The Anunnaki Unification, Book 3: A Stargate SG-1 Fan Fiction Story

by Michele Briere

  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 four hundred,” Paul said, reading the HomeSec screens. “Seoul is over eight hundred 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.

  “I have a talent for digging,” Nick said. “I always have. I’ve solved most of the mysteries of the twentieth century, including the location of Kennedy’s true assassin. His body, anyway. I dealt with it. I know where the dirt is on everyone who has dirt to be dug up. I know where the skeletons are. I’ve made myself invaluable to a great many people in high places and they’ve paid me well for my favors. I have never bribed anyone for these favors, they were given out of gratitude and the only people who have regretted it were people who fucked up and were caught by me. The NSA finally hired me in an effort to keep me semi-legal. In a covert sort of way.”

  Jack licked the frosting from his f
ingers. “That doesn’t really answer my question,” he said. “I trust you, Nick, you know that; you’ve proved yourself to me and that makes you part of my team. I’d like a more direct answer.”

  The glittering green eyes shone behind shuttered lids.

  “Jack, you’d be safer if you didn’t know,” he finally said.

  Jack frowned. “System Lords have a contract out on me; how safe can I be? Spill it.” 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.

  The Pale Horse. A mysterious, legendary figure among special ops agents all over the world. The epithet referred to the horse that Death rode when he collected his victims. The Pale Horse took orders from no one; he made his own rules, took jobs from anyone he wanted to, jobs that were righteous. He never took an innocent, and didn’t attack until he was absolutely certain of the person’s guilt. People who were in a position of immunity. People who would never be brought to trial. Jack wasn’t sure how the NSA controlled him; they probably put him on the payroll to make him look legit, and allowed them to feel they had some sort of ace in the hole. Jack wondered who was fooling whom.

  “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 three, 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 two 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 h
ave 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 States, 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.”