Currentpresent 2
Currentpresent 2
Stargate Command,
Cheyenne Mountain
September 1997
Daniel Jackson took a sip of coffee and shook his head as the caffeine kicked in. He usually wasn’t as exhausted the day after a trip through the Stargate, but he and the rest of the team had been forced to write their after action reports immediately, and that took forever. But in this case, he couldn’t blame General Hammond, because this was literally as world-shattering as the first time they’d successfully dialed the gate.
“How’s the coffee, Daniel?” Jack O’Neill looked equally tired as he entered the briefing room, but moved with an energy the archeologist didn’t have. Probably a side effect of his special forces training, Daniel thought.
“Same as usual, Jack.” Which meant cheap, kind of mediocre taste, but lots of caffeine aftertaste if you took it black.
As O’Neill finished pouring his own cup, Sam Carter and Teal’c entered the room. Sam was just as tired as the other two humans, but Teal’c looked like this was any other day in the office. Daniel felt a spurt of envy as he stepped over to the table, just as General Hammond entered the room, with a file folder tucked in one arm and a steaming mug of coffee in hand.
Daniel didn’t even want to think about how long the general must’ve been on the phone after SG-1 returned.
“Alright, let’s get started.” The Texan general sounded weary, but resolute in the face of the utter insanity of the past 24 hours. “First of all, the president sends his congratulations for recovering this cache of technology and information, and Area 51 is eager to get their hands on it.”
“Any chance for a raise, sir?” Jack asked, taking a sip of coffee.
“No, but how do you feel about another trip offworld?” Hammond replied.
The members of SG-1 looked at each other in surprise. Teams usually went to only one planet a week to minimize exposure to different kinds of microbial life or other health hazards. Two separate planets in two days was a major break from the norm.
Jack’s eyebrows rose nearly to his scalp. “Sir?”
“The president and I both agree that finding out where we stand with regards to the Asgard is a top priority. Since SG-1 apparently left a positive impression on them, you’re it for diplomatic representation… once Dr. Fraiser medically clears you all.”
Daniel grimaced at the fact that the medical team had been pulling an all-nighter to get those results.
“SG-1 is ready, willing, and able, sir.” Daniel covered another grimace with a gulp of his own coffee.
“Good. Now, once SG-1 returns, offworld operations will be suspended.” Hammond paused as all eyes focused on him. “We’ll be doing our best to analyze and implement the security improvements documentation you discovered. In the meantime, SG-1 and various other SG teams will be deployed to recover pieces of alien technology future Teal’c said were left on Earth.”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
“While that’s happening, Captain Carter and I will be briefing the Joint Chiefs and president on a proposal to fast track our readiness against Goa’uld attack.”
Sam looked up in surprise. “Sir… I don’t know if I’m the most qualified person to present that information.”
“I can’t think of anyone more qualified,” the general replied, “considering the proposal was written by Major General Samantha Carter.”
Captain Samantha Carter just sat there, gobsmacked.
Once the briefing finished, Daniel headed off to his office to work off some nervous energy by going over artifacts and doing some translation. After getting into the grove, he pivoted to going over his notes for old Norse, and practicing translating the runes. He wasn’t entirely sure that the written Norse language was an alien invention, but it didn’t hurt to be ready.
He looked up when he heard someone knocking on the wall, spotting Jack hanging by the door. “We just got the all clear from Doc Fraiser. We’re heading out at the top of the hour.”
Daniel looked over at the clock on the wall – there was just under a half hour before that. He quickly grabbed his Norse notes and followed Jack to the locker room, but noticed the expression on the colonel’s face. “What’s wrong, Jack?”
“It’s nothing, really.” After a short pause, he admitted, “Well, it’s not nothing, it’s just a time travel thing. I was talking to Carter about it earlier.”
“Uh huh?”
“So, in the movies and TV, whenever someone travels in time and prevents a bad future, there’s usually nothing to prove it existed, besides the person’s memories.” Jack pointed down, towards the floor. “But we’ve got a time traveling Christmas present downstairs to prove it happened, and we’re going to see the Asgard because of stuff we did in that future.”
“Okay…” Daniel had no idea where this was going, nor why whatever Sam told Jack hadn’t answered his question. He was just glad that getting in the elevator gave him a pause to think.
“So, how do we talk about that? It technically happened, and it’s part of the past now, but it’s also the future… Do you see what I’m talking about?”
