The house was alive with kids preparing for school when Daniel came out of the bathroom, scrubbing at his wet hair with a towel. There was movement on the bed and he saw Jack waking up.
“I need to go and prepare for Atis,” he said softly. He tossed the towel from around his waist and rummaged for clothes. Jack relaxed in the warmth of his partners as he held Sam to him and watched Daniel dress his naked body.
“Do you have time to fool around?” Jack asked, his voice rumbly from sleep.
“Sorry,” Daniel said with an apologetic smile. He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on socks, and leaned over to kiss Jack. “I need to be at the SGC in….. oooh, twenty minutes. I may be a little late.” Daniel contemplated his feet for a moment and then leaned over for more kisses. He hummed to himself and lifted Jack’s pajama top, nuzzling his way through the line of fur on Jack’s stomach.
Daniel stopped himself and jumped up. “Bad Daniel,” he scolded himself. Jack’s mouth twitched.
“What are we doing for Sam’s birthday tomorrow?” Jack asked.
“Don’t know,” Daniel said. “What does Sam want to do?”
“Sleep,” came a mumbled statement. She wiggled and found more of Jack to snuggle into.
“You can’t sleep, the kids have presents for you,” Daniel told her.
“Alright, presents and then sleep,” she said. Jack tightened his arm around her shoulders and pressed his mouth to the top of her head. Daniel sat on the side of the bed again.
“Jack, I consulted with the universe last night and came to a decision,” he said. Jack and Sam both cranked open an eye.
“He probably did,” Sam muttered into Jack’s chest.
“I need to expand my department to include Earth-based sites. Can HomeSec fund an anthropology department? I would like teams for off-world and on-world. I would oversee both and appoint a department chair for each section.”
“Why do you feel Earth needs another anthropology department?” Jack asked. “Can’t you use Chicago’s?”
“No, they have other funding and are under the auspices of the university,” Daniel said. “Jack, you and Zu only found those Goa’uld because they were awake in a host. What about those that may still be in stasis? I’ve been scanning through myths from around the world, and I think there were more than we realize. With what we have learned over the years, I’m reading the myths in a whole new light and I think there’s more to the origins of aliens on Earth than meets the eye.
“Most of what we do know has been told to us second and third hand, so we don’t know how accurate the information is. Thanatos and Inanna have both said they lack specifics, and some of their information is guess work. Now, we have that list of sites on the planet that have minute readings of naquadah; enough to say someone has been there, not that we have any naquadah here to mine. We can’t have just any team from any college or museum digging around those sites, so I’d like teams of my own to deal with them, teams specially trained to deal with alien technology and possible symbiote contact.”
“Send me a memo and I’ll run it by the committee,” Jack said, not promising anything. “I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t know what the current budget looks like.”
That was good enough for Daniel, and kissed them both and hurried from the room. The two remaining looked at each other. “Kids,” they said. Groaning, they began to greet the day.
“Dad, I need new jeans,” Matthew said when Jack went into the kitchen. Matthew held out a leg and Jack looked, noticing the extra inch between cuff and ankle. Jack took his wallet out and handed a card to Jerrie. “Can’t you take me?” Matthew asked, disappointed.
“I can, but it will need to wait until after dinner,” Jack warned. Matty could wait.
Jerrie put extra eggs and bacon on Tommy’s plate and handed Jack’s card back.
“Where’d Sam go?” he asked her, noticing a missing person.
“Dealing with the girls,” Jerrie said, turning her chin toward upstairs. “They were arguing over bathroom time. Again. Stacy is discovering the bathroom.”
“Great,” Jack said dryly. “Well, they’re going to have to work it out. They need to share; I’m not having another bathroom built.”
“Dad, since it’s going to take Davy a few more years to catch up to me, can I give my old jeans to Tommy?” Matty asked, not understanding girls and bathrooms. “He isn’t quite as tall as me, yet, so they should fit him, and it’s better than throwing them away.”
“If Tommy wants your cruddy ol’ jeans, he can have them,” Jack said agreeably. “Tommy, be polite and take them, and if you want to use them for rags later, I wouldn’t blame you.” Matthew’s jeans were in good shape compared to Tommy’s.
Lunch money was handed out, including to a surprised Tommy, and the kids were hustled into the van. Tommy jumped out and ran back toward Jack, stopping hesitantly a few feet from him.
“Th… thank you, General,” he said. Jack didn’t have to try hard to discover the need in the boy. He put a hand on the boy’s cheek and seethed at the automatic flinch in the boy’s brown eyes which seemed to take up half his thin face. Ninurta was right; the boy was too pretty.
