The Anunnaki Unification, Book 2: A Staraget SG-1 Fan Fiction Story

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The Anunnaki Unification, Book 2: A Staraget SG-1 Fan Fiction Story Page 26

by Michele Briere


  “No zatting,” Jack promised. “Are you sleeping with him?”

  Katie flushed. “No,” she said. “We haven’t even been on an official date, yet.”

  “Okay,” he said again. “Honey, I can’t control your body, it’s yours and you’re a big girl. Seventeen next week. All I can say is to ask you to rethink any decision to sleep with anyone until you are a little older. Put your future first. You want to be a doctor? You’ll never get near it, if you don’t set priorities. Boys are not a priority, no matter what your hormones are telling you. I can’t stop you, though, so if you do decide to sleep with him, make sure you’re up to date with your pills and make sure he wears a condom. No party hat, no party. And if you’re going to spend the night with him, don’t lie to me; just tell me you’re spending the night with him. Promise?”

  “I promise,” she nodded.

  He kissed her forehead. “Good girl. And if he hurts you, I will zat his ass.”

  Matthew was clearly excited in the morning, waiting for his friends to show up for their sleep-over. Two boys were military, the other three were not. He was not happy about having to include his little brother, but Jack insisted; Davy loved his big brother and wanted to be part of his circle. Two of the boys lived nearby, so they were over before cartoons ended. Jack greeted parents at the door and sent the boys upstairs. Jerry Bosco showed up with Vinnie and Corp. Standard’s son, Dylan. The corporal was a single parent and on duty, so Bosco offered to drive Dylan over. Jack patted heads and sent the boys up with the others. Jack unconsciously clasped forearms with Bosco instead of taking his hand. They went into the kitchen and sat at the bar stools, pouring mugs of coffee.

  “How’s the new team working?” Jack asked.

  Bosco gave a nod. “It’s coming together,” he said. “I think Zane will be alright with a little more field training, and Lukas seems to be as eggy as Daniel. A little more attitude, though.”

  Jack understood; Harold Lukas tended to rub Jack the wrong way whenever he was over consulting with Daniel about something.

  “Has Reynolds settled on a 2IC, yet?” Jack asked.

  “Not sure,” Jerry admitted. “His latest, Capt. Brogan, seems to be doing alright; the colonel hasn’t said anything different to me. Molina is a quiet guy, keeps to himself, but he’s proving to be a decent guard and he can be counted on.”

  SG-1 had lost three people in the Baal battle, and SG-3 had lost two. Nyan had been beside himself when Reynolds came home alone, and after the funerals they had gone out and gotten drunk together in a bonding moment. To Jack’s surprise, the seemingly delicate Nyan had taken well to team duties, although he was still a little slow with weapons. Reynolds had insisted on leaving Nyan home, instead of bringing him out to the battle, a choice even Daniel had been grateful of.

  “Jack, who’s this person Daniel’s been bringing in to the base?” Bosco asked.

  “Which one?”

  Jerry was a little flustered. “I am ninety-nine percent sure this person used to be a man,” he said. “Ronnie Johnson.”

  Jack nodded, slightly amused. “Ah, yes, Ronnie,” he mused. “Daniel’s current pet student. Interesting, isn’t she?”

  “She?” Bosco stressed. Jack gave a warning shake of his head.

  “Don’t, or you will get an earful from our Dr. Jackson on the subject of respect and self-determination.” He dug at his own ears with a finger and Bosco chuckled in understanding. “According to Daniel, she’s a heaven-sent gift and we should be thankful to have her. Besides, Olivia likes her.”

  Jerry went to the swing hanging from the door frame and took the baby out. She gave a pleased gurgle and patted his face.

  “Yeah, I’ve been learning all about self-determination,” Jerry sighed. “I promised Vinnie I’d go with him to parent days at the Rainbow Center. Connie and I split turns; I go one week, she goes another. It’s twice a month. Jack, I had no idea kids today had so many issues to deal with,” he said, a look of confusion on his face. “They are actually more aware of their own bodies and their own emotions than I certainly was at that age.”

  “Kids are scary today,” Jack agreed.

