Daniel was trying very hard to keep his patience with the person on the phone in Jack’s office. Jack was fairly sure he was gently patronizing the person in Hebrew. Jack wasn’t surprised, considering the latest insanity in the Middle East. Some idiot fired off a few rounds across the border and killed several Palestinians. Of course Palestine returned the fire. Jack called Henry and Henry called various leaders. No one was willing to meet with Jack. Henry’s personal opinion was that they were afraid of the mind-reading rumors. Henry didn’t tell them that Jack could read them from halfway across the globe.
“Just a hot-head on the street,” Jack told Henry. “The government won’t say anything one way or another. Any excuses….. Henry, the UN really needs to take responsibility for their mess over there.”
Henry sighed. “Won’t argue with you, there, Jack, but unfortunately you know as well as I do that it isn’t going to happen. Those two countries are going to have to learn to get along. The UN displaced a country once, they won’t do it again. We can't tell them about Enki's historical revisions, the entire place would go up in flames.”
To Jack’s amusement, several shady government types had cornered him when the rumors began to circulate about his abilities. They were concerned about top secrets. Jack laughed and told one of the men to quit cheating on his wife with another man, and don’t tell him about keeping secrets. The man paled, refused to look at his partner, and left. Jack then had a private meeting with Henry and Maynard. Silent hell broke loose and quite a few ex-Personages were warned to keep their fingers out of any further dealings; the current Administration had a mess to clean up.
There had been many questionable acts cleared up by Jack’s curiosity. The Middle East issue was only one of them. Various government-types had begun scrambling to clean up any incriminating evidence that was still lingering. It really didn’t help; Jack was looking into bodies, not paperwork. He discovered that it was easier as he practiced. He could do a light scan of the town while he was changing the baby. Jack had the dirt on everyone. A few were of concern to him, so he passed on ‘anonymous’ information to Andy. A couple of people tried to take shots at him. Nick dealt with them before bothering to tell Jack to keep his head down.
“Jack, President Dayan wants to talk to you,” Daniel said, holding his hand over the speaker.
“Tell President Diane…” Daniel held out the phone. “…..if he doesn’t cut the crap, I’m going to sanction him,” Jack responded, raising his voice to be heard. “I know damned well who ordered that soldier to fire and so far, I’ve kept it to myself.”
Daniel and Sam had found that a Jack who knew everything was an irritating Jack. Unfortunately, Jack did have the right to sanction a nation belonging to HomeSec. He couldn’t interfere with the workings of a nation, but if they signed a pledge to behave, and they didn’t, Jack could take away their rights to participate in HomeWorld Security. The Middle East was already on a temporary pass; they could send people to serve aboard ships, but the countries would not have access to the technology. One word from Jack and the Middle East would be cut off completely. Any personnel already serving would be given the choice of returning home or aligning with another country.
Israel had accused Jack of anti-Semitism on more than one occasion. Jack would laugh and tell them to get over themselves. On more than one occasion, Daniel expounded on Semitic languages and their relationship to modern Middle Eastern Arabic, Hebrew, Egyptian, and a few others. During one occasion, Jack opened his cell phone and hit the record button. The next time someone accused him of anti-Semitism, Jack sent them the recording of one of Daniel’s impromptu lectures.
The one thing that had made the Middle East pause was not alien technology itself, but the fact that the technology was allowing the West to use something other than oil as their main energy. The citizens may not yet understand, but the leadership knew which way the wind was blowing and it wasn’t in the direction of their oil fields. Another irritation of Israel was the fact that the rest of the Middle East was reluctantly enjoying Jack’s directness when other country leaders were playing political games. When Jack told them something, they were learning to trust his word. Jack had something others didn’t –he had Daniel.
Daniel hung up the phone and discovered Jack just inches away.
“Yes?” Daniel questioned, slightly cross-eyed, looking at Jack so near.
“I want to do it on my desk,” Jack told him, an evil twinkle in his eyes.
“You have a one-track mind, do you know that?”
“What’s your point?” Jack asked from Daniel’s neck.