“You’re welcome, son,” he returned gently. “Tommy, you are always welcome here. Let your mom know. Even on school nights; if you need to be someplace, you can be here. And you can always come to us and talk. About anything. Matty can tell you, we don’t forbid any subject. Alright?”
“Yes, sir.”
Jack watched Jerrie drive away with Fang walking excitedly over all the kids to see out all the windows at the same time, locked up and got into his truck with Sam.
“That boy is starved for positive attention,” she commented.
“Let’s hope Ninurta and the guys can do something about that,” Jack said.
“It is a good idea for Daniel to have an Earth-based department,” she commented. “He needs a counter-part department here just like he has at the SGC. Archaeologists all over the world are looking for alien things, and look what happened when one researcher untrained on things alien got hold of a stasis chamber? Now there are three sites that need to be examined AND Daniel needs to go off-world. He can’t be in four places at the same time. This needs to be regulated with trained teams.” Jack had to agree, but unless he could convince the people with the purse-strings to fork over the funds, there wasn’t much he could do.
Ninurta was hanging around Cassie’s desk, making her smile as he told her about Jonathan learning to be a farmer and rancher in between his teaching and engineering time.
“Jack, did you ever want to be a farmer or rancher?” she asked when he came in.
He snorted. “No,” he declared. “I tell you, that boy is missing an ace in his deck. It’s the Asgard’s fault. Farm living is not the life for me. Fishing poles and Starbucks, yes, horse poop, no.”
“Can I go to Kalam for a couple days, Jack?” she asked.
“Sure, but can it wait until Abigail is back?” he asked. It had taken a long time for Cass to get over the fear of being off-world; even after Niriti had died, Cassie was afraid that the Goa’uld was still alive, somehow, and would come after her if she knew Cass was off-world. Everyone understood the fear. Jack was beginning to see a new, more mature young lady, and had to reluctantly consider that maybe Harper had something to do with it.
Jack paused and turned back to Ninurta. “Did you happen to help me when I was trying to scan my brain into mush? I thought I heard your voice.”
“No, not me,” Ninurta said. Jack shook his head and continued to his office, with Ninurta at his heels. “I spoke with Trish this morning –Tommy’s mother,” he clarified at Jack’s blank look. Jack gave a grunt of understanding. “She and Tommy will be coming to Kalam with me…”
The Bat-phone rang and Jack picked it up, a finger up to halt Ninurta.
“O’Neill.”
Moments later, the alarm was ringing all through HomeSec and the SGC. Jack called the Daedalus and gave orders to start beaming up everyone who was on the ground, starting with Caldwell.
“What’s going on?” Cass asked, standing wide-eyed in the door.
“North Korea just bombed Seoul,” Jack said, grim as he yanked his jacket off the hanger. The warrior tapped for a beam out up to Heaven’s Bow to prepare to assist.
“Crazy son of a bitch,” he muttered, swearing at the insane leader of North Korea. He picked up the phone again. “Hank, North Korea dropped an eight ton on Seoul. No, so far no one else has been targeted. As far as we know. Has Daniel and Davis gone off-world yet? No, get them back. I need Davis with me and tell Daniel he’s on kid-duty. I’m heading over to DC. No, Ninurta is here with the Heaven’s Bow.”
China, Japan, and Russia were all on alert for their borders, but so far North Korea showed no signs of readying another bomb. Jack wondered what pissed them off so badly that Seoul needed to be wiped from the map.
The moment Jack was in the air, he turned on the viewer and targeted their satellite for information. The image that came through showed a mushroom-shaped cloud dissipating over South Korea. Jack leaned against the console, his head bowed for a moment. The readout on the side of the screen began to scroll with reports. His comm beeped.
“General, this is Caldwell,” he heard. “Your orders, sir?”
“Witness for the dead, Colonel,” Jack said quietly.
“Yes, sir.”
There wasn’t much anyone could do, now that the explosion had happened. Most of South Korea was gone and much of North Korea would be radioactive in a short time. It apparently hadn’t occurred to them that dropping a nuke on Seoul, so close to the border, would spread the poison of the bomb to the north. The Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan were also affected as the cloud spread across the land and water. Millions of people who depended on trolling the sea for food were as dead as those that were caught in the bomb’s range.
Jack called the Daedalus back on line. “Colonel, start evacuating people from the immediate vicinity of the coming cloud. And call the rest of our 303s home.”
“Yes, sir.”
Marine One was waiting for Jack when he landed, and transported him to the Pentagon which was buzzing like a hive of angry bees.