“I think so…” Inside, Daniel was quivering with excitement. Being on the forefront of terminology for a whole new field of study was something he’d never considered, and the possibilities excited him.
“I’m thinking, we should call it the pastfuture. Because it’s our past now, but it was the future. What do you think?”
Daniel mentally began sorting through various languages, trying to find the word for “disappointed” that best fit the shriveling of his soul. Aloud, he said, “I guess that’s good enough for government work.”
As soon as they entered the locker room, Jack went over to Teal’c to explain the new lingo, leaving Daniel to mourn for all the future academics blighted with simplistic terminology for time travel.
He had almost gotten over it by the time they went up the ramp to the gate, when Teal’c decided to speak up. “A question, O’Neill.”
“Sure,” Jack said, pausing in front of the event horizon.
“If the pastfuture is the alternate future that has created our past, would this not be the currentpresent?”
Daniel shrugged helplessly at Sam Carter’s baffled expression, and thought really hard about going through the event horizon.
“That’s a good point, Teal’c,” Jack affirmed enthusiastically. “What do you think, Carter?”
She looked over at Daniel, who just gave her a defeated shrug, and then said, “I guess that’s as good a term for it as any?”
The tumble through the Stargate into the cool, brisk air of another planet was a pleasant distraction, even as Daniel realized there were natives watching and laughing at the somewhat undignified entrance. They were dressed roughly as he would expect people of the equivalent Earth era and region to be dressed, standing next to a large stone obelisk with a gold ornament on top shaped like certain depictions of Thor’s Hammer. The natives began chanting Thor’s name, which meant they were on the right planet, at the very least.
“Think Thor’ll show up if they say his name enough?” Jack asked. “You know, like Beetlejuice?”
The tip of the obelisk then emitted a blue beam of energy that swept over each member of SG-1, before shutting off. The natives looked confused, then the blue light shot up into the sky, and with a massive boom of thunder, the image of Thor appeared in the sky.
Thor wore a black tunic with silver-gray accoutrements, including a helmet that covered everything but his brown beard, and a cape. In a booming voice, he announced, “Hear me, people of Cimmeria! These are the warriors of Earth, the foretold heroes of righteousness!”
“You know,” Jack said to no one in particular, “someone should’ve put in a memo to not oversell this whole ‘hero’ thing.”
“Here me, people of Cimmeria! This is a time of celebration!” The projection – Daniel figured it was probably a hologram, but better to let Sam make that judgment – turned to SG-1. “I will speak with you in my Hall of Might, before the feast in your honor.”
“That sounds great,” Jack told Thor. “Just poin—“
There was a flash of white light, and suddenly, they were in a stone hall.
“—t us…” Like the rest of SG-1, Jack began turning around to get a good look at their new surroundings. “Well, I’m starting to see why Pastfuture Teal’c and that Mitchell guy were talking up the Asgard.”
“Jack, if they’ve got better transporters than the Goa’uld…” Daniel said, not even bothering to hide his own excitement. He didn’t need to say the rest – he knew that Jack would understand what he meant.
They could save Sha’re and Skaara.
“Technological advancement in one area might not apply to other fields,” Sam warned, but he could hear the optimism in her voice too.
“Okay, we’re here, so is there a button we need to press to get the conversation going?” Jack said, looking from the obelisk on the other side of the room to the walls.
Turning, Daniel also searched for an obvious control, before turning back when he saw a shape materialize next to the obelisk. When he turned back towards it, there was a hologram of a gray alien with black eyes staring back at them. It blinked slowly, looking back at them.
“Sir, this is uncanny. They look just like the descriptions of the Roswell Grays back home,” Sam said, keeping her eyes on the hologram.
“Think anyone back home has got a grudge about the probes?” Jack asked her, before stepping forward. “Hi. Colonel Jack O’Neill, SG-1? You were expecting us?”
“I am Thor, supreme commander of the Asgard fleet, broadcasting from my quarters aboard the Asgard ship Beliskner,” the gray replied. “And yes, you were expected. The Asgard High Council is pleased that your development and actions have remained consistent, despite the alterations to the timeline.”
“Alterations – plural?” Jack’s voice was full of concern. “Are we talking things because of what our pastfuture selves did, or did the xenomorph hybrid things change things? Or both?”
