry and only frowned as if in apparent deep thought.
"Why the Swiss?" asked the President as a response.
"Not to detract from those under Air Force payroll, Mr President, but the best Physicists in the world are all stationed around the CERN particle accelerator, which we need unlimited access to if Earth is to ever hope to develop a truly effective and unique weapon to combat the Goa'uld," explained Harry.
"And the Vatican?"
"Inevitably," sighed Harry, "the Stargate and the reality of our place in the Galaxy will have to come out, Mr President. The true history of our civilization will require a massive paradigm shift in the thinking of every person on the planet. Ninety five percent of the planet believes in some form of religion…that majority of which is Christian. If the Vatican can get on board they can begin to subtly nudge religious thinking towards where it would accept the situation we find ourselves in."
"Wise, but what about the Muslim world?"
"As to that, I have no real idea Mr President, perhaps if we add the Saudis to the disclosure list they can begin a similar process with the Muslim Clerics," said Harry with a shrug. The President only nodded and remained in deep thought. "What do you think, Mr President?"
"An ambitious but noble plan, Mr Ambassador," commented the President. "It's quite admirable in its goals. However, you will find considerable obstacles in your path." Harry's eyes subtly narrowed at the President's words.
"Will you be one of those obstacles, Mr President?" asked Harry carefully.
"Me?" said the President with a disarming smile, which faded into neutrality. "No, I will not oppose this plan and with some further refinement I believe my Office could begin to implement it, but you realize that its scope will last well beyond my Presidency."
"And you think that your eventual successor might not agree with it and abandon it?"
"Not if it's made an official executive order, those last until it is rescinded by a majority cabinet and legislative vote," said the President. "As I was saying however, the primary obstacles to this plan will come from parties…that are, shall we say, less than honorable in their aims." Harry knew whom the President meant…the rogue NID and those in the government allied with them.
"If they try to stop this…by anything other than the means of democracy…" said Harry stoically.
"Then they will be traitors not only to this country, but to every human life on this planet," declared the President. Harry blinked in surprise at the President's words. "You think I can't read between the lines of your plan, Mr Ambassador?" asked the President with a lopsided grin.
"Not at all, Mr President," said Harry quickly. "I just didn't expect you to get it so quickly. You see, the one overriding reason advanced civilizations have in not sharing their knowledge with Earth, is our provincial attitude. Now I'm not advocating a one-world government…but more of a system like the European Union with regard to extra-planetary affairs."
"Indeed, but anyway, let's put aside politics for a while and tell me a bit about a very interesting report that crossed my desk from Dr Daniel Jackson."
"Ah," said Harry with a grin. "Yes, I bet that report was a very eye opening experience for you, Sir."
"You're telling me," chuckled the President. "Fascinating, absolutely amazing are but meager adjectives to describe it. I must admit, in all the reading I've done on the Stargate program, nothing has fascinated me more than the Gatebuilders."
"One of the more quirky names given to my ancestors," said Harry.
"But despite everything in the report there is one thing that puzzles me," said the President, "if there are as you say…descendants of the Ancients living among us here on Earth, shouldn't there have been some clue out there as to their existence. Some form of modern encounter or people exhibiting strange knowledge or…" the President trailed off and Harry saw his eyes widen slightly as he stared at the portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Harry chuckled slightly.
"You've just answered your own question, Mr President," said Harry with a grin. "You meet with them occasionally, and communicate remotely through that portrait."
"Well I'll be…" said the President. Any further conversation was cut off as the red phone on the President's desk began to ring; he shook himself back into composure in a second and stood to answer the phone. "Yes, George?" Harry sat up in interest, knowing that it was General Hammond on the other end. "I see…are you sure?…yes, we're just about finished…no, we can't risk it, George, we can't send an entire commando team into Egypt…keep it low key, understood?…good…I'll brief him myself in the interests of saving time and send him on to you…good…anytime…" The President put down the phone and turned to Harry. "Ambassador, there's been a development with old Egyptian artifacts from the Stuart Expedition in 1931, are you familiar with it?"
"Only what Dr Jackson told me before he went to the funeral of his old mentor," replied Harry in thought, "that it was an American funded dig that unearthed what was 'rumored' to be cursed artifacts and that during transit to America the ship carrying them sunk in mysterious circumstances. Only recently has submersion technology evolved to the point where the wreck could be examined and the artifacts were retrieved and sent to Chicago for analysis."
"Well, among those artifacts were two canopic jars, called the Isis and Osiris Jars," said the President.
Harry's eyes widened as he slowly stood his mind racing. "And where are those jars now?"
"The Isis Jar is safely in the possession of the SGC, it was opened and a dead Goa'uld parasite was found within, apparently the seal on the jar had broken during the sinking…but the Osiris jar is nowhere to be found."
"Then there is a Goa'uld on the loose, and a particularly dangerous one at that," said Harry grimly.
"Why do you say that, Mr Ambassador?"
"While Osiris is physically just like any other Goa'uld we know, his particular talents lie in politics, manipulation and subtlety," explained Harry.
