Maggie was weepy and hugged Sam. Cassie came down from upstairs and took the scanner that was held out to her. She screeched and also hugged Sam. She then turned and glared at Jack, hands on her hips and jaw thrust out.
“My fiancé is at the SGC,” she informed him. “I cannot get married without him and forget that old telephone marriage like in old war movies.” She held out a hand and her cell phone flew into it from across the room. She held it out to Jack.
He slowly took the phone from her, keeping his distance. “Alright, alright, Witchy-poo, just chill.” He dialed the SGC. “This is O’Neill, give me Gen. Landry. Hank, please send Maj. Harper home before this woman of his turns me into a toad.” He hung up and put the phone carefully on the table. “Are we happy now?”
“Yes, we are,” she said, turning with a flounce and heading back to her room to continue working on her plans.
Jack groaned and rubbed his face. “God, please let her get married only once,” he begged.
“We have three more girls to get rid of, possibly two on the way,” Daniel reminded him. “Let’s hope at least one of them elopes.”
Stacey thought about it and counted on her fingers. “But, Daddy, isn’t it five already? What about Matty and Davy?”
“They’re boys, honey,” Jack told her. “Shove them into tuxes, give ‘em a bachelor party, and they’ll never remember the wedding.” The women gave him a look. Jack backed away and grabbed Daniel.
“Come with me,” he whispered. “We’re surrounded.”
Family concerns took over and Jack forced himself to push politics and aliens to a back-burner. Harper came home and calmed Cassie while he sent Jack a silent look of appreciation. Jack had to admit that Harper was an okay person; a little cocky, but he was good for Cassie. Harper was certainly trust-worthy so Jack grumbled and told himself to quit being a pill and give the man a break. They got the kids together and headed out for home. Nanna passed out kisses and gave Jack a worried look; she knew something new was going on with him and he couldn’t tell her.
It was his kids that soothed his mind and heart when they got home, playing on the floor with the younger ones, crawling playfully across the floor to Sam and worshipping the Bump, and giving horsy rides to Olivia. Once she was tired out, Jerrie took her and got her ready for bed. Jack sat on the floor, leaning back against the couch while he caught his breath. Fingers combed through his hair, caressing his scalp.
“We have birthdays coming up,” Daniel commented. Stacey snuggled into his side and he kissed her brow. “Twelve and fifty-six. Are we doing a party at home or dinner out?”
“Can I have a party and invite friends from school?” Stacey asked, tilting her head up to look at him.
“Yes, you may,” Daniel said, feeling a slight nod under his hand and seeing the acceptance in Sam’s eyes across from him. “How about ten?”
“Okay,” Stacey readily agreed. “I didn’t have friends before; I hope people will come.”
Daniel hugged her. “They will,” he promised.
“We can do a family dinner, but I want a date with the both of you,” Jack said, raising a hand. “I don’t care where as long as it’s out of town.”
“Can I have a date, too?” Stacey asked. Jack tilted his head back. “My birthday is first and then your birthday. Can’t you and me have a date in the middle of our birthdays?”
“It’s you and I, and yes, that’s a very good idea,” Jack told her. “Alright, Miss Jackson, I would be honored to take you on a date.”
The kids were sent to get ready for bed. The adults relaxed in the nightly routine of listening to the kids stomp around and complain about their bedtime. Davy came down the stairs in his pajamas and straddled Jack’s lap, looking at him with quiet concern. Jack knew that look.
“I’m fine, buddy,” he told the boy and gave him a hug. “I have a lot of new stuff in my head and I just need time to adjust to it.”
“Okay,” Davy nodded. He passed out goodnights and went back upstairs.
“Are you alright?” Daniel asked once they went into their own room. Jack tossed his shirt onto a chair.
“I will be,” Jack told him. “It would have been better if I had time to adjust before the planet began to wig out.”
“Is there anything you could do if current laws weren’t in place?” Sam asked, wiping skin cleanser from her face.
