Jack scowled. “He’s an ass, Ninurta,” he informed the warrior.
“That’s your opinion. Others love him. Your mother loves him. I’m almost sure his wife loves him, and his children. There is an aspect of him that you don’t know. I get a sense of great depth in him. And an over-abundance of pride, yes.”
“How come you guys don’t get along?” Daniel asked.
Jack sat back against the tree and shrugged as Sam nestled into his torso. “Personality, I guess,” he said. “We were always at each other. I was extremely happy when his parents moved to North Carolina when he was a teenager. Got him out of my hair.”
“What kinds of things did you fight about?” Sam asked.
“Everything,” Jack said. “He had no sense of self-control. He was always loud and obnoxious, always had to be right, always had to be better.”
“You guys look about the same age,” Daniel commented. “Did you have classes together?”
“Same age,” Jack said. “He’s a Christmas baby. We were in the same class.”
Sam poked Jack on the leg. “Hello,” she called out. “Earth to Jack. Try getting inside and find out if there’s anything interesting you could work with.”
“Oh. Right. I actually don’t want to rummage around inside of him,” Jack whined. He regretted it when three pairs of eyes focused on him. “Okay, okay,” he held out his hands in defense. “Just… give me time.” Someone called out to Ninurta and he excused himself just as Katie came up to them and stood with her hands on her hips. Olivia babbled at her big sister from her place in her shaded jumper, and Sam took her out and put her on the grass to play.
“Is that a swim suit or a piece of dental floss?” Jack asked, looking at her mostly bare body.
“What did you tell Malek?” she asked.
“In regards to…?”
“Me. I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk and he said you threatened him with that pukku if he even looked at me.”
Jack sighed. “Honey, he isn’t a teenager, he’s an adult. You are not. No matter what that piece of ribbon is pretending to cover.”
“That isn’t fair, Uncle Jack, it’s my choice,” she angrily informed him. “He can’t be that much older than me.”
“Don’t Uncle Jack me, and he’s about forty-five not twenty-five,” Jack said. “His symbiote keeps him looking young for a long time.”
“He’s a good guy, Jack, he won’t take advantage of her,” Daniel murmured. “And he's actually about sixty-two.” Sam looked shocked at the information, and then turned to find the Tok'ra.
“More like who would be taking advantage of whom,” Jack returned. “Alright. You may go for a walk with him. I don’t want to be a grandparent before you’re thirty, Katherine.”
She rolled her eyes. “You have a one-track mind.”
“Okay, I’ll settle for twenty-five. Get Malek over here.”
Katie’s eyes went wide. “You aren’t going to embarrass me, are you?”
“You’re the one who wanted me to be your father, so I consider it my sworn duty to embarrass you once in a while,” Jack informed her. “Now please find that adult male alien with the snake in his head and ask him to come see me.”
She huffed and stalked off, rolling her eyes.
“What the hell is she not wearing?” Jack asked, not sure if he should be thankful she wasn’t completely nude.
“You aren’t really going to ask Malek his intentions, are you?” Daniel asked.
“Watch me,” Jack promised.
Malek approached while Katie stood defiantly several yards away.
“Well?” Jack asked Malek, not believing that he was so much older than he looked. Malek paused for a moment to consider.
“Katie asked if I would walk with her,” Malek said. “I explained your displeasure. She is equally displeased. She seems an adult to me, so I must be unaware of some cultural issue. Does your culture require the permission of a male? Should I have asked you first?”
Daniel snorted and buried his face in the section of grass he was laying on.
“No, she doesn’t need permission,” Jack said, ignoring Daniel. “According to our laws, though, she will not be an adult for another year. If you were closer to her age, I’d probably allow it…. no, I wouldn’t. I’m still having trouble with the whole symbiote thing. I keep seeing you kissing her and that snake going from you to her through her mouth.”