Thor said nothing and blinked slowly again.
“Uh, pastfuture is our term for the future that no longer exists due to sending that information to the past,” Daniel supplied, doing his best not to grimace as he said the word.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“To which part?” Sam asked.
“All of it.” As the humans groaned, a new hologram appeared in the air between SG-1 and Thor’s hologram. It was a metallic looking bug, its metal segments reflecting a blue-purple hue. “320 years ago, the items your pastfuture counterparts sent arrived. They included a beacon that summoned an Asgard ship to recover an Asgard database from the future, supplemented with other information. This allowed us to defeat our greatest enemy—“ Thor gestured to the robot bug “—the Replicators, a race of adaptive, self-replicating artificial intelligences.”
Sam’s eyes widened, and Jack turned towards her, an obvious lack of comprehension on his face. “Carter?”
“Sir, if I’m understanding Thor correctly, these Replicators were essentially consuming everything in their path, turning into more of themselves, and adjusting to whatever the Asgard were throwing at them.”
“Correct,” Thor replied. “The adaptive nature of the Replicators forced us to invent new technologies and tactics. Eventually, around this point in time, we would have been forced to rely on your species for primitive, but effective solutions to the problem. However, your pastfuture selves provided an equally primitive, but overwhelmingly definitive solution to the Replicators. Utilizing a recall signal integrated into the Replicators’ base programming, we lured them to a desolate planet in our home galaxy, trapped them in a time dilation field, and obliterated them with a disruption wave targeting the keron pathways in each block.”
Again, Sam’s eyes went wide.
“So… Time dilation,” Jack said slowly. “That’s…”
“Slowing down the flow of time,” she replied. “Sir, I’m pretty sure that’s beyond the capabilities of the Goa’uld.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c interjected. “If any Goa’uld possessed such abilities, they would have unseated Ra centuries ago.”
“As a result, the Asgard owe you a debt of honor. In time, that payment may include technology and knowledge.” Thor paused as the Replicator hologram faded out. “However, given that you are now in possession of a planetary phase cloak and other knowledge from the future, there is no great urgency in fulfilling that debt. Especially since certain untrustworthy factions amongst your people are yet to be dealt with.”
“Okay, I get it,” Jack replied. “No honking big space guns until we get rid of the bad guys.” He paused and looked at Thor. “You mind telling us who they are?”
“It is my understanding that the president from the pastfuture has already composed a message to his present-day counterpart explaining the situation,” Thor replied. “The High Council has no intentions of meddling in the affairs of Earth, given the various complications that exist.”
Jack frowned and tapped the side of his MP5. “We’ve got to get our act together, is that it?”
“It sounds more like the Asgard are worried about someone misusing their technology,” Daniel interjected. “If honor is as big a part of their culture as it seems to be, our ability to show honorable behavior, including stopping our people doing dishonorable deeds, would make us more trustworthy in their eyes.”
Thor nodded. “Correct, Dr. Jackson.”
“Okay, we prove we’re cool and trustworthy, we get the good stuff,” Jack summed up. “Alright, we came here to figure out what’s changed between the history our pastfuture selves know about and what’s led up to the currentpresent. You wouldn’t happen to know anything, besides the whole ‘beat the lego bugs’ thing?”
“There have, in fact, been alterations in the history of this galaxy. Many of them are minor consequences of the defeat of the Replicators, allowing us greater freedom of action. The two most major alternations are our removal of the xenomorph hybrids’ colony vessel from this galaxy, and the arrival of xenomorph hybrids from the pastfuture into the past of our current timeline.”
“Wait – they’re here? Now?” Jack’s voice was tinged with outrage and horror. “And what does ‘removal’ mean, anyway?”
“The High Council was unwilling to sanction the potential genocide of a sapient race,” Thor explained, “especially when your pastfuture counterparts proposed a logical solution.” A new hologram appeared, one of the Milky Way. A line projected out of it, and the hologram began zooming out to show the line connecting to other galaxies. “Relocation to another galaxy.”
“Sir, if I’m understanding this hologram correctly, the Asgard intend to move them to the other side of the universe,” Sam added, awed by the thought.
“Well, that’s one way to deal with rowdy neighbors,” Jack admitted. “I guess their ship isn’t there?”