“Honey, that damned fish in my head wants me to leave the primates alone and let them deal with their own primitive natures. I won’t do it and yet I need to stand back and let things happen as they happen.”
“You need to witness,” Daniel clarified.
Jack agreed. He stepped into the shower, quickly rinsed off, and got out again within five minutes. He dried off, got into his pajamas, and slid into bed, curling into Daniel’s back and reaching beyond to caress Sam’s belly.
“What’s being done about China?” Daniel asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I haven’t heard back about my offer. There is nothing HomeSec can do. We’re about aliens and nothing else; we can’t go outside jurisdiction, if I did I’d be no better than that shit who killed Tien.”
Daniel took his hand and held it to his chest. “I know, Jack.”
“The offer of Yu’s planet is a good one,” Sam told him. “He’d be crazy not to take it. Several groups have been arguing for their own planet.”
“If we can get China off world, it would relieve tensions,” Jack said. “That country is too big. They are their own world population and their own worst enemy.”
He touched Sam’s stomach again and leaned over Daniel’s hip to kiss the Bump. Sam snuffled in amusement and stroked his hair. He took the scanner from the side table and looked at their babies again.
“I cannot believe how tiny they are,” he murmured. The Bump was still barely noticeable; unless someone knew she was pregnant, they’d probably take the small curve as a couple extra pounds of feminine roundness. “When will they start moving?” he asked.
“Few more weeks,” Sam said. “This is only the ninth week, give them time to grow a little more.”
Jack put the scanner back on the table and curled into Daniel again. His stomach twinged and he reached for two pills, slipping one into Daniel’s mouth and then his own.
“I’m sorry,” Sam said, her eyes twinkling in humor.
“I’m not,” Jack said. Daniel echoed him.
While they relaxed into sleep, Jack’s mind continued to be busy. He hadn’t been sleeping as long as normal, maybe a few hours a night. Most of the time was spent with his brain talking to him and reviewing events. He could see why more advanced civilizations didn’t want them to have weapons –they were barely out of the Dark Ages and still playing with fire. He had to trust that heads open to the leaping process would prevail. The next couple hundred years or so would make or break the Tau’ri.
Most of the country was still arguing about the new customs that had begun to permeate Colorado Springs. More and more people were coming out of various closets, brains were being used to greater capacity, children were being allowed to stretch their minds, and, much to the fear of the clergy, more and more people were discovering handfastings and forgoing the traditional marriage ceremony of a man and a woman. Petitions were being sent to the state capitol, insisting that marriage laws be changed. Most didn't understand that the federal government was bound by the US Constitution, and that each state had to vote in their own laws before Washington could do anything. Local troops had, for the most part, accepted it mostly due to the example Jack was setting and the fact that locals had more contact with aliens with whom same-gender situations were more commonplace. Jack reminded himself that it took a while for pebbles in a pond to send their energy outward.
Michael. He had to deal with Michael. His brother was once more in seclusion since he found out what Jack had been hiding from him. There were times when Jack really wanted to smack Michael silly. None of the other clergy in town were acting
weird, so Jack could only assume that Michael was keeping his mouth shut. Matthew was of the opinion that it was the message of peace that mattered, not the stories behind the various spiritualities. Daniel was proud of the boy. Matthew often sat in Daniel’s library with a dictionary, trying to find the words that would best verbalize his thoughts and feelings. Daniel had warned them that spirituality was once more reaching a head and would implode or explode. Jack’s narrator agreed, scenes and words speeding through his brain at light-speed as the fish examined the evidence.
The bean-counters in DC were still bitching about the lack of advanced weapons for the US military. The ships were very nice, but the US needed them, too. Jack was still refusing and still promising to move the entire program off world if they continued to kick up sand. The US was NOT going to have toys to threaten the rest of the world with. No bullies allowed. Since Jack could prove that there were several other worlds willing to host them, many politicians and military leaders were gnawing at the bit.