“I don’t suppose you have any toys in your toy bag for something like this?” Maynard asked Jack when he entered the war room.
“Nothing for after the fact,” Jack said. “Daedalus has begun evacuations, Heaven’s Bow is here and helping with the evacs, other ships are inbound. That’s the best we can do.” Everyone who heard it began to relax, now that survivors were being dealt with, and concentrated on their work.
“Any official statements issued?” Jack asked.
“Nothing, yet,” Maynard said. “The ambassadors for the Koreas don’t know anything.”
Jack considered that. “Where are they?” Maynard told him. “Got a camera on them?” Maynard was suddenly on Jack’s waves and nodded. He led Jack to a row of monitors and dismissed the people around them.
“Go ahead,” Maynard said quietly. Jack sat and focused on one of the men on a camera.
“Scared,” Jack said after a moment and then looked at the other one. “He’s scared, too, but… he may be aware of something. There’s a sense of guilt about something.”
Maynard picked up a phone and gave a quiet order.
“How’s the view on Pyongyang?” Jack asked. Maynard gestured toward another monitor. The image was glowing green from the night-vision on the satellite.
“A lot of static from the nuke, but the palace is still standing,” Maynard said. “The winds are blowing southeast; Japan is already on alert. Everyone south of Osaka is heading out to Manila. We have ships heading out there to pick up small boats. With the 303s evacuating people in the immediate path of the cloud, let’s pray that the loss of lives is minimal.”
Jack tapped his comm. “Colonel, how’s the evac going?”
“We’re filling up, sir,” Caldwell reported. “Europa will be here within five minutes, Argos, and then Prometheus. Col. Chekhov checked in; the Korolev can fly and transport, not much else. They’re on their way, also, along with as many helicopters as they can get.
“The infirmary is packed already; people who have been irradiated are getting scrubbed and treated as best we can with as much Prussian blue, potassium iodide, and DTPA -diethylenetriamine pentaacetate. Everyone is scared, sir; they don’t understand what’s happening, and we have no one on board who speaks Korean and these are mostly peasants who speak no English. We could use a translator, sirs.”
Maynard looked around the room. “Round up all Korean speakers!” he called out. Pull ‘em off the streets, if you have to! Call universities and hospitals!” There was a hustle as several people bolted from the room to get it done.
“Colonel Chekhov, this is O’Neill,” Jack said into his radio. “Caldwell said you’ve got the Korolev heading out. Get to Japan and evacuate everyone south of Osaka who are not already on boats or planes. Get them out of the wind. Is your call sign on-line? Good. Report in every half hour.” He tapped his comm again. “The Russian yard has their first ship in the air,” he said. “Col. Chekhov is on board. Get the Korolev entered so we can pick it up here.” Within minutes, the HomeSec screens flickered and were replaced with five images instead of four.
Someone beamed in and every gun in the room was drawn.
“Stand down!” Jack barked.
“Ninurta, is there anything your people can do about this?” Maynard asked.
“Not after the fact,” Ninurta said, his dark eyes grave. “My ship is assisting with the evacuations and immediate medical needs; that is the best we can do.”
It wasn’t too long after Ninurta appeared that Paul beamed in; the military weren’t as jumpy the second time around, but a few looked a little wild around the eyes as they witnessed something they had only been hearing about. Somewhere, an old-timer muttered about un-American happenings. Paul stood next to Jack and concentrated on the screens. As Korean speakers and medical personnel were found, Paul contacted the ships and had them beamed up.
“Did Daniel make it home?” Jack asked.
“Yes, sir,” Paul nodded. “He said to remember that you’re not God and he’ll call Teal’c if you forget.”
Ninurta snorted behind them.
“Sirs?” All the upper echelon looked toward a major standing in front of a screen. “Am I seeing this right?” He hit a few buttons and the satellite zoomed in. People in torn and tattered clothing were closing in on a large palace.
“That’s the palace in Pyongyang,” Paul quietly commented as he watched the screen.
Many of the people were already falling sick, their skin turning red and blotchy from the radiation poisoning from the fallout. Palace guards fired on them and many fell as others continued, stepping over the fallen, waving sticks, pitchforks, and anything else that extended their reach.
“Tell me we are recording this,” Maynard breathed, growing more and more wide-eyed as the scene continued.
“Yes, sir,” someone confirmed. A poor farmer rammed his pitchfork through the throat of a guard.
“Make sure this is being piped through to China, Japan, and Russia,” Maynard ordered.