Malek frowned. “It doesn’t work like that,” he said. “I have been with Tavor a long time; if I were to leave him in that manner, so abruptly, it would kill him, and I have too much affection for him to do that. Jack, I had no intention of having sex with Katie; she requested that we walk and talk. I will respect your wishes in this, but I truly believe you are not being fair to her; she heard about Tok’ra medicine and wished to discuss it.”
Both Daniel and Sam looked at Jack. He winced and puffed out his cheeks as he pet the top of his hung head.
“Okay,” he finally said. “Go… discuss.”
Malek inclined his head and walked back to Katie who was waiting with her arms crossed. At least she had put a colorful wrap around her waist. Jack groaned and fell to the side, mashing his nose in the ground. Someone thumped his head with a finger.
“Do it again,” he said into the ground. Thwack!
The kids came and took Daniel away for water time. Davy paddled around in the shallow end with floaties on his thin arms while Stacy used her father as a jumping board until he claimed his advancing age. Thankfully, Jonathan and Shara came down to the water and took over kid-duty. Pretty soon, the lake was the main party place. There was some discussion about the clothing optional policy that the locals had, so Inanna declared that a section of the lake would be for those who needed clothing for their culture. Everyone else could play at another section. She added the rule to the on-going notes she was taking for the council building that was being built; with all the different cultures coming to the planet, some local things needed to be set aside while in the multicultural section. If off-worlders came into the local section, they get what they get.
The small town was modern, much to the interest of the humans. They had expected, for some strange reason, to see crude wooden huts. Since the planet was originally sand, Enki had left a great deal of silicon in the matrix. It was then used to create the buildings and most of the working parts such as plumbing. They even used it to create fabrics for clothing and household use. Sam asked Shara what they did about the pollution from the silicon processing, and Jack tuned out. He went to find Jonathan and talk about the actual engineering of the city.
The main building, where Inanna and her family lived, was at the center of town. The large building also housed various governing offices. At the far northern end of town, a space port was being built. The Heaven’s Bow usually sat there when she wasn’t on patrol. The port was being enlarged to take five ships her size. Larger ships would have to park in orbit and find another way down. And no landing without permission. The gate was in the main building and there was a ring platform at the space port. The Anunnaki took a tip from the Tau’ri and put locks on both and hooked their DHD up to a computer. They thought that was a nifty idea and Sam smiled when she saw the set up. They still refused to say where they took the new gate and DHD from. Jack hadn’t heard of anyone screaming about a missing chaapa’i, though, so maybe it wasn’t too bad. A lot of deserted planets had gates that weren’t being used. On the south side of town were crops, to the east was cattle, and to the west was the nearest lake.
Several women had made it a point to approach Jack and thank him for making it possible for them to relocate off Earth. He and his partners were plied with freshly baked breads, pies, cakes, and cookies. Some of the new members of Kalam were men; more fresh blood in the gene-pool, Inanna had said. The Anunnaki had grown from under one hundred to just over two hundred members. Not everyone was from Earth; other friendly planets had been dipped into for new DNA.
A groan an
d creaking drew their attention to Ferretti who was being helped off a horse by Erra.
“No more horses,” Ferretti declared. He leaned on his cane for a moment. Sweat beaded his forehead and someone hurriedly brought a chair for him. Jack saw the anger on the man’s face, anger at his own weakness, and went over to him.
“Hey, Jack,” Ferretti said, slightly breathless. Jack squatted down next to him and put his hands on Ferretti’s leg. A moment later, Ferretti was looking from his pain-free leg to Jack and back again.
“What the hell’d you do?” Ferretti asked in disbelief.
“I learned a little acupressure,” Jack told him, getting to his feet. “Have you been in the water, yet? It’s a nice temperature.”
“This body isn’t made for public displays anymore,” Lou said with a weary grin. “Unlike others. You been working out or what?” He looked Jack up and down.
“Something like that,” Jack said, wondering how he could get out of ever hearing that question again; he didn't think he had begun to look that bad. “You enjoying yourself otherwise?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Lou said. He took a deep breath and looked out across the land. “This is incredible, Jack; this cannot be Abydos.”
