“Using another sense,” Sam put in. Jack whirled, pointed, and snapped his fingers.
“Yes! Another sense. When someone goes blind, the other senses take over. I’ve been learning to use another sense. That intuition thing. I never really believed in it before, but after all the stuff we’ve seen and done, I started listening to it. When I follow it, I can sense other things. The more I do it, the more another world opens up for me.”
The pope leaned forward, frowning as he listened. “And you could see this… creature… inside Mr. Pierce?” he asked. Jack nodded.
“Like a black, smoky cloud,” he said. “We’ve seen something like it before, so that’s the best I can do to describe it. Daniel told me to push, so I pushed at it and it was gone.”
“Your Holiness, I was listening to the languages the thing was speaking,” Daniel said. “It said nothing that isn’t already in a human language. Most of it was a mixture of various ancient languages, a lot of obscure dialects, mostly ancient middle eastern. It could have picked them all up from Mr. Pierce’s brain. We retain certain racial memories, which means the creature would have to be able to pick us apart at the cellular level, which it was certainly doing as it tried to change Mr. Pierce’s physical shape. Now, what Jack was doing is part of this whole evolutionary leaping process; some people are getting a little more than others.”
Daniel hoped he’d be forgiven for lying to the pope. He found himself giving the pope his private email so that they could talk. Alvin left for home and they were back at HomeSec in minutes.
“Jack, look at this list,” Sam said, handing him the PDA as they walked from the field to the HomeSec buildings. An updated Gene list had been sent to her. Daniel looked over his shoulder.
“What are we looking for?” he asked.
“Almost all those names are European,” Sam said. “Specifically, they’re….”
“Celtic,” Daniel said, taking the PDA from her and scrolling through the slowly growing list. “A few non-Europeans but they could easily have Celtic ancestry, considering the pre-Celts used to be nomads who originated in the Indus Valley. Some South American, which would also make sense, since the Ancients used South America as one of their hidey-holes.”
“Okay, so I’m thinking this is a dominant gene among the Celts,” Daniel said. He scratched his jaw, his eyes quickly moving from side to side as he thought. “It would put the Celtic myths into a whole new perspective. As is, they’re a little psychotic, which isn’t surprising since it was Christian monks who wrote them down from Celtic oral traditions, but if we translate them so that…. Never mind… The Celts tended to take mates from whatever tribe they ran across, so the gene could have spread into other tribes very easily.”
“Probably need two people with the gene to pass it on, or it doesn’t get passed on,” Sam commented.
“Right,” Daniel was saying. “And like a lot of religions, the modern Celts, unlike their pre-Celtic ancestors, tend to stay within their ancestral origins. Celts marry Celts. Irish to Irish, Scots to Scots. Easy to pass on the gene. Also explains a lot of the Celtic mysticism about third sight and all. South America is even more inbred, unfortunately, and they have a lot of other worldly stuff happening, too.”
“Sir, all taken care of?” Davis asked when Jack returned to his section of the complex.
“Demon go bye-bye, Major,” Jack assured him.
Daniel and Sam headed for her office, along with Dr. Caballo, to bring up the records of Gene-positive people and try to find the common denominator.
“Very good, sir,” Davis said. “You have a visitor waiting, sir.”
“Oh?”
Jack went into his office and found a familiar figure looking out his window.
“Bre’tac!” Jack greeted the rebel with a wide smile as he held out an arm. Bre’tac clasped it, an equally welcoming smile on his weathered face.
“It is good to see you well, old friend,” Bre’tac said.
“You, too,” Jack returned and gestured toward a chair. “How’s tricks?”
“Tricks are well,” Bre’tac said with a nod. “Gerek is dead. He attempted to force free Jaffa into worshipping new gods. He was killed.”
“Wonderful!” Jack declared. “So who’s in charge?”
Bre’tac smiled and Jack let out a “Whoo-hoo!” while raising his arms in victory. He broke out the whisky and glasses and handed one to the old man. “To freedom,” Jack said. Bre’tac agreed and they drank.