Jack’s attention was abruptly swung away as the fish caught wind of a subconscious image and made a suggestion. He sat up, careful to not wake Daniel, and reached out to the man in the image. The man was asleep. Jack couldn’t get much from a sleeping mind.
“Kendrick.”
“Here, sir,” he heard in his head.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Taking notes from Ti’s head,” Kendrick said. “It’s the middle of the night, so I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“You found him? Good. Stop for a moment and pick through this man.” Jack sent him a clear image and a name. He felt surprise from the young man.
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell me one thing,” Jack said. “Is Ti a Goa’uld?”
“Not that I can tell, sir,” Kendrick said. “Just a major ego and delusions of grandeur.”
Jack was actually disappointed; he really wanted Ti to be a snake so he had an excuse to take the man out.
He left his bed and went to find a glass of wine. There was no wine. He remembered that all the alcohol was taken out of the house so that his partners could support his sudden allergy to it. The closest he got was grape juice. He wrinkled his nose and took a can of soda. Fang looked up from his blanket on the porch and thumped his tail.
“Did I wake you, boy?” Jack whispered as he leaned down and scratched the dog. “I’m sorry. Go back to sleep.” He sat on the porch swing and listened to the nighttime insects.
The door opened and Daniel stepped out, rubbing at his eyes.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Jack nodded. “I’m good,” he said. “Can’t sleep.”
“You haven’t been sleeping well for while,” Daniel noted as he sat next to Jack.
“It’s the brain,” Jack told him. “I’m not sure if I need to learn how to turn off or if I just don’t need as much sleep. Go back to bed. You can sleep even if I can’t.”
Daniel took his hand, letting the swing sway a little. “Wanna go down to the dock and fool around?”
Jack smiled and kissed him. “No, not now,” he said. “Too preoccupied.”
“Sir?”
Jack held up a hand, silencing Daniel.
“Here. What’d you find?”
“He’s the one, sir. There’s a small group within the Pentagon, an outcropping of something called the NID. I have names for you. And your home is bugged, sir. I couldn’t get locations; he gave the order to place the bugs but not where.”
“I will deal with it,” Jack told him. “Unless Ti is doing anything immediate that I should know about, see if you can get anything else.”
He pulled Daniel close and whispered into his ear. Startled, Daniel gave a nod. No longer trusting the phones, Jack silently changed into street clothes and took off in his truck. Once across town, Jack knocked on a door. Since the household was asleep, it took a few knocks to get someone up.
“Jack? What….?” Mason wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Is Sam alright?”
“She’s fine. I need to take Keith home with me.”
Mason stilled and looked at him. “Is this official?”
“Very.”
Mason’s younger son was awakened and came to the door in his shorts. Since discovering that Keith’s talent made him sensitive to electricity, Jack allowed their home to be put on a separate naquadah generator. Keith’s room was additionally shielded from any electrical interference with a Tok’ra design which was placed in the walls. Keith had been much happier and more able to deal with the world as long as he had a sanctuary to return to. Before Keith could say anything, Jack shushed him and whispered into his ear.
“No, nothing unusual,” Keith said quietly.
Jack motioned Mason close. “Go to your box and shut the house off,” he whispered. Mason lifted an eyebrow, and went to find the crystal box.
“Go into each room and listen,” Jack whispered to the boy. “Pick up the phones, too, including cell phones. If you get any weirdness, you tell me like this.” He raised a hand and showed Keith the appropriate signal. Mason came in and gave a nod. They followed Keith as the boy nervously began in the living room, poking his nose around as though smelling for the location of an unusual scent. He looked at the men and shook his head.
He raised his hand twice; once in Mason’s bedroom, where they quickly silenced a surprised Melanie, and once at Mason’s cell phone. Jack shushed him and motioned him outside.
“Leave things for now,” Jack whispered. “I’ll send an extraction team in the morning. Not your fault. I need Keith to come home with me and find the bugs in my house.”
Keith got dressed and rode with Jack back to his house. The boy wanted to ask questions, but Jack kept him quiet. The power was already off at his house and the kids and Jerrie silently beamed out by Prometheus. The SF were on guard as Sam waited on the front lawn.