"Something which, as far as I know, is not a trait many Goa'uld have," said the President, "they are all ego and brawn, and you can roughly predict their actions based on that."
"Osiris is anything but predictable, he is almost as skilled as the Tok'ra in misdirection and subtlety, a fact which I know that the Tok'ra grudgingly admire about him," said Harry.
"General Hammond is requesting that you return to the SGC and fly a small undercover team to Egypt with that wonderful ship of yours," explained the President. "They have identified the most likely host of Osiris, one Dr Steven Jordan."
"I will try my best to save the host, Mr President," said Harry, bowing his head slightly.
"Please do," said the President and they shook hands in goodbye.
"It was an honor to meet you, Mr President," said Harry.
"And you, Mr Ambassador." Harry stepped back and the next moment simply vanished.
"My goodness!" said the deep voice of the portrait of Benjamin Franklin looking shocked; "he simply went through the anti-apparition wards like they weren't even there."
"I take it now, you'll be more inclined to believe him in his assertion of wizardry's origins?" said the President dryly.
"Perhaps," allowed Benjamin Franklin, with a frown. "But I'll need to see more hard proof than merely his word. And even then, I don't believe the magical world is ready to know, I think they are even less suited than the non-magical to hear the truth. "
"Everybody OK back there?" called Harry into the rear compartment of the MEV.
"Fine," said the voice of Dr Frasier, as she and Sam were busy preparing tranquilizer darts which contained a newly discovered substance found within the stasis jar of Isis; found to be extremely potent in chemically sedating a Goa'uld, which was quite rare, as Goa'uld were quite hardy against all known forms of chemical warfare.
Sitting in the co-pilots chair next to Harry looking as if he was riding a roller coaster for the first time in Disneyland was Daniel, whose eyes kept drinking in the interior of the Alteran vessel. The MEV was cloaked and taking a high altitude course toward Egypt, at this height the curvature of the Earth was readily visible and the blue and white marble of the planet glinted against the sun.
In keeping with the covert nature of their mission they were all dressed, as you would expect tourists to in a very hot desert climate; loose cargo pants, shirts, and hats all in white, brown or khaki. Harry however, since they were going to confront a Goa'uld, had insisted on wearing his chromesuit. To disguise himself he wore an illusion of clothing, which mirrored that of his teammates.
Having been told of the requirements to fly the MEV, and after asking Harry's permission, Daniel had placed his hands on the interface console…and it turned out that he didn't have the required physiology either.
"We're damn lucky you haven't taken this thing back to Seaworld yet," commented Daniel, studying the small labels of Alteran script dotting the control panel in front of them.
"I figured it could come in handy," said Harry with a shrug, "it's no use just letting it sit pretty in the hangar."
"Dr Lee and the rest of the science team would disagree with you," said Daniel with a grin.
"All they want to do is study it," said Harry with a frown, "and even if I allowed it, the knowledge that was used to construct this ship is so far over their heads they could study it for a lifetime and barely scratch the surface. With a single shot of the MEV's weapon system I could take out a Goa'uld mothership as casually as I would swat a fly."
"Are you serious?" said Daniel with wide eyes.
"This ship was built by a race that was in space for well over a few million years," said Harry stridently. "What is that compared to the paltry nine thousand years since the first Ha'tak appeared amongst the stars?"
"Insignificant," said Daniel shaking his head in awe. "
The MEV called for Harry's attention by lighting up the heads-up display(HUD). Harry read the flowing Alteran text for a few moments.
"Okay everyone, I'm starting our descent, we should reach the Stuart dig site in ten minutes," called Harry, and placed his hands on the interface pads. The MEV started a smooth dive and due to the fact that there was nearly no cloud in the sky at this time of the afternoon, they could see the contoured lines of the desert sand becoming bigger and bigger, appearing to slowly come at them.
When Harry finished his descent they were skimming two hundred feet above the sand dunes that raced past them as quickly as they could blink. The HUD lit up again and it showed a graphic of a scan done of their destination. The graphic didn't stay long enough for Daniel to interpret but the fact that Harry's mouth compressed into a grim line after seeing it did not bode well.
Sam and Janet had come forward to see the final approach and landing. The MEV slowed dramatically as they all saw the clear sight of the excavation, which had partly uncovered sections of a large temple and which according to records, also had catacombs beneath. The Egyptians spent a lot of money to keep the desert from consuming the temple again, it made for pretty pictures from outside, but it was structurally unsafe for tourists to enter in addition to being a bit too far south along the Nile river than most casual visitors were willing to travel.
Harry brought the MEV in to land about five hundred meters away from the temple behind a dune that would be just big enough to hide the profile of the ship from anyone already inside the temple.
"All right," said Harry, turning in his seat to face everyone, "I did a scan of the area…I found a small tourist group about a kilometer away, traveling in a camel caravan, they're elevated enough on the dunes so that they can see the temple, so we have to be as inconspicuous as possible. However, I detected two life signs in the structure, one is our Goa'uld."