  “There are over thirty kids at that center,” Bosco said. “I didn’t think there were that many gay adults in this town, much less kids, and a couple of them are already talking about gender reassignment. What the… heck is going on?” Olivia was making a mess on his lap with a banana.

  “Shoot if I know,” Jack responded. “I’ve discovered that going with the flow eases my headaches, though.”

  Bosco nodded sympathetically.

  “Vinnie has a boyfriend,” he said. He winced. “I can’t believe I said that. Anyway. I had to convince him not to bring his boyfriend to the sleep-over tonight. I thought it might make the other boys uncomfortable. I’m feeling like I need to monitor them as though they were boy-girl, instead of boy-boy.”

  Jack snorted. “I gave Matthew the low-down on sex and responsibility, gave him a box of condoms, and told him I trusted him to make the right decisions. I figured, if he was going to do anything, nothing I could say, no amount of locks on his door, was going to keep a fourteen-year old, almost fifteen, from doing it. So far, so good. As far as I’m aware.”

  “We have teenagers in the house, Jack.”

  Jack lifted his coffee mug and clinked it with Bosco’s.

  The fifth boy came in a while later, brought by his mother. Jack didn’t know this boy, but he must be the missing Tommy.

  “Follow the noise,” he said, pointing up the stairs. The boy gave a shy glance at his mother and then took the stairs politely, one at a time. Jack took the bedding and pillow from the mother and dropped it onto the couch.

  “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” he assured the nervous woman, Ms. Cummings.

  “Thank you, General,” she said. “I have to work tonight; Tommy has the phone number, if I’m needed.” She worked at a local 24-hour department store. Jack knew they barely paid minimum wage and over-time was outrageous.

  After she left, Jack looked at the boy’s bedding: a few blankets and a flat pillow. The other boys had brought sleeping bags. When the boys came down due to abject starvation, they were obviously emaciated, Jack took a good look at Tommy; clothes were worn to the threads, sneakers had holes in them, the soles were bare. He did a little rummaging and found that the boy was also thread-bare in the inside, although very loved by his hard-working mother. There was a longing inside for acceptance, something to feel proud about, a sense of shame over something... his home, Jack guessed, seeing how the boy tried not to look around, afraid to touch anything.

  “Boys!” Jack called. They took their faces out of the refrigerator. “Let’s talk.” There were groans. “None-a that,” he scowled fiercely. Those who knew him snickered. “I’m the general here, remember?”

  “You’re not going to talk about sex, are you?” Matthew moaned.

  “Why, do I need to?” Jack asked.

  “No!” the boys all shouted.

  “Okay, then,” he said. “I just want to get a little acquainted with everyone.”

  They got their snacks and sat on the living room floor. Jack sat in the command chair.

  “Alright,” he started. “We can skip Matty because I know him only too well, I changed his diapers.” The boys shoved at Matthew, completely red, and laughed. “Let’s see, I know Vinnie, an SG-3 brat, don’t deny it, son, I’ve known you since you were seven years old. A whiny seven, I might add.” The boys howled as Vinnie also turned red. “You’ve turned into a nice young man, son.

  “Dylan, I don’t know you but I’ve met your father; he’s a good man, proud to have him on our team. You look like him. Frankie and Carlos, you both live in the neighborhood, total terrors from the day I moved in nine years ago.” They proudly admitted it. “Let’s see if I remember correctly; Frankie, your dad is a plumber and your mom is a teacher, right? Good. And Carlos, with seven brothers and sisters, God bless your mother, you are lost in the crowd, r
ight? No, that can’t be, not with that red hair.” As incongruous as it was, Carlos Gutierrez had bright red hair thanks to his maternal grandfather. The hair and freckles always managed to startle new teachers who were expecting a child of Hispanic descent to be dark.

  “Tommy is new to me,” Jack said. “Let’s see, Tommy, I believe your mother said her name is Trisha. How old are you?”

  “Fourteen, sir,” came the quiet response. Jack nodded.

  “And what classes do you share with Matt?”

  “Home room and social studies,” Tommy said. Jack was getting a sense of hero-worship and awe from him.