The moment Keith stepped onto the front porch, his radar went up. Jack took careful notes of where each bug was placed. Sam looked at the tiny dot attached to the inside of the phone in the living room. Since the SF would never have allowed anyone close to the house, they assumed it was someone who came in as a tech or maintenance person. By the time Keith was done, they had tagged twenty transmitters.
“In the morning, take him to my mother’s house and have him do the same thing,” Jack whispered to Mason on the sidewalk. “Michael’s, too, but I’ll be surprised if he finds anything at either house. I’ll have a list ready by then; I want all key people’s houses checked.”
Mason took his son home for the rest of the night while Jack, Sam, and Daniel beamed up to Prometheus to reassure the kids.
“Kendrick.” Jack opened a link to the cloaked ship. “Is he still in bed?”
“Yes, sir,” Kendrick said.
Jack gave a nod and Col. Markham himself triggered the beam. Moments later, a man was laying on the floor, awakening in a confused state and finding himself surrounded by SF holding guns and zats on him. Jack stepped forward.
“General Robert Allegash, you are under arrest for conspiracy, espionage, and treason. To start with.”
“What?” Allegash struggled to his feet, shocked. He jumped when someone else beamed in. Guards caught him and held fast to his arms.
“He doesn’t know a name, only the contact information,” Grant reported, staring at the General. “A face. I don’t know the man. Hammond and Landry’s homes, Dr. Lam and Dr. Warner, SG-1 and 3, Col. Davis, Maynard.” Grant went on, naming one person after another, much to the horror of Allegash who stared at the strange young man in alien leathers. His mind opened, his fear caused one person after another to be brought up; people being watched, members of his deeply hidden cabal.
“You are the traitor!” Allegash shouted at Jack. “You are a US Air Force General; it was your job to protect your country! You failed! You sided with aliens and left your people to defend themselves! It is you who should be executed! I have been doing the job you should have been doing!”
&n
bsp; “Put him in lockup,” Jack ordered. The SF led the man away. Grant found a chair and began writing names and notes. The sun was rising over the east coast of the United States. Jack had to wake up the Joint Chiefs and the president.
“Orders, sir?” Markham quietly requested. Jack paused, noting the man’s stance and unspoken offering of complete support.
“Stand by,” Jack said, appreciating the colonel’s strength. “We may be filling up detention.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Kendrick.” Grant looked up, giving Jack his attention. “I’m going to beam up my chief of security. I want you to talk to him.” Jack went to the console and brought up Nick’s ID. He was in Italy. Nick was standing inside the ship moments later, surprise glancing off his face in the blink of an eye.
“You rang?” Nick drawled. Jack quickly filled him in.
“Kendrick is going to show you a face we have no name for,” Jack told him. “Tell me if you know him.” Grant impressed the image into Nick’s head, once more startling the man. Nick recovered quickly. Zu had done it to him a couple of times.
“I know him,” Nick said grimly. “He doesn’t do a lot of hands-on; he has a small team he farms out to. He moves around a lot; the latest rumor is that his operations comes out of Columbia. Drugs, arms, information.”
Jack brought Columbia up on the screen and Grant stared at it.
“How do I…?”
Jack showed him how to zoom in and out. Grant took over and zoomed in closer until cities were in view. He kept zooming in until he had one house in view.
“Are you sure?” Jack asked.
“Yes, sir,” Grant nodded. As he spoke, armed guards came around the house, on patrol in the early morning hours. They waited as the sun rose. People began to appear in and out of the house.
“That’s him,” Grant and Nick both said as a man stepped out onto the balcony. Jack nodded and the man was beamed up. Down below, it took a second for the guards to realize that their employer disappeared and began shouting and drawing guns. As soon as the man appeared on the floor, SF took him into custody, ignoring his yelling and superstitious fears.
The Anunnaki Unification, Book 3: A Stargate SG-1 Fan Fiction Story Page 54