"Who is the other?" asked Janet.
"Besides being a human, I have no idea, the sensors aren't configured to be that detailed," replied Harry. "I can tell that the fellow in there has no idea a Goa'uld is with him, since his or her life sign was moving around independently of the Goa'uld."
"All right, let's do this," declared Sam. Harry grabbed a tranq gun and led the impromptu group out of the MEV. To the outside observer, they just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Harry willed the ramp to close behind them as Daniel was the last one out.
"Umm…just out of curiosity, how are we going to find it and get back in again?" asked Daniel.
"I'm retaining a mental connection with the ship," answered Harry shortly and gestured for Sam to lead the way. Hiking over the dunes was deceptively tough and within just under ten minutes they were approaching the temple proper and walked through the large gaping maw that was the entrance. They were now warily walking down a long downward sloping corridor of stone that still had ancient torch brackets visible in the walls, which was lit and provided the eerie flickering yellow light of flame to the team.
The corridor eventually entered into a vast area that must have been once used as a reception area or lobby of sorts for temple worshippers. Ancient Egyptian dynasty style columns towered above them and fading hieroglyphs adorned the walls and the wind of the desert was howling in their ears. Their tranq guns sweeping the large room they saw nothing at first, but as their eyes accounted for the low light level relative to the corridor they saw a prone figure lying on the ground not far from the north wall of the room.
Daniel and Janet raced forward to the body, Sam initially hung back but as she was needed to sense whether it was the Goa'uld she eventually followed closely behind. Harry kept his eyes up and scanning, shifting his vision into the infrared spectrum.
"It's Steven!" said Daniel, as he examined the body. Sam placed a hand on the prone man.
"I'm not sensing a Goa'uld," said Sam as Janet was checking the injured archeologist, who moaned as he regained painful consciousness.
"He bleeding internally," declared Janet.
"Steven, it's me," said Daniel to his old friend and colleague.
"Daniel?"
"What happened?" asked Daniel urgently.
Dr Steven Jordan sighed. "I took the amulet. It's over ten thousand years old. You – were right all along. I'm sorry. AHHH!" the man cried in pain.
"Just take it easy, OK. I need to you to hold still," said Janet as she was examining his wounds as best as she could.
"It's OK," reassured Daniel to his colleague. "She's a friend. What about the jar?"
"Huh?" asked Dr Jordan, the pain was beginning to fog his mind.
"The Osiris jar. Did you open it?"
"No."
"Then why did you come here?" asked Daniel curiously.
"I figured out the amulet was a key…to a hidden chamber. I wanted to make the discovery," said Jordan with a sigh.
"Daniel, we have to get him out of here," said Janet finally finishing her examination.
"Steven, who did this to you?"
"I DID!"
Harry did not know how Osiris had managed it, but despite his vision piercing the shadows, the Goa'uld had managed to sneak up on them unnoticed. (They would later find that there had been a secret doorway near where Osiris had dumped Dr Jordan) And what was even more surprising was the host of Osiris…a beautiful woman with a petite figure and auburn hair dressed in a khaki dress and diaphanous cloak with the hood covering her curly hair.
"Sarah?" said Daniel in astonishment. The moment's delay was all the Goa'uld needed. Osiris sent a concussive shock wave from the Ribbon device on her hand that lifted Sam and Janet off their feet and slammed them painfully into the hard stonewall some six feet above the floor, gravity took over and slammed them hard to ground and unconsciousness followed. Harry and Daniel shot their tranquilizer darts at Osiris but she merely sent another much smaller wave, which harmlessly deflected the darts. She followed it up with another massive wave that was targeted against Harry and Daniel.
Daniel was similarly picked up and slammed against the wall and fell…but the wave passed over Harry ineffectually…his body shimmering with an electric green azure shield as the concussive wave passed…it did have one effect though…the tranq gun was pulled from his hands (as it was not affected by Harry's personal shield which also had inertial dampening properties).
"What?" exclaimed Osiris in surprise…and sent another concussive wave…again to no effect.
"You might as well take that thing off, Osiris, for all the good it will do you," said Harry with a nasty grin.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her deep Goa'uld resonating in the room. Harry started to slowly walk toward her, his hands behind his back.
"Me?" asked Harry rhetorically. "To you, I am Tyr."
"Do not come any closer!" she warned and raised her Ribbon device toward the prone forms of the others. "Another blast will surely kill them." Harry stopped in response to the threat. "You will answer my questions or they die!"
"What do you want to know?" snorted Harry, humoring the Goa'uld, so he could distract her long enough to attempt his plan. "I'm guessing that it's been a while for you and you want to know the status quo in the Galaxy?"
"Where is the Stargate?" demanded Osiris.
"Nowhere you can get to," said Harry with a smirk.
"Insolence," snarled Osiris. "Where is my brother Setesh?"
"Dead, you pathetic snake," sighed Harry, "and Ra, Hathor, Sokar, and Anuksunamun, I can only take credit for the latter, while my Tau'ri brethren are responsible for the former."