“No, their colony vessel is currently in the void between the Milky Way and Ida galaxies. It will remain there until all parties are prepared to execute the relocation process.” Thor manipulated a control on his ship, and the hologram pulled back to show the two galaxies. “The xenomoph hybrids in this galaxy currently reside on a planet called Pangar, where the Tok’ra queen Egeria resides.” Seeing their non-comprehension, he added, “The Tok’ra are a subset of the Goa’uld who are philosophically opposed to taking hosts by force.”
“They named themselves ‘against Ra’?” Daniel asked, interrupting Jack’s impending angry outburst. Personally, he thought that name was terrible, possibly as terrible as “pastfuture” and “currentpresent”, but Thor wasn’t the right person to ask about that detail.
“Correct. Rogue Tok’ra agents are responsible for the xenomorph hybrids existence in this timeline, as part of their plan to ensure the survival of their own queen. Without Egeria, the Tok’ra were doomed to extinction, as non-queen Goa’uld cannot produce offspring, especially with the casualties they sustained in the pastfuture.”
Daniel noticed Jack pursing his lips in an obvious effort to calm down, and added, “So, they were just desperate, and made an honest mistake?”
“Desperate, yes,” Thor confirmed. “Whether or not it was a mistake is yet to be seen. The planet is under close observation by the Asgard fleet, with development of spacecraft strictly prohibited by treaty with the inhabitants. Due to the alterations to history, their existence may be of potential benefit to the war against the Goa’uld.”
Daniel found that reasoning odd, and couldn’t fathom the connection between the two. “I’m sorry, why is that?”
“In what you call the pastfuture, the destruction of the Replicators occurred after they decimated the Goa’uld, badly weakened by years of constant war, and claimed their vessels,” the Asgard explained. “Without the presence of the Replicators, even with a prolonged war amongst themselves, current projections put the fall of the Goa’uld long past its original date.” Thor paused and looked at O’Neill. “This does not factor in humanity’s tendency for creating primitive, yet effective solutions.”
“So, we could MacGuyver something that solves that problem?” Jack replied.
“Yes.”
“Cool. Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Hold out your hand,” Thor told him. Unsure of what was happening, Jack slowly raised his hand, and when it was at the appropriate position, a large, opalescent stone materialized in his hand from a column of white light. “This contains our compiled intelligence reports tracking the changes to the timeline, as well as the full text of the Protected Planets Treaty, which Earth is not yet part of, and a list of signals to use when interacting with Asgard technology on protected planets, such as our transporter obelisks and Goa’uld removal devices.”
Daniel shot a look at Jack, who nodded. This was exactly what they’d come for. Now, all they had to do was find Sha’re and Skaara…
“For example, if you wish to speak with me directly, simply come to Cimmeria and transmit a signal on the designated frequency. It will trigger a command that will beam you here and alert me to your presence.”
“Thank you,” Daniel said, not even bothering to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I’m not sure you understand how much this means to us, but we greatly appreciate what you’ve done for us, in the other timeline and this one.”
“The Asgard would be pleased to see the humans of Earth once again earn their place among the stars,” Thor replied, then paused, blinking slowly. “I would advise you to look into the historical records of the Stargate program, Dr. Jackson. It would be of great personal interest to you.”
Before he could even ask what that meant, the white light engulfed them and deposited them in front of a small obelisk in the middle of a forest. Already, he could see a small group of natives approaching on the path worn through the trees from the alien device.
“Any idea what that last bit was about?” Jack asked.
“No, but it might’ve been a hint about something Thor wasn’t supposed to officially tell us about,” Daniel reasoned. Then he thought about it some more, and added, “Or maybe something he wanted to guarantee would happen.”
“Huh.” Jack stroked his chin, then shrugged and slipped the stone into a pocket on his load-bearing vest. “Something to look into when we get back.” He stood up straight. “Right now, I’m thinking we should take advantage of this ‘big, cool hero’ thing while we can, before everyone realizes we’re not as cool as our pastfuture selves yet.”
Author's notes: One of the things that always bugged the shit out of me about XSGCOM was Hotpoint's refusal to wipe out the Replicators. It was the definition of sticking to the rails of canon to the detriment of the story, even if it was intended to further weaken the Goa'uld down the line. Freed from the obligations of canon by virtue of time travel, I yeet'd them out of the picture as soon as possible.
So yes, the Asgard are in a much stronger position now, which will be explored in other chapters. Along with the other fun projects they're working on.