Everyone was doing well, Bre’tac assured Jack; Rya’c was to be a father, soon, and Teal’c was seeing a warrior woman from a Jaffa tribe that Thanatos had introduced them to. That explained to Jack why his friend hadn’t been around in a while.
“You’re presence is missed,” Bre’tac told him with a sincere smile. “Many leaders would like to gather to discuss the Baal issue. There is to be a council of the leaders from many different tribes and worlds. Many tribes have watched Jaffa come together and be greater as a whole. There is talk about forming a union and defeating Baal once and for all. Your presence is requested to represent the Tau’ri.”
Jack sat back, stunned. “Is there a plan in the works?”
“There was,” Bre’tac said. “Malek had a good idea, but Baal has altered his tactics enough so that Malek’s plan is no longer a viable option.”
As Jack listened, he grew more and more concerned; Baal had been learning alternative strategies.
Chapter 27
Jack brought Bre’tac home for dinner, much to the delight of the children. He was introduced to Jerrie and he bowed politely to her.
“Major Bryce’s sister,” Jack told him.
Bre’tac’s eyes lit up. “Ah, yes,” he said. “I have fought beside your brother. He is a most skilled warrior.”
After dinner, Bre’tac told the children stories. The older ones were beyond bedtime stories, but they listened avidly while pretending to do homework. After a while, Jack stole Bre’tac, amidst protests, and he and Sam left for the SGC, picked up Davis on their way out, and had an impromptu meeting with Landry and Reynolds once they settled into the Mountain. They brought up the star charts and Bre’tac pinpointed where Baal was last known to be holding fort. Reynolds nodded in agreement, confirming the rumors he and SG-1 had been hearing on their own excursions. Jack had Sam highlight the worlds they knew in the area that would need added protection. He frowned; there were a lot and Baal had been busy stealing more slaves from unprotected worlds. And from the positioning of Baal’s fleet, he was preparing to reclaim territory that had been freed by Jaffa and Tau’ri.
“Do you know where the Tok’ra are at the moment?” he asked Bre’tac. The old warrior gave the last known coordinates and Sam marked it off. “Where is Thanatos’ fleet?” Again, Sam marked it on the chart. She highlighted each world they knew had space flight, and each world with a friendly military. Once the star chart was lit up with all of Jack’s requests, the universe didn’t look so daunting. Even Bre’tac’s face was lit up as he looked at the star chart. They were not as alone as they thought they were; Baal could be taken.
Jack called Maynard and requested a special meeting with the Joint Chiefs, and asked that they come to him for the meeting. It was highly irregular, but Maynard agreed after Jack promised to send his al'kesh to pick them up. Jack made a list and sent Davis to start dialing numbers.
The next day, HomeSec was under heavy guard as military leaders from around the world were brought in. To their even greater surprise, they were joined by military leaders from off-world, including Jaffa, Tok’ra, Masharu, Langaran, Serakkin, Sua, and Anunnaki. Some wanted to know where the Asgard were, so Jack had to explain the Asgard non-involvement. The Tau’ri were amazed, not comprehending the extent of their galactic allies until they saw all the different representatives in one place.
That the sky was filled with various types of alien ships was quickly reported and the press descended upon HomeWorld Security for explanations. Demands fell on deaf ears.
The press took note and were still left in the dark.
Jack sent word to Thor of their plans, putting the Asgard on alert. Word got out and non-flight friendlies sent their pledges of support for anything the Alliance needed; O’Neill had saved their butts, so they would make good on that favor. All the non-Tau’ri allies were looking to Jack as the leader, and Tau’ri generals and admirals quickly swallowed their pride and fell in line.
The 303s came home and were immediately restocked and loaded for battle. Almost all civilians on board were replaced with troops. By the time all the allied ships arrived, there were over thousand ships in orbit and waiting around the solar system. No explanation had yet been given to the people of Earth, except that they were friendly and not to worry.
Jack insisted on taking a day off in the middle of the war plans. He gathered his family together and explained to the children why he had to leave, and promised that he would be back as soon as he could. Jack set out pictures of Megan and his father, and he talked with the children about their mother and how much he missed her and Papa. He got Katie, Matthew, and Davy to talk and to tell stories, and even Stacy helped by telling a story about time spent with Megan and Grandpa Tom. Jack made the children all hold hands and promise to help each other and listen to whatever Sam and Daniel told them.