"Then you have done me a great favor, I will easily rise to power without them in the picture," smirked Osiris.
"I think not," said Harry casually and vanished into thin air. Osiris blinked in astonishment and cursed aloud in Goa'uld, she moved the hand encased in her Ribbon device to do a sweep of the room for the Tau'ri who dared to defy her.
"Show yourself!"
"Boo!" That was all Osiris heard from behind before the wind was knocked out of her lungs and she was flung off her feet and similarly smashed against the wall as she had done to the other humans. But being a Goa'uld she picked herself up after landing and her eyes shone in anger as they locked on the calm form of Harry, now standing in the middle of the room. "I'm sorry, I just had to pay you back the courtesy of knowing what it's like to be smashed against a wall."
Osiris snarled in anger and charged towards Harry and threw a strike with the blade of her hand right at his neck. Harry knew with the strength a Goa'uld endowed in its host it would have easily snapped the neck of normal person…but he was hardly normal. With superior reflexes he dodged the strike, and deflected the offending arm giving it twice the speed and power Osiris had already given it. This threw her off balance for a moment and allowed Harry to retaliate and strike Osiris twice, one in the ribs and the other a back fist to the face, which added with a leg sweep, threw Osiris to the hard stone floor painfully.
Harry backed up to the center of the room, settling into a perfectly balanced fighting stance. While the Alterans were never big on martial arts in the latter stages of their civilization's existence, that was not true in the early stages.
Osiris snarled and threw her legs forward, using the momentum to right herself in an instant and she charged again, not accepting how this mere human could best her. The next round of fighting was more prolonged though…strikes flowed into one another, kicks were blocked, deflected, and yet Osiris had yet to land even a finger on Harry.
It was just as Harry sent Osiris back to kissing the floor that the sound of two compressed gas tranquilizer guns went off and two darts pegged themselves into the downed Goa'uld's back.
Harry looked up to see that Sam and Janet had recovered and used the opportunity he had given them. Osiris was much slower in getting up and strained visibly to stand as the sedative started to take effect.
"Mark my words…one day I will make the rivers of this world run red with blood…" those were her last words and she fell face forward to the floor again, this time not getting up.
"Are you Ok?" said Janet, looking at Harry worriedly.
"I'm fine," reassured Harry.
"That was amazing," said Sam. "You actually went toe to toe with a Goa'uld in unarmed combat."
"Yes," said Harry, "I take it you've been in a similar situation."
"No, but Colonel O'Neill tried that with Ra, but the Goa'uld just gave him a single backfist hit that had him knocked out." Sam pulled out solid steel wrist manacles and after pulling off the Ribbon device cuffed and bound Osiris. "By the way, why did you stay in the middle of the room when you fought? You could have ended the fight faster…"
"Because there are a set of transporter rings there, it was what Osiris was actually trying to get to when she saw I was impervious to her Ribbon device," said Harry, brushing away the dust on the floor, showing the distinct curved indentation of the Ring platform to Sam.
"Where does it lead?" said Janet, now tending to Daniel.
"Let's find out, Major, the Ribbon device please," requested Harry. Sam handed the device to Harry after which he promptly threaded his left hand into it and pushed his fingers into the golden metallic finger holds. He flexed his hand and the emitter of the device lit up briefly, before he turned it around and pressed an activation button on the cuff of the device. There was a loud whooshing sound of energy as four rings shot out of the ground, one after the other, surrounding Harry and then in a another whoosh of bright white energy that was contained within the rings, he vanished and the rings disappeared into the floor.
A few minutes passed in which Daniel had regained consciousness and was sitting next to Dr Jordan, while Sam attended to them both with her Goa'uld Healing device; something she had become somewhat proficient with. Whilst Dr Jordan would still need some minor surgery his life no longer in danger. Daniel, after getting his old friend's verbal agreement to sign the non-disclosure forms, began the standard introductory speech on the Stargate and the Goa'uld.
The rings activated again and when they disappeared left a grinning Harry behind.
"Where did it lead?" asked Sam.
"To an old model Goa'uld cargo ship hidden beneath a dampening field, obviously Osiris's intended means of escape," explained Harry.
"That's excellent," gushed Sam. "The boys at Area 51 are gonna love this."
"However," said Harry holding a stalling hand, "I am needed to fly the MEV, and since you are the only other pilot here, it will be up to you to fly the ship there."
"I've never flown one before," said Sam wearily.
"I will program the ship's information systems to display Standard English and a quick tutorial on some maneuvering aspects you are not familiar with," explained Harry easily. "You can take Daniel and Dr Jordan with you, whilst Dr Frasier and I take Osiris back to the SGC."
"Are you going to try and remove Osiris from Sarah?" asked Daniel worriedly.
"Yes, but do not concern yourself," reassured Harry, "I'll be using an Asgard transporter with a special program designed to separate symbiote from host. Sarah Gardener and Osiris will be very much alive, but separated."