“Get to those governments,” Jack told Paul. “Make sure they are seeing this and do everything you can to keep them from opening fire. Korea is gone, don’t waste any more lives. And if these images somehow make it to the public news stations around the world, and all over the internet, I’m sure I don’t know how it happened.” Paul didn’t say anything as he made his way to the bank of phones.
People began to cheer as the peasants stormed the palace amidst gunfire. They had spent their lives in fear and had reached the end of the rope; they were going to die anyway, so they would take their devil with them.
“They’re emaciated,” someone quietly commented as they watched the North Koreans running across the screen.
“Look at that,” someone else said, pointing to a figure in a field. A woman was waving a feathered stick as several other women danced with knives.
“Shaman,” Paul commented, a hand over the speaker of the phone and a small smile poking at the corner of his mouth. “The magicians, or priests, in Korean folk religions are traditionally women.”
Other women were fighting alongside the men, using whatever they could get their hands on to use as weapons. The peasants seemed to come out of bushes, large rocks, and the forests themselves. They walked over the bodies of the fallen to get a chance at a guard with a gun. Many people had covered their faces with mud to stop the moonlight from shining on their skin and more than one guard was taken by surprise.
“General,” Maynard leaned toward Jack. “Tell the 303 commanders to leave the people around Pyongyang there; let them do what they need to do.” Jack nodded to Davis and the message was relayed. Jack thought hard on all the technology they had gained, knowing that something was nagging at the back of his mind, something that could clean the radiation from the sky.
“Stand firm,” Ninurta whispered in Goa’uld from behind. “I know this is hard, but if you clean up the atmosphere and the land, they won’t learn. They must go through this, Jack.”
“Get out of my head,” Jack snarled over his shoulder. Somewhere in his mind, he heard a loud whomp, and there was quiet his head. He sensed approval in Ninurta rather than irritation at having the door slammed in his face. Others around them heard him snap at the alien warrior and took an uneasy step away.
“Fire,” someone called out. There was a lick of flame emerging from the palace, and people in the command center cheered.
“Sir,” an aide said, getting Maynard’s attention. Major Ellsinore, Maynard’s aide, held his hand over the phone. “China is offering to take refugees, but they don’t know how to reach the ships.”
“General O’Neill will handle it,” Maynard said. Ellsinore looked at Jack.
“Tell China to set up a staging area and the ships will beam those people down when the area is ready,” Jack said. “We’ll need an exact GPS location.”
“Sir,” Paul leaned over and whispered a suggestion to Jack.
“And tell China we are grateful for their generosity,” Jack appended. Paul looked at Ellsinore and gave a nod. In assistant short-hand, Ellsinore was told he could fix the message.
Jack tapped his comm. “This is O’Neill,” he announced to his ships. “China is setting up staging areas for your guests. They have offered aide. Start preparing to beam people down as soon as we have a location. Out.”
The smaller islands dotting the Pacific Ocean were already evacuating east and south as the radioactive particles drifted their way. A call to Chekhov told Jack that he was sending people to the medical center on Kamchatka, having taken the initiative and contacted the administrator directly from the Korolev.
“Are you sure about this?” General Hauser of the Joint Chiefs asked Jack. “China isn’t exactly known for its humanitarianism.”
“At the moment we don’t have much of a choice,” Jack said. “No, I don’t trust them. I read them the riot act recently, though, so let’s see what they do with it. They know the world is watching.”
Hauser arched an eyebrow. “So that’s true?” he asked. “You really are the reason their government’s been blustering lately?”
Jack nodded. “My lack of diplomacy almost gave Colonel Davis a heart attack.” Paul gave Hauser a woe-is-me look and nodded.
The palace on the screen was completely in flames as peasants danced in the surrounding fields. Many began to fall as the radiation took over vital organs.
“What’s the radiation reading there?” Jack asked Paul.
“Rems are over 400,” Paul said, reading the HomeSec screens. “Seoul is over 800 rems.” The silence was painful. No one said it, but Seoul was dead. If anyone was still alive in or around the city, people or animals, they wouldn’t be alive for long, even if help did get to them. Several people in the room were wiping their eyes. Two men of Japanese descent were excused to join crews on their way out to the area.
“The Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan will be showing signs of poisoning soon,” Paul commented. “Especially the strait between South Korea and southern Japan. The sea life will be floating belly up by this time tomorrow.
“Sir.” Jack tapped his comm when he heard Caldwell’s voice. “Go ahead, Colonel,” he said.
“Readings show that China and Japan are both preparing their weapons. There is no sign of an immediate launch, but they are active.”