  “And what does your mother do?”

  “She works at Fylinda's and sometimes she does accounting, but there isn’t too much of that needed except during tax season.”

  “Good!” Jack declared. “Now. I have a question for everyone. Has anyone noticed and been talking about any changes that are happening?” he asked. “Like really weird things happening?”

  “Other than you and my dad blowing up aliens?” Vinnie asked.

  “I have a zat, boy, and I know how to use it,” Jack warned.

  The boys laughed, although the civilians didn’t know what a zat was.

  “I think he’s asking about all that geek stuff,” Matthew said to his friends. They all expressed their understanding. “Yeah, almost all the kids in school are passing tests with A’s, even people who never got A’s in their entire lives. It’s wigging the teachers out.” The boys agreed with him.

  “Anything else weird?” he asked.

  “A few kids are doing those weirder things,” Matty reported. “Really wigged out Mr. Mulroney when a girl handed in a homework assignment before he gave it. She had all the answers right, too.”

  According to the boys, few girls kept bursting into tears because other people were thinking bad thoughts or feeling bad, a boy kept laughing at the jokes a prankster had yet to play, another boy swears he sees ghosts and then helps them to ‘move along.’ Jack would have to ask Daniel about that one. Over all, though, it was mostly a jump into the cognitive area that the kids were doing. Jack was a little relieved; he wasn’t ready to deal with Jedi wars. He released the boys.

  “Sir?” Frankie stopped. “Is it… okay… what’s happening?”

  Jack looked at him. “What do you think is happening?” he asked.

  Frankie frowned as he thought. “I think…. we’re changing. Somehow. I get laughed at when I say that, but I think it’s true.”

  Jack gave a nod. “You are changing, son, and it’s okay,” he assured the boy. “It’s normal, it’s natural, you don’t need to be afraid. All that’s happening is that your brain is understanding more than it used to. This is a good thing.”

  Gabriel had called to tell him that the first of the public notices would be going out the following week. It was none too soon, as far as Jack was concerned.

  Chapter 35

  “Oh, Ms. Cummings,” Jack stopped Tommy’s mother as they left the house the next day. “Tommy mentioned that you do accounting. We need another bean counter at HomeSec, if you’d like to apply.” He told her the salary and full bennies.

  She seemed a little startled and thanked him. Jack wondered if their car would even make it to their home. He went back inside and called the manager of personnel.

  “But there isn’t an opening,” Lupe told him, confused.

  “There is if she applies,” Jack informed her. She understood.

  Michael stopped in to pick up Matthew and Vinnie for church after Frankie, Carlos, and Dylan went home. Michael had been spending a lot of time with the chat group and had come away with more and more to think about. At least he was thinking, instead of agonizing, for which Jack was grateful. He had also taken a part-time job at Matty’s church as a counselor. Jack found that interesting and wondered how many shrinks took their job as a way to counsel themselves.

  “Are you working out?” Michael asked, looking at Jack’s chest through the open robe. Jack yanked the robe shut.

  “Have I really changed so noticeably?” he asked Daniel in the den.

  “Your body looks about twenty years younger,” Daniel told him, glancing up from the computer. “You lost that middle-aged love handle you were acquiring, and I do like the six-pack that’s rebuilding itself.”

  “Hair is still gray,” Jack grumbled and gave his stomach a pat. The muscles did feel harder….

  “The world community won’t respect a dark blond general,” Daniel said. “Look at the problems your clone had.” Jack conceded that one. “And I don’t want to hear about your hair issues, not while mine is receding.”

  Jack went over and pushed Daniel’s hair off his forehead. “Only a little,” he said. A centimeter, at least.

  “I’m not a happy camper, Jack.”

  He went around and buzzed the back of Daniel’s neck.

  “Come upstairs and let me make you a happy camper,” he murmured into Daniel’s ear. Daniel smiled as hands felt up his chest and a mouth nuzzled across the back of his shoulders.

  “I’m a little busy,” he said.

  “We can kick the rest of the kids out and do it in the living room,” Jack suggested. His hands began to wander down Daniel’s front.