"And we finally can get a chance to study a living Goa'uld symbiote," said Janet with a grin.
Three weeks later…
Harry stood within the observation lounge of a brand new O'Neill-class Asgard battlecruiser, looking out of the force shielded 'window' into the endless starfield of space. His surroundings showed as distorted reflections on his chromesuit that rippled and moved as it did. This specific ship he was on was Thor's new flagship, the Samantha Carter, commissioned barely a week ago, and it had finished its trials by doing the standard run from the Ida Galaxy to the Milky Way. Knowing this, Harry had requested the services of the ship for a special mission.
A pillar of light descended from the ceiling and landed next to Harry and coalesced into the thin-limbed figure of Thor.
"The construction drones are charging and will launch in ten minutes," reported Thor.
"Thank you, my friend," said Harry with a troubled frown.
"Is there a problem?" said Thor, quirking his big head to one side as his large black eyes stared at Harry.
"Well, I don't know how up to date your intelligence reports are concerning Apophis, but this Galaxy is now facing a serious problem," said Harry with a sigh.
"The Asgard know he controls the vast Army of Sokar, is that to what you are referring?"
"Honestly, I would've been happier if that was only the case," said Harry with an angry sneer. "An hour ago I received an update on my encrypted subspace channel via Earth from SG1 and the Tok'ra Selmak/Jacob Carter. They had embarked on a mission to get Apophis and Heru'ur to fight each other…as the two Goa'uld were in discussions on sealing a deal to become allies against the System Lord Collective."
"Such a battle would weaken both and return the balance of power to the System Lords," commented Thor.
"Yes, and that is what the Tok'ra and Earth had in mind to do," said Harry. "Apophis and Heru'ur were meeting in the Tobin System, you know of it?"
"Vaguely," said Thor, his large eyelids frowning in thought, "there is a large minefield in that system which will attack any vessel emitting any significant weapons discharge."
"Making perfect neutral territory for a meeting, so the Tok'ra and SG1 came up with a way to sabotage the meeting by covertly reprogramming a single mine to lock on to a specific frequency that another Tok'ra operative on board Apophis' flagship would transmit at the correct time to make sure that Apophis believed that Heru'ur was attacking him."
"And they were successful?"
"Yes and no," answered Harry blearily. Thor blinked. "The mine was reprogrammed and it detonated at the proper time against Apophis' ship. But we keep underestimating what that slimy snake is capable of," he complained in frustration, "Apophis had brought an entire cloaked fleet of Ha'taks with him."
"That is…troubling," said Thor, turning to look out the window. "That Apophis has the ability to cloak an entire mothership is dire news…Goa'uld technology is advancing quite rapidly lately."
"Tell me about it…first their FTL methods and now cloaking technology, where are they getting it?" asked Harry rhetorically flinging his hands in the air and starting to pace. "Anyway, you can imagine what happened next…Apophis gives Heru'ur an ultimatum to yield completely and enter into his service. And Heru'ur is too proud for that…so he refuses…the resulting battle was very short. The only bright side to this is that Apophis's fleet took a pounding from the minefield, so they'll be stuck in dry docks for a while, making repairs. But Apophis will easily absorb Heru'ur's forces into his own, so those losses more than makes up for what he gained."
Silence descended between the two for a few moments.
"I will see what ships can be spared to increase security for our holdings in this Galaxy," said Thor eventually. "Our strategists predict the Replicators will be nearing total defeat within eighteen standard months."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Thank you."
"The drones are ready and are launching," reported Thor. The view out of the observation lounge showed the gray, gangly automated construction units with multiple appendages shoot out of one of the lower cargo bays. The ship yawed slightly to show the twenty drones' destination as they arced through space toward the dark side of a very familiar moon.
Colorado Springs, Earth…
A few weeks later found Harry dressed in the casual attire of jeans, loose baggy shirt and sneakers standing just in front of the white picket fence of a large house in a sleepy looking suburb of Colorado Springs. Attired in similarly casual clothes standing next to him and looking over the neatly manicured lawn was Jack.
"It's not what I expected…" commented Harry idly.
"Well what did you expect the General's house to look like?" said Jack drolly.
"I don't know, something more stately, large, imposing, a house to match the character of the man…but in retrospect that's a stupid assumption, since he mostly looks after his granddaughters here," said Harry.
"General Hammond is a big teddy bear with his grandkids," said Jack with a smile. "He's made it as far as he has today by keeping Air Force business out of his personal life."
"Wise," was all Harry said. "So do you think we can convince him to come back?"
"We have to," said Jack simply. "That trumped up General Bauer sitting in his chair is going to be the end of the SGC, not to mention the planet."
"Lead the way," gestured Harry. Jack opened the gate and headed into the garden, Harry following right behind. Curiously, Jack ignored the front door and head around the house, down a small alley between the house and the fence, which opened up into a huge lush green backyard that bordered the small river that flowed through this neighborhood. The sound of children playing met their ears and finally two small girls roughly seven and eight years old respectively came into view their ponytailed blonde hair swirling in every direction as they played with a soccer ball.