“Patch the link through to HomeSec and keep an eye on them,” Jack said. A moment later, the Daedalus readings were showing on the side of one of the screens.
“That was expected,” Maynard commented.
“Can’t you beam the weapons away?” Admiral Radice asked, the Navy’s contribution to the Joint Chiefs.
“No, sir, I can’t,” Jack snapped. “How about I take your weapons away on the basis that you could hurt someone with them?”
The admiral scowled at him. “We are not the ones arming nukes, General.”
“Not, yet,” Jack agreed, holding his temper. “If you don’t like the weapons, then get rid of them. All of them. This is what happens,” he said pointing at the screens, “when someone with crackers for brains gets control of dangerous weapons. Radiation doesn’t stay inside political boundary lines.”
“Easy for you to say, playing God with the alien technology,” Radice snapped in a low voice.
“Gentlemen,” Maynard gave a warning.
“Sir,” Ellsinore eyed the men as he leaned toward Maynard and whispered. Maynard gave him a sharp look.
“What’s his condition?” he asked.
“Not good, sir,” Ellsinore said.
Maynard nodded and rubbed the side of his face. “Alright. Jack, we have a side problem.” Jack waited as Maynard leaned in and quietly said, “General Vidrine has had a stroke. Colonel Carter is his most senior officer available; we need her here to take over for him until arrangements can be made.”
Jack tapped his comm. “Colonel, beam Colonel Carter here immediately.”
“Yes, sir,” Caldwell acknowledged. Sam was standing before them minutes later, having quickly made her way up from the Pentagon’s new beaming room.
“Sirs?” All the sirs returned her salute.
“Colonel Carter, you are needed to cover for General Vidrine,” Maynard told her. “Major Ellsinore will get you situated and up to speed.”
“Yes, sir.” Sam said, glancing for a moment at Jack before being led by the major.
“I don’t suppose your doctors can do anything ours can’t?” Maynard asked Jack.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Jack said. “Not with something like this, anyway. Is it that bad?”
“I’ll get an update shortly, but it’s possible,” he said as they watched the monitors. “Dammit. He’s been an excellent commander for R&D; we really can’t afford to lose him.”
“How’s his wife and kids?” Jack asked.
Maynard’s thoughts paused. “I didn’t mean it to sound that way,” he said, having the grace to look abashed. “I’ll call her. They are in the process of divorce.”
“And now this?” Jack said, gesturing toward the monitors. “He must have been under some serious stress.” Generals don’t get divorced, he silently reminded himself of the unwritten rule: a broken marriage is the sign of a general who is unable to lead his home troops.
Maynard nodded. “It hasn’t been pretty,” he said quietly.
“Sirs!” A lieutenant got their attention and pointed at the weather screen.
“What the hell is that?” someone asked in shock.
The poisonous cloud had begun changing course along with the shifting winds in the upper atmosphere. It was headed for China.
“Oh, dear Lord,” Maynard groaned, placing his hands on a table top and leaning on them. A couple of people crossed themselves.
“He’s arguing with himself and others,” Jack said quietly, his voice off in a distance as he looked inward. Maynard jerked his head toward him. “He knows it’s pointless to hurt Pyongyang now, and he’s feeling helpless. It’s testing his common sense. He…. he truly feels he’s doing right by his people and yet…..” He winced and rubbed his head. Someone put a chair under him and he sat, hanging his head between his knees. People around watched, curious, wondering what the strange general from alien central was up to.
“Don’t fight it,” he heard Ninurta say. “Just breathe. Let it flow through you. Sense it. Smell it. Know the ingredients and speak them.”
Jack breathed, fighting to force a kel’no’reem centering. “He’s… scared. He… he’s praying... that the gods will forgive him and help before his people….. Ahhhh, God that hurts.” Jack pressed his fingers to his temples, trying to get the sparkles and the searing pain to disappear. He touched the comm on his chest and whispered something, not even hearing it himself.
“Ma?” Ninurta questioned. Jack felt himself repeat it. “Anna.”
Someone pressed a couple of aspirin into Jack’s hand. He chewed them, grimacing at the acrid taste.
“Sir? Are you alright?” Paul squatted down to face-level with Jack. “We don’t know what you said; Ninurta responded in the same language.” Jack forced one eye open. “I believe it was in Ancient,” Paul said, looking closely at him with concern. “It had a Latin sound.” Jack glanced up at Maynard who gave him a nod.
“It wasn’t English,” Maynard said.
“Great,” Jack grunted. “My freaking out orders stand, Colonel.” The last time his brain started thinking and speaking in Ancient, it took the Asgard to fix him.