Stargate Command,
Cheyenne Mountain
September 1997
Daniel Jackson took a sip of coffee and shook his head as the caffeine kicked in. He usually wasn’t as exhausted the day after a trip through the Stargate, but he and the rest of the team had been forced to write their after action reports immediately, and that took forever. But in this case, he couldn’t blame General Hammond, because this was literally as world-shattering as the first time they’d successfully dialed the gate.
“How’s the coffee, Daniel?” Jack O’Neill looked equally tired as he entered the briefing room, but moved with an energy the archeologist didn’t have. Probably a side effect of his special forces training, Daniel thought.
“Same as usual, Jack.” Which meant cheap, kind of mediocre taste, but lots of caffeine aftertaste if you took it black.
As O’Neill finished pouring his own cup, Sam Carter and Teal’c entered the room. Sam was just as tired as the other two humans, but Teal’c looked like this was any other day in the office. Daniel felt a spurt of envy as he stepped over to the table, just as General Hammond entered the room, with a file folder tucked in one arm and a steaming mug of coffee in hand.
Daniel didn’t even want to think about how long the general must’ve been on the phone after SG-1 returned.
“Alright, let’s get started.” The Texan general sounded weary, but resolute in the face of the utter insanity of the past 24 hours. “First of all, the president sends his congratulations for recovering this cache of technology and information, and Area 51 is eager to get their hands on it.”
“Any chance for a raise, sir?” Jack asked, taking a sip of coffee.
“No, but how do you feel about another trip offworld?” Hammond replied.
The members of SG-1 looked at each other in surprise. Teams usually went to only one planet a week to minimize exposure to different kinds of microbial life or other health hazards. Two separate planets in two days was a major break from the norm.
Jack’s eyebrows rose nearly to his scalp. “Sir?”
“The president and I both agree that finding out where we stand with regards to the Asgard is a top priority. Since SG-1 apparently left a positive impression on them, you’re it for diplomatic representation… once Dr. Fraiser medically clears you all.”
Daniel grimaced at the fact that the medical team had been pulling an all-nighter to get those results.
“SG-1 is ready, willing, and able, sir.” Daniel covered another grimace with a gulp of his own coffee.
“Good. Now, once SG-1 returns, offworld operations will be suspended.” Hammond paused as all eyes focused on him. “We’ll be doing our best to analyze and implement the security improvements documentation you discovered. In the meantime, SG-1 and various other SG teams will be deployed to recover pieces of alien technology future Teal’c said were left on Earth.”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
“While that’s happening, Captain Carter and I will be briefing the Joint Chiefs and president on a proposal to fast track our readiness against Goa’uld attack.”
Sam looked up in surprise. “Sir… I don’t know if I’m the most qualified person to present that information.”
“I can’t think of anyone more qualified,” the general replied, “considering the proposal was written by Major General Samantha Carter.”
Captain Samantha Carter just sat there, gobsmacked.
Once the briefing finished, Daniel headed off to his office to work off some nervous energy by going over artifacts and doing some translation. After getting into the grove, he pivoted to going over his notes for old Norse, and practicing translating the runes. He wasn’t entirely sure that the written Norse language was an alien invention, but it didn’t hurt to be ready.
He looked up when he heard someone knocking on the wall, spotting Jack hanging by the door. “We just got the all clear from Doc Fraiser. We’re heading out at the top of the hour.”
Daniel looked over at the clock on the wall – there was just under a half hour before that. He quickly grabbed his Norse notes and followed Jack to the locker room, but noticed the expression on the colonel’s face. “What’s wrong, Jack?”
“It’s nothing, really.” After a short pause, he admitted, “Well, it’s not nothing, it’s just a time travel thing. I was talking to Carter about it earlier.”
“Uh huh?”
“So, in the movies and TV, whenever someone travels in time and prevents a bad future, there’s usually nothing to prove it existed, besides the person’s memories.” Jack pointed down, towards the floor. “But we’ve got a time traveling Christmas present downstairs to prove it happened, and we’re going to see the Asgard because of stuff we did in that future.”
“Okay…” Daniel had no idea where this was going, nor why whatever Sam told Jack hadn’t answered his question. He was just glad that getting in the elevator gave him a pause to think.
“So, how do we talk about that? It technically happened, and it’s part of the past now, but it’s also the future… Do you see what I’m talking about?”