Jack sat on the ground next to him, wrapping his arms around his knees as he watched the kids playing. “Anubis destroyed all of it,” he said quietly. “Not only every living thing but even the buildings. All of it. Not one shred of evidence that anyone had lived here, was left by the time he was done with it.”
“This guy is dead, right?” Ferretti asked.
“Very dead,” Jack nodded. At least, they hoped he was; there was always the chance that Anubis could escape from Oma and the Ascended, and return to finish what he had started, which was the destruction of all life in the galaxy. No one needed to know that, though.
“Do I want to know how this planet was changed?” Ferretti asked.
“Nope, you don’t,” Jack said.
“I don’t want to know how you’ve been doing a few odd things, do I?”
“Nope.”
“Jack!” Daniel came over and grabbed Jack’s hand. “Come on, it’s us verses them. Volleyball. Lou, you can be the ref. I can’t guarantee there won’t be blind ref jokes.”
The teams argued for a short time on which side Jonathan would play for; after all, the Tau’ri team had a woman on it, so they needed an extra man. The Anunnaki weren’t buying it and insisted that Sam could hold her own quite nicely. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to have both Jack and Jonathan on the same team. Jonathan pulled his hair back with a leather thong and grinned nastily at Jack.
Mason kept looking at Jonathan and Jack, but no one was saying anything except the usual story about Jonathan joining their lives a few years earlier. Jack ordered Mason to play ball with them. Mason wasn’t happy. Everyone was completely frivolous with the rules, the ball was repeatedly hit toward various people who had decided to make out on the back row, and Jack and Jonathan had to be separated whenever they began to argue. Pairing each other on opposite sides of the net had been a bad idea; they knew each other’s moves and frequently hogged the ball. Mason’s mood wasn’t being helped by Erra making overt invitations. Zu was sitting on a net post, cackling and egging Erra on with his own commentary.
“Jack!” Mason hissed, stalking up to Jack. “If that…. person… hits on me one more time, I’m taking him down and to hell with diplomatic relations!”
“Chill out, Mace,” Jack said. “He’s trying to get your goat and you’re letting him. Would you be pissed if it were a woman teasing you?”
“Of course not!”
“So chill,” Jack advised. “He thinks you’re attractive and he’s teasing you. It’s a compliment; take it as such. You’re acting like a nervous virgin; you’re Black Ops, fer chrissake, get it together. And you can’t take Erra, not on your own. According to Daniel, he’s the god of pestilence, and I’d rather not know how he came by that moniker. Play ball.”
Inanna watched from the sidelines with the children and others who were not playing. Maggie and Abigail sat with their yarn, Olivia between them. Hammond played ball; he wasn’t too much older than Jack, and Jack was happy to see the older man had been taking care of himself. Hammond had lost about thirty pounds since Jack had met him, and it showed in the extra energy.
“Jack, you really do have nice legs,” Inanna commented, looking at his bared legs, the scruff of his shorts midway down his thighs. There were several hoots. “They look like they’d be nice to be wrapped in.”
“They are!” came two voices. Jack missed the shot amidst laughter.
“You’re supposed to be on my side,” he told Daniel and Sam.
“Is it our fault if Inanna’s observations are….” Sam started.
“Na na na,” Jack waved a finger. “We’re winning and she’s trying to distract us.”
“Well, Jack, you’re legs are distracting,” Daniel told him. There was more laughter. “Let’s ask the expert,” Daniel said. “Mom, commentary on your son’s legs?”
“Perfection, of course,” Maggie informed them, concentrating on a stitch. “They certainly grew strong enough kicking my ribs and bladder.”
Jack fell to the ground as everyone laughed. The ball hit the ground next to Jack’s head.
“Tie!” Jonathan yelled. “And my legs are better.”
Mason stalked away as the two compared legs.