“Yes, sir, freaking out orders are on file,” Paul confirmed.
Most of the crowd had begun returning to their offices; there was nothing else to do except to wait for the fall-out. Various intelligence agencies had started to report from overseas, and the information needed to be sifted through. The Asian sources would be scoured first for possible information on North Korea. Jack took his face out of a strong cup of coffee and saw his chief of security waiting for him.
“Do I want to know how you got clearance for this level?” he asked, eying the innocent tag hanging from Nick’s collar.
“Probably not,” Nick shrugged. Paul gave him a warm look as he walked past to set a plate with a danish in front of Jack. Grateful for the sugar rush, Jack bit into half of it.
“You know? I think I’m ready to hear it,” Jack decided. “You want to tell me or do I go in and rummage for it myself?”
Nick considered the threat and then shut the door.
Several minutes later, Jack was glad he had been seated. He stared at the man for a moment and then looked at Paul. “Did you know?”
Paul had the decency to look guilty. “Yes, sir,” he admitted. “I found out by accident years ago. I kept it to myself, and Nick appreciated it. I started passing on work to him from other sources. Unofficially, of course. Many people know he exists, they just don’t know who he is. Generals Vidrine and Maynard know who he is, as well as the head of the NSA. Not many others.”
Jack looked at Nick again. “Alright, I’m officially impressed. Just don’t let it go to your head, or I’ll make you babysit my kids the moment Olivia enters her poo throwing phase. And where did you get your kid-knowledge? Do you have kids?”
Nick seemed to go away for a moment. “I used to,” he said. “I had one of each. They and my wife were killed in a terrorist attack in Ireland in ’79. I’m ex-Black Ops, Jack; Marines. I went out on my own, after they died.”
“Alright.” Jack held out his hand. Nick took it. “I’ll keep my mouth shut and not ask about unexplained absences. Just make up a good report for bookkeeping.”
“I’ll do that.” Nick managed to lift one edge of his mouth.
“How old are you?” Jack suddenly asked, looking the man over.
Nick stared; he should be used to non sequiturs from Jack, by now. “Fifty-one.”
Jack sat back, studying the face that, although tanned, was relatively unlined. “Forty.”
“My family ages slowly. I’m fifty-one until October.”
Paul smirked. “He’s a Halloween baby; isn’t that rich?”
Jack popped another aspirin as Nick threatened to cut Paul’s apple-bobbing time. Jack reminded them that they were in the Pentagon. Something walked over his grave, and he motioned for the men to be still. He grabbed an image of Vidrine in his head and zeroed in. He opened his eyes. At the look of his face, Paul quickly refilled his water glass.
“Vidrine is gone,” Jack said quietly. “I’m sorry, Paul, I know you worked with him for quite a while. He’s in a coma, it’s being kept quiet, but he’s gone. Paul, Maynard said Vidrine was getting a divorce; any idea what was going on?”
Paul seemed surprised. “Really? A divorce? They had little tiffs like any other couple does, but they loved each other. At least, I thought they did. I had dinner with them enough times; I never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Sir, if things are quieting down here, may I go to the hospital?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jack waved a hand. “Threat level is at a 3, you can go. Nick, my nose is itching. Check out this divorce business.”
The men left and Jack touched his comm. “Daedalus, report.”
“Sir, everyone has been transported back down,” Caldwell said. “With the cloud heading toward China, we took the liberty of sending everyone to Kamchatka. It was the nearest and safest large medical facility. Talks on the Heaven’s Bow seem to be proceeding; at least no one has opened fire. So….”
Jack lifted his head, blinking away stars. “What talks?”
“Sir?”
“What talks, Colonel?” Jack repeated.
The comm was silent for a moment. “Sir, Ninurta beamed up a Chinese delegation, along with Dr. Jackson, and they…..”
“He did what?!” Jack jumped to his feet.
“Sir? Did you not order Ninurta to set up talks?” Caldwell asked, his voice deepening with extra caution.
“I don’t have authority to give those guys any orders. Shit. Hold that thought, Colonel, I need to check on something.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jack quickly dialed his cell phone. “Do you remember what I said to Ninurta?” he asked when Paul answered. “Enough to repeat it? Hang on. Colonel? Put me through to Hermiod.”
Seconds later, “Go ahead, General,” Caldwell said.
“Paul, slowly. What did I say?” Jack listened and repeated the words into the comm.