While storming through his office at HomeSec, Mrs. Clark was a little weepy as she worried for Jack and Davis. She and Mrs. Arthur got together and informed Jack that he had better come back or ELSE.
“Or else what?” Jack asked. The women nodded sagely.
“Exactly,” Mrs. Arthur informed him. Neither of the men understood, but Sam seemed to as she agreed with the older women. When Daniel asked around the SGC, personnel all agreed that Jack had better return; none of them wanted to answer to Mrs. A if he didn’t. Even General Landry quickly agreed. What worried Daniel more was that the female personnel all seemed to understand the vague threat. He was beginning to think that the female language was never going to be deciphered.
Jack sent Jerrie and the kids all shopping and told her to take a few hours. She didn’t ask as she loaded the kids into her SUV. Jack, Sam, and Daniel took their time making love to each other.
Inanna and her crew transferred and split up between the 303s, and left a rudimentary crew on the Heaven’s Bow. At least the planet would have a certain amount of protection. Just in case.
Jack put Earth at DefCon 2.
Those who knew Jack were not surprised when he put his ‘son’ on his war council. Nate had shown up at the war council meeting, surprising everyone in his Anunnaki leathers, centered and at peace. And he was now ‘Jonathan’.
Jonathan pulled his hair back into a ponytail and got to work. Only a few Tau’ri considered questioning it, and being military they knew when to not ask questions; especially when long-time SGC personnel gave them looks that told them to keep it shut. Jonathan could often be found without a shirt or vest on, wearing only leather boots and the kilt. The deep, grooved scars on his chest, still reddish-pink from healing, had earned him respect in the eyes of the Jaffa. Jack wasn’t sure he wanted to know how his clone got the scars. The tattoos of Tau’ri and Anunnaki on each upper arm proclaimed his dual allegiance, and several Anunnaki also had new ink. There was a little commentary about Goa’uld tattoos, but it was quickly canceled out as more and more people showed up with new ink on their arms. Humans had been inking themselves since time immemorial, so there wasn’t anything new about their need to proclaim themselves.
The main question of the day was, “Where exactly is Baal?”
Jack and the war council stared at the star chart, discussing various locations where Baal had supposedly been sighted. Going on a hunch, “There.” Everyone looked as both Jack and Jonathan pointed at the same spot at the same time.
“How do you know?” Malek asked, looking from one to the other.
“We have to start someplace,” Jack said mildly, not looking at his younger self.
Battle plans were created and discussed with the troop leaders. Inanna tore the plans down. “They are common,” she told the surrounding military leaders. “Baal will know these strategies. We need something that will surprise him. Take him unawares.” She and Ninurta, working side by side, quickly drew up plans from ancient battles. The plans were sneaky and underhanded. They were approved.
Jack put Hammond in temporary charge of HomeSec, and made the Prometheus his flag ship. Many tried to convince Jack to remain on Earth, but he had waited too long for this day; he needed to be on the field, and he wanted Baal. Several squads remained on Earth to guard home base. Jack left Col. Chekhov in charge of them, much to the vocal disapproval of the Joint Chiefs.
“General Hammond,” Jack called over the open radio. “Let’s hear it, sir.”
Standing next to Landry who lifted a quizzed, hairy eyebrow, Hammond smiled and everyone in the control room turned to look at him. “God’s speed, people.”
News from behind the lines was that Baal was on the defense when he became aware of the size of the amassed fleet headed his way from three different directions, with a Tau’ri battle cruiser leading each of the three fronts.
The first month was a hard, bloody battle. Allies were picked up along the way, hundreds of lives were lost, mostly locals on various planets. Troops put down on allied planets for rest and refilling of the food stocks. A hundred or so non-flight worlds honored their debts to the Tau’ri, proud to step in where they could to help even if was just for a hot meal. They had been scared; Baal had been gathering the remaining Goa’uld to him and had begun taking slaves once more.