“I think so…” Inside, Daniel was quivering with excitement. Being on the forefront of terminology for a whole new field of study was something he’d never considered, and the possibilities excited him.
“I’m thinking, we should call it the pastfuture. Because it’s our past now, but it was the future. What do you think?”
Daniel mentally began sorting through various languages, trying to find the word for “disappointed” that best fit the shriveling of his soul. Aloud, he said, “I guess that’s good enough for government work.”
As soon as they entered the locker room, Jack went over to Teal’c to explain the new lingo, leaving Daniel to mourn for all the future academics blighted with simplistic terminology for time travel.
He had almost gotten over it by the time they went up the ramp to the gate, when Teal’c decided to speak up. “A question, O’Neill.”
“Sure,” Jack said, pausing in front of the event horizon.
“If the pastfuture is the alternate future that has created our past, would this not be the currentpresent?”
Daniel shrugged helplessly at Sam Carter’s baffled expression, and thought really hard about going through the event horizon.
“That’s a good point, Teal’c,” Jack affirmed enthusiastically. “What do you think, Carter?”
She looked over at Daniel, who just gave her a defeated shrug, and then said, “I guess that’s as good a term for it as any?”
The tumble through the Stargate into the cool, brisk air of another planet was a pleasant distraction, even as Daniel realized there were natives watching and laughing at the somewhat undignified entrance. They were dressed roughly as he would expect people of the equivalent Earth era and region to be dressed, standing next to a large stone obelisk with a gold ornament on top shaped like certain depictions of Thor’s Hammer. The natives began chanting Thor’s name, which meant they were on the right planet, at the very least.
“Think Thor’ll show up if they say his name enough?” Jack asked. “You know, like Beetlejuice?”
The tip of the obelisk then emitted a blue beam of energy that swept over each member of SG-1, before shutting off. The natives looked confused, then the blue light shot up into the sky, and with a massive boom of thunder, the image of Thor appeared in the sky.
Thor wore a black tunic with silver-gray accoutrements, including a helmet that covered everything but his brown beard, and a cape. In a booming voice, he announced, “Hear me, people of Cimmeria! These are the warriors of Earth, the foretold heroes of righteousness!”
“You know,” Jack said to no one in particular, “someone should’ve put in a memo to not oversell this whole ‘hero’ thing.”
“Here me, people of Cimmeria! This is a time of celebration!” The projection – Daniel figured it was probably a hologram, but better to let Sam make that judgment – turned to SG-1. “I will speak with you in my Hall of Might, before the feast in your honor.”
“That sounds great,” Jack told Thor. “Just poin—“
There was a flash of white light, and suddenly, they were in a stone hall.
“—t us…” Like the rest of SG-1, Jack began turning around to get a good look at their new surroundings. “Well, I’m starting to see why Pastfuture Teal’c and that Mitchell guy were talking up the Asgard.”
“Jack, if they’ve got better transporters than the Goa’uld…” Daniel said, not even bothering to hide his own excitement. He didn’t need to say the rest – he knew that Jack would understand what he meant.
They could save Sha’re and Skaara.
“Technological advancement in one area might not apply to other fields,” Sam warned, but he could hear the optimism in her voice too.
“Okay, we’re here, so is there a button we need to press to get the conversation going?” Jack said, looking from the obelisk on the other side of the room to the walls.
Turning, Daniel also searched for an obvious control, before turning back when he saw a shape materialize next to the obelisk. When he turned back towards it, there was a hologram of a gray alien with black eyes staring back at them. It blinked slowly, looking back at them.
“Sir, this is uncanny. They look just like the descriptions of the Roswell Grays back home,” Sam said, keeping her eyes on the hologram.
“Think anyone back home has got a grudge about the probes?” Jack asked her, before stepping forward. “Hi. Colonel Jack O’Neill, SG-1? You were expecting us?”
“I am Thor, supreme commander of the Asgard fleet, broadcasting from my quarters aboard the Asgard ship Beliskner,” the gray replied. “And yes, you were expected. The Asgard High Council is pleased that your development and actions have remained consistent, despite the alterations to the timeline.”
“Alterations – plural?” Jack’s voice was full of concern. “Are we talking things because of what our pastfuture selves did, or did the xenomorph hybrid things change things? Or both?”
Thor said nothing and blinked slowly again.