“Aren’t we supposed to be going over wedding plans?” Daniel asked.
“We’re already married.”
“Not our wedding, Paul’s wedding.”
“Oh. Right. That’s a girl thing, Danny; I want to make out.”
“I will have sex with you, right here, on one condition,” Daniel told him. Jack lifted his head from Daniel’s chest.
“You’re bribing me for sex?” Jack couldn’t believe it.
“Yup,” Daniel nodded.
“What’s the condition?” Jack asked suspiciously.
“For the next twenty-hour hours you speak nothing except Ancient,” Daniel said. And he said it in Ancient. Jack opened his mouth and Daniel held up a finger. “If you speak in English, or any other language, I won’t respond. And I will inform everyone else who speaks Ancient of the deal.”
“That’s low,” Jack grumbled.
“What?” Daniel asked in Ancient.
Jack scowled. “The deal is canceled in case of emergencies.”
“Of course,” Daniel nodded. “But you summarize after, to me, in Ancient.”
Jack considered the deal.
“And you will NOT agree now only to renege when we’re done,” Daniel continued.
“Not very romantic of you,” Jack grumbled.
“Ana mish fahim,” Daniel said, shaking his head in non-understanding.
“I said…..” Jack hesitated, knowing he was going to regret it. “Kwayis, mashi?”
Daniel smiled. “Mashi.”
Much to Jack’s enjoyment, Daniel was feisty during their playtime, too. The fact that a certain governor from California was being forced to cool his heels in the outer office was only more of a turn-on.
Afterward, while Jack quickly brushed his teeth in the small washroom, Daniel chuckled, sucking gently on Jack’s neck.
“Love you,” Daniel said softly.
Jack spit. “Love you, too. Now go away.”
“Ey?”
Jack repeated it in Ancient.
California wanted its own generator. With examples of Las Vegas, DC, Colorado Springs, and St. Petersburg all showing signs of better air and much lower electric bills, California was feeling left out. Jack promised that Los Angeles would get a generator. The governor went away happy despite the hickey on Jack’s neck and the image of a very happy Dr. Jackson that had left before hand. Jack called Sam.
“Would you please set up…..”
“Ey?”
Jack sighed, knowing it was going to be a long day. There was no way he’d get around the deal, not with Sam. She’d tattle on him. He began again, switching languages.
“Would you please set up LA with a generator?”
“Already preparing for it,” she said. “They have a heavy grid, so we need to reorganize it. All the high volume cities are being reorganized. We should have ten more up and running by New Year’s.”
After acknowledging it and telling her to send a report to his inbox, he was halfway into town when his phone rang again. “Where are you? Stay put, I’ll be there in ten.”
He turned off the main road and headed up to the lake. A group of SGC teens had gone to the lake for a party. Jack allowed Matthew to go with them. Col. Reynolds’ kids had gone up as well as eight others, so he felt Matty would be in safe hands. Jack looked at his watch. They had been at the lake for almost five hours. He parked and hiked
in the last couple hundred yards.
There was a fire going in the pit, the music was loud and irritating on the head. Most of the kids were attempting to dance. Most of them were too drunk to succeed. Jack looked at his watch again. He walked up to the group and waited. There were a few more kids than he was expecting to see. One of the kids crashed into him and laughed hysterically.
“At ease, Mr. Flynn,” Jack said easily. One by one, the kids noticed the three-star in their midst. “Mr. Meador. Have a seat. Miss Smart, that t-shirt would look prettier on. Dana Moore, I thought you had the flu? Mr. Lewis, step away from the fire, son; roasting chestnuts isn’t for another six months.” He yanked a baseball cap off someone’s head and held it out. “Keys. Everyone. Now. I see three trucks, I want to see three sets of keys.”
The teens quieted. Only the CD box disturbed the peace of the woods. Jack bent and tapped the power button. Matthew was across the glade, looking unhappy as he sat close to Reynolds’ older kids, Robbie, twins Josh and Emma, and, surprisingly, Tressa Hammond.