The two girls caught sight of Jack and they squealed in excitement, "Hello, Uncle Jack!" and charged at the aging Colonel, who immediately started to chant something in what Harry recognized as Spanish. Both girls gave Jack bear hugs and laughed in delight as he started to tease them. It was obvious that Jack was a natural with kids, despite that he had lost his own son to a handgun accident.
Harry felt his heart swell as he stared at the giggling girls…as he contemplated the future…
Jack stood after telling the two girls that he had business with their grandfather and let them resume play with the soccer ball. Jack headed towards the backdoor of the house and before either of them could even reach to open it, the door opened and Harry was introduced to the strange sight of General Hammond in casual clothes…it was quite surreal.
"Jack, Harry!" said Hammond with a big smile. "Good to see you, come on in!"
"General," chorused Harry and Jack. "See you're keeping busy," said Jack as they walked into the brightly lit kitchen and sat down around the table that was used to serve meals.
"Yeah, I guess retirement agrees with me," said Hammond with a smile, "so what brings you two here?"
"Well," said Harry, taking up the gauntlet, "Jack's on a little enforced vacation courtesy of General Bauer." Harry said the rank as if it was something unpleasant on his tongue. Harry honestly couldn't believe that someone like Bauer could rise to a position like General…for crying out loud, the man got groused when reports weren't typed in 'bullet point' but the death of someone under his command didn't rate even a sappy condolence.
"Not everyone is going to be as patient with you as I was, Jack," said Hammond with an amused look at the Colonel.
"And I'm here because one of main reasons I returned to Earth and joined Stargate Command was…to put it bluntly, because of you General," stated Harry stoically.
"Me?" said Hammond raising an eyebrow, to invite elaboration.
"I did not just come to Earth on a whim, General," said Harry, "I conducted a thorough observation and investigation of the SGC personnel in the field and the operating philosophy with which the Stargate was used. With regards to you, General, I concluded that you were a man of integrity, one which I could imagine offering my expertise and service. General Bauer, with all due to respect to the man, is not such a person."
Hammond remained silent for a while, staring at Harry. "I take it then, you're both here to get me back into the mountain."
"I've never met anyone who liked doing what they do, more than you. You were good at it. Great. You'll never convince us that you just got fed up," said Jack seriously.
"I'm sorry," said Hammond, shaking his head, "it's out of my hands, gentlemen."
"What's that mean?" asked Jack intently.
"I can't discuss it," said Hammond gravely. Harry frowned at the General's tone; he was not about to use telepathy on the General, but he got a clear sense of dread and fear in the man's emotions.
"General?" asked Harry pointedly.
"You don't understand," said Hammond, a resigned look on his face.
"Then enlighten us," said Jack intently. Hammond looked from Jack's determined face to Harry's stoic one and sighed.
"Two weeks ago," said the General, "I was contacted by a representative of the NID. He suggested I become more aggressive in my policies."
"They have no jurisdiction over you," argued Jack.
"They wanted me to help them gain access to off world technology, which they're unable to since we shut down their little side operation." Harry recalled his role in that undercover operation, he had been in control of the Asgard ship, which had raided the off world NID base. Harry was rather thankful to Jack when he managed to convince the NID personnel to leave through the Stargate and face Earth's legal system, before his transportation beams finished taking the stolen technology. The Asgard policy against the captured NID members would have been swift and merciless (since some of the stolen technology's absence had caused the deaths of sentients' under Asgard protection) and Harry would have been the one to carry that out.
"I take it you told them to shove it," said Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course," said Hammond with a frown, but his face turned grave, "then he told me that if I didn't cooperate that there would be consequences. The next day, two men in plain clothes in a black unmarked car picked up my granddaughters from school."
"I don't believe it," said Jack shortly looking angry. Harry felt hot anger lick his insides at the mere thought of it. That the NID would…to those two adorable and innocent children outside…
"They took them for a little ride and brought them home. The girls were fine…but I got the message," said Hammond with narrowed eyes. "We're talking about an organization as powerful as the CIA. These people are above the law. I can't protect my family twenty four hours a day…I had no choice."
"Of course not," said Jack instantly.
"They might be above the law, General," said Harry with glint in his eyes, "but they are not as untouchable as they believe."
"Please, don't into trouble over this," said Hammond. Harry and Jack looked at each other and grinned.
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The process of getting into a Federal Prison as a visitor would normally involve a reasonable amount of red tape and background check verification. The process when going to see a maximum security prisoner convicted of high treason was twice as arduous…and for Harry, who didn't really exist in the identity databases of Earth had to fall back on presenting his diplomatic credentials (which stated that he was diplomat from England) and fair bit of subtle telepathy on the prison guards to convince them that he had just cause to see the prisoner.
Jack on the other hand, had much less hassle.
After nearly two hours of effort, Harry and Jack walked into a large rotunda style prison cell, made for prisoners who needed to be interviewed or interrogated on a near constant basis. It allowed for the interviewer to sit comfortably at a desk and refer to files and documents and so forth.