“It was an order to begin negotiations,” Hermiod said when Jack was done. “It was not a very tactful order, but it was an order none the less. A more direct translation is: get those soulless heathens caged until they are willing to listen. Much to that extent. It was my understanding that heathens had a soul, just as everyone else, so I am unsure…..”
“Crap.” Jack sat back down and put his head between his knees. “Thank you, gentlemen. As you were. Paul, when you’re done, get up to the Heaven’s Bow and make sure Ninurta doesn’t fly them out a port.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jack forced himself to stand and wobbled back to the war room. He motioned to Maynard and whispered. Maynard stared at him.
“You didn’t.”
“Apparently I did,” Jack said. “Look, I accept responsibility for this, whatever happens. I didn’t know I said it, I only just discovered it. The UN will probably wig out about it, and I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation, Colonel Caldwell says no one is opening fire. Yet.”
Maynard ground his jaw and held a pointed finger under Jack’s nose. “You call upstairs and tell them to return anyone who wishes, the moment they make a fuss. Today was bad enough, General, we don’t need to go to war with Asia as a whole over a kidnapping!” The last came out a harsh, low hiss. Anyone nearby who noticed pretended not to notice.
“Yes, sir.”
Jack really was sorry, especially since the threat level went back up to 2 without explanation. Maynard made a private call to Hayes. Jack sent out a feeler.
“Not now, Jack,” he heard Daniel say.
“Tell someone to beam me up,” he told Daniel. Jack didn’t know Daniel swore that way to himself. It took an entire ten minutes before someone got around to beaming him up. Jack was sure the wait was deliberate.
The warrior behind the console told him which room the party was in and Jack made his way through the ship. The conference room wasn’t hard to find; there were guards stationed outside and all along the corridor. He paused, took a deep breath, and entered. Daniel was seated at the table, across from seven Asian faces that didn’t look happy. Daniel didn’t look too happy with him, either.
“Folks, sorry to interrupt,” Jack said from the door.
“Don’t wave your arms,” he heard snapped in his head. Jack put his hands behind his back and held them together.
“Jack O’Neill,” he said. “Look, folks, this is my fault. This whole beaming you up here thing. I just wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding. My government had nothing to do with it, they only just found out that it happened. You are free to return home at any time, no questions asked. We will do everything we can to assist with the disaster looming over your part of the world. Really, though, I am truly sorry for this sudden meeting and I hope you will be gracious in your understanding, and forgive me.”
Daniel seemed to relax slightly until President Tien slowly stood.
“General O’Neill. For the time being, let us put aside the fact that this is the second time you have made an… error,” he said. Jack straightened his shoulders and waited. “If you had known before hand, would you have been able to stop the bomb?”
Jack felt himself blanch. “Sir, I…. that question does not have an easy answer. Technically, yes; we could have beamed the bomb out and sent it far into space. If there had been time. The other side of that is, no. Sir, my job…. our job…. is to protect this planet from alien invasion, not to stop warring tribes here on this planet. It is up to us, as the human race, to grow beyond the need for war. If I were to order my ships to get rid of the weapons in North Korea, I would have ordered the ships to get rid of all weapons. Yours included, the United States, Russia, the Arab nations, everyone. How would that have helped anyone to learn how bad those weapons are?”
Tien stared at him beneath heavy lids. “Leave us,” he ordered. “I will speak with Dr. Jackson.”
Jack took an internal hint and gave a formal Jaffa bow, withdrawing from the room by backing out. He leaned against the corridor wall, taking a deep breath.
“You are just tripping all over yourself lately, aren’t you?”
“You don’t call, you don’t write…..”
Jonathan shook his head. “Jack, Jack, Jack….. I’d say you need a spanking, but you’d enjoy it.”
“Hey, this wasn’t my fault,” Jack said, straightening up. “Well, it was, but….. I was speaking Ancient and I didn’t know it. I didn’t even know what I had said until after the fact.”
Jonathan frowned. “Jack, you can’t use an excuse like that,” he said. “You are responsible. Period. And you know it. Get a grip. I know how scared you are of it, but you need to knuckle down and learn the language. I’ve been learning it, and it’s been helping a great deal. If I can do it, so can you. Get your brain centered and bury yourself in the Ancient until you know it. You’ll think it’s in English, but it isn’t. You’ll learn to tell the difference. You cannot allow this to master you; you have got to master it. You are on the verge of war with China, Jack. CHINA. All because you can’t control yourself. Once upon a time, Jack O’Neill was nothing but control. Where’s that Jack?”
“Buried under a mountain,” Jack said quietly, knowing his clone was right. “I want my life back. I want to be lazy in bed, make love with my partners, take walks with my children, and tell the world to go to hell.”