  Daniel chuckled. “We cannot kick the kids out,” he said. He sighed, relaxing.

  “Come on, Danny. You work and I’ll get under the desk.”

  “My, my, General O’Neill, where’d my skittish virgin go?” Daniel cooed, teasing him.

  “Completely debauched,” Jack informed him. “Do you want to play or not? ‘Cause I gotta tell ya, Danny-boy, I’m addicted.” Jack told him exactly what was addicting, and feeling his body beginning to betray him, Daniel agreed. Jack quickly pushed him aside and got under the desk.

  Most of Jack’s day was consumed by the main unification council taking over his living room. They descended on him with an issue they were finding hard to resolve.

  “A few worlds are having problems with the no slavery clause,” Inanna told him. “Slavery is part of their culture. Even the slaves agree to it. Coming from one of these cultures here on Earth, I have to say that I see their point. I had many slaves in Mesopotamia, Jack, and I enjoyed them greatly. I have a problem with owners abusing their slaves, but is that any different than this modern society having laws against abusing spouses and children? As long as there are laws to protect them, I don't really have a problem with it.”

  The Taklede representative, Karoly, stood up. The Taklede were human, while the Mulakma were feathered. And scaled and furred. They tended to walk on fours, instead of hind feet, and they could fly. Daniel thought they looked like griffins. Whatever they were, Jack had to admit that he found them formidable in appearance and could understand how they managed to fend off Goa’uld attacks. The claws clicking on the floor and snagging the rug were enough to make any attacker think twice.

  “We must disagree with Queen Inanna’s proposal,” Karoly said. “The Goa’uld took slaves. We must not align ourselves with them. Also, how can we be sure these slaves agree to their place? How do we know they are not simply too afraid to speak otherwise?”

  “Because their societies have in place a means for them to climb out of their servitude, should they desire it,” Inanna said. “Some place themselves in service as a means of payment of debt, others are born into it, but in all four societies, they do earn wages and they are able to buy their way out of service. And all four societies have laws forbidding abuse, all four societies allow slaves to sue anyone they feel has done wrong by them, even their owners. There isn't much of a difference between that and hiring someone to work under a contract. Everyone who takes a job, also signs a contract. I don’t understand the issue, Honorable Karoly.”

  The others were ambiguous about the entire issue. Only Langara had no history with slavery in their culture, so Jonas stayed quiet as he listened to the various sides.

  “Okay, how about this?” Jack said. “Daniel, what was your intent
for that section?”

  Daniel nodded and stood. “My concern was for the unwilling subject,” he said, frowning in thought, arms crossed. “I have a little personal knowledge of modern slavery here on Earth. Slavery is not legal on this planet, we have a united nations that has forbidden it of all members, but there are some countries, still extremely behind the times, who have lower classes who are, basically, a slave-type class. There are private people who buy and sell other people on the black market. An illegal trade. And there are people who participate willingly and openly in voluntary slavery, but that has more to do with sexuality, than true slavery. I would say allow it but only under extreme conditions; Inanna, Hammurabi had extensive laws regarding the buying, selling, and treatment of slaves. I would say find the laws, make adaptations for modern times, and use them as an amendment. If the slaves of these worlds do indeed agree with the practice, who are we, or anyone else, to tell them differently? How different would that make us from the Goa’uld to go in and force them to change their society? Also make sure they have a means of contacting this council for a hearing, if anything goes so wrong that they cannot get justice on their planet.”

  “That brings up another point, Daniel,” Jonas said. “What about the worlds where a gender is enslaved instead of an individual? There are a few worlds where women are forced to abide the men.”

  Daniel was brought up short.

  “All for one,” Jack said. “We cannot force anyone to change their society, not if they don’t want to. The main agreement is that their nations are aligned. One planet, one vote. We have a nasty history on this planet of subjugating women, and I for one despise the idea. I have to say that if another planet with this issue wants to join, and they have all their ducks in a row, let them join. They need to understand that the rest of the compact does not treat their women in that manner and they will need to abide by the rules of others when they are off-world. Daniel, I just thought of something that isn’t in this compact.”

  Daniel looked at him.

 

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