There was only one occupant in the cell…former Colonel Harry Mayborne, clad in a bright colored prison jumpsuit. Mayborne was in his mid fifties with graying short hair and a swarthy face set with cunning blue eyes. The guard escorted Harry and Jack inside and after verifying that everything was ok, closed the magnetically sealed door to the rotunda cell behind them. Harry and Jack walked towards the bars that divided the room in two and Mayborne stood from his bed, his calculating eyes taking in their appearance.
"Well, well, well," said Mayborne sarcastically, "Jack O'Neill, Ambassador, what a surprise."
"Mayborne," said Jack stoically.
"So what brings you to my new abode? I don't get many visitors."
"I find that surprising," said Jack.
"It shouldn't be," countered Mayborne. "In my line of work people don't exactly stand by you through thick and thin. Most of my former associates are conveniently forgetting I ever existed."
"Your former associates are why we're here. They're causing trouble for a friend of ours."
"General Hammond," said Mayborne knowingly.
"What do you know?" asked Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"Why should I tell?" shrugged Mayborne with an unconcerned air.
"The Ambassador and I can go a long way to help you," said Jack stridently.
"I've been convicted of treason. What can either of you do?"
"Air Force One and I go way back," said Jack with a smirk, "and the Ambassador can easily arrange for transportation off world to a safe planet where the NID can't find you."
"Tempting offer," said Mayborne narrowing his eyes, "I suppose I'll have to trust you two."
"I wasn't going to say it," denied Jack.
"It's really very simple," said Mayborne with a sigh, visibly conceding, "when you shut down the off world operation you removed the NID's access to offworld technology. The NID believes that Hammond and the policies that govern the SGC are too soft."
"Is General Bauer part of the NID?" asked Harry.
"Truth is, I don't know," shrugged Mayborne, "I've been out of the loop for a while. However, it's most likely he's just a patsy…unwittingly maneuvered into position because he's got the right mentality."
"It all sounds so cloak and daggery," said Jack uncertainly.
"You're a special ops Colonel, Jack," said Mayborne condescendingly, "why do you always pretend to smell like roses?"
"Hey!" shouted Jack back. "I've never threatened a two star General by kidnapping his grandkids!"
"Don't pretend to be so naïve, either," said Mayborne with a wry expression.
"How do we get the NID to withdraw their threat?" asked Harry, getting the conversation back on track.
Mayborne chuckled, "Do you two really want to play in my sandbox?"
"What do we have to do?" asked Jack in turn, calming down.
"Quid pro quo," said Mayborne in a singsong voice.
"If I'm not mistaken, Mayborne," said Harry, his lips thinning, "that the penalty for treason in the United States is lethal injection. You help us with the NID and Jack and I, as a representative of the Asgard, will both go before the President and appeal to have your sentence reduced significantly."
"How significantly?" asked Mayborne.
"Minimum security, ten years jail time," said Jack with a grin, "and the option of offworld relocation if the NID decides to take you out for helping us."
Mayborne lowered his eyes and appeared in deep thought for a while before he looked up again and said simply, "Deal."
Mayborne, now out of his prison garb in and in casual clothes that made him look like Joe Normal, opened the front door of an apartment on the first floor of a rather ordinary housing development on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. Harry and Jack entered close on his heels, not trusting the man an inch.
They entered an apartment that was quite large, easily over a hundred square meters, but it was nearly devoid of furniture and a slight layer of dust covered the wood linoleum floors. The walls were painted white and lacked any adornment. The windows were curtained to prevent people from looking in and apparently give the illusion to the casual inspector that someone did indeed live here.
Mayborne headed to the kitchen area where there was a running refrigerator.
"Have you ever heard of IKEA?" asked Jack sarcastically, referring to the lack of furniture.
"You two should count yourself fortunate," stated Mayborne, opening the refrigerator, "no one, not even the NID, knows this place exists." He reached underneath a drawer within the fridge and pulled out a well concealed plastic bag that had been stuck there, inside of which was an old three and a half inch floppy disk. Jack eyed the contents of the fridge with amusement. Harry saw a six pack of beer and a bottle of mustard.
"I see you're on the old mustard and beer diet," said Jack with a smirk. Mayborne didn't look amused and helped himself to a bottle of beer and closed the fridge. The former Colonel now headed to the only furniture in the apartment, a desk, upon which was a computer running in idle mode. He tore open the bag and slotted the floppy inside the computer.
"Isn't that a bit old tech?" asked Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one," said Mayborne, "this disk contains an encryption key, if you don't boot this computer with it, the hard drive is instantly fried." The computer whirred into active mode.
"What are you specifically looking for?" asked Jack.
"The NID is made up of independent cells. They communicate with each other through the Internet by logging on to forums located on floating servers that are heavily encrypted. If I can access the forums I can get the evidence we need to get the NID to back down," explained Mayborne and started typing.