“Uh, pastfuture is our term for the future that no longer exists due to sending that information to the past,” Daniel supplied, doing his best not to grimace as he said the word.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“To which part?” Sam asked.
“All of it.” As the humans groaned, a new hologram appeared in the air between SG-1 and Thor’s hologram. It was a metallic looking bug, its metal segments reflecting a blue-purple hue. “320 years ago, the items your pastfuture counterparts sent arrived. They included a beacon that summoned an Asgard ship to recover an Asgard database from the future, supplemented with other information. This allowed us to defeat our greatest enemy—“ Thor gestured to the robot bug “—the Replicators, a race of adaptive, self-replicating artificial intelligences.”
Sam’s eyes widened, and Jack turned towards her, an obvious lack of comprehension on his face. “Carter?”
“Sir, if I’m understanding Thor correctly, these Replicators were essentially consuming everything in their path, turning into more of themselves, and adjusting to whatever the Asgard were throwing at them.”
“Correct,” Thor replied. “The adaptive nature of the Replicators forced us to invent new technologies and tactics. Eventually, around this point in time, we would have been forced to rely on your species for primitive, but effective solutions to the problem. However, your pastfuture selves provided an equally primitive, but overwhelmingly definitive solution to the Replicators. Utilizing a recall signal integrated into the Replicators’ base programming, we lured them to a desolate planet in our home galaxy, trapped them in a time dilation field, and obliterated them with a disruption wave targeting the keron pathways in each block.”
Again, Sam’s eyes went wide.
“So… Time dilation,” Jack said slowly. “That’s…”
“Slowing down the flow of time,” she replied. “Sir, I’m pretty sure that’s beyond the capabilities of the Goa’uld.”
“Indeed,” Teal’c interjected. “If any Goa’uld possessed such abilities, they would have unseated Ra centuries ago.”
“As a result, the Asgard owe you a debt of honor. In time, that payment may include technology and knowledge.” Thor paused as the Replicator hologram faded out. “However, given that you are now in possession of a planetary phase cloak and other knowledge from the future, there is no great urgency in fulfilling that debt. Especially since certain untrustworthy factions amongst your people are yet to be dealt with.”
“Okay, I get it,” Jack replied. “No honking big space guns until we get rid of the bad guys.” He paused and looked at Thor. “You mind telling us who they are?”
“It is my understanding that the president from the pastfuture has already composed a message to his present-day counterpart explaining the situation,” Thor replied. “The High Council has no intentions of meddling in the affairs of Earth, given the various complications that exist.”
Jack frowned and tapped the side of his MP5. “We’ve got to get our act together, is that it?”
“It sounds more like the Asgard are worried about someone misusing their technology,” Daniel interjected. “If honor is as big a part of their culture as it seems to be, our ability to show honorable behavior, including stopping our people doing dishonorable deeds, would make us more trustworthy in their eyes.”
Thor nodded. “Correct, Dr. Jackson.”
“Okay, we prove we’re cool and trustworthy, we get the good stuff,” Jack summed up. “Alright, we came here to figure out what’s changed between the history our pastfuture selves know about and what’s led up to the currentpresent. You wouldn’t happen to know anything, besides the whole ‘beat the lego bugs’ thing?”
“There have, in fact, been alterations in the history of this galaxy. Many of them are minor consequences of the defeat of the Replicators, allowing us greater freedom of action. The two most major alternations are our removal of the xenomorph hybrids’ colony vessel from this galaxy, and the arrival of xenomorph hybrids from the pastfuture into the past of our current timeline.”
“Wait – they’re here? Now?” Jack’s voice was tinged with outrage and horror. “And what does ‘removal’ mean, anyway?”
“The High Council was unwilling to sanction the potential genocide of a sapient race,” Thor explained, “especially when your pastfuture counterparts proposed a logical solution.” A new hologram appeared, one of the Milky Way. A line projected out of it, and the hologram began zooming out to show the line connecting to other galaxies. “Relocation to another galaxy.”
“Sir, if I’m understanding this hologram correctly, the Asgard intend to move them to the other side of the universe,” Sam added, awed by the thought.
“Well, that’s one way to deal with rowdy neighbors,” Jack admitted. “I guess their ship isn’t there?”