A short time later, they were invaded by Jaffa. Specifically, Teal’c, Bre’tac, Rya’c, Kar’yn, and Ka’lel. Jack wasn’t sure he liked the way Teal’c was hovering around Bre’tac. While Bre’tac sat and talked with Hammond, the rest joined the volleyball game. Many rules were challenged and changed when Jaffa and Anunnaki ganged up on Tau’ri.
When the adults tired, the kids took over the net and ball. People dove into the lake to wash off sweat and then returned to the grassy bank. Jack put his t-shirt on and leaned back on his elbows.
“Inanna,” Jack got her attention. “We have a lot of small countries that are not in line with the plans,” he said. “The problem is that these countries are about a hundred years behind the times, if not more. Very tribal. There are seven main countries that are a problem; two of them I think we can get to tow the line. If we block the others, shut their borders to import and export, will that work for the Unified Worlds?”
An elegant eyebrow lifted. “You want to shun them? That’s harsh,” she warned.
“Yes, it is,” Jack agreed. “And the UN is already pissed with me for not including them from the beginning of HomeWorld Security. This will piss them off even more. North Korea, Pakistan, India, Japan, Iran, China, and Afghanistan are the problem children; now, I think we can get Japan and Afghanistan to play semi-nice and I think India will settle down if we can get Pakistan to settle. North Korea, China, and Iran are the headliners, though. The main argument coming from higher up has to do with hurt feelings, but the truth is that economics will take a big hit. I say people will need to buy local for a while.”
“What’s the problem with Japan?” Ferretti asked. “I thought they were friendly.”
“They are,” Jack acknowledged. “The problem is that I don’t trust them not to sell any technology we give them. They seem to have an open-door policy in regards to their business practices. Can you imagine China with one of our ships?”
“I see your point,” Ferretti nodded. “Can we trust the Russians? We’re always finding their weapons in the hands of extremists.”
“Yes, but those are black market and Col. Chekhov has been working hard to curb that,” Jack said. “Their entire military has been going through an overhaul. He’s also been trying to get their mandatory draft abolished.”
“Good, maybe it’ll cut down on those reports of abuse,” Sam glared.
“I’ve run into a few issues of my own,” Hammond said. “There’s been some underground hazing in a few of the groups. Jack, you may want to keep an eye on that cadet, Kendrick; that boy’s been ver
y helpful. Seems to be developing one of those rogue talents. He’s able to pick up images and transmit them. Like Zu, I guess. He needs to be in close contact, but he can do it. He’s been playing advocate for those who are less fortunate in holding their own, and keeping me informed privately through this thing he’s doing. He and I have been keeping it from everyone else. You can imagine the problems if any of the other cadets or officers found out.”
“What year is he?” Jack asked.
“Second,” Hammond told him.
Jack considered the information. “Well, forget the cadets and officers; I can imagine what would happen if the CIA or NSA got hold of him,” he commented. “God help us if the NID gets him. Do I need to get him out of there?”
Hammond ruminated over it. “Maybe,” he finally said. “He’s a good kid, Jack; I think he’ll make a good officer. Try hiding Clark Kent, though.”
Jack understood. “I’ll talk with him when I get home. How’d you find out?”
“He knew of our relationship, read me kinda like you do, and knew he could trust me.”
“Keep your eyes open, George; if anything starts to happen, hustle him through the gate. I’ll have him classified to me as soon as we get home. Let’s put this topic on hold, though,” Jack said. “Inanna, what do you think about the planetary issue?”
“I’d have to consult with the rest of the council, but it might be do-able,” she said with a nod. “There is precedent for admitting a world that has a few countries not in agreement. Take Mulakma, for example. As long as the majority is able to hold power, and do so in a peaceful manner, the world has been admitted.”
“Chulak offers agreement,” Bre’tac said.
“The Tok’ra agree,” Malek said. Jack had unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief when Malek had brought Katie back and she was still completely dressed. As dressed as she could be in that piece of ribbon she had been wearing. Jack forced himself to trust her and respect her privacy by NOT reaching into her emotions.
The Anunnaki Unification, Book 3: A Stargate SG-1 Fan Fiction Story Page 4