Jonathan stepped up to him and put his hands on Jack’s shoulders, giving him a shake. “This is your life, Jack. Schedule your make-out sessions, schedule your walks, schedule in time to breathe and forbid anyone, including marauders, from taking that time from you. Come on.”
He led Jack through the ship until they were on the bridge. Only two people were sitting quietly on the bridge, monitoring the controls. Jonathan hit a few buttons and the front screen changed to multiple views.
“Look,” he said, gesturing toward the screen. Jack recognized city sky-lines from all over the world. “The entire world is on hold, waiting to see what’s going to happen. Almost no one alive has seen, really, what happens when a nuke is dropped on a large, occupied city; most vets who saw what happened in Japan are gone. Another generation is seeing it now. Look at Seoul.” He hit a button and the image of the destroyed city came on the screen. “This is what the world is seeing, Jack. This is reality. This. Not black and white, grainy images from the past, but a real city with a bloody past. This time the blood has been obliterated. These generations will be gone before anyone will be able to live here again.”
He punched up other images. “This is Iran,” he said. “They may be a little hard with the rhetoric but they’re keeping their promise, Jack, they’re dealing with their power grid, suspending their nuclear stations for you, Jack, for your promise of a naquadah generator. Even India and Pakistan are standing still today, waiting to see the outcome of this disaster. My God, Jack, today made history! Except for a few tribal places that have no TV or radio, no one is fighting! Stand up and accept your place in it.”
Jack took a deep breath and gave a shuddering nod, forcing himself to straighten up. Jonathan beamed him down and Jack found himself standing in front of the startled White House Press. Armed guards were quickly waved down as Jack leaned in for a heated whisper with Henry and the Secretary of Defense. They reluctantly agreed and Jack stepped up to the microphone. The press quieted, waiting.
“We can no longer afford war,” he said quietly. “Several million innocent people are in the process of dying a terrible death today, animals and plants will be forever mutated just as it is still happening in Chernobyl. I have seen death from radiation. I never wanted to see it again, but I am seeing it.
“It was pointed out to me just minutes ago that no one is fighting at this moment. I am a soldier, ladies and gentlemen, and I am asking you to not resume fighting. I’m tired and I want my guns to start collecting dust. I want to go home, play with my children, clean up puppy pee, and make love with my partners. I want to sit on my front porch and wave at the neighbors, maybe have tea with my mother while my baby daughter learns to crawl.
“Iran is currently dismantling their nuclear grid so that they can begin using one of our generators. Several other countries who have been on the verge of nuclear war are at a standstill while the events of today play out. I am urging those countries to stand down permanently. One small nuke has made a wasteland of a very old country. Even those who pressed the button are dead. No one wins when nukes are used.”
Jack paused, leaning over the podium for a moment as he thought.
“Words are not my strong suit,” he said. “I stick my foot in it quite often. So people will just need to forgive me if this old soldier is a little too blunt. I will say this again, and I will say it to you: I may be a General in the United States Air Force, but I work for this entire planet. No one holds my strings. So, Mr. President, I’m going to make this request –as a show of good faith, I am requesting that the United States make the effort and lead the world. Start dismantling all nuclear weapons and nuclear power. HomeWorld Security will provide naquadah generators for any country, membership or not, that leaves the nuclear age behind. These generators are clean, no pollution output, and one will last for several generations.
“The Koreas will be uninhabitable for a long time, people, all because of one small bomb. The radioactive cloud has changed direction and is beginning to rain down on China. Suspend all nuclear development.”
Before the press could start yelling questions at him, Jack strode off the stage, pushing past military, secret service, and aides. He found a room, snarled at people to get out, and collapsed onto a couch, tossing an arm over his face. He heard the door open and knew it was Henry and the Secretary of Defense, Ken Baker. Henry sat on the coffee table in front of the couch, making faces while he contemplated what to say.
“That was irresponsible of you, General O’Neill,” Baker informed him. “Today was a bad day, I agree, but you have placed this country in a corner. I will be recommending to the Joint Chiefs that you be stripped of your rank. You should retire now, show a little dignity.”
“Ken,” Henry said, waving him down. “Jack, I agree with you that the nukes need to go, but I cannot disarm the United States all because some idiot across the world bombed himself. You are overwrought. We all are, Jack. But you’re going to need to back down. Get off-world, if you need to, but back down.”
“Jack.”
He hit the comm. “Not now,” he said.
“Now, Jack,” Daniel insisted. “President Tien is ready to discuss the Unification Treaty.”
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