“Did one of you drive?” Jack asked them.
“No, sir,” they answered. They all caravanned up with others.
“Get in my truck.” Jack pointed a thumb over his shoulder. He waited for a moment and then opened the radio. “Captain Pennick, please send a van to Lake Turner and pick up nine intoxicated teenagers. Make sure they’re delivered personally to their parents. After you take names.”
The kids were staggering in place, a few of them collapsed onto logs. The smell of pot was in the air, along with cigarettes. Jack didn’t say anything. He turned and went to his truck. Matthew and Tressa were in the front while the three Reynolds’ teenagers were squeezed into the back.
“Is everyone alright?” Jack asked.
“Yes, sir,” they murmured. He could sense the guilt from them.
“You were right to call,” he assured them. “I want the truth, everyone. Are any of you high?”
“No, sir,” Matty immediately said.
“A little buzzed, sir,” Robbie admitted. “But we didn’t actively take anything, it’s from the smoke in the air.”
“Okay,” Jack nodded.
“Jack? I’m not feeling well.”
Jack immediately pulled over and stopped. Tressa jumped out and hid in a bush. Emma went to help her. Jack reached under the seat and handed out a bottle of water.
“Alright, honey?” he asked a couple minutes later. He had babysat her and her sister a few times when they were small; she trusted him as much as she trusted her grandfather who had taken custody of them when their parents died. Tressa was white around the gills as she nodded and got back in.
“We didn’t know it was going to be like that, sir,” Emma said. “They said it was just a little down time with some music. We expected to see a little beer, but not like that.”
“I didn’t recognize a couple of the kids,” Jack said.
“New families, sir,” Josh told him. “Most of the beer and pot came from them.”
“We asked Matty to call you when it started getting out of hand,” Robbie said. “I would have called Dad, but he’s off-world.”
“I’m glad you called, son,” Jack assured him. “You did the right thing. Tressa, where’s your grandfather? At school?”
“Yes, sir,” she said weakly.
“Okay, I want you to crash at my place for the day,” Jack said. “You can sleep it off in Daniel’s den. It’s nice and quiet and dark. You never did handle chemical smells well. Jerrie will take care of you. You three, I’ll drop you off at your home. I want you to take it easy, too. No driving until the pot is out of your systems.”
They passed a van driven by SF. Jack stopped and handed them the cap of vehicle keys and gave quiet instructions. After letting the Reynolds’ kids off, and after having a short talk with Mary, Jack drove Matty and Tressa home. Tressa had laid down on the backseat after the others left. Jack glanced at Matty and slid an arm across the boy’s shoulders.
“You did good, son,” he told the boy.
“They’re going to pick on me for this,” Matty glumly predicted.
“Who? Robbie and….?”
“No,” Matty shook his head. “The others.”
Jack looked at him. “Matt, a few weeks ago you showed them how to kick Jaffa ass, and you’re worried about being picked on by dumb jocks?”
Matthew thought about it. He reluctantly smiled and watched the passing neighborhood. When they got to the house, the kids got out of the truck and went into the house while Jack told Jerrie what had happened, and called Daniel for lunch.
Once at the restaurant, Jack found a loaded burger waiting for him. He sank his teeth into it with a grateful hungry moan. Daniel watched him, picking at the remainder of the fries.
“Kids okay?” he asked. It was in Ancient. Jack nodded and wiped his mouth.
“Fine,” he said. “A little buzzed from the second-hand smoke. I’m a little buzzed, and I was only there for a few minutes. Head is a little achy.”
“Well, this might be giving you an even bigger ache,” Daniel said. “There’s a group of picketers outside city hall. In this time of great crisis, they feel that it is important, now more than ever, to remind our citizens of proper family values.”
Jack thought about it and narrowed his eyes.
“Is that a non-pointing finger?” he asked.
Daniel nodded. “Yes, it is. Lots of Mormons.”
Jack thought some more. “That’s a little calling the kettle black.”