“No, their colony vessel is currently in the void between the Milky Way and Ida galaxies. It will remain there until all parties are prepared to execute the relocation process.” Thor manipulated a control on his ship, and the hologram pulled back to show the two galaxies. “The xenomoph hybrids in this galaxy currently reside on a planet called Pangar, where the Tok’ra queen Egeria resides.” Seeing their non-comprehension, he added, “The Tok’ra are a subset of the Goa’uld who are philosophically opposed to taking hosts by force.”
“They named themselves ‘against Ra’?” Daniel asked, interrupting Jack’s impending angry outburst. Personally, he thought that name was terrible, possibly as terrible as “pastfuture” and “currentpresent”, but Thor wasn’t the right person to ask about that detail.
“Correct. Rogue Tok’ra agents are responsible for the xenomorph hybrids existence in this timeline, as part of their plan to ensure the survival of their own queen. Without Egeria, the Tok’ra were doomed to extinction, as non-queen Goa’uld cannot produce offspring, especially with the casualties they sustained in the pastfuture.”
Daniel noticed Jack pursing his lips in an obvious effort to calm down, and added, “So, they were just desperate, and made an honest mistake?”
“Desperate, yes,” Thor confirmed. “Whether or not it was a mistake is yet to be seen. The planet is under close observation by the Asgard fleet, with development of spacecraft strictly prohibited by treaty with the inhabitants. Due to the alterations to history, their existence may be of potential benefit to the war against the Goa’uld.”
Daniel found that reasoning odd, and couldn’t fathom the connection between the two. “I’m sorry, why is that?”
“In what you call the pastfuture, the destruction of the Replicators occurred after they decimated the Goa’uld, badly weakened by years of constant war, and claimed their vessels,” the Asgard explained. “Without the presence of the Replicators, even with a prolonged war amongst themselves, current projections put the fall of the Goa’uld long past its original date.” Thor paused and looked at O’Neill. “This does not factor in humanity’s tendency for creating primitive, yet effective solutions.”
“So, we could MacGuyver something that solves that problem?” Jack replied.
“Yes.”
“Cool. Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Hold out your hand,” Thor told him. Unsure of what was happening, Jack slowly raised his hand, and when it was at the appropriate position, a large, opalescent stone materialized in his hand from a column of white light. “This contains our compiled intelligence reports tracking the changes to the timeline, as well as the full text of the Protected Planets Treaty, which Earth is not yet part of, and a list of signals to use when interacting with Asgard technology on protected planets, such as our transporter obelisks and Goa’uld removal devices.”
Daniel shot a look at Jack, who nodded. This was exactly what they’d come for. Now, all they had to do was find Sha’re and Skaara…
“For example, if you wish to speak with me directly, simply come to Cimmeria and transmit a signal on the designated frequency. It will trigger a command that will beam you here and alert me to your presence.”
“Thank you,” Daniel said, not even bothering to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I’m not sure you understand how much this means to us, but we greatly appreciate what you’ve done for us, in the other timeline and this one.”
“The Asgard would be pleased to see the humans of Earth once again earn their place among the stars,” Thor replied, then paused, blinking slowly. “I would advise you to look into the historical records of the Stargate program, Dr. Jackson. It would be of great personal interest to you.”
Before he could even ask what that meant, the white light engulfed them and deposited them in front of a small obelisk in the middle of a forest. Already, he could see a small group of natives approaching on the path worn through the trees from the alien device.
“Any idea what that last bit was about?” Jack asked.
“No, but it might’ve been a hint about something Thor wasn’t supposed to officially tell us about,” Daniel reasoned. Then he thought about it some more, and added, “Or maybe something he wanted to guarantee would happen.”
“Huh.” Jack stroked his chin, then shrugged and slipped the stone into a pocket on his load-bearing vest. “Something to look into when we get back.” He stood up straight. “Right now, I’m thinking we should take advantage of this ‘big, cool hero’ thing while we can, before everyone realizes we’re not as cool as our pastfuture selves yet.”
Author's notes: One of the things that always bugged the shit out of me about XSGCOM was Hotpoint's refusal to wipe out the Replicators. It was the definition of sticking to the rails of canon to the detriment of the story, even if it was intended to further weaken the Goa'uld down the line. Freed from the obligations of canon by virtue of time travel, I yeet'd them out of the picture as soon as possible.
So yes, the Asgard are in a much stronger position now, which will be explored in other chapters. Along with the other fun projects they're working on.