Jack refused to be a desk jockey, and took turns in the cockpit of 302s along with everyone else. He took Teal’c as his partner. Jack’s personal guards were not happy about him going into battle along with everyone else, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. Generals were supposed to remain behind and direct. If Inanna was going into battle, so was Jack; she wasn’t going to get all the fun.
Ship by ship, Baal’s fleet was picked off. Col. Reynolds came in at one point, carrying a silver platter with a domed hood. He entered the bridge of the Prometheus with a shit-eating grin.
“How much do you love me, Jack?” he cooed. Jack’s ears would have twitched if they could. Bridge crew turned to look. Even Col. Markham slowly turned his center seat around, an eyebrow raised at Reynolds’ tone. Markham was still getting used to Jack’s form of command.
“That depends,” Jack said cautiously as he straightened up from behind the battle board. “Is that a steak?”
“Even better,” Reynolds said. He lifted the lid. A bloody head sat on the platter with a dead symbiote next to it. A rebel yell rocked the bridge. Jack was happy to report to the troops that Enlil was officially dead. Moral was lifted high and a renewed effort was made on the battle front. Goa’uld heads began to be delivered to Jack as they became available. It was a little gruesome, but it was making the troops happy. A few sticklers for propriety made commentary about the rules of warfare.
“What rules?” Jack snapped. “This is war, not a football game.”
Inanna requested a private viewing of the head for a memorial. Enlil wasn’t at fault for the actions of the symbiote, and they wanted to remember their older brother as he used to be. Their grief quickly cooled the celebrations of ever
yone else.
Like a tidal wave, Alliance ships swept across the galaxy. They found a few inhabited worlds that were under siege by Goa’uld slavers, and a couple squads took the time to quickly dispatch the mothership hovering over each world. Alien worlds that had yet to be met by SG teams, but had heard of the Tau’ri named O’Neill, joined in the fight, introducing themselves with gunfire as they flew side by side with Alliance ships.
After several ‘hunches’ had proved correct, and after talking with a few SG troops who had worked with Jack and witnessed his ‘hunches’ in action, Enki took Jack AND Jonathan aside for a chat. Since many correct hunches happened prior to the first time Jack had an Ancient repository downloaded into his brain, forcing open most of his brain’s pathways and forming new ones, he must have inherited the Celtic ‘spooky’ gene from his parents. The old man helped them find the correct area of their brain to use it at will. Jack’s reputation had grown when word got out that he was interrogating prisoners by reading their minds.
Anunnaki interrogators spread themselves out to other ships. Captives began killing themselves rather than being taken before one of these interrogators. Only Jack had the horrifying snake stick, though. Tok’ra had taken to being completely honest with him after the first time they witnessed what the pukku could do. Malek had tried telling them.
Jack’s reputation was also growing about the time he spent walking through the infirmaries. There was a hushed whisper that people touched by him tended to heal faster than others with the same wounds who were not touched. Jack thought it was nonsense when he heard about it, scoffing with a wave of his hand. Bre’tac and Teal’c didn’t comment; Jack didn’t remember healing Bre’tac of a deadly knife wound. It had happened when the second repository download completely took over Jack’s brain years earlier.
There was only so much kel’no’reeming a man could do, so Jack was running on caffeine most of the time. When he did agree to get a little rest, he rarely made it to his quarters and usually ended up in one of the make-shift group rooms. With all the extra people on board the ships, a few of the larger rec-rooms were cleared of furniture and the floors were covered in pillows, blankets, and anything else people could sleep on. He would crash in a group room and more than once woke up in a tangle of arms and legs. After spending almost a year getting used to multiple people in his own bed, he slept better when surrounded by people. Most of the groups were non-Tau’ri; Jack’s own people were still a little self-conscious about groups, and were rarely out of the male-female pairing. Jack was usually in the Anunnaki’s room where anything goes. Col. Reynolds and SG-1 weren’t questioning it, so neither did anyone else. The crew was discovering that if they took their cues from SG-1, they worked easier with their unpredictable general.
The Anunnaki Unification, Book 2: A Staraget SG-1 Fan Fiction Story Page 12