Daniel smiled. “A side-subject on that –the town has a lot of kids who were kicked out of a cult. I’m wondering if you can get dispensation to offer them a life off-world or send recruiters to them. The Alpha site could use a few more settlers, and the kids seem to be good with their hands. The crew already there should be able to get the kids straightened out.”
“That’s a possibility,” Jack said with a nod. “Wouldn’t they be better off in school?”
“Maybe,” Daniel shrugged. “The stats say they’ll fall through the cracks no matter where they are. The way they’ve been raised….. I’d be surprised if more than one in ten manages to overcome their conditioning. Not without outside help.
“Andy said he’s hesitant to arrest any of them, minor offenses, because they’d never survive in jail.”
“I’ll talk to Henry and Francis.” He scowled as he thrust a fry into ketchup. “Danny, it’s those assholes running those cults that should be arrested.”
“I know,” Daniel said. “And the cult leaders will be arrested for abuse. Our laws, though, protect freedom of religion. Any religion. Jack, I’ll be the first to stand and extol the virtues of an education, and I’m telling you those kids are too naïve to survive on their own. Not in our society. They’d be eaten alive by the sharks, not to mention the way they’ve been raised to treat women. A good percentage of those boys are rapists and pedophiles in waiting.”
Jack frowned as he considered what Daniel was saying. “If I remember right, Major Baldwin used to work with at-risk inner-city kids. Did Peace Corps work, too. We can’t force these kids to go, but I’ll talk to the Powers that Be and see if we can at least offer them an alternative.”
Probably to test Daniel’s patience, Jack decided he needed to have an urgent talk with the mayor. About the cult boys, of course. Mayor Stivers, a good Episcopalian boy, wasn’t one of Jack’s fans.
“That is your fault,” Stivers said, poking a finger toward the window and the picketers when Jack and Daniel entered his office. The two holding hands wasn’t helping Stivers’ blood pressure, nor did it win Jack any friends when they walked through the small crowd. Jack blinked innocently.
“Barny, I don’t know those people,” Jack said. “How could I have upset them?”
“Bernard,” Daniel corrected.
“Ignore them, Bernie,” Jack said. He took a seat without being offered and tugged Daniel down into the other seat. “They need to get a life and stay out of busi
ness that isn’t theirs. Just tell them to go home and get out of your hair.” He glanced at the man’s shiny dome. “We wanted to discuss all these kids that were kicked out of their cults. Excuse me –communities. If I take them off your hands, will it make you a happier camper?”
Stivers looked from one man to the other, suspicious.
“Are you talking about sending them…. out there?” He jerked his chin toward the ceiling.
“To space?” Jack asked, his face blank. “No, there’s no air in space, Bernie; they wouldn’t survive much more than a few minutes. I’ve been there, Bernie; it’s cold. I’m talking about a couple of planets that are being colonized. The kids know how to use their hands; the colonists will put them to work and get rid of the brainwashing at the same time. All voluntary, of course. I have to clear it with a few others. What do you think?”
Stivers would have to discuss it with various other city officials before giving Jack an answer. Outside the front door, they found a camera and microphone in their faces. Jack gave friendly waves at the crowd shouting at him about his lack of morals and ethics.
“Tildie, you know I…..”
“Hildie, Jack.”
“…..don’t like sneak attacks,” Jack complained.
“Come on, General, just a moment of your time,” the young reporter insisted. “How do you respond to accusations that you are corrupting the morals of children?”
Jack tossed his head back and laughed. “I’d say ask my children,” he said. “A couple hours ago, my fifteen year old son called me from a party. The people he was with, other teenagers, were drunk and smoking pot. My son trusted me enough to call me and tell me what was going on and ask me to come and pick him up. How’s that for moral corruption? Have a nice day, ma’am.”
He slid an arm around Daniel’s waist and headed for their vehicles. Andy was leaning against his own car, waiting for them to exit the building.
“Can you possibly stay out of trouble for one day?” he asked as the men approached.
The Anunnaki Unification, Book 3: A Stargate SG-1 Fan Fiction Story Page 30