Harry moved to stand behind Mayborne and looked over his shoulder to the screen. Where a username and password screen for an innocent looking website called was being displayed. Mayborne typed in the required fields and pressed enter, whereupon it immediately flashed 'Access Denied'.
"Damn," cussed Mayborne, "they've deactivated my password."
"Guess they revoked your club membership," said Jack sarcastically.
"I'll hack in through the backdoor," said Mayborne, looking determined now. When five minutes of unsuccessful hacking had occurred Jack headed over to the window to glance out at the street. Harry also saw the danger, as it was entirely possible that Mayborne's attempted hacking was getting back traced.
"It's taking too long," said Harry grimly.
"I'm going as fast as I can," snapped Mayborne in irritation.
"Perhaps I can be of help," stated Harry and raised his hand, in which a jewel device had appeared. He placed the device on top of the computer box and instructed the AI of the jewel device to break through the encryption. The effect was immediate.
The Lindorama screen vanished and was replaced with scrolling programming code that flashed fasted than could be discerned. Mayborne looked at the Asgard jewel device with an indecipherable expression as it worked.
"We've got company," announced Jack grimly. And Harry heard the sound of a powerful engine coming to a stop outside.
"How many?" asked Harry.
"Four, excluding the driver, armed with Uzis," reported Jack, drawing his own Glock 9mm pistol from its hidden holster.
"The device needs another thirty seconds to hack in," said Harry, who was keeping his hand on the device, mentally helping it break through the encryption.
"That's not enough time," said Jack, "is there another way out of here?"
"Yes," nodded Mayborne who stood and headed towards what looked like the bedroom.
"Jack, get out here, I can handle four easily," said Harry casually, keeping his hand on the jewel device. "You and Mayborne can take out the driver and commandeer us some transport." Jack hesitated for only a moment, looking to object, but thought better of it, the post mission report of the Osiris mission vivid in his mind.
"See you in a few minutes," said Jack casually, matching Harry's unconcerned tone, and followed Mayborne into the bedroom. Harry assumed there had to be some form of concealed doorway as he heard it slide open and shut and he sensed that his two partners had emerged onto a terraced walkway on the outskirts of the building.
Harry felt the encryption shatter fifteen seconds later and immediately instructed the AI to begin downloading. He had barely lifted his hand off the device and the front door of the apartment burst open to admit the four strong rogue NID assault party. They were dressed in black clothes and had soft looking Kevlar body armor. They toted the pistol sized version of the Uzi, which was easily concealed when needed.
Harry didn't know why they decided to shoot first, but later he would realize that they had come hoping to take out Mayborne (since it was his old password that was used).
Two Uzi's spat fire at Harry. The bullets shattered against his personal shield harmlessly.
Harry vaulted himself over the desk to make sure he was between them and the computer, it wouldn't do for the thing to shot full of holes before the evidence was downloaded. The four NID men now decided to open up on full automatic with their Uzi's against Harry, clearly hoping that they could overwhelm his shield with weight of fire.
They might as well have tried to spit against the wind.
The Uzi's mechanisms now clicked repeatedly…their magazines spent…the four NID men in desperation now tried to attack Harry physically.
Big mistake.
Harry lanced out with a kick to the stomach of the closest NID guy and sent him flying through the air to crash against the wall, the force denting it thoroughly, disturbed plaster raining from the ceiling. Both his palms crashed against the sternums of the next two NID men, they immediately slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Harry turned to look at the last remaining NID member and felt a stab of pity at the sheer fear in the man's face as he wearily backed away from Harry. The emotion was suppressed and the man joined his colleagues in the land of nod after a kick to the midsection. It was now time for damage control. He quickly went to each NID member and using telepathy, altered their recent memories…that they had arrived too late to intercept Mayborne and was knocked out by a gas trap the traitorous Colonel had left behind when they tried to access the computer. He also healed the injuries of the men and repaired the damage to the room with a quick transfiguration.
The jewel device prompted him that it was finished and he lifted it off the computer. Harry calmly walked to the front door and turned back to the computer. He pointed his finger toward it and a yellow beam of power lanced out and struck the computer…causing it to give off a moderate explosion that filled the room with smoke.
This made the smoke detectors in the apartment unhappy and not a moment later the fire alarm wailed through the building. Harry rushed down the hallway and out of the building toward the waiting black SUV which contained an antsy looking Mayborne and an unconcerned Jack.
"Have fun?" said Jack, gunning the car into gear and pulling off.
"Oh yeah," grinned Harry.
"Get what we need?"
Harry consulted the jewel device and gawped in astonishment at what the AI was telling him.
"It seems I was a bit too unspecific in my instructions to the jewel device," said Harry with an evil looking grin. "I asked it to download what I needed…and it interpreted that rather liberally."
"What do you mean?" asked Mayborne.
"Say hello to the entire NID database," said Harry gesturing to the jewel device.
"You're kidding," said Jack in surprise.
"Nope," said Harry, "I think it's safe to say that the NID will be backing off."